Inorganic hierarchical nanostructures induced by concentration difference and gradient

A very simple strategy for preparing hierarchical inorganic nanostructures under ambient aqueous conditions is presented. The hierarchical inorganic nanomaterials were obtained by simply adding a highly concentrated solution of one reactant to a solution of another reactant with low concentration. No surface-capping molecules or structure-directing templates were needed. The preparation of hierarchical single crystalline PbMoO(4) was used as an example in order to study the effects of varying the reaction conditions and the mechanism of the process. It was found that the large concentration difference (typically in excess of 200-fold) and the concentration gradient of the reactants both play key roles in controlling the diffusion process and the morphology of the resulting nanostructures. This kinetically controlled strategy is facile and is easily adapted to prepare a variety of inorganic materials.Chemistry, PhysicalNanoscience & NanotechnologyMaterials Science, MultidisciplinaryPhysics, AppliedSCI(E)0ARTICLE3213-220

First observation of excision and integration in Class 1 integron in staphylococci

Class 1 integron had been well-known as a mobile genetic element involved in the antibiotic resistance of various bacteria. Up to date, most of the relevant publications concentrated on gram-negative bacteria, with limited exceptions. However, in recent studies, class 1 integron had been detected in methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and methicillin-resistant coagulase negative staphylococci (MRCNS). So in this study, we tested in S. aureus, the class 1 integron mediated excision and integration. We first asked 8 plasmids from previous studies, then established some transformants and perform the excision and integration reaction. As the results revealed, we observed positive excision assay, which had been confirmed by further integration assays. This observation may raise the public attention of integron as a novel antibiotic resistance determinant in gram-positive bacteria, especially in staphylococci.Key words: Staphylococcus aureus, class 1 integron, mobile genetic element, excision and integration, antibiotic resistance

3,4-Dimeth­oxy-4′-nitro-1,1′-biphen­yl

The title compound, C14H13NO4, was prepared through a palladium-catalysed Suzuki–Miyaura coupling reaction. The asymmetric unit comprises two mol­ecules related by pseudo-inversion symmetry. The dihedral angles between the benzene rings in the two mol­ecules are 44.30 (6) and 48.50 (6)° while those between the benzene ring and the nitro group are 6.54 (13) and 5.73 (10)°. The crystal packing is defined only by Van der Waals inter­actions

Assessment of mitochondrial dysfunction and implications in cardiovascular disorders

Mitochondria play a pivotal role in cellular function, not only acting as the powerhouse of the cell, but also regulating ATP synthesis, reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, intracellular Ca2+ cycling, and apoptosis. During the past decade, extensive progress has been made in the technology to assess mitochondrial functions and accumulating evidences have shown that mitochondrial dysfunction is a key pathophysiological mechanism for many diseases including cardiovascular disorders, such as ischemic heart disease, cardiomyopathy, hypertension, atherosclerosis, and hemorrhagic shock. The advances in methodology have been accelerating our understanding of mitochondrial molecular structure and function, biogenesis and ROS and energy production, which facilitates new drug target identification and therapeutic strategy development for mitochondrial dysfunction-related disorders. This review will focus on the assessment of methodologies currently used for mitochondrial research and discuss their advantages, limitations and the implications of mitochondrial dysfunction in cardiovascular disorders

4-Meth­oxy-2-nitro-4′-(trifluoro­meth­yl)biphen­yl

The title compound, C14H10F3NO3, was prepared by a palladium-catalysed Suzuki–Miyaura coupling reaction. The dihedral angle between the nitro group and its parent benzene ring is 66.85 (19)° while the dihedral angle between the two benzene rings is 49.98 (9)°. The CF3 group is disordered over two sets of sites with occupancies of 0.457 (8) and 0.543 (8)

Design, Synthesis and Anti-HIV Integrase Evaluation of 4-Oxo-4H-quinolizine-3-carboxylic Acid Derivatives

4-Oxo-4H-quinolizine-3-carboxylic acid derivatives bearing sulfamido, carboxylamido, benzimidazole and benzothiazole substituents have been designed and synthesized. The structures of these new compounds were confirmed by 1H-NMR, 13C- NMR, IR and ESI (or HRMS) spectra. Compounds were screened for possible HIV integrase inhibitory activity

Systemic inflammatory regulators and preeclampsia: a two-sample bidirectional Mendelian randomization study

Background:Systemic inflammatory regulators have been associated with preeclampsia (PE) during pregnancy; however, there is inconsistent evidence from animal models and observational results.Methods:Using summary data from genome-wide association studies (GWASs), we performed a bidirectional Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis of two samples of systemic inflammatory regulators (n = 8,186) and PE (n = 267,242) individuals of European ancestry. As our primary analysis, we used the random-effects inverse-variance weighted (IVW) approach. Sensitivity and pleiotropy analyses were conducted using the MR–Egger method, weighted median, MR Pleiotropy RESidual Sum and Outlier (MR-PRESSO), and Cochran’s Q test.Results:The results indicate that there is a correlation between a higher circulating level of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) and interleukin-9 (IL-9) and an increased risk of PE (odds ratio [OR] = 1.32, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.09–1.60, p = 0.004 and OR = 1.28, 95% CI: 1.02–1.62, p = 0.033, respectively). Conversely, lower levels of stem cell growth factor beta (SCGF-β) (OR = 0.89, 95% CI: 0.80–0.99, p = 0.027) and interleukin-5 (IL-5) (OR = 0.80, 95% CI: 0.65–0.98, p = 0.030) are linked to an increased risk of PE. The macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) is the downstream inflammatory regulator of PE, according to reverse magnetic resonance imaging studies.Conclusion:Our study suggests that SCGF-β, IL-5, IL-9, and TNF-α causally affect the PE risk, while PE is causally associated with MIF. Further studies are needed to validate these biomarkers in managing PE