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As main components of magnesia-based refractories, magnesia exhibits excellent properties such as high refractoriness and good basic slag corrosion resistance. However, magnesia produced from CaO containing cryptocrystalline magnesite has limited application owing to the low hydration resistance and poor thermal shock resistance (TSR). This work aimed to investigate the reinforcing effects of microscale monoclinic ZrO2 on free CaO containing magnesia for optimizing mechanical properties, TSR and hydration resistance. The results showed that adding ZrO2 could promote the removal of the open pores, strengthen the interface bonding between various grains and produce crack deflection, which improved flexural strength and fracture toughness. As a result, the TSR of the specimens was enhanced effectively due to increased strength and toughness and reduction in the thermal expansion coefficient. Besides, as the ZrO2 was introduced, hydration resistance of the specimens improved significantly, mainly attributing to the decrease in apparent porosity and elimination of the free CaO by forming CaZrO3 and cubic ZrO2 phases.

A novel anaerobic maifanite-immobilized sludge reactor (AMSR) was employed to investigate the feasibility and performance of continuous hydrogen production for the treatment of pharmaceutical intermediate wastewater (PIW) at different organic loading rates (OLR) (from 12 to 96 g COD L−1 d−1) according to changes in the hydraulic retention time (HRT). A reactor without maifanite was also employed as a control. The results indicate that maifanite accelerates granular sludge formation and the AMSR presents more efficient and stable performance than the control in terms of the hydrogen production rate. In the AMSR, the highest hydrogen production rate of 11.2 ± 0.4 mmol L−1 h−1 was achieved at an optimum OLR of 72 g COD L−1 d−1. The main metabolic route for hydrogen production was ethanol-type fermentation, which was reflected in the relative abundance of E. harbinense, which was dominant for all of the OLRs. The maximum energy conversion efficiency in the dual production of hydrogen and ethanol was determined to be 24.5 kJ L−1 h−1 at an OLR of 72 g COD L−1 d−1.

Three-dimensional (3D) TiO2 hollow structures have attracted much attention due to their unique properties. However, the large bandgap of (3.2 eV) results in the fact that anatase TiO2 photocatalyst can only be excited by UV light, which only accounts for 3–5% of the solar energy. On considering that nobel metallatic nanomaterials can harvest visible light due to surface plasmon resonance (SPR) effect, in this paper, three kinds of Au nanoparticles with different morphologies, namely Au nanospheres (Au-NSs), Au nanorods (Au-NRs) and Au nanopentogons (Au-NPs) were prepared and used as photosensitizers to modified TiO2 hollow nanoboxes (TiO2-HNBs), aiming to explore high efficient visible-light-responsive photocatalyst. The photoreacitivty of Au/TiO2-HNBs was evaluated by photoctalytic oxidation of Rhodamine B (RhB) and NO under visible irradiation (λ > 420 nm). It was found that the visible photoreactivity of TiO2-HNBs was greatly enhanced after modified with Au nanoparticles, and TiO2-HNBs loaded with Au-NRs exhibit the highest visible photocatalytic activity towards both RhB degradation and NO oxidation. Upon visible irradiation, SPR effect induces the production of hot electrons from the Au nanoparticles, which can further transfer to the conduction band of TiO2-HNBs to produce superoxide radicals (·O2−), resulting in an efficient separation of photo-generated electron-hole pairs. The photoreactivity of Au-NRs/TiO2-HNBs towards RhB degradation almost keeps unchanged even after recycling used for 5 times, indicating that it is promising to be use in practical applications. Keywords: Au, TiO2, Hollow nanobox, Surface plasmon resonance, Photocatalysis

Single atomic Au (Au-SA) is firmly anchored on the surfaces of defective TiO2 (DT) hollow microspheres with oxygen vacancies (Ov), which sharply improves their light-harvesting ability, stimulates charge separation, and facilitates the adsorption and activation of acetone, thus dramatically enhancing their photoreactivity towards acetone oxidation.

The separation efficiency and recombination rate of photogenerated electron–hole pairs play a vital role in photocatalytic activity. We report the incorporation of ultra-small subnano TiOx clusters as outstanding cocatalysts on the surface of plasmonic Ag/AgCl to boost the simulated sunlight photoreactivity. The formed structure is in favour of an efficient photoinduced electron–hole transfer process and suppressing the recombination rate, yielding an enhanced photocatalytic activity. The experimental results show that TiOx@Ag/AgCl exhibits an extraordinarily high activity in the photodegradation of tetracycline (TC) under simulated sunlight irradiation, which is about 21.7 times higher than that of bare Ag/AgCl. Their corresponding apparent quantum efficiency (AQE) is up to 0.917% at 435 nm and 17.459% at 350 nm during the photodegradation of TC, respectively. Moreover, TiOx@Ag/AgCl shows an outstanding long-term stability without obvious performance loss even after ten cycles of photodegradation. The possible enhancement mechanism of the reaction rate is proposed based on the compositional, structural, and optical property analysis. We found that h+ was the major reactive species in the photodegradation process of TC. Our findings on ultra-small TiOx cocatalysts would shed light on the design and development of highly efficient oxide cluster cocatalysts.

Device integration is among the current research trends in the area of organic electronics and the development of multifunctional materials is crucial to accelerate the progress of integrated devices, such as organic light-emitting transistors (OLET), organic field-effect optical waveguides (OFEW) and organic electrofluorochromic (OEFC) devices. Herein, two multifunctional materials with different side chains, 2-(4-octyloxyphenyl)anthracene (AntPh-OC8) and 2-(4-octylphenyl)anthracene (AntPh-C8), based on the concept of combining liquid crystal (LC) materials featuring facile processability, highly ordered alignment and effective charge transport and an anthracene conjugated core with strong fluorescence, are designed and successfully synthesized. The photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY) of AntPh-OC8 and AntPh-C8 is determined to be 40.9% and 37.6%, respectively, which approaches nearly 2-fold that of 2-phenylanthracene (AntPh). Organic light-emitting diodes (OLED) based on AntPh-OC8 confirmed its solid-state blue emission with a current efficiency (CE) of 1.82 cd A−1, whereas the corresponding organic field-effect transistors (OFET) demonstrated the highest hole mobility of up to 2.59 cm2 V−1 s−1. Organic phototransistors (OPT) comprising AntPh-OC8 and AntPh-C8 revealed efficient photoresponsive characteristics of these newly developed materials. These demonstrations indicate the widespread potential of our newly developed materials for applications in multifunctional integrated devices. Moreover, these results indicate the encouraging role of side-chain engineering in the improvement of charge transport and fluorescence characteristics of anthracene derivatives.

