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The band gap of rutile TiO 2 has been narrowed, via the formation of oxygen vacancies (OVs) during heat treatment in carbon powder (cHT) with embedding TiO 2 coatings. The narrowed band gap efficiently improves the visible light response of TiO 2 coatings, to further enhance the visible-light-driven photocatalytic activity. The change in OVs during cHT has been studied by manipulation of cHT temperature and time. The effect of OVs on the band structure of nonstoichiometric TiO 2- x has been further calculated by first-principles calculations. With raising the temperature, SEM images show that the nano-size fiber-like structure forms on the surface of TiO 2 coatings, and the amount of the fiber-like structure significantly increases and their size changes from nano to micro under 800 °C, contributing to cause an increase in accessible surface area. The UV–Vis results reveal that the band gap of TiO 2 has been narrowed during cHT, due to the formed oxygen vacancies. The XPS results further confirm that the formation of surface defects including OVs, and the XPS depth profile further shows the decreased relative amount of O whereas increased relative amount of carbon. Notably, after cHT for TiO 2 coatings, the photocatalytic activity first increases then decreases with raising the temperature, achieving approximately 3 times at 850 °C. The first-principles calculation suggest that the OVs in TiO 2 coatings with localized electrons could facilitate the band gap narrowing, further favoring to enhance the photocatalytic activity under visible light.

The purple nonsulfur bacteria, Rhodospirillum rubrum , is recognized as a potential strain for PHAs bioindustrial processes since they can assimilate a broad range of carbon sources, such as syngas, to allow reduction of the production costs. In this study, we comparatively analyzed the biomass and PHA formation behaviors of R . rubrum under 100% CO and 50% CO gas atmosphere and found that pure CO promoted the PHA synthesis (PHA content up to 23.3% of the CDW). Hydrogen addition facilitated the uptake and utilization rates of CO and elevated 3-HV monomers content (molar proportion of 3-HV up to 9.2% in the presence of 50% H 2 ). To elucidate the genetic events culminating in the CO assimilation process, we performed whole transcriptome analysis of R . rubrum grown under 100% CO or 50% CO using RNA sequencing. Transcriptomic analysis indicated different CO 2 assimilation strategy was triggered by the presence of H 2 , where the CBB played a minor role. An increase in BCAA biosynthesis related gene abundance was observed under 50% CO condition. Furthermore, we detected the α-ketoglutarate (αKG) synthase, converting fumarate to αKG linked to the αKG-derived amino acids synthesis, and series of threonine-dependent isoleucine synthesis enzymes were significantly induced. Collectively, our results suggested that those amino acid synthesis pathways represented a key way for carbon assimilation and redox potential maintenance by R . rubrum growth under syngas condition, which could partly replace the PHA production and affect its monomer composition in copolymers. Finally, a fed-batch fermentation of the R . rubrum in a 3-l bioreactor was carried out and proved H 2 addition indeed increased the PHA accumulation rate, yielding 20% ww -1 PHA production within six days.

Thermophilic anaerobic digestion (TAD) represents a promising approach for food waste (FW) treatment, offering significant advantages including accelerated reaction rates and increased volumetric biogas yield. However, the practical application of TAD is hindered by both the limited availability of thermophilic methanogenic consortia and heightened sensitivity to organic loading rate (OLR) fluctuations. In this study, a two-stage temperature shift strategy from mesophilic to thermophilic was implemented to establish a stable methanogenic community. The results showed that daily biogas yield increased steadily with rising fermentation temperature, reaching to a peak of 671.2 ml at 55 °C, which were 60.8% higher than that of mesophilic digestion. Microbial community analysis revealed that TAD increased the abundance of dominant hydrolytic bacteria ( e.g., Defluviitoga ) and hydrogenotrophic methanogen ( e.g., Methanoculleus ), consequently enhancing biogas production efficiency. Moreover, gradually increasing the OLR from 1.5 to 4 g VS/(L·d) significantly enhanced both biogas production and CH 4 content, achieving a peak daily biogas yield of 2264.8 ml with sustained CH 4 concentration stability (72–76%).

