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Realizing conical spin order and magnetoelectric coupling by Jahn–Teller Cu2+ in SrFe12O19 ceramics.

Regulating the abundance of oxygen vacancies over α-MnO2 nanocatalysts achieves the oriented generation of 1O2 for efficient degradation of pharmaceuticals.

Background: Paeonol (Pae), the main active compound of the root of Paeonia albiflora, is efficacious in treating atherosclerosis (AS). Endothelial dysfunction is throughout the pathological progression of AS. It is expected that inhibition of Endothelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EndMT) will be a key target for AS treatment. Objective: In this study, we investigated the molecular mechanism of the regulatory effect of Pae on EndMT in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). Methods: Cell cytotoxicity, proliferation, and migration were detected by CCK-8, the wound healing assay, and EdU staining, respectively. The protein expressions were measured by Western blot or immunofluorescence staining. Immunofluorescence staining was performed to indicate endothelial cells undergoing EndMT in ApoE-/- mice. In vitro TGF-β1-induced EndMT assays were performed in HUVECs and the effect of Pae was explored. Results: We demonstrated that Pae could improve induced TGF-β1-EndMT in vivo and in vitro. Mechanism study revealed that Pae directly bonds to the activin-like kinase 5 (ALK5, also known as TGFβ type I receptor), inhibited downstream Smad2/3 phosphorylation, and thus alleviated EndMT. Notably, overexpression of ALK5 significantly reversed the inhibitory effect of Pae on EndMT in HUVECs. Conclusion: Our results indicate that ALK5 is a promising druggable target for AS, and pharmacological regulation of ALK5-Smad2/3 signaling pathway with small-molecule holds great potential to benefit AS patients.

Coal samples from the Shanxi Shaping coal mine were selected to investigate the occurrence of H2S in low sulfur coal seams. The adsorption mechanism of coal to H2S was explored, and an occurrence equation for H2S in coal seams was fitted through adsorption experiment results. The results showed that under ambient temperature and pressure conditions, the H2S adsorbed by coal reached equilibrium within 24 h. The increase in H2S concentrations and the moisture content of coal samples resulted in an increase in the adsorption capacity of H2S. Chemical adsorption of H2S by the coal also occurred. The total sulfur content in the coal increased, and water promoted the conversion from H2S to sulfur in coal. After adsorption, most of the H2S remains in the coal structure in the form of inorganic sulfur, such as sulfur hydride, iron sulfide sulfur, and monomeric sulfur, and a small proportion of H2S is bonded in the structure of the coal in the form of organic sulfur such as thiophene, C-S-C, and C-SH. Therefore, the higher the total sulfur content in coal, the greater the occurrence of H2S. The total amount of H2S increased exponentially with the concentration of free H2S and the moisture content of coal at equilibrium. This meant that the total amount of H2S in the coal seam could be estimated by fitting an equation according to the concentration of free H2S and the moisture content of coal seams. The concentration of free H2S decreased linearly with the increase in moisture content of the coal, therefore, the concentration of H2S in space could be reduced by injecting water into coal seams.

The impact of domestic waste separation in each province needs to be arranged taking into account the actual situation of carbon emission control, so that the situation of carbon emission control of domestic waste separation is more reasonable. This paper establishes an entropy weighting model to analyze all the factors influencing the development of carbon emission control of domestic waste separation, so that we can get the weights of carbon emission control caused by the carbon emission control index of domestic waste separation. A comprehensive evaluation model is established to score the relevant indicators using the previous weights, so as to be able to derive the amount of influence and compare the influence caused by carbon emission control, so as to complete the classification and get the correlation between municipal domestic waste classification and carbon peak carbon neutrality. For its future development path to be analyzed, suggestions are given and the study is completed.

