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[Display omitted] Exploring highly efficient ultrasound-triggered catalysts is pivotal for various areas. Herein, we presented that Ba2+ doped brookite TiO 2 nanorod (TiO 2 : Ba) with polarization-induced charge separation is a candidate. The replacement of Ba2+ for Ti4+ not only induced significant lattice distortion to induce polarization but also created oxygen vacancy defects for facilitating the charge separation, leading to high-efficiency reactive oxygen species (ROS) evolution in the piezo-catalytic processes. Furthermore, the piezocatalytic ability to degrade dye wastewater demonstrates a rate constant of 0.172 min-1 and achieves a 100 % antibacterial rate at a low dose for eliminating E. coli. This study advances that doping can induce piezoelectricity and reveals that lattice distortion-induced polarization and vacancy defects engineering can improve ROS production, which might impact applications such as water disinfection and sonodynamic therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chlorocholine chloride (CCC) is a plant growth regulator used worldwide that is detectable in cereals, fruits and animal products. The health effects of CCC exposure have raised public concern. Our previous research showed that CCC exposure decreased testosterone synthesis in pubertal rats. However, little is known about whether and how pubertal CCC exposure impacts spermatogenesis. In this study, we used BALB/c mice and spermatogonia-derived GC-1 cells to examine CCC-induced spermatogenic dysfunction. In vivo , pubertal CCC exposure led to decreased testicular weight, decreased testicular germ cells and poor sperm quality. This effect worsened after cessation of CCC exposure for the next 30 days. RNA-seq and western blot analysis revealed that CCC induced aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) signaling, endoplasmic reticulum stress (ERS) and ferritinophagy. Increased iron content and lipid peroxidation levels were also observed in CCC-treated testes. In vitro , it was identified that iron overload mediated by enhanced ferritinophagy occurred in CCC-treated GC-1 cells, which might be attributed to the PERK pathway in ERS. Further, for the first time, our study elucidated the involvement of AhR in CCC-induced iron overload, which aggravated testicular oxidative damage via lipid peroxidation. Considering the adverse impact of CCC exposure on rodents, supportive evidence from GC-1 cells, and the critical importance of spermatogenesis on male development, the effects of CCC on the male reproduction warrant increased attention. [Display omitted] • CCC pubertal exposure led to spermatogenesis disorders which remained after cessation of CCC exposure for the next 30 days. • CCC-induced iron overload by ferritinophagy activation contributed to lipid peroxidation in GC-1 cells. • PERK pathway in endoplasmic reticulum stress triggered ferritinophagy activation in CCC-treated cells. • AhR was involved in CCC-induced ROS production and PERK-dependent iron overload, which caused testicular oxidative damage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Triptolide (TP) is the major bioactive component of traditional Chinese medicine Tripterygium wilfordii Hook. F., a traditional Chinese medicinal plant categorized within the Tripterygium genus of the Celastraceae family. It is recognized for its therapeutic potential in addressing a multitude of diseases. Nonetheless, TP is known to exhibit multi-organ toxicity, notably hepatotoxicity, which poses a significant concern for the well-being of patients undergoing treatment. The precise mechanisms responsible for TP-induced hepatotoxicity remain unresolved. In our previous investigation, it was determined that TP induces heightened hepatic responsiveness to exogenous lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Additionally, natural killer (NK) cells were identified as a crucial effector responsible for mediating hepatocellular damage in this context. However, associated activating receptors and the underlying mechanisms governing NK cell represented innate lymphoid cell (ILC) activation remained subjects of inquiry and were not yet investigated. Herein, activating receptor Killer cell lectin like receptor K1 (NKG2D) of group 1 ILCs was specifically upregulated in TP- and LPS-induced acute liver failure (ALF), and in vivo blockade of NKG2D significantly reduced group 1 ILC mediated cytotoxicity and mitigated TP- and LPS-induced ALF. NKG2D ligand UL16-binding protein-like transcript 1 (MULT-1) was found upregulated in liver resident macrophages (LRMs) after TP administration, and LRMs did exhibit NK cell activating effect. Furthermore, M1 polarization of LRMs cells was observed, along with an elevation in intracellular tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α levels. In vivo neutralization of TNF-α significantly alleviated TP- and LPS-induced ALF. In conclusion, the collaborative role of group 1 ILCs and LRMs in mediating hepatotoxicity was confirmed in TP- and LPS-induced ALF. TP-induced MULT-1 expression in LRMs was the crucial mechanism in the activation of group 1 ILCs via MULT-1-NKG2D signal upon LPS stimulation, emphasizing the importance of infection control after TP administration. [Display omitted] • NKG2D is the crucial activating receptor of group 1 ILC in TP- and LPS-induced ALF. • Recognition of NKG2D and LRM MULT-1 promotes group 1 ILC activation. • M1 polarized LRMs mediate hepatocellular damage by TNF-α in