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Background Rosai–Dorfman disease (RDD) is a rare form of non-Langerhans cell histiocytic disease. The aim of this study was to review the characteristics of RDD using 18F-FDG PET/CT and determine its efficacy in the disease management. Results A total of 28 RDD patients underwent 33 18F-FDG PET/CT scans for systematic assessment and follow-up. The common involved sites included the lymph nodes (17, 60.7%), upper respiratory tract (11, 39.3%), and skin (9, 32.1%). Five patients had more lesions detected in PET/CT images than in CT and/or MRI, including inapparent nodules (n = 5) and bone destruction (n = 3). After thorough treatment evaluation using PET/CT, the treatment strategies of 14 patients (14/16, 87.5%) were changed. Five patients underwent PET/CT twice during follow-up and the SUVs were significantly decreased (15.3 ± 3.4 vs. 4.4 ± 1.0, p = 0.02), which demonstrated disease improvement. Conclusions 18F-FDG PET/CT contributed to displaying the holistic characteristics of RDD, in particular during initial assessment, treatment strategy adjustment, or efficacy evaluation, and could compensate for some disadvantages of CT and MRI images.

Most knowledge representation learning (KRL) methods only use structured knowledge graphs (KGs); however, there is still much multi-modal (textual, visual) knowledge that has not been used. To address this challenge, we propose a novel solution called multi-modal knowledge representation learning (MMKRL) to take advantage of multi-source (structured, textual, and visual) knowledge. Instead of simply integrating multi-modal knowledge with structured knowledge in a unified space, we introduce a component alignment scheme and combine it with translation methods to accomplish multi-modal KRL. Specifically, MMKRL firstly reconstructs multi-source knowledge by summing different plausibility functions and then aligns multi-source knowledge using specific norm constraints to reduce reconstruction errors. We also select an adversarial training strategy to enhance the robustness of MMKRL, which is rarely considered in existing multi-modal KRL methods. Experimental results show that MMKRL can effectively utilize multi-modal knowledge to achieve better link prediction and triple classification than other baselines in two widely used datasets. Further, when relying on structured knowledge or limited multi-source knowledge, MMKRL still achieves competitive results in link prediction, demonstrating our model’s superiority.

In greenhouses, growth of plants is affected by accumulation of nitrate in the soil due to extended durations of nitrogen fertilizer application. Dopamine has been shown to play an important role in plant growth and stress resistance. We studied effects of dopamine on antioxidation, mineral nutrients, and fruit quality in cucumber (Cucumis sativus L. “Jin You No. 1”) under nitrate stress. Excessive nitrate inhibited root growth, resulting in reduced root length, volume, and activity. The content of malondialdehyde and superoxide anion increased significantly, and the activities of antioxidant enzymes such as superoxide dismutase, catalase, and ascorbate peroxidase increased, whereas peroxidase decreased under high-nitrate conditions. We also found that the length, cross-sectional diameter, and total yield of fruits were significantly decreased under nitrate stress. Moreover, fruit quality, such as reducing sugar, soluble sugar, soluble protein, and vitamin C, was significantly reduced under high-nitrate conditions. Excessive nitrate caused accumulation of nitrogen and potassium in the roots, stems, and leaves of plants, but reduced accumulation of phosphorus. Conversely, dopamine promoted root growth and root activity, reduced malondialdehyde and superoxide anion content, increased activities of antioxidant enzymes, improved yield and quality, and balanced ion absorption. Our results show that dopamine plays an overall positive role for cucumbers under nitrate stress.

