Performance of the 1-ton Prototype Neutrino Detector at CJPL-I

China Jinping Underground Laboratory (CJPL) provides an ideal site for solar, geo-, and supernova neutrino studies. With a prototype neutrino detector running since 2017, containing 1-ton liquid scintillator (LS), we tested its experimental hardware, performed the physics calibration, and measured its radioactive backgrounds, as an early stage of the Jinping Neutrino Experiment (JNE). We investigated the radon background and implemented the nitrogen sealing technology to control it. This paper presents the details of these studies and will serve as a key reference for the construction and optimization of the future large detector at JNE

Genotyping and biofilm formation of Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae and their association with virulence

Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae, the causative agent of swine respiratory disease, demonstrates differences in virulence. However, factors associated with this variation remain unknown. We herein evaluated the association between differences in virulence and genotypes as well as phenotype (i.e., biofilm formation ability). Strains 168 L, RM48, XLW-2, and J show low virulence and strains 232, 7448, 7422, 168, NJ, and LH show high virulence, as determined through animal challenge experiments, complemented with in vitro tracheal mucosa infection tests. These 10 strains with known virulence were then subjected to classification via multilocus sequence typing (MLST) with three housekeeping genes, P146-based genotyping, and multilocus variable-number tandem-repeat analysis (MLVA) of 13 loci. MLST and P146-based genotyping identified 168, 168 L, NJ, and RM48 as the same type and clustered them in a single branch. MLVA assigned a different sequence type to each strain. Simpson’s index of diversity indicates a higher discriminatory ability for MLVA. However, no statistically significant correlation was found between genotypes and virulence. Furthermore, we investigated the correlation between virulence and biofilm formation ability. The strains showing high virulence demonstrate strong biofilm formation ability, while attenuated strains show low biofilm formation ability. Pearson correlation analysis revealed a significant positive correlation between biofilm formation ability and virulence. To conclude, there was no association between virulence and our genotyping data, but virulence was found to be significantly associated with the biofilm formation ability of M. hyopneumoniae

Comparison of Bypass Surgery with Drug-Eluting Stents in Diabetic Patients with Left Main Coronary Stenosis

∙ The authors have no financial conflicts of interest. Purpose: Several studies have compared the effects of coronary stenting and coronary-artery bypass grafting (CABG) on left main coronary artery (LMCA) disease. However, there are limited data on the long-term outcomes of these two interventions in diabetic patients. Materials and Methods: We evaluated 56 patients with LMCA stenosis who underwent drug-eluting stent (DES) implantation and 116 patients who underwent CABG in a single hospital in China between January 2004 and December 2006. We compared long-term major adverse cardiac events (death; a “serious outcome ” composite of death, myocardial infarction, or stroke; and targetvessel revascularization). Results: In-hospital (30-day) mortality was 0 % for the DES group and 3.4 % for the CABG group (p=0.31). There was no difference between the two groups in terms of risk of death [hazard ratio for stenting group, 0.49; 95 % confidence interval (CI), 0.13-1.63; p=0.55] or risk of serious outcome (hazar

Synthesis of Highly Dispersed and Highly Stable Supported Au-Pt Bimetallic Catalysts by a Two-Step Method

Highly dispersed and highly stable supported bimetallic catalysts were prepared using a two-step process. Pt nanoparticles (NPs) were first deposited on porous γ-Al2O3 particles by atomic layer deposition (ALD). Au NPs were synthesized by using gold(III) chloride as the Au precursor, and then immobilized on ALD Ptγ-Al2O3 particles. The Au-Pt bimetallic catalysts were highly active and highly stable in a vigorously stirred liquid phase reaction of glucose oxidation

Application of Improved Eclat Algorithm in Students’ Evaluation of Teaching

The evaluation system of students is to find a way to solve the status way according to the exact needs of students and the teaching requirements of teachers, so as to improve the teaching level of teachers and improve the quality of school education. This paper uses the real evaluation sample and uses the data mining association rule algorithm to comprehensively analyze the massive data of the evaluation data and the basic information of the teacher. The purpose is to obtain the association rules between the teacher’s comprehensive information and its evaluation results. Using the evaluation data to explore its core issues. In this paper, the Eclat algorithm of association rules improves the problem of insufficient memory and occupying a large amount of time when searching for frequent itemsets in the data. The breadth-first algorithm is added to save operation time and improve the efficiency of the algorithm. The effectiveness of the improved algorithm is verified by comparative experiments and applied to the evaluation system so as to provide suggestions for the professional development of teachers from an objective perspective, and to build a harmonious, "people-oriented" evaluation system for students

Metabolomic analysis of the brain and blood from rats exposed to high-dose chlorpyrifos

