Emerging infectious diseases, such as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Zika virus disease, present a major threat to public health
. Despite intense research efforts, how, when and where ...new diseases appear are still a source of considerable uncertainty. A severe respiratory disease was recently reported in Wuhan, Hubei province, China. As of 25 January 2020, at least 1,975 cases had been reported since the first patient was hospitalized on 12 December 2019. Epidemiological investigations have suggested that the outbreak was associated with a seafood market in Wuhan. Here we study a single patient who was a worker at the market and who was admitted to the Central Hospital of Wuhan on 26 December 2019 while experiencing a severe respiratory syndrome that included fever, dizziness and a cough. Metagenomic RNA sequencing
of a sample of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid from the patient identified a new RNA virus strain from the family Coronaviridae, which is designated here 'WH-Human 1' coronavirus (and has also been referred to as '2019-nCoV'). Phylogenetic analysis of the complete viral genome (29,903 nucleotides) revealed that the virus was most closely related (89.1% nucleotide similarity) to a group of SARS-like coronaviruses (genus Betacoronavirus, subgenus Sarbecovirus) that had previously been found in bats in China
. This outbreak highlights the ongoing ability of viral spill-over from animals to cause severe disease in humans.
Key points
In a cold environment, mammals increase their food intake while fish decrease or stop feeding. However, the physiological value of fasting during cold resistance in fish is currently ...unknown.
Fasting for more than 48 h enhanced acute cold resistance in zebrafish, which correlated with lipid catabolism and cell damage attenuation.
Lipid catabolism and autophagy were necessary for cold resistance in fish and the inhibition of mitochondrial fatty acid β‐oxidation or autophagy weakened the fasting‐induced cold resistance.
Repression of mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) signalling pathway by rapamycin largely mimicked the beneficial effects of fasting in promoting cold resistance, suggesting mTOR signalling may be involved in the fasting‐induced cold resistance in fish.
Our study demonstrates that fasting may be a protective strategy for fish to survive under cold stress.
In cold environments, most homeothermic animals increase their food intake to supply more energy to maintain body temperature, whereas most poikilothermic animals such as fishes decrease or even stop feeding under cold stress. However, the physiological value of fasting during cold resistance in poikilotherms has not been explained. Here, we show that moderate fasting largely enhanced cold resistance in fish. By using pharmacological (fenofibrate, mildronate, chloroquine and rapamycin) and nutritional approaches (fatty acids diets and amino acids diets) in wild‐type or specific gene knock‐out zebrafish models (carnitine palmitoyltransferase‐1b‐deficient strain, CPT1b−/−, or autophagy‐related protein 12‐deficient strain, ATG12−/−), we verified that fasting‐stimulated lipid catabolism and autophagy played essential roles in the improved cold resistance. Moreover, suppression of the mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) pathway by using rapamycin mostly mimicked the beneficial effects of fasting in promoting cold resistance as either the physiological phenotype or transcriptomic pattern. However, these beneficial effects were largely reduced when the mTOR pathway was activated through high dietary leucine supplementation. We conclude that fasting helps fish to resist cold stress by modulating lipid catabolism and autophagy, which correlates with the mTOR signalling pathway. Therefore, fasting can act as a protective strategy of fish in resisting coldness.
Key points
In a cold environment, mammals increase their food intake while fish decrease or stop feeding. However, the physiological value of fasting during cold resistance in fish is currently unknown.
Fasting for more than 48 h enhanced acute cold resistance in zebrafish, which correlated with lipid catabolism and cell damage attenuation.
Lipid catabolism and autophagy were necessary for cold resistance in fish and the inhibition of mitochondrial fatty acid β‐oxidation or autophagy weakened the fasting‐induced cold resistance.
Repression of mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) signalling pathway by rapamycin largely mimicked the beneficial effects of fasting in promoting cold resistance, suggesting mTOR signalling may be involved in the fasting‐induced cold resistance in fish.
Our study demonstrates that fasting may be a protective strategy for fish to survive under cold stress.
Oxygen evolution: A 3D nickel foam/porous carbon/anodized nickel electrode was designed for the oxygen evolution reaction (see picture). The conductive porous carbon membrane, which is derived from a ...zeolite imidazolate framework, plays a key role as an interlayer to both protect the inner instable Ni foam and support the outermost oxygen‐evolving Ni catalyst layer.
Conditioned pain modulation (CPM) is impaired in people with chronic pain such as knee osteoarthritis (KOA). The purpose of this randomized, controlled clinical trial was to investigate whether ...strong electroacupuncture (EA) was more effective on chronic pain by strengthening the CPM function than weak EA or sham EA in patients with KOA.
