On the topic of color preference of lighting, it is commonly believed that the neutral interior of a light booth has minimum impact on the color perception of the experimental object. Meanwhile, agreement has not been reached on which objects should be placed in the booth. In this study, based on a meta-analysis of eight groups of psychophysical data, we demonstrate that the "perceived color preference" obtained by consecutive visual judgement in a light booth is closely related to the lit neutral environment, while the use of different experimental objects does not markedly influence the results for lighting quality assessment. Such a finding might be attributed to the inherent features of the visual cognition process of light booth experiments and it should be fully recognized by future work.

The Pb(II) binding mechanism on an annealed hematite (11 ̅02) surface was studied using crystal truncation rod (CTR) X-ray diffraction coupled with density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The best fit CTR model suggested Pb(II) sorbed selectively to one type of edge-sharing surface site (ES2) over two other potential surface sites. From the best fit model structure, it was found that the Pb surface complex species forms a trigonal pyramid geometry. The base consists of three oxygen groups, two of which are associated with the substrate surface (IO and IIIO) and one that is a distal O extending toward solution. The trigonal pyramid geometry is slightly distorted with Pb-O bond lengths ranging from 2.21 to 2.31 Å and O-Pb-O bond angles ranging from 72° to 75°. Under this structural distortion the nearest distance between Pb and Fe is found to be 3.39(1) Å. Consistent with the CTR results, DFT calculations indicate the Pb binding energy at the ES2 site is at least 0.16 eV more favorable than the other two potential binding sites considered. Using bond-valence rules we propose a stoichiometry of Pb(II) binding on the hematite (11 ̅02) surface which indicates proton release through the deprotonation of all oxygen groups bonding to Pb.

Emerging studies have addressed the role of probiotics in inflammation modulation via modifying gut microbiota. Perturbed gut microbiota is recognized as a pivotal trigger in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and manipulating gut microbiota at the early phase may be helpful to alleviate the disease based on the fact that dysbiosis occurred prior to clinical arthritis. The current study compared the effects of preventive and therapeutic treatment with Bifidobacterium adolescentis on collagen induced arthritis (CIA) in rats. Early B. adolescentis administration before CIA modelling performed better than late B. adolescentis treatment in reducing the clinical symptoms, rebalancing the pro- and anti-inflammatory responses and maintaining the fecal concentration of short chain fatty acids (SCFAs), as well as restoring the intestinal dysbiosis. Preventive B. adolescentis treatment restored the gut microbiota to a normal level while late B. adolescentis fed rats showed clearly different gut microbial profiles. In addition, there were slight discrepancies between early- and late- treatment of B. adolescentis in the production of specific auto-antibodies and tight junction proteins. All those results highlighted that early treatment of probiotics in arthritis might be a better timing for alleviating arthritis.

Being infected by SARS-CoV-2 may cause damage to multiple organs in patients, such as the lung, liver and heart. Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), reported as a SARS-CoV-2 receptor, is also expressed in human male testes. This suggests a potential risk in human male reproductive system. However, the characteristics of ACE2-positive cells and the expression of other SARS-CoV-2 process-related genes are still worthy of further investigation. Here, we performed singlecell RNA seq (scRNA-seq) analysis on 853 male embryo primordial germ cells (PGCs) and 2,854 normal testis cells to assess the effects of the SARS-CoV-2 virus on the male reproductive system from embryonic stage to adulthood. We also collected and constructed the scRNA-seq library on 228 Sertoli cells from three non-obstructive azoospermia (NOA) patients to assess the effects at disease state. We found that ACE2 expressing cells existed in almost all testis cell types and Sertoli cells had highest expression level and positive cells ratio. Moreover, ACE2 was also expressed in human male PGCs. In adulthood, the level of ACE2 expression decreased with the increase of age. We also found that ACE2 positive cells had high expressions of stress response and immune activation-related genes. Interestingly, some potential SARS-CoV-2 process-related genes such as TMPRSS2, BSG, CTSL and CTSB had different expression patterns in the same cell type. Furthermore, ACE2 expression level in NOA donors' Sertoli cells was significantly decreased. Our work would help to assess the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection in the male reproductive system.

