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Conversion of light energy and chemical energy in a wide spectrum region, especially in the near-infrared (NIR) light region, is still a challenge in the field of photocatalysis. In this work, a layered Bi-WN photocatalyst with a heterojunction was prepared by reducing flake-shaped WN and flower-shaped Bi2O3 in an ammonia atmosphere. Under the process of NIR light (λ > 700 nm)-driven water splitting, the optimal hydrogen (H2) generation rates based on the Bi-WN photocatalyst can reach to 7.49 μmol g-1 h-1, which is 2.47 times higher than that of WN of 3.03 μmol g-1 h-1. The result indicates that the Bi-WN photocatalyst can be effective under NIR light. Through ultraviolet-visible-NIR diffuse reflectance spectrum analysis, it can be seen that the light absorption edge of Bi-WN is obviously redshifted. Combining the results of electrochemical characterizations, we have found that the addition of the Bi metal plays an important role in NIR light-driven water splitting. Under irradiation of NIR light, the electrons on the Bi-WN substrate are stronger due to local surface plasmon resonance, which reduces the possibility of recombination of photogenerated electrons and holes on WN. In addition, after the Bi metal absorbs the photon energy, the electron-hole pairs are separated, and the H2 production rate increases significantly under the combined action of the charge transfer mechanism and the local electric field enhancement mechanism.

The insufficient ionic conductivity and serious interface problems of oxide-based solid electrolytes greatly limit the performance of all solid-state lithium rechargeable batteries. Herein, a new type of lithium-ion conductor oxide Li19La36Ga7O74 (LLGO) with a high bulk conductivity of 1.4 × 10−3 S cm−1 which is higher than that of Li7La3Zr2O12 (LLZO, 7 × 10−4 S cm−1) is synthesized to solve the poor ionic conductivity problem. Based on density functional theory (DFT), LLGO has a two-dimensional and three-dimensional (2D–3D) co-conduction lithium ion migration path. Using LLGO as a conductor filler, the polyethylene oxide (PEO)/LiTFSI/LLGO (PLG) composite prepared by solution casting served as solid electrolyte to improve the interface compatibility between the solid electrolyte and electrode. The lithium ion migration number (t+) of the PLG electrolyte membrane is as high as 0.69. At a current density of 200 μA cm−2, the Li|PLG|Li battery can circulate stably for more than 4000 hours. Remarkably, in the LiFePO4|PLG|Li full battery, good compatibility of the PLG with the electrode can ensure the batteries not only a reversible capacity of 80 mA h g−1 at 25 °C, but also stable cycling of more than 110 days at a rate of 0.5C at 60 °C. Therefore, the addition of LLGO has greatly improved the electrochemical performance of solid-state batteries.

Objective Plasmablasts play important roles in autoimmune diseases, including systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Activation of mechanistic target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1) is regulated by amino acid levels. In patients with SLE, mTORC1 is activated in B cells and modulates plasmablast differentiation. However, the detailed mechanisms of amino acid metabolism in plasmablast differentiation remain elusive. We undertook this study to evaluate the effects of methionine in human B cells. Methods Purified CD19+ cells from healthy donors (n = 21) or patients with SLE (n = 35) were cultured with Toll-like receptor 7/9 ligand, interferon-α (IFNα), and B cell receptor crosslinking, and we determined the types of amino acids that were important for plasmablast differentiation and amino acid metabolism. We also identified the transcriptional regulatory mechanisms induced by amino acid metabolism, and we assessed B cell metabolism and its relevance to SLE. Results The essential amino acid methionine strongly committed cells to plasmablast differentiation. In the presence of methionine, Syk and mTORC1 activation synergistically induced methyltransferase EZH2 expression. EZH2 induced H3K27me3 at BTB and CNC homolog 2 (Bach2) loci and suppressed Bach2 expression, leading to induction of B lymphocyte-induced maturation protein 1 and X-box binding protein 1 expression and plasmablast differentiation. CD19+ cells from patients with SLE overexpressed EZH2, which was correlated with disease activity and autoantibody production. Conclusion Our findings show that methionine activated signaling by controlling immunologic metabolism in B cells and played an important role in the differentiation of B cells into plasmablasts through epigenome modification of Bach2 by the methyltransferase EZH2.

