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Binodoxys communis is a dominant endoparasitoid of aphids in cotton fields, yet empirical evidence on how temperature and humidity regulate its growth, development, and reproduction remains limited. To address this gap, we assessed the effects of both constant and fluctuating temperature, as well as various combinations of temperature and humidity, on the longevity, parasitism, and fecundity of this parasitoid. Our results revealed that adult longevity of B. communis was longer at 20 °C and 25 °C while significantly shortened at a high temperature (35 °C). Similarly, the parasitism rate, female ratio, emergence duration, and offspring longevity of the parasitoid were all superior at 20 °C and 25 °C compared to 15 °C and 35 °C. Moreover, the longevity of both male (6.96 ± 0.10 d) and female (6.88 ± 0.07 d) parasitoids was significantly extended at 25 °C and 60% RH. Temperature had a marked impact on the parasitic capability of parasitoids, with the number of Aphis gossypii parasitized daily by B. communis being significantly higher at 25 °C than at 15 °C and 35 °C. Nevertheless, humidity and the interaction between humidity and temperature had no significant influence on parasitic capacity. The parasitism of B. communis followed the Holling-II model, with the highest daily maximum parasitism observed at 25 °C. In conclusion, our study showed that 25 °C positively enhanced the fitness of B. communis, providing a valuable reference for indoor population expansion and field release of B. communis, potentially enhancing its effectiveness as a biological control agent against aphids.

Alterative nutritional foods consumed by adult parasitoids play an important role in their fitness and ability to control pests because of food scarcity in many crops. While adult parasitoids feed on various sugars, they vary in their nutritional value for parasitoids. We assessed the effects of seven sugars (fructose, glucose, sucrose, trehalose, maltose, melezitose, and sorbitol) on the longevity, parasitism ability, parasitism behavior, and flight ability of B. communis, an important parasitoid of cotton aphids. We found that access to glucose, sucrose, or fructose, increased B. communis adult longevity more than the other sugars offered. All sugars except trehalose increased the parasitism rate to more than 50% compared to the starved control (only provided with water). We then compared parasitoid behaviors of wasps fed glucose, sucrose, or fructose to that of the starved control (with access only to water) and found that those fed B. communis spent more time either examining or attacking aphids than parasitoids in the control group, which spent more time walking or resting. Also, consumption of glucose, sucrose, or fructose also significantly improved the flight ability (the total flight distance, flight time, and average flight speed) of B. communis.

Different nutritional supplements can differentially affect the reproductive performance of parasitoid wasps, and selection of optimal diets can increase parasitoid quality, increasing their effectiveness as biological control agents. Binodoxys communis (Gahan) (Hymenoptera: Aphelinidae) is the main parasitoid attacking Aphis gossypii Glover (Hemiptera: Aphidae) in Xinjiang, China. In this study we tested the effects of fructose, glucose, sucrose, trehalose, maltose, melezitose, and sorbitol on the longevity, parasitism ability, parasitism behavior, and flight ability of B. communis. We found that, compared with other sugars, B. communis fed on glucose, sucrose, or fructose had significantly greatly longevity and parasitism ability. Also, parasitoids that were fed these sugars interacted with A. gossypii more frequently during parasitization and had an enhanced ability. The above information helps in the evaluation of nutritional supplements, both to improve the parasitoid’s reproductive performance and its effectiveness as a biological control agent. Alterative nutritional foods consumed by adult parasitoids play an important role in their fitness and ability to control pests because of food scarcity in many crops. While adult parasitoids feed on various sugars, they vary in their nutritional value for parasitoids. We assessed the effects of seven sugars (fructose, glucose, sucrose, trehalose, maltose, melezitose, and sorbitol) on the longevity, parasitism ability, parasitism behavior, and flight ability of B. communis, an important parasitoid of cotton aphids. We found that access to glucose, sucrose, or fructose, increased B. communis adult longevity more than the other sugars offered. All sugars except trehalose increased the parasitism rate to more than 50% compared to the starved control (only provided with water). We then compared parasitoid behaviors of wasps fed glucose, sucrose, or fructose to that of the starved control (with access only to water) and found that those fed B. communis spent more time either examining or attacking aphids than parasitoids in the control group, which spent more time walking or resting. Also, consumption of glucose, sucrose, or fructose also significantly improved the flight ability (the total flight distance, flight time, and average flight speed) of B. communis.

