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Background: Primary dysmenorrhea (PD) is one of the most common and disturbing gynecological disorders, and effective nonpharmacological treatments are still in urgent demand. low-level laser therapy (LLLT) showed wide application prospects in pain management. This study aimed to assess the therapeutic effects and safety of 940nm LLLT for PD. Methods: 100 participants with PD were allocated at random (2:1) to the LLLT group (n=68) or the control group (n=32) and treated with 940nm LLLT at the Guan Yuan acupoint or placebo for 30 minutes once daily before menstruation onset. Participants were treated for three menstrual cycles (T1, T2, T3) and followed up for another three cycles (T4, T5, T6). Visual analogue scale (VAS), Abdominal pain time (APT), Abdominal pain degree (APD), COX menstrual symptom scale (CMSS), Self-rating anxiety Scale (SAS), Self-rating depression scale (SDS), rescue medicine usage and complications at each menstrual cycle were recorded and compared. Change of VAS, APT, APD, CMSS, SAS and SDS from baseline at T3 was compared with those at T1 and T2. Results: Compared with baseline, VAS, APT, APD, CMSS, SAS and SDS were significantly decreased at all menstrual cycles in the LLLT group (except APT and SAS at T5-6). Compared with the control group, VAS at T1-5, APT and SDS at T2-4, APD and CMSS at T1-6, and SAS at T1-4 were found significantly lower in the LLLT group. Compared with T1 or T2, greater improvement from baseline was found in all parameters in the LLLT group at T3 (except APD and SAS with T2). The rate of rescue medication use in the LLLT group was significantly lower than that in the control group at T3 and T6. No adverse reaction was found. Conclusion: 940nm LLLT is a safe and promise complementary method for PD treatment with a cumulative feature of therapeutic effect. Trial registration: ChiCTR2100046199, 09/05/2021.

Partially broken hydrogen bonds and nitrogen vacancies were simultaneously introduced into g-C3N4 matrix, which caused the formation of porous structure, exposed more active sites and reduced the charge recombination for hydrogen evolution reaction.

The superior HER activity of V-Co(OH)2/CC is mainly attributed to the accelerated HER kinetics by V-doping.

It is a great challenge to develop electrocatalysts with high efficiency and low cost toward oxygen evolution reaction (OER) for the electrolysis of water. Herein, novel CoV‐hydroxide nanoneedle arrays with freestanding structure is successfully fabricated as new electrocatalysts for OER. Remarkably, the incorporation of V into Co hydroxide can significantly modulate the nanoneedle morphology, which results in the increase of active surface area, and augment the intrinsic activity by tuning the electronic structure. Particularly, we find that the freestanding Co hydroxide nanoneedles with 25 % Co substituted by V (Co0.75V0.25‐HNNs) show the optimum OER catalytic activity and have a low overpotential (268 mV at 10 mA cm−2), a small Tafel slope (80 mV dec−1) and long‐term stability, which are comparable to the other Co‐based and V‐based electrocatalysts for OER reported in literature.

Searching photocatalysts for efficient hydrogen production has been a challenging issue for solar-energy harvesting. Using co-catalyst is proven to be an effective approach to improve the efficienc...

Highly efficient, earth-abundant, and low-cost photocatalysts are widely pursued for solar-driven hydrogen generation from water. Herein, we first report vanadium disulfide (VS2) with high hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) activity both in basal and edges to be the co-catalyst of graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) for ultrahigh solar-driven hydrogen production. VS2-decorated g-C3N4 shows an impressing photocatalytic hydrogen evolution with a rate of 87.4 μmol/h, 26 times higher than pristine g-C3N4. Our combined experimental and computational studies reveal that the excellent efficiency of the composite is attributed to: (1) effective electron-hole separation and electron transfer from g-C3N4 to VS2, resulting from the optimal band alignment between VS2 and g-C3N4 and metallic characteristic of VS2; (2) fast hydrogen generation on the surface due to the high surface area and excellent HER activity of VS2. Our findings demonstrate that VS2/g-C3N4 may be applicable in solar-driven water splitting, and the design principle can be applied to search for novel photocatalysts.