Biomass pyrolysis to produce bio-char is one of the scientific and effective means of utilizing biomass resources. Differ from previous studies, this paper explored the effect of pyrolysis temperature (400–1000 °C) on the adsorption capacity of hazelnut shell bio-char from two perspectives, including physical macroscopic structure and functional group microscopic adsorption, and the practical adsorption application tests on common 7 kinds of heavy metals in polluted water were further carried out. The results showed that the yield and adsorption of bio-char prepared at different pyrolysis temperatures varied significantly, as the temperature increased, bio-char yield and surface acid functional group content decreased, the adsorption rate on most of heavy metals increased firstly and then decreased (except for Cr6+), the adsorption capacity of bio-char prepared at above 600 °C was mainly affected by physical macroscopic structure, and at 800 °C, bio-char had a large number of pore structures, and pore structure has been fully developed, iodine adsorption value and BET specific surface area were 595.36 mg/g and 197.32 mg/m2, respectively, the adsorption effect of bio-char on Cr6+, Cd2+, Zn2+, Cu2+ and Ni2+ were best, and the adsorption rates were 45.23%, 44.14%, 60.11%, 61.28% and 65.07% respectively. It revealed that although the absorption effect of bio-chars prepared at different temperatures on different heavy metals had a great variation, large specific surface area and developed pore structure still played important role in the adsorption capacity of bio-char. These provided a reference for the application of hazelnut shell bio-char based on adsorption properties, especially absorbing heavy metals in polluted water.

Background In Wilson’s disease (WD) patients, network connections across the brain are disrupted, affecting multidomain function. While the details of this neuropathophysiological mechanism remain unclear due to the rarity of WD. In this study, we aimed to investigate alterations in brain network connectivity at the whole-brain level (both intra- and inter-network) in WD patients through independent component analysis (ICA) and the relationship between alterations in these brain network functional connections (FCs) and clinical neuropsychiatric features to understand the underlying pathophysiological and central compensatory mechanisms.Methods 85 patients with WD and age- and sex-matched 85 healthy control (HC) were recruited for resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) scanning. We extracted the resting-state networks (RSNs) using the ICA method, analyzed the changes of FC in these networks and the correlation between alterations in FCs and clinical neuropsychiatric features.Results Compared with HC, WD showed widespread lower connectivity within RSNs, involving default mode network (DMN), frontoparietal network (FPN), somatomotor network (SMN), dorsal attention network (DAN). Furthermore, the decreased FCs in the left medial prefrontal cortex (L_ MPFC), left anterior cingulate gyrus (L_ACC), precuneus (PCUN)within DMN were negatively correlated with the Unified Wilson’s Disease Rating Scale-neurological characteristic examination (UWDRS-N), and the decreased FCs in the L_MPFC, PCUN within DMN were negatively correlated with the Unified Wilson’s Disease Rating Scale-psychiatric symptoms examination (UWDRS-P). We additionally discovered that the patients with WD exhibited significantly stronger FC between the FPN and DMN, between the DAN and DMN, and between the FPN and DAN compared to HC.Conclusions we have provided evidence that WD is a disease with widespread dysfunctional connectivity in resting networks in brain, leading to neurological features and psychiatric symptoms (e.g. higher-order cognitive control and motor control impairments). The altered intra- and inter-network in the brain may be the neural underpinnings for the neuropathological symptoms and the process of injury compensation in WD patients.

Realizing enhanced energy storage performance by introducing SrTiO3 (ST) to Ba0.85Ca0.15Zr0.1Ti0.9O3 (BCZT).

The Yuanjiang marble-hosted ruby deposit lies in the central segment of the Ailao Shan metamorphic massif of the Ailao Shan-Red River metamorphic belt. The mineralizing fluid and age were characterized by detailed petrography, Raman spectroscopy, microthermometry, and in situ titanite laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry dating. Some fluid inclusions in the corundum show an interesting morphology with a diaspore crystal fully separating the whole inclusion into two smaller inclusions. This morphological feature can be explained by morphological ripening and subsequent reactions between the trapped H2O and the host corundum during the cooling of the inclusion. Fluid inclusions in the ruby belong to the system CO2–H2S–COS–S8–H2S2–CH4–AlO(OH) with various daughter minerals, including diaspore, gibbsite, and native sulfur (S8). The observed seven-component fluid inclusion composition can be explained by two steps: (1) original fluid inclusion capture during deposit formation with compositions including CO2, H2S, COS, CH4, S8, and H2S2, and (2) post-entrapment fluid inclusion modification, such as diaspore and gibbsite. The presence of hydrous minerals in fluid inclusions strongly supports the idea that water was once present in the initial fluids. In the Yuanjiang deposit, petrographic evidence shows that titanite formed simultaneously with ruby, and U-Pb dating of titanite allows us to conclude that the ruby mineralization formed at 23.4 ± 0.3 Ma, in other words during the Himalayan orogeny.

