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Abstract: Novel nickel oxides with controlled crystalline size and fibrous shape were successfully prepared by precipitation of nickel acetate and sodium carbonate aqueous solution with the mediation of ethylene glycol. The precipitation media and temperature were found to play crucial roles in determining the crystalline size and shape of the nickel oxides. The NiO prepared in the aqueous solutions exhibited mainly spherical particles with few nanorods, whereas the NiO samples prepared in the solution of ethylene glycol could be of spherical, fibrous, or nanorod shape, depending on the precipitation temperature. In particular, the nickel hydroxide precipitate obtained in the solution of ethylene glycol at 393 K was α-Ni(OH)2 with hydrotalcite-like structures; further calcination of this precipitate at 573–1073 K resulted in the formation of nickel oxides with similar fibrous shapes and crystalline size of 3.0–8.1 nm. Similar metallic Ni crystalline size of about 11 nm and fibrous structure were obtained by reduction of these NiO samples with hydrogen at 773 K. When further exposed to the reaction of methane decomposition, the metallic Ni crystallines still exhibited similar evolution behavior and rapidly stabilized at the critical size of 17–18 nm. Consequently, very close catalytic activities for methane decomposition over these novel Ni catalysts were observed with the carbon yields of 354–398 gC/gNi. The Ni crystallines departed from the fibrous structures and gradually aggregated into particles by the dissociation of the deposited carbons. These nickel particles were then highly dispersed on the in situ produced carbon, which can inhibit the further growth of nickel particle. As a result, the initial fibrous structure morphology of the metallic nickel was gradually turned into pear-like shapes. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: MnO x –CeO2 mixed oxides prepared by sol–gel method, coprecipitation method and modified coprecipitation method were investigated for the complete oxidation of formaldehyde. Structure analysis by H2-TPR and XPS revealed that there were more Mn4+ species and richer lattice oxygen on the surface of the catalyst prepared by the modified coprecipitation method than those of the catalysts prepared by sol–gel and coprecipitation methods, resulting in much higher catalytic activity toward complete oxidation of formaldehyde. The effect of calcination temperature on the structural features and catalytic behavior of the MnO x –CeO2 mixed oxides prepared by the modified coprecipitation was further examined, and the catalyst calcined at 773K showed 100% formaldehyde conversion at a temperature as low as 373K. For the samples calcined below 773K, no any diffraction peak corresponding to manganese oxides could be detected by XRD measurement due to the formation of MnO x –CeO2 solid solution. While the diffraction peaks corresponding to MnO2 phase in the samples calcined above 773K were clearly observed, indicating the occurrence of phase segregation between MnO2 and CeO2. Accordingly, it was supposed that the strong interaction between MnO x and CeO2, which depends on the preparation route and the calcination temperature, played a crucial role in determining the catalytic activity toward the complete oxidation of formaldehyde. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: A comprehensive study of the low-temperature oxidation of CO was conducted over Pd/TiO2, Pd/CeO2, and Pd/CeO2–TiO2 pretreated by a series of calcination and reduction processes. The catalysts were characterized by N2 adsorption, XRD, H2 chemisorption, and diffuse-reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy. The results indicated that Pd/CeO2–TiO2 has the highest activity among these catalysts, whether in the calcined state or in the reduced state. The activity of all of the catalysts can be improved significantly by the pre-reduction, and it seems that the reduction at low temperature (LTR, 150 °C) is more effective than that at high temperature (HTR, 500 °C), especially for Pd/CeO2 and Pd/TiO2. The catalysts with various supports and pretreatments are also different in the reaction mechanisms for CO oxidation at low temperature. Over Pd/TiO2, the reaction may proceed through a surface reaction between the weakly adsorbed CO and oxygen (Langmuir–Hinshelwood). For Ce-containing catalysts, however, an alteration of reaction mechanism with temperature and the involvement of the oxygen activation at different sites were observed, and the light-off profiles of the calcined Pd/CeO2 and Pd/CeO2–TiO2 show a distortion before CO conversion achieves 100%. At low temperature, CO oxidation proceeds mainly via the reaction between the adsorbed CO on Pd0 sites and the lattice oxygen of surface CeO2 at the Pd–Ce interface, whereas at high temperature it proceeds via the reaction between the adsorbed CO and oxygen. The high activity of Pd/CeO2–TiO2 for the low-temperature CO oxidation was probably due to the enhancements of both CO activation, caused by the facilitated reduction of Pd2+ to Pd0, and oxygen activation, through the improvement of the surface oxygen supply and the oxygen vacancies formation. The reduction pretreatment enhances metal–support interactions and oxygen vacancy formation and hence improves the activity of CO oxidation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The reduction and oxidation features of nanostructured CuO/CeO2 catalysts prepared by the deposition–precipitation method were extensively investigated by TPR, FT-IR and in situ XPS techniques. Both the chemical states of copper and the reduction degree of ceria could be well controlled during the reduction with hydrogen by adjusting the temperature. Noticeably, the fully reduced Cu0 could be further oxidized into Cu+ in hydrogen by increasing the reduction temperature through the interaction between Cu0 and lattice oxygen of ceria immigrating to the surface. Structure–reactivity relationship was established between the structural features of CuO/CeO2 formed during the pre-reduction with hydrogen and its catalytic activities for CO oxidation. It was observed that reduction with hydrogen at 473–573K, which leads to the full presence of metallic copper in the catalyst, gives rise to higher CO conversion. These phenomena were interpreted in terms of the reduction degrees of ceria, the changes of surface morphology and the chemical states of copper species. The interface oxygen activation as well as its transfer from the interface to the adsorbed reactant was found to play decisive roles in determining the reaction rate of CO oxidation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The structural features and catalytic properties of Pt–Sn/CeO2 catalysts prepared by modified polyol method were extensively investigated for the complete oxidation of ethanol. CO chemisorption, TPR, DTA and XPS measurements identically indicated that the electronic configuration of Pt by Sn as well as the formation of PtSn alloy were the key factors in determining the nature of the active sites. A strong Pt/Sn atomic ratio dependence of catalytic performances was observed, which was explained in terms of the changes in the surface structure of metal phases and the electronic Pt–Sn interaction. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The production of hydrogen from oxidative steam reforming of methanol has been tested for Ce0.9Cu0.1OY catalysts. The catalysts were prepared by deposition–precipitation (dp), coprecipitation (cp), and complexation–combustion (cc) methods. These catalysts were characterized using BET, TEM, X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Raman spectroscopy. A solid solution was formed in the Ce0.9Cu0.1OY prepared by complexation–combustion. The incorporation of Cu atoms into CeO2 lattice leads to an increase of oxygen vacancy. XPS results indicated that the Cu+ is the main Cu species for the Ce0.9Cu0.1OY-cc sample and the synergistic function between Cu2+/Cu+ and Ce4+/Ce3+ occurred in the redox cycle, which is the reason for lower reduction temperatures and improved redox properties as shown in TPR profiles. In the case of the Ce0.9Cu0.1OY-cp and Ce0.9Cu0.1OY-dp samples, most CuO dispersed on the CeO2; the poor interaction between CuO and CeO2 does not affect redox properties of CeO2. Methanol conversions higher than 85% with 90% hydrogen yield were obtained for Ce0.9Cu0.1OY-cc from the oxidative steam reforming of methanol at 240 °C. However, the catalysts prepared by coprecipitation and the deposition–precipitation method showed methanol conversion lower than 30% at 240 °C, and less than 60% even at 360 °C. The high catalytic activity of Ce0.9Cu0.1OY-cc is mainly related to the formation of solid solution and the improved redox properties. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

