DCX variants in two unrelated Chinese families with subcortical band heterotopia: Two case reports and review of literature.

Introduction: Subcortical band heterotopia (SBH) is a rare brain developmental malformation caused by deficient neuronal migration during embryogenesis. Published literature on pediatric SBH cases caused by DCX mutations is limited. Methods: The detailed clinical and genetic features of two pediatric SBH with DCX mutations were analyzed. The available literature on DCX mutations was reviewed. Results: Both patients were girls with varying degrees of developmental delay. Patient 1 was short in stature with peculiar facial features. Patient 2 had an early seizure onset and developed drug-resistant epilepsy. Whole-exome sequencing (WES) revealed two de novo heterozygous variants of DCX (NM_178153.3), including a novel missense variant of c.568A > G (p.K190E) in P1 and a reported nonsense variant of c.814C > T (p.R272*) in P2. We reviewed all the available literature regarding DCX mutations. A total of 153 different mutations have been reported, with the majority of 99 (64.7 %) being missense mutations. Conclusion: Our study expanded the mutational spectrum of DCX, which has important implications for the study of genotype-phenotype correlations. Furthermore, it provided insights to better understand SBH and genetic counseling.

Globus pallidus/putamen T1WI signal intensity ratio in grading and predicting prognosis of neonatal acute bilirubin encephalopathy.

Purpose: This study sought to investigate the relationship between the globus pallidus/putamen T1 weighted image (T1WI) signal intensity ratio (G/P ratio) and the acute bilirubin encephalopathy (ABE) in neonates, and to develop a new strategy for the grading and prognosis of ABE based on the G/P ratio. Methods: A total of 77 full-term neonates with ABE were scored according to bilirubin-induced neurological dysfunction and divided into mild, moderate, and severe groups. Cranial magnetic resonance imaging examinations were performed and the G/P ratio was recorded. The follow-up reexaminations were carried out at 6 months, 1 year, and 2 years after the initial examination. The neonates were then divided into two groups, the good prognosis group and the kernicterus spectrum disorder (KSD) group, according to the evaluation of Gesell Developmental Schedules and Brainstem Audio Electric Potential at 6 months. Main findings: The differences of G/P ratios were statistically significant, not only among the mild, moderate, and severe ABE groups for the initial examinations but also between the KSD and the good prognosis groups for the follow-up reexaminations. Therefore, the ABE grading model and prognosis predicting model could be established based on the G/P ratio. In the KSD group, the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of the G/P ratio-based predicting model was 93.5%, the optimal critical point was 1.29, the sensitivity was 88.2%, and the specificity was 93.3%. Conclusions: The G/P ratio can be used as an indicating parameter for both the clinical grading of neonatal ABE and the assessment of neonatal ABE prognosis. Specifically, the G/P ratio greater than 1.29 indicates a KSD of neonatal ABE.

A 3,5-dinitropyridin-2yl Substituted Flavonol-based Fluorescent Probe for Rapid Detection of H2S in Water, Foodstuff Samples and Living Cells.

A novel flavonol-based fluorescent probe, Fla-DNT, has been synthesized for the rapid and specific detection of H2S. Fla-DNT exhibits excellent selectivity and anti-interference properties, a short response time (4 min), large Stokes shift (138 nm), and low detection limit (1.357 µM). Upon exposure to H2S, Fla-DNT displays a remarkable increase in fluorescence intensity at 542 nm. Meanwhile, the recognizing site of H2S was predicted through Electrostatic potential and ADCH charges calculations, while the sensing mechanism of H2S was determined via HRMS analysis and DFT calculation. More importantly, the probe owes multiple applications, such as a recovery rate ranging from 92.00 to 102.10% for detecting H2S in water samples, and it can be fabricated into fluorescent strips to track H2S production during food spoilage by tracking color changes, thereby enabling real-time monitoring of food freshness. The bioimaging experiments demonstrate the capability of Fla-DNT to detect both endogenous and exogenous H2S in living cells. These results provide a reliable method and idea for H2S detection in complex environments.

