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Constructing π‐conjugated polymer structures through covalent bonds dominates the design of organic framework photocatalysts, which significantly depends on the selection of multiple donor‐acceptor building blocks to narrow the optical gap and increase the lifetimes of charge carriers. In this work, self‐bipolarized organic frameworks of single aromatic units are demonstrated as novel broad‐spectrum‐responsive photocatalysts for H2O2 production. The preparation of such photocatalysts is only to fix the aromatic units (such as 1,3,5‐triphenylbenzene) with alkane linkers in 3D space. Self‐bipolarized aromatic units can drive the H2O2 production from H2O and O2 under natural sunlight, wide pH ranges (3.0‐10.0) and natural water sources. Moreover, it can be extended to catalyze the oxidative coupling of amines. Experimental and theoretical investigation demonstrate that such a strategy obeys the mechanism of through‐space π‐conjugation, where the closely face‐to‐face overlapped aromatic rings permit the electron and energy transfer through the large‐area delocalization of the electron cloud under visible light irradiation. This work introduces a novel design concept for the development of organic photocatalysts, which will break the restriction of conventional through‐band π‐conjugation structure and will open a new way in the synthesis of organic photocatalysts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although microalgae have only recently been recognized as part of the plant and soil microbiome, their application as biofertilizers has a tradition in sustainable crop production. Under consideration of their ability to produce the plant growth‐stimulating hormone cytokinin (CK), known to also induce pathogen resistance, we have assessed the biocontrol ability of CK‐producing microalgae. All pro‐ and eukaryotic CK‐producing microalgae tested were able to enhance the tolerance of tobacco against Pseudomonas syringae pv. tabaci (PsT) infection. Since Chlamydomonas reinhardtii (Cre) proved to be the most efficient, we functionally characterized its biocontrol ability. We employed the CRISPR‐Cas9 system to generate the first knockouts of CK biosynthetic genes in microalgae. Specifically, we targeted Cre Lonely Guy (LOG) and isopentenyltransferase (IPT) genes, the key genes of CK biosynthesis. While Cre wild‐type exhibits a strong protection, the CK‐deficient mutants have a reduced ability to induce plant defence. The degree of protection correlates with the CK levels, with the IPT mutants showing less protection than the LOG mutants. Gene expression analyses showed that Cre strongly stimulates tobacco resistance through defence gene priming. This study functionally verifies that Cre primes defence responses with CK, which contributes to the robustness of the effect. This work contributes to elucidate microalgae‐mediated plant defence priming and identifies the role of CKs. In addition, these results underscore the potential of CK‐producing microalgae as biologicals in agriculture by combining biofertilizer and biocontrol ability for sustainable and environment‐friendly crop management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors describe a method for detection of Hg2+ by using positively charged gold nanoparticles ((+)AuNPs) as a quencher of the fluorescence of DNA-capped silver nanoclusters (DNA-AgNCs) which are negatively charged. In the presence of Hg2+, a DNA duplex is formed through T-Hg2+-T coordination chemistry. The duplex can be digested by exonuclease III to form smaller DNA fragments. This leads to the release of the AgNCs and the recovery of fluorescence, best measured at excitation/emission wavelengths of 460/530 nm. The (+)AuNPs and Hg2+ are also released and can be reused for target recycling signal amplification. Based on these findings, a method is worked out for the determination of Hg2+ that works in the 5.0 pM to 10 nM concentration range and has a detection limit as low as 2.3 pM. It is highly selective because of the highly specific formation of T-Hg2+-T bonds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The evolution of insect vector‐pathogen relationships has long been of interest in the field of molecular ecology. One system of special relevance, due to its economic impacts, is that between Diaphorina citri and 'Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus' (CLas), the cause of the severe Asian form of huanglongbing. CLas‐positive D. citri are more fecund than their CLas‐negative counterparts, boosting opportunities for pathogens to acquire new vector hosts. The molecular mechanism behind this life‐history shift remains unclear. Here, we found that CLas promoted ovarian development and increased the expression of the vitellogenin receptor (DcVgR) in ovaries. DcVgR RNAi significantly decreased fecundity and CLas titer in ovaries, extended the preoviposition period, shortened the oviposition period and blocked ovarian development. Given their importance in gene regulation, we explored the role of miRNAs in shaping these phenotypes and their molecular triggers. Our results showed that one miRNA, miR‐275, suppressed DcVgR expression by binding to its 3' UTR. Overexpression of miR‐275 knocked down DcVgR expression and CLas titer in ovaries, causing reproductive defects that mimicked DcVgR knockdown phenotypes. We focused, further, on roles of the Juvenile Hormone (JH) pathway in shaping the observed fecundity phenotype, given its known impacts on ovarian development. After CLas infection, this pathway was upregulated, thereby increasing DcVgR expression. From these combined results, we conclude that CLas hijacks the JH signalling pathway and miR‐275, thereby targeting DcVgR to increase D. citri fecundity. These changes simultaneously increase CLas replication, suggesting a pathogen‐vector host mutualism, or a seemingly helpful, but cryptically costly life‐history manipulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Engineered a dual-source-driven dielectric barrier discharge device. • Enhanced performance by modulating phases to induce electric field coupling. • Efficiently reduced graphene oxide without external gases. • Analyzed reactions, comparing with conventional methods. Graphene is crucial for various applications, from improving electronics to advancing energy storage and materials science. The green-scale preparation of high-purity graphene remains a significant challenge. Traditional methods, such as thermal and chemical reduction, suffer from extended reaction cycles, high temperatures, and waste liquid pollution. Low-temperature plasma technology offers an efficient, energy-saving, and environmentally friendly solution for the reduction process. However, a better reduction effect largely depends on low-pressure conditions or the addition of reducing gases. Therefore, this paper proposes a dual-source-driven three-electrode atmospheric pressure dielectric barrier discharge plasma device. By capitalizing on the electric field coupling enhancement resulting from voltage polarity differences between pulse and AC power supplies, we achieve efficient reduction using only argon gas. X-ray Photoelectron spectroscopy reveals a substantial enhancement in the reduction process, with the proportion of C=C/C-C bonds reaching 98.5% after 60 min, a marked improvement of 135.1% compared to the original sample. Concurrently, the proportions of C-O and C=O bonds decrease to below 1%, with removal rates reaching 98.8% and 87.7%, respectively. The overall C/O ratio on the product surface increases from 2.2 to 9.4. Electrochemical performance tests demonstrate significant improvements in conductivity and ion transport rates for the graphene product. Notably, the reduction achieved through this method surpasses most similar approaches utilizing only inert gas at atmospheric pressure, establishing the efficacy of our atmospheric pressure dielectric barrier discharge with added reducing gas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Defect detection of petrochemical pipelines is an important task for industrial production safety. At present, pipeline defect detection mainly relies on closed circuit television method (CCTV) to take video of the pipeline inner wall and then detect the defective area manually, so the detection is very time-consuming and has a high rate of false and missed detections. To solve the above issues, we proposed an automatic defect detection system for petrochemical pipeline based on Cycle-GAN and improved YOLO v5. Firstly, in order to create the pipeline defect dataset, the original pipeline videos need pre-processing, which includes frame extraction, unfolding, illumination balancing, and image stitching to create coherent and tiled pipeline inner wall images. Secondly, aiming at the problems of small amount of samples and the imbalance of defect and non-defect classes, a sample enhancement strategy based on Cycle-GAN is proposed to generate defect images and expand the data set. Finally, in order to detect defective areas on the pipeline and improve the detection accuracy, a robust defect detection model based on improved YOLO v5 and Transformer attention mechanism is proposed, with the average precision and recall as 93.10% and 90.96%, and the F1-score as 0.920 on the test set. The proposed system can provide reference for operators in pipeline health inspection, improving the efficiency and accuracy of detection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: A series of new heterogeneous catalysts were obtained by direct incorporation of tetraazamacrocycle metal [copper(II) and oxovanadium(IV)] complexes into the interlayer of a montmorillonite through the exchange method, which were characterized by XRD, FT-IR, diffusion reflection UV–visible, ICP-AES, SEM, TG, and XPS. Characterizations suggest that tetraazamacrocycle metal complexes were introduced into K10-montmorillonite matrix. The synthesized heterogeneous catalysts exhibited great activity and good epoxidative selectivity in epoxidation of styrene when using air as oxidant. Furthermore, the catalyst was conveniently separated from the reaction system and could be reused at least two times with evident loss of activity and selectivity. However, it could be reused for the third time without significant loss of activity and selectivity. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: A novel and efficient method has been developed for the synthesis of acid–base bifunctional catalyst SO3H–MCM-41–NH2. This method was achieved by co-condensation of tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS), 3-mercaptopropyltrimethoxysilane (MPTMS) and (3-triethoxysilylpropyl) carbamicacid-1-methylcyclohexylester (3TAME) in the presence of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), followed by oxidation and then thermolysis to generate acidic site and basic site. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron micrographs (TEM) show that the resultant materials keep mesoporous structure. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), X-ray photoelectron spectra (XPS), back titration, solid-state 13C CP/MAS NMR and solid-state 29Si MAS NMR confirm that the organosiloxanes were condensed as a part of the silica framework. The bifunctional sample (SO3H–MCM-41–NH2) containing amine and sulfonic acids exhibits excellent acid-basic properties, which make it possess high activity in aldol condensation reaction between acetone and various aldehydes. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: A series of efficient acid–base bifunctionalized hexagonal mesoporous silica (HMS) catalysts contained aminopropyl and propanesulfonic acid have been synthesized through a simple co-condensation by protection of amino group. The results of small-angle XRD, TEM, and N2 adsorption–desorption measurements show that the resultant materials have mesoscopic structures. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopies, elemental analysis (EA), back titration, 29Si NMR and 13C NMR confirm that the organosiloxanes were condensed as a part of the silica framework. The resultant catalysts exhibit excellent acid-basic properties, which make them possess high activity for one-pot deacetalization–Knoevenagel and deacetalization–nitroaldol (Henry) reactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Mo-modified catalysts of Mo/TNU-9 were prepared for the non-oxidative aromatization of methane. The effects of different Si/Al ratios, Mo loadings and temperatures on the catalytic performance of Mo/TNU-9 catalysts were also investigated. Furthermore, for comparison, Mo/ZSM-5 was synthesized for the same reaction. The physical properties and acidities of the samples were characterized by XRD (X-ray diffraction), SEM (scanning electron microscopy), BET (Brunauer–Emmett–Teller method) and IR (infrared) spectroscopy. The best conditions for methane aromatization with Mo/TNU-9 are as follows: Si/Al ratio = 50, 6 wt.% MoO3 loading, and reaction temperature = 973 K. Compared with Mo/ZSM-5, the Mo/TNU-9 catalyst showed both a higher conversion of methane and higher selectivity to benzene. In addition, the stability of Mo/TNU-9 was also better than that of Mo/ZSM-5. The superior catalytic behavior of Mo/TNU-9 may be attributed to its unique three-dimensional 10-member-ring channel structure with the presence of large 12-member-ring cavities. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: A series of acid–base bifunctional mesoporous MCM-41 silica materials with a p6mm symmetry have been synthesized through a simple co-condensation approach of tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS), 3-mercaptopropyltrimethoxysilane (MPTMS) and 3-tertbutyloxycarbonyl(aminopropyl)trimethoxysilane (3TBS) with supramolecular templates of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB). Syntheses were followed by oxidation to form surface sulfonic acid groups and the thermal treatment to recover the amino groups. These new materials were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron micrographs (TEM), N2 adsorption–desorption, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), 29Si magic-angle spinning (MAS) NMR and 13C magic-angle spinning (MAS) NMR. The catalytic activities of the mono and bifunctional mesoporous hybrid materials were evaluated in one-pot sequential synthesis of benzylidene ethyl cyanoacetate from ethyl cyanoacetate with benzaldehyde dimethylacetal. Among all the catalysts evaluated, the bifunctional samples containing amine and sulfonic acid groups displayed excellent catalytic activity. The most efficient catalyst almost gave ∼100% conversion of benzaldehyde dimethylacetal within 30min. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Two acid–base bifunctional mesoporous materials Benzyl-APS-S-SBA-15 and Anthracyl-APS-S-SBA-15 (APS: (3-trimethoxysilanyl-propyl)-amine) were successfully synthesized by a direct synthesis method. The influence of steric hindrance upon prevention of interaction between acid and base was investigated by using two different secondary amines, benzyl-(3-trimethoxysilanyl-propyl)-amine and anthracyl methyl-(3-trimethoxysilanyl-propyl)-amine. X-ray diffraction (XRD), N2 adsorption, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), scanning electron micrographs (SEM), transmission electron micrographs (TEM), elemental analysis, back titration, and 29Si magic-anglespinning (MAS) NMR were employed to characterize the synthesized mesoporous bifunctional materials. The experimental results indicate that the guests can be well dispersed in the channel of SBA-15, and the obtained materials exhibit excellent acid–basic properties, which make it possess high activity for the aldol condensation of acetone with 4-nitrobenzaldehyde. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Beta/MCM-41 micro/mesoporous composite materials have been prepared through assembly of zeolite Beta nanoclusters and their hydrolysis products in the presence of CTAB under static or stirred conditions. The resulting materials were characterized by powder XRD, TEM and nitrogen adsorption–desorption. Hydrothermal stability of the obtained Beta/MCM-41 composites was evaluated by boiling in distilled water for different periods of time under refluxing. All materials exhibit very high hydrothermal stability. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: A luminescent organic molecule aluminum tris(8-hydroxyquinoline) (Alq3) has been successfully introduced in the pores of amino-functionalized mesoporous SBA-15 (APS-SBA-15). An obvious blue-shifted photoluminescence (PL) of Alq3 was observed. In the pores of APS-SBA-15, the Alq3 organic molecules exhibited efficient and intense PL as monomers and the emission intensities increased with increasing Alq3 concentration. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is the gold standard for low-abundant DNA detection. Here, to expand the application of PCR with novel detecting methods, we developed a label-free fluorescent sensor for ultrasensitive and one-step detection of hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA using the G-quadruplex selective iridium(III) complex luminescent probe. By using HBV DNA as the template with two hairpin structure primers that contained oxyethylene glycol tethers, PCR amplification occurred and generated numbers of specific PCR products with free G-quadruplex sequences at both ends. Such free G-quadruplex sequences can change into G-quadruplex structure with the help of K+, resulting in a strong luminescence intensity upon their binding with the G-quadruplex selective iridium(III) complex. The luminescence intensity increase was proportional to the concentration of PCR products, and indirectly related with HBV DNA concentration. Moreover, the utilization of the iridium(III) complex effectively improved the specificity of the sensor, while PCR paved the way for the ultrasensitive detection of DNA in the linear range of 3.0 fM to 800 pM, with a detection limit of 1.6 fM. Notably, this assay was successfully used to detect HBV DNA in normal and patient serum samples, indicating a potential application for biomolecular analysis. A label-free fluorescent sensor was firstly prepared for ultrasensitive and one-step detection of hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA using the G-quadruplex selective iridium(III) complex luminescent probe coupled with PCR amplification. Image 1 • The G-quadruplex selective iridium(III) complex luminescent probe has a long lifetime. • The proposed strategy is label-free for HBV DNA detection. • The utilization of G-quadruplex selective iridium(III) complex enhanced the specificity of the method for HBV DNA detection. • PCR paved the way for the ultrasensitive detection of HBV DNA with a detection limit of 1.6 fM. • The assay can further used to detect HBV DNA in normal and patient serum samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Different Al contents in the sintered Nd-Fe-B have a significant effect on the coercivity of Tb grain boundary diffusion magnets. • Compared to magnets with different Al contents is more likely to replace Nd in the grains in the main phase. • The presence of the Nd 6 Fe 11 Al 3 and Nd (Fe, Al) 