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Eggs are rich in nutrients and contain a lot of protein. Although eggs have proved to accelerate the growth of C2C12 cells, the regulatory and mechanism of fertilized egg yolk extract (FEYE) on skeletal muscle development and fat metabolism remains unclearly. The mice were treated with FEYE by gavage for 24 d, we found that FEYE can inhibit the expression of skeletal muscle atrophy genes such as MSTN and Murf-1, and up-regulate the expression levels of MYOD, MYOG and Irisin. In addition, the treatment of FEYE induced UCP1 and PGC1α high expression in WAT, thereby causing WAT browning reaction. In order to confirm the composition of FEYE, we performed protein full spectrum identification (LC MS/MS) analysis and found the most enriched component is vitellogenin 2 (VTG2). Therefore, we added the recombinant protein VTG2 to C2C12 cells and found that VTG2 promoted the proliferation and differentiation of C2C12 cells. After that, we further proved that VTG2 inhibited the expression of MSTN and improved the expression of MYOD and Irisin. Finally, the dual luciferase test proved that VTG2 directly inhibited the transcriptional activity of MSTN. Our results conclude that FEYE inhibits the expression of MSTN in muscle tissues by delivering VTG2, thereby promoting skeletal muscle development, and can also promote the expression level of FNDC5 in serum. Then, FNDC5 acts on the fat through the serum, stimulating the browning reaction of white adipocytes. Therefore, VTG2 can be used to stop muscle consumption, improve skeletal muscle aging, and prevent obesity.

Dual-ion batteries (DIBs) have attracted immense interest as a new generation of energy storage device due to their low cost, environmental friendliness and high working voltage. However, developing DIBs using organic compounds as active electrode materials is in its infancy. Herein, we first report a bipolar and self-polymerized Cu phthalocyanine (CuTAPc) as an electrode material for sodium-based DIBs (SDIBs). Benefitting from the bipolar property, CuTAPc could serve as the cathode or anode material to construct metal sodium-based or metal sodium-free SDIB (cell 1 or 2) by coupling with sodium anode or graphite cathode, respectively. As a result, cell 1 displays a high discharge capacity of 195.7 mAh g−1 at 50 mA g−1 and a high reversible capacity of 57 mAh g−1 over 2500 cycles at 1 A g−1, and cell 2 shows a high energy density of 324 Wh kg−1 and a high power density of 7481 W kg−1. Subsequently, the proposed binding mechanism and the bipolar reactivity of CuTAPc have been revealed by the detailed reaction kinetic analysis and ex-situ techniques as well as the density functional theory (DFT) calculations. This work could open a pathway to develop the advanced SDIBs constructed by elemental abundant and environmentally friendly organic materials.

An acidic mixture of sulfuric and fluosilicic acid (H2SO4+H2SiF6) was employed as lixiviant to enhance leaching of lithium from lepidolite. The H2SiF6 was obtained as a byproduct of anhydrous hydrofluoric acid production, aiming to provide HF molecules. It was found that the HF molecules were the main reaction component and played a key role in strengthening the dissolution of lepidolite. Different factors, including mass ratio of ore/H2SO4/H2SiF6, concentrations of H2SO4 and H2SiF6, leaching temperatures (40−80 °C) and time (15−75 min), were investigated. Moreover, an efficient tubular reactor was employed to improve this acid leaching system. Under the optimal conditions (ore/H2SO4/H2SiF6 mass ratio of 1:0.8:1.6, 80 wt.% H2SO4, 15 wt.% H2SiF6, 80 °C, 15 min), 97.9% of Li, 96.4% of K, 97.6% of Rb, 96.7% of Cs and 81.4% of Al (mass fraction) were leached. Additionally, a two-step thermal process was proposed to remove fluorine of leaching slurry. This acid treatment using an acidic mixture of H2SO4 and H2SiF6 in a continuous tubular reactor shows potential as an alternative process to extract lithium from lepidolite.

The present study was conducted to investigate the effects of supranutritional selenium nanoparticles (SeNPs) on immune and antioxidant capacity in rats. Forty male Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were randomly divided into four groups and given intragastric administration of SeNPs at doses of 0, 0.2, 0.4, and 0.8 mg Se/kg BW, respectively, for 2 weeks. Serum immune parameters, serum and organic tissues (liver, heart, kidney) antioxidant indices, and liver mRNA expression of glutathione peroxidase 1 (GPx1) and glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPx4) were examined. The results showed that supranutritional doses of 0.4 and 0.8 mg Se/kg BW SeNPs promoted the immune responses in serum. SeNPs administration improved antioxidant capacity in the liver and kidney, and the best improvement on antioxidant capacity was found in the kidney. Furthermore, intragastric administration of SeNPs upregulated mRNA expression of GPx1 and GPx4 in the liver. The results obtained indicated that SeNPs administration at supranutritional levels had beneficial effects on immune and antioxidant capacity and supplemental SeNPs at dose of 0.4 mg Se/kg BW exhibited the best response in SD rats.

Studies have found that N-myc downstream-regulated gene 2 (Ndrg2) is involved in the progression of rheumatoid arthritis (RA); however, the specific mechanism still remains unclear. Gene expression profiles in the tibial joints of the collagen-induced rheumatoid arthritis model were obtained using Gene Expression Omnibus database. Western blot and real-time PCR were respectively performed to determine the expression of Ndrg2 and gene messenger RNA. Cell viability was measured by Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) method, and cell cycle was detected by flow cytometry. Cell scratch assays were carried out to detect migration. The binding ability of miR-130a to Ndrg2-3'-UTR was predicted by TargetScan website and confirmed by dual luciferase assay. A collagen-induced arthritis rat model was constructed to observe the effects of miR-130a on arthritis index, hind limb swelling, volume of rat hind paw, and inflammation. Ndrg2 was found downregulated in RA tissues, and knockdown of Ndrg2 promoted fibroblast-like synoviocytes (FLS) proliferation and inflammation, while overexpressed Ndrg2 produced opposite results. Ndrg2 was predicted as a target gene for miR-130a, and miR-130a mimic promoted FLS proliferation, while miR-130a inhibitor suppressed FLS proliferation. Moreover, we found that miR-130a antagomir could significantly reduce the arthritis index, swelling degree, foot volume, and inflammatory factor levels; inhibit the expression of miR-130a; and promote the expression of Ndrg2. The miR-130a/Ndrg2 axis signaling pathway is involved in the progression of RA. Our findings provide a theoretical basis for the clinical treatment of RA.

