Genetic variation in folate metabolism is associated with the risk of conotruncal heart defects in a Chinese population

Abstract Background Conotruncal heart defects (CTDs) are a subgroup of congenital heart defects that are considered to be the most common type of birth defect worldwide. Genetic disturbances in folate metabolism may increase the risk of CTDs. Methods We evaluated five single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in genes related to folic acid metabolism: methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR C677T and A1298C), solute carrier family 19, member 1 (SLC19A1 G80A), methionine synthase (MTR A2576G), and methionine synthase reductase (MTRR A66G), as risk factors for CTDs including various types of malformation, in a total of 193 mothers with CTD-affected offspring and 234 healthy controls in a Chinese population. Results Logistic regression analyses revealed that subjects carrying the TT genotype of MTHFR C677T, the C allele of MTHFR A1298C, and the AA genotype of SLC19A1 G80A had significant 2.47-fold (TT vs. CC, OR [95% CI] = 2.47 [1.42–4.32], p = 0.009), 2.05–2.20-fold (AC vs. AA, 2.05 [1.28–3.21], p = 0.0023; CC vs AA, 2.20 [1.38–3.58], p = 0.0011), and 1.68-fold (AA vs. GG, 1.68 [1.02–2.70], p = 0.0371) increased risk of CTDs, respectively. Subjects carrying both variant genotypes of MTHFR A1298C and SLC19A1 G80A had a higher (3.23 [1.71–6.02], p = 0.0002) increased risk for CTDs. Moreover, the MTHFR C677T, MTHFR A1298C, and MTRR A66G polymorphisms were found to be significantly associated with the risk of certain subtypes of CTD. Conclusions Our data suggest that maternal folate-related SNPs might be associated with the risk of CTDs in offspring

Catalytic ozonation of ketoprofen by defective boron nitride

This study focuses on the feasibility of boron nitride as a catalyst for ozonation of ketoprofen. The defective boron nitride was prepared by calcination of boric acid and melamine and characterized by XRD, SEM, FT-IR, XPS, temperature programmed desorption, Raman and UV–Vis diffuse reflectance spectra. The apparent rate constant and removal efficiency of chemical oxygen demand in the boron nitride catalyzed system were 2.7 times and 1.6 times higher than those of the ozonation alone at the pH of 7, respectively. The catalytic active sites were found to be acidic BOH and could be generated by manufacturing defects during preparation

Large-Scale Synthesis of Graphene-Like MoSe₂ Nanosheets for Efficient Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

Two-dimensional (2D) materials have attracted great attention by researchers due to their fascinating properties and promising applications. However, the synthesis methods for few layers are usually difficult to expand to large area applications because of their low yield. In this paper, graphene-like MoSe₂ nanosheets are successfully and scaleable synthesized by a facile and low-cost hydrothermal method under the synergy of PVP and graphene. The ultrathin MoSe₂ nanosheets are typically 1–3 layers, which are confirmed by HRTEM. This unique structure makes this MoSe₂ electrode material show superior activity toward the electrocatalytic hydrogen production with a low Tafel slope about 70 mV·dec^–1. Furthermore, the synthesized graphene-like MoSe₂ nanosheets had a high stability during the electrocatalytic process and we nearly cannot find the degradation after 1000 cyclic voltammetric sweeps

Oxygen Vacancy Promoted Heterogeneous Fenton-like Degradation of Ofloxacin at pH 3.2–9.0 by Cu Substituted Magnetic Fe₃O₄@FeOOH Nanocomposite

