Macroscale preparation of CoS2 nanoparticles for ultra-high fast-charging performance in sodium-ion batteries.

Improving the fast-charging capabilities and energy storage capacity of electric vehicles presents a feasible strategy for mitigating the prevalent concern of range anxiety in the market. Nanostructure electrode materials play a crucial role in this process. However, the current method of preparation is arduous and yields restricted quantities. In view of this, we have devised an innovative approach that provides convenience and efficacy, facilitating the large-scale synthesis of CoS2 nanoparticles, which exhibited exceptional performance. When the current density was 1000 mA g-1, the discharging capacity reached 760 mAh g-1 after 400 cycles. Remarkably, even at an increased current density of 5000 mA g-1, the discharging capacity of CoS2 remained at 685.5 mAh g-1. The ultra-high performance could be attributed to the specific surface area, which minimized the diffusion distance of sodium-ions during the charging and discharging processes and mitigated the extent of structural damage. Our straightforward preparation techniques facilitate the mass production and present a novel approach for the development of cost-effective and high-performing anode materials for sodium-ion batteries.

Polyphenols from Broussonetia papyrifera Induce Apoptosis of HepG2 Cells via Inactivation of ERK and AKT Signaling Pathways.

The extract of Broussonetia papyrifera has been proved to have antitumor activity. However, the underlying mechanism remains unclear. This study aimed to elucidate the mechanism of apoptosis of HepG2 cells induced by polyphenols from Broussonetia papyrifera (PBPs). The results revealed that PBPs inhibited the proliferation of HepG2 cells in a dose-dependent and time-dependent manner. Flow cytometry analysis showed that PBPs increased the apoptosis ratio of HepG2 cells significantly. PBPs increased intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and decreased intracellular superoxide dismutase (SOD) level of HepG2 cells. PBPs induced cell cycle arrest at G1 phase. Western blotting showed that PBPs upregulated the ratio of Bax/Bcl-2 and the expression level of Caspase-3, and activated p53 in HepG2 cells. The inhibition of proliferative relative signals (protein kinase B, PKB/AKT) and survival relative signals (extracellular signal-regulated kinase, ERK) were also observed in PBP-treated HepG2 cells. Our findings suggest that apoptosis of HepG2 cells induced by PBPs is mitochondria-mediated via inactivation of ERK and AKT signaling pathways.

[Efficacy and Safety of Intensive Maintenance Chemotherapy Regimen for Treatment of Children and Adolescents with Lymphoblastic Lymphoma for Stage III-IV].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the efficacy and safety of intensive maintenance chemotherapy regimen for treatment of children and adolescents with lymphoblastic lymphoma at stage Ⅲ-Ⅳ. METHODS: The clinical data of 87 children and adolescents with lymphoblastic lymphoma at stage Ⅲ-Ⅳ were analyzed retrospectively from July 2009 to July 2015. All patients received the treatment of modified NHL-BFM-90/95 regimen, and divided into 2 groups: the control group (62 patients) with conventional maintenance chemotherapy regimen, and the intensive regimen group (25 patients) with intensive maintenance chemotherapy regimen. The event-free survival (EFS) rate and overall survival (OS) rate during follow-up for 5 years, recurrence rate, mortality, and toxic and side effects were compared between 2 groups. RESULTS: There was no significant difference in the EFS rate and OS rate after follow-up for 5 years between 2 groups (P＞0.05). There was no significant difference in the EFS rate and OS rate after follow-up for 5 years between clinical stage for Ⅲ and Ⅳ, immunotyping for T-LBL and B-LBL and morderate risk and high risk in 2 groups (P＜0.05). There was no significant difference in the recurrence rate and mortality after followed-up between 2 groups (P＞0.05). The incidence of myelosuppression for Ⅲ-Ⅳ grade during maintenance therapy in intensive regimen group were significantly higher than that in control group (P＜0.05). CONCLUSION: Compared with conventional maintenance chemotherapy regimen, intensive maintenance chemotherapy regimen in the treatment of children and adolescents with lymphoblastic lymphoma for stage Ⅲ-Ⅳ possess the same survival benefit, but may cause increased severe bone marrow suppression risk.

[Ecological carrying capacity of shellfish in the Yellow River estuary and its adjacent waters.] / 黄河口邻近水域贝类生态容量.

