Transition metal doped ZnO (TM-ZnO) nanoparticles with 3% dopant content are successfully prepared via a simple solvothermal route. This work highlights Mn, Fe, Co, Ni or Cu ions as the dopant ...transition metals. The as-prepared samples are wurtzite phase ZnO crystals, and the average sizes of undoped ZnO and TM-ZnO nanoparticles range from 200 nm to 400 nm. XPS studies confirm that the transition metal ions are successfully doped into the crystal lattice of ZnO. The band gaps of the undoped ZnO and TM-ZnO crystals are calculated by using UV-DRS spectroscopic measurements. The visible light response of ZnO nanomaterials is improved by doping transition metal ions. For investigating the influence of transition metal doping on the photocatalytic performance of ZnO, the photodegradation rate of methylene blue (MB) is investigated under simulated sunlight irradiation. The photocatalytic properties of ZnO doped with transition metals are improved at different degrees, among which Cu-doped ZnO exhibits the best photocatalytic performance. Based on density functional theory (DFT) calculation result, a possible photocatalytic mechanism is proposed. Furthermore, the antibacterial performance of Cu-doped ZnO is investigated by selecting E. coli, under simulated sunlight irradiation and remarkable sterilization of E. coli is achieved.
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•Transition metal doped ZnO nanoparticles were successfully prepared.•The visible light response of ZnO nanomaterials was improved.•The photocatalytic activities of ZnO doped with transition metals were improved.•Cu-doped ZnO shows remarkable sterilization of E. coli.
Ovarian cancer is the most lethal cancer of the female reproductive system. In that regard, several epidemiological studies suggest that long‐term exposure to estrogen could increase ovarian cancer ...risk, although its precise role remains controversial. To decipher a mechanism for this, we previously generated a mathematical model of how estrogen‐mediated upregulation of the transcription factor, E2F6, upregulates the ovarian cancer stem/initiating cell marker, c‐Kit, by epigenetic silencing the tumor suppressor miR‐193a, and a competing endogenous (ceRNA) mechanism. In this study, we tested that previous mathematical model, showing that estrogen treatment of immortalized ovarian surface epithelial cells upregulated both E2F6 and c‐KIT, but downregulated miR‐193a. Luciferase assays further confirmed that microRNA‐193a targets both E2F6 and c‐Kit. Interestingly, ChIP‐PCR and bisulphite pyrosequencing showed that E2F6 also epigenetically suppresses miR‐193a, through recruitment of EZH2, and by a complex ceRNA mechanism in ovarian cancer cell lines. Importantly, cell line and animal experiments both confirmed that E2F6 promotes ovarian cancer stemness, whereas E2F6 or EZH2 depletion derepressed miR‐193a, which opposes cancer stemness, by alleviating DNA methylation and repressive chromatin. Finally, 118 ovarian cancer patients with miR‐193a promoter hypermethylation had poorer survival than those without hypermethylation. These results suggest that an estrogen‐mediated E2F6 ceRNA network epigenetically and competitively inhibits microRNA‐193a activity, promoting ovarian cancer stemness and tumorigenesis.
Estrogen‐mediated E2F6 competing endogenous network epigenetically and competitively inhibits microRNA‐193a activity, promoting ovarian cancer stemness and tumorigenesis.
Introduction
Chronic physical disease (CPD) makes life filled with many negative events in adolescents, but not all adolescents experiencing negative life events proceed to develop emotional ...distress, only those with low emotional distress tolerance (EDT). A valid and reliable scale to measure EDT in CPD adolescents is important for caring for their emotional distress. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to translate the 15‐item English version Distress Tolerance Scale (DTS) into a Chinese version and then validate the scale for measuring EDT of adolescents with CPD.
Methods
The 15‐item English version DTS was translated into a Chinese version using the translation guidelines for cross‐cultural research. Two cohorts of adolescents with CPD were recruited from four hospitals in southern Taiwan, with the first cohort including 124 adolescents with CPD employed to conduct exploratory factor analysis, corrected item‐total correlation and reliability testing, while the second cohort, consisting of 238 adolescents with CPD, was utilized to examine confirmatory factor analysis and concurrent validity.
