Beneficial influence of nanocarbon on the aryliminopyridylnickel chloride catalyzed ethylene polymerization

A series of 1-aryliminoethylpyridine ligands (L1―L3) was synthesized by condensation of 2-acetylpyridine with 1-aminonaphthalene, 2-aminoanthracene or 1-aminopyrene, respectively. Reaction with nickel dichloride afforded the corresponding nickel (II) chloride complexes (Ni1–Ni3). All compounds were fully characterized and the molecular structures of Ni1 and Ni3 are reported. Upon activation with methylaluminoxane (MAO), all nickel complexes exhibit high activities for ethylene polymerization, producing waxes of low molecular weight and narrow polydispersity. The presence of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) or few layer graphene (FLG) in the catalytic medium can lead to an increase of productivity associated to a modification of the polymer structure

Focal shift of silicon microlens array in mid-infrared regime

采用严格数值算法对中红外硅微透镜阵列进行了模拟,该微透镜阵列特征尺寸小于波长工作波长.研究发现该微透镜阵列存在一个显著的离焦效应,其离焦量达到0; .4左右,超出了现有的传统理论模型预测范围.对微透镜阵列进行了制作和焦距测试,发现测试结果跟数值模拟基本吻合.微纳衍射光学集成系统中透镜离焦量是; 系统集成非常重要的一个参数,该研究结果为硅微透镜阵列和中红外探测器光学集成提供有效参考.In this study rigorous numerical model was utilized to characterize the focal shift of the diffractive mid infrared (MIR) silicon microlens arrays (MLAs) with the critical size smaller than the working wavelength. We found a more pronounced focal shift in mid-infrared wavelength which is out of the range predicted by existing models. Focal properties of the MLAs were also measured experimentally. The results agrees well with the simulation results. Our results provide a reference point in understanding the focal shift in MIR regime, which is important in terms of deciding the focal length of micro-nano lens systems, especially when dealing with the integration of diffractive devices in infrared optical system.Special Project on the Integration of Industry, Education and Research; of Aviation Industry Corporation of China [CXY2011XD24

Allele-specific induction of IL-1beta expression by C/EBPbeta and PU.1 contributes to increased tuberculosis susceptibility

Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection is associated with a spectrum of clinical outcomes, from long-term latent infection to different manifestations of progressive disease. Pro-inflammatory pathways, such as those controlled by IL-1beta, have the contrasting potential both to prevent disease by restricting bacterial replication, and to promote disease by inflicting tissue damage. Thus, the ultimate contribution of individual inflammatory pathways to the outcome of M. tuberculosis infection remains ambiguous. In this study, we identified a naturally-occurring polymorphism in the human IL1B promoter region, which alters the association of the C/EBPbeta and PU.1 transcription factors and controls Mtb-induced IL-1beta production. The high-IL-1beta expressing genotype was associated with the development of active tuberculosis, the severity of pulmonary disease and poor treatment outcome in TB patients. Higher IL-1beta expression did not suppress the activity of IFN-gamma-producing T cells, but instead correlated with neutrophil accumulation in the lung. These observations support a specific role for IL-1beta and granulocytic inflammation as a driver of TB disease progression in humans, and suggest novel strategies for the prevention and treatment of tuberculosis

The value of multimodal ultrasound in diagnosis of cervical lymphadenopathy: can real-time elastography help identify benign and malignant lymph nodes?

AimTo investigate the multimodal ultrasound(MMUS) features of cervical lymphadenopathy and to assess its value in the differential diagnosis of benign and malignant cervical lymph nodes.MethodsA retrospective analysis of 169 patients with cervical lymph node enlargement who attended Hangzhou Red Cross Hospital from March 2020 to October 2022. All patients underwent conventional ultrasound (CUS), contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS), and real-time elastography (RTE), and were divided into training set and validation set. Univariate analysis was applied to screen out statistically significant parameters, and CUS model and MMUS model were constructed by multifactorial logistic regression analysis. The receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve was established, and the area under the curve (AUC) was used to compare CUS model with MMUS model to assess the value of MMUS.ResultsOf the cervical 169 lymph nodes in 169 patients included in the study. The 169 enrolled patients were divided into a training set (132 patients) and a validation set (37 patients). In the training set, univariate analysis showed statistically significant differences in long diameter/short diameter(L/S), border, margin, hilus, dermal medulla boundary, blood flow type, enhancement mode, enhancement type, and RTE score (all p< 0.05). Multifactor logistic analysis showed that L/S, blood flow type, enhancement mode and enhancement type were correlates of malignant lymph nodes (all p< 0.05). The comparison of AUC demonstrated that the discriminative ability of the MMUS model was superior to using the CUS model, both in the training set(p = 0.004) and validation set (p<0.001).ConclusionIn this study, MMUS shows higher diagnostic efficiency than CUS. Ultrasound features such as L/S, blood flow type, mode of enhancement, type of enhancement are helpful in distinguishing benign and malignant lymphadenopathy. The addition of CEUS can greatly improve the sensitivity and specificity of ultrasonic diagnosis of malignant cervical lymph nodes. RTE score is of limited value in the diagnosis of malignant cervical lymph nodes

