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Abstract Biomolecular coacervates are emerging models to understand biological systems and important building blocks for designer applications. DNA can be used to build up programmable coacervates, but often the processes and building blocks to make those are only available to specialists. Here, we report a simple approach for the formation of dynamic, multivalency-driven coacervates using long single-stranded DNA homopolymer in combination with a series of palindromic binders to serve as a synthetic coacervate droplet. We reveal details on how the length and sequence of the multivalent binders influence coacervate formation, how to introduce switching and autonomous behavior in reaction circuits, as well as how to engineer wetting, engulfment and fusion in multi-coacervate system. Our simple-to-use model DNA coacervates enhance the understanding of coacervate dynamics, fusion, phase transition mechanisms, and wetting behavior between coacervates, forming a solid foundation for the development of innovative synthetic and programmable coacervates for fundamental studies and applications.

Grain of high yield and quality is needed worldwide due to the needs of a rapidly increasing human population. However, diseases caused by some stubborn types of phytopathogenic bacteria can limit the health and yields of crops. Even worse, conventional commercial bactericides have limited efficacy against such diseases. Therefore, exploring some efficacious bactericidal alternatives is urgently needed. In this work, a new type of 3-(piperazin-1-yl)propan-2-ol modified carbazole derivatives was synthesized and assessed for their bactericidal activity. Among them, compound B16 was the optimal active molecule, giving the EC50 values of 3.11 (Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae), 3.20 (Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. citri) and 3.54 μg/mL (Pseudomonas syringae pv. actinidiae). Pot experiments revealed compound B16 to be able to control rice bacterial leaf blight. Some biochemical assays illustrated that our designed compounds could destroy the integrality of bacterial cell membranes and thereby leading to leaking the intracellular protein. These findings may be regard as a reference for the design of novel membrane-targeting antimicrobial agents for managing stubborn plant bacterial diseases.

Light‐emitting diodes (LEDs) are widely used in lighting and display applications. Carbon quantum dots (CQDs), which have high biocompatibility, high resistance to photobleaching, and full‐spectrum luminescence, have inherent advantages as fluorescent materials for LED devices. Herein, multicolor CQDs are prepared by a new reagent engineering strategy due to the difference of effective conjugate length and the surface electron‐withdrawing groups of CQDs. White CQDs are realized by mixing blue, green, and red CQDs proportionally. Then, the aggregation‐caused quenching phenomenon of CQDs is suppressed through the hydrogen‐bonding network of cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs). Multicolor fluorescent films are prepared from CQDs and CNFs by simple mixing and casting methods. Finally, thin‐film encapsulation based on the photosensitive resin ABPE‐10 coating can be realized and rapidly assembles into fluorescent films with different light‐emitting colors into LED devices, leading to have superior thermal performance compared with conventional LEDs. White LEDs have excellent white‐light illumination performance, with Commission Internationale de L’Eclairage color coordinates of (0.33, 0.37), a correlated color temperature of 5688 K, and a color rendering index of 86. This strategy provides a convenient and scalable pathway for low‐cost, environmentally friendly, and high‐performance CQDs‐based LEDs.

This study focuses on developing a water-in-oil-in-water (W1/O/W2) double emulsion system using high-intensity ultrasound (HIU)-treated pea protein isolate (HIU-PPI) and pectin to encapsulate Lactobacillus plantarum (L. plantarum). The effects of ultrasound treatment on pea protein isolate (PPI) characteristics such as solubility, particle size, emulsification, surface hydrophobicity, and surface free sulfhydryl group were examined, determining optimal HIU processing conditions was 400 W for 10 min. The developed W1/O/W2 double emulsion system based on HIU-PPI demonstrated effective encapsulation and protection of L. plantarum, especially at the HIU-PPI concentration of 4 %, achieving an encapsulation efficiency of 52.65 %. Incorporating both HIU-PPI and pectin as emulsifiers increased the particle size and significantly enhanced the emulsion’s viscosity. The highest bacterial encapsulation efficiency of the emulsion, 59.94 %, was attained at a HIU to pectin concentration ratio of 3:1. These emulsions effectively encapsulate and protect L. plantarum, with the concentration of HIU-PPI being a critical factor in enhancing probiotic survival under simulated gastrointestinal digestion. However, the concurrent utilization of pectin and HIU-PPI as emulsifiers did not provide a notable advantage compared to the exclusive use of HIU-PPI in enhancing probiotic viability during in vitro simulated digestion. This research offers valuable perspectives for the food industry on harnessing environmentally friendly, plant-based proteins as emulsifiers in probiotic delivery systems. It underscores the potential of HIU-modified pea protein and pectin in developing functional food products that promote the health benefits of probiotics.

Abstract Despite recent advances in extrusion bioprinting of cell‐laden hydrogels, using naturally derived bioinks to biofabricate complex elastic tissues with both satisfying biological functionalities and superior mechanical properties is hitherto an unmet challenge. Here, we address this challenge with precisely designed biological tough hydrogel bioinks featuring a double‐network structure. The tough hydrogels consisted of energy‐dissipative dynamically crosslinked glycosaminoglycan hyaluronic acid (o‐nitrobenzyl‐grafted hyaluronic acid) and elastin through Schiff's base reaction, and free‐radically polymerized gelatin methacryloyl. The incorporation of elastin further improved the elasticity, stretchability (∼170% strain), and toughness (∼45 kJ m−3) of the hydrogels due to the random coiling structure. We used this novel class of hydrogel bioinks to bioprint several complex elastic tissues with good shape retention. Furthermore, in vitro and in vivo experiments also demonstrated that the existence of elastin in the biocompatible bioinks facilitated improved cell behaviors and biological functions of bioprinted tissues, such as cell spreading and phenotype maintenance as well as tissue regeneration. The results confirmed the potential of the elastin‐containing tough hydrogel bioinks for bioprinting of 3D complex elastic tissues with biological functionalities, which may find widespread applications in elastic tissue regeneration.

Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibition is a significant strategy for preventing Alzheimer's disease (AD) and neurodegenerative diseases. In this study, a dereplication system was utilized to rapidly identify and characterize acetylcholinesterase-interacting compounds by comparing UPLC-MS/MS profile screening approach and molecular docking analysis, derived from the extracts and fractions of the stem of Glycosmis parviflora (Sims) Little. Eleven potential AChE inhibitors were isolated and identified from the ethyl acetate extract of G. parviflora, including an undescribed alkaloid (9), namely glybomine D, eight known alkaloids (1−8), a flavonoid (10), and a phytosterol (11). The inhibitory potential of these compounds against AChE was assessed, with O-methylglycosolone (6), 1,3-dimethoxy-2-hydroxy-10-methyl-9(10H)-acridinone (1), skimmianine (4) and arborine (2), regarded as effective inhibitors, yielding IC50 values of 39.81 μM, 41.53 μM, 49.40 μM, and 59.92 μM, respectively. Notably, O-methylglycosolone exhibited the highest potency. Four of these potent AChE inhibitors exhibited mixed-type inhibition. However, O-methylglycosolone (6), 1,3-dimethoxy-2-hydroxy-10-methyl-9(10H)-acridinone (1), and arborine (2) were first reported modulating with acetylcholinesterase activity. Furthermore, molecular docking revealed O-methylglycosolone (6) superior binding affinity (–23.749 kcal/mol) compared to other compounds, mainly by interacting with the peripheral anionic site of AChE, which forms hydrogen bonds and hydrophobic forces may play an important role, interaction with amino acid residues such as Tyr341, Tyr72, Ser293, and Arg296 in the active cavity, which is crucial for effective and selective inhibition of AChE activity. ADMET predictions suggest that arborine (2), skimmianine (4), and O-methylglycosolone (6) demonstrate favorable permeability across the blood–brain barrier, while 1,3-dimethoxy-2-hydroxy-10-methyl-9(10H)-acridinone (1) exhibits comparatively reduced permeability. These findings highlight the potential of these compounds as natural AChE inhibitors for treating neurodegenerative diseases.

To assess the corrosion resistance of Cu-Fe deformation in situ alloys in a chloride ion environment, Cu-Fe alloys with varying Fe contents (5 wt%, 10 wt%, and 14 wt%) were prepared using vacuum induction melting, and the impact of Fe content on the corrosion resistance was examined. The corrosion morphology and corrosion products were analyzed, and the corrosion rate, corrosion period, dynamic potential polarization curves, electrochemical parameters, and electrochemical impedance spectra with different Fe contents were determined. However, the corrosion resistance of Cu-Fe alloys initially increased with an increase in Fe content before decreasing, with Cu-10 wt% Fe alloys (95% reduction rate) exhibiting the best corrosion resistance. As the Fe content increased, the amount of primary Fe phase gradually increased and became more densely distributed. This led to an increase in the dense oxide film on the surface, thereby enhancing the corrosion resistance of the material. Moreover, with a further increase in Fe, the primary Fe phase exhibited coarsening and non-uniform distribution. This resulted in the oxide film becoming looser, leading to a decreased corrosion resistance of the alloy.

Abstract Pickering multiphase systems stabilized by solid particles have recently attracted increasing attention due to their excellent stability. Among various solid stabilizers, natural and renewable cellulosic micro/nanoparticles that are derived from agricultural and forestry sources have become promising candidates for Pickering stabilization due to their unique morphological features and tunable surface properties. In this review, recent progress on forming and stabilizing Pickering multiphase systems using cellulosic colloidal particles is summarized, including the physicochemical factors affecting their assembly at the interfaces and the preparation methods suitable for producing Pickering emulsions. In addition, relevant application prospects of corresponding Pickering multiphase materials are outlined. Finally, current challenges and future perspectives of such renewable Pickering multiphase systems are presented. This review aims to encourage the utilization of cellulosic micro/nanoparticles as key components in the development of Pickering systems, leading to enhanced performance and unique functionalities.

Abstract In chemistry-related disciplines, a vast repository of molecular structural data has been documented in scientific publications but remains inaccessible to computational analyses owing to its non-machine-readable format. Optical chemical structure recognition (OCSR) addresses this gap by converting images of chemical molecular structures into a format accessible to computers and convenient for storage, paving the way for further analyses and studies on chemical information. A pivotal initial step in OCSR is automating the noise-free extraction of molecular descriptions from literature. Despite efforts utilising rule-based and deep learning approaches for the extraction process, the accuracy achieved to date is unsatisfactory. To address this issue, we introduce a deep learning model named YoDe-Segmentation in this study, engineered for the automated retrieval of molecular structures from scientific documents. This model operates via a three-stage process encompassing detection, mask generation, and calculation. Initially, it identifies and isolates molecular structures during the detection phase. Subsequently, mask maps are created based on these isolated structures in the mask generation stage. In the final calculation stage, refined and separated mask maps are combined with the isolated molecular structure images, resulting in the acquisition of pure molecular structures. Our model underwent rigorous testing using texts from multiple chemistry-centric journals, with the outcomes subjected to manual validation. The results revealed the superior performance of YoDe-Segmentation compared to alternative algorithms, documenting an average extraction efficiency of 97.62%. This outcome not only highlights the robustness and reliability of the model but also suggests its applicability on a broad scale.

The rise of antibiotic tolerance in bacteria harboring genetic elements conferring resistance to antibiotics poses an increasing threat to public health. However, the primary factors responsible for the emergence of antibiotic tolerance and the fundamental molecular mechanisms involved remain poorly comprehended. Here, we demonstrate that the commonly utilized food additive Benzaldehyde (BZH) possesses the capacity to induce a significant level of fluoroquinolone tolerance in vitro among resistant Escherichia coli. Our findings from animal models reveal that the pre-administration of BZH results in an ineffective eradication of bacteria through ciprofloxacin treatment, leading to similar survival rates and bacterial loads as observed in the control group. These results strongly indicate that BZH elicits in vivo tolerance. Mechanistic investigations reveal several key factors: BZH inhibits the formation of bacterial flagella and releases proton motive force (PMF), which aids in expelling antibiotics from within cells to reducing their accumulation inside. In addition, BZH suppresses bacterial respiration and inhibits the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Moreover, exogenous pyruvate successfully reverses BZH-induced tolerance and restores the effectiveness of antibiotics, highlighting how crucial the pyruvate cycle is in combating antibiotic tolerance. The present findings elucidate the underlying mechanisms of BZH-induced tolerance and highlight potential hazards associated with the utilization of BZH.

