Preparation supported heteropoly (acid)/polyaniline catalysts and catalytic synthesis of tributyl citrate

A series of polyaniline supported heteropoly acids were prepared through a simple method at room temperature. The obtained heterogeneous catalysts were comprehensively characterized by powder FTIR spectroscopy, UV-vis spectra, NH₃ temperature programmed desorption (TPD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The influence of various process parameters such as heteropoly loading (10 to 25 wt%), catalyst amount (3–5%), molar ratio of n-butanol to citric acid (3 to 5), and reaction time (3.5–12 h) have been investigated over heteropoly/polyaniline catalysts with the aim to maximize citric acid conversion and tributyl citrate selectivity. The different catalytic tests has shown that the catalyst exhibits high conversion and selectivity by using the as-prepared heteropoly/polyaniline catalysts for esterification under appropriate conditions. The present method of using 20% heteropoly/polyaniline catalyst for the synthesis of tributyl citrate would be environmentally benign in the reusability of catalyst.

A series of polyaniline supported heteropoly acids were prepared through a simple method at room temperature.

Porous, flexible, and core-shell structured carbon nanofibers hybridized by tin oxide nanoparticles for efficient carbon dioxide capture

HYPOTHESIS

Carbon based nanofibrous materials are considered to be promising sorbents for the CO₂ capture and storage. However, the precise control of porous structure with flexibility still remains a challenging task. In this research, we report a simple strategy to develop tin oxide (SnO₂) embedded, flexible and highly porous core-shell structured carbon nanofibers (CNFs) derived from polyacrylonitrile (PAN)/polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) core-shell nanofibers.

EXPERIMENT

PAN/PVDF core-shell solutions were electrospun using co-axial electrospinning process. The as spun PAN core, and PVDF shell, with an appropriate amount of SnO₂, fibers were stabilized followed by carbonization to develop SnO₂ embedded highly porous and flexible core-shell structured CNFs.

FINDINGS

The optimized CNFs membrane shows a prominent CO₂ capture capacity of 2.6 mmol g^-1 at room temperature, excellent CO₂ selectivity than N₂, and a remarkable cyclic stability. After 20 adsorption-desorption cycles, the CO₂ capture capacity retains >95% of the preliminary value showing the long-term stability and practical worth of the final product. The loading of SnO₂ nanoparticles in the carbon matrix not only enhanced the thermal stability of the precursor nanofibers, their surface characteristics, and porous structure to capture CO₂ molecules, but also improves the flexibility of the CNFs by serving as a plasticizer for single-fiber-crack connection. Meaningfully, the flexible SnO₂ embedded core-shell CNFs with excellent structural stability can prevail the limitations of annihilation and collapse of structures for conventional adsorbents, which makes them strongly useful and applicable. This research introduces a new route to produce highly porous and flexible materials as solid adsorbents for CO₂ capture.

An ultrathin bacterial cellulose membrane with a Voronoi-net structure for low pressure and high flux microfiltration

Developing a porous membrane to effectively remove sub-micron sized contaminants from water while maintaining a high permeate flux with energy-saving properties is of great significance but extremely challenging. Herein, we describe a feasible strategy to create a bacterial cellulose (BC) membrane with a continuous Voronoi-net structure via combining evaporation-induced self-assembly with chemical cross-linking. This presented approach allows micro-length BC nanofibers to self-assemble in the electrospun polyacrylonitrile (PAN) nanofibrous frameworks to form stable and continuous Voronoi-like nanonets, endowing the obtained membrane with small pore size, stable pore structure, high porosity, favourable interconnectivity, and ultrathin membrane thickness. By virtue of these unique structural advantages and superhydrophilicity from BC Voronoi-like nanonets, the resulting membrane exhibits integrated performances of high rejection efficiency (>99.63%) for 0.3 μm TiO2 microparticles, robust permeate flux (5541 L m-2 h-1) at a low driving pressure of 20 kPa, intriguing reusability, excellent bacterial rejection efficiency (log reduction value of 8.2), and promising antifouling function to bacteria. It is expected that the proposed strategy can provide a facile approach for the development of next-generation high performance microfiltration membranes.

