The rational design of metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) with hollow features and tunable porosity at the nanoscale can enhance their intrinsic properties and stimulates increasing attentions. In this ...Communication, we demonstrate that methanol can affect the coordination mode of ZIF‐67 in the presence of Co2+ and induces a mild phase transformation under solvothermal conditions. By applying this transformation process to the ZIF‐67@ZIF‐8 core–shell structures, a well‐defined hollow Zn/Co ZIF rhombic dodecahedron can be obtained. The manufacturing of hollow MOFs enables us to prepare a noble metal@MOF yolk‐shell composite with controlled spatial distribution and morphology. The enhanced gas storage and porous confinement that originate from the hollow interior and coating of ZIF‐8 confers this unique catalyst with superior activity and selectivity toward the semi‐hydrogenation of acetylene.
A mild phase transformation of ZIF‐67@ZIF‐8 core–shell structures is achieved under solvothermal conditions to generate unique hollow Zn/Co ZIF particles, which were used to generate Pd@MOF yolk‐shell composites. They exhibit enhanced gas storage and high catalytic activity and selectivity in the semi‐hydrogenation of acetylene.
Oxidative stress and neuroinflammation contribute significantly to the development and progression of diabetic retinopathy. Fenofibrate has received great attention as it benefits diabetic patients ...by reducing retinal laser requirement. Nuclear factor erythroid-2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) is a master regulator of anti-oxidative defense. Activation of nucleotide binding domain, leucine-rich repeat-containing receptor (NLR), pyrin domain-containing 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome plays a pivotal role in neuroinflammation. The purpose of this study is to determine whether fenofibrate protects retinas from oxidative damage and neuroinflammation via modulating the Nrf2 pathway and blocking NLRP3 inflammasome activation during diabetes. Diabetes is induced by intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin in mice. Fenofibrate was given to mice in rodent chow. Upregulation of Nrf2 and NLRP3 inflammasome, enhanced ROS formation, and increased leukostasis and vascular leakage were observed in diabetic mouse retinas. Notably, Nrf2 and Caspase-1 were mainly colocalized with glutamine synthetase, one of the Mȕller cell markers. Fenofibrate further increased the expression of Nrf2 and its target gene NQO-1 and HO-1 and reduced ROS formation in diabetic retinas. In addition, retinal expression of NLRP3, Caspase-1 p20, IL-1β p17, and ICAM-1 were dramatically increased in vehicle-treated diabetic mice, which were abolished by fenofibrate intervention. Moreover, fenofibrate treatment also attenuated diabetes-induced retinal leukostasis and vascular leakage in mice. Taken together, fenofibrate attenuates oxidative stress and neuroinflammation in diabetic retinas, which is at least partially through modulating Nrf2 expression and NLRP3 inflammasome activation.
There is growing evidence of a strong relationship between COVID-19 and myocarditis. However, there are few bioinformatics-based analyses of critical genes and the mechanisms related to COVID-19 ...Myocarditis. This study aimed to identify critical genes related to COVID-19 Myocarditis by bioinformatic methods, explore the biological mechanisms and gene regulatory networks, and probe related drugs. The gene expression data of GSE150392 and GSE167028 were obtained from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO), including cardiomyocytes derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells infected with SARS-CoV-2 in vitro and GSE150392 from patients with myocarditis infected with SARS-CoV-2 and the GSE167028 gene expression dataset. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) (adjusted P-Value <0.01 and |Log2 Fold Change| greater than or equal to2) in GSE150392 were assessed by NetworkAnalyst 3.0. Meanwhile, significant modular genes in GSE167028 were identified by weighted gene correlation network analysis (WGCNA) and overlapped with DEGs to obtain common genes. Functional enrichment analyses were performed by using the "clusterProfiler" package in the R software, and protein-protein interaction (PPI) networks were constructed on the STRING website (https://cn.string-db.org/). Critical genes were identified by the CytoHubba plugin of Cytoscape by 5 algorithms. Transcription factor-gene (TF-gene) and Transcription factor-microRibonucleic acid (TF-miRNA) coregulatory networks construction were performed by NetworkAnalyst 3.0 and displayed in Cytoscape. Finally, Drug Signatures Database (DSigDB) was used to probe drugs associated with COVID-19 Myocarditis. Totally 850 DEGs (including 449 up-regulated and 401 down-regulated genes) and 159 significant genes in turquoise modules were identified from GSE150392 and GSE167028, respectively. Functional enrichment analysis indicated that common genes were mainly enriched in biological processes such as cell cycle and ubiquitin-protein hydrolysis. 6 genes (CDK1, KIF20A, PBK, KIF2C, CDC20, UBE2C) were identified as critical genes. TF-gene interactions and TF-miRNA coregulatory network were constructed successfully. A total of 10 drugs, (such as Etoposide, Methotrexate, Troglitazone, etc) were considered as target drugs for COVID-19 Myocarditis. Through bioinformatics method analysis, this study provides a new perspective to explore the pathogenesis, gene regulatory networks and provide drug compounds as a reference for COVID-19 Myocarditis. It is worth highlighting that critical genes (CDK1, KIF20A, PBK, KIF2C, CDC20, UBE2C) may be potential biomarkers and treatment targets of COVID-19 Myocarditis for future study.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the factors that affect the compactness of the mud filter cake, so as to prepare diaphragm wall slurry with good uniformity, small filtration loss and ...excellent recycling performance.