TP- and LPS-induced ALF. • Collaborating of Group 1 ILCs and LRMs lead to occurrence of ALF induced by TP and LPS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evaluating the cost-effectiveness of emission trading system (ETS) will explore how to control the total emission amount while minimizing the economic cost. Most related studies employ the difference-in-differences (DID) and multi-period DID models. However, this research highlights the superiority of construction technique and estimation results in the synthetic DID model, and applies it to a new scenario for evaluating the cost-effectiveness of China's pilot ETS. From the construction technique, the synthetic DID model synthesizes more desirable control groups and allows more flexibility in matching treatment units with extreme values by setting weight combinations and intercept terms. From the estimation results, the treatment effects are considered more reliable because ideally satisfy the parallel trend assumption. Specifically, the synthetic DID model indicated that the pilot ETS effectively reduced the marginal abatement cost (MAC) by 24.39%, whereas the traditional DID and multi-period DID models may have overestimated the policy effects by 98.48% and 71.09%. The main reason was the MAC has shown a downward trend before the policy implementation. Moreover, the estimation results of heterogeneity analysis and mechanism test in different models were also different. The synthetic DID model integrates the strengths of the DID model and synthetic control method (SCM), making a methodologically grounded contribution to the existing policy evaluation system. • The frontier synthetic DID model is applied in a new scenario. • Reveal the technical superiority and accurate results of the synthetic DID model. • The traditional DID and multi-period DID models may overestimate the policy effects. • The synthetic DID model integrates the strengths of the DID model and SCM method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, our effort was focused on preparation and oxygen sensing of luminescence carbon dots (CDs) assembled hollow mesoporous silica microspheres (HMSMs) and mesoporous silica microspheres (MSMs). MSMs doped with CDs showed shorter response time and recovery time comparing with HMSMs doped with CDs. This feature can be attributed to ordered channel structure of mesoporous carrier which can promote the gas diffusion effectively. While HMSMs doped with CDs shows a higher oxygen quenching response and the degree of quenching reach 80.35%. The response time was determined to be about 7 s and the emission intensities of the samples were effectively reduced as the concentration of oxygen increased. These results indicate that the system we have developed can be used for oxygen detection in wide concentration range and is especially accurate for very low oxygen concentrations. The obtained CDs grafted hollow mesoporous silica microspheres (HMSMs) and mesoporous silica microspheres (MSMs) samples appears to be a promising sensing material for environmental detection application and would also find applications in catalyst, electrode, or related fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The insecticide chlorpyrifos plays an important role in agricultural production and is widely used because of its excellent insecticidal ability. However, the mechanism by which chlorpyrifos causes lymphocyte death remains unclear. In this study, transcriptomic techniques were used to analyze the head kidney tissues of carp (Cyprinus carpio) treated with chlorpyrifos. Subsequently, we screened out differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and performed the corresponding processing in the head kidney lymphocyte. Then, the intracellular calcium content and necrosis were detected by fluorescence staining, real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR, and flow cytometry. Our results showed that the expression of T cell receptor gamma (TCR γ) was significantly decreased, and TCR γ was inhibited after chlorpyrifos treatment. Also, TCR γ significantly increased the abundance of calcium channel messenger RNA (mRNA). To verify this result, we established the TCR γ overexpression group and found that the reverse results were observed in TCR γ of in the overexpression group. The results of cytoplasmic calcium concentration detection, calcium staining, and flow cytometry confirmed the conclusion of increased calcium in the cytoplasm. The function of TCR γ significantly enhanced the mRNA expression levels of necrosis-related genes, and this conclusion was evidenced by the result of necrotic flow detection. Our results showed that chlorpyrifos could inhibit TCR γ in carp lymphocytes and induce calcium-dependent necrosis. [Display omitted] • TCR γ knockdown and overexpression models were established in lymphocytes. • TCR γ involved in the process of chlorpyrifos-dependent necrosis in common carp lymphocytes. • TCR γ involved in calcium overload in common carp lymphocytes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) exist in aquatic environments with nephrotoxicity to non-target aquatic species. Melatonin (MT) exhibits an inhibitory effect of oxidative stress and apoptosis in various diseases. 