Barely visible impact damage in scaled composite laminates:Experiments and numerical simulations

Black pepper protein-protein interaction (PPI) network. Genes with high expression in P. flaviflorum are shown in red, and genes with high expression in PN are shown in blue. The node size correlates to the degree of difference in P. nigrum/P. flaviflorum. (PNG 2446 kb

The chromosome-scale reference genome of black pepper provides insight into piperine biosynthesis

Black pepper (Piper nigrum), dubbed the ‘King of Spices’ and ‘Black Gold’, is one of the most widely used spices. Here, we present its reference genome assembly by integrating PacBio, 10x Chromium, BioNano DLS optical mapping, and Hi-C mapping technologies. The 761.2 Mb sequences (45 scaffolds with an N50 of 29.8 Mb) are assembled into 26 pseudochromosomes. A phylogenomic analysis of representative plant genomes places magnoliids as sister to the monocots-eudicots clade and indicates that black pepper has diverged from the shared Laurales-Magnoliales lineage approximately 180 million years ago. Comparative genomic analyses reveal specific gene expansions in the glycosyltransferase, cytochrome P450, shikimate hydroxycinnamoyl transferase, lysine decarboxylase, and acyltransferase gene families. Comparative transcriptomic analyses disclose berry-specific upregulated expression in representative genes in each of these gene families. These data provide an evolutionary perspective and shed light on the metabolic processes relevant to the molecular basis of species-specific piperine biosynthesis

The In Vivo Evaluation on Total Components from Extract of Aconitum Based on a New Analytic Method of Area under Absorbance-Wavelength Curve

Objective. To study oral pharmacokinetics of Aconitum extract in randomized Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats and observe the profile change in vivo between plasma concentration and time with an aim to disclose relevant delivery rule for total components from Aconitum extract and finally to evaluate the research of Aconitum sustained-release preparation. Methods. Randomized rats were administered orally with the single and multiple dose of Aconitum extract based on the clinical use of Aconitum injection. Blood samples were collected at predetermined interval time from an eye of rats. The concentration of total components in those samples was determined by a new analytic method of area under absorbance-wavelength curve, the data were analyzed by Drug and Statistics software, and then the pharmacokinetic parameters and compartment model were acquired and compared, respectively. Results. The pharmacokinetic parameters of single and multiple doses were similar, and both of them showed characteristics of the one-compartment model. Cav, DF, and AUCss were (2.075 ± 0.282) µg/ml, (2.405 ± 0.175), and (24.901 ± 0.422) µg/ml/h, respectively. However, the concentrations of total components in the fifth and sixth day were 0.32 and 0.44 µg/ml, which were lower than the value of Cav. Conclusion. The method of AUAWC is feasible for the pharmacokinetics study in vivo analysis on total components of Aconitum with good sensitivity, specificity, and repeatability. The results demonstrated that both absorption and elimination of total components from Aconitum extract in rats were rapid and pharmacokinetic behavior was consistent at the level of single and multiple doses, which confirms that Aconitum injection is available to transform the oral sustained-release preparation. This will bring a good instruction to the research of sustained-release preparation of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), which still lacks of an evaluation method available for total components in vivo analysis

Phase separation in gene transcription control

Phase separation provides a general mechanism for the formation of biomolecular condensates, and it plays a vital role in regulating diverse cellular processes, including gene expression. Although the role of transcription factors and coactivators in regulating transcription has long been understood, how phase separation is involved in this process is just beginning to be explored. In this review, we highlight recent advance in elucidating the molecular mechanisms and functions of transcriptional condensates in gene expression control. We discuss the different condensates formed at each stage of the transcription cycle and how they are dynamically regulated in response to diverse cellular and extracellular cues that cause rapid changes in gene expression. Furthermore, we present new findings regarding the dysregulation of transcription condensates and their implications in human diseases

De Novo Assembly and Characterization of Fruit Transcriptome in Black Pepper (Piper nigrum).

