Study on the ability of indoor plants to absorb and purify benzene pollution.

The ability of indoor plants to purify benzene pollution is the basic basis for the selection of plants for ecological remediation of indoor benzene pollution. In this study, the purification rate and the purification amount per unit leaf area of 13 test plants at three benzene concentrations were determined by indoor fumigation experiments, and the benzene absorption and purification abilityability of indoor plants were comprehensively evaluated. The results showed that (1) there was a significant correlation between benzene concentration and purification rate and purification amount per unit leaf area. (2) At the three concentrations, Spathiphyllum floribundum showed the highest purification rate and Sansevieria trifasciata var. laurentii showed the highest purification per unit leaf area. (3) The combined results showed that Sansevieria trifasciata var. laurentii, Spathiphyllum floribundum and Aloe arborescens were the strongest absorbers and purifiers, while Podocarpus nagi and Anthurium andraeanum 'Pink champin' had the weakest absorption and purification capacity. The results of this study provide a theoretical basis and reference for the selection of plants with strong capacities to adsorb and purify benzene pollution in indoor air.

Open Circuit Interaction Between Ethanol or 2-Propanol and Oxidized Platinum Surfaces.

The interaction between organic molecules and oxidized catalyst surfaces has frequently been used to study the fuel crossover from the anode to the cathode in direct liquid fuel cells. In such experiments, the oxidized surface is put in contact with the fuel under open circuit conditions, and the evolution of the potential is registered. The open circuit potential (OCP) vs. time features can then inform on the reactivity of the fuel with the oxidized surface and provide valuable information not only to applications in fuel cells but also to the electrochemical reform of those molecules to produce clean hydrogen. In this paper, we present an experimental investigation of the open circuit interaction between ethanol or 2-propanol with oxidized platinum surfaces. Besides the OCP time traces, we have also employed cyclic voltammetry and fast oxide reduction sweep in the presence of the alcohols. Comparable reaction currents are obtained in the cyclic voltammogram, but the electro-oxidation of 2-propanol sets in at considerably lower overpotentials than that of ethanol. At the high potential region, both the magnitude and the potential of the current peak are nearly identical in both cases. In contrast, under open circuit conditions, the interaction of ethanol with the oxidized platinum surface is more pronounced than that found for 2-propanol, and these results are corroborated by the facile reduction of the platinum oxides along the fast backward sweep for the case of the latter.

Automated pancreatic segmentation and fat fraction evaluation based on a self-supervised transfer learning network.

Accurate segmentation of the pancreas from abdominal computed tomography (CT) images is challenging but essential for the diagnosis and treatment of pancreatic disorders such as tumours and diabetes. In this study, a dataset with 229 sets of high-resolution CT images was generated and annotated. We proposed a novel 3D segmentation model named nnTransfer (nonisomorphic transfer learning) net, which employs generative model structure for self-supervision to facilitate the network's learning of image attributes from unlabelled data. The effectiveness for pancreas segmentation of nnTransfer was assessed using the Hausdorff distance (HD) and Dice similarity coefficient (DSC) on the dataset. Additionally, a histogram analysis with local thresholding was used to achieve automated whole-volume measurement of pancreatic fat (fat volume fraction, FVF). The proposed technique performed admirably on the dataset, with DSC: 0.937 ± 0.019 and HD: 2.655 ± 1.479. The mean pancreas volume and FVF of the pancreas were 91.95 ± 23.90 cm3 and 12.67 % ± 9.84 %, respectively. The nnTransfer functioned flawlessly and autonomously, facilitating the use of the FVF to evaluate pancreatic disease, particularly in patients with diabetes.

Selenium-Enriched Cardamine violifolia Alleviates LPS-Induced Hepatic Damage and Inflammation by Suppressing TLR4/NODs-Necroptosis Signal Axes in Piglets.

Selenium-enriched Cardamine violifolia (SEC), a cruciferous plant, exerts excellent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory capacity, but its effect on hepatic function is unclear. This study investigated the effect and potential mechanism of SEC on hepatic injury induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Twenty-four weaned piglets were randomly allotted to treatment with SEC (0.3 mg/kg Se) and/or LPS (100 µg/kg). After 28 days of the trial, pigs were injected with LPS to induce hepatic injury. These results indicated that SEC supplementation attenuated LPS-induced hepatic morphological injury and reduced aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activities in plasma. SEC also inhibited the expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines such as interleukin 6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) after the LPS challenge. In addition, SEC improved hepatic antioxidant capacity via enhancing glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) activity and decreasing malondialdehyde (MDA) concentration. Moreover, SEC downregulated the mRNA expression of hepatic myeloid differentiation factor 88 (MyD88) and nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain proteins 1 (NOD1) and its adaptor molecule receptor interacting protein kinase 2 (RIPK2). SEC also alleviated LPS-induced hepatic necroptosis by inhibiting RIPK1, RIPK3, and mixed-lineage kinase domain-like (MLKL) expression. These data suggest that SEC potentially mitigates LPS-induced hepatic injury via inhibiting Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4)/NOD2 and necroptosis signaling pathways in weaned piglets.

