Combining expansion microscopy with other super-resolution techniques

Expansion microscopy (ExM) was introduced since 2015 and has been fast developed since then. This technique, via physical enlargement of fluorescence carried biological samples, can resolve structures of tens of nanometers with conventional microscopes. Here I discussed the current methods in ExM and influences of different fixation, protease digestion and labelling methods used in ExM. Validation of ExM was also carried out in the work using image registration of microtubule cytoskeletons and the 190 nm periodic structures of β-spectrin ring structures in neurons. Next, the combination of ExM with other super-resolution techniques, e.g. stimulated emission depletion (STED) microscopy was proposed. The centrosome protein CEP152, the primary cilium and microtubule were resolved using expansion STED (ExSTED) microscopy. With the optimized ExSTED microscopy, a sub-10 nm 2D and a sub-50 nm 3D resolution was achieved. Structured illumination microscopy (SIM) was also attempted to image the expanded hydrogels, but severe artifacts were observed. Finally, a tri-functional fluorescent probe was proposed, where a fluorescent dye was linked with a benzyl-guanine and an acrylic acid group. The probe was used to stain a SNAP-tagged nuclear pore protein in cells and used to crosslink proteins to acrylamide-based hydrogel in ExM

Experimental study of aerospace solid propellant fracturing in simulated coal sample

Coal reservoirs with high gas content and low permeability seriously restrict the efficient production of coal and coalbed methane. It is necessary to fracture and enhance the permeability of coal reservoirs. Aerospace solid propellant deflagration can generate a large amount of high-energy gas to impact coal reservoirs, which can achieve the purpose of fracturing and enhancing permeability of coal reservoirs. To study the characteristics of aerospace solid propellant for fracturing coal, a solid propellant for fracturing and permeability enhancement of coal reservoir was firstly researched and developed based on the formula of civil aerospace solid propellant, was, and its performance, sensitivity, pressure and temperature resistance were tested. The aerospace solid propellant fracturing test was then carried out using simulated coal samples, and the borehole wall pressure and strain within the simulated coal samples were monitored during the test. Finally, the destruction characteristics of simulated coal samples were analyzed according to the test results. The results shown that the aerospace solid propellant had good performance, with the advantages of waterproof, pressure resistant, and no CO generation, which could be adapted to the underground environment of coal mine. During the test, the time curve of the borehole wall pressure shown the stages of rapid pressure rise, slow pressure rise, and nonlinear pressure drop, in which the rise time of the borehole wall pressure was about 18 ms. The peak pressure in the borehole was low and unevenly distributed. The peak pressure in the middle of the borehole was 118.1 MPa, and the peak pressure at the bottom of the borehole was 85.3 MPa. Stress wave generated in simulated coal sample during aerospace solid propellant fracturing was composed of compressive and tensile phases with low intensity, long duration and slow decay with distance. The aerospace solid propellant fracturing technology was dominated by the quasi-static action of high-energy gas, with high utilization of stress wave energy. The research results provide a reference for the application of aerospace solid propellant in the field of coalbed methane mining

Serum Starvation Induced Cell Cycle Synchronization Facilitates Human Somatic Cells Reprogramming

Human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) provide a valuable model for regenerative medicine and human disease research. To date, however, the reprogramming efficiency of human adult cells is still low. Recent studies have revealed that cell cycle is a key parameter driving epigenetic reprogramming to pluripotency. As is well known, retroviruses such as the Moloney murine leukemia virus (MoMLV) require cell division to integrate into the host genome and replicate, whereas the target primary cells for reprogramming are a mixture of several cell types with different cell cycle rhythms. Whether cell cycle synchronization has potential effect on retrovirus induced reprogramming has not been detailed. In this study, utilizing transient serum starvation induced synchronization, we demonstrated that starvation generated a reversible cell cycle arrest and synchronously progressed through G2/M phase after release, substantially improving retroviral infection efficiency. Interestingly, synchronized human dermal fibroblasts (HDF) and adipose stem cells (ASC) exhibited more homogenous epithelial morphology than normal FBS control after infection, and the expression of epithelial markers such as E-cadherin and Epcam were strongly activated. Futhermore, synchronization treatment ultimately improved Nanog positive clones, achieved a 15–20 fold increase. These results suggested that cell cycle synchronization promotes the mesenchymal to epithelial transition (MET) and facilitates retrovirus mediated reprogramming. Our study, utilization of serum starvation rather than additional chemicals, provide a new insight into cell cycle regulation and induced reprogramming of human cells

