Design Strategy of the MnO<i>x</i> Catalyst for SCR of NO with NH₃: Mechanism of Lead Poisoning and Improvement Method

The conventional Mn-based catalysts suffer from lead toxicity and require other transition-metal oxides to enhance their resistance in the selective catalytic reduction of NOx with ammonia (NH3-SCR). Herein, we found that the incorporation of inert silica into pure MnOx effectively improved the Pb resistance. The NOx conversion of the MnOx-SiO2-Pb catalyst was nearly 55% higher than that of the MnOx-Pb catalyst, exhibiting enhanced activity at lower temperatures (150–225 °C). To reveal the essential roles at the molecular level, the types and numbers of surface acidity, nitrate species, and catalytic cycle were established through experimental analysis and theoretical calculations of catalysts. The presence of PbCl2 occupied the active Mn sites, resulting in an obvious decline in the Brønsted acid sites (B-NH4+) and the oxidation performance, and the NH3-SCR cycle was energetically less favorable on the MnOx-Pb catalyst. Conversely, SiO2 played a crucial role in preserving the activity of Mn sites on the MnOx-SiO2-Pb catalyst by preferentially bonding with PbCl2, generating more active intermediates. Significantly, this work provided mechanistic insights into the role of SiO2 in regulating the surface acidity, oxidation performance, and stability of active Mn sites, which is helpful for the design of Mn-based catalysts with high Pb resistance for the NH3-SCR reaction

DataSheet_1_Comparison the effects of finerenone and SGLT2i on cardiovascular and renal outcomes in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus: A network meta-analysis.docx

BackgroundFinerenone and sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors (SGLT2i) have been shown to improve cardiovascular and renal outcomes in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), while the relative efficacy has not been determined.MethodsThe databases of PubMed, Embase and Cochrane were searched for relevant cardiovascular or renal outcome trials of SGLT2i or finerenone. The end points were major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE), nonfatal stroke (NS), myocardial infarction (MI), hospitalization for heart failure (HHF), cardiovascular death (CVD), and renal composite outcome (RCO). Network meta-analysis was performed using Bayesian networks to obtain pooled hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI). The probability values for ranking active and placebo interventions were calculated using cumulative ranking curves.Results1024 articles were searched, and only 9 studies were screened and included in this meta-analysis with 71793 randomized participants. Sotagliflozin (HR 0.72 95%CI 0.59-0.88, SUCAR=0.93) and canagliflozin (HR 0.80 95%CI 0.67-0.97, SUCAR=0.73) can significantly reduce the risk of MACE compared with placebo. Canagliflozin (HR 0.64 95%CI 0.48-0.86, SUCAR=0.73), sotagliflozin (HR 0.66 95%CI 0.50-0.87, SUCAR=0.69) and empagliflozin (HR 0.65 95%CI 0.43-0.98, SUCAR=0.68) can significantly reduce the risk of HHF compared with placebo. Empagliflozin (HR 0.62 95%CI 0.43-0.89, SUCAR=0.96) can significantly reduce the risk of CVD compared with placebo. Empagliflozin (HR 0.61 95%CI 0.39-0.96, SUCAR=0.74), canagliflozin (HR 0.66 95%CI 0.46-0.92, SUCAR=0.63), and dapagliflozin (HR 0.53 95%CI 0.32-0.85, SUCAR=0.88) can significantly reduce the risk of RCO compared with placebo. Finerenone has reduced the risk of MACE, MI, HHF, CVD and RCO to varying degrees, but they do not show significant difference from placebo and each SGLT2i.ConclusionBoth SGLT2i and finerenone could reduce the risk of MACE, HHF, MI, CVD, RCO. Finerenone has no obvious advantage than SGLT2i on the effects of cardiovascular and renal protective.Systematic review registrationhttps://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/, identifier CRD42022375092.</p

Prolonged Repeated Acupuncture Stimulation Induces Habituation Effects in Pain-Related Brain Areas: An fMRI Study

