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Macroline-type monoterpenoid indole alkaloids represent a fascinating class of natural products with polycyclic structures, diverse biological and pharmacological activities. Herein we report the asymmetric total syntheses of two this type alkaloids, (–)-Alstomicine and (–)-Alstofolinine A. Notably, these two alkaloids are divergently synthesized from a common indole-fused azabicyclo[3.3.1]nonane intermediate, which was easily obtained via a Mannich-type cyclization. A SmI2 mediated Reformatsky reaction and a Pd-catalyzed carbonylative lactonization are employed to construct the lactone moieties presented in Alstomicine and Alstofolinine A respectively.

Cluster analysis of apple juice is an important method in the quality identification of fruit juice. However, the traditional principal component analysis (PCA) is to reduce the dimension of high dimensional data and to achieve clustering by way of score value. Experiments have found that this clustering method is not suitable for real samples with fluorescence overlap. In this paper, we propose a processing mechanism to optimize the derivative of the fluorescence spectrum. When the derivative is calculated, we can amplify the spectral difference of the similar matter and improve the ability of the PCA to achieve the best effect of clustering. Experiments show that the optimized method for the actual sample classification accuracy rate of 100%, which can fully realize the type of commercially available apple juice beverage distinction and achieve the practical application of quality testing.

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a common disorder of chronic intestinal inflammation that can be caused by the disruption of intestinal immune homeostasis. We aimed to evaluate the role of enhancer of zeste homolog 2 (EZH2) in the inflammatory response and explore the association between EZH2 and necroptosis in human epithelial colorectal adenocarcinoma cell lines. In both in vitro and in vivo models, expression of EZH2 in intestinal tissues was verified by histology. The expression of inflammatory cytokines in cell lines treated with EZH2 siRNA with or without stimulus was analyzed by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. An intestinal necroptosis cell model was established to elucidate whether EZH2 is involved in necroptosis. Our present data indicated that EZH2 expression was decreased in in vitro and in vivo models and in patients with inflammatory bowel disease. EZH2 downregulation increased the expression of inflammatory factors, including TNF-α, IL-8, IL-17, CCL5, and CCL20 in a Caco-2 cell model. The JNK pathway was activated with the reduction of EZH2. In the necroptosis model, downregulation of EZH2 was detected with the upregulation of necroptotic markers RIP1 and RIP3. In addition, EZH2 knockdown with siRNA increased p-JNK and p-c-Jun. Our data suggest that EZH2 plays an important role in the development of intestinal inflammation and necroptosis. Hence, EZH2 could be a potential therapeutic target for IBD.

The application of synchronous fluorescence spectroscopy combined with chemometrics using pretreated spectra was explored to develop a rapid, low-cost, and nondestructive method for discriminating between brands of different strong aroma type liquors. Principal component analysis, partial least square discriminant analysis, support vector machine, and back-propagation artificial neural network techniques were used to classify and predict the brands of liquor samples. Compared with the other models, the SVM model achieved the best results, with an identification rate of 100% for the calibration set, and 96.67% for the prediction set. The overall results showed that synchronous fluorescence spectroscopy with an efficient chemometrics method can be used successfully to identify different brands of liquor.

This paper presents the brushless electrical excited synchronous machine drive system. A rotary transformer transfers the power to the rotor field winding of synchronous machine. A 12 slot - 10 pole brushless excited synchronous machine (BESM) is designed and analyzed. The super-twisting sliding mode direct torque and flux controller (STSM-DTC) is investigated for this motor drives. The tests show that STSM-DTC displays a very robust behavior.

This paper presents the sliding mode observer for sensorless control of 18 slot 14 pole permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM) drive system. The 18 slot 14 pole permanent magnet synchronous machine is designed and analyzed. The sliding mode observer (SMO) for sensorless controller is investigated for this motor drives. The tests show that the sliding mode observer for sensorless controller displays a very robust behavior.

Background Ulcerative colitis [UC] is a common chronic inflammatory bowel disease without curative treatment. Methods We conducted gene set enrichment analysis to explore potential therapeutic agents for UC. Human colon tissue samples were collected to test H3 acetylation in UC. Both in vivo and in vitro colitis models were constructed to verify the role and mechanism of H3 acetylation modification in UC. Intestine-specific vitamin D receptor [VDR]-/- mice and VD [vitamin D]-deficient diet-fed mice were used to explore downstream molecular mechanisms accordingly. Results According to the Connectivity Map database, MS-275 [class I histone deacetylase inhibitor] was the top-ranked agent, indicating the potential importance of histone acetylation in the pathogenesis of UC. We then found that histone H3 acetylation was significantly lower in the colon epithelium of UC patients and negatively associated with disease severity. MS-275 treatment inhibited histone H3 deacetylation, subsequently attenuating nuclear factor kappa B [NF-κB]-induced inflammation, reducing cellular apoptosis, maintaining epithelial barrier function, and thereby reducing colitis activity in a mouse model of colitis. We also identified VDR as be a downstream effector of MS-275. The curative effect of MS-275 on colitis was abolished in VDR-/- mice and in VD-deficient diet-fed mice and VDR directly targeted p65. In UC patients, histone H3 acetylation, VDR and zonulin-1 expression showed similar downregulation patterns and were negatively associated with disease severity. Conclusions We demonstrate that MS-275 inhibits histone deacetylation and alleviates colitis by ameliorating inflammation, reducing apoptosis, and maintaining intestinal epithelial barrier via VDR, providing new strategies for UC treatment.

