Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is recognized one of the leading metabolic diseases globally, and the younger age population with the disease is rapidly growing, especially in developed countries. Since there has been no approved medicine, losing weight is known to be the only best remedy to control or reverse the disease. Recently, the field of microbiome has attracted much attention to offer more practical choices for patients. Here, we provide experimental evidence that Streptococcus thermophilus LM1012 (LM1012), a safe probiotic strain, is effective for improving NAFLD indexes. In the methionine-choline deficient (MCD) diet induced C57BL/6 mouse model, administration of LM1012 promoted marked reductions of aspartate transaminase (23.8%), total bilirubin (27.8%), hydroxycholesterol (64.2%), triglyceride (29.7%) and IL-1β (68.3%) compared to the MCD diet alone group. Also, the histopathological data imply that LM1012 inhibited fat accumulation and inflammation in the liver, which are the key biomarkers for progression of the disease. Together, these findings suggest that human consumption of LM1012 as a healthy nutritional supplement, may be helpful in reducing the risk of liver damages in NAFLD patients.

The home hydroponic system used in this experiment supplied the nutrient solution using the ebb and flow-type system, and the supply time, interval, and water levels of the nutrient solutions were fixed. This experiment was conducted to find a more favorable growth medium for plant growth in the hydroponic system. The medium used in the experiment was of two types, phenolic foam and rockwool, and the heights were 28 and 38 mm, respectively. As for the the multipurpose nutrient solutions (GNU1 and GNU2) were prepared in the lab. The composition of the GNU1 and GNU2 was the same, and there was a difference between 100 and 70% in ion concentrations. The plants used were Ssamchoo (Brassica lee ssp. namai) and Romaine lettuce (Lactuca sativa L. var. longiflora). First, in the physicochemical measurements of the empty medium, change in the pH and EC of the distilled water passing through the medium was less in the rockwool than in the phenolic foam. This indicates that there is less change in the chemical properties of the nutrient solution due to the medium when rockwool is used. After hydroponic culture of Ssamchoo and Romaine lettuce, the medium showed more residual salts in Romaine lettuce. Both Ssamchoo and Romaine lettuce showed less salt accumulation in rockwool. The emergence rate was significantly higher in rockwool for both species. The lower height of the medium, the faster the emergence was. Ssamchoo displayed significantly higher fresh weight (124.7%), shoot length (107.6%), and leaf width (107.9%) when grown in GNU1, but there were no significant differences as affected by the medium. However, in Romaine lettuce, the type and height of the medium resulted in significant differences. The fresh weight of Romaine lettuce was significantly higher in rockwool (119.6%) than in phenolic foam, and significantly higher at 38 (114.6%) than 28 mm. Although there is a difference depending on the species, rockwool is more suitable for the ebb and flow-type system than phenolic foam, and the height of 38 is more advantageous than 28 mm.

Few studies have been performed on ZrB2- graphite platelet composite made by spark plasma sintering (SPS) technique. In this research, the influence of adding graphite platelets (Gp) with and without SiC on the fracture toughness of ZrB2 ceramic was studied. The ZrB2- 10Gp, ZrB2- 15Gp, ZrB2- 30SiC-10Gp, and ZrB2- 30SiC-15Gp specimens were sintered by the SPS method at the temperature of 1850 °C for 8 min. The fracture toughness and work of fracture (WOF) were evaluated using the Single-Edge Notched Beam (SENB) technique. It was found that the fracture toughness and WOF were improved by the alone and combined addition of Gp and SiC to the monolithic ZrB2. The maximum fracture toughness of 4.8 ± 0.1 MPa m1/ 2 was obtained for the ZrB2- 15Gp specimen. It seems that adding Gp alone was more effective in enhancing the fracture toughness of ZrB2 than the combined addition of Gp and SiC. While the addition of Gp and SiC simultaneously modified the densification behavior to reach full-densified samples.

