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• Fe-N-S co-doped tremella-like carbon catalyst was fabricated by the impregnation-calcination method. • The Fe-NS@C exhibited the excellent ability for BPA degradation via activating PMS. • The Fe-NS@C/PMS system had wide pH tolerance and strong ion resistance. • Synergistic effect of pyridine N, Fe-N x sites and thiophene S promoted the activation of PMS. • Both radical and non-radical pathways worked throughout the Fe-NS@C/PMS system. Bisphenol A (BPA) has received increasing attention due to its long-term industrial application and persistence in environmental pollution. Iron-based carbon catalyst activation of peroxymonosulfate (PMS) shows a good prospect for effective elimination of recalcitrant contaminants in water. Herein, considering the problem about the leaching of iron ions and the optimization of heteroatoms doping, the iron, nitrogen and sulfur co-doped tremella-like carbon catalyst (Fe-NS@C) was rationally designed using very little iron, S-C 3 N 4 and low-cost chitosan (CS) via the impregnation-calcination method. The as-prepared Fe-NS@C exhibited excellent performance for complete removal of BPA (20 mg/L) by activating PMS with the high kinetic constant (1.492 min−1) in 15 min. Besides, the Fe-NS@C/PMS system not only possessed wide pH adaptation and high resistance to environmental interference, but also maintained an excellent degradation efficiency on different pollutants. Impressively, increased S-C 3 N 4 doping amount modulated the contents of different N species in Fe-NS@C, and the catalytic activity of Fe-NS@C-1- x was visibly enhanced with increasing S-C 3 N 4 contents, verifying pyridine N and Fe-N x as main active sites in the system. Meanwhile, thiophene sulfur (C-S-C) as active sites played an auxiliary role. Furthermore, quenching experiment, EPR analysis and electrochemical test proved that surface-bound radicals (·OH and SO 4 ⋅−) and non-radical pathways worked in the BPA degradation (the former played a dominant role). Finally, possible BPA degradation route were proposed. This work provided a promising way to synthesize the novel Fe, N and S co-doping carbon catalyst for degrading organic pollutants with low metal leaching and high catalytic ability. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Fe-N co-doped coral-like hollow carbon shell (Fe-N-CS) was prepared successfully. • The Fe-N-CS exhibited an excellent ability for TC degradation via activating PMS. • The Fe leaching concentration of Fe-N-CS-800 was very low about 8.78 ug/L. • Singlet oxygen-dominated non-radical was primary ROS for the TC degradation. • Mechanism and pathway of TC degradation was investigated in the Fe-N-CS/PMS system. Fe-N co-doped coral-like hollow carbon shell (Fe-N-CS) was synthesized via a simply impregnation-pyrolysis method. The Fe-N-CS showed an excellent ability for activating peroxymonosulfate (PMS), which could degrade about 93.74% tetracycline (20 mg/L) in 12 min. The Fe-N-CS/PMS system exhibited a good anti-interference capacity of various pH, inorganic anions, HA and different water qualities. More importantly, the Fe nanoparticles were anchored uniformly in the carbon layer, effectively limiting the metal leaching. The quenching tests and electron spin resonance (ESR) manifested that non-radical singlet oxygen (1O 2) was the main reactive oxygen species (ROS) for TC degradation. The mechanism study showed that Fe nanoparticles, defect and graphite N played a key role in activating PMS to produce ROS. Moreover, three probable degradation pathways were proposed by using LC-MS measurements. Generally, this work had a new insight for the synthesis of heterogeneous Fe-N-C catalysts in the advanced oxidation process based on PMS. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The immune-inflammatory response system (IRS) and kynurenine pathway (KP) have been implicated in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. Studies have shown inflammation-related effects on KP metabolism in patients with schizophrenia. This study investigated the relationship between KP metabolites, IRS, and the compensatory immune-regulatory reflex system (CIRS) in patients with treatment-resistant schizophrenia (TRS). Patients with (n = 53) and without TRS (n = 47), and healthy controls (HCs, n = 49) were enrolled. We quantified plasma levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines (interleukin [IL]-1β, IL-2, IL-6, soluble(s)IL-6 receptor, IL-8, IL-12, IL-17, IL-18, interferon-γ, and tumor necrosis factor[TNF]-α) and anti-inflammatory cytokines (IL-1 receptor antagonist, IL-4, IL-10, tumor growth factor [TGF]-β1, TGF-β2, soluble (s) IL-2 receptor subunit α, sIL-2 receptor subunit β, and sTNF-α receptor 1) and calculated the IRS/CIRS ratio. We also tested serum metabolites of the KP, including kynurenine (KYN), kynurenic acid (KYNA), and quinolinic acid (QUIN), along with the QUIN/KYNA ratio. Patients with TRS had significantly higher IRS/CIRS ratio than non-TRS patients (p = 0.002) and HCs (p = 0.007), and significantly lower KYN (p = 0.001) and KYNA (p = 0.01) levels than HCs. Binary logistic regression analysis revealed that a younger age at illness onset (odds