Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is an aggressive malignancy with extremely skewed ethnic and geographic distributions. Increasing evidence indicates that targeting the tumor microenvironment (TME) ...represents a promising therapeutic approach in NPC, highlighting an urgent need to deepen the understanding of the complex NPC TME. Here, we generated single-cell transcriptome profiles for 7581 malignant cells and 40,285 immune cells from fifteen primary NPC tumors and one normal sample. We revealed malignant signatures capturing intratumoral transcriptional heterogeneity and predicting aggressiveness of malignant cells. Diverse immune cell subtypes were identified, including novel subtypes such as CLEC9A
dendritic cells (DCs). We further revealed transcriptional regulators underlying immune cell diversity, and cell-cell interaction analyses highlighted promising immunotherapeutic targets in NPC. Moreover, we established the immune subtype-specific signatures, and demonstrated that the signatures of macrophages, plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs), CLEC9A
DCs, natural killer (NK) cells, and plasma cells were significantly associated with improved survival outcomes in NPC. Taken together, our findings represent a unique resource providing in-depth insights into the cellular heterogeneity of NPC TME and highlight potential biomarkers for anticancer treatment and risk stratification, laying a new foundation for precision therapies in NPC.
Potassium is a decisive strategic resource to ensure food safety production and supply, which many nations define as a critical metal. Due to the unbalanced distribution of resources and production ...capacity and the separation of the primary potassium-consuming and supplying countries, international trade is the main supply channel for potassium-consuming countries to acquire enough resources. Understanding the characteristics of potassium trade networks and the evolution of trade patterns is essential for supply security. To explore this issue, this paper employs the complex network theory to quantitatively analyze the evolution characteristics of the global potassium trade network (PTN) from 2000 to 2021. The results show (1) Overall, the potassium trade shows a trend of gradual prosperity, efficiency, and concentration; (2) During the two decades, the main exporting countries of potassium remained stable, while imports changed significantly; (3) The evolution of the potassium trade community has characterized the fragmentation-regionalization-high concentration over time; (4) The trade flow of PTN is unbalanced, and few countries show outstanding capabilities but a single function. These findings would help trade policymakers manage the supply of strategic raw materials more effectively.
•49.3–51.5% of global energy use would end up as waste heat in 2030.•Transport sector accounts for the largest (43%) recoverable waste heat in 2030.•Economically recoverable waste heat is substantial ...even without carbon tax.•Radiative forcing of waste heat is quickly surpassed by that of associated CO2.
Waste heat is a major source of recoverable loss in societal energy use, offering significant potential for reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. A number of studies have been carried out to determine the size of the available resource but have been limited in scope or confined to the status quo. This work reports a method to quantify future global waste heat emissions from the Power Generation, Industry, Transport, and Buildings sectors, and investigates their environmental effects. Four projected energy landscapes (World Energy Outlook 2016: 1. Current Policies; 2. New Policies; 3. 450-scenario. 4. 100% renewable energy penetration) were simulated to assess the amount of waste heat produced in different sub-sectors in the year 2030. The impact of CO2 radiative forcing and various technological shifts are reported. Total waste heat emissions are found to account for 23.0–53.0% of global input energy depending on year and scenario, with a range of theoretical and economic recovery potentials of 6–12% and 6–9% respectively. Further insight is gained into the waste heat landscape through analysis of temperature and sectoral distributions, and identification of hotspots for targeted waste heat recovery. When considering emissions from 2014 to 2030, the integrated radiative forcing of CO2 is found to be 13 times greater than that of waste heat, primarily attributable to the former’s cumulative nature. Full recovery of the theoretical potential is found to lead to a 10–12% reduction in the combined forcing of CO2 and waste heat over this period, mainly due to a reduction in CO2 emissions. Under a conservative carbon tax, this reduction is estimated to offer potential economic savings of $20-77bn/year. A 10% increase in the penetration of solar/wind/tidal hydroelectric power and electric vehicles are found to decrease global waste heat losses in liquid and gaseous streams by 5% and 0.7–2.0%, respectively; retrofitting of Carbon Capture and Storage to power plants decreases CO2 radiative forcing, outweighing the increase in thermal radiative forcing from additional waste heat streams.
•SnO2-Sb/Ti electrode efficiently degraded CIP with low energy in a wide pH range.•Current density and initial CIP concentration greatly affected the process.•Oxidation routes were piperazine ring ...cleavage, hydroxylation and defluorination.•The process was evaluated by energy demand combined with energy efficiency.
The electrochemical oxidation of ciprofloxacin (CIP) using a SnO2-Sb/Ti electrode was systematically investigated. The effects of the current density, initial concentration of CIP, and initial pH were evaluated. The results showed that electrochemical oxidation, using a SnO2-Sb/Ti electrode was highly effective for the degradation of CIP. After 120min, the removals of CIP (50mg/L), COD and TOC at a current density of 30mA/cm2 were about 99.5%, 86.0%, and 70.0%, respectively. The reaction followed a first-order kinetics model. The current density and initial concentration of the CIP exerted a prominent effect on the degradation of CIP, COD, and electrical energy demand, while the initial pH had no effect. The electrochemical degradation pathways, of CIP in aqueous solution, were studied using ion chromatography and liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (LC–MS). Three major degradation pathways were proposed: oxidation of the piperazine ring, hydroxylation of the quinolone moiety, and defluorination (OH/F substitution). Inorganic N compounds were NH4+ and NO3-. F was reduced to F−.
