In-situ construction of N-doped Zn0.6Cd0.4S/oxygen vacancy-rich WO3 Z-scheme heterojunction compound for boosting photocatalytic hydrogen production.

Photocatalytic water splitting technology for H2 production represents a promising and sustainable approach to clean energy generation. In this study, a high concentration of oxygen vacancies was introduced into tungsten trioxide (WO3) to create a vacancy-rich layer. This modified WO3 (WO3-x) was then combined with N-doped Zn0.6Cd0.4S through a hydrothermal synthesis, resulting in the formation of a Z-scheme heterojunction composite aimed at enhancing photocatalytic performance. Under visible light, the H2 production activity of the composite reached an impressive 8.52 mmol·g-1 without adding co-catalyst Pt. This corresponds to enhancements of 7.82 and 4.39 times the production yield of pure ZCS and ZCSN, respectively. However, the hydrogen production increased to 21.98 mmol·g-1 when Pt was added as a co-catalyst. Furthermore, an array of characterizations were employed to elucidate the presence of oxygen vacancies and the establishment of the Z-scheme heterojunction. This structural enhancement significantly facilitates the utilization of photo-generated electrons while effectively preventing photo-corrosion of ZCSN, thus improving material stability. Our study provides a new scheme for the incorporation of oxygen-rich vacancy and the construction of Z-scheme heterojunction, demonstrating a synergistic effect that greatly advances photocatalytic performance.

Iron scrap derived nano zero-valent iron/biochar activated persulfate for p-arsanilic acid decontamination with coexisting microplastics.

P-arsanilic acid (AA) has received widespread attention because of its conversion to more toxic inorganic arsenic compounds (arsenate and arsenite) in the natural ecosystems. Its removal process and mechanisms with co-existence of microplastics remain unkown. In this study, biochar loaded with nano zero-valent iron (nZVI) particles (ISBC) was prepared by using iron scrap obtained from a steel works and wood chips collected from a wood processing plant. The advanced oxidation system of sodium persulfate (PDS) activated by ISBC was applied for AA degradation and inorganic arsenic control in aqueous media. More than 99% of the AA was completely degraded by the ISBC/PDS system, and the As(III) on AA was almost completely oxidized to As(V) and finally removed by ISBC. HCO3- inhibited the removal of AA by the ISBC/PDS system, while Cl- had a dual effect that showing inhibition at low concentrations yet promotion at high concentrations. The effect of microplastics on the degradation of AA by the ISBC/PDS system was further investigated due to the potential for combined microplastic and organic arsenic contamination in rural/remote areas. Microplastics were found to have little effect on AA degradation in the ISBC/PDS system, while affect the transport of inorganic arsenic generated from AA degradation. Overall, this study provides new insights and methods for efficient removal of p-arsanilic acid from water with coexisting microplastics.

A Cumulant-Based Method for Acquiring GNSS Signals.

Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) provide positioning, velocity, and time services for civilian applications. A critical step in the positioning process is the acquisition of visible satellites in the sky. Modern GNSS systems, such as Galileo-developed and maintained by the European Union-utilize a new modulation technique known as Binary Offset Carrier (BOC). However, BOC signals introduce multiple side-peaks in their autocorrelation function, which can lead to significant errors during the acquisition process. In this paper, we propose a novel acquisition method based on higher-order cumulants that effectively eliminates these side-peaks. This method is capable of simultaneously acquiring both conventional ranging signals, such as GPS C/A code, and BOC-modulated signals. The effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated through the acquisition of simulated signals, with a comparison to traditional methods. Additionally, we apply the proposed method to real satellite signals to further validate its performance. Our results show that the proposed method successfully suppresses side-peaks, improves acquisition accuracy in weak signal environments, and demonstrates potential for indoor GNSS applications. The study concludes that while the method may increase computational load, its performance in challenging conditions makes it a promising approach for future GNSS receiver designs.

Performance and mechanism of diclofenac adsorption onto 3D poly(m-phenylenediamine)-grafted melamine foam via batch experiment and theoretical studies.

