Effect of Fe-loading in iron-based catalysts for the CH4 decomposition to H2 and nanocarbons.

The catalytic CH4 decomposition (CMD) over Fe-based catalyst is an economical and environmentally friendly way to produce Cox-free H2 and carbon nanotubes (CNTs). The Fe-loading was varied to study its influence on the catalytic performance. The highest H2 yield (82.25%) was obtained with a 12% Fe content where the activity of the catalyst did not decrease for 3 h on-stream. A higher Fe content causes the Fe dispersion to decrease, resulting in a reduced available surface area of active sites. Different techniques were used to characterise the fresh and spent catalysts i.e., ICP-AES, XRD, H2-TPR, SEM, TEM, and Raman spectroscopy. Plotting kinetic results as a function of 1/T, defines two different conversion ranges, being reaction rate controlled at low temperature and diffusion rate controlled at high temperature. For the reaction rate controlled regime, the Arrhenius equation provides an activation energy of 101.26 kJ/mol (Ea) and a pre-exponential factor of 393 kmol/s (A).

TMT Labeling Reveals the Effects of Exercises on the Proteomic Characteristics of the Subcutaneous Adipose Tissue of Growing High-Fat-Diet-Fed Rats.

Aim: Growing period is an important period for fat remodeling. High-fat diet and exercise are reasons for adipose tissue (AT) remodeling, but existing evidence is not enough. Therefore, the effects of moderate-intensity continuous training (MICT) and high-intensity interval training (HIIT) on the proteomic characteristics of the subcutaneous AT of growing rats on normal diet or high-fat diet (HFD) were determined. Methods: Four-week-old male Sprague-Dawley rats (n = 48) were subdivided into six groups: normal diet control group, normal diet-MICT group, normal diet-HIIT group, HFD control group, HFD-MICT group, and HFD-HIIT group. Rats in the training group ran on a treadmill 5 days a week for 8 weeks (MICT: 50 min at 60-70% VO2max intensity; HIIT: 7 min of warm-up and recovery at 70% VO2max intensity, 6 sets of 3 min of 30% VO2max followed by 3 min 90% VO2max). Following physical assessment, inguinal subcutaneous adipose tissue (sWAT) was collected for proteome analysis using tandem mass tag labeling. Results: MICT and HIIT attenuated body fat mass and lean body mass but did not affect weight gain. Proteomics revealed the impact of exercise on ribosome, spliceosome, and the pentose phosphate pathway. However, the effect was reversed on HFD and normal diet. The differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) affected by MICT were related to oxygen transport, ribosome, and spliceosome. In comparison, the DEPs affected by HIIT were related to oxygen transport, mitochondrial electron transport, and mitochondrion protein. In HFD, HIIT was more likely to cause changes in immune proteins than MICT. However, exercise did not seem to reverse the protein effects of HFD. Conclusion: The exercise stress response in the growing period was stronger but increased the energy metabolism and metabolism. MICT and HIIT can reduce fat, increase muscle percentage, and improve maximum oxygen uptake in rats fed with HFD. However, in rats with normal diet, MICT and HIIT triggered more immune responses of sWAT, especially HIIT. In addition, spliceosomes may be the key factors in AT remodeling triggered by exercise and diet.

PatA Regulates Isoniazid Resistance by Mediating Mycolic Acid Synthesis and Controls Biofilm Formation by Affecting Lipid Synthesis in Mycobacteria.

