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The effects of different dosages and lengths of carbon fibre (CF), sisal fibre (SF) and polypropylene fibre (PPF) on the microstructure and mechanical properties of mortar and concrete made with coral sand were studied through mechanical tests and scanning electron microscopy. In total, 37 groups of coral mortar and concrete specimens with the addition of CF, SF and PPF in four different dosages and three different lengths were tested. Based on mechanical tests and microstructure analysis, the strengthening effect and strengthening mechanism of fibre in coral mortar and concrete, and the mechanical properties of coral mortar and concrete were investigated. It was found that – compared with normal mortar and concrete – the workability of the coral mortar and concrete was poor due to its light weight, high porosity and rough surface. The strengthening effect of the fibres was reduced due to difficulty in dispersing the fibres evenly in the mortar and concrete. The addition of fibres significantly enhanced the flexural strength and toughness of the coral mortar and concrete, but an excessively high fibre dosage and the use of extra-long fibres significantly reduced its working performance due to the fibre curling and clustering, especially for CF. The optimal length and content of the different fibres were also investigated. The addition of SF was found to have the best strengthening effect.

Neurosteroids are endogenous modulators of GABAA receptors that mediate anxiety, pain, mood and arousal. The 3-hydroxyl epimers, allopregnanolone (3α-OH) and epiallopregnanolone (3β-OH) are both prevalent in the mammalian brain and produce opposite effects on GABAA receptor function, acting as positive and negative allosteric modulators, respectively. This Perspective provides a model to explain the actions of 3α-OH and 3β-OH neurosteroids. The model is based on evidence that the neurosteroid epimers bind to an overlapping subset of specific sites on GABAA receptors, with their net functional effect on channel gating being the sum of their independent effects at each site.

The development of non-precious based oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalysts with outstanding catalytic performance is desirable but still a grand challenge for practical Al-air battery. Herein, we report a vulcanization-assisted pyrolysis strategy for creating zeolitic imidazolate framework-derived catalysts with a N, S co-doped carbon support and highly exposed ZnS and Zn-Nx sites. The trithiocyanuric acid (TCA) is found not only to introduce S into the carbon derived from ZIF-8 and ZnS to adjust the electronic structure of carbon matrix during the pyrolysis, but also result in a shrinkage of carbon framework with a hierarchical porous structure. Such an architecture boosts abundant active sites exposed and accelerates remote mass transportation. As a result, the optimized 3.5ZnS/NSC-NaCl-900 delivers an impressive enhanced performance toward ORR in alkaline medium with a high half-wave potential of 0.905 V (vs. reversible hydrogen electrode), which is superior to most of non-precious metal-based catalysts. Density functional theory calculations unveil that the ZnS in 3.5ZnS/NSC-NaCl-900 can effectively lower the Gibbs energy barrier of crucial steps and therefore promotes the reaction kinetics. Furthermore, 3.5ZnS/NSC-NaCl-900 also displays greater power density and specific capacity than Pt/C in Al-air batteries.

An increase of glomerular filtration rate (GFR) is a common observation in early diabetes and is considered a key risk factor for subsequent kidney injury. However, the mechanisms underlying diabetic hyperfiltration have not been fully clarified. Here, we tested the hypothesis that macula densa neuronal nitric oxide synthase (NOS1) is upregulated via sodium glucose cotransporter type 1 (SGLT1) in diabetes, which then inhibits tubuloglomerular feedback (TGF) promoting glomerular hyperfiltration. Therefore, we examined changes in cortical NOS1 expression and phosphorylation, nitric oxide production in the macula densa, TGF response, and GFR during the early stage of insulin-deficient (Akita) diabetes in wild-type and macula densa-specific NOS1 knockout mice. A set of sophisticated techniques including microperfusion of juxtaglomerular apparatus in vitro, micropuncture of kidney tubules in vivo, and clearance kinetics of plasma fluorescent-sinistrin were employed. Complementary studies tested the role of SGLT1 in SGLT1 knockout mice and explored NOS1 expression and phosphorylation in kidney biopsies of cadaveric donors. Diabetic mice had upregulated macula densa NOS1, inhibited TGF and elevated GFR. Macula densa-selective NOS1 knockout attenuated the diabetes-induced TGF inhibition and GFR elevation. Additionally, deletion of SGLT1 prevented the upregulation of macula densa NOS1 and attenuated inhibition of TGF in diabetic mice. Furthermore, the expression and phosphorylation levels of NOS1 were increased in cadaveric kidneys of diabetics and positively correlated with blood glucose as well as estimated GFR in the donors. Thus, our findings demonstrate that the macula densa SGLT1-NOS1-TGF pathway plays a crucial role in the control of GFR in diabetes.

In this study, a graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) based ternary catalyst CuO/CuFe2O4/g-C3N4 (CCCN) is successfully prepared thorough calcination method. After confirming the structure and composition of CCCN, the as-synthesized composites are utilized to activate persulfate (PS) for the degradation of organic contaminant. While using tetracycline hydrochloride (TC) as pollutant surrogate, the effects of initial pH, PS and catalyst concentration on the degradation rate are systematically studied. Under the optimized reaction condition, CCCN/PS is able to give 99% degradation extent and 74% chemical oxygen demand removal in assistance of simulated solar light, both of which are apparently greater than that of either CuO/CuFe2O4 and pristine g-C3N4. The great improvement in degradation can be assignable to the effective separation of photoinduced carriers thanks to the integration between CuO/CuFe2O4 and g-C3N4, as well as the increased reaction sites given by the g-C3N4 substrate. Moreover, the scavenging trials imply that the major oxidative matters involved in the decomposition are hydroxyl radicals (•OH), superoxide radicals (•O2−) and photo-induced holes (h+).

