We test the feasibility of TiO2(B)@carbon composites as adsorbents, derived from wheat straws, for tetracycline (TC) adsorption from aqueous solutions. Hydrochar (HC), biochar (BC), and ...hydrochar-derived pyrolysis char (HDPC) are synthesized hydrothermally from the waste and then functionalized with TiO2(B), named as ‘Composite-1′, ‘Composite-2′, and ‘Composite-3′, respectively. A higher loading of TiO2(B) into the HC was also synthesized for comparison, named as ‘Composite-4′. To compare their physico-chemical changes before and after surface modification, the composites are characterized using FESEM-EDS, XRD, BET, FRTEM, and FTIR. The effects of H2O2 addition on TC removal are investigated. Adsorption kinetics and isotherms of TC removal are studied, while TC adsorption mechanisms are elaborated. We found that the Composite-4 has the highest TC removal (93%) at pH 7, 1 g/L of dose, and 4 h of reaction time at 50 mg/L of TC after adding H2O2 (10 mM). The TC adsorption capacities of the Composite-1 and Composite-4 are 40.65 and 49.26 mg/g, respectively. The TC removal by the Composite-1 follows the pseudo-second order. Overall, this suggests that converting the wheat straw into HC and then functionalizing its surface with TiO2(B) as a composite has added values to the waste as an adsorbent for wastewater treatment.
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●TiO2(B) nanosheet-impregnated carbon materials are suitable sorbents for TC removal.
●Optimum condition: 50 mg/L of TC, 1 g/L of adsorbent, pH 7 and 4 h of reaction time.
●Addition of 10 mM H2O2 to TiO2(B)@HC-1.0 enhanced TC removal to 93% at 50 mg/L of TC.
Aberrant sterol lipid metabolism is associated with physiological dysfunctions in the aging brain and aging-dependent disorders such as neurodegenerative diseases. There is an unmet demand to ...comprehensively profile sterol lipids spatially and temporally in different brain regions during aging. Here, we develop an ion mobility-mass spectrometry based four-dimensional sterolomics technology leveraged by a machine learning-empowered high-coverage library (>2000 sterol lipids) for accurate identification. We apply this four-dimensional technology to profile the spatially resolved landscapes of sterol lipids in ten functional regions of the mouse brain, and quantitatively uncover ~200 sterol lipids uniquely distributed in specific regions with concentrations spanning up to 8 orders of magnitude. Further spatial analysis pinpoints age-associated differences in region-specific sterol lipid metabolism, revealing changes in the numbers of altered sterol lipids, concentration variations, and age-dependent coregulation networks. These findings will contribute to our understanding of abnormal sterol lipid metabolism and its role in brain diseases.
Objective
Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a major cause of stroke with lifetime risks. microRNAs (miRNAs) are associated with AF attenuation, yet the mechanism remains unknown. This study investigated ...the functional mechanism of miR-29b in atrial fibrosis in AF.
Methods
The AF rat model was established by a 7-day intravenous injection of Ach-CaCl
2
mixture. AF rats were injected with adeno-associated virus (AAv)-miR-29b and TGFβRΙ overexpression plasmid. AF duration was recorded by electrocardiogram. Atrial fibrosis was observed by Masson staining. Expressions of COL1A1, COL3A1, TGFβRΙ, TGFβΙ, miR-29b and Smad-2/3 pathway-related proteins in atrial tissues were detected by RT-qPCR and Western blot. Binding sites of miR-29b and TGFβRΙ were predicted and their target relationship was verified by dual-luciferase reporter assay.
Results
miR-29b was poorly expressed and expressions of COL1A1, COL3A1, TGFβRΙ, and TGFβ1 were increased in atrial tissues of AF rats. miR-29b overexpression alleviated atrial fibrosis, reduced expressions of COL1A1, COL3A1, and TGFβ1, and shortened AF duration in AF rats. TGFβRΙ was highly expressed in atrial tissues of AF rats. miR-29b targeted TGFβRΙ. TGFβRΙ overexpression overcame the improving effect of miR-29b overexpression on AF. miR-29b overexpression decreased ratios of p-Smad-2/3 and Smad-2/3 and inhibited the Smad-2/3 pathway.