Seawater electrolysis for hydrogen production represents a substantial opportunity to curtail production expenditures and exhibits considerable potential for various industrial applications. Platinum-based precious metals exhibit excellent activity for water electrolysis. However, their limited reserves and high costs impede their widespread use on a large scale. Single-atom catalysts, characterized by low loading and high utilization efficiency, represent a viable alternative, and the development of simple synthesis methods can facilitate their practical application. In this work, we report the facile synthesis of a single-atom Pt-loaded NiCoFeSx (Pt@NiCoFeSx) bifunctional catalytic electrode using a simple impregnation method on a nickel foam substrate. The resulting electrode exhibits low overpotentials for both HER (60 mV@10 mA cm−2) and OER (201 mV@10 mA cm−2) in alkaline seawater electrolytes. When incorporated into a seawater electrolyzer, this electrode achieves a direct current energy consumption of only 4.18 kWh/Nm3H2 over a 100 h test period with negligible decay. These findings demonstrate the potential of our approach for industrial-scale seawater electrolysis.

Abstract Porous materials are promising for energy applications and MOF‐derived layered double hydroxide (LDH) nanosheets vertically align on the conductive substrates showed an ultrathin porous morphology with tunable coordination environments for the metallic sites. This unique structure provides larger surface area, better intrinsic electrochemical activity than conventional LDH nanosheets. Herein, the synthetic strategies of MOF‐derived LDHs and their promising applications in electrochemistry are reviewed, presenting the significant potential and challenges of MOFs‐derived LDH nanosheets in advanced energy storage and conversion applications, providing an effective platform for efficient and sustainable MOFs‐based systems in future.

Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) has been widely used in the analysis of analytes because of its unique fingerprint characteristics, high sensitivity, and fast detection response. MXene is widely used in SERS studies among the various substrates due to its ultra-high chemical stability, excellent conductivity, hydrophilicity, and low fabrication cost. This mini-review summarizes MXene’s research in the SERS field from two aspects. We reviewed MXene materials used as SERS substrates alone and combined with noble metal particles primarily. Subsequently, we outlined representative applications of MXene-based SERS in biomedicine, food safety, and environmental monitoring. Moreover, we discussed the technical bottleneck and the prospect of future development in this field.

Objectives: Patients with VEXAS syndrome carry mutations of UBA1 gene coding for the E1 enzyme. The three most frequent mutations are p.M41T(122T > C), p.M41V (c.121A > G), and p.M41L (c.121A > C) in codon 41 of exon 3. Currently, sanger sequencing was mainly used to detect these mutations, which has low sensitivity and low throughput. There is a need of high sensitivity, simple and high throughput method to characterize patients with VEXAS syndrome. Methods: Based on our proprietary XNA technology, we have developed a QClamp® Plex platform to detect eight mutations in a single reaction using the Luminex xMap technology. The assay sensitivity, specificity and precision were subsequently evaluated. Furthermore, the reference interval and clinical sensitivity/specificity were estimated using clinical healthy/positive DNA samples and the sanger sequencing method was used for comparison. Results: With spiking synthetic mutant DNA in wildtype GM24385 cell line DNA, this assay can detect UBA1 mutations with a detection limit of variant allele frequency (VAF) at 0.1–5%. Our assay shows 100% concordance with Sanger sequencing results when used for analyzing 15 positive and 19 negative clinical samples. Conclusions: The QClamps® Plex UBA1 Mutation Detection Assay is a quicker, simpler, and more sensitive assay that can accurately detect the UBA1 mutations even at early stages with low mutation frequency.

In the field of risk assessment, the traditional econometric models are generally used to assess credit risk. And with the introduction of the “dual-carbon” goals to promote the development of a low-carbon economy, the scale of green credit in China has rapidly expanded. But with the advent of the big data era, due to the poor interpretability of a traditional single machine learning model, it is difficult to capture nonlinear relationships, and there are shortcomings in prediction accuracy and robustness. This paper selects the adjusted ensemble learning model based on the homogeneous and heterogeneous factors for user default prediction, which can efficiently process large quantities of high-dimensional data. This article adjusts each model to adapt to the task and innovatively compares various models. In this paper, the missing value filling method, feature selection, and ensemble model are studied and discussed, and the optimal ensemble model is obtained. When comparing the predictions of single models and ensemble models, the accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, F1-Score, Kappa, and MCC of Categorical Features Gradient Boosting (CatBoost) and Random undersampling Boosting (RUSBoost) all reach 100%. The experimental results prove that the algorithm based on adjusted homogeneous and heterogeneous ensemble learning can predict the user default efficiently and accurately. This paper also provides some references for establishing a risk assessment index system.

This paper introduces a novel type of prefabricated semi-rigid concrete beam–column joint, aiming to examine its load-carrying capacity and seismic performance in comparison with a traditional cast-in-place joint. This study utilized the ABAQUS 2020 software to establish finite element models for both types of joints and conducted finite element analysis under low circumferential reciprocating displacement loads. When comparing the energy dissipation capacity, ductility, ultimate load-carrying capacity, stress mechanism, and damage mode, a comprehensive evaluation of the two types of joints was performed. Furthermore, this study investigated the impacts of various factors such as the axial compression ratio, concrete strength, reinforcement strength, and connector strength on the ultimate load-carrying capacity, ductility, and energy dissipation performance of the joints. Based on the findings, the newly combined joint exhibited a substantial 31.7% increase in its ultimate load-carrying capacity, along with a notable 7.23% enhancement in ductility and an improved energy dissipation capacity when compared with the cast-in-place joint. As a result, it can be concluded that the seismic performance of the new joint surpasses that of cast-in-place joints. Additionally, this study examined the impact of modifying relevant parameters on the seismic performance of the new prefabricated semi-rigid concrete beam–column joint.

