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Hydrogels with fascinating adhesion have been demonstrated great potential in various applications. However, most hydrogels lose their adhesion in wet or underwater environments due to the influence of interfacial water. Inspired by mussel, an underwater adhesive hydrogel was facilely fabricated by introducing electrostatic interactions, which consisted of poly (acrylic acid) (PAA), quaternized xylan (QAX) and tannic acid (TA). In this hydrogel, -COO

There is an urgent need to find green and efficient technologies for the sustainable reuse of the Chinese medicine residues due to their abundant annual production companied with serious environment problems. Herein, we synthesized a three-dimensional hierarchically porous carbon from Ganoderma lucidum residues for the application of supercapacitor electrodes via a molten alkali treatment activation/carbonization process. The resulting porous carbon samples had large surface areas (1347.7 m2 g−1), a hierarchical pore structure, and excellent capacitance and were obtained using much less corrosive activator compared with other studies. When used for supercapacitor, the Ganoderma lucidum residues–derived porous carbon electrode presented outstanding electrochemical performance, with specific capacitances of up to 365.6 F g−1 at 1 A g−1, and cycling stability of up to 99% after 10,000 cycles at a current density of 2 A g−1. This work broadens the application of Chinese medicine residues in the field of energy storage and provides a new avenue for high value conversion of waste resources. Using Chinese Medicine Residues as precursor, a convenient activation/carbonization process is proposed to synthesize porous carbon as supercapacitor electrode materials.

Inspired by mussel chemistry, adhesive hydrogels represented by polydopamine (PDA) have been widely studied in many fields such as biomedical applications and bioelectronics. However, the process of producing PDA from dopamine often requires specific conditions, which oxidize some of the effective groups and reduce the adhesion effect. So it is important to develop a simple and effective method for fabrication and application of adhesive hydrogels. In this work, an adhesive hydrogel composed of xylan, polyacrylic acid (PAA) and tannic acid (TA) was developed using a facile approach, which exhibited excellent mechanical and adhesion properties. The xylan and TA both from plants could endow the hydrogels with unique properties such as biocompatibility and biodegradability. Surprisingly, the resultant hydrogels exhibited excellent stretchability (extension ratio up to 4600%) and adhesive strength (up to 25 kPa). Besides, the synthesized hydrogels displayed excellent antioxidant and antibacterial properties, while the scavenging rate of 2, 2-Diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical reached to 94.12%. This study provides a new insight for the design of hydrogels with stretchable, adhesive, antioxidant and antibacterial abilities.

Yueping Chen,1,* Junli Ren,2,3,* Naiping Yang,2,3,* Honghao Huang,2,3 Xueting Hu,2,3 Fangyue Sun,2,3 Tian Zeng,2,3 Xinbo Zhou,2,3 Wenjing Pan,2,3 Jingyu Hu,2,3 Beibei Gao,4 Shunkai Zhang,2 Guangyong Chen2 1Clinical Laboratory, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Neurology, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, People’s Republic of China; 3School of the First Clinical Medical Sciences, Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, People’s Republic of China; 4Department of Internal Medicine, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this work.Correspondence: Shunkai Zhang; Guangyong ChenDepartment of Neurology, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, No. 108 Wansong Road, Wenzhou, 325000, Zhejiang, People’s Republic of ChinaEmail shunkaizhang@126.com; gychen6@126.comBackground: Eosinophil and monocyte have been demonstrated separately to be independent predictors of acute ischemic stroke (AIS). This study aimed to evaluate the association between eosinophil-to-monocyte ratio (EMR) and 3-month clinical outcome after treatment with recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rt-PA) for AIS patients. Simultaneously, we made a simple comparison with other prognostic indicators, such as 24h neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and 24h platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) to investigate the prognostic value of EMR.Methods and Results: A total of 280 AIS patients receiving intravenous thrombolysis were retrospectively recruited for this study. Complete blood count evaluations for EMR were conducted on 24 hours admission. The poor outcome at 3-month was defined as the modified Rankin Scale (mRS) of 3– 6 and the mRS score for death was 6. The EMR levels in patients with AIS were lower than those in the healthy controls and showed a negative correlation with the NIHSS score. At the 3-month follow-up, multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated an association among EMR, poor outcome and mortality. In addition, EMR had a higher predictive ability than popular biomarkers like NLR and PLR for 3-month mortality.Conclusion: The lower levels of EMR were independently associated with poor outcome and dead status in AIS patients.Keywords: acute ischemic stroke, eosinophil-to-monocyte ratio, intravenous thrombolysis, treatment outcome, modified rankin scale

