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Penisarins A (1) and B (2), sesquiterpene coumarins with an unusual tricyclic sesquiterpene system, were isolated from endophytic Penicillium sp. KMU18029. Their structures were elucidated on the b...

Simultaneous enhancement in water flux and removal efficiency during the filtration process remains a big challenge for separation membranes. The porous structure of the filter paper can provide many channels for water transportation, but the separation performance is generally poor. The purpose of this study is to develop a new kind of filter paper consisting of ultralong hydroxyapatite (HAP) nanowires, cellulose fibers (CFs) and double metal oxide (LDO) nanosheets, and to achieve the simultaneous enhancement of both water flux and removal efficiency for high-performance dye separation. In this work, a novel kind of LDO/HAP/CF nanocomposite filter paper consisting of ultralong HAP nanowires and CFs and LDO nanosheets has been developed for rapid water filtration and highly efficient dye adsorption. Positively charged LDO nanosheets can adsorb on the surface of negatively charged ultralong HAP nanowires and embed in the porous networked structure of the LDO/HAP/CF nanocomposite filter paper, which can provide a porous structure for rapid water transportation and can adjust the pore size of the nanocomposite filter paper. As a result, the pure water flux of the LDO/HAP/CF nanocomposite filter paper can be adjusted. The optimized pure water flux of the LDO/HAP/CF nanocomposite filter paper can reach 783.6 L m-2 h-1 bar-1, which is 1.51 times that of the HAP/CF filter paper without LDO nanosheets (518.6 L m-2 h-1 bar-1). More importantly, the adsorption capacity of LDO nanosheets is high for dye molecules, the rejection percentage of Congo red (CR) by the as-prepared HAP/CF filter paper is only 59.8%, and its water flux is 534.7 L m-2 h-1 bar-1. The optimized rejection percentage and water flux of the LDO/HAP/CF nanocomposite filter paper for CR are significantly enhanced (98.3% and 736.8 L m-2 h-1 bar-1, respectively) compared to those of the HAP/CF filter paper. The size of LDO nanosheets has a significant effect on the water flux and dye rejection percentage of the LDO/HAP/CF nanocomposite filter paper. The as-prepared LDO/HAP/CF nanocomposite filter paper is promising for the applications in highly efficient purification of wastewater containing dye molecules.

A new phenanthrene, 2,6-dihydroxy-5,8-dimethoxyphenanthrene (1), was isolated from Pleione praecox. The structure of the new compound was determined on the basis of NMR (1D and 2D) and HR-ESI-MS data. The new compound was also evaluated for its α-glucosidase inhibitory activity. Compared with the positive control acarbose, the new compound exhibited appreciable effect.

Prostate cancer (PCa) is a common aggressive disease worldwide which usually progresses into incurable castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) in most cases after 18–24 months treatment. Androgen receptor (AR) has been considered as a crucial factor involved in CRPC and the study of AR as a potential therapeutic target in CRPC may be helpful in disease control and life-cycle management. In this study, we identified a potent small molecule compound, HG122, that suppressed CRPC cells proliferation and metastasis, and inhibited tumor growth both in subcutaneous and orthotopic tumor model. In addition, HG122 reduced the mRNA expression of PSA and TMPRSS2 which are target genes of AR, resulting in cell growth inhibition and metastasis suppression of CRPC, without affecting the expression of AR mRNA level. Mechanically, HG122 promoted AR protein degradation through the proteasome pathway impairing the AR signaling pathway. In conclusion, HG122 overcomes enzalutamide (ENZ) resistance in CRPC both in vitro and in vivo, thus suggesting HG122 is a potential candidate for the clinical prevention and treatment of CRPC.

A new kind of environmentally friendly filter paper based on ultralong hydroxyapatite nanowires (HAPNWs) and cellulose fibers (CFs) with excellent filtration and adsorption properties has been developed for the application in high-performance water purification. The use of polyamidoamine-epichlorohydrin (PAE) resin increases the wet mechanical strength of the as-prepared HAPNW/CF filter paper. The addition of CFs enhances the mechanical strength of the HAPNW/CF filter paper. Owing to the porous structure and superhydrophilicity of the as-prepared HAPNW/CF filter paper, the pure water flux is as high as 287.28 L m-2 h-1 bar-1 under cross-flow conditions, which is about 3200 times higher than that of the cellulose fiber paper with addition of PAE. More importantly, the as-prepared HAPNW/CF filter paper shows superior performance in the removal of TiO2 nanoparticles (>98.61%) and bacteria (up to 100%) in water by the size exclusion and blocking effect. In addition, the HAPNW/CF filter paper also exhibits high adsorption capacities for methyl blue (273.97 mg g-1) and Pb2+ ions (508.16 mg g-1). The adsorption mechanism of the HAPNW/CF filter paper is investigated. The as-prepared environmentally friendly HAPNW/CF filter paper with both excellent filtration and adsorption properties has promising application in high-performance water purification to tackle the worldwide water scarcity problem.

Complement factor 5a is a potent proinflammatory mediator that contributes to the pathogenesis of numerous inflammatory diseases. Protein-based C5a inhibitors have proven to be clinically valuable. Aptamers, which are oligonucleic acid chains or polypeptides, can bind to target molecules and hence have the potential to be used for detection and blockade of targets. Here, we describe the discovery that the single-stranded DNA aptamer S1 can bind specifically to swine C5a, which can then be quickly selected for with capillary electrophoresis for high-throughput sequencing. Aptamer S1 bound specifically to swine C5a with a dissociation constant of 4 μM as measured by surface plasmon resonance (SPR). Moreover, aptamer S1 inhibited C5a-induced chemotaxis of neutrophils in vitro. Our study suggests that the S1 aptamer has great potential to be a key structure in the development of effective therapeutic agents against inflammatory diseases.

