MONITORING OF PERFLUOROOCTANESULFONATE (PFOS) AND PERFLUOROOCTANATE (PFOA) IN SINGAPORE SURFACE WATER

Master'sMASTER OF SCIENC

Manganese oxide electrode with excellent electrochemical performance for sodium ion batteries by pre-intercalation of K and Na ions

Materials with a layered structure have attracted tremendous attention because of their unique properties. The ultrathin nanosheet structure can result in extremely rapid intercalation/de-intercalation of Na ions in the charge-discharge progress. Herein, we report a manganese oxide with pre-intercalated K and Na ions and having flower-like ultrathin layered structure, which was synthesized by a facile but efficient hydrothermal method under mild condition. The pre-intercalation of Na and K ions facilitates the access of electrolyte ions and shortens the ion diffusion pathways. The layered manganese oxide shows ultrahigh specific capacity when it is used as cathode material for sodium-ion batteries. It also exhibits excellent stability and reversibility. It was found that the amount of intercalated Na ions is approximately 71% of the total charge. The prominent electrochemical performance of the manganese oxide demonstrates the importance of design and synthesis of pre-intercalated ultrathin layered materials

Identification of mutations in porcine STAT5A that contributes to the transcription of CISH

Identification of causative genes or genetic variants associated with phenotype traits benefits the genetic improvement of animals. CISH plays a role in immunity and growth, however, the upstream transcriptional factors of porcine CISH and the genetic variations in these factors remain unclear. In this study, we firstly identified the minimal core promoter of porcine CISH and confirmed the existence of STATx binding sites. Overexpression and RT-qPCR demonstrated STAT5A increased CISH transcriptional activity (P < 0.01) and mRNA expression (P < 0.01), while GATA1 inhibited CISH transcriptional activity (P < 0.01) and the following mRNA expression (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01). Then, the putative functional genetic variations of porcine STAT5A were screened and a PCR-SSCP was established for genotype g.508A>C and g.566C>T. Population genetic analysis showed the A allele frequency of g.508A>C and C allele frequency of g.566C>T was 0.61 and 0.94 in Min pigs, respectively, while these two alleles were fixed in the Landrace population. Statistical analysis showed that Min piglets with CC genotype at g.566C>T or Hap1: AC had higher 28-day body weight, 35-day body weight, and ADG than TC or Hap3: CT animals (P < 0.05, P < 0.05). Further luciferase activity assay demonstrated that the activity of g.508A>C in the C allele was lower than the A allele (P < 0.05). Collectively, the present study demonstrated that STAT5A positively regulated porcine CISH transcription, and SNP g.566C>T in the STAT5A was associated with the Min piglet growth trait

Durvalumab Plus Carboplatin/Paclitaxel Followed by Maintenance Durvalumab With or Without Olaparib as First-Line Treatment for Advanced Endometrial Cancer: The Phase III DUO-E Trial

PURPOSE Immunotherapy and chemotherapy combinations have shown activity in endometrial cancer, with greater benefit in mismatch repair (MMR)-deficient (dMMR) than MMR-proficient (pMMR) disease. Adding a poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase inhibitor may improve outcomes, especially in pMMR disease. METHODS This phase III, global, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial randomly assigned eligible patients with newly diagnosed advanced or recurrent endometrial cancer 1:1:1 to: carboplatin/paclitaxel plus durvalumab placebo followed by placebo maintenance (control arm); carboplatin/paclitaxel plus durvalumab followed by maintenance durvalumab plus olaparib placebo (durvalumab arm); or carboplatin/paclitaxel plus durvalumab followed by maintenance durvalumab plus olaparib (durvalumab + olaparib arm). The primary end points were progression-free survival (PFS) in the durvalumab arm versus control and the durvalumab + olaparib arm versus control. RESULTS Seven hundred eighteen patients were randomly assigned. In the intention-to-treat population, statistically significant PFS benefit was observed in the durvalumab (hazard ratio [HR], 0.71 [95% CI, 0.57 to 0.89]; P = .003) and durvalumab + olaparib arms (HR, 0.55 [95% CI, 0.43 to 0.69]; P < .0001) versus control. Prespecified, exploratory subgroup analyses showed PFS benefit in dMMR (HR [durvalumab v control], 0.42 [95% CI, 0.22 to 0.80]; HR [durvalumab + olaparib v control], 0.41 [95% CI, 0.21 to 0.75]) and pMMR subgroups (HR [durvalumab v control], 0.77 [95% CI, 0.60 to 0.97]; HR [durvalumab + olaparib v control] 0.57; [95% CI, 0.44 to 0.73]); and in PD-L1-positive subgroups (HR [durvalumab v control], 0.63 [95% CI, 0.48 to 0.83]; HR [durvalumab + olaparib v control], 0.42 [95% CI, 0.31 to 0.57]). Interim overall survival results (maturity approximately 28%) were supportive of the primary outcomes (durvalumab v control: HR, 0.77 [95% CI, 0.56 to 1.07]; P = .120; durvalumab + olaparib v control: HR, 0.59 [95% CI, 0.42 to 0.83]; P = .003). The safety profiles of the experimental arms were generally consistent with individual agents. CONCLUSION Carboplatin/paclitaxel plus durvalumab followed by maintenance durvalumab with or without olaparib demonstrated a statistically significant and clinically meaningful PFS benefit in patients with advanced or recurrent endometrial cancer

Preparation of size-selective Mn<inf>3</inf>O<inf>4</inf> hexagonal nanoplates with superior electrochemical properties for pseudocapacitors

Porous Mn3O4 hexagonal nanoplates were synthesized through annealing the hydrohausmannite precursor obtained by a one-pot hydrothermal process and by precisely controlling the concentrations of potassium hydroxide and glucose. The effect of potassium hydroxide and glucose on the growth of hexagonal nanoplates was investigated, and a growth mechanism was also proposed. Due to its abundant pores, the pure Mn3O4-based electrode exhibits excellent cycling stability with 100% capacity retention after 5000 cycles. The asymmetric supercapacitor exhibited high performance with an energy density of 17.276 W h kg-1 at a power density of 207.3 W kg-1 in a wide potential window of 1.5 V

Preparation and Characterization of Graphene Oxide / Cellulose Triacetate Forward Osmosis Membranes

Forward osmosis (FO) is an emerging membrane separation technology in environmental and industrial process. This paper presents cellulose triacetate (CTA) membrane containing graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets via blending to enhance membrane performance in forward osmosis (FO) process. GO nanosheets with various loading were added into the casting solution to prepare the modified FO membranes. The prepared membranes were characterized by morphology analysis and permeability measurement. The result showed that the GO nanosheets effectively improved the performance of the CTA membranes. The CTA-0.2GO membrane had the highest water flux, reached 1.5 times as high as that of CTA membrane

Analysis and Prediction of the Trend Features for Teaching Development Based on Knowledge Discovery

The existing research on teaching development of teachers fails to effectively quantify the teaching development trend. This paper deeply mines the evaluation data on the teaching quality of college teachers, before analyzing and predicting the trend features for teaching development of college teachers based on knowledge discovery. Firstly, the knowledge features of the teaching development trend of college teachers were examined. Next, the fluctuation features of the time series on the teaching quality development of college teachers were described based on chaotic time series. In addition, a prediction model for teaching development of college teachers was established for weighted first-order chaotic time series, and used to simulate the nonlinear features of the time series on the teaching quality development of college teachers. The prediction model was proved effective through experiments