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Monitoring the consumption of pharmaceuticals and licit drugs is important for assessing the needs of public health owing to the impact on individuals as well as society. The present work applied wastewater-based epidemiology to profile the spatial patterns of metformin, nicotine, and caffeine use and their correlations. Influent wastewater samples were collected from 27 wastewater treatment plants in 22 typical Chinese cities that covered all geographic regions of the country. The consumption of metformin ranged from 0.02 g/d/1000 inh to 8.92 g/d/1000 inh, whereas caffeine and nicotine consumption ranged from 4.33 g/d/1000 inh to 394 g/d/1000 inh and 0.17 g/d/1000 inh to 1.88 g/d/1000 inh, respectively. There were significant regional differences in the consumption of caffeine, with the highest consumption in East China and the lowest consumption in Northeast China. The consumption and concentration of caffeine were related to the gross domestic product and per capita disposable income of urban residents, respectively. There was a correlation between the concentrations of caffeine and cotinine (a nicotine metabolite), thereby indicating that individuals that use one of these substances are likely to use the other substance. A significant relationship was found between the concentration of metformin and cotinine, thereby implying that the use of tobacco may be correlated with type 2 diabetes. Co-analysis of these substances in wastewater may provide a more accurate picture of substance use situations within different communities and provide more information on human health, human behavior, and the economy. This report describes the newest study related to the consumption of metformin among the general population in China.

Sialic acid modification is a kind of post-translational modification. To investigate the regulation effect of sialic acid on neural differentiation, we used CycloManN propanyl perac (CycloManN pro), a metabolic precursor of sialic acid, to treat PC12 cells. We noted that CycloManN pro indeed robustly promoted global sialylation detected by MAL II lectin blot in PC12 cells. Simultaneously, we interestingly found that the neurite outgrowth of PC12 cells was significantly promoted by the CycloManN pro treatment. The profile analysis of sialylated proteins showed that a protein band at 55KD was greatly enhanced especially in PC12L cells after CycloManN pro treatment. After enrichment with lectin MAL II, the proteins in this band were analyzed by mass spectrometry. The results showed that 23 proteins were in the band, but the score of vimentin was the highest among them. To investigate further the role of vimentin in the process of neurite differentiation, vimentin construct was transfected into PC12 cells. We interestingly observed that ectopic expression of vimentin significantly enhanced the neurite outgrowth induced by CycloManN pro. However, after three potential glycosylation sites (Ser-7, Thr-33, Ser-34:) of vimentin were mutated to alanine, overexpression of the mutated vimentin completely lost the enhancement activity for the neural differentiation even in the presence of CycloManN pro. Taken together, our study demonstrated that vimentin was important in the induction of neural differentiation by CycloManN pro.

INTRODUCTION:Entrepreneurship has always been one of the key topics of interest to governments around the world because it is one of the main drivers of national economy (Xu, 2009), and it is also an effective channel for job creation and economic resuscitation during troubled times (Gao, Cheng, Li & Jiang, 2008). In order to encourage more people to become entrepreneurs, countries such as the United States and Netherland have made 'entrepreneurship education' a part of the curriculum of their compulsory education (Oosterbeek, Praag & Ijsselstein, 2010).Being one of the largest emerging economies that face challenges from economic slowdown, China tried to rejuvenate their economy by encouraging more of its citizens to start their own businesses. One of the main policies that the Chinese government uses in order to achieve this goal is to give incentives to college students who have entrepreneurial potentials to start their own businesses (Fang, 2004). For example, starting from 2006, the local government of Shanghai City invests one hundred million RMB every year to encourage its college students to engage in entrepreneurship (Yan, 2011). Similar finical supports are also given by the local governments of the other major Chinese cities (Chen & Sun, 2009).The Chinese government usually provide financial support to colleges and public organizations to organize college-student-targeted entrepreneurship competitions (Xu, 2011). In such competitions, college students are asked to write a business proposal and present it to a panel of judges. The winners of such competitions receive the support necessary for them to start and run the business that they proposed in the competition (Du, 2011; Xia, Luo & Yan, 2012). Essentially, such college student entrepreneurship competitions are an effective avenue for the government to locate and invest in high potential business proposals. The government hopes that by investing in these proposed business ventures, these businesses can become successful and contribute to the country's economy.However, while such competitions organized, could attract college students to participate and contest for the prizes, we ask: are these competitions effective in creating entrepreneurs? For example, although there were more than 20,000 entrepreneurship competitions organized in 2010, attracting more than 3 million college students, the number of entrepreneurial activity did not increase proportionately (Huang & Shi, 2010).Hitherto, there is a dearth of literature that examines the effectiveness of such programs in encouraging college students to become entrepreneurs. Hence, we conducted this research to fill the gap in literature by studying whether organizing college student entrepreneurship competitions in China could successfully motivate college students to engage in entrepreneurship. We hope the findings of our research can provide insights to college managers and policy makers in general who are interested in motivating college students to become entrepreneurs by organizing such activities.LITERATURE REVIEW:Entrepreneurship refers to new venture creation (Low & MacMillan, 1988). It is believed that entrepreneurship can make important contribution to a country's economy, especially when it is experiencing changes (Kanter, 1989). Thus, many countries made entrepreneurship education compulsory, hoping that it could inspire more individuals to start their own business venture, and contribute to the economy (Gibb, 1996; Oosterbeek et al., 2010).One of the main targeted groups to receive entrepreneurship education is college students. Governments hope that, by encouraging college students to start their own business ventures, it could reduce the pressure on the job market when they graduate because these college students will become self-employed, and, potentially, also employ some of the other graduates (McMullan & Long, 1987). …

A novel and facile method that needs only a few steps of dissolution, gelation and supercritical carbon dioxide (ScCO2) drying has been developed to fabricate ultralow density cellulose triacetate aerogels (TAC). In this method, using dioxane as a solvent and isopropanol as a non-solvent, regeneration and solvent exchange are not necessary due to the phase separation and heat-induced gelation and the good solubility of dioxane/isopropanol in ScCO2, thus leading to a more efficient synthesis and better quality of aerogels in terms of less shrinkage and breakage. The relationship between the theoretical density and the actual density of the TAC aerogel is discussed, and the actual density of the aerogels could be well tuned in the range between 5 mg cm−3 and 50 mg cm−3. These newly developed nanostructured TAC aerogels were characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and nitrogen adsorption. All the prepared aerogels showed both a nanostructured solid network and a nanoporous network, together with specific fiber sizes of about 30 nm. The fiber thickness and pore sizes are much lower than that of the normal porous polymer materials. The specific surface area of the aerogels with different density ranged from 229 m2 g−1 to 958 m2 g−1, as measured by nitrogen adsorption tests. The porosity of all these aerogels was higher than 96%. The thermodecomposition behavior of TAC aerogels and the original TAC granules was almost the same, with a rather high decomposition temperature.

