The miR-15/16 Cluster Is Involved in the Regulation of Vertebrate LC-PUFA Biosynthesis by Targeting pparγ as Demonostrated in Rabbitfish Siganus canaliculatus

Post-transcriptional regulatory mechanisms play important roles in the regulation of long-chain (≥ C20) polyunsaturated fatty acid (LC-PUFA) biosynthesis. Here, we address a potentially important role of the miR-15/16 cluster in the regulation of LC-PUFA biosynthesis in rabbitfish Siganus canaliculatus. In rabbitfish, miR-15 and miR-16 were both highly responsive to fatty acids affecting LC-PUFA biosynthesis and displayed a similar expression pattern in a range of rabbitfish tissues. A common potential binding site for miR-15 and miR-16 was predicted in the 3′UTR of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (pparγ), an inhibitor of LC-PUFA biosynthesis in rabbitfish, and luciferase reporter assays revealed that pparγ was a potential target of miR-15/16 cluster. In vitro individual or co-overexpression of miR-15 and miR-16 in rabbitfish hepatocyte line (SCHL) inhibited both mRNA and protein levels of Pparγ, and increased the mRNA levels of Δ6Δ5 fads2, Δ4 fads2, and elovl5, key enzymes of LC-PUFA biosynthesis. Inhibition of pparγ was more pronounced with co-overexpression of miR-15 and miR-16 than with individual overexpression in SCHL. Knockdown of miR-15/16 cluster gave opposite results, and increased mRNA levels of LC-PUFA biosynthesis enzymes were observed after knockdown of pparγ. Furthermore, miR-15/16 cluster overexpression significantly increased the contents of 22:6n-3, 20:4n-6 and total LC-PUFA in SCHL with higher 18:4n-3/18:3n-3 and 22:6n-3/22:5n-3 ratio. These suggested that miR-15 and miR-16 as a miRNA cluster together enhanced LC-PUFA biosynthesis by targeting pparγ in rabbitfish. This is the first report of the participation of miR-15/16 cluster in LC-PUFA biosynthesis in vertebrates

Accurate magneto-optical determination of radius of topological nodal-ring semimetals

The shape of the Fermi surface of topological nodal-ring semimetals at low carrier concentrations is characterized by the ring radius b/ℏvF. This peculiar topological property may not have a clear signature in measurable physical quantities. We demonstrate an accurate and definitive method to determine the radius of topological nodal-ring semimetals. Under a magnetic field along the ring axis, the axial magneto-optical response (σzz) has a giant peak. The position of this ultrastrong response is at the frequency of exactly 2b and is independent of the strength of the magnetic field. The amplitude of the peak response is many times stronger than that of any other inter-Landau level transitions if the magnetic energy is greater than b and is similar strength if b is greater than the magnetic energy. The origin of the ultrastrong response is that the axial magnetic transition is governed by selection rules completely different to those governing σxx where the giant response is absent [R. Y. Chen et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 115, 176404 (2015)]. The present work provides a method to accurately determine parameters of the topological properties of semimetals

Eggshell Membrane-Templated MnO2 Nanoparticles: Facile Synthesis and Tetracycline Hydrochloride Decontamination

Abstract Taking advantages of reticular proteins and reductive groups on the surface, eggshell membrane (ESM) was selected to synthesize MnO2 nanoparticles from potassium permanganate through a super simple way in which ESM acted as both template and reductant. This process avoided harsh reaction conditions or complicated aftertreatments and thus owned the merits of green synthesis, handy operation, low cost, and easy purification. The ESM-templated MnO2 nanoparticles (MnO2 NPs/ESM) were characterized, and the content of nanomaterials on the template was tested. MnO2 NPs/ESM showed a good capacity for decontamination of tetracycline hydrochloride (TCH). The macroscopical materials can be separated easily by taking the membrane out to stop the degradation instead of centrifugation or filtration. It was studied that 72.27% of TCH (50 mg/L) was decontaminated in 20 min by 0.1920 g/L MnO2 nanoparticles, and removal efficiency could reach 83.10% after 60 min under buffered condition. The kinetics was studied with or without buffer, and it was concluded that the degradation process followed a pseudo-second-order model. The facile synthesis of materials and effective degradation would facilitate the nano-MnO2-based decontamination applications

A Study on Monitoring and Supervision of Ship Nitrogen-Oxide Emissions and Fuel-Sulfur-Content Compliance

