Metagenomic analysis revealing the metabolic role of microbial communities in the free amino acid biosynthesis of Monascus rice vinegar during fermentation

Free amino acid(FAA)is the important component of vinegar that infl uences quality perception and consumer acceptance.FAA is one of the major metabolites produced by microorganisms;however,the microbial metabolic network on FAA biosynthesis remains unclear.Through metagenomic analysis,this work aimed to elucidate the roles of microbes in FAA biosynthesis during Monascus rice vinegar fermentation.Taxonomic profiles from functional analyses showed 14 dominant genera with high contributions to the metabolism pathways.The metabolic network for FAA biosynthesis was then constructed,and the microbial distribution in different metabolic pathways was illuminated.The results revealed that 5 functional genera were closely involved in FAA biosynthesis.This study illuminated the metabolic roles of microorganisms in FAA biosynthesis and provided crucial insights into the functional attributes of microbiota in vinegar fermentation.

Semi-implantable device based on multiplexed microfilament electrode cluster for continuous monitoring of physiological ions

Modern medicine is increasingly interested in advanced sensors to detect and analyze biochemical indicators.Ion sensors based on potentiometric methods are a promising platform for monitoring physiological ions in biological subjects.Current semi-implantable devices are mainly based on single-parameter detection.Miniaturized semi-implantable electrodes for multiparameter sensing have more restrictions on the electrode size due to biocompatibility considerations,but reducing the electrode surface area could potentially limit electrode sensitivity.This study developed a semi-implantable device system comprising a multiplexed microfilament electrode cluster(MMEC)and a printed circuit board for real-time monitoring of intra-tissue K^(+),Ca^(2+),and Na^(+)concentrations.The electrode surface area was less important for the potentiometric sensing mechanism,suggesting the feasibility of using a tiny fiber-like electrode for potentiometric sensing.The MMEC device exhibited a broad linear response(K^(+):2–32 mmol/L;Ca^(2+):0.5–4 mmol/L;Na^(+):10–160 mmol/L),high sensitivity(about 20–45 mV/decade),temporal stability(>2weeks),and good selectivity(>80%)for the above ions.In vitro detection and in vivo subcutaneous and brain experiment results showed that the MMEC system exhibits good multi-ion monitoring performance in several complex environments.This work provides a platform for the continuous real-time monitoring of ion fluctuations in different situations and has implications for developing smart sensors to monitor human health.

1135例新生儿呼吸困难的病因、特点和危险因素分析

目的分析呼吸困难在新生儿期的常见病因、临床特点及危险因素。方法选取2018年1~12月扬州大学医学院附属淮安市妇幼保健院新生儿科住院2270例新生儿为研究对象。依据是否发生呼吸困难,分为呼吸困难组(1135例)及对照组(1135例)。分析呼吸困难新生儿的病因,比较不同胎龄、不同出生体重新生儿呼吸困难的发病率及新生儿呼吸困难的单因素分析、多因素分析等。结果新生儿呼吸困难在呼吸系统的发生率最高,其中新生儿肺炎为主要病因,新生儿呼吸窘迫综合征为第二病因。不同胎龄、不同出生体重的新生儿呼吸困难发生率比较,差异有高度统计学意义(P<0.01)。且胎龄、剖宫产、宫内窘迫、母亲贫血、窒息是发生新生儿呼吸困难的危险因素(P<0.01)。结论呼吸困难由多种病因所致,早发现、早诊断、早治疗,对提高新生儿疾病的治愈率、减少住院时间、降低死亡率及减少后遗症的发生有重要意义。

Machining the Integral Impeller and Blisk of Aero-Engines:A Review of Surface Finishing and Strengthening Technologies

The integral impeller and blisk of an aero-engine are high performance parts with complex structure and made of difficult-to-cut materials. The blade surfaces of the integral impeller and blisk are functional surfaces for power transmission, and their surface integrity has signif- icant effects on the aerodynamic efficiency and service life of an aero-engine. Thus, it is indispensable to finish and strengthen the blades before use. This paper presents a comprehensive literature review of studies on finishing and strengthening technologies for the impeller and blisk of aero-engines. The review includes independent and inte- grated finishing and strengthening technologies and dis- cusses advanced rotational abrasive flow machining with back-pressure used for finishing the integral impeller and blisk. A brief assessment of future research problems and directions is also presented.

