A compact and cost-effective laser-powered speckle visibility spectroscopy (SVS) device for measuring cerebral blood flow.

In the realm of cerebrovascular monitoring, primary metrics typically include blood pressure, which influences cerebral blood flow (CBF) and is contingent upon vessel radius. Measuring CBF non-invasively poses a persistent challenge, primarily attributed to the difficulty of accessing and obtaining signal from the brain. This study aims to introduce a compact speckle visibility spectroscopy (SVS) device designed for non-invasive CBF measurements, offering cost-effectiveness and scalability while tracking CBF with remarkable sensitivity and temporal resolution. The wearable hardware has a modular design approach consisting solely of a laser diode as the source and a meticulously selected board camera as the detector. They both can be easily placed on a subject's head to measure CBF with no additional optical elements. The SVS device can achieve a sampling rate of 80 Hz with minimal susceptibility to external disturbances. The device also achieves better SNR compared with traditional fiber-based SVS devices, capturing about 70 times more signal and showing superior stability and reproducibility. It is designed to be paired and distributed in multiple configurations around the head, and measure signals that exceed the quality of prior optical CBF measurement techniques. Given its cost-effectiveness, scalability, and simplicity, this laser-centric tool offers significant potential in advancing non-invasive cerebral monitoring technologies.

Assessing depth sensitivity in laser interferometry speckle visibility spectroscopy (iSVS) through source-to-detector distance variation and cerebral blood flow monitoring in humans and rabbits.

Recently, speckle visibility spectroscopy (SVS) was non-invasively applied on the head to monitor cerebral blood flow. The technique, using a multi-pixel detecting device (e.g., camera), allows the detection of a larger number of speckles, increasing the proportion of light that is detected. Due to this increase, it is possible to collect light that has propagated deeper through the brain. As a direct consequence, cerebral blood flow can be monitored. However, isolating the cerebral blood flow from the other layers, such as the scalp or skull components, remains challenging. In this paper, we report our investigations on the depth-sensitivity of laser interferometry speckle visibility spectroscopy (iSVS). Specifically, we varied the depth of penetration of the laser light into the head by tuning the source-to-detector distance, and identified the transition point at which cerebral blood flow in humans and rabbits starts to be detected.

Interferometric speckle visibility spectroscopy (iSVS) for measuring decorrelation time and dynamics of moving samples with enhanced signal-to-noise ratio and relaxed reference requirements.

Diffusing wave spectroscopy (DWS) is a group of techniques used to measure the dynamics of a scattering medium in a non-invasive manner. DWS methods rely on detecting the speckle light field from the moving scattering medium and measuring the speckle decorrelation time to quantify the scattering medium's dynamics. For DWS, the signal-to-noise (SNR) is determined by the ratio between measured decorrelation time to the standard error of the measurement. This SNR is often low in certain applications because of high noise variances and low signal intensity, especially in biological applications with restricted exposure and emission levels. To address this photon-limited signal-to-noise ratio problem, we investigated, theoretically and experimentally, the SNR of an interferometric speckle visibility spectroscopy (iSVS) compared to more traditional DWS methods. We found that iSVS can provide excellent SNR performance through its ability to overcome camera noise. We also proved an iSVS system has more relaxed constraints on the reference beam properties. For an iSVS system to function properly, we only require the reference beam to exhibit local temporal stability, while incident angle, reference phase and intensity uniformity do not need to be constrained. This flexibility can potentially enable more unconventional iSVS implementation schemes.

Analysis of phellinus igniarius effects on gastric cancer cells by atomic force microscopy.

Gastric cancer is one of the common malignant tumors in the world, which originates from the gene mutation of human cells. In this work, an atomic force microscope was used to quantitatively detect the changes of multiple physical parameters such as the cell morphology, surface roughness, elasticity modulus and adhesion force before and after Phellinus linteus stimulation. The experimental results show that Phellinus linteus can change the shape of gastric cancer cells (SGC-7901) from flat to spherical, and increase their height and surface roughness values. The adhesion force of cells is reduced and the elasticity modulus is increased. But there are no significant differences in the morphology and mechanical properties of gastric epithelial cells (GES-1). The results indicate that Phellinus linteus has a high anticancer effect on the gastric cancer cells, but has less toxic side effects on the gastric epithelial cells. This work proves that Phellinus linteus can be used as a preferred anticancer drug for the treatment of gastric cancer cells.