Sedimentary phosphate rocks are characteristically rich in organic matter, and contain sulfides and a high concentration of trace elements, including cadmium (Cd), which is harmful to the human body. The mining of phosphate rock and phosphogypsum at Qingping has expanded the release of Cd into groundwater and farmland soil. To prevent and control Cd pollution it is critical to reveal the carrier mineral phase(s) and migration mechanism of Cd and other elements in phosphate rock and phosphogypsum. The elemental and mineral composition of bulk samples were analysed by XRF, ICP-MS, and XRD, respectively. The results showed that from phosphate rock to phosphogypsum, the main constituent elements changed from CaO (49.43%) and P2O5 (36.63%) to CaO (33.65%) and SO3 (>34%), and the main mineral changed from fluorapatite to gypsum. Among all the elements, the element transfer factor (ETF) of P2O5, F, Co, U, Cd, and other elements was low; the ETF (Cd) was only 10.85%, and only a small amount of Cd entered the acidic phosphogypsum during the production process. Raman spectroscopy analysis revealed two types of apatite: the brown–black apatite with organic matter (type 1) and the yellow–light brown apatite without organic matter (type 2). LA-ICP-MS analysis showed that the Cd element content in type 2 was lower, while the organic matter and Cd element content in type 1 were higher, suggesting that Cd may be controlled by organic matter, and the relationship with apatite is not apparent. Electron probe analysis and XRD semiquantitative results show that the content of Cd in pyrite is higher (511 ppm), which is significantly higher than that of bulk rock. In addition, pyrite is rich in Co, As, Ni, Zn, and other elements. The content of Cd in phosphate ore shows a good correlation with that of pyrite. Cd in Qingping phosphate rock is mainly controlled by organic matter and pyrite, and only a small amount of Cd is transferred to phosphogypsum. Reducing the environment leads to the enrichment of Cd in phosphate rock.

Objectives. To assess A-kinase anchor protein 95 (AKAP95), B-Raf, extracellular regulated protein kinases 1/2 (ERK1/2), and Elk-1 expression in colon cancer tissue, and characterize AKAP95 associations with B-Raf, ERK1/2, Elk-1, and colon cancer clinicopathological indices. Methods. The immunohistochemistry streptavidin-perosidase (SP) method was used to determine protein expression levels in 64 colon cancer and 32 para-carcinoma tissue specimens. Results. (1) Positive AKAP95 expression rates in colon cancer tissue were higher when compared with para-carcinoma tissue (92.19% vs. 59.38%, P < 0.05 ). Similar findings were determined for B-Raf (76.56% vs. 25%, P < 0.05 ), ERK1/2 (90.63% vs. 31.25%, P < 0.05 ), and Elk-1 levels (92.19% vs. 40.63%, P < 0.05 ). (2) No significant associations were identified between AKAP95, B-Raf, ERK1/2, and Elk-1 protein expression and degree of differentiation, histological type, and lymph node metastasis in colon cancer samples ( P > 0.05 ); however, in The Cancer Genome Atlas and Gene Expression Omnibus datasets, AKAP95 was closely related to immune infiltration, and highly expressed AKAP95 was negatively associated with overall survival and relapse free survival rates in colon cancer patients. (3) Correlations were observed between AKAP95 and ERK1/2, AKAP95 and Elk-1, B-Raf and ERK1/2, B-Raf and Elk-1, and ERK1/2 and Elk-1 (all P < 0.05 ), but no correlation was observed between AKAP95 and B-Raf ( P > 0.05 ). Conclusions. AKAP95 may affect immune infiltration levels in colon cancer by participating in ERK1/2–Elk-1 signal transduction.