Chlorpyrifos is an organophosphate pesticide used to kill pests such as insects and worms. Wide use of chlorpyrifos has led to serious safety concerns worldwide. Research on the mechanism of action of chlorpyrifos poisoning is continuing. We investigated changes in the small-molecular metabolites in the brain and blood of rats upon exposure to chlorpyrifos at an acute-poisoning dose. Rats were given twice the lowest dose of chlorpyrifos that is lethal for 100% of exposed animals (2 × LD100) and then killed after 2 h. After treatment, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry was used to analyze the metabolomic changes in the brain and blood samples of rats. An increase in blood levels of creatinine and uric acid were noted, along with a decrease in levels of various amino acids. These changes suggested that chlorpyrifos exposure may damage kidney function and cause disorders in amino-acid metabolism of rats. Decreased concentrations of gamma-aminobutyric acid and niacinamide in the brain and increased concentrations of 3-hydroxybutyric acid in rats with acute poisoning by chlorpyrifos were observed, which may suggest oxidative damage in the body

Synthesis and Characterization of Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles Loaded with Pt Catalysts

Coating the catalyst with a nanoporous layer has been demonstrated to be an effective approach to improve catalyst stability. Herein, we systematically investigate two types of core-shell mesoporous silica nanoparticles with a platinum nanocatalyst using a variety of characterization methods. One of the mesoporous particles has a unique amine ring structure in the middle of a shell (Ring-mSiO2/Pt-5.0/SiO2), and the other one has no ring structure (mSiO2/Pt-5.0/SiO2). Brunauer–Emmett–Teller/Barrett–Joyner–Halenda (BET/BJH) presented a similar surface area for both particles, and the pore size was 2.4 nm. Ultra-Small-Angle X-ray Scattering (USAXS)/ Small-Angle X-ray Scattering (SAXS) showed the size of mSiO2/Pt-5.0/SiO2 and Ring-mSiO2/Pt-5.0/SiO2 were 420 nm and 272 nm, respectively. It also showed that the ring structure was 30 nm above the silica core. Using high-resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), it was found that the platinum nanoparticles are loaded evenly on the surface of the silica. In situ SAXS heating experiments and Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA) indicated that the mSiO2/Pt-5.0/SiO2 were more stable during the high temperature, while the Ring-mSiO2/Pt-5.0/SiO2 had more change in the particle.This article is published as Lyu, Xingyi, Xun Wu, Yuzi Liu, Wenyu Huang, Byeongdu Lee, and Tao Li. "Synthesis and characterization of mesoporous silica nanoparticles loaded with Pt catalysts." Catalysts 12, no. 2 (2022): 183. DOI: 10.3390/catal12020183. Copyright 2022 by the authors. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0). Posted with permission. DOE Contract Number(s): AC02-07CH11358; AC02-06CH1135

Synthesis and Characterization of Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles Loaded with Pt Catalysts

Coating the catalyst with a nanoporous layer has been demonstrated to be an effective approach to improve catalyst stability. Herein, we systematically investigate two types of core-shell mesoporous silica nanoparticles with a platinum nanocatalyst using a variety of characterization methods. One of the mesoporous particles has a unique amine ring structure in the middle of a shell (Ring-mSiO2/Pt-5.0/SiO2), and the other one has no ring structure (mSiO2/Pt-5.0/SiO2). Brunauer–Emmett–Teller/Barrett–Joyner–Halenda (BET/BJH) presented a similar surface area for both particles, and the pore size was 2.4 nm. Ultra-Small-Angle X-ray Scattering (USAXS)/ Small-Angle X-ray Scattering (SAXS) showed the size of mSiO2/Pt-5.0/SiO2 and Ring-mSiO2/Pt-5.0/SiO2 were 420 nm and 272 nm, respectively. It also showed that the ring structure was 30 nm above the silica core. Using high-resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), it was found that the platinum nanoparticles are loaded evenly on the surface of the silica. In situ SAXS heating experiments and Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA) indicated that the mSiO2/Pt-5.0/SiO2 were more stable during the high temperature, while the Ring-mSiO2/Pt-5.0/SiO2 had more change in the particle

Modulatory Effect of Polysaccharide from Artocarpus heterophyllus Lam. (Jackfruit) Pulp on Gut Microbiota in Mice

The present study aimed to investigate the modulatory effect of polysaccharide from Artocarpus heterophyllus Lam. pulp (JFP-Ps) on the diversity and structure of gut microbiota in mice. 24 male Kunming mice were randomly divided into four groups: Control group, JFP-Ps (50 mg/kg BW) group, JFP-Ps (100 mg/kg BW) group and JFP-Ps (200 mg/kg BW) group. The colonic feces of mice were collected after treating with JFP-Ps in different doses for 2 weeks. Then the DNA was extracted and the V3~V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene of the intestinal flora was amplified. The regulatory effect of JFP-Ps on the gut microbiota of mice was studied using Illumina Miseq high-throughput sequencing technology. The results showed that Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes were the dominant intestinal flora, and JFP-Ps modulated the composition of Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes in comparison with the control group. At the genus level, the abundance of SCFAs-producing bacteria, including Bacteroides, Allobaculum, Lactobacillus and Parabacteroides were significantly increased in response to JFP-Ps treatment, but a significant decrease in Prevotella. These results indicated that JFP-Ps could improve the diversity of gut microbiota by regulating the composition and structure of dominant bacteria such as Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes. This study would provide a theoretical basis for JFP-Ps in intestinal prebiotics