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Aging brings about physiological dysfunction, disease, and eventual mortality. An increasing number of studies indicate that aging can easily lead to dysbiosis of the gut microbiota, which can further affect digestion, nerves, cognition, emotions, and more. Therefore, gut bacteria play an important role in regulating the physical functions of aging populations. While saponins, the primary components of American ginseng, are frequently utilized for treating common ailments in the elderly due to their potent antioxidant properties, there is a scarcity of comprehensive studies on aging organisms. This study focused on 18 month old aging mice and investigated the effects of single intervention and combined intervention of Rb1 and Re, the main components of Panax quinquefolium saponins, on the gut microbiota of aging mice. High throughput 16s RNA gene sequencing analysis was performed on the gut contents of the tested mice, and the results showed that Rb1 and Re had a significant impact on the gut microbiota. Rb1, Re, and Rb1 + Re can effectively enhance the diversity of gut microbiota, especially in the combined Rb1 + Re group, which can recover to the level of young mice. Re can promote the abundance of probiotics such as Lactobacillus, Lactobacillaceae, and Lactobacillus, and inhibit the abundance of harmful bacteria such as Enterobacteriaceae. This indicates that the intervention of Rb1, Re, and Rb1 + Re can maintain the homeostasis of gut microbiota, and the combined application of Rb1 + Re has a better effect. The relationship between aging, brain gut axis, and gut microbiota is very close. Saponins can improve the gut microbiota of aging individuals by maintaining the balance of gut microbiota and the normal function of the brain gut axis, enabling the body to achieve a gut microbiota homeostasis closer to that of young healthy mice.

Abstract Background Bloodstream infection of Klebsiella pneumoniae (BSI-KP) were associated with increased mortality. Klebsiella pneumoniae was tested to susceptible to colistin by E-test and broth microdilution method in clinical laboratory. This study aimed to assess the efficacy of colistin versus tigecycline, carbapenem monotherapy and combination in the treatment of BSI-KP. Methods Electronic databases such as PubMed, Web of Science and Embase were searched. The last search was in November 24th, 2022, addressing the colistin, carbapenems and tigecycline monotherapy and combination treatments in patients with BSI-KP. The primary outcomes were 30-day or 28-day mortality. OR where available with 95% CI were pooled in random-effects meta-analysis. Results Following the outlined search strategy, a total of 658 articles were identified from the initial database searching. Six studies, 17 comparisons were included. However, they all were observational design, lacking high-quality randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Moderate or low-quality evidences suggested that colistin monotherapy was associated with an OR = 1.35 (95% CI = 0.62–2.97, P = 0.45, Tau 2 = 0.00, I 2 = 0%) compared with tigecycline monotherapy, OR = 0.81 (95% CI = 0.27–2.45, P = 0.71, Tau 2 = 0.00, I 2 = 0%) compared with carbapenem monotherapy. Compared with combination with tigecycline or carbapenem, Colistin monotherapy resulted in OR of 3.07 (95% CI = 1.34–7.04, P = 0.008, Tau 2 = 0.00, I 2 = 0%) and 0.98 (95%CI = 0.29–3.31, P = 0.98, Tau 2 = 0.00, I 2 = 0% ), respectively. Conclusions Colistin, carbapenem and tigecycline monotherapy showed similar treatment effects in patients who suffered from BSI-KP. Compared with colistin monotherapy, colistin combined tigecycline therapy might play the synergism effects. Trial registration retrospectively registered.

The building energy performance gap (EPG) seriously restricts the improvement of building energy efficiency. Currently, although many studies on EPG, it is not yet fully understood and addressed. To fill this gap, this paper conducted an extensive review of EPG research. Firstly, the magnitude of EPG was summarized from many case studies, and the results showed that it varied greatly among building types, with gap ratios ranging from 0.5 to 4 for educational/research buildings, concentrated between 0.5 and 2.5 for residential buildings, and between 0 and 1 for office building. Then, fifteen direct causes and seven in-depth drivers of EPG were analyzed from simulation and lifecycle perspectives, and the linkages between them were established. Furthermore, solutions for EPG were summarized, including some state-of-the-art technical and “soft” measures, and their correspondence with the underlying causes. Finally, eight future research recommendations were proposed based on the limitations of existing strategies.

A method was developed to identify and trace the geographic sources of Erigeron breviscapus using high-resolution mass spectrometry and chemometrics. The representative samples were collected from the geographic area of Honghe Dengzhanhua and other areas in Yunnan province and Guizhou province. The data points could be determined well using the PCA and PLS-DA diagram. A total of 46 characteristic compounds were identified from Honghe Dengzhanhua and within Guizhou province, but 37 compounds were different from Honghe Dengzhanhua and other counties in Yunnan province. Two biomarkers were found from three regions. Their structures were inferred as 8-amino-7-oxononanoic acid and 8-hydroxyquinoline, and they had the same molecular composition. This may suggest that a possible synthesis pathway can be proven in the future.

In this study, we have investigated the effects of Tremella fuciformis polysaccharide (TP) on the pasting, rheological, structural and in vitro digestive properties of Cyperus esculentus starch (CS). The results showed that the addition of TP significantly changed the pasting characteristics of CS, increased the pasting temperature and pasting viscosity, inhibited pasting, reduced the exudation of straight-chain starch and was positively correlated with the amount of TP added. The addition of the appropriate amount of TP could increase its apparent viscosity and enhance its viscoelasticity. The composite system of CS/TP exhibited higher short-range ordered structure and solid dense structure, which protected the crystal structure of CS, but was related to the amount of TP added. In addition, the introduction of TP not only decreased the in vitro digestion rate of CS and increased the content of slow-digestible starch (SDS) and resistant starch (RS), but also reduced the degree of digestion. Correlation studies established that TP could improve the viscoelasticity, relative crystallinity and short-range order of the CS/TP composite gel, maintain the integrity of the starch granule and crystalline structure, reduce the degree of starch pasting and strengthen the gel network structure of CS, which could help to lower the digestibility of CS.