Design/methodology/approach
In this paper, the thickness, filtration loss and slurry viscosity of the filter cake are used as the characterization methods. The effects of pore depth, slurry specific gravity, intercalated metal ions, bridging polymer and water-soluble polymer on the compactness of the filter cake were studied.
Findings
The experimental results showed that the slurry's own pressure (pore depth) and specific gravity have little influence on the compactness of the filter cake and K+ can be considered as an auxiliary filtration loss reduction factor. Both the sulfonate copolymer and the potassium polyacrylate particle can significantly reduce the filtration loss of the slurry, which can effectively improve the filter cake compactness. Moreover, the composite application of potassium polyacrylate particles in the sizes of 80–100 and 150–200 meshes can exhibit a better filter cake compaction effect.
Originality/value
It solves the problems of high pulping cost, serious pollution of the environment, poor quality of filter cake formation and large filtration loss during the construction of the diaphragm wall, which improved the construction quality of the diaphragm wall.
To understand the growth mechanism of pyrolytic graphite on ideal graphite substrate by chemical vapor deposition (CVD), the process simulated by molecular dynamics is performed. The simulation ...revealed that only an amorphous graphite-like membrane (a-GLM) can be obtained using the Tersoff potential function. It is revealed that the formation process for the first layer of the a-GLM initiates from the firstly deposited carbon monomers, dimers, and trimers as growth points, on which Y-shaped long chain is formed, and then the network with pores are developed, and finally the graphene-like layer with six-membered dominated rings appears after repair treatment. The following deposition simulation for more deposited carbon atoms indicates that a second layer like-graphene is more prone to superpose onto the microdomains of the first layer like-graphene until the formation of the island-like bumps, and the concave zone around the bumps will be filled by deposited atoms and modified by defect repair. The growth mechanism for pyrolytic graphite prepared by CVD can be deduced by the simulation inspiration. The optimal deposition temperature of 2400 K is acquired by evaluating the integrity of the first deposited graphene film by statistics of five-to-seven-membered carbon ring number. This study can provide theoretical references for the design of the pyrolytic graphite production process.
To understand the growth mechanism of pyrolytic graphite on ideal graphite substrate by chemical vapor deposition (CVD), the process simulated by molecular dynamics is performed.
Dissecting the genetic architecture of quantitative traits is a crucial goal for efficient breeding of polyploid plants, including autotetraploid crop species, such as potato and coffee, and ...ornamentals such as rose. To meet this goal, a quantitative genetic model is needed to link the genetic effects of genes or genotypes at quantitative trait loci (QTL) to the phenotype of quantitative traits.
We present a statistically tractable quantitative genetic model for autotetraploids based on orthogonal contrast comparisons in the general linear model. The new methods are suitable for autotetraploid species with any population genetic structure and take full account of the essential features of autotetrasomic inheritance. The statistical properties of the new methods are explored and compared to an alternative method in the literature by simulation studies.
We have shown how these methods can be applied for quantitative genetic analysis in autotetraploids by analysing trait phenotype data from an autotetraploid potato segregating population. Using trait segregation analysis, we showed that both highly heritable traits of flowering time and plant height were under the control of major QTL.
The orthogonal model directly dissects genetic variance into independent components and gives consistent estimates of genetic effects provided that tetrasomic gene segregation is considered.
To evaluate the chemotherapeutic activity of temozolomide counter to mammary carcinoma.
In-vitro anticancer activity has been conducted on MCF7 cells, and mammary carcinoma has been induced in Wistar ...rats by introduction of 7, 12-Dimethylbenz(a)anthracene (DMBA), which was sustained for 24 weeks. Histopathology, immunohistochemistry, cell proliferation study and apoptosis assay via TUNEL method was conducted to evaluate an antineoplastic activity of temozolomide in rat breast tissue.
IC50 value of temozolomide in MCF7 cell has been obtained as 103 μM, which demonstrated an initiation of apoptosis. The temozolomide treatment facilitated cell cycle arrest in G2/M and S phase dose dependently. The treatment with temozolomide suggested decrease of the hyperplastic abrasions and renovation of the typical histological features of mammary tissue. Moreover, temozolomide therapy caused the downregulation of epidermal growth factor receptor, extracellular signal-regulated kinase, and metalloproteinase-1 expression and upstream of p53 and caspase-3 proliferation to indicate an initiation of apoptotic events.