Novel indirect Z-scheme g-C3N4/Bi2MoO6/Bi hollow microsphere heterojunctions with SPR-promoted visible absorption and highly enhanced photocatalytic performance

The surface plasmonic resonance(SPR)effect of Bi can effectively improve the light absorption abilities and photogenerated charge carrier separation rate.In this study,a novel ternary heterojunction of g-C3N4/Bi2MoO6/Bi(CN/BMO/Bi)hollow microsphere was successfully fabricated through solvothermal and in situ reduction methods.The results revealed that the optimal ternary 0.4 CN/BMO/9 Bi photocatalyst exhibited the highest photocatalytic efficiency toward rhodamine B(RhB)degradation with nine times that of pure BMO.The DRS and valence band of the X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy spectrum demonstrate that the band structure of 0.4 CN/BMO/9 Bi is a z-scheme structure.Quenching experiments also provided solid evidence that the·O^2-(at-0.33 eV)is the main species during dye degradation,and the conduction band of g-C3N4 is only the reaction site,demonstrating that the transfer of photogenerated charge carriers of g-C3N4/Bi2 MoO 6/Bi is through an indirect z-scheme structure.Thus,the enhanced photocatalytic performance was mainly ascribed to the synergetic effect of heterojunction structures between g-C3N4 and Bi2MoO6 and the SPR effect of Bi doping,resulting in better optical absorption ability and a lower combination rate of photogenerated charge carriers.The findings in this work provide insight into the synergism of heterostructures and the SPR absorption ability in wastewater treatment.

Secure K-Nearest neighbor queries in two-tiered mobile wireless sensor networks

Tiered Mobile Wireless Sensor Network(TMWSN)is a new paradigm introduced by mobile edge computing.Now it has received wide attention because of its high scalability,robustness,deployment flexibility,and it has a wide range of application scenarios.In TMWSNs,the storage nodes are the key nodes of the network and are more easily captured and utilized by attackers.Once the storage nodes are captured by the attackers,the data stored on them will be exposed.Moreover,the query process and results will not be trusted any more.This paper mainly studies the secure KNN query technology in TMWSNs,and we propose a secure KNN query algorithm named the Basic Algorithm For Secure KNN Query(BAFSKQ)first,which can protect privacy and verify the integrity of query results.However,this algorithm has a large communication overhead in most cases.In order to solve this problem,we propose an improved algorithm named the Secure KNN Query Algorithm Based on MR-Tree(SEKQAM).The MR-Trees are used to find the K-nearest locations and help to generate a verification set to process the verification of query results.It can be proved that our algorithms can effectively guarantee the privacy of the data stored on the storage nodes and the integrity of the query results.Our experimental results also show that after introducing the MR-Trees in KNN queries on TMWSNs,the communication overhead has an effective reduction compared to BAFSKQ.

静脉输注利多卡因在无痛结肠镜检查中的临床应用

目的观察静脉输注利多卡因在无痛结肠镜检查中的临床效果,探讨其有效性和安全性。方法选择在该院接受无痛结肠镜检查的患者90例,采用随机数字表法分为3组:舒芬太尼复合丙泊酚组(S组)、利多卡因复合丙泊酚组(L组)和单纯丙泊酚组(P组),每组30例。采用双盲法分别给予每组患者相应药物,持续监测并记录给药前(T_(0))、睫毛反射消失时(T_(1))、过脾曲时(T_(2))、过肝曲时(T_(3))以及镜检完成时(T_(4))的心率(HR)、平均动脉压(MAP)和脉搏血氧饱和度(SpO_(2)),观察3组患者术中丙泊酚预给量、追加量、总用量、不良事件发生情况和术后恢复情况等。结果与T0时点相比,3组患者T_(1)~T_(4)时点MAP、HR均明显降低(P<0.05),与T_(1)时点相比,P组T_(2)~T_(4)时点MAP、HR明显升高(P<0.05),3组SpO_(2)差异无统计学意义(P>0.05);S组和L组丙泊酚预给量、追加量和总用量均明显少于P组(P<0.05);L组苏醒时间明显短于S组和P组(P<0.05);术后腹部疼痛视觉模拟评分(VAS)和虚弱VAS评分L组明显优于S组或P组(P<0.05);L组注射痛、恶心呕吐、低氧血症发生率明显优于S组或P组(P<0.05),3组患者术中高血压、低血压、心动过缓发生率差异无统计学意义(P>0.05)。结论静脉输注利多卡因应用于无痛结肠镜检查中,可有效降低丙泊酚用量、稳定血流动力学、减少不良反应发生,加快术后恢复。