2 hinders the diffusion of Tb and the incremental of coercivity for magnet was decreases. The effects of different Al content in Nd-Fe-B magnets on the microstructure and magnetic properties after the diffusion of Tb at grain boundary were investigated. The magnetic properties and microstructure of magnets with low, medium and high Al content after Tb diffusion were investigated. It was shown that the average thickness of Tb shell in the near-surface region after diffusion was about 5 μm in magnets with low Al content. The tendency of Tb diffusing into the magnet along the grain boundaries in the depth direction and the main phase along the grains was stronger, resulting in more obvious core-shell structure. The magnet coercivity increased from 1046 kA/m to 1788 kA/m for low Al content after Grain Boundary Diffusion Process (GBDP). In magnets with high Al content, because there are more Nd 6 Fe 11 Al 3 phase (δ-phase) and Nd (Fe, Al) 2 phase (μ-phase), Nd in the δ-phase is replaced by part of Tb. Therefore, the amount of Tb diffused into the main phase (2:14:1) decreases. In addition, the μ-phase forms on the surface of the main phase, which hinders the diffusion of Tb to the main phase. Therefore, the thickness and concentration of the Tb shell in magnets with high Al content are much lower than those of the magnets with low Al content. Compared with magnets with high Al content, Nd is more likely to be replaced by Tb in the magnets with low Al content in the grains of main phase, consequently, the coercivity of low Al content magnet increases more. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: A novel mesoporous ZSM-5 zeolite was hydrothermally synthesized using glucose as a template. Characterizations by XRD, TEM and nitrogen isotherms indicated that ZSM-5 possessed worm-like mesoporous. 27Al-MAS-NMR and NH3-TPD showed that the mesoporous ZSM-5 preserved tetrahedral coordination aluminum and stronger acidity than conventional mesoporous material. As-prepared mesoporous ZSM-5 was successfully used in alkylation reaction of phenol with tert-butanol and exhibited significantly high phenol conversion and 2,4-DTBP selectivity. In addition, the hydrothermal stability was also studied by boiling in water for 7 days and displayed good results. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Bifunctionalized material with organized pairs of carboxylic acid and primary amine structurally similar to β3-amino acid derivatives has been prepared through post-grafted approach. Then the organized acid–base bifunctionalized material and the base monofunctionalized material were used as catalysts in aldol reaction to study the influence of the acid–base geometry on acid–base cooperativity. The catalytic result using acid–base bifunctionalized material towards aldol reaction was almost as same as the result obtained with the monofunctional amino catalyst, indicating that cooperative activation is not able to act efficiently unless the acid and the base active centers are positioned with appropriate geometry for the aldol reaction (e.g. about 2.6Å). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: A series of ZSM-5 zeolites were synthesized by adding triethoxyphenylsilane (PTEOS) into the initial sol of the synthesis system. The samples were studied by XRD, SEM, N2 adsorption–desorption and acid assessment of d3-acetonitrile adsorption. Characterization results showed that the crystal size of the ZSM-5 zeolites could be adjusted in a certain range by introducing different contents of PTEOS. Besides, the resultant materials possess hierarchical porosity in addition to those micropores generated by the MFI channels. Moreover, supported Mo/ZSM-5 catalysts were prepared, and their catalytic performances were investigated in the methane non-oxidative aromatization. It was found that the Mo/ZSM-5 catalyst, bearing suitable crystal size and mesoporous characteristic showed relatively high shape-selectivity to benzene and high stability for the reaction of methane aromatization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: A series of hierarchical porous materials were prepared by a dual template method. The effect of different crystallization time on the channel architecture, morphology, acid performance of the hierarchical porous materials was investigated. X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, nitrogen adsorption and 27Al nuclear magnetic resonance were performed to obtain information on the physico-chemical properties of the materials. It was shown that the change in crystallization time could influence the structure/texture and surface acid properties of the hierarchical porous materials. In addition, alkylation of phenol with tert-butanol reaction was carried out to investigate the catalytic performance of the hierarchical porous materials. The results showed that the catalytic activity of the hierarchical porous materials and the selectivity to the bulkly product 2,4-di-tert-butyl-phenol decreased with processing time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Detemplation of zeolite MCM-56 was successfully realized by controlled oxidation of the template using H2O2 at 363 K. The resulting material (denoted as MCM-56(H2O2)) shows larger surface area (micropore and external), higher micropore volume, more Lewis acid and Brønsted acid sites in comparison with the sample detemplated by calcination (denoted as MCM-56(C)). Moreover, two Mo-containing catalysts of Mo/H-MCM-56(H2O2) and Mo/H-MCM-56(C) were prepared, and their catalytic properties for the reaction of methane aromatization were investigated. Compared with Mo/H-MCM-56(C), the sample of Mo/H-MCM-56(H2O2) shows higher conversion of methane and yield of benzene, with lower selectivity to benzene and higher selectivity to coke. The relatively high benzene yield might be mainly assigned to the existence of more 10-ring channels, while the high selectivity of coke should be due to the presence of large amounts of 12-ring pockets and acid sites exposed to the crystal exterior over Mo/H-MCM-56(H2O2). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Maize (Zea mays) is vital as a staple food and livestock feed crop. Yunnan is one of the main maize-producing provinces in China (National Bureau of Statistics, 2022). While corn production in Yunnan is lower than the national average, the development of drought-tolerant varieties has contributed to improving productivity. In August 2021, a new leaf spot disease on maize was observed in Lancang, Yunnan (22°26'38.11"N to 22°48'38.68"N, 99°48'15.13"E to 99°59'20.03"E), causing serious damages to maize production with incidence up to 76.19 %. Initially, small light yellow lesions were seen scattered on diseased maize leaves, round or polygon, measuring 0.3 to 2.0 cm in diameter. In the intermediate phase, these lesions sank, ruptured, and turned white with dark brown borders. In severe cases, they merged into large irregular patches, reaching up to 10 cm, leading to complete leaf necrosis. Small black ascomata were seen on the lesions. Tissue sections reveal perithecium embedded in leaves, measuring 94~145 μm in diameter. Symptomatic tissues were sterilized in 1.5% NaClO for 60s, and washed twice withsterile purified water, then plated on potato dextrose agar (PDA) at 25℃, 90% relative humidity (RH), and a 12-hour light cycle. 6 isolates were obtained from 2 diseased maize cultivars. In 20 days, the colony reached the edge of the PDA plate, the center darkening from white, featuring white aerial mycelium on top and black on the reverse side. Brown ascomata, solitary or clustered, measured 80.1~176.7 × 55.57~138.9 μm. The ellipsoid to oblong ascospores were 17.9~39.7 × 10.9~14.1 μm, and the bitunicate, thick-walled asci were 90.1~133.3 × 26.6~33.5 μm. The genomic DNA was extracted using the Chelex-100 method (Möller et al. 1992). For molecular identification, the ITS, LSU, and β-tubulin (Tub2) genes were amplified using primer pairs ITS1/ITS4 (White et al. 1990), LR0R/LR5 (Vilgalys et al. 1990) and Btub2Fd/Btub4Rd (Woudenberg et al. 2009), respectively. Sequencing was performed by Sangon Biotech (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. The sequenced loci (GenBank accession nos.: LSU, OL687348-53; ITS, OL617009-10, and OL664058-61; Tub2, OL741678-83) of the isolates exhibited 100%/ 99%/ 100% similarities with L. australis genes: LSU, MH868885; ITS, KF381084; Tub2, GU237541, respectively. Using MEGA 11.0, phylogenetic trees were constructed using the maximum-likelihood algorithm on concatenated sequences of LSU, ITS, and Tub2 for isolates LCMB1 to 6. The isolates clustered with two L. australis strains with 100 % bootstrap support (1,000 replicates). The results were consistent with the Bayesian Inference tree. The pathogenicity test used strain LCMB4 on six healthy maize plants during the heading period under natural conditions. Three leaves pre-plant were wounded with sterile sandpaper and sprayed with conidial suspension (106 spores ml-1, diluted in sterilized water) in the greenhouse at 28℃, 90% RH, and a 12-hour light cycle, with sterilized distilled water used for control. Inoculated leaves developed symptoms consistent with the described after 10 days, while control leaves remained symptomless. The same pathogen was re-isolated from the infected leaves, fulfilling Koch's postulates. Previously, L. australis has been isolated from turfgrass (Mitkowski et al. 2004), Alfalfa (Zhang et al. 2021), soil (Li et al. 2018), and Paris polyphylla var. chinensis (Fu et al. 2019), but not from maize. This is the first report of L. australis causing leaf spot on maize globally.

