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Nutritional interventions play a critical role in modifying the intestinal microbiome of host animals. This study was conducted to interrogate the physiological effects on fecal microflora of weaned piglets via the dietary supplemented with two types of products of Citrus reticulata "Chachi", respectively. For this purpose, A total of 72 piglets with uniform sizes were randomly assigned to four dietary treatment groups consisted of a negative control group (NCG), a fermented citrus reticulata "Chachi" pulp group (FCRPG), a Citri Reticulatae Pericarpium group (CRPG) and a positive control group (PCG) in a 21-day feeding trial. After the raising experiment, fresh feces of piglets were analyzed systematically using multi-omics technologies. Metagenomics method with high-throughput compositional characterization indicated that the architecture and diversity of fecal microbiome were both influenced by these two additives and compound antibiotics. Metabolite analysis showed that FCRPG have an significant effects on fecal short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) among four treatment groups. Results of functional proteomics approaches found that FCRPG presented the highest butyrate metabolic level, and CRPG showed the highest flavone and flavonol biosynthesis level in feces. In addition, NCP produced an effective effect on adjusting fecal microbiome proflie. Consequently, our findings demonstrate that dietary supplementation with FCRP or CRP modulates the microbial taxa, metabolic and proteomic alterations in fecal microbiota of weaned piglets for health maintaining.

Background Bioleaching has been attracting attention recent years as an emerging sediment heavy metal pollution remediation technology. However, the use of sulfur powder as sulfur substrate causes the problem of “post-acidification”, and the free bioleaching functional bacteria which are susceptible to environmental impact during reactor operation cannot be used efficiently for multiple rounds. These problems can be solved if the sulfur substrate and the bioleaching functional bacteria can be recycled simultaneously after bioleaching. A new kind of sulfur substrate, the laboratory-made sulfur-covered biochar particles, were used in the bioleaching experiment, compared with sulfur powder and sulfur powder mixed with the surfactant rhamnolipid. Results The sulfur-covered biochar particles exhibited superior bioleaching performance, including faster acidification rate, SO 4 2- production rate and heavy metal bioleaching rate, and higher heavy metal solubilization percentage (Ni 33.76%; Cu 66.16%; Zn 65.494%), which was resulted from the acceleration of bioleaching reaction by the bioleaching functional bacteria immobilized on the biochar surface. Otherwise, the sulfur-covered biochar particles could be reused in the second round, and the heavy metal solubilization percentage (Ni32.84%, Cu69.93%, Zn67.17%) was comparable with that of the first round. Nevertheless, the sulfur content became the main limiting factor causing poor bioleaching performance during the third round. The sulfur mixed with the surfactant rhamnolipid did not show significant effect in promoting acidification and heavy metal solubilization due to high levels of organic matter and the impact of the low pH value. Conclusion The research indicated the laboratory-made sulfur-covered biochar particles could realize the dual immobilization of the bioleaching functional bacteria and the sulfur substrate to support their recycling and reuse in the second bioleaching round. In the future research, the way to maintain the reuse of the sulfur-covered biochar particle for more rounds will be explored.

Additional file 1: Fig. S1. Amount of heavy metal leached from the sediment during the bioleaching process. Fig. S2. Infrared spectrum analysis of bamboo biochar. Fig. S3. Amount of heavy metal leached from the sediment during the second and the third round of bioleaching.

Music classification and recommendation have received wide-spread attention in recent years. However, content-based deep music classification approaches are still very rare. Meanwhile, existing music recommendation systems generally rely on collaborative filtering. Unfortunately, this method has serious cold start problem. In this paper, we propose a simple yet effective convolutional neural network named MCRN (short for music classification and recommendation network), for learning the audio content features of music, and facilitating music classification and recommendation. Concretely, to extract the content features of music, the audio is converted into “spectrograms” by Fourier transform. MCRN can effectively extract music content features from the spectrograms. Experimental results show that MCRN outperforms other compared models on music classification and recommendation tasks, demonstrating its superiority over previous approaches.

The mammalian cell cycle is driven by a complex of cyclins and their associated cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs). Abnormal dysregulation of cyclin-CDK is a hallmark of cancer. D-type cyclins and their associated CDKs (CDK4 and CDK6) are key components of cell cycle machinery in driving G1 to S phase transition via phosphorylating and inactivating the retinoblastoma protein (RB). A body of evidence shows that the cyclin Ds-CDKs axis plays a critical role in cancer through various aspects, such as control of proliferation, senescence, migration, apoptosis, and angiogenesis. CDK4/6 dual-inhibitors show significant efficacy in pre-clinical or clinical cancer therapies either as single agents or in combination with hormone, chemotherapy, irradiation or immune treatments. Of note, as the associated partner of D-type cyclins, CDK6 shows multiple distinct functions from CDK4 in cancer. Depletion of the individual CDK may provide a therapeutic strategy for patients with cancer.

Background: During psoriasis initiation and development, deregulations in signaling pathways and gene expression are observed. Methods: Herein, we downloaded seven sets of microarray mRNA expression profiles showing differentially-expressed genes in psoriasis lesion skin and non-lesion skin tissues and three sets of RNA-seq data and analyzed these online data attempting to screen for crucial genes related to keratinocyte differentiation and psoriasis development. Results: The expression of catenin beta interacting protein 1 (CTNNBIP1) was remarkably downregulated within psoriasis lesion skin tissue samples compared to that within non-lesion skin tissues based on both online data and experimental results. In response to a period of different therapies, respectively, CTNNBIP1 expression could be rescued in lesion skin tissues. Within IMQ-induced psoriasis-like dermatitis in mice, CTNNBIP1 silence further aggravated psoriatic phenotypes. In human immortalized keratinocytes, HaCaT cells, CTNNBIP1 silence significantly inhibited cell apoptosis and promoted cell proliferation. Regarding the molecular mechanism, CTNNBIP1 silence in HaCaT cells promoted β-catenin nucleus translocation, enhanced the transcriptional activity of TCF4, and increased β-catenin/TCF-complex downstream c-Myc and cyclin D1 proteins while decreased the late differentiation marker filaggrin. In contrast to CTNNBIP1, the expression of c-Myc and cyclin D1 showed to be dramatically upregulated within psoriasis lesion tissue samples than that within non-lesion tissue samples. Within tissues, c-Myc and cyclin D1 showed to be negatively correlated with CTNNBIP1, respectively. Conclusions: We identify CTNNBIP1 as an abnormally downregulated gene in psoriasis. CTNNBIP1 silence significantly disturbs the differentiation of keratinocytes through promoting the transcription of β-catenin/TCF-complex downstream genes.

