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Environmental plastic wastes are continuously degraded into microplastics (MPs) and nanoplastics (NPs); the latter are more potentially harmful to organisms and human health as their smaller size and higher surface-to-volume ratio. Previous reviews on NPs mainly concentrate on specific aspects, such as sources, environmental behavior, and toxicological effects, but few focused on NPs-related scientific publications from a global point of view. Therefore, this bibliometric study aims to summarize the research themes and trends on NPs and also propose potential directions for future inquiry. Related papers were downloaded from the Web of Science Core Collection database on NPs published from 2008 to 2021, and then retrieved information was analyzed using CiteSpace 6.1 R2 and VOSviewer (version 1.6.). Research on NPs mainly involved environmental behaviors, toxicological effects, identification and extraction of NPs, whereas aquatic environments, especially marine systems, attracted more attentions from these scientists compare to terrestrial environments. Furthermore, the adsorption behavior of pollutants by NPs and the toxicological effects of organisms exposed to NPs are the present hotspots, while the regulation of humic acid (HA) on NPs behaviors and the environmental behavior of NPs in freshwater, like rivers and lakes, are the frontier areas of research. This study also explored the possible opportunities and challenges that may be faced in NPs research, which provide a valuable summary and outlook for ongoing NPs-related research, which may be of intrigue and noteworthiness for relevant researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Continuous-variable measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution (CV-MDI QKD), whose core is Bell detection, can effectively resist attacks on the detection system. However, in CV-MDI QKD, Charlie is untrusted; the external environment will cause non-ideal Bell detection that will open security loopholes. We give a complete security analysis under non-ideal Bell detection caused by on-orthogonal measurement. The simulation results indicate that compared with no angle error, only 1 ∘ angle error will cause the transmission distance to drop by 7 km. Therefore, our research further improves and perfects the security of CV-MDI QKD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Firms may invest in cloud computing for exploitative or explorative innovation. Exploitative innovation oriented cloud computing investments impact the firms' core business limitedly while the investments for explorative innovation bring the firms both more opportunities and risks such as complex integration with multiple participants. Different enterprises should invest in cloud computing for different orientations according to their situations so as to fully realize the business value. This study examines how the business value of cloud computing is contingent on the investment orientations and the contextual factors of firm characteristics. Taking 183 Chinese listed companies adopted cloud computing as the research sample, we conduct event study methodology to investigate the business value of cloud computing regarding the focal firms' objectives and characteristics including organizational inertia, innovation capability and industry types. The results show that the business value of cloud investment for explorative innovation is more positive than that for exploitative innovation especially for the innovative firms with weak organizational inertia in non-service industries. Meanwhile, achievement of cloud computing business value is complementary to overcoming organizational inertia and promoting innovation capability. This study extends the boundary of business value research of cloud computing and provides references for cloud investment decision making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Uniform hexagonal hematite (α-Fe2O3) nanoplates were prepared via a facile alcohol-thermal reaction without using any template. Each nanoplate is enclosed by (0001) basal planes and {10 2} side surfaces. The phase, size, shape and growth orientation of the resulting product were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM).In order to obtain a product with more uniform and stable morphology, on the basis of predecessors' studies, the reaction time was adjusted to a small extent, so that an ideal hexagonal nanoplates was obtained. Magnetite (Fe3O4) nanoplates were obtained through a reduction process without changing the morphology and size of the resulting α-Fe2O3 nanoplates. Detection of transition from α-Fe2O3 to Fe3O4 nanoplates by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS).The magnetic properties of these reduced nanoplates were investigated and it was found that these nanoplates have higher coercivity and lower saturation magnetization than many other nanostructured iron oxides. The surface adsorption of nonmagnetic materials and their flake morphology may be the cause of this