Bullocklindhardt5625
Plastics are used in cover substrates for billboards, windows, large LED signboards, lighting devices, and solar panels because they are transparent and can be colored and shaped as desired. However, when plastic cover substrates installed in outdoor environments are constantly exposed to harsh conditions such as snow, rain, dust, and wind, their transparency deteriorates owing to watermarks and dust contamination. Herein, we investigated a simple dipping-press coating method that can impart hydrophobicity while maintaining the transparency, regardless of the plastic substrate type. A highly transparent and hydrophobic coating film was formed on a plastic substrate by a two-step process, as follows (1) application of a polydimethylsiloxane-octadecylamine coating by a dipping process, and (2) embedding (1H,1H,2H,2H-heptadecafluorodec-1-yl) phosphonic acid-aluminum oxide nanoparticles by a thermal press process. The plastic substrates on which the highly transparent and hydrophobic coating film was formed showed 150° or higher hydrophobicity and 80% or higher visible light transparency. The coating method proposed herein can easily impart hydrophobicity and is compatible with any plastic substrate that must maintain prolonged transparency without contamination when exposed to adverse conditions.Two new phomaligols, deketo-phomaligol A (1) and phomaligol E (2), together with six known compounds (3-8) were isolated from the culture broth of the marine-derived fungus Aspergillus flocculosus. Compound 1 was first isolated as a phomaligol derivative possessing a five-membered ring. The structures and absolute configurations of the new phomaligols were determined by detailed analyses of mass spectrometry (MS), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) data, optical rotation values and electronic circular dichroism (ECD). In addition, the absolute configurations of the known compounds 3 and 4 were confirmed by chemical oxidation and comparison of optical rotation values. Isolated compounds at a concentration of 100 μM were screened for inhibition of nitric oxide (NO) production in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced BV-2 microglial cells. Among the compounds, 4 showed moderate anti-neuroinflammatory effects with an IC50 value of 56.6 μM by suppressing the production of pro-inflammatory mediators in activated microglial cells without cytotoxicity.β-Carboline alkaloids are a remarkable family of natural and synthetic indole-containing heterocyclic compounds and they are widely distributed in nature. Recently, these alkaloids have been in the focus of interest, thanks to their diverse biological activities. Their pharmacological activity makes them desirable as sedative, anxiolytic, hypnotic, anticonvulsant, antitumor, antiviral, antiparasitic or antimicrobial drug candidates. The growing potential inherent in them encourages many researchers to address the challenges of the synthesis of natural products containing complex β-carboline frameworks. In this review, we describe the recent developments in the synthesis of β-carboline alkaloids and closely related derivatives through selected examples from the last 5 years. The focus is on the key steps with improved procedures and synthetic approaches. Furthermore the pharmacological potential of the alkaloids is also highlighted.Oncolytic viruses provide a biologically multi-faceted treatment option for patients who cannot be cured with currently available treatment options. We constructed an oncolytic adenovirus, TILT-123, to support T-cell therapies and immune checkpoint inhibitors in solid tumors. Adenoviruses are immunogenic by nature, are easy to produce in large quantities, and can carry relatively large transgenes. They are the most commonly used gene therapy vectors and are well tolerated in patients. TILT-123 expresses two potent cytokines, tumor necrosis factor alpha and interleukin-2, to stimulate especially the T-cell compartment in the tumor microenvironment. Before entering clinical studies, the safety and biodistribution of TILT-123 was studied in Syrian hamsters and in mice. The results show that TILT-123 is safe in animals as monotherapy and in combination with an immune checkpoint inhibitor anti-PD-1. The virus treatment induces acute changes in circulating immune cell compartments, but the levels return to normal by the middle of the treatment period. The virus is rapidly cleared from healthy tissues, and it does not cause damage to vital organs. Voxtalisib supplier The results support the initiation of a phase 1 dose-escalation trial, where melanoma patients receiving a tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte therapy are treated with TILT-123 (NCT04217473).The reuse of steeping lye is crucial for the sustainable production of viscose fibers. Steeping lye contains hemicellulose and many alkaline degradation products, such as organic acids, so that its purification can be evaluated in terms of total organic carbon removal. When considering purification by membrane filtration, intermolecular interactions between hemicellulose and organic acids can strongly affect their retention efficiency. Herein, we give more insights into the ultrafiltration and nanofiltration of steeping lye and corresponding model solutions. Furthermore, we studied the impact of total organic carbon concentration, hemicellulose concentration and sodium hydroxide concentration on the membrane performance. Hydrogen bonds between hemicellulose and certain types of hydroxy acids increased the retention of the latter. In contrast, charge based repulsion forces led to a decreased retention of a certain type of hydroxy acids. It can be clearly shown that taking intermolecular interactions into account is highly important for the description of complex multicomponent mixtures. In addition, the results can be extended to other, highly alkaline process streams with organic content, such as Kraft pulping liquors.The spread of bacterial resistance to antibiotics affects various areas of life. The aim of this study was to assess the occurrence of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and other bacteria mainly from orders Enterobacterales and Staphylococcus in the pharmaceutical production sites, and to characterize isolated strains in the aspects of antibiotic resistance, biofilm formation, and presence of genes encoding virulence factors. Genes encoding selected virulence factors were detected using PCR techniques. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was applied in accordance with the EUCAST recommendations. A total of 46 P. aeruginosa strains were isolated and 85% strains showed a strong biofilm-forming ability. The qualitative identification of genes taking part in Quorum Sensing system demonstrated that over 89% of strains contained lasR and rhlI genes. An antimicrobial susceptibility testing revealed nine strains resistant to at least one antibiotic, and two isolates were the metallo-β-lactamase producers. Moreover, the majority of P. aeruginosa strains contained genes encoding various virulence factors. Presence of even low level of pathogenic microorganisms or higher level of opportunistic pathogens and their toxic metabolites might result in the production inefficiency. Therefore, the prevention of microbial contamination, effectiveness of sanitary and hygienic applied protocols, and constant microbiological monitoring of the environment are of great importance.Improvements in the science of health monitoring and maintenance have facilitated the observation of damage and defects in existing structures and infrastructures, such as bridges and railways. The need to extend sensing technology through the use of wireless sensors as well as the lack of description tools for understanding, visualizing, and documenting sensor outputs has encouraged researchers to use powerful tools such as Building Information Modelling (BIM) systems. BIM has become important because of conducting tools widely used in the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry to present and manage information on structural systems and situations. Since combining health monitoring and maintenance results with BIM models is a new field of study, and most projects utilize various aspects of it, we have conducted a review of important work related to this subject published from 2010 to November of 2020. After reviewing 278 journal articles, research trends, approaches, methods, gaps, and future agenda related to BIM in monitoring and maintenance were highlighted. This paper, through a bibliometric and content analysis, concludes that besides main improvements, some limitations now exist which affect the modeling and maintenance process. These limitations are related to extending the IFC schema, optimizing sensor data, interoperability among various BIM platforms, optimization of various sensing technologies for fault detection and management of huge amounts of data, besides consideration of environmental effects on monitoring hazards and underground objects. Finally, this paper aims to help to solve the mentioned limitation through a comprehensive review of existing research.Due to the attractive optical and electrical properties, van der Waals (vdWs) heterostructures constructed from the different two-dimensional materials have received widespread attention. Here, MoS2/h-BN, MoS2/graphene, WS2/h-BN, and WS2/graphene vdWs heterostructures are successfully prepared by the CVD and wet transfer methods. The distribution, Raman and photoluminescence (PL) spectra of the above prepared heterostructure samples can be respectively observed and tested by optical microscopy and Raman spectrometry, which can be used to study their growth mechanisms and optical properties. Meanwhile, the uniformity and composition distribution of heterostructure films can also be analyzed by the Raman and PL spectra. The internal mechanism of Raman and PL spectral changes can be explained by comparing and analyzing the PL and Raman spectra of the junction and non-junction regions between 2D-2D vdWs heterostructure materials, and the effect of laser power on the optical properties of heterostructure materials can also be analyzed. These heterostructure materials exhibit novel and unique optical characteristics at the stacking or junction, which can provide a reliable experimental basis for the preparation of suitable TMDs heterostructure materials with excellent performance.Skin, the organ protecting the human body from external factors, maintains structural and tensile strength by containing many collagen fibrils, particularly type I procollagen. However, oxidative stress by ultraviolet (UV) exposure causes skin photoaging by activating collagen degradation and inhibiting collagen synthesis. Acer tataricum subsp. ginnala extract (AGE) is a herbal medicine with anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidative effects, but there is no report on the protective effect against skin photoaging. Therefore, we conducted research concentrating on the anti-photoaging effect of Acer tataricum subsp. ginnala (AG) in UVB (20 mJ/cm2)-irradiated human dermal fibroblasts (HDF). Then, various concentrations (7.5, 15, 30 µg/mL) of AGE were treated in HDF for 24 h following UVB irradiation. After we performed AGE treatment, the matrix metalloproteinase1 (MMP1) expression was downregulated, and the type I procollagen level was recovered. Then, we investigated the mitogen-activated protein kinases/activator protein 1 (MAPK/AP-1) and nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) pathway, which induce collagen breakdown by promoting the MMP1 level and pro-inflammatory cytokines.