Further research is needed on the capability of residential communities to achieve energy self-sufficiency under the constraints of current standards of land use, in particular for the Hot Summer and Cold Winter climate zone (HSCW) of China, where the majority of communities are dominated by high floor-area ratios, thus high-rise dwellings, namely less solar potential per unit floor area, while most residents adopt a “part-time, part-space” pattern of intermittent energy use behavior, thus using relatively low energy per unit floor area. This study examines 150 communities in Changsha to identify morphological indicators and develop a prototype model utilizing the Grasshopper platform. Community morphology is simulated and optimized by taking building location, orientation, and number of floors as independent variables and building energy consumption, solar PV generation, and energy self-sufficiency rate as dependent variables. The results reveal that the morphology optimization can achieve a 4.26% decrease in building energy consumption, a 45% increase in PV generation, and a 13.2% enhancement in energy self-sufficiency, with the optimal being 39%. It highlights that energy self-sufficiency cannot be achieved solely through morphology improvements. Moreover, the study underscores the crucial role of community orientation in maximizing energy self-sufficiency, with the south–north orientation identified as the most beneficial. Additionally, a layout characterized by a horizontally closed and staggered pattern and a vertically scattered arrangement emerges as favorable for enhancing energy self-sufficiency. These findings underscore the importance of considering morphological factors, particularly community orientation, in striving towards energy-self-sufficient high-rise residential communities within the HSCW climate zone of China.

The effect of Tremella fuciformis polysaccharide (TFP) on the retrogradation property and aroma profile changes of tteok during storage was investigated. Results indicated that addition of TFP significantly increased the stability to thermal and mechanical shearing of starch, decreased short-term retrogradation, the hardness and the retrogradation enthalpy (ΔH) of tteok during storage, but had no significant effect on the amylopectin chain length of tteok. The possible mechanism for the retarding staling effect of TFP is related to the interaction between TFP and starch chains that interferes with the alignment of starch chains. Electronic nose and gas chromatography-mass spectrum (GC-MS) analysis results showed that the difference in the concentrations of volatile compounds and fatty acids of tteoks at different storage time gradually increased with the advancement of storage period. The addition of TFP to tteok inhibited the development of unpleasant volatile compounds, probably by delaying the oxidation and decomposition of lipids and preserving the antioxidant phenolic compounds in tteok, thus slowing down the flavor deterioration of tteok and contributing to flavor maintainace. Overall, this study could help food manufacturers to choose a high-effective and natural polysaccharide to control the retrogradation rate and flavor loss of tteok.

【Objective】Chlorpyrifos is widely used and has good stability, and its residue has been detected in the environmental medium in many areas. In order to monitor the residues of chlorpyrifos in soil, water and other environmental substrates, and to ensure the quality and safety of environment, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to detect chlorpyrifos rapidly in the environment.【Method】Based on the principle of specific binding of antigen and antibody, an indirect competitive ELISA was established to detect chlorpyrifos in the environment. The test conditions were optimized, and the sensitivity, cross-reaction and effect of organic solvents on the antibody were studied.【Result】Under the optimal conditions, the logarithm of chlorpyrifos concentration was linearly related to the absorbance value, the regression equationwas B/B0=-24.87 logC + 97.55 and the correlation coefficient (R2) was over 0.99. The IC50 of chlorpyrifos was 81.65 ng/mL, and the detection limit IC20 was 5.1 μg/L. The method was validated by selecting appropriate pretreatment methods according to different substrates. The recovery rates of chlorpyrifos ranged from 70% to 115% and the relative standard deviation was less than 11%. The relative standard deviation of precision was less than 10%. The accuracy of the method was verified by comparison with the gas chromatography. The prepared reagents shall not be stored for more than 6 months. The detection effects were not affected by reagents at 4 ℃ and -20 ℃ within 180 days.【Conclusion】With certain specificity, stability and precision, the established indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay can be used for rapid and flexible detection of chlorpyrifos residues in different types of soil and water samples.

【Objective】The study was conducted to establish a fast method for the detection of formaldehyde content in vegetables, identify the residue level and understand the dietary exposure risk of formaldehyde in vegetables.【Method】The single factor experiment was used to optimize the key experimental conditions, and then a method acetylacetone spectrophotometry for the detection of formaldehyde contents in vegetables was established. The formaldehyde contents of 383 vegetable samples were analyzed and the exposure risk of formaldehyde in vegetables was assessed with point evaluation method.【Result】The detection limit and the quantitation limit for the determination of formaldehyde in vegetables with acetylacetone spectrophotometry were 0.45 and 1.5 mg/kg, respectively; At the added levels of 1.5, 7.5 and 15 mg/kg, the recovery rates ranged from 86.33% to 92.4% with the relative standard deviations were of 2.23%-4.21%. The detection rates of formaldehyde in different vegetables were 5.00%-72.73% with the total detection rate of 26.37%, and the average detection values of different vegetables were 0.47-1.67 mg/kg. The dietary exposure levels of formaldehyde contents in different vegetables to the general population ranged from 0.0019 to 0.068 mg/kg (bw/d) with the MOS ranging from 14.1 to 289.8, and the dietary exposure levels of formaldehyde contents in vegetables to different populations were 0.0060-0.15 mg/kg (bw/d) with the MOS ranging from 10.1 to 33.3. All the evaluated values of MOS were greater than 1.【Conclusion】The method of acetylacetone spectrophotometry is simple, accurate and sensitive, which is suitable for the fast determination of formaldehyde in vegetables. The dietary intake risk of formaldehyde residues in vegetables is low and within the acceptable range.

Abstract Background This trial aimed to analyse the safety, effectiveness and transcriptomic characteristics of neoadjuvant toripalimab plus chemotherapy in II–III non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Methods Patient eligibility mainly involved treatment-naive, clinical stage II–III and wild-type EGFR/ALK NSCLC. The patients received 2–4 cycles of toripalimab (240 mg q3w) plus carboplatin-based chemotherapy. After the second treatment cycle, all patients were re-evaluated by a multidisciplinary team. Candidates eligible for surgery underwent surgery; otherwise, patients received the remaining treatment cycles. The primary endpoints were safety and major pathological response (MPR). Secondary endpoints were R0 resection rate, progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS). RNA sequencing of baseline and post-treatment samples was conducted to explore the transcriptomic characteristics of the therapeutic response. Results In total, 50 eligible patients were enrolled, including 12 (24.0%) with resectable disease (RD) and 38 (76.0%) with potentially resectable disease (PRD). Treatment-related adverse events (TRAEs) were recorded in 48 cases (96.0%). Severe TRAEs occurred in 3 (6.0%) cases, including myelosuppression, drug-induced liver injury and death related to haemoptysis. The objective response rate (ORR) was 76.0%, with 8 (16.0%) patients having a complete response (CR), 30 (60.0%) partial response (PR), 10 (20.0%) stable disease (SD) and 2 (4.0%) progressive disease (PD). Surgery could be achieved in 12 (100%) patients with RD and 25 (65.8%) with PRD; 1 (2.0%) with PRD refused surgery. Therefore, R0 resection was performed for all 36 (100%) patients who underwent surgery; 20 (55.6%) achieved MPR, including 10 (27.8%) with a complete pathological response (pCR). The CHI3L1 (chitinase-3-like protein 1) immunohistochemistry (IHC) expression of baseline tumour samples could predict the therapeutic response (AUC=0.732), OS (P=0.017) and PFS (P=0.001). Increased PD-1 expression, T cell abundance and immune-related pathway enrichment were observed in post-treatment samples compared to baseline in the response group (CR+PR) but not in the non-response group (SD+PD). Conclusions Neoadjuvant toripalimab plus chemotherapy was safe and effective, with a high MPR and manageable TRAEs for II–III NSCLC, even converting initially PRD to RD. Disparate transcriptomic characteristics of therapeutic efficiency were observed, and CHI3L1 expression predicted therapeutic response and survival. Trial registration ChiCTR1900024014, June 22, 2019.