Spin defects in silicon carbide (SiC) have attracted increasing interest due to their excellent optical and spin properties, which are useful in quantum information processing. In this paper, we systematically investigate the temperature dependence of the spin properties of divacancy defects in implanted 4\emph{H}-SiC. The zero-field splitting parameter $D$, the inhomogeneous dephasing time $T_2^{*}$, the coherence time $T_2$, and the depolarization time $T_1$ are extensively explored in a temperature range from 5 to 300 K. Two samples implanted with different nitrogen molecule ion fluences ($\rm {N_2}^{+}$, $1\times 10^{14}/\rm cm^{2}$ and $1\times 10^{13}/\rm cm^{2}$) are investigated, whose spin properties are shown to have similar temperature-dependent behaviors. Still, the sample implanted with a lower ion fluence has longer $T_{2}$ and $T_{1}$. We provide possible theoretical explanations for the observed temperature-dependent dynamics. Our work promotes the understanding of the temperature dependence of spin properties in solid-state systems, which can be helpful for constructing wide temperature-range thermometers based on the mature semiconductor material., 7 pages, 5 figures, 46 references

Hydrophobic proteins, as one of the cellular protein classifications, play an essential function in maintaining the normal life cycle of living cells. Researches on the structure and function of hydrophobic proteins promote the exploration of the causes of major diseases, and development of new therapeutic agents for disease treatment. However, the poor water solubility of hydrophobic proteins creates problems for their preparation, separation, characterization and functional studies. The temporary solubilizing tags are considered a practical strategy to effectively solve the poor water solubility problem of hydrophobic proteins. This strategy can significantly improve the water solubility of hydrophobic peptides/proteins, making them like water-soluble peptides/proteins easy to be purified, characterized. More importantly, the temporary solubilizing tags can be removed after protein synthesis, so thus the structure and function of the hydrophobic proteins are not affected. At present, temporary solubilizing tags have been successfully used to prepare many important hydrophobic proteins such as membrane proteins, lipoproteins and chaperones. In this review, we summarize the recent researches and applications of temporary solubilizing tags.

An improved Savitzky–Golay (S–G) filtering algorithm was developed to denoise the absorption spectroscopy of nitrogen oxide (NO2). A deep learning (DL) network was introduced to the traditional S–G filtering algorithm to adjust the window size and polynomial order in real time. The self-adjusting and follow-up actions of DL network can effectively solve the blindness of selecting the input filter parameters in digital signal processing. The developed adaptive S–G filter algorithm is compared with the multi-signal averaging filtering (MAF) algorithm to demonstrate its performance. The optimized S–G filtering algorithm is used to detect NO2 in a mid-quantum-cascade-laser (QCL) based gas sensor system. A sensitivity enhancement factor of 5 is obtained, indicating that the newly developed algorithm can generate a high-quality gas absorption spectrum for applications such as atmospheric environmental monitoring and exhaled breath detection.

Oleanolic acid (OA) is a well-known natural product possessing many important pharmacological activities; however, its weak bioactivities significantly restrict the potential application in drug development. The structural modification of oleanolic acid is an effective mean to enhance its bioactivity with lower toxicity but it is challenging. In the present study, we systematically synthesized a series of new 11-oxooleanolic acid derivatives and evaluated their anti-inflammatory activities with a LPS induced BV2 cells inflammation model and a 12-O-tetradecanoyl phorbol-13-acetate (TPA) induced ear inflammation mice model. It was found that compounds 8 and 9 show more potent anti-inflammatory effects than OA and exhibit a low cytotoxicity. The possible mechanism of action was also investigated. The in vitro and in vivo results revealed that these two new 11-oxooleanolic acid derivatives may exert anti-inflammatory activities through the inhibition of NO, pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines (IL-1β, IL-6, IL-12, TNF-α, MCP-1 and MIP-1α) and upregulation of anti-inflammatory cytokines (IL-10), which may be caused by inhibiting the activation of NF-κB, MAPKs and PI3K/Akt related inflammatory signaling pathways and the activation of Nrf2/HO-1 signaling pathway. The results suggest that these two 11-oxooleanolic acid derivatives may be potential candidates for further anti-inflammatory drug development and our study demonstrated an important and practical strategy for drug discovery through the rational modification of natural products.