Cultural teaching is the underlying core component of English as Foreign Language (EFL) education. Although the previous literature has intensely studied this theme, a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of research characteristics and trends in this field is still lacking regarding cultural teaching in EFL education. This study aims to explore the research distribution, research hot topics, and research the trends of EFL cultural teaching by conducting a bibliometric analysis of 358 articles on Web of Science using CiteSpace. The analysis leads to the following three findings: (a) The countries that teach EFL prevail in terms of number of publications but lag behind in terms of research influence, and a global academic community has not taken shape. (b) Interculturality is the central theme, encompassing a range of related topics such as intercultural competence, intercultural communication, and cultural awareness, with key teachers, learners, and textbooks as research perspectives. (c) Multilingual turn has emerged as a prominent new trend, which emphasizes the importance of cultural diversity and pays more attention to source/native languages and cultures. Furthermore, possible measures of promoting interculturality were discussed on the basis of relevant literature studies. In addition, scholars are suggested to pay more academic attention to the research and practices of EFL countries.

Extracellular vesicles (EVs), secreted by most cells, act as natural cell-derived carriers for delivering proteins, nucleic acids, and organelles between cells. Mitochondria are highly dynamic organelles responsible for energy production and cellular physiological processes. Recent evidence has highlighted the pivotal role of EVs in intercellular mitochondrial content transfer, including mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), proteins, and intact mitochondria. Intriguingly, mitochondria are crucial mediators of EVs release, suggesting an interplay between EVs and mitochondria and their potential implications in physiology and pathology. However, in this expanding field, much remains unknown regarding the function and mechanism of crosstalk between EVs and mitochondria and the transport of mitochondrial EVs. Herein, we shed light on the physiological and pathological functions of EVs and mitochondria, potential mechanisms underlying their interactions, delivery of mitochondria-rich EVs, and their clinical applications in regenerative medicine., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Diaphorina citri serves as the primary vector for ' Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus ( C Las),' the bacterium associated with the severe Asian form of huanglongbing. C Las-positive D. citri are more fecund than their C Las-negative counterparts and require extra energy expenditure. Therefore, understanding the molecular mechanisms linking metabolism and reproduction is of particular importance. In this study, we found adipokinetic hormone ( DcAKH ) and its receptor ( DcAKHR ) were essential for increasing lipid metabolism and fecundity in response to C Las infection in D. citri . Knockdown of DcAKH and DcAKHR not only resulted in the accumulation of triacylglycerol and a decline of glycogen, but also significantly decreased fecundity and C Las titer in ovaries. Combined in vivo and in vitro experiments showed that miR-34 suppresses DcAKHR expression by binding to its 3' untranslated region, whilst overexpression of miR-34 resulted in a decline of DcAKHR expression and C Las titer in ovaries and caused defects that mimicked DcAKHR knockdown phenotypes. Additionally, knockdown of DcAKH and DcAKHR significantly reduced juvenile hormone (JH) titer and JH signaling pathway genes in fat bodies and ovaries, including the JH receptor, methoprene-tolerant ( DcMet ), and the transcription factor, Krüppel homolog 1 (DcKr-h1 ), that acts downstream of it, as well as the egg development related genes vitellogenin 1-like ( DcVg-1-like ), vitellogenin A1-like ( DcVg-A1-like ) and the vitellogenin receptor ( DcVgR ). As a result, C Las hijacks AKH/AKHR-miR-34-JH signaling to improve D. citri lipid metabolism and fecundity, while simultaneously increasing the replication of C Las, suggesting a mutualistic interaction between C Las and D. citri ovaries., Competing Interests: JL, PH, GB, SW, JH, ST, DW, YH, YC, XN No competing interests declared, (© 2024, Li et al.)

