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With the continuous advancement of urban renewal, the application of recycled aggregates (RA) is a win-win measure to solve the treatment of construction waste and provide the required building materials. However, the existence of a large amount of old adhesive mortar (OAM) makes it difficult for RA to equivalently replace natural aggregates (NA) due to their higher water absorption and crushing index, as well as a lower apparent density. From the published literature on enhancing RA, the most mature and easiest method for construction is physical enhancement technology. Therefore, through a review of recent related researches, this article summarizes and compares the modification effects of mechanical grinding technology, traditional heating and grinding technology, and microwave heating technology on the physical properties of RA, including water absorption, apparent density, and crushing value. The related modification mechanisms were discussed. Additionally, the impacts of different physical enhancement technologies on the environment and economy effects are assessed from the perspectives of carbon emissions and cost required during processing. Based on multi-criteria analysis, microwave heating technology is more efficient and cleaner, which is the most recommended in the future.
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Resíduos Industriais , Reciclagem , Resíduos Industriais/análise , Reciclagem/métodos , Materiais de Construção , Água , Desempenho Físico FuncionalRESUMO
Polysaccharides are the main effective components of Cynomorium songaricum's stem that perform biological activities and have positive impacts on immune enhancement. In this study, the polysaccharide CSP-III of Cynomorium songaricum's stem was isolated using a DEAE-52 cellulose column through Sephadex G-100 gel column chromatography. Upon analysis, the monosaccharide composition of CSP-III included Mannose (Man), Glucuronic acid (GlcA), Galacturonic acid (GalA), Rhamnose (Rha), Glucose (Glc), Galactose (Gal), and Arabinose (Ara), at a molar ratio of 0.01:0.11:0.03:0.57:0.02:0.32:1. The molecular weight of CSP-III was 4018234 Da. Meanwhile, the capacity of CSP-III, at various concentrations, to stimulate the proliferation of mouse spleen lymphocytes in vitro was compared, and the influence of CSP-III on cell proliferation was examined using RAW264.7 mouse mononuclear macrophages as a model. The influence of CSP-III on the expression of important phosphorylating proteins in the MAPK signaling pathway was initially analyzed by Western blotting. In RAW264.7 cells, CSP-III promoted the phosphorylation of JNK proteins, which thus activated the MAPK signaling cascade and exerted immunomodulatory effects. Moreover, according to in vivo studies using cyclophosphamide (CTX)-induced immunosuppression mouse models, CSP-III improved the CTX-induced histopathological damage, promoted T and B lymphocyte proliferation, upregulated CD4+ and CD8+ T-lymphocyte counts in the spleen, increased the serum levels of IgG and IgM, and activated three essential proteins of the MAPK signaling pathway. As revealed by analysis of intestinal flora, CSP-III improved the immune function by maintaining the homeostasis of the bacterial flora by boosting the relative abundances of some beneficial bacterial groups, such as Bacteroidetes, Desmodium, and Actinomyces, and reducing the relative abundance of Aspergillus phylum. Through in vitro and in vivo experiments, our present study demonstrates that polysaccharides from the stem of Cynomorium songaricum possess strong immunoregulatory effects. Findings in this work provide theoretical support for the potential application of Cynomorium songaricum in the field of health food.
