Electrochemical CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR) is a promising approach to convert CO2 to carbon‐neutral fuels using external electric powers. Here, the Bi2S3‐Bi2O3 nanosheets possessing substantial ...interface being exposed between the connection of Bi2S3 and Bi2O3 are prepared and subsequently demonstrate to improve CO2RR performance. The electrocatalyst shows formate Faradaic efficiency (FE) of over 90% in a wide potential window. A high partial current density of about 200 mA cm−2 at −1.1 V and an ultralow onset potential with formate FE of 90% are achieved in a flow cell. The excellent electrocatalytic activity is attributed to the fast‐interfacial charge transfer induced by the electronic interaction at the interface, the increased number of active sites, and the improved CO2 adsorption ability. These collectively contribute to the faster reaction kinetics and improved selectivity and consequently, guarantee the superb CO2RR performance. This study provides an appealing strategy for the rational design of electrocatalysts to enhance catalytic performance by improving the charge transfer ability through constructing a functional heterostructure, which enables interface engineering toward more efficient CO2RR.
The heterostructured Bi2S3‐Bi2O3 nanosheets with substantial amount of interface are designed, which demonstrate the enhanced CO2 electroreduction performance. The fast‐interfacial charge transfer induced by the electronic interaction at the interface, together with the increased number of active sites and the improved CO2 adsorption ability, collectively contribute to the improved electrocatalytic performance.
The electrochemical CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR) is a promising strategy to convert CO2 to carbon‐based fuels and to simultaneously reduce the emission of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. In ...this work, the bismuth subcarbonate nanoflowers (BOC NFs) are facilely prepared through a one‐pot synthesis method for efficient formate electrosynthesis through CO2RR. Benefiting from the crystal structure and sheet‐stacked morphology, the in situ measurements and theoretical calculation results reveal the self‐reinforced CO2 adsorption properties and rapid CO2 adsorption–desorption kinetics on the catalyst surface, which significantly facilitate the CO2RR process. As a result, the desirable Faradaic efficiencies of over 90%, with a maximum value of 98.9%, toward formate formation, are achieved in a wide potential window from −0.8 to −1.4 V in an H‐type cell. Moreover, in a flow cell, the superior intrinsic activity of BOC NFs guarantees the high throughput electrocatalytic performance of CO2RR and the FEformate of over 90% with high current density is achieved in a potential range as wide as 1200 mV, demonstrating the great potential of BOC NFs for practical CO2RR applications. These results underscore the effectiveness of designing electrocatalysts with self‐reinforced CO2 adsorption properties to improve electrocatalytic performance for efficient CO2RR.
The bismuth subcarbonate nanoflowers demonstrate highly selective formation of formate in CO2 electroreduction. The self‐contained carbonate species within the electrocatalyst provide the unique reinforced CO2 adsorption properties and fast CO2 adsorption–desorption kinetics, which results in the high formate Faradic efficiencies in a wide potential window.
Gastrodia elata Blume (Orchidaceae) is commonly called Tian ma in Chinese and mainly distributed in the mountainous areas of eastern Asia, such as China, Korea, Japan and India. It is an extensively ...used traditional Chinese herbal medicine in the clinical practice of traditional Chinese medicine, to treat headache, migraine, dizziness, epilepsy, infantile convulsion, tetany and so on. The present paper reviews the advancements in investigation of botany and ethnopharmacology, phytochemistry, pharmacology, toxicology and quality control of Gastrodia elata Blume. Finally, the possible tendency and perspective for future investigation of this plant are also put forward.
The information on Gastrodia elata Blume was collected via piles of resources including classic books about Chinese herbal medicine, and scientific databases including Pubmed, Google Scholar, ACS, Web of science, ScienceDirect databases, CNKI and others. Plant taxonomy was validated by the databases “The Plant List”, and “Mansfeld’s Encyclopedia”.
Over 81 compounds from this plant have been isolated and identified, phenolics and polysaccharides are generally considered as the characteristic and active constituents of Gastrodia elata Blume. Its active compounds possess wide-reaching biological activities, including sedative, hypnotic, antiepileptic, anticonvulsive, antianxietic, antidepressant, neuroprotective, antipsychotic, anti-vertigo, circulatory system modulating, anti-inflammationary, analgesic, antioxidative, memory-improving and antiaging, antivirus and antitumor effects.
Despite the publication of various papers on Gastrodia elata Blume, there is still, however, the need for definitive research and clarification of other bioactive compounds using bioactivity-guided isolation strategies, and the possible mechanism of action as well as potential synergistic or antagonistic effects of multi-component mixtures derived from Gastrodia elata Blume need to be evaluated. It is also necessary and important to do more quality control and toxicological study on human subjects in order to maintain its efficacy stable in the body and validate its safety in clinical uses. In addition, more investigations on other parts of this plant beyond the tubers are needed. Further studies on Gastrodia elata Blume will lead to the development of new drugs and therapeutics for various diseases, and how to utilize it better should be paid more attention to.
