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Objective. The use of enalapril in combination with bisoprolol in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) was studied for its effect on cardiac function and inflammatory parameters. Methods. Sixty-two cases of AMI patients admitted to our clinic from November 2019 to November 2021 were selected for the study and grouped according to the random number table method, those enrolled were given conventional treatment such as oxygenation, absolute bed rest, and sedation, and administered low molecular heparin, aspirin, atorvastatin calcium tablets, clopidogrel, and nitrates. The control group (31 cases) was treated with enalapril maleate folic acid tablets, and the treatment group (31 cases) was treated with bisoprolol fumarate tablets on top of the control group, and the efficacy, adverse effects, cardiac function, inflammatory indexes, and oxidative stress indexes of the two arms were contrasted. Results. The incidence of adverse reactions in the therapy cohort was 12.90% higher than that in the controlled arm, but the discrepancy was not medically relevant ( P < 0.05 ). The SOD level was larger than the concentration in the corresponding drug therapy group, and the MDA level was lower than the concentration in the respective test cases ( P < 0.05 ); the incidence of 12.90% adverse reactions in the treatment period was lower than that of 16.13% in the specific drug therapy group, but the variance was not scientifically evident ( P > 0.05 ). Conclusion. Enalapril application combined with bisoprolol in AMI patients is beneficial to boost the efficacy, promote the improvement of cardiac function, reduce the inflammatory response, and improve the oxidative stress with fewer adverse effects, which can ensure the therapeutic security.

Porous cordierite ceramics (PCCs) with hierarchical microstructures were prepared by particle-stabilized emulsions method using potato starch (PS) as a modifier. The formation of hierarchical structure was ascribed to the removal of oil bubbles and consumption of PS during the sintering process. The volume shrinkage of samples tended to be stable with a solid content of 40 vol. %. When the PS content was 25 wt. %, PCCs with a controlled hierarchical pore structure up to 91.4% porosity, compressive strength of 5.76 MPa, and pore size of 6.19 μm was obtained. The thermal conductivity of PCCs was optimized to 0.4325 W/m K, along with the pore size distribution showing a single peak trend at the same time. The chemical corrosion of PCCs in both strong acid and alkaline medium was inhibited by the stable cordierite phase. The method of preparing PCCs with controlled hierarchical structured was potentially applicable in catalyst carrier and filtration.

Being at the important pathological stage and the critical treatment period of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) which is associated with fibrosis, hepatic and liver cancer has become a serious medical problem. As one of the major effective components in Scutellaria baicalensis, baicalin takes on anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory activities. Nevertheless, its effects on NASH and its underlying molecular mechanism have not been thoroughly understood yet. In previous study, we have clarified baicalin could inhibit pyroptosis of hepatocytes mediated by NLRP3 in vitro, but the verification in vivo and upstream mechanism still need further work. Here the NASH mouse model was induced by feeding with a high fat diet (HFD) for 8-12 weeks. Thereafter, in the following weeks, NASH mice were given with HFD plus baicalin. We, subsequently, examined their hepatic function and inflammatory response and conducted the HE staining of liver samples. Furthermore, the underlying molecular mechanism was revealed through diverse molecular biological experiments including quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR), Western blotting (WB), siRNA and CCK8 assays in HepG2 cells incubated with free fatty acid, and was verified in NASH mice. The in vivo findings indicated that baicalin decreased lipid accumulation and inflammation in the liver tissues of NASH mice, as evidenced by the enhanced NRF2/HO-1 expression and the reduced NLRP3/Caspase1/GSDMD levels, and these factors were involved in the pyroptosis pathway. Meanwhile, baicalin also contributed greatly against oxidative injury. The anti-inflammatory effect of baicalin was confirmed by experiments in vitro. For another, knockdown of NRF2 obviously weakened the protective effects of baicalin and reduced the NLRP3/Caspase1/GSDMD-mediated pyroptosis. This study indicates that baicalin is able to attenuate hepatic cell pyroptosis in vivo and in vitro in the case of NASH by regulating the NRF2/HO-1/NRLP3 pathway.

