Adsorption removal of mercury from flue gas by metal selenide: A review.

Mercury (Hg) pollution has been a global concern in recent decades, posing a significant threat to entire ecosystems and human health due to its cumulative toxicity, persistence, and transport in the atmosphere. The intense interaction between mercury and selenium has opened up a new field for studying mercury removal from industrial flue gas pollutants. Besides the advantages of good Hg° capture performance and low secondary pollution of the mineral selenium compounds, the most noteworthy is the relatively low regeneration temperature, allowing adsorbent regeneration with low energy consumption, thus reducing the utilization cost and enabling recovery of mercury resources. This paper reviews the recent progress of mineral selenium compounds in flue gas mercury removal, introduces in detail the different types of mineral selenium compounds studied in the field of mercury removal, reviews the adsorption performance of various mineral selenium compounds adsorbents on mercury and the influence of flue gas components, such as reaction temperature, air velocity, and other factors, and summarizes the adsorption mechanism of different fugitive forms of selenium species. Based on the current research progress, future studies should focus on the economic performance and the performance of different carriers and sizes of adsorbents for the removal of Hg0 and the correlation between the gas-particle flow characteristics and gas phase mass transfer with the performance of Hg0 removal in practical industrial applications. In addition, it remains a challenge to distinguish the oxidation and adsorption of Hg0 quantitatively.

A comprehensive review of deactivation and modification of selective catalytic reaction catalysts installed in cement kilns.

After the ultralow emission transformation of coal-fired power plants, cement production became China's leading industrial emission source of nitrogen oxides. Flue gas dust contents at the outlet of cement kiln preheaters were as high as 80-100 g/m3, and the calcium oxide content in the dust exceeded 60%. Commercial V2O5(-WO3)/TiO2 catalysts suitable for coal-fired flue gas suffer from alkaline earth metal Ca poisoning of cement kiln flue gas. Recent studies have also identified the poisoning of cement kiln selective catalytic reaction (SCR) catalysts by the heavy metals lead and thallium. Investigation of the poisoning process is the primary basis for analyzing the catalytic lifetime. This review summarizes and analyzes the SCR catalytic mechanism and chronicles the research progress concerning this poisoning mechanism. Based on the catalytic and toxification mechanisms, it can be inferred that improving the anti-poisoning performance of a catalyst enhances its acidity, surface redox performance-active catalytic sites, and shell layer protection. The data provide support in guiding engineering practice and reducing operating costs of SCR plants. Finally, future research directions for SCR denitrification catalysts in the cement industry are discussed. This study provides critical support for the development and optimization of poisoning-resistant SCR denitrification catalysts.

Therapeutic Drug Monitoring for Sirolimus in Children with Vascular Anomalies: What Can We Learn from a Retrospective Study.

Objectives: Sirolimus (SRL), a mammalian target of rapamycin inhibitor, has been widely used to treat patients with vascular anomalies (VAs). The objectives of this study were to summarize the routine blood SRL monitoring data for VAs children, to investigate the factors contributing to the variable blood SRL concentrations and to evaluate the efficacy and safety of SRL therapy. Methods: VAs patients with routine blood SRL monitoring from July 2017 to April 2022 at the Department of Burns and Plastic Surgery, Children's Hospital of Nanjing Medical University were retrospectively collected. Clinical data were obtained from the hospital information system. Results: In total, 67 children (35 females) were enrolled. The therapeutic drug monitoring data showed that the range of measured blood trough concentrations (Ctrough) was 3.6-46.8 ng/mL. At the initial measurements, only 33% of patients were in the target concentration range (10-15 ng/mL). But this proportion became 54% at the last measurements. The whole blood-Ctrough-to-daily dose (Ctrough/Dose) ratio was significantly associated with age and body weight (BW). The patients' laboratory results did not change significantly after SRL treatment. Although the incidence of adverse events was relatively high (44.8%), most of them were mild and tolerable. 70.3% patients had total responses to SRL, whereas 29.7% children exhibited stable disease or progressive disease. No significant differences were found in Ctrough between the total response group and non-response group. Conclusions: This retrospective study revealed a high variability in SRL blood concentrations in Chinese children with VAs. Of note, pediatric patients with older age and a higher BW had a lower Ctrough/Dose ratio. It is a concern whether the range of 10-15 ng/mL is feasible for Chinese children based only on our study. Further studies recruiting more patients are required to redefine the target reference range for children with VAs.

