Both the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) and the Pearl River Delta (PRD), the two most rapidly developing areas in eastern China, have suffered from serious air pollution, and thus, numerous investigations ...were devoted to studying these problems. Other areas in eastern China have received less attention despite similar rapid development in their industries and economy. In this study, we analyzed air‐quality data from Kinmen Island (24°27′26″N, 118°19′36″E) located off Fujian Province and between the two above‐mentioned deltas. Our results clearly show that the study area is experiencing serious air quality deterioration. Particularly, high levels of suspended particulate matter (PM) were observed during winter, when the northeasterly monsoon prevails. For example, concentrations of wintertime PM10 (particles ≤ 10 μm in diameter) frequently exceeded 100 μg/m3 in the last three years. In addition to the air‐quality data analysis, aerosol samples were collected between 22 November 2007 and 6 March 2008 and subjected to chemical analyses of various species. Our findings show that the three principal PM components include organic, mineral, and sulfate species with moderate to minor fractions of nitrate, sea salt, elemental carbon, and trace metal oxides. The high PM levels observed over the island may be partly attributed to the transport from a mixed‐type industrial area located ∼40 km northeast of Kinmen. Our study could partially fill the air quality data gap between the YRD and PRD regions, and highlight the alarming fact that air pollution has gradually expanded along eastern China's coastal zone.
To evaluate the safety and efficacy of endoscopic treatment for ureterovesical junction (UVJ) stenosis in patients with kidney transplantation.
A retrospective study was conducted among the patients ...with kidney transplantation diagnosed as UVJ stenosis from 2012 March to 2018 July in Urology and Lithotripsy Center, Peking University People's Hospital. Only the patients who received endoscopic treatment were included, with staged or same-session nephrostomy followed by a retrograde ureteroscopy to evaluate the ureteral stenosis. Incisions with laser, mono- or bipolar energy, or balloon dilation were used to manage the stenosis depending on different situations. Demographic characteristics and clinical data were gathered and analyzed, including age, gender, preoperative serum creatinine, hemoglobin, operation time, success rate, postoperative serum creatinine, hemoglobin, postoperative complications rate, and long-term stenosis recurrence rate.
In this study, 13 patients were included (9 males and 4 females). A
An experimental study was carried out to investigate the R134a dry-out critical heat flux (CHF) characteristics in a horizontal helically-coiled tube. The test section was heated uniformly by DC ...high-power source, and its geometrical parameters are the outer diameter of 10
mm, inner diameter of 8.4
mm, coil diameter of 300
mm, helical pitch of 75
mm and valid heated length of 1.89
m. The experimental parameters are the outlet pressures of 0.30–0.95
MPa, mass fluxes of 60–500
kg
m
−2
s
−1, inlet qualities of −0.36–0.35 and heat fluxes of 7.0
×
10
3–5.0
×
10
4 W
m
−2. A method based on Agilent BenchLink Data Logger Pro was developed to determine the occurrence of CHF with a total of 68 T-type thermocouples (0.2
mm) set along the tube for accurate temperature measurement. The characteristics of wall temperatures and the parametric effect on dry-out CHF showed that temperature would jump abruptly at the point of CHF, which usually started to form at the front and offside (270° and 90°) of the outlet cross-section. The CHF values decrease nearly linearly with increasing inlet qualities, while they decrease more acutely with increasing critical qualities, especially under larger mass flux conditions. The mass flux has a positive effect on CHF enhancement, but the pressure has negative one. A new dimensionless correlation was developed to estimate dry-out CHF of R134a flow boiling in horizontal helically-coiled tubes under current experimental conditions and compared to calculated results from Bowring and Shah correlations.
Glycation of vessel wall proteins is thought to have an important role in the pathogenesis of vascular complications in diabetes mellitus. However, no previous study has implicated glycated ...vitronectin (VN) in the control of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) signaling. To explore whether the glycation of VN affects angiogenic signaling and to understand the molecular mechanisms involved, we synthesized glycated VN by incubating VN with methylglyoxal (MGO) in vitro and identified the formation of glycated VN by an LC-ESI-MS/MS-based method. We tested the hypothesis that glycation of VN downregulates VEGF receptor-2 (VEGFR-2) activation by uncoupling the interaction between VEGFR-2 and alpha v beta 3. Unmodified and MGO-glycated VN were used as substrates for human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). The effects of glycated VN on VEGF signaling in HUVECs were investigated. The glycation of VN inhibited VEGF-induced phosphorylation of VEGFR-2 and the intracellular signaling pathway downstream of VEGFR-2. Glycated VN inhibited the binding of VEGFR-2 to beta 3 integrin and inhibited the phosphorylation of beta 3 integrin. Furthermore, glycation of VN significantly decreased VEGF-induced migration of HUVECs in vitro and vessel outgrowth in an ex vivo angiogenesis model. Collectively, these data indicate that the glycation of VN inhibits VEGF-induced VEGFR-2 activation by uncoupling VEGFR-2- alpha v beta 3 integrin cross-talk. The glycation of VN causes a reduction in the migration of endothelial cells and vessel outgrowth. This may provide a mechanism for the failure of collateral sprouting in diabetic microangiopathy.
