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Jun Shao,1,* Rongpu Liang,1,* Dongbing Ding,1,* Xiaoming Zheng,1 Xudong Zhu,1 Shengxue Hu,2 Hongbo Wei,1 Bo Wei1 1Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510630, People’s Republic of China; 2College of Biological Science and Engineering, Fuzhou University, Fujian, 350108, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Hongbo Wei; Bo WeiDepartment of Gastrointestinal Surgery, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510630, People’s Republic of ChinaTel +86-20-85252228Email weihb@mail.sysu.edu.cn; weibo3@mail.sysu.edu.cnBackground: Surgery is considered to be a potentially curative approach for gastric cancer. However, most cases are diagnosed at a very advanced stage for the lack of typical symptoms in the initial stage, which makes it difficult to completely surgical resect of tumors. Early diagnosis and precise personalized intervention are urgent issues to be solved for improving the prognosis of gastric cancer. Herein, we developed an RGD-modified ROS-responsive multifunctional nanosystem for near-infrared (NIR) imaging and photothermal therapy (PTT) against gastric cancer.Methods: Firstly, the amphiphilic polymer was synthesized by bromination reaction and nucleophilic substitution reaction of carboxymethyl chitosan (CMCh) and 4-hydroxymethyl-pinacol phenylborate (BAPE). Then, it was used to encapsulate indocyanine green (ICG) and modified with RGD to form a smart multifunctional nanoparticle targeted to gastric cancer (CMCh-BAPE-RGD@ICG). The characteristics were determined, and the targeting capacity and biosafety were evaluated both in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, CMCh-BAPE-RGD@ICG mediated photothermal therapy (PTT) effect was studied using gastric cancer cells (SGC7901) and SGC7901 tumor model.Results: The nanoparticle exhibited suitable size (≈ 120 nm), improved aqueous stability, ROS-responsive drug release, excellent photothermal conversion efficiency, enhanced cellular uptake, and targeting capacity to tumors. Remarkably, in vivo studies suggested that CMCh-BAPE-RGD@ICG could accurately illustrate the location and margin of the SGC7901 tumor through NIR imaging in comparison with non-targeted nanoparticles. Moreover, the antitumor activity of CMCh-BAPE-RGD@ICG-mediated PTT could effectively suppress tumor growth by inducing necrosis and apoptosis in cancer cells. Additionally, CMCh-BAPE-RGD@ICG demonstrated excellent biosafety both in vitro and in vivo.Conclusion: Overall, our study provides a biocompatible theranostic nanoparticle with enhanced tumor-targeting ability and accumulation to realize NIR image-guided PTT in gastric cancer.Keywords: gastric cancer, nanoparticle, indocyanine green, near-infrared imaging, photothermal therapy

The implications of the use of surfactant TPGS-750-M in water as a micellar reaction medium on the concomitant aqueous waste streams and their sustainable disposal have been studied. Biodegradabili...

KEY MESSAGE: we identified a functional chromogen gene C from wild rice, providing a new insight of anthocyanin biosynthesis pathway in indica and japonica. Accumulation of anthocyanin is a desirable trait to be selected in rice domestication, but the molecular mechanism of anthocyanin biosynthesis in rice remains largely unknown. In this study, a novel allele of chromogen gene C, OrC1, from Oryza rufipongon was cloned and identified as a determinant regulator of anthocyanin biosynthesis. Although OrC1 functions in purple apiculus, leaf sheath and stigma in indica background, it only promotes purple apiculus in japonica. Transcriptome analysis revealed that OrC1 regulates flavonoid biosynthesis pathway and activates a few bHLH and WD40 genes of ternary MYB-bHLH-WD40 complex in indica. Differentially expressed genes and metabolites were found in the indica and japonica backgrounds, indicating that OrC1 activated the anthocyanin biosynthetic genes OsCHI, OsF3H and OsANS and produced six metabolites independently. Artificial selection and domestication of C1 gene in rice occurred on the coding region in the two subspecies independently. Our results reveal the regulatory system and domestication of C1, provide new insights into MYB transcript factor involved in anthocyanin biosynthesis, and show the potential of engineering anthocyanin biosynthesis in rice.

At present, cancer is the first cause of death for humans, but early detection and treatment can help improve prognoses and reduce mortality. However, further development of carrier-assistant drug delivery systems (DDSs) is retarded by the aspects such as the low drug-carrying capacity, carrier-induced toxicity and immunogenicity, complex synthesis manipulation. The development of nanoscale drug delivery systems (NDDS) have been rapidly developed to address these issues. In this article, we used PLGA-PEG with good biocompatibility to encapsulate Fe3O4 nanoparticles (a magnetic resonance imaging contrast agent) and DOX (an antitumour drug) via the emulsion-solvent evaporation method, aimed at achieving a dual function of the early detection and the treatment of mammary cancer. The results showed that the Fe3O4/DOX/PLGA-PEG nanoparticles had a relatively uniform size, a high carrier rate of Fe3O4 and high encapsulation efficiency of DOX, and a relatively high activity of released DOX within 120 h. In addition, in vitro studies showed that the Fe3O4/DOX/PLGA-PEG nanoparticles were cytocompatibility in NIH 3T3 fibroblast cells culture study while had a special effect on destroying human breast cancer MCF-7 cells compared with pure DOX solution. In vitro studies revealed that the Fe3O4/DOX/PLGA-PEG enabled enhanced T2 contrast magnetic resonance. Overall, our multifunctional Fe3O4/DOX/PLGA-PEG nanoparticles, composed of biocompatible substances and therapeutic/imaging materials, have great potential for the early detection of cancer and accurate drug delivery via the dynamic monitoring using MRI.