Seeking highly efficient adsorbents for pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) removal has been a worldwide continuing endeavor. In this study, a new 3D composite material was synthesized by covalently anchoring Poly(m-Phenylenediamine) onto 3D polyvinyl alcohol modified foam framework (PmPD-MF-PVA). PmPD-MF-PVA was characterized and evaluated for its efficacy in removing diclofenac (DCF), a commonly detected PPCPs in both wastewater and surface water. Results showed that the adsorption capacity of PmPD-MF-PVA toward DCF was 1.5 times higher than that of PmPD-MF. The addition of PVA increased deposition area of PmPD, and promoted PmPD loading on the foam surface. Batch adsorption experiments exhibited that the adsorption of DCF was fitted well with Langmuir isotherm and pseudo-second-order kinetic models. The maximum adsorption capacity of PmPD-MF-PVA was 115 mg/g. Meanwhile, PmPD-MF-PVA exhibited better separation ability than the hard-to-separate PmPD. Characterization analysis and density functional theory (DFT) calculation elucidated the main mechanisms of DCF adsorption on PmPD-MF-PVA. Hydrogen bonding and π-π interactions were main drivers for DCF adsorption, followed by electrostatic attraction and hydrophobic forces. This study provides an effective strategy to overcome the drawbacks of PmPD, such as recycling difficulty and agglomeration problems, offering valuable insights for the design of polymers-based adsorbents.

Single-cell transcriptome analysis of the mouse lungs during the injury and recovery periods after lipopolysaccharide administration.

OBJECTIVE: This study sought to investigate the cellular and molecular alterations during the injury and recovery periods of ALI and develop effective treatments for ALI. METHODS: Pulmonary histology at 1, 3, 6, and 9 days after lipopolysaccharide administration mice were assessed. An unbiased single-cell RNA sequencing was performed in alveoli tissues from injury (day 3) and recovery (day 6) mice after lipopolysaccharide administration. The roles of Fpr2 and Dpp4 in ALI were assessed. RESULTS: The most severe lung injury occurred on day 3, followed by recovery entirely on day 9 after lipopolysaccharide administration. The numbers of Il1a+ neutrophils, monocytes/macrophages, and Cd4+ and Cd8+ T cells significantly increased at day 3 after LPS administration; subsequently, the number of Il1a+ neutrophils greatly decreased, the numbers of monocytes/macrophages and Cd4+ and Cd8+ T cells continuously increased, and the number of resident alveolar macrophages significantly increased at day 6. The interactions between monocytes/macrophages and pneumocytes during the injury period were enhanced by the Cxcl10/Dpp4 pair, and inhibiting Dpp4 improved ALI significantly, while inhibiting Fpr2 did not. CONCLUSIONS: Our results offer valuable insights into the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying its progression and identify Dpp4 as an effective therapeutic target for ALI.

PeFUS3 Drives Lateral Root Growth Via Auxin and ABA Signalling Under Drought Stress in Populus.

Changes in root system architecture are vital for plant adaptation to drought stress, yet the underlying molecular mechanisms of this process remain largely elusive. Here, FUSCA3 (FUS3), a B3 domain transcription factor isolated from Populus euphratica, was found to be an important gene of regulating lateral root (LR) development under drought stress. The expression of PeFUS3 was strongly induced by ABA and dehydration treatments. Overexpressing PeFUS3 in poplar 84 K (P. alba × P. glandulosa) positively regulated LR growth and enhanced drought tolerance, while the knockout lines, generated by the CRISPR/Cas9 system, displayed repressed LR growth and weakened drought tolerance. Further investigation demonstrated that PeFUS3 activated the expression of PIN2, PIN6a and AUX1, which were key genes involved in auxin transport, suggesting PeFUS3 modulated LR development under drought stress through auxin signalling. Moreover, PeFUS3 directly upregulated PePYL3 expression, and overexpressing PePYL3 poplar lines exhibited significantly increased drought resistance. In addition, PeABF2, an ABA responsive transcription factor, interacted with PeFUS3 and activated its transcription, indicating PeFUS3 was involved in ABA signalling pathway. Taken together, PeFUS3 is a key regulator, maintaining root growth of poplar by modulating the crosstalk of auxin and ABA signalling under drought stress.