Multiple lines of evidence have shown that neuroinflammation and autophagy are highly involved in the process of depression. Nobiletin (NOB) displays neuroprotective effects and anti-depressant-like effects. Given the evidence that NOB exerts anti-inflammatory effects and regulates autophagy, we investigate the anti-neuroinflammatory properties and the effect of regulating the autophagy of NOB and subsequently uncover the potential anti-depressant mechanisms of NOB. The behavioral changes of rats were observed after prolonged lipopolysaccharide (LPS) treatment and NOB administration. Rat hippocampus and BV2 cells treated by LPS and NOB were evaluated. The methods of real-time PCR analysis, Western blot, immunostaining, and adenovirus transfection were employed to determine neuroinflammation, autophagic markers, and nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain-like receptor 3 (NLRP3) activation. Our study showed LPS enhanced the expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines and NLRP3 inflammasome activation but inhibited autophagy in both rat hippocampus and BV2 cells. NOB significantly improved the behavioral deficits and ameliorated the neuroinflammation induced by LPS in rats. Furthermore, NOB promoted autophagy and attenuated NLRP3 inflammasome activation induced by LPS, involving in the process the adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK) pathway. Neuroprotective and anti-depressant actions of NOB relied on its effects of promoting autophagy and suppressing the activation of NLRP3, in which process of AMPK pathway may be involved.

The effects of selenium nanoparticles (SeNPs) on the antioxidant capacity in Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were investigated. The rats were given intragastric administration of an SeNP suspension at doses of 0, 2, 4, and 8 mg Se/kg BW for two weeks. The antioxidant capacity in serum and organic tissues (liver, heart, and kidney) and the gene expression levels of glutathione peroxidase 1 (GPX1) and glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPX4) in the liver were measured. Buffalo rat liver (BRL) cell lines were further constructed to explore the cytotoxicity mechanism induced by SeNPs through the determination of antioxidant capacity; cell activity; apoptosis; and Caspase-3, Caspase-8, and Caspase-9 family activities. The results showed that SeNP administration over 4.0 mg Se/kg BW decreased the antioxidant capacities in the serum, liver, and heart and downregulated mRNA expression of GPX1 and GPX4 in the liver. The BRL cell line experiments showed that treatment with over 24 μM SeNPs decreased the viability of the cells and damaged the antioxidant capacity. Flow cytometry analysis showed that decreased cell viability induced by SeNPs is mainly due to apoptosis, rather than cell necrosis. Caspase-3 and Caspase-8 activities were also increased when BRL cells were treated with 24 μM and 48 μM SeNPs. Taken together, a nonlethal level of SeNPs could impair the antioxidant capacity in serum and organic tissues of rats, and the liver is the most sensitive to the toxicity of SeNPs. A pharmacological dose of SeNPs could lead to cytotoxicity and induce cell death through apoptosis and extrinsic pathways contributing to SeNP-induced apoptosis in BRL cells.

An iodine-mediated iodofunctionalization of ferrocene-containing allenylphosphonates with various carboxylic acids, alcohols, and phenols has been established, affording a series of highly functionalized tetrasubstituted alkenylphosphonate derivatives with high regio- and stereoselectivities in moderate to good yields. This approach provides an opportunity to the useful but not readily available tetrasubstituted olefins. The stereoselectivity of the reaction may be controlled by the neighboring group participation of the oxygen atom of the phosphate group.

During OP bone metabolism, activated MAPK signaling can promote the proliferation and differentiation of osteoclasts. miRNAs involve in bone diseases. Our study aimed to evaluate miR-200c’s effect on ERK/MAPK signaling pathway in OP. miR-200c expression in OP mice and normal mice was detected by qPCR. BMSCs were cultured and transfected with siRNA to establish a miR-200c knockout model. Flow cytometry was used to detect cell apoptosis and ERK/MAPK signaling protein was detected by Western blot. miR-200c expression in OP mice was significantly lower than that in normal mice. Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) contain a large amount of siRNA particles under a fluorescence microscope. siRNA transfection can effectively inhibit miR-200c expression without difference of BMSCs apoptosis between miR-200c siRNA group and NC group. However, ERK1/2 and P38 expression in experimental group were significantly higher than those in NC siRNA group with reduced ALP activity. In addition, BMSCs osteogenic differentiation was further diminished when miR-200c expression was inhibited. miR-200c expression is lower in OP mice. miR-200c siRNA inhibits BMSCs osteogenic differentiation via ERK/MAPK signaling, thereby promoting OP progression.

Conjugated carbonyl compounds have received much attention as cathode materials for developing green lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). However, their high dissolution and poor electronic conductivity in organic electrolyte restrict their further application. Herein, a self-polymerized nitro-substituted conjugated carbonyl compound (2,7-dinitropyrene-4,5,9,10-tetraone, PT-2 NO2 ) is applied as a high-performance cathode material for LIBs. PT-2 NO2 exhibits a high reversible capacity of 153.9 mAh g-1 at 50 mA g-1 after 120 cycles, which is higher than that of other substituted compounds. Detailed characterization and theoretical calculations have testified that PT-2 NO2 is transformed into an azo polymer through an irreversible reductive coupling reaction in the first discharge process, and then carbonyl and azo groups reversibly react with Li ions in subsequent cycles. In addition, this azo polymer is also synthesized and applied as the electrode material, which shows similar electrochemical performance to PT-2 NO2 but with higher initial coulombic efficiency. Thus, this work provides a simple but effectively way to construct organic cathode materials with multiple redox sites for green and high-performance LIBs.

Aluminum is considered a promising anode candidate for lithium-ion batteries due to its low cost, high capacity and low equilibrium potential for lithiation/delithiation. However, the compact surface oxide layer, insufficient lithium diffusion kinetics and non-negligible volume change of aluminum-based anode materials severely hamper their extended application. Thus, significant efforts have been dedicated in tackling these challenges towards practical applications. In this review, we initially focus on the electrochemical lithium storage mechanism and introduce our current understanding of the reported reactions accounting for the performance degradation. Then, thus far, we summarize the strategies applied for boosting the lithium storage performance of the aluminum-based anode materials including nanostructure construction, surface modification, alloy designation and electrolyte optimization. Finally, present challenges and future outlook on aluminum-based anode materials are depicted. We hope that this review delivers an overall picture of the recent progress on aluminum-based anode materials and inspires more research in the future.

All-solid-state lithium-based batteries with inorganic solid electrolytes are considered a viable option for electrochemical energy storage applications. However, the application of lithium metal is hindered by issues associated with the growth of mossy and dendritic Li morphologies upon prolonged cell cycling and undesired reactions at the electrode/solid electrolyte interface. In this context, alloy materials such as lithium-indium (Li-In) alloys are widely used at the laboratory scale because of their (electro)chemical stability, although no in-depth investigations on their morphological stability have been reported yet. In this work, we report the growth of Li-In dendritic structures when the alloy material is used in combination with a Li6PS5Cl solid electrolyte and Li(Ni0.6Co0.2Mn0.2)O2 positive electrode active material and cycled at high currents (e.g., 3.8 mA cm−2) and high cathode loading (e.g., 4 mAh cm−2). Via ex situ measurements and simulations, we demonstrate that the irregular growth of Li-In dendrites leads to cell short circuits after room-temperature long-term cycling. Furthermore, the difference between Li and Li-In dendrites is investigated and discussed to demonstrate the distinct type of dendrite morphology., Li-In alloys are widely used as reference materials in the research field of solid-state lithium-based batteries. Here, the authors report and discuss the instability of Li-In electrodes towards sulfide solid electrolytes in all-solid-state batteries.

