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Fast urbanization and population increase resulted in the demand for ornamental seedling supply in a high efficiency under the culture of continuous artificial lighting. Light emitting diode (LED) ...

Ginseng is deemed to be an effective anti-aging therapy. Evidence for differences in representative active ingredients and anti-aging effects between garden ginseng (GG) and ginseng under forest (FG) is insufficient.The study was designed to systematically analyze the differences in the mechanistic protective effects of GG and FG on aging mice based on their compositional differences.The chemical ingredients in GG and FG were first determined. In vivo, D-galactose-induced aging mice were orally administered GG or FG (400 mg/kg/day) for 6 weeks. Behavioral parameters of mice were measured by the radial 8-arm maze, and the changes in body weight and organ indices were recorded. Blood, brain tissue, and feces were collected for biochemical analysis, histopathological staining, Western blotting, and 16S rDNA intestinal flora sequencing, respectively.The absolute contents of total ginsenosides, polyphenols, crude polysaccharides, starch, and protein in GG were 0.71, 0.68, 1.15, 2.27, and 1.08 folds higher than those in FG, respectively; while FG exhibited a higher relative abundance of representative active ingredients (total ginsenosides, polyphenols, crude polysaccharides, and protein) but lower relative content of starch than GG. GG and FG improved hippocampal lesions and poor weight gain, organ indices, and behavioral indices, and prevented excessive oxidative stress and acetylcholinesterase activity in aging mice. What's more, GG and FG treatment ameliorated excessive apoptosis and inflammatory reaction in the aging brain by modulating apoptosis-related proteins, PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway, and SIRT1/NF-κB pathway. GG and FG also restored the diversity and structure of gut microbiota, up-regulated the relative abundance of beneficial bacteria (e.g., Lactobacillus), and tended to exert key anti-aging effects via the microbiota-gut-brain axis. Notably, in vivo experiments confirmed that FG had a stronger anti-aging activity than GG.FG exerts a more powerful anti-aging effect than GG by regulating oxidative stress, apoptosis, inflammation, and the microbe-gut-brain axis, possibly relying on the higher relative abundance of representative active ingredients (total ginsenosides, polyphenols, crude polysaccharides, and protein) in FG.

In order to evaluate the effect of growing media with peat and spent mushroom residue (SMR) on medicinal plants, we cultured Gossypium herbaceum and Talinum paniculatum seedlings in the substrates with SMR in proportions of 0% (control), 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100%. Results showed that G. herbaceum seedlings can survive in all treatments, but T. paniculatum seedlings died out in 75% and 100% SMR substrates where higher electrical conductance was found (2.3-2.7 dS m-1). Both growth and biomass mostly declined with the increase of SMR proportion in the growing media for the two species except for root biomass in T. paniculatum seedlings between the control and the 25% SMR treatment. Shoot nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) concentrations and contents tended to be higher in low- and high-SMR-proportional substrates, respectively. N and P statuses were both diagnosed to be excessive than needed for the two species. Overall, it was not recommended to culture G. herbaceum seedlings in the substrates with SMR; instead T. paniculatum seedlings can be cultured in the growing media with SMR in volumetric proportion of 25%.

Motivated by the COVID-19 drugs and vaccination competition, I want to discuss some core characteristics of drugs as a special good in the market. During this paper, we are hoping to discuss the uniqueness of drugs when it comes to the regulation policy: patented drugs and generic drugs. We will be able to understand how the companies and patentee get economic profits with high R&D costs. Because drugs are highly connected to people’s well-being, I will also go over the current status of compulsory licensing of drugs and history. We will see how developing countries use the TRIP Agreement to improve certain disease situations with real examples.

Spent mushroom substrate (SMS) can be used as the component of growing medium for the culture of crop plants. Fresh SMS may have the potential as an alternative to peat to raise horticultural plants. In this study, five container media characterized by the proportions of SMS to commercial peat in 0% (control), 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% were used to raise pepper (Capsicum annum L.) plants. Initial SMS was found to have low available nitrogen (N) content (

In this paper, novel transparent nano-pattern window screen was successfully prepared by electrospinning. SEM, VHX 3D digital microscope and tensile tester were employed to characterize the morphology and the mechanical properties, which indicated that the nanofibers in the PA66 nano-patterned membranes are uniform and the diameter of about 200 nm, and there is no adhesion between nanofibers. In addition, we could find that the surface of the PA66 transparent nano-patterned membrane was more flat. Simultaneously, Mechanical properties of the PA66 nano-pattern membrane are better than those of the PA66 random orientation membrane. Moreover, applications of the PA66 transparent nano-pattern window screen as a filter for air filtration, we could find that the window screen showed excellent filtration efficiency for the PM0.3-5.

