Piezo-photoelectronic coupling effect of BaTiO₃@TiO₂ nanowires for highly concentrated dye degradation

The induced built-in electric field by piezoelectric materials has proven to be one of the most effective strategies for modulating the charge-transfer pathway and inhibiting carrier recombination. In this work, a series of core-shell structured BaTiO3@TiO2 nanowires (BT@TiO2 NWs) heterojunctions were synthesized and the significant coupling effects between BaTiO3 (BT) and TiO2 resulted in surperior piezo-photocatalytic performance, which was demonstrated by three typical types of dyes with high concentrations. The degradation efficiency of 30 mg/L Rhodamine B (RhB), Methylene blue (MB) and Indigo Carmine (IC) solutions by 0.5 g/L BT@TiO2 NWs reached 99.5% in 75 min, 99.8% in 105 min and 99.7% in 45 min, respectively, which are much higher than piezo-photocatalysis systems reported before. To reveal the coupling mechanisms, photoelectrochemical measurements and band diagram analysis were carried out. The carrier concentration was increased from 2.28 × 1017 cm−3 to 4.91 × 1018 cm−3 and the lifetime of charges was improved from 50.37 ms to 60.98 ms due to the construction of a heterojunction between TiO2 and BT. It was proposed that the tilting and bending of the energy band caused by the introduction of a piezoelectric polarization can facilitate carrier separation both in the bulk phase and at the surfaces of semiconductors, resulting in outstanding piezo-photocatalytic properties for highly concentrated dye degradation. This work provides a universal catalyzer for highly concentrated dye degradation.</p

Comparison of industry payments to psychiatrists and psychiatric advanced practice clinicians in the USA, 2021: A cross-sectional study

Objectives: To compare industry payment patterns among US psychiatrists and psychiatric advanced practice clinicians (APCs) and determine how scope of practice laws has influenced these patterns. Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: This study used the publicly available US Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Sunshine Act Open Payment database and the National Plan and Provider Enumeration System (NPPES) database for the year 2021. Participants: All psychiatrists and psychiatric APCs (subdivided into nurse practitioners (NPs) and clinical nurse specialists (CNSs)) included in either database. Primary and secondary outcome measures: Number and percentage of clinicians receiving industry payments and value of payments received. Total payments and number of transactions by type of payment, payment source and clinician type were also evaluated. Results: A total of 85 053 psychiatric clinicians (61 011 psychiatrists (71.7%), 21 895 NPs (25.7%), 2147 CNSs (2.5%)) were reviewed; 16 240 (26.6%) psychiatrists received non-research payment from industry, compared with 10 802 (49.3%) NPs and 231 (10.7%) CNSs (p United States Dollars (US) $) 100 (33.9$ 1000 (5.3% vs 4.1%; IRR, 1.29 (1.20 to 1.38); p US$ 10 000 (0.4% vs 1.0%; IRR, 0.39 (0.31 to 0.49); p Conclusions: Psychiatric NPs were nearly two times as likely to receive industry payments as psychiatrists, while psychiatric CNSs were less than half as likely to receive payment. Stricter scope of practice laws increases the likelihood of psychiatric NPs receiving payment, the opposite of what was found in a recent specialty agnostic study.</p

Integrated transcriptome, small RNA and degradome sequencing approaches provide insights into Ascochyta blight resistance in chickpea

Ascochyta blight (AB) is one of the major biotic stresses known to limit the chickpea production worldwide. To dissect the complex mechanisms of AB resistance in chickpea, three approaches, namely, transcriptome, small RNA and degradome sequencing were used. The transcriptome sequencing of 20 samples including two resistant genotypes, two susceptible genotypes and one introgression line under control and stress conditions at two time points (3rd and 7th day post inoculation) identified a total of 6767 differentially expressed genes (DEGs). These DEGs were mainly related to pathogenesis�related proteins, disease resistance genes like NBS�LRR, cell wall biosynthesis and various secondary metabolite synthesis genes. The small RNA sequencing of the samples resulted in the identification of 651 miRNAs which included 478 known and 173 novel miRNAs. A total of 297 miRNAs were differentially expressed between different genotypes, conditions and time points. Using degradome sequencing and in silico approaches, 2131 targets were predicted for 629 miRNAs. The combined analysis of both small RNA and transcriptome datasets identified 12 miRNA�mRNA interaction pairs that exhibited contrasting expression in resistant and susceptible genotypes and also, a subset of genes that might be post�transcriptionally silenced during AB infection. The comprehensive integrated analysis in the study provides better insights into the transcriptome dynamics and regulatory network components associated with AB stress in chickpea and, also offers candidate genes for chickpea improvement

Concomitant Retrograde Coronary Venous Infusion of Basic Fibroblast Growth Factor Enhances Engraftment and Differentiation of Bone Marrow Mesenchymal Stem Cells for Cardiac Repair after Myocardial Infarction.