Background Cold-inducible RNA binding protein (CIRP) is a newly discovered proto-oncogene. In this study, we investigated the role of CIRP in the progression of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) using patient tissue samples, cultured cell lines and animal lung cancer models. Methods Tissue arrays, IHC and HE staining, immunoblotting, and qRT-PCR were used to detect the indicated gene expression; plasmid and siRNA transfections as well as viral infection were used to manipulate gene expression; cell proliferation assay, cell cycle analysis, cell migration and invasion analysis, soft agar colony formation assay, tail intravenous injection and subcutaneous inoculation of animal models were performed to study the role of CIRP in NSCLC cells; Gene expression microarray was used to select the underlying pathways; and RNA immunoprecipitation assay, biotin pull-down assay, immunopurification assay, mRNA decay analyses and luciferase reporter assay were performed to elucidate the mechanisms. The log-rank (Mantel-Cox) test, independent sample T-test, nonparametric Mann-Whitney test, Spearman rank test and two-tailed independent sample T-test were used accordingly in our study. Results Our data showed that CIRP was highly expressed in NSCLC tissue, and its level was negatively correlated with the prognosis of NSCLC patients. By manipulating CIRP expression in A549, H460, H1299, and H1650 cell lines, we demonstrated that CIRP overexpression promoted the transition of G1/G0 phase to S phase and the formation of an enhanced malignant phenotype of NSCLC, reflected by increased proliferation, enhanced invasion/metastasis and greater tumorigenic capabilities both in vitro and in vivo. Transcriptome sequencing further demonstrated that CIRP acted on the cell cycle, DNA replication and Wnt signaling pathway to exert its pro-oncogenic action. Mechanistically, CIRP directly bound to the 3′- and 5′-UTRs of CTNNB1 mRNA, leading to enhanced stability and translation of CTNNB1 mRNA and promoting IRES-mediated protein synthesis, respectively. Eventually, the increased CTNNB1 protein levels mediated excessive activation of the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway and its downstream targets C-myc, COX-2, CCND1, MMP7, VEGFA and CD44. Conclusion Our results support CIRP as a candidate oncogene in NSCLC and a potential target for NSCLC therapy.

Currently, there is considerable interest in developing new electrode materials to construct the new-generation dual-ion batteries (DIBs) with the potential advantages of higher working voltage, good safety, low cost, and environmental friendliness. Herein, a well-known charge-transfer metal–organic compound, copper-tetracyanoquinodimethane (CuTCNQ), is synthesized and then used as an anode material, which can reversibly store Li+/Na+ ions under the lower working voltage. Consequently, the lithium/sodium-based DIBs (LDIBs/SDIBs) are constructed by coupling CuTCNQ anode with graphite cathode and their working mechanisms are also understood in detail. As expected, LDIBs exhibit a high average potential of 4.26 V, a high initial discharge capacity of 195.4 mAh g−1 at 0.1 A g−1, long cycling performance after 200 cycles with good capacity retention and excellent rate capability of 106.2 mAh g−1 at 5 A g−1. Especially, high average potential of 4.23 V and good rate capability of 34.5 mAh g−1 at 5 A g−1 could be maintained in SDIBs. These results may open a new avenue for using metal–organic compound in the field of high-performance energy-storage devices.

The Ca-doped carbon dots (CDCa) exhibited strong catalysis of HAuCl4-H2O2 reaction to produce gold nanoparticle (AuNP), using Vitoria blue 4R (VB4r) as molecular probe, it appeared a strong surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) peak at 1615 cm−1 in the AuNP nanosol substrate. When catalyst CDCa increased, the SERS peak enhanced linearly owing to AuNPs increasing, that is, the AuNP concentration is linear to SERS signal. Potassium pyroantimonate (PA) ligand can adsorb on CDCa surface to inhibit the catalysis and cause the SERS peak decreasing. The analyte of Na+ reacts with PA to produce the stable precipitate of [Na2(PA)] and free CDCa catalyst. The more Na+, the more CDCa released, and the stronger SERS signal due to more AuNP substrate. Accordingly, a SERS quantitative analysis method for Na+ was developed based on CDCa catalytic SERS reaction, with a linear range of 0.004–0.043 μmol/L, and a detection limit of 0.0019 μmol/L Na.

Bipolar redox organics have attracted interest as electrode materials for energy storage owing to their flexibility, sustainability and environmental friendliness. However, an understanding of their application in all-organic batteries, let alone dual-ion batteries (DIBs), is in its infancy. Herein, we propose a strategy to screen a variety of phthalocyanine-based bipolar organics. The self-polymerizable bipolar Cu tetraaminephthalocyanine (CuTAPc) shows multifunctional applications in various energy storage systems, including lithium-based DIBs using CuTAPc as the cathode material, graphite-based DIBs using CuTAPc as the anode material and symmetric DIBs using CuTAPc as both the cathode and anode materials. Notably, in lithium-based DIBs, the use of CuTAPc as the cathode material results in a high discharge capacity of 236 mAh g-1 at 50 mA g-1 and a high reversible capacity of 74.3 mAh g-1 after 4000 cycles at 4 A g-1 . Most importantly, a high energy density of 239 Wh kg-1 and power density of 11.5 kW kg-1 can be obtained in all-organic symmetric DIBs.

Conjugated carbonyl compounds are deemed as high theoretical capacity and green electrode materials for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) but are limited by their high dissolution and poor electronic conductivity. In this paper, we have successfully synthesized a series of multicarbonyl conjugated polymers using the coupling polymerization reaction and then constructed carbonyl-conjugated polymer/carbon nanotube hybrid films by a vacuum-filtration method. Importantly, the hybrid films could serve as a flexible, binder-free, and free-standing organic cathode for LIBs, which could deliver a high reversible discharge capacity of 142.3 mAh g-1 at 50 mA g-1, good cycling stability with a capacity retention of 74.6% at 500 mA g-1 after 300 cycles, and excellent rate capability of 120.6 mAh g-1 at 1000 mA g-1. In addition, the theoretical calculation has proved that the symmetrical conjugated structure can well accommodate four Li+ ions during the electrochemical reaction. Interestingly, the assembled full cell and flexible battery can power the small devices, suggesting its potential to use in bendable or wearable energy-storages devices.

For redox-active hematite (α-Fe2O3) materials, the adverse electroconductivity deeply obstructs the electrocatalytic activity. Herein, a series of iron oxides including α-Fe2O3 nanoplates, α-Fe2O3/Fe3O4 composites, and Fe3O4 material was prepared via a controllable reduction treatment on α-Fe2O3 precursor. When these iron oxides were characterized as electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), it was found that α-Fe2O3 nanoplates could be effectively activated via the reduction treatment. In particular, as the combined merits of composition optimization and electroconductivity improvement, the as-reduced composite consisting of α-Fe2O3 (49.6%) and Fe3O4 (50.4%) achieved the best activity of reaching the current density of 4.90 mA cm–2 at the potential of 0.4 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE) accompanied by a Tafel slope of 76 mV dec–1 and a high selectivity for four-electron pathway, surpassing single-phase α-Fe2O3 and Fe3O4, as well as other congeneric iron oxide composites. This hig...

