The long term effect of biochar application on soil microbial biomass is not well understood. We measured soil microbial biomass carbon (MBC) and nitrogen (MBN) in a field experiment during a winter ...wheat growing season after four consecutive years of no (CK), 4.5 (B4.5) and 9.0 t biochar ha(-1) yr(-1) (B9.0) applied. For comparison, a treatment with wheat straw residue incorporation (SR) was also included. Results showed that biochar application increased soil MBC significantly compared to the CK treatment, and that the effect size increased with biochar application rate. The B9.0 treatment showed the same effect on MBC as the SR treatment. Treatments effects on soil MBN were less strong than for MBC. The microbial biomass C∶N ratio was significantly increased by biochar. Biochar might decrease the fraction of biomass N mineralized (KN), which would make the soil MBN for biochar treatments underestimated, and microbial biomass C∶N ratios overestimated. Seasonal fluctuation in MBC was less for biochar amended soils than for CK and SR treatments, suggesting that biochar induced a less extreme environment for microorganisms throughout the season. There was a significant positive correlation between MBC and soil water content (SWC), but there was no significant correlation between MBC and soil temperature. Biochar amendments may therefore reduce temporal variability in environmental conditions for microbial growth in this system thereby reducing temporal fluctuations in C and N dynamics.
There is little evidence that adjuvant therapy after radical surgical resection of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) improves recurrence-free survival (RFS) or overall survival (OS). We conducted a ...multicentre, randomised, controlled, phase IV trial evaluating the benefit of an aqueous extract of
Murr (Huaier granule) to address this unmet need.
A total of 1044 patients were randomised in 2:1 ratio to receive either Huaier or no further treatment (controls) for a maximum of 96 weeks. The primary endpoint was RFS. Secondary endpoints included OS and tumour extrahepatic recurrence rate (ERR). The Huaier (n=686) and control groups (n=316) had a mean RFS of 75.5 weeks and 68.5 weeks, respectively (HR 0.67; 95% CI 0.55 to 0.81). The difference in the RFS rate between Huaier and control groups was 62.39% and 49.05% (95% CI 6.74 to 19.94; p=0.0001); this led to an OS rate in the Huaier and control groups of 95.19% and 91.46%, respectively (95% CI 0.26 to 7.21; p=0.0207). The tumour ERR between Huaier and control groups was 8.60% and 13.61% (95% CI -12.59 to -2.50; p=0.0018), respectively.
This is the first nationwide multicentre study, involving 39 centres and 1044 patients, to prove the effectiveness of Huaier granule as adjuvant therapy for HCC after curative liver resection. It demonstrated a significant prolongation of RFS and reduced extrahepatic recurrence in Huaier group.
NCT01770431; Post-results.
In this article, we aim to examine the novel effects of β‐sitosterol on murine experimental colitis. β‐Sitosterol significantly reduces the weight loss, colon length, and alleviated microscopic ...appearances of colitis induced by dextran sulfate sodium. This compound also decreases the levels of TNF‐α, IL‐6, and IL‐1β in intestinal tissue of mice with experimental colitis in a concentration‐dependent manner. β‐Sitosterol treatment to intestinal epithelial cells significantly increases expression of antimicrobial peptides and reduces survival of intracellular Salmonella typhimurium. These results showed the multiple effects of β‐sitosterol against pathogenic bacteria for a novel approach to the treatment of colonic inflammation.
In summary, we explored the effects of β‐sitosterol on dextran sulfate sodium‐induced colitis. Its mechanism may involves in multiple effects against pathogens: regulation of cytokine profiles, antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), as well as Salmonella typhimurium. It should be noted that this compound did not affect the naïve lymphocytes, which may implicate a low toxicity profile. In the case presented here, targeting pathogens from multiple aspects by β‐sitosterol, may contribute to a novel therapy for inflammatory intestinal diseases.
