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Lightweight metal‐polymer composited foam has drawn considerable attention in fields of wearable electronics, acoustic and electromagnetic shielding, automotive and aerospace manufacturing, owing to its unique advantages like electrical conductivity and mechanical properties. Herein, a facile strategy is studied for one‐step fabrication of multifunctional liquid metal (LM) permeated expancel microspheres foam (EMLM foam) with controllable shape and size. Specifically, the formation process and mechanism of bicontinuous structure with polymer and liquid metal are explored by real‐time monitoring and finite element simulation. Both experimental and simulating results confirmed a stable 3D metal interconnected network that can be constructed with lower limit of LM (3 vol.%). In addition, based on the unique features of reversible rigidity control, lightweight, electrical conductivity, and mechanical stability, the EMLM foam can exhibit intelligent performance in tunable acoustic, energy absorption, and thermal driving repair. Combined with EMLM foam's facile preparation process and versatility, it can provide the remarkable opportunity to develop the lightweight intelligent devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The crystallographic and the magnetic structures of the composite compound Nd2Co7 at 300 K are investigated by a combined refinement of X-ray diffraction data and high-resolution neutron diffraction data. The compound crystallizes into a hexagonal Ce2Ni7-type structure and consists of alternately stacking MgZn2-type NdCo2 and CaCu5-type NdCo5 structural blocks along the c axis. A magnetic structure model with the moments of all atoms aligning along the c axis provides a satisfactory fitting to the neutron diffraction data and coincides with the easy magnetization direction revealed by the X-ray diffraction experiments on magnetically pre-aligned fine particles. The refinement results show that the derived atomic moments of the Co atoms vary in a range of 0.7 uB[?]1.1 uB and the atomic moment of Nd in the NdCo5 slab is close to the theoretical moment of a free trivalent Nd3+ ion, whereas the atomic moment of Nd in the NdCo2 slab is much smaller than the theoretical value for a free Nd3+ ion. The remarkable difference in the atomic moment of Nd atoms between different structural slabs at room temperature is explained in terms of the magnetic characteristics of the NdCo2 and NdCo5 compounds and the local chemical environments of the Nd atoms in different structural slabs of the Nd2Co7 compound. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nanofabrication on insulating and flexible films of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) using a focused ion beam (FIB) has been illustrated in this study. The charge accumulation effect, which is inevitable in polymeric fabrication, was shown to be relieved by simultaneously introducing electron beam flooding in the area exposed to FIB. The topography of the fabricated pattern is subsequently characterized by using an atomic force microscope (AFM), by which the dependence of height/depth of the fabricated arrays on ion beam dose could be obtained. In addition, the swelling effect and milling effect relating to focused ion beam dose could be identified in this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Butterfly pea flower contains many bioactive substances. To make more use of it, an approach of adding butterfly pea flower extract (BPFE) to Chinese steamed bread (CSB) as a natural colorant and functional ingredient was applied. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of BPFE levels (0–30%) on phytochemical, textural, and sensory properties of CSB. Total anthocyanins, free polyphenols, DPPH radical scavenging capacity, and reducing power of CSB were enhanced by increasing BPFE level. BPFE‐fortified CSB appeared blue in color. However, steaming process caused obvious decrease in anthocyanin content and blueness of CSB. Although addition of 30% BPFE significantly reduced the springiness, cohesiveness and elasticity of CSB, CSB with 0–30% BPFE had similar sensory scores in flavor, texture, and overall preferences. Blue healthy CSB having high phytochemicals and antioxidant activities as well as acceptable sensory attributes can be manufactured by the addition of 20–30% BPFE. Practical applications: Consumption of traditional staple foods fortified with natural functional ingredients having more bioactive components is a great benefit to the health of human beings and fits current clean‐label trend in food market. Since the flowers of butterfly pea are rich in bioactive anthocyanins, phenolic acids, and flavonols, they were extracted by hot water and prepared into BPFE in this study. The study demonstrated that butterfly pea flower or its extract as a natural functional ingredient can be utilized in steamed bread. Blue healthy CSB having good nutritional, antioxidantive, and sensory quality can be produced by using butterfly pea flowers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Virtual reality therapy (VRT) is a new psychotherapeutic approach integrating virtual reality technology and psychotherapy. This case series aimed to study effectiveness of VRT in treating psychological problems. We described four cases of first-line health care professionals with emerging clinically significant early psychological problems during the COVID-19 outbreak, and specifically received the VRT treatment. We compared the Patient Health Questionnaire 9 items (PHQ-9), Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7), PHQ-15, and Athens Insomnia Scale to evaluate psychological symptoms and sleep quality before and after sessions. All four cases showed a reduction in scale comparison. General scores of the PHQ-9 reduced 65%, GAD-7 reduced 52.17%, PHQ-15 decreased 38.17%, and scores of the Athens Insomnia Scale reduced 67.44%. Meanwhile, a reduction in depression, anxiety, psychosomatic, and sleeping symptoms was also found, which decreased 76.92% in general. These results are highly significant statistically. This case series demonstrated the effectiveness of VRT on psychological problems as a promising approach to apply on various psychological distress and disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The non-local symmetries for the generalised Broer–Kaup (BK) system are obtained with the truncated Painlevé expansion method. The non-local symmetries can be localised to the Lie point symmetries for the extended system by introducing auxiliary dependent variables. The finite symmetry transformations related to the non-local symmetries are computed. The consistent Riccati expansion and consistent tanh expansion integrability of the generalised BK system are proved, and the single soliton, two-resonant soliton and soliton–cnoidal wave interaction solutions are derived. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Melon Fusarium wilt (MFW), which is caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. melonis (FOM), is a soil-borne disease that commonly impacts melon cultivation worldwide. In the absence of any disease-resistant melon cultivars, the control of MFW relies heavily on the application of chemical fungicides. Fludioxonil, a phenylpyrrole fungicide, has been shown to have broad-spectrum activity against many crop pathogens. Sensitivity analysis experiments suggest that fludioxonil has a strong inhibitory effect on the mycelial growth of FOM isolates. Five fludioxonil-resistant FOM mutants were successfully generated by repeated exposure to fludioxonil under laboratory conditions. Although the mutants exhibited significantly reduced mycelial growth in the presence of the fungicide, there initially appeared to be little fitness cost, with no significant difference (p < 0.05) in the growth rates of the mutants and wild-type isolates. However, further investigation revealed that the sporulation of the fludioxonil-resistant mutants was affected, and mutants exhibited significantly (p < 0.05) reduced growth rates in response to KCl, NaCl, glucose, and mannitol. Meanwhile, molecular analysis of the mutants strongly suggested that the observed fludioxonil resistance was related to changes in the sequence and expression of the FoOs1 gene. In addition, the current study found no evidence of cross-resistance between fludioxonil and any of the other fungicides tested. These results indicate that fludioxonil has great potential as an alternative method of control for FOM in melon crops. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the presence of extremely high precision turning the complicated curved surface with geometry features of large slope gradient and multi convex-concave characteristics, the micron-scale deviation of contour resulting from the tracking deviation of the feed axis becomes non-negligible. To diminish the micron-scale contouring deviation, this study presents a valid contouring error estimation and pre-compensation method for slow tool servo (STS) precision turning. Aiming at estimating the tracking deviation of the axis of the turning machine tool in the machining process, the steady-state tracking deviation model of the axis is first constructed. The proposed multiply tangential estimation method is derived from the Taylor series of the foot point. Since the rotation feed movement of the C axis is the main movement in cutting forming movement for STS turning machining, the monotonicity of the displacement for the C axis is ensured. The compensation value for the axis position is derived through the Jacobi matrix of the STS turning machine. With the presented approach, the tool tip location deviation induced by the tracking deviation of the feed axis reduces from 1.087 μm to 0.025 μm. The measurement results of the comparison experiments indicate that with the presented method in this study, the contouring error of the machined part reduces from 5.72 μm to 4.36 μm. The micron-scale contouring error resulting from the tracking deviation of the feed axis is effectually compensated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Enterovirus (EV) 71 caused episodes of outbreaks in China and Southeast Asia during the last few decades. We have previously reported that EV71 induces reactive oxygen species (ROS). However, the underlying mechanism remains elusive. Co-immunoprecipitation-proteomic analysis revealed that enteroviral 2B protein interacted with mitochondrial voltage-dependent anion channel 3 (VDAC3). Knockdown (KD) of VDAC3 expression specifically inhibited enteroviral replication. Single-round viral replication was also inhibited in KD cells, suggesting that VDAC3 plays an essential role in replication. Consistent with this, VDAC3 gene KD significantly reduced the EV71-induced mitochondrial ROS generation. Exogenous 2B expression could induce the mitochondrial ROS generation that was significantly reduced in VDAC3-KD cells or in the Mito-TEMPO-treated cells. Moreover, VDAC3 appears to be necessary for regulation of antioxidant metabolism. VDAC3 gene KD led to the enhancement of such pathways as hypotaurine/taurine synthesis in the infected cells. Taken together, these findings suggest that 2B and VDAC3 interact to enhance mitochondrial ROS generation, which promotes viral replication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, an indoor positioning shift correction architecture was developed with an improved adaptive Kalman filter (IAKF) algorithm for the people interference condition. Indoor positioning systems (IPSs) use ultra-wideband (UWB) communication technology. Triangulation positioning algorithms are generally employed for determining the position of a target. However, environmental communication factors and different network topologies produce localization drift errors in IPSs. Therefore, the drift error of real-time positioning points under various environmental factors and the correction of the localization drift error are discussed. For localization drift error, four algorithms were simulated and analyzed: movement average (MA), least square (LS), Kalman filter (KF), and IAKF. Finally, the IAKF algorithm was implemented and verified on the UWB indoor positioning system. The measurement results showed that the drift errors improved by 60% and 74.15% in environments with and without surrounding crowds, respectively. Thus, the coordinates of real-time positioning points are closer to those of actual targets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• DD12 in low-salt ham was identified as a stable, non-toxic antioxidant peptide. • DD12 showed scavenging rates of 60.32 % (DPPH•) and 76.58 % (ABTS•+) at 3 mg/mL. • Molecular docking predicted that DD12 can interact with the Keap1 protein. • Binding interactions explained the DPPH• and ABTS•+-scavenging activity of DD12. • Low-salt ham would be a potential source of natural antioxidant peptides. Dry-cured ham is important source of bioactive peptides. In this study, the antioxidant activities of peptides and components from low and fully salted dry-cured hams were compared by peptidomics. And novel antioxidant peptides were identified and characterized. The results showed that the peptides (<3 KDa) extracted from low-salt dry-cured ham had higher antioxidant activity. Therefore, the antioxidant peptides in low-salt dry-cured ham were further characterized and the mechanism of their antioxidant activity was investigated. From the five candidate peptides selected, we found DWPDARGIWHND (DD12) to be highly stable, non-sensitizing, and non-toxic with the highest free radical scavenging activity. Molecular docking predicted that DD12 interacted with Keap1 through hydrogen-bond formation and hydrophobic interactions, suggesting that DD12 had good cellular antioxidant activity. DD12 peptide can bind to DPPH• and ABTS•+, resulting in strong free radical scavenging activity. Our findings support the development and application of natural antioxidant peptides in dry-cured ham. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, biodiesel production from Chinese tallow kernel oil catalyzed by Candida rugosa lipase (CRL) in ionic liquid was investigated. Biodiesel was prepared from Chinese tallow kernel oil. Nineteen kinds of ionic liquids were screened for CRL to enhance its catalysis ability for biodiesel synthesis. Interestingly, [Hmim][PF 6 ], not only help to simplify the downstream processing, but also boost the efficiency of CRL from about 35% to 95.4%. In addition, the biodiesel mixed with various blending ratios of fossil diesel was used to fuel the conventional diesel engine to examine fuel and emission properties. Most of fuel characteristics of the biodiesel met the standards set by EN and ASTM. Its output power was found to be close to pure diesel. The emission products, including hydrocarbons (HC, 52.7% lower) and carbon monoxide (CO, 48.6% lower), decreased substantially with the exception of oxynitride (NOx) emission, which displayed a 12.8% increase. The results suggest that biodiesel production from woody oil catalyzed by CRL in [Hmim][PF 6 ], is feasible in future application with a promising prospect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This brief presents a low-power high-stability scan driver integrated by In–Zn–O (IZO) TFTs on polyimide substrate. Observed from the experimental results of the scan driver with 48 stages, there is no distortion and good noise-suppressed characteristics for the output waveforms. In one stage of the proposed scan driver, there only needs a small TFT connected to clock signals by using a feedback inverter and a dc output module to minimize the dynamic power consumption. It is measured that the power consumption for one stage of the proposed gate driver is 18.3 \mu \textW at the output swing of 15.3 V and the clock frequency of 50 kHz. There is a good noise-suppressed characteristic and high stability for the proposed scan driver as shown from a 300-h test. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The best treatment of distal radius fractures (DRFs) in the elderly is uncertain. The purpose of this meta-analysis was to compare the outcomes of surgical and nonsurgical management of DRFs in persons 65 years of age or older. Methods: Medline, Cochrane, EMBASE, and Google Scholar databases were searched until April 27, 2015 using the following search terms: distal radius fracture, conservative treatment, nonoperative treatment, nonsurgical treatment, surgical treatment, operative, elderly, and older. The primary outcome measure was DASH score, and secondary outcomes were functional and radiological assessments. The standard difference in post-treatment means was calculated for the outcomes to compare the two groups. Results: Of 59 articles identified, eight studies with a total of 440 patients in the surgical groups and 449 in the control groups were included in the analysis. No significant differences in DASH score, VAS pain score, grip strength, wrist extension, pronation, or supination, and ulnar deviation were noted between the groups. The nonsurgical group had significantly greater wrist flexion, radial deviation, and ulnar variance and less radial inclination than the surgical group. Conclusions: Surgical and nonsurgical methods produce similar results in the treatment of DRFS in the elderly, and minor objective functional differences did not result an impact on subjective function outcome and quality of life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing evidence has suggested that bispecific and multivalent antibodies which have more antigen binding sites will improve their immunogenicity. The bispecific anti-idiotype antibody vaccine G22-I50 was obtained through genetic engineering to enhance the immunogenicity of anti-idiotype antibody vaccines G22 and I50. G22-I50 vaccination could induce anti-tumor immunity in the Balb/c mouse model. The protective and therapeutic efficacy of G22-I50 was also evaluated using the hu-PBL–SCID mouse model injected three times with G22-I50, G22, or I50 mixed with Freund's adjuvant. Results demonstrated that the protective anti-tumor effect of G22-I50 could be relevant with the production of Ab3 antibody and activation of CD8 + cytotoxic T-lymphocytes. In preventive and therapeutic experiments, G22-I50 could reduce tumor size and prolong the survival time of HNE2-bearing mice ( p < 0.05). Human CD8 + T lymphocytes infiltrated the tumor sites, and high levels of human IFN-γ, TNF-α, and caspase-3 were also detected in the tumors from G22-I50-vaccinated and -treated mice. Therefore, the bispecific anti-idiotype antibody vaccine G22-I50 can induce strong humoral and cell-mediated immune responses. This vaccine can be potentially applied to prevent and treat nasopharyngeal carcinoma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Two lanthanide − titanium oxo clusters EuTi 9 and TbTi 9 protected by four kinds of ligands were prepared. • The EuTi 9 and TbTi 9 cluster core containing ten metal ions shows pyramid-like structure. • EuTi 9 and TbTi 9 display the temperature-dependent luminescence properties. Two pyramid-like lanthanide − titanium − oxo clusters formulated as LnTi 9 (µ 2 -O) 5 (µ 3 -O) 7 (µ 3 -OH) 2 (O i Pr)(acac) 2 (TCA) 10 (THF) (LnTi 9 , Ln = Eu / Tb, HTCA = 2-thiophenecarboxylic acid) were prepared through the reaction of Ln(acac) 3 , 2-thiophenecarboxylic acid (HTCA), Ti(O i Pr) 4 and THF. The 10-nuclearity-metal-core [LnTi 9 (µ 2 -O) 5 (µ 3 -O) 7 (µ 3 -OH) 2 ]13+ is protected by four kinds of ligands. EuTi 9 and TbTi 9 exhibit characteristic emissions of Eu3+ / Tb3+ under ultraviolet excitation. The temperature-dependent luminescence results show EuTi 9 shows a good linear relationship between the luminescence intensity and temperature range of 80–320 K, while TbTi 9 has high temperature-sensitivity in different temperature ranges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current paper studies the influencing factors of permeability in shales of the Longmaxi Formation, located in the southern Sichuan Basin, China. The methodologies used in the present study include overburden pore permeability experiments, whole rock analysis and geochemical tests, NMR measurements of fluid saturation, pore size distribution and specific surface area distribution, SEM and extraction of pore structure parameters, and core analysis. The results show the following: (1) high TOC and high maturity generate a large number of organic pores, which may improve the permeability of shale. (2) Mineral composition and rock relative permeability also have influence on permeability to a certain degree, since different minerals have different effects on shale permeability. Clay in the study area has an adverse effect on permeability. The results show that the organic-rich siliceous clay mixed shale facies in this area has the best permeability. (3) A large specific surface area and total pore volume are associated with good shale permeability, while average pore size does not correlate with permeability. A small fractal dimension of pore morphology and simple pore structure result in good permeability, and bedding is the key controlling factor for the anisotropy of shale permeability. (4) Water in shales can influence the permeability of microfractures by binding to clay minerals. Low permeability in shales with high bound water saturation suggests that water and clay mineral absorption may block flow channels, resulting in poor permeability. The purpose of this study is to clarify the influencing factors on shale permeability of the Longmaxi Formation in the study area and to provide a reference for the exploration and development of shale gas in this area of the Sichuan Basin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current paper studies the influencing factors of permeability in shales of the Longmaxi Formation, located in the southern Sichuan Basin, China. The methodologies used in the present study include overburden pore permeability experiments, whole rock analysis and geochemical tests, NMR measurements of fluid saturation, pore size distribution and specific surface area distribution, SEM and extraction of pore structure parameters, and core analysis. The results show the following: (1) high TOC and high maturity generate a large number of organic pores, which may improve the permeability of shale. (2) Mineral composition and rock relative permeability also have influence on permeability to a certain degree, since different minerals have different effects on shale permeability. Clay in the study area has an adverse effect on permeability. The results show that the organic-rich siliceous clay mixed shale facies in this area has the best permeability. (3) A large specific surface area and total pore volume