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Abstract:Dementia results in brain dysfunction, disability and dependency among affected people, causing an overwhelming burden for caregivers. China has the largest number of people with dementia worldwide and is facing severe challenges with respect to dementia care, including poor awareness of dementia in the public, inadequate knowledge of dementia for medical professionals and caregivers, an underdeveloped dementia service system, and high costs of dementia care. To address these challenges, China is taking action to increase dementia awareness and education among the public and care providers, and develop policies, services and resources for dementia care.

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Hierarchical porosity and functionalization help to fully make use of metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) for their diverse applications. Herein, a simple strategy is reported to construct hierarchically porous MOFs through a competitive coordination method using tetrafluoroborate (M(BF4)x, where M is metal site) as both functional sites and etching agents. The resulting MOFs have in situ formed defect‐mesopores and functional sites without sacrificing their structure stability. The formation mechanism of the defect‐mesopores is elucidated by a combination of experimental and first‐principles calculation method, indicating the general feasibility of this new approach. Compared with the original microporous counterparts, the new hierarchical MOFs exhibit superior adsorption for the bulky dye molecules and catalytic performance for the CO2 conversion attributed to their specific hierarchical pore structures.

Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) have revealed the worldwide heterogeneity of genetic factors in tuberculosis (TB) susceptibility. Despite having the third highest global TB burden, no TB-related GWAS has been performed in China. Here, we performed the first three-stage GWAS on TB in the Han Chinese population. In the stage 1 (discovery stage), after quality control, 691 388 SNPs present in 972 TB patients and 1537 controls were retained. After replication on an additional 3460 TB patients and 4862 controls (stages 2 and 3), we identified three significant loci associated with TB, the most significant of which was rs4240897 (logistic regression P = 1.41 × 10-11, odds ratio = 0.79). The aforementioned three SNPs were harbored by MFN2, RGS12 and human leukocyte antigen class II beta chain paralogue encoding genes, all of which are candidate immune genes associated with TB. Our findings provide new insight into the genetic background of TB in the Han Chinese population.

Biofilms are communities of microorganisms that live in a self-produced extracellular matrix in order to survive in hostile environments. Second messengers, such as c-di-GMP and cAMP, participate in the regulation of biofilm formation. c-di-GMP is a major molecule that is involved in modulating the bacterial transition between a planktonic lifestyle and biofilm formation. Aside from regulating carbon catabolism repression in most bacteria, cAMP has also been found to mediate biofilm formation in many bacteria. Although the underlying mechanisms of biofilm formation mediated by cAMP-CRP have been well-investigated in several bacteria, the regulatory pathways of cAMP-CRP are still poorly understood compared to those of c-di-GMP. Moreover, some bacteria appear to form biofilm in response to changes in carbon source type or concentration. However, the relationship between the carbon metabolisms and biofilm formation remains unclear. This mini-review provides an overview of the cAMP-CRP-regulated pathways involved in biofilm formation in some bacteria. This information will benefit future investigations of the underlying mechanisms that connect between biofilm formation with nutrient metabolism, as well as the cross-regulation between multiple second messengers.

Flower-like BaTiO 3 nanotube arrays (NTAs) were successfully prepared by a hydrothermal method using TiO 2 NTAs as precursors. Ag-loaded BaTiO 3 NTAs were formed by a photochemical reduction method. The samples were characterized by XRD, SEM, TEM, XPS and UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectra. The results show that Ag nanoparticles can be homogeneously dispersed on the surface of BaTiO 3 NTAs. The loaded Ag exists in the form of a metal. The photocatalytic activity of Ag-BaTiO 3 NTAs was evaluated from the analysis of the photodegradation of methyl orange (MO). It is found that the pH value strongly influences photocatalytic activity of the films, and Ag-BaTiO 3 NTAs perform excellent photocatalytic activity at a low pH value. In addition, the effect of concentration of AgNO 3 dipping solution on the photocatalytic degradation of MO was also studied.

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