Jinping Jia

We report improved whole-genome shotgun sequences for the genomes of indica and japonica rice, both with multimegabase contiguity, or almost 1,000-fold improvement over the drafts of 2002. Tested against a nonredundant collection of 19,079 full-length cDNAs, 97.7% of the genes are aligned, without fragmentation, to the mapped super-scaffolds of one or the other genome. We introduce a gene identification procedure for plants that does not rely on similarity to known genes to remove erroneous predictions resulting from transposable elements. Using the available EST data to adjust for residual errors in the predictions, the estimated gene count is at least 38,000–40,000. Only 2%–3% of the genes are unique to any one subspecies, comparable to the amount of sequence that might still be missing. Despite this lack of variation in gene content, there is enormous variation in the intergenic regions. At least a quarter of the two sequences could not be aligned, and where they could be aligned, single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rates varied from as little as 3.0 SNP/kb in the coding regions to 27.6 SNP/kb in the transposable elements. A more inclusive new approach for analyzing duplication history is introduced here. It reveals an ancient whole-genome duplication, a recent segmental duplication on Chromosomes 11 and 12, and massive ongoing individual gene duplications. We find 18 distinct pairs of duplicated segments that cover 65.7% of the genome; 17 of these pairs date back to a common time before the divergence of the grasses. More important, ongoing individual gene duplications provide a never-ending source of raw material for gene genesis and are major contributors to the differences between members of the grass family.

<h2>Summary</h2> Obtaining fully functional cell types is a major challenge for drug discovery and regenerative medicine. Currently, a fundamental solution to this key problem is still lacking. Here, we show that functional human induced hepatocytes (hiHeps) can be generated from fibroblasts by overexpressing the hepatic fate conversion factors <i>HNF1A</i>, <i>HNF4A</i>, and <i>HNF6</i> along with the maturation factors <i>ATF5</i>, <i>PROX1</i>, and <i>CEBPA</i>. hiHeps express a spectrum of phase I and II drug-metabolizing enzymes and phase III drug transporters. Importantly, the metabolic activities of CYP3A4, CYP1A2, CYP2B6, CYP2C9, and CYP2C19 are comparable between hiHeps and freshly isolated primary human hepatocytes. Transplanted hiHeps repopulate up to 30% of the livers of Tet-uPA/Rag2^−/−/γc^−/− mice and secrete more than 300 μg/ml human ALBUMIN in vivo. Our data demonstrate that human hepatocytes with drug metabolic function can be generated by lineage reprogramming, thus providing a cell resource for pharmaceutical applications.

Hydrodynamic cavitation is a promising technology for wastewater treatment. In this study, TiO2 (P25) photocatalytic degradation of tetracycline, an antibiotic compound extensively used and environmentally hazardous, was conducted with hydrodynamic cavitation employed simultaneously. Many factors, such as initial tetracycline concentration, solution pH and presence of inorganic anions, were explored. Kinetics were investigated at varied contaminant concentrations, and the pseudo-first-order rate constant for tetracycline photocatalysis coupled with hydrodynamic cavitation was 1.5–3.7 times of the sum of those for the individual processes. These results indicated that a synergistic effect occurred in the combined method. Tetracycline degradation was pH-dependent and favored at alkaline pH. The presence of HCO3− in the medium induces promotive effect on the photocatalytic degradation of tetracycline in the presence of hydrodynamic cavitation, while sulfate and chloride exhibit only minor effect. UV/Vis spectra, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) adsorption spectra and liquid chromatography–mass spectra (LC–MS) were used to evaluate the degradation mechanism. Scanning electron microscopic (SEM) images of TiO2 confirmed that hydrodynamic cavitation can prevent photocatalytic particles from agglomeration.

A novel α-FeOOH/mesoporous carbon (α-FeOOH/MesoC) composite prepared by in situ crystallization of adsorbed ferric ions within carboxyl functionalized mesoporous carbon was developed as a novel visible light assisted heterogeneous Fenton-like catalyst. The visible light active α-FeOOH nanocrystals were encapsulated in the mesoporous frameworks accompanying with surface attached large α-FeOOH microcrystals via C-O-Fe bonding. Assisting with visible light irradiation on α-FeOOH/MesoC, the mineralization efficiency increased owing to the photocatalytic promoted catalyzing H2O2 beyond the photothermal effect. The synergistic effect between α-FeOOH and MesoC in α-FeOOH/MesoC composite improved the mineralization efficiency than the mixture catalyst of α-FeOOH and MesoC. The iron leaching is greatly suppressed on the α-FeOOH/MesoC composite. Interestingly, the reused α-FeOOH/MesoC composites showed much higher phenol oxidation and mineralization efficiencies than the fresh catalyst and homogeneous Fenton system (FeSO4/H2O2). The XPS, XRD, FTIR, and textural property results reveal that the great enhancement comes from the interfacial emerged oxygen containing groups between α-FeOOH and MesoC after the first heterogeneous Fenton-like reaction. In summary, visible light induced photocatalysis assisted heterogeneous Fenton-like process in the α-FeOOH/MesoC composite system improved the HO• production efficiency and Fe(III)/Fe(II) cycle and further activated the interfacial catalytic sites, which finally realize an extraordinary higher degradation and mineralization efficiency.

Co3O4 film coated on Ti substrate is prepared using sol-gel method and applied as cathode material for electrochemical denitrification in this research. Preparation conditions including precursor coating times and calcination temperature are optimized based on NO3--N removal, NO2--N generation, NH4+-N generation and total nitrogen (TN) removal efficiencies. The influences of electrolysis parameters such as current density and NO3--N initial concentration are also investigated. In comparison with other common researched cathodes (Ti, Cu and Fe2O3/Ti), Co3O4/Ti exhibits better NO3--N removal and NH4+-N generation efficiencies. In order to remove NO3--N completely from water, Cl- is added to help further oxidize NH4+-N to N2. TN removal after 3 h treatment increases from 65% to 80%, 90% and 96% with the increase of Cl- from 0 mg L-1 to 500, 1000 and 1500 mg L-1, respectively. The mechanisms of NO3--N reduction on cathode and NH4+-N oxidation on anode in the absence and presence of Cl- are investigated in a double-cell reactor. Actual textile wastewater containing both NO3- and Cl- is also treated and the Co3O4/Ti cathode exhibits excellent stability and reliability. It is interesting to find out that FeCl2-H2O2 Fenton pretreatment is needed to remove extra COD and provide more Cl- to help oxidize NH4+-N to N2 at the same time.

A series of Mn/γ-Fe2O3 were synthesized to capture elemental mercury from the flue gas. Mn4+ cations and cation vacancies on the surface played important roles on elemental mercury capture by Mn/γ-Fe2O3. Furthermore, the reaction route of elemental mercury oxidization was dependent on the ratio of Mn4+ cations to cation vacancies. As a result, the capacities of 15%-Mn/γ-Fe2O3-250 for elemental mercury capture were generally higher than those of 30%-Mn/γ-Fe2O3-400. SO2 mainly reacted with ≡FeIII–OH and only a small amount of ≡Mn4+ reacted with SO2, so the presence of a high concentration of SO2 resulted in an insignificant effect on elemental mercury capture by 15%-Mn/γ-Fe2O3-250 at lower temperatures. The capacities of 15%-Mn/γ-Fe2O3-250 for elemental mercury capture in the presence of 2.8 g N m−3 of SO2 were more than 2.2 mg g−1 at <200 °C. Meanwhile, 15%-Mn/γ-Fe2O3-250 can be separated from the fly ash using magnetic separation, leaving the fly ash essentially free of sorbent and adsorbed HgO. Therefore, 15% Mn/γ-Fe2O3-250 may be a promising sorbent for elemental mercury capture.

γ-MnO2, SmMnO3, and γ-MnO2/SmMnO3 catalysts were prepared by facile methods, wherein the SmMnO3 (SMO) perovskite was synthesized through one-step calcination and the γ-MnO2/SmMnO3 was formed by an in situ growth of γ-MnO2 on the surface of SMO. These materials ware characterized by XRD, SEM-mapping, N2-adsorption, XPS and H2-TPR to investigate their textural properties. Compared with that of SMO and γ-MnO2, the γ-MnO2/SMO shows better performance for catalytic oxidation of aromatic VOCs in wet air (10 vol.%), which may be attributed to its higher surface molar ratio of lattice oxygen to adsorbed oxygen (Olatt/Oads) and better low-temperature reducibility. Besides, for γ-MnO2/SMO catalyst, a successive oxidation route and the inner principle of BETX (benzene, ethylbenzene, toluene, and o-xylene) oxidation were also revealed via various tests and a comprehension of dynamics investigation. Meanwhile, the experiments under simulated realistic exhaust conditions displayed that the γ-MnO2/SmMnO3 is also a good catalyst with high stability for aromatic VOCs oxidation, and fulfilled endurability to high humidity (20 vol.%).

Keep hepatocytes fresh Freshly isolated primary human hepatocytes (PHHs) quickly lose their identity and function in vitro, limiting their application in modeling infectious liver diseases and screening drugs. Xiang et al. describe a simple and effective five-chemical culture condition that can maintain the mature function of cultured PHHs for an extended period of time. PHHs cultured in this way can support the entire viral life cycle and recapitulate long-term infection of the hepatitis B virus. This system created a useful drug-screening platform for developing new antiviral strategies. Science , this issue p. 399

Energy consumption and long-term stability of a cathode are two important aspects of great concern in electrocatalytic nitrate reduction. This work studied a binderless FeNi/graphitized mesoporous carbon directly formed on Ni Foam (FeNi/g-mesoC/NF, 7.3 wt % of Fe) and evaluated its electrocatalytic nitrate reduction performance. We proposed a unique structure model of FeNi/g-mesoC/NF cathode in which FeNi alloy nanoparticles were uniformly embedded in mesoporous carbon and graphitized carbon shells were coated on isolated alloy nanoparticles. Oxygen vacancies (OVs) in FeNi oxide passivating layer facilitate the conversion of NO3–-N anions on cathode. Toxic NO2–-N was almost undetected due to the synergetic effects of FeNi electrocatalysis, and the NO3–-N conversion was high in comparation with ever reported iron-based cathode. The NO3–-N conversion showed ultrahigh electrocatalytic stability during one-month-recycling test while the physiochemical properties showed negligible change for FeNi/g-mesoC/NF except the increase of OVs. The energy consumption to treat simulated underground water (50% of NO3–-N conversion) was low (0.7 kWh mol–1) for 50 mg L–1 NO3–-N. This binderless composite cathode shows great potential in electrocatalytic NO3–-N removal in underground water.

A selective separation-recovery process based on tuning organic acid was proposed to the resource recycling of spent lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) for the first time. The low-cost preparation of CoFe2O4, reuse of waste acid and recovery of Li can be realized in this process, simultaneously. Li and Co in spent LIBs can be leached efficiently using citric acid as a leaching agent, and separated effectively from leaching solution by tuning oxalic acid content. The results from the characterizations of the prepared CoFe2O4 (CoFe2O4-LIBs) show that it possesses higher ratio of Co(II)/Co(III) and Fe(II)/Fe(III), larger surface specific area and more number of acid sites in comparison with pure CoFe2O4. Besides, CoFe2O4-LIBs was used to activate peroxymonosulfate (PMS) for the degradation of bisphenol A (BPA). Interestingly, its degradation performance is superior to that of pure CoFe2O4 and the related Co-based catalysts. The excellent degradation performance can be maintained in presence of inorganic ions (e.g., Cl-, HCO3-, H2PO4- and NO3-) with high concentration or humic acid. Moreover, surface-bound SO4∙- is considered as the main reactive species for the degradation of BPA. More importantly, CoFe2O4-LIBs can be readily recycled by using an external magnet and own superior ability of regeneration.

The hydrogenation of acetylene and ethylene was studied on Au/Al2O3 catalyst. Acetylene and hydrogen reacted readily to produce ethylene, but not to ethane on the catalyst in the temperature range between 313 and 523 K. The hydrogenation of ethylene on the catalyst occurred only at much higher temperatures over 573 K. The activity of the selective hydrogenation of acetylene over Au/Al2O3 catalyst depends on the size of ultrafine gold particles of Au/Al2O3 catalyst, which showed a maximum at about 3.0 nm in diameter.

In order to facilitate the removal of elemental mercury (Hg(0)) from coal-fired flue gas, catalytic oxidation of Hg(0) with manganese oxides supported on inert alumina (alpha-Al2O3) was investigated at lower temperatures (373-473 K). To improve the catalytic activity and the sulfur-tolerance of the catalysts at lower temperatures, several metal elements were employed as dopants to modify the catalyst of Mn/alpha-Al2O3. The best performance among the tested elements was achieved with molybdenum (Mo) as the dopant in the catalysts. It can work even better than the noble metal catalyst Pd/alpha-Al2O3. Additionally, the Mo doped catalyst displayed excellent sulfur-tolerance performance at lower temperatures, and the catalytic oxidation efficiency for Mo(0.03)-Mn/alpha-Al2O3 was over 95% in the presence of 500 ppm SO2 versus only about 48% for the unmodified catalyst. The apparent catalytic reaction rate constant increased by approximately 5.5 times at 423 K. In addition, the possible mechanisms involved in Hg(0) oxidation and the reaction with the Mo modified catalyst have been discussed.

Tiantium (Ti) was incorporated into non-stoichiometric Mn–Fe spinel to improve its performance for elemental mercury capture. Although the number of Mn4+ cations on (Fe2TixMn1−x)1−δO4 was less than that on the corresponding (Fe3−xMnx)1−δO4, the number of usable cation vacancies for elemental mercury oxidization obviously increased. As a result, elemental mercury capture by Mn–Fe spinel was generally promoted by the incorporation of Ti. Furthermore, SO2 mainly reacted with ≡FeIII–OH and few Mn4+ cations on the surface reacted with SO2 at lower temperatures (100–150 °C), so SO2 poisoning resistance improved at lower temperatures due to the incorporation of Ti. Especially, (Fe2Ti0.5Mn0.5)1−δO4 showed an excellent capacity (4.2 mg g−1) for elemental mercury capture in the presence of a high concentration of SO2 at 150 °C. Meanwhile, (Fe2Ti0.5Mn0.5)1−δO4 with the saturation magnetization of 30.6 emu g−1 can be readily separated from the fly ash using magnetic separation, leaving the fly ash essentially free of catalyst and adsorbed HgO. Therefore, nanosized (Fe2Ti0.5Mn0.5)1−δO4 may be a promising candidate catalyst for elemental mercury capture.