Comprehensive analysis of the relationship between yield stress and dewatering performance in sludge conditioning: Insights from various treatment methods.

Understanding the relationship between sludge yield stress (σy) and dewatering performance is essential for optimizing sludge conditioning processes. This study systematically investigates the effects of various conditioning methods-including thermal hydrolysis (TH), freezing/thawing (FT), anaerobic digestion (AD), polyaluminum chloride (PAC), polyacrylamide (PAM), and Fenton treatment (Fenton)-on sludge yield stress and its correlation with dewatering efficiency. Using linear regression, partial least squares regression (PLSR), and correlation heatmap analyses, we reveal significant variations in the correlation between σy and dewatering indexes, including moisture content (Mc), capillary suction time (CST), and bound water proportion (Wb/Wt), depending on the conditioning method and intensity. Under FT and PAM conditioning, σy shows a strong negative linear correlation with dewatering performance, with Pearson's r values exceeding -0.880, indicating that a decrease in σy corresponds to improved dewatering efficiency. Conversely, AD conditioning exhibits a positive linear correlation, with r values up to 0.993, suggesting that an increase in σy correlates with reduced dewatering efficiency. For TH, PAC, and Fenton treatments, the correlation between σy and dewatering metrics is highly sensitive to changes in treatment intensity. In the PLSR analysis, the VIP values, which quantify the importance of each predictor variable, indicate that Wb/Wt in TH conditioning (VIP = 1.649) and CST in PAC (VIP = 1.309) and Fenton (VIP = 1.299) conditioning strongly influence σy. This study highlights the significant impact of conditioning methods and intensities on the correlation between σy and dewatering performance. While σy provides valuable insights as a predictive indicator, its predictive power is limited in more complex conditioning scenarios. Therefore, optimizing conditioning intensity and incorporating multiple rheological parameters are essential for achieving superior sludge dewatering outcomes.

Polystyrene nanoplastics induce apoptosis, autophagy, and steroidogenesis disruption in granulosa cells to reduce oocyte quality and fertility by inhibiting the PI3K/AKT pathway in female mice.

BACKGROUND: Nanoplastics (NPs) are emerging pollutants that pose risks to living organisms. Recent findings have unveiled the reproductive harm caused by polystyrene nanoparticles (PS-NPs) in female animals, yet the intricate mechanism remains incompletely understood. Under this research, we investigated whether sustained exposure to PS-NPs at certain concentrations in vivo can enter oocytes through the zona pellucida or through other routes that affect female reproduction. RESULTS: We show that PS-NPs disrupted ovarian functions and decreased oocyte quality, which may be a contributing factor to lower female fertility in mice. RNA sequencing of mouse ovaries illustrated that the PI3K-AKT signaling pathway emerged as the predominant environmental information processing pathway responding to PS-NPs. Western blotting results of ovaries in vivo and cells in vitro showed that PS-NPs deactivated PI3K-AKT signaling pathway by down-regulating the expression of PI3K and reducing AKT phosphorylation at the protein level, PI3K-AKT signaling pathway which was accompanied by the activation of autophagy and apoptosis and the disruption of steroidogenesis in granulosa cells. Since PS-NPs penetrate granulosa cells but not oocytes, we examined whether PS-NPs indirectly affect oocyte quality through granulosa cells using a granulosa cell-oocyte coculture system. Preincubation of granulosa cells with PS-NPs causes granulosa cell dysfunction, resulting in a decrease in the quality of the cocultured oocytes that can be reversed by the addition of 17ß-estradiol. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides findings on how PS-NPs impact ovarian function and include transcriptome sequencing analysis of ovarian tissue. The study demonstrates that PS-NPs impair oocyte quality by altering the functioning of ovarian granulosa cells. Therefore, it is necessary to focus on the research on the effects of PS-NPs on female reproduction and the related methods that may mitigate their toxicity.

Rational design of waste anode graphite-derived carbon catalyst to activate peroxymonosulfate for atrazine degradation.

