Protocols and Video Articles Authored by Xiang Wu

[Cardiac Troponin I Gene Mutation (Asp127Tyr) in a Chinese Patient with Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy] Zhonghua Xin Xue Guan Bing Za Zhi. Dec, 2008 | Pubmed ID: 19134270 To observe the disease-causing gene mutation in Chinese patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and to analyze the correlation between the genotype and the phenotype.

Geological Emission of Methane from the Yakela Condensed Oil/gas Field in Talimu Basin, Xinjiang, China Journal of Environmental Sciences (China). 2008 | Pubmed ID: 19143311 A static flux chamber method was applied to study natural emissions of methane into the atmosphere in the Yakela condensed oil/gas field in Talimu Basin, Xinjiang, China. Using an online method, which couples a gas chromatography/high-temperature conversion/isotope ratio mass spectrometry (GC/C/MS) together, the 13C/12C ratios of methane in the flux chambers were measured. The results demonstrated that methane gases were liable to migrate from deep oil/gas reservoir to the surface through microseepage and pervasion, and that a part of the migrated methane that remained unoxidized could emit into the atmosphere. Methane emission rates varied less in the oil/gas field because the whole region was homogeneous in geology and geography, with a standard deviation of less than 0.02 mg/(m2 x h). These were the differences in methane emission flux in the day and at night in the oil/gas field. The maximum methane emission flux reached 0.15 mg/(m2 x h) at 5:00-6:00 early in the morning, and then decreased gradually. The minimum was shown 0.10 mg/(m2 x h) at 17:00-18:00 in the afternoon, and then increased gradually. The daily methane released flux of the study area was 2.89 mg/(m2 x d), with a standard deviation of 0.43 mg/(m2 x d), using the average methane flux of every hour in a day for all chambers. delta13C of methane increased with the increase of methane concentration in the flux chambers, further indicating that the pyrogenetic origin of methane was come from deep oil/gas reservoirs.

Phytoremediation Facilitates Removal of Nitrogen and Phosphorus from Eutrophicated Water and Release from Sediment Environmental Monitoring and Assessment. Oct, 2009 | Pubmed ID: 18841488 Phosphorus (P) fractions and the effect of phytoremediation on nitrogen and phosphorus removal from eutrophicated water and release from sediment were investigated in the eco-remediation experiment enclosures installed in the Hua-jia-chi pond (Hangzhou city, Zhejiang province, China). The main P fraction in the sediment was inorganic phosphorus (IP). For the mesotrophic sediments, IP mainly consisted of HCl-extractable P (Ca-P). The annual-average concentration of total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP) in water and the content of TN, TP in different vertical depth of sediment in the experiment enclosures with hydrophyte were always much lower than those in the control enclosure without hydrophyte and those outside of experiment enclosures. It is suggested that phytoremediation was an effective technology for N and P removal from eutrophicated water and release from sediment.

Are Isothiocyanates Potential Anti-cancer Drugs? Acta Pharmacologica Sinica. May, 2009 | Pubmed ID: 19417730 Isothiocyanates are naturally occurring small molecules that are formed from glucosinolate precursors of cruciferous vegetables. Many isothiocyanates, both natural and synthetic, display anticarcinogenic activity because they reduce activation of carcinogens and increase their detoxification. Recent studies show that they exhibit anti-tumor activity by affecting multiple pathways including apoptosis, MAPK signaling, oxidative stress, and cell cycle progression. This review summarizes the current knowledge on isothiocyanates and focuses on their role as potential anti-cancer agents.

Early Induced Beta/gamma Activity During Illusory Contour Perception Neuroscience Letters. Oct, 2009 | Pubmed ID: 19595738 The temporal binding hypothesis proposes that visual feature binding is achieved by neuronal synchronization. Nevertheless, the existing human neurophysiological evidence for the neuronal synchronization in visual feature binding-the oscillatory induced beta/gamma activity (IB/GA) is under suspicion. The previously observed IB/GA occurs at a later stage (after 200 ms), thus leading to the objection that IB/GA may be related to some later top-down processes rather than the early perceptual processing. However, the present EEG study identified an IB/GA as early as 90 ms after stimulus onset, which was stronger for a Kanizsa-type illusory contour (IC, a classic example of visual feature binding) than for a control stimulus. This finding provides new human evidence for the temporal binding hypothesis that neuronal synchronization occurs at the early stage of visual feature binding.

The Location of Invasion-related Protein MIC3 of Toxoplasma Gondii and Protective Effect of Its DNA Vaccine in Mice Veterinary Parasitology. Dec, 2009 | Pubmed ID: 19800170 The micronemal protein MIC3 of Toxoplasma gondii plays a predominant role in the early phase of the invasion process. In this research, the expression and location of protein MIC3 and fusion protein EGFP-MIC3 were observed in host cells and in T. gondii respectively. Protective experiments of DNA vaccine pcDNA3-MIC3 (pMIC3i) in animals showed that the vaccine could significantly prolong the survival time of the mice challenged by virulent RH strains of T. gondii. All mice vaccinated with plasmid pcDNA3-MIC3 have been elicited specific humoral immunity and cellular immunity. The cellular immune response was associated with the increase of the CD4(+) and CD8(+) T lymphocytes and the decrease of the CD4(+)/CD8(+) T lymphocyte ratio evidently. It indicated that the mic3 DNA vaccine could stimulate the host resisting Toxoplasma mainly by the way of CD8(+)CTL cells. In conclusion, a potent DNA vaccine pcDNA3-MIC3 could elicit a strong specific immune response and induce effective protection against T. gondii challenge in Kunming mice, suggesting that mic3 is a potential vaccine candidate against toxoplasmosis.

Hydrothermally Grown ZnO Micro/Nanotube Arrays and Their Properties Nanoscale Research Letters. Dec, 2009 | Pubmed ID: 20672127 We reported the optical and wettability properties of aligned zinc oxide micro/nanotube arrays, which were synthesized on zinc foil via a simple hydrothermal method. As-synthesized ZnO micro/nanotubes have uniform growth directions along the [0001] orientations with diameters in the range of 100-700 nm. These micro/nanotubes showed a strong emission peak at 387 nm and two weak emission peaks at 422 and 485 nm, respectively, and have the hydrophobic properties with a contact angle of 121°. Single ZnO micro/nanotube-based field-effect transistor was also fabricated, which shows typical n-type semiconducting behavior.

[Application of RNAi Technology in Cancer Therapy.] Zhongguo Fei Ai Za Zhi = Chinese Journal of Lung Cancer. Jul, 2009 | Pubmed ID: 20719161

Tumor-targeting Peptide Conjugated PH-responsive Micelles As a Potential Drug Carrier for Cancer Therapy Bioconjugate Chemistry. Feb, 2010 | Pubmed ID: 20073455 Herein, we prepared tumor-targeting peptide (AP peptide; CRKRLDRN) conjugated pH-responsive polymeric micelles (pH-PMs) in cancer therapy by active and pH-responsive tumor targeting delivery systems, simultaneously. The active tumor targeting and tumoral pH-responsive polymeric micelles were prepared by mixing AP peptide conjugated PEG-poly(d,l-lactic acid) block copolymer (AP-PEG-PLA) into the pH-responsive micelles of methyl ether poly(ethylene glycol) (MPEG)-poly(beta-amino ester) (PAE) block copolymer (MPEG-PAE). These mixed amphiphilic block copolymers were self-assembled to form stable AP peptide-conjugated and pH-responsive AP-PEG-PLA/MPEG-PAE micelles (AP-pH-PMs) with an average size of 150 nm. The AP-pH-PMs containing 10 wt % of AP-PEG-PLA showed a sharp pH-dependent micellization/demicellization transition at the tumoral acid pH. Also, they presented the pH-dependent drug release profile at the acidic pH of 6.4. The fluorescence dye, TRITC, encapsulated AP-pH-PMs (TRITC-AP-pH-PMs) presented the higher tumor-specific targeting ability in vitro cancer cell culture system and in vivo tumor-bearing mice, compared to control pH-responsive micelles of MPEG-PAE. For the cancer therapy, the anticancer drug, doxorubicin (DOX), was efficiently encapsulated into the AP-pH-PMs (DOX-AP-pH-PMs) with a higher loading efficiency. DOX-AP-pH-PMs efficiently deliver anticancer drugs in MDA-MB231 human breast tumor-bearing mice, resulted in excellent anticancer therapeutic efficacy, compared to free DOX and DOX encapsulated MEG-PAE micelles, indicating the excellent tumor targeting ability of AP-pH-PMs. Therefore, these tumor-targeting peptide-conjugated and pH-responsive polymeric micelles have great potential application in cancer therapy.

A Comprehensive Cytogenetics Tutorial Program, Encompassing Changeable G-band Resolutions Computer Methods and Programs in Biomedicine. Jul, 2010 | Pubmed ID: 20083323 Chromosome analysis is a basic science with medical implication. Karyotyping is a procedure to study an individual's chromosome make-up. It is time consuming to train students and clinical technologists to recognize patterns of G-banded chromosomes because of the dynamic nature of G-band resolutions in different metaphase spreads. High resolution G-bands are desirable because they provide detailed information for structural analysis. However, it is challenging to identify chromosomes at higher resolution levels even for many cytogenetics technologists. In response to the need for training students to identify human chromosomes at variable G-band resolutions, we present in this paper an advanced version of virtual reality (VR)-based interactive karyotyping program capable of manipulating G-band resolutions for human cytogenetics education. The program can generate different metaphase spreads ranging from short and well separate chromosomes at low G-band resolutions to long, curved, and overlapped chromosomes at high G-band resolutions. Other features include a scoring system, helping strategies, and the progress reports. The traditional "cut and paste" karyotyping method for chromosome separation is incorporated in the software. This method is compared with the "simple clicking" method which is based on an edge detection technique for outlining each chromosome. The comprehensive program is suitable for in-depth training of advanced students.

Normal-incidence Left-handed Metamaterials Based on Symmetrically Connected Split-ring Resonators Physical Review. E, Statistical, Nonlinear, and Soft Matter Physics. Mar, 2010 | Pubmed ID: 20365890 Normal-incidence left-handed metamaterials (LHMs) based on symmetrically connected split-ring resonators (SC-SRRs) were proposed and investigated numerically and experimentally. The SC-SRR, which can be easily fabricated by conventional printed circuit board technology, is composed of metallic patterns connected by metalized vias through the dielectric substrate. Under normal incidence, SC-SRR exhibits strong magnetic response, leading to negative permeability. By combing SC-SRRs with metallic wires, a normal-incidence LHM was realized. Both the simulation and experiment results demonstrated left-handed properties of the SC-SRR/wire LHM. The design method paved new ways of realizing magnetic and even electric metamaterials.

Isothiocyanates Induce Oxidative Stress and Suppress the Metastasis Potential of Human Non-small Cell Lung Cancer Cells BMC Cancer. Jun, 2010 | Pubmed ID: 20534110 Isothiocyanates are natural compounds found in consumable cruciferous vegetables. They have been shown to inhibit chemical carcinogenesis by a wide variety of chemical carcinogens in animal models. Recent studies have also shown that isothiocyanates have antitumor activity, inhibiting the growth of several types of cultured human cancer cells. Our previous study showed that PEITC inhibited human leukemia cells growth by inducing apoptosis. However, the effect of isothiocyanates on lung cancer cell metastasis has not been studied. In the present study, we investigated the inhibitory effects of BITC and PEITC on metastatic potential of highly metastatic human lung cancer L9981 cells.

Fabrication and Characterization of On-chip Optical Nonlinear Chalcogenide Nanofiber Devices Optics Letters. Nov, 2010 | Pubmed ID: 21082011 Chalcogenide (As(2)S(3)) nanofibers as narrow as 200 nm in diameter are drawn by the fiber pulling method, are successfully embedded in SU8 polymer, and form on-chip waveguides and high-Q microknot resonators (Q = 3.9 Ã— 10(4)) with smooth cleaved end faces. Resonance tuning of resonators is realized by localized laser irradiation. Strong supercontinuum generation with a bandwidth of 500 nm is achieved in a 7-cm-long on-chip chalcogenide waveguide. Our result provides a method for the development of compact, high-optical-quality, and robust photonic devices.

[Interleukin-1 and Cancer] Zhongguo Fei Ai Za Zhi = Chinese Journal of Lung Cancer. Dec, 2010 | Pubmed ID: 21159252

Structural Stability of TiO2 at High Pressure in Density-functional Theory Based Calculations Journal of Physics. Condensed Matter : an Institute of Physics Journal. Jul, 2010 | Pubmed ID: 21399308 A new study on the pressure-induced phase transitions of TiO(2) has been performed using all-electron density-functional theory based computations with the projector augmented wave and the linearized augmented plane wave methods considering five experimentally observed structures. The static results yield a picture that is consistent with experiments, i.e., phase transitions with pressure are predicted as rutile --> monoclinic baddeleyite (MI) --> orthorhombic I (OI) --> cotunnite (OII) on compression, and OII --> OI --> MI --> columbite (TiO(2)II) on decompression. The elasticities of these five polymorphs are compared. Except for the baddeleyite structure, which is considerably softer than the other polymorphs, all phases show a zero pressure bulk modulus in the range of 200-240 GPa, consistent with compression results and the single crystal elastic constant; on the basis of these results we can say that the cotunnite phase is not a superhard TiO(2) polymorph as has been suggested previously. We further find that the rutile and columbite structures are energetically very similar, with the columbite structure favored slightly. All polymorphs are predicted as insulating with comparable band gaps (∼1.7-2.3 eV). Crystal field splitting for the Ti 3d electronic states leads to two distinct conduction bands in rutile and TiO(2)II for energies smaller than 8 eV, while there is a single conduction band for the other high pressure structures.

Structural Stability of a Golden Semiconducting Orthorhombic Polymorph of Ti2O3 Under High Pressures and High Temperatures Journal of Physics. Condensed Matter : an Institute of Physics Journal. Sep, 2010 | Pubmed ID: 21403194 An orthorhombic polymorph of titanium oxide (Ti(2)O(3)) has been synthesized at high pressure-high temperature (HP-HT) conditions. It has been refined in the Pnma space group and the Th(2)S(3) structural type with the unit cell parameters as follows: a = 7.8248(6) Å, b = 2.8507(4) Å, c = 8.0967(3) Å, V = 180.61(1) Å(3) and Z = 4. The samples of Pnma-Ti(2)O(3) were of a golden colour, in contrast to the conventional black corundum-structured Ti(2)O(3). The structural stability of this polymorph has been examined by simultaneous Raman and x-ray diffraction studies under high pressure over 70 GPa and high temperature over 2200 K. No phase transformations or chemical reactions have been established. The electrical resistivity of Th(2)S(3)-structured Ti(2)O(3) samples showed a semiconducting behaviour and, at ambient conditions, was equal to 0.20-0.46 Ω cm. Conventional near-infrared absorption spectroscopy established the absence of energy gaps above 0.25 eV.

Bis{2-[2-(isopropyl-ammonio)ethyl-imino-meth-yl]-5-methoxy-phenolato}copper(II) Bis-(perchlorate) Acta Crystallographica. Section E, Structure Reports Online. May, 2010 | Pubmed ID: 21579312 In the title compound, [Cu(C(13)H(20)N(2)O(2))(2)](ClO(4))(2), the Cu(II) atom in the complex dication is chelated by two phenolate O atoms and two imine N atoms from two zwitterionic 2-[2-(isopropyl-ammonio)ethyl-imino-meth-yl]-5-methoxy-phenolate ligands, forming a distorted square-planar geometry. One of the perchlorate anions is disordered over two sites with occupancies of 0.611 (15) and 0.389 (15). Intra-molecular N-H⋯O hydrogen bonds are observed in the complex dication. In the crystal structure, the perchlorate anions are linked to complex dications by inter-molecular N-H⋯O hydrogen bonds.

Bis{2-eth-oxy-6-[2-(isopropyl-ammonio)ethyl-imino-meth-yl]phenolato}dithio-cyanato-nickel(II) Acta Crystallographica. Section E, Structure Reports Online. Jan, 2010 | Pubmed ID: 21579605 In the mononuclear title complex, [Ni(NCS)(2)(C(14)H(22)N(2)O(2))(2)], the Ni atom lies on an inversion centre. It is chelated by the phenolate O and imine N atoms from two zwitterionic Schiff base ligands, and is also coordinated by the N atoms from two thio-cyanate ligands, giving a slightly distorted octa-hedral geometry. Intra-molecular N-H⋯O and N-H⋯N hydrogen bonds are observed.

Bis(N-phenyl-ethane-1,2-diamine)dithio-cyanato-nickel(II) Acta Crystallographica. Section E, Structure Reports Online. Jan, 2010 | Pubmed ID: 21579606 The asymmetric unit of the title mononuclear Ni(II) compound, [Ni(NCS)(2)(C(8)H(12)N(2))(2)], contains two independent half-mol-ecules, the Ni atoms of which lie on crystallographic inversion centres. Each Ni(II) ion is chelated by two N atoms from two N-phenyl-ethane-1,2-diamine ligands and is also coordinated by two N atoms from two thio-cyanate ligands, giving a distorted octa-hedral geometry. In the crystal, mol-ecules are linked into a two-dimensional network parallel to (100) by N-H⋯S inter-actions.

Bis{2-eth-oxy-6-[2-(methyl-ammonio)ethyl-imino-meth-yl]phenolato}thio-cyanato-zinc(II) Nitrate Acta Crystallographica. Section E, Structure Reports Online. Jan, 2010 | Pubmed ID: 21579607 In the title compound, [Zn(NCS)(C(12)H(18)N(2)O(2))(2)]NO(3), the Zn(II) ion is chelated by the phenolate O and imine N atoms from two zwitterionic Schiff base ligands and is also coordinated by the N atom of a thio-cyanate ligand, giving a distorted trigonal-bipyramidal geometry. Intra-molecular N-H⋯O hydrogen bonds are observed in the complex cation. The nitrate anions are linked to the complex cations through N-H⋯O hydrogen bonds.

[2-(Piperidin-1-yl)ethyl-amine]dithio-cyanato-zinc(II) Acta Crystallographica. Section E, Structure Reports Online. Mar, 2010 | Pubmed ID: 21580465 In the mononuclear title compound, [Zn(NCS)(2)(C(7)H(16)N(2))], the Zn(II) atom is four-coordinated by two N atoms of the chelating 2-(piperidin-1-yl)ethyl-amine ligand and two N atoms from two thio-cyanate ligands in a distorted tetra-hedral geometry. In the crystal structure, mol-ecules are linked through inter-molecular N-H⋯S hydrogen bonds, forming chains along the b axis.

Screening and Evaluating the Mimic Peptides As a Useful Serum Biomarker of Ankylosing Spondylitis Using a Phage Display Technique Rheumatology International. Aug, 2011 | Pubmed ID: 20300752 To screen specific serum biomarker for ankylosing spondylitis (AS) using a phage random peptide library. A phage random peptide library of random peptide 12-mers was immunoscreened with purified immunoglobulin (Ig) G from sera of AS patients. Positive clones obtained after three rounds of biopanning were detected with ELISA and sequenced. Reaction of the screened positive clones with sera from AS patients, systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients, rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients, osteoarthritis (OA) patients and healthy controls was detected using phage ELISA. Correlation among erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), C-reactive protein (CRP), and the absorbance value of the positive clone in phage ELISA was examined in AS patients. Seventeen out of twenty randomly selected phage clones exhibited specific reaction with purified sera IgG from AS patients, among them seven coming from the same clone whose inserted peptide sequence was LALPPLAPNHHH (named "AS1"). Phage ELISA results showed that the positive reaction rate of the AS1 clone was 92.0% with AS patients, significantly different (P

Chinese Medicine Tongxinluo Modulates Vascular Endothelial Function by Inducing ENOS Expression Via the PI-3K/Akt/HIF-dependent Signaling Pathway Journal of Ethnopharmacology. Jan, 2011 | Pubmed ID: 20969943 To investigate the molecular mechanisms whereby the Chinese medicinal compound Tongxinluo improves vascular endothelial function through studying the induction of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) and its upstream signaling pathway.

[Treatment of Renal Colic with Double-J Stent During Pregnancy: a Report of 25 Cases] Zhonghua Yi Xue Za Zhi. Mar, 2011 | Pubmed ID: 21418856 There is no consensus on the treatment of renal colic, a hazardous condition for both pregnant women and their fetus during pregnancy. The present study was to evaluate the therapeutic safety and efficacy of double-J stent.

The Chlamydial Periplasmic Stress Response Serine Protease CHtrA is Secreted into Host Cell Cytosol BMC Microbiology. Apr, 2011 | Pubmed ID: 21527029 The periplasmic High Temperature Requirement protein A (HtrA) plays important roles in bacterial protein folding and stress responses. However, the role of chlamydial HtrA (cHtrA) in chlamydial pathogenesis is not clear.

Occurrence of Arsenic in Brown Rice and Its Relationship to Soil Properties from Hainan Island, China Environmental Pollution (Barking, Essex : 1987). Jul, 2011 | Pubmed ID: 21549462 The acquaintance of arsenic concentrations in rice grain is vital in risk assessment. In this study, we determined the concentration of arsenic in 282 brown rice grains sampled from Hainan Island, China, and discussed its possible relationships to the considered soil properties. Arsenic concentrations in the rice grain from Hainan Island varied from 5 to 309 μg/kg, with a mean (92 μg/kg) lower than most published data from other countries/regions and the maximum contaminant level (MCL) for As(i) in rice. The result of correlation analysis between grain and soil properties showed that grain As concentrations correlated significantly to soil arsenic speciation, organic matter and soil P contents and could be best predicted by humic acid bound and Fe-Mn oxides bound As fractions. Grain arsenic rises steeply at soil As concentrations lower than 3.6 mg/kg and gently at higher concentrations.

An L-proline Functionalized Metallo-organic Triangle As Size-selective Homogeneous Catalyst for Asymmetry Catalyzing Aldol Reactions Chemical Communications (Cambridge, England). Aug, 2011 | Pubmed ID: 21701751 A homochiral metal-organic triangle Co-Pro1 was achieved via self-assembly by incorporating a L-proline moiety within the corresponding ligand. Co-Pro1 comprised L-proline moieties as asymmetric catalytic active sites and a helical-like cavity, it worked as an asymmetric catalyst to prompt aldol reactions with size-, stereo- and enantioselectivity.

Mitogen-activated Protein Kinase Mediates the Apoptosis of Highly Metastatic Human Non-small Cell Lung Cancer Cells Induced by Isothiocyanates The British Journal of Nutrition. Dec, 2011 | Pubmed ID: 21733335 Dietary isothiocyanates have been shown to possess anti-tumour activity, inhibiting several types of cultured human cancer cell growth. However, there are limited studies on their effects on cancer cell metastasis. Our previous study showed that benzyl isothiocyanate (BITC) and phenethyl isothiocyanate (PEITC) suppressed human lung cancer cell metastasis potential. In the present study, we found BITC (7·5 and 10 μm) and PEITC (12·5 and 20 μm) induced highly metastatic human non-small cell lung cancer L9981 cell apoptosis in a dose-dependent manner. Caspase-3 was activated. They also caused cell cycle arrest at the G2/M phase, via modulation of cyclin B1 expression. The mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signalling pathway was involved. c-Jun N-terminal kinase, extracellular signal-regulated protein kinase 1/2 and p38 were activated in a dose-dependent manner; activator protein 1 (AP-1) transcriptional activation and cyclin D1 expression were repressed. Apoptosis and MAPK activation were abrogated by anti-oxidant N-acetyl cysteine (NAC), suggesting that cell death signalling was triggered by oxidative stress. Further microarray analysis evaluated the potential targeted genes related to apoptosis and the cell cycle. Our studies suggested that BITC and PEITC suppressed the metastasis potential of highly metastatic lung cancer cells by inducing apoptosis and cell cycle arrest, via targeting the MAPK/AP-1 pathway. This may provide a novel approach for metastasis therapy of lung cancer by dietary isothiocyanates and possibly other types of cancer.

Role of Olivocerebellar System in Timing Without Awareness Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. Aug, 2011 | Pubmed ID: 21808015 The timing of events can be implicit or without awareness yet critical for task performance. However, the neural correlates of implicit timing are unknown. One system that has long been implicated in event timing is the olivocerebellar system, which originates exclusively from the inferior olive. By using event-related functional MRI in human subjects and a specially designed behavioral task, we examined the effect of the subjects' awareness of changes in stimulus timing on the olivocerebellar system response. Subjects were scanned while observing changes in stimulus timing that were presented near each subject's detection threshold such that subjects were aware of such changes in only approximately half the trials. The inferior olive and multiple areas within the cerebellar cortex showed a robust response to time changes regardless of whether the subjects were aware of these changes. Our findings provide support to the proposed role of the olivocerebellar system in encoding temporal information and further suggest that this system can operate independently of awareness and mediate implicit timing in a multitude of perceptual and motor operations, including classical conditioning and implicit learning.

