Search

Several works have shown that graphene materials can effectively regulate the double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) structures and are used to remove antibiotic resistance genes in the environment, during which the morphology of the graphene surface plays a key role. However, the mechanism of how different graphene surfaces interact with dsDNA is poorly documented. Here, the interactions of dsDNA with defective graphene (D-Gra) and pristine graphene (P-Gra) have been explored by molecular dynamics simulations. Our data clearly showed that both D-Gra and P-Gra were able to attract dsDNA to form stable bindings. However, the structure evolutions of dsDNA are distinctly different. In detail, D-Gra can initiate quick unwinding of dsDNA and cause significant structural disruption. While for P-Gra, it demonstrated a much weaker capability to disrupt the dsDNA structure. This difference is due to the strong electrostatic interaction between defects and DNA nucleotides. Nucleotides can be highly restricted by the defect while the other parts of dsDNA could move along the transverse directions of D-Gra. This effectively introduces a "pulling force" from the defect that causes the breaking of the hydrogen bonds between dsDNA base pairs. Such force finally leads to the serious unwinding of dsDNA. Our present findings could help us to better understand the molecular mechanism of how the dsDNA canonical B-form was lost upon adsorption to graphene. The findings of the key roles of defects on graphene are beneficial for the design of functional graphenic materials for biological and medical applications through nanostructure engineering.

Grouting is an important method to reinforce soft coal roadway, and the presence of primary cracks in the coal body has an important influence on the grouting effect. With the discrete element simulation method, the grouting process of the soft coal seam was simulated. The mechanism of primary cracks on grouting was revealed, while the influence of fracture characteristics and grouting pressure on the grouting effect was analyzed. The results demonstrated that grouting in the soft coal seam involves the stages of seepage, rapid splitting, slow splitting, and stability. Due to the presence of primary cracks, the grouting diffusion radius increased significantly. Under the slurry pressure, the tensile stress concentration was formed at the crack tip, and the slurry split the coal once the splitting pressure was reached. In addition, the distribution characteristics of fractures are found to have a great influence on the grouting effect. It is observed that smaller fracture spacing is associated with a larger slurry diffusion radius and thus easier penetration of the primary crack tips. The fracture angle affects the direction of fracture propagation. The secondary fracture formed by splitting is a tensile fracture, which is more likely to extend along the direction parallel to the maximum principal stress. Overall, these simulation results have guiding significance for the setting of reasonable spacing of grouting holes in the practice of grouting engineering.

Gyroscope biases may drift in long-term storage, and the drifts become the most important factors that affect the azimuth alignment accuracy of the inertial navigation systems. In this paper, a three-position in-field calibration method is proposed, providing a completely new way to solve the gyroscope bias estimation problem without the turntable available. Based on the analysis of the azimuth errors of attitude tracking, the attitude tracking information at the current position is used to extract the azimuth error of self-alignment at the previous position. The observation equations, with the input arguments of the differences between the attitude tracking results and the self-alignment results at the last two positions, and the solution vectors of the gyroscope biases, are derived. Condition number is used to analyze the ill-conditioned problem of the equations. Simulation and experiment results show that the gyroscope biases can be effectively calibrated by designing the rotation angles reasonably.

The dual-motor precision transmission mechanism (DMPTM) is an alternative way to eliminate backlash completely while ensuring the stiffness of the servo system. However, most of the established models of DMPTM are not accurate enough, which are not conducive to the optimization of system performance and the design of high-precision controllers. In this paper, based on the detailed linear model of the single components of the DMPTM, the dead zone model considering the time-varying stiffness is proposed to describe the backlash of the two transmission chain and the friction of the mechanism is depicted by Stribeck model. Then, a high-precision dynamic model of the DMPTM is formed. Finally, the model validation experiments of the open-loop and closed-loop are carried out in the time domain and frequency domain. The experimental results show that the proposed model can accurately describe the nonlinear characteristics of the mechanism. The Pearson correlation coefficient between the proposed model and the actual system is ropen-loop >99.41% for open-loop and rclosed-loop >83.7% for closed-loop, which are both better than the existing model. In the frequency domain, whether it is open-loop or closed-loop, the frequency response of the proposed model also reproduces the actual system well, which verifies the accuracy of the model.