Lignin is a promising alternative to traditional fossil resources for producing biofuels due to its aromaticity and renewability. Pyrolysis is an efficient technology to convert lignin to valuable chemicals, which is beneficial for improving lignin valorization. In this review, pyrolytic behaviors of various lignin were included, as well as the pyrolytic mechanism consisting of initial, primary, and charring stages were also introduced. Several parallel reactions, such as demethoxylation, demethylation, decarboxylation, and decarbonylation of lignin side chains to form light gases, major lignin structure decomposition to generate phenolic compounds, and polymerization of active lignin intermediates to yield char, can be observed through the whole pyrolysis process. Several parameters, such as pyrolytic temperature, time, lignin type, and functional groups (hydroxyl, methoxy), were also investigated to figure out their effects on lignin pyrolysis. On the other hand, zeolite-driven lignin catalytic pyrolysis and lignin co-pyrolysis with other hydrogen-rich co-feedings were also introduced for improving process efficiency to produce more aromatic hydrocarbons (AHs). During the pyrolysis process, phenolic compounds and/or AHs can be produced, showing promising applications in biochemical intermediates and biofuel additives. Finally, some challenges and future perspectives for lignin pyrolysis have been discussed.

Compared to extractive machine reading comprehension (MRC) limited to text spans, multi-choice MRC is more flexible in evaluating the model’s ability to utilize external commonsense knowledge. On the one hand, existing methods leverage transfer learning and complicated matching networks to solve the multi-choice MRC, which lacks interpretability for commonsense questions. On the other hand, although Transformer based pre-trained language models such as BERT have shown powerful performance in MRC, external knowledge such as unspoken commonsense and world knowledge still can not be used explicitly for downstream tasks. In this work, we present three simple yet effective injection methods plugged in BERT’s structure to fine-tune the multi-choice MRC tasks with off-the-shelf commonsense representations directly. Moreover, we introduce a mask mechanism for the token-level multi-hop relationship searching to filter external knowledge. Experimental results indicate that the incremental BERT outperforms the baseline by a considerable margin on DREAM and CosmosQA, two knowledge-driven multi-choice datasets. Further analysis shows the robustness of the incremental model in the case of an incomplete training set.

The X-ray diffraction internal standard method can quantitatively determine the ash content of paper, but the requirements for the experimental environment are high, the determination is not convenient and the cost is high, and it is difficult to be widely used in the papermaking enterprises. In order to determine the total ash and its components of the single filler paper samples, and meet the ash determination requirements of papermaking enterprises, the continuous X-ray method is proposed. In this paper, an X-ray tube is used as the radiation source and an ionization chamber is used as the detector. Through polynomial fitting of the total ash and voltage logarithm ratio of the single filler paper samples, the mathematical model of total ash is established; the total ash and its components content of paper are calculated according to the mathematical model of total ash and the Beer–Lambert law deformation formula; the total ash and its components content of paper are verified by the burning method. The research results show that the total ash error of the single filler paper samples is less than 4%, and the ash component error is less than 5%.

Lignin-based epoxy resins containing phosphorus (P) and nitrogen (N) elements were prepared by blending the epoxy resin (EP) with different amounts of lignin-based flame retardant additive (Lig-F). The thermal performance of EP thermosets was performed via thermogravimetric analysis coupled with Fourier transformation infrared spectroscopy (TG-FTIR). The results showed that the presence of Lig-F had significant influence on thermal stability (tested by TG) and flame retardancy (determined by limited oxygen index, vertical burning and cone calorimeter) of EP thermosets. 1H NMR and FTIR analyses confirmed the successful synthesis of flame retardant (DOPO-PA) and modification of lignin, and the evolution of gas produced by thermal decomposition was different with different quantities of Lig-F added. Finally, the activation energy (E) of cured 10% Lig-F/EP was measured by two different methods, namely Flynn–Wall–Ozawa and Kissinger-Akahira-Sunoe, which was obviously higher than that of neat EP.

A homogeneous α-cellulose film was prepared by regeneration method from ZnCl2/CaCl2/cellulose mixed system and was further combined with sodium lignosulfonate (SLS) by crosslinking through interaction hydrogen bonds and “bridge linkages”. The physicochemical and antibacterial performance of films were all investigated and results showed that modified films exhibited stronger tensile strength, higher thermal stability, lower hydrophilic effect, better UV shielding as compared with those of pure cellulose film, and especially, better antibacterial ability derived from the presence of phenolic and sulfonate groups in SLS. This study proposed a simple and sustainable method for fabricating a multifunctional and environmentally friendly composite film by using two main lignocellulose resources as raw materials.