Efficacy and Safety of Sunitinib in the Treatment of Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma Chinese Medical Journal. Sep, 2011 | Pubmed ID: 22040503 The tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) sunitinib, the first targeted agent for the first line treatment of metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC), targets the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) pathway. The objective of this study was to investigate the efficacy and safety of sunitinib in treating metastatic clear-cell RCC and to confirm if hypertension is an effective predictive factor.

Bis{4-chloro-2-[(2-hy-droxy-eth-yl)imino-meth-yl]phenolato}nickel(II) Monohydrate Acta Crystallographica. Section E, Structure Reports Online. Sep, 2011 | Pubmed ID: 22058855 The title mononuclear nickel(II) complex, [Ni(C(9)H(9)ClNO(2))(2)]·H(2)O, was obtained by the reaction of 5-chloro-salicyl-aldehyde, 2-amino-ethanol and nickel nitrate in methanol. The Ni atom is six-coordinated by two phenolate O, two imine N and two hy-droxy O atoms from two crystallographically different Schiff base ligands, forming an octa-hedral geometry. In the crystal, mol-ecules are linked through inter-molecular O-H⋯O and O-H⋯Cl hydrogen bonds.

Aqua-{6,6'-dieth-oxy-2,2'-[ethane-1,2-diyl-bis(nitrilo-methanylyl-idene)]diphen-olato}zinc Acta Crystallographica. Section E, Structure Reports Online. Sep, 2011 | Pubmed ID: 22065396 The mononuclear zinc title complex, [Zn(C(20)H(22)N(2)O(4))(H(2)O)], was obtained by the reaction of 3-eth-oxy-salicyl-aldehyde, ethane-1,2-diamine, and zinc acetate in methanol. The Zn atom is five-coordinated by two phenolate O and two imine N atoms of the tetradentate Schiff base ligand and by one water O atom, forming a square-pyramidal geometry. In the crystal, pairs of mol-ecules are linked via inter-molecular O-H⋯O hydrogen bonds, forming dimers.

(4-Bromo-2-{[2-(morpholin-4-yl)ethyl-imino]-meth-yl}phenolato)dioxido-vanadium(V) Acta Crystallographica. Section E, Structure Reports Online. Oct, 2011 | Pubmed ID: 22065600 In the title mononuclear dioxidovanadium(V) complex, [V(C(13)H(16)BrN(2)O(2))O(2)], the V(V) atom is five-coordinated by one phenolate O, one imine N and one morpholine N atom of the Schiff base ligand, and by two oxide O atoms, forming a distorted square-pyramidal geometry. In the crystal, weak C-H⋯O inter-actions and a short Br⋯Br contact [3.4597 (12) Å] are observed.

Coupled Optofluidic Ring Laser for Ultrahigh-sensitive Sensing Optics Express. Oct, 2011 | Pubmed ID: 22109066 Ultrahigh sensitivity is achieved in a new active sensor structure: coupled optofluidic ring laser. The sensor consists of one ring laser and one optofluidic tube. The emission intensity of the multimode whispering gallery resonance from the coupled ring laser is strongly modulated. By using the optofluidic tube as the sensing element, and monitoring the envelope shift of the modulated lasing spectrum, we achieved a sensitivity of 5930 nm/RIU, which is two orders of magnitude higher than a conventional ring resonator sensor.

[N'-(3-Eth-oxy-2-oxidobenzyl-idene-κO)-4-methyl-benzohydrazidato-κO,N'](methano-lato-κO)oxidovanadium(V) Acta Crystallographica. Section E, Structure Reports Online. Nov, 2011 | Pubmed ID: 22219782 The title oxidovanadium(V) complex, [V(C(17)H(16)N(2)O(3))(CH(3)O)O], was obtained by the reaction of 3-eth-oxy-2-hy-droxy-benzaldehyde, 4-methyl-benzohydrazide and vanadyl sulfate in methanol. The V(V) atom is coordinated by the O,N,O'-tridentate Schiff base ligand, one methano-late O atom and one oxide O atom, forming a distorted VO(4)N square-pyramidal coordination geometry. The oxide O atom lies at the apex of the square pyramid and the N atom of the ligand and the methano-late O atom are trans. The dihedral angle between the benzene rings of the ligand is 1.8 (3)°.

(2-{[1-(Pyridin-2-yl)ethyl-idene]amino-meth-yl}pyridine-κN,N',N'')bis-(thio-cyanato-κN)zinc Acta Crystallographica. Section E, Structure Reports Online. Nov, 2011 | Pubmed ID: 22219842 The complete mol-ecule of the title mononuclear zinc(II) complex, [Zn(NCS)(2)(C(13)H(13)N(3))], is generated by crystallographic twofold symmetry, with the metal atom lying on the rotation axis. The pendant methyl group of the ligand is statistically disordered over two sites. The Zn(2+) cation is coordinated by the N,N',N''-tridentate Schiff base ligand, and by two thio-cyanate N atoms, forming a distorted ZnN(5) trigonal-bipyramidal geometry.

Dissociable Neural Correlates of Contour Completion and Contour Representation in Illusory Contour Perception Human Brain Mapping. Oct, 2012 | Pubmed ID: 21826763 Object recognition occurs even when environmental information is incomplete. Illusory contours (ICs), in which a contour is perceived though the contour edges are incomplete, have been extensively studied as an example of such a visual completion phenomenon. Despite the neural activity in response to ICs in visual cortical areas from low (V1 and V2) to high (LOC: the lateral occipital cortex) levels, the details of the neural processing underlying IC perception are largely not clarified. For example, how do the visual areas function in IC perception and how do they interact to archive the coherent contour perception? IC perception involves the process of completing the local discrete contour edges (contour completion) and the process of representing the global completed contour information (contour representation). Here, functional magnetic resonance imaging was used to dissociate contour completion and contour representation by varying each in opposite directions. The results show that the neural activity was stronger to stimuli with more contour completion than to stimuli with more contour representation in V1 and V2, which was the reverse of that in the LOC. When inspecting the neural activity change across the visual pathway, the activation remained high for the stimuli with more contour completion and increased for the stimuli with more contour representation. These results suggest distinct neural correlates of contour completion and contour representation, and the possible collaboration between the two processes during IC perception, indicating a neural connection between the discrete retinal input and the coherent visual percept.

High-Tc Ferromagnetism in a Co-doped ZnO System Dominated by the Formation of a Zinc-blende Type Co-rich ZnCoO Phase Chemical Communications (Cambridge, England). Jan, 2012 | Pubmed ID: 22057384 The modulation of the distribution of magnetic ions embedded in the host is crucial for the functionality of dilute magnetic semiconductors. Through an element-specific structural characterization, we observe the formation and enhancement of an unrevealed Co-doped ZnO phase and consequently magnetic properties from paramagnetism to ferromagnetism are controlled by surface-modification.

Discovery of a Novel Class of Potent and Orally Bioavailable Sphingosine 1-phosphate Receptor 1 Antagonists Journal of Medicinal Chemistry. Feb, 2012 | Pubmed ID: 22214363 A series of subtype selective sphingosine 1-phosphate receptor 1 (S1P(1)) antagonists are disclosed. Our high-throughput screening campaign revealed hit 1 for which an increase in potency and mouse oral exposure was achieved with minor modifications to the chemical scaffold. In vivo efficacy revealed that at high doses compounds 12 and 15 inhibited tumor growth. Further optimization of our lead series led to the discovery of proline derivatives 37 (XL541) and 38 which had similar efficacy as our first generation analogues at significantly lower doses. Analogue 37 displayed excellent pharmacokinetics and oral exposure in multiple species.

Persistence of Repeated Triadimefon Application and Its Impact on Soil Microbial Functional Diversity Journal of Environmental Science and Health. Part. B, Pesticides, Food Contaminants, and Agricultural Wastes. 2012 | Pubmed ID: 22251210 The effects of repeated applications of the fungicide triadimefon in agricultural soil on the microbial functional diversity of the soil and on the persistence of the fungicide in the soil were investigated under laboratory conditions. The degradation half-lives of triadimefon at the recommended dosage, simulated by a first-order kinetic model, were 23.90, 22.95, and 21.52 days for the first, second, and third applications, respectively. Throughout this study, no significant inhibition of the Shannon-Wiener index (H') was observed. However, the Simpson index (1/D) and the McIntosh index (U) were obviously reduced (p ≤ 0.05) during the initial 3 days after the first triadimefon application and thereafter, gradually recovered to or exceeded the level of the control soil. A similar trend in variation but with a faster recovery in the 1/D and U was observed after the second and third triadimefon applications, respectively. Taken together, the above results indicate that the repeated application of triadimefon enhanced the degradation rate of the fungicide and the recovery rate of the soil microbial functional diversity. It is concluded that repeated triadimefon applications in soil have a transient or temporary inhibitory effect on soil microbial communities.

Improvement of Competence After Preparation for Board Certification Examination American Journal of Health-system Pharmacy : AJHP : Official Journal of the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists. Feb, 2012 | Pubmed ID: 22261938

In Vitro ADME Profiling Using High-throughput Rapidfire Mass Spectrometry: Cytochrome P450 Inhibition and Metabolic Stability Assays Journal of Biomolecular Screening. Jul, 2012 | Pubmed ID: 22460176 Early assessment of absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion (ADME) properties of drug candidates has become an essential component of modern drug discovery. ADME characterization is important in identifying compounds early that are likely to fail in later clinical development because of suboptimal pharmacokinetic properties or undesirable drug-drug interactions. Proper utilization of ADME results, meanwhile, can prioritize candidates that are more likely to have good pharmacokinetic properties and also minimize potential drug-drug interactions. By integrating a RapidFire system with an API4000 mass spectrometer (RF-MS), we have established a high-throughput capability to profile compounds (>100 compounds/wk) in a panel of ADME assays in parallel with biochemical and cellular characterizations. Cytochrome P450 inhibition and time-dependent inhibition assays and microsomal stability assays were developed and fully optimized on the system. Compared with the classic liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry method, the RF-MS system generates consistent data with approximately 20-fold increase in throughput. The lack of chromatographic separation of compounds, substrates, and metabolites can complicate data interpretation, but this occurs in a small number of cases that are readily identifiable. Overall, this system has enabled a real-time and quantitative measurement of a large number of ADME samples, providing a rapid evaluation of clinically important drug-drug interaction potential and drug metabolic stability.

Discovery of a Novel Series of Potent and Orally Bioavailable Phosphoinositide 3-kinase Î³ Inhibitors Journal of Medicinal Chemistry. Jun, 2012 | Pubmed ID: 22548342 The phosphoinositide 3-kinases (PI3Ks) have been linked to an extraordinarily diversified group of cellular functions making these enzymes compelling targets for the treatment of disease. A large body of evidence has linked PI3KÎ³ to the modulation of autoimmune and inflammatory processes making it an intriguing target for drug discovery. Our high-throughput screening (HTS) campaign revealed two hits that were nominated for further optimization studies. The in vitro activity of the first HTS hit, designated as the sulfonylpiperazine scaffold, was optimized utilizing structure-based design. However, nonoptimal pharmacokinetic properties precluded this series from further studies. An overlay of the X-ray structures of the sulfonylpiperazine scaffold and the second HTS hit within their complexes with PI3KÎ³ revealed a high degree of overlap. This feature was utilized to design a series of hybrid analogues including advanced leads such as 31 with desirable potency, selectivity, and oral bioavailability.

The Design, Synthesis, and Biological Evaluation of Potent Receptor Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry Letters. Aug, 2012 | Pubmed ID: 22765894 Variously substituted indolin-2-ones were synthesized and evaluated for activity against KDR, Flt-1, FGFR-1 and PDGFR. Extension at the 5-position of the oxindole ring with ethyl piperidine (compound 7i) proved to be the most beneficial for attaining both biochemical and cellular potencies. Further optimization of 7i to balance biochemical and cellular potencies with favorable ADME/ PK properties led to the identification of 8h, a compound with a clean CYP profile, acceptable pharmacokinetic and toxicity profiles, and robust efficacy in multiple xenograft tumor models.

Vaccinia Virus Virion Membrane Biogenesis Protein A11 Associates with Viral Membranes in a Manner That Requires the Expression of Another Membrane Biogenesis Protein, A6 Journal of Virology. Oct, 2012 | Pubmed ID: 22875972 A group of vaccinia virus (VACV) proteins, including A11, L2, and A6, are required for biogenesis of the primary envelope of VACV, specifically, for the acquisition of viral membrane precursors. However, the interconnection among these proteins is unknown and, with the exception of L2, the connection of these proteins with membranes is also unknown. In this study, prompted by the findings that A6 coprecipitated A11 and that the cellular distribution of A11 was dramatically altered by repression of A6 expression, we studied the localization of A11 in cells by using immunofluorescence and cell fractionation analysis. A11 was found to associate with membranes and colocalize with virion membrane proteins in viral replication factories during normal VACV replication. A11 partitioned almost equally between the detergent and aqueous phases upon Triton X-114 phase separation, demonstrating an intrinsic affinity with lipids. However, in the absence of infection or VACV late protein synthesis, A11 did not associate with cellular membranes. Furthermore, when A6 expression was repressed, A11 did not colocalize with any viral membrane proteins or associate with membranes. In contrast, when virion envelope formation was blocked at a later step by repression of A14 expression or by rifampin treatment, A11 colocalized with virion membrane proteins in the factories. Altogether, our data showed that A11 associates with viral membranes during VACV replication, and this association requires A6 expression. This study provides a physical connection between A11 and viral membranes and suggests that A6 regulates A11 membrane association.

MiR-26a Enhances Metastasis Potential of Lung Cancer Cells Via AKT Pathway by Targeting PTEN Biochimica Et Biophysica Acta. Nov, 2012 | Pubmed ID: 22885155 Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer related death, 90% of lung cancer patients die of metastasis. Many microRNAs (miRNAs) are deregulated in cancer. They are involved in tumorigenesis and function as oncogenes or tumor suppressor genes. Recent studies show that miRNAs may be responsible for tumor metastasis. Several functional studies show that miR-26a plays an important role in carcinogenesis; however, none of these studies is related to tumor metastasis. In the present study, we investigated the effect of miR-26a on metastasis potential of lung cancer cells. Our data showed that miR-26a expression level was higher in lymph node metastasis tumor tissues than in primary tumor tissues. Ectopic expression of miR-26a dramatically enhanced lung cancer cell migration and invasion abilities. Metastasis-related genes matrix metallopeptidase 2 (MMP-2), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), Twist and β-catenin were upregulated. Phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) was a direct target of miR-26a. Further mechanistic study revealed that miR-26a increased AKT phosphorylation and nuclear factor kappa B (NFκB) transcriptional activation. Our study demonstrated that miR-26a enhanced lung cancer cell metastasis potential via modulation of metastasis-related gene expression, and activation of AKT pathway by PTEN suppression, suggesting that miR-26a might be a potential therapeutic candidate in patients with metastatic lung cancer.

[Reasonable Surgical Approach for Grade III Cervical Intraepithelial Neoplasia] Zhong Nan Da Xue Xue Bao. Yi Xue Ban = Journal of Central South University. Medical Sciences. Aug, 2012 | Pubmed ID: 22954923 To analyze the clinical pathologic characteristics of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade III (CINIII ) and to explore optimal surgery for CINIII patients.

Inhibitory Effect of Extracellular Polysaccharide EPS-II from Pseudoalteromonas on Candida Adhesion to Cornea in Vitro Biomedical and Environmental Sciences : BES. Apr, 2012 | Pubmed ID: 22998829 Fungal keratitis (FK) is a vision-threatening infection, whose treatment requires more effective and safer anti-fungal agent exploitation urgently. With this aim, we focused on the effect of an extracellular polysaccharide on fungal adhesion to human corneal epithelial cells.

Ultraviolet Single-frequency Coupled Optofluidic Ring Resonator Dye Laser Optics Express. Aug, 2012 | Pubmed ID: 23037052 Ultraviolet single-frequency lasing is realized in a coupled optofluidic ring resonator (COFRR) dye laser that consists of a thin-walled capillary microfluidic ring resonator and a cylindrical resonator. The whispering gallery modes (WGMs) in each resonator couple to each other and generate single-frequency laser emission. Single-frequency lasing occurs at 386.75 nm with a pump threshold of 5.9 μJ/mm. The side-mode-suppression ratio (SMSR) is about 20 dB. Moreover, the laser emits mainly in two directions, and each of them has a divergence of only 10.5°.

Ultrasensitive Label-free Coupled Optofluidic Ring Laser Sensor Optics Letters. Sep, 2012 | Pubmed ID: 23041888 A coupled optofluidic ring laser sensor is fabricated, and its ultrasensitive bulk refractive index and surface mass sensing properties are demonstrated. The sensor consists of a cylindrical ring laser and a thin-walled optofluidic capillary ring resonator. Coupling of the whispering gallery mode in the two resonators generates a largely magnified sensitivity due to the Vernier effect. A sensitivity of 2510 nm/RIU and magnification factor of 355 are achieved experimentally in aqueous solution, which corresponds to a noise equivalent detection limit of 1.6×10(-5) RIU for bulk RI detection. The new sensor configuration provides a convenient way to achieve ultrasensitive biological and chemical sensing.

All-optically-controlled Nanoparticle Transporting and Manipulating at SOI Waveguide Intersections Optics Express. Oct, 2012 | Pubmed ID: 23187179 All-optically controlled nanoparticle manipulating units based on optical waveguide intersections are designed and their performance on nanoparticle trapping, redirecting, sorting and binding force measurement are theoretically analyzed. Our calculation shows that these simple units have trapping abilities comparable with most near field trapping tools and are capable of realizing multiple sorting and analyzing functions.

Apoptosis Induced by Benzyl Isothiocyanate in Gefitinib-resistant Lung Cancer Cells is Associated with Akt/MAPK Pathways and Generation of Reactive Oxygen Species Cell Biochemistry and Biophysics. May, 2013 | Pubmed ID: 23111983 Gefitinib is the first targeted drug approved for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treatment. Clinical trails showed that patients with certain clinical and histologic characteristics (such as women, patients of East Asian descent, no history of smoking, and adenocarcinoma) had higher rates of response and overall survival. Despite excellent clinical response to gefitinib in certain NSCLC patients, nearly all patients who respond initially to gefitinib later develop drug resistance. Isothiocyanates have been shown to possess antitumor activity, inhibiting several types of cancer cells growth. However, there are limited studies on their effects on chemoresistance of cancer cells. In this report, we found that benzyl isothiocyanate (BITC) inhibited gefitinib-resistant human NSCLC cells growth by inducing apoptosis in a dose-dependent manner, and activated caspase-3. There were no effects of BITC on epidermal growth factor receptor and multidrug resistant proteins expression. BITC caused cell cycle arrest at G2/M phase, reactive oxygen species generation, and glutathione depletion. Akt activity and NFκB transcriptional activation were suppressed; mitogen-activated protein kinase and activator protein 1 (AP-1) were activated. Our results demonstrated that BITC overcame gefitinib resistance in lung cancer cells. The further understanding of the anti-resistance mechanism of BITC would contribute to establish it as a potent lead compound for the synthesis of novel anticancer drugs.

Highly Diastereoselective Multicomponent Cascade Reactions: Efficient Synthesis of Functionalized 1-indanols Angewandte Chemie (International Ed. in English). Jan, 2013 | Pubmed ID: 23280673

Facile Template-free Synthesis and Visible-light Driven Photocatalytic Performances of Dendritic CdS Hierarchical Structures Dalton Transactions (Cambridge, England : 2003). Apr, 2013 | Pubmed ID: 23358545 In this paper, large scale hierarchical CdS dendrites are synthesized via a facile and effective hydrothermal route. The morphologies, microstructures and photocatalytic properties of the as-synthesized products are investigated in detail. Individual CdS dendrites consist of a long central trunk with secondary and tertiary sharp branches, which preferentially grow in a parallel direction with a definite angle to the trunk. A possible growth mechanism for CdS dendrites is proposed based on the experimental results and phenomena. Photocatalytic tests reveal that eosin red can be degraded nearly completely (over 95%) after visible light irradiation of 100 min. In addition, Congo red and methylene blue aqueous solution degradation experiments are also conducted under the same conditions, revealing versatile potential applications of such dendritic structures for wastewater purification.

Enantioselective Trapping of Phosphoramidate Ammonium Ylides with Imino Esters for Synthesis of 2,3-diaminosuccinic Acid Derivatives Chemical Communications (Cambridge, England). May, 2013 | Pubmed ID: 23358554 A highly enantioselective trapping of protic phosphoramidate ammonium ylides with α-imino esters is reported. The intriguing Rh2(OAc)4 and chiral Brønsted acid co-catalyzed three-component Mannich-type reaction of a diazo compound, a phosphoramidate, and an α-imino ester provides a rapid and efficient access to 2,3-diaminosuccinic acid derivatives with a high level control of diastereo- and enantioselectivity.

Low Expression of Beclin 1 and Elevated Expression of HIF-1α Refine Distant Metastasis Risk and Predict Poor Prognosis of ER-positive, HER2-negative Breast Cancer Medical Oncology (Northwood, London, England). Mar, 2013 | Pubmed ID: 23408367 Even though ER-positive, HER2-negative breast tumors represent a subset of breast cancers with a better clinical outcome, approximately 12.7 % of patients in this subgroup ultimately develop cancer-related mortality. Recent studies had confirmed that hypoxia-induced autophagy-related gene Beclin 1 expression might be important for disease progression and be correlated with patient outcome in several tumors. Here, we examined the autophagic Beclin 1 and hypoxic HIF-1α levels in 378 ER-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer patients by immunohistochemistry using tissue microarray. We found that Beclin 1 was highly expressed in normal mammary gland epithelia. In contrast, it was either not expressed or only moderately expressed in 78.0 % of breast adenocarcinoma tissue. Compared to the subset overexpressing Beclin 1, the subset in which Beclin 1 levels were reduced had a poor 5-year overall survival rate (OS, 85.1 % vs. 94.1 %, P = 0.005) and a poor distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS, 79.1 % vs. 89.3 %, P = 0.037). Cox multivariate analysis confirmed that Beclin 1 was indeed an independent prognostic factor for OS and DMFS. Additionally, Beclin 1 positively correlated with HIF-1α expression (r = 0.206, P < 0.001). Importantly, among patients with HIF-1α overexpression, low levels of Beclin 1 predicted a worse OS. Our study confirmed that deficiency of Beclin 1 was a negative prognostic factor for OS and DMFS in ER-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer. The combination of Beclin 1 and HIF-1α refined the risk definition of the patient subset and provided a novel way to identify those with a high risk of relapse.

Suppression of Bragg Reflection Glitches of a Single-crystal Diamond Anvil Cell by a Polycapillary Half-lens in High-pressure XAFS Spectroscopy Journal of Synchrotron Radiation. Mar, 2013 | Pubmed ID: 23412480 In combination with a single-crystal diamond anvil cell (DAC), a polycapillary half-lens (PHL) re-focusing optics has been used to perform high-pressure extended X-ray absorption fine-structure measurements. It is found that a large divergent X-ray beam induced by the PHL leads the Bragg glitches from single-crystal diamond to be broadened significantly and the intensity of the glitches to be reduced strongly so that most of the DAC glitches are efficiently suppressed. The remaining glitches can be easily removed by rotating the DAC by a few degrees with respect to the X-ray beam. Accurate X-ray absorption fine-structure (XAFS) spectra of polycrystalline Ge powder with a glitch-free energy range from -200 to 800 eV relative to the Ge absorption edge are obtained using this method at high pressures up to 23.7 GPa, demonstrating the capability of PHL optics in eliminating the DAC glitches for high-pressure XAFS experiments. This approach brings new possibilities to perform XAFS measurements using a DAC up to ultrahigh pressures.

Enantioselective Relay Catalytic Cascade Intramolecular Hydrosiloxylation and Mukaiyama Aldol Reaction Chemistry (Weinheim an Der Bergstrasse, Germany). May, 2013 | Pubmed ID: 23526692 Cascading chemistry! The first practical relay catalytic cascade intramolecular hydrosiloxylation of arylacetylene and asymmetric Mukaiyama aldol reaction has been established to give synthetically useful products in high yields and with excellent ee (see scheme).

Thresholded Two-phase Test Sample Representation for Outlier Rejection in Biological Recognition Computational and Mathematical Methods in Medicine. 2013 | Pubmed ID: 23554837 The two-phase test sample representation (TPTSR) was proposed as a useful classifier for face recognition. However, the TPTSR method is not able to reject the impostor, so it should be modified for real-world applications. This paper introduces a thresholded TPTSR (T-TPTSR) method for complex object recognition with outliers, and two criteria for assessing the performance of outlier rejection and member classification are defined. The performance of the T-TPTSR method is compared with the modified global representation, PCA and LDA methods, respectively. The results show that the T-TPTSR method achieves the best performance among them according to the two criteria.

Three-dimensional Identification of Microorganisms Using a Digital Holographic Microscope Computational and Mathematical Methods in Medicine. 2013 | Pubmed ID: 23606897 This paper reports a method for three-dimensional (3D) analysis of shift-invariant pattern recognition and applies to holographic images digitally reconstructed from holographic microscopes. It is shown that the sequential application of a 2D filter to the plane-by-plane reconstruction of an optical field is exactly equivalent to the application of a more general filter with a 3D impulse response. We show that any 3D filters with arbitrary impulse response can be implemented in this way. This type of processing is applied to the two-class problem of distinguishing different types of bacteria. It is shown that the proposed technique can be easily implemented using a modified microscope to develop a powerful and cost-effective system with great potential for biological screening.

