Antioxidant Properties of Platycladus orientalis Flavonoids for Treating UV-Induced Damage in Androgenetic Alopecia Hair.

BACKGROUND: Androgenetic alopecia (AGA) causes thinning hair, but poor hair quality in balding areas and damage from UV radiation have been overlooked. Plant extracts like Platycladus orientalis flavonoids (POFs) may improve hair quality in AGA. This study examines POFs' effectiveness in treating AGA-affected hair and repairing UV-induced damage. METHODS: Hair samples were analyzed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to examine surface characteristics, electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy to measure free radicals in the hair, and spectrophotometry to assess changes in hair properties. RESULTS: POFs effectively removed hydroxyl radicals from keratinocytes and had antioxidant properties. They also reduced UV-induced damage to AGA hair by mitigating the production of melanin free radicals. Following POF treatment, the reduction in peroxidized lipid loss in AGA hair was notable at 59.72%, thereby effectively delaying the progression of hair color change. Moreover, protein loss decreased by 191.1 µ/g and tryptophan loss by 15.03%, ultimately enhancing hair's tensile strength. CONCLUSION: compared to healthy hair, hair damaged by AGA shows more pronounced signs of damage when exposed to UV radiation. POFs help protect balding hair by reducing oxidative damage and slowing down melanin degradation.

ß-Nicotinamide Mononucleotide Promotes Cell Proliferation and Hair Growth by Reducing Oxidative Stress.

ß-Nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN) has shown promising effects on intestinal health, and it is extensively applied as an anti-aging and Alzheimer's disease therapeutic, due to its medicinal properties. The effects of NMN on the growth of mouse hair were observed after hair removal. The results indicated that NMN can reverse the state of hair follicle atrophy, hair thinning, and hair sparsity induced by dihydrotestosterone (DHT), compared to that of minoxidil. In addition, the action mechanisms of NMN promoting hair growth in cultured human dermal papilla cells (HDPCs) treated with DHT were investigated in detail. The incubation of HDPCs with DHT led to a decrease in cell viability and the release of inflammatory mediators, including interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-1Beta (IL-1ß) and tumor necrosis factor Alpha (TNF-α). It was found that NMN can significantly lower the release of inflammatory factors induced by DHT in HDPCs. HDPCs cells are protected from oxidative stress damage by NMN, which inhibits the NF-κB p65 inflammatory signaling pathway. Moreover, the levels of androgen receptor (AR), dickkopf-1 (DKK-1), and ß-catenin in the HDPCs were assessed using PCR, indicating that NMN can significantly enhance the expression of VEGF, reduced IL-6 levels and suppress the expression of AR and DKK-1, and notably increase ß-catenin expression in DHT-induced HDPCs.

Boosting the Catalase-Like Activity of SAzymes via Facile Tuning of the Distances between Neighboring Atoms in Single-Iron Sites.

A nanozyme with neighboring single-iron sites (Fe2 -SAzyme) was introduced as a bioinspired catalase mimic, featuring excellent activity under varied conditions, twice as high as that of random Fe1 -SAzyme and ultrahigh H2 O2 affinity as that of bioenzymes. Surprisingly, the interatomic spacing tuning between adjacent iron sites also suppressed the competitive peroxidase pathway, remarkably increasing the catalase/peroxidase selectivity up to ~6 times compared to Fe1 -SAzyme. This dramatically switched the catalytic activity of Fe-SAzymes from generating (i.e. Fe1 -SAzymes, preferably mimicking peroxidase) to scavenging ROS (i.e. Fe2 -SAzymes, dominantly mimicking catalase). Theoretical and experimental investigations suggested that the pairwise single-iron sites may serve as a robust molecular tweezer to efficiently trap and decompose H2 O2 into O2 , via cooperative hydrogen-bonding induced end-bridge adsorption. The versatile mechano-assisted in situ MOF capsulation strategy enabled facile access to neighboring M2 -SAzyme (M=Fe, Ir, Pt), even up to a 1000 grams scale, but with no obvious scale-up effect for both structures and performances.

Ni-Ti Intercalated and Supported Bentonite for Selective Hydrogenation of Cinnamaldehyde.

