Research on carbon and nitrogen removal of tetramethylammonium hydroxide containing wastewater by combined anaerobic/integrated fixed film activated sludge process.

Tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH) is widely used as a developer and etchant in the thin-film transistor liquid crystal display industry, which is the main component of developer wastewater with low C/N ratio. This study investigated TMAH degradation by combined anaerobic/integrated fixed film activated sludge (A/IFAS) process, especially for nitrogen removal. Effects of process condition on the TMAH degradation were studied, including dissolved oxygen concentration in IFAS reactor and the temperature of anaerobic reactor. Especially, the nitrogen removal was studied through the monitoring of intermediate products during TMAH biodegradation. The results indicated that lower the anaerobic treatment temperature can provide more available organic matters to enhance the denitrification in the subsequent IFAS reactor. Less oxygen supply in the IFAS reactor contributed to simultaneous nitrification and denitrification. Removal efficiency of total organic carbon and total nitrogen was up to 95.8% and 80.7%, when the temperature of anaerobic treatment was controlled at 30 °C with the DO kept at 0.7 mg/L. It indicated that A/IFAS process was efficient in carbon and nitrogen removal for TMAH degradation. The results also confirmed intermediate products of TMAH biodegradation can be used as the electron donor during denitrification, including trimethylamine, dimethylamine and methylamine. Illumina MiSeq sequencing showed that Proteobacteria was the dominant phylum contribute to nitrogen removal. Compared to sludge flocs in IFAS reactor, richer community and higher microbial diversity were observed in the biofilm.

MMBERT: a unified framework for biomedical named entity recognition.

Named entity recognition (NER) is an important task in natural language processing (NLP). In recent years, NER has attracted much attention in the biomedical field. However, due to the lack of biomedical named entity identification datasets, the complexity and rarity of biomedical named entities and so on, biomedical NER is more difficult than general domain NER. So in this paper, we propose a framework (MMBERT) based on Transformer to solve the problems above. To address the scarcity of biomedical named entity recognition datasets, we introduce ERNIE-Health, a new Chinese language representation model pre-trained on large-scale biomedical text corpora. Because of the complexity and rarity of biomedical named entities, we use the Bert and CW-LSTM structures to get the joint feature vector of word pairs relations. In addition, we design multi-granularity 2D convolution to refine the relationship and representation between word pairs. Finally, we design a convolutional neural network (CNN) structure and a co-predictor to improve the model's generalization capability and prediction accuracy. We have conducted extensive experiments on three benchmark datasets, and the experimental results show that our model achieves the best results compared with several baseline models in the experiment.

New oxide structures clearing up the origin of two-dimensional electron gas in AlGaN/GaN heterostructures.

Control over the two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) in AlGaN/GaN heterostructures is crucial for their practical applications in current semiconducting devices. However, the oxide surface structures inducing 2DEG are still ambiguous because oxide-stoichiometry (OS) matching structures possess occupied surface donor states at 1.0-1.8 eV below the conduction band minimum of bulk but are usually not available in energy than electron counting (EC) rule structures. In this work, a global optimization algorithm was introduced to explore the possible oxidation structures on GaN (0001) and AlN (0001) surfaces; the method was demonstrated to be available due to the fact that the reported oxidized structures were reproduced at each stoichiometry. Interestingly, the two similar oxide structures with close energy were found in each oxide-bilayer, which can be used to clarify the experimental observations of disordered surface oxide layers below 550 °C. Additionally, new stable oxidation structures with low surface energy were proposed. Interestingly, the new OS matching structures are proposed with remarkably lower energy than EC rule structures under cation-rich and oxygen-poor conditions, which is caused by the large formation enthalpy of Al2O3 and Ga2O3. Further electronic structure calculations demonstrate that the new OS structures possess highest occupied states above the half of the gap and are the origin of 2DEG in AlGaN/GaN heterostructures.

NMDA Receptor-Dependent Synaptic Potentiation via APPL1 Signaling Is Required for the Accessibility of a Prefrontal Neuronal Assembly in Retrieving Fear Extinction.

