RESUMO
Although hypervalent iodine(III) reagents have become staples in organic chemistry, the exploration of their isoelectronic counterparts, namely hypervalent bromine(III) and chlorine(III) reagents, has been relatively limited, partly due to challenges in synthesizing and stabilizing these compounds. In this study, we conduct a thorough examination of both homolytic and heterolytic bond dissociation energies (BDEs) critical for assessing the chemical stability and functional group transfer capability of cyclic hypervalent halogen compounds using density functional theory (DFT) analysis. A moderate linear correlation was observed between the homolytic BDEs across different halogen centers, while a strong linear correlation was noted among the heterolytic BDEs across these centers. Furthermore, we developed a predictive model for both homolytic and heterolytic BDEs of cyclic hypervalent halogen compounds using machine learning algorithms. The results of this study could aid in estimating the chemical stability and functional group transfer capabilities of hypervalent bromine(III) and chlorine(III) reagents, thereby facilitating their development.
RESUMO
Due to the advantages of non-radiation and real-time performance, ultrasound imaging is essential in medical imaging. Image quality is affected by the performance of the transducer in an ultrasound imaging system. For example, the bandwidth controls the pulse length, resulting in different axial resolutions. Therefore, a transducer with a large bandwidth helps to improve imaging quality. However, large bandwidths lead to increased system cost and sometimes a loss of sensitivity and lateral resolution in attenuating media. In this paper, a deconvolution recovery method combined with a frequency-domain filtering technique (DRF) is proposed to improve the imaging quality, especially for the axial resolution. In this method, the received low-bandwidth echo signals are converted into high-bandwidth signals, which is similar to the echo signals produced by a high-bandwidth transducer, and the imaging quality is improved. Simulation and experiment results show that, compared with Delay-and-sum (DAS) method, the DRF method improved axial resolution from 0.60 to 0.41 mm in simulation and from 0.62 to 0.47 mm in the tissue-mimicking phantom experiment. The contrast ratio performance is improved to some extent compared with the DAS in experimental and in-vivo images. Besides, the proposed method has the potential to further improve image quality by combining it with adaptive weightings, such as the minimum variance method.
Assuntos
Processamento de Imagem Assistida por Computador , Transdutores , Ultrassonografia/métodos , Simulação por Computador , Imagens de Fantasmas , Processamento de Imagem Assistida por Computador/métodos , AlgoritmosRESUMO
Oxygen-deficient molybdenum oxide (MoOX ) nanomaterials are prepared as novel nanosensitizers and TME-stimulants for ultrasound (US)-enhanced cancer metalloimmunotherapy. After PEGylation, MoOX -PEG exhibits efficient capability for US-triggered reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation and glutathione (GSH) depletion. Under US irradiation, MoOX -PEG generates a massive amount of ROS to induce cancer cell damage and immunogenic cell death (ICD), which can effectively suppress tumor growth. More importantly, MoOX -PEG itself further stimulates the maturation of dendritic cells (DCs) and triggeres the activation of the cGAS-STING pathway to enhance the immunological effect. Due to the robust ICD induced by SDT and efficient DC maturation stimulated by MoOX -PEG, the combination treatment of MoOX -triggered SDT and aCTLA-4 further amplifies antitumor therapy, inhibits cancer metastases, and elicits robust immune responses to effectively defeat abscopal tumors.
Assuntos
Neoplasias , Óxidos , Humanos , Espécies Reativas de Oxigênio/metabolismo , Molibdênio , Neoplasias/tratamento farmacológico , Hipóxia , Oxigênio/metabolismo , Linhagem Celular TumoralRESUMO
A listening test was conducted with 32 participants to obtain data on emotional changes in response to three types of urban soundscape spatial sequences. By establishing a time series model, the relationship between psychoacoustic parameters of the sequence and changes in the two dimensions of emotion was determined. Results showed that psychoacoustic parameters can explain 44% and 40%-49% of the changes in the pleasantness and arousal dimensions of emotion, respectively. Roughness and fluctuation have the highest correlation with emotional changes, while loudness and articulation index have the lowest correlation with emotional changes. This research verified the lags between psychoacoustic changes in the soundscape and the associated perceived emotion. First, there was a 3-4 s lag between psychoacoustic parameters and emotional changes. Second, changes in roughness and loudness could cause synchronous changes in emotions, while other parameters could cause delayed changes in emotions. Finally, the lag of emotion had a strong and stable explanatory power for emotional changes. This research proves the effectiveness of the time series analysis technology in establishing the dynamic relationship between the acoustic parameters of soundscape sequences and the second-by-second perceived emotions and provides a new data analysis method for in-depth study of soundscape sequence perception.
