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WC-12%Co-6%Cr coatings were deposited by high-velocity oxygen-fuel spraying technology (HVOF) on 42CrMo steel, and then, the sealing treatment was carried out by sol–gel aluminum phosphate inorganic sealing agent. The phases and porosity of the coatings before and after sealing were characterized by XRD and metallographic grayscale method, and high-temperature sliding wear tests were carried out at five different temperatures. The results showed that the coating/substrate bonding was mainly mechanical bonding with metallurgical bonding, and the high-temperature friction and wear mechanism of the coating was mainly contact fatigue and oxidation wear. The porosity of the coating was significantly reduced by aluminum phosphate sealing treatment, which was less than 2%, and the density was significantly improved. With the increase in wear temperature, the wear rate of the coatings increased, and the effect of phosphate sealing on reducing the wear loss was gradually weakened, and the highest service temperature was found near 450 °C.

Ni-W-P ternary coating was synthesised on AZ91D magnesium alloy substrates by an integrated method. The corrosion resistance mechanism of conversion film-electroless Ni-W-P coatings on a substrate ...

We have previously reported that F1012-2, a sesquiterpene lactone isolated from the Chinese herbal medicine Eupatorium lindleyanum DC., exhibits strong effects against Triple Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC). In this study, we found F1012-2 effectively inhibited cell migration and invasion detected by wound healing and transwell assays. In order to elucidate the potential mechanisms of F1012-2, we further studied its effect on DNA damage in TNBC cell lines. Using single cell gel electrophoresis (comet assay), immunofluorescence, and western blotting assays, we found that F1012-2 treatment induced significant DNA strand breaks and γ-H2AX activation. Moreover, exposure to F1012-2 led to overproduction of reactive oxygen species (ROS). NAC treatment completely eliminated ROS, which may be due to the interaction between NAC and F1012-2. A further study of the molecular mechanisms demonstrated that the MAPK signaling pathway participated in the anti-TNBC effect of F1012-2. Pretreatment with specific inhibitors targeting JNK (SP600125) and ERK (PD98059) could rescue the decrease in cell viability and inhibit expressions of JNK and ERK phosphorylation, but SB203580 had no effects. Finally, in the acute toxicity experiment, there were no obvious symptoms of poisoning in the F1012-2 treatment group. An in vivo study demonstrated that F1012-2 significantly suppressed the tumor growth and induced DNA damage. In conclusion, the activity of F1012-2-induced DNA damage in TNBC was found in vivo and in vitro, which might trigger the MAPK pathway through ROS accumulation. These results indicate that F1012-2 may be an effective anti-TNBC therapeutic agent.

The purpose of this work is to investigate the microstructure and mechanical properties of a novel WC-reinforced Co matrix composite coating synthesized by pulse electrodeposition technique with va...

A novel Co-WC composite coating was deposited on the surface of high speed steel (HSS) substrate by an energy-efficient method of electrodeposition. The effects of process parameters on friction and wear properties of the composite coatings were evaluated, and the worn morphologies of Co-WC composite coatings were investigated by scanning electron microscopy. Results revealed that the incorporation of WC particles can significantly improve the wear resistance of the coating. As the current density was increased to 6.5Adm-2 and the WC concentration was increased to 35g/L, the Co-WC composite coating had the lowest friction coefficient and wear loss.

This study focused on the ameliorative effects of gypenosides(GPS) on insulin sensitivity and inflammatory factors in rats with type 2 diabetes mellitus(T2 DM) and explored their possible molecular mechanisms. After the successful establishment of T2 DM model, diabetic rats were randomly divided into four groups, including model group, GPS groups(200, 100 mg·kg~(-1)) and metformin group(100 mg·kg~(-1)), with healthy rats serving as the control. After 6-week intragastric administration, fasting blood glucose(FBG) and oral glucose tolerance were examined. The levels of insulin, C-peptide, tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α), interleukin-1β(IL-1β), interleukin-6(IL-6) and C-reactive protein(CRP) in serum were examined. Then the homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance(HOMA-IR) and insulin sensitivity index(ISI) were calculated. The protein expression levels of phosphorylated insulin receptor substrate-1(p-IRS-1) and phosphorylated protein kinase B(p-Akt) in skeletal muscle were measured by Western blot, as well as those of phosphorylated inhibitor of nuclear factor-κB(NF-κB) kinase β(p-IKKβ), phosphorylated alpha inhibitor of NF-κB(p-IκBα) and phosphorylated p65 subunit of NF-κB(p-p65) in adipose tissue. The relative expression levels of glucose transporter 4(GLUT4) mRNA in skeletal muscle and NF-κB mRNA in adipose tissue were measured by qRT-PCR, and the morphological changes of pancreatic tissue were observed. Compared with the model group, the GPS groups witnessed significant decrease in FBG, marked amelioration of impaired oral glucose tolerance and significant increase in ISI. Further, the high-dose GPS group saw significantly reduced HOMA-IR, TNF-α, IL-1β and CRP, significantly increased expression levels of p-IRS-1(Tyr), p-Akt and GLUT4, and markedly inhibited p-IRS-1(Ser), p-IKKβ, p-IκBα, p-p65 and NF-κB. The concentration of CRP and the expression levels of p-IRS-1(Ser), p-IKKβ, p-IκBα and NF-κB were remarkably reduced in the low-dose GPS group. However, GPS was found less effective in the regulation of serum insulin, C-peptide and IL-6 levels and the alleviation of pancreatic islet injury. The results indicated that GPS can reduce FBG and improve insulin sensitivity in diabetic rats possibly by regulating the NF-κB signaling pathway, inhibiting inflammation, and thereby regulating the expression of key proteins in the insulin signaling pathway.

