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A novel colorimetric platform was constructed based on the excellent intrinsic oxidase-like activity of a bimetallic Ni/Co-MOF catalyst, which was synthesized by using a simultaneous precipitation and acid etching method with ZIF-67 as the template.

Long terminal repeat (LTR)-retrotransposons (LTR-RTs) comprise a major portion of many plant genomes and may exert a profound impact on genome structure, function, and evolution. Although many studies have focused on these elements in an individual species, their dynamics on a family level remains elusive. Here, we investigated the abundance, evolutionary dynamics, and impact on associated genes of LTR-RTs in 16 species in an economically important plant family, Cucurbitaceae. Results showed that full-length LTR-RT numbers and LTR-RT content varied greatly among different species, and they were highly correlated with genome size. Most of the full-length LTR-RTs were amplified after the speciation event, reflecting the ongoing rapid evolution of these genomes. LTR-RTs highly contributed to genome size variation via species-specific distinct proliferations. The Angela and Tekay lineages with a greater evolutionary age were amplified in Trichosanthes anguina, whereas a recent activity burst of Reina and another ancient round of Tekay activity burst were examined in Sechium edule. In addition, Tekay and Retand lineages belonging to the Gypsy superfamily underwent a recent burst in Gynostemma pentaphyllum. Detailed investigation of genes with intronic and promoter LTR-RT insertion showed diverse functions, but the term of metabolism was enriched in most species. Further gene expression analysis in G.pentaphyllum revealed that the LTR-RTs within introns suppress the corresponding gene expression, whereas the LTR-RTs within promoters exert a complex influence on the downstream gene expression, with the main function of promoting gene expression. This study provides novel insights into the organization, evolution, and function of LTR-RTs in Cucurbitaceae genomes.

Aim To observe the effect of inhibiting long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) metastasis-associated lung adenocarcinoma transcript 1 (MALAT1) on diabetic neurodegeneration. Methods Thirty-six 8-week-old C57BL/6 mice were randomly divided into normal control, diabetic control, diabetic scrambled small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) and diabetic MALAT1-siRNA groups. After diabetic induction with streptozocin intraperitoneally-injection, the diabetic MALAT1-siRNA group was intravitreally injected with 1 µL 20 µmol/L MALAT1 siRNA, and the diabetic scrambled siRNA group was injected with the same amount of scrambled siRNA. Electroretinography was performed to examine photoreceptor functions 16wk after diabetes induction. MALAT1 expression was detected via real time polymerase chain reaction. Cone morphological changes were examined using immunofluorescence. Rod morphological changes were examined by determining outer nuclear layer (ONL) thickness. Results The upregulation of retinal MALAT1 expression was detected in the diabetic control mice, while MALAT1 expression in the diabetic MALAT1-siRNA mice was decreased by 91.48% compared to diabetic control mice. The diabetic MALAT1-siRNA and diabetic control mice showed lower a-wave and b-wave amplitudes than did the normal control mice in scotopic and photopic electroretinogram, while the diabetic MALAT1-siRNA mice showed higher amplitudes than diabetic control mice. Morphological examination revealed that ONL thickness in the diabetic MALAT1-siRNA and diabetic control mice was lower than normal control mice. However, ONL thickness was greater in the diabetic MALAT1-siRNA mice than diabetic control mice. Moreover, the diabetic control mice performed a sparser cone cell arrangement and shorter outer segment morphology than diabetic MALAT1-siRNA mice. Conclusion Inhibiting retinal MALAT1 results in mitigative effects on the retinal photoreceptors, thus alleviating diabetic neurodegeneration.

We investigated the effects of different biochar application patterns on soil nutrient contents and element transformation, with soil samples being collected from two five-year field experiments in Phaeozem and Luvisol amended with biochar at annual low-rate (AL, 22.5 t·hm为探明不同生物炭施用方式对农田土壤养分含量及元素转化的影响,通过设置在黑土和潮棕壤的两个为期5年的田间定位试验,研究每年低量施用(AL,22.5 t·hm