Heterotopic gastric mucosa (HGM) in the rectum is an extremely rare clinical entity which may be missed or misdiagnosed due to a lack of knowledge. In the present study, a 14-year-old girl visited our hospital due to a 5-year history of repeated hematochezia. Colonoscopy showed a solitary superficial depressed lesion approximately 5 cm in size and a concomitant 1.5 cm deep diverticulum in the rectum. Histological examination of the endoscopic biopsy showed typical ectopic gastric mucosa in the depressed lesion and inside the diverticulum. Narrow band imaging further confirmed the histological results. Endoscopic ultrasound indicated that the lesion originated from the mucosal layer, and partially involved the submucosal layer. Endoscopic submucosal dissection was performed in this patient due to the large size and shape of the lesion. No bleeding, perforation or other adverse events were observed. The presence of HGM in the diverticular cavity greatly increased the surgical difficulty. A literature review was also carried out in our study.

Excessive urea in milk will lead to serious health problems. To detect whether the urea concentration in milk exceeds the standard and ensure the quality of milk, it is necessary to develop detection technology for urea in milk. But it is difficult to detect urea in milk conveniently and accurately by traditional methods. To measure the concentration of urea in milk, stable green light carbon dots (CDs) were synthesized by a one-step method as a fluorescent probe. Then, 3, 5-diaminobenzoic acid was used as the precursor for CD synthesis. Experimental results showed that CDs can generate strong fluorescence when excited by light (350–450 nm). The fluorescence peak wavelength is 490 nm, and the optimum excitation wavelength is 390 nm. The fluorescence intensity of CDs has a significant change with variations of pH (pH of 6–9), and the higher the pH, the lower the fluorescence intensity. Additionally, urea can be hydrolyzed by urease to produce ammonia and carbon dioxide. Ammonia is ionized in water to produce O H − , which increases the pH of the solution. After adding standard urea to milk, urease and CDs are added. The fluorescence intensity of CDs in the mixed solution decreases as the concentration of standard added urea increases. Thus the concentration of urea in milk can be calculated. The experimental results show that the CD method for detecting urea in milk has advantages of high sensitivity and wide measurement range. The linear interval is 25–500 mg/L, R 2 is 0.998, and the limit of detection is 6.27 mg/L. The concentration of urea in the milk used in the experiment is 265.46 mg/L. CDs are easy to fabricate, and the advantages of the method are simple operation, no pretreatment, safety, and low cost. A new method for the detection of urea in milk was established, to the best of our knowledge, and this method can aid in food quality control.

Great efforts have been made to create a bright K-shell source using the thin metal cylindrical cavities in the past few decades. Several metal materials such as titanium (Ti), iron, and so on have been tested for high x-ray conversion efficiency mainly at the OMEGA and NIF laser facilities. Recently, x-ray sources in Ti K-shell transition energy range were investigated at the Shenguang-III prototype laser facility with ∼5 kJ laser energy. The experiments were aimed to reproduce the previous ones at OMEGA, but with an extraordinarily small volume of cylindrical cavity and detailed characterizations of the x-ray source. The cavities were 800 μm inner diameter, 800 μm length, and 30 μm thick plastic tubes supporting 1 μm thick Ti. Seven laser beams were focused to 200 μm diameter. The combination of the small cavity volume and the focused laser spots is intended to improve the electron temperature with limited laser energy since the electron temperature is a key issue for high x-ray conversion efficiency. Thomson scattering was adopted to experimentally probe the electron temperatures at special time and space zones as well as the average temperature obtained from the Ti K-shell spectrum. The evolutions of the electron temperature and density are predicted by the radiation hydrodynamic simulation. A top view and two photon energy bands of x-ray source images provide a way to directly observe the plasma movement toward the cavity axis and distinguish the different emission mechanisms between the Ti K-shell and lower energy x rays. Six Higher-energy x-ray detectors located at different angles were used to record the Ti K-shell x-ray emission and demonstrate its isotropic feature. The characteristics of the x-ray radiate intensity including the time evolution, the angular distribution, and the total yields for both the photon energy regions above and below 4 keV are compared between the cavity and planar targets. Obviously, different behaviors were found between the two photon energy regions and the two types of targets. The x-ray conversion efficiency of the Ti cylinder was determined to be ∼ 4 % and ∼ 21 % in 4 π sr in the Ti K-shell (4–7 keV) and

An experiment was performed on the Shenguang III prototype laser facility to continue the study on hohlraum radiation source with approximately constant radiation temperature using a continuously shaped laser pulse. A radiation source with a flattop temperature of about 130 eV that lasted about 5 ns was obtained. The previous analytical iteration method based on power balance and self-similar solution of ablation was modified taking into account the plasma movements and it was used to design the laser pulse shape for experiment. A comparison between experimental results and simulation is presented and better agreement was achieved using the modified method. Further improvements are discussed.