Recent reports have shown the importance of IFN-γ and T-bet+ B cells in the pathology of SLE, suggesting the involvement of IFN-γ-producing T-bet+ CD4+ cells, i.e., Th1 cells. This study determined the changes in Th1 subsets with metabolic shift and their potential as therapeutic targets in SLE. Compared with healthy donors, patients with SLE had higher numbers of T-bethiCXCR3lo effector cells and T-bet+Foxp3lo non-suppressive cells, which excessively produce IFN-γ, and lower number of non-IFN-γ-producing T-bet+Foxp3hi activated-Treg cells. These changes were considered to be involved in treatment resistance. The differentiation mechanism of Th1 subsets was investigated in vitro using memory CD4+ cells obtained from healthy donors and patients with SLE. In memory CD4+ cells of healthy donors, both rapamycin and 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2DG) suppressed T-bet+Foxp3- cells, and induced T-bet+Foxp3+(lo/hi) cells. Rapamycin induced IFN-γ-producing T-bet+Foxp3lo cells accompanied with enhanced lipid metabolism, whereas 2DG induced IFN-γ-non-producing T-bet+Foxp3hi cells. In memory CD4+ cells of SLE patients, inhibition of fatty acid synthesis, but not β-oxidation, suppressed IFN-γ production, and up-regulated of Foxp3 expression in T-bet+Foxp3+ cells. Metabolic regulators such as fatty acid synthesis inhibitors may improve the pathological status by correcting Th1 subset imbalance and overproduction of IFN-γ in SLE.

With the deepening of power market reform and energy conservation and emission reduction task, the carbon cost can be incorporated into the real-time trading decisionmaking of power market, which can further promote the lowcarbon development in China. In this paper, we firstly proposed low carbon electricity price mechanism (LCEP), which composed of spot market pricing, grid fees and RE surcharge. Then analysis model of generation side and demand side is constructed. Through detailed simulation calculation, the benefit effect of the proposed pricing mechanism is verified. The experimental results show that LCEP will be useful exploration for electricity market reform.

The effects of Cd, Cd + Fe, and Cd + Ni on the thermophilic anaerobic fermentation of corn stover and cow manure were studied in pilot experiments by investigating the biogas properties, process stability, substrate biodegradation, and microbial properties. The results showed that the addition of Fe and Ni into the Cd-containing fermentation system induced higher cumulative biogas yields and NH4+&ndash, N concentrations compared with the only Cd-added group. Ni together with Cd improved and brought forward the peak daily biogas yields, and increased the CH4 contents to 80.76%. Taking the whole fermentation process into consideration, the promoting impact of the Cd + Ni group was mainly attributed to better process stability, a higher average NH4+&ndash, N concentration, and increased utilization of acetate. Adding Fe into the Cd-containing fermentation system increased the absolute abundance of Methanobrevibacter on the 13th day, and Methanobrevibacter and Methanobacterium were found to be positively correlated with the daily biogas yield. This research was expected to provide a basis for the reuse of biological wastes contaminated by heavy metals and a reference for further studies on the influence of compound heavy metals on anaerobic fermentation.

Anaerobic fermentation is a cost-effective biowaste disposal approach. During fermentation, microorganisms require a trace amount of metals for optimal growth and performance. This study investigated the effects of metal mixtures on biogas properties, process stability, substrate degradation, enzyme activity, and microbial communities during anaerobic fermentation. The addition of iron (Fe), nickel (Ni), and zinc (Zn) into a copper (Cu)-stressed fermentation system resulted in higher cumulative biogas yields, ammonia nitrogen (NH4+-N) concentrations and coenzyme F420 activities. Ni and Zn addition enhanced process stability and acetate utilization. The addition of these metals also improved and brought forward the peak daily biogas yields as well as increased CH4 content to 88.94 and 86.58%, respectively. Adding Zn into the Cu-stressed system improved the abundance of Defluviitoga, Fibrobacter and Methanothermobacter, the degradation of cellulose, and the transformation of CO2 to CH4. The bacterial and archaeal communities were responsible for the degradation of lignocelluloses and CH4 production during the fermentation process. This study supports the reutilization of heavy metal-contaminated biowaste and provides references for further research on heavy metals impacted anaerobic fermentation.