Results
The two‐factor nine‐item Chinese version DTS for Adolescents with CPD (C‐DTS‐A) was developed. Lower scores of the C‐DTS‐A were significantly associated with higher diabetes distress, poorer self‐management, and worse glycaemic control; their correlation coefficients sequentially were −.40, .17 and −.23. Cronbach's α and the test–retest reliability of the two‐factor C‐DTS‐A ranged from .81 to .87 and from .79 to .89, respectively.
Conclusion
The two‐factor nine‐item C‐DTS‐A with good cross‐cultural translation quality was a reliable and valid scale to assess EDT for adolescents with CPD.
Augmented reality (AR) deepens learning interactions by imposing digital information on top of physical settings. This study implemented an AR-enhanced theme-based contextualized learning and aimed ...to examine the effects of captions (non-caption, English caption and Chinese caption) and English proficiency (less proficient and proficient) on junior high school students' English learning effectiveness, motivation and attitude. Six classes of ninth-graders voluntarily participated in the experimental learning sessions using tablets. A factorial design was employed, and the participants' learning performance, motivation and attitude were evaluated. The results indicated that captions did not affect knowledge comprehension, but English proficiency played a significant role in it. The effects of captions and English proficiency on knowledge application indicated that English captions placed high cognitive load and hindered less proficient learners' knowledge application, but proficient learners performed equally under different caption conditions. Generally, students demonstrated positive motivation toward learning from the AR-enhanced contextualized learning. The proficient learners were more motivated in terms of self-efficacy, proactive learning and learning value. All learners expressed positive attitude toward learning, among whom, those who learned without captions showed greater degrees of confidence and preferences, and the proficient learners showed greater degrees of confidence, preferences, learning process and learning strategy but lower degrees of anxiety.
Green chemistry principles (GCP) are comprehensively deployed in industrial management, governmental policy, educational practice, and technology development around the world. Circular economy always ...aims to balance the economic growth, resource sustainability, and environmental protection. This article offers a highlight on issues of significance within GCP and circular economy, and proposes the integrated strategies for GCP implementation from the aspects of governance, industry and education. At first, we developed a new categorizing system for GCP dividing to (i) pollution and accident prevention, (ii) safety and resource sustainability, and (iii) energy and resource sustainability. To assess the GCP practice towards the circular economy, the implementation of international movement of GCP in worldwide policy, especially those of Canada, China, Germany, Japan, South Korea, Sweden, Taiwan, United States and United Kingdom were reviewed. The policy implementation of GCP practices among governance, industries and education was analyzed. To integrate GCP into the circular economy concept, we also proposed five strategies of priority governance direction as follows: (i) establishment of cross-departmental collaboration, (ii) development of cleaner production and green product, (iii) provision of integrated chemical management system, (iv) implementation of green chemistry education program, and (v) construction of a business model. Finally, we discussed the prospects of disciplinary elements including the establishment of redesign-reduction-recovery-recycle-reuse (5R) practices for wastes reclamation, deployment of water-energy-food nexus with GCP to improve the food security and resource sustainability, and implementation of GCP in the green smart industrial park.
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•Prevention, assurance and sustainability are key indexes for green chemistry.•International movement of green chemistry on policy implementation was reviewed.•Integrated management and innovative technology of green chemistry were presented.•Connection between green chemistry principles and circular economy was eatablished.•Strategies on green chemistry principles towards circular economy were provided.