Development of a covalent–organic framework (COF)-based Z-scheme heterostructure is a promising strategy for solar energy driven water splitting, but the construction of a COF-based Z-scheme heterostructure with well-defined architecture, large contact area and intimate contact interfaces is scarce. Herein, we fabricated a direct Z-scheme heterostructure COF–metal sulfide hybrid (T-COF@CdS) with shell–core architecture by self-polymerization of 1,3,5-benzenetricarboxaldehyde and 2,4,6-tris(4-aminophenyl)-1,3,5-triazine in situ on CdS. The formed C–S chemical bonding between T-COF and CdS could provide a very tight and stable interface. Owing to the properly staggered band alignment, strong interfacial interaction and large interfacial contact area between T-COF and CdS, a Z-scheme route for charge separation and transfer is realized, resulting in electron accumulation in CdS for H2O reduction. The obtained Z-scheme heterostructure T-COF@CdS-3 exhibits a high apparent quantum efficiency of 37.8% under 365 nm monochromatic light irradiation, and long-term stability arising from shell–core structures in which the T-COF shell protects the catalytic centers of CdS against deactivation, as well as acts as oxidation sites to avoid the photocorrosion of CdS. This work provides a strategy for the construction of a shell–core direct Z-scheme heterostructure photocatalyst for water splitting with high performance., A stable Z-scheme with well-defined architecture by in situ growth of COFs on CdS for photocatalytic water splitting is constructed. The T-COF shell can protect the catalytic center of CdS from deactivation and photocorrosion.

Kidney injury molecule-1 (KIM-1) has an important role in chronic kidney disease development. The present study aimed to retrospectively analyze patients with idiopathic membranous nephrology (IMN) with different therapeutic outcomes to investigate the association between KIM-1 levels and therapeutic outcomes. A total of 51 patients with IMN and 20 healthy controls were included. Patients were classified into three groups: Spontaneous remission, remission with immunosuppressive therapy (IST) and nonremission with IST. Clinical and biochemical variables were collected. Urinary KIM-1 levels were measured by ELISA and renal KIM-1 expression was evaluated by immunohistochemistry. Patients with IMN were characterized as having elevated urinary and renal KIM-1 levels compared with those in the controls. Significantly increased urinary and renal KIM-1 levels were observed in the nonremission with IST group compared with those in the spontaneous remission group, and the same trend was observed for the plasma anti-podocyte antigen phospholipase A2 receptor antibody levels. Patients with more severe tubular injury (T2 index) presented with significantly higher urinary and renal KIM-1 levels than those with the T0 index. Urinary and renal KIM-1 levels were positively correlated with blood urea nitrogen, serum creatinine, serum cystatin-C, urinary albumin/creatinine ratio, urinary β2-microglobulin and the renal interstitial fibrosis index, and they were negatively correlated with serum albumin. Furthermore, urinary KIM-1 levels were positively correlated with the renal KIM-1 levels. In conclusion, the measurement of urinary and renal KIM-1 levels may be helpful in guiding medication selection and predicting therapeutic outcomes for patients with IMN.

Background: Extracorporeal cardiac shock waves (ECSW) have great potential in the treatment of coronary heart disease. Endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) are a class of pluripotent progenitor cells derived from bone marrow or peripheral blood, which have the capacity to migrate to ischemic myocardium and differentiate into mature endothelial cells and play an important role in neovascularization and endothelial repair. In this study, we investigated whether ECSW therapy can improve EPCs dysfunction and apoptosis induced by hypoxia and explored the underlying mechanisms.Methods: EPCs were separated from ApoE gene knockout rat bone marrow and identified using flow cytometry and fluorescence staining. EPCs were used to produce in vitro hypoxia-injury models which were then divided into six groups: Control, Hypoxia, Hypoxia + ECSW, Hypoxia + LY294002 + ECSW, Hypoxia + MK-2206 + ECSW, and Hypoxia + L-NAME + ECSW. EPCs from the Control, Hypoxia, and Hypoxia + ECSW groups were used in mRNA sequencing reactions. mRNA and protein expression levels were analyzed using qRT-PCR and western blot analysis, respectively. Proliferation, apoptosis, adhesion, migration, and angiogenesis were measured using CCK-8, flow cytometry, gelatin, transwell, and tube formation, respectively. Nitric oxide (NO) levels were measured using an NO assay kit.Results: Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes (KEGG) enrichment analysis showed that differentially expressed genes were enriched in cancer signaling, PI3K-Akt signaling, and Rap1 signaling pathways. We selected differentially expressed genes in the PI3K-Akt signaling pathway and verified them using a series of experiments. The results showed that ECSW therapy (500 shots at 0.09 mJ/mm2) significantly improved proliferation, adhesion, migration, and tube formation abilities of EPCs following hypoxic injury, accompanied by upregulation of p-PI3K, p-Akt, p-eNOS, Bcl-2 protein and NO, PI3K, and Akt mRNA expression, and downregulation of Bax and Caspase3 protein expression. All these effects of ECSW were eliminated using inhibitors specific to PI3K (LY294002), Akt (MK-2206), and eNOS (L-NAME).Conclusion: ECSW exerted a strong repaired effect on EPCs suffering inhibited hypoxia injury by inhibiting cell apoptosis and promoting angiogenesis, mainly through activating the PI3K/Akt/eNOS signaling pathway, which provide new evidence for ECSW therapy in CHD.

Obesity-associated podocyte injury increases in parallel with inflammatory responses. Resveratrol, as an anti-inflammatory and antioxidative agent, has been proven to be effective in obesity. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the function of resveratrol in the early stages of podocyte injury in ovariectomized rats fed a high-fat diet (HFD). The 3-month-old female Wistar rats were randomly divided into four groups: Sham operation with a standard diet; sham operation with a HFD; ovariectomy with a HFD (O+H); and ovariectomy plus HFD treatment with resveratrol (40 mg/kg/day) (O+H+R). Following 12 weeks, the weights of the rats were measured and serum was obtained to measure the levels of 17β-estradiol (E2), serum lipids, serum creatinine, fasting blood glucose (FBG) and insulin. Periodic acid-schiff staining was used to detect renal pathological changes. Meanwhile, the expression of the podocyte-associated proteins nephrin and Wilms' tumor-1 was investigated using immunohistochemical staining, and the levels of tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin-6 and monocyte chemotactic protein-1 in renal tissues were determined using western blotting. Compared with the O+H group, resveratrol significantly reduced the body weight, serum levels of total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, FBG and insulin resistance, and increased the levels of E2 in obese rats with an ovariectomy combined with an HFD (P

As a typical visible-light-responsive organic semiconductor photocatalyst, graphitic carbon nitride (gCN) only exhibits moderate photoreactivity beacuse of its low specific area, limited light harvesting ability and quick recombination of photo-generated carriers. Herein, we report the fabrication of gCN nanosheets (gCN-NSs) with large BET surface area, excellent visible-light-absorptive property and efficient separation of carriers by direct polymerization of amidinourea, the product from the hydrolysis of dicyandiamine (DCDA). When compared with that of bulk gCN (S0) synthesized by direct polymerization of DCDA, the visible photocatalytic hydrogen evoluation rate of gCN-NSs (S2 sample) obtained by condensation of amidinourea improved 4.9 times, which is also 2.4 times higher than that of gCN-NSs (Su sample) which is prepared by polymerization of urea. The enhanced visible photocatalytic activity gCN-NSs (S2) toward hydrogen production can be ascribed to the combined effects of enlarged BET surface that provides more active sites for adsorption and photocatalytic reaction, compacted π-π layer stacking which facilitates the efficient separation of photo-generated carriers, negatively shifted CB potential and improved hydrophilic property that favor the electron transfer at the interfaces between gCN and water. In addition, the product yield of gCN-NSs (S2 sample) from the polymerization of amidinourea is 11.9%, which is 10.8 times higher than Su sample that prepared from urea (only 1.1%).