This paper presents an in-situ, non-contact, non-destructive “dual-wavelength laser flash Raman spectroscopy method” for measuring the thermal diffusivity. In this method, a heating pulse is used to heat the sample and another pulsed laser with a different wavelength and negligible heating effect is used as a probe to measure the sample temperature changes during the heating and cooling periods from the Raman peak shifts. The sample temperature rise and fall curves are measured by changing the delay between the heating pulse and the probing pulse with the thermal diffusivity then characterized by fitting the temperature curves. The time delay between the heating and probing pulses can be precisely controlled with a minimum step of 100 ps. Hence, the temperature variation can be scanned with an ultra-high temporal resolution of up to 100 ps, which significantly improves the measurement accuracy of transient thermal parameters. The measurement accuracy of this method has been verified using a bulk material model and experiments. The measured thermal diffusivity of a silicon sample has been obtained to be 8.8×10-5 m2/s with a 3% difference between the measured value and the average result for bulk silicon in the literature which verifies the reliability and accuracy of this method.

Our previous study showed that miR-29 attenuates muscle wasting in chronic kidney disease. Other studies found that miR-29 has anti-fibrosis activity. We hypothesized that intramuscular injection of exosome-encapsulated miR-29 would counteract unilateral ureteral obstruction (UUO)-induced muscle wasting and renal fibrosis. We used an engineered exosome vector, which contains an exosomal membrane protein gene Lamp2b that was fused with the targeting peptide RVG (rabies viral glycoprotein peptide). RVG directs exosomes to organs that express the acetylcholine receptor, such as kidney. The intervention of Exo/miR29 increased muscle cross-sectional area and decreased UUO-induced upregulation of TRIM63/MuRF1 and FBXO32/atrogin-1. Interestingly, renal fibrosis was partially depressed in the UUO mice with intramuscular injection of Exo/miR29. This was confirmed by decreased TGF-β, alpha-smooth muscle actin, fibronectin, and collagen 1A1 in the kidney of UUO mice. When we used fluorescently labeled Exo/miR29 to trace the Exo/miR route in vivo and found that fluorescence was visible in un-injected muscle and in kidneys. We found that miR-29 directly inhibits YY1 and TGF-β3, which provided a possible mechanism for inhibition of muscle atrophy and renal fibrosis by Exo/miR29. We conclude that Exo/miR29 ameliorates skeletal muscle atrophy and attenuates kidney fibrosis by downregulating YY1 and TGF-β pathway proteins.

Background Pigmentation is controlled by complex mechanisms. Evidence suggests that miRNAs can regulate pigmentation. However, the mechanism has not been fully elucidated. Objective In this study, we revealed a novel mechanism that regulates pigmentation involving exosomes, miRNAs and the crosstalk between keratinocytes and melanocytes. Methods The expression and localization of exosome specific marker TSG101 in keratinocytes and melanocytes; Changes of melanin content in melanocytes after co-culture of exosome and melanocytes; Expression changes of target gene TYR and its related genes and inhibitory effect of miR-330-5p on pigmentation were studied by using various molecular biological techniques. Results In this experiment, we used miR-330-5p in keratinocytes to verify the effect of keratinocyte derived exosome on melanocyte pigmentation. First, we found that keratinocytes secrete exosomes carrying miR-330-5p; moreover, greater miR-330-5p expression was found in exosomes derived from keratinocytes that overexpressed miR-330-5p. Second, we found that exosomes derived from keratinocytes with overexpression of miR-330-5p caused a significant increase in miR-330-5p in melanocytes. Finally, exosomes derived from keratinocytes that overexpressed miR-330-5p induced a significant decrease in the production of melanin and expression of TYR in melanocytes. Meanwhile, we overexpressed miR-330-5p in melanocytes, which also proved the inhibitory effect of miR-330-5p on pigmentation. Conclusion These findings suggest that keratinocytes crosstalk with melanocytes in the epidermal melanin unit via exosomal miRNAs. These studies reveal an important role of exosomes in melanocyte pigmentation, which opens a new pathway of melanogenesis.

Silver nanorods (AgNR) have strong catalysis of the redox reation between AgNO3 and glucose (GLC) to form silver nanoparticles (AgNP) with strong nanoplasmonic effect including surface plasmon resonance (SPR) absorption (RRS) and surface-enhanced resonance Raman scattering (SERS) in the presence of Victoria blue B(VBB) molecular probes. The increased SERS intensity at 1615 cm−1 responds linearly with the AgNR concentration. The potassium ion aptamers (Apt) can adsorb on the surface of AgNR to inhibit the nanocatalysis. Upon addition of K+, the formed stable G-quadruplex of K-Apt escape from the nanosurface of AgNR to recovery its catalysis. With the increase of K+ concentration, the SERS intensity increased linearly due to producing more AgNP substrates. Thus, a 50–3000 nmol/L K can be analyzed quantitatively by SERS technique, with a detection limit of 25 nmol/L.

Establishing reasonable water and fertilizer inputs is of great importance to improve crop yield and water and fertilizer use efficiency in greenhouses. This experiment was conducted in 2013 to investigate the effects of different levels of irrigation and nitrogen (N) fertilizer on the yield, fruit quality, and water and nitrogen use efficiency of cucumbers under fertigation systems in a greenhouse in China. The least square method and multiple regression analysis were used to select the largest single target and multi-objective optimum in this study. The treatments comprised three drip irrigation levels (with ET0 as the reference crop evapotranspiration, W1: 60% ET0; W2: 80% ET0 and W3: 100% ET0) and four N fertilizer levels (N0: 0 kg/ha; N1: 180 kg/ha; N2: 360 kg/ha and N3: 540 kg/ha). The results revealed that the single factors of irrigation and N had an extremely significant effect on the yield. The fruit yield increased with the amount of irrigation water and reached 55.9 t/ha and 51.6 t/ha with the use of N 540 kg/ha and 360 kg/ha, respectively. The yield of 49.6 t/ha, the highest water use efficiency (WUE) of 55.8 kg/m3 and vitamin C of 128.4 mg/kg were obtained from conditions involving medium irrigation levels (80% ET0) with the application of 360 kg/ha N. The highest soluble sugar content at 2.8% was achieved when the irrigation level was 60% ET0 and the application of N was 360 kg/ha. The nitrogen production efficiency (NPE) and partial factor productivity of nitrogen (PFPN) decreased with the increase in the nitrogen application rate. The highest NPE and PFPN of 263.4 kg/kg and 265.9 kg/kg were obtained from irrigation levels of 80% ET0 and 100% ET0, respectively. The yield response factor ky of the cucumbers was 0.94. Taking into account the yield, quality, and water and nitrogen use efficiency, the irrigation level of 80% ET0 with the nitrogen level of 360 kg/ha were the best fertigation strategy. Within a 90% confidence interval, it was concluded that when the irrigation interval was 124–151 mm and the nitrogen interval was 318–504 kg/ha, the yield, WUE, and Vitamin C reached ≥90% of their maximum values at the same time. The determination of this region is of great significance to the management of water and fertilizer in greenhouse cucumis sativus.

