A HPLC-Q-TOF-MS-based Urinary Metabolomic Approach to Identification of Potential Biomarkers of Metabolic Syndrome

Metabolic syndrome （MetS） is a serious threat to public health worldwide with an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and all-cause morbidity and mortality. In this study, a urinary metabolomic approach was performed on high performance liquid chromatography quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry to discriminate 36 male MetS patients and 36 sex and age matched healthy controls. Pattern recognition analyses （principal component analysis and orthogonal projections to latent structures discriminate analysis） commonly demonstrated the difference between MetS patients and no-MetS subjects. This study found 8 metabolites that showed significant changes in patients with MetS, including branch-chain and aromatic amino acids （leucine, tyrosine, phenylalanine and tryptophan）, short-chain acylcanitine （tiglylcamitine）, tricarboxylic acid （TCA） cycle intermediate （cis-aconitic acid） and glucuronidated products （cortolone-3-glucuronide and tetrahydroaldoster- one-3-glucuronide）. The candidate biomarkers revealed in this study could be useful in providing clues for further research focusing on the in-depth investigation of the cause of and cure for MetS.

Longitudinal Changes in Liver Aminotransferases Predict Metabolic Syndrome in Chinese Patients with Nonviral Hepatitis

Objective This study explored the correlation of longitudinal changes in serum alanine aminotransferase （ALT） and aspartate aminotransferase （AST） levels with the incidence of metabolic syndrome （Mets） based on a dynamic health examination cohort. Methods A Mets-free dynamic cohort involving 4541 participants who underwent at least three health examinations from 2006 to 2011 was included in the study. Mets was defined according to the Chinese Medical Association Diabetes Branch definition that included hypertension, obesity, hyperlipidemia, and hyperglycemia. Generalized estimating equation （GEE） model was used to analyze multivariate relative risk （RR） of repeated observations of ALT and AST in quartiles for Mets or its components according to gender. Results In all, 826 Mets cases were reported. Adjustment of relevant parameters indicated that time-varying changes in ALT and AST levels were positively associated with the incidence of Mets in a dose-response manner. Positive association between high ALT levels and fatty liver was much stronger than that between high AST levels and fatty liver, particularly in male participants. These associations were consistently observed in the following subgroups： participants with ALT and AST levels of 〈40 U/L, participants with of 〈25 kg/m2, and participants with non-fatty liver. Furthermore, participants with 2 Mets components at baseline showed lower multivariate adjusted RRs of ALT and AST for Mets than participants with 0-1 Mets component. Conclusion These results suggested that elevated serum ALT and AST levels were early biomarkers of Mets or its components.

Optimal Design and Dynamic Simulation of Mountain Bike with Rear Suspension

This paper investigates the dynamic design methodology of mountain bikes with rear suspension. Firstly, a multi-rigid body dynamic model of rider and mountain bike coupled system is constructed. The rider model includes 19 skeletons, 18 joints and 118 main muscles. Secondly, to validate the feasibility of the model, an experiment test is designed to reflect the real cycling status. Finally, aiming at enhancing the performance of the rider vibration comfort, the scale parameters of rear suspension are optimized with computer simulation and uniform design. The mathematical model in the vibration performance and the design variables is constructed with regression analysis. The result shows that when the length of side link is 90 mm, the length of connected rod is 336.115 1 mm and the included angle between absorber and side link is 60°, the mountain bike has better vibration comfort. This study and relevant conclusions are of practical importance to the design of the mountain bike＇s rear suspension system.

Construction of Saccharomyces cerevisiae Strain Stably Expressing a Fusion Protein Containing Ten Tandem Recombinant Human Glucagon-like Peptide-1 Analogues

The recombinant Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain stably expressing recombinant human glucagon-like peptide-l（rhGLP-1） analogue, as a potential oral drug delivery system for diabetes type II treatment, was successfully constructed by the homologous recombination between chromosomal DNA and yeast and integrating vector pNK-GLP containing yeast ribosomal DNA fragments. The amount of rhGLP-I analogue fusion protein in transformant SG2 reached ca. 0.84 mg per gram of packed cells when SG2 was grown for 24 h in the YPD medium with a inoculum and medium ratio of 1：1. Oral administration of 5 g lyophilized SG2/kg to hyperglycemic rats decreased serum glucose from （24.8±1.40） to （21.2±1.36） mmol/L.

