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A sparse array synthesis method based on improved wind-driven optimization algorithm (IWDO) and fast Fourier transform (FFT) for the purpose of sidelobe suppression was introduced. First, the unifo...

Drug repurposing offers a promising alternative to dramatically shorten the process of traditional de novo development of a drug. These efforts leverage the fact that a single molecule can act on multiple targets and could be beneficial to indications where the additional targets are relevant. Hence, extensive research efforts have been directed toward developing drug based computational approaches. However, many drug based approaches are known to incur low successful rates, due to incomplete modeling of drug-target interactions. There are also many technical limitations to transform theoretical computational models into practical use. Drug based approaches may, thus, still face challenges for drug repurposing task. Upon this challenge, we developed a consensus inverse docking (CID) workflow, which has a ~ 10% enhancement in success rate compared with current best method. Besides, an easily accessible web server named auto in silico consensus inverse docking (ACID) was designed based on this workflow (http://chemyang.ccnu.edu.cn/ccb/server/ACID).

To observe the effect of hypoxia on autophagy in Beclin-1-knockdown SH-SY5Y cells by constructing a stable transfected SH-SY5Y cell lines of silencing Beclin-1 gene.Beclin-1shRNA lentiviral vector and negative control lentiviral vector were constructed; the vector was transfected into SH-SY5Y cells; then the expression of Beclin-1 mRNA was detected by RT-PCR, the level of Beclin-1 protein was detected by Western blot. CCK-8 method was used to determine the effect of Beclin-1 knockdown on the viability of SH-SY5Y cells. Next, the blank control, negative control and transfected cells were cultured under 21% normoxia and 5% hypoxia conditions. The expression of LC3 protein in each group was detected by Western blot and the autophagic bodies were observed by electron microscopy.Beclin-1 shRNA significantly inhibited the expression of Beclin-1 mRNA and protein in SH-SY5Y cells; after silencing Beclin 1 gene, the survival rate of Beclin-1 shRNA group cells was no different from that of negative control (NC) group. After 5% hypoxia treatment, compared with NC group, the ratio of LC3Ⅱ/LC3Ⅰand the number of autophagy bodies were all decreased in Beclin-1 shRNA group.Beclin-1 knockdown SH-SY5Y cell lines and negative control cell lines were successfully established. Lentivirus-mediated Beclin-1 shRNA has no effect on the viability of SH-SY5Y cells, but can inhibit hypoxia-induced autophagy.

Additional file 1. Additional tables and figures.

Structural analyses of drugs and pesticides can enable the identification of new bioactive compounds with novel and diverse scaffolds as well as improve our understanding of the bioactive fragment space. The Pesticide And Drug Fragments (PADFrag) database is a unique bioinformatic-cheminformatic cross-referencing resource that combines detailed bioactive fragment data and potential targets with a strong focus on quantitative, analytic, and molecular-scale information for the exploration of bioactive fragment space for drug discovery ( http://chemyang.ccnu.edu.cn/ccb/database/PADFrag/ ). The main applications of PADFrag are the analysis of the privileged structures within known bioactive molecules, ab initio molecule library design, and core fragment discovery for fragment-based drug design. Other potential applications include prediction of fragment interactions and general pharmaceutical research.

To investigate the protection effects of hypoxic preconditioning(HPC) on the SH-SY5Y cell injured by oxygen-glu-cose deprivation(OGD),and to discuss the possible mechanism.SH-SY5Y cells were randomly divided into 4 groups. In normal group,the cells were cultured without OGD treatment. In HPC group,the cultured SH-SY5Y cells were treated for 5 days by intermittently ex-posing to hypoxic gas mixture (2% OHypoxic preconditioning relieved the cells apoptosis,decreased the amount of LDH leakage and improved theHypoxic preconditioning has protective effect on in vitro cultured SH-SY5Y cells injured by OGD. The mechanism may be related to the increase of HIF-1a protein.

In this paper, full-density Al-Zn-Mg-Cu-Zr powder metallurgy (P/M) alloy is prepared by hot-press sintering in vacuum at 600°C. Experiments are conducted to evaluate the effects of Zn additive in the range of 7.2-8.4 wt.% on the microstructure and mechanical properties of Al-Zn-Mg-Cu-Zr alloys. X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microstructure (SEM) and electron probe micro-analyzer (EPMA), and mechanical properties such as tensile strength are measured. The porosity decreases gradually with increasing of Zn and it achieves 0.01% with a density of 2.95 g/cm3at 8.4% Zn. The tensile strength reaches the maximal value of 436 MPa at 8.4% Zn.

