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Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is one of the leading causes of death for people over 65 years. Worse still, no completely effective therapeutic agent is available so far. One important pathological hallmark of AD is accumulated amyloid-β (Aβ) plaques with dysregulated metal homeostasis. Human metallothionin 3 (MT3), a regulator of metal homeostasis, is downregulated at least 30% in AD brain. So far, some in vitro studies demonstrated its multiple functions related to AD. However, it is a great pity that systematic in vivo studies of MT3 on AD model animals are still a blank so far. In this study, we treated APP/PS1 mice with sustained drug release of Zn7MT3 directly to the central nervous system, and investigated the role and molecular mechanism of Zn7MT3 to protect against AD mice systematically. The results demonstrated that Zn7MT3 can significantly ameliorate cognitive deficits, regulate metal homeostasis, abolish Aβ plaque load, and reduce oxidative stress. Additionally, it has been confirmed that MT3 is penetrable to the blood brain barrier of AD mice. All these results support that Zn7MT3 is an effective AD suppressing agent and has potential for applications in Alzheimer’s disease therapy.

Herein, a series of quaternary ammonium (Qa) or imidazolium (Im) cation-based poly(ionic liquid) (PIL) membranes and their corresponding zinc ion coordinated PIL membranes were synthesized. The effects of chemical structure, including organic cations, alkyl side chain of substitution, and zinc atoms on the antimicrobial activities against Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, and Candida albicans were investigated. The Zn-containing PIL membranes show higher antibacterial activities compared to those of pristine PIL membranes due to the synergistic attributes of both organic cations (Qa or Im) and zinc atoms. A wound healing test using methicillin-resistant S. aureus infected mouse as the model further demonstrated that zinc ion coordinated PIL membranes were antibacterially active, biologically safe, and may have potential application as an antimicrobial wound dressing in a clinical setting.

Pyrrolidinium-type small molecule ionic liquids (ILs), poly(ionic liquid) (PIL) homopolymers, and their corresponding PIL membranes were synthesized and used for antibacterial applications. The influences of substitutions at the N position of pyrrolidinium cation on the antimicrobial activities against both Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) and Escherichia coli (E. coli) were studied by minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC). The antibacterial efficiency of both the small molecule ILs and PIL homopolymers increased with the increase of the alkyl chain length of substitutions. Furthermore, PIL homopolymers show relatively lower MIC values, indicating better antimicrobial activities than those of the corresponding small molecule ILs. However, the antibacterial properties of the PIL membranes are contrary to corresponding ILs and PIL homopolymers, which reduce with the increase of alkyl chain length. Furthermore, the resultant PIL membranes show excellent hemocompatibility and low cytotoxicity toward human cells, demonstrating clinical feasibility in topical applications.

Soluble guanylate cyclase (sGC) is a heme-containing metalloprotein in NO-sGC-cGMP signaling. NO binds to the heme of sGC to catalyze the synthesis of the second messenger cGMP, which plays a critical role in several physiological processes. However, the molecular mechanism for sGC to mediate the NO signaling remains unclear. Here fluorophore FlAsH-EDT2 and fluorescent proteins were employed to study the NO-induced sGC activation. FlAsH-EDT2 labeling study revealed that NO binding to the H-NOX domain of sGC increased the distance between H-NOX and PAS domain and the separation between H-NOX and coiled-coil domain. The heme pocket conformation changed from “closed” to “open” upon NO binding. In addition, the NO-induced conformational change of sGC was firstly investigated in vivo through fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy. The results both in vitro and in vivo indicated the conformational change of the catalytic domain of sGC from “open” to “closed” upon NO binding. NO binding to the heme of H-NOX domain caused breaking of Fe-N coordination bond, initiated the domain moving and conformational change, induced the allosteric effect of sGC to trigger the NO-signaling from H-NOX via PAS & coiled-coil to the catalytic domain, and ultimately stimulates the cyclase activity of sGC.