Diagnostic Performance of 3D-NERVE as an Adjunct to Electromyography for the Assessment of Brachial Plexus Injury in Infants.

Objective: This study aimed to explore diagnostic performance of 3D-NERVE as an adjunct to electromyography for the assessment of brachial plexus injury in infants. Methods: Imaging of infants with brachial plexus injury using 3D-NERVE and/or 3D-STIR from 2019 to 2022 were reviewed. Images were evaluated between the 2 sequences for nerve-to-fat ratio, nerve-to-muscle ratio, muscle-to-fat ratio, fat suppression homogeneity, and display rate of brachial plexus branches. Results: This study included 37 infants who were referred for a clinical diagnosis of brachial plexus injury. A total of 21 infants accepted 3D-NERVE sequence scanning, and 16 infants accepted 3D-NERVE and 3D-STIR sequences scanning. The results of examination were generally consistent with electromyography. The 2 sequences were compared, yielding the following results. There were no pulsation artifacts (0/16), and 1 case with heterogeneous fat saturation (1/16) was seen on 3D-NERVE. There were no pulsation artifacts (0/16), and 5 cases with heterogeneous fat saturation (5/16) were seen on 3D-STIR. 3D-NERVE performed better (P < .05) for nerve-to-fat and nerve-to-muscle ratios compared with 3D-STIR, and no significant difference in the muscle-to-fat ratio (P > .05). The 3D-NERVE and STIR helped depict 100% (16/16) of the brachial roots and brachial plexus trunk. Brachial plexus bundles and brachial plexus branches were observed in 93.75% (15/16) and 68.75% (11/16) of the 3D-NERVE and 93.75% (15/16) and 62.5% (10/16) of the 3D-STIR, respectively. The differences were not statistically significant (P > .05). Conclusion: Nerve trauma was better visualized with the 3D-NERVE, which is an effective adjunct to electromyography for doctors to assess brachial plexus injury and consequently helps in better treatment planning.

Multiple Applications of a Novel Fluorescence Probe with Large Stokes Shift and Sensitivity for Rapid H2S Detection.

Herein, a novel fluorescence probe Fla-DNP based on flavonol has been designed and synthesized for rapid, specific detection of H2S. With the addition of H2S, Fla-DNP triggered thiolysis and released Fla displaying the "turn-on" fluorescence response at 566 nm, which is consistent with the reaction site predicted by calculating Electrostatic potential and ADCH charges. As an easily available H2S probe, Fla-DNP has the advantages of high selectivity, anti-interference, low detection limit (0.834 µM), short response time (6 min), and large Stokes shift (124 nm). The sensing mechanism of H2S was determined by HRMS analysis and DFT calculation. Moreover, Fla-DNP processes a wide range of multiple applications, including the detection of H2S in environmental water samples with good recovery rates ranging from 89.6% to 102.0%, as well as tracking the production of H2S during food spoilage. Meanwhile, the probe exhibits superior biocompatibility and can not only be available used for H2S detection in living cells but be further designed as an H2S-activated CO photoreleaser, based on which it can be developed as a targeted anti-cancer drug. A novel fluorescence probe Fla-DNP was synthesized utilizing 4-dimethylaminobenzoxanthone fluorescent dye (Fla) as the fluorophore, 2, 4-dinitrobenzenether group (DNP) as the recognition group, which can rapidly respond to H2S with high selectivity, anti-interference, low detection limit (0.834 µM), short response time (6 min), and large Stokes shift (124 nm) characteristics. The practical applications of Fla-DNP were further explored in water, foodstuffs samples and living cells. It is reflected that Fla-DNP can not only track H2S in complex environment water, but also can detect H2S produced during foodstuffs spoilage to monitor food freshness. More importantly, Fla-DNP can be available used for H2S detection in living cells and utilize the properties of the photoinduced release of CO from flavonols to be designed as a bifunctional platform for H2S detection and CO release. It is demonstrated that H2S-activated CO photoreleaser Fla-DNP has promise for development as an anti-cancer drug.

