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In thermoelectric, phase interface engineering proves effective in reducing the lattice thermal conductivity via interface scattering and amplifying the density-of-states effective mass by energy filtering. However, the indiscriminate introduction of phase interfaces inevitably leads to diminished carrier mobility. Moreover, relying on a singular energy barrier is insufficient for comprehensive filtration of low-energy carriers throughout the entire temperature range. Addressing these challenges, we advocate the establishment of a composite phase interface using atomic layer deposition (ALD) technology. This design aims to effectively decouple the interrelated thermoelectric parameters in ZrNiSn. The engineered coherent dual-interface energy barriers substantially enhance the density-of-states effective mass across the entire temperature spectrum while preser carrier mobility. Simultaneously, the strong interface scattering on phonons is crucial for curtailing lattice thermal conductivity. Consequently, a 40-cycles TiO 2 coating on ZrNi 1.03 Sn 0.99 Sb 0.01 achieves an unprecedented zT value of 1.3 at 873 K. These findings deepen the understanding of coherent composite-phase interface engineering., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

A Q345 steel butt-welded joint was manufactured using laser-arc hybrid welding (LAHW) technology, and its microstructure, microhardness, and residual stress (RS) distribution were measured. Using ABAQUS software, a sequentially coupled thermo-metallurgical-mechanical finite element method was employed to model the welding RS distribution in the LAHW joint made of Q345 steel. The effects of solid-state phase transformation (SSPT) and transverse restraint on the welding RS distribution were explored. The results show that a large number of martensite phase transformations occurred in the fusion zone and heat-affected zone of the LAHW joint. Furthermore, the SSPT had a significant effect on the magnitude and distribution of RS in the LAHW joint made of Q345 steel, which must be taken into account in numerical simulations. Transverse restraints markedly increased the transverse RS on the upper surface, with a comparatively minor impact on the longitudinal RS distribution. After the transverse restraint was released, both the longitudinal and transverse RS distributions in the LAHW joint reverted to a level akin to that of the welded joint under free conditions.

In thermoelectrics, doping is essential to augment the figure of merit. Traditional strategy, predominantly heavy doping, aims to optimize carrier concentration and restrain lattice thermal conductivity. However, this tactic can severely hamper carrier transport due to pronounced point defect scattering, particularly in materials with inherently low carrier mean-free-path. Conversely, dilute doping, although minimally affecting carrier mobility, frequently fails to optimize other vital thermoelectric parameters. Herein, we present a more nuanced dilute doping strategy in GeTe, leveraging the multifaceted roles of small-size metal atoms. A mere 4% CuPbSbTe 3 introduction into GeTe swiftly suppresses rhombohedral distortion and optimizes carrier concentration through the aid of Cu interstitials. Additionally, the formation of multiscale microstructures, including zero-dimensional Cu interstitials, one-dimensional dislocations, two-dimensional planar defects, and three-dimensional nanoscale amorphous GeO 2 and Cu 2 GeTe 3 precipitates, along with the ensuing lattice softening, contributes to an ultralow lattice thermal conductivity. Intriguingly, dilute CuPbSbTe 3 doping incurs only a marginal decrease in carrier mobility. Subsequent trace Cd doping, employed to alleviate the bipolar effect and align the valence bands, yields an impressive figure-of-merit of 2.03 at 623 K in (Ge 0.97 Cd 0.03 Te) 0.96 (CuPbSbTe 3 ) 0.04 . This leads to a high energy-conversion efficiency of 7.9% and a significant power density of 3.44 W cm -2 at a temperature difference of 500 K. These results underscore the invaluable insights gained into the constructive role of nuanced dilute doping in the concurrent tuning of carrier and phonon transport in GeTe and other thermoelectric materials., (Copyright © 2024 Science China Press. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Objective: To compared the maximum urethral pressure (Pura@max) and functional urethral length (FUL) obtained with water-filled catheters and air-charged catheters during female urethral pressure profile (UPP) in a retrospective study., Patients and Methods: One hundred and five female patients were enrolled in our investigation. At Beijing Chao-Yang Hospital, patients who had lower urinary tract dysfunction underwent UPP using a modified UPP equipment. In one UPP, both a water-filled catheter (WFC) and an air-charged catheter (ACC) were employed simultaneously. The paired t test was used to compare the differences between the two systems. Bias and correlations between the two systems were analyzed according to the American Clinical and Laboratory Standardization Institute (CLSI) EP9-A3 recommendations., Results: There were 105 female participants in this study. The patients were 55.5 ± 14.2years old on average. By using the ACC and WFC systems, the mean FUL was determined to be 39.7 ± 16.2 mm and 33.9 ± 13.9 mm, respectively. The FUL findings of two systems differed significantly from one another (P < .01), and a linear fit with R 2 = 0.94 indicates a strong linear correlation. The findings of the maximum urethral pressure (Pura@max) measurements made by the ACC and WFC systems, respectively, were 134.3 ± 39.1cmH 2 O and 99.2 ± 27.6cmH 2 O, are substantially different (P < .01), and the linear fit R 2 = 0.67. The Pura@max of two systems did not linearly correlate with one another., Conclusion: For UPP, ACCs often provide higher readings than WFCs, and there is a significant difference in the readings between the two systems. The pressure values derived from the two systems do not correlate, although the FUL does have a significant linear correlation. Results from the ACC and WFC cannot be used interchangeably., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors have no conflict of interest to declare., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