Simultaneous methanogenesis and denitrification coupled with nitrifying biofilm for high-strength wastewater treatment: Performance and microbial mechanisms.

A combined system consisting of an upflow blanket filter (UBF) and a moving-bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) was developed for the simultaneous removal of organic matters and ammonia from high-strength wastewater. With a constant COD of approximately 2000 mg/L and ammonium nitrogen in a series of concentrations (e.g., 50, 200 and 400 mg/L in stages I to III) of the influent wastewater, the removal efficiencies of COD, ammonium nitrogen and total nitrogen reached 96.10%-98.19%, 100%, and 79.12%-82.15%, respectively. With the increase of influent ammonia nitrogen concentration, the specific methanogenic activity of the UBF granules decreased significantly, while the specific denitrification rates of the UBF granules and specific nitrification rates of the MBBR biofilms increased significantly. Microbial community analysis showed that Methanobacterium and Methanosaeta were the dominant methanogens in the UBF granules, while Candidatus Competibacter, Thauera and Acinetobacter were identified as dominant denitrifiers. In addition, nitrifiers were enriched in MBBR biofilms at 11.33% and 13.87% of the average abundance of Nitrosomonas and Nitrospira, respectively, at stage III (influent ammonium at 400 mg/L, COD/NH4+-N =  5). The ecological network analysis, including full-networks and sub-networks, indicated that the interactions between methanogens and denitrifiers in the UBF granules were strong when the influent ammonium concentration reached 400 mg/L. No intensive interactions were observed among the functional bacteria in the MBBR biofilms over the entire operation. Overall, this study provides a new strategy for the application and construction of efficient biological processes to achieve simultaneous removal of organic matter and nitrogen for high-strength wastewater treatment.

Methodology of network pharmacology for research on Chinese herbal medicine against COVID-19: A review.

Traditional Chinese medicine, as a complementary and alternative medicine, has been practiced for thousands of years in China and possesses remarkable clinical efficacy. Thus, systematic analysis and examination of the mechanistic links between Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) and the complex human body can benefit contemporary understandings by carrying out qualitative and quantitative analysis. With increasing attention, the approach of network pharmacology has begun to unveil the mystery of CHM by constructing the heterogeneous network relationship of "herb-compound-target-pathway," which corresponds to the holistic mechanisms of CHM. By integrating computational techniques into network pharmacology, the efficiency and accuracy of active compound screening and target fishing have been improved at an unprecedented pace. This review dissects the core innovations to the network pharmacology approach that were developed in the years since 2015 and highlights how this tool has been applied to understanding the coronavirus disease 2019 and refining the clinical use of CHM to combat it.

Multi-Layered Branched Surface Fluorination on PVDF Membrane for Anti-Scaling Membrane Distillation.

Membrane distillation (MD) has emerged as a promising technology for hypersaline wastewater treatment. However, membrane scaling is still a critical issue for common hydrophobic MD membranes. Herein, we report a multi-layered surface modification strategy on the commercial polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membrane via plasma treatment and surface fluorination cycles. The repeated plasma treatment process generates more reaction sites for the fluorination reaction, leading to higher fluorination density and more branched structures. MD tests with CaSO4 as the scaling agent show that the modification strategy mentioned above improves the membrane scaling resistance. Notably, the PVDF membrane treated with three cycles of plasma and fluorination treatments exhibits the best anti-scaling performance while maintaining almost the same membrane flux as the unmodified PVDF membrane. This study suggests that a highly branched surface molecular structure with low surface energy benefits the MD process in both membrane flux and scaling resistance. Besides, our research demonstrates a universal and facile approach for membrane treatment to improve membrane scaling resistance.

Bioactive prenylated phenolic compounds from the aerial parts of Glycyrrhiza uralensis.

In this work, a bioassay-guided fractionation strategy was used to isolate 26 phenolic compounds from the ethyl acetate partition of an ethanol extract of the aerial parts of Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fisch. ex DC. Among them, 8 prenylated phenolic compounds (glycyuralins Q-X) were described for the first time. The two enantiomers of glycyuralin Q were purified and their absolute configurations were established by ECD spectral calculations. (1″R, 2″S)-glycyuralin Q and (1″S, 2″R)-glycyuralin Q showed significant inhibitory activities against SARS-CoV-2 virus proteases 3CLpro with IC50 values of 1.5 ± 1.0 and 4.0 ± 0.3 µM, and PLpro with IC50 values of 2.4 ± 0.2 and 1.9 ± 0.1 µM, respectively. Four compounds showed potent cytotoxic activities against A549, Huh-7, and HepG2 human cancer cells with IC50 values ranging from 0.5 to 2.5 µM.

