130 research outputs found
Platelet proteomic progress and restraining mechanisms in glycoprotein VI-mediated thrombus formation
Effect of Frying Conditions on Acrylamide and 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural Formation in French Fries
In this study, the relationship between the formation of acrylamide (AA) and that of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (5-HMF), as well as the correlation with the content of α-dicarbonyl compounds as intermediate products in French fries were studied using Pearson correlation analysis and principal component analysis (PCA), and the correlation between the formation of AA and 5-HMF and the sensory score, color, water content and oil absorption of French fries was also discussed. The results showed that with an increase in frying time or temperature, the contents of AA, 5-HMF and α-dicarbonyl compounds in French fries increased significantly, water content decreased, and oil absorption increased gradually. In addition, lightness (L* value) and yellowness (b* value) tended to decrease, while redness (a* value) tended to increase. There was a significantly positive correlation between AA and 5-HMF contents under the different conditions tested. Moreover, AA and 5-HMF contents showed a significantly positive correlation with the content of α-dicarbonyl compounds and oil absorption, but a significantly negative correlation with water content, L* value and b* value. AA content was positively correlated with a* value. It was found that the results of the PCA model were consistent with the linear curves of the contents of AA, 5-HMF and α-dicarbonyl compounds versus frying temperature and time. Frying for 5 min at 170 ℃ not only ensured the best sensory quality of French fries, but also helped to reduce the formation of hazardous substances
Effects of Sublethal Concentrations of Chlorpyrifos on Olfactory Learning and Memory Performances in Two Bee Species, Apis mellifera and Apis cerana
Chlorpyrifos is a widely used organophosphorus insecticide. The acute oral
24 h median lethal dose (LD50) value of chlorpyrifos in Apis mellifera and in
Apis cerana was estimated to assess differential acute chlorpyrifos toxicity
in both bee species. The LD50 values of chlorpyrifos in A. mellifera and in
A. cerana are 103.4 ng/bee and 81.8 ng/bee, respectively, which suggests
that A. cerana bees are slightly more sensitive than A. mellifera bees to
the toxicity of chlorpyrifos. Doses half the acute LD50 of chlorpyrifos were
selected to study behavioral changes in both bee species using proboscis
extension response assay. A. mellifera foragers treated with chlorpyrifos
showed significantly lower response to the 10% sucrose solution compared
to control bees after 2, 24 and 48 h. Chlorpyrifos significantly impaired
the olfactory learning abilities and 2 h memory retention of forager bees
regardless of honey bee species, which may affect the foraging success of
bees exposed to chlorpyrifos
Restraining of glycoprotein VI- and integrin α2β1-dependent thrombus formation y platelet PECAM1
The platelet receptors, glycoprotein VI (GPVI) and integrin α2β1 jointly control collagen-dependent thrombus formation via protein tyrosine kinases. It is unresolved to which extent the ITIM (immunoreceptor tyrosine-based inhibitory motif) receptor PECAM1 and its downstream acting protein tyrosine phosphatase PTPN11 interfere in this process. Here, we hypothesized that integrin α2β1 has a co-regulatory role in the PECAM1- and PTPN11-dependent restraint of thrombus formation. We investigated platelet activation under flow on collagens with a different GPVI dependency and using integrin α2β1 blockage. Blood was obtained from healthy subjects and from patients with Noonan syndrome with a gain-of-function mutation of PTPN11 and variable bleeding phenotype. On collagens with decreasing GPVI activity (types I, III, IV), the surface-dependent inhibition of PECAM1 did not alter thrombus parameters using control blood. Blockage of α2β1 generally reduced thrombus parameters, most effectively on collagen IV. Strikingly, simultaneous inhibition of PECAM1 and α2β1 led to a restoration of thrombus formation, indicating that the suppressing signaling effect of PECAM1 is masked by the platelet-adhesive receptor α2β1. Blood from 4 out of 6 Noonan patients showed subnormal thrombus formation on collagen IV. In these patients, effects of α2β1 blockage were counterbalanced by PECAM1 inhibition to a normal phenotype. In summary, we conclude that the suppression of GPVI-dependent thrombus formation by either PECAM1 or a gain-of-function of PTPN11 can be overruled by α2β1 engagement
Bulk Incorporation with 4‐Methylphenethylammonium Chloride for Efficient and Stable Methylammonium‐Free Perovskite and Perovskite‐Silicon Tandem Solar Cells
Methylammonium (MA)-free perovskite solar cells have the potential for better thermal stability than their MA-containing counterparts. However, the efficiency of MA-free perovskite solar cells lags behind due to inferior bulk quality. In this work, 4-methylphenethylammonium chloride (4M-PEACl) is added into a MA-free perovskite precursor, which results in greatly enhanced bulk quality. The perovskite crystal grains are significantly enlarged, and defects are suppressed by a factor of four upon the incorporation of an optimal concentration of 4M-PEACl. Quasi-2D perovskites are formed and passivate defects at the grain boundaries of the perovskite crystals. Furthermore, the perovskite surface chemistry is modified, resulting in surface energies more favorable for hole extraction. This facile approach leads to a steady state efficiency of 23.7% (24.2% in reverse scan, 23.0% in forward scan) for MA-free perovskite solar cells. The devices also show excellent light stability, retaining more than 93% of the initial efficiency after 1000 h of constant illumination in a nitrogen environment. In addition, a four-terminal mechanically stacked perovskite-silicon tandem solar cell with champion efficiency of 30.3% is obtained using this MA-free composition. The encapsulated tandem devices show excellent operational stability, retaining more than 98% of the initial performance after 42 day/night cycles in an ambient atmosphere
