Trehalose is a naturally occurring, non-reducing disaccharide comprising two covalently-linked glucose molecules. It possesses unique physiochemical properties, which account for multiple biological ...roles in a variety of prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms. In the past few decades, intensive research on trehalose has uncovered its functions, and extended its uses as a sweetener and stabilizer in the food, medical, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic industries. Further, increased dietary trehalose consumption has sparked research on how trehalose affects the gut microbiome. In addition to its role as a dietary sugar, trehalose has gained attention for its ability to modulate glucose homeostasis, and potentially as a therapeutic agent for diabetes. This review discusses the bioactive effects of dietary trehalose, highlighting its promise in future industrial and scientific contributions.
Superhydrophobic surfaces are commonly prepared by a combination of low surface energy materials and micro/nano structures. In this work, a rapid one-step electrodepositing process is developed to ...fabricate superhydrophobic cathodic surface by copper plate in an electrolytic solution containing nickel chloride(NiCl
2·6H
2O), myristic acid and ethanol. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images, Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometer, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and contact angle measurement have been performed to characterize the morphological features, chemical composition and superhydrophobicity property. The results demonstrate that the micro/nano scales cauliflower-like structure are composed of Ni crystals and NiCH
3(CH
2)
12COO
2 crystals. The maximum contact angle is about 164° and rolling angle is less than 2°. The needed electrolytic time is largely shortened to 1
min. This method is rapid, easy and effective, and it will have great prospects for industrial applications.
Motor Imagery (MI) electroencephalography (EEG) is widely studied for its non-invasiveness, easy availability, portability, and high temporal resolution. As for MI EEG signal processing, the high ...dimensions of features represent a research challenge. It is necessary to eliminate redundant features, which not only create an additional overhead of managing the space complexity, but also might include outliers, thereby reducing classification accuracy. The firefly algorithm (FA) can adaptively select the best subset of features, and improve classification accuracy. However, the FA is easily entrapped in a local optimum. To solve this problem, this paper proposes a method of combining the firefly algorithm and learning automata (LA) to optimize feature selection for motor imagery EEG. We employed a method of combining common spatial pattern (CSP) and local characteristic-scale decomposition (LCD) algorithms to obtain a high dimensional feature set, and classified it by using the spectral regression discriminant analysis (SRDA) classifier. Both the fourth brain-computer interface competition data and real-time data acquired in our designed experiments were used to verify the validation of the proposed method. Compared with genetic and adaptive weight particle swarm optimization algorithms, the experimental results show that our proposed method effectively eliminates redundant features, and improves the classification accuracy of MI EEG signals. In addition, a real-time brain-computer interface system was implemented to verify the feasibility of our proposed methods being applied in practical brain-computer interface systems.
The discrepancy between current CO2 emission trend and the targeted 1.5 °C warming requires the implementation of carbon dioxide removal (CDR) technologies. Among the engineered CDRs, enhanced ...weathering (EW) is expected to exhibit substantial potential for CO2 removal, owing to the availability of abundant reserves of ultramafic rocks and demonstration of worldwide liming practice. While the shrinking core model (SCM) has been commonly adopted in previous theoretical and experimental studies, there still lacks a comprehensive assessment on the impacts of model parameters, such as rock particle size, size distribution, weathering rate and time length on the weathering kinetics and the resultant CDR potential. Herein, this study incorporates particle size distribution of rock powder into the surface reaction-controlled SCM, and conducts sensitivity analysis on EW’s CDR potential quantitatively. Even fully powered by low-carbon energy in the optimistic case, the application of EW with olivine only achieves maximum CDR per unit of rock and energy consumption of 0.01 kg CO2 per kg rock and 19 g per kWh at size of 8 and 22 μm respectively, indicating the limitations of EW. The derived optimal application parameters with olivine powers within 3.7–79 μm provide valuable insights into the practical real-world applications to achieve net CO2 removal.
