Study on current status and climatic characteristics of wine regions in China

The aim of this paper is to improve the knowledge of the current status and climatic characteristics of Chinese wine regions. An investigation of Chinese winegrowing regions, which concerned the distribution, area and cultivars, was conducted using "questionnaires + expert consultation + available literature". On the basis of the results of the investigation, a map was drawn to depict the distribution of Chinese wine regions. Furthermore, observation records of weather stations located within winegrowing zones during 1982–2011 were employed to analyze the climatic characteristics of each region by using the climatic indices of frost-free season (FFS), dryness index (DI), and extremely low temperature (ELT). According to the findings of the investigation, wine grapes have been widely cultivated in 179 counties of China, with a total cultivation area of 163,200 ha. 'Cabernet Sauvignon' was the most widely cultivated variety. The analysis of the climatic characteristics revealed a regional difference within and between wine regions. Moreover, most wine regions were suitable for wine production in terms of the climatic indices, which in turn verified the applicability of the climate indices system

High Efficiency and Low Migration Hyperbranched Silicone Contain Macrophotoinitiators for UV-Cured Transparent Coatings

A kind of hyperbranched silicone containing macrophotoinitiators (HBSMIs) were synthesized from 2-hydroxy-2-methyl-1-phenyl propanone (HMPP) and the UV-curing behaviors of HBSMIs were investigated in UV-cured transparent polyurethane-acrylate (PUA) coatings. HBSMIs show higher UV-initiating efficiency than HMPP. The migration of HBSMIs from the UV-cured coatings can be as low as 1.7–6.0 wt%, which is obviously lower than the migration of HMPP. There is a remarkable improvement of the tensile strength of the UV-cured materials initiated by HBSMI in comparison to that of the materials prepared with the same PUA initiated by HMPP. Especially for the UV-cured materials prepared from PUA with 20 wt% 1,1,1-tris(hydroxymethyl)propane (TMP), the tensile strength and the strain at break increased from 6.81 MPa to 12.14 MPa and from 43.0% to 71.9%, respectively. The fraction of improvement for the tensile strength and the strain at break is as high as 78.9% and 67.2%, respectively. The coatings prepared with HBSMI also have better UV resistance ability than those coatings prepared with HMPP because they turn slightly yellow when they are aged by UV for about 15 min while the coating prepared with 4 wt% of HMPP will turn yellow only aged by UV for 2 min. These results suggest that preparation hyperbranched silicone containing macrophotoinitiators will be one of the good strategies to improve the curing efficiency of the UV-curing system, reduce the migration of UV initiator from cured material, improve the mechanical and UV resistance performance of UV-cured materials

Role of BDNF Val66Met functional polymorphism in temporal lobe epilepsy

<p>Various studies suggested that brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) gene polymorphisms contributed to the development of many neurological disorders. However, whether BDNF Val66Met polymorphism is associated with epilepsy remains controversial. In our study, we tried to investigate the effects of this functional polymorphism on the occurrence of temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) and its clinical phenotypes. Case-control studies were employed to study the association between BDNF Val66Met polymorphism and TLE, as well as its clinical phenotypes, and magnetic resonance imaging examinations and voxel-based morphometry analyses were carried out for further study. Our results showed that the frequency of Met allele was found to be lower in the TLE patients compared with the control subjects (43.9% vs. 48.6%, <i>P</i> = 0.012, OR = 1.21, 95% CI = 1.04–1.41), and the frequency of Met66 allele carriers in the TLE with hippocampal sclerosis was significantly lower than those non-carriers (20.5% vs. 29.1%, <i>P</i> = 0.040). However, we failed to find the difference between different genotypes and hippocampal asymmetry. Our findings suggested that BDNF Val66Met polymorphism might be correlated with epileptogenesis, and Met66 allele might play a protective role against the occurrence of TLE.</p

Hyperplastic Human Macromass Cartilage for Joint Regeneration

Abstract Cartilage damage affects millions of people worldwide. Tissue engineering strategies hold the promise to provide off‐the‐shelf cartilage analogs for tissue transplantation in cartilage repair. However, current strategies hardly generate sufficient grafts, as tissues cannot maintain size growth and cartilaginous phenotypes simultaneously. Herein, a step‐wise strategy is developed for fabricating expandable human macromass cartilage (macro‐cartilage) in a 3D condition by employing human polydactyly chondrocytes and a screen‐defined serum‐free customized culture (CC). CC‐induced chondrocytes demonstrate improved cell plasticity, expressing chondrogenic biomarkers after a 14.59‐times expansion. Crucially, CC‐chondrocytes form large‐size cartilage tissues with average diameters of 3.25 ± 0.05 mm, exhibiting abundant homogenous matrix and intact structure without a necrotic core. Compared with typical culture, the cell yield in CC increases 2.57 times, and the expression of cartilage marker collagen type II increases 4.70 times. Transcriptomics reveal that this step‐wise culture drives a proliferation‐to‐differentiation process through an intermediate plastic stage, and CC‐chondrocytes undergo a chondral lineage‐specific differentiation with an activated metabolism. Animal studies show that CC macro‐cartilage maintains a hyaline‐like cartilage phenotype in vivo and significantly promotes the healing of large cartilage defects. Overall, an efficient expansion of human macro‐cartilage with superior regenerative plasticity is achieved, providing a promising strategy for joint regeneration