Cocatalyst loading is an efficient strategy to accelerate the hydrogen evolution reaction, which is the final crucial process to complete photocatalytic hydrogen production and realize solar-to-hydrogen conversion. Herein, we report that N-doped vanadium carbide (NVC) is combined with Pt to form a multifunctional cocatalyst capable of enhancing carrier separation, activating H2O, and accelerating H2 evolution. Our designed Pt/NVC/C3N4 displays much higher photocatalytic activity than g-C3N4 loaded with Pt or NVC. The photocatalytic H2 evolution rate of Pt/NVC/C3N4 reaches 40 μmol/h, which is three times and one hundred times higher than that of Pt/C3N4 and NVC/C3N4, respectively. The significantly enhanced photocatalytic activity of Pt/NVC/C3N4 is attributed to the partial synergy between Pt and NVC, where NVC promotes carrier separation and activates H2O, and Pt is responsible for boosting proton reduction. Our work demonstrates that hybrid cocatalysts exhibit superior performance compared to traditional single-component cocatalysts, providing guidance for exploring highly active cocatalysts for photocatalysis.

Ischemic stroke is one of the major diseases that cause mortality and morbidity of human beings, but there is still lack of effective treatment and prevention. We found that 2-(2-Benzofuranyl)-2-Imidazoline (2-BFI) is potently protective against stroke and acute inflammatory immune disease. Moreover, the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling contributes effectively to the modulation of post-stroke neuroinflammatory response. However, whether the protection of 2-BFI against ischemic injury is through mTOR-mediated neuroinflammatory response remains unestablished. Here, we used 2-BFI to treat ischemic rats induced by distal middle cerebral artery occlusion (dMCAO). We found that 2-BFI administration after dMCAO improved the neurological deficits and decreased the infarct volume. 2-BFI reduced phosphorylation of mTOR and p70S6, increased IL-10 and TGF-β, and decreased IFN-γ levels in ischemic rats. Our results demonstrated that 2-BFI attenuates ischemic injury by inhibiting the activation of mTOR signaling and modulating neuroinflammation after stroke in rats.

In this epidemiologic study, 16 S rRNA sequencing was used to investigate the changes of diversity and composition profile of gut microbiota resulting from long-term exposure to multiple metals, including arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), cuprum (Cu), lead (Pb), and zinc (Zn). Due to long-term exposure to various metals, the relative abundances of Lachnospiraceae, Eubacterium eligens, Ruminococcaceae UGG-014, Erysipelotrichaceae UCG-003, Tyzzerella 3, Bacteroides, Slackia, italics, and Roseburia were found to become much higher, whereas the abundance of Prevotella 9 presented an opposite trend. Additionally, differences between males and female groups were found, such as the greater richness and evenness of bacteria for men subjected to long-term metal exposure in polluted areas. The changes of men’s microbiomes were more significant as a result of higher daily intake, mining and smelting activity, and living habits. This research presents a new theoretical basis for the correlation between long-term metal exposure and gut health for people living in contaminated areas.

Exploring earth-abundant electrocatalysts with high activity and low-cost for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is vital to energy harvesting and storage, such as fuel cell and effective overall water splitting. Herein, novel heterostructures (Ni3S2/VS2) without nitrogen (N) and with N doping are reported as superior electrocatalysts for the OER and HER, respectively. The heterostructure without doping shows enhanced OER performance with an extremely low overpotential (227mV at 10 mA/cm(2)) due to increased active sites and fantastic interfaces as well as unique structure. Moreover, N-doped Ni3S2/VS2 (N-Ni3S2/VS2) shows high electrocatalytic HER performance with a low HER overpotential (151 mV at 10 mA/cm(2)), because the N-doping greatly improves conductivity and increases large amounts of catalytic active sites. Finally, we construct a two-electrode electrolyzer system (Ni3S2/VS2//N-Ni3S2/VS2) and it achieves a current density of 10 mA/cm(2) at a low cell voltage of 1.648 V. Our findings demonstrate that structure design and doping can effectively improve the catalytic activities of nanomaterials for OER and HER. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The ventral intraparietal area (VIP) of the macaque brain is a multimodal cortical region, with many cells tuned to both optic flow and vestibular stimuli. Responses of many VIP neurons also show robust correlations with perceptual judgments during a fine heading discrimination task. Previous studies have shown that heading tuning based on optic flow is represented in a clustered fashion in VIP. However, it is unknown whether vestibular self-motion selectivity is clustered in VIP. Moreover, it is not known whether stimulus- and choice-related signals in VIP show clustering in the context of a heading discrimination task. To address these issues, we compared the response characteristics of isolated single units (SUs) with those of the undifferentiated multiunit (MU) activity corresponding to several neighboring neurons recorded from the same microelectrode. We find that MU activity typically shows selectivity similar to that of simultaneously recorded SUs, for both the vestibular and visual stimulus conditions. In addition, the choice-related activity of MU signals, as quantified using choice probabilities, is correlated with the choice-related activity of SUs. Overall, these findings suggest that both sensory and choice-related signals regarding self-motion are clustered in VIP. NEW & NOTEWORTHY We demonstrate, for the first time, that the vestibular tuning of ventral intraparietal area (VIP) neurons in response to both translational and rotational motion is clustered. In addition, heading discriminability and choice-related activity are also weakly clustered in VIP.