The new low acid pineapple (Ananas comunus L.) hybrids developed for the fresh fruit market have become the preferred types and have expanded rapidly to supply the fresh fruit markets of the USA, ...Japan and Europe. The newer low acid hybrid cultivars present new challengers in pineapple production to and maintenance fruit quality. The challenges include natural flowering, which can significantly increase harvest costs and production losses, flesh translucency and too low acid levels, and recurrence of chilling injury. In this presentation, we will focus on the postharvest quality issue: translucency that is tied to both preharvest production practices and postharvest handling. Translucency is correlated with susceptibility to mechanical injury and nonpathogenic fungal growth on the broken peduncle both are of concern with marketers and consumers. Fruit translucency or water soaked appearance of the flesh is possible due to calcium nutrition, photosynthetate competition between the crown and the fruit during the initial period of crown growth, and fruit temperature. Postharvest chilling injury is still a problem especially as the decline in acidity at harvest seems to parallel a loss of ascorbic acid that can reduce the browning that following exposure to chilling temperatures. Transgenic lines have been developed that though they do not stop chilling injury, they have down-regulated flesh browning enzymes. Cultivar and field management, such as fertilization and irrigation, developed for canning may not be the most appropriate for the production of low acid hybrids.
The availability and abundance of foods in 21st century China have dramatically expanded over the past three decades. Despite the proximity of memories of food insecurity—the intergenerational ...preparation and sharing of meals continue to mark social identity and belonging. This article explores how contemporary Chinese foodways and medicinal recipes connect with past times as well as convey cultural memory. Two case studies will animate this analysis. The first part of the article will examine the Cuisine Museum in Hangzhou where past coexists with present and future as attendees view displays of specific dishes and grand tables followed by consuming sumptuous meals recreated at the adjoining restaurant. The second half will explore the realms of medicinal foods and recipes that reflect longstanding notions of health that are being promoted in contemporary China. Altogether, these arenas suggest that foodscapes, particularly medicinal foods, offer key assemblages of food memory, time, and wellbeing.
Lunasin, a 43 amino acid polypeptide originally isolated from soybean, is known to produce multiple health benefits, including anti-hypertension, antioxidant activity, cancer prevention or therapy, ...anti-inflammation, hypocholesterolemic activity, anti-obesity and immunomodulation. These effects are believed to be due to its unique structure that includes a putative helical region, an Arg-Gly-Asp (RGD) motif and an Asp-rich carboxyl terminus. The focus of this article is to summarize the discovery, characterization and biological activities of lunasin, which will provide a reference for the future development and utilization of lunasin, and a basis for exploring the underlying mechanisms of these health-beneficial functions.
To evaluate the mechanism of bone marrow mononuclear cells (BMMNCs) in reducing the oxidative stress after cerebral infarction through PI3K/AKT/NRF2 signaling pathway.
96 healthy SD rats, which were ...6-8-week old, weighting about 250-280 g, were selected for the study. The middle cerebral artery occlusion model (MCAO) was established in SD rats using the suture method. The rats were randomly divided into sham operation group, model group, BMMNCs group and PI3K inhibitor group. 24 rats in each group were selected. 200 μl phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) solution was injected into the caudal vein of the rats in the model group, 200 μl PBS solution containing 5×106 BMMNCs that obtained by gradient centrifugation was injected into the rats in the BMMNCs group, meanwhile, in the PI3K inhibitor group, LY294002 (10 mmol/L/kg) was injected into the lateral ventricle of the brain. After the 3d, 7d and 14d, the modified neurological severity scores (mNSS) were used to evaluate the neurological function. The volume of cerebral infarction was assessed by TTC staining, the VEGF, BDNF, TNF-α, IL-1β, malondialdehyde (MDA), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) levels were detected by ELISA.
The mNSS and the volume of cerebral infarction of the model group were significantly higher than those of the sham operation group (p<0.05), while the mNSS and the volume of cerebral infarction of the BMMNCs group were lower than those of the model group, higher than those of the sham operation group (p<0.05). The VEGF, BDNF, TNF-α, IL-1β, MDA, SOD and GSH-Px levels of the model group were significantly higher than those of the sham operation group (p<0.05).
BMMNCs can reduce the oxidative stress, apoptosis, and inflammatory reaction through PI3K/AKT/NRF2 signaling pathway, thus promoting the secretion of nerve and vascular cytokines, improving the neurological function and reducing the infarct scope.
We propose a second renormalization group method to handle the tensor-network states or models. This method dramatically reduces the truncation error of the tensor renormalization group. It allows ...physical quantities of classical tensor-network models or tensor-network ground states of quantum systems to be accurately and efficiently determined.
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