Search

The protein inhibitor of activated STAT (PIAS) family proteins act as the important negative regulators in janus kinase (JAK)/signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) signaling pathway, which can be also involved in regulating the expression of interferon-stimulated genes (ISGs). In the present study, a PIAS homologue (designated as CgPIAS) was identified from oyster Crassostrea gigas. The open reading frame (ORF) of CgPIAS cDNA was of 1887 bp encoding a peptide of 628 amino acid residues. The CgPIAS protein contains a conserved scaffold attachment factor A/B/acinus/PIAS (SAP) domain, a Pro-Ile-Asn-Ile-Thr (PINIT) motif, a RING-finger-like zinc-binding domain (RLD) and two SUMO-interaction Motifs (SIMs). The deduced amino acid sequence of CgPIAS shared 74.58-81.36% similarity with other PIAS family members in the RLD domain. The mRNA transcripts of CgPIAS were detected in all the tested tissues with highest level in haemocytes (32.98-fold of mantles, p 0.001). After poly (I:C) and recombinant Interferon-like protein (rCgIFNLP) stimulation, the mRNA expression of CgPIAS in haemocytes significantly up-regulated to the highest level at 48 h (7.38-fold, p 0.001) and at 24 h (13.08-fold, p 0.01), respectively. Moreover, the nuclear translocation of CgPIAS was observed in haemocytes after poly (I:C) stimulation. Biolayer Interferometry (BLI) assay revealed that the recombinant protein CgPIAS-RLD could interact with the recombinant protein CgSTAT in vitro with the K

Xinghe Zhang1 &ast;, Qifu Li1 &ast;, Rong Yi,2 Chonghui Xing,3 Yuhao Jin,1 Jiangqiong Meng,1 Siwen Zhao,1 Fanrong Liang,4 Taipin Guo1 1School of Second Clinical Medicine/The Second Affiliated Hospital, Yunnan University of Chinese Medicine, Kunming, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, Kunming Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Kunming, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, The Sports Trauma Specialist Hospital of Yunnan Province, Kunming, People’s Republic of China; 4School of Acupuncture and Tuina, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, People’s Republic of China&ast;These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Taipin Guo, School of Second Clinical Medicine/The Second Affiliated Hospital, Yunnan University of Chinese Medicine, 1076 Yuhua Road, Chenggong District, Kunming City, Yunnan Province, People’s Republic of China, Tel +86 18487272658, Email gtphncs@126.com Fanrong Liang, School of Acupuncture and Tuina, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 37 Jinniu District, Chengdu City, Sichuan Province, People’s Republic of China, Email acuresearch@126.comBackground: Abdominal obesity (AO) is not only a health issue, but also a serious impact on women’s work and life. The article of acupoint catgut embedding (ACE) on AO has already been accepted to be published and showed significant effect. However, whether ACE is effective for abdominally obese female with strong appetite is still unclear.Methods: This is a mixed analysis of a multicenter, double-blind, randomized controlled trial.Which was conducted in China between July 2018 and March 2020 (n = 101), while with the supplementary samples (n = 22) between April 2020 and June 2022. According to the appetite and intervention methods, 123 abdominally obese female were divided into ACE group with strong appetite (n = 27) and moderate appetite (n = 31), control (non-acupoint catgut embedding) group with strong appetite (n = 37) and moderate appetite (n = 28). Four subgroups were given a 12-week actual intervention period and a 4-week follow-up. Waist circumference (WC), appetite, body weight and BMI were applied and assessed at baseline and after 6, 12 and 16 weeks.Results: In this study, the mean onset age of abdominal obesity in females was 25.27 (8.19) years old. The longer duration of AO, the lower the appetite in females (p< 0.05). At 12 and 16 weeks, ACE group with strong appetite showed significant decrease in WC and appetite than control group with strong appetite (p< 0.01). However, ACE group with moderate appetite showed no significant decrease than control group with moderate appetite in WC, appetite, body weight and BMI (p> 0.05). At 12 and 16 weeks, there was no significant difference in appetite between the ACE groups (strong and moderate appetite)(p> 0.05), while there was still a difference between the control groups (p< 0.05).Conclusion: Younger abdominally obese female had a stronger appetite. ACE own the remarkable therapeutic effects for younger abdominally obese female and showed the perfect effect on appetite-reduction.Keywords: acupoint catgut embedding, abdominal obesity, obese female, appetite, waist circumference

