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Reported in this paper is a novel application of statistical analysis of structural fire hazards that were found in heritage housing stock in a metropolitan area. The structural fire hazards in terms of non-compliances to the building regulations are digitised and then subjected to statistical analysis to obtain estimates of probabilities of occurrence under various conditions. The concepts of Hamming distance, Jaccard distance, virtual distance and pairwise Phi correlation coefficients are employed in the analysis to estimate the association between the fire hazards. Estimates of the probability distribution over the number of joint occurrence of hazards and pairwise joint probabilities are also obtained. In addition the 3-tuple and 4-tuple joint probabilities are analysed. Finally, logistic regression models are established to correlate each fire hazard with the others. The results show that not only the probability of occurrence of structural fire hazards is high, but probability of multiple occurrence is also significant. There are indications that some structural fire hazards are correlated. The findings of this study may assist certifying authorities, building surveyors, fire safety engineers and fire services in identifying fire hazards in heritage buildings and developing alleviating and effective strategies or solutions to protect life safety of building occupants as well as the cultural heritage values of the relevant building stock.

A sequence of tests and simulations with varying transverse fire locations were conducted in a full-scale tunnel to investigate the constraint effect of sidewall on the maximum smoke temperature distribution under a tunnel ceiling. Then, the simulated results were comprehensively compared with both those of the full-scale tests and the model-scale experiments from previous studies. The results of the full-scale experiment show that the longitudinal maximum smoke temperature rise distribution decreases can be approximated by a power function. However, the numerical simulation results indicate that an exponential distribution may be plausible. The normalized ceiling jet temperature rise at the impingement point displays an exponential variation with the distance between the fire source and the sidewall. Meanwhile, regression models taking the constraint effect of sidewall into account was developed to predict the ceiling jet impingement temperature in tunnel fires.

Three advanced methods, high performance affinity chromatography (HPAC), surface plasmon resonance (SPR) and surface plasmon resonance imaging (SPRi) were compared and evaluated for determining the drug-cyclodextrin (CD) interactions herein. In total, 18 sparingly soluble drugs were selected for this comparative study. The three methods share a unique connection in the working principles and strategies. The same strategies of CD fixation onto solid phase were used in HPAC and SPR for the measurements, whereas, the SPR and SPRi share identical working principles. However, whilst these relationships are evident, no strong correlation was found between kinetic constants obtained from the three methods: Four drugs, namely, prednisolone, pseudolaric acid B, diazepam and gramisetron failed to show any response on SPR, whereas, the kinetics parameters from SPRi and HPAC were successfully measured. From a comparative review of all the kinetic data, random results without any trends were observed (ka, kd and KA) regardless of the relationships between the three methods: It is apparent that the measurement conditions (volume, flow rate, buffers), non-specific adsorption and experimental procedures had a strong impact on the generated data. The relative advantages and limitations of each method are critically presented on the basis of generated data. This comparative study provides a basis to further upgrade these techniques for confident measurement of drug-CDs interactions.

This paper presents an experimental investigation on burning rate, flame tilt angle and flame length of small ethanol pool fires under different oblique winds. Square pool fires with dimension of 4 cm and 6 cm with wind attack angles from 0° to 30° and wind speeds from 0 to 3.28 m s−1 for downslope airflow and from 0 to 1.90 m s−1 for upslope airflow are tested. Flame tilt angle and flame length are determined based on luminous flame intermittency from the flame images. The results show that the burning rate under downslope wind is relatively larger than that under upslope wind at the same absolute wind speed and slope angle. The flame tilt angle and flame length generally increase with the increase of wind slope angle for downslope airflow, but decrease with the increase of upslope airflow angle. At a given wind slope angle, the flame tilt angle generally increases with the increase of wind speed until to an asymptotic value when the wind speed exceeds 0.35 m s−1; the flame length first increases and then decreases for downslope wind, but initially decreases then increases before decrease again for upslope wind. In addition, some modified correlations are developed to analyze the flame tilt angle and flame length data under oblique wind conditions.

Fire-wind enhancement is a phenomenon associated with the increase of free-stream wind velocity due to the interaction of fire and free stream flow. The potential adverse effects of enhanced wind on the pressure loads around buildings highlight the necessity of investigating the phenomenon. The interaction of wind and fire has long been a subject of interest however, investigation of the factors affecting the phenomenon has not received due attention. One of the factors that affect this phenomenon is terrain slope. This paper used a Computational Fluid Dynamic solver called FireFoam to evaluate the effect of terrain slope on fire-wind enhancement. The results revealed that the enhancement of wind velocity due to fire increases with an increase in terrain slope. This is because fire-wind interaction leads to the generation of a favourable longitudinal pressure gradient whose magnitude increases with the increase of terrain slope.

Wind enhancement triggered by fire-wind interaction can potentially pose significant damage to structures built in bushfire prone areas. The effect of terrain slope is one of the parameters contributing to the enhancement of wind by fire that needs to be taken into account. This study employs a validated model of Computational Fluid Dynamics to assess the effects of terrain slope on this phenomenon. A module was developed and appended to the FireFOAM solver to output individual component of flow acceleration. Multiple analyses were used to explain the effects of terrain upslope and downslope on the phenomenon. The results reveal that although the enhancement of wind velocity due to fire increases with an increase in terrain upslope, a terrain downslope reduces flow enhancement by fire. The results also established that while an upslope terrain reinforces the Coanda effects and intensifies attachment of the plume to the ground, the downslope condition mitigates Coanda effects and reduces the flow's tendency to attach to the ground downstream of the fire source. Furthermore, under a constant heat release rate and upstream wind velocity, the maximum magnitude of wind enhancement linearly increases with the increase of upslope angle. Keywords: Upslope, Downslope, Wind enhancement, Fire, CFD, Coanda effects

