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Insects' intestinal microbes have profound effects on the host's physiological traits, which can impact their physiology at both the local (gut) and systemic (body) levels. Nevertheless, the molecular mechanisms underlying host-microbiota interactions, especially in non-model insects, remain elusive. Recently, tissue-specific transcriptomic analysis has been highlighted as a robust tool in studying host-microbe interactions. Plagiodera versicolora is a worldwide leaf-eating pest that primarily feeds on willows and poplar. The interplay between gut microflora and this host beetle has yet to be studied. Herein, we investigate the effects of the gut microbiota on the body mass of P. versicolora larvae, compare the nutrition status of larvae in absence and presence of gut microbiota, and profile gut bacterial loads throughout its developmental larval stages. We then perform comparative transcriptomic analysis of gut and body tissues in axenic and non-axenic larvae. Finally, we confirm the expression patterns of representative genes in nutritional metabolism and immunity. Results show that weight growth is retarded in conventional larvae, with a concomitant increase of total bacterial load by the 5th development day, and germ-free larvae have a higher glucose content than conventional-reared larvae. Both nutritional and immunological analyses indicate that gut bacteria are a burden in the beetle's larval development. These findings elucidate the impacts of gut microbiota on P. versicolora, and provide insight into tissue-specific responses to gut microflora in this pest at the genetic level, boosting our understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying host-microbe interactions in leaf beetles and beyond.

Nowadays 80% of scandium in China is obtained from titanium pigments production waste through a complex purification process. The study mainly focused on the purification of Sc from its concentrate generated from titanium pigments production waste by solvent extraction. Several extractants have been tried and 10% D2EHPA - 5% TBP - 85% sulfonated kerosene exhibited the best extraction performance towards Sc in 7 mol/L H2SO4 solution, so it was selected as the oil phase. 0.5% of H2O2 was added into the concentrated solution which can effectively inhibit the extraction of Ti. Both the extraction and back extraction parameters are optimized. The preferred extraction conditions were obtained, i.e., acidity: 7 mol/L H2SO4, the phase ratio A/O: 10, room temperature, mixed contact time: 30 min, Sc concentrate: 10 g/L, that the extraction rate of Sc in the above conditions was nearly 100%. NaOH was used for back extraction with the stripping rate 99% on the following conditions: 5 mol/L NaOH stripping for 30 min at a phase ratio A/O: 1 at 90 °C. Finally, H2C2O4 was used to further purify the back extraction product and Sc2(C2O4)3 precipitant formed. The final product Sc2O3 with a purity over 99.5% was obtained by calcining Sc2(C2O4)3 at 1000 °C for 2 h. A conceptual process for Sc purification was put forward and proved. The total recovery yield of Sc in the whole process is 95%.

Context Xinmai 'an tablet has been used to improve myocardial blood supply. Recently, some compounds from its formula have shown that they can treat pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). Objective This study investigates the effects of Xinmai 'an extract (XMA) on PAH and further tests the co-therapeutic enhancement with sildenafil (SIL). Materials and methods Pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells were subjected to stimulation with SIL (12.5 μM) and XMA (250 μg/mL) for 48 h. Sprague–Dawley rats were randomly grouped into eight groups (n = 8 per group): (I) control group received saline; (II) MCT group received MCT (60 mg/kg); (III) SIL-Low group received MCT + SIL at 10 mg/kg/day; (IV) SIL-high group received MCT + SIL at 30 mg/kg/day; (V) XMA-High group received MCT + XMA at 251.6 mg/kg/day; (VI) SIL (Low)+XMA (Low) group received SIL (10 mg/kg) + XMA at 62.9 mg/kg/day; (VII) SIL (Low)+XMA (Medium) group received SIL (10 mg/kg) + XMA at 125.8 mg/kg/day; (VIII) SIL (Low)+XMA (High) group received SIL (10 mg/kg) + XMA at 251.6 mg/kg/day. Both XMA and SIL were given by gavage and were maintained daily for 2 weeks. Results XMA could improve SIL’s efficacy in the treatment of PAH by decreasing cell viability more effectively at non-cytotoxic concentrations (250 μg/mL) and reducing Right Ventricular Systolic Pressure (RVSP) in PAH rat. Potential mechanisms might at least in part be through activating the MAPK signalling pathway. Discussion and conclusions The combination of XMA and SIL can improve the efficacy of pulmonary hypertension and reduce the dosage of SIL.

