This research examines the effect of terrorism on green technological innovation in renewable energy technologies with a panel of 87 economies between 1991 and 2017. We find that economies respond ...with less green innovation in renewable energy technologies when experiencing severe terrorist attacks, especially in OECD countries. Among them, wind energy green innovation witnesses the greatest collapse when facing the threat of terrorist attacks. Terrorist attacks mainly repress green innovation in renewable energy technologies of economies whose green innovation in renewable energy is lower, while having little effects on economies with strong green innovation performance. The results also show that the repressing influence of terrorist attacks on green innovation is relevant to economies with larger high-tech exports and manufacturing fundamentals. Our findings suggest that terrorism is not simply disruptive to economic performance, but also hurts one driver of sustainable growth - green innovation.
•We examine the effect of terrorism on green technological innovation in renewable energy technologies.•Economies respond with less green innovation in renewable energy technologies especially in OECD countries.•Wind energy green innovation witnesses the greatest collapse when facing the threat of terrorist attacks•Terrorist attacks mainly repress green innovation in countries with less green innovation.
This paper studies the impact of international sanctions on environmental performance by using the panel fixed effect model for 22 sanctioned states over the period 2002–2016 while considering ...several cases of international sanctions (unilateral, plurilateral, U.S., EU, UN, economic, and intensity) and measures environmental performance by the Environmental Performance Index (EPI). Overall, we find that the imposition of unilateral, plurilateral, U.S., EU, and economic sanctions has a significantly negative impact on EPI, dropping their EPI scores respectively by 0.114, 0.060, 0.045, 0.084, and 0.063, while a level increase of intensity results in EPI dropping by 0.028. Moreover, the simultaneous-equation models and Sobel tests show that the intermediate effect about GDP between international sanctions on environmental performance is significantly negative. We believe that our empirical findings can contribute to policy formulation by those sanctioned countries.
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•We study the impact of international sanctions on environmental performance.•By using the panel fixed effect model for 22 sanctioned states•The imposition of most sanctions has a negative impact on environmental performance.•Our findings can contribute to policy formulation by those sanctioned countries.
In this letter, an ultrawideband (UWB) bandpass Wilkinson power divider (WPD) is introduced. By using filter synthesis theory and proposed optimization algorithm, all the S-parameters (S₁₁, S₂₁ = ...S₃₁, S₂₂ = S₃₃ and S₃₂) of the proposed topology could provide an equal-ripple response, and their equal-ripple level and bandwidth can be controlled, respectively. For verification purposes, a prototype UWB WPD has been simulated, fabricated, and measured. The measured and simulated results are matched reasonably well.
A synthesis theory of ultra-wideband (UWB) bandpass (BP) transformer with short-circuited stubs is proposed in this paper. Based on the short-circuited stub number and their positions, six ...combination topologies are presented when the transmission line (TL) section is fixed to 4. Although analyzing the characteristic functions of these six combination topologies, the same theoretical Chebyshev transfer function can be summarized. Therefore, by selecting different short-circuited stub number and their positions, we can make a flexible choice of the filtering transformer pattern and keep the Chebyshev response at the same time. Finally, by using the proposed transformer, a UWB BP type Wilkinson power divider can be easily designed. In order to match the numbers and frequencies of output ports reflection zeroes (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">S_{22} =0 </tex-math></inline-formula>)/isolation zeroes (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">S_{32} = 0 </tex-math></inline-formula>) with those of input port reflection zeroes (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">S_{11} =0 </tex-math></inline-formula>), one extra TL and one isolation resistor are newly added in the power divider design. One experimental circuit is fabricated, and its measured frequency response verified well the proposed design theory and method.
