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Summary: Okara, a natural source of dietary fibre (DF), is recognised as an edible and safe material. In this study, lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and Kluyveromyces marxianus were used to ferment okara in separately or in combination, and the physicochemical and functional characteristics of obtained insoluble dietary fibre (IDF) excluded from okara were compared. The result showed that compared with non‐fermented okara, the content of IDF from co‐fermented okara by LAB and K. marxianus increased by 6.8%, while separate fermentations were 2.4% and 4.0%. Scanning electron microscopy result showed that the structure of co‐fermented okara IDF was looser and porous with the edge disappeared compared to separate and non‐fermented okara. All the fermentation treatment groups effectively reduced the particle size and affected the cellulose and hemicellulose functional groups of IDF. Furthermore, compared with non‐fermented okara, processing performance, and the activities of hypoglycaemic and hypolipidaemic of IDF were greatly improved in fermented okara. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Although ileal faecal diversion is commonly used in clinical settings, complications accompany it. Elucidating the intestinal changes caused by ileal faecal diversion will help resolve postoperative complications and elucidate the pathogenic mechanisms of associated intestinal disorders, such as Crohn's disease (CD). Therefore, our study aimed to provide new insights into the effects of ileal faecal diversion on the intestine and the potential mechanisms. Methods: Single‐cell RNA sequencing was performed on proximal functional and paired distal defunctioned intestinal mucosae from three patients with ileal faecal diversion. We also performed in vitro cellular and animal experiments, tissue staining and analysed public datasets to validate our findings. Results: We found that the epithelium in the defunctioned intestine tended to be immature, with defective mechanical and mucous barriers. However, the innate immune barrier in the defunctioned intestine was enhanced. Focusing on the changes in goblet cells, we demonstrated that mechanical stimulation promotes the differentiation and maturation of goblet cells through the TRPA1‐ERK pathway, indicating that the absence of mechanical stimulation may be the main cause of defects in the goblet cells of the defunctioned intestine. Furthermore, we found obvious fibrosis with a pro‐fibrotic microenvironment in the defunctioned intestine and identified that monocytes may be important targets for faecal diversion to alleviate CD. Conclusions: This study revealed the different transcription landscapes of various cell subsets and the potential underlying mechanisms within the defunctioned intestine, when compared to the functional intestine, based on the background of ileal faecal diversion. These findings provide novel insights for understanding the physiological and pathological roles of the faecal stream in the intestine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exploring high‐performance Pt‐free electrocatalysts for hydrogen oxidation reaction (HOR) in alkaline media is highly imperative for the development of alkaline polymer electrolyte fuel cells. Phase engineering is an effective strategy for boosting the catalytic performance of electrocatalysts; however, the fabrication of unconventional polymorphism‐interfaced metal catalysts remains a significant challenge. In this study, a polymorphism‐interfaced Ru nanocatalyst with a stable hexagonal close‐packed (hcp) phase and a metastableface‐centered‐cubic (fcc) phase is successfully prepared. Owing to the built‐in electric field and stacking fault on the unique polymorphic interface, the fcc‐hcp‐Ru catalyst exhibits outstanding alkaline HOR performance with a mass activity of 1016 A gPGM‐1, which is six and three times higher than that of conventional hcp‐Ru andcommercial Pt/C, respectively. The regulated electron distribution at the polymorphic interface is attributed to the discrepant work functions, which not only optimize the adsorption energy of hydrogen but also facilitate the water formation step to promote the alkaline HOR process. This study demonstrates that unconventional polymorphism‐interfaced engineering is an efficient strategy to regulate the electronic structure of metal catalysts and identifies the prominent role of the work function in alkaline HORs, providing a new avenue for the rational design of highly efficient materials for electrocatalysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comprehensive Summary: Unveiling the role of adsorbed hydroxide involved in the hydrogen oxidation reaction (HOR) under alkaline electrolyte is crucial for the development of advanced HOR electrocatalysts for the alkaline polymer electrolyte fuel cells (APEFCs). Herein, we report the synthesis of amorphous RuCr nanosheets with different molar ratios and their HOR performances under alkaline media. We find a volcano correlation between the Cr content in RuCr nanosheets and their alkaline HOR performance. Experimental results and density functional theory (DFT) calculation reveals that the optimized Cr content in RuCr nanosheets could lead to the optimum hydroxide binding energy (OHBE), contributes to their remarkable alkaline HOR performance with mass activity of 568.1 A·gPGM–1 at 50 mV, 13‐fold higher than that of Ru catalyst. When RuCr nanosheet is further used as the anodic electrocatalyst, a peak power density of 1.04 W·cm–2 can be achieved in an