are associated with good shale permeability, while average pore size does not correlate with permeability. A small fractal dimension of pore morphology and simple pore structure result in good permeability, and bedding is the key controlling factor for the anisotropy of shale permeability. (4) Water in shales can influence the permeability of microfractures by binding to clay minerals. Low permeability in shales with high bound water saturation suggests that water and clay mineral absorption may block flow channels, resulting in poor permeability. The purpose of this study is to clarify the influencing factors on shale permeability of the Longmaxi Formation in the study area and to provide a reference for the exploration and development of shale gas in this area of the Sichuan Basin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a typical tight oil reservoir in a lake basin, the Permian Lucaogou Formation of the Jimsar Sag in the Junggar Basin has great potential for exploration and development. However, at present, there are few studies on the identification of the diagenetic facies of tight oil reservoir logging in the study area, and the control effect of diagenesis on tight oil reservoirs is not clear. The present work investigates the diagenesis and diagenetic facies logging of the study area, making full use of core data, thin sections, and logs, among other data, in order to understand the reservoir characteristics of the Permian Lucaogou Formation in the Jimsar Sag. The results show that the Lucaogou Formation has undergone diagenetic activity such as compaction, carbonate cementation, quartz cementation, and clay mineral infilling and dissolution. The diagenetic facies are classified according to mineral and diagenetic type, namely, tightly compacted facies, carbonate-cemented facies, clay mineral-filling facies, quartz-cemented facies, and dissolution facies. The GR, RT, AC, DEN, and CNL logging curves were selected, among others, and the convolutional neural network was introduced to construct a diagenetic facies logging recognition model. The diagenetic facies of a single well was divided and identified, and the predicted diagenetic facies types were compared with thin sections and SEM images of the corresponding depths. Prediction results had a high coincidence rate, which indicates that the model is of a certain significance to accurately identify the diagenetic facies of tight oil reservoirs. Assessing the physical properties of the studied reservoirs, dissolution facies are the dominant diagenetic facies in the study area and are also the preferred sequence for exploration—to find dominant reservoirs in the following stage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

P2X receptors are a class of nonselective cation channels widely distributed in the immune and nervous systems, and their dysfunction is a significant cause of tumors, inflammation, leukemia, and immune diseases. P2X7 is a unique member of the P2X receptor family with many properties that differ from other subtypes in terms of primary sequence, the architecture of N- and C-terminals, and channel function. Here, we suggest that the observed lengthened β2- and β3-sheets and their linker (loop β2,3), encoded by redundant sequences, play an indispensable role in the activation of the P2X7 receptor. We show that deletion of this longer structural element leads to the loss of P2X7 function. Furthermore, by combining mutagenesis, chimera construction, surface expression, and protein stability analysis, we found that the deletion of the longer β2,3-loop affects P2X7 surface expression but, more importantly, that this loop affects channel gating of P2X7. We propose that the longer β2,3-sheets may have a negative regulatory effect on a loop on the head domain and on the structural element formed by E171 and its surrounding regions. Understanding the role of the unique structure of the P2X7 receptor in the gating process will aid in the development of selective drugs targeting this subtype. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a novel compensation pixel circuit for active-matrix organic light-emitting diode displays, in which the coupling effect mask technology is developed to compensate the threshold voltage of driving thin-film transistor whether it is positive or negative. Twenty discrete compensation pixel circuits have been fabricated by In-Zn-O thin-film transistors process. It is measured that the non-uniformity of the proposed pixel circuit is significantly reduced with an average value of 8.6%. Furthermore, the organic light-emitting diode emission current remains constant during 6 h continuous operation, which also confirms the validity of the proposed pixel circuit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The thermodynamic behaviors of a system living in a curved space-time are different from those of a system in a flat space-time. We have investigated the thermodynamics for a system consisting of relativistic massless bosons. We show that a strongly curved metric will produce a large enhancement of the degrees of freedom in the formulae of energy and entropy of the system, as a comparison to the case in a flat space-time. We are mainly concerned with its implications to holography, including the derivations of holographic entropy and holographic screen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Leveraging multithreading on embedded multicore platforms has been proven effective on handling the increasing resolutions of target stimuli of object detection. However, complex tradeoffs and correlated design impacts between a parallel application and the underlying multicore platform necessitate an effective and adaptable multithreaded design. This paper introduces a hybrid multithreaded object detection with high parallelism and extensive data reuse. A self adaptable flow is proposed to adjust the multithreaded object detection to fully exploit various embedded multicore architectures. The ARM-based cycle accurate simulations of multicore systems have shown the superior performance returned by the proposed design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At present, the volume of ontology's Abox in semantic Web of things is always too large, which is not easy for users to understand or reason about ontology. To solve this problem, this paper proposed a method based on equivalence relation. Summary ontology's Abox through searching, mapping and deleting the equivalence individuals. It designed and implemented a prototype system of ontology Abox's summarization. Some experimental examples of public ontologies prove that on the premise of reserving the original semantics, this method can streamline the redundant assertions of ontology's Abox, decrease ontology's volume, reduce storage pressure, so that it can be more convenient for ontology understanding, reusing and other ontology-related operations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SUMMARY In this paper, the source-precoder, multiple-relay amplifying matrices, and destination-equalizer joint optimization is investigated in distributed MIMO amplify-and-forward multiple-relay networks with direct source-destination transmission in correlated fading channels. With the use of taking both the direct link and spatial correlation between antenna elements into account, the cooperative transceiver joint design is developed based on the minimum mean-squared error criterion under individual power constraints at the source and multiple-relay nodes. Simulation results demonstrate that the cooperative transceiver joint design architecture for an amplify-and-forward MIMO multiple-relay system outperforms substantially the noncooperative transceiver design techniques on the BER performance under the spatial-correlation channels.Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The antiferromagnetic-semiconductor extreme tensile strain (8%) states of La 0.7 Ca 0.3 MnO 3 membranes was achieved by Hong et al. (2020) [23]. To understand such tunable magnetic and electronic properties in these La 2 3 M 1 3 MnO 3 (M=Ca, Sr) systems, we have investigated the magnetic and electronic behaviors of La 2 3 M 1 3 MnO 3 (M=Ca, Sr) under strain and charge doping using first-principles calculations. A ferromagnetic-semiconductor phase is predicted for La 2 3 Sr 1 3 MnO 3 beyond 4% biaxial tensile strain. Meanwhile, its energy gap and magnetic anisotropic energy increase as the strain increases. We also discover that the change of magnetic exchange energy in La 2 3 Ca 1 3 MnO 3 under charge doping is in analogy to the scenario directly changing the Ca concentrations. Based on the magnetic competition analysis, it is expected that the carrier concentration and strains dominate the magnetic ground state while the La/Ca distributions have little impact. The highly tunable magnetic-electronic properties offer opportunities for the future magnetic-electronic materials design and applications. • DFT SCAN calculations give excellent structure and magnetic moments of the studied systems. • A ferromagnetic semiconductor is predicted for La 2/3 Sr 1/3 MnO 3 under biaxial tensile strain. • Carrier concentration combined with strains dominate the magnetic coupling. • Magnetic anisotropic energy is enhanced by 30 μeV by strains for La 2/3 Sr 1/3 MnO 3. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Pulmonary fibrosis is difficult to treat. Early diagnosis and finding potential drug therapy targets of pulmonary fibrosis are particularly important. There were still various problems with existing pulmonary fibrosis markers, so it is particularly important to find new biomarkers and drug treatment targets. m6A (N6,2′-O-dimethyladenosine) RNA methylation was the cause of many diseases, and it is regulated by m6A methylation regulators. So, whether RNA methylation regulators can be a diagnostic marker and potential drug therapy target of early pulmonary fibrosis needs to be explored. Materials and Methods. Using GSE110147 and GSE33566 in the GEO database to predict the m6A methylation regulators that may be related to the development of pulmonary fibrosis, we used 10 mg/ml bleomycin to induce mouse pulmonary fibrosis models and human pulmonary fibrosis samples, to confirm whether this indicator can be an early diagnostic marker of pulmonary fibrosis. Results. According to the database prediction results, METTL3 can predict the occurrence and development of pulmonary fibrosis, and the results of MASSON and HE staining show that the fibrosis model of mice is successful, and the fibrosis of human samples is obvious. The results of immunohistochemistry showed that the expression of METTL3 was significantly reduced in pulmonary fibrosis. Conclusions. The m6A methylation regulator METTL3 can be considered as an important biomarker for diagnosing pulmonary fibrosis occurrence, furthermore it could be considered as a drug target because of its low expression in pulmonary fibrosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To compare the safety and accuracy of cortical bone trajectory screw placement between the robot-assisted and fluoroscopy-assisted approaches.Methods: This retrospective study was conducted between November 2018 and June 2020, including 81 patients who underwent cortical bone trajectory (CBT) surgery for degenerative lumbar spine disease. CBT was performed by the same team of experienced surgeons. The patients were randomly divided into two groups-the fluoroscopy-assisted group (FA, 44 patients) and the robot-assisted group (RA, 37 patients). Robots for orthopedic surgery were used in the robot-assisted group, whereas conventional fluoroscopy-guided screw placement was used in the fluoroscopy-assisted group. The accuracy of screw placement and rate of superior facet joint violation were assessed using postoperative computed tomography (CT). The time of single screw placement, intraoperative blood loss, and radiation exposure to the surgical team were also recorded. The χ2 test and Student's t-test were used to analyze the significance of the variables (P < 0.05).Results: A total of 376 screws were inserted in 81 patients, including 172 screws in the robot-assisted group and 204 pedicle screws in the fluoroscopy-assisted group. Screw placement accuracy was higher in the RA group (160, 93%) than in the FA group (169, 83%) (P = 0.003). The RA group had a lower violation of the superior facet joint than the FA group. The number of screws reaching grade 0 in the RA group (58, 78%) was more than that in the FA group (56, 64%) (P = 0.041). Screw placement time was longer in the FA group (7.25 ± 0.84 min) than in the RA group (5.58 ± 1.22 min, P < 0.001). The FA group had more intraoperative bleeding (273.41 ± 118.20 ml) than the RA group (248.65 ± 97.53 ml, P = 0.313). The radiation time of the FA group (0.43 ± 0.07 min) was longer than the RA group (0.37 ± 0.10 min, P = 0.001). Furthermore, the overall learning curve tended to decrease.Conclusions: Robot-assisted screw placement improves screw placement accuracy, shortens screw placement time, effectively improves surgical safety and efficiency, and reduces radiation exposure to the surgical team. In addition, the learning curve of robot-assisted screw placement is smooth and easy to operate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Faba bean is an important legume crop in the world. Plant height and yield are important traits for crop improvement. The traditional plant height and yield measurement are labor intensive and time consuming. Therefore, it is essential to estimate these two parameters rapidly and efficiently. The purpose of this study was to provide an alternative way to accurately identify and evaluate faba bean germplasm and breeding materials. Results: The results showed that 80% of the maximum plant height extracted from two-dimensional red–green–blue (2D-RGB) images had the best fitting degree with the ground measured values, with the coefficient of determination (R2), root-mean-square error (RMSE), and normalized root-mean-square error (NRMSE) were 0.9915, 1.4411 cm and 5.02%, respectively. In terms of yield estimation, support vector machines (SVM) showed the best performance (R2 = 0.7238, RMSE = 823.54 kg ha−1, NRMSE = 18.38%), followed by random forests (RF) and decision trees (DT). Conclusion: The results of this study indicated that it is feasible to monitor the plant height of faba bean during the whole growth period based on UAV imagery. Furthermore, the machine learning algorithms can estimate the yield of faba bean reasonably with the multiple time points data of plant height. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the promising potential of zeolitic imidazole framework-8 (ZIF-8) for dye adsorption, addressing challenges such as aggregation and recycling difficulties remains essential. Herein，a novel three dimensional (3D) carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), graphene oxide (GO) and ZIF-8 hybrid aerogel (CGZ-3) was prepared via blending ZIF-8 into the CMC-GO matrix. The structure and composition of CGZ-3 were characterized by SEM, FT-IR, TG and XPS. Adsorption experiments were conducted to optimize various parameters affecting the behavior of methylene blue (MB) adsorption. The composite aerogel exhibited an obvious lamellar network structure, with a surface rich in oxygen-containing functional groups such as -OH and -COOH. CGZ-3 demonstrated a rapid adsorption rate for MB, achieving a removal efficiency of 96% within 15 minutes. The entire adsorption process was spontaneous and endothermic, consistent with the pseudo-first-order kinetic model and Langmuir adsorption isotherm model. The maximum theoretical adsorption capacity was 427.35 mg/g at 298 K. Selective adsorptions tests demonstrated high selectivity of the composite aerogel for MB, and dynamic adsorption further confirmed the exceptional adsorption capacity of CGZ-3. After five cycles of adsorption-desorption, the MB removal rate remained above 95%, with an adsorption capacity exceeding 240 mg/g, highlighting the stability and reusability of CGZ-3. Collectively, the CGZ-3 would be a potential material for the adsorptive removal of MB in practical water treatment. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two kinds of tetranuclear Zn(ii) molecular clusters with the designed aroylhydrazone Schiff base ligand (H3L), [Zn4(HL)4]·3(DMF)·3(H2O) (1) and [Zn4(HL)2(CH3COO)4]·2(DMF)·2(CH3OH) (2), have been synthesized and studied. Molecular cluster 1 displayed a Zn4O4 boat-shaped core and 2 presented a discrete linear tetranuclear Zn(ii) structure. The luminescent properties of the two molecular clusters have been investigated, which exhibit a wide range of photo-luminescence in different organic solvents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper provides a numerical and experimental analysis on precipitation and particulate fouling in corrugated plate heat exchangers with different geometric parameters which are plate height, plate spacing, and plate angle. The Realizable κ–ε model with non-equilibrium wall functions is used in the 3D numerical simulation considering the realistic geometries of the flow channel to obtained Nusselt number and wall shear stress, while Von-Karman analogy is used to obtain mass transfer coefficient. Numerical analysis is verified by experimental study. The predicted influence of fluid velocity in fouling resistance is compatible with experimental data that it can help to optimize the design of plate heat exchangers. This investigation significantly simplifies the fouling analysis of complex flow fields and can be used to assess the fouling potential of corrugated plate heat exchangers. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Pea (Pisum sativum L.) is an important legume crop that is widely grown worldwide for human consumption and livestock feed. Despite extensive studies, the population genetic structure and classification of cultivated and wild pea (Pisum sp.) remain controversial. To characterize patterns of genetic and morphological variation and investigate the classification of Pisum, we conducted comprehensive population genetic analyses for 323 accessions from cultivated and wild pea, representing three species of Pisum and utilizing 34 morphological traits and 87 polymorphic simple sequence repeat markers. First, we identified three distinct genetic groups among all samples. Group I was primarily composed of Pisum fulvum, Pisum abyssinicum, and some wild P. sativum accessions, whereas Groups II and III consisted of the two genetic groups under P. sativum that represented different geographic distributions of cultivated pea. Analyses of morphological variation revealed significant differences among the three species. Second, among pea germplasms representing eight taxa of Pisum, P. fulvum and P. abyssinicum possessed unique genetic backgrounds and morphological characteristics, corroborating their independent species status. The intraspecific subdivisions of P. sativum described by some authors were not supported in this study, with the exception of several genotypes of P. sativum subsp. elatius that clustered with P. fulvum and P. abyssinicum. Finally, we confirmed that the Chinese pea germplasm was genetically distinct and could be divided into two genetic groups, each of which included both spring‐sowing and autumn‐sowing ecotypes. These results provide a robust foundation for understanding pea domestication and the utilization of wild genetic resources of pea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The underlying mechanism of the trans-sutural distraction osteogenesis (TSDO) technique as an effective treatment that improves the symptoms of midfacial hypoplasia syndromes is not clearly understood. Increasing findings in the orthopedics field indicate that macrophages are mechanically sensitive and their phenotypes can respond to mechanical cues. However, how macrophages respond to mechanical stretching and consequently influence osteoblast differentiation of suture-derived stem cells (SuSCs) remains unclear, particularly during the TSDO process. In the present study, we established a TSDO rat model to determine whether and how macrophages were polarized in response to stretching and consequently affected bone regeneration of the suture frontal edge. Notably, after performing immunofluorescence, RNA-sequencing, and micro-computed tomography, it was demonstrated that macrophages are first recruited by various chemokines factors and polarized to the M2 phenotype upon optimal stretching. The latter in turn regulates SuSC activity and facilitates bone regeneration in sutures. Moreover, when the activated M2 macrophages were suppressed by pharmacological manipulation, new bone microarchitecture could rarely be detected under mechanical stretching and the expansion of the sutures was clear. Additionally, macrophages achieved M2 polarization in response to the optimal mechanical stretching (10%, 0.5 Hz) and strongly facilitated SuSC osteogenic differentiation and human umbilical vein endothelial cell angiogenesis using an indirect co-culture system in vitro. Collectively, this study revealed the mechanical stimulation-immune response-bone regeneration axis and clarified at least in part how sutures achieve bone regeneration in response to mechanical force. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and aims: As one of the key determinants of water availability in arid regions, groundwater plays an essential role in regulating biodiversity, key ecosystem processes and functioning. Meanwhile, biodiversity is known to modulate ecosystem functions. Numerous studies have focused on the links between aboveground productivity and plant diversity, while the potential influence of root traits on fine root biomass (FRB) has barely been elucidated. Therefore, it remains unclear how groundwater, soil, species diversity, above- and belowground traits jointly regulate FRB. Methods: 230 plots were sampled under a broad range of groundwater and soil conditions across a typical arid inland river basin, within which FRB, associated soil properties, species diversity and functional traits were measured. Results: FRB was mainly regulated by the interactions between groundwater and root trait diversity, followed by groundwater, root trait diversity and soil moisture. Although mean and seasonality of groundwater depth had substantial effects on FRB, groundwater affected FRB mainly through indirect pathways mediated by root trait diversity. Furthermore, root trait diversity showed the largest direct effect on FRB, suggesting that it was the main driver of FRB. Species richness and aboveground traits had no significant direct effect on FRB, implying that root traits surpassed species richness