Regulations for the control of air-pollutant emissions from ships within pollutant emission control areas (ECAs) have been issued for several years, but the lack of practical technologies and fundamental theory in the implementation process remains a challenge. In this study, we designed a model to calculate the nitrogen-oxide-emission intensity of ships and the sulfur content of ship fuels using theoretical deduction from the law of the conservation of mass. The reliability and availability of the derived results were empirically evaluated using measurement data for NOx, SO2, and CO2 in the exhaust gas of a demonstration ship in practice. By examining the model and the measured or registered fuel-oil-consumption rates of ships, a compliance-determination workflow for NOx-emission intensity and fuel-sulfur-content monitoring and supervision in on-voyage ships were proposed. The results showed that the ship fuel’s NOx-emission intensity and sulfur content can be evaluated by monitoring the exhaust-gas composition online and used to assist in maritime monitoring and the supervision of pollutant emissions from ships. It is recommended that uncertainties regarding sulfur content should be considered within 15% during monitoring and supervision. The established model and workflow can assist in maritime monitoring. Meanwhile, all related governments and industry-management departments are advised to actively lead the development of monitoring and supervision technology for ship-air-pollutant control in ECAs, as well as strengthening the quality management of ships’ static data

Additional file 2: Table S2. of The prevalence and incidence of frailty in Pre-diabetic and diabetic community-dwelling older population: results from Beijing longitudinal study of aging II (BLSA-II)

Odds ratios and relative risks of frailty comparing pre-diabetic and diabetic subjects with those with normal blood glucose at baseline and follow-up visits. (DOCX 29 kb

Nitrous Oxide Profile Retrievals from Atmospheric Infrared Sounder and Validation

This paper presents an algorithm for the retrieval of nitrous oxide profiles from the Atmospheric InfraRed Sounder (AIRS) on the Earth Observing System (EOS)/Aqua using a nonlinear optimal estimation method. First, an improved Optimal Sensitivity Profile (OSP) algorithm for channel selection is proposed based on the weighting functions and the transmissions of the target gas and interfering gases, with 13 channels selected for inversion in this algorithm. Next, the data of the High-Performance Instrumented Airborne Platform for Environmental Research (HIAPER) Pole-to-Pole Observations (HIPPO) aircraft and the Earth System Research Laboratory (ESRL) are used to verify the retrieval results, including the atmospheric nitrous oxide profile and the column concentration. The results show that using AIRS satellite data, the atmospheric nitrous oxide profile between 300–900 hPa can be well retrieved with an accuracy of ~0.1%, which agrees with the corresponding Jacobian peak interval of selected channels. Analysis of the AIRS retrievals demonstrates that the AIRS measurements provide useful information to capture the spatial and temporal variations in nitrous oxide between 300–900 hPa

The regulation of electro-optical properties and polymer morphology of polymer-dispersed liquid crystal films with silicon nanostructure

In this work, the thiol modified silica nanostructures (SiO2-SH) were doped into polymer-dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) films. The SEM was used to observe the morphology of the polymer microstructure. The electro-optical (E-O) property test was determined by a liquid crystal parameter tester. The SEM images suggested that the SiO2-SH nanoparticles can react with acrylate groups to form the polymer matrix. The saturation voltage decreased by half in the sample when the dosage of the SiO2-SH nanoparticles was 7.5 wt%, which may be due to the reduced anchoring strength of the polymer matrix incorporated with silicon nanoparticles resulting from the lower surface energy and the enhanced steric repulsions of LC droplets and polymer matrix. In addition, the preparation conditions like polymerisation temperatures and UV light intensity also effectively regulated the E-O properties and polymer microstructure of the PDLC film with silica nanostructure. Thus, the results showed that the E-O properties and the polymer morphology of PDLC films with silicon nanostructures can be effectively regulated by doping SiO2-SH nanoparticles and regulating the preparation conditions such as the polymerisation temperature and UV light intensity. This work can provide practical guidance for modulating the properties of PDLC films.</p

Research on Atomic Oxygen Erosion Influence of Structural Damage and Tribological Properties of Mo/MoS2-Pb-PbS Thin Film

To investigate atomic oxygen effects on tribological properties of Mo/MoS2-Pb-PbS film and further enlarge application range, atomic oxygen exposure tests were carried out for 5 h, 10 h, 15 h, and 20 h by the atomic oxygen simulator with atomic oxygen flux of 2.5 &times; 1015 atoms/cm2&middot;s. The exposure time in test was equivalent to the atomic oxygen cumulative flux for 159.25 h, 318.5 h, 477.75 h, and 637 h at the height of 400 km in space. Then, the vacuum friction test of Mo/MoS2-Pb-PbS thin film was performed under the 6 N load and 100 r/min. By SEM, TEM, and XPS analysis of the surface of the film after atomic oxygen erosion, it was observed that atomic oxygen could cause serious oxidation on the surface of Mo/MoS2-Pb-PbS film, and the contents of MoS2, PbS, and Pb, which were lubricating components, were significantly reduced, and oxides were generated. From AES analysis and the variation in the main element content, Mo/MoS2-Pb-PbS thin film showed self-protection ability in an atomic oxygen environment. Hard oxide generated after atomic oxygen erosion such as MoO3 and Pb3O4 could cause the friction coefficient slight fluctuations, but the average friction coefficient was in a stable state