The extraction and separation of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA)-rich oils, proteins, and polysaccharides from microalgae is a challenge for industrial commercialization of DHA, such as drying and ...dewatering, cell wall disruption, laborious conventional extraction procedures and exploitation of large volumes of solvents. To address these concerns, a novel microwave-assisted three-liquid-phase salting-out extraction (MA-TLPSOE) was used to separate DHA-rich oils, proteins, and polysaccharides from wet cultivation broths of Schizochytrium limacinum SR21. The optimized MA-TLPSOE system was composed of 30% (w/w) n-hexane/13% (w/w) ethanol/9% (w/w) sodium carbonate and treated at high microwave power (650 W) for 30 s. Under optimized conditions, 100 ± 0.59% oil and 100 ± 0.64% DHA were partitioned in the top n-hexane phase while 93.75 ± 0.25% of polysaccharides and 92.96 ± 0.43% of proteins were distributed in the solid-phase interface. The effects of microwave power and duration, sodium carbonate, n-hexane, ethanol concentration and extraction time were studied. When the optimized system was enlarged from 20 g to 60 g, the yields of all effective components were almost the same. Thus, the MA-TLPSOE system is a promising and attractive technology, which could be used for the separation and extraction of various effective ingredients from complex natural products in a single step with significant recovery yield.
It has been established that long-chain coding RNA (lncRNA) SLC25A25-AS1 is associated with cancer progression. However, the roles and mechanisms of SLC25A25-AS1 in prostate cancer (PC) have not been ...reported in the literature. The present study explored the relationship between SLC25A25-AS1 expression and PC progression
via
comprehensive analysis. The pan-cancer expression of SLC25A25-AS1 was identified using data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database and tissue specimens from our hospital. The expression levels of SLC25A25-AS1 in various subgroups based on the clinical features were identified. The prognostic value of SLC25A25-AS1 and SLC25A25-AS1 co-expressed lncRNAs in PC patients was assessed by survival analysis and ROC analysis, and prognosis-related risk models of SLC25A25-AS1 were constructed. The relationship between SLC25A25-AS1 and the PC immune microenvironment was investigated using correlation analysis. SLC25A25-AS1 expression in PC was significantly increased and correlated with the T stage, clinical stage, Gleason score (GS), and dismal prognosis. SLC25A25-AS1 overexpression exhibited good performance in evaluating the prognosis of PC patients. The area under the curves (AUCs) of the 1-, 3-, and 5-year overall survival (OS) for SLC25A25-AS1 was 1, 0.876, and 0.749. Moreover, the AUCs for the 1-, 3-, and 5-year progress free interval (PFI) for SLC25A25-AS1 were 0.731, 0.701, and 0.718. SLC25A25-AS1 overexpression correlated with the infiltration of CD8 T cells, interstitial dendritic cells (IDC), macrophages and other cells. AC020558.2, ZNF32-AS2, AP4B1-AS1, AL355488.1, AC109460.3, SNHG1, C3orf35, LMNTD2-AS1, and AL365330.1 were significantly associated with SLC25A25-AS1 expression, and short OS and PFI in PC patients. The risk models of the SLC25A25-AS1-related lncRNAs were associated with a dismal prognosis in PC. Overall, SLC25A25-AS1 expression was increased in PC and related to the prognosis and PC immune microenvironment. The risk model of SLC25A25-AS1 have huge prospect for application as prognostic tools in PC.
Over-activated microglia is involved in various kinds of neurodegenerative process including Parkinson, Alzheimer and HIV dementia. Suppression of microglial over activation has emerged as a novel ...strategy for treatment of neuroinflammation-based neurodegeneration. In the current study, anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective effects of the ent-kauranoid diterpenoids, which were isolated from the aerial parts of Rabdosia japonica (Burm. f.) var. glaucocalyx (Maxim.) Hara, were investigated in cultured microglia cells. Glaucocalyxin B (GLB), one of five ent-kauranoid diterpenoids, significantly decreased the generation of nitric oxide (NO), tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, interleukin (IL)-1β, cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) in the lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-activated microglia cells. In addition, GLB inhibited activation of nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB), p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) and generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in LPS-activated microglia cells. Furthermore, GLB strongly induced the expression of heme oxygenase (HO)-1 in BV-2 microglia cells. Finally, GLB exhibited neuroprotective effect by preventing over-activated microglia induced neurotoxicity in a microglia/neuron co-culture model. Taken together, the present study demonstrated that the GLB possesses anti-nueroinflammatory activity, and might serve as a potential therapeutic agent for treating neuroinflammatory diseases.
The aim of this study is to reveal the mechanism underlying the influence of adsorbed water on the deformation of high liquid limit soils, and establish the prediction equation of compressibility ...coefficient, which is helpful for engineering application. high liquid limit clay, high liquid limit silt and clayey sand were selected for laboratory tests. The initial adsorbed water of the soil samples was controlled by different concentrations of NaCl solution, and the adsorbed water contents of three soil samples in different concentrations of salt solution were determined by thermogravimetric analysis. Meanwhile, the variations of liquid limit (LL) and plastic limit (PL) at different concentrations were also determined by the liquid-plastic limit combine tester. In order to study the effect of adsorbed water on the consolidation characteristics, saturated consolidation tests were carried out on three soil samples under different concentrations of salt solutions. The results show that as the concentration of salt solution increases, the adsorbed water content, LL and PL decrease accordingly. For saturated soil samples with the same initial void ratio, the compression index decreases with an increase in adsorbed water content. At the same modified void ratio, the compression curves of different soils tend to be consistent. Based on the results of this study and those available in the literature, the prediction equations of initial void ratio and compression index were established. Compared with the unmodified void ratio, the modified void ratio can normalize the compression behavior of different soil samples since the adsorbed water plays a skeletal role in the soil. Thus, the precision of the prediction equation of compression index can be improved using the modified void ratio.
