Search

Our previous study showed l-borneol reduced cerebral infarction in the acute stage after cerebral ischemia, but there is little about the study of subacute phase. We herein investigated the cerebral protective effects of l-borneol on neurovascular units (NVU) in the subacute phase after transient middle cerebral artery occlusion (t-MCAO). The t-MCAO model was prepared by the line embolus method. Zea Longa, mNss, HE, and TTC staining were used to evaluate the effect of l-borneol. We evaluated the mechanisms of l-borneol on inflammation, p38 MAPK pathway, and apoptosis, etc. through various technologies. l-borneol 0.2, 0.1, 0.05 g·kg -1 could significantly reduce cerebral infarction rate, alleviate the pathological injury, and inhibit inflammation reaction. l-borneol could also significantly increase brain blood supply, Nissl bodies, and the expression of GFAP. Additionally, l-borneol activated the p38 MAPK signaling pathway, inhibited cell apoptosis, and maintained BBB integrity. l-borneol had a neuroprotective effect, which was related to activating the p38 MAPK signaling pathway, inhibiting inflammatory response and apoptosis, and improving cerebral blood supply to protect BBB and stabilize and remodel NVU. The study will provide a reference for the use of l-borneol in the treatment of ischemic stroke in the subacute phase., (© 2023 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Background: The Chinese medicines Borneolum and l-Borneolum have neuroprotective effects on acute cerebral ischaemia-reperfusion (IR) in rats. Research on their effects during recovery from cerebral IR is lacking. Cerebral ischaemia can activate astrocytes for conversion into neurons. Neurogenesis cannot be achieved without nutritional support from an improved brain microenvironment through the blood circulation., Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine whether Borneolum and l-Borneolum can promote transdifferentiation of astrocytes into neurons by regulating the Wnt/Notch pathway to exert neuroprotective effects during recovery from cerebral ischaemia., Study Design and Methods: A suture crossing the external carotid artery to occlude the middle cerebral artery was used to prepare a model of cerebral IR (Longa et al., 1989). The Longa neurological function score, modified neurological severity score, tape removal test and grid misstep experiment were used to evaluate motor nerve function. Triphenyltetrazolium chloride was used to determine the extent of cerebral infarction. Left/right hemisphere contrast was used to measure brain atrophy. Astrocytes labelled with adeno-associated virus were used to track their fate after transdifferentiation. Laser speckle contrast imaging was used to observe the effects of l-Borneolum and Borneolum on cerebral blood flow. Immunofluorescence and western blotting were used to investigate their mechanisms., Results: l-Borneolum and Borneolum significantly improved neurological function and limb movement in rats with cerebral ischaemia during recovery and increased cerebral blood flow. l-Borneolum improved forelimb motor coordination more effectively than Borneolum and promoted transdifferentiation of astrocytes to GABAergic neurons in the striatal region. The expression of Wnt3a and Notch-1 was downregulated. The expression of vascular endothelial growth factor was not significantly changed. Borneolum improved forelimb sensitivity and alleviated cerebral infarction and brain atrophy more effectively than l-Borneolum, which promoted transdifferentiation of astrocytes into neurons and nestin expression and neurogenesis in the striatal zone. The expression of glycogen synthase kinase-3β and β-catenin was upregulated. l-Borneolum and Borneolum had no significant neuroprotective effect on the cortex and hippocampus., Conclusions: l-Borneolum and Borneolum exerted neuroprotective effects on cerebral ischaemia during recovery by promoting neurogenesis and blood circulation in the striatal and subventricular zones. Their mechanisms may be related to the Wnt3a and Notch-1 pathways., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors report no declarations of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.)

