Search

Malathion is a widely used chiral phosphorus insecticide, which has a more toxic chiral metabolite malaoxon. In this work, the enantiomers of malathion and malaoxon were separated by high-performance liquid chromatography-mass/mass (HPLC-MS/MS) with chiral columns using acetonitrile/water or methanol/water as mobile phase, and the chromatographic conditions were optimized. Based on the chiral separation, the chiral residue analysis methods for the enantiomers in soil, fruit, and vegetables were set up. Two pairs of the enantiomers were better separated on CHIRALPAK IC chiral column, and baseline simultaneous separations of malathion and malaoxon enantiomers were achieved with acetonitrile/water (40/60, v/v) as mobile phase at a flow rate of 0.5 mL/min. The elution orders were -/+ for both malathion and malaoxon measured by an optical rotation detector. The chiral residue analysis in soil, fruit, and vegetables was validated by linearity, recovery, precision, limit of detection (LOD), and limit of quantification (LOQ). The LODs and LOQs for the enantiomers of malathion were 1 μg/kg and 3-5 μg/kg and 0.08 μg/kg and 0.20-0.25 μg/kg for malaoxon enantiomers. Good linear calibration curves for each enantiomer in the matrices were obtained within the concentration range of 0.02-12 mg/L. The mean recoveries of the enantiomers of malathion and malaoxon ranged from 82.26% to 109.04%, with RSDs of 0.71-8.63%.The results confirmed that this method was capable of simultaneously determining the residue of malathion and malaoxon in food and environmental matrix on an enantiomeric level.

In recent years, satellite systems have attracted explosive attention for their ability of providing seamless connectivity. Many satellite applications require the broadcast delay to be limited to a certain value. However, due to the high-speed movement of satellites, the network topology changes frequently, making the broadcast routing problem NP-hard. In this paper, we study the delay-constrained minimum energy broadcast problem in satellite networks. Considering the limited-sources in satellite systems, in order to reduce computation complexity and storage requirements, we propose the temporal netgrid model based multi-power level flow graph (MLFG) to describe the time-varying topology instead of using existing space-time graphs. Based on MLFG, an iterative algorithm is proposed to minimize the broadcasting energy consumption while satisfying the delay requirement. Simulations show that our proposed scheme can achieve higher energy efficiency while comparing with other existing methods.

For massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems, linear precoding can achieve near-optimal performance due to the asymptotically orthogonal channel property, but it suffers from high computational complexity of matrix inversion. To avoid exact matrix inversion in massive MIMO systems, we propose a low-complexity successive over relaxation (SOR) based precoding algorithm. However, due to the complex calculation of the optimal relaxation parameter, the SOR-based algorithm is not applicable in practical systems. To deal with this problem, we obtain the optimal relaxation parameter based on random matrix theory. Furthermore, to guarantee the performance of practical massive MIMO systems, we propose a linear fitting method to obtain the optimal relaxation parameter. In addition, the convergence rate and computation complexity of different iterative methods are compared, from which we can see that the improved SOR-based method has a faster convergence rate than other methods but with almost the same computational complexity. Finally, numerical simulations further verify the advantages of our proposed method in bit error rate (BER) and user average rate performance.

Background: The prevalence of obesity has raised global concerns. Environmental pollutants are one of the main causes of obesity. Many studies have demonstrated that dietary fiber could reduce obesity induced by high-fat diets, but whether environmental pollutant-induced obesity can be reversed is still unknown. Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the effects of pectin on obesity induced by a typical environmental pollutant p,p'-dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene (p,p′-DDE) and explore the underlying mechanism by which pectin reversed p,p′-DDE-induced obesity. Methods: p,p′-DDE was used to induce obesity in C57BL/6J mice and pectin was supplied during and after cessation of p,p'-DDE exposure. Body and fat weight gain, plasma lipid profile and insulin resistance of mice were assessed. Gut microbiota composition and the levels of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) as well as the receptor proteins and hormones in the SCFAs-related signaling pathway were analyzed. Moreover, p,p′-DDE levels in various tissues of mice were detected. Results: Pectin supplementation reversed body and fat weight gain, dyslipidemia, hyperglycemia and insulin resistance in p,p′-DDE-exposed mice. Furthermore, pectin apparently altered the p,p′-DDE-induced microbial composition and then promoted the levels of SCFAs in colonic feces as well as the expression of G-protein coupled receptors and the concentration of hormone peptide YY (PYY) and glucagon like peptide-1 (GLP-1). Pectin treatment also significantly reduced p,p′-DDE accumulation in mice tissues during p,p′-DDE exposure but did not change p,p′-DDE metabolism after termination of p,p′-DDE exposure. Conclusions: Pectin had a good effect on reducing p,p′-DDE-induced obesity through regulating gut microbiota and provided a potential strategy for the treatment of environmental pollutant-caused health problems. Keywords: p,p′-DDE, Obesity, Pectin, Gut microbiota

A fluorometric assay is described for the determination of the herbicide atrazine. The assay is based on the use of tyrosinase and fluorescent nitrogen-doped graphene quantum dots (N-GQDs). The N-GQDs were synthesized via one-pot hydrothermal reaction starting from citric acid and ammonia. Their fluorescence excitation and emission maxima are at 355 and 435 nm, and the quantum yield is 18%. Tyrosinase catalyzes the oxidation of dopamine to form dopaquinone which reduces the fluorescence of the N-GQDs through a dynamic quenching process. On addition of atrazine, the catalytic activity of tyrosinase is inhibited. This leads to less formation of dopaquinone and less reduction of fluorescence. The assay has a linear response in the 2.5–100 ng·mL−1 atrazine concentration range, and the detection limit is 1.2 ng·mL−1. The assay was applied to the determination of atrazine in spiked environmental water samples.

