Background: Both natural killer(NK) and CD3+CD56+ natural killer T(NKT)-like cells play critical roles in the antitumor response. This study aimed to explore the effects of stereotactic body radiotherapy(SBRT) on peri...Background: Both natural killer(NK) and CD3+CD56+ natural killer T(NKT)-like cells play critical roles in the antitumor response. This study aimed to explore the effects of stereotactic body radiotherapy(SBRT) on peripheral NK and NKT-like cells in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC), and to identify possible surface markers on these cells that correlate with the prognosis. Methods: Twenty-five HCC patients were prospectively enrolled in our study, and 10 healthy individuals were served as healthy controls. Flow cytometry was used to determine the counts and the percentages of peripheral NK and NKT-like cells, cells with certain receptors, and cells with intracellular interferon-γand TNF-α secretion at different time points, including time points of prior to SBRT, at post-SBRT, and 3-month and 6-month after treatment. The Kaplan-Meier method with the log-rank test was applied for survival analysis. Results: The peripheral NKT-like cells was increased at post-SBRT. Meanwhile, elevated levels of inhibitory receptors and reduced levels of activating receptors of NK cells were also observed in NK cells at post-SBRT, but the levels was not significantly different at 3-month and 6-month as compared with the baseline levels. Lower percentage of NKp30+ NK cells before SBRT and higher percentage of CD158b + NK cells after SBRT were associated with poor progression-free survival. In addition, higher percentage of CD3+CD56+ NKT-like cells was associated with a higher overall survival rate in HCC patients. Conclusions: SBRT has an apparent effect on both peripheral NK and CD3+ CD56+ NKT-like cells. Lower percentage of NKp30 + NK cells before SBRT and higher percentage of CD158b + NK cells after SBRT are correlated with poor patients' PFS. Higher percentage of CD3+ CD56+ NKT-like cells is associated with higher OS in HCC patients.展开更多
Heterogeneous interfaces produced by interdomain interactions on a nanoscale performs a crucial role in boosting the properties of an electrocatalyst toward oxygen evolution reaction(OER)process.Herein,a series of dua...Heterogeneous interfaces produced by interdomain interactions on a nanoscale performs a crucial role in boosting the properties of an electrocatalyst toward oxygen evolution reaction(OER)process.Herein,a series of dual-phase electrodes with intimately connected heterointerfaces are prepared by in situ decomposing solid solution oxide of Ni_(x)Co_(y)Fe_(100-x-y)O,which grew on Ni foam massively via an ultrafast combustion approach.Particularly,with high-reaction kinetics caused by the reduction treatment at 450℃,the less electronegative Fe and Co are more oxyphilic than Ni,which facilitated their co-exsolution and formation of CoFe_2O_4/NiO oxide with enriched oxygen vacancies.Benefiting from the nanoporous framework,heterojunction structure,and oxygen defects,the self-supporting electrodes present rapid charge/mass transmission and provide abundant active sites for OER.The optimized sample(R-SNCF4.5)shows low overpotentials of 226 and 324 mV at 10 and100 mA·cm^(-2),a small Tafel slope(46.7 mV·dec^(-1)),and excellent stability.The assembled R-SNCF4.5//Pt/C/NF electrolyzer demonstrates continuous electrolysis over 50 h at a current density of 10 mA·cm^(-2),under 1.51 V.Density functional theory(DFT)calculations verify that the strong electronic modulation plays a critical part in the CoFe_2O_4/NiO hybrid by lowering the energy barriers for the ratedetermining steps,and Fe sites are the most active OER sites.展开更多
Accompanying the beneficial improvement in litter size from genetic selection for high-prolificacy sows, within-litter variation in birth weight has increased with detrimental effects on post-natal growth and survival...Accompanying the beneficial improvement in litter size from genetic selection for high-prolificacy sows, within-litter variation in birth weight has increased with detrimental effects on post-natal growth and survival due to an increase in the proportion of piglets with low birth-weight. Causes of within-litter variation in birth weight include breed characteristics that affect uterine space, ovulation rate, degree of maturation of oocytes, duration of time required for ovulation, interval between ovulation and fertilization, uterine capacity for implantation and placentation, size and efficiency of placental transport of nutrients, communication between conceptus/fetus