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Some birds intentionally ingest stones to facilitate digestion of hard foodstuffs, a behaviour inherited from non‐avian dinosaurs and present in some of the earliest birds, as evidenced by clusters of gastroliths preserved within the abdominal cavity of a wide range of dinosaurs and Cretaceous birds. For the first time, high‐resolution computed laminographic and computed tomographic scans were used to reconstruct the gastral mass in two species of non‐neornithine ornithuromorph birds from the Lower Cretaceous Jehol Group. Four specimens of each taxon were analysed. Preservation of the gastral mass in most of these specimens is in situ and regarded as complete or nearly so. The number of gastroliths, their total volume, and their total mass relative to the estimated body mass were calculated for each specimen. The resultant gastral mass to body mass ratios fall within the range observed in extant birds, supporting previous inferences that the digestive system in non‐neornithine ornithuromorphs was comparable to that of extant taxa. Compared to available data for non‐volant non‐avian theropods, the gastral mass is proportionately smaller in birds suggesting that the evolution of flight constrained gastral mass size in the theropod lineage. Currently available data on gastral mass characteristics suggests that Iteravis ate larger food particles compared to Archaeorhynchus but cannot be used to determine diet more precisely. Better understanding of the relationship between gastral mass characteristics and food items across a broader range of extant taxa may provide an indirect but important method through which to infer diet and digestive function in archosaurs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Optimizing the spatial layout of high-quality tourist attractions is of great significance in the sustainable development of the tourism industry. This work employs the ArcGIS spatial analysis tool to study the form, equality, and density of the spatial distribution of the 892 3A+ tourist attractions (high-quality tourist attractions hereafter) in Shandong Province, China. It also examines the factors influencing the spatial distribution of tourist attractions from the perspectives of geographic features and landscapes, culture and heritage, socioeconomic development, and transportation. We therefore find the following: 1) High-quality tourist attractions in Shandong Province have obvious clustering in spatial distribution with the high-density areas mainly concentrated in Qingdao, Jining, Jinan, Tai'an and other cities. Influenced by resource endowment and economic development, the two major geographical areas in Central Shandong and Jiaodong Peninsula have the most concentrated distribution of high-quality tourist attractions. 2) The distribution of high-quality tourist attractions shows a southwest‒northeast clustering direction; Qingdao is a high-high clustering area, and Heze is a low-high clustering area with low uniformity of spatial distribution and obvious spatial divergence. 3) Tourist attractions show an obvious "N" type high-density distribution belt and nuclear density distribution across the three existing agglomeration centers in the Jining–Tai'an intersection, Binzhou–Dongying intersection, and Qingdao Jiaozhou Bay coast. 4) Topography, climate conditions, history and culture are intrinsic factors affecting the spatial distribution of tourist attractions, while socioeconomic and transportation conditions are external requirements for the development thereof; collectively, they constrain the spatial distribution of high-quality tourist attractions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a new adaptive window‐based guided filtering and interpolation for polarization image demosaicing. Considering the correlation between the polarization channels, the authors use the total intensity S0 as a guide image to guide the interpolation of all channels. The guided filtering is performed with a new adaptive window size selection technique. A novel iterative residual interpolation is proposed to construct accurate full resolution polarization. Experiments are conducted with the sample images from the demosaicking algorithms dataset. Objective evaluations demonstrate that the proposed algorithm can reduce root mean squared error by at least 27% over other methods. Subjective visual inspection can also verify the improvements in the clarity of objects in angle and degree of the linear polarization images. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As an innovative technology for the stimulation of coalbed methane, liquid nitrogen cold soaking can produce more fractures in coal body and effectively increase the permeability of coal seam. The pore structure distribution of coal affects the permeability of coal and determines the flow and occurrence state of coalbed methane and other fluids in coal. This paper carries out a number of nuclear magnetic resonance tests on coal samples with different coal qualities treated by liquid nitrogen cold soaking and studies the influence law of liquid nitrogen soaking on coal pore structures. It is found that the liquid nitrogen makes the T2 spectral peak shifts to the right, and the anthracite changes from interval T2 spectrum to type T2. It indicates that liquid nitrogen cold soaking in the transformation of pore size to large size improves the pore connectivity and leads to more pore structures. With an increase in times of liquid nitrogen cold soaking, the size and number of coal pore structures gradually increase, and the increasing size is on the order of anthracite > bituminous > lignite. There is a positive correlation between the peak area and the times of liquid nitrogen cold soaking. The porosity and permeability of each coal sample increase with the times of liquid nitrogen cold soaking. From the MRI images of coal samples, it can be found that the liquid nitrogen cold soaking makes the microcracks extend and forms a crack network with other cracks, thereby causing macroscopic damage. The research results are helpful to further reveal the microscopic mechanism of liquid nitrogen cold soaking on coal damage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The iron–chromium flow battery (ICFB), the earliest flow battery, shows promise for large-scale energy storage due to its low cost and inherent safety. However, there is no specific membrane designed that meets the special requirements of ICFBs. To match the harsh operation parameters of ICFBs, we designed and fabricated a composite membrane with high mechanical, chemical, and thermal stability. In the design, a commercial porous polyethylene membrane is selected as the framework material, offering high mechanical stability and reducing the cost. Meanwhile, the Nafion resin is filled in the pores of a porous membrane, which inhibits the transfer of redox-active ions and creates the proton channels via hydrophobic/hydrophilic phase separation. As a result, the composite membrane exhibits high conductivity, selectivity, and stability, especially with almost no swelling at high operating temperatures. Thus, an ICFB with the prepared membrane exhibits a coulombic efficiency of 93.29% at the current density of 80 mA cm−2 and runs stably for over 300 cycles. This work provides an easy method to fabricate high-performance and low-cost membranes specifically for ICFBs and has the potential to promote the development of ICFBs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The difficulty of atmospheric correction based on a radiative transfer model lies in the acquisition of synchronized atmospheric parameters, especially the aerosol optical depth (AOD). At the moment, there is no fully automatic and high-efficiency atmospheric correction method to make full use of the advantages of geostationary meteorological satellites in large-scale and efficient atmospheric monitoring. Therefore, a QUantitative and Automatic Atmospheric Correction (QUAAC) method is proposed which can efficiently correct high-spatial-resolution (HSR) satellite images. QUAAC uses the atmospheric aerosol products of geostationary satellites to match the synchronized AOD according to the temporal and spatial information of HSR satellite images. This method solves the problem that the AOD is difficult to obtain or the accuracy is not high enough to meet the demand of atmospheric correction. By using the obtained atmospheric parameters, atmospheric correction is performed to obtain the surface reflectance (SR). The whole process can achieve fully automatic operation without manual intervention. After QUAAC applied to Gaofen-2 (GF-2) HSR satellite and Himawari-8 (H-8) geostationary satellite, the results show that the effect of QUAAC correction is slightly better than that of the Fast Line-of-sight Atmospheric Analysis of Spectral Hypercubes (FLAASH) correction, and the QUAAC−corrected surface spectral curves have good coherence to that of the synchronously measured by field experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Osteoclasts, the exclusive bone resorptive cells, are indispensable for bone remodeling. Hence, understanding novel signaling modulators regulating osteoclastogenesis is clinically important. Nuclear factor of activated T-cells, cytoplasmic 1 (NFATc1) is a master transcription factor in osteoclastogenesis, and binding of NF-κB p65 subunit to NFATc1 promoter is required for its expression. It is well-established that DNA binding activity of p65 can be regulated by various post-translational modifications, including S-nitrosation. Recent studies have demonstrated that S-nitrosoglutathione