Image cloning which could copy the source image and “paste” it into the target image seamlessly is one of the important digital image manipulation techniques. Traditional methods which cope with this problem managed to analyze image information in gradient domains according to solving Poisson equations. As a result, existing methods need high computational cost and memory usage which hinder them from time-critical applications with high-resolution images. In this paper, we propose an algorithm to cope with image cloning problem based on modified mean-value coordinates technique so that we transform the problem into a very simple image interpolation procedure which is easy to implement without diminishing the performances. We also apply image pyramid technique to further accelerate the proposed algorithm and achieve high performances even on a CPU with single thread.

The cobalt-containing cathode materials facilitate the activity of oxygen reduction, but they also suffer from problems like high thermal expansion coefficients, which cause poor thermal compatibility with electrolytes and limited performance stability. In this work, a functionally graded PrBaCo 2 O 5 (PBCO) cathode is developed for solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) based on proton-conducting BaCe 0.7 Zr 0.1 Y 0.2 O 3− δ (BCZY) electrolyte. The compositions of the cathodes are gradually changed from a material that is active for oxygen reduction and more compatible with the electrolyte BCZY to another material that is more conductive for current collection. The single cells have high resistance to thermal shock, showing well-combined cathode-electrolyte interface after 60 times of thermal cycles. Meanwhile, a maximum power density of 588 mW cm −2 and a low polarization resistance of 0.08 Ω cm −2 is achieved at 700 °C, respectively. The impedance spectra indicate that the optimized cathode structure greatly improves the polarization resistance while ohmic resistance is mainly determined by the conductivity and thickness of electrolyte. The results demonstrate that this configuration not only buffers the TEC mismatch but also optimizes the cathode structure for oxygen reduction reaction.

[Bi 0.75 Y 1.05− x Ca 1.2+ x ](Fe 4.4− x Sn x V 0.6 )O 12 (Sn x :Bi-CVG) ferrite materials were prepared by conventional ceramic technique. The bulk density, microstructure and the magnetic properties of the obtained samples were analyzed. The results showed that moderate addition of Sn 4+ in Bi-CVG could lower the sintering temperature and enhance the soft magnetic properties obviously. With the increase of Sn 4+ content, the saturation magnetization first increased and then decreased, while the coercivity and the ferromagnetic resonance linewidth (Δ H ) first sharply decreased and then slightly increased. Additionally, the specimen of [Bi 0.75 Y 0.65 Ca 1.6 ](Fe 4.0 Sn 0.4 V 0.6 )O 12 sintered at 1075 °C possessed the highest density and the optimum magnetic properties: RD (the relative density) = 98.49%, H c = 152.3 A/m, 4 πM s = 711.3 × 10 −4 T, Δ H = 2.1 kA/m.

LiFePO 4 has become a highly promising cathode material for use in the next generation of lithium-ion batteries, in which metal-doping is typically employed to improve the electrochemical properties. However, it is always difficult to resolve the issue that how the doping element and its position cause the microstructural changes and eventually influence the material properties. In this work, the X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns of a series of metal-doped LiFePO 4 were simulated by software MS Reflex to investigate those factors since XRD is a typical technique for the study of crystal structures. The effect of simulation conditions, doping position, and types of doping elements were discussed. The results revealed that: (1) the suitable step size should be 0.02° or less, and the simulation position had little influence on the XRD pattern; (2) the peak intensity changed with doping position, and had been affected more evidently at the Li-site compare with the Fe-site; (3) there was a close relationship between the doping elements and peak intensities in XRD patterns, and the variation degree of the peak intensity increased linearly with the atomic number of doping elements.

The LiFePO 4 precursor was synthesized using a precipitation with raw materials LiOH·H 2 O, (NH 4 ) 2 HPO 4 and FeSO 4 ·7H 2 O. The kinetics of synthesis olivine LiFePO 4 was studied by using a differential thermal analysis (DTA) at different heating rates. The average activation energy of the reaction where the precursor form olivine LiFePO 4 was 239.39 kJ mol −1 , calculated by Doyle–Ozawa and Kissinger methods. The reaction order, frequency factor, rate equation and kinetic equation of the reaction were determined by the Kissinger method. The samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (FTIR). The sample synthesized by the precursor sintered for 6 h at 550 °C shows a single-phase, regular morphology, well-distributed particle sizes and good electrochemical properties.