Comparing biotransformation of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) under aerobic and anoxic conditions: Reactivities, components, and bacterial responses.

This study aimed to better understand the transformation behaviors of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) and their roles in regulating bacterial community in biological wastewater treatment processes. Herein, well-controlled bioassays under aerobic and anoxic conditions were performed to investigate degradation dynamics, composition variations, and bacterial response during EPS transformation. Reactivity continuum modeling showed that organic pools of EPS had continuous reactivity distributions, and most labile organic fraction with a degrading rate >0.1 h-1 was substantially higher under aerobic (20.47%) than anoxic (2.02%) condition. Rapid degradation of protein-like substances in the initial degradation stage was accompanied by the humification process, as revealed by UV absorption spectroscopy, fluorescence spectroscopy, and size exclusion chromatography with continuous organic carbon detection analysis. The 16S rRNA gene sequencing results showed that the selection effect of EPS in controlling abundant populations during their transformation, e.g., Acinetobacter was enriched, and Candidatus Competibacter was washed out relative to the source community. Furthermore, taxonomic normalized stochasticity ratio-based null model and bacterial ecological network analysis indicated higher relative importance of deterministic process in shaping the EPS-degrading communities under aerobic than anoxic condition, likely explaining the faster EPS biotransformation under aerobic condition. Intriguingly, the keystone populations driving EPS metabolism showed the environmental filtering characteristics (e.g., capable of degrading refractory and aromatic compounds or adapting to harsh environments) and cooperative interactions with the co-occurring species under both conditions. This work is expected to reveal the fates and roles of EPS in wastewater treatment plants extensively.

Stabilization of Antitumor Agent Busulfan through Encapsulation within a Water-Soluble Pillar[5]arene.

The complexation of the antitumor agent busulfan by negatively charged carboxylatopillar[5]arene in water is reported. The encapsulation within carboxylatopillar[5]arene reduces the hydrolytic degradation of busulfan from 90.7% to 25.2% after 24 days and accordingly enhances its stability by providing a hydrophobic shelter for busulfan in water. Moreover, the complexation results in 12 times improvement of water solubility for busulfan. Our result provides a supramolecular approach for stabilizing the anticancer agent busulfan.

Network pharmacology-based study on immunomodulatory mechanism of danggui-yimucao herb pair for the treatment of RU486-induced abortion.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: The Danggui-Yimucao herb pair (DY) is a classic combination in Chinese herbal formulas, consisting of the root of Angelica sinensis (Oliv.) Diels and the aerial parts of Leonurus japonicus Houtt. DY first appeared in "Zhulinsi fuke mifang" in the Jin Dynasty, and it has a long history as a drug for the treatment of abortion. However, its underlying immunomodulatory mechanisms involved are still unclear. AIM OF THE STUDY: In this study, network pharmacology and pharmacological experiments were used to explore the role and mechanism of DY in the treatment of medical abortion. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Network pharmacology was used to establish the relationship between the components of DY and abortion-related targets, and to enrich important pathways and biological process for verification. ELISA was used to assess progesterone levels. Flow cytometry was used to detect the degree of differentiation of Th1/Th2 cells. Immunohistochemical methods and qPCR were used to measure the expression levels of T-bet, GATA-3 and IL-4. RESULTS: Through the prediction analysis of network pharmacology, we found that key pathway for DY treatment of abortion, such as anemia, pelvic infection, immune disorders, and coagulation disorders, was Th1/Th2 cell differentiation pathway. The pharmacological results revealed that DY greatly corrected the imbalance of Th cell subsets in abortion mice, significantly inhibited the differentiation of Th2 cells, and resulted in an increase in the Th1/Th2 ratio. In addition, the concentration of progesterone in the serum of mice after abortion was significantly reduced. We also found that DY upregulated spleen T-bet and downregulated IL-4 gene expression in mice. Besides, immunohistochemical results showed that DYE could up-regulate T-bet but inhibit GATA-3 expression. CONCLUSIONS: Our results showed that after RU486-induced abortion, progesterone and Th1/Th2 paradigm were disordered in mice, but DY could make mice recover more quickly, which indicated that DY had great development value in immunoregulation.

