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Abstract Background The nigrostriatal dopamine (DA) system plays a critical role in regulating the sleep–wake state. The relationship between baseline striatal DA transporter (DAT) specific binding ratios (SBR) and rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder (RBD) has been established. This study aimed to investigate the association between the progression of striatal DA dysfunction and sleep disturbances, including excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) and probable RBD (pRBD), in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD). Methods Data were obtained from the Parkinson’s Progression Markers Initiative (PPMI). Six hundred twenty-one newly diagnosed PD patients and followed up for 4 years were included in this longitudinal study. EDS and pRBD were defined using the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) and RBD Screening Questionnaire (RBDSQ). Striatal DAT SBR was evaluated by [123I] FP-CIT SPECT. Results Using a linear mixed-effects model across all contemporaneous data points, we found a negative correlation between striatal DAT SBR and sleep disturbances (EDS/pRBD). The interaction between striatal DAT SBR and year was specific to RBDSQ score (β = − 0.102, 95% CI: − 0.187 to − 0.017, p = 0.019), with no evidence of a similar interaction for ESS score. Additionally, the association between the alpha-synuclein gene (SNCA) and sleep disturbances was mediated by the SBR (ESS score: total effect = − 2.717, p = 0.022; direct effect = − 3.222, p = 0.007; indirect effect = 0.505, p

The fructose-to-furfural transformation is facing major challenges in the selectivity and high efficiency. Herein, we have developed a simple and effective approach for the selective conversion of fructose to furfural using Hβ zeolite modified by organic acids for dealuminization to regulate its textural and acidic properties. It was found that citric acid-dealuminized Hβ zeolite possessed high specific surface areas, wide channels and high Brønsted acid amount, which facilitated the selective conversion of fructose to furfural with a maximum yield of 76.2% at 433 K for 1 h in the γ-butyrolactone (GBL)-H2O system, as well as the concomitant formation of 83.0% formic acid. The 13C-isotope labelling experiments and the mechanism revealed that the selective cleavage of C1–C2 or C5–C6 bond on fructose was firstly occurred to form pentose or C5 intermediate by weak Brønsted acid, which was then dehydrated to furfural by strong Brønsted acid. Also this dealuminized Hβ catalyst showed the great recycling performance and was active for the conversion of glucose and mannose.

Background: The severity of white matter hyperintensities (WMH) has been shown to be an independent predictor of poor stroke outcome, but the effect of sex on this correlation has not been investigated further. Therefore, the purpose of our study was to assess whether there was a sex difference between the severity of WMH and poor stroke outcome. Methods: This retrospective study included 449 patients with acute ischemic stroke (AIS) who received intravenous thrombolysis. WMH severity was graded based on the Fazekas scale. The association between WMH severity and stroke outcome was explored through multivariable regression analyses in men and women. Results: Among women, when dividing WMH severity into tertiles, T3 (Fazekas scale >3) had a 5.334 times higher risk for unfavorable outcomes than T1 (Fazekas scale

The limitation of enzymatic saccharification of lignocellulose is attributed to the nonproductive adsorption between lignin and cellulase. This study aims to investigate the effects of ozone pretreatment on the physical structure and chemical properties of milled wood lignin (MWL). The objective is to reduce the non-productive adsorption of cellulase on lignin. The structure–activity relationship between the physical structure of MWL and the occurrence of nonproductive adsorption was analysed using two-dimensional heteronuclear single quantum coherence–nuclear magnetic resonance (HSQC-NMR) and phosphorus-31 nuclear magnetic resonance spectrum (31P-NMR), etc. The results indicate that ozone pretreatment resulted in a decrease in the phenolic hydroxyl content and S/G ratio, an increase in the carboxyl content, and a negative zeta potential of MWL. The maximum adsorption capacity decreased from 25.77 mg/g to 10.09 mg/g, the Langmuir constant decreased from 13.86 mL/mg to 10.11 mL/mg, and the binding strength decreased from 357.14 mL/g to 102.04 mL/g, as determined by Langmuir isothermal adsorption. This suggests that ozone pretreatment resulted in a reduction in the hydrophobicity of lignin and a weakening of the electrostatic attraction between lignin and cellulase, thereby effectively reducing the non-productive adsorption of cellulase on lignin. This study provides an environmentally friendly pretreatment technique and comprehensively analyses the structural changes of ozone-treated MWL. These findings contribute to a deeper understanding of the interaction between lignin and cellulase.