Ni-Ti intercalated bentonite catalysts (Ni-Ti-bentonite) and Ni-TiO2 supported bentonite catalysts (Ni-TiO2 /bentonite) were prepared, and the effects of Ni-Ti supported and intercalated bentonite on the selective hydrogenation of cinnamaldehyde were investigated. Ni-Ti intercalated bentonite enhanced the Brønsted acid sites strength, decreased the acid amount and Lewis's acid sites strength, which inhibited the activation of the C=O bond and contributed to selective hydrogenation of the C=C bond. When Ni-TiO2 was supported on bentonite, the acid amount and Lewis's acid strength of the catalyst increased, providing additional adsorption sites and increased the acetals byproducts. Due to the higher surface area, mesoporous volume, and suitable acidity, compared with Ni-TiO2 /bentonite in methanol solvent, 2 MPa, 120 °C for 1 h, Ni-Ti-bentonite exhibited a higher cinnamaldehyde (CAL) conversion of 98.8 %, as well as a higher hydrocinnamaldehyde (HCAL) selectivity of 95 %, and no acetals were found in the product.

Single Mo Atoms Stabilized on High-Entropy Perovskite Oxide: A Frontier for Aerobic Oxidative Desulfurization.

The design and preparation of catalysts with both excellent stability and maximum exposure of catalytic active sites is highly desirable; however, it remains challenging in heterogeneous catalysis. Herein, a entropy-stabilized single-site Mo catalyst via a high-entropy perovskite oxide LaMn0.2Fe0.2Co0.2Ni0.2Cu0.2O3 (HEPO) with abundant mesoporous structures was initiated by a sacrificial-template strategy. The presence of electrostatic interaction between graphene oxide and metal precursors effectively inhibits the agglomeration of precursor nanoparticles in a high-temperature calcination process, thereby endowing the atomically dispersed Mo6+ coordinated with four O atoms on the defective sites of HEPO. The unique structure of single-site Mo atoms' random distribution with an atomic scale greatly enriches the oxygen vacancy and increases surface exposure of the catalytic active sites on the Mo/HEPO-SAC catalyst. As a result, the obtained Mo/HEPO-SAC exhibits robust recycling stability and ultra-high oxidation activity (turnover frequency = 3.28 × 10-2) for the catalytic removal of dibenzothiophene (DBT) with air as the oxidant, which represents the top level and is strikingly higher than the state-of-the-art oxidation desulfurization catalysts reported previously under the same or similar reaction conditions. Therefore, the finding here for the first time expands the application of single-atom Mo-supported HEPO materials into the field of ultra-deep oxidative desulfurization.

Salicylic acid functionalized zein for improving plant stress resistance and as a nanopesticide carrier with enhanced anti-photolysis ability.

BACKGROUND: There is a serious global problem of salinization of arable land, causing large reduction in world food production. Use of plant hormones is an effective way to reduce damage caused to crops and salt stress. RESULTS: In this study, PEI-EDA was modified with AM-zein and grafted with plant hormone SA (AM-zein-SA) and used as a nano-pesticide carrier to load emamectin benzoate (EB). The use of AM-zein-SA as a nano-pesticide carrier could reduce the damage caused by salt stress to crops. The structure of AM-zein-SA was characterized by FTIR, UV, fluorescence, Raman, and 1H NMR spectroscopic techniques. AM-zein-SA could effectively improve the resistance of EB to ultraviolet radiations, resistance of cucumber to salt stress, and the absorption of EB by plants. The experimental results showed that AM-zein-SA could effectively improve the anti-UV property of EB by 0.88 fold. When treated with 120 mmol NaCl, the germination rate of cucumber seeds under salt stress increased by 0.93 fold in presence of 6.25 mg/L carrier concentration. The POD and SOD activities increased by 0.50 and 1.21 fold, whereas the content of MDA decreased by 0.23 fold. In conclusion, AM-zein-SA nano-pesticide carrier could be used to improve the salt resistance of crops and the adhesion of pesticides to leaves. CONCLUSION: AM-zein-SA, without undergoing any changes in its insecticidal activity, could simultaneously improve the salt stress resistance and salt stress germination rate of cucumber, reduce growth inhibition due to stress under high-concentration salt, and had a good effect on crops. In addition, EB@AM-zein-SA obviously improved the upward transmission rate of EB, as compared with EB. In this study, SA was grafted onto zein-based nano-pesticide carrier, which provided a green strategy to control plant diseases, insects, and pests while reducing salt stress on crops in saline-alkali soil.