APEFC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comprehensive Summary: Unveiling the role of adsorbed hydroxide involved in the hydrogen oxidation reaction (HOR) under alkaline electrolyte is crucial for the development of advanced HOR electrocatalysts for the alkaline polymer electrolyte fuel cells (APEFCs). Herein, we report the synthesis of amorphous RuCr nanosheets with different molar ratios and their HOR performances under alkaline media. We find a volcano correlation between the Cr content in RuCr nanosheets and their alkaline HOR performance. Experimental results and density functional theory (DFT) calculation reveals that the optimized Cr content in RuCr nanosheets could lead to the optimum hydroxide binding energy (OHBE), contributes to their remarkable alkaline HOR performance with mass activity of 568.1 A·gPGM–1 at 50 mV, 13‐fold higher than that of Ru catalyst. When RuCr nanosheet is further used as the anodic electrocatalyst, a peak power density of 1.04 W·cm–2 can be achieved in an APEFC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ultrathin gold nanowires (AuNWs) have an important role and promising applications in areas of wearable sensors, matter detection, and flexible transparent electronic materials. But oleylamine (OAm) ligand on the ultrathin AuNWs surface leads to high junction resistance and the inherent Rayleigh instability leads to decomposition into gold spheres within a few days. To eliminate these two disadvantages, herein, the implementation of one facile H2S gas treatment method to improve the conductivity and stability of ultrathin AuNWs is tried. The conductivity of AuNWs on the interdigital electrode can be improved by 4 × 107 times because the AuNWs became bent and cross‐linked, due to the H2S exchange of the ligand OAm. In addition, the conductivity of the three‐layer ultrathin AuNW film on polyethylene terephthalate (PET) can be improved by at least 2000 times. The ultrafine structure of AuNWs can be maintained for more than 1 week at room temperature, which attributes to H2S that can protect the surface structure of AuNWs. The findings highlight a new method of the ultrathin AuNWs for exceeding improvement in electronic conduction and stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A method to design the metasurface‐based splitter with dual beams which have different power distributions, polarizations, and radiated angles is proposed. The presented metasurface is ultrathin which is only 0.12λ and the whole unit cell is mainly composed of receiving antenna with single‐polarization, power divider, dual‐channel phase shifter with independent control and transmitting antenna with dual‐polarization. According to the functional requirements of the beam splitter, the main components which are power divider and phase shifter can be artificially tailored correspondingly. And the fixed design of receiving and transmitting antennas can receive the incident electromagnetic (EM) wave with single‐polarization and transmit the EM wave with dual‐polarization, respectively. Comparing with conventional cascaded transmitarray and bulk lens, the design logic of proposed whole splitter is very clear that scanning and optimizing massive parameters of unit cells for satisfying the demands of polarization, transmission phase, and power distribution simultaneously is not needed. The good consistent results of experiment and simulation can verify the validity of our design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The abnormal interactions of three key large‐scale brain networks (default mode [DMN], salience and executive control [ECN]) were showed underlie dysfunctions in heroin addiction. Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) targeting the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) is a potential treatment for heroin addiction. It is unclear whether impaired coupling among the large‐scale brain networks would be improved by rTMS in treated heroin‐dependent individuals. Thirty‐five heroin‐dependent individuals were included in this sham‐controlled, randomized study. The patients received either active or sham rTMS for 1 week. The craving for heroin and resting‐state functional magnetic resonance imaging data were collected before and after 1‐week rTMS. Twenty‐two healthy subjects were included as controls not receiving rTMS. After 1‐week rTMS, only the active rTMS group showed a significant decrease in spontaneous and heroin cue‐induced craving. The coupling between left DLPFC (a key node of left ECN) and left parahippocampal gyrus (PHG, included in DMN) significantly increased for the active group with a tendency towards that of controls. The coupling between the right precentral gyrus and three key regions included in DMN (posterior cingulate cortex/precuneus and bilateral inferior parietal cortex) significantly decreased for the active group with a tendency towards that of healthy controls. For the active rTMS individuals, the left DLPFC‐PHG coupling negatively correlated with the spontaneous craving and the drug cue‐induced craving. It suggested that the rTMS could reduce heroin craving, which might be related to the modulation of ECN‐DMN coupling. This finding might shed light on the mechanism of rTMS for heroin addiction treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developing highly efficient and stable non‐precious metal‐based electrocatalysts for alkaline hydrogen oxidation reaction (HOR) is essential for the commercialization of alkaline exchange membrane fuel cells but remains a big challenge. Here, a simple strategy for constructing the Ni/Ni3N