Atomically thin transition-metal dichalcogenide (TMDC) heterostructures have attracted increasing attention because of their unprecedented potential in the fields of electronics and optoelectronics. However, selective growth of either lateral or vertical TMDC heterostructures remains challenging. Here, we report that lateral and vertical MoS2/MoSe2 epitaxial heterostructures can be successfully fabricated via a one-step growth strategy, which includes triggering by the concentration of sulfur precursor vapor and a high-temperature annealing process. Vertically stacked MoS2/MoSe2 heterostructures can be synthesized via control of the nucleation and growth kinetics, which is induced by high sulfur vapor concentration. The high-temperature annealing process results in the formation of fractured MoSe2 and in situ epitaxial growth of lateral MoSe2-MoS2 heterostructures. This study has revealed the importance of sulfur vapor concentration and high-temperature annealing processes in the controllable growth of MoSe2-MoS2 heterostructures, paving a new route for fabricating two-dimensional TMDC heterostructures.

Accumulation of anthocyanin is a desirable trait to be selected in rice domestication, but the molecular mechanism of anthocyanin biosynthesis in rice remains largely unknown. In this study, a novel allele of chromogen gene C, OrC1, from Oryza rufipongon was cloned and identified as a determinant regulator of anthocyanin biosynthesis. Although OrC1 functions in purple apiculus, leaf sheath and stigma in indica background, it only promotes purple apiculus in japonica. Transcriptome analysis revealed that OrC1 regulates flavonoid biosynthesis pathway and activates a few bHLH and WD40 genes of ternary MYB-bHLH-WD40 complex in indica. Differentially expressed genes and metabolites were found in the indica and japonica backgrounds, indicating that OrC1 activated the anthocyanin biosynthetic genes OsCHI, OsF3H, OsANS, OsINS and OsANR and produced six metabolites independently. Artificial selection and domestication of C1 gene in rice occurred on the coding region in the two subspecies independently. Our results reveal the regulatory system and domestication of C1, provide new insights into MYB transcript factor involved in anthocyanin biosynthesis, and show the potential of engineering anthocyanin biosynthesis in rice.Author summaryAccumulation of anthocyanin is a selection trait in rice domestication, whereas the mechanisms regulating the anthocyanin biosynthetic pathway in rice remain unresolved. Here, a novel allele of chromogen gene C from wild rice (Oryza rufipongon) was identified as a determinant regulator of anthocyanin biosynthesis. A key question is to what extent the involvement of the C1 gene can explain coloration variability of cultivated rice, where anthocyanin accumulation has been eliminated by artificial selection. Our results reveal the functional chromogen gene C from wild rice causes different coloration phenotypes, regulates various anthocyanin biosynthetic genes and produces different metabolites in indica and japonica. Artificial selection and domestication of the C1 gene in rice only occurs within the coding region of the two subspecies independently.

Early diagnosis and complete resection of the tumor is an important way to improve the quality of life of patients with gastric cancer. In recent years, near-infrared (NIR) materials show great potential in fluorescence-based imaging of the tumors. To realize a satisfying intraoperative fluorescence tumor imaging, there are two pre-requirements. One is to obtain a stable agent with a relatively longer circulation time. The second is to make it good biocompatible and specific targeting to the tumor. Here, we developed an RGD-modified Distearyl acylphosphatidyl ethanolamine-polyethylene glycol micelle (DSPE-PEG-RGD) to encapsulate indocyanine green (ICG) for targeting fluorescence imaging of gastric cancer, aimed at realizing tumor-targeted accumulation and NIR imaging. 1H NMR spectroscopy confirmed its molecular structure. The characteristics and stability results indicated that the DSPE-PEG-RGD@ICG had a relatively uniform size of

Cellulose-derived carbon materials were prepared and employed as supports for molybdenum carbide catalysts, and their catalytic activity for hydrodeoxygenation of maize oil was tested in an autoclave under different reaction conditions. Carbon nanospheres, which can be simply synthesized via hydrothermal carbonization and whose morphology can be easily controlled, were employed as supports to study the relationship between the graphitization degree of carbon supports and the hydrodeoxygenation activity of supported molybdenum carbide catalysts. Ferric chloride was employed as a graphitization reagent to modify the surface properties of the carbon nanospheres. Graphitized carbon nanosphere materials with appropriate FeCl3 to carbon ratios (1–50%) showed outstanding properties to work as supports for Mo2C catalysts. Suitable reaction conditions for comparing these catalysts were found out by testing carbon nanosphere supported Mo2C catalysts with different loadings (5–40%) at several temperatures (513–553 K) and initial hydrogen pressures (2.0–3.0 MPa). The best conversion and hydrocarbon yield they reached were 91.1% and 88.3%, which were 21% and 31% higher than the results from the ungraphitized carbon nanosphere supported catalyst under the same conditions, respectively. Cellulose-derived carbon materials might be competitive with carbon nanotubes as catalyst supports in the field of hydrodeoxygenation and maybe in other areas.

