Mechanism of Gegen Qinlian Decoction in Treating Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Complicated with NAFLD Based on Network Pharmacology

[Objectives]To explore the mechanism of Gegen Qinlian Decoction in treating type 2 diabetes mellitus(T2DM)complicated with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease(NAFLD)by analyzing the effective components of Gegen Qinlian Decoction.[Methods]TCMSP database was used to analyze the active components of Gegen Qinlian Decoction,and pubchem and Swiss ADME databases were also used to predict drug targets,extract T2DM complicated with NAFLD targets from OMIM and Genecards databases.Venny plot was drawn to obtain intersection targets,and finally Cytoscape was used to make core target maps and drug-target-disease network maps.Using DAVID and Metascape database to analyze the intersection targets,the gene ontology information of Go and KEGG was obtained.Microbial informatics technology was used to visualize GO,and Cytoscape was used to make drug-target-disease network map-enrichment pathway map.[Results]The network pharmacological analysis showed that Gegen Qinlian Decoction acted on the key targets of type 2 diabetes mellitus complicated with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease,such as ALB and ALT1,through many components,and achieved the purpose of treating this disease.The chemical constituents of the drug include formononetin,5-hydroxyisomucronulatol-2,5-2-O-glucoside,cholesteryl laurate,isoliquiritigenin,etc.[Conclusions]This study provides a new idea and theoretical support for future drug research and clinical practice.

Mercury accumulation,distribution,and isotopic composition in tissues of the Collared Scops Owl(Otus lettia)

Mercury is a ubiquitous contaminant known to accumulate in wildlife,particularly bird species at higher trophic levels.Knowledge of tissue-specific Hg distributions aids our understanding of Hg bioaccumulation in organisms.In this study,one adult and three juvenile Collared Scops Owls(Otus lettia)were studied to elucidate the bioaccumulation of Hg in body tissues.Six tissues and organs(feathers,nails,heart,liver,gizzard,and muscle),as well as gastric contents,were examined for total Hg(THg)and methylmercury(MeHg)contents,Hg isotopic compositions including mass-dependent fractionation(MDF;δ202Hg)and mass-independent fractionation(MIF;Δ199Hg andΔ201Hg),and C(δ13C)and N(δ15N)isotopic compositions.Tissue-specific THg and MeHg concentrations in the adult were in the ranges of 150–1360 ng/g and17–1060 ng/g,and lower in the juveniles at 91–419 ng/g and 67–350 ng/g,respectively.Theδ^(202)Hg values in the adult were strongly negative at-1.75‰±0.17‰compared with the juveniles at-0.99‰±0.25‰.The adult exhibited lower MIF values than the juveniles,at0.23‰±0.07‰forΔ^(199)Hg and 0.2‰±0.11‰forΔ^(201)Hg,comparedwith0.81‰±0.09‰and0.66‰±0.07‰,respectively.The lower adult MDF and MIF values suggest that the adult tended to accumulate negative Hg isotopes but the juvenile's positive Hg isotopes.Differences between adult and juvenile tissue Hg concentrations indicate that metabolic processes play an important role in Hg accumulation.

An Approximate Analytical Method for a Slot Ring Radome

In this paper,an in-band and out-of-band microwave wireless power-transmission characteristic analysis of a slot ring radome based on an approximate analytical method is proposed.The main contribution of this paper is that,in the approximate analysis of the ring radome,a unified expression of the incident field on the radome surface is derived with E-plane and H-plane scanning,and the ring is approximated as 30 segments of straight strips.Solving the corresponding 60×60 linear equations yields the electric current distribution along the ring strip.The magnetic current along the complementary slot ring is obtained by duality.Thanks to the fully analytical format of the current distribution,the microwave wireless power-transmission characteristics are efficiently calculated using Munk’s scheme.An example of a slot ring biplanar symmetric hybrid radome is used to verify the accuracy and efficiency of the proposed scheme.The central processing unit(CPU)time is about 690 s using Ansys HFSS software versus 2.82 s for the proposed method.

Effect of Y and Gd content on the microstructure and mechanical properties of Mg-Y-RE alloys

In the application of WE43,it is found that Y_(2)O_(3)inclusion formed in the process of casting seriously reduced the mechanical properties of the products.The reduction of the mechanical properties is even more distinct when it comes to the application in the thin walled complex-precision castings.In order to decrease the Y_(2)O_(3)inclusions,Gd element was used to replace part of the Y element in Mg-Y-RE series alloys.The effect of Y content(Mg-x Y-1Gd-2Nd-0.5Zn-0.5Zr)and Y/Gd ratio(Mg-x Y-(5-x)Gd-2Nd-0.5Zn-0.5Zr)on the microstructure and mechanical properties of Mg-Y-RE alloys were investigated in this paper.With decreasing Y content,the grain size of the alloys increased,both ultimate tensile strength(UTS)and yield strength(YS)of alloys decreased monotonically.Replacing part of Y content with Gd and keeping the total rare earth content unchanged,the low Y content Mg-2Y-3Gd-2Nd-0.5Zn-0.5Zr alloy showed the same mechanical properties as the high Y content Mg-4Y-1Gd-2Nd-0.5Zn-0.5Zr alloy at both room and elevated temperatures.After solution treatment at 525°C for 8 h and aging treatment at 225°C for 10 h,the UTS,YS and elongation(ε)of Mg-2Y-3Gd-2Nd-0.5Zn-0.5Zr alloy reached 281.7 MPa,198 MPa and 11.1%at room temperature,and 216.7 MPa,171.6 MPa and 16.1%at 250°C.The new low Y content Mg-2Y-2Nd-3Gd-0.5Zn-0.5Zr alloy is expected to replace the high Y content WE43 alloys,which can be used in the complex thin-walled parts of aviation products.

