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A fast, large-scale, and stable preparation method was successfully developed to obtain η-Al₂O₃ microspheres with particle sizes of 3–10 μm from cheap and widely sourced NaAlO₂ solution using N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) as a morphological modifier and a precipitant simultaneously at room temperature. The yield of alumina increases from 33.3 to 77.3% by increasing the dose of DMF from 100 to 400 mL. The utilization efficiency of DMF significantly increased by adding fresh NaAlO₂ into the reused filtrate after separating the bayerite precipitate (precursor of η-Al₂O₃). Importantly, the η-Al₂O₃ microspheres obtained from the filtrate-reuse experiments show the stable phase structures, morphologies, and pore structure properties. Furthermore, the typical η-Al₂O₃ microspheres supported Pd catalyst presents a higher catalytic activity of 10.6 g/L for the hydrogenation of anthraquinone than that of the commercial γ-Al₂O₃-supported Pd catalyst (8.5 g/L), suggesting that the as-prepared η-Al₂O₃ microspheres have good application prospects for catalytic hydrogenation and related fields.

The commonly used Pt/C catalyst has low durability for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). In this work, CNT-supported TiO2 nanoparticles, which synergistically combines the merits of TiO2 (high stability and strong interactions with the supported Pt nanoparticles) and CNT (high specific surface area and large electrical conductivity), are prepared by a sol-gel process coupled with an annealing process and used as the support for Pt nanoparticles, which are anchored around TiO2 nanoparticles by a photodeposition technique. The as-synthesized Pt/TiO2@CNT catalyst exhibits a mass activity 5.3 times as large as that of the commercial Pt/C catalyst (0.358 A mgPt−1 vs. 0.067 A mgPt−1 at 0.9 V) and an excellent stability (no activity loss after 10000 potential cycles) for ORR, which can be mainly attributed to the lower oxygen adsorption energy of Pt, resulting from the strong metal-support interaction induced by the deposition of Pt nanoparticles around the well-dispersed TiO2 nanoparticles on CNT.

LuxR‐type regulators regulate many bacterial processes and play important roles in bacterial motility and virulence. Acidovorax citrulli is a seedborne bacterial pathogen responsible for bacterial fruit blotch, which causes great losses in melon and watermelon worldwide. We identified a LuxR‐type, nonquorum sensing‐related regulator, AcrR, in the group II strain Aac‐5 of A. citrulli. We found that the acrR mutant lost twitching and swimming motilities, and flagellar formation. It also showed reduced virulence, but increased biofilm formation and growth ability. Transcriptomic analysis revealed that 394 genes were differentially expressed in the acrR mutant of A. citrulli, including 33 genes involved in flagellar assembly. Our results suggest that AcrR may act as a global regulator affecting multiple important biological functions of A. citrulli., AcrR, a LuxR‐type regulator, acts as a global regulator affecting multiple important biological functions, especially swimming motility and flagellum assembly of Acidovorax citrulli.

The concentrations of P and K in leaching solution are relatively low and the consumption of acid is relatively large, which are the existing problems in the leaching of P and K from P-K associated ore by using the low-temperature acid leaching process. In this work, a sequential leaching process with leachate recycling was developed, in which P and K were sequentially leached out from P-K associated ore and the obtained P- and K-containing leachates were recycled into the next leaching process. In this sequential process with leachate recycled two times the concentrations of K and P2O5 in leachate were increased from 20.18 and 15.79 g/L to 53.26 and 45.97 g/L, respectively. In comparison, in the simultaneous leaching process with leachate recycling both the leaching efficiencies of K and P and the concentrations of K and P2O5 were significantly lower than those in the sequential leaching process, which can be mainly attributed to the fact that Ca in the ore, which could react with PO43− to generate Ca-containing sediments, was precipitated first in the sequential leaching process. The sequential leaching process with leachate recycling will provide an efficient method for leaching and concentrating P and K from P-K associated ore.

In this study, the mixed solvent of octanol (NOA) and methyl isobutyl ketone (MIBK) was used as extractant to purify wet process phosphoric acid from hydrochloric acid route. Densities and viscosities of leachate, extraction phase and raffinate phase were determined at 293–333 K, respectively. And the relation between density and temperature or phosphoric acid concentration can be expressed as a linear equation, with the maximum deviation of 0.0011 and 0.0027 g cm−3, respectively. Meanwhile, the viscosity of leachate, extraction phase and raffinate phase were measured since its importance on mass transfer occurred in the process of phosphoric acid extraction. And the relation between viscosity and temperature or phosphoric acid concentration can be summarized as a unitary quadratic equation, with the maximum deviation of 0.4489 and 0.1122 mPa·s, respectively. The results show that the densities and viscosities from experiment are generally in good agreement with calculated values from those equations obtained by regression analysis. The combined expanded uncertainty in the reported densities and viscosities are 0.3% and 5.5% of the measured values respectively, each with a coverage factor, k = 2.