Lead is harmful to living organisms. The substitution of Ca2+ in Calcium fluorapatite by Pb2+ can cause the forming of lead fluorapatite (Pb-FAP). The solubility data of Pb-FAP are significant in geoscience. Unfortunately, the solubility product and thermodynamic data for Pb-FAP in water under different conditions are lacking. In this study, the synthesized Pb-FAP was dissolved at initial pH of 2.00, 5.60, and 9.00. The pH was adjusted with HNO3 and NaOH, and the dissolution temperatures were set as 25, 35, and 45 °C. The characterizations showed the Pb-FAP nanorods were generally kept stable during the experiment. When the temperature was 25 °C and the initial pH = 2.00, both the concentrations of lead and phosphate in the solution increased rapidly, and reached a steady state at 4320 h and 5040 h, respectively, whereas the fluoride concentration reached the peak value within 1 h and achieved a stable state after 3600 h. The Pb/P molar ratio increased constantly from 2.07 to 2.13, which was slightly higher than the stoichiometric ratio of 1.67. And then the ratio decreased to 1.55 at the end of the experiment. When the initial pH 5.60 and 9.00 (the temperature was fixed at 25 °C for both experiments), the final pH values of the solution were 3.53 and 3.68 after 5040 h at the end of the experiment, respectively. The solubility product constants for Pb-FAP (Ksp) were 10−78.29 (10−78.19-10−78.44) at 25 °C, 10−77.37 (10−77.25-10−77.43) at 35 °C and 10−76.62 (10−76.54-10−76.70) at 45 °C, respectively. Based on the lgKsp values obtained at an initial pH of 2.00 and 25 °C, the Gibbs free energy of formation for Pb-FAP was calculated to be −3904.01 kJ mol−1 (−3903.43 to −3904.86 kJ mol−1).

With the rapid development of synthetic biology and metabolic engineering, a broad range of biochemicals can be biosynthesized, which include polyhydroxyalkanoates and isoprenoids. However, some of the bio-approaches in chemical synthesis have just started to be applied outside of laboratory settings, and many require considerable efforts to achieve economies of scale. One of the often-seen barriers is the low yield and productivity, which leads to higher unit cost and unit capital investment for the bioconversion process. In general, higher carbon economy (less carbon wastes during conversion process from biomass to objective bio-based chemicals) will result in higher bioconversion yield, which results in less waste being generated during the process. To achieve this goal, diversified strategies have been applied; matured strategies include pathway engineering to block competitive pathways, enzyme engineering to enhance the activities of enzymes, and process optimization to improve biomass/carbon yield. In this review, we analyze the impact of carbon sources from different types of biomass on the yield of bio-based chemicals (especially for polyhydroxyalkanoates and isoprenoids). Moreover, we summarize the traditional strategies for improving carbon economy during the bioconversion process and introduce the updated techniques in building up non-natural carbon pathways, which demonstrate higher carbon economies than their natural counterparts.