Lipids are prominent components of the mycobacterial cell wall, and they play critical roles not only in maintaining biofilm formation but also in resisting environmental stress, including drug resistance. However, information regarding the mechanism mediating mycobacterial lipid synthesis remains limited. PatA is a membrane-associated acyltransferase and synthesizes phosphatidyl-myo-inositol mannosides (PIMs) in mycobacteria. Here, we found that PatA could regulate the synthesis of lipids (except mycolic acids) to maintain biofilm formation and environmental stress resistance in Mycolicibacterium smegmatis. Interestingly, the deletion of patA significantly enhanced isoniazid (INH) resistance in M. smegmatis, although it reduced bacterial biofilm formation. This might be due to the fact that the patA deletion promoted the synthesis of mycolic acids through an unknown synthesis pathway other than the reported fatty acid synthase (FAS) pathway, which could effectively counteract the inhibition by INH of mycolic acid synthesis in mycobacteria. Furthermore, the amino acid sequences and physiological functions of PatA were highly conserved in mycobacteria. Therefore, we found a mycolic acid synthesis pathway regulated by PatA in mycobacteria. In addition, PatA also affected biofilm formation and environmental stress resistance by regulating the synthesis of lipids (except mycolic acids) in mycobacteria. IMPORTANCE Tuberculosis, caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, leads to a large number of human deaths every year. This is so serious, which is due mainly to the drug resistance of mycobacteria. INH kills M. tuberculosis by inhibiting the synthesis of mycolic acids, which are synthesized by the FAS pathway. However, whether there is another mycolic acid synthesis pathway is unknown. In this study, we found a PatA-mediated mycolic acid synthesis pathway that led to INH resistance of in patA-deleted mutant. In addition, we first report the regulatory effect of PatA on mycobacterial biofilm formation, which could affect the bacterial response to environmental stress. Our findings represent a new model for regulating biofilm formation by mycobacteria. More importantly, the discovery of the PatA-mediated mycolic acid synthesis pathway indicates that the study of mycobacterial lipids has entered a new stage, and the enzymes might be new targets of antituberculosis drugs.

Water splitting by MnFe2O4/Na2CO3 reversible redox reactions.

Future energy systems must call upon clean and renewable sources capable of reducing associated CO2 emissions. The present research opens new perspectives for renewable energy-based hydrogen production by water splitting using metal oxide oxidation/reduction reactants. An earlier multicriteria assessment defined top priorities, with MnFe2O4/Na2CO3/H2O and Mn3O4/MnO/NaMnO2/H2O multistep redox cycles having the highest potential. The latter redox system was previously assessed and proven difficult to be conducted. The former redox system was hence experimentally investigated in the present research at the 0.5 to 250 g scale in isothermal thermogravimetry, an electrically heated furnace, and a concentrated solar reactor. Over 30 successive oxidation/reduction cycles were assessed, and the H2 production efficiencies exceeded 98 % for the coprecipitated reactant after these multiple cycles. Tentative economics using a coprecipitated reactant revealed that 120 cycles are needed to achieve a 1 € per kg H2 cost. Improving the cheaper ball-milled reactant could reduce costs by approximately 30 %. The initial results confirm that future research is important.

A questionnaire study on the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of fluid replacement and urination among Chinese elite athletes.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) of Chinese elite athletes about fluid replacement and urination. METHODS: A cross-section study was carried out among Chinese national and national youth teams from March to April 2020, using a pretested questionnaire. The 42-questions questionnaire was designed to assess the KAP regarding fluid replacement and urination. The questionnaire included knowledge of fluid replacement (KFR), attitudes of fluid replacement (AFR), knowledge of urination (KU), and attitudes of urination (AU), which were awarded 20 scoring points. Descriptive statistics, independent samples t-tests, one-way ANOVA, Pearson's correlation analysis, Multiple linear stepwise regression and Chi-square test were performed. RESULTS: A total of 779 valid questionnaires were collected and the effective rate is 98.4%. We finally conducted an assessment of 646 questionnaires of elite athletes. The mean score for KFR, AFR, KU, and AU was 2.8±1.3, 2.3±0.6, 3.0±1.5, and 2.1±0.8, respectively, with higher scores indicating positive hydration knowledge and attitudes. KFR and AFR scores of winter sports athletes were higher than those of summer sports athletes(P<0.05). Athletes who had lower athletic grades and training years had a worse KFR(P<0.05). Only 31.0% athletes knew that rehydration should be carried out before, during, and after training, which was scarcer among women, lower-athletic grades athletes, or athletes with lower training years (P<0.05). Male athletes had a worse KU but a better AU than female athletes(P<0.05). And athletes who were international-class athletic grades had the highest KU scores(P<0.05). The athletic grades and sport events were the main factors influencing the total scores of knowledge and attitudes (P<0.05, 95% CI -0.789--0.168,95% CI 0.025-1.040). Most of athletes tend to get hydration knowledge from internet. In practices, thirst is the main reason for rehydration (77.9%). The percentages of athletes with normal urine color (42.0%), frequency (75.0%,) and volume (20.0%) were low. CONCLUSIONS: These findings indicate that Chinese elite athletes did not have sufficient KAP on fluid replacement and urination, more marked in the individuals who were summer sport events, the lower athletic grades and in lower training years. It is recommended that education should be provided in the early stages of professional training for athletes.