Population pharmacokinetic study in children with vascular anomalies: body weight as a key variable in predicting the initial dose and dosing frequency of sirolimus.

Background: The main challenges faced when using sirolimus in children with vascular anomalies (VAs) still include significant pharmacokinetic (PK) variability, uncertainty in the target concentration range, as well as inconsistencies in initial dosing and dosing frequency. The aim of this study is to establish a new population pharmacokinetic (PPK) model for children with VAs to guide the individualized use of sirolimus. Methods: A PPK study was performed using data from children with VAs who received sirolimus between July 2017 and April 2022. A nonlinear mixed-effect modeling with a one-compartment model structure was applied. Monte Carlo simulation was employed to propose specific dosing recommendations to achieve the target trough concentrations (C trough) of 5-15 ng/mL. Results: In total, 134 blood concentrations from 49 pediatric patients were used to characterize the sirolimus pharmacokinetics. Covariate analysis identified body weight (BW) as a significant factor affecting clearance (CL) in the final PPK model. The typical clearance rate and distribution volume, standardized to a BW of 16 kg, were 4.06 L/h (4% relative standard error, RSE) and 155 L (26% RSE), respectively. Optimal dosing regimens were simulated for different BWs. For a twice-daily regimen, the recommended doses were 0.05, 0.06, 0.07, and 0.08 mg/kg/day for BW of <10, 10-20, 20-40, and ≥40 kg, respectively; for a once-daily regimen, the recommended doses were 0.06, 0.07, 0.08, and 0.09 mg/kg/day for BW of <10, 10-30, 30-50, and ≥50 kg, respectively. Notably, sirolimus C trough could be maintained between 5-15 ng/mL across various dosing frequencies based on the recommended dosing regimen. Conclusion: We established a PPK model of sirolimus for children with VAs and proposed an initial dosing strategy. Integrating initial dose and medication frequency recommendations into sirolimus' guidelines will broaden its clinical options and simplify the clinical management for childhood VAs.

TCRosetta: An Integrated Analysis and Annotation Platform for T-cell Receptor Sequences.

T cells and T-cell receptors (TCRs) are essential components of the adaptive immune system. Characterization of the TCR repertoire offers a promising and highly informative source for understanding the functions of T cells in the immune response and immunotherapy. Although TCR repertoire studies have attracted much attention, there are few online servers available for TCR repertoire analysis, especially for TCR sequence annotation or advanced analyses. Therefore, we developed TCRosetta, a comprehensive online server that integrates analytical methods for TCR repertoire analysis and visualization. TCRosetta combines general feature analysis, large-scale sequence clustering, network construction, peptide-TCR binding prediction, generation probability calculation, and k-mer motif analysis for TCR sequences, making TCR data analysis as simple as possible. The TCRosetta server accepts multiple input data formats and can analyze ∼ 20,000 TCR sequences in less than 3 min. TCRosetta is the most comprehensive web server available for TCR repertoire analysis and is freely available at https://guolab.wchscu.cn/TCRosetta/.

A GDSL motif-containing lipase modulates Sclerotinia sclerotiorum resistance in Brassica napus.

Sclerotinia stem rot (SSR) caused by Sclerotinia sclerotiorum (Lib.) De Bary is a devastating disease infecting hundreds of plant species. It also restricts the yield, quality, and safe production of rapeseed (Brassica napus) worldwide. However, the lack of resistance sources and genes to S. sclerotiorum has greatly restricted rapeseed SSR-resistance breeding. In this study, a previously identified GDSL motif-containing lipase gene, Brassica napus GDSL LIPASE-LIKE 1 (BnaC07.GLIP1), encoding a protein localized to the intercellular space, was characterized as functioning in plant immunity to S. sclerotiorum. The BnaC07.GLIP1 promoter is S. sclerotiorum-inducible and the expression of BnaC07.GLIP1 is substantially enhanced after S. sclerotiorum infection. Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) heterologously expressing and rapeseed lines overexpressing BnaC07.GLIP1 showed enhanced resistance to S. sclerotiorum, whereas RNAi suppression and CRISPR/Cas9 knockout B. napus lines were hyper-susceptible to S. sclerotiorum. Moreover, BnaC07.GLIP1 affected the lipid composition and induced the production of phospholipid molecules, such as phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidic acid, which were correlated with decreased levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and enhanced expression of defense-related genes. A B. napus bZIP44 transcription factor specifically binds the CGTCA motif of the BnaC07.GLIP1 promoter to positively regulate its expression. BnbZIP44 responded to S. sclerotiorum infection, and its heterologous expression inhibited ROS accumulation, thereby enhancing S. sclerotiorum resistance in Arabidopsis. Thus, BnaC07.GLIP1 functions downstream of BnbZIP44 and is involved in S. sclerotiorum resistance by modulating the production of phospholipid molecules and ROS homeostasis in B. napus, providing insights into the potential roles and functional mechanisms of BnaC07.GLIP1 in plant immunity and for improving rapeseed SSR disease-resistance breeding.

