Search

Due to their high reactivity, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) can engage in physical and chemical reactions with particulate matter in the atmosphere, leading to air pollution. Extended exposure to VOCs may result in various health concerns, including respiratory system problems, neurological effects, skin and eye irritation, and an increased risk of certain cancers. Traditional benchtop mass spectrometers possess the advantages of high sensitivity and rapid analysis capabilities, but the large size typically confines their applications to professional laboratories. To overcome this limitation, portable mass spectrometers are emerging as a new tool for in-situ analysis. In this study, a portable mass spectrometer based on discontinuous atmosphere pressure interface was developed, which combined with a sub-vacuum plasma ionization source. Ion trap, known for its small size and adequate performance, was adopted in this miniaturized mass spectrometer. This portable mass spectrometer features a total weight of about 4.6 kg, with the dimensions of 217 mm×162 mm×106 mm, and operates with a power consumption under 150 W. On this design, a fully metallic solenoid valve was selected as the core component to limit atmospheric pressure, eliminating the need for the rubber tubing used in traditional pinch valves. Compared to traditional pinch valves, this solenoid valve ensures a more stable airflow during experiments. As a result, the repeatability and environmental adaptability of the portable mass spectrometer were improved. A certain delay marked as radio freqency (RF) delay was introduced between the injection and cooling periods, and the RF-delay time was optimized. Frequency scanning mode and amplitude scanning mode were tested in parallel. Despite of a trade-off in size, amplitude scanning offered improved resolution, enabling the differentiation of ions with close mass to charge ratios. After systematic optimization, satisfactory performances in mass resolution and sensitivity were achieved. The mass resolution of the mass spectrometer for dimethyl carbonate was improved to 0.2 u (FWHM), and a sensitivity of 60 μg/m3 for naphthalene was achieved. The capability of mixed VOCs was also validated using dimethyl carbonate and trimethyl phosphate. This mass spectrometer developed in this study, characterized by its high portability and satisfactory performance, is expected to hold great potential for applications in VOCs analysis.

Oxygen evolution reactions (OER) are often the decisive step in determining the water electrolysis rate. The first row of transition metals and their derivatives, represented by Ni and Fe, have attracted much attention due to their excellent OER performance. Here, we develop a one-step strategy for preparing oxygen-evolving electrodes, in which the NiFeOOH-modified NiFe layered double hydroxide (NiFe-LDH) nanosheet is supported by nickel foam. At 100 mA·cm−2, the overpotential of NiFeOOH-NiFe-LDH was just 227 mV, and the duration times were over 200 h in 1 mol·L−1 KOH. Furthermore, the co-existence of LDH and hydroxyl oxides helps the oxygen evolution reaction. These results suggest the potential for this synthesis strategy to provide a low-cost, highly active OER electrocatalyst for industrial water splitting.

Heavy metal contamination in water and soil presents a growing global issue that poses significant risks to environmental integrity and human well-being. Various heavy metals, including arsenic (As), lead (Pb), mercury (Hg), cadmium (Cd), and chromium (Cr), contaminate ecosystems. These metals enter the environment through both natural processes and human activities such as coal mining, leather production, metal processing, agriculture, and industrial waste disposal. With their high toxicity and tendency to accumulate in organisms, heavy metals induce oxidative stress in cells, resulting in organelle damage. This toxicity can lead to genetic mutations and histone alterations. Given the severe effects of heavy metals, urgent actions are required to eliminate them from polluted soil and water. While physicochemical techniques like membrane filtration, precipitation, oxidation, and reduction exist, they have limitations. Hence, there is a pressing need to devise environmentally friendly and cost-efficient approaches for heavy metal removal. This article examines heavy metal contamination in water and soil, its adverse impacts, and the cleanup of heavy metals using eco-friendly methods.

Glial-cell-line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) is highly expressed and is involved in the malignant phenotype in glioblastomas (GBMs). However, uncovering its underlying mechanism for promoting GBM progression is still a challenging work. In this study, we found that serine protease inhibitor family E member 1 (SERPINE1) was a potential downstream gene of GDNF. Further experiments confirmed that SERPINE1 was highly expressed in GBM tissues and cells, and its levels of expression and secretion were enhanced by exogenous GDNF. SERPINE1 knockdown inhibited the migration and invasion of GBM cells promoted by GDNF. Mechanistically, GDNF increased SERPINE1 by promoting the phosphorylation of SMAD2/3. In vivo experiments demonstrated that GDNF facilitated GBM growth and the expressions of proteins related to migration and invasion via SERPINE1. Collectively, our findings revealed that GDNF upregulated SERPINE1 via the SMAD2/3-signaling pathway, thereby accelerating GBM cell migration and invasion. The present work presents a new mechanism of GDNF, supporting GBM development.

Acute pancreatitis (AP) is an inflammatory disease initiated by the death of exocrine acinar cells, but its pathogenesis remains unclear. Signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) is a multifunctional factor that regulates immunity and the inflammatory response. The protective role of STAT3 is reported in Coxsackievirus B3 (CVB3)-induced cardiac fibrosis, yet the exact role of STAT3 in modulating viral-induced STAT1 activation and type I interferon (IFN)-stimulated gene (ISG) transcription in the pancreas remains unclarified. In this study, we tested whether STAT3 regulated viral-induced STAT1 translocation. We found that CVB3, particularly capsid VP1 protein, markedly upregulated the phosphorylation and nuclear import of STAT3 (p-STAT3) while it significantly impeded the nuclear translocation of p-STAT1 in the pancreases and hearts of mice on day 3 postinfection (p.i.). Immunoblotting and an immunofluorescent assay demonstrated the increased expression and nuclear translocation of p-STAT3 but a blunted p-STAT1 nuclear translocation in CVB3-infected acinar 266-6 cells. STAT3 shRNA knockdown or STAT3 inhibitors reduced viral replication via the rescue of STAT1 nuclear translocation and increasing the ISRE activity and ISG transcription in vitro. The knockdown of STAT1 blocked the antiviral effect of the STAT3 inhibitor. STAT3 inhibits STAT1 activation by virally inducing a potent inhibitor of IFN signaling, the suppressor of cytokine signaling-3 ((SOCS)-3). Sustained pSTAT1 and the elevated expression of ISGs were induced in SOCS3 knockdown cells. The in vivo administration of HJC0152, a pharmaceutical STAT3 inhibitor, mitigated the viral-induced AP and myocarditis pathology via increasing the IFNβ as well as ISG expression on day 3 p.i. and reducing the viral load in multi-organs. These findings define STAT3 as a negative regulator of the type I IFN response via impeding the nuclear STAT1 translocation that otherwise triggers ISG induction in infected pancreases and hearts. Our findings identify STAT3 as an antagonizing factor of the IFN-STAT1 signaling pathway and provide a potential therapeutic target for viral-induced AP and myocarditis.

