Contamination of fine plastic particles (FPs), including micrometer to millimeter plastics (MPs) and nanometer plastics (NPs), in the environment has caught great concerns. FPs are strong adsorbents ...for hydrophobic toxic pollutants and may affect their fate and toxicity in the environment; however, such information is still rare. We studied joint toxicity of FPs with phenanthrene to Daphnia magna and effects of FPs on the environmental fate and bioaccumulation of 14C-phenanthrene in fresh water. Within the five sizes particles we tested (from 50 nm to 10 μm), 50-nm NPs showed significant toxicity and physical damage to D. magna. The joint toxicity of 50-nm NPs and phenanthrene to D. magna showed an additive effect. During a 14-days incubation, the presence of NPs significantly enhanced bioaccumulation of phenanthrene-derived residues in daphnid body and inhibited the dissipation and transformation of phenanthrene in the medium, while 10-μm MPs did not show significant effects on the bioaccumulation, dissipation, and transformation of phenanthrene. The differences may be attributed to higher adsorption of phenanthrene on 50-nm NPs than 10-μm MPs. Our findings underlined the high potential ecological risks of FPs, and suggested that NPs should be given more concerns, in terms of their interaction with hydrophobic pollutants in the environment.
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•Nano-plastics (NPs) and phenanthrene had additive joint toxicity to D. magna.•NPs enhanced bioaccumulation of phenanthrene-derived residues in daphnid body.•NPs inhibited dissipation and transformation of phenanthrene in the medium.•Microplastics (MPs) did not show significant effects.
Compared to microplastics, nanoplastics had additive toxic effects with phenanthrene, increased bioaccumulation in D. magna, and inhibited its dissipation in the environment.
Medical sealant devices for in vivo hemostasis are far from satisfactory in the aged society. A major challenge is effective integration of quick hemorrhage control of the increased anticoagulated ...patients, high safety, and facile accessibility. Here, a well‐defined ammonolysis‐based Tetra‐PEG hydrogel sealant is developed with rapid gelation speed, strong tissue adhesion, and high mechanical strength. Introduction of cyclized succinyl ester groups into a hydrogel matrix endows the sealant with fast degradable and controllably dissolvable properties. The hydrogel possesses outstanding hemostatic capabilities even under the anticoagulated conditions while displaying excellent biocompatibility and feasibility. These results reveal that the optimized hydrogel may be a facile, effective, and safe sealant for hemorrhage control in vivo.
A PEG sealant with fast and controllable degradation properties is constructed for in vivo visceral organ hemostasis, which possesses high hemostatic efficacy even under anticoagulated situations and which, even more remarkably, does not hinder the tissue healing and cause side effects.
This cross-sectional study aimed to investigate the sleep quality of psychiatric nurses in China and explore the risk factors affecting it. This study used the stratified random sampling method. The ...general data questionnaire was conducted using the 10-item Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10), the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) were used to investigate the prevalence and risk factors of sleep quality among 812 psychiatric nurses in China. There were statistically significant differences in sleep quality among different shift frequency. Surveys demonstrated that sleep quality among psychiatric nurses was positively correlated with psychological distress and job burnout. Multiple logistics regression analysis showed that high psychological distress (odds ratio, OR=0.907, p<0.001, 95% confidence interval, CI=0.885–0.931), high emotional exhaustion (OR=0.946, p<0.001, 95% CI=0.921–0.972), low depersonalization (OR=1.061, p=0.004, 95% CI=1.019–1.104), and low personal accomplishment (OR=0.972, p=0.018, 95% CI=0.949–0.995) were the contributing factors of sleep quality. Future studies should investigate effective measures to relieve psychological distress and alleviate burnout, particularly for psychiatric nurses with poor sleep quality.
•Low energy buildings are achievable by climate-responsive measures in China.•Energy savings by different energy-efficient measures are quantified each region.•Regional graph showing relation of ...energy, fenestration and envelope properties.•Inefficient building designs and occupant's AC preference inhibits energy savings.
The rapid economic expansion of China has been accompanied by environmental issues that have necessitated a national energy conservation strategy. It has become apparent that more resources must be made available for a national programme of developing sustainable buildings with an energy-saving capability.
