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This study reports on the synthesis, design and evaluation of a novel, interesting type of gradient-side-chain polyphenyl ether anion exchange membranes (AEMs) as the electrolytes for alkali fuel cells. Such membranes were fabricated by co-grafting of quaternized side chains with different lengths onto the polymer backbone. Based on our transmission electron microscopy and small angle X-ray scattering results, the gradient side chain structured AEM can enhance microphase and produce significantly larger ion clusters than that with purely long side chains; this is probably because the gradient side chain structure can possibly reduce the steric hindrance and facilitate cation aggregation during microphase separation. The gradient side chain AEM exhibited enhanced conductivity of hydroxide ions (107.7 mS cm−1 at 80 °C) compared to the uniform-side-chain membrane. It also demonstrated superior alkaline stability, retaining ca. 80% of conductivity and ion exchange capacity after a harsh alkali treatment at 80 °C in 1 M NaOH for 552 hours. Our study preliminarily demonstrates that gradient side chain structure is advantageous over conventional uniform side chains in promoting microphase separation of AEM, and deserves further investigations to optimize the gradient structure for better membrane performance.

Abstract Background Relevant studies suggest that serum vitamin level is related to the risk of breast cancer, and dietary pattern and drug supplementation can significantly affect the level of vitamin in the body. Therefore, intervention of vitamin level in the body is expected to be a potential strategy to reduce the risk of breast cancer. However, the current epidemiological findings of serum vitamin levels and breast cancer risk are inconsistent, and the relationship between serum vitamin and breast cancer is still controversial. In this study, we compared the serum vitamin expression levels of healthy people, benign breast patients, and breast cancer patients, and evaluated the relationship between B vitamin levels and breast cancer risk. Methods The study used liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry to determine the serum vitamin levels of 520 people who attended Yunnan Cancer Hospital from September 2020 to December 2020. After screening by exclusion criteria, 38 patients with benign breast diseases, 87 patients with breast cancer and 91 healthy controls were finally included. The kruskal–wallis H test was used to compare the differences in serum vitamin levels of subjects. Χ2 test was used to evaluate the relationship between B vitamin level and age,BMI,TNM staging,Ki-67,Her-2,surgery and chemotherapy, and other baseline characteristics and through binary logistic regression analysis, calculating odds ratio and 95% confidence interval (CI) to evaluate the relationship between B vitamins and breast cancer risk. Conclusion The levels of VitB1 and VitB5 in the serum of breast cancer patients and patients with benign breast diseases were higher than those in the healthy control group, while the expression levels of VitB3 in breast cancer patients were lower than those in the healthy control group and the breast benign disease groups. The level of VitB1 was positively correlated with breast cancer risk. The VitB3 level was negatively correlated with breast cancer risk. The VitB5 level is not significantly related to the risk of breast cancer.

IntroductionThe microbiome inhabiting plant leaves is critical for plant health and productivity. Wild soybean (Glycine soja), which originated in China, is the progenitor of cultivated soybean (Glycine max). So far, the community structure and assembly mechanism of phyllosphere microbial community on G. soja were poorly understood.MethodsHere, we combined a national-scale survey with high-throughput sequencing and microsatellite data to evaluate the contribution of host genotype vs. climate in explaining the foliar microbiome of G. soja, and the core foliar microbiota of G. soja were identified.ResultsOur findings revealed that both the host genotype and environmental factors (i.e., geographic location and climatic conditions) were important factors regulating foliar community assembly of G. soja. Host genotypes explained 0.4% and 3.6% variations of the foliar bacterial and fungal community composition, respectively, while environmental factors explained 25.8% and 19.9% variations, respectively. We further identified a core microbiome thriving on the foliage of all G. soja populations, including bacterial (dominated by Methylobacterium-Methylorubrum, Pantoea, Quadrisphaera, Pseudomonas, and Sphingomonas) and fungal (dominated by Cladosporium, Alternaria, and Penicillium) taxa.ConclusionOur study revealed the significant role of host genetic distance as a driver of the foliar microbiome of the wild progenitor of soya, as well as the effects of climatic changes on foliar microbiomes. These findings would increase our knowledge of assembly mechanisms in the phyllosphere of wild soybeans and suggest the potential to manage the phyllosphere of soya plantations by plant breeding and selecting specific genotypes under climate change.

