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Methyl orange (MO) is a main organic water pollutants that has been attracted a lot of attention; it can be degraded under photoirradiation in the presence of H2O2. Herein, we developed two Cu(I)-b...

Two novel transition metal coordination polymers (CPs) of {Cu(tdc)(Hdmea)2 (1, Hdmea = N,N-dimethylethanolamine, tdc = 2,5-thiopenedicarboxylate) and [Co3(H2O)3(tdc)3(dioxane)]·2(dioxane) (2) were prepared via the reaction of Co(NO3)2·6H2O or Cu(NO3)2·3H2O and H2tdc with or without the template reagent Hdmea. The following experiments were carried out to determine the treatment activity for compounds against nerve injury. Firstly, the real time RT-PCR was carried out to determine the miR-219 relative expression in the nerve cells. Then the activation level of the AMPK signaling pathway in the nerve cells was measured with western blot. In addition to this, the ELISA detection was also used in this research, for the inflammatory cytokines’ evaluation. Finally, the inhibition of the compound 1 and compound 2 on the death of the nerve cells was determined with MTT assay.

Age and wounding are two major determinants for regeneration. In plants, the root regeneration is triggered by wound-induced auxin biosynthesis. As plants age, the root regenerative capacity gradually decreases. How wounding leads to the auxin burst and how age and wound signals collaboratively regulate root regenerative capacity are poorly understood. Here, we show that the increased levels of three closely-related miR156-targeted Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) SQUAMOSA PROMOTER BINDING PROTEIN-LIKE (SPL) transcription factors, SPL2, SPL10, and SPL11, suppress root regeneration with age by inhibiting wound-induced auxin biosynthesis. Mechanistically, we find that a subset of APETALA2/ETHYLENE RESPONSE FACTOR (AP2/ERF) transcription factors including ABSCISIC ACID REPRESSOR1 and ERF109 is rapidly induced by wounding and serves as a proxy for wound signal to induce auxin biosynthesis. In older plants, SPL2/10/11 directly bind to the promoters of AP2/ERFs and attenuates their induction, thereby dampening auxin accumulation at the wound. Our results thus identify AP2/ERFs as a hub for integration of age and wound signal for root regeneration.

Theranostic anticancer agents with dual functions of diagnosis and therapy are in highly demand for breast cancer. Herein, a triphenylphosphonium (TPP)-decorated aggregation-induced emission (AIE)-based Pt(IV) prodrug ACPt was developed, which exhibited superior anticancer performance with novel anticancer mechanism of dual modulation of apoptosis and autophagy inhibition. The experimental data showed that ACPt induced increased reactive oxygen species (ROS), and decreased mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP). The morphology and function of mitochondria were also severely damaged and ACPt showed strong inhibition to both mitochondrial and glycolytic bioenergetics. Moreover, DNA damage and cell cycle arrest in the S-phase were also observed after the ACPt treatment, eventually leading to the apoptosis and autophagy inhibition of cancer cells. Furthermore, ACPt also indicated excellent anti-proliferation activity in 3D multicellular tumor spheroids (MCTSs), suggesting the potential to inhibit solid tumors in vivo. Our observation demonstrated that ACPt could serve as a promising anticancer theranostic agent toward breast cancers for prodrug activation monitoring and image-guided chemotherapy.

In this study, the joint effects of Cd(II), Pb(II) and atrazine (ATR) on Solidago Canadensis L. were investigated. The results showed that soil containing Cd, Pb and ATR could inhibit root elongation of Solidago Canadensis L., and that there was a positive linear relationship between the inhibitory rate of root elongation and the concentrations of Pb(II). The mixture of Cd(II) and Pb(II)-ATR in soil showed a significant adverse effect on root and shoot biomass of Solidago Canadensis L. Acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) contents increased slightly at the lower concentrations of Cd(II)-ATR, then decreased when Cd(II)-ATR concentrations were higher than those of 1.0 TUmix(Cd+ATR). The toxic effect of Pb(II)-ATR on the ASA contents of Solidago Canadensis L. was greater than that of Cd(II)-ATR. Soluble sugar contents firstly decreased and then increased with increasing concentrations of Cd(II)-ATR and displayed fluctuation with increasing concentrations of Pb(II)-ATR. Total protein contents increased with increasing concentrations of Cd(II) and Pb(II)-ATR, relative to the control sample. The NP-SH contents showed a significant increase up to 12.2 mg/gfw of Cd(II)-ATR, followed by a significant decline to 4.5 mg/gfw after 14 days of exposure. The effect of Pb(II)-ATR was similar to that of Cd(II)-ATR but the amount of NP-SH was not higher than that of Cd(II)-ATR.