Induced-Fit-Identification in a Rigid Metal-Organic Framework for ppm-Level CO2 Removal and Ultra-Pure CO Enrichment.

Removing CO2 from crude syngas via physical adsorption is an effective method to yield eligible syngas. However, the bottleneck in trapping ppm-level CO2 and improving CO purity at higher working temperatures are major challenges. Here we report a thermoresponsive metal-organic framework (1 a-apz), assembled by rigid Mg2 (dobdc) (1 a) and aminopyrazine (apz), which not only affords an ultra-high CO2 capacity (145.0/197.6 cm3 g-1 (0.01/0.1 bar) at 298 K) but also produces ultra-pure CO (purity ≥99.99 %) at a practical ambient temperature (TA ). Several characterization results, including variable-temperature tests, in situ high-resolution synchrotron X-ray diffraction (HR-SXRD), and simulations, explicitly unravel that the excellent property is attributed to the induced-fit-identification in 1 a-apz that comprises self-adaption of apz, multiple binding sites, and complementary electrostatic potential (ESP). Breakthrough tests suggest that 1 a-apz can remove CO2 from 1/99 CO2 /CO mixtures at practical 348 K, yielding 70.5 L kg-1 of CO with ultra-high purity of ≥99.99 %. The excellent separation performance is also revealed by separating crude syngas that contains quinary mixtures of H2 /N2 /CH4 /CO/CO2 (46/18.3/2.4/32.3/1, v/v/v/v/v).

Directing group strategies in rhodium-catalyzed C-H amination.

Construction of a carbon-nitrogen bond is one of the most prevalent operations in nature and organic synthesis. The resulting amino compounds are privileged structural fragments in natural products, pharmaceutical drugs, and functional materials. With the rapid advancement of C-H bond activation, directing-group strategies in C-H amination catalyzed by rhodium have emerged. This reaction approach considerably enhances the step economy and atom economy of the reaction, and it complies with green chemistry and atom economy. The reactivity and selectivity of chelation-assisted rhodium-catalyzed C-H amination are discussed in relation to the types of aminating reagent, as well as the challenges and future development prospects in this field.

Enhanced Sunscreen Effects via Layer-By-Layer Self-Assembly of Chitosan/Sodium Alginate/Calcium Chloride/EHA.

The sunscreen nanocapsules were successfully synthesized by the way of layer-by-layer self-assembly using charged droplets (prepared by emulsification of LAD-30, Tween-80 and EHA (2-Ethylhexyl-4-dimethylaminobenzoate)) as templates. Chitosan/sodium alginate/calcium chloride were selected as wall materials to wrap EHA. The emulsions with the ratio of Tween-80 to EHA (1:1) were stable. A stable NEI negative emulsion can be obtained when the ratio of Tween-80 and LAD-30 was 9:1. Chitosan solutions (50 kDa, 0.25 mg/mL) and sodium alginate solutions (0.5 mg/mL) were selected to prepare nanocapsules. The nanocapsules were characterized via some physico-chemical methods. Based on the synergistic effects of the electrostatic interaction between wall materials and emulsifiers, EHA was effectively encapsulated. DLS and TEM showed that the sunscreen nanocapsules were dispersed in a spherical shape with nano-size, with the increasing number of assembly layers, the size increased from 155 nm (NEI) to 189 nm (NEII) to 201 nm (NEIII) and 205 nm after solidification. The release studies in vitro showed sustained release behavior of the nanocapsules were observed with the increase of the number of deposition layers, implying a good coating effect. The sunscreen nanocapsules could control less than 50% the release of EHA after crosslinking of calcium chloride and sodium alginate, which also could effectively avoid the stimulation of the sun protection agent on the skin.