Organic ferroelectrics are highly desirable for their lightweight, mechanical flexibility and biocompatibility. However, the rational design of organic ferroelectrics has always been faced with great challenges. Anilinium bromide (AB) has two structures reported in the Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre, which might be an mmm F2/ m type ferroelastic (AB-1). When we studied its ferroelasticity, we were surprised to discover that there was another crystal (AB-2) in H 2 O besides this one, and they were very difficult to separate. By changing the solvent, we found that AB-1 crystals could be formed in ethanol, where ferroelastic domains were visualized by polarized light microscopy, and AB-2 crystals could be obtained from various crystallisation solvents of methanol, isopropanol, N -butanol, acetonitrile, dimethyl sulphoxide, and N , N -dimethylformamide, which undergo a ferroelectric phase transition with mm 2F m , showing clear ferroelectricity in two phases. To our knowledge, the regulation of ferroelasticity to ferroelectricity by solvent selective effect is unprecedented in the field of ferroelectrics. This work offers an efficient exploratory path to enriching the family of organic ferroelectrics, and should inspire further exploration of the interplay between solvent effect and physical properties.

We successfully prepared water-soluble fullerenol [C60(OH)46] that exhibited a high singlet oxygen quantum yield and efficiently generated reactive oxygen species. Additionally, the water-soluble C60(OH)46 with a higher composition of exposed hydroxyl groups had superior two-photon stability and characteristics compared with that with a lower composition of such groups. Therefore, the prepared fullerenol can be an effective two-photon photosensitizer. The water-soluble C60(OH)46 had favorable two-photon properties. During two-photon photodynamic therapy, the water-soluble C60(OH)46 had substantial antimicrobial activity against Escherichia coli at an ultralow-energy level of 211.2 nJ pixel−1 with 800 scans and a photoexcited wavelength of 760 nm.

We fabricated nanomaterials comprising amino-functionalized and nitrogen-doped graphene quantum dots (amino-N-GQDs) and investigated their photostability and intrinsic luminescence in the near-infrared spectrum to determine their suitability as contrast agents in two-photon imaging (TPI). We observed that amino-N-GQDs with a higher amount of bonded nitrogen and amino-functionalized groups (6.2%) exhibited superior two-photon properties to those with a lower amount of such nitrogen and groups (4.9%). These materials were conjugated with polymers containing sulfur (polystyrene sulfonate, PSS) and nitrogen atoms (polyethylenimine, PEI), forming amino-N-GQD&ndash, PSS&ndash, PEI specimens (amino-N-GQD-polymers). The polymers exhibited a high quantum yield, remarkable stability, and notable two-photon properties and generated no reactive oxygen species, rendering them excellent two-photon contrast agents for bioimaging. An antiepidermal growth factor receptor (AbEGFR) was used for labeling to increase specificity. Two-photon imaging (TPI) of amino-N-GQD (6.2%)-polymer-AbEGFR-treated A431 cancer cells revealed remarkable brightness, intensity, and signal-to-noise ratios for each observation at a two-photon excitation power of 16.9 nJ pixel&minus, 1 under 30 scans and a three-dimensional (3D) depth of 105 &micro, m, indicating that amino-N-GQD (6.2%)-polymer-AbEGFR-treated cells can achieve two-photon luminescence with 71 times less power required for two-photon autofluorescence (1322.8 nJ pixel&minus, 1 with 500 scans) of similar intensity. This economy can minimize photodamage to cells, rendering amino-N-GQD-polymers suitable for noninvasive 3D bioimaging.

Phytochemical investigation of Bulbophyllum wendlandianum (Kraenzl.) Dammer led to the isolation of twenty-three compounds 1–23 (flavanthrinin 1, coelonin 2, lusianthridin 3, densiflorol B 4, plicatol B 5, batatasin-lll 6, gigantol 7, 5-hydroxy-3,3′-dimethoxy-2-(p-hydroxybenzyl) bibenzyl 8, 2,2-dimethyl-5-hydroxy-6-carboxy-7-(2-phenylethyl) 9, tristin 10, p-hydroxybenzyl ethyl ether 11, p-hydroxybenzaldehyde 12, hydroquinone 13, coniferaldehyde 14, p-hydroxybenzyl alcohol 15, 3,4-dihydroxy benzaldehyde 16, stigmasterol 17, β-sitosterol 18, ergosterol peroxide 19, (+)pinoresinol 20, n-butyl sulfoxide 21, tridec-4E-en-l-yl acetate 22, ethyl linolate 23) including five phenanthrenes 1–5, five bibenzyls 6–10, six phenols 11–16, three sterols 17–19, one lignan 20, one n-butyl sulfoxide 21 and two fatty acids 22–23. The structures of these compounds were elucidated by spectroscopic analyses. This is the first report of isolation of compounds 1–23 from Bulbophyllum wendlandianum and compounds 8–9, 11, 13, 15–16 and 19–23 within genus Bulbophyllum. Compound 21 is a new natural product, isolated from a natural source for the first time. Furthermore, the chemotaxonomic significance of the isolates was also discussed.

