Sustainable and scalable in-situ synthesis of hydrochar-wrapped Ti3AlC2-derived nanofibers as adsorbents to remove heavy metals

To ensure a sustainable future, it is imperative to efficiently utilize abundant biomass to produce such as platform chemicals, transport fuels, and other raw materials; hydrochar is one of the promising candidates derived by hydrothermal carbonization of biomass in pressurized hot water. The synthesis of “hydrochar-wrapped Ti3AlC2-derived nanofibers” was successfully achieved by a facile one-pot hydrothermal reaction using glucose as the hydrochar precursor. Meanwhile, cellulose and pinewood sawdust as raw materials were also investigated. Products were characterized by XRD, N2 adsorption-desorption isotherms, SEM, TEM and FT-IR to investigate their crystal structures, textural properties, morphologies, and surface species. In the adsorption test to remove Cd(II) and Cu(II) in aqueous solution, hydrochar-wrapped nanofibers outperformed pure nanofibers derived from Ti3AlC2, hydrothermal carbon derived from glucose and commercial activated carbon. Finally, the regeneration, sorption kinetics, and possible adsorption mechanism were also explored

A 2.4 GHz 2.9 mW Zigbee RF Receiver with Current-Reusing and Function-Reused Mixing Techniques

This study presents a low-power Zigbee receiver with a current-reusing structure and function-reused mixing techniques. To reduce the overall power consumption, a low noise amplifier (LNA) and a power amplifier (PA) share the biasing current with a voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) in the receiving (RX) mode and transmitting (TX) mode, respectively. The function-reused mixer reuses the radio frequency trans-conductance (RF gm) stage to amplify the down-converted intermediate frequency (IF) signal, obtaining a free IF gain without extra power consumption. A peak detector circuit detects the receiving signal strength and auto-adjusts the biasing current to save power when a strong signal strength is detected. Meanwhile, the peak detector helps to provide a coarse gain control as part of the auto-gain-control function. As part of the IF gain range is shared by the multiple-feedback (MFB) low-pass filter, the number of programmable-gain IF amplifier stages can be reduced, which also means a decrease in power consumption. A prototype of this wireless sensor network (WSN) receiver was designed and fabricated using the TSMC 130 nm CMOS process under a supply voltage of 1 V. The entire receiver realizes a noise figure (NF) of 3.5 dB and a receiving sensitivity of −90 dBm for the 0.25 Mbps offset quadrature phase shift keying (O-QPSK) signal with a power consumption of 2.9 mW

Construction of ethical cooperative review mode based on medical union

With the rapid development of biomedical science and technology in China, the number of clinical research projects is increasing rapidly, which is accompanied by ethical challenges. In recent years, a number of regional ethics committees have been established in China, and some experience has been gained in regional ethical review, but there is a certain difficulty in implementing it. In response to the difficulties in regional ethical review, the ethical cooperative review mode of medical union with the leading units as the core has been established based on the experience of foreign regional ethical review and the characteristics of the medical consortium structures that have been widely established in the county-level hospitals and prefecture level tertiary hospitals in Jiangsu region. It is expected to give full play to the flexible advantages of regional ethics committees by radiating and promoting the ethical review ability of medical union

A 0.5~0.7 V LC Digitally Controlled Oscillator Based on a Multi-Stage Capacitance Shrinking Technique

This paper presents a 2.4 GHz LC digitally controlled oscillator (DCO) at near-threshold supplies (0.5~0.7 V). It was a challenge to achieve a low voltage, low power, and high resolution simultaneously. DCOs with metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) varactors consume low power, but their resolution is limited. ΔΣ-DCOs can achieve a high resolution at the cost of high power consumption. A multi-stage capacitance shrinking technique was proposed in this paper to address the tradeoff mentioned above. The unit variable capacitance of the LC tank was largely reduced by the bridging capacitors and the number of stages. A current-reuse technique was used to further lower the power. Based on the above techniques, the prototype was fabricated using a 130-nm complementary MOS (CMOS) technology with multiple supplies (0.5~0.7 V for the DCO core, 1.2 V for the buffer). The measurement results showed that the phase noise at a 0.6-V supply was −126.27 dBc/Hz at 1 MHz and −125.9480 dBc/Hz at 1 MHz at the carriers of 2.4 GHz and 2.5 GHz, respectively. The best figure of merit (FoM) of 195.68 was obtained when VDD = 0.6 V. The DCO core consumed 1.1 mA at a 0.6-V supply

Design and practice of free-examination of clinical trial subjects based on hospital information system