Ni-W-P ternary coating was successfully deposited on AZ91D magnesium alloy by electroless plating with low energy consumption. The effect of Na2WO4 concentration on the microstructure, deposition rate, corrosion behavior, adhesion force, porosity test and micro-hardness of Ni-W-P ternary coatings were evaluated. Results reveal that when the concentration of Na2WO4 is 15 g/L in the plating solution, the coating with the average thickness of 17 μm is uniform and dense, and the content of phosphorus and tungsten reached 9.63 wt.% and 1.14 wt.% respectively, which presents amorphous structure. Meanwhile, when the concentration of Na2WO4 is 15 g/L, the amorphous Ni-W-P ternary coating has the best corrosion resistance, among which Ecorr is -0.326 V, Icorr is 0.003 A/cm2 in 3.5 wt.% NaCl solution. In addition, the mechanisms of corrosion resistance for the substrate and the coating were exploded.

Zhuru Tang( from the Effective Prescriptions for Universal Relief) listed in the Catalogue of Ancient Classical Formulas( The First Batch) by the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine,is usually used to treat stomach fever and vomiting. The first step of the research and development of the classic formula compound preparations is to follow the principle of the ancient method,comb through the literature of all dynasties,and then investigate the historical evolution of the prescription,the evolution of formula significance and the clinical application. Based on this principle,we searched the Chinese Medical Classics Database and relevant literature materials to conduct textual research on the history,evolution of formula significance,clinical application,decocting method,as well as the basis and processing of traditional Chinese medicine from the perspectives ofquot; recipequot; andquot; medicinequot;,in order to provide reference for the development and research of Zhuru Tang.

The rheological properties of cement-based materials can be used to guide its construction. In this paper, rheological characteristics of fresh cement mortar (FCM) were investigated. The rheological model and its parameters of the FCM under different hydration time, different water to cement ratio (w/c) and sand to cement ratio (s/c) were obtained by the rheological testing and model analyzer. The result indicated that rheological model of the FCM is transformed from Burgers model to Bingham model with the extension of hydration time. And the model transformed from Burgers model to five component model with the decrease of w/c and the increase of s/c. However, the superplasticizer has little effect on the rheological model of cement mortar. The plastic deformation of the fresh cement mortar increased gradually with the prolongation of the hydration time, and the plastic yield value increased gradually from 50Pa to 250Pa with the increase of s/c. The change rate of plasticity of mortar is reduced from 422Pa/h to 107Pa/h with the increase of superplasticizer’s dosage, which shows the addition of superplasticizer retards the hydration rate.

To study the atmospheric PM

Ni and B co-doped diamond-like carbon (Ni/B-DLC) films were synthesized on the surface of AZ91D magnesium alloy by electrodeposition under mild environment. The formation mechanism of Ni/B-DLC films was discussed. The microstructure of the films was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Results conveyed that the Ni-DLC and Ni/B-DLC films were hydrogenated amorphous carbon films. With the co-doping of Ni and B, the protruding mulberry-like structure of carbon-based films gave way to the compact and uniform granular structure. The intensity ratio (ID/IG) of D and G lines was decreased from 0.75 to 0.71. XRD patterns revealed that the doping of boron favored the sp3 hybridization of carbon atoms. Simultaneously, the infrared spectra demonstrated that hydrogen for Ni/B-DLC films was preferentially bonded with sp2 carbon atom. In addition, Ni/B-DLC films had excellent wear resistance, which was mainly attributed to the homogeneous and dense structure and considerable micro-indentation hardness.

A new pseurotin A 3 ( 3 ), which was obtained from the fungus Aspergillus terreus was converted into its acetyl derivative ( 4 ). Optical rotation (OR), 13 C NMR, electronic circular dichroism (ECD) and vibrational circular dichroism (VCD) were measured for (+)- 4 and computed for four possible isomers using quantum theory. Absolute configuration of (+)- 4 was finally assigned as (5 S ,8 S ,9 R ,10 S ,11 R, 12 Z ) by comparing the predicted OR, ECD and VCD spectra to the experimental data. Therefore, the new compound 3 should have the (5 S ,8 S ,9 R ,10 S ,11 R, 12 Z ) too.

