The study was conducted to determine the effects of three dietary Se sources, such as sodium-selenite (S-S), seleno-yeast (S-Y) and seleno-methionine (S-M), on Se concentration, glutathione peroxidase (GPX) and TXNRD activities, and mRNA expression of fifteen representative selenoproteins, and protein expression of four endoplasmic reticulum-resided selenoproteins in a wide range of tissues of yellow catfish. Compared with S-S and S-M groups, dietary S-Y significantly decreased growth performance and feed utilisation of yellow catfish. Dietary Se sources significantly influenced Se contents in the spleen, dorsal muscle and the kidney, GPX activities in spleen, kidney, intestine, muscle and mesenteric fat, and TXNRD activities in the heart, intestine and mesenteric fat. Among ten tested tissues, dietary Se sources influenced mRNA expression of GPX4 and SELENOK in three tissues; GPX3, SELENOS and TXNRD2 in four tissues; SELENOF, SELENON and DIO2 in five tissues; SELENOM, GPX1/2 and TXNRD3 in six tissues; SELENOW in seven tissue and SELENOP and SELENOT in eight tissues. Based on these observations above, S-S and S-M seem to be suitable Se sources for improving growth performance and feed utilisation of yellow catfish. Dietary Se sources differentially influence the expression of selenoproteins in various tissues of yellow catfish. For the first time, we determined the expression of selenoproteins in fish in responses to dietary Se sources, which contributes to a better understanding of the functions and regulatory mechanisms of selenoporteins.

In present study, we explored the effects and the underlying mechanisms of phospholipase C (PLC) mediating glucose-induced changes in intestinal glucose transport and lipid metabolism by using U-73122 (a PLC inhibitor). We found that glucose incubation activated the PLC signal and U-73122 pre-incubation alleviated the glucose-induced increase in plcb2, plce1 and plcg1 mRNA expression. Meanwhile, U-73122 pre-treatment blunted the glucose-induced increase in sodium/glucose co-transporters 1/2 mRNA and protein expressions. U-73122 pre-treatment alleviated the glucose-induced increase in TAG content, BODIPY 493/503 fluorescence intensity, lipogenic enzymes (glucose 6-phospate dehydrogenase (G6PD), 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase (6PGD), malic enzyme and fatty acid synthase (FAS)) activity and the mRNA expressions of lipogenic genes and related transcription factors (6pgd, g6pd, fas, acca, srebp1 and carbohydrate response element-binding protein (chrebp)) in intestinal epithelial cells of yellow catfish. Further research found that U-73122 pre-incubation mitigated the glucose-induced increase in the ChREBP protein expression and the acetylation level of ChREBP in HEK293T cells. Taken together, these data demonstrated that the PLC played a major role in the glucose-induced changes of glucose transport and lipid metabolism and provide a new perspective for revealing the molecular mechanism of glucose-induced changes of intestinal glucose absorption, lipid deposition and metabolism.

A Na-montmorillonite (Na-MMT) was activated with HNO3 (20 wt.%) solution at various temperatures and times to obtain acid-activated MMT (Acid-MMT). Zinc (4 wt.%) was supported on Acid-MMT via the impregnation method using Zn(NO3)2⋅6H2O as a precursor. The catalytic performance of the Zn/Acid-MMT for the aromatization of heptane was investigated. The amount and distribution of acidity of Acid-MMT, which could be adjusted by changing the acid activation time and temperature, significantly affected the heptane conversion and aromatics content. As a result, an efficient Zn/Acid-MMT catalyst for the aromatization reaction was obtained by optimizing the acid-treatment conditions of Na-MMT.

The European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism (ESPEN) guidelines recommend the Royal Free Hospital-Nutritional Prioritizing Tool (RFH-NPT) to identify malnutrition risk in patients with liver disease. However, little is known about the application of the RFH-NPT to screen for the risk of malnutrition in China, where patients primarily suffer from hepatitis virus-related cirrhosis. A total of 155 cirrhosis patients without liver cancer or uncontrolled co-morbid illness were enrolled in this prospective study. We administered the Nutritional Risk Screening 2002 (NRS-2002), RFH-NPT, Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool (MUST) and Liver Disease Undernutrition Screening Tool (LDUST) to the patients within 24 h after admission and performed follow-up observations for 1·5 years. The RFH-NPT and NRS-2002 had higher sensitivities (64·8 and 52·4 %) and specificities (60 and 70 %) than the other tools with regard to screening for malnutrition risk in cirrhotic patients. The prevalence of nutritional risk was higher under the use of the RFH-NPT against the NRS-2002 (63 v. 51 %). The RFH-NPT tended more easily to detect malnutrition risk in patients with advanced Child–Pugh classes (B and C) and lower Model for End-stage Liver Disease scores (<15) compared with NRS-2002. RFH-NPT score was an independent predictive factor for mortality. Patients identified as being at high malnutrition risk with the RFH-NPT had a higher mortality rate than those at low risk; the same result was not obtained with the NRS-2002. Therefore, we suggest that using the RFH-NPT improves the ability of clinicians to predict malnutrition risk in patients with cirrhosis primarily caused by hepatitis virus infection at an earlier stage.