MnOx/Al2O3 catalysts (i.e., impregnating manganese oxide on alumina) were employed to remove elemental mercury (Hg0) from flue gas. MnOx/Al2O3 was found to have significant adsorption performance on capturing Hg0 in the absence of hydrogen chloride (HCl), and its favorable adsorption temperature was about 600 K. However, the catalytic oxidation of Hg0 became dominant when HCl or chlorine (Cl2) was present in flue gas, and the removal efficiency of Hg0 was up to 90% with 20 ppm of HCl or 2 ppm of Cl2. In addition, the catalysts with adsorbed mercury could be chemically regenerated by rinsing with HCl gas to strip off the adsorbed mercury in the form of HgCl2. Sulfur dioxide displayed inhibition to the adsorption of Hg0on the catalysts, but the inhibition was less to the catalytic oxidation of Hg0, especially in the presence of Cl2. The analysis results of XPS and pyrolysis−AAS indicated that the adsorbed mercury was mainly in the forms of mercuric oxide (HgO) and the weakly bonded speciation, and the ratio of them varied with the adsorption amount and manganese content on catalysts. The multifunctional performances of MnOx/Al2O3 on the removal of Hg0 appeared to be promising in the industrial applications.

Mesoporous silica SBA-15 with zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles was prepared via incipient wetness impregnation and ultrasonic method, followed by in situ activation at 523 K. The mesoporous materials obtained were characterized by ICP, XRD, FTIR, nitrogen adsorption, TEM and XPS. The prepared materials showed a superior ability to remove H2S down to parts per billion (ppb) from gas stream at lower temperature (298 K), and the highest H2S breakthrough capacity, 436 mg S/g adsorbent, was observed for SBA-15 with 3.04 wt% zinc loading. The enhancement of H2S removal capacity was attributed to the integration of the high surface area of the mesoporous material and the promising desulphurization properties of ZnO nanoparticles. It was believed that ZnO-modified SBA-15 is a promising adsorbent for H2S cleaning at ambient conditions, which will extend the application of the mesoporous materials to the environmental protection area.

Nonstoichiometric Fe-Ti spinel (Fe(3-x)Ti(x))(1-δ)O(4) has a large amount of cation vacancies on the surface, which may provide active sites for pollutant adsorption. Meanwhile, its magnetic property makes it separable from the complex multiphase system for recycling, and for safe disposal of the adsorbed toxin. Therefore, (Fe(3-x)Ti(x))(1-δ)O(4) may be a promising sorbent in environmental applications. Herein, (Fe(3-x)Ti(x))(1-δ)O(4) is used as a magnetically separable sorbent for elemental mercury capture from the flue gas of coal-fired power plants. (Fe(2)Ti)(0.8)O(4) shows a moderate capacity (about 1.0 mg g(-1) at 250 °C) for elemental mercury capture in the presence of 1000 ppmv of SO(2). Meanwhile, the sorbent can be readily separated from the fly ash using magnetic separation, leaving the fly ash essentially free of sorbent and adsorbed mercury.

In this paper, tetraethylenepentamine (TEPA) modified chitosan/CoFe2O4 particles were prepared for comparative and competitive adsorption of Cu(II) and Pb(II) in single and bi-component aqueous solutions. The characteristics results of SEM, FTIR and XRD indicated that the adsorbent was successfully fabricated. The magnetic property results manifested that the particles with saturation magnetization value of 63.83emug-1 would have a fast magnetic response. The effects of experimental parameters including contact time, pH value, initial metal ions concentration and coexisting ions on single and bi-component adsorption were investigated. The results revealed that the adsorption kinetic was followed pseudo-second-order kinetic model, indicating that chemical adsorption was the rate-limiting step. Sorption isotherms were also determined in single and bi-component solutions with different mass ratio of Cu(II) to Pb(II) (Cu(II)/Pb(II)) and fitted using Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models. A better fit for Cu(II) and Pb(II) adsorption were obtained with Langmuir model, with a maximum sorption capacity of 168.067 and 228.311mgg-1 for Cu(II) and Pb(II) in single component solution, 139.860 and 160.256mgg-1 in bi-component solution (Cu(II)/Pb(II)=1:1), respectively. The present results suggest that TEPA modified chitosan/CoFe2O4 particles are feasible and satisfactory adsorbent for efficient removal of Cu(II) and Pb(II) ions.

A fuel cell that functioned as a photo fuel cell (PFC) when irradiated with UV light and as a dye self-photosensitization photo fuel cell (DSPFC) when irradiated with visible light was proposed and investigated in this study. The system included a BiOCl/Ti plate photoanode and a Pt cathode, and dye solutions were employed as fuel. Electricity was generated at the same time as the dyes were degraded. 26.2% and 24.4% Coulombic efficiency were obtained when 20 mL of 10 mg · L(-1) Rhodamine B solution was treated with UV for 2 h and visible light for 3 h, respectively. Irradiation with natural and artificial sunlight was also evaluated. UV and visible light could be utilized at the same time and the photogenerated current was observed. The mechanism of electricity generation in BiOCl/Ti PFC and DSPFC was studied through degradation of the colorless salicylic acid solution. Factors that affect the electricity generation and dye degradation performance, such as solution pH and cathode material, were also investigated and optimized.

Catalytic conversion of elemental mercury (Hg(0)) to its oxidized form has been considered as an effective way to enhance mercury removal from coal-fired power plants. In order to make good use of the existing selective catalytic reduction of NO(x) (SCR) catalysts as a cobenefit of Hg(0) conversion at lower level HCl in flue gas, various catalysts supported on titanium dioxide (TiO(2)) and commercial SCR catalysts were investigated at various cases. Among the tested catalysts, ruthenium oxides (RuO(2)) not only showed rather high catalytic activity on Hg(0) oxidation by itself, but also appeared to be well cooperative with the commercial SCR catalyst for Hg(0) conversion. In addition, the modified SCR catalyst with RuO(2) displayed an excellent tolerance to SO(2) and ammonia without any distinct negative effects on NO(x) reduction and SO(2) conversion. The demanded HCl concentration for Hg(0) oxidation can be reduced dramatically, and Hg(0) oxidation efficiency over RuO(2) doped SCR catalyst was over 90% even at about 5 ppm HCl in the simulated gases. Ru modified SCR catalyst shows a promising prospect for the cobenefit of mercury emission control.

A stoichiometric nanosized Mn–Fe spinel (Fe2.2Mn0.8O4) was synthesized using a coprecipitation method. After the thermal treatment at 400 °C under air, chemical heterogeneity deriving from the oxidation kinetic difference between Fe2+ and Mn2+/Mn3+ was observed in (Fe2.2Mn0.8)1-δO4. XPS and TEM analyses both pointed a Mn enrichment (especially Mn4+ cation) on the particle’s surface. Furthermore, the percent of cation vacancy on the surface increased obviously due to the enrichment of Mn4+ cation on the surface. As a result, the capacity of (Fe2.2Mn0.8)1-δO4-400 for elemental mercury capture was generally much better than those of MnOx/γ-Fe2O3, (Fe2.2Mn0.8)1-δO4-200 and Fe2.2Mn0.8O4. Furthermore, the saturation magnetization of (Fe2.2Mn0.8)1-δO4 obviously increased after the thermal treatment under air at 400 °C, which made it easier to separate the sorbent and adsorbed mercury from the fly ash for recycling, regeneration, and safe disposal of the adsorbed mercury. Therefore, (Fe2.2Mn0.8)1-δO4-400 may be a promising sorbent for elemental mercury capture.

Radium (Ra) isotopes are important from the viewpoints of radiation protection and environmental protection. Their high toxicity has stimulated the continuing interest in methodology research for determination of Ra isotopes in various media. In this paper, the three most routinely used analytical techniques for Ra isotope determination in biological and environmental samples, i.e. low-background γ-spectrometry, liquid scintillation counting and α-spectrometry, were reviewed, with emphasis on new methodological developments in sample preparation, preconcentration, separation, purification, source preparation and measurement techniques. The accuracy, selectivity, traceability, applicability and minimum detectable activity (MDA) of the three techniques were discussed. It was concluded that the MDA (0.1 mBq L−1) of the α-spectrometry technique coupled with chemical separation is about two orders of magnitude lower than that of low-background HPGe γ-spectrometry and LSC techniques. Therefore, when maximum sensitivity is required, the α-spectrometry technique remains the first choice.

A Fenton-like catalyst comprising of hydrophilic mesoporous carbon (HMC) and ferric ions was found very efficiently in degradation organic pollutants under visible light irradiation in the presence of H2O2. HMC with graphene domains and plenty of oxygen containing groups such as carboxyl groups can cooperate with ferric ions to form a visible light active Fe(III)-HMC configuration. Fe(III)-HMC showed obviously enhanced phenol degradation and mineralization efficiencies than that in dark condition. Acidic condition (pH = 3) is not only more superior in phenol degradation but also in iron leaching in comparison with the case at basic conditions (pH = 4.5–7.0) for Fe(III)-HMC. Total organic carbon (TOC) removal efficiency of five typical organic pollutants show that visible light active Fe(III)-HMC catalyst is more efficient than homogeneous Fenton reagents FeSO4/H2O2 excluding the temperature effect. Electron spin resonance (ESR) and electrochemical measurements reveal that the presence of active phenoxyl radicals and ligand to metal charge transfer (LMCT) facilitates the cycling of Fe(III)/Fe(II) and inhibit the side reaction via Haber-Weiss reaction. ·OH radicals rather than O2− and OOH were proved as the predominantly active oxidant. The proposed Fe(III)-HMC configuration activated by visible light opens up a new strategy for carbon based materials and iron species in Fenton-like chemistry.

Metallic nickel (Ni0) nanoparticles could be in situ generated in the carbon matrix of rice husk char (RHC) via a facile one-step pyrolysis. The synthesized RHC Ni has a considerable performance on tar reforming. Tar reforming efficiency is increased with the increases of the used catalyst weight and reforming temperature. In particular, tar reforming efficiency can reach up to 90.5% and 99.8% by using 5 g and 10 g of RHC Ni, respectively. Tar reforming efficiency can also keep stable after 5 cycles. Besides, RHC Ni showed high tar conversion efficiency, increasing from 92.3% to 100%, when the reforming temperature was increased from 500 °C to 900 °C. RHC Ni showed a high catalytic activity even at the relatively lower temperatures. Furthermore, the yield of liquid products was decreased from 30.2% to 10.7%, corresponding to tar reforming. Accordingly, the gas yield was increased from 37.5% to 58.0%, in which the main components of syngas are CO and H2. It is noted that the PAHs compounds in tar could be significantly reduced by using the RHC Ni. The surface areas of the used RHC Ni were increased due to the char gasification rate higher than deposition rate. The RHC Ni has a high potential to be used for tar catalytic reforming.

Three-dimensional (3D) MnO2/Carbon Sphere (MnO2/CS) composite was synthesized from zero-dimensional carbon spheres and one-dimensional α-MnO2 using hydrothermal method. The hierarchical MnO2/CS composite was applied for the catalytic oxidation and adsorption of elemental mercury (Hg0) from coal-fired flue gas. The characterization results indicated that this composite exhibits a 3D urchin morphology. Carbon spheres act as the core and α-MnO2 nano-rods grew on the surface of carbon spheres. This 3D hierarchical structure benefits the enlargement of surface areas and pore volumes. Hg0 removal experimental results indicated that the MnO2/CS composite has an outstanding Hg0 removal performance due to the higher catalytic oxidation and adsorption performance. MnO2/CS composite had higher than 99% Hg0 removal efficiency even after 600 min reaction. In addition, the nano-sized MnO2/CS composite exhibited better SO2 resistance than pure α-MnO2. Moreover, the Hg-TPD results indicated that the adsorbed mercury can release from the surface of MnO2/CS using a thermal decomposition method.

A facile method was proposed to prepare BiOCl film on a Ti substrate using Bi2O3 film reacting with Cl− in acidic condition. The as-prepared BiOCl film was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and UV–vis diffuse reflectance spectra (UV–vis DRS). The BiOCl film owned a hierarchical nanostructure and a nucleation–dissolution–recrystallization growth mechanism was observed according to the FESEM at different reaction time. The photocatalytic activity of the BiOCl film was investigated by degradation of 50 mL 5 mg L−1 Rhodamine B (RB) solution under UV and visible light, strong adsorption capacity (more than 10% RB adsorbed on the surface before light on) and excellent photocatalytic performance were observed. 100% and more than 90% color removal efficiencies were achieved under UV and visible light in 120 min and 180 min, better than that obtained by TiO2 film, especially under visible light. Meanwhile more than 90% and 70% TOC could also be removed under UV and visible light in the same condition. The analysis of RB photocatalytic degradation mechanisms suggested that the prepared BiOCl film exhibited high activity for direct semiconductor photoexcitation RB degradation under UV light, while it also possessed superior activity for indirect RB photosensitization degradation under visible light. The prepared BiOCl film also exhibited excellent photocatalytic activity for other dye solutions and possessed the potential application in wastewater treatment.