reductase (GSNOR)-mediated protein denitrosation participated in cell fate commitment by regulating gene transcription. However, the role of GSNOR in osteoclastogenesis remains unexplored and enigmatic. Here, we investigated the effect of GSNOR-mediated denitrosation of p65 on osteoclastogenesis. Our results revealed that GSNOR was up-regulated during osteoclastogenesis in vitro. Moreover, GSNOR inhibition with a chemical inhibitor impaired osteoclast differentiation, podosome belt formation, and bone resorption activity. Furthermore, GSNOR inhibition enhanced the S-nitrosation level of p65, precluded the binding of p65 to NFATc1 promoter, and suppressed NFATc1 expression. In addition, mouse model of lipopolysaccharides (LPS)-induced calvarial osteolysis was employed to evaluate the therapeutic effect of GSNOR inhibitor in vivo. Our results indicated that GSNOR inhibitor treatment alleviated the inflammatory bone loss by impairing osteoclast formation in mice. Taken together, these data have shown that GSNOR activity is required for osteoclastogenesis by facilitating binding of p65 to NFATc1 promoter via promoting p65 denitrosation, suggesting that GSNOR may be a potential therapeutic target in the treatment of osteolytic diseases. • GSNOR is up-regulated during osteoclastogenesis in vitro. • GSNOR inhibitor N6022 suppresses osteoclastogenesis and bone resorption activity. • N6022 enhances p65 S-nitrosation by inhibiting GSNOR-mediated GSNO degradation. • SNO-p65 inhibits binding of p65 to NFATc1 promoter and expression of NFATc1. • N6022 alleviates inflammatory bone loss by impairing osteoclast formation in mice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thermal modification has been proved to be an effective approach to improve the dimensional stability of wood, while different processes of thermal modification often resulted in various efficacy. In this study, the morphology, chemical structure, crystallinity, pore size distribution, and some water-related properties were investigated in order to explore the effect of different mediums (vacuum, nitrogen, steam and air) on thermally modified wood (TMW). It was found that heating medium plays an important role in thermal modification of wood. At both 180 and 210 ℃, the general severity of thermal modification is in the following order: air > steam > nitrogen > vacuum. Accordingly, the highest dimensional stability appeared in air TMW, and then steam, nitrogen, and vacuum. It seemed that the water-related properties were primarily affected by the extent of decomposition of the amorphous polysaccharides, but showed no direct relationship with the pore structure. Lignin changed greatly for TMW treated in steam at 180 ℃ and all TMW treated at 210 ℃, by showing more uniform distribution in all cell wall layers. It might be resulted from the migration of lignin fragments after depolymerization, the formation of pseudo lignin from holocellulose, and the increased relative lignin content in secondary wall. The changes on pore structure and lignin structure might have significant effect on other wood properties. • Thermal modification in air is the most severe, followed by steam, nitrogen, and vacuum. • Water-related properties of TMW were primarily affected by the decomposition of the amorphous polysaccharides. • Lignin distributed more uniformly in wood cell wall of TMW in all mediums at 210 ℃. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the important research components of photocatalytic research is the development of new photocatalysts, and recent studies have shown the rise of borate‐type photocatalysts. This paper focuses on the photoreduction of potassium dichromate and the photodegradation of rhodamine B by two borate composites under simulated sunlight. A coral‐like borate was obtained by sol‐gel preparation and then assembled by photodeposition with Pt nanoparticles dots or CuO particles to obtain the new composites with excellent performance. The kinetic constants of photocatalytic properties of 2 %Pt/Gd0.85Ce0.15B5O9 and 2.5 %CuO/Gd0.90Ce0.10B5O9 samples in the reduction and degradation reactions are 0.0050 min−1 and 0.0150 min−1, which are 25 and 4.2 times of the intrinsic GdB5O9 sample respectively. The results of the study indicate the research promise of developing new visible photocatalysts based on borates, especially for photocatalytic applications for pollutant removal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Liquid nitrogen (LN2) is an important means to improve the permeability of coal reservoirs. The LN2 soaking method has a wide range of application prospects. However, not enough studies exist to highlight the effect of increasing the permeability of different coal samples using LN2. Hence, this investigation was carried out to examine the effect of cold soaking in LN2 using different coal ranks such as fat coal, lean coal and anthracite coal, on their pore structures and fractal characteristics. Frenkel-Halsey-Hill (FHH) fractal theory was used to understand the fractal dimension characteristics of pores in these different coals before and after cold soaking in LN2. Furthermore, the relationship between the fractal dimensions and pore parameters was also studied. The results show that low-temperature nitrogen adsorption curves of fat coal, lean coal and anthracite before and after cold soaking in LN2 are “S” type. An increase in the total pore volume and pore surface area of coal after LN2 cold soaking is noted. LN2 cold soaking is found to transform the internal pore structure of different coals effectively. Moreover, the heterogeneity of the porous structure of coal is enhanced after LN2 cold soaking along with an increase in the fractal dimension. The growth also decreases with an increase in the metamorphism. The uneven shrinkage of coal occurred during LN2 cold soaking, and the thermal stress generated is greater than the tensile strength of coal, which promotes the development of the porous structure of coal. These results are beneficial in revealing the macroscopic and microscopic pore fissure space expansion and connectivity law of coal seam during the process of LN2 cracking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. The emergence of the NDM-1-positive Klebsiella pneumoniae (K. pneumoniae) strains has led to limited therapeutic options for clinical treatment. Understanding the clinical characteristics, antimicrobial resistance, biofilm assay, and the virulence genes of these isolated strains is of great significance. Methods. The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to screen isolated NDM-1-positive K. pneumoniae. The clinical information of the patients was collected from medical records. The NDM-1-positive K. pneumoniae isolates were subjected to antimicrobial susceptibility testing and multilocus sequence typing. Sixty strains of NDM-1-negative K. pneumoniae isolated during the same period were collected as the control group for the virulence analysis. The virulence phenotype of the strains was preliminarily evaluated by the string test and crystal violet semiquantitative biofilm formation experiment. PCR combined with gene sequencing was used to detect common high toxicity capsule genes (K1, K2, K5, K20, K54, and K57) and common virulence-related genes (entB, ybtS, ureA, ycf, WabG, FimH, uge, iutA, KfuB, aerobactin, rmpA, magA, Alls, IrnN, and VatD). Results. In the 30 nonduplicated NDM-1-positive K. pneumoniae isolates, 43.33% (13/30) of the patients had a history of a stay in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). All of the isolates exhibited multidrug resistance. Nine STs were identified, 77% (10/13) strains from the NICU were ST11. The NDM-1-positive K. pneumoniae string tests were all negative, and 35% (21/60) NDM-1-negative K. pneumoniae were positive. The ratios of NDM-1-positive K. pneumoniae isolates biofilm formation ability according to strong, medium, and weak classification were 67%, 23%, and 10%, respectively. NDM-1-negative K. pneumoniae isolates were 60%, 25%, and 15%, respectively. There was no statistical difference between the two groups (t = 0.61, P = 0.2723). The virulence-associated genes with more than 80% of detection rates among the 30 NDM-1-positive K. pneumoniae isolates included entB (100%, 30/30), ybtS (93.33%, 28/30), ureA (90%, 27/30), ycf (83.33%, 25/30), and wabG (90%, 27/30). KfuB and iutA were detected at prevalence of 3.33% and 13.33%. vatD, allS, iroN, aerobactin, and rmpA were not detected. In the NDM-1-negative K. pneumoniae, all other 14 virulence genes except VatD were detected. After statistical analysis, FimH, WabG, ycf, iutA, kfuB, aerobactin, rmpA, and Alls virulence genes, P < 0.005 , there was a statistical difference. Conclusion. NDM-1-positive K. pneumoniae exhibited multidrug resistance, MLST typing is mainly ST11, there is small clonal dissemination in the NICU in the hospital, and the NDM-1-positive K. pneumoniae virulence genes carrier rate is lower than the NDM-1-negative K. pneumoniae virulence genes carrier rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a fast and effective polarization image demosaicking algorithm, which explores inter-channel dependency of Stokes parameters for the minimization of residual aliasing artifacts after cubic spline interpolation. A guided filtering approach is used for denoising. An optimization based on the confidence level of the aforementioned guided filtering, the correlations between the demosaicked image and input, as well as the total intensity, angle and degree of linear polarization, is constructed and solved with Newton’s method. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm can surpass the existing methods in terms of both objective root mean squared error and structural similarity index by at least 36.0% and 3.4%, respectively, and by close visual inspection of the clarity of objects in the angle and degree of linear polarization images. The proposed algorithm consists of only convolutions and element-wise operations, making it fast and parallelizable for efficient GPU acceleration. An image of size $512\times 612\times 4$ can be processed within 10 s on i7-6700k CPU, and gains further 5 times speedup with M4000M GPU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a novel optimized quantization constraint set, acting as an add-on to existing DCT-based image restoration algorithms. The constraint set is created based on generalized Gaussian distribution which is more accurate than the commonly used uniform, Gaussian or Laplacian distributions when modeling DCT coefficients. More importantly, the proposed constraint set is optimized for individual input images and thus it is able to enhance image quality significantly in terms of signal-to-noise ratio. Experimental results indicate that the signal-to-noise ratio is improved by at least 6.78% on top of the existing state-of-the-art methods, with a corresponding expense of only 0.38% in processing time. The proposed algorithm has also been implemented in GPU, and the processing speed increases further by 20 times over that of CPU implementation. This makes the algorithm well suited for fast image retrieval in security and quality monitoring system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wavelet transform using Haar filter is a fast process for decomposing an image into low and high frequency sub-bands, which is an important step in multi-focus image fusion. This transformation alone is usually not sufficient to produce satisfying fused images, and therefore additional tools like focused region decision map and feature extraction are needed to enhance the fusion quality. In this paper, we propose a multi-focus image fusion algorithm that is suitable for efficient hardware implementation. The algorithm speed is significantly improved by utilizing Haar wavelet and computationally simple fusion rules. To further improve the circuit power and delay, we limit the logic operations to additions, subtractions, and multiplications only. Experiments on different benchmarks demonstrate that our proposed algorithm can reduce the fusion time by up to 99.97% compared with the state-of-the-art competing methods without compromising the fusion quality. In addition, the hardware implementation of the proposed algorithm reduces the circuit area and delay by 79.5% and 92.5%, respectively, when compared to the most competitive algorithm in this paper while maintaining similar fusion quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The microstructure of coal has a significant influence on the permeability of the coal seam. To study the characteristics of microstructure changes in coal seam under temperature impact, we conducted temperature-impact experiments using a high–low temperature test system, and we studied the coal pores and fissure structure before and after the temperature impact using scanning electron microscopy, industrial micro-computed tomography, and mercury intrusion. Based on the digital image processing technology and thermal stress theory, we qualitatively and quantitatively analyzed the variation of crack width, specific surface area, and pore diameter, and deeply analyzed the failure mechanism of temperature impact on coal seam microstructure. The results showed that the temperature impact caused the macropores to interpenetrate and form macroscopic cracks in the coal sample, which resulted in a relatively small volume of macropores and increased the volume of mesopores and small pores. The maximum thermal stress generated during the temperature impact process was located in the tangential direction of the coal sample surface. The thermal stress generated by the temperature impact exceeded the tensile strength of the coal sample, which directly causes crack initiation, expansion, and mutual penetration. This study provided the technical support necessary for the efficient development of coalbed methane and the improvement of gas drainage rate in the coal seam. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sand as a kind of natural material exists abundantly in desert has not been effectively utilized because of its superhydrophilicity. In this study, the superhydrophobic sand particles were successfully fabricated by structuring mussel-inspired polydopamine and TiO 2 coatings on sand surfaces and subsequent hydrophobic modification with low surface energy material. The water droplets stood on the superhydrophobic sand surfaces with an almost perfect sphere (water contact angle of ~153°), which broke the conventional concept towards the superhydrophilicity of sand. Furthermore, the obtained superhydrophobic sand particles had good water-holding capacity and high thermal stability, which contributed to the storage of water in desert. Meanwhile, the superhydrophobic sand exhibited a multifunctionality including oil/water separation, anti-icing properties and waterproof coating on fiberboards, which widened the application fields of desert sand and provided fast access to sustainable development of environment and natural resource. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract In this manuscript, dual network self-healing alginate/guar gum hydrogels with polydopamine-type microcapsules from mesoporous silica nanoparticles were facilely prepared through one-pot method. Glutaraldehyde (GA) was used as a crosslinking agent to crosslink guar gum and sodium alginate, respectively. Metal−ligand interactions as reversible non-covalent bonds make the dual network hydrogels have a high degree of self-healing ability, which FeCl 3 ·6H 2 O was coordinated with sodium alginate and polydopamine on the surface of microcapsules, respectively. The dual network structure significantly enhances the strength of the hydrogels (up to 7.3 MPa). It has also proved that these hydrogels exhibit excellent self-healing performance at ambient temperatures, which self-healing efficiency can reach to 95.5%. The obtained self-healing hydrogels have a promising application prospect for the design and synthesis of functional self-healing materials. Highlights • Self-healing hydrogels of guar gum and sodium alginate were successfully obtained. • Dual self-healing network were constructed by PDA-type microcapsules from mesoporous silica. • These nanocomposite hydrogels have high strength (7.3 MPa) and excellent self-healing performance (95.5%). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• AE waveforms have different frequency spectrum, frequency band energy and fractal characteristics at different stress level. • AE signals are closely related to the load and deformation of coal rock. • The dominant mechanisms that influence the AE characteristics are different at different stress level. In this paper, the acoustic emission (AE) signals of coal ruptures were evaluated under the condition of uniaxial compression, and then the spectral, energy and fractal features of the AE waveform under different stress levels were analyzed. Results show that coal damage is progressive under loading and that the corresponding AE is paroxysmal. The AE signals are closely related to the load and deformation of coal rock. AE counts reaches the maximum at the peak stress and it reduces once the coal ruptures. During the compaction load stage, the coal structure is stable, it produces only bits of AE events with low frequency and spectrum. In addition, the proportion of low-frequency band energy is greater, and the correlation dimension is the maximum. However, as the loading progresses, the coal becomes unstable, the frequency and high-frequency band energy increase. Whereas, the correlation dimension decreases. Near the dilatation of coal volume, the AE frequency, amplitude and high-frequency band energy reach the peak values, and the correlation dimension decreases to a minimum value. At the stress peak, coal ruptures, the AE frequency reduces, low-frequency band energy increases, and the correlation dimension reaches to a low value. During the initial load time, AE is primarily influenced by small energy events. Near the dilatation of coal volume, the proportion of large-energy incidents primarily affects the AE characteristics. At the stress peak, the crack size primarily influences these characteristics. Before the peak load, the main deformation of coal is fracturing, and frictional force dominates. The AE waveform characteristics can be used to evaluate the process of coal rupture and the form of ruptured coal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Homography has wide applications in aerial photographic surveys, camera calibration, traffic scene analysis, and sports science, such as player and team performance evaluation. Unlike the mainstream homography that utilizes points as matching features, homography estimation for sports and traffic video can achieve higher accuracy and speed by utilizing straight lines in the scenes, which convey more information than points. Owing to the more stringent requirement of accuracy and computational speed for advanced video analysis, this paper presents a novel homography computational algorithm. Three major novelties are proposed and validated, which are multiple points Hough transform for straight line extraction, correspondence initialization by angle to estimate a set of quasi-optimal solutions, and the feature correspondences optimization to achieve a