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Chemodynamic therapy (CDT) can effectively induce immunogenic cell death (ICD) in tumours and is thus a promising strategy for boosting the efficacy of immunotherapy. However, the mechanism by which CDT enhances ICD and lowers ICD efficiency is unknown and this restricts its clinical application. In this study, a second near-infrared (NIR-II) window irradiation-triggered hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2) self-supplying nanocomposite ((Cu 2 Se-CaO 2)@LA) was constructed. The modified lauric acid was melted by the heat energy of the NIR-II irradiation, to expose the CaO 2 nanoparticles, and they then reacted with water to produce H 2 O 2 and Ca2+. H 2 O 2 was then converted to hydroxyl radicals by the photothermal-enhanced CDT process of the Cu 2 Se nanocubes. Notably, the CDT and Ca2+ overload was found to induce sequential damage to the mitochondria and endoplasmic reticulum (ER), which upregulated the PERK-mediated eIF2α phosphorylation pathway and caused subsequent ICD. NIR-II irradiation of the (Cu 2 Se-CaO 2)@LA also increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) formation and this was sufficient to increase dendritic cell maturation, attracting cytotoxic T lymphocytes, and suppressing tumour growth in vivo. Overall, we demonstrated that an enhanced CDT strategy under NIR-II exposure and H 2 O 2 self-supply can induce extensive ICD by inducing mitochondria-associated ER stress, which represents a highly effective and promising strategy for ICD amplification and tumour immunotherapy. In this study, a second near-infrared window (NIR-II) irradiation-triggered and H 2 O 2 self-supplying nanocomposite (named (Cu 2 Se-CaO 2)@LA) was constructed and tested both in vitro and in vivo. These nanoparticles demonstrated promising antitumor activity as designed. Mechanistically, the nanoparticles could damage mitochondria and upregulate the PERK-mediated eIF2αphosphorylation pathway, further causing endoplasmic reticulum stress, and inducing immunogenic cell death through dendritic cell maturation and cytotoxic T lymphocyte recruitment augmented activity. This system represents a highly effective and promising strategy for enhancing tumor immunotherapy and provides new insights for future studies and design refinements. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The noble gases argon and xenon are potential novel neuroprotective treatments for acquired brain injuries. Xenon has already undergone early-stage clinical trials in the treatment of ischaemic brain injuries, with mixed results. Argon has yet to progress to clinical trials as a treatment for brain injury. Here, we aim to synthesise the results of preclinical studies evaluating argon and xenon as neuroprotective therapies for brain injuries.Methods: After a systematic review of the MEDLINE and Embase databases, we carried out a pairwise and stratified meta-analysis. Heterogeneity was examined by subgroup analysis, funnel plot asymmetry, and Egger's regression.Results: A total of 32 studies were identified, 14 for argon and 18 for xenon, involving measurements from 1384 animals, including murine, rat, and porcine models. Brain injury models included ischaemic brain injury after cardiac arrest (CA), neurological injury after cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB), traumatic brain injury (TBI), and ischaemic stroke. Both argon and xenon had significant (P<0.001), positive neuroprotective effect sizes. The overall effect size for argon (CA, TBI, stroke) was 18.1% (95% confidence interval [CI], 8.1-28.1%), and for xenon (CA, TBI, stroke) was 34.1% (95% CI, 24.7-43.6%). Including the CPB model, only present for xenon, the xenon effect size (CPB, CA, TBI, stroke) was 27.4% (95% CI, 11.5-43.3%). Xenon, both with and without the CPB model, was significantly (P<0.001) more protective than argon.Conclusions: These findings provide evidence to support the use of xenon and argon as neuroprotective treatments for acquired brain injuries. Current evidence suggests that xenon is more efficacious than argon overall. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The lung microbiome plays a crucial role in human health and disease. Extensive studies have demonstrated that the disturbance of the lung microbiome influences immune response, cognition, and behavior. The goal of this study was to investigate the effect of general anesthetics on lung microbiome. Eight-week-old male SD rats received a continuous intravenous infusion of propofol or inhalation of isoflurane for 4 h. 16S rRNA gene amplification from BALF samples was used to investigate the changes in the lung microbiome after interventions. We further performed neurobehavioral assessments to find the differential strains' association with behavior disorder after isoflurane anesthesia. The absolute and relative quantitation of 16S rRNA sequencing data showed that isoflurane altered the diversity and abundance of the lung microbiome in rats more than propofol. Elusimicrobia increased significantly in the isoflurane group. Both EPM and OFT results showed that rats exhibited depression-like behaviors after inhalation of isoflurane. In addition, significant differences were found in the COG/KO/MetaCyc/KEGG pathway enrichment analyses among the groups. Continuous inhalation of isoflurane changed the diversity and composition of the lung microbiota in rats, resulting in post-anesthesia depression. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) is an excellent antioxidant widely used in food, polymer materials, and other fields. In order to understand the hazards of BHT, it is necessary to study its thermal stability, oxidation properties, and reaction products. This paper investigated BHT's oxidation characteristics and products using a mini-closed pressure vessel test (MCPVT), UV radiation reaction method, iodometric method, and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC–MS). The MCPVT results showed that no chemical reaction of BHT was observed under a nitrogen atmosphere even when the temperature was increased to 450 K, which indicated that it was stable. However, BHT was readily oxidized under an oxygen atmosphere with an initial oxidation temperature of 332 K. Notably, oxidation reactions can occur as low as 293 K under 365 nm UV radiations in the atmosphere. The kinetics of the initial oxidation of BHT was investigated. The kinetics of the reaction of BHT in MCPVT was a second-order reaction with the kinetic equation lnk = -1.2194 × 104(1/T) + 21.4. And E a = 101.4 kJ mol−1. The difference is that a pseudo-first-order reaction was shown under UV radiation, with a linear relationship between the apparent activation energy and the logarithm of the light intensity (I): E a = -1.878 ln I + 74.56, the apparent activation energy was significantly reduced compared to the former, indicating that UV light has a great effect on the oxidation of BHT. The peroxide value of the BHT oxidation product in MCPVT was determined with the iodometric method. When the reaction was carried out at 358 K for 8 h, the peroxide value of BHT was 3.2 mmol kg−1. The main oxidation products of BHT were identified with GC–MS, such as 2, 6-di- tert -butyl-p-benzoquinone, 1-(2, 4, 6-trihydroxyphenyl) butanone, 3, 5-di- tert -butyl- 4-hydroxybenzaldehyde, 3, 5-di- tert -butyl-4-hydroxyacetophenone. Based on these oxidation products, the oxidation pathway of BHT was described. In conclusion, the oxidation characteristics of BHT were studied in detail with MCPVT, and a method for evaluating thermal stability was developed. UV radiation made BHT more susceptible to oxidation reactions. These data provided a reference for BHT's storage, transportation, and safety evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The questions of what drives green innovation practices and how such practices can be promoted have received increasing attention. Integrating stakeholder theory and resource-based theory, this study develops a holistic model to study how external and internal factors drive green innovation practices under the influence of big data analytics capability. We used the hierarchical multiple regression method to test data collected from 209 enterprises located in China. The results show that green competition is the most influential driving force for green innovation practices, followed by formal institutions, informal institutions and customer green demands. Top management environmental awareness plays a mediating role in the relationship between external factors and green innovation practices, and the mediating paths of the two types of environmental awareness are very different. Big data analytics capability plays a moderating role in the relationship between external drivers and top management environmental awareness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/Purpose: Effective stone disintegration by extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy (ESWL) may depend on patient- and stone-related factors. We investigated predictors of disintegration failure in ESWL for a solitary ureteral calculus. Methods: From July 2008 to May 2010, 203 patients who underwent ESWL for a solitary ureteral calculus were enrolled. Clinical and radiologic data were collected, and factors related to ESWL failure were analyzed. Results: Fifty-two patients (25.6%) showed ESWL failure, with a mean follow-up of 41 days. Forty patients (19.7%) required retreatment, including 12 who underwent repeat ESWL and 28 who underwent curative ureteroscopy. Patients with ESWL failure had significantly higher body weight, body mass index (BMI), and buttock circumference (BC) than patients for whom ESWL was successful. Univariate analysis showed that stone burden (odds ratio [OR], 1.04; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.03–1.06) and BC (OR, 1.06; 95% CI, 1.01–1.11) were predictors of ESWL failure, while BMI was a potential predictor with borderline significance (OR, 1.09; 95% CI, 0.99–1.20). Multivariate analysis showed that stone burden (OR, 1.04; 95% CI, 1.03–1.06) was a significant