The energetically viable fabrication of stable and highly efficient solid acid catalysts is one of the key steps in the large-scale transformation processes of biomass resources. Herein, we report the covalent modification of the classical Dawson polyoxometalate (POMs) with sulphonic acids (-SO3H) by grafting the sulfonic acid groups on the POM's surface followed by oxidation of (3-Mercaptopropyl)trimethoxysilane. The acidity of TBA6-P2W17-SO3H (TBA = tetrabutyl ammonium) has been demonstrated using 31P.NMR, clearly indicating the presence of strong Brønsted acid sites. The presence of TBA counterions renders the solid acid catalyst as a promising candidate for phase transfer catalytic processes. The TBA6-P2W17-SO3H shows remarkable activity and selectivity, excellent stability and great substrate compatibility for the esterification of free fatty acids (FFA) with methanol and conversion into biodiesel at 70 °C with >98% conversion of oleic acid in 20 min. The excellent catalytic performance can be attributed to the formation of a catalytically active emulsion, which results in a uniform catalytic behavior during the reaction leading to efficient interaction between the substrate and the active sites of the catalyst. Most importantly, the catalyst can be easily recovered and reused without any loss of its catalytic activity due to its excellent phase transfer properties. This work offers an efficient and cost-effective strategy for large scale biomass conversion applications.

In a previous study, it was demonstrated that T‑cell immune response cDNA 7 (TIRC7) levels reflect the efficacy of treatment of patients with acute graft‑versus‑host disease (GVHD). However, the pathogenesis of TIRC7 in acute GVHD remains poorly understood. Lymphocytes from patients with acute GVHD were selected as targeT cells, and the effects of TIRC7 on cytotoxic T lymphocyte antigen‑4 (CTLA‑4), T cell activation and cytokine secretion were observed by electroporation. A mouse model of acute GVHD was established; anti‑TIRC7 and anti‑CTLA‑4 monoclonal antibodies were intraperitoneally injected into recipient mice. Then, the effects of TIRC7 and CTLA‑4 on T cell activation and acute GVHD were monitored. After TIRC7 expression was downregulated, CTLA‑4 levels were decreased and STAT3 phosphorylation was reduced; conversely, the activation capacity of T lymphocytes was elevated, and the secretion of interferon‑γ and other cytokines was increased. The mice in the TIRC7 + CTLA‑4 co‑administration group exhibited the lowest acute GVHD scores, with the longest average survival time and shortest recovery time of hematopoietic reconstitution. In conclusion, the results indicated that TIRC7 may positively regulate the function of CTLA‑4 and inhibit T cell activation, thus suppressing the development and progression of acute GVHD.

This work introduces an innovative magnetic resonance (MR) imaging technology to incorporate radiofrequency (RF) coil(s) with permittivity-tunable ultrahigh dielectric constant (tuHDC) ceramics by controlling the ceramic temperature to optimize and significantly improve RF coil transmission and reception efficiencies, MR imaging sensitivity and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). The tuHDC ceramics made of composite barium strontium titanate (BST) compounds (Ba0.6Sr0.4TiO3) have low dielectric loss and very high permittivity tunability from 2,000 to 15000 by varying the ceramic temperature between 0°C to 40°C to achieve an optimal permittivity for MR imaging application. We demonstrated for the first time the proof of concept using the BST-based tuHDC-RF-coil technology for improving MR spectroscopic imaging performance of 17O nuclide at 10.5 Tesla (T) at a low ceramic temperature and 23Na nuclide at 7T at room temperature. We discovered a large and spatially independent noise reduction under an optimal ceramic temperature, which synergistically resulted in an unprecedented SNR improvement. Large improvements were also demonstrated for 1H MRI on a 1.5T clinical scanner using the same ceramics. The tuHDC-RF-coil technology is highly robust, flexible and cost-effective; it presents a technical breakthrough to significantly improve imaging sensitivity and resolution for broad MR imaging applications; and is critical to advance biomedical and neuroscience research, and improve diagnostic imaging.

Recent studies have shed light on the prophylactic effects of Lactobacilli on rheumatoid arthritis (RA). However, the modulatory mechanisms of Lactobacilli remain unclear. The current study evaluated different Lactobacillus species' ability to alleviate arthritis induced by collagen. Rats were intragastrically administered different lactobacilli cocktails two weeks before arthritis induction. The results revealed that the performance of Lactobacillus in relieving arthritis was different for some species. L. reuteri, L. casei, L. rhamnosus and L. fermentum attenuated RA through species-independent pathways that inhibited pro-inflammatory cytokines and anti-CII-antibodies; and through species-dependent immune regulation that was based on rebalancing the intestinal microbiota, and metabolites such as short-chain fatty acids. In particular, L. reuteri and L. casei weaken the Th1 immune response, while L. rhamnosus and L. fermentum impaired Th17 responses. Interestingly, L. plantarum did not alleviate arthritis although it did suppress Th1 and Th17 immune responses, while L. salivarius only delayed the onset of arthritis without influencing the immune response. In conclusion, Lactobacilli protect against collagen-induced-arthritis through both common and individual pathways.