Search

The physiological processes involved in adaptation to osmotic pressure in euryhaline crustaceans are highly energy demanding, but the effects of dietary lipids (fat) on low salinity adaptations have not been well evaluated. In the present study, a total of 120 mud crabs (Scylla paramamosain, BW = 17.87 ± 1.49 g) were fed control and high-fat (HF) diets, at both medium salinity (23‰) and low salinity (4‰) for 6 wk, and each treatment had 3 replicates with each replicate containing 10 crabs. The results indicated that a HF diet significantly mitigated the reduction in survival rate, percent weight gain and feed efficiency induced by low salinity (P

Printed cutting and repositioning templates could bring superior accuracy when transferring a maxillary plan to the operating room compared to a wafer-based method. However, the effect of these methods in different types of cases is inconclusive. The objective of the study was to compare the accuracy when using printed occlusal splints versus templates in simple and complicated cases.A retrospective cohort study design was used. Complicated cases were defined as cases involving impaction movement of more than 2 mm, occlusal plane canting of more than 3°, or midline discrepancies of more than 2.5 mm. Other cases were simple cases. Enrolled patients were randomly allocated into the digital occlusal splint (DOS) cohort and the digital templates (DT) cohort. The outcome variable was surgical accuracy, defined as the average deviation between the planned and postsurgical locations of bilateral maxillary central incisors, canines, first premolars, and first molars. Predictor variables were 1) operative complexity, simple versus complicated; and 2) technique for positioning the maxilla, DOS versus DT. Covariates were age and planned surgical movement. Two-way analysis of variance was used.Seventy patients were included in this study. Thirty-three were in the DOS cohort, and 37 in the DT cohort. The average deviation was significantly smaller in the complicated cases in the DT cohort (1.37 mm; 95% confidence interval, 1.08-1.66 mm) than that in the DOS cohort (2.47 mm; 95% confidence interval, 1.92-3.02 mm) (P = .002). The deviations in anteroposterior direction of complicated cases in the DT cohort were smaller than the corresponding values of the DOS cohort (P = .035). There is no significant difference between the deviation values of simple and complicated cases using templates (P = .116).These results indicate that in complicated cases, printed guiding templates exhibit better accuracy for repositioning the maxilla than printed occlusal splints, and the effect of templates in different cases proved to be stable.

Burn injury leads to mitochondrial dysfunction and autophagy, also known as mitophagy. The alleviation of mitochondrial damage may be a potential method for the treatment of burn injury and complications. In this animal study, we analyzed the expression of mitochondrial damage- and mitophagy-related factors, specifically PINK1 and PRKN. The results showed mitochondria damage in the skin; compared with the normal control group, genes involved in the mitochondrial damage, such as Nrf-1, UQCRC2, CYC1, and NDUFA9, as well as in the mitophagy, including PINK1, PRKN, MFN1, and USP30, were differentially expressed. Furthermore, PINK1 interacted with PRKN and participated in mitophagy in the skin. In conclusion, our data reveal more about the mechanism underlying mitophagy in burns, providing a potential clinical treatment.

This study aims to show our institute’s experience in the treatment of HH and its associated facial deformities in adults and growing adolescents and to investigate condylar remodeling and volumetric changes and long-term stability of orthognathic surgery in adults. The study included consecutive patients with clinical and radiological features of HH who underwent high condylectomy with or without simultaneous orthognathic surgery from 2013 to 2018. The clinical outcomes were assessed based on functional activities, TMJ pain, and recurrence. Postoperative 3D condylar remodeling and orthognathic stability were evaluated with the use of ITK-Snap and 3D Slicer. Thirteen patients (8 females and 5 males) with a mean age of 26.3 ± 5.79 years (range; 13–34 years) were included with facial asymmetry as the chief complaint. The patients were followed up for a minimum of 12 months and a maximum of 4 years (mean; 16.85 ± 10.04). There were no postoperative complications, and all patients achieved a satisfactory functional and aesthetic outcome using a one-stage surgical procedure. There was no incidence of recurrence or further asymmetries, with long-term stability at the selected points showing a mean difference of less than ±1 mm. The affected condylar volume was significantly reduced following high condylectomy, with mean changes between T1 and T2 of −144. 80 mm3 (p = .012). However, the contralateral condylar volume remained stable, with a mean change of 2.54 mm3 (p = .881). One-stage high condylectomy and orthognathic surgery is a viable measure for the treatment of HH and associated deformities in adults. High condylectomy in early adolescence could result in termination of the disease, and aesthetic improvement with further constant orthodontist-surgeon follow-up is required.

