Legume nodulation and nitrogen fixation require interaction of DnaJ-like protein and lipid transfer protein.

The lipid transport protein (LTP) product of the AsE246 gene of Chinese milk vetch (Astragalus sinicus) contributes to the transport of plant-synthesized lipids to the symbiosome membranes (SMs) that are required for nodule organogenesis in this legume. However, the mechanisms used by nodule-specific LTPs remain unknown. In this study, a functional protein in the DnaJ-like family, designated AsDJL1, was identified and shown to interact with AsE246. Immunofluorescence showed that AsDJL1 was expressed in infection threads (ITs) and in nodule cells and that it co-localized with rhizobium, and an immunoelectron microscopy assay localized the protein to SMs. Via co-transformation into Nicotiana benthamiana cells, AsDJL1 and AsE246 displayed subcellular co-localization in the cells of this heterologous host. Co-immunoprecipitation assays confirmed that AsDJL1 interacted with AsE246 in nodules. The essential interacting region of AsDJL1 was determined to be the zinc finger domain at its C-terminus. Chinese milk vetch plants transfected with AsDJL1-RNAi had significantly decreased numbers of ITs, nodule primordia and nodules as well as reduced (by 83%) nodule nitrogenase activity compared with the controls. By contrast, AsDJL1 overexpression led to increased nodule fresh weight and nitrogenase activity. RNAi-AsDJL1 also significantly affected the abundance of lipids, especially digalactosyldiacylglycerol, in early-infected roots and transgenic nodules. Taken together, the results of this study provide insights into the symbiotic functions of AsDJL1, which may participate in lipid transport to SMs and play an essential role in rhizobial infection and nodule organogenesis.

Overlooked Role of Coexistent Hydrogen Peroxide in Activated Peracetic Acid by Cu(II) for Enhanced Oxidation of Organic Contaminants.

Cu(II)-catalyzed peracetic acid (PAA) processes have shown significant potential to remove contaminants in water treatment. Nevertheless, the role of coexistent H2O2 in the transformation from Cu(II) to Cu(I) remained contentious. Herein, with the Cu(II)/PAA process as an example, the respective roles of PAA and H2O2 on the Cu(II)/Cu(I) cycling were comprehensively investigated over the pH range of 7.0-10.5. Contrary to previous studies, it was surprisingly found that the coexistent deprotonated H2O2 (HO2-), instead of PAA, was crucial for accelerating the transformation from Cu(II) to Cu(I) (kHO2-/Cu(II) = (0.17-1) × 106 M-1 s-1, kPAA/Cu(II) < 2.33 ± 0.3 M-1 s-1). Subsequently, the formed Cu(I) preferentially reacted with PAA (kPAA/Cu(I) = (5.84 ± 0.17) × 102 M-1 s-1), rather than H2O2 (kH2O2/Cu(I) = (5.00 ± 0.2) × 101 M-1 s-1), generating reactive species to oxidize organic contaminants. With naproxen as the target pollutant, the proposed synergistic role of H2O2 and PAA was found to be highly dependent on the solution pH with weakly alkaline conditions being more conducive to naproxen degradation. Overall, this study systematically investigated the overlooked but crucial role of coexistent H2O2 in the Cu(II)/PAA process, which might provide valuable insights for better understanding the underlying mechanism in Cu-catalyzed PAA processes.

Impact of ozonation on disinfection byproducts formation from phenylalanine during chlorination.

As a strong oxidizing agent, ozone is used in some water treatment facilities for disinfection, taste and odor control, and removal of organic micropollutants. Phenylalanine (Phe) was used as the target amino acid to comprehensively investigate variability of disinfection byproducts (DBPs) formation during chlorine disinfection and residual chlorine conditions subsequent to ozonation. The results showed that subsequent to ozonation, the typical regulated and unregulated DBPs formation potential (DBPsFP), including trichloromethane (TCM), dichloroacetonitrile (DCAN), chloral hydrate (CH), dichloroacetic acid (DCAA), trichloroacetic acid (TCAA), and trichloroacetamide (TCAcAm) increased substantially, by 2.4, 3.3, 5.6, 1.2, 2.5, and 6.0 times, respectively, compared with only chlorination. Ozonation also significantly increased the DBPs yield under a 2 day simulated residual chlorine condition that mimicked the water distribution system. DBPs formations followed pseudo first order kinetics. The formation rates of DBPs in the first 6 hr were higher for TCM (0.214 hr-1), DCAN (0.244 hr-1), CH (0.105 hr-1), TCAcAm (0.234 hr-1), DCAA (0.375 hr-1) and TCAA (0.190 hr-1) than thereafter. The peak DBPsFP of TCM, DCAN, CH, TCAcAm, DCAA, and TCAA were obtained when that ozonation time was set at 5-15 min. Ozonation times > 30 min increased the mineralization of Phe and decreased the formation of DBPs upon chlorination. Increasing bromine ion (Br-) concentration increased production of bromine- DBPs and decreased chlorine-DBPs formation by 59.3%-92.2% . Higher ozone dosages and slight alkaline favored to reduce DBP formation and cytotoxicity. The ozonation conditions should be optimized for all application purposes including DBPs reduction.