The occurrence of mammary carcinoma has been significantly decreased by activation of apoptotic pathway and abrogation of cellular propagation that allowable for developing a suitable mechanistic pathway of temozolomide in order to facilitate chemotherapeutic approach.
To break through the limitation of fracture splitting process on material selection and solve problems during fracture splitting such as parts tearing, failing to split, dropping dregs, fracture ...surface deformation and so on, a new technique of setting natural splitting surface in casting blank is proposed, aiming to achieve brittle fracture along pre-set surface during fracture splitting process. In this research, casting blanks are produced with metal molds. A layer of AZ31 foil is set in advance before casting, the layer interacts with liquid LD10 aluminum alloy, forming a brittle interface layer across the whole casting, then a fracture splitting hole is machined in the middle of the casting blank and cracking grooves are machined on the inner hole near the interface to achieve fracture splitting. Experiment revealed that the initial crack on the specimen starts from the root of the cracking groove, and the crack basically expands along the pre-set fracture splitting surface. The fracture surface is characterized by flaky brittle fracture. There is residual magnesium and pellumina, which have characteristics of melt with low-melting point, and micro-porosity in the fracture. Further analysis suggests that the formation mechanism of a natural fracture splitting surface can be described as follows: the magnesium foil with strong oxidation in high-temperature alloy liquid interacts with the pellumina at the front of liquid flow, which forms a interface. Meanwhile a layer of melt with a low-melting point forming as a result of interface reaction is pushed to the edge of the grain boundary, and surface liquid film shrinks to be micro-porosity. With such a combined effect it finally forms the brittle surface, which provides the condition for conducting subsequent fracture splitting process.
Based on BiOBr, an Ag/BiOBr/GO composite catalyst was constructed by doping the noble-metal Ag and the non-metal GO. A Xenon lamp was used to simulate a source of visible light, and Rhodamine B was ...used as target pollutant. The catalytic activity of the novel catalyst was investigated via degradation experiment. The catalysts were characterized and analyzed by XRD, SEM, TEM, XPS, FT-IR, UV vis-DRS, and EIS. Compared with BiOBr, Ag/BiOBr, and GO/BiOBr, the prepared Ag/BiOBr/GO catalyst (doped with 2.0wt.% GO and 1.5wt.% Ag) exhibited the highest photocatalytic activity, with a RhB degradation rate of up to 98% within 120min. Adding the metal Ag and GO significantly improved the photocatalytic activity of the BiOBr catalyst. This is a result of the Schottky barrier, surface plasmon resonance, and good electrical conductivity of the metal Ag as well as the large specific surface area and excellent electron transport efficiency of the non-metal GO. Their combination promoted the transfer and separation of photo-generated carriers of catalyst, and effectively limited the recombination rate of the photogenerated electron–hole. In a subsequent repeatability experiment, the catalysts still showed good photocatalytic activity and stability after five times of reuse, indicating that the composite catalyst has good stability and reusability value.
Abstract
Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is a condition of impaired ventricular remodeling and systolic diastole that is often complicated by arrhythmias and heart failure with a poor prognosis. This ...study attempted to identify autophagy-related genes (ARGs) with diagnostic biomarkers of DCM using machine learning and bioinformatics approaches. Differential analysis of whole gene microarray data of DCM from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database was performed using the NetworkAnalyst 3.0 platform. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) matching (|log2FoldChange ≥ 0.8, p value < 0.05|) were obtained in the GSE4172 dataset by merging ARGs from the autophagy gene libraries, HADb and HAMdb, to obtain autophagy-related differentially expressed genes (AR-DEGs) in DCM. The correlation analysis of AR-DEGs and their visualization were performed using R language. Gene Ontology (GO) enrichment analysis and combined multi-database pathway analysis were served by the Enrichr online enrichment analysis platform. We used machine learning to screen the diagnostic biomarkers of DCM. The transcription factors gene regulatory network was constructed by the JASPAR database of the NetworkAnalyst 3.0 platform. We also used the drug Signatures database (DSigDB) drug database of the Enrichr platform to screen the gene target drugs for DCM. Finally, we used the DisGeNET database to analyze the comorbidities associated with DCM. In the present study, we identified 23 AR-DEGs of DCM. Eight (
PLEKHF1
,
HSPG2
,
HSF1
,
TRIM65
,
DICER1
,
VDAC1
,
BAD
,
TFEB
) molecular markers of DCM were obtained by two machine learning algorithms. Transcription factors gene regulatory network was established. Finally, 10 gene-targeted drugs and complications for DCM were identified.
PDF
