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Magnesium-based composites with bioactive ceramic particles addition are promising materials for biomedical implant applications. Nevertheless, the agglomeration of bioactive ceramic particles remains a challenge for fabricating high-performance biomedical magnesium-based composites. Herein, a novel high-performance biomedical rare-earth magnesium alloy-based WE43/hydroxyapatite (HA) composite is successfully fabricated via multi-pass friction stir processing (MP-FSP). Systematic investigations reveal that MP-FSP leads to a uniform distribution of HA particles and efficient elimination of defects. The microstructural analysis shows a significant grain refinement in the WE43 alloy from 49.4 μm to 2.4 μm under triple-pass FSP. The mechanical properties of the composite are enhanced significantly under triple-pass FSP, with yield strength, ultimate tensile strength, and elongation reaching 236.2 MPa, 278.6 MPa, and 14.2% respectively. Corrosion resistance is also improved, with a 30% reduction in the corrosion rate in SBF solution compared to the unprocessed alloy. Moreover, the MP-FSP fabricated composites exhibit superior corrosion-wear resistance, characterized by slight abrasive wear compared to the abrasive wear and severe pitting corrosion observed in the base WE43 alloy. These improvements are attributed to the synergistic effects of grain refinement, dispersion strengthening, enhanced interfacial bonding, and texture modification. Overall, these findings provide significant insights into the fabrication of magnesium-based composites for biomedical implant applications, highlighting the effectiveness of MP-FSP in enhancing both mechanical and corrosion-related properties.

The unique continuous extrusion-based severe plastic deformation approaches were proposed recently to process high-performance magnesium (Mg) alloys, while the in-depth deformation mechanisms under such complicated thermomechanical conditions were not well understood. In the present work, the fundamental deformation behaviors of AZ61 Mg alloy from 25 to 400 °C were firstly examined under uniaxial compression deformation. Then the deformation mechanisms and microstructural characteristics of AZ61 Mg alloy during continuous expansion extrusion forming (CEEF) were systematically investigated by microstructural observations, finite element and cellular automata simulations. The results showed that the continuous evolutions of temperature, larger strain level and complex stress state with strain rate range of 0 ∼ 5.98 s−1 during CEEF brought the distinctive dynamic recrystallization behaviors and texture development in AZ61 Mg alloy, which were different to that of uniaxial compression deformation. In details, a remarkable grain refinement was achieved via CEEF processing due to the simultaneous actions of continuous dynamic recrystallization (CDRX) and discontinuous dynamic recrystallization (DDRX). Gradually enhanced CDRX were observed from center to edge region, which had significant effects on the texture distribution and texture strength. The c-axis of most grains rotated under distinctive shear strain following parabolic metal flow, resulting in stable fiber texture. In addition, the evolution of the internal texture of the alloy led to an obvious increase in the Schmid factor for the activation of basal 〈c + a〉 slip system.

Liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (LC-ESI-MS) is a widely utilized technique for in vivo pharmaceutical analysis. Ionization interference within electrospray ion source, occurring between drugs and metabolites, can lead to signal variations, potentially compromising quantitative accuracy. Currently, method validation often overlooks this type of signal interference, which may result in systematic errors in quantitative results without matrix-matched calibration. In this study, we conducted an investigation using ten different groups of drugs and their corresponding metabolites across three LC-ESI-MS systems to assess the prevalence of signal interference. Such interferences can potentially cause or enhance nonlinearity in the calibration curves of drugs and metabolites, thereby altering the relationship between analyte response and concentration for quantification. Finally, we established an evaluation scheme through a step-by-step dilution assay and employed three resolution methods: chromatographic separation, dilution, and stable labeled isotope internal standards correction. The above strategies were integrated into the method establishment process to improve quantitative accuracy.

