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In this work, a covalent-organic framework with high carbon and nitrogen content microstructures (named COF-LZU1), assisted by 3D nitrogen-containing kenaf stem composites (represented as COF-LZU1/3D-KSCs), was constructed. Moreover, it was utilized for immobilizing acetylcholinesterase (AChE) for identifying trichlorfon, a commonly applied organophosphorus (OP) pesticide. The development of COF-LZU1/3D-KSC was affirmed by SEM, PXRD, and EDXS. The findings confirmed that COF-LZU1 microstructures were uniformly developed on 3D-KSC holes using a one-step synthesis approach, which can substantially enhance the effective surface area. Also, the COF-LZU1/3D-KSC composite contains not only the nitrogen element in COF-LZU1 but also the nitrogen element in 3D-KSC, which will greatly improve the biocompatibility of the material. The AChE/COF-LZU1/3D-KSC integrated electrode was fabricated by directly fixing a large amount of AChE on the composite. At the same time, the integrated electrode had good detection efficiency for trichlorfon. Improved stabilization, a wide-linear-range (0.2-19 ng/mL), and a lower detection limit (0.067 ng/mL) have been displayed by the sensor. Therefore, this sensor can be used as an important platform for the on-site detection of OP residue.

Background Fatty acids are common raw materials in cosmetics and also are an important component of skin surface lipids, and their composition and amount affect the skin condition. Aims The purpose of this article was to review the results of basic research on fatty acids as skin surface lipids. Methods An extensive literature search was conducted using PubMed, Web of Science, and other databases for articles on fatty acids from 1993 to 2020. Results This article provides an overview of the mechanisms of fatty acid synthesis and its metabolic pathways as skin surface lipids in the context of sebaceous and intercellular lipids. The three mechanisms by which fatty acids affect the skin condition are also reviewed. Conclusions This information will aid further understanding of the mechanism of the fatty acid role in skin function maintenance and provide new perspectives for the management of skin health.

Background Skin microbiota are involved in the skin physiological functions and are also affected by the skin physiological characteristics. Objective To better understand the skin microbial characteristics of facial cheek skin and the relationship with skin physiological characteristics. Methods By bacterial 16S rRNA gene sequencing, the authors studied the facial cheek skin microbial characteristics of 85 cases of young women aged 18-25 years. Results Healthy young woman's cheek skin bacterial composition was relatively stable. Dry skin has high bacterial diversity and richness, and oily skin has low bacterial diversity and richness. Cutibacterium was significantly enriched in oily skin and was significantly negatively correlated with other genera such as Streptococcus (r > 0.5). There were significant positive correlations among other genera of enrichment in dry and neutral skin such as Streptococcus and Rothia (r > 0.8). Skin sebum level was significantly negatively correlated with bacterial alpha diversity index. The combined abundance of Cutibacterium acnes and Staphylococcus epidermidis was significantly positively correlated with sebum secretion (r > 0.5). Conclusions The skin sebum secretion and bacterial interaction were the important factors driving the young females' cheek skin bacterial community structure.

Details of intestinal sterol absorption and inhibition by cholesterol-lowering drug are uncovered in new protein structures., The intestinal absorption of cholesterol is mediated by a multipass membrane protein, Niemann-Pick C1-Like 1 (NPC1L1), the molecular target of a cholesterol lowering therapy ezetimibe. While ezetimibe gained Food and Drug Administration approval in 2002, its mechanism of action has remained unclear. Here, we present two cryo–electron microscopy structures of NPC1L1, one in its apo form and the other complexed with ezetimibe. The apo form represents an open state in which the N-terminal domain (NTD) interacts loosely with the rest of NPC1L1, leaving the NTD central cavity accessible for cholesterol loading. The ezetimibe-bound form signifies a closed state in which the NTD rotates ~60°, creating a continuous tunnel enabling cholesterol movement into the plasma membrane. Ezetimibe blocks cholesterol transport by occluding the tunnel instead of competing with cholesterol binding. These findings provide insight into the molecular mechanisms of NPC1L1-mediated cholesterol transport and ezetimibe inhibition, paving the way for more effective therapeutic development.

Additional file 2: Figure S2. Inhibitors of JNK/P38 kinases and NF-κB sufficiently suppressed inflammatory factors following ICH. Levels of iNOS, TNF-α, and IL-1β protein (A) in the brain in ICH-induced mice that were treated with the indicated inhibitors (n=3 mice for each group; *P

In the past few years, performance of dependency parsing has been improved by large margin on closed-domain benchmark datasets. However, when processing real-life texts, parsing performance degrades dramatically. Besides the domain adaptation technique, which has made slow progress due to its intrinsic difficulty, one straightforward way is to annotate a certain scale of syntactic data given a new source of texts. However, it is well known that annotating data is time and effort consuming, especially for the complex syntactic annotation. Inspired by the progress in crowdsourcing, this paper proposes to annotate noisy multi-annotation syntactic data with non-experts annotators. Each sentence is independently annotated by multiple annotators and the inconsistencies are retained. In this way, we can annotate data very rapidly since we can recruit many ordinary annotators. Then we construct and release three multi-annotation datasets from different sources. Finally, we propose and compare several benchmark approaches to training dependency parsers on such multi-annotation data. We will release our code and data at http://hlt.suda.edu.cn/~zhli/.

