bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Plasma adiponectin levels and type 2 diabetes risk: a nested case-control study in a Chinese population and an updated meta-analysis
Authors: Wang Yeli , Meng Rui-Wei , Kunutsor Setor K. , Chowdhury Rajiv , Yuan Jian-Min , Koh Woon-Puay , Pan An
Published: January 2018

Results from previous prospective studies assessing the relation between adiponectin and type 2 diabetes (T2D) were not entirely consistent, and evidence in Chinese population is scarce. Moreover, the last meta-analysis did not examine the impact of metabolic variables on the adiponectin-T2D association. Therefore, we prospectively evaluated the adiponectin-T2D association among 571 T2D cases and 571 age-sex-matched controls nested within the Singapore Chinese Health Study (SCHS). Furthermore, we conducted an updated meta-analysis by searching prospective studies on Pubmed till September 2016. In the SCHS, the odds ratio of T2D, comparing the highest versus lowest tertile of adiponectin levels, was 0.30 (95% confidence interval: 0.17, 0.55) in the fully-adjusted model. The relation was stronger among heavier participants (body mass index ≥23 kg/m2) compared to their leaner counterparts (P for interaction = 0.041). In a meta-analysis of 34 prospective studies, the pooled relative risk was 0.53 (95% confidence interval: 0.47, 0.61) comparing the extreme tertiles of adiponectin with moderate heterogeneity (I2 = 48.7%, P = 0.001). The adiponectin-T2D association remained unchanged after adjusting for inflammation and dyslipidemia markers, but substantially attenuated with adjustment for insulin sensitivity and/or glycaemia markers. Overall evidence indicates that higher adiponectin levels are associated with decreased T2D risk in Chinese and other populations.
Phenotypic divergence despite low genetic differentiation in house sparrow populations
Authors: Ben Cohen Shachar , Dor Roi
Published: January 2018

Studying patterns of phenotypic variation among populations can shed light on the drivers of evolutionary processes. The house sparrow (Passer domesticus) is one of the world’s most ubiquitous bird species, as well as a successful invader. We investigated phenotypic variation in house sparrow populations across a climatic gradient and in relation to a possible scenario of an invasion. We measured variation in morphological, coloration, and behavioral traits (exploratory behavior and neophobia) and compared it to the neutral genetic variation. We found that sparrows were larger and darker in northern latitudes, in accordance with Bergmann’s and Gloger’s biogeographic rules. Morphology and behavior mostly differed between the southernmost populations and the other regions, supporting the possibility of an invasion. Genetic differentiation was low and diversity levels were similar across populations, indicating high gene flow. Nevertheless, the southernmost and northern populations differed genetically to some extent. Furthermore, genetic differentiation (FST) was lower in comparison to phenotypic variation (PST), indicating that the phenotypic variation is shaped by directional selection or by phenotypic plasticity. This study expands our knowledge on evolutionary mechanisms and biological invasions.
Comparative analysis of miRNA expression profiles in transgenic and non-transgenic rice using miRNA-Seq
Authors: Peng Cheng , Chen Xiaoyun , Wang Xiaofu , Xu Xiaoli , Wei Wei , Wang Congmao , Xu Junfeng
Published: January 2018

Safety assessment for genetically modified organisms (GMOs) is required before their release. To date, miRNAs that play important roles in eukaryotic gene regulation have not been considered in the current assessment system. In this study, we identified 6 independent Bt and EPSPS GM rice lines using PCR and immune strip. We analyzed the expression levels of Cry1Ac and EPSPS using quantitative real-time PCR and western blot. Further, miRNAs from the developing seeds of the 6 GM rice lines and the wild-type line were investigated using deep sequencing and bioinformatic approaches. Although these GM lines have different types of integration sites, copy numbers, and levels of gene expression, 21 differentially expressed miRNAs have been found compared to wild type. There is no correlation between transgenic protein expression level and the quantity of differentially expressed miRNAs. This study provides useful data about the miRNA composition of GM plants, and it might be helpful for future risk assessments of miRNA-based GM plants.
Molecular marker assisted breeding and genome composition analysis of Zhengmai 7698, an elite winter wheat cultivar
Authors: Li Chun-xin , Xu Wei-gang , Guo Rui , Zhang Jian-zhou , Qi Xue-li , Hu Lin , Zhao Ming-zhong
Published: January 2018

Zhengmai 7698 is an elite winter wheat variety widely cultivated in the Southern regions of the Yellow-Huai River Valley of China. Here, we report the molecular markers used for breeding Zhengmai 7698 and the genome composition of this cultivar revealed using genome-wide SNPs. A total of 26 DNA markers derived from the genes controlling gluten protein quality, grain hardness, flour color, disease resistance, or pre-harvesting sprouting resistance were used during breeding. Consequently, Zhengmai 7698 had strong gluten, high grain hardness index, white flour color, and high levels of resistance to powdery mildew, stripe rust infections, and pre-harvesting sprouting. Using genome complexity reduction, 28,996 high-quality SNPs distributed on 21 wheat chromosomes were identified among Zhengmai 7698 and its three parental lines (4B269, Zhengmai 9405 and Zhoumai 16). Zhengmai 7698 shared 12,776, 14,411 and 16,085 SNPs with 4B269, Zhengmai 9405 and Zhoumai 16, respectively. Thus, the contributions of 4B269, Zhengmai 9405 and Zhoumai 16 to the genome of Zhengmai 7698 were comparable. Interestingly, Zhengmai 7698 had 307 unique SNPs that are absent in all three parents. We suggest that molecular markers facilitate selection of a wheat cultivar with multiple elite traits. Analysis of genome composition with SNPs may provide useful clues for further dissecting the genetic basis of improved wheat performance.
Continuous-wave Y-band planar BWO with wide tunable bandwidth
Authors: Xi Hongzhu , Wang Jianguo , He Zhaochang , Zhu Gang , Wang Yue , Wang Hao , Chen Zaigao , Li Rong , Liu Luwei
Published: January 2018