High-throughput sequencing has dramatically expanded our understanding of bacterial communities based on the information of the species types and their relative abundances. Recently, researchers have also become aware of a deficiency in not considering the absolute abundance in this technique. Combining two or more different methods has typically been used to achieve absolute quantification of microbial communities. However, making a combination of different methods not only is time-consuming but also involves potential uncertainty due to variations in the experimental conditions. To simplify the experimental procedure and improve the high-throughput absolute abundance quantification (HAAQ) of a soil bacterial community, we propose an HAAQ method that uses an internal standard strain (ISS) HAAQ-GFP to simultaneously obtain both the relative and absolute abundances in the soil bacterial community. The results showed that a soil bacterial community and its dynamics can be better characterized by the HAAQ method when the optimal concentrations of ISS HAAQ-GFP (105 to 107cellsg-1) were used, and a 16S rRNA gene copy number adjustment was applied. Based on the HAAQ method, we first found that soil bacterial absolute abundances at the genus level fitted well to the partial log-normal distribution function, and most genera concentrations were in the range of 103.5 to 106.5cellsg-1 in the test soils. Our case studies also indicated that more comprehensive descriptions of soil bacterial communities and their dynamics can be achieved by both the relative and absolute abundances than by the relative abundance alone. The improved HAAQ method can be potentially applied to other microbial ecological studies and to stimulating the development of quantitative bacterial ecology studies.

Two-dimensional (2D) perovskites have recently attracted intensive interest for their great stability against moisture, oxygen, and illumination compared with their three-dimensional (3D) counterparts. However, their incompatibility with a typical lithography process makes it difficult to fabricate integrated device arrays and extract basic optical and electronic parameters from individual devices. Here, we develop a combination of solution synthesis and a gas–solid-phase intercalation strategy to achieve hexagonal-shaped 2D perovskite microplates and arrays for functional optoelectronics. The 2D perovskite microplates were achieved by first synthesizing the lead iodide (PbI2) microplates from an aqueous solution and then following with intercalation via the vapor transport method. This method further allows us to synthesize arrays of 2D perovskite microplates and create individual 2D perovskite microplate-based photodetectors. In particular, chlorine (Cl) can be efficiently incorporated into the micropla...

Herein, we investigate the effects of proton irradiation on the structure and shape recovery characteristics of a NiTi alloy and provide a mechanistic explanation of the observed phenomena. Detailed analysis revealed that bombardment with 3 MeV protons induced the formation of a complex multilayer structure comprising TiH2, Ti2Ni, austenite and austenite-martensite layers along the irradiation direction with increasing distance and the origin of the above structure was shown to be closely related to the preferential sputtering effect and irradiation-induced segregation. Finally, the shape recovery characteristics significantly deteriorated with increasing irradiation fluence, since the multilayer structure hindered the martensitic transformation.

The effect of Zr substituting for Ti in Ti50-xNi44Cu6Zrx alloys on the martensitic transformation behavior, microstructure, mechanical and shape memory properties was investigated systematically. The results showed that the Ti-Ni-Cu-Zr alloys were featured with the single step (B2⇋B19′) martensitic transformation. The transformation temperatures decreased linearly in approximate with the Zr content increasing up to 5 at.%. The Mp and Ap temperatures can be calculated by linear regression as: Mp (°C) = 51.565–11.733×; Ap (°C) = 69.695–10.408×, respectively. With further increasing of the Zr content, the transformation temperatures increased continuously in a linear relationship. The Mp and Ap temperatures can be expressed by linear regression as: Mp (°C) = 4.53x-33.38; Ap (°C) = 9.10x-24.12, separately. The Zr addition resulted in the reduction of the size of the Ti2Ni type second phase. Instead, a Zr-rich zone at the neighborhood of the Ti2Ni type second phase appeared owing to Zr addition. Based on the solution strengthening, the critical stress for the martensite reorientation and the tensile strength were significantly elevated, and further improving the shape memory effect. The complete recoverable strain of 4% and the largest tensile strain of 16.5% can be obtained in Ti-Ni-Cu-Zr alloy containing 3 at.% Zr.

Rationale: Genome-wide association studies identified single-nucleotide polymorphisms near the SORT1 locus strongly associated with decreased plasma LDL-C (low-density lipoprotein cholesterol) levels and protection from atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease and myocardial infarction. The minor allele of the causal SORT1 single-nucleotide polymorphism locus creates a putative C/EBPα (CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein α)-binding site in the SORT1 promoter, thereby increasing in homozygotes sortilin expression by 12-fold in liver, which is rich in this transcription factor. Our previous studies in mice have showed reductions in plasma LDL-C and its principal protein component, apoB (apolipoprotein B) with increased SORT1 expression, and in vitro studies suggested that sortilin promoted the presecretory lysosomal degradation of apoB associated with the LDL precursor, VLDL (very-low-density lipoprotein). Objective: To determine directly that SORT1 overexpression results in apoB degradation and to identify the mechanisms by which this reduces apoB and VLDL secretion by the liver, thereby contributing to understanding the clinical phenotype of lower LDL-C levels. Methods and Results: Pulse-chase studies directly established that SORT1 overexpression results in apoB degradation. As noted above, previous work implicated a role for lysosomes in this degradation. Through in vitro and in vivo studies, we now demonstrate that the sortilin-mediated route of apoB to lysosomes is unconventional and intersects with autophagy. Increased expression of sortilin diverts more apoB away from secretion, with both proteins trafficking to the endosomal compartment in vesicles that fuse with autophagosomes to form amphisomes. The amphisomes then merge with lysosomes. Furthermore, we show that sortilin itself is a regulator of autophagy and that its activity is scaled to the level of apoB synthesis. Conclusions: These results strongly suggest that an unconventional lysosomal targeting process dependent on autophagy degrades apoB that was diverted from the secretory pathway by sortilin and provides a mechanism contributing to the reduced LDL-C found in individuals with SORT1 overexpression.

