Search

The stability of the surrounding rock under high temperature is pivotal to the efficient and safe production of high-temperature fluidized mining engineering. To investigate the stability of rocks under high temperature, this paper takes the roof sandstone of Tongxin coal mine, examining changes in its physical parameters such as mass, dimensions, wave velocity, porosity, and permeability after treatment at various temperatures (20–700°C). The results showed that parameters like mass and wave velocity decreased with increasing temperature, while dimensions, porosity, fracture density, and permeability increased. The patterns of change in these physical properties with temperature exhibit a high degree of consistency. Additionally, composition analysis and thermal analysis were conducted to understand the physical and chemical changes occurred in sandstone. Scanning electron microscopy was used to observe microstructural changes in the sandstone. After analysis, the evolution of the internal structure of Tongxin sandstone with heat treatment is categorized into three stages. (1) stable change Stage (20–450°C, 650–700°C): Dominated by dehydration and thermal stress, where pore and fracture structures develop slowly; (2) rapid change stage (450–550°C, 600–650°C): Dominated by the kaolinite dehydroxylation, leading to increased porosity but decreased average pore size; (3) intense change stage (550–600°C): Dominated by the quartz phase transitions, where the thermal stress generated by quartz phase transitions causes dramatic alterations in the internal structure of the sandstone. Furthermore, a correlation model between wave velocity and permeability of sandstone at high temperatures was established based on the interrelationship of these physical properties, providing a new method for real-time monitoring of permeability under high-temperature conditions.

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common fatal neurodegenerative disease among the elderly worldwide, characterized by memory and cognitive impairment. The identification of biomarkers for AD is crucial and urgent to facilitate the diagnosis and intervention. The aim of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic value of acyl-Coenzyme A thioesterase 7 (ACOT7) as a serum biomarker for the prediction of AD. In our study, we observed a significant increase in ACOT7 expression in patients (n = 366) with AD and animal (n = 8–12) models of AD, compared to the control group. A significant negative correlation was found between ACOT7 levels and Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores (r = −0.85; p

BackgroundAlthough interleukin-2 (IL-2) has long been associated with cancer development, its roles in the development of cervical cancer remains unclear. Few studies examined the associations between IL-2 and high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) with risk of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN).ObjectiveWe aimed to assess the association of IL-2 and high-risk HPV infection with risk of CIN as well as their interactions on the risk of CIN.DesignWe performed a cross-sectional analysis of screening data in 2285 women aged 19-65 years who participated in an ongoing community-based cohort of 40,000 women in Shanxi, China in 2014-2015. Both categorical and spline analyses were used to evaluation the association between IL-2 in the local vaginal fluids and prevalence of CIN. In addition, 1503 controls were followed up until January 31, 2019), the nested case-control study design was adopted to evaluate the association of vaginal lavage IL-2 levels and the risk of CIN progression.ResultsAfter adjusting for potential confounders, IL-2 levels were statistically inversely associated with prevalence of CIN (the 1st versus 4th quartile IL-2 levels: the respective odds ratio [OR] and 95% confidence intervals [CI] was: = 1.75 [1.37, 2.23] for CIN, 1.32 [1.01, 1.73] for CIN I, and 3.53 [2.26, 5.52] for CIN II/III). Increased IL-2 levels were inversely associated with prevalence of CIN (P-overall

IntroductionPu-erh tea is a geographical indication product of China. The characteristic flavor compounds produced during the fermentation of ripened Pu-erh tea have an important impact on its quality.MethodsHeadspace solid-phase microextraction coupled with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (HS-SPME-GC-MS) and odor activity value (OAV) is used for flavor analysis.ResultsA total of 135 volatile compounds were annotated, of which the highest content was alcohols (54.26%), followed by esters (16.73%), and methoxybenzenes (12.69%). Alcohols in ripened Pu-erh tea mainly contribute flower and fruit sweet flavors, while methoxybenzenes mainly contribute musty and stale flavors. The ripened Pu-erh tea fermented by Saccharomyces: Rhizopus: Aspergillus niger mixed in the ratio of 1:1:1 presented the remarkable flavor characteristics of flower and fruit sweet flavor, and having better coordination with musty and stale flavor.DiscussionThis study demonstrated the content changes of ripened Pu-erh tea’s flavor compounds in the fermentation process, and revealed the optimal fermentation time. This will be helpful to further understand the formation mechanism of the characteristic flavor of ripened Pu-erh tea and guide the optimization of the fermentation process of ripened Pu-erh tea.