Particle damping technology is applied in vibration and noise reduction because of its good broadband vibration reduction effect. The energy transfer and loss between particles are keys to the role of damping. This paper investigates the relationship between the thermal energy dissipation caused by the collision of particles and the input energy. The temperature rise characteristics under different vibration states are studied. The results show significant differences in the thermal dissipation characteristics of granular assemblies for different vibration states. Under equivalent excitation amplitudes, the frequency increases, and the thermal loss of the particles increases. At the same frequency, the excitation amplitudes increase, and the thermal loss of the particles decreases. Granular assemblies in strong vibrational states, such as a gas-like state, have intense vibrations and apparent temperature-increasing effects. However, in this vibration state, the input energy to the particles is considerable, and the thermal loss accounts for a small proportion of the total energy. In states such as solid-like states, micro-vibrational states, and intermediate vibrational states, the particles interact closely, and the input energy for the particles is small. Additionally, the movement of the particles is not intense, and the thermal loss accounts for a large proportion of the total energy. The thermal loss of the particles also shows a frequency variation characteristic. According to the different temperature rise characteristics of the particles, the proportion of thermal energy consumption is analyzed. The research shows that the proportion of thermal energy consumption is not more than 70%, so there are other forms of energy consumption in the vibration reduction and energy consumption of the particles.

Metallo-porphyrins with different metal centers display unique properties and are essential in various biological and chemical processes. Enormous efforts have been devoted to enriching the family of metallo-porphyrins on surfaces mainly through metalation processes within porphyrins and exogenous pure metals or intrinsic surface adatoms, which have focused on transition elements. However, less attention has been paid to the synthesis of alkali-metal-based porphyrins on a surface. Herein, by a combination of scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) imaging/manipulations and density functional theory (DFT) calculations, we report the fabrication of Na-porphyrins on Au(111) by introducing NaCl, i.e., two double-layered Na-centered porphyrins. Moreover, the interconversion between them was realized by precise STM manipulations. Our results demonstrate the feasibility of metalation by applying inorganic salt, which would serve as a promising strategy to embed intramolecular metal components into porphyrins for further functionalization and modification.

Peony seed oil, known for its high nutritional value and low production yield, has become a crucial component in high-quality health products. Consequently, enhancing the extraction efficiency of peony seed oil has become an industry objective. Pulse electric field (PEF) technology, as a non-thermal extraction method, has shown promising advancements in improving plant oil yield by enhancing cell permeability. In this study, we designed a static parallel plate PEF treatment unit to process peony seed particles. By manipulating pulse voltage parameters, we investigated the effects of particle size and PEF strength on the oil yield. We also analyzed and evaluated tocopherol in the oil before and after treatment. The results demonstrated that PEF significantly increased the oil yield. Both treated and control groups exhibited gradually increased oil yields with decreasing particle size until reaching saturation at a certain particle size. Increasing voltage frequency did not have a significant impact on the oil yield; however, increasing voltage amplitude resulted in an optimal point for maximum oil yield. Analysis of oil composition indicated that PEF appropriately increased tocopherol content. These findings provide a foundation for further optimization of PEF parameters to assist in extracting peony seed oil and facilitate its industrial application.

Topological Weyl semimetals are characterized by open Fermi arcs on their terminal surfaces, these materials not only changed accepted concepts of the Fermi loop but also enabled many exotic phenomena, such as one-way propagation. The key prerequisite is that the two terminal surfaces have to be well separated, i.e., the Fermi arcs are not allowed to couple with each other. Thus, their interaction was overlooked before. Here, we consider coupled Fermi arcs and propose a Weyl planar waveguide, wherein we found a saddle-chips-like hybridized guiding mode. The hybridized modes consist of three components: surface waves from the top and bottom surfaces and bulk modes inside the Weyl semimetal. The contribution of these three components to the hybridized mode appears to be z-position-dependent rather than uniform. Beyond the conventional waveguide framework, those non-trivial surface states, with their arc-type band structures, exhibit strong selectivity in propagation direction, providing an excellent platform for waveguides. Compared with the conventional waveguide, the propagation direction of hybridized modes exhibits high z-position-dependency. For example, when the probe plane shifts from the top interface to the bottom interface, the component propagating horizontally becomes dimmer, while the component propagating vertically becomes brighter. Experimentally, we drilled periodic holes in metal plates to sandwich an ideal Weyl meta-crystal and characterize the topological guiding mode. Our study shows the intriguing behaviors of topological photonic waveguides, which could lead to beam manipulation, position sensing, and even 3D information processing on photonic chip. The Weyl waveguide also provides a platform for studying the coupling and the interaction between surface and bulk states.