heterostructure electrocatalyst with remarkable catalytic performance toward HOR under alkaline electrolyte is reported. Density functional theory calculations and experimental results reveal that the inter‐regulated d‐band center of interfacial Ni and Ni3N derived from electron transfer from Ni to Ni3N across the interface can lead to the weakened hydrogen binding energy of Ni and strengthened hydroxyl binding energy of Ni3N, which, together with the decreased formation energy of water species, contributes to the outstanding HOR performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To elucidate the tempo‐spatial effect and the corresponding mechanism of hydraulic fracturing on gas desorption, the experiments of the hydraulic fracturing in the field and the gas adsorption‐desorption in the laboratory were carried out, respectively. The difference of the effects on the total amount of gas desorption, desorption proportion, moisture content, and in situ gas drainage concentration of the original and fracturing coal samples were studied. The results show that coal moisture increase in the 29 m area of hydraulic fracturing, the greater moisture content and the smaller amount of gas desorption, and the 9 m coal samples moisture content is 2.77 times greater than that of the original coal samples, and whose total amount of gas desorption for 29.8% of the original coal samples. In addition, the closer to the fracturing borehole, the smaller the desorption velocity, which is the fastest in the initial 5 minutes. The desorption velocity of the original coal samples is 5.6 times greater than that of the 9 m coal samples. The desorption proportion of the coal samples is high in early stages, η30 min is 64% (ηi is the proportion of the instantaneous total of gas desorption to the total gas desorption, %), and for η6 h‐12 h is 10%. The tempo‐spatial effects of desorption characteristics can be expressed as the time‐delay effect and a space‐reduction effect. Furthermore, the upper limit of deformation of the coal seam is 3.3‰ and the ability of gas desorption in coal seam significantly decreases. The time of gas drainage concentration exhibits more than 30% increases from the 10 days in the nonfracturing area to 90 days in the fracturing area. Finally, hydraulic fracturing crushes coal, replaces absorption gas, increases the moisture content of coal, reduces various stresses, makes coal shrink, and ultimately achieves the effects of pressure relief and permeability improvement. To elucidate the tempo‐spatial effect and the corresponding mechanism of hydraulic fracturing by drilling through underground coal mine strata on gas desorption, the experiments of the hydraulic fracturing in the field and the gas adsorption‐desorption in the laboratory were carried out, respectively. The difference of the effects by fracturing methods on the total amount of gas desorption, desorption proportion, moisture content, and in situ gas drainage concentration of the original and fracturing area coal samples were studied. Hydraulic fracturing crushes coal, replaces absorption gas, increases the moisture content of coal, reduces various stresses, gradually causes fatigue damage of coal body, makes coal shrink, and ultimately achieves the effects of pressure relief and permeability improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: An interesting method for radiation cross‐linking polycarbosilane (PCS) at high efficiency and low cost was developed by adding multifunctional monomers (trimethylolpropane trimethacrylate (TMPTMA) or divinylbenzene (DVB)). The effect of multifunctional monomers on the radiation cross‐linking and ceramic yield of PCS was investigated. The results revealed that the addition of a small amount of multifunctional monomer can substantially improve the ceramic yield and reduce the absorbed dose by promoting cross‐linking. The ceramic yields of radiation cross‐linked “PCS/2%DVB (300 kGy)” and “PCS/2%TMPTMA (300 kGy)” were 74 wt% and 78 wt%, respectively, while that of the radiation cross‐linked “PCS (300 kGy)” was only 64 wt%. The presence of double bonds in multifunctional monomers stimulated the combination reactions of free radicals in PCS induced by γ‐ray irradiation and subsequently enhanced the efficiency of cross‐linking. Furthermore, it was found that the incorporation of a small amount of multifunctional monomer hardly affected the chemical composition and crystallization behavior of the final SiC ceramics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the mercury emitted from coal combustion can lead to serious environmental issues, researchers pay more attention to the content, distribution and occurrence of mercury in coal. In this paper, the content, distribution, and occurrence of mercury in the Permian tectonically deformed coals from Peigou Mine, Xinmi coalfield, Henan Province were investigated. A total of 18 bench samples were taken from No.2-1 coals seam in Peigou Mine, including 15 coal bench samples, two roofs and one floor. The mercury concentration, mineral composition, and main inorganic element content of 18 samples were determined by DMA-80 direct mercury analyzer, XRD, and XRF respectively. The results show that the mercury content ranges from 0.047 ppm to 0.643 ppm, with an average of 0.244 ppm. Though the coal seam has turned into typical tectonically deformed coal by the strong tectonic destruction and plastic deformation, the vertical distribution of mercury has remarkable heterogeneity in coal seam section. By the analysis of correlation between mercury and the main inorganic elements and the mineral composition in coal, we infer that majority of mercury mainly relates to pyrite or kaolinite. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT A series of Janus composite poly(3-hexyl thiophene)- b-poly(3-thiophenehexanethiol)-gold nanoparticles were synthesized by self-assembly at the water-oil interface, and their photoelectric performance was investigated. The results show that the precise Janus composite nanostructure could be controlled by the adjustment of the reaction temperature and stirring time. The UV-visible measurement revealed that the absorption maximum had an appreciable redshift, and the photoluminescence (PL) spectra indicated that the PL intensity of poly(3-hexyl thiophene)- b-poly[3-(6-thiolhexyl thiophene)] decreased upon the addition of gold nanoparticles. In addition, compared to a common composite of poly(3-hexyl thiophene), the conductivity properties of the Janus composite nanostructure increased remarkably. Therefore, the Janus composite nanoparticles have the potential for applications in photovoltaic devices. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2017, 134, 45107. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Polymeric hybrid nanoparticles were synthesized via surface-initiated atom-transfer radical polymerization (SI-ATRP) method on the surface of gold nanoparticles in cyclohexanone. Tetraoctyl ammonium bromide (TOAB) as a phase transfer agent was used to transfer the gold nanoparticles into cyclohexanone, which will be replaced by disulfide initiator on the surface of gold nanoparticles. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and UV-vis spectroscopy were utilized to characterize the product to make sure the experiment had been conducted. The results showed that the polymeric gold hybrid nanoparticles with different structures could be controlled by adjusting the ratio of initiator and gold nanoparticles in ATRP. If the ratio is very little, asymmetric polystyrene-gold hybrid nanoparticles were synthesized, and a single gold nanoparticle was attached with a polystyrene sphere. If the ratio becomes larger, core-shell polystyrene-gold nanocomposite particles were obtained resulting in gold nanoparticle encapsulated by a uniform polymer shell. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2016, 133, 43584. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Loss of plasticity-related gene 1 (PRG-1), which regulates synaptic phospholipid signaling, leads to hyperexcitability via increased glutamate release altering excitation/inhibition (E/I) balance in cortical networks. A recently reported SNP in prg-1 (R345T/mutPRG-1) affects >?5 million European and US citizens in a monoallelic variant. Our studies show that this mutation leads to a loss-of-PRG-1 function at the synapse due to its inability to control lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) levels via a cellular uptake mechanism which appears to depend on proper glycosylation altered by this SNP. PRG-1+/- mice, which are animal correlates of human PRG-1+/mut carriers, showed an altered cortical network function and stress-related behavioral changes indicating altered resilience against psychiatric disorders. These could be reversed by modulation of phospholipid signaling via pharmacological inhibition of the LPA-synthesizing molecule autotaxin. In line, EEG recordings in a human population-based cohort revealed an E/I balance shift in monoallelic mutPRG-1 carriers and an impaired sensory gating, which is regarded as an endophenotype of stress-related mental disorders. Intervention into bioactive lipid signaling is thus a promising strategy to interfere with glutamate-dependent symptoms in psychiatric diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Understanding the molecular pathway(s) of antioxidant gene regulation is of crucial importance for developing antioxidant-inducing agents for the intervention of oxidative cardiac disorders. Accordingly, this study was undertaken to determine the role of Nrf2 signaling in the basal expression as well as the chemical inducibility of endogenous antioxidants and phase 2 enzymes in cardiac fibroblasts. The basal expression of a scope of key cellular antioxidants and phase 2 enzymes was significantly lower in cardiac fibroblasts derived from Nrf2−/− mice than those from wild type control. These include catalase, reduced glutathione (GSH), glutathione reductase (GR), GSH S-transferase (GST), and NAD(P)H:quinone oxidoreductase-1 (NQO1). Incubation of Nrf2+/+ cardiac fibroblasts with 3H-1,2-dithiole-3-thione (D3T) led to a significant induction of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase, GSH, GR, glutathione peroxidase (GPx), GST, and NQO1. The inducibility of SOD, catalase, GSH, GR, GST, and NQO1, but not GPx by D3T was completely abolished in Nrf2−/− cells. The Nrf2−/− cardiac fibroblasts were much more sensitive to reactive oxygen and nitrogen species-mediated cytotoxicity. Upregulation of antioxidants and phase 2 enzymes by D3T in Nrf2+/+ cardiac fibroblasts resulted in a dramatically increased resistance to the above species-induced cytotoxicity. In contrast, D3T-treatment of the Nrf2−/− cells only provided a slight cytoprotection. Taken together, this study demonstrates for the first time that Nrf2 is critically involved in the regulation of the basal expression and chemical induction of a number of antioxidants and phase 2 enzymes in cardiac fibroblasts, and is an important factor in controlling cardiac cellular susceptibility to reactive oxygen and nitrogen species-induced cytotoxicity. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]