Additional file 1: Figure S1. The optimal concentration of the NOD1 inhibitor ML130 and the RIP2 inhibitor GSK583 for suppressing the inflammatory response was 20 μM. (A) In hemin-induced BV2 cells, ML130 concentrations of 0, 10, 20, and 30 μM were employed to assess the optimal dose of ML130 in inhibiting NOD1 and iNOS expression (n=3 experiments for each group; *P

In order to solve the problem that traditional energy efficiency power allocation algorithms usually require the assumption of constant or perfect channel state information in cognitive radio networks (CRNs), which may lead to performance degradation in real systems with disturbances or uncertainties, we propose a robust energy efficiency power allocation algorithm for underlay cognitive radio (CR) systems with channel uncertainty in consideration of interference power threshold constraint and minimum target SINR requirement constraint. The ellipsoid sets are used to describe the channel uncertainty, and a constrained fractional programming for the allocation is transformed to a convex optimization problem by worst-case optimization approach. A simplified version of robust energy efficiency scheme by a substitutional constraint having lower complexity is presented. Simulation results show that our proposed scheme can provide higher energy efficiency compared with capacity maximization algorithm and guarantee the signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) requirement of each cognitive user under channel uncertainty.

Redox flow batteries (RFBs) have been extensively investigated because of their great operation flexibility and scalability for large-scale energy storage, yet they suffer from low energy density and relatively high cost when price per kWh is considered. Here, we report an aqueous redox flow lithium battery (RFLB) system based on the concept of Nernstian potential-driven redox targeting reactions of battery materials to address the above issues. With [Fe(CN)6]4–/[Fe(CN)6]3– and S2–/S22– as the redox mediators in the catholyte and anolyte, the cell reveals an anodic and cathodic volumetric capacity up to 305 and 207 Ah L–1 when LiFePO4 and LiTi2(PO4)3 are respectively loaded into the cathodic and anodic tank as energy storage materials. These are 4–6 times as high as that of the vanadium redox flow battery (VRB). In addition, with water-based electrolytes, the system presents notably enhanced Li+ conductivity in the membrane and consequently much improved power performance as compared to its nonaqueous cou...

Background Acne is a complex and multifactorial skin disorder. Alterations in skin surface lipid (SSL) are believed to be an important factor in the pathogenesis of acne and SSL plays a key role in the initiation of acne lesions. Objectives To analyse the lipidome profiles of SSL in patients with acne and in healthy controls in order to understand SSL abnormity in acne in young men. Methods Ultraperformance liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-QTOF-MS) and multivariate data analysis were used to investigate the SSL variations in main lipid classes, subclasses and individual species. Results Results showed that there were significant differences in the lipidome between the two groups. Significantly increased levels of three main classes of glycerophospholipids, fatty acyls and sterol lipids and significantly decreased levels of two main classes of prenol lipids and saccharolipids were observed in patients with acne. Subsequent analysis showed that there were 18 subclasses, which varied significantly and shared the same changing trends of the main classes to which they belonged. Multivariate data analysis indicated that 36 individual species were mostly responsible for this discrimination and the majority of differentiating lipid species were phosphatidylserines. Furthermore, it was observed that the chain length of ceramides were reduced and unsaturated free fatty acids were increased in patients with acne. Conclusions SSL sampled from young male patients with acne had significantly higher levels of phosphatidylserines. Additionally, the reduction in the chain length of ceramides and the increase in unsaturated free fatty acids contributed to an altered lipid organization and decreased skin barrier function in acne.

Summary Redox flow batteries have great system scalability and operational flexibility but relatively low energy density because of the limited solubility of redox molecules in the electrolytes. By storing energy in solid materials while producing power from redox fluids, the redox-targeting concept provides an effective way to significantly increase the energy density of flow batteries. Redox targeting generally involves multiple redox reactions between the molecules and materials, which inevitably brings about additional complexity in electrolyte composition and low voltage efficiency. The Nernstian-potential-driven redox-targeting reaction reported here considerably eliminates the voltage loss of a LiFePO 4 -based redox flow lithium battery. Driven by the Nernstian potential difference, the redox molecule, a ferrocene-grafted ionic liquid with standard potential identical to that of LiFePO 4 , reacts with the solid material both anodically and cathodically and exhibits near-unity material utilization, a voltage efficiency of 95%, and an energy density of 330 Wh/L (up to 942 Wh/L).