Abstract The residues of cycloxaprid enantiomers and metabolites are investigated by ultraperformance liquid chromatography–high‐resolution mass spectrometry (UPLC‐HRMS) during raw and ripen Puer tea processing. A Chiralpak AG column with chiral stationary phase of amylose tris (3‐chloro‐5‐methylphenylcarbamate) is succeed to separate the 1R, 2S‐cycloxaprid, 1S, 2R‐cycloxaprid, and their metabolite, which is identified as nitrylene‐imidazolidine. It is not conversed 1R, 2S ‐cycloxaprid into 1S,2R‐cycloxaprid during Puer tea processing. The estimated half‐lives of the 1R,2S‐cycloxaprid and 1S,2R‐cycloxaprid are 0.97 and 1.1 h, respectively, and 1R,2S‐cycloxaprid decreases more quickly than the 1S,2R‐cycloxaprid. During raw Puer tea processing, the half‐lives of 1R, 2S‐cycloxaprid and 1S, 2R‐cycloxaprid are 1.68 h and 1.77 h, but the residue is still detected even if it is over 730 day. However, the half‐lives of 1R,2S‐cycloxaprid and 1S,2R‐cycloxaprid are 0.60 day and 0.63 day during ripen tea processing. The amounts of metabolite are more in raw tea than in ripen tea; the terminal residues are still detected until 730 days during raw tea. A significant enantioselectivity of 1R, 2S‐cycloxaprid and 1S, 2R‐cycloxaprid is observed during raw tea or ripen tea processing. The degration result shows the enantioselectivity of cycloxaprid in raw or ripen Puer tea processing.

Cycloxaprid (CYC) with a chiral oxabridged cis- structure contains a pair of enantiomers. Enantioselective degradation, transformation and metabolite of CYC was performed in different solvents under light and raw Puer tea processing. The results showed that cycloxaprid enantiomers in acetonitrile and acetone was stable over 17 day, however the transformation of 1S, 2R-(–)-cycloxaprid or 1R, 2S-(–)-cycloxaprid was founded in methanol. The fastest degradation of cycloxaprid occurred in acetone under light, the metabolites were founded with retention times (TR) at 34.83, 15.78 min, which mainly was via the reduce reaction of NO2 to NO, and rearrange reaction to tetrahydropyran. Degradation pathways were via the cleavage of the oxabridge seven member ring and the whole C ring. However, the degradation pathway under raw Puer tea processing was via the cleavage of whole C ring and the cleavage of oxabridge seven member ring and reducing NO2, then it underwent an elimination of nitromethylene and rearrange reaction. This pathway of Puer tea processing was firstly founded.

In this study, Tiger nut (Cyperus esculentus L.) oil-based oleogels were prepared using the emulsion template method with whey protein (WPI; 0.5–2.5% (w/v) and Xanthan gum (XG; 0.1–0.5% (w/v). The microstructure of the oleogels obtained from the high internal phase emulsion (HIPE) and an emulsion after further shearing were observed using an optical microscope and laser confocal microscopy. A series of rheological tests were conducted to evaluate the effect of WPI and XG concentrations on the strength of the emulsion and oleogel. The texture, oil holding capacity, and oxidative stability of oleogels were characterized. The results showed that XG alone could not form oleogel, while the concentration of WPI had more effect than XG. When WPI was at a fixed concentration, the viscoelasticity of HIPE increased with the addition of XG. This was due to the complexation of WPI and XG, forming a stable gel network between the tight emulsion droplets and thus giving it a higher viscoelasticity. With an increase in WPI concentration, the stability and viscoelasticity of the emulsion were increased, and the oil-holding capacity and gel strength of the oleogels were enhanced. Moreover, the addition of XG could significantly enhance the stability and viscoelasticity of the emulsion (p < 0.05), and an increase in the concentration had a positive effect on it. The oleogels showed high gel strength (G′ > 15,000 Pa) and good thixotropic recovery when the XG concentration was higher than 0.3% (w/v). WPI (2.0%) and XG (>0.3%) could be used to obtain HIPE with good physicochemical and viscoelastic properties, which in turn lead to oleogels with minimal oil loss, viscoelastic and thixotropic recovery, and temperature stability. Compared with tiger nut oil-based oleogel, tiger nut oil contained more polyunsaturated fatty acids, which were more easily decomposed through oxidation during storage and had lower oxidation stability. This study provides a reference for the preparation of oleogels from food-approved polymers and provides additional theoretical support for their potential application as solid fat substitutes.

Plant proteins are good alternative to animal sources in bioactive peptide production due to their safety, low-cost, rich resources and easy for large scale production. The bioactivities of the peptides derived from plant proteins including antihypertensive, hypocholesterolemic, immunomodulatory, antioxidant, antimicrobial, anti-diabetic, opiate and hepatoprotective effect are being increasingly recognized with regards to health promoting and disease prevention. In addition to bioactivities, the plant-derived bioactive peptides possess various functional properties including emulsifying and foaming properties, and water and oil retention capacities owning to the hydrophilic/lipophilic property, conformational flexibility and chain length of peptides. Hence, the plant-derived bioactive peptides are promising ingredients for the development of health-care and functional products. This review provides the research progress on the biological activities and functional properties of plant derived peptides. The mechanism of action and structure-activity relationships of the bioactive peptide were also described, when known. Furthermore, recent developments, major challenges and prospect in the application of the plant-derive bioactive peptides in the development of functional products are discussed and summarized. The objective of this review is to improve the understanding of plant-derive bioactive peptides, and provide some constructive inspirations for further research and industrial application in the food and medicine industry.

