Small Channels Assembled by Multilayer ZIF-8 in Nanocomposite Membranes for Filtration of Ofloxacin in Water.

Metal-organic framework (MOF)-based hybrid membranes still face many unsolved difficulties in the field of liquid separation, with a reliable production technique standing out, in particular, for the water-stable MOF membranes. In this study, zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8) with acceptable water stability, favorable polymer affinity, and high selectivity was meticulously grafted on commercial poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) via substrate carboxylation-assisted etching and then overlaid onto PVDF to fabricate a novel hybrid membrane by a layer-by-layer self-assembly method. The optimal membrane manufacturing conditions, including assembly time (10 min), Hmim/Zn2+ molar ratio (8:1), and optimal layer number (three layers), were thoroughly investigated for cutting-off ofloxacin in water filtration. Under low pressure, a nanofiltration scale permeability of about 199.2 L m-2 h-1 MPa-1 and 97.9% rejection of ofloxacin were obtained in bench-scale tests based on the synergistic effect of the Donnan effect and steric hindrance. More significantly, the resulting hybrid membrane demonstrated excellent hydrophilicity, high antifouling, and mechanical and repeatability performances, suggesting promising application possibilities in real-world wastewater filtering settings.

Unlocking a Type-II CoO@BiVO4 Heterostructure for Wastewater Purification.

Developing a semiconductor-based heterostructure photoanode is crucial in improving the photoelectrocatalytic (PEC) efficiency for degrading refractory organic pollutants. Nevertheless, the PEC performance of the photoanodes is usually restricted by electron/hole pair recombination, oxygen evolution, and slow electron transfer. Herein, a novel CoO@BiVO4 nanowire array film (Ti/CoO@BiVO4) with n-type semiconductor characteristics was prepared via a straightforward hydrothermal method. The optimized Ti/CoO@BiVO4 electrode exhibited excellent PEC decolorization efficiency of active brilliant blue KN-R (∼92.8%) and long-term stability, outperforming recent reports. The insight reason for enhancing the PEC degradation efficiency of the Ti/CoO@BiVO4 electrodes can be attributed to the large electrochemical active area, low charge transfer resistance, and negative flat band potential. The formation of a type-II heterostructure was investigated between CoO and BiVO4 further to promote the generation and separation efficiency of electron/hole pairs, indicating that the optimized Ti/CoO@BiVO4 electrode has the potential for the water PEC degradation ability and superior service life.

Unveiling Hierarchical Dendritic Co3O4-SnO2 Heterostructure for Efficient Water Purification.

The construction of a desirable, environmentally friendly, and cost-effective nanoheterostructure photoanode to treat refractory organics is critical and challenging. Herein, we unveiled a hierarchical dendritic Co3O4-SnO2 heterostructure via a sequential hydrothermal process. The time of the secondary hydrothermal process can control the size of the ultrathin SnO2 nanosheets on the basis of the Ostwald solidification mass conservation principle. Ti/Co3O4-SnO2-168h with critical growth size demonstrated a photoelectrocatalysis degradation rate of ∼93.3% for a high dye concentrate of 90 mg/L with acceptable long-term cyclability and durability over reported Co3O4-based electrodes because of the large electrochemically active area, low charge transfer resistance, and high photocurrent intensity. To gain insight into the photoelectric synergy, we proposed a type-II heterojunction between Co3O4 and SnO2, which prevents photogenerated carriers' recombination and improves the generation of dominant active species •O2-, 1O2, and h+. This work uncovered the Ti/Co3O4-SnO2-168 as a promising catalyst and provided a simple and inexpensive assembly strategy to obtain binary integrated nanohybrids with targeted functionalities.

Zn2SnO4@Ti ceramic film anode preparation by microarc oxidation for 2e- WOR degradation of unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine (UDMH).