Advances in the sources, chemical behaviour, and whole process distribution of Hg, As, and Pb in the iron and steel smelting industry.

The Chinese iron and steel industry, with its large production volume and reliance on coal-dominated energy structures and blast furnace/basic oxygen furnace processes, is a significant contributor to heavy metals (HMs) emissions and a potential threat to the environment and human health. This study systematically reviews the sources, chemical behaviour transformations, and whole process distribution of mercury (Hg), arsenic (As), and lead (Pb) throughout iron and steel smelting processes. Coal and iron ore were the major input sources of the three HMs. The chemical transformations of HMs are closely related to temperature changes. During combustion, HMs volatilise, condense in the scrubbing system, and remain gaseous or are removed as products/by-products during flue gas treatment. Sintering was identified as the primary emission source of Hg, accounting for 36.79 % of the total process emissions, with an average emission factor of 108.36 mg/t-CS. The blast furnace process is the main emission source for As and Pb, contributing 75.19 % and 59.10 % of total process emissions, respectively, with average emission factors of 43.82 mg/t-CS for As and 231.16 mg/t-CS for Pb. Throughout the iron and steel smelting process, Hg is primarily released as dust ash and desulfurisation by-products (33.30-76.91 %). As mainly remains in hot rolled steel products (57.60-75.04 %). Meanwhile Pb forms a recycling loop between the sintering and basic oxygen furnace processes, with some Pb being released as blast furnace slag (11.41-79.22 %). The results of this study can provide a scientific basis for the development of future HMs reduction technologies and control strategies. More attentions should be paid to HMs in wastes from the whole process of iron and steel smelting in future policy making.

WTAP weakens oxaliplatin chemosensitivity of colorectal cancer by preventing PANoptosis.

As the most abundant post-transcriptional modification in eukaryotes, N6-methyladenosine (m6A) plays a crucial role in cancer cell proliferation, invasion and chemoresistance. However, its specific effects on chemosensitivity to oxaliplatin-based regimens and the impact of these drugs on m6A methylation levels in colorectal cancer (CRC) remain largely unexplored. In this study, we demonstrated that the m6A methyltransferase Wilms tumor 1-associating protein (WTAP) weakens oxaliplatin chemosensitivity in HCT116 and DLD1 cells. Mechanistically, oxaliplatin treatment upregulated WTAP expression, preventing multiple forms of cell death simultaneously, a process known as PANoptosis, by decreasing intracellular oxidative stress through maintaining the expression of nuclear factor erythroid-2-related factor 2 (NRF2), a major antioxidant response element, in an m6A-dependent manner. In addition, high WTAP expression in CRC patients is associated with a poor prognosis and reduced benefit from standard chemotherapy by clinical data analysis of The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database and patient cohort study. These findings suggest that targeting WTAP-NRF2-PANoptosis axis could enhance the antitumor efficacy of oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy in CRC treatment.

Study on the metabolism of Xiao-Jian-Zhong-Tang in rats with chronic atrophic gastritis coupled with bioinformatics.

Xiao-Jian-Zhong-Tang (XJZT) has the effect of warming the middle and tonifying the deficiency, easing the urgency and relieving pain according to the theory of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), and is able to treat spleen deficiency type chronic atrophic gastritis (CAG). Metabolites of TCM in cecum contents are common metabolites of intestinal bacteria and hosts, which can reflect the metabolic status in disease states. The present work was performed to study the effect of XJZT against CAG coupled with the cecal metabolites analysis and bioinformatics. A total of nine prototypical components and 144 metabolites were firstly identified in the cecum metabolites of XJZT using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography added to the quadrupole-time of flight mass spectrometry (UHPLC-Q-TOF/MS), which underwent the metabolism of oxidation, reduction, methylation, and glucuronic acid reaction Furthermore, different prototypical compounds might metabolize into identical metabolites in the presence of intestinal flora. Bioinformatics was further used to correlate these metabolites with the disease and intestinal flora. Components and targets were screened by Cytoscape, and molecular docking of key targets and core components showed good binding ability. This study provided important information for exploring the mechanism of TCM formulae.