The development of two-dimensional (2D) materials with high conductivity and catalytic activity is important for the proposed hydrogen economy. Herein, we design a new family of 2D monolayers, pentagonal transition-metal borides/carbides (penta-TMBs and penta-TMCs), as electrocatalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) on the basis of density functional theory (DFT). We find that all of the stable 2D penta-TMBs/TMCs are metallic, and 2D WB and HfC are ferromagnetic metals. We demonstrate that penta-TMBs and penta-TMCs show high catalytic performance for the HER. The Gibbs free energy for the adsorption of hydrogen atoms on catalyst surfaces (such as WB and ZrC) is close to the ideal value of zero electron volt (eV). Our findings highlight a new family of promising noble metal-free HER catalysts and provide new insight into the design of advanced 2D materials.

Active catalysts for nitrogen fixation (N2-fixation) have been widely pursued through constant efforts for industrial applications. Here, we report a family of catalysts, MXenes (M2X: M = Mo, Ta, Ti, and W; X = C and N), for application in N2-fixation based on density functional theory calculations. We find that the catalytic performance of MXenes strongly depends on the reaction energy in each reaction step. More exothermic steps lead to higher catalytic performance in the course of N2-fixation. We show that the reaction energy in N2-fixation is strongly affected by the charge transfer: (1) if N atoms gain more electrons in a step, the reaction is exothermic with a larger reaction energy; (2) if N atoms lose electrons in a step, the reaction is endothermic in general. We further show that Mo2C and W2C are highly active for N2-fixation due to their exothermic reactions and strong charge transfer, which may be applicable in the chemical-engineering industry.

The outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020 has made the health of urban populations as a key research issue in various disciplines. Residential green space as one of the most basic units of urban ecological environment has potential benefits to people’s health. Based on the analysis of affecting factors of urban residents’ heath, this paper discusses the benefits of residential green space on people’s health and its working mechanism through literature research, and at last, proposes the design strategy of residential green space based on improving residents’ health. In conclusion, to activate the healthy benefits of residential green space, it should be planned reasonably, and the greening rate and amenity facility of residential green space need to be improved too.

Ni3S2 nanowire arrays doped with vanadium(V) are directly grown on nickel foam by a facile one-step hydrothermal method. It is found that the doping can promote the formation of Ni3S2 nanowires at a low temperature. The doped nanowires show excellent electrocatalytic performance toward hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), and outperform pure Ni3S2 and other Ni3S2-based compounds. The stability test shows that the performance of V-doped Ni3S2 nanowires is improved and stabilized after thousands of linear sweep voltammetry test. The onset potential of V-doped Ni3S2 nanowire can be as low as 39 mV, which is comparable to platinum. The nanowire has an overpotential of 68 mV at 10 mA cm–2, a relatively low Tafel slope of 112 mV dec–1, good stability and high Faradaic efficiency. First-principles calculations show that the V-doping in Ni3S2 extremely enhances the free carrier density near the Fermi level, resulting in much improved catalytic activities. We expect that the doping can be an effective way to enhance...