Ammonia-N is toxic to many aquatic animals and serves as a key stress factor in aquatic environments. The effects of ammonia-N stress on the immune response of darkbarbel catfish Pelteobagrus vachellii were investigated in this study. Changes in overall histology, and in the expression of complement C3 and immunoglobulin M (IgM) in spleen and head kidney, and lysozyme and C3 in serum, were measured in 1 and 5 mg/L ammonia-N. Hyperemia, melano-macrophage assembly and loose splenosis were evident in spleen tissue. Both lysozyme and component C3 were significantly reduced in serum (P 0.05). IgM expression also increased significantly at 6–12 h in spleen and 6–24 h in head kidney after the 1 mg/L treatment (P

We demonstrated a practical microfluidic approach to fabricate extremely monodisperse millimeter-sized poly(divinylbenzene) (PDVB) foam shells with the comparable double emulsion templates. At millimeter scale, the emulsification process was more complex and more difficult to control due to the very large characteristic sizes and velocities. A new kind of three-dimension co-axial microfluidic chip including a Y-shaped compound channels was designed to maintain more stable and robust flow field and regular emulsification. The hydrodynamic features of the double-emulsion droplet formation were investigated. The results showed perfect encapsulation and continuous emulsification could be obtained by one-step dripping (Caouter ∈ (0.018,0.09)). The size of the outlet channel would be comparable with the target droplet. Besides, droplet diameters could similarly be plotted as a function of capillary number close to the general microfluidic ones. After photo-polymerization and supercritical drying, spherical and concentric PDVB foam shells were obtained to satisfy the inertial fusion energy experiments with large diameter (3–5.45 mm), thin wall thickness (50–250 μm), low density (50–300 mg/cm3), and a less than 0.1% polydispersity. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 2017. © 2017 Society of Plastics Engineers

The removal of organic solvent plays an important role in the fabrication of polymer spheres by emulsion-based solvent evaporation technique. Mathematical model describing the mass transfer of fluorobenzene (FB) inside the O/W emulsion droplet, from the droplet to the continuous phase and from the continuous phase to the atmosphere to produce millimeter-sized polystyrene (PS) spheres was established. A novel approach based on finite volume method was developed to numerically solve the mathematical equations concerning the shrinkage of the solidifying droplet. Using this method, the variations of the droplet size and the concentration field inside the droplet were captured. The details of the solidification process which cannot be obtained using experimental methods were revealed. Several factors influencing the curing rate and mass transfer process, such as droplet number, initial droplet diameter, initial concentration and addition of FB in the continuous phase, were investigated in detail. The simulation results indicated that changing the initial concentration or changing the initial diameter of the droplet to tune the solidified particle size were essentially the same considering their effects on the details of the solidification process. When adding FB in the continuous phase to reduce the curing rate and concentration gradient, dispersing the added FB into droplets with the same diameter to that of the PS/FB droplet to be solidified has the most significant effect.

The development of rare earth adsorbent with high adsorption capacity and rapid adsorption rate is one of the most important issues for enriching and recovering rare earth ions. In the present work, an inorganic phosphorous acid-modified mesoporous SBA-15 (P-SBA-15) was facilely synthesized by a simple and cost-effective post-grafting approach, and its adsorption behavior towards the rare earth ion Gd(III) was investigated. Benefiting from high specific surface area (669.7 m2·g−1), large pore size (9.1 nm), and the presence of abundant phosphorous acid groups (1.4 mmol·g−1) on the surface, the P-SBA-15 exhibited an excellent performance in terms of capacity and kinetics on adsorption of Gd(III). Under optimized conditions, the adsorption capacity of P-SBA-15 towards Gd(III) was up to 1.3 mmol·g−1 at 30 °C, which is the second highest value as compared with previously reported Gd(III) adsorbents. Moreover, the adsorption of Gd(III) onto P-SBA-15 was ultrafast, achieving adsorption equilibrium within only 2 min. Test of reusability revealed that this mesoporous adsorbent could be repeatedly used several times without significant loss in binding capacity. This work not only provides a new insight into the fabrication of phosphorous acid-functionalized mesoporous silica, but also demonstrates its prospective application in adsorptive removal and/or recovery of rare earth ions.

Monitoring the consumption of pharmaceuticals and licit drugs is important for assessing the needs of public health owing to the impact on individuals as well as society. The present work applied wastewater-based epidemiology to profile the spatial patterns of metformin, nicotine, and caffeine use and their correlations. Influent wastewater samples were collected from 27 wastewater treatment plants in 22 typical Chinese cities that covered all geographic regions of the country. The consumption of metformin ranged from 0.02 g/d/1000 inh to 8.92 g/d/1000 inh, whereas caffeine and nicotine consumption ranged from 4.33 g/d/1000 inh to 394 g/d/1000 inh and 0.17 g/d/1000 inh to 1.88 g/d/1000 inh, respectively. There were significant regional differences in the consumption of caffeine, with the highest consumption in East China and the lowest consumption in Northeast China. The consumption and concentration of caffeine were related to the gross domestic product and per capita disposable income of urban residents, respectively. There was a correlation between the concentrations of caffeine and cotinine (a nicotine metabolite), thereby indicating that individuals that use one of these substances are likely to use the other substance. A significant relationship was found between the concentration of metformin and cotinine, thereby implying that the use of tobacco may be correlated with type 2 diabetes. Co-analysis of these substances in wastewater may provide a more accurate picture of substance use situations within different communities and provide more information on human health, human behavior, and the economy. This report describes the newest study related to the consumption of metformin among the general population in China.