This study investigated the influence and interaction of tobacco promotional and control information with adolescents’ current smoking and smoking susceptibility. 12,278 students were recruited from junior, senior and vocational high schools located in Shanghai, China. The exposure to tobacco promotional and control message of participants over the past 30 days were examined, as well as current smoking and never smokers’ initiation susceptibility. Complex sample analysis was applied. Descriptive and multivariate logistic regressions were conducted. 89.3% and 91.5% of adolescents investigated were exposed to tobacco promotional and control message respectively, which separately increased and decreased the risk of current smoking and never-smokers’ smoking susceptibility, especially among males and junior high school students. The risk changed in consistency with the exposure level（Ptrend < 0.001）. Tobacco control message seemed to mitigate the influence of tobacco promotions in the risk of both current smoking (OR = 0.64, 95%CI: 0.41–0.99) and smoking susceptibility (OR = 0.65, 95%CI: 0.46–0.93). Tobacco-related message exposure was highly prevalent and associated with youth smoking risk and smoking susceptibility. It is important to enhance the comprehensiveness and enforcement of promotion bans. Given the improvement of tobacco control message on smoking risk brought by tobacco promotions, the publicity and dissemination of tobacco control information need to be consistently strengthened.

In this article, a risk based approach to design for bushfire protection in view of adaptation to global warming is discussed. The concept of design bushfire is explained in an analogy to design flood or design earthquake in terms of event of prescribed return period. In lieu of using the Global Climate Model, the current study is based on the analysis of historical fire weather data from multiple locations in a state wide region. The generalized extreme value (GEV) analysis method is employed to establish the recurrence models for predicting the fire weather index of given return period and the associated fire intensity. To examine the impacts of the climate change, a moving GEV method is utilized to the weather data records over the period of 44 years. The result demonstrated a heterogeneity in the impact of climate change in terms of a given recurrence fire danger index and the potential bushfire severity over the region studied. The implication of this outcome is that the traditional prescriptive approach to design for bushfire protection may not be suited for adaptation to climate change.

ObjectivesThe ways patients cope with advanced cancer can influence their health-related quality of life (HRQoL). This study aims to examine the mediating role of positive and negative mood in the relationship between coping and HRQoL in patients with advanced lung cancer.MethodsA consecutive sample of 261 patients (mean age: 59.99±9.53) diagnosed with stage III or IV lung cancer was recruited from the inpatient unit in a hospital that specialises in chest-related disease in Shanghai, China. Participants completed measurements including Medical Coping Modes Questionnaire, Positive and Negative Affect Schedule, and 5-level EuroQol 5-dimension instrument.ResultsAlthough the total effects of confrontation on HRQoL were not significant, competing indirect effects via mood were identified: (1) positive indirect effects through positive mood were found for confrontation on mobility, usual activities, pain/discomfort and overall utility index (indirect effect=0.01, 95% CI 0.003 to 0.03); (2) negative indirect effects through negative mood were found for confrontation on mobility, pain/discomfort, anxiety/depression and overall utility index (indirect effect=−0.01, 95% CI −0.03 to −0.001). Resigned acceptance was negatively associated with HRQoL, and indirect effects via mood were identified: (1) negative indirect effects through positive mood were found for resigned acceptance on mobility, self-care, usual activities, pain/discomfort and overall utility index (indirect effect=−0.01, 95% CI −0.03 to −0.003); (2) negative indirect effects through negative mood were found for resigned acceptance on domains of HRQoL and overall utility index (indirect effect=−0.04, 95% CI −0.06 to −0.02).ConclusionsConfronting advanced lung cancer can fuel ambivalent emotional experiences. Nevertheless, accepting the illness in a resigned way can be maladaptive for health outcomes. The findings suggest interventions that facilitate adaptive coping, reduce negative mood and enhance positive mood, as this could help to improve or maintain HRQoL in patients with advanced lung cancer.

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In the current work, a series of experiments were carried out under low and normal temperature conditions (0 and 20 °C) to research the influence of low temperature on the performance of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). Besides this, a commercial insulation material (IM) was employed to research its effect on preventing damage in a battery exposed to low temperature. Based on the experimental results, it was found that the battery exhibited a higher temperature increase at low ambient temperature due to the larger internal resistance of the battery at low temperature, which resulted in greater heat generation. It was also observed that the low temperature caused the uniformity of the battery to deteriorate as a result of temperature and voltage differences, and the uniformity became poorer with increasing cycle rate. Moreover, the capacity decay rate of the battery was demonstrated to be greatly accelerated by the low temperature. According to the morphological changes of the battery components, the structure of the electrode materials and separator was damaged under low temperature conditions. Finally, the results show that the IM had a significant effect on warming the battery up; therefore, a much better discharge performance and slower decay rate of the battery were achieved. Furthermore, the performance of the IM was found to be related to its thickness.

Additional file 1: Table S1. Zero point energy (ZPE, a.u.), total energy (ET, a.u.), standard Gibbs free energy (Gθ, a.u.) and enthalpy (Hθ, a.u.) at 298.15 K obtained at the B3LYP/6-311++G**//LanL2DZ level for ten complexes.

Embryo implantation is an essential step for a successful pregnancy, and any defect in this process can lead to a range of pregnancy pathologies. The objective of this study was to explore the role of N-myc downregulated gene 1 (NDRG1) in embryo implantation. It was found that uterine NDRG1 expression has a dynamic pattern during the estrous cycle in nonpregnant mice and that uterine NDRG1 expression was elevated during the implantation process in pregnant mice. The distinct accumulation of NDRG1 protein signals was observed in the primary decidual zone adjacent to the implanting embryo during early pregnancy. Furthermore, uterine NDRG1 expression could be induced by activated implantation or artificial decidualization in mice. Decreased uterine NDRG1 expression was associated with pregnancy loss in mice and was associated with recurrent miscarriages in humans. The in vitro decidualization of both mouse and human endometrial stromal cells (ESCs) was accompanied by increased NDRG1 expression and downregulated NDRG1 expression in ESCs effectively inhibited decidualization. Collectively, these data suggest that NDRG1 plays an important role in decidualization during the implantation process, and the abnormal expression of NDRG1 may be involved in pregnancy loss.

