Although there are plenty of merits for lithium–sulfur (Li–S) batteries, their undesired shuttle effect and insulated nature are hindering the practical applications. Here, a conductive metal–organic ...framework (MOF)-modified separator has been designed and fabricated through a facile filtration method to address the issues. Specifically, its intrinsic microporous structure, hydrophilic polar property, and conductive feature could make it easy to contact with and trap polysulfides and boost the kinetics of electrochemical reactions. Both the physical and chemical properties of the as-prepared separator are beneficial to alleviating the shuttle effect and enhancing the rate capability. Accordingly, the electrochemical performance of the battery with a MOF-modified separator was significantly improved.
Peer attitude towards children with disabilities can significantly impact on the successful implementation of inclusive education. The current study examined the attitude of Chinese students toward ...peers with disabilities in relation to inclusive climate and empathy.
A total of 392 typically developing students (aging from 10 to 17 years old, with average age of 12.7) in primary and middle schools participated in the study by reporting the Inclusive Climate Scale, Peers Attitude to Students with Disabilities Scale, and Balanced Emotional Empathy Scale.
We found that students held a neutral attitude to peers with disabilities, and girls were more acceptable than boys. There were positive relationships among inclusive climate, empathy and attitude to classmates with disabilities. The mediation analysis showed that empathy played a partial mediation role between inclusive climate and the peers' attitude towards children with disabilities.
Implications for improving students' attitude on peers with disabilities were discussed in the paper.
In this study, following the green, environmentally friendly and sustainable development strategy, cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) were prepared through a solvent-free esterification reaction between ...microcrystalline cellulose and maleic anhydride, combined with subsequent ultrasonic treatment, and maleic-anhydride-modified CNC-reinforced zein/catechin/β-cyclodextrin inclusion complex nanoparticles nanocomposite films were prepared by a facile solution casting. The amount of CNCs in the film matrix was 0–8 wt%, and their effect on structural, physicochemical and functional properties of the resulting films were investigated. SEM images showed that the addition of CNCs made the microstructure of the film more smooth and uniform. The intermolecular hydrogen bonds between CNCs and film matrix were supported by FT-IR. XRD analysis also confirmed the appearance of a crystalline peak due to the existence of CNCs inside the films. The incorporation of CNCs significantly reduced water vapor permeability, water solubility and the swelling degree of the nanocomposite film, and also significantly increased tensile strength and elongation at break from 12.66 to 37.82 MPa and 4.5% to 5.2% (p < 0.05). Moreover, nanocomposite film packaging with CNCs can effectively inhibit the oxidation of soybean oil.
This study aimed to investigate the feasibility and clinical applicability of Diffusion Spectrum Imaging (DSI) for quantitative detection of white matter microstructural integrity. Twenty-seven ...patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM; aged 60.6±7.6 years) and 21 healthy controls (HC; aged 56.1±7.8 years) underwent high-resolution T1-weighted imaging and DSI scanning. Cognitive function scores were obtained using such instruments as the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA). The fasting blood glucose, glycated hemoglobin, and total cholesterol (CHO) of T2DM were measured. The bilateral uncinate fasciculus and superior cingulum bundle were reconstructed by DSI tractography. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS 21.0 software and P<0.05 was considered significant. Generalized fractional anisotropy (GFA) values were significantly decreased in the left uncinate fasciculus (t = -2.915, p = 0.005) and right superior cingulum bundle (t = -2.604, p = 0.012) in T2DM patients compared with the healthy controls (p<0.05). The MoCA (t = -3.339, p = 0.002) and CDT (t = -3.039, p = 0.004) scores of T2DM were significantly lower than those of healthy controls. Meanwhile, the GFA value of the right superior cingulum bundle was negatively associated with VFT score (r = -0.475, p = 0.012), and that of the right superior cingulum bundle was negatively associated with blood CHO level (r = -0.458, p = 0.016). DSI tractography is capable of evaluating the microstructural integrity of the white matter bundle in T2DM and is related to clinical cognitive scores and related biochemical indices; therefore, it can help to predict early white matter abnormalities in T2DM.