Alkaline seawater electrolysis has garnered significant attention as an efficient, green, and sustainable method for producing green hydrogen in recent years. However, the lack of highly active anodes in seawater electrolysis to prevent chloride oxidation reactions has limited its commercial application. In this study, Au single atoms were deposited on NiCoFeS through the electrochemical deposition method. The optimized catalyst exhibited significantly enhanced activity in seawater electrolyte; the Au@NiCoFeS catalyst achieved a current density of 10 mA/cm2 with only 183 mV and maintained its performance without degradation for 250 h at a current density of 200 mA/cm2, with no corrosion observed on either the catalyst or the substrate.

Circadian rhythms are essential regulators of a multitude of physiological and behavioral processes, such as the metabolism and function of the liver. Circadian rhythms are crucial to liver homeostasis, as the liver is a key metabolic organ accountable for the systemic equilibrium of the body. Circadian rhythm disruption alone is sufficient to cause liver cancer through the maintenance of hepatic metabolic disorder. Although there is evidence linking CRD to hepatocarcinogenesis, the precise cellular and molecular mechanisms that underlie the circadian crosstalk that leads to hepatocellular carcinoma remain unknown. The expression of CRD-related genes in HCC was investigated in this study via bulk RNA transcriptomic analysis and single-cell sequencing. Dysregulated CRD-related genes are predominantly found in hepatocytes and fibroblasts, according to the findings. By using a combination of single-cell RNA sequencing and bulk RNA sequencing analyses, the dysregulated CRD-related genes ADAMTS13, BIRC5, IGFBP3, MARCO, MT2A, NNMT, and PGLYRP2 were identified. The survival analysis using the Kaplan–Meier method revealed a significant correlation between the expression levels of BIRC5 and IGFBP3 and the survival of patients diagnosed with HCC.

Class III peroxidases (CIII PRXs) are plant-specific enzymes with high activity that play key roles in the catalysis of oxidation-reduction reactions. In plants, CIII PRXs can reduce hydrogen peroxide to catalyze oxidation–reduction reactions, thereby affecting plant growth, development, and stress responses. To date, no systematic analysis of the CIII PRX gene family in litchi (Litchi chinensis Sonn.) has been documented, although the genome has been reported. In this study, a total of 77 CIII PRX (designated LcPRX) gene family members were predicted in the litchi genome to provide a reference for candidate genes in the responses to abiotic stresses during litchi growth and development. All of these LcPRX genes had different numbers of highly conserved PRX domains and were unevenly distributed across fifteen chromosomes. They were further clustered into eight clades using a phylogenetic tree, and almost every clade had its own unique gene structure and motif distribution. Collinearity analysis confirmed that there were eleven pairs of duplicate genes among the LcPRX members, and segmental duplication (SD) was the main driving force behind the LcPRX gene expansion. Tissue-specific expression profiles indicated that the expression levels of all the LcPRX family members in different tissues of the litchi tree were significantly divergent. After different abiotic stress treatments, quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) analysis revealed that the LcPRX genes responded to various stresses and displayed differential expression patterns. Physicochemical properties, transmembrane domains, subcellular localization, secondary structures, and cis-acting elements were also analyzed. These findings provide insights into the characteristics of the LcPRX gene family and give valuable information for further elucidating its molecular function and then enhancing abiotic stress tolerance in litchi through molecular breeding.

Wheat plays an important role in China’s and the world’s food supply, and it is closely related to economy, culture and life. The spatial distribution of wheat is of great significance to the rational planning of wheat cultivation areas and the improvement of wheat yield and quality. The current rapid development of remote sensing technology has greatly improved the efficiency of traditional agricultural surveys. The extraction of crop planting structure based on remote sensing images and technology is a popular topic in many researches. In response to the shortcomings of traditional methods, this research proposed a method based on the fusion of the pixel-based and object-oriented methods to map the spatial distribution of winter wheat. This method was experimented and achieved good results within Shandong Province. The resulting spatial distribution map of winter wheat has an overall accuracy of 92.2% with a kappa coefficient of 0.84. The comparison with the actual situation shows that the accuracy of the actual recognition of winter wheat is higher and better than the traditional pixel-based classification method. On this basis, the spatial pattern of winter wheat in Shandong was analyzed, and it was found that the topographic undulations had a great influence on the spatial distribution of wheat. This study vividly demonstrates the advantages and possibilities of combining pixel-based and object-oriented approaches through experiments, and also provides a reference for the next related research. Moreover, the winter wheat map of Shandong produced in this research is important for yield assessment, crop planting structure adjustment and the rational use of land resources.

Water electrolysis is a crucial technology in the production of hydrogen energy. Due to the escalating industrial demand for green hydrogen, the required electrode size for a traditional alkaline water electrolyzer has been increasing. Numerous studies have focused on developing highly active oxygen evolution reaction (OER) catalysts for water electrolysis. However, there remains a significant gap between the microscale synthesis of catalysts in laboratory settings and the macroscale preparation required for industrial scenarios. This challenge is particularly pronounced in the synthesis of sizable self-supported electrodes. In this work, we employed a commercially available Raney Ni-coated Ni mesh as a precursor material to fabricate a self-supported NiFe(OH)x@Raney Ni anode with a substantial dimension exceeding 300 mm through a straightforward immersion technique. The as-prepared electrode exhibited remarkable electrocatalytic OER activity, as an overpotential of only 240 mV is required to achieve 10 mA cm−2. This performance is comparable to that of NiFe-LDHs synthesized via a hydrothermal method, which is difficult to scale up for industrial applications. Furthermore, the electrode demonstrated exceptional durability, maintaining stable operation for over 100 h at a current density of 500 mA cm−2. The large-scale electrode displayed consistent overpotentials across various areas, indicating uniform catalytic activity. When integrated into an alkaline water electrolysis device, it delivered an average cell voltage of 1.80 V at 200 mA cm−2 and achieved a direct current hydrogen production energy consumption as low as 4.3 kWh/Nm3. These findings underline the suitability of electrodes for industrial scale applications, offering a promising alternative for energy-efficient hydrogen production.

