How biomembranes are self‐organized to perform their functions remains a pivotal issue in biological and chemical science. Understanding the self‐assembly principles of lipid‐like molecules hence ...becomes crucial. Herein, we report the mesostructural evolution of amphiphilic sphere‐rod conjugates (giant lipids), and study the roles of geometric parameters (head–tail ratio and cross‐sectional area) during this course. As a prototype system, giant lipids resemble natural lipidic molecules by capturing their essential features. The self‐assembly behavior of two categories of giant lipids (I‐shape and T‐shape, a total of 8 molecules) is demonstrated. A rich variety of mesostructures is constructed in solution state and their molecular packing models are rationally understood. Giant lipids recast the phase behavior of natural lipids to a certain degree and the abundant self‐assembled morphologies reveal distinct physiochemical behaviors when geometric parameters deviate from natural analogues.
The bigger the better: Two categories of giant, lipid‐like amphiphilic molecules organize into various mesostructures, shedding new light on the underlying principles of lipid self‐assembly. The geometric parameters of these giant, lipid‐like molecules are modulated on a molecular level to understand the physiochemical driving forces behind their self‐assembly.
Herein we propose a novel plasma-based route to synergistically modulate the microstructures of the current collectors of nickel foam and subsequently the Si/C composite active coatings, restraining ...the huge volume expansion of silicon anode materials during lithiation/delithiation in Lithium ion batteries. The nickel foam surface is tailored to form the temperature-dependent nanostructures by the Ar/H2-plasma. And a 3D Si/C nano-composite structure is constructed in combination of silicon via magnetron sputtering and carbon through the inductively coupled plasma vapor deposition (ICP-CVD). The plasma-activated nickel foam surface leads to the crystallization of the sputtered silicon, and the significantly increased surface area results in the increases of loading rate of Si/C composites (e.g., 75% @room temperature). The electrochemical performance, e.g., the specific capacity, cycle stability and the initial Coulombic efficiency of the composite anode is drastically improved by the plasma processing. The cauliflower-like Si/C composites on the Ar/H2-plasma modified nickel foam at 300 °C exhibits a high capacity of 1941.2 mA h g−1 at 0.1 A g−1 after 100 cycles, and 976 mA h g−1 at 1.6 A g−1 after 500 cycles, increasing by 3–7 times in terms of the current density when compared with the case without the plasma processing.
•Abundant nanostructure of nickel foam tailored by Ar/H2 plasma.•The plasma-activated nickel foam surface leads to the crystallization of the sputtered silicon.•The significantly increased surface area of nickel foam results in the increases of loading rate (e.g., 45% @300 °C).•The plasma modified nickel foam drastically boosted the electrochemical performance of the 3D Si/C nano-composite anode.
In this study, we assessed the prognostic value of the lymph node ratio (LNR), established a hypothetical tumor–ratio–metastasis (TRM) staging system and compared it with the 7th edition ...International Union Against Cancer pathological N (pN) and tumor–node–metastasis (TNM) system.
A total of 1343 gastric cancer patients undergoing D2 resection were staged using the TRM staging system and the 7th edition TNM system. Optimal cut points of LNR were calculated using X-tile software and validated by bootstrapping. Homogeneity, discriminatory ability, and monotonicity of gradients of the TRM and TNM systems were compared using linear trend χ2, likelihood ratio χ2 statistics, and Akaike information criterion (AIC) calculations.
Optimal cut points classified patients into LNR0 (0%), LNR1 (1%–30%), LNR2 (31%–60%), and LNR3 (61%–100%) groups. In univariate, multivariate and stratified analyses, the LNR staging showed superiority to the 7th edition pN staging. The TRM staging system had higher linear trend and likelihood ratio χ2 scores and smaller AIC values compared with those for the TNM system, which represented the optimum prognostic stratification.
The novel TRM staging system predicts survival of gastric cancer more accurately than the 7th edition TNM system. It may be considered as an alternative to TNM system.
