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ObjectiveThis study aims to investigate the composition and function of the gut microbiome in long-term depression using an 8-week chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS) rat model.Materials and methodsAnimals were sacrificed after either 4 weeks or 8 weeks under CUMS to mimic long-term depression in humans. The gut microbiome was analyzed to identify potential depression-related gut microbes, and the fecal metabolome was analyzed to detect their functional metabolites. The correlations between altered gut microbes and metabolites in the long-term depression rats were explored. The crucial metabolic pathways related to long-term depression were uncovered through enrichment analysis based on these gut microbes and metabolites.ResultsThe microbial composition of long-term depression (8-week CUMS) showed decreased species richness indices and different profiles compared with the control group and the 4-week CUMS group, characterized by disturbance of Alistipes indistinctus, Bacteroides ovatus, and Alistipes senegalensis at the species level. Additionally, long-term depression was associated with disturbances in fecal metabolomics. D-pinitol was the only increased metabolite in the 8-week CUMS group among the top 10 differential metabolites, while the top 3 decreased metabolites in the long-term depression rats included indoxyl sulfate, trimethylaminen-oxide, and 3 alpha,7 alpha-dihydroxy-12-oxocholanoic acid. The disordered fecal metabolomics in the long-term depression rats mainly involved the biosynthesis of pantothenate, CoA, valine, leucine and isoleucine.ConclusionOur findings suggest that the gut microbiome may participate in the long-term development of depression, and the mechanism may be related to the regulation of gut metabolism.

The separation of light olefins from paraffins using membrane technology is highly desired; however, synthetic polymer membranes generally suffer a pernicious trade-off between permeability and selectivity. Herein, we show that this limitation can be overcome by constructing selective gas transfer pathways in a polymer matrix, as demonstrated by incorporating composites of ionic liquids and zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIFs) to form mixed-matrix membranes. Using propylene/propane separation as a model system, dramatic improvements in the propylene permeability of 218.4 Barrer and propylene/propane separation factor of 45.7 were achieved compared to the values obtained using individual components as a filler. The synergy between the high solubility of the gas molecules in ionic liquids and the size screening ability of ZIF exacerbates the difference in the transmission of propylene and propane, thus leading to superior separation performance. This work presents a promising strategy for the design of membranes for efficient gas separation.

Background: Synovitis, acne, pustulosis, hyperostosis, and osteitis (SAPHO) syndrome is a rare disease characterized by autoinflammatory lesions on bones and skin. Diversified manifestation and inadequate understanding of etiology have limited its diagnosis and treatment. SAPHO syndrome is also classified as primary inflammatory osteitis. The osteoarticular involvement is generally insidious in onset of this disease and associated biomarkers may be of significance for diagnosis, treatment, as well as clarifying the pathogenesis of SAPHO. In this study, we profiled the exosomal miRNA expression in peripheral blood of SAPHO patients to identify key miRNAs associated with this disease and try to find new molecule as potential biomarkers for SAPHO syndrome. Methods: We recruited 6 SAPHO patients and 3 healthy volunteers. The expression profile of miRNAs in circulating exosome was analyzed by next generation sequencing. Linear discriminant analysis effect size analysis and Wilcoxon rank-sum test were used to screen the biomarker based on the differential miRNAs, and the receiver operating characteristic curve was constructed to assess the diagnostic value. We performed Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) and Gene Ontology (GO) analyses to predict their potential functions and related pathways according to the target genes of the differential miRNAs. Results: In total 45 differentially expressed miRNAs in SAPHO patients were identified, among which 22 were upregulated and 23 were downregulated. MiR-144-3p was the most significantly upregulated miRNA. Meanwhile, miR-30d-3p, miR-627-3p, miR-556-5p, miR-18a-5p, miR-2355-3p, miR-24-1-5p, miR-6734-5p, miR-548d-5p, miR-548o-3p, miR-185-3p were distinctly expressed in SAPHO patients and undetectable in healthy volunteers. We identified 4 differential miRNAs (hsa-miR-150-5p, hsa-miR-144-3p, hsa-miR-142-5p and hsa-miR-30d-3) as biomarkers for SAPHO syndrome and the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was 1. The differential KEGG pathways enriched in immune system and endocrine system, as well as the infectious disease and cancers; while most significantly indicated molecular function in GO function were protein binding and catalytic activity. Conclusion: The exosomal miRNA profile in SAPHO syndrome was significantly changed and could be treated as biomarker to assist the diagnose, while their parts in pathology needed further exploration in the future.