Constructing π-conjugated polymer structures through covalent bonds dominates the design of organic framework photocatalysts, which significantly depends on the selection of multiple donor-acceptor building blocks to narrow the optical gap and increase the lifetimes of charge carriers. In this work, self-bipolarized organic frameworks of single aromatic units are demonstrated as novel broad-spectrum-responsive photocatalysts for H 2 O 2 production. The preparation of such photocatalysts is only to fix the aromatic units (such as 1,3,5-triphenylbenzene) with alkane linkers in 3D space. Self-bipolarized aromatic units can drive the H 2 O 2 production from H 2 O and O 2 under natural sunlight, wide pH ranges (3.0-10.0) and natural water sources. Moreover, it can be extended to catalyze the oxidative coupling of amines. Experimental and theoretical investigation demonstrate that such a strategy obeys the mechanism of through-space π-conjugation, where the closely face-to-face overlapped aromatic rings permit the electron and energy transfer through the large-area delocalization of the electron cloud under visible light irradiation. This work introduces a novel design concept for the development of organic photocatalysts, which will break the restriction of conventional through-band π-conjugation structure and will open a new way in the synthesis of organic photocatalysts., (© 2024 The Authors. Advanced Science published by Wiley‐VCH GmbH.)

Background: There is insufficient evidence to assess the risk of the production of clinically important alloimmune irregular red blood cell (RBC) antibodies in first-time pregnant women. Methods: Using the microcolumn gel antiglobulin method, 18,010 Chinese women with a history of pregnancy and pregnant women were screened for irregular RBC antibodies, and for those with positive test results, antibody specificity was determined. The detection rate and specificity of irregular RBC antibodies in women with a history of multiple pregnancies (two or more) and first-time pregnant women were determined. Results: In addition to 25 patients who passively acquired anti-D antibodies via an intravenous anti-D immunoglobulin injection, irregular RBC antibodies were detected in 121 (0.67%) of the 18,010 women. Irregular RBC antibodies were detected in 93 (0.71%) of the 13,027 women with a history of multiple pregnancies, and antibody specificity was distributed mainly in the Rh, MNSs, Lewis, and Kidd blood group systems; irregular RBC antibodies were detected in 28 (0.56%) of the 4983 first-time pregnant women, and the antibody specificity was distributed mainly in the MNSs, Rh, and Lewis blood group systems. The difference in the percentage of patients with irregular RBC antibodies between the two groups was insignificant ( χ 2 = 1.248, P > 0.05). Of the 121 women with irregular RBC antibodies, nine had anti-Mur antibodies, and one had anti-Di a antibodies; these antibodies are clinically important but easily missed because the antigenic profile of the reagent RBCs that are commonly used in antibody screens does not include the antigens that are recognized by these antibodies. Conclusion: Irregular RBC antibody detection is clinically important for both pregnant women with a history of multiple pregnancies and first-time pregnant women. Mur and Di a should be included in the antigenic profile of reagent RBCs that are used for performing antibody screens in the Chinese population., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Shujie Wu et al.)

A supervisory system is an essential part of higher education and plays a vital role in cultivating the high-level talents needed for high-quality national development and social progress. This study aims to determine how supervisors affect students' academic gains and research ability. This study used a qualitative research method to select 10 postgraduate students and their 7 supervisors for in-depth interviews from May to July 2022. This study aims to address the following questions: 1. What are the modes of supervisor-student communication? 2. What impact do these modes have on students? 3. What factors affect these modes? Three discoveries were made in this study. When supervisors and students communicate only regarding the academic content and students tend to fully follow supervisors' instructions, students obtain more academic output in the short term but lack autonomy. When supervisors and students discuss academic issues and life trifles equally, it helps in promoting students' comprehensive quality. When students do not have much contact with their supervisors and they get along like strangers, it is beneficial to cultivate students' intellectual independence, but students grow slowly. The factors influencing the communication modes include the supervisors' educational philosophy, postgraduate learning attitude, and supervisory system. In conclusion, the three communication modes can coexist together in a group of students led by the same supervisor. Whether a communication mode can promote the growth of students depends on the awakening of the students' self-awareness, and the supervisory system is the most implicit factor underlying communication., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2024 The Authors.)

Diabetic wounds represent a persistent global health challenge with a substantial impact on patients' health and overall well-being. Herein, a hydrogel system that integrates functionalized gold nanorods (AuNRs) and M2 macrophage-derived exosomes (M2-Exos) was developed to achieve an efficient and synergistic therapy for diabetic wounds. We introduced an ion-cross-linked dissipative network into a prefabricated covalent cross-linked network (long-chain polymer network), which was prepared using AuNRs as a specific cross-linker. The ion network was then cross-linked with the long-chain polymer in situ to form a specific network structure, imparting antiswelling and photothermal effects to the hydrogel. This integrated hydrogel system effectively scavenged reactive oxygen species levels, inhibited inflammation, promoted angiogenesis, and stimulated photothermal antibacterial activity through near-infrared (NIR) irradiation. To demonstrate the potential of the hydrogel, we established experimental animal models of oral mucosa ulceration and full-thickness skin defects. In vivo results confirmed that M2-Exos released from the hydrogels played a crucial role in wound closure. Furthermore, the synergistic effect of AuNRs and NIR photothermal effects eradicated bacterial infections in the wound area. Overall, our integrated hydrogel system is a promising tool for accelerating chronic diabetic wound healing and tissue regeneration. This study highlights the potential benefits of combining bioactive M2-Exos and the photothermal effect of AuNRs into an antiswelling hydrogel platform to achieve satisfactory wound healing in patients with diabetes.

Huanglongbing, a globally devastating citrus disease, is associated with Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus ( C Las) and is mainly transmitted by Diaphorina citri . Verification of the distribution and dynamics of C Las in D. citri is critical to understanding C Las transmitted by vectors in nature. Here, the distribution and titers of C Las in different sexes and tissues of D. citri adults were investigated by fluorescence in-situ hybridization (FISH) and quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). Results showed that C Las had widespread distribution in the brain, salivary glands, digestive system, and reproductive system of both females and males, indicating a systemic infection of C Las in D. citri . Moreover, C Las fluorescence intensity and titers were significantly increased in both the digestive system and the female reproductive system with development and there was a marked decreased in both the salivary glands and the male brain, but there was no significant change in the female brain or the male reproductive system. Furthermore, the distribution and dynamics of C Las in embryos and nymphs were investigated. C Las was observed in all laid eggs and subsequent first-second-instar nymphs, indicating that a high percentage of embryos and nymphs resulting from infected D. citri mothers were infected with CLas.