This study aimed to examine the role of the nicotinic receptor (nAChR) in the generation of theta oscillations (4–12 Hz) in vitro. Electrophysiological studies were performed on medial septal diagonal band area (MSDB) slices to measure theta oscillation. Immunofluorescence and confocal microscopy studies were carried out to detect α4 nAChR and β2 nAChR subunits in perfused-fixed tissue from VGluT2-GFP and GAD67-GFP transgenic mice. Application of nicotine to MSDB slices produced persistent theta oscillations in which area power increased in a dose-responsive manner. This activity was inhibited by GABAA receptor antagonists and partially by ionotropic glutamate receptor antagonists, indicating the involvement of local GABAergic and glutamatergic neurons in the production of the rhythmic activity. The nicotine-induced theta activity was also inhibited selectively by non-α7*nAChR antagonists, suggesting the presence of these receptor types on GABAergic and glutamatergic neuron populations in the MSDB. This was confirmed by immunofluorescence and confocal microscopy studies in transgenic mice in which the GABAergic and glutamatergic neurons express green fluorescent protein (GFP), showing localisation of β2 nAChR and α4 nAChR subunits, the most common constituents of non-α7*nAChRs, in both cell types in the MSDB. Theta activity in the MSDB may be generated by tonic stimulation of non-α7*nAChRs.

The casting and solidification process of the bimetallic composite pipe were simulated by ProCAST software aiming at the misrun defect in the pipe. The causes of defect were analyzed from the factors of the pouring temperature, pouring time, preheating temperature of mold and the height of sprue. Reasonable improvements were presented based on the simulation results. Industrial tests showed that misrun defect disappeared after the process was improved, which in turn verified the effectiveness and reliability of simulation results.

Spark plasma sintering (SPS) is a newly developed technique that enables poorly sinterable tin oxide powder to be fully densified. Sintering without sintering aids is of great importance when SnO2ceramics are used as electrodes in the glass melting industry and aluminum electrometallurgy. Dense and good-conductive Antimony-doped SnO2 ceramics can be achieved by SPS at a lower sintering temperature and in a shorter time. When the Sb2O3concentration is 1.0 mol%, the densities of the samples reach their maximum value, which is 98.2% of the theoretical value. When the content of Sb2O3was 2.44mol%, SnO2ceramics with densities 97.6% can be obtained at 800°C-1000°C, and the resistivity was about 5.19×10-2Ω.cm at the sintering temperature of 1000°C. Defined amount of Sb3+used in our research are beneficial to low the sintering temperature and promote the densification of SnO2ceramics

To evaluate the long-term clinical effect of dual anti-collagen membranes in guided tissue regeneration (GTR).This randomized clinical trial included 26 teeth in 24 patients, presenting a total of 31 lesions consisting of intrabony defects and furcation defects. Twenty-six teeth were divided into two groups and treated by GTR with dual anti-collagen membranes and atelocollagen membranes, respectively. At baseline, 6 months, 1, 3 and 6 years, the following parameters were recorded: clinical attachment level, probing depth, gingival recession and the quantity of alveolar bone analyzed by computer assisted densitometry image analysis (CADIA).At 1 year after GTR surgery, the gain of clinical attachment in dual anti-collagen membranes group was (3.93 ± 1.74) mm, compared with (2.25 ± 1.90) mm in atelocollagen group (P = 0.044). The increasing of the value of CADIA in dual anti-collagen membrane and atelocollagen group were (53.14 ± 21.35) and (32.96 ± 17.97), P = 0.031. At 3 and 6 years, clinical parameters remained basically stable in both groups, compared to that at 1 year after surgery.The regeneration of periodontal tissues obtained by GTR with dual anti-collagen membranes could be maintained on a long-term basis.