Although epidemiological studies demonstrate that persistent organic pollutants (POPs) could lead to metabolic syndrome, the mechanism has remained unclear. The dysbiosis of gut microbiota and the lipid metabolome have been put forward in the pathophysiology of metabolic syndrome. In this study, we used dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene (DDE) as an example to study the effects of POP-impaired microbial composition and metabolome homeostasis on metabolic syndrome. The results showed that DDE exposure increased body weight and fat content and impaired glucose homeostasis. Further investigation revealed that DDE induced gut dysbiosis as indicated by an increased Firmicutes-to-Bacteroidetes ratio, which may impact energy harvest efficiency. Meanwhile, the plasma lipid metabolome profile was significantly altered by DDE. Furthermore, phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylserine, phosphatidylethanolamine, and triacylglycerol were identified as key metabolites affected by DDE treatment, and these altered lipid metabolites were highly correlated with changed microbiota composition. This study provides novel insight into the underlying mechanism of POP-induced obesity and diabetes, pointing to gut microbiota as one of the targets.

Apolipoprotein A-I (apoA-I) mimetic peptide, D-4F, exhibits anti-atherogenic effects similar to high-density lipoprotein (HDL). However, it remains elusive whether D-4F and HDL share similar molecular mechanisms underlying anti-atherogenic effects and endothelial cell protections. We here compared the metabolic changes in endothelial cells induced by D-4F and HDL against oxidized low-density lipoprotein (ox-LDL), which may be of benefit to understanding the protective mechanisms of HDL and D-4F. Functional assays, including wound healing, transwell migration, and tube formation, were used to evaluate the pro-angiogenic effects of HDL and D-4F. NMR-based metabolomic analysis was employed to explore the protective mechanisms underlying HDL and D-4F. Partial least-squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) was performed to assess metabolic profiles, and orthogonal PLS-DA (OPLS-DA) was carried out to identify characteristic metabolites. Moreover, significantly altered metabolic pathways were also analyzed. We found that ox-LDL impaired the migration and tube formation of endothelial cells. Metabolomic analysis showed that ox-LDL triggered oxidative stress, impaired glycolysis, and enhanced glycerophospholipid metabolism. Both HDL and D-4F improved the migration and angiogenesis of endothelial cells, alleviated oxidative stress, and ameliorated disordered glycolysis impaired by ox-LDL. Strikingly, HDL partially attenuated the disturbed glycerophospholipid metabolism, whereas D-4F did not show this effect. In summary, although D-4F shared the similar protective effects with HDL on the migration and angiogenesis of endothelial cells, it could not deduce the molecular mechanisms of HDL completely. Nevertheless, D-4F possesses the potentiality to be exploited as clinically applicable agent for endothelial cell protection and cardiovascular disease treatment.

Convolutional neural networks (CNNs) have been widely used in the field of computer vision in recent years, and have greatly improved the effect. At present, most of the CNNs extract the features from the network, obtain the probability distribution of the categories through the fully connected layer, then obtain and optimize the softmax loss functions. In this process, the networks gradually put the focus on discriminative features that are helpful for classification, while other features of the object may be ignored by the network. In order to help the networks, in addition to focusing on discriminative features of the object, also focus on other features of the object in training, we proposed spatial restraint module and channel restraint module. Our methods impose constraints on the discriminative features which have high response during the training process, forcing the network to mine useful complementary features. Our methods could improve the generalization performance of the model. Compared with baselines, our CNNs can achieve performance boost in both image classification task and weakly supervised object localization task.

Pesticide residues most likely coexist with antibiotics due to the application of animal-based fertilizers in agriculture. In this study, the degradation and enantioselectivity of beta-cypermethrin in soil and chicken manure-amended soil were investigated. The effects of oxytetracycline on the soil microbial community were also estimated. The results showed that the half-life of beta-cypermethrin in the soil was 16.9 days and that the (+)-enantiomer was degraded preferentially in both pairs of enantiomers. The metabolites cis/trans-DCCA(3-(2′,2′-dichlorovinyl)-2,2-dimethylcyclopropane carboxylic acid) and 3-PBA (3-Phenoxybenzoic acid) were detected. The trans-DCCA concentrations ranged from 0.094 to 0.120 mg/kg, which were higher than the concentrations of cis-DCCA (0.091–0.120 mg/kg) and 3-PBA (0.022–0.061 mg/kg). In the presence of oxytetracycline, beta-cypermethrin degradation was inhibited slightly, while the enantioselectivity was not affected. Oxytetracycline increased the enrichment and persistence of the metabolites. Addition of chicken manure decreased the cis-DCCA residue levels in the soil and alleviated the effect of oxytetracycline; however, chicken manure increased the accumulation and persistence of 3-PBA. In addition, oxytetracycline perturbed the structure of the soil microbial community. The abundance of Proteobacteria increased, while the abundances of Firmicutes and Actinobacteria decreased. These changes might affect the biodegradation of beta-cypermethrin and its metabolites. Combined pollution with antibiotics should be considered for its potential impact on pesticide residues.

Determination of dithiocarbamate fungicides using chromatography is not available for real-time and on-site residue analysis. Herein, a novel fluorescent assay for dithiocarbamate fungicides ziram based on the boron-doped carbon nanodots (B-CDs) and tyrosinase was established. The fluorescent B-CDs with maximum excitation and emission at 490 and 540 nm were synthesized by hydrothermal reaction. PCV can combine with the B-CDs, leading to a fluorescent quenching effect. Tyrosinase can catalyze the PCV oxidation, thus fluorescent intensity of the B-CDs recovers due to the consumption of PCV. While ziram can inhibit tyrosinase activity, resulting in less oxidation of PCV and more quenching effect of the B-CDs. Fluorescence was first employed to enzymatic ziram assay to improve sensitivity. This assay demonstrates a higher sensitivity for ziram (LOD: 0.46 μg L-1) compared to other optical assays and feasibility of determining ziram residue in environmental and food samples (Recovery: 73.9–92.6%, RSD: 2.53–6.57%).