predictor for all patients. On stratifying patients according to the level of ureteral calculi, BC was found to be an independent predictor (OR, 1.35; 95% CI, 1.02–1.80) for ESWL failure for middle/lower ureteral calculi and BMI (OR, 1.47; 95% CI, 1.13–1.91) for upper ureteral calculi. Conclusion: Stone burden is the main predictor of ESWL failure for all patients with ureteral calculi. BC and BMI are independent predictors for ESWL failure for middle/lower and upper ureteral calculi, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The objectives of this study were to investigate the protective effects of Eucommia ulmoides Oliv. (EUO) bark and leaf against cytotoxicity induced by amyloid-β peptide (Aβ) and to explore their active components. The PC-12 cells injury mediated by Aβ25–35 was employed to assess the neuroprotective effects of EUO bark, EUO leaf and various compounds. Intracellular Ca2+ determination, MTT reduction assay, lactate dehydrogenase leakage evaluation and HO33258/PI staining were used to quantitatively or qualitatively evaluate cell viability and injury. The organic solvents partition and the macroporous resin separation were also applied to tracing the active constituents of EUO bark. Moreover, the effects of 8 compounds (3 iridoid glucoside, 3 phenylpripanoids and 2 flavonoids) were tested to identify the active compounds of EUO leaf. The results demonstrated that the water extracts of EUO barks and leaves, geniposidic acid and chlorogenic acid could efficiently protect PC-12 cells against the cytotoxicity of Aβ25–35. This research suggests that EUO may represent a potential treatment strategy for Alzheimer''s disease. Meanwhile, geniposidic acid and chlorogenic acid are the major active constituents of EUO barks and leaves, respectively. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• The first study using the threshold impact velocity as a criterion to estimate the fracture of metal plate. • Experiments of metal plates under the load of detonation waves interaction were conducted. • The fracture mechanism of metal plates under explosive load was studied theoretically with a method of micro-element. In this paper, the response of metal plates under the interaction of detonation wave is studied experimentally and numerically. Detonation wave interaction experiments were carried out on metal plates of different materials and thicknesses, and different results such as incision, partial fracture and complete fracture were obtained. ALE algorithm and fluid − solid coupling mode were used to simulate the conditions similar to experiments, and the fracture process and pressure distribution of the metal plate were analyzed. The experimental results were in good agreement with the simulation results. Finally, based on the micro-element fracture theory, the theoretical analysis of the fracture law of the metal plate was carried out, and the fracture criterion based on the threshold impulsive velocity was concluded. It has been verified that this criterion is in good agreement with the simulation and experimental results. It can be used as a basis for estimating the fracture problem of metal plates under explosive load. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The entire diagnostic process of HS was described in the article. • A mutation in the ANK1 gene was identified and the pathogenic mechanism of this mutation was analyzed. • Mutational allele transcription was discovered by cDNA sequencing. Hereditary spherocytosis is a congenital red blood cell disorder. Typical clinical manifestations include anemia, jaundice and splenomegaly, which overlap with the thalassemia phenotype. Therefore, in high prevalence thalassemia regions, hereditary spherocytosis cases are often misdiagnosed. Here, a case once diagnosed as thalassemia, based on preliminary clinical examinations, underwent genetic testing in our laboratory, where analysis of globin gene mutations proved negative. We conducted both clinical and genetic analyses on the patient and his family. We collected clinical data, performed erythrocyte membrane protein analysis by SDS-PAGE and sequenced the ANK1 gene. We also investigated pathogenic mechanisms through cDNA sequencing and literature studies. From patient clinical data, we diagnosed the patient with moderate to severe hereditary spherocytosis, rather than thalassemia. SDS-PAGE data showed that Ankyrin protein expression was reduced. Sequencing of genomic DNA identified a frameshift mutation (ANK1 :c.2394_2397del CAGT). cDNA sequencing showed that the expression of a mutant allele was significantly decreased. Our study corrected a clinical misdiagnosis and confirmed the diagnosis of hereditary spherocytosis in this patient. Identification of such causative mutations is important for accurate downstream patient therapy and is critically important for the prevention/detection of another affected birth. Additionally, the disruption of mRNA transcribed from the mutant allele resulted in a significant reduction in Ankyrin expression and was speculatively