Highly selective photocatalytic conversion of CO
2
into valuable hydrocarbon fuel such as CH
4
is a promising solution to tackle greenhouse effect and energy shortage. To achieve this goal, more ...efforts should be made to design well-performed catalysts. In this work, a series of composite photocatalysts were fabricated for CO
2
reduction, through hydrothermal mixing of hydroxylated TiO
2
(P25m) with sulfonated covalent porphyrin polymers (s-COP-P). Notably, the optimal sample 2%-s-COP-P/P25m (2% denotes the weight percent of s-COP-P) exhibits the highest production rate (15.5 μmol g
−1
h
−1
) and selectivity (> 90%) of all composites for the formation of CH
4
within 1 h, which are nearly 33 and 2 times as large as that of P25m. This good performance was attributed to improved photogenerated carrier separation efficiency verified by enhanced photocurrent and reduced fluorescence intensity that associating closely with the interaction between two moieties of the composites. Based on energy band structure analyses and hydroxyl radical probing, the reduction of CO
2
into CH
4
was proposed occurring mainly on P25m moiety companied with the oxidation of H
2
O into hydroxyl radical. In addition, high cyclic stability was confirmed for the composite catalyst by constant photocatalytic performance lasting over four times of cyclic test. This work provides a facile and effective way to design stable photocatalyst for the conversion of CO
2
into CH
4
in high production rate and selectivity.
Graphical Abstract
A sulfonated porphyrin polymer/P25m composite of high cyclic stability was fabricated by simple thermal mixing, and exhibits high photocatalytic activity for the conversion of CO
2
into CH
4
with a rate of 15.6 μmol g
−1
h
−1
and a selectivity of > 90%.
This paper conducted an experiment to study the burn-through behavior of vertical wood boards of different thicknesses with one surface heated by fire. The board thicknesses were 1, 1.5, and 2 cm, ...and the burner powers were 5, 10, and 15 kW to simulate the early stage of fire. The results show that burn-through is caused by the continuous charring and cracking of the board. After burn-through, the temperature and HRR begin to rise rapidly at about 100 s. According to the typical burning phenomena and HRR, the whole process presents three stages, including no charring on the back surface stage, burn-through stage and continuous flame spread stage. For boards made of logs, the burn-through time and positions are random due to non-uniform density distribution and different grains, and the uncertainty of the parameters can reach 27%. The charring process of the board is analyzed by the expansion of the charred area on the back surface and the advancement of the char front along the thickness direction. A quantitative method for the advancement of the char front along the thickness direction has been established, and the error between the calculated and experimental values is within 11.3%.
The transient receptor potential vanilloid 4 (TRPV4) channel may be opened by mechanical stimuli to mediate Ca
and Na
influxes, and it has been suggested to mediate glaucoma retinopathy. However, it ...has been mostly unclear how TRPV4 activities affect the function of primate retinal ganglion cells (RGCs). We studied RGCs and bipolar cells (BCs) in the peripheral retina of the old-world primate using whole-cell current-clamp and voltage-clamp recordings, immunomarkers and confocal microscopy. RGCs were distinguished from displaced amacrine cells (ACs) by the absence of GABA and glycine immunoreactivity and possession of an axon and a large soma in the RGC layer. Strong TRPV4 signal was concentrated in medium to large somas of RGCs, and some TRPV4 signal was found in BCs (including PKCα-positive rod BCs), as well as the end feet, soma and outer processes of Mȕller cells. TRPV4 immunoreactivity quantified by the pixel intensity histogram revealed a high-intensity component for the plexiform layers, a low-intensity component for the soma layers of ACs and Mȕller cells, and both components in the soma layers of RGCs and BCs. In large RGCs, TRPV4 agonists 4α-phorbol 12,13 didecanoate (4αPDD) and GSK1016790A reversibly enhanced the spontaneous firing and shortened the delay of voltage-gated Na
(Nav) currents under current-clamp conditions, and under voltage-clamp conditions, 4αPDD largely reversibly increased the amplitude and frequency of spontaneous excitatory postsynaptic currents. In BCs, changes in the membrane tension induced by either applying pressure or releasing the pressure both activated a transient cation current, which reversed at ~ -10 mV and was enhanced by heating from 24 °C to 30 °C. The pressure for the half-maximal effect was ~18 mmHg. These data indicate that functional TRPV4 channels are variably expressed in primate RGCs and BCs, possibly contributing to pressure-related changes in RGCs in glaucoma.
