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Alveolar bone defects caused by tooth loss often lead to challenges in implant dentistry, with a need for development of optimal bone biomaterials to predictably rebuild these tissues. To address this problem, we fabricated a novel bone block using platelet-rich fibrin (PRF) and Deproteinized Bovine Bone Mineral (DBBM), and characterized their mechanical and biological properties. The bone block was prepared by mixing DBBM, Liquid-PRF, and Solid-PRF fragments in various combinations as follows: (1) BLOCK-1 made with Solid-PRF fragments + DBBM, (2) BLOCK-2 made with Liquid-PRF + DBBM, (3) BLOCK-3 made with Solid-PRF fragments + Liquid-PRF + DBBM. The time for solidification and the degradation properties were subsequently recorded. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and tensile tests were carried out to investigate the microstructure and mechanical properties of each block. The bioactivity of the three groups towards osteoblast differentiation was also evaluated by culturing cells with the conditioned medium from each of the three groups including cell proliferation assay, cell migration assay, alkaline phosphatase (ALP) staining, and alizarin red staining (ARS), as well as by real-time PCR for genes encoding runt-related transcription factor 2 (RUNX2), ALP, collagen type I alpha1(COL1A) and osteocalcin (OCN). BLOCK-3 made with Solid-PRF fragments + Liquid-PRF + DBBM had by far the fastest solidification period (over a 10-fold increase) as well as the most resistance to degradation. SEM and tensile tests also revealed that the mechanical properties of BLOCK-3 were superior in strength when compared to all other groups and further induced the highest osteoblast migration and osteogenic differentiation confirmed by ALP, ARS and real-time PCR. PRF bone blocks made through the combination of Solid-PRF fragments + Liquid-PRF + DBBM had the greatest mechanical and biological properties when compared to either used alone. Future clinical studies are warranted to further support the clinical application of PRF bone blocks in bone regeneration procedures.

In this work, a new wheel steel named 40SiCr, which containing 0.4 wt.% C, 1.33 wt.% Si, 0.84 wt.% Mn and 1.07 wt.% Cr, was designed and prepared. The steel was subjected to isothermal heat treatment process, which consisted of austenitizing at 860 °C followed by duration holding at 650, 633, 613, and 593 °C, respectively, and was called 40SiCr-650, 40SiCr-633, 40SiCr-613, and 40SiCr-593. Tempering was performed at 540 °C for 2 h. With decreasing isothermal temperature, all of the volume fraction of ferrites, the pearlite colony size and the interlamellar spacing decreased, the prior austenite grain size remained unchanged, and the cementite lamellae fragmented gradually and changed into cementite spheroids, since the synergy of the increase in nucleation rate, the decrease in carbon diffusivity and the effect of Cr element. The fragmenting of cementite lamellae led to the improvement of hardness and strength but the deterioration in ductility of the steel, thus optimizing the wear resistance. The 40SiCr steels isothermally treated at 633 °C possessed a perfect combination of strength and ductility and therefore superior wear resistance.

Anhydride cured epoxy vitrimers usually exhibit desired mechanical strength but poor toughness and slow transesterification rate. Therefore, the repairing property of the material was restricted. In this paper, polyurethane modified epoxy vitrimer (PU-Epv) was prepared. PU was introduced into the vitrimer system of tetrahydrophthalic anhydride cured epoxy to improve the toughness of the material. Meanwhile, because of the presence of amino ester, the transesterification reaction was promoted and the activation energy of the transesterification was only 33.59 kJ/mol. In the thermal welding experiment, the material could be welded at least five times, and scratches on the surface of the samples could be efficiently repaired within 30 min. The toughness of the material was improved without damaging the strength. Meanwhile, the hard thermosetting epoxy was endowed with excellent repairing properties to increase the service life of the material.

Objectives: Integrins, the coordinator of extracellular and intracellular signaling, are often found to be aberrant in tumors and can reshape the tumor microenvironment. Although previous studies showed that integrin beta 2 (ITGB2) is important for host defense, its expression profile and role in tumors, especially in cancer associated fibroblasts (CAFs) are still unknown. Methods: Immunofluorescence stain and fluorescence activated cell sorting were used to analyze the ITGB2 expression profile in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). RT-PCR and western blot were used to compare ITGB2 expression in normal fibroblasts (NFs) and cancer associated fibroblasts (CAFs). Clinical data and function-based experiments were used to investigate the promoting tumor growth ability of ITGB2 expressing CAFs. Enhanced glycolysis activity was identified by using bioinformatics analyses and GC/MS assays. MCT1 knockdown OSCC cell lines were constructed to explore the pro-proliferative mechanisms of ITGB2 expressing CAFs in multiple in vitro and in vivo assays. Results: We found that CAFs exhibited significantly higher ITGB2 expression than the matched NFs. In addition, higher ITGB2 expression in CAFs was correlated with higher TNM stages and more Ki67+ tumor cells, indicating its ability to promote OSCC proliferation. Further, co-culture assay demonstrated that ITGB2-mediated lactate release in CAFs promoted OSCC cell proliferation. Mechanically, ITGB2 regulated PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathways to enhance glycolysis activity in CAFs. Accordingly, lactate derived from ITGB2-expressing CAFs was absorbed and metabolized in OSCC to generate NADH, which was then oxidized in the mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation system (OXPHOS) to produce ATP. Notably, inhibiting the OXPHOS system with metformin delayed the proliferative capacity of OSCC cells cultured in the ITGB2-expressing CAFs medium. Conclusions: Our study uncovered the ITGB2high pro-tumoral CAFs that activated the PI3K/AKT/mTOR axis to promote tumor proliferation in OSCC by NADH oxidation in the mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation system.

Journal of materials research and technology 1, S2238785419319489 (2020). doi:10.1016/j.jmrt.2020.02.063, Published by Elsevier, Rio de Janeiro

Journal of materials research and technology 8, S2238785419308592 (2019). doi:10.1016/j.jmrt.2019.11.049, Published by Elsevier, Rio de Janeiro

Hypoxic microenvironment is common in solid tumors, particularly in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). The Warburg effect is known to facilitate cancer aggressiveness and has long been linked to hypoxia, yet the underlying mechanism remains largely unknown. In this study, we identify that lysyl oxidase-like 2 (LOXL2) is a hypoxia-responsive gene and is essential for the Warburg effect in PDAC. LOXL2 stabilizes hypoxia-inducible factor 1α (HIF1α) from prolyl hydroxylase (PHD)-dependent hydroxylation via hydrogen peroxide generation, thereby facilitating the transcription of multiple glycolytic genes. Therefore, a positive feedback loop exists between LOXL2 and HIF1α that facilitates glycolytic metabolism under hypoxia. Moreover, LOXL2 couples the Warburg effect to tumor growth and metastasis in PDAC. Hijacking glycolysis largely compromises LOXL2-induced oncogenic activities. Collectively, our results identify a hitherto unknown hypoxia-LOXL2-HIF1α axis in regulating the Warburg effect and provide an intriguing drug target for PDAC therapy.