The value of CT radiomic in differentiating mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia from streptococcus pneumoniae pneumonia with similar consolidation in children under 5 years.

Objective: To investigate the value of CT radiomics in the differentiation of mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia (MPP) from streptococcus pneumoniae pneumonia (SPP) with similar CT manifestations in children under 5 years. Methods: A total of 102 children with MPP (n = 52) or SPP (n = 50) with similar consolidation and surrounding halo on CT images in Qilu Hospital and Qilu Children's Hospital between January 2017 and March 2022 were enrolled in the retrospective study. Radiomic features of the both lesions on plain CT images were extracted including the consolidation part of the pneumonia or both consolidation and surrounding halo area which were respectively delineated at region of interest (ROI) areas on the maximum axial image. The training cohort (n = 71) and the validation cohort (n = 31) were established by stratified random sampling at a ratio of 7:3. By means of variance threshold, the effective radiomics features, SelectKBest and least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression method were employed for feature selection and combined to calculate the radiomics score (Rad-score). Six classifiers, including k-nearest neighbor (KNN), support vector machine (SVM), extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost), random forest (RF), logistic regression (LR), and decision tree (DT) were used to construct the models based on radiomic features. The diagnostic performance of these models and the radiomic nomogram was estimated and compared using the area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC), and the decision curve analysis (DCA) was used to evaluate which model achieved the most net benefit. Results: RF outperformed other classifiers and was selected as the backbone in the classifier with the consolidation + the surrounding halo was taken as ROI to differentiate MPP from SPP in validation cohort. The AUC value of MPP in validation cohort was 0.822, the sensitivity and specificity were 0.81 and 0.81, respectively. Conclusion: The RF model has the best classification efficiency in the identification of MPP from SPP in children, and the ROI with both consolidation and surrounding halo is most suitable for the delineation.

Parental reports of stress and anxiety in their migrant children in China: The mediating role of parental psychological aggression and corporal punishment.

BACKGROUND: Both ecological system theory and developmental contextualism framework have pointed out that family is one of the most direct microsystem environmental factors affecting children adjustment, especially for migrant children. As two major family microsystem factors, parenting stress and harsh discipline may be closely related to migrant children's anxiety. OBJECTIVE: This study examined the predictive effects of both mothers' and fathers' parenting stress on Chinese migrant children's anxiety one year later in the single model and the mediating role of mothers' and fathers' harsh discipline (psychological aggression and corporal punishment). PARTICIPANTS: Participants were 483 mother-father dyads with at least one elementary school-age child of Chinese migrant families. METHODS: Parenting stress, parental harsh discipline (psychological aggression and corporal punishment), and children's anxiety were all reported by mothers and fathers. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to examine the direct effects of both maternal and paternal parenting stress (T1) on child anxiety (T3), and the mediating roles of both maternal and paternal harsh discipline (psychological aggression and corporal punishment) (T2) in the effects. RESULTS: Our findings indicated that maternal but not paternal parenting stress had direct effects on Chinese migrant children's anxiety one year later, and both maternal and paternal parenting stress had indirect effects on migrant children's anxiety through parental psychological aggression but not corporal punishment. CONCLUSIONS: Findings from the present study highlight the importance of simultaneously considering the influence of both maternal and paternal parenting on child adjustment.

[Clinical and genetic analysis of a child with ZTTK syndrome due to heterozygous variant of SON gene].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the genetic etiology of a small-for-date infant with gastrointestinal bleeding, developmental delay and thrombocytopenia (Zhu-Tokita-Takenouchi-Kim syndrome). METHODS: Clinical and laboratory examinations were carried out for the patient. Next-generation sequencing (NGS) was used to detect potential variant associated with the disease. Candidate variant was verified by Sanger sequencing of the child and her parents. RESULTS: NGS revealed that the child has carried a heterozygous c.5751_5754del variant of the SON gene, which resulted in a frameshift p.V1918Efs*87. The same variant was detected in neither parent. CONCLUSION: The heterozygous variant of SON gene probably underlay the ZTTK syndrome in this child. Above finding has enriched the mutational spectrum of the SON gene and provides a basis for genetic counseling and clinical decision-making.

