Mantle Flow Underneath the South China Sea Revealed by Seismic Anisotropy

It Has Long Been Established that Plastic Flow in the Asthenosphere Interacts Constantly with the overlying Lithosphere and Plays a Pivotal Role in Controlling the Occurrence of Geohazards Such as Earthquakes and Volcanic Eruptions. Unfortunately, Accurately Characterizing the Direction and Lateral Extents of the Mantle Flow Field is Notoriously Difficult, Especially in Oceanic Areas Where Deployment of Ocean Bottom Seismometers (OBSs) is Expensive and Thus Rare. in This Study, by Applying Shear Wave Splitting Analyses to a Dataset Recorded by an OBS Array that We Deployed between Mid-2019 and Mid-2020 in the South China Sea (SCS), We Show that the Dominant Mantle Flow Field Has a NNW-SSE Orientation, Which Can Be Attributed to Mantle Flow Extruded from the Tibetan Plateau by the Ongoing Indian-Eurasian Collision. in Addition, the Results Suggest that E-W Oriented Flow Fields Observed in South China and the Indochina Peninsula Do Not Extend to the Central SCS

Integrated analysis of two-lncRNA signature as a potential prognostic biomarker in cervical cancer: a study based on public database

Background Cervical cancer (CC) is a common gynecological malignancy in women worldwide. Evidence suggests that long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) can be used as biomarkers in patients with CC. However, prognostic biomarkers for CC are still lacking. The aim of our study was to find lncRNA biomarkers which are able to predict prognosis in CC based on the data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). Methods The patients were divided into three groups according to FIGO stage. Differentially expressed lncRNAs were identified in CC tissue compared to adjacent normal tissues based on a fold change >2 and <0.5 at P < 0.05 for up- and downregulated lncRNA, respectively. The relationship between survival outcome and lncRNA expression was assessed with univariate and multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression analysis. We constructed a risk score as a method to evaluate prognosis. We used receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and the area under curve (AUC) analyses to assess the diagnostic value of a two-lncRNA signature. We detected the expression levels of the two lncRNAs in 31 pairs of newly diagnosed CC specimens and paired adjacent non-cancerous tissue specimens, and also in CC cell lines. Finally, the results were statistically compared using t-tests. Results In total, 289 RNA sequencing profiles and accompanying clinical data were obtained. We identified 49 differentially expressed lncRNAs, of which two related to overall survival (OS) in CC patients. These two lncRNAs (ILF3-AS1 and RASA4CP) were found together as a single prognostic signature. Meanwhile, the prognosis of patients with low-risk CC was better and positively correlated with OS (P < 0.001). Further analysis showed that the combined two-lncRNA expression signature could be used as an independent biomarker to evaluate the prognosis in CC. qRT-PCR results were consistent with TCGA, confirming downregulated expression of both lncRNAs. Furthermore, upon ROC curve analysis, the AUC of the combined lncRNAs was greater than that of the single lncRNAs alone (0.723 vs 0.704 and 0.685), respectively; P < 0.05. Conclusions Our study showed that the two-lncRNA signature of ILF3-AS1 and RASA4CP can be used as an independent biomarker for the prognosis of CC, based on bioinformatic analysis

Ferrocene-modified iron-based metal-organic frameworks as an enhanced catalyst for activating oxone to degrade pollutants in water

Ferrocene (Fc) has been regarded as a useful catalyst for activating Oxone to generate sulfate radicals (SR) in degradation of organic pollutants. Nevertheless, direct usage of Fc molecules in aqueous solutions may lead to difficult recovery and aggregation. While a few attempts have immobilized Fc on several substrates, these substrates exhibit very low surface areas/porosities and, especially, do not offer significantly additional contributions to catalytic activities. In this study, a Fe-containing metal organic frameworks (MOFs), MIL-101, is particularly selected for the first time as a support to immobilize Fc chemically. Through the Schiff base reaction, ferrocenecarboxaldehyde can react with amine-functionalized MIL-101 (namely, MIL-101-NH2) to form Fc-modified MIL-101 (Fc-MIL). As Fc-MIL consists of both Fe from MIL-101 and Fc and also exhibits high surface areas, it appears as a promising catalyst for activating Oxone. Catalytic activities for Oxone activation by Fc-MIL are studied using batch-type experiments of amaranth dye degradation. Fc-MIL shows higher catalytic activities than its precursor MIL-101-NH2 owing to the modification of Fc, which equips with MIL-101 with more catalytic sites for activating Oxone. Besides, Fc-MIL also outperforms the benchmark catalyst of Oxone activation, Co3O4, to degrade amaranth. In comparison to the other reported catalysts, Fc-MIL shows the much smaller activation energy for amaranth degradation, proving its advantage over other catalysts. The synthesis technique proposed here can be also employed to develop other Fc-modified MOFs for other environmental catalysis applications

Persulfate activation for efficient degradation of norfloxacin by a rGO-Fe3O4 composite