Trajectory planning plays a crucial role in ensuring the safe navigation of ships, as it involves complex decision making influenced by various factors. This paper presents a heuristic algorithm, ...named the Markov decision process Heuristic Algorithm (MHA), for time-optimized avoidance of Unmanned Surface Vehicles (USVs) based on a Risk-Sensitive Markov decision process model. The proposed method utilizes the Risk-Sensitive Markov decision process model to generate a set of states within the USV collision avoidance search space. These states are determined based on the reachable locations and directions considering the time cost associated with the set of actions. By incorporating an enhanced reward function and a constraint time-dependent cost function, the USV can effectively plan practical motion paths that align with its actual time constraints. Experimental results demonstrate that the MHA algorithm enables decision makers to evaluate the trade-off between the budget and the probability of achieving the goal within the given budget. Moreover, the local stochastic optimization criterion assists the agent in selecting collision avoidance paths without significantly increasing the risk of collision.
Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a serious and disabling central nervous system injury. Its complex pathological mechanism can lead to sensory and motor dysfunction. It has been reported that signaling ...pathway plays a key role in the pathological process and neuronal recovery mechanism of SCI. Such as PI3K/Akt, MAPK, NF-κB, and Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathways. According to reports, various stimuli and cytokines activate these signaling pathways related to SCI pathology, thereby participating in the regulation of pathological processes such as inflammation response, cell apoptosis, oxidative stress, and glial scar formation after injury. Activation or inhibition of relevant pathways can delay inflammatory response, reduce neuronal apoptosis, prevent glial scar formation, improve the microenvironment after SCI, and promote neural function recovery. Based on the role of signaling pathways in SCI, they may be potential targets for the treatment of SCI. Therefore, understanding the signaling pathway and its inhibitors may be beneficial to the development of SCI therapeutic targets and new drugs. This paper mainly summarizes the pathophysiological process of SCI, the signaling pathways involved in SCI pathogenesis, and the potential role of specific inhibitors/activators in its treatment. In addition, this review also discusses the deficiencies and defects of signaling pathways in SCI research. It is hoped that this study can provide reference for future research on signaling pathways in the pathogenesis of SCI and provide theoretical basis for SCI biotherapy.
Abstract In the probabilistic seismic performance assessment of structures, intensity measures (IMs) represent seismic characteristics and variations. Traditional fragility analysis method based on ...the assumption of linear regression requires selecting an optimal IM as input variable. By introducing machine learning (ML) techniques, nonparametric fragility analysis theoretically allows for considering all potential IMs as inputs. Nevertheless, to reduce input dimensionality and improve training efficiency, the feature selection of IMs remains imperative. This paper proposes a method to select optimal ground motion IMs for data‐driven surrogate modeling of structures. Specifically, the elastic net algorithm is employed to select the optimal multiple IMs based on the coefficient of determination and regression coefficient, differing from the efficiency and practicality emphasized in the traditional method. Using the optimal multiple IMs as input variables, several ML techniques are employed to construct surrogate models for seismic damage assessment of structures, thereby developing fragility functions, that is, the conditional probability of exceeding a damaged state given seismic intensity. A 3‐span, 6‐storey, reinforced concrete frame is utilized to illustrate the proposed methodology. The predictive performance of all ML models with the optimal multiple IMs outperforms that of the models with the commonly used IM (e.g., peak ground acceleration, PGA ) as sole input and all candidate IMs as inputs. Additionally, the surrogate models with the optimal multiple IMs enable a more comprehensive seismic fragility modeling of structures under two or more IMs simultaneously, such as the fragility surface under spectral acceleration at 1.0s ( Sa ‐1.0s) and velocity spectrum intensity ( VSI ).
Abstract
Splitting hydrazine into H
2
and N
2
by electro-catalyzing hydrogen evolution and hydrazine oxidation reactions is promising for replacing fossil energy with H
2
. However, current hydrazine ...splitting is achieved using external powers to drive the two reactions, which is inapplicable to outdoor use. Here, Fe-doped CoS
2
nanosheets are developed as a bifunctional electrocatalyst for the two reactions, by which direct hydrazine fuel cells and overall-hydrazine-splitting units are realized and integrated to form a self-powered H
2
production system. Without external powers, this system employs hydrazine bifunctionally as the fuel of direct hydrazine fuel cell and the splitting target, namely a sole consumable, and exhibits an H
2
evolution rate of 9.95 mmol h
−1
, a 98% Faradaic efficiency and a 20-h stability, all comparable to the best reported for self-powered water splitting. These performances are due to that Fe doping decreases the free-energy changes of H adsorption and adsorbed NH
2
NH
2
dehydrogenation on CoS
2
.
