A self-assembling peptide RADA16-I integrated with spider fibroin uncrystalline motifs

Mechanical strength of nanofiber scaffolds formed by the self-assembling peptide RADA16-I or its derivatives is not very good and limits their application. To address this problem, we inserted spidroin uncrystalline motifs, which confer incomparable elasticity and hydrophobicity to spider silk GGAGGS or GPGGY, into the C-terminus of RADA16-I to newly design two peptides: R3 (n-RADARADARADARADA-GGAGGS-c) and R4 (n-RADARADARADARADA-GPGGY-c), and then observed the effect of these motifs on biophysical properties of the peptide. Atomic force microscopy, transmitting electron microscopy, and circular dichroism spectroscopy confirm that R3 and R4 display ß-sheet structure and self-assemble into long nanofibers. Compared with R3, the ß-sheet structure and nanofibers formed by R4 are more stable; they change to random coil and unordered aggregation at higher temperature. Rheology measurements indicate that novel peptides form hydrogel when induced by DMEM, and the storage modulus of R3 and R4 hydrogel is 0.5 times and 3 times higher than that of RADA16-I, respectively. Furthermore, R4 hydrogel remarkably promotes growth of liver cell L02 and liver cancer cell SMCC7721 compared with 2D culture, determined by MTT assay. Novel peptides still have potential as hydrophobic drug carriers; they can stabilize pyrene microcrystals in aqueous solution and deliver this into a lipophilic environment, identified by fluorescence emission spectra. Altogether, the spider fibroin motif GPGGY most effectively enhances mechanical strength and hydrophobicity of the peptide. This study provides a new method in the design of nanobiomaterials and helps us to understand the role of the amino acid sequence in nanofiber formation

Advanced Triage Protocols in the Emergency Department

Overcrowded emergency departments (EDs) are a major problem in the United States resulting in inefficiency in operation and performance. A Southern California hospital ED was the site for this project because it had operated over its maximum capacity during the last decade. Advanced triage protocols integrating standard order sets were implemented to improve quality of care; however, no evaluation of the protocols had been done. The purpose of this project was to evaluate the effect of the advanced triage protocols. Two project questions determined whether advanced triage protocols reduced ED length of stay (LOS), number of patients who left without being seen (LWBS), and improved patient experience. The Lean Principles and the Plan-Do-Study-Act Model for Improvement were used to guide the project. A pre- and post-implementation design found that ED LOS had a significant 17-minute decrease for ESI Level 3 patients (225.7 -± 8.6 minutes vs. 208.8 -± 6.9 minutes, p = .002), and significant 13- minute decrease for ESI Level 4 patients (146.5 -± 1.6 minutes vs. 133.5 -± 1.5 minutes, p =.001). For the ED rate of patients who LWBS, no statistically significant difference was seen between pre- and post- implementation (41/575, 7.13% vs. 46/611, 7.52%). Satisfaction scores were improved by more than 10% after implementation. The advanced triage protocols enhanced front-end throughput operations and patient experience within the ED by allowing triage nurses to initiate orders and begin pain medication. Delivering timely and efficient care to meet various patients\u27 needs has the potential for a positive social change through improved health care outcomes; perception of care; and trust between patients, providers, and the health care system

PRE-PURCHASE AND POST-PURCHASE SALES PROMOTIONS ON E-COMMERCE PLATFORMS: THE EFFECTS OF PROMOTIONAL BENEFITS ON CUSTOMER-BASED BRAND EQUITY

This research examines the impacts of electronic commerce platforms\u27 sales promotions\u27 benefits on customer-based brand equity (platform brand awareness and platform brand association) and how these relationships are moderated by the promotion stage. Based on the two functions of sales promotions (stimulation vs. maintenance), we propose a five-benefit framework consisting of exploration, convenience, savings, social bonds and structural bonds. Our results reveal the two functions of sales promotions and the positive effects of the benefits on customer-based brand equity (CBBE). The differences between pre- and post-purchase sales promotions are also significant. We discuss the managerial and theoretical implications of these results at the end

Bacillus velezensis LG37: Functional verification of GlnL and analysis of the ammonia assimilation metabolic pathway

High concentrations of ammonia have toxic effects on bred animals. In aquaculture, the possibility of using Bacillus preparations to remove ammonia nitrogen in aquaculture water through assimilation has been generally recognized. In this study, to analyze the metabolic pathways of ammonia assimilation in Bacillus, the characteristics and pathways of ammonia assimilation of Bacillus velezensis LG37 stored in the laboratory were analyzed. The results showed that the rate of ammonia assimilation by LG37 in a minimal medium could reach 94.2% at 20 h, and the highest assimilation rate was 95.4% within 60 h. In a minimal medium, the growth rate of LG37 in the glutamine group was significantly faster than that in the ammonia group, but the expression of glnL showed opposite results. The gene expression level of glnL in the ammonia group was significantly higher than in the glutamine group. glnL overexpression (OEglnL) and deletion (ΔglnL) strains were constructed by CRISPR/Cas9 technology and using the pHT1K vector, respectively. The expression levels of glnL in LG37, OEglnL, and ΔglnL strains were determined by RT-qPCR. The glnL gene expression levels were ordered as follows: OEglnL > LG37 > ΔglnL. In all three strains (LG37, ΔglnL, and OEglnL) and at different ammonia concentrations, the expression levels of glnL were consistent with glnA and glnB levels, showing a positive correlation. However, the expression levels of glnK and glnR in different strains hardly changed significantly