2, 2′, 4, 4′-tetrabromodiphenyl ether (BDE-47) is the main homolog of PBDE samples. Therefore, we investigated the toxic mechanism of BDE-47 and the alleviation effect of MT, the ctenopharyngodon idellus kidney (CIK) cells were treated with BDE-47 (100 μM) and/or MT (60 μM) for 24 h. Firstly, BDE-47 exposure could inhibit oxidative stress-related antioxidant enzymes (T-AOC, SOD, CAT and GPx) and increase the content of malondialdehyde (MDA) to cause oxidative stress. Secondly, BDE-47 enhanced mitochondrial division and inhibited fusion to induce mitochondrial membrane potential in CIK cells. BDE-47 enhanced the mRNA and protein levels of mitochondrial-pathway apoptosis related genes (Cas 3, Cyt-c, and BAX). Thirdly, BDE-47 treatment decreased the expression levels of mitochondrial-related regulatory factors AMPK-Sirt1-PGC-1α signal pathway. Intriguingly, BDE-47-induced oxidative stress, mitochondrial pathway apoptosis and mitochondrial dynamics disorder could be alleviated by MT treatment. Overall, we concluded that MT could relieve BDE-47-induced oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction and apoptosis through the AMPK-Sirt1-PGC-1α axis. These results enrich the mechanisms of BDE-47 poisoning and reveal that MT treatment may be a potential strategy for solving BDE-47 poisoning. [Display omitted] • Melatonin (MT) relieves oxidative stress induced by BDE-47 in CIK cells. • MT mitigates the mitochondrial dysfunction via the AMPK-Sirt1-PGC-1α axis under BDE-47. • Melatonin (MT) relieves apoptosis caused by BDE-47 exposure in CIK cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the presence of 18 dioxin-like and non-dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls (dl- and ndl-PCBs), heavy metals (Cd, Hg, Pb, and As) in Chinese mitten crabs (Eriocheir sinensis) and their distribution in Jiangsu, China. Risk assessment and source apportionment were employed for evaluating the eco-toxicological impact and human exposure. It was found that the compositions of PCBs varied spatially, suggesting different sources of pollutants, whilst PCB 28, 105, 114, and 126 were consistently found in all sample types, suggesting a common pollution source remained, and the bio-accumulation process was in effect. The total PCBs in sediment were found much higher than in water, and brown meat had the highest and most diverse PCB congeners among all tissues. The presence of heavy metals was found in all samples in descending order of As>Cd>Pb>Hg and in the order of shell>brown meat>white meat>gill for crabs. The results of risk assessment indicated that the potential carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic risks were within the acceptable range for long-term consumption of the crabs overall. However, the highest toxic equivalent (TEQ), carcinogenic, and non-carcinogenic risks were all recorded in Location C, where dl-PCB 126, 169, and As contributed to the majority of the risks. The ecological risk posed by all HMs was low, but cases of serious point source pollution have been found in the investigated regions, and risks caused by Cd individually should raise concerns. Source apportionment study revealed that the contaminants mostly originated from anthropogenic activities. Natural deposition and transportation played an important role as well. [Display omitted] • Human activities and natural processes responsible for PCBs and heavy metals in Chinese mitten crabs in Jiangsu, China. • Brown crab meat had the highest amount and diversity of PCB congeners among all crab tissues. • Dioxin-like PCB 126, 169, and arsenic account for most of health risks. Cadmium contributes to moderate ecological risk. • Health risks are within the acceptable range, but near unacceptable thresholds at the current crab ingestion rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent years, the energy consumption and carbon emissions released from the residential sector have increased rapidly due to the improvement of living standards. Japan, as one of the most developed countries worldwide, is found to be the fourth largest CO2 emitter in the world. Meanwhile, Japan is currently promoting social electrification from varied aspects. And this action further brings the household residential consumption to the vital place for overall energy conservation and emission reduction plans. Although electricity consumption and prediction analysis have been widely discussed. However, previous studies mainly focused on the estimation and analysis of energy consumption at the national level, without enough discussion from prefecture-level insights. To bridge this knowledge gap, this study established a factor-based bottom-up model to estimate the electricity consumption and carbon emissions during the 2015–2040 periods in the Japanese residential sector, considering the prefectural characteristics including per capita gross domestic product, population size, household size, residential floor space area, lifestyle, weather condition, and transition effect of appliance in the future. Nine scenarios that combine three levels of household size and three levels of growth of per capita gross domestic product are taken into account to estimate the electricity consumption for space heating and cooling, water heating, cooking, and appliances. Results indicate that the total residential electricity consumption will reach a peak during 2020s. The total carbon emissions will keep decreasing by 51.14–72.16 Mt between 2015 and 2040. Based on the results of this paper, policy recommendations are given for the Japanese government. • A factor-based bottom-up model is established for electricity consumption estimation. • The electricity consumption and carbon emissions are analyzed at a prefecture-level in Japan. • Each component of the residential sector