Vitexin is a C-glucoside flavone that exhibits a wide range of pharmaceutical activities. However, the poor solubility of vitexin limits its applications. To resolve this limitation, two glycoside ...hydrolases (GHs) and four glycosyltransferases (GTs) were assayed for glycosylation activity toward vitexin. The results showed that BtGT_16345 from the Bacillus thuringiensis GA A07 strain possessed the highest glycosylation activity, catalyzing the conversion of vitexin into new compounds, vitexin-4′-O-β-glucoside (1) and vitexin-5-O-β-glucoside (2), which showed greater aqueous solubility than vitexin. To our knowledge, this is the first report of vitexin glycosylation. Based on the multiple bioactivities of vitexin, the two highly soluble vitexin derivatives might have high potential for pharmacological usage in the future.
•An overview from the regulatory, technological and management aspects is provided.•The requirements on both water quantity and quality for irrigation are summarized.•Reuse of non-conventional water ...such as cooling and wastewater is evaluated.•Available water technologies, such as RO, CDI and UV, are comprehensively reviewed.•Three priority research directions based on the provided overviews are proposed.
Due to the growing and diverse demands on water supply, exploitation of non-conventional sources of water has received much attention. Since water consumption for irrigation is the major contributor to total water withdrawal, the utilization of non-conventional sources of water for the purpose of irrigation is critical to assuring the sustainability of water resources. Although numerous studies have been conducted to evaluate and manage non-conventional water sources, little research has reviewed the suitability of available water technologies for improving water quality, so that water reclaimed from non-conventional supplies could be an alternative water resource for irrigation. This article provides a systematic overview of all aspects of regulation, technology and management to enable the innovative technology, thereby promoting and facilitating the reuse of non-conventional water. The study first reviews the requirements for water quantity and quality (i.e., physical, chemical, and biological parameters) for agricultural irrigation. Five candidate sources of non-conventional water were evaluated in terms of quantity and quality, namely rainfall/stormwater runoff, industrial cooling water, hydraulic fracturing wastewater, process wastewater, and domestic sewage. Water quality issues, such as suspended solids, biochemical/chemical oxygen demand, total dissolved solids, total nitrogen, bacteria, and emerging contaminates, were assessed. Available technologies for improving the quality of non-conventional water were comprehensively investigated. The potential risks to plants, human health, and the environment posed by non-conventional water reuse for irrigation are also discussed. Lastly, three priority research directions, including efficient collection of non-conventional water, design of fit-for-purpose treatment, and deployment of energy-efficient processes, were proposed to provide guidance on the potential for future research.
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Aims
The study compares the differences in self‐care knowledge, self‐efficacy, psychological distress and self‐management between patients with early‐ and end‐stage chronic kidney disease (CKD), and ...predicts the influential factors of self‐management.
Design
A cross‐sectional study.
Methods
A total of 185 subjects by using convenience sampling from one teaching hospital were collected. The research instruments included the Chronic Kidney Disease Self‐Care Instrument Knowledge, the Chronic Kidney Disease Self‐Efficacy Instrument, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, and the Chronic Kidney Disease Self‐Management Instrument. Descriptive statistics is used frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation. Inferential statistics is used independent t‐test, one‐way ANOVA and multiple linear regression analysis. STROBE checklist was used as the guideline for this study.
Results
Our results showed that a significant difference was found in the age (p = 0.005), systolic pressure (p = .006), self‐care knowledge (p = .011) and depression level (p = .003) between patients with early‐ and end‐stage CKD. Furthermore, patients with early‐stage CKD have less self‐care knowledge and lower depression levels compared with patients with end‐stage CKD. However, self‐efficacy is the most significant predictor of self‐management for patients with early‐ and end‐stage CKD. For patients with early‐stage CKD, self‐efficacy explained 69.1% of the variation in self‐management.
Conclusion
According to our results, the management of depression in patients with CKD may improve their outcomes. Improving self‐care knowledge of patients with end‐stage CKD may improve their self‐management. Therefore, our findings suggest various interventions with different necessary and prioritised precision care at early‐ and late‐stage of CKD.
Relevance to clinical practice: Nurses should strive to improve the self‐care knowledge of patients with early‐stage CKD to delay the progression of the disease to end‐stage. Screening for depression among patients with end‐stage CKD is relevant, and these patients should be referred to professional counsellors when necessary.
