A Comprehensive View on the Protein Functions of Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus.

Porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED) virus (PEDV) is one of the main pathogens causing diarrhea in piglets and fattening pigs. The clinical signs of PED are vomiting, acute diarrhea, dehydration, and mortality resulting in significant economic losses and becoming a major challenge in the pig industry. PEDV possesses various crucial structural and functional proteins, which play important roles in viral structure, infection, replication, assembly, and release, as well as in escaping host innate immunity. Over the past few years, there has been progress in the study of PEDV pathogenesis, revealing the crucial role of the interaction between PEDV viral proteins and host cytokines in PEDV infection. At present, the main control measure against PEDV is vaccine immunization of sows, but the protective effect for emerging virus strains is still insufficient, and there is no ideal safe and efficient vaccine. Although scientists have persistently delved their research into the intricate structure and functionalities of the PEDV genome and viral proteins for years, the pathogenic mechanism of PEDV remains incompletely elucidated. Here, we focus on reviewing the research progress of PEDV structural and nonstructural proteins to facilitate the understanding of biological processes such as PEDV infection and pathogenesis.

Facilitated Photocatalytic Degradation of Rhodamine B over One-Step Synthesized Honeycomb-Like BiFeO3/g-C3N4 Catalyst.

In the present work, a facile one-step methodology was used to synthesize honeycomb-like BiFeO3/g-C3N4 composites, where the well-dispersed BiFeO3 strongly interacted with the hg-C3N4. The 10BiFeO3/hg-C3N4 could completely degrade RhB under visible light illumination within 60 min. The degradation rate constant was remarkably improved and approximately three times and seven times that of pristine hg-C3N4 and BiFeO3, respectively. This is ascribed to the following factors: (1) the unique honeycomb-like morphology facilitates the diffusion of the reactants and effectively improves the utilization of light energy by multiple reflections of light; (2) the charged dye molecules can be tightly bound to the spontaneous polarized BiFeO3 surface to form the Stern layer; (3) the Z-scheme heterojunction and the ferroelectric synergistically promoted the efficient separation and migration of the photogenerated charges. This method can synchronously tune the micro-nano structure, surface property, and internal field construction for g-C3N4-based photocatalysts, exhibiting outstanding potential in environmental purification.

Study of the Dynamic Model and Vibration Performance of Pot-Shaped Metal Rubber.

Metal rubber has been extensively used in recent years due to its several unique properties, especially in adverse environments. Although many experimental studies have been conducted, theoretical research on metal rubber is still in its infancy. In this work, a dynamic model for the nonlinear characteristics of pot-shaped metal rubber is established on the basis of the asymmetric dynamic model of the wire rope shock absorber and the trace method model. In addition, the corresponding parameters in the model are identified based on the parameter-separation method. The theoretical hysteresis loop obtained using the model and the measured hysteresis loop agree with each other. The results show that the asymmetric dynamic model can better describe the asymmetric dynamic characteristics of pot-shaped metal rubber. Furthermore, a pot-shaped metal rubber vibration reduction system is built to further verify the correctness of the model. This study provides an experimental reference and a theoretical basis for the practical application of pot-shaped metal rubber in the field of three-dimensional vibration reduction.

Function of Uric Acid Transporters and Their Inhibitors in Hyperuricaemia.

Disorders of uric acid metabolism may be associated with pathological processes in many diseases, including diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disease, and kidney disease. These diseases can further promote uric acid accumulation in the body, leading to a vicious cycle. Preliminary studies have proven many mechanisms such as oxidative stress, lipid metabolism disorders, and rennin angiotensin axis involving in the progression of hyperuricaemia-related diseases. However, there is still lack of effective clinical treatment for hyperuricaemia. According to previous research results, NPT1, NPT4, OAT1, OAT2, OAT3, OAT4, URAT1, GLUT9, ABCG2, PDZK1, these urate transports are closely related to serum uric acid level. Targeting at urate transporters and urate-lowering drugs can enhance our understanding of hyperuricaemia and hyperuricaemia-related diseases. This review may put forward essential references or cross references to be contributed to further elucidate traditional and novel urate-lowering drugs benefits as well as provides theoretical support for the scientific research on hyperuricemia and related diseases.

