Co-Assembly between Fmoc Diphenylalanine and Diphenylalanine within a 3D Fibrous Viscous Network Confers Atypical Curvature and Branching

Supramolecular polymer co-assembly is a useful approach to modulate peptide nanostructures. However, the co-assembly scenario where one of the peptide building blocks simultaneously forms a hydrogel is yet to be studied. Herein, we investigate the co-assembly formation of diphenylalanine (FF), and Fmoc-diphenylalanine (FmocFF) within the 3D network of FmocFF hydrogel. The overlapping peptide sequence between the two building blocks leads to their co-assembly within the gel state modulating the nature of the FF crystals. We observe the formation of branched microcrystalline aggregates with an atypical curvature, in contrast to the FF assemblies obtained from aqueous solution. Optical microscopy reveal the sigmoidal kinetic growth profile of these aggregates. Microfluidics and ToF-SIMS experiments exhibit the presence of co-assembled structures of FF and FmocFF in the crystalline aggregates. Molecular dynamics simulation was used to decipher the mechanism of co-assembly formation.     

Self-assembly of the beta2-microglobulin NHVTLSQ peptide using a coarse-grained protein model reveals a beta-barrel species

Although a wide variety of proteins can assemble into amyloid fibrils, the structure of the early oligomeric species on the aggregation pathways remains unknown at an atomic level of detail. In this paper we report, using molecular dynamics simulations with the OPEP coarse-grained force field, the free energy landscape of a tetramer and a heptamer of the beta2-microglobulin NHVTLSQ peptide. On the basis of a total of more than 17 ns trajectories started from various states, we find that both species are in equilibrium between amorphous and well-ordered aggregates with cross-beta-structure, a perpendicular bilayer beta-sheet, and, for the heptamer, six- or seven-stranded closed and open beta-barrels. Moreover, analysis of the heptamer trajectories shows that the perpendicular bilayer beta-sheet is one possible precursor of the beta-barrel, but that this barrel can also be formed from a twisted monolayer beta-sheet with successive addition of chains. Comparison with previous aggregation simulations and the fact that nature constructs transmembrane beta-sheet proteins with pores open the possibility that beta-barrels with small inner diameters may represent a common intermediate during the early steps of aggregation.     

Cryopreservation of the late stage embryos of Spodoptera exigua (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)

Genetic devolution, genetic drift and contamination are all threats to maintain germplasm stability during mass rearing of many insects. Cryopreservation of beet armworm (Spodoptera exigua) embryos was studied to provide information to improve mass rearing. A series of experiments was conducted on late-stage embryos (45-48 h at 27 degree C) of the beet armyworm, which included evaluation of cryoprotectants (CPAs), their toxicity and glass-forming tendency and optimization of experimental procedures. The results showed that ethylene glycol (EG) was the best CPA with comparatively low toxicity compared to the other six CPAs tested (methanol, 1,3-propanediol, glycerol, 2-amino-1-ethanol, 3-amino-1-propanol 3-methoxy-1 and 2-propanediol). The highest hatching rate of 8.8 degree was attained after freezing with a 3-step loading procedure and a 1-step unloading procedure, but the hatched larvae from frozen-thawed embryos did not actively feed and could not develop to a later stage. This was attributed to injuries from freezing in late stage embryos of S. exigua which had formed midguts.     

Conformational basis for asymmetric seeding barrier in filaments of three- and four-repeat tau

Tau pathology in Alzheimer's disease is intimately linked to the deposition of proteinacious filaments, which akin to infectious prions, have been proposed to spread via seeded conversion. Here we use double electron-electron resonance (DEER) spectroscopy in combination with extensive computational analysis to show that filaments of three- (3R) and four-repeat (4R) tau are conformationally distinct. Distance measurements between spin labels in the third repeat, reveal tau amyloid filaments as ensembles of known β-strand-turn-β-strand U-turn motifs. Whereas filaments seeded with 3R tau are structurally homogeneous, filaments seeded with 4R tau are heterogeneous, composed of at least three distinct conformers. These findings establish a molecular basis for the seeding barrier between different tau isoforms and offer a new powerful approach for investigating the composition and dynamics of amyloid fibril ensembles.     

p-Cymene protects mice against lipopolysaccharide-induced acute lung injury by inhibiting inflammatory cell activation

The objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that p-cymene can attenuate acute lung injury induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in vivo. In the mouse model of LPS-induced acute lung injury, intraperitoneal preconditioning with p-cymene resulted in a significant reduction of pro-inflammatory cytokines (TNF-α, IL-1β and IL-6), lung water gain, inflammatory cell infiltration, lung tissue myeloperoxidase activity. In addition, p-cymene blocked the phosphorylation of IκBα protein and mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPK) signaling pathway activation. Histopathologic examination of lung tissue indicated that p-cymene treatment markedly decreased focal thickening, congestion, pulmonary edema, and inflammatory cells infiltration. The results showed that p-cymene had a protective effect on LPS-induced ALI in mice.     

