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In the present study, we obtained a-C:H films with different nanostructures by annealing from room temperature to 400 °C. The influence of the nanostructures on tribological performance in dry air and methanol environments was investigated by a reciprocating tribometer. Our results show that the tribological performance of a-C:H films follows different rules in the two environments. In dry air, tribological properties are controlled by the transfer film and mechanical properties. In methanol, friction and wear are determined by the hydrogen bonding structure, where friction coefficients relate on saturation effects of sp

Dysregulated energy metabolism has recently been recognized as an emerging hallmark of cancer. Tumor cells, which are characterized by abnormal glycolysis, exhibit a lower extracellular pH (6.5–7.0) than normal tissues (7.2–7.4), providing a promising target for tumor-specific imaging and therapy. However, most pH-sensitive materials are unable to distinguish such a subtle pH difference owing to their wide and continuous pH-responsive range. In this study, we developed an efficient strategy for the fabrication of a tumor metabolic acidity-activatable calcium phosphate (CaP) fluorescent probe (termed MACaP9). Unlike traditional CaP-based biomedical nanomaterials, which only work within more acidic organelles, such as endosomes and lysosomes (pH 4.0–6.0), MACaP9 could not only specifically respond to the tumor extra-cellular pH but also rapidly convert pH variations into a distinct fluorescence signal to visually distinguish tumor from normal tissues. The superior sensitivity and specificity of MACaP9 enabled high-contrast visualization of a broad range of tumors, as well as small tumor lesions.

Bioactive food components containing n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) modulate multiple determinants that link inflammation to cancer initiation and progression. Therefore, in this study, fat-1 transgenic mice, which convert endogenous n-6 PUFA to n-3 PUFA in multiple tissues, were injected with azoxymethane followed by three cycles of dextran sodium sulfate (DSS) to induce colitis-associated cancer. Fat-1 mice exhibited a reduced number of colonic adenocarcinomas per mouse (1.05 ± 0.29 versus 2.12 ± 0.51, P = 0.033), elevated apoptosis (P = 0.03), and a decrease in n-6 PUFA–derived eicosanoids, compared with wild-type (wt) mice. To determine whether the chemoprotective effects of n-3 PUFA could be attributed to its pleiotropic anti-inflammatory properties, colonic inflammation and injury scores were evaluated 5 days after DSS exposure followed by either a 3-day or 2-week recovery period. There was no effect of n-3 PUFA at 3 days. However, following a 2-week recovery period, colonic inflammation and ulceration scores returned to pretreatment levels compared with 3-day recovery only in fat-1 mice. For the purpose of examining the specific reactivity of lymphoid elements in the intestine, CD3+ T cells, CD4+ T helper cells, and macrophages from colonic lamina propria were quantified. Comparison of 3-day versus 2-week recovery time points revealed that fat-1 mice exhibited decreased (P < 0.05) CD3+, CD4+ T helper, and macrophage cell numbers per colon as compared with wt mice. These results suggest that the antitumorigenic effect of n-3 PUFA may be mediated, in part, via its anti-inflammatory properties. [Cancer Res 2008;68(10):3985–91]

Supplementary Figures 1-2, Tables1-3 from Reduced Colitis-Associated Colon Cancer in Fat-1 (n-3 Fatty Acid Desaturase) Transgenic Mice

Supplementary Material 2: The X-tile software determined the optimal cutoff point of LNR. LNR: lymph node ratio