Background: Apical periodontitis (AP), is a common inflammatory disorder affecting periradicular destruction and even leads to tooth loss, is a consequence of interactions between immune cells and commensal bacteria. The bacteria pathogens disrupt host signal transduction pathways by their virulence proteins and lipopolysaccharides, activating the release of proinflammatory cytokines by cell members of the immune system. As in other tissues, the recruitment of immune cells in periapical lesions also contributes to initiating the process of tissue impairment and repair after inflammation. However, the precise roles of infiltrating T cells in AP remains mostly limited to immunologic function. Results: Here, we employed single-cell RNA-seq to construct a transcriptomic atlas of 44,746 individual cells in the periapical lesions from 5 AP patients and identify 8 cell types, embracing 4 types of immune cells and non-immune cells. We found 9 subsets of T cells and deciphered cellular heterogeneity of T cells in AP on a functional level by clustering and gene-set enrichment analysis. Lineage tracing unveiled distinct lineage of T cells in AP and predicted relative transcription factors led to cell lineage commitment and function. GSEA analysis revealed multiple biological processes and relevant angiogenesis genes upregulated in T cells of AP compared to healthy gingival. Granzyme A (GZMA)_Coagulation Factor II Thrombin Receptor (F2R) binding was forecasted in AP and pro-angiogenic capacity of GZMA recombinant protein was emphasized by conducting in vitro experiments. Conclusion: Our study has yielded novel insights into the heterogeneity and functional diversity of T cells in periapical lesions, unraveling the potential of T cells in affecting angiogenesis during tissue healing.

In conventional quantum dot light-emitting diodes (QLEDs), the organic charge transport materials are susceptible to erosion by water and oxygen, which would reduce the efficiency and lifetime of the devices. Herein, we modified the surface of the organic hole transport layer with an ultra-thin Al2O3 layer, which is deposited by using atomic layer deposition technique, to obtain the highly efficient and stable QLEDs. It is indicated that the ultra-thin Al2O3 interlayer plays a significant role in decreasing leakage current, suppressing exciton quenching and passivating the defects. The device with Al2O3 interface modification exhibits the maximum external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 20.8%, current efficiency (CE) of 21.6 cd A−1, and lifetime of 482000 h. In comparison with the control device, the EQE, CE and lifetime are improved by 31%, 32%, and 330%, respectively. The results indicate that the strategy of Al2O3 interface modification could provide an effective way for realizing highly efficiency QLED with long lifetime.

Contamination of 99TcO4–, a problematic radioactive anion in the nuclear fuel cycle, in groundwater has been observed in a series of legacy nuclear sites, representing a notable radiation hazard an...

Wrinkles have been frequently observed in a graphene nanosheet. Such structural corrugations can influence graphene’s characteristics and have received considerable attention recently. However, the...

Phosphorene, a monolayer of black phosphorus, has emerged as one of the most promising two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterials for various applications in the post-graphene-discovery period due to its highly anisotropic structure and novel properties. In order to apply phosphorene in biomedical fields, it is crucial to understand how it interacts with biomolecules. Herein, we use both molecular dynamics (MD) simulations and experimental techniques to investigate the interactions of phosphorene with a dsDNA segment. Our results reveal that dsDNA can form a stable binding on the phosphorene surface through the terminal base pairs and adopt an upright orientation regardless of its initial configurations. Moreover, the binding strength of dsDNA with phosphorene is found to be mild and does not cause significant distortion in the internal structure of dsDNA. This phenomenon is attributed to the weaker dispersion interaction between dsDNA and phosphorene. Further analysis of the free energy profile calculated by the umbrella sampling technique suggests that the puckered surface morphology significantly reduces the adsorption free energy of DNA bases to phosphorene. Compared to graphene, phosphorene is found to show a milder attraction to DNA, which is confirmed by our electrophoresis experiments. We believe that these findings provide valuable insight into the molecular interactions between phosphorene and dsDNA which may prompt further investigation of phosphorene for future biomedical applications.

Confucianism provides a specific view on the world held by many people living in several Asian societies. It offers views on humans and nature that generally differ from other traditional or Western modern views. The paper presents a systematic analysis of the literature in education with a focus on science education about the connection of Confucianism with education for sustainability. It suggests a framework for how education for sustainability can be operated in the foreground of Confucian societies taking concepts from the international literature into consideration. This critical review provides justification for a stronger reflection about how to include ideas from Confucianism into education for sustainability in the teaching and learning of science. It suggests that Confucian thinking offers a rich and authentic context for science learning in Confucian societies and and also provides a chance to reflect on views of humans, nature, and science in science education in other societies, potentially contributing to the development of more balanced and holistic worldviews.