Juglone (Jug) is one of the main active substances of Cortex Juglandis Mandshuricae in a folk anti-cancer prescription. Previously, there were few studies on its interaction with DNA and mechanism of action. The present paper studied, the mechanism of action between Jug and calf thymus DNA (ctDNA) by fluorescence spectroscopy, together with ethidium bromide (EB) fluorescence probe, UV–vis absorption spectroscopy, salt effect and ctDNA melting point (Tm) experiment, resonance scattering spectroscopy and molecular docking under the simulated human physiological conditions. The experimental findings indicated that Jug quiescently quenched the fluorescence of EB-ctDNA system, characteristic absorption peak intensity of ctDNA presented a decolorization effect after the interaction of ctDNA and Jug, the interaction with ctDNA enhanced of Jug resonance scattering peak and generated new resonance scattering peak, the salt exerted less effect on the interaction between Jug and ctDNA molecules, and the interaction with Jug increased the Tm value of ctDNA by 5.0 °C The binding constant (KA) between Jug and ctDNA was 2.12 × 105 L/mol (310 K) and the number of binding sites (n) was about 1. The interaction between Jug and ctDNA was an entropically driven spontaneous and endothermic process. The results of molecular docking further showed that the naphthoquinone plane was embedded in the region between the two TA bases in the ctDNA groove, and the 5′-hydroxyl and 4-naphthoquinone groups extended to the outside of the ctDNA double helix.

The redox-mediated electrochemical–chemical process, when it involves the redox-targeting reaction with energy materials, has shown intriguing potential for various energy-related applications. This review starts with a brief discussion on the evolution of redox-targeting reactions for high-energy redox-flow batteries and the critical future studies for large-scale energy storage. Then, with spatially decoupled water electrolysis as an example, the merits of redox-targeting reaction by liberating the catalyst from electrode surface are highlighted, followed by an introduction of redox targeting–based thermal-to-electrical conversion. We have also featured various redox-targeting processes in other fields of study, such as electrochromic window, redox catalysis, and spent battery material recycling. Overall, this review attempts to demonstrate the incredible versatility and prospects of redox-targeting process for energy-related applications.

Root respiration is a critical function of root carbon cycling and accounts for a major component of the global carbon budget. However, the insufficient understanding of the global scaling relationships between root traits and respiration rate (Rr) impedes the accurate prediction of carbon effluxes from roots. Here, we analyzed a dataset of 138 species to unravel and quantify the effects of mycorrhizal type, climate, soil, and phylogenetic structure of species on fine root trait-function relationships. Four commonly measured traits were included: root nitrogen content (RNC), specific root length (SRL), root diameter, and root tissue density. We found that mycorrhizal type and climate affected the relationships between fine root traits and Rr. Specifically, the slopes of SRL-Rr and RNC-Rr relationships for ectomycorrhizal (EM) plants were significantly greater than those for arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) plants, irrespective of the phylogenetic conservatism or plant growth forms. This finding suggested that EM plants consumed more carbon than AM plants for constructing root tissue structures. In a warmer environment, the SRL-Rr relationship was stronger while the RNC-Rr relationship was weaker, possibly because Rr was limited by enzyme activity at low temperature and by substrate supply at high temperature. Our results highlighted the importance of mycorrhizas in influencing the root trait-function relationships. Thus, incorporating mycorrhizal types into trait-based terrestrial biosphere models may help to more accurately predict the future carbon-climate change feedback.

To achieve energy efficiency is very important for future cognitive radio networks since we need less power consumption and much more transmitted information. In this paper, we propose a power allocation scheme with robust energy efficiency consideration for appropriately guaranteeing target signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) requirement for cognitive users and the received interferences at primary receivers below a threshold. A time-varying interference threshold protection factor and a protection margin to the SINR targets are introduced for the above purpose. This problem is formulated as a fraction programming problem solved by an iterative algorithm based on Lagrange dual approach by convex transformation. Simulation results show the validity of the proposed algorithm on both energy efficiency and robustness under channel gain disturbance.

Energy efficiency power control for dynamical cognitive radio networks is a challenging problem. In this paper, our objective is to minimize total transmit power of multiuser cognitive system while keeping the time-varying target signal-to-interference-noise-ratio (SINR) requirements constraints satisfied. In order to compensate the perturbations from new coming users, a SINR strengthen factor is introduced to keep minimum acceptable SINR for SUs. A robust energy aware distributed power control scheme with SINR-flexible requirements is proposed in which a tradeoff between power consumption and received SINR is considered. Simulation results show that our proposed scheme provides better SINR protection and robustness than the existing work which does not consider the entry of new users and the perturbation of channel gains.

Redox flow batteries, despite great operation flexibility and scalability for large-scale energy storage, suffer from low energy density and relatively high cost as compared to the state-of-the-art Li-ion batteries. Here we report a redox flow lithium battery, which operates via the redox targeting reactions of LiFePO4 with a bifunctional redox mediator, 2,3,5,6-tetramethyl-p-phenylenediamine, and presents superb energy density as the Li-ion battery and system flexibility as the redox flow battery. The battery has achieved a tank energy density as high as 1023 Wh/L, power density of 61 mW/cm2, and voltage efficiency of 91%. Operando X-ray absorption near-edge structure measurements were conducted to monitor the evolution of LiFePO4, which provides insightful information on the redox targeting process, critical to the device operation and optimization.

