The occurrence and accumulation of microplastics in wildlife and humans have become a serious global scale concern over the last decade. To evaluate the potential toxic effects of PVC (polyvinyl ...chloride) microplastics in freshwater fish larvae, we conducted chronic 30-day and 60-day dietary exposure using Cyprinus carpio var. larvae. We exposed the larvae to four treatments with different microplastic concentrations (10%, 20%, and 30%) using food rationed diets, in conjunction with a non-plastic control. The results indicated that microplastics significantly inhibited weight gain and growth under all PVC treatments, compared to the control group. SOD (superoxide dismutase) and CAT (catalase) activities were analyzed, and an inverse relationship between them was observed. The activities of GPx (glutathione peroxidase) initially ascended and then descended with increased PVC concentrations following 30 days of exposure. A dose dependent downtrend was observed after 60 days of exposure. Malondialdehyde (MDA) levels were significantly reduced upon exposure to different concentrations of microplastics in various tissues. Altered antioxidant-related gene expression was observed in the livers of larvae exposed to the PVC microplastics. The transcription of CYP1A and GSTa initially increased, and then decreased under higher microplastics concentrations following 30 days of exposure. Furthermore, histological studies revealed cytoplasmic vacuolation in the liver under exposure to 20% and 30% microplastics. This investigation provided basic toxicological data toward elucidating and quantifying the impacts of PVC microplastics on freshwater organisms.
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•PVC microplastics inhibited weight gain and body length growth of carp larvae.•Antioxidant activities were altered following PVC microplastics exposure.•PVC microplastics influenced the expression levels of CYP1A, GSTpi, and GSTa.•Histological changes occurred in the livers of fish exposed to PVC microplastics.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
With the development of history, some folk dances are annihilated and lost in the inheritance. In order to protect and inherit national intangible cultural heritage and promote the construction of ...advanced socialist culture, this paper uses information fusion technology, combines national aesthetic personality, and refers to multi-factor theory, construction theory, and distillation theory to design and reform the art practice model of folk dance education. The data of dancers’ skeletal joint points are collected by using multiple Kinect sensors, and the Kalman filter algorithm is selected to establish the human skeletal motion model and fuse the data information of each joint point. Taking the hand_right and elbow_right joints as examples, it was found that the mean value of the error between the testers’ joint trajectory and the template movement was reduced from 10mm to 4mm, and the mean value of the error between the joint angle and the template movement was reduced from 90° to 35°. Comparing the dance movement training effects and scores of the experimental group and the control group, it was found that the experimental group kicked the front and side legs an average of 70 times/minute, the middle jump height was improved by 10cm, and the average score was 3.33 points higher. This indicates that the integration of information fusion technology in the art practice of dance education can realize the practical innovation of college folk dance education and improve the comprehensive level of folk dance.
Among various classes of biomaterials, the majority of non‐centrosymmetric crystalline materials exhibit piezoelectric properties, i.e., the accumulation of charge in response to applied mechanical ...stress or deformation. Due to the growing interest in nanomaterials, piezoelectric nano‐biomaterials have been widely investigated, leading to remarkable advancements throughout the last two decades. Piezoelectric properties, high surface energy, targeting properties, and intricate cell–material interactions render piezoelectric nanomaterials highly attractive for application in therapeutics as well as regenerative medicine. Herein, the major focus is to highlight the wide range of applications of piezoelectric nano‐biomaterials in drug delivery, theranostics, and tissue regeneration. After a brief introduction to piezoelectricity, an overview is provided on the major classes of piezoelectric biomaterials as well as a description of the origin of biopiezoelectricity in different tissues and macromolecules. Subsequently, relevant properties and postfabrication strategies of nanostructured piezoelectric biomaterials are discussed aiming to maximize piezoresponse. Finally, recent studies on nano‐ piezoceramics and piezopolymers are presented, with specific focus on barium titanate, zinc oxide, and polyvinylidene fluoride.
At the nanoscale, piezoelectric biomaterials are highly effective as nanotransducers, therapeutic nanocarriers and promoters of wound healing. Herein, an outlook on the properties, fabrication, and emerging applications of well‐explored piezoelectric nanomaterials is presented. Detailed insights into drug delivery and the regeneration of body tissues such as bone, cartilage, nerve, skin, tendon, ligament, and muscles are provided.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
Aqueous zinc‐ion batteries are largely restricted by the unsatisfactory performance of zinc (Zn) anodes, including their poor stability and irreversibility. In particular, the mechanism behind the ...electrochemical contrast caused by the surface crystal plane, which is a decisive factor of the electrochemical characteristics of the hostless Zn anode, is still relatively indistinct. Hence, new insight into a novel anode with a surface‐preferred (002) crystal plane is provided. The interfacial reaction and morphology evolution are revealed by theoretical analysis and post‐mortem/operando experimental techniques, indicating that Zn anodes with more exposed (002) basal planes exhibit free dendrites, no by‐products, and weak hydrogen evolution, in sharp contrast to the (100) plane. These features benefit the Zn (002) anode by enabling a long cyclic life of more than 500 h and a high average coulombic efficiency of 97.71% for symmetric batteries, along with delivering long cycling stability and reversibility with life spans of over 2000 cycles for full batteries. This work provides new insights into the design of high‐performance Zn anodes for large‐scale energy storage and can potentially be applied to other metal anodes suffering from instability and irreversibility.