To directly separate actinides from high level liquid waste (HLLW), a novel molecule, i. e. isoPentyl-BTBP (6,6′-bis(5,6-bis(4-methylpentyl)-1,2,4-triazin-3-yl)-2,2′-bipyridines) was synthesized and characterized. A kind of isoPentyl-BTBP/SiO2-P adsorbent was obtained by impregnating isoPentyl-BTBP into porous silica/polymer support particles SiO2-P under reduced pressure. The effect of HNO3 concentration, contact time on the adsorption of isoPentyl-BTBP/SiO2-P towards 241Am(III) and 239Pu(IV) was studied. And the stability of isoPentyl-BTBP/SiO2-P in HNO3 medium was also evaluated. It turned out that isoPentyl-BTBP/SiO2-P had much higher affinity for 241Am(III) and 239Pu(IV) over FP elements in 3 M HNO3, fast adsorption kinetics towards 239Pu(IV), excellent stability in HNO3 medium, and should be a very promising adsorbent for separating 239Pu(IV) and 241Am(III) from HLLW.

Macroporous Me2-CA-BTP/SiO2-P was used for separating 241Am(III) from lanthanides. Good selectivity towards 241Am(III) was achieved in 0.1–3 M HNO3. Adsorption equilibrium of 241Am(III) was obtained within 1 h in 0.1 M HNO3 solution. 241Am(III) was efficiently separated from lanthanides through column experiment in both 0.1 M HNO3 and 0.01 M HNO3–0.34 M NaNO3 solution. It still performed excellently at 207 kGy under γ irradiation in nitrate medium. In a word, Me2-CA-BTP/SiO2-P is a very promising candidate for separating MA from Ln that even a salt-free Ln&MA separation process may be established such as from 0.1 M HNO3 based on it.

Lithium (Li) metal is one of the promising anode materials in the next-generation high-energy batteries, but Li dendrite growth and a big volume change during cycling result in low Coulombic efficiency (CE), short lifespan, and safety hazards, thereby impeding practical implementation of Li in rechargeable batteries. Herein, we report a highly stable and dendrite-free Li metal anode based on a three-dimensional (3D) conductive and lithiophilic scaffold comprising lithiated NiCo2O4 nanorods grown on nickel foam (LNCO/Ni). The nanorods grown on 3D Ni foam with a large surface area effectively reduce the averaged electrical current in the electrode, and the conformal Li2O coating produced in situ on the lithiated NiCo2O4 nanorods provides the surface lithiophilicity enabling stable Li plating/stripping without Li dendrite growth even at a high current density of 5 mA cm-2. The LNCO/Ni-Li anode shows a low voltage hysteresis of 16 mV, high CE of 98.7%, and stable cycling without obvious voltage fluctuation for over 500 cycles (1000 h) at a current density of 1 mA cm-2. Specifically, for a scalable Li loading of 20 mA h cm-2 on LNCO/Ni, no growth of Li dendrite and electrode thickness fluctuations are observed. The full cell consisting of the LNCO/Ni-Li anode and the LiFePO4 cathode exhibits a high rate capability and CE as high as 99.6% for more than 160 cycles. Our study reveals a new strategy to develop stable Li-metal anodes for high-energy batteries.