CuO/CeO2 catalysts prepared by co-precipitation, deposition-precipitation and impregnation methods were extensively investigated for CO oxidation reaction. It was shown that the catalytic behaviors of CuO/CeO2 catalysts greatly depended on the preparation routes, which caused significant differences in the redox properties and the dispersion of copper species. The remarkable redox ability of CuO/CeO2 at lower temperatures was found to play an essential role in CO oxidation reaction. The catalysts prepared by co-precipitation exhibited the highest catalytic activity in CO oxidation with CO total conversion at 85 °C. The structural characters as well as the redox features of CuO/CeO2 catalysts were comparatively investigated by XRD, TPR, cyclic voltammetry and XPS measurements. The discrepancies in the dispersion of copper species and the degree of interaction between copper species and ceria determined the reversible redox properties, and consequently the catalytic performance. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The catalysts Pd/TiO2, Pd/CeO2, and Pd/CeO2–TiO2 for CO oxidation at low temperature together with their corresponding supports TiO2, CeO2, and CeO2–TiO2 prepared by sol–gel precipitation followed by supercritical fluid drying were characterized by means of N2 adsorption, XRD, diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy (DRIFTS) of CO adsorption and temperature-programmed reduction (TPR) with H2 and CO as reducing agents. The results showed that PdO is finely dispersed on the supports with high surface area. DRIFTS of CO adsorption further indicated that both Pd2+ and Pd0 species coexist in Pd/CeO2, while only Pd0 is detected in Pd/TiO2 and Pd/CeO2–TiO2. H2-TPR showed that no bulk CeO2 exists in CeO2–TiO2 and the reduction of CeO2–TiO2 is more difficult than that of the surface oxygen in the individual CeO2 probably due to the formation of CeO2–TiO2 solid solution. PdO in Pd/TiO2 can be fully reduced by H2 at ambient temperature, whereas PdO in Pd/CeO2 and Pd/CeO2–TiO2 is reduced respectively at 162 and 80 °C, accompanied by the reduction of surface CeO2. CO-TPR showed that the reduction of PdO in PdO/TiO2 is limited within the outermost layer at ambient temperature and the core PdO can only be reduced with a further increase of temperature. PdO/CeO2 is also reduced both at ambient temperature and with the increase of temperature during the CO-TPR process, and the reduction temperature of CeO2 decreased significantly in the presence of PdO, which may be due to the different degrees of interaction between PdO and CeO2. In contrast, a complete reduction of PdO in Pd/CeO2–TiO2 by CO is observed at ambient temperature, accompanied by the partial reduction of CeO2, which may indicate that the special Pd–Ce–Ti interaction in Pd/CeO2–TiO2 is favorable for the reduction of PdO and interfacial CeO2 species. The water–gas shift (WGS) between CO and the hydroxyl groups in the catalysts is detected at a temperature higher than 210 °C on all of the Pd-supported catalysts as well as the individual CeO2 and TiO2 supports. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Well-controlled treatment with alkali solution causes the etching of HZSM-5 framework, which results in the formation of the new porosity and channel structure with the coexistence of micropores and mesopores, as evidenced by nitrogen adsorption experiments. The dissolution of the zeolite framework, as revealed by the investigation of solid-state NMR, begins from the crystalline site with Si–O–Si linkages. The inertness of the alkali treatment toward Si–O–Al bond in the framework preserves the specific Brønsted acid site that is defined to be the bridging OH species over Si–O–Al units in zeolite. The Mo-modified catalysts derived from the alkali treatments showed a very high catalytic performance in the conversion of methane to aromatics (MDA) when compared with the conventional Mo/HZSM-5 catalyst. The unique selectivity to aromatics and stability of the catalysts derived from the alkali-treated ZSM-5 are attributed to the coexistence of mesopores and inherent micropores in the zeolites, which optimizes an environment for catalytic reaction and mass transfers. The channel with mainly 3–5 nm in diameters in the zeolites serves as the “aisle” to enhance the diffusion of molecules, especially the aromatics molecules, while the micropores have been identified to be the active cavities for the aromatics formation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new reaction mode, i.e., the combined single-pass conversion of methane via oxidative coupling (OCM) over mixed metal oxide (SLC) catalysts and dehydroaromatization (MDA) over Mo/HZSM-5 catalysts, is reported. With the assistance of an OCM reaction over SLC catalysts in the top layer of the reactor, the deactivation resistance of Mo/HZSM-5 catalysts is remarkably enhanced. Under the selected reaction conditions, the CH4 conversion decreased from ∼18 to ∼1% and the aromatics yield decreased from 12.8 to 0.1%, respectively, after running the reaction for 960 min on both 6Mo/HZSM-5 and SLC-6Mo/HZSM-5 catalyst system without O2 in the feed. On the other hand, for the SLC-6Mo/HZSM-5 catalyst system with O2 in the feed, the deactivation was improved greatly, and after 960 min onstream the CH4 conversion and aromatics yield were still as high as 12.0 and 8.0%, respectively. The promotion effect mainly appears to be associated with in situ formation of CO2 in the OCM layer, which reacts with coke via the reverse Boudouard reaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ce1−XNiXO2 oxides with X varying from 0.05 to 0.5 were prepared by different methods and characterized by XRD and TPR techniques. Ce0.7Ni0.3O2 sample prepared by sol–gel method shows the highest reducibility and the highest catalytic activity for methane combustion. Three kinds of Ni phases co-exist in the Ce1−XNiXO2 catalysts prepared by sol–gel method: (i) aggregated NiO on the support CeO2, (ii) highly dispersed NiO with strong interaction with CeO2 and (iii) Ni atoms incorporated into CeO2 lattice. The distribution of different Ni species strongly depends on the preparation methods. The highly dispersed NiO shows the highest activity for methane combustion. The NiO aggregated on the support CeO2 shows lower catalytic activity for methane combustion, while the least catalytic activity is found for the Ni species incorporated into CeO2. Any oxygen vacancy formed in CeO2 lattice due to the incorporating of Ni atoms adsorbs and activates the molecular oxygen to form active oxygen species. So the highest catalytic activity for methane combustion on Ce0.7Ni0.3O2 catalyst is attributed not only to the highly dispersed Ni species but also to the more active oxygen species formed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Various carbonaceous deposits are formed during the course of methane dehydro-aromatization (MDA) under non-oxidative conditions on Mo/MCM-22 catalysts. These carbon species were investigated by various temperature-programmed techniques such as TPH and TPCO2, combining with TPO and TGA results in order to reveal their chemical nature and determine their amounts. The TPO profiles recorded from coked Mo/MCM-22 catalysts show two temperature peaks: one at about 756 K and the other at about 876 K. The coke amounts related to these two peaks were determined on the basis of the corresponding corrected and deconvoluted TPO profiles, combining with the TGA profiles concerned.The results of TPH and TPCO2 suggested that both H2 and CO2 have the ability to eliminate the carbon species corresponding to both the high and low temperature peaks. The TGA results of the Mo/MCM-22 catalysts with different Mo loading revealed that the total amount of coke formed was the largest on a 6Mo/MCM-22 during TPSR with CH4 for 3 h. Meanwhile, a kinetic analysis of the coke burning-off process revealed that there are two kinds of carbonaceous deposits: one is mainly located on the Bro¨nsted acid sites and the other on the Mo species. The former is inert and causes deactivation of the catalyst for MDA, while the latter may be active and can be hydrogenated with H2 to form ethylene and benzene. Therefore, the carbonaceous deposits formed in the course of MDA play a double role. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