Mesoporous titanium oxide (mp-TiO2) thin films are effective electron transport layers in hybrid perovskite solar cells. In this work the mp-TiO2 are obtained via spin coating by mixing titanium isopropoxide and poly (vinylpyrrolidone) (PVP). Optically uniform anatase TiO2 thin films are formed after annealing at temperatures ≥500 °C. The surface morphology shows porous structure with pore sizes of ≅15–30 nm. The volume porosity of a mp-TiO2 thin film is estimated for the first time by using the Volume Average Theory with the experimentally measured effective refractive index of the film, and confirmed by a statistical and 3D interactive method for void volume determination in the cross sectional image of the same film. It is found that this volume porosity varies slightly, from 40.3% to 43.6%, when the spin speed is between 1000 and 2500 rpm. However, the volume porosity is significantly reduced to 33% for a very slow spin speed like 500 rpm. Using these mp-TiO2 thin films as electron transport layers in perovskite solar cells, it is confirmed that the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the cells is a function of both the mp-TiO2 layer thickness and volume porosity, giving the maximum PCE in a cell sample that combines a larger thickness and higher volume porosity.

A comparative study of different chemical modified methods of graphene oxide (GO) synthesis is described, using natural graphite as starting material. The first one (GO-1) is an improved Hummers method without using NaNO3. The second one (GO-2) is the reported “modified Hummers method”. The third one (GO-3) is our variation of the Tour method, in which we use a different protective agent, H3BO3, instead of the commonly used H3PO4 in the original Tour method. With GO-3 method, we are able to reduce significantly the oxidation time of graphite by increasing significantly the amount of oxidizing agent (KMnO4). The fourth one (GO-4) is a combination of GO-2 and GO-3. The properties of GO powders were analyzed by UV–Visible spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, high-resolution scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, X-ray energy dispersive spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction. It is observed that with GO-3 method natural graphite has been highly oxidized and becomes GO with a 9.20 A interlayer space and a carbon to oxygen ratio of about 0.8. The new protective agent has given a good exfoliation, leading double layers of graphene oxide sheets with more intact graphene basal planes. Comparing with the original Tour method, our products from GO-3 method are obtained in much less time of production and show a high-quality of GO sheets with a selected number of layers.

Single atomic Na (Na-SA) was successfully anchored on the surface of carbon nitride nanosheets (CN-NSs) by simple direct calcination of the hydrothermally NaHCO3 pretreated dicyandiamide (DCDA) precursor. The introduction of Na-SA results in the electron transfer from Na to the complex N2C, not only improving the light absorption and increasing the adsorption ability, but also stimulating the separation of charge carriers, which sharply improves the NO removal rate from 36.8% to 52.5%, and prevents the production of toxic NO2 by-product. The excellent photo-stability makes Na-SA/NN-NSs a good candidate photocatalyst for air purification.

In recent years, photodetectors based on organic-inorganic lead halide perovskites have been studied extensively. However, the inclusion of lead in those materials can cause severe human health and environmental problems, which is undesirable for practical applications. Here, we report high-performance photodetectors with a tin-based perovskite/PEDOT:PSS vertical heterojunction. The device demonstrates a broadband photoresponse from NIR to UV. The maximum responsivity and gain are up to 2.6 × 106 A/W and 4.7 × 106, respectively. Moreover, a much shorter response time and higher detectivity can be achieved by reducing the thickness of PEDOT:PSS. The outstanding performance is due to the excellent optoelectronic properties of the perovskite and the photogating effect originating from the heterojunction. Furthermore, devices fabricated on flexible substrates can demonstrate not only high sensitivity but also excellent bending stability. This work opens up the opportunity of using lead-free perovskite in highly sensitive photodetectors with vertical heterojunctions.

Here, we describe the molecular characterization of a novel mycovirus isolated from a phytopathogenic fungus, Alternaria dianthicola, which we have named “Alternaria dianthicola dsRNA virus 1” (AdRV1). AdRV1 has a genome of 3,014 bp that contains two non-overlapping open reading frames (ORF1 and 2) coding for a hypothetical protein and an RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp), respectively. Based on the RdRp, AdRV1 is phylogenetically related to some unclassified dsRNA mycoviruses, including Alternaria longipes dsRNA virus 1, and shows a distant relationship to members of the family Partitiviridae. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of mycovirus infecting A. dianthicola.

To follow up the participants of the randomized clinical trial “Efficacy and Safety of Niaoduqing Particles (尿毒清颗粒) for Delaying Moderate-to-Severe Renal Dysfunction”, and assess the long-term effects of Niaoduqing Particles on delaying the progression of renal dysfunction. Participants, who had previously been randomly assigned to receive Niaoduqing Particles or placebo for 24 weeks (146 cases in each group), were invited to follow-up and all were administered Niaoduqing Particles 5 g thrice daily and 10 g before bedtime for 24 weeks. The primary endpoints were changes in baseline serum creatinine (Scr) and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) after completion of the open-label treatment period. After the double-blind period, the median (interquartile range) changes in Scr were 1.1 (–13.0–24.1) and 11.7 (–2.6–42.9) μmol/L for the Niaoduqing Particle and placebo groups, respectively (P=0.008), and the median changes in eGFRs were–0.2 (–4.3–2.7) and–2.21 (–5.7–0.8) mL•min-1•1.73 m-2, respectively (P=0.016). There were significant differences in the double-blind period changes in renal function between groups. After the open-label period, the median changes in Scr were 9.0 (–10.0–41.9) and 17.5 (–6.0–50.0) μmol/L for the Niaoduqing Particle and placebo groups according to baseline grouping, respectively (P=0.214), and the median changes in eGFRs were–2.3 (–6.4–1.9) and–3.7 (–7.5–1.1) mL•min-1•1.73 m-2, respectively (P=0.134). There were no statistical differences in the open-label period changes in renal function between groups. The eGFR reduction of participants who accepted Niaoduqing Particle treatment for 48 weeks was projected to 2.5 mL•min-1•1.73 m-2 per year. Niaoduqing Particles appear to have long-term efficacy for patients with moderate-to-severe renal dysfunction. Although there was no statistical difference, the early use of Niaoduqing Paticles seems to ameliorate the worsening of renal function. (Trial registration No. ChiCTR-TRC-12002448)