Network Pharmacology-Based Dissection of the Active Ingredients and Protective Mechanism of the Salvia Miltiorrhiza and Panax Notoginseng Herb Pair against Insulin Resistance.

The Salvia miltiorrhiza and Panax notoginseng herb pair (DQ) has been widely utilized in traditional Chinese medicine for the longevity and for preventing and treating cardio-cerebrovascular diseases. Often associated with cardio-cerebrovascular diseases are comorbidities such as insulin resistance. However, the protective mechanisms of DQ against insulin resistance remain not well understood. Through network pharmacology analysis, a total of 94 candidate active compounds selected from DQ (61 from S. miltiorrhiza Bunge and 33 from P. notoginseng (Burk.) F. H. Chen) interacted with 52 corresponding insulin resistance-related targets, which mainly involved insulin resistance and the AMPK signaling pathway. Furthermore, the contribution index calculation results indicated 25 compounds as the principal components of this herb pair against insulin resistance. Among them, ginsenoside F2, protocatechuic acid, and salvianolic acid B were selected and validated to promote glucose consumption through activating AMPK phosphorylation and upregulating GLUT4 in insulin-resistant cell model (HepG2/IR) cells. These findings indicated that DQ has the potential for repositioning in the treatment of insulin resistance mainly through the AMPK signaling pathway.

[Identification of quality markers of Qixuehe Capsules based on analytic hierarchy process and entropy weight methods].

Qixuehe Capsules is a compound Chinese patent medicine developed for treating the disorder of Qi and blood(a common etiology of gynecological disease), which has remarkable effects on smoothing liver and regulating Qi, activating blood circulation, and relieving pain. However, due to its complex prescriptions(15 herbs) and multiple effects, the quality control of Qixuehe Capsules has always been a bottleneck problem limiting its sustainable development. Therefore, this study adopted the traditional Chinese medicine Q-markers quantitative identification system established previously by our research group based on the combination of analytic hierarchy process and entropy weight methods. With the different effects of Qixuehe Capsules as the entry point, the comprehensive scores of chemical ingre-dients in Qixuehe Capsules under the items of effectiveness(smoothing liver and regulating qi, activating blood circulation, and relieving pain), testability and specificity were calculated and integrated, respectively. Subsequently, through the analysis of compatibility relationship of Qixuehe Capsules, 15 active ingredients with high comprehensive scores were found to be the top Q-mar-kers of Qixuehe Capsules, including ferulic acid, quercetin, caffeic acid, kaempferol, rutin, Z-ligustilide, senkyunolide Ⅰ, vanillic acid, protocatechuic acid, chlorogenic acid, rosmarinic acid, senkyunolide A, gallic acid, tetrahydropalmatine and eugenol. Collectively, this study not only provided scientific evidence for further research on the improvement and standardization of quality standards of Qixuehe Capsules but also provided methodological references for the quantitative identification of Q-markers of multi-effect traditional Chinese medicine formulae.

Comparison of mitochondrial genome and development of specific PCR primers for identifying two scuticociliates, Pseudocohnilembus persalinus and Uronema marinum.

BACKGROUND: Pseudocohnilembus persalinus and Uronema marinum (Ciliophora, Scuticociliatia), as parasitic scuticociliatid ciliates, were isolated from Scophthalmus maximus and Takifugu rubripes, respectively, in our previous studies. These ciliates are morphologically very similar; hence, it is difficult to identify specific scuticociliate species using traditional classification methods for performing taxonomic research and disease control studies. METHODS: We annotated the mitochondrial genomes of these two scuticociliates on the basis of previous sequencing, including analyses of nucleotide composition, codon usage, Ka/Ks, and p-distance. We also compared the nucleotide and amino acid similarity of the mitochondrial genomes of P. persalinus, U. marinum, and other 12 related ciliates, and a phylogenetic tree was constructed using 16 common genes. We chose the nad4 and nad7 genes to design specific PCR primers for identification. RESULTS: P. persalinus and U. marinum were found to have a close evolutionary relationship. Although codon preferences were similar, differences were observed in the usage of codons such as CGA, CGC, and GTC. Both Ka/Ks and p-distance were less than 1. Except for yejR, ymf57, ymf67, and ymf75, the amino acid sequence similarity between P. persalinus and U. marinum was greater than 50%. CONCLUSIONS: The mitochondrial genomes of P. persalinus and U. marinum were thoroughly compared to provide a reference for disease prevention and control. The specific PCR primers enabled us to identify P. persalinus and U. marinum rapidly and accurately at the molecular level, thus providing a basis for classification and identification.