The introduction of mesoporosity into the microporous metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) is expected to expand their applications. Herein, we report a green and facile method to obtain hierarchically porous MOF structures by using an air-steam etching process. By virtue of the protonation reaction between the imidazole moiety and water vapor, the protonated imidazole related linkers leave the framework, resulting in the formation of mesopores in the zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIFs), as exemplified by ZIF-8. Given the mild etching process, the materials’ structural integrity and crystallinity are well maintained. Remarkably, the proposed steam etching approach is generally applicable, which can be readily extended to other ZIFs, such as ZIF-14, ZIF-69, and ZIF-71, thus representing a powerful strategy to construct hierarchically porous MOF materials.

CO2 separation performance of polymer membranes can be significantly enhanced by selecting porous fillers with high CO2 affinity. Ionic liquids incorporation has been recognized as an effective strategy for improving the separation ability of pristine porous fillers. However, the influence of the specific functional groups of ILs in IL@MOF composites on separation performance of MMMs still remains unclear. Herein, we designed three microenvironment-tuned IL@ZIF-8 composites in which the three ILs contain different functional groups (-CH3, –SO3H, and –NH2). Molecular simulation results showed that the NH2-IL@ZIF-8 has a commendable CO2 adsorption capacity and CO2/CH4 adsorptive selectivity, and the results were well confirmed by the following experimental data. More importantly, the prepared NH2-IL@ZIF-8 based MMMs also exhibit superior CO2 separation performance among the three IL@ZIF-8 based MMMs owning to its high CO2 affinity. Thus, this work can provide guidance for designing IL@MOF composites for MMMs fabrication towards gas separation, and the research mode combining molecular simulation prediction and experimental verification can afford valuable reference for material development in membrane separation field.

Efficient separation of olefin/paraffin requires accurate regulation of the size of membrane channels, which is of great technical challenge. For flexible metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), there is good opportunity in constructing desirable membrane channels, as long as the lattice flexibility can be well controlled. Here, we demonstrate a facile polymer-mediated confined flexibility release strategy for realizing sharp molecular sieving separation of propylene/propane with highly scalable mixed-matrix membranes (MMMs). In this approach, the gradual release of framework flexibility of ZIF-8 is achieved through the progressive plasticization of the rigidified polymer chains chelated to the zinc nodes. This results in the continuous expanding of the aperture of ZIF-8, thus the appearance of an unprecedented non-equilibrium stage with high propylene/propane and ethylene/ethane separation factors (over 200 and 20) that far exceeds the existing MMMs, and long duration of practical significance. Additionally, the non-equilibrium stage can be regenerated simply, rapidly and repeatedly, endowing the membrane with the potential of being applied in a parallel single-stage membrane system for continuous production of polymerization grade propylene. This strategy not only provides high performance membrane candidates for olefin/paraffin separation, but also enlightens the exploitation of framework flexibility in molecular separations.

Emojis, used evidentially as any language is used in communication, have posed new challenges for courts to adopt emojis as evidence beyond the traditional mode of speech and communication and to i...