Different phase structured MnO2, including β-, α-, γ- and three kinds of δ-MnO2, are prepared and their catalytic activities are compared through catalytic oxidation of toluene at different temperature. The as-prepared MnO2 are characterized by X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscope. Toluene conversion results show that catalytic oxidation activity follows the sequence of β- < α- < γ- < δ-MnO2. When MnO2 owns the same δ phase structure, the crystallinity degree and morphology also affect toluene catalytic oxidation activity, but the effect is not so significant as that of phase structure. The results are further explained by Brunauer-Emmett-Teller, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, H2 temperature programmed reduction and in situ Fourier transform infrared. The weakest toluene catalytic oxidation activity of β-MnO2 mainly results from its extreme small surface area. In comparison with γ- and δ-MnO2, the less amounts of Mn4+ and lattice oxygen on α-MnO2 surface result in its weaker catalytic oxidation activity. The special hierarchical structure of δ-MnO2 makes toluene more likely to be adsorbed on its surface, and thus the catalytic oxidation activity is better than that of γ-MnO2. The effect of weight hourly space velocity and the stabilities of as-prepared MnO2 are also investigated in this research.

A TiO2/Ti–Pt photo fuel cell (PFC) was established to generate electricity and degrade organic pollutants simultaneously. The electricity generation was optimized through investigation the influences of photoanode calcination temperature and dissolve oxygen on the resistances existing in PFC. TiO2 light quantum yield was also improved in PFC which resulted in a higher PC degradation efficiency. Two kinds of real textile wastewaters were also employed in this PFC system, 62.4% and 50.0% Coulombic efficiency were obtained for 8 h treatment. These refractory wastewaters with high salinity may become good fuels in PFC because a) TiO2 has no selectivity and can degrade nearly any organic substance, b) no more electrolyte is needed due to the high salinity, c) the energy in wastes can be recovered to generate electricity. The electricity generated by the PFC was further applied on a TiO2/Ti rotating disk photoelectrocatalytic reactor. A bias voltage between 0.6 and 0.75 V could be applied and the PC degradation efficiency was significantly improved. This result was similar with that obtained by a 0.7 V DC power.

A growing body of research has documented that teacher-student relationship is negatively associated with adolescent Internet addiction. However, little is known about the mediating mechanisms underlying this relation. The present study investigated whether psychological security and deviant peer affiliation mediate the link between teacher-student relationship and adolescent Internet addiction. A sample of 747 middle school students (51% male; Mage = 13.73 years, SD = 1.00) completed questionnaires regarding demographics, teacher-student relationship, psychological security, deviant peer affiliation, and Internet addiction. After controlling for demographic covariates, the results revealed that: (a) teacher-student relationship was negatively associated with Internet addiction; (b) both psychological security and deviant peer affiliation partially mediated the link between teacher-student relationship and Internet addition in a parallel fashion; and (c) psychological security and deviant peer affiliation also sequentially mediated the link between teacher-student relationship and Internet addition. These findings have important implications for the prevention and intervention of adolescent Internet addiction.

Adsorbents synthesized with biopolymer have been widely used in the removal of toxic metal ions. Novel high-efficiency, recyclable, and low-cost adsorbents have received more and more attention. Chitosan and cellulose are the most abundant biopolymers in nature. Composite modified adsorbent (CSTEC) was synthesized as novel fibrous materials for the adsorption of Cu2+ and Pb2+ ions from water in this study. The functional fiber was characterized to investigate the surface appearance, functional groups, crystallinity, and thermal stability. The kinetics study revealed that adsorption processes of Cu2+ and Pb2+ ions on the CSTEC followed the second-order kinetics model. CSTEC showed better performance (Cu2+, 95.24; Pb2+, 144.93 mg g−1) than most of other adsorbents. The co-existing ions (K+, Na+, Mg2+) had no significant influence on the removal of target ions by the CSTEC. The excellent reusability indicated that CSTEC had the promising application in the treatment of toxic metal pollution.

Exosomal circulating long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) in blood are emerging as clinically useful and non-invasive biomarkers for tumor diagnosis. However, normal cells can also secrete exosomes, so it is a prerequisite to obtain tumor-derived exosomes for better understanding of their diagnostic impacts in cancer. In this study, a dual-antibody-functionalized immunoaffinity system was established to isolate exosomes and investigate their lncRNAs expression pattern and clinical significance in prostate cancer (PCa).A commercially available kit was used to isolate total exosomes, which were then purified by a dual-antibody-functionalized immunoaffinity system. RT-qPCR was performed to detect the expression of exosomal lncRNAs. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were plotted to assess the diagnostic value.Expression levels of two lncRNAs in tumor-derived exosomes were significantly higher than those in total exosomes. The levels of SAP30L-AS1 were upregulated in benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), and SChLAP1 levels were significantly higher in PCa than in BPH and healthy individuals. The area under the ROC curve indicated that SAP30L-AS1 and SChLAP1 had adequate diagnostic value to distinguish PCa from controls. Two lncRNAs separately combined with prostate specific antigen (PSA) possessed a moderate ability for discrimination. SAP30L-AS1 expression level was related to PSA values and tumor invasion. SChLAP1 expression was significantly higher in patients with higher Gleason scores, and was also effective in differentiating between BPH and PCa when the concentration of PSA was in the gray zone.The isolation of tumor-derived exosomes by dual-antibody-functionalized immunoaffinity systems and detection of their lncRNAs in plasma may lead to the identification of suitable biomarkers, with potential diagnostic utility.

Valuable metals such as manganese, cobalt, nickel and copper are recycled from spent ternary lithium-ions batteries (LiBs) and are considered as the active metal precursor to prepare based-manganese multi oxide for VOCs oxidation. The results of characterization analysis indicate that the catalyst from spent LiBs shows larger specific surface area of 26.80 m2/g as well as abundant mesoporous structures on the surface, higher molar ratio of Mn4+/Mn3+ (0.70) and Olatt/Oads (1.68), better low-temperature reductivity and stronger intensity of weak acid sites in comparison with those of pure manganese oxides. The evaluation experiments show that the catalyst from waste exhibits more excellent catalytic performance of toluene combustion in comparison with pure manganese oxides. Furthermore, the presence of considerable amount of lithium and aluminum ions can severely weaken the catalytic activity while the co-existence of nickel, cobalt and copper ions contribute a lot to facilitate the catalytic behavior. In-situ DRIFT study implies that the introduction of lithium, aluminum, nickel, copper and cobalt into pure manganese oxides can facilitate toluene conversion to various extents, following the consecutive steps via benzyl species, benzoyl oxide species, benzaldehyde species, benzoate species and the primary intermediates are benzoate species.

Although many magnetic chitosan materials have been prepared for adsorption of metal ions, there is no standard method for comprehensive evaluation of material performance. The common practice simply compares either adsorption capacity (Q) or saturation magnetization (Ms) of interested materials; however, these two important parameters often work in opposite way. This study aims to establish two methods for evaluation of the overall performance of magnetic materials. The proposed methods consider both heavy metal ion adsorption capacity and magnetic recovery of the material after use. The first method introduces adsorption recovery index (ARI, ARI=Qt), which is calculated using Q and recovery time (t) needed for achieving 98% material recovery. Higher ARI value shows better performance of a magnetic material. The second method uses effort-vector data visualization, in which the position of a magnetic material is shown on a coordinate depicted using normalized Q and Ms value. The distance of the data point to the target (ideal Q and Ms value) indicates the performance of the material. The shorter the distance, the better the overall performance is. Two series of MCBs with different Fe3O4 chitosan mass ratios were prepared by using embedding method and chemical co-precipitation method respectively. They were used as model compounds for investigation of the feasibility of the proposed evaluation methods through adsorption of various metal ions (Ag+, Cu2+, Hg2+, Cr3+ and Cr6+) and MCBs recovery test. The best performers were able to be identified by using both methods and the results agreed with each other. Compared with ARI, the effort-vector data visualization was more straightforward and easier to use. This method was successfully applied to evaluate a wide selection of magnetic materials, including those prepared in this work and reported from literatures, for their overall performance.

Pd–Cu catalysis is combined with in situ electrolytic H2 evolution for NO3– reduction with protonated polypyrrole (PPy) as a cathode. The surface of PPy is not only beneficial for H2 evolution, but exclusive for NO3– adsorption, and thus inhibits NO3– reduction. Meanwhile, the in situ H2 generation exhibits a much higher utilization efficiency because of the smaller bubble size and higher dispersion. The Pd–Cu catalysts with the ratios of 6:1 and 4:1 exhibit the highest NO3––N removal (100%) and N2 selectivity (93–95%) after 90 min. In comparison with the results obtained with other cathode materials (Ti, Cu, Co3O4, and Fe2O3) and obtained by other researchers, the new process shows a faster NO3––N reduction rate and much higher N2 selectivity. However, the O2 generated on the anode can oxidize Cu to Cu2O that may work as the catalyst for NO3––N reduction to NH4+–N by H2, resulting in more than 60% NH4+–N generated without a proton exchange membrane. Both the PPy film and Pd–Cu catalyst exhibit good stability and there is no Cu2+ or Pd2+ in solution after reaction. Real industrial wastewater is further treated in this system, the NO3––N is reduced from 670 mg L–1 to less than 100 mg L–1 in 90 min, and only little amount of NH4+–N is generated.

Highly active samarium manganese perovskite oxides were successfully prepared by employing self-molten-polymerization, coprecipitation, sol–gel, and impregnation methods. The physicochemical properties of perovskite oxides were investigated by XRD, N2 adsorption–desorption, XPS, and H2-TPR. Their catalytic performances were compared via the catalytic oxidation of toluene. The perovskite prepared by self-molten-polymerization possessed the highest catalytic capacity, which can be ascribed to its higher oxygen adspecies concentration (Olatt/Oads = 0.53), higher surface Mn4+/Mn3+ ratio (Mn4+/Mn3+ = 0.95), and best low-temperature reducibility (H2 consumption = 0.27; below 350 °C). The most active catalyst also exhibited good cycling and long-term stability for toluene oxidation. After a multistep cycle reaction and a long-term reaction of 42 h, the toluene conversion maintained above 99.9% at 270 °C. Mechanistic study hinted that lattice oxygen was involved in toluene oxidation. The oxidation reaction was dependent on the synergism of lattice oxygen, adsorbed oxygen, and oxygen vacancies. The degradation pathway of toluene, researched by diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy and online mass spectrometry technologies, demonstrated that a series of organic byproducts existed at a relatively low temperature. This work provides an efficient and practical method for selecting highly active catalysts and for exploring the catalytic mechanism for the removal of atmospheric environmental pollution.

Staphylococcus aureus can adhere to most foreign materials and form biofilm on the surface of medical devices. Biofilm infections are difficult to resolve. The goal of this in vitro study was to explore the use of chitosan-coated nanoparticles to prevent biofilm formation. For this purpose, S. aureus was seeded in 96-well plates to incubate with chitosan-coated iron oxide nanoparticles in order to study the efficiency of biofilm formation inhibition. The biofilm bacteria count was determined using the spread plate method; biomass formation was measured using the crystal violet staining method. Confocal laser scanning microscopy and scanning electron microscopy were used to study the biofilm formation. The results showed decreased viable bacteria numbers and biomass formation when incubated with chitosan-coated iron oxide nanoparticles at all test concentrations. Confocal laser scanning microscopy showed increased dead bacteria and thinner biofilm when incubated with nanoparticles at a concentration of 500 µg/mL. Scanning electron microscopy revealed that chitosan-coated iron oxide nanoparticles inhibited biofilm formation in polystyrene plates. Future studies should be performed to study these nanoparticles for anti-infective use.

Biochar derived from waste biomass has proven as a promising sorbent for removal of heavy metals from wastewater. However, proper disposal of such a heavy metal-containing biochar is challengeable. The major objective of this study is to create a reuse way by converting the heavy metal-loaded biochar into supercapacitor. Two biochars were produced from dairy manure and sewage sludge, respectively, and subjected to sorption of Ni from solution, and then the Ni-loaded biochar underwent microwave treatments for fabrication of supercapacitor. The specific capacitance of biochar supercapacitor increased with Ni loading, especially the Ni-loaded biochar further treated with microwave in which the capacitance increased by over 2 times, compared to the original biochar supercapacitors. The increase of capacitance in the Ni-loaded biochar supercapacitor following microwave treatment was mainly attributed to the conversion of Ni into NiO and NiOOH, which was evidenced by X-ray diffraction and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The biochar supercapacitors, especially microwave-treated Ni-loaded biochar supercapacitors exhibited the high stability of specific capacitance, with less than 2% loss after 1000 charge-discharge cycles. This study demonstrated that Ni-loaded biochar can be further utilized for generation of supercapacitor, providing a potential way for the reuse of exhausted carbonaceous sorbents.

Previous studies have documented that peer victimization is a significant risk factor causing Internet addiction among adolescents. However, little is known about the mediating and moderating mechanisms underlying this relation. On the basis of the emotional security theory and the resilience theory, this study examined whether psychological security would mediate the relation between peer victimization and adolescent Internet addiction, and whether teacher-student relationships would moderate the mediating process. Participants comprised 747 Chinese students (mean age = 13.73 years, SD = 1.00) recruited from three middle schools. They provided self-reported data on demographic variables, peer victimization, psychological security, teacher-student relationship, and Internet addiction. After controlling for age, gender, parents' education, and family's financial status, mediation analysis indicated that psychological security fully mediated the association between peer victimization and adolescent Internet addiction. Moderated mediation analysis further demonstrated that positive teacher-student relationships ameliorated the adverse impact of peer victimization on psychological security, thereby mitigating the indirect effect of peer victimization on Internet addiction among adolescents. This study highlights the mediating and moderating mechanisms linking peer victimization to Internet addiction and has important implications for the prevention and intervention of Internet addiction among adolescents.