Ceramic nanofiber membrane (CNM) based on attapulgite (APT) without any intermediate layer neither any cracks was fabricated by a one-step dip-coating method. The effects of sintering temperature and dip-coating time on the physicochemical properties and performances of prepared CNMs were investigated. The increase of the sintering temperature up to 700 °C reduced the bending strength, porosity and chemical stability of APT-based CNMs. Meanwhile, with the dip-coating time increased, the membrane thickness increased thereafter reduced. The APT-based CNM fabricated at a sintering temperature of 600 °C and with a dip-coating time of 15 s had an average pore size of 20.4 nm, high porosity (above 60 %), good permeability of 118 L/m2 h bar and a rejection of 96.6 % polymers with a molecule weight of 600 kDa. All these properties clearly suggest the practicability of the one-step dip-coating method to prepare ceramic nanofiber membranes.

BackgroundConventionally, serum ceruloplasmin levels below the lower reference limit (0. 20 g/L) is considered a diagnostic cutoff point for Wilson's disease (WD). However, the lower reference limit varies with assay methodologies and the individuals in the included studies. The objective of this study was to determine the optimal cutoff value of serum ceruloplasmin levels for the diagnosis of WD in a large Chinese cohort and to identify factors associated with serum ceruloplasmin.MethodsThe cutoff value of ceruloplasmin levels was developed based on a retrospective derivation cohort of 3,548 subjects (1,278 patients with WD and 2,270 controls) and was validated in a separate validation cohort of 313 subjects (203 patients with WD and 110 controls). The performance of immunoassay was tested by receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) analysis, and differences among the groups were analyzed by using the Mann–Whitney U-test and the Kruskal–Wallis test.ResultsThe conventional cutoff of serum ceruloplasmin levels of ConclusionOur work determined the optimal cutoff value of serum ceruloplasmin levels for the diagnosis of WD and identified differences in serum ceruloplasmin levels with respect to the age of symptom onset and ATP7B mutations, which may provide some valuable insights into the diagnosis and counsel of patients with WD.

This paper proposed a 5.6 kW 11.7 kW/kg four-phase interleaved buck converter (FPIBC) for the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) low-voltage power system. The UAV mainly concerns the lightweight strategy and the power density of the DC-DC converter. We proposed a comprehensive lightweight strategy with the characteristics of reduced inductor current ripples, small size of filter inductors and capacitors, and high output power. The output current ripples are reduced by using interleaved modulation strategy and integrated CLC filters cascaded to the input side and output side respectively. In addition, the aluminum based printed circuit board (PCB) is used with SMD power transistors to obtain better heat dissipation capability without fans. With abovementioned methods, the designed DC-DC converter has a power of 5.6 kW @ 0.48 kg, the power-to-weight ratio is improved to be 11.7 kW/kg, and the power density is 3 W/cm3. The efficiency of this DC-DC converter is up to 95.8%.

To solve the contradiction between particle size and color performance, an ultrafine V-ZrSiO4 pigment was successfully synthesized by sol–gel-microemulsion-hydrothermal (S-G-M-H) method in this paper. Meanwhile, the effects of hydrothermal time on the chromatic parameter, particle size distribution, phase composition, valence bond species and microstructure of the precursor and pigment were systematically investigated. Moreover, the color deterioration mechanism of V-ZrSiO4 nano-grain pigment was also revealed. The results demonstrate that the median diameter (D50) of the obtained V-ZrSiO4 pigment is only 0.972 μm. Besides, the synthesized pigment has vivid blue hue and superior tinting strength. As the increase of hydrothermal time, the particle size of V-ZrSiO4 pigment decreases, while the color performance of the pigment deteriorates. The color deterioration mechanism is attributed to the dual effects of the reduction of vanadium content in the outer layers of pigment particles and the enhancement of visible light reflection intensity.

The mechanism of ferrite nucleation induced by different oxide particles was studied in this article. The inclusion insertion experiment as a simulated experiment was carried out using different oxide powders on a thermal simulator under certain heat treatment conditions. The main results showed that the chemical influences of oxide particles on ferrite nucleation are difficult to occur under solid-phase transformation conditions. The change of microstructure near the oxide particles may be related to the effect of thermal properties of oxide particles. Heat conduction performance of oxide particles may cause slower heat dissipation around the oxide particles, resulting in the variation of temperature gradient near the oxide particles. This temperature gradient may lead to the increasing diffusion of carbon atoms, which increases the driving force of ferrite nucleation and growth. The effect of thermal properties of oxide particles on ferrite phase transformation seems to provide a new insight for the study of the mechanism of acicular ferrite nucleation induced by inclusions in low carbon steels.

