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The complex pore structure of unconventional oil and gas reservoirs is one of the reasons for the difficulties in resource evaluation and development. Therefore, it is crucial to comprehensively characterize the pore structure, understand reservoir heterogeneity from multiple perspectives, and gain an in-depth understanding of fluid migration and accumulation mechanisms. This review outlines the methods and basic principles for characterizing microporous systems in unconventional reservoirs, summarizes the fractal analysis corresponding to the different methods, sorts out the relationship between the fractals and reservoir macroscopic physical properties (porosity, permeability, etc.) with the reservoir microscopic pore structures (pore structure parameters, pore connectivity, etc.). The research focuses on cutting-edge applications of characterization techniques, such as improved characterization accuracy, calibration of PSD ranges, and identification of different hydrogen compositions in pore systems for dynamic assessment of unconventional reservoirs. Fractal dimension analysis can effectively identify the quality level of the reservoir; complex pore-throat structures reduce permeability and destroy free fluid storage space, and the saturation of removable fluids is negatively correlated with Df. As for the mineral composition, the fractal dimension is positively correlated with quartz, negatively correlated with feldspar, and weakly correlated with clay mineral content. In future qualitative characterization studies, the application and combination of contrast agents, molecular dynamics simulations, artificial intelligence techniques, and 4D imaging techniques can effectively improve the spatial resolution of the images and explore the adsorption/desorption of gases within the pores, and also help to reduce the computational cost of these processes; these could also attempt to link reservoir characterization to research on supercritical carbon dioxide-enhanced integrated shale gas recovery, carbon geological sequestration, and advanced underground hydrogen storage.

We investigate the following nonlinear system $ \begin{cases} -(a+ b\int _{\Omega}|\nabla u|^{2}dx)\Delta u+\phi u = \lambda u+\mu|u|^{2}u, \; \ x\in\Omega, \\ -\Delta\phi = u^{2}, \; \ x\in\Omega, \\ u = \phi = 0, \; \ x\in \partial\Omega, \end{cases} $ with $ a, b > 0 $, $ \lambda, \mu\in\mathbb{R} $, and $ \Omega\subset \mathbb{R}^{3} $ is bounded with smooth boundary. Let $ \lambda_{1} > 0 $ be the first eigenvalue of $ (-\Delta u, H^{1}_{0}(\Omega)) $. We get that for certain $ \widetilde{\mu} > 0 $ there exists at least one least energy sign-changing solution for the above system if $ \lambda < a\lambda_{1} $ and $ \mu > \widetilde{\mu} $. In addition, we remark that the nonlinearity $ \lambda u+\mu|u|^{2}u $ does not satisfy the growth conditions.

Acute lung injury (ALI) is an inflammation-mediated respiratory disease with a high mortality rate. Medications with anti-inflammatory small molecules have been demonstrated in phase I and II clinical trials to considerably reduce the ALI mortality. In this study, two series of lansiumamide analogues were designed, synthesized, and evaluated for anti-inflammatory activity for ALI treatment. We found that compound 8n exhibited the best anti-inflammatory activity through inhibiting LPS-induced expression of the proinflammatory cytokines interleukin-6 (IL-6) and interleukin-1β (IL-1β) in Raw264.7 cells and activating the Nrf2/HO-1 pathway. Furthermore, we discovered in a LPS-induced ALI mice model that compound 8n significantly reduced the infiltration of inflammatory cells into lung tissue to achieve the effect of protecting lung tissues and improving ALI. Additionally, our mice model study revealed that compound 8n had a good expectorant effect. These results consistently support that lansiumamide analogue 8n represents a new class of anti-inflammatory agents with potential as a lead compound for further development into a therapeutic drug for ALI treatment.

The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of pork oxidation through modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) on gel characteristics of myofibrillar proteins (MP) during the heat-induced gelation process. The pork longissimus thoracis (LT) was treated by MAP at varying oxygen concentrations (0, 20, 40, 60, and 80% O2) with a 5-day storage at 4 °C for the detection of MP oxidation and gel properties. The findings showed the rise of O2 concentration resulted in a significant increase of carbonyl content, disulfide bond, and particle size, and a decrease of sulfhydryl content and MP solubility (p < 0.05). The gel textural properties and water retention ability were significantly improved in MAP treatments of 0–60% O2 (p < 0.05), but deteriorated at 80% O2 level. As the concentration of O2 increased, there was a marked decrease in the α-helix content within the gel, accompanied by a simultaneous increase in β-sheet content (p < 0.05). Additionally, a judicious oxidation treatment (60% O2 in MAP) proved beneficial for crafting dense and uniform gel networks. Our data suggest that the oxidation treatment of pork mediated by O2 concentration in MAP is capable of reinforcing protein hydrophobic interaction and disulfide bond formation, thus contributing to the construction of superior gel structures and properties.