Organic–inorganic metal halide perovskites have attracted great attention as optoelectronic materials because of their low cost, relative insensitivity to defects, and solution-processible properties. However, some of their properties, such as thermal instability, toxicity, and current–voltage hysteresis still remain elusive. Ion migration, which has been proven to be a thermal-activated process, is regarded as one of the major origins of the hysteresis and thus detrimental to the long-term stability of the optoelectronic devices. Nevertheless, by using the external electric field to pole the perovskite, ion migration would be possible to be utilized to create dynamic electronic junctions. In this paper, electric-field-induced dynamic electronic junctions have been manipulated for photodetection and energy harvesting through the ion migration under external electric field. Ion-migration-induced p–n or n–p junction has been successfully created via tuning the polarity of the external applied voltage, which is used for photodetection with a relatively fast response. By freezing out of the nonuniformly distributed ions after migration at low temperature, we demonstrate that the ion-migration-induced dynamic junctions can function as an energy harvesting device with an external quantum efficiency of 20%.

Two-dimensional (2D) Ruddlesden–Popper perovskites with high exciton binding energy and great environmental stability have recently attracted great attention for their promising potential optoelectronic applications. The controllable growth of 2D perovskites with desired shapes would be critical for improving the performance of 2D perovskite-based optoelectronic devices. However, the investigation on this is still in its infancy. Here, we report on the controllable synthesis of 2D (C4H9NH3)2PbI4 microstructures with a butterfly shape, (C4H9NH3)2(CH3NH3)Pb2I7 and (C4H9NH3)2PbI4/(C4H9NH3)2(CH3NH3)Pb2I7 microstructures with a square shape by a solution-processing method. We have systematically investigated the influence of the substrate, mass ratio and crystallization temperature on the morphology evolution of the as-synthesized 2D perovskite microstructures. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) and optical microscopy (OM) images show that the size and thickness of the resultant products are positively correlated with their mass ratio and negatively correlated with their crystallization temperature. X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns, fluorescence imaging, temperature-dependent photoluminescence (PL) and absorption studies confirm the crystalline structures and optical properties of the as-synthesized regularly shaped 2D perovskite microstructures. Our studies provide a simple method to controllably synthesize 2D perovskite microstructures without using very toxic solvents and thus offer a platform to investigate the optical and charge transport properties of 2D perovskite materials for the further design of new device architectures with enhanced performance.

In the present work, the microstructural characteristics, martensitic transformation behavior, and mechanical performance of NiTi thin films irradiated with different proton fluences were investigated. Multiple-layer structures formed in the NiTi thin films owing to proton irradiation. As the proton fluences were 1.0 × 1015 p/cm2 and 5.0 × 1015 p/cm2, a two-layer structure containing a B2 phase and a B19’ martensite phase was introduced. In addition, thickness of B2 phase layer becomes larger and larger for irradiated NiTi thin films at room temperature, as the proton irradiation fluence increases. With further increasing proton irradiation fluence to 2.0 × 1016 p/cm2, an amorphous layer forms at the outmost layer of NiTi thin film. Moreover, an R phase and GP zones were detected in the interior of the B2 layer. The twin type of B19’ martensite also changed to release the stored elastic energy induced by proton irradiation. The martensite variant related (11 1 ‾ ) type I twins and the substructure of the type II twins gradually evolved into (111) type I twins and (001) compound twins, respectively, with increasing proton irradiation fluence. The formation of a multiple-layer structure resulted in the presence of two endothermic and exothermic peaks corresponding to the B19’ ⇌ B2 martensitic transformation. The introduction of lattice defects was responsible for the reduction in the martensitic transformation temperature. The strength of the irradiated NiTi films was enhanced as a result of dislocation strengthening. However, the introduction of higher density of defects also leads to the deterioration of ductility.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) increases the global disease burden due to its diverse adverse health effects on the respiratory and cardiovascular systems. This study aimed to elucidate the potential indicators of length of stay (LOS) and pharmacotherapy advice among COPD patients. Thereafter, hospitalized COPD patients with clinical records and respiratory and cardiovascular pharmacotherapy advice were retrospectively collected from a tertiary hospital between April 2017 and September 2020, and the determinants of LOS and cardiovascular pharmacotherapy advice were explored using regression analyses. Overall, 475 patients with COPD were recruited and stratified according to exacerbation and presence of Cor pulmonale (CP). The extended LOS, increased B-type natriuretic peptides (BNP), and a higher percentage of cardiovascular pharmacotherapy advice were observed in COPD with CP regardless of exacerbation, although the percentage of respiratory prescriptions was comparable. The presence of CP indicated a longer LOS ( B = 1.850, p

Ti Ni shape memory alloys have been widely used to eliminate noise and mechanical vibrations. However, narrow working temperatures and low damping performance limit its applications. Here, a high damping capacity with the relaxational internal friction close to 0.0524 at 5 Hz and the intrinsic internal friction close to 0.04512 are detected after He ion irradiation. The internal friction value greater than 0.02 in a wide working temperature range of 200 K is reported. Further analyses indicate the critical role of He ion irradiation in increase of damping property. We demonstrate that the high broad internal friction could be derived from the interaction between He/H atoms and martensite twinning interface, and the change in twinning type (11 1 ¯ ) type I twinning to (001) compound twinning in the irradiated layer. The He ion irradiation strategy disclosed in the current work is expected to be a promising way to design high damping alloys.