To develop an ultraefficient and reusable heterogeneous Fenton-like catalyst at a wide working pH range is a great challenge for its application in practical water treatment. We report an oxygen vacancy promoted heterogeneous Fenton-like reaction mechanism and an unprecedented ofloxacin (OFX) degradation efficiency of Cu doped Fe₃O₄@FeOOH magnetic nanocomposite. Without the aid of external energy, OFX was always completely removed within 30 min at pH 3.2–9.0. Compared with Fe₃O₄@FeOOH, the pseudo-first-order reaction constant was enhanced by 10 times due to Cu substitution (9.04/h vs 0.94/h). Based on the X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Raman analysis, and the investigation of H₂O₂ decomposition, ^•OH generation, pH effect on OFX removal and H₂O₂ utilization efficiency, the new formed oxygen vacancy from in situ Fe substitution by Cu rather than promoted Fe³⁺/Fe²⁺ cycle was responsible for the ultraefficiency of Cu doped Fe₃O₄@FeOOH at neutral and even alkaline pHs. Moreover, the catalyst had an excellent long-term stability and could be easily recovered by magnetic separation, which would not cause secondary pollution to treated water

Surface Facet of CuFeO₂ Nanocatalyst: A Key Parameter for H₂O₂ Activation in Fenton-Like Reaction and Organic Pollutant Degradation

The development of efficient heterogeneous Fenton catalysts is mainly by “trial-and-error” concept and the factor determining H₂O₂ activation remains elusive. In this work, we demonstrate that suitable facet exposure to elongate O–O bond in H₂O₂ is the key parameter determining the Fenton catalyst’s activity. CuFeO₂ nanocubes and nanoplates with different surface facets of {110} and {012} are used to compare the effect of exposed facets on Fenton activity. The results indicate that ofloxacin (OFX) degradation rate by CuFeO₂ {012} is four times faster than that of CuFeO₂ {110} (0.0408 vs 0.0101 min^–1). In CuFeO₂ {012}-H₂O₂ system, OFX is completely removed at a pH range 3.2–10.1. The experimental results and theoretical simulations show that ^•OH is preferentially formed from the reduction of absorbed H₂O₂ by electron from CuFeO₂ {012} due to suitable elongation of O–O (1.472 Å) bond length in H₂O₂. By contrast, the O–O bond length is elongated from 1.468 to 3.290 Å by CuFeO₂ {110} facet, H₂O₂ tends to be dissociated into −OH group and passivates {110} facet. Besides, the new formed ≡Fe²⁺* on CuFeO₂ {012} facet can accelerate the redox cycle of Cu and Fe species, leading to excellent long-term stability of CuFeO₂ nanoplates

Stable Cu2O nanocrystals grown on functionalized graphene sheets and room temperature H2S gas sensing with ultrahigh sensitivity

<p>Stable Cu_{<font size="2">2</font>}O nanocrystals of around 3 nm were uniformly and densely grown on functionalized graphene sheets (FGS), which act as molecular templates instead of surfactants for controlled nucleation; the distribution density of nanocrystals can be easily controlled by FGS with different C/O ratios. The nanocomposite displays improved stability of the crystalline phase in wet air, which is attributed to finite-size effects that the high-symmetry crystalline phase is to be more stable at smaller size. Meanwhile, we conjecture that the oxygen adsorbed on the interfacial surface prefers to extract electrons from FGS, thus the interfacial bonding also makes a contribution in alleviating the process of corrosion to some extent. More importantly, the Cu_{<font size="2">2</font>}O&ndash;FGS nanocomposite based sensor realizes room temperature sensing to H_{<font size="2">2</font>}S with fantastic sensitivity (11%); even at the exposed concentration of 5 ppb, the relative resistance changes show good linearity with the logarithm of the concentration. The enhancement of sensitivity is attributed to the synergistic effect of Cu_{<font size="2">2</font>}O and FGS; on the one hand, surfactant-free capped Cu_{<font size="2">2</font>}O nanocrystals display higher surface activity to adsorb gas molecules, and on the other hand, FGS acting as conducting network presents greater electron transfer efficiency. These observations show that the Cu_{<font size="2">2</font>}O&ndash;FGS nanocomposite based sensors have potential applications for monitoring air pollution at room temperature with low cost and power consumption.</p><br /