Control of toxic or carcinogenic disinfection byproduct (DBP) formation in drinking water is critical in an effort to improve drinking water safety and safeguard public health, due to the elevation...

Electrocatalytic carbon dioxide reduction (CO2R) presents a promising route to establish zero-emission carbon cycle and store intermittent renewable energy into chemical fuels for steady energy supply. Methanol is an ideal energy carrier as alternative fuels and one of the most important commodity chemicals. Nevertheless, methanol is currently mainly produced from fossil-based syngas, the production of which yields tremendous carbon emission globally. Direct CO2R towards methanol poses great potential to shift the paradigm of methanol production. In this perspective, we focus our discussions on producing methanol from electrochemical CO2R, using metallomacrocyclic molecules as the model catalysts. We discuss the motivation of having methanol as the sole CO2R product, the documented application of metallomacrocyclic catalysts for CO2R, and recent advance in catalyzing CO2 to methanol with cobalt phthalocyanine-based catalysts. We attempt to understand the key factors in determining the activity, selectivity, and stability of electrocatalytic CO2-to-methanol conversion, and to draw mechanistic insights from existing observations. Finally, we identify the challenges hindering methanol electrosynthesis directly from CO2 and some intriguing directions worthy of further investigation and exploration.

Michler's ethylketone (MEK, 4,4’-bis(diethylamino)benzophenone), commonly-known as an intermediate in the synthesis of dyes and pigments, was successfully screened and optimized as a novel matrix for the enhancement of lipid in situ detection and imaging in tissues by MALDI-MSI. The results show several properties of MEK as a powerful MALDI matrix, including strong UV absorption, μm-sized crystals and uniform matrix-coating, super high vacuum chemical stability, low matrix-related ion interference, super soft ionization, as well as high lipid ionization efficiency.

An active-passive integration technique for operation near a wavelength of 1030 nm has been developed on a gallium arsenide (GaAs) photonic integrated circuit platform. The technique leverages quantum wells (QWs) that are slightly offset vertically from the center of the waveguide, and selectively removed prior to upper cladding regrowth to form active and passive regions. The active region consists of indium gallium arsenide (InGaAs) QWs, gallium arsenide phosphide (GaAsP) barriers, GaAs separate confinement heterostructure layers, and aluminum gallium arsenide (AlGaAs) cladding. Fabry Perot lasers with various widths were fabricated and characterized, exhibiting high injection efficiency of 98.8%, internal active loss of 3.44 cm−1, and internal passive loss of 4.05 cm−1 for 3 μm wide waveguides. The 3 μm, 4 μm, and 5 μm wide lasers demonstrated greater than 50 mW output power at 100 mA continuous wave (CW) current and threshold current as low as 9 mA. 20 μm wide broad area lasers demonstrated 240 mW output power, 35.2 mA threshold current under CW operation, and low threshold current density of 94 A/cm2 for 2 mm long lasers. Additionally, these devices exhibit transparency current density of 85 A/cm2 and good thermal characteristics with T 0 = 205 K, and Tη = 577K.

Colorimetric and fluorescent probes have emerged as a potent tool for pH sensing due to easy operation and high sensitivity. However, most of the existing bimodal probes require complicated synthesis, which greatly limits their wide applications. Herein, a simple fluorescent dye (called BFCUR) featuring a D-π-A-π-D conjugated system was developed from the natural polyphenol curcumin (CUR). BFCUR exhibited significant red-shift in UV absorption and fluorescence emission as pH increased because of the deprotonation of the phenolic hydroxyl groups, which resulted in the enhanced intramolecular charge transfer (ICT). The ratiometric pH detection of BFCUR was achieved with remarkable accuracy by monitoring both the absorbance ratio A500/A650 and the fluorescence intensity ratio I622/I743 under various pH values. In addition, the clear color changes of BFCUR under different pH conditions were visible, which enabled BFCUR to be used in test strips for rapid, visual pH detection. Moreover, BFCUR exhibited low cytotoxicity, and was successfully applied for intracellular pH detection, where the fluorescence intensity was linearly related to pH value. This study highlighted the great potential of CUR-derived BFCUR as colorimetric and fluorescent probes for ratiometric-pH sensing and cell imaging.

The development of hydrogen evolution activity (HER) electrocatalyst that can run durably and efficiently under the large current density is of special significance but still challengeable for the massive production of hydrogen. Herein, a CoP/Ni(OH)2 nanowire catalysts grown on Co foam (CF) with a three-dimensional heterojunction structure has been successfully prepared by electrodepositing nickel hydroxide on the surface of cobalt phosphide. The prepared CoP/Ni(OH)2–15 min sample reveals a superior HER activity and stability. It merely requires ultralow overpotentials of 108 and 175 mV to 100 and 500 mA cm−2, respectively. In addition, the long-term stability test shows that the catalyst (CoP/Ni(OH)2–15 min) can operate stably for at least 70 h at 400 mA cm−2. Utilizing NiFe-LDH/IF with high OER activity, the NiFe-LDH/IF || CoP/Ni(OH)2–15 min catalyst system possesses the same outstanding performance for overall water splitting (OWS), which can accomplish ≈ 500 mA cm−2 at 1.74 V in 1 M KOH electrolyte. Moreover, the NiFe-LDH/IF || CoP/Ni(OH)2–15 min couple can work for more than 80 h at 500 mA cm−2, indicating its a great prospect in the area of electrolysis water. Such excellent catalytic performance is mainly attributed to the armor effect of Ni(OH)2, which can not only promote the rapid decomposition of water molecules, but also prevent the loss of phosphorus and enhance the synergistic effect of CoP and Ni(OH)2. This work can offer a significant reference for the design with high-performance and durable transition metal phosphide electrocatalysts.

