Block copolymer particles with controlled morphologies are of great significance in nanomaterials and nanotechnology. However, ordered inverse morphologies are difficult to achieve due to complex ...mechanism and formation conditions. Here we report scalable preparation of amphiphilic alternating block copolymer particles with inverse bicontinuous mesophases via polymerization-induced self-assembly (PISA). Concentrated dispersion copolymerizations (up to 40% solid content) of styrene (St) and pentafluorostyrene (PFS) employing a short poly(N,N-dimethylacrylamide) (PDMA
) stabilizer block lead to the formation of well-defined, highly asymmetric PDMA
-b-P(St-alt-PFS)
block copolymers with precise compositions and various morphologies, from simple spheres to ordered inverse cubosome mesophases. The particle morphology is affected by the molecular weight, solid content, and nature of the cosolvents. The cubosome structure is confirmed by electron microscopies and small angle X-ray scattering spectroscopy. This scalable PISA approach offers facile access to ordered inverse mesophases, significantly expanding the PISA morphology scope and enabling its applicability to the materials science fields.
The basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) transcription factors are involved in several biological processes both in plant development and stress responses. Agarwood, a major active and economical product, ...is only induced and accumulated when the roots, stems, or branches are wounded in Aquilaria sinensis. Although genome-wide comprehensive analyses of the bHLH family have been identified in many plants, no systematic study of the genes in this family has been conducted in A. sinensis. In this study, 105 bHLH genes were identified in A. sinensis through genome-wide analysis and named according to their chromosomal locations. Based on a phylogenetic tree, AsbHLH family proteins were classified into 18 subfamilies. Most of them were distributed on eight chromosomes, with the exception of two genes. Based on the tissue-specific expression characteristics and expression patterns in response to methyl jasmonate (MeJA) treatment, seven AsbHLH genes were likely involved in wound-induced agarwood formation. The results provide comprehensive information on AsbHLHs that can be used to elucidate the molecular functions and physiological roles of these proteins in A. sinensis.
The aim of this study was to evaluate the antimicrobial efficacy of selected plant essential oil (EO) combinations against four food-related microorganisms. Ten EOs were initially screened against
...Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis and
Saccharomyces cerevisiae using agar disk diffusion and broth dilution methods. The highest efficacy against all the tested strains was shown when testing the oregano EO. EOs of basil and bergamot were active against the Gram-positive bacteria (
S. aureus and
B. subtilis), while perilla EO strongly inhibited the growth of yeast (
S. cerevisiae). The chemical components of selected EOs were also analyzed by GC/MS. Phenols and terpenes were the major antimicrobial compounds in oregano and basil EOs. The dominant active components of bergamot EO were alcohols, esters and terpenes. For perilla EO, the major active constituents were mainly ketones. The checkerboard method was then used to investigate the antimicrobial efficacy of EO combinations by means of the fractional inhibitory concentration index (FICI). Based on an overall consideration of antimicrobial activity, organoleptic impact and cost, four EO combinations were selected and their MIC values were listed as follows: oregano–basil (0.313–0.313
μl/ml) for
E. coli, basil–bergamot (0.313–0.156
μl/ml) for
S. aureus, oregano–bergamot (0.313–0.313
μl/ml) for
B. subtilis and oregano–perilla (0.313–0.156
μl/ml) for
S. cerevisiae. Furthermore, the mechanisms of the antimicrobial action of EO combinations to the tested organisms were studied by the electronic microscopy observations of the cells and the measurement of the release of cell constituents. The electron micrographs of damaged cells and the significant increase of the cell constituents' release demonstrated that all EO combinations affected the cell membrane integrity.
► We evaluate the antimicrobial efficacy of ten essential oils. ► Oregano, basil, bergamot and perilla essential oils show high activity. ► Four kinds of essential oil combinations are selected by synergism testing. ► We find that essential oil combinations destroy the integrity of cell membrane.
The transcription factor nuclear factor erythroid-derived 2-like 2 (NRF2) participates in the activation of the antioxidant cytoprotective pathway and other important physiological processes to ...maintain cellular homeostasis. The dysregulation of NRF2 activity plays a role in various diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases, neurodegenerative diseases, and cancer. Thus, NRF2 activity is tightly regulated through multiple mechanisms, among which phosphorylation by kinases is critical in the posttranslational regulation of NRF2. For instance, PKC, casein kinase 2, and AMP-activated kinase positively, while GSK-3 negatively regulates NRF2 activity through phosphorylation of different sites. Here, we provide an overview of the phosphorylation regulation pattern of NRF2 and discuss the therapeutic potential of interventions targeting NRF2 phosphorylation.
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•Protein kinases phosphorylate Nrf2 to modulate its stability and/or activity.•Phosphorylation regulation of NRF2 bridges NRF2 activity to a series of biological events.•Targeting NRF2 phosphorylation regulation shows therapeutic potential for multiple inflammation-related diseases.