Construction and expression of an optimized, novel human immunodeficiency virus type-1 lentiviral vector containing green fluorescent protein

The human immunodeficiency virus （HIV） lentiviral vector is an ideal vector for gene therapy. In the present study, the wild-type HIV-1 genome was segregated into four plasmids, and an optimized novel HIV-1 lentiviral vector containing green fluorescent protein and vesicular stomatitis virus G pseudo-capsule was constructed. The plasmids were pHR-CMV-EGFP, pCMVΔ8.9, pRSV-Rev, pCMV-VSV-G. The four plasmid system was co-transfected into 293T cells, and green fluorescent protein expression was observed. The present study obtained lentiviral particles by high-speed centrifugation, and the lentiviral particle titer was 4 × 108 TU/mL after centrifugation. Thus, an optimized novel HIV-1 lentiviral vector was successfully constructed.

Related factors of dilated cardiomyopathy

Objective To investigate the etiology and relative factors of dilated cardiomyopathy （DCM） in Chinese patients. Methods A case-control study was conducted to compare 233 patients with DCM in high-incidence areas （case group） and 150 patients with stable angina pectoris （control group）. Life styles and history of diseases information was collected by questionaire; human anti-myocardial antibody lgG （AMA- IgG）, human Coxsackie B virus IgG （CBV- IgG） and human adenovirus antibody IgG （ADV- IgG） were measured with ELISA. General chemical and toxicological indicators in drink water from high and low prevalence areas and serum trace elements also were compared. Results 1） Compared with the control group, the case group had more farmers （P 〈 0.01）, with low average incomes （P 〈 0.01 ）, higher alcohol consumption （P 〈 0.01） and higher incidence of the history of myocarditis （P 〈 0.01）. 2） AMA-IgG, CBV-IgG and ADV-IgG levels were low and the positive rates ofAMA-IgG, CBV-IgG and ADV-IgG of patients with DCM were respectively 7.78%, 6.67% and 6.67%, no statistical significance comparing with those in the control group. 3） The content of iron （1.36±2.18 vs 0.39±0.67 rag/L, P〈0.05） and manganese （0.38±0.35 vs 0.15±0.14, P〈0.01） in drinking water of high-incidence areas was significantly higher than that in low-incidence areas. 4） The content of serum iron （69.1±57.8 vs 20.0±17.5 umol/L, P〈0.01 ） and copper （25.7±4.2 vs 19.7±4.5 umol/L, P〈0.01） in the case group evidently exceeded the normal range and obviously higher than that in the control group. Conclusions 1） The incidence of some DCM is related with low incomes, high alcohol consumption and myoearditis. 2） These data do not support that DCM is related with persistent virus infection and autoimmunization; 3） Iron and manganese contents exceeding standards in drinking water and the high content of serum iron and copper is comparatively related with the incidence of DCM.

Investigation of the trajectory uniformity in water dissolution ultraprecision continuous polishing of large-sized KDP crystal

Large-sized potassium dihydrogen phosphate(KDP)crystals are an irreplaceable nonlinear optical component in an inertial confinement fusion project.Restricted by the size,previous studies have been aimed mainly at the removal principle and surface roughness of small-sized KDP crystals,with less research on flatness.Due to its low surface damage and high machining efficiency,water dissolution ultraprecision continuous polishing(WDUCP)has become a good technique for processing large-sized KDP crystals.In this technique,the trajectory uniformity of water droplets can directly affect the surface quality,such as flatness and roughness.Specifically,uneven trajectory distribution of water droplets on the surface of KDP crystals derived from the mode of motion obviously affects the surface quality.In this study,the material removal mechanism of WDUCP was introduced.A simulation of the trajectory of water droplets on KDP crystals under different eccentricity modes of motion was then performed.Meanwhile,the coefficient of variation(CV)was utilized to evaluate the trajectory uniformity.Furthermore,to verify the reliability of the simulation,some experimental tests were also conducted by employing a large continuous polisher.The results showed that the CV varied from 0.67 to 2.02 under the certain eccentricity mode of motion and varied from 0.48 to 0.65 under the uncertain eccentricity mode of motion.The CV of uncertain eccentricity is always smaller than that of certain eccentricity.Hence,the uniformity of trajectory was better under uncertain eccentricity.Under the mode of motion of uncertain eccentricity,the initial surface texture of the100 mm×100 mm×10 mm KDP crystal did achieve uniform planarization.The surface root mean square roughness was reduced to 2.182 nm,and the flatness was reduced to 22.013μm.Therefore,the feasibility and validity of WDUCP for large-sized KDP crystal were verified.