Hierarchically ordered mesoporous carbon/graphene (OMC/G) composites have been fabricated by means of a solvent-evaporation-induced self-assembly (EISA) method. The structures of these composites are characterized by X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy and nitrogen adsorption-desorption at 77 K. These results indicate that OMC/G composites possess the hierarchically ordered hexagonal p6mm mesostructure with the lattice unit parameter and pore diameter close to 10 nm and 3 nm, respectively. The specific surface area of OMC/G composites after KOH activation is high up to 2109.2 m(2) g(-1), which is significantly greater than OMC after activation (1474.6 m(2) g(-1)). Subsequently, the resulting OMC/G composites as supercapacitor electrode materials exhibit an outstanding capacitance as high as 329.5 F g(-1) in 6 M KOH electrolyte at a current density of 0.5 A g(-1), which is much higher than both OMC (234.2 F g(-1)) and a sample made by mechanical mixing of OMC with graphene (217.7 F g(-1)). In addition, the obtained OMC/G composites display good cyclic stability, and the final capacitance retention is approximately 96% after 5000 cycles. These ordered mesopores in the OMC/G composites are beneficial to the accessibility and rapid diffusion of the electrolyte, while graphene in OMC/G composites can also facilitate the transport of electrons during the processes of charging and discharging owing to its high conductivity, thereby leading to an excellent energy storage performance. The method demonstrated in this work would open up a new route to design and develop graphene-based architectures for supercapacitor applications.

HF-based wet deep etching is an effective method for improving the laser damage resistance of fused silica optics. However, the fact that the etching process involves HF reaction makes the operation very unsafe. Potassium hydroxide (KOH) has recently shown great potential to outperform the more commonly used HF-acid as an etchant for the damage resistance enhancement of fused silica optical surface. In this paper, we present a detailed investigation into how the KOH-based shallow etching process affects the polished surface of fused silica. The results show that KOH-based etching does a good job at exposing the subsurface damage and increasing the laser damage threshold of fused silica while keeping the surface roughness nearly unchanged. Potential factors that limit the further increase in surface damage threshold of fused silica are also delved. The study offers an exciting option for fabricating high-quality fused silica optics with shallow wet etching under higher safety conditions that cannot be achieved with conventional HF-based wet etching approaches.

This paper presents the characterization method and extracted results of printed circuit board (PCB) material, in dielectric constant (DK) and dissipation factor (DF), by using scattering parameter (S-parameter) measurements of multiple transmission lines (TLs) with probing techniques. The probe parasitics with the associated cables/connectors effects and non-ideal features of the measurement equipment are fully removed with the aids of mathematical treatments for the measured raw data without prior calibration. The multiple TLs are designed to overcome the frequency limitation, where the TL phase shift crossing 180-degree may yield the solution changes dramatically due to small measurement uncertainties. The desired DK and DF then are evaluated from the measured transmission line propagation constant with properly cancellation of the conductor losses. This broadband DK/DF extraction approach is additionally compared to the conventional straight-line resonator method, and discussions of the error sources are addressed as well. Experiments on the NF30 substrate in stripline structure are shown from 1 GHz to 110 GHz, based on the measurement systems including the Anritsu M7838E network analyzer and the EverBeing probe station with GGB on-wafer probes.

We report a 19F nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) study on single-crystal KCa2Fe4As4F2 (T c ∼ 33.3 K). The 19F NMR spectral shape of KCa2Fe4As4F2 is weakly dependent on temperature and the Knight shift is small, which implies weak coupling between the CaF layer and the FeAs layer. The temperature dependence of 1/19 T 1 shows a hump below T c, however the 1/75 T 1 decreases just below T c, which implies that there are strong in-plane magnetic fluctuations in the CaF layers than in the FeAs layers. This may be caused by the motion of vortices. The absence of the coherence peak suggests unconventional superconductivity in KCa2Fe4As4F2.

HF-based etching has been successful in mitigating damage precursors on the surface of fused silica optics used in high power lasers. However, wet etching generally leaves an etching trace leading to surface roughness, which seriously degrades laser beam quality (e.g., transmission loss and wave-front degradation). A way of addressing this issue is to apply plasma etching as a preprocessing step before HF etching, but so far very few studies have provided a practical scheme for engineering applications. In this work, we proposed a novel two-step scheme by combining reactive ion beam etching with dynamic chemical etching techniques. We demonstrate the combined scheme is capable of tracelessly mitigating the laser damage precursors on a fused silica surface. The 0% probability damage threshold obtained by combined etching is 1.4 times higher than that obtained by HF-based etching. The study opens a new approach towards high damage-resistant optics manufacturing and provides the potential possibility of exploring extreme interactions between high-power lasers and matter.