Three-dimensional synchronous fluorescence of each component of Liuwei dihuang pills (Prepared rehmannia root, cornel, yam, alisma, poria cocos, and cortex moutan) is measured by using FLS920P fluorescence spectrometer. Feature parameters were extracted. It can be found that each component is fluorescent material and the lines are all different. Furthermore, Three-dimensional synchronous fluorescence of Liuwei dihuang pills boiling with standard water and non-standard water are all measured and there are significant differences between them. It can be applied in distinguishing different formula of Chinese medicine decoction. Experimental and Theoretical conclusion show that: the three-dimensional fluorescence spectrometry method and the combination of synchronous fluorescence spectroscopy method can further improve the sensitivity and selectivity of fluorescence spectroscopy, have a distinct advantage in a complex multi-component mixture of fluorescence spectroscopic analysis. The study can provide a convenient and reliable method for establishing a complete fingerprint of Chinese traditional medicine. It also can help identifying the component and the quality of Chinese patent medicine.

Ulcerative colitis (UC) is an idiopathic colonic mucosal disease, and its pathogenesis has not been fully understood. Up-frameshift protein 1 (UPF1) is a potential molecule for UC predicted by a computational approach. The present study aimed to validate the underlying mechanism of UPF1 in UC. UPF1 expression was detected by qRT-PCR, western blotting, and immunohistochemistry in dextran sulfate sodium-induced colitis in mice. To simulate the intestinal inflammation microenvironment, NCM460 human colonic epithelial cells were exposed to a mixture of inflammatory mediators. The potential mechanism involving TNFR1-NF-κB/MAPKs pathway activation was addressed by western blotting, reporter gene assays, and siRNA (siUPF1) or UPF1-expressing plasmid pENTER-transfected cells. UPF1 was downregulated in colonic epithelial cells of colitic mice, and in vitro, contrary to the mRNA levels of the associated cytokines enhanced in the UPF1 dysregulation group within stimulatory factors, most relevant cytokines were significantly decreased in UPF1 overexpression group. Mechanistically, the increased expression of tumor necrosis factor receptor 1 (TNFR1) was found in NCM460 cells pre-treated with siUPF1, with the activation of IKK/NF-κB and MAPKs pathways, including JNK/AP-1 and P38, but not the ERK1/2 pathway. Moreover, the repression of TNFR1 required the interaction of UPF1 with the promoter. UPF1, which negatively regulated the transcription of TNFR1, is a novel factor regulating intestinal inflammation. The downregulation of UPF1 activated the TNFR1-dependent NF-κB/MAPKs pathway, and promoting inflammatory responses in colon might act as a causal role in UC.

Conventional dye-sensitized solar cells comprise semiconducting anodes sensitized with complex synthetic organometallic dyes, a platinum counter electrode, and a liquid electrolyte. This work focuses on replacing synthetic dyes with a naturally occurring biological pigment-protein complex known as Photosystem I (PSI). Specifically, ZnO binding peptides (ZOBiP)-fused PSI subunits (ZOBiP-PsaD and ZOBiP-PsaE) and TiO2 binding peptides (TOBiP)-fused ferredoxin (TOBiP-Fd) have been produced recombinantly from Escherichia coli. The MOBiP-fused peptides have been characterized via western blotting, circular dichroism, MALDI-TOF, and cyclic voltammetry. ZOBiP-PSI subunits have been used to replace wild-type PsaD and PsaE, and TOBiP-Fd has been chemically cross-linked to the stromal hump of PSI. These MOBiP peptides and MOBiP-PSI complexes have been produced and incubated with various metal oxide nanoparticles, showing increased binding when compared to that of wild-type PSI complexes.

The stromal domain (PsaC, PsaD, and PsaE) of photosystem I (PSI) reduces transiently bound ferredoxin (Fd) or flavodoxin. Experimental structures exist for all of these protein partners individually, but no experimental structure of the PSI/Fd or PSI/flavodoxin complexes is presently available. Molecular models of Fd docked onto the stromal domain of the cyanobacterial PSI site are constructed here utilizing X-ray and NMR structures of PSI and Fd, respectively. Predictions of potential protein-protein interaction regions are based on experimental site-directed mutagenesis and cross-linking studies to guide rigid body docking calculations of Fd into PSI, complemented by energy landscape theory to bring together regions of high energetic frustration on each of the interacting proteins. The results identify two regions of high localized frustration on the surface of Fd that contain negatively charged Asp and Glu residues. This study predicts that these regions interact predominantly with regions of high localized frustration on the PsaC, PsaD, and PsaE chains of PSI, which include several residues predicted by previous experimental studies. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Additional supporting information may be found in the online version of this article at the publisher’s web site.

