Hydrazine decomposition and CO adsorption microcalorimetry oil tungsten carbide catalysts with different phases

Tungsten carbides with different crystal phases were prepared by temperature-programmed reaction of WO3 in a CH4/H-2, atmosphere, and the phase transition occurring during this process was described. The catalytic activity of the tungsten carbides for hydrazine decomposition was investigated, and the active sites were determined by CO adsorption microcalorimetry. The results showed that the CO adsorption became strong with the formation of a W2C crystal phase, and the W2C exhibited the best catalytic performance for N2H4 decomposition. However, when the preparation temperature was higher than 750 degrees C, there was a significant amount of carbonaceous species deposited on the catalyst surface, which resulted in severe deactivation. The surface-clean WC possessed a higher intrinsic activity for N2H4 than the W2C owing to its stronger noble metallic properties

A direct investigation of photocharge transfer across monomolecular layer between C60 and CdS quantum dots by photoassisted conductive atomic force microscopy

The composite assembly of C60 and CdS Quantum Dots (QDs) on ITO substrate was prepared by Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) technique using arachic acid (AA), stearic acid (SA) and octadecanyl amine (OA) as additives. Photoassisted conductive atomic force microscopy was used to make point contact current-voltage (I-V) measurements on both the CdS QDs and the composite assembly of C60/CdS. The result make it clear that the CdS, C60/CdS assemblies deposited on ITO substrate showed linear characteristics and the current increased largely under illumination comparing with that in the dark. The coherent, nonresonant tunneling mechanism was used to explain the current occurrence. It is considered that the photoinduced carriers CdS QDs tunneled through alkyl chains increased the current rapidly

REORGANIZATION OF BEHENIC ACID MONOLAYER ON MICA

Langmuir-Blogdett (LB) monolayers of behenic acid (BA) and cadmium behenic were prepared on mica surfaces by the vertical precipitation method. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) and lateral force microscopy (LFM) were used to study the morphologies of the films before and after reorganization and friction image. The LB films of fatty acid were found to self-organize into multilayers in water simply by the addition or removal of one layer of molecules, suggesting that the reorganization is a common phenomenon for monolayer on substrates in water conditions. It is considered that the H2O molecules in the first place interact with the BA amphiphilic molecules at the edge of the pinholes. The assembly of molecules at the edge of the pinholes changes with a little protuberance in the morphology. The reorganization extent was also relevant to the pH value of the water medium.Langmuir-Blogdett (LB) films, atomic force microscopy (AFM), molecular reorganization

An Asp7Gly substitution in PPARG is associated with decreased transcriptional activation activity.

As the master regulator of adipogenesis, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARG) is required for the accumulation of adipose tissue and hence contributes to obesity. A previous study showed that the substitution of +20A>G in PPARG changed the 7(th) amino acid from Asp to Gly, creating a mutant referred to as PPARG Asp7Gly. In this study, association analysis indicated that PPARG Asp7Gly was associated with lower body height, body weight and heart girth in cattle (P<0.05). Overexpression of PPARG in NIH3T3-L1 cells showed that the Asp7Gly substitution may cause a decrease in its adipogenic ability and the mRNA levels of CIDEC (cell death-inducing DFFA-like effector c) and aP2, which are all transcriptionally activated by PPARG during adipocyte differentiation. A dual-luciferase reporter assay was used to analyze the promoter activity of CIDEC. The results confirmed that the mutant PPARG exhibited weaker transcriptional activation activity than the wild type (P<0.05). These findings likely explain the associations between the Asp7Gly substitution and the body measurements. Additionally, the Asp7Gly mutation may be used in molecular marker assisted selection (MAS) of cattle breeding in the future

Prolactin-Responsive Circular RNA circHIPK3 Promotes Proliferation of Mammary Epithelial Cells from Dairy Cow

The highly expressed circHIPK3 is a circular RNA that has been previously reported to regulate the growth of human cells. In this study, we found an increased expression of circHIPK3 in bovine mammary epithelial cells treated with prolactin (PRL) in high-throughput sequencing data. Thus, we further investigated the effect of circHIPK3 on the proliferation and differentiation of mammary epithelial cells. We used qRT-PCR/Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) and a Western blotting analysis to evaluate the effects on cell proliferation. We found that circHIPK3 promotes the proliferation of mammary epithelial cells. The STAT5 signaling pathway was previously associated with the prolactin response and when the STAT5 was suppressed, the expression of circHIPK3 decreased. The results suggest that the response to prolactin and the associated STAT5 signaling pathway affect the expression of circHIPK3, which subsequently affects the proliferation of mammary epithelial cells in dairy cows

Compromised White Matter Microstructural Integrity after Mountain Climbing: Evidence from Diffusion Tensor Imaging

National Science Foundation of China [31071041]Zhang, Haiyan, Jianzhong Lin, Yingchun Sun, Yongxia Huang, Huiming Ye, Xiaochuan Wang, Tianhe Yang, Xingtang Jiang, Jiaxing Zhang. Compromised white matter microstructural integrity after mountain climbing: Evidence from diffusion tensor imaging. High Alt. Med. Biol. 13: 118-125.-The aim of the present study was to investigate cerebral microstructural alterations after single short-term mountain climbing. Voxel-based morphometry (VBM) analysis of gray matter (GM) and white matter (WM) volumes and Tract-Based Spatial Statistics (TBSS) analysis of WM fractional anisotropy (FA) based on MRI images were carried out on 14 mountaineers before and after mountain climbing (6206 m). In addition, verbal and spatial 'two-back' tasks and serial reaction time task were also tested. No significant changes were detected in total and regional volumes of GM, WM, and cerebral spinal fluid after mountain climbing. Significant decreased FA values were found in the bilateral corticospinal tract, corpus callosum (anterior and posterior body, splenium), reticular formation of dorsal midbrain, left superior longitudinal fasciculus, right posterior cingulum bundles, and left middle cerebellar peduncle. In all the above regions, the radial diffusivity values tended to increase, except in the left superior longitudinal fasciculus the change was statistically significant. There were no significant changes in the two cognitive tests after mountain climbing. These findings indicate that short-term high-altitude exposure leads to disturbances mainly in cerebral WM, showing compromised fiber microstructural integrity, which may clarify the mechanisms underlining some cognitive and motor deficits tested previously