NiFe Layered Double Hydroxide/FeOOH Heterostructure Nanosheets as an Efficient and Durable Bifunctional Electrocatalyst for Overall Seawater Splitting.

Electrolysis of seawater can not only desalinate seawater but also produce high-purity hydrogen. Nevertheless, the presence of chloride ions in seawater will cause electrode corrosion and also undergo a chlorine oxidation reaction (ClOR) that competes with the oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Therefore, highly efficient and long-term stable electrocatalysts are needed in this field. In this work, an advanced bifunctional electrocatalyst based on NiFe layered double hydroxide (LDH)/FeOOH heterostructure nanosheets (NiFe LDH/FeOOH) was synthesized on nickel-iron foam (INF) via a simple electrodeposition method. The NiFe LDH/FeOOH electrode demonstrates excellent electrocatalytic activity and stability, which results from the strong interaction between FeOOH and NiFe LDH. Furthermore, ex situ X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and in situ Raman spectroscopy revealed the catalytic process and also demonstrated that the NiFe LDH/FeOOH heterostructure could facilitate the formation of active NiOOH species in the reaction. The obtained NiFe LDH/FeOOH catalyst displays low overpotentials of 181.8 mV at 10 mA·cm-2 for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and 286.2 mV at 100 mA·cm-2 for OER in the 1.0 M KOH + 0.5 M NaCl electrolyte. Furthermore, it also exhibits a low voltage of 1.55 V to achieve the current density of 10 mA·cm-2 and works steadily for 105 h at 100 mA·cm-2 for overall alkaline simulated seawater splitting. This work will afford a valid strategy for designing a non-noble metal catalyst for seawater splitting.

Ghost Detection and Removal Based on Two-Layer Background Model and Histogram Similarity.

Detecting and removing ghosts is an important challenge for moving object detection because ghosts will remain forever once formed, leading to the overall detection performance degradation. To deal with this issue, we first classified the ghosts into two categories according to the way they were formed. Then, the sample-based two-layer background model and histogram similarity of ghost areas were proposed to detect and remove the two types of ghosts, respectively. Furthermore, three important parameters in the two-layer model, i.e., the distance threshold, similarity threshold of local binary similarity pattern (LBSP), and time sub-sampling factor, were automatically determined by the spatial-temporal information of each pixel for adapting to the scene change rapidly. The experimental results on the CDnet 2014 dataset demonstrated that our proposed algorithm not only effectively eliminated ghost areas, but was also superior to the state-of-the-art approaches in terms of the overall performance.

Two-Dimensional Cationic Networks and Their Spherical Curvature with Tunable Opening-Closing.

Despite many cationic nanomaterials that have been developed for efficient adsorption of anionic pollutants, tailoring a stable shape with denser cations on the surface for advanced removal capability remains challenging. Here, a new strategy is presented for fabricating two-dimensional (2D) cationic laminas and their curvature based on cross-linking of 2D supramolecular networks from hydrogen-bonded trimesic amide derivatives. Owing to the distribution of most cations on the surface, two cationic nanostructures from cross-linking of supramolecular networks show fast sorption kinetics for anionic pollutants. Notably, the removal capacity of the capsule-like curvature adsorbent is more than twice that of lamina  adsorbent for sufficient space around cationic sites in hollow aperture. Moreover, the capsule-like adsorbent is triggered to open and spontaneously release the adsorbed pollutants upon the addition of halogen anions, which can be recovered by subsequent dialysis. Strategy of a capsule-like pocket with tunable opening-closing will provide a new insight for storage and adsorption.

Precisely Controlled Multidimensional Covalent Frameworks: Polymerization of Supramolecular Colloids.

Rapid and selective removal of micropollutants from water is important for the reuse of water resources. Despite hollow frameworks with specific functionalized porous walls for the selective adsorption based on a series of interactions, tailoring a stable shape of nanometer- and micrometer-sized architectures for the removal of specific pollutants remains a challenge. Here, exactly controlled sheets, tubes, and spherical frameworks were presented from the crosslinking of supramolecular colloids in polar solvents. The frameworks strongly depended on the architecture of original supramolecular colloids. As the entropy of colloids increased, the initial laminar framework rolled up into hollow tubules, and then further curled into hollow spheres. These shape-persistent frameworks showed unprecedented selectivity as well as specific recognition for the shape of pollutants, thus contributing to efficient pollutant separation.

