Metabolic profiles of dioscin in rats revealed by ultra‐performance liquid chromatography quadrupole time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry

Dioscin (DIS), one of the most abundant bioactive steroidal saponins in Dioscorea sp., is used as a complementary medicine to treat coronary disease and angina pectoris in China. Although the pharmacological activities and pharmacokinetics of DIS have been well demonstrated, information regarding the final metabolic fates is very limited. This study investigated the in vivo metabolic profiles of DIS after oral administration by ultra‐performance liquid chromatography quadrupole time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry method. The structures of the metabolites were identified and tentatively characterized by means of comparing the molecular mass, retention time and fragmentation pattern of the analytes with those of the parent compound. A total of eight metabolites, including seven phase I and one phase II metabolites, were detected and tentatively identified for the first time. Oxidation, deglycosylation and glucuronidation were found to be the major metabolic processes of the compound in rats. In addition, a possible metabolic pathway on the biotransformation of DIS in vivo was proposed. This study provides valuable and new information on the metabolism of DIS, which will be helpful for further understanding its mechanism of action. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Real-time phase measurement and correction of dynamic multimode beam using a single spatial light modulator

In this Letter,a novel system for adaptively correcting the phase of a dynamic multimode beam is proposed.While using merely one spatial light modulator,the phase measurement of the first-order diffraction pattern and the correction of the zeroth diffraction order are simultaneously realized.The real-time experimental result is obtained at a control rate of 10 Hz.The power-in-the-bucket value is improved from 38.5%to 61.8%,even with fundamental mode content that is consistently below 30%.To the best of our knowledge,this is the first implementation of real-time adaptive correction of the entire multimode beam.     

Identifying anomalous Floquet edge modes via bulk-edge correspondence

Floquet engineering appears as a new protocol for designing topological states of matter,and features anomalous edge modes pinned at quasi-energy π/T with vanished topological index.We propose how to predict the anomalous edge modes via the bulk Hamiltonian in frequency space,and use Zak phase to quantitatively index the topological properties.The above methods are clarified by the example of time periodic Kitaev chain with chemical potential of harmonic driving and pulse driving,and topological phase transitions are manifested at different driving frequencies.     

An effective interference suppression algorithm for visible light communication system based on DBSCAN

In order to improve the signal-to-noise ratio and mitigate the damage of noise to the communication quality,an effective interference suppression algorithm,which is based on the improved density-based spatial clustering of applications with noise algorithms,is proposed for visible light communication systems using the complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor image sensor as the receiver.Experimental results show that the algorithm can learn the region where the payload data is located,filter out the noise data,and greatly decrease the interference.The effect of the algorithm is also studied through bit error ratio performance.     

A Photoactivated Cu–CeO2 Catalyst with Cu-[O]-Ce Active Species Designed through MOF Crystal Engineering

Fully utilizing solar energy for catalysis requires the integration of conversion mechanisms and therefore delicate design of catalyst structures and active species. Herein, a MOF crystal engineering method was developed to controllably synthesize a copper–ceria catalyst with well-dispersed photoactive Cu-[O]-Ce species. Using the preferential oxidation of CO as a model reaction, the catalyst showed remarkably efficient and stable photoactivated catalysis, which found practical application in feed gas treatment for fuel cell gas supply. The coexistence of photochemistry and thermochemistry effects contributes to the high efficiency. Our results demonstrate a catalyst design approach with atomic or molecular precision and a combinatorial photoactivation strategy for solar energy conversion.     

Origins of Boosted Charge Storage on Heteroatom-Doped Carbons

Although tremendous efforts have been devoted to understanding the origin of boosted charge storage on heteroatom-doped carbons, none of the present studies has shown a whole landscape. Herein, by both experimental evidence and theoretical simulation, it is demonstrated that heteroatom doping not only results in a broadened operating voltage, but also successfully promotes the specific capacitance in aqueous supercapacitors. In particular, the electrolyte cations adsorbed on heteroatom-doped carbon can effectively inhibit hydrogen evolution reaction, a key step of water decomposition during the charging process, which broadens the voltage window of aqueous electrolytes even beyond the thermodynamic limit of water (1.23 V). Furthermore, the reduced adsorption energy of heteroatom-doped carbon consequently leads to more stored cations on the heteroatom-doped carbon surface, thus yielding a boosted charge storage performance.