Changes of regional brain activity following Tuina therapy for patients with painful cervical spondylosis: a resting-state fMRI study.

Background: The effectiveness of Tuina therapy has been confirmed in treating pain of patients with cervical spondylosis (CS), however, its therapeutic mechanism is still unclear. This study aimed to observe the changes of regional brain activity following Tuina therapy in patients with painful CS based on resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) data. Methods: A total of 27 patients with CS and 27 healthy subjects (HCs) were enrolled in this study. All patients received Tuina therapy every 2 days for 2 weeks. The clinical manifestations of patients were evaluated by the Visual Analog Scale (VAS) and Neck Disability Index (NDI) before and after treatment. In addition, rs-fMRI data were collected and preprocessed in all patients before and after treatment, as well as HCs. HCs underwent a 1-time rs-fMRI scan, whereas CS patients underwent 2-times of rs-fMRI scan. The measure of regional homogeneity (ReHo) was calculated and compared between groups. Finally, relationships between altered brain regions and clinical characteristics were evaluated by Pearson's correlation analysis. Results: After Tuina therapy, VAS and NDI scores of patients decreased. Before treatment, CS patients showed higher ReHo values in the left middle temporal gyrus, left thalamus, right anterior and posterior cingulate gyrus, left inferior parietal gyrus and lower ReHo values in the right gyrus rectus when compared with HCs. After treatment, CS patients exhibited higher ReHo values in the left inferior temporal gyrus, right anterior and posterior cingulate gyrus, left inferior parietal gyrus and lower ReHo values in the right rectus gyrus when compared with HCs. CS patients after treatment demonstrated higher ReHo values in the left inferior occipital gyrus when compared with those before treatment. Positive correlations were found between ReHo values of the right rectus gyrus and VAS, NDI scores in CS patients before treatment. Differences of VAS scores between before and after treatment were negatively correlated with ReHo values of the left inferior temporal gyrus in CS patients after treatment. Conclusion: This study demonstrated the presence of asynchronous activity in certain brain regions in CS patients, which might be associated with pain and cervical spine dysfunction. Tuina therapy might modulate asynchronous activity of abnormal brain regions, which might contribute to the effectiveness of Tuina therapy in alleviating pain and cervical spine dysfunction in CS patients.

HNF4α improves hepatocyte regeneration by upregulating PXR.

Hepatocyte nuclear factor 4 alpha (HNF4α) and the pregnane X receptor (PXR) are involved in hepatocyte regeneration. It is not clear whether HNF4α is involved in hepatocyte regeneration through the regulation of PXR. This study aims to explore the regulatory relationship between HNF4a and PXR, and whether it affects hepatocyte regeneration. A mouse PXR gene reporter and an HNF4α overexpression plasmid were constructed and transfected into mouse hepatoma cells (Hepa1-6). Overexpression of HNF4α, detection of the PXR gene reporter fluorescence value, PXR gene, and protein expression analysis were conducted to explore the regulatory relationship between HNF4α and PXR. Apoptosis and cell cycle data were measured to verify whether HNF4α is involved in hepatocyte regeneration through PXR. The luciferase gene reporter assay results indicated when HNF4α was overexpressed, the fluorescence value of the PXR gene reporter was higher than that in the control at 24 h. With increasing HNF4α expression, the PXR gene and protein expression increased, indicating that HNF4α binds to the PXR promoter and upregulates PXR expression. Apoptosis and cell cycle analysis results demonstrated that when the expression of HNF4α increased, the expression of PXR increased, the apoptosis rate decreased, and the proliferation rate increased. Meanwhile, when the upward trend of PXR gene expression was inhibited by ketoconazole, the proliferation rate decreased. By inhibiting HNF4α and creating a partial hepatectomy (PHx), we demonstrated that HNF4α can upregulate PXR to promote liver regeneration in vivo. Therefore, HNF4α is shown to improve hepatocyte regeneration by upregulating PXR, which provides a reference for future research on the combined application of drugs for the treatment of liver injury.