Nowadays, deep eutectic solvent (DES) was widely used in the extraction of bioactive in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) as an alternative to organic solvents. While as, it is still a challenge for the removal of DES solvents and recovery of the extracted product. In this study, a simple, efficient and green technique of preparing scutellarin from Erigerontis Herba(EH) was proposed, combining ultrasonic assisted-DES extraction with anti-solvent purification. Firstly, different types of DES were prepared and studied for their abilities to extract scutellarin from EH. DES composed of choline chloride and acetamide (1:4 mol/mol) with 30% water obtained the highest extraction yield. Anti-solvent was proved as an efficient method to recover scutellarin from the DES extract with a content of purification up to 71.2%. Moreover, microscopic structural analysis was carried out to investigate the extract process and explain the extraction principle. Furthermore, the antioxidative activities of the DES extracts were evaluated, indicated that the bioactive property of scutellarin were still remained by using DES as the extraction solvent. In conclusion, the proposed simple and green ultrasonic assisted DES extraction method will serve as an effective alternative strategy to extract bioactive compounds from TCM.

Introduction:Taxus species are used as medicinal plants all over the world. The leaves of Taxus species are sustainable medicinal resources that are rich in taxoids and flavonoids. However, traditional identification methods cannot effectively identify Taxus species on the basis of leaces used as raw medicinal materials, because their appearance and morphological characteristics are almost the same, and the probability of error identification increases in accordance with the subjective consciousness of the experimenter. Moreover, although the leaves of different Taxus species have been widely used, their chemical components are similar and lack systematic comparative research. Such a situation is challenging for quality assessment.Materials and methods: In this study, ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with triple quadrupole mass spectrometry combined with chemometrics was applied for the simultaneous determination of eight taxoids, four flavanols, five flavonols, two dihydroflavones, and five biflavones in the leaves of six Taxus species, namely, T. mairei, T. chinensis, T. yunnanensis, T. wallichiana, T. cuspidata, and T. media. Chemometric methods, including hierarchical cluster analysis, principal component analysis, orthogonal partial least squares-discriminate analysis, random forest iterative modeling, and fisher linear discriminant analysis, were utilized to differentiate and evaluate the six Taxus species.Results: This proposed method exhibited good linearity (R2 = 0.9999–0.9972) with a lower quantification limits of 0.94–3.05 ng/mL for all analytes. The intra- and inter-day precisions were within 6.83%. Six compounds, namely, 7-xylosyl-10-deacetyltaxol, ginkgetin, rutin, aromadendrin, 10-deacetyl baccatin III, and epigallocatechin, were identified through chemometrics for the first time. These compounds can be used as important chemical markers to distinguish the above six Taxus species rapidly.Conclusion: This study established a method for determination of the leaves of six Taxus species, and revealing the differences in the chemical components of these six Taxus species.

Sulfur poisoning could result in fast deterioration of Pd-based membranes by the formation of metal sulfides and reduction of hydrogen purity. The introduction of an MoO2/TS-1 layer could provide an effective protection of the Pd layer. Therefore, in this paper a synthetic method is presented for preparation of sulfur-resistant MoO2/TS-1 zeolite modified PdCu alloy composite membranes and their application in hydrogen separation under H2S containing steam. According to the stability test results, the MoO2/TS-1 zeolite armored layer obviously prolonged the stability of Pd based membrane. After 50 h stability test with 100 ppm H2S, there were no obvious structural changes and metal sulfide formation detected in the PdCu bulk from SEM images and XRD patterns, indicating that MoO2/TS-1 armor structure was good enough for protecting the PdCu alloy bulk.

Head-up displays (HUDs), a novel form of virtual display, are characterized by their optical structure as a typical binocular virtual display system. This structure exhibits the effect of binocular parallax on visual perception, especially when diverse depth information is displayed on a screen, which makes the eyes switch between different parallax conditions, and easily affects visual tasks, and induces visual fatigue. Augmented reality HUDs (AR-HUDs) have a wider field of view and are more susceptible to parallax effects. In this study, to determine the acceptable parallax threshold in a two-dimensional virtual display system for HUDs, especially for adjacent positions, and to provide a reference for HUD design, visual comfort and task performance were experimentally evaluated by simulating the overall parallax effect and with step changes on the screen. Specifically, the effects of overall and stepped horizontal and vertical parallaxes on visual fatigue and task performance were evaluated under different conditions. The results showed that the overall horizontal and vertical parallaxes had no significant effect on visual fatigue and task performance. However, stepped horizontal parallax had a significant effect on task performance (p < 0.05), with a parallax value of 3.31 mrad between adjacent positions serving as an acceptable threshold for stepped horizontal parallax as a reference. Significant differences (p < 0.05) in the concentration and fluctuation ratios of the results caused by vertical stepped parallax were found, and an acceptable stepped parallax threshold of 2.24 mrad was obtained. Further, experiments revealed that stepped vertical parallax was more likely to lead to reading misalignments, halos, and distortions. In addition, an exponentially varying relationship between stepped parallax and the error rate of visual performance was observed, and a model was built to predict the degree of influence on visual performance caused by horizontal stepped parallax in virtual displays. This study provides a reference for parallax control between neighboring display icons in AR-HUDs.

In this study, celastrol (CEL) microbial transformation was performed by Streptomyces olivaceus CICC 23628 for the first time. Two new friedelanes derivatives (CEL-1 and CEL-2) as metabolites were isolated, and their structures were elucidated based on the NMR and HR-MS analysis. Then we investigated their anti-proliferation activities in three human cancer cell lines (A549, HCT-116, HepG2) in vitro. Mechanistic studies showed that CEL-2 could induce cell apoptosis and block cell-cycle on HCT-116 cells. The western blotting analysis showed that CEL-2 could suppress the STAT3′s phosphorylation as well as its downstream genes. Furthermore, SPR analysis revealed that CEL-2 could direct bind with STAT3 protein. These studies suggest that the derivative CEL-2 may exert an anti-colorectal cancer effect via inhibiting STAT3, thereby inducing apoptosis and blocking cell-cycle. Finally, we further verified the anti-tumor effect of CEL-2 on the colorectal cancer organoid model. Our researches suggest that the biotransformation of celastrol is a potential approach to discovering new STAT3 inhibitors as anti-tumor agent.