The organic-inorganic latex particles with sulfonic acid groups and core-shell structure are successfully obtained and then are heated to fabricate the self-crosslinked organic-inorganic nanocomposite membranes. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra confirm the chemical structure of membranes. The effects of inorganic component on the performances of nanocomposite membranes are investigated extensively. TGA analyses show that the membrane materials possess excellent thermal stability and 5% weight loss temperature increase with increasing SiO2 content. Solvent absorption measurement suggests the membranes are less permeable to methanol than water. The obtained membranes show conductivity values above 10− 2 S cm− 1. More importantly, all the membrane materials exhibit more excellent methanol barrier and higher selectivity compared with Nafion® 117, demonstrating that those membranes could be a potential candidate as proton exchange membranes for future direct methanol fuel cells.

The switchable second-order nonlinear optical properties of a series of dithienylethene-containing boron compounds possessing reversible photochromic behavior have been systemically investigated based on density functional theory. The significant differences on the static first hyperpolarizabilities caused by the photoisomerization reaction confirm the switchable nonlinear optical behavior. Results show that the closed-ring 1c–4c possess large static first hyperpolarizabilitieswith respect to their corresponding open-ring 1o–4o, which is due to the better π-conjugation and a more obvious degree of charge transfer. Specifically, the static first hyperpolarizability values increase in the range of 2.4–5.2 times with the strengthening electron-withdrawing ability of the substituent R (R = H, CF3, NO2) on the pyridine and elongating the conjugated chains. It indicates that introducing boron-based functional groups to the dithienylethene monomer and modifying the pyridine ring can effectively improve the switching nonlinear optical responses.

A facile and low-cost layer-by-layer technology has been developed to synthesize a multi-functional Au/CdS/Fe3O4/reduced graphene oxide (RGO) hybrid nanomaterial. The RGO nanosheets are indispensable, as they act not only as a supporter to hold the multiple components together, but also as an electron acceptor and transporter to efficiently hinder the recombination of the photogenerated electron–hole pairs.

Uniform and monodisperse Pt supported Co3O4 nanoflowers with thin nanosheets as building blocks are successfully synthesized via a simple hydrothermal strategy followed by a morphology-kept calcining treatment. The growth mechanism has been studied in-depth. The result has shown that such synthesis is highly sensitive to the concentration of urea, and more importantly, PVP and L-lysine which are also indispensable in that they are beneficial to the formation of sheet-like building blocks. In the following catalytic test for the CO oxidation reaction, the as-obtained Pt–Co3O4 nanoflower sample has shown much higher catalytic performance compared with a Pt-commercial Co3O4 sample.

We demonstrate a fast and facile ultrasound-assisted method for the synthesis of ultrasmall SnO2 quantum dots with an average particle size of 3 nm followed by a self-assembly process on reduced graphene oxide nanosheets (RGO) to build a high-capacity anode material for lithium ion batteries (LIB). The bifunctional aminocaproic acid (AHA) plays a key role in our synthesis. It not only protected the ultrasmall SnO2 nanocrystals but also changed the SnO2 surface potential to +41.4 eV. More importantly, AHA was also used as a nitrogen source. It opens a new window to use this simple and low-cost method to fabricate complex graphene-based hybrid nanomaterials.

A facile, low-cost and green ultrasound-assisted method was developed to ultra-fast synthesize Mn3O4 nanosheets supported on reduced graphene oxide (RGO). Such hybrid materials exhibited ultrahigh performance as lithium ion battery (LIB) anodes, whose specific capacity reached more than 1400 mA h g−1 after 40 cycles at a current density of 100 mA g−1 (based on the mass of Mn3O4). The remarkably enhanced LIB performance could be attributed to their layer-by-layer aggregation structures.