considered the pathogenic mechanism behind this mutation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The continuous malicious software (malware) attacks on smartphones pose a serious threat to the security of users, especially the dominant platform Android. Data-driven methods based on machine learning algorithms are a promising way to defend against that. In this paper, we explore the limitations of this kind of methods in improving the performance of malware detection, e.g., considering each feature in isolation and relying on balanced class data, and propose a multi-model ensemble framework MEFDroid by combining individual predictors, where hybrid deep learning based feature extraction methods are adopted to learn meaningful features from raw data. Besides, a novel fusion scheme is exploited to fuse multi-level representations and mine their correlations to maximize the utilization of original information. To evaluate the effectiveness of the MEFDroid framework, we conduct a step-by-step model justification experiment to investigate how the proposed algorithms (i.e., ESAES, EDAES and EDAFS) enhance the malware detection performance gradually. We also compare the proposed algorithms with classical machine learning methods, conventional sampling solutions for the imbalance problem. Besides, we investigate the reliability of our proposed methods using another public dataset. Our extensive experimental results demonstrate that the target model EDAFS in MEFDroid outperforms others in terms of most metrics, which means that it is an effective alternative solution to detect Android malware. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To explore the role of genetic factors in the pathogenesis of hypertension, our study investigated the gender-specific association between four polymorphisms in the Apelin / APJ gene and hypertension risk in southeastern Chinese population. All participants including 645 hypertensive patients and 362 normotensive controls were genotyped for 4 gene polymorphisms associated with hypertension susceptibility including Apelin (rs909656, rs5975126) and APJ (rs10501367, rs11544374). According to genotype analysis, for male subjects, the frequencies of genotypes ( P  = 0.046 and 0.046, respectively) of rs10501367 and rs11544374 revealed significant differences between the hypertension and control groups. Moreover, for female subjects, there was significant difference on the genotype distribution of rs11544374 between two groups ( P  = 0.046). The association of rs10501367 with hypertension was significant for males under additive models and recessive models, even after adjusting for age, BMI, fasting glucose and waistline. Besides, significant association was observed for rs11544374 in females under additive models. As for haplotype analysis, haplotype T-A (in order of rs10501367 and rs11544374) in APJ gene was marginally overrepresented in controls (17.9%) compared to patients with hypertension (11.6%) in males ( P  = 0.003). The mutation of polymorphism rs10501367 in APJ gene decreased risk of hypertension in Chinese males. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cathodic polarization antifouling deserves attention because of its environmentally friendly nature and good sustainability. It has been proven that cathodic voltages applied on metal substrates exhibit outstanding antifouling effects. However, most metals immersed in marine environment are protected by insulated anticorrosive coatings, restricting the cathodic polarization applied on metals. This study developed a conducting polypyrrole (PPy)/acrylic resin coating (σ = 0.18 Scm −1 ), which can be applied in cathodic polarization antifouling. The good stability and electro-activity of PPy in the negative polarity zone in alkalescent NaCl solution were verified by linear sweep voltammetry (LSV), chronoamperometry (CA), cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), demonstrating the feasibility of PPy as cathodic polarization material. Furthermore, the antifouling effects of PPy/acrylicresin coating on 24-h old Escherichia coli bacteria ( E. coli ) which formed on PPy/acrylic resin-coated plastic plate were measured under different cathodic potentials and treatment time, characterized by fluorescent microscope. The results suggest that at cathodic potential around −0.5 V (vs. saturated calomel electrode (SCE)), there was little trace of attached bacteria on the substrate after 20 min of treatment. PPy/acrylicresin-coated substrates were also subjected to repeated cycles of biofilm formation and electrochemical removal, where high removal efficiencies were maintained throughout the total polarization process. Under these conditions, the generation of hydrogen peroxide is believed to be responsible for the antifouling effects because of causing oxidative damage to cells, suggesting the potential of the proposed technology for application on insulated surfaces in various industrial settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The popularity and flexibility of the Android