Radiation characteristics analysis for spallation products of lead-bismuth target and tungsten-iron-nickel target.

The radiation characteristics of spallation products are important references for evaluating the materials used as spallation targets. Therefore, it is necessary to study the radiation characteristics of spallation products. In this study, the spallation products of tungsten-iron-nickel target and lead-bismuth target were calculated and analyzed based on the radionuclide distributions and decay photon shielding of the spallation products. The radionuclide distributions of the spallation products were calculated using FLUKA, and the shielding of decay photons was calculated with OpenMC. In addition, the variance reduction function with an importance card was added to the OpenMC code to allow its use for calculating deep penetration problems.

Peptide-Modulated pH Rhythms.

Many drugs adjust and/or control the spatiotemporal dynamics of periodic processes such as heartbeat, neuronal signaling and metabolism, often by interacting with proteins or oligopeptides. Here we use a quasi-biocompatible, non-equilibrium pH oscillatory system as a biomimetic biological clock to study the effect of pH-responsive peptides on rhythm dynamics. The added peptides generate feedback that can lengthen or shorten the oscillatory period during which the peptides alternate between random coil and coiled-coil conformations. This modulation of a chemical clock supports the notion that short peptide reagents may have utility as drugs to regulate human body clocks.

The pH dependence of emulsifying properties for glutathione disulfide at oil-water interfaces.

Although peptides were widely used in many fields, their interface behaviors as surfactants have not been explored. The results of the surface tension experiments by an automatic surface tension meter indicate that the stability and emulsifying ability of glutathione disulfide (GSSG) under alkaline conditions were stronger than those under acidic conditions. With encoding the different oxygen and nitrogen atoms in GSSG, as well as the different hydrogen atoms bonded with oxygen and nitrogen atoms. The pH Dependence of the number of hydrogen bonds, affected by the protonation and deprotonation of the functional groups in GSSG, is calculated by LAMMPS software. The results demonstrate that GSSG forms twice as many hydrogen bonds under alkaline conditions as under acidic conditions, resulting in a better surface-interface activity in alkaline conditions. The interface properties of the GSSG surfactant can be regulated by pH. Therefore, GSSG is a potential pH-responsive surfactant.

Comparative Study of Traditional Ablative CO2 Laser-Assisted Topical Antifungal with only Topical Antifungal for Treating Onychomycosis: A Multicenter Study.

BACKGROUND: The predominance of onychomycosis has been increasing recently. New medications and treatment modalities are being researched for better saturation of the antifungal agents through the nail plate topically because of the low resilience of some patients for the oral antifungal agents. Treatment of onychomycosis, mainly moderate to severe, can be very challenging, expensive, and time consuming. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this clinical trial is to compare the efficacy and safety of a manually operated ablative CO2 laser combined with a topical antifungal agent in patients with onychomycosis. STUDY DESIGN: We conducted an open-label controlled prospective study of 160 eligible patients randomized into control and treatment groups with a 1:1 allocation in the department of dermatology in five different hospitals in Shanghai. It was a 6-month study where both groups were treated with a topical antifungal agent, with the treatment group also receiving ablation by the traditional CO2 laser once a month for the first 3 months. RESULTS: The clinical efficacy and mycological cure rate were significantly higher (p < 0.001) for the treatment group. Three (3.75%) patients from the control group and 18 (25%) patients from the treatment group achieved complete nail clearance along with negative potassium hydroxide and negative culture (primary endpoint) results at 24 weeks. Mycological clearance with at least moderate nail clearance (secondary endpoint) for the treatment group was also significantly higher (p < 0.001) for the laser treatment group. The laser treatment was mildly painful but tolerable by the patients. No drug interactions for both groups were encountered. CONCLUSIONS: The ablative CO2 laser is a primitive yet effective modality to be considered for the delivery of topical antifungal agents for the management of mild-to-severe onychomycosis. The laser has good tolerance in patients and is a common equipment found in most dermatology units even those without the latest medical technology.

Self-assembled polyion complex micelles for sustained release of hydrophilic drug.

