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This study presents a case of a female infertile patient suffering from embryonic arrest and recurrent implantation failure. The primary objective was to assess the copy number variations (CNVs) and DNA methylation of her embryos. Genetic diagnosis was conducted by whole-exome sequencing and validated through Sanger sequencing. CNV evaluation of two cleavage stage embryos was performed using whole-genome sequencing, while DNA methylation and CNV assessment of two blastocysts were carried out using whole-genome bisulfite sequencing. We identified two novel pathogenic frameshift variants in the MEI1 gene (NM_152513.3, c.3002delC, c.2264_2268 + 11delGTGAGGTATGGACCAC) in the proband. These two variants were inherited from her heterozygous parents, consistent with autosomal recessive genetic transmission. Notably, two Day 3 embryos and two Day 6 blastocysts were all aneuploid, with numerous monosomy and trisomy events. Moreover, global methylation levels greatly deviated from the optimized window of 0.25–0.27, measuring 0.344 and 0.168 for the respective blastocysts. This study expands the mutational spectrum of MEI1 and is the first to document both aneuploidy and abnormal methylation levels in embryos from a MEI1-affected female patient presenting with embryonic arrest. Given that females affected by MEI1 mutations might experience either embryonic arrest or monospermic androgenetic hydatidiform moles due to the extrusion of all maternal chromosomes, the genetic makeup of the arrested embryos of MEI1 patients provides important clues for understanding the different disease mechanisms of the two phenotypes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nanosheet-liked mesoporous SAPO-34 zeolites were synthesized by a facile surfactant-assisted hydrothermal synthesis method. Compositions, morphology, acidities, chemical environment and texture properties of SAPO-34 zeolites synthesized were characterized by XRD, SEM, TEM, AFM, NH3-TPD, N2 adsorption–desorption, XPS, and TG measurements. The morphology and the surface acid density of SAPO-34 zeolite can be controlled by adding of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) and using triethanolamine (TEA) as the template. The nanosheet-liked mesoporous SAPO-34 zeolites have lower amount of strong acid strongth with the thickness of about 3.0 nm. The catalysis performance for methanol-to-olefin (MTO) over nanosheet-like SAPO-34 zeolites was systematically studied. Under the condition of temperature at 400 °C, feeding WHSV of 2.0 h−1, catalyst mass of 0.2 g and at atmospheric pressure, the methanol conversion is nearly 100% and the light olefins selectivity is 97.35%. As nanosheet-like SAPO-34 zeolites shorten the diffusion path and enhance the mass flow to and away from the catalytic centers, the catalyst lifetime is more than 420 min. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Little is known regarding why a subset of COVID-19 patients exhibited prolonged positivity of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Here, we found that patients with long viral RNA course (LC) exhibited prolonged high-level IgG antibodies and higher regulatory T (Treg) cell counts compared to those with short viral RNA course (SC) in terms of viral load. Longitudinal proteomics and metabolomics analyses of the patient sera uncovered that prolonged viral RNA shedding was associated with inhibition of the liver X receptor/retinoid X receptor (LXR/RXR) pathway, substantial suppression of diverse metabolites, activation of the complement system, suppressed cell migration, and enhanced viral replication. Furthermore, a ten-molecule learning model was established which could potentially predict viral RNA shedding period. In summary, this study uncovered enhanced inflammation and suppressed adaptive immunity in COVID-19 patients with prolonged viral RNA shedding, and proposed a multi-omic classifier for viral RNA shedding prediction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cadmium-modified HZSM-5 zeolite (Cd/HZSM-5) was prepared by ultrasound-assisted impregnation and its catalytic performance for methanol to aromatics (MTA) was investigated. It was characterized by means of XRD, SEM, TEM, Py-IR, N2 adsorption/desorption, NH3-TPD and XPS. Cd species distribute in the surface of the HZSM-5 zeolite, decreasing the crystallinity and increasing the Lewis acidity strength. Under the operating reaction condition of temperature at 400 °C, pressure at 0.1 MPa and space velocity of 1.896 h−1, 1.4 wt% Cd/HZSM-5 zeolites showed good catalytic activity for MTA