Polypropylene (PP) is incorporated with four different grades (H100, M25, M5, and C300) of graphene nanoplatelets (GnPs) via twin screw extrusion followed by injection moulding. The composites' ...thermal stability, crystallization behaviour, tensile strength, and electrical property are carefully examined. The thermal stability is significantly enhanced with the incorporation of small-sized GnPs as shown by the 11.2% improvement in T5% (the temperature at which 5 wt% of the mass loss occurs) and 5.1% improvement in Tmax (the temperature at which the maximum loss rate occurs). The thermal stabilizing effect of fillers can be significantly enhanced when they are well distributed with less aggregation as is the case for small-sized GnPs. The GnPs show a considerable nucleating effect on PP by increasing the crystallization temperature (Tc). The greatest improvement in tensile property is achieved with the use of small-sized GnPs. A 33.0% enhancement in tensile strength and 59.1% improvement of tensile modulus are obtained with the use of C300 and M5, respectively. The significantly increased thermal stability and mechanical property with small-sized GnPs are due to the fact that these smallsized fillers achieve a high degree of dispersion with less agglomeration as shown in the scanning electron microscope (SEM) images. However, the fillers with a large sheet size are still beneficial for purposes concerning electrical conductivity since the lowest percolation is obtained with H100. The greater the size of the GnPs, the smaller the percolation threshold of composites is exhibited.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, ODKLJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
The phase III, randomized, open-label ENSURE study (NCT01342965) evaluated first-line erlotinib versus gemcitabine/cisplatin (GP) in patients from China, Malaysia and the Philippines with epidermal ...growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation-positive non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
Patients ≥18 years old with histologically/cytologically confirmed stage IIIB/IV EGFR mutation-positive NSCLC and Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status 0-2 were randomized 1:1 to receive erlotinib (oral; 150 mg once daily until progression/unacceptable toxicity) or GP G 1250 mg/m(2) i.v. days 1 and 8 (3-weekly cycle); P 75 mg/m(2) i.v. day 1, (3-weekly cycle) for up to four cycles. Primary end point: investigator-assessed progression-free survival (PFS). Other end points include objective response rate (ORR), overall survival (OS), and safety.
A total of 217 patients were randomized: 110 to erlotinib and 107 to GP. Investigator-assessed median PFS was 11.0 months versus 5.5 months, erlotinib versus GP, respectively hazard ratio (HR), 0.34, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.22-0.51; log-rank P < 0.0001. Independent Review Committee-assessed median PFS was consistent (HR, 0.42). Median OS was 26.3 versus 25.5 months, erlotinib versus GP, respectively (HR, 0.91, 95% CI 0.63-1.31; log-rank P = .607). ORR was 62.7% for erlotinib and 33.6% for GP. Treatment-related serious adverse events (AEs) occurred in 2.7% versus 10.6% of erlotinib and GP patients, respectively. The most common grade ≥3 AEs were rash (6.4%) with erlotinib, and neutropenia (25.0%), leukopenia (14.4%), and anemia (12.5%) with GP.
These analyses demonstrate that first-line erlotinib provides a statistically significant improvement in PFS versus GP in Asian patients with EGFR mutation-positive NSCLC (NCT01342965).
A feeding trial was conducted to investigate the effects of dietary fructooligosaccharide (FOS) on growth performance, body composition, intestinal enzymes activities and histology of fingerling ...Megalobrama amblycephala. A total of 1200 fish (1.42 ± 0.01 g) were fed diets containing graded levels of FOS (0, 0.5, 1, 2, 4 and 8 g kg−1 diet) for 8 weeks in a recirculating system indoor. The weight gain, specific growth rate (SGR) and survival rate were all improved in dietary supplementation of FOS fed fish. Increasing FOS levels resulted in both higher whole‐body lipid and lower moisture contents, whereas ash and protein contents showed no significant differences among all the treatments. Intestinal amylase, protease, Na+, K+‐ATPase, alkaline phosphatase, γ‐glutamyl transpeptidase and creatine kinase activities all increased with dietary FOS levels up to 4 g kg−1 (P < 0.05). Transmission electron microscopy analysis indicated that microvilli length in the mid‐intestine was significantly increased with increased dietary FOS levels (P < 0.05). In conclusion, dietary supplementation of FOS could confer benefits on growth performance, intestinal digestive and absorptive ability, histology of fingerling Megalobrama amblycephala.
