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Layered double hydroxides (LDHs) have excellent physical and chemical properties and are thus widely and effectively used to inhibit spontaneous coal combustion. In this study, Zn/Mg/Al-C03 LDHs, which are metal ion-LDH complexes, were prepared through coprecipitation and synthesized using three types of coal with different metamorphic degrees to form Zn/Mg/Al-CC>3 LDH/coal. Additionally, the spontaneous coal combustion inhibition mechanism of added Zn/Mg/Al-C03 LDHs was investigated using scanning electron microscopy, in situ Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and differential scanning calorimetry to further elucidate prevention and control measures for spontaneous coal combustion. The results demonstrated that Zn/Mg/Al-C03 LDHs are extremely highly compatible with coal and form a crystalline structure on the surface of coal, which interrupts the diffusion of oxygen for combustion and, consequently, inhibits spontaneous coal combustion. Furthermore, the negative effects of various crucial functional groups on spontaneous coal combustion were weakened by the addition of Zn/Mg/Al-CCh LDHs. W hen decomposing, Zn/Mg/Al-CCh LDHs undergo an endothermic reaction and generate enormous amounts of C02 and H2 0, which could effectively reduce the surface temperature of coal and dilute the oxygen concentration of the environment. A novel material, Zn/Mg/Al-C03 LDHs can be used to prevent the occurrence of severe accidents caused by spontaneous coal combustion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Layered double hydroxides (LDHs) have excellent physical and chemical properties and are thus widely and effectively used to inhibit spontaneous coal combustion. In this study, Zn/Mg/Al-CO3 LDHs, which are metal ion-LDH complexes, were prepared through coprecipitation and synthesized using three types of coal with different metamorphic degrees toform Zn/Mg/Al-CO3 LDH/coal. Additionally, the spontaneous coal combustion inhibition mechanism of added Zn/Mg/Al-CO3 LDHs was investigated using scanning electron microscopy, in situ Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and differential scanning calorimetry tofurther elucidate prevention and control measures for spontaneous coal combustion. The results demonstrated that Zn/Mg/Al-CO3 LDHs are extremely highly compatible with coal and form a crystalline structure on the surface of coal, which interrupts the diffusion of oxygen for combustion and, consequently, inhibits spontaneous coal combustion. Furthermore, the negative effects of various crucial functional groups on spontaneous coal combustion were weakened by the addition of Zn/Mg/Al-CCh LDHs. When decomposing, Zn/Mg/Al-CO3 LDHs undergo an endothermic reaction and generate enormous amounts of CO2 and H2O, which could effectively reduce the surface temperature of coal and dilute the oxygen concentration of the environment. A novel material, Zn/Mg/Al-CO3 LDHs can be used to prevent the occurrence of severe accidents caused by spontaneous coal combustion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chitosan (CS), as a kind of well characterized biopolymer, has been used for heavy metal adsorption due to its low cost and high efficacy. However, when used directly, chitosan particles had small surface area and weak mechanical strength which is unfavorable to metal adsorption and reused. Besides, it cannot be easily recycled that may cause a secondary pollution. In this paper, CS and layered silicate rectorite (REC) were fully mixed and the mixtures were subsequently electrosprayed nano-sized spheres, which were immobilized on the surface of electrospun polystyrene (PS) mats for metal adsorption. The morphology analysis taken from SEM confirmed that CS-REC nanospheres were loaded on the surface of PS fibrous mats. Small Angle X-ray diffraction patterns showed that the interlayer distance of REC in composite mats was enlarged by the intercalation of CS chains; such structure meant bigger surface area which was helpful for metal adsorption. The data of contact angle implied that PS mats coated with CS-REC nanospheres exhibited better hydrophilicity than PS mats, which was conductive to adsorption rate. Besides, the copper ions adsorption of composite mats was tested at different conditions including the adsorption time, the initial pH and the initial concentration of copper ion. The results demonstrated that PS mats coated with CS-REC nanospheres had the adsorption capacity up to 134 mg/g. In addition, the addition of REC containing Ca 2+ could also improve the metal adsorption because of cation exchange. The desorption assay indicated that PS mats immobilized with CS and CS-REC still kept high adsorption ability which retained 74% and 78% after three adsorption-desorption cycles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Azo compounds have high exothermic characteristics and low thermal stability, which have caused many serious thermal accidents around the world. In general, different locations (e.g., equatorial or polar regions) have different UV intensities. If the azo compound exists in an inappropriately stored or transported condition, the decrease in thermal stability may cause a thermal hazard or ageing. 2,2'-Azobis(2,4-dimethyl)valeronitrile (ADVN) is investigated with respect to the thermal stability affected by UV exposure at 0, 6, 12, and 24 h. When ADVN is exposed to 24 h of UV (100 mW/m2 and 254 nm), T0 is not only advanced, but the mass loss is also increased during the main decomposition stage. In addition, the apparent activation energy and integral procedural decomposition temperature (IPDT) of ADVN exposed to 24 h of UV is calculated by kinetic models. Therefore, the prevention mechanism, thermal characteristics, and kinetic parameters are established in our study. We should isolate UV contacting ADVN under any situations, avoiding ADVN being aged or leading to thermal runaway. This study provided significant information for a safer process under changing UV exposure times for ADVN. Furthermore, the research method may serve as an important benchmark for handling potentially hazardous chemicals, such as azo compounds described herein. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The detection of composite miRNA functional module (CMFM) is of tremendous significance and helps in understanding the organization, regulation and execution of cell processes in cancer, but how to identify functional CMFMs is still a computational challenge. In this paper we propose a novel module detection method called MBCFM (detecting Composite Function Modules based on Maximal Biclique enumeration), specifically designed to bicluster miRNAs and target messenger RNAs (mRNAs) on the basis of multiple biological interaction information and topical network features. In this method, we employ algorithm MICA to enumerate all maximal bicliques and further extract R-pairs from the miRNA-mRNA regulatory network. Compared with two existing methods, Mirsynergy and SNMNMF on ovarian cancer dataset, the proposed method of MBCFM is not only able to extract cohesiveness-preserved CMFMs but also has high efficiency in running time. More importantly, MBCFM can be applied to detect other cancer-associated miRNA functional modules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The reliability of three satellite-derived precipitation products, Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) 3B42 V7 and the Climate Prediction Center morphing technique (CMORPH) satellite-only (CMORPH-RAW) and gauge-corrected versions (CMORPH-CRT), and three gauge-based precipitation datasets, Asian Precipitation-Highly Resolved Observational Data Integration Toward Evaluation of Water Resources (APHRODITE), National Climate Center of China Meteorological Administration (CN05.1), and Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences (ITPCAS), is evaluated via comparisons with rain gauge observations from stations over the Heihe River basin (HRB) for the period from 1998 to 2012. The results show that the observed climatology, interannual variability, the detection of precipitation events, and probability density functions (PDFs) are reasonably well represented by the highresolution precipitation products (HRPPs), with APHRODITE presenting the best performance, CN05.1 and ITPCAS exhibiting similar performances, and CMORPH-CRT showing a poor performance. The biascorrection algorithms applied in CMORPH-CRT improve the accuracy of CMORPH-RAW slightly but fail to improve the rainfall detection skill. TRMM consistently outperforms CMORPH-CRT at various scales, whereas CMORPH-CRT is comparable to TRMM in summer. The spatial correlations, normalized root-mean-square error (NRMSE), and probability of detection (POD) show that all datasets perform better in summer than in winter. Except for CMORPH-RAW, the HRPPs could adequately reproduce the unimodal characteristics of annual cycle, although they overestimate the magnitude of the warm season precipitation. The HRPPs could capture the overall spatial distribution and decadal trend of extreme precipitation indices. However, the