Aim: Accumulating evidence has explored the effect of mesalazine on irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). However, these studies remain inconsistent. Thus, a meta-analysis was conducted to estimate the role of mesalazine on IBS. Methods: PubMed, Medline, Embase, Web of Science, and the Cochrane Library Database were searched for all relevant randomized, controlled, blinded trials on mesalazine in patients with IBS between January 1980 and October 2018. All statistical analyses were performed using Revman 5.3 software. A fixed-effects model was adopted, 95% confidence intervals for SMD was calculated. Heterogeneity was evaluated by χ2 test and I2 statistic. Results: Five studies involving 387 participants were finally included in this meta-analysis. The results showed that the SMD for clinical efficacy on abdominal pain in IBS patients treated with mesalazine in comparison to placebo was 0.19 (95% CI = −0.01 to 0.39, P = .06), which was statistically non-significant but clinically important. For beneficial effect of abdominal bloating, the SMD was 0.05 (95% CI = −0.20 to 0.30, P = .70), which was statistically non-significant. In regard to clinical efficacy on defecation frequency per day, the results revealed that the SMD was 0.29 (95% CI = −0.14 to 0.73, P = .18), which was statistically non-significant but clinically important. As for beneficial effect of general well-being, we found that the SMD was 0.41 (95% CI = −0.75 to 1.58, P = .49), which was statistically non-significant. With respect to stool consistency, the SMD was 0.01 (95% CI = −0.31 to 0.33, P = .96), which was statistically non-significant. For the effect of defecation urgency severity in IBS patients treated with mesalazine in comparison to placebo, we detected a surprising result with an SMD of 0.54 (95% CI = 0.05–1.04, P = .03), which was statistically significant. There was no significant difference between mesalazine group and placebo group on total mucosal immune cell counts of the patients with IBS with an SMD of −1.64 (95% CI = −6.17 to 2.89, P = .48) and there was also no significant difference in adverse reactions between two groups with an SMD of 1.05 (95% CI = 0.76–1.46 P = .77). Conclusion: Mesalazine is not superior to placebo in relieving clinical symptoms of abdominal pain, abdominal bloating, and general well-being of IBS and has no advantage of reducing defecation frequency per day and immune cell infiltration and improving stool consistency though without adverse reactions of mesalazine compared with placebo. For defecation urgency severity, placebo is even superior to mesalazine for IBS patients. Thus, mesalazine might be a cost burden to patients without providing good effectiveness. In view of the small sample size of the current study and the differences in every experimental designs, this study has high heterogeneity and requires subsequent verification.

CO2 sequestration in deep and unmineable coalbeds is regarded as a viable option for carbon storage. CO2 diffusion is a key parameter determining the effectiveness of sealing CO2 in coal seams. By conducting laboratory tests of coal CO2 desorption and unsteady gas diffusion theory model calculations, the desorption dynamics of Yaojie coal were studied under the condition of constant temperature and varied balance pressures, and the CO2 diffusion coefficient was obtained using the non-steady diffusion model at different times. The results show that the higher the balance pressure is, the greater the diffusion coefficient is under the same conditions. As the pressure drops, the CO2 diffusion coefficient gradually decreases as time increases, and the mass fraction of desorbed CO2 has a linear relationship with the diffusion coefficient. It was observed that under high pressures, the diffusion coefficient initially increases and then gradually decreases. The non-steady CO2 diffusion in Yaojie coal is related to CO2-induced swelling and to the effect of dissolved CO2 on the coal's structures and properties, especially under high-pressure conditions. The glass transition of coal containing CO2 may be the governing factor leading to the nonlinear diffusion of CO2 in coal.

Background: Vitamin D receptor (VDR) is a member of the nuclear receptor family of transcription factors that play a critical role in innate immunity. This study examined the role of VDR in gastric innate immune defence against the gastric pathogen Helicobacter pylori. Materials and Methods: Seventeen H. pylori-infected patients and sixteen controls participated in the study. The GES-1 cells were transfected with siRNA or incubated with or without 1a,25(OH)2D3 (100 nmol/L) then infected with H. pylori. VDR, cathelicidin antimicrobial protein (CAMP), and cytokine mRNA expression levels in normal and H. pylori-infected gastric mucosa and GES-1 cells was determined by qRT-PCR and correlated with the histopathologic degree of gastritis. Bactericidal activity was measured by using a colony-forming unit assay. Results: Vitamin D receptor mRNA expression levels were significantly upregulated in H. pylori-infected patients and positively correlated with chronic inflammation scores. There was a significant positive correlation between VDR and CAMP mRNA expression in H. pylori-positive gastric mucosa. VDR siRNA reduced H. pylori-induced CAMP production and conversely increased IL-6 and IL8/CXCL8 expression levels. The vitamin D agonist 1a,25(OH)2D3 increased CAMP expression and reduced cytokine activation in GES-1 cells infected with H. pylori .1 a,25(OH)2D3 could enhance the intracellular killing of the replicating bacteria, but the presence of siVDR and siCAMP led to a decline in its bactericidal ability. Conclusions: The expression of VDR and CAMP in the gastric epithelium is up-regulated in the case of H. pylori infection; thus, VDR plays an important role in gastric mucosa homeostasis and host protection from H. pylori infection.

The X-ray emission properties of Au plasmas consist of spectral distribution, M band fraction (2–4 keV), X-ray angular distribution and X-ray conversion efficiency, are imperative for various X-ray source applications. In order to investigate the X-ray emission properties of laser produced plasmas with Au and Au foam targets, experiments were carried out in Shenguang II laser facility. Au foam targets with densities of 0.6 and 0.4 g/cm3 were employed. The X-ray emission properties were measured. Excellent agreements of the experimental and theoretical spectral distributions and M band fractions were achieved.