Photosensitizing Effects of Nanometer TiO2 on Chlorothalonil Photodegradation in Aqueous Solution and on the Surface of Pepper Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. May, 2013 | Pubmed ID: 23646907 The present study examined the effects of anatase nanometer TiO2 on photochemical degradation of chlorothalonil in aqueous solution and on the plant surface. Results showed that nanometer TiO2 exhibited a strong photosensitizing effect on the degradation of chlorothalonil both in aqueous solution and on the surface of green pepper. The photosensitization rate was the highest in the sunlight compared to illumination under high-pressure mercury and UV lamps. Use of distinct hydroxyl radical scavengers indicated that nanometer TiO2 acted by producing hydroxyl radicals with strong oxidizing capacity. Notably, nanometer TiO2 facilitated complete photodegradation of chlorothalonil with no detectable accumulation of the intermediate chlorothalonil-4-hydroxy. Nanometer TiO2 was also active on the surface of green pepper under natural sunlight both inside and outside of plastic greenhouse. These results together suggest that nanometer TiO2 can be used as a photosensitizer to accelerate degradation of the pesticides under greenhouse conditions.

Effects of Allelochemical Extracted from Water Lettuce (Pistia Stratiotes Linn.) on the Growth, Microcystin Production and Release of Microcystis Aeruginosa Environmental Science and Pollution Research International. Nov, 2013 | Pubmed ID: 23653319 This study explored the optimisation of a method of extracting allelochemicals from Pistia stratiotes Linn., identified the optimal dose range for the allelochemicals' anti-algal effect and investigated their impact on the growth of Microcystis aeruginosa, as well as the production and release of microcystin-LR (MC-LR). Based on measured changes in algal cell density and chlorophyll a (Chl-a) content, the allelochemicals were confirmed to have the strongest anti-algal effect with the lowest half-effect concentration of 65 mg L(-1) when they were extracted using ethyl acetate as the extraction solvent, 1:20 g mL(-1) as the extraction ratio and 1 h as the extraction time. The allelochemicals extracted from P. stratiotes using this optimal method exhibited the strongest inhibitory effect on the growth of algae when used within a dose range of 60-100 mg L(-1); the relative inhibitory ratio reached 50-90%, and Chl-a content reduced 50-75% in algae cell cultures within 3-7 days. In addition, the extracted allelochemical compounds demonstrated no significant impact on the extracellular release of MC-LR during the culturing period. The amount of intracellular MC-LR per 10(6) algal cells increased depending on the increasing dose of allelochemicals from P. stratiotes after 7 days of culturing and maintained stability after 16 days. There was no increase in the total amount of MC-LR in the algal cell culture medium. Therefore, the application of allelochemicals from P. stratiotes to inhibit M. aeruginosa has a high degree of ecological safety and can be adopted in practical applications for treating water subjected to algae blooms because the treatment can effectively inhibit the proliferation of algal cells without increasing the release of cyanotoxin.

Ternary Cycle Treatment of High Saline Wastewater from Pesticide Production Using a Salt-tolerant Microorganism Water Science and Technology : a Journal of the International Association on Water Pollution Research. 2013 | Pubmed ID: 23656938 The material of this study is provided by biological aerobic treatment of high saline wastewater from pesticide production. The microorganism used for biodegradation has been identified by gene-sequencing as a strain of Bacillus sp. SCUN. The best growth condition for the salt-tolerant microorganism has been studied by varying the pH, immobilized microorganism dosage and temperature conditions. The feasibility of pretreating wastewater in ethyl chloride production containing 4% NaCl has been discussed. It was found that under the pH range of 6.0-8.0, immobilized microorganism dosage of 1.5 g/L, temperature of 30 °C, and NaCl concentration of 0-3%, the microorganism achieves the best growth for biodegradation. After domestication, the strain can grow under 4% NaCl. This salt-tolerant microorganism is effective in the pretreated high saline wastewater. With a newly developed ternary cycle treatment, the chemical oxygen demand removal approaches 58.3%. The theoretical basis and a new method for biological treatments in biodegradation of high saline wastewater in ethyl chloride production are discussed.

Analysis of the Role of Vaccinia Virus H7 in Virion Membrane Biogenesis with an H7-deletion Mutant Journal of Virology. Jul, 2013 | Pubmed ID: 23678177 Essential vaccinia virus genes are often studied with conditional-lethal inducible mutants. Here, we constructed a deletion mutant lacking the essential H7R gene (the ΔH7 mutant) with an H7-expressing cell line. Compared to an inducible H7 mutant, the ΔH7 mutant showed a defect at an earlier step of virion membrane biogenesis, before the development of short crescent-shaped precursors of the viral envelope. Our studies refine the role of H7 in virion membrane biogenesis and highlight the values of analyzing deletion mutants.

Kerr Parametric Oscillations and Frequency Comb Generation from Dispersion Compensated Silica Micro-bubble Resonators Optics Express. Jul, 2013 | Pubmed ID: 23938539 Silica micro-bubble resonators (MBRs) with cavity quality factor as high as Q = 5 × 10(7) are fabricated. The total dispersion of MBRs is analyzed. The thin-wall structure opens a new anomalous dispersion window and thus supports the dispersion compensation for hyper-parametric frequency conversion processes. Experimentally, Kerr parametric oscillation is observed in a 136 μm diameter MBR, frequency comb generation is also realized. Meanwhile the same nonlinear process is not allowed in solid silica spheres with size smaller than 150 μm.

Towards a Highly Efficient Simulated Sunlight Driven Photocatalyst: a Case of Heterostructured ZnO/ZnS Hybrid Structure Dalton Transactions (Cambridge, England : 2003). Oct, 2013 | Pubmed ID: 23942966 Large scale ZnO/ZnS heterostructured microflowers are fabricated through a rapid and facile strategy via microwave-assisted in situ surface sulfidation route. The as-obtained product possesses an average diameter of about 2 μm and is composed of many thin nanowires. Through a careful inspection under various growth conditions, the morphologies of the as-prepared hybrid structures could be controlled by tailoring the concentration of thioacetamide (TAA) solution during the microwave irradiation, and a possible growth mechanism was proposed. The photocatalytic experiment results for the photodegradation of eosin B under simulated sunlight irradiation revealed that the hybrid nanostructures possess significantly higher photocatalytic activity which is about triple that of the original ZnO precursors, indicating their potential applications in organically polluted water treatment. The optimal sulfidation concentration to realize the maximum photocatalytic activity in the ZnO/ZnS hybrid structures is also proposed and discussed. Meanwhile, this facile, rapid microwave-assisted strategy is scalable and can be extended to synthesize other oxide/sulfide (MOx/MSy) heterostructures.

Serial Binary Interval Ratios Improve Rhythm Reproduction Frontiers in Psychology. 2013 | Pubmed ID: 23964258 Musical rhythm perception is a natural human ability that involves complex cognitive processes. Rhythm refers to the organization of events in time, and musical rhythms have an underlying hierarchical metrical structure. The metrical structure induces the feeling of a beat and the extent to which a rhythm induces the feeling of a beat is referred to as its metrical strength. Binary ratios are the most frequent interval ratio in musical rhythms. Rhythms with hierarchical binary ratios are better discriminated and reproduced than rhythms with hierarchical non-binary ratios. However, it remains unclear whether a superiority of serial binary over non-binary ratios in rhythm perception and reproduction exists. In addition, how different types of serial ratios influence the metrical strength of rhythms remains to be elucidated. The present study investigated serial binary vs. non-binary ratios in a reproduction task. Rhythms formed with exclusively binary (1:2:4:8), non-binary integer (1:3:5:6), and non-integer (1:2.3:5.3:6.4) ratios were examined within a constant meter. The results showed that the 1:2:4:8 rhythm type was more accurately reproduced than the 1:3:5:6 and 1:2.3:5.3:6.4 rhythm types, and the 1:2.3:5.3:6.4 rhythm type was more accurately reproduced than the 1:3:5:6 rhythm type. Further analyses showed that reproduction performance was better predicted by the distribution pattern of event occurrences within an inter-beat interval, than by the coincidence of events with beats, or the magnitude and complexity of interval ratios. Whereas rhythm theories and empirical data emphasize the role of the coincidence of events with beats in determining metrical strength and predicting rhythm performance, the present results suggest that rhythm processing may be better understood when the distribution pattern of event occurrences is taken into account. These results provide new insights into the mechanisms underlining musical rhythm perception.

Self-referencing Optofluidic Ring Resonator Sensor for Highly Sensitive Biomolecular Detection Analytical Chemistry. Oct, 2013 | Pubmed ID: 23992426 The noise-suppression techniques of label-free optical ring resonator sensors are crucial to improve their practical sensing capabilities for biochemical analysis and detection in extremely small detection concentration. We have developed a self-referencing optofluidic ring resonator (SR-OFRR) to vastly improve its sensing capability as a label-free optical biosensor. By monitoring the mode-splitting separation generated on a coupled ring resonator system, the common-mode noise is suppressed by 2 orders of magnitude without any external noise-suppression techniques. In this work, we first carried out theoretical analysis to elucidate the sensing principle and then applied the SR-OFRR biosensor to experimentally detect bovine serum albumin with a concentration detection limit on the order of 1 pg/mL (~15 fM).

[Effect of Electroacupuncture Stimulation of "Huantiao" (GB 30) on Walking Ability and Touch Sensation in Rabbits with Lumbar Intervertebral Disc Protrusion] Zhen Ci Yan Jiu = Acupuncture Research. Jun, 2013 | Pubmed ID: 24006667 To observe the effect of electroacupuncture (EA) stimulation of "Huantiao" (GB 30) on the walking ability and touch sensation in rabbits with lumbar intervertebral disc protrusion (LIDP).

Hybrid Gold/chiral Brønsted Acid Relay Catalysis Allows an Enantioselective Synthesis of (-)-5-epi-eupomatilone-6 The Journal of Organic Chemistry. Jan, 2014 | Pubmed ID: 24328038 An enantioselective synthesis of (-)-5-epi-eupomatilone-6 has been accomplished by using relay catalytic cascade intramolecular hydrosiloxylation and Mukaiyama aldol reaction of 2,3,4-trimethoxy-6-(phenylethynyl)phenyl dimethylsilanol with fluorenylglyoxylate.

Purification Effects of Two Eco-ditch Systems on Chinese Soft-shelled Turtle Greenhouse Culture Wastewater Pollution Environmental Science and Pollution Research International. Apr, 2014 | Pubmed ID: 24420561 The present study used an eco-ditch system that employed Eichhornia crassipes, Bacillus subtilis, and Bellamya aeruginosa (E-B-B) during the summer and fall (high temperature) seasons and a second eco-ditch system that employed Elodea nuttallii, a compound microbial preparation called "EM bacteria", and Hypophthalmichthys molitrix (E-E-H) during the winter and spring (low temperature) seasons successively to purify the discharged wastewater produced by Chinese soft-shelled turtle greenhouse cultivation. The wastewater was sampled, and the dynamic changes in the major nutrient pollutant indicators over several months were analysed. After the E-B-B and E-E-H eco-ditch purification systems were operated for nearly 140 days each, the following results were observed: the total nitrogen (TN) removal rates in the wastewater were 75 % and 69 %, respectively; the total phosphorus (TP) removal rates were 82 % and 86 %, respectively; the NH4 (+)-N removal rates were 91 % and 75 %, respectively; the chemical oxygen demand (CODcr) decreased 54 % and 44 %, respectively; the dissolved oxygen (DO) contents increased nearly 3 to 4 times; and the wastewater was maintained at neutral or alkaline pH values. The wastewater physical traits gradually changed from being yellow, brown, and muddy to being pale yellow, slightly turbid, and odourless. Both eco-ditch systems were observed to have a relatively favourable effect on the purification of Chinese soft-shelled turtle aquaculture wastewater. The continuous use of both eco-ditch systems could result in a year-round purification effect on Chinese soft-shelled turtle greenhouse aquaculture wastewater; therefore, this method has good prospects for promotion and application.

Hierarchical SnO₂ Nanostructures Made of Intermingled Ultrathin Nanosheets for Environmental Remediation, Smart Gas Sensor, and Supercapacitor Applications ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces. Feb, 2014 | Pubmed ID: 24443836 In this paper, the hierarchical SnO2 nanostructures (HTNs) were prepared by a facile hydrothermal process. The prepared HTNs were characterized in detail by various analytical techniques that reveal the well-crystallinity with tetragonal rutile structure of SnO2 for the as-prepared material. By detailed experiments, interestingly, it was observed that the shapes and sizes of as-prepared HTNs could be tailored by varying the precursor concentration and reaction time. The synthesized HTNs were used as the efficient photocatalysts for the photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue (MB) under light illumination which showed almost complete degradation (∼99%) of MB dye in 20 min. The observed degradation for MB dye was higher than other commonly used dyes, i.e. methyl orange (MO; 96% in 50 min) and Rhodamine B (RhB; 97% in 40 min.). Further, the prepared HTNs were used as the effective gas sensing material to examine a series of volatile gases, such as ethanol, ammonia, benzene, acetone, toluene, methanol, diethyl ether, and methanol. By the detailed experiments, it was observed that the prepared HTNs exhibited tremendous gas sensing performance toward ethanol. Finally, because of the unique morphology and the fast ion and electron transfer characteristics, the prepared HTNs show excellent supercapacitor performances.

Bimetallic Ruthenium Complexes Bridged by Divinylphenylene Bearing Oligo(ethylene Glycol)methylether: Synthesis, (spectro)electrochemistry and the Lithium Cation Effect Dalton Transactions (Cambridge, England : 2003). Mar, 2014 | Pubmed ID: 24457499 A series of 1,4-disubstituted ruthenium-vinyl complexes, (E,E)-[{(PMe3)3(CO)ClRu}2(μ-HC=CH-Ar-CH=CH)], in which the 1,4-diethenylphenylene bridge bears two oligo(ethylene glycol)methyl ether side chains at different positions (2,5- and 2,3-positions), were prepared. The respective products were characterized by elemental analyses and NMR spectroscopy. The structures of complexes 1b and 1e were established by X-ray crystallography. The electronic properties of the complexes were investigated by cyclic voltammetry, and IR and UV-vis/NIR spectroscopies. Electrochemical studies showed that the 2,5-substituents better stabilized the mixed-valence states; the electrochemical behavior was greatly affected by lithium cations, especially complex 1g with 2,3-substituents, which was further supported by IR and UV-vis/NIR spectra changes. Spectroelectrochemical studies showed that the redox chemistry was dominated by the non-innocent character of the bridging fragment.

Dendritic CdS Assemblies for Removal of Organic Dye Molecules Dalton Transactions (Cambridge, England : 2003). Mar, 2014 | Pubmed ID: 24481318 In this paper, novel CdS 3D assemblies are prepared via a facile and effective hydrothermal route using dimethyl sulfoxide as the growth template. Morphologies, microstructures and photocatalytic properties of the as-synthesized products are investigated in detail. It was found that dimethyl sulfoxide played an important role in the formation of CdS assemblies. A possible growth mechanism for CdS assemblies was proposed based on the experimental results. In addition, CdS assemblies exhibit superior photocatalytic activities by the photodegradation of eosin B, Methyl orange (MO) and Rhodamine B (RhB) under visible light irradiation, with a comparison with other CdS nanostructures, P25 and α-Fe2O3 powders, demonstrating potential applications in removal of organic dye molecules from waste water.

Protective Effect of Mulberry Extract Against Pb-induced Learning and Memory Deficits in Mice Biomedical and Environmental Sciences : BES. Jan, 2014 | Pubmed ID: 24553379

Optimal Scheduling of Multiple Sensors in Continuous Time ISA Transactions. May, 2014 | Pubmed ID: 24630237 This paper considers an optimal sensor scheduling problem in continuous time. In order to make the model more close to the practical problems, suppose that the following conditions are satisfied: only one sensor may be active at any one time; an admissible sensor schedule is a piecewise constant function with a finite number of switches; and each sensor either doesn't operate or operates for a minimum non-negligible amount of time. However, the switching times are unknown, and the feasible region isn't connected. Thus, it's difficult to solve the problem by conventional optimization techniques. To overcome this difficulty, by combining a binary relaxation, a time-scaling transformation and an exact penalty function, an algorithm is developed for solving this problem. Numerical results show that the algorithm is effective.

Synthesis of 3-amino-3-hydroxymethyloxindoles and 3-hydroxy-3-hydroxymethyloxindoles by Rh2(OAc)4-catalyzed Three-component Reactions of 3-diazooxindoles with Formaldehyde and Anilines or Water The Journal of Organic Chemistry. May, 2014 | Pubmed ID: 24702591 Efficient Rh(II)-catalyzed three-component reactions of 3-diazooxindoles and formaldehyde with either anilines or water were developed to give a series of substituted 3-amino-3-hydroxymethyloxindoles or 3-hydroxy-3-hydroxymethyloxindoles in good to excellent yields. In this atom- and step-economic transformation, Rh2(OAc)4-catalyzed decomposition of 3-diazooxindoles with anilines or water forms the corresponding active ammonium or oxonium ylides. Electrophilic trapping of the resulting ammonium ylides or oxonium ylides by formaldehyde in the form of formalin efficiently produces the title compounds in one step.

Enantioselective Construction of [6,5,6]-carbocyclic Systems by Organo/metal-catalyzed Sequential Reactions The Journal of Organic Chemistry. May, 2014 | Pubmed ID: 24742320 An efficient strategy for the enantioselective construction of [6,5,6]-carbocyclic compounds has been established via one-pot reaction of (E)-4-(2-ethynylphenyl)but-3-en-2-ones with maleimide sequentially catalyzed by cinchona alkaloid-based primary amine and gold complex (Ph3PAuNTf2). This methodology provided a facile approach to access the [6,5,6]-tricyclic skeleton in fairly good yield and with perfect enantioselectivities (98% to >99% ee).

Optofluidic Laser for Dual-mode Sensitive Biomolecular Detection with a Large Dynamic Range Nature Communications. 2014 | Pubmed ID: 24781061 Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) is a powerful method for biomolecular analysis. The traditional ELISA employing light intensity as the sensing signal often encounters large background arising from non-specific bindings, material autofluorescence and leakage of excitation light, which deteriorates its detection limit and dynamic range. Here we develop the optofluidic laser-based ELISA, where ELISA occurs inside a laser cavity. The laser onset time is used as the sensing signal, which is inversely proportional to the enzyme concentration and hence the analyte concentration inside the cavity. We first elucidate the principle of the optofluidic laser-based ELISA, and then characterize the optofluidic laser performance. Finally, we present the dual-mode detection of interleukin-6 using commercial ELISA kits, where the sensing signals are simultaneously obtained by the traditional and the optofluidic laser-based ELISA, showing a detection limit of 1 fg ml(-1) (38 aM) and a dynamic range of 6 orders of magnitude.

Pressure-induced Semiconducting to Metallic Transition in Multilayered Molybdenum Disulphide Nature Communications. May, 2014 | Pubmed ID: 24806118 Molybdenum disulphide is a layered transition metal dichalcogenide that has recently raised considerable interest due to its unique semiconducting and opto-electronic properties. Although several theoretical studies have suggested an electronic phase transition in molybdenum disulphide, there has been a lack of experimental evidence. Here we report comprehensive studies on the pressure-dependent electronic, vibrational, optical and structural properties of multilayered molybdenum disulphide up to 35 GPa. Our experimental results reveal a structural lattice distortion followed by an electronic transition from a semiconducting to metallic state at ~19 GPa, which is confirmed by ab initio calculations. The metallization arises from the overlap of the valance and conduction bands owing to sulphur-sulphur interactions as the interlayer spacing reduces. The electronic transition affords modulation of the opto-electronic gain in molybdenum disulphide. This pressure-tuned behaviour can enable the development of novel devices with multiple phenomena involving the strong coupling of the mechanical, electrical and optical properties of layered nanomaterials.

[Salidroside Attenuates High Glucose-induced Apoptosis in Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells Via Activating the Ca(2)+/CaM/CAMKIIδ/eNOS Pathway] Zhonghua Xin Xue Guan Bing Za Zhi. Apr, 2014 | Pubmed ID: 24924461 Endothelial oxidative stress plays an important role in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular disease. Salidroside, a phenylpropanoid glycoside isolated from Rhodiola rosea L, could exert potent antioxidant properties. In this study, we investigated the protective effects, and related mechanism of salidroside against high glucose (33 mmol/L)-induced cell damage in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs).

Identification and Characterization of Small-Molecule Inhibitors of the R132H/R132H Mutant Isocitrate Dehydrogenase 1 Homodimer and R132H/Wild-Type Heterodimer Journal of Biomolecular Screening. Sep, 2014 | Pubmed ID: 24980596 Recurrent genetic mutations in isocitrate dehydrogenase 1 and 2 (IDH1 and IDH2) have been identified in multiple tumor types. The most frequent mutation, IDH1 R132H, is a gain-of-function mutation resulting in an enzyme-catalyzing conversion of α-ketoglutarate (α-KG) to 2-hydroxyglutarate (2-HG). A high-throughput assay quantifying consumption of NADPH by IDH1 R132H has been optimized and implemented to screen 3 million compounds in 1536-well formats. The primary high-throughput screening hits were further characterized by RapidFire-mass spectrometry measuring 2-HG directly. Multiple distinct chemotypes were identified with nanomolar potencies (6-300 nM). All inhibitors were found to be inactive against the wild-type IDH1 homodimers. An IDH1 heterodimer between wild-type and R132H mutant is capable of catalyzing conversion of α-KG to 2-HG and isocitrate to α-KG. Interestingly, one of the inhibitors, EXEL-9324, was found to inhibit both conversions by the IDH1 heterodimer. This indicates the R132H/WT heterodimer may adopt conformations distinct from that of the R132H/R132H homodimer. Further enzymatic studies support this conclusion as the heterodimer exhibited a significantly lower apparent Michaelis-Menten constant for α-KG (K(m)=110 µM) compared with the R132H homodimer (K(m)= 1200 µM). The enhanced apparent affinity for α-KG suggests R132H/WT heterodimeric IDH1 can produce 2-HG more efficiently at normal intracellular levels of α-KG (approximately 100 µM).

Gold-catalyzed [1,5]-hydride Shift Onto Unactivated Alkynes to Trigger an Intermolecular Diels-Alder Reaction Organic Letters. Jul, 2014 | Pubmed ID: 24988499 A [1,5]-hydride shift of sp(3) C-H onto an unactivated carbon-carbon triple bond catalyzed by a gold(I) complex enabled N-propargylisoindolines to be latent dienes and therefore triggered an intermolecular Diels-Alder reaction with dienophiles. This protocol provides an atom-economical and straightforward approach to access a wide range of polycyclic skeletons in high yields and with excellent diastereoselectivities from easily accessible molecules.

Congenital Cataract: Prevalence and Surgery Age at Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center (ZOC) PloS One. 2014 | Pubmed ID: 24992190 Congenital cataract (CC) is the primary cause of treatable childhood blindness. Population-based assessments of prevalence and surgery age of CC, which are critical for improving management strategies, have been unavailable in China until now. We conducted a hospital-based, cross-sectional study of the hospital charts of CC patients younger than 18 years old from January 2005 to December 2010 at Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center (ZOC) in Guangzhou, China. Residence, gender, age at surgery, hospitalization time, and the presence of other ocular abnormalities were extracted and statistically analyzed in different subgroups. The search identified 1314 patients diagnosed with CC from a total of 136154 hospitalizations, which accounted for 2.39% of all the cataract in-patients and 1.06% of the total in-patients over the six-year study period. Of the identified CC patients, 9.2% had ≥ 2 hospitalizations due to the necessity of additional surgeries, with a total ratio of boys to girls of 1.75 ∶ 1. Based on a subgroup analysis according to age, patients 2-6 years old constituted the highest proportion (29.22%) of all hospitalized CC patients, and those 13-18 years old constituted the lowest proportion (13.47%) of the total number. The average age at surgery was 27.62 ± 23.36 months, but CC patients ≤ 6 years old (especially ≤ 6 months old) became increasingly prevalent throughout the 6-year study period. A total of 276 cases (20.93%) of CC were associated with one or more other ocular abnormalities, the highest incidence rates were observed for exotropia (6.24%), nystagmus (6.16%), and refractive error (3.65%). In conclusion, CC patients accounted for 2.39% of all cataract in-patients in a review of 6 years of hospitalization charts from ZOC. The age at the time of surgery decreased over the 6-year study period, which probably reflects the continuing improvement of public awareness of children's eye care in China.

Structural Damage Identification Based on Rough Sets and Artificial Neural Network TheScientificWorldJournal. 2014 | Pubmed ID: 25013847 This paper investigates potential applications of the rough sets (RS) theory and artificial neural network (ANN) method on structural damage detection. An information entropy based discretization algorithm in RS is applied for dimension reduction of the original damage database obtained from finite element analysis (FEA). The proposed approach is tested with a 14-bay steel truss model for structural damage detection. The experimental results show that the damage features can be extracted efficiently from the combined utilization of RS and ANN methods even the volume of measurement data is enormous and with uncertainties.