A large amount of alkali lignin by-product is produced by the pulp and paper industry which can be further processed and transformed into valuable chemicals. In this study, the catalyst Ni-W/ZrP was prepared via chemical reduction for catalyzing alkali lignin depolymerization. Effective conversion of alkali lignin to phenolic monomers with assistance of formic acid acted as an internal hydrogen donor was performed in isopropanol system from 180 to 240 °C. Effects of reaction temperature, catalyst loading, and formic acid addition on lignin conversion were all investigated. Results showed that the highest oil yield was obtained (74.66 wt%) at 240 °C. The presence of formic acid could enhance alkali lignin conversion (the yield of bio-oil ranged from 17 to 23 wt% at 220 °C when the reaction conditions were changed from no added formic acid to only added formic acid). According to the GC/MS analysis, when metal loading (the mass ratio of Ni and W is 1:1) was 20 wt% (based on ZrP input), the prepared catalyst (Ni-W)20/ZrP had best selectivity for the phenolic products (88.25%, relative content). Furthermore, the obtained catalyst had different catalytic selectivities to G-type phenols and vanillin at different temperatures (from 180 to 240 °C). The quantitative analysis of bio-oil showed that the four products with high content in bio-oil were phenol, 2-methoxy (1.21 wt%), phenol, 4-ethyl-2-methoxy (0.45 wt%), vanillin (4.09 wt%), and ethenone,1-(4-hydroxy-3-methox-henyl) (0.86 wt%). FTIR analysis showed that peaks at 1267 cm−1, 1213 cm−1, 1130 cm−1, and 1046 cm−1 (C-O bonds in guaiac-based and clove-based units) gradually decrease with the increase of temperature which indicates that lignin is depolymerized to monoaromatic units effectively. Finally, the catalyst (Ni-W)20/ZrP can be recycled five times without significant activity loss, indicating that it was a promising catalyst for lignin depolymerization.

In this study, enzymatic hydrolysis lignin (EHL) extracted from bio-ethanol production residue by enzymatic hydrolysis method was utilized as the raw material, which was subsequently purified to remove cellulose and hemicellulose for gaining the purified lignin (EHL-P) through alkaline solution extraction. Compared with EHL-P, thermal performance and pyrolytic product distribution of EHL-P-SE (which was obtained from EHL-P by steam explosion) were also analyzed by thermogravimetric analyzer coupled with Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (TG-FTIR) and pyrolysis-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (Py-GC/MS). Results showed that the degradation process of EHL-P and EHL-P-SE was similarly divided into three stages: a drying stage, a rapid decomposition stage, and a slow carbonization stage. However, their initial weight loss (i.e., ˂ 3 wt% for EHL-P, while ~ 5 wt% for EHL-P-SE before 200 °C), primary weight loss (i.e., ~ 55 wt% for EHL-P, while ~ 48 wt% for EHL-P-SE between 200 and 600 °C), and char yields (i.e., ~ 33 wt% for EHL-P, while ~ 42 wt% for EHL-P-SE at 900 °C) were different. FTIR showed that the evolution of gaseous products changed significantly due to the effect of SE treatment, especially for organic components (i.e., the absorbance of peaks corresponding to carbonyl-containing components such as aldehydes, ketones, and acids decreased, while that related to phenols and aromatics increased). Finally, Py-GC/MS tracked variations of the relative content (%) of phenols (e.g., guaiacol (G), phenol (P), syringol (S), and catechol (C) types) with the increase of degradation temperature (from 300 to 500 °C), and results showed that demethoxylation was more likely to occur at higher degradation temperatures (≥ 400 °C) to realize the transformation from G- and S-type phenols to P- and C-type phenols.