Developing efficient and cost-effective catalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is vital to hydrogen energy's commercial applications. In this study, N,P-doped carbon supported ruthenium (Ru) doped triruthenium tetraphosphide (Re3P4) (Ru-Re3P4/NPC) with porous nanostructure is prepared using the low-toxic melamine phosphate as the carbon and phosphorous source. The in-situ generated N,P-doped carbon layers play a pivotal role in regulating the electrocatalytic activity by avoiding the aggregation of the nanoparticles and increasing the specific surface area. Moreover, Ru doping contributes to the remarkable electrocatalytic performance of the prepared nanomaterials. Impressively, the as-synthesized Ru-Re3P4/NPC presents remarkable electrocatalytic performances toward HER with small overpotentials of 39 mV, 115 mV, and 88 mV to deliver 10 mA cm−2 in alkaline, neutral, and acidic media. Moreover, the prepared electrocatalyst can drive water-splitting with a small potential of 1.45 V@10 mA cm−2 and use sustainable energies, including solar, wind, and thermal, as electric resources. This work paves a novel and valuable way to enhance the electrocatalytic performances of metal phosphides.

In this work, a covalent organic framework (COF), which is constructed by the building blocks of [5,10,15,20-tetrakis(4-aminophenyl)porphinato]copper(II) (CuTAPP) and p-benzaldehyde, is employed to integrate with TiO2 for the purpose of establishing a Z-scheme hybrid. Within the system, isonicotinic acid performs the role of a bridge that connects the two components through a coordination bond. Further photocatalytic application reveals the hybrid framework is able to catalyze CO2 conversion under simulated solar light, resulting in CO production rate of 50.5 μmol g−1 h−1, about 9.9 and 24.5 times that of COF and pristine TiO2, respectively. The ameliorated catalytic performance owes much to the porphyrin block acting as photosensitizer that augments the light absorbance, and the establishment of Z-scheme system between the inorganic and organic components that enhances the separation of the carriers. In addition, the chemical bridge also ensures a steady usage and stable charge delivery in the catalysis. Our study sheds light on the development of versatile approaches to covalently incorporate COFs with inorganic semiconductors.

With the aim of discovering new bioactive pesticides for crop protection, a series of novel sulfide-containing amide derivatives A were efficiently synthesized via a strategy of modifying the “amide” structure of anthranilic diamide insecticides. The single-crystal structures of A2-3 and A4-5 were firstly reported. The bioassay results showed that most of the synthesized compounds display moderate to high insecticidal activities. Particularly, some sulfone-containing compounds, e.g., A2-3, A3-3 and A6-3, not only possessed favorable lethality rate (50%–100%) against P. xylostella at a concentration of 0.1 mg/L, but also held good activities towards a variety of agricultural pests such as M. separata, C. pipiens pallen, H. armigera and O. nubilalis; the larvicidal activities of A4-1 and A6-1 towards P. xylostella were close to that of chlorantraniliprole at 0.01 mg/L. The calcium imaging experiments revealed that the representative compounds A2-3 and A6-3 are potential ryanodine receptor (RyR) modulators. The structure–activity relationships were discussed in detail. These results provide useful information for further design and development of novel insecticides.

This letter presents a C-band high-efficiency fully integrated high-power amplifier (HPA) monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) in 0.25 μm gallium nitride (GaN) high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) technology. The proposed GaN HPA MMIC consists of two amplifying stages, and its output stage includes 8 transistors in parallel. In order to realize the high efficiency, a low-loss harmonic control network (HCN) using a parallel LC resonate block is applied to obtain the optimum load impedance to each transistor employed in the output stage of the HPA at both f0 and 2f0. Thus, the designed GaN HPA can operate in pulse conditions of 100 μs pulse width and 10% of duty cycle over the frequency from 5.6 GHz to 6.3 GHz. The proposed high efficiency GaN HPA MMIC provides an average output power of 45.0 dBm-45.5 dBm (31.6 W-35.5 W) with a power added efficiency (PAE) of 59%-61.8%, and a gain of 26 dB-28.5 dB under a drain voltage of 28 V. The area of the proposed GaN HPA MMIC is 4.2 mm × 4 mm including pads.

This study was performed to investigate the effects of dietary trehalose on growth, muscle composition, non-specific immune responses, gene expression and desiccation resistance of juvenile red claw crayfish (Cherax quadricarinatus). A total of 540 (body weight of 0.41 ± 0.05) crayfish were randomly divided into six groups for a feeding experiment. Six diets with trehalose levels at 0 (Diet 1), 1 (Diet 2), 2 (Diet 3), 5 (Diet 4), 10 (Diet 5) and 15 (Diet 6) g kg−1 were prepared to feed juvenile red claw crayfish for 8 weeks. The results showed that the weight gain rate (WGR) and specific growth rate (SGR) of crayfish in Diet 4, Diet 5 and Diet 6 groups were significantly improved compared with the control group (Diet 1). Muscle crude protein contents of crayfish fed Diet 4, Diet 5 and Diet 6 were significantly higher than those of the control group. The activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and alkaline phosphatase (AKP) in hepatopancreas and hemolymph of crayfish for Diet 4, Diet 5, and Diet 6 groups were significantly increased while malondialdehyde (MDA) content was significantly reduced when compared with the control. The total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC), catalase (CAT) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activities in the hepatopancreas and hemolymph of crayfish fed Diet 5 and Diet 6 were significantly higher than those in the control group. However, acid phosphatase (ACP) activity was not significantly different among all experimental groups. The hepatopancreas and intestine trehalose contents of crayfish showed an upward trend with the increase of dietary trehalose levels. Compared with the control group, supplementation of 5–15 g kg−1 trehalose in the feed up-regulated the expression levels of GPx, C-type lysozyme (C-LZM), antilipolysacchride factor (ALF), facilitated trehalose transporter homolog isoform X2 (Tret1-2) and facilitated trehalose transporter isoform X4 (Tret1-4) mRNA. In addition, supplementation of 5–15 g kg−1 trehalose in the feed could improve the survival rate of red claw crayfish under desiccation stress. These results suggested that supplementation of 5–15 g kg−1 trehalose in feed could significantly improve the growth performance, muscle protein, non-specific immunity and desiccation resistance of juvenile red claw crayfish.

