Adaptation to Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress Enhances Resistance of Oral Cancer Cells to Cisplatin by Up-Regulating Polymerase η and Increasing DNA Repair Efficiency

Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress response is an adaptive program to cope with cellular stress that disturbs the function and homeostasis of ER, which commonly occurs during cancer progression to late stage. Late-stage cancers, mostly requiring chemotherapy, often develop treatment resistance. Chemoresistance has been linked to ER stress response; however, most of the evidence has come from studies that correlate the expression of stress markers with poor prognosis or demonstrate proapoptosis by the knockdown of stress-responsive genes. Since ER stress in cancers usually persists and is essentially not induced by genetic manipulations, we used low doses of ER stress inducers at levels that allowed cell adaptation to occur in order to investigate the effect of stress response on chemoresistance. We found that prolonged tolerable ER stress promotes mesenchymal–epithelial transition, slows cell-cycle progression, and delays the S-phase exit. Consequently, cisplatin-induced apoptosis was significantly decreased in stress-adapted cells, implying their acquisition of cisplatin resistance. Molecularly, we found that proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) ubiquitination and the expression of polymerase η, the main polymerase responsible for translesion synthesis across cisplatin-DNA damage, were up-regulated in ER stress-adaptive cells, and their enhanced cisplatin resistance was abrogated by the knockout of polymerase η. We also found that a fraction of p53 in stress-adapted cells was translocated to the nucleus, and that these cells exhibited a significant decline in the level of cisplatin-DNA damage. Consistently, we showed that the nuclear p53 coincided with strong positivity of glucose-related protein 78 (GRP78) on immunostaining of clinical biopsies, and the cisplatin-based chemotherapy was less effective for patients with high levels of ER stress. Taken together, this study uncovers that adaptation to ER stress enhances DNA repair and damage tolerance, with which stressed cells gain resistance to chemotherapeutics.     

Cathode plasma electrolytic deposition of Al2O3 coatings doped with SiC particles

Semiconductor particles doped Al₂O₃ coatings were prepared by cathode plasma electrolytic deposition in Al(NO₃)₃ electrolyte dispersed with SiC micro- and nano-particles (average particle sizes of 0.5–1.7?µm and 40?nm respectively). The effects of the concentrations and particle sizes of the SiC on the microstructures and tribological performances of the composite coatings were studied. In comparison with the case of dispersing with SiC microparticles, the dispersion of SiC nanoparticles in the coatings was more uniform. When the concentration of SiC nanoparticles was 5?g/L, the surface roughness of the composite coating was reduced by 63%, compared with that of the unmodified coating. Friction results demonstrated that the addition of 5?g/L SiC nanoparticles reduced the friction coefficient from 0.60 to 0.38 and decreased the wear volume under dry friction. The current density and bath voltage were measured to analyze the effects of SiC particles on the deposition process. The results showed that the SiC particles could alter the electrical behavior of the coatings during the deposition process, weaken the bombardment of the plasma, and improve the structures of the coatings.     

A novel bio‐based phthalonitrile resin derived from catechin: synthesis and comparison of curing behavior with petroleum‐based counterpart

The development of bio‐based thermosetting resins with good thermal stability can potentially afford sustainable polymers as replacements for petroleum‐based polymers. We report a practical route to a novel catechin‐based phthalonitrile resin precursor (CA‐Ph), which contains free phenolic hydroxyl groups that result in ‘self‐curing’ at elevated temperatures to afford a thermostable polymer. Comparison of the performance of this CA‐Ph resin with that of a conventional petroleum‐based bisphenol A phthalonitrile resin (BPA‐Ph; containing 5 wt% of the curing agent 4,4′‐diaminodiphenylsulfone) revealed that CA‐Ph exhibits a lower melting point and curing temperature. Cured CA‐Ph resin retains 95% of its weight at 520 °C under a nitrogen atmosphere, which compares favorably with results obtained for BPA‐Ph resin that retains 95% of its weight at a lower temperature of 484 °C. Kinetic results indicated that the curing reactions of both CA‐Ph and BPA‐Ph systems follow an autocatalytic mechanism. These results suggest that catechin is a useful bio‐based feedstock for the preparation of self‐curing and thermally stable phthalonitrile resins for advanced technological applications. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry     

Annular‐ring slot antenna designs with circular polarization radiation

The design of a microstrip‐fed annular‐ring slot antenna (ARSA) with circular polarization (CP) radiation is initially studied. To obtain CP radiation with broad 3‐dB axial ratio (AR) bandwidth that can cover the WiMAX 2.3 GHz (2305–2320 MHz, 2345–2360 MHz) and WLAN 2.4 GHz (2400–2480 MHz) bands, a novel technique of extending an inverted L‐shaped slot from the bottom section of the annular‐ring is proposed. To suppress the harmonic modes induced by the CP ARSA, the technique of integrating a defected ground structure into the annular‐ring slot is further introduced. From the measured results, 10‐dB impedance bandwidth and 3‐dB AR bandwidth of 44.86 and 9.68% were achieved by the proposed harmonic suppressed CP ARSA. Furthermore, average gain and radiation efficiency of ～4.7 dBic and 71%, respectively, were also exhibited across the bands of interest. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J RF and Microwave CAE 25:337–345, 2015.     

