5G Indoor Positioning Error Correction Based on 5G-PECNN.

With the development of the mobile network communication industry, 5G has been widely used in the consumer market, and the application of 5G technology for indoor positioning has emerged. Like most indoor positioning techniques, the propagation of 5G signals in indoor spaces is affected by noise, multipath propagation interference, installation errors, and other factors, leading to errors in 5G indoor positioning. This paper aims to address these issues by first constructing a 5G indoor positioning dataset and analyzing the characteristics of 5G positioning errors. Subsequently, we propose a 5G Positioning Error Correction Neural Network (5G-PECNN) based on neural networks. This network employs a multi-level fusion network structure designed to adapt to the error characteristics of 5G through adaptive gradient descent. Experimental validation demonstrates that the algorithm proposed in this paper achieves superior error correction within the error region, significantly outperforming traditional neural networks.

Acetyl-11-keto-beta-boswellic acid modulates macrophage polarization and Schwann cell migration to accelerate spinal cord injury repair in rats.

BACKGROUND: Inhibiting secondary inflammatory damage caused by glial cells and creating a stable microenvironment is one of the main strategies to investigate drugs for the treatment of spinal cord injury. Acetyl-11-keto-beta-boswellic acid (AKBA) is the active component of the natural drug boswellia, which has anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects and offers a possible therapeutic option for spinal cord injury. METHODS: In this study, a spinal cord injury model was established by crushing spinal cord, respectively, to detect the M1 macrophage inflammatory markers: iNOS, TNF-α, IL-1ß, and the M2 macrophage markers CD206, ARG-1, IL-10, and the detection of antioxidant enzymes and MDA. In vitro, macrophages were cultured to verify the main mechanism of the macrophage switch from Nrf2/HO-1 to M2 type by flow cytometry, immunofluorescence, and other techniques. Macrophage and Schwann cell co-culture validated the migration mechanism of Schwann cells promoted by AKBA. RESULTS: AKBA significantly enhanced the antioxidant enzyme activities of CAT, GSH-Px, T-AOC, and SOD, reduced MDA content, and reduced oxidative damage caused by spinal cord injury via the Nrf2/HO-1 signaling pathway; AKBA mediates Nrf2/HO-1/IL-10, converts macrophages from M1 to M2 type, reduces inflammation, and promotes Schwann cell migration, thereby accelerating the repair of spinal cord injury in rats. CONCLUSIONS: Our work demonstrates that AKBA can attenuate oxidative stress as well as the secondary inflammatory injury caused by macrophages after SCI, promote Schwann cell migration to the injury site, and thus accelerate the repair of the injured spinal cord.

CVaR-Constrained Policy Optimization for Safe Reinforcement Learning.

Current constrained reinforcement learning (RL) methods guarantee constraint satisfaction only in expectation, which is inadequate for safety-critical decision problems. Since a constraint satisfied in expectation remains a high probability of exceeding the cost threshold, solving constrained RL problems with high probabilities of satisfaction is critical for RL safety. In this work, we consider the safety criterion as a constraint on the conditional value-at-risk (CVaR) of cumulative costs, and propose the CVaR-constrained policy optimization algorithm (CVaR-CPO) to maximize the expected return while ensuring agents pay attention to the upper tail of constraint costs. According to the bound on the CVaR-related performance between two policies, we first reformulate the CVaR-constrained problem in augmented state space using the state extension procedure and the trust-region method. CVaR-CPO then derives the optimal update policy by applying the Lagrangian method to the constrained optimization problem. In addition, CVaR-CPO utilizes the distribution of constraint costs to provide an efficient quantile-based estimation of the CVaR-related value function. We conduct experiments on constrained control tasks to show that the proposed method can produce behaviors that satisfy safety constraints, and achieve comparable performance to most safe RL (SRL) methods.

Genome dosage alteration caused by chromosome pyramiding and shuffling effects on karyotypic heterogeneity, reproductive diversity, and phenotypic variation in Zea-Tripsacum allopolyploids.

