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Magnesium silicate hydrate (M‐S‐H) represents a promising alternative to traditional cement, particularly for low‐pH construction applications such as nuclear waste encapsulation and carbon dioxide injection. The durability of construction materials, a critical aspect of their suitability for various purposes, is primarily governed by the kinetics of dissolution of the binder phase under service conditions. In this study, we employed in situ atomic force microscopy to assess the dissolution rates of M‐S‐H in water equilibrated with air. Quantitative analysis based on changes in volume and height revealed dissolution rates ranging from 0.18 to 3.09 × 10−12 mol/cm2/s depending on the precipitate Mg/Si ratio and morphology. This rate surpasses its crystalline analogs, talc (Mg3Si4O10(OH)2) and serpentine (Mg3(Si2O5)(OH)4), by about three to five orders of magnitude. Interestingly, oriented M‐S‐H dissolved faster than non‐oriented M‐S‐H. Spatially resolved assessments of dissolution rates facilitated a direct correlation between rates and morphology, showing that edges and smaller crystallites dissolve at a faster pace compared to facets and larger crystallites. The outcomes of this study provide insights into the mechanisms governing the dissolution of M‐S‐H and the factors dictating its durability. These findings hold implications for the strategic design and optimization of M‐S‐H for various applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The process of synthesizing 2,5‐diformylfuran (DFF) from sucrose involves three sequential steps: hydrolyzing sucrose into fructose and glucose, dehydrating fructose into 5‐hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), and subsequently converting HMF into DFF. In this study, various potassium salts and metal bromides, as well as carbohydrates and solvents, were screened for the production of DFF. It was found that KBr was the optimal catalyst for the one‐pot, one‐step conversion of sucrose to DFF. The influences of reaction time, temperature, reactant/solvent ratio, and reactant/catalyst ratio were also completely investigated for process optimization. HMF from the sucrose hydrolysis and fructose dehydration was oxidized thoroughly to DFF. The maximum DFF yield of 62.5 % was achieved after 6 h at 140 °C in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) with sucrose/KBr weight ratio=5.75 and sucrose/DMSO weight ratio=0.104 as the catalyst in the absence of any additives. The large‐scale process was also tested, the main product was isolated by column chromatography and structurally characterized. By comparing the results of this study to previous ones, the process was proved to have benefits, including the utilization of accessible biomass material, available low‐cost catalyst, energy‐saving method, no oxidants or additives, short reaction time, and high DFF yield with 100 % HMF conversion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bi2O3/TiO2 photocatalysts were successfully synthesized by the solvothermal method. Characterization using X‐ray powder diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, UV‐visible diffuse reflectance spectra, X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and photoluminescence spectroscopy showed excellent photodegradation of tetracycline under UV‐visible light, compared to Bi2O3 or TiO2. This was due to reduced electron‐hole recombination in the Bi2O3/TiO2 composite, as confirmed by photoluminescence characterization. The fabrication of semiconductor composites holds great promise for enhancing the photocatalytic performance, and Bi2O3/TiO2 is a prime example with exciting prospects for practical applications in photocatalysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Flow chemistry is becoming an essential technique in organic synthesis. This trend is expected to continue and broaden in scope and complexity. This miniaturized protocol that includes microreactors enables excellent heat transfer, low solvent wastage, shorter reaction times, higher productivity and higher space–time yields. RESULTS: In this study, we synthesized four ionic liquids and applied them as catalysts for the selective preparation of 5‐hydroxymethylfurfural (5‐HMF) from fructose using the continuous flow system. The effects of reaction time and temperature, catalyst loading, solvent and substrates for carbohydrate conversion to 5‐HMF have been carefully investigated, and 5‐HMF yields were determined by high‐performance liquid chromatography. CONCLUSION: As a result, 1‐(4‐sulfobutyl)pyridinium iron(III) chloride gave 71% yield of 5‐HMF for 30 min. The results of this research demonstrate that this approach is not only straightforward in design but also rapid and convenient in operation, and it has the potential to be carried out on a massive scale. © 2023 Society of Chemical Industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The