As a component directly in contact with materials in the excavation process of the excavator, the structure and performance of the bucket directly affect the efficiency of the excavator. With the increasingly prominent environmental and energy problems, it has become a research difficulty to optimize the bucket structure of excavators so as to reduce the digging resistance and energy consumption of excavators. Therefore, an orthogonal optimization method of bucket structure that couples Adams with EDEM was proposed to explore the excavation performance of buckets with different structures under different geological conditions. The particle size distribution and mass proportion of various ores under different geological conditions were obtained through geological investigation, and particle models with different shapes and sizes were constructed. The friction coefficient and collision recovery coefficient between bucket and ore and between ore and ore were measured using a self-made testing device. The results show that the excavation resistance of the bucket teeth during the excavation process is much greater than that of other components, and optimizing the bucket structure can effectively reduce the excavation resistance of the bucket teeth. Under different geological conditions, the optimization parameter combinations of bucket structure obtained through orthogonal experiments are different. In addition, after structural optimization, the excavation resistance and energy consumption of the bucket were reduced, and the filling rate was also improved.

In this study, a dynamic–discrete element-finite element coupling method is proposed to investigate the influence of structural parameters on the excavation performance and stress deformation of the bucket. The main research work is as follows: through ADAMS-EDEM co-simulation of the digging process of the bucket, the digging resistance and the loose force of each part of the bucket are obtained. The influence law of the change of the structural parameters of the excavator bucket on the digging resistance, filling rate and energy consumption is revealed. Through the coupling simulation of EDEM-ANSYS, the loose force is introduced into the finite element model of the bucket to enable the coupling of ADAMS-EDEM-ANSYS. The influence of the change of the bucket structure parameters on the stress and deformation of the bucket components is explored. The results show that the cutting angle and angle of throat of the bucket has a major influence on the digging performance of the bucket. While the angle of the throat and the thickness of the ear plate have a minor influence on the digging performance of the bucket. In the process of excavation, the teeth of the bucket are subjected to the largest digging resistance, resulting in relatively large deformation. All of the components of the bucket are subjected to different degrees of excavation resistance, but the stress concentration at the ear plate is the most obvious. The deformation and stress of the whole bucket can be reduced, to some extent, by reducing the thickness of the ear plate along with increasing the thickness of the stiffening plate. The results can be used to improve the digging performance of the bucket and reduce the stress and deformation of the bucket.

The Lintong–Chang’an Fault Zone (LCFZ) is an important active structure in the Weihe Graben (central China). The study on the activity of the LCFZ is not only of great significance to explore the regional tectonic mechanism, but also has practical value in urban seismic mitigation and disaster relief. In this study, based on high-resolution remotely sensed imagery, shallow seismic reflection survey, borehole data and excavation of a foundation pit, we determined the distribution and activity of the Wangjiabian–Houjiawan fault (a branch fault of the LCFZ) in the Shaoling Loess Tableland. Combined with previous studies, we further inferred that the vertical displacements were 0–6 m along the LCFZ, but most displacements were around 1 m. Furthermore, there are eight locations where no displacements have been found in the Late Pleistocene strata. The offsets on the fault zone since the Late Pleistocene display a wave-like pattern, which is unrelated to the regional topographic expression. Compared to other faults in the Weihe Graben, the activity of the LCFZ in vertical component is relatively weak, implying a possible strike–slip motion. In addition, a major active fault may exist on the northwest side of this fault zone, bearing part of the fault motion in this region.

Pimavanserin is an approved selective 5-HT2A receptor inverse agonist for treating Parkinson’s disease psychosis. However, few studies on its metabolism in vitro have been investigated. In this research, eight strains of fungi are used to study the pimavanserin metabolism profiles in vitro and six of them demonstrated positive transformation results. Factors influencing the transformation rate, like substrate concentration, culture time, initial media pH value, culture temperature, and shaking speed, were evaluated and optimized. Cunninghamella blakesleeana AS3.970 provided the best transformation rate of 30.31%, and 10 unreported metabolites were screened by LC-MS/MS. Among these metabolites, M1 is the major one and identified as 1-(4-fluorobenzyl)-3-(4-(2-hydroxy-2-methylpropoxy)benzyl)-1-(1-methylpiperidin-4-yl)urea, which is a hydroxylation product of the pimavanserin. A preliminary molecular docking simulation was performed, which indicated that M1 exhibits similar binding properties with pimavanserin and may become a potential candidate for Parkinson’s disease treatment.

The recognition of printed music sheets in camera-based realistic scenarios is a novel research branch of optical music recognition (OMR). However, special factors in realistic scenarios, such as uneven lighting distribution and curvature of staff lines, can have adverse effects on OMR models designed for digital music scores. This paper proposes a stave-aware method based on object detection to recognize monophonic printed sheet music in camera-based scenarios. By detecting the positions of staff lines, we improve the accuracy of note pitch effectively. In addition, we present the Camera Printed Music Staves (CPMS) dataset, which consists of labels and images captured by mobile phones under different angles and lighting conditions in realistic scenarios. We compare our method after training on different datasets with a sequence recognition method called CRNN-CTC on the test set of the CPMS dataset. The results show that the accuracy, robustness, and data dependency of our method perform better.

Graphical AbstractTo recycle the propylene safely from a gas mixture consisting of propylene and oxygen, alkali metal-modified Pd catalysts were used to remove oxygen from the gas with the help of hydrogen.

