Anti-neuraminidase activity of chemical constituents of Balanophora involucrata

Balanophora involucrata J. D. Hooker has been known to possess potential anti-inflammatory and antibacterial activities; however, its antiviral activity has not been evaluated so far. In order to find new neuraminidase inhibitors (NAIs), the neuraminidase (NA) inhibition activity of different B. involucrata extracts was evaluated. In this study, an in vitro NA inhibition assay was performed to identify which extract of B. involucrata exhibits (maximal) inhibitory activity against NA. Ultra high performance liquid chromatography/quadrupole time-of-flight–tandem mass spectroscopy (MS/MS) and molecular docking techniques were used to identify the specific compounds responsible for the anti-influenza activity of the extract, and to explore the potential natural NAIs. The ethyl acetate extract of B. involucrata exhibited significant inhibitory activity against NA with 50% inhibitory concentration (IC₅₀) value of 159.5 μg/mL. Twenty compounds were identified according to the MS/MS spectra; among them two compounds (quercitrin and phloridzin) showed obvious inhibitory activity against NA, with IC₅₀ of 311.76 and 347.32 μmol/L, respectively. This study suggested that B. involucrata can be a potential natural source of NAIs and may be useful in the fight against ferocious influenza viruses.     

Robust fixed-time attitude stabilization control of flexible spacecraft with actuator uncertainty

Nonlinear Dynamics - A robust fixed-time control framework is presented to stabilize flexible spacecraft’s attitude system with external disturbance, uncertain parameters of inertia, and...     

蓝宝石冲击消光晶向效应的第一性原理

蓝宝石的冲击消光现象是高压领域中的研究热点.低压段(86 GPa范围内)的实验研究表明蓝宝石的冲击消光与晶向相关,但在高压段(压力范围:131255 GPa)是否也具有晶向相关性目前尚不清楚.为此,利用第一性原理方法,分别计算了八个不同晶向的蓝宝石理想晶体和含氧离子空位缺陷晶体在高压段的光吸收性质,结果发现:1)蓝宝石在高压段的冲击消光表现出明显的晶向效应,且该效应还随压力增大而增强;一步的数据分析可以看出,在冲击实验采用的波段内,a晶向的消光最弱(透明性最好),c晶向的消光最强与c晶向的消光接近,g晶向的消光要弱于s晶向的消光.鉴于此,如果在高压段开展加窗冲击波实验,建议选择a晶向或m晶向的蓝宝石作为其光学窗口.本文结果不仅有助于深入地认识蓝宝石在极端条件下的光学性质,而且对未来的实验研究有重要的参考作用.     

双曲冷却塔塔筒水平地震响应分析

为明确冷却塔在水平地震下的内力环向分布特征及内在原因,同时探究不同地震波时程与规范反应谱所得内力差异的原因,以某大型双曲冷却塔为例,在动力特性分析的基础上,通过反应谱方法和时程方法的水平地震响应计算及对比分析,对上述两个问题进行了研究。研究表明:由于仅侧弯振型对水平地震有贡献,而塔筒的侧弯振型和实际响应均表现为整体侧倾并伴随微弱的截面“流动”变形,这也使塔筒各内力的环向分布分别呈现正弦、余弦分布特征;其整体侧倾可类比于悬臂杆结构,塔筒子午向轴力FY、子午向弯矩MY、剪力FXY和扭矩MXY的环向分布可借助悬臂杆侧倾时截面正应力和剪应力分布来解释;而截面“流动”变形则决定了环向轴力FX和环向弯矩MX的环向分布;整体侧移显著而截面变形极小也使FY和FXY的幅值在塔筒中下部明显大于FX;由于冷却塔第1阶侧弯振型在水平地震响应中往往起绝对主导作用,因此可先对所选地震波计算得到其反应谱,对比第1阶侧弯振型周期对应的水平地震影响系数α值,即可初步推断不同时程及规范反应谱方法所得结果的大小关系。     

