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Mesocarbon microbeads (MCMBs) have a unique structure consisting of graphite-like carbon crystallites covered by spherical surfaces. Their potential anode performance for sodium-ion batteries is investigated. The carbon crystallites in the MCMBs being prepared at 800 °C have a wider crystallites’ interlayer spacing (d = 0.347 nm) than graphite and are stacked by 5–6 graphene layers with an average crystal width of 3.18 nm. MCMBs present a reversible capacity of ~ 180 mAh g−1 and a coulombic efficiency of ~ 99% during 100 discharge/charge cycles. Their superior electrochemical performance is attributed to their unique structure. We propose that sodium is stored in MCMBs mainly by an intercalation mechanism. After sodium intercalation in carbon crystallites, the carbon atoms of graphene layers stack in an AABAA… type, and the sodium atoms exist between the layers of AA with a detected expanded interlayer spacing of 0.437 nm.

To investigate the changes of intestinal microecology in the early stage of sepsis rat model by 16S rDNA sequencing.Sixty male Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were randomly divided into cecal ligation and puncture (CLP) group and sham operation group (Sham group), with 30 rats in each group. In the CLP group, sepsis rat model was reproduced by CLP method; the rats in the Sham group only underwent laparotomy without CLP. At 24 hours after the operation, the intestinal feces and serum samples of 8 rats in each group were collected. The survival rate of the rest rats was observed until the 7th day. The level of serum tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) was detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Intestinal feces were sequenced by 16S rDNA sequencing technology. The operational taxonomic unit (OTU) data obtained after sequence comparison and clustering was used for α diversity and β diversity analysis, principal coordinate analysis and linear discriminant analysis effect size analysis (LEfSe) to observe the changes of intestinal microecology in early sepsis rats and excavate the marker flora.At 24 hours after the reproduction of the model, the rats in the CLP group showed shortness of breath, scattered hair and other manifestations, and the level of serum TNF-α increased significantly as compared with that in the Sham group (ng/L: 43.95±9.05 vs. 11.08±3.27, P0.01). On the 7th day after modeling, the cumulative survival rate of the Sham group was 100%, while that of the CLP group was 31.82%. Diversity analysis showed that there was no significant difference in α diversity parameter between the Sham group and the CLP group (number of species: 520.00±52.15 vs. 492.25±86.61, Chao1 richness estimator: 707.25±65.69 vs. 668.93±96.50, Shannon index: 5.74±0.42 vs. 5.79±0.91, Simpson index: 0.93±0.03 vs. 0.94±0.05, all P0.05). However, the β diversity analysis showed that the difference between groups was greater than that within groups whether weighted according to OTU or not (abundance weighted matrix: R = 0.23, P = 0.04; abundance unweighted matrix: R = 0.32, P = 0.01). At the phylum level, the abundance of Proteobacteria and Candidatus_sacchari in the CLP group increased significantly as compared with the Sham group [18.100% (15.271%, 26.665%) vs. 6.974% (2.854%, 9.764%), 0.125% (0.027%, 0.159%)% vs. 0.018% (0.008%, 0.021%), both P0.05]. At the genus level, the abundance of opportunistic pathogen including Helicobacter, Ruthenium, Streptococcus, Clostridium XVIII in the CLP group was significantly higher than that in the Sham group [5.090% (1.812%, 6.598%) vs. 0.083% (0.034%, 0.198%), 0.244% (0.116%, 0.330%) vs. 0.016% (0.008%, 0.029%), 0.006% (0.003%, 0.010%) vs. 0.001% (0%, 0.003%), 0.094% (0.035%, 0.430%) vs. 0.007% (0.003%, 0.030%), all P0.05], and the abundance of probiotics such as Alloprevotella and Romboustia was significantly lower than that in the Sham group [7.345% (3.662%, 11.546%) vs. 22.504% (14.403%, 26.928%), 0.113% (0.047%, 0.196%) vs. 1.229% (0.809%, 2.29%), both P0.01]. LEfSe analysis showed that the probiotics belonging to Firmicutes were significantly enriched in the Sham group, and Romboustia was the most significantly enriched species. Opportunistic pathogens such as Helicobacter, Streptococcus and Clostridium XVIII were significantly enriched in the CLP group, Helicobacter_NGSU_ 2015 was the most significantly enriched species.In the early stage of sepsis, the intestinal microbiota structure of rats is significantly changed, which mainly shows that the abundance of Alloprevotella and other probiotics is significantly reduced, while that of Helicobacter and other opportunistic pathogens is significantly increased.