Yiyun Weng,1,* Tian Zeng,2,3,* Honghao Huang,2,3,* Junli Ren,2,3 Jianing Wang,2,3 Chenguang Yang,2,3 Wenjing Pan,2,3 Jingyu Hu,2,3 Fangyue Sun,2,3 Xinbo Zhou,2,3 Haojie Qiu,2,3 Yufan Gao,2,3 Beibei Gao,4 Lifen Chi,3 Guangyong Chen3 1Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, People’s Republic of China; 2School of the First Clinical Medical Sciences, Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Neurology, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, People’s Republic of China; 4Department of Internal Medicine, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Guangyong ChenDepartment of Neurology, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, No. 108 Wansong Road, Wenzhou, 325000, Zhejiang, People’s Republic of ChinaTel +86-13777770788Fax +86-577-65623263Email gychen6@126.comLifen ChiDepartment of Neurology, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, People’s Republic of ChinaEmail chilifenry@126.comBackground and Purpose: Systemic immune-inflammation index (SII), a novel inflammation index derived from counts of circulating platelets, neutrophils and lymphocytes, has been studied in developing incident cancer. However, the clinical value of SII in acute ischemic stroke (AIS) patients had not been further investigated. Therefore, we aimed to explore the association between SII and severity of stroke as well as 3-month outcome of AIS patients.Methods: A total of 216 AIS patients receiving intravenous thrombolysis (IVT) and 875 healthy controls (HCs) were retrospectively recruited. Blood samples were collected within 24h after admission. Severity of stroke was assessed by the National Institute of Health stroke scale (NIHSS) scores on admission and poor 3-month functional outcome was defined as Modified Rankin Scale (mRS) > 2.Results: SII levels in AIS patients were higher than in HCs. The cut-off value of SII is 545.14× 109/L. Patients with SII > 545.14× 109/L had higher NIHSS scores (median: 5 vs 9, p < 0.001), a positive correlation between SII and NIHSS was observed (rs = 0.305, p < 0.001). Multivariate logistic regression analyses showed that high SII was one of the independent risk factors for poor prognosis at 3 months of AIS patients (OR = 3.953, 95% CI = 1.702– 9.179, p = 0.001). The addition of SII to the conventional prognostic model improved the reclassification (but not discrimination) of the functional outcome (net reclassification index 39.3%, p = 0.007).Conclusion: SII is correlated with stroke severity at admission and can be a novel prognostic biomarker for AIS patients treated with IVT.Keywords: systemic immune-inflammation index, ischemic stroke, inflammation, prognosis

The present report focuses on the solvent effect on furfural production from xylose in biphasic systems with methods including combined experiments, molecular dynamics (MD) simulations and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Six most effective and commonly used biphasic solvents for furfural production were comparatively analyzed and discussed based on the kinetic study, partition coefficient, degradation behavior of furfural in organic solvents, distribution of solvent molecules around xylose/furfural molecules, hydrogen bonding, moving trajectories of xylose/furfural, and the solvation free energy. During the hydrothermal reaction of xylose to furfural in biphasic systems, it was found that the conversion efficiency of biphasic systems can be ordered as DCM/H2O > 2-MTHF/H2O > 2-butanol/H2O ≈ MIBK/H2O > CPME/H2O > toluene/H2O according to the xylose conversion and furfural yield, which are dominated by the solvation free energy (ΔGsol) of furfural in organic solvents, and also be affected by three other factors, namely, the maximum solubility of furfural in organic solvents, the ΔGsol value of organic solvents in water, and the side reaction of furfural in organic solvents. The degradation rate of furfural in 2-butanol was detected to be the fastest, and molecular dynamics simulation data showed that the hydrogen bonding between furfural and 2-butanol may accelerate the degradation of furfural. DCM has excellent extraction ability for furfural, and the maximum furfural yield in the DCM/H2O system (81.64%) is much higher than that in other systems during the hydrothermal reaction without additional catalysts.

Radionuclides, such as

Wearable energy storage devices are crucial for the development of flexible and wearable electronics. However, their performance is still limited due to the addition of inactive additives and low porosity of electrodes. Herein, a novel strategy is reported to enhance the performance of flexible supercapacitor by a multifunctional interface design on cellulose substrate. The multifunctional interface can simultaneously take the function of binder, conductive additive and active material through the transition from the adhesive polydopamine interface to the nitrogen-doped carbon interface, and allows the electrode maintain nanoscale porosity and high specific area of 347.6 m2 g−1. The composite electrodes exhibit high specific areal capacitance of 3100 mF cm−2. All-solid-state supercapacitor based on them shows remarkable capacitance of 1208.4 mF cm−2 with excellent flexibility and rate capability, which is much higher than recently reported textile-based supercapacitors. This work may open up new opportunities for flexible electrodes and wearable supercapacitors with excellent performance.