This study established a constant-temperature fluorescence quantitative detection method, combining loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) with molecular beacons. The advantages of LAMP are its convenience and efficiency, as it does not require a thermocycler and results are easily visualized by the naked eye. However, a major disadvantage of current LAMP techniques is the use of indirect evaluation methods (e.g., electrophoresis, SYBR Green I dye, precipitation, hydroxynaphthol blue dye, the turbidimetric method, calcein/Mn 2+ dye, and the composite probe method), which cannot distinguish between the desired products and products of nonspecific amplification, thereby leading to false positives. Use of molecular beacons avoids this problem because molecular beacons produce fluorescence signals only when binding to target DNA, thus acting as a direct indicator of amplification products. Our analyses determined the optimal conditions for molecular beacons as an evaluation tool in LAMP: beacon length of 25–45 bp, beacon concentration of 0.6–1 pmol/μL, and reaction temperature of 60–65 °C. In conclusion, we validated a novel molecular beacon loop-mediated isothermal amplification method (MB-LAMP), realizing the direct detection of LAMP product.

Favorable thermal conditions within buildings are a necessity. Mechanical air conditioning, although effective, contributes a significant percentage of the world’s total energy use, which contributes to global warming. In addition, the refrigerants used in air conditioning also contribute to global warming. Passive means to provide thermal comfort have therefore been considered as alternative solutions. Phase-change materials (PCMs) have been considered as one passive cooling option. Although this option achieves a certain degree of effectiveness, especially in warm and dry climatic conditions, its effectiveness in warm humid climates is subdued due to its inability to handle humidity. In the present study, the suitability of a novel passive comfort provision strategy that combines a PCM and a desiccant is assessed. The passive system operates in a cycle of two phases: the moderating phase and the regenerating phase. For the proposed strategy, the regeneration process first involves the external desiccant bed, then night air drying using the regenerated external bed; the dried air subsequently regenerates the internal wall surface. The study involves the modeling of the proposed strategy and simulation of its performance. The simulation results indicate the significant potential for providing satisfactory comfort and health conditions through application of a combination of a desiccant and a PCM.

Background The present study aimed to evaluate the elimination of three common pollutants (dimethoate, benzo(a)pyrene (BaP) and bisphenol A (BPA) by different physical exercises and to assess the possible factors which could affect the pollutants elimination. Methods A total of 200 individuals who chose different kinds of exercises in accordance to their own wish were recruited. The levels of urinary pollutants were measured using β-glucuronidase hydrolysis followed by a high-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry-based method. Results Totally, the levels of dimethoate, BaP and BPA were reduced after physical exercises. However, the elimination of BaP in male was higher than that in female but the elimination of BPA in female was higher than that in male. Multivariate logistic regression showed that the degree of heart rate (HR) change was a protective factor affecting the improvement effect of dimethoate, BaP and BPA while BMI (body mass index) was a risk factor. Nevertheless, sex was a risk factor affecting the improvement of dimethoate and BaP but had a lower efficacy on BPA improvement. Conclusion The present findings indicate that physical exercises can be considered as a novel approach to eliminate pollutants level in human body and can also give suggestions for choosing specific physical exercises to male and female individuals. Moreover, those who are with higher BMI need to lose weight before eliminating pollutant level through physical exercises.

Invasive infections caused by serotype 2 (SS2) has emerged as a clinical problem in recent years. Neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) are an important mechanism for the trapping and killing of pathogens that are resistant to phagocytosis. Biofilm formation can protect bacteria from being killed by phagocytes. Until now, there have only been a few studies that focused on the interactions between bacterial biofilms and NETs. SS2 in both a biofilm state and a planktonic cell state were incubated with phagocytes and NETs, and bacterial survival was assessed. DNase I and cytochalasin B were used to degrade NET DNA or suppress phagocytosis, respectively. Extracellular DNA was stained with impermeable fluorescent dye to quantify NET formation. Biofilm formation increased up to 6-fold in the presence of neutrophils, and biofilms were identified in murine tissue. Both planktonic and biofilm cells induced neutrophils chemotaxis to the infection site, with neutrophils increasing by 85.1 and 73.8%, respectively. The bacteria in biofilms were not phagocytized. The bactericidal efficacy of NETs on the biofilms and planktonic cells were equal; however, the biofilm extracellular matrix can inhibit NET release. Although biofilms inhibit NETs release, NETs appear to be an important mechanism to eliminate SS2 biofilms. This knowledge advances the understanding of biofilms and may aid in the development of treatments for persistent infections with a biofilm component.