Mating may change a male’s behaviour by increasing its motivation to engage in a contest, and enabling it to win in subsequent male–male contests. To test this hypothesis, we recorded male contests in the wolf spider, Venonia coruscans (Araneae: Lycosidae), testing a male’s motivation to fight under three different resource value conditions. First, we staged contests between two males in two different resource value conditions, on an egg-produced female’s web and then on a virgin female’s web, to test a male’s fighting ability. After determining each male’s fighting ability, we allowed each loser that lost its contests under both resource value conditions to mate with a virgin female and then introduced the previous contest winner to the web where the loser had mated. We found that without mating, the losers always lost their contests, regardless of the resource value conditions. However, once they had mated, the losers fiercely attacked the previous winners, and most won the contests back. Our study therefore provides evidence that a male’s motivation to fight can be changed under certain circumstances (e.g. mating) and can greatly influence contest outcomes in male–male competition in a mating context.

To separate minor actinides (MA) from lanthanides from high-level liquid waste (HLLW), a kind of micro-porous silica-polymer (SiO2-P) based N-donor isoBu-BTP/SiO2-P adsorbent was synthesize...

Prey vary dramatically in quality, and maternal diet is generally assumed to substantially influence offspring survivorship, growth, and reproduction in spiders. Numerous studies that have tested this hypothesis have focused exclusively on parental generation or have considered relatively few fitness components of juvenile offspring. However, maternal diet may have a substantial effect on fitness performance beyond juvenile offspring. Here, we investigated the influence of one-time maternal feeding on multiple offspring fitness components, including the survival rate and growth of juvenile offspring as well as the mating and reproductive success of adult offspring in Hylyphantes graminicola, a sheetweb spider with an extremely short lifespan (∼1 month). We fed field-collected adult female spiders two different diets only once immediately before oviposition: midges (Tendipes sp.) only (MO) or flies (Drosophila melanogaster) only (FO). Juvenile offspring of MO females had significantly higher survival rate, faster growth, and larger male size at maturity than FO offspring. Although maternal diet did not significantly influence mating behavior or fecundity of female offspring overall, those of MO females laid eggs earlier and their eggs also hatched earlier and had a higher hatching rate than those of FO females. Intriguingly, one-time maternal feeding was sufficient to have such an influence on offspring fitness even beyond juvenile offspring in H. graminicola. This one-time maternal effect may be widespread in other spiders and other invertebrates with a short lifespan. This article has an associated First Person interview with the first author of the paper., Summary: A single meal immediately before oviposition is sufficient to influence offspring survival, growth, and daughters' reproduction in the sheetweb spider Hylyphantes graminicola.

A porous silica-polymer-based adsorbent, isoBu-BTP/SiO2-P, was prepared by a vacuum impregnation method and used for the recovery of ruthenium, rhodium, and palladium from nitric acid solution. The experimental results revealed that isoBu-BTP/SiO2-P exhibited unique adsorption properties such as high saturation adsorption capacity (Ru: 0.35 mmol g−1, Rh: 0.32 mmol g−1, Pd: 1.05 mmol g−1) and excellent selectivity over other metal ions, such as lanthanides (SFPGM/M > 40) in 1 M HNO3 solution. The adsorption process conformed to the pseudo-second-order model and Langmuir model. From the UV, FTIR, and XPS analyses, it can be concluded that the strong affinity between functional groups (C–N=C) and metal ions as well as NO3− played a role in coordination during the adsorption process. Furthermore, the desorption behavior was studied, and it was found that the adsorbed Pd, Rh, and Ru could be eluted with a 0.01 M nitric acid–0.1 M thiocarbamide solution, 5 M hydrochloric acid, and sodium hypochlorite (CP) solution, respectively. Finally, based on those findings, a simple process for the separation and recovery of Pd, Rh, and Ru from high-level liquid waste using isoBu-BTP/SiO2-P was designed and proposed.