SWATHtoMRM technology was used in this experiment to further identify and trace the sources of Dendrobium devonianum and Dendrobium officinale produced in the same area using TOF and MS-MRM. After the conversion of the R package of SWATHtoMRM, 191 MRM pairs of positive ions and 96 pairs of negative ions were obtained. Dendrobium devonianum and Dendrobium officinale can be separated very well using the PCA and PLS-DA analysis of MRM ion pairs; this shows that there are obvious differences in chemical composition between Dendrobium devonianum and Dendrobium officinale, which clearly proves that the pseudotargeted metabolomics method based on SWATHtoMRM can be used for traceability identification research. A total of 146 characteristic compounds were obtained, with 20 characteristic compounds in Dendrobium devonianum. The enrichment pathways of the characteristic compounds were mainly concentrated in lipids and atherosclerosis, chagas disease, fluid shear stress and atherosclerosis, proteoglycans in cancer, the IL-17 signaling pathway, the sphingolipid signaling pathway, diabetic cardiomyopathy, arginine and proline metabolism, etc., among which the lipid and atherosclerosis pathways were more enriched, and 11 characteristic compounds affected the expression levels of IL-1, TNFα, CD36, IL-1β, etc. These can be used as a reference for research on variety improvement and active substance accumulation in Dendrobium devonianum and Dendrobium officinale.

In this work, the adsorption and sensing behavior of Ag-doped MoSe2/ZnO heterojunctions for H2, CH4, CO2, NO, CO, and C2H4 have been studied based on density functional theory (DFT). In gas adsorption analysis, the adsorption energy, adsorption distance, transfer charge, total electron density, density of states (DOS), energy band structure, frontier molecular orbital, and work function (WF) of each gas has been calculated. Furthermore, the reusability and stability of the Ag-doped MoSe2/ZnO heterojunctions have also been studied. The results showed that Ag-doped MoSe2/ZnO heterojunctions have great potential to be a candidate of highly selective and responsive gas sensors for NO detection with excellent reusability and stability.

In this study, steam explosion was employed as a modification process for rice bran insoluble dietary fiber (RBIDF) to improve the flavor adsorption and controlled release capacities of RBIDF. Results showed that the flavor adsorption ability of RBIDF was effectively improved due to the unfolding structure, increased specific surface area and pore volume and exposure of more functional groups after steam explosion treatment. The mechanism of the flavor adsorption behavior of modified RBIDF was preliminarily explored using adsorption kinetics and isotherms combined with SEM and DSC analysis. Results showed that the Langmuir isotherm model and pseudo-second-order kinetic model yielded the best fit to the adsorption data, indicating monolayer adsorption of flavor onto the modified RBIDF, and the adsorption was mainly driven by chemisorption process. The flavor release profile of modified RBIDF was investigated by HS-SPME/GC-MS and E-nose. After long-time storage, the flavor compounds were retained at a higher concentration in the modified RBIDF compared with the untreated RBIDF, indicating that the steam explosion treatment prolonged the retention time and enhanced the retention and controlled release capacities of RBIDF for flavor compounds. This study provides indications for potential applications of steam explosion-modified RBIDF as a novel flavor delivery system and functional ingredient.

BackgroundEpidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors (EGFR-TKIs) could provide survival benefits for locally advanced EGFR-mutant (EGFRm) non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, the role of radical surgery for EGFR-TKI treated stage IIIB EGFRm NSCLC remains controversial. This study attempted to assess the feasibility of neoadjuvant EGFR-TKI followed by radical surgery for stage IIIB EGFRm NSCLC.Patients and MethodsBetween 2013 and 2020, EGFRm lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) patients in clinical stage IIIB undergoing neoadjuvant EGFR-TKI followed by surgery (T-S-Arm) and EGFR-TKI alone (T-Arm) were reviewed retrospectively in Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital (SPH). The chi-square test, Student’s t-test or Fisher’s exact test was performed for analysis of baseline characteristics. Progression-free survival (PFS) was estimated using the Kaplan-Meier analysis. Multivariate Cox regression analysis was used to identify independent predictors of progression.ResultsA total of 43 patients were divided into T-S-Arm (n = 21) and T-Arm (n = 22). Patients were well-balanced between the two arms. The majority of patients were female (n = 25, 58.1%), non-smokers (n = 35, 81.4%), first-generation of EGFR-TKI treatment (n = 39, 90.7%), and exon 19 deletions (19-DEL) (n = 26, 60.5%). The median diagnostic age was 63.0 years [interquartile range (IQR), 54.0-67.5 years). At the cut-off date with June 30th 2022, median follow-up time was 28 months (IQR, 20-39 months). Neoadjuvant EGFR-TKI treatment followed by radical surgery could significantly improve the median PFS compared with patients underwent EGFR-TKI alone (23.0 months vs 14.5 months, P = 0.002). Multivariate Cox regression analysis demonstrated that radical surgery (T-S-Arm vs. T-Arm, HR: 0.406; 95% CI: 0.207-0.793, P = 0.027) was the only independent predictor for disease progression. The stratified analysis demonstrated patients with N2 disease could benefit from radical surgery (HR, 0.258; 95% CI, 0.107-0.618), especially for patients harboring L858R mutation (HR, 0.188; 95% CI, 0.059-0.604).ConclusionsFor stage IIIB EGFRm NSCLC patients, the prognosis might be improved by neoadjuvant EGFR-TKI followed by radical surgery versus EGFR-TKI alone, especially for those with N2 disease and harboring L858R mutation.

Abstract Eight new generation amide insecticide residues analysis by multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNs) cleanup, combined with QuEChERS and ultrahigh performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry has been developed and successfully applied in complex matrix such as orange, celery, onion, litchi, mango, shallot, chives, avocado, garlic. The matric effect of MWCNs is optimized and compared with ordinary cleanup materials. The results show that the performance of MWCNs is fine and effectively reduce matrix interference. Through chemical structure skeletons analyzed, chlorantraniliprole, bromoantraniliprole, and cyantraniliprole can cause same product ions of m/z 286.0 or 177.1 in the ESI+ mode, then tetrachlorantraniliprole and cyclaniliprole can produce collective ions of m/z 146.9 in the ESI− mode. The coefficients (R 2) were greater than 0.9990, the limit of quantification ranges from 0.03 to 0.80 μg/kg, the recovery rate ranges from 71.2 to 120%, and the relative standard deviation (RSD) ranges from 3.8 to 9.4%. The method is fast, simple, sensitive, and suitable for the rapid determination of amide pesticides in complex matrix agricultural food.