Human dental plaque is implicated in a number of oral diseases. Collection of its undisturbed intact structure facilitates observing the formation and the effect of treatment. This study established a model in vivo to collect intact natural dental plaque biofilm, and observed the features and evaluated the immediate penetration and bactericidal effect of an essential oil (EO) mouthrinse on it at different periods.Three 500 microm wide grooves were cut into hydroxyapatite (HA) discs. The discs were worn by six volunteers for 6, 24 and 48 hours, then broken into halves, one served as control, while the other received a one-minute extra-oral EO mouthrinse treatment. 5, 15 and 30 minutes later, the plaque was visualized with a vitality staining technique to observe the sustained changes of biofilm structure in situ and the effect of EO on intact biofilm. The biofilm thickness and fluorescent density of vital and total bacteria were obtained through diagram analysis, assessing the percentage of thickness and fluorescent density of vital to total bacteria. All data analysis was performed using SPSS 13.0 software package. One-way ANOVA and Student-Neuman-Keuls tests were used.The thickness of 6h, 24h and 48 h biofilm was (11.92 + or - 4.63) microm, (18.63 + or - 4.66)microm, (27.55 + or - 6.35) microm, respectively, which increased significantly within 48 hours (P0.05), especially those within 6 hours. The percentages of thickness and fluorescent density of vital to total bacteria at different periods showed no significant changes (P0.05). For 6-hour samples, plaque vitality for thickness and fluorescent density decreased significantly within 5 minutes after exposure to the EO (P0.05). Meanwhile, for 24, 48-hour samples, plaque vitality decreased significantly within 15 minutes (P0.05).This study successfully establishes a model for collecting natural undisturbed plaque biofilm in situ, showing the changes constantly within 48 hours. EO mouthrinse has an immediate penetration and antimicrobial effect on the sustained dental plaque biofilm, especially 15 minutes later.

In view of the nature of credit sales risk, the credit sale risk degree is put forward as a new standard to measure the credit sale risk in the paper. It is calculated by customers' average loan recovery rate and it can not only tell whether the loss will happen but also can measure the specific extent of the loss. So this standard has three advantages of directness, continuity and operability. According to the proposed standard, the credit sale risk is divided into five grades and a credit sale risk assessing model based on support vector machine (SVM) is established in the paper. The empirical analysis shows that the proposed model is feasible and accurate for measuring the risk of sale on credit.

To study the neuroprotective effect of hypoxic preconditioning on reperfusion injury following ischemia and its molecular mechanism.Forty-eight rats were randomized into 3 groups, namely the sham operated group, ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) group, and I/R following hypoxic preconditioning group (HP+I/R). In the latter two groups, the rats were subjected to middle cerebral artery occlusion (MACO) for 3 h followed by reperfusion for 24 h to induce cerebral I/R injury. The learning and memory ability of the rats 24 h after reperfusion was assessed using Y-maze test. Immunohistochemistry was performed to quantify the expressions of survivin and HSP-70 proteins in the rat brain tissues.The number of survivin- and HSP-70-positive cells in the brain tissues was significantly different between HP+I/R group and IR and the sham operated groups (P0.05), and following I/R injury, the rats in HP+I/R group showed much better performance in the Y-maze test than those in I/R group.Hypoxic preconditioning can protect the ischemic brain against reperfusion injury, promote recovery of the learning and memory ability and neurological functions following the injury. Up-regulation of the expressions of survivin and HSP-70 proteins might be one of the molecular mechanisms for this neuroprotective effect.

To study if Scleraxis, a basic helix-loop-helix type transcription factor, could be expressed in human periodontal ligament cells (hPDLC), bone marrow cells (hBMSC) and gingival fibroblasts (hGF), and to investigate if Scleraxis was involved in hPDLC differentiation.hPDLC, hBMSC and hGF were cultured. Expression of Scleraxis in hPDLC from different passages and in hBMSC and hGF was analyzed by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR).Scleraxis expression in hPDLC, hBMSC and hGF were significantly different (P0.05). The A values of Scleraxis/beta-actin in these kinds of cells were 0.877 +/- 0.024, 0.438 +/- 0.031, 0.313 +/- 0.083, respectively. The expression of Scleraxis was the highest in hPDLC and lowest in hGF. Scleraxis expression of hPDLC decreased with increase of passages in culture.Scleraxis was expressed in hPDLC, hBMSC and hGF in vitro, and may play an important role in differentiation of hPDLC.

The civilization theories prevailed among people are the theories paying attention to the geographical factors. In this paper, the latitude distribution of track and field elite athletes in China mainland has been studied in terms of the biological effects of sunlight. The China mainland is divided into seven latitude zones according to the absolute latitude value so that the larger the zone number is, the larger the distance from the Equator. The elite athletes are classified into speed-type, jump-type, strength-type and endurance-type so that the latitude distribution can be discussed in terms of exercise physiology. The latitude distribution shows that the elite athletes of speed-type or jump-type prefer to the zones of low latitude, and the elite athletes of strength-type or endurance-type prefer to the zones of high latitude. These phenomena can be understood by the effects of sunlight on exercise physiological index such as skeletal muscle fibre types.

