Holding chamber

A pressure core sampler (PCS) is considered an effective tool to retrieve marine gas hydrate cores from hydrate-bearing sediments. However, according to the sampling application statistics, the success rate of pressure coring changed from 30% to 85% in different drilling wells. Such severe fluctuation will cause huge uncertainty in the practical application of technology and economic benefits. Herein, we present a new PCS designed to improve pressure-retaining reliability. The work principle, design and calculations, and structure composition were described...

Electrochemically in-situ generation of oxygen and caustic soda is promising for sulfide management while suffers from scaling, poor inactivating capacity, hydrogen release and ammonia escape. In this study, the four-compartment electrochemical cell efficiently captured oxygen molecules from the air chamber to produce HO2 - without generating toxic by-products. Meanwhile, the catalyst layer surface of PTFE/CB-GDE maintained a relatively balanced gas-liquid micro-environment, enabling the formation of enduring solid-liquid-gas interfaces for efficient HO2 - electrosynthesis...

Wearable sweat sensors have achieved rapid development since they hold great potential in personalized health monitoring. However, a typical difficulty in practical processes is the control of working conditions for biorecognition elements, e.g., pH level and ionic strength in sweat may decrease the affinity between analytes and recognition elements. Here, we developed a wearable sensing device for cortisol detection in sweat using an aptamer as the recognition element. The device integrated functions of sweat collection, reagent prestorage, and signal conversion...

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Dendrobium, recognized as "Shihu" in traditional Chinese medicine, holds a rich history of medicinal utilization documented in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia. Ancient texts like "Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing" extol Dendrobium's virtues as a superior herbal medicine fortifying "Yin" and invigorating the five viscera. Dendrobium is extensively employed for the treatment of gastrointestinal inflammatory disorders, showcasing significant therapeutic efficacy, particularly against ulcerative colitis (UC), within the realm of Chinese ethnopharmacology...

Plants possess various defense mechanisms to cope with genotoxic and environmental challenges, with high temperatures posing a significant threat due to global warming. In this investigation, ten-day-old Trigonella foenum-graecum (fenugreek) seedlings were cultivated in a controlled environment chamber with conditions set at 70-80% relative humidity, a day/night cycle of 25/18 °C, and a photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) of 1000 μmol m-2  s-1 . Other groups of seedlings were subjected to temperatures of 30, 35, or 40 °C...

Hydrogen evolution is an important fuel-generating reaction that has been subject to mechanistic debate about the roles of monometallic and bimetallic pathways. The molecular iridium catalysts in this study undergo photoelectrochemical dihydrogen (H2 ) evolution via a bimolecular mechanism, providing an opportunity to understand the factors that promote bimetallic H-H coupling. Covalently tethered diiridium catalysts evolve H2 from neutral water faster than monometallic catalysts, even at lower overpotential...

BACKGROUND: Fatigue is a prominent symptom in many diseases and is strongly associated with impaired daily function. The measurement of daily function is currently almost always done with questionnaires, which are subjective and imprecise. With the recent advances of digital wearable technologies, novel approaches to evaluate daily function quantitatively and objectively in real-life conditions are increasingly possible. This also creates new possibilities to measure fatigue-related changes of daily function using such technologies...

INTRODUCTION: This is a review of commercial heliox saturation decompression procedures. The scope does not include compression, storage depth or bell excursion dive procedures. The objectives are to: identify the sources of the procedures; trace their evolution; describe the current practice; and detect relevant trends. METHODS: Eleven international commercial diving companies provided their diving manuals for review under a confidentiality agreement. RESULTS: Modern commercial diving saturation procedures are derived from a small number of original procedures (United States Navy, Comex, and NORSOK)...

Apple production holds a prominent position in Morocco's Rosaceae family. However, annual production can fluctuate due to substantial losses caused by fungal diseases affecting stored apples. Our findings emphasize that the pre-storage treatment of apples, disinfection of storage facilities, box type, and fruit sorting are pivotal factors affecting apple losses during storage. Additionally, the adopted preservation technique was significantly correlated with the percentage of damage caused by fungal infections...

Blueberries confront substantial challenges from climate change, such as rising temperatures and extreme heat, necessitating urgent solutions to ensure productivity. We hypothesized that ericoid mycorrhizal fungi (ErM) and plant growth-promoting bacteria (PGPB) would establish symbiotic relationships and increase heat stress tolerance in blueberries. A growth chamber study was designed with low (25/20°C) and high temperature (35/30°C) conditions with micropropagated blueberry plantlets inoculated with ErM, PGPB, and both...