In recent years, the strategy of obtaining ultra-high strength bulk Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloys materials through implementing severe plastic deformation (SPD) has emerged as the prominent trend in structural lightweight development in aerospace and transportation fields. However, the inherent poor formability makes the SPD process of high-alloying Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloys a great challenge. In the present work, a continuous SPD process named the Conform, utilizing a rotational speed of 4 rpm and a mold preheating temperature of 300 °C, was performed on the high-alloying 7055 Al alloy and prepared rod materials with excellent mechanical properties. The results indicated that violent shear deformation accompanied by rapid temperature rise contributes to the specific grain refinement mechanism of continuous dynamic recrystallization (CDRX) and discontinuous dynamic recrystallization (DDRX). The grain configuration formed by this cooperative mechanism is advantageous for the alloy's compatible deformation capability. As a result, a synergistic improvement in the strength and ductility of the Conformed 7055 Al alloy was obtained. Additionally, the strengthening mechanisms induced by the Conform process were quantitatively calculated, revealing that solid solution strengthening and dislocation strengthening were the primary reasons for the enhanced strength of processed alloys.

Enhancing the vitality of probiotics in probiotic product while inhibiting the growth of food-borne pathogenic and spoilage bacteria can improve product quality stability. Under mono-culture and co-culture conditions, the effects of different concentrations of tea polyphenols on the growth of Lactobacillus plantarum, Staphylococcus aureus, and Escherichia coli were comparatively investigated by culture-dependent method and high-throughput sequencing. Mono-culture result showed that with the increase of tea polyphenols concentration, the viable count of L. plantarum first ascended and then decreased, reaching the maximum at the concentration of 2.0 mg/mL. However, the survival rate of the two pathogens decreased continuously, with S. aureus decreasing more significantly. In the co-culture system (S. aureus/E. coli-L. plantarum), the biomass of L. plantarum showed a significant increase with culture time, coupled with a general decrease in the number of the pathogen and pH of the medium. In addition, Illumina Miseq sequencing further showed that the relative abundance of Lactobacillus was higher than that of the control when coexisted with the pathogen in the presence of tea polyphenols, while the relative abundance of the pathogen was lower than that of the control. The results indicated that tea polyphenols at an appropriate concentration (2~4 mg/mL) had a dual-directional regulation on the growth of L. plantarum and pathogens, that was, proliferating L. plantarum while inhibiting the growth of pathogens.

Abstract Background Sexual dimorphism is obvious not only in the overall architecture of human body, but also in intraoral details. Many studies have found a correlation between gender and morphometric features of teeth, such as mesio-distal diameter, buccal-lingual diameter and height. However, it’s still difficult to detect gender through the observation of intraoral photographs, with accuracy around 50%. The purpose of this study was to explore the possibility of automatically telling gender from intraoral photographs by deep neural network, and to provide a novel angle for individual oral treatment. Methods A deep learning model based on R-net was proposed, using the largest dataset (10,000 intraoral images) to support the automatic detection of gender. In order to reverse analyze the classification basis of neural network, Gradient-weighted Class Activation Mapping (Grad-CAM) was used in the second step, exploring anatomical factors associated with gender recognizability. The simulated modification of images based on features suggested was then conducted to verify the importance of characteristics between two genders. Precision (specificity), recall (sensitivity) and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to evaluate the performance of our network. Chi-square test was used to evaluate intergroup difference. A value of p

Despite the industrial significance of grain size for enhancing mechanical properties and formability, the in-depth deformation mechanisms at elevated temperature are still unclear. To investigate the functions of grain size on hot workability and deformation mechanisms, three groups of Mg-1.2Zn-0.2Y alloy specimens with different grain sizes were hot compressed and then studied by combining constitutive model, processing map and microstructural observations. The results showed that the enhanced hot workability accompanying low deformation activation energy and small instability regime was obtained with refined grain size. During hot deformation, the decreased grain size in Mg-1.2Zn-0.2Y alloy mainly improved the plastic deformation homogeneity, especially for the weakened local straining around grain boundaries. As a result, the dynamic recrystallization nucleation and texture development at lower strain level were influenced by the initial grain size. At higher strain magnitude, the growth and coarsening of dynamic recrystallized grains would further release strain localization and improve hot workability, while the texture was less impacted. Further, unlike the primary basal slip and deformation twinning in the specimen with coarse grain at low temperature, non-basal slips of dislocations were initiated with less deformation twins in the specimens with refined grain size.

