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Gamma knife radiosurgery (GKRS) is recommended as the first-line treatment for brain metastases of lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) in many guidelines, but its specific mechanism is unclear. We aimed to study the changes in the proteome of brain metastases of LUAD in response to the hyperacute phase of GKRS and further explore the mechanism of differentially expressed proteins (DEPs). Cancer tissues were collected from a clinical trial for neoadjuvant stereotactic radiosurgery before surgical resection of large brain metastases (ChiCTR2000038995). Five brain metastasis tissues of LUAD were collected within 24 h after GKRS. Five brain metastasis tissues without radiotherapy were collected as control samples. Proteomics analysis showed that 163 proteins were upregulated and 25 proteins were downregulated. GO and KEGG enrichment analyses showed that the DEPs were closely related to ribosomes. Fifty-three of 70 ribosomal proteins were significantly overexpressed, while none of them were underexpressed. The risk score constructed from 7 upregulated ribosomal proteins (RPL4, RPS19, RPS16, RPLP0, RPS2, RPS26 and RPS25) was an independent risk factor for the survival time of LUAD patients. Overexpression of ribosomal proteins may represent a desperate response to lethal radiotherapy. We propose that targeted inhibition of these ribosomal proteins may enhance the efficacy of GKRS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Layered double hydroxides (LDHs) are highly regarded catalysts for oxygen evolution reaction (OER), but the application is limited by low conductivity and stability characteristics. In this work, the CoP@NiFe LDH heterostructure is obtained by a simple electrodeposition-phosphorization-electrodeposition method, and the establishment of heterostructure regulates the electronic configuration, which promotes the catalytic performance and stability. In simulated seawater, CoP@NiFe LDH reaches 100 and 300 mA cm−2 at overpotentials of only 260 and 278 mV, with Tafel slope of 44.4 mV dec−1, while also demonstrating remarkable stability. In situ Raman spectra indicate the conversion of Ni(OH) 2 to Ni3+αOOH during the OER process, suggesting that the high valence Ni3+αOOH is the real active center, and the heterostructure efficaciously minimizes the overpotential that is necessary for the conversion to Ni3+αOOH, which is also confirmed by DFT calculations. Overall, this work presents a report on the process engineering and formulation of an energetic OER catalyst, which provides a viable solution for the industrialization of seawater electrolysis. [Display omitted] • CoP@NiFe LDH exposes an extremely rich set of active sites. • The heterostructure modulates electronic structure and produces synergistic effect. • CoP@NiFe LDH demonstrates excellent catalytic activity and stability. • The catalysts are analyzed by in situ Raman spectra and DFT calculations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low rank orthogonal tensor approximation (LROTA) is an important problem in tensor computations and their applications. A classical and widely used algorithm is the alternating polar decomposition method (APD). In this paper, an improved version iAPD of the classical APD is proposed. For the first time, all of the following four fundamental properties are established for iAPD: (i) the algorithm converges globally and the whole sequence converges to a KKT point without any assumption; (ii) it exhibits an overall sublinear convergence with an explicit rate which is sharper than the usual O(1/k) for first order methods in optimization; (iii) more importantly, it converges R-linearly for a generic tensor without any assumption; (iv) for almost all LROTA problems, iAPD reduces to APD after finitely many iterations if it converges to a local minimizer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multiple studies have investigated the association of interleukin-6 (IL-6) gene polymorphisms and osteoarthritis (OA) risk, but failed to reach a consistent conclusion. Therefore, this study was designed to elucidate the association of IL-6 polymorphisms and OA by a meta-analysis approach. Literature retrieval was carried out on PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, CNKI, and Wanfang databases. The strength of association was appraised by odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (95%CIs) in five genetic models. The data were merged by using RevMan 5.3 software. Ten studies with 4944 cases and 4651 controls were analyzed. Overall, no significant association was identified between rs1800795 polymorphism and OA. Subgroup analysis by ethnicity and OA site also suggested rs1800795 polymorphism was not associated with OA. For rs1800796 polymorphism, G-allele and GG-genotype carriers appeared to have an increased risk to OA (G vs. C, OR = 1.66, 95%CI 1.30-1.96, P < 0.01; GG vs. CC, OR = 1.75, 95%CI 1.07-2.84, P = 0.03; GG vs. GC + CC, OR = 1.82, 95%CI 1.42-2.34, P < 0.01). Findings of this study indicate that the rs1800795 polymorphism is not correlated to OA susceptibility, regardless of ethnicity or OA site. However, rs1800796 polymorphism trends to be associated with susceptibility to OA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pimarane diterpenes are a kind of tricyclic diterpene, generally isolated from plant and fungi. In nature, fungi distribute widely and there are nearly two to three million species. They provide many secondary metabolites, including pimarane diterpenes, with novel skeletons and bioactivities. These natural products from fungi have the potential to be developed into clinical medicines. Herein, the structures and bioactivities of 197 pimarane diterpenes are summarized and the biosynthesis and pharmacological researches of pimarane diterpenes are introduced. This review may be useful improving the understanding of pimarane diterpenes from fungi. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A flag is a sequence of nested subspaces. Flags are ubiquitous in numerical analysis, arising in finite elements, multigrid, spectral, and pseudospectral methods for numerical pde; they arise in the form of Krylov subspaces in matrix computations, and as multiresolution analysis in wavelets constructions. They are common in statistics too—principal component, canonical correlation, and correspondence analyses may all be viewed as methods for extracting flags from a data set. The main goal of this article is to develop the tools needed for optimizing over a set of flags, which is a smooth manifold called the flag manifold, and it contains the Grassmannian as the simplest special case. We will derive closed-form analytic expressions for various differential geometric objects required for Riemannian optimization algorithms on the flag manifold; introducing various systems of extrinsic coordinates that allow us to parameterize points, metrics, tangent spaces, geodesics, distances, parallel transports, gradients, Hessians in terms of matrices and matrix operations; and thereby permitting us to formulate steepest descent, conjugate gradient, and Newton algorithms on the flag manifold using only standard numerical linear algebra. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