As a typical metal-free layered organic semiconductor photocatalyst, carbon nitride suffers from low light harvesting ability and unsatisfied photocatalytic activity ascribed to insufficient optical absorption and strongly bound exciton. In this paper, we reported the fabrication of a well crystallized carbon nitride with superior visible-light-driven photoreactivity by simply polymerization of dicyandiamide in a closed stainless steel autoclave which is used to afford a high pressure reaction environment. High pressure induced polymerization of dicyandiamide not only prevents the emission of hazardous gas, improving the yield of carbon nitride, but also enhances the crystallization of carbon nitride. The 550 °C calcined sample at high pressure (HP550) extends the interplanar packing distance of layered carbon nitride from 0.676 nm to 0.697 nm while compacts the layered-stacking distance from 0.327 nm to 0.322 nm when compared its counterpart that was synthesized under other identical conditions but at normal pressure (NP550). HP550 exhibits the highest photocatalytic activity towards hydrogen production (772.40 umol−1h−1g−1) under visible light irradiation (λ ≥ 420 nm), which is 7.8 times higher than that of NP550. The drastic improved photocatalytic activity of carbon nitride prepared at high pressure was attributed to the negatively shifted position of conductor band potentials, increased visible-light absorption and efficient separation of charge carriers, benefiting from the reduced π–π layer stacking distance and breaking of intraplanar hydrogen bonds.

The nitrogen/hydrogen (N2/H2) plasma-treated strontium titanate (SrTiO3) crystals with different orientations of (111), (110) and (100) were obtained using microwave plasma chemical vapor deposition, which was proved to be a simple and effective strategy to fundamentally improve the photocatalytic performance. It is found that plasma-treated SrTiO3 crystals exhibit different photocatalytic properties in relation to crystalline anisotropy, plasma types and microwave power. The N: SrTiO3 samples display higher photocatalytic activity compared to the untreated sample and N2/H2-treated sample. The (111) N: SrTiO3 which is treated using N2 plasma of 600 W shows the best photocatalytic performance in the current research. The dopants of nitrogen can serve as electron donors, which introduce impurity states in various positions in the band gap of SrTiO3 and lead to different degrees of modification in electrical conductivity. The enhancement for photocatalytic properties and the effects of N2 plasma treatment on the charge separation and transfer efficiency will be discussed.

Gibberellic acid (GA3) has been known as an important phytohormone signal in plants. Here, we investigated the physiology responses underlying GA3-induced postharvest toon sprout tolerance to chilling stress for 5 d. Results showed that exogenous application of GA3 remarkably decreased the browning and decay index of toon sprout. GA3 treatment prevented anthocyanin breakdown and inhibited the decreases of the total flavonoid, Vitamin C and titratable acidity in toon sprout during postharvest cold storage. In comparison to distilled water treatment, exogenous GA3 application maintained significantly higher levels of reducing sugar, soluble sugar and proline in toon sprout. Meanwhile, GA3 significantly reduced the accumulation of malondialdehyde (MDA) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) in toon sprout. Furthemore, GA3 enhanced the activities of antioxidant enzymes catalase (CAT) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) and reduced those of peroxidase (POD) and polyphenol oxidase (PPO). Taken together, our results suggested that exogenous application of GA3 effectively enhanced postharvest toon sprout tolerance to chilling stress by regulating antioxidant enzymes and weakening lipid peroxidation.

Purpose: To investigate the impact of different hypoxia reoxygenation (HR) times on autophagy of rat cardiomyocytes (H9C2). Methods: Rat cardiomyocytes were randomly divided into normal control group (group A), hypoxia group (group B), 2 h HR group (group C), 12 h HR group (group D), and 24 h HR group (group E). LC3 II/LC3 I was determined via western blotting, and cell viabilities of cardiomyocytes were measured using methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium (MTT) assay. Results: Cell viabilities in HR model groups were significantly lower than those of group A (P

Bismuth sulfide (Bi2S3) is a promising semiconductor for optoelectronic applications. In this work we show that different morphologies of Bi2S3 such as nanofibers, nanorods or nano-hedgehogs, can be obtained by microwave assisted solution synthesis. The morphology of the products largely depends on the bismuth salt sources that manifest different dissociation kinetics. Nanofibers of highly crystalline Bi2S3 are formed with the slowly dissociated BiCl3, whereas the morphology of “urchin” type is obtained with highly ionic Bi(NO3)3. On the other hand, the size of those nanostructures is mostly determined by the thermodynamic parameters of the synthesis, such as the type of solvents, the solution pH, the reaction temperature and the solution concentration. Total diffuse reflectance spectra of the Bi2S3 products suggest a direct band-gap of 1.3 eV with absorption coefficients as a function of the synthesis process. It demonstrates that the morphology of semiconductor nanostructures of Bi2S3 can be modified by controlling the reaction kinetics during the nucleation process in microwave synthesis.

Interface losses at metal/organic interface is a critical issue in organic electronic devices. The interfacial layers play a significant role in enhancing the device performance and the interfacial material design criteria are ongoing challenges to be faced in optimization the device performance. In this work, a simple Phenanthroline derivative Phen-I was synthesized through a quaternization reaction in a high yield without complicated purification process. Besides its good wettability and compatibility of the contact between metal electrode and organic layer, interestingly, Phen-I displays a dual functional property, i.e., it not only lowers the work function of the metallic cathode to increase electron extraction but also can be doped into electron transporting material to enhance the conductivity. The inverted perovskite solar cells (PSCs) with Phen-I as cathode interlayer (CIL) show superior performance both in power conversion efficiency, with a maximum PCE of 18.13%, and devices stability as compared with the control devices. Encouragingly, the best PCE of 19.27% was obtained when the perovskite layer based on FA0.3MA0.7PbI2.7Cl0.3 perovskite system. Meanwhile, the devices with Phen-I as CIL show low J-V hysteresis during the forward and reverse bias sweeping. Subsequent studies demonstrate that the performance of the inverted PSCs also improves to 15.25% using 5% Phen-I:PC61BM as electron transporting layer (ETL). Herein, the interface between the metal electrode and ETL is carefully investigated using a series of electrical and surface potential techniques. These results demonstrate that Phen-I is a dual-functional interlayer material to reduce interface losses, which, highlights the broad promise of this new class of materials for applications in organic electronic devices. Meanwhile, owing to the simple molecular structure, low-cost and solution processible, these intriguing features render Phen-I more suitable for efficient organic electronics in large area printing process.

