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Coastal systems experience diel fluctuation of

Hydrodesulfurization (HDS) catalysts are widely used in petrochemical industries, playing a crucial role in desulfurization process to get high-quality oil. The generation of Al-based spent HDS catalyst is estimated to be 1.2×105 tons per year around the world. The spent HDS catalysts have been regarded as an important secondary resource due to their abundant output, considerable metal value, and regeneration potential; however, if improperly handled, it would severely pollute the environment due to high content of heavy metals. Thus, the recovery of valuable metals from spent HDS catalysts is of great importance from both resource utilization and environmental protection points of view. In this work, recent advances in the spent HDS catalyst treatment technologies have been reviewed, focusing on the recovery of valuable transition metals and environmental impacts. Finally, typical commercial processes have been discussed, providing in-depth information for peer researchers to facilitate their future research work in designing more effective and environmentally friendly recycling processes.

A metal-free, visible-light driven C–H ketoalkylation of glycine derivatives and peptides with cycloalkyl hydroperoxides is presented. This protocol provides a straightforward route to unnatural amino acids bearing a distal carbonyl group with moderate to good yields. Preliminary mechanistic studies revealed that both a SET event and radical chain propagation were involved in this transformation.

To compare the dosimetric characteristics of helical tomotherapy (HT), volumetric-modulated arc therapy (VMAT), intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT), and tangential field-in-field technique (FIF) for the treatment of synchronous bilateral breast cancer (SBBC).Ten patients with early-stage unilateral breast cancer were selected for simulating the patients with SBBC in this retrospective analysis. Treatment plans with HT, VMAT, IMRT, and FIF were generated for each patient with a total dose of 50.4 Gy in 28 fractions to the target. Plan quality, namely conformity index (CI), homogeneity index (HI), dose-volume statistics of organs at risk (OARs), and beam-on time (BOT), were evaluated.HT plans showed a lower mean heart dose (3.53 ± 0.31Gy) compared with the other plans (VMAT = 5.6 ± 1.36 Gy, IMRT = 3.80 ± 0.76 Gy, and FIF = 4.84 ± 2.13 Gy). Moreover, HT plans showed a significantly lower mean lung dose (p0.01) compared with the other plans: mean right lung doses were 6.81 ± 0.67, 10.32 ± 1.04, 9.07 ± 1.21, and 10.03 ± 1.22 Gy and mean left lung doses were 6.33 ± 0.87, 8.82 ± 0.91, 7.84 ± 1.07, and 8.64 ± 0.99 Gy for HT, VMAT, IMRT, and FIF plans, respectively. The mean dose to the left anterior descending artery was significantly lower in HT plans (p0.01) than in the other plans: HT = 19.41 ± 0.51 Gy, VMAT = 25.77 ± 7.23 Gy, IMRT = 27.87 ± 6.48 Gy, and FIF = 30.95 ± 10.17 Gy. FIF plans showed a worse CI and HI compared with the other plans. VMAT plans showed shorter BOT (average, 3.9 ± 0.2 minutes) than did HT (average, 11.0 ± 3.0 minutes), IMRT (average, 6.1 ± 0.5 minutes), and FIF (average, 4.6 ± 0.7 minutes) plans.In a dosimetric comparison for SBBC, HT provided the most favorable dose sparing of OARs. However, HT with longer BOT may increase patient discomfort and treatment uncertainty. VMAT enabled shorter BOT with acceptable doses to OARs and had a better CI than did FIF and IMRT.