Prediction Model for Liquid-Assisted Femtosecond Laser Micro Milling of Quartz without Taper.

The strong nonlinear absorption effect and "cold" processing characteristics of femtosecond lasers make them uniquely advantageous and promising for the micro- and nanoprocessing of hard and brittle materials, such as quartz. Traditional methods for studying the effects of femtosecond laser parameters on the quality of the processed structure mainly use univariate analysis methods, which require large mounts of experiments to predict and achieve the desired experimental results. The method of design of experiments (DOE) provides a way to predict desirable experimental results through smaller experimental scales, shorter experimental periods and lower experimental costs. In this study, a DOE program was designed to investigate the effects of a serious of parameters (laser repetition frequency, pulse energy, scan speed, scan distance, scan mode, scan times and laser focus position) on the depth and roughness (Ra) of the fabricated structure through the liquid-assisted femtosecond laser processing of quartz. A prediction model between the response variables and the main parameters was defined and validated. Finally, several blind holes with a size of 50 × 50 µm2 and a depth of 200 µm were fabricated by the prediction model, which demonstrated the good consistency of the prediction model.

Producing hydrogen by catalytic steam reforming of methanol using non-noble metal catalysts.

Current energy systems have a significant environmental impact and contribute to the climate change. The future energy systems must call upon clean and renewable sources, capable of producing energy with low CO2 emission, hence partly decarbonizing the energy sector. Producing H2 by catalytic steam reforming of methanol (CSRM) is gaining interest for its specific applications in fuel cells, in a decentralized H2 production, or to locally boost the heat content of e.g. natural gas. Supported metal catalysts enhance the endothermic steam-driven methanol conversion. The paper discusses the CSRM manufactures and assesses 2 novel, cheap and efficient catalysts (Co/α-Al2O3 and MnFe2O4). The performance of the Co/α-Al2O3 catalyst is significantly superior to MnFe2O4. The methanol conversion exceeds 95% with high H2 yields (>2.5 mol H2/mol CH3OH) and low CO and CO2 by-product formation. The methanol reaction is very fast and a nearly constant product distribution is achieved for gas-catalyst contact times in excess of 0.3 s. The catalyst maintains its efficiency and selectivity for several days of reaction. The hydrogen productivity of the Co/α-Al2O3 is about 0.9 L H2 gcat-1 h-1., nearly a fourfold of the MnFe2O4 alternative. The different occurring reactions are combined in a kinetics analysis and demonstrate the high rate of reaction and the predicted product distribution. A catalytic sintered metal fleece reactor is finally developed, mostly in view of its integration with a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC). The assessed CSRM system clearly merits further pilot plant research.

Adsorption of acid fuchsine dye from wastewater by Mg-ferrite particles.

Adsorption is a widely applied waste water treatment technology, especially for removing micro-pollutants and dyes of industrial effluents. Over the past decade, adsorbing metal oxide micron- and nano-particles have been successfully developed and investigated as adsorbents. In the present research, Mg-ferrite adsorbent particles were synthesized and their properties were fully determined. The pore volume is 0.139 cm3/g. The BET analysis reveals a surface area of 94.4 m2/g. The porosity is of meso- and microporous nature. The adsorbent was used to adsorb acid fuchsine, an important industrial dye. The equilibrium adsorption capacity was 796.4 mg/g, with an adsorption yield of 78.7-82.0%. The adsorption kinetics can be adequately fitted by a pseudo-second-order model. The isotherms of both Langmuir and Freundlich are applicable. The stability, recovery and reuse of the ferrite particles were proven in multi-cycle experiments, and the adsorption activity decreased by less than 3% between the first and fifth cycle. Experimental and fitting results were finally used to design a batch adsorber to remove a given concentration of acid fuchsine from different volumes of wastewater.

pH-Sensitive and Charge-Reversal Polymeric Nanoplatform Enhanced Photothermal/Photodynamic Synergistic Therapy for Breast Cancer.