Substantial influence of fire flame on wind flow aerodynamic characteristics lead to enhancement of wind velocity that may cause considerable damages to buildings in bushfire-prone areas. Fire is associated with rotational vortical structures ranging from the small scales, sourced by baroclinic generation of vorticity ( ω B G V ), to large scale vortices arising from amalgamation mechanisms that can significantly affect wind flow characteristics during fire-wind interaction. This study aims to understand the extent to which baroclinic generation of vorticity affects wind enhanced by fire. Large eddy simulations (LES) of fire-wind interaction are conducted using fireFOAM solver of OpenFOAM platform for two different types of fuels with the aim to produce two different scenarios with similar heat release rate, but different flame temperatures. This will guarantee the production of different vortex structures in the two cases while flow expansion rate, which is proportional to the fire heat release rate, remains constant. FireFOAM solver was modified to extract fire-induced acceleration and vorticity components. The LES results show that under similar fire intensity and heat release rate conditions, wind enhancement is higher in the scenario with higher flame temperature along the centreline as well as the cross-sectional locations which are corresponding to the locations of counter-rotating vortices where the maximum wind enhancement appears. It was shown that in the case with higher flame temperature, baroclinic generation of vorticity is stronger, which causes stronger longitudinal fire-induced pressure gradient and consequently results in a higher wind enhancement in these cross-sectional locations. The distribution of maximum cross-sectional baroclinic generation of vorticity along longitudinal location are presented, confirming in both cases, baroclinic generation of vorticity reduces with an increase of distance from the fire source. However, in almost all distances, the scenario with a higher flame temperature generates stronger baroclinic generation of vorticity, so does the fire-induced pressure gradient and flow enhancement.

Although pressure chambers have been extensively employed to examine the pressure effect on fire behaviors at high altitudes, the results have not been carefully compared with that obtained by field tests for verification. In this paper, both the field tests at high altitude and chamber tests were performed to investigate whether the experimental conditions at high altitude can be faithfully replicated in a low pressure chamber and the limitations or restrictions on the use of the chamber in experimental study of fire behavior at high altitude. The n-heptane pool fires with different sizes were performed in current study. The differences in the burning intensity, flame envelop and axial temperature distribution were analyzed. It was found that only for 6~12 cm pool dimensions, the burning intensity in quasi-steady stage for chamber test can well simulate that for corresponding filed test. The difference in flame envelop appears for all the configurations, exhibiting a larger slenderness for chamber tests. The axial temperature distribution in quasi-steady stage can be well correlated with the classical theory of fire plume involving the pressure effect, while the exception of the 14 cm pool fires shows apparent distinction for field and chamber tests in plume region.

We perform Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analyses of a low-rise building immersed in a turbulent boundary layer. The Silsoe 6 m cube is chosen as the main case study aiming at representing the key features of the typical wind conditions experienced by low-rise buildings. The turbulent inflow condition is generated by employing a precursor technique. A sensitivity study is conducted to investigate the effects of eight subgrid-scale (SGS) models on the flow around the cube. The incoming turbulence intensity and mesh sizing for each of the SGS models are also explored. The results in terms of time-averaged pressure fields for relatively well-resolved simulations are well compliant with available experimental data and insensitive to the selection of the SGS model. We demonstrate that, while the effect of the aforementioned factors has a limited impact on the first-order statistics of the pressure coefficients, their influence becomes much more pronounced when analysing higher-order statistics (i.e. variance, skewness and kurtosis) and extreme values. The extent of their relative importance depends on the location of the point under investigation and the quantity of interest. The current study provides guidelines on the choice of factors which can strongly affect the results obtained employing CFD simulations when the local peak pressures are of interest, for example, as in the case of cladding design.

Objectives This systematic review aimed to examine the relationships between physical activity and posttraumatic growth (PTG) following a highly stressful life event. Design A systematic review was conducted to identify eligible articles. A meta-analysis was conducted for quantitative studies and a meta-ethnographic synthesis was conducted for qualitative studies. Method After systematic searches of five databases and literature screening, 20 quantitative studies and 12 qualitative studies were included in the final review. A meta-analysis of 14 quantitative studies was conducted to examine association between leisure-time physical activity and PTG. A meta-ethnographic synthesis of 10 qualitative studies was conducted to examine the relationship between physical activity and the experience of PTG. Results The meta-analysis revealed a positive, yet small, association between leisure-time physical activity and PTG (average correlation = 0.120; 95% confidence interval: 0.071 to 0.168; p Conclusions This review suggest physical activity is a behavioral factor that may facilitate PTG. It highlights methodological considerations for further research.

Unraveling the physics of fire-wind interaction has long been a subject of interest. Among all the physics involved, enhancement of wind by fire deserves great attention due to its potential effects on building structures downstream of the fire source in bushfire attack events. Predominantly, two contributing factors determine the extent to which wind is enhanced by fire: freestream wind velocity and fire intensity. This study employs Large-Eddy Simulation (LES) to fundamentally investigate the combined effects of freestream wind velocity and fire intensity on fire-wind enhancement. An added module was implemented to an open-source transient fire solver in order to analyze the effects of freestream wind velocity and fire intensity based on the analysis of interactions between momentum and fire-induced buoyancy forces. Simulations are performed for parametric combinations of wind velocity and fire intensity. The LES results demonstrate that the normalized maximum wind enhancement increases with a reduction of freestream wind velocity and an increase in fire intensity. The non-dimensional Froude number, Fr, and normalized fire intensity, I*, were employed to quantify the effects of freestream wind velocity and fire intensity, respectively. A correlation was developed to determine the maximum wind enhancement as a function of Fr and I*. The location corresponding to maximum wind enhancement occurs further downstream of the fire source as freestream wind velocity or fire intensity increases. A correlation based on the Fr number and I* was developed for the location at which maximum wind enhancement occurs. Furthermore, the concept of wind enhancement plume line was defined as a line along which the local wind enhancement occurs at a given longitudinal location downstream of the fire source, for which a correlation was also developed. Moreover, a gradual decaying trend is observed in wind enhancement after reaching a peak along the wind enhancement plume line in all simulation scenarios for which a correlation was also developed as a function normalized longitudinal direction.

