Study on influencing parameters and long-term operation of electrocoagulation phosphorus removal from small rural domestic sewage.

Excessive discharge of phosphorus can produce eutrophication in aquatic environments, damaging public health, the living environment, and the economy. The conventional mechanical-biological phosphorus removal methods are not suitable for small rural domestic sewage due to the features of small scale, scattered distribution, intermittent emission, and large fluctuation. This work evaluated electrocoagulation (EC) with industrial steel as electrodes on small rural domestic sewage. Results showed that the best performance was achieved at a current density of 1 mA/cm2, electrode distance of 2 cm, electrode number of 2, pH of 7, and Hydraulic Retention Time of 30 min, respectively. Under optimum conditions, the EC process removed 93.91% phosphorus while consuming around 0.25 kWh/m3 of electricity. In addition, the electrode passivation of EC was further investigated; the long-term research found that the phosphorus removal efficiency only decreased by 4.34% after 10 days of continuous flow operation, and the operational energy consumption was 0.07 kWh/m3 at a Cl- concentration of 500 mg/L.

Nonuniform Correction of Ground-Based Optical Telescope Image Based on Conditional Generative Adversarial Network.

Ground-based telescopes are often affected by vignetting, stray light and detector nonuniformity when acquiring space images. This paper presents a space image nonuniform correction method using the conditional generative adversarial network (CGAN). Firstly, we create a dataset for training by introducing the physical vignetting model and by designing the simulation polynomial to realize the nonuniform background. Secondly, we develop a robust conditional generative adversarial network (CGAN) for learning the nonuniform background, in which we improve the network structure of the generator. The experimental results include a simulated dataset and authentic space images. The proposed method can effectively remove the nonuniform background of space images, achieve the Mean Square Error (MSE) of 4.56 in the simulation dataset, and improve the target's signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) by 43.87% in the real image correction.

Effect of online aerobic exercise training in patients with bipolar depression: Protocol of a randomized clinical trial.

Introduction: Bipolar disorder (BD) is a common and debilitating mental illness that affects about 400 million people worldwide, decreasing their functionality and quality of life. Medication and psychotherapy are recommended for treatment of BD, while some evidence indicates that exercise could improve the clinical outcome of BD. This study aims to investigate whether exercise intervention could reduce the mood symptoms and inflammation level of BD. Methods: This is a longitudinal, interventional, randomized, and single-blind trial. We plan to recruit 94 patients diagnosed with BD in depression episode. Patients will be randomly assigned to treatment as usual + aerobic exercise group (intervention group) and treatment as usual (TAU) only group, at a ratio of 1:1. The intervention group will undergo 40-min aerobic exercise training twice a week for eight weeks. The primary outcome of this study is the mean change of Hamilton Depression Rating Scale 17 (HAMD 17) scores from baseline to week 8. The Young Manic Rating Scale (YMRS), Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS), and Interleukin-6 (IL-6), Tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and C-reactive protein (CRP) levels will also be measured. The measurements will be performed at baseline, immediately after intervention and two months after intervention. Discussion: Aerobic exercise training + treatment is expected to bring more benefits to BD patients than TAU only. This trial might provide stronger evidence of physical exercise efficacy for BD treatment. Clinical trial registration: This study was approved by the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (Registration Code: ChiCTR2200057159). Registered on 1 March 2022.

The study of Raddeanin A cerebrovascular endothelial cell trafficking through P-glycoprotein.

As one of the natural triterpenoids isolated from Anemone Raddeana Regel, Raddeanin A (RA) has been confirmed to possess therapeutic effects against multiple tumorigeneses, especially for the onset of glioblastoma and growth in human brains. However, the mechanism by which this happens remains poorly understood in terms of the vascular endothelium trafficking routine of RA through the brain-blood barrier (BBB). To seek such answers, human brain microenvironment endothelial cells (HBMECs) were used to stimulate the microenvironment in vitro, and to explore the intracellular accumulation of RA. The results of this experiment illustrated that RA has a relative moderate transport affinity for such cells. The kinetic parameter Km was 37.01 ± 2.116 µM and Vmax was 9.412 ± 0.1375 nM/min/mg of protein. Interestingly, protein downregulation of P-glycoprotein (P-gp, ABCB1/MDR1) significantly activated RA transmembrane activity, which proves that P-gp is responsible for RA cellular trafficking. In addition, the selective non-specific inhibitor, LY335979 increased either RA or the classical substrate of P-gp, digoxin, intracellular accumulation by restricting the transporter's function but without jeopardizing cytomembrane proteins. Moreover, a decrease in the expression or activity of P-gp triggered RA drug resistance to HBMECs. In summary, our data showed that both the expression and function of P-gp are all necessary for RA transmembrane trafficking through cerebrovascular endothelial cells. This study provides significant evidence for the presence of a connection between RA transport and P-gp variation during drug BBB penetration. It is also suggesting some vital guidance on the RA pharmacodynamic effect in human brains.

Antifrosting Performance of a Superhydrophobic Surface by Optimizing the Surface Morphology.

