Revealing the Ground Deformation and Its Mechanism in the Heihe River Basin by Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar and Optical Images.

The Heihe River Basin (HRB), located on the northeast margin of the Qilian Mountains, is China's second largest inland river basin. It is a typical oasis-type agricultural area in northwest China's arid and semiarid areas. It is important to monitor and investigate the spatiotemporal distribution characteristics and mechanisms of surface deformation in HRB for the ecology of inland river basins.

Multifunctional sulfur doping in cobalt-based materials for high-energy density supercapacitors.

In this study, S-CCO@Co(OH)('CCO' representing CuCoO/CuO; 'S-'representing sulfur doping) was synthesized by hydrothermal method followed by electrodeposition. The multiple effects of S doping were studied by S doping and constructing 3D core-shell structure. S doping induced the reduction of Cuand Coto Cuand Co, respectively.

Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence (TADF)-active Coinage-metal Sulfide Clusters for High-resolution X-ray Imaging.

The study of facile-synthesis and low-cost X-ray scintillators with high light yield, low detection limit and high X-ray imaging resolution plays a vital role in medical and industrial imaging fields. However, the optimal balance between X-ray absorption, decay lifetime and excitonic utilization efficiency of scintillators to achieve high-resolution imaging is extremely difficult due to the inherent contradiction. Here two thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF)-actived coinage-metal clusters M S L (M=Ag or Cu) were synthesized by simple solvothermal reaction, where the cooperation of heavy atom-rich character and TADF mechanism supports strong X-ray absorption and rapid luminescent collection of excitons.

Activation of MAPK-mediated immunity by phosphatidic acid in response to positive-strand RNA viruses.

Increasing evidence suggests that mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascades play a crucial role in plant defense against viruses. However, the mechanisms that underlie the activation of MAPK cascades in response to viral infection remain unclear. In this study, we discovered that phosphatidic acid (PA) represents a major class of lipids that respond to Potato virus Y (PVY) at an early stage of infection.

Targeted metabolomics reveals aberrant profiles of serum bile acids in patients with schizophrenia.

Emerging evidence indicates that bile acids (BAs), which are signaling molecules that regulate metabolism and inflammation, appear to be dysregulated in schizophrenia (SZ). Further investigation is warranted to comprehensively characterize BA profiles in SZ. To address this, we analyzed serum BA profiles in 108 drug-free patients with SZ and in 108 healthy controls (HCs), divided into a discovery set (n = 119) and a validation set (n = 97), using ultraperformance liquid chromatography triple quadrupole mass spectrometry.

Impaired Membrane Lipid Homeostasis in Schizophrenia.

Background And Hypothesis: Multiple lines of clinical, biochemical, and genetic evidence suggest that disturbances of membrane lipids and their metabolism are probably involved in the etiology of schizophrenia (SCZ). Lipids in the membrane are essential to neural development and brain function, however, their role in SCZ remains largely unexplored.

Study Design: Here we investigated the lipidome of the erythrocyte membrane of 80 patients with SCZ and 40 healthy controls using ultra-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry.

A Two-Layer IP Hopping-Based Moving Target Defense Approach to Enhancing the Security of Mobile Ad-Hoc Networks.

Mobile ad-hoc networks (MANETs) have great potential applications in military missions or emergency rescue due to their no-infrastructure, self-organizing and multi hop capability characteristics. Obviously, it is important to implement a low-cost and efficient mechanism of anti-invasion, anti-eavesdropping and anti-attack in MANETs, especially for military scenarios. The purpose of intruding or attacking a MANET is usually different from that of wired Internet networks whose security mechanism has been widely explored and implemented.

Attenuated and delayed niacin skin flushing in schizophrenia and affective disorders: A potential clinical auxiliary diagnostic marker.

Aim: Schizophrenia and affective disorders all show high heterogeneity in clinical manifestations. A lack of objective biomarkers has long been a challenge in the clinical diagnosis of these diseases. In this study, we aimed to investigate the performance of niacin skin flushing in schizophrenia and affective disorders and determine its clinical potential as an auxiliary diagnostic marker.

Serum Metabolomic Profiling Based on Fourier Transform-Ion Cyclotron Resonance-Mass Spectrometry: Do the Dysfunctions of Metabolic Pathways Reveal a Universal Risk of Oxidative Stress in Schizophrenia?

Schizophrenia is a chronic, disabling, and complex mental illness, of which the pathogenesis remains elusive. To provide clues for the pathogenesis and etiology of schizophrenia, we performed serum metabolic profiling in 54 patients with schizophrenia and 54 matched healthy controls using Fourier transform-ion cyclotron resonance-mass spectrometry. Based on 94 differential metabolites identified, we discovered two dysregulated metabolic pathways in schizophrenia, including the upregulated arachidonic acid-related pathway and the downregulated aromatic amino acid-related pathway.

An investigation of calcium-independent phospholipase A2 (iPLA2) and cytosolic phospholipase A2 (cPLA2) in schizophrenia.

Evidence indicates that abnormal phospholipase A2 (PLA2) levels and niacin insensitivity are present in individuals with schizophrenia. This study was designed to determine whether differences in plasma calcium-independent phospholipase A2 (iPLA2) and cytosolic phospholipase A2 (cPLA2) exist between those with schizophrenia and healthy controls, and to explore the correlation between PLA2s and the niacin skin reaction in schizophrenic patients. We performed ELISA experiments to measure the concentrations of plasma iPLA2 and cPLA2 and we conducted a series of niacin skin tests on schizophrenic patients from the Chinese Han population.

CTX-II and YKL-40 in early diagnosis and treatment evaluation of osteoarthritis.

This study investigated the value of C-terminal telopeptides of collagen type II (CTX-II) and YKL-40 in early diagnosis and treatment evaluation of osteoarthritis (OA). A total of 90 patients with OA diagnosed and treated in The First Affiliated Hospital, Guangzhou Medical University from March 2015 to January 2018 were selected as the study group. At the same time, 50 healthy elderly were included as the control group.

Secreted recombinant human IL-24 protein inhibits the proliferation of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma Eca-109 cells in vitro and in vivo.

Interleukin-24 (IL-24) displays cancer-specific apoptosis-inducing properties in a broad spectrum of human tumors without harmful effects on normal cells. The human IL-24 protein is secreted as a glycosylated protein and functions as a pro-Th1 cytokine and a potent antiangiogenic molecule. However, the function of secreted recombinant human IL-24 (srhIL-24) protein in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) cells has not been studied.

A novel human interleukin-24 peptide created by computer-guided design contributes to suppression of proliferation in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma Eca-109 cells.

Based on the three-dimensional modeling structure of human interleukin-24 (hIL-24) and its most likely active position predicted by solvent accessibility and apparent electrostatic properties, a novel hIL-24 peptide M1 was created by computer-guided molecular design. The cytotoxicity and cell selectivity of M1 were examined in three human carcinoma cell lines and one normal human embryo lung fibroblast cell line (HEL). MTT assay showed that M1 induced growth arrest in two IL-20 receptor complex-positive cancer cell lines (the esophageal squamous cell carcinoma cell line Eca-109 and the melanoma cell line A375), and antibodies against IL-24 or IL-20 receptor complexes significantly neutralized the inhibitory activity.