Ischemic stroke is the major type of cerebrovascular disease usually resulting in death or disability among the aging population globally. Oxidative stress has been closely linked with ischemic ...stroke. Disequilibrium between excessive production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and inherent antioxidant capacity leads to subsequent oxidative damage in the pathological progression of ischemic brain injury. Acupuncture has been applied widely in treating cerebrovascular diseases from time immemorial in China. This review mainly lays stress on the evidence to illuminate the possible mechanisms of acupuncture therapy in treating ischemic stroke through regulating oxidative stress. We found that by regulating a battery of molecular signaling pathways involved in redox modulation, acupuncture not only activates the inherent antioxidant enzyme system but also inhibits the excessive generation of ROS. Acupuncture therapy possesses the potential in alleviating oxidative stress caused by cerebral ischemia, which may be linked with the neuroprotective effect of acupuncture.
Supercapacitors (SCs) have attracted much attention as energy storage devices due to their high power density, fast charge/discharge capability, and long cycling life. The core/shell structure design ...of the electrocapacitive material is one of the effective ways to achieve large surface area and high conductivity for providing more faradaic reaction sites and accelerating the charge transfer, respectively, and therefore to enhance the electrocapacitive performance of SCs. To better understand the core/shell structure, this review paper compares the material category, morphology, and synthesis methods for the core/shell structures as well as their electrochemical performances for the corresponding SCs. The electroactive materials applied in the core/shell structure include carbon materials, conducting polymers, metals, metal hydroxides, metal oxides and metal sulfides, while zero-dimensional, one-dimensional, two-dimensional, and three-dimensional structures are considered for the core/shell material. This review article outlines the most commonly used methods for making the core and shell materials over the past decade (2007-2018), and points out the most efficient combination of the material categories and morphologies for the core/shell structure. By understanding the details of the core/shell materials, more efficient design regarding the choices of material category and morphology can be achieved, and therefore better electrocapacitive performance for the resulting SCs can be realized.
This review article outlines the most commonly used methods for making the core/shell structures as the active materials for supercapacitors over the past decade (2007-2018), and points out the most efficient combination of the material categories and morphologies for the core/shell structure.
Rechargeable aqueous zinc-organic batteries are promising energy storage systems with low-cost aqueous electrolyte and zinc metal anode. The electrochemical properties can be systematically adjusted ...with molecular design on organic cathode materials. Herein, we use a symmetric small molecule quinone cathode, tetraamino-p-benzoquinone (TABQ), with desirable functional groups to protonate and accomplish dominated proton insertion from weakly acidic zinc electrolyte. The hydrogen bonding network formed with carbonyl and amino groups on the TABQ molecules allows facile proton conduction through the Grotthuss-type mechanism. It guarantees activation energies below 300 meV for charge transfer and proton diffusion. The TABQ cathode delivers a high capacity of 303 mAh g
at 0.1 A g
in a zinc-organic battery. With the increase of current density to 5 A g
, 213 mAh g
capacity is still preserved with stable cycling for 1000 times. Our work proposes an effective approach towards high performance organic electrode materials.
Methodological quality (risk of bias) assessment is an important step before study initiation usage. Therefore, accurately judging study type is the first priority, and the choosing proper tool is ...also important. In this review, we introduced methodological quality assessment tools for randomized controlled trial (including individual and cluster), animal study, non-randomized interventional studies (including follow-up study, controlled before-and-after study, before-after/ pre-post study, uncontrolled longitudinal study, interrupted time series study), cohort study, case-control study, cross-sectional study (including analytical and descriptive), observational case series and case reports, comparative effectiveness research, diagnostic study, health economic evaluation, prediction study (including predictor finding study, prediction model impact study, prognostic prediction model study), qualitative study, outcome measurement instruments (including patient - reported outcome measure development, content validity, structural validity, internal consistency, cross-cultural validity/ measurement invariance, reliability, measurement error, criterion validity, hypotheses testing for construct validity, and responsiveness), systematic review and meta-analysis, and clinical practice guideline. The readers of our review can distinguish the types of medical studies and choose appropriate tools. In one word, comprehensively mastering relevant knowledge and implementing more practices are basic requirements for correctly assessing the methodological quality.
Lignocellulose is the most abundant organic carbon polymer on the earth. Its decomposition and conversion greatly impact the global carbon cycle. Furthermore, it provides feedstock for sustainable ...fuel and other value-added products. However, it continues to be underutilized, due to its highly recalcitrant and heterogeneric structure. Microorganisms, which have evolved versatile pathways to convert lignocellulose, undoubtedly are at the heart of lignocellulose conversion. Numerous studies that have reported successful metabolic engineering of individual strains to improve biological lignin valorization. Meanwhile, the bottleneck of single strain modification is becoming increasingly urgent in the conversion of complex substrates. Alternatively, increased attention has been paid to microbial consortia, as they show advantages over pure cultures, e.g., high efficiency and robustness. Here, we first review recent developments in microbial communities for lignocellulose bioconversion. Furthermore, the emerging area of synthetic ecology, which is an integration of synthetic biology, ecology, and computational biology, provides an opportunity for the bottom-up construction of microbial consortia. Then, we review different modes of microbial interaction and their molecular mechanisms, and discuss considerations of how to employ these interactions to construct synthetic consortia via synthetic ecology, as well as highlight emerging trends in engineering microbial communities for lignocellulose bioconversion.