Conclusion
miR-29b might mitigate atrial fibrosis in AF rats by targeting TGFβRΙ and inhibiting the Smad-2/3 pathway.
Mobile phone addiction is a universal phenomenon that has attracted a lot of attention in recent years. Previous researches revealed a significant relation between adverse childhood experiences ...(ACEs) and addiction. This study further investigated the association between ACEs and mobile phone addiction, and the mediating effects of attachment styles and interpersonal relationships. The cross-sectional design and multiple questionnaires, namely, the Revised Adverse Childhood Experience Questionnaire, the Mobile Phone Addiction Index, the Revised Adult Attachment Scale (AAS), and the Interpersonal Relationship Comprehensive Diagnostic Scale (IRCDS) were used in the sample of 345 university students. Correlation analysis revealed that adverse childhood experience, attachment anxiety, attachment avoidance, interpersonal relationship, and mobile phone addiction were significantly positively correlated with each other. Results of regression analysis showed that attachment style and interpersonal relationship played multiple mediation roles in the association between adverse childhood experience and mobile phone addiction. That is, (1) adverse childhood experience was positively related to mobile phone addiction, (2) both attachment anxiety and interpersonal relationship played partial and parallel mediating roles between adverse childhood experience and mobile phone addiction, and (3) attachment anxiety/avoidance and interpersonal relationship mediated the relationship between adverse childhood experience and mobile phone addiction sequentially. These results indicated that mobile phone addiction among college students who had adverse childhood experience can be relieved by way of the remission of attachment anxiety, reduction of attachment avoidance, and improvement of interpersonal relationship.
With the popularity of social network platforms (e.g., Facebook and WeChat), users can easily build social connections with others, create content, and even forward or share content. While previous ...studies on content sharing shed light on either content creator or receiver, this paper is to investigate whether, when, and how the social connectedness of content creator (i.e., employee) and receiver (i.e., employee's friend) jointly influence the sharing likelihood of receiver. We conducted a field study on the largest social media platform and two experiments in China. Study 1 found that well-connected receivers prefer to share content from well-connected employee, and poorly connected receivers prefer to share content from poorly connected employee, but if the content contains promotional information, well-connected receivers are less likely to share it from the well-connected employee. Studies 2 and 3 confirmed these findings and verified that self-enhancement motivation acts as a mediator. The findings suggest that firm should choose the "right" employees who will send content to their "right" friends and caution about the crowd-out effect of promotional content. We provide new insights into the joint effects of creator and receiver, the moderating role of promotional content, and the mediating role of self-enhancement, which enriches both viral marketing and social media literature.
Abstract
Background
The lack of medication standards is a serious problem in paediatrics mainly because of age-related differences in organ development and physiological functions in children. ...Consequently, dosage measurement becomes inaccurate. For this reason, methods for evaluating and monitoring rational paediatric medications should be developed. Drug use indicators, such as those similar to the drug utilisation index (DUI) based on the Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical/Defined Daily Dose (DDD) and widely used for the assessment of appropriate dosage in adults, should be explored in terms of their applicability to children.
Methods
A total of 5,538 prescriptions of antibiotics selected from a general teaching hospital were included. Drug, dose, frequency and treatment duration were obtained from each prescription. The prescription daily dose (PDD) of each antibiotic drug was calculated as the average of the daily doses. Underdose and overdose were determined in terms of the PDD/DDD ratio for each prescription. Children’s DUI (cDUI) was explored in terms of the appropriate dosage for children as follows: the meaning of children’s DDD (cDDD) and the evaluation of paediatric drug dosage.
Results
The top five antibiotics and their utilisation rates were as follows: cefmetazole sodium injection (18.47 %), erythromycin lactobionate injection (15.07 %), amoxicillin/clavulanate potassium injection (10.72 %), ceftriaxone sodium injection (9.50 %) and azithromycin dry suspension (8.02 %). The ratio of cDUI and PDD/cDDD was mostly not close to 1.
Conclusions
The establishment of a cDUI system is an effective means of paediatric dosage evaluation. In addition to DDDs, cDUI and PDD/cDDD should be used to analyse the utilisation of antibiotics in children.