Preliminary results of randomized phase II study of etoposide plus lobaplatin or etoposide plus cisplatin with concurrent thoracic radiotherapy in the treatment of limited-stage small cell lung cancer.

The purpose is to compare the clinical efficacy and toxicity of etoposide plus lobaplatin (EL) or etoposide plus cisplatin (EP) with concurrent thoracic radiotherapy during the treatment of limited-stage small cell lung cancer (LS-SCLC). Forty-two patients with LS-SCLC were randomly divided into EL ( n = 19) or EP ( n = 23) regimens combined with thoracic intensity-modulated radiotherapy. The primary endpoint was 1-year progression-free survival (PFS) rate. The 1-, 2-, and 3-year PFS rates in the EL and EP cohorts were 50.8, 38.1, and 12.7%; and 56.5, 43.5, and 29.0%, respectively ( P = 0.527), whereas the 1-, 2-, and 3-year overall survival (OS) rates were 72.2, 52.5, and 43.8%; and 73.9, 48.4, and 48.4%, respectively ( P = 0.923). The hematological toxicities were similar in two cohorts. However, gastrointestinal reactions were more severe in the EP group. The incidence of nausea and vomiting in EL and EP cohorts were 31.6% vs. 73.9% ( P = 0.006) and 20.1% vs. 60.9% ( P = 0.009), respectively. The two cohorts did not show ≥grade 4 radiation esophagitis and ≥grade 3 radiation pneumonitis. The incidence of acute radiation esophagitis in EL group was lower ( P = 0.038), both groups showed a similar incidence of radiation pneumonitis ( P = 1.000). EL or EP chemotherapy with concurrent thoracic radiotherapy showed similar PFS and OS. The EL group showed milder gastrointestinal toxicity and radiation esophagitis. Radiation pneumonitis and hematological toxicity were similar in the two regimens, which can be tolerated by patients.

Species-specific CgCaspase-Cg-5 in the pacific oyster induces haemocyte apoptosis by regulating the mRNA expression of apoptosis-related genes in the early stage of immune response.

Caspases are cysteinyl aspartate-specific proteinases, playing critical roles in apoptotic pathway to induce apoptosis and inflammatory response. In this study, the expanded repertoire of Caspases was revealed in the Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas, and a total of 30 Caspases were identified from the genomic and stress-induced transcriptomic databases of the Pacific oyster. They were clustered into CgCaspase-2/9, CgCaspase-8/10, CgCaspase-3/6/7, CgCaspase-Cg, and CgCaspase-L. CgCaspase-Cg subgroup was found to be specifically expanded after a positive selection in oyster with average Ka/Ks of 0.50. The mRNA expression of CgCaspase-Cg-5 was found to be obviously induced against various bacterial and viral stimulations or environmental stresses. The relative expression level of CgCaspase-Cg-5 in haemocytes increased and reached the peak at 6 h after Vibrio splendidus stimulation, which was 5.57-fold of that in the control group (p < 0.01). In the oysters whose CgCaspase-Cg-5 expression was knocked down, the mRNA expression of apoptosis-related genes including CgBcl2, CgBax, CgCaspase3 and CgCaspase9 changed significantly at 12 h after V. splendidus stimulation. The expression of CgBax, CgCaspase3 and CgCaspase9 decreased, which was 0.64-fold (p < 0.05), 0.53-fold (p < 0.05) and 0.62-fold (p < 0.01), while the expression of CgBcl2 increased, which was 2.81-fold (p < 0.01) of that in the EGFP-dsRNA group, respectively. Meanwhile, the apoptotic rate of haemocytes (1.90 ± 0.71%) significantly decreased compared to that in the EGFP-dsRNA group (5.40 ± 0.72%) (p < 0.05), and the histological damages of widened cell spacing, gill filament swelling and loose cytoplasm were observed in the CgCaspase-Cg-5-knockdown oysters after V. splendidus stimulation. Collectively, CgCaspase-Cg subgroup was specifically expanded in oyster and some bivalve species, and species-specific CgCaspase-Cg-5 regulated the mRNA expression of the apoptosis-related genes to induce haemocyte apoptosis in the early stage of immune response. This provided insight into the evolutionary and functional characteristics of Caspase repertoire in the Pacific oyster and highlighted the important role of CgCaspase-Cg-5 in the response to pathogen infection and environmental stresses.