Strain sensor on a chip for quantifying the magnitudes of tensile stress on cells.

During cardiac development, mechanotransduction from the in vivo microenvironment modulates cardiomyocyte growth in terms of the number, area, and arrangement heterogeneity. However, the response of cells to different degrees of mechanical stimuli is unclear. Organ-on-a-chip, as a platform for investigating mechanical stress stimuli in cellular mimicry of the in vivo microenvironment, is limited by the lack of ability to accurately quantify externally induced stimuli. However, previous technology lacks the integration of external stimuli and feedback sensors in microfluidic platforms to obtain and apply precise amounts of external stimuli. Here, we designed a cell stretching platform with an in-situ sensor. The in-situ liquid metal sensors can accurately measure the mechanical stimulation caused by the deformation of the vacuum cavity exerted on cells. The platform was applied to human cardiomyocytes (AC16) under cyclic strain (5%, 10%, 15%, 20 and 25%), and we found that cyclic strain promoted cell growth induced the arrangement of cells on the membrane to gradually unify, and stabilized the cells at 15% amplitude, which was even more effective after 3 days of culture. The platform's precise control and measurement of mechanical forces can be used to establish more accurate in vitro microenvironmental models for disease modeling and therapeutic research.

Glucocorticoids promote joint microenvironment alteration of GABBR1 expression associated with mitigating rheumatoid arthritis.

GABBR1 receptors have been implicated in the progression of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and p38 MAP kinase (MAPK) was shown to be downregulated by GABA and result in unchecked production of pro-inflammatory cytokine. GABBR1 is a member of GABA receptors, and it is known to be upregulated and plays a vital role in RA. Glucocorticoids are efficient therapeutics in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and are known to regulate GABA actions; therefore, we intended to investigate the potential of glucocorticoids in RA concerning the potential pathway GABBR1/MAPK. Joint specimens were obtained from collagen-induced arthritis mouse model. A double-blind semi-quantitative analysis of vascularity, cell infiltration, as well as lining thickness by help of a 4-point scale setting was used to assess joint inflammation. Expression of GABBR1 and p38 was evaluated immunohistochemically. In vitro peripheral blood (PB), synovial fluid (SF), and mononuclear cells (MCs) were acquired from RA mice. Western blotting was used for detecting expression of GABBR1 and p38 proteins. The presence of high levels of GABBR1 and p38 was prevalent in RA joints relative to healthy joints and related to the inflammation level. Glucocorticoid treatment alters GABBR1 along with p38 protein expression in joints while reducing joint inflammation. Ex vivo and in vitro assays revealed glucocorticoids have a direct impact on p38, such as the decreased GABBR1 expression level after dexamethasone incubation with SFMC. GABBR1 together with p38 expression in RA joints depends on local inflammation and can be targeted by glucocorticoids.

Non-negligible environmental risks of typical hazardous trace elements in wastes from Chinese coal-fired industrial boilers.

Coal-fired industrial boilers (CFIBs) that provide heat for industrial production operate to produce large quantities of wastes containing hazardous trace elements (HTEs), threatening the quality of the environment. Based on the established facility-level material flow inventory of five typical HTEs (Hg, As, Cd, Cr, and Pb) of Chinese CFIBs in 2020, we explored the enrichment characteristics and environmental risks of HTEs in wastes at the regional scale from the perspective of substance flow and enrichment levels. Results showed that the shares of HTEs entering the waste stream were 2.2-16.8 % higher in the focus regions of continuous improvement of air quality compared to the non-focus regions, explained by the higher synergistic control efficiencies of their air pollution control facilities (ACPFs), at 86.6-90.4 % (Hg), 98.6-99.1 % (As), 95.1-95.9 % (Cd), 93.2-94.8 % (Cr), and 97.1-98.0 % (Pb), respectively. In addition, the national averages of HTEs in slag, fly ash, and flue gas desulphurisation (FGD) were simulated to be 0.15-0.87 g/t, 3.25-18.44 g/t, 0.30-0.96 g/t, 19.76-70.11 g/t, and 15.85-73.74 for Hg, As, Cd, Cr, and Pb, respectively. Nationally, the integrated environmental risks of the five HTEs in slag, fly ash, and FGD residue exhibited Considerable, Very High, and Very High level of environmental risk, with the cumulative environmental risk indexes of 171, 317, and 281, respectively. Hg and Cd were the major contributors to the environmental risks of slag, fly ash, and FGD residue, with environmental risk contributions ranging from 23.8 to 82.3 % and 16.0 to 66.1 %, respectively. Results can provide data support for modelling the environmental release of HTEs from wastes and formulating control strategies for environmental management agencies.