Resveratrol Attenuates Hypoxia/reoxygenation‑induced Ca2+ Overload by Inhibiting the Wnt5a/Frizzled‑2 Pathway in Rat H9c2 Cells Molecular Medicine Reports. Nov, 2014 | Pubmed ID: 25120137 Resveratrol is able to protect myocardial cells from ischemia/reperfusion‑induced injury. However, the mechanism has yet to be fully elucidated. In the present study, it is reported that resveratrol has a critical role in the control of Ca2+ overload, which is the primary underlying cause of ischemia/reperfusion injury. Hypoxia/reoxygenation (H/R) treatment decreased the cell viability and increased the apoptosis of H9c2 cells, whereas the caspase‑3 and intracellular Ca2+ levels were greatly elevated compared with the control group. Treatment of H9c2 cells with resveratrol (5, 15 and 30 µM) reduced caspase‑3 expression and cardiomyocyte apoptosis in a dose‑dependent manner, and the intracellular Ca2+ overload was also significantly decreased. Furthermore, Frizzled‑2 and Wnt5a belong to the non‑canonical Wnt/Ca2+ pathway, which have been demonstrated to be responsible for Ca2+ overload, and were thus detected in the present study. The results indicated that both the mRNA and protein expression levels of Frizzled‑2 and Wnt5a in H/R‑induced H9c2 cells were markedly increased compared with the levels found in normal cells, and treatment with resveratrol (5, 15 and 30 µM) significantly reduced the expression of Frizzled‑2 and Wnt5a compared with the H/R group. The results indicated that resveratrol protected myocardial cells from H/R injury by inhibiting the Ca2+ overload through suppression of the Wnt5a/Frizzled‑2 pathway.

Experimental and Theoretical Investigation on the Compression Mechanism of FeF3 Up to 62.0 GPa Acta Crystallographica Section B, Structural Science, Crystal Engineering and Materials. Oct, 2014 | Pubmed ID: 25274513 VF3-type FeF3 is generally considered as a perovskite with a completely vacant A site. The high-pressure structural evolution of FeF3 has been studied by both X-ray diffraction and theoretical simulation up to 62.0 GPa. Experimental and theoretical results demonstrate that VF3-type FeF3 is stable up to 50 GPa. The structural evolution presents three features at different pressure ranges. At P < 10 GPa, the volume reduction is dominated by the FeF6 octahedral rotation, and a small octahedral strain develops upon compression, which represents an elongation of FeF6 octahedra along the c axis. Between 10 and 25 GPa, the volume reduction is mainly attributed to the Fe-F bond length decreasing, and the octahedral strain gradually disappears. Between 25 and 50 GPa, an octahedral elongation along the a axis quickly develops, resulting in a substantial structural distortion. Structural instability is predicted at P > 51 GPa on the basis of a soft mode occurring in phonon calculations. The pressure-volume relationship is described by a third-order Birch-Murnaghan equation-of-state with B0 = 14 (1) GPa, B0' = 17 (1) by experiment and B0 = 10.45 (1) GPa, B'10 = 12.13 (1) by calculation.

Amplifying the Red-emission of Upconverting Nanoparticles for Biocompatible Clinically Used Prodrug-induced Photodynamic Therapy ACS Nano. Oct, 2014 | Pubmed ID: 25291544 A class of biocompatible upconverting nanoparticles (UCNPs) with largely amplified red-emissions was developed. The optimal UCNP shows a high absolute upconversion quantum yield of 3.2% in red-emission, which is 15-fold stronger than the known optimal β-phase core/shell UCNPs. When conjugated to aminolevulinic acid, a clinically used photodynamic therapy (PDT) prodrug, significant PDT effect in tumor was demonstrated in a deep-tissue (>1.2 cm) setting in vivo at a biocompatible laser power density. Furthermore, we show that our UCNP-PDT system with NIR irradiation outperforms clinically used red light irradiation in a deep tumor setting in vivo. This study marks a major step forward in photodynamic therapy utilizing UCNPs to effectively access deep-set tumors. It also provides an opportunity for the wide application of upconverting red radiation in photonics and biophotonics.

[A Case Report of Cardiac Angiosarcoma Presented with Recurrent Pericardial Effusion and Cardiac Tamponade] Zhonghua Xin Xue Guan Bing Za Zhi. Aug, 2014 | Pubmed ID: 25388346

Uranium(VI) Reduction by Nanoscale Zero-valent Iron in Anoxic Batch Systems: the Role of Fe(II) and Fe(III) Chemosphere. Dec, 2014 | Pubmed ID: 25461927 The role of Fe(II) and Fe(III) in U(VI) reduction by nanoscale zerovalent iron (nanoFe0) was investigated using two iron chelators 1,10-phenanthroline and triethanolamine (TEA) under a CO2-free anoxic condition. The results showed that U(VI) reduction was strongly inhibited by 1,10-phenanthroline and TEA in a pH range from 6.9 to 9.0. For instance, at pH 6.9 the observed U(VI) reduction rates decreased by 81% and 82% in the presence of 1,10-phenanthroline and TEA, respectively. The inhibition was attributed to the formation of stable complexes between 1,10-phenanthroline and Fe(II) or TEA and Fe(III). In the absence of iron chelators, U(VI) reduction can be enhanced by surface-bound Fe(II) on nanoFe0. Our results suggested that Fe(III) and Fe(II) possibly acted as an electron shuttle to ferry the electrons from nanoFe0 to U(VI), therefore a combined system with Fe(II), Fe(III) and nanoFe0 could facilitate U(VI) reductive immobilization in the contaminated groundwater.

Removal of Congo Red Dye Molecules by MnO2 Nanorods Journal of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology. Sep, 2014 | Pubmed ID: 25924384 Uniform MnO2 nanorods were synthesized successfully via a facile and effective hydrothermal approach. Scanning electron microscope images showed that the average diameter of the as-synthesized nanorod is about 30 nm and the length of that is about 5 μm, respectively. Photocatalytic experimental results indicate that Congo red can be degraded nearly completely (over 97%) after visible light irradiation of 120 min, demonstrating potential applications of such nanorod structures for wastewater purification.

Hydrothermal Synthesis and Photocatalytic Performance of Uniform α-Fe2O3 Nanocubes Journal of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology. Sep, 2014 | Pubmed ID: 25924392 In this paper, large scale uniform α-Fe2O3 nanocubes are synthesized through a facile and effective hydrothermal route. The structure and morphology of the resultant products are characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), and scanning electron microscope (SEM). A possible growth mechanism for α-Fe2O3 nanocubes is proposed based on the experimental results. Photocatalytic test reveals that Congo red can be degraded nearly completely (over 95%) after visible light irradiation of 40 min. In addition, methyl orange and methylene blue aqueous solution degradation experiments also are conducted in the same condition, revealing the versatile potential applications of the product in wastewater purifications.

Visible Light Driven α-Fe2O3 Nanorod Photocatalyst Journal of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology. Sep, 2014 | Pubmed ID: 25924394 α-Fe2O3 nanorods are controlled prepared by a facile hydrothermal process followed by a calcination treatment. The experiment results indicate that the morphology of the as-obtained product depends greatly on the quantity of NaOH. The photocatalytic performances of the as-prepared samples were evaluated by photocatalytic decolorization of Congo red solution at ambient temperature. The results indicate that the photocatalytic activity of the α-Fe2O3 nanorods is superior to α-Fe2O3 nanoparticles and microplates, revealing the versatile potential applications of the product in wastewater purifications.

Upconversion Nanoparticles: a Versatile Solution to Multiscale Biological Imaging Bioconjugate Chemistry. Feb, 2015 | Pubmed ID: 25254658 Lanthanide-doped photon upconverting nanomaterials are emerging as a new class of imaging contrast agents, providing numerous unprecedented possibilities in the realm of biomedical imaging. Because of their ability to convert long-wavelength near-infrared excitation radiation into shorter-wavelength emissions, these nanomaterials are able to produce assets of low imaging background, large anti-Stokes shift, as well as high optical penetration depth of light for deep tissue optical imaging or light-activated drug release and therapy. The aim of this review is to line up some issues associated with conventional fluorescent probes, and to address the recent advances of upconverting nanoparticles (UCNPs) as a solution to multiscale biological imaging applications.

Age-related Reduction in Calbindin-D28K Expression in the Sprague-Dawley Rat Lens Molecular Medicine Reports. Jan, 2015 | Pubmed ID: 25322759 Calcium levels in the lens rise with increasing age and increased intracellular calcium accumulation is known to be a risk factor for cataract formation. Calbindin-D28K (CALB1) is an intracellular calcium buffer. It is not clear whether CALB1 levels change in response to the Ca2+ accumulation in the lens that occurs with age. The present study investigated the distribution of CALB1 in the lenses of Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats and whether this changed with age. Lenses were isolated from SD rats at 1, 6, 12 and 18 months of age. CALB1 distribution was examined using immunohistochemistry. Lens epithelial cells were counted in median sagittal plane slices from the hematoxylin and eosin-stained lens and quantified using western blot analysis. Calb1 gene expression was examined using reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction. CALB1 was distributed in the epithelial and fiber cells of the lens. CALB1 levels declined significantly with increasing age, whilst there was no significant accompanying decrease in the number of lens cells. A similar reduction was noted in CALB1 mRNA levels. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to demonstrate that CALB1 expression and CALB1 protein levels in SD rat lens decrease with age. This reduction does not reflect a reduction in lens cell numbers but a genuine reduction in gene expression within these cells. Thus, CALB1 may be important in changes occurring in the lens in older age, in particular in the development of cataracts.

Assessment of Laser Induction of Bruch's Membrane Disruption in Monkey by Spectral-domain Optical Coherence Tomography The British Journal of Ophthalmology. Jan, 2015 | Pubmed ID: 25336578 Laser-induced choroidal neovascularisation is a widely used model for age-related macular degeneration. The success rates of induction have been relatively low in large animals such as monkeys. Our study aimed to investigate the laser-induced damages to the Bruch's membrane of monkeys using the spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (OCT).

Self-assembled Alluaudite Na(2)Fe(3-x)Mn(x)(PO4)(3) Micro/nanocompounds for Sodium-ion Battery Electrodes: a New Insight into Their Electronic and Geometric Structure Chemistry (Weinheim an Der Bergstrasse, Germany). Jan, 2015 | Pubmed ID: 25371385 A series of alluaudite Na2 Fe3-x Mnx (PO4 )3 microcompounds, which self-assembled from primary nanorods, were prepared successfully through a solvothermal method. As a promising candidate cathode for sodium-ion batteries, it is necessary to obtain a deeper understanding of the relationship between the structure and physicochemical properties of these materials. The local electronic and geometric environments were systematically investigated, for the first time, by using a combination of soft/hard X-ray absorption, IR, and Mössbauer spectroscopy. The results show that the electrochemical performance is not only associated with morphology, but also with the electronic and crystalline structure. With the introduction of manganese into the lattice, the long-range order maintains the isostructural framework and the lattice parameters expand as expected. However, for short-range order, PO4 tetrahedra and MO6 octahedra (M=Fe and Mn) become more severely distorted as a function of Mn concentration. Meanwhile, larger MnO6 octahedra will compress the space of FeO6 octahedra, which will result in stronger core/electron-electron interactions for Fe, as characterized by hard/soft X-ray absorption spectra. These slight changes in the electronic and local structures lead to different electrochemical performances with changes to the manganese content. Moreover, other physicochemical properties, such as magnetic behavior, are also confirmed to be correlated with these different electron interactions and local geometric environments.

Structure-function Analysis of Vaccinia Virus H7 Protein Reveals a Novel Phosphoinositide Binding Fold Essential for Poxvirus Replication Journal of Virology. Feb, 2015 | Pubmed ID: 25473060 Phosphoinositides and phosphoinositide binding proteins play a critical role in membrane and protein trafficking in eukaryotes. Their critical role in replication of cytoplasmic viruses has just begun to be understood. Poxviruses, a family of large cytoplasmic DNA viruses, rely on the intracellular membranes to develop their envelope, and poxvirus morphogenesis requires enzymes from the cellular phosphoinositide metabolic pathway. However, the role of phosphoinositides in poxvirus replication remains unclear, and no poxvirus proteins show any homology to eukaryotic phosphoinositide binding domains. Recently, a group of poxvirus proteins, termed viral membrane assembly proteins (VMAPs), were identified as essential for poxvirus membrane biogenesis. A key component of VMAPs is the H7 protein. Here we report the crystal structure of the H7 protein from vaccinia virus. The H7 structure displays a novel fold comprised of seven α-helices and a highly curved three-stranded antiparallel β-sheet. We identified a phosphoinositide binding site in H7, comprised of basic residues on a surface patch and the flexible C-terminal tail. These residues were found to be essential for viral replication and for binding of H7 to phosphatidylinositol-3-phosphate (PI3P) and phosphatidylinositol-4-phosphate (PI4P). Our studies suggest that phosphoinositide binding by H7 plays an essential role in poxvirus membrane biogenesis.

HOXA7 Stimulates Human Hepatocellular Carcinoma Proliferation Through Cyclin E1/CDK2 Oncology Reports. Feb, 2015 | Pubmed ID: 25501982 HOX genes are transcription factors that control morphogenesis, organogenesis and differentiation. Increasing evidence suggests that HOX genes play a role in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) progression; however few studies have defined the functional roles and mechanisms of action. In the present study, we used siRNA and forced-expression in multiple cell lines to define the role of HOXA7 in the regulation of proliferation of HCC in vitro and in vivo. Knockdown of endogenous HOXA7 decreased the proliferation of HepG2 and QGY-7703 cells. These changes were not associated with significant changes in cyclin D1 and CDK4. However, downregulation of HOXA7 significantly reduced cyclin E1 and CDK2 protein levels. Conversely, overexpression of HOXA7 in QSG-7701 cells stimulated proliferation and increased cyclin E1 and CDK2 protein levels. Our results confirmed that HOXA7 promoted cell proliferation, and these changes were mediated by cyclin E1/CDK2. These observations contribute to our understanding of the important roles of HOXA7 in HCC development and progression and HOXA7 could be a promising molecular target for the development of new diagnostic and therapeutic strategies for HCC.

Correlation of Serum- and Glucocorticoid-regulated Kinase 1 Expression with Ischemia-reperfusion Injury After Heart Transplantation Pediatric Transplantation. Mar, 2015 | Pubmed ID: 25515054 IRI of a transplanted heart may result in serious early and late disadvantageous effects such as increased allograft immunogenicity, primary graft dysfunction, and initiation of fibroproliferative cascades that compromise the survival of the recipient. Sgk-1 has recently been linked to cell growth and survival. It has been reported that through a renal transplantation model, Dexa increases Sgk-1 expression and therefore protects from renal IRI. In our current study, we aim to assess the expression of Sgk-1 and its protective effects on cardiomyocyte IRI after heart transplantation. Heart allograft model was performed from Wistar into Lewis, and isograft model was from Lewis into Lewis. Grafts were then harvested at one, six, 12, or 24 h post-transplantation for Sgk-1 expression analyses. In some groups, part donors were treated with Dexa 2 h prior at doses of 0.05, 0.5 and 2 mg/BWkg, respectively. Sgk-1 expression was markedly increased in grafted heart 6-12 h post-transplantation in both the allogenic and isogenic models. Immunostaining experiments confirmed that Sgk-1 was expressed in cardiomyocytes rather than infiltrated immune cells. Furthermore, Dexa treatment significantly increased Sgk-1 expression and the donor cardiomyocyte injury was greatly minimized by Dexa treatment. These results suggest that induction of Sgk-1 might explain some of the beneficial impact of corticosteroids in IRI and hence might have therapeutic implications.

Hybrid ZnO/ZnS Nanoforests As the Electrode Materials for High Performance Supercapacitor Application Dalton Transactions (Cambridge, England : 2003). Feb, 2015 | Pubmed ID: 25554365 Heterostructured ZnO/ZnS nanoforests are prepared through a simple two-step thermal evaporation method at 650 °C and 1300 °C in a tube furnace under the flow of argon gas, respectively. A metal catalyst (Au) to form a binary alloy has been used in the process. The as-obtained ZnO/ZnS products are characterized by using a series of techniques, including scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersion X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), Raman spectroscopy and photoluminescence. A possible growth mechanism is temporarily proposed. The hybrid structures are also directly functionalized as supercapacitor (SC) electrodes without using any ancillary materials such as carbon black or binder. Results show that the as-synthesized ZnO/ZnS heterostructures exhibit a greatly reduced ultraviolet emission and dramatically enhanced green emission compared to pure ZnO nanorods. The SCs data demonstrate high specific capacitance of 217 mF cm(-2) at 1 mA cm(-2) and excellent cyclic performance with 82% capacity retention after 2000 cycles at a current density of 2.0 mA cm(-2).

Cloning, Overexpression, and Characterization of a Metagenome-Derived Phytase with Optimal Activity at Low PH Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology. Jun, 2015 | Pubmed ID: 25588560 A phytase gene was identified in a publicly available metagenome derived from subsurface groundwater, which was deduced to encode for a protein of the histidine acid phosphatase (HAP) family. The nucleotide sequence of the phytase gene was chemically synthesized and cloned, in order to further overexpress the phytase in Escherichia coli. Purified protein of the recombinant phytase demonstrated an activity for phytic acid of 298 ± 17 μmol P/min/mg, at the pH optimum of 2.0 with the temperature of 37 °C. Interestingly, the pH optimum of this phytase is much lower in comparison with most HAP phytases known to date. It suggests that the phytase could possess improved adaptability to the low pH condition caused by the gastric acid in livestock and poultry stomachs.

Attentional Modulations of the Early and Later Stages of the Neural Processing of Visual Completion Scientific Reports. Feb, 2015 | Pubmed ID: 25666450 The brain effortlessly recognizes objects even when the visual information belonging to an object is widely separated, as well demonstrated by the Kanizsa-type illusory contours (ICs), in which a contour is perceived despite the fragments of the contour being separated by gaps. Such large-range visual completion has long been thought to be preattentive, whereas its dependence on top-down influences remains unclear. Here, we report separate modulations by spatial attention and task relevance on the neural activities in response to the ICs. IC-sensitive event-related potentials that were localized to the lateral occipital cortex were modulated by spatial attention at an early processing stage (130-166 ms after stimulus onset) and modulated by task relevance at a later processing stage (234-290 ms). These results not only demonstrate top-down attentional influences on the neural processing of ICs but also elucidate the characteristics of the attentional modulations that occur in different phases of IC processing.

Association Between Virulence Factors and TRAF1/4-1BB/Bcl-xL Expression in Gastric Mucosa Infected with Helicobacter Pylori Gastroenterology Research and Practice. 2015 | Pubmed ID: 25737718 Objective. CagA+/vacAs1+/vacAm1+ Helicobacter pylori upregulates the expression of tumor necrosis factor receptor-associated factor 1 (TRAF1), tumor necrosis factor receptor superfamily member 9 (4-1BB), and B-cell lymphoma-extra large (Bcl-xL) in human gastric epithelial cells. We investigated the correlation between cagA/vacAs1/vacAm1 and TRAF1/4-1BB/Bcl-xL expression in gastric mucosal tissue of patients with gastric disorders. Methods. We collected gastric mucosa samples from 35 chronic, nonatrophic gastritis (CG) patients, 41 atrophic gastritis patients, 44 intestinal metaplasia with atypical hyperplasia (IM) patients, and 28 gastric carcinoma (Ca) patients. The expression of TRAF1, 4-1BB, and Bcl-xL was determined using western blotting. The expression of cagA, vacAs1, and vacAm1 in H. pylori was examined with polymerase chain reaction. Results. The expression of TRAF1, 4-1BB, and Bcl-xL was significantly upregulated in IM and Ca patients (P < 0.05 compared with CG). There were more cases of cagA+/vacAs1+/vacAm1+ H. pylori infection in samples with elevated TRAF1, 4-1BB, or Bcl-xL expression (P < 0.05). Additionally, there were a remarkably large number of samples with upregulated TRAF1/4-1BB/Bcl-xL expression in cases of cagA+/vacAs1+/vacAm1+ H. pylori infection (44 cases, 67.7%; P < 0.05). Conclusions. The pathogenesis of IM and Ca may be promoted by cagA+/vacAs1+/vacAm1+ H. pylori, possibly via upregulated TRAF1, 4-1BB, and Bcl-xL in gastric mucosal tissue.

Torsade De Pointes in a Patient with Complete Atrioventricular Block and Pacemaker Failure, Misdiagnosed with Epilepsy Journal of Electrocardiology. May-Jun, 2015 | Pubmed ID: 25771702 A case of torsade de pointes (TdP) with complete atrioventricular block and pacemaker failure that was misdiagnosed as epilepsy is presented herein. An 82-year-old female with recurrent seizure-like attacks showed epileptiform discharge during an electroencephalogram recording. A long QT interval and severe hypokalemia induced runs of TdP, which was related to pacemaker lead fracture, was detected during Holter recording and accompanied with episodes of seizures. After a DDD pacemaker with a new ventricular lead was replaced, there was no recurrence of any seizure-like attacks. Bradycardia-mediated TdP associated with complete atrioventricular block should not be missed in patients with recurrent seizure-like attacks even after pacemaker implantation.

A CMOS Pressure Sensor Tag Chip for Passive Wireless Applications Sensors (Basel, Switzerland). Mar, 2015 | Pubmed ID: 25806868 This paper presents a novel monolithic pressure sensor tag for passive wireless applications. The proposed pressure sensor tag is based on an ultra-high frequency RFID system. The pressure sensor element is implemented in the 0.18 µm CMOS process and the membrane gap is formed by sacrificial layer release, resulting in a sensitivity of 1.2 fF/kPa within the range from 0 to 600 kPa. A three-stage rectifier adopts a chain of auxiliary floating rectifier cells to boost the gate voltage of the switching transistors, resulting in a power conversion efficiency of 53% at the low input power of -20 dBm. The capacitive sensor interface, using phase-locked loop archietcture, employs fully-digital blocks, which results in a 7.4 bits resolution and 0.8 µW power dissipation at 0.8 V supply voltage. The proposed passive wireless pressure sensor tag costs a total 3.2 µW power dissipation.

Direct Aqueous-Phase Synthesis of Sub-10 Nm "Luminous Pearls" with Enhanced in Vivo Renewable Near-Infrared Persistent Luminescence Journal of the American Chemical Society. Apr, 2015 | Pubmed ID: 25836338 Near-infrared (NIR) persistent luminescence nanoparticles (PLNPs), possessing unique NIR PL properties, have recently emerged as important materials for a wide variety of applications in chemistry and biology, for which they must endure high-temperature solid-state annealing reactions and subsequent complicated physical post-treatments. Herein, we report on a first direct aqueous-phase chemical synthesis route to NIR PLNPs and present their enhanced in vivo renewable NIR PL. Our method leads to monodisperse PLNPs as small as ca. 8 nm. Such sub-10 nm nanocrystals are readily dispersed and functionalized, and can form stable colloidal solutions in aqueous solution and cell culture medium for biological applications. Under biotissue-penetrable red-light excitation, we found that such nanocrystals possess superior renewable PL photoluminescence in vitro and in vivo compared to their larger counterparts currently made by existing methods. We believe that this solid-state-reaction-free chemical approach overcomes the current key roadblock in regard to PLNP development, and thus will pave the way to broad use of these advanced miniature "luminous pearls" in photonics and biophotonics.

Visible-light-driven Photocatalytic Properties of Simply Synthesized α-Iron(III)oxide Nanourchins Journal of Colloid and Interface Science. Aug, 2015 | Pubmed ID: 25890117 Well-crystalline α-Fe2O3 nanourchins were successfully prepared via a facile hydrothermal method using dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) as the growth template and characterized in detail in terms of their morphological, structural, compositional and photocatalytic properties. To understand the growth process for the formation of α-Fe2O3 nanourchins, several reaction time and DMSO amount dependant experiments were performed and it was found that reaction time and the amount of DMSO are critical parameters to obtain urchin-shaped morphologies. A plausible growth mechanism for the formation of α-Fe2O3 nanourchins was presented. The prepared α-Fe2O3 nanourchins were used as efficient photocatalyst for the photocatalytic degradation of three harmful organic dyes, i.e. Congo red (CR), Eosin red (ER) and methylene blue (MB) under visible light illumination. The order of degradation rate for all used dyes are MB (80%)

Three-dimensional Trajectory Design for Horizontal Well Based on Optimal Switching Algorithms ISA Transactions. Sep, 2015 | Pubmed ID: 25916671 This paper considers a three-dimensional trajectory design problem for horizontal well. The problem is formulated as an optimal control problem of switched systems with continuous state inequality constraints. Since the complexity of such constraints and the switching instants is unknown, it is difficult to solve the problem by standard optimization techniques. To overcome the difficulty, by a time-scaling transformation, a smoothing technique and a penalty function method, an efficient computational method is proposed for solving this problem. Convergence results show that, for a sufficiently large penalty parameter, any local optimal solution of the approximate problem is also a local optimal solution of the original problem. Two numerical examples are presented to illustrate the efficiency of the approach proposed.

