Rational conversion of CO2 into valuable fuels would partially or fully close the carbon loop and can have significant environmental benefits. The elemental steps of CO2 conversion into hydrocarbon ...fuels such as methanol, methane and a series intermediates at the edge of graphitic carbon nitride were investigated using first-principle calculations. Herein, we reported the detailed mechanism of CO2 reduction at the edge of g-C3N4 sheet including two possible pathways based on H-shuttling model. The participation of hydrogen within NH group at the edge of g-C3N4 sheet as another hydrogen source could promote the hydrogenation of intermediate through the rearrangement reaction. Methanol is a quite favorable product than methane during CO2 reduction reaction. Carbon monoxide (CO) and formaldehyde as the products would limit the conversion of CO2 to hydrocarbon fuels.
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Recently, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have been broadly applied to the remote sensing field. For a great number of UAV images, deep learning has been reinvigorated and performed many results in ...agricultural applications. The popular image datasets for deep learning model training are generated for general purpose use, in which the objects, views, and applications are for ordinary scenarios. However, UAV images possess different patterns of images mostly from a look-down perspective. This paper provides a verified annotated dataset of UAV images that are described in data acquisition, data preprocessing, and a showcase of a CNN classification. The dataset collection consists of one multi-rotor UAV platform by flying a planned scouting routine over rice paddies. This paper introduces a semi-auto annotation method with an ExGR index to generate the training data of rice seedlings. For demonstration, this study modified a classical CNN architecture, VGG-16, to run a patch-based rice seedling detection. The k-fold cross-validation was employed to obtain an 80/20 dividing ratio of training/test data. The accuracy of the network increases with the increase of epoch, and all the divisions of the cross-validation dataset achieve a 0.99 accuracy. The rice seedling dataset provides the training-validation dataset, patch-based detection samples, and the ortho-mosaic image of the field.
The existence of intratumoral tertiary lymphoid structure (iTLS) has been reported to correlative with favorable clinical outcomes for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, little is ...known about the role of peritumoral TLS (pTLS). This study aimed to investigate the prognostic role of pTLS either alone or jointly with iTLS and the potential association with local immune response in HCC. The formation and cellular composition of TLS was evaluated by hematoxylin & eosin and immunohistochemistry. Evaluation of tumor-infiltrating immune cells and formation of germinal center (GC) inside TLS was performed by immunohistochemistry. The gene expression profiles were analyzed by real-time PCR. In a total of 360 patients from two independent cohorts, the pTLS was identified in most, whereas iTLS could be observed in only approximately 30% of HCC specimens. Patients with high pTLS densities were associated with improved outcomes, those present with characteristic morphology of GC, particularly, showing an even better prognosis. The combination of pTLS and iTLS allowed the identification of patients with best prognosis. Tumors with high pTLS density showed significantly increased expression of Th1-, Th17- and immune suppression-related genes, as well as significantly higher infiltration of CD3+, CD8+ and CD20+ cells and lower infiltration of FOXP3+, CD68+ and PD1+ cells. Conclusively, we provide evidence that pTLS is associated with intratumoral immune infiltration, highlighting the dynamic interplay between pTLS and immune cells recruitment. High pTLS density links to a tumor microenvironment with an active immune reaction and improved patient survival and represents a promising prognostic biomarker for HCC.
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•A multi-phase-field model was used to study the austenite-acicular ferrite transformation process.•The role of different influencing factors on the austenite-ferrite transformation ...is investigated.•Different strategies for refining the acicular ferrite grain sizes have been discussed.•The current simulation results provide guidelines for the experimental utility of acicular ferrite.
The excellent combination of strength and toughness renders acicular ferrite to be a desirable microstructural contexture in C-Mn and high-strength low-alloy steels. The formation of acicular ferrite in steels is generally affected by factors such as composition, cooling rate, prior austenite grain size (PAGS), and impurity inclusions. Due to the complexity of multi-factor coupling, it is difficult to explore the influence of a single factor through actual experiments. In the current work, the influences of cooling rates, PAGS, and impurity inclusion density on the microstructure evolution of austenite-acicular ferrite transformation in low alloy steels are quantitatively evaluated by multi-phase-field simulation. The numerical results demonstrate that reducing PAGS during austenite-ferrite transformation, increasing cooling rate and increasing inclusion nucleation density can effectively refine acicular ferrite grain size. Moreover, the C element diffuses from acicular ferrite to austenite and accumulates at the phase interface during the phase transformation from austenite to ferrite. The findings in the current work contribute to better regulating and designing acicular ferrite in steels.