This paper proposes a new multi-objective bi-level programming model for the ring road bus lines and fare design problems. The proposed model consists of two layers: the traffic management operator and travelers. In the upper level, we propose a multi-objective bus lines and fares optimization model in which the operator’s profit and travelers’ utility are set as objective functions. In the lower level, evolutionary multi agent model of travelers’ bounded rational reinforcement learning with social interaction is introduced. A solution algorithm for the multi-objective bi-level programming is developed on the basis of the equalization algorithm of OD matrix. A numerical example based on a real case was conducted to verify the proposed models and solution algorithm. The computational results indicated that travel choice models with different degrees of rationality significantly changed the optimization results of bus lines and the differentiated fares; furthermore, the multi-objective bi-level programming in this paper can generate the solution to reduce the maximum section flow, increase the profit, and reduce travelers’ generalized travel cost.

A series of novel menthol derivatives containing 1,2,4-triazole-thioether moiety were designed, synthesized, characterized structurally, and evaluated biologically to explore more potent natural product-based antifungal agents. The bioassay results revealed that at 50 μg/mL, some of the target compounds exhibited good inhibitory activity against the tested fungi, especially against Physalospora piricola. Compounds 5b (R = o-CH3 Ph), 5i (R = o-Cl Ph), 5v (R = m,p-OCH3 Ph) and 5x (R = α-furyl) had inhibition rates of 93.3%, 79.4%, and 79.4%, respectively, against P. piricola, much better than that of the positive control chlorothalonil. Compounds 5v (R = m,p-OCH3 Ph) and 5g (R = o-Cl Ph) held inhibition rates of 82.4% and 86.5% against Cercospora arachidicola and Gibberella zeae, respectively, much better than that of the commercial fungicide chlorothalonil. Compound 5b (R = o-CH3 Ph) displayed antifungal activity of 90.5% and 83.8%, respectively, against Colleterichum orbicalare and Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cucumerinum. Compounds 5m (R = o-I Ph) had inhibition rates of 88.6%, 80.0%, and 88.0%, respectively, against F. oxysporum f. sp. cucumerinu, Bipolaris maydis and C. orbiculare. Furthermore, compound 5b (R = o-CH3 Ph) showed the best and broad-spectrum antifungal activity against all the tested fungi. To design more effective antifungal compounds against P. piricola, 3D-QSAR analysis was performed using the CoMFA method, and a reasonable 3D-QSAR model (r2 = 0.991, q2 = 0.514) was established. The simulative binding pattern of the target compounds with cytochrome P450 14α-sterol demethylase (CYP51) was investigated by molecular docking.

In search of novel bioactive compounds with excellent and broad-spectrum antifungal activity and nanopesticides with sustained releasing property, a series of novel myrtenal-based diacylhydrazines were designed, synthesized, and characterized. The preliminary bioassay showed that myrtenal-based 2-picolinyl hydrazide exhibited better or comparable antifungal activity than that of the commercial fungicides boscalid and chlorothalonil against the tested fungi. Furthermore, myrtenal-based nanocellulose was designed as a nanopesticide carrier and prepared from two biomass materials, bleached bagasse pulp and turpentine oil. Drug-loading capacities (LCs) of these carriers and sustained releasing properties of corresponding complexes were also evaluated, and the results indicated that the esterification reaction in the different solvents would affect the micromorphology of carriers, which was the important influential factor for loading or releasing drugs. To our delight, complex VIII-3 (LC = 0.32, total releasing amount/time = 99.8%/168 h) showed a macroporous framework with the drug evenly distributed across the opening network and staged drug-releasing performance that deserved further study as a nanopesticide.