Diatoms, accounting for 40% of the marine primary production and 20% of global carbon dioxide fixation, are threatened by the ongoing ocean warming (OW). However, whether and how these ecologically important phytoplankton adapt to OW remains poorly unknown. Here, we experimentally examined the metabolic adaptation of a globally important diatom species

Hexagonal-like zinc oxide (ZnO)/silver (Ag) composite was successfully synthesised by a flux/solvothermal route, and Ag nanoparticles are loaded on ZnO. Compared with pure ZnO, the attachment of Ag on ZnO can significantly increase visible-light absorption and reduce photoluminescence emission intensity. The photocatalytic performance of ZnO/Ag composite was evaluated by the degradation of Rhodamine B solution under ultraviolet (UV) light and visible light irradiation. The degradation rate of ZnO/Ag composite is obviously improved compared with pure ZnO and the commercial TiO2 (P25) and is more than 2.5 and 2.9 times faster than that of pure ZnO under the UV and visible light irradiation, respectively. The enhanced photocatalytic activity of ZnO/Ag composite under UV irradiation was ascribed to the formation of Schottky barriers between Ag particles and ZnO. However, the superior photocatalytic activity under visible light irradiation could be attributed to the surface plasmon resonance of Ag particles.

We designed and synthesized 18 substituted indole derivatives containing a triazole scaffold as novel anti-influenza A virus candidates using a bio-isosteric and scaffold-hopping strategy from the lead compound 4-32-2. Most of the target compounds (eg: 6, 7a, 7d, 7f-j, 7l, 7m, 7o, 7q) exhibited potent anti-influenza A virus activity and low cytotoxicity in vitro. In particular, 7a exhibited the most potent anti-IAV activity (IC

High-valence metal-doped multimetal (oxy)hydroxides outperform noble metal electrocatalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) owing to the modified energetics between 3d metals and high-valence dopants. However, the rational design of sufficient and subtle modulators is still challenging. With a multimetal layered double hydroxide (LDH) as the OER catalyst, this study introduces a series of operando high-valence dopants (Cr, Ru, Ce, and V), which can restrict the 3+ valence states in the LDH template to prevent phase separation and operando transfer to the3+ valence states for sufficient electronic interaction during the OER process. Through density functional theory simulations, ultrathin Cr-doped NiFe (NiFeCr) LDH is synthesized with strong electronic interaction between Cr dopants and NiFe bimetallic sites, evidenced by X-ray absorption spectroscopy. The resulting NiFeCr-LDH catalyzes the OER with ultralow overpotentials of 189 and 284 mV, obtaining current densities of 10 and 1000 mA cm

Pure Cu nanowires as catalyst were prepared by electrochemical deposition and were used in CO2 hydrogenation to methanol. The active sites of the Cu based catalyst were discussed. The performance and structural development of the catalyst were observed during CO2 hydrogenation. A mechanism for the deactivation of the catalyst was discussed. The key factors that affect the deactivation of the catalyst were found. Cu nanowire sample was characterized by SEM, EDS, XRD, and BET. The results show that Cu nanowires have very high sintering resistance and catalytic stability. This helps to develop high performance catalysts. The changes in the grain size, SEM morphology and catalytic properties of the sample during CO2 hydrogenation show that the migration of the Cu atoms on the surface of the Cu nanowires can occur. Continuous migration of Cu atoms and sintering of Cu grains can lead to flow blockage in gas channels. The gas channel flow blockage or the sintering of Cu grains can lead to deactivation of the catalyst. However, the shape of catalytic performance curve indicates that the main reason for the deactivation of the catalyst is the gas channel flow blockage.

As an alternative to gasoline, bioethanol can be produced from lignocellulosic biomass through hydrolysis using an ionic solution containing zinc chloride (ZnCl2). This method allows for a high yield of glucose from lignocellulose, but entails the removal of ZnCl2 from the hydrolysate using multiple nanofiltration membranes before the fermentation of glucose. This paper presents a mathematical technique for designing such a multistage membrane separation system. The optimization model for the synthesis of membrane networks is based on a superstructure with all feasible interconnections between the membrane units, and consists of mass balances, logical constraints and product specifications. A case study of the separation of a bagasse hydrolysis solution is used to demonstrate the application of the proposed model. Results show that using both types of nanofiltration membranes allows higher ZnCl2 removal ratios at each membrane unit, hence a decrease in the number of membrane units required and a reduction of about 35% in capital cost compared to the cases in which only one membrane type is used. Further analysis is performed to examine the effect of membrane performance on the economics of the separation system.