FoxO1 (Forkhead box O1) belongs to the evolutionarily conserved FoxO subfamily and is involved in diverse physiologic processes, including apoptosis, cell cycle, DNA damage repair, oxidative stress and cell differentiation. FoxO1 plays an important role in regulating the hypoxia microenvironment such as cancers, but its role in hypoxia adaptation remains unclear in animals. To understand the function of foxO1 in hypoxia response, we constructed foxO1a and foxO1b mutant zebrafish using CRISPR/Cas9 technology. It was found that foxO1a and foxO1b destruction affected the hematopoietic system in the early zebrafish embryos. Specifically, FoxO1a and FoxO1b were found to affect the transcriptional activity of runx1 , a marker gene for hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs). Moreover, foxO1a and foxO1b had complementary features in hypoxia response, and foxO1a or/and foxO1b destruction resulted in tolerance of zebrafish becoming weakened in hypoxia due to insufficient hemoglobin supply. Additionally, the transcriptional activity of these two genes was demonstrated to be regulated by Hif1α. In conclusion, foxO1a and foxO1b respond to Hif1α-mediated hypoxia response by participating in zebrafish erythropoiesis. These results will provide a theoretical basis for further exploring the function of FoxO1 in hematopoiesis and hypoxia response. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The problem of verifying the nonnegativity of a function on a finite abelian group is a long-standing challenging problem. The basic representation theory of finite groups indicates that a function f on a finite abelian group G can be written as a linear combination of characters of irreducible representations of G by f (x) = ∑ χ ∈ G ˆ f ˆ (χ) χ (x) , where G ˆ is the dual group of G consisting of all characters of G and f ˆ (χ) is the Fourier coefficient of f at χ ∈ G ˆ. In this paper, we show that by performing the fast (inverse) Fourier transform, we are able to compute a sparse Fourier sum of squares (FSOS) certificate of f on a finite abelian group G with complexity that is quasi-linear in the order of G and polynomial in the FSOS sparsity of f. Moreover, for a nonnegative function f on a finite abelian group G and a subset S ⊆ G ˆ , we give a lower bound of the constant M such that f + M admits an FSOS supported on S. We demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed algorithm by numerical experiments on various abelian groups of orders up to 107. As applications, we also solve some combinatorial optimization problems and the sum of Hermitian squares (SOHS) problem by sparse FSOS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Four undescribed compounds including three harzianic acids (1 , 3 and 4) and one oxazolidinone (2), along with three known ones (5 – 7) were isolated from the solid fermented product of endophytic fungus Ilyonectria sp., their structures were elucidated as 1-amino-harzianic acid (1), ilyonectria-oxazolidinone (2),10′-nor- isoharzianic acid (3), isohomoharzianic acid (4), harzianic acid (5), isoharzianic acid (6), homoharzianic acid (7) by means of detailed chemical evidences and spectroscopic data analysis. All the compounds were evaluated for cytotoxicity against SMMC-7721 human cancer cell lines by MTS assay. Among the seven tested compounds, 1-amino-harzianic acid (1) demonstrated well cytotoxic activity against SMMC-7721 with IC 50 value of 26.84 μM. The results of molecular docking indicated that compound exhibited moderate anti-tumor activity may through binding to apoptosis related proteins. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• First developing a fully-automated micromagnetic particles (MMPs) based chemiluminescence immunoassay platform which detects rabies virus glycoprotein. • A suitable tool with better analysis perfomance and higher efficiency which is potential to be adopted by vaccine manufacturers to apply in vaccine quality control of multiple production steps. Currently, quality control of glycoprotein in the human rabies vaccine is based on enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). However, ELISA does not match the needs of a modernised quality control system. For a long time, human rabies virus vaccine manufacturers have been devoted to seeking a detection platform that is sensitive, accurate, automatic, and feasible for practical applications. Therefore, our team invested major efforts into establishing a fully automated micromagnetic particle (MMP)-based chemiluminescence immunoassay (CLIA) platform. For vaccine quality control, MMP-coupled rabies virus glycoprotein monoclonal antibodies (S037) were used to capture the rabies virus. Another rabies virus glycoprotein antibody (S053) labelled with acridinium ester was added as a signal tracer. After pretreating the vaccine sample, the entire analysis was performed using a fully automated machine, which had a limited detection time (only 30 min) and eliminated manual error. Multiple experiments have identified the optimal conditions allowing valid and reliable assessment of vaccine potency. The CLIA platform has exhibited merits in terms of speed, robustness, high sensitivity (with a minimum detection value of 0.45 mIU/mL), considerable accuracy, and a wide linear range of detection (9.4–1200 mIU/mL). Furthermore, the results showed that the CLIA platform is consistent with the National Institutes of Health test and time-resolved fluorescent immunoassay (TRFIA) in quantitative analysis, and had a better analytic performance than TRFIA. Therefore, the CLIA platform presented here may be important for application in modern vaccine quality control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] Electrocatalytic water splitting used for generating clean and sustainable hydrogen (H 2) can be very promising to address current energy shortage and associated environmental issues. However, this methodology is severely impeded by the tardy oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Hence, designing a preferable kinetics and thermodynamics oxidation reaction that supersede OER is very significant for the energy-saving production of H 2. Herein, hollow needle-like copper cobalt sulfide was constructed on carbon cloth (CuCo 2 S 4 /CC) as a bifunctional electrocatalyst to accelerate H 2 generation and simultaneously convert ethanol into value-added acetic acid. Thanks to the synergistic effect and unique structure of Cu and Co, CuCo 2 S 4 /CC displays superior catalytic activity and durability in ethanol oxidation reaction (EOR) with a low potential of 1.38 V vs. RHE (@10 mA cm−2). Meanwhile, it exhibits excellent hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) performance. The homemade CuCo 2 S 4 /CC//CuCo 2 S 4 /CC ethanol–water electrolyser only demands a voltage of 1.59 V to deliver 10 mA cm−2, 150 mV less than that used for ordinary water splitting. This shows that the ethanol–water electrolyser elaborated here holds encouraging potential in the energy-saving production of H 2 and oxidation of ethanol into value-added acetic acid. This present work may open the way for the rational design of other electrocatalysts for efficient biomass oxidation reaction and relevant H 2 production applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we derive and analyze an algorithm for inverting quaternion matrices. The algorithm is an analogue of the Frobenius algorithm for the complex matrix inversion. On the theory side, we prove that our algorithm is more efficient than other existing methods. Moreover, our algorithm is optimal in the sense of the least number of complex inversions. On the practice side, our algorithm outperforms existing algorithms on randomly generated matrices. We argue that this algorithm can be used to improve the practical utility of recursive Strassen-type algorithms by providing the fastest possible base case for the recursive decomposition process when applied to quaternion matrices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transplantation of retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cells derived from human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) or induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) hold great promise as a new therapeutic modality for age-related macular degeneration and Stargardt disease. The development of hESC/hiPSC-derived RPE cells as cell-based therapeutic products requires a robust, scalable production for every hiPSC line congruent for patients. However, individual hESC/hiPSC lines show bias in differentiation. Here we report an efficient, robust method that induces RPE cells regardless of the differentiation propensity of the hiPSC lines. Application of the tankyrase inhibitor IWR-1- endo , which potentially inhibits Wnt signaling, promoted retinal differentiation in dissociated hiPSCs under feeder-free, two-dimensional culture conditions. The other tankyrase inhibitor, XAV939, also promoted retinal differentiation. However, Wnt signaling