The coupling strength between two-dimensional (2D) materials and substrate plays a vital role on thermal transport properties of 2D materials. Here we systematically investigate the influence of vacuum thermal annealing on the temperature-dependence of in-plane Raman phonon modes in monolayer graphene supported on silicon dioxide substrate via Raman spectroscopy. Intriguingly, raising the thermal annealing temperature can significantly enlarge the temperature coefficient of supported monolayer graphene. The derived temperature coefficient of G band remains mostly unchanged with thermal annealing temperature below 473 K, while it increases from −0.030 cm−1/K to −0.0602 cm−1/K with thermal annealing temperature ranging from 473 K to 773 K, suggesting the great impact of thermal annealing on thermal transport in supported monolayer graphene. Such an impact might reveal the vital role of coupling strength on phonon scattering and on the thermal transport property of supported monolayer graphene. To further interpret the thermal annealing mechanism, the compressive stress in supported monolayer graphene, which is closely related to coupling strength and is studied through the temperature-dependent Raman spectra. It is found that the variation tendency for compressive stress induced by thermal annealing is the same as that for temperature coefficient, implying the intense connection between compressive stress and thermal transport. Actually, 773 K thermal annealing can result in 2.02 GPa compressive stress on supported monolayer graphene due to the lattice mismatch of graphene and substrate. This study proposes thermal annealing as a feasible path to modulate the thermal transport in supported graphene and to design future graphene-based devices.

The up-conversion luminescence agent Er 3+ :YAlO 3 could up-convert visible light to ultraviolet light which could then be absorbed by the synthesized photocatalyst that contained TiO 2 . Accordingly, we successfully prepared the visible light responsive photocatalyst Er 3+ :YAlO 3 /TiO 2 hybrid composites by the sol-gel technique and hydrothermal treatment at different temperatures in the range of 90–170 °C. Subsequently, a novel self-assembly technique was used to coat a thin and even layer of Er 3+ :YAlO 3 /TiO 2 hybrid composites on the sponge-type carriers. The prepared composites were characterized by various techniques, such as X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, UV–vis diffuse reflectance spectra and Fluorescence spectra. The phenol (50 mg L −1 ) was used as the model pollutant to compare the degradation by the Er 3+ :YAlO 3 /TiO 2 -coated carriers with four different coating ratios (10, 20, 30 and 40 g L −1 ). The corresponded phenol removal efficiencies were 90.2%, 97.6%, 78.4% and 58.0% in 8 h, respectively, which were much higher than that for the pristine sponge (26.5%) under visible light irradiation. On the basis of these experimental results, a possible photocatalytic mechanism over the sponge carrier supported photocatalyst was suggested to explain the phenol photodegradation.

Objective Hyperuricemia has been shown to be associated with increased risks of gout and cardiovascular diseases. We prospectively investigated the association between the American Heart Association (AHA) ideal cardiovascular health metrics, including smoking, body mass index, dietary intake, physical activity, blood pressure, total cholesterol, and fasting blood glucose, and the risk of developing hyperuricemia. Methods We included 77,787 Chinese adults, ages ≥18 years (60,951 men and 16,836 women), without hyperuricemia at the baseline (2006) in this study. Information on the cardiovascular health metrics at baseline was collected. Incident hyperuricemia cases were identified by elevated serum uric acid concentrations, which were repeatedly assessed in 2006, 2008, 2010, and 2012, respectively. Cox regression was used to calculate the hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) for incident hyperuricemia according to the baseline ideal cardiovascular health metrics. Results We observed an inverse relation between the greater numbers of ideal cardiovascular health metrics at baseline and lower risks of developing hyperuricemia during 6 years of followup. After adjusting for age, sex, alcohol consumption, and other potential confounders, the HRs for incident hyperuricemia were 0.95, 0.84, 0.72, and 0.64 (95% CIs 0.58–0.70, P for trend < 0.0001) for participants who met 2, 3, 4, and 5–7 metrics, respectively, compared with those who met 0–1 cardiovascular health metrics. Conclusion Greater cardiovascular health metrics were associated with lower risk of hyperuricemia in this Chinese population, suggesting that the modifiable construct defined by the AHA could be of significance in reducing the risk of developing hyperuricemia-related diseases, such as gout.

The cycle life of oxygen carrier (OC) is crucial to the practical applications of chemical looping combustion (CLC). Cycle performance of Cu/SiO2 prepared with a mechanical mixing method was evaluated based on a CLC process characterized with an added methane steam reforming step. The Cu/SiO2 exhibited high redox reactivity in the initial cycles, while the performance degraded with cycle number. Through characterization of the degraded Cu/SiO2, the performance degradation was mainly caused by the secondary particles’ fragmentation and the fine particles’ local agglomeration, which worsened the distribution and diffusion of the reactive gases in the packed bed. A regeneration method of the degraded OC based on re-granulation has been proposed, and its mechanism has been illustrated. With this method, the performance of the degraded OC through 420 redox cycles was recovered to a level close to the initial one.

P-selectin, a cell adhesion molecule, is an important member of the selectin family. Recent studies have shown that P-selectin deletion inhibits tumor growth in Rip1-Tag2 mice by suppressing platelet accumulation in tumor tissues. This study aimed to evaluate whether and how P-selectin affects tumor stiffness in Rip1-Tag2 mice. To explore the role of P-selectin in tissue stiffness, we demonstrated that tumor progression in Rip1-Tag2 mice was correlated with tissue stiffness using immunofluorescence and histological staining. Furthermore, we showed that P-selectin deficiency significantly decreased tissue stiffness by inhibiting lysyl oxidase (LOX) expression. Our experiments involving Rip1-Tag2 mice treated with the LOX inhibitor BAPN showed that BAPN significantly abolished collagen deposition to decrease tumor stiffness and thus inhibit tumor growth. These results indicate that P-selectin deletion significantly decreases tumor stiffness in Rip1-Tag2 mice by inhibiting LOX expression. Further study demonstrated that P-selectin-mediated platelet accumulation increases tissue stiffness mainly by increasing LOX expression and thus promotes tumor growth. Therefore, P-selectin may be an effective therapeutic targeting for treating human insulinomas.