As reported, breast cancer is one of the most common malignancies in women and has overtaken lung cancer as the most commonly diagnosed cancer worldwide by 2020. Currently, phototherapy is a promising anti-tumor therapy due to its fewer side effects, less invasiveness, and lower cost. However, its application in cancer therapeutics is limited by the incomplete therapeutic effect caused by low drug penetration and monotherapy. Herein, we built a charge-reversal nanoplatform (Ce6-PLGA@PDA-PAH-DMMA NPs), including polydopamine (PDA) and chlorin e6 (Ce6) for enhancing photothermal/photodynamic synergistic therapy. The PAH-DMMA charge-reversal layer enabled Ce6-PLGA@PDA-PAH-DMMA NPs to have long blood circulation at the normal physiological environment and to successfully realize charge reversal under the weakly acidic tumor microenvironment, improving cellular uptake. Besides, in vitro tests demonstrated that Ce6-PLGA@PDA-PAH-DMMA NPs had high photothermal conversion and greater anti-tumor activity than no charge-reversal nanoparticles, which overcame the limited tumor therapeutic efficacy of PTT or photodynamic therapy alone. Overall, the design of pH-responsive and charge-reversal nanoparticles (Ce6-PLGA@PDA-PAH-DMMA NPs) provided a promising approach for synergistic PTT/PDT therapy against breast cancer.

The effect of high-fat diet and exercise on KISS-1/GPR54 expression in testis of growing rats.

PURPOSE: To find the expression of KISS-1 and G protein-coupled receptor 54 in rats testis from PND 21st to 56th. METHOD: 128 three-week-old weaned rats underwent high-fat diet and exercise (60-70% VO2max, 1 h/day, 5 days/week) intervention and were randomly divided into group C, CE, HC, or HE. Sample time points were set on the PND 21st, 35th, 43rd, and 56th. The testicular testosterone and the mRNA content, and protein content of KISS-1 and GPR54 in testis tissue were detected by ELISA, RT-qPCR, and Western blotting. RESULT: (1) The protein of KISS-1 and GPR54 increased gradually during the growing period. KISS-1 mRNA peaked at 35D and GPR54 peaked at 43D. (2) High-fat diet affected the expression of the KISS-1/GPR54 system in rat testis and reduced the expression level of KISS-1 protein. (3) 60-70% VO2max exercise decreased the KISS-1/GPR54 expression level. Exercise intervention improved testicular development in rats with a high-fat diet. CONCLUSION: The expression of KISS-1/GPR54 increased during the growing period. High-fat diet can downregulate the protein and gene expression of KISS-1/GPR54 and change the expression trend. 60-70% VO2max exercise decreased the expression of KISS-1/GPR54, which may be involved in the effects of exercise on high-fat dietary sex hormone disorders.

MmbR, a master transcription regulator that controls fatty acid ß-oxidation genes in Mycolicibacterium smegmatis.

An unusually high lipid content and a complex lipid profile are the most distinctive features of the mycobacterial cell envelope. However, our understanding of the regulatory mechanism underlying mycobacterial lipid metabolism is limited, and the major regulators responsible for lipid homeostasis remain to be characterized. Here, we identified MmbR as a novel master regulator that is essential for maintaining lipid homeostasis in Mycolicibacterium smegmatis. We found that MmbR controls fatty acid ß-oxidation and modulates biofilm formation in Mycolicibacterium smegmatis. Although MmbR possesses the properties of nucleoid-associated proteins, it acts as a TetR-like transcription factor, directly regulating and intensively repressing the expression of a group of core genes involved in fatty acid ß-oxidation. Furthermore, both long-chain acyl-Coenzyme A and fatty acids appear to regulate the signal molecules modulated by MmbR. The deletion of mmbR led to a significant reduction in intracellular fatty acid content and a decrease in the relative lipid composition of the biofilm. The lack of mmbR led to morphological changes in the mycobacterial colony, defects in biofilm formation and enhanced sensitivity to anti-tuberculosis drugs. Our study is the first to establish a link between the transcriptional regulation of fatty acid ß-oxidation genes and lipid homeostasis in mycobacteria.