Vacuum induction melting (VIM) & casting is not a common but a promising approach to produce ODS steel with large volume and high throughput. Meanwhile, the Y-bearing particles in the cast ODS steel presented various chemical compositions and wide size distribution. Thus it is important and necessary to clarify the Y-bearing particle characteristics in the cast ODS steel. To determine the distribution characteristics, chemical compositions, crystal structure and size distribution of the Y-bearing particles, CNS-I-ODS was fabricated by adding 1.0 wt.% metallic yttrium into the molten China Nuclear Steel (CNS) during VIM. The results indicated that some banding structures comprised of yttrium oxides and Y-bearing intermetallic compounds formed along rolling direction. XRD, SEM, TEM and EDS demonstrated that yttrium oxides with the size of 550–900 nm were consisted of Y2O3 and Y(O, C) phases while Y-bearing intermetallic compounds with the size of 26–500 nm were consisted of Fe-Y and Y-W-Ta phases. Besides, Y addition also facilitated the formation of δ-ferrite, refinement of prior austenite grains and precipitation of carbides. Furthermore, it is acceptable that the CNS-I-ODS exhibited similar elongation of 22.7–23.5%, slightly lower strength of 622 MPa and higher ductile-brittle transition temperature of −42 °C compared to the Y-free steel, although some large yttrium oxides were distributed in the former matrix. Keywords: Ferrite/martensitic steel, ODS, Yttrium, Vacuum induction melting, Casting, Microstructure characteristics

9Cr ferritic/martensitic (F/M) steels with 0 and 0.3 wt.% yttrium (Y) addition were fabricated via vacuum casting technique and were creep tested at 650 °C and 120 MPa. The creep property of 9Cr F/M steel was improved by the addition of yttrium. Even though the initial creep rates of 9Cr-0Y and 9Cr-0.3Y were almost the same, the creep rupture life of 9Cr-0.3Y specimen was extended about 2˜3 times with the longer steady state creep stage and the lower minimum creep rate than 9Cr-0Y specimen. The coarsening of grains and martensitic laths occurred during creep, and M23C6 carbides, MX/M2X-type carbonitrides and Fe2W/Mo Laves phase were identified along the boundary in both specimens. For 9Cr-0.3Y, the nano-sized oxide clusters were formed during creep, because of the diffusion and local segregation of the dissolved yttrium and oxygen atoms at high temperature and with the promotion of creep stress. The softening of microstructure recovery is compensated by the dispersion strengthening of nano-particles and the balance of them was the reason of longer steady state creep stage of the creep curves. Keywords: 9Cr steel, Yttrium, Vacuum casting technique, Creep properties, Microstructure characteristics

Blood purification refers to the extra corporeal therapies of removing potentially toxic substances, in which blood is circulated through an adsorption system loading separation materials. High-efficient inexpensive separation materials are critical to success. In this review, separation materials such as polymers and nanomaterials are summarized and compared. Combining the advantages of the adsorptive membranes and nanomaterials, organic–inorganic hybrid/blend membranes have been developed explosively. These hybrid/blend membranes have both the characteristics of high permeability, easy fabrication, good biocompatibility of adsorptive membranes, and characteristics of fast adsorption rate and high adsorption capacity of nanomaterials. The preparation and modification methodology of the separation materials is reviewed. For affinity separation materials, the relationship of ligand chemistry, ligand density and pores of the matrix is discussed. This paper also summarizes some interesting applications in separation materials for removal of bilirubin, endotoxin, toxic metal ions, cytokine, etc.

Casting oxide dispersion strengthened (ODS) steel is difficult due to the coarsening and agglomeration of oxide particles during melting and solidification. In the present paper, a new method was developed to prepare 9Cr-ODS steel via the in situ reaction between elemental yttrium in molten Fe and activated oxygen from Fe2O3 oxygen carrier. To identify whether coarsening and aggregation of yttrium oxides can be suppressed, the cast steels did not suffer plastic deformation. Finally, tempered martensite matrix was obtained accompanied with about 0.2–1.1 μm yttrium oxides. Some yttrium oxides suffered coarsening and agglomeration due to the high oxygen content. 9Cr-ODS steel exhibited higher ultimate tensile strength, yield strength and slight lower elongation compared to 9Cr steel. The results indicated that yttrium oxides could be effectively introduced into the steel matrix via this casting method, which provided an alternative method for ODS steel fabrication.

Background Hypoxic microenvironment is common in solid tumors, particularly in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). The Warburg effect is known to facilitate cancer aggressiveness and has long been linked to hypoxia, yet the underlying mechanism remains largely unknown. Methods The expression pattern and prognostic value of LOXL2 was analyzed by immunohistochemistry. The effects of LOXL2 on cancer cell proliferation, migration, and invasion in vitro, tumor growth and metastasis in vivo were investigated by genetic manipulation of LOXL2 expression in human PDAC cell lines. The effects of LOXL2 on aerobic glycolysis were examined by glucose uptake, lactate production, and Seahorse Flux Analyzer. Quantitative real-time PCR, western blotting, immunofluorescence and other techniques were conducted to identify molecular mechanism. Results Lysyl oxidase-like 2 (LOXL2) is a hypoxia-responsive gene and is essential for the Warburg effect in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). LOXL2 stabilizes hypoxia-inducible factor 1α (HIF1α) from prolyl hydroxylase (PHD)-dependent hydroxylation via hydrogen peroxide generation, thereby facilitating the transcription of multiple glycolytic genes. Therefore, a positive feedback loop is existed between LOXL2 and HIF1α that facilitates glycolytic metabolism under hypoxia. LOXL2 couples the Warburg effect to tumor growth and metastasis in PDAC. Hijacking glycolysis largely compromises LOXL2-induced oncogenic activities. Conclusion Our results identify a hitherto unknown hypoxia-LOXL2-HIF1α axis in regulating the Warburg effect and provide an intriguing drug target for PDAC therapy.

