Facilitating Knowledge Sharing and Analysis in EnergyInformatics with the Ontology for Energy Investigations (OEI)

Just as the other informatics-related domains (e.g., Bioinformatics) have discovered in recent years, the ever-growing domain of Energy Informatics (EI) can benefit from the use of ontologies, formalized, domain-specific taxonomies or vocabularies that are shared by a community of users. In this paper, an overview of the Ontology for Energy Investigations (OEI), an ontology that extends a subset of the well-conceived and heavily-researched Ontology for Biomedical Investigations (OBI), is provided as well as a motivating example demonstrating how the use of a formal ontology for the EI domain can facilitate correct and consistent knowledge sharing and the multi-level analysis of its data and scientific investigations

Hemostatic, anti-inflammatory and antibacterial effects of Sanqixiantao dressing in vivo and in vitro

Purpose: To study the hemostatic, anti-inflammatory and antibacterial effects of Sanqixiantao dressing.Methods: Sanqixiantao dressing was prepared by mixting with sanqixiiantao extract (8 %) with membrane-forming matrix (5:4:9:2 volume ratio of polyvinyl alcohol: Na CMC: gelatin: glycerol). Rats with local surface wounds were used to evaluate the effects of Sanqixiantao dressing on hemostatic time, wound healing time and infection rate. Serum levels of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α and interleukin (IL) 6 were determined. The anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects of Sanqixiantao extracts were assessed by dimethylbenzene-induced ear edema and acetic acid-induced abdominal writhing tests. In in vitro studies, the effect of the extract on blood clotting time, and its antibacterial activities against six pathogenic bacteria (Escherichia coli, Staphylococous aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Clostridium perfringens and Clostridium tetani) were evaluated.Results: Sanqixiantao dressing significantly decreased hemostatic time (p < 0.01), wound healing time (p < 0.01) and infection rate (10 vs 100 %), when compared to control rats. Sanqixiantao extract significantly shortened blood clotting time in vitro (p < 0.01), and showed antibacterial activities against E. coli (minimum inhibitory concentration, MIC: 0.4 mg/mL, MBC: 1.6 mg/mL), S. aureus (MIC: 0.8 mg/mL, minimum bacterial concentration, MBC: 3.2 mg/mL), P. aeruginosa (MIC: 0.8 mg/mL, MBC: 3.2 mg/mL), S. epidermidis (MIC: 1.6 mg/mL, MBC: 3.2 mg/mL). Besides, Sanqixiantao extracts (100, 200, 400 and 600 mg/kg) dose-dependently decreased dimethyl-benzene-induced ear edema and acetic acid-induced abdominal writhes in mice (p < 0.05, p < 0.01, p < 0.01, p < 0.01).Conclusion: The results demonstrate that Sanqixiantao dressing has significant hemostatic, antiinflammatory and antibacterial effects in vivo and in vitro, and thus provide some support for the therapeutic application of Sanqixiantao dressing for treating skin wounds.Keywords: Sanqixiantao dressing, Acute skin wound, Hemostatic, Anti-inflammatory activity, Antibacterial effect, Herbal medicin

Bis(μ-N,N′-di-3-pyridyl-2,6-pyridine-2,6-dicarboxamide-κ2 N:N′)bis[dibrom­ido­mercury(II)] N,N-dimethyl­formamide disolvate

In the dinuclear centrosymmetric title complex, [Hg2Br4(C17H13N5O2)2]·2C3H7NO, the HgII atom is coordinated by two Br atoms and two N atoms from two different ligands in a distorted tetra­hedral geometry. The solvent mol­ecule is linked to the 28-atom ring by two hydrogen bonds

Reprogramming glioblastoma multiforme cells into neurons by protein kinase inhibitors

Abstract Background Reprogramming of cancers into normal-like tissues is an innovative strategy for cancer treatment. Recent reports demonstrate that defined factors can reprogram cancer cells into pluripotent stem cells. Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most common and aggressive malignant brain tumor in humans. Despite multimodal therapy, the outcome for patients with GBM is still poor. Therefore, developing novel therapeutic strategy is a critical requirement. Methods We have developed a novel reprogramming method that uses a conceptually unique strategy for GBM treatment. We screened a kinase inhibitor library to find which candidate inhibitors under reprogramming condition can reprogram GBM cells into neurons. The induced neurons are identified whether functional and loss of tumorigenicity. Results We have found that mTOR and ROCK kinase inhibitors are sufficient to reprogram GBM cells into neural-like cells and “normal” neurons. The induced neurons expressed neuron-specific proteins, generated action potentials and neurotransmitter receptor-mediated currents. Genome-wide transcriptional analysis showed that the induced neurons had a profile different from GBM cells and were similar to that of control neurons induced by established methods. In vitro and in vivo tumorigenesis assays showed that induced neurons lost their proliferation ability and tumorigenicity. Moreover, reprogramming treatment with ROCK-mTOR inhibitors prevented GBM local recurrence in mice. Conclusion This study indicates that ROCK and mTOR inhibitors-based reprogramming treatment prevents GBM local recurrence. Currently ROCK-mTOR inhibitors are used as anti-tumor drugs in patients, so this reprogramming strategy has significant potential to move rapidly toward clinical trials

catena-Poly[[[diiodidomercury(II)]-μ-N,N′-di-3-pyridylpyridine-2,6-dicarboxamide] dimethyl­formamide solvate]

In the title complex, {[HgI2(C17H13N5O2)]·C3H7NO}n, the Hg atom is coordinated by two I atoms and two N atoms from two different ligands in a distorted tetra­hedral environment. Hg atoms are bridged by N,N′-di-3-pyridylpyridine-2,6-dicarboxamide ligands, forming a helical chain running along the a axis