synthesis of N‐pyridinylamides has been realized by particularly efficient technologies via bimetallic organic (Co/Fe‐MOF) catalyzed oxidative amidation between 2‐aminopyridine and benzaldehyde. The C−N bond was formed with the presence of a catalyst (Co/Fe‐MOF) as a Lewis acid and the oxidant as DTBP. The oxidative amidation reaction was conducted in 1,4‐dioxane at 120 °C with a wide range of substrates producing the corresponding amide products in good to 94 % yields. Experimental results illustrated that This accessibly offers a significant improvement over the earlier successful attempts in forming N‐pyridinyl amides. The Co/Fe‐MOF material was synthesized by solvothermal methods with the salt mixture of Fe(NO3)3.9H2O and Co(NO3)2.6H2O. The material was determined by modern analytic methods like X‐ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier‐transform Infrared spectroscopy (FT‐IR), Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), and N2 adsorption/desorption isotherms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BiVO4 and g‐C3N4 have gain attention for their potential in sustainable energy and environmental applications due to their visible light absorption properties. However, their limitations in terms of visible light absorption and electron‐hole separation have prompted efforts to enhance their energy utilization and reduce electron‐hole recombination. In our study, we investigated the fabrication of a ternary Ag/g‐C3N4/BiVO4 composite for Rhodamine B (RhB) degradation under visible light irradiation using a combination of photo‐deposition and calcination methods. Our findings demonstrate that the Ag/g‐C3N4/BiVO4 outperforms g‐C3N4, BiVO4, and g‐C3N4/BiVO4 in terms of RhB degradation rate. This improvement can be attributed to the improved light absorption and synergetic effects on charge transfer and photoelectron‐hole recombination resulting from the incorporation of Ag into the ternary system. This ternary Ag/g‐C3N4/BiVO4 composite has potential as a photocatalyst for the removal of organic pollutants due to its reasonable design and superior effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The diagnosis of cancer is increasingly made in the pregnant population, thought to be from the increasing average age of pregnancy and the use of prenatal fetal noninvasive screening techniques, leading to incidental detection of cancer in the mother. Complex challenges are associated with imaging, diagnosis, staging, and treatment of cancers in this patient population, which require highly specialized interdisciplinary management. This report discusses the use of multimodality imaging and safety considerations in pregnant patients, reviews the current guidelines for ionizing radiation imaging techniques, and presents a series of commonly and uncommonly encountered cancers in pregnancy with current diagnostic imaging guidelines. The authors also discuss the role of multidisciplinary management and treatment options and provide an overview of therapy‐related considerations in the age of novel anticancer therapies. Plain Language Summary: The diagnosis and management of pregnant patients who have cancer are actively evolving as novel imaging techniques and anticancer therapies are being developed.Radiologically, there are inherent difficulties in balancing the minimization of fetal ionization while acquiring diagnostic quality imaging necessary for the diagnosis, staging, and treatment of maternal disease.Standardized imaging protocols are still being developed, with evolving imaging guidelines coupled with rapidly expanding research and development of novel anticancer therapies, which come with their side effects and complications.Caring for this patient population is especially challenging and requires specialized multidisciplinary attention. Cancer during pregnancy is increasingly diagnosed. This article discusses the use of multimodality imaging and safety considerations in pregnant patients as well as treatment options and provides an overview of therapy‐related considerations in the age of novel anticancer therapies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study examined the role of interpersonal synchrony between mothers and their 4‐month‐old infants (N = 40) in infant responses to a modified interaction where mothers continually looked and verbalised towards but did not engage with their children. During a natural interaction we observed behavioural synchrony and for a subsample of infants (n = 20) measured change in their salivary oxytocin from before to after the natural interaction. During the modified interaction we observed infant gaze, positive, and negative affect. We found that higher interpersonal synchrony was related to longer infants' social gaze and shorter displays of negative affect during the modified interaction. Increase in infant oxytocin was also associated with longer gaze, but also longer negative