Ethiprole is effective against a wide range of insects and has been used throughout the world. In this work, the toxicity, bioaccumulation and elimination of ethiprole and its main metabolites (ethiprole sulfone (M1), ethiprole sulfide (M2), ethiprole amide (M3), ethiprole sulfone amide (M4) and desethylsulfinyl ethiprole (M5)) in zebrafish Danio rerio were investigated at enantiomeric level. Rac-ethiprole showed high toxicity (96 h LC50 = 708 μg L−1) and M2 was six times more toxic than ethiprole (111 μg L−1). Enantioselective toxicity was observed, with the S-ethiprole (924 μg L−1) being more toxic than R-ethiprole (2195 μg·L−1). Rac-ethiprole and M2 could induce oxidative stress in the liver of adult zebrafish and developmental toxicity in zebrafish embryos. Zebrafish were exposed to 100 μg L−1 rac-/R-/S-ethiprole and the bioaccumulation was monitored during a 21 d period followed by a 7 d metabolism. The bioconcentration factor (BCF) of rac-ethiprole was 17, and the half-lives of rac-ethiprole and metabolites varied between 0.44 and 2.99 d. R-ethiprole was preferentially accumulated and metabolized in zebrafish. Besides, the metabolic pathways of R- and S-ethiprole were found to be different. This study indicated assessment of metabolites and enantioselectivity should be taken into consideration in evaluating environmental risks of ethiprole.

Pyriproxyfen is a juvenile hormone analogue insecticide used worldwide. At present, the potential threat of pyriproxyfen to aquatic organism has not been well explored. In this work, the bioaccumulation, metabolic profile and toxicity of pyriproxyfen and its metabolites to zebrafish were studied, and the enantioselectivity of pyriproxyfen and the major chiral metabolites were also determined. Sixteen metabolites of pyriproxyfen in zebrafish were identified. Hydroxylation, ether linkage cleavage and oxidation in phase I metabolism, followed by sulfate and glucuronic acid conjugation. The bioconcentration factors ranged from 1175 to 1246. Hydroxylation metabolites of pyriproxyfen showed enantioselective behavior in zebrafish with enantiomer fractions (EFs) of 4'-OH- pyriproxyfen and 5″-OH- pyriproxyfen ranged from 0.50 to 0.71. Toxicological indexes including acute toxicity, joint toxicity and oxidative stress were tested. Among all the metabolites, 4'-OH- pyriproxyfen was found 2 folds more toxic to zebrafish than pyriproxyfen. (-)-Pyriproxyfen was found 2 folds more toxic than rac- and (+)-pyriproxyfen. Antagonistic effects were found in binary joint toxicity of pyriproxyfen and its hydroxylated metabolites. Pyriproxyfen and its metabolites also showed oxidative stress damage by inhibiting the activity of CAT and SOD and increasing MDA. This work provided deep insight into the metabolism and the potential risks of pyriproxyfen to aquatic organisms.

As the industrial structure adjusts and driving effects change in different countries, the regional pattern of industrial driving effects is reshaped, and the new pattern is bound to lead to changes in energy consumption. Therefore, this paper uses multiregional input-output analysis, complex network theory, and panel quantile regression model to explore the impact of the topological structure of the global industrial driving network on energy intensity. The empirical results show that China’s ability to drive economic activity is becoming stronger, but its level of dependence is also increasing. The industrial dependence of Russia is also relatively high, but over time it has been gradually decreasing. Countries with high energy intensity should reduce their role in driving others and rely less on external resources. For countries with low energy intensity, they could conduct trade cooperation with more countries, but the driving effect strength with other countries cannot be too high. Understanding the relationship between industrial driving effects and energy intensity is of great significance for the government in the implementation of trade policies and industry policies, which have a large impact on energy intensity.

Pesticides are widely used in agriculture to control weeds, pests and plant diseases. Antibiotics may be introduced to the agricultural environment by manure fertilizer or wastewater irrigation. Co-existence of antibiotics in field may lead to profound impacts on pesticide residue. In this study, the impacts of oxytetracycline on the environmental fate and metabolic profile of atrazine was investigated, and the disturbance of oxytetracycline on functional genes related to atrazine degradation in soils was also studied. Oxytetracycline could inhibit the degradation of atrazine significantly and prolong the half-life to 1.27 and 1.59 times longer at 5 mg/kg and 50 mg/kg. Also, oxytetracycline altered the composition of atrazine metabolites, including three chloro-s-triazine metabolites (DEA, DIA, DDA) and three hydroxyl metabolites (OH-ATZ, OH-DEA, OH-DIA). Oxytetracycline decreased the ratio of hydroxyl metabolites, while increased the chloro-s-triazine metabolites which had higher toxicity and were easily leached in soil. Atrazine hydrolase genes atzA and trzN were down-regulated by oxytetracycline, which might decrease the hydroxyl metabolite formation and detoxification of atrazine. Oxytetracycline changed the degradation of atrazine and the composition of the metabolites probably by altering the soil microorganisms. The increased persistence and the percentage of the chloro-s-triazine metabolites induced by oxytetracycline might result in increased environmental problems.

Industrial parks (IPs) contribute greatly to China's economic development while emitting lots of greenhouse gas (GHG). Establishing GHG emission inventories for IPs is essential to generate low-carbon strategies. Taking 11 IPs in Central China as objects, this study established GHG inventories including direct and indirect emissions, exploring the characteristics from the point of view of energy types and industrial sectors. We then adopted cluster analysis to classify these IPs into “3Hs”, “3Ls” and “Mixed” parks, and subsequently chose representative IPs for case study. The results show that total CO2 emissions of the parks in 2017 were 14.47 Mt. Coal combustion from energy types and energy-intensive industries from industrial sectors were the dominant emission sources, both accounting for 80% of the total emission in 11 IPs. Reducing power export and using renewable energy are crucial to mitigate GHG emission in the IPs including large-scale thermal power plants. Cluster analysis reveals that “3Hs” and “Mixed” parks should be put in a high priority in GHG mitigation, focusing on energy-intensive industries transformation and energy structure adjustment. This study is helpful to understand GHG emission characteristics of IPs in Central China and promotes the proposal and implementation of GHG emission reduction strategies in IPs.