Study on the allosteric activation mechanism of SHP2 via elastic network models and neural relational inference molecular dynamics simulation.

As a ubiquitous protein tyrosine phosphatase, SHP2 is involved in PD-1/PD-L1 mediated tumor immune escape and undergoes substantial conformational changes. Therefore, it is considered an ideal target for tumor intervention. However, the allosteric mechanisms of SHP2 binding PD-1 intracellular ITIM/ITSM phosphopeptides remain unclear, which greatly hinders the development of novel structure-based anticancer allosteric inhibitors. In this work, the open and closed structural models of SHP2 are first constructed based on this knowledge; next their motion modes are investigated via elastic network models such as the Gaussian network model (GNM), anisotropic network model (ANM) and adaptive anisotropic network model (aANM); and finally, a possible allosteric signaling pathway is proposed using a neural relational inference molecular dynamics (NRI-MD) simulation embedded with an artificial intelligence (AI) strategy. In GNM and ANM, the N-SH2, C-SH2 and PTP domains all exhibit distinct dynamics partitions, and the N-SH2/C-SH2 regions show a rigid rotation relative to PTP. According to a series of intermediate snapshots given by aANM, N-SH2 is first identified with pY223 specifically, inducing a D'E-loop to change from ß-sheets to random coils, and then, C-SH2 serves as a fulcrum to drive N-SH2 to rotate 110° completely away from the original active sites of PTP. Finally, a possible allosteric signaling-transfer path for SHP2, namely R220-R138-T108-R32, is proposed based on NRI-MD sampling. This work provides a possible allosteric mechanism of SHP2, which is helpful for the following design of novel allosteric inhibitors and is expected to be used in clinical synergies with PD-1 monoclonal antibody.

Efficient Demulsification Performance of Emulsified Condensate Oil by Hyperbranched Low-Temperature Demulsifiers.

Focusing on the problem of poor demulsification performance of light crude oil emulsions in low-permeability oilfields at low temperatures, the composition of the emulsion samples, clay particle size distribution, and the viscosity-temperature relationship curve of samples were analyzed. Based on the results of emulsion composition analysis and characteristics, the bottle test method was used to analyze the demulsifying effect of different commercial types of demulsifiers, revealing the demulsification mechanism. The field tests confirm the demulsification capabilities of Polyoxyethylene polyoxypropylene quaternized polyoxyolefins surfactants (PR demulsifiers). The results reveal that PR demulsifiers combine the features of decreasing the interfacial tension between oil and water and adsorbing SiO2, allowing for quick demulsification and flocculation at low temperatures. This research serves as a theoretical and practical foundation for the study and advancement of low-temperature demulsification technology in oilfields.

Synthesis and Application of a Novel Multi-Branched Block Polyether Low-Temperature Demulsifier.

In this paper, a low-temperature thick oil demulsifier with high polarity was prepared by introducing ethylene oxide, propylene oxide block, and butylene oxide using m-diphenol as a starting agent. The main reasons for the difficulty involved in the low-temperature emulsification of extractive fluids were explained by analyzing the synthetic influencing factors and infrared spectra of the star comb polymer (PR-D2) and by analyzing the four fractions, interfacial energies, and zeta potentials of crude oils from the Chun and Gao fields. The effects of PR-D2 surfactant on the emulsification performance of crude oil recovery fluids were investigated via indoor and field experiments. The experimental results indicate that the optimal synthesis conditions for this emulsion breaker are as follows: a quality ratio of ionic reaction intermediates and meso-diphenol of R = 10:1; 1 g of the initiator; a polymerization temperature of 80 °C; and a reaction time of 8 h. Colloidal asphaltenes in the crude oil were the main factor hindering the low-temperature demulsification of the Gao oilfield's extractive fluids, and the reason for the demulsification difficulty of the extractive fluids in the Chun oilfield is that the temperature of demulsification is lower than the wax precipitation point. The demulsification rate of the Chun oilfield's extractive fluids reached more than 98% when the PR-D2 concentration reached 150 mg/L at 43 °C. The demulsification rate of the Gao oilfield's extractive fluids reached more than 98% at a PR-D2 concentration of 150 mg/L at 65 °C. The field experiments show that the Chun oilfield's extractive fluids can still demulsify after the temperature is reduced to 43 °C in winter. The emulsification temperature of the Gao oilfield's extractive fluids was reduced from 73 °C to 68 °C, with an excellent demulsification effect.