Background: d-Borneol has been widely used as a drug absorption enhancer, but there are few studies on the anti-resistance ability of d-borneol combined with cisplatin in cisplatin-resistant non-small cell lung cancer cells. Ferroptosis, autophagy and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) have been reported to be associated with drug resistance., Purpose: To investigate the molecular mechanisms and sensitizing effects of d-borneol combined with cisplatin to against drug cisplatin resistance from the perspective of ferroptosis, autophagy and EMT resistance., Methods: H460/CDDP xenograft tumor model was established to verify the antitumor activity and safety in vivo. RNA sequencing was used to predict target molecules and signaling pathways. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) were used as marker of ferroptosis, and its level was determined by a dichlorodihydrofluorescein diacetate fluorescent probe and flow cytometry. Levels of glutathione (GSH), malondialdehyde (MDA), and antioxidants such as superoxide dismutase (SOD) and thioredoxin (Trx) involved in the balance of oxidative stress were measured by an assay kit or enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Western blotting and real-time polymerase chain reaction were used to assess the regulatory mechanism of EMT markers, autophagy, and ferroptosis signaling pathways., Results: d-Borneol in combination with cisplatin reduced tumor volume and weight, enhanced tumor-inhibiting effects, and alleviated cisplatin-induced damage to the liver and kidney in vivo. RNA-sequencing showed that differentially expressed genes were enriched in ferroptosis. d-Borneol in combination with cisplatin promoted ROS accumulation, increased the content of MDA levels, and decreased GSH, SOD, Trx, and heme oxygenase-1 expression to induce oxidative damage. d-Borneol combination with cisplatin induced ferroptosis by promoting nuclear receptor coactivator 4 (NCOA4)-mediated ferritinophagy and regulating intracellular iron ion transport via upregulating PRNP and downregulating PCBP2. In addition, d-borneol combined with cisplatin promoted autophagy by upregulating expression of LC3II/ATG5/Beclin-1 and inhibited the EMT by increasing the expression of epithelial marker E-cadherin and decreasing mesenchymal markers (N-cadherin and vimentin) and transcription factors (Snail and ZEB1)., Conclusion: For the first time, our study implies that d-borneol enhanced cisplatin sensitivity by inducing ferroptosis, promoting autophagy and inhibiting EMT progression, thereby enhancing antitumor activity. It suggests that d-borneol could be developed as a novel chemosensitizers., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interests The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest associated with this publication., (Copyright © 2022. Published by Elsevier GmbH.)

Myocardial fibrosis following acute myocardial infarction (AMI) seriously affects the prognosis and survival rate of patients. This study explores the role and regulation mechanism of storax, a commonly used traditional Chinese medicine for treatment of cardiovascular diseases, on myocardial fibrosis and cardiac function. The AMI rat model was established by subcutaneous injection of Isoproterenol hydrochloride (ISO). Storax (0.1, 0.2, 0.4 g/kg) was administered by gavage once/d for 7 days. Electrocardiogram, echocardiography, hemodynamic and cardiac enzyme in AMI rats were measured. HE, Masson, immunofluorescence and TUNEL staining were used to observe the degree of pathological damage, fibrosis and cardiomyocyte apoptosis in myocardial tissue, respectively. Expression of AT1R, CARP and their downstream related apoptotic proteins were detected by WB. The results demonstrated that storax could significantly improve cardiac electrophysiology and function, decrease serum cardiac enzyme activity, reduce type I and III collagen contents to improve fibrosis and alleviate myocardial pathological damage and cardiomyocyte apoptosis. It also found that storax can significantly down-regulate expression of AT1R, Ankrd1, P53, P-p53 (ser 15), Bax and cleaved Caspase-3 and up-regulate expression of Mdm2 and Bcl-2. Taken together, these findings indicated that storax effectively protected cardiomyocytes against myocardial fibrosis and cardiac dysfunction by inhibiting the AT1R-Ankrd1-P53 signaling pathway.

Background: Cisplatin (CDDP) is commonly used to treat non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), but the appearance of drug resistance greatly hinders its efficacy. Borneol may promote drug absorption; however, synergism between borneol and CDDP in suppressing NSCLC is not clearly understood. Hence, we investigated borneol as a novel chemosensitizer to support chemotherapeutic efficacy and reduce side effects., Methods: We compared viability after exposure to d-borneol, l-borneol, and synthetic borneol in two NSCLC cell lines, A549 and H460, and selected the most sensitive cells. We then assessed synergy between borneol forms and CDDP in cisplatin-resistant NSCLC cells, H460/CDDP. Next, we identified effective concentrations and exposure times. Subsequently, we evaluated cell migration via wound healing and cell proliferation via clone formation assay. Then, we focused on P-glycoprotein (P-gp) function, cell cycle, apoptosis, and RNA sequencing to elucidate underlying molecular mechanisms for synergy. Finally, we used an H460/CDDP xenograft tumor model to verify antitumor activity and safety in vivo. Data were examined using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) for multiple datasets or t-test for comparisons between two variables., Results: d-Borneol was more effective in H460 than A549 cells. d-Borneol combined with CDDP showed greater inhibition of cell proliferation, migration, and clone formation in H460/CDDP cells than CDDP alone. RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) analysis identified differentially expressed genes enriched in cell cycle pathways. The impact of d-borneol on CDDP chemosensitivity involved arrest of the cell cycle at S phase via p27/p21-mediated cyclinA2/D3-CDK2/6 signaling and activation of intrinsic apoptosis via p21-mediated Bax/Bcl-2/caspase3 signaling. Further, d-borneol ameliorated drug resistance by suppressing levels and activity of P-gp. Cotreatment with d-borneol and CDDP inhibited tumor growth in vivo and reduced CDDP-caused liver and kidney toxicity., Conclusions: d-Borneol increased the efficacy of cisplatin and reduced its toxicity. This compound has the potential to become a useful chemosensitizer for drug-resistance NSCLC., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

