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Background: Schizophrenia is a chronic and severe mental disorder. People with schizophrenia have transferred from hospital-based care to community-based care with the support of mental health legal policies. Challenges faced in the community should be emphasized. Limited qualitative studies have explored the challenges of living with schizophrenia. Aims: To explore the challenges of people living with schizophrenia in the community. Methods: A narrative method was used, including semi-structured, face-to-face interviews. Thematic analysis approach was used to analyze data. Results: Ten clients and their family members participated in the study. Analysis revealed three main themes related to their challenges in the community: deficits in self-management of illness; insufficient community mental health care; and the influence of policy. These challenges prevent those with schizophrenia from effectively managing their illness, returning to a productive role in society, and improving their quality of life. Conclusions: There are challenges in mental health rehabilitation and social reintegration of individuals with schizophrenia. There is a need for continuous community mental rehabilitation services, appropriate policy support, and the need to educate the public to reduce social bias and discrimination which allows individuals with schizophrenia to assume a productive role in the community.

Objectives Contezolid acefosamil is a novel O-acyl phosphoramidate prodrug of contezolid. In the current study, we aimed to systemically evaluate the efficacy of contezolid acefosamil against infections caused by multiple Gram-positive pathogens, and compare the efficacy of the prodrug by oral and intravenous administrations. Methods The in vivo pharmacodynamic efficacy of contezolid acefosamil was evaluated in mouse models of systemic (with five S. aureus, three S. pneumoniae and two S. pyogenes bacterial isolates) and thigh (with two S. aureus isolates) infections using linezolid as the reference agent. Results In both models, contezolid acefosamil administrated either orally or intravenously, demonstrated high antibacterial efficacy similar to linezolid, and the antibacterial efficacy of oral and intravenous contezolid acefosamil were comparable. Conclusions The high aqueous solubility and great efficacy of contezolid acefosamil support its clinical development as an injectable and oral antibiotic suitable for serious Gram-positive infections.

This paper shows an example of acid-directed hydrothermal synthesis of three different Cd(ii)-MOFs based on the same mixed ligands. Two of them show blue fluorescence emissions and high activities in the CO2 cycloaddition with epoxybutanes.

Metal additive manufacturing (MAM) provides lots of benefits and potentials in manufacturing molds or dies with sophisticated conformal cooling channels. It is known that the conformal cooling technology provides effective cooling to reduce cycle time for increasing productivity. Ordinarily, mold inserts fabricated by general printing procedures will result in coolant leakage in the injection molding process. The yield in the manufacturing of fully dense injection molding tools was limited to the very narrow working widow. In addition, high costs of fully dense injection mold fabricated by MAM constitute the major obstacle to its application in the mold or die industry. In general, the high cost of MAM is approximately 50-70% more expensive than conventional computer numerical control machining. In this study, a low-cost and highly efficient method of reducing coolant leakage for direct metal printed injection mold with cooling channels was proposed. This new method employs general process parameters to manufacture the green injection mold rapidly and then uses optimum heat treatment (HT) procedures to improve microstructure of the green injection mold. The results of this study revealed that optimum HT procedures can prevent coolant leakage and save manufacturing time of the injection mold fabricated by direct metal laser sintering. The evolution mechanisms of microstructure were investigated experimentally. The save in the injection mold manufacture time about 67% can be obtained.

The development of China’s exhibition industry is based on the spatial distribution characteristics of regional economic development, which shows the self-correlation and spillover effect between the exhibition industry and the regional economy. The level of regional specialization begins from the industrial structure characteristic the province. This study reveals the characteristics of the industry structure and spatial differentiation pattern of China’s provincial exhibition industry from the perspective of industry distribution by comparing 2017 and 2019, and finds that the current distribution of the industry sector is obviously different, the structure of the industry sector in the central and western regions is superior to the eastern part. The entropy of the national exhibition industry in different industry sectors shows increasing law, and the degree of specialization of the provincial exhibition industry in different sectors and regions prevails. Relevant adjustment paths are proposed to optimize the sector structure and spatial layout of the development of China’s exhibition industry, to promote the transformation to the direction of content upgrading, to give full play to the advantages of industrial industry, and to build an industry-driven exhibition industry development model.

