Bee Bread Ameliorates Vascular Inflammation and Impaired Vasorelaxation in Obesity-Induced Vascular Damage Rat Model: The Role of eNOS/NO/cGMP-Signaling Pathway

Obesity and hyperlipidemia are major risk factors for developing vascular diseases. Bee bread (BB) has been reported to exhibit some biological actions, including anti-obesity and anti-hyperlipidemic. This study aims to investigate whether bee bread can ameliorate vascular inflammation and impaired vasorelaxation activity through eNOS/NO/cGMP pathway in obese rats. Forty male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into four groups (n = 10/group), namely: control (normal group), obese rats (OB group), obese rats treated with bee bread (0.5 g/kg/day, OB/BB group) and obese rats treated with orlistat (10 mg/kg/day, OB/OR group). The latter three groups were given a high-fat diet (HFD) for 6 weeks to induced obesity before being administered with their respective treatments for another 6 weeks. After 12 weeks of the total experimental period, rats in the OB group demonstrated significantly higher Lee obesity index, lipid profile (total cholesterol, triglyceride, low-density lipoprotein), aortic proinflammatory markers (tumor necrosis factor-α, nuclear factor-κβ), aortic structural damage and impairment in vasorelaxation response to acetylcholine (ACh). Bee bread significantly ameliorated the obesity-induced vascular damage manifested by improvements in the lipid profile, aortic inflammatory markers, and the impaired vasorelaxation activity by significantly enhancing nitric oxide release, promoting endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) and cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) immunoexpression. These findings suggest that the administration of bee bread ameliorates the impaired vasorelaxation response to ACh by improving eNOS/NO/cGMP-signaling pathway in obese rats, suggesting its vascular therapeutic role.     

Designing Semipermeable Hydrogel Shells with Controlled Thickness through Internal Osmosis in Triple-Emulsion Droplets

Hydrogel shells that compartmentalize the water core from the aqueous surrounding provide molecular selectivity on size and charge in transmembrane transport. It is highly demanding to produce thin hydrogel shells to minimize diffusion length and maximize core volume. Here, internal osmosis in water-in-oil-in-water-in-oil (W/O/W/O) triple-emulsion droplets is used to produce thin hydrogel shells enclosing a large water core. The triple-emulsion droplets are prepared to have an ultrathin middle oil layer using a capillary microfluidic device. The innermost water droplet has a higher osmolarity than the outer water layer containing photopolymerizable hydrogel precursors, which pumps water from the outer layer to the core through the ultrathin oil layer by the osmosis. Therefore, the outer layer gets thinner and hydrogel precursors are enriched while the size of the triple-emulsion droplets remains unchanged. Through photopolymerization of precursors and phase transfer from oil to water, hydrogel shells enclosing water core are produced in the water environment; the oil layer is ruptured for molecular exchange through the shells. The thickness and composition of the hydrogel shells are precisely controllable by the osmotic conditions. The shells show a high permeation rate due to the thinness as well as controlled cut-off threshold of permeation for neutral and charged molecules.     

Dynamics and workspace analysis of a multi-robot collaborative towing system with floating base

Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology - A multi-robot collaborative towing system fixed on floating base for high load marine work was established in this paper, and its dynamics and...     

一种改进型自适应加权模糊均值滤波算法

针对原有的自适应加权模糊均值AWFM滤波器对局部噪声幅度估计不足的缺点。提出了一种新的改进型自适应加权模糊均值MAWFM滤波算法。该算法采用了一种新的模糊检测方法，可以同时检测各个像素点的正负向噪声幅度，从而能够建立一种新的自适应的模糊信号空间，以适应噪声在各个图像局部的变化。实验结果表明，MAWFM滤波器比以前的AWFM滤波器及传统的中值滤波器均有较优越的性能。     

渤海湾盆地石油地质储量和产量增长趋势的预测

渤海湾盆地的石油地质储量发现过程具有明显的渐进性、阶段性和长期性，石油产量的增长也具有一定的起伏性，用一个周期的单旋回哈伯特模型难以预测其发展趋势。通过分析渤海湾盆地的勘探开发历程，结合新一轮常规油气资源评价的结果，分别采用4个和3个哈伯特旋回拟合石油地质储量发现和产量增长曲线。预测结果显示，2005-2015年渤海湾盆地处于石油地质储量发现高峰期，2015年左右其石油产量达到高峰，之后处于下降趋势。实践证明，利用多旋回哈伯特模型对具有“多峰”特征的石油地质储量和产量的未来趋势进行预测是一种有效的方法。     

Synthesis and Interfacial Tension Behavior of Heavy Alkyl Benzene Sulfonates

Heavy alkyl benzene sulfonates (HABS) were synthesized, and their interfacial tensions were measured and compared with those of petroleum sulfonates ORS-41. Effects of their coupling with lignosulfonate were also studied. The results showed that HABS exhibited good interfacial activities and the system of HABS blending with LS displayed better interfacial activities than ORS-41 and therefore reduced the prime cost. Their best proportions of synergism were from 3:1 to 4:1. HABS might be a more promising alkali-surfactant-polymer (ASP) flooding agent.