Oxidative stability of chelated Sn(II)(aq) at neutral pH: The critical role of NO3- ions.

Tin(II) compounds are versatile materials with applications across fields such as catalysis, diagnostic imaging, and therapeutic drugs. However, oxidative stabilization of Sn(II) has remained an unresolved challenge as its reactivity with water and dioxygen results in loss of functionality, limiting technological advancement. Approaches to slow Sn(II) oxidation with chelating ligands or sacrificial electron donors have yielded only moderate improvements. We demonstrate here that the addition of nitrate to pyrophosphate-chelated Sn(II)(aq) suppresses Sn(II) oxidation in water across a broad pH range. Evidence of hydroxyl radical concentration reduction and detection of a radical nitrogen species that only forms in the presence of chelated Sn(II) point to a radical-based reaction mechanism. While this chemistry can be broadly applied, we present that this approach maintains Sn(II)'s antibacterial and anti-inflammatory efficacies as an example of sustained oral chemotherapeutic functionality.

In Vivo Leaf Inoculation: An Alternative Method to Assess the Disease Resistance of Hybrid Clones in Poplar Breeding of Stem Canker Disease.

Stem canker diseases caused by the pathogen Cytospora chrysosperma (Pers.) Fr.) and Botryosphaeria dothidea (Moug. ex Fr.) Ces. & de Not. are the two major forest diseases in the poplar plantations in China, sometimes which can destroy all the poplar seedlings or severely damage mature poplar forests. Hybrid breeding is the most direct and efficient method of controlling and managing tree diseases. However, assessing disease resistance or selecting disease-resistance clones based on In vitro stem inoculation is inefficient, time-consuming, and expensive, limiting the development of hybrid breeding of poplar stem canker disease. In this study, we proposed an alternative method to assess disease resistance to stem canker pathogens through in vivo leaf inoculation. The test materials used in this method can be on 1-year-old poplar saplings or the annual branches of perennial poplars in the greenhouse or the field. The critical step of this alternative method is the selection of inoculating leaves: the 5-7th newly matured leaves might be the most suitable. The second critical step of the leaf inoculation method is to make wounds on plant leaves through needle pierces, providing sufficient lesions to measure disease severity. For the adequate number of leaves produced in the early stage of poplar breeding, this in vivo leaf inoculation contributes to the rapid, accurate, and large-scale screening of the disease-resistance poplar clones to stem canker pathogens. Moreover, this leaf inoculation method will also serve as an efficient method for screening pathotypes of stem canker disease pathogen C. chrysosperma, B.dothidea, or other poplar stem canker pathogens.

Physicochemical and Antioxidative Properties of Protein Hydrolysates from Residual Goat Placenta Extract by Two Different Methods.

Protein hydrolysates from the goat placenta provide multiple benefits, such as immune system enhancement, antioxidant activities, and reductions in uric acid levels. Despite these benefits, their industrial applications have been underexplored. This study aimed to prepare extract protein hydrolysates (GPERPs) from residual goat placenta extract (GPER) and assess their functional properties, focusing on how different drying methods influence these properties. The essential amino acid contents were 30.94% for the GPER and 34.11% for the GPERPs. Moreover, all the essential amino acids were present, and the amino acid score (AAS) for each exceeded 1.0 in the GPERPs. The foaming properties of the spray-dried GPERPs (95.56 ± 5.89%) were significantly greater than those of the freeze-dried GPERPs (49.13 ± 4.17%) at pH values of 4.0~10.0. The emulsion stability (ES) of the spray-dried GPERPs (453.44 ± 8.13 min) was notably greater than that of the freeze-dried GPERPs (245.58 ± 7.12 min). Furthermore, the water retention capacity (WRC) of the freeze-dried GPERPs (201.49 ± 6.12%) was significantly greater than that of the spray-dried GPERPs (103.35 ± 7.13%), except at pH 10.0 (101.44 ± 8.13%). Similarly, at pH values of 6.0, 8.0, and 10.0, the oil retention capacity (ORC) of the freeze-dried GPERPs (715.58 ± 12.15%) was significantly greater than that of the spray-dried GPERPs (560.56 ± 11.15%), although the opposite trend was noted under acidic conditions. In terms of the antioxidant activity, the ability of the goat placenta extract residual protein hydrolysates (GPERPs) to scavenge DPPH radicals and superoxide anion radicals increased with the increasing peptide powder concentration, and the maximum scavenging rates of the DPPH radicals (39.5 ± 0.56%) and superoxide anions (81.2 ± 0.54%) in the freeze-dried peptide powder were greater than those in the spray-dried peptide powder. These findings contribute to the understanding of the physicochemical and antioxidant properties of GPERPs under various drying methods and provide fundamental data for the development of functional foods based on GPERPs.