Alkyl ketene dimer grafted cationic cellulose (AKD-g-CMCC) was designed to stabilize nano magnesium oxide (MgO) in low polarity mixed solution of hexamethyldisiloxane (HMDO) and isopropanol (IPA) for protection of aging paper. The highly stable nano MgO organic colloid exhibited a small average particle size (200 nm) and low viscosity (2.26 mPa·s), which is beneficial for the efficient protection of aging paper. Evaluation results showed that properties of treated aging paper were improved. Small-size MgO (200 nm) uniformly deposited on the paper endowed the treated paper with mild pH (8.30) and sufficient alkali reserve (1.00%, calcium carbonate equivalent) for deacidification. Meanwhile, the tensile index and tear index of treated paper increased by 40.78% and 27.28%, respectively. Moreover, the treated paper presented the low chromatic aberration (∆E=0.46) and the negligible influence in the appearance and clarity of writing. Additionally, the treated paper also had the excellent anti-aging and anti-adhesion performance.

Neutrophil counts to high-density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio (NHR) is a relatively new and readily available indicator, and our study aimed to demonstrate its relationship with short-term prognosis after intravenous thrombolysis in acute ischemic stroke (AIS) patients and to make a simple comparison with other prognostic indicators. We compared demographic and laboratory characteristics of AIS patients and healthy controls and grouped AIS patients according to NHR tertiles to contrast 3-month outcomes. Univariate and multivariate regression analyses were carried to further analyze the relationship between NHR and prognosis. Moreover, we compared the accuracy of several factors using receiver-operating characteristic curve. NHR levels of AIS patients were higher than those of healthy controls (p

The three steps fractionation strategy of corncob was performed for the efficient production of xylooligosaccharide, nanolignin and nanocellulose. High yield of xylooligosaccharide (XOS) was produc...

A xylan-based antimicrobial additive agent was prepared and studied for use in paper products against Escherichia coli bacteria. The derived cationic-xylan-grafted-guanidine polymer (CX-g-PHGH) was successfully synthesized by graft copolymerization of cationic-xylan with polyhexa-methylene guanidine hydrochloride (PHGH) using ceric ammonium nitrate as an initiator. The obtained CX-g-PHGH had a maximum PHGH grafting ratio of 18.4% and efficiency of 58.4% and showed good viscosity and thermal stability. Furthermore, the paper samples prepared in this work were reinforced noticeably with the addition of CX-g-PHGH, after which exhibited improved mechanical properties. Compared to the reference paper without any of the xylan derivatives, the index of tensile, tear, burst, and folding endurance of the paper were increased by up to 20.1%, 25.3%, 30.2%, and 77.8%, respectively. Moreover, the prepared CX-g-PHGH paper exhibited efficient antimicrobial barrier properties against E. coli bacteria, by which many applications based on the new xylan derived additive agent obtained in this work could be found, especially in field of antimicrobial paper products against E. coli bacteria from contaminated food.

Neuroblastoma (NB) is the most common extra-cranial solid tumor in childhood with the overall 5 years' survival less than 40%. Polo-like kinase 1 (PLK1) is a serine/threonine-protein kinase expressed during mitosis and over expressed in multiple cancers, including neuroblastoma. We found that higher PLK1 expression related to poor outcome of NB patients. BI2536, a small molecule inhibitor against PLK1, significantly reduced cell viability in a panel of NB cell lines, with IC50 less than 100 nM. PLK1 inhibition by BI 2536 treatment induced cell cycle arrest at G2/M phase and cell apoptosis in NB cells. Realtime PCR array revealed the PLK1 inhibition related genes, such as BIRC7, TNFSF10, LGALS1 and DAD1 et al. Moreover, autophagy activity was investigated in the NB cells treated with BI 2536. BI 2536 treatment in NB cells increased LC3-II puncta formation and LC3-II expression. Formation of autophagosome induced by BI 2536 was observed by transmission electron microscopy. However, BI2536 abrogated the autophagic flux in NB cells by reducing SQSTM1/p62 expression and AMPKαT172 phosphorylation. These results provide new clues for the molecular mechanism of cell death induced by BI 2536 and suggest that BI 2536 may act as new candidate drug for neuroblastoma.

There is growing interest in the development of “green” electronics fabricated from “natural” materials, which could lead to renewable, sustainable, and potentially inexpensive organic optoelectron...

Oil-in-water food emulsions consisting of natural emulsifiers has been an active field of green scientific inquiry. Here, we extract two types of new hemicellulose-based emulsifiers (HH and HL) from holocellulose and dewaxed materials of bamboo (Phyllostachys pubescens), as well as compare their emulsifying soy oil ability, respectively. The main content of HH is arabinoxylan, while the primary composition in HL is glucan. The emulsifying capacity of these two types of hemicellulose-based emulsifiers are evaluated by droplet size distribution, surface charge and optical microscopy. Since HL possesses higher lignin and protein residual contents, the resultant emulsion exhibits smaller droplets and higher emulsion stability. In comparison, HH emulsifier has almost no emulsifying capacity due to the lack of non-polar groups. This study provides insight into the choice of hemicelluloses-based emulsifiers for the formation of stable oil-in-water food emulsions.

