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Nanomaterials (Basel, Switzerland) Jun 2024With the rapid development of electronic technology and large-scale integrated circuit devices, it is very important to develop thermal management materials with high...
With the rapid development of electronic technology and large-scale integrated circuit devices, it is very important to develop thermal management materials with high thermal conductivity. Silicon carbide whisker-reinforced copper matrix (Cu/SiCw) composites are considered to be one of the best candidates for future electronic device radiators. However, at present, most of these materials are produced by high-temperature and high-pressure processes, which are expensive and prone to interfacial reactions. To explore the plating solution system suitable for SiCw and Cu composite electroplating, we tried two different Cu-based plating solutions, namely a Systek UVF 100 plating solution of the copper sulfate (CuSO) system and a Through Silicon Via (TSV) plating solution of the copper methanesulfonate (Cu(CHSO)) system. In this paper, Cu/SiCw composites were prepared by composite electrodeposition. The morphology of the coating under two different plating liquid systems was compared, and the mechanism of formation of the different morphologies was analyzed. The results show that when the concentration of SiCw in the bath is 1.2 g/L, the surface of the Cu/SiCw composite coating prepared by the CuSO bath has more whiskers with irregular distribution and the coating is very smooth, but there are pores at the junction of the whiskers and Cu. There are a large number of irregularly distributed whiskers on the surface of the Cu/SiCw composite coating prepared with the copper methanesulfonate (Cu(CHSO)) system. The surface of the composite is flat, and Cu grows along the whisker structure. The whisker and Cu form a good combination, and there is no pore in the cross-section of the coating. The observation at the cross-section also reveals some characteristics of the toughening mechanism of SiCw, including crack deflection, bridging and whisker pull-out. The existence of these mechanisms indicates that SiCw plays a toughening role in the composites. A suitable plating solution system was selected for the preparation of high-performance Cu/SiCw thermal management materials with the composite electrodeposition process.
PubMed: 38921919
DOI: 10.3390/nano14121043 -
Nanomaterials (Basel, Switzerland) Jun 2024Compared to traditional biochar (BC), nano-biochar (NBC) boasts superior physicochemical properties, promising extensive applications in agriculture, ecological...
Compared to traditional biochar (BC), nano-biochar (NBC) boasts superior physicochemical properties, promising extensive applications in agriculture, ecological environments, and beyond. Due to its strong adsorption and migration properties, NBC may carry nutrients or pollutants to deeper soil layers or even groundwater, causing serious environmental risks. Nevertheless, the migration rules and mechanisms of NBC in soil are still unclear. Therefore, this study employed soil column migration experiments to systematically explore the migration rules and mechanisms of NBC under various flow rates, initial soil water contents, soil depths, and soil textures. The results showed that regulated by smaller particle size differences and greater surface charges, NBC exhibited a stronger migration ability compared with traditional BC. As the soil texture transitioned from fine to coarse, the migration capability of NBC significantly improved, driven by both pore structure and interaction forces as described by the DLVO theory. The migration ability of NBC was also greatly boosted as the soil transitioned from saturated to unsaturated conditions, primarily because of preferential flow. When the flow rate increased from 70% KS to 100% KS and 130% KS, the migration ability of NBC also increased accordingly, as changes in injection flow rates altered the velocity distribution of pore water. NBC in 25 cm soil columns was more prone to shallow retention compared with 10 cm soil columns, resulting in weaker overall migration ability. In addition, through fitting of the two-site kinetic model and related parameters, the penetration curves of NBC under various variable conditions were effectively characterized. These findings could offer valuable insights for NBC's future efficient, rational, and sustainable utilization, facilitating the evaluation and mitigation of its potential environmental risks.
PubMed: 38921911
DOI: 10.3390/nano14121035 -
Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) Jun 2024Thermophilic / is reported to be the first bacterial cause of gastroenteritis worldwide and the most common zoonosis in Europe. Although non-/ sp. are increasingly...