[Display omitted] • Selective propylene oxidation over NH 4 + and Ag+ exchanged hexagonal molybdates. • NH 4 + consumption leads to ammoxidation products. • Ag+ strongly enhances acrylonitrile and acrolein formation over hexagonal framework. • Ag+ exchanged hexagonal frameworks transform into Ag/Ag 2 Mo 4 O 13 /α-MoO 3 nanocomposite. • Ag 2 Mo 4 O 13 strongly promotes acrolein formation over the nanocomposite. Hexagonal molybdates (h-MoO 3) include abundant Mo vacancies that are charge-compensated by cations residing within one-dimensional channels. Hence, they present an intriguing structural motif for Mo catalysis which has been hardly explored for selective oxidation of olefins. We discovered that NH 4 + and Ag+-exchanged h-MoO 3 display surprisingly varied behavior during propylene oxidation. Acrolein and acrylonitrile are the main partial oxidation products with the latter forming due to NH 4 + consumption. The catalytic activity more than doubles upon introduction of Ag+ which also enhances selectivity for the main products up to ∼60 %. Unexpectedly, the hexagonal frameworks transform into orthorhombic α-MoO 3 40−60 °C below their reported stability limits already. In addition, Ag 2 Mo 4 O 13 and Ag nanoparticles segregate in case of Ag+-containing h-MoO 3 frameworks. The resulting Ag/Ag 2 Mo 4 O 13 /α-MoO 3 composites catalyze propylene conversion into acrolein with even higher selectivity (∼80 %). Detailed analyses indicate that Ag 2 Mo 4 O 13 drives formation of this oxygenate over these composites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The East Asian margin has experienced a complex tectonic history since the Mesozoic and has developed a complex basin-mountain system. The Jiaolai Basin, which is located on the East Asian margin, is a typical Mesozoic rift basin that has undergone multiple tectonic episodes. Here, using field geological surveys, effective stress inversions, and accurate chronological data, we recognize six tectonic episodes that have occurred in the Jiaolai Basin since the Cretaceous: E-W extension (135-121 Ma), which controlled the early deposition of the Laiyang Group; NW-SE extension (120-93 Ma), which controlled the late deposition of the Laiyang Group and the eruption of the volcanic rocks in the Qingshan Group; NE-SW compression (92-86 Ma), which produced folding of the Qingshan Group and its underlying strata and the formation of the unconformity surface between the Wangshi and the Qingshan Groups; N-S extension (85-60 Ma), which controlled the deposition of the Wangshi Group; NW-SE compression (60-55 Ma), which produced the unconformity between the Wangshi Group and the Wutu Group; and NE-SW extension (ca. < 55 Ma), which controlled the deposition of the Wutu Group. Considering the subduction history of the Izanagi plate and the Pacific plate, the activities of these plates may have primarily controlled the temporal variation in the intraplate paleostress regime in the East Asian margin. • Fault-slip analysis integrated with fold data was performed in Jiaolai basin. • Six stages of paleostress regime established since Cretaceous. • Long-time extension and short-time compression alternated. • The intraplate stress regime change caused by the Izanagi-Pacific periodic activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Membrane-assisted steam reforming of ethanol is an intriguing option for on-site H 2 production from biomass in refueling stations for automotive fuel cells. The energy consumption for H 2 compression and thus fuel costs can be significantly reduced if this process could deliver H 2 at elevated pressures. Thermodynamic analyses show that reforming temperatures above 823 K are needed for attaining H 2 partial pressures that will enable operation without sweep gas and allow appreciable compression energy savings. Reforming of a 6:1 steam/ethanol mixture was practically driven to completion at 873 K and 1.3 MPa employing thin, supported Pd and PdCu membranes without sweep gas. Both H 2 yield and H 2 recovery factor remained stable during 10 day continuous testing of these membranes. The H 2 yield reached nearly 94% with ca. 92% H 2 separated by the PdCu membrane, for example. However, purity of the permeated H 2 declined from about 97% to nearly 91% in the Pd membrane reformer whereas it remained steady at 98% when using the PdCu membrane. In addition, the twice as high single gas H 2 permeation rate of the Pd membrane was reduced by ca. 85% during reforming due to inhibition by unstable carbon compounds while that of the PdCu membrane was diminished by less than 60%. Hence, the relative H 2 permeability of the two membranes was virtually inverted under reforming conditions. In consequence, PdCu membranes are clearly the better option for integration into high-temperature ethanol steam reformers. • Thermodynamics require reforming above 823 K for H 2 production at elevated pressure. • Marginal impact of intrinsic H 2 permeance on membrane reformer efficiency. • PdCu membrane stability superior to that of Pd membrane during reforming at 873 K. • PdCu membrane inhibition substantially weaker under reforming conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Atomic-resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) characterization requires precise tilting of the specimen to a high symmetric zone axis, which is usually processed in reciprocal space by following the diffraction patterns. However, for small-sized nanocrystalline materials, their diffraction patterns are often too faint to guide the tilting process. Here, a simple and effective tilting method is developed based on the diffraction contrast change of the shadow image in the Ronchigram. The misorientation angle of the specimen can be calculated and tilted to the zone axis based on the position of the shadow image with lowest intensity. This method requires no prior knowledge of the sample and the maximum misorientation angle that can be corrected is >±6.9° with sub-mrad accuracy. It operates in real space, without recording the diffraction patterns of the specimens, making it particularly effective for nanocrystalline materials. Combined with the scripting to control the microscope, the sample can be automatically tilted to the zone axis under low dose conditions (<0.17 e -  Å - 2  s -1 ), facilitating the imaging of beam sensitive materials such as zeolites or metal-organic frameworks. This automated tilting method can significantly contribute to the atomic-scale characterization of the nanocrystalline materials by STEM imaging., (© 2024 Wiley‐VCH GmbH.)

This study presents a novel approach toward the one-pot green synthesis of ZIF-8/IgG composite, focusing on its precise orientation and protection of the anti-aflatoxins antibody. The antibody orientation is achieved through the specific binding of IgG to the Fc region of the antibody, while the antibody protection is accomplished by the structural change restriction of ZIF-8 framework to the antibody. Consequently, the antibody exhibits enhanced target capability and significantly improved tolerance to organic solvents. The ZIF-8/IgG/anti-AFT was employed for the purification and detection of AFTs by coupling with UPLC. Under optimized conditions, the recoveries of spiked AFTs in peanut oils are between 86.1% and 106.4%, with relative standard deviations (RSDs) ranging from 0.8% to 8.8%. The linearity range is 0.5-20.0 ng for AFB 1 and AFG 1 , 0.125-5.0 ng for AFB 2 and AFG 2 , the limit of detection is 0.1 ng for AFB 1 and AFG 1 , 0.03 ng for AFB 2 and AFG 2 ., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Elymus species, belonging to Triticeae tribe, is a tertiary gene pool for improvement of major cereal crops. Elymus sibiricus, a tetraploid with StH genome, is a typical species in the genus Elymus, which is widely utilized as a high-quality perennial forage grass in template regions. In this study, we report the construction of a chromosome-scale reference assembly of E. sibiricus line Gaomu No. 1 based on PacBio HiFi reads and chromosome conformation capture. Subgenome St and H were well phased by assisting with kmer and subgenome-specific repetitive sequence. The total assembly size was 6.929 Gb with a contig N50 of 49.518 Mb. In total, 89,800 protein-coding genes were predicted. The repetitive sequences accounted for 82.49% of the genome in E. sibiricus. Comparative genome analysis confirmed a major species-specific 4H/6H reciprocal translocation in E. sibiricus. The E. sibiricus assembly will be much helpful to exploit genetic resource of StH species in genus Elymus, and provides an important tool for E. sibiricus domestication., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

The human toe, characterized by its rigid-flexible structure comprising hard bones and flexible joints, facilitates adaptive and stable movement across varied terrains. In this paper, we utilized a motion capture system to study the adaptive adjustments of toe joints when encountering obstacles. Inspired by the mechanics of toe joints, we proposed a novel design method for a rigid-flexible coupled wheel. The wheel comprises multiple elements: a rigid skeleton, supporting toes, connecting shafts, torsion springs, soft tendons, and damping pads. The torsion springs connect the rigid frame to the supporting toes, enabling them to adapt to uneven terrains and pipes with different diameters. The design was validated through kinematic and dynamic modeling, rigid-flexible coupled dynamics simulation, and stress analysis. Different stiffness coefficients of torsion springs were compared for optimal wheel design. Then, the wheel was applied to a sewer robot, and its performance was evaluated and compared with a pneumatic rubber tire in various experiments, including movement on flat surfaces, overcoming small obstacles, adaptability tests in different terrains, and active driving force tests in dry and wet pipelines. The results prove that the designed wheel showed better stability and anti-slip properties than conventional tires, making it suitable for diverse applications such as pipeline robots, desert vehicles, and lunar rovers., (© 2024 IOP Publishing Ltd.)