In this multicenter, three-arm parallel, single-blind randomized controlled trial, 301 patients with KOA were randomly assigned. Patients were randomized into three groups based on EA current intensity: strong EA (> 2 mA), weak EA (< 0.5 mA), and sham EA (non-acupoint). Treatments consisted of five sessions per week, for 2 weeks. Primary outcome measures were visual analog scale (VAS), CPM function, and Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC).
Three hundred one patients with KOA were randomly assigned, among which 271 (90.0%) completed the study (mean age 63.93 years old). One week of EA had a clinically important improvement in VAS and WOMAC but not in CPM function. After 2 weeks treatment, EA improved VAS, CPM, and WOMAC compared with baseline. Compared with sham EA, weak EA (3.8; 95% CI 3.45, 4.15; P < .01) and strong EA (13.54; 95% CI 13.23, 13.85; P < .01) were better in improving CPM function. Compared with weak EA, strong EA was better in enhancing CPM function (9.73; 95% CI 9.44, 10.02; P < .01), as well as in reducing VAS and total WOMAC score.
EA should be administered for at least 2 weeks to exert a clinically important effect on improving CPM function of KOA patients. Strong EA is better than weak or sham EA in alleviating pain intensity and inhibiting chronic pain.
This study was registered with the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry ( ChiCTR-ICR-14005411 ), registered on 31 October 2014.
A nickel‐catalyzed three‐component reaction for the synthesis of difluoroalkylated compounds through tandem difluoroalkylation‐arylation of enamides has been developed. The reaction tolerates a ...variety of arylboronic acids and widely available difluoroalkyl bromides, and even the relatively inert substrate chlorodifluoroacetate. The significant advantages of this protocol are the low‐cost nickel catalyst, synthetic convenience, excellent functional‐group compatibility and high reaction efficiency.
All about efficiency: The title reaction tolerates a variety of arylboronic acids and widely available difluoroalkyl bromides, and even the relatively inert substrate chlorodifluoroacetate. The protocol provides a highly efficient method for the catalytic synthesis of difluoroalkylated compounds.
The occurrence of imbalanced heavy metals concentration due to anthropogenic hindrances in the aquatic and terrestrial environment has become a potential risk to life after circulating through ...different food chains. The microbial-induced carbonate precipitation (MICP) method has gradually received great attention from global researchers but the underlying mechanism of heavy metal mineralization is not well-understood and challenging, limiting the applications in wastewater engineering. This paper reviews the metabolic pathways, mechanisms, operational factors, and mathematical/modeling approaches in the MICP process. Subsequently, the recent advancement in MICP for the remediation of heavy metal pollution is being discussed. In the follow-up, the key challenges and prospective associated with technical bottlenecks of MICP method are elaborated. The prospective study reveals that MICP technology could be efficiently used to remediate heavy metal contaminants from the natural environment in a cost-effective way and has the potential to improve soil properties while remediating heavy metal contaminated soil.
Display omitted
•MICP is an effective method to entrap heavy metals in the natural environment.•Efficiency of MICP is mainly affected by temperature, pH, and heavy metal concentration.•A combination of materials and microorganisms can better deal with heavy metal contamination.•MICP method can be frequently used for the remediation of heavy metal in soil and soil properties improvement.•Proposed integrated MICP approach would become effective and eco-friendly.
In this study, using coconut fibers as raw material, activated carbon fibers were prepared
via
carbonization and KOH activation processes. The morphology, composition, specific surface area, pore ...structure and thermal stability of the resulting activated carbon fibers were systematically characterized. It was found that the activation process increases the specific surface area of carbon fibers to a greater extent
via
formation of a large number of micropores (0.7-1.8 nm) and a certain amount of slit-shaped mesopores (2-9 nm). The specific surface area and the pore volume of the activated carbon fibers reach 1556 m
2
g
−1
and 0.72 cm
3
g
−1
, respectively. The activation process can also decompose the tar deposits formed after the carbonization process by pyrolysis, making the surface of the activated carbon fibers smoother. To study the adsorption properties of the as-prepared activated carbon fibers, the adsorption capacities and adsorption kinetics of various organic dyes including methylene blue, Congo red and neutral red were investigated. The adsorption capacities of the dyes increased with the increasing initial dye concentrations, and varied greatly with the pH value of the system. In methylene blue and neutral red systems, the adsorption capacities reach the maximum at pH 9, and in the Congo red system, it reaches the maximum at pH 3. The adsorption capacities of the activated carbon fibers in methylene blue, Congo red and neutral red systems reached equilibrium at 150, 120, and 120 min, and the maximum adsorption capacities were 21.3, 22.1, and 20.7 mg g
−1
, respectively. The kinetics of the adsorption process was investigated using three models including pseudo-first-order, pseudo-second-order and intraparticle diffusion models. The results indicated that the dynamic adsorption processes of coconut-based activated carbon fibers to methylene blue, Congo red and neutral red were all in accordance with the second-order kinetic model, and the equations are as follows:
t
/
Q
t
= 0.1028 +
t
/21.3220,
t
/
Q
t
= 0.1128 +
t
/21.5982 and
t
/
Q
t
= 0.0210 +
t
/20.6612.