inhibitors, IWP-2 and iCRT3, that target porcupine and β-catenin/TCF, respectively, did not. Further treatment with the GSK3β inhibitor CHIR99021 and FGF receptor inhibitor SU5402 induced hexagonal pigmented cells with phagocytotic ability. Notably, the IWR-1- endo -based differentiation method induced RPE cells even in an hiPSC line that expresses a lower level of the differentiation propensity marker SALL3 , which is indicative of resistance to ectoderm differentiation. The present study demonstrated that tankyrase inhibitors cause efficient and robust RPE differentiation, irrespective of the SALL3 expression levels in hiPSC lines. This differentiation method will resolve line-to-line variations of hiPSCs in RPE production and facilitate clinical application and industrialization of RPE cell products for regenerative medicine. ● RPEs were produced from human iPS cells (hiPSCs) by tankyrase inhibitors. ● Tankyrase inhibitors, IWR-1- endo and XAV939, promoted retinal specification. ● IWR-1- endo -based method demonstrated high RPE differentiation efficiency (>80%). ● Robust RPE production was done regardless of the hiPSC differentiation propensity. ● In RPE production, this method offers a solution for line-to-line hiPSC variations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the observation that Q (p − 1) × (p − 1) is isomorphic to a quotient skew polynomial ring, we propose a new deterministic algorithm for (p − 1) × (p − 1) matrix multiplication over Q , where p is a prime number. The algorithm has complexity O (T ω − 2 p 2) , where T ≤ p − 1 is a parameter determined by the skew-polynomial-sparsity of input matrices and ω is the asymptotic exponent of matrix multiplication. Here a matrix is skew-polynomial-sparse if its corresponding skew polynomial is sparse. Moreover, by introducing randomness, we also propose a probabilistic algorithm with complexity O ∼ (t ω − 2 p 2 + p 2 log ⁡ 1 ν) , where t ≤ p − 1 is the skew-polynomial-sparsity of the product and ν is the probability parameter. The main feature of the algorithms is the acceleration for matrix multiplication if the input matrices or their products are skew-polynomial-sparse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focused microwave breast hyperthermia (FMBH) employs a phased antenna array to perform beamforming that can focus microwave energy at targeted breast tumors. Selective heating of the tumor endows the hyperthermia treatment with high accuracy and low side effects. The effect of FMBH is highly dependent on the applied phased antenna array. This work investigates the effect of polarizations of antenna elements on the microwave-focusing results by simulations. We explore two kinds of antenna arrays with the same number of elements using different digital realistic human breast phantoms. The first array has all the elements' polarization in the vertical plane of the breast, while the second array has half of the elements' polarization in the vertical plane and the other half in the transverse plane, i.e., cross polarization. In total, 96 sets of different simulations are performed, and the results show that the second array leads to a better focusing effect in dense breasts than the first array. This work is very meaningful for the potential improvement of the antenna array for FMBH, which is of great significance for the future clinical applications of FMBH. The antenna array with cross polarization can also be applied in microwave imaging and sensing for biomedical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To acquire the synergy effects between Sn and Cu for the jointly high Faradaic efficiency and current density, we develop a novel strategy to design the Sn-Cu alloy catalyst via a decorated co-electrodeposition method for CO 2 electroreduction to formate. The Sn-Cu alloy shows high formate Faradaic efficiency of 82.3% ± 2.1% and total C 1 products Faradaic efficiency of 90.0% ± 2.7% at −1.14 V vs. reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE). The current density and mass activity of formate reach as high as (79.0 ± 0.4) mA cm−2 and (1490.6 ± 7.5) mA mg−1 at −1.14 V vs. RHE. Theoretical calculations suggest that Sn-Cu alloy can obtain high Faradaic efficiency for CO 2 electroreduction by suppressing the competitive hydrogen evolution reaction and that the formate formation follows the path of CO 2 → HCOO* → HCOOH. The stepped (2 1 1) surface of Sn-Cu alloy is beneficial towards selective formate production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Herein, a three-dimensional (3D) Ni/Fe bimetallic organic framework (MOF-Ni@MOF-Fe) with a structure of rhombus blocks on nanosheets is synthesized on Ni foam by a 2-step solvothermal method. After sulfide reaction, MOF-Ni@MOF-Fe–S is vulcanized by MOF-Ni@MOF-Fe with a structure of interwoven and folding nanosheets. Meanwhile, Ni3S2 is formed under the influence of iron. This special structure makes MOF-Ni@MOF-Fe–S to expose more active sites. MOF-Ni@MOF-Fe–S shows superior urea oxidation reaction (UOR) and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) performance. When MOF-Ni@MOF-Fe–S is used as UOR and HER catalysts, it has low potentials of 1.347 V (vs. RHE) at 10 mA cm−2 and 0.145 V (vs. RHE) at 10 mA cm−2 in 1.0 M KOH with 0.5 M urea, respectively. MOF-Ni@MOF-Fe–S as a bifunctional electrode is assembled as an alkaline urea electrolyzer, showing catalytic activity at a low cell voltage of 1.539 V at 10 mA cm−2 and excellent stability during 10 h chronopotentiometry analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The electrochemical CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR) to give C1 (formate and CO) products is one of the most techno‐economically achievable strategies for alleviating CO2 emissions. Now, it is demonstrated that the SnOx shell in Sn2.7Cu catalyst with a hierarchical Sn‐Cu core can be reconstructed in situ under cathodic potentials of CO2RR. The resulting Sn2.7Cu catalyst achieves a high current density of 406.7±14.4 mA cm−2 with C1 Faradaic efficiency of 98.0±0.9 % at −0.70 V vs. RHE, and remains stable at 243.1±19.2 mA cm−2 with a C1 Faradaic efficiency of 99.0±0.5 % for 40 h at −0.55 V vs. RHE. DFT calculations indicate that the reconstructed Sn/SnOx interface facilitates formic acid production by optimizing binding of the reaction intermediate HCOO* while promotes Faradaic efficiency of C1 products by suppressing the competitive hydrogen evolution reaction, resulting in high Faradaic efficiency, current density, and stability of CO2RR at low overpotentials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The electrochemical CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR) to give C1 (formate and CO) products is one of the most techno‐economically achievable strategies for alleviating CO2 emissions. Now, it is demonstrated that the SnOx shell in Sn2.7Cu catalyst with a hierarchical Sn‐Cu core can be reconstructed in situ under cathodic potentials of CO2RR. The resulting Sn2.7Cu catalyst achieves a high current density of 406.7±14.4 mA cm−2 with C1 Faradaic efficiency of 98.0±0.9 % at −0.70 V vs. RHE, and remains stable at 243.1±19.2 mA cm−2 with a C1 Faradaic efficiency of 99.0±0.5 % for 40 h at −0.55 V vs. RHE. DFT calculations indicate that the reconstructed Sn/SnOx interface facilitates formic acid production by optimizing binding of the reaction intermediate HCOO* while promotes Faradaic efficiency of C1 products by suppressing the competitive hydrogen evolution reaction, resulting in high Faradaic efficiency, current density, and stability of CO2RR at low overpotentials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies have shown that semaphorin-3F (SEMA3F) functions as a tumor suppressor in several tumor types. However, the role of SEMA3F in the metastasis and prognosis of liver hepatocellular carcinoma (LIHC) remains unknown. In this study, by performing bioinformatics analysis on the transcriptome profiles from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), we demonstrated that SEMA3F was significantly upregulated in LIHC tissues, compared with normal controls. Moreover, the expression value of