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Abstract An efficient chamber‐induced activation method was applied for the preparation of holey graphene/cellulose nanofiber‐based film with high specific surface area (SSA) and multiple channels through the graphene nanosheets. With the cellulose nanofiber (CNF) simultaneously serving as “dispersing agent,” “spacer,” and “activating agent,” the graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets are perforated by the pyrolysis gas from CNF in the confined space inside the hybrid films, uniformly dispersed, and sandwiched between CNF networks with less agglomeration and restacking. Additionally, we have proved that H2O and H2 are primarily responsible for the activation and etching of GO/CNF film. As the CNF content increases, the mesoporosity of the activated reduced GO/CNF (A‐RGO/CNF) film increases, and the graphene nanosheets show more nanopore perforations. Benefitting from the high SSA, high density, moderate mesoporosity, and abundant channels for ion diffusion through the graphene nanosheets, the A‐RGO/CNF film exhibits the highest specific capacitance of 323 (236) F g−1 (F cm−3) at 1 A g−1. For the A‐RGO5/CNF5 film containing half CNF and half GO, an excellent comprehensive electrochemical performance including superior rate performance (208 (160) F g−1 (F cm−3) at 60 A g−1) is exhibited. Moreover, the A‐RGO5/CNF5 electrode in an all‐solid‐state flexible symmetric supercapacitor delivers a high specific capacitance of 250 (193) F g−1 (F cm−3) at 1 A g−1. This study provides a novel idea for the preparation of holey graphene‐based film for supercapacitor electrodes. The strategy of simultaneously employing CNF as “dispersing agent,” “spacer,” and “activating agent” also offers a new vision for the assembly of homogeneous nanohybrid material and the utilization of pyrolysis gas.

Diabetic nephropathy (DN) has become the main cause of end-stage renal disease worldwide, but the efficacy of current therapeutic strategies on DN remains unsatisfactory. Recent research has reported the involvement of metabolic rearrangement in the pathological process of DN, and of all the disturbances in metabolism, mitochondria serve as key regulatory hubs. In the present study, high-resolution mass spectrometry-based nontarget metabolomics was used to uncover the metabolic characteristics of the early diabetic kidney with or without the inhibition of mitochondrial activity. At first, we observed a moderate enhancement of mitochondrial complex-1 activity in the diabetic kidney, which was completely normalized by the specific mitochondrial complex-1 inhibitor rotenone (ROT). Meanwhile, metabolomics data indicated an overactivated pentose phosphate pathway, purine and pyrimidine metabolism, hexosamine biosynthetic pathway, and tricarboxylic acid cycle, which were strikingly corrected by ROT. In addition, ROT also strikingly corrected imbalanced redox homeostasis, possibly by increasing the ratio of antioxidant metabolites glutathione and NADPH against their oxidative form. In agreement with the improved metabolic status and oxidative response, ROT attenuated glomerular and tubular injury efficiently. Fibrotic markers (fibronectin, -smooth muscle actin, collagen type I, and collagen type III), inflammatory factors (TNF-α, IL-β1, and ICAM-1), and oxidative stress were all markedly blocked by ROT. In vitro, ROT dose dependently attenuated high glucose-induced proliferation and extracellular matrix production in mesangial cells. Collectively, these findings revealed that the overactivation of mitochondrial activity in the kidney could contribute to metabolic disorders and the pathogenesis of early DN. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, the manufacturing of electronic product is developing vigorously. It is of great significance to study how to improve the utilization rate of core manufacturing equipment through production management and achieve the goal of energy saving, environmental protection and efficiency enhancement. For this, this paper firstly takes the manufacturing pipeline of DTSD178 smart meter as the research object based on the multi-objective evolutionary algorithm, and studies the process time and energy consumption of three kinds of boards (the same total process time): main board (MB), communication board (CB) and video board (VB) on different machines, to determine the characterization parameters of the multi-objective scheduling model, that is, the process time PT and the energy consumption E*. Then, selecting the above two parameters as the optimization objectives, the multi-objective permutation flow shop scheduling (FSS) model in manufacturing was established. The research results show that the multi-objective scheduling model can be conductive to obtain the optimal scheduling solution, to solve the multi-objective permutation FSS problem, and achieves the purpose of improving equipment utilization and reducing energy consumption. This shall provide reference for policy makers to guide actual production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cellulose-based aerogels have been seen as a promising sorbent for oil and organic pollutant cleaning; however, their intrinsic hydrophilicity and difficulty of recycling has hindered their practical application. In this work, a superhydrophobic, magnetic cellulose-based aerogel was fabricated as a highly efficient sorbent for the adsorption of oils and organic solvents. The aerogel was prepared via a simple freeze-drying method, followed by chemical vapor deposition (CVD). The incorporation of Fe3O4 nanoparticles into the aerogel not only makes it responsive to external magnetic field, but also contributes to the better hydrophobicity of the aerogel, in which the water contact angle (WCA) was about 20° higher than the aerogel without loading with Fe3O4 nanoparticles. The adsorption test showed that the resultant aerogel can selectively adsorb a wide range of oils and organic solvents from oil/water mixtures with a high adsorption capacity (up to 113.49 g/g for silicone oil). It can retain about 50% of its adsorption capacity even after 10 adsorption–squeezing cycles, which indicates its outstanding reusability. Moreover, the aerogels can be easily controlled by an external magnet, which is preferred for the adsorption of oily contaminants in harsh environments and enhanced the recyclability of the aerogel. We believe that this study provides a green and convenient approach for the practical fabrication of cellulose-based oil sorbents.