It is very essential and meaningful for detection and quantitation of aflatoxin in food and agricultural commodities to establish a rapid and accurate detection method. Herein, a novel electrochemical aptasensor for sensitive and selective detection of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) was successfully constructed. The thiolated complementary strand (cDNA) of the AFB1 aptamer (Apt) was immobilized on the surface of the glassy carbon electrode (GCE) modified with gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) through Au–S bond. Then Apt was attached on the surface of GCE via by specific base pairing. In the presence of AFB1, the Apt was detached from the electrode surface by specific recognition between the AFB1 and Apt, forming Apt-AFB1 conjugates in solution. The conjugates were digested by exonuclease I (Exo I) to trigger AFB1 recycling. Finally, DNA-AuNPs-horseradish peroxidase (DNA-AuNPs-HRP) nanoprobes was bound with cDNA on the surface of electrode by specific base pairing. HRP could catalyze the oxidation of hydroquinone (HQ) to benzoquinone (BQ) by hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) for producing a strong electrochemical signal. Under the optimized conditions, the electrochemical signals increased with increasing concentrations of AFB1 in a range from 10−3 ng mL−1 to 200 ng mL−1 with a low detection limit of 3.3 × 10−4 ng mL−1. Moreover, the aptasensor has been successfully applied for the determination of AFB1 in peanuts and corn samples and the recoveries were 88.5 %–110.2%, which would provide a novel method for the rapid detection of AFB1 in food samples.

Obesity is a major contributor to the development of steatohepatitis and fibrosis from nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Hypoxia aggravates progression of NAFLD. In mice on high-fat diet (HFD), hepatic steatosis leads to liver tissue hypoxia, evidenced by accumulation of hypoxia inducible factor-1-alpha (HIF-1α), which is a central regulator of the global response to hypoxia. Hepatocyte cell signaling is an important factor in hepatic fibrogenesis. We here hypothesize that HIF-1α knockout in hepatocyte may protect against liver fibrosis. We first found that HFD led to 80% more hepatic collagen deposition than Hif1a-/- hep mice, which was confirmed by a-SMA staining of liver tissue. Body weight and liver weight were similar between groups. We then found the increasing HIF1a expression and decreasing PTEN expression in the mice on HFD and in PA-treated HepG2 cells. Finally, we found that HIF1 mediated PTEN/nfkb-p65 pathway plays an important role in the development of NAFLD to liver fibrosis. Collectively, these results identify a novel HIF1a/PTEN/NF-κ Bp65 signaling pathway in NAFLD, which could be targeted for the therapy.

Variation in flow characteristics triggered through the fire-wind interface can potentially damage the buildings during bushfires. Fire-wind enhancement which is referred to as the increase of wind velocity, caused by the fire-wind interaction, is one of the destructive phenomena in this regard. In spite of the significance, the underlying mechanism contributing to this phenomenon is still not well understood. This study employs computational fluid dynamic (CFD) simulation to fundamentally investigate the effects of free-stream wind velocity on fire-wind enhancement through analyzing the momentum and buoyancy of fluid. Fire-wind interaction is shown to cause the generation of fire-induced longitudinal negative pressure gradient which results in fire-induced pressure and viscous forces in longitudinal direction. These forces are further found as the prime reason for the distortion of the wind velocity profile. A module is implemented to the FireFOAM solver to calculate and extract these forces quantitatively. The results reveal that under a constant fire intensity, the level of distortion and/or enhancement in the wind velocity profile comparatively reduces with the increase of free-stream wind velocity. A new non-dimensional group (modified Euler number) is introduced to take into account dominant fire-induced forces causing fire-wind enhancement. Richardson number and the modified Euler number are employed to determine the influence of free-stream wind velocity and longitudinal distance from the fire source on wind velocity enhancement. Large-eddy simulation (LES) results indicate that while the level of enhancement generally depends on both Richardson and the modified Euler number, the location of the maximum level of enhancement along the plume centreline coincides with the maximum value of modified Euler number under a constant free-stream wind velocity scenario.

Battery modules with phase change material (PCM) cooling inevitably suffer from heat-storage saturation and poor secondary-heat dissipation, especially in high-temperature environments or hot regions. To optimize thermal management, this study firstly explores the thermal behaviors of PCMs with different phase change temperatures (PCTs) in a high-temperature environment. The experimental results show that a PCM with a PCT of 46 °C offers the best cooling effect at a high ambient temperature of 40 °C in this study. For example, the maximum temperature of a cell without PCM reaches 53.3 °C, whereas that of the cell with PCMs having PCTs 40, 46, and 55 °C, are 59.2, 51.6, and 57.5 °C, respectively, during the dynamic cycling process. Nevertheless, the application of above PCM is still unsatisfying because the maximum temperature of the battery in the PCM module exhibits obvious increasing trend with cycles in 40 °C environment. On this basis, several novel fins with multiple heat-flow channels (of V, Y and X shapes) are designed and introduced into the PCM module to enhance the secondary heat dissipation capability. These fins with innovative branch structures deliver excellent performance in alleviating the battery temperature than the traditional rectangular fins, which can be attributed to the ability of the branch structures to increase the heat transfer area by adding heat transfer channels. The results of this work show that the X-shape delivers the best performance in a high-temperature environment of 40 °C by maintaining the maximum temperature of the cell below 47 °C.