Three new phenyl ether derivatives, 3-hydroxy-5-(3-hydroxy-5-methylphenoxy)benzoic acid (1), 3,4-dihydroxy-5-(3-hydroxy-5-methylphenoxy)benzoic acid (2), 3-[3-hydroxy-5-(hydroxymethyl)phenoxy]-5-methylphenol (3), and three known compounds 4–6 were obtained from the fermentation broth of Aspergillus carneus HQ889708, which was isolated from sea water from South China Sea. The structures of compounds 1–3 were established on the basis of spectroscopic methods including ESI-MS and NMR. Compounds 4–6 were reported before as synthesized products, herein, they are reported from nature for the first time.

Cardamonin has promising potential in cancer prevention and therapy by interacting with proteins and modifying the expressions and activities, including factors of cell survival, proliferation, and angiogenesis. In our precious study, we have demonstrated that cardamonin suppressed vascular endothelial growth factor- (VEGF-) induced angiogenesis as evaluated in the mouse aortic ring assay. It is also known that microRNAs (miRNAs) play important roles in angiogenesis. Herein, we hypothesized whether antiangiogenesis effect of cardamonin in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) triggered by VEGF was associated with miRNAs. We found that cardamonin reduced the miR-21 expression induced by VEGF in HUVECs. Treatment with miR-21 mimics abolished the effects of cardamonin on VEGF-induced cell proliferation, migration, and angiogenesis in HUVECs. However, treatment with miR-21 inhibitors presented the opposite effects, indicating the vital role of miR-21 in this process. Our study provides a new insight of the preliminary mechanism of anti-VEGF-induced angiogenesis by cardamonin in HUVECs.

The cuckoo search (CS) algorithm is a relatively new, nature-inspired intelligent algorithm that uses a whole updating and evaluation strategy to find solutions for continuous global optimisation problems. Despite its efficiency and wide use, CS suffers from premature convergence and poor balance between exploitation and exploration. These issues result from interference phenomena among dimensions that arise when solving multi-dimension function optimisation problems. To overcome these issues, we proposed an enhanced CS algorithm called dynamic CS with Taguchi opposition-based search (TOB-DCS) that employed two new strategies: Taguchi opposition-based search and dynamic evaluation. The Taguchi search strategy provided random generalised learning based on opposing relationships to enhance the exploration ability of the algorithm. The dynamic evaluation strategy reduced the number of function evaluations, and accelerated the convergence property. For this research, we conducted experiments on 22 classic benchmark functions, including unimodal, multi-modal and shifted test functions. Statistical comparisons of our experimental results showed that the proposed TOB-DCS algorithm made an appropriate trade-off between exploration and exploitation.

Three new phenyl ether derivatives, 3-hydroxy-5-(3-hydroxy-5-methylphenoxy)benzoic acid (1), 3,4-dihydroxy-5-(3-hydroxy-5-methylphenoxy)benzoic acid (2), 3-[3-hydroxy-5-(hydroxymethyl)phenoxy]-5-methylphenol (3), and three known compounds 4–6 were obtained from the fermentation broth of Aspergillus carneus HQ889708, which was isolated from sea water from South China Sea. The structures of compounds 1–3 were established on the basis of spectroscopic methods including ESI-MS and NMR. Compounds 4–6 were reported before as synthesized products, herein, they are reported from nature for the first time.

The total flavonoids (TFs) were isolated from the leaves of Carya cathayensis Sarg. (LCC), a well-known Chinese medicinal herb commercially cultivated in Tianmu Mountain district, a cross area of Zhejiang and Anhui provinces in China. Five flavonoids, i.e. cardamonin, pinostrobin chalcone (PC), wogonin, chrysin, and pinocembrin were the main components of the TFs. The TFs and these pure compounds suppressed vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-induced angiogenesis as detected in the mouse aortic ring assay, and cardamonin showed the best effect among them. To further elucidate the mechanisms for suppressing angiogenesis of these flavonoids, assays of VEGF-induced proliferation and migration in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) were performed. The TFs, cardamonin, pinocembrin, and chrysin obviously suppressed both VEGF-induced HUVEC proliferation and migration. However, PC and wogonin not only slightly inhibited VEGF-induced proliferation but also remarkably suppressed those of migration in HUVECs. Our further study showed that cardamonin decreased the phosphorylation of ERK and AKT induced by VEGF with a dose-dependent manner in HUVECs. Our findings indicate that the TFs and these pure flavonoids may become potential preventive and/or therapeutic agents against angiogenesis-related diseases.