For the guarantee of the long-distance transport of the bunches of China Initiative Accelerator Driven System (CIADS), a new scheme is proposed that extra magnetic field is used in the accelerator-target coupling section before the windowless target to minimize the self-modulation (SM) mechanism. Particle-in-cell simulations are carried out to study the influence of the solenoidal magnetic field on the self-modulation mechanism when long proton bunches move in the background plasmas. The long proton bunches used in the simulations are similar to these in the linear accelerator of CIADS. It is found that the presence of the solenoidal magnetic field will significantly inhibit the self-modulation process. For the strong magnetic field, the longitudinal separation and transverse focusing of the long bunches disappear. We attribute these phenomena to the reason that the strong solenoidal magnetic field restricts the transverse movement of plasma electrons. Thus, there are not enough electrons around the bunch to compensate the space charge effect. Moreover, without transverse current, the longitudinal pinched effect disappears, and the long bunch can not be separated into small pulses anymore.

Disturbances in lipid metabolism are at the core of several health issues facing modern society, including fatty liver and obesity. The sterol regulatory element-binding protein 1 (SREBP-1) is one important transcription factor regulating lipid metabolism, but the relevant mechanism still remains unknown. The present study determined the transcriptional regulation of SREBP-1 and its target genes (including acetyl-CoA carboxylase α (accα), fatty acid synthase (fas) and stearoyl-CoA desaturase 1 (scd1)) in a freshwater teleost, grass carp Ctenopharyngodon idella. We cloned and characterised the 1988 bp, 2043 bp, 1632 bp and 1889 bp sequences of srebp-1, accα, scd1 and fas promoters, respectively. A cluster of putative binding sites of transcription factors, such as specific protein, yin yang 1, nuclear factor Y, sterol response elements (SRE) and enhancer box (E-box) element, were predicted on their promoter regions. Overexpression of nSREBP-1 reduced srebp-1 promoter activity, increased scd1 and fas promoter activity but did not influence accα promoter activity. The site-mutation and electrophoretic mobility shift assay analysis indicated that srebp-1, fas and scd1 promoters, but not accα promoter, possessed SRE. In Ctenopharyngodon idella kidney (CIK) cells of grass carp, nSREBP-1 overexpression significantly reduced srebp-1 mRNA expression and up-regulated miR-29 mRNA expression. The 3′UTR of srebp-1 possessed the potential miR-29 binding site and miR-29 up-regulated the luciferase activity of srebp-1 3′UTR and srebp-1 mRNA expression, implying a self-activating loop of SREBP-1 and miR-29 in grass carp. Based on the above-mentioned results, we found two novel transcriptional mechanisms for SREBP-1 in grass carp: (1) the auto-regulation sited on the SREBP-1 promoter regions was suppressive and (2) there was a self-activating loop of SREBP-1 and miR-29.

Existing data on folate status and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) prognosis are scarce. We prospectively examined whether serum folate concentrations at diagnosis were associated with liver cancer-specific survival (LCSS) and overall survival (OS) among 982 patients with newly diagnosed, previously untreated HCC, who were enrolled in the Guangdong Liver Cancer Cohort (GLCC) study between September 2013 and February 2017. Serum folate concentrations were measured using chemiluminescent microparticle immunoassay. Cox proportional hazards models were performed to estimate hazard ratios (HR) and 95 % CI by sex-specific quartile of serum folate. Compared with patients in the third quartile of serum folate, patients in the lowest quartile had significantly inferior LCSS (HR = 1·48; 95 % CI 1·05, 2·09) and OS (HR = 1·43; 95 % CI 1·03, 1·99) after adjustment for non-clinical and clinical prognostic factors. The associations were not significantly modified by sex, age at diagnosis, alcohol drinking status and Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) stage. However, there were statistically significant interactions on both multiplicative and additive scale between serum folate and C-reactive protein (CRP) levels or smoking status and the associations of lower serum folate with worse LCSS and OS were only evident among patients with CRP > 3·0 mg/l or current smokers. An inverse association with LCSS were also observed among patients with liver damage score ≥3. These results suggest that lower serum folate concentrations at diagnosis are independently associated with worse HCC survival, most prominently among patients with systemic inflammation and current smokers. A future trial of folate supplementation seems to be promising in HCC patients with lower folate status.

Graphene oxide (GO) is a promising material in improving the corrosion resistance properties of metals. This improvement significantly relies on the microstructure and electrical properties of GO, which nevertheless is rarely studied. Here, multiscale GOs with different flake sizes and oxidation degrees were fabricated and incorporated into waterborne alkyd resin (AR). The physical and chemical structures of GO and AR/GO composites were characterized in detail. Multiscale GOs are successfully prepared, and the corrosion resistance of AR/GO coatings is measured by electrochemical workstation. Electrochemical experiments indicate that GOs with larger flake sizes have excellent barrier properties due to the shielding effect; GOs with appropriate oxidation degrees could effectively improve the dispersion of GO and avoid the conductive path of GO in the matrix, because oxidation degree of GO could influence the dispersion and electrical properties. The corrosion protection efficiency of AR/GO(GO: 120 μm, 1.5 wt%, sp2/sp3 = 2.61) is 98.14%, which is 2.26 times higher than AR. The multiscale effects of GO on the corrosion resistance property of AR coatings are quite general, thus providing guidelines for developing highly efficient corrosion resistant coatings for practical usage.

