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Hypericin is widely utilized for its precise antidepressant properties, but its exact antidepressant mechanism remains unclear. Gap junctions, which were predominantly expressed in astrocytes in the central nervous system, are concerned with the pathogenesis of depression. However, the role of hypericin in gap junctional dysfunction in depression has rarely been investigated. Here, we found that gap junctions were ultra-structurally broadened in the chronic unpredictable stress (CUS) rat model of depression, while hypericin repaired the dysfunction of gap junctions. Suppression of gap junctions by bilateral injection of carbenoxolone (CBX) in the prefrontal cortex of rats significantly inhibited the restoration of gap junctional dysfunction in depression by hypericin. Meanwhile, hypericin failed to show antidepressant benefits. Furthermore, in corticosterone (CORT)-stimulated primary astrocytes derived from neonatal rats, hypericin dramatically reversed the phosphorylation of connexin 43 (Cx43), normalizing the expression of Cx43 and thereby ameliorating gap junctional dysfunction. Comparatively, CBX inhibited the remission of hypericin on gap junctional intercellular communication function. Gap junctional function might be a novel therapeutic target for hypericin in the treatment of depression and provide potential novel insights into the antidepressant mechanism of other herbal ingredients. [Display omitted] • Hypericin has therapeutic efficacy in treating depression. • Hypericin repaired the dysfunction of gap junctions in depression. • Hypericin interacts with Cx43-gap junction channel by molecular docking. • Hypericin relieves depression by improving Cx43-based gap junctional function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • A large number of nanoparticles occurred in porcine bone soup. • Their interaction with intestinal cells should be noted, but is barely studied yet. • Those particles restored intestinal barrier dysfunction caused by oxidative stress. • They restored oxidative stress caused damages on TJs and AJs related proteins. Safety concerns arose on the interaction between nanoparticles in food and intestinal tract. Food components could spontaneously assemble into a large number of nanoparticles during food processing. These nanoparticles may possess physiological effects differed from those of constituent components, are worth paying attention to, but are barely investigated yet, especially on their interaction with intestinal tract. Porcine bone soup is rich in nanoparticles, which can directly interact with oral macrophages disclosed by our previous study. In this study, the effects of bone soup nanoparticles on intestinal barrier function were subsequently evaluated on Caco-2 cell monolayers. The results revealed the nanoparticles did not develop but restore intestinal barrier dysfunction compared with engineered nanoparticles, indicated by barrier integrity, sodium fluorescein permeability, tight junctions and adherent junctions related proteins. These results showed the potential of bone soup nanoparticles on improving intestinal disorders, which resonated with traditional knowledge on the efficacies of bone soup. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Four types of ZIF-8 polyhedral carbons were successfully synthesized. • ZIF-8/C-R2 exhibited high reversible capacity and excellent rate capability compared to other three ZIF-8/C polyhedrons. • Vertices and edges provide more lithium-ion storage sites. • ZIF-8/C-R2 with more vertices and edges has structural advantages to accelerate the transport of lithium-ions. Polyhedral carbons from zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIFs) have been studied as anode materials for lithium-ion batteries, because their topological feature enabled ideal research objects. However, the similarities and differences of lithium-ion storage behavior between ZIFs polyhedral carbons have not been systematically studied. Here we synthesized four kinds of ZIF-8 polyhedral carbons, including cubes (ZIF-8/C-C), small rhombicuboctahedrons (ZIF-8/C-R1), large rhombicuboctahedrons (ZIF-8/C-R2) and dodecahedrons (ZIF-8/C-D), and well-studied their storage behavior. The as-made ZIF-8/C-R2 with 24 vertexes and 48 edges exhibited superior electrochemical performance (657 mAh g−1 at 0.1 A g−1) compared to other ZIF-8/C polyhedrons with less vertexes and edges. In situ TEM was employed to observe the lithiation process of various ZIF-8/C polyhedrons, showing that the solid electrolyte interface films were initiated to form at the vertex sites followed by the edges, which indicates that it is reasonable to design advanced polyhedral electrode materials with abundant vertexes and edges by applying Euler's formula. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thermal comfort evaluations in the built environment are essential to occupant's satisfaction and also building energy consumption. Traditionally, thermal comfort has been assessed by Fanger's PMV model that was developed based on extensive laboratory tests. However, it's been found that PMV predictions are not good in field studies, especially in buildings with natural ventilation. In this paper, machine learning (ML) algorithms were used to predicted occupants' thermal comfort votes (TCV) and thermal sensation votes (TSV), using 5512 sets of thermal comfort data collected in naturally ventilated residential buildings in fourteen cities in China. Environmental parameters, personal parameters, climatic types, and adaptive control measures were considered and used as input parameters for the ML model. It was found that environmental parameters (both outdoors and indoors), personal parameters (metabolic rate and clothing insulation), and climatic types all significant affect both TCV and TSV, while adaptive control measures only affect TSV but not TCV. Comparing with established models (PMV, ePMV and aPMV), the ML models had smaller errors in predicting TSV and TCV. Based on these results, we suggest that the ML, especially ANNs model was reliable in predicting occupants' TCV and TSV in naturally ventilated residential buildings, and performed better than traditional thermal balance based models. Moreover, using the new model, we found that acceptable temperature ranges in naturally ventilated buildings were far wider than the ASHRAE adaptive comfort zone, suggesting that appropriate models should be established based on local data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The agricultural green revolution spectacularly enhanced crop yield through modification of gibberellin (GA) signaling. However, in cotton, the GA signaling cascades remain elusive, limiting our potential to cultivate new cotton varieties and improve yield and quality. Here, we identified that GA prominently stimulated fiber elongation through the degradation of DELLA protein GhSLR1, thereby disabling GhSLR1's physical interaction with two transcription factors, GhZFP8 and GhBLH1. Subsequently, the resultant free GhBLH1 binds to GhKCS12 promoter and activates its expression to enhance VLCFAs biosynthesis. With a similar mechanism, the free GhZFP8 binds to GhSDCP1 promoter and activates its expression. As a result, GhSDCP1 upregulates the expression of GhPIF3 gene associated with plant cell elongation. Ultimately, the two parallel signaling cascades synergistically promote cotton fiber elongation. Our findings outline the mechanistic framework that translates the GA signal into fiber cell elongation, thereby offering a roadmap to improve cotton fiber quality and yield. [Display omitted] • Gibberellins promotes fiber cell elongation by degrading GhSLR1 • GhSLR1 interacts with two transcription factors, GhZFP8 and GhBLH1 • GhBLH1 activates the transcription of GhKCS12 and enhances VLCFA biosynthesis • GhZFP8 activates the expression of GhPIF3 by upregulating GhSDCP1 in cotton He et al. identified two signaling cascades, GhSLR1-GhZFP8- GhSDCP1 - GhPIF3 and GhSLR1-GhBLH1- GhKCS12 , which translate the gibberellins signal to regulate cotton fiber cell elongation. This finding can be potentially used in the field to improve cotton fiber quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Fe2+/Fe3+@POPD/TiO2/fly-ash cenospheres photocatalysts has been successfully prepared by ions imprinting technology. The as-prepared ions imprinting photocatalysts have been characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), UV–Vis diffuse reflectance spectra (UV–Vis DRS) and Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR). The photocatalytic activity of the ions imprinting photocatalysts was studied by the degradation of ciprofloxacin antibiotics water under visible light irradiation (tungsten halogen lamp). The results showed that the iron ions imprinting photocatalysts could effectively promote the mutual transformation between Fe2+ and Fe3+, increased the separation rate of photoelectrons and holes in the cycling system, and improved the photocatalytic activity of degradation on the ciprofloxacin antibiotics solution. The photodegradation rate could reach 80% in 60min under visible light irradiation. According to our experimental results, the mechanisms of preparation and photodegradation process of ions imprinting photocatalysts were also proposed, respectively. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

