Long-term trends and drivers of aerosol pH in eastern China

Aerosol acidity plays a key role in regulating the chemistry and toxicity of atmospheric aerosol particles. The trend of aerosol pH and its drivers is crucial in understanding the multiphase formation pathways of aerosols. Here, we reported the first trend analysis of aerosol pH from 2011 to 2019 in eastern China, calculated with the ISORROPIA model based on observed gas and aerosol compositions. The implementation of the Air Pollution Prevention and Control Action Plan led to −35.8 %, −37.6 %, −9.6 %, −81.0 % and 1.2 % changes of PM2.5, SO42-, NHx, non-volatile cations (NVCs) and NO3- in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) region during this period. Different from the drastic changes of aerosol compositions due to the implementation of the Air Pollution Prevention and Control Action Plan, aerosol pH showed a minor change of −0.24 over the 9 years. Besides the multiphase buffer effect, the opposite effects from the changes of SO42- and non-volatile cations played key roles in determining this minor pH trend, contributing to a change of +0.38 and −0.35, respectively. Seasonal variations in aerosol pH were mainly driven by the temperature, while the diurnal variations were driven by both temperature and relative humidity. In the future, SO2, NOx and NH3 emissions are expected to be further reduced by 86.9 %, 74.9 % and 41.7 % in 2050 according to the best health effect pollution control scenario (SSP1-26-BHE). The corresponding aerosol pH in eastern China is estimated to increase by ∼0.19, resulting in 0.04 less NO3- and 0.12 less NH4+ partitioning ratios, which suggests that NH3 and NOx emission controls are effective in mitigating haze pollution in eastern China.</p

Effects of Viscosities and Solution Composition on Core-Sheath Electrospun Polycaprolactone(PCL) Nanoporous Microtubes

Vascularization for tissue engineering applications has been challenging over the past decades. Numerous efforts have been made to fabricate artificial arteries and veins, while few focused on capillary vascularization. In this paper, core-sheath electrospinning was adopted to fabricate nanoporous microtubes that mimic the native capillaries. The results showed that both solution viscosity and polyethylene oxide (PEO) ratio in polycaprolactone (PCL) sheath solution had significant effects on microtube diameter. Adding PEO into PCL sheath solution is also beneficial to surface pore formation, although the effects of further increasing PEO showed mixed results in different viscosity groups. Our study showed that the high viscosity group with a PCL/PEO ratio of 3:1 resulted in the highest average microtube diameter (2.14 µm) and pore size (250 nm), which mimics the native human capillary size of 1–10 µm. Therefore, our microtubes show high potential in tissue vascularization of engineered scaffolds

Urine D-ribose levels correlate with cognitive function in community-dwelling older adults

Background D-ribose is involved in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's Disease. The study aimed to determine the association between D-ribose and cognitive function in a sample of community-dwelling older adults. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted in Chaoyang District, Beijing in 2019-2020. Eligible participants were community-based older adults aged 60 years and above. D-ribose was analyzed from the morning urine. Cognitive function, subjective cognitive decline, and depressive symptoms were measured by a battery of neuropsychological tests. Linear regressions were performed to determine the relationship between the urine D-ribose levels and cognitive performance. Results A sample of 1725 participants (67.1% female) aged 60 to 85 years (69.40 +/- 5.87 years, mean +/- SD) was enrolled in the analysis. The urine D-ribose concentrations ranged from 1.53 to 208.89 mu mol/L (median 38.10 mu mol/L; interquartile range 22.52-64.96 mu mol/L). Higher levels of D-ribose were associated with worse performance on Mini-Mental State Examination and verbal fluency when age, gender, education, depressive symptoms, and cardiovascular risk factors were included as covariates. Conclusions The urine D-ribose was negatively correlated with cognitive function in community-dwelling older adults. The findings suggest that the dysmetabolism of D-ribose may play a role at the early stage of cognitive impairment

A noninvasive online system for biomass monitoring in shaker flasks using backward scattered light

This paper presents a noninvasive optical sensor system for monitoring cell growth in shaker flasks commonly used in biological laboratories. The system uses an open-source microprocessor board to monitor concentration of Escherichia coli host cells. To allow measurement for a range of filling degrees and shaker speeds, the backscattering angle is chosen to minimize interference from surface reflections and the measurement window is synchronized to the position of the shaker flask. A nonlinear calibration model of scattered light can predict offline optical density with a mean relative error of 5.2%, an accuracy which is comparable to the classical offline method and sufficient for biotechnology applications