Cyclodextrins nanosponges (CD-NSPs) are highly microporous crosslinked polymers with potential applications in the delivery of small and macro-molecular therapeutic agents. Despite the potent host-guest inclusion property, their inherent lack of cellular binding ability has limited applications in drug delivery. Herein, we functionalized the surface of β-cyclodextrin nanosponge (β-CD-NSP) with cholesterol, which is endogenous physiological molecules, widely distributed in all cells, and responsible for cell interactions and protein binding. The surface grafting of synthesized β-CD-NSP was confirmed with spectroscopic, microscopic, thermogravimetric, and chromatographic techniques. Moreover, β-CD-NSP was found to be safe in cytotoxicity assay. Doxorubicin (Dox) was selected as a model drug for drug adsorption study of cholesterol hydrogen succinate (CHS) grafted β-CD-NSP. The cellular uptake of NSP was found to be enhanced after CHS modification confirmed by confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM). Thus, proposed CHS modified β-CD-NSP system could be used as a site-specific drug delivery carrier.

Decidualization is an indispensable event in the embryo implantation process, but its underlying molecular mechanisms remain elusive. In this study, we showed that in mice, the uterine expression of N-myc downstream-regulated gene 3 (NDRG3), a member of the α/β hydrolase superfamily, was induced by estradiol and progesterone. During the embryo implantation process, uterine Ndrg3 expression was remarkably upregulated, and its expression level at implantation sites (IS) was significantly higher than that at inter-IS. Increased uterine expression of Ndrg3 was associated with artificial decidualization and the activation of delayed implantation. The in vitro decidualization of mouse endometrial stromal cells (ESCs) induced by estradiol and progesterone was also accompanied by increased Ndrg3 expression, and downregulated Ndrg3 expression in ESCs effectively inhibited decidualization. miR-290b-5p was identified as an upstream regulator of Ndrg3, and the uterine expression level of miR-290b-5p was decreased during the implantation process. Furthermore, overexpression of miR-290b-5p in mouse ESCs inhibited their in vitro decidualization. Taken together, these data suggested that Ndrg3 might play an important role in embryo implantation by regulating decidualization potentially via the estrogen/progesterone/miR-290b-5p pathway.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are critical regulators of gene expression; they have emerged as new players in the pathophysiology of reproductive disorders such as preeclampsia and recurrent miscarriage (RM). In this study, miRNA expression profiles were determined by deep sequencing analysis in placental villi obtained from women with RM and with gestational age-matched normal pregnancy (NP). A total of 69 miRNAs were found to be aberrantly expressed in RM. Five of these human (Homo sapiens) miRNAs (hsa-miRNAs), including hsa-miR-3074-5p, -486-3p, -1269b, -6765-3p and -144-3p, were validated by qRT-PCR in 12 RM and 10 NP placental villi. Hsa-miR-3074-5p expression was significantly higher, while hsa-miR-486-3p expression was significantly lower, in RM compared to NP. Subsequently, the expression of mouse (Mus musculus) miR-486-3p (mmu-miR-486-3p) and mmu-miR-3074-5p, which are identical to hsa-miR-486-3p and hsa-miR-3074-5p, respectively, were examined by qRT-PCR in the uterus during early pregnancy. Mmu-miR-486-3p expression was significantly increased during the peri-implantation period, and the levels were significantly higher at implantation than at non-implantation sites. In contrast, the expression of mmu-miR-3074-5p was markedly decreased at implantation compared to non-implantation sites. These data suggest that miR-486-3p and miR-3074-5p may be involved in embryo implantation and that their aberrant expression is associated with RM. Larger studies are warranted to follow up this pilot study.

Maternal immune tolerance to the semi-allogenic fetus is required for successful pregnancy in mammals. Monoclonal nonspecific suppressor factor beta (MNSFB) is an immunosuppressive factor present in uterine epithelial and stromal cells, as well as in macrophages and T cells. Although the functional neutralization of MNSFB using specific antibodies against it lead to failed embryo implantation in mice, the exact role of MNSFB at the fetal-maternal interface remains unclear. The present study generated conditional heterozygous Mnsfb-deficient (Mnsfb(+/) (-) ) mice using the LoxP/Cre system. Western-blot analyses showed that uterine MNSFB protein in Mnsfb(+/-) mice was remarkably down-regulated compared to that in the wild-type (Mnsfb(+/+) ) mice. The litter size of female Mnsfb(+/-) mice was significantly reduced, which corresponded to developmental failure of embryos beyond Day 11 of pregnancy. The expression level of MNSFB protein was also lower in the failing compared to the normal embryos. An aberrant interaction between the embryos of Day-4 pregnant wild-type mice and endometrial stromal cells of female Mnsfb(+/-) mice was observed in vitro. The uterine Day-5 abundance of P53, BAX, and BCL-G in pregnant Mnsfb(+/-) mice was significantly decreased compared to that of wild-type mice, whereas the expression of P27 and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFA) was elevated. By comparison, the levels of MNSFB and BAX proteins in human decidual tissues obtained from recurrent spontaneous miscarriage patients were significantly reduced compared to those obtained from legal medial abortion, highlighting the involvement of MNSFB in the pathogenesis of recurrent spontaneous miscarriage. Together, these results demonstrated that a deficiency in MNSFb is associated with pregnancy loss, probably through reduced P53 and/or increased TNFA production at the fetal-maternal interface.