Di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) is a ubiquitous environmental endocrine disruptor. DEHP can be absorbed into the human body through the air, food, water, and skin. After entering the human body, ...DEHP is rapidly converted to mono(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (MEHP) with greater toxicity than DEHP. An increasing number of studies indicates that DEHP or MEHP can damage the thyroid tissue and disrupt the function, but the mechanisms remain unclear. This article reviews the toxicity of DEHP on thyroid structures and functions and summarizes the potential mechanisms to provide evidence for preventing the thyroid-related diseases.
In December 2019, the novel coronavirus pneumonia (COVID-19) occurred in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. The epidemic quickly broke out and spread throughout the country. Now it becomes a pandemic that ...affects the whole world. In this study, three models were used to fit and predict the epidemic situation in China: a modified SEIRD (Susceptible-Exposed-Infected-Recovered-Dead) dynamic model, a neural network method LSTM (Long Short-Term Memory), and a GWR (Geographically Weighted Regression) model reflecting spatial heterogeneity. Overall, all the three models performed well with great accuracy. The dynamic SEIRD prediction APE (absolute percent error) of China had been ≤ 1.0% since Mid-February. The LSTM model showed comparable accuracy. The GWR model took into account the influence of geographical differences, with R2 = 99.98% in fitting and 97.95% in prediction. Wilcoxon test showed that none of the three models outperformed the other two at the significance level of 0.05. The parametric analysis of the infectious rate and recovery rate demonstrated that China's national policies had effectively slowed down the spread of the epidemic. Furthermore, the models in this study provided a wide range of implications for other countries to predict the short-term and long-term trend of COVID-19, and to evaluate the intensity and effect of their interventions.
Purpose
The fragmentation of polyps affects complete resection confirmation. The primary aim of this study was to assess the feasibility of a novel polyp retrieval bag for reducing the fragmentation ...rate of colon polyps.
Methods
Patients with a 5–15 mm colon polyp were recruited and randomized into two groups at a 1:1 ratio. After polyp resection, polyps obtained from patients in the treatment group were extracted via a novel polyp retrieval bag without traversing the instrument channel, whereas polyps obtained from patients in the control group were collected through the instrument channel, attaching the polyp trap to the instrument channel port, and applying suction.
Results
From January to July 2022, 225 patients were assessed for eligibility. The study participants included 204 patients, and seven patients whose samples were not retrieved were excluded. Polyp fragmentation was significantly lower in the treatment group than in the control group (3.0% 3/100 vs. 17.5% 17/97,
P
= 0.001). The retrieval failure rates in the treatment group and control group were not significantly different (2.0% 2/102 vs. 4.9% 5/102,
P
= 0.442). There were fewer colonoscope insertions in the treatment group than in the control group (102 vs. 110), but a significant difference was not present (
P
= 0.065). No significant adverse events were observed during the follow-up.
Conclusions
This study demonstrated that the polyp retrieval bag was safe and feasible for reducing the fragmentation rate of retrieved polyps.
Trial registration
The study was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT05189912, 1/12/2021).
Underwater vision-based detection plays an increasingly important role in underwater security, ocean exploration and other fields. Due to the absorption and scattering effects of water on light, as ...well as the movement of the carrier, underwater images generally have problems such as noise pollution, color cast and motion blur, which seriously affect the performance of underwater vision-based detection. To address these problems, this study proposes an end-to-end marine organism detection framework that can jointly optimize the image enhancement and object detection. The framework uses a two-stage detection network with dynamic intersection over union (IoU) threshold as the backbone and adds an underwater image enhancement module (UIEM) composed of denoising, color correction and deblurring sub-modules to greatly improve the framework’s ability to deal with severely degraded underwater images. Meanwhile, a self-built dataset is introduced to pre-train the UIEM, so that the training of the entire framework can be performed end-to-end. The experimental results show that compared with the existing end-to-end models applied to marine organism detection, the detection precision of the proposed framework can improve by at least 6%, and the detection speed has not been significantly reduced, so that it can complete the high-precision real-time detection of marine organisms.
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