Circulating Monocytes Act as a Common Trigger for the Calcification Paradox of Osteoporosis and Carotid Atherosclerosis via TGFB1-SP1 and TNFSF10-NFKB1 Axis

BackgroundOsteoporosis often occurs with carotid atherosclerosis and causes contradictory calcification across tissue in the same patient, which is called the “calcification paradox”. Circulating monocytes may be responsible for this unbalanced ectopic calcification. Here, we aimed to show how CD14+ monocytes contribute to the pathophysiology of coexisting postmenopausal osteoporosis and carotid atherosclerosis.MethodsWe comprehensively analyzed osteoporosis data from the mRNA array dataset GSE56814 and the scRNA-seq dataset GSM4423510. Carotid atherosclerosis data were obtained from the GSE23746 mRNA dataset and GSM4705591 scRNA-seq dataset. First, osteoblast and vascular SMC lineages were annotated based on their functional expression using gene set enrichment analysis and AUCell scoring. Next, pseudotime analysis was applied to draw their differentiated trajectory and identify the key gene expression changes in crossroads. Then, ligand–receptor interactions between CD14+ monocytes and osteoblast and vascular smooth muscle cell (SMC) lineages were annotated with iTALK. Finally, we selected calcification paradox-related expression in circulating monocytes with LASSO analysis.ResultsFirst, we found a large proportion of delayed premature osteoblasts in osteoporosis and osteogenic SMCs in atherosclerosis. Second, CD14+ monocytes interacted with the intermediate cells of the premature osteoblast and osteogenic SMC lineage by delivering TGFB1 and TNFSF10. This interaction served as a trigger activating the transcription factors (TF) SP1 and NFKB1 to upregulate the inflammatory response and cell senescence and led to a retarded premature state in the osteoblast lineage and osteogenic transition in the SMC lineage. Then, 76.49% of common monocyte markers were upregulated in the circulating monocytes between the two diseases, which were related to chemotaxis and inflammatory responses. Finally, we identified 7 calcification paradox-related genes on circulating monocytes, which were upregulated in aging cells and downregulated in DNA repair cells, indicating that the aging monocytes contributed to the development of the two diseases.ConclusionsOur work provides a perspective for understanding the triggering roles of CD14+ monocytes in the development of the calcification paradox in osteoporosis- and atherosclerosis-related cells based on combined scRNA and mRNA data. This study provided us with an elucidation of the mechanisms underlying the calcification paradox and could help in developing preventive and therapeutic strategies

One-Step Self-Assembly Synthesis α-Fe2O3 with Carbon-Coated Nanoparticles for Stabilized and Enhanced Supercapacitors Electrode

A cocoon-like α-Fe2O3 nanocomposite with a novel carbon-coated structure was synthesized via a simple one-step hydrothermal self-assembly method and employed as supercapacitor electrode material. It was observed from electrochemical measurements that the obtained α-Fe2O3@C electrode showed a good specific capacitance (406.9 Fg−1 at 0.5 Ag−1) and excellent cycling stability, with 90.7% specific capacitance retained after 2000 cycles at high current density of 10 Ag−1. These impressive results, presented here, demonstrated that α-Fe2O3@C could be a promising alternative material for application in high energy density storage

Comprehensive Comparison between Nanocatalysts of Mn−Co/TiO₂ and Mn−Fe/TiO₂ for NO Catalytic Conversion: An Insight from Nanostructure, Performance, Kinetics, and Thermodynamics

The nanocatalysts of Mn−Co/TiO2 and Mn−Fe/TiO2 were synthesized by hydrothermal method and comprehensively compared from nanostructures, catalytic performance, kinetics, and thermodynamics. The physicochemical properties of the nanocatalysts were analyzed by N2 adsorption, transmission electron microscope (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), H2-temperature-programmed reduction (TPR), NH3-temperature-programmed desorption (TPD), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Based on the multiple characterizations performed on Mn−Co/TiO2 and Mn−Fe/TiO2 nanocatalysts, it can be confirmed that the catalytic properties were decidedly dependent on the phase compositions of the nanocatalysts. The Mn−Co/TiO2 sample presented superior structure characteristics than Mn−Fe/TiO2, with the increased surface area, the promoted active components distribution, the diminished crystallinity, and the reduced nanoparticle size. Meanwhile, the Mn4+/Mnn+ ratios in the Mn−Co/TiO2 nanocatalyst were higher than Mn−Fe/TiO2, which further confirmed the better oxidation ability and the larger amount of Lewis acid sites and Bronsted acid sites on the sample surface. Compared to Mn−Fe/TiO2 nanocatalyst, Mn−Co/TiO2 nanocatalyst displayed the preferable catalytic property with higher catalytic activity and stronger selectivity in the temperature range of 75⁻250 °C. The results of mechanism and kinetic study showed that both Eley-Rideal mechanism and Langmuir-Hinshelwood mechanism reactions contributed to selective catalytic reduction of NO with NH3 (NH3-SCR) over Mn−Fe/TiO2 and Mn−Co/TiO2 nanocatalysts. In this test condition, the NO conversion rate of Mn−Co/TiO2 nanocatalyst was always higher than that of Mn−Fe/TiO2. Furthermore, comparing the reaction between doping transition metal oxides and NH3, the order of temperature−Gibbs free energy under the same reaction temperature is as follows: Co3O4 < CoO < Fe2O3 < Fe3O4, which was exactly consistent with nanostructure characterization and NH3-SCR performance. Meanwhile, the activity difference of MnOx exhibited in reducibility properties and Ellingham Diagrams manifested the promotion effects of cobalt and iron dopings. Generally, it might offer a theoretical method to select superior doping metal oxides for NO conversion by comprehensive comparing the catalytic performance with the insight from nanostructure, catalytic performance, reaction kinetics, and thermodynamics