satellite-derived products overestimate the wet day precipitation and underestimate the consecutive dry days, although the TRMM generates relatively better results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bioremediation treatment (e.g. biostimulation) can decrease groundwater pH with consequences for Dehalococcoides mccartyi (Dhc) reductive dechlorination activity. To explore the pH resilience of Dhc, the Dhc-containing consortium BDI was exposed to pH 5.5 for up to 40 days. Following 8- and 16-day exposure periods to pH 5.5, dechlorination activity and growth recovered when returned to pH 7.2; however, the ability of the culture to dechlorinate vinyl chloride (VC) to ethene was impaired (i.e. decreased rate of VC transformation). Dhc cells exposed to pH 5.5 for 40 days did not recover the ethene-producing phenotype upon transfer to pH 7.2 even after 200 days of incubation. When returned to pH 7.2 conditions after an 8-, a 16- and a 40-day low pH exposure, tceA and vcrA genes showed distinct fold increases, suggesting Dhc strain-specific responses to low pH exposure. Furthermore, a survey of Dhc biomarker genes in groundwater samples revealed the average abundances of Dhc 16S rRNA, tceA and vcrA genes in pH 4.5-6 groundwater were significantly lower (P-value < 0.05) than in pH 6-8.3 groundwater. Overall, the results of the laboratory study and the assessment of field data demonstrate that sustained Dhc activity should not be expected in low pH groundwater, and the duration of low pH exposure affects the ability of Dhc to recover activity at circumneutral pH. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bacterial typing is of great importance in clinical diagnosis, environmental monitoring, food safety analysis, and biological research. Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (MALD1-MS) is now widely used to analyze bacterial samples. Identification of bacteria at the species level can be realized by matching the mass spectra of samples against a library of mass spectra of known bacteria. Nevertheless, in order to reasonably type bacteria, identification accuracy should be further improved. Herein, we propose a new framework to the identification and assessment for MALD1-MS based bacterial analysis. Our approach combines new measures for spectra similarity and a novel bootstrapping assessment We tested our approach on a general data set containing the mass spectra of 1741 strains of bacteria and another challenging data set containing 250 strains, including 40 strains in the Bacillus cereus group that were previously claimed to be impossible to resolve by MALDI-MS. With the bootstrapping assessment, we achieved much more reliable predictions at both the genus and species level, and enabled to resolve the Bacillus cereus group. To the best of the authors' knowledge, our method is the first to provide a statistical assessment to MALDI-MS based bacterial typing that could lead to more reliable bacterial typing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hexakis(m-phenylene ethynylene) (m-PE) macrocycles 1-4, sharing the same hydrogen-bonding side chains but having backbones of different electronic properties, are designed to probe the effectiveness of multiple H-bonding interactions in enforcing columnar assemblies. ¹H NMR, absorption, fluorescence, and circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy indicate that, compared with analogous macrocycles that self-associate based on aromatic stacking which is highly sensitive to the electronic nature of the macrocyclic backbones, macrocycles 1-4 all exhibit strong aggregation down to the micromolar (µM) concentrations in nonpolar solvents. Increasing solvent polarity quickly weakens aggregation. In THF and DMF, the macrocycles exist as free molecules. The observed solvent effects, along with the behavior of 5-F6 that cannot self-associate via H-bonding, confirm that H-bonding plays the dominating role in driving the self-association of 1-4. The backbone electronic nature does not change the self-assembling pattern common to 1-4. Fluorescence and CD spectra confirm that macrocycles 1-4 assemble anisotropically, forming helical stacks in which adjacent molecules undergo relative rotation to place individual benzene residues in the favorable offset fashion. Columnar alignment of 1-4 is confirmed by atomic force microscopy (AFM), which resolves single tubes consisting of stacked macrocycles. In addition, macrocycles with backbones of different electronic properties are found to undergo heteroassociation, forming hybrid nanotubes. This study has demonstrated the generality of enforcing the alignment of shape-persistent macrocycles, which represents an invaluable addition to the small number of known tubular stacks capable of accommodating structurally varied molecular components and provides self-assembling nanotubes with inner pores allowing ready structural and functional modification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Haemonchus contortus is a serious parasitic nematode in domestic ruminants around the world, including China. Haemonchus contortus has developed extensive resistance to commercial anthelmintics, which has produced a demand for new control methods, such as more effective drugs. Gerbils infected with H. contortus have previously been used as a model for anthelmintics selections, and the growth of H. contortus had been briefly examined. To enhance the model, this study provides an additional description of the development of H. contortus ZJ strain in gerbils. Results: Gerbils were infected with H. contortus ZJ strain at a dose of 2000 exsheathed infective larvae (xL3s) and sacrificed at 4, 7 and 18 days post-infection (dpi). Only fourth-stage larvae were found in the stomachs. About 2% of the inoculums were obtained at each of the three sampling time points. Larvae grew more slowly in gerbils than in sheep, but presented almost the same morphology. Rod-like crystalline inclusions were present in the intestinal cells of larvae, indicating that the metabolic rate of larvae was probably greatly reduced. Histological examination of stomach sections showed that larvae are located in the lumens or at the mucosal surfaces, with few inflammatory changes evident. Conclusions: The development and features of H. contortus ZJ strain in gerbils were described. Our results provide supplementary information of H. contortus growth in gerbils, especially the presence of rod-like crystalline inclusions, and may contribute to improve the anthelmintic selection system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rice sheath blight caused by Rhizoctonia solani Kühnis increasingly threatening rice production in China. DNA fingerprints of 220 R. solani strains isolated in 11 provinces of China were established by random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD)-PCR. Cluster analysis of strains isolated from the same region showed high similarity, indicating that the genetic diversity of R. solani strains is significantly related to geographical origin. We assessed potential bio-control abilities of bio-control agents (BCAs) by values according to inhibition zones against R. solani , extracellular hydrolytic enzymes activity and siderophores production in vitro. Fourteen strains with diverse expected bio-control potential were tested for their bio-control efficacy against rice sheath blight caused by 11 pathogenic exemplars and for growth promoting ability, separately. Bio-control efficacy of single bacterium against various R. solani strains differed significantly (−36.23% ∼ 88.24%), while Pseudomonas fluorescens 4aYN11 achieved a relatively stable control efficacy of 32.26%–78.79% and growth promotion of 18.43%. Pearson correlation coefficient between bio-control efficacy of each BCAs and their assessment is 0.717. In the present study, we established an improved strategy for screening stable bio-control agents based on an assessment system, their growth promotion potential and phylogenetic diversity of pathogen R. solani , and the result provides us not only one promising bio-control strain 4aYN11 with an average bio-control efficacy of 56.50%, but also a practical way for future screen of novel BCAs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Halide ions are ubiquitous in natural waters and wastewaters. Halogens play an important and complex role in environmental photochemical processes and in reactions taking place during photochemical water treatment. While inert to solar wavelengths, halides can be converted into radical and non-radical reactive halogen species (RHS) by sensitized photolysis and by reactions with secondary reactive oxygen species (ROS) produced through sunlight-initiated reactions in water and atmospheric aerosols, such as hydroxyl radical, ozone, and nitrate radical. In photochemical advanced oxidation processes for water treatment, RHS can be generated by UV photolysis and by reactions of halides with hydroxyl radicals, sulfate radicals, ozone, and other ROS. RHS are reactive toward organic compounds, and some reactions lead to incorporation of halogen into byproducts. Recent