Bacterial conjugation constitutes a major horizontal gene transfer mechanism for the dissemination of antibiotic-resistant genes (ARGs) among human pathogens. The spread of ARGs can be halted or ...diminished by interfering with the conjugation process. In this study, we explored the possibility of using an
gene as a single target to inhibit plasmid-mediated horizontal gene transfer in
by CRISPR interference (CRISPRi) system. Three single-guide RNAs (sgRNAs) were designed to target the
gene. The transcriptional levels of the
gene, the conjugation-related genes, and the conjugation efficiency in the CRISPRi strain were tested. We further explored the effect of the repressed expression of the
gene on the quorum sensing (QS) system and biofilm formation. The results showed that the constructed CRISPRi system was effective in repressing the transcriptional level of the
gene at a rate of 66.4%. The repressed expression of the
gene resulted in the reduced conjugation rate of RP4 plasmid by 88.7%, which significantly inhibited the expression of the conjugation-related genes (
,
,
and
) and increased the global regulator genes (
,
and
). The repressed
gene expression reduced the depletion of autoinducer 2 signals (AI-2) by 12.8% and biofilm formation by a rate of 68.2%. The results of this study indicated the
gene could be used as a universal target for the inhibition of conjugation. The constructed conjugative CRISPRi system has the potential to be used in ARG high-risk areas.
A new N,O-rich covalent organic framework (COFDHNDA-BTH) was synthesized by an amine-aldehyde condensation reaction between 2,6-dialdehyde-1,5-dihydroxynaphthalene (DHNDA) and ...1,3,5-phenyltriformylhydrazine (BTH) for carbaryl detection. The free NH, OH, and C=O groups of COFDHNDA-BTH not only covalently couples with acetylcholinesterase (AChE) into the pores of COFDHNDA-BTH, but also greatly improves the catalytic activity of AChE in the constrained environment of COFDHNDA-BTH’s pore. Under the catalysis of AChE, the acetylthiocholine (ATCl) was decomposed into positively charged thiocholine (TCl), which was captured on the COFDHNDA-BTH modified electrode. The positive charges of TCl can attract anionic probe Fe(CN)63−/4− on the COFDHNDA-BTH-modified electrode to show a good oxidation peak at 0.25 V (versus a saturated calomel electrode). The carbaryl detection can inhibit the activity of AChE, resulting in the decrease in the oxidation peak. Therefore, a turn-off electrochemical carbaryl biosensor based on a flexible carbon paper electrode loaded with COFDHNDA-BTH and AChE was constructed using the oxidation peak of an anionic probe Fe(CN)63−/4− as the detection signal. The detection limit was 0.16 μM (S/N = 3), and the linear range was 0.48~35.0 μM. The sensor has good selectivity, repeatability, and stability, and has a good application prospect in pesticide detection.
Excessive salt intake can induce a variety of diseases, such as hypertension, cardiovascular disease, kidney disease and so on，it is also one of the factors promoting bone resorption. The mechanism ...of osteoporosis-induced exacerbations of high salt diet is not well-defined. In this study, we used ovariectomized 6-month-old Sprague Dawley rats to construct a high bone turnover model, and then administrated with high sodium chloride diet (2.0% w/w NaCl, 8.0% w/w NaCl) for 12 weeks to observe the effect of high salt diet on bone metabolism. The results showed that high salt diet could lead to the destruction of bone microstructure, promote the excretion of urinary calcium and phosphorus and accelerate the bone turnover, as well as cause the pathologic structural abnormalities in renal tubular. At the same time, it was accompanied by the up-regulated expression of the epithelial sodium channel (ENaCα), voltage-gated chloride channels (ClC)− 3 and the down-regulated expression of Na-Cl cotransporter (NCC), sodium calcium exchanger (NCX1) in femoral tissue and renal tubules. These findings confirm that high salt diet can destroy the microstructure of bone by increasing bone resorption and affect some ion channels of bone tissue and renal tubule in ovariectomized rats.