Sialic acid modification is a kind of post-translational modification. To investigate the regulation effect of sialic acid on neural differentiation, we used CycloManN propanyl perac (CycloManN pro), a metabolic precursor of sialic acid, to treat PC12 cells. We noted that CycloManN pro indeed robustly promoted global sialylation detected by MAL II lectin blot in PC12 cells. Simultaneously, we interestingly found that the neurite outgrowth of PC12 cells was significantly promoted by the CycloManN pro treatment. The profile analysis of sialylated proteins showed that a protein band at 55KD was greatly enhanced especially in PC12L cells after CycloManN pro treatment. After enrichment with lectin MAL II, the proteins in this band were analyzed by mass spectrometry. The results showed that 23 proteins were in the band, but the score of vimentin was the highest among them. To investigate further the role of vimentin in the process of neurite differentiation, vimentin construct was transfected into PC12 cells. We interestingly observed that ectopic expression of vimentin significantly enhanced the neurite outgrowth induced by CycloManN pro. However, after three potential glycosylation sites (Ser-7, Thr-33, Ser-34:) of vimentin were mutated to alanine, overexpression of the mutated vimentin completely lost the enhancement activity for the neural differentiation even in the presence of CycloManN pro. Taken together, our study demonstrated that vimentin was important in the induction of neural differentiation by CycloManN pro.

A novel and facile method that needs only a few steps of dissolution, gelation and supercritical carbon dioxide (ScCO2) drying has been developed to fabricate ultralow density cellulose triacetate aerogels (TAC). In this method, using dioxane as a solvent and isopropanol as a non-solvent, regeneration and solvent exchange are not necessary due to the phase separation and heat-induced gelation and the good solubility of dioxane/isopropanol in ScCO2, thus leading to a more efficient synthesis and better quality of aerogels in terms of less shrinkage and breakage. The relationship between the theoretical density and the actual density of the TAC aerogel is discussed, and the actual density of the aerogels could be well tuned in the range between 5 mg cm−3 and 50 mg cm−3. These newly developed nanostructured TAC aerogels were characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and nitrogen adsorption. All the prepared aerogels showed both a nanostructured solid network and a nanoporous network, together with specific fiber sizes of about 30 nm. The fiber thickness and pore sizes are much lower than that of the normal porous polymer materials. The specific surface area of the aerogels with different density ranged from 229 m2 g−1 to 958 m2 g−1, as measured by nitrogen adsorption tests. The porosity of all these aerogels was higher than 96%. The thermodecomposition behavior of TAC aerogels and the original TAC granules was almost the same, with a rather high decomposition temperature.

HF-based wet deep etching is an effective method for improving the laser damage resistance of fused silica optics. However, the fact that the etching process involves HF reaction makes the operation very unsafe. Potassium hydroxide (KOH) has recently shown great potential to outperform the more commonly used HF-acid as an etchant for the damage resistance enhancement of fused silica optical surface. In this paper, we present a detailed investigation into how the KOH-based shallow etching process affects the polished surface of fused silica. The results show that KOH-based etching does a good job at exposing the subsurface damage and increasing the laser damage threshold of fused silica while keeping the surface roughness nearly unchanged. Potential factors that limit the further increase in surface damage threshold of fused silica are also delved. The study offers an exciting option for fabricating high-quality fused silica optics with shallow wet etching under higher safety conditions that cannot be achieved with conventional HF-based wet etching approaches.

Background Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) has become a useful tool in long-term or short-term continuous monitoring of illicit drugs consumption over the world. Methods We investigated the trend of methamphetamine (METH) use between 2015 and 2018 through WBE in Dalian, a typical Chinese city. Samples were collected in 11 municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). An analytical method, solid-phase extraction combined with trifluoroacetic anhydride derivatization prior to gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) analysis was applied to detect METH concentrations. Results During the sampling period, the METH concentrations increased slowly from 315 ± 243 ng/L in 2015 to 523 ± 549 ng/L in 2016, followed by a significant decrease with the concentrations 188 ± 187 ng/L in 2017 and 54.6 ± 42.9 ng/L in 2018. Ammonium nitrogen (NH4-N) was applied to estimate population size. The average coefficient of variation for population in 11 WWTPs was 35.3 ± 8.9%, reflecting the dynamic variations of population effectively. For METH consumption, there was a gradual increase from 2015 (231 mg/day/1000 people) to 2016 (414 mg/day/1000 people) and a significant linear decrease to 2017 (206 mg/day/1000 people) and 2018 (53.9 mg/day/1000 people). The prevalence of METH increased from 2015 (0.78%) to 2016 (1.06%), then decreased to 2017 (0.55%) and 2018 (0.17%), showed similar trends with the consumption. Conclusions The obvious reduction trends of METH consumption via WBE over the period in Dalian provides objective evidence for declined METH consumption in local population. The reduction is probably due to the severe crack-down of illicit drugs by the government.

Mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) is a core component of raptor-mTOR (mTORC1) and rictor-mTOR (mTORC2) complexes that control diverse cellular processes. Both mTORC1 and mTORC2 regulate several elements downstream of type I insulin-like growth factor receptor (IGF-IR) and insulin receptor (InsR). However, it is unknown whether and how mTOR regulates IGF-IR and InsR themselves. Here we show that mTOR possesses unexpected tyrosine kinase activity and activates IGF-IR/InsR. Rapamycin induces the tyrosine phosphorylation and activation of IGF-IR/InsR, which is largely dependent on rictor and mTOR. Moreover, mTORC2 promotes ligand-induced activation of IGF-IR/InsR. IGF- and insulin-induced IGF-IR/InsR phosphorylation is significantly compromised in rictor-null cells. Insulin receptor substrate (IRS) directly interacts with SIN1 thereby recruiting mTORC2 to IGF-IR/InsR and promoting rapamycin- or ligand-induced phosphorylation of IGF-IR/InsR. mTOR exhibits tyrosine kinase activity towards the general tyrosine kinase substrate poly(Glu-Tyr) and IGF-IR/InsR. Both recombinant mTOR and immunoprecipitated mTORC2 phosphorylate IGF-IR and InsR on Tyr1131/1136 and Tyr1146/1151, respectively. These effects are independent of the intrinsic kinase activity of IGF-IR/InsR, as determined by assays on kinase-dead IGF-IR/InsR mutants. While both rictor and mTOR immunoprecitates from rictor(+/+) MCF-10A cells exhibit tyrosine kinase activity towards IGF-IR and InsR, mTOR immunoprecipitates from rictor(-/-) MCF-10A cells do not induce IGF-IR and InsR phosphorylation. Phosphorylation-deficient mutation of residue Tyr1131 in IGF-IR or Tyr1146 in InsR abrogates the activation of IGF-IR/InsR by mTOR. Finally, overexpression of rictor promotes IGF-induced cell proliferation. Our work identifies mTOR as a dual-specificity kinase and clarifies how mTORC2 promotes IGF-IR/InsR activation.