Hierarchically Designed Three‐Dimensional Macro/Mesoporous Carbon Frameworks for Advanced Electrochemical Capacitance Storage

Mesoporous carbon (m‐C) has potential applications as porous electrodes for electrochemical energy storage, but its applications have been severely limited by the inherent fragility and low electrical conductivity. A rational strategy is presented to construct m‐C into hierarchical porous structures with high flexibility by using a carbon nanotube (CNT) sponge as a three‐dimensional template, and grafting Pt nanoparticles at the m‐C surface. This method involves several controllable steps including solution deposition of a mesoporous silica (m‐SiO₂) layer onto CNTs, chemical vapor deposition of acetylene, and etching of m‐SiO₂, resulting in a CNT@m‐C core–shell or a CNT@m‐C@Pt core–shell hybrid structure after Pt adsorption. The underlying CNT network provides a robust yet flexible support and a high electrical conductivity, whereas the m‐C provides large surface area, and the Pt nanoparticles improves interfacial electron and ion diffusion. Consequently, specific capacitances of 203 and 311 F g^?1 have been achieved in these CNT@m‐C and CNT@m‐C@Pt sponges as supercapacitor electrodes, respectively, which can retain 96 % of original capacitance under large degree compression.     

Studies on metabolism of total glucosides of paeony from Paeoniae Radix Alba in rats by UPLC‐Q‐TOF‐MS/MS

Total glucosides of paeony are the active constituents of Paeoniae Radix Alba. In this study, a novel strategy was proposed to find more metabolites and the differences between paeoniflorin, albiflorin and total glucosides of paeony (TGP). This strategy was characterized as follows: firstly, the animals were divided into three groups (paeoniflorin, albiflorin and TGP) to identify the source of TGP metabolites from paeoniflorin or albiflorin; secondly, a generic information‐dependent acquisition scan for the low‐level metabolites was triggered by the multiple mass defect filter and dynamic background subtraction; thirdly, the metabolites were identified with a combination of data‐processing methods including mass defect filtering, neutral loss filtering and product ion filtering; finally, a comparative study was used in the metabolism of paeoniflorin, albiflorin and TGP. Based on the strategy, 18 metabolites of TGP, 10 metabolites of paeoniflorin and 13 metabolites of albiflorin were identified respectively. The results indicated that the hydrolysis, conjugation reaction and oxidization were the major metabolic pathways, and the metabolic sites were the glycosidic linkage, the ester bond and the benzene ring. This study is first to explore the metabolism of TGP, and these findings enhance our understanding of the metabolism and the interactions of paeoniflrin and albiflorin in TGP. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Dual‐signal amplification strategy for ultrasensitive chemiluminescence detection of PDGF–BB in capillary electrophoresis

Many efforts have been made toward the achievement of high sensitivity in capillary electrophoresis coupled with chemiluminescence detection (CE‐CL). This work describes a novel dual‐signal amplification strategy for highly specific and ultrasensitive CL detection of human platelet‐derived growth factor–BB (PDGF–BB) using both aptamer and horseradish peroxidase (HRP) modified gold nanoparticles (HRP–AuNPs–aptamer) as nanoprobes in CE. Both AuNPs and HRP in the nanoprobes could amplify the CL signals in the luminol–H₂O₂ CL system, owing to the excellent catalytic behavior of AuNPs and HRP in the CL system. Meanwhile, the high affinity of aptamer modified on the AuNPs allows detection with high specificity. As proof‐of‐concept, the proposed method was employed to quantify the concentration of PDGF–BB from 0.50 to 250 fm with a detection limit of 0.21 fm. The applicability of the assay was further demonstrated in the analysis of PDGF–BB in human serum samples with acceptable accuracy and reliability. The result of this study exhibits distinct advantages, such as high sensitivity, good specificity, simplicity, and very small sample consumption. The good performances of the proposed strategy provide a powerful avenue for ultrasensitive detection of rare proteins in biological sample, showing great promise in biochemical analysis. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.