To investigate the influence of baicalin on the IL-1beta induced pro-MMP-1 in HGF and the effects of baicalin on MMP-3 expression in periodontal ligament cells (PDLCs).The amount of secreted pro-MMP-1 and MMP-3 expression was detected by ELISA and cell immunochemistry.(1) The amount of secreted pro-MMP-1 (3.333 +/- 0.123) microg/L increased significantly following 1 microg/L of IL-1beta, compared with control group (1.960 +/- 0.180) microg/L. Addition of baicalin to cell culture medium for 1 hour following IL-1beta decreased pro-MMP-1 secretion in a dose-dependent manner in the range of 10 approximately 1,000 microg/L. (2) 1 microg/L IL-1beta could significantly stimulate the synthesis and secretion of MMP-3 in PDLCs. (3) The baicalin could not interfere the synthesis of MMP-3, but could inhibit the release of MMP-3 from PDLCs.Baicalin could inhibit the secretion of pro-MMP-1 and MMP-3 expression in IL-1beta induced HGF and PDLCs, which suggests that baicalin may play an important role in preventing and treating periodontal disease.

Sports injuries healing has long been an important field in sports medicine. The stimulatory effects of Low intensity laser (LIL) irradiation have been investigated in several medical fields, such as cultured cell response, wound healing, hormonal or neural stimulation, pain relief and others. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether LIL irradiation can accelerate sports injuries healing. Some experimental and clinical studies have shown the laser stimulation effects on soft tissues and cartilage, however, controversy still exists regarding the role of LIL when used as a therapeutic device. Summarizing the data of cell studies and animal experiments and clinic trials by using the biological information model of photobiomodulation, we conclude that LIL irradiation is a valuable treatment for superficial and localized sports injuries and that the injuries healing effects of the therapy depend on the dosage of LIL irradiation.

Laser acupuncture as an alternative, noninvasive, painless and cost-effective therapy is widely used for acute and chronic pain, nausea, circulatory functions, and mood-related behavioral disorders. It was suggested one of the pathways mediated laser acupuncture was from laser biomodulation on acupuncture point cells to autonomic nervous subsystems through meridian. As laser irradiation used for acupuncture is red or infra red, we put forward the following model: at dose 1(100-3 J/m2), the irradiation activates parasympathetic nervous subsystem (PSN); at dose 2(103-5 J/m2), the irradiation activates sympathetic nervous subsystem (SN); at dose 3(105-6 J/m2), the irradiation activates PSN; and at dose 4(106-7 J/m2), the irradiation activates SN. This model was verified by its successful applications.

Eight CoCrX(X=Pt,Ta,Ni) films with the same configuration of CoCrX(50 nm)/ Cr(200 nm)/polyimide were selected to investigate the effect of the substrate temperature (Ts) on the structural and magnetic properties. Special attention is paid to the hysteresis loss measurements. In general, a higher Ts tends to increase the Ms, Kl and the hysteresis loss parameters, and to reduce the OR// and S* values. The addition of Pt, Ta or Ni elements into Co-Cr film favours an increase in Ms and He// as well as a reduction in S* in varying degrees. It was found that the change in magnetic properties with respect to Ts for CoCiTa and CoCrPt films is quite different from that for CoCr and CoCrNi films.

Alumite was chosen as an ideal material for investigating the influence of particle interaction on the magnetic behavior of a perpendicular anisotropic particle array. It was found that the measured reduced coercivity versus the reduced diameter curves fit the theoretical curling mode. However, the magnetic behavior will no longer obey curling if the applied field deviates from the film normal. This is due to the presence of magnetic charge next to iron single-domain cylinders, which completely destroys the validity of curling. Their reversal can be interpreted as due to the superposition of Cos-type incoherent rotation and the magnetization reversal caused by the demagnetizing field and the dipole-dipole field. >

It has recently been shown [1] that hysteresis loss as a function of the direction of the applied field can be used as a criteria to determine the reversal mechanism in CoCr films. In this paper we present hysteresis loss (Wh/Wh(|_)) and orientation ratio (OR) as function of the amplitude and direction of the applied field for low and high Hc(|_)/Hk sputtered CoCr films. The reversal behaviour depends strongly on the amplitude and direction of the field. The presence of an initial layer has an important influence on the type of reversal. The rotational mechanism governs the switching in high Hc(|_)/Hk films while the domain-wall reversal acts in the low coercivity film.