Background Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) has become a useful tool in long-term or short-term continuous monitoring of illicit drugs consumption over the world. Methods We investigated the trend of methamphetamine (METH) use between 2015 and 2018 through WBE in Dalian, a typical Chinese city. Samples were collected in 11 municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). An analytical method, solid-phase extraction combined with trifluoroacetic anhydride derivatization prior to gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) analysis was applied to detect METH concentrations. Results During the sampling period, the METH concentrations increased slowly from 315 ± 243 ng/L in 2015 to 523 ± 549 ng/L in 2016, followed by a significant decrease with the concentrations 188 ± 187 ng/L in 2017 and 54.6 ± 42.9 ng/L in 2018. Ammonium nitrogen (NH4-N) was applied to estimate population size. The average coefficient of variation for population in 11 WWTPs was 35.3 ± 8.9%, reflecting the dynamic variations of population effectively. For METH consumption, there was a gradual increase from 2015 (231 mg/day/1000 people) to 2016 (414 mg/day/1000 people) and a significant linear decrease to 2017 (206 mg/day/1000 people) and 2018 (53.9 mg/day/1000 people). The prevalence of METH increased from 2015 (0.78%) to 2016 (1.06%), then decreased to 2017 (0.55%) and 2018 (0.17%), showed similar trends with the consumption. Conclusions The obvious reduction trends of METH consumption via WBE over the period in Dalian provides objective evidence for declined METH consumption in local population. The reduction is probably due to the severe crack-down of illicit drugs by the government.

A visual touch control direct current (DC) electronic load is designed based on ARM, which carries a real time operating system and a graph software library. The system scheme, hardware design, software design and testing are introduced. In hardware design, STM32F103ZET6 is used as the main controller, IRF540N is used as the power load device, and 3.2-inch TFT touch screen driven by ILI9341 is used as the touch display. In software design, based on μC/OS-III embedded real-time operating system, the STemWin graph software library is used to drive LCD with users adjusting the electronic load. The touch screen data is obtained by Microcontroller through SPI interface, then the processed data is converted to output voltage by the 12-bit DAC of micro-controller. The load characteristics are obtained by adjusting the FET through OPA2330. Meanwhile, the sampling voltage and loop current are tested by 16-bit ADS1118, and the results are displayed on the LCD. The test results shows that the DC electronic load is stable and reliable, and the interactive mode improves the ease of use and practical value.

To classify the dietary patterns in preschoolers and explore the correlation between dietary patterns and executive functions.Between April 2014 and June 2015, 12363 preschoolers were selected from 91 kindergartens of Ma 'anshan City. The classification of dietary patterns and executive functions by Brief-P were evaluated. Unconditional binary logistics regression model was used to analyze the effects of different dietary patterns and executive functions in preschool chidlren.The higher the parents' education level, the lower the executive functions scores, the difference was statistically significant in preschoolers( P0. 05). The less intake of "processed model", "drinks model"and "snacks model", the more "vegetarian model"and "health model"intake, executive functions score was lower, and the difference was statistically significant( P0. 05). Logistic regression analysis showed that dietary patterns of"processed model"( OR = 1. 44, 95% CI 1. 20-1. 72), "drinks model"( OR = 1. 22, 95% CI 1. 03-1. 46) and "snacks model"( OR = 1. 28, 95% CI 1. 08-1. 52) were risk factors of cognitive functions, and the dietary patterns of "vegetarian model"( OR = 0. 80, 95% CI 0. 67-0. 95) and "health model "( OR = 0. 84, 95% CI 0. 71-0. 98) were protective factors.The present study suggests that cognitive functions might be closely related with dietary pattern. The more "vegetarian model"and "health model"intake, the better cognitive functions developed in preschool children.

Phytochemical investigation on the ethyl acetate fraction of the leaves of

With the improvement of living standard, gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) incidence is increasing every year. We observed the effects of abnormal 75 g oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) at different time points on neonatal complications and neurobehavioral development in GDM. A total of 144 newborns whose mothers were diagnosed with GDM and received prenatal examination and childbirth in our hospital from October 2015 to April 2016, were observed in this study. Pregnant women underwent 75 g OGTT and the blood glucose level was recorded on an empty stomach, as well as postprandial 1 and 2 hours, respectively. Based on the frequency of 75 g OGTT-abnormal time points, the pregnant women were divided into group 1 (OGTT abnormality at 1 time point), group 2 (OGTT abnormality at 2 time points), and group 3 (OGTT abnormality at 3 time points). Neonatal behavioral neurological assessment (NBNA) was performed on the 3 groups, respectively. In the total score of NBNA, there was a significant difference among the 3 groups (F = 17.120, P = .000), and there were significant differences between the 3 groups (all P

Developing a nanomaterial, for use in highly efficient dual-modality two-photon photodynamic therapy (PDT) involving reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation and for use as a two-photon imaging contrast probe, is currently desirable. Here, graphene quantum dots (GQDs) doped with nitrogen and functionalized with an amino group (amino-N-GQDs) serving as a photosensitizer in PDT had the superior ability to generate ROS as compared to unmodified GQDs. Multidrug-resistant (MDR) species were completely eliminated at an ultralow energy (239.36 nJ pixel–1) through only 12 s two-photon excitation (TPE) in the near-infrared region (800 nm). Furthermore, the amino-N-GQDs had an absorption wavelength of approximately 800 nm, quantum yield of 0.33, strong luminescence, an absolute cross section of approximately 54 356 Goeppert–Mayer units, a lifetime of 1.09 ns, a ratio of the radiative to nonradiative decay rates of approximately 0.49, and high two-photon stability under TPE. These favorable properties enabled the am...

Mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) is a core component of raptor-mTOR (mTORC1) and rictor-mTOR (mTORC2) complexes that control diverse cellular processes. Both mTORC1 and mTORC2 regulate several elements downstream of type I insulin-like growth factor receptor (IGF-IR) and insulin receptor (InsR). However, it is unknown whether and how mTOR regulates IGF-IR and InsR themselves. Here we show that mTOR possesses unexpected tyrosine kinase activity and activates IGF-IR/InsR. Rapamycin induces the tyrosine phosphorylation and activation of IGF-IR/InsR, which is largely dependent on rictor and mTOR. Moreover, mTORC2 promotes ligand-induced activation of IGF-IR/InsR. IGF- and insulin-induced IGF-IR/InsR phosphorylation is significantly compromised in rictor-null cells. Insulin receptor substrate (IRS) directly interacts with SIN1 thereby recruiting mTORC2 to IGF-IR/InsR and promoting rapamycin- or ligand-induced phosphorylation of IGF-IR/InsR. mTOR exhibits tyrosine kinase activity towards the general tyrosine kinase substrate poly(Glu-Tyr) and IGF-IR/InsR. Both recombinant mTOR and immunoprecipitated mTORC2 phosphorylate IGF-IR and InsR on Tyr1131/1136 and Tyr1146/1151, respectively. These effects are independent of the intrinsic kinase activity of IGF-IR/InsR, as determined by assays on kinase-dead IGF-IR/InsR mutants. While both rictor and mTOR immunoprecitates from rictor(+/+) MCF-10A cells exhibit tyrosine kinase activity towards IGF-IR and InsR, mTOR immunoprecipitates from rictor(-/-) MCF-10A cells do not induce IGF-IR and InsR phosphorylation. Phosphorylation-deficient mutation of residue Tyr1131 in IGF-IR or Tyr1146 in InsR abrogates the activation of IGF-IR/InsR by mTOR. Finally, overexpression of rictor promotes IGF-induced cell proliferation. Our work identifies mTOR as a dual-specificity kinase and clarifies how mTORC2 promotes IGF-IR/InsR activation.

In order to clarify the total selenium (Se) content and species of Se in the soils of Dashan Region, a typical Se-enriched area in China, 69 soil samples with different land-use purposes were collected, and the concentrations of total Se, water-soluble Se, exchangeable Se, acid-soluble Se, organic-bound Se and residual Se and the physical and chemical properties of these soils were investigated. The total Se content ranged between 0.31 and 7.65 mg kg−1 (dry weight). The concentrations of water-soluble, exchangeable, acid-soluble, organic-bound and residual forms of Se were 7.71–26.8 μg kg−1, 24.7–93.3 μg kg−1, 112–1430 μg kg−1, 26–765 μg kg−1 and 1300–5330 μg kg−1, respectively. The concentrations of total Se were positively correlated with the contents of clay and soil organic matter, but were negatively correlated with pH values. The contents of bioavailable Se, which consists of water-soluble Se and exchangeable Se, were negatively correlated with the contents of soil organic matter, but positi...

Aiming to characteristics of structure and transmitting medium of gas pipe with high temperature and high pressure, considering the coupling effect of static pressure and temperature, the thermal structure coupling model based on steady-state heat conduction is established according to the finite element theory. So method and process of numerical simulation on thermal structure coupling analysis are proposed. Simulation analysis is carried out for the gas pipe of a dry-gas compressor. The variation characteristic of inner-outer wall is revealed under the different temperature. The results indicate that the numerical modeling and simulation of thermal structure coupling of gas pipe with high temperature and high pressure can be realized. It can provide valuable reference opinions for site construction, real-time monitoring and safety analysis of pipe.

The Clock gene, a key molecule in circadian systems, is widely distributed in the animal kingdom. We isolated a 936-bp partial cDNA sequence of the Clock gene (Pva-clock) from the darkbarbel catfish Pelteobagrus vachelli that exhibited high identity with Clock genes of other species of fish and animals (65%–88%). The putative domains included a basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) domain and two period-ARNT-single-minded (PAS) domains, which were also similar to those in other species of fish and animals. Pva-Clock was primarily expressed in the brain, and was detected in all of the peripheral tissues sampled. Additionally, the pattern of Pva-Clock expression over a 24-h period exhibited a circadian rhythm in the brain, liver and intestine, with the acrophase at zeitgeber time 21:35, 23:00, and 23:23, respectively. Our results provide insight into the function of the molecular Clock of P. vachelli.

Objective: To explore the clinical efficacy of valsartan combined with hydrochlorothiazide in the treatment of elderly hypertension. Methods: A total of 150 elderly patients with primary hypertension who were admitted in our hospital from January, 2015 to January, 2016 were included in the study and randomized into the observation group and the control group. The patients in the control group were given valsartan, 80 mg/time, 1 time/d. On this basis, the patients in the observation group were given additional hydrochlorothiazide 12.5 mg/time, 1 time/d. The patients in the two groups were administered with drugs in the morning. Six-month treatment was regarded as one course. The change of 24 h ambulatory blood pressure before and after treatment was detected, and the efficacy was evaluated. The heart color ultrasound was used to detect LVM and LVMI before and after treatment in the two groups. Results: The total effective rate in the observation group (90.7%) was significantly superior to that in the control group (70.7%) (P

Transforming growth factor β (TGF-β) is critical for embryonic development, adult tissue homeostasis, and tumor progression. TGF-β suppresses tumors at early stage, but promotes metastasis at later stage through oncogenes such as Twist1. Gamma-synuclein (SNCG) is overexpressed in a variety of invasive and metastatic cancer. Here, we show that TGF-β induces SNCG expression by Smad-Twist1 axis, thus promoting TGF-β- and Twist1-induced cancer cell migration and invasion. We identify multiple Twist1-binding sites (E-boxes) in SNCG promoter. Chromatin immunoprecipitation and luciferase assays confirm the binding of Twist1 to the E-boxes of SNCG promoter sequence (−129/−1026 bp). Importantly, the Twist1-binding site close to the transcription initiation site is critical for the upregulation of SNCG expression by TGF-β and Twist1. Mutations of Twist1 motif on the SNCG promoter constructs markedly reduces the promoter activity. We further show that TGF-β induces Twist1 expression through Smad thereby enhancing the binding of Twist1 to SNCG promoter, upregulating SNCG promoter activity and increasing SNCG expression. SNCG knockdown abrogates TGF-β- or Twist1-induced cancer cell migration and invasion. Finally, SNCG knockdown inhibits the promotion of cancer metastasis by Twist1. Together, our data demonstrate that SNCG is a novel target of TGF-β-Smad-Twist1 axis and a mediator of Twist1-induced cancer metastasis.

In this paper, we analyze the smooth approximation property of a smoothing function of plus function. And these smooth approximation properties of the smoothing function can be applied to the complementarity problems, penalty functions, optimal control, and support vector machines. Thus, we can use smooth method to solve these problems, and these smooth approximation properties have a good effect in proving the convergence of the smooth method. Subsequently, the application of these good properties in solving practical problems is given.

