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Combining various sources to create a complementary system plays a key role in utilizing clean energy sources economically and mitigating air pollution during the heating season in Northern China. However, there is a lack of unified and reasonable design methods for such systems, resulting in the excessive capacity of equipment and the waste of energy. In this work, a unified design method is proposed to solve this problem. A generalized structure and its mathematical model are firstly established, enabling transient simulations on the TRNSYS platform. Then, a preliminary screening criterion for the system composition a general operation strategy is proposed. Finally, the system configuration is optimized by using the genetic algorithm. The method is successfully applied in a demonstration project in China. The results show that the coupling system consisting of a biomass boiler (384 kW), an air-source heat pump (430 kW) and a ground-source heat pump (369 kW) is the most economical, and the annual cost is 26.7% lower than that of a single-equipment system. Additionally, the sensitive factors that strongly affect the optimization results are explored. The establishment of the generalized structure and its mathematical model enables the quick calculation and convenient comparison of various schemes, and simplifies the complicated optimization problem of the capacity optimization of each piece of equipment. The proposed design method can reduce the annual cost to a minimum value, and thus it provides a theoretical basis for the large-scale application of clean energy sources for heating. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To achieve the goal of clean heating in northern rural areas, a cooperative heating system, composed of a biomass boiler and a multi-source heat pump was proposed, based on building heat load and resource conditions. This cooperative heating system combined biomass energy, geothermal energy and air energy. A dynamic simulation model is established by using the TRNSYS software. Under the condition of energy balance, an optimization model is proposed based on the minimum annual cost. The proposed model is applied in a demonstration project for the Miaofuan rural community in Linzi Town, Linyi County, Dezhou City in Shandong Province, China. The heat supply ratio of each equipment and the operation mode of the coupled system are optimized. Results show that the coupled system with the optimal configuration can reduce the annual cost by 9.60%, 14.22% and 11.66%, respectively; compared with the geothermal heat pump, air source heat pump and biomass boiler alone. Therefore, the proposed cooperative heating system can be well applied in rural areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Curcumin, a polyphenolic compound extracted from the rhizome of the tropical plant Curcuma longa L. (Zingiberaceae), has been considered as a cancer chemopreventive drug by American National Cancer Institute. To examine the effect of curcumin on acute monocytic leukaemia SHI-1 cells in vivo. The SHI-1 cells (1 × 106 cells in 0.1 mL PBS) were injected subcutaneously into the right flanks of the female SCID mice. Curcumin dissolved in olive oil (15 and 30 mg/kg) was administered (i.p.) to mice once a day for 15 days while the control group received olive oil injection. Tumour proliferation and apoptosis were examined by PCNA, TUNEL and cleaved caspase-3 staining. The expression of MAPK, NF-κB, MMP9, MMP2 and vimentin were confirmed by RT-PCR, immunohistochemistry or western blotting. Administration of curcumin significantly inhibited tumour growth, as the tumour weight decreased from 0.67 g (control) to 0.47 g (15 mg/kg) and 0.35 g (30 mg/kg). Curcumin inhibited the expression of PCNA and increased the degree of TUNEL and cleaved caspase-3 staining in tumour tissue. The results of western blotting showed that curcumin treatment inhibited NF-κB and ERK signalling while activating p38 and JNK. Moreover, curcumin attenuated the mRNA transcription and protein expression of MMP2 and MMP9. Curcumin also suppressed the level of vimentin. Our study demonstrates that curcumin can inhibit the growth and invasion of human monocytic leukaemia in vivo, suggesting the possible use of curcumin for anti-metastasis in leukaemia and the value of determining its unique target. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Clathrin-mediated endocytosis (CME) is one of the main pathways for plant cells to internalize the membrane proteins in response to changing environmental conditions. The Epsin-like Clathrin adaptor proteins (ECAs) play important roles in the assembly of clathrin coat; however, their involvement in plant response to heat stress remains unclear. Here we report that SlECA4 responded to heat stress, and the silencing and knockout of SlECA4 increased tomato sensitivity to heat stress, while the overexpression of SlECA4 enhanced tomato tolerance to heat stress. Meanwhile, the treatment with a CME inhibitor, ES9-17, reduced tomato heat tolerance. SlECA4 localized to the plasma membrane (PM), the trans-Golgi network/early endosomes (TGN/EE), and the prevacuolar compartment (PVC)/late endosomes. In SlECA4-KO line, both CME and recycling from the TGN/EE to the PM were inhibited. These data suggest that SlECA4 involved in CME. After heat treatment, more punctate structures of SlECA4:GFP accumualted in tobacco leaf epidermal cells by transient expression. Furthermore, compared to WT, the rate of CME was inhibited under heat stress in SlECA4-KO line. Taken together, the Epsin-like Clathrin adaptor protein SlECA4 plays a positive role in tomato tolerance to heat stress via the CME pathway., (© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Experimental Biology. All rights reserved. For commercial re-use, please contact reprints@oup.com for reprints and translation rights for reprints. All other permissions can be obtained through our RightsLink service via the Permissions link on the article page on our site—for further information please contact journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Autophagy, a highly conserved protein degradation system, plays an important role in protecting cells from adverse environmental conditions. ATG8-INTERACTING PROTEIN1 (ATI1) acts as an autophagy receptor, but its functional mechanisms in plants' heat stress tolerance remain unclear. In this study, using LC-MS/MS, we identified malate dehydrogenase (SlMDH3) as a SlATI1-interacting protein. Further studies showed that heat stress induced the expression of SlMDH3 and SlMDH3 co-localized with SlATI1 under both 22 °C and 42 °C heat treatment conditions. Moreover, silencing of SlMDH3 increased the sensitivity of tomato to heat stress, as evidenced by exacerbated degradation of chlorophyll; accumulation of MDA, H 2 O 2 , and dead cells; increased relative conductivity; and inhibition of stress-related gene expression. Conversely, overexpression of SlMDH3 improved tomato's heat tolerance, leading to opposite effects on physiological indicators and gene expression compared to SlMDH3 silencing. Taken together, our study suggests that SlMDH3 interacts with SlATI1 and positively regulates tomato heat tolerance.