Existing coating systems for preparing superamphiphobic surfaces are predominantly confined to small‐scale uses due to the heavy use of organic solvents. Waterborne coating treatment is highly ...desirable for the high safety, low cost, and nonenvironmental impact, but it remains difficult to develop due to the problems in forming durable, homogeneous coating from an aqueous dispersion of amphiphobic substances. In this study, the authors have proved that lyophobic nanoparticles, fluorinated alkyl silane (FAS), and fluorocarbon surfactant can form a stable dispersion in water, suitable for preparing durable superamphiphobic surfaces on various solid substrates. A series of substrates including fabrics, sponge, wood, glass, and metal, after being coated with this ternary coating system, shows superamphiphobicity with low contact angle hysteresis. The coating is durable enough against physical abrasion, repeated washing, boiling in water, and strong acid/base attacks. Benefiting from FAS, the coating also has a self‐healing ability against both physical and chemical damages. The unexpected stability of the ternary dispersion is a result of the synergistic interaction of the three ingredients. Results from this study may promote the wide development of safe and cost‐efficient superamphiphobic techniques for diverse applications.
A waterborne coating system consisting of lyophobic nanoparticles, fluorinated alkyl silane, and fluorocarbon surfactant is developed to make various substrates having a superamphiphobic surface with low contact angle hysteresis. The coating is durable against physical abrasion, repeated washing, boiling in water, and strong acid/base attacks. It also has a self‐healing ability against both physical and chemical damages.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
Magnesium (Mg)-deficiency is one of the most prevalent physiological disorders causing a reduction in Citrus yield and quality. 'Xuegan' (Citrus sinensis) seedlings were irrigated for 16 weeks with ...nutrient solution containing 2 mM (Mg-sufficiency) or 0 mM (Mg-deficiency) Mg(NO
)
. Thereafter, we investigated the Mg-deficient effects on gas exchange and chlorophyll a fluorescence in the upper and lower leaves, and Mg, reactive oxygen species (ROS) and methylglyoxal (MG) metabolisms in the roots, lower and upper leaves. The specific objectives were to corroborate the hypothesis that the responses of ROS and MG metabolisms to Mg-deficiency were greater in the lower leaves than those in the upper leaves, and different between the leaves and roots.
Mg level was higher in the Mg-deficient upper leaves than that in the Mg-deficient lower leaves. This might be responsible for the Mg-deficiency-induced larger alterations of all the measured parameters in the lower leaves than those in the upper leaves, but they showed similar change patterns between the Mg-deficient lower and upper leaves. Accordingly, Mg-deficiency increased greatly their differences between the lower and upper leaves. Most of parameters involved in ROS and MG metabolisms had similar variation trends and degrees between the Mg-deficient lower leaves and roots, but several parameters (namely glutathione S-transferase, sulfite reductase, ascorbate and dehydroascorbate) displayed the opposite variation trends. Obviously, differences existed in the Mg-deficiency-induced alterations of ROS and MG metabolisms between the lower leaves and roots. Although the activities of most antioxidant and sulfur metabolism-related enzymes and glyoxalase I and the level of reduced glutathione in the Mg-deficient leaves and roots and the level of ascorbate in the leaves were kept in higher levels, the levels of malonaldehyde and MG and/or electrolyte leakage were increased in the Mg-deficient lower and upper leaves and roots, especially in the Mg-deficient lower leaves and roots.
The ROS and MG detoxification systems as a whole did not provide sufficient detoxification capacity to prevent the Mg-deficiency-induced production and accumulation of ROS and MG, thus leading to lipid peroxidation and the loss of plasma membrane integrity, especially in the lower leaves and roots.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) performs a good clinical practice and is showing a bright future in the treatment of diabetes mellitus (DM). TCM treatment has certain advantages of less toxicity ...and/or side effects, and herbs could provide multiple therapeutic effects. Berberine (BBR) is a classical natural medicine. In this review, we summarize the application of BBR in the treatment of DM from two aspects. First, modern pharmacological effects of BBR on glucose metabolism are summarized, such as improving insulin resistance, promoting insulin secretion, inhibiting gluconeogenesis in liver, stimulating glycolysis in peripheral tissue cells, modulating gut microbiota, reducing intestinal absorption of glucose, and regulating lipid metabolism. BBR is used to treat diabetic nephropathy (DPN), diabetic neuropathy (DN), and diabetic cardiomyopathy due to its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities. Second, the clinical application of BBR is reviewed, such as listing some clinical trials on the effectiveness and safety of BBR, explaining applicable stage and syndrome, the reasonable dose and dose formulation, and the toxicity and/or side effects. This review provides scientific evidence about BBR, as well as introducing some traditional Chinese medical theory and clinical experience, in order to guide clinician to use BBR more suitably and reasonably.