Niobium carbide composite coatings were prepared on titanium alloy surface by plasma spraying NbC–Al2O3, Nb–SiC and Nb–SiC–Al composite powders, respectively. The phase composition, microstructure and formation mechanism of the three composite coatings were analyzed and their microhardness, toughness and scratch resistance were compared. The phases of the NbC–Al2O3 system did not change during the plasma spraying process, and new phases (Nb2C, NbC and Nb3Si) were formed in the Nb–SiC and Nb–SiC–Al systems. TEM results of the Nb–SiC composite coating indicate that the new phases nanocrystalline Nb2C, submicron NbC and nanocrystalline Nb3Si were formed during the plasma spraying process. Compared with the NbC–Al2O3 composite coating, the microstructure of the Nb–SiC and the Nb–SiC–Al composite coatings were uniform, and the porosity were relatively low, and the hardness was higher. The Nb–SiC–Al composite coating was denser than the Nb–SiC composite coating, the lamellar structure was obvious and the number of pores in the coating was the least, which is attributed to the better molten state of the composite powder by the addition of the Al to the Nb–SiC system. The Nb–SiC–Al composite coating had better toughness and scratch resistance.

Hypertension is a common comorbid condition in patients with diabetes. The pathogenesis of hypertension in diabetes has not been fully clarified. Primary tubular hyperreabsorption may contribute, which may be counteracted by glomerular hyperfiltration in the early diabetic kidney. In this study, we hypothesize that in early diabetes, the macula densa neuronal nitric oxide synthase (NOS1)-derived nitric oxide (NO) production is enhanced, which blunts tubuloglomerular feedback (TGF) response, promotes glomerular hyperfiltration, and maintains normal blood pressure; conversely, insufficient NO generation by the macula densa induces hypertension by lowering glomerular filtration rate and thus inhibiting natriuresis. To test this hypothesis, we examined the changes of macula densa NOS1 expression and phosphorylation as well as NO production, TGF response, glomerular filtration rate, sodium excretion, and blood pressure in a murine model of leptin receptor-deficient (db/db) diabetes with or without macula densa-specific NOS1 deletion. We found that db/db mice presented reduced fractional renal sodium excretion and only a small increase in blood pressure, associated with upregulated expression and activity of macula densa NOS1, inhibited TGF response, and glomerular hyperfiltration. Genetic knockout of macula densa NOS1 restored the TGF response and attenuated glomerular hyperfiltration in db/db mice but also further reduced fractional renal sodium excretion and substantially increased blood pressure. In conclusion, the present study demonstrates that in the early stage of leptin receptor-deficient diabetes, the upregulation of macula densa NOS1 inhibits TGF and increases glomerular filtration rate, which counteracts renal sodium retention and limits the rise in blood pressure.

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a serious neurodevelopmental disorder with no clinical biomarker. This study used untargeted metabolomic analysis to identify metabolic characteristics in plasma that can distinguish ASD children. 29 boys with ASD (3.02 ± 0.67 years) and 30 typically developing (TD) boys (3.13 ± 0.46 years) were recruited. Developmental and behavioral assessments were conducted in ASD group. Samples of plasma were analyzed using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). The association between metabolite concentration and scale score was assessed by Spearman rank correlation. Altered metabolic characteristics were found in boys with ASD. In Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) analysis, ornithine had the highest AUC (Area under ROC) value. Furthermore, the concentration of choline and ornithine was negatively correlated with ABC-language score in ASD group.

Physicochemical details at the interphase of protein aggregation have been less explored especially in live cells. Herein, we reported a crystallization induced emission fluorophore to quantitatively interrogate the polarity of aggregated proteins. This solvatochromic probe, namely "AggRetina" probe, inherently binds to aggregated proteins and exhibits both polarity-dependent fluorescence emission wavelength shift and viscosity-dependent fluorescence intensity increase. Regulation of its polarity sensitivity was achieved by extending the conjugation length. Empowered by this probe, we observed that different proteins bear diverse polarity upon aggregation, leading to different resistance to proteolysis. We further showed that polarity primarily decreases during protein misfolding but viscosity mainly increases upon the formation of insoluble aggregates. Finally, we quantified the polarity of aggregated protein-of-interest in live cells via HaloTag bioorthogonal labeling, revealing polarity heterogeneity within cellular aggregates. This work highlights the enriched micro-environment details inside misfolded and aggregated proteins that may correlate to their bio-chemical properties and pathogenicity.