SARS-CoV-2 induced marked lymphopenia in severe patients with COVID-19. However, whether lymphocytes are targets of viral infection is yet to be determined, although SARS-CoV-2 RNA or antigen has been identified in T cells from patients. Here, we confirmed that SARS-CoV-2 viral antigen could be detected in patient peripheral blood cells (PBCs) or postmortem lung T cells, and the infectious virus could also be detected from viral antigen-positive PBCs. We next prove that SARS-CoV-2 infects T lymphocytes, preferably activated CD4 + T cells in vitro. Upon infection, viral RNA, subgenomic RNA, viral protein or viral particle can be detected in the T cells. Furthermore, we show that the infection is spike-ACE2/TMPRSS2-independent through using ACE2 knockdown or receptor blocking experiments. Next, we demonstrate that viral antigen-positive T cells from patient undergone pronounced apoptosis. In vitro infection of T cells induced cell death that is likely in mitochondria ROS-HIF-1a-dependent pathways. Finally, we demonstrated that LFA-1, the protein exclusively expresses in multiple leukocytes, is more likely the entry molecule that mediated SARS-CoV-2 infection in T cells, compared to a list of other known receptors. Collectively, this work confirmed a SARS-CoV-2 infection of T cells, in a spike-ACE2-independent manner, which shed novel insights into the underlying mechanisms of SARS-CoV-2-induced lymphopenia in COVID-19 patients.

Urease in soil, as the most important enzyme catalyzing urea hydrolysis, plays an important role in nitrogen supply of grassland ecosystems. While the effects of different carbon additions on extracellular urease in grassland soil are well understood, their effects on soil intracellular urease remain unknow. Moreover, whether the responses of intracellular and extracellular urease to carbon additions are consistent need to be clarified. With a field experiment in Hulun Buir grassland of Inner Mongolia, we investigated soil intracellular and extracellular urease activities in chernozem under four treatments, including carbon-free (C土壤脲酶作为能够催化尿素水解的最重要酶类,对草地生态系统氮素供应具有重要作用。目前探讨不同碳添加对草地土壤胞外脲酶影响的研究报道相对较多,但碳添加对土壤胞内脲酶的影响,以及胞内和胞外脲酶对碳添加的响应是否一致等尚需深入研究。本研究依托额尔古纳森林草原过渡带生态系统研究站开展的碳添加野外试验平台(以葡萄糖为碳源),选取无碳添加(C

To investigate the function of progranulin on the retina under hypoxic conditions, 8-week-old C57BL/6 mice were divided into normal condition and hypoxic condition groups (n=24 mice/group). The hypoxia model was established through intravitreal injection of 9 mM cobalt chloride. Subsequently, 10 mM progranulin and an equal amount of PBS were injected into the right and left eyes, respectively. Photoreceptor function was examined using electroretinogram (ERG) analysis. Morphological alterations were examined using immunofluorescence co-localization, retinal vascular inflammation was examined using the leukostasis assay, and signaling pathways were screened using immunoblotting. The results revealed that ERG amplitude was significantly lower under hypoxic conditions compared with under normal conditions. Furthermore, the amplitude was significantly reduced in the PBS-injected eyes compared with in the progranulin-injected eyes. Morphological examination demonstrated that the number of rods in the PBS-injected eyes was decreased compared with in the progranulin-injected eyes under hypoxic conditions. In addition, the arrangement of the cones was sparse and the morphology of the outer segments was short and small. Although the number of adherent leukocytes in the progranulin-injected eyes was higher in the hypoxic mice compared with in those under normal conditions, the number was only 52.31% of the number detected in the PBS-injected eyes. Analysis of the signaling pathways demonstrated that the protective effects of progranulin on retinas under hypoxic conditions were regulated by the Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4)-NADPH oxidase 4 (NOX4) pathway, instead of the caspase and Wnt/β-catenin pathways. In conclusion, progranulin exerted protective effects on the function and morphology of photoreceptors in a hypoxic environment, and could reduce retinal vascular inflammation, through inhibition of the TLR4-NOX4 pathway.

