The increased prevalence of high temperatures (HTs) around the world is a major global concern, as they dramatically affect agronomic productivity. Upon HT exposure, plants sense the temperature ...change and initiate cellular and metabolic responses that enable them to adapt to their new environmental conditions. Decoding the mechanisms by which plants cope with HT will facilitate the development of molecular markers to enable the production of plants with improved thermotolerance. In recent decades, genetic, physiological, molecular, and biochemical studies have revealed a number of vital cellular components and processes involved in thermoresponsive growth and the acquisition of thermotolerance in plants. This review summarizes the major mechanisms involved in plant HT responses, with a special focus on recent discoveries related to plant thermosensing, heat stress signaling, and HT‐regulated gene expression networks that promote plant adaptation to elevated environmental temperatures.
Plants can sense raised environmental temperature and change cellular activities to adapt to the temperature changes. In this review, we summarize recent discoveries related to plant high temperature sensing, thermo‐responsive growth regulation, and heat shock signal transduction mechanisms in plants.
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Membrane separation processes are often perplexed by severe and ubiquitous membrane fouling. Zwitterionic materials, keeping electric neutrality with equivalent positive and negative ...charged groups, are well known for their superior antifouling properties and have been broadly utilized to construct antifouling surfaces for medical devices, biosensors and marine coatings applications. In recent years, zwitterionic materials have been more and more frequently utilized for constructing antifouling membrane surfaces. In this review, the antifouling mechanisms of zwitterionic materials as well as their biomimetic prototypes in cell membranes will be discussed, followed by the survey of common approaches to incorporate zwitterionic materials onto membrane surfaces including surface grafting, surface segregation, biomimetic adhesion, surface coating and so on. The potential applications of these antifouling membranes are also embedded. Finally, we will present a brief perspective on the future development of zwitterionic materials modified antifouling membranes.
Membrane fouling is a severe problem hampering the application of membrane separation technology. The properties of membrane surfaces play a critical role in membrane fouling and antifouling behavior/performance. Antifouling membrane surface construction has evolved as a hot research issue for the development of membrane processes. Zwitterionic modification of membrane surfaces has been recognized as an effective strategy to resist membrane fouling. This review summarizes the antifouling mechanisms of zwitterionic materials inspired by cell membranes as well as the popular approaches to incorporate them onto membrane surfaces. It can help form a comprehensive knowledge about the principles and methods of modifying membrane surfaces with zwitterionic materials. Finally, we propose the possible future research directions of zwitterionic materials modified antifouling membranes.
As a basic principle in classical mechanics, the Galilean invariance states that the force is the same in all inertial frames of reference. But this principle has not been properly addressed by most ...unsteady aerodynamic force theories, if the partial force contributed by a local flow structure is to be evaluated. In this note, we discuss the Galilean-invariance conditions of the partial force for several typical theories and numerically test what would happen if these conditions do not hold.
Inspired by venation patterns of leaves, the new polyline-based core sandwich structures (PCSSs) are developed in this paper. A novel approach is proposed under explicit topology optimization ...framework based on surrogate-assisted evolutionary algorithm. Specifically, a multi-component topology description function is defined to characterize the shapes of polyline-based cores, and therefore the dimension of design variables in topology optimization of PCSSs is reduced to only tens of dimensions. To solve the optimization problem, a feedback mechanism-driven surrogate-assisted differential evolution algorithm is proposed, where two search phases, i.e., global and local search phases, are respectively implemented in sequence to achieve a good balance between global exploration and local exploitation. Specifically, the global search phase is utilized to not only explore unknown areas for locating the promising regions effectively, but also improve the accuracies of surrogates in specific promising areas. The local search phase is used to intensively search the local promising regions for accelerating the convergence rate. A feedback mechanism is proposed to drive the adaptive search in the global search phase based on three different kinds of feedback information. Based on the superiorities of constraint satisfactions of PCSSs, a volume domination-based ε-constraint handling method is employed to handle volume and other constraints differently in an appropriate way. Numerical examples are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed method.
•The multi-component topology description function is used to parameterize the panel.•A novel surrogate-assisted differential evolution algorithm is proposed.•A feedback mechanism achieves the adaptive search based on feedback information.•A volume domination-based ε-constraint handling method is employed.
Background： Rosai-Dorfman disease （RDD） is typically characterized by painless bilateral and symmetrical cervical lymphadenopathy, with associated fever and leukocytosis. The aim of the current study ...was to summarize the clinical features and imaging characteristics of RDD, in an effort to improve its diagnostic accuracy. Methods： The study was analyzed from 32 patients between January 2011 and December 2017; of these, 16 patients had pathologically diagnosed RDD, eight had pathologically diagnosed meningioma, and eight pathologically diagnosed lymphoma. All patients underwent computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging （MRI）. Clinical features and imaging characteristics of RDD were analyzed retrospectively. The mean apparent diffusion coefficient （ADC） values of lesions at different sites were measured, and one-way analysis of variance and the least significant difference t-test were used to compare the differences between groups and draw receiver operating characteristic curves. The tumors were excised for biopsy and analyzed using immunohistochemistry. Results： The mean ADCs were （0.81 ± 0.10） × 10^-3mm^2/s for intercranial RDD, （0.73 ± 0.05） × 10^-3mm^2/s for nasopharyngeal RDD, （0.74 ± 0.11） × 10^-3mm2/s for bone RDD, and （0.71 ± 0.04） × 10^-3mm2/s for soft-tissue RDD. The optimum ADC to distinguish intracranial RDD from lymphoma was 0.79 × 10^-3mm2/s （62.5% sensitivity and 100% specificity） and to distinguish meningioma from intracranial RDD was 0.92 × 10^-3mm^2/s （62.5% sensitivity and 100% specificity）. Levels of C-reactive protein, erythrocyte sediment rate and D-dimer were significantly elevated （81%, 87%, and 75%, respectively）. On immunohistochemistry, RDD was positive for both S-100 and CD68 proteins but negative for CD1a. Conclusions： Conventional MRI, combined with diffusion-weighted imaging and ADC mapping, is an important diagnostic tool in evaluating RDD patients. An accurate diagnosis of RDD should consider the clinical features, imaging characteristics, and the pathological findings.