The potential use of chromium carbide thin films has been a great interest to academia and industry due to their outstanding properties such as chemical stability, low coefficient of friction, ...adequate hardness and high wear resistance. In this study, the chromium carbide thin films were fabricated by a magnetron sputtering using different power supply systems, including direct-current (DC), pure high power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS), and superimposed HiPIMS- middle frequency (MF). The Cr target poisoning status was controlled using a plasma emission monitoring (PEM) system by adjusting the gas flow ratios of Ar and acetylene (C2H2). The morphology and microstructure of thin films were evaluated by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and transmission electron microscope (TEM). The crystallinity of films was studied using an X-ray diffractometer (XRD). The electron probe micro analyzer (EPMA) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscope were used to determine the chemical compositions and binding structures of thin films, respectively. The hardness and residual stress were explored. The results showed that the thin film sample prepared by the superimposed HiPIMS-MF power supply can obtain the maximum hardness of ~27.5 GPa at a PEM set point of 30%, i.e., the target poisoning degree of 70%. The hardening mechanism may be caused by the formation of nanoscale CrC crystallites incorporated into the amorphous CrCx matrix in the thin film, which can be attributed to the Hall-Petch strengthening effect.
•DC, pure HiPIMS and superimposed HiPIMS-MF technique are used to fabricate CrCx films.•Plasma emission monitoring system (PEM) is utilized to control reactive C2H2 gas.•Different PEM set points alter the chemical composition of CrC films.•Superimposed HiPIMS-MF PEM at set point of 30% yields the CrC film with the highest hardness of 27.5 GPa.
Background: The risk of venous thromboembolic events (VTE) increases in patients undergoing total shoulder arthroplasty (TSA). However, there is no guidelines for prophylaxis. A decreased ratio of ...ADAMTS13 to VWF has been reported in patients with VTE. This study evaluates how TSA affects this ratio to better characterize timing of VTE risk and develop better guidelines for prophylactic treatment. Methods: Patients receiving TSA between 2016 and 2019 were recruited for this study following informed consent. Blood samples were collected at the clinic visit prior to surgery, postoperatively within one hour, at 24 h, 48 h, 2 and 6 weeks. Plasma levels of ADAMTS13 activity and VWF antigen were determined with a FRETS-VWF73 and an enzyme-linked immunoassay, respectively. Results: Of 22 patients included in the study, the mean age (± SD) was 68 ± 11 years. The most common diagnosis and surgery were osteoarthritis (68%) and reverse TSA (77%), respectively. Plasma ADAMTS13 activity was reduced immediately following surgery and remained lower than the baseline until postoperative day 2 (POD-2) (93.7 ± 28.5 IU/dL, p = 0.009). VWF antigen was the highest on POD-2 (253.2 ± 101.0%, p = 0.0034). The ADAMTS13/VWF ratio followed the same pattern, lowest on POD-2 (0.41 ± 0.20, p = 0.0016). All levels returned to baseline by two weeks. Conclusions: TSA resulted in low ADAMTS13 activity and high VWF acutely post-surgery day 2, suggesting that risk for VTE may be the highest during this period. ADAMTS13/VWF ratio is a useful marker to identify patients who may need proper anticoagulation after TSA.
Macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) is a pluripotent pro-inflammatory cytokine and is related to acute and chronic inflammatory responses, immune disorders, tumors, and other diseases. In ...this study, an integrated virtual screening strategy and bioassays were used to search for potent MIF inhibitors. Twelve compounds with better bioactivity than the prototypical MIF-inhibitor ISO-1 (IC
= 14.41 μM) were identified by an in vitro enzymatic activity assay. Structural analysis revealed that these inhibitors have novel structural scaffolds. Compound 11 was then chosen for further characterization in vitro, and it exhibited marked anti-inflammatory efficacy in LPS-activated BV-2 microglial cells by suppressing the activation of nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) and mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs). Our findings suggest that MIF may be involved in the regulation of microglial inflammatory activation and that small-molecule MIF inhibitors may serve as promising therapeutic agents for neuroinflammatory diseases.
We have demonstrated a highly diastereoselective synthesis of optically pure Ar‐BINMOL‐derived diols and their analogues. The present study demonstrates a unique cascade chirality transfer in a ...1,2‐Wittig rearrangement that leads to chiral diols with three stereogenic centers, which include a chiral sp3 center at the alcohol and C2‐axial chirality. Screening these ligands in the arylation of aromatic aldehydes with Grignard reagents shows that the naphthyl‐substituted BINMOL promotes the aryl transfer reaction in good yields (70–92 %) and moderate‐to‐good enantioselectivities (up to 72 % ee), and a series of control experiments substantiates that the axial chirality and the chiral sp3 center at the alcohol of the Ar‐BINMOLs are the pivotal enantioselectivity‐controlling structure elements. In addition, this study demonstrated the importance of the chiral sp3 center at the alcohol on Ar‐BINMOL for the aryl transfer reaction. Finally, we found that the chiral Ar‐BINMOL ligand 2h mediated the titanium‐promoted 1,2‐addition of MeMgBr to aldehydes to give the desired products in good yields with excellent enantioselectivities (up to 92 % ee).
Ar‐BINMOL ligands: A new diastereoselective synthesis of optically pure Ar‐BINMOL‐derived diols and their analogues has been established through cascade chirality transfer of a 1,2‐Wittig rearrangement. The axial and sp3 central chirality of Ar‐BINMOLs are the pivotal enantioselectivity‐controlling structure elements in the 1,2‐addition of aldehydes with Grignard reagents.
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