The innovative configuration of low temperature solar thermal electric generation with regenerative Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) is designed, mainly consisting of small concentration ratio compound ...parabolic concentrators (CPC) and the regenerative ORC. Advantages of the innovative configuration such as effectively reducing heat transfer irreversibility and permitting the use of thermal storage with phase change materials (PCMs) are outlined. The numerical simulation of the heat transfer and power conversion processes are carried out based on distributed parameters. The effects of regenerative cycle on the collector, ORC, and overall electricity efficiency are then analyzed. The results indicate that the regenerative cycle has positive effects on the ORC efficiency but negative ones on the collector efficiency due to increment of the average working temperature of the first-stage collectors. Thus, it is necessary to evaluate the overall electricity efficiency when regenerative cycle is adopted. Further investigation shows that there are maximum efficiencies for both the ORC and the system electric generation on conditions of constant irradiance, evaporation temperature, and environment temperature. And the regenerative temperature at which the system electricity efficiency reaches its maximum is smaller than that at which the ORC efficiency reaches its maximum by 12–21
°C. Thus, the regenerative cycle optimization of the solar thermal electric generation differs from that of a solo ORC. The system electricity efficiency with regenerative ORC is about 8.6% for irradiance 750
W/m
2 and is relatively higher than that without the regenerative cycle by 4.9%.
Hypoxia in water environment has become increasingly frequent and serious due to global warming and environmental pollution. Revealing the molecular mechanism of fish hypoxia adaptation will help to ...develop markers of environmental pollution caused by hypoxia. Here, we used a multi-omics method to identify the hypoxia-associated mRNA, miRNA, protein, and metabolite involved in various biological processes in Pelteobagrus vachelli brain. The results showed that hypoxia stress caused brain dysfunction by inhibiting energy metabolism. Specifically, the biological processes involved in energy synthesis and energy consumption are inhibited in P. vachelli brain under hypoxia, such as oxidative phosphorylation, carbohydrate metabolism and protein metabolism. Brain dysfunction is mainly manifested as blood-brain barrier injury accompanied by neurodegenerative diseases and autoimmune diseases. In addition, compared with previous studies, we found that P. vachelli has tissue specificity in response to hypoxia stress and the muscle suffers more damage than the brain. This is the first report to the integrated analysis of the transcriptome, miRNAome, proteome, and metabolome in fish brain. Our findings could provide insights into the molecular mechanisms of hypoxia, and the approach could also be applied to other fish species. DATA AVAILABILITY: The raw data of transcriptome has been uploaded to NCBI database (ID: SUB7714154 and SUB7765255). The raw data of proteome has been uploaded to ProteomeXchange database (PXD020425). The raw data of metabolome has been uploaded to Metabolight (ID: MTBLS1888).
A novel micro-channel loop-heat-pipe solar photovoltaic/thermal (LHP- PV/T) system is developed employing the co-axial tubular heat exchanger as the condenser and upper-end liquid header with tiny ...holes as the liquid feeder. The design facilitates an easier connection among the solar modules. It creates the improved condensation and separate evaporation effects within the LHP. A reduced evaporator area will thereby have a minor impact on the overall heat transfer performance, leading to significant potential for cost reduction. A distributed parameter model is established and validated by experimental data. The model is then applied to analyse the cost reduction potential of the LHP- PV/T via the optimization of geometrical and structural parameters. The impact of the area reduction on the LHP evaporator differs from that on the traditional integral heat pipe PV/T. The decrements in thermal and electrical efficiencies of the LHP- PV/T are 2.47% and 0.03% respectively when the width of heat pipes in the evaporator decreases from 26 to 10 mm. When the number of heat pipes decreases from 30 to 6, the decrements in thermal and electrical efficiencies are 4.63% and 0.12%, whilst the overall system cost drops by 28.58%, thus the cost-effectiveness of the system can be improved.
•. A novel loop heat pipe solar photovoltaic/thermal system is built.•. An accurate distributed parameter model is developed.•. Cost reduction potential of the system is investigated.•. Influences of a reduced evaporator area on LHP differ from those on IHP.•. The system cost is reduced by 28.58% with a minor decrement in the performance.
Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a lethal, agnogenic interstitial lung disease with limited therapeutic options. To investigate vital genes involved in the development of IPF, we integrated and ...compared four expression profiles (GSE110147, GSE53845, GSE24206, and GSE10667), including 87 IPF samples and 40 normal samples. By reanalyzing these datasets, we managed to identify 62 upregulated genes and 20 downregulated genes in IPF samples compared with normal samples. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were analyzed by gene ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis to illustrate relevant pathways of IPF, biological processes, molecular function, and cell components. The DEGs were then subjected to protein-protein interaction (PPI) for network analysis, serving to find 11 key candidate genes (ANXA3, STX11, THBS2, MMP1, MMP9, MMP7, MMP10, SPP1, COL1A1, ITGB8, IGF1). The result of RT-qPCR and immunohistochemical staining verified our finding as well. In summary, we identified 11 key candidate genes related to the process of IPF, which may contribute to novel treatments of IPF.