As the rapidly growing number of waste lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), the recycling and reutilization of anode graphite is of increasing interest. Converting waste anode graphite into functional materials may be a sensible option. Herein, a series of carbonaceous catalysts (TG) were successfully prepared using spent anode graphite calcined at various temperatures and applied for activating peroxymonosulfate (PMS) to degrade atrazine (ATZ). The catalyst obtained at 800 °C (TG-800) showed the optimum performance for ATZ removal (99.2% in 6 min). Various experimental conditions were explored to achieve the optimum efficiency of the system. In the TG-800/PMS system, free radicals (e.g., SO4·-, HO·), singlet oxygen (1O2), together with a direct electron transfer pathway all participated in ATZ degradation, and the ketonic (CO) group was proved as the leading catalytic site for PMS activation. The potential degradation routes of ATZ have also been presented. According to the toxicity assessment experiments, the toxicity of the intermediate products decreased. The reusability and universal applicability of the TG-800 were also confirmed. This research not only provides an efficient PMS activator for pollutant degradation, but also offers a meaningful reference for the recovery of waste anode graphite to develop environmentally functional materials.

MicroRNA257 promotes secondary growth in hybrid poplar.

Populus, a significant fast-growing tree species with global afforestation and energy potential, holds considerable economic value. The abundant production of secondary xylem by trees, which serves as a vital resource for industrial purposes and human sustenance, necessitates the orchestration of various regulatory mechanisms, encompassing transcriptional regulators and microRNAs (miRNAs). Nevertheless, the investigation of microRNA-mediated regulation of poplar secondary growth remains limited. In this study, we successfully isolated a novel microRNA (Pag-miR257) from 84 K poplar and subsequently integrated it into the 35 S overexpression vector. The overexpression of Pag-miR257 resulted in notable increases in plant height, stem diameter, and fresh weight. Additionally, the overexpression of Pag-miR257 demonstrated a significant enhancement in net photosynthetic rate. The findings from the examination of cell wall autofluorescence indicated a substantial increase in both xylem area and the number of vessels in poplar plants overexpressing Pag-miR257. Furthermore, the cell wall of the Pag-miR257 overexpressing plants exhibited thickening as observed through transmission electron microscopy. Moreover, the Fourier Transforms Infrared (FTIR) analysis and phloroglucinol-HCl staining revealed an elevation in lignin content in Pag-miR257 overexpressing poplar plants. The findings of this study suggest that microRNA257 may play a role in the control of secondary growth in poplar stems, thereby potentially enhancing the development of wood engineering techniques for improved material and energy production.

A comprehensive workflow for optimizing RNA-seq data analysis.

BACKGROUND: Current RNA-seq analysis software for RNA-seq data tends to use similar parameters across different species without considering species-specific differences. However, the suitability and accuracy of these tools may vary when analyzing data from different species, such as humans, animals, plants, fungi, and bacteria. For most laboratory researchers lacking a background in information science, determining how to construct an analysis workflow that meets their specific needs from the array of complex analytical tools available poses a significant challenge. RESULTS: By utilizing RNA-seq data from plants, animals, and fungi, it was observed that different analytical tools demonstrate some variations in performance when applied to different species. A comprehensive experiment was conducted specifically for analyzing plant pathogenic fungal data, focusing on differential gene analysis as the ultimate goal. In this study, 288 pipelines using different tools were applied to analyze five fungal RNA-seq datasets, and the performance of their results was evaluated based on simulation. This led to the establishment of a relatively universal and superior fungal RNA-seq analysis pipeline that can serve as a reference, and certain standards for selecting analysis tools were derived for reference. Additionally, we compared various tools for alternative splicing analysis. The results based on simulated data indicated that rMATS remained the optimal choice, although consideration could be given to supplementing with tools such as SpliceWiz. CONCLUSION: The experimental results demonstrate that, in comparison to the default software parameter configurations, the analysis combination results after tuning can provide more accurate biological insights. It is beneficial to carefully select suitable analysis software based on the data, rather than indiscriminately choosing tools, in order to achieve high-quality analysis results more efficiently.

Oxygen Doping Cooperated with Co-N-Fe Dual-Catalytic Sites: Synergistic Mechanism for Catalytic Water Purification within Nanoconfined Membrane.