An overview of photocatalysis facilitated by 2D heterojunctions.

Two-dimensional (2D) photocatalysts have attracted considerable research interest in the past decades due to their unique optical, physical and chemical properties. Constructing 2D/2D heterojunctions with large interface area has been considered as an effective approach to enhance the transfer rate and the separation efficiency of the charge carriers, leading to dramatic increase in the photocatalytic performance of the photocatalysts. Here, the state-of-the-art progress on heterojunctions based on 2D materials is reviewed, including the photocatalysis principles using 2D heterojunctions, the categories of 2D heterojunctions and their application in different photocatalytic reactions, and the theoretical studies of the 2D heterojunctions. Moreover, the advantages and disadvantages of the 2D heterojunctions are also discussed. Finally, the ongoing challenges and opportunities for the future development of 2D photocatalysts with built-in heterojunctions are proposed.

Adaptive Target Birth Intensity Multi-Bernoulli Filter with Noise-Based Threshold.

Adaptively modeling the target birth intensity while maintaining the filtering efficiency is a challenging issue in multi-target tracking (MTT). Generally, the target birth probability is predefined as a constant and only the target birth density is considered in existing adaptive birth models, resulting in deteriorated target tracking accuracy, especially in the target appearing cases. In addition, the existing adaptive birth models also give rise to a decline in operation efficiency on account of the extra birth modeling calculations. To properly adapt the real variation of the number of newborn targets and improve the multi-target tracking performance, a novel fast sequential Monte Carlo (SMC) adaptive target birth intensity cardinality balanced multi-target multi-Bernoulli (CBMeMBer) filter is proposed in this paper. Through adaptively conducting the target birth probability in a pre-processing step, which incorporates the information of current measurements to correct the pre-setting of the target birth probability, the proposed filter can truly adapt target birth cases and achieve better tracking accuracy. Moreover, the implementation efficiency can be improved significantly by employing a measurement noise-based threshold in the likelihood calculations of the multi-target updating. Simulation results verify the effectiveness of the proposed filter.

Physiological responses and accumulation characteristics of turfgrasses exposed to potentially toxic elements.

The tolerance and enrichment of potentially toxic elements (PTEs) in plants are the most important basis of phytoremediation technology for mining area soils. The aim of this research was to study PTEs tolerance, translocation and accumulation differences in three turfgrass species and the biochemical changes of plants and soils. Three turfgrass species were cultured on soils contaminated by single and compound PTEs. Pb, Zn, Cd and As concentrations and biochemical indicators in plant (root and shoot) and soil were determined. Moreover, the microbial communities in rhizosphere soil were analyzed. The studied plants showed strong tolerance and high enrichment ability to Pb, Zn, Cd and As in soil under different PTE concentration gradient stress. Festuca arundinacea had the strongest tolerance to PTEs, whereas Medicago sativa L. had the best tolerance to PTEs. Among all the measured growth or biochemical indicators, the relative growth rate and enzymatic activity of Orychophragmus violaceus were most sensitive to stress. The bioconcentration and translocation factors of Medicago sativa L. for Cd were 1.60 and 1.17, respectively, indicating that it was the most suitable plant for extracting Cd. Compared with other plants, Festuca arundinacea had the most significant effect on soil environment improvement, increasing the soil enzyme activities and microbial community after phytoremediation. This study indicates that Medicago sativa L. can be a potential phytoextraction plant to remove Cd, whereas Festuca arundinacea is more suitable as a cover plant to prevent the dispersion of contaminants in polluted soil.

Efficient Removal of Copper Ion from Wastewater Using a Stable Chitosan Gel Material.