Rational design and construction of cost–effective electrocatalysts for efficient hydrogen production has attracted extensive research attention worldwide. Herein, we report the construction of a transition metal selenide/carbon composite catalyst featuring uniform NiSe nanoparticles anchored to single Ni atom doped porous carbon structure (NiSe/Ni–N–C) via a facile one–pot pyrolysis of low–cost solid mixtures. NiSe/Ni–N–C exhibits remarkable catalytic performance towards hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in 1.0 M KOH, requiring a low overpotential of 146 mV to reach a current density of 10 mA cm−2. The unique carbon layer encapsulation derived from the enwrapping of fluid catalytic cracking slurry further renders NiSe/Ni–N–C excellent for long–term durability in electrolyte corrosion and nanostructure aggregation. This work paves the way for the design and synthesis of highly efficient composite HER electrocatalysts.

Gandouling (GDL) Pill is a novel Traditional Chinese medicinal drug to treat Wilson’s disease in clinics. It is composed of six separate herbal medicines, including Rhei Radix ET Rhizoma, Coptidis Rhizoma, Salviae Miltiorrhizae Radix ET Rhizoma, Spatholobi Caulis, Curcumae Rhizoma, and Curcumae Longae Rhizoma. In this study, a strategy was proposed to investigate the chemical constituents and to quantify the potential bioactive components in GDL Pill. Firstly, the mass fragmentation behaviors of representative compounds were investigated, and, in total, 69 compounds were characterized in GDL Pill using full scan/dd-MS2 scan mode by ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC)/Q-Orbitrap mass spectrometry (MS). These compounds included 18 alkaloids, 18 ketones, 16 phenolic compounds, 11 organic acids, and 6 tanshinones. Seventeen of the compounds were unambiguously identified by comparison with reference standards. Secondly, the absorption components of GDL Pill in rat plasma were investigated by using target-Selected Ion Monitoring (t-SIM) scan mode built in Q-Orbitrap MS. A total of 18 components were detected, which were considered as potential bioactive components of GDL Pill. Thirdly, 10 major absorption components were simultaneously determined in six batches of samples by UPLC/diode array detector (DAD). The method was fully validated with respect to linearity, precision, repeatability, stability, and recovery. Alkaloids from Coptidis Rhizoma, such as coptisine (8), berberine (18), palmatine (19), were the most abundant bioactive compounds for GDL Pill that possess the potential be used as quality markers. The proposed strategy is practical and efficient for revealing the material basis of GDL Pill, and also provides a simple and accurate method for quality control.

An equigenerated monomial ideal [Formula: see text] in the polynomial ring [Formula: see text] is a Freiman ideal if [Formula: see text], where [Formula: see text] is the analytic spread of [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] is the least number of monomial generators of [Formula: see text]. In this paper, we classify certain classes of Borel-type ideals, including Borel ideals with multiple Borel generators and principal [Formula: see text]-Borel ideals, which are Freiman.