A high performance continuous-wave (CW) backward wave oscillator (BWO) with planar slow wave structure (SWS) and sheet electron beam in Y-band is presented in this paper. The mode selection is discussed by studying the dispersion curve of SWSs, distributions of the electric field, and particle-in-cell simulation results, showing that the designed BWO operates in the fundamental mode TM11. The planar SWSs are fabricated by using the UV-LIGA technology with the processing error less than 0.003 mm. The electron gun can provide the 2.5 mm × 0.14 mm sheet electron beam with maximum current density of 57 A/cm2 at the CW mode. Experimental results show that the developed BWO can operate in the fundamental mode TM11 and generate the state-of-art output power of 182 mW at the frequency of 0.3426 THz with a large frequency tuning range from 0.318 THz to 0.359 THz.
Tanshinone IIA sulfonate protects against cigarette smoke-induced COPD and down-regulation of CFTR in mice
Authors: Li Defu , Wang Jian , Sun Dejun , Gong Xuefang , Jiang Hua , Shu Jiaze , Wang Ziyi , Long Zhen , Chen Yiguan , Zhang Zili , Yuan Liang , Guan Ruijuan , Liang Xue , Li Ziying , Yao Hongwei , Zhong Nanshan , Lu Wenju
Published: January 2018

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a chronic lung disease characterized by abnormal inflammation, persistent and progressive lung function decline. The anti-inflammatory actions of tanshinone IIA, which is the most important active component from Chinese herbal medicine Danshen, have been well studied. However, it remains unknown whether sodium tanshinone IIA sulfonate (STS) protects against the development of COPD. Here we found that STS inhalation (5 mg/kg, 30 min per session, twice a day) significantly attenuated lung function decline, airspace enlargement, mucus production, bronchial collagen deposition, inflammatory responses and oxidative stress caused by cigarette smoke (CS) and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) exposures in mice. Moreover, treatment with STS (10 μg/ml) reduced CS extract (CSE)-induced IL-6 and IL-8 secretion in human bronchial epithelial (16HBE) cells. The anti-inflammatory actions of STS were associated with inhibition of ERK1/2 and NF-κB activations. Interestingly, STS inhibited CS-induced reduction of cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) in mouse lungs and in 16HBE cells. Treatment with a specific CFTR inhibitor CFTR-Inh172 augmented CSE-induced ERK1/2 and NF-κB-dependent inflammatory responses, but abolished the inhibitory action of STS on IL-6 and IL-8 secretion in 16HBE cells. These results demonstrate that CS-induced COPD and down-regulation of CFTR are prevented by STS.
The PPI network analysis of mRNA expression profile of uterus from primary dysmenorrheal rats
Authors: Fan Pei , Lin Qiao-Hui , Guo Ying , Zhao Lan-Ling , Ning He , Liu Meng-Ying , Wei Dong-Qing
Published: January 2018

To elucidate the mechanisms of molecular regulations underlying primary dysmenorrhea (PD), we used our previously published mRNA expression profile of uterus from PD syndrome rats to construct protein-protein interactions (PPI) network via STRING Interactome. Consequently, 34 subnetworks, including a “continent” (Subnetwork 1) and 33 “islands” (Subnetwork 2–34) were generated. The nodes, with relative expression ratios, were visualized in the PPI networks and their connections were identified. Through path and module exploring in the network, the bridges were found from pathways of cellular response to calcium ion, SMAD protein signal transduction, regulation of transcription from RNA polymerase II promoter in response to stress and muscle stretch that were significantly enriched by the up-regulated mRNAs, to the cascades of cAMP metabolic processes and positive regulation of cyclase activities by the down-regulated ones. This link is mainly dependent on Fos/Jun - Vip connection. Our data, for the first time, report the PPI network analysis of differentially expressed mRNAs in the uterus of PD syndrome rats, to give insight into screening drugs and find new therapeutic strategies to relieve PD.
Publisher Correction: Highly reusable and superhydrophobic spongy graphene aerogels for efficient oil/water separation
Authors: Luo Yuanzheng , Jiang Shenlin , Xiao Qi , Chen Chuanliang , Li Buyin
Published: January 2018

A correction to this article has been published and is linked from the HTML version of this paper. The error has been fixed in the paper.
Genistein promotes ionizing radiation-induced cell death by reducing cytoplasmic Bcl-xL levels in non-small cell lung cancer
Authors: Zhang Zhimin , Jin Feng , Lian Xiaojuan , Li Mengxia , Wang Ge , Lan Baohua , He Hao , Liu Guo-Dong , Wu Yan , Sun Guiyin , Xu Cheng-Xiong , Yang Zhen-Zhou
Published: January 2018