Direct metal laser sintering (DMLS) technology plays an important role in molds or dies industry. The distinct feature of the metal components, molds, or dies fabricated by DMLS possesses gas permeability. However, the mechanical properties of the fabricated molds were influenced by degree of gas permeability. In this study, the design of experiments (DOE) approach was employed to optimize the DMLS process parameters for fabricating plastic injection mold with better gas permeability and mechanical properties. It was found that the optimal DMLS process parameters for fabricating plastic injection molds with better mechanical properties and gas permeability are layer thickness of 30 μm, hatching space of 141 μm, scanning speed of 220 mm/s, and laser power of 50 W. The most important DMLS process parameter affecting the mechanical properties and gas permeability is the layer thickness, followed by the hatching space. The gas venting mechanism for molds fabricated by DMLS has been demonstrated.

According to the practical experiences in the injection molding, the knowledge about conformal cooling channel (CCC) is an essential factor that affects productivity and quality of the molded part greatly. In general, the CCC provides a reduction in the cooling time in series production. However, the distance between cooling channel edges of the circular conformal cooling channel (CCCC) and mold cavity edge is not constant. The profiled conformal cooling channel (PCCC) has flat surface of the cooling channel facing the profile of the cavity fully. The distance between cooling channel edges of the PCCC and mold cavity edge is constant. In this study, two maraging steel injection molding tools with two different CCC were designed and fabricated by the direct metal printing technology. The difference between injection mold with PCCC and CCCC on the cooling time of the molded wax pattern, part temperature difference, mold surface temperature difference, and part warpage were numerically investigated using Moldex3D simulation software. It was found that the PCCC seems to be a good candidate in the CCC design and provides a better alternative in the conventional cooling channels. The PCCC reduced the cooling time about 33.33% compared with CCCC under the coolant water temperature of 25 °C. The temperature of 26 °C is the optimal value for the coolant water based on the dimensional accuracy of the wax pattern and energy consumption of the cooling system.

The present study investigated the effects and mechanisms of Jiaotai Pills on depressed mice induced by chronic unpredictable mild stress(CUMS). The CUMS-induced depression model mice were established and the depression behaviors of mice were evaluated by sucrose preference test, open field test, tail suspension test, and forced swimming test. Molecular docking was employed to simulate the interaction of six main active ingredients in Jiaotai Pills with SIRT1. Immunohistochemical staining was used to detect the level of SIRT1 in the hippocampus of mice. Western blot was used to detect the protein expression levels of SIRT1, p-NF-κB p65, NF-κB p65, and FoxO1 in the hippocampus of mice. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA) kits were used to detect the levels of interleukin(IL)-1β, IL-6, tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α), and brain-derived neurotrophic factor(BDNF) in the hippocampus and serum of mice. Biochemical kits were used to detect superoxide dismutase(SOD) activity and malondialdehyde(MDA) and glutathione(GSH) levels in the hippocampus and serum of mice. Liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry(LC-MS/MS) was used to detect the levels of dopamine(DA), 5-hydroxytryptamine(5-HT), and norepinephrine(NE) in the hippocampus and serum of mice. The results showed that the sucrose preference rate, movement distance, and the number of crossing centers were reduced in the model group(Plt;0.01), and the tail suspension time and swimming immobility time were increased(Plt;0.01). Molecular docking results indicated good binding of six main active ingredients in Jiaotai Pills to SIRT1. In the hippocampus, the expression level of SIRT1 was reduced(Plt;0.01), and the levels of p-NF-κB p65/NF-κB p65 and FoxO1 were increased(Plt;0.01). In the hippocampus and serum, the levels of IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α, and MDA were increased(Plt;0.01), and the activity of SOD and the levels of GSH, DA, 5-HT, NE, and BDNF were reduced(Plt;0.01). The treatment with high-dose Jiaotai Pills increased the sucrose preference rate, movement distance, and the number of crossing centers(Plt;0.05), reduced tail suspension time and swimming immobility time(Plt;0.01), elevated hippocampal SIRT1 expression level(Plt;0.01), decreased hippocampal and serum IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α, and MDA levels(Plt;0.01), potentiated SOD activity, and up-regulated GSH, DA, 5-HT, NE, and BDNF levels in the hippocampus and serum(Plt;0.05, Plt;0.01) in model mice. In conclusion, the results showed that Jiaotai Pills could improve the depression behaviors of model mice with CUMS-induced depression, and the underlying mechanism was related to the up-regulation of SIRT1 in the hippocampus of mice to exert anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidative stress effects.

