Au@h-Al2O3 Analogic Yolk–Shell Nanocatalyst for Highly Selective Synthesis of Biomass-Derived D-xylonic Acid via Regulation of Structure Effects

Selective oxidation of biomass-based monosaccharides into value-added sugar acids is highly desired, but limited success of producing D-xylonic acid has been achieved. Herein, we report an efficient catalyst system, viz., Au nanoparticles anchored on the inner walls of hollow Al2O3 nanospheres (Au@h- Al2O3), which could catalyze the selective oxidation of D-xylose into D-xylonic acid under base-free conditions. The mesoporous Al2O3 shell as the adsorbent first adsorbed D-xylose. Then, the interface of Au nanoparticles and Al2O3 as active sites spontaneously dissociated O2, and the exposed Au nanoparticle surface as the catalytic site drove the transformation. With this catalyst system, the valuable D-xylonic acid was produced with excellent yields in the aerobic oxidation of D-xylose. Extensive investigation showed that Au@h- Al2O3 is an efficient catalyst with high stability and recyclability

Clinical study of pituitary tumors with EEA resection and its influence on the expression of tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin-6, and interleukin-12 in patients

The aim of this study is to investigate the efficacy of expanded endonasal approaches (EEAs) in the treatment of pituitary adenoma, and the effects of serum levels of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and interleukin-12 (IL-12) in patients were further analyzed. A total of 80 cases of patients with pituitary adenoma admitted to our hospital from January 2013 to May 2015 were randomly divided into the observation group and control group, with 40 cases in each group. The observation group was treated with EEA technique, while the control group was treated with transcranial microsurgery. The prolactin (PRL), growth hormone (GH) and other endocrine hormone indexes, as well as inflammatory factors such as TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-12 were compared before and 1 week after the operation between the two groups. Moreover, the scores of Karnofsky performance status (KPS) and Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) at preoperative and postoperative 1 week were also compared between the two groups. The operation time, hospitalization time, and postoperative complications were compared between the two groups. And the patients were followed up for 2 years to observe the recurrence rate. The operation time and hospital stay in the observation group were 62.8 ± 9.3 min and 12.5 ± 2.1 days, respectively, while the operation time and length of stay in the control group were 105.6 ± 15.7 min and 18.2 ± 3.4 days, respectively. The operation time and hospitalization time were shorter than those in the control group, and the differences were statistically significant ( P   0.05). At 1 week after surgery, the levels of PRL and GH in the two groups were significantly lower than those before surgery ( P   0.05). At 1 week after operation, the scores of KPS and MMSE in both groups were significantly higher than those before the operation ( P   0.05). At 1 week after surgery, the serum levels of IL-6, IL-12, and TNF-α in the two groups were significantly lower than those before surgery ( P  < 0.05), while the serum levels of IL-6, IL-12, and TNF-α in the observation group were evidently lower than those in the control group at 1 week after the operation. Besides, the incidence of postoperative complications in the observation group was 7.5%, which was significantly lower than that in the control group (17.5%) ( P  < 0.05). All the patients in the two groups were followed up for 2 years. And there was no recurrence in the observation group and one case in the control group. The therapeutic effect of EEAs on pituitary adenoma is better. It can improve the level of high endocrine hormone in patients with pituitary adenoma, improve the functional status of the patients, reduce the serum level of inflammatory factors, and shorten the hospital stay. Meanwhile, it also has the characteristics of fewer complications and low recurrence rate, so it can be popularized in clinical practice

Experimental and Numerical Investigation on an Integrated Thermal Management System for the Li-Ion Battery Module with Phase Change Material

Lightweight power battery modules with outstanding thermal performance are urgently required given the rapid development of electric vehicles. This study proposes a composite phase change material coupled with forced convection as an integrated thermal management system (ITMS) with the aim to control the temperature’s rising tendency and maintain the temperature distribution uniformly within an appropriate range among the battery modules. The thermal behavior effects of airflow rates on the thermal management system were investigated in detail by combining experiments and numerical simulations. Comparisons were conducted between an air cooling system with an optimum flow rate and the ITMS. Experimental results revealed that the cooling effect of the ITMS was better than that of the forced cooling system at a 3 m/s airflow rate. The maximum temperature in the designed battery module was limited to 63.2°C. The maximum temperature difference was limited to 4.8°C at a 4 C discharge rate. This research indicates that the ITMS is an effective and optimized approach to control and balance the temperature among battery modules, thereby providing engineers with design optimization strategies for similar systems

Solid-Contact Potentiometric Anion Sensing Based on Classic Silver/Silver Insoluble Salts Electrodes without Ion-Selective Membrane

Current solid potentiometric ion sensors mostly rely on polymeric-membrane-based, solid-contact, ion-selective electrodes (SC-ISEs). However, anion sensing has been a challenge with respect to cations due to the rareness of anion ionophores. Classic metal/metal insoluble salt electrodes (such as Ag/AgCl) without an ion-selective membrane (ISM) offer an alternative. In this work, we first compared the two types of SC-ISEs of Cl− with/without the ISM. It is found that the ISM-free Ag/AgCl electrode discloses a comparable selectivity regarding organic chloride ionophores. Additionally, the electrode exhibits better comprehensive performances (stability, reproducibility, and anti-interference ability) than the ISM-based SC-ISE. In addition to Cl−, other Ag/AgX electrodes also work toward single and multi-valent anions sensing. Finally, a flexible Cl− sensor was fabricated for on-body monitoring the concentration of sweat Cl− to illustrate a proof-of-concept application in wearable anion sensors. This work re-emphasizes the ISM-free SC-ISEs for solid anion sensing

Additional file 1: Table S1. of Nucleolar and spindle associated protein 1 promotes the aggressiveness of astrocytoma by activating the Hedgehog signaling pathway

Clinicopathological characteristics of studied patients and expression of NUSAP1 in 221 glioma specimens. Table S2. Correlation between NUSAP1 expression and clinicopathological characteristics of 221 glioma specimens. Table S3. Univariate and multivariate analyses of various prognostic parameters in patients with glioma by Cox-regression analysis (DOCX 21 kb