The synergistic effect between multiple active sites is a powerful approach to wield control in catalysis. However, it remains a challenge to integrate various active species simultaneously into a porous material in an organized and cooperative manner. Herein, by virtue of the tunable secondary building units (SUBs) and pore structures of metal–organic frameworks (MOFs), we demonstrate a straightforward way to integrate multiple catalytic components into MOFs via mechanochemical synthesis, whereby the phase separation of various components can be avoided. The multi-functionality in the resulting MOFs came from doping the metal nodes with another metal species and encapsulating molecular catalysts in the cavities, as demonstrated by partially replacing the zinc ions with cobalt ions and enveloping ionic liquids (IL) in the ZIF-8 (Zn) framework to yield IL@ZIF-8(Zn/Co). It is shown that compared to the homometallic MOF, the bimetallic one together with the introduced ionic liquid brings about the opportunity to take advantage of the synergism. This is reflected in the superior performance of IL@ZIF-8(Zn/Co) with respect to the related individual components in the industrially relevant cycloaddition of epoxides and CO2. Given that the strategy presented is applicable to other MOF materials and molecular catalysts, our approach, therefore, opens a new avenue for the introduction of multi-functionality into MOFs for various potential applications.

Metal–organic framework (MOF) membranes exhibit enormous potential for molecular mixtures’ sieving with high permeance, as well as high selectivity. Current MOF composite membranes suffer from unduly thick MOF layer and poor adhesion to the porous support. By a simple multiple seeded growth method, the ultrathin (less than 200 nm) and defect-free MOF layer is prepared on a ZIF-8 in-situ embedded PSf substrate. On the one hand, the nano-sized ZIF-8 crystals embedded on substrate surface act as anchors linking the ZIF-8 layer with the substrate. On the other hand, these ZIF-8 crystals also act as seeds to promote the formation of the ZIF-8 layer and reduce the crystallization time, leading to a thin and continuous ZIF-8 layer. The obtained ultrathin ZIF-8 membrane shows superior gas molecular sieving performance, with a high gas permeance of 24.5 × 10−7 mol/m2/s/Pa for H2 and selectivity of 4.5, 23.2, and 31.5 for H2/CO2, H2/N2, and H2/CH4, respectively. In addition, neither the permeance or the selectivity shows a noticeable change after 3% elongation, which indicates high mechanical integrity of the MOF layer on the ZIF-8 in-situ embedded PSf substrate. We believe that the utilization of MOF in-situ embedded polymer substrate offers a universal and simple strategy strengthening and thinning the MOF layer of its composite membranes.

Objective To investigate the clinical value of non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) to screen for chromosomal abnormalities in twin pregnancies and to provide further data on NIPT manifestations in twin pregnancies. Materials and methods In a 4-year period, 1048 women with twin pregnancies were voluntarily prospectively tested by NIPT to screen for chromosomal abnormalities by sequencing cell-free foetal DNA (cffDNA) in maternal plasma. Positive NIPT results were confirmed by karyotyping, while negative results were followed up 42 days after delivery. Results Thirteen women had positive NIPT results as follows: 2 cases of trisomy 21 (T21), 1 of trisomy 18 (T18), 7 of sex chromosome aneuploidy (SCA), 1 of microdeletion, and 2 of microduplication. Of these 13 cases, 2 were true-positive cases confirmed by foetal karyotype analysis, namely, 1 case of T21 and 1 of microdeletion. Furthermore, the remaining 11 high-risk pregnant women were confirmed as false positive by foetal karyotyping. Thus, the combined positive predictive value (PPV) of NIPT screening for chromosomal abnormalities in twin pregnancies was 15.4% (2/13). There were no false-negative case via our follow-up results. Conclusion Safe and rapid NIPT has a certain clinical application value; however, the PPV is limited, and the screening efficiency is not stable. Careful use should be made in the screening of chromosomal abnormalities in twin pregnancies.

