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Insufficient milk supply is a widespread issue faced by women globally and associated with a higher risk of health problems in infants and mothers. Hemerocallis citrina Baron, commonly known as daylily, is a perennial edible plant often used in traditional Asian cuisine to promote lactation. However, the active compound(s) and mechanism of its lactation-promoting effect remain unclear. This study aimed to confirm the traditional use of daylily in promoting lactation and investigate its potential active components and underlying molecular mechanisms. Our results showed that the aqueous extracts of H. citrina Baroni (HAE) significantly enhanced milk production, and the serum levels of lactation-related hormones, and promoted mammary gland development in lactating rats, as well as increased the levels of milk components in bovine mammary epithelial cells (BMECs) (p < 0.05). UHPLC-Q-Exactive Orbitrap-MS analysis revealed that hexamethylquercetin (HQ) is the representative flavonoid component in HAE, accounting for 42.66% of the total flavonoids. An integrated network pharmacology and molecular docking analysis suggested that HQ may be the potential active flavonoid in HAE that promotes lactation, possibly supporting lactation by binding to key target proteins such as STAT5A, PIK3CA, IGF1R, TP53, CCND1, BCL2, INS, AR, and DLD. Cell experiments further demonstrated that HQ could promote cell proliferation and the synthesis of milk proteins, lactose, and milk fat in BMECs. Transcriptomic analysis combined with a quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) revealed that both HAE and HQ exert a lactation-promoting function mainly through regulating the expression of key genes in the PI3K-Akt signaling pathway.

Peroxymonosulfate (PMS, SO52−)-based oxidation is an efficient pathway for degrading organic pollutants, but it still suffers from slow degradation efficiency and low PMS utilization. In this work, we report the preparation of porous Fe-doped g-C3N4 catalysts by one-step thermal polymerization using urea and transition metal salts as precursors and investigate the effect of atmosphere conditions (air and nitrogen) on the catalytic performance. Systematic characterizations show that Fe-doped g-C3N4 prepared in air (FeNx-CNO) has a larger specific surface area (136.2 m2 g−1) and more oxygen vacancies than that prepared in N2 (FeNx-CNN, 74.2 m2 g−1), giving it more active sites to participate in the reaction. Meanwhile, FeNx-CNO inhibits the recombination of photogenerated carriers and improves the light utilization. The redox cycling of Fe(III) and Fe(II) species in the photocatalytic system ensures the continuous generation of SO5•− and SO4•−. Therefore, FeNx-CNO can remove CBZ up to 96% within 20 min, which is 3.4 times higher than that of CNO and 3.1 times higher than that of FeNx-CNN, and the degradation efficiency can still retain 93% after 10 cycles of reaction. This study provides an economical and efficient method for photocatalysis in the degradation of medicines in contaminated water.

There are numerous applications of terahertz (THz) imaging in many fields. However, current THz imaging is generally based on scanning technique due to the limited intensity of the THz sources. Thus, it takes a long time to obtain a frame image of the target and cannot meet the requirement of fast THz imaging. Here, we demonstrate a single-shot direct THz imaging strategy based on a broadband intense THz source with a frequency range of 0.1~23 THz and a THz camera with a frequency response range of 1~7 THz. This THz source was generated from the laser–plasma interaction, with its central frequency at ~12 THz. The frame rate of this imaging system was 8.5 frames per second. The imaging resolution reached 146.2 μm. With this imaging system, a single-shot THz image for a target object with a size of more than 7 cm was routinely obtained, showing a potential application for fast THz imaging. Furthermore, we proposed and tested an image enhancement algorithm based on an improved dark channel prior (DCP) theory and multi-scale retinex (MSR) theory to optimize the image brightness, contrast, entropy and peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR).

The exploitation of highly efficient solvent-free catalytic systems for the selective aerobic oxidation of benzylic compounds to produce corresponding ketones with molecular oxygen under mild conditions remains a great challenge in the chemical industry. In this work, Au-Pd nanoparticles supported on porous carbon catalysts were fabricated by the borax-mediated hydrothermal carbonization method and the chemical reduction method. The physicochemical properties of Au-Pd bimetallic samples were examined by XRD, N2 sorption, SEM, TEM, and XPS techniques. The Au-Pd nanoparticles have successfully immobilized on the spherical carbon support with a porous structure and large surface area. A solvent-free catalytic oxidation system was constructed to selectively convert indane into indanone with Au-Pd nanocatalysts and O2. In contrast with a monometallic Au or Pd catalyst, the resulting bimetallic Au-Pd catalyst could effectively activate O2 and exhibit improved catalytic activity in the controlled oxidation of indane into indanone under 1 bar O2. A total of 78% conversion and >99% selectivity toward indanone can be achieved under optimized conditions. The synergistic effect of Au and Pd and porous carbon support contributed to the high catalytic activity for aerobic benzylic compound oxidation. This work offers a promising application prospect of efficient and recyclable Au-Pd nanocatalysts in functional benzylic ketone production.

Monte Carlo simulations can quantify various types of DNA damage to evaluate the biological effects of ionizing radiation at the nanometer scale. This work presents a study simulating the DNA target response after proton irradiation. A chromatin fiber model and new physics constructors with the ELastic Scattering of Electrons and Positrons by neutral Atoms (ELSEPA) model were used to describe the DNA geometry and the physical stage of water radiolysis with the Geant4-DNA toolkit, respectively. Three key parameters (the energy threshold model for strand breaks, the physics model and the maximum distance to distinguish DSB clusters) of scoring DNA damage were studied to investigate the impact on the uncertainties of DNA damage. On the basis of comparison of our results with experimental data and published findings, we were able to accurately predict the yield of various types of DNA damage. Our results indicated that the difference in physics constructor can cause up to 56.4% in the DNA double-strand break (DSB) yields. The DSB yields were quite sensitive to the energy threshold for strand breaks (SB) and the maximum distance to classify the DSB clusters, which were even more than 100 times and four times than the default configurations, respectively.