The Binchang area of southwestern Ordos Basin is one of the most promising areas for low-rank coalbed methane (CBM) in China. This work investigates the Jurassic Yanan Formation coal and CBM geology ...and accumulation characteristics of CBM in the southwestern Ordos Basin based on data from 46 wells and laboratory measurements of 14 coal samples from 7 mines. The results show that coal rank in the Binchang area is mainly sub-bituminous A and high-volatile C bituminous (0.46%–0.73%Ro). Coals are dominated by inertinite (14.7–85.6%); less abundant are vitrinite (8.5–77.7%) and liptinite (1.5–15.2%). Minerals are found only in small amounts (0.4–8.3%). Permeability is between 0.04 and 25.3mD, and porosity ranges from 2.4% to 20.1%. Most coal pores are less than 100nm in diameter, making them favorable for gas adsorption but unfavorable for gas permeability. Pore morphology is represented mainly by micro- and mesopores with a well-connected and ink-bottle shaped (narrow throat and wide body) morphology. These coals are characterized by a high adsorption volume of more than 3.0×10−3ml/g. Methane isothermal adsorption measurements of 12 coal samples revealed that their maximum adsorption capacity (on a dry and ash-free basis) varies from 5.06 to 13.37m3/t, depending on moisture content. However, under the influence of gas preservation conditions, the in-place gas content is generally 0.11–6.26m3/t. Finally, based on a comprehensive analysis of coal thickness, gas content, hydrogeology conditions, roof, floor, and depth properties, this study indicated that the best prospective target areas for CBM production are forecasted to be the Tingnan and Dafosi areas, which are located in the syncline, central south part of the study area.
► The physical properties of low-rank CBM reservoirs are characterized. ► The low-rank CBM enrichment and accumulation model is provided. ► The favorable exploration areas of low-rank CBM are pointed out.
Active control of the excessively high heat and particle fluxes on the divertor target plates is of fundamental importance to the steady state operation of tokamaks, especially for fusion reactors. A ...series of experiments have been carried out on this critical issue to relieve the plasma-wall interactions in the experimental advanced superconducting tokamak (EAST) in the last ten years, not only contributing to the long pulse operation of EAST itself, but also providing physical understandings and potential techniques to the next-generation devices like ITER. We have characterized the power deposition pattern and broadened the divertor footprint width effectively. The plasma-wetted area is actively handled using either 3-dimentional edge magnetic topology or advanced plasma equilibrium, thereby peak heat flux around the strike point is reduced. Active control of detachment or radiation compatible with core plasma performance has progressed significantly in very recent years, with a series of active feedback control modules developed and utilized successfully, based on the divertor physics advances with both experiments and simulation. The upper divertor of EAST was upgraded from graphite to active water-cooling ITER-like tungsten in 2014, exhibiting much enhanced heat removal capability. As for the particle exhaust including both fueling and impurity particles, in addition to wall conditioning and impurity source control, the efficiency of particle flux exhaust is optimized by making full use of the divertor closure and the plasma drifts in both scrape-off layer and divertor volume. These heat and particle exhaust advances contribute greatly to a series of EAST achievements like H-mode operation over 100 s. A brief near-term plan on the integrated control of divertor plasma-wall interactions in long-time scale will also be introduced, aiming to provide favorable divertor operation solution for ITER and CFETR.
Aims
The aims of this study were to develop an effective M cell‐targeting oral vaccine, involving Lactobacillus casei to deliver the porcine epidemic diarrhoea virus (PEDV) core neutralizing epitope ...(COE) antigen conjugated with M cell‐targeting peptide Co1 as an adjuvant, against PEDV infection.
Methods and Results
Genetically engineered L. casei 393 (L393) strains expressing PEDV COE antigen only (pPG‐COE/L393) or fused‐expressing COE and M cell‐targeting peptide Co1 (pPG‐COE‐Co1/L393) were constructed, and the immunogenicity upon administration as an oral vaccine was evaluated. The results showed that higher anti‐PEDV serum IgG and mucosal SIgA antibody responses were induced in mice orally immunized with strain pPG‐COE‐Co1/L393 as compared to the mice immunized with strain L393 expressing COE alone or carrying the empty plasmid. In addition, the use of the Co1 ligand elicited a splenocyte proliferative response more effectively in comparison with the COE antigen alone and supported a skewed T helper 2 type of immune response against PEDV.
Conclusions
pPG‐COE‐Co1/L393 can effectively induce mucosal, humoural and Th2‐type cellular immune responses against PEDV infection via oral administration. Furthermore, M cell‐targeting peptide ligand Co1 is a good mucosal adjuvant.
Significance and Impact of the Study
Lactobacillus casei delivering the COE antigen of PEDV conjugated with a M cell‐targeting peptide Co1 as an immune adjuvant is a promising oral vaccine candidate for PEDV.