In this study, experiments and molecular dynamics simulations were combined to get insights into the role of solvent during the process of xylose conversion under catalyst-free conditions. Solvents used for furfural production were comparatively discussed, including traditional and emerging biomass-derived solvents – water, dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), dimethyl formamide (DMF), isopropanol (ISO), γ-butyrolactone (GBL) and γ-valerolactone (GVL). The degradation behavior of solvents, the solubility and α/β ratio of xylose, the distribution of the solvent around xylose/furfural and the hydrogen bonding between them were also studied. The results showed that in pure solvents, the different hydrogen bonding between xylose and the solvent resulted in different products. Water was a favourable solvent for xylose to form furfural among these pure solvents because less formic acid was produced from xylose in water under catalyst-free conditions. Furfural could be produced in mixed solvents if there was more water around xylose, which was similar to the case in pure water. Otherwise, the situation in mixed solvents was similar to that in the corresponding pure organic solvents. GBL and GVL, as green solvents, had weaker affinities with xylose than DMSO, DMF and ISO, but were intensively attracted by furfural, thus they could provide protective shells for furfural, which played a positive role during the production of furfural. The highest furfural yield of 46.4% was achieved in GBL–H2O at 180 °C – 150 min in the absence of catalysts.

The increasing environmental burden generated by disposable plastic wastes makes the development of sustainable substitute materials an emergent task. As one of the most abundant bioresources, chitosan (CS) has been considered as a potential candidate for plastic substitution. Conventionally, CS-based materials are fabricated through a solution-processing procedure due to the high crystallinity of CS. Herein, we designed a CS-based material via integrating CS into the network of polyimine (PI), which shows thermomechanical processability similar to plastics. Strong interactions were achieved through dynamic imine bond and hydrogen bond and thus formed a thermo-processable dynamic composite network. These CS-based plastic substitutes exhibit exceptional mechanical performances, excellent thermal/chemical stability, and a series of self-adaptiveness, including re-healing, reprocessing and multi-layer laminating. Notably, CPs can be easily degraded and 100% recycled for the production of next-generation materials. This work provides an alternative route to produce green and sustainable biomass materials as a plastic substitute.

Background Radiotherapy is a highly effective treatment for cervical cancer. Recent studies focused on the radiotherapy induced anti-tumor immunity. Whether tumor-derived extracellular vesicles (EVs) play roles in radiotherapy induced tumor associated macrophage (TAM) polarization remains unclear. Materials and Methods This study analysed the phenotype of macrophages in cancer tissue and peripheral blood of cervical cancer patients using flow cytometry analysis. The role of EVs from plasma of post-irradiated patients on M2-like transformed macrophages was assessed. The M1- and M2-like macrophages were assessed by expression of cell surface markers (CCR7, CD163) and intracellular cytokines (IL-10, TNFα and iNOS). The capacity of phagocytosis was assessed by PD-1 expression and phagocytosis of pHrodo Red E. coli bioparticles. Results Our results demonstrated that radiotherapy of cervical cancer induced an increase in the number of TAMs and a change in their subtype from the M2-like to the M1-like phenotype (increased expression of CCR7 and decreased expression of CD163). The EVs from plasma of post-irradiated patients facilitated the M2-like to the M1-like phenotype transition (increased expression of CCR7, TNFα and iNOS, and decreased expression of CD163 and IL-10) and increased capacity of phagocytosis (decreased PD-1 expression and increased phagocytosis of pHrodo Red E. coli bioparticles). Conclusions Our data demonstrated that irradiation in cervical cancer patients facilitated a proinflammatory macrophage phenotype which could eventually able to mediate anti-tumor immune responses. Our findings highlight the importance of EV in the crosstalk of tumor cells and TAM upon irradiation, which potentially leading to an increased inflammatory response to cancer lesions.

Temperature fast-responsive and magnetic poly(N-isopropylacrylamide-co-acrylamide) (CMX-MNP-PNIPAm/Fe3O4) hydrogels were developed using carboxymethyl xylan (CMX) as a pore-forming agent and a NaCl solution as the reaction medium, followed by fabricating Fe3O4 nanoparticles in situ within the hydrogel matrix. It was found that NaCl played a role in the phase separation and was used as the electrolyte to shield CMX molecular chains. The obtained hydrogels exhibited a fast, temperature-responsive behavior, and the water retention was less than 15% for 1 min under 60 °C. The prepared hydrogels showed enhanced mechanical properties and magnetic properties due to the presence of Fe3O4 particles. The lower critical solution temperature of the hydrogels was in the range of 35 to 39 °C, which was acquired through adjusting the amount of hydrophilic monomer (AM). The magnetic and thermosensitive hydrogel had the attractive photothermal conversion ability and could be heated to 40 °C within 2 min, and to 69 °C within 7 min under near infrared irradiation.