The industrial applications of Al–Mg–Si alloys conductors still meet the big challenges of strength and conductivity trade-off. In the present work, a special continuous expansion extrusion forming (CEEF) with violent shearing deformation was performed on continuous cast 6101 Al alloy rods to process the sheets with improved mechanical and electrical properties by combining various artificial aging treatments. The results showed that refined dendrites with few intergranular phases and high supersaturation solid solubility could be obtained in the continuous casted rods with fast cooling rate. In the CEEF sheet, the gradient distribution of grain size from the core to the surface of the sheet was observed, where the grain size of processed sheet was refined remarkably by dynamic recovery (DRV) and dynamic recrystallization (DRX). When artificial aging was conducted on the as-extruded, solid-solution and pre-deformed alloy specimens respectively, different precipitation responses were found. The high-density dislocations in the pre-deformed alloy acted as pipes for rapid diffusion of solid solution atoms to accelerate their precipitation, reducing the matrix solid solution atom content and mitigating electron scattering phenomena. As a result, simultaneous improvements of strength and conductivity could be obtained by combining the above optimized strategies.

Most industrial hot working operations of heat treatable Al alloys are frequently comprised of several successive deformation stages, and therefore the in-depth understanding and better prediction of flow stress evolution during multi-stage thermomechanical processing are required in modern aluminum industries. In this work, the effects of pre-precipitation microstructures on the complicated flow stress behaviors of an Al-Cu-Mg-Zr alloy during multi-stage hot deformation were first investigated. Further, a new integrated model was developed to predict the multi-stage flow stress behaviors. Concretely, by considering dynamic microstructural evolution, a microstructure-based constitutive KM + Avrami model in which the parameters could be well described by the empirical relationship with the Zener-Hollomon parameter was developed to predict the whole flow stress evolutions of single-stage deformation. Then, a novel approach was proposed to describe the whole flow behaviors during multi-stage hot deformation by integrating the microstructure-based constitutive approaches and a physically-based recovery model for static softening. A good modeling capability and agreement between the modeled and experimental flow stress results was found for the studied alloy with three types of pre-precipitation microstructures. In addition, the in-depth dynamic and static softening mechanisms with the influences of pre-precipitation were also discussed based on modeling analysis and microstructural observations.

Titanium (Ti) alloys are widely used in high-tech fields like aerospace and biomedical engineering. Laser additive manufacturing (LAM), as an innovative technology, is the key driver for the development of Ti alloys. Despite the significant advancements in LAM of Ti alloys, there remain challenges that need further research and development efforts. To recap the potential of LAM high-performance Ti alloy, this article systematically reviews LAM Ti alloys with up-to-date information on process, materials, and properties. Several feasible solutions to advance LAM Ti alloys are reviewed, including intelligent process parameters optimization, LAM process innovation with auxiliary fields and novel Ti alloys customization for LAM. The auxiliary energy fields (e.g. thermal, acoustic, mechanical deformation and magnetic fields) can affect the melt pool dynamics and solidification behaviour during LAM of Ti alloys, altering microstructures and mechanical performances. Different kinds of novel Ti alloys customized for LAM, like peritectic α-Ti, eutectoid (α + β)-Ti, hybrid (α + β)-Ti, isomorphous β-Ti and eutectic β-Ti alloys are reviewed in detail. Furthermore, machine learning in accelerating the LAM process optimization and new materials development is also outlooked. This review summarizes the material properties and performance envelops and benchmarks the research achievements in LAM of Ti alloys. In addition, the perspectives and further trends in LAM of Ti alloys are also highlighted.

Tailoring thermal history during additive manufacturing (AM) offers a feasible approach to customise the microstructure and properties of materials without changing alloy compositions or post-heat treatment, which is generally overlooked as it is hard to achieve in commercial materials. Herein, a customised Fe–Ni–Ti–Al maraging steel with rapid precipitation kinetics offers the opportunity to leverage thermal history during AM for achieving large-range tunable strength-ductility combinations. The Fe–Ni–Ti–Al steel was processed by laser-directed energy deposition (LDED) with different deposition strategies to tailor the thermal history. As the phase transformation and in-situ formation of multi-scale secondary phases of the Fe–Ni–Ti–Al steel are sensitive to the thermal histories, the deposited steel achieved a large range of tuneable mechanical properties. Specifically, the interlayer paused deposited sample exhibits superior tensile strength (∼1.54 GPa) and moderate elongation (∼8.1%), which is attributed to the formation of unique hierarchical structures and the in-situ precipitation of high-density η -Ni _3 (Ti, Al) during LDED. In contrast, the substrate heating deposited sample has an excellent elongation of 19.3% together with a high tensile strength of 1.24 GPa. The achievable mechanical property range via tailoring thermal history in the LDED-built Fe–Ni–Ti–Al steel is significantly larger than most commercial materials. The findings highlight the material customisation along with AM’s unique thermal history to achieve versatile mechanical performances of deposited materials, which could inspire more property or function manipulations of materials by AM process control or innovation.