PyPose: A Library for Robot Learning with Physics-based Optimization
Deep learning has had remarkable success in robotic perception, but its
data-centric nature suffers when it comes to generalizing to ever-changing
environments. By contrast, physics-based optimization generalizes better, but
it does not perform as well in complicated tasks due to the lack of high-level
semantic information and the reliance on manual parametric tuning. To take
advantage of these two complementary worlds, we present PyPose: a
robotics-oriented, PyTorch-based library that combines deep perceptual models
with physics-based optimization techniques. Our design goal for PyPose is to
make it user-friendly, efficient, and interpretable with a tidy and
well-organized architecture. Using an imperative style interface, it can be
easily integrated into real-world robotic applications. Besides, it supports
parallel computing of any order gradients of Lie groups and Lie algebras and
-order optimizers, such as trust region methods. Experiments
show that PyPose achieves 3-20 speedup in computation compared to
state-of-the-art libraries. To boost future research, we provide concrete
examples across several fields of robotics, including SLAM, inertial
navigation, planning, and control
Demonstrating approaches to chemically modify the surface of Ag nanoparticles in order to influence their cytotoxicity and biodistribution after single dose acute intravenous administration
With the advance in material science and the need to diversify market applications, silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) are modified by different surface coatings. However, how these surface modifications influence the effects of AgNPs on human health is still largely unknown. We have evaluated the uptake, toxicity and pharmacokinetics of AgNPs coated with citrate, polyethylene glycol, polyvinyl pyrolidone and branched polyethyleneimine (Citrate AgNPs, PEG AgNPs, PVP AgNPs and BPEI AgNPs, respectively). Our results demonstrated that the toxicity of AgNPs depends on the intracellular localization that was highly dependent on the surface charge. BPEI AgNPs ( potential=+46.5mV) induced the highest cytotoxicity and DNA fragmentation in Hepa1c1c7. In addition, it showed the highest damage to the nucleus of liver cells in the exposed mice, which is associated with a high accumulation in liver tissues. The PEG AgNPs ( potential=-16.2mV) showed the cytotoxicity, a long blood circulation, as well as bioaccumulation in spleen (34.33 mu g/g), which suggest better biocompatibility compared to the other chemically modified AgNPs. Moreover, the adsorption ability with bovine serum albumin revealed that the PEG surface of AgNPs has an optimal biological inertia and can effectively resist opsonization or non-specific binding to protein in mice. The overall results indicated that the biodistribution of AgNPs was significantly dependent on surface chemistry: BPEI AgNPs>Citrate AgNPs=PVP AgNPs>PEG AgNPs. This toxicological data could be useful in supporting the development of safe AgNPs for consumer products and drug delivery applications
PyPose v0.6: The Imperative Programming Interface for Robotics
PyPose is an open-source library for robot learning. It combines a
learning-based approach with physics-based optimization, which enables seamless
end-to-end robot learning. It has been used in many tasks due to its
meticulously designed application programming interface (API) and efficient
implementation. From its initial launch in early 2022, PyPose has experienced
significant enhancements, incorporating a wide variety of new features into its
platform. To satisfy the growing demand for understanding and utilizing the
library and reduce the learning curve of new users, we present the fundamental
design principle of the imperative programming interface, and showcase the
flexible usage of diverse functionalities and modules using an extremely simple
Dubins car example. We also demonstrate that the PyPose can be easily used to
navigate a real quadruped robot with a few lines of code
Solar Ring Mission: Building a Panorama of the Sun and Inner-heliosphere
Solar Ring (SOR) is a proposed space science mission to monitor and study the
Sun and inner heliosphere from a full 360{\deg} perspective in the ecliptic
plane. It will deploy three 120{\deg}-separated spacecraft on the 1-AU orbit.
The first spacecraft, S1, locates 30{\deg} upstream of the Earth, the second,
S2, 90{\deg} downstream, and the third, S3, completes the configuration. This
design with necessary science instruments, e.g., the Doppler-velocity and
vector magnetic field imager, wide-angle coronagraph, and in-situ instruments,
will allow us to establish many unprecedented capabilities: (1) provide
simultaneous Doppler-velocity observations of the whole solar surface to
understand the deep interior, (2) provide vector magnetograms of the whole
photosphere - the inner boundary of the solar atmosphere and heliosphere, (3)
provide the information of the whole lifetime evolution of solar featured
structures, and (4) provide the whole view of solar transients and space
weather in the inner heliosphere. With these capabilities, Solar Ring mission
aims to address outstanding questions about the origin of solar cycle, the
origin of solar eruptions and the origin of extreme space weather events. The
successful accomplishment of the mission will construct a panorama of the Sun
and inner-heliosphere, and therefore advance our understanding of the star and
the space environment that holds our life.Comment: 41 pages, 6 figures, 1 table, to be published in Advances in Space
Researc
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