Bird diversity and waterbird habitat preferences in relation to wetland restoration at Dianchi Lake, south-west China

Background:Restoration projects have been implemented worldwide to mitigate the adverse effects of the loss and degradation of wetland habitats.Much research has been carried out on the impacts on birds of wetland restoration and management projects in China. Studies have mainly investigated central or coastal wetlands,while inland wetlands in remote areas have been much less studied. We focused on examining the response of wild birds to wetland restoration in Dianchi Lake,south-west China. Methods: The line transect method was performed at 26 sampling plots.Three of these were in the city,and to acquire all wild bird data 23 plots were located every 2-8 km along the shore of Dianchi Lake, between December 2011 and November 2013.We collected all related bird records by searching the available literature, articles, newspapers and records of birdwatchers to compare species variation before and after implementation of wetland restoration.To measure the relationships between waterbird assemblages and habitat structures, we used canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) to pair the main matrix of bird assemblages with a second matrix of habitat variables. Results: We recorded 182 bird species belonging to 51 families and 17 orders. Of the species, 42 were new records for Kunming City and 20 were new records for Yunnan Province. Ten waterbird species were found to have disappeared from the shore of Dianchi Lake.CCA results indicated that waterbirds could be divided into four categories based on their habitat preference:synanthropic (wintering gulls), special habitat (shorebirds),semi-natural (wintering coots and ducks) and disturbance-tolerant (resident) species.Conclusions:Our study is the first to consider the entire wild bird community throughout the year and discuss the species variation before and after wetland restoration projects launched for Dianchi Lake.Distinct habitat requirements of different waterbird groups were detected in our study,suggesting different types of restoration and management should be implemented.

微尺度下粘弹性介电液体的电水动力学传导泵

电流体动力学传导泵送技术可应用于许多高电场强度状态(10^(6)V/m)下工作的宏观设备.随着热管理设备的广泛开发,微尺度流动生成变得越来越重要.这些设备目前用于冷却小表面面积的高热量流源,并可以在各种电子、控制热传递和航空航天场景中找到.此外,微泵中施加电压的幅度可以显著降低,从而节省能源并实现可靠的流动生成。在本研究中,我们探究了嵌入矩形微通道中传导微泵的动态特性,研究了库仑驱动力、不同通道高度、聚合物弹性和粘度比的影响.结果显示,随着通道高度的增加,电力消耗可以变化两个数量级.随着聚合物浓度的增加,最大速度显著减小,并可以达到与未添加聚合物相比的50%,呈柱塞状分布.流量取决于聚合物浓度,但在聚合物弹性下呈现出非线性曲线.这意味着通过调节粘度比来保持微泵的流量性能可控制,可以为某些受控流量应用提供一些建议.

Bifunctional Silicon Quantum Dots for Antibacterial Application and Highly Sensitive Detection of Tetracycline

Silicon quantum dots(SiQDs)with high water-soluble and favorable photostability were prepared by a one-step hydrothermal method.The average diameter of SiQDs was 2.02 nm characterized by transmission electron microscope.It was to be noted that the as-prepared SiQDs showed eff ective antibacterial activity,which was attributed to electrostatic interaction and the generation of reactive oxygen species.The minimum inhibitory concentration of SiQDs against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus was 0.45 mg/mL and 0.38 mg/mL,respectively.Besides,based on the static quenching eff ect-induced fluorescence quenching mechanism,the SiQDs exhibited high sensitivity and selectivity for detecting tetracyclines(TC).A good linear relationship was obtained between the fluorescence intensity of SiQDs and the concentration of tetracycline(TC)in the range of 0–0.08μmol/L(R^(2)=0.9993)with a detection limit of 0.0176μmol/L.Furthermore,the TC content in the honey samples was determined using the SiQDs.All the results suggest that the as-prepared SiQDs can be a potential fluorescent probe for application in antibacterial and analysis.

Theoretical simulation of performances in CIGS thin-film solar cells with cadmiumfree buffer layer

Copper indium gallium selenium （CIGS） thin film solar cells have become one of the hottest topics in solar energy due to their high photoelectric transformation efficiency. To real applications, CIGS thin film is covered by the buffer layer and absorption layer. Traditionally, cadmium sulfide （CdS） is inserted into the middle of the window layer （ZnO） and absorption layer （CIGS） as a buffer layer. However, the application of the GIGS/CdS thin film solar cells has been limited because of the environmental pollution resulting from the toxic cadmium atom. Although zinc sulfide （ZnS） has been proposed to be one of the candidates, the performance of such battery cells has not been investigated. Here, in this paper, we systematically study the possibility of using zinc sulfide （ZnS） as a buffer layer. By including the effects of thickness, concentration of a buffer layer, intrinsic layer and the absorbing layer, we find that photoelectric transformation efficiency of ZnO/ZnS（n）/CIGS（i）/CIGS（p） solar cell is about 17.22%, which is qualified as a commercial solar cell. Moreover, we also find that the open-circuit voltage is -0.60 V, the short-circuit current is -36.99 mA/cm2 and the filled factor is -77.44%. Therefore, our results suggest that zinc sulfide may be the potential candidate of CdS as a buffer layer.