A solid-state composite polymer electrolyte comprising Li

In this study, two water deficit treatments in the same amount of water but with different frequencies (T1: 2.5 L per 4 d and T2: 5 L per 8 d) were performed on Reliance grapevines from veraison until harvest to explore their effects on grape berries quality under root restriction. Results showed that glucose, fructose and sucrose contents were increased, while malic acid, tartaric acid and citric acid contents were decreased under two treatments. Meanwhile, water deficits also promoted the accumulation of phenylalanine and proline. For phenols, anthocyanins, resveratrol and flavonols contents in the water deficit groups were significantly higher than those in the control group. In addition, two water deficit treatments increased the characteristic aromas contents, especially the esters contents. Overall, T2 treatment had a better effect than T1 treatment. This study provided an idea for improving water use efficiency and grape quality.

Cellulose acetate (CA) is widely used in the preparation of ultrafiltration membranes due to its many excellent characteristics, especially chemical activity and biodegradability. To improve the inherent hydrophobic and antifouling properties of CA membrane, in this work, CA was successfully modified with dopamine (CA-2,3-DA) through selective oxidation and Schiff base reactions, which was confirmed by FTIR and

Traditional synthesis methods of mesoporous carbon include hard templates (e.g., metal oxides, metal salts and mesoporous silica) and soft templates (e.g., surfactant and block copolymer). However, complicated and time-consuming procedures, high template costs, and harsh preparation conditions hinder the scale-up of these methods. Here, we report a simple and bottom-up strategy to synthesize mesoporous carbon by using the sodium-assisted carbonization of bromobenzene without additional templates added. Depending on the pyrolysis temperature, the obtained material with nanorod structures has a high surface area of 1902 m2 g−1, a large pore volume of 1.21 cm3 g−1 and a high degree of graphitization. Meanwhile, the pore-forming mechanism of this strategy is explored and attributed to the “in situ templating” effect of NaBr. The resultant material at 800 °C shows considerable rate performance, long lifetime and high power density. Additionally, the versatility and feasibility of the technique are validated via carbonization of six halogenated aromatic hydrocarbons by three alkali metals. Compared with lithium and potassium, sodium has better pore-forming effect and the obtained products possess a high surface area (1450–2100 m2 g−1) and a large pore volume (1.1–1.6 cm3 g−1). Furthermore, these mesoporous carbons show high adsorption capacity on dye macromolecules.

Formation mechanism of synthesizing nanoparticle tungsten carbide (WC) was studied. WC was synthesized by carbothermal hydrogen reduction (CHR) method under various reaction temperatures for holding different post-treatment time in 20% (v/v) CH₄/H₂. The phase transformation mechanism of gaining WC was investigated, by combining CHR with X-ray diffraction (XRD) and temperature programmed reduction mass spectroscopy (TPR-MS). The results show that pure phase of WC has been obtained by CHR after isothermal heat treatment for 24 hours at 750 °C and 12 hours at 950 °C, respectively. These results indicated that two key parameters of higher temperature and longer isothermal heat treatment time are necessary for synthesizing pure phase of WC powder. In order to find out the phase transformation mechanism of tungsten trioxide (WO₃) to WC, the reduction and carburization process among the temperature range from 600 °C to 1000 °C for holding 3 hours at the final temperature were studied. It was shown that at 600 °C, WO₃ was reduced to WO₂, and from 600 °C to 750 °C, WO₂ was reduced to metallic tungsten (W). Moreover, at the temperature range from 750 °C to 900 °C, the mixture phases of tungsten carbide (WC), metallic tungsten (W), or/and tungsten sub-carbide (W₂C) were formed without any oxides species, which indicated that tungsten carbides (WC and W₂C) phases appeared because the oxides phase was thoroughly reduced. However, the occurrence of carburization process was still limited due to the presence of oxygen in the solid. Because of the formed CO and CO₂ there was not enough activated methane reacting with metallic tungsten, so the phase of WC and W₂C were both formed simultaneously, but the reaction of forming WC was the main reaction in the whole carburization process. Moreover, the TPR-MS and XRD results indicated that, WC was formed at lower temperature (750 °C) by the reduced metallic W, which was produced form W₂C in the gas mixture for holding a long time, while at a higher temperature (950 °C), WC was formed form W₂C with the mixture gas directly.