Reviewing the thermo-chemical recycling of waste polyurethane foam.

The worldwide production of polymeric foam materials is growing due to their advantageous properties of light weight, high thermal insulation, good strength, resistance and rigidity. Society creates ever increasing amounts of poly-urethane (PU) waste. A major part of this waste can be recycled or recovered in order to be put into further use. The PU industry is committed to assist and play its part in the process. The recycling and recovery of PU foam cover a range of mechanical, physical, chemical and thermo-chemical processes. In addition to the well-documented mechanical and chemical processing options, thermo-chemical treatments are important either as ultimate disposal (incineration) or towards feedstock recovery, leading to different products according to the thermal conditions of the treatment. The review focuses on these thermo-chemical and thermal processes. As far as pyrolysis is concerned, TDI and mostly polyol can be recovered. The highest recovery yields of TDI and polyols occur at low temperatures (150-200 °C). It is however clear from literature that pure feedstock will not be produced, and that a further upgrading of the condensate will be needed, together with a thermal or alternative treatment of the non-condensables. Gasification towards syngas has been studied on a larger and industrial scale. Its application would need the location of the PU treatment plant close to a chemical plant, if the syngas is to be valorized or considered in conjunction with a gas-fired CHP plant. Incineration has been studied mostly in a co-firing scheme. Potentially toxic emissions from PU combustion can be catered for by the common flue gas cleaning behind the incineration itself, making this solution less evident as a stand-alone option: the combination with other wastes (such as municipal solid waste) in MSWI's seems the indicated route to go.

Prospects and perspectives foster enhanced research on bio-aviation fuels.

Bio-aviation fuels are a major research and development topic, with strong interests from the aviation sector, the public, lawmakers and potential producers. Yet the development and market penetration in the air-transportation sector is slow, despite proven environmental benefits. Bio-fuels can indeed mitigate the environmental impact of the aviation sector mostly due to their low carbon intensity and favourable chemical structure. Such bio-aviation fuels must have "drop-in" characteristics with specifications and compatibility with the combustion behaviour of kerosene. The ASTM approval procedures are an important guarantee in this respect. Additional emission reductions rely on the production pathways, while optimum flight-related strategies are an additional benefit. An analysis of both the production pathways, and the environmental and Life Cycle Assessment findings delineates important research directions to enhance the production and use of bio-aviation fuels. Towards specific environmental issues, target research topics should include various topics. A better quantification of particulate and soot emissions, condensation contrails and NOx are of primary concern. The impact of geographic parameters on the bio-aviation fuel benefits should be investigated towards using bio-aviation fuels primarily in specific climate zones. Emission prediction models should be further developed. LCA approaches should be extended. More on-flight emission patterns should be measured to provide relevant data for the above considerations; Towards bio-aviation fuel characterization, safety and reliability are major criteria of the ASTM approval. Towards production pathways, the technical viability studies of synthesis pathways should be combined with economic assessments. Towards fuel costs, the reason for the high production cost of bio-aviation fuel is at least partly due to the oxygen-rich bio-polymer nature of biomass with unsuitable carbon chain length. In order to reduce the cost of bio-aviation fuel, several research directions are encouraged and discussed in the paper.

Cleaner and sustainable processes for extracting phenolic compounds from bio-waste.

