Radiant heating systems are increasingly widely utilized in buildings for its energy conservation potential and enhanced thermal comfort. This paper presented an experiment to compare the thermal ...comfort performance of radiant heating system with convective heating system through objective measurement and subjective survey. Six physical parameters which might influence occupants’ thermal satisfaction, including the Mean Radiant Temperature (MRT), humidity, air movement, A-weighted sound level, temperature fluctuation and vertical temperature difference, were measured. In addition, 97 subjects participated in the subjective survey part of this experiment, experiencing all the three environments heated by air source heat pump, radiator and floor heating. And they were asked to vote in six thermal comfort related aspects, i.e. thermal sensation, humidity, draught, local discomfort, overall thermal satisfaction and overall preferences, plus the acoustic environment, since the operation noise of heating system might lead to complains of the occupants. It was found that in continuous heating, no significant difference between radiant and convective heating system was observed in the Mean Radiant Temperature (MRT), indoor humidity and noise issue. Though radiant heating systems resulted in lower draught risk and less local discomfort complains in the feet region due to the less significant temperature fluctuations and vertical temperature gradients, radiant heating did not have significantly higher overall thermal satisfaction votes and was not significantly more preferred by occupants.
•Thermal comfort of air source heat pump, radiator and floor heating, were compared.•Six physical parameters which influence occupants’ thermal comfort were measured.•97 subjects voted in seven thermal comfort related aspects.•Convective heating terminals result in higher draught and local discomfort risks.•Radiant heating terminals doesn’t have significantly higher thermal comfort votes.
Cardiac hypertrophy is an adaptive response of the myocardium to pressure or volume overload. Recent evidences indicate that allicin can prevent cardiac hypertrophy. However, it is not clear whether ...allicin alleviates cardiac hypertrophy by inhibiting autophagy.
We aimed to investigate the effects of allicin on pressure overload-induced cardiac hypertrophy, and further to clarify the related mechanism.
Cardiac hypertrophy was successfully established by abdominal aortic constriction (AAC) in rats, and cardiomyocytes hypertrophy was simulated by angiotensin II (Ang II) in vitro. Hemodynamic parameters were monitored by organism function experiment system in vivo. The changes of cell surface area were observed using HE and immunofluorescence staining in vivoand in vitro, respectively. The expressions of cardiac hypertrophy relative protein (BNP and β-MHC), autophagy marker protein (LC3-II and Beclin-1), Akt, PI3K and ERK were detected by western blot.
Allicin could improve cardiac function, and reduce cardiomyocytes size, and decrease BNP and β-MHC protein expressions. Further results showed that allicin could lower LC3-II and Beclin-1 protein expressions both in vivo and in vitro experiments. And pharmacological inhibitor of mTOR, rapamycin could antagonize the effects of allicin on Ang II-induced cardiac hypertrophy and autophagy. Simultaneously, allicin could promote the expressions of p-Akt, p-PI3K and p-ERK protein.
These findings reveal a novel mechanism of allicin attenuating cardiac hypertrophy which allicin could inhibit excessive autophagy via activating PI3K/Akt/mTOR and MAPK/ERK/mTOR signaling pathways.
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Three-dimensional (3D) monolithic structures (i.e., aerogels/sponges/scaffolds) assembled from fragmented electrospun nanofiber mats/membranes represent an emerging research topic in the ...electrospinning field. Owing to extremely high porosity, as well as excellent structural flexibility and stability, these 3D nanofibrous structures have attracted significant interests for various applications. In this review, the preparation of 3D monolithic structures are thoroughly discussed; and the properties of 3D structures and their various applications in the fields of environment (e.g., organic compound removal, dye adsorption, and filtration and separation), energy (e.g., supercapacitor), electronics (e.g., pressure sensor), chemical engineering (e.g., catalyst support, thermal insulator, and Joule heater), and biomedical engineering (e.g., tissue engineering, hydrogel, and drug delivery) are summarized. Additionally, the future perspectives and challenges are also presented. It is envisioned that, this review will provide important guidance in designing novel 3D electrospun nanofibrous structures and exploring their potential applications.