Objective To explore the effectiveness of free-examination system for clinical trial subjects in hospital clinical trials. Methods Based on the hospital information system, a free-examination system for clinical trial subjects was designed and implemented, and the effects were compared before and after the application of the system. Results After the application of the free-examination system for clinical trial subjects, the number of protocol violations related to examinations and the average time of financial settlement reduced, so the work efficiency and satisfaction of all parties involved in clinical trials were improved compared with those before application. Conclusion For the participants in this clinical trial, the free-examination system is easy to operate and can improve management level and work efficiency of the clinical trial

Systems Pharmacology-Based Strategy to Investigate the Mechanism of Ruangan Lidan Decoction for Treatment of Hepatocellular Carcinoma

epatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the leading contributors to cancer mortality worldwide. Currently, the prevention and treatment of HCC remains a major challenge. As a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) formula, Ruangan Lidan decoction (RGLD) has been proved to own the effect of relieving HCC symptoms. However, due to its biological effects and complex compositions, its underlying mechanism of actions (MOAs) have not been fully clarified yet. In this study, we proposed a pharmacological framework to systematically explore the MOAs of RGLD against HCC. We firstly integrated the active ingredients and potential targets of RGLD. We next highlighted 25 key targets that played vital roles in both RGLD and HCC disease via a protein-protein interaction (PPI) network and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analyses. Furthermore, an ingredient-target network of RGLD consisting of 216 ingredients with 306 targets was constructed, and multilevel systems pharmacology analyses indicated that RGLD could act on multiple biological processes related to the pathogenesis of HCC, such as cellular response to hypoxia and cell proliferation. Additionally, integrated pathway analysis of RGLD uncovered that RGLD might treat HCC through regulating various pathways, including MAPK signaling pathway, PI3K/Akt signaling pathway, TNF signaling pathway, and ERBB signaling pathway. Survival analysis results showed that HCC patients with low expression of VEGFA, HIF1A, CASP8, and TOP2A were related with a higher survival rate than those with high expression, indicating the potential clinical significance for HCC. Finally, molecular docking results of core ingredients and targets further proved the feasibility of RGLD in the treatment of HCC. Overall, this study indicates that RGLD may treat HCC through multiple mechanisms, which also provides a potential paradigm to investigate the MOAs of TCM prescription

Antibodies applied.

<p>Antibodies applied.</p

LPS affects the expression of tight-junction proteins.

<p>LPS affects the expression of tight-junction proteins. (<b>A</b>) qRT-PCR shows mRNA expression for ZO-1, occludin, and ve-cadherin in control and LPS treated animals (**P<0.01, *P <0.05). (<b>B</b>) Quantitative analysis of ZO-1, occludin, and ve-cadherin protein expression in control and LPS-treated groups (*P<0.05). (<b>C</b>) Western blot analysis shows significantly decreased expression of ZO-1, occludin, and ve-cadherin in the LPS-treated group. (<b>D</b>) TEM images show TJ contact points are extensive in control mice (Left, zoomed inset). The left window (zoomed inset) displays a higher magnification of the TJs between ECs. (<b>E</b>) Alterations in the TJ ultrastructure are seen in the LPS-treated mice. TJ contact points were reduced in number in response to LPS (left, inset). (<b>F</b>) qRT-PCR shows mRNA for ZO-1, occludin, and ve-cadherin in the endothelial monolayer of the control and LPS group at different time points (**P<0.01, *P<0.05). (<b>G</b>-<b>I</b>) Quantitative analysis of protein expression for ZO-1, occludin, and ve-cadherin in control and LPS-treated groups (**P<0.01). (<b>J</b>-<b>L</b>) In-cell Western blot analysis of tight junction protein expression. (<b>M</b>-<b>R</b>) Representative confocal maximum projection images show immunofluorescent labeling of tight junction protein expression, including ZO-1, occludin, and ve-cadherin, in the EC monolayer.</p

LPS treatment increases vascular leakage.

<p>LPS treatment increases vascular leakage. (<b>A</b>) Under normal conditions, the FITC-albumin is restricted to the vascular wall of the stria vascularis, and control animals show no sites of obvious leakage. <b>(B</b>) In LPS-treated animals, however, capillaries are permeable and multiple sites of vascular leakage are seen in the vessel of the stria vascularis. (<b>C</b>) Significantly more leakage of albumin-FITC is seen in LPS-treated animals than in control animals (**P<0.01). (<b>D</b>) Retention of FITC-albumin in isolated whole mounts of untreated cochlear stria vascularis is relatively low in non-LPS treated mice, and (<b>E</b>) retention in the LPS-treated mice is much stronger. (<b>F</b>) FITC-albumin fluorescence is significantly higher in the LPS-treated group than in control animals (**P<0.01). (<b>G</b>) and (<b>H</b>) The graph shows the effect of LPS on the permeability of tight junctions in an EC monolayer to FITC-dextran. Permeability was measured by determining the flux of FITC-dextran from the upper to the lower chamber of the Transwell filter. Data are expressed as means ± SD (**P<0.01).</p