platform makes it the primary target of malicious attackers. The behaviors of malware, such as malicious charges and privacy theft, pose serious security threats to users. Permission granting, as the primary security scheme of Android, is a prerequisite for performing dangerous operations on devices by invoking Application Programming Interfaces (APIs). Besides, permission and hardware features are jointly declared in the manifest file of an application (app) to guarantee its device compatibility. Thus, we extract permissions, API calls and hardware features to characterize apps. Furthermore, we design a novel architectural unit, Multi-Head Squeeze-and-Excitation Residual block (MSer), to learn the intrinsic correlation between features and recalibrating them from multiple perspectives. Based on these two works, we propose a new malware detection framework MSerNetDroid. To investigate the effectiveness of the proposed framework, we analyzed 2,126 malicious apps and 1,061 benign ones collected from VirusShare and Google Play Store. The assessment results demonstrate that the proposed model successful detects malware with an accuracy of 96.48%. We also compare the proposed method with the state-of-the-art approaches, including the use of diversity static features and various detection algorithms. These promising experimental results consistently show that MSerNetDroid is an effective way to detect Android malware. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dual heteroatom-doped carbon materials show great promise as electromagnetic wave absorbers. However, synthesizing carbons containing multiple heteroatoms at controlled heteroatom doping levels has provided challenges to date. Herein, we report a simple method for manufacturing dual heteroatom doped carbons (N,X–C, where X = P, B, or S) by direct carbonization of polypyrrole synthesized in the presence of H 3 PO 4 , H 3 BO 3 , or H 2 SO 4 , respectively. The heteroatom content of the N,X–C products could be precisely tuned by varying amounts of acid dopant used in the polypyrrole synthesis. The N,X–C materials showed excellent electromagnetic wave absorption properties, especially N,S 1 –C (prepared using equimolar amounts of pyrrole and H 2 SO 4) which offered a wide absorption bandwidth up to 6.6 GHz (11.38–18 GHz), and a RL min of −32.3 dB (14.2 GHz) at 2.5 mm at a filler loading of 9.0 wt%. The outstanding electromagnetic wave absorption performance of N,S 1 –C was attributed to the presence of N dopant species, defects, C–S, and C–SO x groups, which optimized dipole polarization and conduction loss in the dielectric loss leading to excellent impedance matching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Acute kidney injury (AKI) was reported to be one of the initiators of chronic kidney disease (CKD) development. Necroinflammation may contribute to the progression from AKI to CKD. Dexmedetomidine (Dex), a highly selective α 2 -adrenoreceptor (AR) agonist, has cytoprotective and "anti-" inflammation effects. This study was designed to investigate the anti-fibrotic properties of Dex in sepsis models. C57BL/6 mice were randomly treated with an i.p. injection of lipopolysaccharides (LPS) (10 mg/kg) alone, LPS with Dex (25 μg/kg), or LPS, Dex and Atipamezole (Atip, an α 2 -adrenoreceptor antagonist) (500 μg/kg) (n=5/group). Human proximal tubular epithelial cells (HK2) were also cultured and then exposed to LPS (1 μg/ml) alone, LPS and Dex (1 μM), transforming growth factor-beta 1 (TGF-β1) (5 ng/ml) alone, TGF-β1 and Dex, with or without Atip (100 μM) in culture media. Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), cell necrosis, necroptosis and pyroptosis, and c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) phosphorylation were then determined. Dex treatment significantly alleviated LPS-induced AKI, myofibroblast activation, NLRP3 inflammasome activation, and necroptosis in mice. Atip counteracted its protective effects. Dex attenuated LPS or TGF-β1 induced EMT and also prevented necrosis, necroptosis, and pyroptosis in response to LPS stimulation in the HK2 cells. The anti-EMT effects of Dex were associated with JNK phosphorylation. Dex reduced EMT following LPS stimulation whilst simultaneously inhibiting pyroptosis and necroptosis via α 2 -AR activation in the renal tubular cells. The "anti-fibrotic" and cytoprotective properties and its clinical use of Dex need to be further studied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: sIL-6R is involved in a variety of inflammatory diseases. The present study analyzed the potential associations between two IL6R gene polymorphisms (rs2228145 and rs12083537) and asthma in a Han Chinese population. Methods: A cohort of 394 patients and 395 healthy controls were genotyped to detect the two polymorphisms using SNaPshot. In 66 asthma patients and 49 controls, peripheral eosinophil and serum immunoglobulin E (IgE) levels were determined using a routine blood test, and sIL-6R levels were measured by ELISA. Results: No statistically significant differences were detected