Sodium and potassium-ion batteries are promising for energy storage owing to their source abundance and low cost; however, most active materials still suffer from sluggish kinetics, huge volume variations, and poor conductivity and cycle stability. It remains a great challenge to explore appropriate electrode materials for scaled practical applications. Herein, mesoporous FeCo-incorporated MoS2 nanosheets encapsulated into a porous carbon framework (FeCo@C@MoS2) are smartly designed, artistically fabricated and evaluated for sodium and potassium storage. The FeCo@C@MoS2 electrode displays high reversible capacities of 380 mA h g−1 and 147 mA h g−1 at 500 mA g−1 for sodium and potassium storage, respectively. FeCo derived from a Prussian blue analogue promotes fast reaction kinetics of Na+/K+ transport, introduces the formation of a stable solid electrolyte interphase layer (SEI) in both the interior and exterior of the cube-like porous nanostructure and controls the Na+/K+ fluxes, suppressing the growth of metal dendrites. The porous carbon framework with large interstitial voids can effectively buffer volume variations and mitigate mechanical stress, contributing significantly to alleviate strain intensification on the surface layer between MoS2 and FeCo during repeated plating/stripping processes. Density functional theoretical calculations (DFT) further confirm that the synthesized nanostructure shows an intensified electron state, elevated anti-stress ability, high-quality SEI film and preferable Na+/K+ adsorption energies. This in-depth investigation of the electrochemical performance and the extended energy storage mechanism based on metal alloy/sulfide nanostructures for sodium and potassium storage provides guidance for the smart design of heterojunctions for remarkable energy storage.

The reasonable design of metal compound electrocatalysts is proved to be a good approach to accelerate the sluggish conversion kinetics of polysulfides for high performance lithium–sulfur (Li–S) batteries. Since metal cations usually serve as the active sites to interact with polysulfides, optimizing their electronic and valence states is vital to enhance catalytic activity, especially for electrochemical reactions involving multiple electrons. Herein, the electronic and valence states of metal active sites in hollow carbon-encapsulated Ni3ZnC0.7 (denoted as C/Ni3ZnC0.7) nanospheres are modulated by introducing either donor defects (P dopants) or acceptor defects (Ni vacancies) via P-doping or NaBH4-etching, respectively. Such P dopants and Ni vacancies not only endow P-doped C/Ni3ZnC0.7 (denoted as C/Ni3ZnC0.7-Pm) and NaBH4-etched C/Ni3ZnC0.7 (denoted as C/Ni3ZnC0.7-Bn) nanospheres with abundant defects and distortions, but also modulate the valence states of metal active sites in different ways. P dopants and accompanied Zn vacancies remarkably decrease the electron density of Zn active sites in C/Ni3ZnC0.7-P5 while the Ni vacancies contribute to the dramatic increase of Ni2+ species in C/Ni3ZnC0.7-B1 nanospheres. The modulated Zn sites could anchor polysulfides and serve as reservoirs to regulate the valence of Ni sites. However, the modulated Ni active sites with more Ni2+ species enable fast electron transfer between the Ni2+/Ni(0) pair and polysulfides, playing a more significant role in catalyzing the conversion of polysulfides. As a result, compared with C/Ni3ZnC0.7 and C/Ni3ZnC0.7-P5, C/Ni3ZnC0.7-B1 with more Ni2+ species exhibits stronger chemical adsorption ability toward polysulfides and catalytic ability to accelerate the conversion kinetics of polysulfides. When C/Ni3ZnC0.7-B1 nanospheres are used to modify commonly used PP separators for Li–S batteries, remarkable rate performance up to 4.0C (525.6 mA h g−1) and excellent cycling stability (a decay of 0.0179% over 1400 cycles at 1.0C) are achieved.

Compared with traditional carbonaceous precursors (polymers or natural sources), small molecular organic precursors (SMOPs), such as pyrrole, furan and C6H5X (X = Cl, Br, I), are a class of commercial carbonaceous precursors with strong plasticity, wide accessibility and long-term sustainability. However, it is difficult to directly convert these SMOPs into porous carbon nanomaterials (PCNMs) because of their uncontrolled vaporization under high-temperature pyrolysis. Here, we report a novel and bottom-up strategy to prepare PCNMs by using the potassium-assisted carbonization of pyrrole. Depending on the pyrolysis temperature, the obtained materials possess nanorod microstructures with a high degree of graphitization and a high surface area of 2340 m2 g−1. Additionally, the pore-making mechanism for this strategy is explored and ascribed to the chemical activation of KOH, the intercalation effect and physical activation of potassium. Based on this mechanism, three PCNMs are prepared, with an optimized PCNM electrode for supercapacitors exhibiting excellent rate performance (65% capacitance retention at 80 A g−1) and long-term cyclic stability (86% capacitance retention after 10000 cycles). The device delivers 18.5 Wh kg−1 at a high power density of 62.6 kW kg−1. This simple strategy paves the way for the use of largely unexplored SMOPs in preparing PCNMs for energy storage applications.