KEY MESSAGE: We developed an array of Zea-Tripsacum tri-hybrid allopolyploids with multiple ploidies. We unveiled that changes in genome dosage due to the chromosomes pyramiding and shuffling of three species effects karyotypic heterogeneity, reproductive diversity, and phenotypic variation in Zea-Tripsacum allopolyploids. Polyploidy, or whole genome duplication, has played a major role in evolution and speciation. The genomic consequences of polyploidy have been extensively studied in many plants; however, the extent of chromosomal variation, genome dosage, phenotypic diversity, and heterosis in allopolyploids derived from multiple species remains largely unknown. To address this question, we synthesized an allohexaploid involving Zea mays, Tripsacum dactyloides, and Z. perennis by chromosomal pyramiding. Subsequently, an allooctoploid and an allopentaploid were obtained by hybridization of the allohexaploid with Z. perennis. Moreover, we constructed three populations with different ploidy by chromosomal shuffling (allopentaploid × Z. perennis, allohexaploid × Z. perennis, and allooctoploid × Z. perennis). We have observed 3 types of sexual reproductive modes and 2 types of asexual reproduction modes in the tri-species hybrids, including 2n gamete fusion (2n + n), haploid gamete fusion (n + n), polyspermy fertilization (n + n + n) or 2n gamete fusion (n + 2n), haploid gametophyte apomixis, and asexual reproduction. The tri-hybrids library presents extremely rich karyotype heterogeneity. Chromosomal compensation appears to exist between maize and Z. perennis. A rise in the ploidy of the trihybrids was linked to a higher frequency of chromosomal translocation. Variation in the degree of phenotypic diversity observed in different segregating populations suggested that genome dosage effects phenotypic manifestation. These findings not only broaden our understanding of the mechanisms of polyploid formation and reproductive diversity but also provide a novel insight into genome pyramiding and shuffling driven genome dosage effects and phenotypic diversity.

Optical vortex coronagraphy for high-contrast imaging of femtosecond laser filaments.

A high-contrast imaging technique for phase objects based on the optical vortex coronagraph (OVC) is proposed. This method offers the unique advantage of background-free imaging due to the introduction of azimuthal phase in the Fourier plane. We employed the OVC method to detect femtosecond laser-induced air plasma and compared it with the classic diffractometry and fluorescent imaging methods. We achieved a phase sensitivity of ∼0.035 waves that surpassed the capabilities of the other two methods. The combination of this highly sensitive imaging technique with the pump-probe method holds promise for applications in ultrafast imaging of laser-material interactions.

Acetyl-11-Keto-Beta-Boswellic Acid Activates the Nrf2/HO-1 Signaling Pathway in Schwann Cells to Reduce Oxidative Stress and Promote Sciatic Nerve Injury Repair.

Boswellia is a traditional medicine for bruises and injuries. Its main active ingredient, acetyl-11-keto-beta-boswellic acid, has antioxidant and antiapoptotic effects. In this experiment, we used Sprague-Dawley rats to make a sciatic nerve injury model to detect the transcription factor NF-E2-related factor 2/heme oxygenase 1 signaling pathway and apoptosis, combined with clinical indicators, for testing whether acetyl-11-keto-beta-boswellic acid can reduce oxidative stress and promote sciatic nerve repair. Our results showed that acetyl-11-keto-beta-boswellic acid administration promoted myelin regeneration and functional recovery in the rat sciatic nerve, reduced lipid peroxidation levels, upregulated the expression of various antioxidant enzymes and enhanced enzyme activity, decreased the expression levels of apoptosis-related proteins, and promoted nuclear translocation of the transcription factor NF-E2-related factor 2 protein. In vitro studies revealed that acetyl-11-keto-beta-boswellic acid reduced H2O2-induced reactive oxygen species production, restored mitochondrial membrane potential, upregulated the expression of various antioxidant enzymes, and downregulated apoptosis-related indicators in Schwann cells, and these therapeutic effects of acetyl-11-keto-beta-boswellic acid were reversed after ML385 treatment in Schwann cells. In summary, acetyl-11-keto-beta-boswellic acid alleviates oxidative stress and apoptosis caused by sciatic nerve injury in rats by activating the transcription factor NF-E2-related factor 2/heme oxygenase 1 signaling pathway, promotes the recovery of sciatic nerve function in rats, and is a promising therapeutic agent to promote sciatic nerve repair by alleviating excessive oxidative stress.

