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Purpose In this study, pH-sensitive poly(2-ethyl-2-oxazoline)-poly(lactic acid)-poly(β-amino ester) (PEOz-PLA-PBAE) triblock copolymers were synthesized and were conjugated with an antimalaria drug artesunate (ART), for inhibition of a colon cancer xenograft model. Methods The as-prepared polymer prodrugs are tended to self-assemble into polymeric micelles in aqueous milieu, with PEOz segment as hydrophilic shell and PLA-PBAE segment as hydrophobic core. Results The pH sensitivity of the as-prepared copolymers was confirmed by acid-base titration with pKb values around 6.5. The drug-conjugated polymer micelles showed high stability for at least 96 h in PBS and 37°C, respectively. The as-prepared copolymer prodrugs showed high drug loading content, with 9.57%±1.24% of drug loading for PEOz-PLA-PBAE-ART4. The conjugated ART could be released in a sustained and pH-dependent manner, with 92% of released drug at pH 6.0 and 57% of drug released at pH 7.4, respectively. In addition, in vitro experiments showed higher inhibitory effect of the prodrugs on rodent CT-26 cells than that of free ART. Animal studies also demonstrated the enhanced inhibitory efficacy of PEOz-PLA-PBAE-ART2 micelles on the growth of rodent xenograft tumor. Conclusion The pH-responsive artesunate polymer prodrugs are promising candidates for colon cancer adjuvant therapy.

A new benzylated alkamide, N-(3-methoxybenzyl)hexadec-9Z-enamide (1), and a known analogue (2) were isolated from the roots of Lepidium meyenii. Their structures were elucidated by extensive NMR and MS spectroscopic analyses. All the isolated alkamides were evaluated for their cytotoxicity against five human cancer cell lines but found to be insignificant at concentrations up to 40 μM.

Background Controlled turnover of proteins as mediated by the ubiquitin proteasome system (UPS) is an important element in plant defense against environmental and pathogen stresses. E3 ligases play a central role in subjecting proteins to hydrolysis by the UPS. Recently, it has been demonstrated that a specific class of E3 ligases termed the U-box ligases are directly associated with the defense mechanisms against abiotic and biotic stresses in several plants. However, no studies on U-box E3 ligases have been performed in one of the important staple crops, barley. Results In this study, we identified 67 putative U-box E3 ligases from the barley genome and expressed sequence tags (ESTs). Similar to Arabidopsis and rice U-box E3 ligases, most of barley U-box E3 ligases possess evolutionary well-conserved domain organizations. Based on the domain compositions and arrangements, the barley U-box proteins were classified into eight different classes. Along with this new classification, we refined the previously reported classifications of U-box E3 ligase genes in Arabidopsis and rice. Furthermore, we investigated the expression profile of 67 U-box E3 ligase genes in response to drought stress and pathogen infection. We observed that many U-box E3 ligase genes were specifically up-and-down regulated by drought stress or by fungal infection, implying their possible roles of some U-box E3 ligase genes in the stress responses. Conclusion This study reports the classification of U-box E3 ligases in barley and their expression profiles against drought stress and pathogen infection. Therefore, the classification and expression profiling of barley U-box genes can be used as a platform to functionally define the stress-related E3 ligases in barley. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12864-019-5696-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Three new pyrrole alkaloids macapyrrolins A–C (1–3) were isolated from the roots of Lepidium meyenii collected from Lijiang, Yunnan province in China. Their structures were elucidated by extensive NMR and MS spectroscopic analyses. Interestingly, macapyrrolins A–C represent the first examples of pyrrole alkaloids found in Lepidium meyenii with a benzyl substituent attached to the pyrrole nucleus. All the isolated macapyrrolins were evaluated for their cytotoxicity against five human cancer cell lines. However, no significant activities were detected at concentrations up to 40 μM.

The heat transfer characteristics of transformer oil natural convection in a cavity with a linear electrode were investigated by experiment and numerical simulation. The coupled physical and mathematical models of electric field, flow field and temperature field were established by the lattice Boltzmann method. The experimental results are in good agreement with the numerical simulation. In the absence of gravity, the enhancement effect of electric field on heat transfer is significant, and increases with the increase of voltage and heat flux. As to coupled convection caused by gravity and electric field force together, the electric field force destructs the natural convection caused by gravity, so applying an electric field at a low voltage will degrade heat transfer performance; as the voltage increases, heat transfer gradually becomes intensive, but the effect is limited. The study results revealed the enhancing mechanism of natural convection heat transfer under electric field and provided useful technical support for practical application.