Assuntos
Acústica , Percepção Auditiva , Humanos , Psicoacústica , Fatores de Tempo , Percepção Auditiva/fisiologia , Emoções/fisiologiaRESUMO
Multiple amplification of tumor oxidative stress has been demonstrated as efficient strategy to enhance the reactive oxygen species (ROS)-mediated cancer therapy. Herein, vanadium-based nanocatalysts, hydrogen vanadium bronzes (HX V2 O5 , for short HVO), were constructed and employed as novel biocatalysts for amplifying tumor oxidative stress and enhancing cancer catalytic therapy. Such HVO nanocatalysts harboring multivalent V element possessed multi-functional catalytic activity in decomposing H2 O2 into â OH and depleting endogenous glutathione (GSH) to dually amplify tumor oxidative stress. Meanwhile, HVO nanocatalysts could also be activated by ultrasound to further triply amplify oxidative stress. The massive intracellular ROS caused mitochondrial dysfunction, DNA damage, cell cycle arrest, and cell proliferation inhibition, further realizing cancer cell death and tumor growth inhibition. Collectively, HVO nanocatalysts highlight the remarkable value of ROS-mediated cancer therapies.
Assuntos
Neoplasias , Vanádio , Linhagem Celular Tumoral , Glutationa/metabolismo , Humanos , Hidrogênio , Neoplasias/terapia , Estresse Oxidativo , Espécies Reativas de Oxigênio/metabolismoRESUMO
Plant expansins are capable of inducing pH-dependent cell wall extension and stress relaxation. They may be useful as targets for crop improvement to enhance fruit development and stress resistance. Tomato is a major agricultural crop and a model plant for studying fruit development. Because only some tomato expansins have been studied, a genome-wide analysis of the tomato expansin family is necessary. In this study, we identified 25 SlEXPAs, eight SlEXPBs, one SlEXLA, four SlEXLBs, and five short homologs in the tomato genome. 25 of these genes were identified as being expressed. Bioinformatic analysis showed that although tomato expansins share similarities with those from other plants, they also exhibit specific features regarding genetic structure and amino acid sequences, which indicates a unique evolutionary process. Segmental and tandem duplication events have played important roles in expanding the tomato expansin family. Additionally, the 3-exon/2-intron structure may form the basic organization of expansin genes. We identified new expansin genes preferentially expressed in fruits (SlEXPA8, SlEXPB8, and SlEXLB1), roots (SlEXPA9, SlEXLB2, and SlEXLB4), and floral organs. Among the analyzed genes those that were inducible by hormone or stress treatments, including SlEXPA3, SlEXPA7, SlEXPB1-B2, SlEXPB8, SlEXLB1-LB2, and SlEXLB4. Our findings may further clarify the biological activities of tomato expansins, especially those related to fruit development and stress resistance, and contribute to the genetic modification of tomato plants to improve crop quality and yield.