Classification of Glomerular Pathology Images in Children Using Convolutional Neural Networks with Improved SE-ResNet Module.

Classification of glomerular pathology based on histology sections is the key to diagnose the type and degree of kidney diseases. To address problems in the classification of glomerular lesions in children, a deep learning-based complete glomerular classification framework was designed to detect and classify glomerular pathology. A neural network integrating Resnet and Senet (RS-INet) was proposed and a glomerular classification algorithm implemented to achieve high-precision classification of glomerular pathology. SE-Resnet was applied with improvement by transforming the convolutional layer of the original Resnet residual block into a convolutional block with smaller parameters as well as reduced network parameters on the premise of ensuring network performance. Experimental results showed that our algorithm had the best performance in differentiating mesangial proliferative glomerulonephritis (MsPGN), crescent glomerulonephritis (CGN), and glomerulosclerosis (GS) from normal glomerulus (Normal) compared with other classification algorithms. The accuracy rates were 0.960, 0.940, 0.937, and 0.968, respectively. This suggests that the classification algorithm proposed in the present study is able to identify glomerular lesions with a higher precision, and distinguish similar glomerular pathologies from each other.

Downregulation of miRNA-155-5p contributes to the adipogenic activity of 2-ethylhexyl diphenyl phosphate in 3T3-L1 preadipocytes.

2-Ethylhexyl diphenyl phosphate (EHDPP) is a commonly used organophosphorus flame retardant and food packaging material. Because of its high lipophilic and bioaccumulative properties, adipocytes are the primary target of EHDPP. However, the toxicity of EHDPP on preadipocytes and the potential mechanism have not been fully elucidated. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are thought to be an important mediator that contribute to the toxicity of environmental contaminants. To identify the miRNAs specifically responsible for EHDPP exposure and their role in EGDPP's toxicity in preadipocytes, the adipogenic effects and miRNA expression profiling were performed on 3T3-L1 preadipocytes exposed to EHDPP. EHDPP at concentrations of 1-10 µM promoted adipocyte differentiation, as evidenced by lipid staining, triglyceride content, and expression of adipogenesis markers. MiRNA-seq analysis revealed that 7 differentially expressed miRNAs were recognized under EHDPP exposure, with miR-155-5p being the top down-regulated miRNA. Quantitative reverse transcription PCR (RT-qPCR) analysis showed that miR-155-5p level fell sharply during the first 2 days and continued to fall dose-dependently throughout the EHDPP exposure period. MiR-155-5p inhibition promotes adipocyte differentiation, whereas its overexpression counteracted EHDPP-induced adipogenesis. Luciferase reporter assay identified CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein beta (C/EBPß) as a target of miR-155-5p in 3T3-L1 preadipocytes in response to EHDPP. Taken together, EHDPP exposure down-regulated miR-155-5p, which then increased C/EBPß and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ) expression and promoted adipogenesis in preadipocytes.

Acetyl-11-Keto-ß-Boswellic Acid Accelerates the Repair of Spinal Cord Injury in Rats by Resisting Neuronal Pyroptosis with Nrf2.

The primary aim of this study is to delve into the potential of Acetyl-11-keto-ß-boswellic acid (AKBA) in ameliorating neuronal damage induced by acute spinal cord injury, as well as to unravel the intricate underlying mechanisms. A cohort of 40 Sprague-Dawley rats was meticulously categorized into four groups. Following a seven-day oral administration of AKBA, damaged spinal cord samples were meticulously procured for Nissl staining and electron microscopy to assess neuronal demise. Employing ELISA, immunofluorescence, Western blot (WB), and quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR), the modulatory effects of AKBA within the context of spinal cord injury were comprehensively evaluated. Furthermore, employing an ex vivo extraction of spinal cord neurons, an ATP + LPS-induced pyroptotic injury model was established. The model was subsequently subjected to Nrf2 inhibition, followed by a battery of assessments involving ELISA, DCFH-DA staining, flow cytometry, immunofluorescence, and WB to decipher the effects of AKBA on the spinal cord neuron pyroptosis model. By engaging the Nrf2-ROS-NLRP3 pathway, AKBA exerted a repressive influence on the expression of the pyroptotic initiator protein Caspase-1, thereby mitigating the release of GSDMD and alleviating pyroptosis. Additionally, AKBA demonstrated the ability to attenuate the release of IL-18 and IL-1ß, curbing neuronal loss and expediting the restorative processes within the context of spinal cord injury. Our study elucidates that AKBA can reduce spinal cord neuronal apoptosis, providing a basis for the development of AKBA as a clinical treatment for spinal cord injury.