An environmental friendly magnetic reduced graphene oxide nanosheet-iron oxide (rGO-Fe3O4) composite was synthesized by co-precipitation method. Unlike other methods, we only added ferric iron to form Fe3O4, and also used much less reduced graphene oxide during the synthesis. The prepared rGO-Fe3O4 could effectively activate persulfate (PS) for the degradation of norfloxacin (NOF) and be easily recovered through magnetic separation. The effects of catalyst dosage, PS dosage, initial NOF concentration and initial pH were evaluated. Degradation experiments showed that the removal efficiencies of NOF and TOC were 89.69% and 45.69% within 75 min, respectively. The degradation intermediates of NOF were identified by HPLC-MS and the degradation pathways were also proposed. The quenching experiments indicated that there were three reactive active species, sulfate radical (SO4•−), hydroxyl radical (•OH) and singlet oxygen (1O2) generated in rGO-Fe3O4/PS system, in which 1O2 was the dominant active species for the degradation of NOF. The recycling test shows that rGO-Fe3O4 composite has good stability, showing a promising application

Activation of persulfate by graphite supported CeO2 for isoniazid degradation

Graphite felt (GF) supported cerium oxide (CeO2) composite was prepared by the impregnation method and used to active persulfate (PS) for degradation of isoniazid (INH). The structure and morphology of the catalyst were characterized by X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectrum and scanning electron microscope. The effects of some key parameters including initial PS concentration, initial pH value, catalyst dosage, reaction temperature and inorganic ions on INH degradation were investigated in CeO2/GF/PS system. It was found that 94.39% of INH and 89.9% of TOC could be removed within 10 min under the controlled conditions (1.2 g/L CeO2/GF, 0.25 g/L PS, initial pH at 6.8 and temperature at 25 ℃). The degradation intermediates of INH were identified by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry and ion chromatography, and the possible degradation pathway was also proposed. The radical competition tests indicated that hydroxyl radical (radical dotOH), sulfate radical (SO4radical dot−), superoxide (radical dotO2−) and singlet oxygen (1O2) coexisted in CeO2/GF/PS system, in which radical dotOH was the predominated one. The recycling experiment showed the CeO2/GF was an excellently stable catalyst for activation of PS

A novel carbon-coated Fe-C/N composite as a highly active heterogeneous catalyst for the degradation of Acid Red 73 by persulfate

A magnetic carbon-coated Fe-C/N composite was synthesized by a simple impregnation method and its performance in activating persulfate (PS) to degrade Acid Red 73 (AR 73) was investigated. The as-prepared carbon-coated Fe-C/N hybrid material was characterized via transmission electron microscopy, Raman spectra, X-ray diffraction and X-ray photoelectron spectrum. Degradation experiments showed that 98.11% of AR 73 could be degraded in 10 min, but its COD was partly removed. The effects of initial reaction pH and temperature were also evaluated. An increase of temperature was beneficial for the removal of AR 73, while the increase of pH had an opposite result. The activation energy of the AR 73 degradation was determined to be 46.12 KJ/mol, smaller than those in relative literatures. The recycling test showed that the carbon-coated Fe-C/N composite had good stability. The mechanism study indicated that the catalytic performance of Fe-C/N was due to the synergistic effect between Fe3C and Fe3N, and the N doped carbon shell suppressed the rate of Fe leaching, thus enhancing its stability

One-step prepared cobalt-based nanosheet as an efficient heterogeneous catalyst for activating peroxymonosulfate to degrade caffeine in water

Two-dimensional (2D) planar cobalt-containing materials are promising catalysts for activating peroxymonosulfate (PMS) to degrade contaminants because 2D sheet-like morphology provides large reactive surfaces. However, preparation of these sheet-supported cobaltic materials typically involves multiple steps and complex reagents, making them less practical for PMS activation. In this study, a cobalt-based nanosheet (CoNS) is particularly developed using a one-step hydrothermal process with a single reagent in water. The resulting CoNS can exhibit a thickness as thin as a few nanometers and 2-D morphology. CoNS is also primarily comprised of cobalt species in a coordinated form of Prussian Blue analogue, which consists of both Co3+ and Co2+. These features make CoNS promising for activating PMS in aqueous systems. As degradation of an emerging contaminant, caffeine, is selected as a representative reaction, CoNS not only successfully activates PMS to fully degrade caffeine in 20 min but also exhibits a much higher catalytic activity than the most common PMS activator, Co3O4. Via studying inhibitive effects of radical scavengers, caffeine degradation by CoNS-activated PMS is primarily attributed to sulfate radicals and hydroxyl radicals to a lesser extent. The degradation products of caffeine by CoNS-activated PMS are also identified and a potential degradation pathway is proposed. Moreover, CoNS could be also re-used to activate PMS for caffeine degradation without activity loss. These results indicate that CoNS is a conveniently prepared and highly effective and stable 2-D catalyst for aqueous chemical oxidation reactions