ratio [ OR ] = 0.91, p = 0.02) and a higher IRS/CIRS ratio (OR = 1.22; p = 0.007) were risk factors for patients with TRS. After further adjusted for age of onset, the QUIN/KYNA ratio (β = 0.97; p = 0.02) significantly moderated the relationship between IRS/CIRS and TRS, showing that in the higher QUIN/KYNA condition, higher IRS/CIRS ratio were significantly and more likely to be associated with patients with TRS (β = 0.12, z = 3.19, p = 0.001), whereas in the low QUIN/KYNA condition, the association between IRS/CIRS ratio and TRS was weak and insignificant. The peripheral immune response was imbalanced in TRS and was preferentially directed towards the IRS compared to patients without TRS and healthy controls, which is likely to play a role in neurotoxicity. Additionally, peripheral KP activation was also imbalanced, as evidenced by significantly reduced KYN and KYNA levels in patients with TRS compared to healthy controls, but none of KP metabolisms were significantly difference in non-TRS patients compared to healthy controls. QUIN/KYNA ratio involving to the degree of activation of NMDA receptors, indicated the neurotoxic level of the KP activation. The interaction between IRS/CIRS and QUIN/KYNA ratio was significant in predicting TRS, and our findings suggest a potential role for the immune-kynurenine pathway in TRS pathogenesis. • Patients with TRS showed significantly higher IRS/CIRS ratio than that in non-TRS patients and health controls. • The TRS group had a significant reduction in KYN and KYNA levels compared to healthy controls. • The IRS/CIRS ratio was a risk factor for TRS, while the age at onset of schizophrenia was a protective factor. • Controlling for the age of onset, elevated IRS/CIRS ratio was more likely to contribute to TRS in high QUIN/KYNA conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aurivillius-type multiferroic oxides are increasingly being studied for potential application in multifunctional areas because of their feasible platforms incubating photonic, electric, magnetic, etc. properties. Here, we report the original observations of the dielectric relaxation, electromagnetic properties and high-performance microwave absorption of the single-phase Aurivillius-type ceramics. Two thermally activated relaxation processes were determined by the frequency-dependent behaviour of the dielectric loss peak at low and high temperatures. The complex permittivity and permeability were measured at frequencies 2–18 GHz and the microwave attenuation performances were calculated from the experimentally determined electromagnetic parameters. Significantly, the damped dielectric and magnetic resonances were clearly observed at 12–14 GHz and the excellent microwave absorption properties were presented for the first time and are sensitive to the sample thickness. The minimum reflection loss (RL) surpasses − 30 dB at different thicknesses. Especially, the minimum RL reaches − 70.1 dB at 13.2 GHz and the absorption bandwidth (RL≤ −20 dB) is close to 12 GHz (5.7–17.7 GHz). This work opens up a new pathway to develop Aurivillius-type multiferroic oxides in electromagnetic wave attenuation materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We develop a novel regional inversion algorithm to determinate the Moho geometry from the gravity-gradient data. The procedure involves two steps. Firstly, the refined gravity-gradient data, which comprise mainly the gravitational signal of the Moho geometry, are obtained from applying the gravimetric forward modeling by using a tesseroid method. Secondly, the refined gravity-gradient data are used to find the Moho depth. The functional relationship between the (known) refined gravity-gradient data and the (unknown and sought) Moho depth is defined by means of the (nonlinear) Fredholm integral equation of the first kind, which is further linearized by means of applying a Taylor series. To stabilize the inverse solution of the system of observation equations, the Tikhonov regularization is applied. The developed algorithm is tested at the study area of Tibet characterized by the largest crustal thickness. Results of the gravimetric inversion (for the uniform and variable Moho density contrast models) have a relatively good agreement with the seismic model (CRUST1.0) at the level of expected uncertainties of about 5 km without the presence of a significant systematic bias. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We develop and apply the algorithm for a regional gravimetric Moho recovery in spatial domain. The functional relation between the (known) refined gravity field and the (unknown and sought) Moho depth is defined by means of solving the Fredholm integral equation of the first kind. Linearization is applied to define the Moho depth corrections with respect to the mean Moho depth. The system of linearized observation equations is solved to find the Moho depth corrections, and Tikhonov’s regularization is applied to stabilize this ill-posed inverse problem. Developed algorithm is applied to model the Moho depth regionally under the Tibetan Plateau and Himalayas, while adopting the uniform and variable Moho density contrast models, and gravimetric results are validated using