SEMA3F was positively correlated with patients' pathological stages and tumor metastasis, predicting a poor overall survival. Besides, SEMA3F expression level was negatively correlated with its methylation level, but positively correlated with its gene copy number. Differential expression analysis of LIHC samples with high or low SEMA3F expression values suggested that 983 genes were differentially expressed, among which 723 genes were upregulated and 260 genes were downregulated. Furthermore, enrichment analysis of differentially expressed genes revealed that SEMA3F was involved in the activation of focal adhesion pathway, which induced tumor metastasis. Taken together, our results suggested that the oncogenic function of SEMA3F promoted hepatocellular carcinoma metastasis by activating focal adhesion pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report carbon nanotube-encapsulated cobalt as an efficient oxygen reduction electrocatalyst (onset potential of 0.94 V and half-potential of 0.84 V). Calculation results firstly reveal that Co protected by graphitic-N-doped carbon holds more negative charge (−1.22 eV) and has an energy barrier (0.56 eV) lower than that of pyridinic-N-doped carbon (−1.11 eV; 0.78 eV), which is responsible for the ORR activity. The corresponding Zn–air batteries deliver an excellent gravimetric energy density of 837 W h kg−1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Higher levels of psychological resilience are more protective against cognitive impairment. • The percentage of older adults with cognitive impairment increased from 6.8% to 14.3% during the five-year follow-up. • After adjusting for some confounding factors, psychological resilience still predicted changes in cognitive function. The purpose of this study was to explore whether psychological resilience can influence changes in cognitive function in older adults and provide clues and rationale for improving cognitive function and preventing the onset of dementia in the geriatric population. A total of 2495 older adults aged 60 years or older from the Ma' anshan Healthy Aging Cohort were included in the study. Participants' cognitive functioning and psychological resilience were measured using the MMSE (mini-mental state examination) scale and the SRQS (stress resilience quotient scale) scale during the 5 years of follow-up, and the association was explored. Those with MMSE scores ≤ 17 in the illiterate group, ≤ 20 in the elementary school group, and ≤ 24 in the secondary school and above group were considered cognitive impairment. The prevalence of cognitive impairment increased from 6.89% to 14.30% during the five years of follow-up. At 5-year follow-up, the group with the highest psychological resilience had 41 (6.83%) individuals whose cognitive functioning changed from normal to cognitive impairment, while the group with the worst psychological resilience had 114 (18.33%) individuals. The study also found a significant effect of different levels of psychological resilience on changes in cognitive functioning after adjusting for potential confounders. Compared with Q1 (the reference group), the Odds ratio of cognitive decline in Q2, Q3 and Q4 groups were 0.51(0.42,0.64), 0.37(0.29,0.47) and 0.19(0.13,0.27), respectively. Improving the level of psychological resilience in older adults may be one way to prevent the incidence of cognitive impairment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses waveform-controlled electrolytic C–C coupling of aliphatic carboxylic acids. Potential waveforms for electrolysis can be direct current and rapid alternating polarity which renders the classic Kolbe reaction readily available with a reduced current density and sustainable carbon-based electrodes to produce previously elusive aliphatic building blocks and unnatural amino acids. The electronic waveform can be helpful in modulating reactivity in synthetic electrochemistry.

Long-term exposure to vehicle exhaust gas may lead to various age-associated disorders, including cardiovascular disease and cancer. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) belong to an important class of carcinogens, which are released into the environment by vehicles and are detectable at high levels in Chinese urban areas. However, whether vehicle exhaust gas (EG), and in particular the PAHs derived from EG, are able to induce cell senescence remains unclear. In the present study, vehicle EG and pure PAHs were used as pollution sources to investigate the effects of long-term exposure to PAH on the cellular processes occurring in mouse lung fibroblast cells (mLFCs). Using cell proliferation and apoptosis assays, it was demonstrated that benzopyrene (BaP) suppressed the proliferation of mLFCs, and benzanthracene (BaA) and BaP induced cell apoptosis. Molecular analysis suggested that long-term exposure to BaA and BaP was able to increase the protein expression levels of p53, p21 and the apoptotic factors involved in the caspase cascade, including caspase-3 and −9. Notably, the present study suggested that PAH exposure was able to promote cell senescence in mLFCs by activating the ATM serine/threonine kinase/H2A histone family member X pathway. The present study may provide novel insights into the underlying mechanism of vehicle EG and PAHs in promoting the development of age-associated diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graphical abstract Highlights • The unique NiCo 2 S 4 nanowire arrays directly grown on Ni foam was prepared by two-step hydrothermal routes. • The synergistic effect between Ni and Co for urea electrooxidation has been discussed. • The effects of KOH and urea concentrations for urea electrooxidation were investigated. Abstract A 3D NiCo 2 S 4 nanowire arrays directly grown on Ni foam electrode (NiCo 2 S 4 /NF) is prepared by two-step simple hydrothermal process. The morphology and phase composition of NiCo 2 S 4 /NF are characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). As expected, in the following electrocatalytic measurement, the binder-free, self-made NiCo 2 S 4 /NF electrode exhibits much higher catalytic activity, lower onset potential, better stability and greater tolerance towards urea electrooxidation compared with the Ni 3 S 2 /NF electrode synthesized under the same reaction conditions. The NiCo 2 S 4 /NF electrode delivers a current density of 720 mA cm−2 at 0.18 V (vs. Ag/AgCl) in a solution containing 5 mol L−1 KOH and 0.33 mol L−1 urea. The impressive electrocatalytic activity of the NiCo 2 S 4 /NF catalyst is largely ascribed to its distinctive structure, which exposes more electrochemical active sites at the electrode–electrolyte interface. Besides, the high intrinsic electronic conductivity also largely boosts the charge transfer rates for urea electrooxidation. The results demonstrate that the NiCo 2 S 4 /NF electrode showing a beneficial application prospect in the wastewater treatment and direct urea fuel cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graphical abstract Abstract Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the leading causes of cancer-related morbidity and mortality worldwide. Accumulating evidence suggests that mitochondrial dynamics are closely implicated in carcinogenesis including CRC. Paris Saponin II (PSII), a major steroidal saponin extracted from Rhizoma Paris polyphylla , has emerged as a potential anticancer agent. However, the effects of PSII on CRC and its underlying mechanisms remain unknown. In the present study, we found PSII induced apoptosis and inhibited colony formation in HT 29 and HCT 116 cells, and cell cycle arrest in G1 phase. PSII inhibited the phosphorylation of ERK1/2 and mitochondrial translocation of dynamin-related protein 1 (Drp1) by dephosphorylating Drp1 at Ser616, leading to the suppression of mitochondrial fission. PSII also suppressed NF-κB activation as a result of the inhibition of IKKβ and p65 translocation. Drp1 knockdown remarkably downregulated the nuclear expression of p65 and its target genes cyclin D1 and c-Myc in HCT 116 cell, confirming the link between mitochondrial fission and NF-κB pathway. Silencing of Drp 1 enhanced