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Calcium carbonate is promising thermochemical heat storage material for next-generation solar power systems due to its high energy storage density, low cost, and high operation temperature. Researchers have tried to improve energy storage performances of calcium carbonate recently, but most researches focus on powders, which are not suitable for scalable applications. Here, novel granular porous calcium carbonate particles with very high solar absorptance, energy storage density, abrasive resistances, and energy storage rate are proposed for direct solar thermochemical heat storage. The average solar absorptance is improved by 234% compared with ordinary particles. Both cycle stability and abrasive resistances are excellent with almost no decay of energy storage density over 25 cycles nor apparent particle weight loss over 24 h of continuous operation insides a planetary ball mill. In addition, the decomposition temperature is reduced by 2.8%–5.6% while the reaction rate of heat storage is enhanced by 80%–205% depending on the CO2partial pressure. The decomposition process of doped granular porous CaCO3particles is found to involve three overlapping processes. This work provides new routes to achieve scalable direct solar thermochemical heat storage for next-generation high-temperature solar power systems.

•A solar receiver for heating supercritical CO2is proposed.•The receiver possesses the advantages of both volumetric and tubular receivers.•The solar-thermal efficiency of ˜86.64% can be reached in the proposed receiver.•Volumetric absorption with active temperature regulation via circulating airflow is incorporated.

Objective The aim of this research was to explore the effects on echinococcosis of harmine, an active ingredient of Peganum harmala.Methods The gene targets were screened out by use of an online database. STRING was exploited to build a protein interaction network model, DAVID to carry out gene ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analyses, and AutoDockTools for molecular docking. All mice were randomly divided into 3 groups: a model group, a normal group, and a harmine group. Blood indicators were detected and histological analysis was carried out. NCTC-1469 was treated with either harmine or control. Gene expression was evaluated by Western blot.Results Network pharmacological analysis concluded that 6 gene targets (HLA-B, HLA-DQB1, IL-6, tumor necrosis factor [TNF], HLA-A, and F3) might act as the major targets in the treatment of echinococcosis with harmine. GO function and KEGG pathway enrichment analyses showed that harmine might treat echinococcosis mainly by regulating the immune response. Molecular docking confirmed that harmine docked well to the targets and that the interactions were reliable. Harmine could regulate the content of inflammatory factors to modulate the immune response of mice, but caused liver damage. Pathological histology analysis confirmed that harmine had great suppressive efficacy against echinococcosis infection. However, the use of harmine would have a certain negative effect on the spleen of mice. The contents of HLA-B, HLA-DQB1, TNF, HLA-A, and F3 were observably enhanced, while Interleukin-6 was reduced in mouse liver tissue and cells after harmine treatment. As forecast by network pharmacology, harmine exerted antiechinococcosis effects by multiple targets and pathways. Finally, harmine treatment might regulate the Th17/Treg balance in mice with echinococcosis infection.Conclusions Harmine displayed great suppressive efficacy against echinococcosis infection by regulating the immune response. These findings suggest that harmine could be a potential therapeutic agent for echinococcosis management by targeting specific gene targets.

AbstractBackground:The unprecedented disruption brought about by the global coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic had produced tremendous influence on the practice of pharmacy. Sufficient knowledge of pharmacists was needed to deal with the epidemic situation; however, outbreak also aggravated psychological distress among health-care professionals. Therefore, this study aimed to determine knowledge about the pandemic and related factors, prevalence and factors associated with psychological distress among hospital pharmacists of Xinjiang Province, China.Methods:An anonymous online questionnaire-based cross-sectional study was conducted by means of WeChat, a popular social media platform in China, February 23-27, 2020, during the COVID-19 outbreak. The survey questionnaire consisted of 4 parts, including informed consent section, demographic section, knowledge about COVID-19, and assessment of overall mental health through World Health Organization’s Self-Reporting Questionnaire (SRQ-20). A score of 8 or above on SRQ-20 was used as cutoff to classify the participant as in psychological distress. SRQ-20 score and related knowledge score were used as dependent variables, demographic characteristics (such as gender, age, monthly income, etc.) were used as independent variables, and univariate binary logistic regression was used to screen out the variables with P< 0.05. Then, the filtered variables were used as independent variables, and multivariate logistic regression models were used to analyze associations with sufficient knowledge of COVID-19 and psychological distress.Results:A total of 365 pharmacists participated in the survey, fewer than half (35.1%; n= 128) of pharmacists attained a score of 6 or greater (out of 10) in overall disease knowledge, and most were able to select effective disinfectants and isolation or discharge criteria. In the multivariable model, age ages 31-40 (odds ratio [OR] = 3.25; P< 0.05), ages 41-50 (OR = 2.96; P< 0.05) versus >50 (referent); primary place of practice in hospitals: drug supply (OR = 4.00; P< 0.01), inpatient pharmacy (OR = 2.06, P< 0.01), clinical pharmacy (OR = 2.17, P< 0.05) versus outpatient pharmacy (referent); monthly income Renminbi (RMB, China’s legal currency) 5000-10,000 (OR = 1.77; P< 0.05) versus < 5000 (referent); contact with COVID-19 patients or suspected cases (OR = 2.27; P< 0.01); access to COVID-19 knowledge remote work+ on-site work (OR = 6.07; P< 0.05), single on-site work (OR = 6.90; P< 0.01) versus remote work (referent) were related to better knowledge of COVID-19. Research found that 18.4% of pharmacists surveyed met the SRQ-20 threshold for distress. Self-reported history of mental illness (OR = 3.56; P< 0.05) and working and living in hospital versus delay in work resumption (OR = 2.87; P< 0.01) were found to be risk factors of psychological distress.Conclusions:Further training of COVID-19 knowledge was required for pharmacists. As specific pharmacist groups were prone to psychological distress, it was important for individual hospitals and government to consider and identify pharmacists’ needs and take steps to meet their needs with regard to pandemic and other work-related distress.