Due to the low material cost, high critical transition temperature and high-current-carrying capacity, MgB2 round wire with twisted filaments has great potential for applications in engineering. Therefore, it is important to estimate their critical current for optimizing and realizing high-powered wire and cable. A 3-D model is presented to calculate the critical current of wire and cable with twisted filaments. The critical current is estimated based on the Biot-Savart law and self-consistent model. A comparison between 2-D and 3-D models is performed for the wire. We consider the effect of twist pitch on the critical current. Moreover, the critical current of 6-around-1 cable with different twist pitches is analyzed and discussed using the 3-D model. It can be found that twist pitch of filaments plays an important role on the critical current. The model and method may also be useful for other superconducting wires and cables.

Pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs), as the emerging pollutants, persistently enter the aqueous environment and can be accumulated in aquatic organisms; this has raised the concern that whether fish oil as a kind of fish products used usually for infants has the risk of being contaminated by PPCPs. In this study, we focused on developing a simple and effective method for the determination of four common PPCPs in fish oil using a deep eutectic solvent (DES) as a green solvent in liquid-phase microextraction (LPME) with the aid of sonication. Effects of the extraction method and DES types were studied by traditional one-factor-at-a-time experiment. Influences of extraction time, volume of DES, and extraction cycles on the recovery were investigated, and these parameters were optimized by the Box-Behnken design of experiment. The results show that DES is a good alternative for the extraction of PPCPs in fish oil via sonication, which is a robust method for dispersing this viscous liquid. Under the optimal condition, sonication-assisted LPME based on DES showed a good linearity in the range of 0.1–20 μg L−1 for sulfamethazine, sulfamethoxazole, as well as triclocarban and 0.05–20 μg L−1 for carbamazepine. The recoveries of these four PPCPs were in the range of 87.0–93.8%, and the RSDs varied from 1.6% to 6.0%. Moreover, the limits of detection (LODs) ranged from 16.7 to 33.0 ng L−1. In general, the sonication-assisted LPME based on DES is a green, sensitive, and convenient method for the determination of PPCPs in fish oil.

The stereoselective metabolism of the enantiomers of the UV-filter 2-ethylhexyl 4-dimethylaminobenzoate (EDP) in rabbits was studied. The two major metabolites 4-(N,N-dimethylamino) benzoic acid (DMP) and 4-methylaminobenzoic acid (MMP) were also investigated in vivo and in vitro. Cytotoxicity of EDP and its two metabolites was also investigated in hepatocytes. The results showed that EDP degraded rapidly to its metabolites (DMP and MMP) and could not be detected in blood at 5 min after intravenous administration to rabbit in vivo. In almost all the tissue samples, EDP, DMP and MMP could not be detected at 3 h expect DMP was found in the liver and kidney at about 1 mg kg−1 level. EDP was found to be degraded to DMP rapidly in plasma and liver microsome in vitro with t1/2 less than 20 and 5 min and the whole process was enantioselective with preference of (+)-form. DMP was observed to be further degraded to MMP in liver microsome in the presence of NADPH. The cytotoxic effects of EDP, DMP and MMP were carried out using buffalo rat liver cell line. The results from cell viability assays indicated that the degradation of EDP was a detoxification process.

Pyrethroids and the metabolites have been frequently observed in the environment. Animal data suggests that pyrethroids can induce adverse effect on the cardiovascular system but there are no human studies examining pyrethoids exposure as a risk for coronary heart disease (CHD). We analyzed three nonspecific pyrethroids metabolites in urine and studied the association with CHD risk. A total of 72 CHD patients and 136 healthy subjects were recruited in Shanxi province in China from 2013 to 2014 by matching age and gender. The median concentrations of urinary cis-CDDA (cis-3-(2,2-dichlorovinyl)-2,2-dimethyl cyclopropane carboxylic acid), trans-CDDA (trans-3-(2,2-dichlorovinyl)-2,2-dimethyl cyclopropane carboxylic acid) and 3-PBA (3-phenoxybenzoic acid) among healthy subjects were 1.03, 0.42, 0.74 μg/L respectively, while the median concentrations of the three metabolites among CHD patients were 1.93, 1.07, 1.09 μg/L respectively, significantly higher than healthy subjects. Upper tertile of urinary pyrethroid metabolites were associated with an increased risk of CHD compared with the lowest tertile (cis-CDDA: ORT3vsT1 = 6.86, 95% CI: 2.76-17.06, p-trend = 0.000; trans-CDDA: ORT3vsT1 = 6.94; 95% CI: 2.80-17.19; p-trend =0.000; 3-PBA: ORT3vsT1 = 3.62; 95% CI: 1.48-8.88; p-trend = 0.009; total pyrethroid metabolites: ORT3vsT1 = 4.55; 95% CI: 1.80-11.54; p-trend = 0.002). This study provides information on pyrethroids exposure in China and reveals a possible positive association between pyrethroids exposure and the risk of coronary heart disease.

The use of pan-ethnic-group products form knowledge primarily depends on a designer’s subjective experience without user participation. The majority of studies primarily focus on the detection of the perceptual demands of consumers from the target product category. A pan-ethnic-group products form gene clustering method based on emotional semantic is constructed. Consumers’ perceptual images of the pan-ethnic-group products are obtained by means of product form gene extraction and coding and computer aided product form clustering technology. A case of form gene clustering about the typical pan-ethnic-group products is investigated which indicates that the method is feasible. This paper opens up a new direction for the future development of product form design which improves the agility of product design process in the era of Industry 4.0.

