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Interfacial engineering of perovskite films has been the main strategies in improving the efficiency and stability of perovskite solar cells (PSCs). In this study, three new donor-acceptor (D-A)-type interfacial dipole (DAID) molecules with hole-transporting and different anchoring units are designed and employed in PSCs. The formation of interface dipoles by the DAID molecules on the perovskite film can efficiently modulate the energy level alignment, improve charge extraction, and reduce non-radiative recombination. Among the three DAID molecules, TPA-BAM with amide group exhibits the best chemical and optoelectrical properties, achieving a champion PCE of 25.29 % with the enhanced open-circuit voltage of 1.174 V and fill factor of 84.34 %, due to the reduced defect density and improved interfacial hole extraction. Meanwhile, the operational stability of the unencapsulated device has been significantly improved. Our study provides a prospect for rationalized screening of interfacial dipole materials for efficient and stable PSCs., (© 2024 Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

In the pursuit of highly efficient perovskite solar cells, spiro-OMeTAD has demonstrated recorded power conversion efficiencies (PCEs), however, the stability issue remains one of the bottlenecks constraining its commercial development. In this study, we successfully synthesize a novel self-polymerized spiro-type interfacial molecule, termed v-spiro. The linearly arranged molecule exhibits stronger intermolecular interactions and higher intrinsic hole mobility compared to spiro-OMeTAD. Importantly, the vinyl groups in v-spiro enable in situ polymerization, forming a polymeric protective layer on the perovskite film surface, which proves highly effective in suppressing moisture degradation and ion migration. Utilizing these advantages, poly-v-spiro-based device achieves an outstanding efficiency of 24.54 %, with an enhanced open-circuit voltage of 1.173 V and a fill factor of 81.11 %, owing to the reduced defect density, energy level alignment and efficient interfacial hole extraction. Furthermore, the operational stability of unencapsulated devices is significantly enhanced, maintaining initial efficiencies above 90 % even after 2000 hours under approximately 60 % humidity or 1250 hours under continuous AM 1.5G sunlight exposure. This work presents a comprehensive approach to achieving both high efficiency and long-term stability in PSCs through innovative interfacial design., (© 2024 Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

The circadian clock influences a wide range of biological process and controls numerous aspects of physiology to adapt to the daily environmental changes caused by Earth's rotation. The kidney clock plays an important role in maintaining tubular function, but its effect on podocytes remains unclear. Here, we found that podocytes expressed CLOCK proteins, and that 2666 glomerular gene transcripts (13.4%), including autophagy related genes, had 24-hour circadian rhythms. Deletion of Clock in podocytes resulted in 1666 gene transcripts with the loss of circadian rhythm including autophagy genes. Podocyte-specific Clock knockout mice at age three and eight months showed deficient autophagy, loss of podocytes and increased albuminuria. Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) sequence analysis indicated autophagy related genes were targets of CLOCK in podocytes. ChIP-PCR further confirmed Clock binding to the promoter regions of Becn1 and Atg12, two autophagy related genes. Furthermore, the association of CLOCK regulated autophagy with chronic sleep fragmentation and diabetic kidney disease was analyzed. Chronic sleep fragmentation resulted in the loss of glomerular Clock rhythm, inhibition of podocyte autophagy, and proteinuria. Rhythmic oscillations of Clock also disappeared in high glucose treated podocytes and in glomeruli from diabetic mice. Finally, circadian differences in podocyte autophagy were also abolished in diabetic mice. Deletion Clock in podocytes aggravated podocyte injury and proteinuria in diabetic mice. Thus, our findings demonstrate that clock-dependent regulation of autophagy may be essential for podocyte survival. Hence. loss of circadian controlled autophagy may play an important role in podocyte injury and proteinuria., (Copyright © 2024 International Society of Nephrology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Patients on hemodialysis have a higher burden of cognitive impairment than individuals of the same age in the general population. Studies have found a link between cognition and skeletal muscle function. However, few studies have investigated these associations and the underlying mechanisms in patients on hemodialysis., Methods: A total of 166 patients on hemodialysis were enrolled in this longitudinal study. Cognitive function was assessed by Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) scores. Skeletal muscle indicators were evaluated using Inbody S10. Plasma brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) concentrations were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The primary outcome was a change in the MoCA scores. A mediation analysis was performed to examine the indirect effect of skeletal muscle on cognitive decline through BDNF., Results: Among the 166 patients, the average age was 49.9 ± 11.2 years. Of these patients with a median follow-up of 1,136 days, 133 participated in the study. We defined MoCA scores decreased by ≥2 points at 3 years from the baseline measurement as cognitive decline (CD). Compared to the cognitively unchanged group, patients with CD had significantly lower fat-free mass, soft lean mass, skeletal muscle mass, and skeletal muscle index (all P<0.05). After adjusting for potential confounders, skeletal muscle indicators were protective predictors of CD. A significant increase in plasma BDNF levels was observed in the CD group. Mediation analysis suggested that BDNF played a mediating role of 20-35% between cognitive impairment and skeletal muscle., Conclusion: Skeletal muscle is a protective predictor of CD in patients undergoing dialysis. BDNF mediates the relationship between cognitive impairment and skeletal muscle function., Competing 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., (Copyright © 2024 Wang, Bian, Liu, He, Xu, Chen, Ye, Yang and Jiang.)

Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) has drawn increasing attention as a highly persistent organic pollutant. The inherent stability, rigidity and potential toxicities characteristics make it a challenge to develop efficient technologies to eliminate it from water. Photocatalytic technology, as one advanced method, has been widely used in the degradation of PFOA in water. In this review, recent progress in the design of photocatalysts including doping, defects engineering, heterojunction and surface modification to boost the photocatalytic performance toward PFOA is summarized. The relevant degradation mechanisms were also discussed in detail. Finally, future prospect and challenges are proposed. This review may provide new guidelines for researchers to design much more efficient photocatalysts applied in the elimination of PFOA., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare no competing financial interests., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The outbreak of COVID-19 has caused concerns globally. To reduce the rapid transmission of the virus, strict city lockdown measures were conducted in different regions. China is the country that takes the earliest home-based quarantine for people. Although normal industrial and social activities were suspended, the spread of virus was efficiently controlled. Simultaneously, another merit of the city lockdown measure was noticed, which is the improvement of the air quality. Contamination levels of multiple atmospheric pollutants were decreased. However, in this work, 24 and 14 air fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ) samples were continuously collected before and during COVID-19 city lockdown in Linfen (a typical heavy industrial city in China), and intriguingly, the unreduced concentration was found for environmentally persistent free radicals (EPFRs) in PM 2.5 after normal life suspension. The primary non-stopped coal combustion source and secondary Cu-related atmospheric reaction may have impacts on this phenomenon. The cigarette-based assessment model also indicated possible exposure risks of PM 2.5 -bound EPFRs during lockdown of Linfen. This study revealed not all the contaminants in the atmosphere had an apparent concentration decrease during city lockdown, suggesting the pollutants with complicated sources and formation mechanisms, like EPFRs in PM 2.5 , still should not be ignored., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Competing Interests: Disclosure The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.

An important pathophysiological process of acute kidney injury (AKI) is mitochondrial fragmentation in renal tubular epithelial cells, which leads to cell death. Pyruvate kinase M2 (PKM2) is an active protein with various biological functions that participates in regulating glycolysis and plays a key role in regulating cell survival. However, the role and mechanism of PKM2 in regulating cell survival during AKI remain unclear. Here, we found that the phosphorylation of PKM2 contributed to the formation of the PKM2 dimer and translocation of PKM2 into the mitochondria after treatment with staurosporine or cisplatin. Mitochondrial PKM2 binds myosin heavy chain 9 (MYH9) to promote dynamin-related protein 1 (DRP1)-mediated mitochondrial fragmentation. Both in vivo and in vitro, PKM2-specific loss or regulation PKM2 activity partially limits mitochondrial fragmentation, alleviating renal tubular injury and cell death, including apoptosis, necroptosis, and ferroptosis. Moreover, staurosporine or cisplatin-induced mitochondrial fragmentation and cell death were reversed in cultured cells by inhibiting MYH9 activity. Taken together, our results indicate that the regulation of PKM2 abundance and activity to inhibit mitochondrial translocation may maintain mitochondrial integrity and provide a new therapeutic strategy for treating AKI., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

As one of the most important transportation hubs and industrial bases in China, Zhengzhou has suffered from serious PM 2.5 pollution for a long time. However, the investigation of contamination status and possible exposure risks of environmentally persistent free radicals (EPFRs) in PM 2.5 from Zhengzhou is rare. In this work, a comprehensive study of pollution levels, seasonal variations, sources, and potential health risks of PM 2.5 -bound EPFRs in Zhengzhou was conducted for the first time. The atmospheric concentrations of EPFRs in PM 2.5 from Zhengzhou ranged from 1.732 × 10 12 spin m -3 to 7.182 × 10 14 spin m -3 between 2019 and 2020. Relatively serious contamination was noticed in winter and spring. Primary fossil fuel combustion and Fe-mediated secondary formation were apportioned as possible sources of PM 2.5 -bound EPFRs in Zhengzhou. Moreover, to avert the bias of the toxicity assessment induced by utilization of incompletely extracted EPFRs from sample filter, simulatively generated EPFRs were applied to toxicological evaluations (cell viability and reactive oxygen species assays). Corresponding experimental dosages were based on the estimated adults' annual exposure amounts of EPFRs in real PM 2.5 samples. The results elucidated that EPFRs might cause growth inhibition and oxidative stress of human lung cells, suggesting the possible exposure-induced health concerns for local people in Zhengzhou. This study provides practical information of real contamination status of PM 2.5 -bound EPFRs in Zhengzhou, which is favorable to local air pollution control and reduction of exposure risks on public health in central China., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: Pancreatic follicular dendritic cell sarcoma (FDCS) is an exceptionally rare and low-to-moderate malignancy, with only seven reported cases to date. Clinical diagnosis of FDCS is challenging due to the lack of distinct biological and radiographic features., Case Presentation: A 67-year-old woman presented to the hospital with a 4-day history of severe abdominal pain. Imaging studies (CT and MRI) revealed a large cystic mass located at the tail of the pancreas, which was suspected to be myeloid sarcoma (MS) based on EUS and CT-guided pancreatic puncture. Postoperative pathology and immunohistochemistry confirmed the diagnosis of pancreatic FDCS. After the diagnosis was confirmed, the patient received postoperative chemotherapy with the CHOP regimen. At 11 months of follow-up, there was no evidence of recurrence. Seven published cases have been reviewed to comprehensively summarize the clinical characteristics, diagnosis, and treatment options of FDCS., Conclusion: While imaging can be useful in detecting pancreatic FDCS, it should be interpreted with caution as it can be challenging to differentiate from other pancreatic tumors. Pathology and immunohistochemistry are considered the gold standard for diagnosis, with CD21, CD23, and CD35 being specific tumor cell markers. However, preoperative diagnosis of pancreatic FDCS remains difficult, and the pancreatic puncture may further increase the risk of misdiagnosis. The disease is highly prone to recurrence and metastasis, and surgery is the preferred method for both diagnosis and treatment of localized disease., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

