Triolein-based polycation lipid nanocarrier for efficient gene delivery: characteristics and mechanism

We proposed to develop a polycation lipid nanocarrier (PLN) with higher transfection efficiency than our previously described polycation nanostrucutred lipid nanocarrier (PNLC). PLN was composed of triolein, cetylated low-molecular-weight polyethylenimine, and dioleoyl phosphatidylethanolamine. The physicochemical properties of PLN and the PLN/DNA complexes (PDC) were characterized. The in vitro transfection was performed in human lung adenocarcinoma (SPC-A1) cells, and the intracellular mechanism was investigated as well. The measurements indicated that PLN and PDC are homogenous nanometer-sized particles with a positive charge. The transfection efficiency of PDC significantly increased with the content of triolein and was higher than that of PNLC and commercial Lipofectamine™ 2000. In particular, the transfection of PLN in the presence of 10% serum was more effective than that in its absence. With the help of specific inhibitors of chlorpromazine and filipin, the clathrin-dependent endocytosis pathway was determined to be the main contributor to the successful transfection mediated by PLN in SPC-A1 cells. The captured images verified that the fluorescent PDC was localized in the lysosomes and nuclei after endocytosis. Thus, PLN represents a novel efficient nonviral gene delivery vector

City level water withdrawal and scarcity accounts of China

In the context of China’s freshwater crisis high-resolution data are critical for sustainable water management and economic growth. Yet there is a dearth of data on water withdrawal and scarcity regardless of whether total or subsector amount, for prefectural cities. In administrative and territorial scope, we accounted for water withdrawal of all 63 economic-socio-environmental sectors for all 343 prefectural cities in China, based on a general framework and 2015 data. Spatial and economic-sector resolution is improved compared with previous studies by partitioning general sectors into industrial and agricultural sub-sectors. Construction of these datasets was based on selection of 16 driving forces. We connected a size indicator with corresponding water-withdrawal efficiency. We further accounted for total blue-water withdrawal and quantitative water scarcity status. Then we compared different scopes and methods of official accounts and statistics from various water datasets. These disaggregated and complete data could be used in input-output models for municipal design and governmental planning to help gain in-depth insights into subsector water-saving priorities from local economic activities

Genome Characterization of the Oleaginous Fungus Mortierella alpina

Mortierella alpina is an oleaginous fungus which can produce lipids accounting for up to 50% of its dry weight in the form of triacylglycerols. It is used commercially for the production of arachidonic acid. Using a combination of high throughput sequencing and lipid profiling, we have assembled the M. alpina genome, mapped its lipogenesis pathway and determined its major lipid species. The 38.38 Mb M. alpina genome shows a high degree of gene duplications. Approximately 50% of its 12,796 gene models, and 60% of genes in the predicted lipogenesis pathway, belong to multigene families. Notably, M. alpina has 18 lipase genes, of which 11 contain the class 2 lipase domain and may share a similar function. M. alpina's fatty acid synthase is a single polypeptide containing all of the catalytic domains required for fatty acid synthesis from acetyl-CoA and malonyl-CoA, whereas in many fungi this enzyme is comprised of two polypeptides. Major lipids were profiled to confirm the products predicted in the lipogenesis pathway. M. alpina produces a complex mixture of glycerolipids, glycerophospholipids and sphingolipids. In contrast, only two major sterol lipids, desmosterol and 24(28)-methylene-cholesterol, were detected. Phylogenetic analysis based on genes involved in lipid metabolism suggests that oleaginous fungi may have acquired their lipogenic capacity during evolution after the divergence of Ascomycota, Basidiomycota, Chytridiomycota and Mucoromycota. Our study provides the first draft genome and comprehensive lipid profile for M. alpina, and lays the foundation for possible genetic engineering of M. alpina to produce higher levels and diverse contents of dietary lipids

A Novel Hierarchical Coding Progressive Transmission Method for WMSN Wildlife Images

In the wild, wireless multimedia sensor network (WMSN) communication has limited bandwidth and the transmission of wildlife monitoring images always suffers signal interference, which is time-consuming, or sometimes even causes failure. Generally, only part of each wildlife image is valuable, therefore, if we could transmit the images according to the importance of the content, the above issues can be avoided. Inspired by the progressive transmission strategy, we propose a hierarchical coding progressive transmission method in this paper, which can transmit the saliency object region (i.e. the animal) and its background with different coding strategies and priorities. Specifically, we firstly construct a convolution neural network via the MobileNet model for the detection of the saliency object region and obtaining the mask on wildlife. Then, according to the importance of wavelet coefficients, set partitioned in hierarchical tree (SPIHT) lossless coding is utilized to transmit the saliency image which ensures the transmission accuracy of the wildlife region. After that, the background region left over is transmitted via the Embedded Zerotree Wavelets (EZW) lossy coding strategy, to improve the transmission efficiency. To verify the efficiency of our algorithm, a demonstration of the transmission of field-captured wildlife images is presented. Further, comparison of results with existing EZW and discrete cosine transform (DCT) algorithms shows that the proposed algorithm improves the peak signal to noise ratio (PSNR) and structural similarity index (SSIM) by 21.11%, 14.72% and 9.47%, 6.25%, respectively

Effects of Electrode Material on the Voltage of a Tree-Based Energy Generator.