Abstract Background Radiotherapy is a highly effective treatment for cervical cancer. Recent studies focused on the radiotherapy induced anti-tumor immunity. Whether tumor-derived extracellular vesicles (EVs) play roles in radiotherapy induced tumor associated macrophage (TAM) polarization remains unclear. Materials and Methods This study analysed the phenotype of macrophages in cancer tissue and peripheral blood of cervical cancer patients using flow cytometry analysis. The role of EVs from plasma of post-irradiated patients on M2-like transformed macrophages was assessed. The M1- and M2-like macrophages were assessed by expression of cell surface markers (CCR7, CD163) and intracellular cytokines (IL-10, TNFα and iNOS). The capacity of phagocytosis was assessed by PD-1 expression and phagocytosis of pHrodo Red E. coli bioparticles. Results Our results demonstrated that radiotherapy of cervical cancer induced an increase in the number of TAMs and a change in their subtype from the M2-like to the M1-like phenotype (increased expression of CCR7 and decreased expression of CD163). The EVs from plasma of post-irradiated patients facilitated the M2-like to the M1-like phenotype transition (increased expression of CCR7, TNFα and iNOS, and decreased expression of CD163 and IL-10) and increased capacity of phagocytosis (decreased PD-1 expression and increased phagocytosis of pHrodo Red E. coli bioparticles). Conclusions Our data demonstrated that irradiation in cervical cancer patients facilitated a proinflammatory macrophage phenotype which could eventually able to mediate anti-tumor immune responses. Our findings highlight the importance of EV in the crosstalk of tumor cells and TAM upon irradiation, which potentially leading to an increased inflammatory response to cancer lesions.

Legged robots can travel through complex scenes via dynamic foothold adaptation. However, it remains a challenging task to efficiently utilize the dynamics of robots in cluttered environments and to achieve efficient navigation. We present a novel hierarchical vision navigation system combining foothold adaptation policy with locomotion control of the quadruped robots. The high-level policy trains an end-to-end navigation policy, generating an optimal path to approach the target with obstacle avoidance. Meanwhile, the low-level policy trains the foothold adaptation network through auto-annotated supervised learning to adjust the locomotion controller and to provide more feasible foot placement. Extensive experiments in both simulation and the real world show that the system achieves efficient navigation against challenges in dynamic and cluttered environments without prior information.

Geared motor-driven lower limb exoskeletons (LLEs) are widely researched to assist paraplegic patients with spinal cord injury in recovering locomotion ability. In order to achieve a compact exoskeleton joint design while avoiding increasing the mechanical complexity of the exoskeleton frame, this study presents a design of an LLE with compact and modular actuation. A synchronous drive and a gear drive as transmissions are used to distribute hip and knee actuators, respectively, ensuring a compact axial width. The modular design of joint actuators enables it simple to separately design or select the ergonomic exoskeleton frames. A paradigm of the LLE design is comprehensively provided, including the requirement analysis, mechanical, electrical and control system design, which can be a reference of the early development of the exoskeleton prototype. The performance of the LLE is preliminarily validated by the benchtop tests including the closed-loop speed bandwidth test and the swing test and one healthy human subject experiments including walking with the LLE disenabling all motors and walking assisted by the LLE. The results of the benchtop tests validate that the LLE has enough bandwidth of closed-loop speed, satisfactory repeatability, high precision, good antijamming capability and strong torque capacity. The results of the healthy human subject experiments validate a harmonic interaction and a good integration between the user and the ergonomic mechanical system, good performance of the electrical and control system in joints motion control of the LLE. The prototype of the LLE smoothly and successfully assists the healthy human subject in walking on the level ground. The proposed LLE is promising to be applied to assist paraplegic patients in recovering the walking ability.