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Cynomorium , Humanos , Animais , Camundongos , Imunomodulação , Terapia de Imunossupressão , Ativação Linfocitária , Sistema de Sinalização das MAP QuinasesRESUMO
Since Fe contamination is easily mixed into Si-based photoelectric materials during the fabrication process, the relative changes of energy levels and photoelectric properties of Si material mixed with Fe impurities in different occupancy sites are studied. Based on the first principle and photoelectric response theory, an analysis model of the response characteristics of Si material mixed with Fe impurities is established. The changes of the material's electronic structure are calculated, and the effects of different occupancy sites of Fe impurities on the photoelectric response characteristics of materials are comparatively analyzed. Results show that when the Fe atom occupies the tetrahedral interstitial site in Si, the energy band structure and response characteristics of the material are relatively obviously affected. In this case, the impurity energy band introduced by the Fe impurity passes through the Fermi level, leading to the disappearance of the band gap. The absorption of Si material outside the response band is significantly enhanced. And a new absorption peak is generated at about 1530nm, with an absorption coefficient of about 25513 cm-1. Thus, the Si material can produce a relatively strong response to the light beam outside the response band. In the meantime, the saturation threshold of the Si-based photoreceptor is significantly lower than that of the other two position types. For the irradiation light at the wavelength of 1319nm, the saturation power is only 0.0035 Wâcm-2. The analysis results provide a reference for the application and development of photoelectric devices.
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Recently, self-healing superhydrophobic surfaces have become a new research focus due to their recoverable wetting performances and wide applications. However, until now, on almost all reported surfaces, only one factor (surface chemistry or microstructure) can be restored. In this paper, a new superhydrophobic surface with self-healing ability in both crushed microstructure and damaged surface chemistry is prepared by creating lotus-leaves-like microstructure on the epoxy shape memory polymer (SMP). Through a simple heating process, the crushed surface microstructure, the damaged surface chemistry, and the surface superhydrophobicity that are destroyed under the external pressure and/or O2 plasma action can be recovered, demonstrating that the obtained superhydrophobic surface has a good self-healing ability in both of the two factors that govern the surface wettability. The special self-healing ability is ascribed to the good shape memory effect of the polymer and the reorganization effect of surface molecules. This paper reports the first use of SMP material to demonstrate the self-healing ability of surface superhydrophobicity, which opens up some new perspectives in designing self-healing superhydrophobic surfaces. Given the properties of this surface, it could be used in many applications, such as self-cleaning coatings, microfluidic devices, and biodetection.
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MAIN CONCLUSION: Two distinct cinnamoyl-coenzyme A reductases (CCRs) from Populus tomentosa were cloned and studied and active sites in CCRs were further identified based on sequence divergence, molecular simulation, and site-directed mutants. Cinnamoyl-coenzyme A (CoA) reductase (CCR) is the first committed gene in the lignin-specific pathway and plays a role in the lignin biosynthesis pathway. In this study, we cloned 11 genes encoding CCR or CCR-like proteins in Populus tomentosa. An enzymatic assay of the purified recombinant P. tomentosa (Pto) CCR and PtoCCR-like proteins indicated that only PtoCCR1 and PtoCCR7 had detectable activities toward hydroxycinnamoyl-CoA esters. PtoCCR1 exhibited specificity for feruloyl-CoA, with no detectable activity for any other hydroxycinnamoyl-CoA esters. However, PtoCCR7 catalyzed p-coumaroyl-CoA, caffeoyl-CoA, feruloyl-CoA, and sinapoyl-CoA with a preference for feruloyl-CoA. Site-directed mutations of selected amino acids divergent between PtoCCR1 and 7, combined with modeling and docking, showed that A132 in CCR7 combined with the catalytic triad might comprise the catalytic center. In CCR7, L192, F155, and H208 were identified as the substrate-binding sites, and site-directed mutations of these amino acids showed obvious changes in catalytic efficiency with respect to both feruloyl-CoA and sinapoyl-CoA. Mutant F155Y exhibited greater catalytic efficiency for sinapoyl-CoA compared with that of wild-type PtoCCR7. Finally, recent genome duplication events provided the foundation for CCR divergence. This study further identified the active sites in CCRs and the evolutionary process of CCRs in terrestrial plants.