Evaluation of the IP-10 mRNA release assay for diagnosis of TB in HIV-infected individuals

HIV-infected individuals are susceptible to Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M.tb) infection and are at high risk of developing active tuberculosis (TB). Interferon-gamma release assays (IGRAs) are auxiliary tools in the diagnosis of TB. However, the performance of IGRAs in HIV-infected individuals is suboptimal, which limits clinical application. Interferon-inducible protein 10 (IP-10) is an alternative biomarker for identifying M.tb infection due to its high expression after stimulation with M.tb antigens. However, whether IP-10 mRNA constitutes a target for the diagnosis of TB in HIV-infected individuals is unknown. Thus, we prospectively enrolled HIV-infected patients with suspected active TB from five hospitals between May 2021 and May 2022, and performed the IGRA test (QFT-GIT) alongside the IP-10 mRNA release assay on peripheral blood. Of the 216 participants, 152 TB patients and 48 non-TB patients with a conclusive diagnosis were included in the final analysis. The number of indeterminate results of IP-10 mRNA release assay (13/200, 6.5%) was significantly lower than that of the QFT-GIT test (42/200, 21.0%) (P = 0.000026). IP-10 mRNA release assay had a sensitivity of 65.3% (95%CI 55.9% – 73.8%) and a specificity of 74.2% (95%CI 55.4% – 88.1%), respectively; while the QFT-GIT test had a sensitivity of 43.2% (95%CI 34.1% – 52.7%) and a specificity of 87.1% (95%CI 70.2% – 96.4%), respectively. The sensitivity of the IP-10 mRNA release assay was significantly higher than that of QFT-GIT test (P = 0.00062), while no significant difference was detected between the specificities of these two tests (P = 0.198). The IP-10 mRNA release assay showed a lower dependence on CD4+ T cells than that of QFT-GIT test. This was evidenced by the fact that the QFT-GIT test had a higher number of indeterminate results and a lower sensitivity when the CD4+ T cells counts were decreased (P < 0.05), while no significant difference in the number of indeterminate results and sensitivity were observed for the IP-10 mRNA release assay among HIV-infected individuals with varied CD4+T cells counts (P > 0.05). Therefore, our study suggested that M.tb specific IP-10 mRNA is a better biomarker for diagnosis of TB in HIV-infected individuals

GWAS Identifies Novel Susceptibility Loci on 6p21.32 and 21q21.3 for Hepatocellular Carcinoma in Chronic Hepatitis B Virus Carriers

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have recently identified KIF1B as susceptibility locus for hepatitis B virus (HBV)–related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). To further identify novel susceptibility loci associated with HBV–related HCC and replicate the previously reported association, we performed a large three-stage GWAS in the Han Chinese population. 523,663 autosomal SNPs in 1,538 HBV–positive HCC patients and 1,465 chronic HBV carriers were genotyped for the discovery stage. Top candidate SNPs were genotyped in the initial validation samples of 2,112 HBV–positive HCC cases and 2,208 HBV carriers and then in the second validation samples of 1,021 cases and 1,491 HBV carriers. We discovered two novel associations at rs9272105 (HLA-DQA1/DRB1) on 6p21.32 (OR = 1.30, P = 1.13×$10^{−19}$) and rs455804 (GRIK1) on 21q21.3 (OR = 0.84, P = 1.86×$10^{−8}$), which were further replicated in the fourth independent sample of 1,298 cases and 1,026 controls (rs9272105: OR = 1.25, P = 1.71×$10^{−4}$; rs455804: OR = 0.84, P = 6.92×$10^{−3}$). We also revealed the associations of HLA-DRB1*0405 and 0901*0602, which could partially account for the association at rs9272105. The association at rs455804 implicates GRIK1 as a novel susceptibility gene for HBV–related HCC, suggesting the involvement of glutamate signaling in the development of HBV–related HCC