BackgroundStress hyperglycemia ratio (SHR), calculated as glucose/glycated hemoglobin, has recently been developed for assessing stress hyperglycemia and could provide prognostic information for various diseases. However, calculating SHR using random blood glucose (RBG) drawn on admission or fasting blood glucose (FBG) could lead to different results. This study intends to evaluate the association between SHR and functional outcomes in patients with acute ischemic stroke (AIS) with recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (r-tPA) intravenous thrombolysis.MethodsData from 230 patients with AIS following thrombolytic therapy with r-tPA in the Third Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University from April 2016 to April 2019 were retrospectively reviewed. SHR1 was defined as [RBG (mmol/L)]/[HbA1c (%)] and SHR2 was defined as [FBG (mmol/L)]/[HbA1c (%)]. The outcomes included early neurological improvement (ENI), poor function defined as a modified Rankin Scale score (mRS) of 3–6, and all-cause death in 3 months. Multivariable logistic regression was performed to estimate the association between SHR and adverse outcomes.ResultsAfter adjustment for possible confounders, though patients with AIS with higher SHR1 tend to have a higher risk of poor outcome and death and unlikely to develop ENI, these did not reach the statistical significance. In contrast, SHR2 was independently associated with poor functional outcome (per 0.1-point increases: odds ratios (OR) = 1.383 95% CI [1.147–1.668]). Further adjusted for body mass index (BMI), triglyceride-glucose index (TyG), and diabetes slightly strengthen the association between SHR (both 1 and 2) and adverse outcomes. In subgroup analysis, elevated SHR1 is associated with poor functional outcomes (per 0.1-point increases: OR = 1.246 95% CI [1.041–1.492]) in non-diabetic individuals and the association between SHR2 and the poor outcomes was attenuated in non-cardioembolic AIS.ConclusionSHR is expected to replace random or fasting glucose concentration as a novel generation of prognostic indicator and a potential therapeutic target.

Wilms tumor (WT) is the most common renal cancer and the most prevalent abdominal cancer in children. Children with recurrent or progressive forms of WT could benefit from novel immune-targeted approaches. While the immune status of these patients, especially the immunosuppression of peripheral T cells, was rarely reported. The present study enrolled a consecutive series of 14 Chinese WT children and 14 age- and gender-matched healthy controls. We demonstrated that plasma extracellular vesicular (EV) PD-L1 levels significantly increased in WT patients than in healthy controls. EV PD-L1 significantly inhibited the activation of human CD8 + T cells by down-regulating the cell surface CD69 expression and the intracellular IFNγ and TNFα production in vitro. In peripheral CD8 + T cells of WT patients, the intracellular IFNγ and TNFα production significantly decreased than healthy controls. The level of plasma EV PD-L1 significantly correlated with the intracellular TNFα production in peripheral CD8 + T cells of WT patients. In conclusion, the significantly increased plasma EV PD-L1 in WT patients contributed to the immunosuppression of peripheral CD8 + T cells. Monitoring the level of plasma EV PD-L1 will be helpful for the selection of immune-targeted therapies for WT patients.