Ultralight and Resilient Electrospun Fiber Sponge with a Lamellar Corrugated Microstructure for Effective Low-Frequency Sound Absorption

Low-density 3D ultrafine fiber assemblies obtained from direct electrospinning enable promising applications in sound absorption fields but are often hindered by their poor structure stability. Here, we demonstrate an electrospun ultrafine fiber sponge with a microstructure-derived reversible elasticity and high sound absorption property, which is achieved by designing a hierarchical lamellar corrugated architecture that functioned as elastic units. The obtained electrospun fiber sponge can quickly recover to the original height even under the distortion from burdens 8900 times its weight. Particularly, the material can maintain its structural stability after 100 cycles at 60% strain. Moreover, the initial hierarchical structure and hydrophobicity of the prepared materials endow them with an ultralight property (density of 6.63 mg cm^-3), superior low-frequency sound absorption, and excellent performance maintenance. The successful synthesis of these fascinating materials may provide new insights into the design of lightweight and efficient sound absorption materials.

Bioactivity Evaluation of Pinocembrin Derivatives From Penthorum chinense Pursh Stems

The extract of Penthorum chinense Pursh (PCP), a well-known Miao herb medicine, has been used as a key component for a Chinese patented drug to treat several kinds of liver-related diseases. In this work, 3 pinocembrin derivatives, S1, S2, and S3, were isolated from PCP stems and identified with high-performance liquid chromatography and electrospray ionization mass spectrometer. The molecular masses of S1, S2, and S3 were identical to Pinocembrin-7-O-[4″,6″-hexahydroxydiphenoyl (HHDP)]-β-D-glucose, Pinocembrin-7-O-[3″-O-galloyl-4″,6″-(s)-HHDP)-β-D-glucose, and Thonningianin A, respectively. Their free radical scavenging capability was evaluated with the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl assay. The half-maximal effective concentrations of S1, S2, and S3 were 26.75, 9.06, and 5.50 μg/mL, respectively. In vitro AML-12 assays demonstrated that S1 (5-20 μg/mL), S2 (10-40 μg/mL), and S3 (10-40 μg/mL) not only protected cells from H2O2-induced oxidation and alcohol-induced cell damages, but also reduced oleic acid (OA)-induced triglyceride accumulations in a dose-dependent manner. However, the 3 compounds potently exhibited similar cytotoxicity effect at high concentrations. The half-maximal inhibitory concentrations of S1, S2, and S3 to AML-12 cells were 74.19, 85.86, and 80.43 μg/mL. In addition, the 3 compounds also showed antibacterial activity on Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus faecalis, Lactobacillus rhamnosus, and Bacillus subtilis.

Characterization of the anti-Staphylococcus aureus fraction from Penthorum chinense Pursh stems

Background

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) causes serious infections in hospitals. Penthorum chinense Pursh (PCP), employed by the Miao ethnic minority in China, presents antibacterial activities. In this study, the anti-Staphylococcus aureus activities in the pinocembrin-7-O residue-rich fraction from PCP (PGF) were evaluated and characterized.

Methods

The PGF was prepared with 70% ethanol reflux extraction followed by fractional extraction and column chromatography. Pinocembrin-7-O residue components were identified with electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS). Anti-S. aureus activities of the fraction and the main components were evaluated in vitro with serially diluted microbroth assays. Cytotoxicity was evaluated with 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) chromogenic assays using the NCTC 1469 cell line.