Catalytic combustion over zeolite supported platinum catalysts is regarded as one of the efficient methods for removal of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). In this work, we show a preparation of Pt loaded mesoporous ZSM-5 zeolite (Pt/Meso-ZSM-5) with various cations. The sample N 2 sorption isotherms and TEM image show abundant mesoporosity existing in the zeolite crystals. The catalytic toluene combustion tests show that the Pt/Meso-ZSM-5 catalysts have higher activities than conventional ZSM-5 supported Pt catalysts (Pt/ZSM-5), which is related to their difference in the concentration of active sites Pt 0 and the rate of mass transfer. Particularly, after reduction with hydrogen at 300 °C, the Pt nanoparticles supported on Meso-ZSM-5 with K + and Cs + cations (Pt-R/Meso-KZSM-5 and Pt-R/Meso-CsZSM-5) exhibit much higher activities than those on Meso-ZSM-5 with Na + and H + cations, which is well consistent with their order of the Pt 0 concentration. For example, Pt-R/Meso-KZSM-5 gives the temperature for conversion of 98% toluene ( T 98 ) at only 175 °C, while Pt-R/Meso-HZSM-5 shows the T 98 at 190 °C. More importantly, Pt-R/Meso-KZSM-5 has a long life, and its activity cannot be influenced by the water and CO 2 . These features are critically important for practical applications of these catalysts in the future.

Growing uniform oxides with various thickness on TMDs is one of the biggest challenges to integrate TMDs into complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) logic circuits. Here, we report a layer-by-layer oxidation of atomically thin MoTe2 flakes via ozone (O3) exposure. The thickness of MoOx oxide film could be tuning with atomic-level accuracy simply by varying O3 exposure time. Additionally, MoOx-covered MoTe2 shows a hole-dominated transport behavior. Our findings point to a simple and effective strategy for growing homogeneous surface oxide film on MoTe2, which is promising for several purposes in metal-oxide-semiconductor transistor, ranging from surface passivation to dielectric layers.

In this letter, Raman spectroscopy was used to study the variation of transfer graphene. First, the Raman spectroscopy of chemical vapor deposition (CVD)-grown monolayer graphene was compared with that of mechanical exfoliated graphene, the 2D Raman band frequency of monolayer graphene grown on copper foils by CVD showed a blue shift upto 12 cm -1 . Then, the CVD-grown graphene on copper substrates was transferred to SiO 2 (300nm)/Si by wet transfer method, that caused a 2D-band redshift by 15cm -1 compared with the graphene before transferred, besides, the defects appeared in some regions. According to the changes of Raman spectrum, the strain was confirmed as the most important reason in the letter. The observation of the Raman shifts helps us to gain more physical insights into the transfer of graphene.

The C–S–A gene system determines rice hull pigmentation. A conserved color-producing model reveals the independent origin and evolution of the anthocyanin biosynthesis pathway in rice., Floral organs in rice (Oryza sativa) can be purple, brown, or red in color due to the accumulation of flavonoids, but the molecular mechanism underlying specific organ pigmentation is not clear. Here, we propose a C–S–A gene model for rice hull pigmentation and characterize it through genetic, molecular, and metabolomic approaches. Furthermore, we conducted phylogenetic studies to reveal the evolution of rice color. In this gene system, C1 encodes a R2R3-MYB transcription factor and acts as a color-producing gene, and S1 encodes a bHLH protein that functions in a tissue-specific manner. C1 interacts with S1 and activates expression of A1, which encodes a dihydroflavonol reductase. As a consequence, the hull is purple where functional A1 participation leads to high accumulation of cyanidin 3-O-glucoside. Loss of function of A1 leads to a brown hull color due to accumulation of flavonoids such as hesperetin 5-O-glucoside, rutin, and delphinidin 3-O-rutinoside. This shows a different evolutionary pathway of rice color in japonica and indica, supporting independent origin of cultivars in each subspecies. Our findings provide a complete perspective on the gene regulation network of rice color formation and supply the theoretical basis for extended application of this beneficial trait.

On the basis of a chemical looping combustion (CLC) process with adding a step of CH4 steam reforming, the influences of the preparation method, inert support of SiO2 or Al2O3, Ni component, particle size, and gas hourly space velocity (GHSV) on the redox performance of a Cu-based oxygen carrier (OC) were investigated. Results showed that the OC prepared with impregnation was able to react completely with H2 in reduction or O2 in oxidation but had a relatively low oxygen content ratio (Ro) because of the limitation from saturation loading of an active component. In contrast, the OC prepared with mechanical mixing had a high Ro as well as high reactivity. The inert support was able to inhibit the sintering of the OC through dispersing the active component. Methanation and reverse CO–water shift reactions occurred in the reduction step, where metallic Cu played the role of a catalyst. The utilization ratios of the OC for both reduction and oxidation increased as the size of the active component particle dec...