The level of green financial infrastructure is measured using a symbiometric model with the Chinese provincial panel data from 2008 to 2020, and also the carbon emission efficiency is measured using the super-efficient SBM-DEA model with the carbon emission data at the provincial level. This paper tests the carbon emission efficiency improvement and convergence effects of green financial infrastructure using fixed-effects models, non-dynamic panel threshold models and spatial econometric models, while considering the role of environmental regulation in the process. It is found that green financial infrastructure significantly contributes to the improvement of carbon emission efficiency and accelerates the convergence rate of carbon emission efficiency between regions; the carbon emission efficiency improvement and convergence effects of green financial infrastructure are influenced by the intensity of environmental regulation, and we point out that either too strong or too weak environmental regulation will weaken the effectiveness of green financial infrastructure, which means there is a significant threshold effect; the spatial durbin model shows that the effect of green financial infrastructure on carbon emission efficiency has a spatial spillover effect of “neighbors as partners”, that is, while green financial infrastructure promotes the improvement of carbon emission efficiency in the region, it also helps to promote the improvement of carbon emission efficiency in the neighboring regions. Therefore, China should accelerate the improvement of the green financial infrastructure system, improve the carbon emission rights market trading system, enhance the effectiveness of environmental regulation, and strengthen regional economic cooperation, so as to empower the development of low-carbon and green economic transformation.

Respiratory rate is an indicator of a broilers’ stress and health status, thus, it is essential to detect respiratory rate contactless and stress-freely. This study proposed an estimation method of broiler respiratory rate by deep learning and machine vision. Experiments were performed at New Hope (Shandong Province, P. R. China) and Wen’s group (Guangdong Province, P. R. China), and a total of 300 min of video data were collected. By separating video frames, a data set of 3,000 images was made, and two semantic segmentation models were trained. The single-channel Euler video magnification algorithm was used to amplify the belly fluctuation of the broiler, which saved 55% operation time compared with the traditional Eulerian video magnification algorithm. The contour features significantly related to respiration were used to obtain the signals that could estimate broilers’ respiratory rate. Detrending and band-pass filtering eliminated the influence of broiler posture conversion and motion on the signal. The mean absolute error, root mean square error, average accuracy of the proposed respiratory rate estimation technique for broilers were 3.72%, 16.92%, and 92.19%, respectively.

In this study, using chitosan (CS) and carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) as backbone and introducing citric acid (CA)to enhance the electrostatic interaction of the system, citric acid/chitosan/carboxymethyl cellulose (CA/CS/CMC) aerogel is obtained by simple freeze-drying. CA/CS/CMC composite aerogel exhibits light weight, low density, high porosity, outstanding hydrophilic and water retention properties, and satisfactory underwater oleophobicity. The water adsorption capacity of the obtained aerogels can reach 43.87–80.28 g/g, which are far more than that of carboxymethyl cellulose and chitosan aerogels (14.27–20.08 g/g). In addition, with strong hydrophilicity, underwater oleophobicity and water retention endowed by the rough internal microstructure and the rich hydroxyl, amino, and carboxyl groups, the fabricated aerogel can also be used as a filter to achieve effective separation of oil-in-water emulsions and oil/water mixtures. The separation efficiency of aerogel for oil/water mixtures are higher than 90.7%. Because the developed preparation method is green, simple and mild and the raw materials are readily available and environmentally friendly, the obtained CA/CS/CMC aerogel with strong water absorption capacity and good separation efficiency displays a promising application in water-oil separation.