Exploring the nitrogen reservoir of biodegradable household garbage and its potential in replacing synthetic nitrogen fertilizers in China.

Biodegradable household garbage contains a large amount of nitrogen, which could be used as organic fertilizer to produce organic food and significantly reduce synthetic nitrogen fertilizers. There is limited information on how large the nitrogen reservoir of biodegradable household garbage is in a certain country or region. Here we took China as a case, analyzed the amount of biodegradable household garbage resources and their nitrogen reservoirs. It was noted that the biodegradable household garbage mainly included food waste, waste paper and wood chips, with the amount being 31.56, 29.55, and 6.45 × 106 t·a-1, respectively. Accordingly, the nitrogen reservoirs were 65.31 × 104, 6.80 × 104, and 3.81 × 104 t·a-1 in China. The nitrogen reservoir of food waste accounted for 86% of the total nitrogen reservoir of biodegradable household garbage, which was equivalent to 11% of the amount of actual absorption for synthetic nitrogen fertilizers (6.20 × 106 t·a-1) by agriculture plants in China. Our findings provided a scientific basis for the classification and utilization of biodegradable household garbage.

Computed Tomography Measurement and Evaluation of the Subarachnoid Space Over Cerebral Convexities in Infants Aged 1-24 Months.

A widened subarachnoid space might be pathologic, potentially pathologic, or simply a normal developmental variant. However, the definition of a normal subarachnoid space width in infants remains unclear, especially on computed tomography (CT) images. To determine the physiological subarachnoid space width among infants aged 1-24 months, its upper limit, and changes with age, we measured the cerebrospinal fluid width on 538 CT images. Measurements were obtained at fixed planes and fixed positions to prevent variance and increase comparability between patients. We observed an asymmetry in the cerebrospinal fluid width of the temporal region. The width increased in all positions until 4-6 months of age, after which it began to decrease, reaching a relatively stable range in infants aged 13-24 months. We suggest considering the 95th percentile of the cerebrospinal fluid width as the upper limit. The correlation between age and the subarachnoid space width should be considered during clinical diagnosing.

Deep desulfurization of fuels using supported ionic liquid-polyoxometalate hybrid as catalyst: A comparison of different types of ionic liquids.

In this work, polyoxometalates-based monomer ionic liquid, dimer ionic liquid and polyionic liquid were designed and prepared. Then supported catalysts were synthesized by loading polyoxometalate derivatives on the surface of graphene oxide (GO). The catalysts before and after loading were characterized via many tests such as scanning electron microscope (SEM), infrared spectroscopy (IR), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and so on. The influences of ionic liquid type and carrier on desulfurization activity were carried out. The result shows that supported catalyst-based polyionic liquid (P[Vim]POM/GO) performed high activity and excellent recyclability in extraction-oxidation desulfurization (EODS) due to unique state of polyoxometalate and the support of graphene oxide. In addition, the possible mechanism of oxidation dibenzothiophene (DBT) with H2O2 was proposed according to the kinetic study and gas chromatography-mass spectrometer (GC-MS) result.

An Effective Hybrid Heterogeneous Catalyst to Desulfurize Diesel: Peroxotungstate@Metal-Organic Framework.