Nitrogen-doping can increase the charge density and the wettability of electrode materials, to further reinforce the electrochemical performances of energy storage devices. It is difficult to directly convert small molecular nitrogen-containing organics into N-doped porous carbon materials. Here we demonstrate a bottom-up strategy to prepare N-doped porous carbons by sodium metal-assisted carbonization of pyrrole. Pyrrole is not only a nitrogen source, but also a carbon source. In the process of pyrolysis, sodium assists the formation of the thermally stable polymer structures and catalyzes the graphitization of carbonaceous structures. As the pyrolysis temperature increases, the microstructures of porous carbons become more ordered and the pore structures of porous carbons change from the micropore-dominated structures to the mesopore-dominated structures. The material obtained at 800 °C with the nitrogen content of circa 3.3 wt% displays high-rate performances and long lifetime, when used as the supercapacitor electrodes. The device delivers 14.4 W h kg−1 (8.7 W h L−1) at a high power density of 40.5 kW kg−1 (24.5 kW L−1) and 20.9 W h kg−1 (12.6 W h L−1) at a power density of 13.5 kW kg−1 (8.2 kW L−1). Simultaneously, the technique provides a new idea for the preparation of other heteroatoms-doped porous carbons.

Activation of spinal microglia following peripheral nerve injury is a central component of neuropathic pain pathology. While the contributions of microglia-mediated immune and neurotrophic signalling have been well-characterized, the phagocytic and synaptic pruning roles of microglia in neuropathic pain remain unknown. Here, we show that peripheral nerve injury induces engulfment of dorsal horn synapses by microglia, leading to a preferential loss of inhibitory synapses. This synapse removal is dependent on the microglial complement-mediated synapse pruning pathway, as mice deficient in complement C3 do not exhibit synapse elimination. Furthermore, pharmacological inhibition of the complement protein C1q prevents dorsal horn inhibitory synapse loss and attenuates neuropathic pain. Thus, these results demonstrate that the complement pathway promotes persistent pain hypersensitivity via microglia-mediated engulfment and loss of inhibitory synapses in the dorsal horn of the spinal cord, revealing C1q as a novel therapeutic target in neuropathic pain.

Nanostructured integrated electrodes with binder-free design show great potential to solve the ever-growing problems faced by currently commercial lithium-ion batteries such as insufficient power and energy densities. However, there are still many challenging problems that limit the practical application of this emerging technology, in particular complex manufacturing process, high fabrication cost, and low loading mass of active material. Different from those existing fabrication strategies, here using a Co-P alloy foil as precursor we demonstrate a simple neutral salt solution-mediated electrochemical dealloying method to well address the above issues. The resultant freestanding mesoporous np-Co(OH)

Endometrial cancer (EC) is one of the most common gynecologic cancers in developed countries. Presently, it is imperative to develop a reliable, noninvasive, or minimally invasive detection method for EC. We explored the possibility of using DNA methylation marker from endometrial brush samples (with a “Tao brush”) and cervical scrapes (with a “Pap brush”) for early detection of EC. We analyzed the methylation data of EC and normal endometrial tissues from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) data sets. An optimized methylation-sensitive restriction enzyme combined with real-time fluorescent quantitative PCR (MSRE-qPCR) was used for methylation detection. Included in the training set were 143 endometrial tissues, 103 Tao, and 109 Pap brush samples. The validation set included 110 Tao and 112 Pap brush samples.PCDHGB7was significantly hypermethylated in EC compared with normal endometrial tissues in the TCGA and GEO data sets (AUC >0.95), which was verified in clinical samples. In the Pap brush samples, the AUC was 0.86 with 80.65% sensitivity and 82.81% specificity, whereas the Tao brush samples exhibited higher specificity (95.31%). The combination of Tao and Pap brush samples significantly increased the sensitivity to 90.32%. In the validation set, the final model yielded a sensitivity of 98.61%, specificity of 60.53%, positive predictive value of 82.56%, and negative predictive value of 95.83%. These results demonstrate the potential application of the novel methylation marker, hypermethylatedPCDHGB7, in cervical scrapings and endometrial brush, which provides a viable, noninvasive, or minimally invasive method for early endometrial cancer detection across different clinical features and histologies to supplement current hysteroscopy diagnosis.