During an outbreak of respiratory diseases including atypical pneumonia in Wuhan, a previously unknown β‐coronavirus was detected in patients. The newly discovered coronavirus is similar to some ...β‐coronaviruses found in bats but different from previously known SARS‐CoV and MERS‐CoV. High sequence identities and similarities between 2019‐nCoV and SARS‐CoV were found. In this study, we searched the homologous templates of all nonstructural and structural proteins of 2019‐nCoV. Among the nonstructural proteins, the leader protein (nsp1), the papain‐like protease (nsp3), the nsp4, the 3C‐like protease (nsp5), the nsp7, the nsp8, the nsp9, the nsp10, the RNA‐directed RNA polymerase (nsp12), the helicase (nsp13), the guanine‐N7 methyltransferase (nsp14), the uridylate‐specific endoribonuclease (nsp15), the 2'‐O‐methyltransferase (nsp16), and the ORF7a protein could be built on the basis of homology templates. Among the structural proteins, the spike protein (S‐protein), the envelope protein (E‐protein), and the nucleocapsid protein (N‐protein) can be constructed based on the crystal structures of the proteins from SARS‐CoV. It is known that PL‐Pro, 3CL‐Pro, and RdRp are important targets for design antiviral drugs against 2019‐nCoV. And S protein is a critical target candidate for inhibitor screening or vaccine design against 2019‐nCoV because coronavirus replication is initiated by the binding of S protein to cell surface receptors. It is believed that these proteins should be useful for further structure‐based virtual screening and related computer‐aided drug development and vaccine design.
Highlights
High sequence identities between 2019‐nCoV and SARS‐CoV were found. Homology templates of all structural proteins of 2019‐nCoV were identified. Homology templates of all nonstructural proteins of 2019‐nCoV were identified.
•A 2D analytical wind turbine wake model named Jensen–Gaussian wake model is proposed.•The velocity deficit predicted by Jensen–Gaussian model is validated with literature.•The Jensen–Gaussian model ...is improved by a proposed turbulence model.•The Jensen–Gaussian wake model is applied for the turbine layout optimization.•The performance of Jensen–Gaussian model on turbine layout optimization is validated.
The development and validation of a 2D analytical wind turbine wake model based on Jensen’s wake model using Gaussian function is presented in this paper. The velocity deficit predicted by the newly-developed Jensen–Gaussian wake model is compared with wind tunnel experimental measured data in literatures and results show that, the velocity deficit predicted by the model fits well with the measured data at different downwind distances of X=2.5D, X=5D, X=7.5D and X=10D. Considering the turbulence inside the turbine wake, a new turbulence model is developed and based on this, the Jensen–Gaussian wake model was improved and validated. The 2D Jensen–Gaussian wake model is then applied in the wind turbine layout optimizing process within a wind farm based on the multiple populations genetic algorithm (MPGA). The performance of this newly 2D model in the optimization process is validated and compared with the results presented in some typical studies on the turbine layout optimization. The comparison is performed for ‘constant wind speed of 12m/s with variable wind directions’. Using the 2D Jensen–Gaussian wake model instead of Jensen’s wake model in the MPGA turbine layout optimization program, both the total power generation and wind farm efficiency decreased. The wind farm efficiency drop to 77.83%, 78.47% and 81.84% from 96.83%, 96.34% and 96.23% for 38, 39 and 40 wind turbines, respectively which is in accordance with the literatures on the power losses caused by wake effect in large wind farm. The development and application of the 2D Jensen–Gaussian wake model means moretheorysignificance and practicalvalues in wind energy utilization.
Transformation of biomass to chemicals and fuels is a long-term goal in both science and industry. However, high cost is one of the major obstacles to the industrialization of this sustainable ...technology. Thus, developing catalysts with high activity and low-cost is of great importance for biomass conversion. The last two decades have witnessed the increasing achievement of the use of earth-abundant 3d-transition-metals in catalysis due to their low-cost, high efficiency and excellent stability. Here, we aim to review the fast development and recent advances of 3d-metal-based catalysts including Cu, Fe, Co, Ni and Mn in lignocellulosic biomass conversion. Moreover, present research trends and invigorating perspectives on future development are given.
Transformation of biomass to chemicals and fuels is a long-term goal in both science and industry. Here, we review the fast development and recent advances of 3d-metal-based catalysts including Cu, Fe, Co, Ni and Mn in lignocellulosic biomass conversion.
Nickel cobalt sulfide is widely applied to energy storage and electrocatalysis owing to its high electrical conductivity and multiple oxidation states. This study proposes NiCo 2 S 4 and NiCo 2 O x S ...y @NiMoO 4 core–shell structures as energy storage materials and electrocatalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction. A higher specific capacity of 2.22 mA h cm −2 (168.18 mA h g −1 ) at 10 mA cm −2 is obtained for the NiCo 2 O x S y @NiMoO 4 electrode which is applied as the battery-type electrode in the battery supercapacitor hybrid, but a better electrocatalytic activity is achieved for the NiCo 2 S 4 electrode with a smaller overpotential of 1.567 V RHE at 0.12 A cm −2 and a smaller Tafel slope of 86.1 mV dec −1 . The electrochemically active surface area (ECSA) is larger for NiCo 2 S 4 due to the nanoparticle-assembled nanotube wall, whereas NiCo 2 O x S y @NiMoO 4 shows higher electrical conductivity owing to the presence of molybdenum. Different performances in energy storage and electrocatalysis for NiCo 2 S 4 and NiCo 2 O x S y @NiMoO 4 nanomaterials are caused by different potentials applied for driving the electrochemical reactions. This study for the first time proves that the trade-off between ECSA and electrical conductivity is important for designing nanomaterials applied in different electrochemical fields.
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