Mitochondrial genomes (mitogenomes) are widely used in research studies on phylogenetic relationships and evolutionary history. Here, we sequenced and analyzed the mitogenome of the scentless plant bug Myrmus lateralis Hsiao, 1964 (Heteroptera, Rhopalidae). The complete 17,309 bp genome encoded 37 genes, including 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 22 transfer RNA (tRNA) genes, two ribosomal RNA (rRNA) genes, and a control region. The mitogenome revealed a high A+T content (75.8%), a positive AT-skew (0.092), and a negative GC-skew (–0.165). All 13 PCGs were found to start with ATN codons, except for cox1, in which TTG was the start codon. The Ka/Ks ratios of 13 PCGs were all lower than 1, indicating that purifying selection evolved in these genes. All tRNAs could be folded into the typical cloverleaf secondary structure, except for trnS1 and trnV, which lack dihydrouridine arms. Phylogenetic trees were constructed and analyzed based on the PCG+rRNA from 38 mitogenomes, using maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference methods, showed that M. lateralis and Chorosoma macilentum Stål, 1858 grouped together in the tribe Chorosomatini. In addition, Coreoidea and Pyrrhocoroidea were sister groups among the superfamilies of Trichophora, and Rhopalidae was a sister group to Alydidae + Coreidae.

In order to meet the P2-grade bearing grinding requirements, we designed a high-speed internal grinding machine to be used for grinding bearing raceways and inner circles. The machine has a T-type layout and a four-axis numerical control linkage. It is supported by hydrostatic pressure and driven directly by a torque motor. In addition, it is equipped with a high-speed hydrostatic grinding wheel spindle. Our design includes a hydrostatic workpiece shaft and hydrostatic turntable, and the process has a good engineering application value. Finally, the designed precision grinding machine was used to grind a P2-grade bearing raceway.

In order to improve the lubrication performance of marine bearings under low speed and heavy load conditions, a mixed elastohydrodynamic lubrication model considering elastic deformation, turbulence effect, rough surface contact, and fluid lubrication is established. A load control technology combining electromagnetic and hydraulic pressure is designed, and an experimental investigation of the water-lubricated bearings is carried out. Then the influence of elastic modulus of bearing material on lubrication performance is studied. The results show that the vertical stiffness of the rubber bearing is close to a fixed value under low speed and heavy load conditions; The selection of organic polymer materials can effectively reduce the rough surface contact force, and avoid the friction and wear of the bearing.

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) holds great promise in tumor therapy due to high safety, efficacy, and specificity. However, the risk of increased metastasis in hypoxic tumors after oxygen-dependent PDT remains underestimated. Here, we propose a post-PDT oxygen supply (POS) strategy to reduce the risk of metastasis. Herein, biocompatible and tumor-targeting Ce6@BSA and PFC@BSA nanoparticles were constructed for PDT and POS in a 4T1-orthotropic breast cancer model. PDT with Ce6@BSA nanoparticles increased tumor metastasis via the HIF-1α signaling pathway, whereas POS significantly reduced the PDT-triggered metastasis by blocking this pathway. Furthermore, POS, with clinical protocols and an FDA-approved photosensitizer (hypericin), and oxygen inhalation reduced PDT-induced metastasis. Our study findings indicate that PDT may increase the risk of tumor metastasis and that POS may solve this problem. POS can reduce the metastasis resulting not only from PDT but also from other oxygen-dependent treatments such as radiotherapy and sonodynamic therapy.

Mixed-linker zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIFs) with the sodalite (

Q.J. acknowledges funding from the CSC scheme from the Chinese Government (201908140117). Mixed-linker zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIFs) with the sodalite ( sod ) topology type and based on ZIF-7 have been prepared by direct synthesis from the mixtures of benzimidazole (BzIm) and 4,5-dichloroimidazole (dcIm). Incorporation of dcIm into the ZIF-7 structure gives ZIF-7/COK-17 hybrids with rhombohedral symmetry that do not show the “open-to-closed form” structural transition upon solvent removal exhibited by ZIF-7. They show Type I isotherms for low molecular weight gases and high affinity for CO2 even at low partial pressures. Synthesis under mild conditions gives ZIF nanoparticles (250–400 nm) suitable for incorporation into mixed matrix membranes (MMMs): these were prepared with both glassy (Matrimid) and rubbery (PEBAX 1657) polymers. Permeation tests at 298 K and 1.2 bar reveal that the incorporation of Zn(BzIm0.55dcIm0.45)2 nanoparticles at up to ca. 12 wt % gives defect-free membranes with enhanced CO2 permeability in both polymer matrices, with retention of selectivity (Matrimid) or with an enhancement in selectivity that is most pronounced for the smaller nanoparticles (PEBAX). The membrane with the best performance exhibits a selectivity of ca. 200 for CO2/N2 (a 4-fold increase compared to the pure polymer) and a CO2 permeability of 64 Barrer. At the relatively low loadings investigated, the MMMs’ performance obeys the Maxwell model, and the intrinsic property of diffusivity of the ZIFs can be extracted as a result. Publisher PDF