Graft copolymer polyethylenimine-graft-poly(N-vinylpyrrolidone) (PEI-g-PVP) was prepared by coupling mono carboxyl-terminated PVP (PVP-COOH) with PEI using N,N'-dicyclohexylcarbodiimide (DCC) and N-hydroxysuccinimide (NHS) as coupling agents. In aqueous medium, PVP-g-PEI can self-assemble into stable polyion complex micelles with an oppositely charged block copolymer, poly(N-vinylpyrrolidone)-block-poly(2-acrylamido-2-methyl-1-propanesulphonic acid) (PVP-b-PAMPS). Transmission electron microscopy images showed that these micelles were regularly spherical in shape. The micelle size determined by size analysis was around 142 nm. To estimate their feasibility as vehicles for drugs, the model drug folic acid (FA) was incorporated into the cores of the micelles via electrostatic interactions. In vitro release test of FA showed that the drug-release rates are dependent on the pH value of the release media. Based on these results, we can conclude that the polyion complex micelles prepared from the PEI-g-PVP/PVP-b-PAMPS copolymers have great potential as drug delivery nanocarriers.

Shell-cross-linked amino acid-modified APLA-b-PEG-Cys copolymer micelle as a drug delivery carrier.

Cysteine modified amphiphilic block copolymer acetate-polylactide-block-poly(ethylene glycol)-Cysteine (APLA-b-PEG-Cys) was synthesized and characterized. The polymer could self-assemble to form micelles with nano-size and regularly spherical in shape in aqueous solution. Folic acid (FA) was then used as a model drug to incorporate into APLA-b-PEG-Cys micelles. To enhance the stabilization of APLA-b-PEG-Cys micelle and control the drug release, the shell of APLA-b-PEG-Cys micelle was cross-linked by the in situ polycondensation of amino acid moieties on its surface. The effects of shell-cross-linking on the micelle physical chemistry properties were investigated in detail. It was found that, after cross-linking, the CMC of the APLA-b-PEG-Cys micelle was decreased, indicating that the shell-cross-linked micelle is more stable as compared to the uncross-linked one. In addition, the shell-cross-linking also changed the surface potential, micelle size and model drug (FA) release behaviour, but it did not significantly affect the micelle morphology and drug encapsulation efficiency of APLA-b-PEG-Cys micelles.

[Periodic and fractal precipitation in ATP-Co(2+)-decoxycholate gel system].

In the simulation experiments in vitro of the formation of gallstone, adenosine-triphosphate(ATP)-Co(2+)-deoxycholic acid(DC) gel system was chosen to study the periodic precipitation progress. The effect of ATP on the Co(2+)-DC gel system was also determined, and the structure of the periodic precipitation formed was characterized by FTIR. The results show that the patterns formed in the systems with ATP are different, ATP affected the rate and structure of precipitation through its variable participation in the metal coordination complexes as judged by the phosphate P=O bands and the deoxycholate COO- symmetric and asymmetric vibration bands as measured by FTIR Theses spectroscopic differences were correlated with color and pattern differences in the precipitates. ATP has a more remarkable function than AMP to the modes of patterns, meanwhile the system patterns transform from fractal to periodic precipitation. There is a complex interaction among ATP, sodium deoxycholic and Co2+ with a transparent crystal produced. The crystal is deoxycholic acid and the periodic precipitation is composed of ATP and DC covalent to Co2+. These results indicate that stone formation and remodeling is a dynamic, nonlinear progress. Much of the precipitate, as judged by local differences in composition, is not in equilibrium with the general gel environment. The authors conclude that the formation of gallstone features complex and nonlinear chemical character, in which nucleotides as living material play a very important role.

Simple and complex spatiotemporal structures in a glycolytic allosteric enzyme model.

Pattern formation in glycolysis is studied with a classical reaction-diffusion allosteric enzyme model. It is found that, similar to recent experimental reports in the yeast extracts, a small magnitude local perturbation can induce transient target waves in a two dimensional oscillatory medium. An above threshold stimulation generates target waves which eventually evolve into spatiotemporal chaos upon collisions with the boundary or other wave activities. Detailed simulation studies show that the studied simple glycolytic reaction-diffusion model can support three types of spatiotemporal behaviors which are independent of the boundary conditions: (1) a spatially uniform stable steady state, (2) periodic global oscillations and (3) spatiotemporal chaos.

[Study on the structure of periodic and chaotic patterns of AMP-DC-Cu-gel systems].

This is an in vitro model to mimic the conditions present during gallstone formation. Adenosine mono-phosphate (AMP), an important bio-molecule, was chosen. Its effect on the formation of periodic/chaotic patterns in the deoxycholate-CuCl2-gel and deoxycholate-CuCl2-glucose-gel systems were studied. FTIR spectroscopy was used to identify the structure of the precipitates. The results indicate that the patterns formed in the systems with AMP are different. And FTIR spectra show that AMP may also be involved in the coordination sphere of Cu2+ ion. The results are more complicated in the deoxycholate-CuCl2 system containing glucose, suggesting that the nonlinear scientific concept should be considered in understanding gallstone formation.