This work presents the development of a formulation for the synthesis of Pb1-xSnxS thin films by chemical bath deposition. The success of this formulation is due to the high miscibility between lead sulfide (PbS) and tin (II) sulfide (SnS). By adding different concentrations of a Pb2+ ions solution to a Sn2+ S2− formulation, we obtain Pb1-xSnxS films with different Pb/Sn ratio. The presence of Pb2+ in those films is confirmed by X-ray energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Structural analysis by X-ray diffraction (XDR) shows a crystalline phase change from an SnS orthorhombic structure (00.00 mmol Pb2+) to a solid solution where the orthorhombic and cubic structures coexist (30.00 mmol Pb2+), and finally reaching the formation of a cubic PbS structure. Changes in the morphology of the films are observed together with the incorporation of Pb2+ ions in the films, reducing the size of nano-flakes and becoming a more compact layer, leading to a decrease in the film thickness from 370 nm (00.00 mmol Pb2+) to 96 nm (50.00 mmol Pb2+). The decrease of the energy band gap (Eg) of the samples from 1.92 to 1.38 eV with the increase of the Pb2+ concentration is also observed, obtaining wide absorption spectra from visible to near-infrared.

Thermoelectric (TE) composites are emerging materials with unique capability to directly convert heat to electricity. Poly(2,5-bis(3-alkylthiophen-2-yl)thieno[3,2-b]thiophene) (PBTTT) has received increasing attention for TE application. Relative to inorganic counterparts, organic polymers and their composites have various advantages of low heat conductivity , element richness and high adjustability in both molecular structure and processing method. In particular, PBTTT can be processed by both solution and melting techniques. In this review, we focus on the recent progress of PBTTT TE composites. The synthesis technique and PBTTT's basic properties are firstly introduced. Then, the TE performance of the neat PBTTT are discussed. After that, we mainly summarised the recent advances in PBTTT TE composites with carbon nanotubes or graphene as the inorganic constituents. Finally, the research challenges and future prospects are outlooked.

Interfacial modification of perovskite solar cells (PSCs) with solution-processed zwitterionic materials is an attractive approach to improving device efficiency and stability. However, zwitterionic molecules for multifunctional modification in PSCs have been rarely reported. In this work, a zwitterionic unit is introduced as an acceptor group in a new n-type π-conjugated zwitterion, IT-IN. This newly developed interfacial material can not only act as a high-quality electron transport layers (ETLs) but also enable effective defect passivation of a perovskite film, to reduce the trap densities inside it. By incorporating IT-IN between Ag cathode and PC61BM to constitute a bilayer ETLs, a significant improvement in power conversion efficiency (PCE) of inverted PSCs from 16.68% to 19.60% is achieved. Furthermore, after introducing IT-IN into perovskite films as passivation agent, the PCE of the PSCs is further enhanced to 21.24%. In addition, our fabricated PSCs exhibit excellent stability in air because of the dual-interfacial modification. This work provides new insights on the design and application of multifunctional interface material for efficient and low-cost PSCs.

Background: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) with moderate-to-severe renal dysfunction usually exhibits an irreversible course, and available treatments for delaying the progression to end-stage renal disease are limited. This study aimed to assess the efficacy and safety of the traditional Chinese medicine, Niaoduqing particles, for delaying renal dysfunction in patients with stage 3b-4 CKD. Methods: The present study was a prospective, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicenter clinical trial. From May 2013 to December 2013, 300 CKD patients with an estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) between 20 and 45 ml·min −1 ·1.73 m −2 , aged 18–70 years were recruited from 22 hospitals in 11 Chinese provinces. Patients were randomized in a 1:1 ratio to either a test group, which was administered Niaoduqing particles 5 g thrice daily and 10 g before bedtime for 24 weeks, or a control group, which was administered a placebo using the same methods. The primary endpoints were changes in baseline serum creatinine (Scr) and eGFR after completion of treatment. The primary endpoints were analyzed using Student's t -test or Wilcoxon's rank-sum test. The present study reported results based on an intention-to-treat (ITT) analysis. Results: A total of 292 participants underwent the ITT analysis. At 24 weeks, the median (interquartile range) change in Scr was 1.1 (−13.0–24.1) and 11.7 (−2.6–42.9) μmol/L for the test and control groups, respectively ( Z = 2.642, P = 0.008), and the median change in eGFR was −0.2 (−4.3–2.7) and −2.2 (−5.7–0.8) ml·min −1 ·1.73 m −2 , respectively ( Z = −2.408, P = 0.016). There were no significant differences in adverse events between the groups. Conclusions: Niaoduqing particles safely and effectively delayed CKD progression in patients with stage 3b-4 CKD. This traditional Chinese medicine may be a promising alternative medication for patients with moderate-to-severe renal dysfunction. Trial Registration: Chinese Clinical Trial Register, ChiCTR-TRC-12002448; http://www.chictr.org.cn/showproj.aspx?proj=7102 .

In this work, the structure-property relationship of fused-ring electron acceptors is briefly discussed and the principle of molecular design is presented. Based on this principle, perylene diimide (PDI) was cracked by inserting thiophene and thieno[3,2- b ]thiophene (TT) to design and synthesize a novel A-D-A (acceptor-donor-acceptor) small molecule DNIT-TT2T, which served as a non-fullerene acceptor material in our fabricated organic solar cells (OSCs). DNIT-TT2T shows excellent thermal stability, it possesses a broad absorption by covering the wavelength range of 300–600 nm and relatively high LUMO energy level of −3.75 eV, which is close to the theoretically calculated value. The power conversion efficiency (PCE) of OSCs based on the blend of P3HT donor and DNIT-TT2T acceptor (1:1, w/w) is found to be 1.25%, with a high open-circuit voltage ( V oc ) of 0.88 V, indicating that 1,8-naphthalimide (NI) based molecules are promising acceptors for non-fullerene polymer solar cells and excellent photovoltaic properties can be achieved by rationally designing the molecules.

BACKGROUND Cyclic aromatic disulfides (CAD) can be used as cross-linking agents or precursors for the synthesis of high temperature resistant polymers such as poly(phenylene disulfides) (PPD). Chemical synthesis of CAD relies on the use of corrosive agents, detrimental for the environment. This paper reports an environment friendly chemoenzymatic procedure to obtain PPD starting from simple aromatic dithiols. RESULTS The enzymatic reaction was carried out in an aqueous mixture with acetonitrile as co-solvent, using 1,4- and 1,3-benzenedithiol as monomers and a fungal laccase (EC 1.10.3.2) as catalyst. The products obtained were identified as mainly cyclic aromatic disulfides. Thermal analysis suggested that the enzymatically-synthesized CAD display thermal stability and are amenable precursors of high molecular weight sulfur-containing polymers through solvent-free, melt ring opening polymerization (mROP). After mROP, polymeric molecules around 12.8 kDa were obtained and identified as PPD. The resultant PPD shows uniform size, resistance to temperatures up to 400 °C and electrical insulating properties. CONCLUSION Laccase-catalyzed synthesis of CAD represents a novel reaction, not previously described elsewhere for oxidoreductases. A 100% substrate conversion was achieved under mild reaction conditions and no over-oxidation of CAD was observed, representing an advantage over chemical synthesis. The CAD products precipitated completely from the reaction medium, thus simplifying the purification process. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry

In inverted planar heterojunction (PHJ) perovskite solar cells (PSCs), the interface layer between the electron transporting layer and the cathode plays a very important role in achieving high power efficiency. Herein, we present the synthesis of a new water/alcohol soluble small molecular cationic compound based on the naphthalene diimide functionalized pyridinium salt, N,N′-bis(1-n-hexylpyridinium-4-ylmethyl)-1,4,5,8-naphthalenetetracarboxydiimide (PN6). PN6 exhibits a large band gap (2.95 eV), high electron mobility (7.1 × 10−5 cm2 V−1 s−1), deep LUMO energy level (−4.07 eV) and can easily form highly transparent thin films. By introducing it as a cathode interface layer in PHJ PSCs, PN6 can effectively decrease the work function of the cathode, boosting all the photovoltaic parameters of the fabricated devices. By using PN6 in the ITO/NiOx/perovskite/PC61BM/PN6/Ag device structure, a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 17.27% is obtained. Moreover, it is observed that the performance of PHJ PSCs with the PN6 interface layer is insensitive to the interlayer thickness and even at a thickness of 30 nm; the PCE of the device can still reach up to 15.37%, which makes it compatible with large-area roll-to-roll processing technology. These results demonstrate that the naphthalene diimide functionalized pyridinium salt can be a new category of water/alcohol soluble cathode interface material for high performance PHJ PSCs.

Tetracene, one of the polyacene derivatives, shows eminent optical and electronic properties with relatively high stability. To take advantage of the intrinsic properties of the tetracene molecule and explore new semiconductors, herein, we report the design and synthesis of two novel p-channel tetracene derivatives, 2-(4-dodecyl-phenyl)-tetracene (C12-Ph-TET) and 2-phenyl-tetracene (Ph-TET). Top contact OTFTs were fabricated using these two materials as semiconductor layers, with charge mobilities up to 1.80 cm2 V−1 s−1 and 1.08 cm2 V−1 s−1, respectively. Our molecular modeling results indicate that the introduction of phenyl into tetracene can improve the efficient charge transport in electronic devices as a result of the increased electronic coupling between the two neighboring planes of the molecules. AFM images of the thermally evaporated thin films of these two materials show large grains, which correspond to the high mobilities of these devices. Consequently, the mobility of our OTFTs based on C12-Ph-TET is the highest for OTFTs based on tetracene derivatives reported to date. The single crystal analyses show the existence of π–π stacking interactions within the molecules with the introduction of mono-phenyl substituents, which is the main cause of the increased mobility. The impressive properties of these two materials indicate that the introduction of alkyl-phenyl and phenyl group could be an excellent method to improve the properties of the organic semiconductor materials.

Thieno[3,2-b]thiophene (TT) monomers end-capped with 3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene (EDOT) moieties are electropolymerized to form π-conjugated polymers with distinct electrochromic (EC) properties. Steric and electronic factors (electron donor and acceptor substituents) in the side groups of the TT core, as well as the structure of the polymer backbone strongly affect the electrochemical and optical properties of the polymers and their electrochromic characteristics. The studied polymers show low oxidation potentials, tunable from–0.78 to +0.30 V (vs. Fc/Fc+) and the band gaps from 1.46 to 1.92 eV and demonstrate wide variety of color palettes in polymer films in different states, finely tunable by structural variations in the polymer backbone and the side chains. EC materials of different colors in their doped/dedoped states have been developed (violet, deep blue, light blue, green, brown, purple-red, pinkish-red, orange-red, light gray, cyan and colorless transparent). High optical contrast (up to 79%), short response time (0.57–0.80 s), good cycling stability (up to 91% at 2000 cycles) and high coloration efficiency (up to 234.6 cm2 C–1) have been demonstrated and the influence of different factors on the above parameters of EC polymers have been discussed.

Solid state semiconductor sensitized solar cells are a very active research subject in emerging photovoltaic technologies. In this work, heterojunctions of antimony sulfide-selenide (Sb 2 (S x Se 1−x ) 3 ) solid solution as the absorbing material and cadmium sulfide coated titanium dioxide (TiO 2 /CdS) as the electron conductor have been developed with solution deposition methods such as spin-coating, successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR), and chemical bath deposition. In particular, CdS has been deposited on mesoporous TiO 2 layers by SILAR deposition, followed by the chemical deposition of Sb 2 (S x Se 1−x ) 3 . It was found that by increasing the number of CdS SILAR deposition, both the open circuit voltage V oc and the short circuit current density J sc of the Sb 2 (S x Se 1−x ) 3 sensitized solar cells had been increased from 153 to 434 mV and 0.77–9.73 mA/cm 2 , respectively. This improvement was attributed to the fact that the presence of the CdS on TiO 2 surface reduces the formation of undesired Sb 2 O 3 and promotes a better nucleation of the Sb 2 (S x Se 1−x ) 3 during the chemical bath deposition. The best result was obtained for the solar cell with 30 cycles of CdS which produced a V oc of 434 mV, a J sc of 9.73 mA/cm 2 , and a power conversion efficiency of 1.69% under AM1.5 G solar radiation.

TRAF2 is a crucial adaptor protein involved in various signaling pathways. However, its biological functions in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) remain largely unknown. In the present study, we found that TRAF2 was overexpressed in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) cells. Knockdown of TRAF2 with shRNA significantly suppressed NPC cell proliferation and colony formation. The growth of xenograft tumor significantly reduced after TRAF2 was silenced. Conversely, the ectopic overexpression of TRAF2 significantly promoted cell proliferation and anchorage-independent growth. In TRAF2 knockdown cells, EGF-induced activation of transcriptional factors, including MSK1, CREB, and ATF2, markedly decreased. Accordingly, the transcriptional activity of AP-1 was substantially decreased in TRAF2-deficient cells. With the suppression of gene transcription, the expression of cyclin D1 was significantly impaired, which gave rise to the G0/G1 cell cycle arrest. Moreover, the overexpression of TRAF2 in NPC cells was associated with resistance to irradiation, and the potency of irradiation was substantially enhanced after TRAF2 was knocked down. Briefly, our studies demonstrated that TRAF2 had a crucial role in NPC development, and it might be of great potential to targeting TRAF2 for NPC prevention and treatment.

