[Research progress on cardiac developmental toxicity induced by environmental endocrine disruptors exposure].

Environmental endocrine disruptors (EDCs) are ubiquitous in the environment, and detectable amounts are found in humans worldwide. EDCs can interact with nuclear receptors such as estrogen receptor, which could interfere with the normal function of endocrine system, and further cause the pathological alterations in the tissues. This article summarizes several common types of EDCs in the environment, which caused cardiac function abnormalities, and morphological growth malformations in heart as well as its relevant mechanisms, including oxidative stress, inflammatory response, changes in signal transduction, expressions of transcriptional regulatory factors, which are related to cardiac development, receptor pathways and cell apoptosis etc., for the purpose of understanding the process of EDCs-induced cardiac developmental toxicity, and further providing scientific theoretical basis for figuring out the toxicity mechanism of EDCs and the prevention and treatment of cardiac diseases.

Structural and Functional Characteristics of Microplastic Associated Biofilms in Response to Temporal Dynamics and Polymer Types.

The colonization of bacterial communities and biofilm formation on microplastics (MPs) have aroused great concern recently. However, the influence of time and polymer types on the structural and functional characteristics of biofilms remains unclear. In this study, three types of MPs (polyethylene, polypropylene, and polystyrene) were exposed for different time periods (10, 20 and 30 days) in seawater using a microcosm experiment. Microscopic spectroscopy and high-throughput gene sequencing techniques were used to reveal the temporal changes of structural and functional characteristics of MPs associated biofilms. The results indicate that the biofilm formation is affected by both the incubation time and the polymer type. In addition, bacterial diversity and community structure in the biofilms show selectivity towards seawater, and tend to shift over time and among different polymer types. Moreover, biofilms are shown to harbor plastic degrading bacteria, leading to the changes of functional groups and surface hydrophobicity, and thereby enhancing the biodegradation of MPs.

Biogeography of nodulated legumes and their nitrogen-fixing symbionts.

Contents 40 I. 40 II. 41 III. 44 IV. 48 V. 49 VI. 49 VII. 52 VIII. 53 53 References 53 SUMMARY: In the last decade, analyses of both molecular and morphological characters, including nodulation, have led to major changes in our understanding of legume taxonomy. In parallel there has been an explosion in the number of genera and species of rhizobia known to nodulate legumes. No attempt has been made to link these two sets of data or to consider them in a biogeographical context. This review aims to do this by relating the data to the evolution of the two partners: it highlights both longitudinal and latitudinal trends and considers these in relation to the location of major land masses over geological time. Australia is identified as being a special case and latitudes north of the equator as being pivotal in the evolution of highly specialized systems in which the differentiated rhizobia effectively become ammonia factories. However, there are still many gaps to be filled before legume nodulation is sufficiently understood to be managed for the benefit of a world in which climate change is rife.

Performance and mechanisms of alkaline solid waste in CO2 mineralization and utilization.

CO2 mineral sequestration using alkaline solid waste (ASW) is a promising strategy for synergistically reducing CO2 emissions and reusing industrial waste. However, improvement the carbonation degree still remains challenges due to the sluggish leaching rate of Ca/Mg ion at low pH. To the issues, this study proposed an amine-mediated CO2 absorption and mineralization process with six common ASWs, as well an ecological utilization route of CO2-ASW productions. Experimental results indicated that calcium carbide slag (CS) had greater CO2 mineralization capacity (86.2 g-CO2/kg-CS) than other ASWs, while stirring rate and particle size played a more important role during CO2 capture. Amine-mediated CO2 capture was verified to be more excellent with steel slag (SS) as mineral medium. When the MEA concentration was increased to 2 mol/L, the extraction efficiency of Ca2+ was increased by 35 %, leaded to the CO2 removal efficiency significantly promoted from 49 % to 92 %. The characterization of structural morphology referred spherical aragonite or needle-bar calcite was dominant for the porous mineralization products (30.6 m2/g). High germination index of pea seed (112.1 % at a dose of 10 g/L) inferred the negligible toxicological effects of tiny MEA residue over SS mineralization products, after centrifugally washing treatment. Pea seeds cultivated with mineralized products after centrifugal washing can achieve a growth rate of about 4 mm/d. Overall, this work provides a feasible route to apply the porous CO2-ASWs production into water conservation in arid and sandy land.

Macro-constructing zeolitic imidazole frameworks functionalized sponge for enhanced removal of heavy metals: The significance of morphology and structure modulation.