AKBA Promotes Axonal Regeneration via RhoA/Rictor to Repair Damaged Sciatic Nerve.

The existing studies by our team demonstrated the pro-recovery effect of 3-Acetyl-11-keto-beta-boswellic acid (AKBA) on a sciatic nerve injury. To further investigate the role of AKBA in peripheral nerve injury repair, The TMT quantitative proteomics technique was used to obtain differentially significant proteins in a Sham group, Model group, and AKBA group. After that, three time points (5, 14, and 28 d) and four groups (Sham + AKBA, Sham, Model, and AKBA) were set up, and immunoblotting, immunofluorescence, and cellular assays were applied to investigate the expression of CDC42, Rac1, RhoA, and Rictor in the sciatic nerve at different time points for each group in more depth. The results showed that AKBA enriched the cellular components of the myelin sheath and axon regeneration after a sciatic nerve injury and that AKBA upregulated CDC42 and Rac1 and downregulated RhoA expression 5 d after a sciatic nerve injury, promoting axon regeneration and improving the repair of a sciatic nerve injury in rats. Rictor is regulated by AKBA and upregulated in PC12 cells after AKBA action. Our findings provide a new basis for AKBA treatment of a peripheral nerve injury.

Genome-Wide Identification and Characterization of the CCT Gene Family in Foxtail Millet (Setaria italica) Response to Diurnal Rhythm and Abiotic Stress.

The CCT gene family plays important roles in diurnal rhythm and abiotic stress response, affecting crop growth and development, and thus yield. However, little information is available on the CCT family in foxtail millet (Setaria italica). In the present study, we identified 37 putative SiCCT genes from the foxtail millet genome. A phylogenetic tree was constructed from the predicted full-length SiCCT amino acid sequences, together with CCT proteins from rice and Arabidopsis as representatives of monocotyledonous and dicotyledonous plants, respectively. Based on the conserved structure and phylogenetic relationships, 13, 5, and 19 SiCCT proteins were classified in the COL, PRR, and CMF subfamilies, respectively. The gene structure and protein conserved motifs analysis exhibited highly similar compositions within the same subfamily. Whole-genome duplication analysis indicated that segmental duplication events played an important role in the expansion of the CCT gene family in foxtail millet. Analysis of transcriptome data showed that 16 SiCCT genes had significant diurnal rhythm oscillations. Under abiotic stress and exogenous hormonal treatment, the expression of many CMF subfamily genes was significantly changed. Especially after drought treatment, the expression of CMF subfamily genes except SiCCT32 was significantly up-regulated. This work provides valuable information for further study of the molecular mechanism of diurnal rhythm regulation, abiotic stress responses, and the identification of candidate genes for foxtail millet molecular breeding.

Molecular detection and genetic characterization of Cryptosporidium in kindergarten children in Southern Xinjiang, China.

Cryptosporidium is a common cause of diarrhea in children globally. However, there is limited information on the prevalence and genetic characteristics of Cryptosporidium in children in Xinjiang, China. This study aimed to assess the genetic characteristics and epidemiological status of Cryptosporidium in kindergarten children in Southern Xinjiang, China. A total of 609 fecal samples were collected from kindergartners aged 2-6 years from 11 counties in Southern Xinjiang, China. We used nested PCR amplification of the partial SSU rDNA gene to screen samples for Cryptosporidium spp. Isolates containing Cryptosporidium parvum and C. hominis were further subtyped for a gene encoding a 60-kDa glycoprotein (gp60). We used MEGA7 to construct a phylogenetic tree to study the genetic relationship between the gp60 subtypes of these two species via the Maximum Likelihood method based on the Tamura-Nei model. Only 1.3% (8/609) of asymptomatic children were confirmed to be infected with Cryptosporidium, with a 2.0% (6/299) infection rate in boys and 0.6% (2/310) infection rate in girls. Three Cryptosporidium species were identified including C. felis (37.5%; 3/8), C. hominis (37.5%; 3/8), and C. parvum (25.0%; 2/8). Three C. hominis subtypes (IbA9G3, IdA14, and IfA12G1) and two C. parvum subtypes (IIdA14G1 and IIdA15G1) were also found. This study is the first to identify the presence of Cryptosporidium in kindergarten children in Southern Xinjiang, China. The presence of zoonotic C. parvum subtypes IIdA14G1 and IIdA15G1 indicates the possible cross-species transmission of Cryptosporidium between children and animals.