minimized error using genetic algorithm. With these contributions, the experiments have shown that the proposed algorithm can improve the homography computational accuracy by up to 130% and reduce the processing time by up to 96% over the state-of-the-art algorithms for the same purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the pore structure and fractal characteristics of coal under liquid nitrogen cold soaking are tested for different coal qualities of anthracite, bituminous coal and lignite, and the variation patterns of BET specific surface area, BJH total hole and adsorption pore specific surface area with liquid nitrogen cold soaking times are studied. Among these coal samples, it is found that the raw bituminous coal has the most internal micropore content and the largest adsorption space for gas, followed by anthracite, and lignite is the last. After one time liquid nitrogen cold soaking, the increase of adsorption and percolation pore contents of each coal sample in the order of: anthracite > lignite > bituminous coal; and with the increase of liquid nitrogen cold soaking times, the internal pore size and number of pores of the three coal samples gradually increases, but the specific surface area of adsorption pores decreases. The reduction amplitude of the specific surface area of coal adsorption pores by one time liquid nitrogen cold soaking gradually increases with the increase of metamorphism. With the increase of liquid nitrogen cold soaking times, the average pore size, total BJH hole and percolation hole of each coal sample increases, while the BET specific surface area and adsorption pore specific surface area decreases gradually. The fractal dimension D 1 of each coal sample increases linearly with the increase of liquid nitrogen cold soaking times, and the variation of D 2 has an opposite trend. The results of this study can provide theoretical and experimental support for further application of liquid nitrogen to increase the permeability of coal seams. • Pore structure and fractal characteristics of coal under the liquid nitrogen cold soaking are tested. • Liquid nitrogen cold soaking could improve the coal pore connectivity. • Fractal dimension D 1 of coal increases linearly with the liquid nitrogen cold soaking number. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The traditional hybrid breeding techniques can no longer meet the increasing demands for silk production by the silkworm, Bombyx mori , and further improvement of the silk yield will depend on modern molecular breeding techniques. Here, we report improved silk yield in transgenic silkworms overexpressing the oncogene Yorkie CA specifically in the posterior silk gland (PSG). The Yorkie CA cDNA was ligated downstream of the hr3 enhancer and the fibroin L-chain ( Fil ) promoter, then inserted into a piggyBac vector for transgene. Overexpression of Yorkie CA in the PSG significantly increased the weight of the PSG, and also increased the weight of the cocoon, larval body, and pupal body to decreasing degrees. Overexpression of Yorkie CA up-regulated the Yorkie target genes resulting in increased cell size, endomitosis, the number of protein synthesis organelles, the expression of fibroin genes in the PSG, and eventually silk yield. Additionally, as we reported previously using the binary GAL4/UAS system, transgenic silkworms overexpressing Ras1 CA with the hr3 enhancer and the Fil promoter also showed improved silk yield. Unfortunately, the hybrid progeny of Yorkie CA -overexpressing silkworms and Ras1 CA -overexpressing silkworms did not show overlapping improved silk yield due to the failure to increase expression of both Yorkie and Ras1 . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A Co 9 S 8 /GNS (graphene nanosheets) nanocomposites has been synthesized via a facile solvothermal approach followed by thermal treatment in nitrogen at 500 °C using graphite oxide sheets, CoCl 2 ·6H 2 O and thiourea as the starting materials. Highly uniform Co 9 S 8 nanoparticles with a size of about 80–90 nm are evenly grafted on the surface of GNS, forming a unique Co 9 S 8 /GNS hybrid nanostructure. When evaluated as anode materials for lithium ion batteries, impressive electrochemical performances of the as-prepared nanocomposites are achieved compared to that of pure bulk Co 9 S 8 , with an high reversible capacity of 1480 mAh g −1 . Moreover, the as-synthesized nanocomposites present excellent cycling durability and high-rate capability. The improvement in the electrochemical properties could be attributed to the well-designed structure of the Co 9 S 8 /GNS nanocomposite which possesses large number of accessible active sites for lithium-ion insertion, fast ion diffusion rate and good electronic conductivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carboxymethyl cellulose was derived from bamboo shoot cellulose via chemical modification and was prepared into composite hydrogels by cross-linkage with β-cyclodextrin using epichlorohydrin as crossing agent. The structure of the prepared hydrogel was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis and scanning electron microscopy. The results showed that the prepared composite hydrogel was sensitive to surrounding changes in pH value, temperature and ionic strength. Under the surroundings of low temperatures and high pH values, the prepared hydrogel had significant high swelling ratios (23338 ± 988% at 15 °C and 6937 ± 112% at pH 8.0, respectively). In the solution of 0.1 mol/L NaCl, the hydrogel showed the maximum water retention rate (48.73%). Sodium salicylate was used as the model drug to study the behaviors of hydrogel adsorption and release in simulated intestinal (at pH 7.4) and gastric liquid (at pH 1.8) surroundings. The prepared composite hydrogel exhibited higher drug release ratio in simulated intestinal liquid (63.09% after 380 min) than in gastric liquid (22.09% after 400 min). These pH responses of the prepared composite hydrogel showed its potential applications, especially as the drug carrier to attain control release of drugs under different surrounding conditions or organs in human body. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To investigate two-sided functions of tea polyphenols ( TP) in antinutrition and energy balance modulation, TP were extracted from Chinese green tea and used to complex porcine pancreas α-amylase ( PPA). Changes of PPA in activity and secondary conformations were analysed. Porcine pancreas α-amylase was found sensitive to TP treatment. Tea polyphenols exhibited IC50 at 0.41 mg mL−1 against PPA and maximum inhibitory rate (98.17%) at 3.0 mg mL−1. Tea polyphenols inhibition was concluded as noncompetitive pattern based on its unchanged Km value (0.98 mg mL−1) for soluble starch substrate. Tea polyphenols inhibition arose from pH 1.5 to 10.14, covering gastric and intestinal environments inside body. Circular dichroism spectra analysis revealed regular changes of PPA in secondary conformations (increased proportions of α-helix and β-sheet) prior to its inactivation at low TP concentrations. Tea polyphenols-inhibited PPA had distinct double-negative peaks at 204 nm and 208 nm. Porcine pancreas α-amylase was inactivated by TP in ways of complexation and modification of secondary conformations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this research, 2,2′-azobis (2-amidinopropane)-induced oxidative stress in human erythrocytes and 50 % fetal bovine serum-induced steatosis in human liver L02 cell were used to evaluate the functions of epicatechin gallate (ECG) in regulation of lipid metabolism and inhibition of oxidative stress. The results indicated that the antioxidant rationales of ECG in biological systems mainly involved in suppressing the generation of reactive oxygen species by preserving the antioxidant enzyme activities of (superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase) and reducing the consumption of reduced glutathione as well as inhibiting the production of thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances. The anti-nonalcoholic fatty liver disease rationales of ECG included inhibiting the growth of steatosis L02 cells, reducing the accumulation of hepatic lipid through lowering the levels of total cholesterol and triacylglycerol, and suppressing the leakage volume of enzymes (aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase and lactate dehydrogenase). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This investigation describes an effective strategy to fabricate an electrochemically active hybrid hydrogel made from platinum nanoparticles that are highly dense, uniformly dispersed, and tightly embedded throughout the conducting hydrogel network for the electrochemical oxidation of glucose. A suspension of multiwalled carbon nanotubes and polyvinyl alcohol aqueous was coated on glassy carbon electrode by electrophoretic deposition and then physically crosslinked to form a three-dimensional porous conductive hydrogel network by a process of freezing and thawing. The network offered 3D interconnected mass-transport channels (around 200 nm) and confined nanotemplates for in situ growth of uniform platinum nanoparticles via the moderate reduction agent, ascorbic acid. The resulting hybrid hydrogel electrode membrane demonstrates an effective method for loading platinum nanoparticles on multiwalled carbon nanotubes by the electrostatic adsorption between multiwalled carbon nanotubes and platinum ions within porous hydrogel network. The average diameter of platinum nanoparticles is 37 ± 14 nm, which is less than the particle size by only using the moderate reduction agent. The hybrid hydrogel electrode membrane-coated glassy carbon electrode showed excellent electrocatalytic activity and good long-term stability toward glucose electrochemical oxidation. The glucose oxidation current exhibited a linear relationship with the concentration of glucose in the presence of chloride ions, promising for potential applications of implantable biofuel cells, biosensors, and electronic devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Coal isothermal adsorption/desorption deformation experiments with liquid nitrogen quenching were carried out. • The variation of coal gas adsorption capacity and volumetric strain under liquid nitrogen cold leaching were investigated. • The relationship between coal adsorption capacity and volumetric strain under liquid nitrogen cold leaching was discussed. The research on gas adsorption deformation characteristics of coal under liquid nitrogen cold soaking deserves investigation, as most of the investigation efforts in this field are in a preliminary stage. In this article, the experiments of coal adsorption deformation under different times of liquid nitrogen cold soaking (0, 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9) were carried out. The variation of coal gas adsorption capacity and volumetric strain under different times of liquid nitrogen cold soaking were investigated. Based on thermodynamics, the adsorption strain model of coal was developed, and the relationship between coal adsorption capacity and volumetric strain was discussed. The research results show that: (i) the coal adsorption capacity and volumetric strain both gradually decrease with the increase of the number of liquid nitrogen cold soaking; (ii) the saturated gas adsorption capacity and limit volume strain of coal both show a decreasing trend with the increase of liquid nitrogen cold soaking times; (iii) the volumetric strain of coal under the different times of liquid nitrogen cold soaking first accelerates and then slowly rises with the increase of adsorption capacity. After liquid nitrogen cold soaking, the volumetric strain growth rate of coal gradually decreases; (iv) the coal under different cold soaking times reaches the limit volumetric strain at a pressure (P) that is higher than the pressure (p) required to reach the saturation adsorption capacity, and the values of p and P both show a decreasing trend with the increase of liquid nitrogen cold soaking times; (v) the model results have good predictive effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To investigate the potential protective effect of raw and heat-treated soymilks after gastrointestinal digestion against chemical oxidative stress induced by 2,2′-azobis(2-amidinopropane) dihydrochloride (AAPH) on human erythrocytes, soymilk was subjected to heat treatment and in vitro gastrointestinal digestion. The inhibition rate of hemolysis, generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), concentration of malondialdehyde (MDA), reduced glutathione (GSH) and oxidized glutathione (GSSH) and the enzyme activity of total superoxide dismutase (SOD) and cellular glutathione peroxidase (GPx) were evaluated as the biomarkers of oxidative status. Hemolysis of erythrocytes induced by AAPH was significantly inhibited by pretreatment with the digested raw soymilk (DRS) and digested heat-treated soymilk (DHS). Moreover, heat treatment prior to gastrointestinal digestion improved the inhibition effect of soymilk on erythrocytes hemolysis. The soymilk treated at 95 °C showed the highest inhibition rate, followed by 121 °C and 143 °C, revealed that the increase of temperature caused the decrease of hemolysis inhibition rate of DHS. Preincubation with the digested soymilks reduced the accumulation of MDA in erythrocytes, indicating the inhibition effect of the digested soymilks on lipid peroxidation. Results revealed that DRS and DHS alleviated the hemolysis of erythrocytes and lipid peroxidation resulted from oxidative stress by suppressing the accumulation of ROS, reducing the increase of SOD activity and decrease of non-enzymatic antioxidant GSH and enzymatic antioxidant GPx activity. Compared with raw soymilk, heat treatment improved the protective effect of the digested soymilk on erythrocytes against oxidative stress via enhancing the free radicals scavenging activity instead of improving the inhibition effect on the generation of free radicals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Remodeling of the cementum plays a crucial role in periodontal regenerative therapy, while the precise mechanism of cementogenesis has yet been adequately understood. Recent studies have indicated the connection between osteogenic differentiation and Brain and muscle aryl hydrocarbon receptor nuclear translocator-like protein-1 (Bmal1). Besides, Wnt/β-catenin signaling is proven to be an essential regulator in cementogenesis. In this study, we found a robust expression of Bmal1 in cementoblasts in the mandibular first molar of mice by immunohistochemical staining. To further explore the role of Bmal1 in cementogenesis, we examined the expression pattern of Bmal1 in OCCM-30, an immortalized murine cementoblast cell line by qRT-PCR and western blot. Our data demonstrated the upregulation of Bmal1 at both mRNA and protein levels during differentiation. Additionally, stable knockdown of Bmal1 in OCCM-30 cells resulted in downregulation of osteogenic markers such as alkaline phosphatase (Alp), osteopontin (Opn), and osteocalcin (Ocn), and reduced formation of mineralized nodules. Moreover, qRT-PCR and western blot results exhibited that the expression of β-catenin was attenuated by Bmal1 deficiency. We also found that the mRNA levels of Tcf1 and Lef1, the target transcription factors of β-catenin, were reduced by Bmal1 deficiency. In conclusion, this study preliminarily confirms that Bmal1 promotes cementoblast differentiation and cementum mineralization via Wnt/β-catenin signaling, which contributes to a potential strategy in periodontal regenerative therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study describes the metabonomics of fevers in animal models and the therapeutic effects of Rhizoma coptidis extract (RCE) on them. The rat urinary samples were analyzed by UPLC/ ESI-Q-TOF/MS, combined with principal component analysis (PCA). Nine ions were chosen to characterize the similarities and differences in the responses to fever. The ion at m/z 206.0278 was unambiguously identified to be xanthurenic acid. This study demonstrated that the metabonomic approach can readily distinguish between febrile and healthy individuals. This data support the contention that the metabonomic approach represents a promising new technology for the development of rapid-throughput in vivo fever screening. Furthermore, this approach can detect the interfering effects of RCE. This investigation has led the authors to believe that metabonomics is a valid approach for explaining the therapeutic effects of traditional Chinese medicine on fevers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Synaptic plasticity involves a series of coordinate changes occurring both pre- and postsynaptically, of which α-synuclein is an integral part. We have investigated on mouse primary hippocampal neurons in culture whether redistribution of α-synuclein during plasticity involves retrograde signaling activation through nitric oxide (NO), cGMP, cGMP-dependent protein kinase (cGK) and calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II. We have found that deletion of the α-synuclein gene blocks both the long-lasting enhancement of evoked and miniature transmitter release and the increase in the number of functional presynaptic boutons evoked through the NO donor, DEA/NO, and the cGMP analog, 8-Br-cGMP. In agreement with these findings both DEA/NO and 8-Br-cGMP were capable of producing a long-lasting increase in number of clusters for α-synuclein through activation of soluble guanylyl cyclase, cGK and calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase IIα. Thus, our results suggest that NO, cGMP, GMP-dependent protein kinase and calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II play a key role in the redistribution of α-synuclein during plasticity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Long-lasting increase in synaptic strength is thought to underlie learning. An explosion of data has characterized changes in postsynaptic (pstS) AMPA receptor cycling during potentiation. However, changes occurring within the presynaptic (prS) terminal remain largely unknown. We show that appearance of new release sites during potentiation between cultured hippocampal neurons is due to (a) conversion of nonrecycling sites to recycling sites, (b) formation of new releasing sites from areas containing diffuse staining for the prS marker Vesicle-Associated Membrane Protein-2 and (c) budding of new recycling sites from previously existing recycling sites. In addition, potentiation is accompanied by a release probability increase in pre-existing boutons depending upon their individual probability. These prS changes precede and regulate fluorescence increase for pstS GFP-tagged-AMPA-receptor subunit GluR1. These results suggest that potentiation involves early changes in the prS terminal including remodeling and release probability increase of pre-existing synapses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wild-typea-synuclein, a protein of unknown function, has received much attention because of its involvement in a series of diseases that are known as synucleinopathies. We find that long-lasting potentiation of synaptic transmission between cultured hippocampal neurons is accompanied by an increase in