Comparison of UV and UV-LED activated sodium percarbonate for the degradation of O-desmethylvenlafaxine.

As an active metabolite of venlafaxine and emerging antidepressant, O-desmethylvenlafaxine (ODVEN) was widely detected in different water bodies, which caused potential harm to human health and environmental safety. In this study, the comparative work on the ODVEN degradation by UV (254 nm) and UV-LED (275 nm) activated sodium percarbonate (SPC) systems was systematically performed. The higher removal rate of ODVEN can be achieved under UV-LED direct photolysis (14.99%) than UV direct photolysis (4.57%) due to the higher values of photolysis coefficient at the wavelength 275 nm. Significant synergistic effects were observed in the UV/SPC (80.38%) and UV-LED/SPC (53.57%) systems and the former exhibited better performance for the elimination of ODVEN. The degradation of ODVEN all followed the pseudo-first-order kinetics well in these processes, and the pseudo-first-order rate constant (kobs) increased with increasing SPC concentration. Radicals quenching experiments demonstrated that both ·OH and CO3·- were involved in the degradation of ODVEN and the second-order rate constant of ODVEN with CO3·- (1.58 × 108 (mol/L)-1 sec-1) was reported for the first time based on competitive kinetic method. The introduction of HA, Cl-, NO3- and HCO3- inhibited the ODVEN degradation to varying degrees in the both processes. According to quantum chemical calculation, radical addition at the ortho-position of the phenolic hydroxyl group was confirmed to be the main reaction pathways for the oxidation of ODVEN by ·OH. In addition, the oxidation of ODVEN may involve the demethylation, H-abstraction, OH-addition and C-N bond cleavage. Eventually, the UV-LED/SPC process was considered to be more cost-effective compared to the UV/SPC process, although the UV/SPC process possessed a higher removal rate of ODVEN.

Impact of nitrite exposure on oxidative stress and antioxidative-related genes responses in the gills of Procambarus clarkii.

Nitrite is the major environmental pollutant in the freshwater aquaculture environment, which has a negative impact on aquatic species growth. Currently, we know that the main way nitrite enters crustaceans is through their gills. In this study, a total of 96 h acute nitrite stress (60 mg/L) experiments were conducted, and the impact of the serum biochemical parameters, gill oxidase activity and oxidative-related gene expression of red swamp crayfish were evaluated. After exposure to nitrite for 0, 6, 12, 24, 48, and 96 h, hemolymph and gills samples were taken at each time point. In the serum, acute nitrite stress significantly increased glutamic-oxaloacetic transaminase (GOT) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) activities after 6 h of exposure, decreased total protein (TP) and albumin (ALB) levels after 24 h and 48 h of exposure, respectively. In the gills, the activities of catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) were enhanced to the maximum level at 12 h, 24 h and 24 h, respectively. The contents of malondialdehyde (MDA) and lipid peroxide (LPO) were increased significantly after 12 h and 24 h exposure, respectively. In addition, the expression levels of antioxidative-related genes, including hsp70, fer and mt, were significantly upregulated in the gills after 6 h of exposure. The results indicated that acute nitrite stress changed the serum physiological status, induced oxidative stress and caused damage to gill cells in P. clarkii.

A unified framework of transformations based on the Jordan-Wigner transformation.