Drug repurposing for COVID-19: could vitamin C combined with glycyrrhizic acid be at play by the findings of Li et al.'s database-based network pharmacology analysis?

The outbreak and pandemic of SARS-CoV-2 in 2019 has caused a severe public health burden and will challenge global health for the future. The discovery and mechanistic investigation of drugs against Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is in deadly demand. The paper published by Li and colleagues proposed the hypothesis that vitamin C combined with glycyrrhizic acid in treating COVID-19 and its mechanistic investigation was performed by a database-based network pharmacology. In this letter, we present critical comments on the limitations and insufficiencies involved, from both the perspective of network pharmacology and current evidence on COVID-19.

A "Graft to" Electrospun Zwitterionic Bilayer Membrane for the Separation of Hydraulic Fracturing-Produced Water via Membrane Distillation.

Simultaneous fouling and pore wetting of the membrane during membrane distillation (MD) is a major concern. In this work, an electrospun bilayer membrane for enhancing fouling and wetting resistance has been developed for treating hydraulic fracture-produced water (PW) by MD. These PWs can contain over 200,000 ppm total dissolved solids, organic compounds and surfactants. The membrane consists of an omniphobic surface that faces the permeate stream and a hydrophilic surface that faces the feed stream. The omniphobic surface was decorated by growing nanoparticles, followed by silanization to lower the surface energy. An epoxied zwitterionic polymer was grafted onto the membrane surface that faces the feed stream to form a tight antifouling hydration layer. The membrane was challenged with an aqueous NaCl solution containing sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), an ampholyte and crude oil. In the presence of SDS and crude oil, the membrane was stable and displayed salt rejection (>99.9%). Further, the decrease was much less than the base polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF) electrospun membrane. The membranes were also challenged with actual PW. Our results highlight the importance of tuning the properties of the membrane surface that faces the feed and permeate streams in order to maximize membrane stability, flux and salt rejection.

An integrated strategy for discovering effective components of Shaoyao Gancao decoction for treating neuropathic pain by the combination of partial least-squares regression and multi-index comprehensive method.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Neuropathic pain, the incidence of which ranges from 5 to 8% in the general population, remains challenge in the treatment. Shaoyao Gancao decoction (SGD) is a Chinese classical formula used to relieve pain for thousands of years and has been applied for neuropathic pain nowadays. However, the effective components of SGD for the treatment of neuropathic pain remains unclear. AIMS OF STUDY: To investigate the effect and potential mechanism of SGD against neuropathic pain and further reveal the effective components of SGD in the treatment of neuropathic pain. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Spared nerve injury (SNI) model rats of neuropathic pain were orally given SGD to intervene, the components in vivo after SGD administration were determined, behavior indicators, biochemical parameters, and metabolomics were applied for assessing the efficacy. Then correlation between components and biomarkers was analyzed by pearson correlation method. To further measure the contribution of components to efficacy, the combination of partial least-squares regression (PLSR) and multi-index comprehensive method was carried out, according to the corresponding contribution degree of the results, the components with large contribution degree were considered as the effective components. RESULTS: SGD exhibited a significant regulatory effect on neuropathic pain, which could increase the pain threshold and decrease the levels of SP, ß-EP, PGE2 and NO. With the high resolution of UPLC-Q-TOF/MS technology, a total of 128 compounds from SGD were identified and 44 of them were absorbed in blood. Besides, 40 serum biomarkers were identified after intervention of SGD and the metabolic pathways were constructed. The key metabolic pathways including Glycerophospholipid metabolism, Linoleic acid metabolism, Alpha-linolenic acid metabolism, Glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchor biosynthesis and Arachidonic acid metabolism may be related to the regulation of neuropathic pain. Metabolomics combined with PLSR and multi-index comprehensive method was utilized to discover 5 components including paeonol, DL-Arabinose, benzoic acid, hispaglabridin A and paeonilactone C as effective components of SGD in the treatment of neuropathic pain. This strategy was used to explore the effective components of SGD and elucidate its possible analgesic mechanism. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrate that SGD significantly relieved neuropathic pain and elucidated the effective components of SGD for treating neuropathic pain, the strategy as an illustrative case study can be applied to other classical formula and is beneficial to improve the quality and efficacy.