phenomenon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study attempted to compare the performance of local polynomial interpolation, inverse distance weighted interpolation, and ordinary kriging in studying distribution patterns of swimming crabs. Cross-validation was used to select the optimum method to get distribution results, and kriging was used for making spatial variability analysis. Data were collected from 87 sampling stations in November of 2015 (autumn) and February (winter), May (spring) and August (summer) of 2016. Results indicate that swimming crabs widely distributed in autumn and summer: in the summer, they were more spatially independent, and resources in each sampling station varied a lot; in the winter and spring, the abundance of crabs was much lower, but the individual crab size was bigger, and they showed the patchy and more concentrative distribution pattern, which means they were more spatially dependent. Distribution patterns were in accordance with ecological migration features of swimming crabs, which were affected by the changing marine environment. This study could infer that it is applicable to study crab fishery or even other crustacean species using geostatistical analysis. It not only helps practitioners have a better understanding of how swimming crabs migrate from season to season, but also assists researchers in carrying out a more comprehensive assessment of the fishery. Therefore, it may facilitate advancing the implementation in the pilot quota management program of swimming crabs in northern Zhejiang fishing grounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chinese named entity recognition (CNER) aims to identify entity names such as person names and organization names from Chinese raw text and thus can quickly extract the entity information that people are concerned about from large-scale texts. Recent studies attempt to improve performance by integrating lexicon words into char-based CNER models. These existing studies, however, usually focus on leveraging the context-free words in lexicon without considering the contextual information of words and subwords in the sentences. To address this issue, in addition to utilizing the lexicon words, we further propose to construct a hierarchical tree structure representation composed of characters, subwords and context-aware predicted words from segmentor to represent each sentence for CNER. Based on the tree-structure representation, we propose a hierarchical long short-term memory (HiLSTM) framework, which consists of hierarchical encoding layer, fusion layer and CRF layer, to capture linguistic knowledge at different levels. On the one hand, the interactions within each level help to obtain the contextual information. On the other hand, the propagations from the lower-levels to the upper-levels can provide additional semantic knowledge for CNER. Experimental results on three widely used CNER datasets show that our proposed HiLSTM model achieves significant improvement over several strong benchmark methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Procyanidins, the oligomeric compounds formed from catechin and epicatechin molecules, are potentially effective targets as nutraceuticals or pharmaceuticals in the prevention and treatment of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Natural procyanidins can attenuate AD pathological features, extracellular amyloid deposits, and neurofibrillary tangles via reducing Aβ accumulation and tau pathology. The enhancement of cognition as well as modulation of synaptic plasticity by these compounds also participated in the alleviation of AD. Notably, procyanidins and some of their metabolites have been observed to upregulate SIRT1 (silent information regulator 1) which is essential for normal cognitive and synaptic plasticity, and stimulate CREB (cAMP response element binding) which acts as a molecular switch from short- to long-term memory. Based on the interplay of CREB-SIRT1 axis, it is therefore conceivable that the regulation of procyanidins by the means of CREB-SIRT1 could promote the cognitive function and is thus conducive for AD pathogenesis. This review focuses on the role of procyanidins, the main group of flavonoids, on AD and the potential mechanism involved CREB-SIRT1 axis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental energy harvesting devices hold great prospect for the next generation electronics, which have attracted intensive attentions recently. In this research, a gradient polyoxometalates-modified graphene oxide (g-POMs-GO) with three-dimensional cross-linking inner structure is synthesized by a weak reductant of GO with ethylenediamine and a special soaking treatment in phosphotungstic acid (HPW). Owing to the gradient introduction of HPW, the as-prepared g-POMs-GO is able to provide moisture-enabled current output of 6.2 uA cm−2 with a power density of ≈ 0.7 mW m−2 by harvesting energy from moisture. Moreover, the humidity-to-electric conversion device of g-POMs-GO provides a new, practical method to track the respiratory activity of