A LC-MS/MS method was developed for the rapid and simultaneous determination of genipin-1-β-D-gentiobioside,geniposide,naringin,hesperidin and neohesperidin in SD rat plasma.The linear relationships of these five constituents in rats were validated,and the specificity,accuracy,precision and stability met the requirements.Their pharmacokinetic parameters were calculated by DAS 3.2.2,and the results showed that the metabolic process in vivo of the five constituents accorded with the characteristics of noncompartmental model.Their main pharmacokinetic parameters were listed as follows:(1) genipin-1-β-D-gentiobioside:t_(1/2)(3.20±0.51)h,C_(max)(403.15±96.93)μg·L~(-1)and AUC_(0-t)(612.56±148.50)μg·L~(-1)·h for the model group,while t_(1/2)(3.07±0.75) h,C_(max)(229.50±60.63)μg·L~(-1)and AUC_(0-t)(413.14±76.37)μg·L~(-1)·h for the normal group;(2) geniposide:t_(1/2)(3.24±0.68) h,C_(max)(2 961.40±688.02)μg·L~(-1),and AUC_(0-t)(10 972.87±1 992.96)μg·L~(-1)·h for the model group,while t_(1/2)(4.56±0.96) h,C_(max)(1 833.27±558.13)μg·L~(-1),and AUC_(0-t)(8 996.27±3 053.48)μg·L~(-1)·h for the normal group;(3) naringin:t_(1/2)(1.64±0.59) h,C_(max)(415.13±259.54)μg·L~(-1),and AUC_(0-t)(608.62±289.05)μg·L~(-1)·h for the model group,while t_(1/2)(1.02±0.25) h,C_(max)(355.08±180.00)μg·L~(-1),and AUC_(0-t)(501.07±242.68)μg·L~(-1)·h for the normal group;(4) hesperidin:t_(1/2)(0.86±0.29) h,C_(max)(95.17±22.80)μg·L~(-1)and AUC_(0-t)(141.19±54.63)μg·L~(-1)·h for the model group,while t_(1/2)(0.95±0.31) h,C_(max)(46.48±18.33)μg·L~(-1)and AUC_(0-t)(69.51±14.73)μg·L~(-1)·h for the normal group;(5) neohesperidin:t_(1/2)(0.89±0.29) h,C_(max)(828.78±361.56)μg·L~(-1)and AUC_(0-t)(1 292.29±553.73)μg·L~(-1)·h for the model group,while t_(1/2)(0.90±0.31) h,C_(max)(314.68±172.45)μg·L~(-1)and AUC_(0-t)(385.99±138.55)μg·L~(-1)·h for the normal group.

(1) Background: Busulfan has been used as a conditioning regimen in allogeneic hematopoietic cell stem transplantation (HSCT). Owing to a large inter-individual variation in pharmacokinetics, therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM)-guided busulfan dosing is necessary to reduce graft failure and relapse rate. As there exists no TDM of busulfan administration for HCT in Taiwan, we conducted a pilot study to assess the TDM-dosing of busulfan in the Taiwanese population, (2) Methods: Seven patients with HCT from The Koo Foundation Sun Yat-Sen Cancer Center, Taipei, Taiwan, received conditioning regimens consisting of intravenous busulfan and other chemotherapies. After the initial busulfan dose, blood samples were collected for busulfan TDM at 5 min, 1 h, 2 h, and 3 h. Busulfan was extracted and detected by performing stable-isotope dilution LC–MS/MS. Plasma busulfan concentration was quantified and used for dose adjustment. Potential adverse effects of busulfan, such as mucositis and hepatic veno-occlusive disease (VOD), were also evaluated, (3) Results: The LC–MS/MS method was validated with an analyte recovery of 88–99%, within-run and between-run precision of &lt, 15%, and linearity ranging from 10 to 10,000 ng/mL. Using TDM-guided busulfan dosing, dose adjustment was necessary and performed in six out of seven patients (86%) with successful engraftments in all patients (100%). Mild mucositis was observed, and VOD was diagnosed in only one patient, (4) Conclusions: This single-center study in Taiwan demonstrated the importance of busulfan TDM in increasing the success rate of HCT transplantation. It is also necessary to further investigate the optimal busulfan target value in the Taiwanese population in the future.