Comb-shaped polysulfone anion exchange membranes (AEMs) containing various pendant alkyl side chains were synthesized and characterized. Ionic clusters aggregation is observed in transmission electron microscopy (TEM) image and small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS). The comb-shaped quaternized ammonium polysulfone (Cx-QAPSU) membranes show enhanced dimensional stability and ultra-low membrane area resistance (Rm). Notably, the C16-QAPSU with 16 carbon atoms has the best hydrophilic-hydrophobic phase separation structure and lowest Rm of 2.5 Ω cm2 despite low ion exchange capacity (IEC) of 1.55 mmol/g and swelling ratio of 5.3%. Moreover, comb-shaped AEMs show much higher tensile strength (TS) compared to QAPSU membrane under the same IEC level. The C16-QAPSU with lowest Rm of 2.5 Ω cm2 exhibits the highest TS of 16.7 MPa. These results indicate that the long alkyl side chains especially the length of the pendant side chain of Cx-QAPSU up to C16 achieve an electrochemical-mechanical balance of AEMs. In electro-electrodialysis systems, the comb-shaped AEMs exhibit higher purification efficiency of wet phosphoric acid than non-comb-shaped AEMs.

Introduction In addition to the mycotoxin swainsonine, the locoweed endophytic fungus Alternaria oxytropis (Pleosporaceae) also produces a series of rarely reported, highly oxygenated bicyclic guaiane sesquiterpenoids. Few investigations on the electrospray tandem mass fragmentation pattern of this sesquiterpenoid have been reported. Objectives We aimed to analyze and detect new guaiane sesquiterpenoid analogues from crude extracts of the locoweed endophytic fungus A. oxytropis by UPLC-Q-TOF-MS/MS experiments. Materials and methods Oxytropiols A-J (1-10) and the extract of the locoweed endophytic fungus A. oxytropis were analyzed by UPLC-Q-TOF-MS/MS in positive mode. Results Typical neutral losses, McLafferty rearrangement, 1,2-rearrangement, and 1,3-rearrangement were considered to be the main fragmentation patterns for the [M + H]+ /[M + Na]+ ions of 1-10 by UPLC-Q-TOF-MS/MS experiments, and possible fragmentation pathways of 1-10 were suggested. A unique and undescribed analogue named oxytropiol K (11) was found in the extract based on UPLC-Q-TOF-MS/MS analysis. Compound 11 was isolated and elucidated by NMR spectrometry, and its UPLC-Q-TOF-MS/MS analysis was consistent with the fragmentation pathways of 1-10. Conclusion The results further support that UPLC-Q-TOF-MS/MS is a powerful and sensitive tool for the characterization of known compounds (dereplication) and the detection of new analogues from crude extracts and imply that the locoweed endophytic fungus A. oxytropis, with few chemical investigations, is an important resource for undescribed metabolites.

Commercial cultivation of the medicinal plant Atractylodes lancea is significantly restricted by low survival rates and reduced yields. Intercropping can reasonably coordinate interspecific interactions, effectively utilize environmental resources, and increase survival and yield. We conducted a field experiment from 2014 to 2016 to analyze the advantages and effects of intercropping on A. lancea survival, growth traits, individual volatile oil content, and total volatile oil content. In addition to A. lancea monoculture (AL), five intercropping combinations were planted: Zea mays L. (ZM) + A. lancea, Tagetes erecta L. (TE) + A. lancea, Calendula officinalis L. (CO) + A. lancea, Glycine max (Linn.) Merr. (GM) + A. lancea, and Polygonum hydropiper L. (PH) + A. lancea. The survival and average rhizome weight of A. lancea was higher in the ZM, CO, and TE treatments than in the monoculture treatment, and the average plant height was higher in all intercropping treatments than in the monoculture. The volatile oil content of A. lancea from the ZM and CO treatments was significantly improved relative to that of monoculture plants. The volatile oil harvest was higher in the ZM, CO, and TE treatments than in the monoculture. We conclude that intercropping is an effective way to increase the survival and yield of A. lancea. Furthermore, intercropping with ZM, CO, and TE increases the harvest of four volatile oils from A. lancea.