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Aldeído Oxirredutases/genética , Domínio Catalítico , Evolução Molecular , Família Multigênica , Populus/enzimologia , Populus/genética , Aldeído Oxirredutases/química , Sequência de Aminoácidos , Cromossomos de Plantas/genética , Sequência Conservada/genética , Ensaios Enzimáticos , Duplicação Gênica , Genes de Plantas , Concentração de Íons de Hidrogênio , Cinética , Simulação de Acoplamento Molecular , Mutagênese Sítio-Dirigida , Proteínas Mutantes/química , Filogenia , Proteínas Recombinantes/metabolismo , Alinhamento de Sequência , TemperaturaRESUMO
This paper summarizes the latest research results on materials for the treatment of methane, an important greenhouse gas, and toluene, a volatile organic compound gas, as well as the utilization of these resources over the past two years. These materials include adsorption materials, catalytic oxidation materials, hydrogen-reforming catalytic materials and non-oxidative coupling catalytic materials for methane, and adsorption materials, catalytic oxidation materials, chemical cycle reforming catalytic materials, and degradation catalytic materials for toluene. This paper provides a comprehensive review of these research results from a general point of view and provides an outlook on the treatment of these two gases and materials for resource utilization.
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The proposal of sintered sludge cement (SSC) paste aligns with the low-carbon development goals of building materials. However, there is a lack of scientific guidance for the preparation of sintered sludge ash (SSA). Herein, this study systematically investigates the influence mechanism of mechanical-thermal activation parameters of SSA on the mechanical properties and life cycle assessment (LCA) of SSC paste, and conducts a comprehensive evaluation using a radar chart and the TOPSIS method. The results show that with the increase in calcination temperature and duration, the compressive and flexural strengths of the SSC paste are improved, especially at 600 °C and above, increasing by 57.92% and 62.52%, respectively. The longer calcination time at 1000 °C results in a decrease in its mechanical properties. The addition of SSA significantly reduces the LCA indicators of cement paste. Specifically, 30% SSA only contributes 8.1% to the global warming potential. Compared to calcination, the LCA indicators have less sensitivity to ball milling, and prolonging the time hardly increases them. Based on performance and environmental impact, the optimal SSA is obtained by calcining at 800 °C for 2 h and ball milling for 10 min. This study can provide theoretical guidance for efficient building material utilization of dredged sludge.
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The optimization of urban passenger transport structure can effectively save energy and reduce the carbon emission of transport. However, the carbon emission and energy consumption generated by the construction of transport projects are worthy of attention. In this paper, a multi-objective optimization model of urban passenger transport structure oriented to low carbon is proposed considering passenger, operator, and construction. The optimal solution of the model is obtained based on the NSGA-II algorithm, and the validity of the model is verified with a case of Qingdao. The optimal ratio of Qingdao passenger traffic structure considering only the passenger perspective (PS), considering the passenger and operator (POS), and considering the three parties together (POCS) is obtained, respectively. The results show that the optimal structures obtained by the PS, POS, and POCS models increase the public transport passenger share by 12.74%, 20.74%, and 23.70%, compared with the actual values. From both the supply and demand sides, there has been an increase in the passenger share of public transport. The POS model is more suitable for solving structural optimization problems that do not involve construction carbon emissions in the short term. The POCS model is more suitable for long-term comprehensive structural optimization problems. The results of the study provide a reference basis for optimizing the urban passenger transport structure.
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Carbono , Meios de Transporte , Humanos , Carbono/análise , Meios de Transporte/métodos , AlgoritmosRESUMO
The degradation of methylene blue is a critical procedure in its wastewater remediation and thus has inspired wide catalysis research with semiconductors such as titanium dioxide (TiO2) and rare metals such as gold (Au). In this study, we report bacterial cells assisting biosynthesis for Au@TiO2 as an efficient catalyst for the catalytic degradation of methylene blue. Multiple complementary characterization for bio-Aux@TiO2 evidenced the evenly distributed Au nanoparticles (NPs) on the bio-TiO2 layers. Meanwhile, bio-Au2@TiO2 displayed the superior catalytic activity in the degradation of methylene blue with the highest kinetics constant (kapp) value of 0.195 min-1. In addition, bio-Au2@TiO2 keeps stable catalytic activity for up to 10 cycles. The origin of the catalytic activity was investigated by the hydroxyl radical fluorescence quantitative analysis and optical band gap analysis. In the bio-Au2@TiO2 catalytic system, Au NPs decreased the band gap energy of TiO2 and enabled the generation of abundant photogeneration hydroxyl radicals, resulting in an enhanced photocatalytic activity. Our microbial synthesized bio-TiO2 and bio-Aux@TiO2 study would be useful for developing green synthesis catalyst technology.