A pair of enantiomeric triketone-phloroglucinol hybrids, (+)- and (-)-myrtuspirone A (1), featuring an unprecedented 3-isopropyl-3 H-spiro[benzofuran-2,1'-cyclohexane] backbone, were isolated from the leaves of Myrtus communis. The absolute configuration of each enantiomer of 1 was determined by X-ray diffraction and chemical calculations. Furthermore, the gram-scale total syntheses of (±)-1 and (-)-1 were conducted in four steps using a Michael- N-iodosuccinimide (NIS)-mediated (3 + 2)-annulation reaction. Both (+)- and (-)-1 exhibited antibacterial activities against Gram-positive bacteria including multidrug-resistant strains.

A label-free fluorescence aptasensor based on conformational switching of aptamer induced by Cd2+ was established for the good selective determination of Cd2+. The aptamer could act as a recognition element for Cd2+. SYBR green I (SG), as a signal reporter, can bind to the small groove of double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) constituted the aptamer and the complementary strand, establishing the dsDNA-SG complex and generating high fluorescence intensity. In the presence of Cd2+, the specific recognition and binging of aptamers preferentially with Cd2+ induce free of complementary strands from dsDNA and conformational switching of aptamer from dsDNA to a stem-loop structure, fluorescence intensity of system decrease dramatically. Under the optimum experiment parameters, the aptasensor shows a good linear range from 1.12 μg L−1 to 224.82 μg L−1 and the excellent detection limit as low as 0.34 μg L−1. The relative standard deviations (RSD) for determination of Cd2+ (n = 8) were lower than 4%, and the recoveries were in the range of 98.57% ~ 102.49%. The use of fluorescence aptasensor has good selectivity and does not require any sample treatment or target preconcentration for the detection of Cd2+ in real samples.

Based on the automatic identification system (AIS) data and large field survey datasets for Xiamen port, the activity-based approach was used to calculate the emissions from each sailing ship in the Xiamen Emission Control Area (XECA), and to obtain the 2018 air emissions inventory for the XECA. This study subsequently analyzed the emission characteristics and spatiotemporal distribution characteristics of pollutants. The results showed that in 2018, the total amount of pollutants discharged from ships in the XECA was 16413 t, of which 82.2% were from ships entering and leaving the port and 17.8% were from ships outside of the port. NO

Background: Transgelin, an actin-binding protein, is associated with the cytoskeleton remodeling. Our previous studies found that transgelin was up-regulated in node-positive colorectal cancer versus in node-negative disease. Over-expression of TAGLN affected the expression of 256 downstream transcripts and increased the metastatic potential of colon cancer cells in vitro and in vivo. This study aims to explore the mechanisms that transgelin participates in the metastasis of colon cancer cells.Methods: Immunofluorescence and immunoblotting analysis were used to determine the cellular localization of the endogenous and exogenous transgelin in colon cancer cells. Co-immunoprecipitation and subsequent high performance liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry were performed to identify the proteins potentially interacting with transgelin. Bioinformatics methods were used to analyze the 256 downstream transcripts regulated by transgelin to discriminate the specific key genes and signaling pathways. By analyzing the promoter region of these key genes, GCBI tools were used to predict the potential transcription factor(s) for these genes. The predicted transcription factors were matching to the proteins that have been identified to potentially interact with transgelin. The interaction between transgelin and these transcription factors was verified by co-immunoprecipitation and immunoblotting.Results: Transgelin was found to localize both in the cytoplasm and the nucleus of colon cancer cells. 297 proteins have been identified to interact with transgelin by co-immunoprecipitation and subsequent high performance liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry. Over-expression of TAGLN could lead to differential expression of 184 downstream genes. By constructing the network of gene-encoded proteins, 7 genes (CALM1, MYO1F, NCKIPSD, PLK4, RAC1, WAS and WIPF1) have been discriminated as key genes using network topology analysis. They are mostly involved in the Rho signaling pathway. Poly ADP-ribose polymerase-1 (PARP1) was predicted as the unique transcription factor for the key genes and concurrently matching to the DNA-binding proteins potentially interacting with transgelin. Immunoprecipitation validated that PARP1 interacted with transgelin in human RKO colon cancer cells.Conclusions: The results of this study suggest that transgelin binds to PARP1 and regulates the expression of the downstream key genes mainly involving Rho signaling pathway, thus participates in the metastasis of colon cancer.