Genistein (GEN) has been previously reported to enhance the radiosensitivity of cancer cells; however, the detailed mechanisms remain unclear. Here, we report that GEN treatment inhibits the cytoplasmic distribution of Bcl-xL and increases nuclear Bcl-xL in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Interestingly, our in vitro data show that ionizing radiation IR treatment significantly increases IR-induced DNA damage and apoptosis in a low cytoplasmic Bcl-xL NSCLC cell line compared to that of high cytoplasmic Bcl-xL cell lines. In addition, clinical data also show that the level of cytoplasmic Bcl-xL was negatively associated with radiosensitivity in NSCLC. Furthermore, we demonstrated that GEN treatment enhanced the radiosensitivity of NSCLC cells partially due to increases in Beclin-1-mediated autophagy by promoting the dissociation of Bcl-xL and Beclin-1. Taken together, these findings suggest that GEN can significantly enhance radiosensitivity by increasing apoptosis and autophagy due to inhibition of cytoplasmic Bcl-xL distribution and the interaction of Bcl-xL and Beclin-1 in NSCLC cells, respectively.
Genome-wide comparative analysis of papain-like cysteine protease family genes in castor bean and physic nut
Authors: Zou Zhi , Huang Qixing , Xie Guishui , Yang Lifu
Published: January 2018

Papain-like cysteine proteases (PLCPs) are a class of proteolytic enzymes involved in many plant processes. Compared with the extensive research in Arabidopsis thaliana, little is known in castor bean (Ricinus communis) and physic nut (Jatropha curcas), two Euphorbiaceous plants without any recent whole-genome duplication. In this study, a total of 26 or 23 PLCP genes were identified from the genomes of castor bean and physic nut respectively, which can be divided into nine subfamilies based on the phylogenetic analysis: RD21, CEP, XCP, XBCP3, THI, SAG12, RD19, ALP and CTB. Although most of them harbor orthologs in Arabidopsis, several members in subfamilies RD21, CEP, XBCP3 and SAG12 form new groups or subgroups as observed in other species, suggesting specific gene loss occurred in Arabidopsis. Recent gene duplicates were also identified in these two species, but they are limited to the SAG12 subfamily and were all derived from local duplication. Expression profiling revealed diverse patterns of different family members over various tissues. Furthermore, the evolution characteristics of PLCP genes were also compared and discussed. Our findings provide a useful reference to characterize PLCP genes and investigate the family evolution in Euphorbiaceae and species beyond.
In vivo monitoring of hair cycle stages via bioluminescence imaging of hair follicle NG2 cells
Authors: Tamura Yasuhisa , Takata Kumi , Eguchi Asami , Kataoka Yosky
Published: January 2018

Hair growth occurs periodically in a cycle that consists of three different phases: growth, regression, and resting. The length of each phase is regulated by both intrinsic and extrinsic factors throughout life, and influenced by physiological and pathological conditions. Elongation of the resting phase and shortening of the growth phase occur during physiological ageing and in baldness, respectively. In vivo discrimination of each phase of the hair cycle can be used to research for regeneration of hair follicles as well as to evaluate the efficacy of hair regrowth treatments in the same individual. Here we show that NG2+ epithelial cells in the hair follicles encompass bulge stem cells, and that the number of hair follicle NG2 cells underwent dramatic changes during the hair cycle. Transgenic rats with expression of firefly luciferase gene in NG2 cells were generated to monitor the hair cycle in vivo. Hair follicle NG2 cells were clearly visualized via bioluminescence imaging to study each phase of the hair cycle in the rats, from infancy to old age.
Cerebellar grey matter modifications in lower limb amputees not using prosthesis
Authors: Di Vita Antonella , Boccia Maddalena , Palermo Liana , Nemmi Federico , Traballesi Marco , Brunelli Stefano , De Giorgi Roberto , Galati Gaspare , Guariglia Cecilia
Published: January 2018

Plastic brain changes following peripheral deafferentation, in particular those following limb amputations, are well-documented, with significant reduction of grey matter (GM) in the sensory-motor cerebral areas representing the amputated limb. However, few studies have investigated the role played by the use of a prosthesis in these structural brain modifications. Here we hypothesized that using a functional prosthesis that allows individuals to perform actions may reduce grey matter reduction. We investigated the brain structural reorganization following lower limb amputation by using a Voxel Based Morphometry (VBM) analysis of structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in 8 right-handed individuals with lower limb amputation (LLA) fitted with prostheses (LLAwp), compared to 6 LLA who had never used a prosthesis (LLAnp). 14 age-matched healthy controls were also enrolled (HC). We did not find any significant effect when comparing LLAwp and HC. However we found a decreased GM volume in the bilateral cerebellum in LLAnp compared with HC. These results suggest that prosthesis use prevents GM decrease in the cerebellum after lower limb amputation.
Realizing Mitigation Efficiency of European Commercial Forests by Climate Smart Forestry
Authors: Yousefpour Rasoul , Augustynczik Andrey Lessa Derci , Reyer Christopher P. O. , Lasch-Born Petra , Suckow Felicitas , Hanewinkel Marc
Published: January 2018

European temperate and boreal forests sequester up to 12% of Europe’s annual carbon emissions. Forest carbon density can be manipulated through management to maximize its climate mitigation potential, and fast-growing tree species may contribute the most to Climate Smart Forestry (CSF) compared to slow-growing hardwoods. This type of CSF takes into account not only forest resource potentials in sequestering carbon, but also the economic impact of regional forest products and discounts both variables over time. We used the process-based forest model 4 C to simulate European commercial forests’ growth conditions and coupled it with an optimization algorithm to simulate the implementation of CSF for 18 European countries encompassing 68.3 million ha of forest (42.4% of total EU-28 forest area). We found a European CSF policy that could sequester 7.3–11.1 billion tons of carbon, projected to be worth 103 to 141 billion euros in the 21st century. An efficient CSF policy would allocate carbon sequestration to European countries with a lower wood price, lower labor costs, high harvest costs, or a mixture thereof to increase its economic efficiency. This policy prioritized the allocation of mitigation efforts to northern, eastern and central European countries and favored fast growing conifers Picea abies and Pinus sylvestris to broadleaves Fagus sylvatica and Quercus species.
Enhanced electrocaloric analysis and energy-storage performance of lanthanum modified lead titanate ceramics for potential solid-state refrigeration applications
Authors: Zhang Tian-Fu , Huang Xian-Xiong , Tang Xin-Gui , Jiang Yan-Ping , Liu Qiu-Xiang , Lu Biao , Lu Sheng-Guo
Published: January 2018