The natural agent rhein is an ananthraquinone derivative of rhubarb, which has anticancer effects. To determine the mechanisms underlying the anticancer effects of rhein, we detected the effect of rhein on several oncoproteins. Here, we show that rhein induces β‐catenin degradation in both hepatoma cell HepG2 and cervical cancer cell Hela. Treatment of HepG2 and Hela cells with rhein shortens the half‐life of β‐catenin. The proteasome inhibitor MG132 blunts the downregulation of β‐catenin by rhein. The induction of β‐catenin degradation by rhein is dependent on GSK3 but independent of Akt. Treatment of HepG2 and Hela cells with GSK3 inhibitor or GSK3β knockdown abrogates the effect of rhein on β‐catenin. GSK3β knockdown compromises the inhibition of HepG2 and Hela cell growth by rhein. Furthermore, rhein dose not downregulate β‐catenin mutant that is deficient of phosphorylation at multiple residues including Ser33, Ser37, Thr41 and Ser45. Moreover, rhein induces cell cycle arrest at S phase in both HepG2 and Hela cells. Intraperitoneal administration of rhein suppresses tumour cells proliferation and tumour growth in HepG2 xenografts model. Finally, the levels of β‐catenin are reduced in rhein‐treated tumours. These data demonstrate that rhein can induce β‐catenin degradation and inhibit tumour growth.

Capillaries-based co-flowing microfluidic devices were designed and then fabricated for the controlled production of water-in-oil-in-water (W/O/W) double-emulsion droplets, where polystyrene dissolved in fluobenzene was employed as the oil phase. Two configurations of the co-flowing devices were employed in the experiments. In the so-called one-step device, the inner capillary tip locates at the same cross-section of the middle capillary tip. Thus, the core drop and the shell drop depart from their capillaries ends simultaneously, forming a double-emulsion drop in one step. While in the so-called two step device, the inner capillary tip locates upstream to the middle capillary tip. The core drop and the shell drop break off from their respective capillaries ends successively, forming a double-emulsion drop in two steps. The effect of the fluids flow rates on the double-emulsion droplets size as well as their formation mechanism was studied comprehensively in the proposed devices. Experimental results implied that slight difference in device configurations would lead to significant difference in droplet formation mechanisms and thus size-control laws. In the two-step device, the inner stream of fluid had little influence on the breakage and the outer diameter of the double-emulsion drops, while in the one-step device the effect was significant. With the produced double-emulsion droplets, millimeter-sized polymer capsules with single hollow cavity and ultra-thin shells were obtained by solidifying the oil layers of the compound drops using the solvent evaporation method.

Gracilaria eucheumoides Linn (Gracilariaceae; G. eucheumoides) is abundant in dietary fiber, which aids the clearance of excess cholesterol from the blood and maintains stable blood glucose levels. The aim of the present study was to investigate the antifatigue effect of G. eucheumoides in mice and the physiological and molecular mechanisms underlying this effect. Mice were randomly divided into four groups and three of the groups were administered different doses of G. eucheumoides extract. A loaded swimming test demonstrated that the swimming times of the low-, medium- and high-dose groups were longer than those of the control group. Examinations revealed that the liver and muscle glycogen, lactate dehydrogenase and blood glucose concentration levels of the treatment groups were higher than those of the control group (P 0.05). Quantitative polymerase chain reaction showed that the gene expression levels of glucose transport protein 4 and AMP-activated protein kinase in the medium-dose group exhibited the largest increases, compared with the other treatment groups, and were 3.0- and 1.8-fold higher than those in the control group, respectively. The results of the present study indicated that G. eucheumoides exerts an antifatigue effect on mice.

Cold atmospheric plasma is considered to be a promising approach for decontamination purposes, e.g. dyeing water decoloration. In order to better understand the complex mechanism of the plasma physics coupled with the plasma chemistry involved in the interaction of the polluted water with the discharge plasma, a novel approach was proposed to study the in situ oxidation process between the plasma and liquid phase in two dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma reactors with different bottom shape (concave vs. plane), by using the planar laser induced fluorescence technique to visualize the process dynamics. Rhodamine B was employed as the tracer dye, which was gradually decomposed by the combined effect of the chemically active radicals (OH, O, H2O2, etc.) as well as the intense UV radiation in the DBD plasma process. The results showed that the DBD plasma filaments induced certain fluctuation on the Rhodamine B liquid layer, which accordingly intensified the mass transfer to a large extent thus accelerated the oxidation process. The comparison of the measured concentration fields in the two DBD plasma reactors illustrated that the DBD reactor #1 with concave bottom showed higher oxidation efficiency than the DBD reactor #2 with plane bottom. Additionally, the experiments demonstrated that the oxidation efficiency in the DBD plasma water treatment was much better than that in the reactor with pure oxidation by ozone gas, which can be further improved by injecting the additional oxygen gas bubbles into the liquid phase in the plasma reactor.