Intervertebral disc degeneration (IDD) is considered to be the main cause of many spinal disorders; however, its underlying pathophysiology is not clearly understood. Recent studies indicate that excessive mechanical loading may serve a major role in the initiation of IDD. The aim of the present study was to explore the effect of noninvasive cumulative axial loading on the intervertebral discs of the lumbar spine using a novel rabbit model. Rabbits in the experimental group were placed into individual tubes specifically designed to force maintenance of an upright posture and were loaded with a heavy collar to increase the intradiscal pressure of their lumbar spine. Radiograph imaging and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was performed every 4 weeks to provide evidence of disc degeneration. At the end of the experiment, the animals were sacrificed and disc specimens were harvested for quantitative polymerase chain reaction and histological analysis. MRI results revealed significant and progressive reductions in the signal intensities of lumbar discs in the experimental group compared with the control group throughout the 14-week study period. The expression level of type I collagen was significantly increased and the expression levels of type II collagen and aggrecan were significantly decreased in the experimental group compared with the control group (P

Buildings account for approximately 50% of the total energy consumption in the world. Efforts have been made to substitute low-grade thermal energy for fossil fuel to achieve thermal comfort in buildings in order to save energy and reduce air pollution. Generally, these efforts are either an incentive policy from the government or the specific technology on how to use one certain low-grade energy. However, the energy planning for a regional architectural complex or how to evaluate the applications of different forms of energy in advance is less published. For this reason, a comprehensive energy planning method for regional architecture complex using low-grade energy, named surface-line-point, is proposed in this article. The important indexes of the energy level gap and exergy price are adopted for surface planning. Exergy analysis can be used to realize the line planning. Hourly load simulation can be used to optimize the operation performance of machine and complete the point planning. The correctness a...

Exercise is a fundamental component of diabetes management. However, choosing inappropriate type or timing of exercise is associated with mild or severe hypoglycemia either during exercise or several hours after exercise. Several studies have shown that impaired counterregulatory responses triggers hypoglycemia. Therefore, in this investigation, we explored the appropriate intensity and time of exercise in patients with diabetes. The mechanisms of counterregulatory responses and hypoglycemia associated autonomic failure (HAAF), as well as the strategies for preventing episodes of hypoglycemia after exercise were also investigated. In this study, we obtained the following results: 1) High intensity interval exercise is more suitable for diabetic patients. 2) Morning exercise reduces nocturnal hypoglycemia risks compared with midday, afternoon and evening exercise. 3) Hypoglycemia can be prevented by dietary approach, reduction or suspension of insulin dose, use of mini dose glucagon, caffeine, mitigation methods, prediction algorithm, autonomic feedback controlled close-loop insulin delivery, real time continuous glucose monitoring. Based on these results we concluded that exercise may cause severe hypoglycemia or induce blunted response in patients with diabetes. For Diabetes Mellitus (DM) patients, the intensity and time of exercise influence the occurrence of hypoglycemia. This review summarizes the clinical characteristics of different types of exercises and time of exercise that can be potentially used to educate and guide patients regarding the role of exercise in standard of care.

Background Regional differences in skin characteristics are well known. Significant differences in skin physiology between the forehead and cheek have also been reported. However, there are few studies based on lipidomics at the molecular level. Additionally, there is no study focusing on the lipid profile variations of skin surface lipid (SSL) in forehead and cheek. Purpose This study analyzed the differences in facial SSL between forehead and cheek of men aged 18-25 years to explain the distinct physiological parameters between forehead and cheek resulting in different skin status. Methods Facial SSL was identified by ultra-performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole time of flight-mass spectrometry (UPLC-QTOF-MS). Multivariate data analysis was used to investigate the SSL difference in forehead and cheek. Results Significant differences in facial SSL composition were detected between the forehead and cheek. Multivariate data analysis suggested that 21 entities contributed most significantly toward the discrimination and phosphatidylserines (PS) constituted the majority of differentiating lipid species. Subsequent analysis showed a marked increase in the amounts of unsaturated and saturated free fatty acids (FFAs), and a significant increase in average FFAs chain length in the forehead as compared to that in the cheek. Conclusions Phosphatidylserines exposure might be one of the most important reasons for the increased amount of forehead SSL secretion. The different FFAs chain length and FFAs content lead to altered skin barrier functions in forehead and cheek, consequently resulting in altered trans-epidermal water loss (TEWL) and pH at the two anatomical sites.

Conventional distributed power control algorithms in cognitive radio networks are based on the assumption of perfect channel estimation which may lead to performance degradation in practical systems. Considering the uncertainty of the channel, this paper proposes a robust cooperative relay-based cognitive radio joint power allocation algorithm. This robustly optimized power allocation problem can be described by a semi-infinite programming. Suppose that under the worst constraints, this problem is transformed into a second-order cone programming problem. Considering the difference between the two transmission phases of the secondary users (SUs), a fairness interference weighting factor is introduced to constrain the interference of the SUs and the relay nodes to the primary users. The OFDM technology is used to eliminate interference between the first phase and the second phase in the SU transmission process. The simulation results show that the proposed algorithm improves the system capacity of the SUs under the premise of guaranteeing the quality of the primary users. Compared with the traditional robust algorithm, the proposed algorithm has better resistance to channel perturbation and greatly improves the spatial diversity gain of the SUs.