and maternal systems, as well as nutritional status and environmental influences during gestation. Because these factors contribute to within-litter variation in birth weight, nutritional status of the sow to improve fetal-placental development must focus on the following three important stages in the reproductive cycle： pre-mating or weaning to estrus, early gestation and late gestation. The goal is to increase the homogeneity of development of oocytes and conceptuses, decrease variations in conceptus development during implantation and placentation, and improve birth weights of newborn piglets. Though some progress has been made in nutritional regulation of within-litter variation in the birth weight of piglets, additional studies, with a focus on and insights into molecular mechanisms of reproductive physiology from the aspects of maternal growth and offspring development, as well as their regulation by nutrients provided to the sow, are urgently needed.展开更多
The number of active components and their dispersion degree are two key factors affecting the performance of adsorbents.Here,we report a simple but efficient strategy for dispersing active components by using a confin...The number of active components and their dispersion degree are two key factors affecting the performance of adsorbents.Here,we report a simple but efficient strategy for dispersing active components by using a confined space,which is formed by mesoporous silica walls and templates in the as-prepared SBA-15(AS).Such a confined space does not exist in the conventional support,calcined SBA-15,which does not contain a template.The Cu and Zn precursors were introduced to the confined space in the AS and were converted to CuO and ZnO during calcination,during which the template was also removed.The results show that up to 5 mmol·g^(–1) of CuO and ZnO can be well dispersed;however,severe aggregation of both oxides takes place in the sample derived from the calcined SBA-15 with the same loading.Confined space in the AS and the strong interactions caused by the abundant hydroxyl groups are responsible for the dispersion of CuO and ZnO.The bimetallic materials were employed for the adsorptive separation of propene and propane.The samples prepared from the as-prepared SBA-15 showed superior performance to their counterparts from the calcined SBA-15 in terms of both adsorption capacity of propene and selectivity for propene/propane.展开更多
Solar energy is one of the most appealing clean energies to replace fossil fuel.However,the low power output is the bottleneck that hinders the effective usage of solar energy.Herein,we propose quasi-solid-state solar...Solar energy is one of the most appealing clean energies to replace fossil fuel.However,the low power output is the bottleneck that hinders the effective usage of solar energy.Herein,we propose quasi-solid-state solar rechargeable capacitors for solar energy multiplication effect and effective application based on Janus modified electrode.The power output of solar energy could be magnified by an integrated unit,which consists of the hydrogel electrolyte,asymmetrically lyophilic/lyophobic Janus joint electrode,and efficient perovskite solar cells.Benefiting from the unique Janus structure,the quasi-solid-state device is capable of achieving outstanding solar energy conversion,storage and utilization with large power output of 500 mW cm^-2,which is about 50 times higher than that of conventional solar cells.展开更多
The nanoparticle(NP) functionalization is an effective method for enhancing their compatibility with polymer which can influence the fracture property of the polymer nanocomposites(PNCs). This work aims to further und...The nanoparticle(NP) functionalization is an effective method for enhancing their compatibility with polymer which can influence the fracture property of the polymer nanocomposites(PNCs). This work aims to further understand the cavitation and crazing process, hoping to uncover the fracture mechanism on the molecular level. By adopting a coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulation, the fracture energy of PNCs first increases and then decreases with increasing the NP functionalization degree α while it shows a continuous increase with increasing the interaction εpA between polymer and modified beads. The bond orientation degree is first characterized which is referred to as the elongation. Meanwhile, the stress by polymer chains is gradually reduced with increasing the α or the εpA while that by NPs is enhanced.Furthermore, the percentage of stress by polymer chains first increases and then decreases with increasing the strain while that by NPs shows a contrast trend. Moreover, the number of voids is quantified which first increases and then decreases with increasing the strain which reflects their nucleation and coalescence process. The voids prefer to generate from the polymer-NP interface to the polymer matrix with increasing α o r εpA.As a result, the number of voids first increases and then decreases with increasing α while it continuously declines with the εpA. In summary, our work provides a clear understanding on how the NP functionalization influences the cavitation and crazing process during the fracture process.展开更多