Rational synthesis of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) via structural and morphology engineering are fundamental for enhanced heavy metal removal. Beyond tuning intrinsic characteristics, it is essential to address inseparability and instability issues of MOFs to fulfill the practical applications. Herein, we successfully constructed macroscopic zeolitic imidazole frameworks-functionalized melamine sponge (MS@ZIFx, x represents the ultrasonication duration) using a facile dip-coating method. By varying ultrasonication duration, the morphology and structure of the loaded ZIF were modulated from leaf-shaped phase to hollow mixed phase to achieve the excellent adsorption performance. The optimized MS-ZIF10 exhibited significantly enhanced performance for Pb(II) and Cu(II) adsorption. Specifically, the MS-ZIF10 combined high adsorption capacities (624.8 and 588.6 mg g-1 for Pb(II) and Cu(II), respectively), rapid kinetics, excellent anti-interfering capability (e.g., cations, dissolved organic matters) with outstanding reusability (removal efficiency > 91.8 % after 10 cycles). The MS-ZIF10 presented satisfactory performance on Pb(II) and Cu(II) removal in various real water matrices. Fixed-bed experiments were performed to assess the practicality of MS-ZIF10, and 1821 bed volumes (BVs) and 1630 BVs of feeding streams containing Pb(II) and Cu(II) were effectively treated. This work proposed a novel paradigm for promoting the MOF's performance and simultaneously boosting MOF's application in actual heavy metal removal.

Identification for the cortical 3-Hinges folding pattern based on cortical morphological and structural features.

The Cortical 3-Hinges Folding Pattern (i.e., 3-Hinges) is one of the brain's hallmarks, and it is of great reference for predicting human intelligence, diagnosing eurological diseases and understanding the brain functional structure differences among gender. Given the significant morphological variability among individuals, it is challenging to identify 3-Hinges, but current 3-Hinges researches are mainly based on the computationally expensive Gyral-net method. To address this challenge, this paper aims to develop a deep network model to realize the fast identification of 3-Hinges based on cortical morphological and structural features. The main work includes: (1) The morphological and structural features of the cerebral cortex are extracted to relieve the imbalance between the number of 3-Hinges and each brain image's voxels; (2) The feature vector is constructed with the K nearest neighbor algorithm from the extracted scattered features of the morphological and structural features to alleviate over-fitting in training; (3) The squeeze excitation module combined with the deep U-shaped network structure is used to learn the correlation of the channels among the feature vectors; (4) The functional structure roles that 3-Hinges plays between adolescent males and females are discussed in this work. The experimental results on both adolescent and adult MRI datasets show that the proposed model achieves better performance in terms of time consumption. Moreover, this paper reveals that cortical sulcus information plays a critical role in the procedure of identification, and the cortical thickness, cortical surface area, and volume characteristics can supplement valuable information for 3-Hinges identification to some extent. Furthermore, there are significant structural differences on 3-Hinges among adolescent gender.

Synthesis and Photocatalytic Activity of Pt-Deposited TiO2 Nanotubes (TNT) for Rhodamine B Degradation.

Dye wastewater has attracted more and more attention because of its high environmental risk. In this study, a novel TiO2 nanotube (TNT) catalyst was prepared and its morphology and structure were characterized. The synthetic catalyst was used to degrade Rhodamine B (RhB) under UV light and evaluated for the application performance. According to the characterization results and degradation properties, the optimum synthetic conditions were selected as 400°C calcination temperature and 10 wt% Pt deposition. As a result, the degradation efficacies were sequenced as TNT-400-Pt > TNT-500-Pt > TNT-400 > TNT-300-Pt. In addition, the effect of pH and initial concentration of RhB were explored, and their values were both increased with the decreased degradation efficacy. While the moderate volume of 11 mm of H2O2 addition owned better performance than that of 0, 6, and 15 mm. Scavengers such as tertbutanol (t-BuOH), disodium ethylenediaminetetraacetate (EDTA-Na2), and nitroblue tetrazolium (NBT) were added during the catalytic process and it proved that superoxide radical anions ( O 2 - • ) , photogenerated hole (h+) and hydroxyl radical (OH•) were the main active species contributing for RhB removal. For the application, TNT-Pt could deal with almost 100% RhB, Orange G (OG), Methylene blue (MB), and Congo red (CR) within 70 min and still kept more than 50% RhB removal in the fifth recycling use. Therefore, TNT-Pt synthesized in this study is potential to be applied to the dye wastewater treatment.

Effects of dietary protein level on small intestinal morphology, occludin protein, and bacterial diversity in weaned piglets.