Prey proteins and lipids greatly impact predator life-history traits. However, life-history plasticity offers predators the opportunity to tune the life-history traits in response to the limited macronutrients to allocate among traits. A fast-growing predator species with a strict maturation time may be more likely to consume nutritionally imbalanced prey. Here, we tested this hypothesis by examining the effect of the protein-to-lipid ratio in prey on a small sheet web-building spider, Hylyphantes graminicola, with a short life span, using adult Drosophila melanogaster as the prey. By manipulating the macronutrient content of the prey to generate three prey types with different protein-to-lipid ratios (i.e. high, intermediate and low), we demonstrated that the majority of the spiders that consumed only these flies could reach full maturity. However, juvenile spiders that consumed high-lipid (low protein-to-lipid ratio) flies had a higher rate of mortality than those consuming medium-protein and high-protein flies. The prey protein-to-lipid ratio had no significant effects on the developmental duration and size at maturity. Although the prey protein-to-lipid ratio had no significant influence on mating behaviour and female fecundity, females reared on high-lipid flies exhibited a significant delay in oviposition compared with those reared on high-protein flies. We conclude that high-lipid prey has negative effects on the survival and reproductive function of H. graminicola Our study thus provides clear evidence that low plasticity with fast development to a certain size means a high nutritional requirement for protein at a cost of lower survival and prolonged time to egg laying when prey have low protein-to-lipid content in H. graminicola.

Radioactive strontium 90Sr with a half-life of 29 years is one of the most concerned elements in both nuclear accidents and spent fuel reprocessing. Herein, using macroporous silica SiO2 as support, methylacrylic acid as functional monomer and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate as cross-linking agent, a novel resin named SiMaC was prepared via in situ polymerization method for strontium removal. The as-preapred SiMaC was characterized by SEM-EDS, TG-DSC, and BET. Various factors such as pH, m/V, time, and initial concentration of Sr(II) were studied. The maximum adsorption capacity towards Sr(II) was as high as 142.5 mg/g at 298 K. The adsorption equilibrium was almost obtained within 30 min. Moreover, SiMaC was easily and fastly regenerated by 0.1 M HCl and exhibited no obvious decrease in adsorption capacity after five times of successive adsorption-desorption cycles. Most attractively, the uptake rate of Sr(II) reached more than 99% in real river and lake water mediums, as well as reached 76% in real seawater mediums. Finally, XPS and FTIR were used to analyze the adsorption mechanism towards Sr(II). Keywords: Strontium, Polymerization, Adsorption, Synthesis, XPS

Visual signals are widely used by animals in foraging, mating and predator avoidance. Body coloration plays an important role in the reproductive behavioural interactions of many diurnal animal species; however, its role in the courtship of nocturnal species has received little attention. We investigated the role of conspicuous body coloration, a white stripe on the forehead region, in the reproductive interactions of the nocturnal brown huntsman spider, Heteropoda venatoria. We performed a series of mating trials in which we manipulated the body coloration of males and the vision of females and determined the probabilities of mating success of males in different treatments. Results showed that males that courted females with intact vision had a significantly lower probability of mating success than males that courted females whose vision was blocked. Females with intact vision were also more likely to choose males with a white stripe than those whose stripe was removed. Therefore, we have unambiguously demonstrated for the first time that body coloration plays an important role as a visual signal in the mating of nocturnal spiders.

Animals that use deceptive visual signals to attract prey often employ colour mimicry or bioluminescence but less commonly self-excreted lures. The conspicuous web decorations and silks of some web-building spiders have been shown to visually lure prey in the daytime. However, it remains unknown whether spider webs can also lure prey at night with these self-produced silks. In this study, we tested this hypothesis by manipulating the coloration of the webs of Psechrus clavis and the presence of the web dwellers. We monitored the foraging performance of four treatment groups (spider present, normal web; spider present, blackened web; spider absent, normal web; spider absent, blackened web) and measured the reflectance spectra of spider body parts and web silks. We found that both spider body colour and web silk can lure insect prey at night. Lepidopteran insects comprised the majority of attracted prey. This study is the first to empirically demonstrate that animals can use self-produced substances to visually lure prey in a nocturnal environment and improve foraging success.