Pan-Pan Wu,1–3 Hao He,1,3 W David Hong,1,3–5 Tong-Rong Wu,1,3 Gui-Ying Huang,2 Ying-Ying Zhong,2 Bo-Rong Tu,1,3 Min Gao,1,3 Jun Zhou,1,3 Su-Qing Zhao,1–3 Dong-Li Li,1,3 Xue-Tao Xu,1,3 Zhao-Jun Sheng,1,3 Stephen A Ward,4 Paul M O’Neill,5 Kun Zhang1–3 1Faculty of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Wuyi University, Jiangmen, China; 2Department of Pharmaceutical Engineering, Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Light Industry, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou, China; 3International Healthcare Innovation Institute (Jiangmen), Jiangmen, China; 4Research Centre for Drugs and Diagnostics, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, UK; 5Department of Chemistry, University of Liverpool, UK Background: Fusidic acid (FA) (WU-FA-00) is the only commercially available antimicrobial from the fusidane family that has a narrow spectrum of activity against Gram-positive bacteria.Methods: Herein, the hydrogenation derivative (WU-FA-01) of FA was prepared and both compounds were examined against a panel of six bacterial strains. In addition, their anti-inflammatory properties were evaluated using a 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA)-induced mouse ear edema model.Results: The results of the antimicrobial assay revealed that both WU-FA-00 and WU-FA-01 displayed a high level of antimicrobial activity against Gram-positive strains. Moreover, killing kinetic studies were performed and the results were in accordance with the minimum inhibitory concentration and minimum bactericidal concentration results. We also demonstrated that the topical application of WU-FA-00 and WU-FA-01 effectively decreased TPA-induced ear edema in a dose-dependent manner. This inhibitory effect was associated with the inhibition of TPA‑induced upregulation of proinflammatory cytokines IL-1β, TNF-α, and COX-2. WU-FA-01 significantly suppressed the expression levels of p65, IκB-α, and p-IκB-α in the TPA-induced mouse ear model. Conclusion: Overall, our results showed that WU-FA-00 and WU-FA-01 not only had effective antimicrobial activities in vitro, especially to the Gram-positive bacteria, but also possessed strong anti-inflammatory effects in vivo. These results provide a scientific basis for developing FA derivatives as antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory agents. Keywords: fusidic acid, derivative, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory

Anaerobic fermentation is considered as a cost-effective way of biomass waste disposal. Chromium (Cr) is one of the heavy metals that often been blamed for unsatisfactory operation or failure of anaerobic fermentation. The impact of Cr (added as K2Cr2O7) on mesophilic anaerobic fermentation of Phragmites australis straw and cow dung was demonstrated by investigating the biogas properties, process stability, substrate degradation and enzyme activities during the fermentation process. The results showed that 30, 100 and 500 mg/L Cr6+ addition increased the cumulative biogas yields by up to 19.00%, 14.85% and 7.68% respectively, and brought forward the daily biogas yield peak. Meanwhile, the methane (CH4) content in the 30 (52.47%) and 100 (40.57%) mg/L Cr6+-added groups were generally higher than the control group (37.70%). Higher pH values (close to pH 7) and lower oxidation-reduction potential (ORP) values in the Cr6+-added groups after the 15th day indicated the better process stability compared to the control group. Taking the whole fermentation process into account, the promoting effect of Cr6+ addition on biogas yields was mainly attributable to better process stability, the enhanced degradation of lignin and hemicellulose, the transformation of intermediates into VFA, the higher coenzyme F420 activities and the efficient generation of CH4. These results demonstrate that an appropriate addition of Cr6+ could enhance the anaerobic fermentation which support the regulations utilizing of the Cr6+ contaminated biowaste.

Callus cultures of Arnebia euchroma (Royle) Johnst can produce considerable amounts of shikonin derivatives, which are shown to possess a wide spectrum of pharmaceutical properties, such as antimicrobial, anticancer, antioxidative, immune regulative and anti-inflammatory. To explore the possible regulation mechanism of shikonin derivatives biosynthesis, the effects of ammonium ion (NH4+) on cell growth and formation of shikonin derivatives in callus cultures of A. euchroma were investigated in this paper. The main results include: When A. euchroma callus were cultured in medium with different concentrations of NH4+ (0 mM, 7.02 mM, 14.04 mM), the fresh weight of the cell cultured in 7.02 mM NH4+ was higher than those in 0 mM and 14.04 mM NH4+, indicating that NH4+ is necessary for the cell growth of A. euchroma callus cultures, while excessive NH4+ concentration (14.04 mM) could rather inhibit the cell growth of A. euchroma. The quantitative analysis of the seven main naphthoquinone compounds showed that the contents of most of the shikonin derivatives (including the bioactive components acetylshikonin and β,β-dimethyl-acrylshikonin) of the Red Strain cultured in 0 mM NH4+ condition were higher than those in other NH4+ conditions (7.02 mM, 14.04 mM) at most of the sample points, suggesting that NH4+ essentially plays an unfavorable role in the biosynthesis of shikonin derivatives. The analysis of quantitative real-time RTPCR showed that a higher NH4+ concentration inhibited the expression of key enzyme genes (such as AePGT) of shikonin derivatives biosynthesis, while -NH4+ condition was conducive to the expression of such genes. In sum, our results show that NH4+ is necessary for the cell growth of A. euchroma, while unnecessary, or even adversary to the biosynthesis of shikonin derivatives.