The occurrence of emerging contaminants in our water resources poses potential threats to the livings. Due to the poor treatment in wastewater management, treatment technologies are needed to ...effectively remove these products for living organism safety. In this study, Graphene oxide (GO) was tested for the first time for its capacity to remove a kind of emerging wastewater contaminants, metformin. The research was conducted by using a series of systematic adsorption and kinetic experiments. The results indicated that GO could rapidly and efficiently reduce the concentration of metformin, which could provide a solution in handling this problem. The uptake of metformin on the graphene oxide was strongly dependent on temperature, pH, ionic strength, and background electrolyte. The adsorption kinetic experiments revealed that almost 80% removal of metformin was achieved within 20 min for all the doses studied, corresponding to the relatively high k1 (0.232 min−1) and k2 (0.007 g mg−1 min−1) values in the kinetic models. It indicated that the highest adsorption capacity in the investigated range (qm) of GO for metformin was at pH 6.0 and 288 K. Thermodynamic study indicated that the adsorption was a spontaneous (ΔG0 < 0) and exothermic (ΔH0 < 0) process. The adsorption of metformin increased when the pH values changed from 4.0 to 6.0, and decreased adsorption were observed at pH 6.0–11.0. GO still exhibited excellent adsorption capacity after several desorption/adsorption cycles. Besides, both so-called π–π interactions and hydrogen bonds might be mainly responsible for the adsorption of metformin onto GO.
•Rapid and efficient removal of metformin can be achieved during the adsorption process.•Sorption kinetic, isothermal and thermodynamic characteristics of metformin are explored.•The adsorption capacity of GO for metformin is influenced in the presence of NaCl and background electrolyte.•The adsorption mechanism is believed to be so-called π–π interactions and hydrogen bonds between GO and metformin.
The programmed cell death-1 receptor/programmed cell death-1 ligand (PD-1/PD-L1) pathway plays a crucial role in tumor evasion from host immunity. This study was designed to evaluate the association ...between circulating PD-L1/PD-1 and prognosis after cryoablation in patients with HBV-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).
In the present study, 141 HBV-related HCC patients were enrolled and of those 109 patients received cryoablation. Circulating PD-L1/PD-1 expression was tested by flow cytometry, and 23 patients were simultaneously evaluated for intratumoral PD-L1 expression by immunohistochemical staining. Circulating PD-1/PD-L1 expression was associated with severity of diseases in patients with HCC, and the circulating PD-L1 expression was closely correlated with intratumoral PD-L1 expression. Of the clinical parameters, PD-1/PD-L1 expression was associated with tumor size, blood vessel invasion and BCLC staging. Moreover, PD-1/PD-L1 expression dropped after cryoablation while being elevated at the time of tumor recurrence. Patients with higher expression of circulating PD-L1, as well as circulating PD-1, had a significantly shorter overall survival and tumor-free survival than those with lower expression. Multivariate analysis confirmed that circulating PD-L1 could serve as an independent predictor of overall survival and tumor-recurrence survival in HCC patients after cryoablation.
Upregulation of circulating PD-L1/PD-1 is associated with poor post-cryoablation prognosis in patients with HBV-related hepatocellular carcinoma.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Green innovation is essential for human beings to balance growth and climate change mitigation. The corruption-green innovation nexus has been studied by two existing studies, but the relative weak ...econometrical work and the lack of exploration in the context of inter-government cooperation on global climate change call for a revisited investigation. Our research robustly tests and confirms that corruption has a significantly negative effect on green innovation, which overturns the opposing conclusion of the previous global examination. Moreover, we find that the signing of international environmental agreements (IEAs) mitigates corruption's negative effect in the short term, whereas IEA's entry into force deteriorates this hindering impact in the long term. Such a divergence may originate from a change in the expectation of economic entities in the government's enforcement quality of environment policies issued for meeting IEA's emission target. Lastly, we provide several suggestions for dealing with climate change more effectively from the perspective of global governance.
•We investigate the relationship between corruption and green innovation.•The data span covers 162 countries from 1970 to 2019.•Corruption has a significant negative impact on green innovation performance.•The signing of the IEA remits this negative effect in the short term, while it tends to deteriorate it in the long term.•This divergence originate from a change in the expectation of economic entities in the government's enforcement quality of environment polices.
