Antibiotic residues have been found to have potentially harmful effects on ecological and human health. Carbon nitride-based photocatalysts have widely focused on antibiotic photocatalytic ...degradation. Herein, we prepared Fe-modified g-Csub.3Nsub.4 nanorod bunches (FCNBs) using chemical vapor co-deposition. Specifically, through the process of calcination, a blend of urea and chlorophyllin sodium iron salt underwent an intriguing transformation, resulting in the integration of Fe into the framework of the g-Csub.3Nsub.4 nanorod cluster. The resulting photocatalyst exhibited remarkable stability and superior dispersibility. The prepared FCNBs had a unique structure, which was beneficial for increasing light absorption. Furthermore, the Fe species formed a chemical coordination with the g-Csub.3Nsub.4 matrix, thereby altering the electronic structure of the matrix. This modification facilitated charge transfer, prolonged the carrier lifetime, and enhanced light absorption, all of which significantly increased the photocatalytic activity. The oxytetracycline degradation efficiency of FCNBs was 82.5%, and they demonstrated outstanding stability in cycle trials. This work introduces a promising photocatalyst for the degradation of antibiotics.
Pancreatic cancer remains among the most prevalent and aggressive forms of cancer. While immunotherapeutic treatment strategies have shown some promise in affected patients, the benefits of these ...interventions have been limited by insufficient tumor infiltration by activated T cells. Here, Titanium diselenide (TiSe.sub.2) nanosheets were synthesized with good stability. When exposed to ultrasound (US), the TiSe.sub.2 nanosheets served as a reliable nano-sensitizer capable of inducing large amounts of reactive oxygen species (ROS) mediating sonodynamic therapy (SDT) under hypoxic and normoxic conditions. The tumor-released TAAs induced by TiSe.sub.2 nanosheet-mediated SDT promoted immunogenic cell death (ICD) conducive to the maturation of dendritic cells (DCs), and cytokine secretion and the subsequent activation and infiltration of T cells into the tumor. Combining TiSe.sub.2-mediated SDT with anti-PD-1 immune checkpoint blockade treatment led to the efficient suppression of the growth of both primary tumor and distant tumor, while simultaneously preventing lung metastasis. These improved immunotherapeutic and anti-metastatic outcomes were associated with activated systematic antitumor immune responses, including the higher levels of DC maturation and cytokine secretion, the increased levels of CD8.sup.+ T cells and the decreased levels of T.sub.reg cells infiltrated in tumors. TiSe.sub.2 can be used as a sonosensitizer with good efficacy and high safety to mediate efficient SDT. The combination treatment strategy comprised of TiSe.sub.2-mediated SDT and PD-1 blockade activate anti-tumor immune responses effectively thorough inducing ICD, resulting in the inhibition the growth and metastasis of tumor. The combination therapy holds promise as a novel immunotherapy-based intervention strategy for pancreatic cancer patients.
With the continuous increases of the train speed, the braking device that relies on the wheel-rail adhesion has approached its acceptable speed limit. Compared with traditional friction brakes, eddy ...current brakes (ECBs) have the advantages of non-wheel-rail contact, fast response, low noise, wide application range, and no pollution. This study describes an ECB with AC excitation based on Faraday's law. The two-dimensional analytical model of ECB is established by the sub-domain method. Then, the experiment system of rail ECB is designed and built to test the braking characteristics. The authenticity of mathematical model is verified by experimental results. The research indicated that braking force increased at first and reached a maximum value, then slowly decreased with the increase of speed, while normal attractive force was always reduced. This characteristic matches the requirements of high-speed trains with large braking force and low normal force, which makes it a great option for auxiliary braking mechanism in the high-speed trains.