Assuntos
Genoma de Planta , Família Multigênica/genética , Filogenia , Proteínas de Plantas/genética , Cromossomos de Plantas/genética , Frutas/genética , Regulação da Expressão Gênica de Plantas , Solanum lycopersicum , Proteínas de Plantas/biossíntese , Proteínas de Plantas/isolamento & purificação , Raízes de Plantas/genética , Homologia de Sequência de AminoácidosRESUMO
Diets rich in high fructose and salt are increasingly popular in our daily life. A combination consumption of excessive fructose and salt can induce insulin resistance (IR) and hypertension (HT), which are major public health problems around the world. However, the effects of high fructose and salt on systematic metabonome remain unknown, which is very important for revealing the molecular mechanism of IR and HT induced by this dietary pattern. The metabolic profiling in urine, plasma, and fecal extracts from high fructose and salt-fed rats was investigated by use of (1) H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)-based metabonomics approach in this study. Multivariate analysis of NMR data showed the effects of high fructose and salt on the global metabonome. The metabolite analysis in urine and fecal extracts showed the time-dependent metabolic changes, which displayed metabonomic progression axes from normal to IR and HT status. The changes of 2-oxoglutarate, creatine and creatinine, citrate, hippurate, trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO), and betaine in urine, together with gut microbiota disorder in feces, were observed at the preliminary formation stage of IR and HT (fourth week). At the severe stage (eighth week), the previously mentioned metabolic changes were aggravated, and the changes of lipid and choline metabolism in plasma suggested the increased risk of cardiovascular diseases. These findings provide an overview of biochemistry consequences of high fructose and salt feeding and comprehensive insights into the progression of systematic metabonome for IR and HT induced by this dietary pattern.
Assuntos
Carboidratos da Dieta/farmacologia , Frutose/farmacologia , Metabolômica , Sais/farmacologia , Animais , Doenças Cardiovasculares/sangue , Doenças Cardiovasculares/induzido quimicamente , Doenças Cardiovasculares/etiologia , Dieta/efeitos adversos , Carboidratos da Dieta/administração & dosagem , Carboidratos da Dieta/efeitos adversos , Frutose/administração & dosagem , Frutose/efeitos adversos , Microbioma Gastrointestinal/efeitos dos fármacos , Masculino , Análise Multivariada , Espectroscopia de Prótons por Ressonância Magnética , Ratos , Ratos Wistar , Sais/administração & dosagem , Sais/efeitos adversos , UrináliseRESUMO
OBJECTIVE: To establish a method for determination of disulfiram in the workplace atmosphere by liquid chromatography. METHODS: Sampling with glass fiber filter, eluting with methanol, separating with C18 column, and determination with liquid chromatography. RESULTS: The bearing capacity of glass fiber filter exceeded 3.45 mg per piece. The elution efficiency was 97.8%â¼101.0% The relative standard deviation varied from 1.09% to 1.44%. The limit of detection was 0.1 µg/ml. The minimum detectable concentration was 0.011 mg/m³ (with sampled air volume of 45 L). CONCLUSION: The method has high selectivity, accuracy, and precision and strong applicability.
Assuntos
Poluentes Ocupacionais do Ar/análise , Cromatografia Líquida/métodos , Dissulfiram/análise , Ar/análise , Local de TrabalhoRESUMO
STATEMENT OF PROBLEM: Mechanical and thermal fatigue may affect ceramic restorations in the oral environment. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of thermal and mechanical cycling on the fracture load and fracture patterns of 3 machinable ceramics. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Seventy-two human third molar teeth were prepared for bonding ceramic specimens of Sirona CEREC Blocs, IPS e.maxCAD, or inCoris ZI meso blocks. The 24 specimens of each ceramic were divided into 4 groups (n=6), which underwent no preloading (control), thermocycling (5°C-55°C, 2000 cycles), mechanical cycling (10(5) cycles, 100 N), and thermocycling (5°C-55°C, 2000 cycles) plus mechanical cycling (10(5) cycles, 100 N). The specimens were subsequently loaded to failure, and both stereomicroscopy and scanning electron microscopy were used to investigate the fracture patterns. The data were analyzed with 2-way ANOVA and the Fisher exact probability test (α=.05). RESULTS: Mechanical and thermal cycling had a significant influence on the critical load to failure of the 3 ceramics. No significant difference was found between mechanical cycling for 10(5) times and thermocycling for 2000 times within the same ceramic. The specimens of inCoris ZI experienced significantly higher fracture loads for all the groups. The fracture patterns of the 3 machinable ceramics showed that failure mainly occurred at the cement-dentin interface. CONCLUSIONS: The effects of combined thermal and mechanical cycling on the fracture load of ceramics were more significant than any individual mode of cyclic fatigue. Overall, the inCoris ZI resisted thermal and mechanical fatigue better than the Sirona CEREC and IPS e.maxCAD.