Background SAPHO syndrome is a group of symptoms consisting of synovitis, acne, pustulosis, hyperostosis and osteosis. There is no specific laboratory index assist in the diagnosis of SAPHO because of its highly heterogeneous clinical manifestations. Pathogenic microorganisms had been identified in biopsies of some SAPHO cases and particular gene mutations were also linked to the occurrence of SAPHO. It is largely unknown whether intestinal microbiome plays a role in pathogenesis of SAPHO. To explore the intestinal microbiome structure of SAPHO syndrome, fecal samples from 17 SAPHO patients and 14 healthy controls (HC) were collected for 16S rDNA sequencing. Results Our results showed that there was no significant difference in alpha indexes and beta diversity between SAPHO and HC samples, while there were 14 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) in the Wilcoxon rank-sum test and 42 OTUs in the MetagenomeSeq analysis showed significant difference in distribution between the SAPHO and HC groups, 3 of which in Firmicutes were also observed in the random forest analysis and used to construct a receiver operating characteristic curve to evaluate the diagnostic value, the area under the curve was 0.86. Conclusion Fecal-associated microbiome in the SAPHO samples was characterized by the alteration in abundance of some nondominant species, and the 3 selected OTUs in Firmicutes could serve as candidate biomarkers for SAPHO syndrome diagnosis.

This study explores the administrative law enforcement from three perspectives, namely, discourse, cognition and society, according to van Dijk’s theory of critical discourse studies. “Discourse” is the essential linguistic analysis of administrative law enforcement, which may lead to the tension between law-executors and law-breakers, as well as to ease the conflicts and achieve the balance, so that the discourse mode with considerable tolerance and explanation is of great significance for improving the current practice of administrative law enforcement. “Cognition” deals with psychological model based on cognitive and social psychology. In the interaction of administrative law enforcement, the social roles are institutionalized by the context, which is achieved through knowledge background, cognitive methods, communicative purpose, role expectations and information transmission. “Society” focuses on the investigation of institutions, powers and groups based on sociology. There are normative factors and non-normative variables in the administrative law enforcement: the former refers to superior will, judicial review, supervision and defense of law-breaker, while the latter involves administrative habits and experience, natural emotions, interest and mass media. In the institutional context, social variables affect the implementation of administrative law enforcement in different discourse modes.

This study investigates the reform of supervision system in China through the Supervision Law, and identifies this Law as a sign within its corresponding social and political purposes and intentions from the sociosemiotic perspective. Within its legislation process, the Supervision Law could be identified as both a sign textualized among the disciplinary regulations, and as a signifier configured with the successive interpretants by relevant laws, for example, the Constitution Amendment 2018 and the Criminal Procedure Law 2018, showing the social construction of legislative meaning as infinite semiosis. In other words, from the whole process of sign perception, reception, acceptation, and interpretation, a legislative text could be interpreted both as a sign constructed in the external but relevant sign systems and as a signifier reconstructed with the successive but infinite interpretants in the internal sign system. This study also finds that the social construction of meaning is achieved and re...

Additional file 1: Supplementary materials

The introduction of mesoporosity into the microporous metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) is expected to expand their applications. Herein, we report a green and facile method to obtain hierarchically porous MOF structures by using an air-steam etching process. By virtue of the protonation reaction between the imidazole moiety and water vapor, the protonated imidazole related linkers leave the framework, resulting in the formation of mesopores in the zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIFs), as exemplified by ZIF-8. Given the mild etching process, the materials’ structural integrity and crystallinity are well maintained. Remarkably, the proposed steam etching approach is generally applicable, which can be readily extended to other ZIFs, such as ZIF-14, ZIF-69, and ZIF-71, thus representing a powerful strategy to construct hierarchically porous MOF materials.