Lactoferrin (LF), an iron-binding glycoprotein with immunological properties and a high nutritional value, has emerged as a prominent research focus in the field of food nutrition. Lactoferrin is widely distributed in raw milk and milk that has undergone low-temperature heat treatment during pasteurization, making its rapid and accurate detection crucial for ensuring the quality control of dairy products. An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay-based analytical protocol has often been referred to for the detection of LF in real samples. Signal amplification was accomplished using the streptavidin-biotin system. Here, an automated magnetic beads-based sandwich chemiluminescence enzyme immunoassay (MBs-sCLEIA) system was developed for the quantification of lactoferrin in pasteurized milk. The MBs-sCLEIA system consists of an automated chemiluminescence-based analyzer and a lactoferrin MBs-sCLEIA assay kit. Notably, our proposed method eliminates the need for pretreatment procedures and enables the direct addition of milk samples, allowing for the automatic quantitative detection of lactoferrin within a rapid 17 min timeframe for up to eight samples simultaneously. The MBs-sCLEIA was linear over the range of 7.24-800 ng/mL and displayed a limit of detection (LOD) of 2.85 ng/mL. As its good recovery and CV values indicate, the method exhibited high precision and accuracy. Furthermore, it was verified that it was selective towards five additional common milk proteins. A good correlation was observed between the results from the MBs-sCLEIA and heparin affinity column-HPLC (r 2 = 0.99042), which proves to be a useful and practicable way of conducting an accurate analysis of lactoferrin in dairy products.

Background: MYB transcription factors are splay a vital role in plant biology, with previous research highlighting the significant impact of the R2R3-MYB-like transcription factor MYB5 on seed mucilage biosynthesis, trichome branching, and seed coat development. However, there is a dearth of studies investigating its role in the regulation of proanthocyanidin (PA) biosynthesis., Results: In this study, a total of 51 MYB5 homologous genes were identified across 31 species belonging to the Brassicaceae family, with particular emphasis on Brassica napus for subsequent investigation. Through phylogenetic analysis, these genes were categorized into four distinct subclasses. Protein sequence similarity and identity analysis demonstrated a high degree of conservation of MYB5 among species within the Brassicaceae family. Additionally, the examination of selection pressure revealed that MYB5 predominantly underwent purifying selection during its evolutionary history, as indicated by the Ka/Ks values of all MYB5 homologous gene pairs being less than one. Notably, we observed a higher rate of non-synonymous mutations in orthologous genes compared to paralogous genes, and the Ka/Ks value displayed a stronger correlation with Ka. In B. napus, an examination of expression patterns in five tissues revealed that MYB5 exhibited particularly high expression in the black seed coat. The findings from the WGCNA demonstrated a robust correlation between MYB5 and BAN(ANR) associated with PA biosynthesis in the black seed coat, providing further evidence of their close association and co-expression. Furthermore, the results obtained from of the analysis of protein interaction networks offer supplementary support for the proposition that MYB5 possesses the capability to interact with transcriptional regulatory proteins, specifically TT8 and TT2, alongside catalytic enzymes implicated in the synthesis of PAs, thereby making a contribution to the biosynthesis of PAs. These findings imply a plausible and significant correlation between the nuique expression pattern of MYB5 and the pigmentation of rapeseed coats. Nevertheless, additional research endeavors are imperative to authenticate and substantiate these findings., Conclusions: This study offers valuable insights into the genetic evolution of Brassicaceae plants, thereby serving as a significant reference for the genetic enhancement of Brassicaceae seed coat color., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Background: Mycotoxins, such as aflatoxin and ochratoxin A (OTA), are found at measurable levels in many staple foods; the health implications of long-term exposure of such toxins are poorly understood. Increasing evidence has confirmed the important role of OTA in upregulation of oxidative stress- and inflammatory response-induced tissue injury. However, it remains unknown whether ochratoxin A can promote chronic colitis and its associated colon cancer (CRC) development, and potential molecular mechanism. Additionally, RING finger-interacting protein with C kinase (RINCK) is a ubiquitin ligase and mediates immune response. Unfortunately, the potential molecular function of RINCK on regulation of colitis is still largely unknown., Purpose: This study aims to provide mechanistic evidence that the role of RINCK in colitis and early colorectal cancer progression in response to OTA treatment via targeting nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (NRF2)., Methods: The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database, GEO database, human subjects with CC phenotype and CC cell lines were used in this work. Pathological links between OTA, RINCK and treatment of CC are revealed through comprehensive means such as biological information analysis, clinical experiments, RNA-seq, and verification experiments., Results: In this study, under oxidative stress in setting of colitis, we first identified RINCK as a key regulatory factor and a novel endogenous suppressor of nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (NRF2), and we also confirm that RINCK is a NRF2 partner protein that catalyses its ubiquitination and degradation in intestinal epithelial cells (IECs). Notably, in vivo study, pathological phenotypes triggered by OTA pretreatment, accompanied by post-treatment of dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced colitis was significantly mitigated by IEC-specific deficiency of Rinck, IEC-Rinck(KO) and adenovirus-associated virus (AAV)-triggered suppression of Rinck in rodent model, and lentivirus (LV)-mediated downregulation of Rinck (LV-shRinck) in rabbit model, as determined by decreased endogenous reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, pro-inflammatory cytokines contents, improved body weights, reduced survival rates, restored colon length, assuasive DAI and histological scores. Inversely, transgenic mice by IEC-specific Rinck overexpression, IEC-Rinck(OE) accelerated colitis in acute or chronic colitis rodent models and in vitro experiments. Moreover, we found that OTA pretreatment-promoted azoxymethane (AOM)/DSS-induced colitis-associated early colorectal cancer (CRC) was also dramatically reduced by IEC-Rinck(KO), indicated by the decreased tumor number and corresponding KI-67 levels. Clinical samples analysis revealed that RINCK levels were greatly increased in tumor tissues of patients with CRC phenotypes. In parallel, RINCK deletion remarkably retarded the proliferation of colon cancer and tumor growth in vitro and in vivo, respectively. Mechanistically, in response to onset of colitis, RINCK directly interacts with NRF2 and promotes ubiquitin-proteasome degradation via increasing K48-linkage ubiquitin chain, thus leads in suppression of NRF2 nuclear translocation and its downstream cascade inactivation, which retards antioxidant defense., Conclusion: The findings suggested that oral sub-chronic exposure of OTA significantly facilitates DSS-induced colitis and colitis-associated CRC development. These results further elucidated the potential role of RINCK in colitis progression by mediating NRF2 degradation, and could be considered as a therapeutic target for the treatment of such disease., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no competing interests., (Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier GmbH.)

Pd 25 Cu 75 @SiO 2 core-shell and PdCu@SiO 2 @Cu core-shell-satellite architectures were fabricated by silica-coating of Pd 25 Cu 75 colloids in a reverse microemulsion. Hydrolysis of tetraethylorthosilicate in the reverse microemulsion containing hydrazine and ammonia yielded a core-shell structure, while the use of ammonia only, instead of a mixture of hydrazine and ammonia, formed a core-shell-satellite structure. The ammonia-leached copper species migrated onto the developing silica shell and formed smaller Cu clusters. Air-calcination at 673 K followed by H 2 -reduction at 773 K of the as-synthesized samples removed the organic surfactants and generated the permeable porous silica shells. The core-shell catalyst consisted of a metal core (8.5 nm) and a silica shell (7.8 nm), while the core-shell-satellite catalyst was composed by a metal core (7.0 nm), a silica shell (8.0 nm), and satellite Cu clusters (1.4 nm) on the silica shell. When used to catalyze the selective hydrogenation of acetylene to ethylene, the core-shell-satellite catalyst showed substantially enhanced activity and stability because of the synergetic catalysis between the metal core and the surrounding Cu clusters.