We deal with sign-changing solutions for the Kirchhoff equation $ \begin{cases} -(a+ b\int _{\Omega}|\nabla u|^{2}dx)\Delta u = \lambda u+\mu|u|^{2}u, \; \ x\in\Omega, \\ u = 0, \; \ x\in \partial\Omega, \end{cases} $ where $ a, b > 0 $ and $ \lambda, \mu\in\mathbb{R} $ being parameters, $ \Omega\subset \mathbb{R}^{3} $ is a bounded domain with smooth boundary $ \partial\Omega $. Combining Nehari manifold method with the quantitative deformation lemma, we prove that there exists $ \mu^{\ast} > 0 $ such that above problem has at least a least energy sign-changing (or nodal) solution if $ \lambda < a\lambda_{1} $ and $ \mu > \mu^{\ast} $, where $ \lambda_{1} > 0 $ is the first eigenvalue of $ (-\Delta u, H^{1}_{0}(\Omega)) $. It is noticed that the nonlinearity $ \lambda u+\mu|u|^{2}u $ fails to satisfy super-linear near zero and super-three-linear near infinity, respectively.

Oral ulcer is a common inflammatory disease of oral mucosa, causing severe burning pain and great inconvenience to daily life. In this study, compound 3J with anti-inflammatory activity was synthesized beforehand. Following that, an intelligent composite hydrogel supported 3J was designed with sodium alginate, carboxymethyl chitosan, and chitosan quaternary ammonium salt as the skeleton, and its therapeutic effect on the rat oral ulcer model was investigated. The results show that the composite hydrogel has a dense honeycomb structure, which is conducive to drug loading and wound ventilation, and has biodegradability. It has certain antibacterial effects and good anti-inflammatory activity. When loaded with 3J, it reduced levels of TNF-α and IL-6 in inflammatory cells by up to 50.0%. It has excellent swelling and water retention properties, with a swelling rate of up to 765.0% in a pH 8.5 environment. The existence of a large number of quaternary ammonium groups, carboxyl groups, and hydroxyl groups makes it show obvious differences in swelling in different pH environments, which proves that it has double pH sensitivity. It is beneficial to adapt to the highly dynamic changes of the oral environment. Compared with single hydrogel or drug treatment, the drug-loaded hydrogel has a better effect on the treatment of oral ulcers.

Broadband dual‐comb spectroscopy has attracted increasing interests due to its unique advantages in high spectral resolution, fast detection, and so on. Although the dual‐comb technique is relatively mature in the infrared wavelengths, it is, currently, not commercially capable of practical applications in the terahertz regime due to the lack of high‐performance broadband terahertz dual‐comb sources. In the terahertz frequency range, the electrically pumped quantum cascade laser (QCL) is a suitable candidate for the dual‐comb operation. Although the resonant microwave injection locking is widely used to broaden the emission spectra of terahertz QCLs, it is challenging to be employed to obtain broadband dual‐comb sources that can fully exploit the laser gain bandwidth due to the large phase noise induced by the resonant injection and nonideal microwave circuits. Herein, an off‐resonant microwave injection to significantly broaden the dual‐comb bandwidth of a terahertz QCL dual‐comb source is used. The measured optical dual‐comb bandwidth is broadened from 147 GHz in free running to >450 GHz under the off‐resonant injection. By performing a numerical analysis based on a rate equation model, the broadband dual‐comb operation under the off‐resonant microwave injection can result from a wider lasing bandwidth and a higher degree of phase matching.