The voltage between a standing tree and its surrounding soil is regarded as an innovative renewable energy source. This source is expected to provide a new power generation system for the low-power electrical equipment used in forestry. However, the voltage is weak, which has caused great difficulty in application. Consequently, the development of a method to increase the voltage is a key issue that must be addressed in this area of applied research. As the front-end component for energy harvesting, a metal electrode has a material effect on the level and stability of the voltage obtained. This study aimed to preliminarily ascertain the rules and mechanisms that underlie the effects of electrode material on voltage. Electrodes of different materials were used to measure the tree-source voltage, and the data were employed in a comparative analysis. The results indicate that the conductivity of the metal electrode significantly affects the contact resistance of the electrode-soil and electrode-trunk contact surfaces, thereby influencing the voltage level. The metal reactivity of the electrode has no significant effect on the voltage. However, passivation of the electrode materials markedly reduces the voltage. Suitable electrode materials are demonstrated and recommended

A Novel Saliency Detection Method for Wild Animal Monitoring Images with WMSN

We proposed a novel saliency detection method based on histogram contrast algorithm and images captured with WMSN (wireless multimedia sensor network) for practical wild animal monitoring purpose. Current studies on wild animal monitoring mainly focus on analyzing images with high resolution, complex background, and nonuniform illumination features. Most current visual saliency detection methods are not capable of completing the processing work. In this algorithm, we firstly smoothed the image texture and reduced the noise with the help of structure extraction method based on image total variation. After that, the saliency target edge information was obtained by Canny operator edge detection method, which will be further improved by position saliency map according to the Hanning window. In order to verify the efficiency of the proposed algorithm, field-captured wild animal images were tested by using our algorithm in terms of visual effect and detection efficiency. Compared with histogram contrast algorithm, the result shows that the rate of average precision, recall and F-measure improved by 18.38%, 19.53%, 19.06%, respectively, when processing the captured animal images

Hydration Activity and Carbonation Characteristics of Dicalcium Silicate in Steel Slag: A Review

Dicalcium silicate is one of the main mineral phases of steel slag. Ascribed to the characteristics of hydration and carbonation, the application of slag in cement production and carbon dioxide sequestration has been confirmed as feasible. In the current study, the precipitation process of the dicalcium silicate phase in steel slag was discussed. Meanwhile, the study put emphasis on the influence of different crystal forms of dicalcium silicate on the hydration activity and carbonation characteristics of steel slag. It indicates that most of the dicalcium silicate phase in steel slag is the γ phase with the weakest hydration activity. The hydration activity of γ-C2S is improved to a certain extent by means of mechanical, high temperature, and chemical activation. However, the carbonation activity of γ-C2S is about two times higher than that of β-C2S. Direct and indirect carbonation can effectively capture carbon dioxide. This paper also summarizes the research status of the application of steel slag in cement production and carbon dioxide sequestration. Further development of the potential of dicalcium silicate hydration activity and simplifying the carbonation process are important focuses for the future

Research on Safety Evaluation Method of Integrated Optical Storage and Charging Station

This paper studies the correlation between charging process performance indicators and charging safety of Solar-Energy storage-Charge station, analyses the influence of environmental factors, technical factors, design factors, management factors and user factors on charging process safety of energy stations. The projection pursuit algorithm is used to evaluate the influence degree of each parameter on the safety of charging process; through the establishment of charging safety evaluation system, the safety risks of battery damage and even fire caused by excessive charging current and high battery temperature are identified. The monitoring parameters corresponding to the charging safety state are determined. According to the different battery types adopted by different vehicle models, the corresponding charging mode is determined. According to the monitoring results of key data of the core equipment in the charging process, such as charging current, charging voltage, battery temperature, etc., the charging strategies of different vehicle models and different battery types are analysed, which provides reference for the safe operation of charging process

Impact of international trade on water scarcity : An assessment by improving the Falkenmark indicator

Funding Information: This study was supported by the National Key R&D Program of China [grant number 2017YFA0603704 ], the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences [grant number XDA20100104 ], the National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant number 42101025 ], and the SUSTech Presidential Postdoctoral Fellowship. Publisher Copyright: © 2022 The AuthorsWater scarcity, a threat to the sustainable development of human society, is determined mainly by water resource endowment and human water withdrawals. International trade may affect national water withdrawal, indirectly influencing nationwide water scarcity. However, most previous studies could not disentangle the indirect water consumption for local consumption and international trade purposes, failing to assess the sole impact of trade on water scarcity. Here, we developed an improved Falkenmark indicator to separate the effect of trade-related water withdrawal on water scarcity. Results show that international trade alleviates water scarcity for 2.2 billion people in high and upper-middle income countries. However, it aggravates water scarcity for 2.1 billion people in low and lower-middle income countries, of which almost all countries are already facing water scarcity and some even are of severe scarcity. Furthermore, our analysis shows that the primary product and food sectors contribute most significantly to intensifying and alleviating water scarcity, respectively. Hence, much greater attention needs to be paid to low and lower-middle income water-scarce countries since international trade could make these countries drier, which is becoming more important to improve the sustainability of global water resources management with a changing climate.Peer reviewe