studies indicate that halides, or the RHS derived from them, affect the concentrations of photogenerated reactive oxygen species (ROS) and other reactive species; influence the photobleaching of dissolved natural organic matter (DOM); alter the rates and products of pollutant transformations; lead to covalent incorporation of halogen into small natural molecules, DOM, and pollutants; and give rise to certain halogen oxides of concern as water contaminants. The complex and colorful chemistry of halogen in waters will be summarized in detail and the implications of this chemistry for global biogeochemical cycling of halogen, contaminant fate in natural waters, and water purification technologies will be discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Upper-room ultraviolet germicidal irradiation (UR-UVGI) is recommended for the defense against airborne pathogens in poorly ventilated rooms in public buildings or high risk environments, such as hospitals. Currently, there are few studies on the performance of UR-UVGI with the effective bacteria susceptibility constant (eZ-value) obtained from UR-UVGI experiment. In this study, the Eulerian model for the inactivation of UVGI was improved to consider the difference between exposure time and computational time, and was validated by our previous experiments. The method was applied to study numerically the performance of the UR-UVGI for 3, 6, and 10 air changes per hour (ACH) with the application of the eZ-value of airborne bacteria. Moreover, the eZ-values of commonly found bacteria, including Serratia marcescens, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Pseudomonas alcaligenes, and Micrococcus luteus, were obtained from a series of experiments in a full-scale environmental chamber equipped with a UR-UVGI fixture. The eZ-values were 0.0983, 0.0586, 0.0476, and 0.0115 m2/J, respectively. Compared with the data in the literature, these eZ-values of the tested bacteria are different from the Z-values obtained from single-pass UVGI. The simulation results show that UR-UVGI exhibited the highest inactivation efficiency on S. marcescens among the tested bacteria in this study. The percentage of bacteria inactivated by UR-UVGI decreased as the ventilation rate increased. The bacteria concentration in the breathing zone under low ventilation rate could be decreased using UR-UVGI. The findings demonstrate that high indoor air quality can be achieved with the application of UR-UVGI without the need to maintain high ventilation rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2015, HTC and Valve launched a virtual reality headset empowered with Lighthouse, the cutting-edge space positioning technology. Although Lighthouse is superior in terms of accuracy, latency and refresh rate, its algorithms do not support base station expansion, and is flawed concerning occlusion in moving targets, that is, it is unable to calculate their poses with a small set of sensors, resulting in the loss of optical tracking data. In view of these problems, this paper proposes an improved pose estimation algorithm for cases where occlusion is involved. Our algorithm calculates the pose of a given object with a unified dataset comprising of inputs from sensors recognized by all base stations, as long as three or more sensors detect a signal in total, no matter from which base station. To verify our algorithm, HTC official base stations and autonomous developed receivers are used for prototyping. The experiment result shows that our pose calculation algorithm can achieve precise positioning when a few sensors detect the signal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Xylan, the major constituent of hemicellulose, is composed of β-(1,4)-linked xylopyranosyl units that for the backbone, with side chains formed by other chemical moieties such as arabinose, galactose, mannose, ferulic acid and acetyl groups. Acetyl xylan esterases and α-l-arabinofuranosidases are two important accessory enzymes that remove side chain residues from xylan backbones and may act in synergy with other xylanolytic enzymes. Compared with enzymes possessing a single catalytic activity, multifunctional enzymes can achieve lignocellulosic biomass hydrolysis using a less complex mixture of enzymes. Results: Here, we cloned an acetyl xylan esterase (PcAxe) from Penicillium chrysogenum P33 and expressed it in Pichia pastoris GS115. The optimal pH and temperature of the recombinant PcAxe (rPcAxe) for 4-nitrophenyl acetate were 7.0 and 40 °C, respectively. rPcAxe is stable across a broad pH range, retaining 100% enzyme activity om pH 6-9 after a 1 h incubation. The enzyme tolerates the presence of a wide range of metal ions. Sequence alignment revealed a GH62 domain exhibiting α-l-arabinofuranosidase activity with pH and temperature optima of pH 7.0 and 50 °C, in addition to the expected esterase domain. rPcAxe displayed significant synergy with a recombinant xylanase, with a degree of synergy of 1.35 for the hydrolysis of delignified corn stover. Release of glucose was increased by 51% from delignified corn stover when 2 mg of a commercial cellulase was replaced by an equivalent amount of rPcAxe, indicating superior hydrolytic efficiency. Conclusions: The novel bifunctional enzyme PcAxe was identified in P. chrysogenum P33. rPcAxe includes a carbohydrate esterase domain and a glycosyl hydrolase family 62 domain. This is the first detailed report on a novel bifunctional enzyme possessing acetyl xylan esterase and α-l-arabinofuranosidase activities. These findings expand our current knowledge of glycoside hydrolases and pave the way for the discovery of similar novel enzymes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-performance infrared (IR) nonlinear optical (NLO) materials with large NLO response and suitable birefringence are urgently needed for various applications. A Hg-based IR NLO material KHg4Ga5Se12 with such desirable properties has been newly discovered. In the structure, obviously distorted HgSe4 and GaSe4 tetrahedra are connected to each other by vertex-sharing to form a three-dimensional framework with the counterion K+ residing in the cavities. Remarkably, all the NLO-active building units in the title compound are arranged in a completely parallel manner. Such a topological structure and the large susceptibility of the Hg-Se bonds enable the material to achieve good phase-matchability with a tremendous powder second harmonic generation (SHG) response at 2.09 μm that is about 20-times that of the benchmark material AgGaS2 (one of the largest responses among all the phase-matchable IR NLO chalcogenides reported to date). The optical band gap of KHg4Ga5Se12 was determined as 1.61 eV. Moreover, on the basis of the electronic band structure, the real-space atom-cutting analysis, the SHG-weighted electronic densities, and the local dipole moments calculations, the origin of the superior linear and nonlinear optical properties of the title compound is ascribed to the (Hg/Ga)Se4 group. The calculated values for the maximum coefficient d33 and birefringence (Δn) at 2.09 μm are -65.257 pm/V and 0.072, respectively. Such values agree well with experimental observations. Our study demonstrates that Hg-based metal chalcogenides are a class of IR NLO material with competitive features (good phase-matchability, very large SHG efficiency, wide transparency) desirable for practical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past 40 years, the collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) animal model has been widely used as a model of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). However, no model is able to completely depict the characteristics of cartilage destruction to date. In the later stage of joint cartilage destruction, bony spurs form in RA. This bony spur formation is an important symptom in the pathological development of RA. In the present study, CIA was used to elucidate the pathological process of bony spur formation. Joint damage and spur formation in the animal model was detected by radiology and histology. Radiology identified bony spurs in the knee and foot joints, which worsened as the disease progressed. Furthermore, following observations of histological sections, fusion and damage of the articular cartilage, as well as a higher number of osteoclasts, were identified. Previous results have determined that bony spurs may be involved in another pathological process that occurs during the later stages of RA. Therefore, further studies investigating this symptom are required to improve the understanding of RA and facilitate the development of an appropriate treatment for RA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study aimed to identify key genes and signaling pathways associated with myocardial infarction (MI) following telomerase activation, and investigate the possible underlying molecular mechanisms involved in this process. Array data of GSE62973 was downloaded, including 11 samples from the Gene Expression Omnibus database. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were analyzed in infarct vs. control, infarct + telomerase vs. control, and infarct + telomerase vs. infarct with the Linear Models for Microarray and RNA‑Seq Data package. Gene Ontology annotation and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway enrichment analysis were performed for upregulated and downregulated genes by the Database for Annotation, Visualization and Integrated Discovery. Sub network modules of 3 protein‑protein interaction (PPI) networks were analyzed by Clustering with Overlapping Neighbourhood Expansion, and genes associated with telomerase were analyzed. Proto‑oncogene tyrosine‑protein kinase Src (Src) and proto‑oncogene tyrosine‑protein kinase Fyn (Fyn) were the hub nodes of the greatest degree in the PPI network for the infarct + telomerase vs. control comparison group and infarct + telomerase vs. infarct comparison group, respectively. Olfactory receptor gene family associated genes, including olfactory receptor 10 were significantly enriched in the sub network modules of the 3 comparison groups. In addition, olfactory transduction was a significantly enriched pathway by downregulation of DEGs in the infarct vs. control comparison group, and was additionally a significantly enriched pathway by upregulated DEGs in infarct + telomerase vs. infarct comparison group. Olfactory transduction was a significant pathway enriched by genes associated with telomerase. Telomerase activation may serve an important role in MI, in part, via the regulation of Src, Fyn and olfactory receptor family associated genes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of copper in directed C-H oxidation has been relatively underexplored. In a seminal example, Schönecker showed that copper and O2 promoted the hydroxylation of steroid-containing ligands. Recently, Baran (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2015, 137, 13776) improved the reaction conditions to oxidize similar substrates with excellent yields. In both reports, the involvement of Cu2O2 intermediates was suggested. In this collaborative article, we studied the hydroxylation mechanism in great detail, resulting in the overhaul of the previously accepted mechanism and the development of improved reaction conditions. Extensive experimental evidence (spectroscopic characterization, kinetic analysis, intermolecular reactivity, and radical trap experiments) is provided to support each of the elementary steps proposed and the hypothesis that a key mononuclear LCuǁ(OOR) intermediate undergoes homolytic O-O cleavage to generate reactive RO species, which are responsible for key C-H hydroxylation within the solvent cage. These key findings allowed the oxidation protocol to be reformulated, leading to improvements of the reaction cost, practicability, and isolated yield. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bioremediation at chlorinated solvent sites often leads to groundwater acidification due to electron donor fermentation and enhanced dechlorination activity. The microbial reductive dechlorination process is robust at circumneutral pH, but activity declines at groundwater pH values below 6.0. Consistent with this observation, the activity of tetrachloroethene (PCE) dechlorinating cultures declined at pH 6.0 and was not sustained in pH 5.5 medium, with one notable exception. Sulfurospirillum multivorans dechlorinated PCE to cis-1,2-dichloroethene (cDCE) in pH 5.5 medium and maintained this activity upon repeated transfers. Microcosms established with soil and aquifer materials from five distinct locations dechlorinated PCE-to-ethene at pH 5.5 and pH 7.2. Dechlorination to ethene was maintained following repeated transfers at pH 7.2, but no ethene was produced at pH 5.5, and only the transfer cultures derived from the Axton Cross Superfund (ACS) microcosms sustained PCE dechlorination to cDCE as a final product. 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing of pH 7.2 and pH 5.5 ACS enrichments revealed distinct microbial communities, with the dominant dechlorinator being Dehalococcoides in pH 7.2 and Sulfurospirillum in pH 5.5 cultures. PCE-to-trichloroethene- (TCE-) and PCE-to-cDCE-dechlorinating isolates obtained from the ACS pH 5.5 enrichment shared 98.6%, and 98.5% 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities to Sulfurospirillum multivorans. These findings imply that sustained Dehalococcoides activity cannot be expected in low pH (i.e., = 5.5) groundwater, and organohalide-respiring Sulfurospirillum spp. are key contributors to in situ PCE reductive dechlorination under low pH conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fine-structure splittings, the magnetic specific heat and susceptibility, and the Jahn–Teller couplings are performed for Fe2+ ions in ZnS by taking into account the cubic crystal–field interaction, the spin–orbit coupling associated with not only the central-metal ions but also the ligands, and the Jahn–Teller coupling of the orbital manifolds of Fe2+ ions with overtones of E and T2 symmetry phonons of ligands. The results are in good agreement with the experimental observations. Some theoretical Jahn–Teller splittings presented are in need of further theoretical and experimental studies. A significant charge transfer in ZnS:Fe2+ is found. © 2004 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Platinum-containing multimetallic catalysts supported on carbon materials have become one of the main choices for direct ethanol fuel cells (DEFCs) due to their high catalytic activity for the ethanol oxidation reaction (EOR). In this study, a platinum-bismuth alloy catalyst (PtBi@CA) with uniform distribution and small particles was provided by a one-step reduction method without the addition of structure directing agents and stabilizers. In the half-cell test, PtBi@CA(50−50) with the smallest crystallite size has high peak current density and pseudo-steady current density of 64.336 mA/cm2 and 0.096 mA/cm2, respectively, which is 11.22 times and 1.85 times the high of the most advanced commercial carbon-supported platinum catalysts (Pt/C). The method is simple and feasible, greatly reduces the amounts of precious metals, and has broad application prospects in the synthesis of anode electrocatalysts for direct ethanol fuel cells. • A simple one-step reduction method without the addition of structure directing agents and stabilizers synthesis to obtain PtBi@CA electrocatalysts. • The amount of precious metal Pt is effectively reduced. • Alloy-containing electrocatalysts with both fine electrocatalytic activity and durability towards ethanol oxidation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies of soil moisture responses to climatic conditions are essential for understanding the mechanism of rainfall-induced landslide. This study aims to investigate the effects of fines content on soil moisture responses under repetitive wetting and drying cycles. Remoulded residual soil samples were prepared at 5 different fines contents, i.e. 15%, 30%, 45%, 60% and 75%. The soils were instrumented with soil moisture sensors and they were subjected to 2 cycles of wetting and drying. Results showed that all the soil specimens experienced faster reductions in soil moisture during the second cycle of drying than the first cycle. During wetting, the recovery of soil moisture, however, was less affected by the repetitive wetting and drying cycles. The fines content has a significant influence on the soil moisture reduction during drying. The degree of saturation of the specimen with 15% fines was found to be 3.5–6 times lower than that of 75% fines. The response of soil moisture to wetting was only marginally affected by the fines content. Results from numerical seepage analyses showed that the wetting soil moisture responses can be simulated to a reasonable accuracy. However, the simulated drying soil moisture responses showed relatively large discrepancies with the actual measurements. The results implied that the soil may have experienced changes in soil structure, void ratio or formation of desiccated crack during the repetitive wetting and drying cycles which cannot be captured by a typical finite element seepage analysis. • Fines content affects hydraulic response during drying, but less during wetting. • Soil moistures reduce faster and greater during second cycle of drying. • Indoor evaporation has more impacts on fine soils than coarse soils. • Repetitive wetting and drying may alter soil hydraulic properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the use of a thermally stable ionic liquid, [PPN][TFSI], to improve the synthesis and stability of all-inorganic CsPbI3 perovskite solar cells (PSCs). The ionic liquid retards the solid-state reaction, enhances grain size, reduces defect densities, and prevents undesired phase degradation, resulting in PSCs with a power conversion efficiency of 20.64% and long-term operational stability.