Design of an Embedded CMOS Temperature Sensor for Passive RFID Tag Chips Sensors (Basel, Switzerland). 2015 | Pubmed ID: 25993518 This paper presents an ultra-low embedded power temperature sensor for passive RFID tags. The temperature sensor converts the temperature variation to a PTAT current, which is then transformed into a temperature-controlled frequency. A phase locked loop (PLL)-based sensor interface is employed to directly convert this temperature-controlled frequency into a corresponding digital output without an external reference clock. The fabricated sensor occupies an area of 0.021 mm2 using the TSMC 0.18 1P6M mixed-signal CMOS process. Measurement results of the embedded sensor within the tag system shows a 92 nW power dissipation under 1.0 V supply voltage at room temperature, with a sensing resolution of 0.15 °C/LSB and a sensing accuracy of -0.7/0.6 °C from -30 °C to 70 °C after 1-point calibration at 30 °C.

Nur77 is Involved in Graft Infiltrating T Lymphocyte Apoptosis in Rat Cardiac Transplantation Model Pathology, Research and Practice. Sep, 2015 | Pubmed ID: 26008781 Acute allograft rejection is initiated by a large number of recipient T cells that recognize donor alloantigens. Apoptotic signals trigger Nur77 production. Nur77 translocates from the nucleus to the mitochondria to induce a loss of mitochondrial membrane potential and the release of mitochondrial cell-death mediators, including HtrA2/Omi. In this study, we investigated the relationship between Nur77, HtrA2/Omi, and T lymphocyte apoptosis during acute allograft rejection in a rat cardiac transplantation model. The median survival time of the isograft group was longer than that of the allograft group. The cardiac grafts in isogenic (Lewis to Lewis) and allogenic (Wistar to Lewis) models were subjected to HE stain, showing that no rejection occurred in the isografts and that the rejection level was increased in allografts. Compared with the rare expression in syngeneic Lewis rat hearts by western blot analysis, Nur77 protein level in allograft increased from day 1, peaked at day 5 after transplantation, and maintained the highest level until day 7. Double immunofluorescence staining on allograft tissues at day 5 showed Nur77 immunocompetence in most CD3(+) cells, and Nur77 positive T cells also showed HtrA2/Omi-positive signal. Meanwhile, active caspase-3 was apparent in these HtrA2/Omi-positive T cells. Immunohistochemical results suggested that both Nur77 and active caspase-3 were expressed in increasing infiltrating lymphocytes. Our results demonstrated that upregulated Nur77 may promote graft-infiltrating T lymphocyte apoptosis by translocating and inducing HtrA2/Omi release from mitochondria in acute rejection after cardiac transplantation.

Nexrutine Inhibits Cancer Cell Growth As a Consequence of Mitochondrial Damage and Mitophagy Cellular Physiology and Biochemistry : International Journal of Experimental Cellular Physiology, Biochemistry, and Pharmacology. 2015 | Pubmed ID: 26021264 Nexrutine is an herbal extract of Phellodendron amurense and has been used as nutrient supplement in China as well as America. Potential protection effect of Nexrutine has been reported.

Nucleostemin Exerts Anti-apoptotic Function Via P53 Signaling Pathway in Cardiomyocytes In Vitro Cellular & Developmental Biology. Animal. Nov, 2015 | Pubmed ID: 26138242 Cardiomyocytes apoptosis following reperfusion injury causes irreversible damage to cardiac function. Understanding the mechanisms underlying cardiomyocytes death under these conditions can be helpful to identify strategies to abrogate such detrimental effects. Stem cell-specific proteins and regulatory pathways become important in understanding reparative processes in the myocardium. One such regulatory protein named nucleostemin (NS) has vital roles in cardiac ischemia. Although the relationship between NS and cell apoptosis has been studied, it is unknown how NS is controlled and how it participates in cardiomyocytes apoptosis induced by ischemia reperfusion (I/R). In the present study, we aimed to investigate the direct role of NS in myocardial I/R. In vivo, NS was highly expressed in cardiac tissues after I/R. Double immunofluorescent staining showed that NS located in the nucleolar of cardiomyocytes and correlated with cardiomyocytes apoptosis. Furthermore, in vitro primary rat cardiomyocytes increased NS expression induced by hypoxia-reoxygenation (H/R) treatment, in line with results in vivo. Suppression of NS expression by siNS promoted the expression of terminal deoxynucleotide transferase-mediated dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL)-positive cells p53 and cleaved caspase-3, which demonstrates I/R may require increased expression of NS to suppress p53 activation and maintain cardiomyocytes survival.

AGS3 is Involved in TNF-α Medicated Osteogenic Differentiation of Human Dental Pulp Stem Cells Differentiation; Research in Biological Diversity. Jun, 2015 | Pubmed ID: 26143356 Dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs) are multipotent adult stem cells capable of differentiating along the osteoblast, adipocyte, and chondrocyte lineages. Regulating differentiation of DPSCs may be a useful tool for regenerative medicine and cell-based therapy in oral diseases. Multisignaling pathways are involved in osteogenic differentiation of DPSCs. Recent studies show that cAMP/PKA/CREB signaling could stimulate the expression of genes such as bone morphogenic proteins 2 (BMP2), inhibitor of DNA binding 2 (ID2), bone sialoprotein, osteocalcin, and type XXIV collagen, which have been implicated in osteogenesis and bone formation. Activator of G-protein signaling 3 (AGS3, gene name G-protein signaling modulator-1, Gpsm1), an accessory protein for G-protein signaling, plays an important role in regulating the phosphorylation of cyclic AMP response element-binding protein (p-CREB). However, the involvement of AGS3 in osteogenic differentiation of DPSCs has not been explored. Our data indicated that increased expression of AGS3 would inhibit osteogenic differentiation of DPSCs exposed to inflammatory cytokine tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) via cAMP/PKA/CREB signaling. The negative role of AGS3 in osteogenic differentiation was further confirmed by knocking down and over expression of AGS3. Our findings may provide clinical implications for osteoporosis.

Synchronization to a Bouncing Ball with a Realistic Motion Trajectory Scientific Reports. Jul, 2015 | Pubmed ID: 26148810 Daily music experience involves synchronizing movements in time with a perceived periodic beat. It has been established for over a century that beat synchronization is less stable for the visual than for the auditory modality. This auditory advantage of beat synchronization gives rise to the hypotheses that the neural and evolutionary mechanisms underlying beat synchronization are modality-specific. Here, however, we found that synchronization to a periodically bouncing ball with a realistic motion trajectory was not less stable than synchronization to an auditory metronome. This finding challenges the auditory advantage of beat synchronization, and has important implications for the understanding of the biological substrates of beat synchronization.

Isotropic Negative Area Compressibility over Large Pressure Range in Potassium Beryllium Fluoroborate and Its Potential Applications in Deep Ultraviolet Region Advanced Materials (Deerfield Beach, Fla.). Sep, 2015 | Pubmed ID: 26184364 Isotropic negative area compressibility, which is very rare, is observed in KBBF and the related mechanism is investigated by combined high-pressure X-ray diffraction (XRD) experiments and first-principles calculations. The strong mechanical anisotropy leads to a large Poisson's ratio and high figure of merit for the acoustic-optics effect, giving KBBF potential applications as smart strain converters and deep-ultraviolet (DUV) acoustic-optic devices.

2-D Optical/opto-mechanical Microfluidic Sensing with Micro-bubble Resonators Optics Express. Jul, 2015 | Pubmed ID: 26191827 In this paper a new sensing scheme by simultaneously measuring optical refractive index change and sound speed change in an optofluidic thin wall micro-bubble resonator is reported. Sensitivity of sound speed is 4.2-6.8 MHz/ (km/s) for 3 types of mechanical modes. A 2-D optical/opto-mechanical sensing map is plotted by detecting both the whispering gallery mode resonance shift and the optomechanical resonance shift. This novel scheme provides a supplementary support to optical sensing when analytes do not respond to refractive index (RI) change.

Template-free Growth of Well-crystalline α-Fe2O3 Nanopeanuts with Enhanced Visible-light Driven Photocatalytic Properties Journal of Colloid and Interface Science. Nov, 2015 | Pubmed ID: 26196718 Well-crystalline homogeneous α-Fe2O3 nanopeanuts were synthesized, characterized and utilized as an effective photocatalysts for the photocatalytic degradation of toxic and harmful organic dyes, i.e. Congo red (CR), Eosin red (ER) and methylene blue (MB). The nanopeanuts were synthesized by facile one-step hydrothermal process without employing any templates and characterized in detail in terms of their morphological and structural properties. The detailed characterizations confirmed the well-crystallinity, large-scale growth and rhombohedral crystal structure of the synthesized nanopeanuts. Further, the detailed growth processes of prepared nanopeanuts were studied by examining the effects of reaction time, temperature and amounts of hexamethylenetetramine (HMT) on the shapes and sizes of the products. Thus, based on the observed experimental evidences, a possible growth mechanism for the formation of nanopeanuts was also proposed. Finally, the nanopeanuts were used as efficient visible-light driven photocatalyst for the photocatalytic degradation of organic dyes and the observed degradation rates were MB (57%)

Study on the Release Routes of Allelochemicals from Pistia Stratiotes Linn., and Its Anti-cyanobacteria Mechanisms on Microcystis Aeruginosa Environmental Science and Pollution Research International. Dec, 2015 | Pubmed ID: 26233747 Allelochemicals in Pistia stratiotes Linn. have a strong anti-cyanobacteria effect on Microcystis aeruginosa. To further determine the release routes of allelochemicals in P. stratiotes and understand their anti-cyanobacteria mechanisms, we aimed to systematically investigate the allelopathic effects of leaf leachates, leaf volatilization, root exudates, and residue decomposition of P. stratiotes on M. aeruginosa. The influences of P. stratiotes allelochemicals on the physiological properties of M. aeruginosa were also studied. Root exudates of P. stratiotes exhibited the strongest inhibitory effect on M. aeruginosa growth. The residue decomposition and leaf leachates exhibited a relatively strong inhibitory effect on M. aeruginosa growth. By contrast, the leaf volatilization stimulated M. aeruginosa growth. Therefore, root exudation was determined to be the main release route of allelochemicals from P. stratiotes. The mixed culture experiment of P. stratiotes root exudates and M. aeruginosa showed that the allelochemicals released from root exudation had no effect on the electron transfer of M. aeruginosa photosynthetic system II. However, it reduced the phycocyanin (PC) content and phycocyanin to allophycocyanin (PC/APC) ratio in the photosynthetic system. As the root exudates concentration increased, the electrical conductivity (EC) and superoxide anion radical (O2(*-)) values in the M. aeruginosa culture fluid increased significantly, indicating that the allelochemicals released from the root of P. stratiotes inhibited algae growth by affecting the PC and PC/APC levels in photosynthesis, destroying the cell membrane, and increasing O2(*-) content to result in oxidative damage of M. aeruginosa.

Negative Linear Compressibility in a Crystal of α-BiB3O6 Scientific Reports. Aug, 2015 | Pubmed ID: 26305262 Negative linear compressibility (NLC), a rare and important mechanical effect with many application potentials, in a crystal of α-BiB3O6 (BIBO) is comprehensively investigated using first-principles calculations and high-pressure synchrotron X-ray diffraction experiments. The results indicate that the BIBO crystal exhibits the second largest NLC among all known inorganic materials over a broad pressure range. This unusual NLC behaviour is due to the rotation and displacement of the rigid [BO3] and [BO4] building units that result in hinge motion in an umbrella-like topology. More importantly, the parallel-polar lone-pair electrons on the Bi(3+) cations act as "umbrella stands" to withstand the B-O hinges, thus significantly enhancing the NLC effect. BIBO presents a unique example of a "collapsible umbrella" mechanism for achieving NLC, which could be applied to other framework materials with lone-pair electrons.

Mode-selective Lasing in High-Q Polymer Micro Bottle Resonators Optics Express. Aug, 2015 | Pubmed ID: 26368242 Passive and active polymer micro bottle resonators (MBRs) are fabricated. Equatorial whispering gallery modes and bottle modes are clearly identified, with highest loaded quality (Q) factor above 10(5). Lasing with threshold as low as 1 nJ/pulse is realized in active MBRs. Mode selective lasing is achieved by coupling a tapered fiber to equatorial whispering gallery modes or a group of bottle modes. The bottle mode free spectral range (FSR) is found to be about one fifth of the equatorial modes.

Theoretical and Experimental Research on Laser-induced Damage of Cylindrical Subwavelength Grating Optics Express. Sep, 2015 | Pubmed ID: 26406635 We designed and fabricated two-dimensional cylindrical subwavelength gratings (SWGs) on fused silica for use in 1064 nm laser system. The transmittance and laser-induced damage threshold (LIDT) under the irradiation of 1064 nm pulses were performed, and a lower LIDT compared to blank fused silica was obtained. To understand damage mechanism quantitatively, macro-temperature on the SWGs integrated fused silica and micro-Electric field, micro-thermal-stress distribution on SWGs during the laser irradiation process were investigated by Finite Element Analysis, and the comparison between theoretical and experimental research indicated the presence of absorption centers and the non-uniform thermal mechanical distribution of SWGs contributed to the LIDT reduction on SWGs integrated fused silica.

Enantioselective 1,2-Difunctionalization of Dienes Enabled by Chiral Palladium Complex-Catalyzed Cascade Arylation/Allylic Alkylation Reaction Journal of the American Chemical Society. Oct, 2015 | Pubmed ID: 26437362 A Pd-catalyzed highly enantioselective three-component coupling of 1,3-dienes with aryl iodines and sodium dialkyl malonates has been successfully established by using a H8-BINOL-based phosphoramidite ligand. This reaction proceeded via a Pd-catalyzed cascade arylation and asymmetric allylic alkylation reaction, providing an efficient strategy for the enantioselective 1,2-difunctionalization of 1,3-dienes.

Design of a Humidity Sensor Tag for Passive Wireless Applications Sensors (Basel, Switzerland). 2015 | Pubmed ID: 26457707 This paper presents a wireless humidity sensor tag for low-cost and low-power applications. The proposed humidity sensor tag, based on radio frequency identification (RFID) technology, was fabricated in a standard 0.18 μm complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) process. The top metal layer was deposited to form the interdigitated electrodes, which were then filled with polyimide as the humidity sensing layer. A two-stage rectifier adopts a dynamic bias-voltage generator to boost the effective gate-source voltage of the switches in differential-drive architecture, resulting in a flat power conversion efficiency curve. The capacitive sensor interface, based on phase-locked loop (PLL) theory, employs a simple architecture and can work with 0.5 V supply voltage. The measurement results show that humidity sensor tag achieves excellent linearity, hysteresis and stability performance. The total power-dissipation of the sensor tag is 2.5 μW, resulting in a maximum operating distance of 23 m under 4 W of radiation power of the RFID reader.

Independence of the Completion Effect from the Noncompletion Effect in Illusory Contour Perception Journal of Vision. 2015 | Pubmed ID: 26462175 Spatially separated object information can be effortlessly completed in the visual system, as demonstrated by the well-known Kanizsa-type illusory contours. The perception of illusory contours is closely associated with the spatial configuration of contour fragments, leading to the long-lasting difficulty in distinguishing the effect of the completion process that interpolates the contour fragments from the effect of the noncompletion process that analyzes the contour fragments. However, a close relationship does not necessarily imply nonindependence, e.g., two people may show similar behaviors in one situation but may not in another situation. Inspired by this simple common sense, we conducted a contour discrimination task (i.e., discriminating between the interpolated contours) and a fragment discrimination task (i.e., discriminating between the physically-specified contour fragments) for Kanizsa squares and Kanizsa circles. The performance difference between the contour and fragment discrimination tasks was much larger for Kanizsa circles than for Kanizsa squares. This independence of the completion effect--as indicated by the performance in the contour task--from the noncompletion effect--as indicated by the performance in the fragment task--provides new insights into the understanding of the mechanism of visual completion.

Localized Optical Manipulation in Optical Ring Resonators Optics Express. Oct, 2015 | Pubmed ID: 26480427 We propose a tunable optical trapping system for nanoparticles based on generating standing wave by coupling two coherent beams into a ring resonator in opposite directions, respectively. The distributions of the mode field excited in three types of the ring-resonators-based trapping systems (microring, microdisk and slot ring) and the corresponding optical forces on the nanoparticles are calculated numerically. By the stability analysis in all directions, the smallest size of the particles could be stably trapped under the Brownian motion in the microring resonator is 61.2 nm when the input power is 10 mW, and the azimuthal orientations of the trapped particles are depended on the phase difference between the two input beams. On the other hand, the appearance of high order radial modes in the microdisk resonator enables a tunable radial trapping. To improve the trapping capability for the smaller particles, we utilize the slot ring resonator to make full use of the optical power and the trapping size could be minimized to ~29 nm when the input power is also set as 10 mW.

Energy-Cascaded Upconversion in an Organic Dye-Sensitized Core/Shell Fluoride Nanocrystal Nano Letters. Nov, 2015 | Pubmed ID: 26487489 Lanthanide-doped upconversion nanoparticles hold promises for bioimaging, solar cells, and volumetric displays. However, their emission brightness and excitation wavelength range are limited by the weak and narrowband absorption of lanthanide ions. Here, we introduce a concept of multistep cascade energy transfer, from broadly infrared-harvesting organic dyes to sensitizer ions in the shell of an epitaxially designed core/shell inorganic nanostructure, with a sequential nonradiative energy transfer to upconverting ion pairs in the core. We show that this concept, when implemented in a core-shell architecture with suppressed surface-related luminescence quenching, yields multiphoton (three-, four-, and five-photon) upconversion quantum efficiency as high as 19% (upconversion energy conversion efficiency of 9.3%, upconversion quantum yield of 4.8%), which is about ~100 times higher than typically reported efficiency of upconversion at 800 nm in lanthanide-based nanostructures, along with a broad spectral range (over 150 nm) of infrared excitation and a large absorption cross-section of 1.47 × 10(-14) cm(2) per single nanoparticle. These features enable unprecedented three-photon upconversion (visible by naked eye as blue light) of an incoherent infrared light excitation with a power density comparable to that of solar irradiation at the Earth surface, having implications for broad applications of these organic-inorganic core/shell nanostructures with energy-cascaded upconversion.

Tailoring Dye-sensitized Upconversion Nanoparticle Excitation Bands Towards Excitation Wavelength Selective Imaging Nanoscale. Nov, 2015 | Pubmed ID: 26499208 One of the key roadblocks in UCNP development is its extremely limited choices of excitation wavelengths. We report a generic design to program UCNPs to possess highly tunable dye characteristic excitation bands. Using such distinctive properties, we were able to develop a new excitation wavelength selective security imaging. This work unleashed the greater freedom of the excitation wavelengths of the upconversion nanoparticles and we believe it is a game-changer in the field and this method will enable numerous applications that are currently limited by existing UCNPs.

Development and Effects of FTY720 Ophthalmic Solution on Corneal Allograft Survival Scientific Reports. Nov, 2015 | Pubmed ID: 26558849 Fingolimod (FTY720), a novel class of sphingosine 1-phosphate receptor modulators, has received special interest among ophthalmologists, particularly given that oral administration of FTY720 has proven to effectively treat corneal graft rejection in animal models. However, no studies have examined the performance of FTY720 as an ophthalmic solution in reducing corneal rejection in high-risk corneal rejection models, and the stability and ocular irritation profile of FTY720 ophthalmic solution are also unknown. Thus, we developed 0.1%, 0.2% and 0.5% FTY720 ophthalmic solutions and evaluated their chemical stabilities under various storage conditions with high- performance liquid chromatography. To investigate the ocular irritancy of the FTY720 ophthalmic solution, New Zealand albino rabbits were subjected to the Draize test. Furthermore, classic, well-established rat allogenic penetrating keratoplasty models were used to investigate the anti-rejection efficacy of the tested FTY720 ophthalmic solutions. We found that the non-irritating 0.5% FTY720 ophthalmic solution could prolong corneal allograft survival in rats with significant efficacy for about one month. Furthermore, no significant concentration changes occurred in any of the types of FTY720 ophthalmic solutions within three months. These results revealed crucial profiles of FTY720 ophthalmic solutions and warrant further investigation and optimization of FTY720 in the anti-rejection therapy after keratoplasty.

NF45 Inhibits Cardiomyocyte Apoptosis Following Myocardial Ischemia-reperfusion Injury Pathology, Research and Practice. Dec, 2015 | Pubmed ID: 26573128 Cardiomyocyte apoptosis, which occurs during ischemia and reperfusion injury, can cause irreversible damage to cardiac function. There is accumulating evidence that nuclear factor 45 (NF45) and regulatory pathways are important in understanding reparative processes in the myocardium. NF45 is a multifunctional regulator of gene expression that participates in the regulation of DNA break repair. Recently, NF45 has been proved to be associated with tumor cell apoptosis in various human malignancies. However, the underlying mechanism of NF45 regulating myocardial ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury remains unclear. In this study, western blot showed that NF45 expression decreased after myocardial I/R in vivo. Double immunofluorescent staining revealed that NF45, located in the nucleus of cardiomyocyes, was correlated with cardiomyocyte apoptosis. Furthermore, NF45 expression decreased in H9c2 cells after hypoxia-reoxygenation (H/R) treatment in vitro, which was in line with the results in vivo. Overexpression of NF45 in H9c2 cells reduced cell apoptosis, as evidenced by increased Bcl-2 level, as well as decreased cleaved caspase-3, p53 and p21 expression. The expression of NF45 was reduced by LY294002 (a PI3K/Akt inhibitor), but not SB203580 (a p38 inhibitor), suggesting that NF45 prevented H/R-induced H9c2 cell apoptosis via PI3K/Akt pathway. Our data may supply a novel molecular target for acute myocardial infarction (AMI) therapy.

Near-infrared Photoactivatable Control of Ca(2+) Signaling and Optogenetic Immunomodulation ELife. Dec, 2015 | Pubmed ID: 26646180 The application of current channelrhodopsin-based optogenetic tools is limited by the lack of strict ion selectivity and the inability to extend the spectra sensitivity into the near-infrared (NIR) tissue transmissible range. Here we present an NIR-stimulable optogenetic platform (termed 'Opto-CRAC') that selectively and remotely controls Ca(2+) oscillations and Ca(2+)-responsive gene expression to regulate the function of non-excitable cells, including T lymphocytes, macrophages and dendritic cells. When coupled to upconversion nanoparticles, the optogenetic operation window is shifted from the visible range to NIR wavelengths to enable wireless photoactivation of Ca(2+)-dependent signaling and optogenetic modulation of immunoinflammatory responses. In a mouse model of melanoma by using ovalbumin as surrogate tumor antigen, Opto-CRAC has been shown to act as a genetically-encoded 'photoactivatable adjuvant' to improve antigen-specific immune responses to specifically destruct tumor cells. Our study represents a solid step forward towards the goal of achieving remote and wireless control of Ca(2+)-modulated activities with tailored function.

Strong Coupling of Hybrid and Plasmonic Resonances in Liquid Core Plasmonic Micro-bubble Cavities Optics Letters. Dec, 2015 | Pubmed ID: 26670526 A thin-wall plasmonic micro-bubble resonator, which is a high-Q optofluidic silica bubble cavity with a thin Ag film on the inside wall of the bubble, is proposed and fabricated to manipulate coupling among various types of resonant modes by changing its wall thickness and refractive index of the liquid in the core. Coupling of high-Q whispering gallery mode/plasmonic resonant mode forms hybrid mode; the hybrid mode can again strongly couple with another interior plasmonic resonant mode in the bubble cavity to achieve tunable high-Q plasmonic resonance that can be feasibly accessed by standard tapered fiber coupling. Therefore, the novel cavity structure provides a unique, yet general, platform to study plasmonic/photonic, hybrid/plasmonic, and plasmonic/plasmonic coupling.

[Combination of Cerebral Angiography and Abdominal Angiography in Patients with Ischemic Stroke] Zhong Nan Da Xue Xue Bao. Yi Xue Ban = Journal of Central South University. Medical Sciences. Dec, 2015 | Pubmed ID: 26739080 To explore the imaging characteristics of cerebral stenosis and peripheral vascular stenosis in patients with ischemic stroke. 