We investigate the robust chance constrained optimization problem (RCCOP), which is a combination of the distributionally robust optimization (DRO) and the chance constraint (CC). The RCCOP plays an important role in modeling uncertain parameters within a decision-making framework. The chance constraint, which is equivalent to a constraint of Value-at-risk (VaR), is approximated by risk measures such as Entropic Value-at-risk (EVaR) or Conditional Value-at-risk (CVaR) due to its difficulty to be evaluated. An excellent approximation requires both tractability and non-conservativeness. In addition, the DRO assumes that we know partial information about the distribution of uncertain parameters instead of their known true underlying probability distribution. In this article, we develop a novel approximation EVaR- PC based on EVaR for CC. Then, we evaluate the proposed approximation EVaR- PC using a discrepancy-based ambiguity set with the wasserstein distance. From a theoretical perspective, the EVaR- PC is less conservative than EVaR and the wasserstein distance possesses many good theoretical properties; from a practical perspective, the discrepancy-based ambiguity set can make full use of the data to estimate the nominal distribution and reduce the sensitivity of decisions to priori knowledges. To show the advantages of our method, we show its application in portfolio management in detail and give the relevant experimental results., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2023 He, Hong. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Social development is accompanied by technological progress, which commonly leads to the expansion of pollution As an essential resource of modern medical treatment, antibiotics have become a hot topic in the aspect of environmental pollution. In this study, we first used fish scales to synthesize N, P-codoped biochar catalyst (FS-BC) as peroxymonosulfate (PMS) and peroxydisulfate (PDS) activator to degrade tetracycline hydrochloride (TC). At the same time, peanut shell biochar (PS-BC) and coffee ground biochar (CG-BC) were prepared as reference materials. Among them, FS-BC exhibited the best catalytic performance due to the excellent defect structure (I D /I G  = 1.225) and the synergism of N, P heteroatoms. PS-BC, FS-BC and CG-BC achieved degradation efficiencies of 86.26%, 99.71% and 84.41% for TC during PMS activation and 56.79%, 93.99% and 49.12% during PDS, respectively. In both FS-BC/PMS and FS-BC/PDS systems, non-free radical pathways involved singlet oxygen ( 1 O 2 ), surface-bound radicals mechanism and direct electron transfer mechanism. Structural defects, graphitic N and pyridinic N, P-C groups and positively charged sp 2 hybridized C adjacent to graphitic N were all critical active sites. FS-BC has the potential for practical applications and development because of its robust adaptation to pH and anions and stable re-usability. This study not only provides a reference for biochar selection, but also suggests a superior strategy for TC degradation in the environment., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Mn and N co-doped biochar (Mn-N-TS) was prepared as an effective catalyst to activate peroxymonosulfate (PMS) for ciprofloxacin (CIP) degradation. As opposed to Mn-TS and N-TS, Mn-N-TS had more active sites containing N and Mn, as well as a greater specific surface area (923.733 m 2 g -1 ). The Mn-N-TS exhibited excellent PMS activation ability. In the Mn-N-TS/PMS system, the CIP removal efficiency was 91.9% in 120 min. Mn and N co-doping could accelerate electron transfer between CIP and PMS molecules. Simultaneously, defect sites, graphitic N, pyridinic N, C═O groups, and Mn(II)/Mn(III)/Mn(IV) redox cycles acted as active sites to activate PMS and generate free radicals (OH, SO 4 - and 1 O 2 ). Furthermore, the Mn-N-TS/PMS system could effectively degrade CIP in a wide pH range, background substances, and actual water. Finally, a probable mechanism of PMS activation by Mn-N-TS was proposed. In conclusion, this work gave a novel direction for the rational design of Mn and N co-doped biochar., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Purpose: A systematic review of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) was conducted to assess the potential effect of therapeutic massage/Tuina on functional dyspepsia (FD) patients., Method: Twelve databases and three clinical trial registries were searched until December 2021, for RCTs that compared Tuina combined with or without conventional therapy versus conventional therapy in FD. We assessed the methodological quality of included trials by the Cochrane Risk of Bias tool, and graded the quality of the evidence. The data were presented as risk ratio (RR) or mean difference (MD) respectively with their 95% confidence interval (CI)., Results: In total, 14 RCTs with 1128 FD participants were included. Compared with conventional therapy, Tuina showed significant beneficial effects on improving overall symptom (RR = 1.12, 95% CI 1.06 to 1.19, low certainty evidence), and early satiation (MD -0.44 scores, 95% CI -0.72 to -0.16, very low certainty evidence). Compared with conventional therapy, Tuina plus conventional therapy also significantly improved overall symptom (RR = 1.14, 95% CI 1.06-1.23, low certainty evidence), quality of life (MD 10.44 scores, 95% CI 7.65-13.23, low certainty evidence), and epigastric pain (MD -0.76 scores, 95% CI -1.11 to -0.41, low certainty evidence). No adverse events related to Tuina and cost-effectiveness were reported., Conclusion: Low certainty evidence showed that Tuina significantly improved overall symptom of FD participants compared with conventional therapy. Low certainty evidence showed that Tuina plus conventional therapy obviously improved overall symptom and quality of life of FD participants compared with conventional therapy., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.)

