Optimization of Glycosaminoglycan Extraction on Patinopecten Yessoensis Waste

AbstractOn the basis of single factor experiment, the pH of enzymatic hydrolysis, enzymolysis temperature, enzymolysis time and solid-liquid ratio as independent variable, extraction rate as response value, extraction technology of glycosaminoglycan from Patinopecten yessoensis waste were optimized using response surface methodology. The order affecting glycosaminoglycan extraction rate was determined: the enzymatic pH > solid-liquid ratio > enzymatic time > enzymatic temperature. The optimal conditions of extraction were: the pH of enzymatic hydrolysis was 8.0, enzymolysis temperature was 40°C, enzymolysis time was 3.5h and solid-liquid ratio was 1:2. Click here and insert your abstract text

Towards Semantic e-Science for Traditional Chinese Medicine

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Recent advances in Web and information technologies with the increasing decentralization of organizational structures have resulted in massive amounts of information resources and domain-specific services in Traditional Chinese Medicine. The massive volume and diversity of information and services available have made it difficult to achieve seamless and interoperable e-Science for knowledge-intensive disciplines like TCM. Therefore, information integration and service coordination are two major challenges in e-Science for TCM. We still lack sophisticated approaches to integrate scientific data and services for TCM e-Science.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We present a comprehensive approach to build dynamic and extendable e-Science applications for knowledge-intensive disciplines like TCM based on semantic and knowledge-based techniques. The semantic e-Science infrastructure for TCM supports large-scale database integration and service coordination in a virtual organization. We use domain ontologies to integrate TCM database resources and services in a semantic cyberspace and deliver a semantically superior experience including browsing, searching, querying and knowledge discovering to users. We have developed a collection of semantic-based toolkits to facilitate TCM scientists and researchers in information sharing and collaborative research.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Semantic and knowledge-based techniques are suitable to knowledge-intensive disciplines like TCM. It's possible to build on-demand e-Science system for TCM based on existing semantic and knowledge-based techniques. The presented approach in the paper integrates heterogeneous distributed TCM databases and services, and provides scientists with semantically superior experience to support collaborative research in TCM discipline.</p

Diverse Applications of Nanomedicine

The design and use of materials in the nanoscale size range for addressing medical and health-related issues continues to receive increasing interest. Research in nanomedicine spans a multitude of areas, including drug delivery, vaccine development, antibacterial, diagnosis and imaging tools, wearable devices, implants, high-throughput screening platforms, etc. using biological, nonbiological, biomimetic, or hybrid materials. Many of these developments are starting to be translated into viable clinical products. Here, we provide an overview of recent developments in nanomedicine and highlight the current challenges and upcoming opportunities for the field and translation to the clinic. \ua9 2017 American Chemical Society

How Natural Gas Infrastructure Affects Carbon Emission Indicators in Guangdong Province?

As a public infrastructure, the West to East Natural Gas Pipeline Project (WENGPP), acting as a key supplier of energy, has adopted a potential approach to reduce CE by expanding Natural gas (NG) power in the developed areas in China. However, the literature pertaining to the effects of the efforts made by WENGPP to reduce CE remains scant. Therefore, this study applied the causal inference framework—Regression Discontinuity Design (RDD) to the Guangdong province, which was chosen as a case in point that provides empirical evidence related to the nexus between WENGPP and CE. Remarkably, our results disclosed that WENGPP had caused the total volume of CE in Guangdong province to decline notably. Both short and long-term emission inhibition effects approximated 10.68–14.96%. We revealed two CE reduction mechanisms: (i) through the low-carbon emission trade-off effect, wherein NG consumers were able to gain emission advantages under policy pressure; and (ii) through price comparison effect, where high combustion efficiency of NG consumers combined with low energy consumption costs could provide the incentive of promoting the optimization of regional emission structure. The article suggests a substitutable channel upgrading public energy infrastructure to improve the low-carbon alternative process, to policy makers

A Fast Classification Method of Faults in Power Electronic Circuits Based on Support Vector Machines

Fault detection and location are important and front-end tasks in assuring the reliability of power electronic circuits. In essence, both tasks can be considered as the classification problem. This paper presents a fast fault classification method for power electronic circuits by using the support vector machine (SVM) as a classifier and the wavelet transform as a feature extraction technique. Using one-against-rest SVM and one-against-one SVM are two general approaches to fault classification in power electronic circuits. However, these methods have a high computational complexity, therefore in this design we employ a directed acyclic graph (DAG) SVM to implement the fault classification. The DAG SVM is close to the one-against-one SVM regarding its classification performance, but it is much faster. Moreover, in the presented approach, the DAG SVM is improved by introducing the method of Knearest neighbours to reduce some computations, so that the classification time can be further reduced. A rectifier and an inverter are demonstrated to prove effectiveness of the presented design