The unique properties and great variety of relaxer ferroelectrics make them highly attractive in energy-storage and solid-state refrigeration technologies. In this work, lanthanum modified lead titanate ceramics are prepared and studied. The giant electrocaloric effect in lanthanum modified lead titanate ceramics is revealed for the first time. Large refrigeration efficiency (27.4) and high adiabatic temperature change (1.67 K) are achieved by indirect analysis. Direct measurements of electrocaloric effect show that reversible adiabatic temperature change is also about 1.67 K, which exceeds many electrocaloric effect values in current direct measured electrocaloric studies. Both theoretical calculated and direct measured electrocaloric effects are in good agreements in high temperatures. Temperature and electric field related energy storage properties are also analyzed, maximum energy-storage density and energy-storage efficiency are about 0.31 J/cm3 and 91.2%, respectively.
High-resolution Magic-angle Spinning (HR-MAS) NMR Spectroscopy
Authors: Wong Alan , Lucas-Torres Covadonga
Published: January 2018

Since the beginning of high-resolution magic-angle spinning (HR-MAS) NMR spectroscopy in 1990s, we have witnessed tremendous instrumentation and methodological advancements in the HR-MAS NMR technique for semisolids. With HR-MAS, it is now possible to acquire reliable high-quality spectra in a routine and high-throughput fashion, and it has become a well-integrated metabolic screening tool for ex vivo biospecimens such as tissue biopsies, cells and organisms for NMR-based metabolomics research. This chapter provides the basic principles of HR-MAS and describes a few recent noteworthy developments that could strengthen the role of HR-MAS as a frontline NMR technique for metabolomics.
Uptake of fatty acids by a single endothelial cell investigated by Raman spectroscopy supported by AFM
Authors: Majzner Katarzyna , Tott Szymon , Roussille Ludovic , Deckert Volker , Chlopicki Stefan , Baranska Malgorzata
Published: January 2018

Raman spectroscopy was used to study fatty acids-induced lipid droplet (LD) formation in endothelial cell.
Combination of a graphene SERS substrate and magnetic solid phase micro-extraction used for the rapid detection of trace illegal additives
Authors: Yu Shihua , Liu Zhigang , Li Hongwei , Zhang Jianpo , Yuan Xin-xin , Jia Xiangyu , Wu Yuqing
Published: January 2018

Surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) is an ultra-sensitive spectroscopy technique, which can provide rich structural information for a great number of molecules, while solid phase micro-extraction (SPME) is an efficient method for sample pretreatment in analytical chemistry, particularly in a micro-system.
Microfluidic ELISA employing an enzyme substrate and product species with similar detection properties
Authors: Giri Basant , Liu Yukari , Nchocho Fidelis N. , Corcoran Robert C. , Dutta Debashis
Published: January 2018

The reported ELISA method relaxes the requirement for an enzyme label to carry out a chemical reaction directly at the signaling region of the enzyme substrate in order to produce a large change in its detectability, thereby, significantly expanding the scope of this bioanalytical technique.
An elimination/Heck coupling/allylation cascade reaction: synthesis of 2,3-dihydrobenzofurans from allenoate adducts
Authors: Yang Jianguo , Mo Hanjie , Wu Haijian , Cao Dongdong , Pan Chengmin , Wang Zhiming
Published: January 2018

A highly regio- and stereoselective Pd-catalyzed cascade reaction of allenoate adducts has been developed.
Selective hydrogenation of nitroarenes using an electrogenerated polyoxometalate redox mediator
Authors: MacDonald Lewis , Rausch Benjamin , Symes Mark D. , Cronin Leroy
Published: January 2018

The 2-electron reduced form of the polyoxometalate silicotungstic acid (H4[SiW12O4]) is shown to be an effective and selective hydrogenation agent for a range of nitroarenes without the need for any co-catalyst.
‘One-pot’ sequential enzymatic modification of synthetic glycolipids in vesicle membranes
Authors: Craven Faye L. , Silva Joana , Segarra-Maset Maria D. , Huang Kun , Both Peter , Gough Julie E. , Flitsch Sabine L. , Webb Simon J.
Published: January 2018

To create vesicles with cell-targeting coatings, two soluble enzymes were used to directly glycosylate vesicle surfaces in a ‘one-pot’ procedure.
Tuning structures and emissive properties in a series of Zn(ii) and Cd(ii) coordination polymers containing dicarboxylic acids and nicotinamide pillars
Authors: Chisca Diana , Croitor Lilia , Petuhov Oleg , Kulikova Olga V. , Volodina Galina F. , Coropceanu Eduard B. , Masunov Artëm E. , Fonari Marina S.
Published: January 2018

The influence of the metal, ligand, and solvent on structures and emission properties was monitored.
A QM/MM and QM/QM/MM study of Kerr, Cotton–Mouton and Jones linear birefringences in liquid acetonitrile
Authors: Fahleson Tobias , Olsen Jógvan Magnus Haugaard , Norman Patrick , Rizzo Antonio
Published: January 2018