Results

This study indicated that the PGF and three components (S1, S2, and S3) presented anti-S. aureus activities, including against clinically isolated MRSA strains. The molecular masses of S1, S2, and S3 were identical to those of pinocembrin-7-O-[4″,6″-hexahydroxydiphenoyl (HHDP)]-β-D-glucose, pinocembrin-7-O-[3″-O-galloyl-4″,6″-(s)-HHDP]-β-D-glucose, and Thonningianin A, respectively. The PGF, S1, S2, and S3 all presented an identical minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) against S. aureus ATCC 25923 and ATCC 43300, which was 62.5 μg/mL. The minimum bactericidal concentrations (MBCs) of the PGF and S3 against ATCC 25923 were 125 and 250 μg/mL, and the MBCs of the PGF, S2, and S3 against ATCC 43300 were 250, 500, and 250 μg/mL, respectively. A time-kill assay consistently indicated that none of the bacterial clones of ATCC 25923 and ATCC 43300 could survive under 2× and 4× MIC PGF treatment for 24 h, respectively. In contrast, 10⁴ CFU (colony-forming units) of ATCC 25923 and ATCC 43300 were killed by 8× and 4× MIC S3 within 24 h, respectively. Additionally, 1×, 2×, and 4× MIC the PGF presented similar postantibiotic effects (PAEs) on the strain ATCC 25923. However, the PAE of the PGF on the strain ATCC 43300 was concentration dependent (1× < 2× < 4× MIC). Finally, the PGF (200 μg/mL) and S3 (60 μg/mL) showed no cytotoxicity against human hepatoma cells.

Conclusions

The PGF and S3 from PCP present potential for the treatment of S. aureus and MRSA infections. The components S1 and S2 present inhibition activities against S. aureus.

Hierarchical Cellular Structured Ceramic Nanofibrous Aerogels with Temperature-Invariant Superelasticity for Thermal Insulation

Silica aerogels are attractive for thermal insulation due to their low thermal conductivity and good heat resistance performance. However, the fabrication of silica aerogels with temperature-invariant superelasticity and ultralow thermal conductivity has remained extremely challenging. Herein, we designed and synthesized a hierarchical cellular structured silica nanofibrous aerogel by using electrospun SiO₂ nanofibers (SNFs) and SiO₂ nanoparticle aerogels (SNAs) as the matrix and SiO₂ sol as the high-temperature nanoglue. This pathway leads to the intrinsically random deposited SNFs assembling into a fibrous cellular structure, and the SNAs are evenly distributed on the fibrous cell wall. The unique hierarchical cellular structure of the ceramic nanofibrous aerogels endows it with integrated performances of the ultralow density of ∼0.2 mg cm^-3, negative Poisson's ratio, ultralow thermal conductivity (23.27 mW m^-1 K^-1), temperature-invariant superelasticity from -196 to 1100 °C, and editable shapes on a large scale. These favorable multifeatures present the aerogels ideal for thermal insulation in industrial, aerospace, and even extreme environmental conditions.

Hepatic SIRT3 Upregulation in Response to Chronic Alcohol Consumption Contributes to Alcoholic Liver Disease in Mice

Background

Alcoholic liver disease (ALD) is a type of chronic liver disease caused by chronic ethanol overconsumption. The pathogenesis of ALD is complex and there is no effective clinical treatment thus far. SIRT3 is an NAD⁺-dependent deacetylase primarily located inside mitochondria, and reports on the effect of chronic alcohol exposure on liver SIRT3 expression are scarce. This study aims to investigate the effect of chronic alcohol consumption on hepatic SIRT3 expression and its role in alcoholic-induced liver injury.

Methods

Using the Lieber-DeCarli mouse model of ALD, we analyzed the regulation of SIRT3 and the effect of liver-specific knocking-down of SIRT3 on alcohol-induced liver injury. HepG2 and AML12 hepatocytes were employed to detect the biological function of SIRT3 on alcohol-induced hepatic cytotoxicity and its potential mechanism.

Results

Chronic alcohol exposure led to hepatic SIRT3 upregulation and liver-specific SIRT3 knockdown alleviated alcoholic feeding-induced liver injury and lipid accumulation, which is associated with improved autophagy induction. In addition, autophagy induction contributed to the cytoprotective effect of SIRT3 knockdown on ethanol-induced hepatocyte cell death.

Conclusion

In summary, our data suggest that hepatic SIRT3 upregulation in response to chronic alcohol exposure and liver-specific SIRT3 knockdown, induced autophagy activation further alleviating alcoholic-induced liver injury, which represents a novel mechanism in this process.