Design Strategies for and Stability of mRNA–Lipid Nanoparticle COVID-19 Vaccines

Messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines have shown great preventive potential in response to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The lipid nanoparticle (LNP), as a non-viral vector with good safety and potency factors, is applied to mRNA delivery in the clinic. Among the recently FDA-approved SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccines, lipid-based nanoparticles have been shown to be well-suited to antigen presentation and enhanced immune stimulation to elicit potent humoral and cellular immune responses. However, a design strategy for optimal mRNA-LNP vaccines has not been fully elaborated. In this review, we comprehensively and systematically discuss the research strategies for mRNA-LNP vaccines against COVID-19, including antigen and lipid carrier selection, vaccine preparation, quality control, and stability. Meanwhile, we also discuss the potential development directions for mRNA–LNP vaccines in the future. We also conduct an in-depth review of those technologies and scientific insights in regard to the mRNA-LNP field

Long-term Outcomes after Stroke in Elderly Patients with Atrial Fibrillation: A Hospital-based Follow-up Study in China

Background: Atrial fibrillation (AF) significantly increases the risk of stroke and disease burden; it is an established predictor of poor outcomes after stroke. However, reported differences in outcomes after stroke among elderly patients between AF and non-AF group are conflicting. We aimed to compare differences in outcomes at 1 year and 3 years after stroke among elderly patients (aged≥75 years old) between AF group and non-AF group. Methods: We recruited 1070 consecutive elderly patients who experienced acute ischemic stroke between January 2008 and December 2013 in Jiamusi University First Hospital, China in this study. Information regarding stroke subtype, severity, risk factors, and outcome (mortality, dependency, and recurrence) at 3 and 12 months after stroke were recorded and assessed between AF group and non-AF group.Results: The prevalence of AF was 16.1% overall, with a similar trend in the prevalence of AF between men and women. The AF group were more likely to experience severe stroke compared to the non-AF group (32.0% vs. 11.9%, respectively; P<0.001). There were no obvious differences between groups regarding the prevalence of hypertension, dyslipidemia, obesity, current smoking, and alcohol drinking but there was a higher prevalence of diabetes in the non-AF group (20.3% vs 30.1%, P=0.010). Mortality and dependency rates were significantly higher in the AF group than in the non-AF group at 1 year after stroke (29.6% vs 17.8%, P=0.001 for mortality; and 59.5% vs 36.1%, P=0.010 for dependency) and 3 years after stroke (46.1% vs 33.2%, P=0.032 for mortality; and 70.7% vs 49.2%, P=0.010 for dependency); however, there was no significant between-groups differences in rates of recurrence across the follow-up periods. The results for dependency remained stable after adjustment for sex, stroke severity, and stroke risk factors at 3 years after stroke (OR, 2.26; 95% CI, 1.06–4.81; P = 0.034); however, the relationship between AF and mortality and recurrence disappeared after adjusting for these covariatesConclusion: These findings suggest that it is crucial to highlight the treatment of elderly stroke patients with AF in order to reduce poor outcomes among the elderly and to reduce the burden of AF in China

Evaluating the Effectiveness of Conservation on Mangroves: A Remote Sensing-Based Comparison for Two Adjacent Protected Areas in Shenzhen and Hong Kong, China

Mangroves are ecologically important ecosystems and globally protected. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of mangrove conservation efforts in two adjacent protected areas in China that were under the management policies of the Ramsar Convention (Mai Po Marshes Nature Reserve (MPMNR), Hong Kong) and China’s National Nature Reserve System (Futian Mangrove National Nature Reserve (FMNNR), Shenzhen). To achieve this goal, eleven Landsat images were chosen and classified, areal extent and landscape metrics were then calculated. The results showed that: from 1973–2015, the areal extent of mangroves in both reserves increased, but the net change for the MPMNR (281.43 hm2) was much higher than those of the FMNNR (101.97 hm2). In general, the area-weighted centroid of the mangroves in FMNNR moved seaward by approximately 120 m, whereas in the MPMNR, the centroid moved seaward even farther (410 m). Although both reserves saw increased integrality and connectivity of the mangrove patches, the patches in the MPMNR always had higher integrality than those in the FMNNR. We concluded that the mangroves in the MPMNR were more effectively protected than those in the FMNNR. This study may provide assistance to the formulation of generally accepted criteria for remote sensing-based evaluation of conservation effectiveness, and may facilitate the development of appropriate mangrove forest conservation and management strategies in other counties