In this study, the impacts of heavy metals (1 mg L−1) on the nitrogen removal, bioactivity of anaerobic ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AAOB) and the microbial community of anaerobic ammonium oxidation (Anammox) process were investigated. It was observed that short-term exposure in Cu (II) and Zn (II) both improved AAOB bioactivity, while long-term exposure significantly lowered the nitrogen removal to 0.218 and 0.302 kg m−3 d−1, when treated the wastewater with 100 mg L−1 nitrogen under 14–16 °C. Fe(II) had slight impact on Anammox in short-term experiment but deeply enhanced nitrogen removal during the long-term contact, and finally increased the that to 0.58 kg m−3 d−1. The impact on Anammox was Cu(II) > Zn(II) > Fe(II). Cu(II) and Zn(II) lowered the share of Candidatus Kuenenia to 3.32% and 3.80%, while Fe(II) improved that to 11.30% from 7.99%. Extracellular polymeric substance in biofilm had prominent iron adsorption capacity, which was the key factor that help AAOB resist Fe(II).

Long-term impacts of two antibiotics-norfloxacin (NOR) and erythromycin (ERY) in trace concentration (1ug L−1) on Anammox biofilm were investigated. The specific Anammox activity (SAA) and dehydrogenase activity (DHA) of Anammox biofilm were detected by batch experiments, the microbial diversity was analyzed using high-throughput sequencing technology and the antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) were measured by qPCR. Results showed that long-term NOR feeding decreased 30% SAA and 39.6% DHA, and also decreased the abundance of the OTUs related to autotrophic nitrogen removal, while ERY had slight impact on Anammox. Only two ARGs targeted to ERY (ermB, mphA) were detected in the two Anammox systems while those targeted to NOR (qnrA, qnrB, qnrD, and qnrS) were not detected. The relative expression of ermB to 16S rRNA increased from 2.08±0.32×10-4 to 3.53±1.18×10-4, and that of mphA increased to 5.00±0.48×10-4 from 4.48±1.32×10-5. The induced ARGs in the Anammox system help it resist the ERY shock.

A series of highly defected Mn3–xFexO4 spinels with different amounts of oxygen vacancies and active metals were successfully synthesized by regulating the insertion of Fe ions into the crystal structure of Mn3O4 via self-polymerizable monomer adjustment of the molten Mn–Fe salt dispersion. The characterization of X-ray diffraction, Raman, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and N2 adsorption–desorption showed that the doping of Fe increased the lattice defects, oxygen vacancy concentration, specific surface area, mesoporosity, and catalytic properties compared to Cu ions doping. Temperature-programmed reduction with hydrogen and oxygen pulse chemisorption tests determined that the doping level of Fe ions had an important influence on the oxygen vacancy content and the dispersion of active metals on the catalysts’ surfaces. For the best Mn-dispersed and most active Mn2.4Fe0.6O4 catalyst, a long-term toluene oxidation measurement running for 120 h of uninterrupted reaction, at the low temperature of 240 °C, high humidity (relative humidity = 100%), and high weight hourly space velocity of 60000 mL·g–1·h–1, was also carried out, which indicated that the catalyst possessed high stability and endurability. Moreover, the continuous oxidation route and internal principle for toluene oxidation were also revealed by the in situ diffuse-reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry techniques and deep dynamics study.

In this work, manganese is selectively and efficiently recovered from spent lithium-ion batteries via advanced oxidation by using potassium permanganate and ozone, and the transition metal-doped α-MnO2 and β-MnO2 are one-step prepared for catalytic oxidation of VOCs. The recovery rate of manganese can be approximately 100% while the recovery efficiency of cobalt, nickel, and lithium is less than 15%, 2%, and 1%, respectively. Compared with pure α-MnO2 and β-MnO2, transition metal-doped α-MnO2 and β-MnO2 exhibit better catalytic performance in toluene and formaldehyde removal attributed to their lower crystallinity, more defects, larger specific surface area, more oxygen vacancies, and better low-temperature redox ability. Besides, the introduction of the appropriate proportion of cobalt or nickel into MnO2 can significantly improve its catalytic activity. Furthermore, the TD/GC-MS result indicates that toluene may be oxidized in the sequence of toluene − benzyl alcohol − benzaldehyde-benzoic acid − acetic acid, 2-cyclohexen-1-one, 4-hydroxy-, cyclopent-4-ene-1,3-dione − carbon dioxide. This method provides a route for the resource utilization of spent LIBs and the synthesis of MnO2.

Co3O4 nanosheet film is synthesized through electrodeposition and used as cathode in electrochemical NO3– removal. The electrodeposition conditions are optimized and the NO3– removal rate is enhanced by 1.7 times in comparison with Co3O4 solid particle cathode, which mainly results from its large surface area and high efficient electron transfer and utilization capacities. The effects of reaction temperature and current are then deeply investigated. NO3– removal rate is enhanced from 0.00667 min−1 to 0.0156 min−1 at 0.08 A with reaction temperature rising from 5 °C to 45 °C, and it can further be enhanced to 0.0220 min−1 with current increasing to 0.16 A. Furthermore, the physical properties of Co3O4 nanosheet cathode are more stable during the reaction at high temperature. Low reaction temperature not only destroys nanosheet structure, but also changes the ratio of Co2+/Co3+ and the numbers of oxygen vacancy and lattice oxygen. Almost 60% TN removal is obtained under 0.16 A at 45 °C, however, most of which is obtained through NH3 escape instead of N2 generation. Adjusting the pH around neutral condition during the reaction can effectively fix NH3 in solution. The NH3 can then be oxidized to N2 in the presence of certain amount of Cl−.

Ammonia oxidation was essential in nitrogen recycle, and electrochemical oxidation with artificial, none-noble, robust, high selective ammonia oxidation catalyst was quite attractive while bimetallic Ni-Cu hydroxide, NixCu1-x hydroxide, is known to be a quite reactive ammonia oxidation catalyst by previous work. Here we identify the role of Cu site in Ni-Cu hydroxide/oxyhydroxide for its electrochemical oxidation of ammonia. CV and Tafel results revealed that the ammonia oxidation was catalyzed by NiOOH at high onset potential (1.52 V vs. RHE), which was high activity, while the doping of Cu site lowered the onset potential to 1.40 V and achieved a lower Tafel slope. EIS results revealed a large resistance on Cu(OH)2 while NiOOH was proved much more conductive for electron transfer. The in-situ FTIR further revealed that the ammonia oxidation on Cu(OH)2 follows -N intermediate oxidation mechanism with a detection of the nitrite formation on Cu(OH)2. This route was totally different from that on NiOOH which follows -N2Hy intermediate dehydrogenation mechanism. The performance on Ni0.8Cu0.2 hydroxide/oxyhydroxide was proved with confidence robust and high selective during long-time electrolysis experiments. 98% of ammonia was electrochemical oxidized into nitrite on Ni0.8Cu0.2 oxyhydroxide at 1.53 V vs. RHE, indicating a very similar route with Cu(OH)2 but even much more robust comparing with that on Cu(OH)2 or NiOOH. The results also suggested that Cu sites were responsible for high selectivity towards nitrite via -N intermediate while Ni sites charged for catalyzing and played a role of electron transfer tunnel on bimetallic Ni-Cu oxyhydroxide during electrochemical ammonia oxidation.

Co3O4 rod and sheet-like films with different crystal facet exposure and Co2+/Co3+ ratio are synthesized on Ti substrate through a facile hydrothermal method with the adjusting of hydrothermal pressure and duration. Low pressure and short hydrothermal duration is likely to obtain rod-like film with almost pure (220) facet exposure, while the sheet-like film with the mixture of (220) and (222) facets is formed with relatively high pressure. Moreover, the Co2+/Co3+ ratio is 2.067 for Co3O4 rods and 1.717 for Co3O4 sheets. The FT-IR and the XPS results indicate that the improvement of Co2+/Co3+ ratio possibly results from the doping of CO32−/OH−, and the introduction of oxygen vacancies. The films are employed as cathodes for electrocatalytic NO3−-N reduction. Because of the larger electrochemical active area and the lower internal resistance, better conversion of NO3−-N to NH4+-N is obtained by Co3O4 sheets film at constant voltage condition. However, the results are opposite when the constant current is applied. The larger exposure of (220) facet and the more amount of Co2+ and oxygen vacancies result in the better NO3−-N removal and NH4+-N conversion kinetics of Co3O4 rods film than that of Co3O4 sheets.

A magnetically separable manganese-based spinel ferrite (MFO-LIBs) is synthesized using spent ternary lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) for the first time. The ferrite is used to activate peroxymonosulfate (PMS) for the degradation of bisphenol A (BPA), thus meeting the strategy of “treating waste with waste.” Surprisingly, its degradation activity was 2.8 times that of pure MnFe2O4 (MFO). The characterization of the structure and morphology confirmed that the metals (e.g., Ni and Co) in spent ternary LIBs are doped into MFO, leading to MFO-LIBs with a larger specific surface area (1.3 times that of MFO) and a higher ratio of Mn(II)/Mn(III) (1.4 times that of MFO) and Fe(II)/Fe(III) (1.3 times that of MFO). Electron paramagnetic resonance and quenching experiments confirmed that surface-bound SO4∙-, surface-bound ∙OH, O2∙- and 1 O2 are the main reactive oxygen species (ROS) in BPA degradation. Simultaneously, the improved degradation activity of the MFO-LIBs/PMS system can be ascribed to the increase in the number of ROS rather than the change in ROS types. Its outstanding performance can be maintained despite the high-salinity conditions (e.g., Cl-, HCO3- and H2PO4-), high content of humic acid and alkaline conditions. MFO-LIBs can be easily separated in the presence of an external magnetic field and has excellent universality (toward bisphenol F, 2,4-dichlorophenol and 2,4,6-trichlorophenol) and regeneration ability. More importantly, the cost of BPA degradation in the MFO-LIBs/PMS system is much lower than that of the related spinel ferrite activator/PMS systems (e.g., CoFe2O4/PMS and MnFe2O4/PMS systems).

Catalytic hydrogenation of CO2 into valuable chemicals, e.g. CH3OH, has been among the greatest concerns for both scientific and industrial communities, due to its crucial role in solving the serious CO2-related problems. In2O3-based composite catalysts have attracted great attentions due to their outstanding activity, selectivity and stability towards CO2 hydrogenation, in both thermocatalysis and photocatalysis. The present review summarizes the recent progress on In2O3-based composite catalysts for boosting CO2 hydrogenation. Strategies for improving the performance of In2O3-based composite catalysts are discussed. Hydrogenation mechanisms of CO2 on In2O3-based composite catalysts are analyzed. Future research opportunities and challenges are shown at the end of this review. The present review will stimulate more deep insights on In2O3-based composite catalysts for achieving more efficient CO2 conversion.

Recently, monkeypox has become a global concern amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Monkeypox is an acute rash zoonosis caused by the monkeypox virus, which was previously concentrated in Africa. The re-emergence of this pathogen seems unusual on account of outbreaks in multiple nonendemic countries and the incline to spread from person to person. We need to revisit this virus to prevent the epidemic from getting worse. In this review, we comprehensively summarize studies on monkeypox, including its epidemiology, biological characteristics, pathogenesis, and clinical characteristics, as well as therapeutics and vaccines, highlighting its unusual outbreak attributed to the transformation of transmission. We also analyze the present situation and put forward countermeasures from both clinical and scientific research to address it.

Circularly polarized (CP) electroluminescence from organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) has aroused considerable attention for their potential in future display and photonic technologies. The development of CP-OLEDs relies largely on chiral-emitters, which not only remain rare owing to difficulties in design and synthesis but also limit the performance of electroluminescence. When the polarization (pseudospin) degrees of freedom of a photon interact with its orbital angular momentum, photonic spin-orbit interaction (SOI) emerges such as Rashba-Dresselhaus (RD) effect. Here, we demonstrate a chiral-emitter-free microcavity CP-OLED with a high dissymmetry factor (gEL) and high luminance by embedding a thin two-dimensional organic single crystal (2D-OSC) between two silver layers which serve as two metallic mirrors forming a microcavity and meanwhile also as two electrodes in an OLED architecture. In the presence of the RD effect, the SOIs in the birefringent 2D-OSC microcavity result in a controllable spin-splitting with CP dispersions. Thanks to the high emission efficiency and high carrier mobility of the OSC, chiral-emitter-free CP-OLEDs have been demonstrated exhibiting a high gEL of 1.1 and a maximum luminance of about 60000 cd/m2, which places our device among the best performing CP-OLEDs. This strategy opens an avenue for practical applications towards on-chip microcavity CP-OLEDs.

In this work, a series of manganese-based multi oxide (Mn3O4-Fe2O3) was in-situ synthesized using K2FeO4 and MnSO4 as the precursor via one-step hydrothermal method. Catalytic evaluation shows that Mn3O4-Fe2O3-Ni performs the best activity among the prepared catalysts. T90% and T50% of toluene conversion on Mn3O4-Fe2O3-Ni are 257 and 223 °C, respectively, which are 59 and 28 °C lower than those of Mn3O4-Fe2O3-140. XRD analysis proves that the prepared catalysts are composed of Mn3O4 and Fe2O3; N2-BET indicates that Mn3O4-Fe2O3-Ni has a higher specific surface area; HRTEM analysis implies that the (1 0 3) and (1 1 2) of Mn3O4 (PDF #18–0803) crystal planes are exposed on Mn3O4-Fe2O3-140 and Mn3O4-Fe2O3-Ni, respectively, implying that the introduction of Ni can result in the change of exposed plane. Raman, XPS and O2-TPD analysis implies that there are abundant lattice defects and abundant surface adsorbed oxygen. DFT calculations suggests that the oxygen vacancies are more likely to be formed on the (1 1 2) plane in Mn3O4-Fe2O3-Ni than that of (1 0 3) plane in Mn3O4-Fe2O3-140, which is consistent with the analysis result of Raman spectra and O2-TPD. At last, the possible degradation route of toluene oxidation on Mn3O4-Fe2O3-Ni is induced.

