Search

Graphene-based nanostructures loaded with transitional metallic atoms have been identified as promising materials for hydrogen storage. In this study, we investigate the adsorption and spillover of hydrogen on a single transitional metal atom incorporated graphene (TM-Gr) through density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Specifically, we explore the geometric and electronic properties of 20 different TM-Gr structures. Our findings reveal that Y-Gr and Sc-Gr exhibit the most favorable H atom adsorption, while Mn-Gr and Cr-Gr are more suitable for H spillover. Additionally, feature importance analysis highlights that Bader charge accumulated in H atom, C-H bond length, and work function of TM-Gr are the three most important features that are sensitive to the activation energy of H spillover. Overall, this work provides valuable insights for the screening of new materials for hydrogen storage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microbially induced carbonate precipitation (MICP) is a potential method for ground improvement. It can enhance the physical and mechanical properties of soils through soil particle cementation and pore filling. However, the excessive number of injections of cementing solution required for MICP is a major limitation for practical engineering application. To reduce the number of injections and improve the efficiency of the cementing process, an enhancement method was investigated in this study in which an aluminum ion flocculant (AIF) was added to the cementing solution. It can enhance the curing rate and effect of MICP. Experiments were carried out on MICP-treated sand columns, MICP-treated glass beads and aqueous solutions, and the influence of AIF on the production of calcium carbonate and unconfined compressive strength (UCS) was studied. The effect of AIF on the composition and morphology of the deposited calcium carbonate was evaluated from SEM micrographs and other microscopic observations. The results of the study showed that the addition of AIF to the cementing solution significantly reduced the number of injections required and increased the UCS of the reinforcement compared to those of a control group without adding AIF. The proposed method resulted in the experimental sand column being reinforced after 3 treatments of the cementing solution with an UCS of 323.3 kPa. The UCS reaches 1692 kPa after 5 treatments of the cementing solution, compared to 9 treatments using the conventional method. The UCS was 3.2–12.7 times higher than that of the control group for the same calcium carbonate content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mixed carbon sources have been developed for denitrification to eliminate the "carbon dependency" problem of single carbon. The metabolic correlation between different carbon sources is significant as guidance for the development of novel mixed carbon sources. In this study, to explore the metabolic similarity of denitrifying carbon sources, we selected alcohols (methanol, ethanol, and glycerol) and saccharide carbon sources (glucose, sucrose, and starch). Batch denitrification experiments revealed that methanol-acclimated sludge improved the denitrification rate of both methanol (14.42 mg-N/gMLVSS*h) and ethanol (9.65 mg-N/gMLVSS*h), whereas ethanol-acclimated sludge improved the denitrification rate of both methanol (7.80 mg-N/gMLVSS*h) and ethanol (22.23 mg-N/gMLVSS*h). In addition, the glucose-acclimated sludge and sucrose-acclimated sludge possibly improved the denitrification rate of glucose and sucrose, and the glycerol-acclimated sludge improved the denitrification rate of volatile fatty acids (VFAs), alcohols, and saccharide carbon sources. Functional gene analysis revealed that methanol, ethanol, and glycerol exhibited active alcohol oxidation and glyoxylate metabolism, and glycerol, glucose, and sucrose exhibited active glycolysis metabolism. This indicated that the similarity in the denitrification metabolism of these carbon sources was based on functional gene similarity, and glycerol-acclimated sludge exhibited the most diverse metabolism, which ensured its good denitrification effect with other carbon sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pastures play vital roles in carbon (C) sequestration and the global C balance. Partial root-zone drying (PRD) is widely known to reduce water consumption with a minimum impact on alfalfa productivity in the field. A 2-year field experiment was used to investigate the effects of PRD on C retention in the soil-plant systems of alfalfa. This field experiment consisted of two factors (irrigation modes and irrigation volumes) in a split-plot design. The two irrigation modes were PRD and conventional furrow irrigation, and the four irrigation levels were 70%, 85%, 100%, and 115% alfalfa potential evapotranspiration. This study showed that PRD increased the C in alfalfa plants due to higher C in alfalfa roots. PRD led to higher soil organic C storage, whereas it led to lower soil total C and soil inorganic C storage. PRD was found to decrease the C retention in the soil-plant systems of alfalfa. The findings of this study display a pattern of PRD influencing C retention in the soil-plant systems of perennial crops, and imply that PRD reduces the C sequestration potential of alfalfa pastures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Killer meiotic drivers (KMDs) skew allele transmission in their favor by killing meiotic progeny not inheriting the driver allele. Despite their widespread presence in eukaryotes, the molecular mechanisms behind their selfish behavior are poorly understood. In several fission yeast species, single-gene KMDs belonging to the wtf gene family exert selfish killing by expressing a toxin and an antidote through alternative transcription initiation. Here we investigate how the toxin and antidote products of a wtf-family KMD gene can act antagonistically. Both the toxin and the antidote are multi-transmembrane proteins, differing only in their N-terminal cytosolic tails. We find that the antidote employs PY motifs (Leu/Pro-Pro-X-Tyr) in its N-terminal cytosolic tail to bind Rsp5/NEDD4 family ubiquitin ligases, which ubiquitinate the antidote. Mutating PY motifs or attaching a deubiquitinating enzyme transforms the antidote into a toxic protein. Ubiquitination promotes the transport of the antidote from the trans-Golgi network to the endosome, thereby preventing it from causing toxicity. A physical interaction between the antidote and the toxin enables the ubiquitinated antidote to translocate the toxin to the endosome and neutralize its toxicity. We propose that post-translational modification-mediated protein localization and/or activity changes may be a common mechanism governing the antagonistic duality of single-gene KMDs. Meiotic drivers of the wtf family kill progeny lacking the driver by producing a toxin and an antidote. Here, authors reveal that ubiquitination-mediated sorting of the antidote prevents it from becoming toxic and enables it to neutralize the toxin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microbially induced calcium carbonate precipitation (MICP) is an immensely growing technique that utilizes the metabolic pathways of bacteria to form calcite precipitation throughout the soil matrix, leading to improve geotechnical engineering properties. However, the excessive number of treatments limited the application of MICP for strengthening calcareous sand. To reduce the number of treatments and develop efficiencies, this paper investigates the optimized treatment protocol of adding aluminum ion flocculants to the cementing solution to accelerate the curing rate of the MICP and its effect. The results show that adding a certain