with the aromatic's selectivity of 71.1%. Compared with that of about 7.5% over HZSM-5, the trimethylbenzene isomers in aromatics is 86.6% and the main product is 1,2,4-trimethylbenzene with selectivity of 34.0% in all products and 86.5% in trimethylbenzene isomers over 1.4 wt% Cd/HZSM-5 zeolites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Propane dehydrogenation to propene is an endothermic reaction and CO2 hydrogenation to light olefins is an exothermic reaction. Using the CO2 hydrogenation reaction to consume the hydrogen from the propane dehydrogenation reaction, which is more favorable to propylene formation. A new method for coupling propane and CO2 to propylene is presented. The V–Fe modified KIT-6 was prepared by the ultrasonic-assisted impregnation method and used for coupling reaction of propane with CO2 to propylene. Exploring the relationship between catalytic properties and physicochemical characteristics through several characterization methods. As the appropriate amounts of V and Fe species were introduced into the framework of KIT-6, V–Fe modified KIT-6 performed large specific surface area, a highly ordered mesoporous structure and highly dispersed V and Fe active sites. The catalysis performance of V–Fe modified KIT-6 zeolites for production of propylene by propane dehydrogenation, CO2 hydrogenation and coupling reaction of C3H8 with CO2 was compared. Under the conditions of C3H8/CO2/N2 = 1:4:5, total flow rate = 20 mL/min, the temperature at 580 °C, the reaction pressure at 0.1 MPa, V/Fe molar ratio = 2 and the catalyst mass of 0.2 g, the propane conversion, propylene selectivity and yield are 37.8%, 87.0% and 32.9%, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nanoscale polymer spherical and hollow structure HZSM-5 zeolites are prepared by hydrothermal and desilication–recrystallization methods. In addition, the crystallite size of two types of HZSM-5 can be easily controlled by changing H2O/Si mole ratio. The hollow structure HZSM-5 zeolite is formed, it is due to the 010 crystal plane is the most energetically favorable orientation in silicalite-1 and the Si species is first removed on this crystal plane. The properties of different morphology zeolites were characterized by means of XRD, SEM, TEM, NH3-TPD, N2 isothermal adsorption–desorption and TG, and the catalytic performance of these two types of HZSM-5 in MTA reaction was investigated in a fixed-bed differential reactor. The results showed that the multilevel pore structure and suitable acid strength and more acid density were obtained in the hollow structure HZSM-5 zeolite. Therefore, the hollow HZSM-5 zeolite exhibited that higher catalytic lifetime and selectivity of aromatics than nanoscale polymer spherical HZSM-5 zeolite in MTA reaction. Furthermore, the Al distribution on the 010 crystal plane may change slightly during the process of fabricating hollow mesoporous, which leads to higher selectivity of p-xylene over hollow HZSM-5 than nanoscale polymer spherical HZSM-5 zeolite. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

S-doped NiFe-based particles were prepared by a solvothermal method and used to degrade methylene blue (MB) aqueous solutions with visible light in a heterogeneous Fenton reaction. The obtained solid samples were characterized by XRD, SEM, TEM, and XPS. It was found that 0.2 g L−1 NiFe2S4 can degrade 99.8% MB solution within 6 min in the presence of 5 mM H2O2 and natural pH. The recycle experiments results indicate that the NiFe2S4 catalyst possessed better stability than NiFe2O4. Furthermore, NiFe2S4 particles can be easily separated from contaminant solution by using a magnet due to their excellent ferromagnetism. COD analysis experiments indicated that the COD removal rate of NiFe2S4 is 73.1% in 30 min. A possible mechanism was proposed, and the degradation products were measured by LC-MS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To improve the dispersion of metals and to enhance the catalytic performance of SAPO-34 molecular sieves, the template-assisted method was applied to synthesize Co, Ni and Zn modified SAPO-34 molecular sieves by using palygorskite as silicon source and tetraethylammonium hydroxide as template. The metal modified SAPO-34 molecular sieves were characterized by XRD, SEM, XPS, N2-adsorption-desorption, NH3-TPD, FTIR, ICP-AES and TG. The N atoms of tetraethylammonium hydroxide exhibited the different forces to three metal ions, thus the acidity of the molecular sieves was further regulated. Compared with metal modified SAPO-34 molecular sieves prepared by impregnation, metal modified SAPO-34 molecular