Volatile Oil of Platycladus Orientalis(L.)Franco Leaves Exerts Strong Anti-inflammatory Effects via Inhibiting the IκB/NF-κB Pathway

This study was designed to investigate the anti-inflammatory effects of volatile oil of Platycladus orientalis(L.)Franco leaves(VOPF)and the underlying molecular mechanisms by using the non-infectious inflammation rat models and infectious inflammation mouse models.Ear swelling and intraperitoneal capillary permeability in mice,and carrageenan-induced toe swelling and cotton ball-induced granuloma in rats were used to reveal anti-inflammatory effects of VOPF.Moreover,the lipopolysaccharide(LPS)-induced mouse model of acute lung injury was used to explore the anti-inflammatory mechanism of VOPF.The results showed that VOPF could significantly inhibit auricular swelling,intraperitoneal capillary permeability in mice,and reduce granuloma swelling and paw swelling in rats.Furthermore,it significantly alleviated the pathological damage of the lung tissue.In addition,VOPF could reduce the contents of IL-1β and TNF-αand increase the content of IL-10 in the serum.It had little effect on the expression of p65 but reduced the phosphorylation level of p65 and IκB in NF-κB pathway.In conclusion,VOPF has anti-inflammatory effects and the mechanisms involve the down-regulation of the phosphorylation levels of p65 and IκB and blockage of the NF-κB signaling pathway.

Local structural evolutions of CuO/ZnO/Al2O3 catalyst for methanol synthesis under operando conditions studied by in situ quick X-ray absorption spectroscopy

In situ quick X-ray absorption spectroscopy(QXAFS) at the Cu and Zn K-edge under operando conditions has been used to unravel the Cu/Zn interaction and identify possible active site of CuO/ZnO/Al_2O_3 catalyst for methanol synthesis. In this work, the catalyst, whose activity increases with the reaction temperature and pressure, was studied at calcined, reduced, and reacted conditions. TEM and EDX images for the calcined and reduced catalysts showed that copper was distributed uniformly at both conditions. TPR profile revealed two reduction peaks at 165 and 195 °C for copper species in the calcined catalyst. QXAFS results demonstrated that the calcined form consisted mainly of a mixed Cu O and Zn O, and it was progressively transformed into Cu metal particles and dispersed Zn O species as the reduction treatment. It was demonstrated that activation of the catalyst precursor occurred via a Cu^+intermediate, and the active catalyst predominantly consisted of metallic Cu and Zn O evenunder higher pressures. Structure of the active catalyst did not change with the temperature or pressure, indicating that the role of the Zn was mainly to improve Cu dispersion.This indicates the potential of QXAFS method in studying the structure evolutions of catalysts in methanol synthesis.

In-situ high-energy-resolution X-ray absorption spectroscopy for UO2 oxidation at SSRF

Based on the high-energy-resolution fluorescence spectrometer on the BL14W1 beamline at Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility,an in-situ high-energyresolution X-ray absorption spectroscopy technique,with an in-situ heating cell,was developed.The high-energyresolution fluorescence detection for X-ray absorption near-edge spectroscopy(HERFD-XANES) was tested in a UO_2 oxidation experiment to measure the UL_3-edge,with higher signal-to-noise ratio and higher-energy-resolution than conventional XANES.The technique has potential application for in-situ study of uranium-based materials.

Soller slits automatic focusing method for multi-element fluorescence detector

In X-ray absorption fine structure(XAFS) experiments,Soller slits are widely used as filter devices in order to improve the signal to noise ratio.Performing high accuracy manual focusing operations is a time-consuming process;therefore,this work introduces an automatic focusing method for Soller slits in multi-element fluorescence detectors.This method establishes a relation model between the fluorescence intensity distribution and the coordinates of the fluorescence excitation point.According to this relation model,the actual coordinates of the fluorescence excitation point can be deduced from the detected fluorescence intensity distribution and used in focusing operations.This method has proven to be feasible in an XAFS experiment at the BL14W1 beamline of the Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility.

In situ studies on the positive and negative effects of 1,8-diiodoctane on the device performance and morphology evolution of organic solar cells

The introduction of solvent additives is one of the most common approaches for enhancing the power conversion efficiency of organic solar cells(OSCs).However,the use of solvent additives has some negative effects,and an understanding of how solvent additives affect OSCs is currently limited.In this study,we developed an in situ grazing incidence wide-angle X-ray scattering(GIWAXS)technique in the SAXS beamline(BL16 B1)at the Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility,and the additive effects of1,8-diiodoctane(DIO)on the performance and morphology evolution of the PTB7-Th/PC71 BM device was investigated in depth.The results revealed that the crystal size increased with the volume ratio of DIO,and a drastic evolution of lattice space and crystal coherence length was observed during thermal annealing for the first time,to our knowledge.The discrete PC71BM molecules dissolved by DIO have an effect similar to that of the nucleating agent for PTB7-Th,boosting the crystallization of PTB7-Th,reducing phase separation,and inducing more drastic morphological evolution during thermal annealing.Our results provide a deep perspective for the mechanism of solvent additives,while also showing the significance and feasibility of the in situ GIWAXS technique we developed at BL16 B1.