An electrochemical approach for the preparation of monofluorides from α,β-unsaturated carboxylic acids and heteroaromatics with readily available 2-fluoromalonate esters as monofluoroalkyl radical precursors has been developed. The electrosynthesis employs ferrocene (Cp2Fe) as a catalyst in a simple undivided cell with a broad substrate scope, which obviates the need for sacrificial oxidizing reagents.

This study aimed to introduce a novel loop neurorrhaphy technique using an innervated vascularized iliac bone flap (VIBF) with vascularized ilioinguinal nerve (IIN) to reconstruct the inferior alveolar nerve (IAN) and preserve lower lip sensation simultaneously with mandibular reconstruction.This study prospectively included patients who underwent mandibular reconstruction using VIBF from May 2018 to April 2020. Subjects were allocated into two groups: (1) Group I; innervated VIBF with loop neurorrhaphy (IIN doubly anastomosed with IAN and mental nerve), (2) Group II (control); conventional VIBF. Evaluation was done with operative time, intraoperative indocyanine green (ICG), lower lip sensory assessment (two-point discrimination [TPD] test and current perception threshold [CPT]), and drooling.Twelve patients were included; 6 in each group, (7 males and 5 females), age ranging from 18 to 57 years (average: 36.75 years). In all cases, intraoperative perfusion of IIN was confirmed by ICG. Group I showed a statistically significant more flap harvesting time compared with group II (mean difference, 5.67 min; P = 0.0091). There was a significant difference in sensory recovery favoring group I (P 0.05). The TPD results in group I showed an average of 9.8 ± 6.9 mm and 6.2 ± 5.7 mm on operated and non-operated sides, while Group II showed a poor sensory recovery, and the TPD showed an average of 24.6 ± 6.7 mm and 8.4 ± 2.3 mm on operated and non-operated sides. The CPT results showed a significant difference between both groups. In Group I, the extent of drooling was 3.16 ± 0.75, while in Group II, the score was 1.6 ± 0.81, revealing a significant difference favoring Group I.Concurrent mandibular reconstruction using VIBF and loop neurorrhaphy with vascularized IIN to reconstruct IAN successfully restore lower jaw form and preserve lip sensation.

Biofouling has been a substantial burden on biomarker analysis in complex biological media, leading to poor sensitivity and selectivity or even malfunction of the sensing devices. In this work, an electrochemical biosensor with excellent antifouling ability and high stability was fabricated based on amyloid-like bovine serum albumin (AL-BSA) crosslinked with the conducting polymer polyaniline (PANI). Compared with the crosslinked conventional bovine serum albumin (BSA), the crosslinked AL-BSA exhibited enhanced antifouling capability, and it was able to form an effective antifouling film within a significantly short reaction time. With further immobilization of immunoglobulin M (IgM) antibodies onto the prepared AL-BSA surface via the formation of amide bonds, an electrochemical biosensor capable of assaying IgM in human serum samples with superior selectivity and sensitivity was constructed. The biosensor exhibited excellent antifouling performance even in 100% human serum, a low limit of detection down to 2.32 pg mL-1, and acceptable accuracy for real sample analysis compared with the standard enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for IgM detection. This strategy of using AL-BSA to construct antifouling sensing interfaces provided a reliable diagnostic method for the detection of a series of protein biomarkers in complex biological media.

Here we develop a novel visible-light-driven three-component cyclization by trapping an 1,3-vinylimine ion intermediate for the direct synthesis of pyrimido[1,2-b]indazole derivatives from bromodifluoroacetic acid derivatives, enaminones, and 3-aminoindazoles under mild conditions. Notably, the robust methodology provides a valuable opportunity for the introduction of aliphatic substituents and enables good compatibility of complex bioactive molecules. Furthermore, this is the first example of photoinduced multicomponent reaction by employing bromodifluoroacetic acid derivatives as a C1-synthon.

Lignin-carbohydrate complexes (LCCs) have recently emerged as natural products with pharmaceutical and nutraceutical potential. Here, we compared the structure of LCCs from ginkgo (GK, gymnosperms), wheat straw (WST, monocotyledons), and aspen white poplar (AW, dicotyledons). We also investigated the biotransformation of LCCs by intestinal microbiota in vitro. We found that human intestinal microbiota could use LCCs as a carbon source for growth, breaking resistant cross-linkages in LCCs to generate a plethora of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) and aromatic compounds with putative beneficial effects on human health. The yield of SCFAs reached 1837.8 ± 44.1 μmol/g using AW LCCs as a carbon source. The biomass of intestinal microbiota increased the fastest using GK LCCs. The greatest amounts of phenolics were present at 4 h in a WST LCCs fermentation system. Many phenolic acids with potential bioactivity were obtained after 24 h fermentation using each LCCs, such as ferulic acid.

Oxygenated organic molecules (OOMs) are the crucial intermediates linking volatile organic compounds (VOCs) to secondary organic aerosols (SOAs) in the atmosphere, but comprehensive understanding of the characteristics of OOMs and their formation from VOCs is still missing. Ambient observations of OOMs using recently developed mass spectrometry techniques are still limited, especially in polluted urban atmospheres where VOCs and oxidants are extremely variable and complex. Here, we investigate OOMs, measured by a nitrate-ion-based chemical ionization mass spectrometer at Nanjing in eastern China, through performing positive matrix factorization on binned mass spectra (binPMF). The binPMF analysis reveals three factors about anthropogenic VOC (AVOC) daytime chemistry, three isoprene-related factors, three factors about biogenic VOC (BVOC) nighttime chemistry, and three factors about nitrated phenols. All factors are influenced by NOx in different ways and to different extents. Over 1000 non-nitro molecules have been identified and then reconstructed from the selected solution of binPMF, and about 72 % of the total signals are contributed by nitrogen-containing OOMs, mostly regarded as organic nitrates formed through peroxy radicals terminated by nitric oxide or nitrate-radical-initiated oxidations. Moreover, multi-nitrates account for about 24 % of the total signals, indicating the significant presence of multiple generations, especially for isoprene (e.g., C5H10O8N2 and C5H9O10N3). Additionally, the distribution of OOM concentration on the carbon number confirms their precursors are driven by AVOCs mixed with enhanced BVOCs during summer. Our results highlight the decisive role of NOx in OOM formation in densely populated areas, and we encourage more studies on the dramatic interactions between anthropogenic and biogenic emissions.