A novel approach, i.e., the reactive planar laser induced fluorescence (reactive-PLIF) technique, is developed to study the coupled process of mass transfer and reaction between gas and liquid (e.g., droplet in this work) by quantitatively recording the dynamic change of fluorescence signal intensity in the liquid phase emitted from a fluorescence dye (e.g., Rhodamine B). The concentration of the dye in the droplet varies in time and space due to the instantaneous oxidation reaction as well as the coupled mass transfer from ozone gas to the droplet. A rich variety of micro-scale mixing behaviors inside millimeter-sized droplets has been revealed under different environmental conditions. When the surrounding gas flows smoothly across the droplet, the concentration profiles inside the drop follows well-defined shrinking-core model. While, the disturbance induced from a side blowing gas can significantly intensify the micro-scale mixing inside the droplet so that the integrated mass transfer and the oxidation reaction are accelerated evidently. During the droplet formation, the dynamic change of droplet in size enhances the internal mixing and surface renewal, which becomes the dominant step for the whole mass transfer limited reaction performance. Particle image velocimetry (PIV) measurements help to understand the flow patterns corresponding to the above-mentioned experiments. The secondary circulation flows are revealed during the droplet formation process, which is the reason for the mass transfer intensification. As a general method to investigate the gas–liquid mass transfer and reaction, the reactive-PLIF technique provides straightforward visualization measurement of liquid mixing, which will benefit to develop droplet-based reactors and processes.

Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) is considered a signal molecule inducing cellular stress. Both heat shock (HS) and Cd can increase H2O2 content. We investigated the involvement of H2O2 in HS- and Cd-mediated changes in the expression of ascorbate peroxidase (APX) and glutathione reductase (GR) in leaves of rice seedlings. HS treatment increased the content of H2O2 before it increased activities of APX and GR in rice leaves. Moreover, HS-induced H2O2 production and APX and GR activities could be counteracted by the NADPH oxidase inhibitors dipehenylene iodonium (DPI) and imidazole (IMD). HS-induced OsAPX2 gene expression was associated with HS-induced APX activity but was not regulated by H2O2. Cd-increased H2O2 content and APX and GR activities were lower with than without HS. Cd did not increase the expression of OsAPX and OsGR without HS treatment. Cd increased H2O2 content by Cd before it increased APX and GR activities without HS. Treatment with DPI and IMD effectively inhibited Cd-induced H2O2 production and APX and GR activities. Moreover, the effects of DPI and IMD could be rescued with H2O2 treatment. H2O2 may be involved in the regulation of HS- and Cd-increased APX and GR activities in leaves of rice seedlings.

The present study examined the roles of the specific surface area (SSA), diameter, and length of carbon nanotubes (CNT) on the adsorption of phenanthrene (PNT) by analyzing the adsorption isotherms obtained with several single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNT) and multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWNT). At low equilibrium concentrations (e.g., 1 ppb), MWNTs with larger outer diameters exhibited higher PNT adsorption capacity on an SSA basis than those with smaller diameters. With increasing equilibrium concentration, adsorption on an SSA basis became independent of MWNT diameter, and the total surface area controlled maximum adsorption capacity. A similar analysis for the adsorption of naphthalene, a planar molecule with one less benzene ring but 20 times higher solubility than PNT, showed no correlation with respect to MWNT outer diameter. The results indicated that the surface curvature of MWNT was more important on the adsorption of PNT than on the adsorption of naphthalene. Specific surface area normalized isotherms did not show a correlation between PNT adsorption and lengths of SWNTs and MWNTs. Characterization results indicated that the morphology of CNTs plays an important role on the SSA and pore volume. Data from the manufacturer may not always represent the characteristics of CNTs in a particular batch. Therefore, accurate characterization of CNTs is critical to systematically examine the behavior of CNTs, such as adsorption and transport, in environmental systems.

Magnesium (Mg) deficiency in plants is a widespread problem, affecting productivity and quality in agriculture. The mechanism of Mg deficiency inducing antioxidant enzyme activities has not been elucidated in rice. We examined the relationship among abscisic acid (ABA), H2O2, and antioxidant enzymes in the leaves of rice seedlings grown under conditions of Mg deficiency. The expression of OsRab16A, an ABA responsive gene, was used to determine the content of ABA. Mg deficiency resulted in increased ABA content in leaves of rice seedlings. The production of H2O2 was examined by 3,3-diaminobenzidine staining and a colorimetric method. Mg deficiency also induced H2O2 production in leaves, which was blocked by dipehnyleneiodonium chloride (DPI), an NADPH oxidase inhibitor. Tungstate (Tu), an ABA biosynthesis inhibitor, was effective in reducing Mg deficiency-increased ABA content, as well as Mg deficiency-induced H2O2 production. Both Tu and DPI were effective in reducing Mg deficiency-induced activities of superoxide dismutase, ascorbate peroxidase, glutathione reductase, and catalase in the leaves. Mg deficiency-induced ABA accumulation may trigger increased production of H2O2, which may involve plasma-membrane NADPH oxidase, and, in turn, up-regulates the activities of antioxidant enzymes in leaves of rice seedlings.

