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Capacitive deionization has attracted wide concern on accountof its high energy efficiency, low manufacturing cost and environmental friendliness. Nevertheless, the development of capacitive deionization is still impeded because of the scarcity of suitable electrode materials with superior performance. Herein, we successfully prepared the two-dimensional (2D) titanium carbide (Ti

MXene has attracted a wide spread attention as promising supercapacitor electrode materials owing to excellent electronic conductivity and reversible surface redox capability. In fact, the supercapacitor performance strongly relies onsurface terminations of MXene. However, regulating the types of surface terminations for enhancing the electrochemical performance of MXene is still one of major challenge. Herein, we successfully prepared a MXene containing iodine terminations (I-Ti

The purpose of this article is to describe a novel technique of multiphase fusion three-dimensional (3D) images in patients with malignant pancreatobiliary obstruction. Multiphase fusion 3D images of CT arteriography, portovenography and hepatic venography combined with negative-contrast CT cholangiopancreatography can be done with enhanced multiphase CT scan using intravenous contrast agent at once. This technique may be feasible for one-stop evaluation of malignant pancreatobiliary obstruction.

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has a developmental origin and is influenced in utero. We aimed to evaluate if maternal diet intervention before pregnancy would be beneficial to reduce the risk of offspring NAFLD. In our study, female mice were either on a normal-fat diet (NF group), or a high-fat diet for 12 weeks and continued on this diet throughout pregnancy and lactation (HF group), or switched from HF-to-NF diet 1 week (H1N group), or 9 weeks (H9N group) before pregnancy. Compared with the NF offspring, the H1N and HF, but not the H9N offspring, displayed more severe hepatic steatosis and glucose intolerance. More specifically, an abnormal blood lipid panel was seen in the H1N offspring and abnormal hepatic free fatty acid composition was present in both the HF and H1N offspring, while the H9N offspring displayed both at normal levels. These physiological changes were associated with desensitized hepatic insulin/AKT signaling, increased expression of genes and proteins for de novo lipogenesis and cholesterol synthesis, decreased expression of genes and proteins for fatty acid oxidation, increased Pcsk9 expression, and hypoactivation of 5′ AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) signaling in the HF and H1N offspring. However, these effects were completely or partially rescued in the H9N offspring. In summary, we found that early maternal diet intervention is effective in reducing the risk of offspring NAFLD caused by maternal HF diet. These findings provide significant support to develop effective diet intervention strategies and policies for prevention of obesity and NAFLD to promote optimal health outcomes for mothers and children. The authors evaluated the efficiency of different maternal diet interventions on reducing the risk for offspring nonalcoholic fatty liver disease due to maternal overnutrition. They found that that different maternal diet interventions prime the lipid metabolism differently via changes in lipogenesis and β-oxidation through insulin/AKT signaling and 5′ AMP-activated protein kinase signaling.

Gluconeogenesis (GNG) is de novo production of glucose from endogenous carbon sources. Although it is a commonly studied pathway, particularly in disease, there is a lack of consensus about substrate preference. Moreover, primary hepatocytes are the current gold standard for in vitro liver studies, but no direct comparison of substrate preference at physiological fasting concentrations has been performed. We show that mouse primary hepatocytes prefer glycerol to pyruvate/lactate in glucose production assays and 13C isotope tracing studies at the high concentrations commonly used in the literature, as well as at more relevant fasting, physiological concentrations. In addition, when glycerol, pyruvate/lactate, and glutamine are all present, glycerol is responsible for over 75% of all glucose carbons labeled. We also found that glycerol can induce a rate-limiting enzyme of GNG, glucose-6-phosphatase. Lastly, we suggest that glycerol is a better substrate than pyruvate to test in vivo production of glucose in fasting mice. In conclusion, glycerol is the major carbon source for GNG in vitro and in vivo and should be compared with other substrates when studying GNG in the context of metabolic disease states.

Fasting hyperglycemia in diabetes mellitus is caused by unregulated glucagon secretion that activates gluconeogenesis (GNG) and increases the use of pyruvate, lactate, amino acids, and glycerol. Studies of GNG in hepatocytes, however, tend to test a limited number of substrates at non-physiologic concentrations. Therefore, we treated cultured primary hepatocytes with three identical substrate mixtures of pyruvate/lactate, glutamine, and glycerol at serum fasting concentrations, where a different U

Waste emissions have increased the amount of water and soil contaminated with heavy metals such as Pb. To broaden the methods for the recycling and environmental usage of cow manure (CM) and its vermicompost (CV), CM, CV, and their derived biochars produced by the pyrolysis of CM or CV at 350 and 700 °C were used as adsorbents for Pb2+ removal in this batch adsorption experiment to reveal their different Pb2+ removal efficiencies and the underlying mechanisms. The batch experiment results revealed that all adsorbents rapidly removed Pb2+ within 30 min. A pH between 2.0 and 6.0 positively affected Pb2+ removal by CM and its biochar, whereas that by CV and its biochar was only positively affected by pH between 2.0 and 3.0. CV-derived biochar was more effective in the removal of Pb2+ than the other absorbents, with the maximum adsorption capacities (Qm) fitted from the Langmuir model reaching approximately 230.0 mg·g−1 and the desorption rate (DR) being approximately 0.00–0.02%. Material physiochemical characterization, including X-ray diffraction analysis, showed that high pH, high ash content, rich mineral content, and high mineral contents might have been the main reasons for more effective removal of Pb2+ from aqueous solutions by CV-derived biochar. Fourier-transform infrared analysis indicated that surface functional groups such as –OH, C O, –COO–, and C–O; original and newly produced carbonate; and phosphate in CV also led to more effective Pb2+ removal efficiency from aqueous solution via surface functional group binding. Thus, pyrolyzing CVs may be used to produce biochar as a cost-effective adsorbent for heavy metal remediation in soil and water in the future.