Background and PurposeMounting researches have illuminated that the neutrophil-related ratios were related to the prognosis of acute ischemic stroke (AIS). However, few have compared their predictive value and accuracy. To make such comparison and identify the best indicator on the 90-day outcome, we investigated biomarkers including neutrophil ratio (Nr), neutrophil count (Nc), lymphocyte (L), neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet (P or PLT), platelet-to-neutrophil ratio (PNR), NLR-to-platelet ratio (NLR/PLT), eosinophil (E), neutrophil-to-eosinophil ratio (NER), monocyte (M), and monocyte-to-neutrophil ratio (MNR).MethodsThis retrospective study recruited 283 AIS and 872 healthy controls (HCs) receiving intravenous thrombolysis (IVT). Blood samples were collected after 24 h of admission before IVT. Propensity Score Matching (PSM) was used to explore whether these ratios differentiated AIS and HCs. We applied univariate and multivariate analyses to evaluate the prediction effect of these ratios separately or added in the model and figured out a clinical prediction model. To estimate the discrimination and calibration of the new models, the receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve analysis, DeLong method, and likelihood ratio test (LR test) were utilized.ResultsPSM showed that Nr, Nc, NLR, P, PNR, NLR/PLT, NER, and MNR facilitates the differentiation of the HCs and AIS. Among the eight biomarkers, PNR and MNR could differentiate the 90-day outcome, and it was found out that PNR performed better. Univariate regression analysis demonstrated that PNR was the only independent predictor which needs no adjustment. Besides, the multivariate regression analysis, Delong method, and LR test indicated that among the neutrophil-related ratios, NLR, PNR, NLR/PLT, NER, and MNR exerted little influence on the discrimination but could enhance the calibration of the base model, and NER proved to work best.ConclusionLow PNR was the best indicator among the neutrophil-related ratios tin predicting a poor 90-day outcome of AIS patients. Moreover, high NER performed best when predicting the 90-day outcome to improve the calibration of the base model.

Background and PurposeBlood eosinophil counts are thought to be associated with atherosclerosis in acute ischemic stroke (AIS) and AIS severity. We aimed to investigate 1): the temporal profile of eosinophil in AIS patients treated with recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (r-tPA); 2): The association between dynamic eosinophil and 3-month outcomes in different AIS etiologies; 3): incremental predictive ability of dynamic eosinophil adding to conventional model; and 4): the longitudinal change of neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and compared its prognostic value with eosinophils.MethodsA total of 623 AIS patients with intravenous thrombolysis in two hospitals were included. Blood samples were obtained on admission, within 24 h after an intravenous thrombolysis and on the seventh day. A multivariate logistic regression model with restricted cubic spline was performed to explore the association between dynamic eosinophil and a 3-month poor outcome. C-statistic, net reclassification improvement (NRI) and integrated discrimination improvement (IDI) were adopted to explore the incremental predictive ability.ResultsPercent change in eosinophil counts after intravenous thrombolysis was median −25.00% (IQR −68.25%–+14.29%). Decrease in eosinophil >75% after intravenous thrombolysis was associated with 2.585 times risk for poor outcome and 13.836 times risk for death. However, the association were weak for patients outside of cardioembolic stroke. Adding eosinophil changes to a conventional model improved the discriminatory ability of poor outcome (NRI = 53.3%; IDI = 2.2%) and death (NRI = 101.0%; IDI = 6.9%).ConclusionsDynamic decrease in eosinophil after intravenous thrombolysis predicts a 3-month poor outcome and death in AIS patients with r-tPA treatment and improved the predictive ability of conventional model. However, this result needs to be interpreted carefully in non-cardioembolic AIS patients.

Background and Purpose: The eosinophil-to-neutrophil ratio (ENR) was recently reported as a novel inflammatory marker in acute ischemic stroke (AIS). However, few studies reported the predictive value of ENR in AIS patients, especially for those with intravenous thrombolysis.Methods: Two hundred sixty-six AIS patients receiving intravenous thrombolysis were retrospectively recruited in this study and followed up for 3 months and 1 year. The Modified Rankin Scale (mRS) and the time of death were recorded. Poor outcome was defined as mRS 3–6. After excluding patients who were lost to follow-up, the remaining 250 patients were included in the 3-month prognosis analysis and the remaining 223 patients were included in the 1-year prognosis analysis.Results: ENR levels in the patients were lower than those in the healthy controls. The optimal cutoff values for the ability of ENR × 102 to predict 3-month poor outcome were 0.74 with 67.8% sensitivity and 77.3% specificity. Patients with ENR × 102 ≥ 0.74 have a lower baseline National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score (median: 7 vs. 11, p < 0.001). After multivariate adjustment, patients with ENR × 102 ≥ 0.74 were more likely to come to a better 3-month outcome (OR = 0.163; 95% CI, 0.076–0.348, p < 0.001). At the 1-year follow-up, the patients with ENR × 102 ≥ 0.74 showed a lower risk of mortality (HR = 0.314; 95% CI, 0.135–0.731; p = 0.007).Conclusions: A lower ENR is independently associated with a 3-month poor outcome and a 3-month and 1-year mortality in AIS patients treated with intravenous thrombolysis.