Metals : open access journal 11(2), 201 (2021). doi:10.3390/met11020201 special issue: "Special Issue "10th Anniversary of Metals: Metallurgy and Metal Technology" / Special Issue Editors: Prof. Dr. Hugo F. Lopez, Guest Editor; Prof. Dr. Bernd Friedrich, Guest Editor; Prof. Dr. Christof Sommitsch, Guest Editor", Published by MDPI, Basel

Oxidative stress has been implicated in the pathogenesis of cognitive impairment. Lead (Pb) is a common environmental toxicant and plays a vital role in oxidative stress activation. In this study, a superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) containing poly (lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) meso-particles (PLGA@SOD-CAT) were prepared to attenuate cognitive impairment via inhibiting oxidative stress in rats. It was prepared using a double emulsion (water/oil/water phase) technique to minimize the hazardous effects of Pb burden on cognitive impairment. The meso-particles antagonized the Pb-induced cognitive impairments. Behaviour, serum biochemical parameters and biomarkers of oxidative stress in rats were evaluated after they were subjected to intravenous injection with lead nitrate and PLGA@SOD-CAT. Moreover, the potential protective mechanism of PLGA@SOD-CAT was determined. Notably, PLGA@SOD-CAT appreciably agented memory impairment caused by lead nitrate and it could significantly inhibit Pb-induced oxidative stress in the blood. Furthermore, a remarkable reversion effect of cognitive impairments, including escape latency, crossing platform times and time per cent during the platform quadrant, after PLGA@SOD-CAT administration were noted. Therefore, these results suggested that the bi-enzymes platform was a superior product in eliminating Pb-induced cognitive impairments through reducing expression of Pb-associated oxidative stress, and it could potentially be applied in detoxifying heavy metals in blood circulation.

Myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSC), especially polymorphonuclear MDSC (PMN-MDSC), accumulate in maternal-fetal interface during pregnancy and are involved in the maintenance of immune tolerance. Decreased PMN-MDSC is associated with pregnancy complications such as unexplained recurrent pregnancy loss (URPL). In the present study we showed decreased PMN-MDSC in the URPL group compared with the normal pregnancy (NP) group, and PMN-MDSC was the major subset of MDSC in human decidua with potent immune suppression activity. We then performed gene expression profile and found that human decidual PMN-MDSC in the NP and URPL groups showed different gene and pathway signature, including apoptosis. Apoptosis of decidual PMN-MDSC was mediated by TNF-related apoptosis–induced ligand (TRAIL) in a Caspase 3 dependent manner. TRAIL was expressed in decidua and upregulated in decidua of the URPL group. Notably, of all the membrane TRAIL receptors, only DcR2 was down-regulated in PMN-MDSC in the URPL group. In vitro experiment demonstrated that DcR2 blockade sensitized PMN-MDSC to TRAIL-mediated apoptosis. Together, these data indicate that increased TRAIL and reduced DcR2 on PMN-MDSC sensitize PMN-MDSC response to TRAIL-induced apoptosis in the URPL group, which is responsible for decreased accumulation of PMN-MDSC in URPL.

Background Acute kidney injury (AKI), characterized by an increase of serum creatinine and urea, is a severe complication of severe acute pancreatitis (SAP) with high mortality. Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress has been considered as a key pathologic process in AKI. Chaiqin chengqi decoction (CQCQD) is an effective Chinese medicine formula for SAP treatment in China and has been used for many years. Our goal is to explore the role of CQCQD on ER stress of AKI in experimental SAP. Materials & methods SAP was induced in rats by retrograde duct injection of 5% sodium taurocholate (NaTC, 1 ml/kg), sham operation (SO) rats simultaneously received saline infusion. Intraperitoneal injection of 4-PBA (50 mg/kg, once a day for three days before the surgery) or intragastric gavage of CQCQD (1 g/kg, 2 hourly × 3 after disease induction) was used to treat SAP rats. All animals were humanely sacrificed 12 h after disease induction. Histopathology scores of kidney and pancreas; serum biochemical indices and kidney protein levels of ER stress and apoptosis markers were assessed. Tubular epithelial cell line (HK-2) was treated either with TNF-α (10 ng/ml) or IL-6 (10 ng/ml) for 12 h plus either 4-PBA (0.1 M) or CQCQD (1 mg/ml) for in vitro study. Cell viability and markers of ER stress and apoptosis were measured. Results Ductal perfusion of NaTC caused significant increases in serum lipase, amylase and pancreatic histopathology (inflammatory cell infiltration, interstitial edema, and acinar cell necrosis). Kidney histopathology (tubular dilation, brush border loss, little tubular necrosis, and cast formation), serum creatine and urea levels were raised when compared with the SO group. Moreover, apoptotic cell death markers (caspase-9, cleaved-caspase-3, and TUNEL) and kidney ER stress proteins (BIP, IRE1-α, XBP1s, and CHOP) were elevated after NaTC administration. 4-PBA and CQCQD significantly alleviated histopathological changes of kidney and pancreas, inflammatory cytokines, biochemical markers of AKI, ER stress proteins and apoptotic cell death markers. They also protected HK-2 cells from injury of TNF-α and IL-6, and alleviated both ER stress and apoptosis proteins in vitro. Conclusion CQCQD may alleviate SAP-related AKI by inhibiting ER stress-related apoptosis.

Protein kinase C-potentiated inhibitor protein of 17 kDa (CPI-17), a specific inhibitor of myosin light-chain phosphatase (MLCP) regulated by proinflammatory cytokines, is central for calcium sensitisation. We investigated the effects of chaiqin chengqi decoction (CQCQD) on the CPI-17/MLCP pathway in the small intestinal smooth muscle cells (SMCs) and strips (SMS) in an AP model. Necrotising AP was induced in rats by intraperitoneal injections (IPI) of L-ornithine (3.0 g/kg, pH 7.0; hourly × 2) at 1 hour apart; controls received saline. In treatment groups, carbachol (CCh; 60 μg/kg, IPI) or CQCQD (20 g/kg; 2-hourly × 3, intragastric) was administered. The necrotising AP model was associated with systemic inflammation (serum IL-1β and TNF-α) and worsened jejunum histopathology and motility (serum vasoactive intestinal peptide and intestinal fatty acid-binding protein) as the disease progressed. There was decreased intracellular calcium concentration ([Ca2+]i) SMCs. Contractile function of isolated SMCs was reduced and associated with down-regulated expression of key mRNAs and proteins of the CPI-17/MLCP pathway as well as increased IL-1β and TNF-α. CQCQD and CCh significantly reversed these changes and the disease severity. These data suggest that CQCQD can improve intestinal motility by modulating the CPI-17/MLCP pathway in small intestinal smooth muscle during AP.