Although the traditional Fenton reaction is considered an effective strategy for solving problems caused by environmental pollution, construction of an efficient photocatalytic system by coordinating the Fenton reaction is challenging. In this study, 2D/2D step-scheme α-Fe2O3/Bi2WO6 (FO/BWO) heterostructure photo-Fenton catalysts were successfully fabricated by a facile hydrothermal method. The as-prepared materials were characterized by XRD, FT-IR, TEM, XPS, UV-vis DRS, PL, I-t, EIS, and BET analyses. Under visible light irradiation, FO/BWO exhibited remarkably high and stable photo-Fenton catalytic activity for the degradation of methyl blue (MB) at low concentrations of H2O2. It was noted that FO/BWO (0.5) displayed a significantly enhanced photo-Fenton catalytic activity, which was 11.06 and 3.29 times those of FO nanosheets and BWO nanosheets, respectively. The notably improved photo-Fenton catalytic activity of FO/BWO was mainly due to the combination of H2O2 and FO under light illumination and the presence of the 2D/2D S-scheme heterostructure, with the large contact surface, abundant active sites, and efficient separation rate of photogenerated carriers playing contributory roles. Additionally, a possible catalytic mechanism for the FO/BWO composite was preliminarily proposed via active species trapping experiments. In summary, this study provided new insights into the synthesis of an effectively heterogeneous 2D/2D S-scheme photo-Fenton catalyst for degradation of organic pollutants in wastewater.

A novel 2D/2D Bi2MoO6/g-C3N4 step-scheme (S-scheme) composite by loading Au as cocatalyst was successfully fabricated using a photoreduction and hydrothermal route. The obtained Bi2MoO6/g-C3N4/Au photocatalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscope (TEM), X-ray photo-electron spectroscopy (XPS), UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectra (UV-vis), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), photoluminescence (PL), photocurrent response(I-t), and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The HRTEM images revealed that an intimate interface in composites were formed. The optimum photocatalytic activity of Rhodamine B degradation over Bi2MoO6/g-C3N4/Au was about 9.7 times and 13.1 times as high as those of Bi2MoO6 and g-C3N4, respectively. The notably improved photocatalytic activity of Bi2MoO6/g-C3N4/Au could be mainly ascribed to the abundant active sites and the enhanced separation efficiency of photogenerated carriers in Bi2MoO6/g-C3N4 S-scheme system. Notably, Au nanoparticles could act as a co-catalyst to further promote electron transfer and separation from the conduction band of g-C3N4. Additionally, a possible step-scheme photocatalytic reaction mechanism of RhB degradation over Bi2MoO6/g-C3N4/Au was tentatively proposed. PL and transient photocurrent analysis implied that Bi2MoO6/g-C3N4/Au photocatalysts possessed the lower recombination rate of photogenerated carriers compared with pure Bi2MoO6 and g-C3N4, respectively. The present work is expected to provide useful information in designing 2D/2D S-scheme heterojunction photocatalysts.

The effective thermal conductivity of metal hydride beds is a crucial parameter for metal hydride reactor design. In this review, methods and principles for the measurement of the effective thermal conductivity of metal hydride beds are discussed, including steady-state techniques (the radial heat flow, comparative cut bar, guarded heat flow meter, and guarded hot plate methods) and transient techniques (the hot-wire, thermal probe, transient plane source, and laser flash methods). Reports of effective thermal conductivity measurements for characterizing metal hydride beds have been reviewed, including the measurement methods, material composition, measurement results, temperature, and gas pressure. The advantages, disadvantages, and applications of each measurement method have been presented, and an assessment regarding different techniques of measurement has been conducted. Laser flash and transient plane source are found to be the most frequently used methods, and have been increasingly applied in recent years. Finally, a brief discussion of recommended future development of effective thermal conductivity measurement is presented.

An eight-week feeding trial was conducted to investigate the effects of dietary lipid sources on growth performance, fatty acids composition in tissue and expression of genes related to lipid metabolism in juvenile largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides). Four experimental diets were formulated to contain 6% coconut oil (CO), rapeseed oil (RO), linseed oil (LO) and fish oil (FO), respectively. Each diet was fed to triplicate groups of juvenile for 8 weeks. The results indicated that final body weight (FBW), percent weight gain (PWG), specific growth rate (SGR), feed efficiency (FE), survival, hepatopancreas index (HSI), viscerosomatic index (VSI) and intraperitoneal fat ratio (IPF) were not significantly influenced by dietary different lipid sources (P＞0.05). Moreover, proximate composition in whole body, dorsal muscle and liver were also not significantly affected by dietary different lipid sources (P ＞0.05). Fish fed with FO diet was significantly higher MDA concentration in hepatic and serum than those fed with CO, RO and LO diets (P