160704_4.Tif

20160704 blot using NTA antihi

Experimental Study on High-Energy Gas Fracturing Artificial Coal

The low permeability of coal seams has always been the main bottleneck restricting coalbed gas drainage. To improve the permeability of a coal seam, a high-energy gas fracturing technology is proposed. Firstly, based on the high-energy gas fracturing mechanism and gas production principle of fracturing agent, a fracturing agent applicable to coal reservoirs was developed, and its performance and sensitivity were tested. Then, a high-energy gas-fracturing simulated coal sample test was conducted, and the drilling wall pressure and strain of the simulated coal sample were tested. The results show that high-energy gas fracturing technology is a safe and efficient technical means for improving the permeability of coal reservoirs. The pressure–time curve of the borehole wall under the action of high-energy gas can be divided into three stages, namely, the rapid pressure-rising stage, steady pressure stage, and falling stage; the maximum pressure in the borehole is about several hundred MPa, and the pressure distribution in the borehole is not uniform. Compared with explosives blasting, the stress wave intensity in coal caused by the action of high-energy gases is low, the duration is short, and the peak stress attenuates slowly with increasing distance. Under the action of high-energy gas, no crush zone is generated near the borehole; the number of radial cracks produced is small but long. The extent of the fracture zone depends mainly on the quasi-static splitting wedge effect of the high-energy gas

Experimental Study on High-Energy Gas Fracturing Artificial Coal

The low permeability of coal seams has always been the main bottleneck restricting coalbed gas drainage. To improve the permeability of a coal seam, a high-energy gas fracturing technology is proposed. Firstly, based on the high-energy gas fracturing mechanism and gas production principle of fracturing agent, a fracturing agent applicable to coal reservoirs was developed, and its performance and sensitivity were tested. Then, a high-energy gas-fracturing simulated coal sample test was conducted, and the drilling wall pressure and strain of the simulated coal sample were tested. The results show that high-energy gas fracturing technology is a safe and efficient technical means for improving the permeability of coal reservoirs. The pressure–time curve of the borehole wall under the action of high-energy gas can be divided into three stages, namely, the rapid pressure-rising stage, steady pressure stage, and falling stage; the maximum pressure in the borehole is about several hundred MPa, and the pressure distribution in the borehole is not uniform. Compared with explosives blasting, the stress wave intensity in coal caused by the action of high-energy gases is low, the duration is short, and the peak stress attenuates slowly with increasing distance. Under the action of high-energy gas, no crush zone is generated near the borehole; the number of radial cracks produced is small but long. The extent of the fracture zone depends mainly on the quasi-static splitting wedge effect of the high-energy gas

QoS-Driven Adaptive Trust Service Coordination in the Industrial Internet of Things

The adaptive coordination of trust services can provide highly dependable and personalized solutions for industrial requirements in the service-oriented industrial internet of things (IIoT) architecture to achieve efficient utilization of service resources. Although great progress has been made, trust service coordination still faces challenging problems such as trustless industry service, poor coordination, and quality of service (QoS) personalized demand. In this paper, we propose a QoS-driven and adaptive trust service coordination method to implement Pareto-efficient allocation of limited industrial service resources in the background of the IIoT. First, we established a Pareto-effective and adaptive industrial IoT trust service coordination model and introduced a blockchain-based adaptive trust evaluation mechanism to achieve trust evaluation of industrial services. Then, taking advantage of a large and complex search space for solution efficiency, we introduced and compared multi-objective gray-wolf algorithms with the particle swarm optimization (PSO) and dragonfly algorithms. The experimental results showed that by judging and blacklisting malicious raters quickly and accurately, our model can efficiently realize self-adaptive, personalized, and intelligent trust service coordination under the given constraints, improving not only the response time, but also the success rate in coordination

Preparation of Robust Superhydrophobic Halloysite Clay Nanotubes via Mussel-Inspired Surface Modification

In this study, a novel and convenient bio-inspired modification strategy was used to create stable superhydrophobic structures on halloysite clay nanotubes (HNTs) surfaces. The polydopamine (PDA) nanoparticles can firmly adhere on HNTs surfaces in a mail environment of pH 8.5 via the oxidative self-polymerization of dopamine and synthesize a rough nano-layer assisted with vitamin M, which provides a catechol functional platform for the secondary reaction to graft hydrophobic long-chain alkylamine for preparation of hierarchical micro/nano structures with superhydrophobic properties. The micromorphology, crystal structure, and surface chemical composition of the resultant superhydrophobic HNTs were characterized by field emission scanning electron (FE-SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The as-formed surfaces exhibited outstanding superhydrophobicity with a water contact angle (CA) of 156.3 ± 2.3°, while having little effect on the crystal structures of HNTs. Meanwhile, the resultant HNTs also showed robust stability that can conquer various harsh conditions including strong acidic/alkaline solutions, organic solvents, water boiling, ultrasonic cleaning, and outdoor solar radiation. In addition, the novel HNTs exhibited excellent packaged capabilities of phase change materials (PCMs) for practical application in thermal energy storage, which improved the mass fractions by 22.94% for stearic acid and showed good recyclability. These HNTs also exhibited good oil/water separation ability. Consequently, due to the superior merits of high efficiency, easy operation, and non-toxicity, this bionic surface modification approach may make HNTs have great potentials for extensive applications