Synchronous-scan fluorescence as a selective detection method for sodium dodecylbenzene-sulfonate and pyrene in environmental samples

Synchronous-scan fluorescence spectra of dodecylbenzene sulfonic acid sodium salt (SDBS) and pyrene in aqueous solution were studied. The concentration ranges of SDBS and pyrene in aqueous solutions were 0.01-10.00 and 0.001-0.050 mg L⁻¹, respectively. The optimized wavelength differences (Δλ) of 46-55 and 38 nm were maintained between excitation and emission wavelengths for SDBS and pyrene, respectively, and they were found to be suitable for effective determination of SDBS and pyrene without mutual interferences; the peaks were observed at λ_ex 229-232 nm (SDBS) and λ_ex 335 nm (pyrene). Linear relationships between synchronous-scan fluorescence spectroscopy (SFS) intensity and concentration of SDBS or pyrene in aqueous solution (Milli-Q water, river water, and mucus of fish gills) were established. It was demonstrated that SFS method was effective for simultaneous analyses of SDBS and pyrene in mixed solution.     

BaCo1-xFexO3-δ缺陷钙钛矿NOx储存还原催化剂的制备、结构与性能

制备了B位Fe取代的BaCo1-xFexO3-δ系列缺陷钙钛矿型NOx储存还原(NSR)催化剂,考察了其储存NOx与抗硫性能;应用N2吸附-脱附,X射线衍射,红外光谱,程序升温还原和程序升温脱附等技术对催化剂进行了表征.结果表明,Fe的取代提高了BaCoO3的抗硫能力,当x=0.4时,样品具有相对最大的NOx储存量,且...     

Sensitive determination of enoxacin by its enhancement effect on the fluorescence of terbium(III)-sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate and its luminescence mechanism

The fluorescence system of enoxacin-Tb³⁺-sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate (SDBS) was investigated in this paper. The experiments indicated that the fluorescence intensity of Tb³⁺-SDBS was greatly enhanced by enoxacin. Accordingly, a sensitive fluorimetric method for determining enoxacin was established. The fluorescence intensity was measured by a 1-cm quartz cell with an excitation wavelength of 290 nm and an emission wavelength of 545 nm. The enhanced fluorescence intensity of the system (ΔF) showed a good linear relationship with the concentration of enoxacin in the range of 5.0×10⁻⁹ to 2.0×10⁻⁶ mol L⁻¹, its correlation coefficient was 0.9992 and the detection limit (S/N=3) was 2.8×10⁻⁹ mol L⁻¹. The presented method was used to determine enoxacin in real pharmaceutical samples. The luminescence mechanism was also discussed in detail. In the fluorescence system of enoxacin-Tb³⁺-SDBS, SDBS not only acted as the surfactant but also acted as the energy donor.     

血管位移波的力学模型

本文在临床观察和模型实验的基础上提出了血管位移波的力学模型,并归结出了位移波的控制方程。应用摄动理论和数值方法,求得了位移波的波形和位移波产生的判别准则。从中我们发现,位移波仅和血流的脉动速度及血管壁力学特性有关,而和压力波无直接关系。最后本文还给出了一个适用于临床的位移波发生判别准则,实验发现它和临床观察是相符合的。     

A novel accurate and expandable infrared radiation transmission effect computing service

In infrared imaging simulation system, the infrared radiation transmission is significantly affected by natural environment. Attenuation and blurring are introduced by atmospheric environment impacts on the transmission process from zero sight infrared radiation to the detector. The classic IR transmission calculation methods have been intensively studied and many applicable approaches are proposed. The novel IR transmission effect computing service introduced in this paper could render accurate and expandable IR simulation result based on synthetic natural environment, especially concerning the atmosphere effects imposed on the IR transmission process. A simulation architecture is constructed and supports an infrared imaging simulation system for the IR transmission process calculation. The environment representation approach and the transmission effect calculation method were elaborated. Simulation experiment was carried out and the result was shown to be more accurate than that of conventional MODTRAN based atmosphere transmission simulation results. The two results are both compared with the physically captured image. The comprehensive simulation experiment results are implied to be competent and offered an applicable solution for the infrared imaging simulation system. Furthermore, this interdisciplinary simulation method can be extended to other synthetic natural environment supported military simulation and further serve the large-scale distributed collaborative combat simulation.