: Gel adsorption is an efficient method for the removal of metal ion. In the present study, a functional chitosan gel material (FCG) was synthesized successfully, and its structure was detected by different physicochemical techniques. The as-prepared FCG was stable in acid and alkaline media. The as-prepared material showed excellent adsorption properties for the capture of Cu2+ ion from aqueous solution. The maximum adsorption capacity for the FCG was 76.4 mg/g for Cu2+ ion (293 K). The kinetic adsorption data fits the Langmuir isotherm, and experimental isotherm data follows the pseudo-second-order kinetic model well, suggesting that it is a monolayer and the rate-limiting step is the physical adsorption. The separation factor (RL) for Langmuir and the 1/n value for Freundlich isotherm show that the Cu2+ ion is favorably adsorbed by FCG. The negative values of enthalpy (ΔH°) and Gibbs free energy (ΔG°) indicate that the adsorption process are exothermic and spontaneous in nature. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis of FCG before and after adsorption further reveal that the mechanism of Cu2+ ion adsorption. Further desorption and reuse experiments show that FCG still retains 96% of the original adsorption following the fifth adsorption-desorption cycle. All these results indicate that FCG is a promising recyclable adsorbent for the removal of Cu2+ ion from aqueous solution.

Characterization of microbial communities of soils from gold mine tailings and identification of mercury-resistant strain.

To enrich the understanding of the complex environmental system of soil and microorganisms in gold tailings, we studied the effects of environmental factors on the microbial community diversity in gold mine tailing soil in Beijing, and the strains screened from the soil with serious mercury (Hg) pollution. The results showed that microbial diversity and community composition varied among sites, and at varying depths, soil microbes were significantly affected by soil environmental factors such as lead (Pb), Hg, pH, and total organic carbon (TOC). Pb and Hg negatively affected soil microbial diversity, and less-polluted soil showed increased microbial diversities and complex community structure. Community composition analysis showed that Firmicutes, Proteobacteria and Actinobacteria were the dominant microorganisms. Moreover, Hg-resistant bacterial species isolated from soil samples were identified as Pseudomonas plecoglossicida with a high Hg tolerance efficiency. This study is important in understanding the microbial diversity and function in gold mine tailing soils and can widen the application for bioremediation process.

Intrinsic Kinetics of Dimethyl Ether Synthesis from Plasma Activation of CO2 Hydrogenation over Cu-Fe-Ce/HZSM-5.

CO2 is activated in a plasma reactor followed by hydrogenation over a Cu-Fe-Ce/HZSM-5 catalyst, and the intrinsic kinetics of the plasma catalytic process are studied. Compared with CO2 hydrogenation using Cu-Fe-Ce/HZSM-5 alone, the CO2 conversion and the dimethyl ether selectivity for the plasma catalytic process are increased by 16.3 %, and 10.1 %, respectively, indicating that the CO2 was activated by the plasma to promote hydrogenation. A study of the intrinsic kinetics shows that the activation energies of methanol formation, the reverse water-gas shift reaction, and methanol dehydration to dimethyl ether are 149.34, 75.47, and 73.18 kJ mol-1 , respectively, which are lower than if Cu-Fe-Ce/HZSM-5 is used without plasma, indicating that the activation of CO2 in the plasma reduces the activation energy of the hydrogenation reaction and improves the yield of dimethyl ether.

Cooperative wrapping of nanoparticles of various sizes and shapes by lipid membranes.

Understanding the interaction between nanoparticles (NPs) and cell membranes is crucial for the design of NP-based drug delivery systems and for the assessment of the risks exerted by the NPs. Recent experimental and theoretical studies have shown that cell membranes can mediate attraction between NPs and form tubular structures to wrap multiple NPs. However, the cooperative wrapping process is still not well understood, and the shape effect of NPs is not considered. In this article, we use large-scale coarse-grained molecular dynamics (CGMD) simulations to study the cooperative wrapping of NPs when a varying number of NPs adhered to the membrane. Spherical, prolate and oblate NPs of different sizes are considered in this study. We find that, in addition to tubular structures, the membrane can form a pocket-like and a handle-like structure to wrap multiple NPs depending on the size and shape of the NPs. Furthermore, we find that NPs can mediate membrane hemifusion or fusion during this process. Our findings provide new insights into the interaction of NPs with the cell membrane.