A series of crosslinked organic/inorganic composite membranes are prepared from silicon-containing sulfonated polystyrene/acrylate, poly(vinyl alcohol) and poly(2-acrylamido-2-methyl-1-propanesulfonic acid) by blending and crosslinking. The potential of composite membranes as polymer electrolyte membranes in direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs) is preliminarily assessed. It is found that these membranes possess excellent thermal stability and methanol barrier. Their methanol diffusion coefficient can be as low as 7.82 × 10 −8 cm 2 s −1 , which is only about 1/30th of that (2.36 × 10 −6 cm 2 s −1 ) of Nafion ® 117. In addition, the proton conductivity of the composite membranes is of the order of 10 −2 S cm −1 and all the membranes show much higher selectivity in comparison with Nafion ® 117. The highest selectivity value is 3.48 × 10 5 S cm −3 , which is approximately 16.3 times of that (2.13 × 10 4 S cm −3 ) of Nafion ® 117. These results indicate that the polymer electrolyte membranes fabricated in this work will be particularly promising for DMFC applications.

In this paper, the silicon-containing sulfonated polystyrene/acrylate–phosphotungstic acid (Si-sPS/A–PWA) hybrid membranes are prepared to obtain the inexpensive proton exchange membrane (PEM) materials that can be fabricated simply with high methanol barrier and good proton conductivity. The Si-sPS/A–PWA hybrid membranes are characterized as the function of PWA to evaluate their potential as PEMs in direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs). FTIR spectra prove the interaction between Si-sPS/A and PWA molecules and the existence of crosslinked silica network structure in hybrid membranes. All the hybrid membranes exhibit good thermal stability, reasonable water uptake and excellent hydrolytic stability. Most importantly, the hybrid membranes possess higher proton conductivity in the case of keeping low methanol diffusion coefficient compared with the pure Si-sPS/A membrane. The selectivity values of hybrid membranes increase with increasing PWA content and Si-sPS/A–PWA 15 membrane shows the best selectivity (9.79 × 10 5 Ss cm − 3 ) which is approximately 5.9 times of that (1.65 × 10 5 Ss cm − 3 ) of pure membrane. These results suggest that the Si-sPS/A–PWA hybrid membranes are possible candidate materials for PEMs in DMFC applications.

Polyaniline/Prussian blue micro-composites have been synthesized by a low-temperature hydrothermal process. Prussian blue is obtained using the single iron-source precursor K 3 [Fe(CN) 6 ] in acidic aqueous solution. The composite was characterized by field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), Fourier transmission infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), and X-ray diffractometer (XRD). The magnetic behavior of polyaniline/Prussian blue composites and the effect of the concentration of K 3 [Fe(CN) 6 ] on the morphology of polyaniline/Prussian blue micro-composites have been investigated.

In this paper, polyaniline (PANI) microfibers with average diameter of 250 nm were synthesized by utilizing H 4 SiW 12 O 40 /polyacrylamide (HPA/PAM) microfibers seeding template method. The PANI microfibers were characterized by element analyses, FT–IR spectra, X-ray diffraction pattern (XRD), and Scanning electron micrograph (SEM). The microfibers seeding template significantly affected the fibrous morphology of the resulting PANI. However, the diameter of the PANI microfibers was almost not affected by the diameter of the microfibers seeding template in the experimental range. In addition, the conductivity of the PANI microfibers was also investigated. The result showed that the best conductivity of the PANI microfibers doped with H 4 SiW 12 O 40 was 27.1 S/cm.

Polyaniline (PAn) microrods doped with H 4 SiW 12 O 40 (HPA) were obtained by a H 4 SiW 12 O 40 /Poly(vinyl alcohol) microfibers template method. The morphology of the polyaniline microrods was observed by scanning electron microscope (SEM) photograph. The average diameter of the polyaniline microrods was between 200 and 250 nm. IR spectra and X-ray diffraction characterized the structure of the polyaniline doped with H 4 SiW 12 O 40 . The conductivity of the polyaniline microrods was measured by a four-probe method. The highest conductivity of the polyaniline microrods was 3.9 S/cm.

A facile, low-cost and green ultrasound-assisted method was developed to ultra-fast synthesize Mn3O4 nanosheets supported on reduced graphene oxide (RGO). Such hybrid materials exhibited ultrahigh performance as lithium ion battery (LIB) anodes, whose specific capacity reached more than 1400 mA h g(-1) after 40 cycles at a current density of 100 mA g(-1) (based on the mass of Mn3O4). The remarkably enhanced LIB performance could be attributed to their layer-by-layer aggregation structures.