QM/MM and QM/QM/MM protocols are applied to theab initiostudy of the three linear birefringences Kerr, Cotton–Mouton, and Jones, as shown by acetonitrile in the gas and pure liquid phases.
BAR-based optimum adaptive sampling regime for variance minimization in alchemical transformation: the nonequilibrium stratification
Authors: Wang Xiaohui , Tu Xingzhao , Zhang John Z. H. , Sun Zhaoxi
Published: January 2018

Following the previously proposed equilibrate-state sampling based adaptive sampling regime Optimum Bennett Acceptance Ratio (OBAR), we introduce its nonequilibrium extension, Optimum Crooks’ Equation (OCE) in the current work.
Bioinspired smart asymmetric nanochannel membranes
Authors: Zhang Zhen , Wen Liping , Jiang Lei
Published: January 2018

This review provides a systematic overview of the design and construction of bioinspired smart asymmetric nanochannel membrane systems.
Gallic acid-assisted synthesis of Pd uniformly anchored on porous N-rGO as efficient electrocatalyst for microbial fuel cells
Authors: Wu Xiao-Tong , Li Jie-Cheng , Pan Qiu-Ren , Li Nan , Liu Zhao-Qing
Published: January 2018

The conjugation effect and steric effect between gallic acid and N-doped graphene can be greatly beneficial to uniformly anchor Pd nanoparticles on porous N-doped graphite materials, which achieve significantly enhanced ORR activity and large power density of MFCs.
Structural analysis of humins formed in the Brønsted acid catalyzed dehydration of fructose
Authors: Cheng Ziwei , Everhart Jeffrey L. , Tsilomelekis George , Nikolakis Vladimiros , Saha Basudeb , Vlachos Dionisios G.
Published: January 2018

Multistage dissolution experiments of humins, obtained from fructose dehydration, were performed in various solvents to investigate the solubility and molecular structure using spectroscopic, chromatography and mass spectrometric techniques.
Base-catalysed [3 + 2] cycloaddition of propargylamines and aldehydes to substituted furans
Authors: Shen Jinhai , Zhao Jing , Hu Bing , Chen Yangxin , Wu Longqiao , You Qihua , Zhao Li
Published: January 2018

A base-catalysed [3 + 2] cycloaddition reaction using propargylamines as allenyl anion equivalents for the regiospecific synthesis of substituted furans under metal-free conditions is developed.
Exploring candidate biomarkers for lung and prostate cancers using gene expression and flux variability analysis
Authors: Asgari Yazdan , Khosravi Pegah , Zabihinpour Zahra , Habibi Mahnaz
Published: January 2018

We described an integrated analysis of gene expression data including tissue-specific metabolic modeling and co-expression networks to identify new cancer biomarkers.
Acoustically modulated biomechanical stimulation for human cartilage tissue engineering
Authors: Jonnalagadda Umesh S. , Hill Martyn , Messaoudi Walid , Cook Richard B. , Oreffo Richard O. C. , Glynne-Jones Peter , Tare Rahul S.
Published: January 2018

The biomechanical environment in an acoustofluidic bioreactor is modified by controlling the acoustic driving conditions to promote human cartilage generation.
Fluorescent nanofiber film based on a simple organogelator for highly efficient detection of TFA vapour
Authors: Shan Yahan , Li Shiwen , Luo Dan , Wang Rui , Wu Fei , Zhong Cheng , Zhu Linna
Published: January 2018

SYW showed a gelation-induced emission of light, and its gel showed a reversible response of its emission to trifluoroacetic acid vapour, with a detection limit of 3.2 ppb.
Polyunsaturated fatty acid amides from the Zanthoxylum genus – from culinary curiosities to probes for chemical biology
Authors: Chruma Jason J. , Cullen Douglas J. , Bowman Lydia , Toy Patrick H.
Published: January 2018

A critical and comprehensive review of the discovery, synthesis, and biological activities of alkamides isolated from Zanthoxylum plants and synthetic derivatives thereof.
Se@SiO2–FA–CuS nanocomposites for targeted delivery of DOX and nano selenium in synergistic combination of chemo-photothermal therapy
Authors: Wang Yeying , Liu Xijian , Deng Guoying , Sun Jian , Yuan Haikuan , Li Qi , Wang Qiugeng , Lu Jie
Published: January 2018

A tumor-targeted and multi-stimuli-responsive drug delivery vehicle (Se@SiO2–FA–CuS/DOX) was fabricated for combined PTT with chemotherapy of DOX and Se in cancer treatment.
Design of a substrate-tailored peptiligase variant for the efficient synthesis of thymosin-α1
Authors: Schmidt Marcel , Toplak Ana , Rozeboom Henriëtte J. , Wijma Hein J. , Quaedflieg Peter J. L. M. , van Maarseveen Jan H. , Janssen Dick B. , Nuijens Timo
Published: January 2018

A substrate-tailored peptide ligase for the chemo-enzymatic peptide synthesis (CEPS) of thymosin-α1.
Unexpected cleavage of upper rim-bridged calix[4]arenes leading to linear oligophenolic derivatives
Authors: Slavík P. , Dvořáková H. , Krupička M. , Lhoták P.
Published: January 2018

Upper rim-bridged calix[4]arenes possess an unprecedented reactivity as a consequence of their high internal strain imposed by the single bond bridge.
Tribo-induced photoluminescent behavior of graphene and YSZ:Er/graphene composite films
Authors: Wu Hongyan , Huang Ke , Li Jianliang , Jiang Fan , Zhao Xingming , Wang Lu , Jiang Shan
Published: January 2018