Cryphalus piceae attacks various economically important conifers. Similar to other bark beetles, Cr. piceae plays a role as a vector for an assortment of fungi and nematodes. Previously, several ophiostomatoid fungi were isolated from Cr. piceae in Poland and Japan. In the present study, we explored the diversity of ophiostomatoid fungi associated with Cr. piceae infesting pines in the Shandong Province of China. We isolated ophiostomatoid fungi from both galleries and beetles collected from our study sites. These fungal isolates were identified using both molecular and morphological data. In this study, we recovered 175 isolates of ophiostomatoid fungi representing seven species. Ophiostoma ips was the most frequently isolated species. Molecular and morphological data indicated that five ophiostomatoid fungal species recovered were previously undescribed. Thus, we proposed these five novel species as Ceratocystiopsis yantaiensis, C. weihaiensis, Graphilbum translucens, Gr. niveum, and Sporothrix villosa. These new ophiostomatoid fungi add to the increasing number of fungi known from China, and this evidence suggests that numerous novel taxa are awaiting discovery in other forests of China.

The practical industralization of water splitting needs high-efficient and costeffective catalytic electrodes. A versatile and scalable solution-processing method to prepare such a catalytic electrode with high flexibility and conductivity is introduced. This preparation method is applicable for a wide variety of metal species and takes graphene sheets as metal carriers and filmforming agents, resulting in 100% utilization of raw materials. The obtained graphene-bimetal film has excellent comprehensive performance with high areal activity and superior turnover frequency at a low mass loading of 0.05 mg cm-2, as well as a record-high mass activity for oxygen or hydrogen evolution. The assembled two-electrode configuration can be used in a practical full water splitting system, requiring a cell voltage of 1.58 or 1.50 V at 30 or 70 °C to afford a current density of 10 mA cm-2; it also exhibits a longterm durability over 200 h, superior to most of the reported systems for the same purpose. This work provides a new platform for large-scale and highyield production of electrocatalysts and also uncovers the design principles of catalytic electrodes with high mass activity toward industralization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Renal hypoxia occurs in acute kidney injury (AKI) of various etiologies. Activation of hypoxia-inducible transcription factor (HIF) has been identified as an important mechanism of cellular adaptation to low oxygen. Preconditional HIF activation protects against AKI, suggesting a new approach in AKI treatment. HIF is degraded under normoxic conditions mediated by oxygen-dependent hydroxylation of specific prolyl residues of the regulative α-subunits by HIF prolyl hydroxylases (PHD). FG-4592 is a novel, orally active, small-molecule HIF PHD inhibitor for the treatment of anemia in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). The current study aimed to evaluate the effect of FG-4592 (Roxadustat) on cis-diamminedichloroplatinum (cisplatin)-induced kidney injury. In mice, pretreatment with FG-4592 markedly ameliorated cisplatin-induced kidney injury as shown by the improved renal function (blood urea nitrogen (BUN), serum creatinine (Scr) and cystatin C) and kidney morphology (periodic acid-Schiff (PAS) staining) in line with a robust blockade of renal tubular injury markers of kidney injury molecule 1 (KIM-1) and neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL).Meanwhile, the renal apoptosis and inflammation induced by cisplatin were also strikingly attenuated in FG-4592-treated mice. Along with the protective effects shown above, FG-4592 pretreatment strongly enhanced HIF-1α in tubular cells, as well as the expressions of HIF target genes. FG-4592 alone did not affect the renal function and morphology in mice. In vitro, FG-4592 treatment significantly up-regulated HIF-1α and protected the tubular cells against cisplatin-induced apoptosis. In summary, FG-4592 treatment remarkably ameliorated the cisplatin-induced kidney injury possibly through the stabilization of HIF. Thus, besides the role in treating CKD anemia, the clinical use of FG-4592 also could be extended to AKI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the protective glass manufacturing industry for cell phones, placing glass pieces into the slots of the grinder requires submillimeter accuracy which only can be achieved by human workers, leading to a bottle neck in the production line. To address such issue, industrial robot equipped with vision sensors is proposed to support human workers. The high placing performance is achieved by a two step approach. In the first step, an eye-to-hand camera is installed to detect the glass piece and slot with robust vision, which can put the glass piece close to the slot and ensures a primary precision. In