Display omitted
•Biochars are potential sustainable precursors for activated carbon production.•Physical activation and chemical activation are applied in the production process.•Production ...parameters affect the properties of resultant activated carbon.•Multiple applications in environmental protection and energy storage are reviewed.•Future perspectives about biochar activation and applications are highlighted.
There is a growing interest of the scientific community on production of activated carbon using biochar as potential sustainable precursors pyrolyzed from biomass wastes. Physical activation and chemical activation are the main methods applied in the activation process. These methods could have significantly beneficial effects on biochar chemical/physical properties, which make it suitable for multiple applications including water pollution treatment, CO2 capture, and energy storage. The feedstock with different compositions, pyrolysis conditions and activation parameters of biochar have significant influences on the properties of resultant activated carbon. Compared with traditional activated carbon, activated biochar appears to be a new potential cost-effective and environmentally-friendly carbon materials with great application prospect in many fields. This review not only summarizes information from the current analysis of activated biochar and their multiple applications for further optimization and understanding, but also offers new directions for development of activated biochar.
Display omitted
•Recent studies on synthesis of biochar-based nano-composites are reviewed.•Biochar-based nano-composites combine the advantages of biochar with nano-materials.•Nano-particles improve ...biochar’s physicochemical properties and serve as active sites.•Multiple mechanisms are involved in contaminants removal.•Knowledge gaps in the future development should be studied.
Synthesizing biochar-based nano-composites can obtain new composites and combine the advantages of biochar with nano-materials. The resulting composites usually exhibit great improvement in functional groups, pore properties, surface active sites, catalytic degradation ability and easy to separation. These composites have excellent abilities to adsorb a range of contaminants from aqueous solutions. Particularly, catalytic material-coated biochar can exert simultaneous adsorption and catalytic degradation function for organic contaminants removal. Synthesizing biochar-based nano-composites has become an important practice for expanding the environmental applications of biochar and nanotechnology. This paper aims to review and summarize the various synthesis techniques for biochar-based nano-composites and their effects on the decontamination of wastewater. The characteristic and advantages of existing synthesis methods are summarized and discussed. Application of biochar-based nano-composites for different contaminants removal and the underlying mechanisms are reviewed. Furthermore, knowledge gaps that exist in the fabrication and application of biochar-based nano-composites are also identified.
Pediatric proximal femoral tumors often present with accumulative and severe bone destruction and are often complicated by pathological fractures and malunion. Such tumors are treated clinically by ...lesion scraping and graft reconstruction with autologous iliac bone alone or in combination with artificial bone. This study aimed to determine the efficacy of the Locking Compression Pediatric Hip Plate™ in treating pediatric proximal femoral tumors.
From 2012-2017, the Locking Compression Pediatric Hip Plate™ was applied for internal fixation in 28 children in the Department of Pediatric Surgery. The complications were pathological fractures in 19 patients and multiple lesions in 5 patients. Tumors were removed by tumor curettage and reconstruction with autogenous iliac bone or artificial bone graft. The Locking Compression Pediatric Hip Plate™ was then applied. Postoperative pathological examination confirmed the diagnosis.
The cohort comprised 20 males and 8 females (mean age 7.8 ± 2.9 years). The mean follow-up duration was 26.1 ± 8.1 months (range 18-48 months). Post-treatment radiography showed that the lesions and local pathological fractures were healed in 3.2 ± 0.4 months (range 3-4 months), with no complications. Four patients continued to receive antineoplastic therapy postoperatively. Four patients experienced recurrence in situ, while another four developed distant metastases. The radiographic and joint function findings indicated that the affected limbs had excellent function. The mean Enneking score was 28.7 ± 1.0 points (range 27-30 points).
Internal fixation with the Locking Compression Pediatric Hip Plate™ in children achieves good therapeutic effects. Moreover, the Locking Compression Pediatric Hip Plate™ resolves the shortcomings of external fixation by traditional plaster casts and internal fixation by Kirschner wires and elastic intramedullary screws.
Display omitted
•Short-chain fatty acids are metabolites produced in the intestinal tract.•Two major SCFA signaling mechanisms are promotion of histone acetylation and activation of G-protein-coupled ...receptors.•SCFAs affect the regulation of inflammation, carcinogenesis, intestinal barrier function, and oxidative stress.•SCFAs have a high potential for a therapeutic use in human diseases
Short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), mainly including acetate, propionate, and butyrate, are metabolites produced during the bacterial fermentation of dietary fiber in the intestinal tract. They are believed to be essential factors affecting host health. Most in vitro and ex vivo studies have shown that SCFAs affect the regulation of inflammation, carcinogenesis, intestinal barrier function, and oxidative stress, but convincing evidence in humans is still lacking. Two major SCFA signaling mechanisms have been identified: promotion of histone acetylation and activation of G-protein-coupled receptors. In this review, we introduce the production and metabolic characteristics of SCFAs, summarize the potential effects of SCFAs on the four aspects mentioned above and the possible mechanisms. SCFAs have been reported to exert a wide spectrum of positive effects and have a high potential for therapeutic use in human-related diseases.