The broad application of plastic products has resulted in a considerable release of microplastics (MPs) into the ecosystem. While MPs in other environmental matrices (e.g., soil and water) have been studied for a long time, the atmospheric fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 )-bound MPs are rarely investigated due to the lack of an appropriate analytical approach. The prevalently used visual and spectroscopic means (e.g., optical microscopy, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, and Raman spectroscopy) suffer from obvious drawbacks that cannot precisely detect MPs of tiny sizes and provide quantitative information. In the present study, a novel strategy that does not require sample pretreatment was developed to first effectuate accurate quantification of polyethylene MP (PE-MP) in PM 2.5 based on pyrolysis-gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (Pyr-GC-MS/MS). It featured acceptable recoveries (97%-110%), high sensitivity (LOD = 1 pg), and qualified precisions (RSD of 3%-13%). Employing this approach, for the first time, exact atmospheric concentrations of PE-MPs in PM 2.5 from megacities in North (Zhengzhou and Taiyuan) and South (Guangzhou) China were obtained, and relatively serious pollution was found in Taiyuan. The 100% sample detection rates also suggested the widespread occurrence and possible human exposure risks of PM 2.5 -bound PE-MPs. In brief, the new strategy could conduct direct, sensitive, and accurate quantification of PE-MP in PM 2.5 , favoring further studies of environmental fates, distributions, and toxicities of atmospheric MPs.

A high-performance piezoelectric photocatalyst (V-BiOIO 3 /FTCN) was constructed to improve removal efficiency of tetracycline hydrochloride (TCH). The role of V-BiOIO 3 in the composite was to introduce piezoelectric effect and construct S-scheme heterojunction photocatalyst with fish scale tubular carbon nitride (FTCN). The morphology, structure, chemical composition and optoelectronic characteristics of the as-prepared photocatalysts were studied by SEM, TEM, XRD, XPS and UV-Vis DRS. Combined with UV-Vis DRS, XPS valence band, Mott-schottky curve and theoretical calculations, the mechanism of TCH degradation was deeply analyzed. A series of degradation experiments showed that the V-BiOIO 3 /FTCN could effectively degrade TCH, and the removal efficiency was further improved under the action of ultrasound. Importantly, the further immobilized V-BiOIO 3 /FTCN/MS could float on the water surface to degrade TCH without additional stirring, which facilitated the recovery of photocatalysts and showed excellent practical application value. This work provided a reference for the design and immobilization of carbon nitride-based piezoelectric photocatalysts., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Objective: This study aimed to analyze the association between sleep quality and cardiovascular disease in patients on maintenance hemodialysis (MHD)., Methods: A total of 601 patients with MHD in the second affiliated hospital of Nanjing Medical University, were prospectively enrolled in this cohort study from January 2019 to December2019. The global Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI) score > 7 indicates that a person with poor sleep quality. Patients were divided into two groups according to the PSQI score. Follow-up was conducted about 3 years with all-cause death and major adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs) as the endpoint events., Results: Of the 601 patients, 595 patients completed the PSQI assessment, with 278 patients having poor sleep quality. Patients in the PSQI > 7 group were older and had a higher proportion of cardiovascular disease or diabetes. Years of education, diastolic blood pressure, and heart rate were lower in the PSQI > 7 group. At a mean follow-up period of 3 years, 116 patients died, 64 patients were lost to follow-up, and 115 patients experienced MACEs. After adjusting for confounding factors such as age, gender, dialysis age, and previous cardiovascular disease, the risk of MACE in patients with poor sleep quality was twice that of patients with good sleep quality (HR = 2.037 (1.339, 3.097), p  = 0.001). There was no significant difference in the risk of all-cause death between the two groups., Conclusion: The prevalence of poor sleep quality was 46.7% in patients with MHD. Poor sleep quality was an independent risk factor for MACEs in patients with MHD.

To date, numbers of polymeric hole-transporting materials (HTMs) have been developed to improve interfacial charge transport to achieve high-performance inverted perovskite solar cells (PSCs). However, molecular design for passivating the underlying surface defects between perovskite and HTMs is a neglected issue, which is a major bottleneck to further enhance the performance of the inverted devices. Herein, we design and synthesize a new polymeric HTM PsTA- m PV with the methylthiol group, in which a lone pair of electrons of sulfur atoms can passivate the underlying interface defects of the perovskite more efficiently by coordinating Pb 2+ vacancies. Furthermore, PsTA- m PV exhibits a deeper highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) level aligned with perovskite due to the π-acceptor capability of sulfur, which improves interfacial charge transfer between perovskite and the HTM layer. Using PsTA- m PV as a dopant-free HTM, the inverted PSCs show 20.2% efficiency and long-term stability, which is ascribed to surface defect passivation, well energy-level matching with perovskite, and efficient charge extraction.

