Hepatitis B Virus-Like Particle: Targeted Delivery of Plasmid Expressing Short Hairpin RNA for Silencing the Bcl-2 Gene in Cervical Cancer Cells

Gene therapy research has advanced to clinical trials, but it is hampered by unstable nucleic acids packaged inside carriers and there is a lack of specificity towards targeted sites in the body. This study aims to address gene therapy limitations by encapsidating a plasmid synthesizing a short hairpin RNA (shRNA) that targets the anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 gene using truncated hepatitis B core antigen (tHBcAg) virus-like particle (VLP). A shRNA sequence targeting anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 was synthesized and cloned into the pSilencer 2.0-U6 vector. The recombinant plasmid, namely PshRNA, was encapsidated inside tHBcAg VLP and conjugated with folic acid (FA) to produce FA-tHBcAg-PshRNA VLP. Electron microscopy revealed that the FA-tHBcAg-PshRNA VLP has an icosahedral structure that is similar to the unmodified tHBcAg VLP. Delivery of FA-tHBcAg-PshRNA VLP into HeLa cells overexpressing the folate receptor significantly downregulated the expression of anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 at 48 and 72 h post-transfection. The 3-(4, 5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2, 5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay demonstrated that the cells’ viability was significantly reduced from 89.46% at 24 h to 64.52% and 60.63%, respectively, at 48 and 72 h post-transfection. As a conclusion, tHBcAg VLP can be used as a carrier for a receptor-mediated targeted delivery of a therapeutic plasmid encoding shRNA for gene silencing in cancer cells.     

Chemical durability and surface alteration of lanthanide zirconates (A2Zr2O7: A = La-Yb)

Chemical durability of lanthanide zirconates (A₂Zr₂O₇) (A = La-Yb) under near-field environments is important for evaluating their application as potential nuclear waste forms. In this work, A₂Zr₂O₇ (A = La-Yb) are synthesized by spark plasma sintering with controlled microstructure and their chemical durability are evaluated in a nitric acid solution (pH = 1). Scanning transmission electron microscopy analysis reveals an amorphous passivation film either enriched with Zr or lanthanide. The complex chemistry of the passivation films can be correlated with a transition in corrosion mechanisms from a preferential release of lanthanide in La₂Zr₂O₇ to a preferential release of Zr in Er₂Zr₂O₇ and Yb₂Zr₂O₇. These results suggest a dominant mechanism of incongruent dissolution and surface reorganization for the formation of passivation films. Strong correlations are identified between the leaching rates and cation ionic size, ionic potential, electronegativity differences between A-site cation and Zr, and bonding valence sum of oxygen, suggesting important impacts of structural and bonding characteristics in controlling chemical durability of lanthanide zirconates.     

国产超滤膜在海水淡化预处理中的应用分析

水污染和水资源短缺已成为制约社会进步和经济发展的世界性问题，海水淡化是解决全球水资源短缺的重要战略手段之一，有着广阔的开发前景。海水淡化处理是一项系统工程，工程环节具有多样化特征，淡化过程中需要选择先进合理的组合工艺进行预处理，便于降低海水淤塞指数SDI和浊度等相关指标，有效提供优质稳定的进水，为反渗透长期、安全、稳定运行提供坚实保障。本文就海水淡化预处理工艺中国产超滤膜的应用情况进行分析，积极推动国产超滤膜性能优化，提升超滤膜产水量，满足新时期海水淡化系统设计运行的需要。     

退火温度对新型锆合金薄板带材析出相和织构的影响

采用扫描电镜和超高分辨透射电镜,对具有良好冲制性能的新型锆合金薄板成品带材进行含晶粒、第二相粒子等在内的显微组织研究,并探索真空退火处理条件下温度对带材显微组织的影响。结果显示:新型锆合金薄板成品带材晶粒平均尺寸2.17 μm,存在{0001}<1010>和{0001}<1120>两种织构,大部分晶粒<1120>平行带材RD方向,较少晶粒<1010>平行带材RD方向;第二相粒子分布在晶粒内部及晶界,平均尺寸114 nm,尺寸较大的为不规则椭圆形的Zr-Nb-Fe相,尺寸较小的为圆形的β-Nb相;热处理退火温度降低,带材晶粒尺寸减小,第二相粒子细小弥散分布;新型锆合金薄板成品带材良好冲制性能主要源于轧制积累应变诱发再结晶过程进行充分,导致晶粒细小及孪晶发生破碎;相对轧制变形,退火对带材冲制性能影响不显著。     

Test sample allocation method for testability verification test

An extended failure mode effect and criticality analysis (FMECA)-based sample allocation method for testability verification is presented in this study to deal with the poor representativeness of test sample sets and the randomness of the testability evaluation results caused by unreasonable selection of failure samples. First, the fault propagation intensity is introduced as part of the extended information of FMECA, and the sample allocation impact factors of component units and failure modes are determined under this framework. Then, the failure mode similarity and impact factor support are defined, and the game decision method for weighing the relationship between similarity and support is proposed to obtain the weight of failure mode impact factor. Finally, a two-step allocation framework of test samples is formulated to realize the sample allocation of component units and failure modes. This method is applied to the testability verification test of a launch control system. Results show that this method can obtain more representative test samples compared with the traditional sample allocation method while effectively reducing randomness of single testability evaluation result.     

锂离子电池凝胶电解质研究进展

锂离子电池（LIB）是日常生活中最常见的便携式储能设备。然而,传统的锂离子电池多使用液态电解质（LE）,存在易泄漏、易燃易爆且有毒等危险,其安全性日益受到关注。与LE相比,凝胶聚合物电解质（GPE）安全性更好且其电化学性能最接近LE,成为近年来电解质方面的研究重点。本文综述了近年来国内外GPE在LIB方面的研究进展,总结了传统聚合物基质采用交联、共聚或共混改性以提高电解质电化学性能及改善安全性方面的研究,并介绍了可再生、可降解的高分子材料在LIB方面的应用,旨在为研究功能性更强的GPE及高性能电极材料的研究提供参考。     

钢铁生产的水能关系分析

从钢铁生产过程中水资源使用时的能耗角度研究了钢铁联合企业的水能关系，提出了水能强度的概念来评价企业生产过程中水资源利用的节能水平，建立了钢铁企业的水能关系模型。以中国某大型钢铁联合企业为例，计算并分析了该企业的水能关系。该企业总的水能量为55 709 kW·h/h，重复用水水能量占整个钢铁企业全部水能量的82%，补水水能量占16%，排水水能量占1%；各工序中热轧工序占比最大，其次是炼铁、炼钢工序，冷轧、烧结和炼焦工序较低。该企业的吨钢水能强度为0.208 kW·h/m3，炼铁工序的水能强度最高，热轧、炼钢工序次之，烧结、冷轧和炼焦工序较低。最后，从钢铁生产过程水资源利用的角度得到节能的方向及措施。