Bilateral axillo-breast approach robotic thyroglossal duct cyst resection in an adolescent: a case report and literature review.

Background: Thyroglossal duct cyst (TGDC) is a common congenital neck mass that is the most frequent cause of neck swelling in children. The traditional open Sistrunk procedure for TGDC often leaves a visible scar on the neck. Therefore, it is essential to consider the impact of neck scarring on the quality of life for children and adolescents. Our study aimed to assess the safety and efficacy of robotic TGDC resection using the bilateral axillo-breast approach (BABA) in adolescents. Case Description: A 16-year-old female patient presented with a neck mass (no pain or redness) that had been present for 3 years. The palpable neck mass moved with swallowing and there was no history of other significant medical conditions. An ultrasound scan of the neck indicated a weak hypoechoic area in the thyrohyoid region measuring 29 mm × 20 mm. Additionally, the ultrasonography of the thyroid gland showed no obvious abnormalities. A computer tomography (CT) scan confirmed a low-density lesion on the right hyoid bone, measuring 27 mm × 18 mm × 26 mm, consistent with a TGDC. We successfully performed a BABA robotic TGDC resection on the 16-year-old female adolescent who had a strong desire for scar-free surgery. Conclusions: BABA robotic TGDC resection could achieve the same surgical effect as conventional open surgery while providing better cosmetic outcomes, which are essential for the physical and mental well-being of teenagers. Therefore, BABA robotic TGDC resection may be a safe and feasible treatment option with excellent cosmetic results in adolescents.

[Highly polar chemical constituents from whole herb of Scindapsus officinalis].

Macroporous resin column chromatography, MCI medium pressure column chromatography, and semi-preparative high performance liquid chromatography were employed to isolate the chemical components from the aqueous extract of the whole herb of Scindapsus officinalis. The structures of the compounds were identified based on the physical and chemical properties and the spectroscopic data. Ten compounds were isolated from the aqueous extract and identified as 3,4-dihydroxyphenylethyl-8-O-[ß-D-apiofuranosyl-(1→4)]-ß-D-glucopyranoside(1), alternamide B(2), 3,4-dihydroxyphenylethyl-O-ß-D-glucopyranoside(3), 1-(4-hydroxy)-phenylethyl-ß-D-galactopyranoside(4), 3,4-dihydroxyphenylethyl-8-O-[ß-D-apiofuranosyl-(1→2)]-ß-D-glucopyranoside(5), hydroxytyrosol-4-O-ß-D-glucopyranoside(6), 3,5-dihydroxyphenylethyl-3-O-ß-D-glucopyranoside(7), salidroside(8), dihydroisoquinolone(9), and 4-methoxybenzenepropanol-3-O-ß-D-glucopyranoside(10). Among them, compound 1 was a new one, and compounds 2-10 were obtained from S. officinalis for the first time. The RAW264.7 cells were exposed to lipopolysaccharide for the mode-ling of inflammation, and the cells were then used to examine anti-inflammatory activities of the compounds. The results showed that compounds 6 and 7 had strong anti-inflammatory activities, while compounds 1, 2, and 5 had moderate anti-inflammatory activities.

Selenium-modified activated coke: a high-capacity and facile designed Hg0 adsorbent for coal-fired flue gas.