Cytochrome bc1 complex is an important component of cellular respiratory chain, and it is also an important target enzyme to inhibit the growth of plant pathogens. Using cytochrome bc1 complex as the target enzyme, twenty-three novel nopol-based 1,2,4-triazole-thioether compounds were designed and synthesized from natural preponderant resource β-pinene, and their structures were confirmed by FT-IR, NMR, ESI-MS and elemental analysis. The in vitro antifungal activity of the target compounds 5a-5w was preliminarily evaluated against eight plant pathogens at the concentration of 50 µg/ml. The bioassay results showed that the target compounds exhibited the best antifungal activity against Physalospora piricola, in which compounds 5b (R= o-CH3 Ph), 5e (R= o-OCH3 Ph), 5h (R= o-F Ph), 5m (R= o-Br Ph), 5o (R= m,m-OCH3 Ph), and 5r (R= p-OH Ph) had inhibition rates of 91.4, 83.3, 86.7, 83.8, 91.4 and 87.3%, respectively, much better than that of the positive control chlorothalonil. Also, compound 5a (R= Ph) had inhibition rate of 87.9% against Rhizoeotnia solani, and compound 5b (R= o-CH3 Ph) had inhibition rates of 87.6 and 89% against Bipolaris maydis and Colleterichum orbicala, respectively. In order to develop novel and promising antifungal compounds against P. piricola, the analysis of three-dimensional quantitative structure-activity relationship (3D-QSAR) was carried out using the CoMFA method on the basis of their antifungal activity data, and a reasonable and effective 3D-QSAR model (r2 = 0.944, q2 = 0.685) has been established. In addition, the theoretical study of molecular docking revealed that the target compounds could bind to and interact with the site of cytochrome bc1 complex.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common malignancies with high mortality and morbidity rates. In recent years, HCC targeted therapy has gained increasing attention. Due to the heterogeneity and high metastasis of HCC, more effective therapeutic targets are needed. Kinesin family member 2C (KIF2C), also known as mitotic centromere-associated kinesin, is a microtubule-based motor protein which is involved in a variety of important cellular processes, such as mitosis. The effects of KIF2C on cancer progression and development have been widely studied; however, its potential effects on HCC remains unclear. In the present study, high expression of KIF2C in human HCC tissues was demonstrated using The Cancer Genome Atlas database and immunohistochemistry assays. KIF2C expression was associated with HCC prognosis, including overall survival and disease-free survival. KIF2C expression was also associated with clinical pathological characteristics including the number of tumor nodes (P=0.015) and tumor size (P=0.009). KIF2C knockdown inhibited the proliferation of HCC cells in vitro, confirmed by MTT and colony formation assays, and suppressed tumor growth in mice which was confirmed by a xenograft mouse model. Together, the results suggested that KIF2C may serve as a promising therapeutic target for the treatment of HCC.

Although nanomaterials are widely studied in biomedical applications, the major concern of nanotoxicity still exists. Therefore, numerous works have been conducted on the interactions of various biomolecules with various types of nanomaterials, including carbon nanotube, graphene, fullerene and etc. However, the size effect of nanomaterials is poorly documented, especially the ultra-small particles. Here, the interactions of the smallest carbon nanoparticle (NP), C28, with cell membrane were studied using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. The results show that similar to fullerene C60, the C28 NPs can self-assemble into stable clusters in water. Inside membrane, the C28 NPs are more prone to aggregate to form clusters than C60 NPs. The reason of the C28 aggregation is characterized by potential of mean force (PMF) and can be explained by the polarized nature of C28 NPs while the acyl chains of lipids are nonpolar. At the C28 cluster regions, the thickness of the membrane is significantly reduced by the C28 aggregation. Accordingly, the membrane losses its structural integrity and translocation of water molecules through it were observed. Thus, these results predict a stronger cytotoxicity to cells than C60 NPs. The present findings might shed light on the understanding of the cytotoxicity of NPs with different size and would be helpful for the potential biomedical applications of carbon NPs, especially as antibacterial agents.

Pancreatic cancer is one of the malignant tumors with the worst prognosis, and the 5-year survival rate of this disease is less than 1%. About 90% of pancreatic cancer is pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), and targeting therapy has become a promising treatment for PDAC in recent years. To improve the survival rate, novel therapeutic targets for PDAC are still urgently needed. KIF18B was initially identified as a member of the kinesin family and involved in multiple cellular processes, such as separation of chromosomes in mitosis. Recently, it was found that KIF18B was involved in the growth and development of multiple cancers. However, the potential link between KIF18B and PDAC is still unclear. In this study, we demonstrated that KIF18B was highly expressed in human PDAC tissues, and related with the poor prognosis and clinical features, such as tumor size (*p = .013) and pTNM stage (*p = .025), of patients with PDAC. We further found that KIF18B knockdown blocked the cell proliferation of PDAC in vitro and in vivo, and the cell cycle was arrested caused by KIF18B depletion. Additionally, we also found that KIF18B bound to the promoter region of the cell division cycle associated 8 and thus activated its transcription. Taken together, this study explored the molecular mechanism underlying KIF18B promoting PDAC and provided a novel therapeutic target of this disease.