Atom-site catalysts, especially for graphitic carbon nitride-based catalysts, represents one of the most promising candidates in catalysis membrane for water decontamination. However, unravelling the intricate relationships between synthesis-structure-properties remains a great challenge. This study addresses the impacts of coordination environment and structure units of metal central sites based on Mantel test, correlation analysis, and evolution of metal central sites. An optimized unconventional oxygen doping cooperated with Co-N-Fe dual-sites (OCN Co/Fe) exhibits synergistic mechanism for efficient peroxymonosulfate activation, which benefits from a significant increase in charge density at the active sites and the regulation in the natural population of orbitals, leading to selective generation of SO4 •-. Building upon these findings, the OCN-Co/Fe/PVDF composite membrane demonstrates a 33 min-1 ciprofloxacin (CIP) rejection efficiency and maintains over 96% CIP removal efficiency (over 24 h) with an average permeance of 130.95 L m-2 h-1. This work offers a fundamental guide for elucidating the definitive origin of catalytic performance in advance oxidation process to facilitate the rational design of separation catalysis membrane with improved performance and enhanced stability.

A novel approach for sludge deep-dewatering via flowing-out enhancement but not relying on cell lysis and bound water release.

Effective deep-dewatering is crucial for wastewater sludge management. Currently, the dominant methods focus on promoting cell lysis to release intracellular water, but these techniques often lead to secondary pollution and require stringent conditions, limiting their practical use. This study explores an innovative method using a commercially available complex quaternary ammonium salt surfactant, known as G-agent. This agent remarkably reduces the sludge water content from 98.6 % to 56.8 % with a low dosage (50 mg/g DS) and under neutral pH conditions. This approach surpasses Fenton oxidation in terms of dewatering efficiency and avoids the necessity for cell lysis and bound water release, thereby reducing the risk of secondary pollution in the filtrate, including heavy metals, nitrogen, phosphorus, and other contaminants. The G-agent plays a significant role in destabilizing flocs and enhancing flocculation during the conditioning and initial dewatering stages, effectively reducing the solid-liquid interfacial affinity of the sludge. In the compression filtration stage, the agent's solidification effect is crucial in forming a robust skeleton that improves pore connectivity within the filter cake, leading to increased water permeability, drainage performance and water flow-out efficiency. This facilitates deep dewatering of sludge without cell lysis. The study reveals that the G-agent primarily improves water flow-out efficiency rather than water flowability, indicating that cell lysis and bound water release are not indispensable prerequisites for sludge deep-dewatering. Furthermore, it presents an encouraging prospect for overcoming the limitations associated with conventional sludge deep-dewatering processes.

Leaf Senescence Database v5.0: A Comprehensive Repository for Facilitating Plant Senescence Research.

Through an extensive literature survey, we have upgraded the Leaf Senescence Database (LSD v5.0; https://ngdc.cncb.ac.cn/lsd/), a curated repository of comprehensive senescence-associated genes (SAGs) and their corresponding mutants. Since its inception in 2010, LSD undergoes frequent updates to encompass the latest advances in leaf senescence research and its current version comprises a high-quality collection of 31,740 SAGs and 1,209 mutants from 148 species, which were manually searched based on robust experimental evidence and further categorized according to their functions in leaf senescence. Furthermore, LSD was greatly enriched with comprehensive annotations for the SAGs through meticulous curation using both manual and computational methods. In addition, it was equipped with user-friendly web interfaces that facilitate text queries, BLAST searches, and convenient download of SAG sequences for localized analysis. Users can effortlessly navigate the database to access a plethora of information, including literature references, mutants, phenotypes, multi-omics data, miRNA interactions, homologs in other plants, and cross-links to various databases. Taken together, the upgraded version of LSD stands as the most comprehensive and informative plant senescence-related database to date, incorporating the largest collection of SAGs and thus bearing great utility for a wide range of studies related to plant senescence.

PTI-ETI synergistic signal mechanisms in plant immunity.