Genome-Wide Association Studies Provide Insights Into the Genetic Architecture of Seed Germination Traits in Maize.

Seed germination is an important agronomic trait that affects crop yield and quality. Rapid and uniform seed germination traits are required in agricultural production. Although several genes are involved in seed germination and have been identified in Arabidopsis and rice, the genetic basis governing seed germination in maize remains unknown. Herein, we conducted a genome-wide association study to determine the genetic architecture of two germination traits, germination speed, and consistency, in a diverse panel. We genotyped 321 maize inbred populations with tropical, subtropical, or temperate origins using 1219401 single-nucleotide polymorphism markers. We identified 58 variants that were associated with the two traits, and 12 of these were shared between the two traits, indicating partial genetic similarity. Moreover, 36 candidate genes were involved in seed germination with functions including energy metabolism, signal transduction, and transcriptional regulation. We found that favorable variants had a greater effect on the tropical subpopulation than on the temperate. Accumulation of favorable variants shortened germination time and improved uniformity in maize inbred lines. These findings contribute significantly to understanding the genetic basis of maize seed germination and will contribute to the molecular breeding of maize seed germination.

Self-Powered Acceleration Sensor Based on Multilayer Suspension Structure and TPU-RTV Film for Vibration Monitoring.

In this paper, we designed a triboelectric acceleration sensor with excellent multiple parameters. To more easily detect weak vibrations, the sensor was founded on a multilayer suspension structure. To effectively improve the electrical properties of the sensor, a surface roughening and internal doping friction film, which was refined with a room temperature vulcanized silicone rubber (RTV) and some thermoplastic polyurethanes (TPU) powder in a certain proportion, was integrated into the structure. It was found that the optimization of the RTV film increases the open circuit voltage and short circuit current of the triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) by 223% and 227%, respectively. When the external vibration acceleration is less than 4 m/s2, the sensitivity and linearity are 1.996 V/(m/s2) and 0.999, respectively. Additionally, when it is in the range between 4 m/s2 and 15 m/s2, those are 23.082 V/(m/s2) and 0.975, respectively. Furthermore, the sensor was placed in a simulated truck vibration environment, and its self-powered monitoring ability validated by experiments in real time. The results show that the designed sensor has strong practical value in the field of monitoring mechanical vibration acceleration.

Geomorphic effects of recurrent outburst superfloods in the Yigong River on the southeastern margin of Tibet.

Landslide dam outburst floods have a significant impact on landform evolution in high mountainous areas. Historic landslide dams on the Yigong River, southeastern Tibet, generated two outburst superfloods > 105 m3/s in 1902 and 2000 AD. One of the slackwater deposits, which was newly found immediately downstream of the historic dams, has been dated to 7 ka BP. The one-dimensional backwater stepwise method gives an estimate of 225,000 m3/s for the peak flow related to the paleo-stage indicator of 7 ka BP. The recurrence of at least three large landslide dam impoundments and super-outburst floods at the exit of Yigong Lake during the Holocene greatly changed the morphology of the Yigong River. More than 0.26 billion m3 of sediment has been aggraded in the dammed lake while the landslide sediment doubles the channel slope behind the dam. Repeated landslide damming may be a persistent source of outburst floods and impede the upstream migration of river knickpoints in the southeastern margin of Tibet.

Simultaneous Tuning Band Gaps of Cu2 O and TiO2 to Form S-Scheme Hetero-Photocatalyst.