It is a great challenge to explore cheap, abundant and eco-friendly electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Here, we report the fabrication of VS2 nanoflowers with 1T phase by a simple hydrothermal method and their electrocatalytic performance in the HER. We find that the VS2 nanoflowers show comparable HER performance to Pt in acids, including an ultra-low onset potential of 32 mV, a Tafel slope of 34 mV dec−1 which resembles that of Pt, and a small overpotential of 58 mV (54 mV for Pt) at a current density of 10 mA cm−2. High stability and almost 100% faradaic efficiency indicate the practical application of VS2 nanoflowers in the HER. Our first-principles calculations reveal that the thermoneutral Gibbs free energy of hydrogen adsorption on both the basal and edge sites of the 1T-VS2 monolayer can be achieved under certain hydrogen coverage and the monolayer shows good conductivity, which contribute to the impressive catalytic performance of VS2 nanoflowers. We expect that the VS2 nanostructures may be applicable in electrocatalysis with high efficiency.

Photocatalytic water splitting is an environmentally friendly technique for hydrogen production. In this work, we report a novel photocatalyst consisting of two-dimensional (2D) titanium carbide (Ti2C) and graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4). We observe substantially enhanced water splitting activities due to the efficient synergistic interaction between Ti2C and g-C3N4. Optimal properties are achieved in the g-C3N4 with a loading of 0.4 wt% Ti2C with a hydrogen production rate of 47.5 μmol h−1, which is 14.4 times as much as that in the case using pure g-C3N4, and it even outperforms Pt-loaded g-C3N4. We further show that the Ti2C/g-C3N4 has high stability and good reproducibility. We expect that the Ti2C/g-C3N4 can be a photocatalyst for large scale applications because both Ti2C and g-C3N4 are low-cost, abundant, and nontoxic.

The development of earth-abundant, economical, and efficient photocatalysts to boost water splitting is a key challenge for the practical large-scale application of hydrogen energy. In this study, g-C

Genetically distinct GABAergic interneuron subtypes play diverse roles in cortical circuits. Previous studies revealed that microRNAs (miRNAs) are differentially expressed in cortical interneuron subtypes, and are essential for the normal migration, maturation, and survival of medial ganglionic eminence-derived interneuron subtypes. How miRNAs function in vasoactive intestinal peptide expressing (VIP+) interneurons derived from the caudal ganglionic eminence remains elusive. Here, we conditionally removed Dicer in postmitotic VIP+ interneurons to block miRNA biogenesis. We found that the intrinsic and synaptic properties of VIP+ interneurons and pyramidal neurons were concordantly affected prior to a progressive loss of VIP+ interneurons. In vivo recording further revealed elevated cortical local field potential power. Mutant mice had a shorter life span but exhibited better spatial working memory and motor coordination. Our results demonstrate that miRNAs are indispensable for the function and survival of VIP+ interneurons, and highlight a key role of VIP+ interneurons in cortical circuits.

Hard carbon exhibits high theoretical capacity for sodium-ion batteries. However, its practical application suffers from low electric conductivity, poor electrochemical stability, and sluggish kinetics. To tackle these challenges, novel nitrogen-doped carbon spheres with mesopores, ultrathin nanostructure, and optimal graphitization are prepared by a three-step procedure. We find that the as-prepared sample (NMCSs-800) with an optimal structure and nitrogen content delivers a high reversible sodium storage capacity of 334.7 mA h/g at 50 mA/g and an ultrahigh rate performance of 93.9 mA h/g at 5 A/g, which is better than most state-of-the-art carbon materials. The improved energy storage capacity is attributed to its unique architecture and optimal nitrogen doping, which provide abundant active sites, defects, and voids. Moreover, kinetic analysis and in situ Raman spectroscopy results reveal adsorption and adsorption-intercalation mechanisms for Na

Summary: The mammillary body is a hypothalamic nucleus that has important functions in memory and spatial navigation, but its developmental principles remain not well understood. Here, we identify progenitor-specific Fezf2 expression in the developing mammillary body and develop an intersectional fate-mapping approach to demonstrate that Fezf2+ mammillary progenitors generate mammillary neurons in a rostral-dorsal-lateral to caudal-ventral-medial fashion. Axonal tracing from different temporal cohorts of labeled mammillary neurons reveal their topographical organization. Unsupervised hierarchical clustering based on intrinsic properties further identify two distinct neuronal clusters independent of birthdates in the medial nuclei. In addition, we generate Fezf2 knockout mice and observe the smaller mammillary body with largely normal anatomy and mildly affected cellular electrophysiology, in contrast to more severe deficits in neuronal differentiation and projection in many other brain regions. These results indicate that Fezf2 may function differently in the mammillary body. Our results provide important insights for mammillary development and connectivity.