Knockdown of Receptor Tyrosine Kinase-like Orphan Receptor 2 Inhibits Cell Proliferation and Colony Formation in Osteosarcoma Cells by Inducing Arrest in Cell Cycle Progression Oncology Letters. Dec, 2015 | Pubmed ID: 26788194 Osteosarcoma (OS) is the most common malignant tumor of the bone, with a high mortality rate and poor prognosis. Receptor tyrosine kinase-like orphan receptor 2 (ROR2) has been reported to be dysregulated in human malignancies. More recently, ROR2 has been demonstrated to promote OS cell migration and invasion. However, the role of ROR2 in the regulation of OS cell proliferation, as well as the underlying molecular mechanism, remains unclear. The present study aimed to investigate the underlying mechanism of ROR2 in osteosarcoma growth. Reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction analysis and western blot analysis were used to examine the mRNA and protein expression. MTT assay, colony formation assay and cell cycle analysis were conducted to explore the function of ROR2 in osteosarcoma cells. In the present study, the expression of ROR2 was found to be frequently upregulated in OS tissues compared with matched adjacent normal tissues. It was also upregulated in the OS cell lines Saos-2, MG-63 and U-2 OS, relative to normal osteoblast hFOB 1.19 cells. Knockdown of ROR2 expression by transfection with ROR2-specific siRNA markedly inhibited the proliferation and colony formation of OS cells. Data from the cell cycle distribution assay revealed an accumulation of ROR2-knockdown cells in the G0/G1 phase, indicating that knockdown of ROR2 leads to an arrest in cell cycle progression. Mechanistic investigation revealed that the protein levels of c-myc, a target gene of the Wnt signaling, as well as cyclin D1, cyclin E and cyclin-dependent kinase 4 were markedly reduced in the ROR2-knockdown OS cells, suggesting that the inhibitory effect of ROR2 knockdown on OS cell proliferation is associated with the Wnt signaling pathway. In summary, the current study indicates an important role for ROR2 in the proliferation of OS cells. Therefore, ROR2 may be a promising therapeutic target in OS.

In Vivo Repeatedly Charging Near-Infrared-Emitting Mesoporous SiO2/ZnGa2O4:Cr(3+) Persistent Luminescence Nanocomposites Advanced Science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany). Mar, 2015 | Pubmed ID: 27419003 Near-infrared (NIR) persistent phosphor ZnGa2O4:Cr(3+) (ZGC) has unique deep-tissue rechargeable afterglow properties. However, the current synthesis leads to agglomerated products with irregular morphologies and wide size distributions. Herein, we report on in vivo rechargeable mesoporous SiO2/ZnGa2O4:Cr(3+) (mZGC) afterglow NIR-emitting nanocomposites that are made by a simple, one-step mesoporous template method. At less than 600 °C, pores in mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) act as nanoreactors to generate in situ ZnGa2O4:Cr(3+) NIR-persistent phosphors. The as-synthesized mZGC preserves defined size, morphology, and mesoporous nanostructure of the MSNs. The persistent luminescence of the as-synthesized mZGC is recharged in a simulated deep-tissue environment (e.g., ≈8 mm pork slab) in vitro by using red light (620 nm). Moreover, mZGC can be repeatedly activated in vivo for persistent luminescence imaging in a live mouse model by using white LED as a light source. Our concept of utilizing mesoporous silica as nanoreactor to fabricate ZGC PL nanoparticles with controllable morphology and preserved porous nanostructure paves a new way to the development and the wide application of deep tissue rechargeable ZGC in photonics and biophotonics.

Identification and Characterization of a Mesophilic Phytase Highly Resilient to High-temperatures from a Fungus-garden Associated Metagenome Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology. Mar, 2016 | Pubmed ID: 26536874 Phytases are enzymes degrading phytic acid and thereby releasing inorganic phosphate. While the phytases reported to date are majorly from culturable microorganisms, the fast-growing quantity of publicly available metagenomic data generated in the last decade has enabled bioinformatic mining of phytases in numerous data mines derived from a variety of ecosystems throughout the world. In this study, we are interested in the histidine acid phosphatase (HAP) family phytases present in insect-cultivated fungus gardens. Using bioinformatic approaches, 11 putative HAP phytase genes were initially screened from 18 publicly available metagenomes of fungus gardens and were further overexpressed in Escherichia coli. One phytase from a south pine beetle fungus garden showed the highest activity and was then chosen for further study. Biochemical characterization showed that the phytase is mesophilic but possesses strong ability to withstand high temperatures. To our knowledge, it has the longest half-life time at 100 °C (27 min) and at 80 °C (2.1 h) as compared to all the thermostable phytases publicly reported to date. After 100 °C incubation for 15 min, more than 93 % of the activity was retained. The activity was 3102 μmol P/min/mg at 37 °C and 4135 μmol P/min/mg at 52.5 °C, which is higher than all the known thermostable phytases. For the high activity level demonstrated at mesophilic temperatures as well as the high resilience to high temperatures, the phytase might be promising for potential application as an additive enzyme in animal feed.

High Pressure Behaviour and Elastic Properties of a Dense Inorganic-organic Framework Dalton Transactions (Cambridge, England : 2003). Mar, 2016 | Pubmed ID: 26613418 The high pressure behaviour of a cubic dense inorganic-organic framework [DABCOH2(2+)][K(ClO4)3] (DABCOH2(2+) = diazabicyclo[2.2.2]octane-1,4-diium) has been systematically studied via synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction, over the range of 0-3.12 GPa. The framework [DABCOH2(2+)][K(ClO4)3] shows a more rigid response, with a bulk modulus of 30(1) GPa and an axial compressibility of 7.6(4) × 10(-3) GPa(-1), compared with ZIF-8 and the dense hybrid solar cell perovskite CH3NH3PbI3. Density functional theory calculations reveal that the structural change in [DABCOH2(2+)][K(ClO4)3] is attributed to the contraction of the KO12 polyhedra, which consequently results in the rotation of the perchlorate linkers and synergistic movement of the DABCOH2(2+) guest. Further extensive theoretical calculations of full elastic tensors give full mapping of the Young's moduli, shear moduli and Poisson's ratios of [DABCOH2(2+)][K(ClO4)3], which are in the range of 31.6-36.6, 12.3-14.6 GPa and 0.2-0.32, respectively. The Young's and shear moduli of [DABCOH2(2+)][K(ClO4)3] are larger than those of cubic MOF-5, ZIF-8 and CH3NH3PbI3. In addition, the narrow range of Poisson's ratios in [DABCOH2(2+)][K(ClO4)3] indicates its very isotropic nature in response to biaxial stress.

Mapping of TBARS Distribution in Frozen-thawed Pork Using NIR Hyperspectral Imaging Meat Science. Mar, 2016 | Pubmed ID: 26630204 In this study, NIR hyperspectral imaging technology was applied to determine the distribution of TBARS in frozen-thawed pork. A total of 240 fresh pork samples were assigned to 4 treatment groups (0, 1, 3, 5 frozen-thawed cycles). For each sample, a hyperspectral image (874-1734nm) was collected, followed by chemical TBARS analysis. Successive projection algorithm (SPA) was applied to choose effective wavelengths (EWs). The selected 13 EWs of the calibration set and relevant TBARS value were used as inputs of partial least squares regression (PLSR) model, yielding correlation coefficient of prediction of 0.81 and root mean square error of prediction of 0.33. The developed PLSR model were applied pixel-wise to produce chemical maps of TBARS for 24 selected samples in the prediction set. The results indicated that NIR hyperspectral imaging combined with image processing has the potential to visualize TBARS distribution in frozen-thawed pork. This technique could be useful in real-time quality monitoring in meat industry.

Femtosecond Laser Combined with Non-chopping Rotation Phacoemulsification Technique for Soft-nucleus Cataract Surgery: a Prospective Study Scientific Reports. Jan, 2016 | Pubmed ID: 26728573 Soft-lens cataract surgeries are becoming increasingly common for cataract surgeons and chopping the soft nucleus using conventional techniques is problematic. We introduced a femtosecond laser combined with a non-chopping rotation phacoemulsification technique for soft-nucleus cataract surgery and evaluated the safety and efficacy of using this technique. Sixty-six patients with soft-nucleus cataracts ranging from grade 1~3 were divided into 3 groups based on nuclear staging. Those groups were further divided into three subgroups: femtosecond laser pretreatment combined with a non-chopping rotation phacoemulsification technique (subgroup 1), conventional manual cataract surgery with a non-chopping rotation technique (subgroup 2) and conventional manual cataract surgery with a quick-chop technique (subgroup 3).Patients were followed up at 1, 7, and 30 days after surgery. There was an 84.6% and a 63.34% reduction in ultrasound time and cumulative dissipated energy, respectively, between the subgroup 1 and the subgroup 3; and this was associated with a 36.1% and 29.7% reduction in endothelial cell loss and aqueous flare. There were no adverse events at the follow-up times. With its reduced ultrasound energy, endothelial cell loss and aqueous flare, the femtosecond laser pretreatment combined with a non-chopping rotation technique was more efficient than conventional manual cataract surgery for soft-nucleus cataracts.

Dye-Sensitized Core/Active Shell Upconversion Nanoparticles for Optogenetics and Bioimaging Applications ACS Nano. Jan, 2016 | Pubmed ID: 26736013 Near-infrared (NIR) dye-sensitized upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) can broaden the absorption range and boost upconversion efficiency of UCNPs. Here, we achieved significantly enhanced upconversion luminescence in dye-sensitized core/active shell UCNPs via the doping of ytterbium ions (Yb(3+)) in the UCNP shell, which bridged the energy transfer from the dye to the UCNP core. As a result, we synergized the two most practical upconversion booster effectors (dye-sensitizing and core/shell enhancement) to amplify upconversion efficiency. We demonstrated two biomedical applications using these UCNPs. By using dye-sensitized core/active shell UCNP embedded poly(methyl methacrylate) polymer implantable systems, we successfully shifted the optogenetic neuron excitation window to a biocompatible and deep tissue penetrable 800 nm wavelength. Furthermore, UCNPs were water-solubilized with Pluronic F127 with high upconversion efficiency and can be imaged in a mouse model.

Sulforaphane Prevents Rat Cardiomyocytes from Hypoxia/reoxygenation Injury in Vitro Via Activating SIRT1 and Subsequently Inhibiting ER Stress Acta Pharmacologica Sinica. Mar, 2016 | Pubmed ID: 26775664 Sulforaphane (SFN), a natural dietary isothiocyanate, is found to exert beneficial effects for cardiovascular diseases. This study aimed to investigate the mechanisms underlying the protective effects of SFN in a model of myocardial hypoxia/reoxygenation (H/R) injury in vitro.

Packaged Optofluidic Microbubble Resonators for Optical Sensing Applied Optics. Jan, 2016 | Pubmed ID: 26835777 A microbubble resonator (MBR) coupled with a fiber taper is packaged with low-index polymer. The cladding polymer serves as a protective matrix for the coupling system to avoid environmental disturbance. The packaged structure is portable and provides good performance to maintain high Q factors for a long working period. The hollow structure of the MBR makes the packaged system useful for practical chemical and biomedical sensing applications. To evaluate the performance of the packaged MBRs-based sensor, we carry out bulk refractive index and surface-sensing measurements with achieved sensitivities of 18.8 nm/RIU and 31.29 pm/nm, respectively.

Efficacy of Different Types of Self-expandable Stents in Carotid Artery Stenting for Carotid Bifurcation Stenosis Journal of Huazhong University of Science and Technology. Medical Sciences = Hua Zhong Ke Ji Da Xue Xue Bao. Yi Xue Ying De Wen Ban = Huazhong Keji Daxue Xuebao. Yixue Yingdewen Ban. Feb, 2016 | Pubmed ID: 26838747 Both open and closed loop self-expandable stents were used in carotid artery stenting (CAS) for carotid bifurcation stenosis. We sought to compare the efficacy of two types of stents in CAS. The data of 212 patients treated with CAS (42 and 170 cases implanted with closed and open loop stents, respectively) for carotid bifurcation stenosis and distal filtration protection devices were retrospectively analyzed. Between closed and open loop stents, there were no significant differences in hospitalization duration, NIHSS score before and after the treatment, stenosis at 12th month, and cumulative incidence of primary endpoint events within 30 days or from the 31st day to the 12th month; while there were significant differences in hemodynamic changes and rate of difficulty in recycling distal filtration protection devices. Use of open vs. closed loop stents for carotid bifurcation stenosis seems to be associated with similar incidence of complications, except for greater rate of hemodynamic changes and lower rate of difficulty in recycling the distal filtration protection devices.

Spinous α-Fe2O3 Hierarchical Structures Anchored on Ni Foam for Supercapacitor Electrodes and Visible Light Driven Photocatalysts Dalton Transactions (Cambridge, England : 2003). Apr, 2016 | Pubmed ID: 27005322 Spinous α-Fe2O3 hierarchical structures grown on a Ni foam substrate have been successfully obtained by a facile one-step hydrothermal method. The prepared products are functionalized as supercapacitor electrodes without adding any ancillary materials such as carbon black or binders. Their electrochemical properties show a high discharge areal capacitance (681 mF cm(-2) at 1 mA cm(-2)), good rate performance (495 mF cm(-2) at 5 mA cm(-2)) and long-term cycling stability (23.9% loss after 6000 repetitive cycles at 1 mA cm(-2)). Such excellent supercapacitive characteristics could be mainly attributed to their unique spatial structures which provide many active sites and enhance the combination between the electrode and Ni foam to support fast ion and electron transfer. In addition, the prepared α-Fe2O3 product is also used as a photocatalyst for the photocatalytic degradation of several harmful organic dyes under visible light illumination. By comparing the photocatalytic performance towards Congo red dye with other photocatalysts, it was observed that the prepared spinous α-Fe2O3 hierarchical structure exhibited superior photocatalytic performance. Finally, photocatalytic recycle tests showed the superiority of the prepared α-Fe2O3 product. This demonstrates that spinous α-Fe2O3 structures could be promising candidate materials for high-capacity, low-cost supercapacitor electrodes and environmentally friendly photocatalysts.

Synthesis and Characterization of Two Novel Bimetallic Macrocyclic Complexes Generated from 1,2,4-triazole-containing Semi-rigid Ligands and M(NO3)2 Units (M = Ni and Zn) Acta Crystallographica. Section C, Structural Chemistry. Apr, 2016 | Pubmed ID: 27045178 Bimetallic macrocyclic complexes have attracted the attention of chemists and various organic ligands have been used as molecular building blocks, but supramolecular complexes based on semi-rigid organic ligands containing 1,2,4-triazole have remained rare until recently. It is easier to obtain novel topologies by making use of asymmetric semi-rigid ligands in the self-assembly process than by making use of rigid ligands. A new semi-rigid ligand, 3-[(pyridin-4-ylmethyl)sulfanyl]-5-(quinolin-2-yl)-4H-1,2,4-triazol-4-amine (L), has been synthesized and used to generate two novel bimetallic macrocycle complexes, namely bis{μ-3-[(pyridin-4-ylmethyl)sulfanyl]-5-(quinolin-2-yl)-4H-1,2,4-triazol-4-amine}bis[(methanol-κO)(nitrato-κ(2)O,O')nickel(II)] dinitrate, [Ni2(NO3)2(C17H14N6S)2(CH3OH)2](NO3)2, (I), and bis{μ-3-[(pyridin-4-ylmethyl)sulfanyl]-5-(quinolin-2-yl)-4H-1,2,4-triazol-4-amine}bis[(methanol-κO)(nitrato-κ(2)O,O')zinc(II)] dinitrate, [Zn2(NO3)2(C17H14N6S)2(CH3OH)2](NO3)2, (II), by solution reactions with the inorganic salts M(NO3)2 (M = Ni and Zn, respectively) in mixed solvents. In (I), two Ni(II) cations with the same coordination environment are linked by L ligands through Ni-N bonds to form a bimetallic ring. Compound (I) is extended into a two-dimensional network in the crystallographic ac plane via N-H...O, O-H...N and O-H...O hydrogen bonds, and neighbouring two-dimensional planes are parallel and form a three-dimensional structure via π-π stacking. Compound (II) contains two bimetallic rings with the same coordination environment of the Zn(II) cations. The Zn(II) cations are bridged by L ligands through Zn-N bonds to form the bimetallic rings. One type of bimetallic ring constructs a one-dimensional nanotube via O-H...O and N-H...O hydrogen bonds along the crystallographic a direction, and the other constructs zero-dimensional molecular cages via O-H...O and N-H...O hydrogen bonds. They are interlinked into a two-dimensional network in the ac plane through extensive N-H...O hydrogen bonds, and a three-dimensional supramolecular architecture is formed via π-π interactions between the centroids of the benzene rings of the quinoline ring systems.

Stimulated Brillouin Laser and Frequency Comb Generation in High-Q Microbubble Resonators Optics Letters. Apr, 2016 | Pubmed ID: 27082332 We report on the stimulated Brillouin laser (SBL) and over-dense frequency comb generation in high-Q microbubble resonators (MBRs). Both first-order and cascaded SBL are achieved due to the rich high-order axial modes in the MBRs, although the free spectral range (FSR) of azimuthal mode of the MBR is severely mismatched with the Brillouin shift. The SBL is also generated by varying the internal pressure of MBR at fixed initially non-resonant pump light wavelength. In addition, over-dense frequency combs are realized with comb spacings that are one and two FSRs of aixal mode.

Heterometallic Alkaline Earth-Lanthanide Ba(II)-La(III) Microporous Metal-Organic Framework As Bifunctional Luminescent Probes of Al(3+) and MnO4(.) Inorganic Chemistry. 05, 2016 | Pubmed ID: 27088966 In this work a rigid asymmetrical tricarboxylate ligand p-terphenyl-3,4″,5-tricarboxylic acid (H3L) has been employed, and a unique heterometallic alkaline earth-lanthanide microporous luminescent metal-organic framework (MOF) {[Ba3La0.5(μ3-L)2.5(H2O)3(DMF)]·(3DMF)}n (1·3DMF) (DMF = dimethylformamide) has been isolated under solvothermal conditions. Single-crystal X-ray structural analysis demonstrates that 2D inorganic Ba-O-La connectivity can be observed in 1, which are further bridged via rigid terphenyl backbones of L(3-), forming a unique I(2)O(1)-type microporous luminescent framework. A 1D microporous channel with dimensionality of 9.151(3) Å × 10.098(1) Å can be observed along the crystallographic a axis. PXRD patterns have been investigated indicating pure phases of 1. The luminescence explorations demonstrated that 1 exhibits highly selective and sensitive sensing for Al(3+) over other cations with high quenching efficiency Ksv value of 1.445 × 10(4) L·mol(-1) and low detection limit (1.11 μM (S/N = 3)). Meanwhile 1 also exhibits highly selective and sensitive sensing for MnO4(-) over other anions with quenching efficiency Ksv = 7.73 × 10(3) L·mol(-1) and low detection limit (0.28 μM (S/N = 3)). It is noted that, when different concentrations of MnO4(-) solutions (0.5 to 100 μM) were dropped into the suspension of 1, the bright blue luminescence of the suspension observed under UV light can gradually change into pink color, indicating visually luminescent sensing, which makes the detection process of MnO4(-) more convenient in practical. The result also reveals that 1 represents the first example of bifunctional heterometallic alkaline earth-lanthanide MOF-based luminescent probes for selectively detecting Al(3+) and MnO4(-) in the water solutions.

Heat Shock Protein 70 Inhibits Cardiomyocyte Necroptosis Through Repressing Autophagy in Myocardial Ischemia/reperfusion Injury In Vitro Cellular & Developmental Biology. Animal. Jun, 2016 | Pubmed ID: 27130675 Irreversible damage of cardiac function arisen from myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury (MIRI) leads to an emerging challenge in the treatments of cardiac ischemic diseases. Molecular chaperone heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) attenuates heat-stimulated cell autophagy, apoptosis, and damage in the heart. Under specific conditions, autophagy may, directly or indirectly, induce cell death including necroptosis. Whether HSP70 inhibits cardiomyocyte necroptosis via suppressing autophagy during MIRI is unknown. In our study, HSP70 expression was opposite to necroptosis marker RIP1 and autophagy marker LC3A/B expression after myocardial ischemia/reperfusion (MIR) in vivo. Furthermore, in vitro primary rat cardiomyocytes mimicked MIRI by hypoxia/reoxygenation (H/R) treatment. Knockdown of HSP70 expression promoted cardiomyocyte autophagy and necroptosis following H/R treatment, while the increase tendency was downregulated by autophagy inhibitor 3-MA, showing that autophagy-induced necroptosis could be suppressed by HSP70. In summary, HSP70 downregulates cardiomyocyte necroptosis through suppressing autophagy during myocardial IR, revealing the novel protective mechanism of HSP70 and supplying a novel molecular target for the treatment of heart ischemic diseases.

Liguzinediol Protects Against Cardiac Fibrosis in Rats in Vivo and in Vitro Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy = Biomedecine & Pharmacotherapie. May, 2016 | Pubmed ID: 27133065 Cardiac fibrosis plays a causal role in the development of heart failure, and anti-fibrotic therapy represents a promising strategy to mitigate heart failure. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of a new drug-liguzinediol on cardiac fibrosis of heart failure Male Sprague-Dawley rats (SD) rats and the underlying mechanisms. Liguzinediol was administered to rats that were injected with doxorubicin (Dox) for four weeks. Two weeks later, its effects on cardiac fibrosis were assessed by haematoxylin and eosin (HE) staining and Masson staining. The collagen content was determined by Elisa, and protein expression was detected by western blot in vitro and in vivo. Liguzinediol decreased cardiac muscle fiber break evidenced by HE staining and it significantly reduced cardiac fibrosis evidenced by Masson staining in DOX-treated rats. In addition, the hydroxyproline level and the ratio of type I/III collagens were also significantly decreased, and western blot assays showed that liguzinediol regulated the balance between matrix matalloproteinases (MMPs) and tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase (TIMPs) to protect cardiac remodeling in vivo and in vitro. These data collectively indicated that liguzinediol could protect against cardiac fibrosis in rats. Liguzinediol could be exploited to be a promising candidate for cardiac fibrosis.

Fano Resonance and Improved Sensing Performance in a Spectral-simplified Optofluidic Micro-bubble Resonator by Introducing Selective Modal Losses Optics Express. Apr, 2016 | Pubmed ID: 27137294 The spectral mode density in optical micro-bubble resonators is reduced by introducing a loss element of UV curable adhesive to selectively suppress the whispering gallery modal resonances. Asymmetric Fano resonant profile appears after spectral simplification, and the sharp slope amplifies the detecting intensity change by 4.3 times when sensing the liquid core refractive index change.

Evaluating Bioavailability of Organic Pollutants in Soils by Sequential Ultrasonic Extraction Procedure Chemosphere. Aug, 2016 | Pubmed ID: 27156212 Under current retrospective risk assessment framework, the total concentrations of organic pollutants in soils have been employed as the standard for over 30 years. The total concentrations reflect the overall accumulation in soils but tend to be overly conservative for assessing the ecological risks, where the bioavailability plays an important role. In this study, the bioavailability of organic pollutants in soils was evaluated using a stepwise and tiered classification method, namely the sequential ultrasonic extraction procedure (SEUP). The water-soluble and acid-soluble fractions extracted by the SEUP were the bioavailable fractions. The reliability and environmental relevance of the speciation method were examined with representative organic pollutants using the root uptake methods and the semipermeable membrane devices (SPMDs). The plant uptake amounts corrected with weight were highly correlated with the bioavailable fractions (R(2) > 0.75). The amounts of the bioavailable fractions were negatively correlated with the logKow values (R(2) ranging from 0.71 to 0.77) of the organic pollutants and the contents of soil organic matter (R(2) ranging from 0.68 to 0.96). As a refinement of the current risk assessment framework, the SUEP that has proved to be a reliable and convenient is thus highly recommended for evaluating the bioavailability of organic pollutants in soils.

Intranasally Administered Adjunctive Dexmedetomidine Reduces Perioperative Anesthetic Requirements in General Anesthesia Yonsei Medical Journal. Jul, 2016 | Pubmed ID: 27189297 Intranasal dexmedetomidine is an effective sedative for premedication and is regularly used to reduce preoperative tension and anxiety in children. This study aimed to assess the effect of intranasally adjunctive dexmedetomidine on perioperative sedative and analgesic requirements in adults.

Trapping and Manipulating Nanoparticles in Photonic Nanojets Optics Letters. Apr, 2016 | Pubmed ID: 27192310 A novel optical manipulation system based on photonic nanojets (PNJs) is numerically investigated based on the finite element method. It is found that nanoscale particles can be trapped stably in a standing-wave PNJ generated by the constructive interference between two coherent PNJs. In particular, we show that the elongated standing-wave PNJs generated by using two-layer microcylinders or microspheres can provide larger manipulation platforms and stronger optical forces. To assess the trapping stability of the particle under the Brownian motion in the elongated PNJ, the relationship between the stability number and the particle size is studied. The simulation results show that the proposed elongated standing-wave PNJs can provide the stable and tunable manipulation for dielectric nanoparticles that are smaller than 100 nm.