In the present work, a novel method was developed to study the evolving surface state of graphene film as it is subject to friction, characterized by photoluminescence properties.
Enhanced electron transfer mediated detection of hydrogen peroxide using a silver nanoparticle–reduced graphene oxide–polyaniline fabricated electrochemical sensor
Authors: Kumar Vijay , Gupta Rajeev Kumar , Gundampati Ravi Kumar , Singh Devendra Kumar , Mohan Sweta , Hasan Syed Hadi , Malviya Manisha
Published: January 2018

The current study aims at the development of an electrochemical sensor based on a silver nanoparticle–reduced graphene oxide–polyaniline (AgNPs–rGO–PANI) nanocomposite for the sensitive and selective detection of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2).
Examining the effect of ions and proteins on the heat dissipation of iron oxide nanocrystals
Authors: Kalidasan V. , Liu X. L. , Li Y. , Sugumaran P. J. , Liu A. H. , Ren L. , Ding J.
Published: January 2018

In this paper, the effect and contribution of physiological components like ions and proteins under an applied alternating magnetic field (AMF) towards heat dissipation of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) are discussed.
Construction of Cu–Ce/graphene catalysts via a one-step hydrothermal method and their excellent CO catalytic oxidation performance
Authors: Zhao Yinshuang , Dong Fang , Han Weiliang , Zhao Haijun , Tang Zhicheng
Published: January 2018

Cu–Ce/graphene catalysts show high dispersion of metal particles and excellent activity and stability for catalytic oxidation.
A gold nanoparticle-single-chain fragment variable antibody as an immunoprobe for rapid detection of morphine by dipstick
Authors: Gandhi Sonu , Banga Ivneet , Maurya Pawan Kumar , Eremin Sergei A.
Published: January 2018

Dipstick device developed on the principle of lateral flow using gold nanoparticles for analysis of morphine in urine by morphine/scFv/immunoprobe.
Using DNA strand displacement to control interactions in DNA-grafted colloids
Authors: Gehrels Emily W. , Rogers W. Benjamin , Manoharan Vinothan N.
Published: January 2018

A method for creating broadened, inverted, or multiple phase transitions between colloidal particles grafted with DNA.
Porous carbon-coated NaTi2(PO4)3 with superior rate and low-temperature properties
Authors: Hu Qiao , Yu Mufan , Liao Jiaying , Wen Zhaoyin , Chen Chunhua
Published: January 2018

Nanosized porous carbon-coated NaTi2(PO4)3 (NTP) particles with superior rate and low-temperature properties are synthesized by a hydrothermal process combined with different carbon coating steps.
The crucial role of intermolecular π–π interactions in A–D–A-type electron acceptors and their effective modulation
Authors: Gao Bowei , Yao Huifeng , Jang Bomee , Zhu Jie , Yu Runnan , Cui Yong , Wang Fenghao , Hou Junxian , Woo Han Young , Hou Jianhui
Published: January 2018

In this work, we highlight the crucial role of intermolecular π–π interactions in A–D–A-type acceptors for OSCs.
Multiple intracellular signaling pathways orchestrate adipocytic differentiation of human bone marrow stromal stem cells
Authors: Ali Dalia , Abuelreich Sarah , Alkeraishan Nora , Shwish Najla Bin , Hamam Rimi , Kassem Moustapha , Alfayez Musaad , Aldahmash Abdullah , Alajez Nehad M.
Published: January 2018

Bone marrow adipocyte formation plays a role in bone homeostasis and whole body energy metabolism. However, the transcriptional landscape and signaling pathways associated with adipocyte lineage commitment and maturation are not fully delineated. Thus, we performed global gene expression profiling during adipocyte differentiation of human bone marrow stromal (mesenchymal) stem cells (hMSCs) and identified 2,589 up-regulated and 2,583 down-regulated mRNA transcripts. Pathway analysis on the up-regulated gene list untraveled enrichment in multiple signaling pathways including insulin receptor signaling, focal Adhesion, metapathway biotransformation, a number of metabolic pathways e.g. selenium metabolism, Benzo(a)pyrene metabolism, fatty acid, triacylglycerol, ketone body metabolism, tryptophan metabolism, and catalytic cycle of mammalian flavin-containing monooxygenase (FMOs). On the other hand, pathway analysis on the down-regulated genes revealed significant enrichment in pathways related to cell cycle regulation. Based on these data, we assessed the effect of pharmacological inhibition of FAK signaling using PF-573228, PF-562271, and InsR/IGF-1R using NVP-AEW541 and GSK-1904529A on adipocyte differentiation. hMSCs exposed to FAK or IGF-1R/InsR inhibitors exhibited fewer adipocyte formation (27–58% inhibition, P<0005). Concordantly, the expression of adipocyte-specific genes AP2, AdipoQ, and CEBPα was significantly reduced. On the other hand, we did not detect significant effects on cell viability as a result of FAK or IGF-1R/InsR inhibition. Our data identified FAK and insulin signaling as important intracellular signaling pathways relevant to bone marrow adipogenesis.
AGER promotes proliferation and migration in cervical cancer
Authors: Zhu Xuejie , Zhou Lulu , Li Ruyi , Shen Qi , Cheng Huihui , Shen Zongji , Zhu Haiyan
Published: January 2018

