Bee Bread Ameliorates Vascular Inflammation and Impaired Vasorelaxation in Obesity-Induced Vascular Damage Rat Model: The Role of eNOS/NO/cGMP-Signaling Pathway

Obesity and hyperlipidemia are major risk factors for developing vascular diseases. Bee bread (BB) has been reported to exhibit some biological actions, including anti-obesity and anti-hyperlipidemic. This study aims to investigate whether bee bread can ameliorate vascular inflammation and impaired vasorelaxation activity through eNOS/NO/cGMP pathway in obese rats. Forty male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into four groups (n = 10/group), namely: control (normal group), obese rats (OB group), obese rats treated with bee bread (0.5 g/kg/day, OB/BB group) and obese rats treated with orlistat (10 mg/kg/day, OB/OR group). The latter three groups were given a high-fat diet (HFD) for 6 weeks to induced obesity before being administered with their respective treatments for another 6 weeks. After 12 weeks of the total experimental period, rats in the OB group demonstrated significantly higher Lee obesity index, lipid profile (total cholesterol, triglyceride, low-density lipoprotein), aortic proinflammatory markers (tumor necrosis factor-α, nuclear factor-κβ), aortic structural damage and impairment in vasorelaxation response to acetylcholine (ACh). Bee bread significantly ameliorated the obesity-induced vascular damage manifested by improvements in the lipid profile, aortic inflammatory markers, and the impaired vasorelaxation activity by significantly enhancing nitric oxide release, promoting endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) and cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) immunoexpression. These findings suggest that the administration of bee bread ameliorates the impaired vasorelaxation response to ACh by improving eNOS/NO/cGMP-signaling pathway in obese rats, suggesting its vascular therapeutic role.     

Direct View on the Origin of High Li+ Transfer Impedance in All-Solid-State Battery

Large interfacial resistance plays a dominant role in the performance of all-solid-state lithium-ion batteries. However, the mechanism of interfacial resistance has been under debate. Here, the Li⁺ transport at the interfacial region is investigated to reveal the origin of the high Li⁺ transfer impedance in a LiCoO₂(LCO)/LiPON/Pt all-solid-state battery. Both an unexpected nanocrystalline layer and a structurally disordered transition layer are discovered to be inherent to the LCO/LiPON interface. Under electrochemical conditions, the nanocrystalline layer with insufficient electrochemical stability leads to the introduction of voids during electrochemical cycles, which is the origin of the high Li⁺ transfer impedance at solid electrolyte-electrode interfaces. In addition, at relatively low temperatures, the oxygen vacancies migration in the transition layer results in the formation of Co₃O₄ nanocrystalline layer with nanovoids, which contributes to the high Li⁺ transfer impedance. This work sheds light on the mechanism for the high interfacial resistance and promotes overcoming the interfacial issues in all-solid-state batteries.     

Designing Semipermeable Hydrogel Shells with Controlled Thickness through Internal Osmosis in Triple-Emulsion Droplets

Hydrogel shells that compartmentalize the water core from the aqueous surrounding provide molecular selectivity on size and charge in transmembrane transport. It is highly demanding to produce thin hydrogel shells to minimize diffusion length and maximize core volume. Here, internal osmosis in water-in-oil-in-water-in-oil (W/O/W/O) triple-emulsion droplets is used to produce thin hydrogel shells enclosing a large water core. The triple-emulsion droplets are prepared to have an ultrathin middle oil layer using a capillary microfluidic device. The innermost water droplet has a higher osmolarity than the outer water layer containing photopolymerizable hydrogel precursors, which pumps water from the outer layer to the core through the ultrathin oil layer by the osmosis. Therefore, the outer layer gets thinner and hydrogel precursors are enriched while the size of the triple-emulsion droplets remains unchanged. Through photopolymerization of precursors and phase transfer from oil to water, hydrogel shells enclosing water core are produced in the water environment; the oil layer is ruptured for molecular exchange through the shells. The thickness and composition of the hydrogel shells are precisely controllable by the osmotic conditions. The shells show a high permeation rate due to the thinness as well as controlled cut-off threshold of permeation for neutral and charged molecules.     

Effects of ultrafiltration combined with high-pressure processing,ultrasound and heat treatments on the quality of a blueberry–grape–pineapple–cantaloupe juice blend

This study investigated the effect of ultrafiltration (UF) combined with high-pressure processing (HPP) at 550 MPa, 25 °C for 5 min, ultrasound (US) at 520 W, 40 °C for 10 min and heat treatment (HT) at 90 °C for 3 min on the microbial, physicochemical and sensory properties of a blueberry–grape–pineapple–cantaloupe juice blend during 104 days of storage at 4 °C. After UF, the shelf life of the HPP- and US-treated clear juice blends were 104 and 72 days during the storage at 4 °C respectively. HPP, US and HT treatment minimally affected the anthocyanin and total phenol contents, while HPP better maintained the ascorbic acid levels and sensory properties in the clear juice blend during the storage. Therefore, HPP combined with UF was identified as a prospective processing technique in the fruit juice industry.     