The carbon particulate matter (PM) generated by diesel engine emissions has attracted world-wide attention because it has a remarkable impact on air quality and the human body. Therefore, research on the removal of carbon PM has attracted increasing interest recently. Additionally, oxidative removal of carbon PM requires high temperature due to its high activation energy. In this research, a promising technology of nonthermal plasma (NTP) combined with catalytic oxidation is reported. The effective removal of carbon PM under NTP conditions by the synergy of combining plasma with MnOx/CeO2 catalysts at low temperatures was reported in this paper. The removal efficiency of carbon PM on MnOx/CeO2 catalysts (Mn loading 5.0 wt%) can be as high as 85.2% and 94.3% at 20 °C and 200 °C respectively, at the discharge power of 18.0 W and air flow rate of 30 mL min−1. Moderate reaction conditions with low temperature but high removal efficiency are the advantages of the decomposition of carbon PM in a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) reactor. It is proposed that reactive oxygen species produced under NTP conditions are responsible for carbon PM converting into CO2. Furthermore, various parameters such as temperature, discharge power and air flow rate under NTP were investigated in the present paper, as well as the reaction process of NTP. Meanwhile, the MnOx/CeO2 catalysts were also characterized by XRD and TEM techniques.

The removal of volatile organic compounds is an important aspect of sustainability and environmental protection. Catalytic oxidation is one of the most efficient routes to achieve this. The K+ form of an aluminium-rich Beta zeolite-supported Pt nanoparticle (2.2 nm) [Pt/KBeta-seed-directed synthesis (SDS)] catalyst is very active for the low-temperature catalytic removal of toluene and results in full conversion at a much lower temperature than a conventional KBeta-supported Pt nanoparticle (Pt/KBeta-TEA) catalyst. The higher activity of the Pt/KBeta-SDS catalyst compared with the Pt/KBeta-TEA catalyst is related to the advantages of the higher K+ content and fewer terminal silanol defects in the KBeta-SDS catalyst than in the KBeta-TEA catalyst. The higher K+ content is helpful for the formation of more Pt0 species, and both the higher K+ content and the lower number of terminal silanol defects are favourable for the adsorption of toluene, as evidenced by XPS and the toluene-TPD profiles. More importantly, the Pt/KBeta-SDS catalyst shows very stable activities in the presence of H2O and CO2 in the feed gases. The combination of this extraordinary activity and excellent stability in the catalytic removal of toluene over the Pt/KBeta-SDS catalyst are important for future environment protection.

The performance of Ni/SiO2catalyst in the process of combination of CO2reforming and partial oxidation of methane to produce syngas was studied. The Ni/SiO2catalysts were prepared by using incipient wetness impregnation method with nickel nitrate as a precursor and characterized by FT-IR, TG-DTA, UV-Raman, XRD, TEM, and H2-TPR. The metal nickel particles with the average size of 37.5 nm were highly dispersed over the catalyst, while the interaction between nickel particles and SiO2support is relatively weak. The weak NiO-SiO2interaction disappeared after repeating oxidation-reduction-oxidation in the fluidized bed reactor at 700°C, which resulted in the sintering of metal nickel particles. As a result, a rapid deactivation of the Ni/SiO2catalysts was observed in 2.5 h reaction on stream.

The plasma catalytic reaction is a brand new chemical research direction. This article summarized our previous work on DeNO x and other reactions through plasma-catalytic process. These reactions mainly include NO decomposition, CH4-SCR, CH4-NSR, NH3-NSR, PM2.5 removal, VOCs removal, CO2 decomposition, CO2 reforming of propane. Due to the synergistic effect, these reactions exhibited high activity at ambient temperature and low temperature.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a new coupled mathematical model of angiogenesis (new blood vessel growth) and tumor growth to study cancer development and anti-angiogenesis therapy. The angiogenesis part assumes the capillary to be a viscoelastic continuum whose stress depends on cell proliferation or death, and the tumor part is a Darcy's law model regarding the tumor mass as an incompressible fluid where the nutrient-dependent growth elicits volume change. For the coupled model, we provide both an inviscid analysis and a parameter sensitivity analysis of the angiogenesis model in response to a stationary hypoxic tumor, and a steady state analysis of the tumor growth in response to a fixed and long blood capillary. The analysis shows that the stable steady state tumor with an invading blood capillary exists if and only if the nutrient release rate divided by the decay rate is less than the tumor viable limit, and the full tumor encloses one part of the capillary in this steady state. Afterwards, we use the coupled model to simulate vascularized tumor growth and anti-angiogenesis therapy. The simulations show that the tumor tends to maximize the nutrient transfer by blood vessel co-option and the anti-angiogenesis treatment by using growth factor neutralizing antibodies would regress the neovasculature and shrink the tumor size. However, the shrunken tumor mass could survive by feeding on mature blood vessels that resist the treatment. This implies the limited efficacy of the anti-angiogenesis monotherapy and its effect on vessel normalization.

Catalytic performances of the CO2 reforming of toluene on Co/MgO catalysts with different cobalt loadings were evaluated in a fluidized-bed reactor. The results showed that the conversion of toluene and the stability of Co/MgO increased, but the apparent reaction rate decreased at the initial stage with increasing the amount of metallic Co formed from the reduction of Co/MgO catalysts at 700 °C. The deactivation of Co/MgO catalysts was mainly resulted from that a part of the metallic Co was oxidized by CO2 and could not be re-reduced by H2 at reaction temperature. Therefore, the excess metallic Co on the higher Co loading catalysts was beneficial to the catalyst stability.