There is an ever growing interest in the development of biochar from a large variety of agrowastes. Herein, the main objective is the conversion of pomegranate peel powder biochar and its post-functionalization by phosphoric acid treatment, followed by arylation organic reaction. The latter was conducted using in situ-generated diazonium salts of 4-aminobenzoic acid ( H2N-C6H4-COOH), sulfanilic acid ( H2N-C6H4-SO3H) and Azure A dye. The effect of diazonium nature and concentration on the arylation process was monitored using thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) and Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). SEM pictures showed micrometer-sized biochar particles with tubular structure having about 10–20 μm-wide channels. SEM studies have shown that arylation did not affect the morphology upon arylation. The porous structure did not collapse and withstood the arylation organic reaction in acid medium did not collapse upon arylation. TGA and Raman indicated gradual changes in the arylation of biochar at initial concentrations 10– 5, 10– 4 and 10– 3 mol L− 1 of 4-aminobenzoic acid. The detailed Raman spectra peak fittings indicate that the D/G peak intensity ratio leveled off at 3.35 for 4-aminobenzoic acid initial concentration of 10– 4 mol L− 1, and no more change was observed, even at higher aryl group mass loading. This is in line with formation of oligoaryl grafts rather than the grafting of new aryl groups directly to the biochar surface. Interestingly, Azure A diazonium salt induced much lower extent of surface modification, likely due to steric hindrance. To the very best of our knowledge, this is the first report on diazonium modification of agrowaste-derived biochar and opens new avenues for arylated biochar and its applications.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is one of the most common forms of dementia, affecting more than 50 million people globally. The onset of AD is linked to age, smoking, obesity, hypercholesterolemia, physical inactivity, depression, gender, and genetics of an individual. The accumulation of Aβ peptides and neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) in the brain is one of the critical factors that lead to AD, which is known to disrupt neuronal signaling and causing neurodegeneration. As per the current understanding, inhibiting the accumulation of Aβ peptides and NFTs is crucial in the management/treatment of AD. Latest research studies show that nanoparticles have the potency of improving drug transport across the blood–brain barrier easily. Specifically, graphene quantum dots (GQDs), a type of semiconducting nanoparticles, have been established as effective inhibitors for blocking the aggregation of Aβ peptides. The small size of GQDs allows them to pass through the blood– brain barrier with ease. Moreover, GQDs have fluorescence properties, which can be used to detect the concentration of Aβ in vivo. In recent years, compared to other carbon materials, the low cytotoxicity and high biocompatibility of GQDs, give them an advantage in the suitability and clinical research for AD. In this manuscript, we have discussed the role of different types of nanoparticles in the transportation of encapsulated or co-assembled compound drugs for the treatment of AD and importantly, the role of GQDs in the diagnosis and management/treatment of AD.

The low-temperature sinterability of TiO2-CuO systems was investigated using a solid solution of SnO2. Sample powders were prepared through conventional ball milling of mixed raw powders. With the SnO2 content, the compositions of the samples were Ti1-xSnxO2-CuO(2 wt.%) in the range of x  0.08. Compared with the samples without SnO2 addition, the densification was enhanced when the samples were sintered at 900oC. The dominant mass transport mechanism seemed to be grain-boundary diffusion during heat treatment at 900oC, where active grain-boundary diffusion was responsible for the improved densification. The rapid grain growth featured by activated sintering was also obstructed with the addition of SnO2. This suggested that both CuO as an activator and SnO2 dopant synergistically reduced the sintering temperature of TiO2.

The objective of this experiment was to investigate the effect of drip irrigation volume on tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum L.) grown in a greenhouse using perlite medium. Plants were treated by three different irrigation treatment I0, I25, and I50 (where irrigation volume of I25 and I50 was 25% and 50% higher than I0, having limited or no leaching). Growth characteristics of plants, yield and water use efficiency were measured. The result showed that plant height, leaf length and leaf width were lowest in the I0 treated plants. However, these parameters were not statistically significant differences between the plants that were grown in the I25 and I50 treatment. Soluble solids content, acidity and dry matter of 111th, 132nd, and 143rd days harvested tomato were higher in the plants irrigated with lowest volume (I0) than the higher volume (I25 or I50). In addition, water content was lower in the 111th and 132nd days of harvested tomatoes from the I0 treatment. The number of big-size tomatoes (>180 g) was significantly higher in the I25 irrigated plants. There was no significant difference in the total number of harvested fruits among the treatments. The average fruit weight and total yield of harvested tomatoes were lowest in the I0 treated plants. The water consumption of tomato was not significantly different amongst the treatments but water use efficiency was lowest in the I0 treatment. Principal component analysis revealed that total soluble solid and acidity of tomato showed a positive correlation between each other. These results suggest that I25 was the optimum irrigation treatment for tomato based on its measured growth characteristics, yield and water use efficiency.

We complete the survey for finite-source/point-lens (FSPL) giant-source events in 2016–2019 KMTNet microlensing data. The 30 FSPL events show a clear gap in Einstein radius, 9 μas < θE < 26 μas, which is consistent with the gap in Einstein timescales near tE ∼ 0.5 days found by Mr´oz et al. (2017) in an independent sample of point-source/point-lens (PSPL) events. We demonstrate that the two surveys are consistent. We estimate that the 4 events below this gap are due to a power-law distribution of freefloating planet candidates (FFPs) dNFFP/d logM = (0.4 ± 0.2) (M/38 M⊕)−p/star, with 0.9 ≲ p ≲ 1.2. There are substantially more FFPs than known bound planets, implying that the bound planet power-law index γ = 0.6 is likely shaped by the ejection process at least as much as by formation. The mass density per decade of FFPs in the Solar neighborhood is of the same order as that of ‘Oumuamua-like objects. In particular, if we assume that ‘Oumuamua is part of the same process that ejected the FFPs to very wide or unbound orbits, the power-law index is p = 0.89 ± 0.06. If the Solar System’s endowment of Neptune-mass objects in Neptune-like orbits is typical, which is consistent with the results of Poleski et al. (2021), then these could account for a substantial fraction of the FFPs in the Neptune-mass range.