Filamentous carbons were prepared by the catalytic pyrolysis of CH4 over the nickel supported catalysts, and their structure and reactivity were studied by using SEM, TEM, Raman spectroscopy, TPH, TPO and TPCO2. The catalysts were prepared by impregnation of SiO2 with Ni(NO3)2·6H2O or Ni(acac)2 and are denoted as Ni/SiO2-N and Ni/SiO2-A, respectively. There was observed an optimum temperature around 600 °C for the formation of filamentous carbons on both catalysts; the amount and the diameter of filamentous carbons formed on the catalyst depended on the preparation method of the catalysts. TEM observation showed that the size of Ni metal particles was <10 nm on Ni/SiO2-A and between 10 and 50 nm on Ni/SiO2-N. The carbon/Ni atomic ratio after the pyrolysis was much larger on Ni/SiO2-N than on Ni/SiO2-A, and the diameter of filamentous carbons is smaller by ca. 10 nm on Ni/SiO2-A than on Ni/SiO2-N. Raman spectroscopy also showed the smaller size of carbon on Ni/SiO2-A than on Ni/SiO2-N. According to the results obtained by TPO, TPH and TPCO2 of the carbon species after the pyrolysis of CH4 at 600 °C, the carbon deposited on Ni/SiO2-A is more reactive to oxygen, hydrogen and carbon dioxide than that deposited on Ni/SiO2-N.

Parkinson's disease is a neurodegenerative disorder of uncertain pathogenesis characterized by a loss of dopaminergic neurons in substantia nigra pars compacta, and can be modeled by the neurotoxin 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1, 2, 3, 6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP). Oxidative stress may contribute to MPTP- and Parkinson's disease-related neurodegeneration. Fucoidan is a sulfated polysaccharide extracted from brown seaweeds which possesses a wide variety of biological activities including potent antioxidative effects. Here we investigated the effect of fucoidan treatment on locomoter activities of animals, striatal dopamine and its metabolites and survival of nigral dopaminergic neurons in MPTP-induced animal model of Parkinsonism in C57/BL mice in vivo and on the neuronal damage induced by 1-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium (MPP+) in vitro, and to study the possible mechanisms. When administered prior to MPTP, fucoidan reduced behavioral deficits, increased striatal dopamine and its metabolites levels, reduced cell death, and led to a marked increase in tyrosine hydroxylase expression relative to mice treated with MPTP alone. Furthermore, we found that fucoidan inhibited MPTP-induced lipid peroxidation and reduction of antioxidant enzyme activity. In addition, pre-treatment with fucoidan significantly protected against MPP+-induced damage in MN9D cells. Taken together, these findings suggest that fucoidan has protective effect in MPTP-induced neurotoxicity in this model of Parkinson's disease via its antioxidative activity.

<h3>Objective:</h3> To examine the association between internet addiction and self-injurious behaviour (SIB) in adolescence. <h3>Methods:</h3> Population-based cross-sectional survey of 1618 high school students aged 13–18 years in Guangzhou city, Guangdong Province, PR China. Deliberate SIB was measured using self-reported questionnaire; internet addiction was assessed using the Internet Addiction Test (IAT). <h3>Results:</h3> 263 (16.3%) participants reported having committed some form of SIB in the past 6 months. 73 (4.5%) had committed SIB 6 times or more, and 157 (9.7%) 1–5 times. The majority of respondents were classified as normal users of the internet (n = 1392, 89.2%), with 158 (10.2%) moderately and 10 (0.6%) severely addicted to the internet. After adjusting for potential confounders, the odds ratio for SIB was 2.0 (95% CI 1.1 to 3.7) for those who were classified as moderately and severely addicted to the internet when compared to the normal group. <h3>Conclusions:</h3> SIB is common in adolescence in the study population in China. Addiction to the internet is detrimental to mental health and increases the risk of self-injury among adolescents. Clinicians need to be aware of potential co-morbidities of other addictions among adolescent self-injured patients.

The one-step oxidation of benzene to phenol with nitrous oxide has been studied over a variety of Fe/MFI catalysts at 400 and 450 °C. The turnover frequency (TOF) is found to strongly increase with decreasing Fe loading in accordance with the model of mononuclear Fe sites. The TOF is highest for steamed H-MFI catalysts with an iron impurity of Fe/Al =0.014. A large increase in phenol yield upon steaming H-MFI at 650 °C indicates that Fe ions are transferred from lattice to extralattice positions. Treating such catalysts with H2S results in a dramatic decrease of the selectivity to phenol, proving the crucial role of Fe ions. A small residual activity for phenol formation after sulfidation could indicate a different reaction path of low rate or regeneration of Fe sites by oxidation of sulfide groups. In general, three types of Fe sites have been identified in Fe/MFI catalysts: (1) mononuclear Fe, catalyzing phenol formation, (2) dinuclear, oxygen-bridged Fe oxo-ions, catalyzing NOx reduction, and (3) Fe oxide nanoparticles, catalyzing deep oxidation.

A TiO2/Ti rotating disk photoelectrocatalytic (PEC) reactor has been developed and successfully applied to degrade Rhodamine B (RB) and other dyes in textile effluents. The innovative concept behind the reactor design is to simultaneously perform two processes on one electrode. These two processes are (1) highly effective thin-film PEC, in which the upper half of the round disk photoanode was coated with a thin layer of wastewater and exposed to UV radiation in air; and (2) the conventional PEC, in which the other half of the disk was immersed in bulk wastewater and irradiated by the same light source. The average aqueous film thickness was about 75 µm. The disk electrode was kept rotating at 90 rpm to continuously refresh the thin aqueous film for the upper side of the electrode and to promote the mass transfer of the target pollutants and the degradation products on the lower part of the disk. Using 20–150 mg L−1 RB solutions as a model system, thin-film PEC removed total color and total organic carbon (TOC) by 27–84% and 7–48%, respectively, within 1 h, much higher than 3–55% and 0–30% removal by conventional PEC under the same treatment conditions. Results also suggest that the thin-film process was especially superior for treating high concentration solutions. Application of the rotating disk PEC reactor in industrial textile effluents showed a satisfactory result. The recycle experiments demonstrated excellent stability and reliability of the rotating disk PEC electrode. This study proposed a new concept for designing a PEC reactor applicable to industrial wastewater treatment.

A seepage carbon nanotube electrode (SCNE) reactor was designed in order to facilitate contaminant mass transfer from bulk solution to the electrode surface, therefore to break the high cost bottleneck of electrochemical wastewater treatment. The innovative concept behind the reactor design is that the overall mass transfer would be significantly improved via contaminant migration through the porous carbon nanotube electrode. It was found out that the surface diffusivity Ds,i in the external film was the controlling coefficient for electrochemical treatment, and the proposed process could improve the overall mass transfer coefficient by 116−161% compared with conventional electrochemical reactors under the same conditions. The research also showed that the current efficiency of the SCNE reactor was 340−519% higher than that of conventional reactors, and the energy consumption to mineralize the same amount of organics was only 16.5−22.3% of the conventional reactors. Also, the influences of potential, pH, and electrolyte concentration were investigated to optimize the operating parameters for the SCNE reactor. These results show that the SCNT reactor is promising because of its energy efficiency and has potential for application in wastewater treatment.

Purpose Multiple myeloma (MM) is an incurable plasma-cell neoplasm for which most treatments involve a therapeutic agent combined with dexamethasone. The preclinical combination of lenalidomide with the mTOR inhibitor CCI-779 has displayed synergy in vitro and represents a novel combination in MM. Patients and Methods A phase I clinical trial was initiated for patients with relapsed myeloma with administration of oral lenalidomide on days 1 to 21 and CCI-779 intravenously once per week during a 28-day cycle. Pharmacokinetic data for both agents were obtained, and in vitro transport and uptake studies were conducted to evaluate potential drug-drug interactions. Results Twenty-one patients were treated with 15 to 25 mg lenalidomide and 15 to 20 mg CCI-779. The maximum-tolerated dose (MTD) was determined to be 25 mg lenalidomide with 15 mg CCI-779. Pharmacokinetic analysis indicated increased doses of CCI-779 resulted in statistically significant changes in clearance, maximum concentrations, and areas under the concentration-time curves, with constant doses of lenalidomide. Similar and significant changes for CCI-779 pharmacokinetics were also observed with increased lenalidomide doses. Detailed mechanistic interrogation of this pharmacokinetic interaction demonstrated that lenalidomide was an ABCB1 (P-glycoprotein [P-gp]) substrate. Conclusion The MTD of this combination regimen was 25 mg lenalidomide with 15 mg CCI-779, with toxicities of fatigue, neutropenia, and electrolyte wasting. Pharmacokinetic and clinical interactions between lenalidomide and CCI-779 seemed to occur, with in vitro data indicating lenalidomide was an ABCB1 (P-gp) substrate. To our knowledge, this is the first report of a clinically significant P-gp–based drug-drug interaction with lenalidomide.

A comparative study of treating mature landfill leachate with various treatment processes was conducted to investigate whether the method of combined processes of internal micro-electrolysis (IME) without aeration and IME with full aeration in one reactor was an efficient treatment for mature landfill leachate. A specifically designed novel sequencing batch internal micro-electrolysis reactor (SIME) with the latest automation technology was employed in the experiment. Experimental data showed that combined processes obtained a high COD removal efficiency of 73.7 ± 1.3%, which was 15.2% and 24.8% higher than that of the IME with and without aeration, respectively. The SIME reactor also exhibited a COD removal efficiency of 86.1 ± 3.8% to mature landfill leachate in the continuous operation, which is much higher (p<0.05) than that of conventional treatments of electrolysis (22.8-47.0%), coagulation-sedimentation (18.5-22.2%), and the Fenton process (19.9-40.2%), respectively. The innovative concept behind this excellent performance is a combination effect of reductive and oxidative processes of the IME, and the integration electro-coagulation. Optimal operating parameters, including the initial pH, Fe/C mass ratio, air flow rate, and addition of H(2)O(2), were optimized. All results show that the SIME reactor is a promising and efficient technology in treating mature landfill leachate.

Acupuncture practice is based on the theoretical, historical and philosophical principles, which are part of Chinese medicine. Traditional acupuncture practitioners assess their patients’ conditions using Chinese medicine diagnostic techniques, which determine clinical care and treatment. Little is known about differences in the perceptions of research evidence among practitioners in the European Union (EU) and China, given the diversity of acupuncture practice. This study explored differences between practitioners of traditional acupuncture regarding perceived need for research evidence and prioritisation for future clinical trials, based on their practice within the EU and China. A convenience sample of acupuncturists in the EU (contacted by their professional organisation) and China (from geographically dispersed hospitals) were invited to participate in a survey, which was conducted during 2010/2011. Data collected included: practitioners’ demographic details, country of training, practice setting, acupuncture techniques, perceived adverse event reporting, diagnostic methods, conditions commonly treated, conditions perceived as needing more evidence and practitioner perceptions of conditions which could demonstrate benefit if investigated in clinical trials. From 1126 survey responses, 1020 (559 EU, 461 China) could be included in the analysis for direct comparison. A response rate for the EU could not be calculated but for China was 98%. Pain was the most frequently reported commonly treated condition by EU acupuncturists and neurological conditions (mainly stroke) for Chinese practitioners. The top reported priorities for research were obstetrics/gynaecological conditions in the EU and neurological problems in China. The survey identified differences in practice and training between acupuncturists in China and the EU and between EU member states. These differences may inform prioritisation of health conditions for future trials. Innovative research methods are recommended to incorporate the complexity and plurality of acupuncture practice and theory. Creation of collaborative networks is crucial in overcoming these differences to facilitate international, multi-centre clinical trials.

A double hierarchical structured BiOBr film was prepared on Ti substrate through hydrolysis of Bi2O3 film in the presence of Br− and H+. The prepared BiOBr film exhibited much better photocatalytic (PC) activity on Rhodamine B (RhB) degradation than Bi2O3 film in a rotating disk PC reactor. The double hierarchical structure could not only enhance the surface area, but also exhibited strong RhB adsorption capacity and high light utilization efficiency due to multiple reflections of incident light. Due to similar hierarchical structure, BiOCl film was also used to compare the PC activity of BiOBr film. Because the band gap energy of BiOBr (2.5 eV) was narrower than that of BiOCl (3.2 eV), weaker PC activity was obtained for BiOBr film under UV light. However, besides RhB photosensitization degradation, BiOBr could also be excited by part of visible light to generate •OH, resulting in a better RhB removal under visible light. A Pt cathode was further connected to BiOBr/Ti photoanode to establish a rotating disk BiOBr/Ti–Pt photoelectrochemical cell to generate electricity with the degradation of pollutants simultaneously. 0.77 and 0.74 V open-circuit voltage, 0.019 and 0.010 mA cm−2 short-circuit current density were obtained under UV and visible light irradiation, respectively, with 50 mL 5 mg L−1 RhB as “fuel”. The PC activity was also improved due to the efficient separation of electrons and holes. The total current generated was stable but gradually decreased with treatment time due to the consumption of “fuel”.

The decolorization of an azo dye, C.I. Reactive Red 2 was investigated using TiO(2) photocatalysis coupled with water jet cavitation. Experiments were performed in a 4.0 L solution under ultraviolet power of 9 W. The effects of TiO(2) loading, initial dye concentration, solution pH, geometry of cavitation tube, and the addition of anions on the degradation of the dye were evaluated. Degradation of the dye followed a pseudo-first order reaction. The photocatalysis coupled with water jet cavitation elevated degradation of the dye by about 136%, showing a synergistic effect compared to the individual photocatalysis and water jet cavitation. The enhancement of photocatalysis by water jet cavitation could be due to the deagglomeration of catalyst particles as well as the better contact between the catalyst surfaces and the reactants. Venturi tube with smaller diameter and shorter length of throat tube favored the dye decolorization. The degradation efficiency was found to increase with decreasing initial concentration and pH. The presence of NO(3)(-) and SO(4)(2-) enhanced the degradation of RR2, while Cl(-), and especially HCO(3)(-) significantly reduced dye decolorization. The results of this study indicated that the coupled photocatalysis and water jet cavitation is effective in degrading dye in wastewater and provides a promising alternative for treatment of dye wastewater at a large scale.

