Enhancing electrochemical performance of lignin-based carbon fibrous aerogels via boron doping.

Self-supported hardwood kraft lignin (HKL)/graphene-based carbon fibrous aerogel (L/GCA) presents a fascinating prospect as the electrode of supercapacitor due to its impress rate capacity and cyclic stability. However, the hydrophobicity nature of L/GCA hampers the ion transfer between the electrode and electrolyte, thereby limiting its electrochemical performance. To address this, we enhanced the electrochemical performance of L/GCA through boron doping based on the improvement of hydrophilicity and the re-arrangement of electron density.

Optimizing In Vivo Data Acquisition for Robust Clinical Microvascular Imaging Using Ultrasound Localization Microscopy.

Ultrasound localization microscopy (ULM) enables microvascular imaging at spatial resolutions beyond the acoustic diffraction limit, offering significant clinical potentials. However, ULM performance relies heavily on microbubble (MB) signal sparsity, the number of detected MBs, and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), all of which vary in clinical scenarios involving bolus MB injections. These sources of variations underscore the need to optimize MB dosage, data acquisition timing, and imaging settings in order to standardize and optimize ULM of microvasculature.

Alkaloids and lignans isolated from Alisma orientale exhibit anti-pulmonary fibrosis activities by modulating an apoptotic signaling pathway.

From the tuber of Alisma orientale (Sam.) Juzep. (Alismataceae), twenty-four compounds were isolated, including six (1, 2, 3, 10, 14, and 17) that were not yet characterized.

Epimesatines P-S: Four Undescribed Flavonoids from Maxim. and Their Cytotoxicity Activities.

In this study, four previously undescribed flavonoids, named epimesatines P (), Q (), R (), and S (), were isolated from the aerial parts of Maxim. Their structures and absolute configurations were confirmed via spectroscopic analyses, quantum chemical electronic circular dichroism (ECD) calculations, Mo(OAc)-induced ECD, and Rh(OCOCF)-induced ECD experiments. Epimesatines Q and R were characterized by the presence of furan rings.

Novel Quantitative Liver Steatosis Assessment Method With Ultrasound Harmonic Imaging.

Objectives: Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) is the most prevalent liver disorder in Western countries, with approximately 20%-30% of the MASLD patients progressing to severe stages. There is an urgent need for noninvasive, cost-effective, widely accessible, and precise biomarkers to evaluate liver steatosis. This study aims to assess and compare the diagnostic performance of a novel reference frequency method-based ultrasound attenuation coefficient estimation (ACE) in both fundamental (RFM-ACE-FI) and harmonic (RFM-ACE-HI) imaging for detecting and grading liver steatosis.

Controlling the graphite-like microcrystalline structure of lignin-based ultrafine carbon fibers via the design of condensed structures.

Obtaining lignin-based graphite-like microcrystallites at a relatively low carbonization temperature is still very challenging. In this work, we report a new method based on condensed structures, for regulating graphite-like microcrystalline structures via the incorporation of 4,4'-diphenylmethane diisocyanate (MDI) into the main structure of lignin. The effects of MDI on the thermal properties of lignin and the graphite-like microcrystalline structure of lignin-based ultrafine carbon fibers were extensively studied and investigated.

miRNA-142-3p aggravates hydrogen peroxide-induced human umbilical vein endothelial cell premature senescence by targeting SIRT1.

Vascular endothelial cell premature senescence plays an important part in stroke. Many microRNAs (miRNAs) are known to be involved in the pathological process of vascular endothelial cell premature senescence. The present study aimed to investigate the mechanism of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)-induced premature senescence in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) and effect of miR-142-3p on hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)-induced premature senescence.

Five new compounds from the stems of Ephedra equisetina.

Five new compounds were identified from the stems of Ephedra equisetina Bunge. Their structures were elucidated by spectroscopic methods, involving UV, IR, NMR spectrum and HRESIMS analyses. The absolute configuration of compound 2 was proved by comparing their experimental and calculated ECD spectrum.

Flavonoids and phenols from the stems of Ephedra equisetina.

Twelve undescribed compounds, including five flavonoids and seven phenols, were isolated from the stems of Ephedra equisetina Bunge. Their structures were elucidated by spectroscopic methods, including NMR spectroscopy and HRESIMS analysis. Their absolute configurations were elucidated by comparing their experimental and calculated ECD spectra.

Ultrasound-targeted microbubble destruction mediates PDE5i/NO integration for cavernosum remodeling and penile rehabilitation.

Erectile dysfunction (ED) caused by cavernous nerve injury (CNI) is refractory to heal mainly ascribed to the adverse remodeling of the penis induced by ineffectual microvascular perfusion, fibrosis, and neurotrophins scarcity in cavernosum. Phosphodiesterase type V inhibitors (PDE5i) have been regarded as an alternative candidate drug for avoiding penile neuropathy. However, the therapeutic efficacy is severely limited due to poor accumulation under systemic medication and endogenous nitric oxide (NO) deficiency in cavernosum.

Six sesquiterpenoids from the stems and leaves of Chrysanthemum morifolium Ramat and their anti-asthma activities.

Six previously undescribed sesquiterpenoids, chrysanthterpenoids H-M (1-6), were isolated from the stem and leaves of Chrysanthemum morifolium Ramat. Structure elucidation of isolated compounds was unambiguously determined based on extensive 1D and 2D NMR spectroscopic analyses. Furthermore, computational prediction of ECD was used to propose the absolute configurations of the compounds.

Multiple-Beam Steering Using Graphene-Based Coding Metasurfaces.