Viral concentrates (VCs), containing bioinformative DNA and proteins, have been used to study viral diversity, viral metagenomics and virus-host interactions in natural ecosystems. Besides viruses, VCs also contain many noncellular biological components including diverse functional proteins. Here, we used a shotgun proteomic approach to characterize the proteins of VCs collected from the oligotrophic deep chlorophyll maximum (DCM) of the South China Sea. Proteins of viruses infecting picophytoplankton, that is, cyanobacteria and prasinophytes, and heterotrophic bacterioplankton, such as SAR11 and SAR116, dominated the viral proteome. Almost no proteins from RNA viruses or known gene transfer agents were detected, suggesting that they were not abundant at the sampling site. Remarkably, nonviral proteins made up about two thirds of VC proteins, including overwhelmingly abundant periplasmic transporters for nutrient acquisition and proteins for diverse cellular processes, that is, translation, energy metabolism and one carbon metabolism. Interestingly, three 56 kDa selenium-binding proteins putatively involved in peroxide reduction from gammaproteobacteria were abundant in the VCs, suggesting active removal of peroxide compounds at DCM. Our study demonstrated that metaproteomics provides a valuable avenue to explore the diversity and structure of the viral community and also the pivotal biological functions affiliated with microbes in the natural environment.

BACKGROUND Application of a matrix-immobilised target enzyme for screening inhibitors is widely used in drug development, but there are few studies in insecticide discovery. In this paper, an economical and effective immobilised acetylcholinesterase (AChE) column was prepared using the sol–gel embedment method, which was further combined with high-performance liquid chromatography for screening the AChE inhibitors and insecticidal compounds from complex natural products. RESULTS AChE inhibitory constituents magnolol and honokiol were isolated from the ethanol extract of Magnolia officinalis, with IC50 values of 0.069 and 0.057 mM respectively. In an in vivo bioassay, magnolol and honokiol showed insecticidal activity against Nilaparvata lugens, with LC50 values of 0.324 and 0.137 mM, which are comparable with that of commonly used insecticide chlorpyrifos (0.233 mM). Moreover, molecular docking was carried out against a homology model of N. lugens AChE. The complexes showed that magnolol and honokiol placed themselves nicely into the active site of the enzyme and exhibited an interaction energy that was in accordance with our activity profile data. CONCLUSION These results demonstrate that magnolol and honokiol have great applied potential to be developed as natural insecticides, and an immobilised AChE column is very useful as a rapid screening tool for target enzymes towards potent inhibitors. © 2014 Society of Chemical Industry

Alkali desulfurization of petroleum coke is an important technology, can improve the performance of the final products of petroleum coke, while reducing air pollution. This paper studied the conditions for desulfurization of calcined petroleum coke using NaOH solid powders. The experimental results show that, the grain size in the range of experiment did not seem to influence desulphurization. With the increase of temperature, adding alkali coke ratio, reaction time, desulfurization of petroleum coke rate increased. In the alkali coke ratio of 2, the reaction temperature is 500°C, the reaction time is 2 h, the desulfurization of petroleum coke ratio reached 98.1%. Desulfurization of petroleum coke rate by prolonging the reaction time, to a certain extent, maintains the same level of lowing alkali coke ratio.

ObjectiveTo investigate the expression of soluble vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-1 (sFlt-1) and placental growth factor (PLGF) in the fetal growth restriction (FGR) cases and the intervention mechanism of tetramethylpyrazine.MethodsA total of 60 fetal growth restriction cases that admitted to our hospital were randomly divided into ligustrazine intervention group (group A) and nutritional support group (group B). A total of 50 healthy pregnant women were also enrolled as control group (group C). Expression level of maternal serum sFlt1, PLGF and fetal growth parameters including HC, AC, FL, BPD, EFW as well as placenta PLGF, sFlt-1 mRNA expression were recorded and compared among the three groups. A total of 15 SD rats were selected and were divided into three groups, TMP group, alcohol and tobacco group and blank control group. Three groups of rats were dissected on the twentieth day of gestation.ResultsExpression level of sFlt-1 and PLGF in group A was not significantly different from that of group C (P>0.05); but significant difference in SFlt1 and PLGF expression level was observed between group C and group B (P0.05). There was significant difference in PLGF between FGR group with treatment and FGR group without treatment or control group (P