The major enteric RNA viruses in pigs include porcine epidemic diarrhoea virus (PEDV), transmissible gastroenteritis virus (TGEV), porcine rotavirus A (PRV-A), porcine kobuvirus (PKV), porcine sapovirus (PSaV) and porcine deltacoronavirus (PDCoV) For differential diagnosis, a multiplex RT-PCR method was established on the basis of the N genes of TGEV, PEDV and PDCoV, the VP7 gene of PRV-A, and the polyprotein genes of PKV and PSaV This multiplex RT-PCR could specifically detect TGEV, PEDV, PDCoV, PRV-A, PKV and PSaV without cross-reaction to any other major viruses circulating in Chinese pig farms The limit of detection of this method was as low as 10sup0/sup-10sup1/sup ng cDNA of each virus A total of 398 swine faecal samples collected from nine provinces of China between October 2015 and April 2017 were analysed by this established multiplex RT-PCR The results demonstrated that PDCoV (144/398), PSaV (114/398), PEDV (78/398) and PRV-A (70/398) were the main pathogens, but TGEV was not found in the pig herds in China In addition, dual infections, for example, PDCoV + PSaV, PDCoV + PRV-A, PRA-V + PSaV and PEDV + PDCoV, and triple infections, for example, PDCoV + PRV-A + PSaV and PEDV + PDCoV + PKV, were found among the collected samples The multiplex RT-PCR provided a valuable tool for the differential diagnosis of swine enteric viruses circulating in Chinese pig farms and will facilitate the prevention and control of swine diarrhoea in China

Nanomaterial defects occur widely due to various situations such as synthesis imperfections, exposure to harsh environment, or even intentional designs. However, the consequence of nanomaterial defects on their interfacing biological systems remains largely unknown. Here, we study the interaction of a defective graphene nanosheet with a widely used model protein, YAP65WW-domain, using molecular dynamics simulations. We find that local defects on graphene consistently act to unfold the YAP65WW-domain. Protein residues bound to the graphene defect are tightly anchored due to favorable electrostatic interactions. While the residues at the interface are highly restrained, thermal movements of other parts of the protein act to denature and unfold the entire protein. In contrast, control simulations of protein binding on ideal graphene reveal a well preserved native structure with no unfolding events detected. Our present findings elucidate the role of graphene defects on protein adsorption and emphasize the need for improved understanding of nanomaterial defects in potential biomedical applications.

Despite significant interest in molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) nanomaterials, particularly in biomedicine, their biological effects have been understudied. Here, we explored the effect of MoS2 nanoflakes on the ubiquitous mitochondrial porin voltage-dependent anion channel (VDAC1), using a combined computational and functional approach. All-atomic molecular dynamics simulations suggest that MoS2 nanoflakes make specific contact interactions with human VDAC1. We show that the initial contacts between hVDAC1 and the nanoflake are hydrophobic but are subsequently enhanced by a complex interplay of van der Waals (vdW), hydrophobic and electrostatic interactions in the equilibrium state. Moreover, the MoS2 nanoflake can insert into the lumen of the hVDAC1 pore. Free-energy calculations computed by the potential of mean force (PMF) verify that the blocked configuration of the MoS2–hVDAC1 complex is more energetically favorable than the non-blocked binding mode. Consistent with these predictions, we showed that MoS2 depolarizes the mitochondrial membrane potential (Ψm) and causes a decrease in the viability of mammalian tissue culture cells. These findings might shed new light on the potential biological effect of MoS2 nanomaterials.

Structural defects in nanomaterials can alter their physical and chemical properties including magnetization, electronic and thermal conductivities, light absorption, and emission capabilities. Here, we investigated the potential impact of these defects on their biological effects through molecular dynamics simulations. By modeling the interaction between a graphene nanosheet and a widely used model protein, the chicken villin headpiece subdomain (HP35), we observed severe protein denaturation upon contact with defective graphene, while the protein remained intact on ideal graphene. The enhanced toxicity of defective graphene was due to the stronger attraction of the surface residues of HP35 from the defect edges (represented by carboxyl groups in our simulations) than from the ideal graphene. Upon binding to defective graphene, the contacting residues were restrained near the defective sites, which acted as "anchors" for the adsorbed protein. The "anchors" subsequently caused the protein to expose its aromatic and hydrophobic core residues to the graphene surface, via strong π-π stacking and hydrophobic interactions, thus leading to the unfolding of the protein. These findings not only highlight the importance of defects in nanomaterials' impact on biological systems, but also provide insights into fine-tuning the potential biological properties of nanomaterials through defect engineering.

According to the requirements of high resolution and compact space of a rotational-double-prism system, combined with its practical application characteristics of small load and low speed, an offset twist-roller frictional transmission mechanism is proposed. Compared with the clearance elimination gear transmission mechanism, it has the advantages of high output resolution, adjustable reduction ratio, simple structure and low cost. The influence of twist angle on the output characteristics of offset twist-roller frictional transmission mechanism is studied by experiment. The results show that the larger the twist angle, the smaller the driving torque of the driven wheel, the larger the transmission ratio of the mechanism, the larger the fluctuation range of output angular velocity and transmission ratio, and the more unstable the transmission. The transmission ratio of the mechanism in stable transmission is about 30, which is much higher than that in single-stage cylindrical gear drive. The output angular resolution of the mechanism is better than 0.005°, meeting the system requirements. Through the above analysis, it lays a foundation for the application of offset twist-roller frictional transmission mechanism in rotational double prisms system.

