Enhancement of polar phases in PVDF by forming PVDF/SiC nanowire composite

Different contents of silicon carbide (SiC) nanowires were mixed with Poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) to facilitate the polar phase crystallization. It was shown that the annealing temperature and SiC content affected on the phase and crystalline structures of PVDF/SiC samples. Furthermore, the addition of SiC nanowire enhanced the transformation of non-polar α phase to polar phases and increased the relative fraction of β phase in PVDF. Due to the nucleating agent mechanism of SiC nanowires, the ion-dipole interaction between the negatively charged surface of SiC nanowires and the positive CH2 groups in PVDF facilitated the formation of polar phases in PVDF

Ring structure amino acids affect the suppressor activity of melon aphid-borne yellows virus P0 protein

AbstractMelon aphid-borne yellows virus (MABYV) is a newly identified polerovirus occurring in China. Here, we demonstrate that the MABYV encoded P0 (P0MA) protein is a strong suppressor of post-transcriptional gene silencing (PTGS) with activity comparable to tobacco etch virus (TEV) HC-Pro. In addition we have shown that the LP F-box motif present at the N-terminus of P0MA is required for suppressor activity. Detailed mutational analyses on P0MA revealed that changing the conserved Trp 212 with non-ring structured amino acids altered silencing suppressor functions. Ala substitutions at positions 12 and 211 for Phe had no effect on P0 suppression-activity, whereas Arg and Glu substitutions had greatly decreased suppressor activity. Furthermore, substitutions targeting Phe at position 30 also resulted in reduced P0 suppression-activity. Altogether, these results suggest that ring structured Trp/Phe residues in P0 have important roles in suppressor activity

Discovery in Drell-Yan Processes at the LHC

We study the Drell-Yan process mediated by a new bosonic resonance at the LHC. The bosons of spin-0, 1, and 2 with the most general leading-order couplings to Standard Model fermions and gluons are considered, which provide a model-independent formulation for future exploration of the resonance properties, such as its spin, mass and couplings. In the case of neutral resonances, we demonstrate how the shapes of the kinematical distributions change as one varies the chiral couplings of the quarks and leptons, and show how to analyze the couplings by making use of the forward-backward asymmetry. In the case of charged resonances, we propose a novel technique to effectively reconstruct the angular distribution in the center-of-mass frame, to a large extent avoiding the two-fold ambiguity due to the missing neutrino. Similar to the case of a neutral resonance, the spin information of the resonance can be extracted unambiguously, and chiral couplings and the asymmetries can be explored in a statistical manner. With the current LHC data, we present bounds on the mass and cross section times branching fraction of the new resonance and estimate the future reach.Comment: 22 pages, 18 figures, 6 table

2-Fluoro-N′-(2-hy­droxy­benzyl­idene)benzohydrazide

In the title compound, C14H11FN2O2, an intra­molecular O—H⋯N hydrogen bond influences the mol­ecular conformation; the two benzene rings form a dihedral angle of 18.4 (3)°. The F atom is disordered over two positions in a 0.717 (5):0.283 (5) ratio. In the crystal, inter­molecular N—H⋯O hydrogen bonds link the mol­ecules into chains extending along the c axis

2-Fluoro-N′-(2-meth­oxy­benzyl­idene)benzohydrazide

The mol­ecule of the title compound, C15H13FN2O2, exists in a trans configuration with respect to the methyl­idene unit. The two benzene rings form a dihedral angle of of 64.7 (2)°. In the crystal, mol­ecules are linked through N—H⋯O hydrogen bonds into chains propagating along the c axis

2-(5-Bromo­thio­phen-2-yl)-5-[5-(10-ethyl­phenothia­zin-3-yl)thio­phen-2-yl]-1,3,4-oxadiazole

The mol­ecule of the title compound, C24H16BrN3OS3, contains three approximately planar fragments, viz. an oxadiazole ring plus two adjacent thio­phene groups, and two phenothia­zine benzene rings, with largest deviations from the least-squares planes of 0.051 (3), 0.019 (4) and 0.014 (3) Å, respectively. The phenothia­zine unit adopts a butterfly conformation, with a dihedral angle of 38.06 (15)° between the terminal benzene rings. The dihedral angle between the 2,5-bis­(thio­phen-2-yl)oxadiazole unit and the attached benzene ring is 15.35 (11)°. In the crystal, mol­ecules form stacks along the b-axis direction; neighboring mol­ecules within the stack are related by inversion centers, with shortest inter­centroid separations of 3.741 (2) and 3.767 (2) Å

Effects of Veratrilla baillonii Extract on Hepatic Gene Expression Profiles in Response to Aconitum brachypodum-Induced Liver Toxicity in Mice

This manuscript was aimed to explore the hepato-protective effect of water extract of Veratrilla baillonii Franch. (Gentianaceae) (WVBF) on serious hepatic toxicity induced in mice treated with Aconitum brachypodum Diels (Ranunculaceae) at transcriptome level. The physiological and pathological symptoms were evaluated as the markers for hepato toxicity induced by A. brachypodum Diels (CFA) extracted compounds. Moreover, gene chip method was used to compare and investigate the gene expression level of WVBF on CFA induced-liver toxicity to identify the potential target of WVBF and CFA on liver. The results showed that WVBF had a significant detoxification effect on CFA-induced acute hepatic toxicity. There were 130 genes with lower expression and 124 genes expressed at higher rate in CFA treated group as compared with normal control group, while there are 67 genes down-regulated and 74 genes up-regulated in WVBF treated group in comparison with CFA treated group. WVBF could attenuate CFA-induced liver damage in mice through regulating oxidative stress, inflammatory injury and cell apoptosis/necrosis pathways. On the other hand, WVBF and CFA may have potential synergetic effects on the target genes of certain diseases such as inflammation, cancer and diabetes