Black pepper is one of the most popular and oldest spices in the world and valued for its pungent constituent alkaloids. Pinerine is the main bioactive compound in pepper alkaloids, which perform unique physiological functions. However, the mechanisms of piperine synthesis are poorly understood. This study is the first to describe the fruit transcriptome of black pepper by sequencing on Illumina HiSeq 2000 platform. A total of 56,281,710 raw reads were obtained and assembled. From these raw reads, 44,061 unigenes with an average length of 1,345 nt were generated. During functional annotation, 40,537 unigenes were annotated in Gene Ontology categories, Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathways, Swiss-Prot database, and Nucleotide Collection (NR/NT) database. In addition, 8,196 simple sequence repeats (SSRs) were detected. In a detailed analysis of the transcriptome, housekeeping genes for quantitative polymerase chain reaction internal control, polymorphic SSRs, and lysine/ornithine metabolism-related genes were identified. These results validated the availability of our database. Our study could provide useful data for further research on piperine synthesis in black pepper

Path planning of mobile robot by mixing experience with modified artificial potential field method

In this article, a new method is proposed to help the mobile robot to avoid many kinds of collisions effectively, which combined past experience with modified artificial potential field method. In the process of the actual global obstacle avoidance, system will invoke case-based reasoning algorithm using its past experience to achieve obstacle avoidance when obstacles are recognized as known type; otherwise, it will invoke the modified artificial potential field method to solve the current problem and the new case will also be retained into the case base. In case-based reasoning, we innovatively consider that all the complex obstacles are retrieved by two kinds of basic build-in obstacle models (linear obstacle and angle-type obstacle). Our proposed experience mixing with modified artificial potential field method algorithm has been simulated in MATLAB and implemented on actual mobile robot platform successfully. The result shows that the proposed method is applicable to the dynamic real-time obstacle avoidance under unknown and unstructured environment and greatly improved the performances of robot path planning not only to reduce the time consumption but also to shorten the moving distance

Characteristics of medicine use for children with asthma in China: a nationwide population-based study

Abstract Objective To analyze the asthma medication use in Chinese children of different age groups, regions, and levels of cities in China, based on the 2015 Healthcare Insurance Data in China. Methods The China Healthcare Insurance Research Association (CHIRA) database was searched for children from 0 to 14 years old diagnosed as asthma based on the “J45” and “J46” coded in ICD-10. A cross-sectional study design was employed. Results A total of 308,550 children were identified, all of whom were treated under the coverage of healthcare insurance. Among them, 2,468 children were eligible for inclusion in the present study. Compared with the current status of asthma care in European and American countries, under the guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of asthma in China, the use percentages of ICS and short-acting β2 receptor agonist in children with asthma in China were lower, but the use percentages of oral corticosteroids, long-acting β2 receptor agonist, and theophylline (especially intravenous theophylline) were higher, especially in the Central and West China. Conclusion The asthma medication use was attributed to many factors, thus efforts are still needed to further popularize the GINA programs and China's guidelines for asthma diagnosis and treatment, especially in the Central and West China

Practice of Developing Low-carbon Leisure Agriculture in Agricultural Sci-tech Experiment and Demonstration Park: A Case Study of Xinglong Tropical Botanical Park

The Agricultural Science and Technology Experiment and Demonstration Park, as a unique tourist scenic spot, is a new model for the development of low-carbon leisure agriculture. In this paper, with Xinglong Tropical Botanical Park as a study case, the practice of developing a model of low-carbon agricultural science and technology tourism in the park is explored. Main measures for developing low-carbon leisure agriculture in Agricultural Science and Technology Experiment and Demonstration Park are summarized, including development of low carbon attractors, construction of low carbon facilities, strengthening low-carbon management, building low-carbon environment and so on, according to analysis on the models for development of low-carbon agricultural science tourism in this park