concentration of AlCl3 to the cementing solution can resulted in a rapid increase in strength of the calcareous sand column. When 0.02 M aluminum chloride was added to the cementing solution, the unconfined compressive strength of the sand column reached 827 kPa after three treatments, and it reached 2 MPa after five treatments, while the control group needed to be treated 10 and 15 times, respectively, to reach equivalent strengths. In this paper, the unconfined compressive strength of the sand column formed using the proposed method was 27–40 times that of the control group at the same calcium carbonate content. The presented experimental approach can be used as a tool to design the treatment protocol for the engineering application of MICP-reinforced calcareous sand in practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Rare Metals is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Methamphetamine (METH) abuse is known to cause executive dysfunction. However, the molecular mechanism underlying METH induced executive dysfunction remains unclear. Go/NoGo experiment was performed in mice to evaluate METH-induced executive dysfunction. Immunoblot analysis of Nuclear factor-E2-related factor 2 (Nrf2), phosphorylated Nrf2 (p-Nrf2), heme-oxygenase-1 (HO-1), Glucose Regulated Protein 78(GRP78), C/EBP homologous protein (CHOP), Bcl-2, Bax and Caspase3 was performed to evaluate the levels of oxidative stress, endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress and apoptosis in the dorsal striatum (Dstr). Malondialdehyde (MDA) levels and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) activity was conducted to evaluate the level of oxidative stress. TUNEL staining was conducted to detect apoptotic neurons. The animal Go/NoGo testing confirmed that METH abuse impaired the inhibitory control ability of executive function. Meanwhile, METH down-regulated the expression of p-Nrf2, HO-1 and GSH-Px and activated ER stress and apoptosis in the Dstr. Microinjection of Tert-butylhydroxyquinone (TBHQ), an Nrf2 agonist, into the Dstr increased the expression of p-Nrf2, HO-1, and GSH-Px, ameliorated ER stress, apoptosis and executive dysfunction caused by METH. Our results indicated that the p-Nrf2/HO-1 pathway was potentially involved in mediating methamphetamine-induced executive dysfunction by inducing endoplasmic reticulum stress and apoptosis in the dorsal striatum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, performance of ZrO2 and CeO2 supported Ni catalysts on CO2 hydrogenation reaction was investigated in continuous flow reactor. The results revealed that Ni/ZrO2 catalyst exhibited superior performance compared to Ni/CeO2, with a CO2 conversion rate of 71.84%, a CH4 formation rate of 21.03 mmol g−1 h−1, and excellent reaction stability at 400 °C. And the activation energy of Ni/ZrO2 was lower than that of Ni/CeO2. N2 adsorption–desorption, SEM, XRD, XPS, CO2-TPD and O2-TPO analysis results suggest that Ni/ZrO2 is a multi-stage pore material, which has slit holes formed by the accumulation of sheet-like particles, as well as a superior dispersion of Ni on ZrO2. Moreover, Ni/ZrO2 shows higher alkalinity and remarkable resistance to carbon accumulation. DFT calculations demonstrated that CO2 can be more easily adsorbed on ZrO2 surface, and one O-terminus of CO2 is closer to top sites of ZrO2, which is favorable for electron transfer and promotes the activation of CO2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Antibodies are a useful tool for assistance to map the binding epitopes in Bacillus thuringiensis Cry toxins and their receptors, and even determine how receptors promote toxicity. In this work, a monoclonal antibody (mAb-1D2) was produced by the hybridoma cell line raised against Cry2Aa toxins, with a half inhibition concentration (IC50) of 9.16 μg/mL. The affinity constant of two recombinant toxin-binding fragments derived from Helicoverpa armigera and Plutella xylostella cadherin-like protein (HaCad-TBR or PxCad-TBR) to Cry2Aa toxin was measured to be 1.21 μM and 1.24 μM, respectively. Competitive ELISA showed that mAb-1D2 competed with HaCad-TBR or PxCad-TBR binding to Cry2Aa. Meanwhile, the toxicity of the Cry2Aa toxin to the H. armigera and P. xylostella larvae were greatly reduced when the toxin was mixed with mAb-1D2, which indicated that cadherin may play an important functional role in the toxicity of Cry2Aa. After transforming mAb-1D2 to a single-chain variable fragment (scFv), the hot spot residues of Cry2Aa with 1D2-scFv, PxCad-TBR, and HaCad-TBR were analyzed by molecular docking. It was demonstrated that the hot spot residues of Cry2Aa involving with 1D2-scFv interaction were mainly in Domain II, and some residues in Domain I. Moreover, mAb-1D2 and the two cadherin fragments shared the common hot spot residues on Cry2Aa, which could explain mAb-1D2 inhibited Cry2Aa binding with cadherin fragments. This monoclonal antibody could be a useful tool for identifying the binding epitopes between Cry2Aa and cadherin, and even assist to analyze the roles of cadherin in Cry2Aa toxicity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies N-species Lotka–Volterra cooperation models with feedback controls and continuous delays. Several conditions for the global attractiveness, permanence and periodic solution of the model are obtained by applying the integral inequality techniques, comparison principle and Lyapunov–Razumikhin method. Finally, a numerical example is also carried out to validate the feasibility and practicability of our proposed results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Atrazine toxicity is one of the limiting factors inhibiting sensitive plant growth. Previous studies showed that atrazine-degrading bacteria could alleviate atrazine toxicity. However, there is limited information on how atrazine-degrading bacteria and plant growth-promote bacteria alleviate atrazine toxicity in soybeans. Therefore, the current study aimed to explore the atrazine removal, phosphorus utilization, and the oxidative stress alleviation of atrazine-degrading bacterium Arthrobacter sp. DNS10 and/or inorganic phosphorus-solubilizing bacterium Enterobacter sp. P1 in the reduction of atrazine toxicity in soybean. The results showed that atrazine exposure to soybean seedlings led to significant inhibition in growth, atrazine removal, and phosphorus utilization. However, the co-inoculatied strains significantly increased seedlings biomass, chlorophyll a/b contents, and total phosphorus in leaves accompanied by great reduction of the atrazine-induced antioxidant enzymes activities and malonaldehyde (MDA) contents, as well as atrazine contents in soil and soybeans under atrazine stress. Furthermore, transcriptome analysis highlighted that co-inoculated strains increased the expression levels of genes related to photosynthetic-antenna proteins, carbohydrate metabolism, and fatty acid degradation in leaves. All the results suggest that the co-inoculation mitigates atrazine-induced oxidative stress on soybean by accelerating atrazine removal from soil and phosphorus accumulation in leaves, enhancing the chlorophyll contents, and regulating plant transcriptome. It may be suggested that co-inoculation of atrazine-degrading bacteria and inorganic phosphorus-solubilizing bacteria can be used as a potential method to alleviate atrazine toxicity to the sensitive crops. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Distinctive upconversion or downshifting of lanthanide nanocrystals holds promise for biomedical and photonic applications. However, either process requires high-energy lasers at discrete wavelengths for excitation. Here we demonstrate that co-sensitization can break this limitation with ultrawide excitation bands. We achieve co-sensitization by employing Nd3+ and Ho3+ as the co-sensitizers with complementary absorptions from the ultraviolet to infrared region. Symmetric penta-layer core-shell nanostructure enables tunable fluorescence in the visible and the second near-infrared window when incorporating different activators (Er3+, Ho3+, Pr3+, and Tm3+). Transient spectra confirm the directional energy transfer from sensitizers to activators through the bridge of Yb3+. We validate the features of the nanocrystals for low-powered white light-emitting diode-mediated whole-body angiography of mice with a signal-to-noise ratio of 12.3 and excitation-regulated encryption. This co-sensitization strategy paves a new way in lanthanide nanocrystals for multidirectional photon conversion manipulation and excitation-bandwidth-regulated fluorescence applications.The authors report a multi-ion co-sensitization strategy to achieve ultra-wideband-responsive photon conversion of lanthanide nanocrystals from UV to NIR. They demonstrate applications for white light-based bioimaging and information encryption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon-bonded carbon fiber (CBCF) composite is composed of porous carbon fibers network and vitreous carbon at the intersection. It is considered to be a promising candidate for high thermal insulator and other high-tech applications. However, their low mechanical strength has been one of the main hindrances for achieving high performance in their practical applications. Herein, a self-bonding strategy was utilized to address the problem by eliminating the vitreous carbon binder to obtain carbon fiber monolith with high compressive strength. By carefully engineering the oxidation extent of the pitch fibers, carbon fibers can be partially fused to form strongly bonded porous network that were manufactured under pressure of only 1 ~ 13 kPa. Comparing with CBCFs, the self-bonded carbon fiber monoliths (SBCFM) deliver greatly improved compressive strength (10 ~ 54.5 MPa in xy direction and 7.8 ~ 53 MPa in z direction) and specific compressive strength (15.6 ~ 45 kN·m/kg in xy direction and 12.2 ~ 43.8 kN·m/kg in z direction). The work offers a potential to extend the mechanical capabilities of CBCF composites and provides a valuable insight into the design of high performance thermal structural materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Photocatalytic fixation of nitrogen is the most attractive method for the sustainable production of ammonia (NH3), which has attracted increasing attention, but the development of a highly active, stable and low-cost photocatalyst remains a great challenge. Herein, O, S co-doped carbon nitride (HGCNOS) based on carbon nitride (GCN) material was fabricated by a one-pot hydrothermal method at 180 °C. Our results revealed that O, S atoms were successfully doped into GCN and HGCNOS showed better crystallinity and periodicity, shorter interlayer distances and great resistance to electron–hole recombination. The results of nitrogen fixation experiments showed that the ammonium ion yield of HGCNOS photocatalyst was as high as 0.23 mg/L/mg-cat after 2 h. And the minuscule changes in photocatalytic performance after 3 consecutive cycles (4 h for each cycle), demonstrated excellent cycling stability. DFT calculations show that the introduction of O, S atoms promotes photo-excited charge separation, facilitates electrons' leap and is more conducive to N2 adsorption, and consequently, an excellent photo-reactivity of HGCNOS. The results acquired may shed light on general doping strategies for designing potentially efficient photocatalysts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydrothermal carbonization of alfalfa is a potential way to reuse agricultural waste. However, the effects of hydrothermal conditions on the properties of alfalfa-derived hydrochar are not clear. Herein, this study investigated the impact of different synthesis conditions (e.g., heating temperature, heating time, and solid to liquid ratio) on the formation and properties of hydrochar. Characterization and thermogravimetric analysis results revealed that with the increase of hydrothermal temperature and the extension of time, cellulose in alfalfa broken down more completely, and the number of carbon spheres and the aromatization degree increased, while the functional groups decreased. Furthermore, there was a surge in the carbon content, fixed carbon yield, high heating value, reduced oxygen, and volatile content. Additionally, the enhancement solid–liquid ratio could effectively improve the energy and mass yields. In all, by adjusting the process parameters of hydrochar, cleaner and higher productivity products could be obtained. This study provides theory basis for the production of target hydrochar that is used to soil amendments, adsorbents, and energy sources in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presence of higher breast density (BD) and persistence over time are risk factors for breast cancer. A quantitatively accurate and highly reproducible BD measure that relies on precise and reproducible whole-breast segmentation is desirable. In this study, we aimed to develop a highly reproducible and accurate whole-breast segmentation algorithm for the generation of reproducible BD measures. Three datasets of volunteers from two clinical trials were included. Breast MR images were acquired on 3 T Siemens Biograph mMR, Prisma, and Skyra using 3D Cartesian six-echo GRE sequences with a fat-water separation technique. Two whole-breast segmentation strategies, utilizing image registration and 3D U-Net, were developed. Manual segmentation was performed. A task-based analysis was performed: a previously developed MR-based BD measure, MagDensity, was calculated and assessed using automated and manual segmentation. The mean squared error (MSE) and intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) between MagDensity were evaluated using the manual segmentation as a reference. The test-retest reproducibility of MagDensity derived from different breast segmentation methods was assessed using the difference between the test and retest measures (Δ2-1), MSE, and ICC. The results showed that MagDensity derived by the registration and deep learning segmentation methods exhibited high concordance with manual segmentation, with ICCs of 0.986 (95%CI: 0.974-0.993) and 0.983 (95%CI: 0.961-0.992), respectively. For test-retest analysis, MagDensity derived using the registration algorithm achieved the smallest MSE of 0.370 and highest ICC of 0.993 (95%CI: 0.982-0.997) when compared to other segmentation methods. In conclusion, the proposed registration and deep learning whole-breast segmentation methods are accurate and reliable for estimating BD. Both methods outperformed a previously developed algorithm and manual segmentation in the test-retest assessment, with the registration exhibiting superior performance for highly reproducible BD measurements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microscope such as fluorescence microscope, confocal microscope and two-photon microscope plays an important role in life science, laser processing and other fields. However, most microscopes only have discrete zoom rates. In this paper, a continuous optical zoom microscope with extended depth of field and 3D reconstruction is demonstrated for the first time. It consists of a zoom objective lens, a microscope holder, an adjustable three-dimensional object stage, an Abbe condenser and an LED light source. The zoom objective lens is composed of several liquid lenses and solid lenses. By adjusting the applied voltage to the liquid lens, the proposed microscope can achieve a large continuous magnification from 10? to 60?. Moreover, an