the inhibitory effects of PSII on p65 phosphorylation and the expressions of cyclin D1 and c-Myc, revealing that the inhibitory effects of PSII on cyclin D1 and c-Myc were relevant in the suppression of Drp1 and NF-κB activation. An in vivo study demonstrated PSII remarkably decreased the xenograft tumor size and suppressed the phosphorylation of ERK1/2 and Drp1 at Ser616. Taken together, our results suggested that PSII could inhibit colorectal carcinogenesis, at least in part, by regulating mitochondrial fission and NF-κB pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective To report on our experience with the Elekta Extend system, a relocatable frame system used in patients with brain metastases for single-session, hypofractionated, or staged hypofractionated Gamma Knife radiosurgery (GKRS); and the evaluation of its efficacy. Methods From March 2014 to September 2016, 856 patients with brain metastases underwent GKRS at our hospital. Of them, 35 patients who were retrospectively investigated, were selected for treatment with GKRS using the relocatable frame system. Individualized treatment strategy was chosen according to prior treatment history, number, size and location of tumor, or tumor harboring gene mutation. Results Thirty-two (91.4%) patients underwent treatment with hypofractionated GKRS or staged hypofractionated GKRS, whereas 3 (8.6%) patients underwent single session GKRS. The mean radial setup difference from the reference measurements was 0.50 ± 0.16 mm. The median follow-up time after GKRS with the Extend system was 12 months (range, 1–45 months). The median overall survival time was 12 months (95% confidence interval 6.43–17.57). On multivariable analysis, performance status and extracranial metastases were independently prognostic factors for overall survival. Radiation necrosis developed in 4 cases (11.4%) during the follow-up period (2 with common terminology criteria for adverse events grade 2 and 2 with its grade 3). Conclusions The relocatable frame system can maintain submillimetric accuracy and provide tailored treatment option with reasonable tumor control and good survival benefits in selected patients with brain metastases. Especially, hypofractionated GKRS or staged hypofractionated GKRS with noninvasive frame is a safe and effective treatment option for large brain metastases or tumor adjacent to eloquent structures. Highlights • Relocatable frame can provide tailored treatment in those with brain metastases. • Noninvasive frame provides satisfactory treatment option of hypofractionated GKRS. • Multisession GKRS may overcome limitations of single-session GKRS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The guilt by association (GBA) principle has been widely used to predict gene functions, and a network-based approach may enhance the confidence and stability of the analysis compared with focusing on individual genes. Fetal growth restriction (FGR), is the second primary cause of perinatal mortality. Therefore, the present study aimed to predict the optimal gene functions for FGR using a network-based GBA method. The method was comprised of four parts: Identification of differentially-expressed genes (DEGs) between patients with FGR and normal controls based on gene expression data; construction of a co-expression network (CEN) dependent on DEGs, using the Spearman correlation coefficient algorithm; collection of gene ontology (GO) data on the basis of a known confirmed database and DEGs; and prediction of optimal gene functions using the GBA algorithm, for which the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) was obtained for each GO term. A total of 115 DEGs and 109 GO terms were obtained for subsequent analysis. All DEGs were mapped to the CEN and formed 6,555 edges. The results of GBA algorithm demonstrated that 78 GO terms had a good classification performance with AUC >0.5. In particular, the AUC for 5 of the GO terms was >0.7, and these were defined as optimal gene functions, including defense response, immune system process, response to stress, cellular response to chemical stimulus and positive regulation of biological process. In conclusion, the results of the present study provided insights into the pathological mechanism underlying FGR, and provided potential biomarkers for early detection and targeted treatment of this disease. However, the interactions between the 5 GO terms remain unclear, and further studies are required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The stereoselective synthesis of chlorotrifluoromethylated pyrrolidines was achieved using anodically coupled electrolysis, an electrochemical process that combines two parallel oxidative events in a convergent and productive manner. The bench‐stable and commercially available solids CF3SO2Na and MgCl2 were used as the functional group sources to generate CF3. and Cl., respectively, via electrochemical oxidation, and the subsequent reaction of these radicals with the 1,6‐enyne substrate was controlled with an earth‐abundant Mn catalyst. In particular, the introduction of a chelating ligand allowed for the ene–yne cyclization to take place with high stereochemical control over the geometry of the alkene group in the pyrrolidine product. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A system with the combination of quantum cascade lasers (QCLs) and a photoelastic modulator (PEM) has been designed and constructed, which can achieve orientation detection with a time resolution of nearly 20 µs based on the principle of infrared dichroism, several orders of magnitude higher than that of the general mid-infrared spectrum. PEM with an inherent frequency of 50 kHz is employed to modulate the polarization direction of infrared light rapidly, the controller of which is used to provide the external trigger signal. A double frequency and delay circuit is fabricated to match the frequency of QCLs and PEM as well as overcome the delay during transfer of the trigger signal to a QCL controller, which can realize a minimum delay resolution of 5 ns. Also, a data acquisition program is compiled to reduce the data size, making continuous collection possible and lowering difficulty in data processing. The system is combined with the home-made biaxial stretching equipment to conduct the sequential biaxial stretching of β-polypropylene (PP) films. It shows that the orientation factor of polymer chains increases from 0.04 to 0.36 during machine stretching, which decreases to 0 during transverse stretching, fitting well with the orientation factors estimated with FTIR. The result robustly proves the feasibility of the system for rapid orientation detection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Porous Ni 2 P nanoflower supported on nickel foam (Ni 2 P@Ni foam) electrodes are synthesized via a simple hydrothermal growth strategy accompanied with further phosphating treatment. The prepared electrodes are characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Electro-catalytic performances towards urea electro-oxidation are tested by cyclic voltammetry (CV), chronoamperometry (CA) coupled with electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). By phosphating Ni(OH) 2 precursor, the final obtained Ni 2 P@Ni foam electrode presents a porous Ni 2 P nanoflower structure within abundant porosity, and so exposes a large amount of electro-catalytic active sites and electronic transmission channels to accelerate the interfacial reaction. Compared with Ni(OH) 2 @Ni foam precursor, the Ni 2 P@Ni foam catalyst exhibits more excellent electro-catalytic activity as well as lower onset oxidation potential. Remarkably, the Ni 2 P@Ni foam catalyst reaches a peak current density of 750 mA cm −2 with an onset oxidation potential of 0.24 V (vs. Ag/AgCl) accompanied by an excellent stability in 0.60 M urea with 5.00 M KOH solutions. Benefiting from the unique porous nanosheet structure, the as-synthesized Ni 2 P@Ni foam catalyst performs a highly enhanced catalytic behavior for alkaline urea electro-oxidation, indicating that the material can be hopefully applied in direct urea fuel cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We