BACKGROUND Cellulitis is defined as infection of the skin that is usually characterized by localized but poorly demarcated areas of erythema, swelling and pain. Beta-lactam antibiotics such as penicillin or different generations of cephalosporins are commonly used, but guidelines and physician preference vary widely as many different antibiotic options exists. This lack of standardization in evidence, guideline, and physician practice prompted this systematic review and meta-analysis of both randomized trial data as well as cohort studies to aggregate the current available evidence for the optimal routes of antibiotic administration in cellulitis treatment. OBJECTIVE - METHODS We will search MEDLINE, Embase, and CENTRAL via OVID as well as Web of Science and CINAHL for all available literature comparing different routes of antibiotic administration for the treatment of cellulitis. We will perform title and abstract as well as full text screening in duplicate according to the PRIMSA guidelines, and then extract the relevant data using a pre-piloted data sheet. We will include all antibiotic classes, including studies that compared antibiotics across different classes. The primary outcome for our review is duration to infection resolution, with secondary outcomes such as incidence of sepsis, mortality, hospital admission, C.diff infection, etc. We will assess the risk of bias in our included studies using the ROB2.0 and ROBINS-I tools, with final quality assessment using the GRADE framework. RESULTS We will publish the final results of our systematic review in a peer-reviewed academic journal. CONCLUSIONS To our knowledge, this is the most up-to-date and inclusive review of the best available evidence comparing the different routes of antibiotic administration for cellulitis. Because of the vast selection of antibiotic options available and the empirical nature of the treatment without culture guidance, we anticipate heterogeneity within our synthesized data but nonetheless hope to provide the aggregated evidence on the efficacy of intravenous versus oral administration of antibiotics in cellulitis treatment.

Recently, high-performance GeSn photodiodes (PDs) with external light illuminated on the device's top surface have been demonstrated on various platforms. However, for image sensing systems with a focal-plane array (FPA), the front-illuminated sensors usually suffer from area limitations. Here, we report high-performance back-illuminated Ge0.92Sn0.08/Ge multiple-quantum-well (MQW) p-i-n PD on 300-mm silicon substrate, which was realized entirely by complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) compatible processes. A broadband photoresponse between 1,000-2,100 nm was observed, and the responsivity is 0.2850 and 0.0085A/W at 1,550 and 2,000 nm, respectively. A specific detectivity larger than 109 cm·Hz1/2/W was achieved between 1,050 and 1,900 nm, covering all the conventional telecommunication bands (O to U band). Furthermore, the influence of the anti-reflective layers also was studied in detail. The result shows the black Si (b-Si) surface enhances more photocurrent between 1,000-1,500 nm while the SiO2 layer (400-nm-thickness) increases more current beyond 1,500 nm. The 3-dB bandwidth was calculated to be up to 8 GHz for a mesa with a diameter of 20 μm at −2 V. Our experiments demonstrated the high-detectivity and high-speed back-illuminated GeSn/Ge MQW PD with the potential applications in image sensing systems operated in the short-wave infrared (SWIR) range.

Long-wavelength infrared (LWIR) photodetection is important for heat-seeking technologies, such as thermal imaging, all-weather surveillance, and missile guidance. Among various detection techniques, photothermoelectric (PTE) detectors are promising in that they can realize ultra-broadband photodetection at room temperature without an external power supply. However, their performance in terms of speed, responsivity, and noise level in the LWIR regime still needs further improvement. Here, we demonstrated a high-performance PTE photodetector based on low-symmetry palladium selenide (PdSe2) with asymmetric van der Waals contacts. The temperature gradient induced by asymmetric van der Waals contacts even under global illumination drives carrier diffusion to produce a photovoltage via the PTE effect. A responsivity of over 13 V/W, a response time of ∼50 μs, and a noise equivalent power of less than 7 nW/Hz1/2 are obtained in the 4.6-10.5 μm regime at room temperature. Furthermore, due to the anisotropic absorption of PdSe2, the detector exhibits a linear polarization angle sensitive response with an anisotropy ratio of 2.06 at 4.6 μm and 1.21 at 10.5 μm, respectively. Our proposed device architecture provides an alternative strategy to design high-performance photodetectors in the LWIR regime by utilizing van der Waals layered materials. Ministry of Education (MOE) National Research Foundation (NRF) Accepted version This research was also supported partially by National Research Foundation Singapore program (NRF-CRP18- 2017-02 and NRF-CRP22-2019-0007) and Ministry of Education Tier 2 program (MOE2018-T2-1-176).