Immiscible polymer blends are an important family of polymer materials.The interfacial thickness between different phases is a very important parameter that dictates,to a great extent,the morphology and properties of ...Immiscible polymer blends are an important family of polymer materials.The interfacial thickness between different phases is a very important parameter that dictates,to a great extent,the morphology and properties of such a blend.This work explores and optimizes an up-to-date atomic force microscopy(AFM)of type NanoIR2^(TM) system in order to quantitatively measure the interfacial thickness of immiscible polymer blends.This system is equipped with two nano-probes capable of detecting the response of a material to an infrared pulse called AFM-infrared spectroscopy mode(AFM-IR)or conducting resonance called AFM-Lorentz Contact Resonance mode(AFM-LCR),respectively.Its potential for quantitatively measuring the interfacial thickness of immiscible polymer blends is evaluated using blends composed of polyamide 6(PA6)and polyolefin elastomer(POE)in the presence or absence of a POE containing maleic anhydride(POE-g-MAH)as a compatibilizer.Surface roughness affects adversely the signal intensity and consequently an accurate measurement of the interfacial thickness.Optimum sample surface preparation procedures are proposed.展开更多
Mass transfer and catalyst recovery are two crucial issues in solid base catalysis,while the cumbersome operation steps and the associated time and energy penalties are still inevitable for conventional catalysts.Achi...Mass transfer and catalyst recovery are two crucial issues in solid base catalysis,while the cumbersome operation steps and the associated time and energy penalties are still inevitable for conventional catalysts.Achieving the technical upgrades through catalyst design is desirable but challenging because of the difficulty in satisfying diverse demands of different steps.In this work,a magnetically responsive solid base catalyst with the rod-like nanostructure was developed.The rod-like solid base catalysts are composed of Fe_(3)O_(4) cores,silica shells and calcium oxide active sites.The functions of magnetic recovery and stirring were integrated into the catalyst,which applies in both the general catalytic processes and microchannel reactors given their nanoscales.When applied to the synthesis of dimethyl carbonate by onestep transesterification of methanol and ethylene carbonate,an apparent enhancement on turnover frequency value(33.1 h^(−1))was observed for nano-stirring compared with that tested without stirring(12.1 h^(−1))within 30 min.The present catalysts may open up new avenues in the development of advanced solid base catalysts.展开更多
China has been experiencing some of the world's most serious air pollution,especially severe smog events swept China in January of 2013,leading to extensive interna-tional attention.Efforts to understand and mitig...China has been experiencing some of the world's most serious air pollution,especially severe smog events swept China in January of 2013,leading to extensive interna-tional attention.Efforts to understand and mitigate the impacts of ambient air pollution on public health have been taken to tackle this pollution in China.Clean air actions developed nationwide have aggressively lowered fine particulate matter(PM2.5)pollution in recent years.1 National health plans and research projects on air pollution have been motivated and funded by the government.Rapidly growing epidemiological evidence has emerged to preliminarily uncover the effects of elevated levels of ambient air pollution on human health.However,China's pollution levels still exceed that of the World Health Organization(WHO)least-stringent target.Ambient air pollution still poses a serious threat to human health and welfare.展开更多