Spider silks are protein-based fibers that are incorporated into webs with the unique combination of high mechanical toughness and resistance to microbial degradation. While spiders are undoubtedly exposed to saprophytic microorganisms in their native habitats, such as the forest understory and bush, their silks have rarely been observed to decompose in either field or laboratory studies. We performed cross-streaking assays using silk from three spider species and four bacterial strains and found no inhibition zones, indicating the absence of antibacterial properties. We also cultured all bacteria directly upon silk in Luria-Bertani (LB) broth (full nutrients), phosphate-buffered saline (PBS; no nutrients) and nitrogen-free glucose broth (NFG; full nutrients, no nitrogen), and found that bacteria grew readily on silk in LB broth but not in PBS or NFG buffer. Our results indicate that spider silk's resistance to bacterial degradation is likely due to bacteriostatic rather than antibacterial mechanisms when nitrogen is inaccessible.

Body coloration serves a variety of purposes in animals. Diurnal and nocturnal predators such as spiders may use their body coloration to lure prey. We predicted here that the white patches on the forelegs on females of the nocturnal semi-aquatic spider Dolomedes raptor lure prey, explaining why they are primarily displayed when the spider forages along the water edge. To test our prediction, we developed a color vision model assessing whether the patches are visible to pygmy grasshoppers, the spider's primary prey. We conducted a field experiment using cardboard dummies that resemble D. raptor in size, shape, and color, but with half of them lacking leg patches, and we staged interactions between pygmy grasshoppers and D. raptor with and without leg patches in a greenhouse. We found the white patches to be visible to grasshoppers. The dummies with white patches attracted more grasshopper prey than the dummies without the patches. Moreover, grasshoppers were more attracted to spiders when their white patches were present. Our results supported the hypothesis that the white patches of D. raptor lure prey. Our findings, nevertheless, could not be explained as the spider's body coloration acting as a sensory trap but it should not be ruled out. More studies on a wider range of predators and prey will give more meaningful insights into the co-evolution of predatory lures and prey sensory modalities.

To separate ruthenium(III) from simulated electroplating wastewater, a kind of porous material, TRPO/SiO2–P, was used. TRPO/SiO2–P exhibited unique advantages compared with other materials, such as high selectivity (SFRu/other metals >35), large adsorption capacity (54.6 mg g−1), and fast adsorption kinetics ( =O) and ruthenium(III) during the whole adsorption process and meantime anion groups (NO3− and NO2−) were involved to maintain charge balance. In brief, TRPO/SiO2–P has significant potential in the recovery of ruthenium from electroplating wastewater.

This paper presents an acceleration system for on-board support vector machine (SVM) model training for robotic transtibial prosthesis based on system on chip with field-programmable gate array (SoC-FPGA) hardware. A hardware prototype was developed and SVM-based model training algorithm was implemented with high-level synthesis technology. Experiments on a transtibial amputee subject demonstrated that the proposed system provided good speedups over ARM-based implementation for on-board training in six locomotion identification tasks (standing, level-ground walking, ramp ascent, ramp descent, stair ascent, stair descent). Meanwhile, the additional power consumption was not significant and acceptable.

A novel functional silica composite (SiAcP) based on bis(2-methacryloxyethyl) phosphate (BMAOP) was prepared by in situ polymerization method for separating Zr from Sc. The synthesis conditions were optimized. SiAcP resin using DMSO as solvent with the loading rate of 30% and the cross-linking degree of 13% showed relatively good performance. Adsorption and separation behaviors towards Sc(III) and Zr(IV) were studied by both batch and column experiments. The resin exhibited good adsorption towards Zr(IV) that the equilibrium can be obtained within 5 h with the maximum adsorption capacity of 0.3 mmol Zr/g at 318 K. Excellent selectivity towards Zr(IV) over Sc(III) was observed with SFZr/Sc of 48 and 140 in 0.5 M HCl and HNO3 solutions respectively. In the column test, Zr could be easily separated from Sc. Finally, XPS spectra demonstrated that although the adsorption process was primarily dominated by ion-exchange, P=O plays a key role in selective separation of Zr(IV) over Sc(III). All in all, this work not only provides an excellent material for adsorbing Zr(IV) from acidic solution, but also presents a novel method for separating Zr(IV) from Sc(III) by extraction chromatography.

