One-Pot Synthesis of C@BiOBr for Efficient Photocatalytic Degradation of Phenol.

This work describes the synthesis of C@BiOBr using glucose as the carbon precursor by a repeatable one-step hydrothermal method. Characterization studies indicate that the structure of BiOBr did not change after the carbon layer was encapsulated on the surface. The highest activity is achieved at 1.2-C@BiOBr, with 97% of phenol (50 mg·L-1) degrading within 90 min, and the degradation amount of phenol is determined to be 48.5 mg·g-1 with a speed of 0.54 mg·g-1·min-1. The useful species of phenol degradation are studied and assigned to •O2-, 1O2, and h+. The effect of coated carbon layer for photocatalytic degradation of phenol over BiOBr is studied by photoelectrochemical experiments, fluorescence spectra, and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. It is attributed to the good conductivity of carbon, enhanced separation of the photocarriers by carbon coating, and thermodynamically favorable reactive oxygen species (ROS) production on the surface of carbon. This work demonstrates that carbon coating is an effective strategy to improve the photocatalytic activity of BiOBr and reveals the detailed mechanism.

Comprehensive needs, social support, and disease perception in lung cancer patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors: a cross-sectional study.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to investigate the comprehensive needs of lung cancer patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors and to explore the relationships between comprehensive needs and social support and disease perception, moreover, to analyse associated factors of comprehensive needs. METHODS: The study was conducted in a teaching hospital in Jiaxing Province, China. A total of 141 patients with lung cancer completed a battery of self-report questionnaires, including the Comprehensive Needs Assessment Tool in Cancer for Patients (CNAT), Social Supportive Rating Scale (SSRS), Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire (BIPQ), and demographic and clinical characteristics questionnaire. RESULTS: The level of comprehensive needs was highest in the domain "medical demand" (42.17 ± 26.57), and the item with the highest level of comprehensive needs was "I need information about the financial support for my medical expenses" (2.00 ± 1.07). Statistically significant correlations were identified between the comprehensive needs score, social support, and disease perception. The multiple regression analysis showed that immunotherapy course, whether irAEs occur, social support, and disease perception were factors influencing patients' comprehensive needs. CONCLUSIONS: The most prevalent needs in lung cancer patients were found in the "medical needs" domain. Additionally, immunotherapy course, whether irAEs occur, disease perception, and social support were associated with comprehensive needs among lung cancer patients. It is essential to combine the associated factors to accurately evaluate patient needs. We should pay more attention to proposing the comprehensive measures for these patients and providing more individualized supportive care during the lengthy treatment period.

New insights of bacterial and eukaryotic phenotypes on the plastics collected from the typical natural habitat of the endangered crocodile lizard.

Although accumulating evidence indicates that endangered animals suffer from plastic pollution, this has been largely overlooked. Here, we explored the bacteria and eukaryotes living in the plastics gathered from the natural habitat of the highly endangered crocodile lizard. The results demonstrated that the bacterial and eukaryotic communities on plastics formed a unique ecosystem that exhibited lower diversity than those in the surrounding water and soil. However, microbes displayed a more complex and stable network on plastic than that in water or soil, implying unique mechanisms of stabilization. These mechanisms enhanced their resilience and contributed to the provision of stable ecological services. Eukaryotes formed a simpler and smaller network than bacteria, indicating different survival strategies. The bacteria residing on the plastics played a significant role in carbon transformation and sequestration, which likely impacted carbon cycling in the habitat. Furthermore, microbial exchange between plastics and the crocodile lizard was observed, suggesting that plastisphere serves as a mobile gene bank for the exchange of information, including potentially harmful substances. Overall, microbes on plastic appear to significantly impact the crocodile lizard and its natural habitat via various pathways. These results provided novel insights into risks evaluation of plastic pollution and valuable guidance for government efforts in plastic pollutant control in nature reserves.

[Deficiency of cathepsin K improves ischemic angiogenesis in high-fat diet fed mice].