A novel stable and reversible Zn anode with surface preferred crystal plane via crystal orientation is reported, revealing the relationship between the surface structure and the interfacial reaction of the Zn anode. Both theoretical and experimental analyses indicate that a Zn anode with more (002) basal plane exposed exhibits free dendrites, no by‐products and weak hydrogen evolution compared to the (100) one.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
A detailed theoretical study on the mechanism of enanthioselective hydrosilylation of imines and ketones catalyzed by the ruthenium(
ii
) thiolate catalyst Ru-S (
L*
-Ru(SDmp)
+
BAr
4
F
−
) with a ...chiral monodentate phosphine ligand is carried out in this work. We elucidate all the pathways leading to the main products or by products mediated by the Ru-S complex in order to have deep understanding of the chemoselectivity and enantioselectivity. The DFT (Density Functional Theory) calculations show that the reaction mechanism including: (1) Si-H bond cleavage by the dual activity of Ru-S bond; (2) the generation of a sulfur-stabilized silane cation; (3) the electrophilic attack of silane cation to N&z.dbd;C/O&z.dbd;C; (4) hydrogen transfer from Ru to carbon cation. The hydrosilylation products are found to be the final products rather than the dehydrogenative ones, which is consistent with the experimental results. The dehydrogenative silylation reaction pathways which give N- or O-silylated enamine/enol ether are reversible according to our calculations. The computational results also show that the electrophilic attack of silicon to N&z.dbd;C/O&z.dbd;C is the rate-determining step and the ee value can be improved significantly with more bulky model phosphine ligand based on the same calculation methods.
A detailed theoretical study on the mechanism of enanthioselective hydrosilylation of imines and ketones catalyzed by the ruthenium(
ii
) thiolate catalyst with a chiral monodentate phosphine ligand is carried out in this work.
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IJS, KILJ, NUK, UL, UM, UPUK
Plant cells are totipotent and competent to regenerate from differentiated organs. It has been known for six decades that cytokinin-rich medium induces shoot regeneration from callus cells. However, ...the underlying molecular mechanism remains elusive. The homeodomain transcription factor WUSCHEL (WUS) is essential for de novo establishment of the shoot stem cell niche in
We found that WUS-positive (WUS
) cells mark the shoot progenitor region during regeneration. A cytokinin-rich environment initially promotes the removal of the repressive histone mark H3K27me3 at the
locus in a cell cycle-dependent manner. Subsequently, the B-type ARABIDOPSIS RESPONSE REGULATORs (ARRs) ARR1, ARR2, ARR10, and ARR12, which function as transcriptional activators in the cytokinin signaling pathway, spatially activate
expression through binding with microRNA165/6-targeted HD-ZIP III transcription factors. Thus, our results provide important insights into the molecular framework for cytokinin-directed shoot regeneration and reveal a two-step mechanism for de novo activation of
.
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BFBNIB, NMLJ, NUK, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
Patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) have higher rates of depression. However, the mechanism of depression development remains unclear. The improvements of EPA and DHA on dextran sulfate sodium ...(DSS)-induced UC have been verified. Therefore, the present study mainly focused on the effects of EPA and DHA on UC-induced depression in C57BL/6 mice and the possible mechanisms involved. A forced swimming test and tail suspension experiment showed that EPA and DHA significantly improved DSS-induced depressive-like behavior. Further analysis demonstrated that EPA and DHA could significantly suppress the inflammation response of the gut and brain by regulating the NLRP3/ASC signal pathway. Moreover, intestine and brain barriers were maintained by enhancing ZO-1 and occludin expression. In addition, EPA and DHA also increased the serotonin (5-HT) concentration and synaptic proteins. Interestingly, EPA and DHA treatments increased the proportion of dominant bacteria, alpha diversity, and beta diversity. In conclusion, oral administration of EPA and DHA alleviated UC-induced depressive-like behavior in mice by modulating the inflammation, maintaining the mucosal and brain barriers, suppressing neuronal damage and reverting microbiota changes.
Scope
Recent studies have shown that omega‐3 PUFAs enriched phospholipids (n‐3 PUFA‐PLs) have beneficial effects on memory and cognition. However, most reports only attribute the benefit to ...docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and pay little attention to eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA).
