Enhanced coking resistance of a Ni cermet anode by a chromates protective layer

Ni-based anodes of SOFCs are susceptible to coking, which greatly limits practical application of direct methane-based fuels. An indirect internal reformer is an effective way to convert methane-based fuels into syngas before they reach anode. In this work, catalytic activity of a redox-stable perovskite La0.7Sr0.3Cr0.8Fe0.2O3-δ(LSCrFO) for methane conversion was evaluated. The catalyst was fabricated as an anodic protective layer to improve coking resistance of a Ni cermet anode. Using wet CH4 as a fuel, the LSCrFO-modified cell showed excellent power output and good coking resistance with peak power density of 1.59 W cm-2 at 800℃. The cell demonstrated good durability lasting for at least 100 h. While the bare cell without the protective layer showed poor durability with the cell voltage fast dropped from 0.75 V to 0.4 V within 30 min. Under wet coal bed methane (CBM) operation, obvious performance degradation within 35 h (1.7 mV h^-1) was observed due to the influence of heavy carbon compounds in CBM. The pre-and post-mortem microstructures and carbon analysis of the anode surface and catalyst surface were further conducted.

Microglial glutaminase 1 mediates chronic restraint stress-induced depression-like behaviors and synaptic damages

Dear Editor,Major depressive disorder(MDD)is one of the most common psychiatric illnesses that significantly increase the risk of suicide.1 Stress-triggered dysfunctions of microglia have been identified as a commonly occurred pathological feature of MDD.1–3 Microglial dysfunction contributes to the pathogenesis of MDD via immunoresponses/neuroinflammation-mediated neural damage and pathological synapse loss-mediated neural circuit disruption.1 Although the involvement of microglia in MDD has been widely investigated,the molecular mechanisms underlying microglial dysfunction remain largely unknown.Recently,we identified glutaminase 1(Gls1)as one key protein that participates in microglial dysfunction.4–6 Gls1 catalyzes the hydrolysis of glutamine to produce glutamate in the brain.4 Besides its well-known role in excitatory neurotoxicity,we found Gls1 up-regulation in microglia in animal models of Alzheimer’s disease and ischemic stroke.4,7 Gls1 activates microglia to overproduce cytokines and release inflammatory extracellular vesicles,therefore leading to neuroinflammation in animal models of Alzheimer’s disease and ischemic stroke.4–6 More importantly,Gls1 has been found to be up-regulated in the brains of MDD patients,and microglial Gls1 deficiency mitigated LPS-induced depression-like behaviors.8 However,LPS exposure is not an appropriate model to mimic MDD phenotypes,leaving the involvement of Gls1 in MDD an undetermined question.

Influences of chronic contamination of oil field exploitation on soil nematode communities at the Yellow River Delta of China

Oil production related activities have led to many environmental problems.Around 80%of the total output of crude oil is generated from terrestrial oilfields in the world.However,the impact of oil exploitation procedures on soil animal communities has not been fully understood.This study investigated the responses of soil nematode communities to the oil exploitation activities in the Yellow River Delta of China.By setting 10 oilfield sites and 5 relatively uncontaminated sites(controls),we found that the content of soil total petroleum hydrocarbons(TPH)was significantly higher at oilfield sites than at controls.With a longer oil exploitation history,the content of soil TPH increased.Soil nematode community structure at oilfield sites was largely different from that at controls.Soil nematodes were significantly less abundant but more diverse at oilfield sites than at controls.The proportions of fungal feeders were significantly lower at oilfield sites than at controls,attaining only half of those at controls.The nematode trophic diversity and genus number negatively correlated with the duration of petroleum exploitation history.This study elucidated the difference in soil nematode communities caused by oilfield exploitation and indicated that the nematode diversity was most obviously influenced by the soil TPH content and the oil exploitation history.

Treating COVID-19 with Chloroquine

A novel coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19)emerged around December 2019 in Wuhan,China and has spread rapidly worldwide(Lu et al.,2020).Until March 27,2020,the Chinese health authorities had reported 82082 confirmed COVID-19 cases in China with 3298 deaths and 381443 confirmed cases with 20787 deaths outside China.The World Health Organization(WHO)named the virus SARS-CoV-2,which belongs to a distinct clade from the human severe acute respiratory syndrome CoV(SARS-CoV)and Middle East respiratory syndrome CoV(MERSCoV)(Zhu et al.,2020).