A nanozyme sensor consisted of both carbonylated multi-walled carbon nanotubes (COOH-MWCNT) and two-dimensional layered molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) nanosheets for the sensitive detection of 5-nitroguaiacol sodium (5-NG) in tomato and broiler feed under the optimal conditions was successfully developed. MoS2-COOH-MWCNT nanohybrid was simply obtained by ultrasonic preparation in presence of Nafion. The MoS2-COOH-MWCNT film was characterized, and parameters of their film electrodes such as pH, scan rates, the percentage content of Nafion (Nf), and the ratio between COOH-MWCNT and MoS2 were optimized. The MoS2-COOH-MWCNT nanohybrid was used to detect 5-NG in tomato and broiler feed, and their recoveries were 102.22 and 93.2%, respectively. The electrocatalytic oxidation mechanism of 5-NG and oxidase-like (nanozyme) kinetics of MoS2-COOH-MWCNT nanohybrid were investigated. The fabricated nanozyme sensor displayed good electrochemical responses, wide linear ranges of 0.1–70 μM with limit of detection (LOD) 0.02 μM, unique oxidase-like characteristics, and good practicability, which will provide a new sensing platform based on inorganic nanomaterials with enzyme-like (nanozyme) characteristics for the determination of 5-NG in plant-derived agro-products and/or plant-derived animal feeds.

The exploration on effective pathways for catalytic conversion of lignin (which is the most abundant and renewable natural bio-aromatic resource) into high-value chemicals (e.g., aromatic hydrocarbons and phenols) has attracted wide interests both in industrial and in scientific fields. By unleashing the potential of lignin to replace the utilization of fossil-derived resource for producing high-value chemicals, it can extremely improve lignin valorization and relieve the energy shortage caused by excessive consumption of traditional fossil-derived resource. However, achieving efficient lignin conversion has still been a challenge due to its structural complexity and stability. Ni-based catalysts consisting of active metal Ni and various functional supports have been broadly researched due to their inherent superiority in cost and outstanding performance in catalytic activity. Therefore, this review is dedicated to summarizing the recent progress of catalytic conversion of lignin (or lignin-derived model compounds) over Ni-based catalysts, including monometallic and bimetallic supported catalysts.

Phytophthora cactorum is a devastating pathogen that infects a wide range of plants and causes Phytophthora rot disease, which has resulted in great economic losses in crop production. Therefore, the rapid and practicable detection of P. cactorum is important for disease monitoring and forecasting. In this study, we developed a lateral flow recombinase polymerase amplification (LF-RPA) assay for the sensitive visual detection of P. cactorum. Specific primers for P. cactorum were designed based on the ras-related protein gene Ypt1; all 10 P. cactorum isolates yielded positive detection results, whereas no cross-reaction occurred in related oomycete or fungal species. The detection limit for the LF-RPA assay was 100 fg of genomic DNA under optimized conditions. Combined with a simplified alkaline lysis method for plant DNA extraction, the LF-RPA assay successfully detected P. cactorum in naturally diseased strawberry samples without specialized equipment within 40 min. Thus, the LF-RPA assay developed in this study is a rapid, simple, and accurate method for the detection of P. cactorum, with the potential for further application in resource-limited laboratories.

Background The anterior chest wall (ACW) involvement is characteristic of synovitis, acne, pustulosis, hyperostosis, and osteitis (SAPHO) syndrome, yet little research has focused on its magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings. Purpose To characterize the MRI features of the ACW in patients with SAPHO syndrome. Methods Seventy-one patients with SAPHO syndrome and ACW involvement evidenced by bone scintigraphy were recruited in this cross-sectional study. The ACW region was scanned using sagittal, axial, and oblique coronal Dixon T2-weighted sequences and axial Dixon T1-weighted sequences. The characteristics of both active inflammatory and chronic structural lesions were evaluated. Results The ACW lesions exhibited an asymmetrical distribution and a predilection for the sternocostoclavicular region (93.0%). Notably, 91.5% of the patients had lesions in the area of the anterior first ribs. Bone marrow edema (BME) was observed in 63 (88.7%) patients, which mainly affected the sternocostal joints (87.3%) and the manubrium sterni (84.5%). All of the BMEs were distributed under the articular surface or the bone cortex, consistent with the distribution of the ligaments and joint capsules. Synovitis was detected in 64 (90.1%) patients, with a predilection for the sternoclavicular joints (76.1%). A soft tissue mass or infiltration was found in all the patients who had bone marrow edema. Thirteen (18.3%) patients showed venous stenosis. Structural changes included bone bridge formation (80.3%), hyperostosis (43.7%), and fat infiltration (39.4%). Four common patterns of involvement were observed: the first rib area, the sternoclavicular area, the sternal angle area, and the areas of the second to sixth sternocostal joints. Conclusion The ACW lesions of SAPHO syndrome demonstrated a triad of enthesitis, synovitis, and osteitis, suggesting complex interactions among the ligaments, synovium, and bones in the region. The inflammatory changes in the first rib area were highlighted in SAPHO syndrome.