The white pulp of the Chinese water chestnut (CWC) is crisp and sweet with delicious flavours and is an important ingredient in many Chinese dishes. Phenylacetaldehyde is a characteristic flavoured substance produced in the steaming and cooking process of CWC. The steaming process and conditions were simulated to construct three Maillard reaction systems which consisted of glucose and phenylalanine, and of both alone. The simulation results showed that glucose and phenylalanine were the reaction substrates for the formation of phenylacetaldehyde. The intermediate α-dicarbonyl compounds (α-DCs) and the final products of the simulated system were detected by solid-phase microextraction (SPME) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) methods. Through the above methods the formation mechanism of phenylacetaldehyde is clarified; under the conditions of the steaming process, glucose is caramelized to produce Methylglyoxal (MGO), 2,3-Butanedione (BD), Glyoxal (GO) and other α-DCs. α-DCs and phenylalanine undergo a Strecker degradation reaction to generate phenylacetaldehyde. The optimal ratio of the amount of substance of glucose to phenylalanine for Maillard reaction is 1:4. The results can provide scientific reference for the regulation of flavour substances and the evaluation of flavour quality in the steaming process of fruits and vegetables.

Chinese water chestnut (CWC) is popular among consumers due to its unique flavor and crisp and sweet taste. Thus far, the key substances affecting the taste compound of CWC are still unclear. In this study, we used UPLC-MS/MS and an electronic tongue system to study the effects of four typical steaming and cooking methods, cooking without peel for 10 min (PC), steaming without peel for 15 min (PS), cooking with peel for 30 min (WPC), steaming with peel for 30 min (WPS), on the taste compound generation and variation of CWC, and revealed the secret of its crisp and sweet taste. The results show that the electronic tongue can effectively identify the taste profile of CWC, and the effective tastes of CWC were umami, bitterness, saltiness, and sweetness. We screened 371 differential compounds from 640 metabolic species. Among them, nucleotides and their derivatives, carbohydrates, organic acids and their derivatives, and amino acids and their derivatives are closely related to the key taste of CWC, and these compounds affected the taste of CWC through six related metabolic pathways: oxidative phosphorylation and purine metabolism; alanine, aspartate, and glutamate; bile secretion; amino sugar and nucleotide sugar metabolism; the phenylpropane pathway; and toluene degradation. This study reveals the potential metabolic causes of taste compound generation and variation in the taste of CWC.

Recent evidence highlights multifaceted biological needs to recapitulate the bone microenvironment for bone regeneration. Neurotization has great potential for realizing multi-system modulations in bone tissue engineering (BTE). However, a neural strategy involving all the key bone repair steps temporally has not yet been reported. In this study, we reported the neural tissue engineering hydrogel-encapsulated Schwann cell-derived exosomes (SC Exo). This sustained-release SC Exo system prominently enhanced bone regeneration by promoting innervation, immunoregulation, vascularization, and osteogenesis in vivo. Moreover, the in vitro results further confirmed that this system significantly induced M2 polarization of macrophages, tube formation of HUVECs, and BMSCs osteogenic differentiation. Furthermore, BMSCs osteogenesis was promoted by upregulating the TGF-β1/SMAD2/3 signaling pathway. In summary, a novel cell-free and easily prepared SC Exo neural engineering was successfully developed to promote bone regeneration by orchestrating the entire bone healing microenvironment, which may provide a new strategy for tissue engineering and clinical treatment of bone defects., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing financial interest., (© 2022 The Authors.)

Hydraulic systems are a class of typical complex nonlinear systems, which have been widely used in manufacturing, metallurgy, energy, and other industries. Nowadays, the intelligent fault diagnosis problem of hydraulic systems has received increasing attention for it can increase operational safety and reliability, reduce maintenance cost, and improve productivity. However, because of the high nonlinear and strong fault concealment, the fault diagnosis of hydraulic systems is still a challenging task. Besides, the data samples collected from the hydraulic system are always in different sampling rates, and the coupling relationship between the components brings difficulties to accurate data acquisition. To solve the above issues, a deep learning model with multirate data samples is proposed in this article, which can extract features from the multirate sampling data automatically without expertise, thus it is more suitable in the industrial situation. Experiment results demonstrate that the proposed method achieves high diagnostic and fault pattern recognition accuracy even when the imbalance degree of sample data is as large as 1:100. Moreover, the proposed method can increase about 10% diagnosis accuracy when compared with some state-of-the-art methods.

Background: During the past decades, the rapid development of modern teaching tools and methods has been observed, and the new teaching module constructed through digitization or networking has been widely used in the field of medical education. This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness and acceptability of the online learning combined with case-based discussion (CBD) approach in oral medicine education., Methods: Sixty senior students majoring in stomatology were randomly divided into two groups. One group (new module-based teaching group [NG], n = 30) watched an online teaching video and discussed clinical cases in groups. The control group (traditional lecture-based group [TG], n = 30) was assigned to the traditional lecture-based teaching. Subsequently, a theory assessment was conducted on the topics taught, and the scores of both groups were compared. Feedback about this teaching model was obtained from the NG., Results: The results showed that students in the NG had significantly better performance in terms of mastering professional knowledge than did students in the TG. Moreover, most students in the NG had a high degree of satisfaction with this new teaching method, as they agreed that it can mobilize their learning enthusiasm and promote their engagement, interaction, and cooperation in the learning of oral medicine., Conclusions: Our findings indicate the effectiveness and high satisfaction of CBD combined with online learning in the teaching of oral medicine. This study is expected to provide new ideas for improving the dental teaching quality., (© 2022 American Dental Education Association.)

