In this study, 2-benzyl-10a-(1
-pyrrol-2-yl)-2,3-dihydropyrazino1,2-
indole-1,4,10(10a
)-trione (DHPITO), a previously identified inhibitor against hepatocellular carcinoma cells, is shown to exert ...its cytotoxic effects by suppressing the proliferation and growth of CRC cells. An investigation of its molecular mechanism confirmed that the cytotoxic activity of DHPITO is mediated through the targeting of microtubules with the promotion of subsequent microtubule polymerisation. With its microtubule-stabilising ability, DHPITO also consistently arrested the cell cycle of the CRC cells at the G2/M phase by promoting the phosphorylation of histone 3 and the accumulation of EB1 at the cell equator, reduced the levels of CRC cell migration and invasion, and induced cellular apoptosis. Furthermore, the compound could suppress both tumour size and tumour weight in a CRC xenograft model without any obvious side effects. Taken together, the findings of the present study reveal the antiproliferative and antitumour mechanisms through which DHPITO exerts its activity, indicating its potential as a putative chemotherapeutic agent and lead compound with a novel structure.
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IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
•Study the evaluation of renewable energy development level for countries.•Construct an evaluation index system for renewable energy development level.•Game theory is introduced into the integration ...of subjective and objective weights.•Some suggestions to promote the development of renewable energy are proposed.
In the context of the transition of global energy system to a net-zero future, the development of renewable energy has become an important measure for all countries to promote energy transformation. In this paper, the evaluation of the level of renewable energy development for countries is studied. Firstly, a comprehensive evaluation index system is constructed from four dimensions: renewable energy supply, market demand, social benefits and carbon emission. Then, Canada, the United States, Brazil and other countries are selected as evaluation objects, and the data on renewable energy development for those countries are collected from Statistical Review of World Energy 2020, Renewable Energy Statistics 2020 and relevant websites. After processing and analyzing a large number of data, the evaluation data set of renewable energy development level is obtained. Next, a comprehensive evaluation method based on game theory combination weighting and TOPSIS is proposed, and based on the established data set, the ranking of the level of renewable energy development is achieved. The Mean Absolute Error method is used to compare the ranking accuracy of different evaluation methods for renewable energy development level, which verifies the effectiveness of the proposed method. At the end of paper, some suggestions to promote the development of renewable energy are proposed from improving energy utilization efficiency, perfecting the renewable energy distribution system, optimizing the industrial structure and other measures.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Objectives
It has been proven that extracellular HMGB1 is involved in progression of neurologic disorders, such as stroke, traumatic brain injury, meningitis and epilepsy. Glycyrrhizin (GL) is a ...direct inhibitor of HMGB1, and blocks HMGB1 release into the extracellular. We aim in this study to investigate the neuroprotective effects of GL in a rat model after lithium‐pilocarpine‐induced status epilepticus (SE).
Methods
Adult male SD rats were divided into three groups: Sham group, SE‐group and (SE + GL)‐treated group. The HMGB1 expression in serum and hippocampus, the damage extent of blood brain barrier (BBB) and hippocampal neuronal damage were evaluated by enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay, immunohistochemistry, western blot and nissl's staining.
Key findings
Glycyrrhizin markedly reduced HMGB1 expression in serum and hippocampus, prevented HMGB1 translocation from nucleus to cytoplasm in hippocampal CA1, CA3 and hilus areas of SE rats. Meanwhile, GL significantly ameliorated neuronal damage in the CA1, CA3 and hilus areas of hippocampus, and protected BBB disruption after SE. The administration of GL significantly decreased the mortality from 25 to 8.9% in rats.