Legumes and rhizobia collaborate to fix nitrogen in the host plant nodules, but some inadvertent mutation may generate unexpected symbiosis. We reported an altered host range symbiosis of Bradyrhizobium diazoefficiens USDA110 mutant dSH3_IP when associating with Sophora flavescens. Recently, we found SH3_IP cannot symbiose with original host soybean (Glycine max), and mutant influenced iron response regulator, which forms convergent gene pair with dSH3 in strain USDA110. The reason of symbiotic mismatching between soybean and dSH3_IP was explored through dual RNA-seq transcriptome and symbiotic characterization. We discovered dSH3_IP bacteroid assimilated more nutrition, triggered stronger immune responses and perturbed the symbiotic components in soybean nodules. Anyway, the incompatible symbiosis between dSH3_IP and soybean originated from intergenic insertion of dSH3-irr, which importance was not uncovered previously and may be used as a potential regulatory element in the future to regulate the SNF efficiency by artificial genetic design.

Many applications of photonics require efficient nonlinear optical interactions with low power and small footprints. However, the current needs for long interaction lengths and strong laser sources of nonlinear optical devices make them unsuitable for nanophotonic integrated optics. New materials and devices with stronger nonlinear properties have been developed using various approaches in the past few years. One of the largest nonlinear optical responses reported to date has been realized with engineered intersubband transitions in n-doped multiple quantum wells (MQWs) semiconductors. Here, this work proposes to improve further the nonlinear properties of a MQW heterostructure by tailoring its permittivity to reach near-zero values. Materials with vanishing permittivity, called epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) materials, have exotic nonlinear features which can be explored to achieve this goal. To prove this point, this work makes use of In0.53Ga0.47As/Al0.48In0.52As, designs an ultrathin multilayer structure, and couples the designed structure with metasurfaces. Unprecedented nonlinear efficiency within subwavelength propagation lengths is obtained. Such structure with strong second harmonic generation (SHG) enables efficient frequency conversion, while the tunability offered by the metasurface provides new degrees of freedom to control the amplitude, phase, and polarization of the nonlinear light. Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) Ministry of Education (MOE) National Research Foundation (NRF) Published version This work was supported by the Singapore Ministry of Education (MOE2018-T2-2-189(S)), A*Star AME IRG Grant (A20E5c0095) and Programmatic Funds (A18A7b0058), and the National Research Foundation Singapore Competitive Research Program (NRF-CRP22-2019-0006 and NRF-CRP23-2019-0007).

Filter-free miniaturized polarization-sensitive photodetectors based on anisotropic absorption in natural or artificial birefringent materials have important applications in the next-generation on-chip polarimeters. However, their polarization sensitivity, which is a key parameter based on polarization ratio (PR) and responsivity, is thus far limited by the intrinsic low diattenuation and inefficient photon-to-electron conversion. To tackle these challenges, we implement experimentally a miniaturized detector based on one-dimensional (1D) tellurium nanoribbon, which can significantly improve the photothermoelectric responses by translating the polarization-sensitive absorption into a large temperature gradient and combining the finite-size effect of perfect plasmonic absorber. Our devices work at room-temperature with a zero-bias responsivity of 410 V/W and an infinite polarization ratio (PR=∞). A peak polarization angle sensitivity of 7.10 V/W•degree, which is one order of magnitude higher than those reported in the literature, is observed in the long-wave infrared region (λ = 8.0 µm). The proposed device can simultaneously achieve full linear polarimetry detection of the power intensity, polarization angle, and linear polarization degree, with its simple geometrical configuration. To demonstrate its potentials in practical applications, we apply our polarization-sensitive photodetector to polarization-coded communication and optical strain measurement. Our work offers a feasible solution to develop miniaturized room-temperature photodetectors with ultrahigh polarization sensitivity at the long-wave infrared. The approach proposed here can be easily extended to other frequencies by simply adjusting the resonance wavelength of the plasmonic metamaterials.