In this work, strong electrochemiluminescence (ECL) emission was achieved by using one type of the G-quadruplex selective iridium (III) complex as an efficient ECL signal probe. Based on the typical sandwich immunoreaction between the cardiac troponin-I antigen (cTnI) and its corresponding antibody, iridium (III) complex was introduced according to its specific interaction with G-quadruplex DNA that modified on the surface of negatively charged gold nanoparticles ((-)AuNPs), inducing an increased ECL signal, which was proportional to cTnI concentration. Based on of this, quantitative detection of cTnI could be realized in the range of 5.0 fg/mL-100 ng/mL, with a detection limit of 1.67 fg/mL. Moreover, the proposed immunosensor was successfully applied for the diagnosis of cTnI in human serums from healthy individuals and acute myocardial infarction (AMI) patients, suggesting a great potential application value in the early diagnosis of AMI., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Heart failure (HF) is a clinical syndrome caused by ventricular dysfunction, which leads to the decline of activity tolerance and repeated hospitalization, which seriously affects the quality of life and is the main cause of death of the elderly. It has long been observed that the pathophysiological mechanism of HF is associated with systemic inflammation. This study aims to explore the association between the systemic inflammation response index (SIRI), a novel biomarker of inflammation, and outcomes in elderly patients with HF., Methods: Data was extracted from the Medical Information Mart data for Intensive Care III (MIMIC-III) database and the Second Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University. The primary outcome was 90-day all-cause mortality. The secondary outcomes included 1-year all-cause mortality, the length of hospital or intensive care unit (ICU) stay, and the need for renal replacement therapy (RRT). Cox proportional hazards regression, linear regression, and logistic regression models were used to assess the association between SIRI levels and all-cause mortality, the length of hospital or ICU stay, the need for RRT, respectively. Moreover, Pearson correlation analysis was conducted to evaluate the correlation between SIRI and C-reactive protein (CRP)., Results: This study cohort included 3,964 patients from the MIMIC-III database and 261 patients from the Second Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University. The result suggested that SIRI was independently associated with the 90-day, and 1-year all-cause mortality in elderly patients with HF (tertile 3 vs. tertile 1: adjusted HR, 95% CI: 1.41 (1.18, 1.68), 1.19 (1.03, 1.37); p trend = 0.0013, 0.0260; respectively). Elevated SIRI was associated with increased the length of hospital or ICU stay after adjusting for multiple confounders (tertile 3 vs. tertile 1: β , 95% CI: 0.85 (0.16, 1.54); 0.62 (0.18, 1.06); p trend = 0.0095, 0.0046; respectively). Furthermore, we found that patients with higher SIRI levels were more likely to require RRT (tertile 3 vs. tertile 1: OR, 95% CI: 1.55 (1.06, 2.28); p trend = 0.0459). Moreover, we confirmed that SIRI was statistically positively correlated with CRP (correlation coefficient r = 0.343, p <0.001)., Conclusions: SIRI could be a novel promising inflammatory biomarker for predicting all-cause mortality in elderly patients with HF. And the patients with higher SIRI values had the longer length of hospital or ICU stay and were more likely to require for RRT. Of note, this study also verified a statistically significant positive correlation between SIRI and the inflammatory marker CRP, highlighting the importance of systemic inflammation as a determinant of outcome in patients with HF., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Wang, Ni, Wang, Wu, Chen and Xing.)

Industrial system monitoring includes fault diagnosis and anomaly detection, which have received extensive attention, since they can recognize the fault types and detect unknown anomalies. However, a separate fault diagnosis method or anomaly detection method cannot identify unknown faults and distinguish between different fault types simultaneously; thus, it is difficult to meet the increasing demand for safety and reliability of industrial systems. Besides, the actual system often operates in varying working conditions and is disturbed by the noise, which results in the intraclass variance of the raw data and degrades the performance of industrial system monitoring. To solve these problems, a metric learning-based fault diagnosis and anomaly detection method is proposed. Fault diagnosis and anomaly detection are adaptively fused in the proposed end-to-end model, where anomaly detection can prevent the model from misjudging the unknown anomaly as the known type, while fault diagnosis can identify the specific type of system fault. In addition, a novel multicenter loss is introduced to restrain the intraclass variance. Compared with manual feature extraction that can only extract suboptimal features, it can learn discriminant features automatically for both fault diagnosis and anomaly detection tasks. Experiments on three-phase flow (TPF) facility and Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) bearing have demonstrated that the proposed method can avoid the interference of intraclass variances and learn features that are effective for identifying tasks. Moreover, it achieves the best performance in both fault diagnosis and anomaly detection.

Task switching is one of the typical paradigms to study cognitive control. When switching back to a recently inhibited task (e.g., "A" in an ABA sequence), the performance is often worse compared to a task without N-2 task repetitions (e.g., CBA). This difference is called the backward inhibitory effect (BI effect), which reflects the process of overcoming residual inhibition from a recently performed task (i.e., deinhibition). The neural mechanism of backward inhibition and deinhibition has received a lot of attention in the past decade. Multiple brain regions, including the frontal lobe, parietal, basal ganglia, and cerebellum, are activated during deinhibition. The event-related potentials (ERP) studies have shown that deinhibition process is reflected in the P1/N1 and P3 components, which might be related to early attention control, context updating, and response selection, respectively. Future research can use a variety of new paradigms to separate the neural mechanisms of BI and deinhibition., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Chen, Wu and Li.)

In this work, we synthesized an iridium(III) complex and studied its selective ability to interact with a specific G-quadruplex DNA sequence (GTGGGTAGGGCGGGTTGG). Results showed that the iridium(III) complex exhibits high selectivity for the G-quadruplex DNA and could be used as an efficient electrochemiluminescence (ECL) probe in a switch-on assay format for the detection of double-stranded DNA (dsDNA). To construct the assay, a hairpin-structured capture probe (CP) which was modified by thiol at its 3' end and contained the G-quadruplex sequence at its 5' end was firstly immobilized on a gold electrode. Upon the specific recognition of the dsDNA sequence with the corresponding CP, the hairpin structure of the CP was opened to free G-quadruplex sequence, forming the G-quadruplex structure with the assistance of K + . Then, the iridium(III) complex was able to specifically interact with the G-quadruplex to produce an obvious ECL signal that was proportional to the dsDNA concentration. Notably, this iridium(III) complex/G-quadruplex-based strategy was universal and was not limited to the analysis of DNA using specific sequences, thus opening a new avenue for the application of the G-quadruplex-selective iridium(III) complex in the field of ECL., (© 2022. Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Diaphorina citri is the mainly transmitting vector of the citrus huanglongbing pathogen, which causes severe losses in in the citrus industry. In this study, we isolated a new entomopathogenic fungus, identified as member of Cordyceps fumosorosea based on morphology and ITS sequence analysis. We named C. fumosorosea SCAU-CFDC01 and evaluated its pathogenicity against D. citri nymphs and adults by immersion under laboratory and greenhouse conditions. Results showed that SCAU-CFDC01 was most pathogenic to young nymphs, followed by old nymphs and adults. The LC 50 values of the fungus on nymphs and adults showed a declining trend over a 2-7-day period after inoculation. The LT 50 (lethal time for a certain concentration to cause 50% mortality) values also presented a decreasing trend along with increasing conidia concentrations. For the results on greenhouse experiments, when 3rd and 5th instar nymphs were inoculated with 1 × 10 5 conidia mL -1 , the survival rate of nymphs were lower, and the emergence rate of adults and female longevity was significantly reduced compared with the control. However, there were no significant effects on sex ratio of adults and male longevity. Our results showed SCAU-CFDC01 was highly pathogenic to D. citri , and may promote mycoparasite development for biological control of D. citri .