A series of ZSM-5 zeolite with various cations (H+, Na+, K+, and Cs+) and Si/Al ratios (60, 100, 300, and ∞) supported 0.5 % Pt have been prepared and tested in the combustion of toluene. It is found that Pt/KZSM-5-100 catalyst exhibits excellently high catalytic activity, negligible inhibition effect of H2O, and long catalyst life. 0.5 %Pt/KZSM-5-100 catalyst exhibits superior performance in combustion of VOCs, which would be potentially important for environmental protection.

The hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) of maize oil was performed in an autoclave with Mo-based catalysts supported by different carbon materials, such as reduced graphene oxide, activated charcoal, graphite, and fullerene. Nanostructured Mo-based catalysts with different phase compositions were prepared by using the carbothermal hydrogen reduction method at temperatures ranging from 500 to 700 °C and characterized by Raman spectroscopy, N2 adsorption isotherms, SEM, TEM, XRD, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and ammonia temperature-programmed desorption. The highest total hydrocarbon yield of 90.32 % was obtained on the reduced graphene oxide-supported molybdenum carbide catalyst at 700 °C. These results are subject to the complicated effect of different factors such as phase composition, defect concentration, and particle size on the catalytic behavior of the materials. Unique structures of different supports also play a significant role in the HDO reaction. On the basis of the results of comprehensive analysis of products and catalysts, an HDO mechanism was proposed. These Mo-based catalysts are a promising system to prepare high-quality diesel fuels from renewable resources.

The reduction characteristics of Cu-based oxygen carrier with H2, CO and CH4 were investigated using a fixed bed reactor, TPR and TGA. Results showed that temperatures for the complete reduction of Cu-based oxygen carrier with H2 and CO are 300 °C and 225 °C, respectively, while the corresponding temperature with CH4 is 650 °C. The carbon deposition from CH4 occurred at over 550 °C. CO-chemisorption experiments were also conducted on the oxygen carrier, and it was indicated that Cu-based oxygen carrier sinter seriously at 700 °C. In order to lower the required reduction temperature of oxygen carriers, a new chemical looping combustion (CLC) process with CH4 steam reforming has been presented in this paper. The basic feasibility of the process was illustrated using CuO–SiO2. The new CLC process has the potential to replace the conventional gas-fired middle- and low-pressure steam and hot water boilers.

Ti(C,N)-based cermets are fabricated with diverse contents of TiN addition by traditional powder metallurgy technique. The microstructure and properties are investigated and discussed. The influence of TiN content on the erosion and erosion–corrosion resistance is researched under alkaline conditions. Results reveal that the grain size decreases along with the increase of TiN. However, too much TiN results in incompact material and residual porosities in cermets. The grain size plays an important role in wear behavior. The effect of TiN content on erosion–corrosion of Ti(C,N)-based cermets is the same as that on erosion. It is advantageous for the wear resistance to add a small amount of TiN. Excessive TiN makes the wear resistance decrease on the contrary. In alkaline slurry, the cermets with coarse grains deteriorate largely due to corrosion which decreases the mechanical properties and speeds up the total loss of material. Nevertheless, the mechanical erosion is responsible for the degradation of cermets with fine grains. Cermets with 7.5 wt.% TiN addition have the highest erosion and erosion–corrosion resistance.

The Ni/SiO 2 catalysts were prepared with nickel citrate precursor by using incipient-wetness impregnation method, characterized by FT-IR, UV-Raman, TG-DTA, XRD, HR-TEM and H 2 -TPR, and tested in the reaction of methane reforming with CO 2 and O 2 to produce syngas. The highly-dispersed Ni particles (∼7 nm) on support SiO 2 were observed by TEM. FT-IR results indicated that there existed interaction between nickel citrate precursor and SiO 2 . H 2 -TPR results demonstrated that, this interaction was enhanced by calcination at high temperature to form strong NiO–SiO 2 interaction, and the strong interaction was recovered after repeating oxidation–reduction–oxidation cycle at 700 °C. As a result, the Ni/SiO 2 catalysts showed a good activity and super stability without sintering of nickel particles during 36 h reaction on stream.

Size-controllable Pt nanoparticles ranging from 1.3 to 2.3 nm were successfully loaded onto ZSM-5 (Pt-x/ZSM-5, where x is the mean diameter of the Pt nanoparticles). Catalytic tests in complete oxidation of toluene as a model for VOC removal show that Pt-1.9/ZSM-5 has the highest activity, due to a balance of Pt dispersion and Pt(0) proportion.

A nanosized Ce0.5Mn0.5O1.5 powder was successfully synthesized by macromolecule surfactant modified method and then it was used as the cordierite honeycomb washcoat of VOCs combustion catalysts. The effect of Ce-Mn-O powder with different Ce/Mn molar ratio on the catalytic activity and the cohesive ability of washcoat on the cordierite honeycomb substrate was also investigated. The structure and catalytic properties of Ce0.5Mn0.5O1.5 washcoat were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), differential thermal analysis and thermo-gravimetric analysis (TG/DTA), and N2 adsorption and desorption techniques. The results indicated that the Ce0.5Mn0.5O1.5 powder belongs to a novel washcoat with the advantages of strong cohesiveness, high surface area and without agglomeration even after 1000°C calcination. The total oxidation temperature for toluene, acetone and ethyl acetate over the 0.1 wt % Pd/Ce0.5Mn0.5O1.5/cordierite honeycomb catalysts was at 200, 220 and 220°C, respectively. Compaired with the catalysts without Ce0.5Mn0.5O1.5 washcoat, the catalyst with Ce0.5Mn0.5O1.5 as washcoat on the cordierite honeycomb could improve the dispersion of PdO and shows a good catalytic activity for toluene, acetone and ethyl acetate.