Thermophilic / is reported to be the first bacterial cause of gastroenteritis worldwide and the most common zoonosis in Europe. Although non-/ sp. are increasingly suspected to be responsible for diarrhoea or to be involved in inflammatory bowel disease, they remain poorly isolated due to their fastidious and non-thermophilic nature. Additionally, they are not targeted by commercial syndromic PCR assays. In this study, we present routine diagnostic results over 6 years (2017-2019 and 2021-2023) of sp. and related species, obtained by optimised culture from 51,065 stools by both 0.65 µm pore filtration on antibiotic-free agar, incubated in an H-enriched atmosphere at 37 °C (also known as the Cape Town protocol), and the use of selective inhibitory Butzler medium incubated at 42 °C. This allowed the isolation of 16 species, 2 species, and 2 species, providing a completely different view of the epidemiology of Campylobacterales, in which / represents only 30.0% of all isolates, while represents 44.4%. , representing only 5.5% of all Campylobacterales pre-COVID-19, represented 20.6% of all strains post-COVID-19 (218% increase; < 0.05). At the same time, the proportions of , , and decreased by 37, 53, and 28%, respectively ( < 0.05).
PubMed: 38921773
DOI: 10.3390/pathogens13060475 -
Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) May 2024alpha toxin (CPA), which causes yellow lamb disease in sheep and gas gangrene and food poisoning in humans, is produced by all types of and is the major virulence...
alpha toxin (CPA), which causes yellow lamb disease in sheep and gas gangrene and food poisoning in humans, is produced by all types of and is the major virulence determinant of type A. CPA induces hemolysis in many species, including humans, murines, sheep and rabbits, through its enzymatic activity, which dissolves the cell membrane. Recent studies have shown that some pore-forming toxins cause hemolysis, which is achieved by the activation of purinergic receptors (P2). However, the relationship between P2 receptors and non-pore-forming toxin hemolysis has not been investigated. In the present study, we examined the function of P2 receptors in CPA toxin hemolysis and found that CPA-induced hemolysis was dependent on P2 receptor activation, and this was also true for β-Hemolysin, another non-pore-forming toxin. Furthermore, we use selective P2 receptor antagonists to demonstrate that P2X1 and P2X7 play important roles in the hemolysis of human and murine erythrocytes. In addition, we found that redox metabolism was mainly involved in CPA-induced hemolysis using metabolomic analysis. We further demonstrate that CPA activates P2 receptors and then activates NADPH oxidase through the PI3K/Akt and MEK1/ERK1 pathways, followed by the production of active oxygen to induce hemolysis. These findings contribute to our understanding of the pathological effects of CPA, clarify the relationship between P2 activation and non-pore-forming toxin-induced hemolysis, and provide new insights into CPA-induced hemolysis.
PubMed: 38921752
DOI: 10.3390/pathogens13060454 -
Membranes Jun 2024The extensive application of ceramic membranes in wastewater treatment draws increasing attention due to their ultra-long service life. A cost-effective treatment for...
The extensive application of ceramic membranes in wastewater treatment draws increasing attention due to their ultra-long service life. A cost-effective treatment for high-strength swine wastewater is an urgent and current need that is a worldwide challenge. A pilot-scale sequencing batch flat-sheet ceramic membrane bioreactor (ScMBR) coupled with a short-cut biological nitrogen removal (SBNR) process was developed to treat high-strength swine wastewater. The ScMBR achieved stable and excellent removal of COD (95.3%), NH-N (98.3%), and TN (92.7%), though temperature went down from 20 °C, to 15 °C, to 10 °C stepwise along three operational phases. The COD and NH-N concentrations in the effluent met with the discharge standards (GB18596-2001). Microbial community diversity was high, and the genera and were dominant in denitritation, and was dominant in nitritation. Ceramic membrane modules of this pilot-scale reactor were separated into six layers (A, B, C, D, E, F) from top to bottom. The total filtration resistance of both the top and bottom membrane modules was relatively low, and the resistance of the middle ones was high. These results indicate that the spatial distribution of the membrane fouling degree was different, related to different aeration scour intensities demonstrated by computational fluid dynamics (CFD). The results prove that the membrane fouling mechanism can be attributed to the cake layer formation of the middle modules and pore blocking of the top and bottom modules, which mainly consist of protein and carbohydrates. Therefore, different cleaning measures should be adopted for membrane modules in different positions. In this study, the efficient treatment of swine wastewater shows that the ScMBR system could be applied to high-strength wastewater. Furthermore, the spatial distribution characteristics of membrane fouling contribute to cleaning strategy formulation for further full-scale MBR applications.