Color variation in plant tissues is a common phenomenon accompanied with a series of biological changes. In this study, a special-phenotype Aquilaria sinensis (GS) with color variation of leaf was firstly reported, and DNA barcode sequences showed GS samples could not be discriminated clearly with the normal A. sinensis sample (NS), which suggested that the variety was not the cause of the GS formation. To reveal the characteristics of GS compared to NS, the anatomical and transcriptome sequencing studies were carried out. In microscopic observation, the leaves of golden-vein-leaf sample (LGS) and normal-vein-leaf sample (LNS) showed significant differences including the area of the included phloem in midrib and the thickness parameters of palisade and spongy tissues; the stems of golden-vein-leaf sample (SGS) and normal-vein-leaf sample (SNS) were also different in many aspects such as the area of vessels and included phloem. In addition, the structure of chloroplast was more complete in the midrib of LNS than that of LGS, and some particles suspected as virus were found through transmission electron microscope as well. Genes upregulated in LGS in contrast with LNS were mainly enriched in photosynthesis. As for stems, most of the genes upregulated in SGS compared to SNS were involved in translation and metabolism processes. The pathways about photosynthesis and chlorophyll metabolism as well as some important transcription factors may explain the molecular mechanism of the unique phenotypes of leaves and the genes related to suberin biosynthesis may result in the difference of stems. In addition, the genes about defense response especially biotic stress associated with numerous pathogenesis-related (PR) genes upregulated in LGS compared to LNS indicated that the pathogen may be the internal factor. Taken together, our results reveal the macro- and micro-phenotype variations as well as gene expression profiles between GS and NS, which could provide valuable clues for elucidating the mechanism of the color variation of Aquilaria.

Callicarpa formosana is a species of beauty-berry with large medicinal value belonging to the family Verbenaceae. In this study, the complete chloroplast genome of C. formosana was sequenced using Illumina Hiseq X Ten platform. The chloroplast genome was 1,54,210 bp in length, containing two short inverted repeat (IRa and IRb) regions of 25,701 bp, which was separated by a large single copy (LSC) region of 84,938 bp and a small single copy (SSC) region of 17,870 bp. The GC content of the whole chloroplast genome was 38.1%. The chloroplast DNA of C. formosana comprised 113 genes, including 79 protein-coding genes, 4 ribosomal RNA genes, and 30 transfer RNA genes. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that the genus Callicarpa L. was located in the basal position within the family Verbenaceae. The chloroplast genome (cpDNA) of C. formosana was closely related to Callicarpa nudiflora.

Porous liquids, a new porous material with fluidity, can be applied in numerous fields, such as gas storage and/or separation. In this work, the separation of binary gas mixtures CO

Color variation in plant tissues is a common phenomenon accompanied with a series of biological changes. In this study, a special-phenotype Aquilaria sinensis (GS) with color variation of leaf was firstly reported, and DNA barcode sequences showed GS samples could not be discriminated clearly with the normal A. sinensis sample (NS), which suggested that the variety was not the cause of the GS formation. To reveal the characteristics of GS compared to NS, the anatomical and transcriptome sequencing studies were carried out. In microscopic observation, the leaves of golden-vein-leaf sample (LGS) and normal-vein-leaf sample (LNS) showed significant differences including the area of the included phloem in midrib and the thickness parameters of palisade and spongy tissues; the stems of golden-vein-leaf sample (SGS) and normal-vein-leaf sample (SNS) were also different in many aspects such as the area of vessels and included phloem. In addition, the structure of chloroplast was more complete in the midrib of LNS than that of LGS, and some particles suspected as virus were found through transmission electron microscope as well. Genes upregulated in LGS in contrast with LNS were mainly enriched in photosynthesis. As for stems, most of the genes upregulated in SGS compared to SNS were involved in translation and metabolism processes. The pathways about photosynthesis and chlorophyll metabolism as well as some important transcription factors may explain the molecular mechanism of the unique phenotypes of leaves and the genes related to suberin biosynthesis may result in the difference of stems. In addition, the genes about defense response especially biotic stress associated with numerous pathogenesis-related (PR) genes upregulated in LGS compared to LNS indicated that the pathogen may be the internal factor. Taken together, our results reveal the macro- and micro-phenotype variations as well as gene expression profiles between GS and NS, which could provide valuable clues for elucidating the mechanism of the color variation of Aquilaria.

