Synergistic stabilization of a menthol Pickering emulsion by zein nanoparticles and starch nanocrystals: Preparation, structural characterization, and functional properties.

A Pickering emulsion was synergistically stabilised with zein nanoparticles (ZNPs) and starch nanocrystals (SNCs) to prepare it for menthol loading. After response surface optimisation of the emulsion preparation conditions, a Pickering emulsion prepared with a ZNPs:SNCs ratio of 1:1, a particle concentration of 2 wt% and a water:oil ratio of 1:1 provided the highest menthol encapsulation rate of the emulsions tested (83%) with good storage stability within 30 days. We examined the bilayer interface structure of the emulsion by optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and confocal laser scanning microscopy. The results of simulated digestion experiments showed that the release rate of free fatty acid was 75.06 ± 1.23%, which ensured bioavailability. At the same time, the emulsions facilitated the slow release of menthol. Bacteriostatic studies revealed that the Pickering emulsion had a protective effect on menthol, with the most significant inhibitory effects on Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus under the same conditions. Overall, this study proposes a novel approach for the application and development of l-menthol by combining it with Pickering emulsion.

The economic effect of financial compensation in China's healthcare system: comprehensive insights regarding supply and demand factors.

OBJECTIVES: We aim to analyse the effects of government subsidies on residents' health and healthcare expenditure from the perspectives of supply and demand. DATA AND METHODS: According to the regional division adopted in the data query system of the National Bureau of Statistics, this study divides 31 provinces and cities into three regions: eastern, central, and western. The data used are from public databases, such as the "China Statistical Yearbook," "China Health Statistical Yearbook," and "Government Final Account Report". In this study, mathematical model derivation is used to construct a fixed effects model, and an empirical study based on cross-sectional data and general linear regression is conducted. To prevent endogeneity issues, this study introduces instrumental variables and uses 2SLS regression to further analyse the output results. RESULTS: For every 1% increase in supplementary funding on the supply side, the perinatal mortality rate decreases by 1.765%, while for every 1% increase in financial compensation on the demand side, per capita outpatient expenses increase by 0.225% and per capita hospitalization expenses increase by 0.196%. Regarding medical resources, for every 1% increase in the number of beds per 1,000 people, per capita hospitalization expenses decrease by 0.099%. In the central and eastern regions, where economic levels are higher, supply-side government funding is more effective than demand-side funding. In contrast, demand-side funding is more effective in the western region. CONCLUSIONS: The roles of multiple influencing factors and significant regional heterogeneity are clarified. Increasing financial compensation to providers positively impacts perinatal mortality but leads to higher per capita outpatient and hospital expenditures. Finally, this study provides targeted policy recommendations and solid theoretical support for policymakers.

ADAR1 Inhibits Macrophage Apoptosis and Alleviates Sepsis-induced Liver Injury Through miR-122/BCL2A1 Signaling.

Background and Aims: As sepsis progresses, immune cell apoptosis plays regulatory roles in the pathogenesis of immunosuppression and organ failure. We previously reported that adenosine deaminases acting on RNA-1 (ADAR1) reduced intestinal and splenic inflammatory damage during sepsis. However, the roles and mechanism of ADAR1 in sepsis-induced liver injury remain unclear. Methods: We performed transcriptome and single-cell RNA sequencing of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from patients with sepsis to investigate the effects of ADAR1 on immune cell activities. We also employed a cecal ligation and puncture (CLP) sepsis mouse model to evaluate the roles of ADAR1 in sepsis-induced liver injury. Finally, we treated murine RAW 264.7 macrophages with lipopolysaccharide to explore the underlying ADAR1-mediated mechanisms in sepsis. Results: PBMCs from patients with sepsis had obvious apoptotic morphological features. Single-cell RNA sequencing indicated that apoptosis-related pathways were enriched in monocytes, with significantly elevated ADAR1 and BCL2A1 expression in severe sepsis. CLP-induced septic mice had aggravated liver injury and Kupffer cell apoptosis that were largely alleviated by ADAR1 overexpression. ADAR1 directly bound to pre-miR-122 to modulate miR-122 biosynthesis. miR-122 was an upstream regulator of BCL2A1. Furthermore, ADAR1 also reduced macrophage apoptosis in mice with CLP-induced sepsis through the miR-122/BCL2A1 signaling pathway and protected against sepsis-induced liver injury. Conclusions: The findings show that ADAR1 alleviates macrophage apoptosis and sepsis-induced liver damage through the miR-122/BCL2A1 signaling pathway. The study provides novel insights into the development of therapeutic interventions in sepsis.