A series of nebula-like ZnO/CeO 2 @HNTs heterostructure photocatalysts were synthesized via a novel one-step wet-calcination method for degradation of tetracycline (TC) under simulated solar irradiation. TEM, HRTEM, XRD, FT-IR, XPS, DRS, PL, PC, EIS and ESR techniques were applied for characterization of samples. And the potential structure of new photodegradation products was studied by HPLC–MS analysis. The characterization results revealed the enhanced photocatalytic activity of ZnO/CeO 2 @HNTs heterostructure photocatalysts due to the delayed recombination of photogenerated electron-hole pairs. Moreover, surface oxidation state analysis demonstrates that Ce 3+ and Ce 4+ states coexist in CeO 2 , which enhance the separation of electron-hole pairs though cerium oxide shifting between CeO 2 and Ce 2 O 3 under photocatalytic process. In addition, the effects of the calcinating temperature, the molar ratio of ZnO to CeO 2 and the dosage of HNTs on photocatalytic activity of ZnO/CeO 2 @HNTs heterostructure photocatalysts were researched and the best possible values have been found. Furthermore, the photodegradation mechanism was systematically investigated by active species trapping experiment. It revealed that OH radicals play a little role while hole and O 2 − are the more major reactive species in the photodegradation process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hourly air concentrations of fifty-three non-methane hydrocarbons (NMHCs) were measured at downtown and suburb of Lanzhou, a petrochemical industrialized city, Northwest China in 2013. The measured data were used to investigate the seasonal characteristics of NMHCs air pollution and their contributions to the ozone formation in Lanzhou. Annually averaged NMHCs concentration was 38.29 ppbv in downtown Lanzhou. Among 53 NMHCs, alkanes, alkenes, and aromatics accounted for 57%, 23% and 20% of the total NMHCs air concentration, respectively. The atmospheric levels of toluene and propane with mean values of 4.62 and 4.56 ppbv were higher than other NMHCs, respectively. The ambient levels of NMHCs in downtown Lanzhou were compared with measured NMHCs data collected at a suburban site of Lanzhou, located near a large-scale petrochemical industry. Results show that the levels of alkanes, alkenes, and aromatics in downtown Lanzhou were lower by factors of 3-11 than that in west suburb of the city. O 3 -isopleth plots show that ozone was formed in VOCs control area in downtown Lanzhou and NO x control area at the west suburban site during the summertime. Propylene-equivalent (Prop-Equiv) concentration and the maximum incremental reactivity (MIR) in downtown Lanzhou indicate that cis-2-butene, propylene, and m/p-xylene were the first three compounds contributing to ozone formation potentials whereas in the petrochemical industrialized west suburb, ethane, propene, and trans-2-Butene played more important role in the summertime ozone formation. Principal component analysis (PCA) and multiple linear regression (MLR) were further applied to identify the dominant emission sources and examine their fractions in total NMHCs. Results suggest that vehicle emission, solvent usage, and industrial activities were major sources of NMHCs in the city, accounting for 58.34%, 22.19%, and 19.47% of the total monitored NMHCs in downtown Lanzhou, respectively. In the west suburb of the city, however, vehicle emission was less important as compared with sources from petrochemical industries, as characterized by relatively higher ethane (C 2 H 4 )/ ethyne (acetylene) and propene (C 3 H 6 )/ethyne ratios which ruled out tailpipes emission as major contributors to the VOCs sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The densities and viscosities of mixtures of a hydrocarbon fuel (JP-10) with methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) or ethyl tert-butyl ether (ETBE) were determined at different temperatures (293.15, 298.15, 303.15, 308.15 and 313.15)K, over the entire composition range. Excess molar volumes, viscosity deviation and excess Gibbs energies of activation of mixtures were calculated and fitted to the Redlich–Kister equation. The excess molar volumes are negative over the entire range of composition. The viscosity data have been correlated with several semi-empirical equations. The thermodynamic functions of activation were also calculated. The refractive indices of the systems were also measured for temperatures of (293.15, 303.15 and 313.15)K. The results provide important information on the research and application of JP-10 and fuel ethers as additives. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]