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•GO composite loose membranes with low charged surface were fabricated by simple and eco-friendly bio-inspired strategy.•The co-deposition of TA/Ni complex successfully expanded ...interlayer distance of GO nanosheets and achieved high flux.•The membrane exhibits excellent dye/salt separation efficiency.
The fully separation of dye/salt through loose nanofiltration membranes is of great significance for the sustainable development paradigm of textile wastewater. However, the current loose nanofiltration membranes suffer low separation efficiency and complex preparation. Herein, by one-step co-deposition, we develop graphene oxide (GO) composite loose nanofiltration membranes with low negatively charged surface. Our membrane possesses unconventional high pure water permeation of 71.7 LMH/bar, 92.9 % rejection for Methyl blue (MB) and 98.8 % rejection for Congo red (CR). Benefiting from the large interlayer distance of GO nanosheets and low negatively charged surface, membrane achieves high dyes/salts separation with satisfactory permeation to salts (94.3 % of Na2SO4, 97.6 % of MgSO4, 98.3 % of MgCl2 and 99.0 % of NaCl). The CR/salt mixed solutions exhibit similar removal rates to their constituents’ single dye or salt solutions (CR rejection is up to more than 97 % and the permeations of all salts are above 93 %). At the same time, binary dyes mixtures (Congo red and Methyl orange) can also be effectively separated. Furthermore, the membrane shows a relatively desirable antifouling property. The flux recovery still remains at 85.9 % after three cycling filtrations. This study provides a facile approach to prepare highly-efficient loose nanofiltration membranes for wastewater sustainable remediation.
Ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury causes the dysfunctions of different major organs, leading to morbidity and mortality on the global scale. Among a battery of therapeutic targets, the heme ...oxygenase- 1 (HO-1)/carbon monoxide (CO) system has been evaluated for the development of new therapies against I/R injury. The enzyme HO-1 catalyzes the degradation of heme into three biologically active end products, namely biliverdin/bilirubin, CO and ferrous ion. Interestingly, CO is one of a few bioactive gaseous molecules with the capability of regulating inflammation, cell survival and growth. In fact, several CO-releasing compounds have been developed for directly reprogramming the intracellular apoptotic, inflammatory and proliferative signaling networks. In parallel, chemical and genetic approaches have also been evaluated for up-regulating HO-1 expression as an endogenous mechanism to ameliorate I/R injury and heal wounds.
In this review, we discussed the recent studies on the therapeutic potential of HO-1/CO system in the treatment of I/R injury in the heart, brain, liver, kidney, lung, intestine and retina. We focused on the activities and underlying mechanisms of various therapeutic strategies to regulate HO-1/CO system against I/R injury.
A large number of studies have demonstrated that HO-1/CO system exhibits potent anti-oxidative, antiapoptotic, anti-inflammatory and cytoprotective activities against I/R injury. The regulation of HO-1/CO expression has been achieved either by genetic overexpression of HO-1 cDNA or pharmacological induction with drugs including curcumin and resveratrol.
The HO-1/CO system is a potential target for treating I/R injury. Further studies should be directed to in vivo efficacy and clinical application of HO-1/CO system in the therapy of I/R injury.
Based on China's provincial panel data from 2001 to 2015, the drivers of energy technological innovation, e.g., energy price, public financial policy, knowledge stocks, energy structure, and ...environmental regulation, are analyzed by using the generalized method of moment (GMM) in this paper. Through the construction of one kind of geometric distribution lag model, which is also called partial adjustment model, we empirically analyze and compare the influencing factors of energy technological innovation from the perspectives of fossil energy and renewable energy. The specific conclusions obtained in this paper are: (1) The impact of the energy price on fossil energy technological innovation is greater than renewable energy, which means that the current energy price in China is much lower than its optimal level and the development of renewable energy technology needs the support of price mechanism. (2) The development of these two kinds of energy technology innovation heavily relies on governmental policy support. (3) The accumulation of energy technology innovations will be conducive to the vertical spillover effect of knowledge, and further encourage the development of energy technology. Based on the above findings, we then propose some relevant policy proposals to promote energy technological innovation in China.
Hospital staff are vulnerable and at high risk of novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) infection. The aim of this study was to monitor the psychological distress in hospital staff and examine the ...relationship between the psychological distress and possible causes during the COVID-19 epidemic.
An online survey was conducted from February 1 to February 14, 2020. Hospital staff from five national COVID-19 designated hospitals in Chongqing participated. Data collected included demographics and stress responses to COVID-19: 1) the impact of event scale to measure psychological stress reactions; 2) generalizedanxietydisorder 7 to measure anxiety symptoms; 3) Patient Health Questionnaire 9 to measure depression symptoms; 4) Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale to measure obsessive-compulsive symptoms (OCS); and 5) Patient Health Questionnaire 15 to measure somatization symptoms. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to identify factors that were correlated with psychological distress.