Brain Formaldehyde is Related to Water Intake Behavior

A promising strategy for the prevention of Alzheimer&#39;s disease (AD) is the identification of agerelated changes that place the brain at risk for the disease. Additionally, AD is associated with chronic dehydration, and one of the significant changes that are known to result in metabolic dysfunction is an increase in the endogenous formaldehyde (FA) level. Here, we demonstrate that the levels of uric formaldehyde in AD patients were markedly increased compared with normal controls. The brain formaldehyde levels of wild-type C57 BL/6 mice increased with age, and these increases were followed by decreases in their drinking frequency and water intake. The serum arginine vasopressin (AVP) concentrations were also maintained at a high level in the 10-month-old mice. An intravenous injection of AVP into the tail induced decreases in the drinking frequency and water intake in the mice, and these decreases were associated with increases in brain formaldehyde levels. An ELISA assay revealed that the AVP injection increased both the protein level and the enzymatic activity of semicarbazide-sensitive amine oxidase (SSAO), which is an enzyme that produces formaldehyde. In contrast, the intraperitoneal injection of formaldehyde increased the serum AVP level by increasing the angiotensin II (ANG II) level, and this change was associated with a marked decrease in water intake behavior. These data suggest that the interaction between formaldehyde and AVP affects the water intake behaviors of mice. Furthermore, the highest concentration of formaldehyde in vivo was observed in the morning. Regular water intake is conducive to eliminating endogenous formaldehyde from the human body, particularly when water is consumed in the morning. Establishing good water intake habits not only effectively eliminates excess formaldehyde and other metabolic products but is also expected to yield valuable approaches to reducing the risk of AD prior to the onset of the disease.</p

Activated Carbon Nanoparticles As Carriers of Anticancer Drugs

The potentials of activated carbon nanoparticles (ACNP) as anticancer drug carriers were studied. ACNP were prepared with a top-down method. ACNP-based drug delivery system of docetaxel (ACNP-DOC) was prepared with a simple absorption method and its effects were studied primarily with methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium (MTT) assay, light microscope (LM), atomic force microscope (AFM) and transmission electron microscope (TEM). The prepared ACNP were approximately globular in shape with an average size of 233 nm, which had a saturate adsorption of 195.69 mg/g at mass ratio of ACNP: DOC=5:1. The drug delivery system prepared by adsorbing of ACNP for DOC had excellent releasing profile in the simulated in vivo environment. LM observation showed that ACNP can accumulate around the cells and on the surface of cells and TEM revealed that ACNP can enter cells and nuclears. MTT test demonstrated that ACNP-DOC had inhibitive effects on the growth of A549 cells, with an IC50 of 0.79 μg/ml, significantly smaller than that of 20 μg/ml of free DOC, indicating ACNP-DOC had stronger effects than free DOC. The imaging of AFM showed that both DOC and ACNP-DOC caused significant pathological changes of the cell membrane, including rough surfaces, large grains and holes, but these pathological changes were more obvious in ACNP-DOC treated cells than those free DOC treated ones. In all of the experiments, ACNP themselves had no significant influences on A549 cells. It was concluded that ACNP could serve as a good nanocarrier for anti-cancer drug delivery to target cells and have a great potential application in antitumor chemotherapy

Rational Design of 3D Honeycomb-Like SnS2 Quantum Dots/rGO Composites as High-Performance Anode Materials for Lithium/Sodium-Ion Batteries

Abstract Structure pulverization and poor electrical conductivity of metal dichalcogenides result in serious capacity decay both in lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) and sodium-ion batteries (SIBs). To resolve the above problems, a combination of metal dichalcogenides with conductive scaffolds as high-performance electrode materials has aroused tremendous interest recently. Herein, we synthesize a 3D honeycomb-like rGO anchored with SnS2 quantum dots (3D SnS2 QDs/rGO) composite via spray-drying and sulfidation. The unique 3D-ordered honeycomb-like structure can confine the volume change of SnS2 QDs in the lithiation/delithiation and sodiation/desodiation processes, provide enough space for electrolyte reservoirs, promote the conductivity of the SnS2 QDs, and improve the electron transfer. As a result, the 3D SnS2 QDs/rGO composite electrode delivers a high capacity and long cycling stability (862 mAh/g for LIB at 0.1 A/g after 200 cycles, 233 mAh/g for SIB at 0.5 A/g after 200 cycles). This study provides a feasible synthesis route for preparing 3D-ordered porous networks in varied materials for the development of high-performance LIBs and SIBs in future

D-Ribose as a Contributor to Glycated Haemoglobin

Glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) is the most important marker of hyperglycaemia in diabetes mellitus. We show that D-ribose reacts with haemoglobin, thus yielding HbA1c. Using mass spectrometry, we detected glycation of haemoglobin with D-ribose produces 10 carboxylmethyllysines (CMLs). The first-order rate constant of fructosamine formation for D-ribose was approximately 60 times higher than that for D-glucose at the initial stage. Zucker Diabetic Fatty (ZDF) rat, a common model for type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), had high levels of D-ribose and HbA1c, accompanied by a decrease of transketolase (TK) in the liver. The administration of benfotiamine, an activator of TK, significantly decreased D-ribose followed by a decline in HbA1c. In clinical investigation, T2DM patients with high HbA1c had a high level of urine D-ribose, though the level of their urine D-glucose was low. That is, D-ribose contributes to HbA1c, which prompts future studies to further explore whether D-ribose plays a role in the pathophysiological mechanism of T2DM. (C) 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license