Doping is a very effective method to promote the photocatalytic performance of graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) based catalyst. However, the traditional co-condensation method causes the large particle size, small surface area and low separation rate of electrons-holes. In this work, halogen doped g-C3N4 nanorods with outstanding photocatalytic H2O2 production ability were prepared via saturated NH4X (X = Cl, Br) solution-hydrothermal post-treatment. XRD, N2 adsorption, UV–Vis, SEM, XPS, EPR, EIS and PL were used to characterize the obtained catalysts. Saturated salt solution-hydrothermal post-treatment changed the morphology and surface area of as-prepared g-C3N4 catalyst, as well as doped the halogen atoms into g-C3N4 lattice simultaneously. Br doped g-C3N4 catalyst displayed higher photocatalytic H2O2 production ability than that of Cl doped g-C3N4 catalyst. Compared with traditional co-condensation method, the catalyst prepared via saturated salt solution-hydrothermal post-treatment exhibited larger surface area, more effective separation rate and higher photocatalytic H2O2 production ability. This work can provide a new strategy for doping heteroatoms into g-C3N4 based catalyst.

In order to improve the homogeneous distribution of the TiC particles and facilitate the TiC particles to distribute in the tungsten grain interiors, two kinds of TiC-doped tungsten precursors with a core–shell structure were prepared by an improved wet chemical method at different reaction temperature conditions. Consequently, fine plate-like precursor (200–400 nm) and flower-like precursor (approximately 1.25 μm) are obtained. After reduction and sintering, the microstructures of the samples were characterized by scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. In the sample sintered from the plate-like precursor, TiC particles with sizes in the range of 40–300 nm and an average size of approximately 80 nm were uniformly distributed in the tungsten matrix with a high share in the grain interiors. However, in the sample sintered from the flower-like precursor, the TiC particles with sizes in the range of 50–700 nm are significantly aggregated and non-uniformly distributed in the tungsten matrix. As a result, the sample sintered from the plate-like precursor achieves higher mechanical properties and a much narrower range of bending strength values than that sintered from the flower-like precursor. The average bending strength of the sample sintered from the plate-like precursor is 655 MPa, which is higher than that of the sample sintered from the flower-like precursor (524 MPa). Different reaction mechanisms and dispersing stabilities of the TiC particles at different temperature conditions should be accounted for the differences between the two samples.

This study presents an application of principle component analysis method to evaluate water quality data of both surface water and groundwater obtained at Jiaozuo mine area. The fifteen groups of data including physicochemical and microbiological parameters were from 9 monitoring sites for a period of four years. The total dissolved solids; total hardness, chloride, fluoride, and nitrate (N) were identified as the most significant variables affecting water classification and quality. The water quality of two thirds of the monitoring sites was considered relatively good, indicating that the most of the shallow aquifer water in Jiaozuo mining area was generally good, and can be used as drinking water or industrial water after slight treatment. The shallow aquifer water in the areas of Macun, Wangfeng, and Hanwang must be intensively treated before utilization due to contamination. Macun and Hanwang, located in central Jiaozuo mining area, must be treatment with advanced green technology before any domestic use. This method provides an effective means to classify multi-zone water quality of a large mining operation area. It can regulate decision-making in time.

By means of the rapid quenching (RQ) technique, we fabricate RQ Ni with peculiar undercoordinated site (UCS) abundant and tensile-strained structural characteristics. In liquid-phase CO methanation at 473 K, RQ Ni displays markedly higher specific activity and CH4 selectivity in comparison to Raney Ni, supported Ni, and Al2O3-supported Pd and Pt. RQ Ni shows comparable activity but higher CH4 selectivity in comparison to Ru/Al2O3, with Ru being documented as the most active metal for CO methanation. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations confirm that the UCSs are the active centers and reveal that the tensile-strain effect can further accelerate the rate-limiting CO dissociation step. Attractively, RQ Ni is also powerful in converting the greenhouse gas CO2 to CH4 at 473 K with an unprecedentedly high TOF of CO2 of 86.9 × 10–3 s–1 and impressively high selectivity of >99%.

By varying the mass ratio of the swelling agent 1,3,5-trimethylbenzene (TMB) to the template P123 during the synthesis of the W-MCFs, we prepared a series of tungsten-doped siliceous mesocellular foams (W-MCFs) supported Pt catalysts (Pt/W-MCFs). In glycerol hydrogenolysis, the Pt/W-MCFs catalysts were highly active and selective to 1,3-propanediol (1,3-PDO), attributable to the 3-dimensional continuous large pore structure of the W-MCFs that facilitates the entry of the reactant and the escape of the product. Among the Pt/W-MCFs catalysts, the Pt/W-1.5MCFs catalyst with the TMB/P123 ratio of 1.5 exhibited the best activity and 1,3-PDO selectivity. Remarkably, the Pt/W-1.5MCFs catalyst afforded a high 1,3-PDO selectivity of 65 % at high glycerol conversion, thus rendering the highest 1,3-PDO yield of 63 %. The synergy between the Pt nanoparticles and the single-sited tetrahedral WVO4 species at the metal–oxide interface is proposed to be responsible for the differences in the catalytic performances among the Pt/W-MCFs catalysts.

W-(0–0.9)TiC (wt.%) alloys were prepared by a wet-chemical method and spark plasma sintering. The effects of TiC content on the microstructures, mechanical properties, and thermal conducting properties of the prepared W-TiC alloys were investigated. The results revealed that the average grain size of the W-(0–0.9)TiC alloys decreased, and their average TiC particle size increased with the increase of TiC content. The bending fracture strengths of the prepared samples increased significantly with increased TiC content in the range of 0–0.5%, which was attributed to the uniform distribution of TiC particles with a high proportion located in the tungsten grain interiors. The W-0.5TiC alloy exhibited the best mechanical properties with the highest relative density, bending strength, and flexural strain of 97.61%, 1065.72 MPa, and 1.23%, respectively. Moreover, the thermal conductivities of the W-(0.1–0.5)TiC alloys were slightly lower than those of pure tungsten at all testing temperatures. However, the mechanical properties and thermal conducting properties of the W-0.7TiC and W-0.9TiC alloys were significantly deteriorated due to the non-uniform aggregation of TiC particles at the tungsten grain boundaries.

