Emodin and baicalein inhibit sodium taurocholate-induced vacuole formation in pancreatic acinar cells

AIM To investigate the effects of combined use of emodin and baicalein(CEB) at the cellular and organism levelsin severe acute pancreatitis(SAP) and explore the underlying mechanism.METHODS SAP was induced by retrograde infusion of 5% sodium taurocholate into the pancreatic duct in 48 male SD rats. Pancreatic histopathology score, serum amylase activity, and levels of tumour necrosis factor alpha(TNf-α), interleukin 6(IL-6), and IL-10 were determined to assess the effects of CEB at 12 h after the surgery. The rat pancreatic acinar cells were isolated from healthy male SD rats using collagenase. The cell viability, cell ultrastructure, intracellular free Ca2+ concentration, and inositol(1,4,5)-trisphosphate receptor(IP3 R) expression were investigated to assess the mechanism of CEB.RESULTS Pancreatic histopathology score(2.07 ± 1.20 vs 6.84 ± 1.13, P < 0.05) and serum amylase activity(2866.2 ± 617.7 vs 5241.3 ± 1410.0, P < 0.05) were significantly decreased in the CEB(three doses) treatment group compared with the SAP group(2.07 ± 1.20 vs 6.84 ± 1.13, P < 0.05). CEB dose-dependently reduced the levels of the pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-6(466.82 ± 48.55 vs 603.50 ± 75.53, P < 0.05) and TNF-α(108.04 ± 16.10 vs 215.56 ± 74.67, P < 0.05) and increased the level of the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10(200.96 ± 50.76 vs 54.18 ± 6.07, P < 0.05) compared with those in the SAP group. CEB increased cell viability, inhibited cytosolic Ca2+ concentration, and significantly ameliorated intracellular vacuoles and IP3 m RNA expression compared with those in the SAP group(P < 0.05). There was a trend towards decreased IP3 R protein in the CEB treatment group; however, it did not reach statistical significance(P > 0.05).CONCLUSION These results at the cellular and organism levels reflect a preliminary mechanism of CEB in SAP and indicate that CEB is a suitable approach for SAP treatment.

Novel insight into perirenal adipose tissue: A neglected adipose depot linking cardiovascular and chronic kidney disease

Obesity is associated with adverse metabolic diseases including cardiovascular disease(CVD) and chronic kidney disease(CKD).These obesity-related diseases are highly associated with excess fat accumulation in adipose tissue.However,emerging evidence indicates that visceral adiposity associates more with metabolic and cardiovascular risk factors.Perirenal adipose tissue,surrounding the kidney,is originally thought to provides only mechanical support for kidney.However,more studies demonstrated perirenal adipose tissue have a closer association with renal disease than other visceral fat deposits in obesity.Additionally,perirenal adipose tissue is also an independent risk factor for CKD and even associated more with CVD.Thus,perirenal adipose tissue may be a connection of CVD with CKD.Here,we will provide an overview of the perirenal adipose tissue,a neglected visceral adipose tissue,and the roles of perirenal adipose tissue linking with CVD and CKD and highlight the perirenal adipose tissue as a potential strategy for future therapeutics against obesity-related disease.

Three-dimensional double-rough-walled modeling of fluid flow through self-affine shear fractures

This study proposes a double-rough-walled fracture model to represent the natural geometries of rough fractures.The rough surface is generated using a modified successive random additions(SRA)algorithm and the aperture distribution during shearing is calculated using a mechanistic model.The shear-flow simulations are performed by directly solving the Navier-Stokes(NS)equations.The results show that the double-rough-walled fracture model can improve the accuracy of fluid flow simulations by approximately 14.99%-19.77%,compared with the commonly used single-rough-walled fracture model.The ratio of flow rate to hydraulic gradient increases by one order of magnitude for fluids in a linear flow regime with increment of shear displacement from 2.2 mm to 2.6 mm.By solving the NS equations,the inertial effect is taken into account and the significant eddies are simulated and numerically visualized,which are not easy to be captured in conventional experiments.The anisotropy of fluid flow in the linear regime during shearing is robustly enhanced as the shearing advances;however,it is either increased or decreased for fluids in the nonlinear flow regime,depending on the geometry of shear-induced void spaces between the two rough walls of the fracture.The present study provides a method to represent the real geometry of fractures during shearing and to simulate fluid flow by directly solving the NS equations,which can be potentially utilized in many applications such as heat and mass transfer,contaminant transport,and coupled hydro-thermo-mechanical processes within rock fractures/fracture networks.

