Enhancing AsH3 Detoxification via Electron-Deficient [NiIII-OH (µ-O)] in a Nickel-Modified NaY Zeolite: A Pathway toward As0 Products.

The transformation of toxic arsine (AsH3) gas into valuable elemental arsenic (As0) from industrial exhaust gases is important for achieving sustainable development goals. Although advanced arsenic removal catalysts can improve the removal efficiency of AsH3, toxic arsenic oxides generated during this process have not received adequate attention. In light of this, a novel approach for obtaining stable As0 products was proposed by performing controlled moderate oxidation. We designed a tailored Ni-based catalyst through an acid etching approach to alter interactions between Ni and NaY. As a result, the 1Ni/NaY-H catalyst yielded an unprecedented proportion of As0 as the major product (65%), which is superior to those of other reported catalysts that only produced arsenic oxides. Density functional theory calculations clarified that Ni species changed the electronic structure of oxygen atoms, and the formed [NiIII-OH (µ-O)] active centers facilitated the adsorption of AsH2*, AsH*, and As* reaction intermediates for As-H bond cleavage, thereby decreasing the direct reactivity of oxygen with the arsenic intermediates. This work presents pioneering insights into inhibiting excessive oxidation during AsH3 removal, demonstrating potential environmental applications for recovery of As0 from toxic AsH3.

Case report and literature review: Orally ingested toothpick perforating the lower rectum.

Introduction: Most foreign bodies (FBs) can spontaneously pass through the gastrointestinal tract. Sharp FBs are believed to be able to puncture any part of the gastrointestinal tract, causing perforation and potentially secondary damage to adjacent organs. Case description: A 44-year-old man complained of having persistent dull pain in the perianal region. He was diagnosed with a toothpick impacted into the wall of the lower rectum after accepting a digital rectal examination of the lower rectum and a pelvic computed tomography (CT). The surgeon extracted the FB using vascular forceps guided by the operator's index finger. The patient was discharged after intravenous ceftriaxone was given for 6 days. A follow-up pelvic CT performed 2 weeks after surgery revealed that the perirectal fat and muscles had already normalized. Conclusion: A systematic review of relevant literature from the past decade was performed to summarize the imaging features of an orally ingested toothpick perforating the gastrointestinal tract. The location of abdominal pain is an important clue for the diagnosis of toothpick perforation, and a CT examination is recommended as the first option for the detection of an ingested toothpick. Determining the location of the toothpick perforation and assessing the severity of local inflammation are important bases for the selection of treatment.

Cu/Biochar Bifunctional Catalytic Removal of COS and H2S:H2O Dissociation and CuO Anchoring Enhanced by Pyridine N.

Economic and environmentally friendly strategies are needed to promote the bifunctional catalytic removal of carbonyl sulfide (COS) by hydrolysis and hydrogen sulfide (H2S) by oxidation. N doping is considered to be an effective strategy, but the essential and intrinsic role of N dopants in catalysts is still not well understood. Herein, the conjugation of urea and biochar during Cu/biochar annealing produced pyridine N, which increased the combined COS/H2S capacity of the catalyst from 260.7 to 374.8 mg·g-1 and enhanced the turnover frequency of H2S from 2.50 × 10-4 to 5.35 × 10-4 s-1. The nucleophilic nature of pyridine N enhances the moderate basic sites of the catalyst, enabling the attack of protons and strong H2O dissociation. Moreover, pyridine N also forms cavity sites that anchor CuO, improving Cu dispersion and generating more reactive oxygen species. By providing original insight into the pyridine N-induced bifunctional catalytic removal of COS/H2S in a slightly oxygenated and humid atmosphere, this study offers valuable guidance for further C═S and C-S bond-breaking in the degradation of sulfur-containing pollutants.

Regulating microstructures of aerogels by controlling phase separation mechanism for improving specific surface area and energy harvesting.