In order to solve the problem of poor crack resistance and frost resistance of semi-rigid base, rubber powder and retarder were added to a semi-rigid base mixture. First, 61 mixing ratios were determined. Then, through the unconfined compressive strength, splitting strength, and other tests, the mechanical, crack, and frost resistance properties of the retarded composite semi-rigid base coarse mixture with rubber powder were studied. Finally, the macro and micro properties of the two kinds of admixture composite semi-rigid base coarse mixtures were studied by means of SEM and industrial CT. The results show that rubber powder and retarder can effectively improve the cracking and freezing resistance of the mixture. After five freeze-thaw cycle tests, the strength of the retarded composite semi-rigid base material mixed with rubber powder decreased slightly compared with the mixture without additives. It can be seen that rubber powder improved the frost resistance of the mixture. When the content of rubber powder was 1.5%, the BDR value of the mixture increased by 8.8%. With the increase of unconfined compressive strength, splitting strength, and flexural tensile strength at 28 d and 90 d, it was found that the retarder improved the middle and late strength of the mixture. When the content of retarder was 0.09%, the increase of unconfined compressive strength at 28 d reached 3.9%. The addition of rubber powder and retarder improved the distribution of internal pores, the proportion of large pores decreased, and the proportion of small pores increased. The retarder changed the morphology of hydration products, formed a dense network supporting structure, further refined the pores, and reduced the porosity of the mixture. The proportion of pores with a volume greater than 100 mm 3 in the total pore volume decreased by 26.01%, and the proportion of medium pores increased by 13.07%, thereby improving the mechanical properties of the mixture.

Removal of harmful organic matters from environment has great environmental significance. Carbon nanotube (CNT) materials and their composites have been demonstrated to possess excellent catalytic activity towards persulfate (PS) activation for the degradation of organic contaminants. Herein, detailed information concerning the function, modification methods and relevant mechanisms of CNT in persulfate-based advanced oxidation processes (PS-AOPs) for organic pollutant elimination has been reviewed. The activation mechanism of PS by CNT might include radical and nonradical pathways and their synergistic effects. The common strategies to improve the stability and catalytic capability of CNT-based materials have also been put forward. Furthermore, their practical application potential compared with other catalysts has been described. Finally, the challenges faced by CNT in practical application are clearly highlighted. This review should be of value in promoting the research of PS activation by CNT-based materials for degradation of organic pollutants and the corresponding practical applications., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The photo-Fenton-like catalytic process has shown great application potential in environmental remediation. Herein, a novel photo-Fenton-like catalyst of Bi 2 WO 6 nanosheets decorated hortensia-like CoAl-layered double hydroxides (Bi 2 WO 6 /CoAl-LDHs) was synthesized via hydrothermal process. The optimized Bi 2 WO 6 /CoAl-LDHs composite performed the high-efficiency photo-Fenton-like catalytic performance for oxytetracycline (OTC) removal (98.47%) in the mediation of visible-light and H 2 O 2 . The comparative experiment, technical characterization and density functional theory calculation results indicated that the efficient photo-Fenton-like catalytic performance of Bi 2 WO 6 /CoAl-LDHs was attributed to the synergistic action of the Fenton-like process of cobalt ions in CoAl-LDHs, an internal electric field and the S-scheme heterojunction form between Bi 2 WO 6 and CoAl-LDHs, which could significantly promote the active substance formation and the photocatalytic process in the catalytic system. This study will stimulate the new inspiration of designing the efficient catalytic system for environmental remediation and other fields., (Copyright © 2021. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Morphology adjustment is a feasible method to change the physicochemical properties of photocatalysts. The issue that excessively thick tube wall of tubular g-C 3 N 4 is not conducive to the electron migration from inside to the surface thus inhibiting the separation of photogenerated carriers has always been ignored. Potassium ions were used to regulate the structure of the tubular supramolecular precursor by breaking hydrogen bonds, thereby promoting the synthesis of delaminated laminar tubular g-C 3 N 4 (K-CN), which not only shortened the transfer distance of photogenerated electrons but also provided abundant reaction active sites. Experiments and DFT calculations were combined to reveal the details of the physicochemical properties of K-CN. The photocatalytic capacity of K-CN for tetracycline hydrochloride (TCH) degradation and H 2 O 2 generation were 83% and 133 μM, respectively. This work not only synthesized a novel delaminated tubular g-C 3 N 4 but also provided a strategy and inspiration for structure and performance optimization for tubular g-C 3 N 4 ., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Due to the low efficiency of single-component nano materials, there are more and more studies on high-efficiency composites. As zero dimensional (0D) non-metallic semiconductor material, the emergence of graphene quantum dots (GQDs) overcomes the shortcomings of traditional photocatalysts (rapid rate of electron-hole recombination and narrow range of optical response). Their uniqueness is that they can combine the advantages of quantum dots (rich functional groups at edge) and sp 2 carbon materials (large specific surface area). The inherent inert carbon stabilizes chemical and physical properties, and brings new breakthroughs to the development of benchmark photocatalysts. The photocatalytic efficiency of GQDs composite with semiconductor materials (SCs) can be improved by the following three points: (1) accelerating charge transfer, (2) extending light absorption range, (3) increasing active sites. The methods of preparation (bottom-up and top-down), types of heterojunctions, mechanisms of photocatalysis, and applications of GQDs/SCs (wastewater treatment, energy storage, gas sensing, UV detection, antibiosis and biomedicine) are comprehensively discussed. And it is hoped that this review can provide some guidance for the future research on of GQDs/SCs on photocatalysis., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Recently, persulfate-based advanced oxidation processes (persulfate-AOPs) are booming rapidly due to their promising potential in treating refractory contaminants. As a type of popular two-dimensional material, layered double hydroxides (LDHs) are widely used in energy conversion, medicine, environment remediation and other fields for the advantages of high specific surface area (SSA), good tunability, biocompatibility and facile fabrication. These excellent physicochemical characteristics may enable LDH-based materials to be promising catalysts in persulfate-AOPs. In this work, we make a summary of LDHs and their composites in persulfate-AOPs from different aspects. Firstly, we introduce different structure and important properties of LDH-based materials briefly. Secondly, various LDH-based materials are classified according to the type of foreign materials (metal or carbonaceous materials, mainly). Latterly, we discuss the mechanisms of persulfate activation (including radical pathway and nonradical pathway) by these catalysts in detail, which involve (i) bimetallic synergism for radical generation, (ii) the role of carbonaceous materials in radical generation, (iii) singlet oxygen ( 1 O 2 ) production and several special nonradical mechanisms. In addition, the catalytic performance of LDH-based catalysts for contaminants are also summarized. Finally, challenges and future prospects of LDH-based composites in environmental remediation are proposed. We expect this review could bring new insights for the development of LDH-based catalyst and exploration of reaction mechanism., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