In this study, stable isotopes and multi-element signatures combined with chemometrics were used to distinguish conventional and organic Chinese yams based on field trials. Four light stable isotopes δD, δ13C, δ15N, δ18O, and 20 elements (e.g. Li, Na, Mn) were determined, then evaluated using significance analysis and correlation analysis, and modeling of various chemometrics methods. Consequently, the RandomForest model showed the best performance with AUC value of 0.972 and predictive accuracy of 97.3%, and Mn, Cr, Se, Na, δD, As, and δ15N were screened as significant variables. Moreover, many chemical components and antioxidant activity of yam samples were determined spectrophotometrically. The results indicated that organic yams had advantages in secondary metabolites such as polyphenol, flavonoid and saponin; conversely, conventional samples had more primary metabolites like protein and amino acids. Above all, this work provides a beneficial case in the authentication and quality evaluation of conventional and organic yams.

We employ molecular simulations to screen the best microporous materials for deep desulfurization of dry air. Pressure-swing adsorption and temperature-swing adsorption in desulfurization processes are investigated. The selectivity, working ability, selection parameters, and diffusivity of mixed gases are examined to evaluate those materials. The results show that UiO-66, ZIF-71, ZIF-69, and ZIF-97 exhibit good performance for the separation of H2S from air. The selectivity and adsorption capacity of H2S are larger than 300 and 0.01 mmol/g at room temperature and atmospheric pressure, respectively. UiO-66, ZIF-71, ZIF-69, MIL-100, Zn-DOBDC, ZnBDC, IRMOF-11, and MIL-140B are ideal materials to remove SO2 in air. The selectivity of SO2 is higher than 500 and the adsorption capacity is higher than 0.06 mmol/g. The diffusivity of sulfides is determined by the competition between the sterically hindered effect and the intermolecular synergistic effect. Comprehensive analysis found that zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIFs) are good materials for the removal of sulfides.

Aconitum carmichaelii Debx. is a Chinese traditional medicine herb, and is widely planted in China. The processed lateral roots of A. carmichaelii is known as Fuzi, and is used for the treatment of...

Lithocarpus litseifolius (Hance) Chun has been used as tea for 1500 years in China since the Southern and Northern Dynasties (AD 423). In mid-May 2021, a leaf spot disease of L. litseifolius (Hance) Chun was observed in Dexing County in Jiangxi Province, China (28°56'54.1"N 117°45'08.0"E). The disease incidence was estimated to be above 30%. The symptom of natural damage to plant leaves is early necrotic lesions, with a grayish-white center and a brown halo (

Ethanol can be produced from lignocellulosic biomass through fermentation. However, some inhibitory compounds are also generated, and can substantially reduce the efficiency of ethanol production. In the present work, two commercial nanofiltration (NF) membranes and two commercial reverse osmosis (RO) membranes were utilized to remove the model fermentation inhibitors, furfural and 5-hydroxymethyl-2-furaldehyde (HMF), from the synthetic xylose-glucose-furfural-HMF model solution. The influences of operating parameters such as pH, pressure, temperature and solute concentration in feed on the separation performance of the tested membranes were investigated. The selectivities of furfural and HMF from monosaccharides by NF/RO membranes were compared to evaluate the feasibility of simultaneous inhibitor removal and sugar concentration. Results showed that RO membranes are more efficient than NF membranes for retaining monosaccharides under all tested conditions. RO membranes are more suitable than NF membranes for sugar concentration and removal of some inhibitors from lignocellulose hydrolyzate simultaneously.

The absorption rate and absorption amount of CO2 were determined at different 1-(2-aminoethyl)-3-methylimidazolium bromine ([Aemim][Br]) concentrations, absorption temperatures, and CO2 content in order to optimize operational conditions in our study. Meanwhile, the effects of regeneration temperature, regeneration time, and regeneration circles on the regeneration efficiency of CO2 saturated [Aemim][Br] solution were discussed, respectively. On the basis of these experiments, the kinetic data (i.e., in terms of the pseudo-first-order rate constant (kov), the second-order reaction rate constant (k2) and heat of CO2 absorption was calculated at 303 K as [Aemim][Br] concentration varied from 0.1 to 2.0 mol·L–1. The result showed that the process of CO2 absorption was a fast pseudo-first-order reaction regime. According to the kinetic data at 293–323 K, the activation energy of reaction was calculated by the Arrhenius equation, and the second-order reaction rate constant can be expressed as follows: k2 = 1.9...

