Supertough poly(lactic acid)/bio-polyurethane blends fabricated by dynamic self-vulcanization of dual difunctional monomers.

In this work, a facile and efficient strategy known as 'dynamic self-vulcanization of dual difunctional monomers' was reported to toughen poly(lactic acid) (PLA) with in-situ formed crosslinked bio-polyurethane (PCPUE) phase from plant oil-derived hydrogenated dimer diol (Pripol) and hexamethylene diisocyanate (HDI). By simply adjusting equivalent ratios (nNCO/nOH) of complementary functional groups between these two difunctional toughening monomers from 1.0 to 2.2 while fixing their total feeding content at 20 wt%, the notched impact strength (IS) and phase morphologies of PLA blends can be tailored in a broad range. When the ratio reached 1.6, the maximum IS value up to 87.1 kJ/m2 (about 28 times that of neat PLA) was achieved with an elongation-at-break of ~223 %. Based on the analysis on reaction mechanism and phase morphologies, the optimum interfacial compatibility between PLA and PCPUE phases in junction with the proper crosslinking density of rubbery PCPUE phase was considered to be responsible for such a remarkable improvement in impact toughness.

FFT-based equal-integral-bandwidth feature extraction of vibration signal of OLTC.

This study aimed to propose an equal-integral-bandwidth feature extraction method based on fast Fourier transform (FFT) to solve the problem of cumbersome processing and a large amount of calculation in the common feature extraction algorithm for vibration signals of on-load tap changer (OLTC). First, the vibration signals of OLTC were preprocessed in segments, which highlighted the status features and avoided the shortcomings of the FFT spectrum that lacked time axis information. Second, the vibration signal segments were analyzed with FFT, and the generated signal spectrum was divided into several segments according to equal integral. The bandwidth coefficient obtained in each segment was the characteristic value. Third, this study proposed that adding appropriate time domain features and further improving the algorithm could improve the accuracy of fault diagnosis. Finally, the main mechanical faults of OLTC were simulated, and the vibration signals were collected to carry out the fault diagnosis experiment of OLTC. The results showed that the FFT-based equal-integral-bandwidth feature extraction method was simple in processing, small in calculation, easy to implement in an embedded system, and had a high accuracy of fault diagnosis.

SOX11 inhibits tumor proliferation and promotes cell adhesion mediated-drug resistance via a CD43 dependent manner in mantle cell lymphoma.

SOX11 is a critical biomarker for mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) diagnosis; however, its role remains unclear in MCL. Here, clinical-pathological analysis showed Ki67 index was negatively relevant to SOX11 expression only in CD43 positive cases. Coexpression of SOX11/CD43 indicated longer overall survival. In vitro, knockout/overexpression of SOX11 or CD43 promoted/inhibited cell proliferation respectively. CD43 overexpression reversed tumor proliferation induced by SOX11 knockdown. Furthermore, overexpressing/silencing the SOX11/CD43 gene affects phosphorylation of p38-MAPK while p38 inhibitor reversed proliferation induced by si-SOX11 or si-CD43, respectively. In CAM-DR model, both SOX11 and CD43 in MCL cells were elevated when co-cultured with M2-10B4 bone marrow fibroblasts or fibronectin. Knockdown/overexpression of SOX11 decreased/increased cell adhesion, respectively, and the effect induced by silencing SOX11 was reversed by overexpression of CD43. Collectively, SOX11 could inhibit tumor proliferation and promote CAM-DR in a CD43 dependent manner.

Foam Cell-Derived CXCL14 Muti-Functionally Promotes Atherogenesis and Is a Potent Therapeutic Target in Atherosclerosis.

CXC chemokine family has been related to atherogenesis for long. However, the relationship between CXCL14 and atherogenesis is still unclear. This study preliminarily detected CXCL14 expression at foam cells in atherosclerosis specimens by immunohistochemistry. In vitro foam cells were derived from THP-1 after phorbol-12-myristate-13-acetate (PMA) and oxidized low-density lipoprotein (ox-LDL) stimulation. Immunoblotting and qPCR convinced CXCL14 expression variation during foam cell formation. We further demonstrated that ox-LDL regulated CXCL14 expression by AP-1. AP-1 could bind to CXCL14 promoter and up-regulate CXCL14 mRNA expression. Besides, CXCL14 promoted THP-1 migration, macrophage lipid phagocytosis, and smooth muscle cell migration as well as proliferation mainly via the ERK1/2 pathway. Additionally, a CXCL14 peptide-induced immune therapy showed efficacy in ApoE-/- mouse model. In conclusion, our study demonstrated that CXCL14 is highly up-regulated during foam cell formation and promotes atherogenesis in various ways. CXCL14 may be a potent therapeutic target for atherosclerosis.

[Appropriate parameters for high-yielding cultivation of machine-transplanted rice].

A field experiment with japonica rice variety Wuxiangjing 14 in 2002-2005 showed that the appropriate sowing rate was 150-180 g per tray (1624 cm2), seedling-strengthening agent was more conducive than compound fertilizer in improving the quality of machine-transplanted seedlings, the rational dose of compound fertilizer (N-P2O5-K2O) was 150 g x m(-2), seedlings should be machine-transplanted within 21 days after sowing, densely planting a fewer seedlings in each cluster could improve the individual and population quality of machine-transplanted rice, and applying 315 kg x hm(-2) of N and 6:4 of basal-tillering: heading fertilizer could obtain the highest rice yield. The marked increase of glumous flowers per unit area was the main cause of the increase of machine-transplanted rice yield.