Impacts of salinity parameterizations on temperature simulation over and in a hypersaline lake

In this paper, we introduced parameterizations of the salinity effects (on heat capacity, thermal conductivity, freezing point and saturated vapor pressure) in a lake scheme integrated in the Weather Research and Forecasting model coupled with the Community Land Model (WRF-CLM). This was done to improve temperature simulation over and in a saline lake and to test the contributions of salinity effects on various water properties via sensitivity experiments. The modified lake scheme consists of the lake module in the CLM model, which is the land component of the WRF-CLM model. The Great Salt Lake (GSL) in the USA was selected as the study area. The simulation was performed from September 3, 2001 to September 30, 2002. Our results show that the modified WRF-CLM model that includes the lake scheme considering salinity effects can reasonably simulate temperature over and in the GSL. This model had much greater accuracy than neglecting salinity effects, particularly in a very cold event when that effect alters the freezing point. The salinity effect on saturated vapor pressure can reduce latent heat flux over the lake and make it slightly warmer. The salinity effect on heat capacity can also make lake temperature prone to changes. However, the salinity effect on thermal conductivity was found insignificant in our simulations. © 2015, Chinese Society for Oceanology and Limnology, Science Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

The relationship between childhood maltreatment and learning engagement of high school students: the role of growth mindset and beliefs about adversity

ObjectiveTo explore the relationship between childhood maltreatment, growth mindset, beliefs about adversity and learning engagement among high school students.MethodsResearch participants were selected by random cluster sampling.652 high school students (50.2% male and 49.8% female) from five high schools were investigated using paper-pencil survey versions of Child Trauma Questionnaire, The Utrecht Work Engagement Scale-student, Growth Mindset Scale, and The Beliefs About Adversity Scale.ResultsChildhood maltreatment had a significant negative effect on high school students’ learning engagement. Childhood maltreatment directly predicted high school students’ learning engagement and also had an indirect negative predictive effect on learning engagement via growth mindsetConclusionGrowth mindset plays a mediating role between childhood maltreatment and learning engagement. The beliefs about adversity moderated the relationship between childhood maltreatment and growth mindset, as well as the relationship between childhood maltreatment and learning engagement. This study has empirical implications for helping high school students who have experienced childhood maltreatment to develop growth mindset and teaching students to adopt positive adversity beliefs in response to trauma during psychological interventions, thereby increasing high school students’ engagement in learning

Deep Hashing Based Fusing Index Method for Large-Scale Image Retrieval

Hashing has been widely deployed to perform the Approximate Nearest Neighbor (ANN) search for the large-scale image retrieval to solve the problem of storage and retrieval efficiency. Recently, deep hashing methods have been proposed to perform the simultaneous feature learning and the hash code learning with deep neural networks. Even though deep hashing has shown the better performance than traditional hashing methods with handcrafted features, the learned compact hash code from one deep hashing network may not provide the full representation of an image. In this paper, we propose a novel hashing indexing method, called the Deep Hashing based Fusing Index (DHFI), to generate a more compact hash code which has stronger expression ability and distinction capability. In our method, we train two different architecture’s deep hashing subnetworks and fuse the hash codes generated by the two subnetworks together to unify images. Experiments on two real datasets show that our method can outperform state-of-the-art image retrieval applications

Efficacy of EGFR-TKI therapy in patients with brain metastases from non-small-cell lung cancer: A metaanalysis

Purpose: This meta-analysis aimed to systematically evaluate the efficacy of tyrosine kinase inhibitors of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR-TKIs) for patients with brain metastases (BM) from nonsmall- cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and to compare this treatment modality to chemotherapy or radiotherapy.Methods: PubMed, EMBASE (OvidSP), the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), Web of Science and ASCO Annual Meeting Abstracts were searched. Controlled clinical studies that compared the efficacy of EGFR-TKIs with chemotherapy or radiotherapy for NSCLC patients with BM were included in the analysis. Efficacy indicators included overall survival (OS), local progression-free survival (LPFS) and objective response rate (ORR).Results: The final sample consisted of 24,637 NSCLC patients with BM from 11 clinical studies. In primary efficacy analysis, it was found that EGFR-TKIs were significantly superior to chemotherapy or radiotherapy in terms of ORR (odds ratio (OR) = 2.10, p = 0.035), OS (hazard ratio (HR) = 0.78, p = 0.011) and LPFS (HR = 0.60, p < 0.001).Conclusion: Among the patients with BM from NSCLC, EGFR-TKIs exhibit a therapeutic advantage over chemotherapy or radiotherapy, which is reflected in the elevation of ORR and improvement in OS and LPFS.Keywords: Brain metastasis, Non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), Protein kinase Inhibitors, Epidermal growth factor, Meta-analysi