Aerogels with 3D porous structures have been attracting increasing attention among functional materials due to their advantages of being lightweight and high specific surface area. Precise control of the porous structure of aerogel is essential to improve its performance. In this work, polylactic acid (PLA) aerogels with distinctly different microstructures were fabricated by precisely controlling the phase separation behavior of the ternary solution system. Rheological and theoretical analyses have revealed that the interactions between polymer molecules, solvents and non-solvents play a crucial role in determining the nucleation and growth of poor olymer and rich polymer phases. By adjusting the non-solvent type and the solution composition, aerogels with spider network structure, bead-like connected microsphere structure, and cluster petal structure were obtained. Ideal spinodal phase separation conditions were obtained to produce aerogels with a homogeneous fiber network structure. The optimum PLA aerogel achieved an extremely porosity of 96 % and a high specific surface area of 114 m2/g, which rendered it with excellent triboelectric generation performance. Thus, this work provides fundamental insights into the precise regulation of the phase separation behavior and the structure of the aerogel, which can help boost the performance and expand the applications of PLA aerogels.

Review Article Imaging Evaluation for the Size of Saccular Intracranial Aneurysm.

BACKGROUND: In addition to evaluate the morphologic characteristics of intracranial aneurysms, the dimension of the aneurysm is an important parameter for selecting treatment strategies, determining follow-up period, and predicting the risk of rupture. High-resolution vessel wall imaging has an increasingly dominant role in measuring aneurysm size and assessing the risk of rupture accurately. The size of saccular intracranial aneurysm may play an important role as a predictor of the rupture risk. With the rapid improvement in radiological techniques, different noninvasive imaging methods have respective characteristics in saccular intracranial aneurysms (sIA) measurement and morphologic description. Although most studies believe that the larger the aneurysm, the higher the risk of rupture, there is still a synergistic effect of multiple factors (such as location, morphology, history of aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage, and even patient factors) to explain the rupture of small aneurysms. METHODS: A literature search was performed of intracranial aneurysm size and risk of rupture. RESULTS: The specificity and sensitivity of different imaging methods for evaluating intracranial aneurysms varied based on sizes. Rupture risk of aneurysms was associated with multiple factors. A comprehensive assessment that considered aneurysm size in conjunction with other relevant factors would be helpful in guiding options of management. CONCLUSIONS: Accurate measurement of the dimension of sIA is an important basis in the selection of appropriate treatment including intravascular intervention or surgical clipping, as well as for determining the follow-up cycles for conservative or postoperative treatment. A uniform definition of sIA size is recommended to facilitate the integration of similar studies and to accomplish rapid and effective screening of cases in sIA treatment.

A Multifunctional Asymmetric Fabric for Sustained Electricity Generation from Multiple Sources and Simultaneous Solar Steam Generation.

Harvesting electrical energy from water and moisture has emerged as a novel ecofriendly energy conversion technology. Herein, a multifunctional asymmetric polyaniline/carbon nanotubes/poly(vinyl alcohol) (APCP) that can produce electric energy from both saline water and moisture and generate fresh water simultaneously is developed. The constructed APCP possesses a negatively charged porous structure that allows continuous generation of protons and ion diffusion through the material, and a hydrophilicity-hydrophobic interface which results in a constant potential difference and sustainable output. A single APCP can maintain stable output for over 130 h and preserve a high voltage of 0.61 V, current of 81 µA, and power density of 82.4 µW cm-3 with 0.15 cm3 unit size in the water-induced electricity generation process. When harvesting moisture energy, the APCP creates dry-wet asymmetries and triggers the spontaneous development of electrical double layer with a current density of 1.25 mA cm-3 , sufficient to power small electronics. A device consisting of four APCP can generate stable electricity of 3.35 V and produce clean water with an evaporation rate of 2.06 kg m-2  h-1 simultaneously. This work provides insights into the fabrication of multifunctional fabrics for multisource energy harvesting and simultaneous solar steam generation.

Acid-Promoted Cyclization Reaction of the Guanine Base with 1,1,3,3-Tetramethoxypropane: A Method for the Preparation of M1 dG and its Derivatives.