BackgroundThis study aimed to cluster newly diagnosed patients and patients with long-term diabetes and to explore the clinical characteristics, risk of diabetes complications, and medication treatment related to each cluster.Research Design and MethodsK-means clustering analysis was performed on 1,060 Chinese patients with type 2 diabetes based on five variables (HbA1c, age at diagnosis, BMI, HOMA2-IR, and HOMA2-B). The clinical features, risk of diabetic complications, and the utilization of elven types of medications agents related to each cluster were evaluated with the chi-square test and the Tukey–Kramer method.ResultsFour replicable clusters were identified, severe insulin-resistant diabetes (SIRD), severe insulin-deficient diabetes (SIDD), mild obesity-related diabetes (MOD), and mild age-related diabetes (MARD). In terms of clinical characteristics, there were significant differences in blood pressure, renal function, and lipids among clusters. Furthermore, individuals in SIRD had the highest prevalence of stages 2 and 3 chronic kidney disease (CKD) (57%) and diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) (67%), while individuals in SIDD had the highest risk of diabetic retinopathy (32%), albuminuria (31%) and lower extremity arterial disease (LEAD) (13%). Additionally, the difference in medication treatment of clusters were observed in metformin (p = 0.012), α-glucosidase inhibitor (AGI) (p = 0.006), dipeptidyl peptidase 4 inhibitor (DPP-4) (p = 0.017), glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) (p

The tight association between malnutrition and gut microbiota (GM) dysbiosis enables microbiota-targeting intervention to be a promising strategy. Thus, we used a malnourished pig model to investigate the host response and GM alterations under different diet supplementation strategies. Pigs at age of 4 weeks were fed with pure maize diet to induce malnutrition symptoms, and followed by continuous feeding with maize (Maize, n = 8) or re-feeding using either corn-soy-blend (CSB+, n = 10) or millet-soy-blend based (MSB+, n = 10) supplementary food for 3 weeks. Meanwhile, 8 pigs were fed on a standard formulated ration as control (Ref). The effect of nutritional supplementation was assessed by the growth status, blood chemistry, gastrointestinal pathology, mucosal microbiota composition and colon production of short-chain fatty acids. Compared with purely maize-fed pigs, both CSB+ and MSB+ elevated the concentrations of total protein and globulin in blood. These pigs still showed most malnutrition symptoms after the food intervention period. MSB+ had superior influence on the GM development, exhibiting better performance in both structural and functional aspects. MSB+ pigs were colonized by less Proteobacteria but more Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes and Lachnospira spp. Pearson's correlation analysis indicated a strong correlation between the abundance of mucosal e.g., Faecalibacterium and Lachnospira spp. and body weight, crown-rump length and total serum protein. In conclusion, the malnutrition symptoms were accompanied by an aberrant GM, and millet-based nutritional supplementation showed promising potentials to restore the reduced GM diversity implicated in pig malnutrition.

In this study, densified wood was prepared by hot pressing after partial lignin and hemicellulose were removed through alkaline solution cooking. The tensile strength and elastic modulus of densified wood were improved up to 398.5 MPa and 22.5 GPa as compared with the original wood, and the characterization of its supramolecular structures showed that the crystal plane spacing of the densified wood decreased, the crystallite size increased, and the maximum crystallinity (CI) of cellulose increased by 15.05%; outstandingly, the content of O(6)H⋯O(3′) intermolecular H-bonds increased by approximately one-fold at most. It was found that the intermolecular H-bond content was significantly positively correlated with the tensile strength and elastic modulus, and accordingly, their Pearson correlation coefficients were 0.952 (p < 0.01) and 0.822 (p < 0.05), respectively. This work provides a supramolecular explanation for the enhancement of tensile strength of densified wood.