It's necessary to investigate the texture characteristics of tungsten (W) to improve the functional properties and structural performance simultaneously. Rolling route is an important factor influencing texture evolution of metal. Thus W billets were deformed via unidirectional rolling (UNR), cross rolling (CRR) and clock rolling (CLR) respectively to figure out the effect of strain path on the evolution of microstructures, macro-textures and mechanical properties. The results indicated that the unidirectional rolled pure W exhibited moderate dynamic recrystallization level, pronounced θ-fiber texture and weak γ-fiber texture. Besides, the unidirectional rolled sample showed lower bending strength compared to the cross and clock rolled samples. Crack-tips and high texture level resulted in the low bending strength of the unidirectional rolled pure W. Summarily, to obtain more low crystallographic index texture components and high bending strength simultaneously, W can be deformed via UNR with moderate deformation degree but not CRR and CLR. Keywords: Pure tungsten, Rolling routes, Microstructure, Macro-texture, Mechanical properties

After two decades’ endeavor, the Research Institute of Petroleum Processing (RIPP) has successfully developed a green caprolactam (CPL) production technology. This technology is based on the integration of titanium silicate (TS)-1 zeolite with the slurry-bed reactor for the ammoximation of cyclohexanone, the integration of silicalite-1 zeolite with the moving-bed reactor for the gas-phase rearrangement of cyclohexanone oxime, and the integration of an amorphous nickel (Ni) catalyst with the magnetically stabilized bed reactor for the purification of caprolactam. The world’s first industrial plant based on this green CPL production technology has been built and possesses a capacity of 200 kt·a−1. Compared with existing technologies, the plant investment is pronouncedly reduced, and the nitrogen (N) atom utilization is drastically improved. The waste emission is reduced significantly; for example, no ammonium sulfate byproduct is produced. As a result, the price difference between CPL and benzene drops. In 2015, the capacity of the green CPL production technology reached 3 × 106 t·a−1, making China the world’s largest CPL producer, with a global market share exceeding 50%.

In order to assess the capacity of Aquabacterium parvum sp. strain B6 for nitrate-dependent Fe(II) oxidation, batch cultivation was conducted, and its ability to oxidize Fe(II) coupled to nitrate reduction in the presence of diverse organic substrates was studied. Meanwhile, the nitrate-removal rate of B6 with various impact factors was further optimized by the response surface methodology (RSM). The results show that strain B6 is capable of utilizing different organic compounds as substrates for nitrate reduction. Compared with yeast extract, B6 showed a greater potential of chemical oxygen demand (COD) degradation and cell proliferation with acetate and glucose mediums, respectively, while citrate was not beneficial for this process due to its low consumption rate. RSM analysis demonstrated that the maximum nitrate-reduction rate of 30.64% could be achieved with an initial pH of 7.4, incubation temperature of 25.0 °C, and carbon source concentration of 266.10 mg/L.

Two kinds of W-0.5 wt.%TiC alloys were prepared, one by ball milling and the other by the wet chemical method. For comparison, pure tungsten powders were chemically prepared and sintered by the same process. The microstructures, mechanical properties and thermal conductivities of the prepared samples were characterized. It has been found that the wet chemical method resulted in finer sizes and more uniform distribution of TiC particles in the sintered tungsten matrix than the ball milling method. The W-TiC alloy prepared by the wet chemical method achieved the highest bending strength (1065.72 MPa) among the samples. Further, it also exhibited obviously higher thermal conductivities in the temperature range of room temperature to 600°C than did the W-TiC alloy prepared by ball milling, but the differences in their thermal conductivities could be ignored in the range of 600–800°C.

The sintered W–(0, 0.1, 0.3 and 0.5) wt% TiC alloys and rolled W–0.1 wt% TiC alloys with different rolling reduction rates (65 and 83%) were fabricated using a wet-chemical method. The samples were irradiated with 367 shots of deuterium plasma in the Material and Plasma Evaluation System of the EAST tokamak for a total plasma exposure time of ~2000 s to evaluate their surface blistering behaviors. The microstructure, mechanical properties and surface blistering behavior of the samples after exposure were investigated. It was found that the average grain size of the sintered W–(0–0.5)TiC alloys decreased, and their relative density, microhardness and bending strength increased with the increase in the TiC content. The sintered W–0.5TiC alloy exhibited the smallest average grain size of 0.8 μm and the highest bending strength of 1163.6 MPa. Post-irradiation examinations showed that all of the sintered samples suffered surface blistering, but as the TiC content of the alloy was increased, the size of the blisters decreased. The sintered pure tungsten (PW) exhibited serious, ruptured blisters with sizes of ~1 to 25 μm; while the sintered W–0.5TiC alloy exhibited the best resistance to the deuterium plasma as evidenced by the small size of the blisters of

Chai-Qin-Cheng-Qi decoction (CQCQD) improves intestinal motility in acute pancreatitis (AP), but the mechanism(s) require elucidation. We investigated the effects of CQCQD and carbachol, a prokinetic agent, on colonic smooth muscle cells (SMCs) in L-arginine-induced necrotising AP model in rats. In treatment groups, intragastric CQCQD (20 g/kg, 2 hourly × 3 doses) or intraperitoneal carbachol (60 μg/kg) was given 24 hours after induction of AP. Both CQCQD and carbachol decreased the severity of pancreatic and colonic histopathology (allP<0.05). Both CQCQD and carbachol reduced serum intestinal fatty acid binding protein, vasoactive intestinal peptide, and substance P and increased motility levels. CQCQD upregulated SMC phospholipase C-beta 1 (PLC-β1) mRNA and PLC protein (bothP<0.05), while both treatments upregulated protein kinase C-alpha (PKC-α) mRNA and PKC protein and downregulated adenylate cyclase (AC) mRNA and protein compared with no treatment (allP<0.05). Neither treatment significantly altered L-arginine-induced PKC-β1 and PKC-εmRNA reduction. Both treatments significantly increased fluorescence intensity of SMC intracellular calcium concentration[Ca2+]i(3563.5 and 3046.9 versus 1086.9, bothP<0.01). These data suggest CQCQD and carbachol improve intestinal motility in AP by increasing[Ca2+]iin colonic SMCs via upregulating PLC, PKC and downregulating AC.

Permeation behavior of deuterium (D) through various tungsten (W) materials, including rolled, annealed, recrystallized W and ZrC/La 2 O 3 -dispersion strengthened W, has been studied. Experiments were performed using a gas-driven permeation facility in the temperature range of 700–1000 K. The permeability of D was not sensitive to the dislocations/vacancies or ZrC/La 2 O 3 phases in W, and the measured permeation values are comparable to Frauenfelder and Zahkarov’s data. The diffusivity of D, however, is microstructure dependent. The higher the density of defects was, the lower the effective diffusivity was measured. These results imply that dislocations/vacancies or small amounts of ZrC/La 2 O 3 phases in W will not influence the hydrogen isotopes steady state permeation flux through the first wall.