Aerobic oxidation of bio-sourced 2,5-bis(hydroxymethyl)furan (BHMF) to 2, 5-furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA), a renewable and green alternative to petroleum-derived terephthalic acid (TPA), is of great significance in green chemicals production. Herein, hierarchical porous bowl-like nitrogen-rich (nitrated) carbon-supported bimetallic Au-Pd nanocatalysts (AumPdn/ N-BNxC) with different nitrogen content and bimetal nanoparticle sizes were developed and employed for the highly efficient aerobic oxidation of BHMF to FDCA in sodium carbonate aqueous solution. The reaction pathway for catalytic oxidation of BHMF went through the steps of BHMF→HMF→HMFCA→FFCA→FDCA. Kinetics studies showed that the activation energies of BHMF, HMF, HMFCA, and FFCA were 58.1 kJ·moL−1, 39.1 kJ·moL−1, 129.2 kJ·moL−1, and 56.3 kJ·moL−1, respectively, indicating that the oxidation of intermediate HMFCA to FFCA was the rate-determining step. ESR tests proved that the active species was a superoxide radical. Owing to the synergy between the nitrogen-rich carbon support and bimetallic Au-Pd nanoparticles, the Au1Pd1/N-BN2C nanocatalysts exhibited BHMF conversion of 100% and FDCA yield of 95.8% under optimal reaction conditions. Furthermore, the nanocatalysts showed good stability and reusability. This work provides a versatile strategy for the design of heterogeneous catalysts for the highly efficient production of FDCA from BHMF.

Abstract The purpose of this paper is to study the existence of sign-changing solution to the following fourth-order equation: 0.1 Δ 2 u − ( a + b ∫ R N | ∇ u | 2 d x ) Δ u + V ( x ) u = K ( x ) f ( u ) in R N , $$ \Delta ^{2}u- \biggl(a+ b \int _{\mathbb{R}^{N}} \vert \nabla u \vert ^{2}\,dx \biggr) \Delta u+V(x)u=K(x)f(u) \quad\text{in } \mathbb{R}^{N}, $$ where 5 ≤ N ≤ 7 $5\leq N\leq 7$ , Δ 2 $\Delta ^{2}$ denotes the biharmonic operator, K ( x ) , V ( x ) $K(x), V(x)$ are positive continuous functions which vanish at infinity, and f ( u ) $f(u)$ is only a continuous function. We prove that the equation has a least energy sign-changing solution by the minimization argument on the sign-changing Nehari manifold. If, additionally, f is an odd function, we obtain that equation has infinitely many nontrivial solutions.

Abstract Background HER2-positive breast cancer is usually associated to the more aggressive progression and the worse prognosis, but the mechanism underlying the innate resistance to HER2-targeted therapy remains elusive. The scaffold protein SH3-domain-binding glutamic acid-rich protein-like protein (SH3BGRL) is indicated as a tumor suppressor in some cancers, but it is highly expressed in breast cancers. Here we characterized the tumorigenic function of SH3BGRL in HER2-expressing breast cancer cells and the subsequent effect in HER2-targeted therapies. Methods The interaction of SH3BGRL to HER2 were characterized with various truncated SH3BGRL mutants by immunoprecipitation and molecule docking simulation. The physiological roles of SH3BGRL interacting with HER2 in tumor progression and therapy implication were characterized by gain and loss of function approaches in vitro and in vivo. Immunohistochemistry was used for detections of SH3BGRL and p-HER2 (Y1196) expressions in xenografted tumors and human breast cancer tissues. Clinical relevance of SH3BGRL expression with HER2 was validated with both breast patient sample and the public data analyses. Results Our results demonstrated that SH3BGRL directly binds with HER2 on cell membrane via its motifs α1, α2 helixes and β3 sheet, which postpones HER2 internalization upon EGF stimulation. Consequently, the association between SH3BGRL and HER2 contributed to the prolonged HER2 phosphorylation at specific tyrosine sites, especially at Y1196, and their downstream signaling activation. The relevance between SH3BGRL expression and p-HER2 (Y1196) phosphorylation was validated in both xenografted tumors and the breast cancer patient tissues. Mechanistically, SH3BGRL promoted breast tumor cell proliferation and survival, while reduced the cell sensitivity to anti-tumor drugs, especially to the HER2-targeted drugs. In contrast, Silencing SH3BGRL or inhibiting its downstream signals efficiently induced apoptosis of breast tumor cells with HER2 and SH3BGRL doubly positive expression. Database analysis also highlighted that SH3BGRL is a poor prognostic marker, especially for HER2-positive breast cancers. Conclusions Our results disclose SH3BGRL as a novel posttranslational modulator of HER2 hyperactivation, which can lead to the intrinsic resistance to HER2-targeted therapy. SH3BGRL would be a pivotal therapy target and a diagnostic marker to HER2-positve patients. Thus, targeting SH3BGRL or the downstream signaling could relieve the innate resistance to some HER2-tageted therapies for both HER2 and SH3BGRL-postive breast cancers.