Poplar Adventitious Roots Induced by Stem Canker Pathogens: An Experimental System for Studying Roots Biology and Light Response-Related Processes.

Valsa sordida and Botryosphaeria dothidea are two crucial necrotrophic fungal pathogens that damage many plant hosts, particularly species in the genus Populus. These two fungal pathogens occur mainly in poplar branches, stems, and twigs, causing classic symptoms such as canker lesions, canopy dieback, and wilting. Pathogen inoculation is the most efficient pathway to study the mechanism of plant disease. Besides the canker lesions around the inoculation sites on the stems, a novel developmental phenomenon, copious adventitious roots (ARs) with bright red color, were observed in poplar species after stem canker pathogen inoculations. In this study, we described the method for inducing ARs using fungal pathogens in poplar trees. The crucial step of this method is the pathogen inoculation after (phloem or epidermis) girdling manipulation. The second crucial step is the application of the moisturizing material. Compared to the moisturizing manipulation with Parafilm, wrapping the inoculated sites with household polyethylene (PE) plastic wrap can produce colorful, numerous, and robust ARs in 20 days after girdling-inoculation. Finally, white ARs sprouted from the inoculated rings in the poplar stems after shading treatment (wrapping the stems with aluminum foil). This method introduces a novel experimental system for studying root development and morphogenesis, which is crucial for understanding the biology of root development, morphogenesis, and response under disease stress. Furthermore, when combined with shading treatment, this study can provide a convenient experimental system for investigating light response-related processes, for example, the biosynthesis of flavonoids, anthocyanins, or other related metabolites, and genes or transcription factors involved in these processes.

Density functional theory-based study on the structural, electronic and spectral properties of gas-phase PbMg n - (n = 2-12) clusters.

Gas-phase PbMg n- (n = 2-12) cluster structures were globally searched on their potential energy surfaces by means of the CALYPSO prediction software. Structural optimization and calculations of properties such as relative energy and electronic structure were then carried out by density functional theory for each size of low energy isomer. The structural, relative stability, natural charge population, natural electronic configuration and distribution of the strongest peaks of the infrared and Raman spectra of the low energy isomers of PbMg n- (n = 2-12) clusters were systematically investigated in the present work. It was shown that the PbMg7- cluster ground state isomer exhibits the highest stability, for which special electronic excitation and chemical bonding analyses were performed. It is reasonable to believe that this work enriches the structural, spectroscopic and other data of magnesium-based clusters and provides some theoretical basis for possible future experimental syntheses.

Heat-stress memory enhances the acclimation of a migratory insect pest to global warming.