Optimization of the Hot Pressing Process for Preparing Flax Fiber/PE Thermoplastic Composite

The hot pressing process parameters were optimized to prepare flax fiber reinforced polyethylene(PE)thermoplastic composite by the Taguchi method.The optimal hot pressing process parameters were determined to increase the tensile strength of the composite.The optimal parameters of the design include the following sections:hot pressing temperature,pressure,hot pressing time and coupling agent modification time.An L9(3*4)orthogonal matrix based on the Taguchi method was created.By means of analysis of signal-to-noise ratio and analysis of variance,the optimal hot pressing process parameters combination was found,compared to the average tensile strength in the nine design experiments,and the tensile strength was improved nearly 10%.

Aggregation-induced delayed electrochemiluminescence of organic dots in aqueous media

Full utilization of the excited species at both singlet states(1R*)and triplet states(3R*)is crucial to improving electrochemiluminescence(ECL)efficiency but is challenging for organic luminescent materials.Here,an aggregation-induced delayed ECL(AIDECL)active organic dot(OD)containing a benzophenone acceptor and dimethylacridine donor is reported,which shows high ECL efficiency via reverse intersystem crossing(RISC)of non-emissive 3R*to emissive 1R*,overcoming the spin-forbidden radiative decay from 3R*.By introducing dual donor-acceptor pairs into luminophores,it is found that nonradiative pathway could be further suppressed via enhanced intermolecular weak interactions,and multiple spin-up conversion channels could be activated.As a consequence,the obtained OD enjoys a 6.8-fold higher ECL efficiency relative to the control AIDECL-active OD.Single-crystal studies and theoretical calculations reveal that the enhanced AIDECL behaviors come from the acceleration of both radiative transition and RISC.This work represents a major step towards purely organic,high-efficiency ECL dyes and a direction for the design of next-generation ECL dyes at the molecular level.

Acoustofluidics-enhanced biosensing with simultaneously high sensitivity and speed

Simultaneously achieving high sensitivity and detection speed with traditional solid-state biosensors is usually limited since the target molecules must passively diffuse to the sensor surface before they can be detected.Microfluidic techniques have been applied to shorten the diffusion time by continuously moving molecules through the biosensing regions.However,the binding efficiencies of the biomolecules are still limited by the inherent laminar flow inside microscale channels.In this study,focused traveling surface acoustic waves were directed into an acoustic microfluidic chip,which could continuously enrich the target molecules into a constriction zone for immediate detection of the immune reactions,thus significantly improving the detection sensitivity and speed.To demonstrate the enhancement of biosensing,we first developed an acoustic microfluidic chip integrated with a focused interdigital transducer;this transducer had the ability to capture more than 91%of passed microbeads.Subsequently,polystyrene microbeads were pre-captured with human IgG molecules at different concentrations and loaded for detection on the chip.As representative results,~0.63,2.62,11.78,and 19.75 seconds were needed to accumulate significant numbers of microbeads pre-captured with human IgG molecules at concentrations of 100,10,1,and 0.1 ng/mL(~0.7 pM),respectively;this process was faster than the other methods at the hour level and more sensitive than the other methods at the nanomolar level.Our results indicated that the proposed method could significantly improve both the sensitivity and speed,revealing the importance of selective enrichment strategies for rapid biosensing of rare molecules.