Nanofiltration (NF) has a great potential in removing arsenate from contaminated water. The performance including arsenate rejection, water permeability and resistance to fouling could however differ substantially among NF membranes. This study was conducted to investigate the influence of membrane pore size and surface properties on these aspects of membrane performance. Four fullyaromatic NF membranes with different physicochemical properties were adopted for this study. The results showed that surface charge, hydrophobicity, roughness and pore size could affect water permeability and/or arsenate rejection considerably. A more negative surface charge was desirable to enhance arsenate rejection rates. NF90 and a non-commercialized membrane (M#1) demonstrated the best performance in terms of arsenate rejection and water permeability. The M#1 membrane showed less membrane fouling than NF90 when used for filtration of real arsenic-containing groundwater. This was mainly due to its distinct chemical composition and surface properties. A severe membrane fouling could lead to a substantial reduction of arsenic rejection. The M#1 membrane showed the best performance, which indicated that membrane modification could indeed enhance the overall membrane performance for water treatment.

Cardiovascular disease is expected to remain the leading cause of death worldwide despite the introduction of proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 inhibitors that effectively control cholesterol. Identifying residual risk factors for cardiovascular disease remains an important step for preventing and clinically managing the disease. Here we report cardiac injury and increased mortality occurring despite a 50% reduction in plasma cholesterol in a mouse model of phytosterolemia, a disease characterized by elevated levels of dietary plant sterols in the blood. Our studies show accumulation of stigmasterol, one of phytosterol species, leads to left ventricle dysfunction, cardiac interstitial fibrosis and macrophage infiltration without atherosclerosis, and increased mortality. A pharmacological inhibitor of sterol absorption prevents cardiac fibrogenesis. We propose that the pathological mechanism linking clinical sitosterolemia to the cardiovascular outcomes primarily involves phytosterols-induced cardiac fibrosis rather than cholesterol-driven atherosclerosis. Our studies suggest stigmasterol is a potent and independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease., Tao et al. showed that stigmasterol-induced cardiac fibrosis rather than cholesterol-driven atherosclerosis determines the pathological outcomes in a preclinical model of phytosterolemia. These findings suggest that elevated concentration of phytosterols represents an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease.

Considering the interference power threshold of the primary users (PUs) in the cognitive radio network, the transmission rate limitation of the secondary users (SUs) and the signal to interference and noise ratio (SINR) requirement, an adaptive simulated annealing particle swarm optimization algorithm (ASAPSO) is proposed in this paper. According to the change of the fitness value, the adaptive control is used to adjust the particle swarm parameters dynamically, and improve the rules of the Metropoils criterion to generate new solutions. The optimal fitness value is selected by the simulated annealing idea. The simulation results show that the ASAPSO algorithm has achieved good optimization results in all aspects.

This paper takes the judgments between 2011 and 2020 on disputes on the right of new plant varieties from China Judgments Online as the object of research and uses LDA (Latent Dirichlet Allocation) subject model algorithm to analyze the causes and content of these infringement disputes with keyword extraction. With the help of LDA, it finds that China’s disputes over the right of new plant varieties are mainly concentrated in four aspects: the lack of consistent standards for the identification of "new varieties"; the difficulty in responsibility division between the stakeholders involved; the ambiguity in the identification of "propagating materials" and unclear causes of exemption system.

Li metal anode is among the most promising anode materials for next generation of lithium batteries (Li–O2, Li–S batteries). However, the commercial applications of Li metal batteries have been seriously hindered due to safety and lifetime concerns caused by the formation of Li dendrites. In this review, we focus on the electrolyte designs in handling Li dendritic growth and improving electrochemical performance of Li metal anode, and outline the trend of electrolyte designs from traditional composition adjustment of the liquid electrolyte to molecular design of the solid polymer electrolyte. We aim to provide strategic guidance for the rational design and fabrication of safety electrolytes, and to explore the possibility of these designs in practical application. We critically evaluate the existing challenges and future opportunities associated with this burgeoning field.

OBJECTIVE: This study examined the psychological impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-2019) outbreak on medical staff in China. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In February 2020, an online survey was carried out by using an online survey tool (WeChat) to evaluate the effects of the outbreak on the mental health of medical staff in China. RESULTS: A total of 11,118 medical staff responded to the survey. About 4.98% of the respondents reported middle and high levels of anxiety, while 13.47% of the respondents reported middle and high levels of depression since the COVID-19 outbreak. Nurses, frontline medical staff, and younger medical staff were more likely to have anxiety and depression than physicians, nonfrontline medical staff, and older medical staff. CONCLUSIONS: Although the serious psychological impact of COVID-19 is not so common in medical staff in China, programs are needed to protect them against the negative impacts of COVID-19.