•High salt diet exacerbates bone loss in ovariectomized rat.•High salt diet impairs bone microstructure in ovariectomized rat.•High salt diet affects the expression of the ion channels in bone tissue.
Bacterial isolates obtained from the rhizosphere of
and a plantless compost potting mix was screened for anti-oomycete activity against
,
,
, and
. Three out of 48 isolates exhibited more than 65% ...inhibition against all tested
species and were selected for further studies. These strains, named UQ154, UQ156, and UQ202, are closely related to
,
, and
sp., respectively, based on 16S rDNA sequence analysis. The isolates were evaluated for their ability to fix nitrogen, solubilize phosphate, as well as for siderophore, indoleacetic acid, cell wall degrading enzymes and biofilm production. Their plant growth promoting activities were evaluated by measuring their effect on the germination percentage, root and shoot length, and seedling vigor of lettuce plants. All of these traits were significantly enhanced in plants grown from seeds inoculated with the isolates compared with control plants. Moreover, bacteria-inoculated
-infected chili plants exhibited improved productivity based on CO
assimilation rates. Both real-time quantitative PCR and disease severity index revealed significant decreases in pathogen load in infected chili root tissues when plants were previously inoculated with the isolates. Biocontrol activity may result from the secretion of diketopiperazines as identified by Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis of bacterial cultures' extracts. Collectively, this work demonstrates the potential of bacterial isolates to control
infection and promote plant growth. They can, therefore be considered as candidate microbial biofertilizers and biopesticides.
Excessive milling of rice kernels will result in nutrient loss and grain waste. To avoid grain waste, multibreak milling systems have been widely used in large-scale commercial rice mills. However, ...there is still no reasonable breakpoint planning method to guide the multibreak milling process. To construct a reasonable multibreak milling system, in this research, taking rice milling, a typical heterogeneous cereal-kernel milling process, as an example, the multivariate analysis method was used to comprehensively analyze the characteristic changes of milled rice during the whole milling process. A breakpoint planning method was established, including planning the number of breakpoints, determining the degree of milling or milling time corresponding to each breakpoint, and estimating the actual breakpoint to which the milled rice belongs. The verification results showed the rationality and high accuracy of the planning method. The presented work will help operators to plan the multibreak milling system of rice efficiently and objectively so as to significantly improve the commercial value of milled rice.
The final pathway for the development of diabetic nephropathy (DN) into chronic renal failure in DN is glomerulosclerosis and tubulointerstitial fibrosis. Renal tubular lesions can occur in the early ...stage of DN renal injury. Cumulative evidence shows that oxymatrine (OMT) has a variety of biological and pharmacological properties. In recent years, more attention has been paid on the preventive and therapeutic influence of OMT on organ fibrosis. In this experiment, db/db mice were intraperitoneally injected with OMT 120 mg/kg for 8 weeks, and NRK-52E cultured with 30 mmol/L glucose and 0.1 mg/mL OMT for 48-hour. We investigated the relationship between Id2 and Twist in NRK-52E cells and the effect of OMT on the expression of E-cadherin, α-SMA, Fibronectin, and Collagen-IV by Western blot, Real-time PCR, Immunofluorescence, cell transfection, Co-Immunoprecipitation, and Luciferase assays. OMT increased the expression of Id2 but decreased that of Twist under high glucose condition
in vitro
and
in vivo
. The promoted recovery of Id2 facilitated its binding to Twist and affected E-cadherin activity inhibiting EMT and the excessive proliferation and abnormal deposition of ECM. In brief, OMT promotes Id2 to reverse EMT and exert anti-fibrotic effect in diabetic renal tubular epithelial cells by binding Id2 to Twist and affecting its transcriptional activation of downstream target genes. Or findings provide a new experimental basis for delaying the progress and for treatment of diabetic renal fibrosis.
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