Neither of the two widely used staging models in the long history of intercalation chemistry, namely the classical Rüdorff-Hofmann model proposed in 1938 and the pleated-layer domain-modified one in 1969, can explain the intercalation reaction phenomena and mechanism logically. Taking the landmark potassium-intercalation reaction of graphite as a model case and two advanced monolithic graphitic/graphenic carbon foams as model electrodes, here we have revealed that the electrochemical storage of potassium in graphitic/graphenic carbon (as that of lithium) obeys a simple interlayered centroid intercalation (ICIC) rule to achieve the staged potassium intercalation into each graphitic interlayer: C → KC72 → KC24 → KC8. Moreover, judging from the typical potassium-storage behaviors and crystal texture of graphitic electrodes, nitrogen doping and pre-embedded K atoms would enable incoming K+ ions to perform fast pseudocapacitive diffusion in graphitic gallery. This study not only makes clear the basic K-storage mechanism and phenomena in graphitic carbon, but also establishes a more reasonable ICIC model for intercalation chemistry, and thus may help open a new research era for this field as well as graphite-based metal-ion batteries.

Vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) play critical roles in the progression of atherosclerosis. Circular RNA (circRNA) ubiquitin protein ligase E3 component n-recognin 4 (circUBR4) has been shown to regulate VSMC migration and proliferation. In this study, we sought to identify the mechanism in the regulation of circUBR4. CircUBR4, microRNA (miR)-491-5p, and Neuropilin-2 (NRP2) were quantified by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and western blot. Cell proliferation was evaluated by Cell Counting Kit-8 and 5-Ethynyl-2'-Deoxyuridine assays. Cell migration was examined by wound-healing and transwell invasion assays. The direct relationship between miR-491-5p and circUBR4 or NRP2 was validated by dual-luciferase reporter and RNA immunoprecipitation assays. Our data indicated that in VSMCs, ox-LDL induced circUBR4 expression. Silencing endogenous circUBR4 attenuated VSMC proliferation and migration induced by ox-LDL. Mechanistically, circUBR4 targeted miR-491-5p by pairing to miR-491-5p. Moreover, miR-491-5p was identified as a downstream mediator of circUBR4 function in ox-LDL-treated VSMCs. NRP2 was a direct target of miR-491-5p, and circUBR4 acted as a competing endogenous RNA for miR-491-5p to regulate NRP2 expression. In addition, NRP2 was a functionally downstream effector of miR-491-5p in regulating ox-LDL-evoked VSMC proliferation and migration. Our findings identify a new competing endogenous RNA network, the circUBR4/miR-491-5p/NRP2 axis, for the regulation of circUBR4 in VSMC migration and proliferation.

Mice with experimental nerve damage can display long‑lasting neuropathic pain behavior. We show here that 4 months and later after nerve injury, male but not female mice displayed telomere length (TL) reduction and p53‑mediated cellular senescence in the spinal cord, resulting in maintenance of pain and associated with decreased lifespan. Nerve injury increased the number of p53‑positive spinal cord neurons, astrocytes, and microglia, but only in microglia was the increase male‑specific, matching a robust sex specificity of TL reduction in this cell type, which has been previously implicated in male‑specific pain processing. Pain hypersensitivity was reversed by repeated intrathecal administration of a p53‑specific senolytic peptide, only in male mice and only many months after injury. Analysis of UK Biobank data revealed sex-specific relevance of this pathway in humans, featuring male‑specific genetic association of the human p53 locus (TP53) with chronic pain and a male-specific effect of chronic pain on mortality. Our findings demonstrate the existence of a biological mechanism maintaining pain behavior, at least in males, occurring much later than the time span of virtually all extant preclinical studies.

The depolymerization of polycarbonate (PC) into bisphenol A (BPA) is performed by defective xCaO/Ce-SBA-15 nanocomposite assisted by plasma treatment. For such composite catalyst, CaO and CeO2 particles are finely encapsulated into the tubular SBA-15 without leaching or aggregation occurring. Abundant oxygen vacancies are generated from the doping of Ca and Ce atoms into the lattice of SBA-15 composite via the plasma surface engineering, entrusting strong basic sites to such mesoporous composite. The interface interaction between Ca and Ce with defective dimensional support materials predominated to generate maximum basic sites is of critical importance in tailoring the BPA yield. CaO/Ce-SBA-15 with rich oxygen vacancies and rough surface creates rich basic sites to achieve the high efficiency of PC alcoholysis and durable repeated cycles. Meanwhile, the synergistic catalysis between CaO and CeO2 is achieved, while SBA-15 with smaller disordered pores and fine connectivity between adjacent large pore channels enables a good dispersity of such xCaO/Ce-SBA-15 composite and finely prevents the leaching of Ca and Ce particles. Additionally, the high-density defects from the substitution of Ce by Ca and Si atoms as well as the plasma treatment play active basic sites during PC adsorption and activation. Such graft also leads SBA-15 itself becoming a solid base. Hence, the superior of PC depolymerization and superior durability are obtained due to the composition synergistic effects and rich abundant basic sites. It is noted that the abundant Ca on ceria surface provides affluent electrons, which makes decreased Ce valence in CeO2 subsurface and elevation of basic sites. This work explores the generation of tunable basic sites for SBA-15 and is instructive for fabricating desirable multicomponent catalysts composed of bifunctional non-novel catalyst for heterogeneous catalysis with rich surface oxygen vacancies.