In the face of rising global temperatures, the mechanisms behind an organism's ability to acclimate to heat stress remain enigmatic. The rice leaf folder, Cnaphalocrocis medinalis, traditionally viewed as temperature-sensitive, paradoxically exhibits robust larval acclimation to heat stress. This study used the heat-acclimated strain HA39, developed through multigenerational exposure to 39°C during the larval stage, and the unacclimated strain HA27 reared at 27°C to unravel the transgenerational effects of heat acclimation and its regulatory mechanisms. Heat acclimation for larvae incurred a fitness cost in pupae when exposed to high temperature, yet a significant transgenerational effect surfaced, revealing heightened fitness benefit in pupae from HA39, even without additional heat exposure during larval recovery at 27°C. This transgenerational effect exhibited a short-term memory, diminishing after two recovery generations. Moreover, the effect correlated with increased superoxide dismutase (SOD) enzyme activity and expression levels of oxidoreductase genes, representing physiological and molecular foundations of heat acclimation. Heat-acclimated larvae displayed elevated DNA methylation levels, while pupae from HA39, in recovery generations, exhibited decreased methylation indicated by the upregulation of a demethylase gene and downregulation of two methyltransferase genes at high temperatures. In summary, heat acclimation induces DNA methylation, orchestrating heat-stress memory and influencing the expression levels of oxidoreductase genes and SOD activity. Heat-stress memory enhances the acclimation of the migratory insect pest to global warming.

Regulating the Porosity and Bipolarity of Polyimide-Based Covalent Organic Framework for Advanced Aqueous Dual-Ion Symmetric Batteries.

The all-organic aqueous dual-ion batteries (ADIBs) have attracted increasing attention due to the low cost and high safety. However, the solubility and unstable activity of organic electrodes restrict the synergistic storage of anions and cations in the symmetric ADIBs. Herein, a novel polyimide-based covalent organic framework (labeled as NTPI-COF) is constructed, featured with the boosted structure stability and electronic conductivity. Through regulating the porosity and bipolarity integrally, the NTPI-COF possesses hierarchical porous structure (mesopore and micropore) and abundant bipolar active centers (C═O and C─N), which exhibits rapid dual-ion transport and storage effects. As a result, the NTPI-COF as the electrodes for ADIBs deliver a high reversible capacity of 109.7 mA h g-1 for Na+ storage and that of 74.8 mA h g-1 for Cl- storage at 1 A g-1, respectively, and with a capacity retention of 93.2% over 10 000 cycles at 10 A g-1. Additionally, the all-organic ADIBs with symmetric NTPI-COF electrodes achieve an impressive energy density of up to 148 W h kg-1 and a high power density of 2600 W kg-1. Coupling the bipolarity and porosity of the all-organic electrodes applied in ADIBs will further advance the development of low-cost and large-scale energy storage.

Biochar modulates intracellular electron transfer for nitrate reduction in denitrifying anaerobic methane oxidizing archaea.

Denitrifying anaerobic methane oxidizing (DAMO) archaea plays a significant role in simultaneously nitrogen removal and methane mitigation, yet its limited metabolic activity hinders engineering applications. This study employed biochar to explore its potential for enhancing the metabolic activity and nitrate reduction capacity of DAMO microorganisms. Sawdust biochar (7 g/L) was found to increase the nitrate reduction rate by 2.85 times, although it did not affect the nitrite reduction rate individually. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and fluorescence excitation-emission matrix (EEM) analyses revealed that biochar promoted microbial aggregation, and stimulated the secretion of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS). Moreover, biochar bolstered the redox capacity and conductivity of the biofilm, notably enhancing the activity of the electron transfer system by 1.65 times. Key genes involved in intracellular electron transport (Hdr, MHC, Rnf) and membrane transport proteins (BBP, ABC, NDH) of archaea were significantly up-regulated. These findings suggest that biochar regulates electrons generated by reverse methanogenesis to the membrane for nitrate reduction.

Selenium-Chelating Peptide Derived from Wheat Gluten: In Vitro Functional Properties.