To establish a new manufacturing method for Bletilla striata synthetic seeds, and provided a new way for rapid propagation of B. striata, the correlated influential factors were studied.The synthetic seeds were manufactured by taking seeds of B. striata as materials which were beforehand germinated in 1/2 MS medium for 10 days, and the influential factors such as artificial endosperm components, episperm substances, storage conditions and germination groundmass impact on the germination rate and seedling rate of the synthetic seeds were evaluated.Compound 4.0% sodium alginate + 0.2 mol x L(-1) CaCl2 + 0.4 mg x L(-1) penicillin + 0.3% carbendazim powder + 0.2% sodium benzoate served as the best episperm substances while MS + 1.0 mg x L(-1) NAA + 2.0 mg x L(-1) KT as the best endosperm components, in which, high germination rate and seedling rate were obtained. The synthetic seeds storing in the 4 degrees C for a long time was able to have still high vitality.The B. striata synthetic seeds manufacturing system was established successfully, while efforts should be taken to improve the sowing technique of the synthetic seeds in non-sterile conditions.

To investigate the effect of IL-17 on the expression of collagen I/III in cardiac fibroblasts and analyze its molecular mechanism.Cardiac fibroblasts were isolated from 7-14-day-old BALB/c mice and cultured in DMEM with 10% fetal bovine serum (FBS). The cells were collected after IL-17 treatment for 0, 24, 48, 72 h. IL-17 receptors on cardiac fibroblasts were detected by PCR; the collagen I/III expression was analyzed by immunofluorescence; the PKCβ, Erk1/2, NF-κB phosphorylation were investigated by Western blotting.IL-17RA/C was expressed on cardiac fibroblasts; after 24 h of IL-17 stimulation, the collagen I/III expression obviously increased; Western blotting showed that PKCβ, Erk1/2 and NF-κB were phosphorylated on 30, 45, 45 min, respectively.IL-17 could induce the expression of collagen I/III in cardiac fibroblasts, which might be related with PKCβ-ERK1/2-NF-κB phosphorylation.

To investigate whether cardiac fibroblasts (CFs) treated by LPS can actively secrete high-mobility group box protein 1 (HMGB1) and to analyze the correlation between HMGB1 releasing and the accumulation of collagen type I , III .CFs were isolated from the heart of 7-14-day-old BALB/c mice and cultured in DMEM with 10% fetal bovine serum (FBS). We collected the CFs and cell supernatants after treated by LPS for 0, 6, 12, 24, 36, 48 h, respectively. The mRNA and protein expression levels of HMGB1, collagen 1a1 (col1a1) and collagen 3a1 (col3a1) in CFs after LPS stimulation were detected by RT-PCR and Western blotting, respectively. The intracellular localization of HMGB1 in treated CFs was investigated by immunofluorescence.After 0-6 h of LPS stimulation, the mRNA levels of HMGB1, col1a1, col3a1 had no significant changes; but increased obviously at 12, 24, 36, 48 h. HMGB1 was found in the cell supernatant by Western blotting after 24 h LPS stimulation, and its expression decreased following the first rise in CFs. Meanwhile, immunofluorescence showed HMGB1 translocation from nucleus to cytoplasm. The levels of col1a1 and col3a1 were up-regulated in CFs after stimulation.LPS can induce HMGB1 translocation from nucleus to cytoplasm and across cellular membrane to the outside of CFs at a time-dependent manner. Col1a1 and Col3a1, which are closely associated with myocardial fibrosis, were obviously up-regulated by LPS stimulation, which indicates that actively released HMGB1 might contribute to myocardial fibrosis following the endotoxin induced-sepsis.

To construct eukaryotic co-expression vector of Porphyromonas gingivalis outer membrane protein ragB and mouse glucocorticoid-induced tumor necrosis factor receptor ligand (mGITRL) and to analyze its immunogenicity in vivo.The ragB gene was obtained from pMD18-T-ragB, and then cloned into the eukaryotic expression vector pIRES and pIRES-mGITRL, respectively. The eukaryotic expression vectors: pIRES-ragB and pIRES-ragB-mGITRL were identified by double enzyme digestion and DNA sequencing, then transfected into COS7 cells by Lipofectamine(TM);2000. The expressions of ragB or mGITRL in COS7 cells were detected by Western blotting. The mice were immunized with the recombinant pIRES-ragB-mGITRL plasmid. The serum antibody level was determined by ELISA.pIRES-ragB and pIRES-ragB-mGITRL plasmids were successfully constructed. Western blotting showed that the targeted gene was over-expressed in COS7 cells and skeletal muscle cells, respectively. The high titers of antibodies against RagB were detected in mouse serum.The construction of pIRES-ragB-mGITRL co-expression vector provides the experimental basis for Porphyromonas gingivalis vaccine research, prevention and treatment of periodontitis.