Effect of pretreatment conditions on catalytic activity of Ag/SBA-15 catalyst for toluene oxidation

The catalytic oxidation of toluene over Ag/SBA‐15synthesized under different pretreatment conditions,including O2at500°C(denoted O500),H2at500°C(H500),and O2at500°C followed by H2at300°C(O500‐H300)was studied.The pretreated samples were investigated by N2physisorption,X‐ray diffraction,and ultraviolet‐visible diffuse reflectance.The pretreatment atmosphere greatly influences the status of the Ag and O species,which in turn significantly impacts the adsorption and catalytic removal of toluene.Ag2O and amorphous Ag particles,as well as a large amount of subsurface oxygen species,are formed on O500,and the subsurface oxygen enhances the interaction between Ag species and toluene,so O500shows good activity at higher temperature.However,its activity at lower temperature is not as high as expected,with a reduced presence of Ag2O and lower adsorption capacity for toluene.H2pretreatment at500°C is conducive to the formation of large Ag particles and yields the largest adsorption capacity for toluene,so H500exhibits the best activity at lower temperatures;however,because of poor interaction between Ag and toluene,its activity at higher temperature is modest.The O500‐H300sample exhibits excellent catalytic activity during the whole reaction process,which can be attributed to the small and highly dispersed Ag nanoparticles as well as the existence of subsurface oxygen.

Relationship between serum Dickkopf-1 and albuminuria in patients with type 2 diabetes

BACKGROUND Diabetic kidney disease is a microvascular complication of diabetes with complex pathogenesis.Wingless signaling-mediated renal fibrosis is associated with diabetic kidney disease.Dickkopf-1,a negative regulator of Wingless,has been proven to participate in renal fibrosis,glucose metabolism,and inflammation.However,whether serum Dickkopf-1 levels are associated with diabetic kidney disease remains unclear.AIM To assess the relationship between serum Dickkopf-1 levels and albuminuria in individuals with type 2 diabetes.METHODS Seventy-three type 2 diabetes patients and 24 healthy individuals were enrolled in this case-control study.Diabetic individuals were separated into normal albuminuria,microalbuminuria,and macroalbuminuria groups based on their urinary albumin/creatinine ratios(UACRs).Clinical characteristics and metabolic indices were recorded.Serum Dickkopf-1 levels were determined by enzymelinked immunosorbent assay.RESULTS No significant difference in serum Dickkopf-1 levels was found between healthy individuals and the normal albuminuria group.However,the levels in the microalbuminuria group were significantly lower than those in the normal albuminuria group(P=0.017),and those in the macroalbuminuria group were the lowest.Bivariate analysis revealed that serum Dickkopf-1 levels were positively correlated with hemoglobin A1c level(r=0.368,P<0.01)and estimated glomerular filtration rate(r=0.339,P<0.01),but negatively correlated with diabetes duration(r=-0.231,P=0.050),systolic blood pressure(r=-0.369,P=0.001),serum creatinine level(r=-0.325,P<0.01),and UACR(r=-0.459,P<0.01).Multiple and logistic regression showed that serum Dickkopf-1 levels were independently associated with UACR(odds ratio=0.627,P=0.021).CONCLUSION Serum Dickkopf-1 levels are negatively associated with UACR.Lower serum Dickkopf-1 levels could be a critical risk factor for albuminuria in diabetes.