This paper discusses how to achieve space heating and cooling as low as possible in the Chinese residual context, where three main issues need to be addressed: (1) climate variations – there are five different climatic regions partitioned by the Chinese authorities as severe cold region, cold region, moderate region, hot summer and cold winter region, and hot summer and mild winter region; (2) rigid building form – multi-storey building block is the most constructed during the construction boom last decade resulting from the application of the national building regulations; (3) favoured fenestration design due to viewing purpose.
This paper investigates the window size in relation to its corresponding annual space heating and cooling demand within the five different climatic regions. It quantifies the energy savings by energy-efficient measures in a step-by-step approach from the current representative scenario to the building regulative scenario and finally reaches the optimized scenario and concludes guidance for future energy-efficient residential building designs.
Air pollution negatively impacts food security. This paper reviews the current literature on the relationship between air pollution and food security from the perspective of food system. It ...highlights that agricultural emissions which substantially contribute to air pollution could happen at every stage along the food supply chain. Meanwhile, air pollution can not only affect plant growth and animal health but also shift market equilibrium of both agro-inputs and outputs in the food supply chain and thereby affect food security indirectly. Furthermore, this study evaluates the effects of agricultural policy and energy policy on food security and air pollution, respectively, and provides an overview of potential policy instruments to reduce air pollution while ensuring food security. Finally, we identify the remaining research and policy issues for further studies, mainly focusing on the study of household＇s bounded rational behaviors and the issue of rural aging population.
Frequency security is the premise of realizing the net‐zero transition. A novel assessment scheme is proposed to quantify the frequency security levels of transmission systems under different ...inverter‐based resources (IBRs) and their control parameter combinations. A novel system frequency dynamic model is proposed as a parametric optimization method, where the saturation of generators, energy storage systems, and renewable energy sources is incorporated as differential algebra equations. This problem is further reformulated as a mixed‐integer linear programming problem to generate a sufficient amount of data under different IBR integration and control parameters. The frequency security assessment problem is formulated as a data‐driven multivariate classification problem, which is solved by the optimal classification tree (OCT) algorithm with better interptretionability. Simulations are conducted on a transmission system. Numerical results indicate that the proposed system frequency dynamic model can capture the frequency dynamic under different IBR reinforcement plans and the OCT can realize accurate classification of the synthetic data regarding frequency security.
A novel frequency dynamic problem is formulated as an MIP problem with differential algebra equations, where the inverter‐based resources (IBRs) integration and their non‐linear control characteristics can be captured.
The frequency security assessment of transmission systems with different IBR combinations and their control characteristics is formulated as a multivariate classification problem.
An optimal classification tree is constructed to explore the main drivers to boost frequency security from a holistic perspective, that is, planning, operation, and control.
This study investigated the effects of rumen-protected methionine (RPM) and rumen-protected choline (RPC) on energy balance, postpartum lactation performance, antioxidant capacity and immune response ...in transition dairy cows. Forty-eight multiparous transition cows were matched and divided into four groups: control, 15 g/d RPC, 15 g/d RPM or 15 g/d RPC + 15 g/d RPM. Diet samples were collected daily before feeding, and blood samples were collected weekly from the jugular vein before morning feeding from 21 days prepartum to 21 days postpartum. Postpartum dry matter intake (DMI) was increased by both additives (P < 0.05), and energy balance values in supplemented cows were improved after parturition (P < 0.05). Both RPC and RPM decreased the plasma concentrations of non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA), β-hydroxybutyric acid (BHBA), total cholesterol (TC) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) (P < 0.05), but increased the plasma levels of glucose, very-low-density lipoprotein (VLDL) and apolipoprotein B100 (ApoB 100, P < 0.05). The supplements improved milk production (P < 0.05), and increased (P < 0.05) or tended to increase (0.05 < P < 0.10) the contents of milk fat and protein. The post-ruminal choline and methionine elevated the blood antioxidant status, as indicated by total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) activity and the vitamin E concentration (P < 0.05), and reduced the plasma malondialdehyde (MDA) level (P < 0.05). Furthermore, RPM and RPC elevated the plasma interleukin 2 (IL-2) concentration and the CD4+/CD8+ T lymphocyte ratio in peripheral blood (P < 0.05). Alternatively, the levels of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and IL-6 were decreased by RPM and RPC (P < 0.05). Overall, the regulatory responses of RPC and RPM were highly correlated with time and were more effective in the postpartum cows. The results demonstrated that dietary supplementation with RPC and RPM promoted energy balance by increasing postpartal DMI and regulating hepatic lipid metabolism, improved postpartum lactation performance and enhanced antioxidant capacity and immune function of transition dairy cows.