The development and application of second generation high temperature superconducting (2G-HTS) tapes have attracted much attention in China recently. Progress in upscaling high performance 2G-HTS ...tape production at Shanghai Superconductor Technology (SST) is reported in this paper. With ion beam assisted deposition, biaxially textured buffer layers with a configuration of CeO2/LaMnO3/MgO/Y2O3/Al2O3/C-276 have successfully been fabricated. In-plane and out-of-plane texture degrees of CeO2 films achieve 2°-4° and 2°, respectively. A multi-plume multi-turn pulsed laser deposition (PLD) system combined with the so-called 'radiation assisted conductive heater' has been proposed and further developed for REBCO layer deposition. Our effort was focused on minimizing the temperature variations in the deposition region by modifying the heating shield that assists the conductive heater of the drum-like cylinder. A tape travelling speed of 100-180 m h−1 can be achieved with a steady temperature profile when passing through the deposition zone, which is very beneficial for the growth of the REBCO layer. Taking advantage of the liquid phase growth mode, several compositions of superconducting films with a thickness in the range of 1-2.5 m have been grown with high growth rates of over 40 nm s−1. Furthermore, the microstructures and superconducting performance were investigated in detail. Based on these studies, superconducting tapes with piece lengths of up to 500 meters have been developed. High Ic values at 77 K, self-field (over 520 A cm−1 width) or at low temperature, high magnetic field conditions (over 560 A/4 mm width at 4.2 K, 10 T, perpendicular field) have been achieved. Lamination and jointing techniques have also been developed by SST for power and magnet applications.
For a skin wound to successfully heal, the cut epidermal-edge cells have to migrate forward at the interface between scab and healthy granulation tissue. Much is known about how lead-edge cells ...migrate, but very little is known about the mechanisms that enable active participation by cells further back. Here we show that ephrin-B1 and its receptor EphB2 are both upregulated in vivo, just for the duration of repair, in the first 70 or so rows of epidermal cells, and this signal leads to downregulation of the molecular components of adherens and tight (but not desmosomal) junctions, leading to loosening between neighbors and enabling shuffle room among epidermal cells. Additionally, this signaling leads to the shutdown of actomyosin stress fibers in these same epidermal cells, which may act to release tension within the wound monolayer. If this signaling axis is perturbed, then disrupted healing is a consequence in mouse and man.
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•Ephrin-B/EphBs are upregulated in the migrating wound epidermis in mouse and man•Ephrin-B/EphB signaling drives junction loosening, thus enabling re-epithelialization•Ephrin-B/EphB signaling also leads to dissolution of stress fibers and tension release•In human chronic wounds ephrin-Bs are misregulated and may be a therapeutic target
Epithelial migration is essential for skin wound healing. Nunan et al. show that ephrin-B1 is upregulated for the duration of repair and drives both loosening of adherens and tight junctions and release of actomyosin tension to enable re-epithelialization. Misregulation of Eph/ephrin-B signaling in mouse and man considerably hinders healing.
Bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) play crucial roles in the tumorigenesis and metastasis of cancers. Controversy remains about the exact implications of BMPs and their antagonists in breast cancer ...(BC), due to their diverse and complex biological functions and signalling. A comprehensive study of the whole family and their signalling in breast cancer is provoked.
Aberrant expression of BMP, BMP receptors and antagonists in primary tumours in breast cancer were analysed by using TCGA-BRCA and E-MTAB-6703 cohorts. Related biomarkers including ER, HER, proliferation, invasion, angiogenesis, lymphangiogenesis and bone metastasis were involved to identify the relationship with BMPs in breast cancer.
The present study showed BMP8B was significantly increased in breast tumours, while BMP6 and ACVRL1 were decreased in breast cancer tissues. The expressions of BMP2, BMP6, TGFBR1 and GREM1 were significantly correlated with BC patients' poor overall survival. Aberrant expression of BMPs, together with BMP receptors, were explored in different subtypes of breast cancer according to ER, PR and HER2 status. Furthermore, higher levels of BMP2, BMP6 and GDF5 were revealed in triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) whilst BMP4, GDF15, ACVR1B, ACVR2B and BMPR1B were relatively higher in Luminal type BC. ACVR1B and BMPR1B were positively correlated with ERα but were inversely correlated with ERβ. High expression of GDF15, BMP4 and ACVR1B were associated with poorer overall survival in HER2 positive BC. BMPs also play dual roles in tumour growth and metastasis of BC.