The H2O molecule dissociation on the alkali-earth (Ba and Mg) or transition-metal (Ti)-embedded nitrogen-doped graphene was studied systematically using first-principles calculation. The ...metal-embedded nitrogen-doped graphene (MN4-graphene) (M = Ba, Mg and Ti) membranes are good candidates for single-atom catalysts (SACs), because the single metal atom can be strongly trapped in the divacancy of the MN4-graphene membranes and exists in the isolated form. The significant activation of the reactant H2O molecule was observed. The binding energy of the first H atom of H2O molecule adsorbed on the MN4-graphene (M = Ba, Mg and Ti) membranes are 2.88 eV, 3.11 eV and 0.75 eV respectively, which are notable smaller than that 6.01 eV for free H2O molecule. Thus, the TiN4-graphene membrane can remarkably decrease the potential barrier of H atom dissociated from H2O molecule, which is a very promising SAC candidate for molecular dissociator. Our report comes as a first report towards the demonstration of the MN4-graphene membranes for the H2O molecule dissociation.
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Efficient clearance of dying cells (efferocytosis) is an evolutionarily conserved process for tissue homeostasis. Genetic enhancement of efferocytosis exhibits therapeutic potential for inflammation ...resolution and tissue repair. However, pharmacological approaches to enhance efferocytosis remain sparse due to a lack of targets for modulation. Here, we report the identification of columbamine (COL) which enhances macrophage‐mediated efferocytosis and attenuates intestinal inflammation in a murine colitis model. COL enhances efferocytosis by promoting LC3‐associated phagocytosis (LAP), a non‐canonical form of autophagy. Transcriptome analysis and pharmacological characterization revealed that COL is a biased agonist that occupies a part of the ligand binding pocket of formyl peptide receptor 2 (FPR2), a G‐protein coupled receptor involved in inflammation regulation. Genetic ablation of the Fpr2 gene or treatment with an FPR2 antagonist abolishes COL‐induced efferocytosis, anti‐colitis activity and LAP. Taken together, our study identifies FPR2 as a potential target for modulating LC3‐associated efferocytosis to alleviate intestinal inflammation and highlights the therapeutic value of COL, a natural and biased agonist of FPR2, in the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease.
Synopsis
Enhancement of efferocytosis has been regarded as an emerging strategy for inflammatory diseases, while pharmacological approaches to modulate efferocytosis are poorly defined. Our study identified a natural compound, columbamine (COL), that can activate LC3‐associated efferocytosis and attenuate DSS‐induced colitis by biasedly targeting FPR2 on macrophages. This study provides a novel therapeutic strategy for inflammatory diseases, including colitis, via enhancing FPR2‐mediated efferocytosis.
COL has been identified as a novel efferocytosis enhancer that ameliorates mouse colitis.
COL binds to and biasedly activates FPR2, leading to enhanced efferocytosis in macrophages.
FPR2 emerges as a promising therapeutic target for the treatment of inflammatory diseases through modulating LC3‐associated efferocytosis in macrophages.
Enhancement of efferocytosis has been regarded as an emerging strategy for inflammatory diseases, while pharmacological approaches to modulate efferocytosis are poorly defined. Our study identified a natural compound, columbamine (COL), that can activate LC3‐associated efferocytosis and attenuate DSS‐induced colitis by biasedly targeting FPR2 on macrophages. This study provides a novel therapeutic strategy for inflammatory diseases, including colitis, via enhancing FPR2‐mediated efferocytosis.
PTEN tumor suppressor opposes the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway in the cytoplasm and maintains chromosomal integrity in the nucleus. Nucleus-cytoplasm shuttling of PTEN is regulated by ubiquitylation, ...SUMOylation and phosphorylation, and nuclear PTEN has been proposed to exhibit tumor-suppressive functions. Here we show that PTEN is conjugated by Nedd8 under high glucose conditions, which induces PTEN nuclear import without effects on PTEN stability. PTEN neddylation is promoted by the XIAP ligase and removed by the NEDP1 deneddylase. We identify Lys197 and Lys402 as major neddylation sites on PTEN. Neddylated PTEN accumulates predominantly in the nucleus and promotes rather than suppresses cell proliferation and metabolism. The nuclear neddylated PTEN dephosphorylates the fatty acid synthase (FASN) protein, inhibits the TRIM21-mediated ubiquitylation and degradation of FASN, and then promotes de novo fatty acid synthesis. In human breast cancer tissues, neddylated PTEN correlates with tumor progression and poor prognosis. Therefore, we demonstrate a previously unidentified pool of nuclear PTEN in the Nedd8-conjugated form and an unexpected tumor-promoting role of neddylated PTEN.
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