In recent years, the incidence of fatigue has been increasing, and the effective prevention and treatment of fatigue has become an urgent problem. As a result, the genetic research of fatigue has become a hot spot. Transcriptome-level regulation is the key link in the gene regulatory network. The transcriptome includes messenger RNAs (mRNAs) and noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs). MRNAs are common research targets in gene expression profiling. Noncoding RNAs, including miRNAs, lncRNAs, circRNAs and so on, have been developed rapidly. Studies have shown that miRNAs are closely related to the occurrence and development of fatigue. MiRNAs can regulate the immune inflammatory reaction in the central nervous system (CNS), regulate the transmission of nerve impulses and gene expression, regulate brain development and brain function, and participate in the occurrence and development of fatigue by regulating mitochondrial function and energy metabolism. LncRNAs can regulate dopaminergic neurons to participate in the occurrence and development of fatigue. This has certain value in the diagnosis of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). CircRNAs can participate in the occurrence and development of fatigue by regulating the NF-κB pathway, TNF-α and IL-1β. The ceRNA hypothesis posits that in addition to the function of miRNAs in unidirectional regulation, mRNAs, lncRNAs and circRNAs can regulate gene expression by competitive binding with miRNAs, forming a ceRNA regulatory network with miRNAs. Therefore, we suggest that the miRNA-centered ceRNA regulatory network is closely related to fatigue. At present, there are few studies on fatigue-related ncRNA genes, and most of these limited studies are on miRNAs in ncRNAs. However, there are a few studies on the relationship between lncRNAs, cirRNAs and fatigue. Less research is available on the pathogenesis of fatigue based on the ceRNA regulatory network. Therefore, exploring the complex mechanism of fatigue based on the ceRNA regulatory network is of great significance. In this review, we summarize the relationship between miRNAs, lncRNAs and circRNAs in ncRNAs and fatigue, and focus on exploring the regulatory role of the miRNA-centered ceRNA regulatory network in the occurrence and development of fatigue, in order to gain a comprehensive, in-depth and new understanding of the essence of the fatigue gene regulatory network., (© 2021. The Author(s).)