The selective adsorption of ethane (C2H6) in the separation process of C2H6 and ethylene (C2H4) is of great importance for obtaining polymer-grade C2H4 in industry, yet it is still challenging task to develop suitable adsorbents with large adsorption capacity, high selectivity and excellent stability for efficient separation of C2H6/C2H4. Herein, carbazole-based covalent trazine frameworks (CTFs) prepared by ionothermal strategy are proposed for C2H6/C2H4 for the first time. By changing the preparation conditions, the obtained CTF-DCTC-500 shows defective ultramicropore structure while CTF-DCTC-400 does not. Compared with CTF-DCTC-400, the introduction of defective ultramicropore in CTF-DCTC-500 not only increases the adsorption capacity of C2H6, but also exhibits obviously C2H6/C2H4 separation behavior. Surprisingly, the adsorption selectivity of C2H6/C2H4 in CTF-DCTC-500 at 298 K and 1 bar is up to 2.08, exceeding all reported COF materials. To the best of our knowledge, this is first reported CTF material with preferential C2H6 adsorption over C2H4. Breakthrough experiments on CTF-DCTC-500 reveal that the polymer-grade C2H4 with 99.95 % purity can be directly obtained from the C2H6/C2H4 mixture in the practical application. Furthermore, CTF-DCTC-500 possesses the high chemical stability and excellent cycling stability and regeneration for C2H6/C2H4 separation, indicating it is a promising material for C2H6/C2H4 separation. This work not only provides a highly stable carbazole-based CTF with high C2H6/C2H4 separation selectivity, but also emphasizes the important role of defective ultramicropore structure on C2H6/C2H4 separation.

SAPHO syndrome is an inflammatory disease invading the skin and bones, whose diagnosis has been difficult due to its low incidence and diversified manifestation. We investigated the serum proteomic profile of SAPHO patients to identify key proteins associated with SAPHO syndrome, trying to find clinical biomarkers or functional molecules for this rare disease. Blood samples from 8 SAPHO patients and 8 healthy controls were detected and analyzed using data independent acquisition (DIA) method to identify differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) specific to SAPHO. A total of 57 differentially expressed proteins were identified (p 0.05, fold change1.2), in which 27 proteins were upregulated and 30 downregulated. DEPs may participate in GO terms such as "lipid particle" and "Notch signaling pathway", as well as KEGG pathways including "complement and coagulation cascades" and "mTOR signaling pathway". The overexpression of inhibitors of the complement system (CFH and C4BP), were verified in a larger cohort (16 SAPHO patients, 8 AS patients and 24 healthy controls) with ELISA, and the combined diagnostic ability of CFH and C4BP was predicted by ROC curve with an AUC of 0.91, which may be molecular candidates for further study on diagnosis and pathology of this rare disease. SIGNIFICANCE: Our research provided the first insight into plasma proteomic profile for SAPHO patients，offering potential biomarkers for disease diagnosis. We found that inhibitors of complement system such as CFH and C4BP were up-regulated in SAPHO syndrome, which may play important roles in the pathogenesis of SAPHO syndrome.

Accumulating evidence has indicated that circular RNAs (circRNAs) serve crucial roles in the progression of a diverse range of different types of cancer, including osteosarcoma (OS). The present study determined the expression pattern and function of circRNA homeodomain interacting protein kinase 3 (circHIPK3), a novel circular RNA, in OS. It was revealed that circHIPK3 expression was upregulated in OS tissue samples and OS cell lines. A localization assay revealed that circHIPK3 was primarily located in the cytoplasm. Using loss-of-function proliferation and Transwell assays, the present study revealed that circHIPK3-knockdown suppressed OS cell proliferation, migration and invasion. Furthermore, the present study screened potential microRNAs that may interact with circHIPK3. It was revealed that microRNA-637 (miR-637) expression was downregulated in OS according to a Gene Expression Omnibus data analysis. In addition, the present study demonstrated that miR-637 expression was downregulated in OS cell lines. A fluorescence in situ hybridization assay revealed that both miR-637 and circHIPK3 were located in the cytoplasm. An in-depth mechanism investigation demonstrated that circHIPK3 expression was inversely correlated with miR-637 expression, and that circHIPK3 was a target of miR-637. In addition, it was revealed that histone deacetylase 4 (HDAC4) was another downstream target gene of miR-637, as demonstrated using a luciferase assay. It was revealed that miR-637 suppressed OS cell proliferation, migration and invasion via targeting of HDAC4. Finally, the present study demonstrated that circHIPK3 sponged miR-637 to promote HDAC4 expression and OS cell proliferation, migration and invasion. In conclusion, the present study uncovered the role of the circHIPK3/miR-637/HDAC4 axis in OS cell proliferation, migration and invasion. It was demonstrated that circHIPK3 promoted OS cell proliferation, migration and invasion by modulating miR-637/HDAC4 signaling.