Metallic nanowires have been widely studied in various fields due to its special properties such as electronic, optical and chemical. Conventional methods for the preparation of Cu nanowires are usually not accessible by using porous alumina templates due to restriction on using two-step anode oxidation, sputtering Au film, etc. In this paper, the porous alumina template was prepared by one-step anodization. An Al sheet was employed as cathode instead of a valuable Pt or graphite electrode. The Al substrate of alumina template was removed by using the concentrated hydrochloric acid/ethanol solution instead of a heavy metallic salt solution of SnCl4, HgCl2 or CuCl2 used in documents. Cu nanowires were prepared in the porous alumina template by electro-deposition with moving cathode. Some of Cu nanowires were neatly assembled together to form a hemispherical structure and were protected from oxidation. The operations can reduce the cost and simplify the operation.

Based on theexamples works of the road site excavation pits channels and supplemented by road non-destructive testing methods, this paper mainly adopts the road performance of the structural layers , main site designated point FWD test, soil base DCP test and soil base structure bearing capacity correlation. The results show that the existing common road on FWD detection inverse soil base modulus has a good linear relationship with soil base DCP measured modulus, in addition, measured soil base modulus with moisture content of the soil base also have a good linear relationship, but the three correlation does not comply with the actual situation of the road. Thus, before the decision making of the highway overhaul conservation , old Road usage evaluation, the road of non-destructive testing, the excavation pits survey and structural layers indicators detection are very necessary and effective methods.

Malignant gliomas persist as a major disease responsible for high morbidity and mortality rates in adults. Differentiation therapy has emerged as a promising treatment modality. Phosphatase and tensin homolog deleted on chromosome 10 (PTEN) gene function is commonly lost in primary gliomas, particularly in glioblastomas, and this is associated with tumor differentiation. PTEN gene deletion is one of the main molecular events in gliomas. In this study, we aimed to explore the effect and mechanisms of PTEN on cholera toxin (CT)‑induced SWO-38 glioma cell differentiation. It has been shown that transfection of the exogenous PTEN gene induces glioma cell differentiation; however, the underlying mechanism remains to be elucidated. Results of the present study showed that CT-induced SWO-38 glioma cell differentiation was characterized by morphological changes, the increased expression of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), an accumulation of cells in the G0/G1 phase of the cell cycle, the decreased expression of cyclin D1 and a decreased invasion and migration capacity. Silencing of the PTEN protein using RNA interference resulted in suppressed cell differentiation. Furthermore, inhibition of the PI3K/AKT pathway by the inhibitor LY294002 led to attenuated differentiation, while differentiation remained stable with the inhibition of the MAPK/ERK pathway by PD0325901. Thus, PTEN may be important in glioma cell differentiation.

Many endophytic fungi have been found to synthesize bioactive compounds to defend host plants against pathogenic organisms. Here we performed anti-fungal bioassay of 80 endophytic fungi isolated from Ginkgo biloba. Fifteen endophytes were active against at least one of the selected fungi, Fusarium graminearum, Sclerotinia sclerotiorum and Phytophthora capsici, using the agar diffusion method. The most bioactive strain CDW7 was identified as Chaetomium globosum by microscopic examination and ITS rRNA gene sequence data. Culture broth of CDW7 diluted 3-fold completely inhibited the mycelial growth and conidia germination of F. graminearum in vitro. Therefore, Fusarium head blight, a common disease in wheat and barley associated with Fusarium spp., was used to test the anti-phytopathogenic activity in vivo. The fermentation broth of CDW7 resulted in a protective efficacy of 54.9% and curative efficacy of 48.8%. Followed by a bioassay-guided approach, 1,2-benzenedicarboxaldehyde-3,4,5-trihydroxy-6-methyl (flavipin) was isolated and demonstrated to significantly inhibit the growth of several plant-pathogenic fungi, especially F. graminearum with an EC(50) value of 0.73 μg mL(-1) comparable to the commonly used fungicide carbendazim, indicating that it could be used as a fungicide or as a lead compound of new fungicides.