Highly flexible, mesoporous structured, and metallic Cu-doped C/SiO2 nanofibrous membranes for efficient catalytic oxidative elimination of antibiotic pollutants

The development of inorganic membranous catalysts with both large mesopores and superb flexibility is extremely favorable for the enhancement of their catalytic oxidation activity for the degradation of antibiotic pollutants in wastewater via sulfate radical-based advanced oxidation processes; however, there still exists a huge challenge for inorganic materials to simultaneously realize these two properties. Herein, metallic copper-doped carbon/silica nanofibrous membranes (Cu@C/SiO2 NFMs) with large mesopores, superb flexibility, and robust mechanical strength were fabricated through a sol-gel electrospinning and subsequent in situ carbonization reduction method. The synthesized Cu nanoparticles were homogeneously distributed throughout the mesoporous C/SiO2 nanofiber matrix, which enabled the resultant Cu@C/SiO2 NFMs to be applied as heterogeneous catalysts, and their catalytic performance was systematically assessed through activating persulfate for the elimination of tetracycline hydrochloride (TCH) in water. The fabricated Cu@C/SiO2 NFMs provided outstanding catalytic performance towards TCH with a high removal efficiency of 95% in 40 min and a rapid removal speed of 0.054 min-1. Moreover, the membranes could be facilely recycled through being directly separated from water without any post-processing. Such a facile strategy for preparing mesoporous and flexible metal-doped inorganic nanofibrous membranes may offer novel insights for designing new types of heterogeneous catalysts for antibiotic-containing wastewater treatment or other potential applications.

[Comparison of contents of three active ingredients in Bletilla striata from different sources]

In order to understand the difference of contents of coelonin,batatasin Ⅲ and 3'-O-methylbatatasin Ⅲ in 60 different sources of Bletilla striata planted under the same conditions. UPLC method was used and the analysis was performed on a Waters ACQUITY UPLC BEH C18 column( 2. 1 mm×100 mm,1. 7 μm),eluted with acetonitril-0. 1% formic acid solution by gradient. The flow rate was 0. 208 m L·min-1,the detection wavelength was 270 nm,the column temperature was 35 ℃ and the injection volume was 4μL. Under the above chromatographic conditions,the three components can be separated well with good linearity in the range of 0. 156-5. 000 mg·L-1. The average contents of coelonin,batatasin Ⅲ and 3'-O-methylbatatasin Ⅲ were( 0. 116 ± 0. 071) %,( 0. 386 ±0. 185) % and( 0. 086±0. 034) %,respectively. After planting for two years under the same conditions,there was no significant difference in chemical composition among different sources and varieties,but the contents of the three components had some regional differences,which indicated that the western region was higher than the eastern region,while the contents of coelonin and batatasin Ⅲ in B.sinensis were slightly higher than those in B. striata. The chromatographic method above is simple,stable and reproducible,and can be used for quantitative analysis of three components. The content analysis of different sources of B. striata can provide reference for future B. striata breeding and quality control.

Designing an "Off-On" Fluorescence Sensor Based on Cluster-Based CaII-Metal-Organic Frameworks for Detection of l-Cysteine in Biological Fluids

Recently, luminescent metal-organic framework (MOF) materials have attracted considerable attention in fluorescence sensing. In this essay, we prepared a new cluster-based Ca^II-MOFs {[Ca_1.5(μ₈-HL₁)(DMF)₂]·DMF}_n (1) with good water dispersibility, excellent photoluminescence properties (FL quantum yield of 20.37%) and great fluorescence stability. Further, it was employed to design as an "off-on" fluorescence sensor for sensitive detection of l-cysteine. This proposed strategy was that fluorescence of Ca^II-MOFs 1 was quenched for providing a low fluorescence background by the introduction of Pb²⁺ forming the Ca^II-MOFs 1/Pb²⁺ hybrid system. The quenching effect could be ascribed to the static quenching mechanism because of the formation of ground-state complexes and coordination interactions between the free carboxyl of H₄L₁ ligands of Ca^II-MOFs 1 and Pb²⁺. Then, with the addition of l-cysteine into the Ca^II-MOFs 1/Pb²⁺ hybrid system, the fluorescence signal was immediately restored. This result was because the Pb²⁺ was gradually released from the hybrid system by chelation interactions between the -SH groups of l-cysteine and Pb²⁺. This method received a relative wide linear range varying from 0.05 to 40 μM and a low detection limit of 15 nM for detection of l-cysteine. This proposed strategy was also successfully applied to detect l-cysteine in human serum samples with satisfactory recoveries from 95.9 to 101.5%.