Abstract Background Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PH) secondary to pulmonary fibrosis (PF) is one of the most common complications in PF patients, it causes severe disease and usually have a poor prognosis. Whether the combination of PH and PF is a unique disease phenotype is unclear. We aimed to screen the key modules associated with PH–PF immune infiltration based on WGCNA and identify the hub genes for molecular typing. Method Using the gene expression profile GSE24988 of PF patients with or without PH from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database, we evaluated immune cell infiltration using Cibersortx and immune cell gene signature files. Different immune cell types were screened using the Wilcoxon test; differentially expressed genes were screened using samr. The molecular pathways implicated in these differential responses were identified using Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes functional enrichment analyses. A weighted co-expression network of the differential genes was constructed, relevant co-expression modules were identified, and relationships between modules and differential immune cell infiltration were calculated. The modules most relevant to this disease were identified using weighted correlation network analysis. From these, we constructed a co-expression network; using the STRING database, we integrated the values into the human protein–protein interaction network before constructing a co-expression interaction subnet, screening genes associated with immunity and unsupervised molecular typing, and analyzing the immune cell infiltration and expression of key genes in each disease type. Results Of the 22 immune cell types from the PF GEO data, 20 different immune cell types were identified. There were 1622 differentially expressed genes (295 upregulated and 1327 downregulated). The resulting weighted co-expression network identified six co-expression modules. These were screened to identify the modules most relevant to the disease phenotype (the green module). By calculating the correlations between modules and the differentially infiltrated immune cells, extracting the green module co-expression network (46 genes), extracting 25 key genes using gene significance and module-membership thresholds, and combining these with the 10 key genes in the human protein–protein interaction network, we identified five immune cell-related marker genes that might be applied as biomarkers. Using these marker genes, we evaluated these disease samples using unsupervised clustering molecular typing. Conclusion Our results demonstrated that all PF combined with PH samples belonged to four categories. Studies on the five key genes are required to validate their diagnostic and prognostic value.

Background Anti-PD-1(L1) therapies are less efficacious in patients with EGFR-mutated non-small-cell lung cancer. However, the underlying mechanism is poorly understood.Methods The characteristics of T cells in EGFR-mutated and wild-type tumors were analyzed based on The Cancer Genome Atlas database and clinical samples. Plasma levels of 8 T-cell-related cytokines were evaluated and its association with immunotherapy efficacy were explored. Association between EGFR signaling pathway and IL-10 was examined through tumor cell lines and clinical tumor samples. In vitro restimulation model of human CD8+T cells isolated from peripheral blood was used to analyze the impact of IL-10 on T cells. Doxycycline-inducible transgenic EGFRL858R mouse models were used to investigate the efficacy of combining recombinant mouse IL-10 protein and PD-1 blockade and its underlying mechanism in vivo.Results EGFR-mutated tumors showed a lack of CD8+T cell infiltration and impaired CD8+T cell cytotoxic function. The incompetent CD8+T cells in EGFR-mutated tumors were characterized as absence of CD39 expression, which defined hallmarks of cytotoxic and exhausted features and could not be reinvigorated by anti-PD-1(L1) treatment. Instead, CD39 expression defined functional states of CD8+T cells and was associated with the therapeutic response of anti-PD-1(L1) therapies. Mechanically, IL-10 upregulated CD39 expression and was limited in EGFR-mutated tumors. IL-10 induced hallmarks of CD8+T cells immunity in CD39-dependent manner. Using autochthonous EGFRL858R-driven lung cancer mouse models, combining recombinant mouse IL-10 protein and PD-1 blockade optimized antitumor effects in EGFR-mutated lung tumors.Conclusions Our study suggested that owing to low level of IL-10 to induce the expression of CD39 on CD8+T cells, fewer phenotypically cytotoxic and exhausted CD39+CD8+T cells in EGFR-mutated tumors could be potentially reinvigorated by anti-PD-1(L1) treatment. Hence, IL-10 could potentially serve as a cytokine-based strategy to enhance efficacy of anti-PD-1(L1) treatment in EGFR-mutated tumors.

Stropharia rugosoannulata is a widely grown edible mushroom with a high nutritional value. S. rugosoannulata polysaccharides is one of the most important bioactive components of S. rugosoannulata and has a wide range of activities. A S. rugosoannulata polysaccharides, named SRF-3, was derived from the S. rugosoannulata extraction by freeze-thaw combine with hot water extraction method, then prepareed with DEAE-cellulose column and Sephacryl S-200 HR gel column, and its hypolipidemic activity was determined. The structural characteristics of SRF-3 were analyzed by infrared spectral scanning (FT-IR), ultra-high performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC), acid hydrolysis, methylation analysis, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), and Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometer (GC-MS). SRF-3 is composed of mannose, galactose, methyl galactose and fructose with ratios of 16, 12, 58 and 12, respectively. In addition, the average relative molecular mass of SRF-3 is approximately 24 kDa. The main chain of SRF-3 is mainly composed of repeating α-D-1,6-Galp and α-D-1,6-Me-Galp units, with branches in the O-2 position of Gal. The structure is presumed to be a mannogalactan, with a small amount of t-β-D-Manp present as a side chain. Hypolipidemic activity assay showed that SRF-3 had good antioxidant and hypolipidemic effects in vitro, suggesting that SRF-3 have potential application in reducing liver fat accumulation.

Edible fungi are large fungi with high added value that can be utilized as resources. They are rich in high-quality protein, carbohydrate, various vitamins, mineral elements and other nutrients, and are characterized by high protein, low sugar, low fat and low cholesterol. In addition, edible fungi contain a variety of bioactive substances, such as polysaccharides, dietary fiber, steroids, polyphenols, and most of these compounds have antioxidant, anti-tumor and other physiological functions. This review comprehensively discusses the bioactive components and functional characteristics of edible fungi (such as antioxidant, anti-aging, hypolipidemic activities, etc.). Then the recent developments and prospect in the high-valued utilization of edible fungi are discussed and summarized. The objective of this review is to improve the understanding of health-promoting properties of edible fungi, and provide reference for the industrial production of edible fungi-based health products.