SUMMARY To investigate the influence of low pressure on pool fire behaviors, liquid n-heptane pool fires with the diameters of 6, 8, and 10 cm were tested in a low-pressure altitude chamber. The tests were conducted under different static chamber pressures, ranging from 40 to 60 to 80 to 101 kPa. Fuel mass loss and high-speed flame video were recorded during the whole burning process of each test. The mass burning intensity is determined by the convective and radiative heat feedback to the fuel, and analysis shows that the convective part is the major contributor to fuel evaporation. Video recordings show that flame height increases with the reduction of pressure, as supported by the dimensionless analysis. The flame puffing amplitude increases under low pressure, resulting in a portion of the flame being quenched. A special phenomenon was observed from the flame videos in that flame rotation emerged at the ending burning stage, which was attributed to the Coriolis force effect. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The use of lithium batteries requires understanding their fire and explosion hazards. In this paper, a report is given on an experimental study of the combustion characteristics of primary lithium batteries. Burning tests of single and bundles of primary lithium batteries were conducted in a calorimeter to measure their heat release rates when exposed to an irradiance of 20 kW m−2. Several variables including time to ignition, mass loss, heat release rate and plume temperature were measured to evaluate the ignition and combustion characteristics. The burning batteries were observed to have flame temperatures in excess of 1,200°C and to release corrosive compounds. The experimental results show that the combustion efficiency, carbon dioxide yield and mass loss are proportional to the number of batteries in the bundle. The total heat released by battery bundles was deduced empirically to be proportional to the number of batteries with a power of 1.26. The results provide experimental basis for the development of fire protection measures during the use, storage and distribution of primary lithium batteries.

Purpose – Heritage housing in inner city areas represents a valuable cultural asset that belongs, in part, to the community as a whole. Despite this, the risk of destruction by fire in closely spaced heritage housing has not received a great deal of research attention. The purpose of this paper is to identify potential faults in building fabric that may result in unacceptable fire safety risks to irreplaceable heritage streetscapes. Design/methodology/approach – This paper examines a sample of publically administered heritage houses in inner Sydney. A condition survey looks at the occurrence of noted defects, or non-compliances to the current building regulations, in fire separation between attached or closely spaced occupancies. Findings – Fire spread between adjacent buildings is identified as a potential hazard which needs to be addressed in order to ensure both the sustainability of the remaining heritage housing stock and the safety of the occupants. Research limitations/implications – While the survey is small, it represents a significant proportion of a dwindling stock of nineteenth century heritage housing in public ownership in Sydney. Practical implications – Based on the results of the survey, a recommendation has been made in regard to improving building surveying practice when dealing with renovation of heritage housing. Social implications – Concern over the diminishing availability of social housing in inner city locations indicates the need for more attention to the fire safety of the remaining stock. Originality/value – The research provides original data on the level of fire safety risk in a regional cluster of heritage housing.

Background Many reports have also shown that the silver nanoparticles can effectively increase the anticancer drug activity and intensely enhance the drug curative effect. The adsorption of 6MP on nanomaterials has received a lot of attentions because of the drug coordination to its chemotherapeutic activity. The geometrical structures, chemical bonds, molecular orbital properties as well as density of states for the configurations were analyzed to deeply understand the interactions between the 6MP and Ag8 clusters for high effect anticancer drug production. Results In this work, the density functional theory B3LYP has been used to investigate the structures and properties of the configurations between 6-mercaptopurine (6MP) and Ag8 clusters using 6-311++G** level as well as an effective pseudo potential LANL2DZ. The geometries of ten configurations were optimized with full freedom. The geometrical structures, chemical bonds, molecular orbital properties as well as density of states for partial configurations were analyzed based on the density functional calculations. Polarizable continuum solvent model (PCM) in self-consistent reaction field (SCRF) were used for the aqueous calculations. The influences of temperature and pressure on the stability of the predominant configurations in the gas phase were further considered using standard statistical thermodynamic methods from 50 to 500 K and at 1 bar or 100 bar. Conclusion The result shows that there are ten stable configurations in the gas phase and there is a strong chemical bond between a Ag and S atom in the most stable configuration. The analysis of density of states also shows that the Ag–S chemical bond in the most stable configuration has been formed. Moreover, the results show that the temperature and the pressure will significantly influence the stability of the configurations in the gas phase. Additionally, when the solvent effect was considered, we found that there are only seven stable configurations and the solvent have different effect on various configurations. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s13065-019-0573-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Controllable preparation of nanopores to promote the performance of electrochemical biosensing interfaces has become one of the researching frontiers in biosensing. A double biocatalysis signal amplification of glucose biosensor for the study of electrochemical behaviors of glucose oxidase (GOx) was proposed by using horseradish peroxidase biosynthesized porous graphene (PGR) as the platform for the biocatalytic deposition of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs). The biosensor showed a linear range from 0.25 to 27.5 μM with a detection limit of 0.05 μM (S/N = 3) towards glucose. Furthermore, the proposed AuNPs/GOx–PGR modified glassy carbon electrode (AuNPs/GOx–PGR/GCE) achieved direct electron transfer of GOx.

Insulin is involved in the development of diabetic heart disease and is important in the activities of mitochondrial complex I. However, the effect of insulin on cardiac mitochondrial nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide dehydrogenase (ubiquinone) 1 subunit of retinoic-interferon-induced mortality 19 (GRIM-19) has not been characterized. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of insulin on the mitochondrial GRIM-19 in the hearts of rats with streptozotocin (STZ)-induced type 1 diabetes. Protein changes of GRIM-19 were evaluated by western blotting and reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Furthermore, the effects of insulin on mitochondrial complex I were detected in HeLa cells and H9C2 cardiac myocytes. During the development of diabetic heart disease, the cardiac function did not change within the 8 weeks, but the mitochondrial morphology was altered. The hearts from the rats with STZ-induced diabetes exhibited reduced expression of GRIM-19. Prior to the overt cardiac dilatation, mitochondrial alterations were already present. Following subcutaneous insulin injection, it was demonstrated that GRIM-19 protein was altered, as well as the mitochondrial morphology. The phosphoinositide 3-kinase inhibitor LY294002 had an effect on insulin signaling in H9C2 cardiacmyocytes, and decreased the level of GRIM-19 by half compared with that in the insulin group. The results indicate that insulin is essential for the control of cardiac mitochondrial morphology and the GRIM-19 expression partly via PI3K/AKT signaling pathways.