Chronic wound infection is one of the critical complications of diabetes and is difficult to cure. Although great efforts have been made, the development of special dressings that serve as therapeutic strategies to effectively promote wound healing in diabetic individuals remains a major challenge. In this study, a shape-programmable hierarchical fibrous membrane composite system is developed for synergistic modulation of the inflammatory microenvironment to treat chronically infected wounds. The system comprises a functional layer and a shape-programmable backing layer. A temperature-responsive shape-memory mechanism achieves biaxial mechanically active contractions of diabetic wounds in a programmable manner. To summarize, the membrane system combines antimicrobial activity, controlled drug release according to the need of wound healing, mechanical modulation with shape-programmable, robust adhesion, and on-demand debonding to biological tissue to rationally guide chronic wound management. A synergistic combination of antibacterial fiber network and released drugs shows broad-spectrum antibacterial activity. In vitro and in vivo evaluations indicate the dressing efficiency in promoting and supporting wound healing. The insights from this study demonstrate the effectiveness of a hierarchical composite membrane system with shape-programmability as a potential treatment in the care of diabetic wounds., (© 2022 Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

Background: The neutrophil percentage-to-albumin ratio (NPAR) is a systemic inflammation-based predictor associated with many diseases' outcomes. Nevertheless, there are few studies on the relationship between NPAR and inflammatory markers, and more importantly, the prognostic value of NPAR in critically ill patients with cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains unknown., Methods: The data of this retrospective cohort study were from the Medical Information Mart data for Intensive Care III database (MIMIC-III) and the Second Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University. Linear regression, logistic regression model, and Cox regression model were used to assess the associations between NPAR levels and length of stay, renal replacement therapy (RRT) use, and 30-day, 90-day and one-year mortality, respectively. The Pearson correlation coefficient was used to present the correlation between NPAR and C-reactive protein (CRP)., Results: Our study included 1599 patients in MIMIC-III and 143 patients in the Second Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University. The elevated NPAR was independently associated with increased 30-day, 90-day, and one-year all-cause mortality (adjusted HR, 95% CI:1.51 (1.02-2.24); 1.61 (1.14-2.28); 1.53 (1.15-2.03); P trend = 0.0297; 0.0053; 0.0023; respectively), and it was also associated with increase the length of stay in hospital and ICU (β, 95% CI: 2.76 (1.26-4.27); 1.54 (0.62-2.47), respectively, both P trend <0.001). We found that patients with higher NPAR were more likely to receive RRT (OR, 95% CI: 2.50 (1.28-4.89), P trend =0.0023). Moreover, we confirmed that NPAR was statistically positively correlated with CRP (correlation coefficient r = 0.406, P < 0.0001)., Conclusion: Elevated NPAR on admission was independently associated with increased all-cause mortality and length of stay among CICU patients. The results showed that CICU patients with higher NPAR were more likely to receive RRT. Besides, we also provided the evidence that there is a positive correlation between NPAR and inflammatory indicators (ie, CRP)., Competing Interests: The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work., (© 2021 Wang et al.)

A versatile nanocomposite was simply prepared based upon the electrostatic adsorption of positively charged gold nanoparticles with negatively charged graphene oxide (nano-gold@GO), and utilized as a novel fluorescence quenching platform for ultrasensitive detection of adenosine triphosphate (ATP). In the designed system, DNA-stabilized Ag nanoclusters (DNA/AgNCs) were used as fluorescent probes, DNA duplex was formed in the presence of ATP, and they can electrostatically adsorb onto the surface of nano-gold@GO to quench the fluorescence signal. Upon the addition of exonuclease III (Exo III), the DNA duplex would be hydrolyzed into DNA fragments and resulted in the recovery of the fluorescence signals due to the diffusion of AgNCs away from nano-gold@GO. Based on these, sensitive detection of ATP was realized with a detection range of 5.0 pM-20 nM. Notably, a good recovery in the range of 94-104% was obtained when detecting ATP in human serum samples, indicating a promising application value in early disease diagnosis. Graphical abstract A functional positively charged nano-gold@graphene oxide was fabricated and utilized as an enhanced fluorescence quenching platform for the detection of ATP, coupled with exonuclease III-assisted signal amplification.

The oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) are important electrochemical reactions to realize clean energy technologies. Herein, we prepared a hybrid electrocatalyst consisting of Co/CoO x nanoparticles embedded in amorphous carbon through the simple pyrolysis of cobalt-based zeolitic terephthalate frameworks. The pyrolysis temperature significantly influenced the structure morphology and catalytic behavior. Good contact between Co/CoO x and amorphous carbon resulted in a high catalytic efficiency. The hybrid obtained under pyrolysis temperature of 600 °C exhibited the highest performance for OER, offering a stable current density of 10 mA cm -2 at 277 mV in basic media. Besides good OER behavior, it also showed good ORR performance [onset potential: ∼0.87 V vs. the reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE), diffusion-limiting current density: ∼4.9 mA cm -2 ]. This work describes a novel and efficient catalyst, and greatly expands the scope of low-cost Co-based electrocatalysts for various electrochemical reactions without the need for N-containing ligands., (© 2018 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

MgFe 2 O 4 with inverse spinel structure is demonstrated to be an efficient support for constructing practical potential Pt catalyst (Pt/MgFe 2 O 4 ). The resultant Pt/MgFe 2 O 4 exhibits excellent catalytic behavior in CO oxidation under normal temperature and humidity. TOF calculated based on the content of Pt is 0.131 s -1 . The excellent performance of Pt/MgFe 2 O 4 attributes to the presence of surface undercoordinated lattice oxygens on MgFe 2 O 4 support. These oxygens could participate in the initial CO oxidation and then be recovered under O 2 conditions. Over this Pt/MgFe 2 O 4 catalyst, CO catalytic oxidation should mainly follow a redox mechanism.

A series of graphite oxide (GO) materials were obtained by thermal treatment of oxidized natural graphite powder at different temperatures (from 100 to 200 °C). The microstructure evolution (i.e., layer structure and surface functional groups) of the graphite oxide during the heating process is studied by various characterization means, including XRD, N2 adsorption, TG-DTA, in situ DRIFT, XPS, Raman, TEM and Boehm titration. The characterization results show that the structures of GO materials change gradually from multilayer sheets to a transparent ultrathin 2D structure of the carbon sheets. The concentration of surface COH and HOCO groups decrease significantly upon treating temperature increasing. Benzyl alcohol oxidation with air as oxidant source was carried out to detect the catalytic behaviors of different GO materials. The activities of GO materials decrease with the increase of treating temperatures. It shows that the structure properties, including ultrathin sheets and high specific surface area, are not crucial factors affecting the catalytic activity. The type and amount of surface oxygen-containing functional groups of GO materials tightly correlates with the catalytic performance. Carboxylic groups on the surface of GO should act as oxidative sites for benzyl alcohol and the reduced form could be reoxidized by molecular oxygen., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)