Understanding phase transformation behaviors and microstructural evolutions during optimized post-heat treatments is essential for tuning the mechanical performances of additively manufactured titanium alloys. In this work, distinctive dual-stage heat treatments were proposed for improving the microstructure and properties of the laser powder bed fusion processed Ti-6Al-4V alloy. The effects of the heat treatments on phase transformation behaviors, microstructural characteristics, mechanical and tribological properties of the alloy were investigated systematically. The dual-stage heat treatments combined with salt bath quenching proved to be an effective approach for obtaining fine lamellar α/β microstructures through the introduction of martensitic and massive phase transformations, as well as achieving optimized strength and ductility. The grain boundary populations of the alloy were strongly influenced by the phase transformation behaviors. Moreover, high-density dislocations were introduced during the dual-stage heat treatments, and the type dislocations were dominant. The nonadditive strengthening mixture rule between obstacles and dislocations was substantiated in this alloy. Different wear mechanisms were found in the dual-stage heat-treated alloys depending on their microstructural characteristics. Furthermore, the underlying mechanisms of phase transformation, strengthening and toughening are also discussed.

Water-lubricated bearings are widely used in marine equipment, and the lubricating water often contains hard particles. Once these particles enter the gap between the bearing and the shaft, they can scratch the smooth surfaces of the shaft and bearing, influencing the working performance of the bearing system. To investigate the effect of scratch parameters on tribological performance, this paper conducts multiple block-on-ring experiments and constructs a mixed-lubrication model under water-lubrication conditions. The results show that among the three commonly used bearing materials, the tribological performance of graphite block is the most sensitive to scratches on the test ring surface. Under the condition of one scratch (N = 1), the loading area of water film pressure is divided into two separate zones (a trapezoidal pressure zone and an extremely low-pressure zone). In addition, the variation of maximum water film pressure is determined by the positive effect (hydrodynamic pressure effect of fluid) and negative effect (“piercing effect” of the asperities). Compared with the scratch depth and scratch location, the scratch width has the most significant effect on the tribological performance of the block-on-ring system. The maximum contact pressure is located at both edges of the scratch due to the formation of a water sac structure. The scratch has a great influence on the transition of the lubrication state of the block-on-ring system. The existence of scratches increases the critical speed at which the lubrication state transits from mixed-lubrication to elastohydrodynamic lubrication, and the critical speed is directly proportional to the scratch width.

In this study, we applied an explainable machine learning technique based on the LightGBM method, a category of gradient boosting decision tree algorithm, to conduct a quantitative radar precipitation estimation and move to understand the underlying reasons for excellent estimations. By introducing 3D grid radar reflectivity data into the LightGBM algorithm, we constructed three LightGBM models, including 2D and 3D LightGBM models. Ten groups of experiments were carried out to compare the performances of the LightGBM models with traditional Z–R relationship methods. To further assess the performances of the LightGBM models, rainfall events with 11,483 total samples during August-September of 2022 were used for statistical analysis, and two heavy rainfall events were specifically chosen for the spatial distribution evaluation. The results from both the statistical analysis and spatial distribution demonstrate that the performance of the LightGBM 3D model with nine points is the best method for quantitative precipitation estimation in this study. Through analyzing the explainability of the LightGBM models from Shapley additive explanations (SHAP) regression values, it can be inferred that the superior performance of the LightGBM 3D model is mainly attributed to its consideration of the rain gauge station attributes, diurnal variation characteristics, and the influence of spatial offset.

The cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzymes play a pivotal role in drug metabolism. LC-MS/MS-based targeting technology has been applied to the analysis of CYP enzymes, promoting drug development and drug-drug interaction studies. Rat is one of the most commonly used models for drug metabolism assessment, but LC-MS/MS assay quantifying the abundance of CYP enzymes in rats is rarely reported. Herein, an accurate and stable LC-MS/MS based method was developed and validated for the simultaneous quantification of seven major rat CYP isoforms (CYP1A2, 2B1, 2C6, 2C11, 2D1, 2E1, and 3A1) in liver microsomes. The careful optimization of trypsin digestion and chromatography combined with isotope-labeled peptide as internal standard improved the efficiency and accuracy of the analysis. Highly specific surrogate peptides were obtained by a procedure including trypsin digestion for six hours and separated on a Hypersil Gold C18 column (100 × 2.1 mm, 3 μm) using gradient elution for 15 min with a mobile phase of water containing 0.1% formic acid and acetonitrile. In the method validation, linearity, matrix effect, recovery, stability, accuracy, and precision all meet the requirements. Subsequently, this method was applied to detect seven enzymes in rat liver microsomes from four different sources, and the correlation between the abundance and activity of CYP enzymes was further analyzed. The high-throughput detection method provided in this study will provide support for pertinent pharmaceutical research based on rat models.

The layout of facilities in a logistics scenario involves not only the working facilities responsible for processing materials but also the transport lines responsible for transporting materials. The traditional facility layout methods do not take into account the transportation facilities nor calculate the material handling cost by Manhattan distance, thus failing to fulfill the actual requirements of industrial logistics scenarios. In this paper, a facility layout algorithm framework MOSA-FD driven by transport lines is proposed. A multi-objective simulated annealing (MOSA) algorithm is designed for both material handling cost (MHC) and transport facility cost (TFC) objectives. Then, a force-directed (FD) algorithm is applied to correct the unreasonable solutions according to the material transport lines in the logistics workshop, and a better solution is quickly obtained. Finally, by comparing the results with those of other metaheuristic multi-objective algorithms, the acceleration of the force-directed algorithm in this layout problem is demonstrated in experimental instances of different scales, and our method, compared to the MOSA algorithm, can reach optimal ratios of 36% and 80%, respectively, on the multi-objective.

Post annealing treatment is generally needed for additively manufactured titanium alloy to decompose metastable phases, alleviate residual stress, and improve ductility. In this work, in-situ electrical resistivity and line profile analysis of X-ray diffraction were utilized for monitoring phase transformation behaviors and dislocation evolutions of a laser powder bed fusion-built Ti-6Al-4V alloy under post annealing treatment. Besides, hardness and tensile tests were adopted for revealing the effects of phase transformation and dislocation evolutions on the mechanical properties. The results indicated that post annealing treatment decomposed martensitic α′ into lamellar α + β and eliminated dislocations efficiently. The martensite decomposition rate increased with the annealing temperature. Annealing at 700 °C for 4 h eliminated 98% of the dislocations, and further annealing has only a limited influence on the dislocation density. Annealing at 700 °C for 16 h is beneficial for achieving a high ductility of 10.3% owing to the favorable equilibrium lamellar α + β microstructure. These findings provide valuable insights for optimizing post annealing treatment procedures to enhance the mechanical properties of additively manufactured Ti-6Al-4V alloys.

The complex precipitation evolutions of Al-Cu-Mg alloys during both non-isothermal and isothermal thermal processes have been found to work on their mechanical properties and electrical resistivity. Modeling of the precipitation kinetics, electrical resistivity and strength evolution is therefore essential for optimizing heat treatment and processing of these alloys. In this work, in situ electrical resistivity monitoring during both non-isothermal and isothermal thermal processes and microstructural characterizations were conducted on an Al-Cu-Mg-Zr alloy with different pre-precipitation microstructures to provide fundamental insights of precipitation behaviors. The results showed that precipitation behaviors of Al-Cu-Mg-Zr alloy, such as the dominant strengthening phase, were highly dependent on pre-precipitation microstructures and thermal history. A time–temperature-microstructure-properties map was established to unravel precipitation characteristics and their strengthening functions. The maximum hardness was indicated to be attributed to the combined presence of Guinier–Preston–Bagaryatsky (GPB) zones and fine S (Al2CuMg) phase. Further, in situ electrical resistivity was used as the main input data to develop an improved model based on the classical Kampmann and Wagner type numerical model (KWN model). This integrated model could not only reveal precipitation kinetics but also well predict hardness evolutions of the studied alloy during non-isothermal and isothermal processes.

