Analysis on Dynamic Response of Prestressed Concrete Slab Subjected to Blast Loading

The dynamic response of prestressed concrete slab under blast loading was analyzed based on LS-DYNA. The laws of influence of degree of prestress, combined reinforcement index, weight of explosives, thickness of slab on the dynamic response of prestressed concrete slab under blast loading were discussed, and the failure modes were given. The analysis results showed that the peak displacement at mid-span increased with increasing of degree of prestress and weight of explosives, and reduced with increasing of combined reinforcement index and thickness of slab. All the parameters, the influence of weight of explosives on displacement response of slab was significantly. Rationalization proposals were provided for blast resistant design of prestressed concrete slab

Dimethyl 3,3′-[(4,5-dicyano-1,2-phenylene)bis(oxy)]dibenzoate

In the title compound, C24H16N2O6, the dihedral angles between the central 4,5-dicyano-1,2-phenylene unit [maximum deviation from planarity = 0.014 (4) Å] and the pendant benzene rings are 73.62 (5) and 84.08 (6)°

C1q/TNF-Related Protein 9 Protects Diabetic Rat Heart against Ischemia Reperfusion Injury: Role of Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress

As a newly identified adiponectin paralog, C1q/TNF-related protein 9 (CTRP9) reduces myocardial ischemia reperfusion (IR) injury through partially understood mechanisms. In the present study, we sought to identify the role of endoplasmic reticulum stress (ERS) in CTRP9 induced cardioprotection in diabetic heart. Isolated hearts from high-fat-diet (HFD) induced type 2 diabetic Sprague-Dawley rats were subjected to ex vivo IR protocol via a Langendorff apparatus at the presence of globular CTRP9. CTRP9 significantly improved post-IR heart function and reduced cardiac infarction, cardiomyocytes apoptosis, Caspase-3, Caspase-9, Caspase-12, TNF-α expression, and lactate dehydrogenase activity. The cardioprotective effect of CTRP9 was associated with reduced ERS and increased expression of disulfide-bond A oxidoreductase-like protein (DsbA-L) in diabetic heart. CTRP9 reduced ERS in thapsigargin (TG) treated cardiomyocytes and protected endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stressed H9c2 cells against simulated ischemia reperfusion (SIR) injury, concurrent with increased expression of DsbA-L. Knockdown of DsbA-L increased ERS and attenuated CTRP9 induced protection against SIR injury in H9c2 cells. Our findings demonstrated for the first time that CTRP9 exerts cardioprotection by reducing ERS in diabetic heart through increasing DsbA-L

Novel Plant Growth Regulator Guvermectin from Plant Growth-Promoting Rhizobacteria Boosts Biomass and Grain Yield in Rice

Food is a fundamental human right, and global food security is threatened by crop production. Plant growth regulators (PGRs) play an essential role in improving crop yield and quality, and this study reports on a novel PGR, termed guvermectin (GV), isolated from plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria, which can promote root and coleoptile growth, tillering, and early maturing in rice. GV is a nucleoside analogue like cytokinin (CK), but it was found that GV significantly promoted root and hypocotyl growth, which is different from the function of CK in Arabidopsis. The Arabidopsis CK receptor triple mutant ahk2-2 ahk3-3 cre1-12 still showed a GV response. Moreover, GV led different growth-promoting traits from auxin, gibberellin (GA), and brassinosteroid (BR) in Arabidopsis and rice. The results from a four-year field trial involving 28 rice varieties showed that seed-soaking treatment with GV increased the yields by 6.2 to 19.6%, outperforming the 4.0 to 10.8% for CK, 1.6 to 16.9% for BR, and 2.2 to 7.1% for GA-auxin-BR mixture. Transcriptome analysis demonstrated that GV induced different transcriptome patterns from CK, auxin, BR, and GA, and SAUR genes may regulate GV-mediated plant growth and development. This study suggests that GV represents a novel PGR with a unique signal perception and transduction pathway in plants