Microwave-assisted catalytic oxidation technology has become an effective technology for rapid removal of organic pollutants in wastewater. In this research, the removal of methyl orange (MO) from aqueous solution by CuFe 2 O 4 loaded on carbon nanotubes (CuFe 2 O 4 /CNTs) under microwave irradiation was studied. The effects of different loadings (1:2, 1:4, 1:8) of CuFe 2 O 4 on the dielectric loss, magnetic loss, dielectric loss factor, magnetic loss factor, and reflection loss of composite materials were studied. The results showed that the microwave adsorption performance was improved by loading CuFe 2 O 4 on CNTs. These different composites were further characterized by SEM, FTIR, and XRD techniques. In addition, this article also studied the effects of different microwave irradiation time, pH, and ionic factors on the degradation of MO. In particular, the mechanism of MO degradation by composite materials under different pH conditions was also studied in detail. The results showed that the removal rate reaches 97% with 5 min under the best conditions, and the composite material had good anti-interference performance. This study may provide a new option to degrade organic dye in wastewater treating., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Spatio-temporal epidemic simulation, assessment, and risk monitoring serve as the core to establishing and improving the national public health emergency management system. In this study, we investigated Oncomelania hupensis breeding grounds and analyzed the locational and environmental preferences of snail breeding in Dongting Lake (DTL), Hunan, China. Using geographic information systems and remote sensing technology, we identified schistosomiasis risk areas and explored the factors affecting the occurrence and transmission of the disease. Several key conclusions were drawn. (1) From 2006 to 2016, the spatial change of potential O. hupensis breeding risk showed a diminishing trend from the eastern and northern regions to southwest DTL. Environmental changes in the eastern DTL region resulted in the lakeside and hydrophilic agglomerations of the O. hupensis populations. The shift in snail breeding grounds from a fragmented to centralized distribution indicates the weakening mobility of the O. hupensis population, the increasing independence of solitary groups, and the growing dependence of the snail population to the local environment. (2) The spatial risk distribution showed a descending gradient from west Dongting area to the east and an overall pattern of high in the periphery of large lakes and low in other areas. The cold-spot areas had their cores in Huarong County and Anxiang County and were scattered throughout the peripheral areas. The hot-spot areas had their center at Jinshi City, Nanxian County, and the southern part of Huarong County. The areas with increased comprehensive risks changed from centralized and large-scale development to fragmented shrinkage with increased partialization in the core area. The risk distribution's center shifted to the northwest. The spatial risk distribution exhibited enhanced concentricity along the major axis and increased dispersion along the minor axis.

A highly reactive hollow tubular g-C 3 N 4 isotype heterojunction (SCN-CN) was designed to enhance visible light absorption and manipulate the directed transfer of electrons and holes. The results of UV-vis DRS, XPS valence band and DFT theoretical calculations indicated S doping increases the visible-light absorption capacity and changed the ba nd gap structure of g-C 3 N 4 (CN), resulting in the transfer of electrons from the CN to the SCN and holes from the SCN to the CN under visible light. In addition, the tubular structure of the SCN-CN facilitated the transfer of electrons in the longitudinal direction, which reduced charge carrier recombination. Furthermore, the optical properties, electronic structure, and electron transfer of SCN-CN were also studied by experiments and theoretical calculations. The antibiotic tetracycline hydrochloride (TCH) and dye Rhodamine B (RHB) were subjected to evaluate the photocatalytic performance of SCN-CN. The scavenger tests and ESR data showed that the h + , ·O 2 - and ·OH worked together in the photocatalytic process. Moreover, the photocatalytic degradation pathway was analyzed by LC-MS. This study synthesized a hollow tubular CN isotype heterojunction with high visible-light photocatalytic performance and provided a theoretical basis for CN isotype heterojunction., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Tai Chi has been reported to be potentially effective for health and well-being of cancer survivors. It is worth to assess the effectiveness and safety of Tai Chi on immunological function in people with cancer., Methods: All relevant randomized controlled trials (RCT) will be reviewed on Tai Chi for immunological function in cancer survivors. Literature searching will be conducted until March 9, 2019 from major English and Chinese databases: Cochrane Library, Excerpta Medica Database (EMBASE), PubMed, CINAHL, Sprotdicus, American Association for Cancer Research Journals, Sino-Med database, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Chinese Science and Technique Journals Database, and Wanfang Data Chinese database. Two authors will conduct data selection and extraction independently. Quality assessment will be conducted using the risk of bias tool recommended by the Cochrane Collaboration. We will conduct data analysis using Cochrane's RevMan software (V.5.3). Forest plots and summary of findings tables will illustrate the results from a meta-analysis if sufficient studies with the same outcomes are identified. Funnel plots will be developed to evaluate reporting bias., Results: This review will summarize the evidence on Tai Chi for immunological function in cancer survivors., Conclusions: We hope that the results of this study will provide significant evidence to assess the value Tai Chi practice on immunological function in cancer survivors., Ethics and Dissemination: Ethics approval is not required as this study will not involve patients. The results of this study will be submitted to a peer-reviewed journal for publication.

Recently, a large quantity of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) enters the environment due to the increasing production and applications. More and more researches are focused on the fate and possible ecological risks of CNTs. Some literatures summarized the effects of CNTs on the chemical behavior and fate of pollutants. However, little reviewed the effects of CNTs on the biodegradation of pollutants. In general, the effects of CNTs on the biodegradation of pollutants and the related mechanisms were summarized in this review. CNTs have positive or negative effects on the biodegradation of contaminants by affecting the functional microorganisms, enzymes and the bioavailability of pollutants. CNTs may affect the microbial growth, activity, biomass, community composition, diversity and the activity of enzymes. The decrease of the bioavailability of pollutants due to the sorption on CNTs also causes the reduction of the biodegradation of contaminants. In addition, the roles of CNTs are controlled by multiple mechanisms, which are divided into three aspects i.e., properties of CNTs, environment condition, and microorganisms themself. The better understanding of the fate of CNTs and their impacts on the biochemical process in the environment is conducive to determine the release of CNTs into the environment., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The objective of this study is to summarize the effects of surfactants on anaerobic digestion (AD) of waste activated sludge (WAS). The increasing amount of WAS has caused serious environmental problems. Anaerobic digestion, as the main treatment for WAS containing three stages (i.e. hydrolysis, acidogenesis, and methanogenesis), has been widely investigated. Surfactant addition has been demonstrated to improve the efficiency of AD. Surfactant, as an amphipathic substance, can enhance the efficiency of hydrolysis by separating large sludge and releasing the encapsulated hydrolase, providing more substance for subsequent acidogenesis. Afterwards, the short chain fatty acids (SCFAs), as the major product, have been produced. Previous investigations revealed that surfactant could affect the transformation of SCFA. They changed the types of acidification products by promoting changes in microbial activity and in the ratio of carbon to nitrogen (C/N), especially the ratio of acetic and propionic acid, which were applied for either the removal of nutrient or the production of polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA). In addition, the activity of microorganisms can be affected by surfactant, which mainly leads to the activity changes of methanogens. Besides, the solubilization of surfactant will promote the solubility of contaminants in sludge, such as organic contaminants and heavy metals, by increasing the bioavailability or desorbing of the sludge.