Association between serum Sestrin2 level and diabetic peripheral neuropathy in type 2 diabetic patients

BACKGROUND Diabetic peripheral neuropathy(DPN)is a chronic and serious microvascular complication of diabetes linked to redox imbalance.Sestrin2,a novel inducible stress protein,participates in glucose metabolic regulation and redox homeostasis.However,the association between serum Sestrin2 and DPN is unknown.AIM To explore the association between serum Sestrin2 and DPN in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus(T2DM).METHODS A total of 96 T2DM patients and 39 healthy volunteers,matched by age and sex,participated in this cross-sectional study.Clinical features and metabolic indices were identified.Serum Sestrin2 was measured by ELISA.The association between Sestrin2 and DPN was studied.Correlation and logistic regression analyses were used to evaluate the associations of different metabolic indices with Sestrin2 and DPN.RESULTS The 96 patients with T2DM were divided into DPN(n=47)and patients without DPN(n=49).Serum Sestrin2 was significantly lower in healthy volunteers than in all T2DM patients combined[9.10(5.41-13.53)ng/mL vs 12.75(7.44-23.80)ng/mL,P<0.01].T2DM patients without DPN also had significantly higher levels of Sestrin2 than healthy volunteers[14.58(7.93-26.62)ng/mL vs 9.10(5.41-13.53)ng/mL,P<0.01].However,T2DM patients with DPN had lower circulating Sestrin2 levels compared to T2DM patients without DPN[9.86(6.72-21.71)ng/mL vs 14.58(7.93-26.62)ng/mL,respectively,P<0.01].Bivariate correlation analysis revealed that serum Sestrin2 was positively correlated with body mass index(r=0.672,P=0.000),hemoglobin A1c(HbA1c)(r=0.292,P=0.000),serum creatinine(r=0.206,P=0.016),triglycerides(r=0.731,P=0.000),and fasting glucose(r=0.202,P=0.040),and negatively associated with estimated glomerular filtration rate(r=-0.230,P=0.007).After adjustment for sex,age,HbA1c,and diabetes duration,multiple regression analysis revealed that Sestrin2 was independently correlated with body mass index and triglyceride levels(P=0.000).Logistic regression analyses indicated that Sestrin2,diabetes duration,and high-density lipoprotein were strongly associated with DPN(odds ratio=0.855,1.411,and 0.041,respectively).CONCLUSION Our results show Sestrin2 is decreased in T2DM patients with DNP.As lower Sestrin2 is independently associated with DPN,Sestrin2 may contribute to progression of DPN in T2DM patients.

Ensuring the Authenticity and Non-Misuse of Data Evidence in Digital Forensics

In forensic investigations,it is vital that the authenticity of digital evidence should be ensured. In addition,technical means should be provided to ensure that digital evidence collected cannot be misused for the purpose of perjury. In this paper,we present a method to ensure both authenticity and non-misuse of data extracted from wireless mobile devices. In the method,the device ID and a timestamp become a part of the original data and the Hash function is used to bind the data together. Encryption is applied to the data,which includes the digital evidence,the device ID and the timestamp. Both symmetric and asymmetric encryption systems are employed in the proposed method where a random session key is used to encrypt the data while the public key of the forensic server is used to encrypt the session key to ensure security and efficiency. With the several security mechanisms that we show are supported or can be implemented in wireless mobile devices such as the Android,we can ensure the authenticity and non-misuse of data evidence in digital forensics.

Simulation on Pyrolysis Products of Thermoset Phenolic Resin with Different Chemical Structure and Experimental Validation

The simulation on pyrolysis products of pure PF resin with different chemical structure was investigated and validated by pyrolysis gas-chromatography mass spectrometry(Py-GC/MS).The simulation of pyrolysis products of phenolic resin with different chemical structure was investigated by AMBER(Assisted Model Building with Energy Refinement)force field.The content of pyrolysis products phenol and cresol decreases with the increase of F/P(formaldehyde/phenol)value.The content of pyrolysis products dimethylphenol and trimethylphenol increases with the enhancement of F/P value.The crosslink density of phenolic mixture can be measured by the content of pyrolysis products dimethylphenol and trimethylphenol.Consequently,the results of simulation were validated by the Py-GC/MS experiment.