[Study on Visual Identification of Corn Seeds Based on Hyperspectral Imaging Technology] Guang Pu Xue Yu Guang Pu Fen Xi = Guang Pu. Feb, 2016 | Pubmed ID: 27209759 The seed purity is an important indicator of seed quality. The paper proposes a visual identification method of corn seed based on the near-infrared (874~1,734 nm) hyperspectral image technology. Hyperspectral image data of 4 cultivars of a total of 384 corn seed samples will be acquired. Then 288 of samples are to be selected randomly as the calibration set, and the remaining 96 samples will be used for the prediction set. After inspection of the near-infrared spectral curves, 7 effective wavelengths (EWs) are to be selected by successive projection algorithm (SPA). And then 7 EWs of the calibration set will be used as input to build a partial least squares (PLS) model. Good results are to be obtained with Rc = 0.917 7, RMSECV = 0.444 2; Rcv = 0.911 5, RMSECV = 0.459 9. And the total identification rate of the developed PLS model will be 78.5% for the calibration set and 70.8% for the prediction set. Finally, average spectral data of each corn seed in a hyperspectral image will be extracted by image process technology, and used as input of the developed SPA-PLS model. In the produced identification map, different colors are to be used to represent different predicted cultivars. 3 mixture samples of corn seeds will be identified, and help to achieve satisfied visual effects. The result indicates that, by means of the visual identification technology we could intuitively observe the distribution of corn seeds of different cultivars in mixture samples. The research provides help for the identification and screening of seeds in agricultural production.

Microplastic Pollution of Lakeshore Sediments from Remote Lakes in Tibet Plateau, China Environmental Pollution (Barking, Essex : 1987). Dec, 2016 | Pubmed ID: 27238763 Tibetan Plateau is known as the world's third pole, which is characterized by a low population density with very limited human activities. Tibetan Plateau possesses the greatest numbers of high-altitude inland lakes in the world. However, no information is currently available on the characteristic of microplastic pollution in those lakes within this remote area. In this work, lakeshore sediments from four lakes within the Siling Co basin in northern Tibet were sampled and examined for microplastics (

A Novel Phytase Derived from an Acidic Peat-Soil Microbiome Showing High Stability Under Acidic Plus Pepsin Conditions Journal of Molecular Microbiology and Biotechnology. 2016 | Pubmed ID: 27336313 Four novel phytases of the histidine acid phosphatase family were identified in two publicly available metagenomic datasets of an acidic peat-soil microbiome in northeastern Bavaria, Germany. These enzymes have low similarity to all the reported phytases. They were overexpressed in Escherichia coli and purified. Catalytic efficacy in simulated gastric fluid was measured and compared among the four candidates. The phytase named rPhyPt4 was selected for its high activity. It is the first phytase identified from unculturable Acidobacteria. The phytase showed a longer half-life than all the gastric-stable phytases that have been reported to date, suggesting a strong resistance to low pH and pepsin. A wide pH profile was observed between pH 1.5 and 5.0. At the optimum pH (2.5) the activity was 2,790 μmol/min/mg at the physiological temperature of 37°C and 3,989 μmol/min/mg at the optimum temperature of 60°C. Due to the competent activity level as well as the high gastric stability, the phytase could be a potential candidate for practical use in livestock and poultry feeding.

[Acupuncture Combined with Western Medication for Mild Cognitive Disorder After Stroke: a Rando- Mized Controlled Trial] Zhongguo Zhen Jiu = Chinese Acupuncture & Moxibustion. Apr, 2016 | Pubmed ID: 27352486 To verify the clinical effect of the penetration acupuncture at the acupoints of governor vessel(GV) and bladder meridian on head for mild cognitive disorder after stroke.

Enhancing the Thermal Resistance of a Novel Acidobacteria-Derived Phytase by Engineering of Disulfide Bridges Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology. Oct, 2016 | Pubmed ID: 27363471 A novel phytase of Acidobacteria was identified from a soil metagenome, cloned, overexpressed, and purified. It has low sequence similarity (

Comparisons of the In-the-bag Stabilities of Single-piece and Three-piece Intraocular Lenses for Age-related Cataract Patients: a Randomized Controlled Trial BMC Ophthalmology. Jul, 2016 | Pubmed ID: 27392024 To compare the in-the-bag stability and visual function of single-piece intraocular lenses (IOLs) and three-piece IOLs.

Phosphorylated EEF2 is SUMOylated and Induces Cardiomyocyte Apoptosis During Myocardial Ischemia Reperfusion Journal of Cardiology. Jul, 2016 | Pubmed ID: 27401398 Cardiomyocyte apoptosis after myocardial ischemia reperfusion (MIR) blocks the recovery of cardiac function during revascularization treatment. Protein synthesis mediated by eukaryotic elongation factor 2 (eEF2) is vital for the recovery of MIR. eEF2 promotes peptide elongation without phosphorylation of itself. However, the exact function of eEF2 during MIR is unknown.

A Salmonella Nanoparticle Mimic Overcomes Multidrug Resistance in Tumours Nature Communications. Jul, 2016 | Pubmed ID: 27452236 Salmonella enterica serotype Typhimurium is a food-borne pathogen that also selectively grows in tumours and functionally decreases P-glycoprotein (P-gp), a multidrug resistance transporter. Here we report that the Salmonella type III secretion effector, SipA, is responsible for P-gp modulation through a pathway involving caspase-3. Mimicking the ability of Salmonella to reverse multidrug resistance, we constructed a gold nanoparticle system packaged with a SipA corona, and found this bacterial mimic not only accumulates in tumours but also reduces P-gp at a SipA dose significantly lower than free SipA. Moreover, the Salmonella nanoparticle mimic suppresses tumour growth with a concomitant reduction in P-gp when used with an existing chemotherapeutic drug (that is, doxorubicin). On the basis of our finding that the SipA Salmonella effector is fundamental for functionally decreasing P-gp, we engineered a nanoparticle mimic that both overcomes multidrug resistance in cancer cells and increases tumour sensitivity to conventional chemotherapeutics.

[Association of Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Gene Polymorphisms with Ectopic Pregnancy Among Chinese Women] Zhonghua Yi Xue Yi Chuan Xue Za Zhi = Zhonghua Yixue Yichuanxue Zazhi = Chinese Journal of Medical Genetics. Aug, 2016 | Pubmed ID: 27455016 To assess the association of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) gene polymorphisms with ectopic pregnancy (EP) among Chinese women.

Flexible Heterostructured Supercapacitor Electrodes Based on α-Fe2O3 Nanosheets with Excellent Electrochemical Performances Dalton Transactions (Cambridge, England : 2003). Aug, 2016 | Pubmed ID: 27472433 In this paper, two kinds of hybrid α-Fe2O3@Co3O4 and α-Fe2O3@MnCo2O4 composites with high yield have been successfully synthesized on a flexible carbon cloth via simple solution methods. These as-obtained products serve as supercapacitor electrodes without the use of any adscititious surfactants and binders. These two hybrid electrode architectures make full use of the synergistic effects between α-Fe2O3 frameworks and coated Co3O4 or MnCo2O4 layers. They exhibit obviously enhanced discharge areal capacitance of 490 mF cm(-2) and 1073 mF cm(-2) for α-Fe2O3@Co3O4 and α-Fe2O3@MnCo2O4 composites at 1 mA cm(-2) with an identical potential voltage of 0-0.9 V. Long-life cycling stability with capacitance retention of 74.6% for α-Fe2O3@Co3O4 and 77.8% for α-Fe2O3@MnCo2O4 are presented after 6000 charge/discharge cycles, respectively. Such prominent electrochemical performances are mainly ascribed to the hybrid composites, which can provide a large reaction surface area, fast ion and electron transfer and good structure combination stability. The as-synthesized flexible hybrid composites might have promising applications in micro/nanoscale energy storage devices.

Visual Outcome and Related Factors in Bilateral Total Congenital Cataract Patients: A Prospective Cohort Study Scientific Reports. Aug, 2016 | Pubmed ID: 27485055 This study is to evaluate the visual outcome and identify its crucial related factors in children undergoing cataract surgery for bilateral total congenital cataract (CC). This prospective study included consecutive bilateral total cataract patients undergoing primary surgery at Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center (ZOC), Guangzhou, China from Jan 2010 to May 2014. Visual outcome was estimated by best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) at last follow-up. Potential related factors, including gender, age at last follow-up, age at primary surgery, surgical procedure, postoperative complications (PCs), frequency of follow-up and changes in spectacles were evaluated. Eighty-eight children (176 eyes) were included in the cohort. The mean post-operative BCVA (logMAR) was 1.07 ± 0.53 at the mean follow-up duration 31.07 ± 19.36 months. Multivariable generalized estimating equations (GEEs) showed BCVA was significantly associated with PCs, age at last follow-up and age at primary surgery. Partial correlation analysis indicated age at primary surgery was positively correlated with BCVA controlling for the other factors, both for the whole age range (R = 0.415, P 6 months (R = 0.867, P

Precise Measurement of Micro Bubble Resonator Thickness by Internal Aerostatic Pressure Sensing Optics Express. Sep, 2016 | Pubmed ID: 27607689 We develop a new, simple and non-destructive method to precisely measure the thickness of thin wall micro bubble resonators (MBRs) by using internal aerostatic pressure sensing. Measurement error of 1% at a bubble wall thickness of 2 μm is achieved. This method is applicable to both thin wall and thick wall MBR with high measurement accuracy.

Erythroblast Transformation-specific 2 Correlates with Vascular Smooth Muscle Cell Apoptosis in Rat Heterotopic Heart Transplantation Model Journal of Thoracic Disease. Aug, 2016 | Pubmed ID: 27621856 Cardiac allograft vasculopathy (CAV) decreases the long-term survival of heart transplantation recipients. Vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) apoptosis is an important pathological feature of CAV. Erythroblast transformation-specific 2 (Ets-2), as a transcription factor, participates in cell apoptosis and plays an important role in organ transplantation.

A Novel Passive Wireless Sensor for Concrete Humidity Monitoring Sensors (Basel, Switzerland). Sep, 2016 | Pubmed ID: 27657070 This paper presents a passive wireless humidity sensor for concrete monitoring. After discussing the transmission of electromagnetic wave in concrete, a novel architecture of wireless humidity sensor, based on Ultra-High Frequency (UHF) Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology, is proposed for low-power application. The humidity sensor utilizes the top metal layer to form the interdigitated electrodes, which were then filled with polyimide as the humidity sensing layer. The sensor interface converts the humidity capacitance into a digital signal in the frequency domain. A two-stage rectifier adopts a dynamic bias-voltage generator to boost the effective gate-source voltage of the switches in differential-drive architecture. The clock generator employs a novel structure to reduce the internal voltage swing. The measurement results show that our proposed wireless humidity can achieve a high linearity with a normalized sensitivity of 0.55% %RH at 20 °C. Despite the high losses of concrete, the proposed wireless humidity sensor achieves reliable communication performances in passive mode. The maximum operating distance is 0.52 m when the proposed wireless sensor is embedded into the concrete at the depth of 8 cm. The measured results are highly consistent with the results measured by traditional methods.

3D Co3O4@MnO2 Heterostructures Grown on a Flexible Substrate and Their Applications in Supercapacitor Electrodes and Photocatalysts Dalton Transactions (Cambridge, England : 2003). Nov, 2016 | Pubmed ID: 27711793 In this work, flexible 3D Co3O4@MnO2 heterostructures have been successfully obtained without using any surfactants. The as-prepared flexible electrodes exhibit high efficiency, high discharge areal capacitance (1397.2 mF cm(-2) at 1 mA cm(-2)), long cycle life (13.9% loss after 6000 repetitive cycles at 1 mA cm(-2)) and excellent electrical stability. In addition, hybrid 3D Co3O4@MnO2 structures are also used as photocatalysts for the photocatalytic degradation of several harmful organic dyes under visible light illumination. The results show that the as-grown products possess excellent photocatalytic performance, demonstrating their potential applications in wastewater treatment.

MMP-14 Promotes VSMC Migration Via Up-regulating CD44 Expression in Cardiac Allograft Vasculopathy Pathology, Research and Practice. Dec, 2016 | Pubmed ID: 27712978 Cardiac allograft vasculopathy (CAV) was the leading cause of late death in heart transplantation recipients. Matrix metalloproteinase-14 (MMP-14), as a member of the MMPs family, has been reported to play a vital role in coronary vascular lesions of allotransplanted hearts. However, concrete mechanism is still unclear. Herein, we showed that the expression of MMP-14 was different between isografts and allografts. Interestingly, we found MMP-14 could interact with CD44 in allografts. Cluster of differentiation 44 (CD44), as a cell adhesion receptor and is involved in cell migration, caused our interest in MMP-14/CD44 complex in allografts. Then we analyzed the effect of MMP-14/CD44 complex on pro-MMP-9 activation and vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) migration in rat VSMC TNF-α treated model. Then, we further found intervention of MMP-14/CD44 complex could inhibit VSMC migration. Our results elucidate the molecular mechanism of VSMC migration after cardiac transplantation and provide theoretical basis for seeking new specific drug targets for CAV prevention and treatment.

Iptakalim Induces Mitochondria-dependent Apoptosis in Hypoxic Rat Pulmonary Arterial Smooth Muscle Cells Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy = Biomedecine & Pharmacotherapie. Dec, 2016 | Pubmed ID: 27718461 Pulmonary vascular medial hypertrophy in hypoxic pulmonary arterial hypertension (HPH) is caused in part by decreased apoptosis in pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells (PASMCs). Iptakalim (Ipt), an ATP sensitive potassium channel opener, ameliorates HPH in animal models. Here we investigated the effects of Ipt on proliferation and apoptosis of hypoxic rat PASMCs, and to determine the possible underlying mechanisms.

Seroprevalence of Toxoplasma Gondii in Goats in Hunan Province, China Parasite (Paris, France). 2016 | Pubmed ID: 27762212 Toxoplasma gondii infections are prevalent in animals and humans worldwide. In the present investigation, the seroprevalence of T. gondii in goats was investigated in Hunan province, subtropical China between March 2014 and December 2015. A total of 1,028 serum samples collected from 14 administrative regions of Hunan province were evaluated by the indirect hemagglutination test (IHAT) for the detection of specific antibodies. Antibodies to T. gondii were detected in 124 serum samples (12%). The T. gondii seroprevalence ranged from 1.7% to 19% among different regions in subtropical China, and the differences were statistically significant (p

A Novel Formula Sang-Tong-Jian Improves Glycometabolism and Ameliorates Insulin Resistance by Activating PI3K/AKT Pathway in Type 2 Diabetic KKAy Mice Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy = Biomedecine & Pharmacotherapie. Dec, 2016 | Pubmed ID: 27829545 Sang-Tong-Jian (STJ), a novel formula composed of flavonoids and alkaloids derived from mulberry leaf, has been found to reduce blood glucose levels in rats with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in our previous studies. However, the precise mechanisms remain unknown. Insulin resistance is the main characteristic of T2DM, which may be due to impairment of the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway. In this study, we investigated the effects of STJ on glycometabolism and insulin resistance in KKAy mice.

MiR‑34a Suppresses Proliferation and Induces Apoptosis of Human Lens Epithelial Cells by Targeting E2F3 Molecular Medicine Reports. Dec, 2016 | Pubmed ID: 27840975 microRNA (miRNA) is abnormally expressed in numerous diseases, and it was intimately associated with cell proliferation and apoptosis. However, the mechanism by which miRNAs control cataractogenesis remains unclear. In the current study, it was demonstrated that miR‑34a was highly expressed in the cataractous lens by stem‑loop reverse transcription‑quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Trying to investigate the role of miR‑34a in human lens epithelial cells, miR‑34a mimics were transfected into SRA01/04 cells, and this suppressed proliferation and induced apoptosis. Subsequently, E2F3 was confirmed as a direct target of miR‑34a. Downregulation of E2F3 by small interfering (si) RNA siE2F3 resulted in proliferation inhibition and apoptosis of SRA01/04 cells. Furthermore, it was demonstrated that miR‑34a and siE2F3 downregulated E2F3 expression at a protein level. In summary, the current study demonstrated that miR‑34a suppressed the proliferation and induced apoptosis of SRA01/04 cells by downregulating E2F3. These observations provide novel insights with potential therapeutic applications for the treatment of cataracts.

Inhibition of Acquired-resistance Hepatocellular Carcinoma Cell Growth by Combining Sorafenib with Phosphoinositide 3-kinase and Rat Sarcoma Inhibitor The Journal of Surgical Research. Dec, 2016 | Pubmed ID: 27884331 To provide support for combined usage of phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) inhibitors or mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway inhibitors together with sorafenib in treatment of sorafenib-resistant hepatocellular carcinoma.

Dual-wavelength Single-frequency Laser Emission in Asymmetric Coupled Microdisks Scientific Reports. Dec, 2016 | Pubmed ID: 27905506 The gain and loss in a microcavity laser play an important role for the modulation of laser spectrum. We show that dual-wavelength single mode lasing can be achieved in an asymmetric coupled system consisted of two size-mismatched microdisks. The amount of eigenmodes in this coupled-microdisk system is reduced relying on the Vernier effect. Then a single mode is selected to lase by controlling the gain branching in the supermodes. The supermodes are formed by the coupling between different transverse whispering-gallery modes (WGMs). When the gain/loss status between the two mirodisks is changed through selectively pumping process, the modulated gain branching for various supermodes leads to the switchable single-frequency laser emission. The results obtained in this work will provide the further understand for the spectral modulation mechanism in the coupled microcavity laser system.

Indirubin-3-Oxime Prevents H2O2-Induced Neuronal Apoptosis Via Concurrently Inhibiting GSK3β and the ERK Pathway Cellular and Molecular Neurobiology. May, 2017 | Pubmed ID: 27412761 Oxidative stress-induced neuronal apoptosis plays an important role in many neurodegenerative disorders. In this study, we have shown that indirubin-3-oxime, a derivative of indirubin originally designed for leukemia therapy, could prevent hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)-induced apoptosis in both SH-SY5Y cells and primary cerebellar granule neurons. H2O2 exposure led to the increased activities of glycogen synthase kinase 3β (GSK3β) and extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) in SH-SY5Y cells. Indirubin-3-oxime treatment significantly reversed the altered activity of both the PI3-K/Akt/GSK3β cascade and the ERK pathway induced by H2O2. In addition, both GSK3β and mitogen-activated protein kinase inhibitors significantly prevented H2O2-induced neuronal apoptosis. Moreover, specific inhibitors of the phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3-K) abolished the neuroprotective effects of indirubin-3-oxime against H2O2-induced neuronal apoptosis. These results strongly suggest that indirubin-3-oxime prevents H2O2-induced apoptosis via concurrent inhibiting GSK3β and the ERK pathway in SH-SY5Y cells, providing support for the use of indirubin-3-oxime to treat neurodegenerative disorders caused or exacerbated by oxidative stress.

Mitochondrial Phosphatase PGAM5 Regulates Keap1-mediated Bcl-xL Degradation and Controls Cardiomyocyte Apoptosis Driven by Myocardial Ischemia/reperfusion Injury In Vitro Cellular & Developmental Biology. Animal. Mar, 2017 | Pubmed ID: 27815660 Phosphoglycerate mutase 5 (PGAM5) is a mitochondrial membrane protein that plays crucial roles in necroptosis and apoptosis. Though PGAM5 is known to be required for inducing intrinsic apoptosis through interacting with BCL2 associated X protein (Bax) and dynamin-related protein 1 (Drp1), the expression and role of PGAM5 in cardiomyocyte apoptosis driven by myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury(MIRI) has not been studied. The present study shows that PGAM5 expression decreased after MIRI in vivo, positively correlated with Bcl-xL expression, negatively correlated with Kelch-ECH associating protein 1 (Keap1) expression. Furthermore, PGAM5 expression also decreased in cardiomyocytes after hypoxia/reoxygenation (H/R) treatment in vitro. PGAM5 silence promoted cardiomyocyte apoptosis and inhibited Bcl-xL expression, but with no effect on Keap1 expression. Accordingly, Keap1 overexpression further inhibited Bcl-xL and PGAM5 expression. Additionally, PGAM5-Bcl-xL-Keap1 interaction was identified, suggesting that PGAM5 might participate in the degradation of Bcl-xL mediated by Keap1. In summary, PGAM5 controls cardiomyocyte apoptosis induced by MIRI through regulating Keap1-mediated Bcl-xL degradation, which may supply a novel molecular target for acute myocardial infarction (AMI) therapy. Graphical abstract ᅟ.

Preoperative and Postoperative Measurements of Retinal Vessel Oxygen Saturation in Patients with Different Grades of Cataracts Acta Ophthalmologica. Sep, 2017 | Pubmed ID: 27864880 To assess the retinal vessel blood oxygen saturation preoperatively and postoperatively in patients with different grades of cataracts.

Topical 0.1% Bromfenac Sodium for Intraoperative Miosis Prevention and Prostaglandin E2 Inhibition in Femtosecond Laser-Assisted Cataract Surgery Journal of Ocular Pharmacology and Therapeutics : the Official Journal of the Association for Ocular Pharmacology and Therapeutics. Apr, 2017 | Pubmed ID: 28106471 The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of topical 0.1% bromfenac sodium, a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID), on intraoperative pupil dilation maintenance and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) inhibition during femtosecond laser-assisted cataract surgery.

Benzyl Isothiocyanate Induces Protective Autophagy in Human Lung Cancer Cells Through an Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress-mediated Mechanism Acta Pharmacologica Sinica. Apr, 2017 | Pubmed ID: 28112178 Isothiocyanates, such as allyl isothiocya¬nate (AITC), benzyl isothiocyanate (BITC), phenethyl isothio¬cyanate (PEITC) and sulforaphane (SFN), are natural compounds abundant in cruciferous vegetables, which have substantial chemopreventive activities against various human malignancies. However, the mechanisms underlying the inhibition of tumor cell growth by isothiocyanates are not fully understood. Since autophagy has dual functions in cancer, in the present study we investigated the effects of BITC on autophagy induction in human lung cancer cells in vitro and in vivo. BITC (1-100 μmol/L) dose-dependently inhibited the growth of 3 different human lung cancer cell lines A549 (adenocarcinoma), H661 (large cell carcinoma) and SK-MES-1 (squamous cell carcinoma) with IC50 values of 30.7±0.14, 15.9±0.22 and 23.4±0.11 μmol/L, respectively. BITC (10-40 μmol/L) induced autophagy in the lung cancer cells, evidenced by the formation of acidic vesicular organelles (AVOs), the accumulation of LC3-II, the punctate pattern of LC3, and the expression of Atg5. Pretreatment with the autophagy inhibitor 3-MA (5 mmol/L) significantly enhanced the BITC-caused growth inhibition in the lung cancer cells. Furthermore, BITC (20-40 μmol/L) activated ER stress, as shown by the increased cytosolic Ca(2+) level and the phosphorylation of the ER stress marker proteins PERK and eIF2α in the lung cancer cells. Pretreatment with the ER stress inhibitor 4-PBA (5 mmol/L) attenuated the autophagy induction and potentiated the BITC-induced cell growth inhibition. In nude mice bearing A549 xenografts, administration of BITC (100 mg·kg(-1)·d(-1), ip) for 8 weeks markedly suppressed the lung tumor growth, and significantly enhanced both autophagy and ER stress in the tumor tissues. Our results demonstrate that BITC inhibits human lung cancer cell growth in vitro and in vivo. In addition, BITC induces autophagy in the lung cancer cells, which protects the cancer cells against the inhibitory action of BITC; the autophagy induction is mediated by the ER stress response.

Sediment Biomarker, Bacterial Community Characterization of High Arsenic Aquifers in Jianghan Plain, China Scientific Reports. Feb, 2017 | Pubmed ID: 28165031 Representative biomarkers (e.g., n-alkanes), diversity and microbial community in the aquifers contaminated by high concentration of arsenic (As) in different sediment depth (0-30 m) in Jianghan Plain, Hubei, China, were analyzed to investigate the potential mechanism of As enrichment in groundwater. The concentration of As was abundant in top soil and sand, but not in clay. The analysis of the distribution of n-alkanes, CPI values, and wax to total n-alkane ratio (Wax(n)%) indicated that the organic matter (OM) from fresh terrestrial plants were abundant in the shallow sediment. However, n-alkanes have suffered from significant biodegradation from the depth of 16 m to 30 m. The deposition of fresh terrestrial derived organic matters may facilitate the release of As from sediment to groundwater in the sediment of 0-16 m. However, the petroleum derived organic matters may do the favor to the release of As in the deeper section of borehole (16 m to 30 m). The 16S rRNA gene sequences identification indicated that Acidobacteria, Actinomycetes and Hydrogenophaga are abundant in the sediments with high arsenic. Therefore, microbes and organic matters from different sources may play important roles in arsenic mobilization in the aquifers of the study area.

Chlamydial Lipoproteins Stimulate Toll-Like Receptors 1/2 Mediated Inflammatory Responses Through MyD88-Dependent Pathway Frontiers in Microbiology. 2017 | Pubmed ID: 28184217 Chlamydiae are very important pathogens which could cause several types of diseases in human, but little is known about its pathogenic mechanism. In order to elucidate host inflammatory response and the signal pathway induced by Chlamydial lipoproteins, the predicted lipoproteins of Chlamydia trachomatis were tested for their ability to induce the release of proinflammatory cytokines by mouse macrophages or human TLR (Toll-Like Receptor) expressing cell lines. The results showed that recombinant proteins of C. trachomatis D381, D541, D067, and D775 displayed a strong ability to induce the release of IL-8 in TLR expressing cell line. The signal pathways involved TLR1/2 and TLR2/CD14 but not TLR4. Moreover, except D067, the proinflammatory cytokine induction by D381, D541, and D775 required the thioacylation site (cysteine) for lipid modification and the induction was through MyD88-mediated pathway. Our data supported that lipoproteins played a vital role in pathogenesis of C. trachomatis-induced inflammatory responses via TLR pathway. It was the first study to characterize other chlamydial lipoproteins after identifying the role of MIP (D541) on pathogenesis of Chlamydial diseases.