between the patients and controls in the distribution of the two independent IL6R polymorphisms (p > 0.05). However, rs2228145 C and rs12083537 G were significantly associated with decreased lung function in patients with asthma; the rs2228145 A–C variant was also associated with increased sIL-6R and IgE levels. In addition, sIL-6R levels were positively associated with IgE and inversely associated with lung function in patients with asthma. Conclusions: Our results provide evidence that rs2228145 C and rs12083537 G are associated with poor lung function in patients with asthma. Furthermore, the rs2228145 A–C variant is associated with levels of sIL-6R and IgE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inhibition of enzymes required for bacterial cell wall synthesis is often lethal or leads to virulence defects. Glutamate racemase (MurI), an essential enzyme in peptidoglycan biosynthesis, has been an attractive target for therapeutic interventions. Streptococcus mutans, one of the many etiological factors of dental caries, possesses a series of virulence factors associated with cariogenicity. However, little is known regarding the mechanism by which MurI influences pathogenesis of S. mutans . In this work, a stable mutant of S. mutans deficient in glutamate racemase ( S. mutans FW1718) was constructed to investigate the impact of murI inactivation on cariogenic virulence in S. mutans UA159. Microscopy revealed that the murI mutant exhibited an enlarged cell size, longer cell chains, diminished cell⬜cell aggregation, and altered cell surface ultrastructure compared with the wild-type. Characterization of this mutant revealed that murI deficiency weakened acidogenicity, aciduricity, and biofilm formation ability of S. mutans ( P < 0.05). Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) analysis demonstrated that the deletion of murI reduced the expression of the acidogenesis-related gene ldh by 44-fold ( P < 0.0001). The expression levels of the gene coding for surface protein antigen P ( spaP ) and the acid-tolerance related gene ( atpD ) were down-regulated by 99% ( P < 0.0001). Expression of comE , comD , gtfB and gtfC , genes related to biofilm formation, were down-regulated 8-, 43-, 85- and 298-fold in the murI mutant compared with the wild-type ( P < 0.0001), respectively. Taken together, the current study provides the first evidence that MurI deficiency adversely affects S. mutans virulence properties, making MurI a potential target for controlling dental caries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• EM-Co-Co x S y -Ni/N,S-C composites were prepared using eggshell membrane of joint source of carbon, nitrogen and sulfide. • EM-Co-Co x S y -Ni/N,S-C composites possess sufficient polarization centers and multiple heterogeneous interfaces. • The performance derives from multiple loss mechanism and tunable impedance match. Eggshell membrane-derived Co-Co x S y -Ni/N,S-codoped carbon composites (EM-Co-Co x S y -Ni/N,S-C) were synthesized by heating a Co2+-Ni2+-2-methylimidazole/eggshell membrane precursor in a N 2 atmosphere. The dual atom (nitrogen (N) and sulfur (S)) doping of C was realized easily by using eggshell membrane as the joint source of carbon, N and S. The EM-Co-Co x S y -Ni/N,S-C composites showed remarkable electromagnetic wave absorption (EMWA) performance. The minimum reflection loss (RL min) reached −48.5 dB (10.1 GHz, 3.5 mm) and the Effective absorption bandwidth (EAB) achieved 7.4 GHz (10.3–17.7 GHz, 3 mm). By adjusting the concentration of 2-methylimidazole, impressive RL min (-41.5 dB, 13.9 GHz) and EAB (6.5 GHz, 11.5–18 GHz) could be achieved at an absorber thickness of 2.5 mm. Eggshell membrane exhibits considerable potential in designing heteroatom doped carbon based EMW absorbents with high-performance and low cost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Herein, polypyrrole/titanium oxide/reduced graphene oxide (PTi/r-GO) electrodes were prepared and successfully applied for the photoelectrocatalytic (PEC) degradation of methyl orange (MO) under visible light. Polypyrrole-TiO 2 composites rich in p-n heterojunctions were first prepared, then modified with r-GO to improve the electrical conductivity and facilitate charge separation under visible light irradiation. The obtained PTi/r-GO composites were then deposited onto a titanium mesh, which served as the working electrode in PEC experiments. A MO removal efficiency of 93% was achieved in 50 min using PTi/r-GO electrode under PEC conditions (Xe lamp, λ > 420 nm, bias of 0.6 V, 0.1 M Na 2 SO 4 electrolyte), which was far higher than MO removal efficiencies under electrocatalytic oxidation (22%) or photocatalytic oxidation (47%) conditions. This confirmed that excellent activity of the PTi/r-GO electrode under PEC conditions was due to a combination of electrochemical and photocatalytic oxidation processes (involving •OH and •O 2 − generation). Further, PTi/r-GO was very stable under the applied PEC conditions, with the MO removal efficiency remaining >90% after five cycles. PEC degradation pathways for MO on PTi/r-GO were explored, with a number of key intermediates in the MO mineralization process identified. Results demonstrate that PEC electrodes combining p -type polypyrrole, n -type TiO 2 and rGO are very effective in the treatment of hazardous organic compounds in wastewater. [Display omitted] • A series of PTi/r-GO PEC electrodes photocatalysts were successfully fabricated. • PTi/r-GO PEC electrodes efficiently generated.