On the Legal System of Environment and Resources

文伯屏，中国社会科学院法学研宄所研究员，兼任世界自然保护联盟环境法委员会委 员、中国法学会环境资源法学研究会顾问、福州大学兼职教授等职。【中文摘要】本文首先介绍了法律体系学概况，为研究中国法律体系问题提供正确的法理依据，阐明了建立科学的中国法律体系学说的重要理论意义和实践意义；其次，着重论述了中国环境资源立法简史和环境资源法体系的渊源、概念、结 构、内涵、外延、特征及其在中国法律体系中的位置等；再次，将环境资源法与经济法作了比较研究，强调指出环境资源法不是经济法的组成部分，而是与刑法、民 法、行政法等部门法并列的一级部门法。 【Abstract】 This paper starts with an overview of the science of legal system, providing correct jurisprudential basis for the study of issues in relation to China^ legal system and expounding the great theoretical and practical significance of the establishment of scientific legal system theory in China. The paper then recounts the brief history of China's legislation in respect of environment and resources as well as the origin, concept, structure, connotation, denotation, characteristics of the legal system concerning environment and resources and its status in China’s legal system. At the end，the paper makes a comparative study between the law of environment and resources and economic law, stressing that the law of environment and resources is not a component of economic law，but a first-level departmental law in parallel with other departmental laws, such as criminal law, civil law and executive law

miR-573 regulates cell proliferation and apoptosis by targeting Bax in nucleus pulposus cells

Abstract Background MicroRNA (miRNA) plays a vital role in the pathogenesis of intervertebral disc degeneration (IDD). The expression and potential mechanism of miR-573 in human nucleus pulposus (NP) remains to be elucidated. In this study, we aimed to investigate the role of miR-573 in IDD. Methods Quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) analysis was applied to examine the expression of miR-573 and Bax in idiopathic scoliosis tissues and IDD tissues. Human NP cells were employed for analysis. Moreover, the proliferation and apoptosis of NP cells were detected using MTT and flow cytometry assay respectively. The expression levels of Bcl-2, cleaved caspase-3, cleaved caspase-9, caspase-3 and caspase-9 in degenerative NP cells were measured by Western blotting assay. Furthermore, a luciferase reporter assay was used to verify the relationship between miR-573 and Bax. Results The results revealed that the mRNA expression level of miR-573 was down-regulated whereas Bax was up-regulated notably in degenerative NP cells. In addition, overexpression of miR-573 increased cell viability remarkably, coupled with inhibition of cell apoptosis. The expression level of Bcl-2 was increased while cleaved caspase-3 and cleaved caspase-9 expression levels were decreased in miR-573 overexpression NP cells. Additionally, the bioinformatics analysis underscored that Bax was a direct target gene of miR-573. Conclusion These results suggest that overexpression of miR-573 inhibited NP cell apoptosis by down-regulating Bax, which proved to be a novel effective strategy for IDD therapies

Comprehensive Utilization of Land Resources for Photovoltaic Power Generation to Culture Chinese Mitten Crab (<i>Eriocheir sinensis</i>): Growth Performance, Nutritional Composition and Tissue Color

The assertive growth of photovoltaics (PV) will occupy a lot of land resources. There is also a needed land resource to expand the culturing area of Eriocheir sinensis. The aquavoltaic systems offer a potential solution to integrate PV power and E. sinensis culturing. In this study, we cultured E. sinensis in an area of PV panels (PV group) and an area with no PV panels (control group), respectively. The results showed that the weight gain rate, body length, body width, and meat yield of male crabs in the PV group significantly increases. In addition, the moisture of muscles, hepatopancreas, and testes in the PV group has significantly increased, and the total lipids of the hepatopancreas and muscles in the PV group were significantly decreased. Moreover, the PV panels affected the content of eight amino acids in different tissues, including Met, Arg, Cys, Pro, Gly, Leu, Tyr, and His. In addition, several saturated fatty acids (SFA), monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA), and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) had been significantly influenced by the PV panels. ∑MUFA, docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), ∑n-3 PUFA, ∑n-6 PUFA, and n-3/n-6 PUFA ratio (p < 0.05) in the PV group had significantly decreased. The results of tissue color showed that the L* value of ovaries was significantly higher than in the control group, and a* and b* values of hepatopancreas were significantly lower. In conclusion, PV panels could promote growth performance and amino acid nutrition of crabs. However, the PV panels had a few negative influences on the fatty acid composition and tissue color