Search

Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) and cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs) extracted from renewable resources possess many attractive characteristics, making them ideal Pickering emulsion stabilizers. However, unmodified pristine CNCs with high surface charge density are not effective in stabilizing oil–water emulsions, thereby limiting their application as interfacial stabilizers. Grafting hydrophobic polymers onto CNCs enhanced their wettability by the oil phase, which reduced the interfacial tension. Thus, hydrophobic modification was performed by grafting cinnamoyl chloride or butyryl chloride to the surface of CNFs. The modified CNFs were further hydrolyzed for 1 or 2 h to produce nanocellulose of varying sizes and hydrophobicity, and they were effective Pickering emulsifiers. The effect of nanocellulose concentration, polarity of solvents, hydrophobicity, size and electrolyte on the characteristics of the Pickering emulsions were examined and elucidated.

Wenhuan Bu,1* Zilin Wang,1,* Lin Meng,1,* Xing Li,2 Xinchen Liu,1 Yumeng Chen,1 Ying Xin,3 Baoquan Li,4 Hongchen Sun11Department of Oral Pathology, School and Hospital of Stomatology, Jilin University, 130000 Changchun, People’s Republic of China; 2School and Hospital of Stomatology, China Medical University, 110000 Shenyang, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Oral Pathology, Hospital of Stomatology, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, 710000, People’s Republic of China; 4Department of Temporomandibular Joint, School and Hospital of Stomatology, Jilin University, 130000 Changchun, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workPurpose: Smad4 loss is highly related to poor prognosis and decreased patient survival in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), suggesting that agents that target both Smad4-mutated and Smad4 wild-type cells could treat OSCC more effectively. Disulfiram (Dsf) has anticancer activity through a variety of mechanisms, including inhibition of epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT). It remains unclear whether Dsf has the same effect on Smad4-mutated and Smad4 wild-type OSCC or not and what mechanism is involved.Methods: Effect of Dsf on TGFβ1-induced EMT in CAL27 (Smad4 mutation) and SCC25 (Smad4 wild-type) cells were evaluated through analyzing changes in morphology, expression of EMT markers, and migration and invasion of cells. The ERK-pathway inhibitor U0126 was used to confirm TGFβ–ERK–Snail pathway–mediated cell behavior. Dsf’s effects on tumor growth and metastasis in vivo were examined through a subcutaneous xenograft mouse model and an intravenous tumor mouse model.Results: Dsf inhibited TGFβ1-induced EMT through suppression of morphological change, EMT-marker expression, and cell migration and invasion in both CAL27 and SCC25. Phosphorylation of ERK and expression of Snail were blocked by Dsf treatment. Like Dsf, U0126 had a similar effect on EMT of CAL27 and SCC25. Dsf also reduced tumor growth and metastasis in vivo, accompanied by decreased expression of EMT markers in tumors.Conclusion: These results indicated that Dsf inhibited EMT of OSCC in vitro and in vivo independently of Smad4 through suppression of the TGFβ–ERK–Snail pathway, suggesting the broad-spectrum anticancer potential of Dsf for clinical use against OSCC.Keywords: disulfiram, epithelial–mesenchymal transition, Smad4 mutation, oral squamous cell carcinoma

In recent years, a typical representation of the next-generation Internet architecture, named data networking (NDN), and a critical form of the underwater Internet of Things (IoT), underwater acoustic sensor networks (UASNs), have attracted widespread attention in academia. Meanwhile, since the battery energy of the sensor node is limited and the battery is difficult to replace or recharge in underwater environments, extending the networks' lifetime has become a key issue in UASNs. In this paper, we try to deploy a UASN on NDN architecture and explore the energy consumption of the NDN-based UASN under shallow water and deep water conditions based on the relay network topology. A simulation is carried out to compare the delay performance of NDN-based and IP-based UASNs and validate the result. It is believed that the study could provide a theoretical criterion for the selection of the direct or relay path to optimize energy consumption in the future deployment of NDN-based UASNs.

In view of the importance of the sense of community in online education, scholars have highlighted its effects from various perspectives. This study argues that desirable sense of community can somehow make up for the deficiency of technical performance, enhance the appeal of online learning system, and contribute to learners’ adoption and continuous use. To prove the argument, an empirical study was carried out, data were collected from 299 online learners, and both the relations between learners’ sense of community and their satisfaction with the system performance and between the sense of community and learners’ continuance intention are studied and compared by SmartPLS2.0. It was proved that sense of community can contribute to the appeal of online learning and finally significantly work on learners’ continuance intention to use the online learning system.

