Axial coordination engineering for single-atom catalysts in bifunctional oxidation of NO and mercury.

Coal-fired power plants are major emitters of nitrogen oxides (NO) and elemental mercury (Hg), both of which pose significant environmental and health risks. While wet flue gas desulfurization (WFGD) and electrostatic precipitators (ESP) are effective in removing oxidized mercury (Hg) and particulate-bound mercury (Hg), capturing volatile Hg remains a significant challenge. Catalytic oxidation is a promising approach to convert NO and Hg into their more easily captured oxidized forms (NO and Hg), highlighting the need for highly efficient catalysts.

Exploring strain-level diversity in the gut microbiome through mucin particle adhesion.

Unlabelled: Mucin glycoproteins are a significant source of carbon for the gut bacteria. Various gut microbial species possess diverse hydrolytic enzymes and catabolic pathways for breaking down mucin glycans, resulting in competition for the limited nutrients within the gut environment. Adherence to mucin glycans represents a crucial strategy used by gut microbes to access nutrient reservoirs.

The Mucus-Binding Factor Mediates CRL1505 Adhesion but Not Immunomodulation in the Respiratory Tract.

CRL1505 possesses immunomodulatory activities in the gastrointestinal and respiratory tracts when administered orally. Its adhesion to the intestinal mucosa does not condition its beneficial effects. The intranasal administration of CRL1505 is more effective than the oral route at modulating immunity in the respiratory tract.

Establishment of porcine fecal-derived microbial communities to evaluate the impact of livestock feed on gut microbiome.

Sustainable livestock production requires reducing competition for food and feed resources and increasing the utilization of food by-products in livestock feed. This study describes the establishment of an anaerobic batch culture model to simulate pig microbiota and evaluate the effects of a food by-product, wakame seaweed stalks, on microbial communities. We selected one of the nine media to support the growth of a bacterial community most similar in composition and diversity to that observed in pig donor feces.

evaluation of the immunomodulatory and wakame assimilation properties of strains from swine milk.

The emergence and spread of antibiotic resistance threat forced to explore alternative strategies for improving the resistance to pathogens in livestock production. Probiotic lactic acid bacteria represent an alternative for this objective. In this study, seven strains from porcine colostrum and milk were isolated, identified and characterized in terms of their abilities to modulate immunity in porcine intestinal epithelial (PIE) cells.

Precise coordination of high-loading Fe single atoms with sulfur boosts selective generation of nonradicals.

Nonradicals are effective in selectively degrading electron-rich organic contaminants, which unfortunately suffer from unsatisfactory yield and uncontrollable composition due to the competitive generation of radicals. Herein, we precisely construct a local microenvironment of the carbon nitride-supported high-loading (~9 wt.%) Fe single-atom catalyst (Fe SAC) with sulfur via a facile supermolecular self-assembly strategy.

Effects of intermetal distance on the electrochemistry-induced surface coverage of M-N-C dual-atom catalysts.

The often-overlooked electrocatalytic bridge-site poisoning of the emerging dual-atom catalysts (DACs) has aroused broad concerns very recently. Herein, based on surface Pourbaix analysis, we identified a significant change in the electrochemistry-induced surface coverages of DACs upon changing the intermetal distance. We found a pronounced effect of the intermetal distance on the electrochemical potential window and the type of pre-covered adsorbate, suggesting an interesting avenue to tune the electrocatalytic function of DACs.

Rational Design of Goethite-Sulfide Nanowire Heterojunctions for High Current Density Water Splitting.

The preparation of efficient and stable bifunctional electrocatalysts for electrochemical overall water splitting (OWS) to scale up commercial hydrogen production remains a great challenge. Here, we synthesized heterojunction structures consisting of CoS/NiS nanowire arrays and amorphous goethite (FeOOH, α-phase) particles as efficient OWS catalysts using an interface engineering strategy. The interfacial charge inhomogeneity caused by the heterojunction contact leads to the generation of a built-in electric field, which makes the electron-deficient FeOOH and electron-rich CoS/NiS favorable for hydrogen/oxygen evolution reaction, respectively, thus ensuring the excellent activity of FeOOH/CoS/NiS as a bifunctional catalyst.

Establishment of a porcine bronchial epithelial cell line and its application to study innate immunity in the respiratory epithelium.

culture models that precisely mirror the porcine respiratory epithelium are needed to gain insight into how pathogens and host interact. In this study, a new porcine bronchial epithelial cell line, designated as PBE cells, was established from the respiratory tract of a neonatal pig. PBE cells assumed a cobblestone-epithelial like morphology with close contacts between the cells when they reached confluence.

Surface states of dual-atom catalysts should be considered for analysis of electrocatalytic activity.

Experimentally well-characterized dual-atom catalysts (DACs), where two adjacent metal atoms are stably anchored on carbon defects, have shown some clear advantages in electrocatalysis compared to conventional catalysts and emerging single-atom catalysts. However, most previous theoretical studies directly used a pristine dual-atom site to analyze the electrocatalytic activity of a DAC. Herein, by analyzing 8 homonuclear and 64 heteronuclear DACs structures with ab initio calculations, our derived surface Pourbaix diagrams show that the surface states of DACs generally differ from a pristine surface at electrocatalytic operating conditions.

The Mucus Binding Factor Is Not Necessary for CRL1505 to Exert Its Immunomodulatory Activities in Local and Distal Mucosal Sites.