Nowadays, great attention has been focused on the development of nanomedicine for their various advantageous properties. In this work, two new mixed ligand coordination polymers [Eu2(PDDA)2(ox)(phen)2](DMA)2 (1, H2ox = oxalic acid, phen = 1,10-phenanthroline, H2PDDA is in short of 4,4′-(pyridine-2,6-diyl)dibenzoic acid) and [Eu2(bpda)3(phen)2(H2O)2](H2O)3 (2, H2bpda is in short of 1,1′-biphenyl-3,3′-dicarboxylic acid) have been prepared by an one pot reaction of Eu(NO3)3·6H2O with two newly designed bicarboxylic acid ligands, which demonstrate interesting structural diversity depending on the assistant ligands used. Complex 1 is a three-dimensional pillar-layered network showing a two-fold interpenetrated alpha-Po primitive cubic type 6-connected net, while complex 2 reveals a 2D layered network with a sql/Shubnikov tetragonal topology. Furthermore, both complexes have been successfully downsized to nanoscale morphology to study their anticancer activities against the human tongue squamous cell lines CAL27 via the MTT assay, which reveals that the anticancer activities of the both complexes are greatly enhanced by miniaturizing to nanoparticles.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of homocysteine (Hcy) in on human trabecular meshwork cells (HTMCs). A total of 41 patients with primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) and 53 patients with senile cataracts (control group) were recruited. Plasma and aqueous humor samples were collected and the Hcy concentrations were determined using enzymatic cycling assays. In cell experiments, normal HTMCs were passaged and randomly divided into a blank control group, a normal HTMC group and experimental groups, which were treated with different concentrations of Hcy. The HTMC activities were detected using the Cell Counting Kit-8 method and the HTMC mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) was detected using JC-1 staining. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) released by trabecular meshwork cells was detected using flow cytometry and superoxide dismjutase-1 (SOD1) expression was detected using immunoblotting. The results revealed that the concentration of Hcy in the plasma and aqueous humor of the POAG group (14.44±0.86 and 1.60±0.27 µmol/l, respectively) was significantly higher compared with the control group (10.82±0.29 and 0.69±0.39 µmol/l). All tested concentrations (30, 100, 300 and 1,000 µmol/l) of Hcy reduced the MMP in HTMCs and inhibited HTMC proliferation in a dose-dependent manner. ROS production by HTMCs significantly increased with increased concentrations of Hcy, whereas SOD1 expression significantly decreased in a dose-dependent manner. In summary, patients with POAG were demonstrated to have increased concentrations of Hcy in the plasma and aqueous humor. High concentrations of Hcy in HTMCs induced an oxidative stress state, thereby further inhibiting HTMC proliferation. The results of the present study demonstrate that Hcy may be a potential treatment target in patients with POAG.

Purpose Retinoblastoma is a malignant tumor of the developing retina that mostly occurs in children. Our study aimed to investigate the effect of tripartite motif-containing protein 59 (TRIM59) on retinoblastoma growth and the underlying mechanisms. Methods We performed bioinformatic analysis of three datasets (GSE24673, GSE97508, and GSE110811) from the Gene Expression Omnibus database. Quantitative reverse-transcription PCR and immunoblotting of three retinoblastoma cell lines were conducted to verify TRIM59 as a differentially expressed gene. Specific siRNAs were used to inhibit TRIM59 expression in the HXO-Rb44 cell line. A lentiviral vector was transfected into the Y79 cell line to overexpress TRIM59. The effects of TRIM59 on retinoblastoma cell proliferation, cell cycling, and apoptosis were explored in vitro using the abovementioned cell lines. The effect of TRIM59 expression on retinoblastoma cell proliferation was evaluated in a mouse xenograft tumor model. Results TRIM59 expression in three retinoblastoma cell lines was remarkably elevated compared with normal control. Knocking down TRIM59 expression remarkably suppressed cell proliferation and growth and promoted cell apoptosis in HXO-Rb44 cells, whereas TRIM59 overexpression promoted tumor progression in Y79 cells. Silencing TRIM59 also markedly inhibited in vivo tumor growth in the xenograft model. Mechanistic studies revealed that TRIM59 upregulated phosphorylated p38, p-JNK1/2, p-ERK1/2, and p-c-JUN expression in retinoblastoma cells. Notably, the p38 inhibitor SB203580 attenuated the effects of TRIM59 on cell proliferation, apoptosis, and the G1/S phase transition. Conclusions TRIM59 plays an oncogenic role in retinoblastoma and exerts its tumor-promotive function by activating the p38-mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway.