Trehalose is the major "blood sugar" of insects and it plays a crucial role in energy supply and as a stress protectant. The hydrolysis of trehalose occurs only under the enzymatic control of trehalase (Treh), which plays important roles in growth and development, energy supply, chitin biosynthesis, and abiotic stress responses. Previous reports have revealed that the vital hormone 20-hydroxyecdysone (20E) regulates Treh, but the detailed mechanism underlying 20E regulating Treh remains unclear. In this study, we investigated the function of HaTreh1 in Helicoverpa armigera larvae. The results showed that the transcript levels and enzymatic activity of HaTreh1 were elevated during molting and metamorphosis stages in the epidermis, midgut, and fat body, and that 20E upregulated the transcript levels of HaTreh1 through the classical nuclear receptor complex EcR-B1/USP1. HaTreh1 is a mitochondria protein. We also found that knockdown of HaTreh1 in the fifth- or sixth-instar larvae resulted in weight loss and increased mortality. Yeast two-hybrid, coimmunoprecipitation, and glutathione-S-transferase (GST) pull-down experiments demonstrated that HaTreh1 bound with ATP synthase subunit alpha (HaATPs-α) and that this binding increased under 20E treatment. In addition, 20E enhanced the transcript level of HaATPs-α and ATP content. Finally, the knockdown of HaTreh1 or HaATPs-α decreased the induction effect of 20E on ATP content. Altogether, these findings demonstrate that 20E controls ATP production by up-regulating the binding of HaTreh1 to HaATPs-α in H. armigera.

Background: The diagnostic guideline of Gaming Disorder was a new category proposed in the draft of ICD-11 by WHO’s Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse (MSD) in 2018 and its reliability and clinical utility based on Chinese population has not been studied. The purpose of this field study is to clarify the reliability, clinical utility, and culture applicability of diagnostic guidelines of gaming disorder in ICD-11, and its comparability to the diagnostic guideline in DSM-5 in China. Methods: Participants included 21 pair clinical raters which constituted of seven psychiatrists and 200 gaming players aged from 15-18 years old with different risk level of Internet addiction based on the scores of Young’s Internet Addiction Test. Each participant received a semi-structured face-to-face interview by a paired clinical raters at the same time. Then clinical raters made the diagnoses and filled the clinical utility questionnaire independently within 30 minutes after the interview through an electronic platform according to the diagnostic guidelines for gaming disorder in both ICD-11 and DSM-5. In addition, two focus groups were conducted to inform the applicability, feasibility and preference of diagnostic guidelines for gaming disorder in ICD-11 in China. Outcomes: The diagnostic consistency coefficient (kappa value) between the paired clinical raters was 0∙545( p

In this work, oxygen vacancy (OV)-rich 3D/2D BiO1-XBr/BiOCl heterostructures were prepared successfully via a simple hydrothermal treatment method. The photocatalytic degradation activities for a series of BiO1-XBr/BiOCl composites were evaluated through visible-light-driven tetracycline (TC) degradation. The result demonstrated that suitable ratio of BiO1-X Br/BiOCl (BB-60) showed significantly improved photodegradation activity. The improved photocatalytic performance was mainly attributed to the synergistic effect of 3D/2D heterojunction and OVs. The relatively small 2D BiOCl nanosheets deposit on 3D BiO 1-XBr to form 3D/2D heterostructure with more contact areas and active sites, which improve the separation of photogenerated charges. In addition, rich OVs can not only promote the separation of electron-hole pair but also improve the capability of visible light absorption for photocatalysts. The possible photocatalytic reaction mechanism of BB-60 was also revealed by active species trapping experiments. Finally, this study brought a new opportunity to rationally design OV-rich 3D/2D heterojunction for the enhanced photocatalytic ability.

Photocatalytic activity is mainly limited by recombination of photogenerated carriers and insufficient active sites, which would restrain the efficiency of photocatalytic redox reactions. Herein, 2D/0D heterojunctions of Bi2MoO6 nanosheets/BN quantum dots (BM/BNQDs) were prepared via a simple hydrothermal method, which exhibited enhanced photocatalytic performance for the tetracycline (TC) degradation under visible-light irradiation. Combing small-size BNQDs in the average diameter of ~ 5 nm with BM nanosheets displayed tremendous advantages such as rapid charge transport and sufficient active sites. Notably, the as-synthesized BNQDs acting as the photoinduced hole extractors effectively dispersed photogenerated holes and electrons, facilitating the apparent rate constant exhibited by the BM/2BNQDs catalyst 3.1 times that of pure BM. Moreover, PL and electrochemical test results indicated that the separation and transfer of photogenerated charge carriers were enhanced after introducing BNQDs in BM nanosheets. And this work is expected to provide design ideas and insights for the development of efficient photocatalysts based on 2D/0D nanocomposites.