BackgroundProgrammed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) expressed on tumor and immune cells are both associated with the response to programmed cell death 1 (PD-1) pathway blockade therapy. Here, we examine ...the role of CD8+PD-L1+ tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (Tils) in the tumor microenvironment of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).MethodsTumor tissue samples of a total of 378 patients from two NSCLC cohorts were collected retrospectively. Tumor genetic variations were measured by targeted next-generation sequencing of 543 oncogenes. Tils were assessed by multiplex immunohistochemistry assay. Correlations among Tils, tumor genetic variations, and clinicopathological characteristics were analyzed.ResultsThe levels of CD8+PD-L1+ Tils varied in NSCLC tumor tissues. Tumor samples with high CD8+PD-L1+ Tils had higher levels of CD8+ Tils, CD68+ macrophages, PD-L1+ tumor cells, PD-1+ Tils, and CD163+ M2-type macrophages, and also had a higher tumor mutation burden, all of which collectively constituted a typically hot but immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment. Therefore, in a non-immunotherapy cohort, we observed that the higher the CD8+PD-L1+ Tils level in the tumor tissue, the worse the prognosis (progression-free survival; cohort A, stage I–II tumor; p=0.005). Contrarily, in an immunotherapy cohort, where the immune suppression was blocked by anti-PD-1 treatment, the higher the CD8+PD-L1+ Tils level, the better the response to the anti-PD-1 treatment (complete response/partial response vs stable disease/progressive disease; cohort B; p=0.0337).ConclusionsCD8+PD-L1+ Tils may be an indicator of the hot but immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment which is related to a high tumor mutation burden. PD-1 pathway blockade therapy can help to mitigate this immunosuppression and obtain better curative effects.
Suitable trajectories with minimum execution time are essential for an industrial robot to enhance productivity in pick and place operations. A novel point-to-point trajectory planning algorithm ...(PTPA) is proposed to improve the motion efficiency of industrial robots. The jerk profile for a trajectory model is determined by five intervals and the jerk constraint. According to the kinematic constraints and two shape coefficients, a velocity threshold and three displacement thresholds are calculated for an individual joint to transfer the proposed jerk motion profile into four specific profiles. The optimal trajectory model of the joint is developed for the minimum-time and jerk-continuous trajectory via the performance evaluation with the input displacement and three displacement thresholds. Moreover, time-based motion synchronization for all joints is taken into account in PTPA to decrease unnecessary burdens on the actuators. The simulations illustrate that the execution time by PTPA is more efficient than that by other techniques. The experiments of a point-to-point application on a real six-axis industrial robot show that the absolute errors at the end of the motion for all joints are within 0.04°. These results prove that PTPA can be an effective point-to-point trajectory planner for industrial robots
High-fat diet- (HFD-) induced neuroinflammation may ultimately lead to an increased risk of cognitive impairment. Here, we evaluate the effects of diet control and swimming or both on the prevention ...of cognitive impairment by enhancing SIRT1 activity. Twenty-week-old ApoE-/- mice were fed a HFD for 8 weeks and then were treated with diet control and/or swimming for 8 weeks. Cognitive function was assessed using the novel object recognition test (NORT) and Y-maze test. The expression of sirtuin-1 (SIRT1), peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator 1-alpha (PGC-1α), brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), nuclear factor kappa B p65 (NF-κB p65), interleukin-1β (IL-1β), and tumour necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) in the hippocampus was measured by western blotting. The levels of fractional anisotropy (FA), N-acetylaspartate (NAA)/creatine (Cr) ratio, choline (Cho)/Cr ratio, and myo-inositol (MI)/Cr ratio in the hippocampus were evaluated by diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) using 7.0-T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Our results showed that cognitive dysfunction and hippocampal neuroinflammation appeared to be remarkably observed in apolipoprotein E (ApoE)-/- mice fed with HFD. Diet control plus swimming significantly reversed HFD-induced cognitive decline, reduced the time spent exploring the novel object, and ameliorated spontaneous alternation in the Y-maze test. Compared with the HFD group, ApoE-/- mice fed diet control and/or subjected to swimming had an increase in FA, NAA/Cr, and Cho/Cr; a drop in MI/Cr; elevated expression levels of SIRT1, PGC-1α, and BDNF; and inhibited production of proinflammatory cytokines, including NF-κB p65, IL-1β, and TNF-α. SIRT1, an NAD+-dependent class III histone enzyme, deacetylases and regulates the activity of PGC-1α and NF-κB. These data indicated that diet control and/or swimming ameliorate cognitive deficits through the inhibitory effect of neuroinflammation via SIRT1-mediated pathways, strongly suggesting that swimming and/or diet control could be potentially effective nonpharmacological treatments for cognitive impairment.
In proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs), the most advanced catalysts are mainly carbon loaded with platinum (Pt), but the cathodic catalytic active center is too low to match the oxidation ...activity and rate at the anode. Co atoms doped into the lattice of Pt alloy change the electronic structure of platinum and reduce the binding energy of oxygen atoms. Au or Rh atoms embedded into the lattice of Pt
3
Co alloy compensate the defect and enhance the activity and rate of the oxygen reduction. Through base on density functional theory (DFT), the adsorption energy for oxygen on Pt
3
Co, Au-Pt
3
Co, and Rh-Pt
3
Co and the segregation energy of Co atoms were calculated. The results show that Au or Rh doped weakens the binding energy of Pt for oxygen on the Pt
3
Co alloy and improves the activity and stability of oxygen reduction. Compared with Rh, the introduction of Au element shows better effects in the electrocatalytic reaction process.
Graphical Abstract
Geo-social group queries, which return a social cohesive user group with a spatial constraint, have receive significant research interests due to their promising applications for group-based activity ...planning and scheduling in location-based social networks (LBSNs). However, existing studies on geo-social group queries mostly assume the users are stationary whereas in realistic LBSN application scenarios all users may continuously move over time. Thus, in this paper, we investigate the problem of c ontinuous g eo- s ocial g roups m onitoring ( CGSGM ) over moving users. A challenge in answering CGSGM queries over moving users is how to efficiently update geo-social groups when users are continuously moving. To address the CGSGM problem, we first propose a baseline algorithm, namely Baseline-BB , which recomputes the new geo-social groups from scratch at each time instance by utilizing a branch and bound (BB) strategy. To improve the inefficiency of BB, we explore a new strategy, called common neighbor or neighbor expanding (CNNE), which expands the common neighbors of edges or the neighbors of users in intermediate groups to quickly produce the valid group combinations. Accordingly, another baseline algorithm, namely Baseline-CNNE , is proposed. As these baseline algorithms do not maintain intermediate results to facilitate further query processing, we develop an incremental algorithm, called incremental monitoring algorithm (IMA) , which maintains the support, common neighbors and the neighbors of current users when exploring possible user groups for further updates and query processing. Since IMA requires many times of truss decomposition when processing mutiple-users updates, we propose an improved incremental algorithm, called improved incremental monitoring algorithm (IIMA) , which performs truss decompostion only once. Moreover, we design algorithms for handling the social changes that result in insertion/deletion of some edges in the social network. Owing to the challenge in setting, an appropriate monitoring distance, we further study the top <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">N</tex-math></inline-formula> CGSGM problem, which finds top <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">N</tex-math></inline-formula> result groups at each time instance. Finally, we conduct extensive experiments using four real datasets to validate our ideas and evaluate the proposed algorithms.
Sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) is one of the most important oilseed crops. Accurate and efficient means to identify each variety of sesame are needed for improvement of the sesame production market. In ...this study, three kinds of molecular markers were used for DNA fingerprinting of 151 sesame cultivars released in China since 1960: single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), insertions or deletions (InDels), and simple sequence repeats (SSRs). The 140 polymorphic markers used (47 SNPs, 47 InDels, and 46 SSRs) revealed a narrow range of genetic variation among the 151 Chinese sesame cultivars. Clustering analysis classified them into three main groups, which were consistent with the cultivars’ geographical distribution. Three of the 151 cultivars (AH03, AH04, and AH05 from the Anhui Province) were considered synonymous cultivars because of their high genetic similarity coefficients ( > 98%). Overall, 15 SNPs, 14 InDels, and 9 SSRs were sufficient to distinguish all sesame cultivars and the DNA fingerprints generated from these markers allowed establishing two‐dimensional graphical barcodes to accurately and rapidly identify sesame cultivars. Thus, we have provided a useful protocol for the identification and authentication of various sesame cultivars and revealed the usefulness of SNPs, InDels, and SSRs in cultivar identification and intellectual property protection; the fingerprinting codes obtained for the 151 sesame cultivars should be useful in sesame breeding and marketing seed.
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