Numerical Simulation on the Heat Recovery Law of Exploiting Geothermal Energy from a Closed-Loop Geothermal System Converted from an Abandoned Five-Spot Well Pattern.

Exploiting geothermal energy from abandoned wells is a research hotpot at present. However, there is still a lack of research on exploiting geothermal energy using an abandoned well pattern. Aiming at this problem, in this paper, a novel method for exploiting geothermal energy from an abandoned well pattern is proposed. An unsteady heat transfer model is proposed to study the influence of some key parameters on the production law of the novel scheme, and the proposed model is verified with field experimental data. The result indicates that there exists a critical flow rate that can change the form of the characteristic curve of the outlet temperature with production time. The change of flow rate has more influence on the outlet temperature than that of temperature. A higher geothermal gradient is conducive to production. When the total number of wells and the total flow rate of the system are fixed, fewer production wells will be conducive to production. When the number of production wells and injection wells is determined, changing the deployment of production wells and injection wells has little effect on the outlet temperature and thermal power.

Preparation of Mesoporous Mn-Ce-Ti-O Aerogels by a One-Pot Sol-Gel Method for Selective Catalytic Reduction of NO with NH3.

Novel Mn-Ce-Ti-O composite aerogels with large mesopore size were prepared via a one-pot sol-gel method by using propylene oxide as a network gel inducer and ethyl acetoacetate as a complexing agent. The effect of calcination temperature (400, 500, 600, and 700 °C) on the NH3-selective catalytic reduction (SCR) performance of the obtained Mn-Ce-Ti-O composite aerogels was investigated. The results show that the Mn-Ce-Ti-O catalyst calcined at 600 °C exhibits the highest NH3-SCR activity and lowest apparent activation energy due to its most abundant Lewis acid sites and best reducibility. The NO conversion of the MCTO-600 catalyst maintains 100% at 200 °C in the presence of 100 ppm SO2, showing the superior resistance to SO2 poisoning as compared with the MnOx-CeO2-TiO2 catalysts reported the literature. This should be mainly attributed to its large mesopore sizes with an average pore size of 32 nm and abundant Lewis acid sites. The former fact facilitates the decomposition of NH4HSO4, and the latter fact reduces vapor pressure of NH3. The NH3-SCR process on the MCTO-600 catalyst follows both the Eley-Rideal (E-R) mechanism and the Langmuir-Hinshelwood (L-H) mechanism.

Insights into the promotion role of phosphorus doping on carbon as a metal-free catalyst for low-temperature selective catalytic reduction of NO with NH3.

The catalytic reduction of NO with NH3 (NH3-SCR) on phosphorus-doped carbon aerogels (P-CAs) was studied in the temperature range of 100-200 °C. The P-CAs were prepared by a one-pot sol-gel method by using phosphoric acid as a phosphorus source followed by carbonization at 600-900 °C. A correlation between catalytic activity and surface P content is observed. The P-CA-800vac sample obtained via carbonization at 800 °C and vacuum treatment at 380 °C shows the highest NO conversion of 45.6-76.8% at 100-200 °C under a gas hourly space velocity of 500 h-1 for the inlet gas mixture of 500 ppm NO, 500 ppm NH3 and 5.0 vol% O2. The coexistence of NH3 and O2 is essential for the high conversion of NO on the P-CA carbon catalysts, which can decrease the spillover of NO2 and N2O. The main Brønsted acid sites derived from P-doping and contributed by the C-OH group at edges of carbon sheets are beneficial for NH3 adsorption. In addition, the C3-P[double bond, length as m-dash]O configuration seems to have the most active sites for favorable adsorption and dissociation of O2 and facilitates the formation of NO2. Therefore, the simultaneous presence of acidic groups for NH3 adsorption and the C3-P[double bond, length as m-dash]O active sites for NO2 generation due to the activation of O2 molecules is likely responsible for the significant increase in the NH3-SCR activity over the P-CAs. The transformation of C3-P[double bond, length as m-dash]O to C-O-P functional groups after the reaction is found, which could be assigned to the oxidation of C3-P[double bond, length as m-dash]O by the dissociated O*, resulting in an apparent decrease of catalytic activity for P-CAs. The C-O-P based functional groups are also active in the NH3-SCR reaction.