We demonstrate a rational fabrication of hierarchical treated rape pollen (TRP), a biological material used as a metal-free catalyst for visible-light-driven photocatalytic CO2 reduction. The TRP ...catalyst exhibits excellent visible-light-driven carbon monoxide (CO) formation of 488.4 μmol h−1 g−1 with 98.3% selectivity, using no co-catalyst or sacrifice reagent, accompanied by a high quantum efficiency of over 6.7% at 420 nm. The CO evolution rate obtained on the TRP catalyst is roughly 29.4 and 25.6 times higher than those of the most commonly reported photocatalysts, such as g-C3N4 (16.6 μmol h−1 g−1) and P25 TiO2 (19.1 μmol h−1 g−1), and is the highest among the reported carbon-based photocatalysts. In situ Fourier transform infrared spectrometry analysis disclosed that formic acid is a major intermediate. The considerable photocatalytic CO2 reduction activity observed on the TRP catalyst can be ascribed to the following factors: (i) the unique hollow porous structure of the TRP favours visible light harvesting and CO2 adsorption capacity; and (ii) the interior cavity of the TRP can decrease the diffusion length of the photogenerated reactive charge carrier from bulk to surface, thus promoting charge carrier separation. We anticipate that such a nature-based sustainable photocatalyst can provide new insights to facilitate the design of metal-free catalysts with outstanding visible-light-driven CO2 reduction performance.
Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is a type of cardiovascular diseases that severely threatens human being, but the mechanisms have not been thoroughly clarified. Here, we detected that ...microRNA-15a-5p (miR-15a-5p) was up-regulated in AMI. Knockdown of miR-15a-5p reduced cell mortality in hypoxic-treated myocardial cells. In addition, we determined that glutathione peroxidase4 (GPX4) was the direct target of miR-15a-5p by luciferase reporter assay. Over-expression of miR-15a-5p strengthened ferroptosis, then aggravated myocardial cell hypoxia injury. Mechanistically, silencing transcription factor early growth response-1 (Egr-1) inhibited the level of miR-15a-5p, increased the protein expression of GPX4, accompanied by reduced ferroptosis and alleviated myocardial injury. In summary, these results provide a novel signaling pathway during the progression of acute myocardial infarction, namely Egr-1/miR-15a-5p/GPX4/ferroptosis.
A novel and efficient 3D biohybrid photocatalyst, defective MoS2 nanosheets encapsulated carbonized rape pollen, was fabricated and applied to water disinfection. The rape pollen-MoS2 (PM) biohybrid ...showed excellent dispersibility, high stability, and efficient charge-carrier separation and migration ability, resulting in the highly enhanced photocatalytic inactivation performance toward various waterborne bacteria under different light sources. The inactivation mechanisms were systematically investigated. Reactive species (RSs), including electrons, holes, and reactive oxygen species (•O2 – and •OH), played major roles in inactivating bacteria. The antioxidant system of bacteria exhibited a self-protection capacity by eliminating the photogenerated RSs from PM biohybrid at the early stage of inactivation. With the accumulation of RSs, the cell membrane and membrane-associated functions were destroyed, as suggested by the collapse of cell envelope and subsequent loss of cell respiration and ATP synthesis capacity. The microscopic images further confirmed the destruction of the bacterial membrane. After losing the membrane barrier, the oxidation of cytoplasmic proteins and lipids caused by invaded RSs occurred readily. Finally, the leakage of DNA and RNA announced the irreversible death of bacteria. These results indicated that the bacterial inactivation began with the membrane rupture, followed by the oxidation and leakage of intracellular substances. This work not only provided a new insight into the combination of semiconductors with earth-abundant biomaterials for fabricating high-performance photocatalysts, but also revealed the underlying mechanisms of photocatalytic bacterial inactivation in depth.
This study, for the first time, developed a novel defective BiO2−x based collaborating system, where the near-infrared light (NIR) irradiation (λ > 700 nm) initiated persulfate activation and ...photocatalytic bacterial inactivation simultaneously. Vacancy-rich BiO2−x nanoplates possessed impressive NIR absorption and firstly realized persulfate activation under NIR irradiation. In this collaborating system, on one hand, the persulfate can be transformed into sulfate radicals through light/heat activation mode directly, which would be enhanced by the presence of vacancy-rich BiO2−x owing to its outstanding light and heat absorption ability. On the other hand, the photogenerated electrons can further efficiently react with persulfate and form sufficient reactive sulfate radicals. The sulfate radicals, synergizing with other reactive species (O2-, h+, etc.), achieved a 7-log Escherichia coli inactivation within 40 min. The systematic investigation of inactivation mechanism revealed that the reactive species caused the dysfunction of cellular respiration, ATP synthesis and bacterial membrane, followed by the severely oxidative damage to the antioxidative SOD and CAT enzymes and the generation of carbonylated protein. The final leakage of DNA and RNA implied the lethal damage to the bacteria cells. This work provided a new insight into the persulfate associated NIR driven remediation technology of controlling microbial contaminants.