Photocatalytic Z or S scheme merits higher redox potentials and faster charge separation. However, heterostructure photocatalysts with band gaps of bulk materials often have a type I band structure leading to poor photocatalytic activity. In view of this, we report simultaneous tuning of band gaps of Cu2 O and TiO2 , where quantum dot Cu2 O nanoparticles were formed on doped TiO2 with Ti3+ . The reduced size of Cu2 O made its conduction band more negative, whereas the introduction of Ti3+ made the absorption edge red shift to the visible light region. The as-formed heterostructure enabled an S-Scheme mechanism with remarkable activity and stability for visible light photodegradation of 4-chlorophenol (4-CP). The as-obtained photocatalysts' activity demonstrated ca. 510-fold increase as compared to individual ones and a mechanical blend. The as-obtained photocatalysts maintained over 80 % for 5 cycles and 2 months exposure to O2 did not decrease the degradation rate. ESR characterization and scavenger experiments proved the S-Scheme mechanism.

Sex determining region Y-box 9 induced microtubule formation and epithelial⁃mesenchymal transition in human oral squamous cell carcinoma CAL27 cells.

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to explore the effect of sex determining region Y-box 9 (SOX9) on the microtubule formation and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) of human oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) CAL27 and the underlying mechanism. METHODS: SOX9-shRNA1 and SOX9-shRNA2 were designed and synthesized and then transfected into CAL27 cells. The expression of SOX9 was detected by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. Microtubule formation assay was used to detect the change in the number of microtubule nodules after interfering with SOX9. Immunofluorescence was used to detect the Vimentin content. Western blot was used to detect the protein expression of EMT marker molecules and Wnt/ß-catenin pathway-related proteins, such as E-cadherin, N-cadherin, Fibronectin, Wnt, ß-catenin, T-cell factor-4 (TCF-4). RESULTS: The expression level of SOX9 significantly decreased after transfection with SOX9-shRNA1 and SOX9-shRNA2 in CAL27 cells (F=578.000, P=0.000; F=96.850, P=0.000). Interference with SOX9 inhibited the EMT of OSCC. After interference with SOX9, the number of tubules and Vimentin positive cells decreased significantly (F=169.700, P=0.000). The expression level of E-cadherin significantly increased (F=181.400, P=0.000). The expression levels of N-cadherin, Fibronectin, Wnt, ß-catenin, and TCF-4 proteins significantly decreased (N-cadherin: F=101.400, P=0.000; Fibronectin: F=122.300, P=0.000; Wnt: F=70.290, P=0.000; ß-catenin: F=81.740, P=0.000; TCF-4: F=37.020, P=0.000). CONCLUSIONS: Interference with SOX9 decreased Vimentin content and inhibited the microtubule formation and protein expression of EMT marker molecules, as well as the expression of proteins related to the Wnt/ß-catenin pathway. Thus, SOX9 can induce microtubule formation and EMT in CAL27, which was related to the inhibition of the Wnt/ß-catenin pathway activation.

Identification, expression and enzyme activity of the group III sPLA2 s in Cyprinus carpio L.

Five group III secreted phospholipase (pla2g3s) homologous genes located on different linkage groups were identified from common carp (Cyprinus carpio), which we named Ccpla2g3a1, Ccpla2g3a2, Ccpla2g3b, Ccpla2g3c1 and Ccpla2g3c2. The five genes encode 530, 525, 461, 752 and 753 amino acids, respectively. Sequence analysis showed that the Ccpla2g3as contain seven exons and the others contain four exons. Synteny analysis of fish pla2g3s indicated that pla2g3a and pla2g3b were from the same ancestor gene, and Ccpla2g3a1, Ccpla2g3a2, Ccpla2g3c1 and Ccpla2g3c2 were from the specific genome duplication of common carp. Due to the significant variation of the pla2g3bs from common carp and zebrafish (Danio rerio), they formed a separate group in the phylogenetic tree. The tissue distributions of Ccpla2g3s coincided with their expression profiles during the embryo stages. The expression levels of Ccpla2g3as and Ccpla2g3cs were low at the embryo stages, and they were abundant in the liver and brain, respectively, whereas the expression of Ccpla2g3b was high at 0.5 h after fertilization and in the ovary. We obtained three soluble recombinant proteins of the bee venom-like PLA2 (BVLP) from Ccpla2g3 and evaluated their PLA2 enzyme properties. The optimum pHs of MBP-a1-BVLP, MBP-b-BVLP and MBP-c1-BVLP were 7.5, 7.0 and 8.0, respectively, and specific activities were 7.68 ± 0.66, 4.155 ± 0.158 and 1.93 ± 0.05 U µmol-1 , respectively. The Kd for Ca2+ of MBP-b-BVLP was the lowest (2.6 µM), whereas the values for both MBP-a1-BVLP and MBP-c1-BVLP were about 15 µM. The Km values of three proteins ranged from 31.9 to 41.91 µM.