electricity consumption is quantified completely and accurately. • The estimation results consider the lifestyle, weather conditions, and the transition effect of appliances in Japan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graphical abstract Abstract Herein, we present a simple strategy to enhance the stability of water-sensitive SrLiAl 3 N 4 :Eu2+ phosphor through embedding the phosphor particles into low-melting Sn-P-F-O glass using phosphor-in-glass (PiG) approach. After being immersed in water for 96 h, the emission intensity of the SrLiAl 3 N 4 :Eu2+-PiG sample was maintained at 80% of its pristine intensity, indicating the moisture-resistance property of SrLiAl 3 N 4 :Eu2+ was significantly enhanced. Employing the narrow-band red-emitting SrLiAl 3 N 4 :Eu2+-PiG sample and a blue COB (chip-on-board), a plant growing LED device was fabricated. The emission spectrum of the device matches well with the absorption of Chlorophyl (a and b) in plants, indicating the as-prepared SrLiAl 3 N 4 :Eu2+-PiG are suitable to be applied in plant lighting field. We believe that this simple method reported in this communication can be easily expanded to other water-sensitive luminescence materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Owning to the hydrogen-band interactions, blue-light-emitting luminescent carbon dots (CDs) synthesized by one-pot hydrothermal treatment were successfully assembled into Eu 3+ doped mesoporous aluminas (MAs). Interesting, dual-emissive CDs/MAs co-doped materials with higher quantum yield (QY), long-term stability, mesoporous structure, high thermal stability, and large surface areas were obtained. Furthermore, the obtained CDs/MAs co-doped materials possessed tunable color, and excellent temperature sensitivity due to the existing of energy transfer between CDs and Eu 3+ ion. The energy transfer efficiency ( η ) and energy transfer probability ( P ) for CDs/Eu 3+ co-doped materials possessed a monotonous tendency with the change of Eu 3+ content. More importantly, the dual-emissive colors can be regularly adjusted through regulating their excitation wavelength or relative mass ratio. In addition, the emission intensity of the CDs/MAs co-doped materials gradually decreased with increasing temperature showing the clear temperature dependence, this dual-emissive thermometer was with high sensitivity, owning a great fitted curve in the range from 100 to 360 K under a single wavelength excitation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The stochastic and intermittent features of wind power as well as the high percentage of wind power grid-connected significantly increase the additional operating costs of the power system. It is difficult to accurately calculate the impact of complex fluctuations in wind power on additional operating costs. To solve the above problems, a power system operating cost model adapted to various wind power fluctuation processes is established. Firstly, based on a two-layer clustering strategy, different types of wind power fluctuations are obtained. Then, a production simulation model of the power system with renewable energy is established. The production simulation model costs include thermal plant operating costs, energy storage system operating costs, positive reserve costs and negative reserve costs. With the optimization objective of minimizing the total operating cost of the power system, realistic and representative system operating parameters and cost samples are obtained for various wind power fluctuations and different wind power grid-connected scenarios. Finally, a data-driven approach based on a deep neural network algorithm is proposed to achieve precise mapping between wind energy fluctuations and the operating costs of power systems and thermal power units, and the operating costs of the power system during the four seasons with different types of wind power fluctuations can be precisely analyzed. The results demonstrate that the method proposed in this paper has high simulation accuracy for the overall simulation operating cost of the power system and the operating cost of thermal power plants. The simulation errors are 4%–18% and 3%–13%, respectively, which verified the effectiveness of the method. • Two-layer clustering strategy with variable time windows identifies wind power fluctuation types. • A simulation model of power system operating costs is established based on a data-driven approach. • Power system operating costs simulation accuracy varies with seasons and wind power fluctuations types. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Collagen is an active macromolecule, but direct comparisons between different sources were scarce. The purpose of this study was to compare collagen from three fish species to find a collagen with higher bioactivity. Collagen from the swim bladder of Ctenopharyngodon idella , Nibea coibor and Protonibea diacanthus were isolated and named CASC, NASC and PASC, respectively. SDS-PAGE and spectroscopic analysis indicated that ASCs contained triple-helix type I collagen. The microstructure of collagen after lyophilization was uniform and porous. In addition, DSC analysis of the ASCs showed that the denaturation temperature (T d) and melting temperature (T m) were 79 °C–93 °C and ∼216 °C, respectively. Moreover, the antioxidant activity of ASCs and its effect on fibroblast viability and collagen synthesis were investigated. Current studies have shown that ASCs had antioxidant capacity and were not toxic to fibroblasts. NASC had a higher antioxidant capacity (Hydroxyl, DPPH and ABTS radical scavenging rates were 33.73%, 33.49% and 89.81%, respectively) and significantly promoted fibroblast viability compared to the other two ASCs. It was further found that NASC can promote collagen synthesis in fibroblasts. Collagen extracted from swim bladder may be a promising functional product for the food, cosmetics and biomedical fields. • ASCs from three swim bladders shared typical physicochemical properties of collagen. • ASC from the Nibea coibor swim bladder had better biological activity. • Swim bladder collagen is a promising functional product for different fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