The quenching induced residual stresses in Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloys will severely deteriorate their performances during machining and service processes. In the present work, a novel cladding quenching method, in which a high-temperature inorganic adhesive and aluminum foil were cladded on the surfaces of Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloys thick plates, was proposed to reduce the quenching residual stresses. The results indicated that the quenching residual stresses were reduced remarkably with increased cladding layer thickness. Meanwhile, the aged alloys maintained superior mechanical properties and exhibited high conductivities after the cladding quenching process with cladding layer thicknesses of 0.4−0.6 mm. Comparing to the aged alloys using conventional quenching, lower dislocation density, similar nano-precipitate characteristics of grain interiors and more discontinuous precipitates at grain boundaries were characterized in the aged alloys using cladding quenching process. The in-depth mechanisms of reduced residual stress and retained properties were discussed also discussed based on further investigations of finite element analysis and time-temperature-property curve.

On the evening of 30 April 2021, a severe hailstorm swept across eastern China, causing catastrophic gale and damaging hailstones. This hailstorm event was directly caused by two mesoscale convective systems associated with strong squall lines, with mid-level cold advection from the northeast cold vortex, and strong low-level convergence associated with the low-level vortex and wind shear line. Double nesting of the high-resolution weather research and forecasting model (9–1 km) is utilized to simulate this hailstorm with five microphysics schemes. The radar-based maximum estimated size of hail (MESH) algorithm, differential reflectivity and fractions skill scores were used to quantitatively evaluate the precision. All schemes basically captured the two squall lines that swept through eastern China, although they appeared one or two hours earlier than observation. Particularly, Goddard and Thompson performed better in the MESH swath and fractions skill scores among the five different schemes. However, Thompson most realistically captured the reflectivity pattern, intensity and vertical structure of mesoscale convective systems. Its high-reflectivity column corresponded to the maximum center of the hail mixing ratio within the updraft region, which is consistent with the characteristics of a pulse-type hailstorm in its mature phase.

Liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) has been widely used in the quantitative analysis of drugs. The ubiquitous concomitant drug scenario in the clinic has spawned a large number of co-analyses based on this technique. However, signal suppression caused by concomitant drugs during electrospray ionization may affect the quantification accuracy of analytes, which has not received enough attention. In this study, metformin (MET) and glyburide (GLY) were co-eluted by the conventional optimization of chromatographic conditions to illustrate the effect of signal suppression caused by the combined drugs on the quantitative analysis. The response of MET was not affected by GLY over the investigated concentration range. However, the GLY signal could be suppressed by about 30% in the presence of MET, affecting its pharmacokinetic analysis in simulated samples. As an attempt to solve the suppression of GLY by co-eluting MET, dilution can alleviate the suppression. However, this method still has limitations due to the sacrifice of sensitivity. The stable isotope-labeled internal standard could play a role in correction and improve the quantitative accuracy of GLY, which was further confirmed in the pharmacokinetic study of simulated samples. This study provided an example model to illustrate the possible effect of clinical drug combination on LC-MS/MS drug quantitative analysis and investigated the effective methods to solve this problem.

The microstructural evolutions and resulted mechanical responses during isothermal holding of multipass hot deformation are essential aspects in the processing of high performance titanium alloys. In this work, isothermal holding testing was performed on a Ti-5Al-3V alloy after hot compression at temperatures of 900 °C, 930 °C and 960 °C, respectively. Stress relaxation, dilatometer measurements, and microstructure examinations (i.e. scanning electron microscope, electron backscatter diffraction and transmission electron microscope) were employed to investigate the phase transformation behaviors. The results showed a flow stress hardening phenomenon during the interrupted isothermal holding in two phase region. The post-dynamic transformation from α to β phase took place first during the early stage of isothermal holding after hot deformation. With longer isothermal holding time, the reverse transformation of meta-stable β phase to α phase was then observed. Under TEM, the reverse transformed α phases were isolated from quenched α' phases. The in-depth mechanisms of post-dynamic α to β phase transformation and reverse transformation were discussed as well. Keywords: Titanium alloys, Phase transformation, Hot deformation, Microstructure