Ternary composite with great modulation of electron transfers has attracted a lot of attention from the field of high-performance room-temperature (RT) gas sensing. Herein, walnut-like WO3-Ni–graphene ternary composites were successfully synthesized by the hydrothermal method for formaldehyde (HCHO) sensing at RT. The structural and morphological analyses were carried out by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). SEM and TEM studies confirmed that walnut-like WO3 nanostructures with an average size of 53 ± 23 nm were functionalized. The Raman and XPS results revealed that, due to the deformation of the O-W-O lattice, surface oxygen vacancies Ov and surface-adsorbed oxygen species Oc were present. The gas-sensing measurement shows that the response of the WO3-Ni-Gr composite (86.8%) was higher than that of the Ni-Gr composite (22.7%) for 500 ppm HCHO at RT. Gas-sensing enhancement can be attributed to a p-n heterojunction formation between WO3 and Ni-Gr, Oc, spill-over effect of Ni decoration, and a special walnut-like structure. Moreover, long term stability (%R = 61.41 ± 1.66) for 30 days and high selectivity in the presence of other gases against HCHO suggested that the proposed sensor could be an ideal candidate for future commercial HCHO-sensing in a real environment.

Abstract Water, as a ubiquitous and relatively inert medium, plays a vital role in nature. The interactions between water and organic molecules or inorganic salts are of fundamental interest in understanding hydration processes in chemistry. The combination of scanning probe microscopy and theoretical calculations provides a versatile tool to directly visualize and further rationalize such interactions as well as influences of water on organic molecules and inorganic salts. In this review, we provide a brief overview of the recent exciting progress in revealing the interactions between water and organic molecules as well as inorganic salts (including ions) on surfaces. Herein, we describe first steps of hydration of organic molecules followed by a microsolvation process on surfaces. Subsequently, water‐induced tautomerization and chiral separation of small biomolecules on surfaces are discussed for understanding the roles of water in driving biological self‐assembly processes. Moreover, water is also able to assist structural transformation globally by selectively interrupting the relatively weak hydrogen bonds within nanostructures. Based on the water‐incorporated molecular nanostructures, dissolution of sodium halides on wet surfaces is achievable using confined water, while hydrates of halide ions desorb from the surface. More interestingly, ion hydrates are also demonstrated to be artificially accessible, which enables atomic‐scale investigation into local ion hydration and transport at interfaces. This review provides new insights into the role of water in the hydration‐related molecular and ionic systems, with implications for hydration and solvent effects down to the single‐molecule level.

Catalytic transformation of low-cost glycerol to value-added lactic acid (LA) is considered as one of the most promising technologies for the upgradation of glycerol into renewable products. Currently, research studies reveal that anaerobic transformation of glycerol to LA could also obtain green H2 with the same yield of LA. However, the combined value-added utilization of released H2 with high selectivity of LA during glycerol conversion under mild conditions still remains a grand challenge. In this perspective, for the first time, we conducted a comprehensive and critical discussion on current strategies for combined one-pot/tandem dehydrogenation of glycerol to LA with catalytic transfer hydrogenation of H2 acceptors (such as CO2) to other chemicals. The aim of this overview was to provide a general guidance on the atomic economic reaction pathway for upgrading low-cost glycerol and CO2 to LA as well as other chemicals.

To enhance the management and protection of crayfish genetic diversity and germplasm resources in Cambaroides dauricus (C. dauricus), a common species of Procambarus clarkii (P. clarkii) was used as a control group to compare the whole mitochondrial genome sequence using Illumina sequencing technology. This study found that the mitochondrial genome of C. dauricus is 15580 bp in length, with a base composition of A (31.84%), G (17.66%), C (9.42%), and T (41.08%) and a C + G content of 27.08%. The C + G in the D-loop is rich in 17.06%, indicating a significant preference. The mitochondrial genome of C. dauricus contains 13 protein-coding genes, 22 tRNA genes, and 2 rRNA genes, with most of the genes labeled in the negative direction, except for a few genes that are labeled in the positive direction. The start codons of the ten coding sequences are ATG, and the quintessential TAA and TAG are the stop codons. This study also found that the Ka/Ks ratios of most protein-coding genes in the mitochondria of both shrimps are lower than 1, indicating weak natural selection, except for nad 2, nad 5, and cox 1. The Ka/Ks ratio of cox 3 is the lowest (less than 0.1), indicating that this protein-coding gene bears strong natural selection pressure and functional constraint in the process of mitochondrial genetic evolution of both shrimps. Furthermore, we constructed phylogenetic analyses based on the entire sequence, which effectively distinguishes the high body from other shrimp species of the genus based on the mitochondrial genome. This study provides molecular genetic data for the diversity investigation and protection of fishery resources with Chinese characteristics and a scientific reference for the evolutionary study of Procambarus.

Periprosthetic osteolysis (PPO) induced by wear particles is the most severe complication of total joint replacement; however, the mechanism behind PPO remains elusive. Previous studies have shown that osteocytes play important roles in wear-particle-induced osteolysis. In this study, we investigated the effects of connexin 43 (Cx43) on the regulation of osteocyte-to-osteoblast differentiation. We established an in vivo murine model of calvarial osteolysis induced by titanium (Ti) particles. The osteolysis characteristic and osteogenesis markers in the osteocyte-selective Cx43 (CKO)-deficient and wild-type (WT) mice were observed. The calvarial osteolysis induced by Ti particles was partially attenuated in CKO mice. The expression of β-catenin and osteogenesis markers increased significantly in CKO mice. In vitro, the osteocytic cell line MLO-Y4 was treated with Ti particles. The co-culturing of MLO-Y4 cells with MC3T3-E1 osteoblastic cells was used to observe the effects of Ti-treated osteocytes on osteoblast differentiation. When Cx43 of MLO-Y4 cells was silenced or overexpressed, β-catenin was detected. Additionally, co-immunoprecipitation detection of Cx43 and β-catenin binding in MLO-Y4 cells and MC3T3-E1 cells was performed. Finally, β-catenin expression in MC3T3-E1 cells and osteoblast differentiation were evaluated after 18α-glycyrrhetinic acid (18α-GA) was used to block the intercellular communication of Cx43 between MLO-Y4 and MC3T3-E1 cells. Ti particles increased Cx43 expression and decreased β-catenin expression in MLO-Y4 cells. The silencing of Cx43 increased the β-catenin expression, and the over-expression of Cx43 decreased the β-catenin expression. In the co-culture model, Ti treatment of MLO-Y4 cells inhibited the osteoblastic differentiation of MC3T3-E1 cells and Cx43 silencing in MLO-Y4 cells attenuated the inhibitory effects on osteoblastic differentiation. With Cx43 silencing in the MLO-Y4 cells, the MC3T3-E1 cells, co-cultured alongside MLO-Y4, displayed decreased Cx43 expression, increased β-catenin expression, activation of Runx2, and promotion of osteoblastic differentiation in vitro co-culture. Finally, Cx43 expression was found to be negatively correlated to the activity of the Wnt signaling pathway, mostly through the Cx43 binding of β-catenin from its translocation to the nucleus. The results of our study suggest that Ti particles increased Cx43 expression in osteocytes and that osteocytes may participate in the regulation of osteoblast function via the Cx43 during PPO.