Integrin αV gene expression is often dysregulated in cancers especially in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC); however, the mechanism of regulation is poorly understood. Here, it is demonstrated that sulfatide activated integrin αV gene transcription, through histone H3K9/14 acetylation at the promoter, and high integrin αV expression are closely associated with poor prognosis. To elucidate the mechanism of regulation of acetylation, sulfatide-bound proteins were screened by mass spectrometry (MS), and bromodomain containing protein 1 (BRD1) was identified as an interacting protein that also colocalized with sulfatide in HCC cells. BRD1 was also formed a complex with Sp1, which was recruited to the integrin αV gene promoter. Sulfatide was also found to induce BRD1, monocytic leukemia zinc finger (MOZ) and histone acetyltransferase binding to ORC1 (HBO1) acetyltransferase multiprotein complex recruitment to the integrin αV promoter, which is responsible for histone H3K9/14 acetylation. Finally, knockdown of BRD1 limited sulfatide-induced H3K9/14 acetylation and occupancy of MOZ or HBO1 on integrin αV gene promoter. Implications: This study demonstrates that sulfatide interaction with BRD1 mediates acetylation and is important for regulation of integrin αV gene expression. Mol Cancer Res; 16(4); 610–22. ©2018 AACR.

Intensive aquaculture has increased the susceptibility of fish to Aeromonas hydrophila, and this has led to severe economic damage. There has been little study of the host defense mechanism against A. hydrophila infection in scaleless fish. Therefore, in the present study, the transcriptome profiles of the spleen of Pelteobagrus vachellii were examined after infection with A. hydrophila. In total, 37,730 unigenes from 322 KEGG pathways were identified. Following A. hydrophila infection, 27,803 differentially expressed genes were identified, including 13,934 upregulated and 13,869 downregulated genes. Significant enrichment analysis of these differentially expressed unigenes showed that the major immune pathways were involved, including toll-like receptor pathways, B-cell receptor signaling pathways, Fcγ receptor-mediated phagocytosis, complement and coagulation cascades, and natural killer cell-mediated cytotoxicity pathways. From these pathways, 59 key immune-related differentially expressed genes were selected: 53 genes that were upregulated, including those coding for complement components, interferons, and interleukins, and six DEGs that were downregulated, including inhibitor of nuclear factor kappa-B kinase. Finally, nine DEGs, which were randomly selected, were confirmed by qRT-PCR to be differentially expressed. The results indicated that complement components, interferons and Fcγ receptor-mediated phagocytosis played key role in the response to A. hydrophila infection in the spleen of P. vachellii, which may prove useful in the future for the development of therapeutic regimens.

The natural agent rhein is an ananthraquinone derivative of rhubarb, which has anticancer effects. To determine the mechanisms underlying the anticancer effects of rhein, we detected the effect of rhein on several oncoproteins. Here, we show that rhein induces β‐catenin degradation in both hepatoma cell HepG2 and cervical cancer cell Hela. Treatment of HepG2 and Hela cells with rhein shortens the half‐life of β‐catenin. The proteasome inhibitor MG132 blunts the downregulation of β‐catenin by rhein. The induction of β‐catenin degradation by rhein is dependent on GSK3 but independent of Akt. Treatment of HepG2 and Hela cells with GSK3 inhibitor or GSK3β knockdown abrogates the effect of rhein on β‐catenin. GSK3β knockdown compromises the inhibition of HepG2 and Hela cell growth by rhein. Furthermore, rhein dose not downregulate β‐catenin mutant that is deficient of phosphorylation at multiple residues including Ser33, Ser37, Thr41 and Ser45. Moreover, rhein induces cell cycle arrest at S phase in both HepG2 and Hela cells. Intraperitoneal administration of rhein suppresses tumour cells proliferation and tumour growth in HepG2 xenografts model. Finally, the levels of β‐catenin are reduced in rhein‐treated tumours. These data demonstrate that rhein can induce β‐catenin degradation and inhibit tumour growth.

c-Jun N-terminal kinases (JNK) are members of the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) family that have important roles in signal transduction. The small molecule SP600125 is widely used in biochemical studies as a JNK inhibitor. However, recent studies indicate that SP600125 may also act independent of JNK. Here, we report that SP600125 can induce Src, type I insulin-like growth factor receptor (IGF-IR), Akt and Erk1/2 phosphorylation. Notably, these effects are independent of its inhibition of JNK. Inhibition of Src abrogates the stimulation of IGF-IR, Akt and Erk1/2 phosphorylation. IGF-IR knockdown blunts the induction of both Akt and Erk1/2 phosphorylation by SP600125. Moreover, combination of SP600125 and the Src inhibitor saracatinib synergistically inhibits cell proliferation. We conclude that SP600125 can activate Src-IGF-IR-Akt/Erk1/2 signaling pathways independent of JNK.

The methods of dosing composite microbial inoculants are used in vertical flow constructed wetlands for biofortification. The removal of the main pollution indicators by substrate microorganisms was studied. The results show that compared with the blank system, the number of bacteria and nitrifying bacteria was higher in the substrate of constructed wetland by biofortification. At the hydraulic loading rate (HLR) of about 0.8 m3/(m2·d), relationship between total number of bacteria and the removal rate of COD was significant in Device A and Device B. Relationship with TP removal rate is not evident. Correlation between the number of nitrifying bacteria and TN removal rate was obvious. The biofortification is feasible on technology and economy.

A new highly ordered Au nanopore array electrode with pore diameter as small as 20 nm is fabricated using a simple electrochemistry method. The nanopore electrode displays a solution pH regulated quasi-sigmoidal voltammogram for electrochemical probe due to electrostatic interactions. Keywords: Nanopore electrode, Mass transport control, Electrostatic interactions

The structural, electronic, and optical properties of rutile-type SnO2 are studied by plane-wave pseudopotential density functional theory (DFT) with GGA, LDA, B3LYP and PBE0 respectively. The computing results show that the band gap getting from PBE0 and B3LYP is much more consistent with the available experimental data than that from GGA and LDA, no matter what the latter use ultra-soft pseudopotential or norm conserving pseudopotential. However, the density of state, real part and imaginary part of dielectric function calculating from every type is basically similar in qualitative analysis.