Despite the importance of nucleosides and nucleotides for drug discovery, only a few practical methods to prepare tricyclic nucleosides have been reported. Here, we describe a synthetic strategy for late-stage functionalization of nucleosides and nucleotides via chemo- and site-selective acid-promoted intermolecular cyclization. The nucleoside analogs with an additional ring were obtained in moderate-to-high yields, including some antiviral drugs (acyclovir, ganciclovir, and penciclovir) derivatives, endogenous fused ring nucleoside (M1 dG) and its derivatives, and nucleotide derivatives. © 2023 Wiley Periodicals LLC. Basic Protocol 1: Synthesis of tricyclic acyclovir analogs (3a-3c) Basic Protocol 2: Synthesis of tricyclic nucleosides M1 dG (6) and M1 G (9) Basic Protocol 3: Synthesis of tricyclic nucleotide (12).

Fabrication, Microstructures and Sensor Applications of Highly Ordered Electrospun Nanofibers: A Review.

The review summarizes the fabrication, microstructures, and sensor applications of highly ordered electrospun nanofibers. In the traditional electrospinning process, electrospun nanofibers usually have disordered or random microstructures due to the chaotic oscillation of the electrospinning jet. Different electrospinning methods can be formed by introducing external forces, such as magnetic, electric, or mechanical forces, and ordered nanofibers can be collected. The microstructures of highly ordered nanofibers can be divided into three categories: uniaxially ordered nanofibers, biaxially ordered nanofibers and ordered scaffolds. The three microstructures are each characterized by being ordered in different dimensions. The regulation and control of the ordered microstructures can promote electrospun nanofibers' mechanical and dielectric strength, surface area and chemical properties. Highly ordered electrospun nanofibers have more comprehensive applications than disordered nanofibers do in effect transistors, gas sensors, reinforced composite materials and tissue engineering. This review also intensively summarizes the applications of highly ordered nanofibers in the sensor field, such as pressure sensors, humidity sensors, strain sensors, gas sensors, and biosensors.

Unraveling the Synergistic Reaction and the Deactivation Mechanism for the Catalytic Degradation of Double Components of Sulfur-Containing VOCs over ZSM-5-Based Materials.

The competitive adsorption behavior, the synergistic catalytic reaction, and deactivation mechanisms under double components of sulfur-containing volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are a bridge to solve their actual pollution problems. However, they are still unknown. Herein, simultaneous catalytic decomposition of methyl mercaptan (CH3SH) and ethyl mercaptan (C2H5SH) is investigated over lanthanum (La)-modified ZSM-5, and kinetic and thermodynamic results confirm a great difference in the adsorption property and catalytic transformation behavior. Meanwhile, the new synergistic reaction and deactivation mechanisms are revealed at the molecular level by combining with in situ diffuse reflectance infrared spectroscopy (in situ DRIFTS) and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The CH3CH2* and SH* groups are presented in decomposing C2H5SH, while the new species of CH2*, active H* and S*, instead of CH3* and SH*, are proved as the key elementary groups in decomposing CH3SH. The competitive recombining of SH* in C2H5SH with highly active H* in dimethyl sulfide (CH3SCH3), an intermediate in decomposing CH3SH, would aggravate the deposition of carbon and sulfur. La/ZSM-5 exhibits potential environmental application due to the excellent stability of 200 h and water resistance. This work gives an understanding of the adsorption, catalysis, reaction, and deactivation mechanisms for decomposing double components of sulfur-containing VOCs.

Synthesis of Nucleoside and Nucleotide Analogues by Cyclization of the Guanine Base with 1,1,3,3-Tetramethoxypropane.

3-(2-Deoxy-ß-d-erythropentofuranosyl)pyrimido[1,2-a]purin-10(3H)-one (M1dG) is an endogenous DNA adduct in bacterial and mammalian cells that could be explored as a biomarker for oxidative stress. Nonetheless, the lack of an efficient methodology for the preparation of M1dG hampers the deep investigation of its biosynthesis and biorelevant processes. In this project, we aimed to address this issue by developing a highly efficient method to synthesize M1dG and its analogues. This method has wide functional group tolerance, as various guanine-based nucleosides and nucleotides are suitable for the reaction. Furthermore, large-scale and derivatization reactions were carried out to showcase the possibility for biochemists to study DNA damage and repair processes in the future.