Deciphering the Active Compounds and Mechanisms of Qixuehe Capsule on Qi Stagnation and Blood Stasis Syndrome: A Network Pharmacology Study.

BACKGROUND: Qixuehe capsule (QXH), a Chinese patent medicine, has been demonstrated to be effective in the treatment of menstrual disorders. In traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) theory, qi stagnation and blood stasis syndrome (QS-BSS) is the main syndrome type of menstrual disorders. However, the pharmacodynamic effect of QXH in treating QS-BSS is not clear, and the main active compounds and underlying mechanisms remain unknown. METHODS: A rat model of QS-BSS was established to evaluate the pharmacodynamic effect of QXH. Thereafter, a network pharmacology approach was performed to decipher the active compounds and underlying mechanisms of QXH. RESULTS: QXH could significantly reduce the rising whole blood viscosity (WBV) and plasma viscosity (PV) but also normalize prothrombin time (PT), activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT), thrombin time (TT), and fibrinogen (FIB) content in QS-BSS rats. Based on partial least-squares-discriminant analysis (PLS-DA), the low-dose QXH-intervened (QXH-L) and the high-dose QXH-intervened (QXH-H) groups seemed the most effective by calculating the relative distance to normality. Through network pharmacology, QXH may improve hemorheological abnormality mainly via 185 compounds-51 targets-28 pathways, whereas 184 compounds-68 targets-28 pathways were associated with QXH in improving coagulopathy. Subsequently, 25 active compounds of QXH were verified by UPLC-Q/TOF-MS. Furthermore, 174 active compounds of QXH were shared in improving hemorheological abnormality and coagulopathy in QS-BSS, each of which can act on multiple targets to be mainly involved in complement and coagulation cascades, leukocyte transendothelial migration, PPAR signaling pathway, VEGF signaling pathway, and arachidonic acid metabolism. The attribution of active compounds indicated that Angelicae Sinensis Radix (DG), Paeoniae Radix Rubra (CS), Carthami Flos (HH), Persicae Semen (TR), and Corydalis Rhizoma (YHS) were the vital herbs of QXH in treating QS-BSS. CONCLUSION: QXH can improve the hemorheology abnormality and coagulopathy of QS-BSS, which may result from the synergy of multiple compounds, targets, and pathways.

Identifying the rate-determining step of the electrocatalytic hydrodechlorination reaction on palladium nanoparticles.

Identifying the rate-determining step over the catalysts and clarifying the underlying mechanisms are crucial for maximizing the electrocatalytic hydrodechlorination (EHDC) efficiency for detoxification of the chlorophenol pollutants in water. Here, monodisperse palladium nanoparticles (Pd NPs) separately supported on carbon (C) and titanium nitride (TiN) were synthesized as two model catalysts. The support effects on EHDC efficiency, kinetics and current efficiency towards 2,4-dichlorophenol (2,4-DCP), and the electronic structure of Pd and its binding strengths with 2,4-DCP, phenol and Cl- (the primary EHDC product) were investigated by experimental and density functional theory (DFT) analyses. The low current efficiency (<30%) of both catalysts and the good description of EHDC kinetics by the Langmuir-Hinshelwood model suggest that the 2,4-DCP coverage on Pd, rather than the well-known adsorbed hydrogen generation, determines EHDC efficiency. Furthermore, the superior EHDC efficiency on TiN-Pd (96.4% vs. 80.9% on C-Pd), coupled with the weakened adsorption of 2,4-DCP and phenol on TiN-supported Pd, demonstrates that the 2,4-DCP coverage is largely influenced by phenol due to its poisoning effect by blocking active sites, and phenol desorption is the rate-determining step of EHDC on the catalyst. The support TiN enables alleviation of the phenol poisoning by modulating the electronic structure of Pd. The d band center of Pd can serve as a potential descriptor of EHDC efficiency, and its optimization for balancing 2,4-DCP and phenol adsorption should be an effective strategy to enhance EHDC.