Polymer-assisted deposition (PAD) method has been employed to prepare SrTiO 3 (STO) films on ITO substrates, which have been applied as cathode buffer layer in inverted polymer solar cells. ZnO and TiO 2 films on ITO glass were also prepared via PAD and have been utilized as cathode buffer layers in the inverted polymer solar cells for comparison, which show better efficiency than those using ZnO and TiO 2 as interfacial layers prepared through other methods. The power conversion efficiency (PCE) of ∼3.5% was achieved with STO as the cathode buffer layer as well as MoO 3 as the anode buffer layer, which is comparable to that with ZnO and TiO 2 prepared using the same method as cathode buffer layers. Our findings indicate that STO has the potential to be a candidate as interfacial layers in solar cell devices.

The element distribution and surface microstructure in NiTi shape memory alloys exposed to 3 MeV proton irradiation were investigated. Redistribution of the alloying element and a clearly visible multilayer structure consisting of three layers were observed on the surface of NiTi shape memory alloys after proton irradiation. The outermost layer consists primarily of a columnar-like TiH2 phase with a tetragonal structure, and the internal layer is primarily comprised of a bcc austenite phase. In addition, the Ti2Ni phase, with an fcc structure, serves as the transition layer between the outermost and internal layer. The above-mentioned phenomenon is attributed to the preferential sputtering of high energy protons and segregation induced by irradiation.

The positive effects of paradoxical leader behavior have attracted extensive attention in dynamic and complex environments. However, its influence on employees’ creativity is still blurred. Drawing...

Chiral materials with intrinsic inversion-symmetric structures possess many unique physicochemical features, including circular dichroism, circularly polarized photoluminescence, nonlinear optics, ferroelectricity, and spintronics. Halide perovskites have attracted considerable attention owing to their excellent optical and electrical properties, which are particularly suitable for realizing high power-conversion efficiency in solar cells. Recent studies have shown that chirality can be transferred from chiral organic ligands into halide perovskites and the resultant chiral perovskites combine the advantages of both chiral materials and halide perovskites; this provides an ideal platform to design next-generation optoelectronic and spintronic devices. In this progress report, the most recent advances are summarized in various chemical structures of chiral perovskites, their synthesis strategies, chirality generation mechanisms, and physical properties. Furthermore, the potential chiral-halide-perovskite-based applications are presented and the challenges and prospects of chiral perovskites are discussed. This report outlines the diverse construction strategies of and proposes research directions for chiral halide perovskites; thus, it provides insights into the design of novel chiral perovskites and facilitates investigation of the optoelectronic applications that employ chirality.

Ganoderic triterpenoid (GT) is a promising anti-tumour constituent in Ganoderma lucidum. The aim of this study was to investigate induction by and a possible signalling mechanism of nitric oxide (NO) for GT synthesis. Compared to the control, the biomass decreased by 43.5% at 120 h and the GT yield increased by 40.94% at 72 h in the presence of a 5 mM NO donor sodium nitroprusside supplement. The gene expression profiles of G. lucidum in response to NO were investigated by RNA-sequencing. Functional annotation and an enrichment analysis of the differentially expressed genes indicated that NO inhibited mycelial growth probably via the suppression of the glycolysis genes involved in carbohydrate metabolism. NO may function directly as a regulator of gene expression in the mevalonate pathway to induce GT biosynthesis, and the hyper-production of GT in response to NO could also be accomplished by a signalling function involving Ca2+ and a reactive oxygen species (ROS) pathway. The results of this study are useful for large-scale GT production and can facilitate further studies on the endogenous signalling pathways involved in the GT biosynthetic pathway.

Chronic skin inflammation in atopic eczema is associated with elevated expression of proinflammatory genes and activation of innate immune responses in keratinocytes. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are short, single-stranded RNA molecules that silence genes via the degradation of target mRNAs or inhibition of translation. Recent studies have demonstrated that miR-124 is associated with regulation of inflammation factors in several diseases. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of miR-124 in skin inflammation of atopic eczema. We showed that miR-124 expression is decreased in chronic lesional skin of patients with atopic eczema, and could be strongly inhibited by IFN-γ and TNF-α. Through Western blot, real-time PCR and luciferase assays, we revealed that miR-124 inhibited the expression of p65, a member of NF-κB family which can regulate many factors involved in the immune response and inflammatory reactions, through direct targeting. Further, upon IFN-γ or TNF-α stimulation, IL8, CCL5 and CCL8 showed to be significantly upregulated by IFN-γ or TNF-α, downregulated by miR-124; the promotive effect of IFN-γ and TNF-α could be partially reversed by miR-124. The levels of IL8, CCL5 and CCL8 could be significantly downregulated by p65 knockdown, upregulated by miR-124 inhibition; the suppressive effect of p65 knockdown could be partially reversed by miR-124. Moreover, contrary to miR-124, p65, IL8, CCL5 and CCL8 mRNA expression was upregulated in chronic lesional skin of patients with atopic eczema, and all inversely correlated with miR-124. Taken together, our data demonstrate that miR-124 controls NF-κB-dependent inflammatory responses in keratinocytes and chronic skin inflammation in atopic eczema; rescuing miR-124 expression presents a promising strategy for atopic eczema treatment.