Abstract Flame retardants play a crucial role in improving the flame retardant properties of polymer materials. In recent years, environmental problems caused by flame retardants have attracted widespread attention. It is urgent to use green and effective methods to prepare flame retardant polymers. Bioinspired nanocomposites with layered structures seem to provide effective ideas, but in general, their hydrophilic raw materials limit their applications in certain fields. Here, we prepared biomimetic composites with a layered “brick‐and‐mortar” structure by gravity‐induced deposition using polyimide as the polymer matrix and montmorillonite (MMT) as the filler. The well‐arranged structures of the composite material could isolate oxygen and prevent combustible gases from escaping. The gas barrier performance has been greatly improved, in which the water vapor transmission rate and the oxygen transmission rate decreased by 99.18% and three orders of magnitude, respectively. The flame retardant performance has also been improved, and its limiting oxygen index can reach 67.9%. The polyimide matrix can be converted to water‐insoluble by thermal imidization of water‐soluble poly (amic acid) salt precursors, which endows the composites with low hygroscopicity. The coating containing MMT can protect against polyurethane (PU) foam from fire. During the conical calorimetric test, the coated sample self‐extinguished, and the peak heat release rate, total heat release, and total smoke production are significantly decreased by 53.39%, 40.69%, and 53.03%, respectively. Taking advantage of these properties, this work utilizes a facile method to prepare biomimetic composites with low moisture absorption, excellent gas barrier properties, and flame retardancy, which have great application potential.

This work involves the introduction of niobium oxide into lanthanum aluminate (LaAlO3) via a conventional solid-state reaction technique to yield LaAlO3:Nb (LaNbxAl1−xO3+δ) samples with Nb5+ doping levels ranging from 0.00 to 0.25 mol%. This study presents a comprehensive investigation of the effects of niobium doping on the phase evolution, defect control, and reflectance of LaNbxAl1−xO3+δ powder. Powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis confirms the perovskite structure in all powders, and XRD and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) reveal successful doping of Nb5+ into LaNbxAl1−xO3+δ. The surface morphology was analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and the results show that increasing the doping concentration of niobium leads to fewer microstructural defects. Oxygen vacancy defects in different compositions are analyzed at 300 K, and as the doping level increases, a clear trend of defect reduction is observed. Notably, LaNbxAl1−xO3+δ with 0.15 mol% Nb5+ exhibits excellent reflectance properties, with a maximum infrared reflectance of 99.7%. This study shows that LaNbxAl1−xO3+δ powder materials have wide application potential in the field of high reflectivity coating materials due to their extremely low microstructural defects and oxygen vacancy defects.

In recent years, the potent influence of tocotrienol (T3) on diminishing blood glucose and lipid concentrations in both Mus musculus (rats) and Homo sapiens (humans) has been established. However, the comprehensive exploration of tocotrienol’s hypolipidemic impact and the corresponding mechanisms in aquatic species remains inadequate. In this study, we established a zebrafish model of a type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) model through high-fat diet administration to zebrafish. In the T2DM zebrafish, the thickness of ocular vascular walls significantly increased compared to the control group, which was mitigated after treatment with T3. Additionally, our findings demonstrate the regulatory effect of T3 on lipid metabolism, leading to the reduced synthesis and storage of adipose tissue in zebrafish. We validated the expression patterns of genes relevant to these processes using RT-qPCR. In the T2DM model, there was an almost two-fold upregulation in pparγ and cyp7a1 mRNA levels, coupled with a significant downregulation in cpt1a mRNA (p < 0.01) compared to the control group. The ELISA revealed that the protein expression levels of Pparγ and Rxrα exhibited a two-fold elevation in the T2DM group relative to the control. In the T3-treated group, Pparγ and Rxrα protein expression levels consistently exhibited a two-fold decrease compared to the model group. Lipid metabolomics showed that T3 could affect the metabolic pathways of zebrafish lipid regulation, including lipid synthesis and decomposition. We provided experimental evidence that T3 could mitigate lipid accumulation in our zebrafish T2DM model. Elucidating the lipid-lowering effects of T3 could help to minimize the detrimental impacts of overfeeding in aquaculture.

With the widespread application of plant remediation technology in the field of soil remediation, there was an increasing stock of hyperaccumulating plant tissues containing heavy metals, but there was currently a lack of effective disposal methods. In the preliminary research process, researchers used the copper hyperaccumulating plant Elsholtzia Harchowensis to prepare biochar material electrodes and successfully used them in the electrocatalytic reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2) process. Due to the previous research being conducted in aqueous solutions, the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) on the working electrode surface has a certain impact on the Faraday efficiency (FE) of carbon-containing products. In order to further improve the electrocatalytic reduction performance of biochar materials, this study was based on B- and N-doped biochar prepared from Elsholtzia Harchowensis as raw material. The influence mechanisms of electrode surface hydrophobicity and electrolyte components (PC/water) on the CO2RR and HER were studied, respectively. After dropwise coating PTFE on the surface of Cu/C-BN material, the hydrophobicity of Cu/C-BN-PT material was improved, and the effect on the active sites of the catalyst was relatively small without changing the structure and elemental characteristics of the original electrode. In a 1.0 M KHCO3 solution, the Faraday efficiency of H2 in Cu/C-BN-PT material decreased by 20.1% compared to Cu/C-BN at −0.32 V (vs. RHE), indicating that changing the hydrophilicity of the material can significantly inhibit the HER. In a solution of PC/water at a ratio of 9:1 (V:V), the FE of converting CO2 to methane (CH4) at −0.32 V (vs. RHE) reached 12.0%, and the FE of carbon monoxide (CO) reached 64.7%. The HER was significantly inhibited, significantly improving the selectivity of electrocatalytic CO2.