Case Report: Misdiagnosis of Lung Carcinoma in Patients with Shrunken Lung Cyst After High Altitude Travel.

Background: Lung cancer associated with cystic airspace is a rare disease, and the imaging understanding of lung cancer with cystic cavity is still unclear. Little is known in the literature on whether cystic lung cancer is caused by emphysema or ruptured bullae. Case Reports: We report the case of a 50-year-old female patient after finishing a business trip in November 2021, when another chest CT demonstrated an unexpected reduction in the cyst, with a solid mural nodule on the posterior wall. The airspace of the cyst is only about 13 mm × 12 mm × 6 mm in size. The size of the mural nodule in the posterior wall is about 10 mm × 6 mm × 5 mm. The patient felt anxious due to suspicion of lung cancer. 2.5 months after the last chest CT, she accepted minimally invasive thoracoscopic surgery on the posterior basal segment of the left lower lobe. The postoperative pathology showed benign lesions. Conclusion: For radiologists, it is important to recognize the process from lung cysts or bullae to LC-CAS, especially the morphological changes of the cyst airspace and the cyst wall, in order to identify the malignant features of lung cysts in time.

Investigation of the Role of Copper Species-Modified Active Carbon by Low-Temperature Roasting on the Improvement of Arsine Adsorption.

Traditional adsorbents undershot the expectations for arsine (AsH3) removal under low-temperature operation conditions in the industry. In this study, the copper (Cu) precursor was used to modify activated carbon and yield novel adsorbents by low-temperature roasting for high-efficiency removal of AsH3. The best conditions were determined as impregnation with 2 mol/L Cu(NO3)2 adsorbent and roasting at 180 °C. At a reaction temperature of 40 °C and an oxygen content of 1%, the AsH3 removal efficiency reached over 90% and lasted for 40 h and the best capacity of 369.6 mg/g was obtained with the Cu/Ac adsorbent. The characterization results showed the decomposition of Cu(NO3)2 during the low-temperature roasting process to form surface functional groups. The formation of the important intermediate Cu2(NO3)(OH)3 in the decomposition of Cu(NO3)2 into CuO plays a role in the good regeneration performance of the Cu/Ac adsorbent using water washing and the gas regeneration method. The results of in situ diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy combined with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy demonstrated that the interaction of trace oxygen with Lewis (L) acid sites increased chemisorbed oxygen by 17.34%, significantly promoting the spontaneity of AsH3 oxidation reaction. These results provide a friendly economic method with industrial processes practical for AsH3 removal.

Electrochemical performance of activated carbon fiber with hydrogen bond-induced high sulfur/nitrogen doping.

The sulfur/nitrogen co-doped activated carbon fiber (S/N-ACF) is prepared by the thermal treatment of thiourea-bonded hydroxyl-rich carbon fiber, which can bond the decomposition products of thiourea through hydrogen bond interaction to avoid the significant loss of sulfur and nitrogen sources during the thermal treatment process. The sulfur/nitrogen co-doped carbon fiber (S/N-CF) is prepared by the thermal treatment of thiourea-adsorbed carbon fiber. The doping degree of the carbon fiber is improved by reasonable strategy. S/N-ACF shows a higher amount of S/N doping (4.56 at% N and 3.16 at% S) than S/N-CF (1.25 at% N and 0.61 at% S). S/N-ACF with high S/N doping level involves highly active sites to improve the capacitive performance, and high delocalization electron to improve the conductivity and rate capability when compared with the normal S/N co-doped carbon fiber (S/N-CF). Accordingly, the specific capacitance increases from 1196 mF cm-2 for S/N-CF to 2704 mF cm-2 for S/N-ACF at 1 mA cm-2. The all-solid-state flexible S/N-ACF supercapacitor achieves 184.7 µW h cm-2 at 350 µW cm-2. The results suggest that S/N-ACF has potential application as a CF-based supercapacitor electrode material.