the CRUST1.0 seismic model. Our results show a relatively good agreement between gravimetric and seismic models, without presence of a significant systematic bias. Our result, however, indicates that for a regional study the variable Moho density contrast might not improve the results especially when density structure of the lower crust and uppermost mantle is not know accurately. In that case, the use of the uniform Moho density contrast for a regional Moho recovery is more appropriate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present an empirical model of the gravitational field generated by the oceanic lithosphere computed over the world’s oceans with a spectral resolution complete to a spherical harmonic degree of 180. This gravity model is compiled based on applying methods for a spherical harmonic analysis and synthesis of the global gravity and crustal structure models. The in situ seawater densities and the density samples from ocean-floor drilling sites are utilized in the gravimetric forward modeling of bathymetry and marine sediments. The gravitational signal attributed to the oceanic lithosphere density structure is described empirically in terms of the ocean-floor age and depth. The former is explained by the increasing density with age due to conductive cooling of the oceanic lithosphere. The latter describes the gravitational signature of thermal lithospheric contraction, which is isostatically compensated by ocean deepening. The long-wavelength gravity spectrum reflects mainly the compositional and thermal structures within the sub-lithospheric mantle. We demonstrate that this empirical gravity model reproduces realistically most of the long-to-medium wavelength features of the actual gravity field, except for some systematic discrepancies, especially along continental slopes and large sedimentary accumulations, which cannot be described accurately by applied empirical models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the negotiation of the new Agreement on the conservation and sustainable use of marine Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ), how to resolve potential overlaps, inconsistencies and conflicts between the new Agreement and relevant global, sectoral and regional instruments, framework and bodies (IFBs) on the issues about Area-Based Management Tools (ABMTs) including Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in ABNJ, is a key matter on the table. To explore how establishing high seas ABMTs including MPAs via the BBNJ might work in practice, this paper selects the practice of OSPAR and NEAFC as an example of regional cooperation. It finds that in the absence of top-down authority, this regional cooperation cannot fill the functional and geographical gaps, or harmonize different instruments relating to establishing and managing the High Seas ABMTs including MPAs. It then examines the challenges under a centralized global structure proposed in BBNJ negotiation, and proposes a practical global structure for cooperation and coordination. It suggests that a global decision-making body and their subordinates under the BBNJ may be empowered with different authorities under different scenarios. They may act as "cooperation initiator" and "conflict coordinator" of the ABMTs including MPAs where there is relevant IFBs, achieving objectives by coordinating with existing mechanisms; or act as "gap filler" by directly establishing and managing ABMTs including MPAs where there is no IFBs. This decision-making body should be empowered to develop general objectives and indicative criteria for the identification of areas, establish or designate ABMTs including MPAs, and strengthen monitoring and review. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: In many subspecialties of pathology, the intrinsic complexity of rendering accurate diagnostic decisions is compounded by a lack of definitive criteria for detecting and characterizing diseases and their corresponding histological features. In some cases, there exists a striking disparity between the diagnoses rendered by recognized authorities and those provided by non-experts. We previously reported the development of an Image Guided Decision Support (IGDS) system, which was shown to reliably discriminate among malignant lymphomas and leukemia that are sometimes confused with one another during routine microscopic evaluation. As an extension of those efforts, we report here a web-based intelligent archiving subsystem that can automatically detect, image, and index new cells into distributed ground-truth databases. Systematic experiments showed that through the use of robust texture descriptors and density estimation based fusion the reliability and performance of the governing classifications of the system were improved significantly while simultaneously reducing the dimensionality of the feature space. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