Activated carbon fibers with high micropore volume and large specific surface area were prepared from abundant and low-cost coconut fibers, which show excellent adsorption performances towards various dyes.
Fe-based amorphous coatings with outstanding corrosion resistance are promise for marine applications. However, these coatings encounter a great challenge of biofouling in marine environments. ...Inspired by the unique micro-nano hierarchical structure of shark skin with excellent antifouling properties, in this paper, we construct a bioinspired Fe-based amorphous coating with killing-resisting dual-effect via proper surface modifications, i.e., the modification with micro-patterned nanostructured Cu
O fibers (killing effect), followed by the modification with superhydrophobic surface (resisting effect). As a result, the modified amorphous coating exhibits impressive antifouling properties, achieving 98.6% resistance to Nitzschia closterium f. minutissima, 87% resistance to Bovine serum albumin protein and 99.8% resistance to Pseudomonas aeruginosa, respectively. The remarkable antifouling performance is attributed to a synergistic antifouling mechanism from both resisting effect and killing effect, wherein the superhydrophobic surface provides a barrier to resist protein adsorption, while the patterned nanostructured Cu
O fibers supply Cu
ions to kill bacterial cells. In addition, the modified amorphous coating also exhibits excellent mechanical robustness, which ensures the durability of the Fe-based amorphous coating in practical services. This work may promote the development of new durable metal-based coatings integrated with anti-fouling and anti-corrosion properties.
Bipolar plate (BP) in proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells provides conducting paths for electrons between cells, distributes and blocks the reactant gases, removes waste heat, and provides ...stack structural integrity. It is a key component to ensure the aforementioned functions while maintaining a low cost of fuel cell stack. This paper presents a comprehensive review about the BP materials (metallic, non-porous graphite and composite materials) and the corresponding fabrication methods, flow field layouts, and PEM fuel cells applications. Among the materials, the metallic BP has attracted high attention in automotive application due to its superior mechanical and physical properties, competitive cost compared with non-porous graphite and composite materials, but the fabrication technology and corrosion resistance are the major concerns for metallic bipolar plates. In recent studies, the protective coatings reported such as the conductive polymer, metal nitride/carbide and noble coatings have become the hot topics. They have been widely applied in different kinds of metallic bipolar plates, and the metal nitride coatings exhibit relatively low corrosion current and moderate interfacial contact resistance in comparison to other coatings. In future, developing excellent corrosion resistance and electrical conductivity coatings or novel metallic materials for bipolar plates will greatly enhance PEM fuel cells application in transportation field.
•Three kinds of bipolar plates materials and the corresponding fabrication methods are reviewed.•Different kinds of protective coatings for metallic bipolar plates are presented.•The recent studies about flow fields design for better water removal are summarized.•The applications of PEM fuel cells with different bipolar plates materials are reviewed.
FERONIA mediates root nutating growth Li, En; Wang, Guangda; Zhang, Yu‐Ling ...
The Plant journal : for cell and molecular biology,
November 2020, 2020-11-00, 20201101, Letnik:
104, Številka:
4
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
SUMMARY
Root nutation indicates the behavior that roots grow in a waving and skewing way due to unequal growth rates on different sides. Although a few developmental and environmental factors have ...been reported, genetic pathways mediating this process are obscure. We report here that the Arabidopsis CrRLK1L family member FERONIA (FER) is critical for root nutation. Functional loss of FER resulted in enhanced root waviness on tilted plates or roots forming anti‐clockwise coils on horizontal plates. Suppressing polar auxin transport, either by pharmacological treatment or by introducing mutations at PIN‐FORMED2 (PIN2) or AUXIN RESISTANT1 (AUX1), suppressed the asymmetric root growth (ARG) in fer‐4, a null mutant of FER, indicating that FER suppression of ARG depends on polar auxin transport. We further showed by pharmacological treatments that dynamic microtubule organization and Ca2+ signaling are both critical for FER‐mediated ARG. Results presented here demonstrate a key role of FER in mediating root nutating growth, through PIN2‐ and AUX1‐mediated auxin transport, through dynamic microtubule organization, and through Ca2+ signaling.
Significance Statement
Root nutation indicates the behavior that roots grow in a waving and skewing way due to unequal growth rates on different sides, which likely enhances plant fitness by efficiently sampling soil for better growth environments. We report that the Arabidopsis FERONIA (FER) is critical for root nutation. Polar auxin transport, dynamic microtubule organization, and Ca2+ signaling are critical for FER‐mediated root nutation.
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