A high-performance asymmetric supercapacitor electrode based on a three-dimensional ZnMoO4/CoO nanohybrid on nickel foam.

A two-step hydrothermal route was employed to fabricate a ZnMoO4/CoO nanohybrid supported on Ni foam. The ZnMoO4/CoO nanohybrid shows a three-dimensional criss-crossed structure. The specific surface area is enhanced from 45 m2 g-1 of ZnMoO4 to 67 m2 g-1 of the ZnMoO4/CoO nanohybrid. Furthermore, the existence of electroactive CoO is in favor of reducing the charge transport resistance. The ZnMoO4/CoO nanohybrid electrode possesses a high capacitance of 4.47 F cm-2 at 2 mA cm-2, which is much higher than those of ZnMoO4 (1.07 F cm-2) and CoO (2.47 F cm-2). The ZnMoO4/CoO nanohybrid electrode also exhibits an ultrahigh cycling stability with 100.5% capacitance retention after 5000 cycles at 20 mA cm-2. In addition, an asymmetric all-solid-state supercapacitor was assembled using the ZnMoO4/CoO nanohybrid as the positive electrode and exfoliated graphite carbon paper as the negative electrode. The asymmetric supercapacitor exhibits a superior energy density of 58.6 W h kg-1 at a power density of 800 W kg-1 and a considerable cycling stability with 81.8% capacitance retention after 5000 cycles at 5 A g-1. The ZnMoO4/CoO nanohybrid demonstrates its tremendous advantages and possibilities as a positive electrode material in energy storage applications. Moreover, for a better understanding of the electrochemical behavior, a combined study of experimental measurements and density functional theory calculations is also applied to illustrate the high-performance of the ZnMoO4/CoO nanohybrid.

Electrochemical Performance of Transition Metal-Coordinated Polypyrrole: A Mini Review.

The conductive polymer of polypyrrole can be acted as electroactive electrode material of supercapacitor due to reversible redox behavior and high capacitance. It usually suffers from low electrochemical stability due to the breakdown of polymer molecule chain in the long-term charge and discharge process. The monometallic or bimetallic-coordinated polypyrrole usually exhibits the improved electrochemical performance. The transition metal ions such as ruthenium, iron, copper and cobalt are adopted for the coordination modification. The transition metal-coordinated polypyrrole includes the intrachain and interchain coordination structure between transition metal ion and nitrogen atom of pyrrole ring. It is able to reinforce the polymer molecule chain strength to overcome excessive volumetric swelling and shrinking during charge-discharge process, improving the cycling stability and rate capability of polypyrrole. Accordingly, the transition metal-coordinated polypyrrole keeps simultaneously high capacitance performance and electrochemical stability, acting as the promising conductive polymer-based supercapacitor electrode material for effective energy storage.

Electrochemical biosensing based on polypyrrole/titania nanotube hybrid.

The glucose oxidase (GOD) modified polypyrrole/titania nanotube enzyme electrode is fabricated for electrochemical biosensing application. The titania nanotube array is grown directly on a titanium substrate through an anodic oxidation process. A thin film of polypyrrole is coated onto titania nanotube array to form polypyrrole/titania nanotube hybrid through a normal pulse voltammetry process. GOD-polypyrrole/titania nanotube enzyme electrode is prepared by the covalent immobilization of GOD onto polypyrrole/titania nanotube hybrid via the cross-linker of glutaraldehyde. The morphology and microstructure of nanotube electrodes are characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy and Fourier transform infrared analysis. The biosensing properties of this nanotube enzyme electrode have been investigated by means of cyclic voltammetry and chronoamperometry. The hydrophilic polypyrrole/titania nanotube hybrid provides highly accessible nanochannels for GOD encapsulation, presenting good enzymatic affinity. As-formed GOD-polypyrrole/titania nanotube enzyme electrode well conducts bioelectrocatalytic oxidation of glucose, exhibiting a good biosensing performance with a high sensitivity, low detection limit and wide linear detection range.

Controllable assembly of dimers and trimers of gold Nanoparticle bridged by Tris(2-aminoethyl)amine.