Lima\c{c}on-shaped microdisk lasers are promising on-chip light sources with low lasing threshold and unidirectional output. We conduct an experimental study on the lasing dynamics of Lima\c{c}on-shaped semiconductor microcavities. The edge emission exhibits intensity fluctuations over a wide range of spatial and temporal scales. They result from multiple dynamic processes with different origins and occurring on different spatiotemporal scales. The dominant process is an alternate oscillation between two output beams with a period as short as a few nanoseconds., Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures

Planting vegetation is an environmentally friendly method for reducing landslides. Current vegetated slope analysis fails to consider the influence of different root architectures, and the accuracy and effectiveness of the numerical simulations need to be improved. In this study, an explicit smoothed particle finite element method (eSPFEM) was used to evaluate slope stability under the influence of vegetation roots. The Mohr–Coulomb constitutive model was extended by incorporating apparent root cohesion into the shear strength of the soil. The slope factors of safety (FOS) of four root architectures (uniform, triangular, parabolic, and exponential) for various planting distances, root depths, slope angles, and planting locations were calculated using the shear strength reduction technique with a kinetic energy-based criterion. The results indicated that the higher the planting density, the stronger the reinforcement effect of the roots on the slope. With increasing root depth, the FOS value first decreased and then increased. The FOS value decreased with an increase in slope angle. Planting on the entire ground surface had the best improvement effect on the slope stability, followed by planting vegetation with a uniform root architecture in the upper slope region or planting vegetation with triangular or exponential root architecture on the slope’s toe. Our findings are expected to deepen our understanding of the contributions of different root architectures to vegetated slope protection and guide the selection of vegetation species and planting locations.

Interferon-stimulated genes (ISGs) encoding proteins are the essential executors of interferon (IFN) mediated antiviral defense. In the present study, an ISG member, interferon-induced protein 44-like (IFI44L) gene (designed as CgIFI44L-1) was identified from the Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas. The ORF of CgIFI44L-1 cDNA was of 1437 bp encoding a polypeptide of 479 amino acids with a TLDc domain and an MMR_HSR1 domain. The mRNA transcripts of CgIFI44L-1 were detected in all the tested tissues with highest level in haemocytes, which was 15.78-fold of that in gonad (p 0.001). Among the haemocytes, the CgIFI44L-1 protein was detected to be highly expressed in granulocytes with dominant distribution in cytoplasm. The mRNA expression level of CgIFI44L-1 in haemocytes was significantly induced by poly (I:C) stimulation, and the expression level peaked at 24 h, which was 24.24-fold (p 0.0001) of that in control group. After the treatment with the recombinant protein of an oyster IFN-like protein (rCgIFNLP), the mRNA expression level of CgIFI44L-1 was significantly enhanced at 6 h, 12 h and 24 h, which was 2.67-fold (p 0.001), 5.44-fold (p 0.001) and 5.16-fold (p 0.001) of that in control group, respectively. When the expressions of CgSTAT and CgIFNLP were knocked down by RNA interference (RNAi), the mRNA transcripts of CgIFI44L-1 were significantly down-regulated after poly (I:C) stimulation, which was 0.09-fold (p 0.001) and 0.06-fold (p 0.001) of those in EGFP group, respectively. These results suggested that CgIFI44L-1 was a conserved ISG in oyster, which was regulated by CgIFNLP and CgSTAT, and involved in the oyster antiviral immune response.

Boundary absorption intensity can affect the contaminant depletion capacity within rivers, and the process of spatial contaminant cloud expansion is complicated with the consideration of irreversible absorption boundaries at riverbanks. Nonuniformity of concentration distribution appears in spatial concentration distribution, especially in the transverse direction, which is caused by the absorption capacity difference between two riverbanks. A model for illustrating the performance of environmental dispersion with two irreversible absorption banks in 2D space is given in this work. Furthermore, the position of the maximum concentration distributions shifts within the transverse directions with the change of the absorption intensities at two boundaries. The overall absorption capacity would also be affected by the ratio of two absorption intensities at the left and right riverbanks. The residual mass is left with a greater variation in the two bank-absorption intensity ratios. A detailed analysis of the spatial concentration distribution and contaminant depletion capacity with two bank-absorption boundaries would contribute to the construction of a wetland for water treatment. With a certain absorption capacity in total, the transverse distribution of concentration gets more heterogeneous as the ratio deviates from 1gradually, and the transverse concentration distribution appears to be symmetric to the center (0.5W) when the ratios of absorption intensities at two stream-banks are in accord with β