A convenient, cost-effective and fast method using dynamic microwave-assisted extraction and liquid phase microextraction based on the solidification of a floating drop was proposed to analyze organochlorine pesticides in grains including rice, maize and millet. Twelve samples can be processed simultaneously in the method. During the extraction process, 10% acetonitrile-water solutions containing 110 μL of n-hexadecane were used to extract organochlorine pesticides. Subsequently, 1.0 g sodium chloride was placed in the extract, and then centrifuged and cooled. The n-hexadecane drops containing the analytes were solidified and transferred for determination by gas chromatography-electron capture detector without any further filtration or cleaning process. Limits of detection for organochlorine pesticides were 0.97–1.01 μg/kg and the RSDs were in the range of 2.6%–8.5%. The developed technology has succeeded in analyzing six real grains samples and the recoveries of the organochlorine pesticides were 72.2%–94.3%. Compared with the published extraction methods, the developed method was used to analyze organochlorine pesticides in grains, being more environmentally friendly, which is suitable for the daily determination of organochlorine pesticides.

Occupant behavior has an important impact on building energy consumption, and the accuracy of an occupant behavior model directly affects the reliability of energy consumption simulation results. Ultra-low energy buildings are crucial to achieving building energy conservation and carbon dioxide reduction in China. In order to effectively promote the development of ultra-low energy buildings in Hot Summer and Cold Winter Climate Zones. where most residents adopt a “part-time, part-space” pattern of intermittent energy use behavior, and to solve the problem of poor indoor thermal environments and the high incremental cost of ultra-low energy, the study described in this paper takes Changsha as an example to carry out a multi-objective optimization study on ultra-low energy housing using a probabilistic behavioral model. On the basis of a probability model representing the residents’ actual behavior in Changsha, the optimization objective indicators, key variables and the technology benchmarks for ultra-low energy building were determined, then multi-objective optimization was carried out for a range of energy efficient technologies to obtain the Pareto optimal solutions. The results showed that the set of optimal solutions could reduce energy demand by 50.2 to 60.2% and reduce indoor thermal discomfort time by 3.52–11.09% compared with those of a reference base case, which just meets the requirements of the current design standard for energy efficient domestic buildings. An optimum solution for energy savings and indoor thermal comfort, along with economic costs, was identified, which can assist in decision-making by providing different preferences and provide useful reference for the design of ultra-low energy buildings in Hot Summer and Cold Winter Climate regions.

Aero-turbines usually work in various non-stationary and harsh operating environments. Its blades easily appear early crack faults in long-time operation, and it is difficult to dig out discriminant features of early crack. To solve these problems, in the paper, a novel intelligent approach for early crack diagnosis of turbine blades using three-dimensional blade tip clearance is presented. In order to improve feature learning ability to obtain better generalization ability, the paper firstly develops a novel deep learning method based on deep belief networks (DBNs). Considering the fact that the feature degradation easily occurs in deeper layers because of the change of the distribution in each layer's outputs with the increase of the layers, it is hard to decide which layer to learn features is useful for fault diagnosis. Accordingly, in the pre-training process, the global back-reconstruction (GBR) mechanism is introduced into DBNs to optimize the feature learning ability. The GBR mechanism can be realized between the input layer and hidden layers by “shortcut connection”, and the layer to learn more discriminant features can be determined automatically without prior knowledge. Moreover, due to three-dimensional blade tip clearance (3-DBTC) acquired from three different directions of turbine blades contains much more useful crack failure multiscale information, it is suitable to be used as an input from which to extract multiscale discriminant features. Eventually, in the supervised training, the softmax regression model is employed to classify the health conditions of turbine blades using these sensitive features learned from 3-DBTC. The experimental results show that the proposed method can effectively identify the crack of turbine blades with fairly high diagnostic accuracies and significantly outperform other methods considered in the paper.

Abstract The stereoisomer behavior of sulfoxaflor was investigated by liquid chromatography‐tandem mass spectrometry (LC‐MS/MS) during raw Puer tea, ripen Puer tea, and sun‐dry Puer tea processing. The persistence of sulfoxaflor stereoisomers was consistently prolonged with different Puer tea processing from sun‐dry Puer tea, ripen Puer tea to raw Puer tea with t1/2 4.0–4.2 hr (sun‐dry Puer tea) to 6.21–7.04 months (raw Puer tea). Three fermentation temperature in ripen Puer tea shown that the sulfoxaflor residue was easy to degrade under low fermentation temperature (37°C). It implied that enzyme catalysis may play an important role in degradation of sulfoxaflor. The no‐enantioselective dissipation of sulfoxaflor was found in different Puer tea processing.

Abstract Background Routine clinical and pathological examinations usually cannot fully conclusively determine the relationship between different lesions of lung cancer. Detailed genetic analysis of tumor samples may supply important additional information and identify second primary lung cancers. Case presentation In the present study, we report a case of synchronous multiple primary lung cancer (MPLC) composed of two distinct pathological subtypes with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) gene mutations L858R of the acinar adenocarcinoma subtype and EML4–ALK rearrangement of the squamous cell carcinoma. Conclusion The present report highlights the clinical importance of molecular cancer biomarkers detection to guide management decisions in MPLC cases.

Allium cepa L. var. agrogatum Don (ALAP) is commonly consumed in China as well as other regions and has various beneficial health effects. A novel acidic polysaccharide (named ALAP-21) was obtained from ALAP by ultrasonic and microwave-assisted extraction and purification using DEAE-52 anion exchange and Sephadex G-100 columns. The monosaccharide composition, structural and antioxidative properties of ALAP-21 were investigated by GC–MS chromatography, FT-IR and NMR spectroscopies and three antioxidative activity tests in vitro. The results showed that ALAP-21 was a heteropolysaccharide composed of glucose, galacturonic acid, mannose, galactose, arabinose, rhamnose, xylose, fructose and glucuronic acid with a relative molar ratio of 26.282: 27.546: 11.400: 4.781: 2.467: 2.445: 3.622: 1.106: 1.753, owning (1→4)-α-d-Glcp, (1→4)-α-d-GalAp6Me3OA, (1→4)-β-d-Galp6OMe, (1→2)-α-l-Rhap, (1→4)-β-d-Manp glycosidic linkages. (1→4)-α-d-Glcp and (1→4)-α-d-GalAp6Me3OA residues might be the main components of the sugar chain backbone of ALAP-21. Furthermore, ALAP-21 exhibited high potential for DPPH radicals (82.02%), hydroxyl radicals (53.33%) and superoxide anion radicals (50.28%). These results provide a reference for further research and rational development of ALAP polysaccharides. Keywords: Polysaccharides, Allium cepa L. var. agrogatum Don, Structural characterization, Antioxidative property