Precise cable drive is a light, concise and efficient spatial friction flexible transmission mode, which has the characteristics of flexible layout, lightweight and miniaturization. It is a good choice for Acquiring tracking and pointing applications (ATPs). But the cable drive mechanism (CDM) is easy to cause large-scale speed oscillation in the process of performing tasks as cable compliance. This paper focused on the mechanical resonance in a practical full-closed loop positioning control system. A dynamic model with the electro-mechanical and rigid-flexible coupling characteristics is proposed, which is capable to analyze the global influence factors on speed oscillation. The parametric sensitivities have been conducted to investigate the effects of design parameters on mechanical resonance.

In order to obtain the theoretical model of a gun buffer system, the dynamic vibration characteristics of the buffer system were studied by force hammer experiments, and the vibration acceleration response curves of the buffer system after being excited by the impact load were obtained. The acquired signals were processed by noise reduction, detrending, data smoothing and frequency domain integration, and the second-order free vibration model was used to identify the stiffness, damping and other parameters of the system, and compared with the experimental results. The deviation between the calculated results of the identification model and the experimental results is less than 4%, which compared with the general direct identification method, the error is reduced by about 10%. This method can provide a simple and fast technical way for the accurate identification of vibration system models.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a common type of tumor with high mortality worldwide. Investigations associated with the molecular etiology of HCC and screening novel therapeutic targets are still urgently in need. Anillin (ANLN), as a type of evolutionarily conserved actin-binding protein, is involved in multiple cellular processes. ANLN widely affected the progression and metastasis of several types of cancer, and its overexpression was frequently demonstrated in previous studies. The present study demonstrated high expression of ANLN in human HCC tissues, which was also associated the prognosis of patients with HCC. The associations between ANLN expression and the clinicopathological features were determined, including the number of tumor nodes (P=0.011) and tumor size (P=0.003) of patients with HCC. It was found that ANLN promoted cell proliferation, invasion and migration of HCC cells in vitro, and affected tumor growth in vivo. Therefore, ANLN is suggested as a promising therapeutic target for the treatment of HCC.

Palladium isotopes as fission products in used nuclear fuel (UNF) represent precious alternative resources of this noble metal besides its natural reserves and therefore has a high extraction value. However, although solvent extraction of Pd from UNF has been considered for several decades, its practical use is still challenging mostly originating from the harsh fuel reprocessing conditions that lead to the extractant decomposition and the vast co-existing metal ions that depress the extraction efficiency. Herein, we present an interlayer synergistic binding strategy, a metal-recognition manner markedly deviating from chelation within a single ligand molecule in solvent extraction, for selective palladium chelation by a radiation-resistant and acid-stable salicylaldimine-based covalent organic framework (COF-TzDa), where the binding sites are pre-organized and spatially separated for the preference of Pd coordination between adjacent COF layers. COF-TzDa, as expected, shows ultrahigh extraction selectivity towards Pd ions both in static and dynamic conditions, primarily due to that the preorganized Pd-specific binding sites are less prone to match other undesired metal ions. Fast adsorption kinetics, high adsorption capacity (265.4 mg g-1), and more importantly one-round enrichment and purification of Pd from the simulated high level nuclear waste solution are unprecedentedly achieved. The powder X-ray diffraction analysis, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy results, and in-depth density functional theory corroborate the interlayer synergistic binding to be the result of enol-to-keto tautomerization where oxygen donors from two adjacent layers work together in a cooperative fashion. This work demonstrates the feasibility of structure-engineering of framework materials in designing upgraded adsorbent for targeted guests.