We rationally designed an ultrasensitive and label-free sensing platform for determination of cadmium (Cd). The sensing platform contains G-quadruplex-Cd(II) specific aptamer (GCDSA) constructed by incorporating G-rich sequence at the end of 5' and the critical domain of the Cd-4 aptamer. GCDSA designed act as both a special recognition sequence for Cd2+ and a signal DNAzyme. In absence of Cd2+, GCDSA may mainly exist in a random coil sequence. Upon addition of Cd2+, GCDSA could probably be induced to fold into a G-quadruplex structure. The generation of plentiful active G-quadruplex interacts with hemin to form a peroxidase-like DNAzyme, leading to increased absorbance signal of the sensing system. ΔA was directly proportional to the two segments of concentrations for Cd2+, with the detection of limit of 0.15 nM. The proposed method avoids the labeled oligonucleotides and allows directly quantitative analysis of the samples by cheap instruments, with an excellent dynamic range.

Staphylococcal enterotoxins (SEs), also known as superantigens, play a very important role in infections and food poisoning caused by Staphylococcus aureus. Recently, S. argenteus and S. schweitzeri were recognized as novel species closely related to S. aureus. In this study of these three species, it was found that two putative SE genes were located upstream of some vSaβ pathogenicity islands and the deduced amino acid sequences showed 65.3% identity with those of known SEs. The related proteins, designated staphylococcal enterotoxin-like toxin 26 (SEl26) and 27 (SEl27), were identified and characterized among the three species. The mRNAs encoding SEl26 and SEl27 were expressed during all the growth phases. Recombinant SEl26 and SEl27 exhibited superantigenic activity in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells and mouse splenocytes by examining cell proliferation and cytokine production. Interestingly, these two genes were present universally in S. argenteus sequence type 2250 with clinical importance. Meanwhile, SEl27 variants from different species showed differential sensitivity to human peripheral blood mononuclear cells, which corresponded to the primary bacterial species hosts. It was demonstrated from these results that SEl26 and SEl27 were characterized to be two novel SE toxins and some SEs evolved along with the bacteria when the organisms adapted the hosts' immune systems.

Augmented Reality (AR) has been recognised as one of the promising technologies for the gaming industry. In this study, the authors intend to apply AR technology to develop an interactive educational game. This paper presents an AR featured educational game specifically designed for 4-7 years old pre-school children. The principal objective of this game is to enable children to learn various abstract concepts, such as colour mixing, mathematics and 2D-3D geometrical shape recognition. This game allows users to interact with both onscreen (intangible) and physical objects (tangible) at the same time; different interaction forms including the touch screen (click) and AR game (rotate) are designed for better interaction with the real world and learning. This paper focuses on the details of the design and interactive behaviour. Furthermore, beyond the needs of children, this game also serves for parents through the Token Economy method; parents can control the kids’ contacting time with portable devices, and track and modify their everyday learning patterns. A pilot study implementing mix method was used to gather user’s feedback is also described in this paper.

In the presented article, a novel multi-objective PSO algorithm, RP-MOPSO has been proposed. The algorithm adopts a new comparison scheme for position upgrading. The scheme is simple but effective in improve algorithms convergence speed. A sigma-density strategy of selecting the global best particle for each particle in swarm based on a new solutions density definition is designed. Experimental results on seven functions show that proposed algorithm show better convergence performance than other classical MOP algorithms. Meanwhile the proposed algorithm is more effective in maintaining the diversity of the solutions.

A novel Gram-negative, aerobic, slightly halophilic, yellow-pigmented, oxidase-negative, Voges-Proskauer positive, non-spore-forming bacterium, designated YIM M 13059(T), was isolated from a sediment sample collected from the South China Sea at a depth of 310 m. Optimal growth was found to occur at 28-30 °C, pH 7.0 and in the presence of 3-4 % (w/v) NaCl. Cells were observed to be rod-shaped and motile by peritrichous flagella. The polar lipids of strain YIM M 13059(T) were found to be diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, a ninhydrin-positive phospholipid, one glycolipid and two unknown phospholipids. The predominant respiratory quinone was determined to be Q-9. The major fatty acids were identified as C18:1 ω7c, C16:1 ω6c/C16:1 ω7c, C16:0 and C12:0 3-OH. The genomic DNA G+C content was determined to be 54.4 mol%. Phylogenetic analysis based on the 16S rRNA gene sequence indicated that the isolate belongs to the genus Halomonas in the family Halomonadaceae. The 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities between strain YIM M 13059 (T) and the type strains of members of the genus Halomonas were in the range 93.3-98.3 %. However, the levels of DNA-DNA relatedness values between YIM M 13059 and the type strains of the most closely related species, Halomonas zhangjiangensis, Halomonas variabilis, Halomonas neptunia, Halomonas boliviensis and Halomonas sulfadieris were 50.2 ± 0.68 %, 46.8 ± 1.9 %, 28.5 ± 0.74 %, 42.9 ± 0.55 % and 37.1 ± 0.68 %, respectively. Based on phylogenetic, chemotaxonomic and phenotypic data, the strain YIM M 13059(T) is proposed to represent a novel member of the genus Halomonas, with the name Halomonas nanhaiensis sp. nov. The type strain is YIM M 13059(T) (=JCM 18142(T) =CCTCC AB 2012911(T)).