In sports, players had differences in psychological training principles, sports characteristics, and personal athletic ability due to differences in sports plans. At the same time, the winning and ...losing rules of various competitions would also limit the psychological training and tactical ability of players. The current problem with mental training for athletes was that it is impossible to accurately understand the mentality of athletes and make a reasonable adjustment plan. Therefore, this paper adopted a machine learning algorithm and used the methods of psychological testing and questionnaire research to carry out extensive research on the training and regulation of remote sports psychology. The possible psychological barriers and adjustment methods of athletes are supplemented, focusing on the comparison of four aspects: psychological endurance before training, control accuracy, anxiety score before psychological training, and the effects of before and after adjustment. And after in-depth research on the problem of athletes’ psychological training, the conclusion showed that the psychological tolerance value of athletes has increased by 18.9%, the accuracy of control of athletes’ psychological problems had increased by 13%, the psychological anxiety of students had also been alleviated and improved, and the overall score had increased by 12.5%. A more systematic mental training program for athletes was introduced in order to provide a basis for improving the effectiveness of mental training for athletes.
Display omitted
Clinical treatments have stalled in certain diseases due to a lack of proper therapeutic delivery systems. Recent studies have identified exosomes for their potential use as cell-free ...therapies, which may provide a novel mechanism for solving this problem. Exosomes are nanoscale extracellular vesicles that can transport rich cargos of proteins, lipids, DNA, and RNA. It is increasingly recognized that exosomes play a complex role in not only the physiological conditions but also pathological ones. Accumulating evidence suggests that exosomes are of paramount importance in distant cell-cell communication because they can enter the circulation when secreted and pass through additional biological barriers. As a result, interest has exploded surrounding the functional parameters of exosomes and their potential applications as delivery vehicles for small molecule therapies. In this review, we discuss the potential of exosomes to be utilized as “natural nanoparticles” to deliver drugs and genes, and their advantages and disadvantages are compared to other delivery mechanisms.
This paper proposes a new model with a two-factor stochastic equilibrium volatility level that can be used to price variance and volatility swaps with nonlinear payoff. The adopted model uses the CIR ...process as the volatility process with the constant equilibrium level replaced with a stochastic one, and at the same time incorporates the regime switching mechanics in order to better describe the underlying price. To better understand how the introduced regime switching impacts both swap prices, we also conduct numerical experiments to compare our results with those obtained without regime switching.
•We propose a new stochastic volatility model with two-factor equilibrium volatility level.•We introduce economic cycles by incorporating regime switching.•We analytically evaluate variance and volatility swaps.
Radical paths: The title reaction of olefins with NaSO2CF3 and N‐hydroxy‐N‐phenylacetamide at room temperature is described for the first time (see scheme). This reaction provides a practical and ...convenient route to a series of trifluoromethylated alcohols bearing a wide range of functional groups.
This paper studies a class of stochastic systems with multiple disturbances which include the disturbance with partially-known information and the white noise. A disturbance observer is constructed ...to estimate the disturbance with partially-known information, based on which, a disturbance observer-based disturbance attenuation control (DOBDAC) scheme is proposed by combining pole placement and linear matrix inequality (LMI) methods.
1,7‐Di‐tert‐butyl‐substituted aza‐BODIPYs (tBu‐azaBDP) were successfully obtained for the first time. The structures of tBu‐azaBDP and Ph‐azaBDP were confirmed by X‐ray crystal analysis, and ...tBu‐azaBDP 2 is more twisted than Ph‐azaBDP 5. tBu‐azaBDPs have significant photo‐stability and enhanced water solubility. tBu‐azaBDPs possess excellent optical properties, such as high molar extinction coefficients, broad full width half maxima, and large Stokes shifts, which is comparable to those of the parent dye Ph‐azaBDP. Although the low‐barrier rotation of the distal ‐tBu groups in tBu‐azaBDPs results in low quantum yield, photothermal conversion efficiency and singlet oxygen generation ability of tBu‐azaBDPs are more effective than those of Ph‐azaBDP, which is highly desirable for a photothermal‐photodynamic therapy agent.
1,7‐Di‐tert‐butyl‐substituted aza‐BODIPYs (tBu‐azaBDPs) were successfully prepared for the first time. Although the low‐barrier rotation of the distal ‐tBu groups in tBu‐azaBDPs results in low quantum yield, photothermal conversion efficiency and single oxygen generation ability of tBu‐azaBDPs are effective than those of Ph‐azaBDP, which is highly desirable for a photothermal‐photodynamic therapy agent.