Underwater autonomous navigation technology is a key link for AUV to complete various underwater missions successfully. In this paper, we have proposed a position correction model based on hybrid ...gated RNN, which does not need to establish a motion model like typical navigation algorithms, to avoid modeling errors in the navigation process. According to the low update rate of GPS and the slip data caused by the coverage of GPS antenna during the process of floating and diving, it does not meet the actual requirements of navigation and control. We proposed to use improved EKF and iSAM as the output of the training dataset to filter out GPS slips, then the position error is corrected at the same time. First, the normalized input sequence is fed to the two-layer hybrid gated RNN with BiLSTM output mode as sequence and LSTM output mode as last, and then the processed data is fed to the two fully connected layers with a dropout layer added in the middle. After that, the output of the position correction model can be obtained through the regression layer. To confirm the validity of the proposed model, we conducted sea trials to compare the proposed model with EKF and iSAM. The experimental results prove that the proposed position correction model performs better than EKF and iSAM in all aspects, and the correction model trained with iSAM is more effective than that trained with EKF.
The safety concerns and the pursuit of high energy density have stimulated the development of high-performance solid-state lithium ion batteries. Therefore, the key component in solid-state lithium ...batteries, i.e. the solid-state electrolytes, also has attracted tremendous attention due to its non-flammability and good adaptability to high-voltage cathodes/lithium metal anodes. An in-depth understanding of the existing problems of solid-state electrolytes and proposed strategies for addressing these problems is crucial for the efficient design of high-performance solid-state electrolytes. In this review, we systematically summarized the current limitations of composite solid-state electrolytes and efforts to overcome them, and gave some proposals for the future perspectives of solid-state electrolytes with the aim to provide practical guidance for the researchers in this area.
Myocardial infarction (MI) is caused by the formation of plaques in the arterial walls, leading to a decrease of blood flow to the heart and myocardium injury as a result of hypoxia. Ferroptosis is a ...crucial event in myocardial injury, and icariin (ICA) exerts protective effects against myocardial injury. Here, we investigated the protective mechanism of ICA in hypoxia/reoxygenation (H/R)‐induced ferroptosis of cardiomyocytes. H9C2 cells were subjected to H/R induction. The content of lactate dehydrogenase and the levels of oxidative stress and intracellular ferrous ion Fe2+ were measured. The levels of ferroptosis markers (ACSL4 and GPX4) were detected. H/R‐induced H9C2 cells were cultured with ICA in the presence or absence of ferroptosis inducer (erastin). Znpp (an HO‐1 inhibitor) was added to ICA‐treated H/R cells to verify the role of the Nrf2/HO‐1 pathway. H/R‐induced H9C2 cells showed reduced viability, enhanced oxidative stress and lactate dehydrogenase content, increased levels of Fe2+ and ACSL4, and decreased levels of GPX4. ICA inhibited H/R‐induced ferroptosis and oxidative stress in cardiomyocytes. Erastin treatment reversed the inhibitory effect of ICA on ferroptosis in H/R cells. The expression of Nrf2 and HO‐1 in H/R‐induced H9C2 cells was reduced, whereas ICA treatment reversed this trend. Inhibition of the Nrf2/HO‐1 pathway reversed the protective effect of ICA on H/R‐induced ferroptosis. Collectively, our results suggest that ICA attenuates H/R‐induced ferroptosis of cardiomyocytes by activating the Nrf2/HO‐1 signaling pathway.
Hypoxia/reoxygenation can induce ferroptosis in cardiomyocytes. Here, we report that icariin can activate the Nrf2/HO‐1 signaling pathway and inhibit hypoxia/reoxygenation‐induced ferroptosis in cardiomyocytes.
Sesquiterpenes are one of the most important defensive secondary metabolite components of agarwood. Agarwood, which is a product of the Aquilaria sinensis response to external damage, is a fragrant ...and resinous wood that is widely used in traditional medicines, incense and perfume. We previously reported that jasmonic acid (JA) plays an important role in promoting agarwood sesquiterpene biosynthesis and induces expression of the sesquiterpene synthase ASS1, which is a key enzyme that is responsible for the biosynthesis of agarwood sesquiterpenes in A. sinensis. However, little is known about this molecular regulation mechanism. Here, we characterized a basic helix-loop-helix transcription factor, AsMYC2, from A. sinensis as an activator of ASS1 expression. AsMYC2 is an immediate-early jasmonate-responsive gene and is co-induced with ASS1. Using a combination of yeast one-hybrid assays and chromatin immunoprecipitation analyses, we showed that AsMYC2 bound the promoter of ASS1 containing a G-box motif. AsMYC2 activated expression of ASS1 in tobacco epidermis cells and up-regulated expression of sesquiterpene synthase genes (TPS21 and TPS11) in Arabidopsis, which was also promoted by methyl jasmonate. Our results suggest that AsMYC2 participates in the regulation of agarwood sesquiterpene biosynthesis in A. sinensis by controlling the expression of ASS1 through the JA signaling pathway.
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