Hospital staff that participated in this study were identified as either doctors or nurses. A total of 456 respondents completed the questionnaires with a response rate of 91.2%. The mean age was 30.67 ± 7.48 years (range, 17 to 64 years). Of all respondents, 29.4% were men. Of the staff surveyed, 43.2% had stress reaction syndrome. The highest prevalence of psychological distress was OCS (37.5%), followed by somatization symptoms (33.3%), anxiety symptoms (31.6%), and depression symptoms (29.6%). Univariate analyses indicated that female subjects, middle aged subjects, subjects in the low income group, and subjects working in isolation wards were prone to experience psychological distress. Multiple logistic regression analysis showed “Reluctant to work or considered resignation” (odds ratio OR, 5.192; 95%CI, 2.396–11.250; P < .001), “Afraid to go home because of fear of infecting family” (OR, 2.099; 95%CI, 1.299–3.391; P = .002) “Uncertainty about frequent modification of infection and control procedures” (OR, 1.583; 95%CI, 1.061–2.363; P = .025), and“Social support” (OR, 1.754; 95%CI, 1.041–2.956; P = .035) were correlated with psychological reactions. “Reluctant to work or considered resignation” and “Afraid to go home because of fear of infecting family” were associated with a higher risk of symptoms of Anxiety (OR, 3.622; 95% CI, 1.882–6.973; P < .001; OR, 1.803; 95% CI, 1.069–3.039; P = .027), OCS (OR, 5.241; 95% CI, 2.545–10.793; P < .001; OR, 1.999; 95% CI, 1.217–3.282; P = .006) and somatization (OR, 5.177; 95% CI, 2.595–10.329; P < .001; OR, 1.749; 95% CI, 1.051–2.91; P = .031). “Stigmatization and rejection in neighborhood because of hospital work”, “Reluctant to work or considered resignation” and “Uncertainty about frequent modification of infection and control procedures” were associated with a higher risk of symptoms of Depression(OR, 2.297; 95% CI, 1.138–4.637; P = .020; OR, 3.134; 95% CI, 1.635–6.006; P = .001; OR, 1.645; 95% CI, 1.075–2.517; P = .022).
Hospital staff showed different prevalence of psychological distress during the COVID-19 epidemic. Our study confirmed the severity of negative psychological distress on hospital staff and identified factors associated with negative psychological distress that can be used to provide valuable information for psychological interventions to improve the mental health of vulnerable groups during the COVID-19 epidemic.
•Hospital staff showed psychological distress in the COVID-19 epidemic in Chongqing.•We confirmed the severity of negative psychological distress on hospital staff.•Factors associated with negative psychological distress were identified.
Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs), with their well‐defined pores and rich structural diversity and functionality, have drawn a great deal of attention from across the scientific community. However, ...industrial applications are hampered by their intrinsic fragility and poor processability. Stable and resilient MOF devices with tunable flexibility are highly desirable. Herein, we present a solvent‐ and binder‐free approach for producing stable MOF coatings by a unique hot‐pressing (HoP) method, in which temperature and pressure are applied simultaneously to facilitate the rapid growth of MOF nanocrystals onto desired substrates. This strategy was proven to be applicable to carboxylate‐based, imidazolate‐based, and mixed‐metal MOFs. We further successfully obtained superhydrophobic and “Janus” MOF films through layer‐by‐layer pressing. This HoP method can be scaled up in the form of roll‐to‐roll production and may push MOFs into unexplored industrial applications.
Hot off the press: A solvent‐free approach for producing stable MOF coatings through a hot‐pressing (HoP) method is presented. In the HoP method, temperature and pressure are applied simultaneously to facilitate the rapid growth of MOF nanocrystals onto desired substrates. This strategy was proven to be applicable to various MOFs and substrates.
Adhesion loss of hydrocolloid wound dressings, ubiquitous clinical problem, can be explained by dramatic increasing surface energy due to the dissolution, swelling and exudation of hydrophilic ...fillers.
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•The adhesion loss mechanism was explored based on adhesion mechanism.•Hydrophilic fillers absorbed moisture, dissolved and effused under wet environment.•The effused fillers covered dressing surface, causing the decrease in adhesion.•Dramatic increasing surface energy was the main reason for adhesion loss.
Adhesion loss of hydrocolloid wound dressings is ubiquitous clinical problem, which seriously reduces the therapeutic efficiency and patient experience. In order to address this problem, the clarification on adhesion loss mechanism and the development of effective alternatives of commercial hydrocolloid dressings are urgent and inevitable. Herein, adhesion loss mechanism of hydrocolloid dressings was investigated using sodium carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC)-filled hydrocolloid dressings exposing to physiological environment as model. The adhesion mechanism and contact angle tests were combined to obtain surface energy of dressings. The results indicated that the dissolution, swelling and exudation of CMC occurred successively (concentration reached 1.607 g/L after 10 h). The effused CMC led to the dramatic increase in surface energy (from 14.5–80.7 mN/m) and adhesion loss appeared. This work explored the origin of adhesion loss of hydrocolloid wound dressings and might promote the designing of hydrocolloid dressings with both excellent humidity control and sustained self-adhesiveness.
