Thermolabile Triose Phosphate Isomerase in a Psychrophilic Clostridium

The psychrophile Clostridium sp. strain 69 contains a thermolabile triose phosphate isomerase which is inactivated rapidly in vitro and in vivo at 32 C.     

Similar or Totally Different: the Adjustment of the Twist Conformation Through Minor Structural Modification,and Dramatically Improved Performance for Dye‐Sensitized Solar Cell

A novel approach for enhancing the performance of dye‐sensitized solar cells is presented. It is based on the analysis of five sensitizers by utilizing triarylamine as donor, thiophene benzothiadiazole as chromophore and substituted thienyl linked with cyanoacrylic acid as the anchoring group (LI‐80‐LI‐84). Accompanied with the increasing steric hindrance of the substituents on the thienyl isolation group, the conformation of the dyes, in particular the angle between the chromophore and the anchoring group, becomes more and more twisted. Surprisingly, sensitizers with poorer conjugation effects (the higher twisted conformation) achieve better photovoltaic performances, showing a contrary trend to the traditional donor‐(π‐spacer)‐acceptor dyes with a better co‐planarity. On the basis of the preceding fundamental comprehensions, an empirical method is successfully applied to a new phenyl‐based system (LI‐85 and LI‐86) to improve their performances. The systematical investigation indicates that the twisted structures can contribute to the E_CB of the TiO₂ film, electron lifetime and resistance at the TiO₂/dye/electrolyte interface. Thereby, the efficiency of the initial LI‐80‐based cell has been dramatically improved to 2.45 times higher for LI‐86‐based cell, paving a new way for the design of better sensitizers with higher device performances.     

Analysis of expressed sequence tags (ESTs) from a normalized cDNA library and isolation of EST simple sequence repeats from the invasive cotton mealybug Phenacoccus solenopsis

The cotton mealybug, Phenacoccus solenopsis Tinsley, is a serious and invasive pest. At present, genetic resources for studying P. solenopsis are limited, and this negatively affects genetic research on the organism and, consequently, translational work to improve management of this pest. In the present study, expressed sequence tags (ESTs) were analyzed from a normalized complementary DNA library of P. solenopsis. In addition, EST‐derived microsatellite loci (also known as simple sequence repeats or SSRs) were isolated and characterized. A total of 1107 high‐quality ESTs were acquired from the library. Clustering and assembly analysis resulted in 785 unigenes, which were classified functionally into 23 categories according to the Gene Ontology database. Seven EST‐based SSR markers were developed in this study and are expected to be useful in characterizing how this invasive species was introduced, as well as providing insights into its genetic microevolution.     

Glucose alleviates cadmium toxicity by increasing cadmium fixation in root cell wall and sequestration into vacuole in Arabidopsis

Glucose(Glu) is involved in not only plant physiological and developmental events but also plant responses to abiotic stresses. Here, we found that the exogenous Glu improved root and shoot growth, reduced shoot cadmium(Cd) concentration, and rescued Cdinduced chlorosis in Arabidopsis thaliana(Columbia ecotype,Col-0) under Cd stressed conditions. Glucose increased Cd retained in the roots, thus reducing its translocation from root to shoot signi fi cantly. The most Cd retained in the roots was found in the hemicellulose 1. Glucose combined with Cd(Glu t Cd) treatment did not affect the content of pectin and its binding capacity of Cd while it increased the content of hemicelluloses 1 and the amount of Cd retained in it signi fi cantly. Furthermore, Leadmium Green staining indicated that more Cd was compartmented into vacuoles in Glu t Cd treatment compared with Cd treatment alone, which was in accordance with the R e ssigni fi cant upregulation of the expression of tonoplastlocalized metal transporter genes, suggesting that compartmentation of Cd into vacuoles also contributes to the Glu-alleviated Cd toxicity. Taken together, we demonstrated that Glu-alleviated Cd toxicity is mediated through increasing Cd fi xation in the root cell wall and sequestration into the vacuoles.     

Thermal Modelling Analysis of Spiral Wound Supercapacitor under Constant-Current Cycling

A three-dimensional modelling approach is used to study the effects of operating and ambient conditions on the thermal behaviour of the spiral wound supercapacitor. The transient temperature distribution during cycling is obtained by using the finite element method with an implicit predictor-multicorrector algorithm. At the constant current of 2A, the results show that the maximum temperature appears in core area. After 5 cycles, the maximum temperature is 34.5°C, while in steady state, it’s up to 42.5°C. This paper further studies the relationship between the maximum temperature and charge-discharge current. The maximum temperature will be more than 60°C after 5 cycles at the current of 4A, and cooling measurements should be taken at that time. It can provide thoughts on inner temperature field distribution and structure design of the spiral wound supercapacitor in working process.     

Post-Operative Plasma Osteopontin Predicts Distant Metastasis in Human Colorectal Cancer

BackgroundThe overall prognosis of colorectal cancer (CRC) patients is unsatisfactory due to cancer metastasis after operation. This study aims to investigate the clinical significance of plasma osteopontin (OPN) levels as minimally invasive, predictive, and surrogate biomarkers for prognosis of CRC patients.MethodsThis randomized study design consists of pre-operative and post-operative plasma samples from a total of 79 patients. We determined plasma levels of OPN by ELISA and examined their correlation with the clinicopathological parameters of CRC patients. The effects of endogenous and exogenous OPN on CRC metastasis were investigated by examination of the effect on regulators of epithelial to messenchymal transition and migration assay.ResultsOur findings demonstrated for the first time the clinical correlation of plasma OPN with metastasis of CRC patients. High post-operative plasma OPN level (>153.02 ng/ml) associated with development of metastasis after curative resection (p<0.001). Moreover, post-operative plasma OPN level correlated with disease-free survival of CRC patients (p=0.009) and was an independent factor for predicting development of metastasis in CRC patients after curative resection (p=0.036). Our in vitro model showed that OPN ectopic expression induced DLD1 cell migration through Snail and Twist1 overexpression and E-cadherin repression, and secretory OPN level enhanced cell migration.ConclusionsThe results of the current study suggest that post-operative plasma OPN correlated with post-operative metastasis, suggesting that it is a potential non-invasive biomarker for the development of future metastasis in CRC patients. In addition, OPN was shown to be involved in the metastatic process and thus inhibition of OPN is a potential therapeutic approach to treat CRC patients.