During meiosis, the stepwise release of sister chromatid cohesion is crucial for the equal distribution of genetic material to daughter cells, enabling generation of fertile gametophytes. However, the molecular mechanism that protects centromeric cohesion from release at meiosis I is unclear in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana). Here, we report that the protein phosphatase 2A regulatory subunits B'α and B'β participate in the control of sister chromatid separation. The double mutant b'αβ exhibited severe male and female sterility, caused by the lack of a nucleus or presence of an abnormal nucleus in mature microspores and embryo sacs. 4′,6-Diamidino-2-phenylindole staining revealed unequal amounts of DNA in the mononuclear microspores. Transverse sections of the anthers revealed unevenly sized tetrads with or without a nucleus, suggesting a defect in meiocyte meiosis. An analysis of chromosome spreads showed that the sister chromatids separated prematurely at anaphase I in b'αβ. Immunoblotting showed that AtRECOMBINATION DEFECTIVE8 (AtREC8), a key member of the cohesin complex, was hyperphosphorylated in b'αβ anthers and pistils during meiosis but hypophosphorylated in the wild type. Furthermore, yeast two-hybrid and bimolecular fluorescence complementation assays showed that B'α and B'β interact specifically with AtREC8, AtSHUGOSHIN1 (AtSGO1), AtSGO2, and PATRONUS1. Given that B'α was reported to localize to the centromere in meiotic cells, we propose that protein phosphatase 2A B'α and B'β are recruited by AtSGO1/2 and PATRONUS1 to dephosphorylate AtREC8 at the site of centromere cohesion to shield it from cleavage until anaphase II, contributing to the balanced separation of sister chromatids at meiosis.

Biochar could be got from crop straw which contain rich carbon under oxygen free or oxygen limited conditions at low temperature. The application of biochar into soil is beneficial to ease the pressure of handling straw, reduce pollution, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve soil quality. This study was carried out in a cornfield containing meadow brown soil at the lower reaches of Liao River which was treated with different amounts of biochar (0, 360, 1 800, 3 600 kg·ha-1) and fertilizer. We investigated the contents of soil available phosphorus (AP), organic P (OP) and total P (TP). We also investigated the enzyme activities of soil acid phosphatase (AcP), alkaline phosphatase (AlP) and phosphodiesterase (PD) via a fluorescence spectroscopy method by using a fluorescent conjugated polymer as the substrate. Soil AP contents increased drastically with the increasing application of biochar, whereas the OP and TP contents exhibited little change. The increase in AP contents was ascribed to the introduction of P into the soil via biochar. Soil AlP and PD activities increased with increasing biochar application. Soil AcP activity increased significantly after the application of the appropriate amount of biochar (1 800 kg·ha-1), whereas it was inhibited by the application of high levels of biochar (3 600 kg·ha-1), perhaps due to the intrinsic alkalinity of biochar. The effect of Biochar inputs on soil phosphorus element and phosphatase activity is the comprehensive embodiment of the soil physical properties, chemical properties, and microbial community structure and metabolic capacity. We should further study such item. The fluorescent microplate method used in this study has many advantages, such as accuracy, rapidness and simple to perform.

The system based on Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) sensor is used in various fields, because of its advantages of high detection accuracy, good repeatability and adaptability. While the FBG sensor is a wavelength modulation type sensor, so the outside parameter detection is the center wavelength of FBG detection. At the same time, the FBG center wavelength corresponding to the peak value of the FBG reflection spectrum. Therefore, the core of demodulation system is the demodulation of FBG reflection spectrum during peak-seeking, and the high-precision peak detecting algorithm is the key technology of the system demodulation. The current peak detecting algorithms has a precondition for peak detection on FBG reflective spectrum, that the FBG reflective spectrum was a standard Gaussian model. But FBG reflective spectrum is not a standard Gaussian spectrum owing to the practical manufacture process and the individual environment; actually, it is an asymmetrical Gaussian spectrum. The experiment would achieve a lower accuracy because of this asymmetric property during peak-seeking. Based on the defect of the existing algorithm, an Exponent Modified Gaussian (EMG) Curve Fitting peak detecting algorithm is proposed in this paper. In the proposed algorithm, the coarse location was first determined by three times judgments and it can remove the false peak and peak invalid at the same time. Based on this, as the center of the coarse localization point to reconstruct the spectrum, and using the integral to judge the peak bias; then according to different peak bias, it revised the peak by the prepared exponential modified function. Simulation results show that at normal temperature or under variable temperature conditions, by comparing with direct peak searching algorithm, Gaussian fitting algorithm and the algorithm proposed by literature, the error of EMG peak detection algorithm is the minimum and high peak detecting precision. The algorithm proposed in this paper considers the FBG reflection spectrum characteristic of asymmetric effect. From its spectrum character, the EMG algorithm solves the problem of the limits of traditional peak detecting algorithm, meanwhile also guarantees a high-precision peak search results.