and shorter positive affect during the modified interaction. Our results show that interpersonal synchrony allows infants to notice changes in interactions with others, but also helps them to regulate their emotions during such modified exchanges. These findings thus indicate the importance of synchrony experiences with caregivers for the development of early regulatory capacities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Throughout the world, louver‐bypass systems are a common method for fish protection at water diversion sites. Their performance has been evaluated for pelagic, strong‐swimming teleost fishes, but limited information exists regarding the effectiveness of louvers for guiding sturgeon, despite being a globally threatened taxon. This study used controlled laboratory experiments to quantify louver efficiency for juvenile green sturgeon under a range of conditions. Fish guidance efficiency was influenced most strongly by fish size and approach velocity, with poor efficiency for small fish at high velocities. Low velocities and, to a lesser extent, daylight conditions allowed a greater proportion of fish to remain upstream of the louver at all sizes. High velocities resulted in the greatest contact rate between the sturgeon and louver face. Louvers can be effective for benthic, weak‐swimming fish, but site‐ and species‐specific needs should always be considered in the development or operation of a louver guidance system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A bimetallic‐catalyzed oxidative esterification reaction has been conducted between non‐activated C(sp3)–H bonds of symmetric ethers and carboxylic acids with the presence of di‐tert‐butyl peroxide as the oxidant through a cross‐dehydrogenative coupling (CDC) reaction. This approach allows the derivatives of cyclic ether substrates to interact with aromatic acids, giving excellent yields for the formation of α‐acyloxy ethers. The bimetallic organic frameworks catalyst (Fe2Ni‐BDC) that had been synthesized by solvothermal method was successfully utilized for the formation of α‐acyloxy ethers based on the CDC reaction of carboxylic acid with diethylene oxide (approx. 84 % product yield). Besides, this material was also used as catalyst for research scope of benzoic acid containing various substituents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In cellular transportation mechanisms, the movement of ions across the cell membrane and its proper control are important for cells, especially for life processes. Ion transporters/pumps and ion channel proteins work as border guards controlling the incessant traffic of ions across cell membranes. We revisited the study of classification of transporters and ion channels from membrane proteins with a more efficient deep learning approach. Specifically, we applied multi‐window scanning filters of convolutional neural networks on almost full‐length position‐specific scoring matrices for extracting useful information. In this way, we were able to retain important evolutionary information of the proteins. Our experiment results show that a convolutional neural network with a minimum number of convolutional layers can be enough to extract the conserved information of proteins which leads to higher performance. Our best prediction models were obtained after examining different data imbalanced handling techniques, and different protein encoding methods. We also showed that our models were superior to traditional deep learning approaches on the same datasets as well as other machine learning classification algorithms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Protein multiple sequence alignment information has long been important features to know about functions of proteins inferred from related sequences with known functions. It is therefore one of the underlying ideas of Alpha fold 2, a breakthrough study and model for the prediction of three‐dimensional structures of proteins from their primary sequence. Our study used protein multiple sequence alignment information in the form of position‐specific scoring matrices as input. We also refined the use of a convolutional neural network, a well‐known deep‐learning architecture with impressive achievement on image and image‐like data. Specifically, we revisited the study of prediction of adenosine triphosphate (ATP)‐binding sites with more efficient convolutional neural networks. We applied multiple convolutional window scanning filters of a convolutional neural network on position‐specific scoring matrices for as much as useful information as possible. Furthermore, only the most specific motifs are retained at each feature map output through the one‐max pooling layer before going to the next layer. We assumed that this way could help us retain the most conserved motifs which are discriminative information for prediction. Our experiment results show that a convolutional neural network with