Investigation into actions of Xiebai and Zengye decoction on cough sensitivity, airway inflammation and gut microbiota in the rat model of post-infectious cough.

This work was undertaken to observe therapeutic effect of Xiebai and Zengye (XBZY) decoction on post-infectious cough (PIC) in rats, as well as its effect on gut microbiota and the exploration of the intestinal microecological mechanisms of XBZY decoction in the treatment of PIC. Using a random number table, the rats that were successfully modelled were assigned to the PIC, XBZY group (14.8 g/kg/d), and montelukast sodium treatment (MAS) group (1 mg/kg/d).

Xiebai Zengye decoction improves respiratory function and attenuates inflammation in juvenile rats with postinfection cough via regulating ERK signaling pathway.

This study aimed to determine the effects of Xiebai Zengye decoction (XBZY) on airway inflammation and respiratory function in rats with postinfectious cough (PIC), and its regulatory effects on the extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) signaling pathway. Compared with the normal group, the rats from the PIC group had significantly shortened expiratory time (TE) and enhanced pause (EEP), increased resistance (RT), and enhanced pause (Penh), along with increased levels of serum interleukin-4 (IL-4) and IL-6, and decreased levels of IL-10. The lung and colon tissues of rats from the PIC group showed histopathological changes, including inflammatory cell infiltration, damaged mucosal epithelium, and crypt structure, with significantly increased ERK mRNA and protein expression levels.

Chemical characteristics and regional transport of submicron particulate matter at a suburban site near Lanzhou, China.

Lanzhou, which is a valley city on the Loess Plateau, frequently suffered from aerosol pollution in recent years, especially in winter. However, the lack of understanding of factors governing aerosol pollution limits the implementation of effective emission policies in and around Lanzhou. To help solve this problem, an intensive field campaign was conducted at the SACOL site, which is a suburban site near Lanzhou, in winter 2018.

Wintertime vertical distribution of black carbon and single scattering albedo in a semi-arid region derived from tethered balloon observations.

The vertical distribution of atmospheric aerosols plays an essential role in aerosol-radiation and aerosol-cloud interactions. Because of strong light absorption, the radiative effects of black carbon (BC) are highly sensitive to its vertical distribution; the lack of high-resolution observations is the reason for their poor quantification. We used a tethered balloon platform to acquire high-resolution vertical profiles of BC, particle number concentration, and meteorological parameters in the semi-arid region of Northwest China in December 2018.

High contribution of vehicle emissions to fine particulate pollutions in Lanzhou, Northwest China based on high-resolution online data source appointment.

The quantitative estimation of urban particulate matter (PM) sources is essential but limited because of various reasons. The hourly online data of PM, organic carbon (OC), elemental carbon (EC), water-soluble ions, and elements from December 2019 to November 2020 was used to conduct PM source appointment, with an emphasis on the contribution of vehicle emissions to fine PM pollution in downtown Lanzhou, Northwest China. Vehicle emissions, secondary formation, mineral dust, and coal combustion were found to be the major PM sources using the positive matrix factorization model.

Free-standing cross-linked activated carbon nanofibers with nitrogen functionality for high-performance supercapacitors.

Flexible, heteroatoms-rich activated carbon nanofibers with fascinating cross-linked architectures are successfully gained in a facile and controllable way via electrospinning polyacrylonitrile (PAN) /dicyandiamide (DICY) composite nanofibers followed by carbonation and a CO activation process. The unique inter-bonded structures and heteroatoms contents could be easily controlled by adjusting the preoxidation temperature applied in the calcining procedure and the addition of DICY. Significantly, the resultant samples display hierarchical pores with micro/meso/macropores, abundant N, O species doped and unique fiber-fiber interconnections, which considerably boost the electrochemical properties.

Wetting layer evolution and its temperature dependence during self-assembly of InAs/GaAs quantum dots.

For InAs/GaAs(001) quantum dot (QD) system, the wetting layer (WL) evolution and its temperature dependence were studied using reflectance difference spectroscopy and were analyzed with a rate equation model. WL thicknesses showed a monotonic increase at relatively low growth temperatures but showed an initial increase and then decrease at higher temperatures, which were unexpected from a thermodynamic understanding. By adopting a rate equation model, the temperature dependence of QD formation rate was assigned as the origin of different WL evolutions.

Observation of strong anisotropic forbidden transitions in (001) InGaAs/GaAs single-quantum well by reflectance-difference spectroscopy and its behavior under uniaxial strain.

The strong anisotropic forbidden transition has been observed in a series of InGaAs/GaAs single-quantum well with well width ranging between 3 nm and 7 nm at 80 K. Numerical calculations within the envelope function framework have been performed to analyze the origin of the optical anisotropic forbidden transition. It is found that the optical anisotropy of this transition can be mainly attributed to indium segregation effect.