Mo-La alloy powders were all prepared by a novel nanoparticle spray doping technology and a conventional solid–liquid spraying technology respectively. Mo-La alloy powders were fabricated into 1.8 mm-diameter wires by powder metallurgy and thermomechanical processing. The mechanical properties of these wires were determined at room temperature and 1773 K, their microstructures observed by transmission electron microscope (TEM). The results show that with the same addition of doped elements, the comprehensive mechanical properties of Mo-La alloy synthesized by the nanosized powder spray doping technology were about 50% higher than those of the conventional solid–liquid doping process. The results attribute to the reason that the nanoparticle spray doping technology is liable to provide much more La 2 O 3 particles compared with the conventional solid–liquid doping process, and that the particles, whose sizes are three orders smaller than that of the solid–liquid doping process, are much more homogeneously distributed in the intragranular and intergranular molybdenum substrates. The excellent dispersion strengthening effects of the novel doping technology were quantitatively analyzed by Fisher theory.

A hetero-organelle partition and lysosome activable sensor was developed for fluorogenic detection of mitochondrial depolarization in autophagy and cell death., Malfunctioning organelles are often difficult to probe with classical organelle-homing sensors owing to disruption of physiological organelle-probe affinity. We herein report the use of a responsive hetero-organelle partition and signal activable probe (RC-TPP) for detecting mitochondrial depolarization, a pathologically relevant event featuring loss of the electrical potentials across the mitochondrial membrane (ΔΨ m). Partitioned in mitochondria to give blue fluorescence, RC-TPP relocates into lysosomes upon mitochondrial depolarization and exhibits red fluorescence triggered by lysosomal acidity, enabling determination of autophagy relevant mitochondrial depolarization and the chronological sequence of mitochondrial depolarization and lysosomal neutralization in distinct cell death signalling pathways. As an alternative to classic homo-organelle specific molecular systems, this hetero-organelle responsive approach provides a new perspective from which to study dysfunctional organelles.

Dissociative photoionization of 1,2-epoxyoctane was investigated by synchrotron radiation vacuum ultraviolet photons in the energy region of 9.8–16.6 eV under ultrasonic molecular beam. Dissociative fragment ions were measured with reflection time-of-flight mass spectrometer at different photon energies. Appearance potentials of the dominative ion fragments were determined through photoionization efficiency curves. The structures and energies of the parent, ionized and neutral radicals were obtained with G3 calculations. Through comparing the experimental results with the theoretical calculations, we proposed the dissociative channels for the photoionization of 1,2-epoxyoctane.

Display Omitted The susceptibility difference between HLA isotypes to allergic rhinitis is investigated.Different HLA isotypes have a low sequence conservation but a high structural similarity.HLA-DR is found to tightly bind AR allergen-derived peptides as compared to HLA-DP and -DQ.HLA-DR is expected to closely associate with the pathological process of AR. The human leukocyte antigen class II (HLA II) molecules are implicated in the immunopathogenesis of allergic rhinitis (AR). The HLA II contains three allelic isotypes HLA-DR, -DQ, and -QP that exhibit considerably different susceptibility to AR. Here, we investigated the structural basis and energetic landscape of the susceptibility difference between the three HLA II isotypes to AR by combining computational analysis and experimental assay. Multiple sequence alignment revealed a low conservation among the three subtypes with sequence identity of ~10% between them, suggesting that the peptide repertoires presented by HLA-DR, -DP and -DQ are not overlapped to each other, and they may be involved in different immune functions and dysfunctions. Structural analysis imparted that the antigenic peptides are rooted on the peptide-binding groove of HLA molecules and hold in a PPII-like helical conformation. Subsequently, the interaction behavior of 17 AR allergen-derived peptides with HLA-DR, -DP and -DQ was investigated using a statistics-based quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) predictor. It was found a significant difference between the binding capabilities of these antigenic peptides to HLA-DR and to HLA-DP/-DQ; the former showed a generally higher affinity than the latter with p-value of 0.02 obtained from 2-tailed Student's t-test. The computational findings were then confirmed by HLA II-peptide stability assay, which demonstrated that the AR allergen-derived peptides have a high in vitro selectivity for HLA-DR over HLA-DP/-DQ. Thus, the HLA-DR isotype, rather than HLA-DP and -DQ, is expected to associate with the pathological process of AR.

In this work, we report a solution processible diketopyrrolopyrrole anthracene based diblock copolymer synthesized via a rapid direct C–H arylation coupling method. After optimizing the combination of solvent and thermol annealing process, we investigated the characteristics of this di-block low band gap copolymer used as a donor part in bulk hetero-junction solar cells. The influence of the polymer:fullerene ratio (PDPP-ANT:PC61BM) and annealing conditions on the photo active film nanomorphology and device performance has been studied in detail. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) reveal that the resulting film morphology strongly depends on the fullerene ratio before heat treatment. Power conversion efficiencies increase, more than four-fold, to 1.7% for regular architectures with high Voc (0.73 V), Jsc (4.75 mA cm−2) and FF (49.0%), compared with the unannealed device 0.37% (with Voc (0.54 V), Jsc (1.83 mA cm−2), FF (37.8%)). Furthermore, the two broad absorption bands of the PDPP-ANT materials show their potential to be applied in ternary polymer solar cells and tandem polymer solar cells.

In the study, SnS decorated TiO2 nanorods/nanosheets (SnS/TiO2 NRs/NSs) photoelectrode was successfully fabricated as photoactivator of peroxymonosulfate (PMS) for organic pollutants elimination via hydrothermal reaction, followed by successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR) method. The result of scanning electron microscope suggested that SnS nanoparticles with sizes varying from 20 to 50 nm were uniformly decorated on the surface of TiO2 NRs/NSs to form a nano-heterojunction. Moreover, we also evaluated the catalytic degradation performance of SnS/TiO2 NRs/NSs photoactivator through PMS activation system for decomposition of rhodamine B (RhB), tartrazine (TTZ), 4-chlorophenol (4-CP), methylene blue (MB), sulfamethoxazole (SMZ), Ibuprofen (IBP), and ciprofloxacin (CIP). Results suggested that SnS/TiO2 NRs/NSs photoelectrode showed higher catalytic degradation efficiency compared with other reaction systems, which was mainly ascribed to intense light response, lower recombination rate of electron-hole pairs and synergistic effect of PMS. Moreover, the possible catalytic degradation mechanism of the constructed catalyst/light/PMS system was proposed and confirmed. Finally, the SnS/TiO2 NRs/NSs/Light/PMS system possessed well reusability and wide adaptability.

In this work, we report a feasible and versatile method to synthesize bis(N1, N1, N3, N3-tetraphenylbenzene-1,3-diamine) (TPDA) group as a donor group for OLEDs. A series of novel tetraphenyl-diamine-phenyl end-capped anthracene derivatives, 5-(anthracene-9-yl)-N1, N1, N3, N3-tetraphenylbenzene-1,3-diamine (TPDAAn), N1, N1, N3, N3-tetraphenyl-5-(10-phenylanthracen-9-yl)benzene-1,3-diamine (TPDAPhAn), 5,5'-(anthracene-9,10-diyl)bis(N1, N1, N3, N3-tetraphenylbenzene-1,3-diamine) (dTPDAAn) were synthesized through a facile route. The doped devices based on TPDAAn, TPDAPhAn and dTPDAAn exhibit high EQE up to 4.01% and deep-blue emission with CIE coordinates of (0.15, 0.05), which fully meet the requirements of European Broadcasting Union (EBU) standard blue CIE coordinates of (0.15, 0.06). The non-doped devices based on TPDAAn and TPDAPhAn also display efficient deep-blue emission with CIEy coordinates of 0.08, matching very well with the National Television System Committee (NTSC) standard blue CIEy coordinate for display applications. More importantly, the non-doped devices show extremely low driving voltages (Von ≤ 2.7 V), making them one of the lowest driving voltage devices with CIEy ≤ 0.8.

