Rapid Detection of Wheat Blast Pathogen Magnaporthe oryzae Triticum Pathotype Using Genome-Specific Primers and Cas12a-mediated Technology

Wheat blast, caused by the fungus Magnaporthe oryzae Triticum (MoT) pathotype, is a devastating disease persistent in South America and Bangladesh. Since MoT generally fails to cause visual symptoms in wheat until the heading stage when the infection would have advanced, disease control by fungicide application solely based on the detection of visual symptoms is ineffective. To develop an accurate and sensitive method to detect MoT at the seedling and vegetative stages for disease control, we sequenced the genomes of two MoT isolates from Brazil and identified two DNA fragments, MoT-6098 and MoT-6099, that are present in the MoT genome but not in the genome of the rice-infecting Magnaporthe oryzae Oryzae (MoO) pathotype. Using polymerase chain reaction (PCR), we confirmed the specificity of the two markers in 53 MoT and MoO isolates from South America and Bangladesh. To test the efficiency of the two markers, we first established a loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) method to detect MoT at isothermal conditions, without the use of a PCR machine. Following this, we used the Cas12a protein and guide RNAs (gRNAs) to target the MoT-6098 and MoT-6099 sequences. The activated Cas12a showed indiscriminate single-stranded deoxyribonuclease (ssDNase) activity. We then combined target-dependent Cas12a ssDNase activation with recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA) and nucleic acid lateral flow immunoassay (NALFIA) to develop a method that accurately, sensitively, and cost-effectively detects MoT-specific DNA sequences in infected wheat plants. This novel technique can be easily adapted for the rapid detection of wheat blast and other important plant diseases in the field.     

C含量对断路器用紫铜表面Ti感应熔覆层组织及硬度的影响

对Ti/石墨粉末进行高频感应处理,使其发生熔融到断路器用紫铜表面得到Ti熔覆层,分析了C含量对其组织及硬度的影响。研究结果表明:所有感应熔覆层都形成了TiC成分对应的衍射峰,在熔覆阶段Ti和石墨反应后转变为TiC。加入不同含量C后获得具有同样成分的熔覆层,提高C加入量后形成了更强的TiC衍射峰,形成了较为平整的熔覆层,并且获得了致密组织结构,整体厚度分布较为均匀,跟基体之间属于一种冶金结合状态。随着C加入量提高已观察不到短纤维形态,形成了许多等轴形态TiC。在过渡区中形成了具有短纤维结构TiC,呈现均匀的分布形态。提高C含量后,获得了显微硬度更大的Ti感应熔覆层,熔覆层组织中生成了更多TiC,使熔覆层获得更高硬度。     

基于SCA波形采样读出电子学的CSNS Back-n中子飞行时间测量

中国散裂中子源(CSNS)反角白光中子束线(Back-n)对中子核数据测量和核技术应用等多个领域均有重要意义。为监测其中子束斑轮廓、束流密度及束流能量,研制了由镀硼微网格气体(Micromegas)探测器构成的束流剖面监测装置,并通过测量中子的飞行时间(TOF)来获得能量信息。采用基于开关电容阵列(SCA)专用集成电路(ASIC)的波形采样电子学系统,实现了128路Micromegas探测器阳极条信号的低噪声放大、成形和波形数字化,在现场可编程逻辑门阵列(FPGA)芯片中实现了对信号过阈时间的实时测量,其量程为650 ns～10 ms,电子学时间分辨好于10 ns。在CSNS Back-n上开展实验,成功获得了中子束流剖面及10.65μs～10 ms范围的飞行时间谱,对应的中子能量范围约为0.16 eV～0.14 MeV。利用钽、钴等吸收体进行了中子共振吸收峰的检验,验证了读出电子学系统的功能及飞行时间测量的正确性。     

A novel three-step approach to separate cathode components for lithium-ion battery recycling

Lithium-ion batteries(LIBs) represent efficient energy storage technology that can help to alleviate fossil fuel-based CO_2 emissions.Presently,LIBs are being applied extensively in consumer electronics and electric vehicles,but because of limited resources,there is an urgent need for spent LIB recycling technologies.The complexity of LIBs,especially the electrode part,makes it difficult to achieve precision separations for each single component from the used electrode with low emissions.Herein,we propose a three-step treatment for the separation of cathode components.In detail,detaching of the current collector from the cathode is accomplished by the solvent method,which was found to be an ideal strategy compared with previous reports.Then,a thermal treatment is used to remove the polymer binder in the second step because we demonstrated that it is challenging to separate polyvinylidene fluoride(PVDF) from other cathode components by dissolution with N-methylpyrrolidone.The separation efficiency between the active material and conductive carbon by the polymer solution in the third step showed reasonably good results.We anticipate this work will serve as an important reference for the separation of each single electrode component in both laboratory-and industrialscale applications.Separation of binder and development of novel binders,which can be easily recycled for sustainable LIBs,are fruitful areas for further research.     