Antibacterial tellurium nanoparticles have the advantages of high activity and biocompatibility. Microbial synthesis of Te nanoparticles is not only a green technology but builds new ecological ...relationships in diverse environments. However, the antibacterial mechanism of Te nanoparticles is largely unclear. In this study, we report the bacterial synthesis of rod-shaped Te nanoparticles (BioTe) with high antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli. Morphology and permeability examination indicates that membrane damage is the primary reason for the antibacterial activity of BioTe, rather than ROS production and DNA damage. Moreover, a comparison of transcriptome and relative phenotypes reveals the difference in antibacterial mechanisms between BioTe and tellurite. Based on our evidence, we propose an antibacterial mode of rod-shaped BioTe, in which positively charged BioTe interact with the cell membrane through electrostatic attraction and then penetrate the membrane by using their sharp ends. In contrast, tellurite toxicity might be involved in sulfur metabolism.
The human transcriptome annotation is regarded as one of the most complete of any eukaryotic species. However, limitations in sequencing technologies have biased the annotation toward multi-exonic ...protein coding genes. Accurate high-throughput long read transcript sequencing can now provide additional evidence for rare transcripts and genes such as mono-exonic and non-coding genes that were previously either undetectable or impossible to differentiate from sequencing noise.
We developed the Transcriptome Annotation by Modular Algorithms (TAMA) software to leverage the power of long read transcript sequencing and address the issues with current data processing pipelines. TAMA achieved high sensitivity and precision for gene and transcript model predictions in both reference guided and unguided approaches in our benchmark tests using simulated Pacific Biosciences (PacBio) and Nanopore sequencing data and real PacBio datasets. By analyzing PacBio Sequel II Iso-Seq sequencing data of the Universal Human Reference RNA (UHRR) using TAMA and other commonly used tools, we found that the convention of using alignment identity to measure error correction performance does not reflect actual gain in accuracy of predicted transcript models. In addition, inter-read error correction can cause major changes to read mapping, resulting in potentially over 6 K erroneous gene model predictions in the Iso-Seq based human genome annotation. Using TAMA's genome assembly based error correction and gene feature evidence, we predicted 2566 putative novel non-coding genes and 1557 putative novel protein coding gene models.
Long read transcript sequencing data has the power to identify novel genes within the highly annotated human genome. The use of parameter tuning and extensive output information of the TAMA software package allows for in depth exploration of eukaryotic transcriptomes. We have found long read data based evidence for thousands of unannotated genes within the human genome. More development in sequencing library preparation and data processing are required for differentiating sequencing noise from real genes in long read RNA sequencing data.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Climate change and global warming have become severe environmental issues of global concern, and many countries have promulgated renewable energy development planning to achieve the targets of carbon ...emission reduction and sustainable development. Accelerating the development of renewable energy technology innovation is one of the major measures to stimulate the utilization of renewable resources. This paper analyzes the impact of renewable energy technology innovation on carbon intensity in 30 Chinese provinces from 2000 to 2015. Using the recent panel estimation methods that take cross-section dependence and slope heterogeneity into account, the results show that for every 1% increase in the innovation level of renewable energy technology, carbon intensity was significantly reduced by 0.051%. Specifically, renewable energy technology innovation does not affect carbon intensity in the short term. But in the long term, the influences are negative and significant. Moreover, the environmental benefits are most evident in eastern China, while there is no significant influence on the western regions. Finally, this paper provides some policy implications to further discuss the impetus of renewable energy technology innovation.
•Renewable energy technology innovation can significantly reduce carbon intensity.•The influences of renewable energy technology innovation will change over time.•There exist differences in the innovation effects in different Chinese regions.
Superhydrophobic Au-Zn alloy surfaces have been fabricated successfully on a zinc substrate via chemical substitution deposition and subsequent annealing treatment. The resulting surfaces exhibited ...remarkable superhydrophobicity with a WCA of 170 plus or minus 2 degree and a WSA smaller than 1 degree without any organic modification. The surface morphologies and chemical compositions were investigated using field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and the surface roughness was analyzed by atomic force microscopy (AFM). The theoretical mechanism for superhydrophobicity and wettability were also analyzed. The surface wettability changed from superhydrophilicity to superhydrophobicity with a stable Cassie-Baxter state via thermal treatment, which caused the generation of Au-Zn alloys (including AuZn sub(3) and AuZn) and ZnO, and the formation of micro-/nano-binary architectures. The resulting superhydrophobic Au-Zn alloy surfaces exhibited exquisite roll-down, self-cleaning, and excellent anti-corrosion properties, and also had a firm mechanical property about 10 N, and this might have important values for more potential applications. The corrosion current density was reduced by more than 2 orders of magnitude for the resulting superhydrophobic surface in comparison with the untreated zinc surface and this should be ascribed to the contribution of Au-Zn alloys on the surface.
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