Solving the Problem of Silicon Dioxide Melting Based on Deviation Model

In order to reveal the dissolution behavior of iron tailings in blast furnace slag,we studied the main component of silica in iron tailings.First,edge contour features need to be established to represent the melting process of silica.We choose shape,perimeter,area and generalized radius as objects.By independently analyzing the influence of these four indexes on the melting rate,the area and shape were selected as the characteristic parameters of the edge contour of the silica particles.Then,the actual melting rate of the silica is estimated by the edge contour feature index.Finally,we can calculate the melting rate of the first second of three time periods of 0.00010312mm^3/s,0.0002399mm^3/s,0.0000538mm^3/s.

Best Determined Position of Vents Based on Jet Cooling Model

In some data centers,cold air is required to act on the cabinet to achieve cooling requirements,and the mixing of cold air and hot air reduces the utilization efficiency of cold air.In order to solve this problem,a jet cooling model is established to solve the optimal position of the outlet through the movement of cold air.

基于Constacyclic码构造的一类新的量子MDS码

量子MDS码是一类重要的量子码。在这篇文章中,我们通过厄米特结构和常循环码构造一类长度为n=(q2+1)/a新的量子MDS码。这个结果是文献[13]中定理7的延伸。

Interfacial growth of N,S-codoped mesoporous carbon onto biomass-derived carbon for superior potassium-ion storage

Carbonaceous materials have been recognized as one of the most promising anode materials for potassium-ion batteries(PIBs)due to their abundant raw materials,controllable structure,superior conductivity,and good chemical inertness.However,the large radius of K ions and the low potassium content of intercalation compounds result in the sluggish storage kinetics and low reversible capacity of carbon anodes.In this work,we present a unique heteroatom-doped carbon composite(denoted as NS-MC/SC)through a facile interfacial assembly route and simple heat-treatment process,where NS-MC is well grafted onto the biomass-derived spore carbon(SC).This unique structural design endows it with abundant mesoporous channels,expanded layer spacing,and highly doped N and S.With these merits,the NS-MC/SC anode in PIBs exhibits a high reversible capacity of 350.4 mAh·g^(-1) at 100 mA·g^(-1) after 300 cycles,and an outstanding cycling stability.Besides,in-situ Raman spectra further verify the high reversibility of K ions insertion/extraction.Importantly,theoretical simulations also reveal that the N,S dual-doping is an efficient approach for improving the potassium-ion storage performance of NS-MC/SC.

The p38/MAPK pathway as a therapeutic target to prevent therapeutic escape of breast cancer stem cells

Cancer stem cells(CSCs)play an important role in metastasis development,tumor recurrence,and treatment resistance,and are essential for the eradication of cancer.Currently,therapies fail to eradicate CSCs due to their therapeutic stress-induced cellular escape,which leads to enhanced aggressive behaviors compared with CSCs that have never been treated.However,the underlying mechanisms regulating the therapeutic escape remain unknown.To this end,we established a model to isolate the therapeutic escaped CSCs(TSCSCs)from breast CSCs and performed the transcription profile to reveal the mechanism.Mechanistically,we demonstrated that the behavior of therapeutic escape was regulated through the p38/MAPK signaling pathway,resulting in TSCSCs exhibiting enhanced motility and metastasis.Notably,blocking the p38/MAPK signaling pathway effectively reduced motility and metastasis ability both in vitro and in vivo,which were further supported by downregulated motility-related genes and epithelial-mesenchymal transition(EMT)-related proteins vimentin and N-cadherin.The obtained findings reveal the p38/MAPK pathway as a potential therapeutic target for TSCSCs and would provide profound implications for cancer therapy.