Investigation on the Measurement Method for Output Torque of a Spherical Motor

The output torque is an important performance indicator of a motor. Due to the special structure of a permanent magnet spherical motor (PMSM), it is difficult to measure its torque. This paper proposes a novel method to measure the output torque of the PMSM. The proposed method uses the microelectromechanical system (MEMS) gyroscope to measure the rotor motion acceleration, which is then used to calculate the output torque based on the rotor dynamics equation. In this paper, we firstly simulate and analyze the output torque of the PMSM. Secondly, we design a torque-measuring device to measure the output torque. Thirdly, we compare and discuss the experimental and simulation results. The comparison results show that the proposed method is feasible

Seaweed-Liked WS₂/rGO Enabling Ultralong Cycling Life and Enhanced Rate Capability for Lithium-Ion Batteries

WS2 is considered as a potential anode material for lithium ion batteries (LIBs) with superior theoretical capacity and stable structure with two-dimensional which facilitates to the transportation and storage of lithium ion. Nevertheless, the commercial recognition of WS2 has been impeded by the intrinsic properties of WS2, including poor electrical conductivity and large volume expansion. Herein, a seaweed-liked WS2/reduced graphene oxide (rGO) composites has been fabricated through a procedure involving the self-assembling of WO42−, hexadecyl trimethyl ammonium ion with graphene oxide (GO) and the subsequent thermal treatment. The WS2/rGO nanocomposite exhibited the outstanding electrochemical property with a stable and remarkable capacity (507.7 mAh·g−1) at 1.0 A·g−1 even after 1000 cycles. This advanced electrochemical property is due to its seaweed-liked feature which can bring in plentiful active sites, ameliorate the stresses arisen from volume variations and increase charge transfer rate

Polyacrylamide Microspheres-Derived Fe₃C@N-doped Carbon Nanospheres as Efficient Catalyst for Oxygen Reduction Reaction

High-performance non-precious metal catalysts exhibit high electrocatalytic activity for the oxygen-reduction reaction (ORR), which is indispensable for facilitating the development of multifarious renewable energy systems. In this work; N-doped carbon-encapsulated Fe3C nanosphere ORR catalysts were prepared through simple carbonization of iron precursors loaded with polyacrylamide microspheres. The effect of iron precursors loading on the electrocatalytic activity for ORR was investigated in detail. The electrochemical measurements revealed that the N-doped carbon-encapsulated Fe3C nanospheres exhibited outstanding electrocatalytic activity for ORR in alkaline solutions. The optimized catalyst possessed more positive onset potential (0.94 V vs. reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE)), higher diffusion limiting current (5.78 mA cm−2), better selectivity (the transferred electron number n > 3.98 at 0.19 V vs. RHE) and higher durability towards ORR than a commercial Pt/C catalyst. The efficient electrocatalytic performance towards ORR can be attributed to the synergistic effect between N-doped carbon and Fe3C as catalytic active sites; and the excellent stability results from the core-shell structure of the catalysts

Protic ionic liquid modified electrocatalyst enables robust anode under cell reversal condition

Pt/C has been commercially used as anode electrocatalyst for fuel cells but generally exhibits limited durability under conditions of fuel starvation and subsequent cell reversal. Herein we report an improved scaffold concept to simultaneously stabilize the catalyst against particle growth and reduce the adverse effects of cell reversal by modifying Pt/C with suitable protic ionic liquids (PILs). The modified Pt/C catalysts show enhanced cell reversal tolerance because of their high activity towards oxygen evolution reaction (OER), up to 300 mV lower overpotential compared to the unmodified Pt/C. Moreover, the PIL modified catalysts show better resistance to the loss of electrochemical surface area (ECSA) under simulated cell reversal conditions. The results indicate that modification of Pt/C catalysts with PILs is a promising strategy to enhance the stability and durability of electrocatalysts in fuel cell applications with the risk of frequent fuel starvation events, such as automotive fuel cells.status: publishe

A simulation-optimization system for recycling logistics network of recyclable express packaging

To promote the adoption of recyclable express packaging (REP), this paper focuses on providing a realistic simulation-optimization system for establishing an efficient, green, and economical REP recycling logistics network by integrating optimization methods and agent-based techniques. The planned solution encompasses decisions related to facility location, service planning, and vehicle routing. The designed hybrid heuristic algorithm aims to independently find optimal solutions for subproblems while considering the interactions among these subproblems, in which the improved global solutions can be uncovered through alternating multi-stage local searches. The numerical experiments highlight the significant importance of the interactions among multi-stage search strategies. A crucial trade-off between facility service quantity and vehicle service quantity within the logistics network is indispensable to explore improved global solutions. From the perspective of reducing operating costs, a larger service capacity range for recycling stations is preferable. However, this cost optimization without increasing the number of vehicles entails some time costs. Additionally, the results suggest that the optimal number of the opened recycling station is the value that enables the total covering percentage of demand points to be between 75 % and 82 %, which provides valuable decision guidance for recycling network planning