CB[n]（n= 6-8） is a family of synthetic macrocyclic host molecules composed of n glycoluril units,which can be employed as molecular reactor.N-Phenyloxypropyl-N＇-ethyl-4,4＇-bipyridium（1） was designed to form a ho...CB[n]（n= 6-8） is a family of synthetic macrocyclic host molecules composed of n glycoluril units,which can be employed as molecular reactor.N-Phenyloxypropyl-N＇-ethyl-4,4＇-bipyridium（1） was designed to form a host-guest inclusion complex with CB[n]（n = 6-8）,subsequently,the bromination reaction of 1 and its corresponding inclusion complexes was investigated in this work.In the case of 1/CB[8],the folded including mode is quite helpful to acquire 1-bormination product completely through intramolecular charge transfer（ICT）,and CB[8]can provide a safe bromination environment for 1.展开更多
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.51804272)High-end Talent Support Program of Yangzhou University(China)+3 种基金Qinglan Project of Yangzhou University(China)Yangzhou City-Yangzhou University Cooperation Foundation,China(No.YZ2022183)Postgraduate Research&Practice Innovation Program of Jiangsu Province,China(No.SJCX22_1716)Innovation and Entrepreneurship Training Program for College Students of Jiangsu Province,China(No.202211117173T)。
基金supported by a grant from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81972856)。
文摘Background: Both natural killer(NK) and CD3+CD56+ natural killer T(NKT)-like cells play critical roles in the antitumor response. This study aimed to explore the effects of stereotactic body radiotherapy(SBRT) on peripheral NK and NKT-like cells in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC), and to identify possible surface markers on these cells that correlate with the prognosis. Methods: Twenty-five HCC patients were prospectively enrolled in our study, and 10 healthy individuals were served as healthy controls. Flow cytometry was used to determine the counts and the percentages of peripheral NK and NKT-like cells, cells with certain receptors, and cells with intracellular interferon-γand TNF-α secretion at different time points, including time points of prior to SBRT, at post-SBRT, and 3-month and 6-month after treatment. The Kaplan-Meier method with the log-rank test was applied for survival analysis. Results: The peripheral NKT-like cells was increased at post-SBRT. Meanwhile, elevated levels of inhibitory receptors and reduced levels of activating receptors of NK cells were also observed in NK cells at post-SBRT, but the levels was not significantly different at 3-month and 6-month as compared with the baseline levels. Lower percentage of NKp30+ NK cells before SBRT and higher percentage of CD158b + NK cells after SBRT were associated with poor progression-free survival. In addition, higher percentage of CD3+CD56+ NKT-like cells was associated with a higher overall survival rate in HCC patients. Conclusions: SBRT has an apparent effect on both peripheral NK and CD3+ CD56+ NKT-like cells. Lower percentage of NKp30 + NK cells before SBRT and higher percentage of CD158b + NK cells after SBRT are correlated with poor patients' PFS. Higher percentage of CD3+ CD56+ NKT-like cells is associated with higher OS in HCC patients.
基金financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.52101251)the Natural Science Foundation of Hebei Province(Nos.E2020208069 and B2020208083)。
文摘Heterogeneous interfaces produced by interdomain interactions on a nanoscale performs a crucial role in boosting the properties of an electrocatalyst toward oxygen evolution reaction(OER)process.Herein,a series of dual-phase electrodes with intimately connected heterointerfaces are prepared by in situ decomposing solid solution oxide of Ni_(x)Co_(y)Fe_(100-x-y)O,which grew on Ni foam massively via an ultrafast combustion approach.Particularly,with high-reaction kinetics caused by the reduction treatment at 450℃,the less electronegative Fe and Co are more oxyphilic than Ni,which facilitated their co-exsolution and formation of CoFe_2O_4/NiO oxide with enriched oxygen vacancies.Benefiting from the nanoporous framework,heterojunction structure,and oxygen defects,the self-supporting electrodes present rapid charge/mass transmission and provide abundant active sites for OER.The optimized sample(R-SNCF4.5)shows low overpotentials of 226 and 324 mV at 10 and100 mA·cm^(-2),a small Tafel slope(46.7 mV·dec^(-1)),and excellent stability.The assembled R-SNCF4.5//Pt/C/NF electrolyzer demonstrates continuous electrolysis over 50 h at a current density of 10 mA·cm^(-2),under 1.51 V.Density functional theory(DFT)calculations verify that the strong electronic modulation plays a critical part in the CoFe_2O_4/NiO hybrid by lowering the energy barriers for the ratedetermining steps,and Fe sites are the most active OER sites.