Achieving the capacity to produce fermentable sugars from lignocelluloses via green and efficient approaches is of strategic significance to an environmentally sustainable society. In this work, a novel wet-mechanochemical pretreatment approach was proposed using small amount of dilute alkali-assisted ball milling and subsequently hydrothermal pretreatment at mild conditions to enhance the enzymatic saccharification efficiency of bagasse and pennisetum. Effects of pretreatment conditions, such as NaOH concentration, hydrothermal reaction temperature and time, on the reducing sugars production were systematically evaluated. Parameters were optimized by statistical analysis and response surface methodology. Results showed that the existence of small amount of dilute alkali during ball milling can greatly facilitate the subsequent saccharification of bagasse and pennisetum, which can reduce the alkali dosage in comparison with traditional biomass pretreatment approach. The highest reducing sugars yield of 40.75% could be obtained from bagasse after pretreated by final concentration of 0.4% alkali in hydrothermal pretreatment process at 100 °C for 40 min. 55.74% of reducing sugars could be obtained from pennisetum treated by final concentration of 0.4% alkali in hydrothermal pretreatment process at 80 °C for 60 min. Compared with pretreatment temperature and time, NaOH concentration had more impact on the reducing sugars yield. Chemical composition of lignocelluloses also showed great influences on their saccharification efficiency. This work provides feasible theoretical basis and method for the efficient utilization of lignocelluloses.

Cellulose paper can be exploited for future electronics due to its flexibility, versatility, and low cost. However, the rapid fabrication of paper electrodes with a smooth surface and durability remains a challenge. In this paper, we report the fabrication of conductive, smooth and stable Ag electrodes on common printing paper through solution-processed silver mirror reaction. The rough cellulose substrate was modified with polypropylene to form an interconnected two-network structure yielding a super-flat surface and significantly better mechanical performance than paper or plastic. Based on the modified paper, a controllable spin-coating silver mirror reaction process was developed to form a smooth silver coating. The obtained Ag-paper electrode has a surface roughness without big particles over 50 nm and a strong barrier ability against moisture and solvents, while retaining the features of common cellulose paper. The successful solution-processed application of organic solar cells and organic light-emitting diodes based on silver electrode is demonstrated, showing the material’s potential in future flexible electronics.

A feasible approach was developed to quickly hydrolyze microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) into glucose using a new carbon-based solid catalyst (CSC). The catalysts possessed the structure of mesoporous carbon with weak acidic carboxylic and phenolic groups. 83.94% yield of glucose was achieved at 200 °C for 50 min using mixed ball milling of MCC and CSC. The catalysts showed excellent recyclability and catalytic activity after five cycles.

Background:Due to the non-toxicity, abundance and biodegradability, recently more and more attention has been focused on the exploration of hemicellulose as the potential substrate for the production of liquid fuels and other value-added chemicals and materials in different fields. This review aims to summarize the current knowledge on the promising application of nature hemicellulose and its derivative products including its degradation products, its new derivatives and hemicellulosebased medical biodegradable materials in the medical and pharmaceutical field, especially for inmmune regulation, bacteria inhibition, drug release, anti-caries, scaffold materials and anti-tumor.Methods:We searched the related papers about the medical and pharmaceutical application of hemicellulose and its derivative products, and summarized their preparation methods, properties and use effects.Results:Two hundred and twenty-seven papers were included in this review. Forty-seven papers introduced the extraction and application in immune regulation of nature hemicellulose, such as xylan, mannan, xyloglucan (XG) and β-glucan. Seventy-seven papers mentioned the preparation and application of degradation products of hemicellulose for adjusting intestinal function, maintaining blood glucose levels, enhancing the immunity and alleviating human fatigue fields such as xylooligosaccharides, xylitol, xylose, arabinose, etc. The preparation of hemicellulose derivatives were described in thirty-two papers such as hemicellulose esters, hemicellulose ethers and their effects on anticoagulants, adsorption of creatinine, the addition of immune cells and the inhibition of harmful bacteria. Finally, the preparations of hemicellulose-based materials such as hydrogels and membrane for the field of drug release, cell immobilization, cancer therapy and wound dressings were presented using fifty-five papers.Conclusion:The structure of hemicellulose-based products has the significant impact on properties and the use effect for the immunity, and treating various diseases of human. However, some efforts should be made to explore and improve the properties of hemicellulose-based products and design the new materials to broaden hemicellulose applications.