In this study, the interaction influence of Cd(II) and nano-TiO2 on marine algae was studied by observing its aggregation and adsorption kinetics, accumulation of Cd(II) in algae in the presence of TiO2, and as a promoter on Cd(II) toxicity. The results showed that diffusion limited aggregation of TiO2 nanoparticles takes place within 10 min in the absence of Cd(II). In the presence of Cd(II), the rate of aggregate growth is significantly higher than the rate for diffusion-limited aggregation around algae within 5 min, the TiO2 nanoparticles are more stable than in the presence of Cd(II). That is, in the presence of Cd(II), enhanced aggregation occurs of TiO2 nanoparticles. Cd(II) was adsorbed onto algae quickly in the presence TiO2 nanoparticles and equilibrium was reached within 30 min and relatively slow in the absence of Cd(II). The equilibrium concentration of the adsorption of Cd(II) is longer than that of the Cd(II), and TiO2 nanoparticles exist synchronously for the algae, The bioaccumula...

A series of novel azobicyclo[3.3.0]octane derivatives were synthesized and evaluated as dipeptidyl peptidase 4 (DPP-4) inhibitors. The effort resulted in the discovery of inhibitor 2a, which exhibited excellent efficacies in an oral glucose tolerance test. Introduction of methyl group (2j) could prolong the inhibition of serum DPP-4 activity.

This paper focuses on investigation of gas recombination in a positive-limited-sealed Ni–MHx cell. The positive electrodes were prepared by electrochemical impregnation of fibrous nickel plaques. The metal hydride negative electrodes were made by pasting the mixture of rare-earth hydrogen storage alloy powders, conducting and binding agents on foamed nickel substrates. The measurement of the positive capacity at different charge times was used to estimate the partial current for oxygen evolution at the same time. The effects of charge rate, electrolyte saturation level and initial state of charge of the positive electrodes on the recombination were investigated in sealed Ni–MHx cells. By determining the differential capacity of nickel hydroxide electrodes, an improved mathematical model was used to evaluate the gas recombination parameters during charge, overcharge, rest and discharge of the positive-limited-sealed Ni–MHx cell. The gas recombination during rest, discharge and overdischarge was also examined. The oxygen recombination on the nickel hydroxide electrodes can be neglected due to the consumption of water when the nickel hydroxide electrodes were discharged. The longer overdischarge produced an increase in cell pressure for the sealed Ni–MHx cell at an electrolyte unsaturated level and the evolving gas can be recombined by a following recharge operation. © 1997 SCI.

The flexible plaque of porous nickel is crucially important for the cycle life of nickel/cadmium, nickel/hydrogen and nickel/metal hydride batteries. The use of hollow fiber can increase the flexibility of porous plaque. The sintered porous plaque containing hollow nickel fiber is fabricated by a traditional. slurry-scraping technology. The pore-creating agent and the pore-strengthening additive are applied to increase the plaque porosity and optimize the pore structure. Nickel hydroxide is used as a pore-strengthening agent and it also assists the gasification of organic pore-creating agent to some extent. The plaque porosity reaches more than 88% when using thinner skeleton and large amount of hollow fiber.

