Population structure and genetic diversity of Toona sinensis revealed by whole-genome resequencing.

Objectives: Toona sinensis, commonly known as Chinese toon, is a perennial woody plant with significant economic and ecological importance. This study employed whole-genome resequencing of 180 T. sinensis samples collected from Shandong to analyze genetic variation and diversity, ultimately identifying 18,231 high-quality SNPs after rigorous quality control and linkage disequilibrium pruning.

Design, synthesis, and biological evaluation of novel diphenylamine derivatives as tubulin polymerization inhibitors targeting the colchicine binding site.

A novel series of diphenylamine derivatives were designed and synthesized, and their biological activities were evaluated. The anti-proliferative activities of the derivatives were tested against five human cancer cell lines (MCF-7, MDA-MB-231, A549, HeLa and HT29). Among them, compound 5f exhibited the promising anti-proliferative activity against HT29 cell lines with the IC value of 23 nM.

The first complete chloroplast genome of (Benn.) T. G. Hartley.

(Benn.) T. G.

Skimmin protects diabetic cardiomyopathy in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats.

Skimmin, a natural coumarin derivate, has been showed to be protective against experimental diabetic nephropathy; however, its protective effect on diabetic cardiomyopathy (DCM) is not clarified. By using in vitro and in vivo models, we investigated skimmin's protective effect on impaired heart tissues in DCM. DCM was induced by streptozotocin (STZ, 60 mg/kg) using Sprague Dawley rats, and diabetic rats were treated with either skimmin (15 or 30 mg/kg) or the vehicle for 16 weeks, and normal rats were used as a control.

Author Correction: Synthesis and characterization of polyethylene glycol-phenol-formaldehyde based polyurethane composite.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

Synthesis and characterization of polyethylene glycol-phenol-formaldehyde based polyurethane composite.

A series of phenol-formaldehyde-polyethylene glycol polyether polyols (PF-PEGs) were synthesized through the condensation polymerization and etherification of phenol, formaldehyde, and poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) under alkaline conditions and subsequently reacted with 1,6-hexamethylene diisocyanate to obtain polyurethane (PU) films using acetone as solvents. The influence of phenol and formaldehyde to PEG mass ratio ((P + F)/PEG) on the hydroxyl number of PF-PEGs and mechanical properties, thermal stabilities, crystallization behaviors, as well as microstructure of polyurethane composite films were studied using chemical analysis, mechanical tests, thermogravimetric analyses (TGA), dynamic mechanical analyses (DMA), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning and transmission electron microscopies (SEM and TEM), respectively. Results demonstrated that PF-PEGs with (P + F)/PEG of 50/50 had the highest hydroxyl number of 323 mg K(OH)/g.

A long-term static immersion experiment on the leaching behavior of heavy metals from waste printed circuit boards.

Printed circuit boards (PCBs) are the main components of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE). Waste PCBs contain several kinds of heavy metals, including Cu, Pb and Zn. We characterize the leaching of heavy metals (Cu, Pb, Zn and Ni) from waste PCBs in a pH range of 3.

Performance of hybrid vertical up- and downflow subsurface flow constructed wetlands in treating synthetic high-strength wastewater.

The performance and temporal variation of hybrid vertical-subsurface flow constructed wetlands (VFCWs) in response to two-stage combinations of vertical upflow (VUF) and vertical downflow (VDF) were analyzed in this research. The results of high carbon (C) treatment and high nitrogen (N) treatment were similar. The Lythrum salicaria treatment showed higher removal efficiency than CWs planted with Acorus calamus.

Effect of C/N ratios on the performance of earthworm eco-filter for treatment of synthetics domestic sewage.

Purpose: The performances of filter systems that use earthworms and plants, combined with earthworm eco-filter (EE) systems in treating synthetic domestic sewage (SDS) with different C/N ratios, were investigated for a 9-month period.

Methods: The effects of the combination of filters, earthworms, plants, as well as the combination of earthworms and plants on SDS nutrient removal efficiency were separately investigated to select the optimum system for treating SDS. The results of the current study could be used to determine how treatment performance responds to different C/N ratios and to explain and predict the performance of an operating EE system.

Photolysis of gaseous butyl acetate using built-in microwave discharge electrodeless lamps.

This paper examined the photolysis of gaseous butyl acetate by built-in microwave discharge electrodeless lamps. Bromine and iodine lamps were used to investigate the effects of microwave input power, inlet concentration, gas residence time, and different filling materials on butyl acetate decomposition and energy yield. Water vapor and ammonia were utilized as additional chemicals to determine if they can improve removal efficiency.

De novo assembly and analysis of RNA-seq data.

We describe Trans-ABySS, a de novo short-read transcriptome assembly and analysis pipeline that addresses variation in local read densities by assembling read substrings with varying stringencies and then merging the resulting contigs before analysis. Analyzing 7.4 gigabases of 50-base-pair paired-end Illumina reads from an adult mouse liver poly(A) RNA library, we identified known, new and alternative structures in expressed transcripts, and achieved high sensitivity and specificity relative to reference-based assembly methods.

Performance of pilot-scale vertical-flow constructed wetlands in responding to variation in influent C/N ratios of simulated urban sewage.

The performance response of planted and the unplanted wetlands to simulated wastewater with different ratios of carbon to nitrogen (C/N) was studied during a 9-month period in greenhouse conditions. With different C/N ratios for influent water (C/N ratios 2.5:1, 5:1 and 10:1), average removal efficiencies for the unplanted and the planted wetlands were as follows: COD (41-52% and 59-68%), TN (24-48% and 25-62%), TP (35-64% and 59-71%) and TOC (22-37% and 16-33%).

Global analysis of in vivo Foxa2-binding sites in mouse adult liver using massively parallel sequencing.

Foxa2 (HNF3 beta) is a one of three, closely related transcription factors that are critical to the development and function of the mouse liver. We have used chromatin immunoprecipitation and massively parallel Illumina 1G sequencing (ChIP-Seq) to create a genome-wide profile of in vivo Foxa2-binding sites in the adult liver. More than 65% of the approximately 11.

[Surgical diagnosis and treatment of Castleman's disease].

Objective: To investigate the clinical features and treatment of the surgical tumors associated with Castleman's disease.

Methods: The clinical data of 20 patients with Castleman's disease, 6 males and 14 females, aged 39 (15-70), with the tumor size ranging from 2 cm x 3 cm to 10 cm x 9 cm, and with the tumor located in the mediastinal cavity (n = 6), retroperitoneal area (n = 2), abdominal cavity (n = 1), adrenal area (n = 1), neck and armpit (n = 2), and multi-centers (n = 2), were analyzed.

Results: Nineteen of the 20 patients underwent surgical resection of the tumor or lymph node.