In this paper, dimer and trimer assemblies were prepared through covalent coupling of the monomer, i.e., carboxyl monofuntional gold nanoparticles using Tris(2-aminoethyl)amine (Tren) as a bridging ligand. TEM examination showed that the dimer structures could be obtained with an increased yield using Tren instead of ethylenediamine (EDA) as a bridging molecule without N,N'-Diisopropylcarbodiimide (DIC) in reaction solution. Comparatively, the main trimer structures were obtained when DIC was added into reaction solution. The absorption spectra showed the red shift of the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) from monomer to trimer due to dipole-dipole interaction between proximate particles.

Reversible pH manipulation of the fluorescence emission from sectorial poly(amido amine) dendrimers.

The first to fourth generation (G1-G4) of sectorial poly(amido amine) (PAMAM) dendrimers with ethanolamine core and amino terminals are synthesized by a divergent route. Blue fluorescence emission from these dendrimers is observed. It is found that there is a remarkable difference in the fluorescence behavior for these different generations of dendrimers. The emission intensity of these dendrimers is almost linearly enhanced along with the increase of their concentrations. A significant pH-dependent profile of the fluorescence intensity is also observed. As the pH value decreases from 8 to 3, the fluorescence intensity increases almost linearly. Furthermore, the fluorescence intensity of the dendrimers shows a reversible behavior depending on pH value within the pH range from 3 to 11. This property enables the reversible manipulation of the fluorescence of these dendrimers by adjusting the pH values, which contributes to a potential application of these materials in fluorescent pH sensors.

Bioelectrocatalytic application of titania nanotube array for molecule detection.

A bioelectrocatalysis system based on titania nanotube electrode has been developed for the quantitative detection application. Highly ordered titania nanotube array with inner diameter of 60 nm and total length of 540 nm was formed by anodizing titanium foils. The functionalization modification was achieved by embedding glucose oxidases inside tubule channels and electropolymerizing pyrrole for interfacial immobilization. Morphology and microstructure characterization, electrochemical properties and bioelectrocatalytic reactivities of this composite were fully investigated. The direct detection of hydrogen peroxide by electrocatalytic reduction reaction was fulfilled on pure titania nanotube array with a detection limit up to 2.0 x 10(-4)mM. A biosensor based on the glucose oxidase-titania/titanium electrode was constructed for amperometric detection and quantitative determination of glucose in a phosphate buffer solution (pH 6.8) under a potentiostatic condition (-0.4V versus SCE). The resulting glucose biosensor showed an excellent performance with a response time below 5.6s and a detection limit of 2.0 x 10(-3)mM. The corresponding detection sensitivity was 45.5 microA mM(-1)cm(-2). A good operational reliability was also achieved with relative standard deviations below 3.0%. This novel biosensor exhibited quite high response sensitivity and low detection limit for potential applications.

Degradation of bisphenol A in aqueous solution by H2O2-assisted photoelectrocatalytic oxidation.

A series of titanium dioxide (TiO(2)/Ti) film electrodes were prepared from titanium (Ti) metal mesh by an improved anodic oxidation process and were further modified by photochemically depositing gold (Au) on the TiO(2) film surface as Au-TiO(2)/Ti film electrodes. The morphological characteristics, crystal structure and photoelectroreactivity of both the TiO(2)/Ti and Au-TiO(2)/Ti electrodes were studied. The experiments confirmed that the gold modification of TiO(2) film could enhance the efficiency of e(-)/h(+) separation on the TiO(2) conduction band and resulted in the higher photocatalytic (PC) and photoelectrocatalytic (PEC) activity under UV or visible illumination. To further enhance the TiO(2) PEC reaction, a reticulated vitreous carbon (RVC) electrode was applied in the same reaction system as the cathode to electrically generate H(2)O(2) in the aqueous solution. The experiments demonstrated that such a H(2)O(2)-assisted TiO(2) PEC reaction system could achieve a much better performance of BPA degradation in aqueous solution due to an interactive effect among TiO(2), Au, and H(2)O(2). It may have good potential for application in water and wastewater treatment in the future.