RIO Country Report 2015: China

RIO R&I International Country Reports analyse and assess the research and innovation system, including the main challenges, framework conditions, regional R&I systems, and international co-operation, including with DG JRC.JRC.B.7-Knowledge for Finance, Innovation and Growt

Preparation of graphene oxide–stabilized Pickering emulsion adjuvant for Pgp3 recombinant vaccine and enhanced immunoprotection against Chlamydia Trachomatis infection

BackgroundTraditional emulsion adjuvants are limited in clinical application because of their surfactant dependence. Graphene oxide (GO) has unique amphiphilic properties and therefore has potential to be used as a surfactant substitute to stabilize Pickering emulsions.MethodsIn this study, GO–stabilized Pickering emulsion (GPE) was prepared and used as an adjuvant to facilitate an enhanced immune response to the Chlamydia trachomatis (Ct) Pgp3 recombinant vaccine. Firstly, GPE was prepared by optimizing the sonication conditions, pH, salinity, GO concentration, and water/oil ratio. GPE with small-size droplets was characterized and chosen as the candidate. Subsequently, controlled-release antigen delivery by GPE was explored. Cellular uptake behaviors, M1 polarization, and cytokine stimulation by GPE + Pgp3 was considered in terms of the production of macrophages. Finally, GPE’s adjuvant effect was evaluated by vaccination with Pgp3 recombinant in BALB/c mouse models.ResultsGPE with the smallest droplet sizes was prepared by sonication under 163 W for 2 min at 1 mg/mL GO in natural salinity with a pH of 2 when the water/oil ratio was 10:1 (w/w). The optimized average GPE droplet size was 1.8 μm and the zeta potential was –25.0 ± 1.3 mv. GPE delivered antigens by adsorption onto the droplet surface, demonstrating the controlled release of antigens both in vitro and in vivo. In addition, GPE promoted antigen uptake, which stimulated proinflammatory tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), enhancing the M1 polarization of macrophages in vitro. Macrophage recruitment was also significantly promoted by GPE at the injection site. In the GPE + Pgp3 treatment group, higher levels of immunoglobin (IgG), immunoglobin G1 (IgG1), immunoglobin G2a (IgG2a) sera, and immunoglobin A (IgA) were detected in vaginal fluid, and higher levels of IFN-γ and IL-2 secretion were stimulated, than in the Pgp3 group, showing a significant type 1 T helper (Th1)-type cellular immune response. Chlamydia muridarum challenging showed that GPE enhanced Pgp3’s immunoprotection through its advanced clearance of bacterial burden and alleviation of chronic pathological damage in the genital tract.ConclusionThis study enabled the rational design of small-size GPE, shedding light on antigen adsorption and control release, macrophage uptake, polarization and recruitment, which enhanced augmented humoral and cellular immunity and ameliorated chlamydial-induced tissue damage in the genital tract

Huber’s M-Estimation-Based Cubature Kalman Filter for an INS/DVL Integrated System

To deal with the problems of outliers and nonlinearity in the complex underwater environment, a Huber’s M-estimation-based cubature Kalman filter (CKF) is proposed for an inertial navigation system (INS)/Doppler velocity log (DVL) integrated system. First, a loosely coupled INS/DVL integrated system is designed, and the nonlinear system model is established in the case of big misalignment angle. Then, Huber’s M-estimation is introduced for robust estimation to resist outliers. Meanwhile, the CKF is focused to handle the nonlinearity of the state equation. Finally, simulation and the vehicle test are conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed method. Results show that the proposed method outperforms the conventional Kalman filter (KF) and outlier detection-based robust cubature Kalman filter (RCKF) in terms of navigation accuracy in the complex underwater environment

Antibacterial Activity and Action Mechanism of Bacteriocin Paracin wx7 as a Selective Biopreservative against Vancomycin-Resistant <i>Enterococcus faecalis</i> in Fresh-Cut Lettuce

Fresh-cut vegetables are widely consumed, but there is no food preservative available to selectively inhibit vancomycin-resistant E. faecalis, which is a serious health menace in fresh-cut vegetables. To develop a promising food biopreservative, a bacteriocin, paracin wx7, was synthesized, showing selective inhibition against E. faecalis with MIC values of 4–8 μM. It showed instant bactericidal mode within 1 h at high concentrations with concomitant cell lysis against vancomycin-resistant E. faecalis. Its lethal effect was visualized in a dose-dependent manner by PI/SYTO9 staining observation. The results of an in vivo control experiment carried out on E. faecalis in fresh-cut lettuce showed that 99.97% of vancomycin-resistant E. faecalis were dead after 64 μM paracin wx7 treatment for 7 days without influencing total bacteria. Further, the action mechanism of paracin wx7 was investigated. Confocal microscopy showed that paracin wx7 was located both on the cell envelope and in cytoplasm. For the cell envelope, the studies of membrane permeability using SYTOX Green dyeing and DNA leakage revealed that paracin wx7 damaged the membrane integrity of E. faecalis. Simultaneously, it exhibited membrane depolarization after analysis using DiSC3(5). Damage to the cell envelope resulted in cell deformation observed by scanning electron microscopy. On entering the cytoplasm, the paracin wx7 induced the production of endogenous reactive oxygen species

An Assessment Framework for Grassland Ecosystem Health with Consideration of Natural Succession: A Case Study in Bayinxile, China

Grassland health assessment is the basis for formulating grassland protection policy. However, there are few assessment methods that consider the angle of natural succession for northern China&#8217;s regional native grassland with excessive human activities. The main purpose of this study is to build an assessment system for these areas from the perspective of natural succession. Besides, the minimal cumulative resistance (MCR) model was used to extract potential ecological information from the study area as a supplementary reference for the assessment results. The result for Bayinxile pasture, a typical semiarid steppe with excessive human activities located in northern China, showed that: (1) The ecological function of eastern hilly area was better than that of other regions and the western area was lowest as a whole. (2) The river was the most important ecological network in the whole grassland in that it was of vital significance in the prevention of retrogressive succession and in the linking of ecological communities. (3) The density of ecological network was closely related to the intensity of human activities, and farmland and roads had great negative influence on the connection of the grassland ecological network. We further proposed an ecological control zone and made suggestions for Bayinxile ecological management to prevent grassland degradation based on the above results. This study should provide a new perspective for grassland health assessment and sustainable development of regional grassland

Saudi Journal of Medical and Pharmaceutical Sciences Recognition System of Herbal Medicine on Mobile Terminal Based on Android Platform

Abstract: In order to recognize the Chinese herbal medicine our side and to provide the help for the Chinese herbal medicine lovers, we design a kind of recognition system of herbal medicine by our mobile terminal based on the Android platform. By the application software in our mobile terminal we achieve the Chinese herbal medicine recognition application to meet the requirements of Chinese herbal medicine. The application is focus the functions on storing the information of Chinese herbal medicine by database and querying the information from the database so as to recognize the Chinese herbal medicine by comparison. The system is accomplished with Android platform and Java programming. By the application, we can recognize the Chinese herbal medicine our side by our mobile terminals conveniently