The ontogenesis of catabolic abilities and energy metabolism during endogenous nutritional periods of tongue sole was investigated. In this work, trypsin-like proteases (TRY) and triglyceride lipase (LIP) activities were measured to assess the capacities to catabolize proteins and lipids, respectively. Meanwhile, specific enzymes including pyruvate kinase (PK), glutamic oxalo acetic transaminase (GOT) and glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH), and hydroxyacyl CoA dehydrogenase (HOAD) as well as their ratios were assayed to evaluate the abilities to use energy substrates of carbohydrates, amino acids and fatty acids, respectively, for energy production. In addition, activities of citrate synthase (CS) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and LDH/CS ratio were calculated to analyse the evolution of aerobic and anaerobic pathways. The study found that hatching occurred at 38.8 h after fertilization (HAF), mouth-opening day of eleuteroembryo appeared at 3 days after hatching (DAH), and the most rapid embryonic growth was observed in blastula stage before hatching. Enzymatic assay revealed that except for PK which appeared in cleavage stage onwards, all the other enzymes functioned after fertilization, preparing well for the coming embryogenesis of tongue sole. By comparing the average specific activity of enzyme in each period, it can be found that the highest value occurred at 3 DAH (for TRY, LIP, PK and LDH), 2 DAH (for GDH), fertilized egg (for GOT) and segmentation stage (for HOAD and CS), and the lowest value occurred at fertilized egg (for HOAD, CS and GDH), cleavage stage (for TRY, PK and LDH), gastrula stage (for GOT) and hatching day (for LIP). Based on the changeable patterns of metabolic enzymatic activities and ratios, it is concluded that metabolic capacities on three energy substrates displayed stage-specific traits, and the dominant energy substrate was fatty acids before segmentation stage, amino acids until hatching day and carbohydrate during eleuteroembryo period. As for energy production mode, aerobic pathway appeared to increase greater in fertilized egg and gastrula stage, whereas anaerobic pathway played a predominant role during cleavage stage, blastula stage, segmentation stage and eleuteroembryo stage. These results are valuable to elucidate the nutritional requirements of embryonic stages in tongue sole and to further understand their energy metabolic mechanisms.

Elevated vanadium in the environment adversely affects organisms, including plants, animals, and humans. Plants act as the main conduit for environmental vanadium to enter the food chain, and simultaneously their growth response characteristics reflect vanadium toxicity efficacy for plants. The aim of the present study is to investigate lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) growth involving morphological change, physiological adjustment, vanadium accumulation under vanadium stress, and the potential health risk (expressed as health risk index (HRI)) of adults and children who consume it. Lettuce was grown in nutrient solution with 0, 0.1, 0.5, 2.0, and 4.0 mg L-1 of pentavalent vanadium [V(V)]. Results showed that 0.1 mg L-1 V did not significantly affect lettuce growth versus control, and marked depression arose at ≥ 0.5 mg L-1 V. Foliar proline increased rapidly at ≥ 0.5 mg L-1 V. No striking change emerged in leaf cell membrane permeability at all treatments. V(V) and total vanadium concentration in plant tissues were ordered as root > stem > leaf, while tetravalent vanadium [V(IV)] was leaf > root > stem. No health risk (HRI < 1) exists for adults and children who consume lettuce at control treatment. However, the health risk occurs (HRI ˃ 1) when they both ingest the seedlings exposed to ≥ 0.1 mg L-1 V, and the risk overall markedly increases with increasing vanadium. Therefore, enough attention needs to be paid to the human health associated with the ingestion of vegetables like lettuce grown in substrata contaminated by vanadium.

Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress can induce autophagy via the unfolded protein response (UPR), and autophagy can regulate the activation of inflammasomes. Inositol-requiring enzyme 1α (IRE1α) is a transducer of the UPR in cells with ER stress. Here, we investigated the role of IRE1α and its impact on ER stress in rheumatoid arthritis fibroblast-like synovial cells (RA-FLSs). RA-FLSs were isolated from rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients and stimulated with thapsigargin (TG) to produce ER stress cells. ER stress-, autophagy and the expression of apoptosis-associated factors were investigated by western blotting and the qRT-PCR. Cellular ROS levels were assessed by flow cytometry. ELISAs were performed to determine the concentrations of inflammatory mediators. TG treatment promoted IRE1α, GRP78, CHOP, and ATP6 mRNA and protein expression. ROS generation was increased in TG-induced RA-FLSs; additionally, TG was found to induce cell inflammation by upregulating the expression of inflammasome markers and the concentrations of inflammatory mediators. The levels of autophagy markers, apoptosis-associated proteins, and mRNA were increased in TG-stimulated RA-FLSs. However, transfection with si-IRE1α suppressed TG-induced increases in ROS generation, inflammation levels, cell apoptosis, and autophagy in RA-FLSs. Treatment with the autophagy activator RAPA attenuated the protective effects of IRE1α silencing on TG-induced RA-FLS apoptosis and inflammatory damage. Our findings showed that in RA-FLSs, IRE1α silencing alleviated ER stress-induced inflammation and apoptosis caused by autophagy.

We study general collisions between chiral solitons in Bose-Einstein condensates subject to combined attractive and current-dependent interatomic interactions. A simple analysis based on the linear superposition of the solitons allows us to determine the relevant time and space scales of the dynamics, which is illustrated by extensive numerical simulations. By varying the differential amplitude, the relative phase, the average velocity, and the relative velocity of the solitons, we characterize the different dynamical regimes that give rise to oscillatory and interference phenomena. Apart from the known inelastic character of the collisions, we show that the chiral dynamics involves an amplitude reduction with respect to the case of regular solitons. To compare with feasible ultracold gas experiments, the influence of harmonic confinement is analyzed in both the emergence and the interaction of chiral solitons., 15 pages, 12 figures

Background This study aims to explore the association between dietary acid load and hyperuricemia in Chinese adults. Methods A case-control study was conducted. Adult participants with hyperuricemia were recruited as the cases and those without hyperuricemia were as the controls. Food consumption was evaluated by food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). Dietary acid load was assessed by potential renal acid load (PRAL) and net endogenous acid production (NEAP). Dietary acid load was divided into four levels: the first quartile (Q1), the second quartile (Q2), the third quartile (Q3) and the fourth quartile (Q4). Logistic regression model was applied for exploring the association between dietary acid load (PRAL and NEAP) and hyperuricemia. Odds ratio (OR) and its correspondence confidence interval (CI) were computed. Results A total of 290 participants were eligible in this study, in which there were 143 individuals in case group and 147 in control group. A higher level of PRAL was found to be associated with odds of hyperuricemia. ORs of hyperuricemia for Q2, Q3 and Q4 of PRAL were 2.74 (95%CI: 1.94 ~ 3.88, p-value: 0.004), 2.90 (95%CI: 2.05 ~ 4.10, p-value: 0.002) and 3.14 (95%CI: 2.22 ~ 4.45, p-value: 0.001), respectively. There was a positive association between elevated NEAP and hyperuricemia. OR of hyperuricemia for Q2 was not material significance (OR:1.54, 95%CI: 0.93 ~ 2.53, p-value: 0.210), however, ORs of hyperuricemia for Q3 (OR: 2.40, 95%CI: 1.70 ~ 3.38, p-value: 0.011) and Q4 (OR: 3.27, 95%CI: 2.31 ~ 4.62, p-value: 0.001) were statistically significant. Conclusion Higher level of dietary acid load was found to be associated with hyperuricemia in Chinese adults, indicative of advocation of a well-balanced diet in this population.