Atom probe tomography (APT) is rising in influence across many parts of materials science and engineering thanks to its unique combination of highly sensitive composition measurement and three-dimensional microstructural characterization. In this invited article, we have selected a few recent applications that showcase the unique capacity of APT to measure the local composition at structural defects. Whether we consider dislocations, stacking faults, or grain boundary, the detailed compositional measurements tend to indicate specific partitioning behaviors for the different solutes in both complex engineering and model alloys we investigated.

It is well known that the energy for solar eruptions comes from magnetic fields in solar active regions. Magnetic energy storage and dissipation are regarded as important physical processes in the solar corona. With incomplete theoretical modeling for eruptions in the solar atmosphere, activity forecasting is mainly supported with statistical models. Solar observations with high temporal and spatial resolution continuously from space well describe the evolution of activities in the solar atmosphere, and combined with three dimensional reconstruction of solar magnetic fields, makes numerical short-term (within hours to days) solar activity forecasting possible. In the current report, we propose the erupting frequency and main attack direction of solar eruptions as new forecasts and present the prospects for numerical short-term solar activity forecasting based on the magnetic topological framework in solar active regions.

Mycoplasma infections are most frequently associated with disease in the urogenital or respiratory tracts and, in most cases, mycoplasmas infect the host persistently. In HIV-infected individuals the prevalence and role of genital mycoplasmas has not been well studied. To investigate the six species of Mycoplasma and the risk factors for infection in Jiangsu province, first-void urine and venous blood samples were collected and epidemiological questionnaires were administered after informed consent. A total of 1541 HIV/AIDS patients were recruited in this study. The overall infection rates of six Mycoplasma species were: Ureaplasma urealyticum (26·7%), Mycoplasma hominis (25·3%), M. fermentans (5·1%), M. genitalium (20·1%), M. penetrans (1·6%) and M. pirum (15·4%). The Mycoplasma infection rate in the unmarried group was lower than that of the married, divorced and widowed groups [adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 1·432, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1·077–1·904, P < 0·05]. The patients who refused highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) had a much higher risk of Mucoplasma infection (aOR 1·357, 95% CI 1·097–1·679, P < 0·05). Otherwise, a high CD4+ T cell count was a protective factor against Mycoplasma infection (aOR 0·576, 95% CI 0·460–0·719, P < 0·05). Further research will be required to confirm a causal relationship and to identify risk factors for Mycoplasma infection in HIV/AIDS populations.

An advanced cone-nanolayer target with nanolayers on both inside and outside of the hollow-cone tip is proposed. Two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations show that laser interaction with such cone-nanolayer targets can efficiently produce fast electron beams with manageable spotsize, and the beams can propagate for a relatively long distance in the vacuum beyond the cone tip.

This paper analyzes how a tax/subsidy policy affects consumers' behavior when choosing between green (pollution-free goods) and conventional products, and its effects on welfare when a proportion of consumers have strong preferences for green goods. We analyze a Hotelling's linear city model where final products by two firms are symmetric in all dimensions except for the externality their production process generates. Our efficiency comparisons suggest that, under a setting of horizontal product differentiation, an environmental regulation (either on polluting firms or consumers buying their products) yields higher social welfare than the absence of policy. Moreover, the proportion of consumers who prefer green products affects the welfare gains from a subsidy or tax policy.

Background: Increasing evidence suggests that neprilysin (NEP) may be the major degrading enzyme of amyloid beta (Aβ) in the brain and the NEP gene has been proposed as a candidate gene for Alzheimer's disease (AD). Association results between the NEP gene and AD are still preliminary. This study investigates the effect of the polymorphisms of −204G/C and 159C/T in the NEP gene on the development of sporadic Alzheimer's disease (SAD) in a southern Chinese community.

Method: 236 sporadic late-onset AD patients were recruited from Guangzhou Psychiatric Hospital in southern China, and 332 healthy elderly controls were enrolled from three old age homes in suburban Guangzhou. NEP and ApoE genotype were determined by PCR–RFLP.

Results: No differences in genotypic and allelic frequencies of −204G/C and 159C/T polymorphisms in NEP were found between AD and control group (for −204G/C genotype: χ2 = 2.34, P > 0.05; for allele: χ2 = 2.31, P > 0.05; for 159C/T genotype: χ2 = 1.34, P > 0.05; for allele: χ2 = 0.88, P > 0.05). Neither was any difference found in genotypic and allelic frequency when stratified by sex or by ApoE ε4 allele (P > 0.05).

Conclusions: Our results suggest that −204G/C and 159C/T polymorphisms of the NEP gene may not be associated with SAD. Moreover, both sex and ApoE ε4 allele do not affect the distribution of NEP gene polymorphisms.