Subspace pursuit (SP) is a popular algorithm to recover spare signal widely used in recent years. However, one of the main shortcomings is the value of sparsity is uncertainty. In this paper, we introduce the multi-index with entropy weight method fusion and combing with the method of saturation point to solve the problem. At the same time, an improved algorithm based on SP is proposed, called orthogonal SP (OSP). At this algorithm, when the process is initialized, the measurement matrix is processed by using orthogonalization that can get max-relativity of the caught atoms and let the support set more accurate, it improved the accuracy of the algorithm. The result of simulation shows the algorithm of OSP we proposed provides better performance than other algorithms.

The present study aimed to investigate the effect of forskolin on retinal inflammation under diabetic conditions. C57BL/6 mice were randomly divided into normal control, diabetic control and forskolin treatment groups. The diabetic model was established by intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin. The forskolin treatment group received intragastrical administration of forskolin for 12 weeks, the other two groups received an equal amount of PBS. At 21 weeks following diabetic induction, an immunoblotting test was conducted to investigate the expression of two inflammatory factors: Intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α). Glucose concentration was additionally calculated. A leukostasis assay was utilized to compare microvasculature pathological alterations. It was demonstrated that retinal glucose concentration of diabetic control and forskolin treatment were both increased compared with normal control, however the forskolin treatment group was only ~68.06% of the diabetic control due to downregulated glucose transporter 1 expression. The expression of ICAM-1 and TNF-α were upregulated in the forskolin treatment and diabetic control groups compared with the normal control, however these two inflammatory factor expression levels in the forskolin treatment group were ~68.75 and 75.37% of diabetic control. It was additionally observed that there were less adherent leukocytes in retinal microvasculature in the forskolin treatment group compared with diabetic control. All the differences observed were significant. Overall, by means of limiting glucose transport into the retina via forskolin, the retinal environment with lower glucose concentration alleviates the inflammatory response under diabetic conditions.

To investigate the effect of glucose transporter-1 (GLUT1) inhibition on diabetic retinopathy, we divided forty-eight mice into scrambled siRNA, diabetic scrambled siRNA, and GLUT1 siRNA (intravitreally injected) groups. Twenty-one weeks after diabetes induction, we calculated retinal glucose concentrations, used electroretinography (ERG) and histochemical methods to assess photoreceptor degeneration, and conducted immunoblotting, leukostasis and vascular leakage assays to estimate microangiopathy. The diabetic scrambled siRNA and GLUT1 siRNA exhibited higher glucose concentrations than scrambled siRNA, but GLUT1 siRNA group concentrations were only 50.05% of diabetic scrambled siRNA due to downregulated GLUT1 expression. The diabetic scrambled siRNA and GLUT1 siRNA had lower ERG amplitudes and ONL thicknesses than scrambled siRNA. However, compared with diabetic scrambled siRNA, GLUT1 siRNA group amplitudes and thicknesses were higher. Diabetic scrambled siRNA cones were more loosely arranged and had shorter outer segments than GLUT1 siRNA cones. ICAM-1 and TNF-α expression levels, adherent leukocyte numbers, fluorescence leakage areas and extravasated Evans blue in diabetic scrambled siRNA were higher than those in scrambled siRNA. However, these parameters in the GLUT1 siRNA were lower than diabetic scrambled siRNA. Together, these results demonstrate that GLUT1 siRNA restricted glucose transport by inhibiting GLUT1 expression, which decreased retinal glucose concentrations and ameliorated diabetic retinopathy.

Construction of a food-grade expression vector for application to lactic acid bacteria (LAB) is of importance for dairy fermentation system. An α-galactosidase ( aga ) gene encoding an enzyme degrading melibiose was amplified by PCR from the plasmid pRAF800 of Lactococcus lactis NZ9000. The aga gene was introduced into pMG36e to substitute the primary antibiotic selectable marker of pMG36e, resulting in construction of a new food-grade expression vector pMG36-aga. To testify the expression efficiency of exogenous gene in pMG36-aga, a 1.5 kb long α-amylase ( amy ) gene from Bacillus licheniformis was cloned by PCR and introduced into the plasmid pMG36-aga. The resultant plasimd pMG36-aga-amy was transformed into L. lactis ML23 by electroporation. The positive clones were selected with the medium containing melibiose as the sole carbon source. The selection efficiency of aga was 8.71×10 3 CFU with a standard deviation of 9.1×10 2 CFU µg −1 DNA of pMG36-aga. Furthermore, the SDS-PAGE analysis showed that the pMG36-aga-amy expressed a 56.4 kDa protein which was the same as the putative molecular weight of α-amylase. The starch plate assay also indicated that L. lactis ML23 displayed high activity of α-amylase by expressing of amy gene of pMG36-aga-amy.

