The anti-sepsis activity of the components of Huanglian Jiedu Decoction with high lipid A-binding affinity

Huanglian Jiedu Decoction (HJD), one of the classic recipes for relieving toxicity and fever, is a common method for treating sepsis in China. However, the effective components of HJD have not yet been identified. This experiment was carried out to elucidate the effective components of HJD against sepsis. Thus, seven fractions from HJD were tested using a biosensor to test their affinity for lipid A. The components obtained that had high lipid A-binding fractions were further separated, and their affinities to lipid A were assessed with the aid of a biosensor. The levels of LPS in the blood were measured, and pathology experiments were conducted. The LPS levels and mRNA expression analysis of TNF-α and IL-6 of the cell supernatant and animal tissue were evaluated to investigate the molecular mechanisms. Palmatine showed the highest affinity to lipid A and was evaluated by in vitro and in vivo experiments. The results of the in vitro and in vivo experiments indicated that the levels of LPS, TNF-α and IL-6 of the palmatine group were significantly lower than those of the sepsis model group (p \u3c 0.01). The group treated with palmatine showed strong neutralizing LPS activity in vivo. The palmatine group exhibited stronger protective activity on vital organs compared to the LPS-induced animal model. This verifies that HJD is a viable treatment option for sepsis given that there are multiple components in HJD that neutralize LPS, decrease the release of IL-6 and TNF-α induced by LPS, and protect vital organs

The Influence of Water/Cement Ratio and Air Entrainment on the Electric Resistivity of Ionically Conductive Mortar

Ionically-conductive mortar can be used for indoor radiant heating partition walls. In these applications, mortar blocks are soaked in electrolyte solutions of CuSO4. The surfaces of the block are coated with sealant and epoxy resin afterwards to prevent evaporation. The mortar block becomes a heating element due to ionic conduction if a voltage is applied to the electrodes in the block. Its electrical conductivity depends on the dispersion of the electrolyte, and hence on the porosity of the mortar. The test specimens in this study were divided into four groups according to the different air entrainment agents, including aluminum powder and hydrogen peroxide as well as two air-entraining agents, SJ-2 and K12. Each group was manufactured with water/cement ratios in the range of 0.5 to 0.9. The test results showed that the conductivity of the mortar was strongly influenced by the air-entrainment and the water cement ratios. The volumetric electric resistivity and the associated microstructures of the mortar were investigated. The test results showed that the specimens made with aluminum powder and a water–cement ratio of 0.65–0.75 had high porosity. The porosity of those specimens was further increased by adding two different air-entraining agents. The specimens with aluminum powder and SJ-2, along with a water–cement ratio of 0.7 appeared to be the optimum mixture. Its resistivity was 19.37 W- m at 28 days under 25.31% porosity. The experimental results indicate that an ionically-conductive mortar can be produced by combining different air-entrainment agents with variable water-cement ratios to meet a specified electrical heating requirement

Deep Imaging of the HCG 95 Field.I.Ultra-diffuse Galaxies

We present a detection of 89 candidates of ultra-diffuse galaxies (UDGs) in a 4.9 degree$^2$ field centered on the Hickson Compact Group 95 (HCG 95) using deep $g$- and $r$-band images taken with the Chinese Near Object Survey Telescope. This field contains one rich galaxy cluster (Abell 2588 at $z$=0.199) and two poor clusters (Pegasus I at $z$=0.013 and Pegasus II at $z$=0.040). The 89 candidates are likely associated with the two poor clusters, giving about 50 $-$ 60 true UDGs with a half-light radius $r_{\rm e} > 1.5$ kpc and a central surface brightness $\mu(g,0) > 24.0$ mag arcsec$^{-2}$. Deep $z$'-band images are available for 84 of the 89 galaxies from the Dark Energy Camera Legacy Survey (DECaLS), confirming that these galaxies have an extremely low central surface brightness. Moreover, our UDG candidates are spread over a wide range in $g-r$ color, and $\sim$26% are as blue as normal star-forming galaxies, which is suggestive of young UDGs that are still in formation. Interestingly, we find that one UDG linked with HCG 95 is a gas-rich galaxy with H I mass $1.1 \times 10^{9} M_{\odot}$ detected by the Very Large Array, and has a stellar mass of $M_\star \sim 1.8 \times 10^{8}$ $M_{\odot}$. This indicates that UDGs at least partially overlap with the population of nearly dark galaxies found in deep H I surveys. Our results show that the high abundance of blue UDGs in the HCG 95 field is favored by the environment of poor galaxy clusters residing in H I-rich large-scale structures.Comment: Published in Ap