PubMed: 38921509
DOI: 10.3390/membranes14060142 -
Membranes Jun 2024Thin-film composite (TFC) membranes containing a metal-polyphenol network (MPN)-based selective layer were fabricated on a porous polyacrylonitrile support. The MPN...
Thin-film composite (TFC) membranes containing a metal-polyphenol network (MPN)-based selective layer were fabricated on a porous polyacrylonitrile support. The MPN layer was formed through coordination-based self-assembly between plant-based tannic acid (TA) and an Fe ion. For the first time, we demonstrate that TFC membranes containing TA-Fe selective layers can separate small organic solutes in aqueous media from equimolar mixtures of solutes. The effect of the assembly time on the characteristics and performance of the fabricated selective layer was investigated. An increase in the assembly time led to the formation of selective layers with smaller effective pore sizes. The tannic acid-Fe selective layer exhibited a low rejection towards neutral solutes riboflavin and poly(ethylene glycol) while high rejections were observed for anionic dyes of orange II and naphthol green B. Permeation selectivities in the range of 2-27 were achieved between neutral and charged dyes in both single- and mixed-solute experiments, indicating the significant role of Donnan exclusion and the charge-selective nature of the membranes. The rejection efficiency improved with an increasing assembly time. Overall, this study demonstrates that the assembly time is a vital casting parameter for controlling the permeance, rejection and selectivity of thin-film composite membranes with a tannic acid-Fe selective layer.
PubMed: 38921500
DOI: 10.3390/membranes14060133 -
Membranes May 2024The commercial ultrafiltration polyethersulfone (PES) membranes (10 and 100 kDa) blended with polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) were applied for the filtration of car wash...
The commercial ultrafiltration polyethersulfone (PES) membranes (10 and 100 kDa) blended with polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) were applied for the filtration of car wash wastewater. Periodical membrane rinsing with water did not prevent fouling and a decrease in permeate flux was observed. Fouling was reduced by washing the membranes with cleaning agents, which are used in car washes to clean wheels and remove insects. In addition to surfactants, these agents contain NaOH, hence the pH value of cleaning solutions was over 11. Long-term contact with such solutions resulted in the removal of PVP from the membrane matrix and an increase in pore size. The PES membranes were soaked in an alkaline solution (pH = 11.5) for 20 months, after which the 200 kDa dextran rejection decreased from 95% to 80%. To compare with the static degradation conditions, 8 weeks of alkaline agent filtration was realized, after which the dextran (200 kDa) rejection decreased below 50%. This indicated that the cross-flow of alkaline agents can accelerate the removal of components building the membrane matrix. Despite membrane degradation, the separation efficiency (the rejection of chemical oxygen demand-COD, turbidity, and surfactants) during the treatment of synthetic car wash wastewater was similar to that obtained for pristine membranes.
PubMed: 38921489
DOI: 10.3390/membranes14060122 -
Biomimetics (Basel, Switzerland) May 2024Dialysis membranes are not hemocompatible with human blood, as the patients are suffering from the blood-membrane interactions' side effects. Zwitterionic structures...
