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Tetrandrine (Tet), a traditional Chinese herbal medicine extract, exhibits anti‐cancer effect on many types of cancer. Nonetheless, the action mechanism of Tet in gastric cancer (GC) is still largely unclear. In the current study, proliferation, invasion, and migration of the BGC‐823 and MKN‐45 cells were effectively suppressed by Tet treatment in a dose‐dependent manner. Moreover, Tet suppressed expression of the proliferation‐associated protein PCNA, the interstitial cell phenotype N‐cadherin, and the extracellular matrix‐associated MMP‐2 and MMP‐9 in BGC‐823 and MKN‐45 cells in a dose‐dependent manner. PI3K/AKT/mTOR, a cancer promoting signaling, was inactivated by Tet in a dose‐dependent manner in BGC‐823 and MKN‐45 cells. Furthermore, our results demonstrated that the inhibition of Tet to PCNA, N‐cadherin, MMP‐2, and MMP‐9 expression was partly rescuedby AKT inhibitor or mTOR inhibitor. In animal experiments, tumor growth was inhibited by Tet administration in a dose‐dependent manner. In conclusion, the current data indicated that Tet had a critical effect on inhibiting BGC‐823 and MKN‐45 cells proliferation, migration, invasion, and tumor growth via regulating PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway, suggesting that Tet might be a potential treatment for GC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A nonlinear integral sliding-mode control (NISMC) scheme is proposed for second order nonlinear systems. The new control scheme is characterized by a nonlinear integral sliding manifold which inherits the desired properties of the integral sliding manifold, such as robustness to system external disturbance. In particular, compared with four kinds of sliding mode control (SMC), the proposed control scheme is able to provide better transient performances. Furthermore, the proposed scheme ensures the zero steady-state error in the presence of a constant disturbance or an asymptotically constant disturbance is proved by Lyapunov stability theory and LaSalle invariance principle. Finally, both the theoretical analysis and simulation examples demonstrate the validity of the proposed scheme.

Herein, thermochromic superhydrophobic coatings (TSCs) with different colors are prepared, and their surface wettabilities and optical properties are studied. The TSC coating maintains its surface superhydrophobicity even after a series of mechanical damage (sandpaper abrasion, gravel impact, and knife scratching), chemical corrosion, ultraviolet aging, and environmental temperature changes. Contaminants on the surface of the coating sre easily washed by water droplets. The TSC has a reversible color function with a critical discoloration temperature (Tc) approximately in the range 28–31 °C. In winter, the ambient temperature (Ta) is lower than Tc, and the TSC is dark and absorbs more solar energy. Although in summer, Ta > Ta, the TSC is light and reflects more solar energy. The sunlight exposure test shows that the surface temperature of the thermochromic pigment/polydimethylsiloxane (TP/PDMS) coating in winter is only 0.9 °C lower than that of the carbon black/PDMS (CB/PDMS) coating, whereas in summer, the surface temperature of the TP/PDMS coating is only 6.2 °C higher than that of TiO2/PDMS coating. Energy consumption simulation results show that the TP/PDMS coating decreases the total annual energy consumption in North China by 13.74% compared with the traditional white cooling coating. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]