We previously identified a lipopeptide, EK1C4, by linking cholesterol to EK1, a pan-CoV fusion inhibitory peptide via a polyethylene glycol (PEG) linker, which showed potent pan-CoV fusion inhibitory activity. However, PEG can elicit antibodies to PEG in vivo, which will attenuate its antiviral activity. Therefore, we designed and synthesized a dePEGylated lipopeptide, EKL1C, by replacing the PEG linker in EK1C4 with a short peptide. Similar to EK1C4, EKL1C displayed potent inhibitory activity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and other coronaviruses. In this study, we found that EKL1C also exhibited broad-spectrum fusion inhibitory activity against human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infection by interacting with the N-terminal heptad repeat 1 (HR1) of viral gp41 to block six-helix bundle (6-HB) formation. These results suggest that HR1 is a common target for the development of broad-spectrum viral fusion inhibitors and EKL1C has potential clinical application as a candidate therapeutic or preventive agent against infection by coronavirus, HIV-1, and possibly other class I enveloped viruses.

Preparing high-performance electrocatalysts for oxygen evolution reaction (OER)s with high durability for seawater electrolysis is of great significance. Herein, reported a one-step solution-immersion synthesis strategy to prepare a (Ni/Fe/Mo)OOH catalyst on a nickel foam substrate that can be accomplished in 5 min under ambient temperature and pressure. The unique cluster morphology of the catalyst on the surface of electrodes effectively increases the number of active sites, and the presence of Mo, Ni, and Fe in the catalyst enhances the activity of the OER. In the electrolyte solution (1 mol/L NaOH), the electrode exhibited low OER overpotentials of 265 mV, 286 mV, and 332 mV at currents of 100 mA·cm−2, 400 mA·cm−2, and 1000 mA·cm−2, respectively. This electrode also demonstrated excellent performance in seawater splitting, and the overpotentials at currents of 100 mA·cm−2, 400 mA·cm−2, and 1000 mA·cm−2 in alkaline seawater environments were 330 mV, 416 mV, and 514 mV, respectively. In the 72 h durability test, the voltage increase was within 10 mV, exhibiting the excellent durability of the (Ni/Fe/Mo)OOH electrocatalyst. Therefore, the electrode developed here shows potential in the application of seawater electrolysis for hydrogen generation.

Tunable and low-power microcavities are essential for large-scale photonic integrated circuits. Thermal tuning, a convenient and stable tuning method, has been widely adopted in optical neural networks and quantum information processing. Recently, graphene thermal tuning has been demonstrated to be a power-efficient technique, as it does not require thick spacers to prevent light absorption. In this paper, a silicon-based on-chip Fano resonator with graphene nanoheaters is proposed and fabricated. This novel Fano structure is achieved by introducing a scattering block, and it can be easily fabricated in large quantities. Experimental results demonstrate that the resonator has the characteristics of a high quality factor (∼31,000) and low state-switching power (∼1 mW). The temporal responses of the microcavity exhibit qualified modulation speed with 9.8 μs rise time and 16.6 μs fall time. The thermal imaging and Raman spectroscopy of graphene at different biases were also measured to intuitively show that the tuning is derived from the joule heating effect of graphene. This work provides an alternative for future large-scale tunable and low-power-consumption optical networks, and has potential applications in optical filters and switches.

Structural health monitoring systems continuously monitor the operational state of structures, generating a large amount of monitoring data during the process. The structural responses of extreme events, such as earthquakes, ship collisions, or typhoons, could be captured and further analyzed. However, it is challenging to identify these extreme events due to the interference of faulty data. Real-world monitoring systems suffer from frequent misidentification and false alarms. Unfortunately, it is difficult to improve the system’s built-in algorithms, especially the deep neural networks, partly because the current neural networks only output results and do not provide an interpretable decision-making basis. In this study, a deep learning-based method with visual interpretability is proposed to identify seismic data under sensor faults interference. The transfer learning technique is employed to learn the features of seismic data and faulty data with efficiency. A post hoc interpretation algorithm, termed Gradient-weighted Class Activation Mapping (Grad-CAM), is embedded into the neural networks to uncover the interest regions that support the output decision. The in situ seismic responses of a cable-stayed long-span bridge are used for method verification. The results show that the proposed method can effectively identify seismic data mixed with various types of faulty data while providing good interpretability.

Free enzymes often face economic problems because of their non-repeatability and variability, which limit their application in industrial production. In this study, KDN lipase was immobilized with the macroporous resin LXTE-1000 and glutaraldehyde. The optimal conditions of enzyme immobilization were defined by a single factor experiment and response surface methodology (RSM). The concentration of the cross-linking agent glutaraldehyde was 0.46% (v/v), the cross-linking temperature was 25.0 °C, and the cross-linking time was 157 min. The enzyme activity of the immobilized KDN lipase after adsorption/cross-linking was 291.36 U/g, and the recovery of the enzyme activity was 9.90%. The optimal conditions for the synthesis of isopropyl myristate were catalyzed by the immobilized KDN lipase in a solvent-free system: immobilized enzyme 53 mg, reaction temperature 36.1 °C, myristic acid 228.4 mg, isopropanol 114 µL, and reaction time 18 h. The yield of isopropyl myristate was 66.62%. After ten cycles, the activity of the immobilized KDN lipase preserved more than 46.87% of its initial enzyme activity, and it demonstrated high tolerance to solvents compared to free KDN lipase.

