Constructing a Stable Built-In Electric Field in Bi/Bi2Te3 Nanowires for Electrochemical CO2 Reduction Reaction.

Electrochemically converting carbon dioxide (CO2) into valuable fuels and renewable chemical feedstocks is considered a highly promising approach to achieve carbon neutrality. In this work, a robust interfacial built-in electric field (BEF) has been successfully designed and created in Bi/Bi2Te3 nanowires (NWs). The Bi/Bi2Te3 NWs consistently maintain over 90% Faradaic efficiency (FE) within a wide potential range (-0.8 to -1.2 V), with HCOOH selectivity reaching 97.2% at -1.0 V. Moreover, the FEHCOOH of Bi/Bi2Te3 NWs can still reach 94.3% at a current density of 100 mA cm-2 when it is used as a cathode electrocatalyst in a flow-cell system. Detailed in situ experiments confirm that the presence of interfacial BEF between Bi and Bi/Bi2Te3 promotes the formation of *OHCO intermediates, thus facilitating the production of HCOOH species. DFT calculations show that Bi/Bi2Te3 NWs increase the formation energies of H* and *COOH while reducing the energy barrier for *OCHO formation, thus achieving a bidirectional optimization of intermediate adsorption. This work provides a feasible scheme for exploring electrocatalytic reaction intermediates by using the BEF strategy.

Postoperative Ileus with the Topical Application of Tongfu Decoction Based on Network Pharmacology and Experimental Validation.

Objective: Postoperative gastrointestinal dysfunction is a common and important complication of surgery. This study aimed to explore the key pharmacological mechanisms of Tongfu decoction in treating postoperative ileus (POI). Methods: The active ingredients of Tongfu decoction and their targets were screened using the TCMSP database and STITCH and SwissTargetPrediction databases, respectively. The GeneCards and DisGeNET databases were used to obtain POI dysfunction-related therapeutic targets. After screening, a drug-active-ingredient-therapeutic target network was constructed and the key target functional enrichment analysis was carried out. The Sprague-Dawley rats with POI were used for in vivo experimental verification. The serum levels of IL-1ß, IL-6, IL-10, IFN-γ, and MCP-1 were measured after surgery using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The Western blot analysis was used to determine the expression of key proteins of the PI3K-Akt signaling pathway in colon tissues. Results: An interaction network was constructed containing 7 Chinese medicine components, 36 compounds, and 85 target proteins. The functional enrichment analysis showed that the target proteins mainly acted on the POI through the PI3K-Akt signaling pathway. In in vivo experiments, Tongfu decoction had a promoting effect on the serum level of IL-10, an inhibitory effect on the serum levels of IL-1ß and CCL2, and an inhibitory effect on the local expression of PI3K, pAkt, and mTOR in colon tissue. In addition, the Tongfu decoction increased the intestinal ink advancing rate. Conclusion: Nonoral Tongfu decoction can also be used to treat POI; its mechanism is affected by IL-10 and IL-1ß.The inhibition of the PI3K-Akt signaling pathway affected the treatment with Tongfu decoction by inducing an immune-inflammatory storm in POI.

A clinical study on the treatment of granulomatous lobular mastitis by the external application of the internal pus-expelling decoction and operation.

BACKGROUND: The objective of this study was to evaluate the clinical efficacy of the external application of internal expulsion pus-expelling decoction (IEPED) combined with surgery in the treatment of granulomatous lobular mastitis (GLM). METHODS: A total of 110 patients in our hospital with sepsis GLM were randomly divided into two groups: treatment group (n=60, the wound was treated with IEPED) and control group (n=50, the wound was not treated with IEPED). We assessed the recurrence, contra lateral breast form, and aesthetic evaluation of the patients in the two groups. RESULTS: The total effective rates in the patients in the treatment group and the control group were 90% and 68%, respectively, after the preoperative pretreatment and before radical surgery (P<0.05). After 10 days of receiving the debridement treatment, the two groups were compared in term of physical signs scores and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). Within one year of the regular follow-up after treatment, 0 case recurred in the treatment group and 1 case recurred in the control group (P>0.05). In the treatment group, 30 cases showed excellent results in the aesthetic evaluation of breast appearance, 18 cases were good, and the overall excellent and good rate was up to 80%. In the control group, 12 cases showed excellent results and 16 cases showed good results, with the overall excellent and good rate reaching 56% (P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: In patients with abscess debridement of GLM, the external application of IEPED can significantly reduce the primary lesion of patients with abscess GLM, reduce the surgical resection area, and maximize the preservation of the patients' breast appearance.