Reactive ion etching (RIE) is crucial for fabricating high-quality fused silica optics since this technique can be used as a first step before dynamic chemical etching (DCE) for tracelessly removing the fractured defects in subsurface layer. The final quality of the optics is dramatically influenced by the plasma etching condition but still lacks sufficient information for practical application. In this work, combination of RIE and DCE was investigated deeply on polished fused silica surface by changing the gas type and flow rate. We show that the proper choice of fluorine-containing plasma condition during the RIE process allows the simultaneous occurrence of high surface quality and a low concentration of etching-introduced defects on fused silica. This leads to an ultrahigh laser-induced damage threshold at 355 nm while substantially keeping the surface roughness unchanged. This study paves the way for designing and developing a next-generation surface modification ability of high-quality fused silica with the great potential for high-power laser application.

In the context of big data, opening government data to society for development and utilization would improve the transparency of government work and promote harmonious social development. Improving the sustainability of open government data (OGD) is an important and challenging issue, and has received the attention of multiple governments. The goals of this study are to construct a new evaluation model for the sustainability of OGD that explores the main influential factors and amends the priorities. We used a combination of the Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) method and the Analytical Network Process (ANP) method known as DANP to construct an influential network relationship map (INRM) of the evaluation system and calculate the criterion weights. The INRM and weights can help decision makers understand the complex assessment system and set priorities for improving OGD. The results demonstrate that the improvement priorities of dimensions have the following order: impact (D4), use (D3), data (D2), and environment (D1). Economic, social, and political values are the three critical factors for improvement of the sustainability of OGD. Some implications for management are also provided.

Capillaries-based co-flowing microfluidic devices were designed and then fabricated for the controlled production of water-in-oil-in-water (W/O/W) double-emulsion droplets, where polystyrene dissolved in fluobenzene was employed as the oil phase. Two configurations of the co-flowing devices were employed in the experiments. In the so-called one-step device, the inner capillary tip locates at the same cross-section of the middle capillary tip. Thus, the core drop and the shell drop depart from their capillaries ends simultaneously, forming a double-emulsion drop in one step. While in the so-called two step device, the inner capillary tip locates upstream to the middle capillary tip. The core drop and the shell drop break off from their respective capillaries ends successively, forming a double-emulsion drop in two steps. The effect of the fluids flow rates on the double-emulsion droplets size as well as their formation mechanism was studied comprehensively in the proposed devices. Experimental results implied that slight difference in device configurations would lead to significant difference in droplet formation mechanisms and thus size-control laws. In the two-step device, the inner stream of fluid had little influence on the breakage and the outer diameter of the double-emulsion drops, while in the one-step device the effect was significant. With the produced double-emulsion droplets, millimeter-sized polymer capsules with single hollow cavity and ultra-thin shells were obtained by solidifying the oil layers of the compound drops using the solvent evaporation method.

Gracilaria eucheumoides Linn (Gracilariaceae; G. eucheumoides) is abundant in dietary fiber, which aids the clearance of excess cholesterol from the blood and maintains stable blood glucose levels. The aim of the present study was to investigate the antifatigue effect of G. eucheumoides in mice and the physiological and molecular mechanisms underlying this effect. Mice were randomly divided into four groups and three of the groups were administered different doses of G. eucheumoides extract. A loaded swimming test demonstrated that the swimming times of the low-, medium- and high-dose groups were longer than those of the control group. Examinations revealed that the liver and muscle glycogen, lactate dehydrogenase and blood glucose concentration levels of the treatment groups were higher than those of the control group (P 0.05). Quantitative polymerase chain reaction showed that the gene expression levels of glucose transport protein 4 and AMP-activated protein kinase in the medium-dose group exhibited the largest increases, compared with the other treatment groups, and were 3.0- and 1.8-fold higher than those in the control group, respectively. The results of the present study indicated that G. eucheumoides exerts an antifatigue effect on mice.

Amorphous hydrogenated silicon films were deposited on quartz substrates in an inductive coupled plasma-chemical vapor deposition system with four internal low inductance antennas units. Different Ar and hydrogen flow rates were tested for their influences on the structures of deposited films. For monitoring purposes, Langmuir probe and optical emission spectrometer were installed to detect the variation of electrical field in plasma during deposition. Data from Langmuir probe and optical emission spectrometer were analyzed subsequently. After deposition, the films were examined by X-ray diffraction and Raman spectrometer for their microstructures. Results indicate that under the supply of pure Ar flow, the deposition rate can be expedited to 3.5 nm/s and amorphous films were formed on quartz substrates. With the supply of mixed hydrogen and argon (Ar 15 sccm + H 2 50 sccm + SiH 4 50 sccm), the deposition rate can reach 4.5 nm/s. Although it is well known that a high supply of H 2 helps the formation of micro-crystalline silicon, these deposited hydrogenated Si films, confirmed by X-ray diffraction patterns and Raman spectroscopy, all maintained their amorphousness under various range of Ar and H 2 flow rates.

According to the important position of DCT in image coding, the research of image retrieval performance based on DCT is advanced. In the paper, we take color descriptors of MPEG-7 as the color image feature, and acquire new image features through giving different weights to the different elected DCT coefficients, Using Euclidean distance as the similar distance measurement to retrieve color images in DCT. Then the relationship between the choice of weight and retrieval performance is studied by experiments, and moreover the retrieval conclusion is analyzed in detail. The result shows it can acquire relatively satisfactory outcome when selecting right weights of the elected DCT coefficients based on a concrete condition.