Pesticide pollution of surface water represents a considerable danger for the aquatic plants which play very crucial roles in aquatic system such as oxygen production, nutrient cycling, water quality controlling and sediment stabilization. In this work, the toxic effects of the chiral herbicide lactofen and its three metabolites (desethyl lactofen, acifluorfene and amino acifluorfene) to the aquatic plant Lemna minor (L. minor) on enantiomeric level were evaluated. The influences on growth rate, fresh weight, content of photosynthetic pigment, protein and malondialdehyde (MDA) and the activities of antioxidant defense enzymes (catalase (CAT) and superoxide dismutase (SOD)) were measured after 7 days of exposure. L. minor growth was inhibited in the order of (S)-desethyl lactofen > racemic-desethyl lactofen > (R)-desethyl lactofen > racemic-lactofen > (S)-lactofen > (R)-lactofen > acifluorfene > amino acifluorfene, and the IC50 (7d) values showed desethyl lactofen was the most powerful compound which was about twice as toxic as lactofen. The contents of chlorophylls (Chl) and carotenoids (Car) were significantly reduced by the chemicals, while, the levels of protein, MDA and the activity of CAT and SOD enzymes increased in most cases. The obtained results revealed that lactofen and its metabolites had an undesirable effect on L. minor, in terms of physiological and biochemical aspects. Besides, enantioselective toxicity of lactofen and desethyl lactofen to L. minor was observed. The S-enantiomer of desethyl lactofen was more toxic than the corresponding R-enantiomer. Furthermore, racemic lactofen was more toxic than the individual enantiomers. The side effects of pesticide metabolites and the enantioselectivity should be considered in developing optically pure products and risk assessment.

Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+x (Bi-2212) round wires have outstanding electromagnetic behaviors in a high magnetic field. However, the filaments’ fracture or gas bubble is difficult to avoid during the fabrication and application of Bi-2212 round wire, which would affect the critical current density seriously. In this paper, the engineering current density is studied based on Kim model for 7-bundle and 18-bundle wires with filament fracture by considering the effect of bridges between filaments. The distributions of critical current density of filaments are also investigated for different external fields. Finally, we present the relation between the number of cracked filaments and the applied strain.

High density lipoprotein (HDL) as well as annexin A1 have been reported to be associated with cardiovascular protection. However, the correlation between HDL and annexin A1 was still unknown. In this study, HDL increased endothelial annexin A1 and prevented the decrease of annexin A1 in TNF-α-activated endothelial cells in vitro and in vivo, and above effects were attenuated after knockdown of annexin A1. Annexin A1 modulation affected HDL-mediated inhibition of monocyte adhesion to TNF-α-activated endothelium (45.2±13.7% decrease for annexin A1 RNA interference; 78.7±16.3% decrease for anti-Annexin A1 antibody blocking; 11.2±6.9% increase for Ad-ANXA1 transfection). Additionally, HDL up-regulated annexin A1 through scavenger receptor class B type I, involving ERK, p38MAPK, Akt and PKC signaling pathways, and respective inhibitors of these pathways attenuated HDL-induced annexin A1 expression as well as impaired HDL-mediated inhibition of monocyte-endothelial cell adhesion. Apolipoprotein AI also increased annexin A1 and activated similar signaling pathways. Endothelial annexin A1 from apolipoprotein AI knockout mice was decreased in comparison to that from wild type mice. Finally, HDL-induced annexin A1 inhibited cell surface VCAM-1, ICAM-1 and E-selectin, and secretion of MCP-1, IL-8, VCAM-1 and E-selectin, thereby inhibiting monocyte adhesion.

Isomerization of chiral pesticides in residue analysis has not drawn much attention which can cause wrong decisions on the enantioselective environmental behavior. A residue analysis method for α-cypermethrin and its three acid metabolites, cis/trans-3-(2,2-dichlorovinyl)-2,2-dimethyl cyclopropanecarboxylic acid (cis/trans-DCVA) and 3-phenoxybenzoic acid (3-PBA), in foods such as chicken, honey, milk and pork has been established, in which the isomerization of α-cypermethrin was minimized. The target compounds were determined by GC-ECD after a derivatization reaction with 1,1,1,3,3,3-hexafluoroisopropanol. The conditions of the method were optimized by Taguchi orthogonal experiment. Under the optimized conditions, good linearity was obtained with correlation coefficients ranging from 0.9964 to 0.9998. The limits of detection were 0.001-0.005 mg kg(-1). The recoveries were 70.9-114.9% with relative standard deviations of 0.6-15%. In addition, ratios of isomerization ranged only from 2.3% to 7.0%. This method was applied in commercial animal food products.

A simple, rapid and effective method was developed based on matrix solid-phase dispersion (MSPD) for the determination of organochlorine pollutants including sixteen organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) and seven polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in oil seeds (peanuts and soybeans). Among the organochlorine pollutants selected, α-HCH, heptachlor, o,p'-DDT, o,p'-DDD, trans-chlordane and cis-chlordane were chiral and their enantiomers were determined by GC-ECD with a chiral column. The MSPD procedure was optimized focusing on the type and amount of dispersion sorbent, co-column sorbent and eluting solvent. Under the optimized condition, good recoveries were obtained in the range of 68.9-103.3% with relative standard deviations (RSD) values below 16.1% in all cases. LODs and LOQs were in range of 0.1-2.0ngg(-1) and 0.4-6.7ngg(-1) respectively. In summary, the method set up was qualified to be used for the determination of the pollutants and the enantiomers in oil seeds.

The stereoselective degradation and transformation of the enantiomers of the herbicide fluazifop-butyl in soil and water were studied to investigate the environmental behavior and chiral stability of the optical pure product. Its main chiral metabolite fluazifop was also monitored. LC/MS/MS with Chiralpak IC chiral column was used to separate the enantiomers of fluazifop-butyl and fluazifop. Validated enantioselective residue analysis methods were established with recoveries ranging from 77.1 to 115.4% and RSDs from 0.85 to 8.9% for the enantiomers. It was found the dissipation of fluazifop-butyl was rapid in the three studied soils (Beijing, Harbin and Anhui soil), and the degradation half-lives of the enantiomers ranged from 0.136 to 2.7 d. Enantioselective degradations were found in two soils. In Beijing soil, R-fluazifop-butyl was preferentially degraded leading to relative enrichment of S-enantiomer, but in Anhui soil, S-fluazifop-butyl dissipated faster. There was no conversion of the R-fluazifop-butyl into S-fluazifop-butyl or vice versa in the soils. The formation of fluazifop in the soils was rapidly accompanied with the fast degradation of fluazifop-butyl, and the enantioselectivity and the transformation of S-fluazifop to R-fluazifop were found. The degradation of fluazifop-butyl in water was also quick, with half-lives of the enantiomers ranging from 0.34 to 2.52 d, and there was no significant enantioselectivity of the degradation of fluazifop-butyl and the formation of fluazifop. The effects of pH on the degradation showed fluazifop-butyl enantiomers degraded faster in alkaline conditions. This study showed an evidence of enantioselective behavior and enantiomerization of the chiral herbicide fluazifop-butyl.