Nanofluid has attracted the attention of many scholars for the excellent heat transfer enhancement capacity. In addition, electric field can further strengthen the nanofluid’s ability of heat transfer. The thermal conductivity enhancement rate of nanofluid under electric field was studied using transient hot wire method under different electric field intensities, temperatures and particle concentrations. The influences of those parameters have been discussed. Besides, based on the static thermal conductivity and the dynamic heat conduction coefficient, a novel prediction model was established, which had a good agreement with experiment data. The mechanism of thermal conductivity enhancement under electric field was analyzed according to the prediction model.

Mesozoic volcanic rocks are widespread throughout the Great Xing'an Range of northeastern China. However, there has been limited investigation into the age and petrogenesis of the Mesozoic volcanics in the eastern Great Xing'an Range. According to our research, the volcanic rocks of the Dayangshu Basin, eastern Great Xing'an Range are composed mainly of trachybasalt, basaltic andesite, and basaltic trachyandesite, with minor intermediate–basic pyroclastic rocks. In this study, the geochemistry and geochronology of the Mesozoic volcanic rocks are presented in order to discuss the petrogenesis and tectonic setting of the Ganhe Formation in the Dayangshu Basin. Zircon U–Pb dating by laser ablation inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry indicates that the Mesozoic lavas formed during the late Early Cretaceous (114.3–108.8 Ma). This suite of rocks exhibits a range of geochemical signatures indicating subduction-related genesis, including: (i) calc-alkaline to high-K calc-alkaline major element compositions; (ii) enrichment of large ion lithophile elements (e.g. Rb, Ba, K) and light rare earth elements (LREEs/HREEs =7.33–9.85); and (iii) weak depletion in high field strength elements (e.g. Nb, Ta, Ti). Furthermore, Sr–Nd–Pb isotopic data yield initial 87Sr/86Sr values of 0.70450–0.70463, positive eNd(t) values of +1.8 to +3.3, and a mantle-derived lead isotope composition. Combined with the regional tectonic evolution, the results of this study suggest that the Ganhe Group lavas are derived from decompression melting of a metasomatized (enriched) lithospheric mantle, related to asthenospheric upwelling, which resulted from lithospheric mantle delamination and produced extension of the continental margin following the subduction of the Paleo-Pacific Plate.

Developing a high thermal performance heat exchanger is of great importance to the storage and usage of liquid natural gas (LNG). In this paper, the heat transfer and flow characteristics of supercritical methane in a square mini-channel with dimple array were studied numerically to enhance the thermal performance of LNG in the mini-channel heat exchanger made by 3D printing technology. The Reynolds number and average temperature of fluid are ranged from 10000 to 85000 and 125K to 265K respectively which covers the pseudo critical temperature of supercritical methane. By preliminary optimal design, the basic sizes of dimple array were determined. Then, the present study focused on the effects of Reynolds number or the mass flow rate, the average fluid temperature or inlet temperature, and the pressure on the heat transfer coefficient, Nusselt number, flow friction factor and PEC (performance evaluation criteria) by comparing the dimple channel to the smooth channel. Moreover, the local flow pattern and thermal performance are analyzed to discover the enhancement mechanism of heat transfer. The results show that the heat transfer of supercritical methane in the dimple channel has a great increase compared to the smooth channel. While the flow friction factor in the dimple channel has an only weak increase. In addition, the thermal enhancement mechanism of the dimple channel is that the dimple structure results in the vortex and the increase of turbulent kinetic energy.