discuss a generalization of the Cohn-Umans method, a potent technique developed for studying the bilinear complexity of matrix multiplication by embedding matrices into an appropriate group algebra. We investigate how the Cohn-Umans method may be used for bilinear operations other than matrix multiplication, with algebras other than group algebras, and we relate it to Strassen's tensor rank approach, the traditional framework for investigating bilinear complexity. To demonstrate the utility of the generalized method, we apply it to find the fastest algorithms for forming structured matrix-vector product, the basic operation underlying iterative algorithms for structured matrices. The structures we study include Toeplitz, Hankel, circulant, symmetric, skew-symmetric, f-circulant, block Toeplitz-Toeplitz block, triangular Toeplitz matrices, Toeplitz-plus-Hankel, sparse/banded/triangular. Except for the case of skew-symmetric matrices, for which we have only upper bounds, the algorithms derived using the generalized Cohn-Umans method in all other instances are the fastest possible in the sense of having minimum bilinear complexity. We also apply this framework to a few other bilinear operations including matrix-matrix, commutator, simultaneous matrix products, and briefly discuss the relation between tensor nuclear norm and numerical stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The angiopoietin 1 (Ang1)/angiopoietin receptor (Tie2) signaling pathway may have a notable role in the pathogenesis of inflammatory diseases. The abnormal expression of angiopoietin 1 and Tie2 has also been reported in various malignant tumors, including papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC). However, the role and mechanism of the Ang1/Tie2 pathway in the progression of PTC remains unclear. Therefore, the aims of the present study were to clarify this. Significantly high expression levels of Ang1 and Tie2 were observed in PTC tissues and cell lines. Furthermore, MTT and wound-healing assays revealed that the Ang1-mediated stimulation of human PTC cells resulted in increased proliferation and migration. Conversely, the downregulation of Tie2 levels using short hairpin RNA targeted at Tie2 abrogated the Ang1-mediated effect on cell proliferation and migration. In studying the expression of phosphoinositide-3 kinase (PI3K)/RAC serine/threonine-protein kinase (Akt) pathway, the upregulation of Ang1/Tie2 was found to be associated with the activation of the PI3K/Akt pathway in PTC. In conclusion, the data from the present study indicated that the Ang1/Tie2 induces PTC oncogenesis via the PI3K/Akt pathway, providing novel insights into human PTC therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 1 × 1 magnesium octahedral molecular sieve (Mg-OMS-7), utilizing as cathode material in aqueous rechargeable magnesium ions batteries, is synthesized by a simple one-step hydrothermal method. Meanwhile, by changing the concentrations of H 2 SO 4 , the Mg-OMS-7 materials with controllable size and shape are obtained. To check the structure and morphology, the host materials are measured by X-ray power diffraction, scanning, transmission and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. The electrochemical reaction mechanism is examined by cyclic voltammetry and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The Mg-OMS-7 changes the morphology from micro-rugby to nano-club by controlling the concentrations of H 2 SO 4 . The nano-club Mg-OMS-7 which obtained by the 1.6 mol dm − 3 H 2 SO 4 owns a more uniformly distribution and smaller size, which provides the shorter route for magnesium ions insert/deinsert into/from the lattice of host material and exhibits the better rate ability and cycle performance. The initial discharge capacity of this electrode can obtain 283.1 mAh g − 1 at the current density of 10 mA g − 1 in the 0.2 mol dm − 3 Mg(NO 3 ) 2 aqueous electrolyte and the specific capacity retention rate is 94.1% after cycling 200 cycles at 100 mA g − 1 in the 0.5 mol dm − 3 Mg(NO 3 ) 2 electrolyte. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Porous FeVO4 is prepared by hydrothermal method and further modified by coating with carbon to obtain FeVO4/C with a hierarchical pore structure. FeVO4/C is used as an anodic electrode in aqueous rechargeable magnesium-ion batteries. The FeVO4/C material not only has improved electrical conductivity as a result of the carbon coating layer, but also has an increased specific surface area as a result of the hierarchical pore structure, which is beneficial for magnesium-ion insertion/deinsertion. Therefore, an aqueous rechargeable magnesium-ion full battery is successfully constructed with FeVO4/C as the anode, Mg-OMS-1 (OMS=octahedral molecular sieves) as the cathode, and 1.0 mol L−1 MgSO4 as the electrolyte. The discharge capacity of the Mg-OMS-1//FeVO4/C aqueous battery is 58.9 mAh g−1 at a current density of 100 mA g−1; this value is obtained by calculating the total mass of two electrodes and the capacity retention rate of this device is 97.7 % after 100 cycles, with almost 100 % coulombic efficiency, which indicates that the system has a good electrochemical reversibility. Additionally, this system can achieve a high energy density of 70.4 Wh kg−1, which provides powerful evidence that an aqueous magnesium-ion battery is possible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aqueous magnesium ion battery as a new energy storage system is always explored due to excellent properties with high theoretical specific capacity, low-cost and safe aqueous electrolytes. However, the study on available material as anode in aqueous magnesium ion battery is very limited, which is the main reason that the kinetics of multivalent magnesium ions deinserted from the host material is very difficult. In this work, the nanoneedle FeVO 4 ·0.9H 2 O as available anode material is prepared and further modified by compositing with graphene. The FeVO 4 ·0.9H 2 O/Graphene composite exhibits the more excellent electrochemical performance, for example, the initial discharge capacity of FeVO 4 ·0.9H 2 O/Graphene electrode at the current density of 50 mAh g −1 in 1.0 mol L −1 MgSO 4 electrolyte is 183.8 mAh g −1 , but that of the FeVO 4 ·0.9H 2 O is 150.3 mAh g −1 . Therefore, the aqueous magnesium ion full battery is successfully assembled by FeVO 4 ·0.9H 2 O/Graphene as anode, 1.0 mol L −1 MgSO 4 as electrolyte and Mg-OMS-1 as cathode, which can obtain the discharge capacity of 53.1 mAh g −1 at a current density by calculate the total mass of two electrodes and the a high energy density of 58.5 Wh kg −1 . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • The carbonized recycled melamine sponge obtained excellent low-cost porous matrix. • FeNi@NCS shows lower reaction potential and higher electron transfer ability on UOR. • Successfully assembled the DBHPFC using urine as fuel. • DUHPFC presents excellent open circuit voltage. The direct urea fuel cell (DUFC) is a power generation equipment with urea-rich wastewater or urine as fuel source. It has the unique ability to purify sewage while simultaneously generating electricity, making it a highly efficient and environmentally friendly option. In this paper, pomegranate seed-like Ni nano-blocks and Fe nanosheets were synthesized by electrodeposition and chemical reduction and attached to the carbonized melamine sponge matrix. The N -doped carbon sponge (NCS) provided a large number of polyhedral holes, which allowed for efficient gas escape through channels. The combination of Fe reduces the initial urea oxidation potential, reaction activation energy and reaction resistance. The synthesized FeNi supported on N -doped carbon sponge composite (FeNi@NCS) has a catalytic current density of 625 mA cm−2 and a Tafel slope of 42.51 mV dec−1 for urea electrooxidation reaction (UOR). Assembling the direct urine-hydrogen peroxide fuel cell (DUrHPFC) resulted in the highest performance output. The open circuit voltage (OCV) was 0.98 V, and the peak power density reached 9.61 mW cm−2. The results show that the prepared catalyst provides an opportunity to solve the problems that hinder the development of urea green cycle at present. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] Proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) are hindered by their poor tolerance to CO and H 2 S poisoning. Herein, we report an effective method, via engineering 2,6-dihydroxymethyl pyridine (DhmPy) molecule blocking layers on Pt surface, aiming to save the poisoning issue for PEMFC anode reaction. The PEMFCs assembled by this catalyst produce a power density of 1.18 W cm−2 @ 2.0 A cm−2 and 1.32 W cm−2 @ 2.0 A cm−2, far exceeding commercial Pt/C after H 2 /10 ppm CO poisoning and H 2 /5 ppm H 2 S poisoning tests, respectively. Density functional theory (DFT) indicates that a coronal molecule layer with a steric confinement height (1.82 Å), constructed by DhmPy, emerges more intensive adsorption energy compared to 2,6-pyridinedicarboxamide (DcaPy) and 2,6-diacetylpyridine (DAcPy), thereby more effectively inhibits the adsorption of large-sized CO and H 2 S on Pt surface without affecting H 2 traverse. This "work along both lines" mechanism with the resistance of both CO and H 2 S provides a new and promising design thought for high CO and sulfur tolerant PEMFC anodes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Novel Au@Ni nanoarrays electrode is facilely obtained by firstly template-assisted electro-deposition of Ni nanowire arrays (NAs), followed by galvanostatic deposition of Au catalysts onto the Ni NAs without any conductive agents and binders. The Au@Ni NAs electrode shows a rough surface and fringe with the diameter of ∼90 nm, which assures a high utilization of Au catalysts and provides a large specific surface area. The elemental distribution of Ni mainly exists in the inner layer of a single Au@Ni nanowire with the diameter ∼56 nm, while the elemental distribution of Au catalysts merely appears in the outer layer to form the unique core-shell nanowire structure. The Au@Ni NAs electrode reveals excellent electrochemical property and desirable stability for catalyzing NaBH 4 electro-oxidation in basic solutions. The Au@Ni NAs electrode in the 2.00 M NaOH and 0.24 M NaBH 4 solution demonstrates an oxidation current density of 2.35 A mg −1 at −0.5 V (vs. Ag/AgCl), which is much higher than that of the noble metal catalysts previously reported, indicating that this material may be hopefully used as anodic catalysts for applying in fuel cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a simple colloidal crystal-templating method assisted by a hydrothermal process has been proposed to prepare novel three-dimensionally ordered macroporous (3DOM) TiO2@nanosheet SnS2 heterojunction photocatalysts. The photoactivities of all the obtained samples were measured by the photodecomposition of rhodamine B (RhB), the photoreduction of Cr(vi) and photocatalytic hydrogen generation from water splitting. In comparison with pure SnS2 nanosheets and 3DOM TiO2, the 3DOM TiO2@SnS2 sample with a Sn/Ti molar ratio of 7.5 : 100 showed the highest photocatalytic activity for wastewater purification (kapp for RhB solution = 0.035 min−1 and for Cr6+ solution = 0.0845 min−1) and hydrogen generation under visible light irradiation. By means of ultraviolet-visible diffuse reflectance spectra (UV-vis DRS), photoluminescence (PL) spectra, transient photocurrent spectra, electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) measurements and photocatalytic experiments, a suggested mechanism for the charge generation and transfer in the 3DOM TiO2@nanosheet SnS2 heterojunction was proposed. The improved charge separation and enhanced photocatalytic activity for the as-prepared TiO2@SnS2 composition can be attributed to the well-defined 3DOM heterojunction structure and the spatial transfer of the visible-light excited high energy electrons of SnS2 to TiO2. This work will provide a novel route to prepare highly active heterojunction photocatalysts and a new insight into the study of electron migration paths in TiO2@SnS2 composites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A disinfectant containing chlorine (Cl), ethanol (EtOH), and lactic acid (LA) was investigated to reduce Salmonella biofilm on stainless steel. The present experiment was employed with disinfectants: Cl (50, 100, 150 ppm), LA (1, 2, and 3%), EtOH (10, 20, and 30%) and exposure times (ET; .5, 2, 3.5 min). A response surface model developed to predict the reduction of Salmonella biofilms was found to be significant ( p < .0001) with a regression coefficient of .8019 and an insignificant lack of fit ( p = .364). Interaction of ethanol with other variables resulted in a significant reduction of Salmonella biofilm. As compared to Cl and EtOH, Salmonella biofilms showed low sensitivity to LA. Extending ETs showed a significant positive effect on Salmonella biofilm reduction. The antimicrobial effect of mixed disinfectants depended on ET. Therefore, Cl, EtOH, and LA can be used in a mixture to achieve a synergistic effect and can potentially remove Salmonella biofilms. Practical application This study was undertaken to assess and quantify the efficacy of combinations of various concentrations of chlorine, lactic acid, and ethanol in eradicating the formed biofilms of Salmonella on a stainless steel surface. Chlorine acidified with lactic acid and then, added to ethanol-based disinfectants can be effectively used to reduce Salmonella biofilms on stainless steel equipment. The reduction of Salmonella biofilms on stainless steel as treated with the mixed disinfectants can be estimated by the quadratic model developed in the present study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pd-Au/TiC electrodes with various three-dimensional structures are obtained by the pulsed potential electro-deposition in PdCl 2 /HAuCl 4 electrolytes. The morphologies of Pd-Au/TiC composite catalysts are significantly dependent on the component of deposited solutions. The surface appearance of Pd-Au catalysts changes from rime-shaped structure, to feather-like construction, then to pineapple root-like structure and finally to flower-like configuration with the increase of PdCl 2 content in electrolytes. These particular three-dimensional structures may be very suitable for H 2 O 2 electro-reduction, which assures a high utilization of Pd-Au catalysts and provides a large specific surface area. The electro-catalytic activities of H 2 O 2 reduction on the Pd-Au/TiC electrodes improve as increasing the Pd content in Pd-Au alloy catalysts. The pineapple root-like Pd 5 Au 1 /TiC electrode reveals remarkably excellent electrochemical property and desirable stability for catalyzing H 2 O 2 reduction in acid media. The direct peroxide-peroxide fuel cells with a 10 cm 3 min −1 flow rate display the open circuit voltage (OCV) of 0.85 V and the peak power density of 56.5 mW cm −2 at 155 mA cm −2 with desirable cell stability, which is much higher than those previously reported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thorn-like Ni@TiC NAs and flake-like Co@TiC NAs electrodes without any conductive agent and binder are simply fabricated by the potentiostatic electrodeposition of Ni and Co catalysts on the TiC nanowire arrays (NAs). The electrocatalytic activity of H 2 O 2 oxidation on the Ni@TiC NAs electrodes is better than that on the Co@TiC NAs electrodes. The Ni@TiC NAs electrodes demonstrate a rough surface and have many nano-needles on the rod edges, which assures the high utilized efficiency of Ni catalysts. These particular three-dimensional structures may be very suitable for H 2 O 2 electrooxidation. The anodic current of Ni@TiC NAs anode reaches 0.32 A cm −2 at 0.3 V in 1.0 M H 2 O 2 + 4 M KOH solution. The DPFCs employing Ni@TiC NAs anodes display the peak power density of 30.2 mW cm −2 and open circuit voltage of 0.90 V at 85.1 mA cm −2 with desirable cell stability at 10 mL min −1 flow rate and 20 °C, which is much higher than those previously reported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aqueous magnesium-ion batteries have shown the desired properties of high safety characteristics, similar electrochemical properties to