A large amount of low-grade heat (

Most of traditional power allocation algorithms are often based on maximum capacity technology (MCT) in cognitive radio networks (CRNs) at the expense of higher energy consumption. The optimisation of energy efficiency power allocation schemes are important performance in green communication. This study investigates the energy efficient power allocation for orthogonal frequency division multiplexing based CRNs in underlay mode. The authors’ scheme is obtained by optimising an objective function consisting of the users’ performance degradation and the network interference, in the same time to track time-varying target of signal to inference plus noise ratio (SINR) under maximum transmit power for each cognitive user and interference power constraint from primary user. A convex optimisation problem is formulated where the tradeoff between energy consumption and transmission capacity is considered, and a distributed algorithm is developed to solve this problem. Simulation results show that the authors’ proposed algorithm can guarantee an acceptable target SINR for all cognitive users and significantly improves energy efficiency compared with throughput per Joule and MCT schemes. Furthermore, the proposed algorithm with the introduced appropriate weight parameters can get higher transmission capacity.

Lecithin-cholesterol acyltransferase (LCAT) is a key enzyme in the esterification of cholesterol and its subsequent incorporation into the core of high density lipoprotein (HDL) particles. It is also involved in reverse cholesterol transport (RCT), the mechanism by which cholesterol is removed from peripheral cells and transported to the liver for excretion. These processes are involved in the development of atherosclerosis and coronary heart disease (CHD) and may have therapeutic implications. This work describes the use of baculovirus as a transducing vector to express LCAT in mammalian cells, expression of the recombinant protein as a high-mannose glycoform suitable for deglycosylation by Endo H and its purification to homogeneity and characterization. The importance of producing underglycosylated forms of secreted glycoproteins to obtain high-resolution crystal structures is discussed.

As one of the potential candidates for fuel surrogates, n-heptane has been the focus of numerous oxidation and combustion studies. In this work, n-heptane combustion in cylinder tubes with diameters of 2, 3, and 4 mm was investigated experimentally with the use of packed catalyst beds of Pt/Ce0.8Zr0.2O2 to study the mechanism of self-sustaining combustion and the dimensional effects of the inner diameter of a tube combustor. The region of self-sustaining stable combustion, the tube wall temperature, and the combustion efficiency were examined. n-Heptane can maintain self-sustaining stable combustion in the three tubes even if the wall temperature was below 430 K. As the equivalence ratio (Φ) increased, the stability region of the Reynolds number (Re) was expanded at the expense of fuel wastage. The lower stability limit of Re decreased as the tube diameter increased, and the value could reach as low as 12 in the tube with a diameter of 4 mm. The equivalence ratio was the dominant factor of the wall tube t...

n-Heptane combustion was conducted in packed-bed micro combustors using two catalyst layouts, namely, continuous (type A) and two-sectional (type B) types. Cerium–Zirconium solid solution-supported platinum was adopted as catalyst. The two combustors demonstrated distinct combustion characteristics owing to their different catalyst layouts. Type B significantly expanded the upper limit of Reynolds number (Re) of stable combustion, maintaining stable combustion at Re = 1500 under fuel-rich conditions at an equivalent ratio of Φ = 1.6. Type A was more advantageous at low Re values, and the lower Re limit was reduced to 12. Types A and B displayed a single peak and a bimodal distribution of wall temperature, respectively. The bimodal distribution in type B not only slowed down the variation in wall temperature with Re but also proved that catalyst-free homogenous combustion occurred in the throat. As a result of the different combustion processes, type A showed different variation trends of products along the length compared with type B. Moreover, the conversion rates of the two types reached their maximum values (84.4% and 88.3%) at Re = 160. High conversion rate of type B was attributed to heterogeneous/homogenous combustion and long heat reflux zones.

The combustion of ethanol and dimethyl ether (DME) was performed over Pt/ZSM-5 catalyst in a packed-bed reactor to investigate the combustion characteristics and catalyst deactivation. Results showed that the CO2 yield and wall temperature for the combustion of DME were higher than those for the combustion of ethanol. The maximum CO2 yield for both fuels surpassed 72%. After 48 h of continuous combustion, CO2 yields of DME and ethanol decreased by 13.8% and 38.9%, respectively, attributed to the agglomeration of Pt and the formation of carbonaceous deposits on the catalyst. Transmission electron microscopy images showed considerable Pt agglomeration after ethanol combustion. Temperature-programmed oxidation results revealed two types of carbonaceous deposits with oxidation temperatures of 225 and 345 °C after DME combustion, but only the former type was detected after ethanol combustion. X-ray photoelectron spectra revealed that the mainly increased surface carbonaceous species were C C/C H and O C O after the combustion of ethanol and DME, respectively.