On the basis of first-principles calculations, we constructed a two-dimensional (2D) α-As/α-AsP van der Waals heterostructure (vdWH) to study the structural stability, and electronic and optical properties. Our results show that the 2D α-As/α-AsP vdWH displays indirect semiconductor characteristics with a band gap of 0.86 eV. Furthermore, it exhibits anisotropic properties and a high light absorption coefficient of up to 10 6 cm -1 in the ultraviolet region. Our predicted photoelectric conversion efficiency (PCE) of the 2D α-As/α-AsP vdWH reaches 21.30%, which is higher than those of blue-AsP/CdSe (13%), GeSe/AsP (16%), and As/tetracyanonaphtho-quinodimethane (TCNNQ) (20%). By applying an in-plane strain in the range from -6% to 6%, the band structure of the 2D α-As/α-AsP vdWH can be effectively tuned. In particular, under a uniaxial strain of -2% along the x -axis (2% along the y -axis), a transition from indirect to direct in the band structure occurs, while when applying a biaxial strain of -4% a transition from a semiconductor to a metal can be realized. These results indicate that the 2D α-As/α-AsP vdWH has potential applications in optoelectronic devices and solar cells.

Based on first-principles calculations, we design a α-AsP/γ-AsP homojunction with minimum lattice distortion. It is found that the α-AsP/γ-AsP homojunction has an indirect bandgap with an intrinsic type-II band alignment. The proposed α-AsP/γ-AsP homojunction exhibits high optical absorption of 1.6×106 cm-1 along the zigzag direction. A high power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 21.08% is achieved in the designed α-AsP/γ-AsP homojunction, which implies it has potential applications in solar cells. Under 4% in-plane axial strain along the zigzag direction, a transition from indirect band gap to direct band gap is found in the α-AsP/γ-AsP homojunction. Moreover, the intrinsic type-II band alignment can be tuned to type-I band alignment under in-plane strain, which is crucial for its potential application in optical devices.

Objectives: Natural borneol and synthetic borneol were commonly used to treat ischaemic stroke in clinical practice. This study evaluated their different neuroprotective effects on the remodelling and repair of the neurovascular unit (NVU) after cerebral ischaemia., Methods: We evaluated the different effects of borneol through neurological test and staining methods in cerebral ischaemia injury. Western blot, immunohistochemistry and transmission electron microscopy were used to evaluate the reparative effects of borneol on NVU., Key Findings: The prevention and treatment of borneol could prolong recovery time, reduce body temperature and cerebral infarction rate and improve pathological conditions. Further investigations revealed that borneol could inhibit the expression of DII4, Hes1, Hes5 and p65 and increase the Nissl body number and microvessel density. They also inhibited the activation of the microglia. It was also observed through an ultramicroelectron microscope that the structural stability of the NVU has also been repaired. Moreover, natural borneol shows better results in most indicators when compared with synthetic borneol., Conclusions: Natural borneol showed a stronger effectiveness and had better regulation and neuroprotection on the NVU when compared with synthetic borneol, indicating that it may be better to use natural borneol in the prescription of Chinese patent medicine in clinical practice., (© The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