the number ofa-synuclein clusters. Conversely, suppression ofa-synuclein expression through antisense nucleotide and knockout techniques blocks the potentiation, as well as the glutamate-induced increase in presynaptic functional bouton number. Consistent with these findings,a-synuclein introduction into the presynaptic neuron of a pair of monosynaptically connected cells causes a rapid and long-lasting enhancement of synaptic transmission, and rescues the block of potentiation ina-synuclein null mouse cultures. Also, we report that the application of nitric oxide (NO) increases the number ofa-synuclein clusters, and inhibitors of NO-synthase block this increase, supporting the hypothesis that NO is involved in the enhancement of the number ofa-synuclein clusters. Thus,a-synuclein is involved in synaptic plasticity by augmenting transmitter release from the presynaptic terminal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the global population on the rise, an escalating interest exists in environmentally sustainable and friendly protein sources. Insects have emerged as multifaceted resources, viewed not only as potential food items, but also as sources of traditional medicines and proteins. This study utilized response surface methodology (RSM) to ascertain the optimal extraction conditions for proteins from Musca domestica used in toad feeding, denoted as MDPs-T. The yield of MDPs-T was elevated to 18.3% ± 0.2% under these optimized conditions. Subsequently, the particle size, ζ-potentials, and structures of MDPs-T were analyzed and compared with the proteins derived from Musca domestica fed on a normal diet (MDPs-ND). This comparative analysis utilized a range of advanced techniques, involving UV spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), high-performance gel permeation chromatography (HPGPC), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The outcomes have revealed a marginal disparity in the physical and chemical properties between MDPs-T and MDPs-ND. Derosination led to a reduction in the particle size of the MDPs by 10.98% to 62.81%. MDPs-T exhibited a higher proportion of low-molecular-weight components relative to MDPs-ND. Additionally, in a comparative analysis of amino acids, MDPs-T displayed a greater abundance of essential and total amino acids relative to MDPs-ND. Consequently, MDPs-T holds potential as a valuable food supplement for human consumption or as a nutrient-rich feed supplement for animals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Multifunctional superhydrophobic wood is obtained by a facile and effective method. • The durability of superhydrophobic coatings is highly improved by using of dopamine. • Resistance to chemical and mechanical damages are obtained in Cu coatings. • Antibacterial activities of wood samples are studied by bacteriostatic ring method. Wood veneer had been widely used in interior decoration or fitment, but its application was still limited due to deformation after absorbing water and bacterial erosion. In this paper, a Cu coating owned superhydrophobic and antibacterial capabilities on wood veneer was fabricated by a facile and valid method. The wood veneer with superhydrophobic and antibacterial properties was prepared by self-polymerization of dopamine, chemical deposition of Cu nanoparticles, and hydrophobic modification using fluorosilane. The water contact angle and sliding angle of obtained Cu coating reached 155.7° and 4°, respectively. Meanwhile, the as-prepared coating showed resistance to acid or base solutions with different pH values, different temperatures aging and mechanical damages, and also displayed a good self-cleaning ability. In addition, the modified wood exhibited outstanding antibacterial activities towards Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. This work supplied a novel way to endow the superhydrophobic and antibacterial properties on wood veneer, and promote its multifunction application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to study the gas occurrence regularity and the main controlling factors of Panxi Mine, gas parameters of the mine were determined through the combination of field survey and experiment, and the distribution regularity of gas content in coal seam strike and dip was analyzed. Besides, the fault structure was quantitatively researched based on the fractal theory. The experimental results show that the fractal dimension of the mine mostly ranges from 0.7 to 1.6. The fault structure becomes more complex with the increase of fractal dimension, and the gas content in the region with a larger fractal dimension is higher. The fractal dimension of fault can reflect complexity of geological structure of the mine. The research is targeted to the prevention and control of gas accidents in Panxi Mine, and it has important theoretical and practical significance for promoting safety production and gas development and utilization in coal mines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We consider wireless multi-hop networks in which each node aims to securely transmit a message. To guarantee the secure transmission, we employ an independent randomization encoding strategy to encode the confidential message. We aim to maximize the network utility. Based on the finite length of a secrecy codewords strategy, we develop an improved control algorithm, subject to network stability and secrecy outage requirements. On the basis of the Lyapunov optimization method, we design an control algorithm, which is decomposed into end-to-end secrecy encoding, flow control and routing scheduling. The simulation results show that the proposed algorithm can achieve a utility result that is arbitrarily close to the optimal value. Finally, the performance of the proposed control policy is validated with various network conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper's goal is to investigate if a gob-side entry retention technique combined with a surrounding rock support system is feasible in three soft coal seams. Field engineering confirmed the results of numerical simulation tests and similar simulation tests, which were conducted in accordance with the actual geological conditions of Zhaojiazhai Mine. The following conclusions are reached after studying the technology and process parameter of the gob-side entry retaining in three soft coal seams in conjunction with theoretical calculations: the coal seam of Zhaojiazhai Coal Mine's 12 209 working face is a part of the soft coal seam, and its loose circle is approximately 1.8 m. The expansion roadway size is 3.5 m, and the potential loose circle range is 1.32 m, according to the same model and numerical simulation test. The support scheme after the expansion of the road working face is determined to be the "anchor rod + anchor cable + hydraulic lifting shed" support method. Furthermore, this article suggests a building method for the reinforcement and enlargement of gob-side entry retaining in three-soft thick coal seam by theoretical analysis and numerical simulation. Roadway shotcrete, advance grouting, building of a large deformation anchor cable and continuous resistance, single column lifting shed, hydraulic lifting shed, and roadway enlargement in advance are all steps in the procedure. Furthermore, an analysis is conducted on the deformation features of the surrounding rock in gob-side entry retention. The study highlights the significance of actively supporting the surrounding rock, fortifying the roof support, guaranteeing the stiffness compatibility between the shoulder filling body and the surrounding rock on the roof, boosting the wall's strength and stability, and enhancing the roadway's stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bacteroides fragilis, one of the potential next-generation probiotics, but its protective mechanism is not yet known. We aimed to characterize the anti-inflammatory effect of B. fragilisATCC25285 and to elucidate its mechanism through in vivo and in vitro experiments. An in vitro model of inflammation by induction of colonic cells with TNF-a, and co-cultured with B. fragilis to detect cell viability, apoptosis and invasive capacity. Furthermore, critical proteins of the TLR/NF-κB pathway and the inflammatory cytokines were measured. For animal trials, C57BL/6 J male mice were orally administered B. fragilis or PBS once daily for 21 days. Colitis was induced by drinking 2.5% DSS from days 0 to 7. The mice were weighed daily and rectal bleeding, stool condition and blood in the stool were recorded. We found that B. fragilis treatment alone was harmless and had no effect on cell viability or apoptosis. While predictably TNF-α decreased cell viability and increased apoptosis, B. fragilis attenuated this deterioration. The NF-κB pathway and inflammatory cytokines IL-6 and IL-1β activated by TNF-α were also blocked by B. fragilis. Notably, the metabolic supernatant of B. fragilis also has an anti-inflammatory effect. Animal studies showed that live B. fragilis rather than dead strain ameliorated DSS-induced colitis, as evidenced by weight loss, shortened colon length and enhanced barrier function. The colonic tissue levels of inflammatory cytokines (TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6) were decreased and IL-10 was increased as a result of B. fragilis administration. In conclusion, B. fragilis ATCC25285 exhibited anti-inflammatory effects whether in vivo or in vitro, and it may be a potential probiotic agent for improving colitis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bacteroides fragilis, one of the potential next-generation probiotics, but its protective mechanism is not yet known. We aimed