PBX/Knotted 1 homeobox-2(PKNOX2)is a novel regulator of myocardial fibrosis

Much effort has been made to uncover the cellular heterogeneities of human hearts by single-nucleus RNA sequencing.However,the cardiac transcriptional regulation networks have not been systematically described because of the limitations in detecting transcription factors.In this study,we optimized a pipeline for isolating nuclei and conducting single-nucleus RNA sequencing targeted to detect a higher number of cell signal genes and an optimal number of transcription factors.With this unbiased protocol,we characterized the cellular composition of healthy human hearts and investigated the transcriptional regulation networks involved in determining the cellular identities and functions of the main cardiac cell subtypes.Particularly in fibroblasts,a novel regulator,PKNOX2,was identified as being associated with physiological fibroblast activation in healthy hearts.To validate the roles of these transcription factors in maintaining homeostasis,we used single-nucleus RNA-sequencing analysis of transplanted failing hearts focusing on fibroblast remodelling.The trajectory analysis suggested that PKNOX2 was abnormally decreased from fibroblast activation to pathological myofibroblast formation.Both gain-and loss-of-function in vitro experiments demonstrated the inhibitory role of PKNOX2 in pathological fibrosis remodelling.Moreover,fibroblast-specific overexpression and knockout of PKNOX2 in a heart failure mouse model induced by transverse aortic constriction surgery significantly improved and aggravated myocardial fibrosis,respectively.In summary,this study established a high-quality pipeline for single-nucleus RNA-sequencing analysis of heart muscle.With this optimized protocol,we described the transcriptional regulation networks of the main cardiac cell subtypes and identified PKNOX2 as a novel regulator in suppressing fibrosis and a potential therapeutic target for future translational studies.

Time-resolved luminescent nanoprobes based on lanthanide nucleotide self-assemblies for alkaline phosphatase detection

Currently,enzyme-responsive nanomaterials have shown great promise in prognosis or diagnosis of disease biomarker.However,the great obstacle for conventional enzyme-responsive nanomaterials frequently lies in autofluorescence interference,poor monodispersity,uncontrollable size and morphology,low optical stability,and biotoxicity,which fundamentally impede their practical application in biological systems.To overcome these deficiencies,we proposed a novel strategy for reliable and precise detection of an enzyme disease biomarker,alkaline phosphatase(ALP),through lanthanide(Ln^(3+))nucleotide nanoparticles(LNNPs)with extremely improved monodispersity and uniformity,which were achieved by the coordination self-assembly between ATP and Ln^(3+)inside micellar nanoreactor.Specifically,for ATP-Ce/Tb LNNPs,highly improved photoluminescence(PL)emission of Tb^(3+)can be achieved via efficient Ce^(3+)sensitization.We demonstrated that ALP could specifically cleave the phosphorus–oxygen(P–O)bonds of ATP and result in the collapse of ATP-Ce/Tb scaffold,finally leading to the PL quenching of Tb^(3+).By taking advantage of time-resolved(TR)PL technique,the fabricated ATP-Ce/Tb LNNPs presented superior selectivity and sensitivity for the ALP bioassay in complicated serum samples,thus revealing the great potential of ATP-Ce/Tb LNNPs in the areas of ALP-related disease prognosis and diagnosis.

Host molecule enhanced aggregation induced emission of chiral silver nanoclusters for achieving highly efficient circularly polarized electroluminescence

Chiral metal nanoclusters(MNCs)are competitive candidates for fabricating circularly polarized light-emitting diodes(CPLEDs),but the device performance is greatly limited by the poor emission of MNCs in solid thin films.Herein,host molecule enhanced aggregation induced emission(AIE)of MNCs is demonstrated for fabricating highly efficient CPLEDs.Namely,on the basis of the AIE effect of atomically precise enantiomeric(R/S)-4-phenylthiazolidine-2-thione capped silver(R/S-Ag_(6)(PTLT)_(6))NCs in solid thin films,1,3-bis(carbazol-9-yl)benzene(mCP)is introduced as a host molecule to control the orientation and packing arrangements of R/S-Ag_(6)(PTLT)_(6) NCs throughπ–πinteractions with the R/S-Ag_(6)(PTLT)_(6) NCs and further enhance the AIE.The as-fabricated Ag_(6)(PTLT)_(6) NC/mCP hybrid solid thin film shows a high photoluminescence quantum yield of 71.0%close to that of Ag_(6)(PTLT)_(6) NC single crystal.As the hybrid films are employed as the active emission layers of CPLEDs,mCP also suppresses the triplettriplet annihilation and balances the charge transport.Thus,the CPLEDs exhibit a maximum brightness of 3,906 cd/m^(2),peak external quantum efficiency of 10.0%,electroluminescence dissymmetry factors of−5.3×10^(−3)and 4.7×10^(−3).