Plants face a relentless onslaught from a diverse array of pathogens in their natural environment, to which they have evolved a myriad of strategies that unfold across various temporal scales. Cell surface pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) detect conserved elicitors from pathogens or endogenous molecules released during pathogen invasion, initiating the first line of defence in plants, known as pattern-triggered immunity (PTI), which imparts a baseline level of disease resistance. Inside host cells, pathogen effectors are sensed by the nucleotide-binding/leucine-rich repeat (NLR) receptors, which then activate the second line of defence: effector-triggered immunity (ETI), offering a more potent and enduring defence mechanism. Moreover, PTI and ETI collaborate synergistically to bolster disease resistance and collectively trigger a cascade of downstream defence responses. This article provides a comprehensive review of plant defence responses, offering an overview of the stepwise activation of plant immunity and the interactions between PTI-ETI synergistic signal transduction.

The miR6445-NAC029 module regulates drought tolerance by regulating the expression of glutathione S-transferase U23 and reactive oxygen species scavenging in Populus.

MicroRNAs are essential in plant development and stress resistance, but their specific roles in drought stress require further investigation. Here, we have uncovered that a Populus-specific microRNAs (miRNA), miR6445, targeting NAC (NAM, ATAF, and CUC) family genes, is involved in regulating drought tolerance of poplar. The expression level of miR6445 was significantly upregulated under drought stress; concomitantly, seven targeted NAC genes showed significant downregulation. Silencing the expression of miR6445 by short tandem target mimic technology significantly decreased the drought tolerance in poplar. Furthermore, 5' RACE experiments confirmed that miR6445 directly targeted NAC029. The overexpression lines of PtrNAC029 (OE-NAC029) showed increased sensitivity to drought compared with knockout lines (Crispr-NAC029), consistent with the drought-sensitive phenotype observed in miR6445-silenced strains. PtrNAC029 was further verified to directly bind to the promoters of glutathione S-transferase U23 (GSTU23) and inhibit its expression. Both Crispr-NAC029 and PtrGSTU23 overexpressing plants showed higher levels of PtrGSTU23 transcript and GST activity while accumulating less reactive oxygen species (ROS). Moreover, poplars overexpressing GSTU23 demonstrated enhanced drought tolerance. Taken together, our research reveals the crucial role of the miR6445-NAC029-GSTU23 module in enhancing poplar drought tolerance by regulating ROS homeostasis. This finding provides new molecular targets for improving the drought resistance of trees.

Non-radical activation of low additive periodate by carbon-doped boron nitride for acetaminophen degradation: Significance of high-potential metastable intermediates.

Metal-free environmental-friendly and cost-effective catalysts for periodate (PI) activation are crucial to popularize their application for micropollutant removal in water. Herein, we report that carbon-doped boron nitride (C-BN) can efficiently activate PI to degrade acetaminophen under very low oxidant doses (40 µM) and over a relatively wide pH range (3-9). As expected, the significant reduction in periodate addition is likely to be due to the higher chemical utilization efficiency achieved by a non-radical oxidation pathway. This involved two main mechanisms, the electron transfer process mediated by the high-potential metastable C-BN-900-PI* complex and singlet oxygen. In this case, the CO groups and defects on the C-BN surface were identified as key active sites for PI activation. Notably, the prepared C-BN-900 had good cycling performance and the degradation efficiency is recovered after simple annealing. The existence of HCO3- and HA significantly inhibited the reaction, whereas Cl-, SO42-, and NO3- had little effect on the degradation of ACE. Overall, this study provides a new alternative method to regulate the non-radical pathway of boron nitride/periodate system.

In-situ construction of In2O3/In2S3-CdIn2S4 Z-scheme heterojunction nanotubes for enhanced photocatalytic hydrogen production.