Premenopausal and postmenopausal breast cancers are considered different types. Thus, this study aimed to explore differences in risk factors, epidemiological features, clinicopathological features, and treatment modes of premenopausal breast cancer compared to postmenopausal patients in western China. This was a hospital‐based, retrospective, multicenter epidemiological study of patients with breast cancer. Using the Western China Clinical Cooperation Group database, we obtained the records of 15,389 female breast cancers between January 2010 and April 2017. These patients were divided into premenopausal and postmenopausal groups, and their risk factors, epidemiological feature, clinicopathological features, and treatment modes were compared. Chi‐square tests, t‐test, and the multivariate logistic regression analysis were applied for statistical analysis. A total of 8395 patients were categorized as premenopausal, and 6994 patients were categorized as postmenopausal. Their risk factors, epidemiological features, clinicopathological features, and treatment modes were compared. Premenopausal patients with breast cancer had a greater tumor diameter at diagnosis (P = 0.008); higher rates of estrogen receptor (ER) expression (P

A series of quaternary ammonium polysulfone (QAPSU) anion exchange membranes used the chlorotrimethylsilane instead of toxic chloromethyl methyl ether and quaternized-functionalized by trimethylamine ethanol solution were prepared. The effect of chloromethylation reaction time on membrane morphologies and physiochemical properties such as ion exchange capacity, water swelling, and membrane area resistance, mechanical and thermal stabilities was investigated. When being applied in electro-electrodialysis (EED) for purifying phosphoric acid solution, the QAPSU membranes exhibit high purification efficiency, especially all the metal ions (Fe, Mg, Ca) removal rates reach over 60%, which suggests that the QAPSU membranes have a high potential for EED application.

In this study, a series of acid-base bi-functional catalysts were prepared by mixing different amounts of basic amino acids (AAs) and phosphotungstic acid (PTA), which exhibited the excellent performance in catalyzing conversion of oleic acid (OA) for the biodiesel production. The physicochemical properties of the catalysts were characterized and analyzed using modern testing techniques and characterization methods such as XRD, FT-IR, XPS, SEM, TEM, and Hammett titration. The various influence parameters were optimized using the central composite design based the response surface methodology, where the maximum biodiesel yield of 97.0% was achieved at the MeOH/OA molar ratio of 5.9, the catalyst loading of 8%, reaction time of 6 h, and reaction temperature of 65℃. Furthermore, the stability and reusability of the prepared catalyst were also demonstrated. At last, the possible catalytic mechanism of the prepared catalyst was comprehensively described.

Carbon-based electrodes are usually poor in volumetric supercapacitor performance in terms of volumetric capacitance (

The advantage of g-C3N4 as nitrogen-rich precursor for synthesizing nitrogen-doped carbon-based oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalyst has not been brought into full play. Herein, a simple approach with S-doped g-C3N4 (S-g-C3N4) and P123 as precursor for synthesizing nitrogen and sulfur co-doped carbon (N-S-C) catalysts highly efficient for ORR was developed. S-g-C3N4 synthesized via pyrolysis of a mixture of urea and thiourea was used as nitrogen and sulfur source, and P123 serving as carbon source was used to envelop S-g-C3N4 to form core–shell S-g-C3N4@P123 sample, whose pyrolysis yielded N-S-C catalyst. Characterization shows that the N-S-C catalyst synthesized at 900 °C with a S-g-C3N4/P123 mass ratio of 2:1 (N-S-C-2) exhibits the largest nitrogen and sulfur content and the highest half-wave potential of 0.863 V vs. RHE in alkaline media, which can be ascribed to the selection of the mixture of urea and thiourea for S-g-C3N4 synthesis, and the suitable S-g-C3N4/P123 mass ratio and pyrolysis temperature. N-S-C-2 also shows good ORR catalytic stability, excellent methanol tolerance, and high performance as the cathodic catalyst of Zn-air battery. This study gives full play to the advantage of g-C3N4 and provides a novel route for synthesizing N-S-C catalysts highly efficient for ORR.

Due to the limitation of chemical process technology and management system, the traditional treatment mode of heavy metal waste liquid pollution has many problems, such as high power consumption in the process, high wear of consuming steel, high management cost, and secondary pollution caused by complex solid waste residue in data detection. Team based on the front end of deep learning module and backend soft measurement model of collaborative structures, design and improvement of the learning algorithm combined with nested integration depth control series new front end treatment module, the successful implementation of heavy metal ions in industrial wastewater concentration of accurate prediction, and according to the predicted results and the analysis of liquid ingredients, targeted treatment after intelligent classification.