Over the past several decades, Arps decline curve analysis (DCA) has proved to be effective and efficient for production forecasts and EUR estimates due to its simplicity and applicability. However, as multi-stage hydraulically-fractured horizontal wells have unlocked the economic potential of unconventional reservoirs, forecasting future production accurately using Arps decline models becomes more challenging because of the complicated fluid flow mechanisms characterizing stimulated multi-layered ultra-low permeability porous media. Many field studies indicate unreliable forecasts and limitations in multi-layered field applications in particular. This paper presents a Mittag-Leffler (ML) function decline model which enhances the reliability of forecasts for multi-layered unconventional oil reservoirs by honoring anomalous diffusion physics for each layer. Many traditional decline curve models fail to honor the sub- or super-diffusion phenomenon under the paradigm of anomalous diffusion. The general form of our proposed two-factor ML function consolidates anomalous diffusion and classical diffusion into a single model, specifically including Arps hyperbolic, harmonic, exponential decline models and the stretched exponential decline model (SEPD) as special cases. Comparisons show that the ML model falls between the predictions of Arps and SEPD models in which the estimates are consistently either "overly optimistic" or "too conservative." For a multi-fractured horizontal well, the fracture height partially penetrating different layers leads to a layer-wise flow pattern which is reflected and captured in the production profile by curve-fitting the corresponding ML function parameters. We provide a workflow to guarantee consistency when applying the approach to each layer in field cases. We applied the workflow to one synthetic case using embedded discrete fracture modeling (EDFM) and to two field cases. We used hindcasting to demonstrate efficacy of the model by matching early-to-middle time production histories, forecasting future production, and comparing forecasted performance to hidden histories as well as to the corresponding EURs. The comparisons demonstrate the validity and reliability of the proposed ML function decline curve model for multi-layered unconventional oil reservoirs. Overall, this study shows that the novel ML-function DCA model is a robust alternative to forecast production and EUR in multi-layered unconventional oil reservoirs. The workflow presented was validated using one synthetic case and two actual field cases. This method further provides unique insight into multi-fractured horizontal well production profile characterization and facilitates well-spacing optimization, thereby improving reservoir development in layered unconventional reservoirs.

Introduction: Occult pancreaticobiliary reflux (OPBR) causes chronic inflammation of the gallbladder and associated mucosal malignant changes, but its pathogenic mechanism remains unclear. Objective The aim of this study was to investigate the pathogenic mechanism in OPBR through untargeted metabolomic analysis of bile collected during surgery. Methods Patients undergoing surgery for gallstones between December 2020 and May 2021 were eligible for inclusion. There were 30 OPBR patients and 338 non-OPBR patients, and 30 non-OPBR patients were randomly selected as normal controls. Metabolomics analysis was performed based on bile samples from patients in the OPBR group. Results The principal component analysis by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry revealed that 30 metabolites were significantly different between patients with OPBR compared to controls. Among these characteristic metabolites, palmitic acid and arachidonic acid are known to be involved in gallstone formation, methionine and lysophosphatidylcholine are known to be associated with carcinogenesis. Conclusions The present study suggested that an LC/MS-based metabolomic studies provide an efficient and promising method for identifying potential biomarkers of OPBR. The identified characteristic metabolites in the OPBR group were significantly different to the control group.

Room temperature grown Fe monolayer (ML) on the Ir(111) single crystal substrate has attracted great research interests as nano-skyrmion lattice can form under proper growth conditions. The formation of the nanoscale skyrmion, however, appears to be greatly affected by the diffusion length of the Fe adatoms on the Ir(111) surface. We made this observation by employing spin-polarized scanning tunneling microscopy to study skyrmion formation upon systematically changing the impurity density on the substrate surface prior to Fe deposition. Since the substrate surface impurities serve as pinning centers for Fe adatoms, the eventual size and shape of the Fe islands exhibit a direct correlation with the impurity density, which in turn determines whether skyrmion can be formed. Our observation indicates that skyrmion only forms when the impurity density is below 0.006/nm2, i.e., 12 nm averaged spacing between the neighboring defects. We verify the significance of Fe diffusion length by growing Fe on clean Ir(111) substrate at low temperature of 30 K, where no skyrmion was observed to form. Our findings signify the importance of diffusion of Fe atoms on the Ir(111) substrate, which affects the size, shape and lattice perfection of the Fe islands and thus the formation of skyrmion lattice.