Assuntos
Cerâmica/química , Desenho Assistido por Computador , Materiais Dentários/química , Silicatos de Alumínio/química , Porcelana Dentária/química , Análise do Estresse Dentário/instrumentação , Dentina/anatomia & histologia , Humanos , Cura Luminosa de Adesivos Dentários , Teste de Materiais , Microscopia Eletrônica de Varredura , Dente Serotino/anatomia & histologia , Polimerização , Compostos de Potássio/química , Cimentos de Resina/química , Saliva Artificial/química , Estresse Mecânico , Propriedades de Superfície , Temperatura , Fatores de Tempo , Água/química , Zircônio/químicaRESUMO
BACKGROUND: Pulse-inversion-based tissue harmonic imaging has been utilized for many years because it can effectively eliminate the harmonic leakage and produce low side-lobe. However, the pulse inversion method is sensitive to imaging object movements, which may result in motion artifacts. Spatial resolution and contrast were limited. OBJECTIVE: To improve ultrasound image quality by a new pulse-inversion-based tissue harmonic imaging technique. METHODS: Continuous wavelet transform is applied to investigate the correlation between mother wavelet and the received echoes from two opposite pulses. To get a better correlation, a novel mother wavelet named 'tissue wavelet' is designed based on the Khokhlov-Zabolotskaya- Kuznetsov (KZK) wave equation. Radio frequency data were obtained from open Ultrasonix SonixTouch imaging system. Experiments were carried on ultrasonic tissue phantom, human carotid artery and human liver. RESULTS: The average improvement of lateral spatial resolution is 49.52% compared to pulse-inversion-based tissue second-harmonic Imaging (PIHI). Contrast ratio (CR) and contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) increased by 5.55 dB and 1.40 dB over PIHI. Tissue wavelet performs better than Mexh and Morl wavelet in lateral spatial resolution, CR, and CNR. CONCLUSION: The proposed technique effectively improves the imaging quality in lateral spatial resolution, CR, and CNR.
Assuntos
Fígado , Análise de Ondaletas , Humanos , Ultrassonografia/métodos , Fígado/diagnóstico por imagem , Movimento (Física) , Movimento , Imagens de FantasmasRESUMO
Pyroptosis is an inflammatory form of programmed cell death associated with the immune system that can be induced by reactive oxygen species (ROS). As a therapeutic strategy with better penetration depth, sonodynamic therapy (SDT) is expected to induce pyroptosis of cancer cells and boost the immune response. However, it is still a limited problem to precisely adjust the structure of sonosensitizers to exhibit satisfactory sono-catalytic properties. Herein, fluorinated titanium oxide (TiO2-xFx) sonosensitizers were developed to induce pyroptosis under ultrasound (US) to boost antitumor immune responses, enabling highly effective SDT. On the one hand, the introduction of F atoms significantly reduced the adsorption energy of TiO2-xFx for oxygen and water, which is conducive to the occurrence of sono-catalytic reactions. On the other hand, the process of F replacing O increased the oxygen vacancies of the sonosensitizer and shortened the band gap, which enabled powerful ROS generation ability under US stimulation. In this case, large amounts of ROS could effectively kill cancer cells by inducing mitochondrial damage and disrupting oxidative homeostasis, leading to significant cell pyroptosis. Moreover, SDT treatment with TiO2-xFx not only suppressed tumor proliferation but also elicited robust immune memory effects and hindered tumor recurrence. This work highlighted the importance of precisely regulating the structure of sonosensitizers to achieve efficient ROS generation for inducing pyroptosis, which sets the stage for the further development of SDT-immunotherapy.
RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Plane-wave imaging is widely employed in medical imaging due to its ultra-fast imaging speed. However, the image quality is compromised. Existing techniques to enhance image quality tend to sacrifice the imaging frame rate. OBJECTIVE: The study aims to reconstruct high-quality plane-wave images while maintaining the imaging frame rate. METHODS: The proposed method utilizes a U-Net-based generator incorporating a multi-scale convolution module in the encoder to extract information at different levels. Additionally, a Dynamic Criss-Cross Attention (DCCA) mechanism is proposed in the decoder of the U-Net-based generator to extract both local and global features of plane-wave images while avoiding interference caused by irrelevant regions. RESULTS: In the reconstruction of point targets, the experimental images achieved a reduction in Full Width at Half Maximum (FWHM) of 0.0499 mm, compared to the Coherent Plane-Wave Compounding (CPWC) method using 75-beam plane waves. For the reconstruction of cyst targets, the simulated image achieved a 3.78% improvement in Contrast Ratio (CR) compared to CPWC. CONCLUSIONS: The proposed model effectively addresses the issue of unclear lesion sites in plane-wave images.
Assuntos
Processamento de Imagem Assistida por Computador , Humanos , Processamento de Imagem Assistida por Computador/métodos , AlgoritmosRESUMO
Conventional bone scaffolds, which are mainly ascribed to highly active osteoclasts and an inflammatory microenvironment with high levels of reactive oxygen species and pro-inflammatory factors, barely satisfy osteoporotic defect repair. Herein, multifunctional self-assembled supramolecular fiber hydrogels (Ce-Aln gel) consisting of alendronate (Aln) and cerium (Ce) ions were constructed for osteoporotic bone defect repair. Based on the reversible interaction and polyvalent cerium ions, the Ce-Aln gel, which was mainly composed of ionic coordination and hydrogen bonds, displayed good injectability and autocatalytic amplification of the antioxidant effect. In vitro studies showed that the Ce-Aln gel effectively maintained the biological function of osteoblasts by regulating redox homeostasis and improved the inflammatory microenvironment to enhance the inhibitory effect on osteoclasts. Ribonucleic acid (RNA) sequencing further revealed significant downregulation of various metabolic pathways, including apoptosis signaling, hypoxia metabolism and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) signaling via the nuclear factor kappa-B pathway after treatment with the Ce-Aln gel. In vivo experiments showed that the clinical drug-based Ce-Aln gel effectively promoted the tissue repair of osteoporotic bone defects by improving inflammation and inhibiting osteoclast formation at the defect. Notably, in vivo systemic osteoporosis was significantly ameliorated, highlighting the strong potential of clinical translation for precise therapy of bone defects.
RESUMO
Sonodynamic therapy (SDT) has promising application prospects in tumor therapy. However, SDT does not eradicate metastatic tumors. Herein, Cu-substituted ZnAl ternary layered double hydroxide nanosheets (ZCA NSs) were developed as both sonosensitizers and copper nanocarriers for synergistic SDT/cuproptosis cancer therapy. An optimized electronic structure more conducive to the sonodynamic process was obtained from ZCA NSs via the Jahn-Teller effect induced by the introduction of Cu2+, and the synthesized ZCA NSs regulated the intricate tumor microenvironment (TME) by depleting endogenous glutathione (GSH) to amplify oxidative stress for further enhanced SDT performance. Furthermore, cuproptosis was evoked by intracellular overload of Cu2+ and amplified by SDT, leading to irreversible proteotoxicity. In vitro results showed that such synergetic SDT/cuproptosis triggered immunogenic cell death (ICD) and promoted the maturation of dendritic cells (DCs). Furthermore, the as-synthesized ZCA NS-mediated SDT/cuproptosis thoroughly eradicated the in vivo solid tumors and simultaneously elicited antitumor immunity to suppress lung and liver metastasis. Overall, this work established a nanoplatform for synergistic SDT/cuproptosis with a satisfactory antitumor immunity.