Yellow River Estuary and adjacent waters are famous shellfish production areas. Mactra veseriformis, Ruditapes philippinarum, and Meretix meretrix are important species for stocking enhancement. At present, the annual output of shellfish bottom sowing culture has reached 300 thousand tons, with an output value of 1.54 billion RMB. Over stocking of shellfish will cause environmental changes in marine, increase shellfish mortality and endanger ecosystem health. Accordingly, the assessment of the carrying capacity for shellfish based on ecosystem underpins responsible marine fisheries enhancement. In this study, an Ecopath mass-balance model of the Yellow River estuary and adjacent waters ecosystem constructed by Ecopath with Ecosim software was used to analyze the summary statistics parameters of the ecosystem, mixed trophic interactions, and to calculate the ecological carrying capacity of shellfish. The results showed that the ratio of total primary production/total respiration (TPP/TR) was 3.45, that of total primary production/total biomass (TPP/B) was 38.91, with the low Finn cycling index (0.028), high surplus production being 961.24 t·km-2·a-1 and low system connecting index (0.38), indicating that this ecosystem was at an unstable development stage. The increases of shellfish biomass would have positive impacts on Gobiidae, shrimps, crabs, and negative impacts on pelagic fishes, demersal fishes, edible jellyfish, zooplankton. Current biomass of shellfish was 5.5 t·km-2, with the potential enhancement. Based on the Ecopath model, the primary assessment of carrying capacity of shellfish was 18.22 t·km-2 in Yellow River estuary and its adjacent waters. This study provides scientific references for the sustainable development of fisheries resources in the Yellow River estuary.

A genetics laboratory class to analyze early and late feather traits of chicken.

With the implementation of the "Education and Training Program for Outstanding Agricultural and Forestry Talents" in our country, our university established the "Outstanding Class" for students majoring in the animal science. We also carried out a series of educational management and curriculum reforms to cultivate students' systematic model of thinking and the ability of technology innovation. In this paper, we designed a comprehensive experiment that focused on analyzing early and late feather genetic traits of chicken. The students initially observed the phenotype of chickens and gradually were led into genetics analysis. We introduced the breeding practice, and guided the students to use genetic theories to breed chick strains of early and late feather traits. The experiment is not only based on the sex-linkage theory and sex determination mechanism, but also molecular genetics technologies, such as genomic DNA extraction, amplification, enzyme digestion and electrophoresis. Conducting this experiment can enhance students' comprehensive analysis ability and professional skills, as well as be beneficial to cultivate their scientific research interests and curiosity on animal sciences. Thus, we integrated the genetics theories into animal breeding practice that meet the requirement of comprehensive applied talents of animal science specialty. The teaching ideas and methods described in this paper can be applied to other biological experiment teaching practice.

Efficacy and Safety of Tenofovir and Lamivudine in Combination with Efavirenz in Patients Co-infected with Human Immunodeficiency Virus and Hepatitis B Virus in China.

BACKGROUND: The prevalence of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is high among individuals infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in China. Both HIV and HBV can be treated with tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF) and lamivudine (3TC), so we evaluated the safety and efficacy of combination antiretroviral therapy (ART) that included TDF, 3TC, and efavirenz (EFV) among ART-naive individuals who were co-infected with HIV and HBV. METHODS: One hundred HIV/HBV co-infected ARV-naive individuals were started on the regimen of TDF, 3TC, and EFV, and the levels of plasma HBV DNA, HIV RNA, and biochemical evaluation related to the function of liver and kidney were analyzed. RESULTS: Concerning efficacy, this study found that by week 48, the vast majority co-infected participants receiving this ART regimen had undetectable HBV DNA levels (71%) and/or HIV RNA levels (90%). Concerning safety, this study found that the median estimated glomerular filtration rate of participants decreased from baseline (109 ml·min-1·1.73 m-2) to week 12 (104 ml·min-1·1.73 m-2) but was almost back to baseline at week 48 (111 ml·min-1·1.73 m-2). CONCLUSION: This combination ART regimen is safe and effective for patients with HIV/HBV co-infection. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT01751555; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01751555.