ObjectiveTo compare the efficacy and safety between and within glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RAs) and sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors (SGLT-2is) in overweight or obese ...adults with or without diabetes mellitus.MethodsPubMed, ISI Web of Science, Embase and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials database were comprehensively searched to identify randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of effects of GLP-1RAs and SGLT-2is in overweight or obese participants from inception to 16 January 2022. The efficacy outcomes were the changes of body weight, glucose level and blood pressure. The safety outcomes were serious adverse events and discontinuation due to adverse events. The mean differences, ORs, 95% credible intervals (95% CI), the surface under the cumulative ranking were evaluated for each outcome by network meta-analysis.ResultsSixty-one RCTs were included in our analysis. Both GLP-1RAs and SGLT-2is conferred greater extents in body weight reduction, achieving at least 5% wt loss, HbA1c and fasting plasma glucose decrease compared with placebo. GLP-1RAs was superior to SGLT-2is in HbA1c reduction (MD: −0.39%, 95% CI −0.70 to −0.08). GLP-1RAs had high risk of adverse events, while SGLT-2is were relatively safe. Based on intraclass comparison, semaglutide 2.4 mg was among the most effective interventions in losing body weight (MD: −11.51 kg, 95% CI −12.83 to −10.21), decreasing HbA1c (MD: −1.49%, 95% CI −2.07 to −0.92) and fasting plasma glucose (MD: −2.15 mmol/L, 95% CI −2.83 to −1.59), reducing systolic blood pressure (MD: −4.89 mm Hg, 95% CI −6.04 to −3.71) and diastolic blood pressure (MD: −1.59 mm Hg, 95% CI −2.37 to −0.86) with moderate certainty evidences, while it was associated with high risk of adverse events.ConclusionsSemaglutide 2.4 mg showed the greatest effects on losing body weight, controlling glycaemic level and reducing blood pressure while it was associated with high risk of adverse events.PROSPERO registration numberCRD42021258103.
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•An electroneutralization-desalination cell is developed for acidic brackish water.•Clean water is produced without extensive chemicals while resources are recovered.•Kinetics, ...chloride-to-sulfate selectivity and diffusion coefficient are determined.•Key performance indicators, such as energy consumption, are evaluated by RSM.•Cost and benefit analysis is conducted in comparison with chemical neutralization.
Chemical neutralization has commonly been employed for the treatment of acidic brackish wastewater through the addition of external alkaline chemicals. However, this approach can potentially compromise the health of aquatic environment and resource sustainability. In this study, an innovative electroneutralization stack incorporating highly-efficient desalination was developed as a green solution for acidic hot-spring discharge treatment. Two distinct stack configurations, i.e., AECE and AEBP, were designed to evaluate the performance of simultaneous neutralization and desalination under different operating conditions. The results demonstrated the effectiveness of neutralizing acidic discharges while concurrently achieving a significant reduction in salinity. The brine solution produced during the process also presented the possibility of being harnessed as a valuable resource. Notably, the design parameters for the process were determined using a first-order kinetic model integrated with the Nernst-Planck equation. The maximum rate constants for sulfate and chloride removal were found to be 0.129 min−1 and 0.125 min−1 for AECE, and 0.039 min−1 and 0.042 min−1 for AEBP, respectively. The corresponding chloride-to-sulfate selectivities were observed to range from 0.42 to 1.00 for AECE, and from 0.15 to 1.21 for AEBP. Furthermore, the optimal operational conditions were identified through a comprehensive multi-objective assessment, resulting in process energy consumption ranging from 1.5 to 2.2 kWh/m3, while maintaining a clean water productivity of ∼30 L/m2/h. Significantly, in comparison to conventional chemical neutralization methods, the developed electroneutralization process demonstrated a substantial reduction in operating costs by 2 to 5-fold, along with a remarkable decrease in CO2 emissions (by approximately 4-fold) and the avoidance of sludge generation.
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