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•Persulfate activation was realized under NIR radiation for the first time.•Vacancy-rich BiO2−x can activate persulfate multiply under NIR radiation.•Sulfate radical was the key species for NIR-driven bacterial disinfection in 40 min.•The respiration, ATP synthesis, bacterial membrane and enzymes, etc. were damaged.•The leakage of DNA and RNA caused the irreversible damage to the bacterial cells.
Single-atom catalysts (SACs), with atomically dispersed metal atoms anchored on a typical support, representing the utmost utilization efficiency of the atoms, have recently emerged as promising ...catalysts for a variety of catalytic applications. The electronic properties of the active center of SACs are highly dependent on the local environment constituted by the single metal atom and its surrounding coordination elements. Therefore, engineering the coordination environment near single metal sites, from the first coordination shell to the second shell or higher, would be a rational way to design efficient SACs with optimized electronic structure for catalytic applications. The wide range of coordination configurations, guaranteed by the multiple choices of the type and heterogeneity of the coordination element (N, O, P, S, etc.), further offer a large opportunity to rationally design SACs for satisfactory activities and investigate the structure–performance relationship. In this review, the coordination engineering of SACs by varying the type of coordination element was elaborated and the photocatalytic water splitting of SACs was highlighted. Finally, challenging issues related to the coordination engineering of SACs and their photocatalytic applications were discussed to call for more efforts devoted to the further development of single-atom catalysis.
Nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) usually invades vulnerable hosts. Disseminated NTM (dNTM) infection can affect nearly all organs and be easily misdiagnosed as metastatic carcinoma or other systemic ...diseases, especially in seemingly immunocompetent hosts. Identification of underlying immunodeficiency is critical for the diagnosis and treatment of dNTM. Adult-onset immunodeficiency (AOID) with anti-IFN-γ autoantibodies has recently been recognized as a crucial but frequently neglected risk factor for dNTM infection. Frequent relapses of infection are common in AOID patients despite appropriate anti-infective treatment and B-cell-depleting therapy has shown some promising results. Herein, we report a case of dNTM infection mimicking malignancy in an AOID patient who was successfully treated with rituximab.
A middle-aged male presented with fever, productive cough, multifocal skin abscesses and multiple osteolytic lesions with pathological fractures. Chest CT revealed consolidation of the lingula while bronchoscopy showed a mass completely blocking the airway opening of the inferior lingual segment. Metagenomic next-generation sequencing and mycobacterial culture of skin pus and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid reported Mycobacterium Colombiense, confirming the diagnosis of dNTM infection. However, anti-NTM antibiotics alone failed to prevent disease relapse and progression. Further evaluation indicated undetectable serum IFN-γ concentration and high-titer autoantibodies against IFN-γ, suggesting that AOID was the underlying reason for dNTM. Rituximab was added to treatment and successfully controlled the infection without relapse at one-year follow-up.
We reported a rare case of disseminated Mycobacterium Colombiense infection manifested with pulmonary mass, pathological fracture and dermapostasis in a host with AOID. Our case demonstrated that AOID should be screened when patients get the episode of disseminated NTM infection particularly when other risk factors are excluded. Besides prolonged anti-NTM therapy, AOID-associated NTM infection should be treated with B-cell-depleting therapy to prevent recurrence.
In the present study, the effects of a calcium magnesium silicate bioactive ceramic (akermanite) on proliferation and osteoblastic differentiation of human bone marrow stromal cells (hBMSC) have been ...investigated and compared with the classical ceramic (
β-tricalcium phosphate,
β-TCP). Akermanite and
β-TCP disks were seeded with hBMSC and kept in growth medium or osteogenic medium for 10 days. Proliferation and osteoblastic differentiation were evaluated on day 1, 4, 7 and 10. The data from the Alamar Blue assay and lactic acid production assay showed that hBMSC proliferated more significantly on akermanite than on
β-TCP. The analysis of osteoblast-related genes, including alkaline phosphatase (ALP), osteopontin (OPN), bone sialoprotein (BSP) and osteocalcin (OC), indicated that akermanite ceramics enhanced the expression of osteoblast-related genes, but type I collagen (COL I) showed no noticeable difference among akermanite and
β-TCP ceramics. Furthermore, this stimulatory effect was observed not only in osteogenic medium, but also in normal growth medium without osteogenic reagents such as
l-ascorbic acid, glycerophosphate and dexamethasone. This result suggests that akermanite can promote osteoblastic differentiation of hBMSC in vitro even without osteogenic reagents, and may be used as a bioactive material for bone regeneration and tissue engineering applications.
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