Cadmium is a heavy metal that has been suggested to be a carcinogen by evidence. A number of published studies have investigated the association between cadmium levels and prostate cancer, but the results were inconsistent. Thus, we conducted a meta-analysis to get a precise estimate of this subject. After a careful searching and screening, a total of 11 publications containing 14 separated studies were included. Based on a random-effect model, the pooled data showed that cadmium levels of prostate tissues (standard mean difference (SMD) = 3.17, 95 % confidence interval (CI) = 0.60–5.74, P < 0.05) and plasma (SMD = 4.07, 95 % CI = 2.01–6.13, P < 0.05) were significantly higher in prostate cancer patients than those in the healthy controls. No difference of hair and nail cadmium levels between the prostate cancer cases and the controls was found. The data suggested that cadmium exposure might exert an influence on the tumorigenesis of prostate tissues. Future investigations with large sample sizes are needed to verify the results.

In this paper, Ti-contained Schiff base complex was intercalated into the interlayer of the ZnCr layered double hydroxides (LDHs) to form a novel layered organic–inorganic nanoscale material. And then, the hybrid material was further calcined to make metal oxides composite contained Zn, Cr and Ti (Ti/ZnO–Cr 2 O 3 ). This composite was used to study the performance and mechanism for naphthalene ( l -acid) photodegradation under visible light. The characterization results showed that Ti/ZnO–Cr 2 O 3 composite has higher specific area, more uniform pores size distribution and narrower band gap than that of original ZnCr–LDHs. Both physico-chemical property and photocatalytic performance for l -acid degradation by Ti/ZnO–Cr 2 O 3 were greatly improved with the increasing of calcination temperature, due to the highly crystalline structures with appearance of spinel ingredients of Zn, Cr and Ti. In addition, the molar ratio of Ti/Cr would also influence the photocatalytic property of the materials. Ti/ZnO–Cr 2 O 3 composite with Ti/Cr = 1 and calcined at 800 °C not only has narrow bang gap (2.11 eV) and high surface area (227 m 2 ), but also shows highest photocatalytic performance for l -acid degradation (90.2% within 240 min). Furthermore, the types and amounts of active radicals of photo oxidation reaction were also tested. The photocatalytic mechanism of the Ti/ZnO–Cr 2 O 3 composite was also discussed. Moreover, based on the results from HPLC–MS, GC–MS, FT–IT and DFT analysis, the decomposition intermediates and reaction pathway for l -acid were investigated in detail.

Background Liver carcinoma is a major cause of cancer-related death worldwide. Up to date, the mechanisms of liver cancerigenesis and development have not been fully understood. Multi-genes and pathways were involved in the tumorigenesis of liver cancer. Objective The aim of the present study was to screen key genes and pathways in liver cancerigenesis and development by using bioinformatics methods. Methods A dataset GSE64041 were retrieved from GEO database and the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were screened out. Then the DEG functions were annotated by gene ontology (GO) and pathway enrichment analysis, respectively. The hub genes were further selected by protein-protein interaction (PPI) analysis. Afterwards, the mRNA and protein expressions as well as the prognostic values of the hub genes were assessed. Results As a result, 208 up-regulated and 82 down-regulated genes were screened out. These DEGs were mainly enriched in cell cycle and metabolism-related pathways. Through PPI analysis, TOP2A, PRDM10, CDK1, AURKA, BUB1, PLK1, CDKN3, NCAPG, BUB1B and CCNA2 were selected as hub genes, which were all over-expressed in liver cancers relative to those in normal tissues, respectively. Among them, PLK1 and CCNA2 were suggested to be prognostic factors for liver carcinoma. Conclusion In conclusion, the present study identified several hub genes, and cell cycle and metabolism-related pathways that may play critical roles in the tumorigenesis of liver cancer. Future validation laboratory experiments are required to confirm the results.