Importance: Viruses are able to mimic the physiological or pathological mechanism of the host to favor their infection and replication. Virus-mock basement membrane (VMBM) is a Megalocytivirus -induced extracellular structure formed on the surface of infected cells and structurally and functionally mimics the basement membrane of the host. VMBM provides specific support for lymphatic endothelial cells (LECs) rather than blood endothelial cells to adhere to the surface of infected cells, which constitutes a unique phenomenon of Megalocytivirus infection. Here, the structure of VMBM and the interactions between VMBM components and LECs have been analyzed at the molecular level. The regulatory effect of VMBM components on the proliferation and migration of LECs has also been explored. This study helps to understand the mechanism of LEC-specific attachment to VMBM and to address the issue of where the LECs come from in the context of Megalocytivirus infection., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Gaseous mercury (mainly elemental mercury, Hg(0)) exchange between air and Earth's surfaces is one of the most critical fluxes governing global Hg cycle. As an important and unique part of intertidal ecosystem, tidal flat is characterized by periodic inundation and exposure due to tidal cycle, generating varying hydrological, photochemical and biogeochemical processes. However, quantitative and mechanistic understanding of Hg(0) dynamics between air and exceptionally dynamic tide flats has remained limited to date. In this study, we select five representative tidal flat sediments from typical coastal habits of Chinese coastlines to perform laboratory incubation experiments for deciphering the effect of the interaction of tidal cycle and solar radiation on Hg(0) dynamics over tidal flats with different sediment compositions. We show that sediment Hg concentration, tidal cycle and solar radiation collectively modulate the air-surface Hg(0) exchange over tidal flats and highlight that the photochemistry dominates the Hg(0) production and emission over tidal flats. We find that the daytime inundation presents highest Hg(0) emission fluxes for Hg-poor sediment, but the daytime exposure is the hot moment of Hg(0) emission from Hg-rich sediments and substantially contributes to daily Hg(0) emission fluxes. In the treatment to mimic semidiurnal tide, the daily Hg(0) fluxes are positively correlated to sediment Hg concentrations. Combining our mechanistic insights on air-surface Hg(0) exchange over tidal flats and related data and knowledge reported by other studies, we discuss the implications of our study for field measurement and model development of Hg(0) dynamics over highly dynamic tidal flats. We conclude that the air-surface Hg(0) dynamics over tidal flats are extremely complex and highly variable, and a greater understanding the interactions between natural processes, human impacts and climate forcings will better constrain current and future Hg biogeochemical cycle in global tidal flats., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The sea surface microlayer (SML) is the uppermost ∼1000 μm of the surface of the ocean. With distinct physicochemical properties and position relative to the adjacent subsurface waters (SSWs), the ubiquitous distribution and high dynamics of the SML greatly regulate the global air-sea gas exchange and biogeochemistry. Mercury (Hg) redox chemistry in surface seawaters and air-sea exchange of gaseous Hg (mainly Hg(0)) fundamentally control the global oceanic Hg cycle. However, the occurrence and transformation of Hg in the SML have been poorly quantified. Here we optimize the traditional SML sampling system to make it more suitable for dissolved gaseous Hg (DGM, mainly Hg(0)) sampling. We then assess the temporal and spatial variability of DGM, total Hg, dissolved organic carbon (DOC), and Hg redox chemistry in the SML and SSWs of diverse marine environments. Our data suggest a general DGM, total Hg, and DOC enrichment in the SML relative to the SSWs but with complex variability in time and space. The incubation experiments further reveal the complex characteristics of Hg redox chemistry between the SML and SSWs. We discuss important implications of the SML Hg cycle on air-sea Hg exchange and suggest wider investigations of the SML Hg cycle in the global hydrosphere.

The coastal streams (CSs) and sewage outfalls (SOs) are widely distributed and direct anthropogenic stress on global coastal ecosystems. However, the CS/SO-associated mercury (Hg) discharge, pollution and cycle in nearshore environment are less quantified. Here, we report that total Hg (THg) and methylmercury (MMHg) concentrations in waters of CSs (n = 8) and SOs (n = 15) of the northern China were ∼10 2 to 10 3 times of coastal surface waters and 10 to 10 2 times of major rivers in China and other regions. The CS/SO discharges resulted in the increase of total organic carbon (TOC) contents, THg and MMHg concentrations and TOC-normalized THg and MMHg concentrations in sediments of CS/SO-impacted coasts. The laboratory experiments further illustrated that the CS/SO-impacted sediments characterized with high potentials of dissolved THg and MMHg productions and releases. Our findings indicate that the layout optimization of SOs is able to reduce the Hg risk in coastal environment., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Phase transition between iron oxides practically defines their functionalities in both physical and chemical applications. Direct observation of the atomic rearrangement and a quantitative description of the dynamic behavior of the phase transition, however, are rare. Here, we monitored the structure evolution from a rod-shaped hematite nanoparticle to magnetite during H 2 reduction at elevated temperatures. Environmental transmission electron microscopy observations, along with selected area electron diffraction experiments, identified that the reduction preferentially commenced with Fe 3 O 4 nucleation on the surface defective sites, followed by laterally growing into a Fe 3 O 4 film until fully covering the particle surface. The Fe 3 O 4 phase then propagated toward the bulk particle via a Fe 3 O 4 /α-Fe 2 O 3 interface with the relationship α-Fe 2 O 3 (0001)//Fe 3 O 4 (111) in an aligned orientation of [112] Fe 3 O 4 ||[112̅0] α-Fe 2 O 3 . Upon this Fe 3 O 4 /α-Fe 2 O 3 interface, the Fe-O octahedra in Fe 3 O 4 (111) (as layer A) matches that of α-Fe 2 O 3 (0001) at a rotation angle of 30°, and the reduction proceeds in such a pattern that two-thirds of the Fe Oh in the adjacent layer (layer B) is transformed into Fe Te .

Main Conclusion: BraANS.A3 was the key gene controlling purple leaf color in pak choi, and two short fragments of promoter region in green pak choi might be interfering its normal expression. Pak choi (B. rapa L. ssp. chinensis) is an influential and important vegetable with green, yellow, or purple leaves that is cultivated worldwide. The purple leaves are rich in anthocyanins, but the underlying genetics and evolution have yet to be extensively studied. Free-hand sections of the purple leaves indicated that anthocyanins mainly accumulate throughout the adaxial and abaxial epidermal leaf cells. Segregation analyses of an F2 population of a B. rapa ssp. chinensis L. purple leaf mutant ZBC indicated that the purple trait is controlled by an incompletely dominant nuclear gene. Bulked segregant analysis (BSA) showed that the key genes controlling the trait were between 24.25 and 38.10 Mb on chromosome A03 of B. rapa. From the annotated genes, only BraA03g050560.3C, homologous to Arabidopsis AtANS, was related to the anthocyanin synthesis pathway. Genome annotation results and transcriptional sequencing analyses revealed that the BraANS.A3 gene was involved in the purple leaf trait. qRT-PCR analyses showed that BraANS.A3 was highly upregulated in ZBC but hardly expressed in the leaves of an inbred homozygous line of B. campestris ssp. chinensis L. green leaf mutant WTC, indicating that BraANS.A3 played a key role catalyzing anthocyanin synthesis in ZBC. Full-length sequence alignment of BraANS.A3 in WTC and ZBC showed that it was highly conserved in the gene region, with significant variation in the promoter region. In particular, the insertion of two short fragments of the promoter region in WTC may interfere with its normal expression. The promoter regions of ANS in six Brassica species all had multiple cis-elements involved in responses to abscisic acid, light, and stress, suggesting that ANS may be involved in multiple metabolic pathways or biological processes. Protein-protein interactions predicted that BraANS.A3 interacts with virtually all catalytic proteins in the anthocyanin synthesis pathway and has a strong relationship with Transparent Testa 8 (TT8). These results suggest that BraANS.A3 promotes anthocyanin accumulation in purple pak choi and provide new insights into the functional analysis of anthocyanin-related genes in Chinese cabbage and transcriptional regulatory networks., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

A face-centered tetragonal (fct) AuCu particle with a size of 7.1 nm and an Au/Cu molar ratio of 1/1 was coated by a silica shell of 6 nm thickness. Segregation of Cu atoms from the metal particle under an oxidative atmosphere precisely mediated the CuO x -Au interfacial structure by simply varying the temperature. As raising the temperature from 473 to 773 K, more Cu atoms emigrated from the AuCu particle and were oxidized into CuO x layers that grew up to 0.8 nm in thickness. Simultaneously, the size of the Au-rich particle lowered moderately while the crystalline structure transformed from the fct phase into the face-centered cubic (fcc) phase. The CuO x -Au interface shifted from the CuO x monolayer bound to Au single-atoms to Au@CuO x core-shell geometry, while the catalytic activity for CO oxidation at 433 K decreased dramatically. Moreover, a sharp loss in activity was observed as the crystal-phase transition occurred. This change in catalytic performance was ascribed to the geometrical configuration at the interfacial sites: the synergetic effect between the fct-AuCu particle and CuO x monolayer contributed to the much higher activity, whereas the fcc-AuCu/Au particle weakened its interaction with the thicker CuO x layer and thus decreased the activity.

