Summary
Background
Autophagy and neutrophil extracellular DNA traps (NETs) are implicated in asthma; however, their roles in asthma pathogenesis have not been elucidated.
Objectives
We compared ...autophagy and NET production levels from peripheral blood neutrophils (PBNs) of patients with severe asthma (SA) and non‐severe asthma (NSA). Additionally, we investigated the inflammatory effects of NETs on human airway epithelial cells (AECs) and peripheral blood eosinophils (PBEs).
Methods
Peripheral blood neutrophils from patients with SA (n = 30) and NSA (n = 38) were treated with interleukin (IL)‐8 (100 ng/mL). Autophagy (light chain 3‐II expression) and NET production levels were evaluated by Western blot, immunofluorescence microscopy, and PicoGreen assay. The effects of NETs on AECs were assessed by investigating cell death, cell detachment, expression of occludin and claudin‐1, and IL‐8 production; the effects of NETs on PBEs were examined by investigating the activation and release of eosinophil cationic protein (ECP) and eosinophil‐derived neurotoxin (EDN).
Results
Untreated and IL‐8‐treated PBNs from the SA group produced higher autophagy and NET levels compared with those from the NSA group (P < 0.01). IL‐8 increased autophagy and NET levels in PBNs from the SA group, but not from the NSA group. NET levels were correlated with autophagy levels in PBNs (P < 0.001). IL‐8‐induced NET production levels negatively were correlated with FEV1/FVC (r = −0.700, P = 0.016). NETs induced cell death, detachment, degradation of occludin and claudin‐1, and IL‐8 production from AECs. Higher levels of NET‐induced ECP and EDN were released from PBEs in SA compared with NSA groups.
Conclusions and Clinical Relevance
Neutrophil autophagy and NETs could enhance asthma severity by damaging airway epithelium and triggering inflammatory responses of AECs and PBEs. Modulating neutrophil autophagy and NET production may be a new target therapy for SA.
Insect herbivores depend on their host plants to acquire macro- and micronutrients. Here we asked how a specialist herbivore and damaging maize pest, the western corn rootworm, finds and accesses ...plant-derived micronutrients. We show that the root-feeding larvae use complexes between iron and benzoxazinoid secondary metabolites to identify maize as a host, to forage within the maize root system, and to increase their growth. Maize plants use these same benzoxazinoids for protection against generalist herbivores and, as shown here, for iron uptake. We identify an iron transporter that allows the corn rootworm to benefit from complexes between iron and benzoxazinoids. Thus, foraging for an essential plant-derived complex between a micronutrient and a secondary metabolite shapes the interaction between maize and a specialist herbivore.
Strong periodic driving with light offers the potential to coherently manipulate the properties of quantum materials on ultrafast timescales. Recently, strategies have emerged to drastically alter ...electronic and magnetic properties by optically inducing non-trivial band topologies
, emergent spin interactions
and even superconductivity
. However, the prospects and methods of coherently engineering optical properties on demand are far less understood
. Here we demonstrate coherent control and giant modulation of optical nonlinearity in a van der Waals layered magnetic insulator, manganese phosphorus trisulfide (MnPS
). By driving far off-resonance from the lowest on-site manganese d-d transition, we observe a coherent on-off switching of its optical second harmonic generation efficiency on the timescale of 100 femtoseconds with no measurable dissipation. At driving electric fields of the order of 10
volts per metre, the on-off ratio exceeds 10, which is limited only by the sample damage threshold. Floquet theory calculations
based on a single-ion model of MnPS
are able to reproduce the measured driving field amplitude and polarization dependence of the effect. Our approach can be applied to a broad range of insulating materials and could lead to dynamically designed nonlinear optical elements.