D-type cyclins (D1, D2 and D3) and their associated cyclin-dependent kinases (CDK4 and CDK6) are components of the core cell cycle machinery that drives cell proliferation. Inhibitors of CDK4 and CDK6 are currently being tested in clinical trials for patients with several cancer types, with promising results. Here, using human cancer cells and patient-derived xenografts in mice, we show that the cyclin D3-CDK6 kinase phosphorylates and inhibits the catalytic activity of two key enzymes in the glycolytic pathway, 6-phosphofructokinase and pyruvate kinase M2. This re-directs the glycolytic intermediates into the pentose phosphate (PPP) and serine pathways. Inhibition of cyclin D3-CDK6 in tumour cells reduces flow through the PPP and serine pathways, thereby depleting the antioxidants NADPH and glutathione. This, in turn, increases the levels of reactive oxygen species and causes apoptosis of tumour cells. The pro-survival function of cyclin D-associated kinase operates in tumours expressing high levels of cyclin D3-CDK6 complexes. We propose that measuring the levels of cyclin D3-CDK6 in human cancers might help to identify tumour subsets that undergo cell death and tumour regression upon inhibition of CDK4 and CDK6. Cyclin D3-CDK6, through its ability to link cell cycle and cell metabolism, represents a particularly powerful oncoprotein that affects cancer cells at several levels, and this property can be exploited for anti-cancer therapy.

The Price Earnings (PE) ratio is one of the most widely applied tool for the firm valuation in a security market. Unfortunately, recent academic developments in financial econometrics and machine learning have rarely looked at this tool. In the paper, we propose to formalize a process of fundamental PE ratio estimation by employing Dynamic Bayesian Network (DBN) methodology. Forward-backward inference and Expectation Maximization (EM) parameter estimation algorithms are derived with respect to our proposed DBN structure. A simple but practical trading strategy is invented based on the result of Bayesian inference. We make stock trading experiments using Thai stocks and American stocks, respectively. Extensive experiments show that our trading strategy statistically outperforms the buy-and-hold strategy.

Psoriasis is a common chronic inflammatory skin disease. A number of clinical investigations have indicated that traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is an effective and safe treatment for psoriasis. Zhuhuang Granule (ZG) is a modified formulation of Zhuhuang Decoction, which is used traditionally in China for the treatment of psoriasis in clinical practice.Recent studies have found that microRNAs (miRNAs) play important roles in the pathogenesis of some skin diseases. The objective of our study was to investigate the effect of ZG on the expression of miRNAs in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from psoriasis patients and to identify specific miRNA biomarkers for psoriasis disease activity and assessment of clinical efficacy.Twenty-five psoriasis patients and 15 healthy control subjects were recruited to participate in this study from October 2013 to October 2014. Microarray and quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) were used to measure the global miRNA expression in PBMCs from psoriasis patients and healthy control subjects. We also measured the changes in the Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI) score and miRNA expression of patients before and after treatment with ZG.The microarray results showed that 26 miRNAs were upregulated and 13 miRNAs were decreased in psoriasis patients. qRT-PCR validated 3 upregulated miRNAs (miR-146a, miR-31, miR-192-5p) and 2 downregulated miRNAs (miR-99a, miR-200c) in PBMCs from psoriasis patients compared with healthy controls (p0.01). Moreover, after 8 weeks of ZG treatment, patients achieved a significant reduction in PASI scores. QRT-PCR analysis indicated that the expression of miR-146a and miR-99a is closely correlated with psoriasis severity (RWe suggest that both miR-146a and miR-99a may serve as potential biomarkers for disease activity and clinical efficacy in psoriasis patients treated with ZG.

Sediment bioleaching using a sulfur substrate is a promising approach to the removal of heavy metals. Compared with commercial sulfur powder used as the sulfur substrate, agricultural sulfur soil conditioners may reduce secondary pollution and facilitate the reuse of sediment. This study explored the bioleaching effect of three agricultural sulfur soil conditioners, including sulfur-coated urea, bentonite sulfur, and bio-sulfur, and the bioleaching potential of the indigenous sediment bacteria. The results showed that the sulfur-coated urea had a comparable bioleaching effect with sulfur powder (Ni 35.35%, Cu 74.27%, Zn 69.92%) and the highest maximum bioleaching rate because of the additional nitrogen. The bentonite sulfur leached the least but increased the proportion of the residual state due to its adsorption of heavy metal. Similar changes to the microbial flora structure and bioleaching mechanism were found with the use of sulfur powder, sulfur-coated urea, and bentonite sulfur as the bioleaching substrate. There was no significant difference between the indigenous bacteria and the sludge-enriched bacteria in the bioleaching effect except for bio-sulfur, which only performed well with the sludge-enriched bacteria. In the absence of inoculum, the bio-sulfur hindered the bioleaching process due to high levels of organic matter. This study provides insights into the practical application of bioleaching heavy metal removal technology from the perspective of sulfur substrate selection.

Two-dimensional organic-inorganic perovskites have attracted considerable interest recently. Here, we present a systematic study of the temperature-dependent photoluminescence on phase pure (n-BA)2(MA) n-1Pb nI3 n+1 ( n = 1-5) and (iso-BA)2(MA) n-1Pb nI3 n+1 ( n = 1-3) microplates obtained by mechanical exfoliation. The photoluminescence peak position gradually changes from a red-shift for n = 1 to a blue-shift for n = 5 with an increase in temperature in the (n-BA)2(MA) n-1Pb nI3 n+1 ( n = 1-5) series, while only a monotonous blue-shift has been observed for the (iso-BA)2(MA) n-1Pb nI3 n+1 ( n = 1-3) series, which can be attributed to the competition between the thermal expansion interaction and electron-phonon interaction. In the (n-BA)2(MA) n-1Pb nI3 n+1 ( n = 1-5) series, the thermal expansion interaction and electron-phonon interaction are both gradually enhanced and the former progressively dominates the latter from n = 1 to n = 5, resulting in the band gap versus temperature changing from a red-shift to a blue-shift. In contrast, both of these factors show a weaker layer thickness dependence, leading to the monotonous blue-shift in the (iso-BA)2(MA) n-1Pb nI3 n+1 ( n = 1-3) series.