Assuntos
Neoplasias Hepáticas , Neoplasias , Terapia por Ultrassom , Humanos , Cobre , Eletrônica , Glutationa , Hidróxidos , Neoplasias Hepáticas/tratamento farmacológico , Imunidade , Linhagem Celular Tumoral , Neoplasias/tratamento farmacológico , Microambiente TumoralRESUMO
Implant-related osteomyelitis is a formidable hurdle in the clinical setting and is characterized by inflammation, infection, and consequential bone destruction. Therefore, effective reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenging, bacterial killing, and subsequent bone tissue repair are urgently needed for the treatment of difficult-to-heal osteomyelitis. Herein, we utilized the eddy-thermal effect of magnesium (Mg) implants under an alternating magnetic field (AMF) for the controlled release of H2 gas and ions (OH- and Mg2+) for the treatment of osteomyelitis. H2 released by Mg rods under AMFs effectively scavenged cytotoxic ROS, exhibiting anti-inflammatory effects and consequently disrupting the environment of bacterial infections. In addition, the OH- hindered the energy metabolism of bacteria by effectively neutralizing protons within the microenvironment. Moreover, H2 impaired the permeability of bacterial membranes and expedited the damage induced by OH-. This synergistic AMF-induced H2 and proton depletion treatment approach not only killed both gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria but also effectively treated bacterial infections (abscesses and osteomyelitis). Moreover, Mg2+ released from the Mg rods enhanced and accelerated the process of bone osteogenesis. Overall, our work cleverly exploited the eddy-thermal effect and chemical activity of Mg implants under AMFs, aiming to eliminate the inflammatory environment and combat bacterial infections by the simultaneous release of H2, OH-, and Mg2+, thereby facilitating tissue regeneration. This therapeutic strategy achieved multiple benefits in one, thus presenting a promising avenue for clinical application.
RESUMO
Shale is a kind of sedimentary rock with an obvious bedding structure. The effect of the bedding plane on hydraulic fracture initiation, propagation, and complex fracture network formation is remarkable and a major problem in hydraulic fracturing and shale oil and gas development. In this study, a criterion is established to predict the evolution behavior of hydraulic fractures (HF) under different confining pressure differences and intersection angles. This criterion is intended to predict the types of interaction between HFs and bedding planes (BPs): penetrating, slipping, or dilating. The dependence of crossing on the intersection angle and the principal stress difference is quantitatively presented using the criterion. Meanwhile, 20 simulations with principal stress differences of 2, 4, 6, and 8 MPa and intersection angles of 30°, 45°, 60°, 75°, and 90° were simulated using the RFPA2D-Flow code. Simulation results exhibit good agreement with the criterion results for a wide range of angles. The investigation showed that HFs tend to penetrate BPs under high confining pressure differences and intersection angles and open BPs under low confining pressure differences and intersection angles. In addition to the above two forms, HFs slip due to shear. The criterion can provide relevant reference about the formation of complex fracture networks in shale layers.
Assuntos
Fraturamento Hidráulico , Gás Natural , Fraturamento Hidráulico/métodos , MineraisRESUMO
BACKGROUND: A fundamental challenge in medical ultrasound imaging is to improve the resolution accurately. Adaptive beamforming is often used to improve lateral resolution, such as minimum variance (MV) and phase coherence factor (PCF). However, it is difficult to improve the axial resolution due to the limitation of the spatial pulse length (SPL) of the transmitted signal. OBJECTIVE: A deconvolution recovery method combines two adaptive weighting techniques to improve axial resolution. METHODS: A deconvolution recovery (DR) technique is used to improve axial resolution with a shorter SPL. Then, the DR is combined with MV and PCF (DR-MVPCF) to suppress the sidelobe. The influence of different transmission modes, regularization parameters, and the estimation of point spread function are discussed on the proposed algorithm. RESULTS: In simulation, DR-MVPCF improved axial resolution from 0.41 mm (0.98 λ) to 0.09 mm (0.21 λ) compared with MV-PCF. In the water bath experiment, DR-MVPCF provided improvement of axial resolution from 0.39 mm (0.93 λ) to 0.07 mm (0.17 λ) compared with MV-PCF. In-vivo data experiment, the DR-MVPCF method increased the speckle signal-to-noise ratio and visibility of the structure while the contrast ratio and contrast-noise ratio decreased. CONCLUSIONS: The proposed method can improve the axial resolution significantly.