Tests of General Relativity with GW170817

The recent discovery by Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo of a gravitational wave signal from a binary neutron star inspiral has enabled tests of general relativity (GR) with this new type of source. This source, for the first time, permits tests of strong-field dynamics of compact binaries in the presence of matter. In this Letter, we place constraints on the dipole radiation and possible deviations from GR in the post-Newtonian coefficients that govern the inspiral regime. Bounds on modified dispersion of gravitational waves are obtained; in combination with information from the observed electromagnetic counterpart we can also constrain effects due to large extra dimensions. Finally, the polarization content of the gravitational wave signal is studied. The results of all tests performed here show good agreement with GR.

Molecular dynamics simulation of β-adrenoceptors and their coupled G proteins

OBJECTIVE

G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) constitute the largest membrane proteins superfamily. However, the interactions between them and the coupled heterotrimeric G proteins were little known. To get a deeper view of how the receptor bound to the G protein, we carried out the molecular dynamics' simulations of human Beta2 adrenoceptors (β1 and β2) and G protein (s and I) alpha subunit complexes by homology modeling.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

For homology modeling, the program modeller 9.11 was used with automodel module. Before dynamics simulation, the homology models were prepared by Protein Preparation Wizard module in Maestro 9.3. The Desmond program was used to perform molecular minimization and molecular dynamics simulation under OPLS-All atom 2005 force field with default parameters.

RESULTS

The results offered us the mechanism vividly in molecular level: (1) GPCR-G protein complex can be simulated without specific nanobody; (2) the G protein activation ability of GPCR can be explained by molecular dynamics simulation.

CONCLUSIONS

It is suggested that we could do molecular dynamics simulation of complex of GPCR-G protein without bound nanobody. Secondly, the simulation time reduced greatly by using homology modeling to generate complex of proteins. Thirdly, the molecular dynamics simulation will help us to know or even predict further protein-protein interactions.

[Investigation on the health status of workers exposed to dimethylformamid]

Objective: By analyzing the examination results of physical examination of workers exposed to DMF among 32 factories in some areas of a province, to investigate the working years of dimethylformamide (DMF) poisoning and the impact on the health status of exposed workers, and to explore the targeted intervention strategies. Methods: From February to May 2018, 2, 457 workers exposed to DMF in some areas of Jiangsu Province were selected as survey targets. Cross-sectional survey was conducted to investigate the health status of workers exposed to health, And the health surveillance data, detection data of occupational disease risk factors in the workplace were collected and analyzed, respectively. Results: The positive rate of abnormal liver function and B-ultrasound of males exposed to DMF was significantly higher than that of females. The abnormal rates of liver function, blood pressure and B-ultrasound in workers aged between 60 and 69 were higher in contrast to those in any other age groups. And the differences was statistically significant. In particular, the highest rate of abnormal blood pressure was found in workers exposed 21-30 years (39.2%) , the highest rate of abnormal liver function was found in workers exposed 11-20 years (44.3%) , and the highest rate of abnormal B-ultrasound was found in workers exposed 0-10 years (60.4%) . Conclusion: Long-term exposure to dimethylformamide can affect workers' liver function and blood pressure. Specifically, with the increase of contact age, the degree of chronic damage to liver, cardiovascular and other organs also increases.