Toxic metals accumulated in the human body are predominantly absorbed by the digestive tract in non-occupationally exposed populations. In the current study, we collected plowed soil samples, and investigated the varied food compositions in a mining and smelting area in southwestern China, to measure the concentrations of ten potentially toxic metals-As, Ba, Cd, Cr, Cu, Mn, Ni, Pb, Sr, and Zn. We collected information on the daily intakes of these metals to assess the health risks associated with their exposure among children and adults. The urine concentrations of the metals were also measured to obtain data on the amounts present in the body. The results showed that the hazard indexes (HIs) of As, Ba, Cd, Cr, Ni, Pb, and Sr were all larger than 1, for both adults and children; the Zn and Cu values were comparatively higher in children. The intake of staple foods of the region posed the greatest health risk, while drinking water only posed risks clearly associated with As exposure. The urine samples of local residents contained larger amounts of As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Mn, Ni, Pb, and Zn, confirming the hazards in the health risk assessment. Obvious differences in the urine metal concentrations between men and women were confirmed. In conclusion, higher concentrations of metals in the surface soil and rain water were the predominant cause of elevated exposure through home-grown crops and produce to accumulate in local residents' bodies.

MicroRNA (miR) has been reported to be associated with ischemia and reperfusion (I/R) and cell apoptosis. Suppression of cell apoptosis may reduce the irreversible damage induced by reperfusion. The aims of the current study were to explore the cytoprotective effects of miR-146 against oxygen-glucose deprivation/recovery (OGD/R)-induced injury in H9c2 rat myocardial cells, as well as the underlying mechanisms. Following stimulation with OGD/R, the cells were transfected with miR-146 mimics or negative controls. The levels of miR-146 were analyzed by reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Thereafter, cell viability and cell apoptosis were analyzed by MTT assay and terminal deoxynucleotidyl-transferase-mediated dUTP nick-end labeling assay, respectively. In addition, the levels of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α were determined by ELISA and the levels of B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2)-associated X protein (Bax), Bcl-2 and phosphorylated (p)-nuclear factor (NF)-κB were measured by western blotting. The results demonstrated that overexpression of miR-146 significantly increased cell viability and decreased apoptosis (P

In this paper, we synthesized ZnFeTi layered double hydroxides (LDHs) by hydrothermal synthetic method at high temperature. The LDHs was further calcined by microwave to make ZnFeTi mixed metal oxides (MMO) with special particle size. In addition, the band gap of ZnFeTi-LDHs and MMO were calculated by DFT for the first time, which was in good agreement with the experimental result from UV–vis. MMO was finally dye sensitized and used as thin film electrode to test the photoelectrocatalytic performance for both p-chlorophenol oxidation degradation and CO2 reduction under visible light. The results showed that without the applied voltage, the p-chlorophenol degradation and CO2 reduction rates were not high; after the electric filed was introduced into the reaction, not only the degradation efficiency of p-chlorophenol was increased to 99.1% within 210 min, but also the reactivity of CO2 reduction reaction was enhanced a lot. Furthermore, from the results of HPLC and UV–vis, we could conclude that p-chlorophenol was finally decomposed into small inorganic molecules going through 4-chloropyrocatechol and hydrochinone under the co-effect of hydroxide radicals and the photoelectrons. This result could be proved by frontier electron densities on atoms of p-chlorophenol calculated by DFT.

A series of novel organic-inorganic nanoscale layered materials were synthesized by intercalating the Ti-containing Schiff base complex into the interlayer of the ZnM layered double hydroxides (LDHs, M = Al, Cr, Fe, Ce). The hybrid material was further calcined to make metal oxide composites with highly dispersed Ti elements (Ti/ZnO-MxOy). The structural characterization and photocatalytic results showed that, after intercalation and calcination, the metal oxide composites with a unique flower-like crystal morphology not only had high specific surface area, uniform pore size distribution and narrow band gap, but also showed extremely high photocatalytic performance for hexachlorobenzene (HCB) degradation. The Ti/ZnO-Cr2O3 composite with the narrowest band gap (2.40 eV) and the highest surface area (227 m(2)) showed the highest photocatalytic performance for HCB (95.5% within 240 min) among the four metal oxide composites. Particularly, it was found that composites derived from layered materials with different supramolecular structure of the host and guest showed different photocatalytic properties. In addition, based on the results from ESR, GC-MS and HPLC-MS, the type and amount of hydroxyl radicals, the decomposition intermediates and the pathway of HCB degradation photocatalyzed by Ti/ZnO-MxOy composites are also discussed in detail.

