Search

In the process of humans transforming and utilizing water, humans have worshipped and feared water, which has made people imagine water as a personality image and sacrifice to it as a god, thus creating water god faiths. In the Qing Dynasty, the Beijing–Hangzhou Grand Canal was the main artery of north–south traffic in China, and it played a significant role in promoting political and economic development and material and cultural exchanges along the canal. As an important aspect of civil society and culture, the water god faith is consistent with the characteristics of the Grand Canal itself as an artificial river. Though exploring the distribution of temples as physical entities along the canal, we can further examine the impact and transformation of civil society life in the cities along the route resulting from the behavior of the canal and spontaneous civil action. This study considers the canal as a whole cultural route and explores the internal relationship of the distribution of water god temples from a macro perspective, providing some possibilities for the study of the water god faith in the relationship between humans and water.

The first total synthesis of (±)-(1β,4β,4aβ,8aα)-4,8a-dimethylocta-hydronaphthalene-1,4a(2H)-diol (1), a degraded sesquiterpene isolated from a fermentation broth of Streptomyces albolongus, has been achieved via three different synthetic approaches (13–15 steps) starting from racemic Wieland–Miescher ketone (2). The configuration of hydroxyl groups at C-1 and C-4a in 1 was availably managed using the Mitsunobu reaction and stereo- and regioselective epoxidation. Moreover, the syntheses of configuration isomers 12, 17, 45 and 54 were also described in the present study.

In order to improve the accessibility of the services provided by a sensor network, wireless sensor networks (WSNs) is integrated to Internet of Things (IoTs). In this case, the security is one of the issues be considered when integrating wireless sensor network to IoTs. In this paper, a heterogeneous secure scheme is proposed to build a secure channel between WSNs and Internet server in the IoTs. To achieve better security with minimum cost in WSNs, certificateless and online/offline technique are used. In addition, to increase the scalability at the Internet server side, public key infrastructure is used. As compared with four existing heterogeneous schemes, the proposed scheme has less energy consumption and computational cost. In addition, two application scenarios that illustrate how the proposed scheme can be applied in the IoTs have been given.

Four-roll plate bending machines with high accuracy, high efficiency advantages are widely used in aerospace, instrumentation, pressure vessels, construction machinery and other fields. Due to the poor accuracy and low efficiency of plate bending process, the plate bending mechanism and precision control method are studied in this paper. Firstly, the plate forming mechanism and the bending process of the four-roll plate bending are analyzed. The calculation formula of plate bending springback is deduced by using elastic-plastic theory and mathematics model of plate bending is established. Secondly, the finite-element analysis model of the four-roll plate bending process is established based on ABAQUS simulation platform. The bending test is completed to compare the differences of the simulate radius, actual radius and the theory radius. The results show that it is feasible to use the simulation analysis method to develop plate bending craft parameter. Thirdly, theory analysis for the flexural deformation of the side roll is carried out. According to the two cases of single roll support and double rolls support, the calculation of the flexural deformation of the side roll is given. Based on these results, the specific scheme of the deflection compensation for the side roll is put forward.

Two novel andrographolide analogues with the structural motif of Δ(8,17)-alkene exo-to-endo isomerization, AI78 and AI89, were semi-synthesized firstly. Two series of derivatives were designed and synthesized based on the synthetic pathway (including series I: olefin isomerizing to endocyclic Δ(8,9) and series II: olefin isomerizing to endocyclic Δ(7,8)). The anti-influenza virus activity in vitro for all derivatives was evaluated. Among the compounds synthesized, compound 38 with benzyl amino group showed the greatest potency against H3N2 and was approximately 1.5-fold more potent than that of Lianbizhi, andrographolide analogue used clinically in China. Adamantyl derivative, 43, presented the lowest toxicity, with a higher TC50 and TI values than Lianbizhi. The structure-activity relationships studies of the synthetic analogues indicated that the endocyclic Δ(7,8)-double bond is preferable for anti-viral effect. Furthermore, the introduction of the fatty amino attached to the rigid skeleton at C-17 is beneficial for activity.