The formation and evolution of sulfate (SO 4 2− ) and nitrate (NO 3 − ) secondary contaminants under different stages of pollution episodes and different meteorological and emission conditions were compared, based on the simultaneous observation of fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ) and its chemical components in four heavy haze pollution episodes at 14 sampling sites in a severe cold climate region of Northeast China in winter from 2017 to 2019. The results yielded two main findings. (1) Nitrate formation during the day was mainly due to the combination of high emissions and high relative humidity (RH, 50–90%), high temperature (T, 0 to 5 °C), high atmospheric oxidizability (ozone (O 3 ) and nitrous acid (HONO) concentrations), and high ammonia (NH 3 ) concentrations. Nitrate was formed by a gas-phase homogeneous reaction of the hydroxyl radical (OH·) with nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ), sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ), and ammonia (NH 3 ). (2) The main differences in SO 4 2− formation between Northeast China and other regions were that the gas-phase oxidation process played an important role. This was mainly a result of the promotion of the gas-phase oxidation of SO 4 2− due to the high oxidizing ability and the suppression of the aqueous reaction due to the low Ts in winter and low-sulfur coal emissions. Sulfate formation mostly occurred through an aqueous phase reaction in winter, but the highest yield and the fastest production capacity were produced by the gas-phase reaction.

We report on the synthesis of magnetic molecularly imprinted polymers (m-MIPs) for the selective adsorption and separation of dibenzothiophene (DBT) from oil solution. The m-MIPs were characterized by Fourier transform infrared analysis, transmission electron microscopy, surface area and porosity analysis, and vibrating sample magnetometry. Batch mode adsorption studies were carried out to investigate the adsorption kinetics, adsorption isotherms and selective recognition. The adsorption kinetics were modeled with the pseudo-first-order and pseudo-second-order kinetics, and the adsorption isotherms were fitted with Langmuir and Freundlich models. The m-MIPs can selectively recognize DBT over similar compounds. Static adsorption experiments showed that the m-MIPs display excellent recognition capacity, selective affinity for DBT, and superparamagnetism in presence of an external magnetic field. Figure TEM images of the Fe 3 O 4 (A), Fe 3 O 4 @SiO 2 (B), Fe 3 O 4 @SiO 2 @MIPs (C) and (D). The morphology of Fe 3 O 4 , Fe 3 O 4 @SiO 2 , Fe 3 O 4 @SiO 2 @MIPs was observed by TEM. As can be observed in Fig. 2, the Fe 3 O 4 magnetic nanoparticles (Fig. 2a) had a diameter in the range of 8–16 nm, which indicated the prepared magnetic nanoparticles were superparamagnetic. It could be found from Fig. 2b and c, 2D that all samples displayed spherical shape before and after being encapsulated by silica and MIP. There are significant layers present on the surface of Fe 3 O 4 @SiO 2 , which indicated MIP has been successfully prepared.

Air pollution is a critical urban environmental issue in China; however, the relationships between air pollutants and ecological functional zones in urban areas are poorly understood. Therefore, we analyzed the spatiotemporal characteristics of four major air pollutants (particulate matter less than or equal to 2.5 µm (PM2.5) and 10 µm (PM10) in diameter, SO2, and NO2) concentrations over five ecological functional zones in Shenyang, Liaoning Province, at hourly, seasonal, and annual scales using data collected from 11 monitoring stations over 2 years. We further assessed the relationships between these pollutants and meteorological conditions and land-use types at the local scale. Peaks in PM, SO2, and NO2 concentrations occurred at 08:00–09:00 and 23:00 in all five zones. Daytime PM concentrations were highest in the industrial zone, and those of SO2 and NO2 were highest in residential areas. All four air pollutants reached their highest concentrations in winter and lowest in summer. The highest mean seasonal PM concentrations were found in the industrial zone, and the highest SO2 and NO2 concentrations were found in residential areas. The mean annual PM and SO2 concentrations decreased in 2017 in all zones, while that of NO2 increased in all zones excluding the cultural zone. The natural reserve zone had the lowest concentrations of all pollutants at all temporal scales. Pollutant concentrations of PM2.5, PM10, SO2, and NO2 were correlated with visibility, and their correlation coefficients are 0.675, 0.579, 0.475, and 0.477. Land coverage with buildings and natural vegetation negatively and positively influence air pollutant concentrations, respectively.