Heat Shock Protein 70 Protects Cardiomyocytes Through Suppressing SUMOylation and Nucleus Translocation of Phosphorylated Eukaryotic Elongation Factor 2 During Myocardial Ischemia and Reperfusion Apoptosis : an International Journal on Programmed Cell Death. May, 2017 | Pubmed ID: 28205128 Myocardial ischemia and reperfusion (MIR) results in cardiomyocyte apoptosis with severe outcomes, which blocks cardiac tissue recovering from myocardial ischemia diseases. Heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) is one of protective molecule chaperones which could regulate the nucleus translocation of other proteins. In addition, eukaryotic elongation factor 2 (eEF2), which modulates protein translation process, is vital to the recovery of heart during MIR. However, the relationship between HSP70 and eEF2 and its effects on MIR are unclear. The expression and relationship between HSP70 and eEF2 is confirmed by western blot, immunoprecipitation in vitro using cardiomyocyte cell line H9c2 and in vivo rat MIR model. The further investigation was conducted in H9c2 cells with detection for cell-cycle and apoptosis. It is revealed that eEF2 interacted and be regulated by HSP70, which kept eEF2 as dephosphorylated status and preserved the function of eEF2 during MIR. In addition, HSP70 suppressed the nucleus translocation of phosphorylated eEF2, which inhibited cardiomyocyte apoptosis during myocardial reperfusion stage. Furthermore, HSP70 also interacted with C-terminal fragment of eEF2, which could reverse the nucleus translocation and cardiomyocyte apoptosis caused by N-terminal fragment of eEF2. HSP70 draw on advantage and avoid defect of MIR through regulating phosphorylation and nucleus translocation of eEF2.

Curcumin Attenuates Surgery-induced Cognitive Dysfunction in Aged Mice Metabolic Brain Disease. Feb, 2017 | Pubmed ID: 28224377 Post-operative cognitive dysfunction (POCD) is associated with elderly patients undergoing surgery. However, pharmacological treatments for POCD are limited. In this study, we found that curcumin, an active compound derived from Curcuma longa, ameliorated the cognitive dysfunction following abdominal surgery in aged mice. Further, curcumin prevented surgery-induced anti-oxidant enzyme activity. Curcumin also increased brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF)-positive area and expression of pAkt in the brain, suggesting that curcumin activated BDNF signaling in aged mice. Furthermore, curcumin neutralized cholinergic dysfunction involving choline acetyltransferase expression induced by surgery. These results strongly suggested that curcumin prevented cognitive impairments via multiple targets, possibly by increasing the activity of anti-oxidant enzymes, activation of BDNF signaling, and neutralization of cholinergic dysfunction, concurrently. Based on these novel findings, curcumin might be a potential agent in POCD prophylaxis and treatment.

Comparison of DP3 Signals Evoked by Comfortable 3D Images and 2D Images - an Event-Related Potential Study Using an Oddball Task Scientific Reports. Feb, 2017 | Pubmed ID: 28225044 The horizontal binocular disparity is a critical factor for the visual fatigue induced by watching stereoscopic TVs. Stereoscopic images that possess the disparity within the 'comfort zones' and remain still in the depth direction are considered comfortable to the viewers as 2D images. However, the difference in brain activities between processing such comfortable stereoscopic images and 2D images is still less studied. The DP3 (differential P3) signal refers to an event-related potential (ERP) component indicating attentional processes, which is typically evoked by odd target stimuli among standard stimuli in an oddball task. The present study found that the DP3 signal elicited by the comfortable 3D images exhibits the delayed peak latency and enhanced peak amplitude over the anterior and central scalp regions compared to the 2D images. The finding suggests that compared to the processing of the 2D images, more attentional resources are involved in the processing of the stereoscopic images even though they are subjectively comfortable.

The Preventive Effect of Dexmedetomidine on Paroxysmal Sympathetic Hyperactivity in Severe Traumatic Brain Injury Patients Who Have Undergone Surgery: a Retrospective Study PeerJ. 2017 | Pubmed ID: 28229021 Paroxysmal sympathetic hyperactivity (PSH) results and aggravates in secondary brain injury, which seriously affects the prognosis of severe traumatic brain injury patients. Although several studies have focused on the treatment of PSH, few have concentrated on its prevention.

MiR-26a Enhances Invasive Capacity by Suppressing GSK3β in Human Lung Cancer Cells Experimental Cell Research. Mar, 2017 | Pubmed ID: 28237093 Lung cancer is the common cause of death from cancer, and most lung cancer patients die of metastasis. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) function as either oncogenes or tumor suppressors, playing crucial role not only in tumorigenesis, but also in tumor invasion and metastasis. There are several studies showed that miR-26a is involved in carcinogenesis, however, its role in tumor metastasis need to be elucidated. In this study, we showed that ectopic expression of miR-26a enhanced migration and invasion of lung cancer cells. Glycogen synthase kinase-3β (GSK3β) was identified as a direct target of miR-26a. GSK3β expression negatively correlated with miR-26a expression in lung cancer tissues. Silencing of GSK3β achieved similar effect as miR-26a over-expression; over-expression of GSK3β reversed the enhanced effect of miR-26a on lung cancer cell migration and invasion. Further study indicated that miR-26a increased β-catenin expression and nuclear translocation. C-myc and cyclin D1, the downstream genes of β-catenin, were also up-regulated by miR-26a. Furthermore, xenograft study showed that miR-26a promoted lung cancer cell growth in vivo, and suppressed GSK3β expression. Collectively, our results demonstrated that miR-26a enhanced metastatic potential of lung cancer cells via activation of β-catenin pathway by targeting GSK3β, suggesting the potential applicability of miR-26a as a target for cancer treatment.

Enantioselective Formal [3 + 1 + 1] Cycloaddition Reaction by Ru(II)/Iminium Cocatalysis for Construction of Multisubstituted Pyrrolidines Organic Letters. Mar, 2017 | Pubmed ID: 28248513 A Ru(II)/iminium cocatalyzed asymmetric formal [3 + 1 + 1] cycloaddition reaction of diazoacetophenones, anilines, and enals is disclosed to construct multisubstituted pyrrolidines in one step with excellent diastereoselectivity and enantioselectivity. The reaction mechanism was postulated as a successful trapping of Ru(II)-associated ammonium ylides via a selective 1,4-addition to chiral amine activated enals followed by a tandem aza-aldol process. The control experiments and theoretical density functional theory investigation revealed that the reversible NaOAc-facilitated aza-aldol process led to the diastereomeric conversion to provide a stable product.

TRAF4 Regulates Migration, Invasion and the Epithelial-mesenchymal Transition Via PI3K/AKT Signaling in Hepatocellular Carcinoma Oncology Research. Mar, 2017 | Pubmed ID: 28256185 The tumor necrosis factor receptor-associated factor 4 (TRAF4) overexpression has been detected in many cancer types and considered to foster tumor progression. However, the role of TRAF4 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains elusive. In this study, we found that TRAF4 was highly expressed in HCC cell lines and HCC tissues compared with normal liver cell line and adjacent noncancerous tissue. TRAF4 overexpression in HCC tissues was correlated with tumor numbers and vascular invasion. in vitro studies showed that TRAF4 was associated with HCC cells migration and invasion. In vivo study verified that TRAF4 overexpression faciliated metastasis in nude mice. In addition, overexpressed TRAF4 promoted the phosphorylation of Akt and induced Slug overexpression, leading to down-regulated E-cadherin and up-regulated Vimentin, while silencing TRAF4 moderated the phosphorylation of Akt and repressed the expression of Slug, which resulted in up-regulated E-cadherin and down-regulated Vimentin. These effects were inversed after pretreatment of PI3K/Akt inhibitor LY294002 or overexpression of constitutively active Akt1. Our study demonstrated that TRAF4 was involved in promoting HCC cell migration and invasion. The process was induced by the EMT through activation of PI3K/Akt signaling pathway.

Catalpol Protects Glucose-deprived Rat Embryonic Cardiac Cells by Inducing Mitophagy and Modulating Estrogen Receptor Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy = Biomedecine & Pharmacotherapie. May, 2017 | Pubmed ID: 28292026 Catalpol, a bioactive component from Rehmannia glutinosa (Di Huang), has been widely used to protect cardiomyocytes against myocardial ischemia. The aim of the present study was to investigate the anti-apoptotic and anti-oxidative effects of Catalpol on glucose-starved H9c2 cells for cardio-protection and to elucidate the underlying mechanisms. Here, we showed that Catalpol protected the glucose-starved H9c2 cells through reducing apoptosis and attenuating oxidative damage. Moreover, the increases of autophagic lysosomes, LC3, autophagic flux and autophagic vacuole were observed in Catalpol-treated cells using flow cytometer and fluorescence microscope. Western blotting analyses showed that the autophagy-related proteins (LC3, Beclin1 and ULK) were markedly increased in Catalpol-treated cells, suggesting that Catalpol up-regulated autophagy in glucose starved H9c2 cells. Mechanistic investigations revealed that the autophagy inhibitor 3-MA markedly abrogated Catalpol's anti-apoptotic and anti-oxidative effects and prevented Catalpol-induced mitophagy. Furthermore, the estrogen receptor inhibitor tamoxifen significantly abolished Catalpol up-regulation of mitophagic related proteins (LC3, Beclin 1, p62, ATG5). Collectively, these data revealed that Catalpol inhibited apoptosis and oxidative stress in glucose-deprived H9c2 cell through promoting cell mitophagy and modulating estrogen receptor, supporting the notion that Catalpol could be a novel drug candidate against myocardial ischemia for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases.

A Rh(II)-catalyzed Multicomponent Reaction by Trapping an α-amino Enol Intermediate in a Traditional Two-component Reaction Pathway Science Advances. Mar, 2017 | Pubmed ID: 28345053 Multicomponent reactions (MCRs) represent an ideal organic synthesis tool for the rapid construction of complex molecules due to their step and atom economy. Compared to two-component reactions, the development of new MCRs has been greatly limited during the 170 years since the first MCR was reported. Theoretically, the trapping of an active intermediate generated from two components by a third component could change the traditional two-component reaction pathway, leading to the discovery of MCRs. We report an example of the trapping of α-imino enols generated in situ from 1-sulfonyl-1,2,3-triazoles via α-imino metal carbene species by vinylimine ions using C(2)-substituted indoles and paraformaldehyde as precursors in the presence of a rhodium(II) catalyst. The traditional enol-ketone transformation pathway was suspended by the trapping procedure and efficiently switched to an MCR pathway to produce α-amino-β-indole ketones in moderate to good yields. Unexpectedly, the resulting products and the theoretical density functional theory (DFT) calculation results indicated that the enolic carbon had a stronger nucleophilicity than the well-known traditional enamic carbon in the trapping process. The reaction mechanism was investigated using control experiments and detailed DFT calculations, and the synthetic application of the products was also illustrated. The developed strategy provides a mild and rapid access to α-amino-β-indole ketones and suggests a rationale for the discovery of MCRs by trapping an active intermediate with a third component in a traditional two-component reaction pathway.

Isoniazid Derivatives and Their Anti-tubercular Activity European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry. Jun, 2017 | Pubmed ID: 28390957 Tuberculosis (TB), which has been a scourge of humanity for thousands of years, is a worldwide pandemic disease caused mainly by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB). The emergence of drug-resistant TB (DR-TB), multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB), extensively drug-resistant TB (XDR-TB) and totally drug-resistant TB (TDR-TB) increase the challenges to eliminate TB worldwide. Isoniazid (INH), a critical frontline anti-TB drug, is one of the most effective drugs used to treatment of TB infection for more than 60 years. Unfortunately, bacterial strains resistant to INH are becoming common which mainly due to the long-term widely use even abuse. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop novel anti-TB agents. Numerous efforts have been undertaken to develop new anti-TB agents, but no new drug has been introduced for more than 5 decades. It has been suggested that the incorporation of lipophilic moieties into the framework of INH can increase permeation of the drug into bacterial cells, thereby enhancing the anti-TB. Therefore, INH derivatives with greater lipophilicity are emerging as one of the most potential anti-TB agents. Indeed, the INH derivative LL-3858 is in initial stages of phase II clinical trial for the treatment of TB and may be approved to treat TB in the near future. This review aims to summarize the recent advances made towards the discovery anti-TB agents holding INH as a nucleus including INH hybrids and INH hydrazide-hydrazone derivatives.

Pressure-induced Structural and Spin Transitions of Fe3S4 Scientific Reports. Apr, 2017 | Pubmed ID: 28402319 Greigite (Fe3S4), isostructural with Fe3O4 has recently attracted great scientific interests from material science to geology due to its complicated structure and electronic and magnetic configurations. Here, an investigation into the structural, magnetic and electronic properties of Fe3S4 under high pressure has been conducted by first-principle calculations based on density functional theory. The results show that a first-order phase transition of Fe3S4 would occur from the inverse spinel (SP) structure to the Cr3S4-type (CS) structure at 3.4 GPa, accompanied by a collapse of 9.7% in the volume, a redistribution of iron cations, and a half-metal to metal transition. In the CS-Fe3S4, Fe(2+) located at octahedral environment firstly undergoes a transition from high-spin (HS) state to low-spin (LS) state at 8.5 GPa and Fe(3+) subsequently does at 17 GPa. The Equation of State for different phases of Fe3S4 are also determined. Our results not only give some clues to explore novel materials by utilizing Fe3S4 but also shed light on the fundamental information of Fe3O4, as well as those of other SP-AB2X4 compounds.

Seismic Anisotropy of the D″ Layer Induced by (001) Deformation of Post-perovskite Nature Communications. Apr, 2017 | Pubmed ID: 28416793 Crystallographic preferred orientation (CPO) of post-perovskite (Mg,Fe)SiO3 (pPv) has been believed to be one potential source of the seismic anisotropic layer at the bottom of the lower mantle (D″ layer). However, the natural CPO of pPv remains ambiguous in the D″ layer. Here we have carried out the deformation experiments of pPv-(Mg0.75,Fe0.25)SiO3 using synchrotron radial X-ray diffraction in a membrane-driven laser-heated diamond anvil cell from 135 GPa and 2,500 K to 154 GPa and 3,000 K. Our results show that the intrinsic texture of pPv-(Mg0.75,Fe0.25)SiO3 should be (001) at realistic P-T conditions of the D″ layer, which can produce a shear wave splitting anisotropy of ∼3.7% with VSH>VSV. Considering the combined effect of both pPv and ferropericlase, we suggest that 50% or less of deformation is sufficient to explain the origin of the shear wave anisotropy observed seismically in the D″ layer beneath the circum-Pacific rim.

Targeting PEPT1: a Novel Strategy to Improve the Antitumor Efficacy of Doxorubicin in Human Hepatocellular Carcinoma Therapy Oncotarget. Jun, 2017 | Pubmed ID: 28465466 Proton coupled oligopeptide transporter 1 (PEPT1) is a member of the peptide transporter superfamily and plays important role in the absorption of oligopeptide and peptidomimetic drugs. Our previous research verified that PEPT1 expressed specifically in human Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tissue and cell lines and showed potential transport activity to be a new candidate of the tumor therapeutic target. In this study, we aim to explore the feasibility of a novel tumor target therapeutic strategy: Targeting PEPT1 to improve the antitumor efficacy of Doxorubicin in human HCC therapy. First, Doxorubicin was conjugated with Glycylglycylglycine (Gly-Gly-Gly) - a tripeptide which was known as the substrate of PEPT1 and characterized by HPLC and MS successfully. Doxorubicin-tripeptide conjugate was then observed to clarify the target delivery by PEPT1 and the antitumor effect on human hepatocarcinoma in vivo and in vitro. Furthermore, the improvement of the toxic and side effect of Doxorubicin after conjugation was also evaluated by some biochemical tests. Our results reveal that targeting PEPT1 may contribute to the efficient delivery of Doxorubicin to hepatocarcinoma cells and the reduction of drug toxicity. PEPT1 has the prospect to be a novel target of HCC therapy.

Recent Developments of Coumarin-containing Derivatives and Their Anti-tubercular Activity European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry. Aug, 2017 | Pubmed ID: 28494250 Tuberculosis (TB) is a lift-threatening chronic deadliest infectious disease caused predominantly by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) which affects primarily the lungs (pulmonary TB) apart from other vital organs. The emergence of drug-resistant TB (DR-TB), multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB), extensively drug-resistant TB (XDR-TB) and the recently cases of totally drug resistant (TDR) towards currently accessible standard drugs was increased up to alarming level in the recent decades. In pursuit of searching new anti-TB agents, numerous of derivatives have been synthesized and screened for their anti-TB activity. Coumarins are one of the most important classes of natural products that exhibited various biological activities, and their derivatives regarded as a new class of effective anti-TB candidates owing to their potential anti-TB activity. Thus, coumarin skeleton has attracted great interest in the development of new anti-TB agents. This review outlines the advances in the application of coumarin-containing derivatives as anti-TB agents and the critical aspects of design and structure-activity relationship of these derivatives.

Removal of Nutrients and Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products from Wastewater Using Periphyton Photobioreactors Bioresource Technology. Jun, 2017 | Pubmed ID: 28689959 In this work, periphyton photobioreactors were built and were used for the treatment of synthetic wastewater spiked with PPCPs under different operational conditions. The removal rates of total nitrogen were relatively stable and varied from 39% to 77% overtime in different treatments. However, the removal rates of soluble reactive phosphorus decreased overtime from 42% to 68% on day 2 to 15.8% to 44% on day 22. For the selected PPCPs, only bisphenol A was effectively removed (72%-86.4%), hydrochlorothiazide and ibuprofen were moderately removed (26.2%-48.7%), and carbamazepine and gemfibrozil were poorly removed (6.45%-20.6%). Longer hydraulic retention time enhanced the treatment efficiency but illumination period showed contrasting effects on the removal of the nutrients and the PPCPs.

Right Median Nerve Electrical Stimulation for Acute Traumatic Coma (the Asia Coma Electrical Stimulation Trial): Study Protocol for a Randomised Controlled Trial Trials. Jul, 2017 | Pubmed ID: 28693604 Traumatic brain injury (TBI) has become the most common cause of death and disability in persons between 15 and 30 years of age, and about 10-15% of patients affected by TBI will end up in a coma. Coma caused by TBI presents a significant challenge to neuroscientists. Right median nerve electrical stimulation has been reported as a simple, inexpensive, non-invasive technique to speed recovery and improve outcomes for traumatic comatose patients.

Liuwei Dihuang Soft Capsules Attenuates Endothelial Cell Apoptosis to Prevent Atherosclerosis Through GPR30-mediated Regulation in Ovariectomized ApoE-deficient Mice Journal of Ethnopharmacology. Aug, 2017 | Pubmed ID: 28709892 Liuwei Dihuang (LWDH), a classical traditional Chinese medicine prescription, has been widely used to prevent and to treat various diseases with symptoms of 'Kidney-Yin' deficiency syndrome for over 1000 years in China. It is commonly used to treat functional decline associated with senile disease and menopausal syndrome, especially memory decline, insomnia, diabetes and osteoporosis. Modern experimental pharmacological studies indicated that the mechanism of LWDH treatment of menopausal syndrome may be associated with enhanced estrogenic effects. However, little attention has been paid to the potential impact of LWDH on atherosclerosis (AS) associated with female menopause. The aim of this study was to evaluate the preventive effects of LWDH intake on an animal model of female menopause AS and to explore the underlying molecular mechanism.

Quinoline Hybrids and Their Antiplasmodial and Antimalarial Activities European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry. Jul, 2017 | Pubmed ID: 28800458 Malaria, in particular infection with P. falciparum (the most lethal of the human malaria parasite species, responsible for nearly one million deaths every year), is one of the most devastating and common infectious disease throughout the world. Beginning with quinine, quinoline containing compounds have long been used in clinical treatment of malaria and remained the mainstays of chemotherapy against malaria. The emergence of P. falciparum strains resistant to almost all antimalarials prompted medicinal chemists and biologists to study their effective replacement with an alternative mechanism of action and new molecules. Combination with variety of quinolines and other active moieties may increase the antiplasmodial and antimalarial activities and reduce the side effects. Thus, hybridization is a very attractive strategy to develop novel antimalarials. This review aims to summarize the recent advances towards the discovery of antiplasmodial and antimalarial hybrids including quinoline skeleton to provide an insight for rational designs of more active and less toxic quinoline hybrids antimalarials.

Detection of Free Microcystins in the Liver and Muscle of Freshwater Fish by Liquid Chromatography-tandem Mass Spectrometry Journal of Environmental Science and Health. Part. B, Pesticides, Food Contaminants, and Agricultural Wastes. Sep, 2017 | Pubmed ID: 28937880 MC analysis of biological tissue is considered to be very difficult due to the lack of validated methods. This is the primary limiting factor for monitoring potential risks in both the flesh of aquatic organisms and the aquatic ecosystem. In this study, an effective method to determine free MCs (MC-LR and MC-RR) in the muscle and liver tissues of freshwater cultured fish was developed using solid-phase extraction (SPE) and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS-MS). The extraction solvent, time of extraction, eluent and purification of the extract were optimized. Various SPE cartridges were also investigated. In this optimized analytical procedure, an 85% methanol/water solution (v/v) was selected as the extraction solvent, after which the extracts were purified by removing fats and proteins; a HLB cartridge was chosen for MCs enrichment; and 90% methanol containing 0.02% formic acid/water solution (v/v) was used as the eluent. Under the optimized pretreatment conditions and instrument parameters, good recoveries of MC-LR and MC-RR were obtained at three concentrations (0.5, 1.0 and 2.0 µg g(-1) dry weight (DW)), with values ranging from 92.5 to 98.3% and 92.1 to 98.6%, respectively. The method detection limit (MDL) for muscle samples was 0.5 µg kg(-1) and 0.4 µg kg(-1) (DW) for MC-LR and MC-RR, respectively. The MDL for the liver samples was 0.8 µg kg(-1) (DW) for both MC-LR and MC-RR. The developed procedure was successfully applied to analyze MCs in the muscle and liver of fish samples collected from a Chinese freshwater aquaculture pond during bloom seasons. The MC-LR concentrations ranged from below the MDL to 4.17 µg kg(-1) and the MC-RR concentrations ranged from below the MDL to 2.64 µg kg(-1).

Specific Expression of Proton-coupled Oligopeptide Transporter 1 in Primary Hepatocarcinoma-a Novel Strategy for Tumor-targeted Therapy Oncology Letters. Oct, 2017 | Pubmed ID: 28943923 Proton-coupled oligopeptide transporter 1 (PEPT1) is a membrane protein which expressed predominantly in intestine and recognized as the target of dietary nutrients (di/tripeptide) or peptidomimetic drug for delivery. The information on the existence of PEPT1 in carcinomas were limited. Our study aimed to investigate the expression profile and transport activity of PEPT1 both in human hepatocarcinoma tissues and cell lines. Western blotting and an immunofluorescence assay revealed the high level of PEPT1 protein expression in hepatocarcinoma Bel-7402, SMMC-7721, HepG2, HEP3B, SK-HEP-1 cell lines. Quantitative real time PCR showed the mRNA expression of PEPT1 in Bel-7402, SMMC-7721, HepG2, HEP3B, SK-HEP-1 cells. High level PEPT1 expression in hepatocarcinoma patient samples were observed by Immunohistology and showed a significant correlation between protein level and pathological grade. Functional activities were also studied using D-Ala-Lys-AMCA (a substrate of peptide transporter) in above five hepatocarcinoma cell lines. The uptake tests performed by fluorescent microscopy suggested that PEPT1 can transport both D-Ala-Lys-AMCA into the hepatocarcinoma cells and the uptake can be competitively inhibited by three PEPT1 substrates (Gly-sar, Gly-gln and Glyglygly). In conclusion, our findings provided the novel information on the expression and function of PEPT1 in human hepatocarcinoma and expanded the potential values for tumor specific drug delivery.

Optical Spring Effect in Micro-Bubble Resonators and Its Application for the Effective Mass Measurement of Optomechanical Resonant Mode Sensors (Basel, Switzerland). Sep, 2017 | Pubmed ID: 28974004 In this work, we present a novel approach for obtaining the effective mass of mechanical vibration mode in micro-bubble resonators (MBRs). To be specific, the effective mass is deduced from the measurement of optical spring effect (OSE) in MBRs. This approach is demonstrated and applied to analyze the effective mass of hollow MBRs and liquid-filled MBRs, respectively. It is found that the liquid-filled MBRs has significantly stronger OSE and a less effective mass than hollow MBRs, both of the extraordinary behaviors can be beneficial for applications such as mass sensing. Larger OSE from higher order harmonics of the mechanical modes is also observed. Our work paves a way towards the developing of OSE-based high sensitive mass sensor in MBRs.

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