Evaluation of antioxidative activity of vegetable extracts in linoleic acid emulsion and phospholipid bilayers

The antioxidative effects of vegetable extracts were evaluated using linoleic acid emulsion and liposomal phospholipid suspension systems. First, the antioxidative activities of water, ethanol and 2% metaphosphoric acid extracts of the vegetables were investigated by measuring the rate of oxygen consumption in the peroxidation of linoleic acid initiated by a radical generator, 2,2′-azobis(2-amidinopropane) dihydrochloride (AAPH), with a Clark electrode in the absence of metal chelators. Ethanol extracts of moroheiya and perilla exhibited the highest antioxidative activities. Without metal chelators, 12 ethanol extracts and one water extract acted as prooxidants, and this phenomenon could be attributed to the prooxidant action of ascorbic acid in the presence of free transition metal ions. Next, peroxyl radical-scavenging activities of vegetable extracts were examined by adding a metal chelator, diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (DTPA), to the linoleic acid emulsion system. The results were compared with their antioxidative activities in phospholipid bilayers by measuring the inhibition of lipid peroxidation in large unilamellar vesicles composed of egg yolk phosphatidylcholine (PC). A good correlation was observed between the antioxidative activities obtained from these two systems. The antioxidative activities in the liposomal phospholipid suspension system correlated with total contents of ascorbic acid and polyphenols in vegetable extracts. © 1999 Society of Chemical Industry     

A portable functional imaging instrument for psychology research based on near-infrared spectroscopy

To aid psychology researches on the function of the prefrontal cortex, a 16-channel brain functional imaging instrument based on near-infrared spectroscopy is developed. The probe of the instrument, covering a detection area of 15 cm x 4.4 cm of the prefrontal cortex, is made flexible and is easy to fix to the forehead. By employing multi-wavelength LEDs as light sources, using integrated detectors and choosing a USB-interface-based data acquisition device, the whole system is portable and convenient to use, which is good for psychological experiments. The system software is developed using Visual C++ 6.0, which controls the imaging process, measurement data plotting and storage. The maximal temporal resolution is about 100 ms. Noise and long-term drift test are given. The Valsalva maneuver experiment is used to validate the reliability of the instrument for monitoring hemodynamic changes.     

八角茴香抑菌活性试验研究

目的：考察中药八角的抑菌活性效果。方法：采用最低抑菌浓度（MIC）测定方法和抑菌活性试验。结果：不同产地的八角茴香对痢疾杆菌、金黄色葡萄球菌、白喉杆菌、伤寒杆菌均有较强的抑制作用,广西产地八角茴香对痢疾杆菌、金黄色葡萄球菌、白喉杆菌、伤寒杆菌的MIC分别为15.625g/mL、31.25g/mL、125g/mL、62.5g/mL。其抑菌活性为中敏。结论：中药八角茴香有较强的抑菌效果。     

认知无线电中资源优化问题的研究

认知无线电中,主用户活动的随机性、无线信道的时变性及硬件设备的固有限制会使认知用户的监听结果出现误差,导致在数据传输时隙,主用户和认知用户之间出现传输碰撞。针对这种情况,研究了基于正交频分复用(OFDM)认知无线电中总有效可达吞吐量的最优化问题。利用拉格朗日乘子法推导了该问题的最优解,提出了一种基于混沌优化的搜寻算法以获取最优解。仿真结果验证了该算法的有效性。     

Remarkable Antibacterial Activity of Reduced Graphene Oxide Functionalized by Copper Ions

Despite long-term efforts for exploring antibacterial agents or drugs, potentiating antibacterial activity and meanwhile minimizing toxicity to the environment remains a challenge. Here, it is experimentally shown that the functionality of reduced graphene oxide (rGO) through copper ions displays selective antibacterial activity that is significantly stronger than that of rGO itself and no toxicity to mammalian cells. Remarkably, this antibacterial activity is two-orders-of-magnitude greater than the activity of its surrounding copper ions. It is demonstrated that rGO is functionalized through the cation–π interaction to massively adsorb copper ions to form a rGO–copper composite and result in an extremely low concentration level of surrounding copper ions (less than ≈0.5 µm ). These copper ions on rGO are positively charged and strongly interact with negatively charged bacterial cells to selectively achieve antibacterial activity, while rGO exhibits the functionality to not only actuate rapid delivery of copper ions and massive assembly onto bacterial cells but also result in the valence shift in the copper ions from Cu²⁺ into Cu⁺, which greatly enhances the antibacterial activity. Notably, this rGO functionality through cation–π interaction with copper ions can similarly achieve algaecidal activity but does not exert cytotoxicity against neutrally charged mammalian cells.     