Dialysis membranes are not hemocompatible with human blood, as the patients are suffering from the blood-membrane interactions' side effects. Zwitterionic structures have shown improved hemocompatibility; however, their complicated synthesis hinders their commercialization. The goal of the study is to achieve fast functionalization for carboxybetaine and sulfobetaine zwitterionic immobilization on PES membranes while comparing the stability and the targeted hemocompatibility. The chemical modification approach is based on an aminolysis reaction. Characterization, computational simulations, and clinical analysis were conducted to study the modified membranes. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) patterns showed a lower mean roughness for carboxybetaine-modified (6.3 nm) and sulfobetaine-modified (7.7 nm) membranes compared to the neat membrane (52.61 nm). The pore size of the membranes was reduced from values above 50 nm for the neat PES to values between 2 and 50 nm for zwitterionized membranes, using Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) analysis. More hydrophilic surfaces led to a growth equilibrium water content (EWC) of nearly 6% for carboxybetaine and 10% for sulfobetaine-modified membranes. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) measurements were 12% and 16% stable water for carboxybetaine- and sulfobetaine-modified membranes, respectively. Sulfobetaine membranes showed better compatibility with blood with respect to C5a, IL-1a, and IL-6 biomarkers. Aminolysis-based zwitterionization was found to be suitable for the improvement of hemodialysis membranes. The approach introduced in this paper could be used to modify the current dialysis membranes with minimal change in the production facilities.
PubMed: 38921200
DOI: 10.3390/biomimetics9060320 -
Biomimetics (Basel, Switzerland) May 2024Biodegradable scaffolds are needed to repair bone defects. To promote the resorption of scaffolds, a large surface area is required to encourage neo-osteogenesis....
Biodegradable scaffolds are needed to repair bone defects. To promote the resorption of scaffolds, a large surface area is required to encourage neo-osteogenesis. Herein, we describe the synthesis and freeze-drying methodologies of ferric-ion (Fe) doped Dicalcium Phosphate Dihydrate mineral (DCPD), also known as brushite, which has been known to favour the in situ condition for osteogenesis. In this investigation, the role of chitosan during the synthesis of DCPD was explored to enhance the antimicrobial, scaffold pore distribution, and mechanical properties post freeze-drying. During the synthesis of DCPD, the calcium nitrate solution was hydrolysed with a predetermined stoichiometric concentration of ammonium phosphate. During the hydrolysis reaction, 10 (mol)% iron (Fe) nitrate (Fe(NO)) was incorporated, and the DCPD minerals were precipitated (Fe-DCPD). Chitosan stir-mixed with Fe-DCPD minerals was freeze-dried to create scaffolds. The structural, microstructural, and mechanical properties of freeze-dried materials were characterized.
PubMed: 38921188
DOI: 10.3390/biomimetics9060308 -
Insects May 2024Prolonged periods of host-lethal infection by entomopathogenic fungi pose challenges to the development of biological control agents. The obligate entomopathogen ,...
Transcriptomic Profiling of Bean Aphid upon Exposure to the Aphid-Obligate Entomopathogen (Entomophthoromycotina) and Screening of CytCo-Binding Aphid Proteins through a Pull-Down Assay.
Prolonged periods of host-lethal infection by entomopathogenic fungi pose challenges to the development of biological control agents. The obligate entomopathogen , however, rapidly kills aphid hosts, warranting investigation. This study investigated the interaction between and a bean aphid during the incubation period of infection, using transcriptome analysis to map host gene expression profiles. Results indicate -inoculated aphid activation of the wound healing immune responses, alongside suppression of the key molecules involved in Toll signaling, melanization, and metabolism. Furthermore, neuromotor system-related genes were upregulated, paralleling the intoxication observed in a nematode pest treated with -derived CytCo protein. To deepen interaction insights, a His-tag pull-down assay coupled with mass spectrometry analysis was conducted using CytCo as a bait to screen for potential aphid protein interactors. The proteins were identified based on the assembled transcriptome, and eleven transmembrane proteins were predicted to bind to CytCo. Notably, a protein of putatively calcium-transporting ATPase stood out with the highest confidence. This suggests that CytCo plays a vital role in killing aphid hosts, implicating calcium imbalance. In conclusion, effectively inhibits aphid immunity and exhibits neurotoxic potential, expediting the infection process. This finding facilitates our understanding of the complex host-pathogen interactions and opens new avenues for exploring biological pest management strategies in agroforestry.
PubMed: 38921103
DOI: 10.3390/insects15060388