<div><p>Most previous studies of brain responses to acupuncture were designed to investigate the acupuncture instant effect while the cumulative effect that should be more important in clinical practice has seldom been discussed. In this study, the neural basis of the acupuncture cumulative effect was analyzed. For this experiment, forty healthy volunteers were recruited, in which more than 40 minutes of repeated acupuncture stimulation was implemented at acupoint <i>Zhusanli</i> (ST36). Three runs of acupuncture fMRI datasets were acquired, with each run consisting of two blocks of acupuncture stimulation. Besides general linear model (GLM) analysis, the cumulative effects of acupuncture were analyzed with analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) to find the association between the brain response and the cumulative duration of acupuncture stimulation in each stimulation block. The experimental results showed that the brain response in the initial stage was the strongest although the brain response to acupuncture was time-variant. In particular, the brain areas that were activated in the first block and the brain areas that demonstrated cumulative effects in the course of repeated acupuncture stimulation overlapped in the pain-related areas, including the bilateral middle cingulate cortex, the bilateral paracentral lobule, the SII, and the right thalamus. Furthermore, the cumulative effects demonstrated bimodal characteristics, i.e. the brain response was positive at the beginning, and became negative at the end. It was suggested that the cumulative effect of repeated acupuncture stimulation was consistent with the characteristic of habituation effects. This finding may explain the neurophysiologic mechanism underlying acupuncture analgesia.</p></div

Demonstration of acupuncture sensation composition of different degrees in the both sides of acupoints.

<p>The acupuncture sensations were labeled on the x-axis, including soreness (Sore), numbness (Numb), heaviness (Heav), fullness (Full), spreading (Sprd) and aching (Achg). The different degrees of sensations were marked with different colors as shown in the legend. The numbers on the y-axis indicated the cases for each kind of sensation.</p

Overlapped areas between the activated areas in the first block and the cumulated areas and their overlapped ratio.

<p>Overlapped areas between the activated areas in the first block and the cumulated areas and their overlapped ratio.</p

ROIs analysis results of the four overlapped areas between the activated areas in the first block and the habituated areas in the course of repeated acupuncture stimulation.

<p>The brain responses to acupuncture stimulation were increasingly decreased as the acupuncture cumulative duration became longer. The characteristic of habitation was bimodal, i.e. positive brain response was found in the first block of acupuncture stimulation, then it began to decrease and brain response became negative in the last (<i>R</i>: Pearson’s correlation coefficient).</p

Activated areas in the first block of acupuncture stimulation.

<p>Note: BA, Brodmann area; L, left; R, right; B: bilater; SII: secondary somatosensory cortex.</p

Histopathological detail of inguinal lymph nodes showing different degrees of severity of lymphocyte depletion.

<p>(A) Inguinal lymph node from PCV2a/rCL-challenged group with mild lymphocyte depletion. (B) Inguinal lymph node from PCV2b/rJF-challenged group with moderate lymphocyte depletion. (C) Inguinal lymph node from PCV2b/rBDH-challenged group with significant lymphocyte depletion. (D) Normal inguinal lymph node from control group with normal lymphocyte count. Hematoxylin & eosin staining (400×).</p

Clinical pictures of inguinal (A) and submandibular (B) lymph nodes in the different challenge groups.

<p>Moderate to severe atrophy, enlargement and hemorrhage were observed in the inguinal and submandibular lymph nodes, respectively, compared with the control group. More severe clinical signs were observed in the PCV2b/rBDH-challenged group, such as simultaneous presence of atrophy, enlargement and hemorrhage of inguinal and submandibular lymph nodes. a: PCV2a/rCL challenge group; b: PCV2b/rJF challenge group; c: PCV2b/rBDH challenge group; d: control group.</p

Scored values for clinical condition and pathological lesions for piglets in different challenge groups and the control group.

<p>Scored values for clinical condition and pathological lesions for piglets in different challenge groups and the control group.</p