Background Advanced glycation end‐product is a modified form of low‐density lipoprotein (AGE‐LDL) and accelerates atherosclerosis through undefined mechanisms. Programmed cell death protein 4 (PDCD4), a transcriptional regulator, plays an important role in the regulation of autophagy. The aim of the present study was to investigate the role of PDCD4 involved in AGE‐LDL–induced foam cell formation. Methods The characterization of AGE‐LDL was measured by the thiobarbituric assay and agarose gel electrophoresis in vitro. RAW264.7, THP‐1 cell line and primary peritoneal macrophages of mice were transfected with shPDCD4 plasmid AGE‐LDL–induced foam cell formation was stained by Oil Red, and the levels of autophagy and apoptosis were determined by Western blot analysis. Autophagosome was observed with immunofluorescence microscopy. Mitochondrial membrane potential and autophagic flux were assessed by flow cytometry. Results AGE modification resulted in significant reduction of absorbance shown by thiobarbituric assay and augmentation of electrophoresis mobility. Further studies suggest that macrophages exposed AGE‐LDL triggered autophagy in the early stage of foam cell formation. PDCD4 deficiency enhanced lipoautophagy but inhibited apoptosis and mitochondria dysfunction. Previous studies have been reported that autophagy is an adaptive response might prevent lesional macrophage apoptosis. In our study, we found PDCD4 deficiency attenuated apoptosis and AGE‐LDL–induced foam cell formation relied on increased autophagy. Conclusion Our data revealed that PDCD4 deficiency can facilitate autophagy and benefit for AGE‐LDL–induced foam cell formation.

In this paper, a wolfram with wolfram carbide (W/WC) coating, which deposited on a 304 stainless steel and Si wafers, is prepared through co-sputtering by unbalanced magnetron sputtering technology with added C2H2 ionization-assisted deposition. The microstructure and the mechanical properties of the W/WC coating are characterized by the equipment of scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, Raman, nanoindenter, scratcher, and Rockwell. Besides, a UMT-3 ball-disk reciprocating friction machine is used to study the tribological properties in the environments of atmosphere, deionized water, and seawater. The experimental results show that the C2H2 ionization gains the deposition rate and the carbon content of the W/WC coating, but significantly reduces the density and the relative wolfram content. Moreover, the sp3 content is increased and the sp2 content and the graphitization degree of coating are decreased. Compared to the W/WC coating without the C2H2 ionization, the hardness and the elastic modulus of the prepared coating are increased from 12.02 GPa and 179.91 GPa to 19.37 GPa and 269.61 GPa, respectively. In addition, the adhesive strength is reduced from 19.31 N to 9.41 N. For the tribological properties, the friction coefficient and the wear rate of the prepared coating are increased. The prepared W/WC coating is mainly abrasive wear in dry friction and in water.

This paper describes one possible thermal analysis method to anticipate and control the inoculation effect during the solidification of CGI melt. Results show that 0.10-0.45 % ferrosilicon inoculation in the sample cup can promote the solidification morphology of the melt to evolve from hypoeutectic to eutectic or even low hypereutectic. With the stepwise more inoculant additions, the minimum eutectic temperature difference for the two stepwise additions decreases. The inoculation saturation value is basically reached in the 0.30 % inoculant sample cup, of which the minimum eutectic temperature increase is 5.3 • C compared with that of the original melt. When inoculated, the carbon potential and eutectic inoculation potential of the melt are improved. At 0.45 % inoculant, the melt can solidify in the form of low hypereutectic. In this case, the nodularity rate increases significantly to 34 %, and large particles of graphite nodule appear.

The cylinder liner is a key part of an internal combustion engine. It always exposes at the worst conditions in the engine room: high temperatures, high pressures, large frictions, and large applying forces. Therefore, excellent physical properties such as surface hardness, tensile strength, heat resistance, and pressure resistance are essentially required as a cylinder liner material. Among them, the surface hardness and tensile strength are the most important properties which play decisive roles in producing a good cylinder liner. Researches on the development of new cast materials with different contents of alloying elements used in cylinder liners, which may exhibit high surface hardness as well as tensile strength, consistently draw much attention. In this regard, this study aims to experimentally investigate the effects of alloy compositions on the mechanical properties of ASBC materials for cylinder liners. Besides, we also replace the traditional-used high-price Ni with low-price Cu in order to reduce the production cost of cylinder liner materials. Results show that the best contents of C, Mo, and Cu for an as-cast banite iron (ACBI) material are found around 2.7%, 0.6–0.8%, and 0.82–1.0%, respectively, in which the highest hardness occurs. Those are found around 2.7%, 0.7–0.8%, and 0.94–1.0%, respectively, in which the highest tensile strength occurs. At the same time, without any reductions in performances of hardness and tensile strength, we successfully adopt Cu as a substitute for Ni as an important composition of ACBI material for cylinder liners.