improved shape from focus (SFF) algorithm and image fusion algorithm are designed for 3D reproduction. Based on the liquid lenses, the axial focusing position can be adjusted to obtain images with different depths, and then the extended depth of field and 3D reconstruction can be realized. Our experimental results demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed microscope. The proposed microscope is expected to be applied in the fields of pathological diagnosis, biological detection, etc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early studies have indicated that the risk of migraine is contributed by both genetic and environmental factors. We aimed to evaluate the association between the risk of migraine and genetic polymorphisms in the ANKDD1B gene in a large sample of Chinese Han populations. A total of 882 patients with MO and 1,784 age-matched controls were recruited. A list of 12 tag SNPs located within the ANKDD1B gene region was genotyped. Distributions of SNP genotypes and alleles between patients and controls were examined to investigate the associations between the risk of migraine and genetic polymorphisms. The GTEx database was used to examine the effects of the significant SNPs on gene expressions. A stop-gain SNP, rs34358, was discovered to be significantly related with the risk of migraine (χ2 = 25.02, P = 5.66 × 10−7). The A allele of this SNP was significantly associated with a decreased risk of migraine (OR [95% CI] = 0.73 [0.65–0.83]). A dose-dependent pattern was identified in the genotypic analyses. The OR with 95% confidence interval for genotype AA versus GG was 0.55 [0.42–0.72], while for AG versus GG it was 0.74 [0.62–0.88]. Further bioinformatics analysis showed multiple significant signals (20 out of 47) for the association between SNP rs34358 and gene expression levels of ANKDD1B. In conclusion, we have provided population-based evidence for the association between genetic polymorphisms of the ANKDD1B gene and the risk of migraine. A protein-truncating variant was significantly associated with a decreased risk of migraine in the samples recruited from the Chinese Han population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon fibers produced from mesophase pitch are superior in many properties such as high thermal conductivity and high tensile modulus, which originated from the high graphitizability and high carbon yield of the raw materials. Any variation in mesophase pitch microstructure will be inherited in derived carbon fibers. Herein, we monitored the microcrystal structure evolution of carbon fiber derived from thermal soaked mesophase pitch and the caused variation in mechanical properties. Results showed that mesophase pitch with prolonged soaking time from 1 to 12 h produced the carbon fibers with improved microcrystal structure, reduced diameter, and crack angle, contributing to an apparent increase in tensile strength from 1.70 to 2.72 GPa and tensile modulus from 152 to 246 GPa. Thermal soaking upon elevated temperature from 320 to 335 °C also contributes an improvement in microcrystalline development. However, the attendant increment in diameter and open crack angle lead to deterioration in tensile strength and modulus, the highest value of which is only 1.53 GPa and 190 GPa. This work provides useful information on thermal soaking parameter selection and is of particular interest for future optimization of carbon fiber production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vinyl chloride, the monomer of polyvinyl chloride (PVC), is industrially synthesized via acetylene hydrochlorination. Thereby, easy to sublimate but toxic mercury chloride catalysts are widely used. It is imperative to find environmentally friendly non-mercury catalysts to promote the green production of PVC. Low-cost copper-based catalysts are promising candidates. In this study, phosphorus-doped Cu-based catalysts are prepared. It is shown that the type of phosphorus configuration and the distribution on the surface of the carrier can be adjusted by changing the calcination temperature. Among the different phosphorus species, the formed P-C bond plays a key role. The coordination structure formed by the interaction between P-C bonds and atomically dispersed Cu2+ species results in effective and stable active sites. Insights on how P-C bonds activate the substrate may provide ideas for the design and optimization of phosphorus-doped catalysts for acetylene hydrochlorination. Copper-based catalysts are widely investigated for the industrially important hydrochlorination of acetylene (PVC production), whereby phosphorus-doped carbon supports have been found to improve the catalyst's properties. Here the interaction between the P-C bond and atomically dispersed Cu2+ species is clarified and the reaction path of C2H2 and HCl revealed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Central South University is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In this study, Illumina MiSeq sequencing of the 16 S rRNA gene was used to describe the bacterial communities in the South China Sea (SCS) during the southwest monsoon period. We targeted different regions in the SCS and showed that bacterial community was driven by the effects of the river, upwelling, and mesoscale eddy through changing the environmental factors (salinity, temperature, and nutrients). Distinct bacterial communities were observed among different chemical conditions, especially between the estuary and the open sea. The abundance of Burkholderiales, Frankiales, Flavobacteriales, and Rhodobacterales dominated the estuary and its adjacent waters. Bacteria in cyclonic eddy were dominated by Methylophilales and Pseudomonadales, whereas Prochlorococcus, SAR11 clade, and Oceanospirillales had relatively high abundance in the anticyclonic eddy. Overall, the abundance of specific phylotypes significantly varied among samples with different chemical conditions. Chemical conditions probably act as a driver that shapes and controls the diversity of bacteria in the SCS. This study suggests that the interaction between microbial and environmental conditions needs to be further considered to fully understand the diversity and function of marine microbes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mangrove reconstruction is an efficient approach for mangrove conservation and restoration. The present study aimed to explore the effects of mangrove reconstruction on sediment properties and bacterial community. The results showed that mangrove restoration greatly promoted sediment fertility, whereas the improvements were more obvious induced by Kandelia obovata when compared to Avicennia marina. In all the samples, the dominant top5 bacterial group were Proteobacteria (48.31–54.52%), Planctomycetes (5.98–8.48%), Bacteroidetes (4.49–11.14%) and Acidobacteria (5.69–8.16%). As for the differences among the groups, the relative abundance of Chloroflexi was higher in the sediments of K. obovata, while Bacteroidetes was more abundant in A. marina group. Furthermore, the two bacterial genera (Rhodoplanes and Novosphingobium) were more dominant in the sediments of K. obovata, while the sediments of A. marina contained higher abundance of Vibrio and Marinobacterium. Besides, bacterial community was highly correlated with mangrove species and sediment property and nutrient status. The results of this study would provide a better understanding of the ecological benefits of mangroves and highlighted the information on biogeochemical processes driven by mangrove restoration and microorganisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Second near-infrared (NIR-II) fluorescence imaging is a recently emerged technique and is highly useful for accurate