The screening of drug metabolites in biological matrixes and structural characterization based on product ion spectra is among the most important, but also the most challenging due to the significant interferences from endogenous species. Traditionally, metabolite detection is accomplished primarily on the basis of predicted molecular masses or fragmentation patterns of prototype drug metabolites using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled with high-resolution mass spectrometry (UHPLC-HRMS). Although classical techniques are well-suited for achieving the partial characterization of prototype drug metabolites, there is a pressing need for a strategy to enable comprehensive drug metabolism depiction. Therefore, we present drug metabolite clusters (DMCs), different from, but complementary to, traditional approaches for mining the information regarding drugs and their metabolites on the basis of raw, processed, or identified tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) data. In this paper, we describe a DMC-based data-mining method for the metabolite identification of 5-hydroxy-6,7,3&prime, 4&prime, tetramethoxyflavone (HTF), a typical hydroxylated-polymethoxyflavonoid (OH-PMF), which addressed the challenge of creating a thorough metabolic profile. Consequently, eight primary metabolism clusters, sixteen secondary metabolism clusters, and five tertiary metabolism clusters were proposed and 106 metabolites (19 potential metabolites included) were detected and identified positively and tentatively. These metabolites were presumed to generate through oxidation (mono-oxidation, di-oxidation), methylation, demethylation, methoxylation, glucuronidation, sulfation, ring cleavage, and their composite reactions. In conclusion, our study expounded drug metabolites in rats and provided a reference for further research on therapeutic material basis and the mechanism of drugs.

Surgical trauma of biomaterial implantation significantly influences the immune system and the biological effects of biomaterials. Minimally invasive surgery has become a trend of clinical development but violating the concept of osteoimmunomodulation will hinder the biological effects of materials. Our study focused on biphasic calcium phosphate (BCP), the ectopia osteoinductive materials, filling the research blank of the significance of adaptive immunity crosstalk with bone biomaterials, and improving the interaction mechanism between bone biomaterials and immune response. Methods: The BCP bioceramics were implanted by conventional and minimally invasive methods in the gastrocnemius wild-type or T cells depleted mice to test the effect of ectopia osteoinduction. Moreover, flow cytometry was used to detect immune responses, T cell sorting and Western Blot molecular biology experiments, and transwell assays migration of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). Results: We found that BCP, an implantable osteoinductive material, could not activate the adaptive immune response mediated by T cells after minimally invasive surgery. Further studies revealed that under the conventional non-minimally invasive BCP implantation, a positive correlation existed between T cell recruitment and the infiltration and osteogenic differentiation of MSCs. Interestingly, after BCP was implanted by minimally invasive surgery or implanted in T cell depleted mice, MSCs infiltration and osteogenic differentiation were significantly reduced, and BCP could not achieve the biological effects of ectopia ossification. Finally, we confirmed that a certain extent inflammatory stimulation activated the adaptive immune response mediated by T cells, up-regulated the nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) signal in T cells, released a large amount of chemokine C-C motif chemokine ligand 5(CCL5) to recruit MSCs to the surrounding material, and finally achieved the ideal effect of osteoinduction. Conclusion: From experimental research and clinical surgery, this study discovered that the T cells are indispensable in the ectopia ossification mediated by osteoinductive materials, put forward and confirmed the surgery method as a key variable factor restricting the application effect of biological materials, enriched the key mechanism of adaptive immunity in osteoimmunomodulation, and laid a theoretical foundation for the development of osteoinductive materials and bone tissue regeneration.

Excessive nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) runoff from human activities results in degraded water quality. It is, therefore, crucial to quantitatively assess nutrient inputs over time and their impact on riverine nutrient exports. In this study, we estimated the long-term (1995–2015) nutrient inputs at the county scale by integrating Net Anthropogenic Nitrogen Input (NANI) and Net Anthropogenic Phosphorus Input (NAPI) methods, and nutrient exports into rivers by the Export Coefficient Model (ECM) for a semiarid plain basin, the Baiyangdian (BYD) Basin, China. The results showed that N and P input intensities in the year 2015 reached 18852 kg N km2 yr−1 and 2073 kg P km−2 yr−1, showing a 35% and 11% increase in comparison with 1995, respectively. About 60% of these nutrients were derived from fertilizer application. The multi-year averaged N and P exported to rivers was 548 kg N km−2 yr−1 and 79 kg P km−2 yr−1, respectively. Hotspots for nutrient budgets were found in the southeastern counties. Hotspots covered about 12% of the total land, but contributed by 38–52% of total nutrient budgets. The nutrient export ratios showed no significantly temporal variations, and only about 2.15–2.89% of NANI and NAPI were exported into rivers. The low nutrient export ratio was due to the low water discharge that limited the nutrient transportation in the semi-arid plain basin. As most of anthropogenic nutrient inputs were retained in the basin, their impacts on the pollution of soils and aquifers need to be considered and adequately addressed in the future. This study constructs the spatial quantitative nutrient budgets, which can provide effective information for region policy formulation.

A novel nano-silver paste with characteristics of sintering at low temperature and operating at high temperature is one of the most promising interconnect materials in the semiconductor industry. This study focuses on the shear strength of sintered multi-scale silver paste synthesized by nano-silver particles, micro-silver particles and submicron silicon carbide particles coated with Ag (SCA). The silver paste was sintered at 250 °C without pressure. The shear strength reaches 9.22 MPa, with 64 wt.% nano-silver particles, 16.5 wt.% micro-silver particles and 1.5 wt.% SCA, respectively. With this, it shows great potential for high power electronics interconnect and cooing applications.

