Pore-scale elastic microspheres were prepared controllably and their swelling property, stability, and creeprecovery property in brine water were analyzed in laboratory. The goal of the research was to study the selectivity of the porescale elastic microspheres as a novel profile control (water injection profile modification) and oil displacement agent. The matching factor between particle size of elastic microspheres and pore throat diameter of sand pack model was introduced to characterize their matching relationship. The results indicate that the optimal matching factor is 1.35−1.55. Besides, the profile control and oil displacement effect were studied using a series of heterogeneous double-tube sand pack models with optimal matching factors. The shunt flow experiments show that when the matching factor is an optimal value, the elastic microspheres prefer to plug the high-permeability layer selectivity and almost do not clog the low-permeability layer. The oil displacement experiments show that the elastic microspheres have the characteristic of plugging water without plugging oil and can improve the sweep status and oil displacement effect of low-permeability layer and low-permeability area in the high-permeability layer. According to the experimental results and actual situation of Block Liu 28-1, an optimal program for the profile control and oil displacement of elastic microspheres was proposed and conducted. The results show that the elastic microspheres can improve the water injection profile effectively. The results also confirm that the matching factor is an appropriate measure to evaluate the profile control and oil displacement effect of elastic microspheres and to guide the field test.

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ObjectiveWhether the orthodontic treatment with premolar extraction and maximum anchorage in adults will lead to a narrowed upper airway remains under debated. The study aims to investigate the airway changes after orthodontic extraction treatment in adult patients with Class II and hyperdivergent skeletal malocclusion.Materials and MethodsThis retrospective study enrolled 18 adults with Class II and hyperdivergent skeletal malocclusion (5 males and 13 females, 24.1 ± 3.8 years of age, BMI 20.33 ± 1.77 kg/m2). And 18 untreated controls were matched 1:1 with the treated patients for age, sex, BMI, and skeletal pattern. CBCT images before and after treatment were obtained. DOLPHIN 11.7 software was used to reconstruct and measure the airway size, hyoid position, and craniofacial structures. Changes in the airway and craniofacial parameters from pre to post treatment were assessed by Wilcoxon signed rank test. Mann-Whitney U test was used in comparisons of the airway parameters between the treated patients and the untreated controls. Significant level was set at 0.05.ResultsThe upper and lower incisors retracted 7.87 mm and 6.10 mm based on the measurement of U1-VRL and L1-VRL (P < 0.01), while the positions of the upper and lower molars (U6-VRL, and L6-VRL) remained stable. Volume, height, and cross-sectional area of the airway were not significantly changed after treatment, while the sagittal dimensions of SPP-SPPW, U-MPW, PAS, and V-LPW were significantly decreased (P < 0.05), and the morphology of the cross sections passing through SPP-SPPW, U-MPW, PAS, and V-LPW became anteroposteriorly compressed (P <0.001). No significant differences in the airway volume, height, and cross-sectional area were found between the treated patients and untreated controls.ConclusionsThe airway changes after orthodontic treatment with premolar extraction and maximum anchorage in adults are mainly morphological changes with anteroposterior dimension compressed in airway cross sections, rather than a decrease in size.

Background/Aims: Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) remains an intractable genitourinary malignancy. Resistance to chemotherapy or targeted therapies in RCC is presumably due to the complicated underlying molecular mechanisms and insufficient understanding. The aim of this research was to assess the expression and role of bromodomain-4 protein (BRD4) in RCC and evaluate the effects of BRD4 inhibitor JQ1 for RCC treatment. Methods: BRD4 expressionlevels were assessed by qRT-PCR and western blot in RCC tissues and cells. The effects of BRD4 knockdown or JQ1 on RCC cells were assessed by MTT assay and flow cytometry. The effects of in vivo treatment were evaluated through xenograft experiments. Results: BRD4 is significantly overexpressed in RCC, and is related to tumor stage and lymph node metastasis. Inhibition of BRD4 suppressed RCC cell proliferation, induced cell apoptosis in vitro and repressed tumor growth in vivo. Inhibition of BRD4 decreased BCL2 and C-MYC expression while increased BAX and cleaved caspase3 expression, and strikingly diminished the recruitment of BRD4 to BCL2 promoter. Conclusions: Our research reveals that BRD4 probably play a critical role in RCC progression, and is a new promising target for pharmacological treatment directed against this intractable disease.