Cadmium (Cd) is one of the most toxic heavy metals and inhibits physiological processes of plants. Magnesium (Mg) is known as one of the essential nutrients for plants. Mg deficiency in plants affects metabolic processes. Plants grown in the field may encounter several abiotic stresses, rather than a single stress. Thus, the relationship between Mg nutrition and Cd toxicity is of ecological importance. In this study, effects of Mg deficiency on antioxidant systems and Cd toxicity in rice seedlings were investigated. Mg deficiency significantly decreased Mg concentrations in shoot and roots of rice seedlings. However, fresh weight and dry weight of rice seedlings were not affected by Mg deficiency. The contents of ascorbate and glutathione (GSH), the ratio of GSH/oxidized glutathione, and the activities of superoxide dismutase, ascorbate peroxidase, glutathione reductase, and catalase in Mg-deficient leaves were higher than respective control leaves. Cd toxicity was judged by the decrease in biomass production, decrease in chlorophyll, and induction of oxidative stress. Based on these criteria, we demonstrated that Mg deficiency protected rice seedlings from Cd stress. Moreover, chlorophyll destruction by paraquat was higher in detached leaves from Mg-sufficient than Mg-deficient seedlings. Cd concentration was higher in Mg-deficient shoot and roots than their respective control shoot and roots, suggesting that the protective effect of Mg deficiency against Cd toxicity is not due to reduction of Cd uptake. Moreover, we observed that Cd-decreased Fe and Zn contents in Mg-deficient seedlings were more pronounced than that in Mg-sufficient seedlings. Of particular interest is the finding that the increase in OsIRT1, OsZIP1, and OsZIP3 transcripts caused by Cd in Mg-deficient roots was greater than that in control roots.

A geometrically confined dripping was employed to enable precise control over the dimension and structure of millimeters-sized double-emulsion precursors of poly(divinylbenzene) foam shells in a new kind of double Y-shaped compound channels. Due to the 3D axial-symmetric microfluidic device, a more stable and robust flow field was maintained to obtain a continuous and regular emulsification. Various factors were systematically investigated for the precise size control of dripping in confined channel geometry, such as outlet channel size, fluid properties and flow rates. It was seen that phase properties and synergistic effects of main factors played key roles in determining droplet size. Thus, we used the optimized microfluidic approach to fabricate predetermined size foams to satisfy inertial fusion energy experiments, ranging from 4 to 4.6[Formula: see text]mm in diameter with a 50–300[Formula: see text][Formula: see text]m wall thickness and a coefficient of variation [Formula: see text]%. The results presented in this work provided a practical guideline for creating size-desired polymersome from comparable double emulsions.

Aberrant activation of NF-kappaB has been proposed as the major cause of chemoresistance in lung cancer. Low-dose chemotherapeutic agents with limited toxicity and achieving profoundly enhanced efficacy by blocking NF-kappaB activation may be a useful strategy in cancer therapy. Thus, this study was performed to explore the effect of parthenolide, a natural NF-kappaB inhibitor, on human lung cancer A549 cells treated with low-dose oxaliplatin, as well as to determine the potential mechanisms involved. We incubated A549 cells with different concentrations of parthenolide in the absence or presence of a low-dose of oxaliplatin for 48 h. Then, cell proliferation was determined by MTT assay, and flow cytometry was used to study apoptosis. PGE(2) production in culture supernatants was detected by competitive ELISA, while expression of NF-kappaB/p65, COX-2, caspase-3 and caspase-9 proteins were analyzed by Western blot. Finally, compared to parthenolide or oxaliplatin alone, significant improvements in cell apoptosis and growth inhibition indexes were observed in the combined treatment. NF-kappaB/p65, COX-2, and PGE(2) expression were suppressed by the co-application; meanwhile, caspase-3 and caspase-9 proteins were obviously activated. These findings indicate that parthenolide could markedly enhance sensitivity of A549 cells to low-dose oxaliplatin by inhibiting NF-kappaB activation and inducing apoptosis. Parthenolide in combination with a low dose of oxaliplatin may be a beneficial chemotherapeutic strategy for patients who cannot tolerate the severe side effects of the drug at therapeutic concentrations.

To determine the inhibitory effect of the synthetic STAT3 siRNA on the expression of STAT3 gene in human laryngeal cancer cell lines Hep2 and to investigate the effect of STAT3 siRNA on growth and apoptosis in Hep2 cells. A pair of DNA templates coding siRNA against STAT3-mRNA was synthesized to reconstruct plasmid of pSilencer1.0-U6 siRNA-STAT3. Hep2 cells were transfected with RPMI-1640 media (untreated), plasmid (empty), and STAT3 siRNA, respectively. Northern blot and Western blot analysis of STAT3 and pTyr-STAT3 expression in Hep2 cells and Western blot analysis of Bcl-2 expression in the Hep2 cell was performed 72 h after transfection. MTT, flow cytometry, and AO/EB assay were used for determination of cells proliferation and apoptosis in Hep2 cells. pTyr-STAT3 was markedly expressed in untreated Hep2 cells and the vector-treated Hep2 cells, whereas pTyr-STAT3 expression was significantly reduced in STAT3 siRNA-transfected Hep2 cells, indicating that STAT3 siRNA inhibited the activity of STAT3. Transfection of Hep2 cells with STAT3 siRNA significantly inhibited STAT3 expression at both mRNA and protein level in Hep2 cells and the inhibition was characterized by time-dependent transfection. Treatment of Hep2 cells with STAT3 siRNA resulted in dose-dependent growth inhibition of Hep2, this significantly increased apoptotic cell rate, and decreased Bcl-2 expression level in Hep2 cells. STAT3 siRNA had an effect on induction of either early or late stage apoptosis. This study demonstrates that STAT3 siRNA effectively inhibits STAT3 gene expression in Hep2 cells leading to growth suppression and induction of apoptosis in Hep2 cells. The use of siRNA technique may provide a novel therapeutic approach to treat laryngeal cancer and other malignant tumors expressing constitutively activated STAT3.