Brassinosteroids (BRs) are essential phytohormones for plant growth and development. BRs are perceived by the cell surface receptor kinase BRI1, and downstream signal transduction through multiple components leads to activation of the transcription factors BZR1 and BZR2/BES1. BZR1 activity is highly controlled by BR through reversible phosphorylation, protein degradation, and nucleocytoplasmic shuttling. To further understand the molecular function of BZR1, we performed tandem affinity purification of the BZR1 complex and identified BZR1-associated proteins using mass spectrometry. These BZR1-associated proteins included several known BR signaling components, such as BIN2, BSK1, 14-3-3λ, and PP2A, as well as a large number of proteins with previously unknown functions in BR signal transduction, including the kinases MKK5 and MAPK4, histone deacetylase 19, cysteine proteinase inhibitor 6, a DEAD-box RNA helicase, cysteine endopeptidases RD21A and RD21B, calmodulin-binding transcription activator 5, ubiquitin protease 12, cyclophilin 59, and phospholipid-binding protein synaptotagmin A. Their interactions with BZR1 were confirmed by in vivo and in vitro assays. Furthermore, MKK5 was found to phosphorylate BZR1 in vitro. This study demonstrates an effective method for purifying proteins associated with low-abundance transcription factors, and identifies new BZR1-interacting proteins with potentially important roles in BR response.

The silver sillago, Sillago sihama Forsskal is naturally distributed in Indo–West Pacific: Red Sea and Knysna, South Africa to Japan and south to Australia (Wantiez 1993), and is common along beaches, sandbars, mangrove creeks and estuaries. Adults bury themselves in the sand when disturbed (McKay 1992), and feed mainly on polychaete worms, small prawns (Penaeus), shrimps and amphipods (Allen et al. 2002). This fish is found in all Chinese waters including East China Sea, Yellow Sea, Bohai Sea, South China Sea, and the Northern Bay. In China, it is a common marine food fish species, and the supply of this fish relies on capture from the wild. So far, studies of this species have focussed on ecology (Lee et al. 1981; Lu et al. 2008), morphology of early development (Wan 1996), discrimination of the genus Sillago with sagittal otolith shape (Pan and Gao 2010), and phylogenetic relationships of the genus Sillago (Xue et al. 2010; Gao et al. 2011). In the present study, we developed 66 microsatellite loci isolated from a dinucleotide-enriched genomic library of S. sihama using the fast isolation by AFLP of sequences containing repeats (FIASCO) protocol of Zane et al. (2002). These markers should provide a tool for assessing genetic diversity and population structure of wild stocks.

Highly luminescent CdSe/CdxZn1-xS core-shell quantum dots (QDs) were synthesized using CdSe cores with the size range of 2 to 5 nm in diameter through a facile organic route. The CdSe cores were prepared by using trioctylphosphine oxide and hexadecylamine as capping agents for the purpose of getting spherical morphology. The cores were coated with an alloy shell to decrease the lattice mismatch between the core and the shell through a facile organic approach. The QDs exhibited tunable photoluminescence (PL) up to 654 nm, narrow PL spectra (less than 40 nm for full width at half maximum) and high PL efficiency. Such properties make the core-shell QDs as a good candidate for further applications.

An environmentally friendly synthesis was developed to fabricate aqueous CdTe quantum dots (QDs) using thilglycolic acid (TGA) as a capping agent. Optimal preparation conditions including pH (11.2) and TGA/Cd molar ratio (1.5:1) resulted in CdTe QDs with high photoluminescence (PL) quantum yield up to 56%. The TGA-capped CdTe QDs exhibited tunable PL from green to red. Lifetime measurement indicated that the average lifetime of the TGA-capped QDs increased with increasing their sizes (27.5 and 37.2 ns for the QDs with PL peak wavelength of 607 and 636 nm, respectively). The PL of the QDs revealed the dependence of temperature, in which the QDs exhibited a red-shifted PL peak with increasing temperature. Such PL behavior depended strongly on the QD sizes.