Core-shell structure is a concentric circle structure found in nature. The rapid development of electrospinning technology provides more approaches for the production of core-shell nanofibers. The nanoscale effects and expansive specific surface area of core-shell nanofibers can facilitate the dissolution of drugs. By employing ingenious structural designs and judicious polymer selection, specialized nanofiber drug delivery systems can be prepared to achieve controlled drug release. The synergistic combination of core-shell structure and materials exhibits a strong strategy for enhancing the drug utilization efficiency and customizing the release profile of drugs...

Cultivating wheat ( Triticum aestivum ) in a closed environment offers applications in both indoor farming and in outer-space farming. Tailoring the photoperiod holds potential to shorten the growth cycle, thereby increasing the annual number of cycles. As wheat is a long-day plant, a night shorter than a critical length is required to induce flowering. In growth chambers, experiments were conducted to examine the impact of a 6 h light-dark cycle on the timing of wheat ear emergence, grain yield, and flour quality...

PURPOSE: Several techniques have been developed for graft unfolding approaches in Descemet membrane endothelial keratoplasty (DMEK). However, despite these techniques, graft deployment and configuration in eyes with deep anterior chambers remain challenging in some cases. Therefore, in this study, we described a modified technique for DMEK, known as the "double-bubble technique assisted by holding forceps." METHODS: This was a retrospective interventional case series...

BACKGROUND: In development of inhaled drugs- and formulations the measured concentration in the systemic circulation is often used as a surrogate for local dosimetry in the lungs. To further elucidate regional differences in the fate of drugs in the lungs, different aerodynamic sizes of aerosols have been used to target major airway regions. An alternative approach to achieve regional targeting of aerosols, is to use a defined aerosol bolus together with a bolus breath hold strategy. A small volume of test aerosol is intercalated and stopped at different penetration depths, to achieve increased drug deposition at chosen lung locations...

Earlier spring growth onset in temperate forests is a visible effect of global warming that alters global water and carbon cycling. Consequently, it becomes crucial to accurately predict the future spring phenological shifts in vegetation under different climate warming scenarios. However, current phenological models suffer from a lack of physiological insights of tree dormancy, and are rarely experimentally validated. Here, we sampled twig cuttings of five deciduous tree species at two climatically different locations (270 and 750 m ASL, ~2...

Hydrogen-based Fuel Cells (FCs) hold significant potential as energy conversion technologies. In a previous study, we presented a pump-based hydrogen generator (PHG) that utilizes a catalytic reaction between sodium borohydride (NaBH4 ) powder and water. The pump circulates the water solution through the powder chamber in a closed-loop reaction. The PHG demonstrated clear advantages over alternative hydrogen sources in terms of both safety and energy density. However, as operating time increases, the solution in the closed-loop PHG becomes saturated, causing the reaction rate to decline...

Pain mitigation strategies for disbudding in goat kids have gained significant attention in recent years because of growing concerns for animal welfare. Disbudding, the removal of horn buds in young goats, is a common practice to enhance safety and manage herd dynamics. However, the procedure will cause pain and distress if not managed effectively. This review covers the array of pain mitigation techniques currently available for disbudding, including the efficacy of these strategies in reducing pain and stress during the disbudding process, with specific attention to the potential toxicity associated with local anesthetics...

The Nai plum (Prunus salicina var. cordata cv. Younai) holds significance as an important deciduous fruit crop in China. In July 2023, symptoms of postharvest fruit rot were observed on Nai plum with a 10% disease incidence of harvested fruits in three supermarkets, located in Nanchang City, Jiangxi Province, China. Infected fruits displayed brown, circular lesions, accompanied by a transition in the surrounding peel color from cyan to red. To investigate the causal agent, small sections (3 to 4 mm2) from the periphery of ten infected fruits were subjected to surface sterilization using 75% ethanol for 30 seconds...

A micro turbine engine's thrust relies on combustion chamber efficiency, closely tied to the design of its evaporation tube. This study thoroughly investigates evaporation and atomization processes within the tube, introducing a pioneering bionic-inspired structure. Integrating a honeycomb sheet into the traditional tube, both configurations undergo a comparative analysis. Results show a direct correlation between elevated air temperatures and reduced fuel droplet diameters, leading to increased fuel evaporation rates...

The plasma technique has been widely used to modify the surfaces of materials. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the probability of controlling the prednisolone delivery velocity on a polylactic acid (PLA) surface modified by plasma surface treatment. Surface modification of PLA was performed at a low-pressure radio frequency under conditions of 100 W power, 50 mTorr chamber pressure, 100~200 sccm of flow rate, and Ar, O2, and CH4 gases. The plasma surface-modified PLA was characterized using scanning emission microscope, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and contact angle measurements...