•O 2 − and •OH radicals under photoexcitation. • Aqueous methyl orange were rapidly degraded by PTi/r-GO PEC electrodes. • PTi/r-GO PEC electrode was very stable and easily recycled for reuse. • Possible photocatalytic mechanism for PTi/r-GO PEC electrode was proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Dyspnea is one of the most distressing symptoms encountered by advanced cancer patients. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the role of opioids in the management of cancer-related dyspnea.Methods: A systematic review and meta-analysis based on Randomized Controlled Trials was conducted in the databases PUBMED, EMBASE, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials testing the effect of opioids in relieving cancer-related dyspnea. Subgroup and sensitivity analyses were performed to evaluate various types of opioids in dyspnea management and stabilization of the study respectively.Results: Eleven RCTs fulfilled the eligibility criteria and had a total of 290 participants. Nine of these studies were included in meta-analyses. Compared with control, opioid therapy showed a small positive effect in dyspnea, SMD-0.82 (95%CI = -1.54 to -0.10) and Borg score, WMD-0.95 (95%CI = -1.83 to -0.06); Opioid therapy did not increase the risk of somnolence, OR0.93 (95%CI = 0.34 to 2.58), whereas a negative effect on respiratory rate was observed,WMD-1.89 (95%CI = -3.36 to -0.43); Also, there was no evidence to suggest improved performance of the 6MWT test, WMD6.49 (95%CI = -34.23 to 47.21), or the level of peripheral oxygen saturation, WMD0.33 (95%CI = -0.59 to 1.24) after opioid therapy. Subgroup analysis yielded a small positive effect for morphine on dyspnea, SMD-0.78 (95%CI = -1.45 to -0.10), whereas fentanyl showed no improvement in dyspnea, SMD-0.44 (95%CI = -0.89 to 0.02). Sensitivity analysis showed no changes in the direction of effect when any one study was excluded from the meta-analyses.Conclusions: Our systematic review and meta-analysis indicated low quality evidence for a small positive effect of opioids in cancer-related dyspnea. Evidence for safety is insufficient as comprehensive adverse events were not adequately reported in studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hot deformation behaviors of the extruded AZ80 + 0.4% Ce magnesium alloy plate were investigated in the temperature range of 300–420 °C and strain rate range of 0.0005–0.5 s−1 by using a Gleeble 3500 thermal simulation test machine. The cylindrical specimens for hot compression tests were cut in 0°, 45° and 90° to the extruded direction of the plate, respectively. The microstructure analysis was carried out with optical microscopy (OM), X-ray diffractometry (XRD) and scanning electronic microscopy (SEM). The results showed that the flow stresses of the 0°, 45° and 90° specimens exhibited anisotropic behaviors, which weakened with increasing temperatures, strains, and decreasing strain rates. The processing maps of different specimens were calculated and analyzed according to the dynamic materials model. The optimized stability domains for all the three specimens were in the temperature range of 380–420 °C and strain rate range of 0.0005–0.005 s−1, while the instability domains varied with specimen orientations. The apparent activation energy of the 0°, 45° and 90° specimens were 154.45 kJ/mol, 129.16 kJ/mol and 145.97 kJ/mol, respectively, suggesting the change of deformation mechanisms with specimen orientations. The operation of different slip systems, which were indicated by the varying values of the Schmid factor, should be responsible for the anisotropic hot deformation behaviors for the extruded AZ80 + 0.4%Ce magnesium alloy plate with basal texture. Image 1 • The flow stresses of the 0°, 45°and 90°specimens exhibited anisotropic behaviors, which weakened with increasing temperatures, strains, and decreasing strain rates. The processing maps of different specimens were calculated and analyzed according to dynamic materials model. • The optimized stability domains for all three specimens were in the temperature range of 380–420 °C and strain rate range of 0.0005–0.005 s-1, while the instability domains varied with specimen orientations. • The apparent activation energy of the 0°, 45°and 90° specimens were 154.45 kJ/mol, 129.16 kJ/mol and 145.97 kJ/mol, respectively, suggesting the deformation mechanisms changed with specimen orientations. • The operations of different slip systems should be responsible for the anisotropic hot deformation behaviors for the extruded alloy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]