As a pest on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, Gynaephora qinghaiensis causes severe damage to grassland vegetation and its pupae are also natural hosts of Thektogaster sp. To successfully parasitize, endoparasitoids generally introduce or secrete multiple parasitic factors into the host body during the spawning stage to suppress the host immune response. To study the parasitic effects of Thektogaster sp. on G. qinghaiensis, a transcriptome analysis of immune-related genes in parasitized and nonparasitized G. qinghaiensis pupae was performed. A total of 371,260,704 clean reads were assembled into 118,144 unigenes with an average length of 884.33 base pairs. Of these, 23,660 unigenes were annotated in at least one database and 94,484 unigenes were not annotated in any databases. These findings indicated that the majority of the genetic resources (79.97% of all unigenes) in Gynaephora should be further explored. Parasitization significantly affected the transcriptional profile of G. qinghaiensis pupae. The present study identified 12,322 differentially expressed genes and 57 immune-related genes were identified in parasitized G. qinghaiensis pupae. Most immune-related genes were downregulated, potentially resulting from the inhibitory effect of Thektogaster sp. on G. qinghaiensis pupae after parasitization. Overall, the transcriptome analysis sheds valuable light on the molecular mechanisms of G. qinghaiensis parasitization by Thektogaster sp. and promotes the development of novel biocontrol strategies for Gynaephora based on immune defense.

The issue of microplastic pollution emerged from the marine environment, but the terrestrial environment is estimated to receive annually 4–23 times more plastic wastes. Microplastic pollution in the soil environment has thus begun to elicit great concern. This review summarizes the observed effects of microplastic pollution on soil ecosystems as well as sorption and transport behaviors of microplastics in such environments. Microplastic pollution has been detected in various soils including agricultural/farmland, greenhouse, home garden, coastal, industrial, and floodplain soils. Microplastics affect soil physical and chemical properties, microbial and enzyme activities, and plant growth, and also pose adverse ecotoxicological effects to soil fauna. These effects depend on the concentration, size, and shape of microplastics, as well as soil texture. Microplastics are known to sorb organic and inorganic pollutants, possibly affecting the distribution of these substances in soil. Existing evidence demonstrates the negligible effect of microplastics on bioaccumulation of contaminants in soil fauna. The horizontal and vertical transport of microplastics can be facilitated by soil fauna. Pollutants associated with microplastics may disperse further following the transport of microplastics in soil. This review also highlights perspectives for future research on microplastics in soil.

The presence of Eschericia coli (E. coli) leads to potential outbreaks of disease, demonstrating the importance of understanding how such organisms survive in secondary environments such as soil. Biotic and abiotic soil characteristics play a role in E. coil survival, but it remains unclear how these two aspects interact with survival and whether it is linked to toxin genes. Here we evaluated the survival of three E. coli O157:H7strains: Shiga toxin-producing E. coli, its mutant without stx genes and strain without virulence genes in 4 distinct Chinese soils. To further disentangle the effects of microbial diversity, soils were manipulated to generate a gradient of microbial diversity (10(-1), 10(-6), and a sterile soil [gamma-irradiated control]). Overall, our results showed the E. coli O157:H7 survival time decreased in all treatments, ranging from 8.23 +/- 5.42 to 62.33 +/- 35.80 days. The fastest decline was with the Shiga toxin-producing strain at 10(-1) dilution, whereas the strain without virulence genes, persisted the longest 178 days in the gamma sterilized control. These results confirmed the importance of biodiversity upon E. coli invasion and revealed virulence genes negatively influenced survival. The negative correlation between community niche or niche breadth of soil communities and survival, indicated that resource competition also was the major driver of E. coli O157:H7 survival. Moreover, path analyses revealed that soil pH exerted a critical role on the persistence of E. coli O157:H7, higher pH values produced longer survival time in each strain. These conclusions are of relevance for agricultural situations, where anthropogenic influences lead to decreased soil diversity, increased soil pH and resource input through manure application, which can potentially increase the survival time of E. coil O157:H7, the expanding the window of opportunity for food contamination.

Two-dimensional (2D) organic-inorganic perovskites have recently undergone rapid development because of their unique optical properties, layered nature, and better environmental stability. Here, we report on a new type of 2D lead-free perovskite (C

Porous medium burners are characterized by high efficiency and good stability. In this study, a new burner was proposed based on the combustion mechanism of the methane-air mixture in the porous medium and the preheating effect. The new burner is a two-section and double-deck porous medium with gas inlets at both ends. A mathematical model for the gas mixture combustion in the porous medium was established. The combustion performance of the burner was simulated under different equivalence ratios and inlet velocities of premixed gas. The methane combustion degree, as well as the temperature and pressure distribution, was estimated. In addition, the concentrations of emissions of NOx for different equivalence ratios were investigated. The results show that the new burner can not only realize sufficient combustion but also save energy. Furthermore, the emission concentration of NOx is very low. This study provides new insights into the industrial development and application of porous medium combustion devices.

Two-dimensional (2D) perovskites have recently received increasing attention due to their enhanced environmental stability, layered nature and excellent optoelectronic characteristics. Particularly, the layered nature of 2D perovskites allows to conveniently integrate with other materials to form heterostructures, which can extend device functionalities and improve the performance of the corresponding optoelectronic devices. In this review, we aim to provide a comprehensive presentation of the recent advances of 2D perovskite based heterostructures. We will first give a brief overview on the structure and basic optical properties of 2D perovskites. Then we will focus on 2D perovskite based heterostructures including 2D/2D perovskites, 2D/three dimensional perovskites, 2D perovskites with 2D layered materials as well as 2D perovskites with other optoelectronic materials. Finally, we will outline the current challenges and future research directions in the field of 2D perovskite based heterostructures.

In the present work, the mechanical and strain recovery characteristics of Ti–V–Al–B shape memory alloy were tailored by changing annealing temperatures. Moreover, effect of annealing temperatures on microstructure and martensitic transformation behavior were investigated systematically. At the annealing temperatures of 650 °C and 700 °C, both α" martensite phase and hard α phase coexisted in the annealed Ti–V–Al–B alloys. With the annealing temperatures increasing, amount of α phase gradually decreased and α" martensite phase was dominated. The reduction of α phase resulted in the compositional variation, which further triggered the rising of transformation temperatures. The elongation of annealed Ti–V–Al–B alloys continuously increased with the annealing temperatures increasing; whereas the yield strength gradually decreased. The mechanical properties were closely related to the amount of α precipitates and dislocations. Under optimum annealing condition of 700 °C, the maximum yield strength of 489 MPa can be achieved in Ti–V–Al–B alloy. Meanwhile, it showed a largest recoverable strain of 4.6% in correspondence to 6% applied pre-strain.