BACKGROUND: The ventromedial prefrontal cortex has been viewed as a locus for storage and recall of extinction memory. However, the synaptic and cellular mechanisms underlying these processes remain elusive. METHODS: We combined transgenic mice, electrophysiological recording, activity-dependent cell labeling, and chemogenetic manipulation to analyze the role of adaptor protein APPL1 in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex in fear extinction retrieval. RESULTS: We found that both constitutive and conditional APPL1 knockout decreased NMDA receptor (NMDAR) function in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and impaired fear extinction retrieval. Moreover, APPL1 undergoes nuclear translocation during extinction retrieval. Blocking APPL1 nucleocytoplasmic translocation reduced NMDAR currents and disrupted extinction retrieval. We also identified a prefrontal neuronal ensemble that is both necessary and sufficient for the storage of extinction memory. Inducible APPL1 knockout in this ensemble abolished NMDAR-dependent synaptic potentiation and disrupted extinction retrieval, while chemogenetic activation of this ensemble simultaneously rescued the impaired behaviors. CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicate that a prefrontal neuronal ensemble stores extinction memory, and APPL1 signaling supports these neurons in retrieving extinction memory by controlling NMDAR-dependent potentiation.

Extension of a fifth-order intrinsic aberration for a soft x-ray and vacuum ultraviolet optical system from a one- to two-dimension field light source.

Based on the fifth-order intrinsic aberration of a soft x-ray and vacuum ultraviolet (XUV) optical system with a one-dimension field light source, it is extended to the case of two-dimension in this paper, and the corresponding aberration calculation method is studied. Firstly, we derived sixth-order intrinsic wave aberration expressions of these kinds of optical systems with the aperture-ray coordinates on the reference exit wavefront; and then, derived the calculation expressions for fifth-order intrinsic aberration on the image plane caused by the contributions of wave aberration and defocus, respectively. Finally, the aberration expressions derived in this paper are applied to calculate the aberration distributions of two design examples of these kinds of optical systems, and these calculation results are compared with the ray-tracing program Shadow to validate the aberration expressions. The study shows that the calculation accuracy of aberration expressions is very satisfactory.

Tractable Method for Rapid Quality Assessment of Therapeutic Antibodies in Harvested Cell Culture Fluid based on FcγRIIIa-Immobilized Magnetic Microspheres.

FcγRIIIa-binding affinity is one of the key factors to ensure the efficacy of many antitumor therapeutic antibodies, which should be monitored along with the titer, protein aggregation, and other critical quality attributes. The conventional workflow for the quality assessment of therapeutic antibodies in harvested cell culture fluid (HCCF) is time-consuming and costly nevertheless. In this study, a tractable method was established for rapid quality assessment of a HCCF sample through differentially extracting IgG with different FcγRIIIa affinity levels using FcγRIIIa-immobilized magnetic microspheres, followed by size exclusion chromatography (SEC) to determine the amount and monomer percentage of IgGs in the preceding eluate. FcγRIIIa-immobilized magnetic microspheres with polydopamine (PDA) and hydrophilic dendrimer (PAMAM) coating (denoted as Fe3O4@PDA@PAMAM-FcγRIIIa) were synthesized for the first time as magnetic adsorbents. The PDA cladding endowed the composites with good chemical stability in acidic elution buffer, and the PAMAM dendrimer empowered the composites of high ligand immobilization capacity and hydrophilic surface. The labile FcγRIIIa was immobilized under mild conditions. By directly applying a simple magnetic solid phase extraction procedure to treat HCCF, favored IgG species with high FcγRIIIa affinity would be selectively captured by Fe3O4@PDA@PAMAM-FcγRIIIa composites for subsequent SEC analysis. The monomer peak area value in SEC, which was set as the read-out of the proposed method, correlated directly with the theoretical overall quality of standard-spiked HCCF samples.

Magnetic covalent-organic frameworks-based extraction followed by UHPLC-MS/MS for determination and pharmacokinetic study of trace angoroside C in rat plasma after oral administration of Xuanbo Shuangsheng Granule.

The composition of the traditional Chinese medicine compound preparation is complex, while the content of each active ingredient is extremely low, which brings difficulties to the plasma concentration detection. In this study, the magnetic covalent-organic frameworks were synthesized by a simple one-step Schiff base reaction and applied for the specific extraction of trace angoroside C in rat plasma prior to ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry detection. The synthesized magnetic covalent-organic frameworks have high magnetic responsiveness (35.67 emu·g-1 ), large surface area (110.9 m2 ·g-1 ), and strong stability. The as-prepared material can quickly extract angoroside C from plasma with high extraction efficiency, be easily separated with a magnet afterward, and can be reused for at least five times. The established method was systematically validated showing good linearity (0.1-5 ng·ml-1 ), low limit of quantification (0.1 ng·ml-1 ), good accuracy (93.18-105.36%), and good precision (percentage relative standard deviation 3.60-10.90%). Finally, the method was used to the pharmacokinetic study of trace angoroside C in rats after oral administration of Xuanbo Shuangsheng Granule.