Optimal Design of Mountain Bicycle Based on Biomechanics

To achieve better cycling performance and vibration comfort of mountain bicycle, the optimization of frame structural parameters and rear suspension scale parameters is investigated based on biomechanics.Firstly, the quadratic sum of rider lower limb muscles stresses is presented as the evaluation criterion of muscle fatigue.By taking the criterion as the objective function, the relative positions of three pivot points of frame are optimized to ensure that the frame structural parameters match the stature of riders.Secondly, the vibration performance is evaluated referring to the ISO 2631-1 Mechanical Vibration and Shock Evaluation of Human Exposure to Whole-Body Vibration.According to this evaluation, the mapping relationship between the vibration performance and rider's weight as well as structural parameters of rear suspension is revealed.Results show that the length of side link has no significant effect on vibration comfort, while rider's weight is important in the design of mountain bicycle.

Low temperature H_2S sensor based on copper oxide/tin dioxide thick film

Nanostructured tin dioxide （SnO2） powders were prepared by a sol-gel dialytic process and and the doping of CuO on it was completed by a deposition-precipitation method.The thick film sensors were fabricated from the CuO/SnO2 polycrystalline powders.Sensing behavior of the sensor was investigated with various gases including CO,H2,NH3,hexane,acetone,ethanol,methanol and H2S in air.The as-synthesized gas sensor had much better response to H2S than to other gases.At the same time,the CuO/SnO2 sensor had enough sensitivity,together with fast response and recovery,to distinguish H2S from those gases at 160 and 210 ℃.Therefore,it might have promising applications in the future.

Biodegradation of Crude Oil in Contaminated Soils by Free and Immobilized Microorganisms

The effciencies of free and immobilized bacterial cultures of petroleum hydrocarbon degraders were evaluated and compared in this study. Hydrocarbon-degrading microbial communities with high tolerance to and high degrading ability of crude oil were obtained from the soil contaminated with crude oil in the Yellow River Delta. Then, the microbial cells were immobilized in sodium alginate (SA) beads and sodium alginate-diatomite (SAD) beads. The biodegradation of crude oil in soil by immobilized cells was compared with that by free cells at three inoculation concentrations, 1 × 104 colony forming units (cfu) kg-1 (low concentration, L), 5 × 104 cfu kg-1 (medium concentration, M), and 1 × 105 cfu kg-1 (high concentration, H). At 20 d after inoculation, the maximum degradation rate in the immobilized systems reached 29.8% (SAD-M), significantly higher (P < 0.05) than that of the free cells (21.1%), and the SAD beads showed greater degradation than the SA beads. Moreover, both microbial populations and total microbial activity reached significantly higher level (P < 0.05) in the immobilized systems than free cell systems at a same initial inoculation amount. The scanning electronic microscope (SEM) images also confirmed the advantages of the immobilized microstructure of SAD beads. The enhanced degradation and bacterial growth in the SAD beads indicated the high potential of SAD beads as an effective option for bioremediation of crude oil-contaminated soils in the Yellow River Delta.

Application and safety assessment for nano-composite materials in food packaging

The technical breakthroughs and rapid developments in nanotechnologies enabling goods and products based on nanomaterials (NMs) has come to media and public attention as potentially one of the most significant technological advances of our time. Among these technical applications, nano-composite food packaging, which combines the NMs and conventional packaging, is at the forefront of applications in nanotechnologies, leading the whole industrial chain based on nanotechnologies with high speed development. Taking into account the status of the nano-composites applied in food packaging and present development trends, this review is focused on summarizing the basic applications of the nano-composites in food packaging as well as its risk assessment. The status summaries and the conclusions derived from this review are of benefit to manufacturers which produce the nano-composites used in food packaging, to general consumers and to governmental administration entities.