In the present study, in-situ TiB phase and La2O3 phase with a three dimensional (3D) network structure were introduced into Ti–Ni composite via the lower energy ball milling and hot pressed sintering. The dimension of network structure and the amount of in-situ reinforcement forming network structure were determined by size of original alloy powder. Only one-stage martensitic transformation was observed in (TiB + La2O3)/Ti–Ni composite, regardless of network structure size. The martensitic transformation temperatures were slightly lower in (TiB + La2O3)/Ti–Ni composite with 100–150 μm network structure. The higher strength and superior strain recovery characteristics of in-situ (TiB + La2O3)/Ti–Ni composite can be obtained by adjusting the network structure. The maximum fracture stress and strain of 2474 MPa and 34.7%, as well as the largest completely recoverable strain of 7% can be obtained in (TiB + La2O3)/Ti–Ni composite with the network structure size of 100–150 μm.

A highly eff ;ective phenanthrene (PHE)-degrading co-culture containing Rhodococcus sp. WB9 and Mycobacterium sp. WY10 was constructed and completely degraded 100 mg L-1 PHE within 36 h, showing improved degradation rate compared to their monocultures. In the co-culture, strain WY10 played a predominant role in PHE degradation. 1-hydroxy-2-naphthoic acid was an end-product of PHE degradation by strain WB9 and accumulated in the culture medium to serve as a substrate for strain WY10 growth, thereby accelerating PHE degradation. In turn, strain WY10 degraded PHE and 1-hydroxy-2-naphthoic acid intracellularly to form phthalate and protocatechuate that were exported to the culture medium through efflux transporters. However, strain WY10 cannot take up extracellular phthalate due to the absence of phthalate transporters, restricting phthalate degradation and PHE mineralization. In the co-culture, phthalate and protocatechuate accumulated in the culture medium were taken up and degraded towards TCA cycle by strain WB9. Therefore, the metabolic cross-feeding of strains WB9 and WY10 accelerated PHE degradation and mineralization. These findings exhibiting the synergistic degradation of PHE in the bacterial co-culture will facilitate its bioremediation application.

Magnetocaloric materials have shown huge potential for magnetic refrigeration but fail meeting the application standard because of the low magnetic entropy change ΔSM. In this work, high-energy electron irradiation is used to enlarge the magnetization difference ΔM in the inverse martensitic transition for Ni–Co–Mn–In alloys, which is mainly attributed to the variations of the short-range atomic arrangement and electronic structure. As a result, the ΔSM can reach up to 62.17 J/(kgK) only with a small magnetic field of 3 T. Even compared with the ΔSM of other works measured under 5 T magnetic field, this value is much superior and can be further improved up to 136.16 J/(kgK) with increasing the magnetic field to 7 T. Such high ΔSM could improve the attractiveness of the material for the actual application.

In the present paper, the mechanical and functional properties of Ti–V–Al alloy were tailored by adjusting the boron (B) content. In addition, the effect of B content on the microstructure and martensitic transformation behaviors of Ti–V–Al alloys was also explored. The results indicated that the microstructure of Ti–V–Al alloys was sole α'' martensite phase, irrespective of the B content. B was completely soluble in Ti–V–Al alloy, as B content was not more than 0.01 at.%. Further increased B content not only promoted to the formation of TiB phase, but also resulted in the remarkable grain refinement. During heating process, the orthorhombic structure α'' martensite transformed into β phase with a body-centered cubic structure in one stage manner for all Ti–V–Al alloys containing different B contents. With the increased B content, the transformation temperature firstly decreased and then increased. Moderate B addition can improve significantly the mechanical properties and strain recovery characteristics of Ti–V–Al alloys owing to the perfect combination of solution strengthening, grain refinement, and precipitation strengthening of in-situ TiB phase. The maximum yield strength of 711 MPa can be obtained in 0.1 at.%B doped Ti–V–Al alloy with superior elongation of 18.5%. Moreover, it showed the largest recoverable strain of 5.1% under the condition of 6% pre-strain.

Effect of Gd addition on microstructure, martensitic transformation and strain recovery characteristics was investigated. Gd addition resulted in the significant reduction of grain size and formation of Gd-rich phase. The Gd-rich phase was identified as Gd3(Ti,V) phase with an orthorhombic structure. The solution treated (Ti-13V-3Al)100−xGdx alloys underwent a α″ → β transformation during heating, irrespective of Gd content. But Gd addition led to a slight drop of martensitic transformation temperatures. In addition, the moderate Gd addition can promote the achievement of outstanding mechanical and functional properties due to the combination of the grain refinement and precipitation strengthening of Gd-rich phase in grain interior. Ti-V-Al alloy with an optimal Gd content, which was Ti-V-Al alloy containing 0.3 at.% Gd, showed the largest recoverable strain of 4.9% at a pre-strain of 6% and the ultimate tensile stress of 925 MPa. Meanwhile, Ti-V-Al alloy had a superior elongation of 20.7%, as 0.3 at.% Gd was added.

To simulate the impact of space debris, Ti 50 Ni 50 alloy is impacted at 1.2 km s −1 using a powder gun. Phase transformation, microstructure and mechanical properties in Ti 50 Ni 50 alloy induced by impact are investigated. The results show that the phase transformation temperature shifts to a lower temperature in impacted Ti 50 Ni 50 alloy. Variants lose their self-accommodated morphology, martensite plates widen, the variants interfaces migrate and bend under force, and many dislocations exist in the martensite plates. The microhardness reduces and the shape recovery ratio enhances gradually with the increase in distance from the crate. This is attributed to plastic deformation and working hardening caused by high-velocity impact.