Objective To summarize the experience in diagnosis and surgical treatment of 105 cases with a tumor of the chest wall, and to investigate reconstruction of a large chest-wall defect after resection of a chest wall tumor.

The molecular mechanism of CeONP in protecting against neuronal cytotoxicity from amyloid peptides and copper ions was investigated systematically by photoluminescence of [Ru(phen)2dppz](2+), morphology of TEM, mass spectroscopy, cell viability assay, ROS fluorescence assay, and EPR. The results revealed that CeONPs reduced Aβ1-42 aggregation, protected from neurotoxicity of ROS induced by Cu(2+) + Aβ1-42via blocking the production of free radicals and scavenging the radicals with Ce(3+)/Ce(4+) catalytic cycles, which provides a valuable insight into CeONPs as a therapeutic intervention in oxidative damage in Alzheimer's disease.

Heme oxidation and loss of soluble guanylate cyclase (sGC) is thought to be an important contributor to the development of cardiovascular diseases. Nevertheless, it remains unknown why the heme loses readily in oxidized sGC. In the current study, the conformational change of sGC upon heme oxidation by ODQ was studied based on the fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) between the heme and a fluorophore fluorescein arsenical helix binder (FlAsH-EDT2) labeled at different domains of sGC β1. This study provides an opportunity to monitor the domain movement of sGC relative to the heme. The results indicated that heme oxidation by ODQ in truncated sCC induced the heme-associated αF helix moving away from the heme, the Per/Arnt/Sim domain (PAS) domain moving closer to the heme, but led the helical domain going further from the heme. We proposed that the synergistic effect of these conformational changes of the discrete region upon heme oxidation forces the heme pocket open, and subsequent heme loss readily. Furthermore, the kinetic studies suggested that the heme oxidation was a fast process and the conformational change was a relatively slow process. The kinetics of heme loss from oxidized sGC was monitored by a new method based on the heme group de-quenching the fluorescence of FlAsH-EDT2.

Image cloning which could copy the source image and “paste“ it into the target image seamlessly is one of an important digital image manipulation technique. Traditional methods to cope with this problem were to analyze image information in gradient domain according to solving Poisson equations. As a result, existing methods need high computational cost and memory usage which hinder them from real-time applications with high-resolution images. In this paper, we propose an algorithm to cope with image cloning problem based on modified mean-value coordinates technique so that we transform the problem into an image interpolation procedure which is very simple and easy to implement without diminishing the performances. Furthermore, we use GPGPU (General Purpose Computing on Graphics Processing Unit) technique to accelerate the proposed algorithm and achieve real-time performances with the cloned region whose size is about 1 mega pixels.

Immunotherapy is one of the key strategies for cancer treatment. The cGAS-cGAMP-STING-IRF3 pathway of cytosolic DNA sensing plays a pivotal role in antiviral defense. We report that the STING activator cGAMP possesses significant antitumor activity in mice by triggering the STING-dependent pathway directly. cGAMP enhances innate immune responses by inducing production of cytokines such as interferon-β, interferon-γ and stimulating dendritic cells activation, which induces the cross-priming of CD8+ T cells. The antitumor mechanism of cGAMP was verified by STING and IRF3, which were up-regulated upon cGAMP treatment. STING-deficiency dramatically reduced the antitumor effect of cGAMP. Furthermore, cGAMP improved the antitumor activity of 5-FU and clearly reduced the toxicity of 5-FU. These results demonstrated that cGAMP is a novel antitumor agent and has potential applications in cancer immunotherapy.