Bimetallic nanoparticles afford geometric variation and electron redistribution via strong metal-metal interactions that substantially promote the activity and selectivity in catalysis. Quantitatively describing the atomic configuration of the catalytically active sites, however, is experimentally challenged by the averaging ensemble effect that is caused by the interplay between particle size and crystal-phase at elevated temperatures and under reactive gases. Here, we report that the intrinsic activity of the body-centered cubic PdCu nanoparticle, for acetylene hydrogenation, is one order of magnitude greater than that of the face-centered cubic one. This finding is based on precisely identifying the atomic structures of the active sites over the same-sized but crystal-phase-varied single-particles. The densely-populated Pd-Cu bond on the chemically ordered nanoparticle possesses isolated Pd site with a lower coordination number and a high-lying valence d-band center, and thus greatly expedites the dissociation of H 2 over Pd atom and efficiently accommodates the activated H atoms on the particle top/subsurfaces., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

SH2-domain-containing protein tyrosine phosphatases (PTPs), belonging to the class I PTP superfamily, are responsible for the dephosphorylation on the phosphorylated tyrosine residues in some proteins that are involved in multiple biological processes in eukaryotes. The Janus kinase/signal transducers and activators of transcription (JAK/STAT) pathway transduce signaling responding to interferons and initiate cellular antiviral responses. The activity of the JAK/STAT pathway is generally orchestrated by the de-/phosphorylation of the tyrosine and serine residues of JAKs and STATs, in which the dephosphorylation processes are mainly controlled by PTPs. In the present study, an SH2-domian-contianing PTP, temporally named as LvPTPN6, was identified in Litopenaeus vannamei . LvPTPN6 shares high similarity with PTPN6s from other organisms and was phylogenetically categorized into the clade of arthropods that differs from those of fishes and mammals. LvPTPN6 was constitutively expressed in all detected tissues, located mainly in the cytoplasm, and differentially induced in hemocyte and gill after the challenge of stimulants, indicating its complicated regulatory roles in shrimp immune responses. Intriguingly, the expression of LvPTPN6 was regulated by interferon regulatory factor (IRF), which could directly bind to the LvPTPN6 promoter. Surprisingly, unlike other PTPN6s, LvPTPN6 could promote the dimerization of STAT and facilitate its nuclear localization, which further elevated the expression of STAT-targeting immune effector genes and enhanced the antiviral immunity of shrimp. Therefore, this study suggests a PTPN6-mediated regulatory approach from IRF to the JAK/STAT signaling pathway in shrimp, which provides new insights into the regulatory roles of PTPs in the JAK/STAT signaling pathway and contributes to the further understanding of the mechanisms of antiviral immunity in invertebrates., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Luo, Xu, Liu, Shen, Yang, Zhu, Weng, He and Zuo.)

Background: The surgical treatment of post-hysterectomy vaginal vault prolapse (PHVP) has been reported in several clinical studies, but mostly are short-term studies. This study aims to explore the mid-term efficacy of surgical treatments for PHVP., Methods: A total of 138 PHVP patients underwent surgery from January 2005 to January 2020 at the Fourth Medical Center of PLA General Hospital, Beijing. The clinical data of 119 patients who completed follow-up were retrospectively analyzed. Both groups of patients are diagnosed Pelvic Organ Prolapse Quantification system (POP-Q) III-IV stage of prolapse, with obvious prolapse-related symptoms and requiring surgical treatment. Among them, pelvic floor reconstruction surgery (RPS) was performed in patients who wanted to retain vaginal function and colpocleisis were used for frail patients who cannot tolerate RPS. We used the POP-Q scores for the objective efficacy evaluation, and use the Pelvic Floor Distress Inventory-Short Form 20 (PFDI-20) and Pelvic Floor Impact Questionnaire-7 (PFIQ-7) to evaluate the subjective symptom during follow up. Among them, 61 patients underwent pelvic floor RPS (Group R), and 58 received colpocleisis (Group C)., Results: The surgeries in both groups were successfully completed, the median follow-up time after surgery was 4.3 years (0.25-13 years) and 5.3 years (0.33-15 years), respectively; the overall surgical success rate was 86.9% (53/61) and 100% (58/58), respectively; the subjective satisfaction rate was 90.2% (55/61) and 91.4% (53/58), respectively; and the PFDI-20 and PFIQ-7 scores in both groups were significantly improved compared with the preoperative levels (P<0.05). In Group R, 6 cases (9.8%, 6/61) were dissatisfied after surgery; in Group C, 5 cases (8.6%, 5/58) were dissatisfied after surgery., Conclusions: Reconstructive surgery and colpocleisis have a good mid-term effect on PHVP, with good outcome and few complications. The surgeon is expected to ascertain an appropriate surgical procedure based on the characteristics of the patient, the degree and the location of prolapse, in order to achieve the best surgical efficacy and minimize the damage., Competing Interests: Conflicts of Interest: All authors have completed the ICMJE uniform disclosure form (available at https://gs.amegroups.com/article/view/10.21037/gs-22-261/coif). The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare., (2022 Gland Surgery. All rights reserved.)

Synthesis of TiO 2 nanoparticles with tunable shape and crystal phase has attracted considerable attention for the design of highly efficient heterogeneous catalysts. Tailoring the shape of TiO 2 , in the crystal phases of anatase, rutile, brookite and TiO 2 (B), allows tuning of the atomic configurations on the dominantly exposed facets for maximizing the active sites and regulating the reaction route towards a specific channel for achieving high selectivity. Moreover, the shape and crystal phase of TiO 2 nanoparticles alter their interactions with metal species, which are commonly termed as strong metal-support interactions involving interfacial strain and charge transfer. On the other hand, metal particles, clusters and single atoms interact differently with TiO 2 , because of the variation of the electronic structure, while the surface of TiO 2 determines the interfacial bonding via a geometric effect. The dynamic behavior of the metal-titania interfaces, driven by the chemisorption of the reactive molecules at elevated temperatures, also plays a decisive role in elaborating the structure-reactivity relationship.

Background: We aim to assess the long-term efficacy of transvaginal high uterosacral ligament suspension (HUS) procedure for middle compartment defect-based pelvic organ prolapse (POP)., Methods: We performed a retrospective review of 84 women with middle-compartment defect-based POP who underwent transvaginal HUS as the primary surgical treatment without mesh augmentation from January 2007 to January 2019. All 84 patients manifested ≥ grade-II middle-compartment defect-based POP. Follow-up visits were performed 2, 6 and 12 months after surgery and then annually, including questionnaires and clinical examination using pelvic organ prolapse quantitation system (POP-Q). Surgical success required to fulfill all three of these criteria: (I) anterior or posterior vaginal wall prolapsed the leading edge of 0 cm or less and apex of 1/2 total vaginal length or less; (II) the absence of POP symptoms as reported on the PFDI-20 question No. 3 ("do you usually have a bulge or something falling out that you can see or feel in your vaginal area?"); and (III) no prolapse re-operations or pessary use during the study period., Results: Of 84 women, 56 cases (66.7%, 56/84) were evaluated at a ≥5-year follow-up. The 5-year recurrence rates for patients with prolapse of either the anterior vaginal wall, vaginal vault, or posterior vaginal wall, or prolapses in multiple sites, were 7.1% (4/56), 0, 1.8% (1/56), and 3.6% (2/56), respectively. The surgery success rate was 87.5% (49/56). None of the recurrent women underwent retreatment. The satisfaction rate was 91.1% (51/56)., Conclusions: Transvaginal HUS without mesh augmentation is a safe and effective procedure in the surgical treatment of patients with middle-compartment defects. Anatomical, functional, and subjective outcomes were very satisfactory., Competing Interests: Conflicts of Interest: All authors have completed the ICMJE uniform disclosure form (available at http://dx.doi.org/10.21037/atm-20-7296). The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare., (2020 Annals of Translational Medicine. All rights reserved.)