Solvent extraction of phosphoric acid from wet process phosphoric acid produced by decomposing low grade phosphate with hydrochloric acid was investigated by the mixture of n-butanol (nBA) and isopropyl ether (iPE). The experimental results show that the mixture has good performance on P2O5 extraction and Ca2+ purification from HCl-route wet-process phosphoric acid. Optimization of extraction process shows that nBA has good performance for H3PO4 separation at the condition of 5:1 O/A phase ratio, 293 K extraction temperature, 9:1 VB/VE ratio and 15 min extraction time. Based on the Van't Hoff equation, the enthalpy changes of P2O5 extraction was calculated to be −16.41 kJ.mol−1. The results from liquid-liquid mass transfer show three stages can achieved about 90 wt% P2O5 extraction regardless of the countercurrent and cocurrent extraction. And the relation of total extraction percent and cross-flow extraction stages for all tested components were summarized. Moreover, the extraction mechanism between H3PO4 and nBA was discussed by researching the extraction equilibrium under different conditions. The result showed that phosphoric acid was extracted in the form of H3PO4·nBA, H3PO4·2 nBA and H3PO4·3 nBA complexes. Stripping operations using Deionized water as a extractant for phosphoric acid was also investigated at different conditions.

In the present work, experiments have been performed for leaching potassium from phosphorus-potassium associated ore in hydrochloric acid/fluorite system. Surfactant or phosphoric acid extractant was added into the leaching system to enhance the leaching efficiency. The results show that alcohol chain length has great influence on potassium leaching and among the additives investigated, lauryl alcohol exhibits the largest promoting effect on potassium leaching and the leaching fraction of potassium can be increased from 89.5% to 97.8% with the addition of 1 mL of lauryl alcohol into 80 mL of leaching solution. The enhanced leaching observed in the presence of lauryl alcohol can be attributed to the hydrophobicity mechanism. The kinetic analysis shows that there are two distinct stages in the leaching process and the kinetics of both stages follows the classical shrinking core model with chemical reaction being the rate-controlling step.

Trastuzumab resistance has emerged as a major issue in anti-human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER2) therapy for breast cancers. The cell lines maintain overexpression of HER2. Upon treatment with trastuzumab, R-SKBR3 and R-BT474 cell lines displayed an increased growth rate and invasiveness, accompanied by activation of the ERK1/2 and AKT signaling pathways, and also a parental EMT-like transition (epithelial–mesenchymal transition) was promoted, with increases in N-cadherin, vimentin, and fibronectin and a decrease in E-cadherin. A further investigation found that livin played a key role in the development of trastuzumab resistance. Knockdown of the expression of livin by livin-shRNA3 in R-SKBR3 and R-BT474 cells decreased ERK1/2 and AKT, resensitized the resistant cells to the therapeutic activities of trastuzumab by inducing growth arrest, inhibition of proliferation, and G1-S cell cycle checking in the presence of the antibody, and they also exhibited an EMT-like transition (epithelial–mesenchymal transition), with a decrease in N-cadherin and an increase in E-cadherin, and the cell invasiveness was inhibited in response to the downregulation of livin. Conversely, SKBR3 and BT474 cells that had been stably transfected with pcDNA3.1-livin underwent promotion of an EMT-like transition and displayed a significant decrease in E-cadherin and increases in N-cadherin, vimentin, and fibronectin, and ectopic expression of livin in HER2-overexpressing breast cancer cells conferred resistance to trastuzumab. In vivo, the administration of livin AS (antisense oligonucleotides) restored sensitivity to trastuzumab in resistant breast cancer xenografts via the ERK1/2 and AKT signaling pathways. Patients with livin-overexpressing breast cancers exhibited significantly poorer responses to trastuzumab-based therapy than those with normal livin levels. In summary, our data suggest that the upregulation of livin activates the ERK1/2 and AKT signaling pathways and promotes an EMT-like transition. This could be an important mechanism that leads to trastuzumab resistance in HER2-overexpressing breast cancer cells.