Three-dimensional (3D) fluorescence spectra and synchronous 3D fluorescence spectra are used to analyze the concentration of Amaranth in commercial cocktails by Parallel Factor Correction Algorithm. The former average relative error of the Amaranth in the commercial cocktail is 15%, and the latter average relative error is less than 4.0%. The results show that the synchronous fluorescence spectrum can improve the sensitivity and selectivity of the fluorescence spectroscopy technique greatly, and it has obvious advantages on analysis of the complex multi-components system. Finally, the content of Amaranth in the cocktail (about [Formula: see text]) is much lower than that of the national standard by using synchronous data combined with parallel factor analysis of the content of Amaranth.

The aim of the study was to evaluate the diagnostic and therapeutic value of double-balloon entoroscopy (DBE) in small bowel diseases (SBDs) in China. A retrospective review of 674 consecutive patients who underwent DBE between January 2007 and November 2015 was conducted. Patients were divided into 3 groups by age, young group (65 years). Data were collected with regard to demographics, clinical, endoscopic findings, complications, diagnostic yield, and management. A total of 729 DBE procedures were performed successfully in our series. More than 20 types of SBDs were found with the detection rate of 70.9%(517/729). The majority of patients were Crohn's disease (33.4%,225/674), followed by tumor (18.8%,127/674) and angioectasia (7.9%, 53/674). Endoscopic treatment was performed in 60 patients in which hemostasis (17,28.3%) and polypectomy (15,25%) were the predominant form of intervention used. Adverse events occurred in 6 patients (0.96%,6/729) including perforation, hemorrhage, aspiration pneumonia. No acute pancreatitis or other major complications occurred. Adenocarcinoma, GIST, and lymphoma were the most common tumor detected, the majority of tumors located in the jejunum (56.7%), The detection rate of angioectasia was also higher in the jejunum (54.7%),77.8% of Crohn's disease was located in the ileum. The positive rate of DBE in small bowel tumor and Crohn's disease were significantly higher than that of angioectasia (P 0.05). The obscure gastrointestinal bleeding (OGIB) was the most common indication, and the diagnostic yield was 71.8%. DBE is a useful diagnostic and therapeutic tool with high clinical practice value for the investigation of SBDs. With growing experience of endoscopist, we believe that DBE must be kept in mind as the first-line modality for suspected SBDs.

la betatrofina es una novedosa adipoquina que provoca la proliferación de células β pancreáticas e interviene en el metabolismo de los lípidos. Objetivos: el propósito de este estudio es evaluar el papel de la betatrofina en el síndrome metabólico.se llevó a cabo un estudio hospitalario de casos y controles según sexo y edad. El nivel de betatrofina en suero fue evaluado mediante ensayo por inmunoabsorción ligado a enzimas. Se midieron las concentraciones en suero de 12 adipoquinas para evaluar las asociaciones con la betatrofina usando los kits comerciales Adipokine Magnetic Bead Panel. Los análisis estadísticos incluyeron correlación bivariada, análisis de curva ROC y análisis de regresión lineal multivariable.el nivel de betatrofina en suero fue más elevado en pacientes con síndrome metabólico (997,36 ± 475,92 pg/ml, p = 0,001) que en los controles (735,35 ± 526,51 pg/ml). Frente al tercil más bajo, el tercil más alto del nivel de betatrofina mostró una asociación con mayor riesgo de síndrome metabólico (odds ratio ajustado = 3,521, intervalo de confianza [IC] 95% [1,191-10,413], p = 0,023). Se desarrolló la curva ROC de betatrofina para pronosticar la presencia de síndrome metabólico (área bajo la curva ROC = 0,682 [95% IC, 0,597-0,767], p0,001). Además, la betatrofina mostró correlación con distintos parámetros, como edad (r = 0,286, p0,001), índice de masa corporal (r = 0,160, p = 0,046), índice cintura-cadera (r = 0,241, p = 0,002), lipoproteína de alta densidad (r = -0,167, p = 0,037), lipoproteína de baja densidad (r = -0,195, p = 0,015), glucosa plasmática en ayunas (r = 0,266, p = 0,001), hemoglobina A1C (r = 0,314, p0,001), índice de resistencia a la insulina mediante HOMA (r = 0,272, p = 0,001) y diversas adipoquinas, entre ellas resistina (r = 0,571, p0,001), interleucina-8 (r = 0,435, p0,001), factor de necrosis tumoral alfa (r = 0,295, p = 0,011) y lipocalina-2 (r = 0,346, p = 0,003).este estudio demuestra que la betatrofina en suero desempeña una importante labor en el síndrome metabólico, implicando la regulación del metabolismo de la glucosa y los lípidos y la inflamación.