In recent years, the incidence and mortality of cardio-cerebrovascular diseases have been increasing year by year, which has become global burden and challenge. Based on the holistic thinking of "brain disease affects the heart" and "heart disease affects the brain," as well as the characteristics of multi-target and multi-path effects of Chinese medicine, Chinese medicine is more advantageous in the treatment of cardio-cerebrovascular diseases. As a botanical medicine, storax is known for its resuscitation, filth avoidance and pain-relieving effects in the treatment of cardio-cerebrovascular diseases. By reviewing and collating the relevant domestic and international literature in the past 10 years, we have sorted out an overview of the medicinal parts, traditional uses and chemical composition of storax. For the first time, based on the idea of "cerebral and cardiac simultaneous treatment," the pharmacological activities and mechanisms of heart and brain protection of storax for treating cardio-cerebrovascular diseases were summarized and analyzed, showing that storax has the pharmacological effects of anti-cerebral ischemia, regulation of blood-brain barrier, bidirectional regulation of the central nervous system, anti-myocardial ischemia, anti-arrhythmia, anti-thrombosis and anti-platelet aggregation. It mainly exerts its protective effects on the brain and heart through mechanisms such as inhibition of inflammatory immune factors, anti-oxidative stress, anti-apoptosis, pro-neovascularization and regulation of NO release. On the basis of the current findings and limitations, the future research strategies and perspectives of storax are proposed, with a view to providing a reference for further application and development of this medicine, as well as contributing new thoughts and visions for the clinical application of "treating brain-heart synchronously"., 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 © 2021 Xu, Lu, Yuan, Ren, Ma, Xie, Li, Li and Wang.)

Borneol, a traditional Chinese medicine, can enhance therapeutic efficacy by guiding the active ingredients to the target site. Reportedly, borneol improves the penetration capacity of the nasal, cornea, transdermal, intestinal, and blood-brain barriers. Although nanotechnology dramatically changed the face of oncology by targeting tumor sites, the efficiency of nanoparticles delivered to tumor sites is very low, with only 0.7% of the total particles delivered. Thus, based on the penetration ability and the inhibition drug efflux of borneol, it was expected to increase the targeting and detention efficacy of drugs into tumor sites in nanocarriers with borneol modification. Borneol modified nanocarriers used to improve drug-targeting has become a research focus in recent years, but few studies in this area, especially in the antitumor application. Hence, this review summarizes the recent development of nanocarriers with borneol modification. We focus on the updated works of improving therapeutic efficacy, reducing toxicity, inhibiting tumor metastasis, reversing multidrug resistance, and enhancing brain targeting to expand their application and provide a reference for further exploration of targeting drug delivery systems for solid tumor treatment., 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 © 2021 Li, Xie, Ma, Li, Yuan, Ren, Li, Wang, Lu, Xu and Wang.)

The concept of "Neurovascular Unit" (NVU) was put forward, so that the research goal of Central Nervous System (CNS) diseases gradually transitioned from a single neuron to the structural and functional integrity of the NVU. Zebrafish has the advantages of high homology with human genes, strong reproductive capacity and visualization of neural circuits, so it has become an emerging model organism for NVU research and has been applied to a variety of CNS diseases. Based on CNKI (https://www.cnki.net/) and PubMed (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/about/) databases, the author of this article sorted out the relevant literature, analyzed the construction of a zebrafish model of various CNS diseases，and the use of diagrams showed the application of zebrafish in the NVU, revealed its relationship, which would provide new methods and references for the treatment and research of CNS diseases., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Based on first-principles calculations, we propose van der Waals (vdW) heterojunctions composed of one-dimensional carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and two-dimensional GeSe. Our calculations show that ( n ,0)CNT/GeSe ( n = 5-11) heterojunctions are stable through weak vdW interactions. Among these heterojunctions, ( n ,0)CNT/GeSe ( n = 5-7) exhibit metallic properties, while ( n ,0)CNT/GeSe ( n = 8-11) have a small bandgap, lower than 0.8 eV. The absorption coefficient of ( n ,0)CNT/GeSe ( n = 8-11) in the ultraviolet and infrared regions is around 10 5 cm -1 . Specifically, we found that (11,0)CNT/GeSe exhibits type-II band alignment and has a high photoelectric conversion efficiency of 17.29%, which suggests prospective applications in photoelectronics.

Natural products have a significant role in the prevention of disease and boosting of health in humans and animals. Stroke is a disease with high prevalence and incidence, the pathogenesis is a complex cascade reaction. In recent years, it's reported that a vast number of natural products have demonstrated beneficial effects on stroke worldwide. Natural products have been discovered to modulate activities with multiple targets and signaling pathways to exert neuroprotection via direct or indirect effects on enzymes, such as kinases, regulatory receptors, and proteins. This review provides a comprehensive summary of the established pharmacological effects and multiple target mechanisms of natural products for cerebral ischemic injury in vitro and in vivo preclinical models, and their potential neuro-therapeutic applications. In addition, the biological activity of natural products is closely related to their structure, and the structure-activity relationship of most natural products in neuroprotection is lacking, which should be further explored in future. Overall, we stress on natural products for their role in neuroprotection, and this wide band of pharmacological or biological activities has made them suitable candidates for the treatment of stroke., 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 © 2021 Xie, Li, Lu, Yuan, Ma, Li, Ren, Li, Chen, Wang and Gong.)