Semiconductor photocatalysis was considered as an ideal solution to energy shortages. Herein, a novel ternary In2O3/In2S3-CdIn2S4 (IOSC) nanotube (NTs) photocatalyst was successfully constructed via in situ growth of In2S3 and CdIn2S4 nanosheets onto In2O3 skeleton. It was used for the efficient and stable photo-production of hydrogen from water splitting. The rationally designed IOSC NTs displayed significantly enhanced photocatalytic H2 production under visible light irradiation (≥420 nm), with the highest H2 yield determined to be 2892 µmol·g-1, which is much higher than that of pristine In2S3 and In2O3/In2S3 (IOS) NTs. Cyclic testing has shown that the IOSC2 product remains stable after four cycles of repeated use. The enhanced photocatalytic activity was contributed by its tightly bound tube-nanosheets heterogeneous structure and superior light absorption. Photoelectrons transfer in IOSC2 follows a Z-scheme mechanism, which greatly facilitates its utilization of photogenerated electrons and prevents CdIn2S4 from undergoing photo-corrosion affecting material stability. This work demonstrates the key role of in situ growth in the interface design of ternary heterostructures.

Yield stress Measurement of municipal sludge: A comprehensive evaluation of testing methods and concentration effects using a rotational rheometer.

Accurate prediction and measurement of yield stress are crucial for optimizing sludge treatment and disposal. However, the differences and applicability of various methods for measuring yield stress are subjects of ongoing debate. Meanwhile, literature on measuring sludge yield stress is limited to low solid concentrations (TS <10%), understanding and studying the yield stress of medium to high solid concentration sludge is crucial due to increasingly stringent standards for sludge treatment and disposal. So, this study employed a rotational rheometer to measure sludge yield stress across a wide range of TS (4-50%) using steady shear, dynamic oscillatory shear, and transient shear. The study derived significant conclusions by comparing and summarizing the applicability and limitations of each testing method: Dynamic oscillatory shear methods, including G'-σ curve method, γ-σ curve method, and G**γc method can measure sludge yield stress ranging from 4% to 40% TS, while other methods are restricted to low or limited solid concentrations; The G' = G″ method, utilizing the intersection of G' and G″ curves, consistently yields the highest value for yield stress when 4%≤ TS ≤ 12%; The rotational rheometer cannot measure sludge yield stress when the solid concentration exceeds 40% TS; The relationship between sludge yield stress and solid concentration is stronger as a power-law for TS ≤ 25%, transitioning to linear for higher concentrations (28%≤ TS <40%). This study systematically explores the applicability and limitations of various measurement methods for characterizing sludge yield stress across a wide range of solid concentrations, providing valuable guidance for scientific measurement and highlighting challenging research issues.

Regulatory mechanism of the six-method massage antipyretic process on lipopolysaccharide-induced fever in juvenile rabbits: A targeted metabolomics approach.

Objective: To investigate the mechanism of the six-method massage antipyretic process (SMAP) and its influence on the body's metabolic state. Methods: The random number table method was used to divide 24 New Zealand 2-month-old rabbits with qualified basal body temperature into a control group, model group and massage group (n = 8 per group). The model group and massage groups were injected with 0.5 µg/ml lipopolysaccharide (1 ml/kg) into the auricular vein, and the control group was injected with the same amount of normal saline at the same temperature. One hour after modelling, the massage group was given SMAP (opening Tianmen, pushing Kangong, rubbing Taiyang, rubbing Erhougaogu, clearing the Tianheshui and pushing the spine). The change of anal temperature 5 h after moulding was recorded to clarify the antipyretic effect. Results: After modelling, the rectal temperature of the juvenile rabbits in the three groups increased. The rectal temperature of the model group was higher than that of the control group 5 h after modelling, and the rectal temperature of the massage group was lower than that of the model group (P < 0.05). The antipyretic mechanism is related to the regulation of the synthesis of phenylalanine, tyrosine and tryptophan, as well as the pentose phosphate pathway. Compared with the model group, the plasma interleukin (IL)-1, IL-6, interferon-gamma, toll-like receptor 4, nuclear factor κB, the mechanistic target of rapamycin complex 1, indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase 1, aryl hydrocarbon receptor, liver aspartate transaminase (AST), alanine transaminase (ALT) and l-glutamate dehydrogenase (L-GLDH) expression in the massage group were significantly decreased (P < 0.05). Compared with the model group, the massage group had significantly reduced AST, ALT and L-GLDH expression in plasma (P < 0.05). Conclusion: The mechanism of SMAP therapy is related to regulating the expression of peripheral inflammatory factors and metabolic pathways.