In this paper, we consider the following sublinear biharmonic equations\begin{equation*} \Delta^2 u + V\left( x \right)u =K(x)|u|^{p-1}u,\ x\in \mathbb{R}^N, \end{equation*}where $N\geq5,~0

Abstract In this paper, we consider the following sublinear fractional Schrödinger equation: ( − Δ ) s u + V ( x ) u = K ( x ) | u | p − 1 u , x ∈ R N , $$ (-\Delta)^{s}u + V(x)u= K(x) \vert u \vert ^{p-1}u,\quad x\in \mathbb{R}^{N}, $$ where s , p ∈ ( 0 , 1 ) $s, p\in(0,1)$ , N > 2 s $N>2s$ , ( − Δ ) s $(-\Delta)^{s}$ is a fractional Laplacian operator, and K, V both change sign in R N $\mathbb{R}^{N}$ . We prove that the problem has infinitely many solutions under appropriate assumptions on K, V. The tool used in this paper is the symmetric mountain pass theorem.

In meiosis, cells undergo two sequential rounds of cell division, termed meiosis I and meiosis II. Textbook models of the meiosis I substage called pachytene show that nuclei have conspicuous 100-nm-wide, ladder-like synaptonemal complexes and ordered chromatin loops. It remains unknown if these cells have any other large, meiosis-related intranuclear structures. Here we present cryo-ET analysis of frozen-hydrated budding yeast cells before, during, and after pachytene. We found no cryo-ET densities that resemble dense ladder-like structures or ordered chromatin loops. Instead, we found large numbers of 12-nm-wide triple-helices that pack into ordered bundles. These structures, herein called meiotic triple helices (MTHs), are present in meiotic cells, but not in interphase cells. MTHs are enriched in the nucleus but not enriched in the cytoplasm. Bundles of MTHs form at the same timeframe as synaptonemal complexes (SCs) in wild-type cells and in mutant cells that are unable to form SCs. These results suggest that in yeast, SCs coexist with previously unreported large, ordered assemblies.

Abstract In this paper, we study the following nonlinear fractional Schrödinger–Poisson system 0.1 {(−Δ)su+V(x)u+ϕu=K(x)f(u),x∈R3,(−Δ)tϕ=u2,x∈R3. $$ \textstyle\begin{cases} (-\Delta )^{s}u+V(x)u+\phi u=K(x)f(u),&x\in \mathbb{R}^{3}, \\ (-\Delta )^{t} \phi =u^{2},&x\in {\mathbb{R}}^{3}. \end{cases} $$ where s∈(34,1) $s\in (\frac{3}{4},1)$, t∈(0,1) $t\in (0,1)$, V,K:R3→R $V,K : \mathbb{R}^{3}\rightarrow \mathbb{R}$ are continuous functions verifying some conditions about zero mass. By using the constraint variational method and the quantitative deformation lemma, we obtain the existence of least energy sign-changing solution to this system.

As immunotherapy is evolving into an essential armamentarium against cancers, numerous translational studies associated with relevant biomarkers, targets, and clinical effects have been reported in recent years. However, a large amount of associated experimental data remains unexplored due to the difficulty in accessibility and utilization. Here, we established a comprehensive high-quality database for cancer immunotherapy called CanImmunother (http://www.biomedical-web.com/cancerit/) through manual curation on 4515 publications. CanImmunother contains 3267 experimentally validated associations between 218 cancer sub-types across 34 body parts and 484 immunotherapies with 642 biomarkers, 108 targets, and 121 control therapies. Each association was manually curated by professional curators, incorporated with valuable annotation and cross references, and assigned with an association score for prioritization. To help clinicians and researchers in identifying and discovering better cancer immunotherapy and their respective biomarkers and targets, CanImmunother offers user-friendly web applications including search, browse, excel table, association prioritization, and network visualization. CanImmunother presents a landscape of experimental cancer immunotherapy association data, serving as a useful resource to improve our insight and to facilitate further discovery of advanced immunotherapy options for cancer patients.