to characterize the anti-inflammatory effect of B. fragilisATCC25285 and to elucidate its mechanism through in vivo and in vitro experiments. An in vitro model of inflammation by induction of colonic cells with TNF-a, and co-cultured with B. fragilis to detect cell viability, apoptosis and invasive capacity. Furthermore, critical proteins of the TLR/NF-κB pathway and the inflammatory cytokines were measured. For animal trials, C57BL/6 J male mice were orally administered B. fragilis or PBS once daily for 21 days. Colitis was induced by drinking 2.5% DSS from days 0 to 7. The mice were weighed daily and rectal bleeding, stool condition and blood in the stool were recorded. We found that B. fragilis treatment alone was harmless and had no effect on cell viability or apoptosis. While predictably TNF-α decreased cell viability and increased apoptosis, B. fragilis attenuated this deterioration. The NF-κB pathway and inflammatory cytokines IL-6 and IL-1β activated by TNF-α were also blocked by B. fragilis. Notably, the metabolic supernatant of B. fragilis also has an anti-inflammatory effect. Animal studies showed that live B. fragilis rather than dead strain ameliorated DSS-induced colitis, as evidenced by weight loss, shortened colon length and enhanced barrier function. The colonic tissue levels of inflammatory cytokines (TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6) were decreased and IL-10 was increased as a result of B. fragilis administration. In conclusion, B. fragilis ATCC25285 exhibited anti-inflammatory effects whether in vivo or in vitro, and it may be a potential probiotic agent for improving colitis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bacteroides fragilis, one of the potential next-generation probiotics, but its protective mechanism is not yet known. We aimed to characterize the anti-inflammatory effect of B. fragilisATCC25285 and to elucidate its mechanism through in vivo and in vitro experiments. An in vitro model of inflammation by induction of colonic cells with TNF-a, and co-cultured with B. fragilis to detect cell viability, apoptosis and invasive capacity. Furthermore, critical proteins of the TLR/NF-κB pathway and the inflammatory cytokines were measured. For animal trials, C57BL/6 J male mice were orally administered B. fragilis or PBS once daily for 21 days. Colitis was induced by drinking 2.5% DSS from days 0 to 7. The mice were weighed daily and rectal bleeding, stool condition and blood in the stool were recorded. We found that B. fragilis treatment alone was harmless and had no effect on cell viability or apoptosis. While predictably TNF-α decreased cell viability and increased apoptosis, B. fragilis attenuated this deterioration. The NF-κB pathway and inflammatory cytokines IL-6 and IL-1β activated by TNF-α were also blocked by B. fragilis. Notably, the metabolic supernatant of B. fragilis also has an anti-inflammatory effect. Animal studies showed that live B. fragilis rather than dead strain ameliorated DSS-induced colitis, as evidenced by weight loss, shortened colon length and enhanced barrier function. The colonic tissue levels of inflammatory cytokines (TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6) were decreased and IL-10 was increased as a result of B. fragilis administration. In conclusion, B. fragilis ATCC25285 exhibited anti-inflammatory effects whether in vivo or in vitro, and it may be a potential probiotic agent for improving colitis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Field investigations of the Yangtze Estuary and its adjacent sea were carried out from July to August 2011. The distribution, source, transportation and transformation of biogenic silica (BSi) in suspended particulate matter (SPM) and core sediments were comprehensively investigated; dissolved silica (DSi) in pore water was also analyzed in this work. The budgets of reactive silica (RSi) and BSi in the East China Sea (ECS) were initially constructed on the basis of the above survey. The results indicated that the BSi distribution in this area was mainly affected by the input of the Yangtze River and Taiwan Warm Current, which was significantly correlated with SPM. The RSi flux input by rivers accounts for 17.6% of the total source of RSi in the ECS. Thus, these findings combined with the horizontal distribution of BSi in the Yangtze Estuary and its adjacent sea indicate that riverine input has a profound influence on the primary production of diatoms in the euphotic zone. Submarine groundwater exchange accounts for 22.3% of the DSi input, especially in the upwelling region, which will directly affect the euphotic nutrient structure. The DSi benthic flux from pore water to upper water exceeds riverine input by 3-fold, accounting for 11.5% of primary production in the ECS, which can alleviate the Si limiting effect caused by the decrease in DSi flux from the Yangtze runoff in recent years. Approximately 75.5% of BSi is dissolved and re-engaged in the ECS silicon cycle in the settlement process. Graphical abstract Unlabelled Image Highlights • BSi distribution in the investigated area was mainly affected by the input of Yangtze and Taiwan Warm Current. • Most terrestrial BSi dissolved and buried in the Yangtze estuary rather than entering the ocean. • The silicate flux released from the ECS seafloor was exceeded riverine input by 3-fold. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A cascaded multi-stage framework is designed based on the transformer for image restoration. • The self-attention mechanism and cascaded architecture enable the model to achieve long-range dependence modeling and diverse perceptual fields. • A shape perceiving module is designed to improve the model's adaptabilities for objects with extreme sizes and irregular shapes. • The proposed method achieves superior experimental results on several image restoration tasks, while with less training and inference costs. Image restoration is one of the most important computer vision tasks, aiming at recovering high-quality images from degraded or low-quality observations. The restoration methods based on convolutional neural networks (CNNs) have achieved attractive performance, however, as convolutions only intake local information, CNN-based methods have limitations in modeling objects in long ranges and extracting global information. In addition, existing one-stage methods damage the performance due to lacking diversified receptive fields. In this paper, we propose a multi-stage cascaded transformer architecture for image restoration. Firstly, the Swin transformer based encoder relying on self-attention is used to improve the modeling ability for long-range objects and outputs hierarchical multi-level semantic features. Then, a shape perceiving module is designed and embedded in the decoder to enhance the representation of irregular objects, Moreover, a multi-stage cascaded encoder-decoder architecture possessing diversified receptive fields is proposed to progressively obtain fine restoration results and thus boost the performance. We conduct extensive experiments, including image deraining, underwater image enhancement, near infrared image colorization and low-light image enhancement. The results show that our proposed method can achieve comparable or better performance than state-of-the-art methods while with less training and inference costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hypertension is the most prevalent chronic disease World-wide, and the leading preventable risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD). Few patients accomplish the objective of decreasing blood pressure and avoiding hypertensive target organ damage after treatments with antihypertensive agents which opens the door for other treatments, such as herbal-and antihypertensive combination therapy. Captopril (CAP), as a-pril which inhibits angiotensin converting enzyme has long been used in the management of hypertension and CVD. Gedan Jiangya Decoction (GJD) is known for antihypertensive effects in prior studies. The research is aimed to determine whether GJD in combination with captopril has antihypertensive, kidney protective, antioxidant, and vasoactive effects in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR). Regular measurements of systolic and diastolic blood pressure (SBP and DBP), and body weight were monitored weekly. H&E staining was utilized to examine histopathology. The combined effects were studied using ELISA, immunohistochemistry, and qRT-PCR. Significant reductions in SBP, DBP, aortic wall thickness, and improvement in renal tissue were observed following GJD + CAP treatment, with increased serum levels of NO, SOD, GSH-Px, and CAT and decreases in Ang II, ET-1, and MDA. Similarly, GJD + CAP treatment of SHR's significantly decreased ET-1 and AGTR1 mRNA and protein expression while increasing eNOS mRNA and protein expression in thoracic aorta and kidney tissue. In conclusion, the present investigation found that GJD + CAP treatment decreases SHR blood pressure, improves aorta remodeling and renal protection, and that this effect could be attributable, in part, due to antioxidant and vascular tone improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Baichanting (BCT),a traditional Chinese medicine prescription, is a combination of Acanthopanax senticosus, Paeonia lactiflora, and Uncaria three herbs, which has the effect of benefiting the kidney and calming the liver. The study was aimed at investigating the protective effect of BCT against Parkinson's disease using an integrated strategy of network pharmacology and brain metabolomics. Materials and Methods. By integrating network pharmacology with metabolomic research, the protective effect of BCT against PD was investigated using a transgenic mouse model for α-synuclein. The metabolite level and gene level components of BCT that might be anti-PD were separated out. Indicators of behavior and pharmacodynamics were employed to gauge the effectiveness of BCT on PD in the preliminary stages. Network pharmacology, which may be the target of BCT, screened the active substances and target genes. The use of metabolomics to identify potential biomarkers of PD, and then through network pharmacology and metabolic pathways to determine their regulatory enzymes and regulatory genes, improve the pathway mechanism of the disease, has important guiding significance for the in-depth study of the pathogenesis of PD. Results. 