Developing a facile assembly approach replacing the fussy StOber and chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method to fabricate hollow carbon nanostructure would be a meaningful topic towards its wide applications. Herein, we developed a simple glyoxal mediated assembly approach using commercial magnesium oxide (MgO) as template and phenol ascarbonaceous material to fabricate the hollow carbon nanostructure. The fabricated carbon owns hollow cocoon-like morphology, high surface area of 1411 m2/g, large pore volume (3.46 cm3/g) and rich oxygenic functionalites (6.7 atom%). As electrode for symmetric supercapacitor, the GPC973 electrode shows a superior supercapacitor performances with large energy density of 30.7 Wh/kg@500 W/kg and high rate capability of 68% from 1.0 A/g to 20 A/g. The developed strategy offers an alternative way to fabricate carbon hollow nanostructure thus afford a promising application of these type material in many other areas.

Fenton's reagent, ultrasound, and the combination of Fenton's reagent and ultrasound were used to pretreat rice straw (RS) to increase its enzymatic digestibility for saccharification. The characterization shows that compared with ultrasound, Fenton's reagent pretreatment was more efficient in increasing the specific surface area and decreasing the degree of polymerization (DP) of RS. The enzymatic hydrolysis results showed that the RS pretreated by ultrasound-assisted Fenton's reagent (U/F-RS), which exhibited the largest specific surface area and the lowest DP value, had the highest enzymatic activity, and the amount of reducing sugar released from U/F-RS at 48h of enzymatic saccharification is about 4 times as large as that from raw RS and 1.5 times as large as that from Fenton's reagent pretreated RS. The ultrasound-assisted Fenton process provides a reliable and effective method for RS pretreatment.

Multi-label classification (MLC) is a supervised learning problem where an object is naturally associated with multiple concepts because it can be described from various dimensions. How to exploit the resulting label correlations is the key issue in MLC problems. The classifier chain (CC) is a well-known MLC approach that can learn complex coupling relationships between labels. CC suffers from two obvious drawbacks: (1) label ordering is decided at random although it usually has a strong effect on predictive performance, (2) all the labels are inserted into the chain, although some of them may carry irrelevant information that discriminates against the others. In this work, we propose a partial classifier chain method with feature selection (PCC-FS) that exploits the label correlation between label and feature spaces and thus solves the two previously mentioned problems simultaneously. In the PCC-FS algorithm, feature selection is performed by learning the covariance between feature set and label set, thus eliminating the irrelevant features that can diminish classification performance. Couplings in the label set are extracted, and the coupled labels of each label are inserted simultaneously into the chain structure to execute the training and prediction activities. The experimental results from five metrics demonstrate that, in comparison to eight state-of-the-art MLC algorithms, the proposed method is a significant improvement on existing multi-label classification.

Cervical lymph node metastasis is a prognostic factor of papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC). Skip metastasis (central lymph node negative and lateral lymph node positive) of PTC is not uncommon. This study aimed to retrospectively investigate the risk factors for skip metastasis in PTC and develop a prediction model for skip metastasis. A total of 745 PTC patients underwent total thyroidectomy and central plus lateral lymph node dissection at the First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University from January 2012 to December 2017. Clinicopathological characteristics were collected and analyzed. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to detect the risk factors for skip metastasis. A prediction model was established based on the results of multivariate analyses. The skip metastasis rate was 9.7% (72/745). Age > 55 years (OR 2.63, 95% CI 1.34–5.04, p = 0.004), tumor located in the upper portion (OR 4.15, 95% CI 2.30–7.63, p = 0.001), and unilaterality (OR 2.76, 95% CI 1.14–8.23, p = 0.040) were independent risk factors for skip metastasis. Clinically lymph node-negative (cN0) patients with tumor in the upper portion (24.6%, 43/175) had higher possibility of skip metastasis than those of clinically lateral lymph node-positive (cN1b) patients (5.9%, 10/169) (p = 0.001). The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of prediction model was 0.734 and 0.740 in derivation group and validation group, respectively. However, skip metastasis was not associated with tumor-free survival rate of PTC patients (p = 0.274). Age > 55 years, tumor located in the upper portion, and unilaterality may increase the risk of skip metastasis. We developed the first prediction model for skip metastasis based on clinicopathological parameters in PTC patients.