The high repetition rate, widely tunable, picosecond mid-infrared laser plays an important role in various fields. In this paper, the single-pass optical parametric generator (OPG) pumped by Yb-fiber laser based on MgO: PPLN is proposed. The Yb-fiber laser is mode locked by a nonlinear amplifying loop mirror (NALM) with an all-polarization-maintaining (PM) structure. A maximum power of 6.2 W was obtained with a repetition rate of 15.8 MHz and pulse duration of 18 ps after amplification by cascaded fiber. Based on the principle of nonlinear frequency down-conversion, the tunable mid-infrared output wavelength of 2.76–3.98 μm was realized by varying the crystal grating periods and temperature. The maximum power was 500 mW at 3.22 μm, corresponding to a quantum conversion efficiency of 25%, and the relative power fluctuation was measured as 0.37% over 30 min.

Due to the emergence and wide spread of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, the treatment of this kind of infection becomes more and more difficult. To solve the problem of drug resistance, it is urgent to develop new antibiotics to avoid the most serious situation of no drug available. Three new Ru complexes [Ru (dmob)2PMA] (PF6)2 (Ru-1) [Ru (bpy)2PMA] (PF6)2 (Ru-2) and [Ru (dmb)2PMA] (PF6)2 (Ru-3) (dmob = 4,4′-dimethoxy-2,2′-bipyridine, bpy = 2,2′-bipyridine, dmb = 4,4′-dimethyl-2,2′-bipyridine and PMA = N-(4-(1H-imidazo [4,5-f] [1,10] phenanthrolin-2-yl) -4-methyl-N-(p-tolyl) aniline) were synthesized and characterized by 1H NMR, 13C NMR and HRMS. The detailed molecular structure of Ru-3 was determined by single crystal X-ray diffraction. Their antibacterial activities against Staphylococcus aureus (Staphylococcus aureus) were obvious and Ru-3 showed the best antibacterial effect with the minimum inhibitory concentration value of 4 μg ml−1. Therefore, further study on its biological activity showed that Ru-3 can effectively inhibit the formation of biofilm and destroy cell membrane. In vitro hemolysis test showed that Ru-3 has almost negligible cytotoxicity to mammalian red blood cells. In the toxicity test of wax moth insect model, Ru-3 exhibited low toxicity in vivo. These results, combined with histopathological studies, strongly suggest that Ru-3 was almost non-toxic. In addition, the synergistic effect of Ru-3 with common antibiotics such as ampicillin, chloramphenicol, tetracycline, kanamycin and gentamicin on Staphylococcus aureus was detected by chessboard method. Finally, in vivo results revealed that Ru-3 could obviously promote the wound healing of Staphylococcus aureus infected mice.

ObjectiveThis study aimed to identify potential biomarkers associated with the occurrence of minor ischaemic stroke.MethodsFour hundred patients hospitalized with minor ischaemic stroke were enrolled in the department of neurological internal medicine in Taiyuan Central Hospital, and 210 healthy subjects examined at the Taiyuan Central Hospital Medical Center during the same period were selected. We collected information on the general demographic characteristics and fasting blood samples of the subjects. We then used untargeted metabolomic assay to measure blood glucose, blood lipids, homocysteine, and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein.ResultsThere were statistically significant differences between the mild ischemic stroke group and the healthy control group in smoking, hypertension, and physical activity (P< 0.05). Compared with the healthy group, the minor ischaemic stroke group showed increased lactate, pyruvate, trimetlylamine oxide levels, and lactic acid, pyruvic acid, and trimethylamine N-oxidation (TMAO) levels were statistically significant (P< 0.001). In the minor ischaemic stroke risk model, hypertension, physical activity, smoking, and elevated TMAO levels influenced the occurrence of minor stroke.ConclusionIncreased levels of lactic acid, pyruvate, and TMAO may be related to the pathophysiological changes in the minor ischaemic stroke population. High blood pressure, a lack of physical activity, smoking, and increased TMAO level were the influencing factors for the occurrence of minor ischaemic stroke. The serum metabolite TMAO may be associated with MS occurrence