not too many convolutional layers can be enough to extract the conserved information of proteins, which leads to higher performance. Our best prediction models were obtained after examining them with different hyper‐parameters. Our experiment results showed that our models were superior to traditional use of convolutional neural networks on the same datasets as well as other machine‐learning classification algorithms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The RIG‐I pathway can be activated by RNA containing 5′ triphosphate, leading to type I interferon release and immune activation. Hence, RIG‐I agonists have been used to induce immune responses against cancer as potential immunotherapy. However, delivery of 5′ triphosphorylated RNA molecules as RIG‐I agonists to tumour cells in vivo is challenging due to the susceptibility of these molecules to degradation. In this study, we demonstrate the use of extracellular vesicles (EVs) from red blood cells (RBCs), which are highly amenable for RNA loading and taken up robustly by cancer cells, for RIG‐I agonist delivery. We evaluate the anti‐cancer activity of two novel RIG‐I agonists, the immunomodulatory RNA (immRNA) with a unique secondary structure for efficient RIG‐I activation, and a 5′ triphosphorylated antisense oligonucleotide with dual function of RIG‐I activation and miR‐125b inhibition (3p‐125b‐ASO). We find that RBCEV‐delivered immRNA and 3p‐125b‐ASO trigger the RIG‐I pathway, and induce cell death in both mouse and human breast cancer cells. Furthermore, we observe a significant suppression of tumour growth coupled with increased immune cell infiltration mediated by the activation of RIG‐I cascade after multiple intratumoral injections of RBCEVs loaded with immRNA or 3p‐125b‐ASO. Targeted delivery of immRNA using RBCEVs with EGFR‐binding nanobody administrated via intrapulmonary delivery facilitates the accumulation of RBCEVs in metastatic cancer cells, leading to potent tumour‐specific CD8+ T cells immune response. This contributes to prominent suppression of breast cancer metastasis in the lung. Hence, this study provides a new strategy for efficient RIG‐I agonist delivery using RBCEVs for immunotherapy against cancer and cancer metastasis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interpersonal neural synchrony (INS) has been previously evidenced in mother–child interactions, yet findings concerning father–child interaction are wanting. The current experiment examined whether fathers and their 5‐ to 6‐year‐old children (N = 66) synchronize their brain activity during a naturalistic interaction, and addressed paternal and child factors related to INS. Compared to individual problem solving and rest, father–child dyads showed increased INS in bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and left temporo‐parietal junction during cooperative problem solving. Furthermore, the father's attitude toward his role as a parent was positively related to INS during the cooperation condition. These results highlight the implication of the father's attitude to parenting in INS processes for the first time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, a novel mixed‐matrix membrane (MMM) based on covalent incorporation of poly(styrene‐alt‐maleic anhydride) (PSMA) with a metal‐organic framework (MOF) UiO‐66‐NH2 was prepared and utilized for dye removal from aqueous solution. The fabrication of PSMA and UiO‐66‐NH2 was carried out by the amidation reaction between the maleic anhydride ring and amino functional group affording crosslinked MOF/PSMA membrane. The separate UiO‐66‐NH2 and PSMA solutions were mixed before cast films were produced. The MMM was prepared with final UiO‐66‐NH2 wt % content from 0 to 30 % in each membrane. The formation of MMM was confirmed with FT‐IR, PXRD, TGA, SEM, and XPS analysis. The MMM having high adsorption capacity was used for the separation of methylene blue (MB) and methyl orange (MO) as organic dye pollutants commonly found in wastewater. The MMM could be recycled and still maintained 75 and 52 % retention of MB and MO on the third reuse cycle, respectively. The results suggest that the MOF incorporated PSMA was an outstanding membrane for the development of filtration techniques for decontamination of water resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We herein proposed a novel approach based on the language representation learning method to categorize electron complex proteins into 5 types. The idea is stemmed from the the shared characteristics of human language and protein sequence language, thus advanced natural language processing techniques were used for extracting useful features. Specifically, we employed transfer learning and word embedding techniques to analyze electron complex sequences and create efficient feature sets before using a support vector machine algorithm to classify them. During the 5‐fold cross‐validation processes, seven