In this paper, the spatial distribution of fluoride (F‒) and manganese (Mn) in groundwater was described and the overall groundwater quality was assessed with the entropy weight water quality index (EWQI) in Weining Plain, northwest China. The probabilistic health risk of F‒ and Mn in groundwater was assessed by the Monte Carlo stochastic simulation method. The results show that 50 groundwater samples (a total of 144) belong to poor and very poor quality because of agricultural activities, industrial development, and the local hydrogeological conditions. Groundwater quality in the upper reaches of the Yellow River is better than that in the lower reaches. The average health risks faced by children and adults are 4.59 and 0.62, respectively. If the uncertainty of the model parameters are considered, the mean risks faced by children and adults are 6.84 and 0.92, respectively, indicating that the health risk to residents, especially children, cannot be ignored. Compared with dermal contact, drinking water intake is the main exposure way to harm residents’ health. F‒ contributed higher to the health risk than Mn, and children face greater risk than adults. Stochastic simulation can reflect health risks more comprehensively than the deterministic methods. The study results are helpful for decision makers to take measures for the safe supply of drinking water in the study area.

Polyurethane polymer grouting material has been effectively applied and promoted in the repair of road damages in nonfrozen areas. However, this material undergoes an exothermic reaction in the curing stage, which can cause a thermal disturbance in the frozen soil subgrade. To minimize the influence of the thermal disturbance of the polyurethane polymer grouting material in the repair of the frozen soil subgrade, an experiment was conducted to reduce the heat of the curing reaction under the influence of different proportions of a foaming agent, high-boiling point solvent, catalyst, and prepolymer. According to these test results, a proportioning scheme for the low exothermic polymer grouting material was formulated. The results indicated that the curing reaction temperature threshold of the polyurethane polymer grouting material was negatively related to the proportion of physical foaming agent (HCFC-141b) and high-boiling point solvent and positively related to the proportion of water weight. In the three stages of rapid temperature rise, slow temperature rise, and constant temperature, the rate of the temperature rise of the low exothermic polymer grouting material was lower than that of the common polymer, and the curing temperature threshold was 30.34% lower at a value of 101°C. At a density of 80 kg/m3, the compressive strength and tensile strength of the low heat release polymer grouting material were lower than those of the common polymer grouting material, thereby ensuring the excellent performance of polyurethane foam and providing a theoretical reference for the rapid repair of frozen soil roadbed diseases.

Sensitive detection of telomerase and its inhibitor are of great significance to early diagnosis and treatment of malignant tumors. A cascade signal amplification strategy based on cyclic strand displacement reaction was designed to detect telomerase activity in cell lysates and living tumor cells. The primer can be elongated with repeated sequences of (TTAGGG)n due to the presence of telomerase. The telomerase extension product (TEP) competes C-DNA with G-DNA by forming more stable duplex. Thus, G-DNA was released and trigger the cyclic strand displacement reaction. Two molecular beacons (MB1 and MB2) were applied to fulfill the cyclic amplification reaction and report the fluorescence signal. Compared with unamplified OMB strategy, the limit of detection for telomerase activity with amplified TMB strategy was enhanced by two orders of magnitude. It provides a new enzyme-free and PCR-free amplification method for quantification and monitoring of telomerase activity in living tumor cells. It can also be utilized for distinguishing tumor cells from normal cells by in situ imaging. The monitoring of telomerase activity with inhibitor demonstrated its potential applications in the discovery of anti-cancer drugs.

Although TiO2 is a wide band gap semiconductor, it demonstrates photodegradation activity under visible light irradiation after dye sensitization. Compared with esterification between the surface hydroxyl group of TiO2 and the carboxylic group of dyes, electrostatic interaction between TiO2 and dye shows better photosensitized performance. In this work, Bi/Al co-doping anatase titania (Ti1-xBi2x/3Al2x/3O2 (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.3)) is designed to enhance the electrostatic interaction. The effect of Al ions is to enhance the solubility of Bi3+ into titania nanocrystals. A new band gap is generated after high concentration of Bi element doping, which not only promotes the absorption of visible light, but also improves the utilization of photogenerated carriers. Based on the results of transmission electron microscopy, light absorption, photodegradation activity and density functional theory calculations, it is found that bismuth dopant is the electron capture site. It first accumulates electrons through photocatalytic degradation reaction to enhance electrostatic adsorption between the catalyst and the positively charged dye molecules, and finally realizes high-efficiency photosensitization degradation of Rhodamine B. In addition, the sensitized titania has excellent photodegradation recyclability.