A surface modification method of C/C composites involving a combination of pre-oxidation treatment and in situ growth of CNTs was developed to form a reinforced interfacial structure in Nb-C/C brazed joints. The interfacial structure under different surface conditions of the C/C composites and its effects on the mechanical properties of brazed joints at both room temperature (RT) and elevated temperatures were studied. Through pre-oxidation, annular gaps with an adjustable size were uniformly formed around the carbon fibers, and these gaps acted as artificial channels for the liquid brazing alloy to infiltrate into. The RT shear strength of the Nb-C/C joints increased from 29 MPa to 57 MPa after oxidation of the C/C composites at 800 °C for 5min. The growth of CNTs was able to improve the wettability, since it was beneficial for liquid brazing alloy filling in the annular gaps. Further, a reinforced joint with fine TiC particles was formed by the reaction between Ti and the CNTs. The shear strength of the brazed joints reached 62 MPa after pre-oxidation and CNT growth and remained at 48 MPa at 500 °C. The improvement in the joint shear strength after surface modification of the C/C composites was attributed to the reduced residual stress, increased bonding area, and enhanced pinning effect.

Ponkan (Citrus reticulata Blanco cv. Ponkan) is one of the widely grown and economically important citrus fruit species in China. Present study investigated the dynamic changes of Ponkan fruit’ storability in different storage period and under alternating temperature during the postharvest transportation and shelf life, aiming to find out an efficient and energy-saving transportation scheme for Ponkan fruit at different storage stage. The results showed that, the elongation of storage time and the higher transport temperature led to the increase of decay rate. The juice yield continued to decrease, without affecting by the transportation temperatures. The rind color turn yellow rapidly (with the citrus color index (CCI) increased from 3.61 to 9.25) during the first two months, and remained stable during the following period. The higher transportation temperature accelerated the rind color development. The total soluble solids (TSS) increased during the first month (from 11.21% to 13.25%), remained stable in the second and third months, and then decreased slightly in the fourth month, which was not evidently influenced by the transportation temperature. The titratable acidity (TA) showed a continuous decline which was accelerated by the high transportation temperature. The ethanol and aldehyde contents continue to increase and were not significantly affected by the transportation temperature. The total flavonoids content decreased during the transportation and shelf life of the newly harvested Ponkan fruit, while remained stable and was not significantly affected by the transportation temperature in the four months of storage. The alternating temperature of transportation affected the storability of Ponkan fruit at different storage periods. These finding provided a theoretical basis for the selection of transportation temperature from economic perspective.

We prepared a multilayer-sandwiched Co3O4/NGC/rGO composite by introducing in situ electrostatic self-assembly method with a subsequent thermal annealing induced Kirkendall effect. In the composite, the hollow Co3O4 nanospheres surrounded by N-doped graphitic carbon (NGC) layer are tightly sandwiched between the reduced graphene oxide (rGO) layers. The layer-by-layer multilayer-sandwiched structure and strong electrostatic interaction bring the space confinement effect and close electrical contact between different components, which greatly strengthen the durability of the electrode structure and electron/ion transport kinetics. Detailed characterization based on electrochemical impedance spectra (EIS) and cyclic voltammograms (CVs) tests confirms that the Co3O4/NGC/rGO electrode possesses accelerated electron/ion-transfer kinetics and enhanced surface-controlled capacitive behaviors. The discharging profile and its differential capacity curve further validate the existence of interfacial storage lithium in the composite, contributing to high reversible capacity. Consequently, benefiting from the synergistic effects of the multilevel controls in component and structure aspects, the Co3O4/NGC/rGO composite displays a superior reversible capacity (930.8 mA h g-1 at 0.5 A g-1), desired rate performance (584 mA h g-1 at 10 A g-1), as well as stable cycling lifetime of over 300 loops with almost no capacity fading even without any additional conductive additives.