CdxZn1-xSe alloy nanocrystals (NCs) were successfully synthesized by an organic route using oleic acid as a capping agent. The molar ratio of Cd/Zn strongly impact on the PL properties of the alloy NCs. The PL peak wavelength of the alloy NCs was 565 nm at the Cd/Zn molar ratio of 0.05 while their wavelength became 621 nm in the case of the molar ratio of 1. The average lifetime of the alloy NCs increased with increasing the Cd/Zn molar ratios (26 ns for a ratio of 0.05 and 45 ns for a ratio of 1). The X-ray diffraction analysis indicated that the alloy NCs revealed a cubic structure. The Cd/Zn molar ratio drastically affected the crystal structure of the alloy NCs which located between those of ZnSe and CdSe NCs.

Novel hybrid SiO2-coated CdTe core-shell nanocrystals (NCs) were fabricated by re-dispersing green-emitting CdTe NCs in a solution of Cd2+ions, thioglycolic acid (TGA), tetraethyl orthosilicate and ammonia with a sol-gel reaction at room temperature and a further reflux procedure. The hybrid NCs consisted of a CdTe core and a hybrid SiO2shell with CdS-like clusters. The clusters created by the reaction of Cd2+and S2-generated by the decomposition of TGA during reflux. The hybrid NCs exhibited tunable photoluminescence (PL) color from green to red and high PL quantum yield (PLQY). The CdS-like clusters play an important role for the hybrid NCs with numerous PL properties. Compared with initial CdTe NCs, the PLQY of the hybrid NCs increased from 18% to 47% together with a red-shifted PL peak wavelength of 61 nm. The average lifetime of the hybrid NCs (39 ns) is longer than that of initial CdTe NCs (25 ns). The high PLQY and the hybrid shell make CdTe NCs an important application for biological technique.

Cast steel joints have been widely utilized in large-span spatial structures. Based on Ordos airport terminals engineering, the structure and design method of ribbed steel ball nodes is put forward in this essay, in which nonlinear finite element method is applied, bearing capacity and deformation capacity of ribbed steel ball nodes in the complex stress state is made a penetrating analysis to determine mechanical performance of the ribbed steel ball. Among other things, the manufacturing process and technical standards of cast steel ball nodes are elaborated.

MicroRNAs are potential key regulators in mesenchymal stem cells chondrogenic differentiation. However, there were few reports about the accurate effects of miRNAs on chondrogenic differentiation. To investigate the mechanisms of miRNAs-mediated regulation during the process, we performed miRNAs microarray in MSCs at four different stages of TGF-β3-induced chondrogenic differentiation. We observed that eight miRNAs were significantly up-regulated and five miRNAs were downregulated. Interestingly, we found two miRNAs clusters, miR-143/145 and miR-132/212, kept on down-regulation in the process. Using bioinformatics approaches, we analyzed the target genes of these differentially expressed miRNAs and found a series of them correlated with the process of chondrogenesis. Furthermore, the qPCR results showed that the up-regulated (or down-regulated) expression of miRNAs were inversely associated with the expression of predicted target genes. Our results first revealed the expression profiles of miRNAs in chondrogenic differentiation of MSCs and provided a new insight on complicated regulation mechanisms of chondrogenesis.

Purpose Intricate signaling networks and transcriptional regulators translate pathogen recognition into defense responses. The aim of this study was to identify the weighted genes involved in diabetic retinopathy (DR) in different rodent models of diabetes. Methods We performed a gene coexpression analysis of publicly available microarray data, namely, the GSE19122 dataset from the Gene Expression Omnibus database. We conducted gene coexpression analysis on the microarray data to identify modules of functionally related coexpressed genes that are differentially expressed in different rodent models. We leveraged a richly curated expression dataset and used weighted gene coexpression network analysis to construct an undirected network. We screened 30 genes in the most closely related module. A protein-protein interaction network was constructed for the genes in the most related module using the Search Tool for the Retrieval of Interacting Genes. Gene Ontology enrichment analysis and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway enrichment analysis were performed for the 30 genes. Results Five visual perception-related genes (Pde6g, Guca1a, Rho, Sag, and Prph2) were significantly upregulated. Based on the competing endogenous RNA hypothesis, a link between the long noncoding RNA metastasis-associated lung adenocarcinoma transcript 1 (MALAT1) and visual perception-related mRNAs was constructed using bioinformatics tools. Six potential microRNAs (miR-155-5p, miR-1a-3p, miR-122-5p, miR-223-3p, miR-125b-5p, and miR-124-3p) were also screened. Conclusions MALAT1 might play important roles in DR by regulating Sag and Guca1a through miR-124-3p and regulating Pde6g through miR-125b-5p.