sieves prepared by template-assisted maintained higher surface area, bigger pore volume and better dispersion of metals. The catalytic performance of metal modified SAPO-34 molecular sieves prepared by template-assisted method in the reaction of methanol-to-olefins (MTO) was investigated in the fixed bed reactor. Under the reaction conditions that the reaction temperature was 400 °C, the reaction pressure was 0.1 MPa, the feed WHSV was 2.0 h−1 and the mass of catalyst was 0.5 g, Ni modified SAPO-34 molecular sieves exhibited great methanol conversion and high selectivity to light olefins. The selectivity of light olefins reached 95.7%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using ethylene glycol as solvent and PVP as structure-directing agent, CuFe2O4 nanospheres were successfully prepared by solvothermal method. The crystal structure, morphology, magnetic properties, and pore-size distribution of samples were characterized by using X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope, transmission electron microscope, VSM, and BET, respectively. The effects of various preparation factors on the crystal form and morphology of the obtained samples were systematically discussed. The result exhibited that the self-assembled hollow nanospheres with good crystal form and morphology are obtained under the conditions of 0.50 g PVP, 9 mmol NaAc, reaction temperature of 180 °C, and reaction time of 24 h. The catalytic activity of CuFe2O4 hollow nanospheres was evaluated by the degradation of methylene blue (MB) and the possible degradation mechanism and pathway of MB in the CuFe2O4/H2O2 photo-Fenton-like system were proposed. In addition, the properties of CuFe2O4 particles prepared by different methods were compared and analyzed. The sample synthesized by solvothermal method has a large specific surface area and excellent magnetic properties. Furthermore, the increase in the photoelectric response and the conductivity are beneficial to the improvement of catalytic performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Pain is one of the most commonly reported symptoms in patients with advanced cancer, but is still less than optimally treated. The effect of traditional Chinese medicine in cancer pain treatment is nowadays getting more and more attention.Objective: To investigate the effect of a coix seed oil injection on cancer pain relief in a cancer center in a tertiary hospital in China.Methods: Patients in the treatment group received a coix seed oil injection for 2 weeks, while patients in the control group received equivalent 0.9% saline. The numeric rating scale was used to assess the pain level. The Quality of Life Questionnaire-Core 30 was used to assess life quality. The adverse drug reactions during the treatment process were observed.Results: Patients in the coix seed treatment group had significantly superior efficacy on pain control over those in the control group. Coix seed therapy significantly improved patients' scores reflecting by the Quality of Life Questionnaire-Core 30 (QLQ-C30) scale. In addition, the occurrence of adverse reactions such as constipation and nausea in the treatment group was significantly lower than that in the control group.Conclusion: The coix seed oil injection effectively reduced the pain level of cancer patients, significantly improved their life quality, and had no obvious adverse effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Self-cleaning superhydrophobic coatings with water contact angle as high as 156° and sliding angle as low as 3° were prepared through a facile one-step spray coating process by spraying the hydrophobic silica nanoparticles onto Al substrate. In addition, the superhydrophobic coatings maintained excellent electrochemical corrosion resistance in a 3.5 wt% NaCl aqueous solution. The corrosion behavior of the superhydrophobic coatings on the Al substrate was characterized by the polarization curve and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The results indicated that the superhydrophobic coatings possessed excellent corrosion resistance. In addition, liquid marbles coated with hydrophobic silica nanoparticles were prepared by gentle rolling of liquid on powder beds of hydrophobic silica nanoparticles. Furthermore, water evaporation from the silica shell with time evolution was investigated using a contact angle measurement system video camera. Graphical Abstract: Superhydrophobic silica surface with excellent corrosion resistance and liquid marbles coated with hydrophobic silica were fabricated by a facile process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]