Quantum simulation of chemical Hamiltonians enables the efficient calculation of chemical properties. Mapping is one of the essential steps in simulating fermionic systems on quantum computers. In this work, a unified framework of transformations mapping fermionic systems to qubit systems is presented and many existing transformations-such as Jordan-Wigner, Bravyi-Kitaev, and parity transformations-are included in this framework. Based on this framework, the Multilayer Segmented Parity (MSP) transformation is proposed. The MSP transformation is a general mapping with an adjustable parameter vector, which can be viewed as a generalization of the above-mentioned mappings. Furthermore, the MSP transformation can adjust flexibly when dealing with different systems. Applying these mappings to the electronic structure Hamiltonians of various molecules, the MSP transformation is found to perform better on a number of Pauli operators and gates needed in the circuit of Hamiltonian simulation. The MSP transformation will reduce the qubit gate requirement for Hamiltonian simulation on noisy intermediate-scale quantum devices, and it will provide a much wider choice of mappings for researchers.

Genistein attenuates cognitive deficits and neuroapoptosis in hippocampus induced by ketamine exposure in neonatal rats.

Ketamine is a frequently used anesthetic in pediatric patients that can cause cognitive impairment. Genistein, a bioactive component of soy products, has been shown to suppress neuronal death through regulating the expression of apoptosis related genes. In this study, we hypothesized that genistein could alleviate ketamine-induced cognitive impairment by ameliorating hippocampal neuronal loss and tested this hypothesis in rats. Neonatal rats were treated with ketamine and genistein. Hippocampal tissue was harvested for histological and biochemical analysis to determine neuronal apoptosis and proteins involved in the apoptotic pathways. Behavioral assays including contextual fear conditioning test and Morris water maze test were performed to assess cognitive functions, including learning and memory. We found that in fear conditioning test, genistein restored freezing time in ketamine treated rats in a dose dependent manner. Similarly, genistein attenuated impaired learning and memory in Morris water maze test in rats treated with ketamine. Additionally, ketamine-induced neuronal apoptosis in rat hippocampus was attenuated by genistein treatment. Finally, we found that genistein partially restored proteins associated with apoptosis, including Bax, Bcl-2, cleaved caspase 3, and phosphorylated GSK-3ß and Akt. Genistein suppresses hippocampal neuronal loss and cognitive disruption induced by ketamine in rats.

Trimester-specific reference intervals of TAT, TM, tPAI-C and PIC for healthy Chinese pregnant women.

AIM: Pregnancy is a hypercoagulability state, the aim of this study was to observe the changes of thrombin-antithrombin complex (TAT), thrombomodulin (TM), tissue plasminogen activator-inhibitor complex (tPAI-C) and plasmin-α2-antiplasmin complex (PIC) during pregnancy and establish trimester-specific reference intervals for Chinese healthy pregnant women. METHODS: In total 190 Chinese healthy pregnant women (first trimester 59 cases, second trimester 60 cases and third trimester 71 cases) were recruited in North China. TAT, TM, tPAI-C and PIC were processed on Sysmex HISCL 5000 automated chemiluminescence immune detection system. Trimester-specific reference intervals were established with the 2.5th and 97.5th percentile of the distribution. RESULTS: The reference intervals for TAT, TM, tPAI-C, PIC at trimester 1 were 0.40-3.65 ng/mL, 4.85-8.80 TU/mL, 1.75-6.40 ng/mL, 0.25-1.05 µg/mL, respectively. At trimester 2, the reference intervals were 1.65-8.61 ng/mL, 5.70-9.93 TU/mL, 2.91-7.71 ng/mL, 0.33-2.02 µg/mL, respectively. At trimester 3, the reference intervals were 3.16-12.68 ng/mL, 5.50-14.24 TU/mL, 2.70-10.69 ng/mL, 0.24-1.54 µg/mL, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The changes of TAT, TM, tPAI-C, PIC during pregnancy are presented, and trimester-specific reference intervals for healthy pregnant women are described. The levels of TAT, TM, tPAI-C were increased gradually from trimester 1 to trimester 3, while the PIC level remains stable during all trimesters.

Mid-term results of total hip arthroplasty with modified trochanteric osteotomy in Crowe type IV developmental dysplasia of the hip.

