Relative Efficiency of Surface Energy Partitioning Over Different Land Covers.

Aims: In this paper, we aim to assess different parameterization schemes for quantifying the surface energy portioning process, in particular, the latent and sensible heat fluxes, and their applicability to various surface cover types. Study Design: This study intercompares theoretical models that predict the relative efficiency of the latent heat (evapotranspiration) with respect to the sensible heat flux. Model predictions are compared with field measurements over surface covers with different physical characteristics and soil water availability. Place and Duration of Study: This study was carried out at the Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, between August 2012 and December 2012. Methodology: Three theoretical models for prediction of the relative efficiency of the latent heat were investigated, based on the lumped heat transfer (Priestley), the linear stability analysis (LSA) and the maximum entropy principle (MEP), respectively. Model predictions were compared against field measurements over three different land cover types, viz. water, grassland and suburban surfaces. An explicit moisture availability parameter β is incorporated in the MEP model, to facilitate direct comparison against the LSA and field measurements. Standard post-processing and quality control were applied to field measured turbulent fluxes using the eddy-covariance (EC) technique. To be consistent with the premise of all theoretical models, diurnal series of sensible and latent heat fluxes were filtered such that only data points under convective conditions were selected. Results: Among all three models, the application of Priestley model is restricted to saturated land surfaces, and generally overestimates the relative efficiency of the latent heat for water-limited surfaces. The LSA and MEP models predict similar β ranges, i.e., 0.05-0.3 in summer and 0.1-0.7 in winter over suburban area, and 0.1 to 0.5 over lake surface. Over vegetated surfaces, the MEP model predicts a reasonable β range around unity by taking transpiration into consideration, while the LSA model consistently underestimated the relative efficiency. Conclusion: Moisture availability plays an essential role in regulating the surface energy partitioning process. The introduction of the moisture availability parameter enables versatile theoretical models for latent heat (and evapotranspiration) predictions over a wide range of land cover types. This study provides a physical insight into the thermodynamics mechanism governing the surface energy balance, and the potential to develop novel surface energy parameterization schemes based on the concept of relative efficiency. The MEP model is found to have the greatest potential in terms of future theoretical model development.

Anti-tumor Activity of Curcumin against Androgen-independent Prostate Cancer Cells via Inhibition of NF-κB and AP-1 Pathway in vitro / 华中科技大学学报（医学）（英德文版）

The anti-tumor activity of curcumin against androgen-independent prostate cancer cells in vitro and the possible mechanism were investigated.After curcumin treatment,the effect of curcumin on the proliferation of prostate cancer PC-3 cells was assessed by CFSE staining.Flow cytometery (FCM) was performed to analyze the cell cycle and the induction of apoptosis of tumor cells.A luciferase reporter gene assay was used to determine the effects of curcumin on the activities of intracellular NF-κB and AP-1 signaling pathways.The results showed curcumin could effectively inhibit the proliferation of PC-3 cells in vitro (P＜0.05).Cells were arrested at G2/M phase.After curcumin treatment,the percentage of apoptotic cells was significantly higher than in control group (P＜0.05).The resuits of the luciferase assay revealed that curcumin selectively inhibited the activities of the NF-κB and AP-1 signaling pathways in PC-3 cells significantly.It was suggested that curcumin could exert anti-tumor activity against androgen-independent prostate cancer cells in vitro by inhibiting cellular proliferation and inducing apoptosis,which was probably contributed to the inhibition of transcription factors NF-κB and AP- 1.

Preparation and Identification of scFv and bsFv against Transferrin Receptor / 华中科技大学学报（医学）（英德文版）

To obtain single chain variable fragment (scFv) and bivalent single chain variable fragment (bsFv) against transferrin receptor, up-stream and down-stream primers were designed according to the complemenary sequences of FR1 region of variable heavy (VH) and FR4 of variable light (VL), respectively, which contained inter-linker G4S and the restriction endonuclease Sill, AscI and NotI. Two pieces of scFv fragments were first amplified through PCR and then inserted into plasmid pAB 1, which could express scFv protein once induced by IPTG in the host bacteria. To express scFv and bsFv, E. coli TG1 was cultured in LB broth and was induced by IPTG The restriction enzyme digestion map and DNA sequencing demonstrated that scFv and bsFv genes were successfully inserted into the expression plasmid. SDS-PAGE and Western blotting revealed the protein band at 35kD and 60kD, which were consistent with the molecular weight of scFv and bsFv respectively.Flow cytometry showed that scFv and bsFv harbored the specific binding activity with TfR expressed in various tumor cells, and the avidity of bsFv was higher than that of the parent scFv.