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Selenium is an essential nutrient in diets; however, the effects of selenium on enzyme metabolic activation are not currently clear. Cytochromes P450 (CYP450) are major phase I metabolic enzymes involved in the biotransformation of xenobiotics and endogenous compounds to form electrophilic reactive metabolites. To investigate the effect of selenium on CYP450 isoform activity, the Landrace pigs were divided into three groups: the control group (containing Se 0.15 mg/kg), the Se-deficient group (Se 0.03 mg/kg), and the Se-supply group (Se 0.35 mg/kg). After 1 week of administration, a mixed solution (20 mg/kg of dextromethorphan, phenacetin, chlorzoxazone, and 10 mg/kg of testosterone in a CMC-Na solution) was intravenously injected into all pigs. The mixed solution content and pharmacokinetic parameters were assayed by HPLC and DAS, respectively. To investigate the effect of selenium on CYP450 isoform expression, RNA-Seq analysis, Western boltting, and qPCR were used. Results showed that Se-supply group significantly increased the activity and expression of CYP1A2 and CYP2D25, and decreased CYP3A29. Se-deficient group decreased the activity of CYP1A2, CYP2D25, and CYP2E1. These results demonstrated that selenium content affecting the activity or expression of the CYP450 isoform may lead to a food-drug interaction.

In this work, a sensitive method based on the electrochemiluminescence (ECL) technique was proposed to quantitatively detect severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus (SFTSV) for the first time. A sandwich-type immunosensor was prepared by utilizing Fe3O4@SiO2 as a magnetic sensing platform and CdZnTeS quantum dots (QDs) as labels. Under the optimal experimental conditions, the fabricated ECL immunosensor showed excellent performance for SFTSV detection. The limit of detection (LOD) was 0.003 fg mL−1 (S/N = 3), so the strategy presented in this study is the first quantitative analysis of SFTSV with a lower LOD. In addition, the developed SFTSV immunosensor exhibited long-term stability, high reproducibility and great specificity. Furthermore, serum sample analysis was performed to evaluate the practical application of the fabricated immunosensor. The obtained results manifested that the proposed ECL immunosensor may have great application prospects in clinical diagnosis.

It is significant to monitor the early stage of apoptosis and evaluate the therapeutic effect of anticancer drugs in the diagnostic of cancer. Here, an electrochemical cytosensor with signal amplified strategy was constructed to quantitatively detect the concentration of early apoptotic cells and respond to therapy of anticancer drugs. To fabricate the platform, cuprous oxide (Cu2O) cube was utilized as a large platform for loading platinum-palladium nanoparticles (PtPd NPs) to prepare the Cu2O@PtPd nanocomposites. The formed nanocomposite was not only acted as signal amplified molecules towards the reduction of H2O2 by synergistic effect but also possessed large specific area to conjugate concanavalin A (Con A), which specifically interacted with the cell-surface carbohydrate. What’s more, the porous graphene oxide-Au (PGO-Au) nanocomposites were modified onto working electrode to improve the efficiency of electron transfer. Meanwhile, the PGO-Au nanocomposite was served as effective matrix to couple annexin V through Au-N bond to capture apoptotic cells owing to the specific interaction between phosphatidylserine (PS) on the cell surface and annexin V. In this system, A549 cell was chosen as model cells and cisplatin acted as apoptotic inducer. The proposed amperometric cytosensor exhibited a wide range detection of early apoptotic cells from 50 to 5 × 107 cells mL−1. Meanwhile, the detection limit was down to 20 cells mL−1. It also showed high specificity, acceptable sensitivity and good reproducibility, which had promising potential for the early evaluation of therapeutic effect.

Mesoporous iron-incorporated materials were prepared by coprecipitation method and used as catalyst for the hydroxylation of phenol. Several techniques, including ICP-AES, XRD, FT-IR, UV–vis, BET, TPR and XPS, were used to characterize the structural properties of these materials. The results indicated that iron atoms incorporated into the mesoporous silica framework of tetrahedral coordination environment forming a new type of active sites. With the increase of iron content, part of iron atoms deposited on extraframework. Framework iron atoms were found to be beneficial to phenol hydroxylation, while extraframework small oligometric iron species accelerated the deep oxidation of dihydroxybenzenes producing tar. Under the optimized conditions, a phenol conversion of 47.3% with the yield of 45.7% and selectivity of 96.6% to dihydroxybenzenes was obtained. The leaching of extraframework iron atoms and the blocking of active sites by tar formed led to the gradual attenuation of activity. Tar adsorbed on the catalyst could be burnt up by calcinations making the catalyst regenerated. A stable yield of about 30% to dihydroxybenzenes could be obtained.

Most of the electrical infrastructure in use around the world today is decades old, and may be ill- suited to widespread proliferation of personal Electric Ve- hicles (EVs) whose charging requirements will place in- creasing strain on grid demand. In order to reduce the pressure on the grid and taking benefits of off peak charg- ing, this paper presents a smart and cost effective EV charging methodology for residential homes equipped with renewable energy resources such as Photovoltaic (PV) panels and battery. The proposed method ensures slower battery degradation and prevents overcharging. The per- formance of the proposed algorithm is verified by conduct- ing simulation studies utilizing running data of Nissan Al- tra. From the simulation study results, the algorithm is shown to be effective and feasible which minimizes not only the charging cost but also can shift the charging time from peak value to off-peak time. Photovoltaic (PV) energy sources in residential homes is driven by similar forces, and is likely to become increas- ingly common. Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs) and Plu- gin Hybrid Electric Vehicles (collectively referred to as EVs in this paper) play an important role in reducing green- house gas emissions and the dependence on oil. However at this time, EVs have relatively low penetration into the domestic vehicle fleet. This is in part due to the high cost and limited lifetime of batteries, the lifecycles of which are impacted by charging/discharging rate, temperature changes, and chemical degradation over time. Currently, the most commonly utilized charging method is 'plug in and charge', which leaves the battery without reasonable protection. Overcharging a lithium battery will cause over- heating problems that have an impact on the battery's lifespan or may even explode. There is a clear need for a method that can reduce charg- ing cost and improving the electrical efficiency as well as extend the lifetime of the internal battery of EVs. This will result in huge benefits such as helping to promote EVs, re- ducing oil demand, protecting the environment, decreas- ing the electricity demand on grid and leads to further eco- nomic benefits. This paper proposes a smart and cost ef- fective EV charging methodology for smart homes com- bined with renewable energy such as Photovoltaic (PV) panels. The proposed charging strategy is coupled with a central information control system which can manage historical electricity consumption data, storage, and pro- cessing of the energy generated by the PV panels. This data can be used to manage the battery charging operation to reduce the strain on the electrical grid, the cost to the consumer, and extend the lifetime of the battery. Electric- ity generation is typically focused on providing for peak loads. This means contemporary grid infrastructure does in fact have enough spare capacity to service the load re- quired to charge EVs (1). However a sufficiently high load demand caused by simultaneous charging of electric vehi- cles with desirable charging speed can possibly result in damage to the power grid (2).