A peroxotungstate composite comprising the chromium terephthalate metal-organic framework MIL-101(Cr) and the Venturello peroxotungstate [PO4{WO(O2)2}4]3- (PW4) has been prepared by the impregnation method. The PW4@MIL-101(Cr) composite presents high catalytic efficiency for oxidative desulfurization of a multicomponent model diesel containing the most refractory sulfur compounds present in real fuels (2000 ppm of total S). The catalytic performance of this heterogeneous catalyst is similar to the corresponding homogeneous PW4 active center. Desulfurization efficiency of 99.7% was achieved after only 40 min at 70 °C using H2O2 as an oxidant and an ionic liquid as an extraction solvent ([BMIM]PF6, 2:1 model diesel/[BMIM]PF6). High recycling and reusing capacity was also found for PW4@MIL-101(Cr), maintaining its activity for consecutive oxidative desulfurization cycles. A comparison of the catalytic performance of this peroxotungstate composite with others previously reported tungstate@MIL-101(Cr) catalysts indicates that the presence of active oxygen atoms from the peroxo groups promotes a higher oxidative catalytic efficiency in a shorter reaction time.

Counterion-Controlled Formation of Layered Honeycomb and Polythreading Uranyl Networks and the Highly Sensitive and Selective Detection of Fe3+ in Aqueous Media.

Under hydrothermal conditions, six uranium coordination polymers were obtained by employing the ligand of tris(2-carboxyethyl) isocyanurate (H3tci) and different combinations of d-block metal ions (Mn2+, Co2+, Zn2+, Ni2+) or N-donors (triethylamine (Et3N), 2,2'-bipyridine (2,2'-bipy)). Three uranium polymers [(UO2)2(tci)2]1/2-·[Mn2(µ2-O)(H2O)8]1/2+·2H2O (1), [(UO2)2(tci)2]1/2-·[Co2(µ2-O)(H2O)8]1/2+ (2), and [(UO2)2(tci)2]1/2-·[Zn2(µ2-O)(H2O)8]1/2+·2H2O (3) containing transition metal hydrated ions, crystallized as two-dimensional coordination polymers with the common (6, 3) net topology. X-ray crystal structures of 1-3 display that they have similar honeycomb-like frameworks with all ligands bis-chelating. [UO2(tci)]-3·[Ni(H2O)6]2+(H3O)+·2H2O (4) and [UO2(tci)]-·[NH(CH2CH3)3]1/3+·(2H3O+)1/3 (5) are made up of four interlocked sets and exhibit the 4-fold-interpenetrated frameworks. [UO2(tci)]-·(C10H9N2)+·H2O (6) comprises the 2,2'-bipy cation as counterion and represents a 2D grid layered structure. Additional metals and the N-donors are all free in the complexes, acting as the templates and compensation of the charge equilibrium. The solid-state emission spectra indicate that all of the synthesized compounds own fluorescence emissions. Furthermore, the results of the quenching ability of Fe3+ for complexes 5 and 6 exhibit their highly sensitive and selective detection for Fe3+ ions. Moreover, the uranium complexes can be used as a potential probe for Fe3+ in aqueous solutions.

Magnetic-heteropolyacid mesoporous catalysts for deep oxidative desulfurization of fuel: The influence on the amount of APES used.

Magnetic-heteropolyacid mesoporous catalysts have been obtained, in which magnetic Fe3O4 in the center of MCM-41 mesoporous materials and APES (3-aminopropyl-triethoxysilane) used to link heteropolyacid. To noted, for the various molar ratio APES used in the synthesized process, different numbers of -OCH3 were exposed in the final products (zero, one and two), named Fe@MP-1, Fe@MP-2 and Fe@MP-3, respectively. Interestingly, the three kinds of catalysts exhibited the various DBT removal efficiency during the oxidative desulfurization process, mainly due to their structure variance leading to be the research focus in this work. Among them, under the oxygen in air as oxidant, Fe@MP-1, with no -OCH3 exposed outside, showed the excellent desulfurization activity with 100% DBT conversion in 90 min and behaved nearly no obvious decrease after at least 8 recycling times. Thus, the certain amount of APES, used to link active components with supporters, is suggested as an effective aspect to increase the oxidative desulfurization efficiency and maybe the different types of linkage also show the various influence, which will be focused on in our further researches.

[Application of apparent diffusion coefficient in children aged 2-12 years with intellectual disability/global developmental delay who have normal conventional brain MRI findings].