Drought is the one of the most important environment stresses that restricts crop yield worldwide. Cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) is an important food and energy crop that has many desirable traits such as drought, heat and low nutrients tolerance. However, the mechanisms underlying drought tolerance in cassava are unclear. Ethylene signaling pathway, from the upstream receptors to the downstream transcription factors, plays important roles in environmental stress responses during plant growth and development. In this study, we used bioinformatics approaches to identify and characterize candidate Manihot esculenta ethylene receptor genes and transcription factor genes. Using computational methods, we localized these genes on cassava chromosomes, constructed phylogenetic trees and identified stress-responsive cis-elements within their 5' upstream regions. Additionally, we measured the trehalose and proline contents in cassava fresh leaves after drought, osmotic, and salt stress treatments, and then it was found that the regulation patterns of contents of proline and trehalose in response to various dehydration stresses were differential, or even the opposite, which shows that plant may take different coping strategies to deal with different stresses, when stresses come. Furthermore, expression profiles of these genes in different organs and tissues under non-stress and abiotic stress were investigated through quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) analyses in cassava. Expression profiles exhibited clear differences among different tissues under non-stress and various dehydration stress conditions. We found that the leaf and tuberous root tissues had the greatest and least responses, respectively, to drought stress through the ethylene signaling pathway in cassava. Moreover, tuber and root tissues had the greatest and least reponses to osmotic and salt stresses through ethylene signaling in cassava, respectively. These results show that these plant tissues had differential expression levels of genes involved in ethylene signaling in response to the stresses tested. Moreover, after several gene duplication events, the spatiotemporally differential expression pattern of homologous genes in response to abiotic and biotic stresses may imply their functional diversity as a mechanism for adapting to the environment. Our data provide a framework for further research on the molecular mechanisms of cassava resistance to drought stress and provide a foundation for breeding drought-resistant new cultivars.

An extended Nambu-Jona-Lasinio (eNJL) model with nucleons as the degrees of freedom is used to investigate properties of nuclear matter and neutron stars (NSs), including the binding energy and symmetry energy of the nuclear matter, the core-crust transition density, and mass-radius relation of NSs. The fourth-order symmetry energy at saturation density is also investigated. When the bulk properties of nuclear matter at saturation density are used to determine the model parameters, the double solutions of parameters are obtained for a given nuclear incompressibility. It is shown that the isovector-vector interaction has a significant influence on the nuclear matter and NS properties, and the sign of isovector-vector coupling constant is critical in the determination of the trend of the symmetry energy and equation of state. The effects of the other model parameters and symmetry energy slope at saturation density are discussed.

The Naozhi Au–Cu deposit is located on the continental margin of Northeast China, forming part of the West Pacific porphyry–epithermal gold–copper metallogenic belt. In this paper, we systematically analyzed the compositions, homogenization temperatures, and salinity of fluid inclusions as well as their noble gas isotopic and Pb isotopic compositions from the deposit. These new data show that (1) five types of fluid inclusions were identified as pure gas inclusions (V-type), pure liquid inclusions (L-type), gas–liquid two-phase inclusions (W-type, as the main fluid inclusions (FIs)), CO2-bearing inclusions (C-type), and daughter-mineral-bearing polyphase inclusions (S-type); (2) W-type FIs in quartz crystals of early, main, and late stage are homogenized at temperatures of 324.7–406.7, 230–338.8, and 154.6–308 °C, with salinities of 2.40–7.01 wt% NaCleq, 1.73–9.47 wt% NaCleq, and 6.29 wt% NaCleq, respectively. S-type FIs in quartz crystals of early stage are homogenized at temperatures of 328.6–400 °C, with salinities of 39.96–46.00 wt% NaCleq; (3) Raman analysis results reveal that the vapor compositions of early ore-forming fluids consisted of CO2 and H2O, with H2O gradually increasing and CO2 being absent at the late mineralization stage; (4) fluid inclusions in pyrite and chalcopyrite have 3He/4He ratios of 0.03–0.104 Ra, 20Ne/22Ne ratios of 9.817–9.960, and 40Ar/36Ar ratios of 324–349. These results indicate that the percentage of radiogenic 40Ar* in fluid inclusions varies from 8.8 to 15.5 %, containing 84.5–91.2 % atmospheric 40Ar; (5) the 206Pb/204Pb, 207Pb/204Pb, and 206Pb/204Pb ratios of sulfides are 18.1822–18.3979, 15.5215–15.5998, and 38.1313–38.3786, respectively. These data combined with stable isotope data and the chronology of diagenesis and metallogenesis enable us suppose that the ore-forming fluids originated from the melting of the lower crust, caused by the subduction of an oceanic slab, whereas the mineralized fluids were exsolved from the late crystallization stage and subsequently contaminated by crustal materials/fluids during ascent, including meteoric water, and the mineral precipitation occurred at a shallow crustal level.