The efficacy of selenium-chelating polypeptides derived from wheat protein hydrolysate (WPH-Se) includes enhancing antioxidant capacity, increasing bioavailability, promoting nutrient absorption, and improving overall health. This study aimed to enhance the bioavailability and functional benefits of exogenous selenium by chelating with wheat gluten protein peptides, thereby creating bioactive peptides with potentially higher antioxidant capabilities. In this study, WPH-Se was prepared with wheat peptide and selenium at a mass ratio of 2:1, under a reaction system at pH 8.0 and 80 °C. The in vitro antioxidant activity of WPH-Se was evaluated by determining the DPPH, OH, and ABTS radical scavenging rate and reducing capacity under different conditions, and the composition of free amino acids and bioavailability were also investigated at various digestion stages. The results showed that WPH-Se possessed significant antioxidant activities under different conditions, and DPPH, OH, and ABTS radical scavenging rates and reducing capacity remained high at different temperatures and pH values. During gastrointestinal digestion in vitro, both the individual digestate and the final digestate maintained high DPPH, OH, and ABTS radical scavenging rates and reducing capacity, indicating that WPH-Se was able to withstand gastrointestinal digestion and exert antioxidant effects. Post-digestion, there was a marked elevation in tryptophan, cysteine, and essential amino acids, along with the maintenance of high selenium content in the gastrointestinal tract. These findings indicate that WPH-Se, with its enhanced selenium and amino acid profile, serves as a promising ingredient for dietary selenium and antioxidant supplementation, potentially enhancing the nutritional value and functional benefits of wheat gluten peptides.

Polyaniline-Based Cationic Porous Organic Polymers for Fast and Efficient Anion-Exchange-Driven Capture of Cr2O7 2.

Efficient treatment of wastewater contaminated with carcinogenic Cr(VI) has been a long-term challenge for both academic and industrial research efforts. Removal of Cr(VI) species by ion exchange is a relatively simple and efficient method, and its combination with highly tailorable nanomaterials is promising for the treatment of such wastewater. Here, we report a type of cationic porous organic polymer (POP), namely, PTPA-PIP, which can be prepared simply by converting the corresponding aromatic polyamine PTPA to its protonated form, thereby significantly increasing its hydrophilicity and ability to disperse homogeneously in water, crucial for application in water treatment. In addition to detailed characterization of the physicochemical properties of PTPA-PIP (including using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET), and solid-state NMR techniques), adsorption experiments demonstrate that PTPA-PIP removes low-concentration dichromate anions with very high performance, including excellent exchange capacity (maximum capacity of 230 mg Cr2O7 2-/g PTPA-PIP), ultrafast removal (initial adsorption rate of 83 mg g-1 min-1), excellent selectivity (∼10% loss of adsorption capacity in the presence of 40-fold concentration of competing anions), as well as superior reusability (reusable for at least 5 cycles without compromised performance). These results demonstrate that PTPA-PIP is an outstanding candidate for application in industrial settings for the effective removal of harmful Cr(VI) pollutants in wastewater.

Association between household size and risk of incident dementia in the UK Biobank study.

Currently, the relationship between household size and incident dementia, along with the underlying neurobiological mechanisms, remains unclear. This prospective cohort study was based on UK Biobank participants aged ≥ 50 years without a history of dementia. The linear and non-linear longitudinal association was assessed using Cox proportional hazards regression and restricted cubic spline models. Additionally, the potential mechanisms driven by brain structures were investigated by linear regression models. We included 275,629 participants (mean age at baseline 60.45 years [SD 5.39]). Over a mean follow-up of 9.5 years, 6031 individuals developed all-cause dementia. Multivariable analyses revealed that smaller household size was associated with an increased risk of all-cause dementia (HR, 1.06; 95% CI 1.02-1.09), vascular dementia (HR, 1.08; 95% CI 1.01-1.15), and non-Alzheimer's disease non-vascular dementia (HR, 1.09; 95% CI 1.03-1.14). No significant association was observed for Alzheimer's disease. Restricted cubic splines demonstrated a reversed J-shaped relationship between household size and all-cause and cause-specific dementia. Additionally, substantial associations existed between household size and brain structures. Our findings suggest that small household size is a risk factor for dementia. Additionally, brain structural differences related to household size support these associations. Household size may thus be a potential modifiable risk factor for dementia.

A Biomimetic Cement-Based Solid-State Electrolyte with Both High Strength and Ionic Conductivity for Self-Energy-Storage Buildings.

