► γ-Fe2O3/SiO2/chitosan composite was prepared by water-in-oil emulsification method. ► Adsorption process followed the pseudo-second-order kinetic model. ► The intraparticle diffusion was related to ...the adsorption but not as a sole rate-controlling step. ► The equilibrium adsorption data was well described by Freundlich isotherm model. ► The adsorption process was feasible, spontaneous and exothermic in nature.
A γ-Fe2O3/SiO2/chitosan composite was prepared by water-in-oil emulsification, and characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Effects of various factors, including adsorbent dosage, initial dye concentration, solution pH, and competing anions, on the adsorption of methyl orange from aqueous solutions by the resulting composite were studied by batch adsorption experiments. The adsorption kinetics was found to follow the pseudo-second-order kinetic model, and intraparticle diffusion was related to the adsorption, but not as a sole rate-controlling step. The equilibrium adsorption data were well described by the Freundlich isotherm model. Evaluation of the thermodynamic parameters ΔG°, ΔH°, and ΔS° revealed that the adsorption process was naturally feasible, spontaneous, and exothermic. The composite was proven to be efficient, suitable and promising for the removal of methyl orange from aqueous solutions since it has a relatively higher adsorption capacity than other low-cost adsorbents.
Abstract Background Exosomes are nanometer-sized vesicles that are released by normal and neoplastic cells. Previous studies have focused on the interaction between tumour-derived exosomes and the ...immune system, as a consequence of immune suppression or enhancement. However, the effects of tumour-derived exosomes on tumour cells themselves have not been well studied. Aims To investigate the effects of gastric cancer exosomes on tumour cell proliferation and the possible mechanisms. Methods By serial centrifugation and sucrose gradient ultracentrifugation, we isolated and purified the exosomes from gastric cancer SGC7901 cells, then viewed them by electron microscopy. Cell proliferation was measured by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay. Protein expression was assayed by Western blotting. Results SGC7901-cell-derived exosomes promoted the proliferation of SGC7901 and BGC823 cells. The increase in proliferation induced by exosomes was accompanied by activation of Akt and extracellular-regulated protein kinase, and phosphoinositide 3-kinase or extracellular-regulated protein kinase inhibitor partially reversed the proliferative effect of exosomes. Moreover, the exosome-induced increase in activity of Akt and extracellular-regulated protein kinase coincided with decreased expression of the Casitas B-lineage lymphoma family of ubiquitin ligases. Conclusion Gastric cancer exosomes promoted tumour cell proliferation, at least in part, by activation of PI3K/Akt and mitogen-activated protein kinase/extracellular-regulated protein kinase pathways. The decreased expression of Casitas B-lineage lymphoma proteins might have contributed to the activation of Akt and extracellular-regulated protein kinase.
We study the process e+e−→π+π−ψ(3686) using 5.1 fb−1 of data collected at 16 center-of-mass energy (s) points from 4.008 to 4.600 GeV by the BESIII detector operating at the BEPCII collider. The ...measured Born cross sections for e+e−→π+π−ψ(3686) are consistent with previous results, but with much improved precision. A fit to the cross section shows contributions from two structures: the first has M=4209.5±7.4±1.4 MeV/c2 and Γ=80.1±24.6±2.9 MeV, and the second has M=4383.8±4.2±0.8 MeV/c2 and Γ=84.2±12.5±2.1 MeV, where the first errors are statistical and the second systematic. The lower-mass resonance is observed in the process e+e−→π+π−ψ(3686) for the first time with a statistical significance of 5.8σ. A charged charmoniumlike structure is observed in the π±ψ(3686) invariant mass spectrum for data at s=4.416 GeV. A fit with an S-wave Breit-Wigner function yields a mass M=4032.1±2.4 MeV/c2, where the errors are statistical only. However, there are still unresolved discrepancies between the fit model and data. The width of the intermediate state varies in a wide range for different kinematic regions within the data set. Therefore, no simple interpretation of the data has been found, and a future data sample with larger statistics and more theoretical input will be required to better understand this issue.