Non-crosslinked and monodisperse polystyrene (PS) microspheres showing uniform size were synthesized by using a dispersion polymerization technique in the presence of the Fenton reagent (FeSO4/H2O2) as an initiator. The effects of stabilizer dosage, monomer concentration, volume ratio of dispersion medium and reaction time on both the morphology and dispersity of PS microspheres were investigated. The results of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) indicated that the obtained PS microspheres are perfect with uniform size of about 170 nm under the optimum experimental condition. On the basis of the experimental results, the mechanism of PS polymerization was proposed, which should be helpful to guide the preparation of polymer microspheres with desired uniform size. In comparison with the conventional emulsion polymerization, this new synthesis technique with the Fenton reagent exhibits some advantages such as being a simple and fast polymerization process without deoxygenation.

A low-rate denial of service (LDoS) attack behaves as a small signal in periodic pulses with low average rate, which hides in normal TCP traffic stealthily. LDoS attacks reduce link throughput and degrade QoS of a target. An approach of detecting LDoS attacks is proposed based on Duffing oscillator in chaos systems. The approach detects LDoS attacks by adopting the technology of digital signal processing (DSP), which takes an LDoS attack as a small signal and normal TCP traffic as background noise. Duffing oscillator is used to detect LDoS attacks in normal TCP traffic. Simulations show that the LDoS attacks can be detected through diagram of the chaotic state, and the period and pulse width of LDoS attacks can be estimated.

目的 调查老年糖尿病患者足部畸形趾甲的情况，分析趾甲异常生长的影响因素。方法 对上海地区某社区卫生服务中心229例老年糖尿病患者进行足部检查，包括周围血管病变、周围神经病变、趾甲修剪情况、甲真菌感染情况及趾甲畸形的情况。结果 老年糖尿病患者足部出现趾甲畸形者118例，高达51.52%，增龄、性别、周围血管病变、周围神经病变、修剪趾甲方法及真菌感染是引起患者畸形趾甲生长的原因。结论 重视老年糖尿病患者足部趾甲的护理，做好甲真菌病的治疗，为老年患者提供专业的趾甲修剪服务，预防糖尿病足溃疡的发生与发展。

OBJECTIVES This study investigated the relation between biomechanical properties of the proper hepatic artery and sex in pigs and humans to provide the theoretical basis for selecting suitable donor in pig-to-human liver xenotransplant. MATERIALS AND METHODS The proper hepatic arteries of 32 Chinese Hubei white pigs (8 males, 8 females, 8 castrated males, and 8 ovariectomized females) and 10 deceased donors (5 human men, 5 human women) were obtained. The pressure-diameter relations of the proper hepatic arteries were measured on biomechanical test equipment to calculate the incremental elastic modulus (Einc), pressure-strain elastic modulus (Ep), volume elastic modulus (Ev), and compliance. Each sample was sliced into 5-μm frozen sections and stained with hematoxylin-eosin. RESULTS There were significant differences in Einc (F=10.24; P = .001), Ep (F=3.75; P = .001), and Ev (F=3.41; P = .002) of the proper hepatic arteries of female, male, and gonadectomized pigs; females had the lowest elastic modulus and the gonadectomized group had the highest (P < .01). There was a significant difference in compliance of the porcine proper hepatic arteries between the sexes, highest in the female group and lowest in the gonadectomized group (P < .01). No difference in the elastic modulus and compliance of the proper hepatic artery between the male pig and the human man. There was no difference between the female pig and the human woman. CONCLUSIONS There were differences in the biomechanical properties of the proper hepatic arteries of the female, male, and gonadectomized pigs. The biomechanical properties of the human men/women proper hepatic artery match those of the porcine male/female hepatic artery. The correlation between sex and biomechanical properties of the proper hepatic artery in pigs could imply that a pig of the same sex should be chosen for pig-to-human liver xenotransplant.

