Divergent and Overlapping Roles for Selected Phytochemicals in the Regulation of Pathological Cardiac Hypertrophy

Plant-based foods, like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts, seeds and other foodstuffs, have been deemed as heart healthy. The chemicals within these plant-based foods, i.e., phytochemicals, are credited with protecting the heart. However, the mechanistic actions of phytochemicals, which prevent clinical endpoints, such as pathological cardiac hypertrophy, are still being elucidated. We sought to characterize the overlapping and divergent mechanisms by which 18 selected phytochemicals prevent phenylephrine- and phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate-mediated cardiomyocyte enlargement. Of the tested 18 compounds, six attenuated PE- and PMA-mediated enlargement of neonatal rat ventricular myocytes. Cell viability assays showed that apigenin, baicalein, berberine hydrochloride, emodin, luteolin and quercetin dihydrate did not reduce cell size through cytotoxicity. Four of the six phytochemicals, apigenin, baicalein, berberine hydrochloride and emodin, robustly inhibited stress-induced hypertrophy and were analyzed further against intracellular signaling and genome-wide changes in mRNA expression. The four phytochemicals differentially regulated mitogen-activated protein kinases and protein kinase D. RNA-sequencing further showed divergence in gene regulation, while pathway analysis demonstrated overlap in the regulation of inflammatory pathways. Combined, this study provided a comprehensive analysis of cardioprotective phytochemicals. These data highlight two defining observations: (1) that these compounds predominantly target divergent gene pathways within cardiac myocytes and (2) that regulation of overlapping signaling and gene pathways may be of particular importance for the anti-hypertrophic actions of these phytochemicals. Despite these new findings, future works investigating rodent models of heart failure are still needed to understand the roles for these compounds in the heart.     

用积分变换及边界积分方法求解多层地基的静力问题

本文利用积分变换及矩阵递推方法得到了任意n层弹性体平面应变及轴对称问题的Mindlin解。再把此解作为基本解,利用Somigliana关系式,得到计算多层弹性体内部任意点位移的简便方法。利用此法很容易编制程序,且具有较高的计算精度与速度。     

单点子域积分与差分

通过稳定性分析、显式与隐式积分，表明了单点子域积分相对于差分法的优越性．     

阻抗式和简单调压室甩荷时水位波动的显式计算方法

目前对调压室水位波动的研究主要有图解法和数值计算。尚未看到考虑阻力项后调压室水位波动随时间变化的显函数计算方法。本文从调压室的基本微分方程出发，采用泰勒级数展开式推导了阻抗式和简单式调压室甩荷时水位波动的显式计算方法。运用这种方法不仅可以计算调压室水位波动的过程，而且可以方便的计算调压室的最高涌浪和第二振幅。     

损伤材料裂纹尖端附近的应力场

本文导出了损伤材料的全量理论,导出了全量公式中H的渐近表达式;最后得到损伤材料平面应变条件下的裂纹尖端的应力应变场。     

Size-dependent sharp indentation—I: a closed-form expression of the indentation loading curve

In this paper, a closed-form expression of the size-dependent sharp indentation loading curve has been proposed based on dimensional analysis and the finite deformation Taylor-based nonlocal theory (TNT) of plasticity (Int. J. Plasticity 20 (2004) 831). The key issue is to link the results of FEM based on TNT plasticity with those obtained using conventional FEM by taking as the effective strain gradient, η, that presented in the work of Nix and Gao (J. Mech. Phys. Solids 46 (1998) 411), thus avoiding large-scale finite element computations using strain gradient plasticity theories. Two experiments carried out on 316 stainless-steel and pure titanium have been used to verify the effectiveness of the present analytical model; the results demonstrate that the present analytical expression of the size-dependent indentation loading curve corresponds very well to the experimental indentation loading curve. The empirical constant, α, in the Taylor model estimated from the experimental data has the correct order of magnitude. Also, the results presented in this part can be further applied to establish an analytical framework to extract the plastic properties of metallic materials with sharp indentation on a small scale where the size effect caused by geometrically necessary dislocations is significant. This will be discussed in detail in the second part of the paper.     

Three-point explicit compact difference scheme with arbitrary order of accuracy and its application in CFD

Based on the successive iteration in the Taylor series expansion method,a three-point explicit compact difference scheme with arbitrary order of accuracy is derived in this paper.Numerical characteristics of the scheme are studied by the Fourier analysis. Unlike the conventional compact difference schemes which need to solve the equation to obtain the unknown derivatives in each node,the proposed scheme is explicit and can achieve arbitrary order of accuracy in space.Application examples for the convection- diffusion problem with a sharp front gradient and the typical lid-driven cavity flow are given.It is found that the proposed compact scheme is not only simple to implement and economical to use,but also is effective to simulate the convection-dominated problem and obtain high-order accurate solution in coarse grid systems.     

Fhree-point explicit compact difference scheme with arbitrary order of accuracy and its application in CFD

Based on the successive iteration in the Taylor series expansion method, a three-point explicit compact difference scheme with arbitrary order of accuracy is derived in this paper. Numerical characteristics of the scheme are studied by the Fourier analysisl Unlike the conventional compact difference schemes which need to solve the equation to obtain the unknown derivatives in each node, the proposed scheme is explicit and can achieve arbitrary order of accuracy in space. Application examples for the convectiondiffusion problem with a sharp front gradient and the typical lid-driven cavity flow are given. It is found that the proposed compact scheme is not only simple to implement and economical to use, but also is effective to simulate the convection-dominated problem and obtain high-order accurate solution in coarse grid systems.     

Near-Wall Modification of an Explicit Algebraic Reynolds Stress Model Using Elliptic Blending

The elliptic blending approach is used in order to modify an Explicit Algebraic Reynolds Stress Model so as to reproduce the correct near wall behaviour of the turbulent stresses. The anisotropy stress tensor is expressed as a linear combination of tensor bases whose coefficients are sensitised to the non-local wall-blocking effect through the elliptic blending parameter γ. This parameter is obtained from a separate elliptic equation. The model does not use the distance from the wall thus it can be easily applied to complex geometries. It is validated against detailed DNS data for mean and turbulence quantities for the case of flow and heat transfer between parallel flat plates at three Reynolds numbers as well as against experimental data for the flow in a backward facing step at Re _H = 28,000. The comparison with DNS results or experiments is quite satisfactory and shows the validity of the approach.