Sodium (Na+) channels are the basis for action potential generation and propagation, which play a key role in the regulation of neuronal excitability. SCN3A is a gene encoding for sodium channel protein type 3 subunit alpha (or known as Nav1.3). This study aimed to explore SCN3A genetic variants in a cohort of childhood absence epilepsy (CAE) via whole exome sequencing. A novel SCN3A missense variant (c.A1816G, p.Ser606Gly) was identified in a patient with CAE. This variant had not been reported in both 1000G and ExAC databases. Bioinformatics analysis revealed that this variant was pathogenic and could transform the protein structure of Nav1.3. The reported phenotypes of SCN3A-related central nerve system disorders included multiple seizure types, polymicrogyria and different degrees of developmental delay/intellectual disability. The patient with p.Ser606Gly variant exhibited typical absence seizures. The MRI and CT scan results were normal, and EEG showed that 3-Hz spike-slow wave discharges. In conclusion, our findings not only broaden the pathogenic spectrum of SCN3A, but also extend the clinical phenotypes of SCN3A-related CAE.

Jiuzhaigou Valley (JZG) has been rated as World Heritage, National Nature Reserves and world-class places of interests, due to its fantastic beauty of water. In recent years, however, JZG is losing its beauty with runoff decreasing and stream drying up. An increase of evapotranspiration (ET) over the rehabilitating forest is assumed to be the main reason for runoff decreasing, however, this assumption remained untested for lack of long-term observing data. To test this assumption, a long-term field experiment was carried out from August 2013 to December 2015 in JZG over a typical secondary forest. Meteorological parameters and energy fluxes were measured by eddy covariance system, soil moisture by time-domain reflectometry probes, and ET by eddy covariance method and soil water budget. Results showed that (1) despite the limitation of high elevation, high atmospheric humidity and low annual air temperature, annual ET was quite large. It was 700 mm and 739 mm, respectively for 2014 and 2015, while the corresponding precipitation (P) was 1003 mm and 782 mm. ET/P was close or over 1, which meant that P was mostly used for forest ET and only a very small proportion of P contributed to runoff. (2) The ratio of latent heat flux (LE) to net radiation (Rn) was 0.69 and 0.75 in the growing season of 2014 and 2015, respectively. These high LE/Rn ratio values were considerably higher in JZG than in other areas of the Tibetan Plateau, which could be attributed to better forest rehabilitation in JZG. Our results also showed that ET at the forest site was limited by available energy. We conclude that ET in JZG was energy-limited, whereas forest ET consumed most precipitation. (3) The above assumption is verified to be true. The high ET rate after forest rehabilitation in JZG comes at a cost of decreasing runoff and leads to streams drying up. These results will be useful for sustainable managements of water and forest in JZG.

Generally, Z-scheme heterojunctions with outstanding photocatalytic capacity require electron mediators to boost electrons transfer. But traditional electron mediators generally cause the reduction of visible-light absorption ability, weak durability of photocatalyst, and various backward reactions between semiconductor photocatalyst and redox mediator. Therefore, exploring an appropriate electron transfer mediator for the Z-scheme heterojunction is very desirable. In this study, we dedicatedly designed and prepared oxygen vacancies (OVs) mediated 3D/2D Z-scheme BiO1−XBr/Fe2O3 (BF) composites via a facile hydrothermal process. Notably, introducing rich OVs could enhance the visible-light response and TC adsorption capability of photocatalysts. What's more, the rich OVs could act as the electron mediators of Z-scheme system by capturing photoinduced electrons. These results of transient photocurrent analysis, EIS, and PL demonstrated that introducing rich OVs and constructing 3D/2D Z-scheme heterostructure on BF composites could promote charge separation. The photocatalytic performance of prepared samples was evaluated by tetracycline (TC) removal. And the result demonstrated that the photocatalyst with stronger adsorption capacity showed stronger photodegradation ability. The BF composite with optimal ratio (BF-30) showed the most outstanding ability of TC removal, which were benefited mainly from the synergistic effect of 3D/2D Z-scheme heterojunction and OVs. The possible photocatalytic reaction mechanism of BF(30) was also revealed by active species capture experiments. The present study brought a new opportunity to rationally design OV-rich 3D/2D Z-scheme heterojunction for the enhanced photocatalytic ability.