Shuang Fan 1, a , Hongyi Gao 1, b , Qiming Xu 1, c , Huanqiu He 1, d , Lili Lu 1, e , Junyao Shen 1, f , Yu Xiao 1, g and Li Tan 2, h * 1 Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, No 30 Xueyuan Road, Haidian District, Beijing, 100083, China 2 Institute for Advanced Materials and Technology, University of Science and Technology Beijing, No 30 Xueyuan Road, Haidian District, Beijing, 100083, China 15910751786@126.com, 15210600103@163.com, 857467411@qq.com, 497891518@qq.com, 438097705@qq.com, 625003680@qq.com, 1049982139@qq.com, tljw060606@163.com

To assess the accuracy of multi-slice spiral CT (MSCT) with imaging reconstruction in judging central pulmonary vascular involvement from central lung cancer, and to explore its ability to predict the resectability of lung cancer. MSCTs were conducted on 48 patients who were diagnosed preoperatively with central lung cancer. Images of pulmonary arteries and veins that might affect lobectomy or pneumonectomy were reconstructed by means of imaging processing techniques. Then the relationship of the tumor to the vessels was assessed prospectively on both axial CT images and axial CT images plus reconstructed images(CT-RI) in comparison to subsequent pathologic and surgical findings. MSCTs were obtained on all 48 patients whom 42 underwent thoracotomy, lobectomy or pneumonectomy. Compared with the axial CT images, CT -Rl was more accurate in judging the relationship of the central pulmonary vessels to the tumor based on subsequent pathologic 78 vessels studied and surgical findings (186 vessels studied) (0.01

In this article, a high sensitive longitudinally driven giant magneto-impedance (LDGMI) effect in Fe 36 Co 36 Nb 4 Si 4.8 B 19.2 (FeCo-based) ribbon under weak magnetic field (WMF) was presented. The FeCo-based amorphous ribbon was prepared by single roller quench and annealed with joule-heat in flowing nitrogen atmosphere. The LDGMI effect profiles of FeCo-based ribbon have been measured with HP4294A impedance analyzer. The result shows that the LDGMI effect of FeCo-based ribbon responds to the WMF sensitively (as high as 1380 %/A·m−1). The super high sensitivity can be obtained in a moderate narrow range of annealing current density (27∼34 A/mm2) and closely depends on the driven current frequency. The highest sensitivity (1380 %/A·m−1) was observed when the FeCo-based amorphous ribbon annealed at 32 A/mm2 for 10 minutes and then driven with AC at the frequency of 300 kHz. The high sensitive LDGMI effect in WMF may results from the multiple magnetic anisotropy structure which induced by the temperature grads in the ribbon. This high sensitive LDGMI effect in WMF is promising for the development of weak magnetic-field sensors.

A colloidal dispersion of indium tin oxide (ITO) nanoparticles in butyl acetate solvent was achieved using a milling process in which PVP or PEG were used as a dispersant. The influences of Polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) and Polyethylene glycol (PEG) dispersants on the stability of ITO suspension were studied by Zeta potential value, Nano-particle size measurement and sedimentation experiment. The results indicate that PEG dispersant dosage 5.5%, PVP 3.5% of the amount of slurry when the effect of dispersion can play, but in the storage time of 30 days, the dispersing agent PVP on the stability of slurry particles better than the PEG.

In this paper, a low-power CMOS variable gain amplifier (VGA) with an approximated exponential equation is presented. The proposed VGA is composed of two cascaded variable gain stages and a fixed gain stage, and has advantages of low-power, wide controlled gain range and temperature independent. The VGA is implemented in 0.18um CMOS technology. The simulations show that a total linear gain range of 80dB (−15dB∼65dB) with 3-dB bandwidth can be obtained at 50MHz; the IIP3 varies from −4dBm to −40dBm. The power dissipation is less than 2.2mA from a 1.8V supply voltage; the NF is only 14dB (at the 65dB gain). And the control circuit provides a gain error lower than ±1.5dB over the full temperature and gain ranges.

In this paper, a low-power CMOS variable gain amplifier (VGA) with dB-linear gain, which is based on an approximated exponential equation is presented. Being designed for GPS application, the proposed VGA is composed of two cascaded variable gain stages and a fixed gain stage, and has advantages of low-power, wide controlled-gain-range and highly-linear. The VGA is implemented in 0.18 ?m CMOS technology. The simulations show that a total linear gain range of 60 dB (27 dB-87 dB) with 3-dB bandwidth can be obtained at 16 MHz; the IIP3 varies from -11 dBm (at the minimum gain) to -60 dB (at the maximum gain). The power dissipation is less than 2 mA from a 1.8 V supply, and the input referred noise voltage is only 13 ?Vrms (at the 55 dB gain).