This work presents quantitative measurements of the mixing performance inside the liquid slugs of the gas–liquid Taylor flow in a Y-shaped microchannel in comparison with the mixing of liquids in conventional single-phase laminar flow microchannels by using μ-LIF technique at low and medium Reynolds numbers. First, stratified flow and vortex flow for water–ethanol system were obtained in the single-phase laminar flow system in a Y-shaped micro-contactor. Then, the fundamentals of steady intermittent flow pattern with independent bubbles and slugs in a gas–liquid Taylor flow system were investigated in the same microchannel. It turns out that with the introduced gas phase, the parallel symmetric flow of the liquid in the stratified and vortex flow regime is rigorously disarranged, which enhances the liquid mixing performance inside the individual slugs. This enhancement is due to the squeezing effect as well as the recirculation flow in the slugs. Then we applied these two systems to study the mixing sensitive process, i.e., the anti-solvent precipitation of the curcumin nano-particles. Nano-particles with good appearance and a narrow size distribution were prepared in the gas–liquid microchannel reactors at low Re numbers.

Test using CS-type UV sterilizer to do experimental study on the urban sewage , mainly research the influence of the placement time under natural light and the UV dose on photoreactivation. The results show that when disinfection ultraviolet dose is equal, bacteria photoreactivation phenomenon is more obvious with the increase of the placement time of water samples under natural light . When the placement time reaches at 3h, bacteria photoreactivation phenomenon is the most obvious. Under the same placement time, the ratio of bacteria photoreactivation decreases gradually with the increase of UV dose. When UV dose reaches at 80mJ /cm2 or the higher doses, the bacteria does not basically happen photoreactivation phenomenon. Photoreactivation phenomenon in E. coli is more obvious than that in bacteria under the same conditions.

A new ionic current rectification device responsive to a broad range of pH stimuli is established using highly ordered nanochannels of porous anodic alumina membrane with abrupt surface charge discontinuity. The asymmetric surface charge distribution is achieved by patterning the nanochannels with surface amine functional groups at designed positions using a two-step anodization process. Due to the protonation/deprotonation of the patterned amine and the remaining intrinsic hydroxyl groups upon solution pH variation, the nanochannel-array-based device is able to regulate ion transport selectivity and has ionic current rectification properties. The rectification ratio of the device is mainly determined by the nanochannel size, and the rectification ratio is less sensitive to the patterned length of the amine groups when the nanochannels size is defined. Thus, the isoelectric point of nanochannels can be easily estimated to be the pH value with a unit rectification ratio. The present ionic device is promising for biosensing, molecular transport and separation, and drug delivery in confined environments.

The mixing process of highly viscous liquids in a small stirred tank for High Throughput Experimentation (HTE) apparatus was investigated using a visualization approach, i.e., the Planar Laser-Induced Fluorescence (PLIF) technique. Segregated regions were detected despite a long period of agitation, indicating that the mixing homogeneity can be hardly attained for the mixing of highly viscous liquid. Based on the image analysis of PLIF results, we defined a desegregating time to quantify the mixing process of viscous liquids and to compare the mixing performances under different operating conditions. Eccentric agitation proved to be an efficient way to intensify the mixing of viscous liquid for the fact of significantly reduced desegregating time under the same stirring rate.

This work presented a multi-component LBM approach to model the scalar mixing process with the chemical reactions in a liquid system. Two-dimensional simulation was applied to investigate the enhancement of the mixing performance at the laminar flow regime with very low Re numbers. The mixing degree measured with both IOS (intensity of segregation, characterized by the pure mixing without reaction) and X S (segregation index, characterized by the chemical reaction) was used to quantify the mixing performance. The investigation in both pure mixing process and the reacting flow system showed that the flow-focusing effect with the simple geometry could significantly enhance the mixing as well as the subsequent chemical reactions at very low Re numbers. We expected the theoretical approach described in our study to provide an effective method for micro-device design and optimization.

Background Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) among children is an increasing public health concern. The identification of behavioral risk factors, including sleep quality, has important public health implications for prioritizing behavioral intervention strategies for ADHD. Herein, this study aimed to investigate the prevalence of high levels of ADHD symptoms and to explore the association between sleep schedules, sleep-related problems and ADHD symptoms among preschoolers aged 3 to 6 years in mainland China. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted, comprising a large sample of 15,291 preschoolers in Ma’anshan city of Anhui Province in China. ADHD symptoms were assessed by the 10-item Chinese version of the Conners Abbreviated Symptom Questionnaire (C-ASQ). Sleep-related variables included caregivers’ responses to specific questions addressing children’s daytime and nighttime sleep schedules, as well as sleep-related behaviors. Data on other factors were also collected, such as socio-demographic characteristics, TV viewing duration on weekdays and weekends, and outdoor activities. Logistic regression models were used to analyze the relationships between sleep schedules, sleep-related problems and ADHD symptoms. Results Approximately 8.6% of the total sample of preschoolers had high levels of ADHD symptoms, with boys having higher levels than girls (9.9% vs. 7.2%). In the logistic regression analysis, after adjusting for TV viewing duration, outdoor activities, and socio-demographic characteristics, delayed bedtime was significantly associated with a risk of high levels of ADHD symptoms, with odds ratios (OR) of 2.50 [95% confidence interval (CI): 2.09 ~ 3.00] and 2.04 (95% CI: 1.72 ~ 2.42) for weekdays and weekends, respectively. Longer time falling asleep (≥ 31 min) (OR = 1.76, 95% CI: 1.47 ~ 2.11), no naps (OR = 1.57, 95% CI: 1.34 ~ 1.84) and frequent sleep-related problems (OR = 4.57, 95% CI: 3.86 ~ 5.41) were also significantly associated with an increased risk of high levels of ADHD symptoms, while longer sleep duration (> 8.5 h) was associated with a decreased risk of high levels of ADHD symptoms (OR = 0.76, 95% CI: 0.67~ 0.87). Conclusions ADHD symptoms are prevalent in preschoolers in Ma’anshan region, China. Undesirable sleep schedules and sleep-related problems among preschoolers confer a risk of ADHD symptoms, highlighting the finding that beneficial and regular sleep habits potentially attenuate ADHD symptoms among preschoolers.

In this paper, an improved non-isolated DC-DC boost converter is proposed, which can be used in the distributed generation or storage system in the smart grid. The proposed circuit is composed of three insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) power switches and separated into two stages. With the complementary single-sided multiple pulse width modulation (MPWM) operation of power switches in the first stage, the input current ripple of DC-DC converter can be effectively reduced. And the switched inductor in the second stage can provide high voltage gain for the applications of distributed generation. The performance of proposed converter can be verified with PSIM simulation software.