Gallium (Ga), which is a rare valuable metal, has been found to be anomalously enriched in coal to the extent that it may be considered as an economic resource. Recovery of Ga from coal or coal ...combustion byproducts offers a promising alternative way to obtain this metal, and such techniques could probably lead to economic gains and positive impacts on the environment. Thus, geochemical research and technical investigations of Ga-bearing coal would be helpful in assessing the potential for economic extraction of the Ga. The present review of Ga in coal focuses on analytical methods that can be used to determine Ga concentrations, patterns of Ga enrichment in coal and formation of economic Ga-enriched coal deposits, modes of occurrence of Ga and its origins, the behavior of Ga during coal combustion and gasification, and currently available recovery techniques for Ga. Moreover, insufficiencies in previous research are identified and future research needs regarding Ga in coal are evaluated and discussed.
The indicative significance of organic matter in fossil fuels, particularly polycyclic aromatic compounds (PACs), is a current research hotspot. Petrology, minerals, and organic matter in Late ...Permian coals from the Moxinpo (MXP) mine located in Chongqing, southwestern China, were analyzed to evaluate the coal rank, coal-forming material source and thermal maturity of organic matter, and sedimentary environment of the peat swamp. Vitrinite and inertinite were dominated by collotelinite, collodetrinite, inertodetrinite, fusinite, and semifusinite. Owing to the high maturity of the coals, liptinite was not observed under the microscope. Clay (kaolinite) and pyrite were the primary minerals in the MXP coals, followed by calcite, quartz, trace amounts of anatase, gypsum, xenotime, and bastnaesite. The minerals in the MXP coals were authigenic primarily in the epigenetic stage. The extract yield of organic matter in coals was low (0.30%), and the saturated and aromatic fractions accounted for approximately 60% of the extractable organic matter. Low ratios of saturated to aromatic compounds reflected the terrestrial higher plants input and high maturity level of the coals. The extracted yield in the host rock samples was much lower than in the coals, while the proportion of saturated hydrocarbons was relatively high. The marine-continental transitional sedimentary environment, distribution of n-alkanes, ∑ C21−/∑ C22+, and pristane (Pr)/n-C17 vs. phytane (Ph)/n-C18 indicated that the organic matter originated from the input of terrestrial higher plants and was accompanied by the contribution of marine lower phytoplankton and aquatic organisms. The coal-forming environment of the coal seam was reductive according to the Pr/Ph and sulfur-containing compounds of dibenzothiophenes and benzonaphthothiophenes. The thermodynamic stability controls the presence of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in extractable organic matter. Isomeric compounds with high stability had higher concentrations, such as 2-methylnaphthalene, 2,6 + 2,7-DMN, 4- methylbiphenyl, and 2- methylphenanthrene.
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•Macerals were primarily vitrinite and inertinite, while liptinite was absent.•Minerals were dominated by kaolinite, pyrite, calcite, and quartz in the MXP coal.•Organic matter in coals was dominated by the input of terrestrial higher plants.•Coal-forming environment was a reductive and marine-continental transitional environment.•Concentration of isomer compounds was controlled by thermodynamic stability.
Tumour‐associated macrophage (TAM) polarization is associated with hepatocellular carcinoma but the molecular mechanism of this polarization is still unknown. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells were ...induced to differentiate into M0, M1 and M2 macrophages and TAMs. TAMs were transfected with pcDNA3.1‐GAS5, pcDNA3.1‐NC, si‐GAS5, si‐PTEN or si‐Ctrl. A human liver cancer cell line (SMCC‐7721) was incubated with the modified TAM supernatant. Quantitative real‐time PCR and Western blot were performed to detect gene and protein expression. The cell proliferation and invasion properties of the SMCC‐7721 cells were detected by MTT and Transwell assays. GAS5 is up‐regulated in M1 macrophages and down‐regulated in M2 macrophages and TAMs. GAS5 overexpression promoted M1‐like polarization of TAMs and inhibited M2‐like polarization of TAMs. Moreover, GAS5 promoted the expression of PTEN in TAMs. PTEN‐silenced TAM supernatant treatment promoted cell proliferative and invasive properties of the SMCC‐7721 cells and diminished the effect of GAS5‐overexpressed TAM supernatant on the cell proliferation and invasion by SMCC‐7721 cells. Our results demostrared that GAS5 overexpression inhibited M2‐like polarization of TAMs by enhancing PTEN expression, thereby inhibiting cell proliferation and invasion by SMCC‐7721 cells. Thus, our results suggest that GAS5 may be a new therapeutic target for HCC treatment.
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