Partitioning Clustering Based on Support Vector Ranking

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Questionnaire Data From the Revision of a Chinese Version of Free Will and Determinism Plus Scale

Funding statement: This work was supported by National Nature Science Foundations of China No. 31471001 to Kaiping Peng. All data, together with their codebooks and manipulation code, are available at osf.io/t2nsw/.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Surface dominated transport in single crystalline nanoflake devices of topological insulator Bi1.5Sb0.5Te1.8Se1.2

We report experimental evidence of surface dominated transport in single crystalline nanoflake devices of topological insulator Bi1.5Sb0.5Te1.8Se1.2. The resistivity measurements show dramatic difference between the nanoflake devices and bulk single crystal. The resistivity and Hall analysis based on a two-channel model indicates that ~99% surface transport contribution can be realized in 200 nm thick BSTS nanoflake devices. Using standard bottom gate with SiO2 as a dielectric layer, pronounced ambipolar electric field effect was observed in devices fabricated with flakes of 100 - 200 nm thick. Moreover, angle-dependent magneto-resistances of a nanoflake device with thickness of 596 nm are fitted to a universal curve for the perpendicular component of the applied magnetic field. The value of phase coherence length obtained from 2D weak antilocalization fitting further confirmed the surface dominated transport. Our results open a path for realization of novel electric and spintronic devices based on the topological helical surface states.Comment: 20 pages, 4 figure

Salvianolic acid B prevents epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition through the TGF-β1 signal transduction pathway in vivo and in vitro

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Salvianolic Acid B (Sal B) is a water-soluble component from Danshen (a traditional Chinese herb widely used for chronic renal diseases) with anti-oxidative and cell protective properties. Sal B also has potential protective effects on renal diseases. Tubular epithelial cells can undergo epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT), which plays an important role in the pathogenesis of renal interstitial fibrosis (RIF) and is mainly regulated by TGF-β1/Smads pathway. The aims of the study are to investigate the effect of Sal B on tubular EMT <it>in vivo </it>and <it>in vitro</it>, and to elucidate its underlying mechanism against EMT related to TGF-β1/Smads pathway.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>For <it>in vivo </it>experiments, RIF was induced in rats by oral administration of HgCl₂and prophylaxised with Sal B and vitamin E. The protein expression of E-cadherin was down-regulated, while the expression of α-SMA, TGF-β1, TβR-I, p-Smad2/3 and the activity of matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) were up-regulated in kidneys of model rats when compared with those of normal rats. In contrast, Sal B and vitamin E significantly attenuated the expression of α-SMA, TGF-β1, TβR-I, p-Smad2/3, and MMP-2 activity, but increased E-cadherin expression. For <it>in vitro </it>experiments, HK-2 cells were incubated with TGF-β1 to induce EMT, and the cells were co-cultured with 1 and 10 μM Sal B or SB-431542 (a specific inhibitor of TβR-I kinase). TGF-β1 induced a typical EMT in HK-2 cells, while it was blocked by Sal B and SB-431542, as evidenced by blocking morphologic transformation, restoring E-cadherin and CK-18 expression, inhibiting α-SMA expression and F-actin reorganization, and down-regulating MMP-2/9 activities in TGF-β1 mediated HK-2 cells. Furthermore, Sal B and SB-431542 profoundly down-regulated the expressions of TβR-I and p-Smad2/3 but prevented the decreased expression of Smad7 in TGF-β1 stimulated HK-2 cells.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Sal B can prevent tubular EMT in the fibrotic kidney induced by HgCl₂as well as HK-2 cells triggered by TGF-β1, the mechanism of Sal B is closely related to the regulation of TGF-β1/Smads pathway, manifested as the inhibition of TGF-β1 expression, suppression of TβR-I expression and function, down-regulation of Smad2/3 phosphorylation, and restoration of the down-regulation of Smad7, as well as inhibition of MMP-2 activity.</p

An earthworm protease cleaving serum fibronectin and decreasing HBeAg in HepG2.2.15 cells

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Virus-binding activity is one of the important functions of fibronectin (FN). It has been reported that a high concentration of FN in blood improves the transmission frequency of hepatitis viruses. Therefore, to investigate a protease that hydrolyzes FN rapidly is useful to decrease the FN concentration in blood and HBV infection. So far, however, no specific protease digesting FN in serum has been reported.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We employed a purified earthworm protease to digest serum proteins. The rapidly cleaved protein (FN) was identified by MALDI-TOF MS and western blotting. The cleavage sites were determined by N-terminus amino acid residues sequencing. The protease was orally administrated to rats to investigate whether serum FN <it>in vivo </it>became decreased. The serum FN was determined by western blotting and ELISA. In cytological studies, the protease was added to the medium in the culture of HepG2.2.15 cells and then HBsAg and HBeAg were determined by ELISA.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The protease purified from earthworm <it>Eisenia fetida </it>was found to function as a fibronectinase (FNase). The cleavage sites on FN by the FNase were at R and K, exhibiting a trypsin alkaline serine-like function. The earthworm fibronectinase (EFNase) cleaved FN at four sites, R₂₅₉, R₁₀₀₅, K₁₅₅₇and R₂₀₃₉, among which the digested fragments at R₂₅₉, K₁₅₅₇and R₂₀₃₉were related to the virus-binding activity as reported. The serum FN was significantly decreased when the earthworm fibronectinase was orally administrated to rats. The ELISA results showed that the secretion of HBeAg from HepG2.2.15 cells was significantly inhibited in the presence of the FNase.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The earthworm fibronectinase (EFNase) cleaves FN much faster than the other proteins in serum, showing a potential to inhibit HBV infection through its suppressing the level of HBeAg. This suggests that EFNase is probably used as one of the candidates for the therapeutic agents to treat hepatitis virus infection.</p