Spatial Variability of Relative Sea-Level Rise in Tianjin, China: Insight from InSAR, GPS, and Tide-Gauge Observations

The Tianjin coastal region in Bohai Bay, Northern China, is increasingly affected by storm-surge flooding which is exacerbated by anthropogenic land subsidence and global sea-level rise (SLR). We use a combination of synthetic aperture radar interferometry (InSAR), continuous GPS (CGPS), and tide-gauge observations to evaluate the spatial variability of relative SLR (RSLR) along the coastline of Tianjin. Land motion obtained by integration of 2 tracks of Sentinel-1 SAR images and 19 CGPS stations shows that the recent land subsidence in Tianjin downtown is less than 8 mm/yr, which has significantly decreased with respect to the last 50 years (up to 110 mm/yr in the 1980s). This might benefit from the South-to-North Water Transfer Project which has provided more than 1.8 billion cubic meters of water for Tianjin city since 2014 and reduced groundwater consumption. However, subsidence centers have shifted to suburbs, especially along the coastline dominated by reclaimed harbors and aquaculture industry, with localized subsidence up to 170 mm/yr. Combining InSAR observations with sea level records from tide-gauge stations reveals spatial variability of RSLR along the coastline. We find that, in the aquaculture zones along the coastline, the rates of land subsidence are as high as 82 mm/yr due to groundwater extraction for fisheries, which subsequently cause local sea levels to rise nearly 30 times faster than the global average. New insights into land subsidence and local SLR could help the country's regulators to make decisions on ensuring the sustainable development of the coastal aquaculture industry

Topological Single Photon Emission from Quantum Emitter Chains

We develop a scheme of generating highly indistinguishable single photons from an active quantum Su-Schrieffer-Heeger chain made from a collection of noisy quantum emitters. Surprisingly, the single photon emission spectrum of the active quantum chain is extremely narrow compared to that of a single emitter or topologically trivial chain. Moreover, this effect becomes dramatically strong close to the non-trivial-to-trivial phase transition point. Using this effect, we show that the single photon linewidth of a long topological quantum chain can become arbitrarily narrow, constituting an ideal source of indistinguishable single photons. Finally, taking specific examples of actual quantum emitters, we provide a microscopic and quantitative analysis of our model and analyze the most important parameters in view of the experimental realization

Performance analysis of a new deep super-cooling two-stage organic Rankine cycle

This document is the Accepted Manuscript version of the following article: Y. Yuan, G. Xu, Y. Quan, H. Wu, G. Song, W. Gong, and X. Luo, ‘Performance analysis of a new deep super-cooling two-stage organic Rankine cycle’, Energy Conversion and Management, Vol. 148: 305-316, September 2017. The final, definitive version is available online at doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2017.06.006. Published by Elsevier.In this article, a new deep super-cooling two-stage organic Rankine cycle (DTORC) is proposed and evaluated at high temperature waste heat recovery in order to increase the power output. A thermodynamic model of recuperative organic rankine cycle (ORC) is also established for the purpose of comparison. Furthermore, a new evaluation index, effective heat source utilization, is proposed to reflect the relationship among the heat source, power output and consumption of the waste heat carrier. A simulation model is formulated and analysed under a wide range of operating conditions with the heat resource temperature fixed at 300℃. Hexamethyldisiloxane (MM) and R245fa are used as the working fluid for DTORC, and MM for ORC. In the current work, the comparisons of heat source utilization, net thermal efficiency as well as the total surface area of the heat exchangers between DTORC and RC are discussed in detail. Results show that the DTORC performs better than ORC at high temperature waste heat recovery and it could increase the power output by 150%. Moreover, the maximum net thermal efficiency of DTORC can reach to 23.5% and increased by 30.5% compared with that using ORC, whereas the total surface areas of the heat exchangers are nearly the same.Peer reviewe