First Characterization of Sphingomyeline Phosphodiesterase Expression in the Bumblebee, Bombus lantschouensis

  The bumblebee (Bombus lantschouensis Vogt) is an important pollinator of wild plants. Sphingomyelin phosphodiesterase (SMPD) is a hydrolase that plays a major role in sphingolipid metabolism reactions. We report the preparation and characterization of a polyclonal antibody for bumblebee SMPD. We then use the polyclonal antiserum to detect the SMPD protein at different development stages and in different tissues. Our results showed that a 1228bp fragment homologous with the B. terrestris SMPD gene was successfully amplified. The molecular weight of the fusion protein was about 70 kDa by SDS-PAGE. An effective polyclonal antibody against SMPD was also obtained from mice and found to have a higher specificity for bumblebee SMPD. Western blotting detection showed that SMPD was expressed at a high level in queen ovaries, although expression was lower in the midgut and venom gland. SMPD expression decreased from the egg stage until the pdd stage. We interpret our results as showing that the development of an effective polyclonal antiserum for the SMPD protein of a bumblebee, which provides a tool for exploring the function of the SMPD gene. In addition, the work has confirmed that SMPD should be considered as an important enzyme during bumblebee egg and larval stages

Mesenchymal Stem Cell in the Intervertebral Disc

Degeneration of the intervertebral disc (IVD) is a major spinal disorder that causes back pain. Nucleus pulposus (NP) in the central of IVD dehydrates and become more fibrous in the IVD degeneration. NP cells undergo apoptosis with the degeneration of extracellular matrix (ECM) components. To replenish the NP cells and core ECM, bone marrow mesenchymal stromal cells (BMSCs) have been highlighted in the regeneration of IVD degeneration. BMSCs differentiate into NP-like cells with the secretion of ECM components, which may not only replenish the number of NP cells but also stimulate NP reconstruction. This further maintains tissue homeostasis. Up to date, the disc progenitor cells (DPCs) have been identified with the characteristics of multidifferentiation and stem cell phenotype. These cells are involved in the IVD diseases and show regenerative potentials. However, the differences between the BMSCs and DPCs remain elusive, in particular, the cellular connection in vivo. As such, this chapter will discuss the findings of the two cell types and propose a novel concept in the understanding of the biology of IVD

Energy and entropy radiated by a black hole embedded in the de-Sitter braneworld

We study the Hawking radiation of (4+n)-dimensional Schwarzschild black hole imbedded in the space-time with positive cosmological constant. The greybody and energy emission rates of scalars, fermions, bosons, and gravitons are calculated in the full range of energy. The valuable information on the dimensions and curvature of space-time is revealed. Furthermore, we investigate the entropy radiated and lost by black hole. We find their ratio near unit in favor of the Bekenstein's conjecture.Comment: 17 pages, 12 figures, 5 tables, reinterpret the reason of R<

Motorized Macrocycle:A Photo-responsive Host with Switchable and Stereoselective Guest Recognition

Designing photo-responsive host–guest systems can provide versatile supramolecular tools for constructing smart systems and materials. We designed photo-responsive macrocyclic hosts, modulated by light-driven molecular rotary motors enabling switchable chiral guest recognition. The intramolecular cyclization of the two arms of a first-generation molecular motor with flexible oligoethylene glycol chains of different lengths resulted in crown-ether-like macrocycles with intrinsic motor function. The octaethylene glycol linkage enables the successful unidirectional rotation of molecular motors, simultaneously allowing the 1:1 host–guest interaction with ammonium salt guests. The binding affinity and stereoselectivity of the motorized macrocycle can be reversibly modulated, owing to the multi-state light-driven switching of geometry and helicity of the molecular motors. This approach provides an attractive strategy to construct stimuli-responsive host–guest systems and dynamic materials

Room-temperature ferromagnetic/ferroelectric BiFeO3 synthesized by a self-catalyzed fast reaction process