A series of dealuminated HMCM-68 zeolites were prepared by treatment with steaming or hydrochloric/citric acid leaching. Their catalytic properties were studied using the alkylation of phenol with tert-butyl alcohol as a test reaction. The HMCM-68 zeolite modified by citric acid for 8 h (CAZ8) showed the best catalytic performance due to its improved structural and acidic properties, confirmed by methods of XRD, ICP-AES, SEM, N 2 -adsorption, 27 Al MAS NMR and NH 3 -TPD. Furthermore, it is proposed that citric acid treatment is the most suitable method for dealumination of HMCM-68 zeolite in the alkylation of phenol, which results in the zeolites having improved adsorption polarity, as well as enlarged surface area and pore volume for the desired transformation. The factors affecting the reaction over CAZ8 have also been extensively investigated.

We present an approach for green laser-light generation based on a fiber superluminescent pulse amplification system and frequency doubling to 552 nm with a periodically poled lithium niobate (PPLN) crystal. The SPA system used in the experiment is capable of yielding 6-nm-bandwidth, 10 ns pulsees. The 10-mm-long PPLN with 6.95 μm period and 0.5 mm thick generated high-power green light with single pulse energy up to 5.49 μJ when hte broadband input pulse coherence characteristics of the superluminescent pulse amplifier and the frequency doubling. This generated green light has proved to have low speckle noise and low photon degeneracy.

The effect of copper (added as CuCl2) on the anaerobic co-digestion of Phragmites straw and cow dung was studied in pilot experiments by investigating the biogas properties, process stability, substrate degradation and enzyme activities at different stages of mesophilic fermentation. The results showed that 30 and 100 mg/L Cu2+ addition increased the cumulative biogas yields by up to 43.62 and 20.77% respectively, and brought forward the daily biogas yield peak, while 500 mg/L Cu2+ addition inhibited biogas production. Meanwhile, the CH4 content in the 30 and 100 mg/L Cu2+-added groups was higher than that in the control group. Higher pH values (close to pH 7) and lower oxidation–reduction potential (ORP) values in the Cu2+-added groups after the 8th day indicated better process stability compared to the control group. In the presence of Cu2+, the degradation of volatile fatty acids (VFAs) and other organic molecules (represented by chemical oxygen demand, COD) generated from hydrolysis was enhanced, and the ammonia nitrogen (NH4 +-N) concentrations were more stable than in the control group. The contents of lignin and hemicellulose in the substrate declined in the Cu2+-added groups while the cellulose contents did not. Neither the cellulase nor the coenzyme F420 activities could determine the biogas producing efficiency. Taking the whole fermentation process into account, the promoting effect of Cu2+ addition on biogas yields was mainly attributable to better process stability, the enhanced degradation of lignin and hemicellulose, the transformation of intermediates into VFA, and the generation of CH4 from VFA.

Anaerobic fermentation is considered as a cost-effective way of biomass waste disposal. However, the compound heavy metals contained in the biomass may induce complex effects on anaerobic fermentation, which limit the utilization of metal-contaminated biowaste. In this study, the impacts of Cd and Zn addition on biogas properties, process stability, substrate biodegradation, enzyme activity, and microbial properties were studied. The results showed that the addition of Cd together with Zn (Cd+Zn) increased the maximum daily and cumulative biogas yields, and brought forward the gas production peak compared with the Cd-added group. Taking the whole fermentation process into account, the promotion effects of adding Zn into the Cd-containing fermentation system on biogas yields were mainly attributable to better process stability, higher average NH4+-N concentration in the later stage of fermentation, reduced COD (p &lt, 0.05), and increased biodegradability of lignocelluloses (p &lt, 0.01), especially cellulose (p &lt, 0.05) and lignin (p &lt, 0.01). Meanwhile, the addition of Zn promoted the coenzyme M activity (p &lt, 0.05), and increased the absolute abundance of Methanothermobacter. The bacteria communities during the fermentation process were responsible for the degradation of lignocelluloses. The results demonstrated that the addition of appropriate Zn into the Cd-containing fermentation system enhanced the efficiency of anaerobic fermentation and utilization of biowaste.