Hypocholesterolaemia is associated with elevated cancer risk and mortality, yet the relation between chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) and serum lipid profile remains unclear. Our study aims to evaluate the prognostic value of cholesterol levels in CLL and develop a prognostic nomogram that incorporates lipid metabolism. We enrolled 761 newly diagnosed CLL patients and separated them into either derivation (n = 507) or validation (n = 254) cohorts. The prognostic nomogram was constructed through multivariate Cox regression analyses, with performance evaluated using C-index, the area under the curve, calibration, and decision curve analyses. Decreased total cholesterol (TC), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) at diagnosis were significantly associated with worse time to first treatment (TTFT) and cancer-specific survival (CSS), and simultaneously, low HDL-C with low LDL-C was identified as an independent prognostic indicator for both TTFT and CSS. CLL patients achieving complete or partial remission post-chemotherapy had significantly increased TC, HDL-C, and LDL-C levels compared with the baseline, and post-therapeutic HDL-C and LDL-C elevation correlated with favourable survival. The prognostic nomogram augmenting the CLL international prognostic index with low cholesterol levels yielded higher predictive accuracy and discrimination capacity for both 3-year and 5-year CSS. In conclusion, cholesterol profiles can be used as a cheap and readily accessible tool for predicting prognosis in CLL practice.

With the merits of low cost, environmental friendliness and rich resources, manganese dioxide is considered to be a promising cathode material for aqueous zinc-ion batteries (AZIBs). However, its low ion diffusion and structural instability greatly limit its practical application. Hence, we developed an ion pre-intercalation strategy based on a simple water bath method to grow in situ δ-MnO2 nanosheets on flexible carbon cloth substrate (MnO2), while pre-intercalated Na+ in the interlayer of δ-MnO2 nanosheets (Na-MnO2), which effectively enlarges the layer spacing and enhances the conductivity of Na-MnO2. The prepared Na-MnO2//Zn battery obtained a fairly high capacity of 251 mAh g−1 at a current density of 2 A g−1, a satisfactory cycle life (62.5% of its initial capacity after 500 cycles) and favorable rate capability (96 mAh g−1 at 8 A g−1). Furthermore, this study revealed that the pre-intercalation engineering of alkaline cations is an effective method to boost the properties of δ-MnO2 zinc storage and provides new insights into the construction of high energy density flexible electrodes.

Although small-scale effect or thermal stress significantly impact the mechanical properties of nanobeams, their combined effects and the temperature dependence of the elastic parameters have yet to attract the attention of researchers. In the present paper, we propose a new nonlocal nonlinear Euler–Bernoulli theory to model the mechanical properties of nanobeams. We considered the small-scale effect, thermal stress, and the temperature dependence of Young’s modulus. A single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) was used to demonstrate the influence of the three factors on elastic buckling and forced bending vibrations. The results indicate that thermal stress and the temperature dependence of Young’s modulus have a remarkable influence on the mechanical properties of slender SWCNTs as compared to the small-scale effect induced by the nonlocal effect. Ignoring the temperature effect of slender SWCNTs may cause qualitative mistakes.

As a novel bio-inspired vision sensor, spike cameras offer significant advantages over conventional cameras with a fixed low sampling rate, recording fast-moving scenes by firing a continuous stream of spikes. Reconstruction methods including Texture from ISI (TFI), Texture from Playback (TFP), and Texture from Adaptive threshold (TFA) produce undesirable noise or motion blur. A spiking neural model distinguishes the dynamic and static spikes before reconstruction, but the reconstruction of motion details is still unsatisfactory even with the advanced TFA method. To address this issue, we propose a coarse-to-fine high-speed motion scene reconstruction (CFSR) method with a region-adaptive-based spike distinction (RASE) framework to reconstruct the full texture of natural scenes from the spike data. We utilize the spike distribution of dynamic and static regions to propose the RASE to distinguish the spikes of different moments. After distinction, the TFI, TFP, and patch matching are exploited for image reconstruction in different regions, respectively, which does not introduce unexpected noise or motion blur. Experimental results on the PKU-SPIKE-RECON dataset demonstrate that our CFSR method outperforms the state-of-the-art approaches in terms of objective and subjective quality.

Synthesis of zeolites in more efficient and greener methods is of great significance in both industrial and academic fields. However, the relative long time for zeolite crystallization and much consumption of water solvent make the target challengeable. Herein, a route for ultrafast synthesis of nano Silicalite-1 zeolites in 10 min with much less water consumption has been developed. Comprehensive characterizations, i.e., X-ray powder diffraction, N2 sorption, scanning electron microscope, and NMR, confirm the high quality of such obtained Silicalite-1 zeolites. In the catalytic deoxygenation of O2-containing ethylene (mixture of O2 and ethylene), these reported Silicalite-1 zeolite samples show the comparable performance with the conventional Silicalite-1 zeolites synthesized under hydrothermal conditions. This research therefore provides a new trial toward the ultrafast synthesis of zeolite materials in an environment-friendly route.

