Peeling process development for thin flexible webs

Many consumer products are manufactured from continuous media. When the media is thin and flexible, it is referred to as a web. Webs are typically manufactured by extrusion or casting; however, for some applications, a coating process onto a sacrificial carrier web, followed by a peeling process, provides a more robust means to achieve the functional requirements of thin webs. One example of this is with the protective cover sheet for LCD polarizers. Conventional casting is impractical because of the thickness and tear- sensitivity of the preferred support material. The coating and peeling processes, however, are not without their own problems. This paper describes work aimed at developing a robust coating and peeling process for the manufacture of protective cover sheets for LCD polarizers. First, we describe the general process method. Next, we focus our discussion on the development of the web peeling process and review in detail the peeling imperfections, such as ripping and tearing defects, that negatively impacted our ability to successfully peel the thin webs from the carrier webs. Web handling findings from this work will also be shared

Identification of a Quality Marker of Vinegar-Processed Curcuma Zedoaria on Oxidative Liver Injury

Curcuma zedoaria (dry stenophora of Curcuma phaeocaulis Val., Curcuma kwangsiensis S. G. Lee et C. F. Liang, or Curcuma wenyujin Y. H. Chen et C.Ling) is a representative herb with clinical effects on liver diseases after being vinegar-processed. The crude Curcuma zedoaria and the processed Curcuma zedoaria (vinegar-boil) have been widely used as mixtures, but their equivalence has not been fully investigated. In this manuscript, quality markers of processed (vinegar-boil) Curcuma zedoaria were investigated by comparison of the compounds and hepatoprotective activities with the crude (three spices) ones. First, GC-MS-based untargeted metabolomics were applied to reveal the discriminatory components and discover potential markers. As a result, a total of six components were identified as potential markers. Then, the hepatoprotective activities were evaluated by dual cell damage models induced by a certain concentration of H2O2 or tertbutyl hydfroperoxide (t-BHP) (55 μM H2O2 or 40 μM t-BHP), which highlighted the potential of the processed Curcuma zedoaria on oxidative stress. Finally, epicurzerenone was identified as its quality marker on oxidative liver injury based on the above results and the cell-based biological assay. Overall, vinegar-processed Curcuma zedoaria was more suitable for the treatment of oxidative liver diseases, and epicurzerenone could be considered as its quality marker

Identification and characterization of a plastidial ω-3 fatty acid desaturase <i>EgFAD8</i> from oil palm (<i>Elaeis guineensis</i> Jacq.) and its promoter response to light and low temperature

<div><p>In higher plants, ω-3 fatty acid desaturases are the key enzymes in the biosynthesis of alpha-linolenic acid (18:3), which plays key roles in plant metabolism as a structural component of both storage and membrane lipids. Here, the first ω-3 fatty acid desaturase gene was identified and characterized from oil palm. The bioinformatic analysis indicated it encodes a temperature-sensitive chloroplast ω-3 fatty acid desaturase, designated as <i>EgFAD8</i>. The expression analysis revealed that <i>EgFAD8</i> is highly expressed in the oil palm leaves, when compared with the expression in the mesocarp. The heterologous expression of <i>EgFAD8</i> in yeast resulted in the production of a novel fatty acid 18:3 (about 0.27%), when fed with 18:2 in the induction culture. Furthermore, to detect whether <i>EgFAD8</i> could be induced by the environment stress, we detected the expression efficiency of the <i>EgFAD8</i> promoter in transgenic Arabidopsis treated with low temperature and darkness, respectively. The results indicated that the promoter of <i>EgFAD8</i> gene could be significantly induced by low temperature and slightly induced by darkness. These results reveal the function of EgFAD8 and the feature of its promoter from oil palm fruits, which will be useful for understanding the fuction and regulation of plastidial ω-3 fatty acid desaturases in higher plants.</p></div

Total fatty acid composition of transformed yeast with <i>EgFAD8</i> or pYES2.