All-solid-state lithium batteries (ASSLBs) using sulfide solid electrolytes (SSEs) offer an attractive option for energy storage applications. Lithium anode is the ultimate goal for ASSLBs, but lithium-indium (Li-In) alloy anode is more widely utilized in lab testing owing to the quite stable interface and elimination for the risk of short circuit. However, vigorous growth of Li-In dendrites in SSE is discovered in the present work when a full cell (LiNbO3 coated LiNi0.6Co0.2Mn0.2O2//Li6PS5Cl//Li-In) is cycled in high loading and high rate. Our study demonstrates that Li-In anode is unstable towards SSEs at high current, which induces Li-In dendrite growth enclosing electrolyte particles and eventually results in cell death after a long cycling. The morphology and growth mechanism of Li-In dendrites are revealed by scanning transmission electron microscopy-electron energy loss spectroscopy (STEM-EELS) analysis and density function theory (DFT) calculations. Moreover, the differences between Li and Li-In dendrites are systematically compared.

Aim To investigate the effect of 17β-Estradiol (E2) on intervertebral disc degeneration (IVDD) and the related mechanism. Materials and methods Immunohistochemistry was used to detect the expression of estrogen receptor β (ERβ) within intervertebral discs of humans and rats. After that, rat IVDD model was established by needle puncture and bilateral ovariectomy. Then, the serum E2 level was detected by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay, and the degree of IVDD was evaluated by X-ray, magnetic resonance imaging, hematoxylin and eosin staining, and Safranin O-Fast Green staining. Finally, we used immunohistochemistry and immunofluorescence staining to determine the effect of E2 on nuclear factor kappa-B (NF-κB) signal pathway both in vivo and in vitro. Key findings We identified that IVDD was associated with lower levels of ERβ and ERβ levels were inversely correlated with IVDD. The histological staining and radiological results showed that E2 supplement could alleviate IVDD progression. Additionally, immunohistochemistry staining demonstrated that E2 could inhibit nucleus pulposus cell (NPC) apoptosis, matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) synthesis, and degradation of extracellular matrix (ECM) by inhibiting the activation of NF-κB signal pathway. Furthermore, immunofluorescence staining showed that the above effects of E2 on the NF-κB signal pathway could be blocked by the estrogen receptor antagonist ICI182780 in vitro. Finally, inhibition of NF-κB signal pathway by BAY11-7082 could reduce MMPs synthesis and ECM degradation of NPCs. Significance Collectively, these findings indicated that E2 could effectively ameliorate IVDD by inhibiting NPC apoptosis via inhibition of NF-κB signal pathway.

Altered placental development and function lead to placental diseases such as preeclampsia (PE) which is mainly characterized by insufficient trophoblast invasion and abnormally invasive placenta disorders. Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are widely reported to function as crucial players in the pathogenesis of PE. The present investigation clarified the role of lncRNA small nucleolar RNA host gene 16 (SNHG16) in PE. RT-qPCR was used to measure gene expression. The proliferation of trophoblast cells was examined using CCK-8 and EdU assays. Trophoblast migration and invasion were assessed using wound healing and transwell assays. The apoptosis was estimated by flow cytometry. Luciferase reporter and RNA pull-down assays were performed to explore the molecular mechanisms in trophoblast cells. We found that SNHG16 was downregulated in placenta from patients with PE. Moreover, SNHG16 depletion significantly inhibited trophoblast cell proliferation, migration, and invasion and stimulated apoptosis, while SNHG16 overexpression exerted an opposite effect. Subsequently, we confirmed that SNHG16 acted as a competing RNA (ceRNA) of miR-218-5p that was verified to directly target LASP1. Both miR-218-5p depletion and LASP1 upregulation antagonized the effect of SNHG16 knockdown on HTR-8/SVneo cell functions. In conclusion, SNHG16 facilitates trophoblast cell migration and invasion by the miR-218-5p/LASP1 axis.

Galactooligosaccharides (GOS) have been identified as beneficial prebiotics for animals and human beings. Most studies have focused on the effect of GOS on the hindgut populated with abundant microbes. However, few research studies have been conducted on the small intestine, and many results are inconsistent due to the purity of GOS, commonly mixed with monosaccharides or lactose. Therefore, pure GOS with definite structures were prepared and used in the present study to evaluate their effects on intestinal barrier function, inflammatory responses and short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) produced in the colon of mice challenged with lipopolysaccharide (LPS). The results of 1H and 13C nuclear magnetic resonance spectral analyses indicated that the main structures of GOS with a degree of polymerization of 3 (trisaccharide) and 4 (tetrasaccharide) are [β-Gal-(1 → 6)-β-Gal(1 → 4)-β-Glc] and [β-Gal-(1 → 6)-β-Gal-(1 → 6)-β-Gal-(1 → 4)-β-Glc], respectively. The results of an in vivo study in mice showed that intragastric administration of 0.5 g per kg BW GOS attenuated intestinal barrier damage and inflammatory responses induced by LPS in the jejunum and ileum, as indicated by increasing villus height and villus-to-crypt ratio, up-regulated intestinal tight junction (ZO-1, occludin, and claudin-1) gene expression, and down-regulated pro-inflammatory cytokines such as IL-1β, IL-6, IFN-γ, and TNF-α gene expression. Nevertheless, the protective effects of GOS on the intestinal barrier are independent of glucagon-like peptide 2. In addition, 0.5 g per kg BW GOS administration promoted the recovery of colonic acetate, propionate, butyrate, and total SCFA production reduced by LPS challenge. The obtained results provide practical evidence that pure GOS can act as protective agents for intestinal health.

To investigate the effects of alternate partial root-zone irrigation (APRI) and water deficit at different growth stages on maize growth, physiological characteristics, the grain yield, and the water use efficiency (WUE), a pot experiment was conducted under a mobile automatic rain shelter. There were two irrigation methods, i.e., conventional irrigation (CI) and APRI, two irrigation levels, i.e., mild deficit irrigation (W1, 55%~70% FC, where FC is the field capacity) and serious deficit irrigation (W2, 40%~55% FC), and two deficit stages, i.e., the seedling (S) and milking stage (M). Sufficient irrigation (W0: 70%~85% FC) was applied throughout the growing season of maize as the control treatment (CK). The results indicated that APRI and CI decreased the total water consumption (ET) by 34.7% and 23.8% compared to CK, respectively. In comparison to CK, APRI and CI increased the yield-based water use efficiency (WUEY) by 41% and 7.7%, respectively. APRI increased the irrigation water efficiency (IWUE) and biomass-based water use efficiency (WUEB) by 8.8% and 25.5% compared to CK, respectively. Additionally, ASW1 had a similar grain yield to CK and the largest harvest index (HI). However, the chlorophyll and carotenoid contents were significantly reduced by 13.7% and 23.1% under CI, and by 11.3% and 20.3% under APRI, compared to CK, respectively. Deficit irrigation at the milking stage produced a longer tip length, resulting in a lower grain yield. Based on the entropy weight method and the technique for order preference by similarity to an ideal solution (TOPSIS) method, multi-objective optimization was obtained when mild deficit irrigation (55%~70% FC) occurred at the seedling stage under APRI.