Streptomyces noursei D-3-14 was taken as a starting strain and treated with UV (15 W, 30 cm) mutagenesis for 40 s for three consecutive rounds. High yielding strains were screened using chemical and biological potency determination, and the components of the fermentation products were detected using HPLC. Finally, the mutant strain Streptomyces noursei 72-22-1 with a chemical potency of 8912 (U/mL) and a biological potency of 5557 (U/mL) was obtained after the genetic stability evaluation. After optimization of the fermentation conditions, the chemical potency and biological potency of Streptomyces noursei 72-22-1 reached 14,082 U/mL and 10579 U/mL, respectively, which is 1.58 and 1.91 times those before optimization. HPLC analysis indicated that the mutant strain 72-22-1 displayed a higher content of polyfungin B. When equimolar nystatin A1, A3, and polyfungin B were tested for their fungicidal activities towards Saccharomyces cerevisiae ATCC 2061, polyfungin B exhibited a better efficacy than nystatin A1 and A3.

The hydroxylation of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) to 7α -hydroxy-5-androstene-17-one (7α-OH-DHEA) and 7β-hydroxy-5-androstene-17-one (7β-OH-DHEA) by Gibberella sp. CICC 2498 and Absidia coerulea CICC 41050 was investigated. The media ingredients were optimized. Single factors such as the DHEA concentration, culture time, medium volume, and inoculum rate were individually investigated to generate optimum biotransformation conditions. An orthogonal optimization process using a four-factor, three- level L9 (33) experiment was designed and performed. Finally, the maximum production of 7β-OH-DHEA from DHEA biotransformation by Absidia coerulea is 69.61%. This strategy would provide a possible way to enhance the 7β-OH-DHEA yield in the pharmaceutical industry.

The modulation transfer function (MTF) is commonly used as an imaging quality criterion reflecting the spatial resolution capability of imaging systems. The modified edge methods based on ISO Standard 12233 are widely used in MTF measurement for various imaging fields with high confidence. However, there are two problems in the existing edge methods which limit the application in remote sensing (RS) field with complicated image quality and usually uncontrollable edge angle: a near-horizontal or near-vertical “small tilt angle straight (STAS)” edge is required, and the MTF measurement results show low robustness and non-uniqueness. In this study, the influence of edge angle, oversampling rate (OSR), region of interest (ROI), edge contrast, and random noise on the edge method accuracy is quantitatively analyzed, and a practical multidirectional MTF measurement edge method is proposed based on the above analysis results. The modified edge method adaptively determines the optimal OSR according to edge angle and combines multiple measurement states, such as multi-ROI extraction and multi-phase binning, to improve the robustness, accuracy, and practicality of the edge method.

To explore the potential metabolites from rabeprazole sulfide, seven strains of filamentous fungi were screened for their biotransformation abilities. Among these strains, Cunninghamella blakesleeana 3.970 exhibited the best result. Four different culture media were screened in order to identify the most optimal for subsequent research. Single factors such as the initial pH of culture media, culture time, inoculation volume, and media volume were individually investigated to provide the optimum biotransformation conditions. Then, an orthogonal optimization process using a five-factor, four-level L16(45) experiment was designed and performed. Finally, when the substrate concentration is 3 g/L, one major metabolite was detected with a transformation rate of 72.4%. Isolated by semipreparative HPLC, this metabolite was further detected by ESI-MS and NMR. The final data analysis indicated that the metabolite is O-demethylation rabeprazole sulfide.

Explorations of indefinite nanocavities have attracted surging interest in the past few years as such cavities enable light confinement to exceptionally small dimensions, relying on the hyperbolic dispersion of their consisting medium. Here, we propose and study indefinite graphene nanocavities, which support ultra-compressed mode volumes with confinement factors up to 109. Moreover, the nanocavities we propose manifest anomalous scaling laws of resonances and can be effectively excited from the far field. The indefinite graphene cavities, based on low dimensional materials, present a novel rout to squeeze light down to the nanoscale, rendering a more versatile platform for investigations into ultra-strong light–matter interactions at mid-infrared to terahertz spectral ranges.

As formaldehyde is an extremely toxic volatile organic pollutant, a highly sensitive and selective gas sensor for low-concentration formaldehyde monitoring is of great importance. Herein, metal-organic framework (MOF) derived Pd/PdO@ZnO porous nanostructures were synthesized through hydrothermal method followed by calcination processes. Specifically, porous Pd/PdO@ZnO nanomaterials with large surfaces were synthesized using MOFs as sacrificial templates. During the calcination procedure, an optimized temperature of 500°C was used to form a stable structure. More importantly, intensive PdO@ZnO inside the material and composite interface provides lots of p-n heterojunction to efficiently manipulate room temperature sensing performance. As the height of the energy barrier at the junction of PdO@ZnO exponentially influences the sensor resistance, the Pd/PdO@ZnO nanomaterials exhibit high sensitivity (38.57% for 100 ppm) at room temperature for 1-ppm formaldehyde with satisfactory selectivity towards (ammonia, acetone, methanol, and IPA). Besides, due to the catalytic effect of Pd and PdO, the adsorption and desorption of the gas molecules are accelerated, and the response and recovery time is as small as 256 and 264 s, respectively. Therefore, this MOF-driven strategy can prepare metal oxide composites with high surface area, well-defined morphology, and satisfactory room-temperature formaldehyde gas sensing performance for indoor air quality control.

Graphene oxide-carbon fiber/epoxy (GO-CF/EP) composites with extrusion temperatures of 30, 40, 50, 60 and 70 °C were prepared by a vacuum infiltration hot-press-forming experimental system (VIHPS). The effects of extrusion temperature on the microstructure, fracture mechanism and mechanical properties of GO-CF/EP composites were investigated. It was found that the best mechanical property of composites and infiltration effect of the matrix in the fiber gap were obtained at the temperature of 50 °C, and the bending strength of the composite reached 728 MPa. The fiber was pulled out and broken under the wrapping of the matrix. The matrix viscosity was high, and the fluidity was poor when the extrusion temperature was low. The poor infiltration of the matrix resulted in many fibers failing to bond together, resulting in the disorderly breakage of fiber bundles. Under the condition of higher temperature, the flow speed of the matrix could be improved. However, part of the matrix was extruded during the extrusion process, and cracks and other defects occurred during the loading, which caused the brittle fracture of the specimen.