Biocrust reduces the soil erodibility of coral calcareous sand by regulating microbial community and extracellular polymeric substances on tropical coral island, South China Sea

Tropical coral islands assume a pivotal role in the conservation of oceanic ecosystem biodiversity. However, their distinctive environmental attributes and limited vegetation render them highly susceptible to soil erosion. The biological soil crust (biocrust), owing to its significant ecological role in soil stabilization and erosion prevention, is deemed an effective means of mitigating soil erosion on coral island. However, existing research on the mechanisms through which biocrusts resist soil erosion has predominantly concentrated on arid and semi-arid regions. Consequently, this study will specifically delve into elucidating the erosion-resistant mechanisms of biocrusts in tropical coral island environments, South China Sea. Specifically, we collected 16 samples of biocrusts and bare soil from Meiji Island. High-throughput amplicon sequencing was executed to analyze the microbial community, including bacteria, fungi, and archaea. Additionally, quantitative PCR was utilized to assess the abundance of the bacterial 16S rRNA, fungal ITS, archaeal 16S rRNA, and cyanobacterial 16S rRNA genes within these samples. Physicochemical measurements and assessments of extracellular polymeric substances (EPSs) were conducted to characterize the soil properties. The study reported a significantly decreased soil erodibility factor after biocrust formation. Compared to bare soil, soil erodibility factor decreased from 0.280 to 0.190 t h MJ−1 mm−1 in the biocrusts. Mechanistically, we measured the microbial EPS contents and revealed a negative correlation between EPS and soil erodibility factor. Consistent with increased EPS, the abundance of bacteria, fungi, archaea, and cyanobacteria were also detected significantly increased with biocrust formation. Correlation analysis detected Cyanobacteria, Chloroflexi, Deinococcota, and Crenarchaeota as potential microbials promoting EPSs and reducing soil erosion. Together, our study presents the evidence that biocrust from tropical coral island in the South China Sea promotes resistance to soil erosion, pinpointing key EPSs-producing microbials against soil erosion. The findings would provide insights for island soil restoration

A Systematic Analysis on DNA Methylation and the Expression of Both mRNA and microRNA in Bladder Cancer

Background: DNA methylation aberration and microRNA (miRNA) deregulation have been observed in many types of cancers. A systematic study of methylome and transcriptome in bladder urothelial carcinoma has never been reported. Methodology/Principal Findings: The DNA methylation was profiled by modified methylation-specific digital karyotyping (MMSDK) and the expression of mRNAs and miRNAs was analyzed by digital gene expression (DGE) sequencing in tumors and matched normal adjacent tissues obtained from 9 bladder urothelial carcinoma patients. We found that a set of significantly enriched pathways disrupted in bladder urothelial carcinoma primarily related to "neurogenesis" and "cell differentiation" by integrated analysis of -omics data. Furthermore, we identified an intriguing collection of cancer-related genes that were deregulated at the levels of DNA methylation and mRNA expression, and we validated several of these genes (HIC1, SLIT2, RASAL1, and KRT17) by Bisulfite Sequencing PCR and Reverse Transcription qPCR in a panel of 33 bladder cancer samples. Conclusions/Significance: We characterized the profiles between methylome and transcriptome in bladder urothelial carcinoma, identified a set of significantly enriched key pathways, and screened four aberrantly methylated and expressed genes. Conclusively, our findings shed light on a new avenue for basic bladder cancer research

The crystal structure of 1-(2-chlorobenzyl)-3-(3,5-dichlorophenyl)urea, C14H11Cl3N2O

C14H11Cl3N2O, orthorhombic, P212121 (no. 19), a = 8.3600(4) Å, b = 12.0085(8) Å, c = 14.3665(6) Å, V = 1442.27(13) Å3, Z = 4, Rgt (F) = 0.0460, wRref (F 2) = 0.0944, T = 293 K

Polymeric carbon material from waste sulfuric acid of alkylation and its application in biodiesel production

The huge waste sulfuric acid from isobutane/butene alkylation, which contains acid soluble oil and can lead environment pollution and waste of resources, is difficult to deal with. For the treatment of alkylation waste sulfuric acid, the process convert waste sulfuric acid into dilute sulfuric acid and polymerized carbon materials through direct polymerization of acid soluble oil at below 473.15 K is proposed. Compared with the traditional pyrolysis process at 1373.15 K, the technology developed in this study can save more energy efficient with reduced carbon emissions. It was found that the removal rate of organic matter in waste acid was higher than 99.5 wt % at 453.15K. The dilute sulfuric acid obtained from the reaction can be used in the synthesis of sulphate. The polymeric carbon material has strong acidity. Further study indicates that the polymeric carbon material can be used as an efficient solid acid catalyst for the esterification of oleic acid and methanol to produce biodiesel. The results showed that conversion of oleic acid could reach 95.03 wt % under the optimized conditions, which remained higher than 91 wt % after reuse for 5 times. This work provides an alternative method to treat waste sulfuric acid and also a feasible and low cost route to obtain polymeric carbon material from the organic resources in the sulfuric acid as solid acid catalyst, which can reduce the manufacturing cost of biodiesel. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Flow and heat transfer characteristics of a novel airfoil-based tube with dimples