High-temperature superconducting double-pancake (DP) coils wound by the no-insulation (NI) approach have been proved to have a high thermal stability and a self-protecting ability. This paper mainly studies the effect of a quench of one pancake coil on the electromagnetic-thermal-mechanical behaviors of an NI DP coil in the self field and the high field. An electromagnetic-thermal coupling quench model is used to calculate the distributions of current, temperature and electromagnetic field in the coil, and then a three-dimensional homogeneous mechanical model is built to analyze the changes in strain and stress during a quench by considering the distributions of thermal strain and Lorentz force of the coil. The results indicate that the obvious increase in circumferential current and radial current density in the bottom pancake coil is induced by a quench of the top pancake coil due to the electromagnetic coupling effect in the self field and the high field, and that the DP coil still has a negative coil voltage during a quench in different fields. Although the bottom pancake coil has a large circumferential current, the mechanical deformation of the DP coil during a quench is mainly caused by the temperature rise in the self field. The thermal expansion of the top pancake coil has a remarkable effect on the mechanical behaviors of the bottom pancake coil. Moreover, the DP coil has the same temperature rise and mechanisms of bypass current in the self field and the high field. However, the mechanical deformation of the DP coil is based on the combined effects of temperature rise and Lorentz force in the high field. It can be found that the values of the hoop and axial stresses are affected by a large electromagnetic stress.

The transportation is gradually integrated into the circulation system of bulk goods, and developing and growing. Transportation has the advantages of high efficiency, high quality and green environment, In time, efficiency and cost than the traditional bulk transport has certain advantages. This paper analyzes the cost of logistics transportation network, which mainly includes transportation cost in transit, transit cost, time cost of cargo transportation and special cost. This paper discusses in detail the transportation cost, transit cost, time cost and carbon consumption cost of different transportation modes in the process of “scattered transformation”, and constructs the optimization model of” scattered transformation “transportation network with the least comprehensive transportation cost including the above costs.

With the continuous development of port economy and the continuous promotion of industrial transformation and upgrading in China, the mode of gathering and distributing transportation in port area has gradually become the core factor to enhance the competitiveness of the whole logistics chain of port. It always play an important role in the port collection and distribution system. Especially for inland economic hinterland ports, it is of great significance to develop railway transportation and optimize port railway collection and distribution system. Based on the development and application of the theory of port railway transportation at home and abroad, this paper briefly analyzes the present situation and trend of port railway transportation mode. Combined with the demand characteristics of the current port railway transportation system and the problems that need to be further improved after the reform of freight organization, the form and task of optimizing the port railway transportation mode are clarified.

The lithium market in China has experienced great changes due to emerging renewable energy technologies. Recycling, substitution and brine mining technologies are expected to alleviate the undersupply of lithium resources. However, these technologies cause much uncertainty, which affects market stability. To explore the behavior changes of the lithium market that are affected by these related technological developments, a system dynamics model is established, and bifurcation theory is employed to analyze market stability. Technological development is based on three scenarios: a step signal shock, a slope signal shock and a continuous change. The results show that when there is a step signal to the four kinds of technological development, the lithium market will go through fierce fluctuations that are especially affected by the step shock of the emerging renewable technologies. When there is a slope signal to the four technological developments, the lithium market moves toward a more stable situation, but the undersupply cannot be alleviated as much as it can with the step signal. When the technological developments are continuously changed, there are some obvious sudden changes in the lithium market. When technology develops to some extent, the market behavior can remain unchanged for a wide range of periods. On this condition, more incentives will not work. It can be finally concluded that lithium substitutes show a great potential to alleviate the undersupply situations and maintain a stable environment in the lithium market. More studies and investments should be put into substitution technology.

Tributyltin (TBT), an organotin compound once widely used in agriculture and industry, has been reported to induce obesity and endocrine disruption. Gut microbiota has a strong connection with the host's physiology. Nevertheless, the influences of TBT exposure on gut microbiota and whether TBT-influenced gut microbiota is related to TBT-induced toxicity remain unclear. To fill these gaps, ICR (CD-1) mice were respectively exposed to TBT at NOEL (L-TBT) and tenfold NOEL (H-TBT) daily by gavage for 8 weeks in the current study. The results showed that TBT exposure significantly increased body weight as well as epididymal fat, and led to adipocyte hypertrophy, dyslipidemia and impaired glucose and insulin homeostasis in mice. Additionally, TBT exposure significantly decreased the levels of T4, T3 and testosterone in serum. Also of note, TBT exposure changed gut microbiota composition mainly by decreasing Bacteroidetes and increasing Firmicutes proportions. To confirm the role of gut microbiota in TBT-induced overweight and hormonal disorders, fecal microbiota transplantation was performed and the mice receiving gut microbiota from H-TBT mice had similar phenotypes with their donor mice including significant body weight and epididymal fat gain, glucose and insulin dysbiosis and hormonal disorders. These results suggested that gut microbiome altered by TBT exposure was involved in the TBT-induced increased body weight, impaired glucose and insulin homeostasis and endocrine disruption in mice, providing significant evidence and a novel perspective for better understanding the mechanism by which TBT induces toxicity.