Due to the low density of sulfur and the large portion of carbon-based materials used as conducting network and lithium polysulfide (LiPS) host, the practical volumetric energy density of lithium–sulfur (Li–S) batteries barely rivals the Li-ion batteries. Here, MXene (Ti3C2Tx)-based membrane with unique 3D hierarchical structure, high electronic conductivity, abundent active binding sites, fast ion transport, and high affinity for lithium polysulfides has been developed as a new host material to improve the electrochemical performance of Li-S batteries. With a density of 2.2 g cm−3, a MXene-based cathode containing 4.0 mg cm−2 sulfur delivers a high volumetric capacity of 2.7 Ah cm−3 after 200 cycles. Based on operando XRD and ex-situ XPS results, we find that the Ti-OH bonds present on the surface of MXene membrane can effectively trigger the LiPS transformation. Furthermore, α-S8, as the stable charge product, is first reported in MXene-based host along with its possible important role in curtailing active mass loss and enhancing cycling capability. Our results reveal that 2D MXene with rationally-designed architecture enable high volumetric capacity Li-S batteries for practical applications.

As the first step of the crystallization process, nucleation has always been a hot spot in the industry to track research, and it can provide people with new ideas for a better understanding of the crystallization process. In order to explore the nucleation behavior of nicotinic acid (NA) during the cooling crystallization process, we used the polythermal method to measure the metastable zone widths (MSZWs) of NA in ethanol. By analyzing Nývlt’s model, we find that the cooling rate and MSZW follow a reasonable linear relationship and calculate a nucleation order m

Landfill leachate is characterized by complex composition and difficult degradation. In this paper, we compared the effects of advanced treatment of ultraviolet (UV) system, persulfate (PS) system and ultraviolet/persulfate (UV/PS) system on landfill leachate. The results showed that the UV/PS system had the best removal efficiency. When the initial concentration of humic acid was 200 mg/L, the dosing of PS was 25 mmol/L, and the initial pH was 4, the maximum removal rates of UV254 and TOC were 89.62% and 76.17%. Namely, the value of SUVA254 decreased to 7.6603 L/(m ⋅ mg). It follows that the UV/PS system is effective in the removal of humic acid in the landfill leachate. In addition, this paper investigated the effects of temperature, initial pH and dosing ratio of chemicals on the treatment of leachate by UV/PS system. It was found that the optimal process conditions were 35 °C, pH = 4, dosing ratio = 2, and 24 h of operation. Under these conditions, the maximum removal rates of COD and TOC were 82.64% and 66.69%. The removal capacity of the system was in accordance with the pseudo-second-order kinetic equation. Therefore, this paper can provide a reference for the advanced treatment of landfill leachate.

Above-ground biomass (AGB) is an essential indicator for assessing ecosystem health and carbon storage in desert shrub-related research. Above-ground volume (AGV) of vegetation is a crucial parameter to estimate the AGB. In unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) remote sensing, the AGV and AGB are mainly estimated by vegetation feature metrics (for example, spectral indices, textural, and structural metrics). However, there is limited study on the AGV and AGB estimation in desert shrub communities by using UAV, and it is difficult to determine the contribution of these metrics to AGV models under eliminating the influence of background factors. Taking a typical desert shrub area in Inner Mongolia, China as an example, this study develops an improved approach to extracted three types of feature metrics simultaneously using UAV RGB (Red, Green, Blue) images. First, digital orthophoto map (DOM) and digital surface model (DSM) were created through the photogrammetric procedure based on UAV RGB images. Second, the digital terrain model (DTM) for canopy height calculation was generated based on DOM and DSM by object-oriented image binary classification and ground elevation interpolation. Here, we recommended the ENVI Landsat Gap-fill tool to interpolate the ground elevation of vegetation areas. Meanwhile, 21 spectral indices, eight textural metrics, and five structural metrics were extracted. Finally, single-variable and multi-variable commonly used regression models were established based on these metrics and measured AGV with a leave-one-out cross-validation. Results showed that: (1) in the proposed model, the contribution of structural, textural, and spectral metric to shrub AGV models was 86.68, 7.08, and 6.24%, respectively. (2) The horizontal and vertical structural metrics, textural metrics, or spectral indices reflected the one-dimensional change of AGV, which had a saturation effect. (3) The canopy volume, combining the horizontal and vertical characteristics of vegetation canopy, could describe the overall change of AGV and played the most essential role in AGV modelling (R2 = 0.928, relative RMSE = 26.8%). The study findings provide a direct reference in determining suitable vegetation feature metrics for monitoring shrub AGV. The proposed approach for DTM generation and AGV estimation is more efficient, accurate and low-cost than before, and it can be a useful bridge between ground-based investigation and satellite remote sensing.