The stimulator of interferon gene (STING), an intracellular sensor of cyclic dinucleotides, is critical to the innate immune response, especially the induction of type I interferon (IFN) during pathogenic infection. A STING homologue (CgSTING) regulating the expression of IFN-like protein (CgIFNLP) was previously identified in the Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas, and its involvement in antibacterial immunity was further investigated in the present study. The mRNA transcripts of CgSTING were ubiquitously detected in all the three subpopulations of haemocytes with the highest expression in semi-granulocytes. After the stimulation with Vibrio splendidus, the mRNA expression of CgSTING in haemocytes was significantly up-regulated and peaked at 72 h, which was 12.91-fold of that in control group (p 0.01). The CgSTING protein was mainly located in the cytoplasm of haemocytes. After the expression of CgSTING was knocked down (0.12-fold of that in control group, p 0.05) by RNAi, the mRNA expression levels of interleukin17-1 (CgIL17-1), interleukin17-3 (CgIL17-3), interleukin17-4 (CgIL17-4), defensins (Cgdefh1, Cgdefh2), big defensin (CgBigDef1), interferon-like protein (CgIFNLP), tumor necrosis factor (CgTNF) and nuclear factor-κB (CgRel) all decreased significantly at 12 h after V. splendidus stimulation, which was 0.12-fold-0.72-fold (p 0.05) of that in control group, respectively. The positive signals of CgRel were observed in the haemocyte nucleus after V. splendidus stimulation. The nuclear translocation of CgRel was suppressed in CgSTING-RNAi oysters, and the green signals of CgRel were mainly observed in the haemocyte cytoplasm after V. splendidus stimulation. Furthermore, the number of V. splendidus in the haemolymph of CgSTING-RNAi oysters increased significantly, which was 26.78-fold (p 0.01) of that in the control group at 12 h after V. splendidus stimulation. These results indicated that CgSTING played important role in the immune defense against bacterial infection by inducing the expressions of cytokines and defensins.

The RAC-alpha serine/threonine-protein kinase (AKT) is one of the most important protein kinases involved in many biological processes in eukaryotes. In the present study, a novel AKT homologue named CgAKT1 was identified from the Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas. The open reading frame (ORF) of CgAKT1 cDNA was of 1482 bp encoding a peptide with 493 amino acid residues. There were classical domains in the predicted CgAKT1 protein, including an N-terminal pleckstrin homology domain, a central catalytic domain and a C-terminal hydrophobic domain. The mRNA transcripts of CgAKT1 were detected in all the examined tissues of C. gigas with higher level in gills (8.24-fold of that in mantle, p 0.05) and haemocytes (3.62-fold of that in mantle, p 0.05). After poly (I:C) stimulation, the mRNA expression of CgAKT1 decreased significantly in haemocytes from 3 h (0.44-fold of that in the control group, p 0.001) to 24 h (0.20-fold of that in the control group, p 0.001), and then increased significantly at 48 h (3.65-fold of that in the control group, p 0.05). The expression level of CgAKT1 mRNA increased significantly at 6 h after rCgIFNLP stimulation, which was 3.60-fold of that in the control group (p 0.001). The Alexa Fluor 488 positive signals of CgAKT1 protein were found to be distributed in the cytoplasm and cell membrane of haemocytes, while those in the cytoplasm became weaker after poly (I:C) stimulation. In CgAKT1-RNAi oysters, the mRNA expression of cyclic GMP-AMP synthase (CgcGAS) and TANK-binding kinase 1 (CgTBK1) did not change significantly, but the mRNA expression level of stimulator of interferon gene (CgSTING), interferon regulatory factor-1 (CgIRF-1), interferon regulatory factor-8 (CgIRF-8) and IFN-like protein (CgIFNLP) increased significantly, which was 1.40-fold, 1.53-fold, 1.72-fold and 1.99-fold of that in EGFP-RNAi oysters (p 0.05), respectively. In CgIFNLP-RNAi oysters, the transcripts of CgAKT1 decreased significantly compared to those in EGFP-RNAi oysters (0.16-fold, p 0.01). Moreover, the expression of p-CgTBK1, CgSTING and CgIFNLP at the protein level in the oysters treated with p-AKT1 activator (SC-79) was significantly suppressed after poly (I:C) stimulation. After the transfection of CgAKT1, the expression of p-cGAS protein in HEK293T cells increased significantly, while the cyclic GMP-AMP in the cells and the interferon (IFN-β) in the cell culture fluid decreased significantly compared with that in the control group. These results indicated that CgAKT1 might play a negative role in antiviral immunity of oyster by regulating the synthesis of CgIFNLP.