Interactions between Human Serum Albumin and Sulfadimethoxine Determined Using Spectroscopy and Molecular Docking.

Sulfonamides are widely used antibiotics in agricultural production. However, the potential threat of these drugs to human health has increased global concern. Human serum albumin (HSA) is the main reservoir and transporter of exogenous small molecules in humans. In this study, the interaction between sulfadimethoxine (SMT) and human serum albumin (HSA) was studied using spectroscopy and computer simulation. Our results showed that the hydrogen bonding and van der Waals forces drove SMT to enter the binding site I of HSA spontaneously and resulted in the fluorescence quenching of HSA. The stability of the HSA-SMT complex decreased with an increase in temperature. The binding of SMT to HSA induced alterations in the secondary structure of HSA, where the content of α-helix decreased from 61.0% of the free state to 59.0% of the compound state. The π-π, π-σ, and π-alkyl interactions between HSA and SMT were found to play important roles in maintaining the stability of the complex.

Fifth-order aberration for soft x-ray and vacuum ultraviolet multi-element optical systems.

Based on the recently developed fifth-order intrinsic aberration of a soft x-ray and vacuum ultraviolet single-element optical system, this paper proposes a fifth-order aberration (including intrinsic aberration and extrinsic aberration) calculation method for this kind of optical system with multiple elements. First, the fifth-order intrinsic aberration expressions of soft x-ray and vacuum ultraviolet multi-element optical systems are studied; second, the extrinsic aberration calculation method of this kind of optical system is discussed, and corresponding calculation expressions are derived; third, to improve aberration calculation accuracy, the modification of aberration expressions due to the transfer relationship of aperture-ray coordinates with second-order accuracy on the reference exit wavefront between adjacent optical elements is obtained. Finally, the resultant aberration expressions are applied to calculate the aberration of two design examples of soft x-ray and vacuum ultraviolet double-element optical systems with large apertures, and their images are compared with ray-tracing results using Shadow software to validate the aberration expressions. The study shows that the accuracy of the aberration expressions derived in this paper is satisfactory.

Core-shell structured magnetic covalent-organic frameworks for rapid extraction and preconcentration of okadaic acid in seawater and shellfish followed with LC-MS/MS quantification.

Core-shell structured magnetic covalent-organic frameworks (Fe3O4@TaTp) were facilely synthesized based on one-step functionalization at room temperature and applied for magnetic solid-phase extraction of okadaic acid from seawater and shellfish prior to LC-MS/MS detection. Parameters, including adsorbent amount, extraction time, desorption solution, and desorption time which could affect the extraction efficiency, were respectively investigated. The developed methods demonstrated good linearity (R2 > 0.99), acceptable accuracy and good precision (<15%), and low limit of detection (0.5 pg·mL-1 for seawater and 0.04 µg·kg-1 for shellfish). The amount of the material used (1 mg for seawater and 5 mg for shellfish) and the time required (4 min for seawater and 15 min for shellfish) for extracting analyte from 5 mL of seawater and 2 g of shellfish are both greatly shortened compared with the previous reports. In addition, we successfully applied this method to real sample analysis.

Two-Dimensional Organic Supramolecule via Hydrogen Bonding and π-π Stacking for Ultrahigh Capacity and Long-Life Aqueous Zinc-Organic Batteries.

Aqueous zinc-ion batteries (ZIBs) are promising for next-generation energy storage. However, the reported electrode materials for ZIBs are facing shortcomings including low capacity and unsatisfactory cycling stability etc. Herein, hexaazatrinaphthalene-quione (HATNQ) is reported for aqueous ZIBs. The HATNQ electrodes delivered an ultrahigh capacity (482.5 mAh g-1 at 0.2 A g-1 ) and outstanding cyclability of >10 000 cycles at 5 A g-1 . The capacity sets a new record for organic cathodes in aqueous ZIBs. The high performances are ascribed to the rich C=O and C=N groups that endowed HATNQ with a 2D layered supramolecular structure by multiple hydrogen bonds in plane with π-π interactions out-of-plane, leading to enhanced charge transfer, insolubility, and rapid ion transport for fast-charge and -discharge batteries. Moreover, the 2D supramolecular structure boosted the storage of Zn2+ /H+ , particularly the storage of Zn2+ , due to the more favorable O⋅⋅⋅Zn⋅⋅⋅N coordination in HATNQ.

Fifth-order intrinsic aberration calculation method for soft x-ray and vacuum ultraviolet optical systems.

