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Introduction: Liver cancer is one of the most common malignancies of the digestive system. Minimally invasive ablation procedures have become one of the major means for treating unresectable multifocal liver cancer and have been extensively applied in primary and metastatic liver cancer treatment. Laparoscopic B-ultrasound-guided microwave ablation is an example of the progress made in this field. Aim: To analyze and summarize the results of and experience with laparoscopic B-ultrasound-guided microwave ablation for multifocal primary liver cancer; moreover, the ablation effects were compared between tumors of different sizes. Material and methods: Laparoscope-guided needle ablation was conducted on 84 lesions from 32 patients with primary liver cancer based on tumor size, quantity, and location. Moreover, the perioperative data, ablation effects according to tumor size, and long-term follow-up results were analyzed. Results: Among the 84 nodules treated via microwave ablation, tumors measuring = 3 cm demonstrated complete ablation upon imaging analysis conducted 1 month after surgery. Moreover, 5 of the tumors measuring > 3 cm demonstrated incomplete ablation. In these cases, a second procedure was performed, until imaging studies confirmed that complete ablation was achieved. Conclusions: Laparoscopic microwave ablation allows for precise puncture positioning, an effective ablation range, and safe and feasible surgery, which is especially suitable for liver tumors located in sites difficult to access. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abamectin has been widely used as an insecticide/acaricide for more than 30 years because of its superior bioactivity. Recently, an interesting phenomenon was identified in the carmine spider mite, Tetranychus cinnabarinus, an important pest in agriculture. The gamma aminobutyric acid (GABA) contents in a laboratory abamectin resistant strain of T. cinnabarinus (AbR) were significantly increased. Decreases in activity and mRNA expression of GABA transaminase (GABA-T) were responsible for GABA accumulation in AbR mites. To clarify the mechanism of GABA accumulation mediated abamectin resistance, three artificial approaches were conducted to increase GABA contents in susceptible mites, including feeding of vigabatrin (a specific inhibitor of GABA-T), feeding of exogenous GABA, and inhibition of GABA-T gene expression. The results showed that susceptible mites developed resistance to abamectin when the GABA contents were artificially increased. We also observed that the mites with higher GABA contents moved more slowly, which is consistent with the fact that GABA is an inhibitory neurotransmitter in arthropods. Subsequently, functional response assays revealed that predation rates of predatory mites on GABA accumulated abamectin-resistant mites were much higher than control groups. The tolerance to abamectin, slow crawling speed, and vulnerability to predators were all resulted from GABA accumulation. This relationship between GABA and predation was also confirmed in a field-collected population. Our finding indicates that predatory mites might be used as a tool for biological control to circumvent the development of abamectin resistance in mites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The carmine spider mite, Tetranychus cinnabarinus (Boisduval), is one of the most important pests in the agricultural industry. Avermectins, as efficient acaricides, have been extensively used in the mite control. The targets for avermectins in mammals, nematodes, and insects had already been identified as c-aminobutyric acid and glutamate chloride channels. However, the targets for avermectins in mites are still not clear. Here, we report the cloning of 5 full-length glutamate-gated chloride channel genes (TcGluCls) and 3 c-aminobutyric acid chloride channel genes (TcGABACls) and their expression levels in different developmental stages in T. cinnabarinus. All 8 genes were successfully silenced in 2 sets using RNAi. One set was made of 5 TcGluCls, and the other set was composed of 3 TcGABACls. Compared with the control, after gene silencing the mortalities of mites in both sets decreased significantly when treated with 2 concentrations of abamectin, lethal concentration (LC30) and LC70. Functional expression in Xenopus laevis oocytes and electrophysiological assays showed that these candidate targets are mediated by L-glutamate and GABA, respectively. The electrophysiological assays showed all 5 TcGluCls are sensitive to abamectin and ivermectin. Nevertheless, 3 TcGABACls are unresponsive to the same doses of these 2 acaricides. Our data suggested that TcGluCls are targets for abamectin and ivermectin. TcGABACls could not be activated by abamectin or ivermectin under current experimental conditions. However, the result of RNAi indicated that downregulation of TcGABACls decreased acaricidal activity of abamectin, suggesting that TcGABACls could not be excluded completely as targets for abamectin in mites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The wheel driving torque on four-wheel-drive electric vehicles (4WDEVs) can be modulated precisely and continuously, therefore maneuverability and energy-saving control can be carried out at the same time. In this paper, a wheel torque distribution strategy is developed based on multi-objective optimization to improve vehicle maneuverability and reduce energy consumption. In the high-layer of the presented method, sliding mode control is used to calculate the