Based on the literature review of previous studies in court interaction, this paper tries to confine its discussion into a relatively detailed topic— presuppositions—in both direct examination and cross-examination. The primary aim is to examine the interaction between illocutionary acts, meaning and intentions in court discourse, which is helpful to understand the interaction between different discourse community in judicial system, while the ultimate goal is to investigate the balance between narrative and persuasion achieved by patterns of presuppositions, which are initiated by court questioners: prosecutors and lawyers. This paper finds in direct examination, presuppositions make evidence more admissible, witness more credible and therefore narrative more coherent, believable; in cross-examination, presuppositions are mainly used to challenge the credibility of the hostile witness and therefore deconstruct the narrative of the opposite lawyer. A presupposition is a method of verifying or challenging facts and credibility.

This work describes a facile approach to modify metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) with ionic liquids (ILs), rendering them as useful heterogeneous catalysts for CO2 chemical fixation. An amino-functionalized imidazolium-based ionic liquid is firmly grafted into the porous MOF, MIL-101-SO3H by the acid-base attraction between positively charged ammonium groups on the IL and negatively charged sulfonate groups from the MOF. Analyses by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, 1H NMR, and N2 sorption experiments reveal the MOF-supported ionic liquid (denoted as IL@MOF) material remains intact while functioning as a recyclable heterogeneous catalyst that can efficiently convert CO2 and epichlorohydrin into chloropropene carbonate without the addition of a cocatalyst.

The Co2P nanoparticles hybridized with unique N-doping carbon matrices have been successfully designed employing ZIF-67 as the precursor via a facile two-step procedure. The Co2P nanostructures are shielded with reduced graphene oxide (rGO) to enhance electrical conductivity and mitigate volume expansion/shrinkage during sodium storage. As anode materials for sodium-ion batteries (SIBs), the novel architectures of Co2P@N-C@rGO exhibited excellent sodium storage performance with a high reversible capacity of 225 mA h g-1 at 50 mA g-1 after 100 cycles. Our study demonstrates the significant potential of Co2P@N-C@rGO as anode materials for SIBs.

Cu2ZnSnS4 (CZTS) thin film solar cells become an interesting research topic due to some advantages of the CZTS thin film such as having nontoxic and abundant components, a low price and excellent optoelectronic properties. In this work, a solution-based preparation method was developed to fabricate a CZTS solar cell with a superstrate structure of FTO/TiO2/CdS/CZTS/P3HT/Cu by using mixed solvent. Nanocrystalline TiO2 porous thin film was used as the bottom layer for deposition of CZTS to increase the interfacial area of CZTS. To deposit CZTS inside the porous structure leading to a good contact of CZTS with porous TiO2 thin film, the CZTS precursor particle size is successfully regulated by changing the volume ratios of N,N-dimethylformamide and ethanol. More importantly, small size CZTS precursor particles can easily enter into the porous structure of nanocrystalline thin film leading to a good interfacial contact, which allowed the effective improvement of the light-to-electric conversion efficiency for the present superstrate CZTS solar cell. This work may provide a promising way for the design of high-efficient superstrate solar cells.