The frequent environment-unfriendly treatments of agro-industrial bio-wastes cause severe pollution through air pollution and through residual effluents and hazardous solid waste. These bio-wastes can contain phenolic compounds, forms of phenolic acids and flavonoids in plants. They are however the most abundant class of many phytochemicals and have been given great interest due to their health advantage and high economic value. An interesting upgrading of these bio-wastes may consist in obtaining a concentrated extract of phenolic compounds using no-toxic solvents, hence protecting the environment and human health. In this work, different alternatives of the extraction process were evaluated using an exergetic analysis. The energy and water consumptions, CO2 emissions, exergetic yield, wasted and destroyed exergy were calculated. It was found that several alternatives for recycle streams were convenient (streams with higher chemical exergy were not discharged into the environment). The energy and water consumption for the best alternative (ethanol-water ratio 1/1 including recycle stream, named E-W 1/1 Rec) were 567 MJ/h and 105 kg/h, respectively and the CO2 emission was 105 kg/h. The calculated exergy destruction indicated that the evaporation and distillation stages may be optimized towards a more sustainable operation. It is not advisable to dry the bio-waste if it will be immediately processed once generated.

High temperature Mn2O3/Mn3O4 and Co3O4/CoO systems for thermo-chemical energy storage.

A major action to reduce CO2 emissions is replacing fossil fuels by renewable energy sources. Matching the energy supply and demand by the mostly intermittent renewable resources (wind, solar, wave) is hence a hot topic, and energy storage has become crucial. Thermo-chemical energy storage (TCES) has a higher energy density than sensible and latent heat storage, and allows energy to be stored in the reaction products for multiple reuse and even off-site application. Design parameters are the equilibrium temperature, the reaction heat and the reaction rate, as obtained from both thermodynamic and kinetic assessments. Equilibrium temperatures of the selected metal oxides, Mn2O3/Mn3O4 and Co3O4/CoO are between 1115 K and 1179 K. The present research studies both redox reactions as examples. Commercial Mn2O3 and Co3O4 were previously investigated in detail, and suffer from incomplete reversibility. The present study investigates the use of self-made Mn2O3 and Co3O4 mesoporous particles, of micrometer or nanometer scale, respectively. The average particle size of self-made Mn2O3 particles is < 5 µm, with a BET surface area of 239.7 m2/g, and Teq of 1177 K at ambient pressure. Self-made Co3O4 was of nano size, with average size of about 100 nm, a BET surface area of 54.2 m2/g, and Teq of 1109 K at ambient pressure. The redox reactions of these ultrafine particles are fast and nearly fully reversible. The effect of adding inert Al2O3 or Fe2O3 was also studied, but proven to offer no kinetic benefit, while reducing the reaction heat due to their inert additive character. The findings were used in the design of a 10 kW TCES pilot plant that is currently being tested in a concentrated solar furnace.

The chemical CO2 capture by carbonation-decarbonation cycles.

The abatement of CO2 emitted from combustion is a hot research topic. Current CO2 capture techniques of adsorption, absorption, membrane separation and cryogenics involve high investment and operation costs. For moderate and high temperature exhaust gas, carbonation/decarbonation cycles offer an attractive alternative. An objective assessment method (screening index) was applied to select the most appropriate chemical reactions, with MgO and Mg(OH)2 being screened as having the highest potential. Macro-thermogravimetric experiments determined a CO2 capture yield between 60 and 70% for Mg(OH)2 at temperatures between 260 and 330 °C, and from 85 to 98% for MgO at temperatures of 400-440 °C. Reaction rates were measured for both MgO-CO2 and Mg(OH)2-CO2. The reaction kinetics are best fitted by the Jander 3D-diffusion approach. The Arrhenius equation is applied to the reaction rate constant, and both its activation energy and pre-exponential factor are determined. Integrating the Jander expression in the reaction rate equation enables to predict the CO2-capture conversion for any selected temperature and/or contact time.

PCSK9: A new participant in lipophagy in regulating atherosclerosis?