Recently, the coding metasurface has gained significant attention due to its exceptional potential in controlling electromagnetic (EM) waves with the rapid development of wireless communication systems. Meanwhile, graphene shows tremendous promise for the implementation of reconfigurable antennas due to its high tunable conductivity and its unique property that makes it a very suitable material for realizing steerable coded states. In this paper, we first propose a simple structured beam reconfigurable millimeter wave (MMW) antenna using a novel graphene-based coding metasurface (GBCM).

Deep Null Space Learning Improves Dataset Recovery for High Frame Rate Synthetic Transmit Aperture Imaging.

Synthetic transmit aperture (STA) imaging benefits from the two-way dynamic focusing to achieve optimal lateral resolution and contrast resolution in the full field of view, at the cost of low frame rate (FR) and low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). In our previous studies, compressed sensing based synthetic transmit aperture (CS-STA) and minimal l-norm least squares (LS-STA) methods were proposed to recover the complete STA dataset from fewer Hadamard-encoded plane wave (PW) transmissions. Results demonstrated that, compared with STA imaging, CS/LS-STA can maintain the high resolution of STA in the full field of view and improve the contrast in the deep region with increased FR.

Two new flavonoid thioglucosides from the seeds of .

Two previously undescribed flavonoid thioglucosides lepidiumflavonosides A and B () and two known megastigmane compounds (7,9)-9-hydroxy-5,7-megastigmadien-4-one 9-O--D-glucopyranoside () and (9)-4-oxo--inol -D-glucopyranoside () were isolated from the water extract of the seeds of Willd. The structural elucidation of isolated compounds was unambiguously determined based on extensive 1D and 2D NMR spectroscopic analyses. All compounds were evaluated for their estrogen-like effects on MCF-7 cells in .

Anti-Pulmonary Fibrosis Activities of Triterpenoids from .

Five new triterpenoids, oenotheralanosterols C-G (-), with seven known triterpenoidcompounds, namely 2,3,19-trihydroxy-24-norurs4,12-dien-28-oic acid (), 3,23-dihydroxy-1-oxo-olean-12-en-28-oic acid (), remangilone C (), knoxivalic acid A (), termichebulolide (), rosasecotriterpene A (), androsanortriterpene C (), were extracted and separated from the dichloromethane part of L. The anti-pulmonary fibrosis activities of all the compounds against TGF-1-induced damage tonormal human lung epithelial (BEAS-2B) cells were investigated in vitro. The results showed that compounds , , , and exhibited significant anti-pulmonary fibrosis activities, with EC values ranging from 4.

Research on Confinement Effect of the Outer Steel Tube in Notched Square CFST Columns.

The outer steel tube in a concrete-filled steel tubular (CFST) column confines the core concrete and improves the compressive strength of the core concrete. When there is a notch damage in the tube, the confinement effect may be affected. The confinement effects of the notched steel tube in rectangular CFST columns were systematically investigated by using numerical approaches.

Epimesatines A-I, nine undescribed prenylated flavonoids with SPHK1 inhibitory activities from Epimedium sagittatum maxim.

Epimesatines A-I, nine undescribed prenylated flavonoids, along with ten known analogues, were isolated from the aerial parts of Epimedium sagittatum Maxim. The structures and absolute configurations of epimesatines A-I were determined using a combination of spectroscopic data, Rh(OCOCF)-induced electronic circular dichroism (ECD) experiments, ECD comparisons, and X-ray crystallography analysis. Epimesatines A and I displayed notable activities on the viabilities of human non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) A549 cells with IC values of 1.

Alkaloids from the stem of .

Two new cyclotrypyamine alkaloids equisetinines A and B, as well as three known alkaloids () were isolated from the stems of Bunge. Their structures were characterized by spectroscopic methods, and the absolute configurations of the new compounds were determined by interpretation of their electronic circular dichroism. Anti-asthmatic activities of compounds were evaluated by releasing -Hex in C48/80-induced RBL-2H3 cells, and compound exhibited significant anti-asthmatic activities.

Lignans and terpenoids from the stem of Ephedra equisetina Bunge.

Seven undescribed lignans, equiselignan A-F, and six undescribed terpenoids, equiseterpenoid A-E (including two pairs of enantiomers, (+/-)-equiselignan A and (+/-)-equiseterpenoid E), were isolated from the stems of Ephedra equisetina Bunge. Their structures were elucidated by spectroscopic methods, and the absolute configurations of the undescribed compounds were determined by interpretation of their electronic circular dichroic (ECD) and optical rotation data. In β-hexosaminidase (β-Hex) release assay, anti-asthmatic activities of all of the compounds were evaluated by releasing β-Hex in C48/80-induced RBL-2H3 cells.

Partial Hadamard encoded synthetic transmit aperture for high frame rate imaging with minimal-norm least squares method.

Synthetic transmit aperture (STA) ultrasound imaging is well known for ideal focusing in the full field of view. However, it suffers from low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and low frame rate, because each transducer element must be activated individually. In our previous study, we encoded all the transducer elements with partial Hadamard matrix and reconstructed the complete STA dataset with compressed sensing (CS) algorithm (CS-STA).

Improved Ultrafast Power Doppler Imaging by Using Spatiotemporal Non-Local Means Filtering.

The change of microvasculature is associated with the occurrence and development of many diseases. Ultrafast power Doppler imaging (uPDI) is an emerging technology for the visualization of microvessels due to the development of ultrafast plane wave (PW) imaging and advanced clutter filters. However, the low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) caused by unfocused transmit of PW imaging deteriorates the subsequent imaging of microvasculature.