Both viable and non-viable orally administered CRL1505 modulate immunity in local (intestine) and distal (respiratory) mucosal sites. So, intestinal adhesion and colonization are not necessary for this probiotic strain to exert its immunomodulatory effects. In this work, a mucus-binding factor knockout CRL1505 strain (ΔCRL1505) was obtained and the lack of binding ability to both intestinal epithelial cells and mucin was demonstrated in vitro.

Surface Design Strategy of Catalysts for Water Electrolysis.

Hydrogen, a new energy carrier that can replace traditional fossil fuels, is seen as one of the most promising clean energy sources. The use of renewable electricity to drive hydrogen production has very broad prospects for addressing energy and environmental problems. Therefore, many researchers favor electrolytic water due to its green and low-cost advantages.

CRL 581 Differentially Modulates TLR3-Triggered Antiviral Innate Immune Response in Intestinal Epithelial Cells and Macrophages.

subsp. CRL 581 beneficially modulates the intestinal antiviral innate immune response triggered by the Toll-like receptor 3 (TLR3) agonist poly(I:C) in vivo. This study aimed to characterize further the immunomodulatory properties of the technologically relevant starter culture subsp.

Manipulating the Conversion Kinetics of Polysulfides by Engineering Oxygen p-Band of Halloysite for Improved Li-S Batteries.

Polar oxides are widely used as the cathodes to impede the shuttle effect in lithium-sulfur batteries, but suffer from the sluggish desorption and conversion of polysulfides due to too strong affinity of polysulfides on oxygen sites. Herein, employing halloysite as a model, an approach to overcome these shortcomings is proposed via engineering oxygen p-band center by loading titanium dioxide nanoparticles onto Si-O surface of halloysite. Using density functional theory calculations, it is predicted that electron transfer from titanium dioxide nanoparticles to interfacial O sites results in downshift of p-band center of O sites that promote desorption of polysulfides and the cleavage of Li-S and S-S, accelerating the conversion kinetics of polysulfides.

Strains Isolated From the Porcine Gut Modulate Innate Immune Responses in Epithelial Cells and Improve Protection Against Intestinal Viral-Bacterial Superinfection.

Previously, we constructed a library of strains from the intestine of wakame-fed pigs and reported a strain-dependent capacity to modulate IFN-β expression in porcine intestinal epithelial (PIE) cells. In this work, we further characterized the immunomodulatory activities of strains from wakame-fed pigs by evaluating their ability to modulate TLR3- and TLR4-mediated innate immune responses in PIE cells. Two strains with a remarkable immunomodulatory potential were selected: FFIG35 and FFIG58.

Immunobiotic Feed Developed with subsp. TUA4408L and the Soymilk By-Product Okara Improves Health and Growth Performance in Pigs.

subsp. TUA4408L is able to differentially modulate the innate immune response of porcine intestinal epithelial cells triggered by TLR4 activation. This strain also has a remarkable ability to grow on plant substrates.

Effect of Dietary Supplementation of Immunobiotic N14 Fermented Rakkyo () Pickled Juice on the Immunocompetence and Production Performance of Pigs.

Rakkyo (), is a Japanese leek that is primarily used to make a popular sweet or sour pickled dish. Lactic acid bacteria are often involved in the preparation steps of fermented pickles, which helps in the effective preservation of the natural bioactive compounds of fruits and vegetable, and thereby exert several health benefits including immunomodulation and growth performance. This work aimed to evaluate the in vivo effects of adding N14 fermented rakkyo pickled juice as feed supplement on the immunocompetence and production performance of pigs.

Functional and Genomic Characterization of TUCO-L2 Isolated From Milk: A Promising Immunobiotic Strain to Combat Infections.

Potential probiotic or immunobiotic effects of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) isolated from the milk of the South American camelid llama () have not been reported in published studies. The aim of the present work was to isolate beneficial LAB from llama milk that can be used as potential probiotics active against bacterial pathogens. LAB strains were isolated from llama milk samples.

Selection of Immunobiotic Strains from the Intestinal Tract of Wakame-Fed Pigs: Functional and Genomic Studies.

In this article, FFIG strains, isolated from the intestinal tract of wakame-fed pigs, are characterized according to their potential probiotic properties. Strains were evaluated by studying their interaction with porcine intestinal epithelial (PIE) cells in terms of their ability to regulate toll-like receptor (TLR)-3- or TLR4-mediated innate immune responses, as well as by assessing their adhesion capabilities to porcine epithelial cells and mucins. These functional studies were complemented with comparative genomic evaluations using the complete genome sequences of porcine strains selected from subgroups that demonstrated different "immune" and "adhesion" phenotypes.

Draft Genome Sequence of Ligilactobacillus salivarius FFIG58, Isolated from the Intestinal Tract of Wakame-Fed Pig.

FFIG58 was isolated from the intestine of a wakame-fed pig and sequenced with an Illumina HiSeq system. FFIG58 genome sequencing revealed a genome size of 1,984,180 bp, with 1,994 protein-coding genes and a GC content of 32.9%.

Isolation and Immunocharacterization of from the Intestine of Wakame-Fed Pigs to Develop Novel "Immunosynbiotics".

Emerging threats of antimicrobial resistance necessitate the exploration of effective alternatives for healthy livestock growth strategies. 'Immunosynbiotics', a combination of immunoregulatory probiotics and prebiotics with synergistic effects when used together in feed, would be one of the most promising candidates. Lactobacilli are normal residents of the gastrointestinal tract of pigs, and many of them are able to exert beneficial immunoregulatory properties.