3-phenyllactic acid (PLA) has broad anti-fungal activity, however, target sites of PLA on fungal cells and its anti-fungal mechanism of action have been poorly studied. In this study, we explored the inhibition mechanism of Rhizopus oryzae (R. oryzae) on rotten lily bulbs by PLA. The minimum inhibitory concentration value of PLA against R. oryzae was 8 mg/mL. We observed the ultrastructure of R. oryzae by scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy which indicated that PLA did not damage the cell membrane, but destroyed the mitochondria and other organelles. Tandem mass tag proteomes showed that PLA significantly down-regulated (P 0.05) the expression of hexokinase (HK), phosphofructokinase (PFK), a-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase (a-KGDH), adenylate kinase (ADK1), Cytochrome C oxidase and NADH dehydrogenase, and up-regulated (P 0.05) the expression of mitochondrial ADP/ATP carrier proteins (AAC) and subunit IV (CCIO IV) in glycolysis, tricarboxylic acid cycle or oxidative phosphorylation metabolism. Following these findings, down-regulated HK and a-KGDH activity of aforementioned pathways was shown by enzyme activity assay, and regulated gene expression of ADK1, AAC, CCIO IV and NADH dehydrogenase was further confirmed by real-time quantitative PCR. Central carbon metabolomics showed that citric acid, cis-Aconitic acid, isocitric acid, alpha-Ketoglutaric acid, succinate, fumarate and malic acid of the tricarboxylic acid cycle metabolites were significantly down-regulated (P 0.05), and ATP production by oxidative phosphorylation was also significantly reduced (P = 0.02), resulting in insufficient energy production. Thus, ROS levels increased by 141% of the control values and cytochrome C was released, resulting in gradual cell apoptosis. All data indicated that energy metabolism was the target of PLA against R. oryzae. This was the first study to show that energy metabolism could be the target of PLA against R. oryzae, which could provide a theoretical basis to study the mechanism of fungal inhibition.

Grouting is an important method to reinforce soft coal roadway, and the presence of primary cracks in the coal body has an important influence on the grouting effect. Using the PFC (Particle Flow Code) method, the grouting process of the soft coal seam was simulated. The mechanism of primary cracks on grouting was revealed, while the influence of fracture characteristics and grouting pressure on the grouting effect was analyzed. The results demonstrated that grouting in the soft coal seam involved the stages of seepage, rapid splitting, slow splitting, and stability. Due to the presence of primary cracks, the grouting diffusion radius increased significantly. Under the slurry pressure, the tensile stress concentration was formed at the crack tip, and the slurry split the coal once the splitting pressure was reached. In addition, the distribution characteristics of fractures were found to have a great influence on the grouting effect. It was observed that smaller fracture spacing was associated with a larger slurry diffusion radius and thus easier penetration of the primary crack tips. The fracture angle affected the direction of fracture propagation. The secondary fracture formed by splitting was a tensile fracture, which was more likely to extend along the direction parallel to the maximum principal stress. Overall, these simulation results have guiding significance for the setting of reasonable spacing of grouting holes in the practice of grouting engineering.

Background To detect the expression levels of actin‐binding protein anillin (ANLN) in human gastric cancer (GC) tissues and explore the possible involvement of ANLN in GC cell proliferation, migration, and invasion. Methods The bioinformation analysis was performed in TCGA database to explore the expression of ANLN in human GC tissues and the difference of ANLN expression between multiple types of cancers. IHC assays and clinical pathological analysis were performed to confirm ANLN expression and its correlation with clinical features of GC patients. Colony formation, CCK‐8, wound closure, and transwell assays were performed to detect its effects on GC cell proliferation, migration, and invasion in vitro. Tumor growth was also measured using a xenograft animal model. Results We found the high expression of ANLN in human GC tissues based on the results from TCGA database and IHC staining. We further noticed ANLN depletion resulted in the inhibition of GC cell proliferation, migration, and invasion. Our data further confirmed that ANLN contributed to tumor growth of GC cells in vivo. Conclusions We confirmed the involvement of ANLN in GC progression and thought ANLN could serve as a promising therapeutic target for GC., In this study, we noticed the obvious high mRNA and protein levels of ANLN in human gastric cancer tissues. ANLN was expressed in several types of cancers, and could serve as a promising therapeutic target for the treatment of gastric cancer.

Secretory IgA is critical to prevent the invasion of pathogens via mucosa. However, the key factors and the mechanisms of IgA generation in the porcine gut are not well-understood. In this study, a panel of factors, including BAFF, APRIL, CD40L, TGF-β1, IL-6, IL-10, IL-17A, and IL-21, were employed to stimulate IgM+ B lymphocytes from porcine ileum Peyer's patches. The results showed that IL-21 significantly upregulated IgA production of B cells and facilitated cell proliferation and differentiation of antibody-secreting cells. In addition, three transcripts in porcine IgA class switch recombination (CSR), germ-line transcript α, post-switch transcript α, and circle transcript α, were first amplified by (nest-)PCR and sequenced. All these key indicators of IgA CSR were upregulated by IL-21 treatment. Furthermore, we found that IL-21 predominantly activated JAK1, STAT1, and STAT3 proteins and confirmed that the JAK-STAT signaling pathway was involved in porcine IgA CSR. Thus, IL-21 plays an important role in the proliferation and differentiation of IgA-secreting cells in porcine Peyer's patches through the JAK-STAT signaling pathway. These findings provide insights into the mucosal vaccine design by regulation of IL-21 for the prevention and control of enteric pathogens in the pig industry.