For efficient usage of visible light, Pd loading graphitic carbon nitride (Pd/g-C3N4) hybrids were synthesized and peroxymonosulfate (PMS) was accompanied to improve the photoactivities of Pd/g-C3N4. The photocatalytic system consisting of Pd/g-C3N4, PMS and visible light (Pd/g-C3N4-PMS-Vis) exhibited higher bezafibrate (BZF) removal efficiency than Pd/g-C3N4-PMS, Pd/g-C3N4-Vis, g-C3N4-PMS, g-C3N4-Vis, and g-C3N4-PMS-Vis systems, which can be ascribed to the electron transfer from Pd/g-C3N4 to PMS. Density functional theory (DFT) calculation proved that the chemical bond interaction forming between Pd and g-C3N4 inspired the electron excitation, separation and transportation. Meanwhile, Pd particles with local surface plasma resonance (LSPR) phenomenon could also enhance the visible light adsorption. Notably, the photocurrent response of Pd/g-C3N4 was significantly improved with PMS, demonstrating the photoinduced electrons on Pd/g-C3N4 are capable to immigrate to PMS. The added PMS can perform as electron acceptors, thus favoring the quantum efficiency of photoinduced charge carriers to form SO4− . The BZF degradation mechanism was clarified by the addition of different scavengers and the major reaction active species were hydroxyl radicals (OH ) and sulfate radical (SO4− ). Four possible pathways in the degradation of BZF were also put forward via LC-MS/MS analysis (R-oxy substituent, oxidation dichlorination, OH-addition and oxidation deaminization). In the 2%Pd/g-C3N4-PMS-Vis system, an obvious decrease of genetic toxicity was observed because of the high removal efficiency and final low concentration of BZF. The results of this research underlined great prospective of Pd/g-C3N4 catalysts and provided a potential approach to photocatalytically remedy the polluted water by micropollutants.

Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is one of the most common microvascular complications associated with diabetes mellitus (DM); the incidence has been predicted to reach 7.7% by 2030 on a global scale. Krüppel-like factor 5 (KLF5) is involved in numerous important biological processes; however, the potential effects of KLF5 on podocytes in patients with diabetic nephrotic (DN) have not yet been investigated. In the present study, synaptopodin expression in podocytes was investigated using an immunofluorescence assay. Following this, the proliferation of podocytes was investigated using an MTT assay. In addition, KLF5 was overexpressed in podocytes, and cell cycle arrest and apoptosis was subsequently investigated using flow cytometry. Western blotting and reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction assays were performed to detect the expression levels of genes involved in the cell cycle and apoptosis, and the extracellular signal-regulated protein kinase (ERK)/p38 mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase pathway. The results demonstrated that treatment with puromycin aminonucleoside (PAN) suppressed the proliferation of podocytes in a dose- and time-dependent manner, and overexpression of KLF5 induced cell cycle arrest of podocytes regulated by PAN. Furthermore, overexpression of KLF5 was revealed to have inhibited PAN-induced apoptosis of podocytes, and that overexpression of KLF5 suppressed the ERK/p38 MAP kinase pathway in podocytes induced by PAN. Therefore, the results of the present study suggested that KLF5 may represent a potential therapeutic target for treatment of patients with DN.

Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is by far the most common cause of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) in industrial countries, accounting for ~45% of all new ESRD cases in the United States. Grape seed proanthocyanidin extracts (GSPE) are powerful antioxidants, with an antioxidant ability 50-fold greater than that of vitamin E and 20-fold greater than that of vitamin C. The present study investigated whether GSPE can protect against streptozotocin (STZ)-induced DN and aimed to elucidate a possible mechanism. Male Sprague Dawley rats were randomly divided into three groups: Control group (N), diabetes mellitus group (DM) injected with 40 mg/kg STZ, and the GSPE treatment group (intragastric administration of 250 mg/kg/day GSPE for 16 weeks after diabetes was induced in the rats). Blood and kidney samples were collected after treatment. The renal pathological changes were determined with periodic acid-Schiff (PAS) staining, while the protein expression levels of glucose-regulated protein 78 (GRP78), phosphorylated-extracellular signal-regulated kinase (p-ERK) and Caspase-12 were determined by western blotting and immunohistochemical staining. Apoptosis was determined with a terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick-end labeling (TUNEL) assay. Compared with the DM group, the GSPE group had no significant changes in the blood urea nitrogen (BUN) level and serum creatinine (Scr) level, but showed a significant decline in the renal index (RI) level and 24-h urinary albumin level (P

Organic/inorganic composite fibers are materials that have shown possible applications in diverse areas. A well-known technique for incorporating metal sulfides into polymer fibers is a gas–solid reaction between a polymer/(metal salt) material and H 2 S gas. Since the methods available in literature to perform this gas–solid reaction are not well described as well as for the concern of the toxicity of the H 2 S gas, the design of a safer but economical and effective method for the reaction involving this neurotoxic reactant is indispensable. Thus, to meet the above, in this paper a low-cost, rapid, safer, and recycling-favoring method is fully described to prepare PVP/CdS composite fibers by means of a gas–solid reaction between PVP/CdCl 2 and H 2 S vapor. For this, the PVP/CdCl 2 composite fibers were first produced by the electrospinning technique, followed by the exposure to H 2 S vapor inside a sealed chamber to rapidly form the CdS compound in the original composite fibers. The H 2 S vapor was produced from a supersaturated H 2 S solution, which resulted from the reaction between a Na 2 S solution already contained in said chamber and an HCl solution injected later; therefore, this reaction was done without having to open the reaction chamber. After the production of the PVP/CdS products, the remaining H 2 S is neutralized with a NaOH solution injected into the chamber to produce Na 2 S again, which is capable of being reused in subsequent sulfidation reactions, and thus preventing environmental contamination. The entire process resulted in PVP/CdS composite material having a core/shell type structure, in which the PVP fibers were coated with ~29 nm size CdS nanoparticles formed by nanocrystals of about 12.8 nm and preferentially ordered in the hexagonal crystalline structure, as deduced from X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy measurements; the Fourier transform infrared measurements revealed the existence of chemical interactions between the CdS nanoparticles and the carbonyl groups of PVP. The whole process described above could be applied to incorporate other metal sulfides into different types of polymer fibers.