The effects of nano-ZnO and nano-SiO2 on the properties of PVA/xylan composite films were investigated in this work. Results showed that nano-ZnO and nano-SiO2 could effectively improve the mechanical strength, moisture and oxygen barrier properties and surface hydrophobic property of the composite films. The results of FTIR and XRD indicated the interaction of hydrogen bonds between nanoparticles and PVA and xylan. When the contents of nano-ZnO and nano-SiO2 in the composite films were 3%, the tensile strength was increased to 20.4 MPa and 22.5 MPa, respectively, while water vapor permeability (3.14 and 3.03 × 10−11 g·m−1·s−1·Pa−1) and oxygen permeability (5.28 and 5.003 cm3·m−2·24 h−1·0.1 MPa−1) reached the minima. With the increase of nano-ZnO and nano-SiO2 dosage, the solubility of composite films was increased. When the contents of nano-ZnO and nano-SiO2 were 3% and 4%, respectively, the contact angles of the films was increased up to 101° and 78°. Besides, the composite films with nano-ZnO exhibited UV shielding performance, whereas the ones with nano-SiO2 had similar UV light-transparency to the pure PVA/xylan composite films.

Ancient papers, facing the threat of acidification, aging and microbial corrosion, need to be repaired due to their significance of history, art and culture research. In this work, a new and highly efficient approach was proposed to deacidify and strengthen aging paper by in-situ quaternization for the conservation, in which MgO nanoparticles dispersed in hexamethyldisiloxane was coated on the paper surface and the aqueous alkaline solution and the 2, 3-epoxypropyl trimethyl ammonium chloride/isopropyl alcohol/water mixture were sprayed in a closed reactor. Results showed that properties of ageing papers were improved after MSCE-8/2 treatment. The pH value was in the range of 7.5–9.0 and the maximum amount of alkali storage was 220 mmol/Kg. The tensile strength and folding endurance were increased by 28.05% and 80%, respectively. The fluctuation range of brightness and chromatic aberration was 0.14 and 1.27. Moreover, treated paper also had the great anti-bacteria and anti-aging effects.

Activation plays an important role in improving the pore structure of the carbon materials preparation. For carbon-based solid catalysts, activation could provide the high specific surface area and porosity. In this work, non-activated, KOH-activated, ZnCl2-activated treatments were comparatively discussed to prepare carbon-based solid acid catalysts for furfural production from xylose and hemicelluloses. These prepared catalysts were characterized by SEM, FT-IR, elemental analysis, Raman, N2 adsorption-desorption and Boehm titration. The results showed that the chemical activated treatment could significantly improve the specific surface area of carbon-based solid catalysts, but also had an important influence on the distribution of surface functional groups especially for decreasing of the SO3H density and the enhancement of the phenolic OH and COOH density. For the highest SO3H density of non-activated carbon-based catalyst, it displayed higher catalytic activity in the conversion of xylose to furfural than other catalysts. Meanwhile, using non-activated carbon-based catalyst in the aqueous solution, the maximum furfural yield of 50% was obtained from hemicelluloses at 200 °C for 2.5 h, the maximum xylose yield of 55% was achieved at 200 °C for 1.5 h. While KOH-activated carbon-based catalyst exhibited the excellent catalytic performance to produce xylooligosaccharide with the highest yield of 62% at 180 °C for 1.5 h.

Single-layered graphene quantum dots (GQDs) are commonly prepared through bottom-up strategy by aromatic molecules or other carbon precursors with complicated procedure. Herein, single-layered GQDs were firstly fabricated by nonaromatic xylan only with the assistance of NaOH/urea under hydrothermal conditions. Due to the gases (ammonia and carbon oxide) released by decomposition of urea, GQDs were single-layered and hindered from interaction and aggregation for the protection of self-passivated layer. The synthesized GQDs showed a fluorescent quantum yield of 23.8%, self-passivated xylan layer on the surface of GQDs avoided ions-induced interference, and were only destroyed by strong oxidants like those containing Cr(VI). And there were the inner filter effect and static quenching for chelating interaction between Cr(VI) and nitrogen, oxygen functional group from GODs. These results entrusted GQDs with good selectivity and sensitivity toward Cr(VI). Furthermore, in order to realize on-site visual detection of Cr(VI), a microfluidic chip and a smartphone were used to construct portable detection platform. The linear detection range was from 3 μM to 75 μM and the limit of detection was 0.10 μM, which was lower than that of GQDs solution through fluorescence spectrophotometer. Therefore, this equipment provides a simple method to on-site monitor water environment.