Survival depends on identifying learnable features of the environment that predict reward, and avoiding others that are random and unlearnable. However, humans and other animals often infer spurious associations among unrelated events, raising the question of how well they can distinguish learnable patterns from unlearnable events. Here, we tasked monkeys with discovering the serial order of two pictorial sets: a “learnable” set in which the stimuli were implicitly ordered and monkeys were rewarded for choosing the higher-rank stimulus and an “unlearnable” set in which stimuli were unordered and feedback was random regardless of the choice. We replicated prior results that monkeys reliably learned the implicit order of the learnable set. Surprisingly, the monkeys behaved as though some ordering also existed in the unlearnable set, showing consistent choice preference that transferred to novel untrained pairs in this set, even under a preference-discouraging reward schedule that gave rewards more frequently to the stimulus that was selected less often. In simulations, a model-free RL algorithm (Q-learning) displayed a degree of consistent ordering among the unlearnable set but, unlike the monkeys, failed to do so under the preference, discouraging reward schedule. Our results suggest that monkeys infer abstract structures from objectively random events using heuristics that extend beyond stimulus-outcome conditional learning to more cognitive model-based learning mechanisms.

In this work, we report the heavily doped germanium (Ge) inverted pyramid array as a suitable candidate for tunable antireflection in mid-infrared (MIR) range. Inverted Ge pyramid structures are formed by the metal-assisted chemical etching process. The heavy doping profile in a box shape is obtained via the KrF laser annealing process. The inverted pyramid serves as an effective antireflective surface structure, while the heavy doping layer acts as the high reflector, resulting from the modulated permittivity of Ge. It is observed that the reflectance of the inverted pyramid array made on undoped Ge is suppressed. On the contrary, the reflectance of the pyramids after doping is increased in the wavelength range larger than 15 μm. The reflectance is consistent in the wavelength range smaller than 7 μm. A systematic study reveals that the doping concentration and depth are important parameters determining the ability to modulate the reflection spectra. The proposed heavily doped inverted Ge pyramid array paves the way toward a tunable and complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor-compatible antireflection structure in the MIR range. Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) Ministry of Education (MOE) National Research Foundation (NRF) Published version This work was supported by the National Research Foundation, Singapore, under its Competitive Research Program (CRP Award NRF-CRP19-2017-01), A*STAR Programmatic Funds (A18A7b0058), AME IRG and YIRG grants (A20E5c0095 and A2084c0066), Ministry of Education AcRF Tier 1 (2021-T1-002-031 (RG112/21)), and Ministry of Education AcRF Tier 2 (T2EP50120-0003 and T2EP50121-0001 (MOE-00180-01)). The authors acknowledge the support of the Nanyang NanoFabrication Centre (N2FC).

We experimentally demonstrate that a slight modification of the Fabry-Perot cavity geometry has a profound impact on lasing performance. The near-planar cavity laser supports hundreds of transverse lasing modes with directional and stable output.

The apoptosis-inducing factor (AIF) is a phylogenetically old protein with classic function of inducing caspase-independent apoptosis, which extensively present in all primary kingdoms. In the present study, an AIF homologue (designated as CgAIF1) was identified from oyster Crassostrea gigas. The open reading frame of CgAIF1 cDNA was of 1836 bp encoding a peptide of 611 amino acid residues. There are a Pyr_redox_2 domain and an AIF_C domain in the predicted CgAIF1 protein. The deduced amino acid sequence of CgAIF1 shared 35.44%-79.22% similarity with AIF1s from other species. In the phylogenetic tree, CgAIF1 firstly clustered with mollusc AIF1s, and then with insect AIF1s, displaying separation from vertebrate AIF1s. The mRNA transcripts of CgAIF1 were constitutively distributed in all the tested oyster tissues, with the highest level in gills (12.98-fold of that in haemocytes, p 0.05). After LPS and Poly (I:C) stimulation, the mRNA transcripts of CgAIF1 in gills were significantly increased at 6 h and 24 h (5.79-fold, p 0.001, and 21.96-fold compared to the control group, p 0.05), respectively. In immunocytochemical assay, the CgAIF1 positive signals were mainly distributed in the cytoplasm of haemocytes, while after Poly (I:C) stimulation, the increased CgAIF1 positive signals were observed in the nucleus. Moreover, in the HEK293T cells transfected with pcDNA3.1-CgAIF1 recombinant plasmid, green signal of CgAIF1 were observed in both the cytoplasm and nucleus. The cell mortality rate, cell shrinking and the phosphatidylserine (PS) ectropion (Annexin V