This study starts with the multi-dimensional analysis of describing linguistic variation in legislative discourse through three corpora (Chinese legislative corpus, the corresponding English translation corpus and American legislative corpus). Based on the findings from the multi-dimensional data derived from the factor analysis, contrastive interpretations are provided for related legal representations. This study then goes further to apply the corpus-based multi-dimensional analytical approach, deducing total 53 features into 5 interpretable underlying dimensions, represented as: Dimension 1 Involved Production vs. Specialized Information Density; Dimension 2 Narrative vs. Non-Narrative Discourse; Dimension 3 Author-centered Explicitness vs. Situational-dependent Reference; Dimension 4 Overly vs. Not Overly Expression of Persuasion; and Dimension 5 Abstract Description vs. Non-impersonal Style. After the analysis of certain typical patterns among these five dimensions, this study identifies and discusses four legal representations (non-narrative and explicitness, high informational density, the decontextualized style, and less overly persuasion) as key features represented in legislative discourse. Finally, general characteristics, tendencies and preferences identified in the three types of legislative texts are further deduced and interpreted from jurisprudential perspectives.

Pore constructing in polyamide thin film composite (TFC) membranes through the mixed matrix strategy is of great interest to the production of nanofiltration membranes with high liquid permeance, however still facing challenges in fine control of filler distribution and filler-polymer interfacial microstructure. Herein, ZrT-1-NH2, one kind of water stable metal-organic polyhedron (MOP) molecular cages with intrinsic porosity, was exploited to construct porous MOP membranes through interfacial polymerization assembly for the first time. Continuous and defect-free separating layer can be facilely assembled on polymer ultrafiltration support by crosslinking ZrT-1-NH2 with trimesoyl chloride (TMC). The permanent pores inherited from ZrT-1-NH2 and the network pores originated from the mismatch in molecular volume of ZrT-1-NH2 and TMC offer the MOP membrane great water permeance (82.0 L·m−2·h−1·bar−1), as well as attractive dye rejection (99.7% for congo red) and dye/salt separation performance. Moreover, the ZrT-1-NH2/TMC composite membrane also exhibited good antifouling and antibacterial properties. The MOP membrane can well combine the developed porous structure of thin film nanocomposite membranes with the advantages of polyamide membranes in simplicity and scalability of membrane fabrication, showing good potential for application in practical molecular separations.

Metal–organic frameworks are a class of attractive materials for fluorescent sensing. Improvement of hydrolytic stability, sensitivity, and selectivity of function is the key to advance application of fluorescent MOFs in aqueous media. In this work, two stable MOFs, [Zr6O4(OH)8(H2O)4(L1)2] (BUT-14) and [Zr6O4(OH)8(H2O)4(L2)2] (BUT-15), were designed and synthesized for the detection of metal ions in water. Two new ligands utilized for construction of the MOFs, namely, 5′,5‴-bis(4-carboxyphenyl)-[1,1′:3′,1″:4″,1‴:3‴,1′′′′-quinquephenyl]-4,4′′′′-dicarboxylate (L1) and 4,4′,4″,4‴-(4,4′-(1,4-phenylene)bis(pyridine-6,4,2-triyl))tetrabenzoate (L2), are structurally similar with the only difference being that the latter is functionalized by pyridine N atoms. The two MOFs are isostructural with a sqc-a topological framework structure, and highly porous with the Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) surface areas of 3595 and 3590 m2 g–1, respectively. Interestingly, they show intense fluorescence in water, which can be sol...