The development of new non-mercury based catalysts for the vinyl chloride industrial production has attracted recently the attention of many researchers. In spite of the good activity of Au-based supported catalysts reported so far, the high cost of gold impedes future use of such catalysts. In the present work, an environmentally friendly non-precious transition metal coordinated N-doped carbon material as a catalyst for acetylene hydrochlorination reaction was developed, which shows good catalytic performance. The catalyst was characterized by Transmission Electron Microscopy coupled with Energy Dispersive X-ray analysis (TEM-EDX), X-ray Diffraction (XRD) and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS). The obtained results indicated that Co-N-AC catalyst can significantly improve the adsorption of HCl. And XPS result demonstrated the presence of Co-N x , which plays a major role in acetylene hydrochlorination reaction.

ZrO 2 particles with different microstructure have been fabricated through an easy method with chitosan of different molecular weights as template. The chitosan of different molecular weights was obtained through synergistic degradation of raw chitosan by α-amylase and H 2 O 2 using microwave hydrothermal method in low concentration acetic acid (1% V / V ). The as-synthesized ZrO 2 particles were characterized by wide-angle powder X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and N 2 adsorption⿿desorption. The possible formation mechanism of ZrO 2 particles with different microstructure has been proposed, and the photocatalytic activity of the as-synthesized products was assessed by monitoring the photodegradation of Rhodamine B (Rh B) under UV irradiation. Morphologies of as-synthesized ZrO 2 particles changed significantly with the different molecular weight of chitosan. As the molecular weight of chitosan decreased, the morphologies of as-synthesized ZrO 2 particles showed aggregate, nano-cubes, and nano-sheets, respectively. The ZrO 2 particles prepared with lower molecular weight chitosan as the template showed higher photocatalytic activity. The degradation efficiency of ZrO 2 with 3.1 y 10 7 and 2.4 y 10 4 Da chitosan as template was 64.4% and 86.2%, respectively.

Black TiO2 with various nanostructures and phase constitutions have been reported to exhibit excellent photocatalytic and photoelectrochemical (PEC) performance. Here, we report the fabrication of black nanostructured TiO2 B through hydrogen plasma assisted reduction and its enhanced PEC properties for the first time. Both the obtained TiO2 B and black TiO2 B are single crystalline nanowires, while the black TiO2 B samples exhibit much stronger visible and infrared light absorption. The optimal black TiO2 B sample obtained by hydrogen plasma treatment at 425 °C yields a photocurrent density of 0.85 mA cm−2, a rather low onset potential of −0.937 VAg/AgCl and a high applied bias photon-to-current efficiency (ABPE) of 0.363%, which is far superior to the TiO2 B (0.15 mA cm−2 photocurrent, −0.917 VAg/AgCl onset potential and 0.138% ABPE). The significantly enhanced PEC performance of the black TiO2 B is ascribed to the introduction of moderate surface oxygen vacancies. These results indicate that the black TiO2 B is a promising material for PEC application and solar energy utilization.

Controllable doping of iron (Fe) (3.9–17.8%) in hollow porous silica spheres with highly homogeneous distribution state was achieved successfully by a one-pot hydrothermal synthesis strategy. Based on the observation and analysis by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, nitrogen sorption, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), it was found that molecular Fe species were intercalated into silica framework during the structural transformation of silica to hollow flake-shelled spheres, which leads to both stable fixation with open accessibility of Fe and high surface area of the Fe-doped silica hollow spheres (Fe-SHSs). When used as heterogeneous Fenton catalyst to degrade the dye of Acid orange 7 (AO7), enhanced catalysis performance was exhibited due to the sufficiently exposed active sites and fast mass transport in the system. The optimal catalysis condition was also studied by adjusting Fe-SHSs dosages, oxidant concentrations, and pH values). This work presents an effective strategy for chemical doping of metal components in the silica structures and may also be explored for other supported metal catalyst systems.