Reactive oxygen species is the main contributor to photodynamic therapy. The results of this study show that a nitrogen-doped graphene quantum dot, serving as a photosensitizer, was capable of generating a higher amount of reactive oxygen species than a nitrogen-free graphene quantum dot in photodynamic therapy when photoexcited for only 3 min of 670 nm laser exposure (0.1 W cm-2), indicating highly improved antimicrobial effects. In addition, we found that higher nitrogen-bonding compositions of graphene quantum dots more efficiently performed photodynamic therapy actions than did the lower compositions that underwent identical treatments. Furthermore, the intrinsically emitted luminescence from nitrogen-doped graphene quantum dots and high photostability simultaneously enabled it to act as a promising contrast probe for tracking and localizing bacteria in biomedical imaging. Thus, the dual modality of nitrogen-doped graphene quantum dots presents possibilities for future clinical applications, and in particular multidrug resistant bacteria.

To investigate the related influencing factors of preschool children's emotional and behavioral problems in early life and explore the associations between the symptoms of depression or anxiety during pregnancy and emotional and behavioral problems in preschool children.Based on the Ma'anshan Birth Cohort Study of the China-Anhui Birth Cohort Study (C-ABCS), women were recruited at their first clinical visit between October 2008 and October 2010 in four municipal medical and health institutions of Ma'anshan City, a total of 5 084 pregnant women and 4 669 singletons live births were included in the birth cohort. Women completed measures of depressive (Self-Rating Anxiety scale) and anxious (Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression) symptoms in pregnancy. By the age of 3-6 follow-up, 3 653 children were followed with completed information between April 2014 and April 2015, strengths and difficulties questionnaires were used to assessed offspring emotional and behavioral problems. Logistics regression was used to investigate the relationship between the symptoms of depression or anxiety during pregnancy and emotional and behavioral problems in preschool children.The detected rates of emotional symptoms, conduct problems, hyperactivity and peer problems in preschool children were 6.3% (229/3 653), 7.5% (274/3 653), 7.6% (278/3 653) and 2.8% (103/3 653), while 7.6% (277/3 653) for total difficulties, 10.9%(398/3 653) for prosocial behavior and 27.4%(981/3 557) for impact respectively. Prevalence of anxiety and depression in the first trimester was 2.7%(100/3 653) and 4.7%(171/3 653) respectively, and in the second trimester was 2.0%(66/3 375) and 3.6%(122/3 375) respectively. After we controlled the confoundings of gestation age, place of residence, family income, maternal education, paternal education, premature birth and folic acid supplement before pregnancy, multinomial logistic regression analysis showed that the risk of children's emotional symptoms in maternal anxiety in both first-trimester and second-trimester group was higher than the group of no depression and anxiety symptoms, and OR(95%CI) was 5.90(2.00-17.48). Compared with whose mother no depression in both first-trimester and second-trimester, the risk of children's emotional symptoms in maternal depression in both first-trimester and second-trimester group was higher, and OR(95% CI) was 3.07 (1.30-7.28). And the risk of children's total difficulties of maternal anxiety in second-trimester was 2.27 (95%CI: 1.10-4.71) times of no anxiety in second-trimester. While the risk of children's total difficulties of maternal depression in second-trimester was 2.20 (95%CI: 1.24-3.93) times of no depression in second-trimester. Maternal emotional symptoms were not significant associations with conduct problems, hyperactivity, peer problems and prosocial behaviors (P0.05).There was a negative impact of maternal anxiety and depression symptoms during pregnancy on emotional and behavioral problems in preschool children. These findings highlight the need for additional clinical and research attention to both maternal depression and anxiety in pregnancy, which may be helpful to reduce the incidence of children's emotional and behavioral problems and act as an important measure in prevention.

To analyze the associations between pregnancy-related anxiety and the prevalence of subthreshold autism trait (SAT) in preschool children.Baseline data came from the Ma'anshan Birth Cohort Study, a part of the China-Anhui Birth Cohort Study (C-ABCS). All the participants were enrolled among pregnant women who received prenatal health care in 4 municipal medical centers during Oct. 2008 to Oct. 2010. A total of 5 084 pregnant women were recruited at the beginning and 4 669 singleton live births were included until childbirth. The situation about pregnancy-specific anxiety during trimester and third trimester of women were evaluated by Pregnancy-specific Anxiety Questionnaire (PAQ). Between April 2014 and April 2015, the cohort was followed up again, and the Clancy Autism Behavior Scale (CABRS) filled out by parents was used for telling the SAT children from the healthy children among 3 663 preschool children. Univariate and binary regression model was used to estimate associations between the pregnancy-related anxiety during trimester and third trimester and the subthreshold autism trait in children.During the pregnancy, the detected rates of women with pregnancy-specific anxiety in trimester and the third trimester were 25.5%(935/3 663), 13.9%(501/3 592) respectively, and the detected rate of maternal pregnancy-specific anxiety in both periods was 7.7%(278/3 592). There were 290 positive children with SAT and the detection rate was 7.9%. After controlling possible confounding factors including children's genders, place of residence, supplement folic acid during pregnancy, preterm birth, exposure to second-hand smoke during pregnancy, the father (mother) cultural levels, the father (mother) nature of work and family income, the results of multinomial logistic regression analysis showed that maternal pregnancy-specific anxiety in trimester was the risk factor for SAT in preschool children (OR=1.51, 95% CI: 1.11-2.04), and there was no association between maternal pregnancy-specific anxiety in the third trimester and SAT in preschool children (OR=1.36, 95% CI: 0.82-2.22). Compared with the single function of maternal pregnancy-specific anxiety in trimester or the third trimester for SAT in preschool children, maternal pregnancy-specific anxiety in both periods presented a joint action that increasing the risk for SAT (OR=2.02, 95% CI: 1.36-2.98).Maternal pregnancy-related anxiety was a risk factor for subthreshold autism trait in preschooler children. Pregnant women should try to keep a good mental state to create a good environment for fetal growth.