Ablative Radiotherapy Reprograms the Tumor Microenvironment of a Pancreatic Tumor in Favoring the Immune Checkpoint Blockade Therapy

The low overall survival rate of patients with pancreatic cancer has driven research to seek a new therapeutic protocol. Radiotherapy (RT) is frequently an option in the neoadjuvant or palliative settings for pancreatic cancer treatment. This study explored the effect of RT protocols on the tumor microenvironment (TME) and their consequent impact on anti-programmed cell death ligand-1 (PD-L1) therapy. Using a murine orthotopic pancreatic tumor model, UN-KC-6141, RT-disturbed TME was examined by immunohistochemical staining. The results showed that ablative RT is more effective than fractionated RT at recruiting T cells. On the other hand, fractionated RT induces more myeloid-derived suppressor cell infiltration than ablative RT. The RT-disturbed TME presents a higher perfusion rate per vessel. The increase in vessel perfusion is associated with a higher amount of anti-PD-L1 antibody being delivered to the tumor. Animal survival is increased by anti-PD-L1 therapy after ablative RT, with 67% of treated animals surviving more than 30 days after tumor inoculation compared to a median survival time of 16.5 days for the control group. Splenocytes isolated from surviving animals were specifically cytotoxic for UN-KC-6141 cells. We conclude that the ablative RT-induced TME is more suited than conventional RT-induced TME to combination therapy with immune checkpoint blockade.     

Trimetallic NiFeCr-LDH/MoS2composites as novel electrocatalyst for OER

The development of efficient and stable oxygen evolution reaction (OER) catalysts is an ongoing challenge. In order to solve the problem of low oxygen evolution efficiency of the current OER catalysts, a novel material was synthesized by the incorporation of NiFeCr-LDH and MoS₂, and its structural and electrochemical properties were also investigated. The introduction of MoS₂ improves the electrochemical performance of NiFeCr-LDH. The polarization curve shows that the potential of composite material is only 1.50 V at a current density of 10 mA cm^?2, which is far superior to commercial precious metal catalysts. In addition, the stability experiment shows that the composite material has excellent stability, and the current density has little change after 500 cycles. Furthermore, we found that some metal ions, such as Ni, Cr and Mo, exist in the form of high valence on the surface of NiFeCr-LDH@MoS₂, which is also conducive to the occurrence of oxygen evolution reaction.     

Nymphoides peltatum as a novel feedstock for biomethane production via anaerobic co-digestion with waste sludge

Nymphoides peltatum (NP) is exploited as a novel feedstock for biomethane production via anaerobic co-digestion with waste sludge (WS). Batch experiments are conducted under mesophilic condition at NP/WS of 1/3, 2/2, 3/1, 0/4 and 4/0 based on volatile solids (VS). Prior to anaerobic digestion (AD), NP undergoes only natural drying and grinding. The maximum net cumulative methane yield (265.16 mL CH₄·g VS_added^?1) and the highest gross VS removal rate (56.12%) are obtained at NP/WS of 1/3. The kinetic analysis by the modified Gompertz model fit hinted that 28 days is adequate for methane recovery and co-digestion significantly accelerates the digestion rate. Synergetic effect is corroborated to exist in co-digestion due to amiable conditions in term of total ammonia nitrogen, free ammonia, pH, volatile fatty acids and total alkalinity. High-throughput 16S rRNA pyrosequencing reveals that Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes, Methanosarcina and Methanosaeta are conducive to AD of NP.     

Low velocity impact resistance of ceramic/polyurea composite plates: experimental study

Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology - Laminated and segmented ceramic/polyurea composite plates were fabricated by coating bulk ceramic plate and bonding ceramic tablets with polyurea,...     

太湖地区2020年洪水先兆特征与降雨预测模拟研究

以单要素年际序列分析为基础,采用多种方法对太湖地区2020年洪水的先兆特征进行总结,基本摸清了太湖地区旱涝转换的规律.研究表明,通过成因、频率和相似年景对比分析,可以从宏观上找到暴雨洪水发生的理论依据;通过历史演变法、分段法和细部特征法的研究,可以从无锡站年际降雨序列的微观变化中准确把握太湖地区2020年降雨大幅增长的趋势和数值预测的范围;太湖流域的气候与长江中下游地区基本同步,气候突变和非典型旱涝周期的研究,可以提升气候预测水平.     

Composition-tunable PtCu porous nanowires as highly active and durable catalyst for oxygen reduction reaction

To accelerate the commercialization of fuel cells, many efforts have been made to develope highly active and durable Pt-based catalyst for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Herein, PtCu porous nanowires (PNWs) with controllable composition are synthesized through an ultrasound-assisted galvanic replacement reaction. The porous structure, surface strain, and electronic property of PtCu PNWs are optimized by tuning composition, which can improve activity for ORR. Electrochemical tests reveal that the mass activity of Pt_0.5Cu_0.5 PNWs (Pt/Cu atomic ratio of 1:1) reaches 0.80 A mg_Pt^?1, which is about 5 times higher than that of the commercial Pt/C catalyst. Notably, the improved activity of the porous nanowire catalyst is also confirmed in the single-cell test. In addition, the large contact area with the carrier and internal interconnection structure of Pt_0.5Cu_0.5 PNWs enables them to exhibit much better durability than the commercial Pt/C catalyst and Pt_0.5Cu_0.5 nanotubes in accelerated durability test.