Circular RNA in renal diseases.

Circular RNA (circRNA) is a newly described type of non-coding RNA. Active research is greatly enriching the current understanding of the expression and role of circRNA, and a large amount of evidence has implicated circRNA in the pathogenesis of certain renal diseases, such as renal cell carcinoma, acute kidney injury, diabetic nephropathy and lupus nephritis. Studies have found evidence that circRNAs regulate programmed cell death, invasion, and metastasis and serve as biomarkers in renal diseases. Recently, circRNAs were identified in exosomes secreted by the kidneys. Nevertheless, the function of circRNA in renal diseases remains ambiguous. Given that circRNAs are regulators of gene expression, they may be involved in the pathology of multiple renal diseases. Additionally, emerging evidence is showing that circulating circRNAs may serve as novel biomarkers for renal disease. In this review, we have summarized the identification, biogenesis, degradation, and functions of circRNA and have evaluated the roles of circRNA in renal diseases.

Experimental and Constitutive Model on Dynamic Compressive Mechanical Properties of Entangled Metallic Wire Material under Low-Velocity Impact.

In this paper, the dynamic compressive mechanical properties of entangled metallic wire material (EMWM) under low-velocity impact were investigated and the constitutive model for EMWM under low-velocity impact was established. The research in this paper is based on a series of drop-hammer tests. The results show that the energy absorption rate of EMWM is in the range from 50% to 85%. Moreover, the EMWM with a higher relative density would not plastically deform macroscopically and has excellent characteristics of repetitive energy absorption. With the increase in relative density, the maximum deformation of EMWM decreases gradually, and the impact force of EMWM increases gradually. With the increase in impact-velocity, the phenomenon of stiffness softening before reaching the maximum deformation of EMWM becomes more significant. A constitutive model for EMWM based on the Sherwood-Frost model was established to predict the dynamic compressive mechanical properties of EMWM. The accuracy of the model was verified by comparing the calculated results with the experimental data of the EMWM with different relative densities under different impact-velocities. The comparison results show that the established model can properly predict the dynamic compressive mechanical characteristics of EMWM under low-velocity impact loading.

Mechanical Behavior of Entangled Metallic Wire Materials under Quasi-Static and Impact Loading.

In this paper, the stiffness and damping property of entangled metallic wire materials (EMWM) under quasi-static and low-velocity impact loading were investigated. The results reveal that the maximum deformation of the EMWM mainly depends on the maximum load it bears, and that air damping is the main way to dissipate impact energy. The EMWM can absorb more energy (energy absorption rate is over 60%) under impact conditions. The EMWM has excellent characteristics of repetitive energy absorption.

A Constitutive Model of Plate-Like Entangled Metallic Wire Material in Wide Temperature Range.

Entangled metallic wire material (EMWM) is a kind of porous damping material. To promote the engineering application of EMWM, it is necessary to establish the constitutive model of EMWM to estimate its mechanical properties. In this paper, a series of quasi-static compression experiments for plate-like EMWM specimens made of austenitic stainless steel wire (06Cr19Ni10) with different densities were carried out in the temperature range of 20-500 °C. It was found that the stiffness of the plate-like EMWM would increase with the increases in the ambient temperature. The non-linear characteristics of the force-displacement curve of the plate-like EMWM would be weakened. Taking the spatial structural characteristics of the plate-like EMWM and the influence of the thermal expansion of the structure into account, a new constitutive model for plate-like EMWM was presented by the combination of the Johnson-Cook model and the Sherwood-Frost constitutive framework model. The accuracy of the model was verified by the experimental data under different temperatures. The results show that the calculated results of the model are consistent with the experimental results. This model can provide an effective theoretical basis for predicting the mechanical properties of plate-like EMWM and guiding its design.