The objectives of this study were to investigate (i) how the changes in cultivation pattern of vegetable affect soil microbial communities and (ii) the relationships between soil physico-chemical properties and microbial community structure. Soil samples were collected from fields growing vegetable crops with various times of plastic-greenhouse cultivation (0, 1, 4, 7 and 15 years, respectively). Phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) analysis was conducted to reveal the soil microbial community of the test soils. The open-field soil had the highest total PLFAs amount. Although the Shannon-Weaver index was also highest in the open-field soil, the difference was not significant. Plastic-greenhouse cultivation decreased PLFAs species diversity and richness. Cluster analysis and principal component analysis (PCA) of the PLFA profiles revealed distinct groupings at different times during plastic-greenhouse cultivation. Ultimately, PLFA analyses showed that long-term plastic-greenhouse cultivation make the physiological status of soil microbial community worse and increased stress level of microorganisms. And soil microbial community was significantly affected by field water capacity and water-soluble organic carbon. The study highlights the potential risk of long-term plastic-greenhouse cultivation to soil microbial community.

This research, which was based on the data envelopment analysis (DEA) model and the Malmquist index, studies the difference for the period 2000–2012 in the efficiency of coal consumption and pattern classification in China's 30 provinces as well as the major eastern, central, western, and northeastern areas. Firstly, the static analysis results showed that the technical efficiency (TE) of China's coal consumption was 0.710, the pure technical efficiency (PTE) was 0.803, and the scale efficiency (SE) was 0.889. The PTE, which needs to be further improved, was the main factor affecting the TE. The ranking for the TE of the four regions was the eastern region, northeast region, central region, and in last place the western region. The dynamic analysis results showed that the change index of China's total-factor of coal consumption efficiency was 0.899 and the average annual growth rate was −10.1%. Efficiency change (EC) and technical change (TC) of the average annual growth rate were −4.7% and −5.7%, respectively. The interaction of EC and TC resulted in a negative growth of the total-factor of coal consumption efficiency. The difference in the total-factor of the coal consumption efficiency among the four regions expanded each year. Secondly, by measuring the TE of China's coal consumption excluding environmental factors and then including environmental factors we were able to classify the coal consumption efficiency model of 30 provinces in China. Finally, we provided some policy suggestions aimed at improving the efficiency of China's coal consumption.

A pilot-scale landfill and a two-phase (acidogenesis and methanogenesis) anaerobic sequencing batch reactor (anSBR) system was setup to treat leachate collected from the simulated landfill cell which had leachate recirculation (at

Triphenylamine (TPA) and its derivatives are well-known pigments with excellent electron donating abilities and chemical, thermal and photochemical stabilities, and have been used in various optical and electronic fields. In this context, the polymer PPAB7 containing a TPA and a 4, 8-dithienylbenzo [1,2-b: 4, 5-b'] dithiophene (BDT) as the donor group in the main chain and a cyanoacetic acid accepter in the side chain, linked by a thiophene unit is synthesized. To study the influence of donor in the backbone, we crop out the TPA and use the linker thiophene unit as a comonomer directly then a new polymer PPTB8 is synthesized. Combining a mesoporous titania film grafted by these two simple polymer dye with I−/I3− redox couple, the none TPA sensitizer PPTB8 based DSSC obtained higher power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 3.78% than PPAB7 of 2.21% with a degree of polymerization (DP) of ∼5 and ∼6, respectively, at an irradiance of the AM 1.5 G sunlight. To understand the improvement performance of PPTB8, theoretical calculations, absorption-emission spectra, electrochemistry, infrared spectroscopy and photovoltaic measurements are used to compare the photophysics, interfacial and photovoltaic property of the two polymers. The results suggest that the increased photovoltaic property of the simplified structure (PPTB8) is due to its broader spectra and higher efficient electron injection property resulting in higher short current.

In the present study, the effect of Co addition on the microstructural features, martensitic transformation beahviors and mechanical properties of Ti–V–Al alloys was investigated systematically. The results revealed that phase constituents varied with Co content increasing, which can be summarized as follows: sole α" martensite phase → coexistence of α" martensite phase and β austenite phase → fully β austenite phase. Correspondingly, the reverse martensitic transformation temperature continuously decreased with Co content increasing. Moreover, the moderate Co addition can improve yield strength and elongation of Ti–V–Al alloys as a consequence of the solid solution strengthening effect. The maximum yield stress of 811 MPa and superior elongation of 23.8% can be obtained in Ti–V–Al–Co2.0 and Ti–V–Al–Co1.0 alloy, respectively. Besides, Co addition led to the significant improvement of the higher temperature yield strength of quaternary Ti–V–Al–Co alloys, compared with the Ti–V–Al alloy without Co addition.

Ophiocordyceps sinensis, one of the well-known traditional Chinese medicine, has multiple health-promoting effects. It is used as herbal remedy and health food in Asian countries, together with its cultured mycelia used as a substitute of natural O. sinensis. In the present study, natural O. sinensis collected from three geographical regions and its cultured mycelia derived from three strains were analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) combined with chemometrics. A total of 72 metabolites were identified from all samples with different metabolic profiles observed between natural O. sinensis and cultured mycelia. Among them, 50 metabolites showed significant differences between natural O. sinensis and cultured mycelia. Higher levels of trehalose, glycerol and citric acid in natural O. sinensis were found compared to those in cultured mycelia, while myo-inositol and some amino acids were more abundant in cultured mycelia. In addition, chemical compositions of natural O. sinensis varied depending on the geographical regions. Natural O. sinensis from three locations were clearly differentiated by the concentrations of meso-erythritol, D-mannitol, glucose and organic acids. The current study provides a comprehensive metabolic profiles of natural O. sinensis and its cultured mycelia, which is potentially important for understanding the metabolism of O. sinensis and facilitating the application of cultured mycelia as a supplement of natural O. sinensis.