Single-Walled Carbon Nanohorn (SWNH) Aggregates Inhibited Proliferation of Human Liver Cell Lines and Promoted Apoptosis, Especially for Hepatoma Cell Lines

Research focus: SWNHs (single-walled carbon nanohorns) may be utilized to treat cancer as drug carriers based on their particular structure. But, the effect mechanism of the material itself on liver cells has not been investigated. Research methods used: To answer those questions, the roles of rude SWNHs on the biology functions of human liver normal and cancer cells were studied. Results/findings of the research: The results indicated that SWNHs suppressed growth, proliferation, and mitotic entry of human liver normal and cancer cells, and also pushed cell apoptosis, especially in cancer cells. We had found SWNHs in the lysosomes of L02 cells and in the nuclei of HepG2 cells. It indicated that individual spherical SWNH particles could enter into liver cells. Main conclusions and recommendations: Our results identified that it had different mechanisms between SWNHs and hepatoma cell lines or human normal cell lines. Advanced research about application and mechanisms in the treatment of HCC (hepatocellular carcinoma) by SWNHs should be carried out

Relation between Housing Arrangements and Students’ Academic Performance at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign

In this paper, we study the effects on academic performance of living in on-campus housing or in private off-campus housing. This subject interested us because so many students live away from the dormitories, and we wondered if these living arrangements had any effect on grade point average (GPA). We conducted focus groups to gather qualitative data to gain a better understanding about how people feel about living arrangements and academic performance. From these responses, we composed questions for an online survey designed to find patterns and relations between living arrangements and academic performance. In conclusion, we demonstrated that housing options have an effect on a student’s academic performance.Ope

Evaluation on Optimal Scale of Rural Fixed-asset Investment – Based on Microcosmic Perspective of Farmers’ Income Increase

The rural fundamental and productive fixed-asset investment not only makes active influence on the changes of farmers’ operational, wages and property income, but it also has an optimal scale range for farmers’ income increase. From the perspective of farmers’ income increase, this article evaluates the optimal scale of rural fixed-asset investment by setting up model with statistic data, and the results show that the optimal scale of per capita rural fixed-asset investment is 76.35% of per capita net income of rural residents, which has been reached in China in 2009. Therefore, compared with the adding of rural fixed-asset investment, a better income increase effect can be achieved through the adjustment of rural fixed-asset investment structure

Relation between Housing Arrangements and Students’ Academic Performance at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign

In this paper, we study the effects on academic performance of living in on-campus housing or in private off-campus housing. This subject interested us because so many students live away from the dormitories, and we wondered if these living arrangements had any effect on grade point average (GPA). We conducted focus groups to gather qualitative data to gain a better understanding about how people feel about living arrangements and academic performance. From these responses, we composed questions for an online survey designed to find patterns and relations between living arrangements and academic performance. In conclusion, we demonstrated that housing options have an effect on a student’s academic performance.Ope

Local Government Competition and Regional Green Development in China: The Mediating Role of Environmental Regulation

Green development is an important way to meet the challenges of ecological and environmental protection and economic growth, as well as an inevitable choice to realize China’s sustainable development in the new era. The Chinese economic system is such that local government competition has become a key factor affecting regional green development under the current leadership. Based on the inter-provincial panel data of 30 provinces in mainland China from 1997 to 2017, this paper uses the total-factor non-radial directional distance function and slack-based measure data envelopment analysis (SBM-DEA) to measure the green development efficiency of the provinces. Additionally, it also uses the Malmquist–Luenberger (ML) index to decompose green development efficiency and analyzes its internal driving factors. Finally, taking environmental regulation as a mediating variable, this paper empirically analyzes the influence mechanism of local government competition on green development efficiency from three perspectives including growth competition, fiscal competition and investment competition. The study found that: the green development efficiency of Chinese regions showed a downward trend, with significant regional differences; technological progress is the key factor to improve the efficiency of green development, and its role gradually decreases from eastern to western and central regions; pure technical efficiency has become a bottleneck restricting the improvement of green development efficiency, while scale efficiency shows significant regional differences; the growth competition, fiscal competition and investment competition of local government all have a significant inhibitory effect on the efficiency of green development. This paper puts forward policy suggestions supporting enterprise technology research and development, optimizing energy conservation and emission reduction as well as improving the local government performance evaluation system for green development

Phylogenetic relationship of Chinese pangolin (Manis pentadactyla aurita) revealed by complete mitochondrial genome

The Chinese pangolin (Manis pentadactyla) is an extremely endangered species, it has been banned from international trade due to a sharp decline of the population number in China. It is difficult to distinguish among subspecies, thus making it entangled in law enforement. In order to clarify this chaos, we determined and annotated the whole mtDNA genome of the Chinese pangolin. The complete mitogenome is 16 573 bp in length, includeing 13 protein-coding genes, 22 tRNA genes, 2 rRNA genes, and one control region. We built the phylogenetic tree of Chinese pangolinand other 7 most related Manis species

Preparative Separation of Diterpene Lactones and Flavones from <i>Andrographis paniculate</i> Using Off-Line Two-Dimensional High-Speed Counter-Current Chromatography

Seven diterpene lactones, andrographolide (1), isoandrographolide (2), neo-andrographolide (3), 14-deoxy-11,12-didehydroandrographolide (4), 14-deoxyandrographiside (5), 14-deoxy-11,12-didehydroandrographiside (6), 3,14-dideoxyandrographolide (10), and three flavones, andrographidine C (7), andrographidine A (8), 5-hydroxy-7,8-dimethoxyflavanone (9) have been successfully and efficiently isolated from A. paniculata using an off-line two dimensional (2D) high-speed counter-current chromatography (HSCCC) method for the first time. For the first dimension HSCCC separation, petroleum ether-ethyl acetate-methanol-water 3:7:5:5 (v/v) was employed to isolate 14.4 mg of compound 1, 3.1 mg of compound 2, 7.8 mg of compound 3, and 18.0 mg of compound 4 from 200 mg of the A. paniculata extract. For the second dimension HSCCC separation, petroleum ether-ethyl acetate-methanol-water 2:8:1:9 (v/v) and 5:5:6:4 (v/v) were employed to isolate the collected fractions ranged from 55 to 79 min and the flow out fraction, respectively, which led to 5.1 mg of compound 5, 4.4 mg of compound 6, 2.4 mg of compound 7, 3.3 mg of compound 8, 4.0 mg of compound 9, 7.0 mg of compound 10. The structures of these diterpene lactones and flavones were elucidated by extensive spectroscopic methods

3D Point Cloud on Semantic Information for Wheat Reconstruction

Phenotypic analysis has always played an important role in breeding research. At present, wheat phenotypic analysis research mostly relies on high-precision instruments, which make the cost higher. Thanks to the development of 3D reconstruction technology, the reconstructed wheat 3D model can also be used for phenotypic analysis. In this paper, a method is proposed to reconstruct wheat 3D model based on semantic information. The method can generate the corresponding 3D point cloud model of wheat according to the semantic description. First, an object detection algorithm is used to detect the characteristics of some wheat phenotypes during the growth process. Second, the growth environment information and some phenotypic features of wheat are combined into semantic information. Third, text-to-image algorithm is used to generate the 2D image of wheat. Finally, the wheat in the 2D image is transformed into an abstract 3D point cloud and obtained a higher precision point cloud model using a deep learning algorithm. Extensive experiments indicate that the method reconstructs 3D models and has a heuristic effect on phenotypic analysis and breeding research by deep learning