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Increasing atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases has caused grievous global warming and associated consequences. Lowering carbon footprint to promote the development of cleaner production ...demands the immediate attention. In this study, the carbon footprint calculations were performed on five cropping systems in North China Plain from 2003 to 2010. The five cropping systems included sweet potato → cotton → sweet potato → winter wheat–summer maize (SpCSpWS, 4-year cycle), ryegrass–cotton → peanut → winter wheat–summer maize (RCPWS, 3-year cycle), peanut → winter wheat–summer maize (PWS, 2-year cycle), winter wheat–summer maize (WS, 1-year cycle), and continuous cotton (Cont C), established in a randomized complete-block design with three replicates. We used a modified carbon footprint calculation with localized greenhouse gas emissions parameters to analyze the carbon footprint of each cropping system per unit area, per kg biomass, and per unit economic output. Results showed that the lowest annual carbon footprint values were observed in SpCSpWS among the five cropping systems, which were only 27.9%, 28.2% and 25.0% of those in WS rotation system (the highest carbon footprint) in terms of per unit area, per unit biomass, and per unit economic output, respectively. The five cropping systems showed the order of SpCSpWS < Cont C < RCPWS < PWS < WS sorting by their annual carbon footprint calculated by all the three metrics above-mentioned. Results revealed that appropriate diversified crop rotation systems could contribute to decreased carbon footprint compared with conventional intensive crop production system in North China Plain.
•The agriculture carbon footprint was redefined and recalculated in North China Plain.•We compared the carbon footprint of five cropping systems in multiple metrics.•Diversifying crop rotation systems contributed mainly to lower carbon footprint.
AbstractObjectiveTo examine the protective effects of appropriate personal protective equipment for frontline healthcare professionals who provided care for patients with coronavirus disease 2019 ...(covid-19).DesignCross sectional study.SettingFour hospitals in Wuhan, China.Participants420 healthcare professionals (116 doctors and 304 nurses) who were deployed to Wuhan by two affiliated hospitals of Sun Yat-sen University and Nanfang Hospital of Southern Medical University for 6-8 weeks from 24 January to 7 April 2020. These study participants were provided with appropriate personal protective equipment to deliver healthcare to patients admitted to hospital with covid-19 and were involved in aerosol generating procedures. 77 healthcare professionals with no exposure history to covid-19 and 80 patients who had recovered from covid-19 were recruited to verify the accuracy of antibody testing.Main outcome measuresCovid-19 related symptoms (fever, cough, and dyspnoea) and evidence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection, defined as a positive test for virus specific nucleic acids in nasopharyngeal swabs, or a positive test for IgM or IgG antibodies in the serum samples.ResultsThe average age of study participants was 35.8 years and 68.1% (286/420) were women. These study participants worked 4-6 hour shifts for an average of 5.4 days a week; they worked an average of 16.2 hours each week in intensive care units. All 420 study participants had direct contact with patients with covid-19 and performed at least one aerosol generating procedure. During the deployment period in Wuhan, none of the study participants reported covid-19 related symptoms. When the participants returned home, they all tested negative for SARS-CoV-2 specific nucleic acids and IgM or IgG antibodies (95% confidence interval 0.0 to 0.7%).ConclusionBefore a safe and effective vaccine becomes available, healthcare professionals remain susceptible to covid-19. Despite being at high risk of exposure, study participants were appropriately protected and did not contract infection or develop protective immunity against SARS-CoV-2. Healthcare systems must give priority to the procurement and distribution of personal protective equipment, and provide adequate training to healthcare professionals in its use.
A new, unscented transformation (UT) based probabilistic power flow method for Alternate Current/Voltage Source Control-Multiple Terminal Direct Current hybrid grids is presented herein. The method ...is able to accurately tackle various random variables, including renewable energy sources with uncertainties such as wind speeds and solar radiations, which are rank correlated and are likely to follow different types of probability distributions. The concept of Gaussian copula is adopted to transform the rank correlated random variables into a group of standard Gaussian distributions with Pearson correlation coefficients, so that the UT method can be later applied to select the critical sample points from Gaussian distributions in a proper and uniform way. The effectiveness of the proposed method is validated using a set of test results on the modified IEEE 39-bus system and IEEE 300-bus system.
Objectives
Preoperative prediction of microvascular invasion (MVI) in patients with hepatocellular cancer (HCC) is important for surgery strategy making. We aimed to develop and validate a combined ...intratumoural and peritumoural radiomics model based on gadolinium-ethoxybenzyl-diethylenetriamine (Gd-EOB-DTPA)-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for preoperative prediction of MVI in primary HCC patients.