Ti_(3)C_(2)T_(x)MXene wrapped,carbon-coated porous Si sheets for improved lithium storage performance

Si-based materials have shown great potential as lithium-ion batteries(LIBs)anodes due to their natural reserves and high theoretical capacity.However,the large volume changes during cycles and poor conductivity of Si lead to rapid capacity decay and poor cycling stability,ultimately limiting their commercial applications.Herein,we have skillfully utilized the microporous MCM-22 zeolite as the unique silicon source to produce porous Si(pSi)sheets by a simple magnesiothermic reduction,followed by a carbon coating and further Ti_(3)C_(2)T_(x)MXene assembly,obtaining the ternary pSi@NC@TNSs composite.In the design,porous Si sheets provide more active sites and shorten Li-ion transport paths for electrochemical reactions.The N-doped carbon(NC)layer serves as a bonding layer to couple pSi and Ti_(3)C_(2)T_(x).The conductive network formed by 2D Ti_(3)C_(2)T_(x)and medium NC layer effectively enhances the overall charge transport of the electrode material,and helps to stabilize the electrode structure.Therefore,the as-made pSi@NC@TNSs anode delivers an improved lithium storage performance,exhibiting a high reversible capacity of 925 mAh/g at 0.5 A/g after 100 cycles.This present strategy provides an effective way towards high-performance Si-based anodes for LIBs.

MicroRNA-125b regulates Th17/Treg cell differentiation and is associated with juvenile idiopathic arthritis

Background Juvenile idiopathic arthritis(JIA)is the most common rheumatic disease in childhood driven by aberrant pathways of T-cell activation.T helper 17(Th17)/regulatory T cell(Treg)imbalance plays critical roles in the pathogenesis of arthritis.MicroRNA-125b(miR-125b)was upregulated after the activation of the initial CD4^+T cells,and could regulate the differentiation of CD4^+T cells.However,the effects of miR-125b on Th17/Treg imbalance and differentiation of Th 17/Treg cells remain unknown.Methods In this study,we evaluated the expression of miR-125b in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells(PBMCs)of children with JIA,and the relationship of miR-125b with Th17/Treg imbalance.Then,we used lentivirus vector-mediated overexpression technology to investigate the regulatory function of miR-125b in CD4^+T cells or dendritic cell/CD4^+T co-culture system.Results Decreased miR-125b expression in PBMCs and CD4^+T cells of JIA patients was negatively correlated with the ratio of Th17/Treg cells.It also correlated negatively with retinoic acid receptor-related orphan receptorγt but positively with Forkhead box protein 3 at transcriptional levels.Furthermore,we found that miR-125b overexpression inhibited Th17 cell differentiation,whereas facilitated the differentiation of Treg cells.MiR-125b upregulation led to the decrease of Th 17-secreting cytokines but the increase of the Treg-secreting cytokines.Conclusions Our results demonstrate that miR-125b participated in regulating Thl7/Treg cell differentiation and imbalance in JIA patients.These findings provide novel insight into the critical role of miR-125b in the Th17/Treg imbalance of JIA,and raise the distinct possibility that miR-125b may prove to be a potential therapeutic target for JIA.

Electrospun poly(ethylene oxide) nanofibrous composites with enhanced ionic conductivity as flexible solid polymer electrolytes

Solid polymer electrolytes(SPEs)have great potential to address the safety issues of lithium(Li)-ion batteries when compared with conventional liquid electrolytes,which makes them a promising alternative for next-generation high-energy batteries.In this work,poly(ethylene oxide)-lithium perchlorate(PEO–LiClO4)polymer electrolytes for Li-ion batteries were prepared using electrospinning.The crystallinity,ionic conductivity as well as mechanical properties were investigated.Ionic conductivities and mechanical properties of PEO–LiClO4 based SPE have been obviously increased by incorporating modified TiO2 nanofibres(TNFs)than TiO2 nanoparticles(TNPs),due to that both TNFs and TNPs can decrease the crystalline phase concentration of PEO and increase segmental flexibility of PEO.The SPE with 3 wt%TNFs exhibits the highest conductivity of 5.308×10−5 S cm−1 at 20°C and higher tensile strength of 13.8 MPa.These results highlight the potential of utilising the electrospinning method to improve the ionic conductivity of SPEs.