Since the first invention of the laser in 1960, direct lasing outside the fluorescence spectrum is deemed impossible owing to the “zero-gain” cross-section. However, when electron-phonon coupling meets laser oscillation, an energy modulation by the quantized phonon can tailor the electronic transitions, thus directly creating some unprecedented lasers with extended wavelengths by phonon engineering. Here, we demonstrate a broadband lasing (1000–1280 nm) in a Yb-doped La 2 CaB 10 O 19 (Yb:LCB) crystal, far beyond its spontaneous fluorescence spectrum. Numerical calculations and in situ Raman verify that such a substantial laser emission is devoted to the multiphonon coupling to lattice vibrations of a dangling “quasi-free-oxygen” site, with the increasing phonon numbers step-by-step ( n  = 1–6). This new structural motif provides more alternative candidates with strong-coupling laser materials. Moreover, the quantitative relations between phonon density distribution and laser wavelength extension are discussed. These results give rise to the search for on-demand lasers in the darkness and pave a reliable guideline to study those intriguing electron-phonon-photon coupled systems for integrated photonic applications.

A novel fungi pelletization-assisted bioflocculation technology was developed for efficient algae harvesting and wastewater treatment. Microalga Chlorella vulgaris UMN235 and two locally isolated fungal species Aspergillus sp. UMN F01 and UMN F02 were used to study the effect of various cultural conditions on pelletization process for fungi–algae complex. The results showed that pH was the key factor affecting formation of fungi–algae pellet, and pH could be controlled by adjusting glucose concentration and fungal spore number added. The best pelletization happened when adding 20 g/L glucose and approximately 1.2E8/L spores in BG-11 medium, under which almost 100 % of algal cells were captured onto the pellets with shorter retention time. The fungi–algae pellets can be easily harvested by simple filtration due to its large size (2–5 mm). The filtered fungi–algae pellets were reused as immobilized cells for treatment wastewaters and the nutrient removal rates of 100, 58.85, 89.83, and 62.53 % (for centrate) and 23.23, 44.68, 84.70, and 70.34 % (for diluted swine manure wastewater) for ammonium, total nitrogen, total phosphorus, and chemical oxygen demand, respectively, under both 1- and 2-day cultivations. The novel technology developed is highly promising compared with current algae harvesting and biological wastewater treatment technologies in the literature.

With the widespread application of Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is widely used to treat coronary heart disease (CHD). Although it can effectively open narrowed or occluded coronary arteries, patients still face many challenges in terms of postoperative cardiac function recovery and improvement of quality of life. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the impact of nursing cardiac rehabilitation on cardiac function and quality of life in patients with CHD after PCI. From February 2022 to February 2023, 100 patients with CHD who underwent PCI at the Tianjin Rehabilitation Center of the Joint Logistics Support Force were selected and divided into the control group (CG) and the observation group (OG). The CG received routine nursing care. The OG underwent cardiac rehabilitation nursing. Compared with the CG, the OG had a lower left ventricular end-systolic diameter and left ventricular end-diastolic diameter and a higher left ventricular ejection fraction after nursing (  < 0.05). Compared with the CG, the OG had a longer 6-min walking distance (6MWD) after nursing (  < 0.05). The incidence of adverse cardiovascular events was lower in the OG than in the CG (  = 0.025). Compared with the CG, the OG had higher World Health Organization Quality of Life-BREF (WHOQOL-BREF) scores in all fields after nursing (  < 0.05). Nursing satisfaction was higher in the OG than in the CG (  = 0.014). Nursing cardiac rehabilitation can promote cardiac function and quality of life in patients with CHD after PCI, which has high clinical significance.

Objective To explore the relationship of MRI morphology of primary rectal cancer with extramural vascular invasion (EMVI), metastasis and local recurrence. Materials and methods This retrospective study included 153 patients with rectal cancer. Imaging factors and histopathological index including nodular projection (NP), cord sign (CS) at primary tumor margin, irregular nodules (IN) of mesorectum, MRI-detected peritoneal reflection invasion (PRI), range of rectal wall invasion (RRWI), patterns and length of tumor growth, maximal extramural depth (EMD), histologically confirmed local node involvement (hLN), MRI T stage, MRI N stage, MRI-detected extramural vascular invasion (mEMVI) and histologically confirmed extramural vascular invasion (hEMVI) were evaluated. Determining the relationship between imaging factors and hEMVI, synchronous metastasis and local recurrence by univariate analysis and multivariable logistic regression, and a nomogram validated internally via Bootstrap self-sampling was constructed based on the latter. Results Thirty-eight cases of hEMVI, fourteen cases of synchronous metastasis and ten cases of local recurrence were observed among 52 NP cases. There were 50 cases of mEMVI with moderate consistency with hEMVI (Kappa = 0.614). NP, CS, EMD and mEMVI showed statistically significant differences in the negative and positive groups of hEMVI, synchronous metastasis, and local recurrence. Compared to patients with local mass growth, the rectal tumor with circular infiltration had been found to be at higher risk of synchronous metastasis and local recurrence ( P  < 0.05). NP and IN remained as significant predictors for hEMVI, and mEMVI was a predictor for synchronous metastasis, while PRI and mEMVI were predictors for local recurrences. The nomogram for predicting hEMVI demonstrated a C-index of 0.868, sensitivity of 86.0%, specificity of 79.6%, and accuracy of 81.7%. Conclusion NP, CS, IN, large EMD, mEMVI, and circular infiltration are significantly associated with several adverse prognostic indicators. The nomogram based on NP has good predictive performance for preoperative EMVI. mEMVI is a risk factor for synchronous metastasis. PRI and mEMVI are risk factors for local recurrence.