Conclusions
Glycyrrhizin may exert neuroprotective effects via inhibiting HMGB1 and protect BBB permeability in lithium‐pilocarpine‐induced rats with SE.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
Absolute chiral environments are rare in regular polyhedral and prismatic architectures, but are achievable from self-assembly of metal-organic cages/containers (MOCs), which endow us with a ...promising ability to imitate natural organization systems to accomplish stereochemical recognition, catalysis and separation. Here we report a general assembly approach to homochiral MOCs with robust chemical viability suitable for various practical applications. A stepwise process for assembly of enantiopure ΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔ- and ΛΛΛΛΛΛΛΛ-Pd6(RuL3)8 MOCs is accomplished by pre-resolution of the Δ/Λ-Ru-metalloligand precursors. The obtained Pd-Ru bimetallic MOCs feature in large D4-symmetric chiral space imposed by the predetermined Ru(II)-octahedral stereoconfigurations, which are substitutionally inert, stable, water-soluble and are capable of encapsulating a dozen guests per cage. Chiral resolution tests reveal diverse host-guest stereoselectivity towards different chiral molecules, which demonstrate enantioseparation ability for atropisomeric compounds with C2 symmetry. NMR studies indicate a distinctive resolution process depending on guest exchange dynamics, which is differentiable between host-guest diastereomers.
Summary
A model predictive cascade controller is proposed in this article to resolve the actuator saturation problem of underwater human‐occupied vehicle (HOV) trajectory tracking. For the kinematic ...model, a grasshopper optimization‐based model predictive control (MPC) is developed to obtain control velocities with small fluctuations in allowable regions. Based on the desired velocities obtained from the improved kinematic control, the HOV dynamic model is used to generate the corresponding torques and forces using sliding mode control. With the control velocities and forces given by the cascade control strategy, the elimination of actuator saturation during the HOV trajectory tracking can be realized. The proposed controller is verified by simulations using a numerical example based on a four degrees of freedom (4‐DOFs) HOV.
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FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
•Comprehensively explore the commercial used apparel collection (UAC) programs.•Analytically derive the optimal promotion effort and study “profit” coordination.•UAC is better for all members if ...there're more environmental conscious consumers.•Collecting own branded products will reduce market demand.•Propose a novel and robust effort cost sharing contract to improve UAC.
Motivated by the commonly observed commercial used apparel collection (UAC) programs in fashion retail supply chain operations, this paper analytically explores the associated operational challenges that firms face. First, in the basic model, we consider the case when a fashion retail brand promotes its UAC program and collects the used apparel from consumers. Depending on the conditions of the collected apparel products, the fashion retail brand will classify and either donate them for charity or send them to remanufacturing. For either case, the fashion retail brand gains a benefit. We analytically derive in closed-form the optimal promotion effort and study the mechanism for “profit” coordination. Our results indicate that many traditional supply chain contracts fail to achieve “profit” coordination. Thus, the effort cost sharing (ECS) contract is proposed and proven to be effective for “profit” coordination. Finally, to check the robustness of findings from the basic model, we examine various UAC practice related extended models, such as i) consumer coupon offering, ii) “no remanufacturing” model, iii) consumer heterogeneity in environmental consciousness, iv) own-brand collection vs any-brand collection. Our findings show that the qualitative insights continue to hold in the extended scenarios. Some novel scenario-dependent findings are also obtained. Insights derived in this paper not only contribute to the literature but also provide scientifically sound managerial guidance and insights to practitioners on how UAC programs can be best operated.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Bi2WO6 ordered porous film with open pores, an example of a photocatalytically active ternary metal oxide under visible‐light irradiation, is prepared using a simple and reproducible route. The ...ordered porous Bi2WO6 films exhibited much higher photocatalytic activity and photocurrent coversion efficiency than nonporous Bi2WO6 films under visible‐light irradiation (λ > 420 nm).
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
The integrated energy system (IES) can improve energy efficiency and promote the use of renewable energy. It is of great significance to find the optimal alternative from many IES alternatives. ...However, most studies focused on the IES evaluation with complete information. Given this background, this paper proposes an evaluation method based on generalized regression neural network (GRNN) and probabilistic neural network (PNN) to address the issue of IES evaluation with incomplete information, which takes the running speed of the algorithm and the dynamic updating of the indexes into account. Firstly, the missing data is predicted via GRNN, and a complete evaluation matrix is obtained. Then, the evaluation indexes are clustered by affinity propagation algorithm, and the evaluation matrix of the cluster centers is determined, which can reduce the dimension of the initial matrix and improve the speed of the IES evaluation method. For the newly added evaluation indexes, the PNN is used to classify them, and the new cluster center is calculated, which can address the issue of the indexes updating. Based on the data of a hospital in Henan, case studies were carried out to evaluate the performance of the proposed method. The results show that the proposed method performs better than the existing IES evaluation method.