Resolution of global climate models (GCMs) significantly influences their capacity to simulate extreme weather such as tropical cyclones (TCs). However, improving the GCM resolution is ...computationally expensive and time-consuming, making it challenging for many research organizations worldwide. Here, we develop a downscaling model, MSG-SE-GAN, based on the Generative Adversarial Networks (GAN) together with Multiscale Gradient (MSG) technique and a Squeeze-and-Excitation (SE) Net, to achieve 10-folded downscaling. GANs consist of a generator and a discriminator network that are trained adversarially, and are often used for generating new data that resembles a given dataset. MSG enables generation and discrimination of multi-scale images within a single model. Inclusion of an attention layer of SE captures better underlying spatial structure while preserving accuracy. The MSG-SE-GAN is stable and fast converging. It outperforms traditional bilinear interpolation and other deep-learning methods such as Super-Resolution Convolutional Neural Networks (SRCNN) and MSG-GAN in downscaling low-resolution meteorological data in assessment metrics and power spectral density. The MSG-SE-GAN has been used to downscale the TC-related variables in the western North Pacific in the low-resolution GCMs of HadGEM3-GC31 and EC-Earth3P, respectively. The downscaled data show highly similar TC activities to the direct outputs of the high-resolution HadGEM3-GC31 and EC-Earth3P, respectively. These results not only suggest the validity of the MSG-SE-GAN but also indicate its possible portability among low-resolution GCMs.
Heavy polluted industries are the primary source of environmental pollution. In the case of the decline of ecological carrying capacity, how to ensure the necessary protection of the environment and ...the development of financial benefits, and whether corporate governance can regulate environmental performance and financial performance will be explored. This paper uses IBM SPSS Statistics 26.0 to conduct factor analysis to process dimensionality reduction on aggregate environmental performance based on statistics from heavy polluted industry companies listed on Shenzhen and Shanghai stock markets from 2015 to 2019. Then stata16.0 was used for regression analysis. It is found that a company’s aggregate environmental performance has a beneficial influence on its financial performance. Financial performance is also influenced by the size of the company and the rate at which revenues rise. Furthermore, the ratio of female board members has a beneficial effect on the link between a company’s aggregate environmental and financial performance, and the total number of committees has a strong negative impact on the relation between aggregate environmental and financial performance. These findings back up the agency, stakeholder, and resource-based theories, and they have significant consequences for the company’s management, legislators, and regulators.
Hyperphenylalaninemia (HPA) is the most common amino acid metabolism defect in humans. It is an autosomal-recessive disorder of the phenylalanine (Phe) metabolism, in which high Phe concentrations ...and low tyrosine (Tyr) concentrations in the blood cause phenylketonuria (PKU), brain dysfunction, light pigmentation and musty odor. Newborn screening data of HPA have revealed that the prevalence varies worldwide, with an average of 1:10,000. Most cases of HPA result from phenylalanine hydroxylase (PAH) deficiency, while a small number of HPA are caused by defects in the tetrahydrobiopterin (BH4) metabolism and DnaJ heat shock protein family (Hsp40) member C12 (DNAJC12) deficiency. Currently, the molecular pathophysiology of the neuropathology associated with HPA remains incompletely understood. Dietary restriction of Phe has been highly successful, although outcomes are still suboptimal and patients find it difficult to adhere to the treatment. Pharmacological treatments, such as BH4 and phenylalanine ammonia lyase, are available. Gene therapy for HPA is still in development.
Substantial abatements of CO2 emissions from fossil fuel combustions are critical to shifting the current trend of fast global warming. In this Perspective, chemical fixation of CO2 (CFC) is ...evaluated as a progressive abating strategy by a proposed “golden triangle” principle. We derive several simple equations to describe partially the relationships between energy and CO2 arising from fossil fuel combustions in the power sector upon energy/mass-balance analyses of related electrochemical reductions of CO2 (ERCs) as a route to CFC. Mitigation coefficients are obtained as figures of merit to quantify the intrinsic abatement capabilities of various reduction products, identifying privileged ERCs that may allow fossil fuel power, the current and expected dominant source of electricity at least before 2040, to drive the ERCs for emission abatements. The challenges for large-scale deployments of the ERCs as a substantial emission-abating strategy are discussed upon sensitivity analysis of mitigation efficiency for selected privileged ERCs.
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Limiting the average global temperature rise to well below 2°C relative to the pre-industrial levels by 2100 via substantial emission abatements of greenhouse gases, especially CO2, is one of the greatest global challenges in this century. A failure to meet that target has been widely projected to cause prohibitively severe socioeconomic damage due to adverse climate changes resulting from fast global warming. However, even with the current emission abatement plans being executed as promised in the Paris Agreement on Climate Change—a formidable challenge by itself—the estimated remaining carbon budget to meet the temperature target still has a high probability to be exhausted before 2040, leaving slim chances to avoid a future of fast global warming.