The transcription factor (TF) is a protein that binds DNA at specific site to help regulate the transcription from DNA to RNA. The mechanism of transcriptional regulatory can be much better understood if the category of transcription factors is known. We introduce a system which can automatically categorize transcription factors using their primary structures. A feature analysis strategy called "mRMR" (Minimum Redundancy, Maximum Relevance) is used to analyze the contribution of the TF properties towards the TF classification. mRMR is coupled with forward feature selection to choose an optimized feature subset for the classification. TF properties are composed of the amino acid composition and the physiochemical characters of the proteins. These properties will generate over a hundred features/parameters. We put all the features/parameters into a classifier, called NNA (nearest neighbor algorithm), for the classification. The classification accuracy is 93.81%, evaluated by a Jackknife test. Feature analysis using mRMR algorithm shows that secondary structure, amino acid composition and hydrophobicity are the most relevant features for classification. A free online classifier is available at http://app3.biosino.org/132dvc/tf/.

2H- and -phase monolayer MoTe2 films on highly oriented pyrolytic graphite are studied using scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy (STM/STS). The phase transition of MoTe2 can be controlled by a post-growth annealing process, and the intermediate state during the phase transition is directly observed by STM. For 2H-MoTe2, inversion domain boundaries are presented as bright lines at high sample bias, but as dark lines at lower sample bias. The dI/dV mappings reveal the distinct distributions of electronic states between domain boundaries and interiors of domains. It should be noted that a 2 × 2 periodic structure is clearly discernable inside the domains, where the STS measurement shows a small dip of size ~150 meV at the vicinity of the Fermi level, indicating that the 2 × 2 periodic structure may be an incommensurate charge density wave. Moreover, a 4 × 4 periodic structure appears in 2H-MoTe2 grown at a higher substrate temperature.

Surface structures and properties of Sn islands grown on superconducting substrate 2H-NbSe2(0001) are studied using low temperature scanning tunneling microscopy or spectroscopy. The pure face-centered cubic (fcc) structure of Sn surface is obtained. Superconductivity is also detected on the fcc-Sn(111) surface, and the size of superconducting gap on the Sn surface is nearly the same as that on the superconducting substrate. Furthermore, phase transition occurs from fcc-Sn(111) to β-Sn(001) by keeping the sample at room temperature for a certain time. Due to the strain relaxation on the β-Sn islands, both the in-plane unit cell and out-of-plane structures distort, and the height of surface atoms varies periodically to form a universal ripple structure.

HgTe (111) surface is comprehensively studied by scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy (STS). In addition to the primitive (1 × 1) hexagonal lattice, six reconstructed surface structures are observed: (2 × 2), 2 × 1, 4 × 1, , and . The (2 × 2) reconstructed lattice maintains the primitive hexagonal symmetry, while the lattices of the other five reconstructions are rectangular. Moreover, the topographic features of the reconstruction are bias dependent, indicating that they have both topographic and electronic origins. The STSs obtained at different reconstructed surfaces show a universal dip feature with size ~100 mV, which may be attributed to the surface distortion. Our results reveal the atomic structure and complex reconstructions of the cleaved HgTe (111) surfaces, which paves the way to understand the rich properties of HgTe crystal.

Atomically flat superconducting NbN thin films have been grown on the SrTiO3 (111) substrate by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy for the first time. Using scanning tunneling microscopy and in situ reflection high energy electron diffraction, we investigate the surface structure of epitaxial NbN thin films on the SrTiO3 (111) substrate. The orientation [101¯]NbN//[112¯]STO is dominating at substrate temperature above 700 °C. The quality of the as-grown films can be further improved by annealing at elevated temperatures. The homogeneous spatial distribution of superconducting gaps and magnetic vortices further demonstrates the high quality of the NbN films.