Rosette‐type submerged macrophytes are widely distributed across a range of water depths in shallow lakes and play a key role in maintaining ecosystem structures and functions. However, little is known about the rapid adaptive responses of such macrophytes to variations in water depth, especially at the juvenile stage. Here, we conducted a short‐term in situ mesocosm experiment, in which the juveniles of Vallisneria natans were exposed to a water depth gradient ranging from 20 to 360 cm. Twenty‐two leaf‐related traits were examined after 4 weeks of growth in a shallow lake. Most (18) traits of V. natans generally showed high plasticity in relation to water depth. Specifically, juveniles allocated more biomass to leaves and had higher specific leaf area, leaf length‐to‐width ratio, chlorophyll content, and carotenoids content in deep waters, displaying trait syndrome associated with high resource acquisition. In contrast, V. natans juveniles in shallow waters had higher leaf dry matter content, leaf soluble carbohydrate content, carotenoids per unit chlorophyll, and peroxidase activity, pertaining to resource conservation. Notably, underwater light intensity was found to be the key factor explaining the trait plasticity along the water depth gradient, and 1.30 mol photons m−2 d−1 (at 270 cm) could be the optimal irradiance level based on the total biomass of V. natans juveniles. The present study highlights the significance of leaf trait plasticity for rosette‐type macrophytes in response to variations in water depth and sheds new light on the differences between trade‐offs in deep‐ and shallow‐water areas.

In alumina-based catalysts the properties of the alumina support directly influence the structure (size, morphology, orientation, etc.) of the resulting active phase and ultimately determine the performance of the final catalysts. This paper presents a facile and efficient method for γ-Al2O3 to simultaneously expose {111} facets with strong acidity and {110} facets with moderate basicity. It is shown that the metal oxides NiOx and MoOx can be selectively deposited and subsequently sulfided on the respective facets to form a NiS2-MoS2/Al2O3 catalyst with substantially enhanced activity for thio-etherification reaction. By cooperative action of the active sites on the newly exposed facets, the catalyst is shown to have superior activity over a conventional NiMoS/Al2O3 catalyst in the thio-etherification reaction between ethanethiol and isoamylene (2-methyl-2-butene) to yield ethylamyl thioethers. Our findings show that tuning the physicochemical properties via crystal facet engineering and inducing cooperative catalysis via preferential deposition of active metals open a novel avenue for the rational design and synthesis of high performance catalysts.

Achieving high-efficiency deep blue emitter with CIEy 10% has been a long-standing challenge for traditional fluorescent materials in organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). Here, we report the rational design and synthesis of two new deep blue luminogens: 4-(10-(4′-(9H-carbazol-9-yl)-2,5-dimethyl-[1,1′-biphenyl]-4-yl)anthracen-9-yl)benzonitrile (2M-ph-pCzAnBzt) and 4-(10-(4-(9H-carbazol-9-yl)-2,5-dimethylphenyl)anthracen-9-yl)benzonitrile (2M-pCzAnBzt). In particular, 2M-ph-pCzAnBzt produces saturated deep blue emissions in a non-doped electroluminescent device with an exceptionally high EQE of 10.44% and CIEx,y (0.151, 0.057). The unprecedented electroluminescent efficiency is attributed to the combined effects of higher-order reversed intersystem crossing and triplet-triplet up-conversion, which are supported by analysis of theoretical calculation, triplet sensitization experiments, as well as nanosecond transient absorption spectroscopy. This research offers a new approach to resolve the shortage of high efficiency deep blue fluorescent emitters.

Recent studies suggest that RRP15 (Ribosomal RNA Processing 15 Homolog) might be a potential target for cancer therapy. However, the role of RRP15 in hepatocarcinogenesis remains poorly delineated. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the expression and biological function of RRP15 in human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). We show that RRP15 was up regulated in HCC cell lines and tumours. Up-regulation of RRP15 in HCC tumours was also correlated with unfavorable prognosis. We further show that the frequent up-regulation of RRP15 in HCCs is at least partly driven by recurrent gene copy gain at chromosome 1q41. Functional studies indicated that RRP15 knockdown suppresses HCC proliferation and growth both in vitro and in vivo. Mechanistically, RRP15 depletion in p53-wild-type HepG2 cells induced senescence via activation of the p53-p21 signalling pathway through enhanced interaction of RPL11 with MDM2, as well as inhibition of SIRT1-mediated p53 deacetylation. Moreover, RRP15 depletion in p53-mutant PLC5 and p53-deleted Hep3B cells induced metabolic shift from the glycolytic pentose-phosphate to mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation via regulating a series of key genes such as HK2 and TIGAR, and thus, promoted the generation of ROS and apoptosis. Taken together, our findings provide evidence for an important role of the RRP15 gene in hepatocarcinogenesis through regulation of HCC proliferation and growth, raising the possibility that targeting RRP15 may represent a potential therapeutic strategy for HCC treatment.

The key to the development of renewable energy is to search a cheap and efficient non-precious metal based oxygen evolution reaction (OER) electrocatalyst. The NiFe-based catalyst showed excellent catalytic properties. Herein, nickel-iron selenide (m-NiFeSe) with a two-dimensional nanosheet structure was prepared by using the nickel foam as the substrate and the electrodeposition-microwave rapid hydrolysis method. The presence of microwave not only changes the microscopic morphology, forms a new catalytic interface, increases the active area, but also appears mixed valence states of nickel (Ni2+/Ni3+) and high valence states of selenium, which makes the catalyst possess excellent basic OER electrocatalytic performance. In addition, the synergistic effect between nickel metal and iron metal is also one of the reasons for the improved property. Finally, the microwave-assisted catalysts reached electric current densities of 10 and 100 mA·cm−2 at overpotentials of 128 and 291 mV, separately, and had good durability in the chronopotentiometry test at a current density of 100 mA·cm−2 for 18 h. The purpose of this study is to provide a simple and feasible method for the preparation of inexpensive and high-efficiency OER electrocatalysts.