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Nanopartículas Metálicas , Azul de Metileno , Ouro , Titânio , CatáliseRESUMO
Photodynamic therapy (PDT) has the characteristics of being simple and non-invasive, and with on-demand light control. However, most photosensitizers exhibit strong hydrophobicity, low quantum yields in water and low tumor selectivity. In this study, carbon network-hosted porphyrins (CPs) with high biocompatibility and efficient singlet oxygen (1O2) generation were developed to reduce the biotoxicity of photosensitizers and avoid quenching caused by hydrophobic aggregation for enhanced PDT. The CPs were prepared by a simple solid-phase synthesis method using porphyrin, green non-toxic citric acid and urea as the raw materials. The CPs exhibited excellent water solubility and high biocompatibility. Even when the concentration reached 1.5 mg mL-1, cells still had good biological activity. By separately fixing the porphyrins in the carbon network, the CPs avoided aggregation-induced inactivation and had high generation efficiency of 1O2. Furthermore, in order to improve the PDT effect, the CPs were modified with the upper nuclear targeting peptide TAT (T-CPs), which was used to target the nucleus and generate 1O2in situ to directly destroy genetic material. The proposed strategy provides a simple and green path to prepare nanophotosensitizers with high biocompatibility and efficient 1O2 generation for PDT.
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Fotoquimioterapia , Porfirinas , Fármacos Fotossensibilizantes/química , Porfirinas/química , Fotoquimioterapia/métodos , Carbono , ÁguaRESUMO
By reshaping the substrate-binding pocket of ß-amino acid dehydrogenase (ß-AADH), some variants were obtained with up to 2560-fold enhanced activity toward the model substrates (S)-ß-homophenylalanine and (R)-ß-phenylalanine. A few aromatic ß-amino acids were prepared with >99% ee and high isolated yields via either kinetic resolution of racemates or reductive amination of the corresponding ß-keto acids. This work expands the catalytic capability of ß-AADHs and highlights their practical application in the synthesis of pharmaceutically relevant ß-amino acids.
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Aminoácido Oxirredutases , Aminoácidos Aromáticos , Aminoácidos Aromáticos/metabolismo , Aminoácido Oxirredutases/química , Aminoácido Oxirredutases/metabolismo , Aminoácidos/metabolismo , Aminação , Cetoácidos , Especificidade por SubstratoRESUMO
Introduction: The present study aimed to investigate the differences in the proteomic expression between uncomplicated parapneumonic pleural effusion (UPPE) and complicated parapneumonic pleural effusion (CPPE). Material and methods: There were 10 patients with UPPE and 10 patients with CPPE. These patients were combined due to the complication of pleural effusion and further divided into group A and group B. An LC-MS analysis was conducted with the extraction of high-abundance proteins, and proteins with 1.5-fold or higher difference multiples were identified as differential proteins. Then, gene ontology (GO) and KEGG analyses were conducted on the differential proteins between the groups. Results: Compared with the UPPE group, there were 38 upregulated proteins and 29 downregulated proteins in the CPPE group. The GO analysis revealed that the CPPE group had enhanced expressions in monosaccharide biosynthesis, glucose catabolism, fructose-6-phosphate glycolysis, glucose-6-phosphate glycolysis, and NADH regeneration as well as reduced expressions in fibrinogen complexes, protein polymerization, and coagulation. Moreover, the KEGG analysis showed that the CPPE group had enhanced expressions in amino acid synthesis, the HIF-1 signalling pathway, and glycolysis/glycoisogenesis and decreased expressions in platelet activation and complement activation. Conclusions: In pleural effusion in patients with CPPE, there are enhanced expressions of proteins concerning glucose and amino acid metabolism, NADH regeneration, and HIF-1 signalling pathways together with decreased expressions of proteins concerning protein polymerization, blood coagulation, platelet activation, and complement activation.