The effect of thermal treatment and annealing under different temperatures from 100 °C to 250 °C on the photoluminescence spectroscopy of the GeSe ultrathin slab is reported. After the thermal treatment and annealing under 200 °C, we found that the photoluminescence intensity of A exciton and B exciton in GeSe ultrathin slab is increased to twice as much as that in untreated case, while is increased by ~84% in the photoluminescence intensity of C exciton. Combined by our experimental work and theoretical simulations, our study confirms the significant role of thermal treatments and annealing in reducing surface roughness and removing the Se vacancy to form more compact and smoother regions in GeSe ultrathin slab. Our findings imply that the improved quality of GeSe surface after thermal treatments is an important factor for the photoluminescence enhancement.

Based on first-principles calculations, the structure, electronic and magnetic properties of unilateral halogenated silicene Si 2 X 1 (X  =  F, Cl, Br, I) are investigated. The formation energies of all the configurations of studied Si 2 X 1 (X  =  F, Cl, Br, I) are found to be lower than that in pristine silicene, which indicates the strong stability. The band structure of half-fluorinated configuration Si 2 F 1 presents metallic property, while other unilateral halogenated silicene Si 2 X 1 (X  =  Cl, Br, I) exhibits half-metallic properties. In unilateral halogenated silicene Si 2 X 1 (X  =  Cl, Br, I), the unpaired electrons in unsaturated silicon atom produce the localized magnetic moment. However, due to the strong electronegativity in F atom, the half-fluorinated silicene Si 2 F 1 is almost non-magnetic. The metallic property of Si 2 F 1 configuration can be tuned to half-metallic by applying biaxial tensile strain from 11.95% to 13.51%. Furthermore, applying biaxial tensile strains can tune the half-metallic property of unilateral halogenated silicene Si 2 X 1 (X  =  Cl, Br, I) to a semiconductor. This half-metallic property in unilateral halogenated silicene Si 2 X 1 (X  =  Cl, Br, I) can be recovered and can even be tuned to metallic if continually increasing the biaxial tensile strains.

Germanium selenide as a new layered material is promising for nanoelectronic applications due to its unique optoelectronic properties and tunable band gap. In this study, based on density functional theory, we systematically investigated the structure, stability, and electronic properties of bilayer germanium selenide with four different stacking orders (namely AA-, AB-, AC- and AD-stacking). The obtained results indicated that the band gap is dependent on the stacking order with an indirect band gap for AA- and AC-stacking and direct band gap for AB- and AD-stacking. In addition, we also found that the band gap of the GeSe bilayer with different stacking orders can be tuned by in-plane strain. The transition between the direct to indirect band gap or semiconductor to metal is tunable. In particular, the direct band gap of the AB-stacking germanium selenide bilayer can be tuned in a wide energy range under applied strain along the armchair direction.

The potential reaction of diclofenac (DCF) with ferrate(VI) and influences of coexisting surfactants have not been investigated in depth, and are the focus of this study. The results demonstrated that DCF reacted effectively and rapidly with Fe(VI) and approximately 75% of DCF (0.03 mM) was removed by excess Fe(VI) (0.45 mM) within 10 min. All of the reactions followed pseudo first-order kinetics with respect to DCF and Fe(VI), where the apparent second-order rate constant (k app ) was 5.07 M -1 s -1 at pH 9.0. Furthermore, the degradation efficiencies of DCF were clearly dependent on the concentrations of dissolved organic matter additives in the substrate solution. Primarily, inhibitory effects were observed with the samples that contained anionic (sodium dodecyl-benzene sulfonate, SDBS) or non-ionic (Tween-80) surfactants, which have been attributed to the side reactions between Fe(VI) and surfactants, which led to a reduction in the available oxidant for DCF destruction. Furthermore, the addition of a cationic surfactant (cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide, CTAB) and humic acid (HA) conveyed significantly promotional effects on the DCF-Fe(VI) reaction. The rate enhancement effect for CTAB might be due to micellar surface catalysis, through the Coulomb attraction between the reactants and positively charged surfactants, while the catalytic action for HA resulted from the additional oxidation of Fe(V)/Fe(IV) in the presence of HA. The results provided the basic knowledge required to understand the environmental relevance of DCF oxidation via Fe(VI) in the presence of surfactant additives.