Since the first approval of the anti-CD3 recombinant monoclonal antibody (mAb), muromonab-CD3, a mouse antibody for the prevention of transplant rejection, by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1986, mAb therapeutics have become increasingly important to medical care. A wealth of information about mAbs regarding their structure, stability, post-translation modifications, and the relationship between modification and function has been reported. Yet, substantial resources are still required throughout development and commercialization to have appropriate control strategies to maintain consistent product quality, safety, and efficacy. A typical feature of mAbs is charge heterogeneity, which stems from a variety of modifications, including modifications that are common to many mAbs or unique to a specific molecule or process. Charge heterogeneity is highly sensitive to process changes and thus a good indicator of a robust process. It is a high-risk quality attribute that could potentially fail the specification and comparability required for batch disposition. Failure to meet product specifications or comparability can substantially affect clinical development timelines. To mitigate these risks, the general rule is to maintain a comparable charge profile when process changes are inevitably introduced during development and even after commercialization. Otherwise, new peaks or varied levels of acidic and basic species must be justified based on scientific knowledge and clinical experience for a specific molecule. Here, we summarize the current understanding of mAb charge variants and outline risk-based control strategies to support process development and ultimately commercialization.

With Auricularia cornea Ehrenb polysaccharide (ACEP) as raw material, the purpose of the study was to prepare Auricularia cornea Ehrenb polysaccharide-zinc (ACEP-Zn) complex. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), and other means are used to analyze the physical-chemical properties and structure of ACEP and ACEP-Zn, to investigate the inhibition of α-glycosidase and α-amylase enzymes, and to explore its effects on the glucose metabolism of insulin-resistant HepG2 cells. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) results show that a group of COO-, -CH3, and -OH in the sugar chain binds to Zn2+. Compared with the original polysaccharides, the surface morphology of ACEP-Zn changed obviously, and the molecular weight (Mn) of ACEP-Zn decreased, but the molecular agglomeration of ACEP-Zn increased. Moreover, the inhibitory effect of ACEP-Zn on α-glucosidase and α-amylase was stronger than that of the original polysaccharide. The results indicated that the structure of Auricularia cornea Ehrenb polysaccharide was changed obviously after the zinc complex, and its hypoglycemic activity was enhanced in vitro. In the cell experiment, the glucose consumption of IR-HepG2 cells was significantly increased at a concentration of 50–200 μg/mL (P

In this study, physical experiments, clay mineral determination, and pH testing were performed to examine the basic properties of soil samples from a soil material yard selected for dam construction at Hua’ao Lake, Qian’an County, Jilin Province, China. The results show that the soil in the study area is cohesive, the mineral content of illite in the illite/montmorillonite mixed layer is approximately 50%, and the pH value of the environment from which the soil samples were taken is 8.43-8.91. These factors enable the soil in this area to be dispersed. The dispersibility of the soil sampled from this area was evaluated by a double hydrometer test, a pinhole test, a fragmentation test, a sodium adsorption ratio test, and determination of the percentage of exchangeable sodium ions. Because these test methods had inconsistent results, the test methods in combination with the typical geomorphic conditions of the sampling points were ultimately used to comprehensively evaluate the soil dispersion. The results demonstrate that the cohesive soil sampled from the soil material yard is dispersible and must be treated with improvement measures before it can be used as a filling material for the dam. To improve the dispersive and transitional soil, 2%, 3%, 4%, 5%, and 6% L1Fa2 (a 1 : 2 ratio of lime and fly ash) and C1L1Fa4 (a 1 : 1 : 4 ratio of cement, lime, and fly ash) were used to perform improvement tests on 10 groups of dispersive soil samples and 10 groups of transitional soil samples. The results reveal that the addition of 4% L1Fa2 best improves the dispersive soil in this area. Therefore, the soil intended for this project should be used as a dam-building material after improvement with the 4% addition of L1Fa2.

Background and objective As computed tomography (CT) screening for lung cancer becomes more common in China, so too does detection of pulmonary ground-glass nodules (GGNs). Although anumber of national or international guidelines about pulmonary GGNs have been published,most of these guidelines are produced by respiratory, oncology or radiology physicians, who might not fully understand the progress of modern minimal invasive thoracic surgery, and these current guidelines may overlook or underestimate the value of thoracic surgery in the management of pulmonary GGNs. In addition, the management for pre-invasive adenocarcinoma is still controversial. Based onthe available literature and experience from Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital, we composed this consensus about diagnosis and treatment of pulmonary GGNs. For lesions which are considered as adenocarcinoma in situ, chest thin layer CT scan follow-up is recommended and resection can only be adopt in some specific cases and excision should not exceed single segment resection. For lesions which are considered as minimal invasive adenocarcinoma, limited pulmonary resection or lobectomy is recommended. For lesions which are considered as early stage invasive adenocarcinoma, pulmonary resection is recommend and optimal surgical methods depend on whether ground glass component exist, location, volume and number of the lesions and physical status of patients. Principle of management of multiple pulmonary nodules is that primary lesions should be handled with priority, with secondary lesions taking into account.

Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) are obtained by initiating the polymerization of functional monomers surrounding a template molecule in the presence of crosslinkers and porogens. The best adsorption performance can be achieved by optimizing the polymerization conditions, but this process is time consuming and labor-intensive. Theoretical calculation based on calculation simulations and intermolecular forces is an effective method to solve this problem because it is convenient, versatile, environmentally friendly, and inexpensive. In this article, computational simulation modeling methods are introduced, and the theoretical optimization methods of various molecular simulation calculation software for preparing molecularly imprinted polymers are proposed. The progress in research on and application of molecularly imprinted polymers prepared by computational simulations and computational software in the past two decades are reviewed. Computer molecular simulation methods, including molecular mechanics, molecular dynamics and quantum mechanics, are universally applicable for the MIP-based materials. Furthermore, the new role of computational simulation in the future development of molecular imprinting technology is explored.

The present study aims at building a miniature mass method for the simultaneous determination of 12 phenols including the subtypes of bibenzyl, phenanthrene, and fluorenone, which was used to evaluate the quality of Dendrobium chrysotoxum. Through the full scan mode, new compounds were elucidated. The new compounds were quantified by carrying out the analysis of the ratio of the standard solution areas to new compound areas versus analyte concentration. The limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) for phenols were 0.5 µg/mL–1 µg/mL and 1 µg/mL–2 µg/mL, respectively. Average recoveries of phenols were ranged from 83.2% to 97.5%. Reproducibility represented by the RSD percentage was from 2.3% to 8.7%. The average content of the four analytes, erianin, chrysotobibenzyl, confusarin, and moscatilin, were more than 200 mg/kg, and the content of bibenzyl compounds was found to be the highest in Dendrobium chrysotoxum. Among these bibenzyl compounds, erianin was determined as the typical chemical marker from Dendrobium chrysotoxum. The newly established UPLC with a miniature mass detector method was found to be an appropriate tool for the quality assessment of Dendrobium chrysotoxum.