Self-Assembled Porous-Silica within N-Doped Carbon Nanofibers as Ultra-flexible Anodes for Soft Lithium Batteries

Silica is an attractive anode material for soft lithium batteries owing to its high specific capacity, but it suffers severe problems of large volume change and unstable solid-electrolyte interface. Moreover, it is a challenge to fabricate flexible silica anodes. Here, we report a low-cost and scalable strategy to create flexible anodes of N-doped carbon nanofiber-confined porous silica (p-SiO₂@N-CNF) by developing a sol-gel electrospinning process followed by carbonization. This approach causes the p-SiO₂ nanoparticles (NPs) to be self-assembled within the N-CNFs, which act like elastomer and electrolyte barrier to accommodate volume changes and to enhance the stability of SiO₂, whereas the NPs act as soft plasticizer providing strength to the CNF skeletons. Benefiting from the hierarchical structures, the anodes with high p-SiO₂ loadings (>1.6 mg/cm²) exhibit exceptional cycling performance (>1,000 cycles) in terms of bending, current rate, and capacity. Moreover, the batteries remain stable when discharging at 0.5 C and charging at 2 C.

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A scalable method is developed for the fabrication of flexible silica anodes

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The flexible mechanisms of carbon nanofiber and silica films are illustrated

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High-silica-loading anodes exhibit long cycle stability and high rate capability

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Soft silica anodes show appealing properties for soft batteries

Rechargeable polyamide-based N-halamine nanofibrous membranes for renewable, high-efficiency, and antibacterial respirators

Emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) have been acknowledged as a major public health concern worldwide. Unfortunately, most protective respirators used to prevent EID transmission suffer from the disadvantage of lacking antimicrobial activity, leading to an increased risk of cross-contamination and post-infection. Herein, we report a novel and facile strategy to fabricate rechargeable and biocidal air filtration materials by creating advanced N-halamine structures based on electrospun polyamide (PA) nanofibers. Our approach can endow the resultant nanofibrous membranes with powerful biocidal activity (6 log CFU reduction against E. coli), an ultrahigh fine particle capture efficiency of 99.999% (N100 level for masks), and can allow the antibacterial efficacy and air filtration performance to be renewed in a one-step chlorination process, which has never been reported before. More importantly, for the first time, we revealed the synergistic effect involving the intrinsic structure of polymers and the assembling structure of nanofibers on the chlorination capacity. The successful fabrication of such a fascinating membrane can provide new insights into the development of nanofibrous materials in a multifunctional, durable, and renewable form.

Polymer Template Synthesis of Soft, Light, and Robust Oxide Ceramic Films

Oxide ceramic materials underpin a wide variety of technologies. However, the inherent fragility of these materials limits their use in emerging fields like wearable electronics and soft energy storage devices. Here, we develop a sol-gel electrospinning technique followed by calcination to create a range of oxide ceramic nanofiber films that exhibit significant softness without fragility after various deformations. This approach causes the ceramic crystals to fuse together at a low temperature during their growth within the polymer nanofiber templates. All the synthesized ceramic films, from SiO₂ to BaTiO₃, Li_0.33La_0.56TiO₃, and Li₇La₃Zr₂O₁₂, have silk-like softness of <31 mN, low density of <0.36 g/cm³ and robust fire resistance to 1,000°C. Fabricated separators based on these films display large electrolyte uptakes of >900% and high thermal insulation performance, enhancing the rate capability and safety of lithium batteries. The reported method allows scalable synthesis of soft oxide ceramic films with properties appealing for applications.

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A scalable method is developed for the fabrication of soft oxide ceramic films

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A wide variety of soft, light, and robust oxide ceramic films are fabricated

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A detailed soft deformation mechanism of the ceramic films is illustrated

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The soft ceramic films exhibit appealing properties for applications

Prominence of Pairing in Inclusive (p,2p) and (p,pn) Cross Sections from Neutron-Rich Nuclei

Fifty-five inclusive single nucleon-removal cross sections from medium mass neutron-rich nuclei impinging on a hydrogen target at ∼250  MeV/nucleon are measured at the RIKEN Radioactive Isotope Beam Factory. Systematically higher cross sections are found for proton removal from nuclei with an even number of protons as compared to odd-proton number projectiles for a given neutron separation energy. Neutron removal cross sections display no even-odd splitting, contrary to nuclear cascade model predictions. Both effects are understood through simple considerations of neutron separation energies and bound state level densities originating in pairing correlations in the daughter nuclei. These conclusions are supported by comparison with semimicroscopic model predictions, highlighting the enhanced role of low-lying level densities in nucleon-removal cross sections from loosely bound nuclei.