types of sequence‐based features were analyzed to find the optimal features. On an average, our final classification models achieved the accuracy, specificity, sensitivity, and MCC of 96 %, 96.1 %, 95.3 %, and 0.86, respectively on cross‐validation data. For the independent test data, those corresponding performance scores are 95.3 %, 92.6 %, 94 %, and 0.87. We concluded that using feature extracted using these representation learning methods, the prediction performance of simple machine learning algorithm is on par with existing deep neural network method on the task of categorizing electron complexes while enjoying a much faster way for feature generation. Furthermore, the results also showed that the combination of features learned from the representation learning methods and sequence motif counts helps yield better performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Haematococcus pluvialis is a green microalga used in the algal biotechnology industry that can accumulate considerable amounts of storage triacylglycerol (TAG) and astaxanthin, which is a high‐value carotenoid with strong antioxidant activity, under stress conditions. Diacylglycerol acyltransferase (DGAT) catalyzes the last step of the acyl‐CoA‐dependent TAG biosynthesis and appears to represent a bottleneck in algal TAG formation. In this study, putative H. pluvialis DGAT2 cDNA (HpDGAT2A, B, D and E) were identified from a transcriptome database and were subjected to sequence‐based in silico analyses. The coding sequences of HpDGAT2B, D, and E were then isolated and characterized through heterologous expression in a TAG‐deficient Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain H1246. The expression of HpDGAT2D allowed the recovery of TAG biosynthesis in this yeast mutant, and further in vitro enzymatic assays confirmed that the recombinant HpDGAT2D possessed strong DGAT activity. Interestingly, the recombinant HpDGAT2D displayed sigmoidal kinetics in response to increasing acyl‐CoA concentrations, which has not been reported in plant or algal DGAT2 in previous studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we designed a novel hydrogel composite membrane based on the combination of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), agar, and maltodextrin through a facile solution‐casting router. From Fourier‐transform infrared spectroscopy, contact angle, scanning electron microscopy, and swelling analyses, the formation of hydrogen bonds between surface functional groups of PVA, agar, and maltodextrin was confirmed. As a result, the PVA/agar/maltodextrin membranes exhibited a more hydrophobic nature compared with pure PVA. The thermal stability and integrity of such obtained composite membranes were also elucidated by the evaluation of thermogravimetric analysis and mechanical behavior. Besides, the composite membrane exhibited high selective adsorption for cationic dyes, namely 20.2 mg g−1 for methylene blue and 19.17 mg g−1 for crystal violet at initial dye concentration of 100 mg/L, an adsorbent dosage of 0.1 g, contact time of 180 min, and solution pH 7, while anionic dyes such as congo red and methyl orange are approximately zero. The adsorption kinetics and isotherm of the as‐prepared composite membranes were well fitted to the pseudo‐second‐order and Temkin model. The effect of factors, including contact time, solution pH, PVA content, and initial dye concentration on the adsorption capacity of the as‐prepared composite membrane was also investigated in detail. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2019, 137, 48904. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND The development of visible light photocatalysts for CO2 reduction into methanol is a challenge, as most of the reported photocatalysts can only work in a UV light environment. Slow kinetics and poor selectivity of CO2 towards methanol are currently two significant drawbacks limiting the practical application of CO2 reduction into methanol. RESULTS: A ZnFe2O4/TiO2 heterojunction with a ratio of unity was found to lead to the highest methanol yield of 693.31 μmol (g cat)−1 under a light intensity of 100 mW cm−2. This photocatalyst also possessed the highest BET surface area of 6.5211 m2 g−1 and better morphological structure, as compared with other ratios (1:2, 2:1 w/w). Interestingly, a loading of 1 g L−1 of ZnFe2O4/TiO2 (1:1) heterojunction photocatalyst in the pre‐annealing treatment of ZnFe2O4 at 900 °C and post‐annealing treatment of ZnFe2O4/TiO2 (1:1) composite at 500 °C revealed that there was an enhancement in the interfacial interaction, and subsequently an efficient photoreduction of CO2 into methanol. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates facile fabrication of p–n heterostructured phototcatalysts for reduction of CO2 with marked improvement in methanol yield under visible light irradiation. It provides a viable route for exploring the effects of composition, hydrothermal treatment, and pre‐/post‐annealing treatment of hybrid semiconductor composites used to scale up photocatalytic CO2 conversion in solar fuel‐based devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Among pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic drug‐drug interactions (DDIs), psychotropic drug‐drug interactions (pDDIs) are of particular interest because psychopharmacologic agents mark one of the fastest growing therapeutic drug classes over the past 2 decades, and prescribing multiple psychotropic drugs has become increasingly prevalent in clinical practice. However, the documentation of pDDIs across drug references has lacked consistency. Thus we set out to review the primary evidence directly supporting 58 pDDIs that were uniformly reported as "major" or "contraindicated" in three prominent drug references: Clinical Pharmacology, Micromedex, and Lexicomp. We identified 134 citations from Micromedex in December 2017 and 4251 citations from Medline in March 2018 involving any of the 58 pDDIs. The included articles directly observed a clinical adverse effect or effects on drug plasma concentrations from the concomitant use of the two listed drugs in each pDDI. These articles were classified as controlled studies (e.g., randomized controlled trials, clinical trials, or observational studies) or uncontrolled studies (case reports). A total of 124 studies with 2716 patients were included in this review. Commonly evaluated adverse effects related to the studied pDDIs included decreased effectiveness, central nervous system depression, neurotoxicity, QT‐interval prolongation, and serotonin syndrome. Among the 58 pDDIs, 18 (31%) were not supported by any primary studies. Among the remaining 35 pDDIs supported by studies on clinical adverse effects, only 14 (40%) included evidence from controlled study designs. Only 7 (12.1%) of the 58 pDDIs had evidence from studies with a combined sample size of more than 100 patients. This literature review highlights the poor quality of evidence supporting major or contraindicated psychotropic DDI warnings. Most DDIs lacked support from controlled studies that evaluated clinically significant adverse effects, leaving uncertainty about the clinical relevance of the warning. More postmarketing studies are needed to evaluate the safety of psychotropic combination therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effects of water temperature on individual and group movement behaviour in prey fish can affect ecological interactions such as competition and predation, but how variability in temperature influence fish behaviour is less understood. Of particular concern is how increased warming in tidally fluctuating estuaries may impact the native and endangered delta smelt (Hypomesus transpacificus, Osmeridae).To help address this issue, we tested the effects of increased water temperature (fluctuating [17–21°C] and warm [21°C] acclimated treatments) on juvenile delta smelt individual and group behaviour, response to chemical alarm and predator cues, as well as capacity to evade predation. In addition, predation of delta smelt was tested in the presence of a dominant invasive competitor, Mississippi silversides (Menidia beryllina, Atherinopsidae), as well as comparative predation mortality on Mississippi silversides when isolated.After 7 days of increased temperature treatments, delta smelt in the warm treatment increased swimming velocity, decreased turning angle, and altered group structure with larger inter‐individual distances compared to fish in the control (17°C) and fluctuating temperature treatments. Following conspecific and predator chemical alarm cues, delta smelt showed anti‐predator responses. Control and fluctuating treatment fish responded to conspecific cues with increased swimming speeds, decreased inter‐individual distances and near‐neighbour distances, and, after 15 min, fish recovered back to baseline behaviours. In contrast, fish in the warm treatment had not recovered after 15 min, and swimming speeds were maintained at roughly 25 cm/s, close to maximum capabilities. Fish in control and fluctuating treatments showed minimal responses to predator cues, whereas delta smelt exposed to warm conditions significantly increased swimming speeds and decreased turning angle.Predation of delta smelt by largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides, Centrarchidae) was greatest under the warm treatment, correlating with altered behaviours of delta smelt; however, predation of Mississippi silversides was greater than delta smelt, independent of temperature.This study provides novel insight into the group behaviour of delta smelt, their response to predation, and how prolonged exposure to elevated temperature may induce negative individual and group behaviours causing alterations in predator–prey dynamics. This work highlights the importance of testing ecologically realistic temperature