The objective of this paper is to develop conveyer object tracking and fetching system. The traditional visual servo system for parallel robot is based on Eye-to-hand method which suffers from the narrow field of view (FOV). The basic step of moving assembling is multiple objects tracking which needs broad work space and big FOV of the parallel robot. In this paper, a Hybrid Eye-to-hand and Eye-in-hand Visual Servo System for parallel robot is proposed. Via this hybrid system, the parallel robot can achieve (multiple) object tracking and fetching with priority planning we designed. The eye-to-hand visual system with low resolution camera provides the estimations of the velocities and poses of the workpieces. Also the fetching priority is planned with this system. All aforementioned information is transferred to the eye-in-hand visual servo system for further use. Once the object appeared in the FOV of eye-in-hand system in the estimated position, the high resolution camera of the system is employed to acquire the pose information of the object with high accuracy and track it frame by frame. The hybrid system is successfully demonstrated and implemented on parallel robot which not only broadens the working space of parallel robot but also achieves great efficiency and accuracy.

Identification and validation of a new target is one of the most important steps for new antituberculosis (TB) drug discovery. Researches have shown that Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) encodes 20 CYP450 enzymes which play important roles in the synthesis and metabolism of lipid, cholesterol utilization, and the electron transport of respiratory chain in Mtb. With the critical roles within the organism as well as the protein structures of six Mtb CYP450 enzymes being clarified, some of them have been highlighted as potential anti-tuberculosis targets. In this paper, the phylogenetic analysis, the structural features, and the enzymatic functions of Mtb CYPs, as well as the mechanism of interactions with selective inhibitors such as azole antifungal agents for the CYPs have been reviewed and summarized. The druggability of the CYPs has also been analyzed for their further utility as targets in high throughput screening and rational design of more selective inhibitors.

Several lines of evidence show that the nephrotoxic effect of melamine (MEL) in animals is consistent with combined ingestion of MEL and cyanuric acid (CYA). The aim of the present study was to compare the toxicokinetics of MEL in the presence and absence of CYA, and to elucidate the correlation between toxicity and kinetic properties of MEL. Sprague-Dawley rats were administered a single oral dose of MEL (100 mg kg(-1) ) with or without CYA (100 mg kg(-1) ). Plasma and tissue samples were analyzed by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometric (LC-MS/MS) assay. Significant changes in toxicokinetic parameters of MEL such as lower maximum concentration (7.4 ± 3.5 vs 78.0 ± 11.0 µg ml(-1) ) and area under curve (94.9 ± 53.5 vs 295.1 ± 93.7 µg h ml(-1) ), higher plasma elimination half-life (7.0 ± 3.3 vs 2.5 ± 0.3 h) and volume of distribution (11 505.5 ± 5030.3 vs 1312.7 ± 337.7 ml kg(-1) ), as well as significantly higher concentration of MEL in rat kidney (2.96-274.15 vs 1 µg g(-1) ) were detected in the CYA co-administration group when compared with MEL alone group (P 0.05). The differences in kinetic parameters between the two groups meant that CYA co-administration could lower absorption, slow excretion and induce tissue accumulation of MEL, which correlated well with the generation and development of renal toxicity. In conclusion, co-administration with CYA leads to the alteration of the kinetic characteristics of MEL, which provides an additional explanation for renal toxicity.

Transcription is one of the most important processes in cell in which transcription factors translate DNA sequences into RNA sequences. Accurate prediction of DNA binding preference of transcription factors is valuable for understanding the transcription regulatory mechanism and (1) elucidating regulation network. (2-4) Here we predict the DNA binding preference of transcription factor based on the protein amino acid composition and physicochemical properties, 0/1 encoding system of nucleotide, minimum Redundancy Maximum Relevance Feature Selection method, (5) and Nearest Neighbor Algorithm. The overall prediction accuracy of Jackknife cross-validation test is 91.1%, indicating that this approach is a useful tool to explore the relation between transcription factor and its binding sites. Moreover, we find that the secondary structure and polarizability of transcriptor contribute mostly in the prediction. Especially, a 7-nt motif with AT-rich region of the DNA binding sites discovered via our method is also consistent with the statistical analysis from the TRANSFAC database. (6).