•A quinoline-including half-salamo like N3O-donor ligand was synthesized.•Differently structural Cu(II) and Ni(II) complexes were synthesized and structurally characterized.•The intermolecular ...interactions were quantitatively analyzed by hirshfeld surfaces and 2D fingerprint plots.
A half-salamo like N3O-donor ligand HL was synthesized and used for the construction of Cu(II) and Ni(II) complexes, namely as Cu(L)(NO3) (1) & Ni2(L)2(NO3)2·2H2O (2). The constructed complexes were structurally characterized by X‐ray crystallography technique. The results revealed that the complex 1 is the most common mononuclear species, in which Cu(II) ion is penta-coordinate with twisted square pyramid configuration. Unlike complex 1, the central Ni(II) ions of dinuclear complex 2 are hexa-coordinate possessing slightly distorted octahedron. The final supramolecular structures of the two complexes are stabilized and expanded by noncovalent interactions. In addition, spectral characteristics of the title complexes were examined. The frontier molecular orbitals as well as energy gaps of the complexes were explored by density functional theory calculation. The primary aspects of the ultraviolet absorption spectra were interpreted using time-dependent density functional theory computation. Thorough analysis of the Hirshfeld surfaces quantifies the interactions involved in the crystal structures of the Cu(II) and Ni(II) complexes.
Two differently structural metal(II) complexes Cu(L)(NO3) (1) and Ni2(L)2(NO3)2·2H2O (2) containing a half-salamo like N3O-donor ligand were successfully synthesized and characterized. The spectral properties of the two complexes were studied. Moreover, the frontier molecular orbitals as well as energy gaps of the complexes were explored by DFT calculation. The Hirshfeld surfaces analyses and 2D fingerprint plots were performed to quantify the interactions involved in the crystal structures of the two complexes.
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•Bagasse modified municipal sewage sludge based adsorbent.•HNO3 modified adsorbent to promote its adsorb-ability of Pb2+.•The adsorption capacity of Pb2+ increases to more than 50mg/g.
Sewage sludge ...and bagasse were used as raw materials to produce cheap and efficient adsorbent with great adsorption capacity of Pb2+. By pyrolysis at 800°C for 0.5h, the largest surface area (806.57m2/g) of the adsorbent was obtained, enriched with organic functional groups. The optimal conditions for production of the adsorbent and adsorption of Pb2+ were investigated. The results of adsorb-ability fitted the Langmuir isotherm and pseudo-second-order model well. The highest Pb2+ (at pH=4.0) adsorption capacity was achieved by treating with 60% (v/v) HNO3. This is a promising approach for metal removal from wastewater, as well as recycling sewage sludge and bagasse to ease their disposal pressure.
The Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) capability in smartphones has seen significant upgrades over the years. The latest ultra-low-cost GNSS receivers are capable of carrier-phase tracking ...and multi-constellation, dual-frequency signal reception. However, due to the limitations of these ultra-low-cost receivers and antennas, smartphone GNSS position solutions suffer significantly from urban multipath, poor signal reception, and signal blockage. This paper presents a novel sensor fusion technique using Precise Point Positioning (PPP) and the inertial sensors in smartphones, combined with a single- and dual-frequency (SFDF) optimisation scheme for smartphones. The smartphone is field-tested while attached to a vehicle’s dashboard and is driven in multiple real-world situations. A total of five vehicle experiments were conducted and the solutions show that SFDF-PPP outperforms single-frequency PPP (SF-PPP) and dual-frequency PPP (DF-PPP). Solutions can be further improved by integrating with native smartphone IMU measurements and provide consistent horizontal positioning accuracy of <2 m rms through a variety obstructions. These results show a significant improvement from the existing literature using similar hardware in challenging environments. Future work will improve optimising inertial sensor calibration and integrate additional sensors.
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