<p>All experiments were carried out in triplicate. Asterisks indicate statistically significant differences compared with the control (Student’s <i>t</i> test: **, p < 0.01). 16:0, palmitic acid; 16:1, palmitoleic acid; 18:0, stearic acid; 18:1, oleic acid; 18:2, linoleic acid; 18:3,alpha linoleic acid.</p

Baicalin ameliorates multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa induced pulmonary inflammation in rat via arginine biosynthesis

Multidrug-resistance (MDR) Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa) is a lethal gram-negative pathogen causing hospital-acquired and ventilator-associated pneumonia, which is difficult to treat. Our previous studies confirmed that baicalin, an essential bioactive component in Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi, exhibited anti-inflammatory effects in an acute pneumonia rat model induced by MDR P. aeruginosa. However, this effect of baicalin in constrast its low bioavailability, and its mechanism of action is still unknown. Thus, this study investigated whether the therapeutic effects of baicalin against MDR P. aeruginosa acute pneumonia are owing to the regulation of gut microbiota and their metabolites using pyrosequencing of the 16S rRNA genes in rat feces and metabolomics. As a result, baicalin attenuated the inflammation by acting directly on neutrophils and regulated the production of the inflammatory cytokines TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6, and IL-10. The mechanisms were through down-regulation of TLR4 and inhibition of NF-κB. Furthermore, pyrosequencing of the 16S rRNA genes in rat feces revealed that baicalin regulated the composition of gut microbial communities. At the genus level, baicalin efficiently increased the abundance of Ligilactobacillus, Lactobacillus and Bacteroides, but decreased the abundance of Muribaculaceae and Alistipes. Further, arginine biosynthesis was analyzed as the core pathway regulated by baicalin via combination with predicting gut microbiota function and targeted metabolomics. In conclusion, this study has demonstrated that baicalin relieved inflammatory injury in acute pneumonia rat induced by MDR P. aeruginosa via arginine biosynthesis associated with gut microbiota. Baicalin could be a promising and effective adjunctive therapy for lung inflammation caused by MDR P. aeruginosa infection

Quantification of GUS activity in leaves of transgenic Arabidopsis transformed with <i>ProEgFAD8</i>::<i>GUS</i> under the treatment of darkness or low temperature (15°C) for 24h and 48h.

<p>Quantification of GUS activity in leaves of transgenic Arabidopsis transformed with <i>ProEgFAD8</i>::<i>GUS</i> under the treatment of darkness or low temperature (15°C) for 24h and 48h.</p

List of primers used in the study.

<p>List of primers used in the study.</p

Phylogenetic analysis of EgFAD8 and fatty acid desaturases from <i>Arabidopsis thaliana</i>.

<p>A neighbor-joining tree was generated by MEGA5 with bootstrap analysis based on 1000 replications. Bootstrap values are shown at branch points. Scale bar indicates the number of substitutions per site.</p

Expression analysis of <i>EgFAD8</i> in oil palm leaves and mesocarp at five different developmental stages.

<p>P1: mesocarp at 30–60 DAP; P2: mesocarp at 60–100 DAP; P3: mesocarp at 100–120 DAP; P4: mesocarp at 120–140 DAP; P5: mesocarp at 140–160 DAP. DAP: days after pollination.</p

Design, Synthesis and Biological Evaluation of Ligustrazine-Flavonoid Derivatives as Potential Anti-Tumor Agents

In the clinic some anti-tumor drugs have shown damage to normal blood vessels, which could lead to vascular diseases. Therefore, it is necessary to evaluate the effects of anti-tumor drugs on normal blood vessels at the beginning of the drug design process. In this study, ligustrazine (TMP) and flavonoids were selected as raw materials. Sixteen novel TMP-flavonoid derivatives were designed and synthesized. Interestingly, compounds 14 and 16 were obtained by hydrolysis of a dihydroflavone to a chalcone under alkaline conditions. The cytotoxicity of the TMP-flavonoid derivatives was evaluated on five human tumor cell lines and one classical type of normal endothelial cell lines (HUVEC-12) by an MTT assay. Part of the derivatives showed better anti-tumor activities than the corresponding raw materials. Among them, compound 14 exhibited the closest activity to the positive control against the Bel-7402 cell line (IC50 = 10.74 &plusmn; 1.12 &mu;M; DDP IC50 = 6.73 &plusmn; 0.37 &mu;M) and had no toxicity on HUVEC-12 (IC50 &gt; 40 &mu;M). Subsequently, fluorescence staining and flow cytometry analysis indicated that compound 14 could induce apoptosis of Bel-7402 cell lines. Moreover, the structure-activity relationships of these derivatives were briefly discussed