Mining and smelting areas in Hezhang have generated a large amount of heavy metals into the environment. For that cause, an evaluative study on human exposure to heavy metals including Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Cr, As, Cd, Pb, Sb, Bi, Be, and Hg in hair and urine was conducted for their concentrations and correlations. Daily exposure and non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic risk were estimated. Sixty-eight scalp hair and 66 urine samples were taken from participants of different ages (6–17, 18–40, 41–60, and ≥ 65 years) living in the vicinity of an agricultural soil near mine and smelting areas. The results compared to the earlier studies showed an elevated concentration of Pb, Be, Bi, Co, Cr, Ni, Sb, and Zn in hair and urine. These heavy metals were more elevated in mining than in smelting. Considering gender differences, females were likely to be more affected than male. By investigating age differences in this area, high heavy metal concentrations in male’s hair and urine existed in age of 18–40 and ≥ 66, respectively. However, females did not present homogeneous age distribution. Hair and urine showed a different distribution of heavy metals in different age and gender. In some cases, significant correlation was found between heavy metals in hair and urine (P > 0.05 and P > 0.01) in mining area. The estimated average daily intake of heavy metals in vegetables showed a great contribution compared to the soil and water. Non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic risk values of total pathways in mining and smelting areas were higher than 1 and exceeded the acceptable levels. Thus, the obtained data might be useful for further studies. They can serve as a basis of comparison and assessing the effect of simultaneous exposure from heavy metals in mining and smelting areas, and potential health risks from exposure to heavy metals in vegetables need more consideration.

Evidence indicates that Cadmium (Cd) can accumulate in liver, which results in acute or chronic cell damage with unclear complex mechanisms. Thus, we aimed to explore the possible molecules and pathways by using bioinformatics methods Consequently, two datasets (GSE8865 and GSE31286) were retrieved and the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were screened out. The intersection of the DEGs included seven up-regulated and forty-three down-regulated genes, which were mainly enriched in biological cell proliferation items, and were enriched in several metabolism-related pathways. Among the DEGs, several hub genes such as EGR1, FOSL1, ITGA2, EDN1, and IER3 were screened out through protein-protein interaction analysis. Interestingly, BW-B70C was predicted to be a potential agent for attenuating Cd-induced liver cell damage. The present study gave a novel insight into the mechanisms of Cd-induced liver cell damage or malignant transformation and identified several small agents that might be critical for Cd toxicity prevention and treatment.

Evidence indicates that exposure to heavy trace element might be a risk factor for liver carcinoma. Cadmium has been supposed to be a carcinogen that has a correlation with the risk of a number of cancers, including liver cancer. However, the mechanisms underlying Cadmium-induced malignant transformation in liver cells are not fully understood. In the present study, we aimed to screen the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) that might play a role in both the Cadmium-related liver cell transformation and the development of liver cancer. Microarray-based gene expression profiles concerning liver carcinoma vs non-cancerous tissue (GSE64041) and Cadmium-treated liver cells vs controls (GSE8865 and GSE31286), respectively, were retrieved from Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. Then, DEGs of each profile were calculated and screened. The intersection of each DEGs was obtained by Venn analysis. Afterwards, the possible roles of the selected genes in cancer development were evaluated by using Oncomine database and TCGA cohort analysis. Consequently, three DEGs, LRAT, SLC7A11, and ITGA2, were selected for further analysis. SLC7A11 and ITGA2, but not LRAT, were upregulated in liver cancer compared with those in normal tissues, respectively. After using a TCGA cohort analysis, results failed to show a significant correlation between SLC7A11 or ITGA2 expression and clinical parameters. However, the survival analysis showed that patients with high expression levels of SLC7A11 had a shorter overall survival time relative to those of the patients with low levels. In conclusion, SLC7A11 and ITGA2 might play a role in the Cadmium-induced liver cell damage or transformation, and the development of liver carcinoma. SLC7A11 might be a prognostic factor for patients with liver carcinoma. Future validation experiments are needed to verify the results.

Ni

4-Aminobenzylphosphonic acid (4-ABPA) was covalently immobilized on a glassy carbon electrode (GCE) surface via an electrochemical oxidation process. The bare and 4-ABPA-modified GCEs were employed to sense paracetamol (PCT) in a series of buffer solutions with different pH values at 36.8 C for comparison. The results showed that the 4-ABPA-modified GCE was more stable with higher electrochemical sensitivity toward PCT than the unmodified one. Moreover, the 4-ABPA-modified GCE can be used to monitor in-vitro dissolution process of PCT-loaded electrospun poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) nanofiber systems in real time.