The substantial amount of mercury emissions from coal-fired flue gas causes severe environmental contamination. With the Minamata Convention now officially in force, it is critical to strengthen mercury pollution control. Existing activated carbon injection technologies suffer from poor desulfurization performance and risk secondary-release risks. Therefore, considering the potential industrial application of adsorbents, we selected cost-effective and readily available activated coke (AC) as the carrier in this study. Four metal selenides-copper, iron, manganese, and tin-were loaded onto the AC to overcome the application problems of existing technologies. After 120 min of adsorption, the CuSe/AC exhibited the highest efficiency in removing Hg0, surpassing 80% according to the experimental findings. In addition, the optimal adsorption temperature window was 30-120 °C, the maximum adsorption rate was 2.9 × 10-2 mg·g-1·h-1, and the effectiveness of CuSe/AC in capturing Hg0 only dropped by 5.2% in the sulfur-containing atmosphere. The physicochemical characterization results indicated that the AC surface had a uniform loading of CuSe with a nanosheet structure resembling polygon and that the Cu-to-Se atomic ratio was close to 1:1. Finally, two possible Hg0 reaction pathways on CuSe/AC were proposed. Moreover, it was elucidated that the highly selective binding of Hg0 with ligand-unsaturated Se- was the key factor in achieving high adsorption efficiency and sulfur resistance in the selenium-functionalized AC adsorbent. This finding offers substantial theoretical support for the industrial application of this adsorbent.

Multi-Task Foreground-Aware Network with Depth Completion for Enhanced RGB-D Fusion Object Detection Based on Transformer.

Fusing multiple sensor perceptions, specifically LiDAR and camera, is a prevalent method for target recognition in autonomous driving systems. Traditional object detection algorithms are limited by the sparse nature of LiDAR point clouds, resulting in poor fusion performance, especially for detecting small and distant targets. In this paper, a multi-task parallel neural network based on the Transformer is constructed to simultaneously perform depth completion and object detection. The loss functions are redesigned to reduce environmental noise in depth completion, and a new fusion module is designed to enhance the network's perception of the foreground and background. The network leverages the correlation between RGB pixels for depth completion, completing the LiDAR point cloud and addressing the mismatch between sparse LiDAR features and dense pixel features. Subsequently, we extract depth map features and effectively fuse them with RGB features, fully utilizing the depth feature differences between foreground and background to enhance object detection performance, especially for challenging targets. Compared to the baseline network, improvements of 4.78%, 8.93%, and 15.54% are achieved in the difficult indicators for cars, pedestrians, and cyclists, respectively. Experimental results also demonstrate that the network achieves a speed of 38 fps, validating the efficiency and feasibility of the proposed method.

Golgi apparatus-targeting fluorescent probe for the imaging of superoxide anion (O2•-) in living cells during ferroptosis.

Ferroptosis is an emerging iron-dependent oxidative cell death type, and recently has been demonstrated to show close relation with Golgi apparatus (GA). Exploring the fluctuation of superoxide anion (O2•-) level in GA during ferroptosis is of great significance to profoundly study the biological functions of GA in ferroptosis. Here, we present a GA-targeting probe (N-GA) to monitor cellular O2•- during ferroptosis. N-GA employed a triflate group and a tetradecanoic amide unit as the recognition site for O2•- and GA-targeting unit, respectively. After the response of N-GA to O2•-, the triflate unit of N-GA converted into hydroxyl group with strong electron-donating ability, generating bright green fluorescence under UV light. N-GA exhibited excellent sensitivity and selectivity towards O2•-. Fluorescence imaging results showed that N-GA could be applied as a GA-targeting probe to monitor cellular O2•-. The stimulation of cells with PMA and rotenone could result in the massive generation of endogenous O2•- in GA. Erastin-induced ferroptosis can markedly induce the increase of O2•- level in GA. Similar to Fer-1 and DFO, dihydrolipoic acid (DHLA) and rutin were demonstrated to inhibit the enormous production of O2•- in GA of the living cells during ferroptosis.

Development of a turn-on fluorescent probe for the imaging of intracellular hypochlorous acid (HClO) during ferroptosis.

Ferroptosis is a burgeoning iron-dependent cell death form, and has close relation with hypochlorous acid (HClO). Exploring the fluctuation of the HClO level in living cells during ferroptosis could contribute to the profound study of the biological functions of HClO during ferroptosis. Here, we present a turn-on probe (RH-C) for the imaging of intracellular HClO during ferroptosis. The probe RH-C utilized the N,N-dimethylthiocarbamate group as a selective recognition site for HClO, and displayed desirable sensitivity and selectivity to HClO. The probe RH-C could detect the exogenous and endogenous HClO in living cells. Furthermore, RH-C was competent in monitoring the changes of endogenous HClO level during the process of ferroptosis. Biological imaging results suggested that erastin-induced ferroptosis can result in the excessive production of the endogenous HClO, and ferrostatin-1 (Fer-1) and vitamin E (VE) could block the massive accumulation of HClO in living cells.