In this study, we purified and characterized a polysaccharide (SMP-W1) from Salvia miltiorrhiza and investigated its anticancer and immunoregulatory potential in vitro and in vivo. The monosaccharide composition, protein content, uronic acid content, total carbohydrate content, viscosity and molecular weight of SMP-W1 were analyzed. In vitro, SMP-W1 had an antiproliferative effect on hepatocellular carcinoma H22 cells, especially at the high concentration of 400 μg/ml. Simultaneously the polysaccharide SMP-W1 significantly inhibited tumor growth and increased serum superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) activities in rats, as well as the secretion of TNF-α. In addition, the body weight, spleen index and thymus index in tumor-bearing mice were significantly improved by SMP-W1 treatment. Taken together, these results indicated that SMP-W1 possessed strong in vivo and in vitro anti-tumor activity and improves the immune response in tumor-bearing mice. Therefore, it could be developed as an anti-tumor agent with immunomodulatory activity.

Ordered macroporous Bi2O3/TiO2 film coated on a rotating disk was prepared by sol–gel method in the presence of polystyrene (PS) microspheres as a template, which showed spectral response in visible region via Bi2O3 photosensitizing effect and low photoelectron-hole recombination by forming Bi2O3-TiO2 heterojunctions. Meanwhile, the ordered macropores in the Bi2O3/TiO2 film promoted light-harvesting via multiple reflections and also facilitated reactant adsorption owing to the diminished diffusion limit and enhanced surface hydrophilicity. More importantly, the rotating disk could effectively reduce the light shielding on the Bi2O3/TiO2 film photocatalyst, especially in the color solution. As a result, the as-prepared Bi2O3/TiO2 film exhibited high activity in aqueous visible-light-driven photocatalytic degradation of single and mixed dyes or reduction of Cr6+ to Cr3+.

Aberrant mucin secretion and accumulation in the airway lumen are clinical hallmarks associated with various lung diseases such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and cystic fibrosis. Mycoplasma pneumoniae, long appreciated as one of the triggers of acute exacerbations of chronic pulmonary diseases, has recently been reported to promote excessive mucus secretion. However, the mechanism of mucin overproduction induced by M. pneumoniae remains unclear. This study aimed to determine the mechanism by which M. pneumoniae induces mucus hypersecretion by using M. pneumoniae infection of mouse lungs, human primary bronchial epithelial (NHBE) cells cultured at the air-liquid interface, and the conventionally cultured airway epithelial NCI-H292 cell line. We demonstrated that M. pneumoniae induced the expression of mucins MUC5AC and MUC5B by activating the STAT6-STAT3 and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) signal pathways, which in turn downregulated FOXA2, a transcriptional repressor of mucin biosynthesis. The upstream stimuli of these pathways, including interleukin-4 (IL-4), IL-6, and IL-13, increased dramatically upon exposure to M. pneumoniae. Inhibition of the STAT6, STAT3, and EGFR signaling pathways significantly restored the expression of FOXA2 and attenuated the expression of airway mucins MUC5AC and MUC5B. Collectively, these studies demonstrated that M. pneumoniae induces airway mucus hypersecretion by modulating the STAT/EGFR-FOXA2 signaling pathways.

To avoid the potential secondary metal pollution leached from Fenton-like catalysts and use less or no external chemicals supply, we develop an all-carbon based visible light active photo-electro-Fenton-like (PEF) cell to in-situ generate highly active •OH radical for environmental remediation. In this cell, the mesoporous carbon coated graphite felt (MesoC/GF) cathode could effectively produce H2O2 by electrochemical reduction of oxygen. Graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) with visible light photocatalytic activities acts as an efficient metal-free Fenton-catalyst for H2O2 activation to produce •OH radical under visible light irradiation. The different cell parameters such as applied voltage, photocatalysts dosage and pH condition have been investigated for phenol removal in aqueous solution. This metal-free visible light active PEF cell shows excellent mineralization efficiency of stubborn phenol with high stability and its performance of phenol removal efficiency is much higher than that of the g-C3N4 only photocatalysis cell and MesoC/GF only electrolysis cell. Moreover, our PEF cell presents comparable or even better Fenton-catalytic activities than the similar electro-Fenton cell using MesoC/GF and homogeneous Fe2+ ion. These results demonstrate our all-carbon based PEF cell without external chemicals supply is promising for environmental remediation.

A morphology-controlled molten polymerization route was developed to synthesize SmMnO3 (SMO) perovskite catalysts with netlike (SMO-N), granular-like (SMO-G), and bulk (SMO-B) structures. The SMO perovskites were formed directly by a molten polymerization method, and their morphologies were controlled by using the derivative polymers as templates. Among all catalysts, the porous SMO-N exhibited the highest activity, over which the toluene, benzene, and o-xylene were completely oxidized to CO2 at 240, 270, and 300 °C, respectively, which was comparable to that of typical noble-metal catalysts. The apparent activation energies of toluene over SMO-N (56.4 kJ·mol–1) was much lower than that of SMO-G (70.8 kJ·mol–1) and SMO-B (90.1 kJ·mol–1). Based on the results of scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and H2 temperature-programmed reduction characterization, we deduce that the excellent removal efficiency of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) over SMO-N catalyst was attributable to the special structure, high surface Mn4+/Mn3+ and Olatt/Oads molar ratios, and strong reducibility. Due to the high activity, low cost, and simple preparation strategy, the SMO catalyst is a promising catalyst for VOC removal.

A growing body of research has shown that school disconnectedness (low school bonding) is a salient risk factor for internet addiction (IA) among adolescents. However, the mediating and moderating mechanisms linking school disconnectedness to IA are still not well understood. This study examined whether self-esteem mediates the relationship between school disconnectedness and IA, and whether this mediating process is moderated by emotional intelligence. A total of 2758 Chinese adolescents (Mage = 13.53 years, SD = 1.06) completed a series of anonymous questionnaires on demographic variables, school disconnectedness, self-esteem, emotional intelligence, and IA. After controlling for demographic variables, school disconnectedness was found to be positively associated with IA among adolescents. Mediation analysis indicated that self-esteem partially mediated the relationship between school disconnectedness and IA. Moderated mediation analysis further revealed that emotional intelligence moderated the associations between school disconnectedness and adolescent self-esteem and IA. The negative relationship between school disconnectedness and self-esteem and the positive relationship between school disconnectedness and IA were stronger in adolescents with higher levels of emotional intelligence, showing reverse risk-buffering effects. These findings elucidate the role of contextual factors (such as school disconnectedness) and personal factors (such as self-esteem and emotional intelligence) in adolescent IA, and suggest that comprehensive and holistic intervention programs may be promising for reducing IA among adolescents.

Cotton fiber functionalized with tetraethylenepentamine and chitosan (CTPC) was prepared and used as absorbents for the removal of Cu(II), Pb(II) and Cr(III) ions from aqueous solution. The functionalized materials (CTPC) were characterized by SEM/EDX, FTIR, BET and XRD to confirm the characterization and structural changes of fibers before and after the modifying process. The adsorption performance of CTPC was investigated with different pH, contact time and initial concentration of three kinds of metal ions. Results showed that the maximum adsorption capacity was 81.97 mg g−1 for Cu(II), 123.46 mg g−1 for Pb(II) and 72.99 mg g−1 for Cr(III) based on the Langmuir isotherm model at optimal pH (5.0). Adsorption kinetics of CTPC fibers for Cu(II), Pb(II), and Cr(III) ions followed the pseudo-second-order model. The adsorption-desorption experiments demonstrated that CTPC showed better stability, and CTPC would be an effective and practical material for the treatment and recycling of heavy metal ions in the wastewater.

In order to avoid the discharge of deplating wastewater with high concentration of NO3−, an environmental friendly process, consisting of precipitation, electrodeposition and oxidation, is developed in this research for the treatment of real high acidic deplating wastewater containing Ag+, Cu2+, NO3− and chemical oxygen demand (COD). The wastewater is treated by precipitation to remove Ag+, electrodeposition to remove Cu2+, oxidation to reduce COD successively and then reused for deplating plastic plated parts. In precipitation process, 99.9% Ag+ in wastewater is precipitated by HCl and silver metal is then recovered through the replacement of AgCl by iron powder. Because of the high conductivity, Cu2+ in wastewater is then separated and recovered as copper metal on cathode through electrodeposition. The effect of electrodeposition parameters including cathode material, current density, electrode distance, reaction temperature and Cu2+ initial concentration is investigated. Up to 89.3% Cu2+ can be recovered in 80 min at the optimal condition. Finally, the COD is removed from 1360 mg L−1 to 378 mg L−1 in subsequent H2O2 oxidation process to ensure the reuse of water. Because the valuable Ag and Cu metals are recovered and the COD is removed, the wastewater can be reused as deplating solution. The estimated profit of this precipitation-electrodeposition-oxidation process reveals its practical feasibility. Furthermore, the process realizes the cleaner production of the deplating technology because it avoids the discharge of unmanageable wastewater with high NO3− concentration. More importantly, the process can also be improved to treat similar wastewater.

Introduction: Temozolomide (TMZ) is the first-line chemotherapeutic option to treat glioma; however, its efficacy and clinical application are limited by its drug resistance properties.Polo-like kinase 1 (PLK1)-targeted therapy causes G2/M arrest and increases the sensitivity of glioma to TMZ.Therefore, to limit TMZ resistance in glioma, an angiopep-2 (A2)-modified polymeric micelle (A2PEC) embedded with TMZ and a small interfering RNA (siRNA) targeting PLK1 (siPLK1) was developed (TMZ-A2PEC/siPLK).Materials and Methods: TMZ was encapsulated by A2-PEG-PEI-PCL (A2PEC) through the hydrophobic interaction, and siPLK1 was complexed with the TMZ-A2PEC through electrostatic interaction.Then, an angiopep-2 (A2) modified polymeric micelle (A2PEC) embedding TMZ and siRNA targeting polo-like kinase 1 (siPLK1) was developed (TMZ-A2PEC/siPLK).Results: In vitro experiments indicated that TMZ-A2PEC/siPLK effectively enhanced the cellular uptake of TMZ and siPLK1 and resulted in significant cell apoptosis and cytotoxicity of glioma cells.In vivo experiments showed that glioma growth was inhibited, and the survival time of the animals was prolonged remarkably after TMZ-A2PEC/siPLK1 was injected via their tail vein.Discussion: The results demonstrate that the combination of TMZ and siPLK1 in A2PEC could enhance the efficacy of TMZ in treating glioma.

In this work, defect-rich 1 T-MoS2 nanosheets are successfully synthesized by solvothermal method with acetic acid as the templating agent. It is found that changing the concentration of acetic acid can regulate the proportion of 1 T phase and affect the activity of hydrogen evolution. Under the optimum concentration of acetic acid, the overpotential is as low as 136 mV at the current density of 10 mA cm−2 with a Tafel slope at only 45 mV dec−1, which shows an attractive potential for the development of electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution. In addition, the addition of acetic acid prevents the agglomeration of 1 T-MoS2 and thus increases the stability of electrode materials, which is conducive to the long-term hydrogen evolution reaction and cost control. Most importantly, according to comparing several small molecular carboxylic acids, the probable formation mechanism of 1 T-MoS2 nanosheets is proposed.

To examine how and when stress affect individual (i.e., psychological health) and relationship well-being (i.e., marital satisfaction) during the COVID-19 pandemic, the present study used latent profile analysis to identify the typologies of communication and investigated whether the typologies would moderate the associations between stress and individual and relationship well-being in a sample of adults living in China (N = 3,354). Results revealed that (a) stress was negatively associated with psychological health and marital satisfaction during the COVID-19 pandemic and that its effect on psychological health was greater than that on marital satisfaction and (b) four profiles were identified: low communication (10%), moderate communication (43%), positive communication (43%), and contradictory communication (5%). Further, the typologies moderated the effects of stress on psychological health and marital satisfaction, but the patterns of moderation differed in psychological health and marital satisfaction.

The semiconductor phase molybdenum disulfide (2H-MoS2) with poor hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) performance restricts the further improvement of hydrogen production. Herein, an acetic acid coupled structure phase engineering (SPE) strategy is developed to synthesize a homogeneous and orderly cobalt molybdenum composite structure. The resulting CoS2/MoS2 complexes reveal excellent HER activity with a low overpotential of 80, 95, and 135 mV at 10 mA cm−2 in 0.5 M H2SO4, 1 M KOH, and 1 M PBS. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and thermogravimetry mass spectrometry (TGA-MS) results illustrate that acetic acid is successfully coupled at the interface between CoS2 and MoS2. Results from density functional theory demonstrate that the π-π conjunction formed by acetic acid coupling can work as a bridge to help electrons transfer from cobalt to molybdenum. More importantly, the method can be extended to the synthesis of other composite materials with the similar structure.

Active carbon fiber was used as electrodes to treat several simulated dyeing wastewater and factual textile-dyeing wastewater from a textile-dyeing operation at Shanghai. This method was found to be quite effective and highly competitive in contrast with Fenton's reagent. Several operating variables, such as voltage, pH and salt added were studied to ascertain their respective effect on the treatment efficacy. According to the experiment, nearly all the wastewater's chromaticity removals were higher than 90%, with COD removals within ca. 40–80%.

Degradation of 29 dyes by means of an activated carbon fiber (ACF) electrode electrolysis system was performed successfully. Almost all dye solutions tested were decolorized effectively in this ACF electrolysis process. Internal relationships between treatment mechanisms and chemical composition of the dye have been discussed in this paper. Generally, it is shown that higher solubility leads to greater degradation in the process. Dyes with many SO3−, COO−, SO2NH2, OH, hydrophilic groups, and azo linkages are susceptible to reduction. However, dyes with many CO, NH and aromatic groups, and hydrophobic groups, tend to be adsorbed. For dyes with SO3−, COOH and OH groups, if their molecules linearly spread in solution and have a significant tendency to form colloids by hydrogenous bonding, they also tend to be adsorbed and flocculated. Typical dynamic electrolysis of dye Acid Red B, Vat Blue BO and Disperse Red E-4B shows how the two major mechanisms, degradation and adsorption, act differently during treatment. Reduction occurs evenly during treatment. During the dominant adsorption process, after certain amount of iron is generated, colloid precipitation occurs and TOC and color are rapidly removed.