The Mg-3% Al melt was treated by carbon inoculation and Mn addition. The effects of Mn addition and addition sequence on the grain refinement were investigated. The effect of Mn on the grain refinement of Mg-3 %Al alloy by carbon inoculation was closely associated with the operating sequence of carbon inoculation and Mn addition.Mn has no obvious effect on the grain refinement under the condition that Mn pre-existed in the Mg-Al melt before carbon inoculation. However, Mn played an inhibiting role under the condition that the Mg-Al melt had been inoculated by carbon before Mn addition. The Al4C3 particles should act as potent nucleating substrates for Mg grains in the sample treated by carbon inoculation. However, the Al-C-Mn particles with Al4C3 coating film could be observed in the sample treated by Mn addition and then carbon inoculation. These particles with duplex phase structure should also act as potent nucleating substrates for Mg grains, resulting in grain refinement. The nucleating potency of most Al4C3 particles was possibly poisoned by the formation of Al-Mn-rich coating film or the Al-C-Mn intermetallic compound, resulting in grain coarsening in the samples treated by carbon inoculation before Mn addition.

The cost estimate plays an important role in cost control and developing new products at the design stage. To improve the accuracy of cost estimate, we extract the feature parameters using the theory of concurrent engineering and factor analysis. Then we propose DCEM that is the model of cost estimate based on factor analysis and BP neural network. The model not only simplifies the input of BP neural network, but also avoids the coupling among the input parameters. The result shows that the model’s performance is stable and it can estimate the cost more accurate at the early product design stage.

The effect of combined addition of Fe and Mn on carbon inoculation of Mg-3% Al alloy was investigated in the present study. The results show that a posioning effect could be found in the samples treated by the combination of carbon inoculation and combined addition of Fe and Mn regardless of the operating sequence of carbon inoculation and combined addition of Fe and Mn. The posioning effect was proposed to be due to the formation of Al-C-O-Mn-Fe-rich intermetallic compounds. These Al-C-O-Mn-Fe-rich intermetallic compounds, actually being Al-C-Mn-Fe phases, should not act as the potent nucleating substrates for -Mg grains, resulting in the grain-coarsening.

The Mg-3% Al melt was treated by carbon inoculation and Fe addition. The influence of Fe on the formation of nucleation was investigated. That Fe inhibited the grain refinement of the carbon-inoculated Mg-3%Al alloy or not was closely associated with the operating sequence of carbon inoculation and Fe addition. Under the condition of Fe addition firstly and then carbon inoculation, the Al4C3particles and the particles with duplex phase structure of Al4C3coated on Al-C-Fe or Al-Fe could be observed. Both kinds of particles should act as nucleating substrates for a-Mg grains, resulting in no obvious effect of Fe on refining efficiency of carbon inoculation. Under the contrary condition, the potency of Al4C3nucleating substrates was poisoned by transforming Al4C3into Al-C-Fe-rich intermetallic particles, resulting in grain-coarsening.

Aptamer with small molecular weight, simple structure, and easy synthesis, which can be used repeatedly and preserved for long time, has important applications in biosensor field. This article describes several commonly used methods for fixing aptamer onto the sensor surfaces, including the gold-sulfur self-assembled monolayer, covalent bond, biotin/avidin affinity, complementary nucleic acid chain connection, as well as current research progress and the characteristics of each method. Development of aptasensors with wide detection range, low detection limit, short detection time, and capability of detection of multitargets will certainly facilitate its application in food quality and safety testing, disease diagnosis, drug analysis, environment monitoring, etc.