Background Lenvatinib and lenvatinib-based combination treatments are widely used in patients with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (uHCC) in clinical practice, but their curative effect and safety need further study in the real world. Methods This was a retrospective study involving patients with uHCC receiving lenvatinib monotherapy and lenvatinib-based combination treatment between Nov, 2018 and Sep, 2020 in Nanfang Hospital. Efficacy was evaluated with objective response rate (ORR), disease control rate (DCR), progression-free survival (PFS), time to tumor progression (TTP), and overall survival (OS). Treatment-related adverse events (TRAEs) were recorded and graded. Efficacy and safety of monotherapy and combination therapy were compared. Stratified analysis was performed according to systemic line of treatment and medication regimen for combination therapy. Results For lenvatinib monotherapy (n = 39), OS and PFS were 80 weeks and 24.3 weeks, respectively. For combination treatment (n = 72), median OS and PFS were 99 weeks and 45.6 weeks, respectively. OS, PFS, and TTP for patients in the combination treatment cohort were significantly longer compared to those of patients in the monotreatment cohort (OS: P = 0.04, PFS: P = 0.003; TTP, P = 0.005). The incidence of TRAEs could be controlled both in the monotherapy cohort and the combination treatment cohort. In the monotherapy cohort, OS and PFS were significantly decreased in the second-line treatment group compared with the first-line treatment group, while no differences were observed in the combination cohort. The efficacy of triple therapy (lenvatinib plus PD-1 antibody plus TACE or HAIF) was similar to lenvatinib plus PD-1 antibody or lenvatinib plus TACE or HAIF. Conclusions Our real-world study showed that lenvatinib monotherapy and lenvatinib-based combination therapy were well tolerated, with encouraging efficacies in patients with uHCC. Lenvatinib-based combination therapy showed a better curative effect compared with lenvatinib single-agent therapy. In patients who have failed first-line TKI treatment, lenvatinib-based combination therapy may be a better choice than lenvatinib single-agent therapy. Lenvatinib-based triple therapy may not have an advantage over dual therapy.

The global shortage of protein resources drives the need for sustainable microbial protein production. can convert various substrates into high-quality single-cell protein (SCP). In this study, a strain of (Gg6) was isolated and identified from cheese. Through single-factor tests and orthogonal array design, optimal fermentation conditions were established, achieving a protein content of 54.56 ± 0.05% and a protein yield of 6.12 ± 0.11 g/L in shake flask cultivation ( = 3). Phosphate (PO ) was identified as the key regulatory ion, and supplementation with potassium dihydrogen phosphate (KH PO ) significantly enhanced amino acid accumulation. Transcriptomic analysis revealed that KH PO reprograms central carbon metabolism to support amino acid biosynthesis. These findings provide an experimental and theoretical basis for the industrial application and genetic improvement of this strain in microbial protein production.

With increasing global greenhouse gas emissions, carbon dioxide (CO2) reduction and fixation has become an important issue for global environmental protection. The use of microalgae photosynthesis to fix CO2 is a green method to reduce carbon emissions. This can also realize the resourceful use of carbon, which is in line with a sustainable development strategy. This study addresses the problem of limited light absorption and utilization efficiency of microalgae. This can result in low photosynthetic carbon sequestration efficiency. How to enhance the photosynthetic carbon sequestration performance of microalgae is the core of this study. We constructed a microalgae carbon sequestration reaction system and added manganese ferrite nanomaterials to the microalgae reaction system to improve the photosynthetic carbon sequestration efficiency of the microalgae. The results show that the addition of 90 mg/L of manganese ferrite nanoparticles offered a significant growth advantage for microalgae. This increased the photosynthetic reaction activity by promoting the electron transfer rate. This significantly enhanced the photosynthetic carbon fixation efficiency of the microalgae, when held under a 40% CO2 environment. The results of this study may provide a possible breakthrough for microalgal carbon sequestration. This may advance the feasibility of industrial applications for microalgal carbon sequestration.