我国堆场磷石膏工程特性分析

磷石膏堆场的渗流及稳定性分析结果的可靠度取决于磷石膏物理力学参数的准确性,因此开展磷石膏工程特性研究十分必要。根据我国不同磷石膏堆场的试验数据,分别对磷石膏的物理性质、击实特性、渗透特性、固结特性和强度特性进行了分析。结果表明:磷石膏强度、压缩、渗透特性均与其压实程度密切相关,相同压实程度不同堆场磷石膏的物理力学性质相近;磷石膏渗透特性与其晶体形态有关;磷石膏在荷载作用下具有长期蠕变变形特性,磷石膏堆场封场后仍会发生较大沉降;深部磷石膏破坏时的应变大于浅层磷石膏;磷石膏剪切破坏时产生负孔隙水压力,实际工程中可通过测试孔压的变化了解堆场坝体的安全程度。     

一种分析碳酸盐岩孔隙系统数字图像的新方法

碳酸盐岩的孔隙类型多，孔径变化范围大，孔隙系统结构复杂，研究难度大。长期以来，是利用光学显微镜法、毛细管压力分析法、岩石孔隙系统复制法和图像分析仪法等方法或其中几种方法配合来研究碳酸盐岩孔隙系统。随着计算机图像技术的迅速发展和日益完善，借助该项技术通过碳酸盐岩孔隙系统数字图像来研究碳酸盐岩孔隙系统已经成为现实。文章提出一种研究碳酸盐岩孔隙系统数字图像的新方法。通过样品光薄片的光学显微镜（OM）数字图像和环境扫描电子显微镜（ESEM）数字图像二值化识别孔隙；构造孔隙度、孔隙贡献率和孔隙形状参数的计算公式用于数字图像分析，得到孔隙大小分布和孔隙形状分布。在此基础上，总结碳酸盐岩孔隙参数对其渗透率的控制作用。与传统的孔隙系统研究方法相比，该方法与计算机图像技术紧密结合，具有定量、快速的明显优势。     

Determination of molecular weight and molecular sizes of polymers by high temperature gel permeation chromatography with a static and dynamic laser light scattering detector

Flow-mode static and dynamic laser light scattering (SLS/DLS) studies of polymers, including polystyrene, polyethylene, polypropylene and poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS), in 1,2,4-trichlorobenzene (TCB) at 150 °C were performed on a high temperature gel permeation chromatography (GPC) coupled with a SLS/DLS detector. Both absolute molecular weight (M) and molecular sizes (radius of gyration, R_g and hydrodynamic radius, R_h) of polymers eluting from the GPC columns were obtained simultaneously. The conformation of different polymers in TCB at 150 °C were discussed according to the scaling relationships between R_g, R_h and M and the ρ-ratio (ρ=R_g/R_h). Flow-mode DLS results of PDMS were verified by batch-mode DLS study of the same sample. The presented technique was proved to be a convenient and quick method to study the shape and conformation of polymers in solution at high temperature. However, the flow-mode DLS was only applicable for high molecular weight polymers with a higher refractive index increment such as PDMS.     

热声制冷机及其改进实验研究

热声制冷作为一种很有前途的制冷方法，在国内外相关领域引起了极大兴趣。热声制冷机由声发生器、共振管、板叠及高、低温换热器等部分组成。对声驱动器的振动膜及其冷却系统、气体弹簧系统、高、低温换热器进行了初步改进，使制冷机冷端温降从原来的12℃提高到27℃左右，这是目前国内报道的最大温降。     

中原油田岩石可钻性与声波时差关系研究

选取中原油田的大量岩心，采用常规岩石力学测试方法测定了岩石的可钻性、声波测试方法测定了岩石和岩屑声波时差，通过对测得的岩石可钻性级值和声波时差进行回归拟合，得出了中原油田岩石可钻性与声波时差的关系式。现场应用表明，该关系式较好地反映了中原油田地层岩石可钻性与声波时差的关系，可以在优选钻头时作为参考或直接应用。