基金Project supported by the National Basic Research Program(973)of China(No.2012CB124703)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Nos.31129006,31272449,and 31422052)
文摘Accompanying the beneficial improvement in litter size from genetic selection for high-prolificacy sows, within-litter variation in birth weight has increased with detrimental effects on post-natal growth and survival due to an increase in the proportion of piglets with low birth-weight. Causes of within-litter variation in birth weight include breed characteristics that affect uterine space, ovulation rate, degree of maturation of oocytes, duration of time required for ovulation, interval between ovulation and fertilization, uterine capacity for implantation and placentation, size and efficiency of placental transport of nutrients, communication between conceptus/fetus and maternal systems, as well as nutritional status and environmental influences during gestation. Because these factors contribute to within-litter variation in birth weight, nutritional status of the sow to improve fetal-placental development must focus on the following three important stages in the reproductive cycle： pre-mating or weaning to estrus, early gestation and late gestation. The goal is to increase the homogeneity of development of oocytes and conceptuses, decrease variations in conceptus development during implantation and placentation, and improve birth weights of newborn piglets. Though some progress has been made in nutritional regulation of within-litter variation in the birth weight of piglets, additional studies, with a focus on and insights into molecular mechanisms of reproductive physiology from the aspects of maternal growth and offspring development, as well as their regulation by nutrients provided to the sow, are urgently needed.
基金We acknowledge the financial support of this work by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos.22125804,22078155,and21878149).
文摘The number of active components and their dispersion degree are two key factors affecting the performance of adsorbents.Here,we report a simple but efficient strategy for dispersing active components by using a confined space,which is formed by mesoporous silica walls and templates in the as-prepared SBA-15(AS).Such a confined space does not exist in the conventional support,calcined SBA-15,which does not contain a template.The Cu and Zn precursors were introduced to the confined space in the AS and were converted to CuO and ZnO during calcination,during which the template was also removed.The results show that up to 5 mmol·g^(–1) of CuO and ZnO can be well dispersed;however,severe aggregation of both oxides takes place in the sample derived from the calcined SBA-15 with the same loading.Confined space in the AS and the strong interactions caused by the abundant hydroxyl groups are responsible for the dispersion of CuO and ZnO.The bimetallic materials were employed for the adsorptive separation of propene and propane.The samples prepared from the as-prepared SBA-15 showed superior performance to their counterparts from the calcined SBA-15 in terms of both adsorption capacity of propene and selectivity for propene/propane.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(21875123 and 21421001)。
文摘Solar energy is one of the most appealing clean energies to replace fossil fuel.However,the low power output is the bottleneck that hinders the effective usage of solar energy.Herein,we propose quasi-solid-state solar rechargeable capacitors for solar energy multiplication effect and effective application based on Janus modified electrode.The power output of solar energy could be magnified by an integrated unit,which consists of the hydrogel electrolyte,asymmetrically lyophilic/lyophobic Janus joint electrode,and efficient perovskite solar cells.Benefiting from the unique Janus structure,the quasi-solid-state device is capable of achieving outstanding solar energy conversion,storage and utilization with large power output of 500 mW cm^-2,which is about 50 times higher than that of conventional solar cells.
基金financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 21704003 and 51673013)the Foundation for Innovative Research Groups of the NSF of China (No. 51521062)。
文摘The nanoparticle(NP) functionalization is an effective method for enhancing their compatibility with polymer which can influence the fracture property of the polymer nanocomposites(PNCs). This work aims to further understand the cavitation and crazing process, hoping to uncover the fracture mechanism on the molecular level. By adopting a coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulation, the fracture energy of PNCs first increases and then decreases with increasing the NP functionalization degree α while it shows a continuous increase with increasing the interaction εpA between polymer and modified beads. The bond orientation degree is first characterized which is referred to as the elongation. Meanwhile, the stress by polymer chains is gradually reduced with increasing the α or the εpA while that by NPs is enhanced.Furthermore, the percentage of stress by polymer chains first increases and then decreases with increasing the strain while that by NPs shows a contrast trend. Moreover, the number of voids is quantified which first increases and then decreases with increasing the strain which reflects their nucleation and coalescence process. The voids prefer to generate from the polymer-NP interface to the polymer matrix with increasing α o r εpA.As a result, the number of voids first increases and then decreases with increasing α while it continuously declines with the εpA. In summary, our work provides a clear understanding on how the NP functionalization influences the cavitation and crazing process during the fracture process.