Neutronics analysis for MSR cell with different fuel salt channel geometries

The neutronic properties of molten salt reactors (MSRs) differ from those of traditional solid fuel reactors owing to their nuclear fuel particularity. Based on...     

A Reaction Between High Mn–High Al Steel and CaO-SiO2-Type Molten Mold Flux: Reduction of Additive Oxide Components in Mold Flux by Al in Steel

Metallurgical and Materials Transactions B - The interfacial reaction between high-Mn–high-Al steel and CaO-SiO2-type mold flux was investigated, with particular emphasis on the reduction of...     

Isolation and Characterization of Urinary Extracellular Vesicles from Healthy Donors and Patients with Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer

Prostate cancer (PCa) is the most commonly diagnosed malignancy among men in developed countries. The five-year survival rate for men diagnosed with early-stage PCa is approximately 100%, while it is less than 30% for castration-resistant PCa (CRPC). Currently, the detection of prostate-specific antigens as biomarkers for the prognosis of CRPC is criticized because of its low accuracy, high invasiveness, and high false-positive rate. Therefore, it is important to identify new biomarkers for prediction of CRPC progression. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) derived from tumors have been highlighted as potential markers for cancer diagnosis and prognosis. Specifically, urinary EVs directly reflect changes in the pathophysiological conditions of the urogenital system because it is exposed to prostatic secretions. Thus, detecting biomarkers in urinary EVs provides a promising approach for performing an accurate and non-invasive liquid biopsy for CPRC. In this study, we effectively isolated urinary EVs with low protein impurities using size-exclusion chromatography combined with ultrafiltration. After EV isolation and characterization, we evaluated the miRNAs in urinary EVs from healthy donors and patients with CRPC. The results indicated that miRNAs (miR-21-5p, miR-574-3p, and miR-6880-5p) could be used as potential biomarkers for the prognosis of CRPC. This analysis of urinary EVs contributes to the fast and convenient prognosis of diseases, including CRPC, in the clinical setting.     

氢氧发动机多余物防控设计

由于多余物的危害及航天产品高精尖的发展需要,多余物防控设计已成为产品设计不可或缺的设计准则.通过对氢氧发动机多余物的特点进行分析,发动机明确了介质精度控制要求并进行了过滤器的设计,可有效对多余物进行防控.针对氢氧发动机的低温特点,还进行了发动机"潮气及未置换干净的空气"的防控设计以防"冰堵".     

Effects of Optimized Operating Parameters on Combustion Characteristics and NO_x Emissions of a Burner based on Orthogonal Analysis

To optimize the structure of the burner,improve the combustion performance,and reduce the emission of NO_x,a self-circulating low NO_x combustion technology was used to design a new type of flue gas self-circulating low NO_x burner.Based on previous research on the numerical model of combustion and the composition of mixed gas on combustion and NO_x emissions,the effect of various factors on the ejection coefficient of the flue gas self-circulating structure was analyzed using the orthogonal test method,and the burner operating parameters,such as preheating temperature and excess air coefficient,were deeply studied through the three-dimensional finite element numerical model in this paper.The results show that the diameter ratio of the nozzle and the length of the cylindrical section of the flue gas self-circulating structure have great influence on its ejection and mixing ability.The optimal ejection coefficient was 0.4829.Overall,the amount of NO_x emissions greatly increased from 6.23×10~(-6) (volume fraction) at the preheating temperature 973 K to 3.5×10~(-3) at preheating temperature 1573 K.When the excess air coefficient decreased from 1.2 to 1,the maximum combustion temperature decreased from 2036.3 K to 1954.22 K,and the NO_x emissions decreased from 352.29×10~(-6) to 159.73×10~(-6).