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FZAB, GIS, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
Understanding the difference in genetic regulation of gene expression between brain and blood is important for discovering genes for brain-related traits and disorders. Here, we estimate the ...correlation of genetic effects at the top-associated cis-expression or -DNA methylation (DNAm) quantitative trait loci (cis-eQTLs or cis-mQTLs) between brain and blood (r
). Using publicly available data, we find that genetic effects at the top cis-eQTLs or mQTLs are highly correlated between independent brain and blood samples (Formula: see text for cis-eQTLs and Formula: see text for cis-mQTLs). Using meta-analyzed brain cis-eQTL/mQTL data (n = 526 to 1194), we identify 61 genes and 167 DNAm sites associated with four brain-related phenotypes, most of which are a subset of the discoveries (97 genes and 295 DNAm sites) using data from blood with larger sample sizes (n = 1980 to 14,115). Our results demonstrate the gain of power in gene discovery for brain-related phenotypes using blood cis-eQTL/mQTL data with large sample sizes.
The physiological and biochemical mechanisms on boron (B)-induced alleviation of aluminum (B)-toxicity in plants have been examined in some details, but our understanding of the molecular mechanisms ...underlying these processes is very limited. In this study, we first used the cDNA-AFLP to investigate the gene expression patterns in Citrus grandis roots responsive to B and Al interactions, and isolated 100 differentially expressed genes. Results showed that genes related to detoxification of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and aldehydes (i.e., glutathione S-transferase zeta class-like isoform X1, thioredoxin M-type 4, and 2-alkenal reductase (NADP+-dependent)-like), metabolism (i.e., carboxylesterases and lecithin-cholesterol acyltransferase-like 4-like, nicotianamine aminotransferase A-like isoform X3, thiosulfate sulfurtransferase 18-like isoform X1, and FNR, root isozyme 2), cell transport (i.e., non-specific lipid-transfer protein-like protein At2g13820-like and major facilitator superfamily protein), Ca signal and hormone (i.e., calcium-binding protein CML19-like and IAA-amino acid hydrolase ILR1-like 4-like), gene regulation (i.e., Gag-pol polyprotein) and cell wall modification (i.e., glycosyl hydrolase family 10 protein) might play a role in B-induced alleviation of Al-toxicity. Our results are useful not only for our understanding of molecular processes associated with B-induced alleviation of Al-toxicity, but also for obtaining key molecular genes to enhance Al-tolerance of plants in the future.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Pseudomonas aeruginosa represents one of the major opportunistic pathogens, which causes nosocomial infections in immunocompromised individuals. The molecular mechanisms controlling the host immune ...response to P. aeruginosa infections are not completely understood. In our previous study, early growth response 1 (Egr-1) and regulator of calcineurin 1 (RCAN1) were found to positively and negatively regulate the inflammatory responses, respectively, during P. aeruginosa pulmonary infection, and both of them had an impact on activating NF-κB pathway. Herein, we examined the inflammatory responses of Egr-1/RCAN1 double knockout mice using a mouse model of P. aeruginosa acute pneumonia. As a result, the Egr-1/RCAN1 double knockout mice showed reduced production of proinflammatory cytokines (IL-1β, IL-6, TNF and MIP-2), diminished inflammatory cell infiltration and decreased mortality, which were similar to those of Egr-1-deficienct mice but different from those of RCAN1-deficient mice. In vitro studies demonstrated that Egr-1 mRNA transcription preceded RCAN1 isoform 4 (RCAN1.4) mRNA transcription in macrophages, and the macrophages with Egr-1 deficiency exhibited decreased RCAN1.4 mRNA levels upon P. aeruginosa LPS stimulation. Moreover, Egr-1/RCAN1 double-deficient macrophages had reduced NF-κB activation compared to RCAN1-deficient macrophages. Taken together, Egr-1 predominates over RCAN1 in regulating inflammation during P. aeruginosa acute lung infection, which influences RCAN1.4 gene expression.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPUK, ZRSKP
In this study, we report the functionalization of silica nanoparticles with highly photoreactive phenyl azido groups and their utility as a negatively charged building block for layer-by-layer (LbL) ...electrostatic assembly to produce a stable silica nanoparticle coating. Azido-terminated silica nanoparticles were prepared by the functionalization of bare silica nanoparticles with 3-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane followed by the reaction with 4-azidobenzoic acid. The azido functionalization was confirmed by FTIR and XPS. Poly(allylamine hydrochloride) was also grafted with phenyl azido groups and used as photoreactive polycations for LbL assembly. For the photoreactive silica nanoparticle/polycation multilayers, UV irradiation can induce the covalent cross-linking within the multilayers as well as the anchoring of the multilayer film onto the organic substrate, through azido photochemical reactions including C–H insertion/abstraction reactions with surrounding molecules and dimerization of azido groups. Our results show that the stability of the silica nanoparticle/polycation multilayer film was greatly improved after UV irradiation. Combined with a fluoroalkylsilane post-treatment, the photoreactive LbL multilayers were used as a coating for superhydrophobic modification of cotton fabrics. Herein the LbL assembly method enables us to tailor the number of the coated silica nanoparticles through the assembly cycles. The superhydrophobicity of cotton fabrics was durable against acids, bases, and organic solvents, as well as repeated machine wash. Because of the unique azido photochemistry, the approach used here to anchor silica nanoparticles is applicable to almost any organic substrate.