A shift pattern of BMPs was showed in different subtypes of breast cancer suggesting a subtype specific involvement. It provokes more research to shed light on the exact role of these BMPs and receptors in the disease progression and distant metastasis through a regulation of proliferation, invasion and EMT.
Carbon monoxide (CO) has always been recognised as a toxic gas, due to its higher affinity for haemoglobin than oxygen. However, biological studies have revealed an intriguing role for CO as an ...endogenous signalling molecule, a gasotransmitter. CO is demonstrated to exert many cellular activities including anti-inflammatory, antiapoptotic, and antiproliferative activities. In animal studies, CO gas administration can prevent tissues from hypoxia or ischemic-reperfusion injury. As a result, there are a plethora of reports dealing with the biological applications of CO and CO-releasing molecules (CORMs) in inflammatory and vascular diseases. CORMs have already been tested as a therapeutic agent in clinical trials. More recently, an increased interest has been drawn to CO’s potential use as an anticancer agent. In this review, we will aim to give an overview of the research focused on the role of CO and CORMs in different types of cancer and expand to the recent development of the next generation CORMs for clinical application in cancer treatment.
Lanthanide-doped upconversion nanoparticles have attracted extensive research interest due to their promising applications in various fields. However, conventional upconversion nanoparticles ...generally suffer from severe quenching effect, leading to extremely weak luminescence that greatly hinders their practical use. To date, great efforts have been made for boosting the upconversion luminescence of these functional nanoparticles through numerous approaches, which can be fundamentally divided into two categories including chemical methods and physical strategies. In this review, a comprehensive survey on the existing approaches for realizing highly enhanced upconversion luminescence is provided. As for the typical chemical methods, chemical composition tuning including suitable selection of host and heavy lanthanide doping, core-shell engineering, ligand modification, dye sensitization, impurity doping and ion exchange are summarized. With respect to the emerging physical strategies, laser excitation modulation that includes the tuning of power density and polarization angle, near-field regulation that involves the exertion of plasmon, photonic crystal and dielectric superlens, heat-associated annealing and inverse thermal quenching as well as the application of external field stimuli like electric field, magnetic field and pressure are overviewed. Current challenges and future opportunities associated with lanthanide-doped upconversion nanoparticles are also discussed in the end.
Lanthanide-doped upconversion nanoparticles have attracted extensive research interest due to their promising applications in various fields.
A 12‐week feeding trial was conducted to determine dietary choline requirement for juvenile Megalobrama amblycephala. The basal diet was formulated to contain 310 g kg−1 diet from vitamin‐free casein ...and gelatine. Choline chloride was supplemented to the basal diet to formulate six purified diets containing 0, 250, 500, 1000, 2000 and 4000 mg kg−1, respectively. Each diet was randomly fed to quadrupled groups of Megalobrama amblycephala with initial average weight 1.84 ± 0.04 g in a flow‐through system. Results showed weight gain was increased significantly with increasing dietary choline levels (P < 0.01). Lipid content of liver decreased significantly as dietary choline concentration increased (P < 0.01), whereas lipid content of dressed carcass showed opposite trend (P < 0.01), and lipid content of whole‐body was unaffected by dietary choline supplementation. Broken‐ line regression of weight gain, liver and muscle choline concentration showed choline requirements of Megalobrama amblycephala of 1198, 1525 and 1365 mg kg−1, respectively. In addition, dietary choline supplementation significantly improved lipid content of dressed carcass but not the content of whole body of blunt snout bream.
Three dilute Mg-Zn-Ca-Mn alloys were successfully extruded at 24m/min and the alloy with lowest Zn content (0.21wt%) can even be extruded at 60m/min without any surface defects, which was ascribed to ...the thermally stable Mg2Ca phase and high solidus temperature (∼620°C). The alloys extruded at die-exit speed ≥6m/min showed a fully dynamically recrystallized (DRXed) microstructure and weak rare earth (RE) texture at the position between 21̅1̅4 and 21̅1̅2 parallel to the extrusion direction. Besides, fine Mg2Ca and α-Mn particles dynamically precipitated during extrusion, acting as effective pinning obstacles against the DRXed grain growth via Zener drag effect. Due to the deformation temperature rise with increasing extrusion speeds, the grain size increased gradually, which can be understood from the relationship between DRXed grain size and Zener-Hollomon parameter. The RE texture contributed to high uniform elongation of ∼23%, but the increased grain size (>30µm) deteriorated post-uniform elongation due to the prevalence of {101̅1} contraction and {101̅1}-{101̅2} double twins during post-uniform deformation.
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