Accumulating evidence show that Poly C Binding Protein 1 (PCBP1) is deleted in distinct types of tumors as a novel tumor suppressor, but its tumor suppression mechanism remains elusive. Here, we firstly describe that downregulation of PCBP1 is significantly associated with clinical ovarian tumor progression. Mechanistically, PCBP1 overexpression affects various autophagy-related genes expression at various expression levels to attenuate the intrinsic cell autophagy, including the autophagy-initiating ULK, ATG12, ATG7 as well as the bona fide marker of autophagosome, LC3B. Accordingly, knockdown of the endogenous PCBP1 in turn enhances autophagy and less cell death. Meanwhile, PCBP1 upregulates p62/SQSTM1 via inhibition p62/SQSTM1 autophagolysome and proteasome degradation as well as its mRNA stability, consequently accompanying with the caspase 3 or 8 activation for tumor cell apoptosis. Importantly, clinical ovary cancer sample analysis consistently validates the relevance of PCBP1 expression to both p62/SQSTM1 and caspase-8 to overall survival, and indicates PCBP1 may be a master player to repress tumor initiation. Taken together, our results uncover the tumorigenic mechanism of PCBP1 depletion and suggest that inhibition of tumor cell autophagy with autophagic inhibitors could be an effective therapeutical strategy for PCBP1-deficient tumor.

Summary: Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are responsible for tumor initiation, chemoresistance, metastasis, and relapse, but the underlying molecular origin of CSCs remains elusive. Here we identified that metastatic phosphatase of regenerating liver 3 (PRL-3) transcriptionally upregulates SOX2 in the expansion of CSC sub-population from normal cancer cells. Mechanistically, SOX2 upregulation is attributed to the binding of the acetylated myocyte enhancer factor 2A (MEF2A) to SOX2 promoter in tumor cells. In parallel, PRL-3 competitively binds to Class IIa histone deacetylase 4 (HDAC4) to facilitate HDAC4 translocation, leading to the disassociation of HDAC4 from MEF2A and histones. The released MEF2A and histones thus remain acetylated and render the subsequent accessibility of the acetylated MEF2A to SOX2 promoter region. Clinical relevance among PRL-3, SOX2, and HDAC4 is validated in ovary cancer samples. Therefore, this PRL-3-HDAC4-MEF2A/histones-SOX2 signaling axis would be a potential therapeutic target in inhibiting ovarian cancer metastasis and relapse. : Biological Sciences; Molecular Biology; Stem Cells Research; Cancer Subject Areas: Biological Sciences, Molecular Biology, Stem Cells Research, Cancer

Abstract Background Poly C Binding Protein 1 (PCBP1) is an RNA-binding protein that binds and regulates translational activity of subsets of cellular mRNAs. Depletion of PCBP1 is implicated in various carcinomas, but the underlying mechanism in tumorigenesis remains elusive. Methods We performed a transcriptome-wide screen to identify novel bounding mRNA of PCBP1. The bind regions between PCBP1 with target mRNA were investigated by using point mutation and luciferase assay. Cell proliferation, cell cycle, tumorigenesis and cell apoptosis were also evaluated in ovary and colon cancer cell lines. The mechanism that PCBP1 affects p27 was analyzed by mRNA stability and ribosome profiling assays. We analyzed PCBP1 and p27 expression in ovary, colon and renal tumor samples and adjacent non-tumor tissues using RT-PCR, Western Blotting and immunohistochemistry. The prognostic significance of PCBP1 and p27 also analyzed using online databases. Results We identified cell cycle inhibitor p27Kip1 (p27) as a novel PCBP1-bound transcript. We then demonstrated that binding of PCBP1 to p27 3’UTR via its KH1 domain mainly stabilizes p27 mRNA, while enhances its translation to fuel p27 expression, prior to p27 protein degradation. The upregulated p27 consequently inhibits cell proliferation, cell cycle progression and tumorigenesis, whereas promotes cell apoptosis under paclitaxel treatment. Conversely, knockdown of PCBP1 in turn compromises p27 mRNA stability, leading to lower p27 level and tumorigenesis in vivo. Moreover, forced depletion of p27 counteracts the tumor suppressive ability of PCBP1 in the same PCBP1 over-expressing cells. Physiologically, we showed that decreases of both p27 mRNA and its protein expressions are well correlated to PCBP1 depletion in ovary, colon and renal tumor samples, independent of the p27 ubiquitin ligase Skp2 level. Correlation of PCBP1 with p27 is also found in the tamoxifen, doxorubincin and lapatinib resistant breast cancer cells of GEO database. Conclusion Our results thereby indicate that loss of PCBP1 expression firstly attenuates p27 expression at post-transcriptional level, and subsequently promotes carcinogenesis. PCBP1 could be used as a diagnostic marker to cancer patients.