The FEM (finite element method) simulation was used to study the diffusion bonding deformation of high purity tungsten target. The influence of different welding structure, bonding temperature on the deformation of the final high-purity tungsten target was systematically studied. Meanwhile, some microscopic properties of tungsten target were developed, such as internal stress size and distributions, strain size and distributions. Finally, physical experiments are used to verify numerical simulation results. The results show that the method of adding an intermediate layer can release the residual stress between the high-purity target and back plate. The bonding stress of high-purity tungsten target is mainly concentrated with the tungsten target and the intermediate layer in between, which is easy to fail during the later leveling process. Small deformation of bonding tungsten target can be obtained by low diffusion bonding temperature.

Taking the 30 Chinese provinces in 2000–2018 as the objects, this paper measures their agricultural environmental efficiencies (AEEs) with slack-based measure (SBM) containing an undesired output. Then, the features of the spatiotemporal evolution of AEE in China were explored on ArcGIS, and the factors affecting the AEE were analyzed with a geodetector. The results show that there is a huge provincial gap in AEE across China; most provinces with a high AEE belong to eastern coastal region, while most inland provinces had a relatively low AEE. Except for a few years, the AEEs in eastern, central, and western regions changed very slightly, and the eastern region had a higher AEE level than central and western regions. The results of spatiotemporal evolution show that, with the elapse of time, the high-AEE provinces gradually shifted to the inland; the AEE trend varied from province to province; the provinces were highly polarized in terms of AEE. The AEE is mainly affected by the following factors: fiscal expenditure, fertilizer intensity, pesticide intensity, and economic growth.

Background:. Bendamustine was approved in China on May 26th, 2019 by the National Medical Product Administration for the treatment of indolent B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). The current study was the registration trial and the first reported evaluation of the efficacy, safety, and pharmacokinetics of bendamustine in Chinese adult patients with indolent B-cell NHL following relapse after chemotherapy and rituximab treatment. Methods:. This was a prospective, multicenter, open-label, single-arm, phase 3 study (NCT01596621; C18083/3076) with a 2-year follow-up period. Eligible patients received bendamustine hydrochloride 120 mg/m2 infused intravenously on days 1 and 2 of each 21-day treatment cycle for at least six planned cycles (and up to eight cycles). The primary endpoint was the overall response rate (ORR); and secondary endpoints were duration of response (DoR), progression-free survival (PFS), safety, and pharmacokinetics. Patients were classified according to their best overall response after initiation of therapy. Proportions of patients in each response category (complete response [CR], partial response [PR], stable disease, or progressive disease) were summarized along with a two-sided binomial exact 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the ORR. Results:. A total of 102 patients were enrolled from 20 centers between August 6th, 2012, and June 18th, 2015. At the time of the primary analysis, the ORR was 73% (95% CI: 63%–81%) per Independent Review Committee (IRC) including 19% CR and 54% PR. With the follow-up period, the median DoR was 16.2 months by IRC and 13.4 months by investigator assessment; the median PFS was 18.6 months and 15.3 months, respectively. The most common non-hematologic adverse events (AEs) were gastrointestinal toxicity, pyrexia, and rash. Grade 3/4 neutropenia was reported in 76% of patients. Serious AEs were reported in 29 patients and five patients died during the study. Pharmacokinetic analysis indicated that the characteristics of bendamustine and its metabolites M3 and M4 were generally consistent with those reported for other ethnicities. Conclusion:. Bendamustine is an active and effective therapy in Chinese patients with relapsed, indolent B-cell NHL, with a comparable risk/benefit relationship to that reported in North American patients. Clinical trial registration:. ClinicalTrials.gov, No. NCT01596621; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01596621