SR-BI as a target of natural products and its significance in cancer

Scavenger receptor class B type I (SR-BI) protein is an integral membrane glycoprotein. SR-BI is emerging as a multifunctional protein, which regulates autophagy, efferocytosis, cell survival and inflammation. It is well known that SR-BI plays a critical role in lipoprotein metabolism by mediating cholesteryl esters selective uptake and the bi-directional flux of free cholesterol. Recently, SR-BI has also been identified as a potential marker for cancer diagnosis, prognosis, or even a treatment target. Natural products are a promising source for the discovery of new drug leads. Multiple natural products were identified to regulate SR-BI protein expression. There are still a number of challenges in modulating SR-BI expression in cancer and in using natural products for modulation of such protein expression. In this review, our purpose is to discuss the relationship between SR-BI protein and cancer, and the molecular mechanisms regulating SR-BI expression, as well as to provide an overview of natural products that regulate SR-BI expression

RCEA: Real-time, Continuous Emotion Annotation for collecting precise mobile video ground truth labels

Collecting accurate and precise emotion ground truth labels for mobile video watching is essential for ensuring meaningful predictions. However, video-based emotion annotation techniques either rely on post-stimulus discrete self-reports, or allow real-time, continuous emotion annotations (RCEA) only for desktop settings. Following a user-centric approach, we designed an RCEA technique for mobile video watching, and validated its usability and reliability in a controlled, indoor (N=12) and later outdoor (N=20) study. Drawing on physiological measures, interaction logs, and subjective workload reports, we show that (1) RCEA is perceived to be usable for annotating emotions while mobile video watching, without increasing users' mental workload (2) the resulting time-variant annotations are comparable with intended emotion attributes of the video stimuli (classification error for valence: 8.3%; arousal: 25%). We contribute a validated annotation technique and associated annotation fusion method, that is suitable for collecting fine-grained emotion annotations while users watch mobile videos

Asymmetric Henry Reaction of 2-Acylpyridine <i>N</i>-Oxides Catalyzed by a Ni-Aminophenol Sulfonamide Complex: An Unexpected Mononuclear Catalyst

The asymmetric Henry reaction of 2-acylpyridine N-oxide remains a challenge as N-oxides generally act as competitive catalyst inhibitors or displace activating ligands. A novel variable yield (up to 99%) asymmetric Henry reaction of 2-acypyridine N-oxides catalyzed by a Ni-aminophenol sulfonamide complex with good to excellent enantioselectivity (up to 99%) has been developed. Mechanistic studies suggest that the unique properties of the electron-pairs of N-oxides for complexation with Ni makes the unexpected mononuclear complex, rather than the previously reported dinuclear complex, the active species

Optimal aircraft arrival scheduling with continuous descent operations in busy terminal maneuvering areas

Continuous Descent Operation (CDO), an aircraft arrival procedure in which an aircraft descends from an optimal position with minimum engine thrust, can significantly reduce aircraft noise, fuel burn and emissions. The implementation of CDOs, however, requires more separation buffers among flights than traditional stepwise descents, resulting in loss of airspace and runway capacity. It is therefore challenging to maximize the number of aircraft performing CDOs for an airport, especially in busy terminal maneuvering areas. In this paper, we tackle the difficulty by developing an aircraft arrival scheduling model to sequence arrival aircraft before their merge point and generate conflict-free trajectories by means of a lateral path stretching method. The contributions of our study to the research community are twofold: firstly, we investigate a new aircraft arrival scheduling problem that incorporates both the CDO trajectory optimization and aircraft scheduling, and develop the first model simultaneously considering these two procedures; secondly, we conduct extensive computational experiments based on historical data in Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport, which would provide an important reference for future research in the area. Our numerical results demonstrate the benefit of the proposed CDO-based aircraft arrival scheduling approach in terms of reducing total flight time and saving fuel consumption when applied in this congested airport

Fabrication and Properties of Nano-TiCx/Cu-Cr-Zr Alloy Composites

Nano-sized TiCx/Cu master alloy was prepared by the in situ method of combustion synthesis and hot press consolidation in Cu-Ti- CNTs system. The nano-TiCx/Cu-Cr-Zr alloy composites were fabricated by dispersing the nano-sized TiCx/Cu master alloy into molten Cu-Cr-Zr alloy via stir casting. It was revealed that the average grain size of TiCx/Cu-Cr-Zr alloy composites was significantly refined from 90 μm to 20 μm, the Brinell Hardness of nano-TiCx/Cu-Cr-Zr alloy composites increased from 75.1 HB to 86.8 HB, and the wear resistance increased by 12.6%, compared with the Cu-Cr-Zr alloy. The electric conductivity slightly decreased from 64.71% IACS to 52.93% IACS. The improvements of hardness and wear resistance result from nano-TiCx and grain refinement strengthening