Background The filamentous fungus Trichoderma reesei is one of the best producers of cellulase and has been widely studied for the production of cellulosic ethanol and bio-based products. We previously reported that Mn2+ and N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) can stimulate cellulase overexpression via Ca2+ bursts and calcium signalling in T. reesei under cellulase-inducing conditions. To further understand the regulatory networks involved in cellulase overexpression in T. reesei, we characterised the Mn2+/DMF-induced calcium signalling pathway involved in the stimulation of cellulase overexpression. Results We found that Mn2+/DMF stimulation significantly increased the intracellular levels of cAMP in an adenylate cyclase (ACY1)-dependent manner. Deletion of acy1 confirmed that cAMP is crucial for the Mn2+/DMF-stimulated cellulase overexpression in T. reesei. We further revealed that cAMP elevation induces a cytosolic Ca2+ burst, thereby initiating the Ca2+ signal transduction pathway in T. reesei, and that cAMP signalling causes the Ca2+ signalling pathway to regulate cellulase production in T. reesei. Furthermore, using a phospholipase C encoding gene plc-e deletion strain, we showed that the plc-e gene is vital for cellulase overexpression in response to stimulation by both Mn2+ and DMF, and that cAMP induces a Ca2+ burst through PLC-E. Conclusions The findings of this study reveal the presence of a signal transduction pathway in which Mn2+/DMF stimulation produces cAMP. Increase in the levels of cAMP activates the calcium signalling pathway via phospholipase C to regulate cellulase overexpression under cellulase-inducing conditions. These findings provide insights into the molecular mechanism of the cAMP–PLC–calcium signalling pathway underlying cellulase expression in T. reesei and highlight the potential applications of signal transduction in the regulation of gene expression in fungi.

Additional file 9: Table S3. The log2 fold changes of the major cellulose degradation-related genes under Mn2+/DMF addition conditions.

Additional file 11: Figure S7. The growth rate related cellulase activity and transcription levels of cbh1 and egl1 after Mn2+ stimulation in wild-type QM6a and Δplc-e mutant.

Additional file 8: Table S2. Differential transcription of genes in response to Mn2+ and DMF as measured by RNA-sequencing.

Additional file 4: Figure S4. Relative expression levels of cam (c), cna1 (d), and crz1 (e) in T. reesei QM6a and Δacy1 strains under different conditions. The QM6a and Δacy1 strains were cultured in MM with 2% glucose as the carbon source and then inoculated in fresh MM supplemented with 10 mM Mn2+, 1% DMF, 0.02 mΜ Forskolin, or 5 mM dbcAMP, with 1% Avicel as the carbon source. Cultures that were not supplemented with Mn2+, DMF, Forskolin, or dbcAMP were used as controls. QM6a cells cultured without the addition of Mn2+, DMF, Forskolin, or dbcAMP were used as the reference sample. Values are expressed as the mean ± SD of the results from three independent experiments. Asterisks indicate significant differences from the control (*p < 0.05, Student’s t test).

Additional file 5: Figure S5. Effect of cAMP/LaCl3-induced cellulase overexpression. a and b. pNPCase activity/mg biomass (a) and CMCase activity/mg biomass (b) of T. reesei QM6a strains supplemented with 5 mM dbcAMP and 5 mM LaCl3. Values are the means ± SD of the results from three independent experiments. Asterisks indicate significant differences from the control (*p < 0.05, Student’s t test).

Additional file 3: Figure S3. Effect of Mn2+/DMF/cAMP-induced cellulase overexpression. a and b. pNPCase activity/mg biomass (a) and CMCase activity/mg biomass (b) of T. reesei QM6a and Δacy1 strains supplemented with 5 mM dbcAMP, 10 mM Mn2+ or (and) 1% DMF. Values are the means ± SD of the results from three independent experiments. Asterisks indicate significant differences from the control (*p < 0.05, Student’s t test).

Additional file 2: Figure S2. Cellulase activities of T. reesei complementary strains Racy1 and Rplc-e under different addition conditions. pNPCase activity/mg biomass of T. reesei QM6a, Racy1 and Rplc-e strains supplemented with 10 mM Mn2+ or 1% DMF. T. reesei QM6a was used as the control. Values are the mean ± SD of the results from three independent experiments. Asterisks indicate significant differences from the control (*p < 0.05, Student’s t test).

Engineering a targetable nanoparticle to tumor cell is a challenge issue for clinical application. Our results demonstrated that the chemokine CXCL8 secreted by oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) could act as a chemoattractant to attract dental pulp mesenchymal stem cell (DPSC), which expressed the CXCL8 binding receptor, CXCR2, to the OSCC. Therefore, to create OSCC targetable nanoparticles, we used DPSC membranes to modify nanoparticles of metal-organic framework nanoparticles (MOFs) resulting in a novel MOF@DPSCM nanoparticle. Interestingly, results from in vitro and in vivo experiments illustrated that MOF@DPSCM possessed specificity for the OSCC, and the MOF@DPSCM carried DOX (doxorubicin), MOF-DOX@DPSCM could induce CAL27 cell death in vitro and block CAL27 tumor growth in vivo. Our data suggest that this novel MOF-DOX@DPSCM nanoparticle is a potential targetable drug delivery system for the OSCC in the future clinical application.

Epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) is involved in both physiological and pathological processes. EMT plays an essential role in the invasion, migration and metastasis of tumours. Autophagy has been shown to regulate EMT in a variety of cancers but not in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). Herein, we investigated whether autophagy also regulates EMT in HNSCC. Analyses of clinical data from three public databases revealed that higher expression of fibronectin-1 (FN1) correlated with poorer prognosis and higher tumour pathological grade in HNSCC. Data from SCC-25 cells demonstrated that rapamycin and Earle’s balanced salt solution (EBSS) promoted autophagy, leading to increased FN1 degradation, while 3-methyladenine (3-MA), bafilomycin A1 (Baf A1) and chloroquine (CQ) inhibited autophagy, leading to decreased FN1 degradation. On the other hand, autophagic flux was blocked in BECN1 mutant HNSCC Cal-27 cells, and rapamycin did not promote autophagy in Cal-27 cells; also in addition, FN1 degradation was inhibited. Further, we identified FN1 degradation through the lysosome-dependent degradation pathway using the proteasome inhibitor MG132. Data from immunoprecipitation assays also showed that p62/SQSTM1 participated as an autophagy adapter in the autophagy–lysosome pathway of FN1 degradation. Finally, data from immunoprecipitation assays demonstrated that the interaction between p62 and FN1 was abolished in p62 mutant MCF-7 and A2780 cell lines. These results indicate that autophagy significantly promotes the degradation of FN1. Collectively, our findings clearly suggest that FN1, as a marker of EMT, has adverse effects on HNSCC and elucidate the autophagy–lysosome degradation mechanism of FN1.

Model error in climate models depends on mesh resolution among other factors. While global refinement of the computational mesh is often not feasible computationally, Adaptive Mesh Refinement (AMR) can be an option for spatially localized features. Creating a climate model with AMR has been prohibitive so far. We use AMR in one single model component, namely the tracer transport scheme.M Particularly, we integrate AMR into the tracer transport module of the atmospheric model ECHAM6 and test our implementation in several idealized scenarios and in a realistic application scenario (dust transport). To achieve this goal, we modify the Flux-Form Semi-Lagrangian (FFSL) transport scheme in ECHAM6 such that we can use it on adaptive meshes while retaining all important properties such as mass conservation of the original FFSL implementation. Our proposed AMR scheme is dimensionally split and ensures that high-resolution information is always propagated on (locally) highly resolved meshes. We also introduce a data structure that can accommodate an adaptive Gaussian grid. We demonstrate that our AMR scheme improves both accuracy and efficiency compared to the original FFSL scheme. More importantly, our approach improves the representation of transport processes in ECHAM6 for coarse resolution simulations. Hence, this paper suggests that we can overcome the overhead of developing a fully adaptive earth system model by integrating AMR into single components while leaving data structures of the dynamical core untouched. This enables studies to retain well-tested and complex legacy code of existing models while still improving the accuracy of specific components, without sacrificing efficiency.

In this report, a solution-processable cohost system incorporating

Objectives Bone mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) play critical roles in tumour microenvironment. However, molecular mechanisms of how BMSCs to be recruited and effect subsequent tumour progression are poorly understood in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). Materials and Methods The distribution of CXCL8 was detected by immunohistochemical staining in OSCC tissues. The chemotaxis of conditioned media from different epithelial cells to BMSCs was examined by trans‐well assay. Real‐time quantitative PCR (qPCR) and ELISA were used to detect the expression of related cytokines and chemokine receptors. The migration of BMSCs was observed in BALB/c nude mice. The roles of BMSCs in proliferation, migration and invasion of OSCC were detected by CCK‐8, flow cytometry and trans‐well assay. Epithelial‐mesenchymal transition (EMT)–related markers were analysed by qPCR and Western blot in vitro, and growth was evaluated in BALB/c nude mice using subcutaneously implanted OSCC in nude mouse model in vivo. Results Using OSCC, we show CXCL8, secreted by OSCC, binds to exclusively CXCR2 in BMSCs to facilitate migration of BMSCs to OSCC. TGF‐β secreted by BMSCs subsequently induces EMT of OSCC to promote their proliferation, migration and infiltration. We also showed that the Ras/Raf/Erk axis plays a critical role in tumour progression. Conclusions Our results provide the molecular basis for BMSC recruitment into tumours, and how this process leads to tumour progression and leads us to develop a novel OSCC treatment target.

Interactivity, as the vital attribute of technique dimension, functions in promoting emotional sustenance and aiding the accomplishment of task, which facilitates the maintenance and development of online learning community. This study argued that in spite of the diversity of communicative systems and tools, it is the essence of interactivity that contributes significantly to learners' task fulfillment and social-emotional satisfaction, and thus indirectly to their continuance intention. In this research, data were collected from 299 university students of 3 online learning modes, and the relationships between interactivity, sense of community, perceived usefulness and learners' continuance intention were examined by SmartPLS2.0. This study proved that the advocated essence of interactivity has significantly positive effect on learners' sense of community and perceived usefulness of online education, and plays a partially mediating role in maintaining their continuance intention.