Progressive strategies with a practical balance of mitigation efficiency, storage stability, and economic cost are urgently needed for substantial CO2 emission abatements from fossil fuel combustions. It is foreseeable that the rapidly exhausting trend of the remaining CO2 emission budget should dramatically increase the socioeconomic costs for CO2 emissions in a short time span, leading to situations whereby mitigation efficiency and storage stability become a higher priority. Strategic planning and technological preparations in advance of such situations require a progressive view of the CO2 issues, which may create the time required for gradual growth and deployments of decarbonized energies to eventually achieve the temperature-control target.
Progressive strategies with a practical balance of mitigation efficiency, storage stability, and economic cost are urgently needed for substantial CO2 emission abatements from fossil fuel combustions. We derived simple equations to quantify electrochemical fixations of CO2 upon unit-energy-centric mass-balance analyses. Mitigation coefficients are obtained as figures of merit for various fixation products, identifying privileged fixations that may allow fossil fuel power, the current and expected dominant source of electricity at least before 2040, to drive the ERCs for emission abatements.
The testes are the organs of gamete production and testosterone synthesis. Up to date, no model system is available for mammalian testicular development, and only few studies have characterized the ...mouse testis transcriptome from no more than three postnatal ages. To describe the transcriptome landscape of the developing mouse testis and identify the potential molecular mechanisms underlying testis maturation, we examined multiple RNA-seq data of mouse testes from 3-week-old (puberty) to 11-week-old (adult). Sperm cells appeared as expected in 5-week-old mouse testis, suggesting the proper sample collection. The principal components analysis revealed the genes from 3w to 4w clustered away from other timepoints, indicating they may be the important nodes for testicular development. The pairwise comparisons at two adjacent timepoints identified 7,612 differentially expressed genes (DEGs), resulting in 58 unique mRNA expression patterns. Enrichment analysis identified functions in tissue morphogenesis (3-4w), regulation of peptidase activity (4-5w), spermatogenesis (7-8w), and antigen processing (10-11w), suggesting distinct functions in different developmental periods. 50 hub genes and 10 gene cluster modules were identified in the testis maturation process by protein-protein interaction (PPI) network analysis, and the miRNA-lncRNA-mRNA, miRNA-circRNA-mRNA and miRNA-circRNA-lncRNA-mRNA competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) networks were constructed. The results suggest that testis maturation is a complex developmental process modulated by various molecules, and that some potential RNA-RNA interactions may be involved in specific developmental stages. In summary, this study provides an update on the molecular basis of testis development, which may help to understand the molecular mechanisms of mouse testis development and provide guidance for mouse reproduction.
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•The terrestrial materials in the water column are primarily humic-like materials.•Photodegradation plays an important role in the degradation of humic fractions.•The input of ...terrestrial materials shifts the structure of microbial communities.•NH4+, DO and TP are critical variables to influence the biological process of DOM.
The input of terrestrial materials is an essential source of dissolved organic matter (DOM) in rivers. The mechanism of the influence of terrestrial materials on the DOM cycle in the water column is still unclear. In this study, microbial degradation and photodegradation processes of DOM were evaluated after the input of terrestrial materials into the water column. The input of terrestrial materials promotes the biodegradation and photodegradation process of DOM. PARAFAC results indicated that terrestrial sources of DOM contained more humic-like fractions. C2 and C3 exhibited higher fluorescence intensity after the input of terrestrial materials. The results indicate that more humic fractions are photodegraded. Based on the 16S rRNA analysis results, the input of terrestrial material shifted the microbial community and altered microbial abundance. The network analysis results showed that the microorganisms exhibited completely different degradation mechanisms under light avoidance and exposure conditions. Terrestrial humic fractions can be photodegraded into bioavailable substrates to stimulate microbial metabolism. After the input of terrestrial material, random forest modeling and structural equation modeling screened and validated the critical environmental variables affecting the DOM cycle. The above discoveries may be beneficial for identifying the fate of terrestrial DOM in the water column and predicting future DOM cycling processes in the water column.
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