The main challenge facing the anodic electro-Fenton through the 2e- water oxidation reaction (WOR) for toxics degradation lies in the electrode's stability, because the anodic oxygen evolution (OER) generated O2 will inevitably exfoliate the electro-active components loaded on the electrode substrate. To address this point, two aspects need attention: 1) Identifying a catalyst that exhibits both excellent electrocatalytic activity and selectivity can improve the faradaic efficiency of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2); 2) Employing novel methods for fabricating highly stable electrodes, where active sites can be firmly coated. Consequently, this study utilized microarc oxidation (MAO) to prepare a ceramic film electrode Zn2SnO4@Ti at 300 V. Zn2SnO4 acts as an WOR electrocatalyst and further improved the generation of H2O2 for treating real wastewater containing Unsymmetrical Dimethylhydrazine (UDMH). From the perspective of characterization of electrode structure, Zn2SnO4@Ti forms a stable active coating, the electrochemical yield of H2O2 is high up to 78.4 µmol h-1 cm-2, and the selectivity of H2O2 is over 80% at 3.3 V vs. RHE, which can be fully applied to scenarios where it is inconvenient to transport H2O2 and need in-situ safe production. Additionally, the prepared electrodes exhibit significant stability, suitable for various applications, providing insightful preparation strategies and experiences for constructing highly stable anodes.

Developing Z-scheme Bi2MoO6@α-MnO2 beaded core-shell heterostructure in photoelectrocatalytic treatment of organic wastewater.

Photoelectrocatalysis (PEC) oxidation technology with the combination of electrocatalysis and photocatalysis is an ideal candidate for treatment of dyeing wastewater containing multifarious intractable organic compounds with high chroma. Constructing high-quality heterojunction photoelectrodes can effectively suppress the recombination of photo-generated carriers, thereby achieving efficient removal of pollution. Herein, a beaded Bi2MoO6@α-MnO2 core-shell architecture with tunable hetero-interface was prepared by simple hydrothermal-solvothermal process. The as-synthesized Bi2MoO6@α-MnO2 had larger electrochemically active surface area, smaller charge transfer resistance and negative flat band potential, and higher separation efficiency of e-/h+ pairs than pure α-MnO2 or Bi2MoO6. It is noteworthy that the as-synthesized Bi2MoO6@α-MnO2 showed Z-scheme heterostructure as demonstrated by the free radical quenching experiments. The optimized Bi2MoO6@α-MnO2-2.5 exhibited the highest degradation rate of 88.64% in 120 min for reactive brilliant blue (KN-R) and accelerated stability with long-term(∼10000s) at the current density of 50 mA cm-2 in 1.0 mol L-1 H2SO4 solution. This study provides valuable insights into the straightforward preparation of heterogeneous electrodes, offering a promising approach for the treatment of wastewater in various industrial applications.

Designed Peptide Assemblies for Efficient Gene Delivery.

The safe and efficient delivery of nucleic acids including DNA, mRNA, siRNA, and miRNA into targeted cells is critical for gene therapy. Currently, viral gene vectors are very popular, but they have potential toxicity and insecurity. Therefore, the development of nonviral vectors has attracted considerable research attention. Peptide assemblies are superior candidates for being used as gene vectors by having good biocompatibility, versatile molecular design, excellent assembly capacity, ease of modification, and stimuli responsivity. The de novo designed peptides not only can induce efficient condensation of nucleic acids into compacted nanoparticles and protect them from enzymatic digestion but also can effectively overcome biological barriers and improve gene delivery efficiency through targeted delivery, enhanced cellular uptake, improved endolysosomal escape, and nuclear importation. By having these merits, peptidic gene vectors are developing fast, showing outstanding advantages compared to liposome and polymer vectors. This Perspective focuses on peptidic gene delivery systems by emphasizing the molecular design strategies for meeting the criteria of gene condensation, protection from nuclease degradation, cellular uptake, endolysosomal escape, and so on. The new arising research area of peptide-based artificial viruses for gene and ribonucleoprotein delivery has also been reviewed. The challenges and future perspectives are put forward, aiming to provide a conclusive guide for the development of peptidic delivery systems to achieve efficient gene therapy.