the second step, a closed-loop controller based on visual servo is adopted to guide the glass piece into the slot with dual eye-in-hand cameras. However, vision sensor suffers from a very low frame rate and slow image processing speed resulting in a very slow placing performance. In addition, the placing performance is substantially limited by the system parameter uncertainty. To compensate for these limitations, a dual-rate unscented Kalman filter (UKF) with dual-estimation is adopted for sensor data filtering and online parameter identification without requiring any linear parameterization of the model. Experimental results are presented to confirm the effectiveness of the proposed approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Downregulation of aquaporins (AQPs) in obstructive kidney disease has been well demonstrated with elusive mechanisms. Our previous study indicated that mitochondrial dysfunction played a crucial role in this process. However, it is still uncertain how mitochondrial dysfunction affected the AQPs in obstructive kidney disease. This study investigated the role of mitochondria-derived oxidative stress in mediating obstruction-induced downregulation of AQPs. After unilateral ureteral obstruction for 7 days, renal superoxide dismutase 2 (SOD2; mitochondria-specific SOD) was reduced by 85%. Meanwhile, AQP1, AQP2, AQP3, and AQP4 were remarkably downregulated as determined by Western blotting and/or quantitative real-time PCR. Administration of the SOD2 mimic manganese (III) tetrakis(4-benzoic acid)porphyrin chloride (MnTBAP) significantly attenuated AQP2 downregulation in line with complete blockade of thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances elevation, whereas the reduction of AQP1, AQP3, and AQP4 was not affected. The cyclooxygenase (COX)-2/prostaglandin (PG) E2 pathway has been well documented as a contributor of AQP reduction in obstructed kidney; thus, we detected the levels of COX-1/2 and microsomal prostaglandin E synthase 1 (mPGES-1) in kidney and PGE2 secretion in urine. Significantly, MnTBAP partially suppressed the elevation of COX-2, mPGES-1, and PGE2. Moreover, a marked decrease of V2 receptor was significantly restored after MnTBAP treatment. However, the fibrotic response and renal tubular damage were unaffected by MnTBAP in obstructed kidneys. Collectively, these findings suggested an important role of mitochondrial oxidative stress in mediating AQP2 downregulation in obstructed kidney, possibly via modulating the COX-2/mPGES-1/PGE2/V2 receptor pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PNS (Paraneoplastic syndrome) is the primary malignant tumor in patients with distant organs dysfunction. PNS is associated with the products of tumors, abnormal immune responses or other unknown reasons which can cause endocrine, nerves, digestive, hematopoietic, joint, kidneys, and skin lesions, resulting in various clinical manifestations. The clinical data of 2 cases of patients with PNS and acute deafness as the first symptom was analyzed retrospectively. The data including history, physical examination, laboratory tests, diagnosis, and treatment were collected and analyzed. Both patients are women. Malignancies were screened and detected by cell pathology, while the pathological diagnoses were obtained through biopsy or lumbar puncture. Both of the patients received early immunosuppressive treatment in terms of corticosteroids, only slight relief of neurological symptoms was seen in them. During the follow-up, 2 patients were transferred to relative departments for the treatment of primary disease. In general, the management of PNS is based on the treatment of associated cancer. Quick identification is really important to avoid delay in diagnosis and treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trajectory planning is a fundamental problem for industrial robots. It is particularly challenging for robot manipulators that transfer silicon wafers in an equipment front end module (EFEM) of a semiconductor manufacturing machine where the work space is extremely limited. Existing methods cannot give satisfactory performance since they usually solve the problem partially. Motivated by this demand in industrial applications and to solve all aspects of the problem, this paper proposes to learn the work environment beforehand by probabilistic roadmap (PRM) method for collision avoidance. The cycle time preference and the robot kinematic hard constraints are considered properly. A constrained optimization problem is formulated with the shortest path searched from the roadmap and parametrized by a cubic B-spline curve, which simplifies the optimization process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Managed pressure drilling (MPD) is an innovative approach which can be used to solve the drilling problems caused by narrow safety pressure window. The precise wellbore flow model is not only premising to realize accurate wellbore pressure control, but also the key for safe and