The commercial production of coalbed methane (CBM) in China has made significant achievements. To further improve the production of CBM and realize its development, it is necessary to establish a ...unique, high-efficiency CBM production method that considers the characteristics of coal reservoirs in China. This paper presents the current status of China’s CBM exploitation over the past 15 years from three aspects: reservoir characteristics, production mode, and exploitation technology. The achievements, in terms of exploration and development of CBM resources in China, were summarized. The CBM reservoirs in China are characterized by high coal rank, low permeability, high gas content, and low reservoir pressure gradient. Strategic measures for coal and CBM co-mining were proposed creatively as “Huainan”, “Jincheng”, and “Songzao” modes. CBM production enhancement measures have achieved significant innovations and breakthroughs in drilling and completion technologies and reservoir reconstruction, effectively reducing development costs and increasing single well production. Finally, based on existing basic research, this study proposes efficient CBM exploitation technologies suitable for the characteristics of CBM reservoirs in China. In particular, the uniform permeability enhancement measures of hydraulic grid slotting and fracturing have the advantages of safety, high efficiency, economy, feasibility, and broad application prospects under complex mining conditions. It is of great strategic significance to improve the CBM recovery rate and optimize China’s energy structure.
Using a newly developed apparatus, swelling pressure tests and saturated hydraulic conductivity tests on the compacted Gao-Miao-Zi (GMZ01) bentonite with an initial dry density of 1.7 Mg/m³ were ...conducted at various temperatures. Based on the test results, the mechanisms of influence of temperature on the swelling pressure and saturated hydraulic conductivity were analyzed. Results indicate that swelling pressure increases with the increase in temperature. The swelling pressures measured at 20 and 40 °C are 3.02 and 3.41 MPa, respectively. For a given temperature, the swelling pressure increases rapidly at the beginning of the infiltration process and then reaches a first peak value followed by an intermediate period characterized by a decrease of swelling pressure, well before the clay reaches its full saturation. The saturated hydraulic conductivity of the GMZ01 bentonite also shows an increase with temperature rise. The temperature changing paths (heating or cooling) have no effect on the saturated hydraulic conductivity. Based on the test results, models for prediction of saturated hydraulic conductivity of the compacted GMZ01 bentonite have been developed and verified. It was observed that the model that only considers the temperature effect on water viscosity gives predictions with large deviation from the measured values, moreover, the deviation increases with temperature rise. When considering both the temperature influence on water viscosity and the effective flow cross-sectional area of porous channels, the model can satisfactorily account for the temperature effects.
Abstract
Formononetin is a naturally existing isoflavone, which can be found in the roots of
Astragalus membranaceus, Trifolium pratense, Glycyrrhiza glabra
, and
Pueraria lobata.
It was found to be ...associated with inhibition of cell proliferation and cell cycle progression, as well as induction of apoptosis in various cancer cell lines. However, the effect of formononetin on breast cancer cell metastasis remains unclear. In this study, we examined the effect of formononetin on the migration and invasion of breast cancer cells MDA-MB-231 and 4T1 in vitro and in vivo. Our data demonstrated that formononetin did not effectively inhibit the cell viability of MDA-MB-231 and 4T1 in 24 h with the concentration lower than 160 μmol/l. When treated with nontoxic concentration of formononetin, the migration and invasion of MDA-MB-231 and 4T1 cells were markedly suppressed by wound healing assay, chamber invasion assay, and in vivo mouse metastasis model. In vitro, formononetin reduced the expression of matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2), MMP-9 and increased the expression of tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-1 (TIMP-1) and TIMP-2. Furthermore, the immunofluorescence and immunoblotting assays indicated that formononetin was very effective in suppressing the phosphorylation of Akt and PI3K. Collectively, these results suggest that formononetin inhibited breast cancer cell migration and invasion by reducing the expression of MMP-2 and MMP-9 through the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway. These findings demonstrate a potentially new therapeutic strategy of formononetin as anti-invasive agent for breast cancer.