The purpose of this paper is to study the existence of ground state solution for the Schr\"{o}dinger–Poisson systems: \[\begin{cases} -\Delta u+V(x)u+K(x)\phi u=Q(x)|u|^{4}u+f(x,u),&x\in\mathbb{R}^{3},\\ -\Delta\phi=K(x)u^{2},&x\in\mathbb{R}^{3}, \end{cases} \] where $V(x)$, $K(x)$, $Q(x)$ and $f(x,u)$ are asymptotically periodic functions in $x$.

The present study, based on Labov′s narrative theory, focuses on how witnesses′ involvement affects their narrative reconstruction of the criminal case. Witnesses′ involvement is first subcategorized, and there are two circumstances concerning their involvements, one being single suspect versus victim(s) crime and the other multiple suspects versus victim(s) crime. The present study takes four witness statements from a single suspect malicious injury case as data to further analyze the effects exerted by different witness involvements on witness statements and their corresponding representations. Results of the analysis indicate that how witnesses are involved in the criminal event exert different effects on witness statements in three aspects as follows: narrative structure, participant distribution, and language strategies. The results of this study further revealed that the more legal responsibility a witness is likely to take for the criminal event, the more transformations he would make in his narrative reconstruction of the crime.

In this study, magnetic Fe3O4 nanoparticles (NPs) were used as an effective enhancer to increase the biomass and total lipid production of Chlorella sp. UJ-3. It was found that the biomass of algal cells increased significantly when they were exposed to low concentrations of Fe3O4 NPs (20 mg/L), while the best total lipid content of algal cells was achieved when they were exposed to high concentrations of Fe3O4 NPs (100 mg/L). Therefore, we established a strategy to promote the growth and lipid accumulation of microalgae by initially exposing the algal cells to low concentrations of Fe3O4 NPs and then treating them with an increased concentration of Fe3O4 NPs after 12 days of culture. For this strategy, the biomass and total lipid production of algal cells increased by 50% and 108.7%, respectively, compared to the untreated control. The increase in lipid production and change in the fatty acid composition of Chlorella cells were found to help them to cope with the increased number of reactive oxygen species produced due to oxidative stress in alga cells after the addition of Fe3O4 NPs. This study provided a highly efficient way to improve the lipid production of microalgae using nanoparticles.

Quantum machine learning could possibly become a valuable alternative to classical machine learning for applications in high energy physics by offering computational speedups. In this study, we employ a support vector machine with a quantum kernel estimator (QSVM-Kernel method) to a recent LHC flagship physics analysis: tt[over ¯]H (Higgs boson production in association with a top quark pair). In our quantum simulation study using up to 20 qubits and up to 50000 events, the QSVM-Kernel method performs as well as its classical counterparts in three different platforms from Google Tensorflow Quantum, IBM Quantum, and Amazon Braket. Additionally, using 15 qubits and 100 events, the application of the QSVM-Kernel method on the IBM superconducting quantum hardware approaches the performance of a noiseless quantum simulator. Our study confirms that the QSVM-Kernel method can use the large dimensionality of the quantum Hilbert space to replace the classical feature space in realistic physics data sets.

In this article, by using variational method, we study the existence of a positive ground state solution for the Schr\"odinger-Poisson system $$\displaylines{ -\Delta u+V(x)u+K(x)\phi u=f(x,u),\quad x\in\mathbb{R}^3,\cr -\Delta\phi=K(x)u^2,\quad x\in\mathbb{R}^3, }$$ where V(x), K(x) and f(x,u) are asymptotically periodic functions in x at infinity.

Atherosclerosis is the pathological basis of coronary artery disease (CAD) and causes high mortality. Thus, early detection is thought to be crucial in reducing the risk of CAD. Uncovering the mechanisms of the progression and regression of atherosclerosis will provide insights into discovering novel biomarkers to identify subjects at risk for CAD and improve prevention. We established atherosclerosis progression and regression in a rabbit model. Then, we extracted mRNA of the abdominal aorta from control, model and recovery groups to perform gene chip analysis. Candidate biomarkers were screened by large-scale gene analysis and validated in patients with CAD or with CAD recovery by ELISA. The differentially expressed genes in the progression and regression of atherosclerosis were mainly enriched in four clusters. Genes associated with inflammation and extracellular matrix were returned to normal or close-to-normal levels much earlier than genes associated with metabolism and sarcoplasmic proliferation, and they were maintained downregulated or upregulated after feeding a normal diet. We then selected four candidate biomarkers and found that lipoprotein lipase (LPL), bone morphogenetic protein 7 and somatostatin concentrations could indicate CAD diagnosis. In addition, LPL and macrophage cationic peptide 2 can be indicators of the prognosis of CAD. Molecular changes during the progression and regression of atherosclerosis in rabbits were revealed, and candidate regulators were identified. The identified factors could be used as novel biomarkers and targets for improving the diagnosis and prognosis of human CAD in the future.