Background The filamentous fungus Trichoderma reesei is a major workhorse employed to produce cellulase, which hydrolyzes lignocellulosic biomass for the production of cellulosic ethanol and bio-based products. However, the economic efficiency of biorefineries is still low. Results In this study, the truncation of cellulase activator ACE3 was identified and characterized in T. reesei classical mutant NG14 and its direct descendants for the first time. We demonstrated that the truncated ACE3 is the crucial cause of cellulase hyper-production in T. reesei NG14 branch. Replacing the native ACE3 with truncated ACE3 in other T. reesei strains remarkably improves cellulase production. By truncating ACE3, we engineered a T. reesei mutant, PC-3-7-A723, capable of producing more cellulase than other strains. In a 30-L fermenter, fed-batch fermentation with PC-3-7-A723 drastically increased the maximum cellulase titer (FPase) to 102.63 IU/mL at 240 h, which constitutes a 20–30% improvement to that of the parental strain PC-3-7. Conclusions This work characterized the function of truncated ACE3 and demonstrated that analysis of classical mutants allows rational engineering of mutant strains with improved cellulase production necessary to process lignocellulosic biomass. Our rational engineering strategy might be useful for enhancing the production of other bio-based products.

Additional file 2: Determining copy numbers by qPCR.

Additional file 8: Table S2. Primers used in this study.

Additional file 3: Figure S2. The verification of the transformants. (A-B) PCR amplification results of the A734 (A) and A723 (B) transformants. F were obtained using the primer pair ace3-CF/D70-4. R were obtained using the primer pair HG3.6/ace3-CR (Additional file 8: Table S1). (C) Schematic for identification of single-copy DNA integration in transformants genome. Primer pairs (ace3-T1/ace3-T2 and ace3-T3/ace3-T4 list in Additional file 8: Table S1) showed in red were used to identify the copy number of integrated genes. (D) The verification of copy numbers for A734 and A723 transformants by qPCR. The genome of QM6a is used as a reference with the single copy of native ace3. (E) A723 and A734 transformants were confirmed by DNA sequencing. The diagnostic PCR amplification results were sequenced. Black boxes represent the missense mutation loci in the sequence of ace3. Red underline represents the DNA sequence of the 11 truncated amino acids. The green dotted underlines indicate the stop codons.

Additional file 5: Figure S4. Construction of transformants and effects of the truncated type ACE3-723 versus the native type ACE3-734 on the transcription of genes in the QM6a group. (A) Truncation of ACE3-734 to ACE3-723 in T. reesei QM6a, QM9414, and PC-3-7. LML 2.1 is the erasable hygromycin selection marker in T. reesei. A723 transformants carry the truncated ACE3-723 as the test strains. A734 transformants bear ACE3-734 as controls. The black square denotes the loxP site left at the C-terminus of ACE3 after the marker was excised. The primers ace3-CF and D70-4 and HG3.6 and ace3-CR were used to verify the genotype of ACE3. (B–J) Transcription of genes encoding the major cellulase (cbh1) and essential transcription factors for cellulase (ace3 and xyr1) were evaluated in T. reesei QM6a, QM9414, and PC-3-7 transformants. Three independent experiments with three biological replicates each were performed. The sar1 gene was used as the internal control for normalization. Values are the mean ± SD of the results from three independent experiments. Asterisks indicate a significant difference (*p

Additional file 1: Figure S1. The DNA alignment of the native and truncated ace3 loci from QM6a and Rut-C30, respectively. The missense mutation of C2883 to T2883 in the truncated type ace3 eventually results in a premature termination of translation and in a truncated ACE3 protein.

Additional file 7: Table S1. Comparison of maximum cellulase activity and biomass production between PC-3-7 and PC-3-7-A723 after 240-h fed-batch fermentation in a 30-L fermenter.

Additional file 4: Figure S3. Effects of the native type ACE3-734 versus the truncated type ACE3-723 on the transcription of the genes encoding the major cellulase (cbh1) and its essential transcription factors (ace3 and xyr1) in the NG14 group. Three independent experiments with three biological replicates each were performed. The sar1 gene was used as the internal control for normalization. Values are the mean ± SD of the results from three independent experiments. Asterisks indicate a significant difference (*p

The heavy metal, cadmium (Cd), has become a new threat to rice production in paddy fields. Cd is absorbed by rice roots and translocated to shoots, where it accumulates in different tissues. Rice is also commonly attacked by insect herbivores, but the effects of low-level Cd exposure on the performance of rice pests and the underlying mechanisms remain unexplored. We investigated brown planthopper (BPH) performance on Cd-exposed rice in the laboratory and field. Low-level Cd exposure did not significantly affect rice growth but decreased hatching rate and extended hatching duration of BPH eggs. No direct toxic effect of low Cd exposure on BPH eggs were found in in vitro developmental rate assays. By transcriptome analysis, a total of 747 rice genes were differentially expressed in Cd-exposed plants under BPH attack. Interestingly, BPH-elicited jasmonate (JA) and phenylpropanoid pathway genes were up-regulated by Cd exposure. Consistently, the levels of JAs and JA-mediated phenylpropanoid derivatives were also increased. Furthermore, Cd exposure did not affect BPH performance on mutant plants impaired in JA biosynthesis (aoc-2) and signaling (myc2-5), suggesting that JA is required to influence BPH performance under Cd exposure. In the field, herbivore populations were reduced on Cd-treated plants compared with control plants. This study revealed that low-level Cd exposure primes JA-mediated defense responses in rice and thereby affects herbivore performance.