Objective. To investigate the clinical significance of the mRNA expression of RRM1, TUBB3, and ERCC1 in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) tissues for the selection of adjuvant/postoperative chemotherapy regimens. Methods. Patients diagnosed with stage Ib-IIIa NSCLC were enrolled and randomly divided into a control group (undetected group) and an experimental group (detected group) after radical operation. The control group randomly received chemotherapy with gemcitabine plus cisplatin or paclitaxel plus cisplatin. The mRNA expression of RRM1, TUBB3, and ERCC1 was detected in the experimental group before chemotherapy, and based on the detected expression, the chemotherapy regimen of cisplatin plus gemcitabine or cisplatin plus paclitaxel was chosen. The disease-free survival (DFS) of the control group and experimental group was compared. Results. Pathological type, stage, gene expression detection, and treatment method were not significantly correlated with DFS ( P > 0.05 ). In the subgroups treated with gemcitabine, the median DFS was 17 months in the detected group and 10.5 months in the undetected group (hazard ratio = 0.2147, 95% confidence interval: 0.07909–0.5827, P = 0.0025 ). Multivariate regression analysis was performed to analyse whether gene expression detection was independently correlated with DFS in the subgroups treated with gemcitabine ( P = 0.025 ). In the detected group, the prognosis of patients with low expression of RRM1 was better than that of patients with high expression of RRM1 after paclitaxel treatment ( P = 0.0039 ). Conclusions. The selection of chemotherapy regimen based on mRNA expression of the RRM1, TUBB3, and ERCC1 genes may improve selection of candidate patients to receive clinical chemotherapy. However, large-scale prospective clinical studies are needed for in-depth investigation.

Background Restenosis is a serious problem in patients who have undergone percutaneous transluminal angioplasty. Endothelial injury resulting from surgery can lead to endothelial dysfunction and neointimal formation by inducing aberrant proliferation and migration of vascular smooth muscle cells. Exosomes secreted by mesenchymal stem cells have been a hot topic in cardioprotective research. However, to date, exosomes derived from mesenchymal stem cells (MSC-Exo) have rarely been reported in association with restenosis after artery injury. The aim of this study was to investigate whether MSC-Exo inhibit neointimal hyperplasia in a rat model of carotid artery balloon-induced injury and, if so, to explore the underlying mechanisms. Methods Characterization of MSC-Exo immunophenotypes was performed by electron microscopy, nanoparticle tracking analysis and western blot assays. To investigate whether MSC-Exo inhibited neointimal hyperplasia, rats were intravenously injected with normal saline or MSC-Exo after carotid artery balloon-induced injury. Haematoxylin-eosin staining was performed to examine the intimal and media areas. Evans blue dye staining was performed to examine re-endothelialization. Moreover, immunohistochemistry and immunofluorescence were performed to examine the expression of CD31, vWF and α-SMA. To further investigate the involvement of MSC-Exo-induced re-endothelialization, the underlying mechanisms were studied by cell counting kit-8, cell scratch, immunofluorescence and western blot assays. Results Our data showed that MSC-Exo were ingested by endothelial cells and that systemic injection of MSC-Exo suppressed neointimal hyperplasia after artery injury. The Evans blue staining results showed that MSC-Exo could accelerate re-endothelialization compared to the saline group. The immunofluorescence and immunohistochemistry results showed that MSC-Exo upregulated the expression of CD31 and vWF but downregulated the expression of α-SMA. Furthermore, MSC-Exo mechanistically facilitated proliferation and migration by activating the Erk1/2 signalling pathway. The western blot results showed that MSC-Exo upregulated the expression of PCNA, Cyclin D1, Vimentin, MMP2 and MMP9 compared to that in the control group. Interestingly, an Erk1/2 inhibitor reversed the expression of the above proteins. Conclusion Our data suggest that MSC-Exo can inhibit neointimal hyperplasia after carotid artery injury by accelerating re-endothelialization, which is accompanied by activation of the Erk1/2 signalling pathway. Importantly, our study provides a novel cell-free approach for the treatment of restenosis diseases after intervention.

Multidrug resistance is a major obstacle to the effective treatment of esophageal carcinoma. It occurs more readily in hypoxia and acidosis microenvironment. TTLL6 is one of Tubulin tyrosine ligase-like family members. In this study, the effect of TTLL6 on the regulation of cisplatin (CDDP) sensitivity was evaluated in CDDP-resistant esophageal carcinoma (EC) cells both in vitro and in vivo. In hypoxia/acidosis condition, overexpression of TTLL6 in EC109/CDDP cells significantly lowered the IC50 of CDDP and increased the CDDP-induced apoptosis; while knockdown of TTLL6 expression in EC109/CDDP cells exhibited the opposite effects. Further study showed that, mechanistically, TTLL6 was inversely correlated with ERBB2 and TOPOIIA, and positively correlated with apoptosis-associated factor Caspase 9. Furthermore, animal model confirmed that TTLL6 negatively regulated the growth of xenograft tumor after chemotherapy. Alternated expression of TTLL6 also regulated the expression of ERBB2, TOPOIIA and Caspase 9 in EC109/CDDP cells in vivo. In conclusion, our results suggest that TTLL6 could reverse the drug resistant of EC109/CDDP cells, it might provide a potential treatment strategy for the clinical reversing the chemotherapy resistance.

RATIONALE Compared with traditional labelling reagents used in proteomics, maleic anhydride is milder and can be easily removed under certain conditions, thus simplifying chemical derivatization. METHODS The proposed strategy combined a site-specific chemical labelling reaction with mass spectrometry. Site-selective, reversible N-terminal maleylation was controlled by pH. RESULTS Selective maleyl N-terminal labelling was achieved with high efficiency under the optimized reaction conditions. The demaleylation conditions were also optimized. The sequence coverage of histone H4 increased from 77% to 95% after the maleyl labels were removed, and the number of maleylated peptides was five times that of the unlabelled peptides. We further verified the reversible and selective N-terminal labelling properties of maleic anhydride through propionylation labelling at the peptide/protein level. CONCLUSIONS A new method for site-selective maleylation of the N-terminal amino groups of a peptide was explored. Through the optimization experiment, good efficiency was achieved for this labelling reaction. The reversibility of maleylation labelling was also explored and applied for the identification of post-translational modifications of histones. Thus, site-selective, reversible, pH-induced N-terminal labelling using maleic anhydride has greater potential for application in proteomics than any other labelling methods.