Although researchers have made great progress in image dehazing recently, there are still great challenges in balancing the suitable universality and dehazing accuracy. In this paper, we propose the dark channel prior cycle dehaze network (DCP-Cycle-Dehaze) to single image dehazing. This network is based on CycleGAN, which adds DCP loss based on dark channel prior knowledge and improved cycle perceptual loss to achieve image dehazing function. DCP-Cycle-Dehaze mainly enhance the dehazing capacity of model by enhancing the sensitivity of network for haze features during training. It further improves the performance of the CycleGAN network framework in image dehazing tasks, and makes the network still reach the accuracy of supervised training without unsupervised training. We conduct simulation experiments on four representative data sets: O-HAZE, I-HAZE, RESIDE and D-Hazy. The experimental results show that DCP-Cycle-Dehaze network we proposed has achieved very good results in outdoor environment, the results on the O-HAZE dataset exceed the best results of NTIRE2018; moreover, it also has better results on the indoor environment. The experimental results prove the effectiveness of our method from a quantitative and qualitative perspective.

Porcine enteric coronaviruses (CoVs) cause highly contagious enteric diarrhea in suckling piglets. These COV infections are characterized by clinical signs of vomiting, watery diarrhea, dehydration, and high morbidity and mortality, resulting in significant economic losses and tremendous threats to the pig farming industry worldwide. Because the clinical manifestations of pigs infected by different CoVs are similar, it is difficult to differentiate between the specific pathogens. Effective high-throughput detection methods are powerful tools used in the prevention and control of diseases. The immune system of piglets is not well developed, so serological methods to detect antibodies against these viruses are not suitable for rapid and early detection. This paper reviews various PCR-based methods used for the rapid and efficient detection of these pathogenic CoVs in swine intestines. KEY POINTS: 1. Swine enteric coronaviruses (CoVs) emerged and reemerged in past years. 2. Enteric CoVs infect pigs at all ages with high mortality rate in suckling pigs. 3. Rapid and efficient detection methods are needed and critical for diagnosis.

Contamination of

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a novel class of diagnostic and therapeutic target in cancer. Here, we aimed to explore the effects and mechanism of miR-195 regulation in colon cancer. The expressions of several putative miRNAs in colon tumors, compared to those in normal tissues, were investigated by bioinformatical analysis of a Gene Expression Omnibus database. Quantitative real-time PCR analysis (qRT-PCR) was used to validate the identified changes in normal tissues, primary tumors, and metastatic tumors. MTT, soft agar colony formation, and transwell assays were used to evaluate the effects of miR-195 overexpression or inhibition on cell viability, proliferation, migration, and invasion. Targets of miR-195 were identified by TargetScan, and subsequently verified by qRT-PCR and Western blot. The role of miR-195 in the β-catenin pathway was also studied using RT-PCR and Western blot. MiR-195 expression was downregulated in colon carcinoma tissues and negatively correlated with the metastatic potential. While transfecting miR-195 mimics decreased the proliferation, migration, and invasion of colon cancer cells, miR-195 inhibition exerted opposing effects. WNT3A was identified as a direct target of miR-195. β-catenin was also downregulated by miR-195 in colon cancers. MiR-195 downregulation is associated with the enhanced proliferation, migration, and invasion of colon cancer. MiR-195 directly downregulates WNT3A. Our results indicate that miR-195 is a potential diagnostic marker and therapeutic target for improving the clinical management of colon cancer.

Porcine sapovirus (PoSaV) is a potential threat to public health owing to its capacity for reassortment with human sapovirus strains. However, there is still no vaccine available for the prevention and control of this infectious disease. In this study, we developed PoSaV virus-like particles (VLPs) using a baculovirus expression system. Immunization with PoSaV VLPs induced high titers of serum antibody specific for VP1 in sows. The results of our challenge study demonstrated that maternally-derived antibodies (MDA) induced by VLP immunization dramatically reduced viral shedding of PoSaV in the feces of next generation piglets. Therefore, the results of this study indicate that the immune responses of sows elicited by PoSaV VLPs can inhibit in vivo viral replication in their offspring and represent a promising strategy for developing vaccines against PoSaV.