Fabrication of graphene oxide wrapped Ti/Co3O4 nanowire photoanode and its superior photoelectrocatalytic performance.

Here, we successfully fabricated graphene oxide (GO) wrapped Ti/Co3O4 nanowires (NWs) by electrophoretic deposition based on the good dispersibility of GO in an aqueous solution. Interestingly, GO can adhere to the surface of Co3O4 NWs via an ultrathin gossamer-like sheet, and the coverage and wrapping of GO on the surface of Co3O4 NWs can be controlled by tuning the electrochemical deposition time and voltage. Our results also demonstrate that GO wrapped Co3O4 NWs had superior photoelectrochemical activity for the decolorization of dye (reactive brilliant blue KN-R) in wastewater, mainly because the introduction of GO can tune the oxygen evolution behavior, the transportation of reactant and induced carriers, electrochemical active areas, and the light-harvesting capability of Co3O4 NWs. Therefore, we anticipate that GO wrapped Ti/Co3O4 NWs could be considered as a promising photoanode for the treatment of organic pollutants in wastewater.

Direct Georeferencing for the Images in an Airborne LiDAR System by Automatic Boresight Misalignments Calibration.

Airborne Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) system and digital camera are usually integrated on a flight platform to obtain multi-source data. However, the photogrammetric system calibration is often independent of the LiDAR system and performed by the aerial triangulation method, which needs a test field with ground control points. In this paper, we present a method for the direct georeferencing of images collected by a digital camera integrated in an airborne LiDAR system by automatic boresight misalignments calibration with the auxiliary of point cloud. The method firstly uses an image matching to generate a tie point set. Space intersection is then performed to obtain the corresponding object coordinate values of the tie points, while the elevation calculated from the space intersection is replaced by the value from the LiDAR data, resulting in a new object point called Virtual Control Point (VCP). Because boresight misalignments exist, a distance between the tie point and the image point of VCP can be found by collinear equations in that image from which the tie point is selected. An iteration process is performed to minimize the distance with boresight corrections in each epoch, and it stops when the distance is smaller than a predefined threshold or the total number of epochs is reached. Two datasets from real projects were used to validate the proposed method and the experimental results show the effectiveness of the method by being evaluated both quantitatively and visually.

Strip Adjustment of Airborne LiDAR Data in Urban Scenes Using Planar Features by the Minimum Hausdorff Distance.

In Airborne Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data acquisition practice, discrepancies exist between adjacent strips even though careful system calibrations have been performed. A strip adjustment method using planar features acquired by the Minimum Hausdorff Distance (MHD) is proposed to eliminate these discrepancies. First, semi-suppressed fuzzy C-means and restricted region growing algorithms are used to extract buildings. Second, a binary image is generated from the minimum bounding rectangle that covers overlapping regions. Then, connected components labeling algorithm is applied to process the binary image to extract individual buildings. After that, building matching is performed based on MHD. Third, a coarse-to-fine approach is used to segment building roof planes. Then, plane matching is conducted under the constraints of MHD and normal vectors similarity. The last step is the calculation of the parameters based on Euclidean distance minimization between matched planes. Two different types of datasets, one of which was acquired by a dual-channel LiDAR system Trimble AX80, were selected to verify the proposed method. Experimental results show that the corresponding planar features that meet adjustment requirements can be successfully detected without any manual operations or auxiliary data or transformation of raw data, while the discrepancies between strips can be effectively eliminated. Although adjustment results of the proposed method slightly outperform the comparison alternative, the proposed method also has the advantage of processing the adjustment in a more automatic manner than the comparison method.

Leveraging text skeleton for de-identification of electronic medical records.