Adiponectin plays critical roles in energy metabolism and immunity of mammals by binding to its receptors (AdipoR1 and AdipoR2). However, they have not been fully understood in fish. The present study examined the distribution of adiponectin receptors (AdipoRs) mRNA in grass carp, and the changes of their expressions under glucose load, insulin or glucagon stimulation, lipopolysaccharide (LPS) or polyinosinic:polycytidylic acid [poly (I:C)] challenge. As for glucose load, fish were orally administrated with glucose (1.67 mg/g BW) for 1, 3, 6, 12 h. For insulin or glucagon stimulation, the primary hepatocytes of grass carp were incubated with 0, 10, 100, 1000 nM insulin or glucagon for 1, 3, 6, 12 h. In the immune challenge experiment, grass carp were intraperitoneally injected with LPS or poly (I:C) (5 μg/g BW) for 3, 6, 12, 24, 48 h. Finally, AdipoRs mRNA expression in all experiments was detected by Real-time quantitative PCR. The results showed that AdipoRs mRNA was widely expressed in various tissues of grass carp. The adipoR1a mRNA was highly expressed in the brain regions, and the highest level of adipoR2 mRNA was observed in the adipose tissue. Glucose load up-regulated adipoR1b and adipoR2 mRNA expressions in the liver at 6 h post administration and decreased adipoR1a expression in the muscle at 3 h. Insulin significantly enhanced adipoR1b and adipoR2 mRNA expressions in the hepatocytes at 1–12 h, and promoted adipoR1a mRNA expression at 1, 3 and 12 h, while glucagon had little effect on their expressions. LPS and poly (I:C) stimuli induced AdipoRs expression in the liver at 6 and 12 h, and their expressions in the muscle were decreased slightly or remained unchanged. In addition, LPS promoted AdipoRs expression in the kidney and spleen, whereas poly (I:C) only induced adipoR1a mRNA expression in the kidney, and increased adipoR2 mRNA level in the spleen. These results suggest that AdipoRs may act as one of the targets of insulin and immune response in grass carp, but whether they are direct target remains to be further studied.

Typically, Z-scheme heterojunctions with excellent photodegradation capability need electron mediator to assist electron transfer, such as redox water mediator and noble metal nanoparticles, but redox water mediators usually cause weak photoabsorption capability and constancy of the photocatalyst, and the noble metal nanoparticles as electron transfer mediator are costly and suffer from various reverse reactions between the redox mediators and the photocatalysts. In this work, oxygen vacancies (OVs)-assisting 2D/2D Z-scheme BiO1-XBr/g-C3N4 (OV-BOB-CN) photocatalysts were synthesized successfully via a simple hydrothermal treatment. Notably, the introduction of OVs is not only to improve visible-light absorption capacity of photocatalyst reflected by UV–vis DRS, but more importantly, it can act as electron mediator in capturing and shuttling electrons of Z-scheme heterostructure to accelerate the separation rate of photogenerated carriers, which was demonstrated by transient photocurrent analysis, EIS, and PL results. The suitable ratio of OV-BOB-CN (OV-50BOB-50CN) showed optimal photodegradation activity for RhB, which was mainly owed to the synergistic reaction between 2D/2D Z-scheme heterostructure and OVs. The photocatalytic mechanism of OV-BOB-CN was revealed by free radical trapping experiments. In conclusion, this work provided a new protocol to design 2D/2D Z-scheme photocatalyst involved OVs, thus guiding a new way to further enhance degradation activity of photocatalyst.

A mathematical model is proposed for a precipitation process of magnesium carbonate in a heterogeneous stirred tank reactor. The model includes a description of dissolution of Mg(OH)2, absorption of CO2 and precipitation of MgCO3. The Nernst-Planck equation is used in the dissolution model to maintain the mass balance and electroneutrality. The van Krevelen-Hoftijzer expression is introduced to describe the enhancement effect of reaction between dissolved CO2 and OH- on the mass transfer rate of dissolution and absorption. In the precipitation model, a simplified population balance equation is solved by a moment method for both dissolving and precipitating particles. Unknown precipitation kinetics parameters for Mg(OH)2MgCO3 system are fitted against experimental data and compared with Ca(OH)2CaCO3 system. According to the present analysis, the liquid-solid and gas-liquid mass transfer dominate the global rate of precipitation. The precipitation kinetics and pH have strong influences on the concentration of reactants and the yield of precipitation.

Autophagy is integral to hematopoiesis and protects against leukemogenesis. However, the fundamentals of the required molecular machinery have yet to be fully explored. Using conditional mouse models to create strategic defects in the hematopoietic hierarchy, we have shown that recovery capacities in stem cells and somatic cells differ if autophagy is impaired or flawed. An in vivo Atg7 deletion in hematopoietic stem cells completely ablates the autophagic response, leading to irreversible and ultimately lethal hematopoiesis. However, while no adverse phenotype is manifested in vivo by Atg7-deficient myeloid cells, they maintain active autophagy that is sensitive to brefeldin A, an inhibitor targeting Golgi-derived membranes destined for autophagosome formation in alternative autophagy. Removing Rab9, a key regulatory protein, in alternative autophagy, disables autophagy altogether in Atg7-deficient macrophages. Functional analysis indicates that ATG7-dependent canonical autophagy is physiologically active in both hematopoietic stem cells and in terminally differentiated hematopoietic cells; however, only terminally differentiated cells such as macrophages are rescued by alternative autophagy if canonical autophagy is ineffective. Thus, it appears that hematopoietic stem cells rely solely on ATG7-dependent canonical autophagy, whereas terminally differentiated or somatic cells are capable of alternative autophagy in the event that ATG7-mediated autophagy is dysfunctional. These findings offer new insight into the transformational trajectory of hematopoietic stem cells, which in our view renders the autophagic machinery in stem cells more vulnerable to disruption.