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to explore mid-term clinical results of cementless total hip arthroplasty (THA) with modified trochanteric osteotomy in Crowe type IV developmental dysplasia of the hip (DDH). METHODS: Thirteen patients (13 hips) with Crowe type IV DDH who underwent THA with modified trochanteric osteotomy between May 2013 and October 2015 were retrospectively analyzed. The mean follow-up duration was 5.2 years (range, 4.9-6.1 years). RESULTS: The mean Harris Hip Score (HHS) significantly (p < 0.05) improved from 30.7 (range, 22-38) to 87.5 (range, 83-93). The mean leg length discrepancy (LLD) was 53.4 mm (range, 42.1-68.5 mm) preoperatively. The final LLD was 5.6 mm (range, 2.4-9.1 mm; p < 0.05). The mean leg length after surgery was 47.4 mm (range, 33.6-67.2 mm) and the femur shortening distance was 43.8 mm (range, 31.2-53.4 mm). The average duration of bone union for the greater trochanter (GT) was 2.5 months (range, 1.5-3.6 months). There was no infection, GT non-union, or loosening (septic or aseptic) of the stem or cup in any case. CONCLUSIONS: THA with modified trochanteric osteotomy with a cementless cup is an effective treatment for Crowe type IV DDH. It can rebuild complex biomechanics and biology of hip dysplasia without increasing complications.

Comparison between gravity drainage group and suction drainage group after cervical laminoplasty: a retrospective STROBE-compliant cohort study.

OBJECTIVES: A retrospective study was conducted to compare gravity drainage and suction drainage after cervical laminoplasty. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 375 patients who underwent laminoplasty between January 2011 and December 2015 were engaged in this analysis. We investigated the patients' basic characteristics, drainage characteristics and postoperative complications. RESULTS: During the initial 24 h after laminoplasty, the drainage volume in the suction drainage group was 177.31 ± 92.02 mL, and the drainage volume in the gravity drainage group was 133.33 ± 92.40 mL. The drainage volume showed significant difference (p < 0.01). The total drainage volume was 357.49 ± 195.16 mL and 250.16 ± 27.44 mL in the suction drainage group and gravity drainage group, respectively. The total drainage volume between the two groups was statistically different (p = 0.03). The postoperative Hb was significantly different between the gravity group and suction group on the first day after the operation (108.37 ± 23.92 mL vs. 87.32 ± 21.53 mL, p = 0.02). The number of patients required blood transfusion was significantly different between the two groups as well (p = 0.04). Two cases had symptomatic epidural hematomas (SEH) after laminoplaty. However, the occurrence of SEH among the two groups was not different significantly. Twelve patients had surgical site infection (SSI). Of these 12, nine had applied gravity drainage and three suction drainage. The rate of SSI was similar between the two groups (p = 0.71). CONCLUSION: The initial 24 h' drainage volume and the total drainage volume increased significantly in the suction drainage group. The postoperative Hb was lower in the suction group than the gravity drainage group the first postoperative day. More patients needed blood transfusion if suction drainage was performed. The application of suction drainage cannot decrease the incidence of SSI and SEH after laminoplasty. Gravity drainage is recommended for laminoplasty.

Using Multi-Antenna Trajectory Constraint to Analyze BeiDou Carrier-Phase Observation Error of Dynamic Receivers.

Appropriate cycle-slip and measurement-error models are essential for BeiDou carrier-phase-based integrity risk calculation. To establish the receiver's measurement-error model, an accurate position reference of the GNSS antenna is fundamental for calculating the measurement error. However, it is still a challenge to acquire position references for dynamic BeiDou receivers, resulting in improper GNSS measurement-error models and unreliable integrity monitoring. This paper proposes an improved precise relative positioning scheme by adopting multi-antenna trajectory constraints for dynamic BeiDou receivers. The dynamic experiments show an obvious decline of 78.7%, at most, in the positioning failure rate of the proposed method, as compared with the traditional method. The position solutions obtained from the proposed approach are used as the reference to analyze the cycle-slip and measurement-error characteristics of the dynamic receiver. The field test results indicate that the cycle-slip rate decreases with the increase of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and cycle slipping obeys a positively skewed distribution that could be fitted by the Gaussian mixture model (GMM). On the other hand, the standard deviation of the carrier-phase measurement error is inversely proportional to SNR, and its distribution is characteristically fat-tailed, which could be fitted by the bi-normal model.

Improving dewaterability of waste activated sludge by thermally-activated persulfate oxidation at mild temperature.