Kerosene is akin to attach to both the particle and bubble surface, however, its role in the particle and bubble attachment process is still the subject of much debate. In this paper, we explore the role of kerosene from both macroscopic and microscopic scales using the contact angle, wrap angle and thin liquid films (TLFs) measurements on four experimental configurations, i.e., the clean coal-bubble configuration (C-B), coal and bubble with only coal treated with kerosene (Ck-B), coal and bubble with only bubble treated with kerosene (C-Bk) and both coal and bubble were treated with kerosene (Ck-Bk). On a macroscopic scale, it was demonstrated that the hydrophobicity of coal and the bubble collecting capacity could be enhanced by the addition of kerosene, and the presence of kerosene on both the bubble and coal surface produced the most pronounced outcomes. The largest contact angle and wrap angle value attained were 52.50° and 178.03° for the Ck-Bk configuration, this was in sharp contrast with the C-B configuration with the numbers being 25.25° and 86.17° respectively. On a microscopic scale, a much earlier rupture of the TLFs was observed with the Ck-Bk in comparison with the C-B, Ck-B and C-Bk configurations, with the critical rupture thickness being 192.8 nm at 1.192 s, indicating the fact that kerosene facilitated the kinetics of film thinning, however, the resultant film rupture was due to kerosene acting as surface protrusions rather than the attractive disjoining pressure. We experimentally demonstrated that kerosene manifested as thin oil films rather than microdroplets on both the coal particle and bubble surface. Based on the above experimental results, a preferential binding behavior amongst the coal particles, bubbles and oil droplets was proposed and applied to explain coal flotation in plant practice.

Background The filamentous fungus Trichoderma reesei is a major workhorse employed to produce cellulase, which hydrolyzes lignocellulosic biomass for the production of cellulosic ethanol and bio-based products. However, the economic efficiency of biorefineries is still low. Results In this study, the truncation of cellulase activator ACE3 was identified and characterized in T. reesei classical mutant NG14 and its direct descendants for the first time. We demonstrated that the truncated ACE3 is the crucial cause of cellulase hyper-production in T. reesei NG14 branch. Replacing the native ACE3 with truncated ACE3 in other T. reesei strains remarkably improves cellulase production. By truncating ACE3, we engineered a T. reesei mutant, PC-3-7-A723, capable of producing more cellulase than other strains. In a 30-L fermenter, fed-batch fermentation with PC-3-7-A723 drastically increased the maximum cellulase titer (FPase) to 102.63 IU/mL at 240 h, which constitutes a 20–30% improvement to that of the parental strain PC-3-7. Conclusions This work characterized the function of truncated ACE3 and demonstrated that analysis of classical mutants allows rational engineering of mutant strains with improved cellulase production necessary to process lignocellulosic biomass. Our rational engineering strategy might be useful for enhancing the production of other bio-based products.

Integrating Adaptive Mesh Refinement (AMR) into climate models is problematic partly because several components have difficulty in accommodating adaptive grids. However, on coarse resolutions, erro...

Polymetallic ores always contain precious rare metals which have high economic value. There is a large-scale copper (Cu)–zinc (Zn)–stannum (Sn) polymetallic ore deposit in Dulong, Yunnan Province, China. The polymetallic ore deposit contains a lot of silver (Ag) and indium (In). In this paper, the polymetallic ore is investigated to explore the characteristics of its process mineralogy by X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray fluorescence (XRF), optical microscopy (OM), and electron probe micro-analyser (EMPA). The contents of the main valuable elements in the ore are Cu 0.20%, Zn 3.93%, Sn 0.47%, Fe 22.70% and S 9.90%. Cu, Zn, Sn, and Fe mainly occur in chalcopyrite, marmatite, cassiterite and magnetite, respectively. In addition, as rare metal elements, there are also Ag 4.9 g/t and In 90.50 g/t in the ore. Ag mainly occurs in matildite and an unknown mineral (Ag0.75(Zn, Fe)0.25S) and these two minerals are all enclosed and disseminated in marmatite. In does not form an independent mineral, but an isomorphism element which mainly occurs in marmatite. Based on the results of the process mineralogy and actual conditions, a feasible flowsheet for this polymetallic ore is designed and optimized. The industrial experimental results show that processing capacity of the plant and the indexes of the concentrates are improved.