Alcohol abuse leads to alcoholic liver disease and no effective therapy is currently available. Wuzhi Tablet (WZ), a preparation of extract from Schisandra sphenanthera that is a traditional hepato-protective herb, exerted a significant protective effect against acetaminophen-induced liver injury in our recent studies, but whether WZ can alleviate alcohol-induced toxicity remains unclear. This study aimed to investigate the contribution of WZ to alcohol-induced liver injury by using chronic-binge and acute models of alcohol feeding. The activities of ALT and AST in serum were assessed as well as the level of GSH and the activity of SOD in the liver. The expression of CYP2E1 and proteins in the NRF2-ARE signaling pathway including NRF2, GCLC, GCLM, HO-1 were measured, and the effect of WZ on NRF2 transcriptional activity was determined. We found that both models resulted in liver steatosis accompanied by increased transaminase activities, but that liver injury was significantly attenuated by WZ. WZ administration also inhibited CYP2E1 expression induced by alcohol, and elevated the level of GSH and the activity of SOD in the liver. Moreover, the NRF2-ARE signaling pathway was activated by WZ and the target genes were all upregulated. Furthermore, WZ significantly activated NRF2 transcriptional activity. Collectively, our study demonstrates that WZ protected against alcohol-induced liver injury by reducing oxidative stress and improving antioxidant defense, possibly by activating the NRF2-ARE pathway.

Titanium alloys are widely used in various fields, but their machinability is poor because the chip would easily adhere to the tool surface during cutting, causing poor surface quality and tool wear. To improve the cutting performance of titanium alloy Ti-6Al-4V, experiments were conducted to investigate the effect of micro textured tool on the cutting performances. The cemented carbide tools whose rake faces were machined with line, rhombic, and sinusoidal groove textures with 10% area occupancy rates were adopted as the cutting tools. The effects of cutting depth and cutting speed on feed force and main cutting force were discussed based on experimental results. The results show that the cutting force produced by textured tools is less than that produced by non-textured tools. Under different cutting parameters, the best cutting performance can be obtained by using sinusoidal textured tools among the four types of tools. The wear of micro textured tools is significantly lower than that of non-textured tools, due to a continuous lubrication film between the chip and the rake face of the tool that can be produced because the micro texture can store and replenish lubricant. The surface roughness obtained using the textured tool is better than that using the non-textured tool. The surface roughness Ra can be reduced by 35.89% when using sinusoidal textured tools. This study is helpful for further improving the cutting performance of cemented carbide tools on titanium alloy and prolonging tool life.

Lysozyme is in high demand due to its many favorable characteristics such as being naturally occurring, non-toxic, and easy to digest and absorb. Recently, superparamagnetic nanoparticles with strong magnetic responsiveness have attracted significant interest for enzyme purification. The aptamer of the enzyme can be chemically synthesized rapidly at a large scale using simple and low-cost preparation methods. Therefore, Fe3O4 nanoparticles (Fe3O4 NPs) were prepared by chemical co-precipitation and were then functionalized with amino groups to produce NH2-Fe3O4 NPs. The specific reaction of aldehyde and amino groups was used to attach lysozyme aptamers with specific sequences to NH2-Fe3O4 NPs to produce Apt-NH2-Fe3O4 NPs. The synthesized materials were characterized using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), hysteresis loop analysis, and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The optimal experimental conditions for adsorption of lysozyme were investigated. The effects of initial lysozyme concentration, adsorption time, pH, reaction temperature, and ionic strength were determined. The maximum adsorption capacity and relevant activity of Apt-NH2-Fe3O4 NPs was 460 mg·g−1 and 16,412 ± 55 U·mg−1 in an aqueous lysozyme solution. In addition, as demonstrated by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) electrophoresis analysis, lysozyme could be separated from crude fresh egg white using Apt-NH2-Fe3O4 NPs with an amount up to 113 ± 4.2 mg·g−1 and an activity up to 16,370 ± 46 U·mg−1.