Taxonomy of Fissocantharis Pic (Coleoptera, Cantharidae) from Guangxi, China, with descriptions of six new species

A total of 17 species of Fissocantharis Pic is recorded from Guangxi, China. Six species are described new to science, F. sinensomima sp. n., F. sexcostata sp. n., F. basilaris sp. n., F. eschara sp. n., F. latipalpa sp. n. and F. biprojicientis sp. n., and two previously known species are redescribed, F. gracilipes (Pic, 1927) and F. sinensis (Wittmer, 1988). These species are presented with habitus of males, abdominal sternites VIII of females and genitalia of both sexes. Fissocantharis flavofacialis (Pic, 1926) is synonymized with F. angusta (Fairmaire, 1900); both were originally described in the genus Podabrus Westwood. Additionally, a key and a checklist of all the species of Fissocantharis from Guangxi are provided

Atmospheric Pollution Monitoring in Urban Area by Employing a 450-nm Lidar System

In past decades, lidar techniques have become main tools for atmospheric remote sensing. However, traditional pulsed lidar systems are relatively expensive and require considerable maintenance. These shortcomings may be overcome by the development of a blue band Scheimpflug lidar system in Dalian, Northern China. Atmospheric remote measurements were carried out for 10 days in an urban area to validate the feasibility and performance of a 450-nm Scheimpflug lidar system. A 24-h continuous measurement was achieved in winter on a near horizontal path with an elevation angle of about 6.4°. The aerosol extinction coefficient retrieved by the Fernald-inversion algorithm shows good agreement with the variation of PM10/PM2.5 concentrations recorded by a national pollution monitoring station. The experimental result reveals that the linear ratio between the aerosol extinction coefficient and the PM10 concentration under high relative humidity (75–90%) is about two-times that in low relative humidity (≤75%) when the PM10 concentrations are less than 100 µg/m3

Enhanced Phenol Tert-Butylation Reaction Activity over Hierarchical Porous Silica-Alumina Materials

Hierarchical aluminum-silicon materials have been successfully prepared by mixing pre-crystallization of silica-alumina sol and citric acid under hydrothermal conditions. The influence of pre-crystallization time on the micro-mesoporous structure is studied using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), N2 physical adsorption, and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). The catalytic performance of hierarchical silica-alumina material is evaluated by alkylation of phenol with tert-butanol. The results show that the silica-alumina materials with a pre-crystallization time of 16 h show micro-mesoporous structure and excellent catalytic activity

Reasons for the low flowback rates of fracturing fluids in marine shale

In this paper, marine shale cores taken from Zhaotong, Changning and Weiyuan Blocks in South China were used as samples to investigate the interaction between fracturing fluids and shale and the retention mechanisms. Firstly, adsorption, swelling, dissolution pore, dissolution fluid mineralization degree and ionic composition were experimentally studied to reveal the occurrence of water in shale and the reason for a high mineralization degree. Then, the mechanisms of water retention and mineralization degree increase were simulated and calculated. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis shows that there are a large number of micro fractures originated from clay minerals in the shale. Mineral dissolution rates of shale immersed in ultrasonic is around 0.5–0.7%. The ionic composition is in accordance with that of formation water. The clay minerals in core samples are mainly composed of chlorites and illites with a small amount of illites/smectites, but no montmorillonites (SS), and its content is between 18% and 20%. It is verified by XRD and infrared spectroscopy that the fracturing fluid doesn't flow into the space between clay mineral layers, so it can't lead to shale swelling. Thus, the retention of fracturing fluids is mainly caused by the adsorption at the surface of the newly fractured micro fractures in shale in a mode of successive permeation, and its adsorptive saturation rates is proportional to the pore diameters. It is concluded that the step-by-step extraction of fracturing fluids to shale and the repulsion of nano-cracks to ion are the main reasons for the abrupt increase of mineralization degree in the late stage of flowing back. In addition, the liquid carrying effect of methane during the formation of a gas reservoir is also a possible reason. Based on the experimental and field data, fracturing fluid flowback rates and gas production rates of 9 wells were analyzed. It is indicated that the same block follows an overall trend, namely, the lower the flowback rates, the more developed the micro fractures, the better the volume simulation effect and the higher the gas production rates. Keywords: Shale, Fracturing fluid, Core, Adsorption, Flowback rate, Mineralization degree, Origin, Marine shale in south China, Gas production rat

PET Imaging of Neuroinflammation in Alzheimer's Disease

Neuroinflammation play an important role in Alzheimer's disease pathogenesis. Advances in molecular imaging using positron emission tomography have provided insights into the time course of neuroinflammation and its relation with Alzheimer's disease central pathologies in patients and in animal disease models. Recent single-cell sequencing and transcriptomics indicate dynamic disease-associated microglia and astrocyte profiles in Alzheimer's disease. Mitochondrial 18-kDa translocator protein is the most widely investigated target for neuroinflammation imaging. New generation of translocator protein tracers with improved performance have been developed and evaluated along with tau and amyloid imaging for assessing the disease progression in Alzheimer's disease continuum. Given that translocator protein is not exclusively expressed in glia, alternative targets are under rapid development, such as monoamine oxidase B, matrix metalloproteinases, colony-stimulating factor 1 receptor, imidazoline-2 binding sites, cyclooxygenase, cannabinoid-2 receptor, purinergic P2X7 receptor, P2Y12 receptor, the fractalkine receptor, triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells 2, and receptor for advanced glycation end products. Promising targets should demonstrate a higher specificity for cellular locations with exclusive expression in microglia or astrocyte and activation status (pro- or anti-inflammatory) with highly specific ligand to enable in vivo brain imaging. In this review, we summarised recent advances in the development of neuroinflammation imaging tracers and provided an outlook for promising targets in the future

Combination of inspiratory and expiratory muscle training in same respiratory cycle versus different cycles in COPD patients: a randomized trial

Abstract Background Difference between combined inspiratory and expiratory muscle training in same respiratory cycle or different cycles remained unclarified. We explored the difference between both patterns of combined trainings in patients with COPD. Methods In this randomized, open-label, controlled trial, stable COPD subjects trained for 48 minutes daily, for 8 weeks, using a monitoring device for quality control. Ninety-two subjects were randomly and equally assigned for sham training, inspiratory muscle training(IMT), combined inspiratory and expiratory muscle training in same cycle(CTSC) or combined inspiratory and expiratory muscle training in different cycles(CTDC). Respiratory muscle strength, as the primary endpoint, was measured before and after training. Registry: ClinicalTrials.gov (identifier: NCT02326181). Results Respiratory muscle training improved maximal inspiratory pressure(PImax), while no significant difference was found in PImax among IMT, CTSC and CTDC. Maximal expiratory pressure(PEmax) in CTSC and CTDC was greater than IMT(P = 0.026, and P=0.04, respectively) and sham training (P = 0.001). IMT, CTSC, and CTDC shortened inhalation and prolonged exhalation(P 0.05). Conclusion Both patterns of CTSC and CTDC improved inspiratory and expiratory muscle strength, while IMT alone only raised PImax. Respiratory muscle training might change the respiratory cycles, and be more beneficial for COPD patients with inspiratory muscle weakness