A series of novel 2D/2D Z-scheme visible-light-driven g-C3N4/Au/Bi2WO6 (CN/Au/BWO) photocatalysts were fabricated via a photoreduction and hydrothermal reaction process. The microscopic mechanisms of interface interaction, charge transfer and separation, as well as the influence on the photocatalytic activity of CN/Au/BWO composite were systematic investigated. The photocatalytic performance of CN/Au/BWO photocatalysts was evaluated by the photodegradation of Rhodamine B under visible-light illumination. The results showed that CN/Au(1)/BWO displayed the optimum photocatalytic activity, which was 1.48 times and 1.62 times as that of Bi2WO6 nanosheets and g-C3N4, respectively. The improved photocatalytic activity of CN/Au/BWO could be mainly attributed to the construction of 2D/2D Z-scheme architectures, which not only provided abundant active sites but also effectively improved the separation rate of photogenerated carriers. It was noted that Au nanoparticles acted as a redox mediator in the Z-scheme heterostructure between Bi2WO6 and g-C3N4 to promote the transmission and separation of photo-generated electrons and holes in the middle of Bi2WO6 and g-C3N4. A possible photocatalytic reaction mechanism of photocatalytic RhB degradation over CN/Au/BWO was tentatively proposed through active species trapping experiments. In summary, the current study could provide a new insight for designing effective 2D/2D Z-scheme photocatalysts to guide the further improvement of their photocatalytic activity.

The prediction of the particle-size distribution (PSD) of the particulate systems in chemical engineering is very important in a variety of different contexts, such as parameter identification, troubleshooting, process control, design, product quality, production economics etc. The time evolution of the PSD can be evaluated by means of the population balance equation (PBE), which is a complex integro-differential equation, whose solution in practical cases always requires sophisticated numerical methods that may be computationally tedious. In this work, we propose a novel technique that tackles this issue by using an analytical time-stepping procedure (ATS) to resolve the PSD time dependency. The ATS is an explicit time integrator, taking advantage of the linear or almost linear time dependency of the discretized population balance equation. Thus, linear approximation of the source term is a precondition for the ATS simulations. The presented technique is compared with a standard variable step time integrator(MATLAB ODE15s stiff solver), for practical examples e.g. emulsion, aging cellulose process, cooling crystallization, reactive dissolution, and liquid-liquid extraction. The results show that this advancing in time procedure is accurate for all tested practical examples, allowing reproducing the same results given by standard time integrators in a fraction of the computational time.

IGFBPs play a pivotal role in regulating the physiological function of IGFs (insulin-like growth factors). As an important member of IGFBPs, IGFBP3 is involved in the regulation of physiological functions of IGFs. To investigate the functional role of Igfbp3 in a herbivorous fish species, grass carp igfbp3 (GenBank accession no. MN251843) was isolated from the liver by molecular cloning. The ORF of grass carp igfbp3 was 882 bp, which encoded 293 amino acids, and the first 22 amino acids comprised the signal peptide. The predicted molecular weight of grass carp Igfbp3 is 31.95 kDa, and the theoretical isoelectric point is 8.32. Grass carp Igfbp3 displayed a high identity with its counterparts of common carp and zebrafish. And phylogenetic tree analysis showed that the grass carp Igfbp3 was clustered into the Igfbp3 subgroups of common carp and zebrafish. Tissue distribution study showed that igfbp3 was ubiquitously expressed in all tissues examined in the present study. High expression level of igfbp3 was detected in the heart, brain and fat of grass carp. The OGTT demonstrated that igfbp3 mRNA expression was significantly elevated in the liver of grass carp in response to glucose treatment. In vitro study showed that insulin could markedly stimulated igfbp3 mRNA expression in primary grass carp hepatocytes. Moreover, igfbp3 mRNA levels were also regulated by glucagon in grass carp primary hepatocytes. These results may provide the theoretical foundation for investigating the role of Igfbp3 in fish metabolism.

The left ventricle (LV) compensates for the increased afterload encountered in severe aortic stenosis (AS) through hypertrophy. However, a decreased left ventricular ejection fraction LVEF

Pathogenic gene variants in transthyretin ( TTR ) can cause heritable amyloidosis (hATTR) and confer a 60% risk of heart failure. Echocardiography with global longitudinal strain (GLS) discriminates fully manifest cardiac amyloid (CA) but its ability to detect preclinical CA is unknown. We