The α-Fe2O3nanotubes were prepared by the eletrospinning and calcination process. The as-prepared α-Fe2O3nanotubes were characterized by XRD, SEM and BET. The XRD patterns show that the nanotubes with a pure hematite phase (α-Fe2O3) are obtained after calcination at 550 oC. The SEM morphologies and BET measurement demonstrate the nanotubes have an average diameter of 200-300 nm and a specific surface area of 15.1 m2/g. Their adsorption of methyl blue was studied with ultraviolet spectrophotometer (UV) to measure the concentration of methyl blue in aqueous solution, and the adsorption kinetics is basically in agreement with the pseudo-second-order kinetic model in the methyl blue concentration range of 100-300 mg/L.

The effect of structure, elastic modulus and thickness of lower modulus layer in porous titanium implants on the stress distribution at the implant–bone interface was investigated. Three-dimensional finite element models of different titanium implants were constructed. The structures of the implants included the whole lower modulus style (No.1), bio-mimetic style (No.2), the whole lower modulus style in cancellous bone (No.3) and the whole dense style No.4. The stress distributions at bone–implant interface under static loading were analyzed using Ansys Workbench 10.0 software. The results indicated that the distribution of interface stress is strongly depended on the structure of the implants. The maximum stresses in cancellous bone and root region of implant No.2 are lower than those in the other three implants. A decrease in the modulus of the low modulus layer facilitates the interface stress transferring. Increasing the thickness of the low modulus layer can reduce the stress and induce a more uniform stress distribution at the interface. Among the four implants, biomimetic style implant No.2 is superior in transferring implant–bone interface stress to surrounding bones.

The presence of heavy metals influences the efficiency of anaerobic fermentation and results in the variations of the relationships among the fermentation parameters. In this study, the impacts of elevated Cu2+ concentrations on relationships among biogas properties, process stability, substrate biodegradation, and enzyme activity were analysed by Pearson correlation analysis based on the experimental data of a mesophilic anaerobic co-fermentation with mixed acid pretreated Phragmites australis straw and raw cow dung as feedstocks. The results showed that in the absence of Cu2+, the cumulative biogas yields were positively related to pH values (0.780, p

Sodium chloride (NaCl) was added as a space holder in synthesis of porous titanium by using metal injection molding(MIM) method. The microstructure and mechanical properties of porous titanium were analyzed by mercury porosimeter, scanning electron microscope(SEM) and compression tester. The results show that the content of NaCl influences the porosity of porous titanium significantly. Porous titanium powders with porosity in the range of 42.4%–71.6% and pore size up to 300 μm were fabricated. The mechanical test shows that with increasing NaCl content, the compressive strength decreases from 316.6 to 17.5 MPa and the elastic modulus decreases from 3.03 to 0.28 GPa.

This paper aims at presenting an approach for the experimental flow pattern conversion prediction. The water-diesel mixture flowed in the horizontal square tube with water contents of 0, 0.7%, 1.5%, 2.0% and 2.3%, respectively. After the mixture flowed steadily, the sample cell, in horizontal direction, was transmitted by the terahertz radiation and the terahertz time domain spectra were obtained for all the water-diesel mixtures. There is a critical velocity VT to all of the mixtures. If the flow rate is slower than VT, the mixtures flow with water bubbly pattern, however, the mixtures will flow with the water foggy pattern and the loss of the THz ray increased rapidly when the rate is faster than VT. Consequently, the mixture pattern conversion can be predicted by detecting the turning point of the THz ray loss.

A novel nano carbon network composed of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) and acetylene black (AB) were used as coating materials for LiFePO 4 . LiFePO 4 particles were connected by multi-walled carbon nanotubes to form a three-dimensional network coating and acetylene black repaired the incomplete carbon coating areas. This nano network structure can improve cyclic performance of the cathode composite effectively. The initial discharge capacity of LiFePO 4 /5 wt% MWCNTs+5 wt% AB was 161.3 mAh/g at 0.2 C. Besides, the cycling performance was also improved by such kind of coating, SEM images showing the change of electrodes after cycles were also displayed.