The present study aims to investigate the effect of cathepsin K (CatK) on ischemic angiogenesis in high-fat diet fed mice. The mice were subjected to unilateral hindlimb ischemic surgery, and the ischemic blood flow was measured with a laser Doppler blood flow imager. Immunohistochemical staining was used to observe the quantity of new capillaries in the ischemic lower extremity, and Western blot was used to detect the expression of insulin receptor substrate-1 (IRS-1), p-Akt, Akt and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). Firstly, the effect of high-fat diet on ischemic angiogenesis was observed in wild-type mice, which were randomly divided into control group and high-fat diet group and were fed with normal diet or 60% high-fat diet respectively for 16 weeks. The results showed the body weight and the plasma CatK concentration of the high-fat diet group was significantly increased compared with the control group (P < 0.05), and the blood flow recovery of the high-fat diet group was significantly lower than control group (P < 0.05). Then, wild-type and CatK knock out (CatK-/-) mice were both fed with high-fat diet to further observe the effect and mechanism of CatK on ischemic angiogenesis under high-fat diet. The results showed that the blood flow recovery in the CatK-/- group was significantly greater than the wild-type group, and the number of CD31 positive cells was significantly increased (P < 0.05). At the same time, the protein expression levels of IRS-1, p-Akt and VEGF in the ischemic skeletal muscle were significantly increased in the CatK-/- group compared with the wild-type group (P < 0.05). These results suggest that the deficiency of CatK improves ischemic angiogenesis in high-fat diet fed mice through IRS-1-Akt-VEGF signaling pathway.

Direct Photocatalytic Methane Oxidation to Formaldehyde by N Doping Co-Decorated Mixed Crystal TiO2.

In this paper, N-doped TiO2 mixed crystals are prepared via direct calcination of TiN for highly selective oxidation of CH4 to HCHO at room temperature. The structures of the prepared TiO2 samples are characterized to be N-doped TiO2 of anatase and rutile mixed crystals. The crystal structures of TiO2 samples are determined by XRD spectra and Raman spectra, while N doping is demonstrated by TEM mapping, ONH inorganic element analysis, and high-resolution XPS results. Significantly, the production rate of HCHO is as high as 23.5 mmol·g-1·h-1 with a selectivity over 90%. Mechanism studies reveal that H2O is the main oxygen source and acts through the formation of ·OH. DFT calculations indicate that the construction of a mixed crystal structure and N-doping modification mainly act by increasing the adsorption capacity of H2O. An efficient photocatalyst was prepared by us to convert CH4 to HCHO with high yield and selectivity, greatly promoting the development of the photocatalytic CH4 conversion study.

Synthesis and antibacterial activity of a series novel 5,7-diisoprenyloxyflavone derivatives

In the present study, a series of novel 5,7-diisoprenyloxyflavone derivatives were designed, synthesized, and evaluated for their antibacterial activity. Most of these compounds displayed significant antibacterial effects against Gram-positive bacteria, especially against strains of multidrug-resistant clinical isolates. Compounds 4c, 4g, 4i, 4j, 4k, 4l, 4n, 4q and 4t showed high levels of antimicrobial activity against Staphylococcus aureus RN4220 with minimum inhibitory concentrations of 4.0-20 µM. Compound 4k showed the most potent activity among these compounds against all multidrug-resistant clinical isolates tested. Unfortunately, none of the compounds were active against Gram-negative bacteria at the doses of 24-164 µM.

Prevalence of mobile genetic elements and transposase genes in Vibrio alginolyticus from the southern coastal region of China and theirrole in horizontal gene transfer

Vibrio alginolyticus has high genetic diversity, but little is known about the means by which it has been acquired. In this study, the distributions of mobile genetic elements (MGEs), including integrating conjugative elements (ICEs), superintegron-like cassettes (SICs), insertion sequences (ISs), and two types of transposase genes (valT1 and valT2), in 192 strains of V. alginolyticus were investigated. ICE, SIC, and IS elements, valT1, and valT2 were detected in 8.9%, 13.0%, 4.7%, 9.4%, and 2.6% of the strains, respectively. Blast searches and phylogenetic analysis of the acquired sequences of the ICE, SIC, IS elements and transposase genes showed that the corresponding homologues were bacterial and derived from extensive sources. The high prevalences of these MGEs in V. alginolyticus implied the extensive and frequent exchange of genes with environmental bacteria and that these elements strongly contribute to the genetic and phenotypic diversity of the bacterium. To our knowledge, this is the first report of V. alginolyticus harboring ICE and SIC elements (AU)

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