BACKGROUND: De-identification is the first step to use these records for data processing or further medical investigations in electronic medical records. Consequently, a reliable automated de-identification system would be of high value. METHODS: In this paper, a method of combining text skeleton and recurrent neural network is proposed to solve the problem of de-identification. Text skeleton is the general structure of a medical record, which can help neural networks to learn better. RESULTS: We evaluated our method on three datasets involving two English datasets from i2b2 de-identification challenge and a Chinese dataset we annotated. Empirical results show that the text skeleton based method we proposed can help the network to recognize protected health information. CONCLUSIONS: The comparison between our method and state-of-the-art frameworks indicates that our method achieves high performance on the problem of medical record de-identification.

Left or Right: How Does Amino Acid Chirality Affect the Handedness of Nanostructures Self-Assembled from Short Amphiphilic Peptides?

Peptide and protein fibrils have attracted an enormous amount of interests due to their relevance to many neurodegenerative diseases and their potential applications in nanotechnology. Although twisted fibrils are regarded as the key intermediate structures of thick fibrils or bundles of fibrils, the factors determining their twisting tendency and their handedness development from the molecular to the supramolecular level are still poorly understood. In this study, we have designed three pairs of enantiomeric short amphiphilic peptides: LI3LK and DI3DK, LI3DK and DI3LK, and LaI3LK and DaI3DK, and investigated the chirality of their self-assembled nanofibrils through the combined use of atomic force microscopy (AFM), circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and molecular dynamic (MD) simulations. The results indicated that the twisted handedness of the supramolecular nanofibrils was dictated by the chirality of the hydrophilic Lys head at the C-terminal, while their characteristic CD signals were determined by the chirality of hydrophobic Ile residues. MD simulations delineated the handedness development from molecular chirality to supramolecular handedness by showing that the ß-sheets formed by LI3LK, LaI3LK, and DI3LK exhibited a propensity to twist in a left-handed direction, while the ones of DI3DK, DaI3DK, and LI3DK in a right-handed twisting orientation.

Hydrogenated Bismuth Molybdate Nanoframe for Efficient Sunlight-Driven Nitrogen Fixation from Air.

Sunlight-driven dinitrogen fixation can lead to a novel concept for the production of ammonia under mild conditions. However, the efficient artificial photosynthesis of ammonia from ordinary air (instead of high pure N2 ) has never been implemented. Here, we report for the first time the intrinsic catalytic activity of Bi2 MoO6 catalyst for direct ammonia synthesis under light irradiation. The edge-exposed coordinatively unsaturated Mo atoms in an Mo-O coordination polyhedron can act as activation centers to achieve the chemisorption, activation, and photoreduction of dinitrogen efficiently. Using that insight as a starting point, through rational structure and defect engineering, the optimized Bi2 MoO6 sunlight-driven nitrogen fixation system, which simultaneously possesses robust nitrogen activation ability, excellent light-harvesting performance, and efficient charge transmission was successfully constructed. As a surprising achievement, this photocatalytic system demonstrated for the first time ultra-efficient (1.3 mmol g-1 h-1 ) and stable sunlight-driven nitrogen fixation from air in the absence of any organic scavengers.

Photo-induced reversible structural transition of cationic diphenylalanine peptide self-assembly.

The photo-induced self-assembly of a cationic diphenylalanine peptide (CDP) is investigated using a photoswitchable sulfonic azobenzene as the manipulating unit. A reversible structural transition between a branched structure and a vesicle-like structure is observed by alternating between UV and visible light irradiation.

Interactions of hyaluronan grafted on protein surfaces studied using a quartz crystal microbalance and a surface force balance.

Vocal folds are complex and multilayer-structured where the main layer is widely composed of hyaluronan (HA). The viscoelasticity of HA is key to voice production in the vocal fold as it affects the initiation and maintenance of phonation. In this study a simple layer-structured surface model was set up to mimic the structure of the vocal folds. The interactions between two opposing surfaces bearing HA were measured and characterised to analyse HA's response to the normal and shear compression at a stress level similar to that in the vocal fold. From the measurements of the quartz crystal microbalance, atomic force microscopy and the surface force balance, the osmotic pressure, normal interactions, elasticity change, volume fraction, refractive index and friction of both HA and the supporting protein layer were obtained. These findings may shed light on the physical mechanism of HA function in the vocal fold and the specific role of HA as an important component in the effective treatment of the vocal fold disease.