Background: Betatrophin is a novel adipokine that provokes pancreatic β-cell proliferation and is involved in lipid metabolism. Aims: This study aims to evaluate the role of serum betatrophin in metabolic syndrome (MetS). Methods: A hospital-based, age-/gender-matched case control study was conducted. The serum betatrophin level was evaluated by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Serum concentrations of 12 adipokines were measured to assess their associations with serum betatrophin, using commercial Adipokine Magnetic Bead Panel kits. Statistical analyses included bivariate correlation, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, and multivariate stepwise linear regression. Results: Serum betatrophin showed a higher level in MetS patients (997.36 ± 475.92 pg/ml, p = 0.001) compared with controls (735.35 ± 526.51 pg/ml). Compared with the lowest tertile, the highest tertile of serum betatrophin level indicated an association with higher risk of MetS (adjusted odds ratio = 3.521, 95% confidence interval [CI] [1.191-10.413], p = 0.023). ROC curve of betatrophin was developed to predict the presence of MetS (area under ROC = 0.682 [95% CI, 0.597-0.767], p < 0.001). Furthermore, betatrophin correlated with several parameters, e.g. age (r = 0.286, p < 0.001), body mass index (r = 0.160, p = 0.046), waist-to-hip ratio (r = 0.241, p = 0.002), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (r = -0.167, p = 0.037), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (r = -0.195, p = 0.015), fasting plasma glucose (r = 0.266, p = 0.001), hemoglobin A1C (r = 0.314, p < 0.001), homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (r = 0.272, p = 0.001), and various adipokines, e.g. resistin (r = 0. 571, p < 0.001), interleukin-8 (r = 0.435, p < 0.001), tumor necrosis factor-α (r = 0.295, p = 0.011) and lipocalin-2 (r = 0.346, p = 0.003). Conclusions: This study supports that serum betatrophin plays an important role in MetS, involving the regulations of glucose and lipid metabolism and inflammation. Introducción: la betatrofina es una novedosa adipoquina que provoca la proliferación de células β pancreáticas e interviene en el metabolismo de los lípidos. Objetivos: el propósito de este estudio es evaluar el papel de la betatrofina en el síndrome metabólico. Método: se llevó a cabo un estudio hospitalario de casos y controles según sexo y edad. El nivel de betatrofina en suero fue evaluado mediante ensayo por inmunoabsorción ligado a enzimas. Se midieron las concentraciones en suero de 12 adipoquinas para evaluar las asociaciones con la betatrofina usando los kits comerciales Adipokine Magnetic Bead Panel. Los análisis estadísticos incluyeron correlación bivariada, análisis de curva ROC y análisis de regresión lineal multivariable. Resultados: el nivel de betatrofina en suero fue más elevado en pacientes con síndrome metabólico (997,36 ± 475,92 pg/ml, p = 0,001) que en los controles (735,35 ± 526,51 pg/ml). Frente al tercil más bajo, el tercil más alto del nivel de betatrofina mostró una asociación con mayor riesgo de síndrome metabólico (odds ratio ajustado = 3,521, intervalo de confianza [IC] 95% [1,191-10,413], p = 0,023). Se desarrolló la curva ROC de betatrofina para pronosticar la presencia de síndrome metabólico (área bajo la curva ROC = 0,682 [95% IC, 0,597-0,767], p < 0,001). Además, la betatrofina mostró correlación con distintos parámetros, como edad (r = 0,286, p < 0,001), índice de masa corporal (r = 0,160, p = 0,046), índice cintura-cadera (r = 0,241, p = 0,002), lipoproteína de alta densidad (r = -0,167, p = 0,037), lipoproteína de baja densidad (r = -0,195, p = 0,015), glucosa plasmática en ayunas (r = 0,266, p = 0,001), hemoglobina A1C (r = 0,314, p < 0,001), índice de resistencia a la insulina mediante HOMA (r = 0,272, p = 0,001) y diversas adipoquinas, entre ellas resistina (r = 0,571, p < 0,001), interleucina-8 (r = 0,435, p < 0,001), factor de necrosis tumoral alfa (r = 0,295, p = 0,011) y lipocalina-2 (r = 0,346, p = 0,003). Conclusiones: este estudio demuestra que la betatrofina en suero desempeña una importante labor en el síndrome metabólico, implicando la regulación del metabolismo de la glucosa y los lípidos y la inflamación.

Introduccion: la betatrofina es una novedosa adipoquina que provoca la proliferacion de celulas β pancreaticas e interviene en el metabolismo de los lipidos. Objetivos: el proposito de este estudio es evaluar el papel de la betatrofina en el sindrome metabolico. Metodo: se llevo a cabo un estudio hospitalario de casos y controles segun sexo y edad. El nivel de betatrofina en suero fue evaluado mediante ensayo por inmunoabsorcion ligado a enzimas. Se midieron las concentraciones en suero de 12 adipoquinas para evaluar las asociaciones con la betatrofina usando los kits comerciales Adipokine Magnetic Bead Panel. Los analisis estadisticos incluyeron correlacion bivariada, analisis de curva ROC y analisis de regresion lineal multivariable. Resultados: el nivel de betatrofina en suero fue mas elevado en pacientes con sindrome metabolico (997,36 ± 475,92 pg/ml, p = 0,001) que en los controles (735,35 ± 526,51 pg/ml). Frente al tercil mas bajo, el tercil mas alto del nivel de betatrofina mostro una asociacion con mayor riesgo de sindrome metabolico (odds ratio ajustado = 3,521, intervalo de confianza [IC] 95% [1,191-10,413], p = 0,023). Se desarrollo la curva ROC de betatrofina para pronosticar la presencia de sindrome metabolico (area bajo la curva ROC = 0,682 [95% IC, 0,597-0,767], p < 0,001). Ademas, la betatrofina mostro correlacion con distintos parametros, como edad (r = 0,286, p < 0,001), indice de masa corporal (r = 0,160, p = 0,046), indice cintura-cadera (r = 0,241, p = 0,002), lipoproteina de alta densidad (r = -0,167, p = 0,037), lipoproteina de baja densidad (r = -0,195, p = 0,015), glucosa plasmatica en ayunas (r = 0,266, p = 0,001), hemoglobina A1C (r = 0,314, p < 0,001), indice de resistencia a la insulina mediante HOMA (r = 0,272, p = 0,001) y diversas adipoquinas, entre ellas resistina (r = 0,571, p < 0,001), interleucina-8 (r = 0,435, p < 0,001), factor de necrosis tumoral alfa (r = 0,295, p = 0,011) y lipocalina-2 (r = 0,346, p = 0,003). Conclusiones: este estudio demuestra que la betatrofina en suero desempena una importante labor en el sindrome metabolico, implicando la regulacion del metabolismo de la glucosa y los lipidos y la inflamacion.

