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Neuroinflammation mediated by microglia is an important pathophysiological mechanism in neurodegenerative diseases. However, there is a lack of effective drugs to treat neuroinflammation. N-acetyldopamine dimer (NADD) is a natural compound from the traditional Chinese medicine Isaria cicada. In our previous study, we found that NADD can attenuate DSS-induced ulcerative colitis by suppressing the NF-κB and MAPK pathways. Does NADD inhibit neuroinflammation, and what is the target of NADD? To answer this question, lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated BV-2 microglia was used as a cell model to investigate the effect of NADD on neuroinflammation. Nitric oxide (NO) detection, reactive oxygen species (ROS) detection and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) results show that NADD attenuates inflammatory signals and proinflammatory cytokines in LPS-stimulated BV-2 microglia, including NO, ROS, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, interleukin (IL)-1β and interleukin-6 (IL-6). Western blot analysis show that NADD inhibits the protein levels of Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), nuclear factor kappa-B (NF-κB), NOD-like receptor thermal protein domain associated protein 3 (NLRP3), ASC and cysteinyl aspartate specific proteinase (Caspase)-1, indicating that NADD may inhibit neuroinflammation through the TLR4/NF-κB and NLRP3/Caspase-1 signaling pathways. In addition, surface plasmon resonance assays and molecular docking demonstrate that NADD binds with TLR4 directly. Our study reveals a new role of NADD in inhibiting the TLR4/NF-κB and NLRP3/Caspase-1 pathways, and shows that TLR4-MD2 is the direct target of NADD, which may provide a potential therapeutic candidate for the treatment of neuroinflammation.

The effect of polyvinyl alcohol, a green water-soluble polymer, usually is not satisfied as a secondary-fiber reinforcing agent in pulp and paper-making industry due to the same negative charges of PVA and pulp fiber. In this study, 3-chloro-2-hydroxypropyltrimethylammonium chloride was used as an etherifying agent to prepare cationic modification of polyvinyl alcohol (CPVA) with degree of etherification of 0.059 under a reaction time of 4 hours and n(PVA : etherifying agent) = 1 : 0.5. Compared with PVA, CPVA exhibits positive charge and smaller particle size, enabling it to effectively combine with negatively charged fibers and get in between the fibers. As a result, CPVA demonstrates a remarkable ability to improve the paper's physical properties. With a dosage of only 0.2% CPVA (based on the absolute dry pulp), which is merely 1/10 of the dosage of PVA, CPVA increases the paper's tensile index by 54.09%, burst index by 25.96%, and tear index by 21.09%. CPVA as a reinforcing agent for secondary fiber pulps, which can be attributed to the alteration in charge, to enhance CPVA's affinity for the electrostatic interaction of the fibers. Consequently, CPVA emerges as a viable and eco-friendly enhancement solution, demonstrating significant potential in secondary fiber reuse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Secondary fiber papermaking wastewater (SPW) has received increasing interest because of its enormous discharge, typical high COD, and low biodegradability. The dense and compact structure of aerobic granular sludge (AGS) results in a high sludge concentration in the sequencing batch biofilter granular reactor (SBBGR), which provides superior conditions for the treatment of highly concentrated wastewater. This study constructed an SBBGR to treat SPW, investigated the changes in the species and structural characteristics of pollutants during wastewater treatment, and analyzed the dominant populations that can degrade pollutants in the SPW. The results showed that SBBGR had a good treatment effect on SPW and the removal rates of COD, TN, TP, SS, and color were 90.3 %, 81.9 %, 85.2 %, 73.1 %, and 75.1 % respectively with the influent organic load of 8.1 kg COD m−3 d−1, which was attributed to its outstanding biodegradability. The types and quantities of aromatic compounds in SPW were significantly reduced, according to the results of FTIR, UV–vis, and GC-MS. Microbial community analysis showed that the presence of Bacteroidetes, Proteobacteria, Macellibacteroides, Chlorobium, and Brachymonas in the SBBGR was responsible for the outstanding biodegradation of pollutants in the SPW. In summary, the treatment of SPW with SBBGR is extremely promising for applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aerogels are essential and effective materials for oily pollution adsorption and recovery. This work described a hydrophobic modified cellulose aerogel using waste palm leaf and its oil adsorption mechanism. By chemical vapor deposition, Methyltrimethoxysilane (MTMS) was employed as a hydrophobic modifier for aerogel of waste palm leaf cellulose at 80 °C for 5 h, and the modified aerogel demonstrated exceptional and