In this paper, we propose the fifth-order intrinsic aberration calculation method for soft x-ray and vacuum ultraviolet optical systems. First, the sixth-order intrinsic wave aberrations with the aperture-ray coordinates on the optical surface are derived based on the wave aberration method, and then applying the sixth-order mapping relationship of aperture-ray coordinates between the optical surface and the reference exit wavefront, the expressions with those on the reference exit wavefront can be obtained. Second, we derived the calculation expression for the fifth-order intrinsic aberration on the image plane. Finally, the fifth-order intrinsic aberration calculation expressions of the soft x-ray and vacuum ultraviolet optical system derived in this paper are applied to calculate the aberration distribution on the image plane of two design examples of this kind of optical system, and the calculation results are compared with the ray-tracing ones with Shadow software to validate the aberration expressions. The study shows that the accuracy of the aberration expressions is satisfactory.

Intraperitoneal injection of lithium chloride induces lateralized activation of the insular cortex in adult mice.

Insular cortex is a critical brain region that participates in the interoceptive sensations. Here, we combined the iDISCO + method and Fos immunostaining to confirm that the middle part of the right-side, but not the left-side, insular cortex in adult male mice is activated by intraperitoneal injection of lithium chloride. Lateralized activation of the insular cortex is also observed in adult female mice, but not in young or aged male mice. Furthermore, asymmetrical activation of the insular cortex was completely blocked when both sides of the vagal nerve are transected, whereas intravenous injection of lithium chloride has no effect on the insular activation. Combined together, these results indicate that the insular cortex unilaterally responds to aversive visceral stimuli in an age-dependent way and this process depends on the vagal afferent pathways.

Effects of a Quality Improvement Program to Reduce Central Venous Catheter-Related Infections in Hemodialysis Patients.

BACKGROUND: Central catheter infections are of concern in patients on hemodialysis because of the high risk of catheter-related bloodstream infections, sepsis, and death. Adequate nursing is critical for the prevention of such infections. This study aimed to use the PDCA (plan-do-check-act) method to reduce the incidence of central venous catheter infection using management in the maintenance of central venous catheter in patients on hemodialysis, compared with routine care. METHODS: This pilot study recruited patients on hemodialysis via central venous catheterization at the Blood Purification Center of Ruijin Hospital between November 2017 and November 2018. The patients were randomized to the routine and PDCA groups. All participants received routine nursing. The PDCA group received central venous catheter management by PDCA. The incidence of central venous catheterization-related infections, nursing satisfaction, and quality of life were compared between the two groups. RESULTS: A total of 122 participants were enrolled in each group. The incidence of central catheter-related bloodstream infection, as the primary outcome, was 0.8 and 8.8 cases per 1000 catheter days in the PDCA and routine groups, respectively (P < 0.001). In addition, as the secondary outcomes, the scores of nursing satisfaction (health guidance, nursing technology, and therapeutic effects) score and quality of life (physiological, psychological, social, and environmental status) were better in the PDCA group than in the routine group (all P < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: This pilot study suggests that the PDCA cycle model can effectively reduce the incidence of central venous catheter-related infections and improve satisfaction and quality of life in patients on hemodialysis.

The effect of Xiaobi decoction on minimal erythema dose of irradiation with 308 nm excimer lamp in guinea pigs.

BACKGROUND: Psoriasis is a chronic autoimmune-mediated inflammatory skin disease. The main clinical manifestation of this complex condition is scaly erythema. Excimer 308-nm light can be used to selectively and safely treat skin lesions. In clinical practice, the combination of Xiaobi decoction combined with 308-nm excimer light therapy has been found to have a beneficial effect on advanced psoriasis vulgaris. However, the effect of Xiaobi decoction on light sensitivity in psoriasis patients has not been explored. Therefore, this study aimed to observe the effect of Xiaobi decoction on the minimal erythema dose (MED) value in guinea pigs. METHODS: Eighty guinea pigs were divided into a Xiaobi decoction group and a control group according to the serial number: guinea pigs with odd numbers were assigned into the Xiaobi decoction group, and those with even numbers were assigned into the control group. The Xiaobi decoction group was administrated Xiaobi decoction by gastric lavage, while the control group was given distilled water by gastric lavage. The back skin of the guinea pigs in the two groups was irradiated with a 308-nm excimer lamp before gavaging, and after 10, 20, and 30 days of gavaging. The MED values 24 hours after irradiation were recorded. RESULTS: The average MED in the Xiaobi decoction group was (800±126.5) mJ/cm2, compared with (780±107.7) mJ/cm2 in the control group, and the difference was not significant (P>0.05). After 10 days, 20 days, and 30 days of gavaging, the MED values of the guinea pigs in the Xiaobi decoction group were significantly lower than those of the control group (P<0.05). Blood tests showed that the levels of vascular endothelial growth factor (164.5±25.7 vs. 145.3±27.4, P=0.002) and interleukin-23 (1.8±0.7 vs. 1.5±0.5, P=0.030) were significantly lower in the Xiaobi decoction group than in the control group. CONCLUSIONS: Xiaobi decoction can reduce the MED value of guinea pigs, and increase the sensitivity of skin lesions to 308-nm excimer light and the amount of light absorbed by skin lesions. These results may represent the mechanisms of action of Xiaobi decoction in the treatment of psoriasis.