Deep eutectic solvents (DESs) have been used for the pretreatment of lignocellulose and showed selective dissolution for different lignocellulosic components. In this study, six new ternary DESs were synthesized on the basis of anhydrous oxalic acid DES by adding alcohol, acid, and deionized water, respectively, including choline chloride/anhydrous oxalic acid/ethylene glycol (ChCl-OA-EG), choline chloride/anhydrous oxalic acid/glycerol (ChCl-OA-G), choline chloride/anhydrous oxalic acid/lactic acid (ChCl-OA-LA), choline chloride/anhydrous oxalic acid/malonic acid (ChCl-OA-MA), choline chloride/anhydrous oxalic acid/10% H2O (v/v) (ChCl-OA + 10% H2O), and choline chloride/anhydrous oxalic acid/20% H2O (v/v) (ChCl-OA + 20% H2O). The lignin in bagasse was extracted and separated with these ternary DESs, and Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR), Scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Two-dimensional Heteronuclear Single Quantum Coherence (2D HSQC), and Thermogravimetric analysis (TG) were used to characterize the molecular structures of lignin and cellulose. The results showed that under the mild reaction condition of cooking at 90 °C for 4 h, all six ternary DESs effectively dissolved hemicellulose in bagasse, the DES ChCl-OA-MA prepared with malonic acid significantly increased the removal of lignin (71.64%) by breaking the β-O-4′ ether bond of lignin molecules, and the crystallinity of cellulose was also significantly improved (67.65%).

A two-step process was developed to produce furfural and levulinic acid (LA) using the solid acid-induced hydrothermal treatment of bagasse. In the first step, hydrothermal pretreatment was applied to treat bagasse for producing furfural using Sn-MMT/SO42− solid acids as catalysts in the biphasic system. In the second step, the treated residue was further hydrothermally treated for producing LA by the continuous use of solid acids. The hydrothermal treatment conditions were comparatively investigated, and the results showed that the highest yield of furfural was achieved up to 88.1% (170 °C, 2.4 h) in the first stage, and the yield of LA was 62.1% (180 °C, 3 h) in the second stage. Therefore, the two-step solid acid-induced hydrothermal treatments could make hemicellulose and cellulose of bagasse to be selectively fractionated and efficiently transformed into furfural and LA, respectively.

The generation of pseudo-lignin as byproduct during the lignocellulose acidic pretreatment has been proposed for many years. However, the detailed formation mechanism is still unclear. Moreover, there is a lack of understanding in the initial reaction during the formation of humins (byproducts in furfural production) and acid-induced hydrothermal carbon (carbon material). In this work, the initial formation of these three substances were investigated. We first found the common feature of their formation process was that carbohydrate-hydrolyzed compounds could form black polymers by condensing in acidic media, but the difference was dependent on the reaction degree. Furthermore, the results revealed that oxidation was an accelerator for condensations during producing black polymers because oxidized compounds could enhance the acidity of the reaction system. However, condensations of oxidized compounds were more difficult to proceed. Meanwhile, during the initial stage, the dominating pathway was that furfural condensed with itself and isomerized xylose via aldol-condensation.

Traditional preparation methods of the hydrogel are not only tedious but also requiring external stimuli. Here, a plant catechol-inspired self-catalytic system (sulfonated lignin and iron ion) has been introduced to rapidly trigger the graft polymerization of vinyl monomers on the carboxymethyl xylan (CMX) at room temperature, generating an elastic, UV-shield, and conductive hydrogel. The rapid preparation process can be finished at room temperature in 5 min without the removal of oxygen. The hydrogel shows charming extension ratio (up to 460%) and tensile stress (up to 23 kPa), which can be ascribed to the double network structure constructed from Fe

The aim of this work was to develop a feasible ball mill-assisted alkaline peroxide pretreatment followed by stepwise hydrolysis to improve the yield of xylo-oligosaccharides (XOS) and fermentable sugars. The hydrogen peroxide charge, ball-milling time, and solid-to-liquid ratio affected the compositions, particle sizes, morphology, and crystallinity of the corn stover, directly improving the following hydrolytic efficiency. The optimal pretreatment was with 0.45 g/g (H2O2: substrate) and 1:3 solid-to-liquid ratio (w/v) for 1.0 h ball-milling, resulting in 84.29% delignification. Physicochemical properties of the pretreated samples were characterized and their correlations to the enzymatic hydrolysis were revealed. Compared with one-step cellulase hydrolysis, the two-step xylanase-cellulase hydrolysis of the pretreated corn stover showed significant advance in preparing XOS, producing 69.65% (on the base of xylan content in pretreated sample) of XOS, along with 20.55% xylose, 68.94% glucose, and 21.15% gluco-oligosaccharides. The yield of XOS was 2–7 times higher than those in previous studies.