Given water resources scarcity in Northwest China and the urgent need for the integration and optimization of scientific and technological resources in facility agriculture, this experiment explored the appropriate water and fertilizer management measures for greenhouse sweet pepper under fertilization in Northwest China. A two-year drip fertigation sweet pepper experiment was conducted in a solar greenhouse, with four irrigation levels (W1: 105% ETC, W2: 90% ETC, W3: 75% ETC, W4: 60% ETC) and four nitrogen levels (N1: 300 kg/ha, N2: 225 kg/ha, N3: 150 kg/ha, N4: 75 kg/ha). The results showed that above-ground dry matter accumulation (DMA), yield, harvest index (HI), and water use efficiency (WUE) of sweet pepper increased first and then decreased with the increase of irrigation/nitrogen amounts under the same nitrogen/irrigation levels. The partial factor productivity of nitrogen (PFPN) decreased significantly with the increase of nitrogen application rate, while it increased first and then decreased with the increase of irrigation level. The PFPN reached a peak at W2 level, despite no significant difference between W2 and W3 levels. With the increase of nitrogen application rate, soluble sugar and vitamin C content increased first and then decreased with a maximum at N3 level; nitrate content increased with the increase of nitrogen application rate, and there was no significant difference between N4 and N3 levels. The contents of soluble sugar and nitrate nitrogen decreased with the increase of irrigation amount, and they did not differ between W1 and W3 levels at N3 level; the vitamin C content increased first and then decreased with the increase of irrigation amount, reaching the maximum in W2 or W3 treatments. Considering the shortage of water resources in the study area, the W3N3 treatment (75% ETC, 150 kg/ha) could be recommended as the optimal drip fertigation strategy. Results showed that the optimal value of sweet pepper (the best confidence intervals of 85%) was achieved at the irrigation water and nitrogen amount of 78.2–80.8% ETC and 164.5–189.5 kg/ha, respectively. This study provides scientific basis for water and nitrogen management of high yield, quality, and benefit planting of facility sweet pepper in Northwest China.

A number of studies have implicated that microRNAs (miRNAs) play a critical role in the development of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). However, the role of miR-657 in GDM remains vague up to date. We aim to investigate the modifying effect of miR-657 on GDM, which will provide new insight into the pathogenesis of GDM and may help to identify new diagnostic or therapeutic targets for GDM. Increased expression of miR-657 but decreased expression of interleukin-37 (IL-37) was observed in patients with GDM. Besides, negative association between miR-657 and IL-37 was demonstrated in this study. miR-657 could targetedly regulate IL-37 and enhance the proliferation of mononuclear macrophages. Moreover, miR-657 promoted the generation of inflammatory cytokines (IL-6 and tumor necrosis factor-α [TNF-α]) and activation of nuclear factor κB (NF-κB) in lipopolysaccharide-induced mononuclear macrophages, while its effect was significantly inhibited when exogenous recombinant IL-37 was administrated into cells. Accordingly, dysregulation of miR-657 contributes to the pathogenesis of GDM via IL-37/NF-κB signaling axis.

Accumulating studies suggest the potential association between epilepsy and vitamin D (VD) in recent years. Vitamin D binding protein (VDBP) is the main VD carrier and can affect the availability of VD and its metabolites. Thus, this study aimed to investigate the association between VDBP polymorphisms and VD level on epilepsy. A total of 220 epilepsy patients and 210 health controls were enrolled and polymorphisms of VDBP (rs4588, rs7041, rs2298849, and rs2282679) genotype were detected using the PCR–ligase detection reaction method. The circulating status of VD metabolites, 25(OH)D and 24,25(OH)2D, was detected by a validated high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS) method, and the VD metabolite ratio (VMR), 24,25(OH)2D:25(OH)D, was then calculated. The frequency of rs4588(C>A) and rs2282679(A>C) genotype with AC was significantly lower among the patients relative to the controls [odds ratio, OR = 0.597, 95% confidence interval, CI = 0.401–0.890, p = 0.011 for rs4588(...

Coordinatively asymmetric or unsaturated metal centers may serve as accessible active sites and allow strong interaction with incoming guests in catalysis, sensing, and separation applications. Herein, a peculiar Co-based phosphate NaCo4(PO4)3, in which all Co atoms were in very rare 5-coordinations, was first synthesized in nanoribbon morphology. With the combined merits of the unique Co coordination, intrinsic half-metallicity, and nanostructured morphology, NaCo4(PO4)3 nanoribbons were characterized with high efficiency for water oxidation in a neutral electrolyte, remarkably outperforming congeneric phosphates such as Na2CoP2O7 with 4-coordinated Co configurations and even comparable to the benchmark RuO2 nanoparticles. The high catalytic performance validates a great potential in exploiting inorganic nanostructures with coordinatively asymmetric or unsaturated metal centers for energy storage and conversion applications.

A new method for measuring thermal conductivities of gases and liquids was established by demonstrating the measurement of five kinds of liquid and air. It uses a sensor named “micro-beam sensor” that is a ∼10-μm-long free-standing platinum membrane suspended across a trench on a silicon substrate and heated in a sample by DC. This method is unique in that it is a steady-state measurement but free from the effect of natural convection owing to the micrometer size of the sensor. Improving the method for precisely determining the temperature of the sensor and modifying the device from those used in our previous feasibility study, we successfully measured the thermal conductivity ranging from ∼0.03 to ∼0.6 W/(m⋅K) within 4% error.

This study investigated the effects of different combinations of irrigation and nitrogen levels on the growth of greenhouse sweet peppers, assessing yield, quality, water use efficiency (WUE), and partial factor productivity from applied N (PFPN). By using controlled drip irrigation, the optimal conditions for efficient, large-scale, high-yield, and high quality production of sweet peppers in Northwest China were determined. Using the local conventional irrigation and nitrogen regime as a control (105% ET0, N: 300 kg·hm−2), three alternative irrigation levels were also tested, at 90%, 75%, and 60% ET0. These were combined with nitrogen levels at 100%, as the control, and 75%, 50%, and 25%, resulting in 16 combination treatments. The results show that different supplies of water and nitrogen nutrition had a significant impact on the growth, yield, WUE, PFPN, and quality of fruit. The treatments of W0.90N0.75, W0.90N0.50, W0.75N0.75, and W0.75N0.50can better maintain the “source-sink” relationship of peppers. They increased the economic yield, WUE, and PFPN. A principal component analysis was performed to evaluate indicators of fruit quality, revealing that the treatment of W0.75N0.50resulted in the best fruit quality. For greenhouse sweet peppers produced in Northwest China, the combination of W0.90N0.75resulted in the highest economic yield of 34.85 kg·hm−2. The combination of W0.75N0.75had the highest WUE of 16.50 kg·m−3. The W0.75N0.50combination treatment had the highest fruit quality score. For sustainable ecological development and in view of limited water resources in the area, we recommend the W0.75N0.50combination treatment, since it could obtain the optimal fruit quality, while its economic yield and WUE were 9% and 4% less than the maximum, respectively. This study provides a theoretical basis for the optimal management of water and nitrogen during production of greenhouse sweet peppers in Northwest China.