Due to the physiological characteristics of piglets, the morphological structure and function of the small intestinal mucosa change after weaning, which easily leads to diarrhea in piglets. The aim of this study was to investigate effects of crude protein (CP) levels on small intestinal morphology, occludin protein expression, and intestinal bacteria diversity in weaned piglets. Ninety-six weaned piglets (25 days of age) were randomly divided into four groups and fed diets containing 18%, 20%, 22%, and 24% protein. At 6, 24, 48, 72, and 96 h, changes in mucosal morphological structure, occludin mRNA, and protein expression and in the localization of occludin in jejunal and ileal tissues were evaluated. At 6, 24, and 72 h, changes in bacterial diversity and number of the ileal and colonic contents were analyzed. Results showed that structures of the jejunum and the ileum of piglets in the 20% CP group were intact. The expression of occludin mRNA and protein in the small intestine of piglets in the 20% CP group were significantly higher than those in the other groups. As the CP level increased, the number of pathogens, such as Clostridium difficile and Escherichia coli, in the intestine increased, while the number of beneficial bacteria, such as Lactobacillus, Bifidobacterium, and Roseburia, decreased. It is concluded that maintaining the CP level at 20% is beneficial to maintaining the small intestinal mucosal barrier and its absorption function, reducing the occurrence of diarrhea, and facilitating the growth and development of piglets.

Ordered intermetallic compounds combining precious metals and transition metals for electrocatalysis.

Ordered intermetallic alloys with significantly improved activity and stability have attracted extensive attention as advanced electrocatalysts for reactions in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). Here, recent advances in tuning intermetallic Pt- and Pd-based nanocrystals with tunable morphology and structure in PEMFCs to catalyze the cathodic reduction of oxygen and the anodic oxidation of fuels are highlighted. The fabrication/tuning of ordered noble metal-transition metal-bonded intermetallic PtM and PdM (M = Fe, Co) nanocrystals by using high temperature annealing treatments to promote the activity and stability of electrocatalytic reactions are discussed. Furthermore, the further improvement of the efficiency of this unique ordered intermetallic alloys for electrocatalysis are also proposed and discussed. This report aims to demonstrate the potential of the ordered intermetallic strategy of noble and transition metals to facilitate electrocatalysis and facilitate more research efforts in this field.

Sex-specific associations between alcohol consumption, cardiac morphology, and function as assessed by magnetic resonance imaging: insights form the UK Biobank Population Study.

AIMS: Data regarding the effects of regular alcohol consumption on cardiac anatomy and function are scarce. Therefore, we sought to determine the relationship between regular alcohol intake and cardiac structure and function as evaluated with cardiac magnetic resonance imaging. METHODS AND RESULTS: Participants of the UK Biobank who underwent cardiac magnetic resonance were enrolled in our analysis. Data regarding regular alcohol consumption were obtained from questionnaires filled in by the study participants. Exclusion criteria were poor image quality, missing, or incongruent data regarding alcohol drinking habits, prior drinking, presence of heart failure or angina, and prior myocardial infarction or stroke. Overall, 4335 participants (61.5 ± 7.5 years, 47.6% male) were analysed. We used multivariate linear regression models adjusted for age, ethnicity, body mass index, smoking, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, physical activity, cholesterol level, and Townsend deprivation index to examine the relationship between regular alcohol intake and cardiac structure and function. In men, alcohol intake was independently associated with marginally increased left ventricular end-diastolic volume [ß = 0.14; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.05-0.24; P = 0.004], left ventricular stroke volume (ß = 0.08; 95% CI = 0.03-0.14; P = 0.005), and right ventricular stroke volume (ß = 0.08; 95% CI = 0.02-0.13; P = 0.006). In women, alcohol consumption was associated with increased left atrium volume (ß = 0.14; 95% CI = 0.04-0.23; P = 0.006). CONCLUSION: Alcohol consumption is independently associated with a marginal increase in left and right ventricular volumes in men, but not in women, whereas alcohol intake showed an association with increased left atrium volume in women. Our results suggest that there is only minimal relationship between regular alcohol consumption and cardiac morphology and function in an asymptomatic middle-aged population.

Strategies to improve the adsorption properties of graphene-based adsorbent towards heavy metal ions and their compound pollutants: A review.