To minimize energy consumption while maintaining the economic growth, this paper proposed a novel consumption-based multi-objective optimization model (CMOM), which would provide a more systemic perspective than previous production-based model (PMOM). We have selected China as our study case. The results showed the CMOM performed better than the previous PMOM. The proposed CMOM can achieve higher economic growth and energy saving goals by the smaller adjustment of the current industrial structure. It indicated it was necessary to include the systemic influence of sectoral consumption demand on global energy consumption. The results also showed there were some principal sectors and economic linkages between sectors that played special roles in the optimization of the industrial structure. To achieve the energy saving and economic growth goals, some sectors should significantly reduce their total output such as Chemical Materials and Products, while other sectors could continue to increase their total outputs such as Construction. Some sectors should reduce inputs to themselves such as Processing of Non-ferrous Metals, while other sectors should significantly increase inputs to themselves such as Other Services. Non-metallic Mineral Products should increase inputs to Construction. These results suggest our method can provide key policy targets for optimizing the current industrial structure.

Background Disruption of the gut microbiota homeostasis may induce low-grade inflammation leading to obesity-associated diseases. A major protective mechanism is to use the multi-layered mucus structures to keep a safe distance between gut epithelial cells and microbiota. To investigate whether pesticides would induce insulin resistance/obesity through interfering with mucus-bacterial interactions, we conducted a study to determine how long-term exposure to chlorpyrifos affected C57Bl/6 and CD-1 (ICR) mice fed high- or normal-fat diets. To further investigate the effects of chlorpyrifos-altered microbiota, antibiotic treatment and microbiota transplantation experiments were conducted. Results The results showed that chlorpyrifos caused broken integrity of the gut barrier, leading to increased lipopolysaccharide entry into the body and finally low-grade inflammation, while genetic background and diet pattern have limited influence on the chlorpyrifos-induced results. Moreover, the mice given chlorpyrifos-altered microbiota had gained more fat and lower insulin sensitivity. Conclusions Our results suggest that widespread use of pesticides may contribute to the worldwide epidemic of inflammation-related diseases. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s40168-019-0635-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Pyriproxyfen (PYR) is a type of aromatic juvenile hormone analog and a hygienic insecticide used in agriculture to control insect species. Therefore, assessing the metabolic behavior and toxic effects of PYR in mammals is the best means of evaluating its risks to human health. Previous studies have reported conflicting results regarding the toxicity risks of PYR and its metabolites in rat hepatocytes. We used ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) to perform a chiral analysis of PYR and its metabolites investigating the enantioselective metabolism of PYR in rat liver microsomes. Our results concluded that the recoveries of PYR, metabolites A and B ranged from 81.13%-111.54 %, with RSD values of 0.01 %-6.52 %. The method limits of detection (LODs) and limits of quantification (LOQs) for PYR, metabolites A and B were in accordance with the analysis requirements. Previous studies have demonstrated the enantioselective metabolism of PYR and the generation of metabolites. Measurements of cell proliferation toxicity to rat hepatocytes, apoptosis and DNA damage induced by PYR and its metabolites in rat hepatocytes indicated that the metabolites reflected higher toxicity potential than PYR in rat hepatocytes. More studies about the molecular mechanism of PYR-induced toxicity are urgently needed in future work.

Figure S2. Effects of chlorpyrifos treatment on the concentration of proinflammatory cytokines in plasma in C57Bl/6 (a–d) and CD-1 (ICR) mice (e–h). Data are expressed as the mean ± SEM. *P

Figure S1. Effects of chlorpyrifos administration on food intake (a and e), colon length (b and f), fecal bacteria amount (c and g), and fecal LPS levels (d and h) in C57Bl/6 (a–d) and CD-1 (ICR) mice (e–h). Data are expressed as the mean ± SEM. *P

Table S1. NFD and HFD composition. (DOCX 18 kb)

Figure S5. Microbiota membership for cecal samples of C57Bl/6 (a, c, and e) and CD-1(ICR) (b, d, and f) mice. Box plots depicting the taxonomic distribution within NFD-R and NCPF-R cecal samples at the phylum, family, and genus levels. NFD-R, re-colonized with NFD groupâ s microbiota; NCPF-R, re-colonized with NCPF groupâ s microbiota. (DOCX 391 kb)

Figure S3. Microbiota membership for cecal samples of C57Bl/6 (a, c, and e) and CD-1(ICR) (b, d, and f) mice. Box plots depicting the taxonomic distribution within NFD, NCPF, HFD, and HCPF cecal samples at the phylum, family, and genus levels. NFD, normal-fat diet; NCPF, normal fat-diet + chlorpyrifos; HFD, high-fat diet; HCPF, high-fat diet + chlorpyrifos. (DOCX 457 kb)

Figure S4. Heatmap showing the abundance of OTUs significantly altered by chlorpyrifos (Pâ

© 2018, United States & Canadian Academy of Pathology. HIV-associated neurocognitive disorder in HIV patients substantially reduces their quality of life. We previously showed that the HIV matrix protein, p17 could stimulate lymph-angiogenesis in vitro potentially contributing to lymphoma tumour growth and in addition is associated with vascular activation in neuro-degenerating brain tissue; here, therefore, we have investigated the detailed molecular mechanisms of this action. We performed in vitro cell culture, angiogenesis experiments, phospho-protein microarrays and Western blotting to identify cellular signalling induced by p17 within human brain endothelial cells (HbMEC), and inhibitor studies to block p17-induced vascular growth. We also characterised the effects of hippocampal CA1 injection of p17 on epidermal growth factor receptor-1 (EGFR1) expression linked to our murine model of dementia. p17 strongly induced angiogenesis of HbMEC (migration, tube formation and spheroid growth). p17 concomitantly increased phosphorylation of EGFR1 as well as down-stream intermediates ERK1/2, FAK, PLC-γ and PKC-β whilst an inhibitor peptide of EGFR, blocked cell signalling and angiogenesis. Finally, Mice that showed reduced cognitive function and behavioural deficiencies after p17 injection, demonstrated that p17 localised in cortical microvessels and also neurones many of which stained positive for p-EGFR1 by histology/IHC. This work provides strong support that p17 may be involved in initiating and/or perpetuating vascular tissue pathophysiology associated with comorbidity in HIV patients.