Metal–organic-framework (MOF) derived carbon materials have attracted particular attention in recent years as a new class of porous conducting materials because of their well-connected networks, and tunable and versatile porosities. Herein, we report on a novel porous MOF-derived carbon framework supported PbS quantum dot-sensitized solar cells (QDSSCs). A zeolitic-imidazole framework (ZIF) layer is prepared by printing ZIF-67 powders, followed by the careful carbonation in N2. Then nanocrystalline SnO2 thin film is coated and PbS quantum dots (QDs) are further deposited to form a PbS QD-sensitized porous conducting framework supported nanocrystalline SnO2 thin film. The morphologies and microstructure of the porous conducting framework were characterized in detail by the measurements of XRD, SEM, TEM, Raman spectrum and BET. Prior to deposition of PbS QDs, a compact TiO2 layer is modified on the sites of the porous conducting framework uncovered by SnO2 nanoparticles. The porous conducting framework is beneficial to the electron transporting process in the nanocrystalline thin film, while the compact TiO2 layer effectively suppresses the recombination of the transported electrons. The photovoltaic performance of QDSSCs is greatly improved due to the introduction of the porous conducting framework and the corresponding TiO2 compact layer. Eventually, the porous conducting framework buried in the nanocrystalline thin film improves light-to-electric conversion efficiency by 2.5 times compared with that of the cell without the porous carbon framework.

In this work, we demonstrate a facile molecular-level modification method that imparts superhydrophobic character to Zr-based MOFs, while retaining their high porosity. Alkyl phosphonic acids, such as n-octadecylphosphonic acid (OPA), interact with the zirconium oxide clusters situated near and on the surface of the MOF. The octadecyl alkyl chains reduce the surface free energy on the MOF's exterior, yielding a superhydrophobic material with a contact angle greater than 150°. After exposure to aqueous solutions with a high pH and high ionic strength, the OPA-MOFs retain nearly identical surface areas. Notably, the OPA-MOFs are capable of separating organic liquids from water, which could facilitate oil/water separation applications in the event of an oil spill.

Based on extensive accumulated evidence and using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) system, we have developed clinical practice guidelines for the use of acupuncture to treat low back pain (LBP). In the guidelines, we considered the objective and scope of this guide, the diagnostic criteria and syndrome differentiation standards of traditional Chinese medicine and western medicine for LBP, the treatment principles of acupuncture, intervention opportunities for acupuncture, and recommendations for use of different acupuncture therapies for acute/subacute and chronic LBP.

MOF/polymer interface in mixed-matrix membranes (MMMs) has been considered as a crucial issue for achieving highly efficient gas separation performance. In this research, aluminum fumarate framework (A520) based mixed matrix hydrogel self-supported membranes (A520-MMHMs) were prepared by a facile UV photopolymerization. The hydrophilic A520 incorporated into hydrogel polymer effectively avoided the formation of interfacial defects and improved the compatibility between MOF and hydrogel matrix. As a result, the A520-MMHM possessed enhanced CO2 permeability (∼432.87 Barrer) and CO2/CH4 selectivity (∼51.05) in comparison with pure hydrogel membrane. This performance data is very close to the updated McKeown 2019 upper bound, far exceeding the 2008 Robeson upper bound. Therefore, the design of hydrogel membrane incorporated with water-stable MOF may open up a new way for optimizing self-supported hydrogel membrane performance in gas separation.

Oriented nano-microstructure-assisted controllable fabrication, a facile and versatile preparation strategy, is developed to fabricate metal-organic framework (MOF) membranes. With this method, several MOF membranes with tailored structures are prepared, including HKUST-1 (with 3D pores) and M3 (HCOO)6 (with 1D pores; M = Co, Mn, and Mg) membranes, which demonstrate good performances in gas separations.

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are promising candidates for membrane-based gas separation due to their regular crystalline lattices with relatively well-defined pore structures. To date, the preparation of integrated MOF membranes grown on porous substrates is still a major challenge. Herein, a facile aggregation-based growth method is developed to prepare a Co-MOF-74 (referred to as Co2(dobdc), H4dobdc = 2,5-dihydroxyterephthalic acid) membrane on a nanostructure array modified nickel (Ni) foam substrate. Ni3S2 nanorod arrays directly grown from the Ni-foam substrate can aggregate and effectively regulate the growth of Co-MOF-74 crystals along a given direction. The effect of reaction time on membrane growth is discussed. The resulting Co-MOF-74 membrane presents good H2 permeance and H2/CO2 selectivity.