The removal of NO and CH 4 has been studied with a hybrid system integrating plasma activation and four Cu-based catalysts. The best catalytic performance was observed for catalysts obtained from CuO/CeO 2 /TiO 2 /γ-Al 2 O 3 .The efficiency of NO removal decreased with the order: 12%CuO/10%CeO 2 /15%TiO 2 /γ-Al 2 O 3 > 12%CuO/15%TiO 2 /γ-Al 2 O 3 > 12%CuO/γ-Al 2 O 3 > 12% CuO/TiO 2 . Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET), X-ray diffraction (XRD) Temperature-programmed reduction (H 2 -TPR) and NO temperature-programmed desorption (NO-TPD) experiments were carried out to gain insight into the synergetic effects with the catalysts. The results revealed that copper species existed as bulk CuO crystalline for all the catalysts, H 2 -TPR suggested that the Cu 2+ incorporated TiO 2 or CeO 2 lattice and crystalline CuO might be the most active component for NO removal, and NO-TPD studies indicated that 12%CuO/10%CeO 2 /15%TiO 2 /γ-Al 2 O 3 catalyst had lower NO desorption temperature and larger peak area, which seemed to be responsible for the better catalytic activity over NO + CH 4 reactions than other catalysts.

In this study, the effect of water vapor on NO x storage and reduction in combination with non-thermal plasma was investigated. The results indicated that H 2 O could lower NO x adsorption capacity of H-ZSM-5 at the adsorption stage, due to the competitive adsorption between H 2 O and NO x on the surface of H-ZSM-5. When the content of H 2 O was above 2%, the NO x breakthrough adsorption capacity of H-ZSM-5 remained stable at 2.0 mL g −1 . At the discharge stage, the introduction of H 2 O decreased the total NO x conversion from 98.7% to 94.2%, while the conversion of adsorbed NO x to N 2 from 94.0% to 83.9%. When increasing the CH 4 concentration and the discharge power, the total NO x conversion and the conversion of adsorbed NO x to N 2 moved up to 99.5% and 97.4%, respectively. In addition, although Ni-ZSM-5 exhibited better resistance to H 2 O than H-ZSM-5 for NO x adsorption, it showed inferior efficiency for NO x removal and nearly 15% NO x remained after the discharge stage.

Hierarchical mesoporous ZSM‐5 zeolites were synthesized using small organic cations of tetrapropylammonium and meso‐sized cationic polymers of dimethyldiallyl ammonium chloride acrylamide copolymer as templates.The zeolites were used for the dehydration of methanol to dimethyl ether(DME). Characterization results showed that the basic MFI‐type structure was still obtained after adding the cationic polymers, while their nitrogen isotherms exhibited a broad hysteresis loop at relative pressures higher than 0.4, which proved the presence of mesopores. The mesoporosity of the hierarchical mesoporous ZSM‐5 can be adjusted simply by adding different amounts of the cationic polymer. Catalytic tests showed that the hierarchical mesoporous HZSM‐5 zeolites exhibited better stability than conventional HZSM‐5 and excellent DME selectivity. The activity for methanol dehydration strongly depended on the textural property and acidity of the catalyst.

Bifunctional mesoporous organic–inorganic hybrid silica incorporating both platinum and organosulfonic acid groups were synthesized for use in simultaneously catalyzing the one-step hydrogenation/esterification (OHE) of acetic acid and acetaldehyde, which was considered as a model reaction for the upgrading of biomass-derived bio-oil. The work explored optimizing the synthesis procedure to generate a bifunctional catalyst with enhanced combined activity for the OHE reaction. The presence of Pt was found to enhance the acidic properties of the organosulfonic acid functionalized silica. The mechanism by which the Pt incorporation affected the acid sites was investigated by the using XPS, FT-IR, FT-Raman characterization. The XPS results indicated the presence of electron transfer between the Pt and –SO3H groups. The FT-IR and FT-Raman results, which were in agreement with XPS, demonstrated an electron density increase for S and a S–O bond energy increase, which was proposed to be the reason for the acidity enhancement due to the presence of Pt. Additionally, arenesulfonic acid groups were substituted for propylsulfonic acid groups and the resulting material had higher catalytic activity due to the increased acid strength. An optimal synthesis procedure was demonstrated in which the Pt was first impregnated on the mesoporous silica using reductive deposition. Then Pt was activated and the material further modified by grafting on arenesulfonic acid groups. The resulting catalyst was about four times more active than the original base case bifunctional material.

This work presents a continuous model for three early stage events in angiogenesis: initiation, sprout extension, and vessel maturation. We carefully examine the regulating mechanisms of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and angiopoietins (Ang1 and Ang2) on the proliferation, migration and maturation of endothelial cells through their endothelium-specific receptor tyrosine kinase VEGFR2 and Tie2, respectively. We also consider the effect of platelet-derived growth factor-B (PDGF-B) on the proliferation and migration of pericytes. For growth factors, we present a mathematical model integrating molecular reactions on blood vessels with tissue-level diffusion. For capillary extension, we develop a visco-elastic model to couple tip cell protrusion, endothelium elasticity, and stalk cell proliferation. Our model reproduces corneal angiogenesis experiments and several anti-angiogenesis therapy results. This model also demonstrates that (1) the competition between Ang1 and Ang2 is the angiogenic switch; (2) the maturation process modulated by pericytes and angiopoietins is crucial to vessel normalization and can explain the resistance to anti-VEGF therapy; (3) combined anti-pericyte and anti-VEGF therapy enhances blood vessel regression over anti-VEGF therapy alone.