San-Huang-Tang (SHT), a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) formula, has been clinically used to treat obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus. Recently it has proved that SHT have a good effect on non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).Our study was designed to investigate the therapeutic mechanisms of the SHT against NAFLD. The data of SHT were obtained through network pharmacology platform and validated experimentally in vivo and in vitro.The candidate targets of SHT were predicted by network pharmacological analysis and crucial targets were chosen by the protein-protein interaction (PPI) network. Furthermore, Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and Genomes (KEGG) were applied to analyze the NAFLD-related signaling pathways affected by SHT, and then the analysis results were verified with molecular biological experiments in vivo and in vitro.Molecules were screened with network pharmacological analysis, and then the improvement of insulin resistance of NAFLD mice was measured by IPITTs and IPGTTs. Through series of molecular experiments, it is revealed that SHT could increase the transcription of insulin receptor (INSR) and insulin receptor substrate (IRS1), and enhance the phosphorylation of both threonine protein kinase (AKT) and forkhead box O1 (FoxO1).Screened by bioinformatics and verified by experiments in vivo and in vitro, SHT could contribute to NAFLD by affecting insulin resistance via activating INSR/IRS1/AKT/FoxO1 pathway. Our research findings provide not only an experimental basis for the therapeutic effect of SHT but also a new target against NAFLD.

Microporous structure in zeolite leads to diffusion limitation, which causes coke formation and is harmful to catalytic reactions. Hierarchical zeolite containing primary microporosity and secondary porosity at the meso- and macroscales has received much attention due to its enhanced mass transport. Hierarchical Y zeolites were obtained by treating NH4-Y zeolite with high-temperature calcining and acid-base leaching. The results demonstrated that the calcined zeolite showed great crystallinity after acid-base leaching. The mechanism of introduction of mesopores was demonstrated in detail. The calcination transformed framework Al to extra-framework Al and enlarged the defect by acid and alkali. The mesopores increased with the calcining temperature and holding time. The relationship between the heating rate and the removal of Al species was non-linear; a heating rate of 100°C/h exhibited good protection for the zeolite structure.

The inorganic hydrated salt has a potential application in thermal energy management as the phase change material. High thermal response rate and high thermal energy storage are the needs for the application. In order to prevent the leakage of inorganic hydrated salt, which is usually encapsulated in a porous matrix. Expanded graphite has been demonstrated as the effective matrix for phase change materials to ensure a high thermal response rate. In this work, modified expanded graphite proceeded with hydrophilic modification by forming SiO2 with different sizes and Na2HPO4·12H2O was encapsulated into the modified expanded graphite pores. Thermal energy storage mainly depends on the encapsulation ratio of phase change materials. This rule was confirmed by the porosity test and X-ray diffraction characterization. SiO2 particles and salt hydrates in pores of the modified expanded graphite were observed by scanning electron microscopy. The high latent heat of the composite phase change material reaches 224 J/g.

Abstract. Plant carbon (C) content is one of the most important plant traits and is critical in the assessment of global C cycle and ecological stoichiometry. However, the global variation in plant C content remains poorly understood. We conducted a global analysis of the plant C content by synthesizing data from 4318 species to provide specific values of C content and to assess their variation across plant organs and life forms. Our results showed that C content varied markedly across plant organs. Plant organ C content ranged from 45.01 % in reproductive organs to 47.88 % in stems at global scales, which were significantly lower than a canonical value of 50 % that has been widely employed in previous studies. Plant C content in leaves was higher than that in roots. Across life forms, woody plants exhibited higher C content than herbaceous plants. Conifers, relative to broad-leaved woody species, had higher C content in roots, leaves and stems. Plant C content tended to decrease with the increasing latitude. The life form explained more variation of the C content than climate due to plant structural requirements. Our findings suggest that specific C content values from different organs and life forms may be more suitable to evaluate global vegetation C stock and plant ecological stoichiometry.