subjects and can directly use to record and analyze patterns of human breathing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oxidative desulfurization (ODS) of organic compounds containing sulfur element from a model oil was performed using tungsten oxide catalysts supported on mesoporous silica with cubic Ia3d mesostructure, well-defined mesopores (7.2 nm), high surface area (719 m2/g), and three-dimensional pore network (WOx/KIT-6). The prepared WOx/KIT-6 catalysts (5-20 wt% WOx) were characterized by X-ray diffraction analysis, N2 sorption measurements, electron microscopy, H2-temperature programmed reduction, Raman spectroscopy, and thermogravimetric analysis. Among the mesoporous catalysts, 10 wt% WOx/KIT-6 exhibited the best catalytic performance. Sulfur-containing organic compounds, such as dibenzothiophene, 4,6-dimethyldibenzothiophene, and benzothiophene, were completely (100 %) removed from the model oil over 10 wt% WOx/KIT-6 catalyst in 2 h. In addition, the catalyst could be reused several times with only slight decrease in catalytic activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The anatomic structure of the cochlear aqueduct (CA) in human temporal bone specimens was observed using micro-computed tomography (CT).Materials and methods: Micro-CT scanning of 18-µm-thick slices was performed on 30 slides of human temporal bone specimens to observe the CA structure and its relationship with its surroundings. The length, internal and external apertures, and the narrowest width of the CA were measured. The differences in CAs were compared between high jugular bulb (HJB) specimens and normal specimens.Results: A large number of CA images were acquired using Micro-CT scanning, which clearly displayed the basic anatomic structures, stereotactic localizations, and adjacent relationships of the CAs. The whole course of a CA was 12.31 ± 3.60 mm, the diameter of the internal aperture was 465 ± 242 µm, the diameter of the external aperture was 2.88 ± 1.06 mm, the narrowest diameter was 601 ± 335 µm, the diameter of the opening of inferior cochlear vein (ICV) was 151 ± 50 µm, the distance between the internal aperture and ICV was 270 ± 197 µm, and the distance between the inferior margin of the internal acoustic meatus (IAM) and the top most part of the external aperture of the CA was 6.783 ± 2.15 mm. No bony obstruction of the CA or CA enlargement was observed in the specimens. A total of 28 CAs had one accompanying bony canal in the surroundings. The length and travelling of the CA were not affected by the level of the jugular bulb (JB). The variation of the travelling of the ICV was larger than that of the CA.Conclusion: Micro-CT adequately displayed the bony CA canal and provided a new method for anatomical studies of the CA and a basis for functional studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Mesoporous silica KIT-6-, SBA-15-, and MCM-41-supported Ni catalysts (Ni/KIT-6, Ni/SBA-15, and Ni/MCM-41) were prepared via impregnation method and studied for CO2 reforming of CH4. The catalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction analysis, N2 physisorption measurements, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and temperature-programmed oxidation (O2-TPO). The Ni/KIT-6 catalyst exhibited higher catalytic activity and long-term stability compared with Ni/SBA-15 or Ni/MCM-41. The conversion of CH4 and CO2 over Ni/KIT-6 was 99 and 99 %, respectively. The superior catalytic behavior of Ni/KIT-6 is closely related to the large-pore cubic Ia3d structure of KIT-6, which enhanced dispersion of Ni nanoparticles, reduced carbon deposition, and increased diffusion of reactant and products.Graphical Abstract: [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ordered mesoporous FeO, TiO, and FeO-TiO composites with different molar Ti to Fe ratio were prepared via a nano-replication method using highly ordered mesoporous silica as a hard template. Physicochemical properties of the mesoporous catalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction, electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and N adsorption-desorption analysis. The photocatalytic performances of the catalysts were evaluated in terms of methylene blue removal efficiency, using 70 ppm methylene blue solution with 5 mM HO as an assistive oxidant under UV light and visible light generated by 150 W xenon lamp system. Rate constant values were used to compare photocatalytic activities of the prepared samples. Under UV light, ordered mesoporous TiO showed the highest rate constant as expected, and ordered mesoporous FeO-TiO (1:1) and (1:2) exhibited comparable catalytic activities to TiO. In the case of visible light irradiation experiment, the highest rate constant was observed over the catalyst with Fe:Ti molar ratio of 1:1, which is probably due to its low band gap energy (about 1.90 eV). The excellent photocatalytic activity of ordered mesoporous FeO-TiO (1:1) under both UV and visible light irradiation can be explained as a consequence of the large surface area with large pore volumes, and charge separation ability enhancement by heterojunctions between FeO and TiO. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highly ordered mesoporous cobalt-copper composite oxides were prepared by the nanocasting method with various Co and Cu ratios. The catalysts obtained were characterized by X-ray diffraction, N adsorption-desorption, H-temperature programmed reduction, CO-temperature programmed desorption and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. All of the catalysts had uniform mesopores and high surface areas. The distinct catalytic properties of these well-characterized mesoporous materials were demonstrated for preferential CO oxidation. It is found that the mesoporous cobalt-copper composite oxides, exhibited the higher catalytic activity for CO conversion and selectivity compared with the mesoporous CoO and mesoporous CuO. Among these catalysts the mesoporous cobalt-copper catalyst with Co:Cu molar ratio of 70:30, shows the best catalytic activity and the broadest operating temperature 'window' for the high CO conversion in the range of 125-200C. The higher catalytic activity was attributed to the higher CO adsorption and oxygen vacancies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of samarium addition on the microstructures and mechanical properties of Al-5Cu alloys. The microstructures were examined by optical microscopy, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, energy diffraction spectroscopy and differential thermal analysis. It was found that Sm was capable significantly of affecting the microstructures of Al-5Cu alloys. When 0.4 wt% Sm was added into the alloy, the aspect ratio and the mean area of AlCu phase were 10.9 and 61.0 μm. They were decreased by 31.5% and 43.3% when compared with unmodified alloy. Meanwhile, a kind of nano size strengthening AlSm phase was formed in Al-5Cu alloys. In addition, the differential thermal analysis results showed that Sm addition results in a decrease in the melting temperature of α-Al and AlCu. And a good combination of yield strength (244.5 MPa), ultimate tensile strength (269.4 MPa) and elongation (6.9%) was obtained when the Sm addition was 0.4 wt%. Compared with unmodified Al-5Cu alloys, they were increased by 37.6%, 35.2% and 21.1%, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A freshwater algicidal bacterial strain, Lzh-5, isolated from Lake Taihu, with strong algicidal activity against Microcystis aeruginosa, was identified as Bacillus sp. based on its phenotypic characteristics and 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene sequence. The algicidal mode of Bacillus sp. Lzh-5 was indirect, attacking M. aeruginosa cells by releasing algicidal compounds. Two algicidal compounds (S-5A and S-5B) produced by Bacillus sp. Lzh-5 were purified with ethyl acetate extraction, column chromatography, and high-performance liquid chromatography and identified as hexahydropyrrolo[1,2-a]pyrazine-1,4-dione and 3-isopropyl-hexahydropyrrolo[1,2-a]pyrazine-1,4-dione based on liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, and nuclear magnetic resonance analyses. The active algicidal compounds S-5A (hexahydropyrrolo[1,2-a]pyrazine-1,4-dione) and S-5B (3-isopropyl-hexahydropyrrolo[1,2-a]pyrazine-1,4-dione) displayed high levels of algicidal activity against M. aeruginosa 9110, with LD values of 5.7 and 19.4 μg/ml, respectively. This is the first report of 3-isopropyl-hexahydropyrrolo[1,2-a]pyrazine-1,4-dione as an algicidal compound. Compounds S-5A and S-5B also induced obvious morphological changes in M. aeruginosa 9110. In cocultures of M. aeruginosa 9110 and Bacillus sp. Lzh-5, the cell density of Bacillus sp. Lzh-5 and the concentrations of S-5A and S-5B correlated positively with the algicidal activity. Our results indicate that strain Lzh-5 and its two algicidal compounds are potentially useful for controlling cyanobacterial blooms in Lake Taihu. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The spin structure and magnetization reversal in Co/insulator/Fe trilayer nanodots are investigated by micromagnetic simulations. The vortex and C-state are found and the magnetization reversal is dominated by the shape asymmetry of the dots, which is produced by cutting off a fraction of the circular dot. The vortex chirality is thus controlled by the magnetic field direction. On the other hand, the magnetostatic interaction between the top and bottom magnetic layers has interesting influence on the dot reversal process, where the magnetocrystalline anisotropy direction of the Co layer is allowed to vary within the layer plane. The combined effect of these two aspects is discussed on the base of dot coercivity, remanent magnetization, vortex nucleation and annihilation, and the bias of the Fe layer hysteresis loop. While leading to a new S-state in circle dots, the interlayer interaction facilitates the formation of C-state in asymmetric dots, which reduces the vortex nucleation field. The bias effect of all dots is decreased with the deviation of the Co layer easy axis from the field direction. Unlike the circle and semicircle dots, the field range of the vortex state in other asymmetric dots increases with the angle between the cutting direction and the Co layer anisotropy. Additionally, vortex ranges in less asymmetric dots even larger than that in the circle dots are evidenced unexpectedly. Therefore, the control of the vortex chirality and enhancement of the vortex range are found simultaneously. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cyanobacterial blooms have become a serious problem in Lake Taihu during the last 20 years, and Microcystis aeruginosa and Synechococcus sp. are the two dominant species in cyanobacterial blooms of Lake Taihu. A freshwater bacterial strain, Shewanella sp. Lzh-2, with strong algicidal properties against harmful cyanobacteria was isolated from Lake Taihu. Two substances with algicidal activity secreted extracellularly by Shewanella sp. Lzh-2, S-2A and S-2B, were purified from the bacterial culture of strain Lzh-2 using ethyl acetate extraction, column chromatography, and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) in turn. The substances S-2A and S-2B were identified as hexahydropyrrolo[1,2-a]pyrazine-1,4-dione and 2, 3-indolinedione (isatin), respectively, based on liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS), gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), and hydrogen-nuclear magnetic resonance (H-NMR) analyses, making this the first report of their algicidal activity toward cyanobacteria. S-2A (hexahydropyrrolo[1,2-a]pyrazine-1,4-dione) had no algicidal effects against Synechococcus sp. BN60, but had a high level of algicidal activity against M. aeruginosa 9110. The LD50 value of S-2A against M. aeruginosa 9110 was 5.7 μg/ml. S-2B (2, 3-indolinedione) showed a potent algicidal effect against both M. aeruginosa 9110 and Synechococcus sp. BN60, and the LD50 value of S-2B against M. aeruginosa 9110 and Synechococcus sp. BN60 was 12.5 and 34.2 μg/ml, respectively. Obvious morphological changes in M. aeruginosa 9110 and Synechococcus sp. BN60 were observed after they were exposed to S-2A (or S-2B) for 24 h. Approximately, the algicidal activity, the concentration of S-2A and S-2B, and the cell density of Lzh-2 were positively related to each other during the cocultivation process. Overall, these findings increase our knowledge about algicidal substances secreted by algicidal bacteria and indicate that strain Lzh-2 and its two algicidal substances have the potential for use as a bio-agent in controlling cyanobacterial blooms in Lake Taihu. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highly ordered mesoporous metal oxides (meso-MO) such as CeO, CoO, CrO, MnO, NiO, RuO, SnO and TiO were successfully synthesized using mesoporous silica KIT-6 as a hard template via the nano-replication method. The physicochemical properties of as-prepared meso-MO were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, N adsorption-desorption and temperature programmed techniques. Their catalytic behavior toward HO decomposition was investigated and compared with the corresponding bulk metal oxides (bulk-MO) synthesized by the conventional precipitation method. These meso-MO materials exhibited much higher catalytic activities than their bulk counterparts. In particular, meso-MnO and meso-RuO showed high activities, while meso-SnO resulted in no activity toward HO decomposition. The overall conversion of HO followed a general order: MnO > RuO > CoO > CeO > NiO > CrO > TiO > SnO. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In hydrothermal reactions at 150-180 °C, 2-(arylamino)nicotinic acids were synthesized by amination of 2-chloronicotinic acid with aromatic amine derivatives, with potassium carbonate as base. The procedure is efficient, environmentally friendly, and practical, with moderate to excellent yields (up to 98%). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highly ordered mesoporous cerium dioxide (meso-CeO) was successfully synthesized using a facile solvent-free infiltration method from a mesoporous silica template, KIT-6. The meso-CeO material, thus obtained, exhibited well-defined mesostructure and high surface area (153 m g). The physicochemical properties of meso-CeO material and Pd-supported on meso-CeO (Pd/meso-CeO) were characterized by electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, N adsorption-desorption, and temperature-programmed experiments. The Pd/meso-CeO catalyst exhibited excellent catalytic activity for CO oxidation compared with those of other Pd/CeO catalysts which were prepared using nanocrystalline CeO and bulk-CeO as the supports. Moreover, a hydrogen pretreatment of the Pd/meso-CeO catalyst resulted in a remarkable increase of catalytic activity ( T = 52 °C). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The characteristics of two-target detection and imaging from negative-refraction photonic crystal (NR-PC) flat lens are studied by using the two-dimensional finite-difference time-domain method. It is demonstrated that due to the influence of the mini-forbidden band and resonance excitation effect, high transmissivity will appear at the normalized resonance frequency of 0.3068 when the lightwave goes through the NR-PC lens. Meanwhile, the use of the NR-PC lens may introduce at least fourfold improvement of the refocusing resolution, if compared to the directly backscattered lightwave without using the NR-PC lens. In addition, by giving a defination for two-target minimum distinguishable distance, we further investigate the performance of two-target detection and imaging system using the proposed focus-scanning scheme. The results show that the smaller the size of the target pair is, the weeker the interference between the two targets will be, which results in a better performance in the minimum distinguishable distance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper a finite-difference time-domain method is used to model and analyze the application of dynamic scanning in target detection and imaging by using an effective negative-refraction photonic crystal (NR-PC) flat lens. The results show that there is a transmission peak, with a value far greater than unity, resulting from the influence of mini-forbidden bands and resonance excitation effect at a resonance frequency of 0.3068(α/λ). Thus, the lightwave emitted from the point source will provide strong back-scattered waves after being focused on the target by the NR-PC lens that greatly improves the refocusing resolution and imaging resolution of the backscattered wave. Furthermore, a comparison with a non-dynamic scanning scheme clearly demonstrates that the dynamic scanning scheme provides improved refocusing resolution. In conclusion, our investigation optimized the perform- ance of a detection and imaging system, and provided the basis for converting an idealized LHM lens into a physically realizable NR-PC flat lens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hollow C70 nano/submicro-crystals with a fcc lattice structure were treated under various high pressure and high temperature conditions. The energy band structure was visibly changed by the high pressure and high temperature treatment, and the luminescence of the treated C70 nano/submicro-crystals were tuned from the visible to the near infrared range. In-situ high pressure experiments at room temperature indicate that pressure plays a key role in the tuning of the band gap and PL properties in C70 nanocrystals, and temperature plays an important role in the formation of stable intermolecular bonds and thus to define the final red-shift of the PL peaks. The polymeric phases of C70 nanocrystals treated at high pressure and high temperature were identified from their Raman spectra, which showed a change from monomers to a dimer-rich phase and finally to a phase containing larger, disordered C70 oligomers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Apoptosis inhibitor of macrophage (AIM, encoded by cd5l) is a multi-functional circulating protein that has a beneficial role in the regulation of a broad range of diseases, some of which are ameliorated by AIM administration in mice. In blood, AIM is stabilized by association with IgM pentamers and maintains its high circulating levels. The mechanism regulating the excessive accumulation of blood AIM remains unknown, although it is important, since a constitutive increase in AIM levels promotes chronic inflammation. Here we found a physiological AIM-cleavage process that induces destabilization of AIM and its excretion in urine. In blood, IgM-free AIM appeared to be cleaved and reduced in size approximately 10 kDa. Cleaved AIM was unable to bind to IgM and was selectively filtered by the glomerulus, thereby excreted in urine. Amino acid substitution at the cleavage site resulted in no renal excretion of AIM. Interestingly, cleaved AIM retained a comparable potency with full-length AIM in facilitating the clearance of dead cell debris in injured kidney, which is a key response in the recovery of acute kidney injury. Identification of AIM-cleavage and resulting functional modification could be the basis for designing safe and efficient AIM therapy for various diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Mesoporous silica KIT-6-, SBA-15-, and MCM-41-supported Ni catalysts (Ni/KIT-6, Ni/SBA-15, and Ni/MCM-41) were prepared via impregnation method and studied for CO2 reforming of CH4. The catalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction analysis, N2 physisorption measurements, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and temperature-programmed oxidation (O2-TPO). The Ni/KIT-6 catalyst exhibited higher catalytic activity and long-term stability compared with Ni/SBA-15 or Ni/MCM-41. The conversion of CH4 and CO2 over Ni/KIT-6 was 99 and 99 %, respectively. The superior catalytic behavior of Ni/KIT-6 is closely related to the large-pore cubic Ia3d structure of KIT-6, which enhanced dispersion of Ni nanoparticles, reduced carbon deposition, and increased diffusion of reactant and products.Graphical Abstract: [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]