The flavonoids found in many foods may have a protective effect against human gastric cancer. However, little information is available concerning the effects of flavonoids on the SGC-7901 cell line. Therefore, we first evaluated the effects of purified Flos Albiziae flavonoids (FAFs) on the proliferation of the SGC-7901 human gastric cancer cell line and investigated its possible anti-proliferative mechanisms. When SGC-7901 cells were treated with FAFs for various time periods (12-72 h) and at various doses (0-32 μg/ml), cell growth decreased significantly in a time- and dose-dependent manner. Morphological observations with fluorescence microscopy and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) yielded clear evidence of cell shrinkage, formation of cytoplasmic filaments, condensation of nuclear chromatin, and cell apoptosis in the presence of FAFs. Treatment with FAFs changed the expression levels of Bcl-2, P65, Bax and caspase. The anti-apoptotic protein expression of Bcl-2 and p65 decreased gradually with the increase in FAF concentration, compared with control cells (P<0.05). FAFs contributed to the increase in Bax and caspase expression. The expression of pro-apoptotic proteins Bax and caspase were upregulated by FAFs compared with control cells (P<0.01). These results demonstrated that FAFs effectively induced apoptosis in the SGC-7901 cell line. This indicates that FAFs are likely to possess anticancer activity.

Titanium hydrate sols were prepared using different acid hydrolysis catalysts, i.e., acetic acid and hydrochloric acid. The platinum-doped TiO(2) sol-gels were also synthesized by adding K(2)PtCl(6) into the titanium hydrate sols. The hydrophobic montmorillonite clay, treated with organic cationic surfactant, i.e., hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide, was used as a template to prepare TiO(2) pillared photocatalyst with the above sols. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX) were employed to characterize the resulting photocatalysts. The adsorption performance and photoactivity of prepared pillared clays were studied by using methyl orange as a model organic pollutant. The preliminary results indicated that the hydrophobic TiO(2) pillared clay prepared with acetic acid as the acid hydrolysis catalysts possessed higher photocatalytic activity than that with hydrochloric acid. Due to the excellent sedimentation property of the clay, the resulting pillared photocatalyst is easily recovered and reused in the postrun treatment. Also the doping of platinum into the hydrophobic photocatalyst can increase the photocatalytic activity significantly.

The functionalization of graphene (a single graphite layer) by the addition of transition metal atoms of Mn, Fe and Co to its surface has been investigated computationally using density functional theory. In the calculation, the graphene surface supercell was constructed from a single layer of graphite (0001) surface separated by vertical vacuum layers 2 nm thick. We found that the center of the hexagonal ring formed by carbon from graphene is the most stable site for Mn, Fe, Co to stay after optimization. The calculated spin-polarized band structures of the graphene encapsulating the Mn adatom indicate that the conduction bands are modified and move down due to the coupling between the Mn atom and graphene. For Fe adsorbed on the graphene surface, it is semi-half-metallic, and the spin polarization P is found to be 100%. The system of Co adatom on graphene exhibits metallic electronic structure due to the density of states (DOS) peak at the band center with both majority and minority spins. Local density of states analyses indicate a larger promotion of 4s electrons into the 3d state in Fe and Co, resulting in lower local moments compared to an Mn adatom on the graphite surface.

Using first principles calculations, we investigate the atomic and electronic structure of carbon nanowires (CNWs) as the carbon chain inserted into single wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs). It indicates that the (5,5) CNW system exhibits metallic character, however, the insertion of carbon chain can transit a semi-conducting (9,0) SWCNT into a metallic.

This paper examines the biodegradation of chlorophenols by microbes and deals with the chlorophenols-degrading microbes and the usage of biotechnology with special emphasis on degradation mechanisms. Dechlorination is the first critical step in the bacterial degradation of many chloroniated pollutans. Under aerobic condition, the degradation of mono- and dichlorophenols is shown to be initiated by oxygenation into chlorocatechols, and dechlorination occurs only after ring cleavage of the chlorocatechols. The degradation of polychlorinated phenols starts by hydrolytic para-hydroxylation, yielding chlorinated para-hydroquinone. The anaerobic biodegradation of chlorophenols occurs by reductive dechlorination, a process by which chlorines are replaced with hydrogen.