Sorafenib resistance is a key impediment to successful treatment of patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and recent studies have reported reversal of drug resistance by targeting ...ferroptosis. The present study aimed to explore the association of fatty acid synthase (FASN) with sorafenib resistance via regulation of ferroptosis and provide a novel treatment strategy to overcome the sorafenib resistance of HCC patients.
Intracellular levels of lipid peroxides, glutathione, malondialdehyde, and Fe
were measured as indicators of ferroptosis status. Biological information analyses, immunofluorescence assays, western blot assays, and co-immunoprecipitation analyses were conducted to elucidate the functions of FASN in HCC. Both in vitro and in vivo studies were conducted to examine the antitumor effects of the combination of orlistat and sorafenib and CalcuSyn software was used to calculate the combination index.
Solute carrier family 7 member 11 (SLC7A11) was found to play an important role in mediating sorafenib resistance. The up-regulation of FASN antagonize of SLC7A11-mediated ferroptosis and thereby promoted sorafenib resistance. Mechanistically, FASN enhanced sorafenib-induced ferroptosis resistance by binding to hypoxia-inducible factor 1-alpha (HIF1α), promoting HIF1α nuclear translocation, inhibiting ubiquitination and proteasomal degradation of HIF1α, and subsequently enhancing transcription of SLC7A11. Orlistat, an inhibitor of FASN, with sorafenib had significant synergistic antitumor effects and reversed sorafenib resistance both in vitro and in vivo.
Targeting the FASN/HIF1α/SLC7A11 pathway resensitized HCC cells to sorafenib. The combination of orlistat and sorafenib had superior synergistic antitumor effects in sorafenib-resistant HCC cells.
Transforming waste biomass materials into bio-oils in order to partially substitute petroleum asphalt can reduce environmental pollution and fossil energy consumption and has economic benefits. The ...characteristics of bio-oils and their utilization as additives of asphalts are the focus of this review. First, physicochemical properties of various bio-oils are characterized. Then, conventional, rheological, and chemical properties of bio-oil modified asphalt binders are synthetically reviewed, as well as road performance of bio-oil modified asphalt mixtures. Finally, performance optimization is discussed for bio-asphalt binders and mixtures. This review indicates that bio-oils are highly complex materials that contain various compounds. Moreover, bio-oils are source-depending materials for which its properties vary with different sources. Most bio-oils have a favorable stimulus upon the low temperature performance of asphalt binders and mixtures but exhibit a negative impact on their high-temperature performance. Moreover, a large amount of oxygen element, oxygen-comprising functional groups, and light components in plant-based bio-oils result in higher sensitivity to ageing of bio-oil modified asphalts. In order to increase the performance of bio-asphalts, most research has been limited to adding additive agents to bio-asphalts; therefore, more reasonable optimization methods need to be proposed. Furthermore, upcoming exploration is also needed to identify reasonable evaluation indicators of bio-oils, modification mechanisms of bio-asphalts, and long-term performance tracking in field applications of bio-asphalts during pavement service life.
The plant-specific WRINKLED1 (WRI1) is a member of the AP2/EREBP class of transcription factors that positively regulate oil biosynthesis in plant tissues. Limited information is available for the ...role of WRI1 in oil biosynthesis in castor bean (
L.), an important industrial oil crop. Here, we report the identification of two alternatively spliced transcripts of
, designated as
and
. The open reading frames of
(1341 bp) and
(1332 bp) differ by a stretch of 9 bp, such that the predicted RcWRI1-B lacks the three amino acid residues "VYL" that are present in RcWRI1-A. The
transcript is present in flowers, leaves, pericarps and developing seeds, while the
mRNA is only detectable in developing seeds. When the two isoforms were individually introduced into an
loss-of-function mutant, total fatty acid content was almost restored to the wild-type level, and the percentage of the wrinkled seeds was largely reduced in the transgenic lines relative to the
mutant line. Transient expression of each
splice isoform in
leaves upregulated the expression of the WRI1 target genes, and consequently increased the oil content by 4.3-4.9 fold when compared with the controls, and
appeared to be more active than
. Both
and
can be used as a key transcriptional regulator to enhance fatty acid and oil biosynthesis in leafy biomass.
PDF
