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A heterojunction-redox catalysis strategy is proposed for fabricating a dual-functional catalyst/adsorbent to realize integration of high-temperature CO2 capture and in situ conversion.

Quasi-zero stiffness (QZS) isolators can achieve superior performance in vibration isolation; however, this superiority is often effective only for an excitation with the small excitation amplitude due to the narrow QZS region around the static equilibrium positions. A QZS isolator with multi-pairs of oblique springs can increase the QZS region, but its isolation frequency band is still narrow owing to the large static deflection. This article presents an improved isolator with two pairs of oblique springs by setting an initial position to be located between the supporting points of the upper pair of oblique springs and the equilibrium position so that the static deflection is significantly decreased, and thus, the isolation frequency band can be considerably increased. New formulations of stiffness and displacement transmissibility are derived for the improved QZS isolator. A prototype is designed, fabricated and tested to verify benefits of the present QZS isolator for vibration mitigation. Numerical results of the present isolator predicted by experiment and theory are compared with those of the corresponding linear isolator and previous QZS isolator to show advantages of the innovated design for vibration isolation.

Here we have analyzed the dynamics of the adaptive immune response triggered by SARS-CoV-2 in severely affected COVID-19 patients, as reflected by activated B cells egressing into the blood, at the single cell level. Early on, before seroconversion in response to SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, activated peripheral B cells displayed a type 1 interferon-induced gene expression signature. After seroconversion, activated B cells lost this signature, expressed IL-21- and TGF-β-induced gene expression signatures, and mostly IgG1 and IgA1. In the sustained immune reaction of the COVID-19 patients, until day 59, activated peripheral B cells shifted to expression of IgA2, reflecting instruction by TGF-β. Despite the continued generation of activated B cells, those cells were not found in the lungs of deceased COVID-19 patients, nor did the IgA2 bind to dominant antigens of SARS-CoV-2. In severe COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2 thus triggers a chronic immune reaction distracted from itself and instructed by TGF-β.

Background: To explore the surgical technique and the clinical efficacy of complete retroperitoneal laparoscopic radical resection in patients with upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC).Methods: A total of 11 patients (6 males and 5 females) newly diagnosed with UTUC with T1/T2 were enrolled in this study who underwent one-position complete retroperitoneal laparoscopic radical resection in our hospital from March 2016 to December 2018. Among them, 8 cases were of renal pelvis carcinoma and 3 cases were of ureteral carcinoma. The average age was 57.5 years (range, 44-78 years). All patients were presented with painless gross hematuria. CTU and ureteroscopy were used to diagnose.Results All the 11 patients had successful operations without open transition. The mean operating time was 85 min (range 60 to 115 min). The mean amount of intraoperative bleeding was below 90 ml. The postoperative hospital stay was 3-7 days, with an average of 5 days. There was no obvious complication after operation. No local tumor recurrence or new bladder implantation metastasis has already been observed with the postoperative follow-up time in 8 to 40 months.Conclusion One-position complete retroperitoneal laparoscopic radical resection of UTUC is safe and feasible. The curative effect is affirmative. It has the conspicuous advantages in less bleeding during operation, minimally invasive, no posture change, quicker recovery with little disturbance of abdominal organ and shorter postoperative hospital stay, which could particularly reduce workload of operating room nurses, without any extra postoperative complications.

Long-term alcohol intake from food can lead to numerous mental disorders in humans, and cause serious problems for governments and families worldwide. However, currently, it is unclear how alcohol affects the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis. In the present study, using zebrafish larvae exposed to 1% ethanol, we made Zebrafish behavioural analysis, samples were collected for the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) experiments,and made statistical analyses at last. we found that ethanol decreases the locomotor activity of zebrafish larvae,showed a more intense reaction to external stimuli,increases the secretion of HPA axis hormones in zebrafish larvae,influences the secretion of neurotransmitters,alters key gene expression during neurotransmitter metabolism. Ethanol exposure reduced zebrafish locomotor activity, increased their HPA axis activity, and led to significant changes in the secretion of dopamine and serotonin. These findings provide us with a new understanding of the effects of ethanol on the HPA axis.

Lymphoma incidence in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is increasing due to HIV and population aging. Diffuse Large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), the most common lymphoma in SSA and worldwide, is highly associated with HIV, but molecular studies of HIV-associated DLBCL are scarce globally. We describe profiling of DLBCL from Malawi, aiming to elucidate tumor biology and identify clinically meaningful biomarkers specifically for SSA. Between June 1, 2013 and June 1, 2016, 59 cases of DLBCL (32 HIV+/27 HIV−) enrolled in the Kamuzu Central Hospital Lymphoma Study were characterized, of which 54 (92%) were negative for Epstein–Barr virus. Gene expression profiling (GEP) by whole transcriptome sequencing was performed on the first 36 cases (22 HIV+/14 HIV−). Immunohistochemistry (IHC) and GEP results were compared with published data and correlated to clinical outcome and pathologic features. Unsupervised clustering strongly segregated DLBCL by HIV status (p = 0.0003, Chi-squared test), indicating a marked contribution of HIV to expression phenotype. Pathway analysis identified that HIV-associated tumors were enriched in hypoxia, oxidative stress, and metabolism related gene expression patterns. Cell-of-origin subtype, determined by sequencing and IHC, did not associate with differences in overall survival (OS), while Ki-67 proliferation index ≥80% was associated with inferior OS in HIV+ DLBCL only (p = 0.03) and cMYC/BCL2 co-expression by IHC was negatively prognostic across the entire cohort (p = 0.01). This study provides among the first molecular characterizations of DLBCL from SSA, demonstrates marked gene expression differences by HIV status, and identifies genomic and immunophenotypic characteristics that can inform future basic and clinical investigations.

Steam cracking furnace is a high energy-consuming equipment in the ethylene plant. Reducing the exergy destruction and losses associated with the steam cracking furnace can increase the thermodynamic efficiency of the system and thereby reducing energy penalties. This paper aims to quantitatively evaluate thermodynamic performance of an industrial steam cracking furnace through conventional and advanced exergy analysis in order to assess its energy saving potential. A steady state simulation of an industrial steam cracking furnace with a total feed capacity of 12 t/h was carried out. The simulation was validated by comparing the model prediction results with the industrial data. The conventional exergy analysis shows that the overall exergy efficiency of the steam cracking furnace is found to be 43.43% and the combustion process in the radiation section exhibits the largest exergy destruction followed by the tube reactors in the radiation section. The advanced exergy analysis shows that the combustion process has the highest unavoidable exergy destruction. Moreover, the tube reactors in the radiation section has the highest avoidable exergy destruction, followed by the combustion process and the feed-steam mixture superheater in the convection section. Therefore, there is high energy saving potential in the tube reactors, combustion process and feed-steam mixture superheater. The advanced exergy analysis also indicates that efforts on improving the radiation and convection sections should be dedicated to themselves while the thermodynamic performance of the quench system should be improved by reducing the exergy destruction of other interacting components.