City-level carbon footprint has been recognized as a useful measure of anthropogenic impact on climate change associated with citizens' activities within the administrative boundary. Although the promotion of consumer responsibility suggests rethinking urban indirect emissions, the detailed methodology is far from satisfactory for realistic applications. Due to the lack of multi-regional input-output tables for most cities, there is a wide application of single regional input-output tables. However, there still lacks further discussion on if there will be an obvious evaluation bias by applying city-level single-regional tables rather than multi-regional ones. To visualize the table coverage on its application consequence, both single- and multi-regional input-output tables were employed to compare disparities in the carbon footprint accounting in the case of Tokyo, Japan. Our analysis shows that the gap of emissions driven by Tokyo's final demand between single- and multi-regional input-output tables was considerably large. Furthermore, the results of multi-regional table were found to be 8.11 MtC higher for coal-generated emissions, 7.83 MtC for crude oil-generated emissions and 2.90 MtC for natural gas-generated emissions than those of the single-regional table. The largest deviation in emissions accounting was observed in the power, gas and heating supply sector, the construction sector and the private service sector. The gap between these two input-output tables was notable for all three types of fossil fuels (coal, crude oil and natural gas). These indicated that coal-generated emissions have been largely ignored by single-regional input-output table. The study highlighted the difference of carbon footprint accounting between these two types of input-output tables. Our findings are intended to assist policymakers and scholars in pinpointing and reallocating sectors that are likely to yield severely biased evaluation of emissions embodied in trade when a multi-regional table is not available. Image 1 • The carbon footprint of regional activities is measured using input-output analysis. • Both SRIO and MRIO analyses are used to demonstrate evaluation disparities in Tokyo. • Urban coal consumption is largely ignored when the SRIO model is applied. • Reallocation of some sectors would be required when MRIO is unavailable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using 2025 as the target year, we quantitatively assessed the reduction potentials of emissions of primary pollutants (including CO, HC, NO x , PM 2.5 and PM 10) under different vehicle control policies and the impacts of vehicle emission control policies in the BTH region on the regional PM 2.5 concentration in winter and the surface ozone (O 3) concentration in summer. Comparing the different scenarios, we found that (1) vehicle control policies will bring significant reductions in the emissions of primary pollutants. Among the individual policies, upgrading new vehicle emission standards and fuel quality in Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei will be the most effective policy, with emission reductions of primary pollutants of 26.3%–54.7%, 38.0%–70.3% and 46.0%–81.6% in 2025, respectively; (2) for PM 2.5 in winter, the Combined Scenario (CS) will lead to a reduction of 0.5–3.9 μg m−3 (3.5%–11.6%) for the monthly average PM 2.5 concentrations in most areas. The monthly nitrate and ammonium concentrations would reduce by 5.8% and 5.3%, respectively, in the whole BTH region, indicating that vehicle emission control policies may play an important role in the reduction of PM 2.5 concentrations in winter, especially for nitrate aerosols; and (3) for O 3 concentrations in summer, vehicle emission control policies will lead to significant decreases. Under the CS scenario, the maximum reduction of monthly average O 3 concentrations in the summer is approximately 3.6 ppb (5.9%). Most areas in the BTH region have a decrease of 15 ppb (7.5%) in peak values compared to the base scenario. However, in some VOC-sensitive areas in the BTH region, such as the southern urban areas, significant reductions in NO x may lead to increases in ozone concentrations. Our results highlight that season- and location-specific vehicle emission control measures are needed to alleviate ambient PM 2.5 and O 3 pollution effectively in this region due to the complex meteorological conditions and atmospheric chemical reactions. • Emission reduction potentials under different vehicle control measures are estimated. • WRF-Chem model is used to simulate the emission control scenarios on PM 2.5 and O 3. • Upgrading new vehicle emission standards and fuel quality in the BTH region are the most effective. • Season- and location-specific vehicle control policies are needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]