Cytosolic free NAD/NADH ratio is fundamentally important in maintaining cellular redox homeostasis but current techniques cannot distinguish between protein-bound and free NAD/NADH. Williamson et al ...reported a method to estimate this ratio by cytosolic lactate/pyruvate (L/P) based on the principle of chemical equilibrium. Numerous studies used L/P ratio to estimate the cytosolic free NAD/NADH ratio by assuming that the conversion in cells was at near-equilibrium but not verifying how near it was. In addition, it seems accepted that cytosolic free NAD/NADH ratio was a dependent variable responding to the change of L/P ratio. In this study, we show (1) that the change of lactate/glucose (percentage of glucose that converts to lactate by cells) and L/P ratio could measure the status of conversion between pyruvate + NADH and lactate + NAD that tends to or gets away from equilibrium; (2) that cytosolic free NAD/NADH could be accurately estimated by L/P only when the conversion is at or very close to equilibrium otherwise a calculation error by one order of magnitude could be introduced; (3) that cytosolic free NAD/NADH is stable and L/P is highly labile, that the highly labile L/P is crucial to maintain the homeostasis of NAD/NADH; (4) that cytosolic free NAD/NADH is dependent on oxygen levels. Our study resolved the key issues regarding accurate estimation of cytosolic free NAD/NADH ratio and the relationship between NAD/NADH and L/P.
Owing to their promising advantages in biochemical analysis, aptamer-based sensing systems for the fluorescence detection of important biomolecules are being extensively investigated. Herein, we ...propose a turn-on fluorescent aptasensor for label-free detection of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) by utilizing the in situ formation of copper nanoparticles (CuNPs) and the specific digestion capability of exonuclease I (Exo I). In this assay, the addition of ATP can effectively hinder the digestion of aptamer-derived oligonucleotides due to the G-quadruplex structure. Accordingly, the remaining poly thymine at 5′-terminus of substrate DNA can serve as an efficient template for red-emitting fluorescent CuNPs with a Mega-Stokes shifting in buffered solution, which can be used to evaluate the concentration of ATP. This method is cost-effective and facile, because it avoids the use of traditional dye-labeled DNA strands and complex operation steps. Under optimized conditions, this method achieves a selective response for ATP with a detection limit of 93nM, and exhibits a good detection performance in biological samples.
•Red-emitting DNA-templated CuNPs are developed as a fluorescent indicator for the design of aptasensors.•This label-free strategy avoids the expensive fluorescence labeling process and the sophisticated operation steps.•This nuclease-assisted approach for fluorescence turn-on detection of ATP can achieve high sensitivity and selectivity.
Wetland restoration and creation efforts have been widely attempted as a way to compensate for wetland losses and to recover wetland functions; however, to date, there has been no comprehensive ...evaluation of the efficacy of soil carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) content recovery at a regional scale. This meta-analysis synthesizes 48 articles to identify the general patterns of soil C and N change after wetland restoration and creation in the United States. Our results indicate that, after 11-20 years, soil C and N in restored and created wetlands are still significantly lower by 51.7% and 50.3%, respectively, than those in natural wetlands. The soil C and N in restored wetlands recovered faster than in created wetlands. Furthermore, the soil C in restored organic flat and created depressional wetlands recovered more rapidly than in restored and created hydrologically open wetlands (riverine and tidal), respectively. Mean annual temperature and soil texture were recognized as two crucial abiotic factors affecting soil C and N recovery. Linear regression analysis revealed a positive relationship between the restoration and creation effect sizes on soil C and N, indicating that wetlands may alleviate N limitations intrinsically during C recovery processes.
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