The microparticle-enhanced cultivation (MPEC) was used to enhance the production of Antrodin C by submerged fermentation of medicinal mushroom Antrodia cinnamomea. The crucial factors such as types, ...sizes, concentrations, and addition time of microparticles were optimized. The mechanism of MPEC on the membrane permeability and fluidity of A. cinnamomea and the expression of key genes in Antrodin C were investigated. When talc (18 μm, 2 g/L) was added into the fermentation liquid at 0 h, the promoting effect on Antrodin C was the best. The maximum yield of Antrodin C was 1615.7 mg/L, which was about 2.98 times of the control (541.7 mg/L). Talc slightly damaged the mycelia of A. cinnamomea, increased the release of intracellular constituents, and enhanced the index of unsaturated fatty acid. In addition, the key genes (IDI, E2.3.3.10, HMGCR, atoB) that might play an important role in the synthesis of the triquine-type sesquiterpene Antrodin C, were upregulated. In conclusion, talc increased the permeability and fluidity of cell membrane, upregulated the key genes and improved the biosynthesis process to enhance the yield of Antrodin C in the submerged fermentation of A. cinnamomea.
•Microparticles increased the production of Antrodin C of Antrodia cinnamomea.•The permeability and fluidity of cell membrane of A. cinnamomea were affected.•The morphology of the mycelia were changed by the microparticles.•The key genes in the biosynthesis of Antrodin C were upregulated.
The distribution of 15 phthalate acid esters (PAEs) in water, sediment and suspended particle samples from representative lakes of Beijing was investigated and its relationship with anthropogenic ...activities was also assessed. The sample preparation and analysis methods for PAEs, using solid-phase extraction or microwave assisted extraction coupled with gas chromatography–mass spectrometry, were developed to achieve the satisfactory detection limits and recoveries. The analysis results indicated occurrences of most target PAEs were widespread in the researched lakes with the total PAE concentrations ranged from 0.386 to 3.184μg/L in water, from 52.6 to 8216.4ng/g dry weight in sediments and from 138.7 to 2052.4μg/g dry weight in suspended particles. Di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate and di-butyl phthalate were the predominant PAEs, frequently being detected in all matrices, followed by di-iso-butyl phthalate and butyl benzyl phthalate. It was also found that anthropogenic activities were associated with the spatial distribution of phthalates in sediments considering its relationship with population distribution characteristics of Beijing.
•Effective analysis methods for 15 phthalate acid esters (PAEs) were developed.•PAEs were widespread occurrence in different matrices of research lakes.•The PAE concentrations in solid samples were higher than those in water ones.•The distribution of PAEs in sediments increased linearly with human activities.•Di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate and di-butyl phthalate were predominated PAEs.
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•Co-CNFs were synthesized by electrospinning and subsequent carbonization.•Co-CNFs have high surface area and magnetically separation capability.•The axis-sheath structure was proved ...by XRD and XPS results.•Co-CNFs exhibited higher catalytic performances than Co3O4 or CNFs.•Co-CNFs are the catalysts with low activation energy and excellent reusability.
Cobalt–carbon nanofiber composites (Co-CNFs) were synthesized by electrospinning and subsequent carbonization and their performance for peroxymonosulfate (PMS) activation was evaluated. Co-CNFs have a large aspect ratio (150 nm in diameter and several millimeters in length) to avoid aggregation and large specific surface area (1304 m2/g) to provide more reaction sites for enhancing catalytic activities. Zero valence cobalt was proved to be the main cobalt species of axis or core of the fiber, which might account for its excellent magnetic response, and Co3O4 was the main cobalt species of sheath or coat according to XRD and XPS results. The Co-CNFs exhibited higher catalytic performances than Co3O4 or CNFs for PMS activation and dyes were completely removed in a short time in the Co-CNFs/PMS system. The Co-CNFs derived from cobalt acetate demonstrated the highest catalytic performance and their Co leaking was similar to that of catalysts derived from other cobalt salts. The degradation efficiency increased with the carbonization temperature, cobalt loading, degradation temperature, PMS and catalyst dosage. The dye degradation processes followed pseudo-first-order kinetics. The activation energy of Co-CNFs/PMS/orange G system was derived as 29.8 kJ/mol by the Arrhenius equation. The Co-CNFs exhibited high catalytic performances and excellent stability for five repetitive usage. The possible orange G degradation pathway was proposed based on intermediate detection.
In order to denoise Poisson count data, we introduce a variance stabilizing transform (VST) applied on a filtered discrete Poisson process, yielding a near Gaussian process with asymptotic constant ...variance. This new transform, which can be deemed as an extension of the Anscombe transform to filtered data, is simple, fast, and efficient in (very) low-count situations. We combine this VST with the filter banks of wavelets, ridgelets and curvelets, leading to multiscale VSTs (MS-VSTs) and nonlinear decomposition schemes. By doing so, the noise-contaminated coefficients of these MS-VST-modified transforms are asymptotically normally distributed with known variances. A classical hypothesis-testing framework is adopted to detect the significant coefficients, and a sparsity-driven iterative scheme reconstructs properly the final estimate. A range of examples show the power of this MS-VST approach for recovering important structures of various morphologies in (very) low-count images. These results also demonstrate that the MS-VST approach is competitive relative to many existing denoising methods.
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