Methods and results
We investigate the effect of EPA‐enriched phospholipids on cognitive deficiency in senescence‐accelerated prone 8 (SAMP8) mouse. Ten‐month‐old SAMP8 mice are fed with 2% (w/w) EPA‐enriched phosphatidylcholine/phosphatidyl ethanolamine (EPA‐PC/PE; EPA:DHA = 46.8:3.01) or 2% EPA‐enriched phosphatidylserine (EPA‐PS; biosynthesized from EPA‐PC/PE) for 8 weeks; we then test the behavioral performances in the Barnes maze test and Morris maze test; the changes of oxidative stress, apoptosis, neurotrophic factors, tau phosphorylation, and Aβ pathology are also measured. The results of behavior tests indicate that both EPA‐PC/PE and EPA‐PS significantly improve memory and cognitive deficiency. It is found that remarkable amelioration of oxidative stress and apoptosis occurs in both EPA‐PC/PE and EPA‐PS groups. EPA‐PS shows more ameliorative effects than EPA‐PC/PE on neurotrophic activity by decreasing hyper‐phosphorylation of tau and depressing the generation and accumulation of β‐amyloid peptide (Aβ).
Conclusion
These data suggest that EPA‐PS exhibits better effects than EPA‐PC/PE on ameliorating memory and cognitive function, which might be attributed to the phospholipid polar groups.
Dietary supplementation of EPA‐PC/PE and EPA‐PS can ameliorate cognitive deficiency in aged SAMP8 mice. Further investigation suggests that both EPA‐PC/PE and EPA‐PS can depress oxidative stress and alleviate the apoptosis in hippocampus. Moreover, EPA‐PS presents more notable benefits than EPA‐PC/PE on neurotrophic factors, tau pathology, and improving the generation and accumulation of Aβ.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
Layered double hydroxide (LDH) is potentially excellent supercapacitor (SC) materials, but the low conductivity and easy agglomeration limit the further improvement of their electrochemical ...properties. Therefore, LDHs are requisite to grow on some conductive substrates to produce high-performance SC. In this paper, the conductive two-dimensional (2D) transition metal carbides, nitrides and carbonitrides (called MXene) were explored as the substrate to directly deposit NiFe-LDH nanosheets by a one-step hydrothermal method, then a three-dimensional (3D) porous NiFe-LDH/MXene electrode was obtained. The morphology and electrochemical performance of the composite electrodes were analyzed and investigated. The results show that the NiFe-LDH/MXene electrode has larger specific capacitance (720.2 F/g) than NiFe-LDH (465 F/g), and the capacitance of the composite electrode retained 86% after 1000 cycles (only 24% for NiFe-LDH), showing excellent cycle stability. The improved electrochemical performance of the composites is caused by the stable sheet-like structure of NiFe-LDH during charge-discharge time and the conductive network formed by the MXene, which can accelerates electron transport. In addition, the asymmetric SC based on NiFe-LDH/MXene positive electrode display a power density of 758.27 W/kg at an energy density of 42.4 Wh/Kg. These results indicate the NiFe-LDH/MXene composites can be applied as the novel candidate of high-performance SC electrodes.
•The LDH/MXene synergistic hybrid structure is developed with MXene nanosheets as the substrate.•Prominent electrical performance is attributed to MXene providing a fast charge transfer path for LDH.•The anchoring of LDH on MXene surface provides the material with enhanced cyclic stability.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Organic–inorganic hybrid perovskites have recently attracted considerable interest for application in solar cells due to their low cost, high absorption coefficient and high power conversion ...efficiency (PCE). Herein, we utilize a CdSe quantum dot/PCBM composite as an electron transport layer (ETL) to investigate the structure, stability and PCE of CH 3 NH 3 PbI 3−x Cl x perovskite solar cells. It is found that adsorption of the CdSe/PCBM composite reduces the roughness of the perovskite, leading to a high-quality film with a compact morphology. Density functional theory (DFT) based first-principles calculations show that CdSe enhances the chemical stability of CH 3 NH 3 PbI 3−x Cl x involving strong atomic orbital hybridization. Interestingly, an inorganic-terminated perovskite surface has much stronger interaction with CdSe compared to the surface with organic CH 3 NH 3 termination, with noticeable interfacial charge redistribution. Experiments on solar cells incorporating the CdSe/PCBM composite as the ETL show enhanced photocurrent and fill factor, which is related to the in-built electric field between CH 3 NH 3 PbI 3−x Cl x and CdSe that greatly facilitates the separation of electron and hole pairs. We show an improved PCE of 13.7% with enhanced device stability in a highly humid atmosphere. These joint theoretical–experimental results may provide a new aspect for improving the structural stability and operating performance of optoelectronic devices based on perovskite structures.
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