The development of high-entropy anodes, known for their excellent catalytic activity for water oxidation, can depress the energy consumption of hydrogen production by water electrolysis. However, the complex preparation methods and poor stability hindered their practical application. In this work, a one-step co-precipitation method has been modified to rapidly synthesize ultrathin high-entropy layered double hydroxide containing Ni, Co, Fe, Cr, Zn. Through the rational selection of metal elements, the stability of the optimized anode under Ampere-level current density has been significantly improved. Compared to NiFe-LDH, the active site leaching of high-entropy LDH is reduced by 42.7%, and as a result, it achieves a performance decay that is approximately eight times lower than that of NiFe-LDH. Experiment results show that the active sites in the high-entropy LDH can maintain a relatively low oxidation state both before and after activation, thus preventing material deactivation caused by excessive oxidation.

The MADS-box protein is an important transcription factor in plants and plays an important role in regulating the plant abiotic stress response. In this study, a total of 94 MADS-box genes were predicted in the litchi genome, and these genes were widely distributed on all the chromosomes. The LcMADS-box gene family was divided into six subgroups (Mα, Mβ, Mγ, Mδ, MIKC, and UN) based on their phylogenetical relationships with Arabidopsis, and the closely linked subgroups exhibited more similarity in terms of motif distribution and intron/exon numbers. Transcriptome analysis indicated that LcMADS-box gene expression varied in different tissues, which can be divided into universal expression and specific expression. Furthermore, we further validated that LcMADS-box genes can exhibit different responses to various stresses using quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). Moreover, physicochemical properties, subcellular localization, collinearity, and cis-acting elements were also analyzed. The findings of this study provide valuable insights into the MADS-box gene family in litchi, specifically in relation to stress response. The identification of hormone-related and stress-responsive cis-acting elements in the MADS-box gene promoters suggests their involvement in stress signaling pathways. This study contributes to the understanding of stress tolerance mechanisms in litchi and highlights potential regulatory mechanisms underlying stress responses.

Abstract Selective oxidation is still a challenge for targeted conversion of biomass derived substance to high‐value added products. Herein we report an efficient electrochemical strategy to transform phenol into p‐benzoquinone, by tandem oxidations of CuSO4 and CoSO4 catalysts in an electrolyte. Co3+ generated at the anode from oxidation of Co2+ diffuses to the solution and reacts with phenol to form hydroquinone, which is subsequently oxidized by Cu2+ in the solution selectively to p‐benzoquinone. The active metal ions (Cu2+ and Co3+) are continuously regenerated at the anode through electrooxidation and the targeted p‐benzoquinone is accumulated in the electrolyte solution. The Ultraviolet‐visible spectra and electrochemical test results reveal that Cu2+ reacts with hydroquinone immediately, and p‐benzoquinone remains stable in CuSO4 solution. By optimizing catalyst concentrations and reaction temperatures (0.2 M CuSO4, 0.005 M CoSO4 and 50 °C), the highest p‐benzoquinone yield was improved to 47 %. The developed copper‐cobalt co‐catalyzed system provides a promising approach to selectively prepare high‐value benzoquinone compounds under mild reaction conditions.

Phytoremediation techniques have been widely used in the treatment of heavy metal contaminated soils in recent years, but there is no effective post-treatment method for plant tissues containing heavy metals after remediation. Elsholtzia Harchowensis is a copper hyperaccumulator, commonly distributed in copper mining areas and often used for soil remediation of mine tailings. Moreover, copper-based catalysts are widely used in electrocatalytic reduction of carbon dioxide, which aims to convert carbon dioxide into useful fuels or chemicals. In this study, copper-modified biochar was prepared from Elsholtzia Harchowensis. Its specific surface area can reach as high as 1202.9 m2/g, with a certain porous structure and even distribution of copper on the amorphous carbon. Various products (such as carbon monoxide, methane, ethanol, and formic acid) could be obtained from the electrolytic reduction of carbon dioxide by using the as-prepared catalyst. Instantaneous current density of up to 15.3 mA/cm2 were achieved in 1.0 M KHCO3 solution at a potential of −0.82 V (vs. RHE). Electrolysis at a potential of −0.32 V (vs. RHE) for 8 h resulted in a stable current of about 0.25 mA/cm2, and the Faraday efficiency (FE) of carbon monoxide can reach as high as 74.6%. In addition, electrolysis at a potential of −0.52 V (vs. RHE) for 8 h led to a stable current of about 2.2 mA/cm2 and a FE of 8.7% for the C2 product. The rich variety of elements in plants leads to catalysts with complex structural and elemental characteristics as well, which facilitates the electrolytic reduction of carbon dioxide with a variety of useful products.

The increasing resistance problems of pathogens have drastically reduced the efficiency of existing drugs and agricultural chemicals, increasing the difficulty of preventing and controlling bacterial diseases. To create effective bactericide alternatives, a series of novel 3-(piperazin-1-yl)propan-2-ol decorated carbazole derivatives was fabricated, and their bioactivities and drug-likeness properties were evaluated. The in vitro bioassays showed that target molecules had outstanding antibacterial activity against Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo), Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. citri (Xac), and Pseudomonas syringae pv. actinidiae (Psa), with optimal EC50 values of 6.80 μg/mL (A9), 6.37 μg/mL (A9), and 10.75 μg/mL (A10), respectively. Furthermore, a series of biochemical assays indicated that title molecules could negatively impact the function of bacteria by irreversibly damaging their cell membranes, resulting in cytoplasmic components leakage (nucleic acids and proteins). In addition, phytotoxicity test and in silico toxicity predictions suggested that compound A9 had low phytotoxicity, and possessed acceptable drug-like properties. Our results showed that carbazole derivatives containing an 3-(piperazin-1-yl)propan-2-ol moiety were promising skeletons to develop novel bactericides with low toxicity for controlling refractory microbial diseases by targeting cell membranes.