With bioassay-guided fractionation, five new polyprenylated benzoylphloroglucinol derivatives, garcimultiflorone D (1), 18-hydroxygarcimultiflorone D (2), garcimultiflorone E (3), garcimultiflorone F (4), and isogarcimultiflorone F (5), and five known compounds, guttiferone E (6), guttiferone F (7), aristophenone A (8), isoxanthochymol (9), and morelloflavone (10), were isolated from the acetone extract of the twigs of Garcinia multiflora. The compounds were evaluated for their apoptotic effects against HeLa-C3 cells, which have been genetically engineered to produce a fluorescent biosensor capable of detecting caspase-3 activation. Compounds 1 and 3-9 activate caspase-3 in HeLa-C3 cells within 72 h after treatment at a concentration of 100 microM or lower. In particular, compounds 6, 8, and 9 showed strong apoptosis-inducing effects at a concentration of 25 microM.

Consistent aroma characteristics are important for tea products. However, understanding the formation of tea aroma flavor and correspondingly proposing applicable protocols to control tea quality and consistency remain major challenges. Oolong tea is one of the most popular teas with a distinct flavor. Generally, oolong tea is processed with the leaves of tea trees belonging to different subspecies and grown in significantly different regions. In this study, Yunnan and Fujian oolong teas, green tea, black tea, and Pu-erh tea were collected from major tea estates across China. Their sensory evaluation, main water-soluble and volatile compounds were identified and measured. The sensory evaluation, total polysaccharide, caffeine, and catechin content of Yunnan oolong tea was found to be different from that of Fujian oolong tea, a result suggesting that the kinds of tea leaves used in Yunnan and Fujian oolong teas were naturally different. However, according to their aroma compounds, principal component analysis (PCA) and cluster analysis (CA) of the volatile compounds showed that the two types of oolong teas were similar and cannot be clearly distinguished from each other; they are also different from green, black, and Pu-erh teas, a result indicating that the same oolong tea processing technology applied to different tea leaves results in consistent aroma characteristics. The PCA analysis results also indicated that benzylalcohol, indole, safranal, linalool oxides, β-ionone, and hexadecanoic acid methyl ester highly contributed to the distinct aroma of oolong tea compared with the other three types of teas. This study proved that the use of the same processing technology on two kinds of tea leaves resulted in a highly consistent tea aroma.

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A series of micron-grade polyacrylamide microspheres were prepared by inverse suspension polymerization of acrylamide (AM) and N,N 0 -methylene bisacrylamide (MBA) in oil phase, with Span80 and Tween80 as dispersion stabilizers, and ammonium persulfate (APS) as an initiator. The conversion rate and coagulum rate were introduced to optimize the inverse suspension polymerization conditions of micron-grade polyacrylamide microspheres. The swelling property of polyacrylamide microspheres in aqueous solution and the rheology of polyacrylamide microspheres suspension were characterized. The matching factor was introduced to characterize the matching relationship between the particle size of polyacrylamide microspheres and pore-throat size of reservoirs. The optimized synthesis results show that the conversion rate is high, and the coagulum rate is low when the mass ratio of Span80 to Tween80 is 3 : 1. The particle size of the polyacrylamide microspheres is controlled by varying the concentration of dispersion stabilizer. The polyacrylamide microspheres show an obvious swelling property, which depends on the concentration of NaCl and temperature. The polyacrylamide microspheres suspension shows different rheological properties at different temperature and shear rate. When the temperature is low, it behaves as pseudoplastic fluid, dilatant fluid and quasi-newtonian fluid in turn with the increase of shear rate. When the temperature is high, it behaves as dilatant fluid and quasi-newtonian fluid in turn with the increase of shear rate. The micron-grade polyacrylamide microspheres prefer to plug sand pack with optimal matching factor. When the matching factor is 1.35-1.55, the polyacrylamide microspheres can be transported into the deep area of sand pack, and the ultimate plugging rate is more than 85%, which indicates that the matching factor is an effective parameter to evaluate the matching relationship between polyacrylamide microspheres and reservoirs.