A novel catechol (CA) biosensor was developed by embedding tyrosinase (Tyr) onto in situ electrochemical reduction graphene (EGR) on choline-functionalized gold nanoparticle (AuNPs-Ch) film. The results of UV-Vis spectra indicated that Tyr retained its original structure in the film, and an electrochemical investigation of the biosensor showed a pair of well-defined, quasi-reversible redox peaks with Epa = −0.0744 V and Epc = −0.114 V (vs. SCE) in 0.1 M, pH 7.0 sodium phosphate-buffered saline at a scan rate of 100 mV/s. The transfer rate constant ks is 0.66 s−1. The Tyr-EGR/AuNPs-Ch showed a good electrochemical catalytic response for the reduction of CA, with the linear range from 0.2 to 270 μM and a detection limit of 0.1 μM (S/N = 3). The apparent Michaelis-Menten constant was estimated to be 109 μM.

A novel catechol (CA) biosensor was developed by the immobilization of tyrosinase (Tyr) onto in situ electrochemical reduction graphene (EGR) on choline functionalized gold nanoparticals (AuNPs–Ch) film. The results of UV–visible spectra indicated that Tyr retained its original structure in the film. And electrochemical investigation of the biosensor showed a pair of well–defined, quasi–reversible redox peaks with Epa= –0.0744V and Epc= –0.114 V (vs. SCE) in 0.1 M, pH 7.0 sodium phosphate buffered saline at the scan rate of 100 mV/s. The transfer rate constant ks was 0.66 s–1. The Tyr–EGR/AuNPs–Ch showed a good electrochemical catalytic response for the reduction of CA, with the linear range from 0.2 to 270 μM and a detection limit of 0.1 μM (S/N= 3). The apparent Michaelis–Menten constant was estimated to be 109 μM.

A highly sensitive method based on cloud point extraction (CPE) separation/preconcentration and graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry (GFAAS) detection has been developed for the determination of ultra-trace amounts of rhodium in water samples. A new reagent, 2-(5-iodo-2-pyridylazo)-5-dimethylaminoaniline (5-I-PADMA), was used as the chelating agent and the nonionic surfactant TritonX-114 was chosen as extractant. In a HAc-NaAc buffer solution at pH 5.5, Rh(III) reacts with 5-I-PADMA to form a stable chelate by heating in a boiling water bath for 10 min. Subsequently, the chelate is extracted into the surfactant phase and separated from bulk water. The factors affecting CPE were investigated. Under the optimized conditions, the calibration graph was linear in the range of 0.1–6.0 ng/mL, the detection limit was 0.023 ng/mL for rhodium and relative standard deviation was 3.67% (c = 1.0 ng/mL, n = 11)．The method has been applied to the determination of trace rhodium in water samples with satisfactory results

In order to ensure the safety of inflammable and explosive chemical substance such as nitrocellulose (NC) mixtures in the process of handing, storage, and usage, it is necessary to obtain the fire properties of NC with different exterior structures. In present study, fire properties of two commonly used nitrocelluloses with soft fiber structure and white chip structure were investigated by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and the ISO 5660 cone calorimeter. Experimental findings revealed that the most important fire properties such as ignition time, mass loss rate and ash content exhibited significant differences between the two structures of NC. Compared with the soft fiber NC, chip NC possesses a lower fire hazard, and its heat release rate intensity (HRRI) is mainly affected by the sample mass. In addition, oxygen consumption (OC) calorimetry method was compared with thermal chemistry (TC) method based on stoichiometry for HRRI calculation. HRRI results of NC with two structures obtained by these two methods showed a good consistency.

The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of financial burden, using objective and subjective indicators, on the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in lung cancer patients. A total of 227 patients diagnosed with lung cancer (from the inpatient unit of the department of internal medicine-chest oncology, in Shanghai Chest Hospital, China) participated in the study. Financial information was measured by direct medical costs, direct nonmedical costs, healthcare-cost-to-income ratio, and perceived financial difficulty. HRQOL was measured using the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Lung (FACT-L) scale. Catastrophic health spending, defined as a healthcare-cost-to-income ratio of more than 40%, was reported in 72.7% of the participants, whereas 37.0% reported that healthcare costs exceeded annual household income. Financial difficulty was perceived in 83.7% of the participants. Patients whose healthcare costs exceeded their annual household income and who perceived financial difficulty reported a clinically meaningful difference in overall HRQOL (> 6 points on the FACT-L) compared with participants without catastrophic health spending or perceived financial difficulty. Healthcare costs did not show a significant effect on HRQOL. Healthcare costs exceeding total annual household income and perceived financial difficulty are associated with poorer HRQOL in lung cancer patients. Subjective indicator of financial burden has a stronger effect on quality of life than objective indicators. Health-cost-to-income ratio and perceived financial difficulty can be implied as objective and subjective indicators of financial burden to identify the patients who may need additional assistance. Communication on deciding on cost-effective treatments can be facilitated.

An experimental study on smoke point of acetylene laminar jet diffusion flames was performed in a chamber with sub-atmospheric pressures of 0.03–0.1 MPa. A combined normal video and the CH filtering technique were employed in the flame image recording to facilitate determining the smoke point. The measured smoke point flame height, fuel flow rate, and residence time was found to vary with pressure to power laws. In this article, both jet inertia and buoyancy effects were considered for calculating smoke point residence time of reacting jets.