Furfural, a versatile platform compound, is produced from the hydrolysis of pentose (hemicellulose) in lignocellulosic biomass. The manufacturing of furfural results in the production and accumulation of cellulose- and lignin-rich furfural residue, simultaneously. Reasonable and effective utilization of furfural residue would provide both environmental and economic benefits. In this work, alkali cooking technology was applied to extract lignin from industrial furfural residue. The effects of different alkali treatment conditions on the composition and chemical structure of extracted lignin and solid residue were studied. The results showed that extracted lignin contained abundant guaiacyl (G), syringyl (S), and p-hydroxyphenyl (H) structural units, among which the G-type lignin structural unit accounted for the main proportion. The extracted lignin samples were rich in hydroxyl, and the highest content of hydroxyl was 4.02 mM/g under the condition of T3 (135°C−0.35 M). An oxidize resistance test showed that extracted lignin showed a high inhibition effect on DPPH. The increase of lignin content in solid residue was due to the carbonization of cellulose into a lignin-like substance under the condition of a high temperature alkali treatment. This alkali cooking technology is suitable for extracting lignin from furfural residue, which has a promising application as a potential antioxidant in the food and cosmetic industry.

Abstract Background Dilute oxalic acid pretreatment has drawn much attention because it could selectively hydrolyse the hemicellulose fraction during lignocellulose pretreatment. However, there are few studies focusing on the recovery of oxalic acid. Here, we reported a new approach to recycle oxalic acid used in pretreatment via ethanol extraction. Results The highest xylose content in hydrolysate was 266.70 mg xylose per 1 g corncob (85.0% yield), which was achieved using 150 mmol/L oxalic acid under the optimized treatment condition (140 °C, 2.5 h). These pretreatment conditions were employed to the subsequent pretreatment using recycled oxalic acid. Oxalic acid in the hydrolysate could be recycled according to the following steps: (1) water was removed via evaporation and vacuum drying, (2) ethanol was used to extract oxalic acid in the remaining mixture, and (3) oxalic acid and ethanol were separated by reduced pressure evaporation. The total xylose yields could be stabilized by intermittent adding oxalic acid, and the yields were in range of 46.7–64.3% in this experiment. Conclusions This sustainable approach of recycling and reuse of oxalic acid has a significant potential application for replacing traditional dilute mineral acid pretreatment of lignocellulose, which could contribute to reduce CO2 emissions and the cost of the pretreatment.

Abstract Ring-opening graft polymerization (ROGP) of l-Lactide (l-LA) is a practical method of altering the physical and chemical properties of lignocellulose. Previous studies have mainly investigated cellulose and tin-based catalysts, particularly of tin(II) 2-ethylhexanoate (Sn(oct)2), at high temperatures and reported low graft efficiencies. In the present study, ROGP of l-LA was successfully achieved on xylan-type hemicelluloses in ionic liquid (IL) 1-allyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride ([Amim]Cl) using 1,8-diazabicyclo[5.4.0]undec-7-ene (DBU) as an effective organic catalyst. Mild reaction condition (50 °C) was used to limit transesterification, and thus enhance the graft efficiency. The hydroxyl groups on xylan acted as initiators in the polymerization, and DBU, enhanced the nucleophilicity of the initiator and the propagating chain. Xylan-graft-poly(l-Lactide) (xylan-g-PLA) copolymer with a degree of substitution (DS) of 0.58 and a degree of polymerization (DP) of 5.51 was obtained. In addition, the structures of the xylan-g-PLA copolymers were characterized by GPC, FT-IR and NMR, confirming the success of the ROGP reaction. Thermal analysis revealed that the copolymers exhibited a single glass-transition temperature (T g), which decreased with increasing molar substitution (MS). Thus, modification resulted in the graft copolymers with thermoplastic behavior and tunable T g.