Cement-based materials are the foundation of modern buildings but suffer from intensive energy consumption. Utilizing cement-based materials for efficient energy storage is one of the most promising strategies for realizing zero-energy buildings. However, cement-based materials encounter challenges in achieving excellent electrochemical performance without compromising mechanical properties. Here, we introduce a biomimetic cement-based solid-state electrolyte (labeled as l-CPSSE) with artificially organized layered microstructures by proposing an in situ ice-templating strategy upon the cement hydration, in which the layered micropores are further filled with fast-ion-conducting hydrogels and serve as ion diffusion highways. With these merits, the obtained l-CPSSE not only presents marked specific bending and compressive strength (2.2 and 1.2 times that of traditional cement, respectively) but also exhibits excellent ionic conductivity (27.8 mS·cm-1), overwhelming most previously reported cement-based and hydrogel-based electrolytes. As a proof-of-concept demonstration, we assemble the l-CPSSE electrolytes with cement-based electrodes to achieve all-cement-based solid-state energy storage devices, delivering an outstanding full-cell specific capacity of 72.2 mF·cm-2. More importantly, a 5 × 5 cm2 sized building model is successfully fabricated and operated by connecting 4 l-CPSSE-based full cells in series, showcasing its great potential in self-energy-storage buildings. This work provides a general methodology for preparing revolutionary cement-based electrolytes and may pave the way for achieving zero-carbon buildings.

Continuous Synthesis of a Macrocyclic Sulfite of Polyethylene Glycol by Cascaded Continuous Stirred Tank Reactors (CSTRs).

Invited for the cover of this issue is the group of Long Pan and co-workers at Asymchem Life Sciences (Tianjin) Co. Ltd. The image depicts a novel continuous process for the synthesis of a macrocyclic poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) sulfite, the precursor to PEG macrocyclic sulfate, a useful building block in PEG chemistry. Read the full text of the article at 10.1002/chem.202304319.

Operando Spectroscopic Monitoring of Metal Chalcogenides for Overall Water Splitting: New Views of Active Species and Sites.

Metal-based chalcogenides exhibit great promise for overall water splitting, yet their intrinsic catalytic reaction mechanisms remain to be fully understood. In this work, we employed operando X-ray absorption (XAS) and in situ Raman spectroscopy to elucidate the structure-activity relationships of low-crystalline cobalt sulfide (L-CoS) catalysts toward overall water splitting. The operando results for L-CoS catalyzing the alkaline hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) demonstrate that the cobalt centers in the bulk are predominantly coordinated by sulfur atoms, which undergo a kinetic structural rearrangement to generate metallic cobalt in S-Co-Co-S moieties as the true catalytically active species. In comparison, during the acidic HER, L-CoS undergoes local structural optimization of Co centers, and H2 production proceeds with adsorption/desorption of key intermediates atop the Co-S-Co configurations. Further operando characterizations highlight the crucial formation of high-valent Co4+ species in L-CoS for the alkaline oxygen evolution reaction (OER), and the formation of such active species was found to be far more facile than in crystalline Co3O4 and Co-LDH references. These insights offer a clear picture of the complexity of active species and site formation in different media, and demonstrate how their restructuring influences the catalytic activity.

Ultrathin, Mechanically Durable, and Scalable Polymer-in-Salt Solid Electrolyte for High-Rate Lithium Metal Batteries.