With the backdrop of continuous global change, it is beneficial to create consistent long-term records of sea ice area on regional scales for ice disaster prevention and risk mitigation. In this study, a piecewise multiple nonlinear regression model was developed to reconstruct long-term daily sea ice area dataset in the Bohai Sea from 1958 to 2015 by linking the related meteorological data and the satellite-derived ice area. The validation analysis show that related meteorological status corresponding to physical process had stable skill of predictive ability, which was able to account for 81% of the observational variance under consideration of sea ice state, freezing and melting phases. The reconstructed daily sea ice area dataset was further used to study the interannual and seasonal variability of sea ice area. The annual maximum ice area (AMIA) and the annual average ice area (AAIA) in the Bohai Sea exhibited a decreasing trend with fluctuation of -0.33 +/- 0.18% yr(-1) and -0.51 +/- 0.16% yr(-1) over the period of 1958-2015, respectively. The most obvious change of the Bohai Sea ice area occurred in time scale of similar to 30 years. The whole study period could be divided into slight increasing stage (1958-1980), significant decreasing stage (1980-1995), and moderate increasing stage (1995-2015). In most years, the annual changes of sea ice area showed an unimodal variation and the freezing period (similar to 65 days) was longer than the melting phase (similar to 40 days) due to the relatively higher freezing rate. In addition, high correlations between AAIA and Arctic Oscillation (AO) index (r=-0.60, p

Background: Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is known to have a teratogenic effect on heart development. Former studies determined that miR-155 is elevated in GDM patients. In the present study, we explored the potential role of miR-155 on high glucose-induced cardiac developmental defects. Methods: Serum miR-155 of GDM patients was determined by using ELISA. Fetal cardiac characteristics were collected by echocardiography. Zebrafish embryos were exposed to 2% D-Glucose in a fluctuating manner. The expression levels of miR-155, Ets1 and cardiac specific genes were evaluated by real-time PCR or western blot. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) were detected by DCFH-DA. Findings: High glucose exposure in zebrafish embryos altered the morphology of the heart, increased the expression of miR-155 and cardiac specific genes. Upregulation of miR-155 activated Igf1-Akt-Gsk3β pathway by targeting Ets1 and increased the production of ROS and may thereby exert teratogenic effect on cardiac development. Knockdown of miR-155 could rescue high glucose-induced zebrafish heart developmental defects. Besides, miR-155 levels are increased in serum from GDM patients and are correlated with fetal cardiac structural changes. Moreover, loss of miR-155 blocked Igf1 survival pathway and induced apoptosis and may thus cause zebrafish cardiac developmental defects. Interpretation: miR-155 is a key molecule for heart development and is involved in high glucose-induced cardiac malformation and it might be a novel biomarker as well as a potential drug target of high glucose-induced cardiac defects. Funding：This work was supported by grants from: (1) the Youth Program of National Natural Science Foundation (NSF)of China (81200125) to LY; (2) the Priority Academic Program Development (PAPD) and the Key Project of Natural Science Foundation of the Higher Education Institutions (17KJA310001) to LY; (3) the Six Talent Peaks Project (STPP) of Jiangsu Province (2015-WSN-032) to ZXT. Declaration of Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. Ethics Approval Statement: The studies involving human participants were reviewed and approved by Ethical Committee, Jiangsu province Hospital. The patients/participants provided their written informed consent to participate in this study. Zebrafish maintenance and procedures were conducted in accordance with the medical ethics committee of Nanjing Medical University. All experiments were approved by the medical ethics committee of Nanjing Medical University.

Porous cordierite ceramics (PCCs) were prepared by using emulsion template method using pure oxide as raw materials. The cell microstructures were constructed by the first-principle calculation. The thermal stability of cordierite was verified by the lattice vibration calculation at high temperature, band gap, and DOS. The microstructures and the effects of solid content on mechanical properties were investigated. PCCs with solid content of 40% had the uniform pore structure, which can be used in special industries.