lithium and low cost for energy storage applications. The micro-sheet morphology of todorokite-type magnesium manganese oxide molecular sieve (Mg-OMS-1) material, which applies as a novel cathode material for magnesium-ion battery, is obtained by the simple hydrothermal method. The structure and morphology of the particles are confirmed by X-ray power diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, inductively coupled plasma, scanning and transmission electron microscopy. The electrochemical performance of Mg-OMS-1 is researched by cyclic voltammetry (CV), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and constant current charge-discharge measurement. Mg-OMS-1 shows a good battery behavior for Mg 2+ insertion and deinsertion in the aqueous electrolyte. When discharging at 10 mA g −1 in 0.2 mol dm −3 MgCl 2 aqueous electrolyte, the initial discharge capacity reaches 300 mAh g −1 . The specific capacity retention rate is 83.7% after cycling 300 times at 100 mA g −1 in 0.5 mol dm −3 MgCl 2 electrolyte with a columbic efficiency of nearly 100%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The idea of decomposing a matrix into a product of structured matrices such as triangular, orthogonal, diagonal matrices is a milestone of numerical computations. In this paper, we describe six new classes of matrix decompositions over complex number field, extending our work in [5] . We prove that every n × n complex matrix is a product of finitely many tridiagonal, skew symmetric (when n is even), companion and generalized Vandermonde matrices, respectively. We also prove that a generic complex n × n centrosymmetric matrix is a product of finitely many symmetric Toeplitz (resp. persymmetric Hankel) matrices. We determine an upper bound of the number of structured matrices needed to decompose a matrix for each case. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aqueous rechargeable magnesium-ion batteries with low cost of magnesium resources have a potential to meet growing requirements for electric energy storage resulted from the similar electrochemical properties to lithium. The Mg 1.1 Mn 6 O 12 ·4.5H 2 O named as magnesium octahedral molecular sieves (Mg-OMS-1) owns nanobelt structures as a cathode material for aqueous magnesium-ion battery. The morphology and structure of Mg-OMS-1 are measured by X-ray diffraction, scanning and transmission electron microscopy. The mechanism of magnesium-ion insertion/deinsertion from this host material and the theory specific capacity of Mg-OMS-1 are determined by cyclic voltammetry, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Mg-OMS-1 displays an excellent battery behavior for Mg 2+ insertion and deinsertion in the magnesium-salt aqueous electrolyte. The initial discharge capacity of Mg-OMS-1 electrode can reach 248.8 ± 0.5 mAh g −1 at 10 mA g −1 in the 0.2 mol dm −3 Mg(NO 3 ) 2 aqueous electrolyte. Even back to 10 mA g −1 after the rate performance, the discharge capacity can achieve 214.1 ± 0.5 mAh g −1 . The specific capacity retention rate is 90.4% after cycling 200 times at 100 mA g −1 in the 0.5 mol dm −3 Mg(NO 3 ) 2 electrolyte with a columbic efficiency of 99.7 ± 0.1% in the 5 times experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The α-phosphanylferrocenecarbaldehyde ( pS)- 1 was converted into the β-styryl derivative ( pS)- 4 by Wittig-Horner olefination. Subsequent hydroboration with Piers' borane [HB(C6F5)2] followed by H2 splitting and crystallization gave the phosphonium/hydridoborate product ( pS, R)- 5, which was used as a frustrated Lewis pair catalyst for the asymmetric hydrogenation of a series of imines (up to 69 % ee). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase-1 (IDO1) has been considered as an attractive target for oncology immunotherapy due to its immunosuppressive effects on the tumor microenvironment. The most advanced IDO1 inhibitor epacadostat in combination with anti-PD-1 antibody failed to show desirable objective response. Epacadostat is now reevaluated in phase III clinical trials, but its pharmacokinetic (PK) properties are unsatisfactory. To further unravel the antitumor efficacy of IDO1 inhibitors, we designed a series of epacadostat analogues by introducing various urea-containing side chains. In particular, the most active compound 3 showed superior inhibitory potency against recombinant hIDO1 and hIDO1 in HeLa cells induced by interferon γ (IFNγ) relative to epacadostat (3 , biochemical hIDO1 IC 50 = 67.4 nM, HeLa hIDO1 IC 50 = 17.6 nM; epacadostat, biochemical hIDO1 IC 50 = 75.9 nM, HeLa hIDO1 IC 50 = 20.6 nM). Moreover, compound 3 exhibited improved physicochemical properties and rat PK profile with better oral exposure and bioavailability compared with epacadostat. Importantly, this compound exhibited comparable antitumor efficacy with epacadostat in LLC syngeneic xenograft models. Hence, compound 3 represents a promising lead compound for discovery of more effective IDO1 inhibitors. [Display omitted] • A series of novel and potent IDO1 inhibitors were identified. • Compound 3 showed better inhibitory activity against IDO1 than that of epacadostat. • Compound 3 showed a desirable pharmacokinetic (PK) profile. • Compound 3 exhibited excellent antitumor efficacy in LLC xenograft models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We test the 3d-3d correspondence for theories that are labeled by Lens spaces. We find a full agreement between the index of the 3d $$ \mathcal{N}=2 $$ 'Lens space theory' T [ L( p, 1)] and the partition function of complex Chern-Simons theory on L( p, 1). In particular, for p = 1, we show how the familiar S partition function of Chern-Simons theory arises from the index of a free theory. For large p, we find that the index of T[ L( p, 1)] becomes a constant independent of p. In addition, we study T[ L( p, 1)] on the squashed three-sphere S . This enables us to see clearly, at the level of partition function, to what extent G complex Chern-Simons theory can be thought of as two copies of Chern-Simons theory with compact gauge group G. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Flake S 8 and Li 2 S nucleate on polar surface but island-like ones on apolar surface. • By-path deposition aggravates Li 2 S segregation leading to capacity decay. • Interaction of Li-shunt growth and Li 2 S segregation causes rapid cathode failure. • Areal capacity of 24.6 mAh cm−2 and energy density of 47.9 mWh cm−2 are achieved. Active-substance (S 8 and Li 2 S) deposition layer formed on polar interfaces is more reactive than that formed on apolar interfaces. However, when deposition layer reaches a certain thickness, by-path active-substance deposition takes place because of polysulfide disproportionation, which aggravates active-substance segregation to decrease the reactivity. This leads to a significant capacity decay and failure to accomplish polysulfide delithiation after certain cycles, which is understood as the results of decreased active-substance utilization and formed local micro-short-circuits, respectively. The finding of correlation between active-substance segregation and cathode deterioration inspires the design of polytetrafluoroethylene-based self-supported cathode to suppress active-substance segregation through avoiding increase of interphase contact resistance during cycling. With S-loading of 4.0 mg cm−2, the as-prepared cathode demonstrates excellent cycleability, retaining a capacity of 300 mAh g−1 at a rate of 2C after 1000 cycles. When increasing S-loading up to 36.5 mg cm−2, the as-obtained cathode delivers an ultra-high areal capacity of 24.6 mAh cm−2 after 100 cycles at 0.1 C. However, increasing S-loading aggravates Li 2 S segregation which then narrows down Li+ transportation, leading to formation and growth of Li-shunts which in turn stimulates active-substance segregation. Such an inductive interaction between Li-shunt growth and active-substance segregation results in the fast formation of local micro-short-circuits, causing the constant supply of Li from Li shunts to cathode, and eventually accelerating cathode deterioration. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]