stable hydrophobicity with a water contact angle of 132.4° that can still be maintained above 120° after two months of air exposure. After 10 adsorption and extrusion cycles, kerosene adsorption capacity can still reach over 18 times its weight with good regeneration and reuse performance. The kinetic analysis found that the pseudo-second order model was more appropriate for the aerogel's oil absorption process, including mainly physical adsorption at the beginning and the following chemical adsorption. Owing to its low cost, hydrophobicity, high absorption capacity, and favorable reusability, this aerogel is expected to be used in oils, organic solvent spill cleanup, and oil/water separation fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The wavelengths and transition rates of W40+-W42+ ions within the range of 40–140 Å, have been calculated using the Flexible Atomic Code of the Dirac-Fock-Slater method with a central potential. We investigated the charge state distribution of W38+-W45+ ions at different temperatures by constructing an appropriate rate equation and demonstrate the importance of the dielectronic recombination process. Additionally, we simulated the emission spectra of W40+-W42+ ions in a Tokamak plasma environment using collisional-radiative modeling. Our findings demonstrate strong agreement with experimental results and other related theoretical investigations. Finally, we propose certain pairs of transition lines as diagnostic tools for plasma temperature and density, leveraging the correlation between line intensity ratio and electron temperature and density. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydrogels have great potential in flexible moisture-induced electricity generators (MEGs) due to their excellent water-capturing capability and ionic conductivity. However, conventional hydrogels face challenges of prolonged heating for preparation, the use of toxic crosslinkers, and poor mechanical properties. Herein, we used lignin sulfonate (LS)–Al3+ composite systems to rapidly prepare a polyacrylic acid (PAA) ionic hydrogel for harvesting electrical energy from atmospheric moisture. The semiquinone radicals from ammonium persulfate (APS) oxidized LS could rapidly trigger the polymerization of acrylic acid monomers into PAA polymer chains. Then, the green crosslinker Al3+ ions could crosslink the polymer chains into hydrogels via ionic interaction within a few minutes at room temperature. The excellent mechanical and adhesion properties allowed hydrogels to be very easily assembled into a low-cost, flexible, and efficient hydrogel-based moisture-electric generator (HMEG). When exposed to moisture, thanks to the synergies of asymmetric moisture adsorption and ion migration, a single HMEG device could generate an open-circuit voltage of ∼550 mV and a short-circuit current density of ∼3.28 μA cm−2 in the ambient environment (26 °C and 55% relative humidity). The HMEG also exhibited excellent output stability under mechanical deformation, long-time output durability, and all-weather workability. This work provides new insights into the development of self-powered portable wearable electronic devices from hydrogels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, three sequencing batch biofilter granular reactors (SBBGRs) were employed to treat model lignin wastewater containing different lignin models (2,6-dimethoxyphenol, 4-methoxyphenol, and vanillin). After 40 days of cultivation, uniform-shaped aerobic granular sludge (AGS) was successfully developed through nutrient supplementation with synthetic wastewater. During the acclimation stage, the chemical oxygen demand (COD) reduction efficiencies of the three reactors showed a trend of initial decreasing (5-20%) and then recovering to a high reduction efficiency (exceeding 90%) in a short period of time. During the stable operation stage, all three reactors achieved COD reduction efficiencies exceeding 90%. These findings indicated the cultivated AGS's robust resistance to changes in lignin models in water. UV-Vis spectra analysis confirmed the effective degradation of the three lignin models. Microbiological analysis showed that Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes were always the dominant phyla. At the genus level, while Acinetobacter (15.46%) dominated in the inoculation sludge, Kapabacteriales (7.93%), SBR1031 (11.77%), and Chlorobium (25.37%) were dominant in the three reactors (for 2,6-dimethoxyphenol, 4-methoxyphenol, and vanillin) after degradation, respectively. These findings demonstrate that AGS cultured with SBBGR effectively degrades lignin models, with different dominant strains observed for various lignin models., Competing Interests: The authors declare there is no conflict., (© 2024 The Authors This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licence (CC BY 4.0), which permits copying, adaptation and redistribution, provided the original work is properly cited (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).)