Background Local resident normal fibroblasts (NFs) are the major source of cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs), which are distinguishable from NFs by their tumor-supportive properties. However, the mechanism and the effects underlying the transition of NFs to CAFs in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) remain unclear. Methods Five pairs of matching primary NFs and CAFs derived from OSCC patients were sent for RNA sequencing. Epiregulin (EREG) expression was analyzed by IHC in fibroblasts from OSCC patients. The role of EREG in the NF-CAF transition and the consequential effects on OSCC progression were examined by upregulation/downregulation of EREG in NFs/CAFs both in vitro and in vivo. Results Here, we identified epiregulin (EREG) as the most remarkably upregulated gene in CAFs. High EREG expression in CAFs correlated with higher T stage, deeper invasion and inferior worst pattern of invasion (WPOI) in OSCC patients and predicted shorter overall survival. Overexpression of EREG in NFs activated the CAF phenotype. Mechanistically, the JAK2/STAT3 pathway was enhanced by EREG in parallel with increased IL-6 expression, which could be inhibited by the JAK2 inhibitor AG490. Recombinant IL-6 upregulated the JAK2/STAT3/EREG pathway in a feedback loop. Moreover, EREG-induced CAF activation promoted the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) necessary for migration and invasion, which was dependent on JAK2/STAT3 signaling and IL-6. In vivo, EREG expression in stroma fibroblasts promoted tumor growth with high stromal α-SMA, phospho-JAK2/STAT3, and IL-6 expression and upregulated EMT in HSC3 cells. Conclusions EREG is essential for the NF-CAF transformation needed to induce EMT of tumor cells in a JAK2-STAT3- and IL-6-dependent manner in OSCC. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s13046-019-1277-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) play an important role in biological functions and may feature innate therapeutic potential for diseases. In the present study, EVs released by osteoblasts at different stages of the mineralization process were investigated for their potential ability to promote bone formation. Results showed that the characteristics of EVs of mineralizing osteoblasts changed with regularity. EVs derived from the mid-to-late differentiation stage remarkably promoted osteoblast differentiation of bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells and improved osteoporosis in ovariectomized mice. The findings also revealed that the effect of EVs on osteogenesis was related with the maturity of matrix vesicles (MVs), a kind of EVs selectively released by mineralizing-related cells. Nevertheless, only the EVs from the mid-to-late stage showed osteoinductive properties, Synthetic cartilage lymph (SCL) treatment of EVs from the middle stage could promote MV maturation but showed no effect on osteoinduction. Additionally, EVs derived at the middle and mid-to-late stages showed innate bone-targeting potential. Collectively, this study demonstrated that EVs released by osteoblasts at the mid-to-late differentiation stage markedly enhance osteogenesis. Our findings present the prospective use of osteoblast-released EVs in bone tissue engineering.

Purpose: Histological assessment of the resected margins is the gold standard for determining the status of surgical margin of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). However, histological evaluation has significant deficiencies, such as the limitation of the thichness of slide, and other reasons, resulting the higher local recurrence (LR) although the margin status was negative. Many studies have demonstrated metabolic reprogramming in cancer or precancerous cells. Therefore, we aimed to identify a panel of metabolic molecular markers for evaluating the surgical margins of OSCC during the surgery. Experimental Design: A total of 28 cases (each case including Tumor, Margin-1, Margin-2and Margin-3 four sections) were enrolled in the study. 8 of the 28 cases were used for developing markers (Development group), and another 20 cases (Validation group) were used to validate the results of the Development group. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) untargeted analysis was used to evaluate the metabolic perturbation of the distance related surgical margins from development group. The acquired MS data of development group samples were further subjected to multivariate data analysis, and the significantly altered metabolites were identii¬ed. UHPLC-MS/MS targeted quantitative analysis was used to validate the results of the development group. Meanwhile, another 60 OSCC patients with dysplastic surgical margins were used to further validate the results of the development group by immunohistochemical exam key enzyme (asparagine synthetase, ASNS) expression, and correlate with clinicopathological parameters and clinical outcomes. Results: In development group, a panel of 10 amino acids was found to discriminate negative margin and another panel of 9 amino acids was found to discern the dysplastic margin. It was further determined 9 amino acids for negative margin biomarkers and 6 amino acids for dysplastic margin biomarkers from above markers (development group) by UHPLC-MS/MS targeted quantitative analysis in validation group. Individual amino acid biomarker for the ability to detect negative margin or dysplastic margin based on ROC curves, displayed good sensitivity and specificity. Moreover, the combination of the panel amino acids can significantly improve sensitivity and specificity of the diagnostic accuracy by multiple linear regressive analysis. Among them, aspartic acid and asparagine were found to be high in dysplastic margin and tumor tissues, so, we examined asparagine synthetase (aspartic acid metabolic key enzyme) expression in 60 OSCC samples with dysplastic margins by IHC analysis, which showed that ASNS positive expression in dysplastic surgical margins was correlated with tumor recurrence and local relapse-free survival (RFS). Conclusions: We developed a panel of amino acid markers to supplement the evaluation of negative and dysplastic margins, ASNS expression level was a predictor of tumor recurrence and poor prognosis in OSCC with dysplastic surgical margins. In conclusion, amino acids signatures of distance-related surgical margins of OSCC has positive clinical significance. Funding: This study was supported by Jiangsu Province’s Key Provincial Youth Talents Program (Grant No. QNRC2016841); Nanjing Municipal Key Medical Laboratory Constructional Project Funding (Since 2012); Center of Nanjing Clinical Medicine Tumor (Since 2014). Declaration of Interest: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. Ethical Approval: This study was approved by the medical ethics committee of Stomatological Hospital, Medical School of Nanjing University, and carried out according to the recommendations of the Declaration of Helsinki.

The frontier molecular orbitals, UV–Vis absorption spectra, charge transfer (CT) and triplet excited states of 12 expanded D–A porphyrin/benzoporphyrin complexes were investigated using the density functional theory (DFT) method and time-dependent DFT in this work. The results showed that thiophene was an effective fragment for absorption of ‘long wavelength’, while the benzoporphyrin worked on the ‘short wavelength’, which was derived from its saddle-shaped structure; this expanded D–A conjugated system had a mild CT process with anthraquinone/isoindigo as acceptors and a strong CT process with naphtoquinone as acceptor. In addition, based on the simulation of the triplet state, the theoretical phosphorescence wavelength range of this series of derivatives was between 1000 and 1200 nm. This study is expected to assist the design of conjugated porphyrin for the field of porphyrin chemistry.

Excessive nutrients inputs cause anthropogenic lake eutrophication worldwide. It is thus crucial to provide information on future trends of nutrient loading and its implications for the lake’s trophic state. Here we quantified total phosphorus (TP) loading to the Lake Baiyangdian (BYD), the largest shallow lake in northern China, and assessed their future trend and the trophic state of the lake. The TP loading to the Lake BYD by rivers in 2015 was 276 ton, which was in a relatively low level in lakes from China. Based on the five shared socioeconomic pathways (SSPs), the TP loading to the Lake BYD in 2050 will increase only at the fragmentation scenario (SSP3) by an increment of 34.4%, in which the directly discharged animal manure become the main source. The lowest TP loading in 2050 is observed at the sustainability scenario (SSP1), in which sewage system will be the dominant contributor. At the sub-basin scale, compositions of river exported TP in rural areas will be more influenced by future socioeconomic developments than those in urban areas. The twenty years nutrient dynamics from clear or turbid state in the Lake BYD were simulated by the PCLake model to calculate the critical P loading (CPL). The results indicated that the CPL in the Lake BYD was 2.06 mg P m−2 d−1 for eutrophication and 0.84 mg P m−2 d−1 for oligotrophication. The only scenario in which Lake BYD will become eutrophic is SSP3, which should be avoided in the future development. To restore the lake water to the oligotrophic state, more efforts are necessary to reduce direct discharge of animal manure and increase the TP removal rates, especially in rural areas.