Drug discovery opportunities where loss-of-function alleles of a target gene link to a disease-relevant phenotype often require an agonism approach to up-regulate or re-establish the activity of the target gene. Antibody therapy is increasingly recognized as a favored drug modality due to multiple desirable pharmacological properties. However, agonistic antibodies that enhance the activities of the target enzymes are rarely developed because the discovery of agonistic antibodies remains elusive. Here we report an innovative scheme of discovery and characterization of human antibodies capable of binding to and agonizing a circulating enzyme lecithin cholesterol acyltransferase (LCAT). Utilizing a modified human LCAT protein with enhanced enzymatic activity as an immunogen, we generated fully human monoclonal antibodies using the XenoMouse(TM) platform. One of the resultant agonistic antibodies, 27C3, binds to and substantially enhances the activity of LCAT from humans and cynomolgus macaques. X-ray crystallographic analysis of the 2.45 Å LCAT-27C3 complex shows that 27C3 binding does not induce notable structural changes in LCAT. A single administration of 27C3 to cynomolgus monkeys led to a rapid increase of plasma LCAT enzymatic activity and a 35% increase of the high density lipoprotein cholesterol that was observed up to 32 days after 27C3 administration. Thus, this novel scheme of immunization in conjunction with high throughput screening may represent an effective strategy for discovering agonistic antibodies against other enzyme targets. 27C3 and other agonistic human anti-human LCAT monoclonal antibodies described herein hold potential for therapeutic development for the treatment of dyslipidemia and cardiovascular disease.

Recently, a growing body of studies has demonstrated that long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) can act as microRNA (miRNA) sponges to regulate protein-coding gene expression and play essential roles in tumor initiation and progression. In the present study, we constructed a competitive endogenous RNA (ceRNA) network and identified potential regulatory axes in colorectal cancer (CRC) through both bioinformation and experimental validation. Firstly, we obtained differentially expressed (DE) lncRNAs, miRNAs, and mRNAs by analyzing the RNA expression profiles of CRC retrieved from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database and CRC patients' data from affiliated Hospital of Jiangnan University, respectively. Then, we established a ceRNA regulatory network of CRC that includes 23 lncRNAs, 7 miRNAs and 244 mRNAs. To further identify these lncRNA-miRNA-mRNA regulatory axes which might play vital roles in CRC tumorigenesis and prognosis, we performed additional analyses using comprehensive bioinformatic methods. Several ceRNA regulatory axes, which consist of 2 lncRNAs, 2 miRNAs and 5 mRNAs, were obtained from the network. Finally, the interactions and correlations among these ceRNA networks were validated by experiments on CRC cell lines and clinical tumor tissues, and a potential IGF2-AS/miR-150/IGF2 axis that perfectly conform to the ceRNA theory was determined. According to the qRT-PCR results, miR-150 overexpression remarkably decreased IGF2-AS and IGF2 expression. Meanwhile, IGF2-AS expression was positively correlated with IGF2 expression in tumor tissue of CRC patients. Besides, dual luciferase reporter assays indicated that miR-150 could bound to IGF2-AS and the 3'UTR of and IGF2. In general, the constructed novel IGF2-AS/miR-150/IGF2 network might provide potential mechanisms of CRC development, and could act as a promising target for CRC treatment.

Nanofiltration (NF) is an effective technology for micropollutants retention for production of high quality reclaimed water. However, limited information is available about the effects of temperature on the performance of NF on micropollutants rejections. In this paper, the behaviors and mechanisms of micropollutants rejections by two commercial NF membranes (VNF1 and VNF2) were studied under different temperatures. Based on the Donnan Steric Pore Model with Dielectric Exclusion (DSPM-DE) model, the mathematical functions were firstly established to describe the relationship between pore size (rp) and temperature (T) as well as the relationship of water permeability (A) with temperature (T). The DSPM-DE model incorporated with temperature functions were used to predict micropollutants rejections by NF membranes at given temperature values. The results showed that the increase of temperature could lead to the increase of NF membranes' pore sizes, water fluxes as well as the micropollutants’ diffusivities. The rejection rates of positively and neutrally charged micropollutants decreased with temperature increased, which was mainly due to the attenuation of steric hindrance effect. For the negatively charged micropollutants, temperature had negligible effect on them, which was possibly facilitated by the co-function of electrostatic repulsion and steric hindrance effect. Our study also showed that the predicted rejection values of neutrally and positively charged micropollutants decreased with temperature increased, in agreement with those of the experimental data. Compared with the real experimental rejections, the average relative errors of predicted values were 6.20% and 9.03% for VNF1 and VNF2, respectively. But for benzotriazole, the average relative error was as higher as 20.44%, possibly due to its adsorption onto VNF membranes. This work provides valuable insights for NF engineering applications and designs at different temperatures.

Beginning tutor books are preparing for students who exposed to music for the first time. It is the simplest and most basic music teaching materials. Piano beginners can divide into different age groups, such as young beginners, teenagers, and adults. The young beginners about six to ten years old, the teenagers are usually senior students, about thirteen to eighteen, and an adult is a person over the age of eighteen. People of all age groups can become piano beginners, and beginners at different age groups should use different kinds of music textbooks. In this essay, the musical materials for the piano beginner at different age groups are presenting below.