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IJS, KILJ, NUK, PNG, UL, UM
We propose forward variable selection procedures with a stopping rule for feature screening in ultra-high-dimensional quantile regression models. For such very large models, penalized methods do not ...work and some preliminary feature screening is necessary. We demonstrate the desirable theoretical properties of our forward procedures by taking care of uniformity w.r.t. subsets of covariates properly. The necessity of such uniformity is often overlooked in the literature. Our stopping rule suitably incorporates the model size at each stage. We also present the results of simulation studies and a real data application to show their good finite sample performances.
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•A novel α-MnO2 with featured morphology was synthesized by phase transitions from δ-MnO2.•The two kinds of MnO2 show different catalytic activity for the 4-NP degradation in the ...presence of PMS.•Mechanisms were proposed to explain the different catalytic performance of the two types of MnO2.
In this study, a novel α-MnO2 (OMS-2) material with long and uniform nanofibers was synthesized by morphological and phase transitions from δ-MnO2 (OL-1) under a hydrothermal reaction. We systematically investigated the catalytic performances of OMS-2 and OL-1 for the activation of PMS (peroxymonosulfate) to degrade 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) in water. According to the results from Brunauer Emmett Teller (BET), thermo gravimetric analyzer (TGA), H2-temperature programmed reduction (H2-TPR), cyclic voltammetry, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and density-functional theory (DFT) calculation, OMS-2 has a larger BET area, more active sites, better adsorption ability, a faster electron transfer rate, and more multiple valence states of Mn than OL-1. These results also well illustrate OMS-2 has much better catalytic performance than OL-1. The results of the electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) and the radical quantification experiments confirmed that sulfate radicals (SO4−) and hydroxyl radicals (OH) were the main oxidants and OMS-2 has better radical generation capability than OL-1. The LC-MS results indicated that there were two routes for the degradation of 4-NP and the degradation mechanism of 4-NP in the OMS-2/PMS system was similar to that in the OL-1/PMS system. Finally, we proposed the PMS activation mechanism, the formation mechanism of radicals, and the degradation mechanism of 4-NP based on the two different kinds of MnO2 with different morphologies.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Liquid marbles exhibit great potential for use as miniature labs for small‐scale laboratory operations, such as experiment and measurement. While important progress has been made recently in ...exploring their applications as microreactions, “on‐line” measurement of the components inside the liquid still remains a challenge. Herein, it is demonstrated that “on‐line” detection can be realized on magnetic liquid marbles by taking advantage of their unique magnetic opening feature. By partially opening the particle shell, electrochemical measurement is carried out with a miniaturized three‐electrode probe and the application of this technique for quantitative measurement of dopamine is demonstrated. Fully opened magnetic liquid marble makes it feasible to detect the optical absorbance of the liquid in a transmission mode. With this optical method, a glucose assay is demonstrated. Moreover, when magnetic particle shell contains low melting point material, e.g., wax, the liquid marble shows a unique encapsulation ability to form a rigid shell after heating, which facilitates the storage of the non‐volatile ingredients. These unique features, together with the versatile use as microreactors, enable magnetic liquid marbles to function as a miniature lab (or called “lab in a droplet”), which may find applications in clinical diagnostics, biotechnology, chemical synthesis, and analytical chemistry.
“On‐line” quantitative detection of liquid ingridents and biological assays is demonstratred in magnetic liquid marbles using electrochemical and optical approaches. The particle shell of magnetic liquid marbles can be hardened to preserve the samples/reagents when a low melting‐point material is present in the powder shell. These novel features, with the actuation and microreactor characteristics, make magnetic liquid marbles a promising candidate for “lab in a droplet”.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
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