Particles with a diameter of <2.5 μm (PM 2.5 ) have serious adverse-effects on human health, which have caused widespread public concern in recent decades. Currently, most of the existing research on PM 2.5 have used linear regression analysis; very few studies on the subject have been conducted using non-linear models. This study adopts a panel threshold model, which is seldom used in environmental studies, to examine the non-linear effects of environmental regulation and economic growth on PM 2.5 in 30 OECD countries, and we also explore the key driving socio-economic factors for PM 2.5 emissions. The results of our analysis show that, along with an increase in environmental policy stringency, PM 2.5 emissions first rise and then show no significant correlations, and thus a reduction in emissions can be expected if current trends continue. As for GDP per capita, significant and negative correlations are found across the three phases divided by the panel threshold model, indicating a promoting effect for PM 2.5 mitigation. In addition, public expenditure on the air sector correlated positively with PM 2.5 concentrations, expanding the share of service economy reward to reduce air pollution, and urban population ratio exhibits an inverted U-shaped pattern. Future studies may shed more light on the regulation-PM 2.5 nexus, and more studies are needed to confirm the existence of bi-directional correlations between economic development and air pollution., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)) is a common hazardous contaminant in the environment and carcinogenic or mutagenic to aquatic animals and human beings. Therefore, the removal and detoxification of Cr(VI) have been attracting increasing attention of researchers. Among various conducting polymers, polyaniline (PANI)-based adsorbents have shown an excellent performance on the removal of Cr(VI) because of their redox properties, eased synthesis, and favorable biocompatibility. In this review, the characteristics of various PANI-based adsorbents were described, including PANI-modified nanofiber mats and membranes, PANI/bio-adsorbents, PANI/magnetic adsorbents, PANI/carbon adsorbents, PANI-modified clay composites, and PANI-inorganic hybrid composites. The mechanisms for the detoxification and adsorption of Cr(VI) were also discussed. The results indicated the potential applications of PANI-based adsorbents for the removal of Cr(VI). Graphical abstract ᅟ.

Continuous blood pressure (BP) estimation using pulse transit time (PTT) is a promising method for unobtrusive BP measurement. However, the accuracy of this approach must be improved for it to be viable for a wide range of applications. This study proposes a novel continuous BP estimation approach that combines data mining techniques with a traditional mechanism-driven model. First, 14 features derived from simultaneous electrocardiogram and photoplethysmogram signals were extracted for beat-to-beat BP estimation. A genetic algorithm-based feature selection method was then used to select BP indicators for each subject. Multivariate linear regression and support vector regression were employed to develop the BP model. The accuracy and robustness of the proposed approach were validated for static, dynamic, and follow-up performance. Experimental results based on 73 subjects showed that the proposed approach exhibited excellent accuracy in static BP estimation, with a correlation coefficient and mean error of 0.852 and -0.001 ± 3.102 mmHg for systolic BP, and 0.790 and -0.004 ± 2.199 mmHg for diastolic BP. Similar performance was observed for dynamic BP estimation. The robustness results indicated that the estimation accuracy was lower by a certain degree one day after model construction but was relatively stable from one day to six months after construction. The proposed approach is superior to the state-of-the-art PTT-based model for an approximately 2-mmHg reduction in the standard derivation at different time intervals, thus providing potentially novel insights for cuffless BP estimation.

Continuously monitoring the ECG signals over hours combined with activity status is very important for preventing cardiovascular diseases. A traditional ECG holter is often inconvenient to carry because it has many electrodes attached to the chest and because it is heavy. This work proposes a wearable, low power context-aware ECG monitoring system integrated built-in kinetic sensors of the smartphone with a self-designed ECG sensor. The wearable ECG sensor is comprised of a fully integrated analog front-end (AFE), a commercial micro control unit (MCU), a secure digital (SD) card, and a Bluetooth module. The whole sensor is very small with a size of only 58 × 50 × 10 mm for wearable monitoring application due to the AFE design, and the total power dissipation in a full round of ECG acquisition is only 12.5 mW. With the help of built-in kinetic sensors of the smartphone, the proposed system can compute and recognize user's physical activity, and thus provide context-aware information for the continuous ECG monitoring. The experimental results demonstrated the performance of proposed system in improving diagnosis accuracy for arrhythmias and identifying the most common abnormal ECG patterns in different activities. In conclusion, we provide a wearable, accurate and energy-efficient system for long-term and context-aware ECG monitoring without any extra cost on kinetic sensor design but with the help of the widespread smartphone.