Assuntos
Algoritmos , Processamento de Imagem Assistida por Computador , Humanos , Imagens de Fantasmas , Ultrassonografia/métodos , Simulação por Computador , Razão Sinal-Ruído , Processamento de Imagem Assistida por Computador/métodosRESUMO
With the improvement of quality of life, people are more and more concerned about the quality of sleep. The electroencephalogram (EEG)-based sleep stage classification is a good guide for sleep quality and sleep disorders. At this stage, most automatic staging neural networks are designed by human experts, and this process is time-consuming and laborious. In this paper, we propose a novel neural architecture search (NAS) framework based on bilevel optimization approximation for EEG-based sleep stage classification. The proposed NAS architecture mainly performs the architectural search through a bilevel optimization approximation, and the model is optimized by search space approximation and search space regularization with parameters shared among cells. Finally, we evaluated the performance of the model searched by NAS on the Sleep-EDF-20, Sleep-EDF-78 and SHHS datasets with an average accuracy of 82.7%, 80.0% and 81.9%, respectively. The experimental results show that the proposed NAS algorithm provides some reference for the subsequent automatic design of networks for sleep classification.
RESUMO
Although high levels of geogenic ammonium in groundwater have been widely reported, the mechanisms controlling its heterogeneous distribution are not yet well understood. In this study, a comprehensive investigation of hydrogeology, sediments, and groundwater chemistry was coupled with a set of incubation experiments to reveal the contrasting mechanisms of groundwater ammonium enrichment at two adjacent monitoring sites with different hydrogeologic settings in the central Yangtze River basin. Significant differences were found in the ammonium concentrations of groundwater at two monitoring sites, with the ammonium concentrations in the Maozui (MZ) section (0.30-5.88 mg/L; average of 2.93 mg/L) being much higher than those in the Shenjiang (SJ) section (0.12-2.43 mg/L; average of 0.90 mg/L). For the SJ section, the aquifer medium had a low organic matter (OM) content and a weak mineralization capability, leading to a limited potential for geogenic ammonium release. Moreover, due to the presence of alternating silt and continuous fine sand layers (with coarse grains) above the underlying confined aquifer, the groundwater was in a relatively open environment with oxidizing conditions, which may have promoted the removal of ammonium. For the MZ section, the aquifer medium had a high OM content and a strong mineralization capability, leading to a much higher potential for geogenic ammonium release. Furthermore, due to the presence of a thick and continuous muddy clay layer (aquitard) above the underlying confined aquifer, the groundwater was in a closed environment with strong reducing conditions, which was conductive to the storage of ammonium. Larger sources of ammonium in the MZ section and greater consumption of ammonium in the SJ section contributed collectively to the significant differences in groundwater ammonium concentrations. This study identified contrasting mechanism of groundwater ammonium enrichment in different hydrogeologic settings, which can help explain the heterogeneous distribution of ammonium levels in groundwater.
RESUMO
Oxidative stress, due to the disruption of the balance between reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation and the antioxidant defense system, plays an important role in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Excessive ROS leads to the loss of biological molecules and cellular functions, release of many inflammatory mediators, stimulate the polarization of macrophages, and aggravate the inflammatory response, thus promoting osteoclasts and bone damage. Therefore, foreign antioxidants would effectively treat RA. Herein, ultrasmall iron-quercetin natural coordination nanoparticles (Fe-Qur NCNs) with excellent anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties were constructed to effectively treat RA. Fe-Qur NCNs obtained by simple mixing retain the inherent ability to remove ROS of quercetin and have a better water-solubility and biocompatibility. In vitro experiments showed that Fe-Qur NCNs could effectively remove excess ROS, avoid cell apoptosis, and inhibit the polarization of inflammatory macrophages by reducing the activation of the nuclear factor-κ-gene binding (NF-κB) pathways. In vivo experiments showed that the swollen joints of mice with rheumatoid arthritis treated with Fe-Qur NCNs significantly improved, with Fe-Qur NCNs largely reducing inflammatory cell infiltration, increasing anti-inflammatory macrophage phenotypes, and thus inhibiting osteoclasts, which led to bone erosion. This study demonstrated that the new metal-natural coordination nanoparticles could be an effective therapeutic agent for the prevention of RA and other diseases associated with oxidative stress.