We present a multifunction wireless transceiver RFIC for WLAN and DVB-H applications. The RFIC includes a super-heterodyne transceiver for IEEE 802.11 a/b/g WLAN applications and a zero-IF receiver for DVB-H application. The WLAN and DVB-H transceiver share the down-conversion mixers, the baseband VGAs, filters, and the PLL synthesizer, resulting in a small silicon area of 20 mm2. Using a 3.3 V supply, the power consumption of the WLAN transceiver and the DVB-H receiver are 462 mW and 396 mW, respectively.

Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations have been employed to investigate the ionic diffusion and the structure of LiFePO 4 cathode material. The results correspond well with the published experimental observations. The simulation results indicated that the diffusion of lithium ions was thermally activated and more significant than those of other ions. Compared with other cathode materials, the shifts of ions were less significant in LiFePO 4. This suggested that LiFePO 4 was more thermally stable. The snapshots of the positions of lithium atoms over a range of the steps provided a microscopic picture and the picture showed the lithium ions migrated through one-dimension channels.

This paper presents a 5GHz double-balanced mixer with DC-offset cancellation circuit for direct-conversion receiver compliant with IEEE 802.11a wireless LAN standard. The analog feedback loop is used, to eliminate the DC-offset at the output of the double-balanced mixer. The test results show that the mixer with DC-offset cancellation circuit has voltage conversion gain of 9.5dB at 5.15GHz, noise figure of 13.5dB, IIP3 of 7.6 dBm, 1.73mV DC-offset voltage and 67mW power with 3.3-V power supply. The DC-offset cancellation circuit has less than 0.1mm2 additional area and 0.3mW added power dissipation. The direct conversion WLAN receiver has been implemented in a 0.35mum SiGe BiCMOS technology.

A low-cost low-power single chip WLAN 802.11a transceiver is designed for personal communication terminal and local multimedia data transmission. It has less than 130mA current dissipation, maximal 67dB gain and can be programmed to be 20dB minimal gain. The receiver system noise figure is 6.4dB in high-gain mode

It was introduced in this paper that a multi-mode control algorithm of PI-Single Neuron based on fuzzy decoupling, this control algorithm can be easily implemented by microcontroller in control systems of temperature and humidity. Under such control system, temperature and humidity are influenced each other. In order to remove the coupling, a new decoupling method is presented, which is called fuzzy decoupling. The static decoupling control is proven very effective when the system is in a static state. But it is not suitable to time-variant systems. In order to reduce the effect in a dynamic state, based on the static decoupling method, a loop is added to modify the decoupling coefficients. The fuzzy controller input is the control object's error of the influenced loop, while the system outputs are the decoupling parameters. The corrected parameters are constantly operated in the decoupling algorithm and the temperature and humidity control system are divided into two relative independent loop systems. Through fuzzy decoupling mentioned, we can use a multi-mode control algorithm of PI-Single Neuron for single loop of temperature and humidity. The PI-Single Neuron control algorithm is composed of PI algorithm and single Neuron algorithm. Different algorithm is chosen according to the absolute of error. The paper gives the structure of single neuron controller and it's simulation results. The paper also provides the simulated output response curves with no decoupling control, static decoupling control and fuzzy decoupling control. As the control algorithm which combines PI control with the single neuron control has strong robustness, good adaptability, excellent anti-interference ability, it is apt to real time control.

Human soluble guanylate cyclase (hsGC), a NO sensor/NO receptor of a heterodimeric hemoprotein, plays a critical role in the NO-sGC-cGMP signaling pathway, and also reveals a novel nitrite reductase activity. This indicates that hsGC could activate itself by catalytic reduction of nitrite to NO instead of receiving NO from nitric oxide synthase (NOS), which provides valuable insight into the physiological function of the homodimeric hsGC.