The desiccative and mature pericarp of Citrus reticulata cv. Chachiensis (PCRC) contenting rich flavonoids and volatile oil is used as traditional Chinese medicine. However, the biological and mechanical mixing of germplasm seriously affects the quality and clinic efficacy of PCRC. In this study, an identification system based on SNP markers was established which is capable of effectively distinguishing between two main C. reticulata cv. Chachiensis (CRC) varieties of DaZhongyoushen (DZ) and XiZhongyoushen (XZ). Moreover, mechanical mixing was confirmed to exist in another major cultivar DaDong5 (DD). Although the morphological characteristics of DZ and XZ fruits were similar, differences were observed in the contents and compositions of bioactive metabolites between the pericarps of these two CRC varieties. The content of flavonoids, especially hesperidin, in the DZ pericarp was significantly higher than that in the XZ pericarp (P

Abstract The sensitive and precise quantitative determination of thrombin is important for both fundamental research and clinical diagnostics of hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy because it is a key biological molecule in hemostasis and hemolysis. Herein, we depict a sensitive and label-free thrombin detection approach by taking the advantages of aptamer’s superior capability to bind with thrombin and the high efficiency of three-way junction initiated dual signal recycle. In this method, a capture probe which is inserted with an aptamer sequence is designed to specifically identify thrombin molecule and facilitate the signal amplification. Based on the DNA polymerase and endonuclease Nb.BbvCI-assisted chain extension, a large amount of single-strand DNA sequences that can fold into G-quadruplex are produced to specifically recognize commercial fluorescent dye thioflavin T for signal generation. Consequently, the approach exhibits a high detection sensitivity with the limit of detection as low as 768 fM, holding a great promise for detection of thrombin and disease diagnosis in the clinic.

Abstract Mycotoxins are highly toxic fungal metabolites that can pose health threats to humans and animals. Aflatoxins are a type of mycotoxin produced mainly by Aspergillus flavus and A. parasiticus. A sensitive high performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC–MS/MS) method with multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) modes was developed for the determination of aflatoxins in blood after acetonitrile precipitation extraction. The limits of quantification of aflatoxins ranged from 0.05 to 0.2 ng/mL. Intra-day accuracy ranged from 92 to 111.0%, and intra-day precision (n = 6) ranged from 1 to 8%. Inter-day accuracy and precision were 94.0–102.0% and 2.0–8.0%, respectively. The toxicokinetics of AFB1 and its metabolite AFM1 after a single oral administration (AFB1 1 mg/kg body weight) were studied in male Sprague–Dawley rats. The blood AFB1 and AFM1 profiles could be adequately described by a noncompartmental model. The highest concentration of AFB1 (C max 93.42 ± 23.01 ng/mL) was observed with T max at 0.15 ± 0.034 h. AFB1 was rapidly metabolized to AFM1 which reached its peak blood concentration (C max 53.86 ± 12.12 ng/mL) at 0.33 ± 0.11 h. The HPLC–MS/MS method was simple and sensitive, appropriate for studying the in vivo toxicokinetics of aflatoxins.

Abstract Due to both the requirements of repeated complex organic synthesis and tedious biochemical verification experiments for the screening of new photosensitizers, the development of a satisfactory photosensitizer with excellent photosensitivity and highly specific response ability is still a great challenge for the accurate imaging localization and the precise photodynamic therapy (PDT) of tumors. Herein, under the help of theoretical calculations, a high‐efficient target‐activatable aggregation‐induced emission (AIE) molecular photosensitizer, TPE‐TThPy, is rationally designed and synthesized by the conjugation of tetraphenylethylene (TPE, which is used as the electron donor) and tetrahydropyridine (ThPy, which can be converted to methylpyridine salts as the electron acceptor) using thiophene (T) as the π‐bridge. This TPE‐TThPy molecule exhibits not only good cellular uptake and mitochondrial targeting ability but also ultra‐high monoamine oxidase A (MAO‐A) response specificity and excellent photosensitivity when oxidized under the action of MAO‐A. The specifically imaging ability and cellular PDT performance of the MOA‐A‐activatable AIE photosensitizer of TPE‐TThPy is demonstrated by using different cell lines and mouse tumor models. The successful development of this MOA‐A‐activatable AIE photosensitizer also provides insight for the development of single‐molecule PDT therapeutic drugs with excellent photosensitivity and highly specific targeting‐response ability.

Here, we find that B-doped TiO2-x prepared via a one-pot method exhibit excellent performance on adsorption and photodegradation of various dyes. The B-doping extends the light absorption edge to 520 nm and its major role is the adsorption of organic dyes, while Ti3+-doping is responsible for the light response at 500–800 nm and > 800 nm and contributes more for the dye degradation. >15 dyes were investigated and high adsorption efficiency was achieved for cationic dyes without -COOH/-SO3H groups. Besides electrostatic adsorption, direct bonding of = N+(CH3)2 with B/B-O sites play an important role in enhancing the adsorption capability.

This work employs the carbon emission factor method to offer real-world instances for carbon footprint accounting, allowing for a thorough analysis of the carbon footprint and important influencing elements throughout the materialization stage of prefabricated housing. To identify the 18 important influencing factors that need to be examined from the five stages of building material production, conveyance of building materials, component manufacturing, component transportation, and building, this paper applies the DEMATEL-ISM-MICMAC (Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory–Interpretive Structure Modeling–Cross-Influence Matrix Multiplication) model based on data quantification. Following the findings, the case project’s physical phase generated a carbon footprint of approximately 4.68 × 106 kg CO2. The building materials’ production and processing phase contributed the highest carbon footprint of the entire physical phase, totaling 4,005,935.99 kg CO2, or 88.24% of the total carbon footprint. To determine the centrality and causality of the influencing factors, four major influencing factors—energy consumption of raw materials (S4), construction planning and organization (S15), transportation energy type (S6), and waste disposal (S2)—were identified using the DEMATEL approach. The influencing factor system hierarchy was divided into six levels using the ISM technique. Level L6, which comprises one influencing factor for organizing and planning, is construction planning and organization (S15). Utilizing the MICMAC technique, it was possible to identify the energy consumption of raw materials (S4) as the primary cause of the materialization phase of built dwellings’ carbon footprint. The building material production phases have the largest influence on carbon footprints, according to both case accounting and modeling research. The study’s findings can offer some conceptual guidance for the creation of low-carbon emission reduction schemes.