Polymer-in-salt solid-state electrolytes (PIS SSEs) are emerging for high room-temperature ionic conductivity and facile handling, but suffer from poor mechanical durability and large thickness. Here, Al2O3-coated PE (PE/AO) separators are proposed as robust and large-scale substrates to trim the thickness of PIS SSEs without compromising mechanical durability. Various characterizations unravel that introducing Al2O3 coating on PE separators efficiently improves the wettability, thermal stability, and Li-dendrite resistance of PIS SSEs. The resulting PE/AO@PIS demonstrates ultra-small thickness (25 µm), exceptional mechanical durability (55.1 MPa), high decomposition temperature (330 °C), and favorable ionic conductivity (0.12 mS cm-1 at 25 °C). Consequently, the symmetrical Li cells remain stable at 0.1 mA cm-2 for 3000 h, without Li dendrite formation. Besides, the LiFePO4|Li full cells showcase excellent rate capability (131.0 mAh g-1 at 10C) and cyclability (93.6% capacity retention at 2C after 400 cycles), and high-mass-loading performance (7.5 mg cm-2). Moreover, the PE/AO@PIS can also pair with nickel-rich layered oxides (NCM811 and NCM9055), showing a remarkable specific capacity of 165.3 and 175.4 mAh g-1 at 0.2C after 100 cycles, respectively. This work presents an effective large-scale preparation approach for mechanically durable and ultrathin PIS SSEs, driving their practical applications for next-generation solid-state Li-metal batteries.

Comparative Study on the Effectiveness of Three Inoculation Methods for Valsa sordida in Populus alba var. pyramidalis.

A key step in the study of tree pathology is the identification of an appropriate method for inoculating pathogens of diseases in branches and trunks. Pathogens of diseases in branches and trunks are commonly inoculated through punching, burning, and toothpick inoculation. However, there is a lack of comparative analyses of the inoculation outcomes of these three methods. In this work, six-year-old P. alba var. pyramidalis were inoculated with V. sordida using punching, burning, and toothpick techniques to investigate the differences in the effectiveness of these inoculation methods. Results reveal that the incidence rate was 93.55% in the toothpick inoculation group, significantly higher than the 80.65% in the burning inoculation group (chi-square, n = 90, p = 0.007), while punching inoculation exhibited significant pathological responses in the early stages, with spontaneous healing in the later stage. Additionally, toothpick inoculation was more efficient in inducing Valsa canker when inoculating the pathogen at the bottom of the tree, with lower intra- and inter-row spacing (stand density) providing better outcomes than higher intra- and inter-row spacing. The results of this study demonstrate that toothpick inoculation is an optimal option for studying the artificial inoculation of V. sordida in six-year-old P. alba var. pyramidalis, providing technical support for research on poplar diseases and offering a theoretical basis for the inoculation of other diseases in the branch and trunk.

An acetate electrolyte for enhanced pseudocapacitve capacity in aqueous ammonium ion batteries.

Ammonium ion batteries are promising for energy storage with the merits of low cost, inherent security, environmental friendliness, and excellent electrochemical properties. Unfortunately, the lack of anode materials restricts their development. Herein, we utilized density functional theory calculations to explore the V2CTx MXene as a promising anode with a low working potential. V2CTx MXene demonstrates pseudocapacitive behavior for ammonium ion storage, delivering a high specific capacity of 115.9 mAh g-1 at 1 A g-1 and excellent capacity retention of 100% after 5000 cycles at 5 A g-1. In-situ electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance measurement verifies a two-step electrochemical process of this unique pseudocapacitive storage behavior in the ammonium acetate electrolyte. Theoretical simulation reveals reversible electron transfer reactions with [NH4+(HAc)3]···O coordination bonds, resulting in a superior ammonium ion storage capacity. The generality of this acetate ion enhancement effect is also confirmed in the MoS2-based ammonium-ion battery system. These findings open a new door to realizing high capacity on ammonium ion storage through acetate ion enhancement, breaking the capacity limitations of both Faradaic and non-Faradaic energy storage.

Efficient perchlorate reduction in microaerobic environment facilitated by partner methane oxidizers.