Highly catalytic activity of Mn/SBA-15 catalysts for toluene combustion improved by adjusting the morphology of supports

Rod-like, hexagonal and fiber-like SBA-15 mesoporous silicas were synthesized to support MnO_x for toluene oxidation. This study showed that the morphology of the supports greatly influenced the catalytic activity in toluene oxidation. MnO_x supported on rod-like SBA-15(R-SBA-15) displayed the best catalytic activity and the conversion at 230°C reached more than 90%, which was higher than the other two catalysts. MnO_x species consisted of coexisting MnO_2 and Mn_2O_3 on the three kinds of SBA-15 samples. Large amounts of Mn_2O_3 species were formed on the surface and high oxygen mobility was obtained on MnO_x supported on R-SBA-15, according to the H_2 temperature programmed reduction(H_2-TPR)and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS) results. The Mn/R-SBA-15 catalyst with greater amounts of Mn_2O_3 species possessed a large amount of surface lattice oxygen, which accelerated the catalytic reaction rate. Therefore, the surface lattice oxygen and high oxygen mobility were critical factors on the catalytic activity of the Mn/R-SBA-15 catalyst.

STABILIZED BARZILAI-BORWEIN METHOD

The Barzilai-Borwein(BB)method is a popular and efficient tool for solving large-scale unconstrained optimization problems.Its search direction is the same as for the steepest descent(Cauchy)method,but its stepsize rule is different.Owing to this,it converges much faster than the Cauchy method.A feature of the BB method is that it may generate too long steps,which throw the iterates too far away from the solution.Moreover,it may not converge,even when the objective function is strongly convex.In this paper,a stabilization technique is introduced.It consists in bounding the distance between each pair of successive iterates,which often allows for decreasing the number of BB iterations.When the BB met hod does not converge,our simple modification of this method makes it convergent.For strongly convex functions with Lipsch计s gradients,we prove its global convergence,despite the fact that no line search is involved,and only gradient values are used.Since the number of stabilization steps is proved to be finite,the stabilized version inherits the fast local convergence of the BB met hod.The presented results of extensive numerical experiments show that our stabilization technique often allows the BB method to solve problems in a fewer计erations,or even to solve problems where the latter fails.

POSITIVE DEFINITE AND SEMI-DEFINITE SPLITTING METHODS FOR NON-HERMITIAN POSITIVE DEFINITE LINEAR SYSTEMS

In this paper, we further generalize the technique for constructing the normal （or pos- itive definite） and skew-Hermitian splitting iteration method for solving large sparse non- Hermitian positive definite system of linear equations. By introducing a new splitting, we establish a class of efficient iteration methods, called positive definite and semi-definite splitting （PPS） methods, and prove that the sequence produced by the PPS method con- verges unconditionally to the unique solution of the system. Moreover, we propose two kinds of typical practical choices of the PPS method and study the upper bound of the spectral radius of the iteration matrix. In addition, we show the optimal parameters such that the spectral radius achieves the minimum under certain conditions. Finally, some numerical examples are given to demonstrate the effectiveness of the considered methods.

Evaluation of Climatic Comfort of Living Environment based on Age Differentials in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Area

Somatosensory comfort is mainly determined by the Temperature and Humidity Index(THI)with Wind Efficiency Index(WEI),but this conventional usage of these indicators does not capture the age-related differentials.Here we resolved this gap with a modification of the climatic comfort definition and method in a national standard,denoted as the Relative Climate Sensitive Index(RCSI),which incorporated the age-related vulnerability scores determined through online questionnaires with a scoring method,for each of the age-related and adaptive climatic comfort responses to changes in residence with Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei(BTH)region as an example.First,the result showed that the human comfort of living environment decreased with age in the BTH region,implicating age obviously impacted comfort,and weak adaptability made the elderly the relatively most high-risk group-their suitable region was less than a quarter of the whole study region.Second the adverse effects of persistent hot weather on comfort,indicating global warming as the leading driver of dwindling comfort over recent years.As the warming was more significant in the southeastern part,all these forces combined had there a hotspot,appealing for extra attention.Last this improved evaluation accorded with actual situation to captured high-risk groups with their distributions.