Formaldehyde is a colorless, highly toxic, and flammable gas that is harmful to human health. Recently, many efforts have been devoted to the application of activated carbon to absorb formaldehyde. In this work, lignocellulose-based activated carbon fiber paper (LACFP) loaded with manganese dioxide (MnO2) was fabricated for the adsorption and in-situ catalytic degradation of formaldehyde. LACFP was prepared by two-stage carbonization and activation of sisal hemp pulp-formed paper and was then impregnated with manganese sulfate (MnSO4) and potassium permanganate (KMnO4) solutions; MnO2 then formed by in situ growth on the LACFP base by calcination. The catalytic performance of MnO2-loaded LACFP for formaldehyde was then investigated. It was found that the suitable carbonization conditions were elevating the temperature first by raising it at 10°C/min from room temperature to 280°C, then at 2°C/min from 280 to 400°C, maintaining the temperature at 400°C for 1 h, and then increasing it quickly from 400 to 700°C at 15°C/min. The conditions used for activation were similar to those for carbonization, with the temperature additionally being held at 700°C for 2 h. The conditions mentioned above were optimized to maintain the fiber structure and shape integrity of the paper, being conducive to loading with catalytically active substances. Regarding the catalytic activity of MnO2-loaded LACFP, the concentration of formaldehyde decreased by 59 ± 6 ppm and the concentration of ΔCO2 increased by 75 ± 3 ppm when the reaction proceeded at room temperature for 10 h. The results indicated that MnO2-loaded LACFP could catalyze formaldehyde into non-toxic substances.

Creatinine is one of the major toxins in patients suffering from chronic renal failure. In this paper, cellulose dinitrobenzoate, with a degree of substitution (DS) of 0.15, was used as an oral adsorbent for creatinine adsorption. Cellulose dinitrobenzoate was prepared by modification of cellulose with 3,5-dinitrobenzoyl chloride in 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride (BMIMCl) ionic liquid as a homogenous medium. The effects of contact time, pH, adsorption temperature, and initial concentration of creatinine on the adsorption per unit mass of cellulose dinitrobenzoate were studied, comparatively. Results showed that the maximum adsorption per unit mass for creatinine was 3.88 mg/g. Furthermore, the adsorption process was spontaneous and exothermic. It was determined that the experimental results were well fitted to the pseudo-second-order rate equation and the Freundlich adsorption isotherm. Compared with traditional oral adsorbents, this cellulose-based adsorbent was biocompatible and could remove creatinine from dialysate effectively.

Fuel cell trams have many advantages, such as high efficiency, no pollution, low noise and simple structure. It is recognized as the mainstream of the future electric bus. In order to solve the communication between the components of the fuel cell tram, the topology of the vehicle communication network is designed based on the CANopen bus, and its hardware requirements are put forward. The communication speed and communication mechanism of CANopen bus are established, and the CANopen message structure and protocol are introduced. Finally, the communication nodes were developed based on LPC2194 microcontrollers and TJA1050 high speed CANopen bus drivers. The practical application shows that the system is stable and reliable.

Recently, more and more attention has been centered on developing cheaper, highly efficient, environmentally friendly adsorbents for the removal of metal ions from industrial effluents. The present work deals with the removal of metal ions from an aqueous solution using a highly efficient, biodegradable adsorbent from hydrogel prepared by the free radical graft polymerization of sugarcane bagasse with acrylic acid and acrylamide using N, N-methylene-bis-acrylamide as a crosslinker. FTIR and SEM/EDX spectroscopies were used to characterize the structure and the morphology of adsorbent before and after the metal ions adsorption. The effects of pH, contact time, and initial concentration of metal ion on the adsorption capacity were studied. The adsorption equilibrium time of Pb2+, Cd2+, and Cu2+ were 60, 90, and 180 min, respectively. The maximum adsorption capacities of Cu2+, Pb2+, and Cd2+ were 268, 700, and 320 mg/g, respectively. The adsorption data were fit to often-used models for adsorption kinetics and isotherms. It was determined that the experimental results were well fitted to the pseudo-second-order equation and Langmuir adsorption isotherms.