The mass production of waste activated sludge in wastewater treatment plants may lead to environmental pollution and sludge dewatering is an essential process during its treatment. The oxidation of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) was the core step to achieve deep sludge dewatering. In this study, thermally-activated sodium persulfate (SPS) process was managed to improve the dewaterability of waste activated sludge (WAS) and its internal mechanism was systematically elaborated. Experimental results showed that with 2.0 mmol/g VSS SPS at 80 °C, capillary suction time (CST) was roughly 59.74% of that in raw sludge. Under this condition, 14.66 ± 0.10 × 1011 kg/m of specific resistance to filtration (SRF) and 61.8% ± 0.1% of water content (WC) was determined, respectively. A solubilization/oxidation process was proposed to unravel the mechanism of the enhanced dewaterability of WAS in thermally-activated SPS process. Mild temperature efficiently disrupted the sludge flocs and broke cell walls, releasing large amounts of EPS into bulk phase. Meanwhile, mild temperature accelerated the decomposition of SPS to generate sulfate radicals (SO4-) and hydroxyl radicals (OH) for oxidizing EPS, facilitating the conversion of bound hydrated water into free water and achieving solid-water separation. The higher reaction temperature favored sludge dewatering, whereas overdosing SPS posed no significant impact. Further analysis illustrated that tyrosine protein-like, tryptophan protein-like, fulvic acid-like and humic acid-like substances in various EPS fractions together exerted the influence on sludge dewatering. Furthermore, the synergy process could alter the secondary structure of protein, which caused a loose structure of EPS and the exposure of hydrophobic sites, facilitating the dehydration of sludge flocs. The details of how thermally-activated SPS process enhanced sludge dewaterability provided the theoretical and technical basis for the application of the process under a real-world situation.

SNHG1/miR-556-5p/TCF12 feedback loop enhances the tumorigenesis of meningioma through Wnt signaling pathway.

Meningioma, as a sort of the malignantly intracranial tumors, has captured public attention for its second-highest morbidity all over the world. Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs), including lncRNA SNHG1, have been well known as essential players in the development of diverse cancers. However, the biological effect and regulatory mechanism of SNHG1 have not been mentioned in meningioma. In this work, it was discovered that SNHG1 was overexpressed in meningioma cell lines. SNHG1 deficiency restrained cell growth as well as accelerated apoptosis. Then mechanism experiments demonstrated that SNHG1 functioned as the role of sponging miR-556-5p and negatively regulated miR-556-5p expression. Moreover, it was verified that TCF12 is the direct downstream target of miR-556-5p. Furthermore, SNHG1/miR-556-5p/TCF12 axis promoted cell proliferation and suppressed cell apoptosis in meningioma via activating the Wnt signaling pathway. In the end, it was confirmed that TCF12 expression was positively regulated by SNHG1, and TCF12 could promote transcription of SNHG1 through binding with the promoter region of SNHG1. In conclusion, the SNHG1/miR-556-5p/TCF12 feedback loop promotes the tumorigenesis of meningioma through the Wnt signaling pathway.

LincRNA-EPS in biomimetic vesicles targeting cerebral infarction promotes inflammatory resolution and neurogenesis.

BACKGROUND: Inflammatory damage following stroke aggravates brain damage, resulting in long-term neurological sequelae. The purpose of this study was to identify ways to reduce inflammatory reactions and to accelerate neuron regeneration after cerebral apoplexy. METHODS: We formulated a biomimetic vesicle, the leukosome, constituted by liposome, artificial long intergenic noncoding RNA (lincRNA)-EPS, and membrane proteins derived from macrophages and their physical-chemical characteristics were evaluated. Migration distance and cytotoxic levels were measured to determine the effect of lncEPS-leukosomes on lipopolysaccharide-activated microglia. An in vivo transient middle cerebral artery occlusion/reperfusion (tMCAO) model was established in mice, which were treated with lncEPS-leukosomes. Vesicle seepage, infiltration of inflammatory cells, cytotoxic levels in the cerebrospinal fluid, and neural stem cell (NSC) density were measured. RESULTS: Biomimetic vesicles with a homogeneous size increased lincRNA-EPS levels in activated microglia by 77.9%. In vitro studies showed that lincRNA-EPS inhibited the migration and cytotoxic levels of activated microglia by 63.2% and 43.6%, respectively, which promoted NSC proliferation and anti-apoptotic ability. In vivo data showed that leukosomes targeted to inflamed sites and lncEPS-leukosomes decreased the infiltration of inflammatory cells and cytotoxic levels by 81.3% and 48.7%, respectively. In addition, lncEPS-leukosomes improved neuron density in the ischemic core and boundary zone after tMCAO. CONCLUSIONS: The biomimetic vesicles formulated in this study targeted inflammatory cells and accelerated neuron regeneration by promoting inflammation resolution. This study may provide a promising treatment approach for accelerated neuron regeneration after cerebral apoplexy.