The emission of carbon dioxide (CO

Alpha-cypermethrin (Alpha-CP), an important pyrethroid pesticide, has been widely used for pest control in agriculture and parasite control in livestock farms. Thus, alpha-CP is easily exposed to wild birds and poultry, which may pose a potential risk to birds. Alpha-CP and its metabolites have been detected in many environmental samples, including poultry and wild birds. We studied the distribution and metabolism of alpha-CP and its metabolites in embryo development and newborn chick. The results showed that metabolites were the main residual forms of alpha-CP in different stages of life and might increase the exposure risk of bird and its offspring. Metabolomics investigation of newborn chick exhibited that the metabolic profiles of chicks were disturbed, especially lipid metabolism. The concentrations of cis-DCCA and trans-DCCA were high in the first and second weeks of chick growth, indicating that chicks have limited ability to further metabolize and excrete cis-DCCA and trans-DCCA during the early stages of chicks. Toxicokinetics of alpha-CP in adult hens showed that alpha-CP was rapidly metabolized to acid metabolites, which could be further metabolized and excreted. The results about metabolism of alpha-CP in different stages of chicken indicate that the ability of the embryo and early chick to metabolize alpha-CP and its metabolites was the weakest. Therefore, it is of important significance to focus on evaluating the ecological risk of cypermethrin on birds at different stages of life cycle.

Chiral fungicide prothioconazole has a wide range of antifungal spectrum; however, little research has been conducted to evaluate prothioconazole on an enantiomeric level. Five target pathogens and three common aquatic organisms were tested for the enantioselective bioactivity and toxicity of prothioconazole in this work. The antifungal activity of the enantiomers against wheat phytoalexin, rice blast fungus, exserohilum turcicum, Alternaria triticina, and Fusarium avenaceum was determined, and it was found that (-)-prothioconazole were 85 to 2768 times more active than (+)-prothioconazole toward these target organisms. In order to reflect the risk to aquatic ecosystem, the acute toxicity of the enantiomers to Daphnia magna, Chlorella pyrenoidosa, and Lemna minor L. was assessed. It was observed that the toxicity of (-)-prothioconazole to D. magna was 2.2 times higher than (+)-prothioconazole, but it was lower to C. pyrenoidosa and L. minor L. The toxicities of (+)-enantiomer and (-)-enantiomer to D. magna and C. pyrenoidosa were synergy, indicating that the racemate had higher threat to the organisms. It could be concluded that the effects of prothioconazole on target organisms and the acute toxicity to nontarget species were enantioselective with (-)-enantiomer possessing higher efficiency and lower toxicity. Such enantiomeric differences should be taken into consideration when assessing the performance of prothioconazole.

Diabetes mellitus characterized by hyperglycemia favors formation of advanced glycation endproducts (AGEs) capable of triggering vascular complications by interfering with imbalanced inflammation and angiogenesis to eventually impede wound-healing. Momordica charantia (MC, bitter melon) has been shown to prevent AGE formation and to promote angiogenesis in diabetic wounds in animal models. However, the mechanism underlying its effects on angiogenesis is unclear. We investigated the effects of methanolic extracts of MC pulp (MCP), flesh (MCF) and charantin (active component of MC) using an in vitro model of angiogenesis. MC extracts or low concentrations of bovine serum albumin-derived AGEs (BSA-AGEs) stimulated proliferation, migration (using wound-healing assay) and tube formation (using Matrigel™-embedded 3D culture) of bovine aortic endothelial cells (BAEC) together with increases in the phosphorylation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK)1/2, the key angiogenic signaling cytoplasmic protein. Blocking the receptor for AGEs (RAGE) inhibited low BSA-AGE- and MC extract-induced ERK1/2 phosphorylation and tube formation, indicating the crucial role of RAGE in the pro-angiogenic effects of MC extracts. Moreover, inhibitory effects of high BSA-AGE concentration on cell proliferation and migration were reduced by the addition of MC extracts, which reversed the BSA-AGE anti-angiogenic effect on tube formation. Thus, MC extracts exert direct pro-angiogenic signaling mediated via RAGE to overcome the anti-angiogenic effects of high BSA-AGEs, highlighting the biphasic RAGE-dependent mechanisms involved. This study enhances our understanding of the mechanisms underlying the pro-angiogenic effects of MC extracts in improvement of diabetes-impaired wound-healing.

In this paper, according to the energy efficiency (EE) definition based on packet transmission, we analyze the energy efficiency in energy harvesting incremental relay system with energy harvesting constraints. Our purpose is to maximize energy efficiency of source node while making full use of relay’s harvested energy. First, we consider the energy efficiency of point-to-point link with multilevel quadrature amplitude modulation (MQAM) and derive the energy efficiency definition based on packet transmission. Next, the energy efficiency optimization problem in incremental relay system is formulated. To solve the problem, we discuss two factors that affect energy efficiency: transmission power and packet length. Furthermore, we propose a joint transmission power and packet length iterative optimization algorithm and give an intuitive analysis of convergence. Finally, simulations have been carried out to verify the benefits of the proposed algorithm, which can significantly improve energy efficiency compared with only transmission power optimized scheme or only packet length optimized scheme.

Water contaminated with heavy metals has been identified as a significant threat to human health. Therefore, the development of safe and rapid water-treatment techniques is necessary. We have synthesized an eco-friendly γ-cyclodextrin metal-organic framework (MOF)-based nanoporous carbon (γ-CD MOF-NPC) material, conducted a comprehensive characterization of it, and found its rapid and effective CdII -removal capacity. The γ-CD MOF-NPC could effectively sequester a majority of cadmium ions within one minute, and it still demonstrated excellent adsorption ability under various conditions, including different pH, adsorbent dosage, and coexistent ions. The maximum adsorption capacity was calculated to be 140.85 mg g-1 by means of the Langmuir model. The adsorption was primarily due to the effect of ion exchange of oxygen-containing functional groups, as determined by studying the ζ potential and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Flow-through experiments further proved the rapid CdII -removal capacity and potential of the practical application of γ-CD MOF-NPC in water treatment according to the cytotoxic data.