•GRNN is used to address the IES evaluation problem with incomplete information.•The accuracy of GRNN is verified by comparing with common prediction methods.•It is the first work to deal with the issue of indexes updating in IES evaluation.•Compared with the existing evaluation method, the proposed method performs better.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Summary
The hydraulic system of vascular plants and its integrity is essential for plant survival. To transport water under tension, the walls of xylem conduits must approximate rigid pipes. Against ...this expectation, conduit deformation has been reported in the leaves of a few species and hypothesized to function as a ‘circuit breaker’ against embolism. Experimental evidence is lacking, and its generality is unknown.
We demonstrated the role of conduit deformation in protecting the upstream xylem from embolism through experiments on three species and surveyed a diverse selection of vascular plants for conduit deformation in leaves.
Conduit deformation in minor veins occurred before embolism during slow dehydration. When leaves were exposed to transient increases in transpiration, conduit deformation was accompanied by large water potential differences from leaf to stem and minimal embolism in the upstream xylem. In the three species tested, collapsible vein endings provided clear protection of upstream xylem from embolism during transient increases in transpiration.
We found conduit deformation in diverse vascular plants, including 11 eudicots, ginkgo, a cycad, a fern, a bamboo, and a grass species, but not in two bamboo and a palm species, demonstrating that the potential for ‘circuit breaker’ functionality may be widespread across vascular plants.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
•Few studies have explored the effects of air pollution on metabolic syndrome (MetS) in children.•We studied 9,897 Chinese children in a national cross-sectional study.•Long-term exposures to PM2.5, ...PM10, and NO2 were positively associated with MetS.•PM1 and NO2 were related to elevated risk of fasting blood glucose and abdominal obesity.
The prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MetS) rapidly increased over the past decades. However, little evidence exists about the effects of long-term exposure to ambient air pollution on MetS in children and adolescents.
This study aims to assess the association between long-term ambient air pollution and the prevalence of MetS in a large population of Chinese children and adolescents.
In 2013, a total of 9,897 children and adolescents aged 10 to 18 years were recruited from seven provinces/municipalities in China. MetS was defined based on the recommendation by the International Diabetes Federation (IDF). Satellite based spatio-temporal models were used to estimate exposure to ambient air pollution (including particles with diameters ≤1.0 µm (PM1), ≤2.5 µm (PM2.5), and ≤10 µm (PM10), and nitrogen dioxide (NO2)). Individual exposure was calculated according to 94 schools addresses. After adjustment for a range of covariates, generalized linear mixed-effects models were utilized to evaluate the associations between air pollutants and the prevalence of MetS and its components. In addition, several stratified analyses were examined according to sex, weight status, outdoor physical activity time, and sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) intake.
The prevalence of MetS was 2.8%. The odds ratio of MetS associated with a 10 μg/m3 increase in PM1, PM2.5, PM10 and NO2 was 1.20 (95%CI: 0.99, 1.46), 1.31 (95%CI: 1.05, 1.64), 1.32 (95%CI: 1.08, 1.62), and 1.33 (95%CI: 1.03, 1.72), respectively. Regarding the MetS components, we observed associations between all pollutants and abdominal obesity. In addition, long-term PM1 and NO2 exposures were associated with the prevalence of elevated fasting blood glucose. Stratified analyses detected that the associations between air pollutants and the prevalence of MetS were stronger in boys (Pinteraction < 0.05).
We found that long-term exposure to PM2.5, PM10, and NO2 were positively associated with the prevalence of MetS in children and adolescents. Our findings may have certain public health implications for some comprehensive strategy of environment improvement and lifestyles changes in order to reduce the burden of non-communicable disease.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
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