Bismuth ferrite BiFeO3 has attracted a great deal of interest because of its multiferroic properties. However, BiFeO3 synthesized by conventional methods in the forms of single crystals, ceramics or thin films only exhibit ferroelectricity and antiferromagnetic order at room temperature, with weak ferromagnetism appearing at very low temperatures. To fully explore the potential of multiferroism in such applications as new memory devices, it is necessary to synthesize materials that show ferromagnetic order at room temperature as well, which will a priori allow for magnetoelectric coupling. In this paper, we report a new synthetic technique for the synthesis of BiFeO3 that exhibits unusual ferromagnetic properties. This method involves a low temperature fast solid state reaction based on tartaric acid. The mechanism of the reaction deduced from thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential thermal analysis (TGA) suggests that a self-catalyzed process in the presence of iron and bismuth oxides triggers the oxidation of tartaric acid at low temperature and gives out a large amount of heat, which, in turn, leads to the formation of BiFeO3. The BiFeO3 synthesized in this way is ferromagnetic. The origin of the unusual ferromagnetism is supposed to be associated with point defects of oxygen vacancies generated during the self-catalyzed extremely fast exothermic reaction, which suppress the spin circular cycloid in BiFeO3. Ferroelectric hysteresis loops are displayed in the BiFeO3 samples. The presence of room temperature ferromagnetic and ferroelectric orders makes BiFeO3 a truly multiferroic material potentially interesting in such applications as magnetoelectric devices.Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) ; National Natural Science Foundation of China [20725310, 20673085]; National Basic Research Program of China [2007CB815303

Prognostic value of N-terminal Pro–B-Type natriuretic peptide in patients with intermediate coronary lesions

BackgroundThe optimal treatment strategy for patients with coronary intermediate lesions, defined as diameter stenosis of 50–70%, remains a great challenge for cardiologists. Identification of potential biomarkers predictive of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs) risk may assist in risk stratification and clinical decision.MethodsA total of 1,187 patients with intermediate coronary lesions and available N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) levels were enrolled in the current study. A baseline NT-proBNP level was obtained. The primary endpoint was defined as MACEs, the composite endpoint of all-cause death and non-fatal myocardial infarction. A multivariate Cox regression model was used to explore the association between NT-proBNP level and MACE risk.ResultsThe mean age of the study cohort was 59.2 years. A total of 68 patients experienced MACE during a median follow-up of 6.1 years. Restricted cubic spline analysis delineated a linear relationship between the baseline NT-proBNP level and MACE risk. Both univariate and multivariate analyses demonstrated that an increased NT-proBNP level was associated with an increased risk of MACE [adjusted hazard ratio (HR) per doubling: 1.412, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.022–1.952, p = 0.0365]. This association remains consistent in clinical meaningful subgroups according to age, sex, body mass index (BMI), and diabetes.ConclusionAn increased NT-proBNP level is associated with an increased risk of MACE in patients with intermediate coronary lesions and may serve as the potential biomarker for risk stratification and treatment decision guidance

Site Selection of Waste-to-Energy (WtE) Plant considering Public Satisfaction by an Extended VIKOR Method

Site selection of waste-to-energy (WtE) plant is critically important in the whole life cycle. Some research has been launched in the WtE plant site selection, but there is still a serious problem called Not In My Back Yard (NIMBY) effect that needs to be solved. To solve the problem, an improved multigroup VIKOR method is proposed to choose the optimal site and compromised sites. In the proposed method, the public satisfaction is fully considered where the public is invited as an evaluation group far more than creating general indicators to represent the public acceptance. First of all, an elaborate criteria system is built to evaluate site options comprehensively and the weights of criteria are identified by Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method. Then, the interval 2-tuple linguistic information is adopted to assess the ratings for the established criteria. The interval 2-tuple linguistic ordered weighted averaging (ITL-OWA) operator is utilized to aggregate the opinions of evaluation committee while the opinions of the public are aggregated using weighted average operator. Finally, a case from south China which shows the computational procedure and the effectiveness of the proposed method is proved. Last but not least, a sensitivity analysis is conducted by comparing the results with different weights of evaluation group assessments

Robust Semisupervised Kernelized Fuzzy Local Information C-Means Clustering for Image Segmentation

To improve the effectiveness and robustness of the existing semisupervised fuzzy clustering for segmenting image corrupted by noise, a kernel space semisupervised fuzzy C-means clustering segmentation algorithm combining utilizing neighborhood spatial gray information with fuzzy membership information is proposed in this paper. The mean intensity information of neighborhood window is embedded into the objective function of the existing semisupervised fuzzy C-means clustering, and the Lagrange multiplier method is used to obtain its iterative expression corresponding to the iterative solution of the optimization problem. Meanwhile, the local Gaussian kernel function is used to map the pixel samples from the Euclidean space to the high-dimensional feature space so that the cluster adaptability to different types of image segmentation is enhanced. Experiment results performed on different types of noisy images indicate that the proposed segmentation algorithm can achieve better segmentation performance than the existing typical robust fuzzy clustering algorithms and significantly enhance the antinoise performance

An Unexpected Silver Triflate Catalyzed Reaction of 2-Alkynylbenzaldehyde with 2-Isocyanoacetate

An unexpected silver triflate catalyzed reaction of 2-alkynylbenzaldehyde with 2-isocyanoacetate provides an efficient route for the generation of isoquinolines. The reaction proceeds smoothly in air under mild conditions with high efficiency