In-situ synthesis of zirconium oxycarbide by electroreduction of ZrO2/C in molten salt

Homogenous ZrC_xO_y powders have been successfully synthesized by in-situ electro-reduction of solid ZrO₂–C composite precursors in molten CaCl₂. The effect of applied cell voltage and molar ratio of ZrO₂ to C on preparation of ZrC_xO_y were investigated. The reduction pathway of the composite electrode was studied based on the analysis of intermediate products using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results show that ZrO₂ is firstly converted to CaZrO₃. The resulting CaZrO₃ is then reduced to ZrC_xO_y. The ZrC_xO_y formation is dramatically influenced by electrolysis voltage and molar ratio of ZrO₂ to C: a higher cell voltage and lower molar ratio of the ZrO₂ to C are more preferable for the formation of ZrC_xO_y powder. Homogenous ZrC_xO_y powders with particle size of ~100 nm are synthesized by ZrO₂/C starting elemental powders in CaCl₂ molten salt at 1123 K for more than 3 h, when the cell voltage is 3.0 V and the molar ratio of the ZrO₂ to carbon starting materials is 1:1.0.     

Mechanical and antibacterial properties of oriented poly(lactic acid)

Polylactic acid (PLA) is a kind of biodegradable polymer that has applications in a wide range of biomedical fields and food‐contact packaging. However, the mechanical disadvantage limits the application of PLA‐based material. The present study modified the pure PLA by orientation and investigated its mechanical and antibacterial properties. The crystallinity and the tensile strength were both drawing ratio dependent. They increased along with the draw ratio to a maximum value of 600% and then decreased. The antibacterial effect of PLA against Staphylococcus aureus and Vibrio paraemolyicus both first increased and then decreased along with the drawing ratio, reaching their highest effect at the drawing ratio of 600%. The inhibition effect of PLA reduced generally with the aging days. According to SEM images, the grape‐like clusters structure of S. aureus was hardly observed and the cell structure damaged on the surface of PLA‐600%, while significant changes of the morphology of V. paraemolyicus were not observed. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 59:2121–2127, 2019. © 2019 Society of Plastics Engineers     

赵庄井田煤层气成藏条件研究

煤层气成藏条件研究是有效划分成藏类型或含气系统，煤层气富集高渗有利区预测、评价及优选的关键基础工作。基于赵庄井田煤层气地质条件及相关测试资料，借鉴前人研究成果，从煤生烃、煤层气储集和煤层气封盖保存条件等方面对赵庄井田煤层气成藏条件进行了研究。研究结果表明:煤中丰富的生烃物质在良好的生烃动力作用下，提高了生烃率和生烃量，为煤层气成藏提供了基础条件；煤变质程度高，促使煤中微小孔隙发育，煤层气储集能力增强和储集空间增大，有利于煤层气大量储存和富集；煤层埋深、围岩特性、构造及地下水径流等地质条件的有机匹配，为煤层气成藏提供了良好的封盖保存条件，是煤层气成藏的关键因素。     

Large surface and pore structure of mesoporous WS2 and RGO nanosheets with small amount of Pt as a highly efficient electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution

In this work, mesoporous WS₂ with high surface area was prepared by hard template method. First, a one-step nanocasting generates metal precursor@mesoporous silica SBA-15 composites. A hydrothermal method is subsequently adopted to convert the precursors to sulfides in the confined nanochannels. After etching silica SBA-15, mesoporous layered metal sulfide crystals were obtained as the products. Then, we have put forward a new catalyst based on mesoporous WS_2, RGO nanosheets and Pt nanoparticles as a highly efficient electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution. The Pt/WG-2 nanostructure electrocatalyst in this report exhibits excellent performance with a small Tafel slope of 47 mV dec^?1, long-term durability and an overpotential of 95 mV in 0.5 M H₂SO₄ for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER).     

基于多尺度CSRBFs的地层三维地质建模

基于矿山多源数据实现地层三维地质建模是数字矿山研究中的一项重要工作，其成果有助于矿山资源评估、生产规划编制等工作的有序进行。采用插值方法对离散采样的非均匀点状数据进行处理，是精准构建矿体模型的关键。然而，矿体建模常用的插值方法在处理数据时，很少有效顾及数据的非均匀性。基于多尺度CSRBFs插值方法，提出了一种可以处理非均匀数据的地层三维建模技术。首先从多源数据中提取非均匀的地质离散点数据集。然后，使用多尺度CSRBFs插值构建地层表面模型，插值步骤包括：①样品点获取与单位法向量计算；②通过八叉树空间索引构建层次点集；③使用多尺度CSRBFs方法在样品点集上由粗到细逐层插值，计算地层表面隐式函数；④地层隐式曲面可视化。最后，使用提出的断层建模方法在连续地层表面构建正断层、逆断层和交叉断层模型。研究表明：多尺度CSRBFs（Multi-scale CSRBF， MsCSRBF）插值方法通过十折交叉验证获得的平均误差为0.943 m，精度优于反距离加权法（Inverse Distance Weighted， IDW）和普通克里金法（Ordinary Kriging， OK），且MsCSRBF方法相比于IDW和OK方法插值运算效率更高。上述分析表明：多尺度CSRBFs差值方法能够针对非均匀数据进行地层表面模型的高精度、快速重建。