Hydroxyapatite (HA) and tricalcium phosphate (TCP) constitute 60% of the content of the bone, and their combination has a better effect on bone tissue engineering than either single element. This study demonstrates a new degradable gelatin/carboxymethyl chitosan (CMC) bone scaffold loaded with both nano-HA and β-TCP (hereinafter referred to as HCP), and freeze drying combined with stir foaming was used to obtain highly connected macropores. Only a few studies have used these components to synthesize a four-component osteogenic scaffold. The aim of this study was to comprehensively assess the biocompatibility and osteoinductivity of the nanocomposites. Three HCP/CMC/gelatin scaffolds were made with different HCP contents: group A (10 wt% HCP), group B (30 wt% HCP), and group C (50 wt% HCP) (the ratio of nano-HA and β-TCP was fixed at 3:2). The scaffolds were macroporous with a high porosity and pore connectivity, as observed by morphological analysis by scanning electron microscopy. Additionally, the pore size of groups A and B was more homogeneous than that of group C. There were no significant differences in physicochemical characterization among the three groups. The Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy test indicated that the scaffold contained active groups, such as hydroxyl, amino, or peptide bonds, corresponding to gelatin and CMC. The XRD results showed that the phase structures of HA and β-TCP did not change in the nanocomposite. The scaffolds had biodegradation potential and an appreciable swelling ratio, as demonstrated with the in vitro test. The scaffolds were cultured in vitro with MC3T3-E1 cells, showing that osteoinduction and osteoconduction increased with the HCP content. None of the scaffolds showed cytotoxicity. However, cell adhesion and growth in group B were better than those in group A and group C. Therefore, freeze drying combined with a stir foaming method may have a solid component limit. This study demonstrates a novel four-component scaffold via a simple manufacturing process. Group B (30% HCP) had the best characteristics for bone scaffold materials.

hnRNP E1 (heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein E1) is an important RNA-binding protein (RBPs) that plays a vital role in tumor development. Human papillomavirus 16 (HPV16) contains numerous sites that can bind to RNA/DNA and may be modified by multiple RBPs, which contribute to HPV gene expression and HPV-associated cancer development. However, the effects of hnRNP E1 on HPV16 oncogenes in the development of cervical lesions remain unclear. A total of 816 participants with different grades of cervical lesions were enrolled in a community-based cohort established in Shanxi Province, China. The Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) databases were used to analyze the association between hnRNP E1 mRNA expression and cervical lesions. Cells with up_ and down_regulated hnRNP E1 were established. hnRNP E1 functions were evaluated using cell counting kit-8, flow cytometry analyses, and chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing. Our results showed that hnRNP E1 expression was linearly dependent on the severity of the cervical lesions. Low expression of HPV16 E2, high expression of E6, and a low ratio of E2 to E6 could increase the risk of cervical lesions. hnRNP E1 expression was correlated with HPV16 oncogene expression. hnRNP E1-relevant genes were involved in the dopaminergic synapses, Wnt signaling pathway, gnRH secretion, and mTOR signaling pathway. hnRNP E1 significantly inhibited cell proliferation, induced apoptosis, arrested the cell cycle at the G0/G1 stage, and decreased HPV16 E6 expression. Our results indicate that hnRNP E1 could downregulate HPV16 E6 oncogene expression and inhibit cervical cancerization, which sheds new light on preventing the carcinogenicity of HPV across a range of diseases by regulating RNA-binding proteins.

Ommastrephes bartramii can vertically swim during its life, and previous studies have suggested the need to account for preferred habitat distribution influenced by water temperatures at different depths. To explore the impacts of deep-water temperature on O. bartramii spatial distribution, we constructed generalized additive models (GAMs) based on the Chinese squid-jigging fishery data and the Argo deep water temperature data during 2005–2018 in the Northwest Pacific Ocean to analyze the relationships between the local abundance of O. bartramii and deep-water temperatures. The results showed that the variables including surface water temperature (T0), water temperature at 30- and 100-m depths (T30 and T100), and water differences between T0 and T30 (D0–30) significantly affected the spatial distribution of O. bartramii. The suitable ranges of each variable are different, > 15.5°C for T0, 11–18°C for T30, < 6°C for T100, and 4–4.5°C for D0–30. The areas occupied by the suitable T30 seemed to reflect the outline of fishing ground, whereas the areas with suitable T100 were to indicate the high density of O. bartramii. The predicted suitable habitat area and high-density area for O. bartramii are also regulated by El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events. We demonstrated how the estimates of O. bartramii spatial distribution would vary influenced by deep-water temperatures in the Northwest Pacific Ocean. This information may help develop an appropriate method for investigating the effects of deep-water temperature on species with vertical migration.