By using minimax methods and critical point theory, we obtain infinitely many periodic solutions for a second-order nonautonomous Hamiltonian systems, when the gradient of potential energy does not exceed linear growth.

With the rapid development of nanotechnology and widespread use of nanoproducts, the ecotoxicity of nanoparticles (NPs) and their potential hazards to the environment have aroused great concern. Nanoparticles have increasingly been released into aquatic environments through various means, accumulating in aquatic organisms through food chains and leading to toxic effects on aquatic organisms. Nanoparticles are mainly classified into nano-metal, nano-oxide, carbon nanomaterials and quantum dots according to their components. Different NPs may have different levels of toxicity and effects on various aquatic organisms. In this paper, algae are used as model organisms to review the adsorption and distribution of NPs to algal cells, as well as the ecotoxicity of NPs on algae and fate in a water environment, systematically. Meanwhile, the toxic effects of NPs on algae are discussed with emphasis on three aspect effects on the cell membrane, cell metabolism and the photosynthesis system. Furthermore, suggestions and prospects are provided for future studies in this area.

By using the fixed point theorem in cones, in this paper, existence criteria for single and multiple positive solutions to a class of nonlinear first-order periodic boundary value problems of impulsive dynamic equations on time scales are obtained. An example is given to illustrate the main results in this article.

If the lubrication system of a helicopter reducer is compromised, its gears and bearings will be in a working state without lubricating oil, which causes the reducer to be damaged in a very short time. Various 2% additives of T307, T321, T202, and T391 were injected and mixed with DOD-L-85734 aeronautical oil to produce 45-min oil–air lubrication experiments performed upon 12Cr2Ni4A aeronautical steel tribo-pairs. The results show that the best anti-wear effect is produced by oil–air lubrication containing T391: its wear width under jetting oil–air just three times and quantity of oil used only 0.015 mL in 45 min was only 421.32 µm but that of dry friction for 48 s was 629.20 µm. The technology of oil–air lubrication that contains an extreme-pressure and anti-wear additive is thus a feasible way to improve the operational ability of a helicopter transmission system that is out of oil.

In this paper, existence criteria for single and multiple positive solutions of some of periodic boundary value problems for first order difference equation \[\left\{\begin{array}{ll} \Delta x(k)+f(k,x(k+1))=0, & k\in \left[ 0,T\right] ,\\ x(0)=x(T+1), & \end{array}\right.\] are established by using the fixed point theorem in cones. An example is also given to illustrate the main results.

In this paper, existence criteria of three positive solutions to the followimg $p$-Laplacian functional dynamic equation on time scales \[\left\{\begin{array}{l} \left[ \Phi _p(u^{\bigtriangleup }(t))\right] ^{\bigtriangledown}+a(t)f(u(t),u(\mu (t)))=0,t\in \left(0,T\right),\\ u_0(t)=\varphi (t), t\in \left[ -r,0\right], u(0)-B_0(u^{\bigtriangleup }(\eta ))=0, u^{\bigtriangleup }(T)=0, \end{array}\right.\] are established by using the well-known Five Functionals Fixed Point Theorem.

We study the following third-order p-Laplacian functional dynamic equation on time scales: Φp(uΔ∇(t))∇+a(t)f(u(t),u(μ(t)))=0, t∈0,TT, u(t)=φ(t), t∈-r,0T, uΔ(0)=uΔ∇(T)=0, and u(T)+B0(uΔ(η))=0. By applying the Five-Functional Fixed Point Theorem, the existence criteria of three positive solutions are established.

By using the Leggett-Williams fixed point theorem, the existence of three positive solutions to a class of nonlinear first-order periodic boundary value problems of impulsive dynamic equations on time scales with parameter are obtained. An example is given to illustrate the main results in this paper.