The receptor for advanced glycation end products (AGER) is an oncogenic transmembranous receptor up-regulated in various human cancers. We have previously reported that AGER was overexpressed in squamous cervical cancer. However, mechanisms of AGER involved in the progression of cervical cancer are unknown. In the present study, we investigated the effects of AGER on biological behavior, including proliferation, apoptosis, and migration using multiple biological approaches. AGER protein primarily localized in the cytoplasm and cytomembrane of cervical squamous cancer cells. Blockage of AGER with multiple siRNAs suppressed proliferation, stimulated apoptosis, inhibited migration of cervical squamous cancer cells. Conversely, overexpression of AGER increased cell proliferation, migration, and inhibited cell apoptosis. These results indicate that AGER promotes proliferation, migration, and inhibits apoptosis of squamous cervical cancer and might function as a tumor promoter in cervical cancer. Our study provides novel evidence for a potential role of AGER in bridging human papillomavirus (HPV)-induced inflammation and cervical cancer.
Combined drug therapeutic strategies for the effective treatment of Triple Negative Breast Cancer
Authors: Chalakur-Ramireddy Naveen K.R. , Pakala Suresh B.
Published: January 2018

TNBC (Triple Negative Breast Cancer) is a subtype of breast cancer with an aggressive phenotype which shows high metastatic capability and poor prognosis. Owing to its intrinsic properties like heterogeneity, lack of hormonal receptors and aggressive phenotype leave chemotherapy as a mainstay for the treatment of TNBC. Various studies have demonstrated that chemotherapy alone or therapeutic drugs targeting TNBC pathways, epigenetic mechanisms and immunotherapy alone have not shown significant improvement in TNBC patients. On the other hand, a combination of therapeutic drugs or addition of chemotherapy with therapeutic drugs has shown substantial improvement in results and proven to be an effective strategy for TNBC treatment. This review sheds light on effective combinational drug strategies and current clinical trial status of various combinatorial drugs for the treatment of TNBC.
Spectral ADI‐HO‐FDTD method for periodic structures
Authors: Liu Yawen
Published: January 2018

In this Letter, the spectral technique that has been applied to the finite‐difference‐time‐domain (FDTD) method is applied to the alternating‐direction‐implicit higher‐order FDTD (ADI‐HO‐FDTD) method for solving periodic structures, resulting in the periodic spectral (PS) ADI‐HO‐FDTD. The algorithm for inversion of the block periodic tri‐diagonal matrices is presented. The effectiveness and computational efficiency of the proposed method are also shown. Numerical results indicate that the PS‐ADI‐HO‐FDTD algorithm can save computation time by more than 27% in comparison with the conventional HO‐FDTD method.
Method for constructing the non‐radiative characteristic modes of perfect electric conductors
Authors: Lian Renzun , Pan Jin
Published: January 2018

Non‐radiative modes widely exist in the perfect electric conductor systems whose boundaries are closed surfaces, and have had many engineering applications. However, the non‐radiative modes cannot be constructed by traditional electric field integral equation (EFIE)‐based characteristic mode theory (CMT). The EFIE‐based CMT is generalised, such that it can efficiently construct non‐radiative characteristic modes (CMs), and it is found out that the non‐radiative CMs and traditional internal resonant eigenmodes are one‐to‐one correspondence.
Adaptive interacting multiple model‐Kalman filter for multitaper spectrum sensing in cognitive radio
Authors: Salam A.O. , Sheriff R.E. , Al‐Araji S.R. , Mezher K. , Nasir Q.
Published: January 2018

This Letter addresses the necessity for adaptive threshold (AT) and optimum frame duration (OFD) in spectrum sensing (SS). An adaptation paradigm of Kalman filter incorporated with interacting multiple model to interrogate the channel state information and adjusting the AT and OFD algorithms is proposed. The robust multitaper method is embraced for spectrum leakage control. The analysis of augmenting these algorithms is given and corroborated with simulations, which show their perks for efficient SS applications.
Backstepping‐based zero‐sum differential games for missile‐target interception systems with input and output constraints
Authors: Sun Jingliang , Liu Chunsheng , Zhao Xia
Published: January 2018

In this study, the problem of intercepting a manoeuvring target is posed in a zero‐sum differential game problem for a class of strict‐feedback non‐linear systems with output and input constraints. By introducing a barrier Lyapunov function and an auxiliary system to deal with the output constraints and input constraints, respectively, a novel backstepping feedforward controller is designed to transform the tracking problem for strict‐feedback systems into an equivalence differential game problem for affine systems. Subsequently, a zero‐sum differential game strategy is developed by using the adaptive dynamic programming technique. A critic network is constructed to learn the Nash equilibrium of the Hamilton–Jacobi–Isaacs equation online. The convergence properties of the proposed backstepping‐based differential games are developed by utilising the Lyapunov method. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed strategy is demonstrated by simulation using missile‐target interception system.
Back‐dropout transfer learning for action recognition
Authors: Ren Huamin , Kanhabua Nattiya , Møgelmose Andreas , Liu Weifeng , Kulkarni Kaustubh , Escalera Sergio , Baró Xavier , Moeslund Thomas B.
Published: January 2018

Transfer learning aims at adapting a model learned from source dataset to target dataset. It is a beneficial approach especially when annotating on the target dataset is expensive or infeasible. Transfer learning has demonstrated its powerful learning capabilities in various vision tasks. Despite transfer learning being a promising approach, it is still an open question how to adapt the model learned from the source dataset to the target dataset. One big challenge is to prevent the impact of category bias on classification performance. Dataset bias exists when two images from the same category, but from different datasets, are not classified as the same. To address this problem, a transfer learning algorithm has been proposed, called negative back‐dropout transfer learning (NB‐TL), which utilizes images that have been misclassified and further performs back‐dropout strategy on them to penalize errors. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm. In particular, the authors evaluate the performance of the proposed NB‐TL algorithm on UCF 101 action recognition dataset, achieving 88.9% recognition rate.
Multi‐image matching for object recognition
Authors: Zhu Jie , Wu Shufang , Wang Xizhao , Yang Guoqing , Ma Liyan
Published: January 2018