The effects of an additive termed as iron oxide–zeolite on the process performance of anaerobic digestion for treating swine waste at mesophilic (35 °C), ambient (25 °C) and psychrophilic (15 °C) temperatures were investigated. Significantly enhanced biogas and methane yields (20.90–183.03% and 33.84–221.52%, respectively), methane content (10.73–14.26%), VFA formation and utilization, and organic matter removal (e.g., 35.79–69.02% of VS removal) demonstrated the stimulating effects of the additive. The high adsorption capacity of the additive buffered the surrounding pH and reduced the ammonia concentration by about 380.35–510.73 mg L−1, which suppressed ammonia inhibition at mesophilic temperature. The increased concentration of coenzyme F420 indicated the strengthened methanogenic activity under all three temperatures. By supplementing the iron oxide–zeolite additive, net energy recoveries of the digestion processes increased by 183.04%, 33.14% and 21.80% at psychrophilic, ambient and mesophilic temperatures, respectively. The method for supplementing the iron oxide–zeolite additive is an advanced and feasible approach to achieve successful synthesis of biogas from AD by treating livestock waste, especially under ambient temperature in the winter seasons of Northern China.

Nitrogen, one of the essential nutrients for tomato growth, has significant influence on tomato cultivation. Yield, water use efficiency (WUE) and fruit quality are widely considered as the most important indicators in the production of tomato. However, reported effects of nitrogen application on tomato yield, WUE and fruit quality vary greatly, mainly due to differences in experimental and environmental factors. Besides, until now, there is no systematic analysis to discuss the effects of nitrogen application on tomato yield, WUE and fruit quality. Therefore, we adopted a global meta-analysis of tomato yield, WUE and fruit quality, including 1096 data pairs from 76 publications from eight countries. We concluded that the optimal nitrogen rate was between 236 and 354 kg ha−1 with the potential of significantly increasing tomato yield by 59.9%, enhancing Vitamin C (VC), sugar/acid ratio (SAR), soluble sugar (SS) and total soluble solids (TSS) by 18.8%, 33.5%, 23.5% and 11.9%, respectively, but decreasing lycopene by 10.8% and increasing nitrate content by 60.4%. Namely, the optimal nitrogen rate could obtain relatively higher tomato yield, VC, SAR, SS and TSS compared with no nitrogen supply. Tomato yield and SS were not significantly different between greenhouse/pot and field at the optimal nitrogen rate. Average annual temperature of 12–23 °C improved most tomato quality indicators (TSS, VC, SS, SAR, nitrate content and lycopene) and yield at the optimal nitrogen rate. There was no significant effect of soil pH on TSS and SS at the optimal nitrogen rate, and tomato yield, VC, SAR and nitrate content were improved more in soils with pH

Fluorine (F) additives could enhance lithium (Li) extraction from α-spodumene without phase transformation (typically at ∼ 1100 °C). Fluorine additives participated in the destruction of the crystal structure of α-spodumene by forming HF with sulfuric acid. The sulfuric acid was employed to catalyze the destruction of the α-spodumene crystal structure and convert insoluble fluorides to sulfates. Residual fluorine mainly existed as HF/F- and a samll amount of AlFx after acid pre-leaching. Based on different boiling points of HF-H2O and H2SO4-H2O systems, a stepwise heat treatment was proposed herein to recycle F and avoid lithium loss caused by coordination with F. A systematical investigation of effects of different factors such as heating temperature (200–350 °C), heating time (3–12 h), initial ratio of ore/H2SO4 (1:1, 1:2 g/mL) and different heating style (directly or stepwise) on F removal was conducted. The results indicated that only 2.03% of F remained in the leaching solution after the stepwise heat treatment for an ore/HF/H2SO4 ratio of 1:3:2 g/mL/mL at 120 °C for 3 h and 250 °C for 3 h. About 93.73% of Li and 73.14% of Al were extracted during this stepwise heat treatment. More importantly, premiliary separation of Li and Al was realized due to the formation of acid insoluble Al2(SO4)3, which was conducive to the subsequent separation and purification of lithium production.

The aim of this study was to optimize and compare the production of galactooligosaccharides (GOSs) by free and cotton cloth-immobilized Aspergillus oryzae β-galactosidase, and perform economical evaluation of production of GOSs (100%) between them. Using the response surface method, the optimal reaction time (3.9 h), initial lactose concentration (57.13%), and enzyme to lactose ratio (44.81 U/g) were obtained for the free enzyme, which provided a GOSs yield of 32.62%. For the immobilized enzyme, the optimal yield of GOSs (32.48%) was obtained under reaction time (3.09 h), initial lactose concentration (52.74%), and temperature (50.0 ℃). And it showed desirable reusability during five successive enzymatic reactions. The recovery rate of GOSs (100%) is 65% using silica gel filtration chromatography. The economical evaluation showed almost no difference in the manufacturing cost for the GOSs (100%) between these two systems, and that the recovery rate had a great impact on the cost.

The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of a novel iron oxide–zeolite system on the anaerobic digestion of cow manure and rice straw. The results showed that the cumulative methane yield during the 40 days of digestion with the supplementation of the newly formed additive reached as high as 394.38 mL/g of VSadd, which was 74.11% higher than that with the mixture of iron oxide and zeolite as the additive (226.51 mL/g of VSadd) and 372.85% higher than the control (83.05 mL/g of VSadd). The introduction of the iron oxide–zeolite system also brought a more stable pH condition, higher total VFA, and lower ammonia concentration. In terms of the substrate degradation, a better bioavailability of the lignocellulosic biomass has been obtained. The coenzyme F420 assay demonstrated a significantly strengthened methanogen activity by the addition of the iron oxide–zeolite system. Considering its high efficiency and good performance, the iron oxide–zeolite system can be extended to practical engineering app...

Platinum hot films have been used as precise resistance thermometers to measure the thermal conductivities of carbon nanotubes and graphene. Assisted by focused ion beam (FIB) irradiation, the influence of defects on phonon transport have been examined. However, wide lateral ion beam scattering may affect the electrical properties of hot films and cause uncertainty. In this letter, the effect of FIB irradiation on the electrical resistivity of platinum hot films was evaluated. To investigate this effect qualitatively, electrical resistivity measurement and FIB irradiation were alternated while changing irradiation positions and doses. Irradiated ions were found to travel further than 25m away from the directly irradiated area, resulting in an increase of electrical resistivity of the film according to total accumulated dose. The number of scattered ions was found to depend on the irradiated surface. An empirical equation describing the relationship between electrical resistivity and assumed ion density in the hot films was proposed. The obtained results enable us to accurately estimate the thermal or electrical properties of nanomaterials using hot-film sensors combined with nanofabrication techniques using FIB. Display Omitted Electrical resistivity of platinum hot films influenced by scattered ion beam was measured.Scattered ions traveled further than 25m away from the directly irradiated area.The number of scattered ions was slightly affected by the irradiated surface.An empirical equation was proposed to describe the relationship between electrical resistivity and Ga ion density in hot films.