ABSTRACT Wild rice has been demonstrated to possess enriched genetic diversity and multiple valuable traits involved in disease/pest resistance and abiotic stress tolerance, which provides a potential resource for sustainable agriculture. However, unlike the plant compartments such as rhizosphere, the structure and assembly of phyllosphere microbial communities of wild rice remain largely unexplored. Through amplicon sequencing, this study compared the phyllosphere bacterial and fungal communities of wild rice and its neighboring cultivated rice. The core phyllosphere microbial taxa of both wild and cultivated rice are dominated with Pantoea, Methylobacterium, Nigrospora, and Papiliotrema, which are potentially beneficial to rice growth and health. Compared to the cultivated rice, Methylobacterium, Sphingomonas, Phaeosphaeria, and Khuskia were significantly enriched in the wild rice phyllosphere. The potentially nitrogen-fixing Methylobacterium is the dominated wild-enriched microbe; Sphingomonas is the hub taxon of wild rice networks. In addition, the microbiota of wild rice was more governed by deterministic assembly with a more complicated and stable community network than the cultivated rice. Our study provides a list of the beneficial microbes in the wild rice phyllosphere and reveals the microbial divergence between wild rice and cultivated rice in the original habitats, which highlights the potential selective role of wild rice in recruiting specific microbiomes for enhancing crop performance and promoting sustainable food production. IMPORTANCE Plant microbiota are being considered a lever to increase the sustainability of food production under a changing climate. In particular, the microbiomes associated with ancestors of modern cultivars have the potential to support their domesticated cultivars. However, few efforts have been devoted to studying the biodiversity and functions of microbial communities in the native habitats of ancestors of modern crop species. This study provides a list of the beneficial microbes in the wild rice phyllosphere and explores the microbial interaction patterns and the functional profiles of wild rice. This information could be useful for the future utilization of the plant microbiome to enhance crop performance and sustainability, especially in the framework of sustainable agroecosystems.

Recovering dynamic magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) from highly undersampled raw data is of great significance, and is an important approach for achieving both high temporal and spatial resolution in dynamic contrast enhanced imaging. In this study, a method for 3D dynamic MRI with high spatiotemporal resolution and motion insensitivity was developed, which combines golden angle variable density spiral trajectory, parallel imaging and homotopic l0 minimization-based compressed sensing. Golden angle variable density spiral trajectory, which has the advantages of high data acquisition efficiency and motion insensitivity, was used to acquire k-space data. In the reconstruction algorithm, multicoil sparsity constrain was applied in the temporal total variation domain and l0 minimization, instead of traditional l1 minimization, was adopted, which could further increase the undersampling rate. Simulations and in vivo experiments demonstrated that high spatial resolution and temporal resolution can be achieved by the proposed method while maintaining the image quality. This study also suggested the advantages of homotopic l0 norm-based 3D dynamic MRI reconstruction and its clinical potential.

Nowadays, high-order data needs to be processed quickly and accurately by various algorithms in distribution networks. It is difficult to ensure the accuracy of calculation both in low-order and high-order cases, due to the theoretical limitations of traditional high-order derivation methods. Aimed to improve the calculation accuracy, a new high-order derivative method based on the polynomial fitting is proposed in this paper. By analyzing the transient characteristics of voltage and current signals in the distribution network, the base fitting-function can be selected, and the coefficient of the base function can be obtained to fit the objective function by the least square method. The original discrete data will be replaced by new fitting-function for derivative operation, which not only ensures the anti-interference ability, but also overcomes the limitations of the traditional polynomial fitting method in high-order cases. The simulation results show that this method has high accuracy in high-order and low-order cases, and has good accuracy and anti-interference ability.

We investigated the process intensification of ultrasonic-microwave-assisted technology for hordein extraction from barley. Response surface methodology was utilized to optimize the extraction conditions and to analyze the interaction between four selected variables: temperature, microwave power, ultrasonic power, and extraction time. The validated extraction yield of hordein reached 8.84% at 78°C, microwave power 298 W, and ultrasonic power 690 W after 20 min as optimum conditions. Compared with traditional water-bath extraction (4.7%), the ultrasonic-microwave-assisted technology effectively increased the hordein extraction yield and shortened the extraction time. According to the obtained quadratic model (R2 = 0.9457), ultrasonic power and extraction time were the first two significant factors. However, temperature limited the effects of other factors during extraction. SDS-PAGE and scanning electron microscopy were used to identify the hordein extract and to clarify the difference between the two hordein fractions extracted with new and traditional methods, respectively. Ultrasonic-microwave-assisted technology provided a new way to improve hordein extraction yield from barley and could be a good candidate for industrial application of process intensification.

This research was aimed at investigating the high temperature oxidation behavior of Inconel 718 superalloy fabricated by electron beam melting with the building direction of 0°, 55° and 90° deviation from the Z axis of cylindrical samples. Columnar γ-fcc phase with preferred crystal orientations was found in all specimens. With the temperature ranging from 700 to 1000 °C, the 0° sample, symbolized by the lowest grain boundary density, and largest grain size, reveals the best oxidation performance. It is concluded that the building direction has more impact on the amount of grain boundary density than crystal orientation, which determined the oxidation resistance.