This paper expounds a process of music teaching and learning. It is a project and it contains project outline, practicum log and evaluation. The purpose of the project is to strengthen the pupil’s reading skills in pitch and rhythmic accuracy. The duration of the project is four weeks. This article reflects a specific process and influence from student by studying piano. Also, it provides some practical suggestion and reflection to teacher.

The analyses for temporal variation pollution sources of Qijiawan treatment pond show that in non-livestock and poultry breeding area, total phosphorus (TP) pollution mainly happens during the period from June to August with both farmland and domestic sewage as the main pollution source and during the Spring Festival with domestic sewage as the source. Total nitrogen (TN) pollution mainly occurs during the rainy season from July to September taking domestic sewage and nitrogen fertilizer as main sources, besides the Spring Festival with domestic sewage as the main pollution source. As for ammonia nitrogen pollution, it is similar to TN pollution, and domestic sewage is the first pollution source. The emphasis of pollution control should be put on the phosphorus especially particle phosphorus (PP) in the domestic sewage and dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) in the sewage and farmland fertilizer. In addition, nitrate‑nitrogen (NO3−-N) is mainly from the impervious land surface and transfers into the treatment pond with rainfall. COD into the pond in the rainy season was greater than that in the dry season, but anyhow, it firstly comes from domestic sewage, especially in the Spring Festival. Research on the purification performance of Myriophyllum spicatum treatment pond shows that it is relatively difficult for Myriophyllum spicatum to absorb COD and TN with DON as the main form, but it is very easy to absorb TP and NH3-N before October. Therefore, Myriophyllum spicatum should be harvested in this month in order to realize effective removal. The removal of COD and TN mainly depends on microbial degradation, and so it should be enhanced in order to improve water quality of treatment pond.

The objective of this paper is to optimize the power allocation to maximize the total rate of secondary users (SUs) under the SU total transmit power constraint and primary user (PU) interference temperature constraint, a proportional rate constraint is also used to assure that each SU can achieve fairness. The power allocation problem is not a convex optimization problem, which can be converted to a convex optimization problem without introducing auxiliary variables. To reduce the burden of information exchange and computational complexity, PU interference temperature constraint can be decoupled to an average interference constraint. The Lagrangian duality method is used to solve the optimal transmission power. Numerical results show that the proposed algorithm not only improves the rate fairness of each SU, but also guarantees the quality of service (QoS) of PU.

LCAT is intimately involved in HDL maturation and is a key component of the reverse cholesterol transport (RCT) pathway which removes excess cholesterol molecules from the peripheral tissues to the liver for excretion. Patients with loss-of-function LCAT mutations exhibit low levels of HDL cholesterol and corneal opacity. Here we report the 2.65 A crystal structure of the human LCAT protein. Crystallization required enzymatic removal of N-linked glycans and complex formation with a Fab fragment from a tool antibody. The crystal structure reveals that LCAT has an α/β hydrolase core with two additional subdomains that play important roles in LCAT function. Subdomain 1 contains the region of LCAT shown to be required for interfacial activation, while subdomain 2 contains the lid and amino acids that shape the substrate binding pocket. Mapping the naturally occurring mutations onto the structure provides insight into how they may affect LCAT enzymatic activity.

Most of traditional power allocation algorithms in the cognitive radio networks (CRNs) are often based on the assumption of perfect channel estimation. We investigate the power allocation algorithm by considering channel gain uncertainty where a primary ad-hoc network working in parallel with a secondary ad-hoc network. Reducing interference and saving energy are essential in radio resource management of cognitive radio networks. The objective is to minimum transmit power while guaranteeing both acceptable transmission data rate for secondary users (SUs) and interference constraints for primary users (PUs). Imperfect channel state information is considered by ellipsoid sets and the problem can be formulated to a second-order cone programming problem. We can solve the robust power allocation problem by a distributed algorithm efficiently. Numerical results verify that the proposed algorithm with rate constraints can get higher transmission performance for SUs.

Considering that the spectrum resources are becoming increasingly demand, maximum channel capacity is very crucial for future wireless communication systems, especially for cognitive radio networks (CRNs). However, most existing works usually assume that channel parameter estimation is perfect, which is often damped in practical systems. In this paper, we investigate the robust maximum channel capacity problem in the CRNs. Then assuming that channel parameter uncertainty is bounded, we consider that all channel parameter uncertainties are described by ellipsoid sets. From the perspective of worst-case optimization, we formulate it as a semi-infinite programming (SIP) problem. Furthermore, an optimal iterative algorithm based on the dual decomposition theory and Lagrange multiplier algorithm is applied. Simulation results validate that our robust scheme can achieve the channel capacity maximization considering the worst-case and strictly guarantee the power interference requirement of second users (SUs) under all parameters’ uncertainties.

In accordance with current industrial waste heat and heat requirements, a new steam heat pump system used for recovering industrial waste heat is proposed in this paper which consists of a ...