A landfill is an important sink of plastic waste and potential sources of microplastics (MPs) when mineralized refuse is reused. However, limitations are still present in quantifying MPs in mineralized refuse and assessing their degradation degree. In this study, laser direct infrared spectroscopy and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) were used to identify MPs of mineralized refuse from a landfill. Although 25-113 items/g MPs were detected in particles subjected to flotation, 37.9-674 μg/g polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and 0.0716-1.01 μg/g polycarbonate (PC) were detected in the residual solids by LC-MS/MS, indicating a great amount of plastic polymers still presented in the residue. This suggests that the commonly used flotation-counting method will lead to significant underestimation of MP pollution in mineralized refuse, which might be due to the aging and aggregation process caused by the long-term landfill process. The ratio of "bisphenol A/PC" and "plasticizer/MPs" was found to be positively correlated and negatively correlated with the landfill age, respectively. Therefore, in addition to the spectral index such as the carbonyl index, new indexes based on the concentrations of polymers, free monomers, and plasticizers were proposed to characterize the degradation degree of MPs in a landfill.

In this article, an efficient and practical stereoselective synthesis of 5a-carba-α-L-mannopyranose from naturally abundant (−)-shikimic acid is discussed. 5a-Carba-α-L-mannopyranose was synthesize...

Liver fibrosis has accounted for liver diseases and overall mortality, but no relevant drug has been developed. Filamentous fungi are important resources of natural products for pharmaceutical development. Calcarisporium arbuscula is a mushroom endophytic fungus, which primarily produces aurovertins. Here, in an aurovertin null-production mutant, one silent gene cluster (mca17) was activated by overexpression of a pathway-specific zinc finger transcriptional regulator, and a tetramic acid-type compound (1, MCA17-1) was identified. Along with detailed structural characterization, its biosynthesis was proposed to be produced from the core PKS-NRPS hybrid enzyme. Moreover, 1 suppressed the activation of LX-2 upon transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) challenge and had stronger bioactivity than the positive control obeticholic acid (OCA) against liver fibrosis. Our work suggested that this engineered fungus could be a producer of 1 for promising pharmaceutical development, and alternatively, it would be developed as a mushroom ingredient in dietary therapy to prevent liver fibrosis.

The influence of addition sequence of Mg, La and Ca on the characteristics of inclusions and the formation of acicular ferrite (AF) were investigated. Results show that inclusions mainly consisted ...

Efficiency of standard chemotherapy is dramatically hindered by intrinsic multidrug resistance (MDR). Recently, to amplify therapeutic efficacy, photodynamic therapy (PDT)-induced mitochondrial dysfunction by decorating targeting moieties on nanocarriers has obtained considerable attention. Nevertheless, low targeting efficiency, complex synthesis routes, and difficulty in releasing contents become the major obstacles in further clinical application. Herein, an ingenious liposomal-based nanomedicine (L@BP) was fabricated by encapsulating a mitochondria-anchored photosensitizer (Cy-Br) and paclitaxel (PTX) for realizing enhanced cooperation therapy. At the cellular level, L@BP could hurdle endosomal traps to localize and implement PDT in mitochondria. Intriguingly, the PDT-induced in situ mitochondrial dysfunction led to intracellular ATP reduction, which triggered the downregulated P-glycoprotein transportation capacity and thus resulted in diminishing the efflux of chemotherapeutic agents and increasing drug uptake by drug-resistant cells. The prepared nanomedicine eminently accumulated in the tumor site and acquired enhanced therapeutic efficiency on PTX-resistant lung cancer cells, which possessed great potential in circumventing MDR tumors.

A solvothermal route was developed to synthesize hierarchical TiO2 nanoflowers with tunable morphology, macroporous and mesoporous structure, and larger surface areas by varying the ratio of N,N-dimethylformamide to isopropyl alcohol without using surfactant and template. Morphology and microstructure, textural, crystalline, optical and photoelectric properties were characterized to investigate thoroughly the correlation of features and photoactivity of catalysts. The photoactivity was evaluated for the degradation of phenol through analyzing the phenolic compounds. The catalysts exhibited significantly high photocatalytic activity with the degradation rate of phenol of 95%, and the decrease of total organic carbon (TOC) was 82 ± 3% under ultraviolet radiation (UV) for 180 min at room temperature. Meanwhile, the excellent cyclic stability and regenerability were obtained during five cycles and continued illumination. The enhanced photocatalytic activity probably was attributed to larger surface areas, hierarchical porous structure, effective generation and separation of the charge carriers, and outstanding light-harvesting ability.

Three polysaccharide fractions RTFP-30, RTFP-50, and RTFP-80 were isolated from Rosa roxburghii Tratt fruit using 30%, 50%, and 80% (v/v) ethanol, respectively. The molecular weight, monosaccharide composition, functional groups, surface morphology, rheological properties, and in vitro biological activities of the fractions were investigated. RTFP-50 had the largest molecular weight and RTFP-80 the lowest. The three fractions were composed mainly of arabinose, galactose, glucose, and galacturonic acid in different molar ratios. They also exhibited different surface morphology, particle size, and rheological properties. The antioxidant, hypoglycemic, and hypolipidemic activities of these fractions were also investigated in vitro. RTFP-50 had the strongest ability to scavenge DPPH, ABTS and hydroxyl radicals, and the highest fat and cholesterol binding capacities. However, RTFP-80 exhibited the strongest α-glucosidase inhibition. This study broadens the sources of raw materials for functional foods and provides a scientific foundation for the use of R. roxburghii Tratt fruit.