基金The authors thank the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.51973193)the State Key Laboratory of Chemical Engineering(No.SKL-ChE-13D)for their financial support.
文摘Immiscible polymer blends are an important family of polymer materials.The interfacial thickness between different phases is a very important parameter that dictates,to a great extent,the morphology and properties of such a blend.This work explores and optimizes an up-to-date atomic force microscopy(AFM)of type NanoIR2^(TM) system in order to quantitatively measure the interfacial thickness of immiscible polymer blends.This system is equipped with two nano-probes capable of detecting the response of a material to an infrared pulse called AFM-infrared spectroscopy mode(AFM-IR)or conducting resonance called AFM-Lorentz Contact Resonance mode(AFM-LCR),respectively.Its potential for quantitatively measuring the interfacial thickness of immiscible polymer blends is evaluated using blends composed of polyamide 6(PA6)and polyolefin elastomer(POE)in the presence or absence of a POE containing maleic anhydride(POE-g-MAH)as a compatibilizer.Surface roughness affects adversely the signal intensity and consequently an accurate measurement of the interfacial thickness.Optimum sample surface preparation procedures are proposed.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China Youth Project(21808110)the financial support of this work by the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars(22125804)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(21878149,22078155,and 21722606)。
文摘Mass transfer and catalyst recovery are two crucial issues in solid base catalysis,while the cumbersome operation steps and the associated time and energy penalties are still inevitable for conventional catalysts.Achieving the technical upgrades through catalyst design is desirable but challenging because of the difficulty in satisfying diverse demands of different steps.In this work,a magnetically responsive solid base catalyst with the rod-like nanostructure was developed.The rod-like solid base catalysts are composed of Fe_(3)O_(4) cores,silica shells and calcium oxide active sites.The functions of magnetic recovery and stirring were integrated into the catalyst,which applies in both the general catalytic processes and microchannel reactors given their nanoscales.When applied to the synthesis of dimethyl carbonate by onestep transesterification of methanol and ethylene carbonate,an apparent enhancement on turnover frequency value(33.1 h^(−1))was observed for nano-stirring compared with that tested without stirring(12.1 h^(−1))within 30 min.The present catalysts may open up new avenues in the development of advanced solid base catalysts.
基金This work is supported by grants from the National Key Research and Development Program of China(No.2016YFC0206500)the National Research Program for Key Issues in Air Pollution Control(No.DQGG0401)。
文摘China has been experiencing some of the world's most serious air pollution,especially severe smog events swept China in January of 2013,leading to extensive interna-tional attention.Efforts to understand and mitigate the impacts of ambient air pollution on public health have been taken to tackle this pollution in China.Clean air actions developed nationwide have aggressively lowered fine particulate matter(PM2.5)pollution in recent years.1 National health plans and research projects on air pollution have been motivated and funded by the government.Rapidly growing epidemiological evidence has emerged to preliminarily uncover the effects of elevated levels of ambient air pollution on human health.However,China's pollution levels still exceed that of the World Health Organization(WHO)least-stringent target.Ambient air pollution still poses a serious threat to human health and welfare.
基金financially supported by State Key Laboratory of Fine Chemicals, Dalian University of Technology, National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 21272030, 21472016, 21306019, 21576042)
文摘CB[n]（n= 6-8） is a family of synthetic macrocyclic host molecules composed of n glycoluril units,which can be employed as molecular reactor.N-Phenyloxypropyl-N＇-ethyl-4,4＇-bipyridium（1） was designed to form a host-guest inclusion complex with CB[n]（n = 6-8）,subsequently,the bromination reaction of 1 and its corresponding inclusion complexes was investigated in this work.In the case of 1/CB[8],the folded including mode is quite helpful to acquire 1-bormination product completely through intramolecular charge transfer（ICT）,and CB[8]can provide a safe bromination environment for 1.