In the medium of H2SO4 and in the presence of TiO2+, gold nanoparticles in size of 10 nm exhibited a weak surface plasmon resonance scattering (SPRS) peak at 775 nm. Upon addition of trace H2O2, the yellow complex [TiO(H2O2)]2+ formed that cause the gold nanoparticles aggregations to form bigger gold nanoparticle clusters in size of about 900 nm, and the SPRS intensity at 775 nm (I) enhanced greatly. The enhanced intensity ΔI was linear to the H2O2 concentration in the range of 0.025–48.7 μg/mL, with a detection limit of 0.014 μg/mL H2O2. This SPRS method was applied to determining H2O2 in water samples with satisfactory results.

The utilization of organic phosphorus (P) has directly or indirectly improved after exogenous phytase was added to soil. However, the mechanism by which exogenous phytase affected the soil phosphatases (phosphomonoesterase and phosphodiesterase) activities was not clear. The present work was aimed to study red soil, brown soil and cinnamon soil phosphomonoesterase (acid and alkaline) (AcP and AlP) and phosphodiesterase (PD) activities responding to the addition of exogenous phytase (1 g phytase/50 g air dry soil sample) based on the measurements performed via a fluorescence detection method combined with 96 microplates using a TECAN Infinite 200 Multi-Mode Microplate Reader. The results indicated that the acid phosphomonoesterase activity was significantly enhanced in red soil (p≤0. 01), while it was significantly reduced in cinnamon soil; alkaline phosphomonoesterase activity was significantly enhanced in cinnamon soil (p≤ 0. 01), while it was significantly reduced in red soil; phosphodiesterase activity was increased in three soils but it was significantly increased in brown soil (p≤0. 01) after the addition of exogenous phytase. The activities still remained strong after eight days in different soils, which indicated that exogenous phytase addition could be enhance soil phosphatases activities effectively. This effect was not only related to soil properties, such as pH and phosphorus forms, but might also be related to the excreted enzyme amount of the stimulating microorganism. Using fluorescence spectroscopy to study exogenous phytase addition influence on soil phosphatase activities was the first time at home and abroad. Compared with the conventional spectrophotometric method, the fluorescence microplate method is an accurate, fast and simple to use method to determine the relationships among the soil phosphatases activities.

The pulse coupled neural network (PCNN) has been widely applied to remove the image impulse noise due to its characteristics of variable threshold and synchronous pulse bursts. However, the denoising effect will be significantly worse when the noise density is too big. In this paper, Remove Extremum Median Filtering and Four Directional Minimal Absolute Difference Filtering algorithms are proposed based on the contours and edges continuity of the images. Simulation experiments show that, compared with the median filter based on improved PCNN, the two proposed algorithms have better performance in denoising quality and computing speed. They can also be applied to other image processing problems such as image restoration and edge detection.

A sum-frequency yellow–green laser at 554.9 nm is reported by this paper, 946 nm wavelength is obtained from 4 F 3/2 – 4 I 9/2 transition in Nd:YAG and 1342 nm wavelength is obtained from 4 F 3/2 – 4 I 13/2 transition in Nd:YVO 4 . Using a doubly folded-cavity type-II critical phase matching KTP crystal intra cavity to make 946 nm laser from Nd:YAG and 1342 nm laser from Nd:YVO 4 frequency summed, with incident pumped power of 30 W in Nd:YAG and 20 W in Nd:YVO 4 , TEM 00 mode yellow–green laser at 554.9 nm at 1.15 W is obtained and its M 2 factor is less than 1.22. The experimental results show that the Nd:YAG and Nd:YVO 4 crystals intra-cavity sum-frequency mixing is an effective method for yellow–green laser and it can be applied to other two laser crystals to obtain more all-solid-state lasers with different wavelengths.