The performance of a novel airfoil-based tube with dimples is numerically studied in the present work. The effect of Reynolds number Re, dimples number N, relative depth H/D, and cross-distribution angle α on flow and heat transfer characteristics are discussed for Re in the range between 7,753 and 21,736. The velocity contour, temperature contour, and local streamlines are also presented to get an insight into the heat transfer enhancement mechanisms. The results show that both the velocity magnitude and flow direction change, and fluid dynamic vortexes are generated around the dimples, which intensify the flow mixing and interrupt the boundary layer, resulting in a better heat transfer performance accompanied by a certain pressure loss compared with the plain tube. The Nusselt number Nu of the airfoil-based tube increases with the increase of dimples number, relative depth, and Reynolds numbers, but the effect of cross-distribution angle can be ignored. Under geometric parameters considered, the airfoil-based tube with N = 6, H/D = 0.1, α = 0° and Re = 7,753 can obtain the largest average PEC value 1.23. Further, the empirical formulas for Nusselt number Nu and friction factor f are fitted in terms of dimple number N, relative depth H/D, and Reynolds number Re, respectively, with the errors within ± 5%. It is found that the airfoil-based tube with dimples has a good comprehensive performance

Designated-Tailoring on {100} Facets of Cu2O Nanostructures: From Octahedral to Its Different Truncated Forms

A facile template-free controlled synthesis of Cu2O architectures from octahedral to its different truncated forms is successfully achieved. It is found that the precursor formation temperature is crucial to the designated-tailoring on the {100} facets of Cu2O crystals, which can modify the ratio (R) between the growth rates along the 〈100〉 and 〈111〉 directions, leading to the formation of the initial structures with different shapes. The multiple morphologies can be evolved from these varied initial structures via the synergic effect of oriented attachment and ripening mechanism. This template-free complex precursor-based solution route has provided an innovative approach to design the {100} facets with different sizes to further enrich the current morphologies of Cu2O crystals

Controlled Growth Cu₂S Nanoarrays with High-Performance Photothermal Properties

The controlled growth of Cu2S nanoarrays was constructed by a facile two-step impregnation synthesis route. The as-synthesized Cu2S/CuO@Cu samples were precisely characterized in terms of surface morphology, phase, composition, and oxidation states. At the laser irradiation of 808 nm, Cu2S/CuO@Cu heated up to 106 °C from room temperature in 120 s, resulting in an excellent photothermal conversion performance. The Cu2S/CuO@Cu exhibited excellent cycling performance—sustaining the photothermal performance during five heating-cooling cycles. The finite difference time domain (FDTD) simulation of optical absorption and electric field distributions assured the accuracy and reliability of the developed experimental conditions for acquiring the best photothermal performance of Cu2S/CuO@Cu

Wearable Noninvasive Glucose Sensor Based on Cu_xO NFs/Cu NPs Nanocomposites

Designing highly active material to fabricate a high-performance noninvasive wearable glucose sensor was of great importance for diabetes monitoring. In this work, we developed CuxO nanoflakes (NFs)/Cu nanoparticles (NPs) nanocomposites to serve as the sensing materials for noninvasive sweat-based wearable glucose sensors. We involve CuCl2 to enhance the oxidation of Cu NPs to generate Cu2O/CuO NFs on the surface. Due to more active sites endowed by the CuxO NFs, the as-prepared sample exhibited high sensitivity (779 μA mM−1 cm−2) for noninvasive wearable sweat sensing. Combined with a low detection limit (79.1 nM), high selectivity and the durability of bending and twisting, the CuxO NFs/Cu NPs-based sensor can detect the glucose level change of sweat in daily life. Such a high-performance wearable sensor fabricated by a convenient method provides a facile way to design copper oxide nanomaterials for noninvasive wearable glucose sensors

Wearable, stable, highly sensitive hydrogel–graphene strain sensors

A stable and highly sensitive graphene/hydrogel strain sensor is designed by introducing glycerol as a co-solvent in the formation of a hydrogel substrate and then casting a graphene solution onto the hydrogel in a simple, two-step method. This hydrogel-based strain sensor can effectively retain water in the polymer network due to the formation of strong hydrogen bonding between glycerol and water. The addition of glycerol not only enhances the stability of the hydrogel over a wider temperature range, but also increases the stretchability of the hydrogel from 800% to 2000%. The enhanced sensitivity can be attributed to the graphene film, whereby the graphene flakes redistribute to optimize the contact area under different strains. The careful design enables this sensor to be used in both stretching and bending modes. As a demonstration, the as-prepared strain sensor was applied to sense the movement of finger knuckles. Given the outstanding performance of this wearable sensor, together with the proposed scalable fabrication method, this stable and sensitive hydrogel strain sensor is considered to have great potential in the field of wearable sensors