Accurate quantification of quizalofop-p-ethyl is essential for it may do harm to humans and animals through both water and food. Currently, detection of quizalofop-p-ethyl mainly relies on methods such as gas chromatography, high performance liquid chromatography, and gas chromatography−mass spectrometry. Although these techniques are reliable, they are relatively expensive and time-consuming because of multistep sample cleanup. To address this, we developed a competitive indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ciELISA) with a polyclonal antibody against quizalofop-p-ethyl that was generated in our lab. The IC50 of detection was 0.03495 μg/mL, and the lowest detection limit reached 0.00192 μg/mL. Furthermore, the method had high specificity for it did not cross-react with other structure-related compounds. When water and soil samples that were fortified with quizalofop-p-ethyl were analyzed by this ELISA, recoveries were in the range of 89−110% from water and 81−108% from soil. Good correlations betwe...

Glioma remains one of the most lethal human tumors in spite of the progress in radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and surgical techniques. Cell differentiation agent-2 (CDA-2) is an extraction from healthy human urine consisting of primary organic acids and peptides, and it has been demonstrated to inhibit growth and induce differentiation in glioma and other cell lines. However, the mechanism remains unclear. Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPARs) are members of the nuclear hormone receptors (NHRs) which are involved in cellular differentiation and proliferation. In this study, we investigated if CDA-2 induced differentiation of SWO-38 glioma cells is mediated by PPARgamma. CDA-2 induced differentiation of SWO-38 cells was characterized by typical morphological changes, increased expression of GFAP, inhibition of proliferation and G(0)/G(1) cell cycle arrest. CDA-2 also triggered up-regulation of PPARgamma, GFAP and PTEN protein and a reduction of COX-2 protein. However, the effects of CDA-2 on SWO-38 cells could be partly reversed by GW9662, an irreversible PPARgamma antagonist. Our investigation demonstrated that CDA-2 could be a potential drug for tumor differentiation therapy, and activation of the PPARgamma pathway might be a crucial factor in glioma differentiation induced by CDA-2.

We demonstrated a novel approach for the interrogation of wavelength-modulated optical sensors. The interrogator is based on a tunable on-chip microring filter. By tuning the center wavelength of the microring filter, the center wavelength of the sensor can be readout by the corresponding tuning power. This approach has the potential of constructing a compact and cost-effective interrogator with good performance.

Application of a matrix-immobilised target enzyme for screening inhibitors is widely used in drug development, but there are few studies in insecticide discovery. In this paper, an economical and effective immobilised acetylcholinesterase (AChE) column was prepared using the sol-gel embedment method, which was further combined with high-performance liquid chromatography for screening the AChE inhibitors and insecticidal compounds from complex natural products.AChE inhibitory constituents magnolol and honokiol were isolated from the ethanol extract of Magnolia officinalis, with IC50 values of 0.069 and 0.057 mM respectively. In an in vivo bioassay, magnolol and honokiol showed insecticidal activity against Nilaparvata lugens, with LC50 values of 0.324 and 0.137 mM, which are comparable with that of commonly used insecticide chlorpyrifos (0.233 mM). Moreover, molecular docking was carried out against a homology model of N. lugens AChE. The complexes showed that magnolol and honokiol placed themselves nicely into the active site of the enzyme and exhibited an interaction energy that was in accordance with our activity profile data.These results demonstrate that magnolol and honokiol have great applied potential to be developed as natural insecticides, and an immobilised AChE column is very useful as a rapid screening tool for target enzymes towards potent inhibitors.

Harpin proteins stimulate hypersensitive response (HR) in plants. However, the mechanism by which HR is regulated is not clear. The role of the auxin, indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), in the control of harpin-stimulated HR was investigated. IAA was used to inhibit HR that was stimulated by purified fusion harpin(Xoo) protein in tobacco. Semi-quantitative PCR and qRT-PCR were employed to detect the expression of HR related genes. IAA at 100 μM reversed harpin-induced HR which was inhibited by 500 μM 2,3,5-triiodobenzoic acid (TIBA). Semi-quantitative PCR and qRT-PCR showed the combined application of 100 μM IAA and harpin protein from Xanthomonas oryzae enhanced the expression of HR marker gene, hsr203J, but weakened the expression of the disease-defense gene, chia5. TIBA also decreased the expression of hsr203J but increased the expression of chia5. Thus, the auxin can reverse harpin(Xoo)-induced HR.