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Intraluminal lymphatic valves (LVs) and lymphovenous valves (LVVs) are critical to ensure the unidirectional flow of lymphatic fluid. Morphological abnormalities in these valves always cause lymph or blood reflux, and result in lymphedema. However, the underlying molecular mechanism of valve development remains poorly understood. We here report the implication of Efnb2-Ephb4-Rasa1 regulated Erk signaling axis in lymphatic valve development with identification of two new valve structures. Dynamic monitoring of phospho-Erk activity indicated that Erk signaling is spatiotemporally inhibited in some lymphatic endothelial cells (LECs) during the valve cell specification. Inhibition of Erk signaling via simultaneous depletion of zygotic erk1 and erk2 or treatment with MEK inhibitor selumetinib causes lymphatic vessel hypoplasia and lymphatic valve hyperplasia, suggesting opposite roles of Erk signaling during these two processes. ephb4b mutants, efnb2a;efnb2b or rasa1a;rasa1b double mutants all have defective LVs and LVVs and exhibit blood reflux into lymphatic vessels with an edema phenotype. Importantly, the valve defects in ephb4b or rasa1a;rasa1b mutants are mitigated with high-level gata2 expression in the presence of MEK inhibitors. Therefore, Efnb2-Ephb4 signaling acts to suppress Erk activation in valve-forming cells to promote valve specification upstream of Rasa1. Not only do our findings reveal a molecular mechanism of lymphatic valve formation, but also provide a basis for the treatment of lymphatic disorders.
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Células Endoteliais , Vasos Linfáticos , Transdução de Sinais/genética , Fosforilação , Quinases de Proteína Quinase Ativadas por MitógenoRESUMO
Quantifying the stomatal responses of plants to global change factors is crucial for modeling terrestrial carbon and water cycles. Here we synthesize worldwide experimental data to show that stomatal conductance (gs) decreases with elevated carbon dioxide (CO2), warming, decreased precipitation, and tropospheric ozone pollution, but increases with increased precipitation and nitrogen (N) deposition. These responses vary with treatment magnitude, plant attributes (ambient gs, vegetation biomes, and plant functional types), and climate. All two-factor combinations (except warming + N deposition) significantly reduce gs, and their individual effects are commonly additive but tend to be antagonistic as the effect sizes increased. We further show that rising CO2 and warming would dominate the future change of plant gs across biomes. The results of our meta-analysis provide a foundation for understanding and predicting plant gs across biomes and guiding manipulative experiment designs in a real world where global change factors do not occur in isolation.
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Dióxido de Carbono , Fotossíntese , Fotossíntese/fisiologia , Ecossistema , Clima , Plantas , Mudança ClimáticaRESUMO
Nanocarbons (NCs) consisting of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and carbon nanofibers (CNFs) were coated on the surface of nickel foam (NF) via a chemical vapor deposition method. The CNFs formed conductive networks on NF, while the CNTs grew perpendicular to the surface of the CNFs, accompanied with the formation of Ni nanoparticles (Ni NPs) at the end of CNTs. The unique Ni-NCs-coated NF with a porous structure was applied as the three-dimensional (3D) current collector of lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries, which provided enough space to accommodate the electrode materials inside itself. Therefore, the 3D interconnected conductive framework of the coated NF collector merged in the electrode materials shortened the path of electron transport, and the generated Ni NPs could adsorb lithium polysulfides (LiPSs) and effectively accelerated the conversion kinetics of LiPSs as well, thereby suppressing the "shuttle effect". Moreover, the rigid framework of NF would also constrain the movement of the electrode compositions, which benefited the stability of the Li-S batteries. As a matter of fact, the Li-S battery based on the Ni-NCs-coated NF collector delivered an initial discharge capacity as high as 1472 mAh g-1 at 0.1C and outstanding high rate capability at 3C (802 mAh g-1). Additionally, low decay rates of 0.067 and 0.08% at 0.2C (300 cycles) and 0.5C (500 cycles) have been obtained, respectively. Overall, our prepared Ni-NCs-coated NF collector is promising for the application in high-performance Li-S batteries.