Polar surfaces of solid oxides are intrinsically unstable and tend to reconstruct due to the diverging electrostatic energy and thus often exhibit unique physical and chemical properties. However, a quantitative description of the restructuring mechanism of these polar surfaces remains challenging. Here we provide an atomic-level picture of the refaceting process that governs the surface polarity compensation of cubic ceria nanoparticles based on the accurate reference data acquired from the well-defined model systems. The combined results from advanced infrared spectroscopy, atomic-resolved transmission electron microscopy, and density functional theory calculations identify a two-step scenario where an initial O-terminated (2 × 2) reconstruction is followed by a severe refaceting via massive mass transport at elevated temperatures to yield {111}-dominated nanopyramids. This significant surface restructuring promotes the redox properties of ceria nanocubes, which account for the enhanced catalytic activity for CO oxidation.

Heterogeneous catalysis performs on specific sites of a catalyst surface even if specific sites of many catalysts during catalysis could not be identified readily. Design of a catalyst by managing catalytic sites on an atomic scale is significant for tuning catalytic performance and offering high activity and selectivity at a relatively low temperature. Here, we report a synergy effect of two sets of single-atom sites (Ni 1 and Ru 1 ) anchored on the surface of a CeO 2 nanorod, Ce 0.95 Ni 0.025 Ru 0.025 O 2 . The surface of this catalyst, Ce 0.95 Ni 0.025 Ru 0.025 O 2 , consists of two sets of single-atom sites which are highly active for reforming CH 4 using CO 2 with a turnover rate of producing 73.6 H 2 molecules on each site per second at 560 °C. Selectivity for producing H 2 at this temperature is 98.5%. The single-atom sites Ni 1 and Ru 1 anchored on the CeO 2 surface of Ce 0.95 Ni 0.025 Ru 0.025 O 2 remain singly dispersed and in a cationic state during catalysis up to 600 °C. The two sets of single-atom sites play a synergistic role, evidenced by lower apparent activation barrier and higher turnover rate for production of H 2 and CO on Ce 0.95 Ni 0.025 Ru 0.025 O 2 in contrast to Ce 0.95 Ni 0.05 O 2 with only Ni 1 single-atom sites and Ce 0.95 Ru 0.05 O 2 with only Ru 1 single-atom sites. Computational studies suggest a molecular mechanism for the observed synergy effects, which originate at (1) the different roles of Ni 1 and Ru 1 sites in terms of activations of CH 4 to form CO on a Ni 1 site and dissociation of CO 2 to CO on a Ru 1 site, respectively and (2) the sequential role in terms of first forming H atoms through activation of CH 4 on a Ni 1 site and then coupling of H atoms to form H 2 on a Ru 1 site. These synergistic effects of the two sets of single-atom sites on the same surface demonstrated a new method for designing a catalyst with high activity and selectivity at a relatively low temperature.

Hybrid materials consisting of functional organic molecules on metal oxide nanomaterials are key components in emerging technologies, for example in energy conversion and molecular electronics. In this work, we present the results of a comparative study of carboxyl-functionalized porphyrins on different oxide nanomaterials. Specifically, we investigated the interaction of 5(3-carboxyphenyl)-10,15,20-triphenyl-21,23H-porphyrin (2H-3-MCTPP) and 5(4-carboxyphenyl)-10,15,20-triphenyl-21,23H-porphyrin (2H-4-MCTPP), on MgO, TiO2, and Co3O4 nanoparticles (NPs) using isothermal and temperature-programmed diffuse reflection infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy (DRIFTS). We show that both porphyrins bind to the NPs, yielding stable monolayer films consisting of tilted surface carboxylates. In all cases, anchoring through the carboxylic acid group suppresses self-metalation of the porphyrin unit. Upon annealing, all anchored porphyrin films undergo metalation. The position of the acid group has no major influence on the reactivity. The same is true for the nature of the metal oxide, suggesting that the observed behaviour is general for most anchored porphyrin films on oxide nanomaterials.

Background: Esophageal cancer (EC) is the sixth most common cause of death from cancer. Altered mean platelet volume (MPV) levels were found in patients with malignancies., Objective: The present study investigated whether MPV can predict the survival in EC patients., Mehtods: The clinical data of 236 consecutive EC patients between January 2009 and December 2009 in our center were retrospectively analyzed. The overall survival rate was estimated using Kaplan-Meier method. Cox proportional hazards models were fitted to model the relationships between patient characteristics and prognosis., Results: Decreased MPV was significantly correlated with tumor location and tumor differentiation (p< 0.001). Moreover, survival analysis revealed that the overall survival of patients with MPV ⩽ 7.4 fL was significantly shorter than that of those with MPV > 7.4 fL. Multivariate analysis identified MPV as an independent poor prognostic factor for overall survival., Conclusions: Reduced MPV is associated with worse survival outcome in EC.

Pd-Au clusters of 1.8 nm preferentially catalyzed the hydrogenation of the C[double bond, length as m-dash]C bond in α,β-unsaturated aldehydes and ketones with a selectivity of ∼99%, primarily because of the unique electronic properties and isolated Pd ensembles on the ultra-small alloyed particles.

Aim: To investigate the clinical significance of microRNA-205 (miR-205) and zinc finger E-box binding homeobox 1 (ZEB1) in epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) and the underlying mechanisms by which they are involved into tumorigenesis., Methods: Expression levels of miR-205 and ZEB1 mRNA in EOC tissues were detected by quantitative real-time PCR. Their associations with clinicopathological features of EOC patients were statistically analyzed. Luciferase reporter assay was used to confirm target associations between miR-205 and ZEB1. After that, the functions of miR-205-ZEB1 axis on cell migration and invasion were further determined by transwell assay in vitro., Results: Expression levels of miR-205 (P=0.0001) and ZEB1 mRNA (P<0.0001) in clinical EOC tissues were significantly higher and lower than those in normal tissues, respectively. Interestingly, there was a negative correlation between miR-205 and ZEB1 mRNA expression in EOC tissues (P=0.01). Additionally, miR-205-upregulation and/or ZEB1-downregulation were significantly associated with high pathological grade and advanced clinical stage of EOC patients (all P<0.05). Meantime, luciferase reporter assays identified ZEB1 as a direct target of miR-205 in EOC cells. Moreover, miR-205 blockage inhibited, whereas miR-205 mimics promoted the motility of EOC cells in vitro. Importantly, all the alterations of the above cellular phenotypes by blocking or enhancing of miR-205 could be alleviated by subsequent suppression or re-introduction of its target ZEB1, respectively., Conclusion: MiR-205, acting as an oncogenic miRNA, may promote the clinical progression of EOC patients and enhance the cellular motility in vitro by directly and negatively regulating ZEB1, providing a potential therapeutic strategy for suppression of EOC metastasis., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Objective: To estimate the efficiency of the single incision adjustable mini sling, Ajust, in the treatment of stress urinary incontinence (SUI) concomitant with advanced pelvic organ prolapse (POP) in eldly women., Methods: From Dec. 2013 to Jul. 2014, 58 patients who had been diagnosed as SUI combined with advanced POP underwent both single incision adjustable mini sling and reductive surgery for advanced POP in the First Affiliated Hospital, General Hospital of People's Liberation Army. Fifty-eight patients were assessed to evaluate the safety and efficiency at 2, 6, 12 months postoperatively. The primary outcomes include objective and subjective cure rate, Ajust sling related complications, ralues of urinary distress inventory (UDI-6), incontinence impact questionnaire short form (IIQ-7) and patient global impression of change (PGI-C)., Results: There was no case of leakage tested by cough test, so the objective cure rate for anti-incontinence had been achived to 100% (58/58) at a mean 12 months follow-up. There were 91% (53/58) of the patients' PGI-C score reached 5, and 9% (5/58) of the patients' PGI-C score reached 4. No case underwent the reoperation. There was no case of hematoma, bladder perforation, urethral injury, groin pain, as well as pain in the puncture point during the perioperative period of time. The values of UDI-6 and IIQ-7 declined significantly postoperatively (P < 0.01)., Conclusions: The single incision mini sling, Ajust, presents satisfactory objective and subjective cure rate in the treatment of mild and moderate SUI combined with severe POP in the eldly womem. The advantages of this mini sling includes mini-invasiveness, simple to use, rare complications and less urinary retention rate. It is a procedure worth recommending in the clinical treatment of mild to moderate SUI.