57 Fe Mossbauer spectroscopy, X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and differential thermal analysis (DTA) have been used to investigate the thermal decomposition behavior of iron oxychloride. Upon heating of FeOCl in air for a long time, the compound is decomposed around 376 °C and turns into Fe2O3 and FeCl3.

Deprotonation of 2,6-naphthalenedicarboxylic acid (H2NDC) with pyridine followed by its copolymerization with Ln(III) nitrates (where Ln = Eu, Tb, Ce) in DMF at room temperature gave a family of 3-D open-framework lanthanide coordination polymers, formulated as {[Ln2(NDC)3(DMF)4]·mH2O}n (where Ln = Eu, Tb, Ce, 1–3; m=3, 4, 2 for 1–3, respectively, DMF = N,N′-dimethylformamide, and H2NDC = 2,6-naphthalenedicarboxylic acid) on the basis of elemental analysis and single-crystal X-ray diffraction. Compounds 1–3 were isostructural and crystallized in triclinic space group P(-1). In these structures, lanthanide ion dimers were interlinked together by NDC ligands with three different carboxylate coordination modes, to yield scaffolds with 3-D interconnecting tunnels where enclathrated water molecules reside. The results of IR and TG were consistent with the structural determination results. Fluorescence measurements show that 1 and 2 emit strong red and green light, respectively, upon irradiation with UV–vis light source. However, these open frameworks collapsed upon desolvation as evidenced by XRPD investigations, which renders their potential use as fluorescent sensors impossible.

57 Fe Mossbauer spectroscopy has been used to study the noncolinear spiral antiferromagnetic coupling in FeOCl. The paramagnetic to antiferromagnetic transition occurs at 85±1 K. Our Mossbauer studies confirm that the preferential orientations of the spin of Fe 3+ which are crystallographically of equivalent sites are parallel to the b and c axes with varied timescale of spin–spin relaxation as a result of competition among the intralayer antiferromagnetic superexchange coupling, ferromagnetic direct exchange coupling, and mixed interlayer dipolar–dipolar interaction.

We report the synthesis and physical properties of a nickel-based arsenide ThNiAsN. The new compound crystallizes in a ZrCuSiAs-type structure (space group ) with lattice parameters and . Bulk superconductivity at is demonstrated by the measurements of electrical resistivity, dc magnetic susceptibility, and heat capacity. The upper critical field at zero temperature, , and the specific-heat jump at T c are 6.1 T and , respectively. These two physical quantities, together with the T c value, are the highest among the Ni-based ZrCuSiAs-type materials. We discuss this enhanced superconductivity in terms of the internal chemical pressure in ThNiAsN.

The isonicotinate (4-pyridyl­carboxyl­ate) ligand was used to synthesize the title compound, [Nd(C6H4NO2)3(H2O)2]. It has a one-dimensional chain structure. The Nd atom lies on a crystallographic twofold axis. The NdIII center is in an infinite chain, coordinated by four carboxyl­ate O atoms of bridging isonicotinate groups, two carboxyl­ate O atoms of the chelating isonicotinate group, and two water mol­ecules. Weak interactions between pyridine H and N atoms generate a three-dimensional framework.

The asymmetric unit of the title polymer, [Mn(C12H6N2O4)(H2O)2]n, consists of an MnII ion, which lies on a twofold axis, one half of a 2,2′-bipyridine-3,3′-di­carboxyl­ate dianion and a coordinated water mol­ecule. The one-dimensional chains extend into two-dimensional sheets via O—H⋯O hydrogen-bonding interactions. The crystal packing of the two-dimensional sheets appears to be dominated by aromatic π–π interactions.

Purpose: Persistent activation of signal transducers and activators of transcription 3 (Stat3) and its overexpression contribute to the progression and metastasis of several different tumor types. For this reason, Stat3 is a reasonable target for RNA interference–mediated growth inhibition. Blockade of Stat3 using specific short hairpin RNAs (shRNA) can significantly reduce prostate tumor growth in mice. However, RNA interference does not fully ablate target gene expression in vivo, owing to the idiosyncrasies associated with shRNAs and their targets. To enhance the therapeutic efficacy of Stat3-specific shRNA, we applied a combination treatment involving gene associated with retinoid-IFN–induced mortality 19 (GRIM-19), another inhibitor of STAT3, along with shRNA.Experimental Design: The coding sequences for GRIM-19, a cellular STAT3-specific inhibitor, and Stat3-specific shRNAs were used to create a dual expression plasmid vector and used for prostate cancer therapy in vitro and in mouse xenograft models in vivo.Results: The coexpressed Stat3-specific shRNA and GRIM-19 synergistically and more effectively suppressed prostate tumor growth and metastases when compared with treatment with either single agent alone.Conclusion: The simultaneous use of two specific, but mechanistically different, inhibitors of STAT3 activity exerts enhanced antitumor effects.

The asymmetric unit of the title compound, [[Ni(C(12)H(6)N(2)O(4))(H(2)O)(3)].H(2)O](n), is composed of a lattice water molecule and a nickel(II) ion that is coordinated by three water molecules and the two N atoms of a 2,2'-bipyridine-3,3'-dicarboxylate ligand. The twist of the 2,2'-bipyridine-3,3'-dicarboxylate unit and the coordination of one carboxylate group to a symmetry-related Ni(II) atom generate a helical chain that runs along the b axis. Intrahelical hydrogen bonds participate in controlling the orientation of the helices, and both right-handed and left-handed helices are connected by interhelical hydrogen bonds into two-dimensional sheets.