OBJECTIVE: To study the value of fast spin-echo diffusion weighted imaging (TSE-DWI) apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) in children aged 2-12 years with intellectual disability (ID)/global developmental delay (GDD) who have normal conventional brain MRI findings. METHODS: A total of 578 children with normal conventional brain MRI findings who met the diagnostic criteria for ID/GDD and 375 normal children were enrolled. Their imaging and clinical data were collected. All children underwent scanning with brain TSE-DWI sequence and routine sequence. ADC values of each brain region were compared between normal children with different ages, as well as between children with different degrees of ID/GDD in each age group. The influence of Adaptive Behavior Assessment System-II (ABAS-II) score on ADC values of each brain region was analyzed. RESULTS: For the normal children, the ADC values of the frontal and temporal white matter, the corpus callosum, the inner capsule, the centrum semiovale, the cerebellar dentate nucleus, the optic radiation, the thalamus, the lenticular nucleus, and the caudate nucleus gradually decreased with age (P<0.05). ADC values of the deep white matter, the shallow white matter, the deep gray matter nuclei, and the shallow gray matter increased with the increase in the degree of ID/GDD in the ID/GDD children aged 4-6 years (P<0.05). In the children with ID/GDD, the ADC values of the deep white matter, the shallow white matter, and the deep gray matter nuclei decreased with age (P<0.05). The ADC values of the children with ID/GDD decreased with the increase in ABAS-II score (P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: ADC can reflect the subtle structural changes of brain regions in children with ID/GDD who have normal conventional brain MRI findings. It may be associated with social adaptation. It can provide an objective basis for the quantitative diagnosis of ID/GDD in children.

CT scan and magnetic resonance diffusion-weighted imaging in the diagnosis and treatment of esophageal cancer.

Value of computed tomography (CT) scan and diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) in the diagnosis and treatment of esophageal cancer was investigated. Seventy-eight patients with esophageal cancer treated in Jinan Central Hospital (Jinan, China) from January 2013 to June 2014 were selected. All patients underwent CT scan and DWI examination, and their clinical history data were analyzed. DWI was conducted. The short-term curative effect and the 3-year survival rate of patients in the high apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) value group and the low ADC value group were compared; ADC values in the complete remission (CR) group and the partial remission (PR) group were compared. The difference in value between the length of esophageal lesions and the length of pathological specimens measured by CT scan was significantly different from that detected via DWI examination with b=600, 800 and 1,000 sec/mm2, respectively (P<0.05). The diagnostic rate of esophageal cancer via CT scan was significantly lower than that via DWI examination (P<0.05). After radiotherapy, the clinical control rate in the high ADC value group was significantly higher than that in the low ADC value group, and the 3-year survival rate in the former was significantly higher than that in the latter (P<0.05). In the 2nd week during radiotherapy and at the end of radiotherapy, the ADC values in the CR group were significantly higher than those in the PR group (P<0.05). In the 2nd week during radiotherapy and at the end of radiotherapy, ADC values were used to predict the CR rate of radiotherapy for esophageal cancer, and the areas under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve were 0.776 and 0.935, respectively. Compared with CT scan, DWI has higher diagnostic rate and higher sensitivity. The length of esophageal tumor measured by DWI is close to that of pathological entity, which can guide the delineation of the target area of esophageal cancer.

Synthesis and characterization of TiO2-V2O5-MCM-41 for catalyzing transesterification of dimethyl carbonate with phenol.

A series of TiO2-V2O5-MCM-41 molecular sieve catalysts were prepared by the impregnation method. The prepared catalysts were characterized by different techniques including X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and N2 adsorption-desorption. These catalysts were applied in the catalytic synthesis of diphenyl carbonate (DPC) by the transesterification of dimethyl carbonate (DMC) with phenol. The synthesis results indicated that the catalysts possessed the high specific surface area and large pore volume and included titanium with four ligands. Due to the vanadium introduction into Ti-MCM-41, the catalytic activity was promoted, by-products were reduced, and the catalytic activity and stability of the catalyst were significantly improved. With 10%V-20%Ti-MCM-41 catalyst, the optimal synthesis results including the conversion rate of DMC of 33.88%, the selectivity of DPC of 35.84%, and the yield of DPC of 12.14% were obtained.