desired yaw moment due to the model inaccuracy and parameter error. In the low-layer, mathematical programming with the penalty function consisting of the yaw moment control offset, the drive system energy loss and the slip ratio constraint is used for wheel torque control allocation. The programming is solved with the combination of off-line and on-line optimization to reduce the calculation cost, and the optimization results are sent to motor controllers as torque commands. Co-simulation based on MATLAB® and Carsim® proves that the developed strategy can both improve the vehicle maneuverability and reduce energy consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The two-dimensional (2D) molecular imprinting approach has attracted extensive research interest in recent years due to its potential advantages such as simple construction, fast template removal and rapid mass transfer. In this study, a new 2D imprinting approach based on the combination of mesoporous silica materials and molecular imprinting technology is reported. 2D molecularly imprinted materials (MIMs) for cholesterol were prepared by using cholesterol as the template, azide modified β-cyclodextrin (azide-β-CD) as the functional monomer and alkynyl-modified SBA-15 (alkyne-SBA-15) as the skeleton. In this method, azide-β-CD molecules were first assembled around the templates by formation of template-monomer complexes, and thus the mutual positions of azide-β-CD molecules were fixed. Then, azide-β-CD molecules were anchored to the walls of the nano-pores of SBA-15 via click chemistry. After removal of the template molecules, the resulting cavities, i.e., recognition sites were formed in the nano-pores of mesoporous silicas. The synthesized MIM was characterized by FT-IR, X-ray diffraction (XRD), elemental analysis (EA), thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and so on. Binding kinetic experiments demonstrated that the 2D imprinting approach can improve site accessibility for the template effectively. The 2D MIM exhibited binding affinity and specificity for the template, as revealed by equilibrium binding experiments. When using MIM as a stationary phase for HPLC, baseline separation of cholesterol from other compounds can be achieved. In addition, the use of 2D imprinting significantly reduced the peak broadening and tailing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The evolution simulation of dust particles provides an important way to analyze the impact of dust on the environment. KMCbased parallel algorithm is proposed to simulate the evolution of dust particles. In the parallel evolution simulation algorithm of dust particles, data distribution way and communication optimizing strategy are raised to balance the load of every process and reduce the communication expense among processes. The experimental results show that the simulation of diffusion, sediment, and resuspension of dust particles in virtual campus is realized and the simulation time is shortened by parallel algorithm, which makes up for the shortage of serial computing and makes the simulation of large-scale virtual environment possible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study that deals with 1.28 parts per million (PPM) biomarker in other stem cells and non-stem cells. It explores the relationship between 1.28 ppm biomarker and mobile lipid droplets. Based on results, the authors discovered the presence of 1.28 ppm biomarker in human mesenchymal stem cells and the absence of EC109 cells.

Spider mites are destructive arthropod pests on many crops and they have developed resistance to nearly all acaricides. In recent years, along with the application of high throughput sequencing, the molecular mechanisms of mite resistance had made a series of progress. But, the response in molecular level of mite exposure to acaricides, as well as the original mechanism of resistance development was still unclear. To disclose the deeply mechanisms, we used RNA sequencing to analyze the responses of mite exposure to a sublethal concentration (LC 30) treatment of the three different action mode acaricides (Abamectin, Fenpropathrin, and Tebufenpyrad). A high number of differentially expressed genes may well be involved in detoxification and regulatory, with extensive overlap in differentially expressed genes between the three insecticide treatments. Two cytochrome P450 genes were co-up-regulated and one glutathione S-transferase genes were co-down-regulated in all the treatments, while carboxylesterase genes only had a response to abamectin. This interesting phenomenon revealed that P450 enzymes play an important role in the early stage of mite exposure to acaricide. Moreover, a P8 nuclear receptor gene was in response to stress caused by exposure to acaricides and RNA interference (RNAi) experiment indicated P8 nuclear receptor regulates the P450 enzyme activity and susceptibility of mites to acaricide. The differential response information of gene expression based on a large-scale sequence would provide some useful clues for studying the molecular mechanisms of mite resistance formation and development. Unlabelled Image • RNA sequencing detected an overlap with 90 differentially expressed genes when mite exposure to three different action mode acaricides (Abamectin, Fenpropathrin, and Tebufenpyrad). • P8 nuclear receptor of mite was in response to stresses caused by exposure to acaricides. • P8 nuclear receptor regulated P450 activity and susceptibility of mite exposure to acaricides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]