The immediate roof of Shanxi sedimentary bauxite is hard clay rock, which maintain stable difficultly in goaf. It is necessary to ensure the stability of the goaf during the mine production period. The relevant research objects did not involve soft rock mass such as bauxite and hard clay and did not pay attention to the weakening characteristics of load-bearing structures under the action of weathering and rheology. This paper provides theoretical support for the safety production of bauxite and similar mines. In order to study the relationship between the stability of the protective roof-pillar bearing structure and time, this paper uses elastic thin plates and rheological theory to build the physical model of the bauxite protective roof-pillar bearing structure, and gives the calculation formula of the stand-up time of the bearing structure. The influence of factors such as the thickness of the protective roof, the uniform surface force coefficient of pillar, the span of the goaf and the thickness of the overlying rock layer on the stand-up time of the bearing structure is analyzed. The relationship between the ultimate bearing capacity and stand-up time of the bearing structure is quantified. The results show that the bearing capacity of the bearing structure is affected by the mechanical properties of the rock mass and the structural parameters of the goaf. Under the condition that the influencing factors of the mechanical parameters of the rock mass remain unchanged, the stand-up time T, which represents the bearing capacity of the bearing structure, is positively correlated with the thickness of the protective roof, positively correlated with the uniform surface force coefficient of the pillar, negatively correlated with the span of the goaf and negatively correlated with the thickness of the overlying rock layer. The engineering example verifies the rationality of theoretical calculation and provides a new idea for mining safety.

In this study, we introduce the U-Swin fusion model, an effective and efficient transformer-based architecture designed for the fusion of multi-focus microscope images. We utilized the Swin-Transformer with shifted window and path merging as the encoder for extracted hierarchical context features. Additionally, a Swin-Transformer-based decoder with patch expansion was designed to perform the un-sampling operation, generating the fully focused image. To enhance the performance of the feature decoder, the skip connections were applied to concatenate the hierarchical features from the encoder with the decoder up-sample features, like U-net. To facilitate comprehensive model training, we created a substantial dataset of multi-focus images, primarily derived from texture datasets. Our modulators demonstrated superior capability for multi-focus image fusion to achieve comparable or even better fusion images than the existing state-of-the-art image fusion algorithms and demonstrated adequate generalization ability for multi-focus microscope image fusion. Remarkably, for multi-focus microscope image fusion, the pure transformer-based U-Swin fusion model incorporating channel mix fusion rules delivers optimal performance compared with most existing end-to-end fusion models.

Corrosion poses a significant risk to the safety of energy pipelines, while landslide disasters emerge as the primary threat responsible for triggering pipeline failures across mountainous areas. To date, there is limited research focused on the safety of energy pipelines considering the synergistic effect of corrosion and landslides. The present study proposes a finite element (FE)-based model to assess the condition of corroded pipelines under landslides. The effects of corrosion dimensions (length and depth) and location are determined. A novel equation is finally developed to predict the maximum stress and determine the most disadvantageous position for corroded pipelines under various landslide displacements. The results demonstrate that (1) as the landslide progresses, the pipeline’s stress significantly increases; (2) corrosion depth has a more significant impact on the pipeline condition than the corrosion length, and it is positively correlated with the pipe’s stress; (3) the maximum stress exhibits a nonlinear relationship with the landslide-facing position and the corrosion circumferential location; and (4) when the axial position of the corrosion is more than 6.5 m away from the center of the landslide, the location of maximum stress shifts from the corrosion region to the central section of the pipeline within the landslide. This work contributes to helping pipeline owners to understand the applicability of energy pipelines subjected to the combined effects of corrosion and landslides and provides support for future risk assessment efforts in pipeline integrity management.

Flavonol synthase (FLS) is the crucial enzyme of the flavonol biosynthetic pathways, and its expression is tightly regulated in plants. In our previous study, two alleles of LcFLS, LcFLS-A and LcFLS-B, have been identified in litchi, with extremely early-maturing (EEM) cultivars only harboring LcFLS-A, while middle-to-late-maturing (MLM) cultivars only harbor LcFLS-B. Here, we overexpressed both LcFLS alleles in tobacco, and transgenic tobacco produced lighter-pink flowers and showed increased flavonol levels while it decreased anthocyanin levels compared to WT. Two allelic promoters of LcFLS were identified, with EEM cultivars only harboring proLcFLS-A, while MLM cultivars only harbor proLcFLS-B. One positive and three negative R2R3-MYB transcription regulators of LcFLS expression were identified, among which only positive regulator LcMYB111 showed a consistent expression pattern with LcFLS, which both have higher expression in EEM than that of MLM cultivars. LcMYB111 were further confirmed to specifically activate proLcFLS-A with MYB-binding element (MBE) while being unable to activate proLcFLS-B with mutated MBE (MBEm). LcHY5 were also identified and can interact with LcMYB111 to promote LcFLS expression. Our study elucidates the function of LcFLS and its differential regulation in different litchi cultivars for the first time.

Existing transmission lines and pipelines are frequently crossed and erected in parallel, meaning that if lightning strikes a wire and causes insulator flashovers, the resulting lightning current will spread through the grounding of the tower where the flashover insulator is located. This dispersion of current can lead to overvoltage effects on nearby pipelines. This study performs simulation calculations to analyze the overvoltage experienced by pipelines due to the dispersion of grounding current from the tower. Furthermore, this paper proposes a method for protecting the pipeline from such an overvoltage. Firstly, the lightning transient calculation model of a transmission line tower is constructed using the electromagnetic transient software ATP-EMTP 5.5. The model calculates the effects of lightning peak currents and soil resistivity on the distribution characteristics of lightning current in the tower, specifically in the area where the flashover insulator is located. Subsequently, a calculation model of the tower grounding grid–natural gas pipeline is developed, taking into account the distribution characteristics of lightning current in the tower. This model analyzes the impact of lightning peak currents, soil resistivity, and pipeline spacing on pipeline overvoltage. Finally, the effectiveness of the solid-state decoupler in mitigating lightning overvoltage in the pipeline is verified. The results demonstrate a positive correlation between the lightning current entering the tower grounding grid through the flashover insulator and the lightning current distribution characteristics. The solid-state decoupling device proves to be effective in reducing the voltage of the pipeline insulation layer, and the simulation results provide the optimal laying length of the bare copper wire.