l 3D macroscopic N-doped porous carbon nanosheets (NPCN) were successfully obtained through simple pyrolysis. l The synergistic effect of adsorption and metal-free catalysis promoted the efficient removal of tetracycline. l 1O 2 was the dominated ROS in non-radical mechanism for TC degradation. l Three possible degradation pathways were proposed. Recently, metal-based carbon materials have been verified to be an effective persulfate activator, but secondary pollution caused by metal leaching is inevitable. Hence, a green metal-free 3D macroscopic N-doped porous carbon nanosheets (NPCN) was synthesized successfully. The obtained NPCN showed high adsorption capacity of tetracycline (TC) and excellent persulfate (PS) activation ability, especially when calcined at 700 °C (NPCN-700). The maximum adsorption capacity of NPCN-700 was 121.51 mg/g by H-bonds interactions. Moreover, the adsorption process followed pseudo-second-order kinetics model and Langmuir adsorption isotherm. The large specific surface area (365.27 mg/g) and hierarchical porous structure of NPCN-700 reduced the mass transfer resistance and increased the adsorption capacity. About 96.39% of TC was removed after adding PS. The effective adsorption of the catalyst greatly shortened the time for the target organic molecules to migrate to the catalyst. Moreover, the NPCN-700 demonstrated high reusability with the TC removal rate of 80.23% after 4 cycles. Quenching experiment and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) test confirmed the non-radical mechanism dominated by 1O 2. More importantly, the C = O groups, defects and Graphitic N acted as active sites to generate 1O 2. Correspondingly, electrochemical measurement revealed the direct electron transfer pathway of TC degradation. Finally, multiple degradation intermediates were recognized by the LC-MS measurement and three possible degradation pathways were proposed. Overall, the prepared NPCN had excellent application prospects for removal of antibiotics due to its remarkable adsorption and catalytic degradation capabilities. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sulfide-modified nanoscale zero-valent iron (S-nZVI) is a promising material for removal of organic pollutants from water, but S-nZVI nanoparticles (NPs) easily agglomerate and have poor contact with organic contaminants. Herein, we propose a new S-nZVI/graphene aerogel (S-nZVI/GA) composite which exhibits superior removal capability for trichloroethylene (TCE) from water. Three-dimensional porous graphene aerogel (GA) can improve the efficiency of electron transport, enhance the adsorption of organic pollutants and restrain the agglomeration of the core-shell S-nZVI NPs. The TCE removal rates of FeS, nZVI, GA and S-nZVI were 27.8%, 42%, 63% and 75% in 2 hr, respectively. Furthermore, TCE was completely removed within 50 min by S-nZVI/GA. The TCE removal rate increased with increasing pH and temperature, and TCE removal followed the pseudo-first-order kinetic model. The results demonstrate the great potential of S-nZVI/GA composite as a low-cost, easily separated and superior monolithic adsorbent for removal of organic pollutants. Unlabelled Image [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract We propose a sparse Convolutional Autoencoder (CAE) for simultaneous nucleus detection and feature extraction in histopathology tissue images. Our CAE detects and encodes nuclei in image patches in tissue images into sparse feature maps that encode both the location and appearance of nuclei. A primary contribution of our work is the development of an unsupervised detection network by using the characteristics of histopathology image patches. The pretrained nucleus detection and feature extraction modules in our CAE can be fine-tuned for supervised learning in an end-to-end fashion. We evaluate our method on four datasets and achieve state-of-the-art results. In addition, we are able to achieve comparable performance with only 5% of the fully-supervised annotation cost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Micro-electro-mechanical-systems (MEMS) are desirable for use within medical diagnostics because of their capacity to manipulate and analyze biological materials at the microscale. Biosensors can be incorporated into portable lab-on-a-chip devices to quickly and reliably perform diagnostics procedure on laboratory and clinical samples. In this paper, electrical impedance-based measurements were used to distinguish between benign and cancerous breast tissues using microchips in a real-time and label-free manner. Two different microchips having inter-digitated electrodes (10μm width with 10μm spacing and 10μm width with 30μm spacing) were used for measuring the impedance of breast tissues. The system employs Agilent E4980A precision impedance analyzer. The impedance magnitude and phase were collected over a frequency range of 100Hz to 2MHz. The benign group and cancer group showed clearly distinguishable impedance properties. At 200kHz, the difference in impedance of benign and cancerous breast tissue was significantly higher (3110Ω) in the case of microchips having 10μm spacing compared to microchip having 30μm spacing (568Ω). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In the present study, we investigated the role of the transcription factor RUNX2 in melanomagenesis. We demonstrated that the expression of transcriptionally active RUNX2 was increased in melanoma cell lines as compared with human melanocytes. Using a melanoma tissue microarray, we showed that RUNX2 levels were higher in melanoma cells as compared with nevic melanocytes. RUNX2 knockdown in melanoma cell lines significantly decreased Focal Adhesion Kinase expression, and inhibited their cell growth, migration and invasion ability. Finally, the pro-hormone cholecalciferol reduced RUNX2 transcriptional activity and decreased migration of melanoma cells, further suggesting a role of RUNX2 in melanoma cell migration. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