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a common neurodegenerative disease with limited treatment and no cure, hence, broadening PD drug spectrum is of great significance. At present, engineered microorganisms are attracting increasing attention. In this study, we constructed an engineered strain of Clostridium butyricum‐GLP‐1, a C. butyricum (a probiotic) that consistently expresses glucagon‐like peptide‐1 (GLP‐1, a peptide‐based hormone with neurological advantage) in anticipation of its use in PD treatment. We further investigated the neuroprotective mechanism of C. butyricum‐GLP‐1 on PD mice models induced by 1‐methyl‐4‐phenyl‐1,2,3,6‐tetrahydropyridine. The results indicated that C. butyricum‐GLP‐1 could improve motor dysfunction and ameliorate neuropathological changes by increasing TH expression and reducing the expression of α‐syn. Moreover, we confirmed that C. butyricum‐GLP‐1 improved microbiome imbalance of PD mice by decreasing the relative abundance of Bifidobacterium at the genus level, improved gut integrity, and upregulated the levels of GPR41/43. Surprisingly, we found it could exert its neuroprotective effects via promoting PINK1/Parkin mediated mitophagy and attenuating oxidative stress. Together, our work showed that C. butyricum‐GLP‐1 improves PD by promoting mitophagy, which provides an alternative therapeutic modality for PD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a novel and efficient system is proposed to capture human movement evolution for complex action recognition. First, camera movement compensation is introduced to extract foreground object movement. Secondly, a mid-level feature representation called trajectory sheaf is proposed to capture the temporal structural information among low-level trajectory features based on key frames selection. Thirdly, the final video representation is obtained by training a sorting model with each key frame in the video clip. At last, the hierarchical version of video representation is proposed to describe the entire video with higher level representation. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method achieves state-of-the-art performance on UCF Sports, and comparable results on several challenge benchmarks, such as Hollywood2 and HMDB51 dataset. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to reveal the differences and conversion relations between the tensile, compressive and flexural moduli of cement stabilized macadam, in this paper, we develop a new test method for measuring three moduli simultaneously. By using the materials testing system, we test three moduli of the cement stabilized macadam under different loading rates, propose a flexural modulus calculation formula which considers the shearing effect, reveal the change rules of the tensile, compression and flexural moduli with the loading rate and establish the conversion relationships between the three moduli. The results indicate that: three moduli become larger with the increase of the loading rate, showing a power function pattern; with the shear effect considered, the flexural modulus is increased by 47% approximately over that in the current test method; the tensile and compression moduli of cement stabilized macadam are significantly different. Therefore, if only the compression modulus is used as the structural design parameter of asphalt pavement, there will be a great deviation in the analysis of the load response. In order to achieve scientific design and calculation, the appropriate design parameters should be chosen based on the actual stress state at each point inside the pavement structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A fundamental building block for nanophotonics is the ability to achieve negative refraction of polaritons, because this could enable the demonstration of many unique nanoscale applications such as deep-subwavelength imaging, superlens, and novel guiding. However, to achieve negative refraction of highly squeezed polaritons, such as plasmon polaritons in graphene and phonon polaritons in boron nitride (BN) with their wavelengths squeezed by a factor over 100, requires the ability to flip the sign of their group velocity at will, which is challenging. Here we reveal that the strong coupling between plasmon and phonon polaritons in graphene-BN heterostructures can be used to flip the sign of the group velocity of the resulting hybrid (plasmon-phonon-polariton) modes. We predict allangle negative refraction between plasmon and phonon polaritons and, even more surprisingly, between hybrid graphene plasmons and between hybrid phonon polaritons. Graphene-BN heterostructures thus provide a versatile platform for the design of nanometasurfaces and nanoimaging elements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vacuoles play a fundamental role in storage and remobilization of various nutrients, including phosphorus (P), an essential element for cell growth and development. Cells acquire P primarily in the form of inorganic orthophosphate (Pi). However, the form of P stored in vacuoles varies by organism and tissue. Algae and yeast store polyphosphates (polyPs), whereas plants store Pi and inositol phosphates (InsPs) in vegetative tissues and seeds, respectively. In this review, we summarize how vacuolar P molecules are stored and reallocated and how these processes are regulated and co-ordinated. The roles of SYG1/PHO81/XPR1 (SPX)-domain-containing membrane proteins in allocating vacuolar P are outlined. We also highlight the importance of vacuolar P in buffering the cytoplasmic Pi concentration to maintain cellular homeostasis when the external P supply fluctuates, and present additional roles for vacuolar polyP and InsP besides being a P reserve. Furthermore, we discuss the possibility of alternative pathways to recycle Pi from other P metabolites in vacuoles. Finally, future perspectives for researching this topic and its potential application in agriculture are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to tackle the implant-related infection, a novel way was developed in this study to coat vancomycin particles mixed with controlled release coating materials onto the surface of titanium alloy by using an electrostatic dry powder coating technique. To characterize this sustained release antibacterial coating, surface morphology, in vitro and in vivo drug release were sequentially evaluated. In vitro cytotoxicity was tested by Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) assay and cytological changes were observed by inverted microscope. The antibacterial properties against MRSA, including a bacterial growth inhibition assay and a colony-counting test by spread plate method were performed. Results indicated that the vancomycin-coated sample was biocompatible for Human osteoblast cell line MG-63 and displayed effective antibacterial ability against MRSA. The coating film was revealed uniform by scanning electron microscopy. Both the in vitro and in vivo drug release kinetics showed an initially high release rate, followed by an extended period of sustained drug release over 7 days. These results suggest that with good biocompatibility and antibacterial ability, the sustained release antibacterial coating of titanium alloy using our novel electrostatic dry powder coating process may provide a promising candidate for the treatment of orthopedic implant-related infection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this case report is to describe an interdisciplinary approach for a 51-year-old male who underwent multiple facial fractures including bilateral condyle fractures. The patient underwent emergency surgery, which included open reduction of the maxilla and mandibular symphysis and closed reduction of the bilateral condyle fractures. Although the patient recovered a comfortable range of mouth opening and alleviation of the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) symptoms after surgery, he suffered from a large anterior-posterior discrepancy due to less stability on the condyle-fossa relationships and from open bite with contacts only on both second molars and right second premolars. In this case, first, to increase the occlusal contact, comprehensive orthodontic treatment was completed. Second, occlusal equilibration was selectively performed to relieve the interferences and establish a stable range of mandibular movement without any changes in the vertical dimension. Third, both the upper central incisors and left lateral incisor were minimally restored with splinted and single zirconia crowns, which had modified lingual contours to provide adequate anterior guidance permitting the anterior-posterior discrepancy of the posterior teeth during protrusion. This conservative interdisciplinary treatment, including open and closed reduction, orthodontic treatment, occlusal adjustment, and minimal prosthetic restorations, resulted in a stable mandibular position and recovery of mastication function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human action recognition has great potential in many applications relevant to artificial intelligence, which can accelerate some research on expert and intelligent systems, such as feature selection. To improve the performance on human action recognition in realistic scenarios, a novel Salient Foreground Trajectory extraction method based on saliency detection and low-rank matrix recovery is proposed to learn the discriminative features from complicated video context. Specifically, a new trajectory saliency combining appearance saliency and motion saliency is proposed to divide the dense trajectories into salient trajectories and non-salient ones. The salient trajectories are approximately corresponding to the interested foreground region, while the non-salient subset is mainly composed of the dominating background trajectories. Furthermore, according to the low rank property of background motion, if the video has background motion, the background trajectory subspace is further constructed on the non-salient trajectory subset via low-rank matrix recovery method. Then the possible background trajectories in the salient subset could be subtracted. Finally, the resulting salient foreground trajectory features are encoded by the approach of Bag of Features or Fisher Vector for action classification. Experiments on KTH, UCF Sports and Olympic Sports have shown that the proposed Salient Foreground Trajectory method is effective and achieves comparable results to the state of the art. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Material losses in metals are a central bottleneck in plasmonics for many applications. Here we propose and theoretically demonstrate that metal losses can be successfully mitigated with dielectric particles on metallic films, giving rise to hybrid dielectric-metal resonances. In the far field, they yield strong and efficient scattering, beyond even the theoretical limits of all-metal and all-dielectric structures. In the near field, they offer high Purcell factor (>5000), high quantum efficiency (>90%), and highly directional emission at visible and infrared wavelengths. Their quality factors can be readily tailored from plasmonic-like (10) to dielectric-like (10³), with wide control over the individual resonant coupling to photon, plasmon, and dissipative channels. Compared with conventional plasmonic nanostructures, such resonances show robustness against detrimental nonlocal effects and provide higher field enhancement at extreme nanoscopic sizes and spacings. These hybrid resonances equip plasmonics with high efficiency, which has been the predominant goal since the field's inception. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hybrid life cycle assessment (LCA), through combining input-output (IO) models and process-based LCA for a complete system boundary, is widely recognized as a more accurate approach than process-based LCA with an incomplete system boundary. Without a complete process model for verification, however, the performance of hybrid LCA remains unclear. Here, using a counterexample we show that hybrid LCA does not necessarily provide more accurate results than process-based LCA, simply because the aggregation of heterogeneous processes in IO models may introduce more errors. In so doing, we prove that only when IO-based LCA and process-based LCA have the same level of detail would they yield the same results. Whether hybrid LCA provides more accurate estimates depends on whether the IO model introduced serves as an adequate proxy for the missing products as opposed to if they were estimated by a complete process model. The use of a highly-aggregated IO model runs the risk of overestimation, and could result in a larger relative error than the truncation error resulting from an incomplete process model. Our study seeks to provide a balanced view of hybrid LCA, and our findings offer important insights for future hybrid LCA studies to improve the accuracy and realm of applicability of the approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Platelet Endothelial Aggregation Receptor 1 (PEAR1), a membrane protein highly expressed in platelets and endothelial cells, plays a role in platelet contact-induced activation, sustained platelet aggregation and endothelial function. Previous reports implicate PEAR1 rs12041331 as a variant influencing risk in patients with coronary heart disease. We investigated whether genetic variation in PEAR1 predicts cardiovascular outcome in a white population. Methods: In 1938 participants enrolled in the Flemish Study on Environment, Genes and Health Outcomes (51.3% women; mean age 43.6 years), we genotyped 9 tagging SNPs in PEAR1, measured baseline cardiovascular risk factors, and recorded Cardiovascular disease incidence. For SNPs, we contrasted cardiovascular disease incidence of minorallele heterozygotes and homozygotes (variant) vs. major-allele homozygotes (reference) and for haplotypes carriers vs. non-carriers. In adjusted analyses, we accounted for family clusters and baseline covariables, including sex, age, body mass index, mean arterial pressure, the total-to-HDL cholesterol ratio, smoking and drinking, antihypertensive drug treatment, and history of cardiovascular disease and diabetes mellitus. Results: Over a median follow-up of 15.3 years, 238 died and 181 experienced a major cardiovascular endpoint. The multivariable-adjusted hazard ratios of eight PEAR1 SNPs, including rs12566888, ranged from 0.87 to 1.07 (P ≥0.35) and from 0.78 to 1.30 (P ≥0.15), respectively. The hazard ratios of three haplotypes with frequency ≥10% ranged from 0.93 to 1.11 (P ≥0.49) for mortality and from 0.84 to 1.03 (P ≥0.29) for a cardiovascular complications. These results were not influenced by intake of antiplatelet drugs, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or both (P-values for interaction ≥ 0.056). Conclusions: In a White population, we could not replicate previous reports from experimental studies or obtained in patients suggesting that PEAR1 might be a susceptibility gene for cardiovascular complications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-temperature activation has been commonly used to boost the photoelectrochemical (PEC) performance of hematite nanowires for water oxidation, by inducing Sn diffusion from fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) substrate into hematite. Yet, hematite nanowires thermally annealed at high temperature suffer from two major drawbacks that negatively affect their performance. First, the structural deformation reduces light absorption capability of nanowire. Second, this "passive" doping method leads to nonuniform distribution of Sn dopant in nanowire and limits the Sn doping concentration. Both factors impair the electrochemical properties of hematite nanowire. Here we demonstrate a silica encapsulation method that is able to simultaneously retain the hematite nanowire morphology even after high-temperature calcination at 800 °C and improve the concentration and uniformity of dopant distribution along the nanowire growth axis. The capability of retaining nanowire morphology allows tuning the nanowire length for optimal light absorption. Uniform distribution of Sn doping enhances the donor density and charge transport of hematite nanowire. The morphology and doping engineered hematite nanowire photoanode decorated with a cobalt oxide-based oxygen evolution reaction (OER) catalyst achieves an outstanding photocurrent density of 2.2 mA cm-2 at 0.23 V vs Ag/AgCl. This work provides important insights on how the morphology and doping uniformity of hematite photoanodes affect their PEC performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This study aim to evaluate surgical procedures for titanium plate internal fixation of sternal fractures with displacement or nonunion.Methods: From January 2010 to December 2014, 64 patients with sternal fractures were treated with titanium plate internal fixation in the thoracic surgery department of the Shanghai Sixth People's Hospital. Pain severity scale scores were analyzed preoperatively and postoperatively. All the patients had a 2-month follow-up for treatment evaluation.Results: The mean hospital length of stay was 16.89 days. Forty-five patients underwent surgery for combined injuries. A statistically significant difference (P < 0.05) was found between preoperative and postoperative pain severity scores (7.74 ± 0.89 vs. 3.80 ± 0.79, respectively). At follow-up, healing of the nonunion or fracture was confirmed in all the cases.Conclusion: The rigid titanium plate application ensured a safe and easy management of traumatic sternal fractures and nonunion with a good prognosis as compared with other methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Micro pulse lidar is a promising tool for retrieving the convective boundary layer height (CBLH), but its application has been hindered by sharp extinction of the signal in high humidity conditions, e.g., clouds. To remedy this, we developed an effective and simple limiter to obtain more accurate estimates of the CBLH. The limiter is based on the algorithm for the convective condensation level (CCL) and is aimed at limiting the vertical extent of the lidar backscatter profile used in lidar methods to search for the CBLH. Four lidar methods (i.e., the gradient method, the idealized backscatter method, and two forms of the wavelet covariance methods) are used to calculate the CBLH with (or without) the limiter added. Compared to the CBLH calculated by the parcel method from microwave radiometer temperature data, more accurate retrieval of the CBLH is carried out with the limiter applied in four cloudy cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the extension of a wave and finite element (WFE) method to the prediction of noise transmission through, and radiation from, infinite panels. The WFE method starts with a conventional finite element model of a small segment of the panel. For a given frequency, the mass and stiffness matrices of the segment are used to form the structural dynamic stiffness matrix. The acoustic responses of the fluids surrounding the structure are modelled analytically. The dynamic stiffness matrix of the segment is post-processed using periodic structure theory, and coupled with those of the fluids. The total dynamic stiffness matrix is used to obtain the response of the medium to an incident acoustic pressure. Excitation of the structure by oblique plane waves and a diffuse sound field are considered. The response to structural excitation and the consequent radiation are determined. Since the size of the WFE model is small, computational times are small. Various example applications are presented to illustrate the approach, including a thin isotropic panel, an antisymmetric, cross-ply sandwich panel and a symmetric panel with an orthotropic core. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Four thienylene (C4H2S) bridged Mo2 dimers, [Mo2(DAniF)3]2(μ-OOCC4H2SCOO) (DAniF = N,N′-di(p-anisyl)formamidinate), [Mo2(DAniF)3]2(μ-N(H)SCC4H2SCN(H)S), [Mo2(DAniF)3]2(μ-OSCC4H2SCSO) and [Mo2(DAniF)3]2(μ-SSCC4H2SCSS), have been synthesized and studied in terms of electronic coupling. The subtle structural differences between these compounds vary largely the extent of electron delocalization; consequently, a systematic transition from Class II to Class III via Class II–III is achieved, which is probed using spectral parameters of intervalence charge transfer (IVCT) absorption (band energy, intensity and shape) for the mixed-valence complexes. Significantly, the species in Class II–III displays a low energy, half cut-off and solvent-dependent IVCT band, while a high energy, less asymmetrical IVCT band is observed for the complex in Class III. These results give fresh and detailed understanding of the system transition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lightning network data, considered as a useful supplement to radar observations, are a good indicator of severe convection, and has high temporal and spatial resolution. In Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) models, lightning data are a new source of data to improve the forecasting of convective systems. In this case study, lightning data assimilation is conducted by converting lightning data to water vapor mixing ratio via a simple smooth continuous function, with input variables of total flash rate and simulated graupel mixing ratio at 9 km gridded resolution. Relative humidity converted from the retrieved water vapor mixing ratio is assimilated into the background field utilizing the three-dimensional variational (3DVAR) method in WRFDA (theWeather Research and Forecasting model Data Assimilation system). The benefits of assimilating lightning data are demonstrated in a series of experiments using data from a strong convection event that affected Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei and Shandong Province, on 31 July 2007. A nested domain with resolutions of 9 km and 3 km is implemented. For this case, assimilating lightning data shows some improvements in predictions of both reflectivity and neighboring precipitation, and in the temperature, dew-point temperature and relative humidity profile after seven hours. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electric load forecasting, as a crucial way to tackle the energy tasks, helps to provide correct guidance and reduce energy consumption for an electric system. This paper introduces a novel forecasting method that combines wavelet transform (WT) and particle swarm optimization (PSO) with an extreme learning machine, phase space reconstruction (PSR) and a least squares support vector machine. Because the electric data that are easily interfered by many factors are unstable, directly adopting the data containing noise will affect the forecasting performance. Prior to the electric forecasting conduct, WT is adopted to reduce the noise. Because only a single method is not able to suit for all kinds of data, three individual models with a strong nonlinear learning capability are applied to deal with the whole time series that have complex nonlinear characteristics. They are used to obtain intermediate forecasting results. Besides, the C-C method is utilized to acquire the optimal delay time and embedding dimension of the PSR. PSO is employed to attain the best proportion of each single method of the hybrid model. By multiplying the corresponding optimal weights by all the three forecasting results and then adding them up, the final result of the hybrid method can be attained. In order to assess the accuracy and applicability of the proposed hybrid method, half-hourly electric load data of New South Wales and Victoria of Australia are used as case studies. The experiment results show that the hybrid method outperforms the individual methods and is appropriate for different kinds of data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

2-Hydroxymelatonin is a predominant hydroxylated melatonin metabolite in plants. To investigate whether it has potent cytotoxic effects on colorectal cancer cells, four colorectal cancer cell lines, Caco2, HCT116, DLD1, and CT26, were treated with 2-hydroxymelatonin and melatonin. 2-Hydroxymelatonin had a much lower IC50 value than melatonin in the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. The cytotoxic effect of 2-hydroxymelatonin was much stronger than that of melatonin at high concentrations (1000 or 2000 μM) in HCT116, DLD1, and CT26 cells, but only at intermediate concentrations (250 or 500 μM) in Caco2 cells. The cytotoxicity of 2-hydroxymelatonin was induced through activation of the apoptotic signaling pathway, as confirmed by Hoechst staining and Annexin V-FITC/propidium iodide double labeling of cells treated with a lethal dose (1 mM). However, sub-lethal doses of 2-hydroxymelatonin inhibited the invasive ability of Caco2 cells. Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) markers were significantly regulated by 2-hydroxymelatonin. Overall, the anti-cancer activity of 2-hydroxymelatonin is more potent than that of melatonin. Taken together, 2-hydroxymelatonin exhibits potent anti-cancer activity against human colorectal cancer cells via induction of apoptosis and inhibition of EMT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: The formation of hypertrophic scaring (HSc) is an abnormal wound-healing response. In a previous study, an animal model with human scar tissue implanted into nude mice (BALB/c) has been successfully established. The effects of verapamil as well as combination therapy with verapamil and kenacort have been studied and compared. OBJECTIVE: To treat persistent hypertrophic scars, local injection of drugs composed of steroids, calcium channel blockers (CCBs), and interferon might be a good method. What is the best dose of the regimen and what are the mechanisms are also a worthwhile study. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Scar specimens were harvested from patients with HSc or Keloid resulting from burn injury, and then implanted to BALB/c-nu nude mice for 4 weeks. Before implantation, the specimen was either injected with or without drugs such as steroids (kenacort), CCBs (verapamil), and interferons (INFαb), respectively. After the removal of implants, quantitative gene expressions of decorin and collagenase (MMP13) were measured using a real-time polymerase chain reaction to detect their mRNAs. Two way-ANOVA and Post Hoc were used for statistical analysis using the software SPSS 15.0. RESULTS: All drug-treated groups increased the expressions of decorin and MMP13 in comparison with those in noninjected group (p < .001) in a dose-dependent manner. Comparing equal amounts of individual drugs, gene expression of decorin was increased with increasing injection amount, and the best result in low amount of injection (0.02 mL of each) was shown in the group injected with INFα2b followed by kenacort and verapamil. However, the results were changed while injection amount was up to 0.04 mL and the strongest decorin gene expression was found in kenacort injection. Regarding MMP-13 expression, low-amount injection (0.02 mL) of INFα2b has strongest gene expression followed by kenacort and verapamil, but in the largeamount regimes (0.04 mL), verapamil had strongest gene expression followed by INFα2b and kenacort. CONCLUSION: This study showed that the kenacort, verapamil, and INFa2b all inhibited HSc in a dosedependent manner through the evidence of gene expression of decorin and MMP13. In comparison with the injections between small amounts of drugs, INFa2b potentiated the strongest decorin and MMP13 expression. On the