The reversible/irreversible recovery of mechanical properties, and the microstructure characteristics of a typical hot-stamped steel B1500HS have been studied under different conditions of hydrogen permeation. Initially, all tested specimens were permeated by hydrogen atoms through an electrochemical hydrogen charging scheme. Then, the comparisons between different currents and charging time were performed. The influence of different storage time was compared as well. Additionally, the effect of the plastic strain introduced by pre-stretching was also investigated. The experimental results showed that the negative impact of hydrogen embrittlement was altered from reversible to irreversible as the magnitude of the charging current increased. The hydrogen blistering and the hydrogen charging-induced cracks were both observed and inspected in the tested samples regarding the irreversible situation. Moreover, the adverse influence of hydrogen embrittlement was enhanced by plastic pre-straining or extending the charging period. At the micro-level, hydrogen charging-induced cracks generally were generated at defect locations, such as the prior austenite grain boundaries and lath martensite interfaces. Particularly, crack direction occurred perpendicular to the orientation of lath martensite, and transgranular fracture occurred at the prior austenite grains.

Textures of hot rolled pure tungsten (PW) and W-1.0 wt%La2O3 (W-1%La2O3) with various strains were characterized to figure out the effect of rolling reduction and second phase on evolution of hot rolling texture. Initial sintering texture of 〈111〉//ND and {110}〈111〉, {112}〈111〉 slip systems as well as dynamic recovery, dynamic recrystallization facilitated the formation of the θ-fiber and γ-fiber textures for PW and W-1%La2O3 during the hot rolling process. Furthermore, dynamic recovery occurred in 72% rolled PW and 43% rolled W-1%La2O3 led to a significant rise of {001}〈110〉 texture. Besides, dynamic recrystallization occurred in 80% rolled PW and 72% rolled W-1%La2O3 resulted in an enhancement of {001} 〈100〉 accompanied with a drop of {111} 〈112〉 texture. The occurrence of dynamic recovery and dynamic recrystallization in W-1%La2O3 was sooner than in PW, which may be caused by more dislocations in total and additional geometrically necessary dislocations as well as local deformation zone induced by adding of La2O3 particles. Keywords: Pure tungsten, Lanthanum oxide doped tungsten, Hot rolling texture, Rolling reduction, Dynamic recovery, Dynamic recrystallization

Pure tungsten samples with multimodal grain size of 1.85 ± 0.84/0.47 ± 0.2 μm (PW1) and grain size of 0.33 ± 0.1 μm (PW2) were prepared by resistance sintering under ultra high pressure. Then the thermal shock performance of both W was evaluated using the electron beam facility with 1 cycle and 5 ms pulse duration at 0.22 GW/m2. PW1 exhibited higher relative density, thermal conductivity but lower microhardness and bending strength compared with PW2. Furthermore, PW1 displayed slight higher major crack density (smaller major crack distance) while slight smaller major crack width compared with PW2. Besides, the microcracks that only formed in PW2 have the potential to detach W grains from the matrix. Moreover, both samples showed close major crack depth and surface roughness. Thus it can be concluded that PW1 with large grain size showed better thermal shock performance compared with PW2 with small grain size.

W-0.1 wt.% TiC materials with different rolling reduction (65% and 83%) were fabricated by wet chemical method, medium-frequency induction sintering and hot rolling and their microstructures, chemical composition, basic mechanical properties, high temperature tensile properties and Charpy impact properties were characterized. For comparing, commercial pure tungsten powders were sintered and hot rolled with the same procedure. The results revealed that the heavily elongated TiC particles were uniformly distributed in the grain interiors. In addition, the intragranular TiC particles combining with severe plastic deformation could refine the grain size and increase both the strength and toughness of tungsten materials remarkably. The W–TiC alloy with rolling reduction of 83% exhibited the highest bending strength of 1260 MPa, the highest tensile elongation of 19.3% and 13.6% at 300 and 600 °C respectively, the highest Charpy absorbed energies at 400–900 °C and the lowest DBTT of about 450 °C. In contrast, the pure tungsten with the same rolling reduction displayed the lowest bending strength of 1035.4 MPa, the lowest tensile elongation of 12.1% and 9.3% at 300 and 600 °C respectively, the much lower Charpy absorbed energies at 400–900 °C and the higher DBTT of 650 °C. Interestingly, pure tungsten with more rolling reduction resulted in larger grain size due to their low recrystallization temperature. Conversely, the W–TiC alloys achieved smaller grain size with more rolling reduction due to the elevated recrystallization temperature by the addition of TiC particles. Another interesting phenomenon is that the total tensile elongations of the samples tested at 600 °C were all lower than the samples tested at 300 °C. The reason was attributed to the different moving behavior of the dislocations at different tensile test temperatures.

W–0.1 wt.%TiC materials with and without the addition of PVP were fabricated by wet-chemical method and spark plasma sintering. The microstructures were characterized by FESEM and TEM. The results revealed that the addition of PVP remarkably improved the uniform dispersion of TiC particles during the synthesis process. W–TiC without PVP showed dispersoids with size of 100–1000 nm were distributed unevenly in the tungsten matrix; only a few particles with the size of about 80–300 nm were located in tungsten grain interior. Conversely, the microstructure of W–TiC with PVP showed that dispersoids were dispersed well and kept about 80 nm. Moreover, the majority of them were uniformly distributed in the grain interior. The EDS analyses revealed that the dispersoids were composed of Ti, C, O and W. TEM observations further verified that the dispersoids were TiC particles. W–TiC with PVP showed better mechanical properties when compared with the samples of W–TiC without PVP and pure tungsten.

Basic thermal–mechanical properties and texture evolution of pure tungsten with various rolling reductions were characterized. The 60% rolled tungsten exhibited the highest thermal conductivity and the best Charpy impact performance, which can be attributed to its few pores and cracks simultaneously. Furthermore, full recrystallization was achieved on the rolled tungsten with 60% and 90% reduction after annealing at 2073 K for 2 h. More importantly, the 40%, 60%, 90% rolled tungsten displayed more γ fiber texture while 80% rolled tungsten exhibited more θ fiber texture and Goss texture. The rolled pure tungsten with 80% reduction may exhibit the best irradiation resistance.