低功率激光对细胞质膜通透性及细胞功能的影响

目的:探索低功率激光对细胞质膜通透性及细胞功能的影响。方法:以波长为632.8nm,功率密度为5.4mW/cm~2的氦氖激光照射人外周血淋巴细胞15、30、60分钟,并采用钙荧光指示剂Fura—2/Am定量测试法检测淋巴细胞内游离钙浓度和质膜Ca~(2+)—Mg~(2+)—ATP酶活性变化。结果:照射后淋巴细胞内游离钙浓度明显低于正常(P<0.05);同时细胞膜Ca~(2+)—Mg~(2+)—ATP酶活性增加(P<0.05);而且照射后细胞内游离钙浓度降低与质膜上Ca~(2+)—Mg~(2+)—ATP酶的激活呈负相关。结论:低功率激光照射激活细胞膜Ca~(2+)—Mg~(2+)—ATP酶活性,使细胞膜对钙通透性发生变化,且影响到细胞内Ca~(2+)贮存,造成细胞膜通透性和细胞功能的改变。     

UML活动图到时间Petri网的映射方法

UML被广泛应用于嵌入式实时系统等领域的建模,而嵌入式实时系统对时间响应的要求非常严格,UML缺乏对系统时间约束的描述和形式化语义。因此,提出了一种结合MARTE与UML带有时间约束的UML活动图模型,并定义相应的映射规则,将该活动图模型映射到时间Petri 网模型,最后通过实例验证了该映射方法的正确性和实用性。     

Copper@ZIF-8 Core-Shell Nanowires for Reusable Antimicrobial Face Masks

SARS-CoV-2 and other respiratory viruses spread via aerosols generated by infected people. Face masks can limit transmission. However, widespread use of disposable masks consumes tremendous resources and generates waste. Here, a novel material for treating blown polypropylene filtration media used in medical-grade masks to impart antimicrobial activity is reported. To produce thin copper@ZIF-8 core-shell nanowires (Cu@ZIF-8 NWs), Cu NWs are stabilized using a pluronic F-127 block copolymer, followed by growth of ZIF-8 to obtain uniform core-shell structures. The Cu@ZIF-8 NWs are applied to filtration media by dip coating. Aerosol filtration efficiency decreases upon exposure to ethanol (solvent for dip-coating), but increases with addition of Cu@ZIF-8 NWs. Cu@ZIF-8 NWs shows enhanced antibacterial activity, compared to Cu NWs or ZIF-8 alone, against Streptococcus mutans and Escherichia coli. Antiviral activity against SARS-CoV-2 is assayed using virus-infected Vero E6 cells, demonstrating 55% inhibition of virus replication after 48 h by 1 µg of Cu@ZIF-8 NWs per well. Cu@ZIF-8 NWs’ cytotoxicity is tested against four cell lines, and their effect on inflammatory response in A549 cells is examined, demonstrating good biocompatibility. This low-cost, scalable synthesis and straightforward deposition of Cu@ZIF-8 NWs onto filter media has great potential to reduce disease transmission, resource consumption, and environmental impact of waste.     

High-Efficiency Reactive Oxygen Species Generation by Multiphase and TiO6 Distortion-Mediated Superior Piezocatalysis in Perovskite Ferroelectrics

Piezocatalysis, governed by piezo-potential within piezoelectrics, has gained prominence for reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation, which is significant to environmental and biological applications. However, designing piezocatalysts with excellent piezocatalytic performance in a wide temperature and efficient charge carrier separation ability is still challenging. Herein, eco-friendly BaTiO₃ (BT)-based perovskite ferroelectrics with tailored multiphase coexistence in a wide temperature range are constructed to boost higher piezoelectricity and large piezo-potential, which is attributed to decreased polarization anisotropy by flat Gibbs energy profile. Elevated piezo-potential in designed BT-based piezocatalyst guarantees high-efficient generation rate of •OH (200 µmol g⁻¹ h⁻¹) and •O₂⁻ (40 µmol g⁻¹ h⁻¹) by ultrasound stimulation, which is 3.5 times more than that of pure BT. Besides, piezocatalytic capacity to degrade dye wastewater shows a rate constant of 0.0182 min⁻¹ and gives an antibacterial rate of 95% within 30 min for eliminating E. coli. Theoretical simulations validate that the local distortion of TiO₆ octahedra also contributes to piezocatalytic performance by inducing electron–hole pairs separation in real space, and better response to slight structural deformation. This work is important to design high-performance piezocatalysts with high-efficiency ROS generation for sewage treatment and sonodynamic therapy.     

A multi coding technique to reduce transition activity in VLSI circuits

Advances in VLSI technology have enabled the implementation of complex digital circuits in a single chip, reducing system size and power consumption. In deep submicron low power CMOS VLSI design, the main cause of energy dissipation is charging and discharging of internal node capacitances due to transition activity. Transition activity is one of the major factors that also affect the dynamic power dissipation. This paper proposes power reduction analyzed through algorithm and logic circuit levels. In algorithm level the key aspect of reducing power dissipation is by minimizing transition activity and is achieved by introducing a data coding technique. So a novel multi coding technique is introduced to improve the efficiency of transition activity up to 52.3% on the bus lines, which will automatically reduce the dynamic power dissipation. In addition, 1 bit full adders are introduced in the Hamming distance estimator block, which reduces the device count. This coding method is implemented using Verilog HDL. The overall performance is analyzed by using Modelsim and Xilinx Tools. In total 38.2% power saving capability is achieved compared to other existing methods.