Background: The proto-oncogene dishevelled (Dvl) is a critical component of the Wnt/bcatenin signaling pathway, and its elevated expression in various tumor types is associated with malignancy. However, a role for Dvl in glioma has not been explored. Materials and methods: To determine whether Dvl expression is elevated in human glioma, we examined the protein levels in 67 human glioma samples and 3 normal brain specimens by Western blotting and immunohistochemistry. To investigate a possible association of Dvl with the malignant phenotype in glioma, the correlation of the Dvl immunoreactivity score (IRS) with b-catenin IRS, the tumor proliferation index (PI), and tumor invasion index (II) were determined for each sample. Results: The Dvl IRS, b-catenin IRS, PI, and II increased significantly with the pathologic grade of glioma (P

The shikonin derivatives, accumulated in the roots of Arnebia euchroma (Boraginaceae), showed antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and anti-tumor activities. To explore their possible biosynthesis regulation mechanism, this paper investigated the effects of exogenous methyl jasmonate (MJ) on the biosynthesis of shikonin derivatives in callus cultures of A. euchroma. The main results include: Under MJ treatment, the growth of A. euchroma callus cultures was not inhibited, but the expression level of both the genes involved in the biosynthesis of shikonin derivatives and their precursors and the genes responsible for intracellular localization of shikonin derivatives increased significantly in the Red Strain (shikonin derivatives high-producing strain). The quantitative analysis showed that six out of the seven naphthoquinone compounds under investigation increased their contents in the MJ-treated Red Strain, and in particular, the bioactive component acetylshikonin nearly doubled its content in the MJ-treated Red Strain. In addition, it was also observed that the metabolic profiling of naphthoquinone compounds changed significantly after MJ treatment, and the MJ-treated and MJ-untreated strains clearly formed distinct clusters in the score plot of PLS-DA. Our results provide some new insights into the regulation mechanism of the biosynthesis of shikonin derivatives and a possible way to increase the production of naphthoquinone compounds in A. euchroma callus cultures in the future.

Biphenyls are unique phytoalexins produced by plants belonging to Pyrinae, a subtribe of the economically important Rosaceae family. The formation of aucuparin, a well-known biphenyl, is induced by yeast extract (YE) in cell cultures of Sorbus aucuparia. However, the molecular mechanism underlying YE-induced activation of biphenyl biosynthesis remains unknown. Here we demonstrate that the addition of YE to the cell cultures results in a burst of reactive oxygen species (ROS; H(2)O(2) and O(2) (-)), followed by transcriptional activation of the biphenyl synthase 1 gene (BIS1) encoding the key enzyme of the biphenyl biosynthetic pathway and aucuparin accumulation. Pretreatment of the cell cultures with ROS scavenger dihydrolipoic acid and NADPH oxidase-specific inhibitor diphenylene iodonium abolished all of the above YE-induced biological events. However, when the cell cultures was pretreated with superoxide dismutase specific inhibitor N,N-diethyldithiocarbamic acid, although O(2) (-) continued to be generated, the H(2)O(2) accumulation, BIS1 expression and aucuparin production were blocked. Interestingly, exogenous supply of H(2)O(2) in the range of 0.05-10 mM failed to induce aucuparin accumulation. These results indicate that endogenous generation of H(2)O(2) rather than that of O(2) (-) is a key factor in YE-induced accumulation of biphenyl phytoalexins in cell cultures of S. aucuparia.

To have a clear insight into nanocrystal growth from graphite to diamond upon high energy pulsed laser irradiation of graphite suspension, synthesis of ultrafine nanocrystalline diamonds with laser energy set up from 0.3 J to 12 J, repetition rate of 10 Hz has been studied. The method allows synthesizing ultrafine nanocrystalline particles continuously at the ambient temperature and normal pressure. The particle size is shown independent of laser energy, which is ultrafine and ranges in 2–6 nm. The theoretical grown size of nano-diamonds is found in well agreement with the experiment results. Four kinds of production were found: nano-diamond, spherical carbon nano-particles, flocculent amorphous carbon, and graphene nano-ribbon rolls. A solid-vapor-plasma-liquid coexistence model describing phase transition from graphite to diamond induced by nanosecond laser processing was proposed. Graphene nano-ribbon rolls might be the intermediate phase in the conversion from graphite to diamond.