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Background Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) hospitalization has been linked with ambient air pollution. However, the evidence on respiratory health benefits from air pollution control policy in China is limited. Objective To investigate benefits from the Three-Year Action Plan to Win the Battle for a Blue Sky (TYAP) for tackling COPD hospitalization due to ambient air pollution. Methods We conducted a time-stratified case-crossover study of 138,015 COPD hospitalizations aged ≥ 60 years in Guangdong province, China during 2016–2019 to investigate respiratory health benefits from TYAP. Inverse distance weighting method was used to assess daily individual-level exposures to ambient air pollutants including particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter ≤ 2.5 µm (PM2.5), particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter ≤ 10 µm (PM10), sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), carbon monoxide (CO), and ozone (O3). Conditional logistic regression model was applied to analyze the associations between ambient air pollutants and COPD hospitalization. Results TYAP can modify the associations. Each 10 μg/m3 increase of exposure to PM2.5, PM10, and NO2 and 1 mg/m3 increase of exposure to CO were significantly associated with 2.5%, 2.0%, 3.0%, and 14.4% increase in odds of COPD hospitalization before TYAP, respectively; while 1.0%, 0.9%, 1.5%, and 5.8% increase in odds during TYAP. We found prominent declines in health burden of COPD hospitalizations due to air pollution among the elderly after TYAP implication when compared with that before TYAP. Conclusion Reduced levels of ambient air pollutants by TYAP can effectively lower the risk for COPD hospitalization among the elderly, which provides evidence on the respiratory health benefits from consistent and effective air pollution control policy.

Background: Exposure to residential greenness has been associated with benefits on certain reproductive health outcomes. However, its potential benefits on semen quality remain unknown. Objectives: To quantitatively explore the association between exposure to residential greenness and semen quality. Methods: We investigated 9142 sperm donation volunteers who underwent 38,682 semen examinations at Guangdong provincial human sperm bank in China during 2016–2019. Exposure to residential greenness was assessed using mean daily Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) at each subject’s residential address with a 400 m buffer during 0–90 days before each semen collection. Multivariate linear mixed models and linear regression models were used to assess the association between exposure to residential greenness and semen quality. Results: An interquartile range increase in exposure to residential greenness was significantly associated with a 0.034 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.005, 0.063) ml, 4.06 (95% CI: 0.76, 7.37) × 106, and 0.32% (95% CI: 0.22%, 0.41%) increase in semen volume, total sperm number, and normal forms, respectively; similar trends were observed across quartiles of exposure to residential greenness (all p-values for liner trend

Chitin is a very important and widely-used biopolymer in fungi and lower metazoans, but mysteriously disappears in mammals. Recent studies reveal that at least lower vertebrates have chitin synthases (CS) and use them to synthesize endogenous chitin. Amphioxus, a basal chordate, therefore becomes critical to understand the evolution of CS, as it occupies the transitional position from invertebrates to vertebrates, and is considered as a good proxy to the chordate ancestor. Here, by exploiting multiple genome assemblies, high-depth RNA-seq data and synteny relations, we identify 11-12 CS genes for each amphioxus species. It represents the largest CS gene pool ever found in eukaryotes so far. As comparison, most metazoans have one or two CSs. Amphioxus is the only chordate that has both the very ancient type-I CS family and the more broadly distributed type-II CS family. Specifically, amphioxus has only one type-II CS but 10-11 type-I CSs, which means that amphioxus is the only metazoan with a greatly expanded type-I CS family. Further analysis suggests that the chordate ancestor have at least one type-II CS and an expanded of type-I CS family. We hypothesize that: these ancient CSs are mostly retained in amphioxus; but the whole type-I CS family was lost in urochordates and vertebrates; the type-II CS was later duplicated into two lineages in vertebrates and followed by stochastic losses, till all type-II CSs were eventually lost in birds and mammals. Finally, our expression profiling and preliminary gene knockout analysis suggest that amphioxus CSs could have highly diverse but mildly overlapping functions in various tissues and organs. Taken together, these findings not only provide insights into the evolution of chordate CSs, lay a foundation for further functional study of the chordate CSs. After all, it is mysterious that our chordate ancestor needed so many isoenzymes for chitin formation.

International audience; A key challenge in biomass conversion is how to achieve valuable molecules with optimal reactivity in the presence of immiscible reactants. This issue is usually tackled using either organic solvents or surfactants to promote emulsification, making industrial processes expensive and not environmentally friendly. As an alternative, Pickering emulsions using solid particles with tailored designed surface properties can promote phase contact within intrinsically biphasic systems. Here we show that amphiphilic silica nanoparticles bearing a proper combination of alkyl and strong acidic surface groups can generate stable Pickering emulsions of the glycerol/dodecanol system in the temperature range of 35–130 °C. We also show that such particles can perform as Pickering Interfacial Catalysts for the acid-catalyzed etherification of glycerol with dodecanol at 150 °C. Our findings shed light on some key parameters governing emulsion stability and catalytic activity of Pickering interfacial catalytic systems. This understanding is critical to pave the way toward technological solutions for biomass upgrading able to promote eco-efficient reactions between immiscible organic reagents with neither use of solvents nor surfactants.

In the frame of biomass valorization, a novel and simple cyclic glyceryl sulfate was efficiently prepared in two steps from glycerol. It was shown to react efficiently with primary, secondary as well as tertiary amines to afford either the corresponding anionic or zwitterionic surface-active agents.

Mannich reaction of acetophenone, aldehydes and aromatic amines catalyzed efficiently by RE(PFO)3 was described firstly, which carried out smoothly in high yields with three component one-pot method. Furthermore, it was found these catalysts were completely recovered and reused without loss of their catalytic activities and are thus environmentally conscious, and this procedure is a new choice to synthesis β-aminocarbonyl compounds.