fluctuations in experiments as delta smelt had significantly altered responses to elevated temperature, dependent on variability of warming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pd/PdO‐decorated BiVO4 nanoparticles were prepared by two‐step router: (i) monoclinic scheelite BiVO4 nanoparticles were fabricated via the co‐precipitation process in the presence of urea; (ii) Pd/PdO was decorated BiVO4 surface by the combination of by precipitation method and annealing process. The as‐synthesized catalysts were characterized by X‐ray powder diffraction (XRD) analysis, Raman spectra, X‐ray photoelectron (XPS) spectra, UV‐visible diffuse reflectance (UV‐vis DRS) spectra, and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. The photocatalytic performance of Pd/PdO‐decorated BiVO4 samples exhibited excellent photodegradation of rhodamine B as well as the OH• radical generation under LED light irradiation as a comparison with the bare BiVO4. This excellent outcome is due to the reduced electron/hole recombination of Pd/PdO‐decorated BiVO4 samples, which was confirmed by PL characterization. Therefore, the fabrication of semiconductors with a combination of noble metal/oxides are good candidates for enhancement of their photocatalytic performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Surface functionalization of nanomaterials has attracted much attention in the fields of chemistry, materials science, biology, and medicine because the surface chemistry and topology of nanomaterials has dramatic effects on the resulting material properties. Various strategies have been employed to modify the surface properties of substrates, including the immobilization of polymer brushes on a solid substrate using 'living'/controlled radical polymerization methods. Results: A halloysite nanotubes (HNTs) surface was fabricated through the growth of poly(ethylene glycol)‐based brushes (PPEGMA) via a living radical polymerization method followed by coupling of a model antibiotic, penicillin (PE). Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy confirmed all three segments of the nanohybrids were covalently attached. Successful covalent functionalization was also confirmed using X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and energy dispersive X‐ray (EDX) spectrometry. The field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE‐SEM) images of the nanohybrids showed that a soft layer of polymer was immobilized on the nanotubes. Bioassay studies revealed that the covalently attached penicillin retained its antibacterial properties against E. coli and S. aureus. Conclusion: A synthetic strategy for the functionalization of HNTs PPEGMA via surface‐initiated atom transfer radical polymerization (SI‐ATRP) has been successfully developed to permit covalent immobilization of antibiotics. First, PPEGMA‐grafted HNTs (HNTs‐g‐PPEGMA) were synthesized via a controlled SI‐ATRP of PPEGMA, followed by silanization using (3‐aminopropyl)trimethoxysilane to afford amine group‐containing nanohybrids (HNTs‐g‐PPEGMA‐NH2). Subsequently, PE was anchored to the surface of HNTs‐g‐PPEGMA‐NH2 via carbodiimide chemistry. The high bactericidal efficiency of the synthetic hybrid towards gram‐positive S. aureus and gram‐negative E. coli was demonstrated. Thus, this biofunctionalization strategy holds great potential for applications in the field of bio‐nanotechnology. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Vanillin, furfural and 5‐hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) are representative fermentation inhibitors generated during the pretreatment process of lignocellulosic biomass in bioethanol production. These biomass conversion inhibitors, particularly vanillin, are known to repress translation activity in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. We have reported that the mRNAs of ADH7 and BDH2 were efficiently translated under severe vanillin stress despite marked repression of overall protein synthesis. In this study, we found that expression of VFH1 (YLL056C) was also significantly induced at the protein level by severe vanillin stress. Additionally, we demonstrated that the VFH1 promoter enabled the protein synthesis of other genes including GFP and ALD6 under severe vanillin stress. It is known that transcriptional activation of VFH1 is induced by furfural and HMF, and we verified that Vfh1 protein synthesis was also induced by furfural and HMF. The null mutant of VFH1 delayed growth in the presence of vanillin, furfural and HMF, indicating the importance of Vfh1 for sufficient tolerance against these inhibitors. The protein levels of Vfh1 induced by the inhibitors tested were markedly higher than those of Adh7 and Bdh2, suggesting the superior utility of the VFH1 promoter over the ADH7 or BDH2 promoter for breeding optimized yeast strains for bioethanol production from lignocellulosic biomass. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]