diagnosis of cancer. Although a diverse array of fluorescent nanomaterials have been developed to enable NIR-II fluorescence in various situations, they normally fail to unify the clinical techniques, such as computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Therefore, exploiting multimodal agents to integrate the newly emerged NIR-II fluorescence and traditional clinical techniques would be of key significance. Here, we report a rational fabrication of neodymium (Nd)-doped gadolinium tungstate nanoparticles (NPs) that are subsequentially decorated with a hydrophilic layer and demonstrate that they can achieve the harmonious integration of NIR-II fluorescence imaging, CT, and MRI. The NIR-II fluorescence emission was activated by an incident light with discrete wavelength ranging from 250 to 810 nm. NIR-II fluorescence-CT-MRI associated trimodal imaging was subsequently demonstrated for breast cancer by an 808 nm laser, along with the estimation of NIR-II fluorescence imaging for cervical cancer. The integration of newly emerged and traditional clinical imaging techniques highlights the huge potential of rare-earth-doped NPs for multimodal imaging of different types of cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study is to explore the risk factors, bacterial species, and drug resistance of acute pyelonephritis (AP) associated with ureteral stent after percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) and to provide reference for clinical intervention. The clinical data of 415 patients with indwelling ureteral stent after PCNL from December 2016 to May 2019 were analyzed retrospectively. The patients were divided into infection group (n = 54) and non-infection group (n = 361) according to whether patients had AP. Patients' clinical data, blood and urine bacterial culture, and drug sensitivity were collected and analyzed. The incidence of AP associated with ureteral stent after PCNL was 13.01% and diabetes mellitus (P = 0.001), postoperative stone residue (P = 0.002), urinary leucocytes ≥ 100/HP (P = 0.018), positive urine culture results (P = 0.001), ureteral stent retention time ≥ 8 weeks (P = 0.004), and high S.T.O.N.E. score (P = 0.014) are independent risk factors for it. Escherichia coli (40.54%, 47.82%), Klebsiella pneumoniae (16.21%, 15.21%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (10.81%, 4.34%), Enterococcus faecalis (21.6%, 19.56%), and epidermis Staphylococci (10.81%, 13.33%) are the main pathogens in blood and urine. The main sensitive drugs of pathogenic bacteria are imipenem, meropenem, tigecycline, piperacillin/tazobactam, ceftazidime, linezolid, teicoplanin, levofloxacin, vancomycin, tigecycline, etc., while levofloxacin, norfloxacin, penicillin G, first, and second-generation cephalosporins showed a strong drug resistance rate (> 70%). This study found that diabetes, postoperative stone residuals, urinary leukocytes ≧ 100 cells/HP, positive urine culture results, ureteral stent indwelling time ≧ 8 weeks, and high S.T.O.N.E. score were independent of AP associated with ureteral stent after PCNL risk factors and Escherichia coli is the main pathogenic bacteria and shows drug resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A recent genome-wide meta study suggested that rs67338227 in the FHL5 gene and rs10456100 in the KCNK5 gene are associated with migraine from 27 population-based cohorts excluding Chinese population. Given that migraine without aura (MO) is the most common subtype of migraine, our aim was to systematically investigate the relationship of common variants in FHL5 and KCNK5 genes with the susceptibility to MO and provide clues as to the nature of the mechanisms involved in the etiology of migraine. A total of 3306 subjects including 1042 patients with MO and 2264 controls were recruited for the discovery stage, and 2530 individuals including 842 patients with MO and 1688 controls for the replication stage. Twenty-two tag SNPs (7 from FHL5 and 15 from KCNK5) were selected for genotyping. Genetic associations were analyzed at both single-marker and haplotype levels. Potential functional consequences of the significant SNPs were analyzed using gene expression data obtained from the GTEx database. Two SNPs, rs10456100 (KCNK5, P = 9.01 × 10–9) and rs7775721 (FHL5, P = 6.86 × 10–13), were determined to be significantly associated with MO in the discovery sample and were then replicated in another sample. In the combined sample set, the T allele of both SNPs was significantly associated with the increased risk of MO. Significant eQTL signals were identified for both SNP rs10456100 and rs7775721. Our findings suggest that the T allele carriers of SNP rs10456100 and rs7775721 are at increased risk of migraine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cu2SnSe3 has been considered as a potential thermoelectric material owing to its tunable transport properties and its phonon-glass-electron-crystal (PGEC) characteristics. Here, p-type pure and In-doped Cu2SnSe3 samples are synthesized by the solid-state sintering technique. Cubic structure with F 4 ¯ 3 m space group is maintained for all the samples, and a linear increase in lattice parameter with increasing In concentration has been observed. The nature of electrical resistivity changes from semiconducting to metallic behavior for samples with x > 0.10. The decrease in both electrical resistivity and Seebeck coefficient with an increase in x is attributed to the increased hole concentration. Such a scenario is confirmed from the room-temperature Hall effect measurements. Indium doping also reduces the thermal conductivity of the Cu2SnSe3 system as a result of increased phonon scattering due to the mass fluctuation. Concurrently, enhancement of thermoelectric power factor (PF) and figure of merit (ZT) is achieved with In doping at Sn site of Cu2SnSe3. The maximum ZT of 0.04 has been exhibited by the sample with x = 0.25 at 400 K, which is six times higher than that of the undoped Cu2SnSe3. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multifilamentary Bi2Sr2CaCu2Ox (Bi2212) composite wires are the only high-temperature superconducting round wires (RWs) with sufficient critical current density (Jc) for superconducting magnets generating magnetic fields greater than 25 T. Previous works indicated that various voids in Bi2212 filaments and bridges between the adjacent Bi2212 filaments in Bi2212 RWs were generated after heat treatment. Such complicated microstructural structure will inevitably affect its electrical behavior. Previous studies only focus on single microstructural feature, voids or bridges. Hence, we developed a numerical model containing both voids and bridges to explore the comprehensive influence of these two microstructural features. Due to the preliminary results, it shows that the E-J relationships of the models with bridges and with infinity bridges are similar in the case of numerous bridges between filaments. It indicated that we can build a simplified geometry structural model by removing all the bridges and bonding the adjacent filaments directly. And then the parametric study of the voids was carried out and the results explained that the height (diameter) of void is the key factor to dominant its electrical behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A Gram-staining-positive, non-motile, coccus or short-rod-shaped bacterium, designated H1T, was isolated from a humus soil sample in the Detaille Island of Antarctica. The 16S rRNA gene sequence result indicated that strain H1T shared the highest 16S rRNA gene sequence identity with the type strain of Deinococcus alpinitundrae (96.2%). Growth of strain H1T occurred at 4–25 °C, pH 6.0–8.0 and in the presence of 0–1.0% NaCl (w/v). The respiratory quinone was MK-8. The major fatty acids were C16:0, C17:0 cyclo and summed feature 3 (C16:1ω7c/C16:1ω6c). The polar lipids were aminoglycophospholipid, aminophospholipid, glycolipid and glycophospholipid. The cell wall peptidoglycan type was A3β. The genomic DNA G + C content was 61.3 mol%. The average nucleotide identity (ANI) between strain H1T and the closely related Deinococcus members was below the cut-off level (95–96%) for species identification. Based on the above results, strain H1T represents a novel species of the genus Deinococcus, for which the name Deinococcus detaillensis sp. nov. is proposed. Type strain is H1T (= CGMCC 1.13938T = JCM 33291T). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Salt deposition under hydrothermal conditions can cause serious problems, such as equipment corrosion and pipe blockage. Therefore, the dissolution behavior of inorganic salts in sub-/supercritical water is an important subject. In this paper, a set of fluidity equipment was designed and employed to measure the solubility data of sodium chloride and sodium sulfate in water at 11–15 MPa and 553–613 K. The results show that for sodium chloride, the solubility decreases slightly before the phase transition point and decreases significantly after that. The overall trend of solubility was correlated with water density. For sodium sulfate, in the experimental region investigated, its solubility first increases, then decreases slightly, and finally decreases sharply after passing through the phase transition point. At the same time, six common empirical and semi-empirical models were applied to correlate the solubility data. The results show that the second-order polynomial model and the Cp model lead to relatively satisfactory fitting results for sodium chloride and sodium sulfate, respectively. Then, for the temperature and pressure range investigated, a new correlation model was proposed for obtaining better fitting result. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this study was to evaluate the crop monitoring performance of a consumer-grade camera with non-modified and modified spectral ranges which are commonly used in low-altitude unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) platforms. The camera was fixed sequentially with seven types of filters for collecting visible images and near-infrared (NIR) images with different center band locations and bandwidths. Meanwhile, field-based hyperspectral data and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) measured by a GreenSeeker handheld crop sensor (GS-NDVI) were collected to examine the accuracy of rapeseed growth monitoring in terms of vegetation indices (VIs) derived from UAV images. Results showed that the UAV-based RGB-VIs and optimal NIR-VIs had similar accuracy for predicting GS-NDVI. Moreover, similar results were achieved based on the hyperspectral data, indicating the importance of spectral characteristics for GS-NDVI estimation. However, the UAV-based results also indicated that the performance of VIs derived from the band combinations containing longer NIR center wavelengths and narrower bandwidths was obviously poorer than that of the RGB-VIs. The image quality of the NIR band was also found to be inferior to the visible band based on quantitative analysis, which also revealed that image quality had great impact on UAV-based results. Image quality was then related to the effects of camera exposure, spectral sensitivity, soil background and dark areas. The results from this study provide useful information for camera modifications by selecting appropriate filters that not only are sensitive to crop growth, but also ensure image quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Crab is an important benthonic animal in mangrove ecosystem, however, the potential function of crabs on nitrogen (N) transformation in mangrove ecosystems is still poorly understood. The present study aimed to explore the potential effect of crab burrows on nitrification/denitrification within the sediments. The results showed that the presence of crab burrows could directly promote soil nitrification, the regions within more crab burrows appeared to possess higher nitrification. Higher AOA and AOB gene copies were also observed in the sediments surrounding crab burrows than those in the sediments without crab burrow. On the contrary, lower nirS copies, a denitrification related gene, were detected in the sediments surrounding crab burrows. In summary, the present study proposed new evidences of nitrification enhancement deriving by crabs, the presence of crabs might be significant in alleviating nitrification inhibition and benefits the growth of mangroves under tidal flooding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Advances in information technologies and e-commerce enable e-business firms to collect detailed consumers' data and send Internet-based targeted advertising to their potential consumers accurately, thereby performing B2C sales. However, the perfect targeting for an e-business firm is always a challenge due to the asymmetric information between the firm and consumers. This essay starts by setting up a model with two horizontally differentiated firms competing in prices and targeted advertising at a variable targeting precision in an initially uninformed heterogeneous consumers market. The results indicate that both e-business firms should target only their advantage markets with optimal targeting precision. Otherwise, each e-business firm's equilibrium profit might be lower or higher with Internet-based targeted advertising comparing to mass advertising, which depends on the effective choice of distinct targeting precision. Finally, the effective investment on the optimal targeting precision for e-business firms pursuing the maximum profit in the B2C sales model is generated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is a deadly brain tumor with a short expected median survival, despite current standard-of-care treatment. We explored the combination of intermediate stereotactic dose radiation therapy and immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy as a novel treatment strategy for GBM. Methods: Glioma xenograft-bearing mice were exposed to high dose brain-directed radiation (10 Gy single exposure) as well as mouse anti-PD-1 antibody. The tumor-bearing animals were randomized to four groups: no treatment, radiation alone, anti-PD-1 alone, and radiation + anti-PD-1. Survival was followed, and tumor growth was monitored using MRI. Immunohistochemistry, gene expression arrays, and flow cytometry were used to characterize the treatment-induced effects. Pharmacologic inhibitors of T-lymphocytes, bone marrow derived macrophages, and microglia were used to assess the respective roles of different immune populations in observed treatment effects. Results: We found the combined treatment with high dose radiation and immunotherapy to be highly effective with a 75% complete pathologic response and dramatically improved survival outcomes. We found both CD8+ T-cells and macrophages to be necessary for the full effect of combined therapy, with T lymphocytes appearing to play a role early on and macrophages mediating a later phase of the combined treatment effect. Radiation treatment appeared to trigger macrophage repolarization, increasing M1/M2 ratio. Conclusions: These findings point to a novel immunologic mechanism underlying the interaction between radiotherapy and immunotherapy. They also provide the basis for clinical investigation of immunogenic dose radiation in combination with immune checkpoint blockade as a potential treatment approach for newly diagnosed high grade gliomas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Phosphorus (P) occurs in