Applicative Value of Serum CA19-9, CEA, CA125 and CA242 in Diagnosis and Prognosis for Patients with Pancreatic Cancer Treated by Concurrent Chemoradiotherapy.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the application value of serum CA19-9, CEA, CA125 and CA242 in diagnosis and prognosis of pancreatic cancer cases treated with concurrent chemotherapy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 52 patients with pancreatic cancer, 40 with benign pancreatic diseases and 40 healthy people were selected. The electrochemiluminescence immunoassay method was used for detecting levels of CA19-9, CEA and CA125, and a CanAg CA242 enzyme linked immunoassay kit for assessing the level of CA242. The Kaplan-Meier method was used for analyzing the prognostic factors of patients with pancreatic cancer. The Cox proportional hazard model was applied for analyzing the hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidential interval (CI) for survival time of patients with pancreatic cancer. RESULTS: The levels of serum CA19-9, CEA, CA125 and CA242 in patients with pancreatic cancer were significantly higher than those in patients with benign pancreatic diseases and healthy people (P<0.001). The sensitivity of CA19-9 was the highest among these, followed by CA242, CA125 and CEA. The specificity of CA242 is the highest, followed by CA125, CEA and CA19-9. The sensitivity and specificity of joint detection of serum CA19-9, CEA, CA125and CA242 were 90.4% and 93.8%, obviously higher than single detection of those markers in diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. The median survival time of 52 patients with pancreatic cancer was 10 months (95% CI7.389~12.611).. Patients with the increasing level of serum CA19-9, CEA, CA125, CA242 had shorter survival times (P=0.047. 0.043, 0.0041, 0.029). COX regression analysis showed that CA19-9 was an independent prognostic factor for patients with pancreatic cancer (P=0.001, 95%CI 2.591~38.243). CONCLUSIONS: The detection of serum tumor markers (CA19.9, CEA, CA125 and CA242) is conducive to the early diagnosis of pancreatic cancer and joint detection of tumor markers helps improve the diagnostic efficiency. Moreover, CA19-9 is an independent prognostic factor for patients with pancreatic cancer.

[Changes of wetland landscape pattern in Eastern Yellow River Delta Nature Reserve from 1995 to 1999].

Based on the 1995-1999 Landsat TM images and geographic information systems, this paper analyzed the change characteristics of wetland landscape pattern in the Eastern Yellow River Delta Nature Reserve (an inlet of current flow path emptying into the sea), and related driving factors during the past few years pre and post the Yellow River diverting into Qing 8 anabranches in 1996. In 1995-1999, natural wetland was still the matrix of the wetlands in the Reserve, while constructed wetland only had a very small proportion. A substantial increase was observed in the area of non-wetlands, and a decline was found in the area of natural and constructed wetlands, among which, bare muddy tidal flats and marshes shrank significantly. Though the landscape types in the reserve had no homogeneity in the changes of shape and structure, and their aggregation degree in spatial distribution varied, the overall landscape structure became more complicated and fragmented, and the distribution of inner landscape types converted from continuously large blocks to discretely small patches. River diversion, flow break, and human activities were the main three driving factors leading to the changes of the wetland landscape pattern in the reserve.

Effects of over-expressing resistin on glucose and lipid metabolism in mice.

Resistin, a newly discovered peptide hormone mainly secreted by adipose tissues, is present at high levels in serum of obese mice and may be a potential link between obesity and insulin resistance in rodents. However, some studies of rat and mouse models have associated insulin resistance and obesity with decreased resistin expression. In humans, no relationship between resistin level and insulin resistance or adiposity was observed. This suggests that additional studies are necessary to determine the specific role of resistin in the regulation of energy metabolism and adipogenesis. In the present study, we investigated the effect of resistin in vivo on glucose and lipid metabolism by over-expressing resistin in mice by intramuscular injection of a recombinant eukaryotic expression vector pcDNA3.1-Retn encoding porcine resistin gene. After injection, serum resistin and serum glucose (GLU) levels were significantly increased in the pcDNA3.1-Retn-treated mice; there was an obvious difference in total cholesterol (TC) level between the experiment and the control groups on Day 30. In pcDNA3.1-Retn-treated mice, both free fatty acid (FFA) and high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol levels were markedly lower than those of control, whereas HDL cholesterol and triglyceride (TG) levels did not differ between the two groups. Furthermore, lipase activity was expressly lower on Day 20. Our data suggest that resistin over-expressed in mice might be responsible for insulin resistance and parameters related to glucose and lipid metabolism were changed accordingly.