CD44 is a multifunctional cell receptor that conveys a cancer phenotype, regulates macrophage inflammatory gene expression and vascular gene activation in proatherogenic environments, and is also a marker of many cancer stem cells. CD44 undergoes sequential proteolytic cleavages that produce an intracytoplasmic domain called CD44-ICD. However, the role of CD44-ICD in cell function is unknown. We take a major step toward the elucidation of the CD44-ICD function by using a CD44-ICD-specific antibody, a modification of a ChIP assay to detect small molecules, and extensive computational analysis. We show that CD44-ICD translocates into the nucleus, where it then binds to a novel DNA consensus sequence in the promoter region of the MMP-9 gene to regulate its expression. We also show that the expression of many other genes that contain this novel response element in their promoters is up- or down-regulated by CD44-ICD. Furthermore, hypoxia-inducible factor- 1_ (Hif1_)-responsive genes also have the CD44-ICD consensus sequence and respond to CD44-ICD induction under normoxic conditions and therefore independent of Hif1_ expression. Additionally, CD44-ICD early responsive genes encode for critical enzymes in the glycolytic pathway, revealing how CD44 could be a gatekeeper of the Warburg effect (aerobic glycolysis) in cancer cells and possibly cancer stem cells. The link of CD44 to metabolism is novel and opens a new area of research not previously considered, particularly in the study of obesity and cancer. In summary, our results finally give a function to the CD44-ICD and will accelerate the study of the regulation of many CD44-dependent genes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Poly(d,l-lactide) (PDLLA) degraded at processing temperature under air and nitrogen. A random chain scission model was established and used to determine the activation energy E a, and FT-IR, 1H and 13C NMR were used to elucidate the degradation behavior under different atmospheres. Results showed that there were two to three stages. The 1st stage was dominated by the oligomers containing carboxylic acid groups and hydroxyl groups, during which oxygen and nitrogen had little effect on the degradation, thus they share similar E a. When the oligomers were consumed over or evaporated, the 2nd stage began, and oxygen had a promoting effect on the thermo-oxidation process, resulting in the great decrease in E a. The third stage of PDLLA was observed when it degraded under nitrogen over 200°C, which was caused by the appearance of carboxylic acid substance. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Separating waste at its source is important to reduce and better utilize municipal solid waste. However, there is a complex relationship between cognition and behavior. Based on the process trust perspective of separation activities, this study explores the formation mechanism of inconsistent knowledge and behavior by residents with regard to waste separation activities. Through qualitative research, the characteristics of the cognition of separation, trustworthiness for links, and waste separation behavior were analyzed, and a theoretical model is proposed of the transmission mechanism from the cognition of separation to waste separation behavior under the action of trustworthiness for links. According to questionnaire survey data (N = 1505), stratified regression and sensitivity analysis revealed that individuals with a high cognition of separation or high trustworthiness for links were more inclined to participate in waste separation activities. In terms of interaction effects, trustworthiness for links and its various dimensions positively regulated cognition of separation into waste separation behavior, with a third-power nonlinear moderating effect. Specifically, under the nonlinear moderating effect of trustworthiness for links, waste separation behavior and cognition of separation form a saddle-type relationship, and trustworthiness for links had an exponential moderating effect on the relationship between cognition of separation and waste separation behavior. In particular, trustworthiness for disposal links was the most critical moderating variable. Based on the analysis, policies are suggested to promote active participation in waste separation and recycling. [Display omitted] • One gap in transformation from separation cognition to behavior was explored. • An exponential moderating effect of trustworthiness for links was found. • The most critical moderating variable was analyzed and discussed. • Suggestions to promote active participation in waste separation were provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]