contrary, among the large-amount injection regimes, kenacrot was more effective on decorin expression as verapamil to MMP13 expression. To decrease side effects from the drugs and produce promising results for the clinical practice, it is suggested to maintain the dose of INFa2b along with an increased dose of verapamil for HSc improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we propose a novel distributed unequal error protection (UEP) rateless coding scheme (DURC) for space information networks (SIN). We consider the multimedia data transmissions in a dual-hop SIN communication scenario, where multiple disjoint source nodes need to transmit their UEP rateless coded data to a destination via a dynamic relay. We formulate the optimization problems to provide optimal degree distributions on the direct links and the dynamic relay links to satisfy the required error protection levels. The optimization methods are based on the And-Or tree analysis and can be solved by multi-objective programming. In addition, we evaluate the performance of the optimal DURC scheme, and simulation results show that the proposed DURC scheme can effectively provide UEP property under a variety of error requirements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The accumulation of advanced glycation end-products (AGEs) and the enhanced interaction of AGE with their cellular receptor (RAGE) have been implicated in the progression of chronic kidney disease. The purpose of this study was to examine whether the AGE/RAGE-induced nephrotoxic effects are associated with inflammasome activation and endothelial dysfunction. Chronic renal injury was examined in BALB/c mice by the long-term administration of carbonyl-AGE for 16 weeks. Endothelial dysfunction was detected by measuring the number of circulating endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) and the levels of nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) and nitric oxide (NO) in kidneys. Results showed that administration of methylglyoxal-bovine serum albumin (MG-BSA) AGE accelerated renal MG, carboxyethyl lysine, carboxymethyl lysine and malondialdehyde formation and, in parallel, the levels of serum creatinine and blood urea nitrogen (BUN) were significantly increased. Expression of RAGE and NLRP3 inflammasome-related proteins (TXNIP, NLRP3, procaspase-1 and caspase-1) and IL (interleukin)-1β secretion were upregulated, whereas the levels of EPCs, eNOS and NO were lower in MG-BSA-treated mice. This induction by MG-BSA was significantly inhibited by RAGE antagonist. Our results firstly reveal a possible mechanism of AGE-mediated renal dysfunction upon NLRP3 inflammasome activation. Therapeutic blockade of RAGE may ameliorate renal and endothelial functions in subjects under high AGE burden. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Complex and multiple mechanisms are involved in the etiology of Hepatitis C virus-associated immune thrombocytopenia (HCV-ITP). Many hematopoietic growth factors affect the thrombopoiesis. The aim of this study was to clarify the interaction of the thrombopoietic factors in patients with HCV-ITP. Methods: We selected 33 patients with HCV-ITP and 17 normal individuals. We compare serum interleukin (IL)-3, IL-6, IL-11, thrombopoietin (Tpo), stem cell factor (SCF), granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF), tumour necrosis factor-α (TNFα), and spleen size between these two groups. Results: Our study shows that Tpo, IL-6, and TNFα significantly increased in patients with HCV-ITP compared to the normal population (Tpo:122.577 vs. 40.602; IL-6: 2.175 vs. 0.943; TNFα: 2.460 vs. 1.322). IL-11 was significantly lower in the HCV-ITP group (10.829 vs. 15.042). HCV-ITP patients had a higher spleen index (21.121 vs 13.498,P = 0.003). According to regression analysis and multiple linear regression analysis, only IL-11 had a significantly positive correlation with platelet count, while TNFα showed a negative correlation. Discussions: Tpo and IL-6 increased in patients with HCV-ITP, suggesting a positive feedback of low platelet count. TNFα-associated immune response is suspected to have an impact on low platelet count. IL-11 is assumed to directly affect thrombopoiesis. Conclusions: This study is the most comprehensive study to evaluate the interaction between platelet count and the important thrombopoetic factors in patients with HCV-ITP. The thrombopoietic factors clearly play an important role in HCV-ITP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lotus root is the most consumed aquatic vegetable in China. Both the actual boiling of lotus root and the simulated boiling of its extract were performed at different conditions to explore the development of non-enzymatic browning and the loss of reducing sugars, free amino acids, total free phenols and ascorbic acid. The kinetic parameters of zero-order and first-order models indicated that both browning degree and nutrient loss had a positive correlation with boiling time, temperature and pH value. Moreover, nutrient contents and boiling conditions were adopted as independent variables to establish the multiple linear regression model of browning degree (P < 0.001), which confirmed that reducing sugars and total phenols principally contributed to the browning (P < 0.01), through caramelization and phenol oxidation. With the addition of baking soda (pH 8), 100 °C boiling decreased the DPPH radical scavenging capacity and ferric reducing antioxidant power of lotus root extract by 62.96% and 58.51%, respectively. Furthermore, 120 °C boiling probably induced the formation of browning products, which possessed cytotoxicity against HepG2 and L02 cells. A short boiling time, as well as an acidic condition induced by added vinegar, is recommended for cooking and processing of lotus root in consideration of nutrition and health. • Lotus root and its extract were similar in browning during boiling. • Time, temperature and pH value positively contributed to browning and nutrient loss. • Caramelization and phenol oxidation were the main browning mechanisms. • Lotus root boiled in acidic conditions in favor of edible nutrition and safety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The beneficial effects of plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) on crop growth and yield have been widely recognized. However, the application of PGPR in traditional planting systems is often restricted due to the concerns about the incompatibility between PGPR and chemical agricultural inputs. The aim of this study is to test whether the application of PGPR has a beneficial effect on the productivity and sustainability of the green planting system, where the use of low-toxic chemical pesticides and proper amount of chemical fertilizer is allowed. In the current study, field trials of four agriculture systems: green agriculture system, green agriculture system supplemented with beneficial microorganism consortium, organic agriculture system supplemented with the consortium and the control system, were carried out with white, yellow and purple flesh sweet potato varieties. The application of PGPR increased the plant growth and suppressed the stem nematode disease in green system. As a consequence, PGPR increased the yield by 26.44% and raised the farmers' projected returns in green system on an average of the two-year assessment. Moreover, PGPR promoted the product nutritive quality by 7.51% in soluble sugar and 14.30% in vitamin C content, and also increased the anthocyanin content of the purple sweet potato by 10.73%. Exogenous PGPR significantly retarded the depletion of soil fertility during the crop cultivation, promoted the soil bacterial diversity and altered the bacteria community structure. PGPR treatment increased the relative abundances of Pseudomonas and Lysobacter in the rhizosphere soil, while reduced the amounts of Erwinia and Ralstonia. The changes of soil nutrient and microbes were correlated with the application of exogenous beneficial bacteria regardless of in organic or green agriculture system. Here, we showed the ability of PGPR to efficiently improve the productivity in green agriculture system under the tested condition, and provided evidence for the feasibility of using exogenous PGPR to achieve agricultural sustainability by constructing a positive feedback in crop-soil-microbe interactions. [Display omitted] • PGPR increased soil micro ecological diversity and remodeled population structure. • PGPR in green agriculture system improved the sustainability of agricultural soil. • Proposed the virtuous cycle of plant-soil-microbe driven by PGPR. • PGPR help to develop a balance between productivity, environment and economics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We hereby report on a pioneering and inspiring solid oxide cell which, assisted by natural gas, utilizes a bifunctional electrolysis cell configuration to effectively consume CO2 to produce CO at the cathode side and simultaneously synthesize highly valuable syngas (mixture of CO and H2) at the anode side via a one-step green process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]