Background: Hypertension is one of the commonest chronic cardiovascular diseases in older adults. Frailty and hypertension often coexist in older people, but few studies have explored frailty in older hypertensive adults. We aimed to explore the correlation of frailty with quality of life in older hypertensive adults. Method: We enrolled 291 patients with hypertension aged ≥60 years. Ambulatory blood pressure monitor was performed. Physical frailty was assessed by Fried phenotype. Quality of life was assessed by SF-36. Results: Forty-eight (16.5%) patients were frail. Compared with non-frail older hypertensive patients, frail patients were older, had lower education levels, a higher rate of living alone, and a longer duration of hypertension. Moreover, they had lower diastolic blood pressure (DBP) and mean arterial pressure (MAP), and higher pulse pressure, more chronic diseases, a higher proportion of calcium channel blockers (CCBs) usage, and worse quality of life. Frailty scores were positively correlated with pulse pressure, and negatively correlated with DBP and MAP. The SF-36 score was negatively correlated with frailty scores and positively correlated with grip strength and walking speed. After adjusting for age, the SF-36 score was negatively correlated with frailty and positively correlated with walking speed. Frailty, when adjusted for age, duration of hypertension, DBP and comorbidity, had a significant effect on the SF-36 score. Conclusion: Frailty was associated with worse quality of life of older adults with hypertension. Frailty prevention and intervention may help improve the quality of life of older hypertensive adults. Keywords: frailty, older adults, hypertension, quality of life

Waste coal is a major environmental hazard produced in the traditional coal preparation unit operations. In this paper, a case study is presented for further scavenging the combustible matter in waste coal using flotation with a self-designed collector (Ksw) consisted of kerosene (K), span (S) and water. The said collector took advantage of both the emulsification and pre-dispersion technique so that the waste coal processability could be improved to a greater extent. Our flotation tests have shown comparable combustible matter recovery when using Ksw and emulsified kerosene (Ks), and both collectors significantly outperformed that of K. At 4 kg/t collector dosage, combustible matter recovery was at 54.9%, 64.9% and 65.3% for K, Ks and Ksw respectively. However, Ksw represented an economically superior option due to its specific composition features. The zeta potential measurements and interaction energy calculations have suggested that although there existed an electrostatic repulsion between the selected oil droplets and coal particles, flotation of waste coal was still feasible because of the hydrophobic force dominating the interaction process. Further, it was found that the interaction energy calculation results could not sufficiently account for the superior flotation performance of using Ksw as collector. Dynamic light scattering (DLS) measurement has shown that the other key instruments at play were the diameter and number of the oil droplets. At 400 mg/L collector suspensions, emulsification reduced the effective diameters of K from 4.23 to 1.62 μm (Ks), and further decreasing to 1.12 μm (Ksw) when dispersion was imposed. The outcomes of this work have suggested Ksw as an economically and technically superior reagent over the conventional hydrocarbon oil collectors for waste coal reprocessing.

Naphthalene sulfonate formaldehyde (NSF) has been widely used as a dispersant for coal water slurry (CWS) preparation. However, the adsorption behaviors of NSF on different components were scarcely discussed due to the complex nature of coal. In this study, the adsorption kinetics and isotherms of NSF on the particle surfaces of carbonaceous matter, kaolinite, quartz, pyrite were investigated, along with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and contact angle meter were conducted to clarify the adsorption mechanism of NSF on each particle surface. The adsorption measurements showed that the saturated adsorption capacities of NSF on the surfaces of kaolinite, pyrite and carbonaceous matter were much higher than that of quartz. Further single-layer adsorption occurred for the NSF adsorbed by all particles except quartz, where multi-layer adsorption was observed. The XPS and contact angle results showed that the interaction between the hydrophobic tail of NSF and carbonaceous matter is mainly attributed to hydrophobic force, concurrently the combination of the hydrophilic groups in NSF with Al elements of kaolinite and Fe elements of pyrite. The findings are significant to elucidate the adsorption mechanism of dispersants on the coal-water interface and proposed a reference for dispersants utilization based on different coal components.

This data article contains data related to the research article entitled “Copper-mediated on-off control of gene expression in filamentous fungus Trichoderma reesei” (Wang et al., 2017) [1]. Four kinds of copper responsive promoters were designed. Quantitative PCR (qPCR) was performed to determine relative mRNA levels of red fluorescent protein gene (rfp) extracted from cells grown under different concentrations of CuSO4. Three deletion vectors were constructed by using a copper-mediated self-excision cassette instead of a xylose-mediated self-excision cassette (Zhang et al., 2016) [2] to knock out xyn1, one of the two major specific endo-β-1,4-xylanases (Rauscher et al., 2006) [3], xyr1, the key transcriptional activator of cellulolytic and xylanolytic genes (Lichius et al., 2015) [4], and ace3, a factor essential for cellulase production (Häkkinen et al., 2014) [5]. This data article reports the primers, vector construction, and qPCR assay. Keywords: Trichoderma reesei, Filamentous fungus, Copper responsive promoter, Quantitative real-time PCR, Plasmid construction, Gene expression

Numerous studies have demonstrated the function of salinity or jasmonic acid (JA) in plant growth and senescence. This study evaluated how the combination of salinity and methyl jasmonate (MeJA) (SaM) worked as a novel stress and then regulated plant growth in Arabidopsis. Firstly, we found that compared with MeJA or NaCl treatment alone, SaM would significantly intensified plant growth inhibition and senescence in wild-type (WT) seedlings, and these phenotypes could be partially compromised after SaM stress in JA-insensitive mutants. Meanwhile, genes involved in JA signaling and Senescence Associated Gene 13 (SAG13) were dramatically increased by SaM stress than that by MeJA or NaCl alone in WT. Moreover, a group of secondary metabolite - indolic glucosinolates (IGs) showed obvious over-accumulation after SaM treatment than that after each single one in WT, and the seedlings treated with IGs' metabolites performed similar inhibited growth and chlorotic leaves phenotypes compared with those caused by SaM stress. All these indicated the toxicity of IGs and their metabolites would prevent the growth progress of plants. Therefore, we concluded that SaM worked as a novel stress and intensified plant growth inhibition and senescence, which was dependent on JA-dependent and -independent signaling pathways.