The leakage of Na2HPO4•12H2O phase-change materials (PCMs) in the liquid state can be prevented by encapsulating them into porous expanded vermiculite (EV) to prepare composite PCMs. The main issues of EV-based composite PCMs are the low thermal conductivity and the crystal water loss of inorganic hydrated salt. Graphene oxide (GO) can help enhance the thermal conductivity of composite PCMs and firmly adsorb water molecules through oxygen groups. The composite orders of GO play an important role in adjusting the thermal properties of composite PCMs because the suitable positions of GO in the stratified structure of EVs would positively influence the PCMs. The Na2HPO4•12H2O/EV composite with GO was prepared in three different orders. Compared with the common method that involves compositing GO in Na2HPO4•12H2O, compositing GO on the hole wall of the EV exhibited a higher thermal conductivity of 0.54 W/m•K and compositing GO out of Na2HPO4•12H2O/EV exhibited better thermal stability, which incurred a weight loss of 4.14% at a high temperature. A thermal energy storage behaviour analysis indicated that GO-modified PCMs show a large heat storage capacity (melting process: 98–126 J/g; solidification process: 56–91 J/g). Two new composite orders positively affected the heat storage of the composite PCMs.

Phase change materials with an ability to store the renewable thermal energy find widespread applications as building materials and temperature control devices. In this study, a lightweight and energy-efficient temperature regulating material based on the sandwich structure of Na2SO4·10H2O, expanded vermiculite and magnesium oxychloride cement has been reported. The composite material responded in the range 20–40 °C and extended the heating and cooling period of the indoor temperature. The developed material exhibited an improved application performance as compared to the traditional heat preservation materials. Further, the supercooling of Na2SO4·10H2O/expanded vermiculite was determined to be 1.20 °C, along with shape stability. Different synthesis methods and phase change materials with cement were explored to minimize the degradation of the thermal regulation performance, and the sandwich structure was observed to exhibit the optimal performance. Owing to the low thermal conductivity of Na2SO4·10H2O/expanded vermiculite and magnesium oxychloride cement, the extended holding time of the indoor temperature was observed. The developed material exhibits significant potential for future applications as self-regulating materials and novel temperature control devices in which the optimal thermo-physical properties are desirable.

Satellite remote sensing data, such as moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometers (MODIS) and advanced very high-resolution radiometers (AVHRR), are being widely used to monitor sea ice conditions and their variability in the Bohai Sea, the southernmost frozen sea in the Northern Hemisphere. Monitoring the characteristics of the Bohai Sea ice can provide crucial information for ice disaster prevention for marine transportation, oil field operation, and regional climate change studies. Although these satellite data cover the study area with fairly high spatial resolution, their typically limited cloudless images pose serious restrictions for continuous observation of short-term dynamics, such as sub-seasonal changes. In this study, high spatiotemporal resolution (500 m and eight images per day) geostationary ocean color imager (GOCI) data with a high proportion of cloud-free images were used to monitor the characteristics of the Bohai Sea ice, including area and thickness. An object-based feature extraction method and an albedo-based thickness inversion model were used for estimating sea ice area and thickness, respectively. To demonstrate the efficacy of the new dataset, a total of 68 GOCI images were selected to analyze the evolution of sea ice area and thickness during the winter of 2012&ndash, 2013 with severe sea ice conditions. The extracted sea ice area was validated using Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) data with higher spatial resolution, and the estimated sea ice thickness was found to be consistent with in situ observation results. The entire sea ice freezing&ndash, melting processes, including the key events such as the day with the maximum ice area and the first and last days of the frozen season, were better resolved by the high temporal-resolution GOCI data compared with MODIS or AVHRR data. Both characteristics were found to be closely correlated with cumulative freezing/melting degree days. Our study demonstrates the applicability of the GOCI data as an improved dataset for studying the Bohai Sea ice, particularly for purposes that require high temporal resolution data, such as sea ice disaster monitoring.