A hydrophilic metal-organic network based on Ti4+ and dual natural ligand, tannic acid (TA) and phytic acid (PA), has been developed to enrich phosphopeptides from complex bio-samples prior to liquid chromatography-mass spectrometric analysis. Due to the strong chelation ability of TA and PA, abundant Ti4+ can be immobilized in the material, forming hydrophilic network by one-step coordination-driven self-assembly approach. The sorbent, TA-Ti-PA@Fe3O4, exhibited satisfactory selectivity for the phosphopeptides in the tryptic digest of β-casein, and can eliminate the interference components in 1000-fold excess of bovine serum albumin. The adsorption capacity of the sorbents for phosphopeptides was up to 35.2 mg g−1 and the adsorbing equilibrium can be reached in 5 min. The adsorbing mechanism has been investigated and the results indicated that the Ti4+ in forms of [Ti(f-TA)(H2O)4]2+, [Ti(f-PA)(H2O)4]2+ and Ti(f-PA)2(H2O)2 may play an important role in the adsorption process. The sorbent of the TA-Ti-PA@Fe3O4 has been applied to enrichment of the phosphopeptides in tryptic digest of rat liver lysate, and 3,408 phosphopeptides have been identified, while the numbers of the identified phosphopeptides were 2730 and 1217 when the sample was enriched by the commercial TiO2 and Fe3+-IMAC kit, respectively. This work provides a strategy to enrich phosphopeptides from complex samples and shows great potential application in phosphoproteome research.

Mudstones of Bayanhua Formation are characterized by high porosity, large content of swelling clay minerals, and weak cementation due to its late diagenesis in Wujianfang Basin, eastern Inner Mongolia, China. Mechanical properties heavily deteriorate during water absorption or dehydration, resulting in underground engineering instability. To study water absorption/dehydration and mechanical response for weakly cemented mudstones, two sets of weathering routes, namely, higher relative humidity (RHs) and lower RHs, are performed by using a self-developed weathering instrument, which can achieve environmental control and real-time weight measurement. The water migration is logged by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). Finally, uniaxial compression tests are carried out on weathered samples to study their mechanical properties. The results show that dehydration occurs even under the 70% RH condition, due to their higher initial water content of more than 10%, and the dehydration content is exponential over time under the 60% RH condition. Variations of T2 spectrum reflect the water migration when the surrounding humidity changes. The maximum peak of the transverse relaxation time (T2) moves left during dehydration and shifts to the right when adsorbing water. The uniaxial compressive strength (UCS) does not increase with the decreasing RH at any time, which is distinct from elasticity modulus (E). There is a critical RH at 50%, indicating that damages accumulate when the RH is lower than 50%. Tensile fracture occurs for the most types of weathered samples, and shear failure only occurs under the drying condition.

The excavation-loose zone (ELZ) is a key factor for the design and construction of underground engineering. In this study, ground-penetrating radar (GPR), non-invasive and effective method, is utilized to estimate the ELZ around an excavated soft coal seam with roof and floor consisting of soft rock seams. The picture segmentation method based on the 2D maximum between-cluster variance is conducted to optimize the radargrams obtained GPR, and then the ELZ can be accurately estimated by analyzing the radargrams. The results show that the magnitude of the ELZ different along different survey lines and is distinct at different positions along the same survey line. A large ELZ is concluded to surround the two sides of the coal walls and most of the floor. Meanwhile, due to complicated geological structure, local fractured zones exist widely within the ELZ. This case study is quite useful for understanding the range of the ELZ around a soft coal seam with soft rock seams in the coal wall and floor.

To investigate the kinetic recovery process of low dose neutron-irradiated graphite, nuclear-grade isotropic graphite IG-110U and ETP-10 were neutron irradiated using the JMTR up to 1.38 × 1023 n/m...

In the past fifteen years, the high-speed railway (HSR) network in China has experienced unprecedented rapid growth. The development of the HSR has profound impacts in terms of redistributing acces...