different chemical forms in soil and sediment, and they play different ecological and environmental roles. Thus, separation and quantification of different P pools are essential to the understanding of P dynamics in the environment. Over the past decades, different sequential extraction methods have been used concurrently. However, systematic evaluation of different extraction methods is lacking, making choice of methods and comparisons between results difficult. Materials and methods: We compared the oxygen isotope compositions (δ18OP) of different phosphate pools that were extracted by two major extraction methods, Hedley (Hedley et al., Soil Sci Soc Am J 46:970-976, 1982) and SEDEX methods (Ruttenberg, Limnol Oceanogr 37:1460-1482, 1992), for both a soil and an estuarine sediment sample. Additionally, Ag3PO4 and KH2PO4 standards were used to test the fidelity of the extraction and purification procedure. The purity of the precipitated Ag3PO4 was also examined. Results and discussion: The δ18OP values have large differences among phosphate pools for the soil extracted by the Hedley method and for the sediment extracted by the SEDEX method. The δ18OP values of Ag3PO4 and KH2PO4 standards after extraction, purification, and/or re-precipitation are similar to their original δ18OP values. The XRD patterns of the precipitated Ag3PO4 are identical to that of Ag3PO4 standard. The residual carbon and nitrogen contents in the precipitated Ag3PO4 are low. Conclusions: The Hedley method has good efficiency for separating isotopically distinct Pi pools (different sources/bioavailability) in the soil samples, while the SEDEX method has good efficiency for separating isotopically distinct Pi pools (different sources/bioavailability) in sediments that are more marine in character such as for the estuarine sample. The extraction and purification processes do not alter δ18OP, and the precipitated Ag3PO4 has high purity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multi-pass tandem gas metal arc welding (TGMAW) for Al 5083 alloy plates with 30mm thickness is carried out to study its high efficiency and high quality. The welding process is evaluated by high-speed photographs and electrical signals. The deposition rate and welding time are calculated to characterize the welding efficiency. The bead formation, porosity, microstructure and mechanical properties are tested and analyzed. The results indicate that though arc deflection occurs due to the electromagnetic interference between two arcs during TGMAWprocess, it does not affect the welding process stability significantly. The deposition rate and welding time of TGMAW process are about 15 g/min larger and about 16.7% less than those of gas metal arc welding (GMAW) process respectively, accompanied by the reduction of heat input. The TGMAW welded joint has less porosity and more refined microstructure to contribute to the improvement of mechanical properties (micro-hardness, tensile strength and ductility). It can be concluded that TGMAW process yields excellent performance of welded joint with improved welding efficiency, which makes it extremely practical during welding of thick plates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Welding spatter seriously affects the surface quality of the product. Aiming at the automatic detection problem of spatter on welding plate surface, an in-situ detection algorithm of welding spatter based on machine vision is designed. In the extraction process of the welding spatter, the two-dimensional Fourier transform is adopted to obtain the frequency and phase information of image, and the elliptical high-pass filter is introduced to filter the low-frequency signal. The experimental results show that the proposed algorithm has higher extraction rate and extraction accuracy rate of welding spatter than the threshold method, the rectangular high-pass filter and the Canny operator, and it has the characteristics of high efficiency, high precision, and good robustness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the increasing consumption of the fossil energy and the global warming, hydrogen has attracted extensive research due to the clean, renewable, and high-energy density properties. As a hydrogen carrier, formic acid is a main byproduct from many biomass processes and can be used in fuel cells directly. More importantly, formic acid is recyclable by the “formic acid-carbon dioxide cycle”, which does not produce any exhaust. Based on the previous reports, this study is focused on liquid-phase heterogeneous dehydrogenation of formic acid and summarizes the corresponding catalysts including mono-metallic, bi-metallic, and tri-metallic samples. Moreover, the comparison of catalytic performance about the dehydrogenation process is demonstrated considering the parameters of solvent, TOF (turnover frequency), and temperature. Furthermore, the morphology, composition, and structure of the catalysts, as well as the synthetic methods, are discussed and compared. Finally, some suggestions are proposed to design the corresponding catalysts and enhance the catalytic performance for formic acid dehydrogenation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hybrid laser-MIG (metal inert gas) welding has not been extensively applied in welding of aluminium alloy with thickness more than 10 mm because of the existence of weld defects and low joint strength. In this study, an original hybrid laser-MIG welding plus MIG welding process was developed. Double-sided hybrid laser-MIG welding method was designed and applied to the welding of 30-mm-thick Al 5083 alloy. The process was then optimized by overlaying a MIG welding upon the weld. Analysis on the weld revealed that the overlaid MIG welding played multiple roles, including making up the bead formations, eliminating the keyhole-induced porosities as well as refining grains. Along the longitudinal direction of the weld, the grains became finer from two fringes to the middle, and the mechanical properties improved accordingly. Compared with MIG welding, the hybrid laser-MIG welding plus MIG welding process showed overwhelming superiorities over the MIG welding, which will be promising in industrial applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multi-pass gas metal arc welding was carried out for Al 5083 alloy plate with thickness 30 mm. During multi-pass welding of thick plate, the former welding pass experienced multiple thermal cycles that came from subsequent welding passes. This work focused on the effect of thermal cycle on metallurgical characteristics and mechanical properties. Different from what had long been recognized that welding thermal cycle was harmful, the results indicated that multiple thermal cycles caused the partial transition from columnar grains to equiaxed grains, which finally contributed to the refinement of microstructure. Increased precipitated particles resulted in the improvement of strengthening effect. These beneficial effects of microstructure and precipitated phase led to the increase of micro-hardness and the improvements of tensile strength and ductility. As the progress of welding process, overall properties of the welded joint improved. Conclusion could be made that appropriate thermal cycles were beneficial during multi-pass welding of Al 5083 alloy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The structural characteristics of mesophase spheres slowly coalesced in a petroleum pitch by high-temperature centrifugation were studied by high-resolution SEM, after stabilization and carbonization. The patterns of lamellae stacking as well as fine structural defects have been observed clearly below 100 nm at the level of near-single lamellar layer, for four distinct development