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OBJECTIVE: To compare the clinical effect between head acupuncture combined with exercise therapy and conventional acupuncture for nonspecific low back pain. METHODS: A total of 64 patients with nonspecific low back pain were randomized into an observation group (32 cases, 2 cases dropped off) and a control group (32 cases, 2 cases dropped off). In the control group, conventional acupuncture was applied at Jiaji (EX-B 2) of L1 to L3, ashi point, Shenshu (BL 23), Dachangshu (BL 25), Yaoyangguan (GV 3) and Weizhong (BL 40). The observation group was treated with head acupuncture combined with exercise therapy, head acupuncture was applied at foot-motor-sensory area on the healthy side and Cuanzhu (BL 2), Tongziliao (GB 1) on the affected side, and McKenzie therapy was performed during retention. The needles were retained for 40 min, once a day, continuous treatment for 6 days with the interval of 1 day, 14 days were required in the two groups. Before and after treatment, the pain visual analogue scale (VAS) score, Oswestry disability index (ODI) score and infrared thermography temperature of pain area in the low back were compared in the two groups. RESULTS: Compared before treatment, the VAS and ODI scores after treatment were decreased in the two groups (P<0.01), and those in the observation group were lower than the control group (P<0.01). Compared before treatment, the infrared thermography temperature of pain area in the low back after treatment was increased in the two groups (P<0.01), and that in the observation group was higher than the control group (P<0.01). CONCLUSION: Head acupuncture combined with exercise therapy could relieve pain, improve dysfunction and increase the local temperature of pain area in patients with nonspecific low back pain, and its curative effect is better than conventional acupuncture.
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Terapia por Acupuntura , Acupuntura , Dor Lombar , Pontos de Acupuntura , Terapia por Exercício , Humanos , Dor Lombar/terapia , Resultado do TratamentoRESUMO
Selective and sensitive detection of microRNA is crucial for early diagnosis and pathogenesis of disease. Here, we established a novel electrochemical biosensor for simple and accurate analysis of the tumor biomarker microRNA-141, which was based on in-situ catalytic hairpin assembly (CHA) actuated DNA tetrahedral (DTN) interfacial probes. Two hairpin structures used for CHA reaction were placed on the DTN, in which the hairpin H1 on the one vertex of DTN and hairpin H2 embedded in adjacent edge, respective. The target microRNA-141 could open the hairpin H1 and activated the in-situ CHA reaction between H1 and H2 to alter the conformational of DTN, increasing the chances of the direct interaction between methylene blue (MB) and the electrode surface, leading to an increase in the electrochemical signal. Meanwhile, the released miRNA-141 could unfold another H1, enabling the enzyme-free recycling of the target to obtain amplified electrochemical signals. Moreover, the in-situ catalytic hairpin assembly reaction on DTN could shorten the reaction time and enhance the sensitivity. The established biosensor exhibited a wide linear dynamic range of miRNA-141 from 1 fM to 100 pM with a detection limit of 0.32 fM. Besides, the approach can discriminate the target miRNA from mismatched ones with excellent selectivity and can be successfully applied in diluted serum samples, holding great potential for sensitive detection of various biomarkers clinically.