efficient drilling. In order to improve the prediction accuracy of wellbore pressure, annular pressure loss needs to be calculated accurately. Using dimensional analysis in conjunction with theoretical methods, the influence of tool joint and drill pipe rotation on annular pressure loss is studied in this paper. New annular pressure loss model has been developed to account for the contribution of tool-joints and pipe rotation to the total annular pressure loss, which enhanced wellbore pressure prediction accuracy. Model predictions show strong hydraulic resistance created by the tool-joint that increases the local annular pressure loss significantly as the flow rates increases. As well depth and flow rate increase, cumulative pressure loss of tool-joint increases. As pipe rotation increases, pressure loss may increase or decrease depending on the result of inertial effect and shear thinning. The new models are very useful to predict ECD and wellbore pressure accurately which is very important in hydraulic calculation for managed pressure drilling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In cereal crops, starch synthesis and storage depend mainly on a specialized class of plastids, termed amyloplasts. Despite the importance of starch, the molecular machinery regulating starch synthesis and amyloplast development remains largely unknown. Here, we report the characterization of the rice (Oryza sativa) floury endosperm7 (flo7) mutant, which develops a floury-white endosperm only in the periphery and not in the inner portion. Consistent with the phenotypic alternation in flo7 endosperm, the flo7 mutant had reduced amylose content and seriously disrupted amylopectin structure only in the peripheral endosperm. Notably, flo7 peripheral endosperm cells showed obvious defects in compound starch grain development. Map-based cloning of FLO7 revealed that it encodes a protein of unknown function. FLO7 harbors an N-terminal transit peptide capable of targeting functional FLO7 fused to green fluorescent protein to amyloplast stroma in developing endosperm cells, and a domain of unknown function 1338 (DUF1338) that is highly conserved in green plants. Furthermore, our combined β-glucuronidase activity and RNA in situ hybridization assays showed that the FLO7 gene was expressed ubiquitously but exhibited a specific expression in the endosperm periphery. Moreover, a set of in vivo experiments demonstrated that the missing 32 aa in the flo7 mutant protein are essential for the stable accumulation of FLO7 in the endosperm. Together, our findings identify FLO7 as a unique plant regulator required for starch synthesis and amyloplast development within the peripheral endosperm and provide new insights into the spatial regulation of endosperm development in rice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The degradation of reactive brilliant red X-3B (X3B) in a simulated sunlight/S2O82-/ steel slag system at near neutral pH has been studied. The influence of initial pH value, persulfate concentration, quantity of steel slag, and temperature on the degradation of X3B in aqueous solution were investigated. Up to 79.2% of X3B was removed in the simulated sunlight/S2O82-/ steel slag system within 5 min at a pH of 6.0. Simulated sunlight played a catalytic role in the /S2O82-/ steel slag system and resulted in an enhancement of X3B degradation of approximately 11%. The degradation of X3B decreased with an increasing pH in the solution, whereas high temperature facilitated the activation of persulfate. The cycling of Fe2+=Fe3+ facilitated the reuse of steel slag under simulated sunlight irradiation. The steel slag was passivated after coming into contact with the oxidant within 1 min. The sequential addition of steel slag promoted X3B degradation, yielding a removal efficiency of 91%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

POEMS syndrome is a rare multisystem disorder associated with the clinical signs of polyneuropathy, organomegaly, endocrinopathy, monoclonal gammopathy and skin changes. However, there is often a delay in the diagnosis due to a lack of overall consideration of the symptoms collectively. For this reason, POEMS syndrome is frequently mistaken for other diseases, such as chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy. The present study reports the case of a 40-year-old female patient, who presented with a progressive lack of strength in the lower limbs and a unilateral cervical lump. The patient's enlarged cervical lymph nodes were mistaken for local hemangioma. However, subsequently POEMS syndrome with vascular transformation of the lymph node sinuses (VTS) was diagnosed. The patient received glucocorticoid treatment (20 mg prednisone acetate, daily), which is ongoing. The most recent follow-up examination revealed that the patient's strength had improved and at the time of writing the patient remained alive. The study discusses the clinical manifestations, auxiliary examinations and reason for the misdiagnosis. Hematoxylin and eosin staining and cluster of differentiation 31 immunostaining were adopted to identify the VTS. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of POEMS syndrome with VTS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To prove that the peptidic HIV-1 fusion inhibitors containing the pocket-binding domain (PBD) mainly target the hydrophobic pocket in the gp41 N-terminal heptad repeat (NHR), we constructed pseudoviruses by replacement of Q64 in the gp41 pocket region with Ala (Q64A) or Leu (Q64L). These viruses were highly resistant to C34 and CP32M containing the PBD, while they were susceptible to T20 (enfuvirtide) lacking the PBD but containing the GIV-motif-binding domain (GBD) and lipid-binding domain (LBD). They were also sensitive to C52L, which contains the PBD, GBD, and LBD. Those mutations may disrupt the hydrophilic interaction between Q64 in the NHR and N113 in the peptides containing the PBD. This report provides insights into the mechanisms of drug resistance, with implications for the design of novel HIV fusion and entry inhibitors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rabies is a viral infection with a high case fatality rate. Typical symptoms of rabies include hydrophobia, pharynx muscle spasms, and progressive paralysis. Rabies-induced persistent mental disturbances are rare. Here we report a 22-year-old male who was infected with rabies after being attacked by a dog. He did not receive rabies vaccine immediately after the incident and was only provided with nonstandard treatment at a local clinic. A week later he became disorientated, paranoid, and aggressive. One month after the attack, rabies antibody was found in his cerebrospinal fluid and a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) examination of his head revealed abnormal signals in the putamina, caudate nucleus, and insula. His mental symptoms persisted for six years and his daily functioning was severely impaired, but his vital signs were stable without signs of brain stem damage. Six years after the incident, a repeat MRI showed brain atrophy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work investigated the isothermal holding time dependence of the densification, microstructure, weight loss, and tensile properties of Fe-Mn-Si powder compacts. Elemental Fe, Mn, and Si powder mixtures with a nominal composition of Fe-28Mn-3Si (in weight percent) were ball milled for 5 h and subsequently pressed under a uniaxial pressure of 400 MPa. The compacted Fe-Mn-Si powder mixtures were sintered at 1200 °C for 0, 1, 2, and 3 h, respectively. In general, the density, weight loss, and tensile properties increased with the increase of the isothermal holding time. A significant increase in density, weight loss, and tensile properties occurred in the compacts being isothermally held for 1 h, as compared to those with no isothermal holding. However, further extension of the isothermal holding time (2 and 3 h) only played a limited role in promoting the sintered density and tensile properties. The weight loss of the sintered compacts was mainly caused by the sublimation of Mn in the Mn depletion region on the surface layer of the sintered Fe-Mn-Si compacts. The length of the Mn depletion region increased with the isothermal holding time. A single α-Fe phase was detected on the surface of all of the sintered compacts, and the locations beyond the Mn depletion region were comprised of a dual dominant γ-austenite and minor ε-martensite.

Intersubspecific hybrid sterility is a common form of reproductive isolation in rice (Oryza sativa L.), which significantly hampers the utilization of heterosis between indica and japonica varieties. Here, we elucidated the mechanism of S7, which specially causes Aus-japonica/indica hybrid female sterility, through cytological and genetic analysis, map-based cloning, and transformation experiments. Abnormal positioning of polar nuclei and smaller embryo sac were observed in F1 compared with male and female parents. Female gametes carrying S7cp and S7i were aborted in S7ai/S7cp and S7ai/S7i, respectively, whereas they were normal in both N22 and Dular possessing a neutral allele, S7n. S7 was fine mapped to a 139-kb region in the centromere region on chromosome 7, where the recombination was remarkably suppressed due to aggregation of retrotransposons. Among 16 putative open reading frames (ORFs) localized in the mapping region, ORF3 encoding a tetratricopeptide repeat domain containing protein was highly expressed in the pistil. Transformation experiments demonstrated that ORF3 is the candidate gene: downregulated expression of ORF3 restored spikelet fertility and eliminated absolutely preferential transmission of S7ai in heterozygote S7ai/S7cp; sterility occurred in the transformants Cpslo17-S7ai. Our results may provide implications for overcoming hybrid embryo sac sterility in intersubspecific hybrid rice and utilization of hybrid heterosis for cultivated rice improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]