Many Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates from the airways of patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) are sensitive to antibiotics in susceptibility testing, but eradication of the infection is difficult. The ...main reason is the biofilm formation in the airways of patients with CF. The pharmacokinetics (PKs) and pharmacodynamics (PDs) of antimicrobials can reliably be used to predict whether antimicrobial regimens will achieve the maximum bactericidal effect against infections. Unfortunately, however, most PK/PD studies of antimicrobials have been done on planktonic cells and very few PK/PD studies have been done on biofilms, partly due to the lack of suitable models in vivo. In the present study, a biofilm lung infection model was developed to provide an objective and quantitative evaluation of the PK/PD profile of antimicrobials. Killing curves were set up to detect the antimicrobial kinetics on planktonic and biofilm P. aeruginosa cells in vivo. Colistin showed concentration-dependent killing, while imipenem showed time-dependent killing on both planktonic and biofilm P. aeruginosa cells in vivo. The parameter best correlated to the elimination of bacteria in lung by colistin was the area under the curve (AUC) versus MIC (AUC/MIC) for planktonic cells or the AUC versus minimal biofilm inhibitory concentration (MBIC; AUC/MBIC) for biofilm cells. The best-correlated parameter for imipenem was the time that the drug concentration was above the MIC for planktonic cells (TMIC) or time that the drug concentration was above the MBIC (TMBIC) for biofilm cells. However, the AUC/MIC of imipenem showed a better correlation with the efficacy of imipenem for biofilm infections (R2 = 0.89) than planktonic cell infections (R2 = 0.38). The postantibiotic effect (PAE) of colistin and imipenem was shorter in biofilm infections than planktonic cell infections in this model.
Abstract
The Qilihai Wetland located in Tianjin is one of the important wetlands in northern China and an important transfer station for migratory birds. Its water environment quality is crucial for ...improving the regional ecosystem function, and is therefore known as the “green lung of the Beijing-Tianjin region”. This paper conducted on-site monitoring and a comprehensive evaluation of the current situation of the Qilihai environment during the dry season and the rainy season. Based on this, countermeasures and suggestions for water environment protection were proposed from the aspects of optimizing water sources, reducing interference, and strengthening governance.
The time course of activity of colistin and imipenem against mucoid and nonmucoid Pseudomonas aeruginosa growing in a biofilm showed that compared with those for planktonic bacteria, the kinetics of ...colistin and imipenem retained the concentration- and time-dependent killing, respectively, but higher doses of antibiotics and longer dosing periods were required for biofilm eradication. Biofilms of mucoid P. aeruginosa were more difficult to eradicate than nonmucoid biofilms.
The Janus kinase/signal transducer and activator of the transcription 3 (JAK/STAT3) signaling pathway controls multiple biological processes, including cell survival, proliferation, and ...differentiation. Abnormally activated STAT3 signaling promotes tumor cell growth, proliferation, and survival, as well as tumor invasion, angiogenesis, and immunosuppression. Hence, JAK/STAT3 signaling has been considered a promising target for antitumor therapy. In this study, a number of ageladine A derivative compounds were synthesized. The most effective of these was found to be compound
. Our results indicated that compound
had the greatest inhibitory effect on the STAT3 luciferase gene reporter. Molecular docking results showed that compound
could dock into the STAT3 SH2 structural domain. Western blot assays demonstrated that compound
selectively inhibited the phosphorylation of STAT3 on the Tyr705 residue, thereby reducing STAT3 downstream gene expression without affecting the expression of the upstream proteins, p-STAT1 and p-STAT5. Compound
also suppressed the proliferation and migration of A549 and DU145 cells. Finally, in vivo research revealed that 10 mg/kg of compound
effectively inhibited the growth of A549 xenograft tumors with persistent STAT3 activation without causing significant weight loss. These results clearly indicate that compound
could be a potential antitumor agent by inhibiting STAT3 activation.
Chebulae Fructus (CF) is known as one of the richest sources of hydrolyzable tannins (HTs). In this study, ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled with a photodiode array detector method was ...established for simultaneous determination of the 12 common phenolcarboxylic and tannic constituents (PTCs). Using this method, quantitative analysis was accomplished in CF and other four adulterants, including Terminaliae Belliricae Fructus, Phyllanthi Fructus, Chebulae Fructus Immaturus, and Canarii Fructus. Based on a quantitative analysis of the focused compounds, discrimination of CF and other four adulterants was successfully accomplished by hierarchical cluster analysis and principal component analysis. Additionally, the total contents of the 12 compounds that we focused on in this study were unveiled as 148.86 mg/g, 96.14 mg/g, and 18.64 mg/g in exocarp, mesocarp, and endocarp and seed of CF, respectively, and PTCs were witnessed to be the most abundant in the exocarp of CF. Noticeably, the HTs (chebulagic acid, chebulanin acid, chebulinic acid, and punicalagin) were observed to be ultimately degraded to chebulic acid, gallic acid, and ellagic acid during sunlight-drying of the fresh fruits. As a result, our study indicated that CF and its adulterants could be distinguished by the observed 12 PTCs, which were mainly distributed in the exocarp of the fruits. The HTs were prone to degrade into the three simple phenolcarboxylic acids during drying or processing, allowing us to obtain a more comprehensive understanding of the PTCs, with great significance in the improved quality of CF and related products.
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