Self-assembly of hierarchical nanostructures from dopamine and polyoxometalate for oral drug delivery.

The preparation of 3D hierarchical nanostructures by a simple and versatile strategy of self-assembly of dopamine (DA) and phosphotungstic acid (PTA) is described. The size and morphology of the hierarchical nanostructures could be simply controlled by varying the ratio of the two components, their concentrations, and the pH of the initial Tris-HCl solution. The self-assembly of the flowerlike microspheres has been found to involve a two-stage growth process. Moreover, use of the hierarchical nanostructures as a possible carrier for an anticancer drug in chemotherapy has been explored. The nanostructures showed an intriguing pH-dependent release behavior, making them promising for applications in biomedical science.

Fabrication of ZnS-Bi-TiO2 composites and investigation of their sunlight photocatalytic performance.

The ZnS-Bi-TiO2 composites were prepared by the sol-gel method and were characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and UV-visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (UV-Vis DRS). It is found that the doped Bi as Bi(4+)/Bi(3+) species existed in composites, and the introducing of ZnS enhanced further the light absorption ability of TiO2 in visible region and reduced the recombination of photogenerated electrons and holes. As compared to pure TiO2, the ZnS-Bi-TiO2 exhibited enhanced photodegradation efficiency under xenon lamp irradiation, and the kinetic constant of methyl orange removal with ZnS-Bi-Ti-0.005 (0.0141 min(-1)) was 3.9 times greater than that of pure TiO2 (0.0029 min(-1)), which could be attributed to the existence of Bi(4+)/Bi(3+) species, the ZnS/TiO2 heterostructure.

Enhancement of ammonia synthesis via electrocatalytic reduction of low-concentration nitrate using co-doped MIL-101(Fe) nanostructured catalysts.

In the domain of electrocatalytic NO3- reduction (NO3-RR) for the treatment of low-concentration nitrate-containing domestic or industrial wastewater, the conversion of NO3- into NH4+ holds significant promise for resource recovery. Nevertheless, the central challenge in this field revolves around the development of catalysts exhibiting both high catalytic activity and selectivity. To tackle this challenge, we design a two-step hydrothermal combine with carbonization process to fabricate a cobalt-doped Fe-based MOF (MIL-101) catalyst at 800 °C temperatures. The aim was to fully leverage cobalt's demonstrated high selectivity in NO3- electroreduction and enhance activity by promoting electron transfer through the d-band of Fe. The results indicate that the synthesized catalyst inherits multiple active sites from its precursor, with the co-doping process optimized through the topological properties of the MOF. Elemental analysis and oxidation state testing were employed to scrutinize the fundamental characteristics of this catalyst type and comprehend how these features may influence its efficiency. Electrochemical analysis revealed that, even under conditions of low NO3- concentration, the Cox@MIL-Fe catalyst achieved an impressive nitrate conversion rate of 98 % at -0.9 V vs. RHE. NH4+ selectivity was notably high at 87 %, and the by-product NO2- levels remained at a minimal threshold. The Faradaic efficiency for NH4+ reached 74 %, with ammonia yield approaching 0.08 mmol h-1 cm-2. This study furnishes indispensable research data for the design of Fe-based electrocatalysts for nitrate reduction, offering profound insights into the modulation of catalysts to play a pivotal role in the electroreduction of nitrate ions.

Oxygen vacancy based WO3/SnO2-x promote electrochemical H2O2 accumulation by two-electron water oxidation reaction and toxic uniform dimethylhydrazine degradation.