In this work, sugarcane bagasse, being an abundant and renewable resource, was used as a raw material to prepare sugarcane bagasse-g-poly(acrylic acid-co-acrylamide) (SB/P(AA-co-AM)) hydrogels. The hydrogels were prepared by free radical graft copolymerization of SB with AA and AM using N,N-methylene-bis-acrylamide (MBA) as a crosslinker. The optimal synthesis conditions were determined by investigating the water absorbency of the hydrogels. The maximum water absorbency reached 269 g/g in deionized water, and the corresponding copper ions adsorption capacity was 265 mg/g. These grafted hydrogels showed a pH-sensitive swelling behavior. Furthermore, they also exhibited excellent water retention capacity, which reserved 92.7%, 81.7%, and 76.8% for 44 h, and 83.7%, 58.6%, and 47.1% for 116 h at 5 °C, 25 °C, and 35 °C, respectively. FTIR spectroscopy and SEM were used to reveal the chemical structure and the morphology of the hydrogels. SEM/EDS further confirmed the adsorption of the copper(II) on the resulting hydrogels. Therefore, SB/P(AA-co-AM) hydrogels could have promising applications as water retention agents and metal ions adsorbents in water treatment and agricultural industries.

The objective of this work was to prepare a series of composite films (polysaccharides with LaFe0.8Cu0.2O3) for the degradation of methyl orange under ultraviolet irradiation. LaFe0.8Cu0.2O3 was prepared by a sol-gel method, and the composite films were obtained by cross-linking reactions between polysaccharides (xylan and chitosan) and LaFe0.8Cu0.2O3. Physical and chemical properties of the composite films were investigated by XRD, FTIR, SEM, and BET. Moreover, the influence of the weight ratio of polysaccharide to LaFe0.8Cu0.2O3 on the methyl orange degradation reaction was also studied. Results showed that 67% of the degradation efficiency was achieved within 480 min using chitosan/LaFe0.8Cu0.2O3 (2:1) as photocatalysts, while 58% was for xylan/LaFe0.8Cu0.2O3 (1:1). The difference was due to the variety in the structure of chitosan and xylan.

Pore-forming agents have a significant influence on the pore structure of hydrogels. In this study, a porogenic technique was employed to investigate the preparation of macroporous hydrogels which were synthesized by radical copolymerization of carboxymethyl xylan with acrylamide and N-isopropylacrylamide under the function of a cross-linking agent. Six kinds of pore-forming agents were used: polyvinylpyrrolidone K30, polyethylene glycol 2000, carbamide, NaCl, CaCO3, and NaHCO3. The application of these hydrogels is also discussed. The results show that pore-forming agents had an important impact on the pore structure of the hydrogels and consequently affected properties of the hydrogels such as swelling ratio and mechanical strength, while little effect was noted on the thermal property of the hydrogels. 5-Fluorouracil was used as a model drug to study the drug release of the as-prepared hydrogels, and it was found that the drug release was substantially improved after using the NaHCO3 pore-forming agent: a cumulative release rate of up to 71.05% was achieved.

In this study, highly-efficient hydrolysis of bagasse into xylose and arabinose sugars (C5 sugars) was developed by microwave-assisted oxalic acid pretreatment under mild reaction conditions. The effects of acid and hydrolysis conditions on the C5 sugar yields were discussed. The results showed that oxalic acid performed better than hydrochloric acid and maleic acid, and was a promising alternative to sulfuric acid for xylose production at the same acid concentration. The maximum yields of xylose (95.7%) and arabinose (91.5%) were achieved via the microwave-assisted oxalic acid pretreatment (120 °C, 10 min, 0.4 mol/L, solid–liquid ratio of 1:50 g/mL), indicating that almost all xylan-type hemicelluloses were released from the cell wall and hydrolyzed into C5 sugars. After pretreatment, more than 90% of the cellulose in the residual bagasse was converted to glucose (92.2%) by enzymatic hydrolysis. This approach could realize the highly-efficient hydrolysis of xylan from bagasse into C5 sugars, which would enhance the enzyme hydrolysis of treated bagasse into glucose.