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the dynamic changes of neutrophils-lymphocytes ratios (NLRs) in patients with acute ischemic stroke (AIS) and their relationships with 3-month prognostic outcomes. Two hundred ninety-one patients with AIS were included in this study, followed up for 3 months. At admission, 1 and 7 days after recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (r-tPA) injection, blood samples were obtained. Outcome events included excellent outcome, good outcome, and death defined as modified Rankin Scale (mRS) scores of 0–1, 0–2, and 6 respectively. NLRs measured in admission and 7 days after r-tPA treatment were associated with prognosis outcome after 3 months. Twenty-four-hour NLR is an excellent indicator in forecasting (excellent outcome’s the areas under the curve (AUC) = 0.725; good outcome AUC = 0.742; death AUC = 0.759). In addition, we were surprised to find that dynamic increase in NLR within 24 h is significantly related to excellent and good outcomes. Twenty-four-hour NLR is related to the severity of AIS and poor prognosis, which can help early risk stratification. We can predict the prognosis of AIS more accurately. Compared with previous studies, our study has shown the dynamic changes of NLR and its relationship with NIHSS and multiple prognostic.

Pediococcus acidilactici is a reliable bacteriocin producer and a promising probiotic species with wide application in the food and health industry. However, the underlying genetic features of this species have not been analyzed. In this study, we performed a comprehensive comparative genomic analysis of 41 P. acidilactici strains from various ecological niches. The bacteriocin production of 41 strains were predicted and three kinds of bacteriocin encoding genes were identified in 11 P. acidilactici strains, namely pediocin PA-1, enterolysin A, and colicin-B. Moreover, whole-genome analysis showed a high genetic diversity within the population, mainly related to a large proportion of variable genomes, mobile elements, and hypothetical genes obtained through horizontal gene transfer. In addition, comparative genomics also facilitated the genetic explanation of the adaptation for host environment, which specify the protection mechanism against the invasion of foreign DNA (i.e. CRISPR/Cas locus), as well as carbohydrate fermentation. The 41 strains of P. acidilactici can metabolize a variety of carbon sources, which enhances the adaptability of this species and survival in different environments. This study evaluated the antibacterial ability, genome evolution, and ecological flexibility of P. acidilactici from the perspective of genetics and provides strong supporting evidence for its industrial development and application.

BackgroundStress hyperglycemia manifests as transient hyperglycemia in the context of illness with or without known diabetes, which may cause poor clinical outcome in acute ischemic stroke (AIS) patients. The present study intended to evaluate the association between stress hyperglycemia ratio (SHR) and 1-year clinical outcome after treatment with recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (r-tPA) for AIS patients and compare the predictive effect of fasting glucose concentration, glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) and SHR. MethodsData from 205 AIS patients following thrombolytic therapy with r-tPA in the Third Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University from Apr. 2016 to Apr. 2019 were retrospectively reviewed. We grouped AIS patients according to SHR tertiles to contrast the 1-year clinical outcome. Multivariate regression analysis was carried to further analyze the association between SHR and AIS prognosis. Moreover, the receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve analysis was used for the purpose of comparing the prognostic effects of fasting glucose concentration, HbA1c and SHR on AIS patients. ResultsSHR was an independent predictor for 1-year poor outcome (OR 1.447; 95% CI, 1.124-1.864, p = 0.004) but not the mortality of AIS patients. Restricted cubic spline regression showed a linear relationship between SHR and the odds of poor outcome. Furthermore, SHR is a fair predictor to predict 1-year poor outcome. The cut-off value of SHR levels was 0.79 with 71.0% sensitivity and 72.0 % specificity. ConclusionsThe increased SHR was strongly associated with 1-year poor outcome following thrombolytic therapy with r-tPA. Meanwhile, SHR had higher predictive value for prognosis of AIS patients than fasting glucose concentration and HbA1c. Trial registration Retrospectively registered

In this work, a series of amphiphilic hemicellulose-based grafting polymers are synthesized by homogeneous esterification with various hydrophobic chain fatty acids. With the flexible chain conformation of hemicelluloses, the hemicellulose-graft-fatty acid is self-assembled into hard sphere micelles in aqueous solution through hydrophobic interactions. The resultant micelles show apparent hydrodynamic radius (Rh) varying in the range of 34-57 nm and radius of gyration (Rg) varying from 30 to 44 nm. Moreover, the Rh, Rg, zeta potential and critical micelle concentration (CMC) of the micelles gradually decreases with the increasing hydrophobic chain length. The aggregation number of micelles can be tuned by varying alkyl chain lengths. Taking curcumin (Cur) as a model drug, the hemicellulose micelles were investigated as drug carriers, which exhibit a chain length-controlled drug release behavior. Taken together, structure and property tunable hemicellulose-based micelles were obtained, and showed potential of application in pharmaceutical, food, and cosmetics fields.