Third-order aberration of soft X-ray optical systems with orthogonal and coplanar arrangement of the main planes of elements.

A third-order aberration analytical analysis method of soft X-ray optical systems with orthogonal and coplanar arrangement of the main planes of elements is proposed. Firstly, the transfer equations of the aperture ray and the principle ray are derived; then, based on the third-order aberration theory with the aperture-ray coordinates on the reference exit wavefront of a plane-symmetric optical system, the aberration expressions contributed by the wave aberration and defocus of this kind of optical system are studied in detail. Finally, the derived aberration calculation expressions are applied to calculate the aberration of two design examples of such types of optical systems; the images are compared with ray-tracing results obtained using the Shadow software to validate the aberration expressions. The study shows that the accuracy of the aberration expressions is satisfactory. The analytical analysis method of aberration is helpful in the design and optimization of the soft X-ray optical systems with orthogonal and coplanar arrangement of the main planes of optical elements.

Laser-Induced Wettability Gradient Surface of the Aluminum Matrix Used for Directional Transportation and Collection of Underwater Bubbles.

The control of underwater bubble behavior on a solid surface has great research significance. However, the control of the spontaneous directional transport and collection of numerous underwater bubbles remains a challenge. A new technique of a metal mesh with superhydrophobic/hydrophobic properties is demonstrated here, which creates a wettability gradient coupled with a microporous array by means of pulsed fiber laser ablation and chemical modification of the aluminum sheet. The resultant wettability surface effectively achieved the spontaneous movement of bubbles along the directional wettability gradient (superaerophobicity to aerophilicity) and through the metal mesh (aerophilicity to superaerophilicity) in the direction of decreasing free energy. Theoretical analysis accounted first for the spontaneous sliding of bubbles on the wettability gradient surface as a result of the action of an unbalanced surface tension force and second for the spontaneous transition of bubbles from the aerophilic to superaerophilic side as a result of the combined action of Laplace pressure and buoyancy. A device with the capability of directional transportation and collection of underwater bubbles was designed based on the samples with a wettability gradient and a superhydrophobic/hydrophobic microporous array as the core components. The potential application is laser ablation of wettability gradient surfaces and metal mesh with superhydrophobic/hydrophobic properties for directional transportation and collection of underwater bubbles.

Method of calculating the aberrations of soft X-ray and vacuum ultraviolet optical systems.

Based on the the third-order aberration theory of plane-symmetric optical systems, this paper studies the effect on aberrations of the second-order accuracy of aperture-ray coordinates and the extrinsic aberrations of this kind of optical system; their calculation expressions are derived. The resultant aberration expressions are then applied to calculate the aberrations of two design examples of soft X-ray and vacuum ultraviolet (XUV) optical systems; images are compared with ray-tracing results using SHADOW software to validate the aberration expressions. The study shows that the accuracy of the aberration expressions is satisfactory.

Chromatic aberration of plane-symmetric optical systems: publisher's note.

This publisher's note amends the funding in Appl. Opt.58, 227 (2019)APOPAI0003-693510.1364/AO.58.000227.

Chromatic aberration of plane-symmetric optical systems.

This paper presents a calculation method of chromatic aberration of such kinds of optical systems based on the aberration theory of plane-symmetric optical systems, and the analytic expressions of the axial chromatic aberration and chromatic change in the magnification at an image plane of any position are derived. The resultant expressions are used to calculate the chromatic aberration of two single-lens optical systems with a large incidence angle, and the calculation results are compared to the ones obtained from a ray-tracing program to validate the chromatic aberration expressions. The study shows that the calculation accuracy of the chromatic aberration expressions is satisfactory. The analytical analysis of chromatic aberration is helpful in the imaging analysis and design of plane-symmetric optical systems.