During insect larval–pupal metamorphosis, the obsolete larval organs and tissues undergo histolysis and programmed cell death to recycle cellular materials. It has been demonstrated that some ...cathepsins are essential for histolysis in larval tissues, but the process of tissue destruction is not well documented. Fat body, the homologous organ to mammalian liver and adipose tissue, goes through a distinct destruction process during larval–pupal transition. Herein, we found that most of the Bombyx proteases – including Bombyx cathepsin B (BmCatB) (BmCatLL-2), Bombyx cathepsin D (BmCatD), Bombyx cathepsin L like‐1 (BmCatLL-1) and –2(BmCatLL-2), Bombyx fibroinase (BmBcp), Bombyx matrix metalloprotease (BmMmp), Bombyx A disintegrin and metalloproteinase with thrombospondin motifs 1 (BmAdamTS‐1), Bombyx A disintegrin and metalloproteinase with thrombospondin motifs like (BmAdamTS L) and Bombyx cysteine protease inhibitor (Bmbcpi)– were expressed highly in fat body during feeding and metamorphosis, with a peak occurring during the nonfeeding moulting or prepupal stage, as well as being responsive to 20‐hydroxyecdysone (20E). The aforementioned protease genes expression was upregulated by injection of 20E into the feeding larvae, while blocking 20E signalling transduction led to downregulation. Western blotting and immunofluorescent staining of BmCatB and BmBcp confirmed the coincident variation of their messenger RNA (mRNA) and protein level during the development and after the treatments. Moreover, BmCatB, BmBcp, BmMmp and BmAdamTS‐1 RNA interference all led to blockage of larval fat body destruction. Taken together, we conclude that 20E regulates larval fat body destruction by upregulating related protease gene expression and protein levels during larval–pupal transition.
Investigation of the temperature effects on the water retention properties of compacted bentonite is of great importance in the context of geological disposal of high-level radioactive waste (HLW) ...based on the multi-barrier concept. Gaomiaozi (GMZ) bentonite, collected from the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of China, has been selected as a potential buffer/backfill material for the construction of Chinese HLW deep geological repository. In this study, soil water retention curves (SWRCs) of both confined and unconfined compacted GMZ01 bentonite specimens with an initial dry density of 1.70 g/cm³were investigated at temperatures 20, 40, 60 and 80 °C. Results indicate that the water content decreases as temperature rises, even though the temperature effects on the water retention capacity of compacted GMZ01 bentonite depend on constraint-conditions. The influence of constraint conditions is more significant at relatively low suctions. Under unconfined conditions, the temperature effect is insignificant. However, under confined conditions, the influence on the water retention capacity is found to be significantly suction dependent. The hysteresis behavior of unconfined compacted bentonite becomes less significant as temperature increases. Based on the corresponding results obtained, a modified model was developed for describing the SWRCs of confined compacted GMZ01 bentonite with consideration of temperature effects. It appears that the calculated SWRCs agree well with the experimental ones, indicating that the modified model can satisfactorily describe the effect of temperature on the water retention properties of confined compacted GMZ01 bentonite.
Using a set of scanning probe microscopy techniques, we demonstrate the reproducible tunneling electroresistance effect on nanometer-thick epitaxial BaTiO3 single-crystalline thin films on SrRuO3 ...bottom electrodes. Correlation between ferroelectric and electronic transport properties is established by direct nanoscale visualization and control of polarization and tunneling current. The obtained results show a change in resistance by about 2 orders of magnitude upon polarization reversal on a lateral scale of 20 nm at room temperature. These results are promising for employing ferroelectric tunnel junctions in nonvolatile memory and logic devices.
Performance of the BL03U beamline at SSRF Sun, Z. P.; Liu, Z. H.; Liu, Z. T. ...
Journal of synchrotron radiation,
September 2020, Volume:
27, Issue:
5
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
The vacuum ultraviolet beamline BL03U with a photon energy range from 7 eV upwards has been constructed at the 3.5 GeV Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility. Equipped with an APPLE‐Knot undulator, ...this beamline is dedicated to angle‐resolved photoemission spectroscopy. An energy‐resolving power of higher than 4.6 × 104 has been achieved in the photon energy range 21.6–48 eV, which is almost the same as the theoretical estimation.
The design and performance test of the vacuum ultraviolet beamline BL03U at SSRF are described.
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