AIM: Basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) increases the migration and viability of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) in vitro. Retrograde coronary venous infusion can provide both increased regional bFGF concentrations and homogeneous cell dissemination. We determined whether retrograde delivery of bFGF enhances the potency of transplanted MSCs for cardiac repair in a canine infarct model. METHODS AND RESULTS: Under hypoxic conditions, cellular migration was significantly increased in MSCs co-cultured with bFGF compared to vascular endothelial growth factor or insulin-like growth factor, and bFGF promoted MSCs differentiation into a cardiomyocyte phenotype. A canine infarct model was employed by coronary ligation. One week later, animals were subjected to retrograde infusion of combination bFGF (200ng/mL) and MSCs (1×10(8) cells) (n=5), MSCs (1×10(8) cells, n=5), bFGF (200ng/mL, n=5), or placebo (phosphate-buffered saline, n=3). Four weeks after infusion, only the bFGF+MSCs therapy exhibited significantly increased left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) by echocardiography (p CONCLUSIONS: Retrograde coronary venous bFGF infusion augments engraftment and differentiation capacity of transplanted MSCs, recovering cardiac function and preventing adverse remodeling. This novel combined treatment and delivery method is a promising strategy for cardiac repair after ischemic injury

Bifunctional biomass-derived N, S dual-doped ladder-like porous carbon for supercapacitor and oxygen reduction reaction

In recent years, heteroatom-doped biomass-derived carbon has attracted intensive attention in vast fields due to their inexpensive precursors and abundant resources, especially in oxygen reduction reaction and supercapacitors. This research demonstrates a simple strategy to prepare mulberry leaves-derived nitrogen, sulfur dual-doped ladder-like porous carbon material, which possesses high content of nitrogen (8.17 at %), sulfur (1.97 at %), large surface area (1689 m g) and porous structure with a mass of micropores and mesopores. With respect to electrode material of supercapacitor, the nitrogen, sulfur dual-doped ladder-like carbon exhibits large specific capacitance of 243.4 F g at 0.1 A g and outstanding durability (94% retention after 5000 cycles at 3 A g). Moreover, in comparison to Pt/C catalyst, nitrogen, sulfur dual-doped ladder-like porous carbon presents excellent electrochemical performances of long term stability (90.2% retention after 20000 s) and resistance to methanol crossover for oxygen reduction reaction. This work successfully may provide a new case to take advantage of nature materials to fabricate heteroatom-doped carbon for energy conversion and storage

Integrative epigenome profiling of 47XXY provides insights into whole genomic DNA hypermethylation and active chromatin accessibility

Klinefelter syndrome (KS, 47XXY) is a disorder characterized by sex chromosomal aneuploidy, which may lead to changes in epigenetic regulations of gene expression. To define epigenetic architectures in 47XXY, we annotated DNA methylation in euploid males (46XY) and females (46XX), and 47XXY individuals using whole genome bisulfite sequencing (WGBS) and integrated chromatin accessbilty, and detected abnormal hypermethylation in 47XXY. Furthermore, we detected altered chromatin accessibility in 47XXY, in particular in chromosome X, using Assay for Transposase-Accessible Chromatin sequencing (ATAC-seq) in cultured amniotic cells. Our results construct the whole genome-wide DNA methylation map in 47XXY, and provide new insights into the early epigenomic dysregulation resulting from an extra chromosome X in 47XXY

Co-production of pigment and high value-added bacterial nanocellulose from Suaeda salsa biomass with improved efficiency of enzymatic saccharification and fermentation

This study evaluated the co-production of pigment and bacterial nanocellulose (BNC) from S. salsa biomass. The extraction of the beet red pigment reduced the salts and flavonoids contents by 82.7%–100%, promoting the efficiencies of enzymatic saccharification of the biomass and the fermentation of BNC from the hydrolysate. SEM analysis revealed that the extraction process disrupted the lignocellulosic fiber structure, and the chemical analysis revealed the lessened cellulase inhibitors, consequently facilitating enzymatic saccharification for 10.4 times. BNC producing strains were found to be hyper-sensitive to NaCl stress, produced up to 400.4% more BNC from the hydrolysate after the extraction. The fermentation results of BNC indicated that the LDU-A strain yielded 2.116 g/L and 0.539 g/L in ES-M and NES-M, respectively. In comparison to the control, the yield in ES-M increased by approximately 20.0%, while the enhancement in NES-M was more significant, reaching 292.6%. After conducting a comprehensive characterization of BNC derived from S. salsa through Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray Diffraction (XRD), and Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA), the average fiber diameter distribution of these four BNC materials ranges from 22.23 to 33.03 nanometers, with a crystallinity range of 77%–90%. Additionally, they exhibit a consistent trend during the thermal degradation process, further emphasizing their stability in high-temperature environments and similar thermal properties. Our study found an efficient co-production approach of pigment and BNC from S. salsa biomass. Pigment extraction made biomass more physically and chemically digestible to cellulase, and significantly improved BNC productivity and quality