The conventional perchlorate (ClO4-) reduction typically necessitates anaerobic conditions. However, in this study, we observed efficient ClO4- reduction using CH4 as the electron donor in a microaerobic environment. The maximum ClO4- removal flux of 2.18 g/m2·d was achieved in CH4-based biofilm. The kinetics of ClO4- reduction showed significant differences, with trace oxygen increasing the reduction rate of ClO4-, whereas oxygen levels exceeding 2 mg/L decelerated the ClO4- reduction. In the absence of exogenous oxygen, anaerobic methanotrophic (ANME) archaea contribute more than 80% electrons through the reverse methanogenesis pathway for ClO4- reduction. Simultaneously, microorganisms activate CH4 by utilizing oxygen generated from chlorite (ClO2-) disproportionation. In the presence of exogenous oxygen, methane oxidizers predominantly consume oxygen to drive the aerobic oxidation of methane. It is indicated that methane oxidizers and perchlorate reducing bacteria can form aggregates to resist external oxygen shocks and achieve efficient ClO4- reduction under microaerobic condition. These findings provide new insights into biological CH4 mitigation and ClO4- removal in hypoxic environment.

Integrated Analysis of Gut Microbiome and Adipose Transcriptome Reveals Beneficial Effects of Resistant Dextrin from Wheat Starch on Insulin Resistance in Kunming Mice.

Systemic chronic inflammation is recognized as a significant contributor to the development of obesity-related insulin resistance. Previous studies have revealed the physiological benefits of resistant dextrin (RD), including obesity reduction, lower fasting glucose levels, and anti-inflammation. The present study investigated the effects of RD intervention on insulin resistance (IR) in Kunming mice, expounding the mechanisms through the gut microbiome and transcriptome of white adipose. In this eight-week study, we investigated changes in tissue weight, glucose-lipid metabolism levels, serum inflammation levels, and lesions of epididymal white adipose tissue (eWAT) evaluated via Hematoxylin and Eosin (H&E) staining. Moreover, we analyzed the gut microbiota composition and transcriptome of eWAT to assess the potential protective effects of RD intervention. Compared with a high-fat, high-sugar diet (HFHSD) group, the RD intervention significantly enhanced glucose homeostasis (e.g., AUC-OGTT, HOMA-IR, p < 0.001), and reduced lipid metabolism (e.g., TG, LDL-C, p < 0.001) and serum inflammation levels (e.g., IL-1ß, IL-6, p < 0.001). The RD intervention also led to changes in the gut microbiota composition, with an increase in the abundance of probiotics (e.g., Parabacteroides, Faecalibaculum, and Muribaculum, p < 0.05) and a decrease in harmful bacteria (Colidextribacter, p < 0.05). Moreover, the RD intervention had a noticeable effect on the gene transcription profile of eWAT, and KEGG enrichment analysis revealed that differential genes were enriched in PI3K/AKT, AMPK, in glucose-lipid metabolism, and in the regulation of lipolysis in adipocytes signaling pathways. The findings demonstrated that RD not only ameliorated IR, but also remodeled the gut microbiota and modified the transcriptome profile of eWAT.

Continuous Synthesis of a Macrocyclic Sulfite of Polyethylene Glycol by Cascaded Continuous Stirred Tank Reactors (CSTRs).

Many macrocyclic compounds are attractive drug-like molecules or intermediates due to their special properties. However, the bulk synthesis of such compounds are hindered by the necessity of using diluted solutions, in order to prevent intermolecular reactions that yields oligomer impurities, thereby resulting in a low production efficiency. Such challenge can be adequately addressed by using continuous reactors, allowing improved efficiency with smaller space footprints. In this work, we proposed a novel continuous process for the synthesis of a macrocyclic sulfite of tetraethylene glycol (PEG4-MCSi), which is a precursor to a very useful building block, PEG4-macrocyclic sulfate (PEG4-MCS). The basic reaction parameters, including stoichiometry and temperature, were first confirmed with small batch reactions, and the effectiveness of coiled reactors and continuous stirred tank reactors (CSTRs) were compared. Cascaded CSTRs were proven to be suitable, and the reaction parameters were subject to further optimization to give a robust continuous process. The process was then tested with 4 parallel runs for up to 64 h. Finally, the merits and demerits of batch and continuous reactions were also compared, demonstrating the suitability of latter in the bulk production of macrocyclic PEG-MCSi compounds.