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Técnicas Biossensoriais , DNA Catalítico , MicroRNAs , Sondas de DNA/genética , Técnicas Eletroquímicas , Limite de Detecção , MicroRNAs/genéticaRESUMO
The chemical percolation devolatilization (CPD) model can simulate the formation of various products during the coal pyrolysis process and predict the products composition relatively accurately. In this study, the pyrolysis products of a typical low-rank coal were calculated using the CPD model, and several model improvements were proposed by combining the experimental results in a lab-scale pyrolysis system. The chemical structural parameters calculated from the Genetti correlations were verified by adjusting the initial fraction of char bridges (c 0) from 0.098 to 0.25. A yield difference (Δf tar) was defined in this paper to analyze the consumption of tar fragments in the model, and it was found that the deviations between experiments and calculations resulted from the weak influence of crosslinking. A modification expression was adopted to amplify the tar consumption: , which improved the accuracy of the model on the tar yield with errors of less than ±0.5 wt%. Furthermore, this paper also developed a correlation in an exponential form about gas composition, which attempted to extend the application of the CPD coalification reference mesh for the coal away from interpolation triangles. The improved model by the correlation predicted CH4, CO, and CO2 yields for this typical low-rank coal accurately in most cases. Compared with the original CPD model, the modified model showed better agreement with the experimental results and predicted 71.4% and 88.6% of the data points in this work within ±10% and ±20% errors, respectively.
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Ceramic aerogels, which present a unique combination of low thermal conductivity and excellent high-temperature stability, are attractive for thermal insulation under extreme conditions. However, most ceramic aerogels are constructed by oxide ceramic nanoparticles and thus are usually plagued by their brittleness and structural collapse at elevated temperatures (less than 1000 °C). Despite great progress achieved in this regard recently, it still remains a big challenge to design and fabricate intriguing ceramic aerogels with enhanced mechanical strength and remarkable thermal stability at ultrahigh temperature up to 1400 °C. To this end, we herein report a facile and scalable strategy to manufacture ceramic nanorod aerogels (CNRAs) with hierarchically macroporous and mesoporous structures by the controllable assembly of Al2O3 nanorods and SiO2 nanoparticles. Subsequently, the high-temperature annealing treatment of CNRAs significantly maximizes mechanical strength and promotes thermal tolerance. The obtained CNRAs demonstrate the integrated properties of super-strong heat resistance (up to 1400 °C), low thermal conductivity (0.026 W/m·K at 25 °C and 0.089 W/m·K at 1200 °C), high mechanical robustness (compressive strength 1.5 MPa), and low density (0.146 g/cm3). We envision that this novel nanorod-assembled ceramic aerogels offer considerable advantages than most of the state-of-the-art ceramic aerogels for thermal superinsulation upon exposure to extremely harsh environments.
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We previously identified three putative prophenoloxidase-activating proteinase (mdPAP1, mdPAP2, and mdPAP3) genes from housefly Musca domestica by transcriptomic analysis. In this study, mdPAP1 cDNA was cloned, and the function of its encoded protein was analyzed. The cDNA of mdPAP1 was 1358 bp, and it contained a single open reading frame of 1122 bp encoding a predicted MdPAP1 protein of 373 amino acids. The estimated molecular weight of MdPAP1 was 41267.08 Da with an isoelectric point of 6.25. The deduced amino acid sequence of MdPAP1 exhibited high similarity to known PAPs of insects. mdPAP1 was detected in larvae, pupae, and adult housefly, and the expression level of mdPAP1 was upregulated in bacterial challenged larvae. The recombinant protein of MdPAP1 expressed in Escherichia coli could cleave the prophenoloxidase into phenoloxidase in M. domestica hemolymph infected by bacteria and result in a significant increase of the total phenoloxidase activity. In addition, RNA interference-mediated gene silencing of mdPAP1 significantly increased the mortality of M. domestica larvae. Results indicated that mdPAP1 was involved in the activation of the prophenoloxidase against bacterial infection in M. domestica.