Lactation is a mammalian attribute, and the few known nonmammal examples have distinctly different modalities. We document here milk provisioning in a jumping spider, which compares functionally and behaviorally to lactation in mammals. The spiderlings ingest nutritious milk droplets secreted from the mother’s epigastric furrow until the subadult stage. Milk is indispensable for offspring survival in the early stages and complements their foraging in later stages. Maternal care, as for some long-lived vertebrates, continues after the offspring reach maturity. Furthermore, a female-biased adult sex ratio is acquired only when the mother is present. These findings demonstrate that mammal-like milk provisioning and parental care for sexually mature offspring have also evolved in invertebrates, encouraging a reevaluation of their occurrence across the animal kingdom, especially in invertebrates.

Web building has been such a highly successful foraging innovation among spiders that the vast majority of extant spiders are web builders. The structure of spider webs varies substantially between species, and web building has even been lost completely in some clades. Examples of different web forms include the classic orb webs, which may be orientated vertical to the ground or horizontal, sheet webs, and cobwebs, which consist of three-dimensional meshwork and ascending sticky threads for support and capture of prey. The architecture of webs may also vary within clades and even within species. This may be a consequence of: (i) individuals adapting their web structures to the environment; e.g., larger webs are built in areas where more space is available, (ii) spiders varying their webs to tune its performance, e.g., when spiders are exposed to different prey, or (iii) silk expression constraints, e.g., when on diets lacking certain nutrients. We review the literature, focusing on contributions from the Neotropical region, showing that spider webs vary in structure and function at multiple levels and so must be considered a dynamic, variable, extended phenotype of its builder. Webs accordingly depict the foraging, mating, and defensive strategies, and physiological status, of the spider.

While molting occurs in the development of many animals especially in arthropods, post-maturity molting (PMM, organisms continue to molt after sexual maturity) has received little attention. Mechanism of molting has been studied intensively, however, the mechanism of PMM remains unknown although it is suggested to be crucial for the development of body size. In this study, we investigated factors that potentially induce PMM in the golden orb-web spider Nephila pilipes, which has the greatest degree of sexual dimorphism among terrestrial animals. We manipulated the mating history and the nutrient consumption of the females to examine whether they can affect PMM. The results showed that female spiders under low nutrition were more likely to molt as adults, and mating had no significant influence to the occurrence rate of PMM. Moreover, spiders that experienced PMM lived longer than those without and their body sizes were significantly increased. Therefore, we concluded that it is the nutritional condition rather than the mating history that has affected PMM.

In a mating system in which females are monandrous and males are polygynous, females may incur a risk by mating with males with possible sperm depletion following consecutive matings. Here, we examined the effects of male mating history on male mating success and female reproductive fitness in the wolf spider Pardosa pseudoannulata by performing mating trials and sperm counting experiments. Results showed that male mating history had a significant negative impact on subsequent copulation success but had little effect on courtship duration and courtship intensity. In addition, neither male courtship intensity nor morphological measurements of males and females had significant effects on male mating success. Furthermore, male mating history had no obvious impact on the fecundity of inseminated females, with no significant differences observed in the oviposition rate of females, the numbers and the carapace width of the second-instar spiderlings between treatments. Results showed that the number of sperm decreased significantly after mating but could be replenished, with no significant differences observed between groups in which males had rested for 7 d. These findings suggest that polygynous male spiders may recharge their sperm during the mating season, but how females differentiate the mating status of males remains unknown.