Proprotein convertase subtilisin kexin 9 (PCSK9) regulates lipid metabolism by degrading low-density lipoprotein receptor on the surface of hepatocytes. PCSK9-mediated lipid degradation is associated with lipophagy. Lipophagy is a process by which autophagosomes selectively sequester lipid-droplet-stored lipids and are delivered to lysosomes for degradation. Lipophagy was first discovered in hepatocytes, and its occurrence provides important fundamental insights into how lipid metabolism regulates cellular physiology and pathophysiology. Furthermore, PCSK9 may regulate lipid levels by affecting lipophagy. This review will discuss recent advances by which PCSK9 mediates lipid degradation via the lipophagy pathway and present lipophagy as a potential therapeutic target for atherosclerosis.

[Down-Regulation of MiR-125b Reverses Drug Resistance of Doxorubicin-Resistant Leukemia Cells].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether the down-regulation of miR-125b can reverse the drug-resistence of doxorubicine-resistant leukemia cell lines or not, so as to explore a new method for treatment of drug-resistant leukemia patients. METHODS: The expression levels of miR125b in doxorubicine drug-sensitive and doxorubicine drug-resistant leukemia cell lines.HL-60, K562 and HL-60/Dox, the K562/Dox were detected by using RT-qPCR; the up-regulation or inhibition of miR-1256 expression in HL-60/Dox were performed by electroporation transfection, then the viability of cells treated with doxorubicine of different concentration was detected by CCK-8 method, the proliferation inhibition curve of cells was drawed, and the IC50 was calculated. RESULTS: The miR-125b expression was obviously up-regulated in drug-resistant cell lines HL-60/DOX and K562/DOX, as compared with HL-60 and K562 cell lines. The miR-125b expression level in HL-60/DOX and K562/DOX cells was 15 times and 5 times higher than that in HL-60 and K562 cells, respectively. The up-regulating or inhibiting expression of miR-125b in HL-60/DOX cells found that the proliferation inhibition rate in cells transfected with miR-125b mimic significantly decreased, compared with control group (P<0.01), while the proliferation inhibition rate in cells transfected with miR-125b inhibitor significantly increased, compared with control group(P<0.01). CONCLUSION: The miR-125b expression in HL-60/Dox and K562/Dox cells has been up-regulated, down-regulation of miR-125b expression can reverse the drug resistance of leukemia cells to doxorubicine.

Small and dim target detection via lateral inhibition filtering and Artificial Bee colony based selective visual attention.

This paper proposed a novel bionic selective visual attention mechanism to quickly select regions that contain salient objects to reduce calculations. Firstly, lateral inhibition filtering, inspired by the limulus' ommateum, is applied to filter low-frequency noises. After the filtering operation, we use Artificial Bee Colony (ABC) algorithm based selective visual attention mechanism to obtain the interested object to carry through the following recognition operation. In order to eliminate the camera motion influence, this paper adopted ABC algorithm, a new optimization method inspired by swarm intelligence, to calculate the motion salience map to integrate with conventional visual attention. To prove the feasibility and effectiveness of our method, several experiments were conducted. First the filtering results of lateral inhibition filter were shown to illustrate its noise reducing effect, then we applied the ABC algorithm to obtain the motion features of the image sequence. The ABC algorithm is proved to be more robust and effective through the comparison between ABC algorithm and popular Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm. Except for the above results, we also compared the classic visual attention mechanism and our ABC algorithm based visual attention mechanism, and the experimental results of which further verified the effectiveness of our method.

[Isolation and activity of bacteria for the biodegradation of microcystins].

The abilities of bacterial communities, which collected from the sediment and surface water of Dianchi Lake, for the biodegradation of microcystins (MCs) were firstly investigated. It was shown that the biodegradation rates of both MC-RR and LR by bacteria in sediment were apparently higher than those by bacteria on surface water. Five strains of bacteria, which have the abilities in the biodegradation of MCs, from the sediment were isolated using the liquid and solid medium containing MC-RR and LR as the carbon and nitrogen sources, which was extracted and purified from the cells of cyanobacterial bloom. Among the bacteria isolated, bacterium D was found to have a strong ability in the biodegradation of MCs. Initial MC-RR and LR of 60.1 mg x L(-1) and 38.7 mg x L(-1) were completely removed in 3 days and the average biodegradation rates per day for MC-RR and LR were 20.0 mg x L(-1) and 12.9 mg x L(-1), respectively.