In present work, a novel strategy combining the nitrogen-functionalization and pore structure controlling was developed to prepare nitrogen-doped hierarchical porous carbons (NHPCs) from a bio-decomposited product. This strategy was realized by introducing nitrogen species into the carbon precursor to afford C N forms, which would react with the K-species and thus enhance the carbon etching to improve the pore structure development. The final NHPCs obtained by this strategy not only have a high nitrogen content of 5 at %, but also deliver specific surface area up to 3142 m2 g−1 and total pore volume close to 2.6 m3 g−1. Benefited from the chemical composition and improved pore structure, the NHPCs electrodes exhibit an impressive capacitive performance in ionic liquid electrolyte with high specific capacity (209 F g−1 at 0.05 A g−1 and 148 F g−1 at 20 A g−1), enhanced energy density (up to 88 W h kg−1) and superior cyclic stability (a capacitance loss of 9% after 10000 cycles). The desirable electrochemical performance combined with the green and low-cost precursor and the simple and scalable synthesis route make the NHPCs sample a promising candidate for high-energy supercapacitor.

The photochemistry and sodium storage process have been generally considered as two separated approaches without strong connection. Here, ultraviolet (UV) irradiation was applied to sodium-ion batt...

The morphology, pore structure and chemical composition of materials are key to supercapacitor performances. To design reasonable morphology and optimize pore size distribution of materials, we employ a combination of sol-gel method and chemical activation with an aid of freeze drying to prepare a three dimensional hierarchical porous pitch-based aerogel (3DHPPA). The aerogel owns hierarchical porous structure ranging from 0 to 100 nm, high specific surface area of 2220 m2 g−1 and is made up of carbon onion-like nanospheres of 20–40 nm with enough electric conductivity (103.2 S m−1). In view of the unique architecture, the supercapacitor assembled from 3DHPPA with the area density of 8.9 mg cm−2 exhibits high specific capacitance of 157 F g−1 at 50 mA g−1, excellent rate performance (95 F g−1 at 10 A g−1), considerable energy density of 24.2 Wh kg−1 at 6.75 kW kg−1 (voltage range of 2.7 V) and outstanding cycling life with 81.5% capacitance retention at 2 A g−1 after 8000 cycles in 1 M TEABF4/PC electrolyte. Furthermore, the formation mechanism of the 3DHPCA is elucidated in this work. The simple, feasible and low-cost strategy makes 3DHPPA applicable in other fields of energy storage, hydrogen storage, capacitive deionization and catalysis.

Non-graphitized carbons attract interest as anode materials for high performance batteries. Therefore, a 3D soft and hard carbon composite material with controlled pores via dual-salt assisted stra...

Two-dimensional (2D) materials with mono or few layers have wide application prospects, including electronic, optoelectronic, and interface functional coatings in addition to energy conversion and storage applications. However, the exfoliation of such materials is still challenging due to their low yield, high cost, and poor ecological safety in preparation. Herein, a safe and efficient solid suspension-improving method was proposed to exfoliate hexagonal boron nitride nanosheets (hBNNSs) in a large yield. The method entails adding a permeation barrier layer in the solvothermal kettle, thus prolonging the contact time between the solvent and hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) nanosheet and improving the stripping efficiency without the need for mechanical agitation. In addition, the proposed method selectively utilizes a matching solvent that can reduce the stripping energy of the material and employs a high-temperature steam shearing process. Compared with other methods, the exfoliating yield of hBNNSs is up to 42.3% at 150 °C for 12 h, and the strategy is applicable to other 2D materials. In application, the ionic conductivity of a PEO/hBNNSs composite electrolytes reached 2.18 × 10−4 S cm−1 at 60 °C. Overall, a versatile and effective method for stripping 2D materials in addition to a new safe energy management strategy were provided.

Sodium and potassium-ion batteries are promising for energy storage owing to their source abundance and low cost; however, most active materials still suffer from sluggish kinetics, huge volume variations, and poor conductivity and cycle stability. It remains a great challenge to explore appropriate electrode materials for scaled practical applications. Herein, mesoporous FeCo-incorporated MoS