Bone disorders (including osteoporosis, loosening of a prosthesis, and bone infections) are of great concern to the medical community and are difficult to cure. Therapies are available to treat such diseases, but all have drawbacks and are not specifically targeted to the site of disease. Chitosan is widely used in the biomedical community, including for orthopedic applications. The aim of the present study was to coat chitosan onto iron oxide nanoparticles and to determine its effect on the proliferation and differentiation of osteoblasts.Nanoparticles were characterized using transmission electron microscopy, dynamic light scattering, x-ray diffraction, zeta potential, and vibrating sample magnetometry. Uptake of nanoparticles by osteoblasts was studied by transmission electron microscopy and Prussian blue staining. Viability and proliferation of osteoblasts were measured in the presence of uncoated iron oxide magnetic nanoparticles or those coated with chitosan. Lactate dehydrogenase, alkaline phosphatase, total protein synthesis, and extracellular calcium deposition was studied in the presence of the nanoparticles.Chitosan-coated iron oxide nanoparticles enhanced osteoblast proliferation, decreased cell membrane damage, and promoted cell differentiation, as indicated by an increase in alkaline phosphatase and extracellular calcium deposition. Chitosan-coated iron oxide nanoparticles showed good compatibility with osteoblasts.Further research is necessary to optimize magnetic nanoparticles for the treatment of bone disease.

Accumulating evidence indicates that oxidative stress plays a critical role in Parkinson's disease (PD). Our previous work has shown that 100 Hz electro-acupuncture (EA) stimulation at ZUSANLI (ST36) and SANYINJIAO (SP6) protects neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta from 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) toxicity in male C57BL/6 mice, a model of PD. In the present study we administered 100 Hz EA stimulation at the two acupoints to MPTP-lesioned mice for 12 sessions starting from the day prior to the first MPTP injection. We found that in the striatum of MPTP treated mice 100 Hz EA stimulation effectively inhibited the production of hydrogen peroxide and malonaldehyde, and increased glutathione concentration and total superoxide dismutase activity through biochemical methods. However, it decreased glutathione peroxidase activity via biochemical analysis and did not affect the level of 1-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium in the striatum revealed by high performance liquid chromatography with ultraviolet detection. These data suggest that 100 Hz EA stimulation at ST36 and SP6 has antioxidative effects in the MPTP model of PD. This data, along with our previous work, indicates that 100 Hz EA stimulation at ST36 and SP6 protects the nigrostriatal system by multiple mechanisms including antioxidation and antiapoptosis, and suggests that EA stimulation is a promising therapy for treating PD.

TiO2 coated γ-Al2O3 prepared by sol–gel method (SG/γ-Al2O3) were filled in a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) reactor to remove styrene which is a typical VOC with high toxicity and odorous smell. Compared with traditional commercial P25 TiO2 powder coated γ-Al2O3 (P25/γ-Al2O3), TiO2 loading quantity could be controlled with different coating times by sol–gel method. However for P25/γ-Al2O3, the loading quantity was difficult to be increased because P25 would easily fall off when the coating film got thicker. The calcination temperature and coating times were optimized in this research. The results showed that the SG/γ-Al2O3 calcined at 550 °C owned the best catalytic activity and the carbon deposition on catalyst surface could be efficiently reduced with increase of TiO2 loading quantity, while large amount of carbon deposition was observed on P25/γ-Al2O3. Meanwhile O3 decrease efficiency also improved from 18% with P25/γ-Al2O3 to 36% with SG/γ-Al2O3 and less O3 was detected in outlet gas. Other factors like specific input energy (SIE) and oxygen content were also investigated and optimized. When the applied voltage was 12.5 kV, 100% O2 flowed, the selectivity of CO and CO2 could reach 100% and nearly no carbon deposition could be observed on TiO2 surface. Additionally, the formation of by-products, including NOx, in the reaction system and the plausible reaction mechanism of DBD combined with TiO2 catalyst were also detected and discussed.

To enhance the co-benefits of elemental mercury (Hg0) oxidation across the selective catalytic reduction (NH3–SCR) units and to minimize slip ammonia (unreacted reductant) from flue gases, the conception of SCR-Plus was put forwarded and the catalysts were investigated. The SCR-Plus catalysts were prepared by modifying the conventional SCR catalyst with molybdenum (Mo) and ruthenium (Ru) to meet such purposes at relatively high space velocity. It was found the doping of Mo to Ru/SCR catalyst could significantly reduce the demand content of Ru, and the catalyst exhibited outstanding catalytic activity for Hg0 oxidation and more tolerant to the inhibition of SO2 and ammonia, respectively. Meanwhile, the cooperation of Mo and Ru in the SCR catalyst facilitated the abatement of slip ammonia. The Hg0 removal efficiency of the Mo/Ru–SCR catalyst was greater than 99% when approximately 5 ppm of HCl was added to the simulated flue gas. Meanwhile, Deacon reaction evaluation and in situ diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform (DRIFT) technique were performed for the possible reaction mechanisms.

A method combining Na2SO3 assisted electrochemical reduction and direct electrochemical reduction using Fe(II)(EDTA) solution was proposed to simultaneously remove NOx and SO2 from flue gas. Activated carbon was used as catalyst to accelerate the process. This new system features (a) direct conversion of NOx and SO2 to harmless N2 and SO4(2-); (b) fast regeneration of Fe(II)(EDTA); (c) minimum use of chemical reagents; and (d) recovery of the reduction by-product (Na2SO4). Fe(II)(EDTA) solution was continuously recycled and reused during entire process, and no harmful waste was generated. Approximately 99% NOx and 98% SO2 were removed under the optimal condition. The stability test showed that the system operation was reliable.

A novel double-tube dielectric barrier discharge (DDBD) reactor was established by us to degrade styrene. The DDBD reactor contains two discharge zones with one power supply, the outer tube zone with low discharge energy and the inner tube zone with high discharge energy. The gas first flows into the outer tube zone and then flows into the inner tube zone, at last flows out from the inner tube zone. Compared with traditional single-tube dielectric barrier discharge (SDBD) reactor, the DDBD reactor shows the following advantages: (a) the energy utilization efficiency can be improved because the low bond energy groups in styrene can be destroyed first in outer discharge zone by weak discharge energy and the high bond energy groups such as aromatic rings can then be concentrated destroyed in inner discharge zone by high discharge energy; (b) the high mineralization efficiency results in no oil-like byproducts aggregated on the surface of reactor surface; (c) the double dielectric layers are protected from penetration. The diameters of outer and inner tubes were optimized and the DDBD reactor with 25 mm outer tube and 6 mm inner tube exhibited the best styrene mineralization efficiency. Compared with SDBD reactor with the same outer tube diameter, the selectivities of CO and CO2 were improved by 40% with the styrene concentration of 2000 mg m−3 at the applied voltage of 11 kV. Meanwhile there was no any oil-like byproducts observed aggregated on outer tube wall, inner tube outlet and the electrode after 6 h treatment. The applied voltage, oxygen content, discharge length and relative humidity were optimized in this research and the byproducts of O3 and NOx were also detected and discussed.

This work developed an electrochemical reduction system which can effectively scrub NO× from flue gas by using aqueous solution of Fe(II)(EDTA) (ethylenediaminetetraacetate) as absorbent and electrolyte. This new system features (a) complete decomposition of NOX to harmless N2; and (b) fast regeneration of Fe(II)(EDTA) through electrochemical reaction. The Fe(II)(EDTA) solution was recycled and reused continuously during entire process, and no harmful waste was generated. The reaction mechanism was thoroughly investigated by using voltammetric, chromatographic and spectroscopic approaches. The operating conditions of the system were optimized based on NOX removal efficiency. Approximately 98% NO removal was obtained at the optimal condition. The interference of SO2 in flue gas and the system operating stability was also evaluated.

This study is aimed to enhance the stability of walnut oil by microencapsulation using soybean protein isolate (SPI) and maltodextrin (MD) as wall materials. Walnut oil microcapsules were successfully prepared by spray drying method and the encapsulation efficiency (EE) was 72.2% under the optimal conditions. The effects of the wall materials concentrations, the ratio of SPI to MD, and the ratio of oil to wall materials on the EE were examined. The structure of microcapsules was characterized by various physicochemical techniques and it confirmed the walnut oil was successfully microencapsulated. The microencapsulated walnut oil showed lower oxidation values in comparison with unencapsulated oil, highlighting a protective effect of the antioxidant. The results revealed that the oxidation stability of walnut oil was enhanced significantly by microencapsulation. Microcapsules showed good application prospect for walnut oil in food industries.

Ultrasound-induced synthesis of chitosan-modified nano-scale graphene oxide (CS-NGO) hybrid nanosheets, which has great potential pharmaceutical applications, in supercritical CO2 without catalyst was presented for the first time. The preparation process does not require organic solvent and post-processing, and CO2 easily escapes from the product. The morphology and structure of the CS-NGO, characterized using scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, infrared spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and thermogravimetric analysis, confirms that it was combined via the amide linkage, and had excellent dispersibility and stability toward acidic and physiological aqueous solution, which implies that it could be used as a drug-carrier. The sonication power played a crucial role in inducing forming amidation, and the conversion rate increased with the sonication time. The mechanism of this reaction was explained.

To capture both epithelial and mesenchymal subpopulations of CTCs at different metastatic stages of PCa patients, here we constructed a novel dual-antibody-functionalized microfluidic device by employing antibodies against PSMA and EpCAM. In vitro experiments with the dual capture system for capturing both LnCAP and LnCAP-EMT cells have shown significantly enhanced capture efficiency as compared to that of the EpCAM single capture system. Furthermore, the dual capture system could successfully identify CTCs in 20 out of 24 (83.3%) PCa patients, and the CTCs counts from the dual capture system were statistically correlated with the TNM stage of patients ( P < 0.05), while conventional diagnostic methods, such as serum PSA level and Gleason score, failed to correlate to patient TNM stages. To further explore potential clinical application of our dual capture system, captured CTCs were recovered and subjected to qRT-PCR to quantify known factors involved in PCa development and therapy. The results demonstrated that the combined detection of SChLAP1 and PSA in CTCs is a potential marker for identifying patients with metastatic PCa, while detection of AR and PD-L1 in CTCs may have the potential to determine the sensitivity of PCa patients to androgen deprivation therapy and immunotherapy, respectively. Taken together, the dual-antibody-functionalized microfluidic device established in our study overcomes the limitations of some CTC capture platforms that only detect epithelial or mesenchymal CTCs in PCa patients, and detection of the PCa-related RNA signatures from purified CTCs holds great promise to offer warnings for early metastasis of PCa and may provide guidance for therapy decisions.

A novel integrated process of extraction with ionic liquid (IL) and reductive desulfurization by sodium borohydride (NaBH4) was presented for gasoline desulfurization. The factors that influenced desulfurization efficiency were investigated and desulfurization efficiency reached more than 97% for model gasoline and more than 93% for real gasoline. The components of model gasoline after desulfurization were analyzed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) and the reaction routes of model sulfur compounds were proposed. The contents of sulfur, boron and nickel in aqueous solutions were analyzed by Chinese standard method or inductively coupled plasma (ICP). Furthermore, the structures of original and recycled ILs were analyzed by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and the desulfurization performance of recycled ILs was investigated. Results indicated that ILs maintained their original structures after regeneration. Finally, desulfurization kinetics was also probed and results showed that desulfurization reactions of both model sulfur compounds and real gasoline could be treated as pseudo-first-order reactions.

Bioelectrochemical enhanced nitrate removal in wastewater with high total nitrogen and low organic carbon was electrochemically investigated focusing on the relationship between biochemical and electrochemical nitrogen cycles. Under optimized external voltage of −0.6 V, apparent nitrate removal rate of bioelectrochemical denitrification was 76% higher than normal biofilm denitrification. And with the introduction of biofilm on the electrode, new reduction peak of N2O, much larger current density, and 0.4 V positively shift of on-set potential of nitrate reduction reaction were observed, suggesting a synergy of electrochemical reaction and biological reaction through enhanced electrochemical reduction of intermediate products from biological process. Oxygen reduction reaction could not be avoided during nitrogen electrochemical reduction reaction since their similar reduction potential. But it led to decrease of oxygen concentration and therefore contribute to biological denitrification. Bacteria community tests also supported a dominant bacteria which could denitrify and use external electron.

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is well known for its aggressiveness, but the underlying mechanisms are unclear, limiting the treatment. In the present study, we showed that miR-181c, a commonly downregulated miRNA in GBM reported by several miRNA profiles, was associated with the mesenchymal subtype of GBM and predicted the outcome for patients from a GBM cohort (n=518) obtained from The Cancer Genome Atlas database. A multivariate analysis showed that miR-181c was an independent prognostic indicator for GBM patients. Quantitative reverse transcription PCR showed that miR-181c was expressed poorly in neurospheres of glioma cells that resemble glioma stem cells. Proliferation and invasion assays showed that miR-181c also blocked the proliferation and invasion abilities of glioma cells. Limiting dilution and colony formation assays showed that miR-181c attenuated the self-renewal ability of glioma cells. Finally, investigation of the mechanism defined Notch2, a key molecular of Notch signaling, as the functional downstream target of miR-181c. An inverse correlation was found between miR-181c and Notch2 in glioma cells and verified in fresh glioma samples. Taken together, the present study showed that miR-181c can be considered a valuable indicator for the outcome of GBM patients. miR-181c acts as a tumor suppressor that attenuates proliferation, invasion, and self-renewal capacities by downregulation of Notch2 in glioma cells.