Identification, expression and pro-inflammatory effect of interleukin-17 N in common carp (Cyprinus carpio L.).

Two interleukin (IL)-17 N genes (CcIL-17Na and b) present on different linkage groups were identified in the common carp (Cyprinus carpio) genome and confirmed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and real time (RT)-PCR in this experiment. Synteny analysis revealed that IL-17 N is transcribed by the complement sequence of TOP3B's intron 2. It is flanked by SDF2L and PPM1F in all fish studied to date, except fugu (Takifugu rubripes). The open reading frames of the two CcIL-17Ns are 411 base pairs long and encode 136 amino acids. The amino acid identity/similarity between CcIL-17Na and b is 91.2%/97.1%. The CcIL-17Ns share identity (46.8-90.4%) with their orthologs from other teleosts. Identities/similarities to other members of the IL-17 family in common carp were low at 21.4-30.2%/31.4-51.4%. In the phylogenetic tree, IL-17Ns from spotted gar (Lepisosteus oculatus, the ancestor of teleosts) and coelacanth (Latimeria chalumnae, the ancestor of tetrapods) were grouped within the same branch with a high bootstrap value of 97%, which indicates that IL-17 N is an ancient and conserved gene. Quantitative RT-PCR results showed that CcIL-17Ns were most highly expressed in the brain of healthy individuals. The expression in brain was significantly induced at 6 h post Aeromonas hydrophila infection; at 1 day post infection, expression in liver, muscle, skin, spleen, and head kidney was up-regulated. In addition, the upregulated expression of proinflammatory cytokines IL-1ß, IFN-γ, IL-6, chemokine CCL20, NF - κ B and TRAF6 in kidney tissue by ccIL-17 N recombinant protein also indicate that IL-17 N can promote inflammation through NF-κB pathway and induce the expression of chemokines and inflammatory factors.

Designing electrolytes with polymerlike glass-forming properties and fast ion transport at low temperatures.

In the presence of Lewis acid salts, the cyclic ether, dioxolane (DOL), is known to undergo ring-opening polymerization inside electrochemical cells to form solid-state polymer batteries with good interfacial charge-transport properties. Here we report that LiNO3, which is unable to ring-open DOL, possesses a previously unknown ability to coordinate with and strain DOL molecules in bulk liquids, completely arresting their crystallization. The strained DOL electrolytes exhibit physical properties analogous to amorphous polymers, including a prominent glass transition, elevated moduli, and low activation entropy for ion transport, but manifest unusually high, liquidlike ionic conductivities (e.g., 1 mS/cm) at temperatures as low as -50 °C. Systematic electrochemical studies reveal that the electrolytes also promote reversible cycling of Li metal anodes with high Coulombic efficiency (CE) on both conventional planar substrates (1 mAh/cm2 over 1,000 cycles with 99.1% CE; 3 mAh/cm2 over 300 cycles with 99.2% CE) and unconventional, nonplanar/three-dimensional (3D) substrates (10 mAh/cm2 over 100 cycles with 99.3% CE). Our finding that LiNO3 promotes reversibility of Li metal electrodes in liquid DOL electrolytes by a physical mechanism provides a possible solution to a long-standing puzzle in the field about the versatility of LiNO3 salt additives for enhancing reversibility of Li metal electrodes in essentially any aprotic liquid electrolyte solvent. As a first step toward understanding practical benefits of these findings, we create functional Li||lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries in which LFP cathodes with high capacity (5 to 10 mAh/cm2) are paired with thin (50 µm) lithium metal anodes, and investigate their galvanostatic electrochemical cycling behaviors.