Synthesis of Co3S4-SnO2/polyvinylpyrrolidone-cellulose heterojunction as highly performance catalyst for photocatalytic and antimicrobial properties under ultra-violet irradiation.

In this work, we present Co3S4-SnO2 supported polyvinylpyrrolidone-cellulose (PVPCS) nano-structure for Lidocaine degradation. The nanostructure was characterized by various techniques i.e. morphological and optical ones. The results have demonstrated that Co3S4-SnO2 nanocomposites were evenly supported on the PVPCS. Moreover, the photocatalysis performances of the catalysts were investigated under ultra-violet (UV) light irradiation. The nano-structure Co3S4-SnO2/PVPCS composite (98.72%) revealed the highest photocatalysis performance as compared to SnO2 nanoparticles, and Co3S4-SnO2 nanocomposites. The photo-stability of nano-structure Co3S4-SnO2/PVPCS composite was characterized using cyclic catalytic experimental. Results demonstrated a substantially stable performance of the nano-structure Co3S4-SnO2/PVPCS composite. The biological properties of Co3S4-SnO2/PVPCS composite were investigated through the antibacterial (versus Staphylococcus aureus, and Escherichia coli) and antifungal studies (Candida albicans). As the results declared, Co3S4-SnO2 nanocomposites have substantial biological properties as compared to SnO2 nanoparticles, and Co3S4-SnO2 nanocomposites.

[Characteristics of Denitrification Inhibiting Sulfate Reducing Process].

In this study, a set of two-stage UASB reactor was used to study the characteristics of denitrification inhibiting sulfate reduction in oil field gathering and transportation system and some high salt wastewater, and the characteristics of granular sludge and microbial characteristics were studied after the stable operation of the process. The results showed that the addition of NaNO2 increased the number of denitrifying bacteria (DNB) from 7.0×103 CFU·(100 mL)-1 to 7.3×105 CFU·(100 mL)-1 and remained stable in the process from start to mature. The competitive inhibition caused by DNB decreased the number of SRB from 8.0×105 CFU·(100 mL)-1 to 7.6×104 CFU·(100 mL)-1. Meanwhile, the sulfate reduction was inhibited, and the inhibition rate increased and finally stabilized to 82%. The study on mass ratio of microbial mass to nitrite effecting on denitrification efficiency showed that the inhibition rate of S2- was the highest, reaching 92%, when the mass ratio was 1200. The inhibition rate of the process could remain at about 92%, with good stability. The particle size and sedimentation rate of granular sludge were measured to determine whether the process conditions were favorable for the formation of granular sludge. The study showed that the denitrifying granular sludge formed was brown, basically ellipsoidal and spherical, with smooth surface and high density. Before the denitrification inhibition, the particle size of granular sludge was 1.0-1.4 mm and the average diameter was 1.17 mm, and after denitrification inhibition, the particle size distribution was 1.2-1.6 mm, the average particle size was 1.21 mm, which indicated that the denitrification inhibition increased the size of granular sludge. The average sedimentation velocity of denitrifying granular sludge was 47.6 m·h-1, which revealed the good settling performance of the granular sludge. The results of PCR-DGGE analysis showed that the denitrification inhibition reduced the number of microbial species from 18 to 14 and the number of dominant species decreased from 4 to 3, indicating the decreasing microbial diversity. The similarity of microbial population before and after nitrification was 62.6% and the population structure changed greatly from SRB to DNB. The number of dominant SRB species decreased from 4 to 2 after denitrification inhibition and the abundance of every species decreased obviously. The main functional bacterial species of the inhibition process was uncultured Sulfurimonas sp., which is a kind of autotrophic denitrifying bacteria. It dominated and competed with SRB for electrons, inhibiting the sulfate reduction and the production of sulfide.