Oxidative desulfurization process of model fuel under molecular oxygen by polyoxometalate loaded in hybrid material CNTs@MOF-199 as catalyst.

Fuel desulfurization as a crucial subject has aroused people's attention with the environmental problems becoming more and more important. Oxidative desulfurization (ODS) is one of the most promising methods due to its high efficiency, low cost, easy operation and mild reaction condition. With the loading of polyoxometalate (POM), a hybrid material (CNTs@MOF-199) supported catalysts (CNTs@MOF-199-POM) are designed and prepared using one-pot procedure. The novel catalysts are investigated by FT-IR, XRD, XPS, SEM and BET. Factors affecting the desulfurization, such as catalyst dosage, loading amount of POM, reaction temperature, agitation rate and reaction time, are evaluated, and the optimum reaction conditions are determined. The test results indicate that the catalyst CNTs@MOF-199-Mo16V2 possesses superior catalytic activity, with a desulfurization efficiency of up to 98.30%. In addition, CNTs@MOF-199-Mo16V2 exhibits an excellent reusability, and the catalytic efficiency is only slightly reduced after recycling for 7 times. Besides, the kinetic studies indicate that the desulfurization process belongs to apparent first-order kinetic reaction. And the apparent activation energy is 12.89 kJ/mol.

Large reductions in pesticides made possible by use of an insect-trapping lamp: a case study in a winter wheat-summer maize rotation system.

BACKGROUND: Increasing attention is being paid to physical methods to control pests such as insect trapping. In order to examine how pesticides can reasonably be combined with the use of an insect-trapping lamp and by how much this can reduce the amount of pesticide used, five treatments were applied to a winter wheat-summer maize rotation system in eastern China: a treatment in which only pesticides were used; a treatment with only insect-trapping lamps; insect-trapping lamps plus one application of pesticides; insect-trapping lamps plus two applications of pesticides; insect-trapping lamps plus three applications of pesticides. RESULTS: The results showed that, when pesticides were reduced by 25-35%, the insect-trapping lamps controlled the insect population well and yields were not decreased but were actually increased, with pesticides being applied only at 2 days before winter wheat planting, at winter wheat flowering and at the big flare stage of summer maize. Reducing pesticides by 35-65% had no adverse effect on crop yields, and thus had the potential to reduce the costs of pest control and produce the greatest economic benefit. When no pesticides were used in the insect-trapping lamp control area, the annual yield was still >15 t hm-2 . CONCLUSION: If pesticides are used in a timely fashion and at the appropriate stage, their use may be greatly reduced with the help of an insect-trapping lamp. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry.

Preparation of mesoporous Cs-POM@MOF-199@MCM-41 under two different synthetic methods for a highly oxidesulfurization of dibenzothiophene.

Two different synthetic methods, the direct method and the substitution method, were used to synthesize the Cs-POM@MOF-199@MCM-41 (Cs-PMM), in which the modified heteropolyacid with cesium salt has been encapsulated into the pores with the mixture of MOF and MCM-41. The structural properties of the as-prepared catalysts were characterized using various analytical techniques: powder X-ray diffraction, FT-IR, SEM, TEM, XPS and BET, confirming that the Cs-POM active species retained its Keggin structure after immobilization. The substitution method of Cs-PMM exhibited more excellent catalytic performance for oxidative desulfurization of dibenzothiophene in the presence of oxygen. Under optimal conditions, the DBT conversion rate reached up to 99.6% and could be recycled 10 times without significant loss of catalytic activity, which is mainly attributed to the slow leaching of the active heteropolyacid species from the strong fixed effect of the mixture porous materials.