Based on first-principles density functional theory and nonequilibrium Green's function, we study the electronic band structures, the electronic transport properties, and the optical absorption of ...bilayer blue phosphorene nanoribbons (BPNRs). Both bilayer armchair BPNRs (a-BPNRs) and zigzag BPNRs (z-BPNRs) behave as semiconductors in the narrow nanoribbon case and metals in the wide nanoribbon case, sharply different from their monolayer counterparts where the monolayer a-BPNRs (z-BPNRs) are always semiconducting (metallic). This indicates that interlayer couplings or the increasing layer number may induce the switching of the conductivity of the monolayer BPNRs, which is absent in graphene and phosphorene nanoribbons. Furthermore, we explore the edge states of the energy bands near Fermi energy, and find that there are almost no pure edge-state band branches in the bilayer BPNRs, which can be attributed to the interlayer couplings between the edge-states in one layer and the bulk-states in the other. Consequently, the resulting complex band structures cannot be directly analyzed any more in the framework of the two-body coupling picture just according to the simple band structures of the monolayer BPNRs. Finally, we present the current-voltage characteristics and the optical absorption of the bilayer a-BPNRs and z-BPNRs. The influences of the nanoribbon width and the interlayer couplings on the current and the anisotropic optical absorption can be understood based on the complex energy band structures. This research should be an important reference of extending the field of BPNRs from the monolayer to the bilayer case, and deepen the understanding of the difference between the monolayer and bilayer nanoribbons in different materials.
Energy band structures of the bilayer a-BPNR-7 (a), the 150° model of the bilayer a-BPNR-7 (b), the bilayer z-BPNR-4 (c), and the 90° model of the bilayer z-BPNR-4 (d).
Pathogens secrete effector molecules that facilitate the infection of their hosts. A number of effectors identified in plant pathogenic Phytophthora species possess N-terminal motifs (RXLR-dEER) ...required for targeting these effectors into host cells. Here, we bioinformatically identify >370 candidate effector genes in each of the genomes of P. sojae and P. ramorum. A single superfamily, termed avirulence homolog (Avh) genes, accounts for most of the effectors. The Avh proteins show extensive sequence divergence but are all related and likely evolved from a common ancestor by rapid duplication and divergence. More than half of the Avh proteins contain conserved C-terminal motifs (termed W, Y, and L) that are usually arranged as a module that can be repeated up to eight times. The Avh genes belong to the most rapidly evolving part of the genome, and they are nearly always located at synteny breakpoints. The superfamily includes all experimentally identified oomycete effector and avirulence genes, and its rapid pace of evolution is consistent with a role for Avh proteins in interaction with plant hosts.
Primary aldosteronism (PA) diagnosis is affected by antihypertensive drugs that are commonly taken by patients with suspected PA. In this study, we developed and validated a diagnostic model for ...screening PA without drug washout.
We retrospectively analyzed 1095 patients diagnosed with PA or essential hypertension. Patients were randomly grouped into training and validation sets at a 7:3 ratio. Baseline characteristics, plasma aldosterone concentration (PAC), and direct renin concentration (DRC) before and after drug washout were separately recorded, and the aldosterone-to-renin ratio (ARR) was calculated.
PAC and ARR were higher and direct renin concentration was lower in patients with PA than in patients with essential hypertension. Furthermore, the differences in blood potassium and sodium concentrations and hypertension grades between the two groups were significant. Using the abbreviations potassium (P), ARR (A), PAC (P), sodium (S), and hypertension grade 3 (3), the model was named PAPS
. The PAPS
model had a maximum score of 10, with the cutoff value assigned as 5.5; it showed high sensitivity and specificity for screening PA in patients who exhibit difficulty in tolerating drug washout.
PA screening remains crucial, and standard guidelines should be followed for patients to tolerate washout. The PAPS
model offers an alternative to minimize risks and enhance diagnostic efficiency in PA for those facing washout challenges. Despite its high accuracy, further validation of this model is warranted through large-scale clinical studies.
We report observations of gamma-ray emissions with energies in the 100-TeV energy region from the Cygnus region in our Galaxy. Two sources are significantly detected in the directions of the Cygnus ...OB1 and OB2 associations. Based on their positional coincidences, we associate one with a pulsar PSR J2032 + 4127 and the other mainly with a pulsar wind nebula PWN G75.2 + 0.1, with the pulsar moving away from its original birthplace situated around the centroid of the observed gamma-ray emission. This work would stimulate further studies of particle acceleration mechanisms at these gamma-ray sources.
There is limited information concerning the viral load of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in aerosols deposited on environmental surfaces and the effectiveness of ...infection prevention and control procedures on eliminating SARS-CoV-2 contamination in hospital settings. We examined the concentration of SARS-CoV-2 in aerosol samples and on environmental surfaces in a hospital designated for treating severe COVID-19 patients. Aerosol samples were collected by a microbial air sampler, and environmental surfaces were sampled using sterile premoistened swabs at multiple sites. Ninety surface swabs and 135 aerosol samples were collected. Only two swabs, sampled from the inside of a patient's mask, were positive for SARS-CoV-2 RNA. All other swabs and aerosol samples were negative for the virus. Our study indicated that strict implementation of infection prevention and control procedures was highly effective in eliminating aerosol and environmental borne SARS-CoV-2 RNA thereby reducing the risk of cross-infection in hospitals.
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