Background Pancreaticobiliary reflux (PBR) causes chronic inflammation of the gallbladder mucosa and changes in the bile components, which are known to promote gallstone formation. This study aimed to investigate the bile biochemistry changes in gallstone patients with PBR and provide new clues for research on the involvement of PBR in gallstone formation. Methods Patients undergoing surgery for gallstones between December 2020 and May 2021 were eligible for inclusion. The bile biochemistry (including amylase, lipase, triglyceride, cholesterol, free fatty acids [FFAs], alanine aminotransferase [ALT], aspartate aminotransferase [AST], alkaline phosphatase [ALP], and γ-glutamyl transferase [γ-GT]) of the included gallstone patients was analysed to determine correlations with PBR. Results In this study, 144 gallstone patients who underwent surgery were enrolled. Overall, 15.97 % of the patients had an increased bile amylase level, which was associated with older age and significantly higher bile levels of ALP, lipase, triglyceride, and FFAs. Positive correlations were observed between amylase and lipase, triglyceride, FFAs levels in the gallbladder bile. However, the bile levels of triglyceride, FFAs, and lipase were positively correlated with each other only in the PBR group and showed no significant correlation in the control (N) group. In addition, elevated bile FFAs levels were found to be an independent risk factor for gallbladder wall thickening. Conclusions In conclusion, PBR-induced increase in FFAs and triglyceride in the gallbladder bile is a cause of gallstone formation, and an increase in bile ALP suggests the presence of cholestasis in PBR.

Background: Neuroimaging studies in Wilson’s disease (WD) have identified various alterations in white matter (WM) microstructural organization. However, it remains unclear whether these alterations are localized to specific regions of fiber tracts, and what diagnostic value they might have. The purpose of this study is to explore the spatial profile of WM abnormalities along defined fiber tracts in WD and its clinical relevance. Methods: Ninety-nine patients with WD (62 men and 37 women) and 91 age- and sex-matched controls (59 men and 32 women) were recruited to take part in experiments of diffusion-weighted imaging with 64 gradient vectors. The data were calculated by FMRIB Software Library (FSL) software and Automated Fiber Quantification (AFQ) software. After registration, patient groups and normal groups were compared by Mann–Whitney U test analysis. Results: Compared with the controls, the patients with WD showed widespread fractional anisotropy reduction and mean diffusivity, radial diffusivity elevation of identified fiber tracts. Significant correlations between diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) parameters and the neurological Unified Wilson’s Disease Rating Scale (UWDRS-N), serum ceruloplasmin, and 24-h urinary copper excretion were found. Conclusions: The present study has provided evidence that the metrics of DTI could be utilized as a potential biomarker of neuropathological symptoms in WD. Damage to the microstructure of callosum forceps and corticospinal tract may be involved in the pathophysiological process of neurological symptoms in WD patients, such as gait and balance disturbances, involuntary movements, dysphagia, and autonomic dysfunction.

Background: Although the gut microbiota is involved in metabolic disease such as atherosclerosis, the underlying mechanism remains elusive. Paeonol (Pae) is a natural phenolic compound isolated from Cortex Moutan, which exhibits anti-atherosclerotic effects. Our previous research demonstrated gut microbiota as a site of Pae action. However, the mechanism by which Pae exerts its anti-atherosclerotic effect by the regulation of gut microbiota remains unclear.Objective: To investigate a potential mechanistic link between the gut microbial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) proliferation in atherosclerosis progression and explore the possible role of Pae.Methods: Experimental atherosclerosis was established in ApoE−/− mice, and the atherosclerosis mice were treated with Pae for 4 weeks before being sacrificed for analyses while conducting fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT). The plaque area, levels of serum LPS, expressions of inflammatory factors in serum or aorta, and intestinal barrier permeability were determined. VSMCs were co-cultured with THP-1 cells. CCK-8 assay and EdU staining were performed to assess the proliferative capacity of VSMCs. Immunofluorescence staining was performed to observe the nuclear transfer of p65. Western blotting was used to detect the candidate protein expression level, and quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) was used to detect the mRNA expression level in tissues or cells of each group.Results: During atherosclerosis progression, gut dysbiosis leads to the peripheral accumulation of gut microbial LPS, which acts as a trigger to stimulate osteopontin (OPN) production from circulating monocytes, inducing cell-to-cell crosstalk to promote VSMC proliferation in the aorta. Importantly, the elevation of LPS and OPN concentrations in the blood was also observed in patients with atherosclerosis. Pae could significantly improve atherosclerosis, suppress gut microbial LPS accumulation, and inhibit monocyte/macrophage activation and VSMC proliferation.Conclusions: The present study provides a mechanistic scenario for how long-term stimulation of gut microbial LPS in circulating blood generates a pathological secondary response that leads to abnormal proliferation of VSMCs using high OPN expression in circulating monocytes and suggests a novel strategy for atherosclerosis therapy by remodeling the gut microbiota.