A concise total synthesis of an exceedingly potent anti-inflammatory agent violacin A as well as the preparation of thirty analogues of this lead from commercially available orcinol are described. Highlights of our synthetic efforts involve Friedel-Crafts acylation, the regioselective etherification and esterification of phenolic hydroxyl groups, and Baker-Venkatamaran rearrangement to form basic skeleton of violacin A. The deprotection reaction with Pd-catalytic was involved to avoid the elimination of the hemiacetal hydroxyl at C2. In addition, all synthetic compounds were screened for anti-inflammatory activity against nitric oxide (NO) production using lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced Raw264.7 cells. A range of violacin A derivatives 11b, 11d, 11f, 12e, 12g, 13g, 17d-g exhibited stronger anti-inflammatory effect than that of violacin A. Notably, halogeno-benzyloxy substituent at C-7 were favourable for anti-inflammatory activities of violacin A derivatives. Additionally, Western blot results indicated halogeno-benzyloxy derivatives inhibited pro-inflammatory cytokines releases correlated with the suppression of NF-κB signaling pathway.

Borrelidin, a nitrile containing 18-membered polyketide macrolide, display potent antifungal activity. In this study, a library of borrelidin derivatives were synthesized. Their structures were elucidated by detailed spectroscopic data analysis. The antifungal activity and cytotoxicity of these target compounds were evaluated by broth microdilution and 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-3,5-phenytetrazoliumromide (MTT) methods. Among forty-seven prepared analogues, compound 3b had the inhibitory effect on Candida albicans and Candida parapsilosis (MIC: 50 and 12.5 μg/mL, respectively). Furthermore, compounds 4n and 4r presented better antifungal activity against Aspergillus fumigatus with 12.5 μg/mL MIC value, which were insensitive to borrelidin. Preliminary structure-activity relationships (SAR) revealed that the ester analogues containing fragment -OCH2CH2N- had an important effect on the antifungal activity. Meanwhile, the molecular docking study indicated the carboxyl substituents in BN could provide extra interaction with pathogenic fungal threonyl-tRNA synthetase (ThrRS).

A series of novel asperphenamate derivatives were designed and synthesized, including series I (the A-phenyl group replaced with various aromatic heterocycles) and series II (the acyl group substituted by sulfonyl group). All compounds have been screened for their antiproliferative activity in vitro against MCF-7, HeLa, and BEL-7402 cell lines by the standard MTT method. Structure-activity relationship studies displayed the heterocycle type played an important role in activity. Six-membered ring derivatives displayed more potency than five-membered ring and the sulfonyl group in A-ring region made an important contribution to activity. Among all derivatives, tosyl derivative 8c exhibited the greatest potency in three human cancer cell lines. Especially in MCF-7 cells, the cellular potency of 8c was approximately 3.0-fold more potent than that of cisplatin. Firstly, the mechanism of cell death induced by 8c in MCF-7 cells was investigated. The results showed that the cell death was induced by autophagy instead of apoptosis or cell cycle arrest. Further studies indicated that 8c might induce autophagic cell death in HeLa and BEL-7402 cell lines.

The aim of this study was to identify cancer stem cells (CSC) from three hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cell lines and to screen for specific microRNAs (miRNAs) regulating CSCs. Side population (SP) phenotype analysis was used. Four factors in the staining process, the incubation time, shaking interval, culture time and Hoechst 33342 concentration were explored, respectively, to define the SP subtype. CSC characteristics of SP cells were verified by sphere-forming assay and tumorigenic ability in NOD/SCID mice. QPCR assay for 370 miRNAs was performed to identify the differential miRNA expression between SP and Non-SP (NSP) cells in the PLC/PRF/5 cell line. The selected miRNAs were tested again in SP and NSP cells from Huh-7 and Hep-3B cell lines by qPCR assay. All four factors influenced SP percentage, when the other three conditions were fixed, the optimal Hoechst 33342 concentrations determined were 11 µg/ml for PLC/PRF/5 cells, 4 µg/ml for Huh-7 and 5 µg/ml for Hep-3B cells. The resultant SP percentage was 0.73±0.12%, 0.49±0.04% and 0.63±0.08%, respectively. The purity of sorted SP cells was >85%. Floating spheres were formed by SP cells from all three cell lines, while NSP cells did not form a single floating sphere. Mice injected with SP cells on the right side formed more tumor masses compared to their counterpart NSP at the same injection dosage; qPCR profiling identified 27 differentially expressed miRNAs in PLC/PRF/5 cells. Subsequent qPCR assay showed that miR-9* and miR-194 were also downregulated in SP cells from Huh-7 and Hep-3B. The present study identified CSCs via SP and sphere-forming assay from three liver cancer cell lines. Altogether, 27 CSC-specific miRNAs were determined in PLC/PRF/5; miR-9* and miR-194 were identified as the common CSC-specific miRNAs across the three HCC cell lines.