The key to constructing an anodic electro-Fenton system hinges on two pivotal criteria: enhancing the catalyst activity and selectivity in water oxidation reaction (WOR), while simultaneously inhibiting the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) which is on-site electrosynthesized at the anode. To address the issues, we synthesized novel WO3/SnO2-x electrocatalysts, enriched with oxygen vacancies, capitalize on the combined activity and selectivity advantages of both WO3 and SnO2-x for the two-electron pathway electrocatalytic production of H2O2. Moreover, the introduction of oxygen vacancies plays a critical role in impeding the decomposition of H2O2. This innovative design ensures that the Faraday efficiency and yield of H2O2 are maintained at over 80 %, with a noteworthy production rate of 0.2 mmol h-1 cm-2. We constructed a novel electro-Fenton system that operates using only H2O as its feedstock and applied it to treat highly toxic uniform dimethylhydrazine (UDMH) from rocket launch effluent. Our experiments revealed a substantial total organic carbon (TOC) removal, achieving approximately 90 % after 120 mins of treatment. Additionally, the toxicity of N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA), a byproduct of great concern, was shown to be effectively mitigated, as evidenced by acute toxicity evaluations using zebrafish embryos. The degradation mechanism of UDMH is predominantly characterized by the advanced oxidative action of H2O2 and hydroxyl radicals, as well as by complex electron transfer processes that warrant further investigation.

Cerium oxide /Co-Co Prussian blue analogue composite catalyst for enhanced peroxymonosulfate activation for effective removal of tetracycline hydrochloride from water.

In this paper, a novel CeO2/Co3[Co(CN)6]2 (CeO2/PBACo-Co) composite was prepared with co-precipitation and utilized to activate peroxymonosulfate (PMS) to eliminate tetracycline hydrochloride (TCH). Catalyst screening showed that the composite with a CeO2:PBACo-Co mass ratio of 1:5 (namely, 0.2-CeO2/PBACo-Co) had the best performance. The degradation efficiency of TCH in 0.2-CeO2/PBACo-Co/Oxone system was investigated. The experimental results illustrated that 98% of 50 mg/L TCH and 48.5% of TOC were degraded by 50 mg/L 0.2-CeO2/PBACo-Co and 400 mg/L Oxone within 120 min at 25 °C and initial pH 5.3. Recycling studies showed that the elimination rate of TCH can still achieve 85.8% after five cycles, suggesting that 0.2-CeO2/PBACo-Co composite processes good reusability. Trapping experiments and EPR tests revealed that the reaction system produced multiple active species (1O2, O2•-, SO4•-, and •OH). We proposed the catalytic mechanism of 0.2-CeO2/PBACo-Co for PMS activation, which mainly involves the promoted Co3+/Co2+ cycle by Ce3+ donated electrons. These results indicate that CeO2/PBACo-Co composite is an effective catalyst for wastewater remediation.

Effects of different psychosocial interventions on death anxiety in patients: a network meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

Objective: This research intended to assess and compare influence of psychosocial interventions in death anxiety in patients, providing evidence-based guidance for both patients and healthcare providers. Design: The present study exclusively gathered randomized controlled trials by comprehensively searching across multiple databases, comprising of PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, and Scopus. The methodological quality of the enrolled studies involved in the analysis was assessed using the Cochrane bias risk assessment tool, and data analysis was performed utilizing appropriate software. Results: This research, encompassing 15 randomized controlled trials with a cumulative sample size of 926 patients, spanned from the earliest possible date to December 2023. The findings of network meta-analysis unveiled that the Rational-Emotive Hospice Care Therapy significantly reduced death anxiety among patients (Sequentially Updated Cumulative Ranking Analysis: 100%). Conclusion: The ranking plot of the network suggested that the rational-emotive hospice care therapy exhibited superior efficacy as a psychological treatment for reducing the death anxiety of patients.Systematic review registration: [https://clinicaltrials.gov/], identifier: [CRD42023484767].