The
puroindoline
genes (
Pina
and
Pinb
) are the functional components of the common or bread wheat (
Triticum aestivum
L.) grain hardness locus that are responsible for kernel texture. In this ...study, four
puroindoline b
-
2
variants were physically mapped using nulli-tetrosomic lines of bread wheat cultivar Chinese Spring and substitution lines of durum wheat (
Triticum turgidum
L.) cultivar Langdon. Results indicated that
Pinb
-
2v1
was on 7D of Chinese Spring,
Pinb
-
2v2
on 7B of Chinese Spring,
Pinb
-
2v3
on 7B of Chinese Spring and Langdon, and
Pinb
-
2v4
on 7A of Chinese Spring and Langdon. A new
puroindoline b
-
2
variant, designated
Pinb
-
2v5
, was identified at the
puroindoline b
-
2
locus of durum wheat cultivar Langdon, with a difference of only five single nucelotide polymorphisms compared with
Pinb
-
2v4
. Sequencing results indicated that, in comparison with the
Pinb
-
2v3
sequence (AM99733 and GQ496618 with one base-pair modification of G to T at 6th position, designated
Pinb
-
2v3a
) in bread wheat cultivar Witchta, the coding region of
Pinb
-
2v3
in 12 durum wheat cultivars had a single nucleotide change from T to C at the 311th position, resulting in a corresponding amino acid change from valine to alanine at the 104th position. This new allele was designated
Pinb
-
2v3b
. The study of
puroindoline b
-
2
gene polymorphism in CIMMYT and Italian durum wheat germplasm and discovery of a novel
puroindoline b
-
2
variant could provide useful information for further understanding the molecular and genetic basis of kernel hardness and illustrating gene duplication events in wheat.
.
We previously reported that treatment with P-glycoprotein (P-gp) substrates promotes
in vitro
invasion in multidrug-resistant (MDR) breast cancer cells. This effect is initiated by the P-gp pump ...function and mediated by interaction of P-gp with some unknown component(s). However, the underlying mechanism(s) remains poorly understood. Here we confirm a novel physical interaction between P-gp and cellular prion protein (PrP
c
). Blocking P-gp activity or depletion of PrP
c
inhibited paclitaxel (P-gp substrate)- induced invasion. Paclitaxel further facilitated the formation of P-gp/PrP
c
clusters residing in caveolar domains and promoted the association of P-gp with caveolin-1. Both caveolin-1 and the integrity of caveolae were required for the drug-induced invasion. In addition, the P-gp/PrP
c
complex also played an important role in anti-apoptotic activity of MCF7/Adr cells.These data provide new insights into the mode by which MDR breast cancers evade cytotoxic attacks from P-gp substrates and also suggest a role for P-gp/ PrP
c
interaction in this process.
This study was designed to investigate whether transcutaneous auricular vagal nerve stimulation (taVNS) would be able to improve major pathophysiologies of functional dyspepsia (FD) in patients with ...FD. Thirty-six patients with FD (21 F) were studied in two sessions (taVNS and sham-ES). Physiological measurements, including gastric slow waves, gastric accommodation, and autonomic functions, were assessed by the electrogastrogram (EGG), a nutrient drink test and the spectral analysis of heart rate variability derived from the electrocardiogram (ECG), respectively. Thirty-six patients with FD (25 F) were randomized to receive 2-wk taVNS or sham-ES. The dyspeptic symptom scales, anxiety and depression scores, and the same physiological measurements were assessed at the beginning and the end of the 2-wk treatment. In comparison with sham-ES, acute taVNS improved gastric accommodation (
= 0.008), increased the percentage of normal gastric slow waves (%NSW, fasting:
= 0.010; fed:
= 0.007) and vagal activity (fasting:
= 0.056; fed:
= 0.026). In comparison with baseline, 2-wk taVNS but not sham-ES reduced symptoms of dyspepsia (
= 0.010), decreased the scores of anxiety (
= 0.002) and depression (
< 0.001), and improved gastric accommodation (
< 0.001) and the %NSW (fasting:
< 0.05; fed:
< 0.05) by enhancing vagal efferent activity (fasting:
= 0.015; fed:
= 0.048). Compared with the HC, the patients showed increased anxiety (
< 0.001) and depression (
< 0.001), and decreased gastric accommodation (
< 0.001) and %NSW (
< 0.001) as well as decreased vagal activity (fasting:
= 0.047). The noninvasive taVNS has a therapeutic potential for treating nonsevere FD by improving gastric accommodation and gastric pace-making activity via enhancing vagal activity.
Treatment of functional dyspepsia is difficult due to various pathophysiological factors. The proposed method of transcutaneous auricular vagal nerve stimulation improves symptoms of both dyspepsia and depression/anxiety, and gastric functions (accommodation and slow waves), possibly mediated via the enhancement of vagal efferent activity. This noninvasive and easy-to-implement neuromodulation method will be well received by patients and healthcare providers.
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