101 putative target genes were identified by the network pharmacology analysis in relation to the treatment of PD with BCT. According to the functional enrichment analysis, the proposed mechanism was primarily related to the transport of neurotransmitters, the metabolism of arachidonic acid, dopamine, and alpha-amino acids, as well as the transport of dopamine and the negative regulation of amino acid transport. 25 distinct endogenous metabolites were shown to be potential biomarkers for the BCT for treating PD based on metabolomics. These metabolites were mostly implicated in the important methionine and cysteine, tyrosine, histidine, and arginine and proline metabolic pathways. These results somewhat agreed with those of the network pharmacology analysis. Conclusions. In conclusion, this study showed that BCT could delay the occurrence and development of PD by improving the brain metabolic disorder of α-Syn mice, which revealed the mechanism of BCT through multitarget and multipathway treatment, and provided a new explanation for the mechanism of anti-PD action. Our research, on the other hand, demonstrated that the network pharmacology-integrated metabolomics approach was a potent tool for discovering the active ingredients and mechanisms underlying the pharmacological effects of traditional Chinese medicine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gedan Jiangya Decoction (GJD), a Chinese herbal medicine composed of six botanical medicines, was designed to treat hypertension (patent published number (CN114246896A)). The overexpression of the ERK (extracellular signal-regulated kinase) signaling pathway is essential in developing left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH). This study aimed to evaluate GJD's effects on LVH in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRs) and examine its potential mechanisms on Ras/ERK1/2 pathway regulation. Thirty-five ten-week-old SHRs were randomly assigned to one of five groups: GJD low dosage, medium dose, high dose, model, and captopril. Wistar–Kyoto (WKY) rats served as the control group. All rats received a 6-week treatment. The following parameters were measured: systolic (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP), left ventricular mass index (LVMI), and serum TGF-beta1. The pathologic structure was determined by H & E staining and Masson. TGF-beta1, Ras, ERK1/2, and C-Fos levels were determined using western blotting and real-time qPCR. SBP, DBP, and LVMI were reduced significantly in the GJD group compared with the model group. GJD inhibited TGF-beta1, Ras, ERK1/2, and C-Fos expression in LVH. In conclusion, GJD reduced the Ras/ERK1/2 pathway expression, which decreased hypertension-induced heart hypertrophy. GJD may protect hypertension-induced myocardial hypertrophy by altering gene expression patterns in the heart. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the detection rate increasing each year, highly resistant and virulent CRKP has been a serious challenge to clinical treatment because of the high morbidity and mortality. Considering the virulence of CRKP is closely related to over-expression of siderophore, the high detection rate of entB and ybtS genes in highly virulent CRKP may be an important reason for the high virulence phenotype of CRKP. Therefore, in this study, single/double knockout and complemented strains of siderophore virulence genes entB and ybtS were constructed to clarify the effect of siderophore virulence genes on the virulence of CRKP. 1.The wire drawing experiment, mucus phenotype screening experiment, and PCR amplification were used to screen the target strain WT. the entB gene deletion strain △entB and the complementation strain C-△entB, ybtS gene deletion strain ΔybtS and complementation strain C-ΔybtS, entB and ybtS double gene deletion strain ΔentB + ybtS and complementation strain C-ΔentB + ybtS, were constructed by CrispR-Cas9 gene editing technology. PCR method was used to test whether the knockout and complementation were successful. 2. The colony morphology and mucus phenotype of the experimental strains were observed and the siderophore ability of the experimental strains was tested. Then the growth curves, biofilm-forming ability, and anti-serum killing ability of the strains were determined. 3. In order to understand the virulence of the experimental strain, the mouse intraperitoneal infection model was established to draw the survival curves and determine LD50 of experiment strains. Then to clarify the colonization ability of the experimental strains in the lung and liver of mice, the pathological biopsies were used to observe histopathological changes and ELISA method was used to determine the inflammatory factors IL-1β, LI-3 and TNF-α. 1 CRKP-27 was screened as the target strain WT, which is characterized by positive wire drawing test, strong mucus, strong virulence and carrying both entB and ybtS genes. The single/double knockout and complemented strains of siderophore virulence genes entB and ybtS were successfully constructed. 2 Siderophore virulence genes entB and ybtS had no significant effect on the colony morphology, mucus phenotype (drawing test) and biofilm formation ability of CRKP strains. The CRKP strains with entB and ybtS genes could significantly increase siderophore production. Although both the entB and ybtS genes could impair the growth rate of the CRKP strain, the role of ybtS gene was relatively slow. entB and ybtS genes enhanced the antiserum killing ability of CRKP strains. 3 The presence of entB and ybtS genes reduced the survival rate of mice infected with CRKP strains. Histopathological changes and inflammatory factor levels in the lungs and livers of infected mice were enhanced by the presence of entB and ybtS genes. Mice infected with the same strain had higher histopathological changes and levels of inflammatory factors in the lungs than in the livers. 1.The siderophore virulence genes entB and ybtS have no significant effect on the colony morphology, mucus phenotype and biofilm formation ability of CRKP strains.2.The siderophore virulence genes entB and ybtS can significantly enhance the virulence of the CRKP strain, but weaken its growth ability. • The specific information of the CRKP-27 strain is supplemented in the manuscript: we performed whole genome sequencing of the CRKP-27 strain and uploaded the sequencing results to NCBI (GenBank: CP088272). • The CRKP-27 strain produces KPC enzymes and carries KPC-2 resistance Pharmacogene; MLST type is 46, and the capsular serotype is K62. That is to say, CRKP-27 is a CRKP strain with high virulence and high drug resistance, which has certain research significance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gedan Jiangya decoction (GJD) (aqueous ethanol extract), a traditional Chinese medicine formula which contain six botanical drugs (Uncaria rhynchophylla (Miq.) Miq., Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge, Pueraria lobata (Willd.) Ohwi, Eucommia ulmoides Oliv., Prunella vulgaris L., and Achyranthes bidentata Blume) was designed to treat hypertension; however, the underlying mechanism of action is unclear. This study aimed to determine the mechanisms of action of GJD in the treatment of hypertension in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR). Male SHRs were randomly divided into five groups: GJD doses were low (1.36 g/kg/d), medium (2.72 g/kg/d), and high (5.44 g/kg/d), captopril (13.5 mg/kg/d), and SHR groups, with Wistar-Kyoto rats (WKY) serving as the control. Every rat was gavaged once a day. The ALC-NIBP, a noninvasive blood pressure device, measured systolic (SBP) and diastolic (DBP) blood pressures. Six weeks following treatment, all rats were anesthetized. The blood samples were obtained from the abdominal aorta and then serum isolated to assess endothelin-1 and angiotensin II, interleukin-1beta, interleukin-6, and TNF-alpha. The left ventricular and thoracic aortas were taken for HE staining, immunohistochemistry, RT-qPCR, and western blot examination. Following GJD therapy, SBP and DBP were significantly lowered, as were serum levels of endothelin-1 and angiotensin II. The thickness of the left ventricular and thoracic aorta walls reduced, as did type I collagen, type III collagen, and alpha-SMA expression in the left ventricular and aortic tissues. The GJD treatment significantly reduced serum levels of the inflammatory markers interleukin-1beta, interleukin-6, and TNF-alpha. Furthermore, interleukin-1 beta, interleukin-6, TNF-alpha, TAK1, and NF-κB/p65 levels were significantly reduced in left ventricular and aortic tissues, whereas IkB-alpha levels were significantly elevated. GJD has a dose-dependent effect on all parameters. In conclusion, GJD has been shown to lower blood pressure, improve cardiovascular remodeling, and reduce inflammation via regulating NF-κB in SHRs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]