Induced Systemic Resistance for Improving Plant Immunity by Beneficial Microbes

Plant beneficial microorganisms improve the health and growth of the associated plants. Application of beneficial microbes triggers an enhanced resistance state, also termed as induced systemic resistance (ISR), in the host, against a broad range of pathogens. Upon the activation of ISR, plants employ long-distance systemic signaling to provide protection for distal tissue, inducing rapid and strong immune responses against pathogens invasions. The transmission of ISR signaling was commonly regarded to be a jasmonic acid- and ethylene-dependent, but salicylic acid-independent, transmission. However, in the last decade, the involvement of both salicylic acid and jasmonic acid/ethylene signaling pathways and the regulatory roles of small RNA in ISR has been updated. In this review, the plant early recognition, responsive reactions, and the related signaling transduction during the process of the plant&ndash;beneficial microbe interaction was discussed, with reflection on the crucial regulatory role of small RNAs in the beneficial microbe-mediated ISR

Fabrication and Properties of Nano-TiCx/Cu-Cr-Zr Alloy Composites

Nano-sized TiCx/Cu master alloy was prepared by the in situ method of combustion synthesis and hot press consolidation in Cu-Ti- CNTs system. The nano-TiCx/Cu-Cr-Zr alloy composites were fabricated by dispersing the nano-sized TiCx/Cu master alloy into molten Cu-Cr-Zr alloy via stir casting. It was revealed that the average grain size of TiCx/Cu-Cr-Zr alloy composites was significantly refined from 90 μm to 20 μm, the Brinell Hardness of nano-TiCx/Cu-Cr-Zr alloy composites increased from 75.1 HB to 86.8 HB, and the wear resistance increased by 12.6%, compared with the Cu-Cr-Zr alloy. The electric conductivity slightly decreased from 64.71% IACS to 52.93% IACS. The improvements of hardness and wear resistance result from nano-TiCx and grain refinement strengthening

Study of the NH₃-SCR Mechanism on LaMnO₃ Surfaces Based on the DFT Method

LaMnO3 with perovskite structure is a SCR de-NOx catalyst with good performance at low temperatures. In this paper, the SCR reaction process on the 010 surface of LaMnO3 catalyst was studied by DFT method, to guide the development of catalysts and their effective application. The results obtained through research indicate that both E-R and L-H mechanisms exist on the catalyst surface. The NH3 molecule can be absorbed on L acid and then oxidized by lattice oxygen to form NH2. Then, NH2 can react with the NO molecule to form NH2NO and decompose to N2 and H2O. The NH3 can also be absorbed with hydroxyl to form NH4+, it can also react with NO to form NH2NO and then decompose. The NH4+ also can react with NO3− which is formed by NO oxidized when O2 is present, to participate in the rapid SCR process

The Study of SCR Mechanism on LaMn_1−<i>x</i>Fe<i>_x</i>O₃ Catalyst Surface Based DFT

Perovskite SCR catalysts have become a hot research topic in the field of de-NOx catalyst development. This article selects LaMnO3 with high performance as the research object, modifies the catalyst by doping some iron elements instead of manganese elements, and applies density functional theory to study its reaction mechanism, providing theoretical reference for further research on perovskite. Research has found that several main reactants such as NH3, NO, and O2 can form stable adsorption at the active site, with NO more inclined to adsorb at the nitrogen atom end at the active site. The oxidation of O2 molecules after adsorption is greater than that of the active site. The adsorption capacity of the Mn active site of the catalyst before modification on the above molecules is weaker than that of the Fe active site introduced after modification. Under both anaerobic and aerobic conditions in the SCR reaction process, NH3 molecules are first adsorbed at the active site, and then influenced by lattice oxygen under anaerobic conditions. Under aerobic conditions, they are gradually dehydrogenated and produce NH2 and NH radicals. These two radicals react with NO molecules to form intermediate products in the form of NH2NO and NHNO molecules. Due to the instability of the intermediate products, they ultimately decompose into N2 and H2O molecules. The introduction of Fe active sites can increase the generation of NH2 and NH radicals during the reaction process and simplify the reaction process between NH2 radicals and NO molecules, which will be conducive to the completion of the reaction