The aim of this study was to select appropriate low-toxicity degreasing solvents to degrease black soldier fly (BSF, Hermetia illucens L.) larvae to prepare high-quality protein. Aqueous ethyl acetate was chosen as the solvent to extract BSF protein, and traditional solvents, such as petroleum ether, n-hexane, and isopropanol, were chosen as controls.The meal degreased by aqueous ethyl acetate (the volume ratio of ethyl acetate to water is 90 to 10, EA + W10) shows a high degreasing rate (29.04%), crude protein content (562.3 g kgThe results suggest that aqueous ethyl acetate (EA + W10) can be used as a novel solvent in the degreasing of BSF larvae meal to prepare high-quality protein with high EAAI and DIAAS and good digestibility. © 2019 Society of Chemical Industry.

Photocatalytic CO2 reduction is considered as a potential route to solve the increasing energy crisis and greenhouse effect. However, CO2 activation is still a big challenge because of the formidable electron transfer to CO2. Herein, an effective strategy was developed to facilitate CO2 activation and reduction by in situ growth of ZnO nanowire arrays (ZnO NWAs) on the electronic-rich surface of three-dimensional (3D) N-doped reduced graphene oxide (N-rGO). Thanks to the positive effects of 3D N-rGO, ZnO/N-rGO exhibits a significantly enhanced photocatalytic CO2 reduction to CH3OH performance (CH3OH-production rate of 1.51 μmol h−1 g-1), which was ca. 2.3 and 4.7 times higher than that of the pristine ZnO and commercial ZnO, respectively. It is found that 3D N-rGO can work as a trifunctional co-catalyst to support the uniform growth of ZnO NWAs, effectively improve the separation of electron-hole pairs and act as CO2 adsorption and reduction active sites. This work exhibits a facile method to prepare 3D N-rGO-based composite materials, and also demonstrates that N-rGO is a promising multifunctional co-catalyst for photoreduction of CO2.

TiO2-modified nitrogen-doped carbon (TiO2-NC), prepared by a polymerization-pyrolysis process, is used to support the Pd catalyst for ethanol oxidation reaction (EOR) in alkaline media. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy characterization indicates that the incorporation of TiO2 and nitrogen into the carbon matrix could improve the percentage of Pd0 in Pd/TiO2-NC catalyst. Electrochemical characterization shows that the Pd/TiO2-NC catalyst presents higher electrocatalytic activity and stability for EOR than the nitrogen-doped carbon-supported Pd (Pd/NC) catalyst and the carbon black-supported Pd (Pd/CB) catalyst, which can be mainly attributed to the high percentage of Pd0 in Pd/TiO2-NC catalyst (65%) than those in Pd/NC (48%) and Pd/CB (31%) catalysts. The results indicate that the Pd/TiO2-NC catalyst holds great potential as high-performance anode catalyst for direct ethanol fuel cells.

In the present work, experiments have been performed for leaching potassium from phosphorus-potassium associated ore in sulfuric acid/fluorite system with the assistance of ultrasound. The effects of reaction temperature, sulfuric acid concentration, liquid/solid ratio and fluorite dosage on the leaching of potassium were investigated. The results show that the dissolution fraction of potassium can be significantly improved in the presence of ultrasound and under the optimum reaction conditions a dissolution fraction of 94% can be reached. The kinetics analysis shows that the leaching reaction follows the classical unreacted-core shrinking model with internal diffusion being the rate-limiting step.

Acidovorax citrulli is a seed-borne pathogen causing bacterial fruit blotch of cucurbits including melon and watermelon. We investigated the roles of quorum sensing in the wild-type group II strain Aac-5 of A. citrulli by generating aacR and aacI knockout mutants and their complementation strains. We found that twitching motility and virulence were reduced, but biofilm formation and seed attachment were increased significantly in the two mutants as compared to the wild type strain. Deletion of aacR and aacI, however, had no effect on swimming motility and polar flagella formation of Aac-5. Furthermore, deletion of aacR resulted in reduced gene expression of hrpE, hrcN and pilT, while deletion of aacI affected only the expression of hrpE and pilT, not hrcN.

In this study, the combined use of Fenton reagent and ultrasound to the pretreatment of microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) for subsequent enzyme hydrolysis was investigated. The morphological analysis showed that the aspect ratio of MCC was greatly reduced after pretreatment. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) and degree of polymerization (DP) analyses showed that Fenton reagent was more efficient in decreasing the crystallinity of MCC while ultrasound was more efficient in decreasing the DP of MCC. The combination of Fenton reaction and ultrasound, which produced the lowest crystallinity (84.8 ± 0.2%) and DP (124.7 ± 0.6) of MCC and the highest yield of reducing sugar (22.9 ± 0.3 g/100 g), provides a promising pretreatment process for MCC depolymerization.