N-(2-Chloro-4-pyridyl)-N′-phenylurea (CPPU) is a cytokinin-like plant growth regulator, which application in melon fruit set often produced bitter fruit caused by cucurbitacin B (Cu B) accumulation. However, more evidence is required to uncover the role of CPPU in regulating Cu B synthesis. In this study, two oriental melon cultivars ‘YMR’ (easy to present bitter fruit in maturation) and ‘HDB’ (hardly produce bitter fruit at maturity) were used. Four concentrations of CPPU (2.5, 5, 10 and 20 mg L−1) were set and hand pollination was used as control. Cu B accumulated in roots and fruit of 7 days after flower (7 DAF), which in ‘YMR’ was higher than those in ‘HDB’, and consistent with Cu B biosynthetic genes expression patterns. Furthermore, Cu B content in fruit significantly increased with CPPU concentrations and reached the highest level at 7 DAF, then decreased after 14 DAF, and which treated by 20 mg L−1 CPPU was always higher than that of controls and other low CPPU concentrations. Meanwhile, fruit bitterness evaluation suggested 20 mg L−1 CPPU increased the occurrence of bitterness during melon maturation. Transcription analysis suggested that the expression of Cu B biosynthetic genes (CmBi, Cm710, CmACT) and CmBt, the fruit-specific transcription factor, were significantly induced by 20 mg L−1 CPPU. Transient over-expression of CmBt in young fruit of ‘YMR’ increased Cu B biosynthetic genes (CmBi, CmACT, Cm710 and Cm890) expression and promoted Cu B accumulation. Taken together, this study demonstrates that 20 mg L−1 CPPU promotes Cu B accumulation in melon fruit by inducing CmBt and its biosynthetic genes.

Spinal dorsal horn disinhibition has been implicated in neuropathic pain, a debilitating condition resulting from damage to the nervous system. Loss of dorsal horn inhibitory synapses has been proposed to contribute to the reduction of inhibitory tone in neuropathic pain. However, how nerve injury affects inhibitory synapses in relation to other synaptic populations and mechanisms mediating synaptic loss remain unknown. Using a nerve injury rodent model of neuropathic pain, we show that microglia selectively engulf synapses intrinsic to the dorsal horn, but not terminals of primary afferents. Furthermore, we reveal that microglia specifically remove complement-tagged inhibitory synapses that are presynaptic to dorsal horn interneurons and terminals of primary afferents. Inhibiting or depleting microglia prevented inhibitory synapse loss without affecting excitatory synapses and attenuated pain behaviour at chronic stages of neuropathic pain. These results define a new role for microglia in neuropathic pain pathogenesis: the selective pruning of spinal inhibitory synapses.

Environmental deterioration and energy crisis caused by ever-increasing exploitation of traditional fossil fuels are urgent problems that need to be addressed. Microbial energy conversion technologies have attracted wide attentions since they can convert chemical energy contained in wastes, like solid wastes and wastewater, into biofuels or bioelectricity, realizing environmental remediation and energy production at the same time. But the conventional methods have many limitations, like low mass transfer rate, uneven energy distribution, and strong product or by-product inhibition. The introduction of membranes in the reaction system can effectively relieve these technical bottlenecks by regulating the transfer and distribution properties of mass, heat, and energy, which play important roles on bioenergy productivity and quality.

A MnOx/carbon nanocomposite was synthesized from a novel pitch-derived amphiphilic carbonaceous material (ACM). Characterization of this nanocomposite reveals that the nanosized manganese oxide particles are uniformly embedded in a porous carbon framework. When evaluated as the anode for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), the structural features of the nanocomposite lead to an enhanced electrochemical performance with a high reversible capacity of ~ 900 mAh g −1 at 50 mA g −1 , excellent cyclic stability (620mAh g −1 at 300 mA g −1 after 500 cycles) and good rate performance (~ 320mAh g −1 at 4 A g −1 ). The desirable electrochemical properties of the nanocomposite combined with its simple hybridization method make the prepared composite a promising electrode material for high-performance LIBs.

Background: Lung cancer has a very high incidence rate and is one of the commonly diagnosed tumors in developed countries. Aims: To investigate the effect of wogonin on A549 and A427 lung cancer cells and explore the mechanism involved. Study Design: Cell study. Methods: The cytotoxicity effect of wogonin on A549 and A427 lung cancer and BEAS-2B cells was assessed by MTT assay. The onset of apoptosis was assessed by flow cytometry using Annexin V FITC/PI staining. Western blotting was used for the determination of changes in apoptotic protein expression. Results: Wogonin treatment exhibited cytotoxicity effect selectively on A549 and A427 cells without affecting BEAS-2B normal lung cells. The viability of A549 and A427 cells was reduced to 31% and 34%, respectively, on treatment with 50 μM of wogonin; however, there was no significant reduction in BEAS-2B cell viability on treatment with the same concentration of it. Moreover, the percentage of apoptotic A427 cells showed a significant (p