Improving the antifrosting ability of stainless steel is crucial. In previous reports, many efforts have been dedicated to enhancing the antifrosting performance of superhydrophobic surface by fabricating different surface morphology. However, no researchers have proposed what kind of surface morphology can effectively prevent the frost based on the theory of superhydrophobic surfaces. In this article, we build a simulation model to study the effects of different surface morphology on antifrosting based on the Cassie model. We find that the higher the proportion of air between the droplet and the substrate, the better the antifrosting performance of the superhydrophobic surface. Therefore, we propose one superhydrophobic surface (denoted as sample #R) fabricated by selective growth. It can contain more air between the droplet and the surface. Further frosting experiments at a low temperature of -21 °C and a humidity of 75% show that 15% frost coverage on sample #R can be delayed to 63 h, as compared to less than 3 h for untreated stainless steel. In addition, the preparation method is generally applicable to other metals. Therefore, this work provides new insights into the rational design of a superhydrophobic surface with antifrosting in a harsh environment.

Selective synthesis of 3-deoxy-5-hydroxy-1-amino-carbasugars as potential α-glucosidase inhibitors.

A convenient synthesis of novel 3-deoxy-5-hydroxy-1-aminocarbasugars was developed here. The benzyl-protected glucose-derived ketone 12 was selectively converted in high yield to enone 13via retro-Michael elimination of BnOH. The double bond of 13 was regio- and stereo-selectively reduced by the induction of C4-α-OBn to the multi-functionalized 15. 15 contained all the functionalities with similar configurations to carbasugars but with 3-H and 5-OH in the ring, and it would be a very interesting building block for organic synthesis or for bioactive compounds. As one application, 15 was further transformed into 1-amino-carbasugars by the reductive amination and final deprotection of benzyls. The targets were subjected to the in vitro inhibitory activity test against sucrase or maltase. The inhibitory activity of 17b, 17h or 17j against sucrase was nearly similar to that of voglibose. In comparison with voglibose, in vivo results similarly showed that 17b, 17h or 17j could lower the post-prandial blood glucose level after sucrose loading in healthy male ICR mice, while miglitol or acarbose was less effective. The molecular modeling study of some targets or voglibose with human sucrase could explain the inhibiting action.

Role of Metabolic Activation in 8-Epidiosbulbin E Acetate-Induced Liver Injury: Mechanism of Action of the Hepatotoxic Furanoid.

8-Epidiosbulbin E acetate (EEA), a furanoid, was unexpectedly found to be the most abundant diterpenoid lactone in certain varieties of Dioscorea bulbifera L. (DB), a traditional herbal medicine widely used in Asian nations. This herb has been reported to cause liver injury in humans and experimental animals. The occurrence of EEA in DB was dependent on its commercial source. The present study shows that EEA exhibits time- and dose-dependent liver injury in mice. Pretreatment with ketoconazole prevented the animals from developing EEA-induced liver injury, caused 7- and 13-fold increases in the plasma Cmax and AUC of EEA, and decreased urinary excretion of glutathione conjugates derived from EEA. Pretreatment with buthionine sulfoximine exacerbated EEA-induced hepatotoxicity. In order to define the role of EEA's furan moiety in EEA-induced hepatotoxicity, we synthesized tetrahydro-EEA by catalytic hydrogenation of the furan moiety. No liver injury was observed in the animals given the same doses of tetrahydro-EEA as those used with EAA. The results indicate that EEA itself does not appear to be hepatotoxic but that the electrophilic intermediate generated by the metabolic activation of the furan ring mediated by cytochromes P450 is responsible for EEA-induced liver injury.

[The impact of human serum immunoglobulin treatment of refractory immune thrombocytopenic purpura. Analysis].

AIM: To observe the impact of human serum immunoglobulin treatment of refractory immune thrombocytopenic purpura in clinical efficacy. METHODS: 220 patients met the diagnostic criteria of refractory immune thrombocytopenic purpura, patients were randomly divided into treatment group and control group, 110 patients in each group. Groups were given prednisolone tablets 1 mg/ (kg x d), 2 times/d, oral, taking for 2 weeks, and than gradually reducing, the maintenance to be suspended; all-trans retinoic acid, each 10 mg, 3 times a day, oral. On this basis, the treatment group increases the employing blood immunoglobulin 400 mg/ (kg x d) infusion qd for 7 days. The two groups are 4 weeks for the course of treatment, a therapeutic effect after treatment. RESULTS: The total effective treatment group and control group were 94.56%, 80.91%, statistically significant differences between two groups (P < 0.05). Treatment serum IL-2, IFN-gamma, IL-4, IL-10, TGF-beta1, significant differences compared to other indicators (p < 0.05). Platelet counts after treatment, the rates of increase, effective hemostasis time of the treatment group compared with the control group, significant difference (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: The impact of human serum immunoglobulin treatment of refractory immune thrombocytopenic purpura significantly shorten the bleeding time, platelet and platelet rise-time return to normal time.