独立学院《环境监测实验》课程教学改革

从独立学院"应用型专业人才"的培养目标出发,结合我院近年来开展《环境监测实验》课程积累的经验,对本实验课程的教学内容、教学方法和课程评价体系等进行了改革。强调理论与实验内容有机结合,通过激发学生的学习兴趣,提高学生的实践应用能力,以满足社会对环境科学与工程专业应用型专业人才的需求。     

ACE2, the Receptor that Enables Infection by SARS-CoV-2: Biochemistry,Structure, Allostery and Evaluation of the Potential Development of ACE2 Modulators

Angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) is the human receptor that interacts with the spike protein of coronaviruses, including the one that produced the 2020 coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19). Thus, ACE2 is a potential target for drugs that disrupt the interaction of human cells with SARS-CoV-2 to abolish infection. There is also interest in drugs that inhibit or activate ACE2, that is, for cardiovascular disorders or colitis. Compounds binding at alternative sites could allosterically affect the interaction with the spike protein. Herein, we review biochemical, chemical biology, and structural information on ACE2, including the recent cryoEM structures of full-length ACE2. We conclude that ACE2 is very dynamic and that allosteric drugs could be developed to target ACE2. At the time of the 2020 pandemic, we suggest that available ACE2 inhibitors or activators in advanced development should be tested for their ability to allosterically displace the interaction between ACE2 and the spike protein.     

A Quest for (sila)0-4cyclopentasilylenes and their Arduengo Analogs by DFT

Silicon - Following our interest in exotic silylenes, here we compare and contrast 20 novel five-membered cyclic silylenes, including saturated (sila)0–4 cyclopentasilylenes (1–10) and...     

On the local behavior of spaces of range image patches

We focus on the quantitative and local topological properties of range images. We consider the spaces M_m of m × m high-contrast patches of range images for m=?3, 5, 7, 9, 11. Using computational topological tools to analyze range image patches, we detect that M₃ (M₉, M₁₁) has core subsets with the topology of a circle, M₃, M₅, M₇, M₉ and that M₁₁ have some subspaces with the topology of a Klein bottle. We also discover that the largest subspace with the Klein bottle’s topology decreases as the measurements of patches increase, which generalizes the results in the paper of H. Adams and G. Carlsson, and demonstrates properties among optical images and range image patches, which are more similar than those established by Lee et al.

     

Collective reflection strategy for moderating conformity tendency and promoting reflective judgment performance

Reflective judgement is crucial for medical-related practitioners in dealing with controversial issues. However, the conformity phenomenon is likely to occur and interfere with reflective judgement learning during interactive activities. Effective strategies are required to moderate the conformity behaviour tendency (CBT) and improve reflective judgement performance (RJP). This study demonstrates two significant results: (a) Compared with the guided self-reflection learning strategy, the online collective reflection (OCR) learning strategy effectively weakened the learners' general CBT while dealing with professional controversial issues; and (b) a significantly negative correlation between the RJP achieved and the change of CBT in online environment was detected in the OCR group. The implications and potential applications in higher education were discussed. Further studies are needed to confirm the long-term effects and the extending application to other professional studies.     

Dual Inhibition of Pyruvate Dehydrogenase Complex and Respiratory Chain Complex Induces Apoptosis by a Mitochondria-Targeted Fluorescent Organic Arsenical in vitro and in vivo

Based on the potential therapeutic value in targeting mitochondria and the fluorophore tracing ability, a fluorescent mitochondria-targeted organic arsenical PDT-PAO-F16 was fabricated, which not only visualized the cellular distribution, but also exerted anti-cancer activity in vitro and in vivo via targeting pyruvate dehydrogenase complex (PDHC) and respiratory chain complexes in mitochondria. In details, PDT-PAO-F16 mainly accumulated into mitochondria within hours and suppressed the activity of PDHC resulting in the inhibition of ATP synthesis and thermogenesis disorder. Moreover, the suppression of respiratory chain complex I and IV accelerated the mitochondrial dysfunction leading to caspase family-dependent apoptosis. In vivo, the acute promyelocytic leukemia was greatly alleviated in the PDT-PAO-F16 treated group in APL mice model. Our results demonstrated the organic arsenical precursor with fluorescence imaging and target-anticancer efficacy is a promising anticancer drug.     

Lipase‐catalyzed synthesis of aliphatic poly(β‐thioether ester) with various methylene group contents: thermal properties,crystallization and degradation

A series of novel aliphatic poly(β‐thioether ester)s with various methylene group contents were prepared by direct lipase‐catalyzed polycondensation of the monomer with an acid‐labile β‐thiopropionate group. The polycondensation reaction using immobilized lipase B from Candida antarctica was carried out in diphenyl ether at 90 °C. Poly(β‐thioether ester)s with high molecular weights of 20 500–57 000 Da and narrow polydispersities in the range 1.40–1.48 were obtained. Thermogravimetric analysis, differential scanning calorimetry and wide‐angle X‐ray diffraction were used to investigate the thermal properties and crystal structures of these polyesters. All the poly(β‐thioether ester)s were semicrystalline polymers and thermally stable up to at least 200 °C. In vitro degradation studies showed that they can rapidly degrade under acidic conditions by the hydrolysis of the β‐thiopropionate groups, suggesting their potential as acid‐degradable polymeric materials. © 2019 Society of Chemical Industry