Oil fingerprints have been a powerful tool widely used for determining the source of spilled oil. In most cases, this tool works well. However, it is usually difficult to identify the source if the oil spill accident occurs during offshore petroleum exploration due to the highly similar physiochemical characteristics of suspected oils from the same drilling platform. In this report, a case study from the waters of the South China Sea is presented, and multidimensional scaling analysis (MDS) is introduced to demonstrate how oil fingerprints can be combined with mathematical methods to identify the source of spilled oil from highly similar suspected sources. The results suggest that the MDS calculation based on oil fingerprints and subsequently integrated with specific biomarkers in spilled oils is the most effective method with a great potential for determining the source in terms of highly similar suspected oils., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Objective: To evaluate the clinical outcome of anti-incontinence sling in the treatment of occult stress urinary incontinence (OSUI) during reductive surgery for advanced pelvic organ prolapse (POP)., Methods: From Jun. 2003 to Dec. 2012, 78 patients with OSUI underwent reductive surgery for advanced POP such as high uterosacral ligament suspension, sacrospinous ligament suspension and sacral colpopexy in the First Affiliated Hospital, General Hospital of People's Liberation Army. Among them, 41 patients received reductive surgery alone was enrolled in non-concomitant anti-incontinence group and the other 37 patients who underwent same surgery with tension-free vaginal tape (TVT) or tension-free vaginal tape-obturator technique (TVT-O) was in anti-incontinence group. The patient's demography, objective and subjective outcomes, as well as complications and injures were compared between the two groups. The pelvic organ prolapse quantitation (POP-Q) was used to evaluate the objective outcomes of POP. Urinary distress inventory (UDI-6) and incontinence impact questionnaire short form (IIQ-7) were used to evaluate the subjective outcomes of stress urinary incontinence (SUI)., Results: Compared with the non-concomitant anti-incontinence group, the objective outcomes of reductive surgery exhibited no significant differences (100%, 78/78), and only the operation time of anti-incontinence group slightly increased 16 minutes. The occurrence rate of postoperative SUI was 12% (5/41), 15% (6/41), 17% (7/41) respectively after the operation at 2-month, 6-month and 12-month follow up in the non-concomitant anti-incontinence group; and the occurrence rate of the anti-incontinence group was 3% (1/37), 3% (1/37), 3% (1/37); but none of patients in the two groups require further surgery for stress urinary incontinence. Mean score of UDI-6 and IIQ-7 in all the patients decreased significantly after operation at 2-month, 6-month and 12-month follow up (all P < 0.01). However, there was no statistic difference between the two groups (P > 0.05)., Conclusions: It is still difficult to make decision for concomitant anti-incontinence procedure in those patients with OSUI, who are undergoing reductive surgery because of advanced POP. Whether the patients will benefit more from anti-incontinence sling depends largely on strict preoperative evaluation for the severity of SUI. The patients with severe SUI are supposed to benefit most from anti-incontinence sling. However, a two-step approach to correct the postoperative stress urinary incontinence is also reasonable.

Nanocatalysts are characterised by the unique nanoscale properties that originate from their highly reduced dimensions. Extensive studies over the past few decades have demonstrated that the size and shape of a catalyst particle on the nanometre scale profoundly affect its reaction performance. In particular, controlling the catalyst particle morphology allows a selective exposure of a larger fraction of the reactive facets on which the active sites can be enriched and tuned. This desirable surface coordination of catalytically active atoms or domains substantially improves catalytic activity, selectivity, and stability. This phenomenon is called morphology-dependent nanocatalysts: catalyst particles with anisotropic morphologies on the nanometre scale greatly affect the reaction performance by selectively exposing the desired facets. In this review, we highlight important progress in morphology-dependent nanocatalysts based on the use of rod-shaped metal oxides with characteristic redox and acid-base features. The correlation between the catalytic properties and the exposed facets verifies the chemical nature of the morphology effect. Moreover, we provide an overview of the interactions between the rod-shaped oxides and the metal nanoparticles in metal-oxide catalyst systems, involving crystal-facet-selective deposition of metal particles onto different crystal facets in the oxide supports. A fundamental understanding of active sites in morphologically tuneable oxides enclosed by the desired reactive facets is expected to direct the development of highly efficient nanocatalysts.

Objective: To achieve the food cluster automation of China Total Diet Study and improve the quality and efficiency of the food cluster calculation., Method: The food coding features were studied in the Chinese Food Composition Table. After analyzing the principles of food clustering on Total Diet Study, constructing an algorithm allows the computer language to identify these characteristics and principles to achieve automatic food cluster., Results: The instance was selected from the data of a province in the fifth Chinese Total Diet Study. 292 food items were clustered into 53 kinds of cluster food by computer program, and the results are corresponded to the cluster requirements of total diet study., Conclusion: The automatic calculation of the food cluster can be achieved by computer program more reliable and effectively in the Total Diet Study.

A facile method has been developed for the fabrication of porous silicon carbide (SiC) by means of sintering a mixture of SiC powder and carbon pellets at a relatively lower temperature, that is, 1450 degrees C, in air. The pore density and the total pore volume of the resulting porous SiC could be tuned by changing the initial SiC/C weight ratio. The structure evolution and the associated property changes during the preparation were examined through X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, (29)Si magic-angle spinning (MAS) NMR spectroscopy, and mercury-intrusion porosimetry analyses. Silica and SiO(x)C(y) ceramics formed in situ during the calcination process acted as binders of the porous SiC grains. The porous SiC can be used as a host for the growth of ZSM-5 zeolite crystals to form the ZSM-5/porous-SiC composite material. After loading another catalytic active component of molybdenum, a novel catalytic material, Mo-ZSM-5/porous-SiC, was obtained, which exhibited improved catalytic activity in the methane dehydroaromatization reaction.

The design and fabrication of nanomaterials is a crucial issue in heterogeneous catalysis to achieve excellent performance. Traditionally, the main theme is to reduce the size of particles as small as possible mainly to increase the activity, so-called size-dependent catalytic chemistry. In recent years, the rapid developments in novel morphological and structural nanomaterials have enabled the fabrication of catalytic materials with exposing more reactive crystal planes, favoring a deep understanding of the active sites. Here, we highlight the recent progress in catalytic materials with unique performance caused by the morphology, by taking Co(3)O(4) nanomaterials as an example. Firstly, we briefly summarize the important synthetic strategies and characteristics of morphology-controlled Co(3)O(4) nanomaterials and their precursors like cobalt hydroxides, including zero- to two-dimensional and hierarchical nanostructures. Then, morphology/plane-dependent catalysis of these cobalt oxides is demonstrated, focusing on CH(4) combustion and CO oxidation in order to elaborate the intrinsic nature of morphology and surface plane. Finally, we outline our personal understanding and perspectives on the morphology-dependent nanocatalysis with metal and metal oxides. These morphology-controlled nanomaterials with more reactive crystal planes exposed are expected to be highly efficient for practical applications based on the deep understanding of the catalytically active sites.

Low-temperature oxidation of CO, perhaps the most extensively studied reaction in the history of heterogeneous catalysis, is becoming increasingly important in the context of cleaning air and lowering automotive emissions. Hopcalite catalysts (mixtures of manganese and copper oxides) were originally developed for purifying air in submarines, but they are not especially active at ambient temperatures and are also deactivated by the presence of moisture. Noble metal catalysts, on the other hand, are water tolerant but usually require temperatures above 100 degrees C for efficient operation. Gold exhibits high activity at low temperatures and superior stability under moisture, but only when deposited in nanoparticulate form on base transition-metal oxides. The development of active and stable catalysts without noble metals for low-temperature CO oxidation under an ambient atmosphere remains a significant challenge. Here we report that tricobalt tetraoxide nanorods not only catalyse CO oxidation at temperatures as low as -77 degrees C but also remain stable in a moist stream of normal feed gas. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy demonstrates that the Co(3)O(4) nanorods predominantly expose their {110} planes, favouring the presence of active Co(3+) species at the surface. Kinetic analyses reveal that the turnover frequency associated with individual Co(3+) sites on the nanorods is similar to that of the conventional nanoparticles of this material, indicating that the significantly higher reaction rate that we have obtained with a nanorod morphology is probably due to the surface richness of active Co(3+) sites. These results show the importance of morphology control in the preparation of base transition-metal oxides as highly efficient oxidation catalysts.