stages, e.g., single-crystal sphere, just contacted, coalesced and bulk mesophase. Clear images from the inside and the outside and from more than one directions have confirmed the single-crystal nature before coalescence, but some defects of highly curved lamellae and cracks were found in just-contacted spheres. In highly coalesced situations, additional other nano-scaled defects were observed, including disclinations, dislocations, cracks and voids, although the defect density appeared to drop at the bulk mesophase stage. The evolution of lamellar stacking was examined schematically by bonded lamellar layers, and the microstructural defects were analyzed under different categories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thick plates of 5083 aluminum alloy are welded with GMAW and GMAW-TW processes; the influence of weld pool convection on porosity formation, microstructure, and mechanical property of the welding joints is investigated. The results showed that due to the appearance of outward flow and 'push-pull' patterns, and intense mixing and stirring effects in GMAW-TW process, a sound weld seam with less porosity can be obtained. The less probability of bubble formation, the shorter escaping distance of the bubble, the easy splitting of bubble, the higher bubble escape velocity, and lower solidification rate are responsible for porosity suppression. Even though the grain size in GMAW-TW process is larger than that in GMAW process, the ultimate tensile strength of the joints is larger, which is caused by less porosity formation, larger number, and uniform distribution of second-phase particles in the welds. Compared with GMAW process, the GMAW-TW process possesses the advantages of higher efficiency, less weld defects, and higher mechanical property in the welding of 5083 aluminum alloy thick plates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two Gram-negative, moderately thermophilic, yellow-pigmented, rod-shaped and motile bacterial strains, designated YIM 75003 and YIM 75004, were isolated from sediment samples collected from the Tagejia hot spring in Tibet, western China. The taxonomic affiliation of the two strains was investigated by a polyphasic approach. Pairwise comparison of the 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strains YIM 75003 and YIM 75004 are closely related to Altererythrobacter buctense M0322 (97.2 and 97.1% respectively), while sharing 99.9% sequence similarity against each other. Optimum growth of the two strains was observed at 37-45 °C, pH 8.0 and in the presence of 1-6% NaCl (w/v). Their predominant respiratory quinone was found to be ubiquinone 10. The major fatty acids in both the strains were identified as summed feature 8 (C ω6 c and/or C ω7 c) and summed feature 4 (C anteiso B and/or iso I). Their major polar lipid profiles were found to be diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol and sphingoglycolipid. The DNA G+C contents of strains YIM 75003 and YIM 75004 were determined to be 61.3 and 60.1 mol%, respectively. The DNA-DNA hybridization values between strains YIM 75003 and YIM 75004, and between the two strains and their closely related phylogenetic neighbour A. buctense M0322 (=CGMCC 1.12871) were less than 70%. Based on the morphological and physiological properties, phylogenetic analyses, chemotaxonomic characteristics and DNA-DNA relatedness values, the two strains can be distinguished from each other and from their phylogenetically closely related strain. Strains YIM 75003 and YIM 75004 are, therefore, considered to represent two novel species of the genus Altererythrobacter, for which the names Altererythrobacter lauratis sp. nov. (type strain YIM 75003 = KCTC 52606 = CCTCC AB2016268) and Altererythrobacter palmitatis sp. nov. (type strain YIM 75004 = KCTC 52607 = CCTCC AB2016270) are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Titanium nitride is regarded as an alternative plasmonic material for its tunability and other high performances. In this work, we prepared $$\hbox {TiN}_{x}$$ thin films by ion beam assisted deposition and studied the effects of assisting ion energy $$E_\mathrm{a}$$ on the structural, electrical, optical, and plasmonic properties of the films. The results show that the bombardment of assisting ions causes higher crystallinity and higher resistivity. Both the experimental and fitting results show that assisting ions can improve the plasmonic performance of $$\hbox {TiN}_{x}$$ thin films. Higher $$E_\mathrm{a}$$ leads to lower carrier concentration, lower plasma frequency, and lower optical losses. With $$E_\mathrm{a}$$ increasing, the energy loss function shifts toward low photon energy. Importantly, IBAD- $$\hbox {TiN}_{x}$$ can serve as a promising plasmonic material in visible and near-IR region, and its plasmonic properties can be effectively tuned by assisting ions energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electrospun WO nanofibers were fabricated by coaxial electrospinning and directly annealing WCl/polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) nanofibers on activated carbon fibres (ACF), and characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffractometry (XRD). The most suitable condition for electrospinning is the mass ratio of WCl6 to PVP 0.6, appropriate amount DMF and ethanol, a voltage of 28 kV, the reception distance of 15 cm, the humidity range within 10% and 20% and the moving rate of the pump 0.001 mm/s. The photocatalytic activities of WO nanofibers were evaluated by the photo-degradation of phenol solution under the irradiation of 500 W xenon lamp. The results showed that, the sizes of the fibers are about 100 nm, and after being photodegraded for 210 min, the concentration of phenol decreased from 20.05 mg/L to 8.60 mg/L. Thus, the photo-degradation rate of WO nanofibers for phenol solution is 2.87 mg/(L·h). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS), an artificial fluorosurfactant and global contaminant, is used widely in various consumer products. In this study, we investigated the function of estrogen receptor β (ERβ) in PFOS-induced bile acid and cholesterol metabolism disorders and gut microbiome using ERβ knockout mice that were exposed to PFOS by gavage. Our results showed that a daily dose of 5 mg PFOS/kg significantly induced hydropic degeneration and vacuolation in hepatic cells, reduced bile acid, and cholesterol levels in liver tissue, and influenced the abundance and composition of gut microbiota. Notably, ERβ deficiency not only ameliorated morphological alterations of hepatocytes but also relieved disorders in bile acids and cholesterol metabolism caused by PFOS. Furthermore, the changes in the gut microbiome by PFOS were also modulated. The relative transcript abundance of key genes involved in bile acid and cholesterol metabolism exhibited similar changes. In HepG2 cells, PFOS increased ERβ expression, which could be blocked by adding PHTPP (a selective antagonist of ERβ). Our study thus provides new evidence that ERβ mediates PFOS-induced hepatotoxicity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, three new circulant operator matrices, scaled circulant operator matrices, diag-circulant operator matrices and retrocirculant operator matrices, are given respectively. Several norm equalities and inequalities for these operator matrices are proved. We show the special cases for norm equalities and inequalities, such as the usual operator norm and the Schatten p-norm. Pinching type inequality is also given for weakly unitarily invariant norms. These results are closely related to the nice structure of these special operator matrices. Furthermore, some special cases and specific examples are also considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]