Three-dimensional fluorescence spectroscopy coupled with parallel factor analysis and neural network was applied to the year discrimination of mild aroma Chinese liquors. The excitation-emission fluorescence matrices (EEMs) of 120 samples with various years were measured by FLS920 fluorescence spectrometer. The trilinear decomposition of the data array was performed and the loading scores of and the excitation-emission profiles of four components were also obtained. The scores were employed as the inputs of the BP neural networks and the PARAFAC-BP identification model was constructed. 10 samples were collected from 10, 20 and 30 years of liquors respectively, and 30 samples were selected as the test sets. The remaining 90 samples were used as the training sets to build the training model. The year prediction of unknown samples was also carried out, and the prediction accuracy was 90%, 100% and 100%, respectively. Meanwhile, the discrimination analysis method and the multi-way partial least squares discriminant analysis were compared, namely PARAFAC-BP and NPLS-DA. The results indicated that parallel factor combined with the neural network (PARAFAC-BP) has higher prediction accuracy. The proposed method can effectively extract the spectral characteristics, and also reduce the dimension of the input variables of neural network. A good year discrimination result was finally achieved.

To produce a plasma layer (area of 1.3 m2 and power of 1.8 kW) covering the inner surface of a metal cavity (diameter of 45 cm and length of 120 cm), a certain number of standard commercial fluorescent lamps were placed directly against one another. Electromagnetic (EM) scattering of a 1- to 3-GHz EM wave has been studied experimentally and theoretically for a metal cavity and a plasma-covered metal cavity. When the EM wave hits the cavity at the front aspect angle, a significant return loss of as large as 10 dB in the frequency of 1-2 GHz and trends to a peak of 20-30 dB near 1.25-1.5 GHz were observed. Using the finite-difference time-domain method, transient scattered fields of EM wave from cavities were achieved. The loss of the EM wave with covered plasma was proved to be a result of the absorption by the plasma, but not from the turning or bending of the wave entering the plasma.

An experimental method has been developed to measure the X-ray polarization of the Beamline 4B7 on Beijing Synchrotron Radiation Facility in the X-ray energy range 2100-5600 eV by using a PET crystal diagnostic system and rotating the system around the incident X-ray beam by 90 degrees. The experimental results show that the measured X-ray polarization is more than 0.88 in the photon energy range 2100-3600 eV with maximum of 0.99 at 2707.3 eV, and quickly decreases to about 0.38 at 4719.2 eV with photon energy increasing from 3600 to 4719.2 eV, then it keeps almost constant as the photon energy increases further to 5600 eV. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The research on the hydrogen passivation process for silicon solar cells has been developed for a long time. Recently, researchers have investigated the use of lasers as light sources. It has been found that hydrogen passivation technology can improve the minority carrier lifetime and passivate some impurities and defects in silicon solar cells. In this paper, a hydrogenation platform for silicon solar cells based on high intensity infrared LEDs of 940 nm was built. After a number of comparative experiments, electrical characteristics, photo-luminescence images, and light beam induced current were applied before and after hydrogenation to distinguish the passivation effect. It was found that the effect of hydrogen passivation on monocrystalline boron-doped passivated emitter and rear contact (PERC) solar cells by using infrared LEDs as the light source was satisfactory under the condition of suitable light intensity and temperature. It has a remarkable effect on improving the electrical characteristics an...

As an important x-ray source, enhancement of x-ray emissions from laser-produced plasmas is significant for various applications. Due to less expanding kinetic loss, gold foam with low initial density can have an enhanced x-ray conversion efficiency compared with solid-density gold. However, low-Z impurities within gold foam targets will diminish the enhancement remarkably, and should be tightly controlled. This paper presents an experimental study of a high brightness laser plasma soft x-ray source, based on a g gold foam target with negligible impurities irradiated by nanosecond laser pulses with power density around 3 × 10 W at the Shenguang II laser facility. A conversion efficiency, from multi-eV to multi-keV, of % is achieved in the x-ray emissions—about 21% relative enhancement compared with a solid-density gold target, and the highest conversion efficiency for Au foam planar targets yet. Good agreement has been achieved between the semi-analytical model prediction and the experimental results.