Pentachlorophenol (PCP) is widely distributed and highly persistent in soil, and represents a threat to the health of ecosystems. The present study aimed to assess the toxicity, bioavailability and uptake kinetics by earthworms on PCP in soils as a function of different aging periods with the attempt to select a good uptake kinetic. The results show that body residues in the controls were significantly different from all the body residues. The bioconcentration factor increased with time at both PCP loadings, the neutral red retention time for earthworms was reduced with increasing exposure concentration of PCP since 28 days of aging, and the NRRT assay was highly sensitive to PCP in E. fetid a lysosomal and appearing decisively more sensitive than the other applied assays, the lysosomal membrane stability may therefore be a useful biomarker tool to estimate toxic effects of PCP on earthworms. The uptake kinetics of PCP in test soil by earthworms could be well described by the uptake kinetics model, with increased aging time, the bioavailability of PCP increased and in theory the rate constants calculated in uptake and elimination studies are indeed constants and can be used to predict accumulation in earthworm. The earthworm uptake PCP demonstrated the enhanced availability of PCP with LMWOA addition, this provides an information to enhance availability of PCP by organic acids.

This paper focuses on investigation of gas recombination in a positive-limited-sealed Ni–MHx cell. The positive electrodes were prepared by electrochemical impregnation of fibrous nickel plaques. The metal hydride negative electrodes were made by pasting the mixture of rare-earth hydrogen storage alloy powders, conducting and binding agents on foamed nickel substrates. The measurement of the positive capacity at different charge times was used to estimate the partial current for oxygen evolution at the same time. The effects of charge rate, electrolyte saturation level and initial state of charge of the positive electrodes on the recombination were investigated in sealed Ni–MHx cells. By determining the differential capacity of nickel hydroxide electrodes, an improved mathematical model was used to evaluate the gas recombination parameters during charge, overcharge, rest and discharge of the positive-limited-sealed Ni–MHx cell. The gas recombination during rest, discharge and overdischarge was also examined. The oxygen recombination on the nickel hydroxide electrodes can be neglected due to the consumption of water when the nickel hydroxide electrodes were discharged. The longer overdischarge produced an increase in cell pressure for the sealed Ni–MHx cell at an electrolyte unsaturated level and the evolving gas can be recombined by a following recharge operation. © 1997 SCI.

The p16 tumor suppressor gene is inactivated by promoter region hypermethylation in many types of tumor. Recent studies showed that aberrant methylation of the p16 gene is an early event in many tumors, especially in lung cancer, and may constitute a new biomarker for early detection and monitoring of prevention trials. We detected tumor-associated aberrant hypermethylation of the p16 gene in plasma and tissue DNA from 153 specimens using a modified semi-nested methylation-specific PCR (MSP) combining plastic microchip electrophoresis or slab gel electrophoresis, respectively. Specimens were from 79 lung cancer patients, 15 abdominal tumor patients, 30 positive controls and 30 negative controls. The results showed that the positive rate obtained by microchip electrophoresis was more than 26.6% higher and the same specificity was kept when compared with slab gel electrophoresis. The microchip electrophoresis can rapidly and accurately analyze the PCR products of methylated DNA and obviously improve the positive rate of diagnosis of cancer patients when compared with gel electrophoresis. This method with the high assay sensitivity might be used for detection of methylation of p16 gene and even to facilitate early diagnosis of cancer patients.

The electronic structure and the optical properties of Magnli phase titanium suboxide Ti8O15 are studied by using the plane-wave ultrasoft pesudopotential method based on the density functional theory. The band structure reveals that the energy band gap of Ti8O15 is reduced a lot compared with that of anatase TiO2, which is due to the fact that O 2p, Ti 3p and Ti 3d of Ti8O15 shift toward the left compared with those of TiO2, and a new electron energy level formed by the redundant electrons of Ti 3d and Ti 3p of Ti8O15 due to the lack of oxygen atom in lattice. The results from DOS analysis show that electron distribution near the Fermi level of Ti8O15 is different from that of anatase TiO2, contribution of O 2p to Fermi level decreases and that of Ti 3d increases. Compared with anatase TiO2 which only has high ultraviolet light absorption, Ti8O15 has high light absorptivity both in ultraviolet spectrum and visible spectrum, because its narrow forbidden band width results in the red shift toward visible-light region. The light absorptivity calculated results are consistent with those from UV-vis diffuse absorption test results of anatase TiO2 and Magnli phase titanium suboxides.