The development of effective catalysts for the electrocatalytic carbon dioxide reduction reaction (CO 2 RR) to two-carbon (C 2 ) products is a practical approach to solve the energy crisis and stabilize the carbon cycle of the ecosystem. The production of electrocatalytic CO 2 RR with copper metal shows low selectivity and mainly generates one-carbon (C 1 ) products, hindering its wide practical application. The use of copper (I) oxide (Cu 2 O) in electrocatalysis has attracted intense research attention because it can more efficiently produce C 2 products with high energy density such as ethylene (C 2 H 4 ) and ethane (C 2 H 6 ). We use an amino-modified Cu 2 O catalyst (NH 2 À Cu 2 O) for electrocatalytic CO 2 RR to obtain significantly increased production of the CO and C 2 products. Electrochemical in-situ infrared spectroscopy analysis was used to detect the presence of the *COOH and *CHO reaction intermediates. Density functional theory calculations showed that the amino (À NH 2 ) modification reduces the free energy of the *CO!*CHO reaction that is the ratedetermining step in C 2 H 4 production. Our results show that amino modification can promote the protonation of *CO and *CHO carbon-carbon coupling to produce C 2 H 4 . Thus, aminomodified copper-based catalysts are promising materials for application in electrocatalytic CO 2 RR to multi-carbon products.
-The impact of dietary 2-hydroxy-4-(methylthio) butyric acid isopropyl ester (HMBi) on rumen fermentation in cashmere goats was investigated to determine the effect of this ester on cashmere production. Four healthy castrated Liaoning cashmere goats with permanent rumen cannulas were assayed for four periods. In each period, goats were fed a different diet: control diet (containing 0% MetaSmart (an HMBi product)), diet I (containing 0.85% MetaSmart), diet II (containing 1.27% MetaSmart) or diet III (containing 1.70% MetaSmart). Rumen pH, ammonia-N concentration, volatile fatty acid (VFA) concentrations and total protein concentration were determined after feeding in each period. Results showed that rumen pH significantly increased and rumen ammonia-N concentration significantly decreased when the diet was supplemented with 0.85%, 1.27% and 1.70% MetaSmart. Diets with 1.27% and 1.70% MetaSmart increased rumen total VFA concentration, and 3 hours post feeding all three HMBi diets increased acetic acid concentration. Rumen total protein concentration significantly increased in the goats fed 1.27% or 1.70% MetaSmart. Thus, diets supplemented with HMBi significantly affected rumen pH, ammonia-N concentration, VFA concentrations and total protein content. Dietary HMBi can promote rumen fermentation in cashmere goats.Key Words: 2-hydroxy-4-(methylthio) butyric acid isopropyl ester, rumen ammonia-N, rumen pH, rumen total protein, rumen volatile fatty acids
Background
Exploring the role of vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) in the lateral geniculate body (LGBd) in visual development and studying the therapeutic effect of VIP on amblyopic kittens.
Methods
Three-week-old domestic cats were divided into a control group (
n =
10) and a monocular deprivation group (
n
= 20), with an eye mask covering the right eye of those in the deprived group. After pattern visual evoked potential (PVEP) recording confirmed the formation of monocular amblyopia, the left LGBd was isolated from 5 kittens in each group. The remaining control kittens continued to be raised, and the remaining deprivation group was divided into a VIP intervention group (
n
= 5), Sefsol (caprylic acid monoglyceride, VIP solution) intervention group (
n =
5) and amblyopia non-intervention group (
n
= 5) after removal of the eye mask. Three weeks later, PVEPs, VIP immunohistochemistry and VIP mRNA expression in the left LGBd were compared across groups.
Results
At 6 weeks of age, there were significant differences in P100 wave latency and amplitude and VIP immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridization between the control group and the deprivation group (
P
< 0.05). After 3 weeks of the corresponding interventions, the latency and amplitude in the VIP intervention group were better than that in the Sefsol intervention group and amblyopia non-intervention group (
P
< 0.05). Furthermore, VIP treatment increased the number of immunohistochemical VIP-positive cells (
P
< 0.05) and the average optical density of positive cells (
P
> 0.05), as well as the number (
P
< 0.05) and average optical density of VIP mRNA-positive cells (
P
< 0.05).
Conclusions
VIP plays an important role in visual development. Nasal administration of VIP can improve the function of neurons in the LGBd of kittens and has a certain therapeutic effect on amblyopia.
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