Recent transcriptome analysis indicates that > 90% of human genes undergo alternative splicing, underscoring the contribution of differential RNA processing to diverse proteomes in higher eukaryotic cells. The polypyrimidine tract-binding protein PTB is a well-characterized splicing repressor, but PTB knockdown causes both exon inclusion and skipping. Genome-wide mapping of PTB-RNA interactions and construction of a functional RNA map now reveal that dominant PTB binding near a competing constitutive splice site generally induces exon inclusion, whereas prevalent binding close to an alternative site often causes exon skipping. This positional effect was further demonstrated by disrupting or creating a PTB-binding site on minigene constructs and testing their responses to PTB knockdown or overexpression. These findings suggest a mechanism for PTB to modulate splice site competition to produce opposite functional consequences, which may be generally applicable to RNA-binding splicing factors to positively or negatively regulate alternative splicing in mammalian cells.

Through alternative adsorption of dextran sulfate (DS) and mesoporous SnO2 (Meso-SnO2), {Meso-SnO2/DS}n films were constructed and applied for the immobilization of hemoglobin (Hb). For comparison, the same-sized non-mesoporous SnO2 nanopraticles (Nonmeso-SnO2) based films were also prepared. Thus-formed films were characterized by many techniques in detail. The electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS, using ferricyanide/ferrocyanide as a redox probe) experiments confirmed the charge transfer resistance increased linearly with the number of Meso-SnO2/DS bilayers, which was smaller than that of Nonmeso-SnO2/DS bilayers. Further EIS, UV-vis and AFM experiments indicate that Meso-SnO2/DS film exhibit enhanced immobilization ability of Hb with favorable orientation in comparison with that of Nonmeso-SnO2/DS film. The adsorbed Hb at Meso-SnO2/DS film showed a good direct electron transfer behavior with the heterogeneous electron transfer rate constant (ks) of 8.89 +/-0.32 s(-1), and excellent electrocatalysis to the reduction of O2 and H2O2 in pH 7.0 buffers.

Reaction of N -phenyl methacrylamide ( N -phMA) with (ppy) 2 Ir(μ-Cl) 2 Ir(ppy) 2 (ppy = 2-phenylpyridine) in dichloromethane at the present of sodium methoxide at room temperature yields Iridium(III)-containing complex (ppy) 2 Ir( N -phMA) in which a N -substitued acrylamide was firstly applied as ancillary ligand. Complex (ppy) 2 Ir( N -phMA) can readily copolymerized with the commonly used N -vinyl carbazole (VK) for PLED materials in different feed ratios to generate a series of metal-containing polymers poly(VK-(ppy) 2 Ir( N -phMA))s whose chemical structures are well-defined. Investigations of thermal and photophysical properties indicate that these polymers are of interest materials for PLED.

Based on the Rytov approximation of light propagation in weak turbulent atmosphere, the closed-form expressions of field and average irradiance of each one of the four fundamental families of Helmholtz-Gauss (HzG) beams: cosine-Gauss beams, stationary Mathieu-Gauss beams, stationary parabolic-Gauss beams, and Bessel-Gauss beams, which are propagating in weak turbulent atmosphere, are obtained. The results show that the field and average irradiance can be written as the product of four factors: complex amplitude depending on the z-coordinate only, a Gaussian beam, a factor of complex phase perturbation induced by atmospheric turbulence, and a complex scaled version of the transverse shape of the non-diffracting beam. The effect of weak atmospheric turbulence on irradiance distribution of the HzG beam can be ignored.

Direct electrochemistry of hemoglobin (Hb) was observed at glassy carbon electrode (GCE) modified with undoped nanocrystalline diamond (UND) and Hb multilayer films via layer-by-layer assembly. UV-VIS absorbance spectroscopy, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and cyclic voltammograms were employed to characterize the film. The results showed that the UND had the effect of enhancing the electron transfer between Hb and the electrode surface. Hb in the multilayer films maintained its bioactivity and structure. It also exhibited a good catalytic activity towards the reduction of H(2)O(2). The reciprocal of catalytic current showed a linear dependence on the reciprocal of H(2)O(2) concentration ranging from 0.5 microM to 0.25 mM with a detection limit of 0.4 microM. The apparent Michaelis-Menten constant was estimated to be 0.019 mM.

Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a common inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) producingintestinal inflammation and tissue damage. The precise aetiology of UC remainsunknown. In this study, we applied a rank-based expression profile comparativealgorithm, gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA), to evaluate the expression profilesof UC patients and small interfering RNA (siRNA)-perturbed cells to predict proteinsthat might be essential in UC from publicly available expression profiles. We usedquantitative PCR (qPCR) to characterize the expression levels of those genespredicted to be the most important for UC in dextran sodium sulphate (DSS)-inducedcolitic mice. We found that bromo-adjacent homology domain (BAHD1), a novelheterochromatinization factor in vertebrates, was the most downregulated gene. Wefurther validated a potential role of BAHD1 as a regulatory factor for inflammationthrough the TNF signalling pathway in vitro. Our findings indicate thatcomputational approaches leveraging public gene expression data can be used to inferpotential genes or proteins for diseases and BAHD1 might act as an indispensablefactor in regulating the cellular inflammatory response in UC.