One of the central problems in object recognition is to develop appropriate representations for the objects in images. The authors present a novel approach for image representation that is based on graphs. In the proposed image graph, each node represents a patch and edges are added between neighbouring nodes. First, class‐specific match‐set graphs are generated by matching the image graphs that are in the same categories, and the multi‐image matching problem is solved by applying a seed‐expansion strategy. Then, the matches between the match‐set graphs and an image graph are considered to be the object patches in the image. Finally, the features extracted from these patches are used for the image representation. Extensive experiments are conducted to demonstrate that their approach can obtain state‐of‐the‐art results on several challenging datasets.
Dynamic background subtraction method based on spatio‐temporal classification
Authors: Li Xiying , Li Guoming , Jiang Qianyin
Published: January 2018

The dynamic background will cause extremely negative effects on background subtraction and is difficult to eliminate. This study proposes a dynamic background subtraction method based on a spatio‐temporal classification which mainly contains two key steps: temporal and spatial classifications. For temporal classification, the closest pixel sampling algorithm is used to sample background pixels in groups, which avoids centralised sampling and a complicated mathematical modelling process. For the background model obtained by group sampling, the pixels which are similar to the detected pixel are classified into the same category. According to the number of pixels in this category, the label (foreground or background) of the detected pixel can be determined thus a coarse foreground mask is obtained. For spatial classification, considering the correlation between dynamic background pixels and neighbouring pixels, a square window can be set for each foreground pixel in the coarse mask, and then all pixels in the window classified. According to the labels of these classified pixels, a more accurate foreground mask is obtained. The experiments on public datasets demonstrate that the proposed method outperforms other state‐of‐the‐art methods.
Sparse representation‐based face recognition against expression and illumination
Authors: Su Ya , Liu Zhe , Wang Mengyao
Published: January 2018

Face recognition technique has obtained great progress and excellent results on public data sets. However, traditional algorithms suffer from various changes such as illumination, expression, and misalignment in practical applications. To solve these problems, this study proposes a novel face recognition algorithm simultaneously resolves these challenges. The key idea is reducing the influence of illumination and expression through the aligning procedure. As a result, illumination, expression, and misalignment can be greatly ignored in the recognition procedure. The contributions of this study are two folds. (i) The construction of the shape constrained illumination pattern (SCIP), which models the illumination variation with robustness to expression change. (ii) SCIP‐based face recognition algorithm which can deal with illumination, expression, and image misalignment simultaneously. Systematic evaluations conducted on public databases demonstrate that the proposed algorithm is robust to illumination, expression, and misalignment with better performance than state‐of‐the‐art algorithms.
BCH–LSH: a new scheme of locality‐sensitive hashing
Authors: Ma Yuena , Feng Xiaoyi , Liu Yang , Li Shuhong
Published: January 2018

Similarity searching of high‐dimensional data is fundamental in the multimedia research field. In recent years, the binary code indexing has achieved significant applications in the context of similarity searching. However, most of the existing binary coding methods adopt a random generation method in near neighbour cluster problems, which involve unnecessary computations and degrade similarity in object points. To avoid the uncertainty of random generation codes, in this study, the authors propose a new locality sensitive hashing (LSH) algorithm based on q‐ary Bose–Chaudhuri–Hocquenghem (BCH) code. BCH–LSH algorithm utilises the characteristics of the designed distance of BCH codes and uses the BCH codes generator matrix as a transform basis of the hash function to map the source data into the hash space. The experiments show that the BCH–LSH algorithm is superior to the E2LSH algorithm in average precision, average recall ratio and running speed.
Adaptive probability filter for removing salt and pepper noises
Authors: Chen Jiayi , Zhan Yinwei , Cao Huiying , Wu Xingda
Published: January 2018

To overcome the drawbacks of existing filters for salt and pepper noises, an adaptive probability filter is proposed. For an image, it detects salt and pepper noises based on the characteristic of minimum and maximum intensity values of the images, as well as the distribution of noise. If the noise‐free intensities in neighbourhood repeat with a certain probability, the noise‐free intensity with highest repeated frequency is used to remove noise based on the statistical significance; otherwise, the median of noise‐free pixels in neighbourhood is used to remove noise. Experiments show that the proposed method is capable of detecting noise more accurately and perform much better than the existing distinguished filters in terms of peak‐signal‐to‐noise ratio, image enhancement factor, and visual representation at all the noise densities.
Patch strategy for deep face recognition
Authors: Zhang Yanhong , Shang Kun , Wang Jun , Li Nan , Zhang Monica M.Y.
Published: January 2018

Convolutional neural network (CNN) has proven to be a highly efficient approach to face recognition. In this study, the authors introduce a new layer to embed the patch strategy in convolutional architectures to improve the effectiveness of face representation. Meanwhile, a multi‐branch CNN is constructed to learn features of each cropped patch by the patch strategy and then fuses all the patch features together to form the entire face representation. Compared with the traditional patch methods, their approach has the advantage that no extra space is needed to store the facial patches since the images are cropped online. Moreover, due to the end‐to‐end training, this approach makes a better use of the interactions between global and local features in the model. Two baseline CNNs (i.e. AlexNet and ResNet) are used to analyse the effectiveness of their method. Experiments show that the proposed system achieves comparable performance with other state‐of‐the‐art methods on the labelled faces in the wild and YouTube face verification tasks. To ensure the reproducibility, the publicly available training set CASIA‐WebFace is used.