In this paper, the Ir-modified MoS2 monolayer is suggested as a novel gas sensor alternative for detecting the characteristic decomposition products of SF6, including H2S, SO2, and SOF2. The corresponding adsorption properties and sensing behaviors were systematically studied using the density functional theory (DFT) method. The theoretical calculation indicates that Ir modification can enhance the surface activity and improve the conductivity of the intrinsic MoS2. The physical structure formation, the density of states (DOS), deformation charge density (DCD), molecular orbital theory analysis, and work function (WF) were used to reveal the gas adsorption and sensing mechanism. These analyses demonstrated that the Ir-modified MoS2 monolayer used as sensing material displays high sensitivity to the target gases, especially for H2S gas. The gas sensitivity order and the recovery time of the sensing material to decomposition products were reasonably predicted. This contribution indicates the theoretical possibility of developing Ir-modified MoS2 as a gas sensor to detect characteristic decomposition gases of SF6.

To study the collapsibility of typical loess and its influencing factors in different areas, the samples in Jingyang, Lanzhou and Yili were studied. The correlation between initial moisture content, dry density, composition of particle size, structural parameters and the coefficient of subsidence is analyzed. The results show that: the coefficient of collapsibility is negatively correlated with the initial moisture content and dry density. In the experiments of multiple groups, the collapsibility coefficient has a certain correlation with the clay content, but not a uniform correlation with the particle content. The collapse coefficient is approximately positively correlated with the composite structure potential.

In this paper, the porous NiO/SnO2 nanofibers were synthesized via the electrospinning method along with the carbonization process. The characterization results show that the pristine SnO2-based nanofibers can form porous structure with different grain size by carbonization. The hydrogen gas-sensing investigations indicate that the NiO/SnO2 sensor exhibits more prominent sensing properties than those of pure SnO2 sensor devices. Such enhanced performance is mainly attributed to the porous nanostructure, which can provide large active adsorption sites for surface reaction. Moreover, the existence of p-n heterojunctions between NiO and SnO2 also plays a key role in enhancing gas-sensing performances. Finally, the H2 sensing mechanism based on the NiO/SnO2 nanocomposite was proposed for developing high-performance gas sensor devices.

Recombinant monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) intended for therapeutic usage are required to be thoroughly characterized, which has promoted an extensive effort towards the understanding of the structures and heterogeneity of this major class of molecules. Batch consistency and comparability are highly relevant to the successful pharmaceutical development of mAbs and related products. Small structural modifications that contribute to molecule variants (or proteoforms) differing in size, charge or hydrophobicity have been identified. These modifications may impact (or not) the stability, pharmacokinetics, and efficacy of mAbs. The presence of the same type of modifications as found in endogenous immunoglobulin G (IgG) can substantially lower the safety risks of mAbs. The knowledge of modifications is also critical to the ranking of critical quality attributes (CQAs) of the drug and define the Quality Target Product Profile (QTPP). This review provides a summary of the current understanding of post-translational and physico-chemical modifications identified in recombinant mAbs and endogenous IgGs at physiological conditions.

A simple, accurate, and highly sensitive analytical method was developed for determining the paclobutrazol residue in potato and soil, the dynamics dissipation in soil. Extraction was carried out by low temperature partitioning and analyzed by ultrahigh performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS). For a favor extraction yield, the parameters such as temperature and solvent were optimized. The result showed that sample would be easily frozen and separated using acetonitrile under −20°C for 10 min. The limit of detection (LOD) was 0.5 μg/kg, and the limit of quantification (LOQ) was 2 and 5 μg/kg for potato and soil, respectively. The influence of paclobutrazol residue in potato was evaluated. The possible contamination of paclobutrazol from surface can be rinsed by distilled water or peeled off, but the paclobutrazol in potato harvest comes mainly from absorption and transport, which could not be removed by peeling. The half-life of paclobutrazol in soil was 20.64 days, and the residue was below 0.22 mg/kg on 50th day after spraying. According to the risk assessment with Need Maximum Daily Intake (NEDI) and Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI), a Maximum Residue Limit (MRL) of paclobutrazol in potato was recommended as 1.0 mg/kg.

The detection of partial discharge and analysis of the composition and content of sulfur hexafluoride SF6 gas components are important to evaluate the operating state and insulation level of gas-insulated switchgear (GIS) equipment. This paper reported a novel sensing material made of pure ZnO and NiO-decorated ZnO nanoflowers which were synthesized by a facile and environment friendly hydrothermal process for the detection of SF6 decomposition byproducts. X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) were used to characterize the structural and morphological properties of the prepared gas-sensitive materials. Planar-type chemical gas sensors were fabricated and their gas sensing performances toward the SF6 decomposition byproducts SO2, SO2F2, and SOF2 were systemically investigated. Interestingly, the sensing behaviors of the fabricated ZnO nanoflowers-based sensor to SO2, SO2F2, and SOF2 gases can be obviously enhanced in terms of lower optimal operating temperature, higher gas response and shorter response-recovery time by introducing NiO. Finally, a possible gas sensing mechanism for the formation of the p–n junctions between NiO and ZnO is proposed to explain the enhanced gas response. All results demonstrate a promising approach to fabricate high-performance gas sensors to detect SF6 decomposition byproducts.

BACKGROUND: The use of chemotherapy has been proposed to increase the effectiveness of best supportive care (BSC) in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Previous trials reported inconsistent findings regarding the efficacy and safety of chemotherapy on overall survival (OS) and treatment-related mortality. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the effects of chemotherapy plus BSC versus BSC alone on survival of patients with NSCLC. METHODOLOGY AND PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We systematically searched PubMed, EmBase, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials for relevant literature. All eligible studies included patients with NSCLC who had received chemotherapy and BSC or BSC alone. All eligible studies measured at least 1 of the following outcomes: OS or treatment-related mortality. Overall, patients that received chemotherapy plus BSC had significant longer OS than those that received BSC alone (HR, 0.76; 95%CI, 0.69-0.84; P