Methods
This study included a training cohort of 110 HCC patients and a validating cohort of 50 HCC patients. All the patients underwent preoperative Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced MRI examination and curative hepatectomy. The volumes of interest (VOIs) around the hepatic lesions including intratumoural and peritumoural regions were manually delineated in the hepatobiliary phase of MRI images, from which quantitative features were extracted and analysed. In the training cohort, machine-learning method was applied for dimensionality reduction and selection of the extracted features.
Results
The proportion of MVI-positive patients was 38.2% and 40.0% in the training and validation cohort, respectively. Supervised machine learning selected ten features to establish a predictive model for MVI. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC), sensitivity, specificity of the combined intratumoural and peritumoural radiomics model in the training and validation cohort were 0.85 (95% confidence interval (CI), 0.77–0.93), 88.2%, 76.2%, and 0.83 (95% CI, 0.71–0.95), 90.0%, 75.0%, respectively.
Conclusions
We evaluate quantitative Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced MRI image features of both intratumoural and peritumoural regions and provide an effective radiomics-based model for the prediction of MVI in HCC patients, and may therefore help clinicians make precise decisions regarding treatment before the surgery.
Key Points
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An effective radiomics model for prediction of microvascular invasion in HCC patients is established
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The radiomics model is superior to the radiologist in prediction of MVI
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The radiomics model can help clinicians in pretreatment decision making
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Tumor cells co-express vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and VEGF receptors (VEGFRs) that interact each other to support a self-sustainable cell growth. So far, this autocrine VEGF loop is ...not reported in human intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC). Apatinib is a highly selective VEGFR2 inhibitor, but its effects on ICC have not been investigated. In this study, we reported that VEGF and phosphorylated VEGFR2 were expressed at a significantly high level in ICC patient tissues (P<0.05). In vitro, treating ICC cell lines RBE and SSP25 with recombinant human VEGF (rhVEGF) induced phosphorylation of VEGFR1 (pVEGFR1) and VEGFR2 (pVEGFR2); however, only the VEGFR2 played a role in the anti-apoptotic cell growth through activating a PI3K-AKT-mTOR anti-apoptotic signaling pathway which generated more VEGF to enter this autocrine loop. Apatinib inhibited the anti-apoptosis induced by VEGF signaling, and promoted cell death in vitro. In addition, Apatinib treatment delayed xenograft tumor growth in vivo. In conclusion, the autocrine VEGF/VEGFR2 signaling promotes ICC cell survival. Apatinib inhibits anti-apoptotic cell growth through suppressing the autocrine VEGF signaling, supporting a potential role for using Apatinib in the treatment of ICC.
Emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern (VOCs) harboring multiple mutations in the spike protein raise concerns on effectiveness of current vaccines that rely on the ancestral spike protein. Here, we ...design a quadrivalent mosaic nanoparticle vaccine displaying spike proteins from the SARS-CoV-2 prototype and 3 different VOCs. The mosaic nanoparticle elicits equivalent or superior neutralizing antibodies against variant strains in mice and non-human primates with only small reduction in neutralization titers against the ancestral strain. Notably, it provides protection against infection with prototype and B.1.351 strains in mice. These results provide a proof of principle for the development of multivalent vaccines against pandemic and potential pre-emergent SARS-CoV-2 variants.
Background
Parkinson's disease (PD) is a common movement disorder for which diagnosis mainly depends on the medical history and clinical symptoms. Exosomes are now considered an additional mechanism ...for intercellular communication, allowing cells to exchange proteins, lipids, and genetic material. Long noncoding (lnc) RNA in exosomes plays a critical role in many diseases, including neurodegenerative disease.
Aim
To study expression differences for lncRNAs in peripheral blood exosomes of PD patients compared with healthy individuals and to look for lncRNAs that might be related to the pathogenesis of PD.
Materials and Methods
We recruited PD patients along with age‐ and sex‐matched healthy individuals as healthy controls and evaluated levels of lncRNAs extracted from exosomes in plasma samples via next‐generation sequencing and real‐time quantitative PCR. Correlation analysis was conducted for the clinical characteristics of PD patients and the expression of selected lncRNAs.
Results
We found 15 upregulated and 24 downregulated exosomal lncRNAs in the PD group. According to bioinformatics analyses, we chose lnc‐MKRN2‐42:1 for further study. Interestingly, lnc‐MKRN2‐42:1 was positively correlated with the MDS‐UPDRS III score for PD patients.
Conclusion
Our study suggested that lnc‐MKRN2‐42:1 may be involved in the occurrence and development of PD.
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