Presented in this paper is part of an experimental series conducted at different altitudes to investigate the influence of altitude on the flammable liquids flash point. The BS-1 closed bomb apparatus is used to measure the flash points of two flammable liquids (dimethylacetylamide (DMA) and RP-5 Jet A) in a hypobaric chamber under the altitude change from 4860 km to the sea level. The experimental results show that the flash points of DMA and Jet A decrease linearly with the increase in altitude in the low altitude region below the corresponding critical altitudes but non-linearly above. The critical altitudes for DMA and RP-5 Jet A are found to be 3 km and 3.83 km respectively. When the altitude reaches or surpasses the critical altitude, the flash point decreases rapidly. In particular, the flash point of the DMA exhibits a peculiar sudden transition above the critical altitude.

A method of early smoke detection in video using swaying and diffusion feature is presented in this paper. Firstly, in view of early smoke's swaying feature, choquet fuzzy integral was adopted to extract dynamic regions from video frames, and then, a swaying identification algorithm based on centroid calculation was used to distinguish candidate smoke region from other dynamic regions. Secondly, smoke diffusion makes different textures between the bottom region and the top region of smoke. This unique feature was used to differentiate smoke from other candidate smoke regions by Gray Level Co-occurrence Matrix. Experiments show that the proposed method is effective, robust, and has a performance of earlier smoke alarm. The processing rate of the smoke detection method achieves 25 frames per second with an image size of 320 × 240 pixels.

Smoking cigarettes and e-cigarettes is widely popular among Chinese students. Considering that school personnel are considered role models in the student community, we investigated the prevalence and determinants of such behavior among high school personnel in China so as to provide references for future related intervention measures. We used a stratified cluster sampling design on a total number of 3311 school employees recruited from 33 representative schools. Complex sampling analysis and logistic regressions were used for univariate and multivariate analyses. Among 3194 participants that met the study criteria, 7.4% were cigarette users, and 3.6% e-cigarette consumers. For conventional cigarette smokers, certain characteristics, such as being older and male, attaining less education, and having been exposed to secondhand smoke, were associated with heavier smoking. Nevertheless, e-cigarette users were predominantly male and of younger age. Those who understood the hazards of conventional cigarette smoking had less inclination to smoke but were at a higher risk of e-cigarette use. Our analysis suggests that it is necessary to target different populations for monitoring and controlling conventional cigarette smoking and e-cigarette use respectively among school personnel. In addition, China is in need of more relevant and strict anti-smoking regulations.

The challenge of bacterial infection increases the risk of mortality and morbidity in acute and chronic wound healing. Silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) are a promising new version of conventional antibacterial nanosystem to fight against the bacterial resistance in concern of the drug discovery void. However, there are several challenges in controlling the size and colloidal stability of Ag NPs, which readily aggregate or coalesce in both solid and aqueous state. In this study, a template-guided synthesis of ultrafine Ag NPs of around 2 nm using water-soluble and biocompatible γ-cyclodextrin metal-organic frameworks (CD-MOFs) is reported. The CD-MOF based synthetic strategy integrates AgNO3 reduction and Ag NPs immobilization in one pot achieving dual functions of reduced particle size and enhanced stability. Meanwhile, the synthesized Ag NPs are easily dispersible in aqueous media and exhibit effective bacterial inhibition. The surface modification of cross-linked CD-MOF particles with GRGDS peptide boosts the hemostatic effect that further enhances wound healing in synergy with the antibacterial effect. Hence, the strategy of ultrafine Ag NPs synthesis and immobilization in CD-MOFs together with GRGDS modification holds promising potential for the rational design of effective wound healing devices.

In this work, an experimental and theoretical study of the ignition of 20 mm thick paulownia wood exposed to a clear glass envelope incandescent light was performed. The experimental study includes both calibration tests and ignition experiments. Three simple models are established to estimate the incident heat flux in different positions, and the minimum heat flux to achieve ignition, and to correlate the ignition time with distance between the incandescent lamp and the wood sample. Considerable agreement between experimental and theoretical results was obtained in most cases.

The effects of downward airflow on the burning rate and/or burning intensity of square alcohol pool fires for different airflow speeds and directions have been studied experimentally in an inclined wind tunnel. An interesting flame-wrapping phenomenon, caused by impingement of air flow, was observed. The mass burning intensity was found to increase with the airflow speed and the impinging angle. The fuel pan rim temperatures were also measured to study the effect of wind direction and speed on heat transfer from the flame to the fuel source. A model based on heat transfer analysis was developed to correlate the burning intensity with the pan rim characteristic temperature. A good correlation was established between the model results and the experimental results.

A sensitive biosensor for the determination of phenolic compounds was fabricated based on tyrosinase (Tyr), single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) and polyaniline (PANI). The surface morphologies of complex films were characterized by the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) technique. Electrochemical investigation of the biosensor showed that it gave a linear response range of 2.5 × 10−7–9.2 × 10−5 and 2.5 × 10−7–4.7 × 10−4 M and detection limit of 8.0 × 10−8 and 6.0 × 10−8 M for catechol, caffeic acid, respectively. The biosensor also exhibits good sensitivity, repeatability and stability, and presents suitability to the quantification of catechol or caffeic acid in the tested samples.

Coupling nanotechnology with biocatalysis, a highly sensitive glucose biosensor for the study of electrochemical behaviors of glucose oxidase (GOx) was proposed by using monkshoodvine root–bark like carbon (MLC) as the platform for the biocatalytic deposition of AuNPs. The biosensor showed a linear range from 0.25 to 130 μM with a detection limit of 0.1 μM (S/N = 3) towards glucose and sensitivity of 3010 μA/mM. K value was calculated to be 67.4 μM. Furthermore, the proposed AuNPs/GOx–MLC modified pyrolytic graphite electrode (AuNPs/GOx–MLC/PGE) achieved direct electron transfer of GOx. Γ* was calculated to be 2.79 × 10−11 mol/cm2 and ks was 1.79 s−1. It also showed a remarkable electrocatalysis towards glucose.