and aboveground traits in regulating FRB. Conclusion: Our findings provide robust empirical evidence that groundwater and root trait diversity jointly drive existing belowground carbon storage in arid inland river basin. We emphasize the importance of groundwater and root trait diversity, as well as their interactions in forecasting underground ecological processes and functions under global changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many pathogenic bacteria are encased in a layer of capsular polysaccharide (CPS). This layer is important for virulence by masking surface antigens, preventing opsonophagocytosis, and avoiding mucus entrapment. The bacterial tyrosine kinase (BY-kinase) regulates capsule synthesis and helps bacterial pathogens to survive different host niches. BY-kinases autophosphorylate at the C-terminal tyrosine residues upon external stimuli, but the role of phosphorylation is still unclear. Here, we report that the BY-kinase CpsCD is required for growth in Streptococcus pneumoniae. Cells lacking a functional cpsC or cpsD accumulated low molecular weight CPS and lysed because of the lethal sequestration of the lipid carrier undecaprenyl phosphate, resulting in inhibition of peptidoglycan (PG) synthesis. CpsC interacts with CpsD and the polymerase CpsH. CpsD phosphorylation reduces the length of CPS polymers presumably by controlling the activity of CpsC. Finally, pulse-chase experiments reveal the spatiotemporal coordination between CPS and PG synthesis. This coordination is dependent on CpsC and CpsD. Together, our study provides evidence that BY-kinases regulate capsule polymer length by fine-tuning CpsC activity through autophosphorylation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose STSRNet, a joint space–time super-resolution deep learning based model for time-varying vector field data. Our method is designed to reconstruct high temporal resolution and high spatial resolution vector fields sequence from the corresponding low-resolution key frames. For large scale simulations, only data from a subset of time steps with reduced spatial resolution can be stored for post hoc analysis. In this article, we leverage a deep learning model to capture the nonlinear complex changes of vector field data with a two-stage architecture: the first stage deforms a pair of low spatial resolution (LSR) key frames forward and backward to generate the intermediate LSR frames, and the second stage performs spatial super-resolution to output the high-resolution sequence. Our method is scalable and can handle different datasets. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our framework with several datasets through quantitative and qualitative evaluations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The R/Ba-ordered and R-site mixed compound Y0.5La0.5BaMn2O6 is synthesized, in which (Y, La) and Ba are regularly arranged, while Y and La randomly occupy the R-site. Y0.5La0.5BaMn2O6 has a tetragonal unit cell with a space group of P4/mmm. A structural transition between tetragonal and orthorhombic is observed at about 325 K by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD). Thermal magnetic measurement shows the occurrence of an antiferromagnetic transition at the temperature TN ~ 190 K. Anomalies in magnetization, resistivity and lattice parameters observed around 340 K indicate a charge/orbital order transition accompanying the structural phase transition. The R-site randomness effect is discussed to interpret the different properties of Y0.5La0.5BaMn2O6 between NdBaMn2O6 and SmBaMn2O6. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sparse machine learning has recently emerged as powerful tool to obtain models of high-dimensional data with high degree of interpretability, at low computational cost. The approach has been successfully used in many areas, such as signal and image processing. This article posits that these methods can be extremely useful in the analysis of large collections of text documents, without requiring user expertise in machine learning. Our approach relies on three main ingredients: (i) multidocument text summarization; (ii) comparative summarization of two corpora, both using sparse regression or classification; (iii) sparse principal components and sparse graphical models for unsupervised analysis and visualization of large text corpora. We validate our methods using a corpus of Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS) reports and demonstrate that the methods can reveal causal and contributing factors in runway incursions. Furthermore, we show that the methods automatically discover four main tasks that pilots perform during flight, which can aid in further understanding the causal and contributing factors to runway incursions and other drivers for aviation safety incidents. We also provide a comparative study involving other commonly used datasets, and report on the competitiveness of sparse machine learning compared to state-of-the-art methods such as latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA). © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Statistical Analysis and Data Mining 6: 221-242, 2013 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the major ginsenoside Rb1 was transformed into the more pharmacologically active minor compound K by food grade Lactobacillus paralimentarius LH4, which was isolated from kimchi, a traditional Korean fermented food. The enzymatic reaction was analyzed by TLC, HPLC, and NMR. Using the cell-free enzyme of Lactobacillus paralimentarius LH4 at optimal conditions for 30 °C at pH 6.0, 1.0 mg ml ginsenoside Rb1 was transformed into 0.52 mg ml compound K within 72 h, with a corresponding molar conversion yield of 88 %. The cell-free enzyme hydrolyzed the two glucose moieties attached to the C-3 position and the outer glucose moiety attached to the C-20 position of the ginsenoside Rb1. The cell-free enzyme hydrolyzed the ginsenoside Rb1 along the following pathway: ginsenoside Rb1 → gypenoside XVII and ginsenoside Rd → ginsenoside F2 → compound K. Our results indicate that Lactobacillus paralimentarius LH4 has the potential to be applied for the preparation of compound K in the food industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We explore the transmission properties of electrons through an n-p-n junction and propose a design for a strain-controlled electron switch in graphene. We analyze the conductance as a function of the strain magnitude and direction, the energy gap, the width and height of the potential barrier, and the energy of the incident electrons. The switch can be turned off using strain applied only along special directions. The conductance, with gaps caused by evanescent waves, is almost unaffected by the barrier width but is affected by the height. A larger strain magnitude can restrain the conductance of higher energy electrons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: We have studied the Goos–Hänchen-like (GHL) shifts for massless Dirac electrons passing across a potential barrier in strained graphene. The analytical solutions of the transmission coefficient and the GHL shifts are obtained. The GHL shifts as the function of the strain tensor and direction, the incidence angle and the barrier''s width are discussed. We also explore how critical angles change as the strain tensor and incidence electron energy change. Finally, we make a proposal of experimental measurement of the GHL shifts. The study of the GHL shifts will make for applications in graphene-based nano-electronics. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Problem The efficacy of lymphocyte immunotherapy ( LIT) for unexplained recurrent miscarriage ( uRM) remains indefinite. The objective of the present study is to comprehensively evaluate the alterations in the proportions and functions of peripheral blood lymphocytes in patients with uRM before and after LIT. Method of study Seventy-six women with uRM were included in the present study. Immunophenotype of peripheral blood lymphocytes (76 patients), NK cytotoxicity (62 patients) and Th1 ( IFN-γ and TNF-α)/ Th2 ( IL-10) ratios (73 patients) were assessed during the luteal phase before LIT and after the third LIT by the flow cytometer. Results To date, 29 patients had already delivered or been pregnant more than 20 weeks (successful pregnancy group) and 5 patients experienced subsequent abortion (abortion group). The percentages of CD3+ T cell, CD3+ CD4+ T cell and IL-10-producing Th1 cell were significantly increased, whereas the percentages of CD3+ HLA- DR+ T cell, CD56+ CD3− NK cell and CD56dim CD16+ NK cell, the NK cytotoxicity and the ratios of Th1/Th2 were significantly decreased after LIT in the total patients and in the successful pregnant group. The percentages of CD56+ CD3− NK cell and IFN-γ-producing cell, and the ratio of IFN-γ/ IL-10 were significantly lower after LIT in the successful pregnant group compared to those in the abortion group. Conclusions LIT alters the proportions and functions of most peripheral blood lymphocyte subsets. Some of these alterations may be beneficial for pregnancy maintenance, whereas some may be potential markers for predicting subsequent abortion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bioassay-guided fractionation of metabolites from the fungus Cephalosporium sp.AL031 isolated from Sinarundinaria nitida led to the discovery of a new isobenzofuranone derivative, 4,6-dihydroxy-5-methoxy-7-methylphthalide (1), together with three known compounds: 4,5,6-trihydroxy-7-methyl-1,3-dihydroisobenzofuran (2), 4,6-dihydroxy-5-methoxy-7-methyl-1,3-dihydroisobenzofuran (3) and 4,5,6-trihydroxy-7- methylphthalide (4). The structure of the new compound 1 was determined based on MS, 1D and 2D NMR spectral data. Compounds 1-4 showed potent antioxidant activity with EC50 values of 10, 7, 22 and 5 μM by 1,1-diphenyl-2-picryhydrazyl (DPPH) radical-scavenging assay. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The underlying causes of post-operative cognitive dysfunction (POCD) in elderly patients remain to be elucidated. In order to explore possible contributory mechanisms, we tested the effects of isoflurane anesthesia on (i) expression of hippocampal neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) and (ii) the relationship of changes in nNOS expression to cognitive dysfunction in isoflurane-treated aged rats. Our results indicate that isoflurane treatment leads to significant changes in correct reactions (F =28.35, p <0.001), initiative avoidances (F =29.33, p <0.001), and total reaction time (TRT) (F =6.99, p <0.05) of treated rats in the Y-maze test. Isoflurane-treated rats had fewer correct reactions and initiative avoidances in the Y-maze test 24 and 48h after 2h of isoflurane anesthesia compared with control group rats (p <0.05). TRTs to complete 20 trials of the Y-maze test increased significantly 48h after 2h anesthesia. The number of nNOS-positive hippocampal neurons decreased 24h after anesthesia, corresponding to an increased mean immunostaining grey-scale value. These data show that isoflurane causes a transient decrease in expression of hippocampal nNOS in aged rats during early post-anesthesia stages, and that the transient decrease of nNOS is closely correlated with cognitive impairment in isoflurane-treated aged rats. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Moral hazard problems, which have been broadly studied in economics, financial engineering and other areas, are understood as one of inefficiency to distribute the resources. It is interpreted that after some contract was concluded, one person who has more information than the other may change his behaviour and attitude toward his investment planning, causing some trouble to the other person. In this paper, we study a risk incentive problem between a creditor and shareholders, whose right to make a claim are different from each other, for corporate profits. In particular, we refer to and discuss limited provision on dividend, which may play a role to be able to solve the incentive problem. Some numerical examples are examined to illustrate the problem mentioned. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: We explore the transmission through a time-periodic potential barriers in single layer graphene with an induced energy gap in this work. The analytical solutions of the transmission probabilities for the central band and the first sidebands are obtained. The transmission probabilities as the function of the induced energy gap and the incidence electron energy are discussed. We also investigate how critical angles change as the induced energy gap and incidence electron energy. The study of transmission properties will benefit applications in graphene-based nano-electronics. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Three indica rice cultivars with different grain shapes were selected to determine the milling characteristics and distribution of phytic acid (PA) and six mineral elements including magnesium (Mg), calcium (Ca), manganese (Mn), iron (Fe), zinc (Zn), and selenium (Se). Milling characteristics were quite different among the rice cultivars with different physical dimensions. Similar milling times did not necessarily result in the same degree of milling (DOM) for different rice cultivars. The concentrations of phytic acid and minerals decreased with an increased DOM. These results also showed that phytic acid and minerals except for Zn and Se were not evenly distributed and highly concentrated in the outer layer (0% < DOM < 15%) of the rice kernel. In contrast, Zn and Se seem to be relatively evenly distributed in the grain. Optimum DOM of about 14% was detected for Zhenong 7 (long and slender grain); 10% was found for Zhenong 60 (medium-grain) and 9% for Zhenong 34 (short and round grain). The information generated in this experiment could be useful to optimize milling procedures for maximum removal of phytic acid, minimum mineral losses and weight loss in indica rice cultivars with different grain shapes. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The objective of this study was to determine the optimum extraction conditions for dioscoreae polysaccharides. The optimum conditions were evaluated with fractional factorial design and optimized using response surface methodology. The effects of three independent variables, namely extraction time, extraction temperature and ratio of liquid to solid on the yield of dioscoreae polysaccharides were investigated. Results indicated that the data were adequately fitted into three second-order polynomial models. The independent variables, the linearity of extraction time and temperature, the quadratics of extraction temperature and ratio of liquid to solid had a significant effect on the yield of polysaccharides. The optimal extraction parameters were extraction time of 140min, temperature of 100°C and the ratio of liquid to solid of 3, according to the response surface analysis. Pharmacology experiment showed that dioscoreae polysaccharides decreased serum ALP, IL-6 and BGP levels, and enhanced BMD, BMC, bone Hyp, Ca2+ and P3+ levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]