Heavy metal-containing wastewater can be treated by adsorption technology to obtain ultra-low concentration or high-quality treated effluent. Due to the constraints of the specific surface area, surface electrical structure and spatial effect of conventional adsorbents, it is often difficult to obtain adsorbents within high adsorption capacity. Graphene has characteristics of large specific surface area, small particle size, and high adsorption efficiency. It is considered as one of the research hotspots in recent years. However, despite graphene's unique properties, graphene-based adsorbents still have some drawbacks, i.e. graphene nanosheets are easier to be stacked with each other via π-π stacking and van der Waals interactions, which affect the site exposure, impede the rapid mass transport and limit its adsorption performance. Special strategy is needed to overcome its drawbacks. This work summarizes recent literatures on utilization of three strategies-surface functionalization regulation, morphology and structure control and material composite, to improve the adsorption properties of graphene-based adsorbent towards heavy metal removal. A brief summary, perspective on strategies to improving adsorption properties of graphene-based materials for heavy metal adsorption are also presented. Certainly, this review will be useful for designing and manufacturing of graphene-based nanomaterials for water treatment.

ZnIn2 S4 -Based Photocatalysts for Energy and Environmental Applications.

As a fascinating visible-light-responsive photocatalyst, zinc indium sulfide (ZnIn2 S4 ) has attracted extensive interdisciplinary interest and is expected to become a new research hotspot in the near future, due to its nontoxicity, suitable band gap, high physicochemical stability and durability, ease of synthesis, and appealing catalytic activity. This review provides an overview on the recent advances in ZnIn2 S4 -based photocatalysts. First, the crystal structures and band structures of ZnIn2 S4 are briefly introduced. Then, various modulation strategies of ZnIn2 S4 are outlined for better photocatalytic performance, which includes morphology and structure engineering, vacancy engineering, doping engineering, hydrogenation engineering, and the construction of ZnIn2 S4 -based composites. Thereafter, the potential applications in the energy and environmental area of ZnIn2 S4 -based photocatalysts are summarized. Finally, some personal perspectives about the promises and prospects of this emerging material are provided.

Impact of galactoglucomannan oligosaccharides and Cd stress on maize root growth parameters, morphology, and structure.

Biologically active oligosaccharides, including galactoglucomannan oligosaccharides (GGMOs), affect plant growth and development. The impact of GGMOs is dependent on their concentration, and the plant species and plant parts affected. The aim of this article is to ascertain the effects of GGMOs, GGMOs + Cd2+, on growth parameters, morphology, and the structure of maize (Zea mays L.) roots. We undertook this research because, in monocots, the effect of these oligosaccharides is so far unknown. In our study, GGMOs stimulated primary root elongation, induction and elongation of lateral roots, and biomass production. Their effect was dependent on the concentration used. Simultaneously, GGMOs moderated the negative effect of Cd2+ on root elongation growth. Besides, GGMOs affected the primary root structure, proven in the earlier development of xylem and Casparian bands, but not of suberin lamellae (compared to the control). The presence of Cd2+ shifted the apoplasmic barriers closer to the root apex in comparison to samples treated with GGMOs + Cd2+. GGMOs do not inhibit Cd uptake into the root directly, but they moderate its effect, and therefore their influence at the structural and metabolic level seems possible. Their positive impact on plant vitality, even in contaminated conditions, strongly indicates their potential application in remediation technologies.

Nature-Inspired 2D-Mosaic 3D-Gradient Mesoporous Framework: Bimetal Oxide Dual-Composite Strategy toward Ultrastable and High-Capacity Lithium Storage.

In allusion to traditional transition-metal oxide (TMO) anodes for lithium-ion batteries, which face severe volume variation and poor conductivity, herein a bimetal oxide dual-composite strategy based on two-dimensional (2D)-mosaic three-dimensional (3D)-gradient design is proposed. Inspired by natural mosaic dominance phenomena, Zn1-xCoxO/ZnCo2O4 2D-mosaic-hybrid mesoporous ultrathin nanosheets serve as building blocks to assemble into a 3D Zn-Co hierarchical framework. Moreover, a series of derivative frameworks with high evolution are controllably synthesized, based on which a facile one-pot synthesis process can be developed. From a component-composite perspective, both Zn1-xCoxO and ZnCo2O4 provide superior conductivity due to bimetal doping effect, which is verified by density functional theory calculations. From a structure-composite perspective, 2D-mosaic-hybrid mode gives rise to ladder-type buffering and electrochemical synergistic effect, thus realizing mutual stabilization and activation between the mosaic pair, especially for Zn1-xCoxO with higher capacity yet higher expansion. Moreover, the inside-out Zn-Co concentration gradient in 3D framework and rich oxygen vacancies further greatly enhance Li storage capability and stability. As a result, a high reversible capacity (1010 mA h g-1) and areal capacity (1.48 mA h cm-2) are attained, while ultrastable cyclability is obtained during high-rate and long-term cycles, rending great potential of our 2D-mosaic 3D-gradient design together with facile synthesis.