Smoothing strategy for corner of small curvature radius by abrasive waterjet machining

Abrasive waterjet(AWJ)is widely applied in 2D machining as it offers high machining efficiency and low machining cost.However,machining a 3D surface,especially for a small curvature radius freeform surface(SCRFS),results in over-erosion of the corner,and has been one of the greatest issues of AWJ.To solve this problem,a local smoothing algorithm for SCRFS is developed by the junction of two linear segments at the corner by inserting cubic second-order B-spline to smooth the nozzle path and posture under the setting tolerance error,which is aimed to avoid over-erosion due to the change in dwell time.Analytical solutions of the smooth corner position and orientation of the nozzle path are obtained by evaluating a synchronization algorithm.According to the set tolerance error of the nozzle position and orientation,the interpolation of the smooth path of the corner meets the constraint conditions of the linear feed drive.Path simulation and experimental results show that the proposed method is validated by the experimental results and has been applied to the integral blisk machining of an aero-engine.

光热转换材料及其在脱盐领域的应用

光热脱盐技术在缓解水资源短缺和减少水环境污染等方面具有重要的应用前景,已吸引了各国研究者的广泛关注。光热脱盐主要是利用光热转换材料将吸收的太阳光能直接、高效地转化为热能,以蒸发水分实现含盐水脱盐和水质净化,其效率取决于光热转换材料的性能。本文综述了近年来太阳能光热转换材料如金属基材料、碳基材料、半导体材料、有机聚合物材料、复合光热材料的研究现状及其光热转换机理,并介绍了光热转换材料在脱盐领域的应用进展。基于上述分析,对光热转换材料在未来脱盐领域的研究前景进行了展望,提出应针对光热转换材料的低强度全光谱吸收和高效转化利用、光热稳定性和重复使用性提高,以及光热脱盐系统的热传递损失最小化和热量利用最大化等方面进行深入探析。

Metabolic characteristics and nutrient utilization in high-feedefficiency pigs selected using different feed conversion ratio models

An understanding of the nutrient utilization characteristics of pigs with different feed efficiencies(FEs) will help us to develop new strategies to reduce the costs of pig production.In this study,we selected pigs with a range of FEs according to two feed conversion ratio models: the feed intake(FI) model,where pigs had the same average daily gains(ADGs) but different FIs,and the ADG model,where pigs had the same FIs but different ADGs.High-FE pigs had a higher abundance of short chain fatty acid(SCFA)-producing bacteria(Lachnospiraceae,Clostridiaceae1,and Coriobacteriaceae) in their caecum in the FI model,and low-FE pigs had a higher abundance of two families(BacteroidalesS247group and Peptococcaceae) and two genera(Anaerotruncus and CandidatusSoleaferrea) in both models.By contrast,high-FE pigs had more goblet cells and higher m RNA expression of insulin-like growth factor 1(IGF-1) in the FI model,and higher mRNA expression of occludin but lower expressions of adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase(AMPK)-α2 and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator 1 alpha(PGC1α) in the ADG model.These findings suggest that the presence of SCFA-producing bacteria in the caecum and increased muscular growth may contribute to the high FE of low-FI pigs,while improved intestinal functions and decreased mitochondrial activity in the skeletal muscle are related to the high FE of high-ADG pigs.

Research progress on ultra-precision machining technologies for soft-brittle crystal materials

Soft-brittle crystal materials are widely used in many fields, especially optics and microelectronics. However, these materials are difficult to machine through traditional machining methods because of their brittle, soft, and anisotropic nature. In this article, the characteristics and machining diff^culties of soft-brittle and crystals are presented. Moreover, the latest research progress of novel machining technologies and their applications for soft- brittle crystals are introduced by using some representative materials （e.g., potassium dihydrogen phosphate （KDP）, cadmium zinc telluride （CZT）） as examples. This article reviews the research progress of soft-brittle crystals processing.