Satellite retrieval of precipitation is a great challenge in arid regions where light precipitation prevails. To improve the accuracy of satellite precipitation products in Xinjiang, which is the driest region in China, this study first evaluated the performance of two widely used monthly satellite products from April 2014 to August 2017. The first was the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) 3B43 version 7 (hereafter 3B43V7), and the second was the Integrated Multi-Satellite Retrievals for the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission (IMERG) (hereafter 3IMERGM). The 3IMERGM product was then corrected by a stepwise regression model using topographic variables derived from digital elevation model (DEM). A comparison between satellite estimates and in situ measurements indicates that both 3B43V7 and 3IMERGM overestimate precipitation overall, but that 3IMERGM performs better than 3B43V7. The relative biases (RB) of 3B43V7 and 3IMERGM were found to be 10.24 and 7.76%, respectively. The correlation coefficient (CC) between 3IMERGM and the gauges is 0.68, which is higher than the CC observed (i.e., 0.62) between 3B43V7 and the gauges. To comprehensively evaluate the performance of the corrected model, a tenfold cross-validation method was used. The results showed that the corrected 3IMERGM (C-3IMERGM) performed much better than 3IMERGM. Specifically, CC was increased from 0.68 to 0.73, and RB is decreased from 7.76 to − 1.65%. Furthermore, C-3IMERGM achieves a better precipitation distribution than the uncorrected satellite product and even than scarce gauge measurements. The actual spatial pattern of precipitation represented that the precipitation bands in the Kunlun Mountains located in southern Xinjiang were captured by C-3IMERGM, but missed by the other products.

Co-existing organic compounds may affect the adsorption of perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) and carbon nanotubes in aquatic environments. Adsorption of perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS), perfluorooctane acid (PFOA), perfluorobutane sulfonate (PFBS), and perfluorohexane sulfonate (PFH x S) on the pristine multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs-Pri), carboxyl functionalized MWCNTs (MWCTNs-COOH), and hydroxyl functionalized MWCNTs (MWCNTs-OH) in the presence of humic acid, 1-naphthol, phenol, and benzoic acid was studied. Adsorption kinetics of PFOS was described well by the pseudo-second-order model and the sorption equilibrium was almost reached within 24 h. The effect of co-existing organic compounds on PFOS adsorption followed the decreasing order of humic acid>1-naphthol>benzoic acid>phenol. Adsorbed amounts of PFOS decreased significantly in the presence of co-existing or preloaded humic acid, and both adsorption energy and effective adsorption sites on the three MWCNTs decreased, resulting in the decrease of PFOS adsorption. With increasing pH, PFOS removal by three MWCNTs decreased in the presence of humic acid and phenol. The adsorbed amounts of different PFCs on the MWCNTs increased in the order of PFBS

This study considers US public diplomacy efforts in Northeast Asia in the context of the country’s foreign policy ‘pivot’ toward the region. Focused specifically on American efforts to communicate online with publics in China, Japan and South Korea, this research examines embassy social media feeds in order to characterize the most visible aspects of American PD 2.0 in the region. Findings indicate that despite the interactive potential of these online tools, the US approach to public diplomacy in the online context remains overwhelmingly unilateral, with one-way messaging the norm and instances of engagement with the target publics exceedingly rare. Implications of these findings are discussed.