Spin polarized scanning tunneling microscopy (SP-STM) and magnetic exchange force microscopy (MExFM) are powerful tools to characterize spin structure at the atomic scale. For low temperature measurements, liquid helium cooling is commonly used, which has the advantage of generating low noise but has the disadvantage of having difficulties in carrying out measurements with long durations at low temperatures and measurements with a wide temperature range. The situation is just reversed for cryogen-free STM, where the mechanical vibration of the refrigerator becomes a major challenge. In this work, we have successfully built a cryogen-free system with both SP-STM and MExFM capabilities, which can be operated under a 9 T magnetic field provided by a cryogen-free superconducting magnet and in a wide temperature range between 1.4 and 300 K. With the help of our specially designed vibration isolation system, the noise is reduced to an extremely low level of 0.7 pm. The Fe/Ir(111) magnetic skyrmion lattice is used to demonstrate the technical novelties of our cryogen-free system.

The effects of Al deoxidation and Zr deoxidation on the microstructure and properties of sulfide stress corrosion resistant high-strength steel have been investigated. The feasibility of the Zr deoxidation instead of Al deoxidation was confirmed by the thermodynamic analysis of the deoxidation of various elements. The experimental results indicate that the average diameters of the inclusions in Al-Steel and Zr-Steel were 2.45 μm and 1.65 μm, respectively. The Al-Steel and Zr-Steel contained 22.38% and 68.77% inclusions per unit area, respectively, and the fraction of inclusions in the Al-Steel and Zr-Steel with diameters less than 2 μm was about 73.46% and 89.63%, respectively, indicating that the Zr deoxidation process could effectively refine inclusions and promote dispersion. The average diameters of austenite grain for the Al-Steel and Zr-Steel were about 9.1 μm and 8 μm, respectively. The fine particles in Zr-Steel could pin the austenite grain boundaries and clearly refine the grains. The average grain size of tempered martensite was 8.2 μm and 3.8 μm, respectively. The yield strength of the Al-Steel and Zr-Steel was 922 MPa and 939 MPa, respectively; the impact energy was 60 ± 6 J and 132 ± 6 J, respectively. Moreover, the fracture time of the NACE-A was from 28 h (Al-Steel) to 720 h (Zr-Steel) without fracture. The experimental steel deoxidized by Zr achieved a simultaneous improvement in strength, toughness and sulfide stress corrosion resistance, and the effect of inclusions on the fracture of the sulfide stress corrosion resistant high-strength steel can be explained by the Griffith theory.

Studies show that non-coding RNAs, especially microRNAs (miRNAs) and circular RNAs (circRNAs), and protein-coding genes are involved in the pathophysiology of multi-organ damage caused by Wilson’s disease (WD). However, circRNA expression profiles and their role in initiation and progression of WD kidney injury remain largely unclear at present. Here, we explored potential critical protein-coding genes, miRNAs, and circRNAs, as well as identify competitive endogenous RNAs (ceRNAs) in a WD mouse model by high-throughput sequencing. We investigated the expression profiles of circRNAs, miRNAs, and protein-coding genes, and identified 32 DEcircRs, 45 DEmiRs, and 1623 DEPs. Identified DEcircRs, DEmiRs, and DEPs were used to construct a ceRNA network, which consisted of 15 DEcircRNAs (four upregulated and 11 downregulated), 18 DEmiRNAs (14 upregulated and four downregulated), and 352 DEmRNAs (205 upregulated and 147 downregulated). Further experiments proved that mmu_circ_0001333 and mmu_circ_0000355 acted as sponges of miR-92b-5p, miR-107-3p, and miR-187-3p to regulate the expression of genes including Smad9, Mapk10, and Aldh3a2, which may participate in WD-related kidney injury. Taken together, this study identified the circRNA/miRNA/mRNA network involved in kidney failure in WD, which may serve as a potential biomarker for the pathogenesis of WD.