Organophosphorus Flame Retardants Impair Intracellular Lipid Metabolic Function in Human Hepatocellular Cells

Organophosphorus flame retardants (OPFRs), a replacement for brominated flame retardants, have gradually been accepted as endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs). Recently, evidence has shown that these EDCs could cause chronic health problems, such as obesity, and referred to as metabolic disruptors. However, the disturbance to lipid metabolism caused by OPFRs remains poorly understood, especially at biological molecular levels. Herein, we used the human hepatocellular cells (HepG2) to study the lipid metabolism disruption caused by nine OPFRs (halogenated-, aryl-, and alkyl-containing). All the tested OPFRs, excluding the long carbon chain alkyl-OPFRs, could cause intracellular triglyceride (TG) and/or total cholesterol (TC) accumulation. In detail, aryl-OPFRs (TPhP and TCP) induced both TC and TG deposition. Halogenated-OPFRs (TCEP, TBPP, TDCPP, and TCPP) induced intracellular TG accumulation, and only TDCPP also induced TC accumulation. Furthermore, TPhP induced lipid accumulation through regulation genes encoding proteins involved in fatty acid β-oxidation, lipid, and fatty acid synthesis. All the halogenated-OPFRs cause TG accumulation only, enacted through β-oxidation rather than lipid synthesis. TPhP and TDCPP induced TC accumulation through both PPARγ and srebp2 signaling. Mitochondrial dysfunction including decreased oxygen consumption rate and ATP content may also contribute to lipid metabolic disruption by the tested OPFRs. Our data indicated that halogenated- and aryl-OPFRs may not be safe candidates, and further information should be made available as potential for, as well as the mechanism of, metabolic disruption. And long carbon chain alkyl-OPFRs may be safer than the other two groups.

Direct electronetting of high-performance membranes based on self-assembled 2D nanoarchitectured networks

There is an increasing demand worldwide on advanced two-dimensional (2D) nanofibrous networks with applications ranging from environmental protection and electrical devices to bioengineering. Design of such nanoarchitectured materials has been considered a long-standing challenge. Herein, we report a direct electronetting technology for the fabrication of self-assembled 2D nanoarchitectured networks (nano-nets) from various materials. Tailoring of the precursor solution and of the microelectric field allows charged droplets, which are ejected from a Taylor cone, to levitate, deform and phase separate before they self-assemble a 2D nanofibre network architecture. The fabricated nano-nets show mechanical robustness and benefit from nanostructural properties such as enhanced surface wettability, high transparency, separation and improved air filtration properties. Calcination of the nano-nets results in the formation of carbon nano-nets with electric conductivity and titanium dioxide nano-nets with bioprotective properties.

Biomimetic Fibrous Murray Membranes with Ultrafast Water Transport and Evaporation for Smart Moisture-Wicking Fabrics

Both antigravity directional water transport and ultrafast evaporation are critical to achieving a high-performance moisture-wicking fabric. The transpiration in vascular plants possess both of these features, which is due to their optimized hierarchical structure composed of multibranching porous networks following Murray's law. However, it remains a great challenge to simultaneously realize the ultrafast water transport and evaporation by mimicking nature's Murray networks in the synthetic materials. Here, we report a synergistic assembly strategy to create a biomimetic micro- and nanofibrous membrane with antigravity directional water transport and quick-dry performance by combining a multibranching porous structure and surface energy gradient, overcoming previous limitations. The resulting fiber-based porous Murray membranes exhibit an ultrahigh one-way transport capability ( R) of 1245%, a desired overall moisture management capability (OMMC) of 0.94, and an outstanding water evaporation rate of 0.67 g h^-1 (5.8 and 2.1 times higher than the cotton fabric and Coolmax fabric, respectively). Overall, the successful synthesis of these biomimetic porous Murray membranes should serve as a source of inspiration for the development of moisture-wicking technologies, providing personal comfort in hot or humid environments.