Background: In cross-sectional studies and short-term clinical trials, it has been suggested that there is a positive dose-response relation between alcohol consumption and HDL concentrations. However, prospective data have been limited.Objective: We sought to determine the association between total alcohol intake, the type of alcohol-containing beverage, and the 6-y (2006-2012) longitudinal change in HDL-cholesterol concentrations in a community-based cohort.Design: A total of 71,379 Chinese adults (mean age: 50 y) who were free of cardiovascular diseases and cancer and did not use cholesterol-lowering agents during follow-up were included in the study. Alcohol intake was assessed via a questionnaire in 2006 (baseline), and participants were classified into the following categories of alcohol consumption: never, past, light (women: 0-0.4 servings/d; men: 0-0.9 servings/d), moderate (women: 0.5-1.0 servings/d; men: 1-2 servings/d), and heavy (women: >1.0 servings/d; men: >2 servings/d). HDL-cholesterol concentrations were measured in 2006, 2008, 2010, and 2012. We used generalized estimating equation models to examine the associations between baseline alcohol intake and the change in HDL-cholesterol concentrations with adjustment for age, sex, smoking, physical activity, obesity, hypertension, diabetes, liver function, and C-reactive protein concentrations.Results: An umbrella-shaped association was observed between total alcohol consumption and changes in HDL-cholesterol concentrations. Compared with never drinkers, past, light, moderate, and heavy drinkers experienced slower decreases in HDL cholesterol of 0.012 mmol · L-1 · y-1 (95% CI: 0.008, 0.016 mmol · L-1 · y-1), 0.013 mmol · L-1 · y-1 (95% CI: 0.010, 0.016 mmol · L-1 · y-1), 0.017 mmol · L-1 · y-1 (95% CI: 0.009, 0.025 mmol · L-1 · y-1), and 0.008 mmol · L-1 · y-1 (95% CI: 0.005, 0.011 mmol · L-1 · y-1), respectively (P < 0.0001 for all), after adjustment for potential confounders. Moderate alcohol consumption was associated with the slowest increase in total-cholesterol:HDL-cholesterol and triglyceride:HDL-cholesterol ratios. We observed a similar association between hard-liquor consumption and the HDL-cholesterol change. In contrast, greater beer consumption was associated with slower HDL-cholesterol decreases in a dose-response manner.Conclusion: Moderate alcohol consumption was associated with slower HDL-cholesterol decreases; however, the type of alcoholic beverage had differential effects on the change in the HDL-cholesterol concentration.

Two dimensional atomic crystals, like grapheme (G) and molybdenum disulfide (MoS2), exhibit great interest in electronic and optoelectronic applications. The excellent physical properties, such as transparency, semiconductivity, and flexibility, make them compatible with current organic electronics. Here, we review recent progress in the understanding of the interfaces of van der Waals (vdW) heterostructures between small organic molecules (pentacene, copper phthalocyanine (CuPc), perylene-3,4,9,10-tetracarboxylic dianhydride (PTCDA), and dioctylbenzothienobenzothiophene (C8-BTBT)) and layered substrates (G, MoS2 and hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN)). The influences of the underlying layered substrates on the molecular arrangement, electronic and vibrational properties will be addressed.

Grain size is a major determinant of grain yield in cereal crops. qSW5/GW5, which exerts the greatest effect on rice grain width and weight, was fine-mapped to a 2,263-bp/21-kb genomic region containing a 1,212-bp deletion, respectively. Here, we show that a gene encoding a calmodulin binding protein, located ∼5 kb downstream of the 1,212-bp deletion, corresponds to qSW5/GW5. GW5 is expressed in various rice organs, with highest expression level detected in young panicles. We provide evidence that the 1,212-bp deletion affects grain width most likely through influencing the expression levels of GW5. GW5 protein is localized to the plasma membrane and can physically interact with and repress the kinase activity of rice GSK2 (glycogen synthase kinase 2), a homologue of Arabidopsis BIN2 (BRASSINOSTEROID INSENSITIVE2) kinase, resulting in accumulation of unphosphorylated OsBZR1 (Oryza sativa BRASSINAZOLE RESISTANT1) and DLT (DWARF AND LOW-TILLERING) proteins in the nucleus to mediate brassinosteroid (BR)-responsive gene expression and growth responses (including grain width and weight). Our results suggest that GW5 is a novel positive regulator of BR signalling and a viable target for genetic manipulation to improve grain yield in rice and perhaps in other cereal crops as well.

A Ni/MgO catalyst for CO2 reforming of toluene was prepared by impregnating MgO with Ni(NO3)2. During calcination, some of the NiO diffused into the MgO and formed a solid solution structure of NiO-MgO, which was analyzed by Raman spectroscopy. In the temperature-programmed reduction with hydrogen analysis, only a small part of the Ni species in the outermost layer was reduced to metallic Ni at 700 °C. The calcination temperature played a key role in determining the subsequent catalytic activity of Ni/MgO, consequently the catalyst calcined at 600 °C had the highest activity. This catalyst also had the highest surface concentration of reduced Ni, which probably accounted for its high activity. During the reforming tests, a small amount of coke was deposited on Ni/MgO catalyst. Polyaromatic compounds were observed by Raman spectroscopy. The coke was probably responsible for the activity loss of Ni/MgO.