Terminally differentiated cells can be generated by lineage reprogramming, which is, however, hindered by incomplete conversion with residual initial cell identity and partial functionality. Here, we demonstrate a new reprogramming strategy by mimicking the natural regeneration route, which permits generating expandable hepatic progenitor cells and functionally competent human hepatocytes. Fibroblasts were first induced into human hepatic progenitor-like cells (hHPLCs), which could robustly expand in vitro and efficiently engraft in vivo. Moreover, hHPLCs could be efficiently induced into mature human hepatocytes (hiHeps) in vitro, whose molecular identity highly resembles primary human hepatocytes (PHHs). Most importantly, hiHeps could be generated in large quantity and were functionally competent to replace PHHs for drug-metabolism estimation, toxicity prediction and hepatitis B virus infection modeling. Our results highlight the advantages of the progenitor stage for successful lineage reprogramming. This strategy is promising for generating other mature human cell types by lineage reprogramming.

The high-efficient electrochemical hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is a promising pathway to provide clean energy. An electrocatalyst was computer-aided designed with Mo isolated single atoms (Mo-ISA) supported on heteroatom S, N-codoped carbon having excellent HER performance. Here, by performing comprehensive density functional theory (DFT) computations, we investigated the influence of the N dopent concentration and the sites of S atom doping on the HER performance. Our computed results demonstrate that the Mo-ISA/N1C and Mo-ISA/S6N1C catalysts possess good stability and high HER reactivity. Moreover, the interactions between hydrogen and the Mo atoms could be controlled by the N dopent concentration on carbon support, and the Mo-ISA/N1C catalyst showed best HER reactivity. In particular, the S atom was introduced into Mo-ISA/N1C at the S6 site showing an enhanced HER performance due to the competitive effect of the S-induced tensile strain and charge transfer. Our DFT computations open up new opportunities for application of S, N-codoped Mo-based high-efficient catalysts for HER.

A growing body of research has documented that interparental conflict is associated with adolescent Internet addiction. However, little is known about the mediating and moderating mechanisms underlying this relation. Based on emotional security theory and diathesis-stress model, the present study examined whether emotional insecurity mediated the relationship between interparental conflict and adolescent Internet addiction, and whether this mediating process was moderated by big five personality traits. Our theoretical model was tested using data collected from 1189 Chinese adolescents (Mage = 14.43 years, SD = 1.41). Participants completed anonymous questionnaires assessing their perceptions of interparental conflict, emotional insecurity, big five personality traits, and Internet addiction. After controlling for demographic variables, interparental conflict was positively associated with adolescent Internet addiction. Mediation analysis indicated that emotional insecurity partially mediated the association between interparental conflict and adolescent Internet addiction. Tests of moderated mediation further revealed that the mediated path was stronger for adolescents with higher neuroticism or extraversion. Results highlight the significance of identifying the mechanisms that moderate the mediated paths between interparental conflict and adolescent Internet addiction.

A highly efficient nanoporous non-doped BiVO4 photoelectrode with high photocurrent and low onset potential for photoelectrochemical water splitting was achieved by using molecular catalyst and amorphous TiO2 stabilization layer. This BiVO4 photoelectrode co-catalyzed by molecular catalyst of Ir-COOH exhibits the photoelectrochemical performance comparable to the limitation values obtained in Na2SO3 sacrifice agent. Interestingly, the BiVO4/Ir-COOH exhibits more efficient interface charge transfer than BiVO4/IrOx as measured by intensity modulated photocurrent spectroscopy (IMPS) and intensity modulated photovoltage spectroscopy (IMVS) although the Ir-COOH molecular catalyst shows much lower electrochemically catalytic activities than the state-of-the-art IrOx nanoparticles for water splitting. The Ir-COOH/BiVO4 was further stabilized by double amorphous TiO2 layers with little impact on charge transfer. In all, it is promising to achieve high efficiency water splitting by using molecular catalysts to co-catalyze nanostructure photoelectrodes with short diffusion length and such system can be stabilized by amorphous TiO2 layer.

The role of social-environmental factors in adolescent problematic Internet use (PIU) has attracted considerable attention recently. Several studies have documented that peer victimization is positively associated with PIU. However, little is known about “how” (i.e., mediation mechanisms) and “under what conditions” (i.e., moderation mechanisms) peer victimization is associated with adolescent PIU. To contribute to this gap in the knowledge, this study used a large sample of Chinese adolescents (N = 2758; Mage = 13.53 years, SD = 1.06) to examine deviant peer affiliation (DPA) as a mediator and family functioning as a moderator in this relationship. Students completed anonymous questionnaires to measure the main variables. After controlling for important covariates related to PIU, the results indicated that (a) peer victimization was positively associated with PIU, (b) DPA partially mediated the link between peer victimization and PIU, and (c) family functioning moderated the association between peer victimization and DPA. Specifically, for adolescents with better family functioning, the relationship between peer victimization and DPA was weaker. The current research deepens our understanding of “how” and “under what conditions” peer victimization is related to PIU in adolescents.

Anaerobic ammonium oxidation (Anammox) was an innovative process for nitrogen removal. In this study, CuO nanoparticles (NPs) was step-wise increasingly added to an MBR-based partial nitrification system, to investigate its feasibility for inducing Anammox and establishing autotrophic nitrogen removal system. Results showed that when CuO NPs was elevated to 5 mg L−1, Anammox was successfully induced. The relative abundance of Nitrosomonas reached 13.73% while Candidatus Kuenenia increased to 4.79% from 0.46%, these two bacteria cooperatively contributed to the autotrophic nitrogen removal and improved the nitrogen removal rate (NRR) to 0.56 kg m-3 d−1 in 20 mg L−1 NPs. However, 50 mg L−1 NPs deeply suppressed the functional bacteria and decreased NRR to 0.14 kg m-3 d−1. Finally, the NPs removal, transformation and adsorption in the system were evaluated. It was concluded that CuO NPs in low concentration (5 mg L−1) was effective for inducing Anammox and contributed to the survival of Anammox bacteria. The mechanism for inducing Anammox was attributed to the aggregation of CuO NPs which enabled the attached growth of AAOB as well as the suitable survival condition supplied by MBR.

Valosin-containing protein (VCP)/p97 is an AAA-ATPase that extracts polyubiquitinated substrates from multimeric macromolecular complexes and biological membranes for proteasomal degradation. During p97-mediated extraction, the substrate is largely deubiquitinated as it is threaded through the p97 central pore. How p97-extracted substrates are targeted to the proteasome with few or no ubiquitins is unknown. Here, we report that p97-extracted membrane proteins undergo a second round of ubiquitination catalyzed by the cytosolic ubiquitin ligase RNF126. RNF126 interacts with transmembrane-domain-specific chaperone BAG6, which captures p97-liberated substrates. RNF126 depletion in cells diminishes the ubiquitination of extracted membrane proteins, slows down their turnover, and dramatically stabilizes otherwise transient intermediates in the cytosol. We reconstitute the reubiquitination of a p97-extracted, misfolded multispanning membrane protein with purified factors. Our results demonstrate that p97-extracted substrates need to rapidly engage ubiquitin ligase-chaperone pairs that rebuild the ubiquitin signal for proteasome targeting to prevent harmful accumulation of unfolded intermediates.

In this work, cathode materials of spent lithium-ions manganate batteries are recovered as the precursor of manganese-based oxides catalysts and furthermore, different amount of Fe, Bi, Ce are introduced to modify their properties. A series of MnOx(MS)-X Fe, MnOx(MS)-X Bi and MnOx(MS)-X Ce samples with crystal phase of Mn5O8 are synthesized using combustion method and then the catalytic behavior and physicochemical properties of prepared catalysts are investigated. Compared to binary MnOx-5% Fe, MnOx-15% Bi and MnOx-10% Ce samples, multi MnOx(MS)-5% Fe, MnOx(MS)-15 Bi and MnOx(MS)-10% Ce catalysts display enhanced catalytic performance significantly in the removal of oxygenated VOC, which could be attributed to larger specific surface area, higher concentration of surface active oxygen species and Mn4+ ions and better reducibility at low temperature. In-situ DRIFTS results imply that main oxygen-containing functional groups such as carbonyl (-C=O), carboxyl (-COO), hydroxyl (-OH) can be observed during VOC oxidation and by comparison, it can be found that gas-phase O2 plays a crucial role in facilitating the further oxidation of by-products into CO2. In addition, TD/GC–MS results point out that the main by-products are formaldehyde; 2-propanol, 1-methoxy-; ethanol, 2-methoxy-, acetate; 2-ethoxyethyl acetate; acetic acid during VOC oxidation.

Glioma is the most aggressive primary malignant brain tumor.

Adsorption is a simple and efficient way for arsenic contamination purification in water, with a pressing challenge to find a cheap and efficient adsorbent. As a poorly crystalline Fe(III)-oxyhydroxy sulfate mineral, schwertmannite can be As(V) adsorbent because of its tunnel structure and low cost. However, the schwertmannite synthesized commonly by H2O2 rapid oxidation suffers from the low Fe utilization and limited As(V) adsorption capacity. In this research, the schwertmannite is synthesized by KMnO4. The results show that the Fe utilization can be improved from 40% to 56%, with the As(V) adsorption capacities double times better than those synthesized by H2O2 at pH 7 and 2. The As(V) adsorption mechanisms at different pHs and the reason for the improvement of As(V) adsorption capacity are thoroughly investigated. The FTIR and EDS images confirm that As(V) adsorption exchange with SO42− is the dominant mechanism at pH 7 and 2. At pH 11, the As(V) is mainly removed by surface complexation because the surface SO42− is exchanged by OH−. The intraparticle diffusion model fitting and XPS results further reveal that the tunnel structure built by Fe–SO4 in the KMnO4 oxidized schwertmannite is more stable, possibly resulting in the better As(V) adsorption performance.

Due to the sustainable use of wastes, cathode materials of spent lithium-ion batteries are recovered and used as transition metal precursors to prepare metal oxides catalysts for the oxidation of VOCs. In this work, a series of manganese-based and cobalt-based metal oxides are synthesized via different preparation methods. Catalytic activities of the catalysts prepared are investigated through complete oxidation of oxygenated VOCs and the physicochemical properties of optimum samples are characterized. Evaluation results indicate that MnOx (SY) (HT) sample prepared via hydrothermal method and CoOx (GS) (CP) synthesized via co-precipitation method had better performance, because they have higher specific surface area, higher concentration of active oxygen species and high-valence metal ion, as well as better low-temperature reducibility compared to the other multi-metal oxides used in the study. In addition, TD/GC-MS results imply that further oxidation of by-products requires high reaction temperature during VOCs oxidation.

Abstract Despite considerable efforts in the detection and treatment of gastric cancer (GC), the underlying mechanism of the progression of GC remains unknown. Our previous work has demonstrated the remarkable role of Runt‐related transcription factor 2 (RUNX2), in fueling the invasion and metastasis of GC. The present study aimed to elucidate the role of RUNX2 in tumorigenesis of GC. We assessed Runx2 expression and its clinical significance via bioinformatic analysis of the Cancer Genome Atlas and Gene Expression Omnibus databases. Roles for Runx2 in self‐renewal and tumorigenesis were examined in vitro and in vivo. Further bioinformatic analysis was applied to study the mechanism of GC progression. We found that Runx2 was highly expressed in the early stage of GC and positively correlated with a poor clinical outcome of patients. Runx2 was also significantly correlated with clinicopathological features, such as Hp infection, new neoplastic events, primary therapeutic outcome, ethnicity, race, and tumor stage. Multivariate analysis revealed that together with Runx2, age, cancer status, M stage, and T stage were independent prognostic factors for the outcome of GC patients. RUNX2 overexpression induced increased anchorage‐independent colony formation, sphere formation, and tumorigenesis in GC cells in vitro and in vivo. Mechanistically, bioinformatic analysis indicated that yes1 associated transcriptional regulator (YAP1) might be a downstream target of RUNX2. Specific knockdown of YAP1 reduced the tumor‐initiating ability of GC cells induced by ectopic Runx2 expression. Our findings support the hypothesis that RUNX2 exerts oncogenic properties via YAP1 regulation, highlighting essential roles for RUNX2 and YAP1 in gastric carcinogenesis and suggesting potential therapeutic targets.

With the rapid development of electric energy storage, more and more attention has been paid to the accurate construction of energy storage lithium-ion battery (LIB) model and the efficient monitoring of battery states. Based on this requirement, a simulated annealing-back propagation (SA-BP) model is proposed, and the long-term state of health (SOH) of LIBs can be estimated online by combining with the battery single particle (SP) model. Among them, simulated annealing (SA) algorithm is used to optimize the initial parameters of back propagation (BP) network. In order to improve the identification efficiency and avoid the local optimization, the nonlinear decreasing step-bacterial foraging optimization (NDS-BFO) algorithm is introduced into the parameter identification process. On the basis of adopting the SOH sequence as the output of the SA-BP model, two electrochemical parameter sequences are used as the input of the model for training and testing. In addition, in this paper, the contributions in terms of the SOH estimation task mainly include two aspects. Firstly, the SOH estimation results can provide suggestions for the timely replacement of batteries in actual energy storage power stations. Secondly, the electrochemical parameters identified before SOH estimation are strongly related to the quality of the LIB. Therefore, they can provide references for the economy of LIBs. At 25 °C, the accuracy of the SP model is verified under three different working conditions. Degradation experiments are carried out under a constant current condition and a self-designed energy storage condition. The experimental results show that, under the 0.5 rate constant current condition, the root mean square error (RMSE), mean absolute error (MAE) and mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) of the long-term SOH estimation result are 0.42 %, 0.34 % and 0.38, respectively. And under the self-designed energy storage condition, the RMSE, MAE and MAPE of the result are 0.33 %, 0.26 % and 0.29, respectively. Under the same working condition, the SOH estimation results have a significant improvement in various performance evaluation indicators. The improved algorithm provides theoretical and experimental basis for the reliability of energy storage battery monitoring.