To simplify CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing in the industrial filamentous fungus Trichoderma reesei based on in vivo guide RNA (gRNA) transcription. Two putative RNA polymerase III U6 snRNA genes were identified in the genome of T. reesei QM6a by BLASTN using Myceliophthora. thermophila U6 snRNA gene as the template. The regions approximately 500 bp upstream of two U6 genes were efficient promoters for the in vivo expression of gRNA. The CRISPR system consisting of Cas9 and in vivo synthesized gRNA under control of the T. reesei U6 snRNA promoters was sufficient to cause a frameshift mutation in the ura5 gene via non-homologous end-joining-mediated events. We report a simple gene editing method using a CRISPR/Cas9-coupled in vivo gRNA transcription system in T. reesei.

Background Cellulolytic enzymes produced by Trichoderma reesei are widely used for the industrial production of biofuels and chemicals from lignocellulose. We speculated that intracellular pH during the fermentation process can affect cellulase induction. Results In this study, two H+-ATPase genes, tre76238 and tre78757, were first identified in T. reesei. Deletion of tre76238 and tre78757 in T. reesei RUT-C30 confirmed that tre76238 has a major function in maintaining intracellular pH, whereas tre78757 has a minor function. The tre76238 deletion strain Δ76238 displayed a high level of cellulase production using cellulase-repressive glucose as a sole carbon source, along with intracellular acid accumulation and growth retardation. Our results indicated that intracellular acid accumulation in Δ76238 stimulated a significant increase in the cytosolic Ca2+ levels. Ca2+ channels were shown to be necessary for cellulase production using glucose as the carbon source in Δ76238. Delayed Δ76238 growth could be reversed by optimizing the medium’s nitrogen sources to produce ammonia for intracellular acid neutralization in the early phase. This may be useful for scale-up of cellulase production using glucose as the carbon source. Conclusions This study provides a new perspective for significant alterations in the cellulase expression pattern of T. reesei Δ76238, indicating a new mechanism for cellulase regulation under conditions of low intracellular pH.

The filamentous fungus Trichoderma reesei is one of the most important fungi for the production of cellulases and xylanases, which can be used for biofuel production from lignocellulose. We aimed to develop an effective selection marker system for more extensive functional genomic studies in the fungus T. reesei, and to construct better industrial transformants for producing cellulases. Here, we present a novel effective G418 selection marker to use a codon-optimized neomycin phosphotransferase II gene nptII to transform T. reesei. We developed an effective and erasable selection marker, lcNG, and a combined genetic transformation system for gene manipulation in T. reesei using a two-Agrobacterium-mediated transformation method. This transformation strategy combines two steps in the transformation protocol, which saves 15-30-day's time. The system could be a useful tool for the genetic engineering of T. reesei.

Autoimmune sensorineural hearing loss is a rare clinical entity which accounting for less than 1% in all cases with hearing loss. The prevalence of hearing loss in immune-mediated inner ear diseases, as shown in case reports or single-center statistics, varies widely. We reviewed the current literatures on the association between sensorineural hearing loss and autoimmune diseases, focused on the prevalence of hearing loss in different autoimmune diseases, treatments and challenges.

In view of the critically important role interactivity plays in online education, scholars have highlighted its various essential features and effects. This study argues that in spite of the diversity of the features and effects advocated, the technical attributes alone are hardly sufficient to meet autonomous learners' expectation for the efficiency of interactivity, unless properly-constructed scaffolding is incorporated in online education. To prove the argument, a survey instrument was developed, an empirical study was carried out, data were collected from 299 university students of 3 online learning modes, and the relationship between the proposed scaffolding and learners' perceived efficiency of interactivity attributes was examined by SmartPLS2.0. It was proved that properly-developed scaffolding has significantly positive effect on learners' perceived efficiency of interactivity in online education.