Ferrofluids have been increasingly used to manipulate particles and cells in microfluidic devices via negative magnetophoresis. They have also been recently exploited to achieve a fast microfluidic mixing through magnetic field-induced flow instabilities at the ferrofluid/water interface. This work presents the first demonstration of electric field-induced instabilities in electroosmotic ferrofluid/water co-flows through a T-shaped microchannel. With the increase in electric field, instability waves and even chaotic flows can be formed when the two fluids merge at the T-junction due to the significant mismatch of their electrical conductivities. The experimentally observed dynamic behaviors of the ferrofluid/water interface are qualitatively captured by the ferrofluid concentration distribution obtained from a 2D numerical model. The measured threshold electric field for observing sustainable flow instabilities is found to decrease with the increase in ferrofluid concentration. While this trend is correctly predicted by the numerical model, the threshold electric field values are substantially under-predicted. The parametric effects that may be responsible for this discrepancy are discussed.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a worldwide public health and medical problem. Oxidative stress is recognized as an important contributing factor in the pathogenesis of TBI. The present study was designed to explore the anti-oxidative effect of Nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) on brain damage induced by traumatic injury in a mouse model. Moderate weight-drop impact head injury was induced in adult male mice. The mice were randomly divided into four groups: Nrf2(+/+) sham-operation, Nrf2(-/-) sham-operation, Nrf2(+/+) TBI, and Nrf2(-/-) TBI group. Neurological scores were evaluated 24 h after TBI, followed by collection of the brain specimens. Brain edema was detected by the wet-dry ratio method. The expression of NOX2 protein in the brain specimen was investigated using Western Blot analysis and immunohistochemical staining. In addition, malondialdehyde (MDA) level and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity were evaluated in the brain tissues. Twenty-four hours after TBI, our results showed Nrf2(+/+) TBI mice have more severe neurological deficits and brain edema than Nrf2(+/+) sham group. On the other hand, the Nrf2(-/-) TBI mice were found to have significantly increased neurological deficits and brain edema, compared to Nrf2(+/+) TBI mice (P 0.05). At the same time, we found that the expression of NOX2 protein, MDA level were significantly increased in Nrf2(-/-) mice, while SOD activity was considerably decreased after TBI compared to Nrf2(+/+) mice (P 0.05). We demonstrated that deletion of Nrf2 exacerbates brain injury after TBI in mice, suggesting that Nrf2 may play an important role in protecting brain injury after TBI, possibly by modulating oxidative stress.

Electrochemical reduction of oxygen at the interface between a La0.9Sr0.1MnO3 (LSM)-based electrode and an electrolyte, either yttria-stabilized-zirconia (YSZ) or La0.8Sr0.2Ga0.9Mg0.1O3 (LSGM), has been investigated using DC polarization, impedance spectroscopy, and potential step methods at temperatures from 1053 to 1173 K. Results show that the mechanism of oxygen reduction at an LSM/electrolyte interface changes with the type of electrolyte. At an LSM/YSZ interface, the apparent cathodic charge transfer coefficient is about 1 at high temperatures, implying that the rate-determining step (r.d.s.) is the diffusion of partially reduced oxygen species, while at an LSM/LSGM interface the cathodic charge transfer coefficient is about 0.5, implying that the r.d.s. is the donation of electrons to atomic oxygen. The relaxation behavior of the LSM/electrolyte interfaces displays an even more dramatic dependence on the type of electrolyte. Under cathodic polarization, the current passing through an LSM/YSZ interface increases with time whereas that through an LSM/LSGM interface decreases with time, further confirming that it is the triple phase boundaries (TPBs), rather than the surface of the LSM or the LSM/gas interface, that dominate the electrode kinetics when LSM is used as an electrode.

Sr0.25Bi0.5FeO3– δ (SBF) has been studied as a cathode material for low- and intermediate-temperature (600–850 °C) solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) based on the La0.9Sr0.1Ga0.9Mg0.1O3 (LSGM) electrolyte. The observed cathodic current density passing through an SBF/LSGM interface at 840 °C in pure oxygen is about 1 A·cm–2 at an overpotential of 40 mV, much higher than that for an LaxSr1–xMnO3 electrode under similar conditions reported in the literature. Analysis indicates that the electrode kinetics is controlled primarily by mass transfer at high temperatures and by charge transfer at low temperatures. The inductive loops of the impedance spectra further suggest that the adsorption of intermediate species is involved in the interfacial reaction.