Construction of spirocarbocycles via gold-catalyzed intramolecular dearomatization of naphthols.

A highly efficient, gold-catalyzed intramolecular dearomatization reaction of naphthols via 5-endo-dig cyclization is described. This facile and direct approach furnishes spirocarbocycles in excellent yields under mild conditions

Effects of Neuropeptide y on Stem Cells and Their Potential Applications in Disease Therapy

Neuropeptide Y (NPY), a 36-amino acid peptide, is widely distributed in the central and peripheral nervous systems and other peripheral tissues. It takes part in regulating various biological processes including food intake, circadian rhythm, energy metabolism, and neuroendocrine secretion. Increasing evidence indicates that NPY exerts multiple regulatory effects on stem cells. As a kind of primitive and undifferentiated cells, stem cells have the therapeutic potential to replace damaged cells, secret paracrine molecules, promote angiogenesis, and modulate immunity. Stem cell-based therapy has been demonstrated effective and considered as one of the most promising treatments for specific diseases. However, several limitations still hamper its application, such as poor survival and low differentiation and integration rates of transplanted stem cells. The regulatory effects of NPY on stem cell survival, proliferation, and differentiation may be helpful to overcome these limitations and facilitate the application of stem cell-based therapy. In this review, we summarized the regulatory effects of NPY on stem cells and discussed their potential applications in disease therapy

Quenching and flow of charm and bottom quarks via semi-leptonic decay of DD and BB mesons in Pb+Pb collisions at the LHC

Heavy flavor particles provide important probes of the microscopic structure and thermodynamic properties of the quark-gluon plasma (QGP) produced in high-energy nucleus-nucleus collisions. We study the energy loss and flow of charm and bottom quarks inside the QGP via the nuclear modification factor ($R_\mathrm{AA}$) and elliptic flow coefficient ($v_2$) of their decayed leptons in heavy-ion collisions at the LHC. The dynamical evolution of the QGP is performed using the (3+1)-dimensional viscous hydrodynamics model CLVisc; the evolution of heavy quarks inside the QGP is simulated with our improved Langevin model that takes into account both collisional and radiative energy loss of heavy quarks; the hadronization of heavy quarks is simulated via our hybrid coalescence-fragmentation model; and the semi-leptonic decay of $D$ and $B$ mesons is simulated via PYTHIA. By using the same spatial diffusion coefficient for charm and bottom quarks, we obtain smaller $R_\mathrm{AA}$ and larger $v_2$ of charm decayed leptons than bottom decayed leptons, indicating stronger energy loss of charm quarks than bottom quarks inside the QGP within our current model setup.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figure

Evaluation of Influence of Acupuncture and Electro-Acupuncture for Blood Perfusion of Stomach by Laser Doppler Blood Perfusion Imaging

The objective of this study is to observe effects of acupuncture and electro-acupuncture (EA) on blood perfusion in the stomach, and probe into the application of laser Doppler blood perfusion imaging technique in the study of the effect of acupuncture and moxibustion on the entrails. In the acupuncture group of 20 rats, acupuncture was given at “Zusanli” (ST 36) and in EA group of 18 rats, EA was applied at “Zusanli” (ST 36), with 18 rats without acupuncture used as control group. Changes of blood perfusion and microcirculation distribution in the stomach were investigated with laser Doppler blood perfusion imager (LDPI). The laser Doppler blood perfusion image could clearly display changes of blood flow distribution in the stomach before and after acupuncture. After acupuncture or EA was given at “Zusanli” (ST 36), the blood perfusion in the stomach increased significantly, the blood perfusion in the blood vessels and microcirculation of other parts significantly increased, and the maximum increase of the blood perfusion was found at 10 min after acupuncture or EA, with increases of 0.50 _ 0.11 (PU) and 0.66 _ 0.16 (PU), respectively, and the blood perfusion still kept at a higher degree within 10 min after ceasing of the acupuncture or EA. While the blood perfusion in the stomach in the rat of the control group tended to gradual decrease. It has been concluded that both acupuncture and EA can increase blood perfusion in the stomach, the EA having stronger action, and LDPI can display the regulative action of acupuncture on the blood vessel of the stomach by using an image

Facile Synthesis and Tensile Behavior of TiO2 One-Dimensional Nanostructures

High-yield synthesis of TiO2 one-dimensional (1D) nanostructures was realized by a simple annealing of Ni-coated Ti grids in an argon atmosphere at 950 °C and 760 torr. The as-synthesized 1D nanostructures were single crystalline rutile TiO2 with the preferred growth direction close to [210]. The growth of these nanostructures was enhanced by using catalytic materials, higher reaction temperature, and longer reaction time. Nanoscale tensile testing performed on individual 1D nanostructures showed that the nanostructures appeared to fracture in a brittle manner. The measured Young’s modulus and fracture strength are ~56.3 and 1.4 GPa, respectively

Heavy flavor quenching and flow: the roles of initial condition, pre-equilibrium evolution and in-medium interaction

Within an advanced Langevin-hydrodynamics framework coupled to a hybrid fragmentation-coalescence hadronization model, we study heavy flavor quenching and flow in relativistic heavy-ion collisions. We investigate how the initial heavy quark spectrum, the energy loss and hadronization mechanisms of heavy quarks in medium, the evolution profile of pre-equilibrium stage, the flow of medium and the temperature dependence of heavy quark diffusion coefficient influence the suppression and elliptic flow of heavy mesons at RHIC and the LHC. Our result shows that different modeling of initial conditions, pre-equilibrium evolution and in-medium interaction can individually yield about 10-40% uncertainties in D meson suppression and flow at low transverse momentum. We also find that a proper combination of collisional versus radiative energy loss, coalescence versus fragmentation in hadronization, and the inclusion of medium flow are the most important factors for describing the suppression and elliptic flow of heavy mesons.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures; to be published in Chinese Physics