Background Cellulolytic enzymes produced by the filamentous fungus Trichoderma reesei are commonly used in biomass conversion. The high cost of cellulase is still a significant challenge to commercial biofuel production. Improving cellulase production in T. reesei for application in the cellulosic biorefinery setting is an urgent priority. Results Trichoderma reesei hyper-cellulolytic mutant SS-II derived from the T. reesei NG14 strain exhibited faster growth rate and more efficient lignocellulosic biomass degradation than those of RUT-C30, another hyper-cellulolytic strain derived from NG14. To identify any genetic changes that occurred in SS-II, we sequenced its genome using Illumina MiSeq. In total, 184 single nucleotide polymorphisms and 40 insertions and deletions were identified. SS-II sequencing revealed 107 novel mutations and a full-length wild-type carbon catabolite repressor 1 gene (cre1). To combine the mutations of RUT-C30 and SS-II, the sequence of one confirmed beneficial mutation in RUT-C30, cre196, was introduced in SS-II to replace full-length cre1, forming the mutant SS-II-cre196. The total cellulase production of SS-II-cre196 was decreased owing to the limited growth of SS-II-cre196. In contrast, 57 genes mutated only in SS-II were selected and knocked out in RUT-C30. Of these, 31 were involved in T. reesei growth or cellulase production. Cellulase activity was significantly increased in five deletion strains compared with that in two starter strains, RUT-C30 and SS-II. Cellulase production of T. reesei Δ108642 and Δ56839 was significantly increased by 83.7% and 70.1%, respectively, compared with that of RUT-C30. The amount of glucose released from pretreated corn stover hydrolyzed by the crude enzyme from Δ108642 increased by 11.9%. Conclusions The positive attribute confirmed in one cellulase hyper-producing strain does not always work efficiently in another cellulase hyper-producing strain, owing to the differences in genetic background. Genome re-sequencing revealed novel mutations that might affect cellulase production and other pathways indirectly related to cellulase formation. Our strategy of combining the mutations of two strains successfully identified a number of interesting phenotypes associated with cellulase production. These findings will contribute to the creation of a gene library that can be used to investigate the involvement of various genes in the regulation of cellulase production. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12934-019-1131-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

With the development of Internet technology, users pay more and more attention to the privacy of personal location data. In order to cover up the user's original check-in data information and prevent attackers from using the user's friend relationship to infer the privacy information of a single user, our paper proposed a hybrid privacy protection method based on differential privacy and random perturbation, and combined the user's friend relationship to realize the location recommendation with privacy protection. Data analysis shows that the privacy level can be set by adding different degrees of random noise to achieve the purpose of personalized privacy protection. Furthermore, differential privacy is used to protect the user's friend relationship, which makes the privacy protection effect of the location recommendation method better. Experiments on real datasets, show that this method can protect users' privacy information and at the same time have a certain accuracy of location recommendation.

Fungi of the genus Trichoderma are a rich source of enzymes, such as cellulases and hemicellulases, that can degrade lignocellulosic biomass and are therefore of interest for biotechnological approaches seeking to optimize biofuel production. The essential transcription factor ACE3 is involved in cellulase production in Trichoderma reesei; however, the mechanism by which ACE3 regulates cellulase activities is unknown. Here, we discovered that the nominal ace3 sequence in the T. reesei genome available through the Joint Genome Institute is erroneously annotated. Moreover, we identified the complete ace3 sequence, the ACE3 Zn(II)(2)Cys(6) domain, and the ACE3 DNA-binding sites containing a 5′-CGGAN(T/A)(3)-3′ consensus. We found that in addition to its essential role in cellulase production, ace3 is required for lactose assimilation and metabolism in T. reesei. Transcriptional profiling with RNA-Seq revealed that ace3 deletion down-regulates not only the bulk of the major cellulase, hemicellulase, and related transcription factor genes, but also reduces the expression of lactose metabolism–related genes. Additionally, we demonstrate that ACE3 binds the promoters of many cellulase genes, the cellulose response transporter gene crt1, and transcription factor–encoding genes, including xyr1. We also observed that XYR1 dimerizes to facilitate cellulase production and that ACE3 interacts with XYR1. Together, these findings uncover how two essential transcriptional activators mediate cellulase gene expression in T. reesei. On the basis of these observations, we propose a model of how the interactions between ACE3, Crt1, and XYR1 control cellulase expression and lactose metabolism in T. reesei.

Background The filamentous fungus Trichoderma reesei produces cellulase enzymes that are widely studied for lignocellulose bioconversion to biofuel. N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) is a versatile organic solvent used in large quantities in industries. Results In this study, we serendipitously found that biologically relevant concentrations of extracellular DMF-induced cellulase production in the T. reesei hyper-cellulolytic mutant Rut-C30 and wild-type strain QM6a. Next, by transcriptome analysis, we determined that plc-e encoding phospholipase C was activated by DMF and revealed that cytosolic Ca2+ plays a vital role in the response of T. reesei to DMF. Using EGTA (a putative extracellular Ca2+ chelator) and LaCl3 (a plasma membrane Ca2+ channel blocker), we demonstrated that DMF induced a cytosolic Ca2+ burst via extracellular Ca2+ and Ca2+ channels in T. reesei, and that the cytosolic Ca2+ burst induced by DMF-mediated overexpression of cellulase through calcium signaling. Deletion of crz1 confirmed that calcium signaling plays a dominant role in DMF-induced cellulase production. Additionally, 0.5–2% DMF increases the permeability of T. reesei mycelia for cellulase release. Simultaneous supplementation with 1% DMF and 10 mM Mn2+ to T. reesei Rut-C30 increased cellulase activity approximately fourfold compared to that without treatment and was also more than that observed in response to either treatment alone. Conclusions Our results reveal that DMF-induced cellulase production via calcium signaling and permeabilization. Our results also provide insight into the role of calcium signaling in enzyme production for enhanced cellulase production and the development of novel inducers of cellulase. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s13068-019-1375-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.