N-type Mg 3 Sb 2 -based thermoelectric materials show great promise in power generation due to their mechanical robustness, low cost of Mg, and high figure of merit (ZT) over a wide range of temperatures. However, their poor thermal stability hinders their practical applications. Here, MgB 2 is introduced to improve the thermal stability of n-type Mg 3 Sb 2 . Enabled by MgB 2 decomposition, extra Mg can be released into the matrix for Mg compensation thermodynamically, and secondary phases of Mg─B compounds can kinetically prevent Mg diffusion along grain boundaries. These synergetic effects inhibit the formation of Mg vacancies at elevated temperatures, thereby enhancing the thermal stability of n-type Mg 3 Sb 2 . Consequently, the Mg 3.05 (Sb 0.75 Bi 0.25 ) 1.99 Te 0.01 (MgB 2 ) 0.03 sample exhibits negligible variation in thermoelectric performance during the 120-hour continuous measurement at 673 K. Moreover, the ZT of n-type Mg 3 Sb 2 can be maintained by adding MgB 2 , reaching a high average ZT of ≈1.1 within 300-723 K. An eight-pair Mg 3 Sb 2 -GeTe-based thermoelectric device is also fabricated, achieving an energy conversion efficiency of ≈5.7% at a temperature difference of 438 K with good thermal stability. This work paves a new way to enhance the long-term thermal stability of n-type Mg 3 Sb 2 -based alloys and other thermoelectrics for practical applications., (© 2023 Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

The photocatalytic oxygen evolution of bismuth oxybromide (BiOBr) is greatly hindered by its low visible-light response and high electron-hole recombination. Nonmetal doping can effectively alleviate these issues, leading to improvement in photocatalytic performance. Herein, Bi 2 Te 3 was introduced as both the Te doping source and the morphology-control template to improve the photocatalytic performance of BiOBr. Appropriate amounts of Te are critical to maintain the ultrathin plate-like structure of BiOBr, whereas excessive Te results in the formation of a flower-like architecture. Oxygen evolution activity disclosed that a plate-like structure is essential for realizing higher performance owing to sufficient light utilization and efficient charge separation. An optimal oxygen evolution rate of 368.0 μmol h -1 g -1 was achieved for the Te-doped sample, which is 2.3-fold as that of the undoped BiOBr (158.9 μmol h -1 g -1 ). Theoretical calculations demonstrated that Te doping can induce impurity levels above the valence band of BiOBr, which slightly narrowed the band gap and strengthened the light absorption in the range of 400-800 nm. More importantly, Te dopants could act as shallow traps for confining the excited electrons, thus prolonging the carrier lifetime. This work provides a novel strategy to prepare highly efficient photocatalysts by simultaneously realizing morphology manipulation and nonmetal doping.

N-type Mg 3 (Bi, Sb) 2 -based thermoelectric (TE) alloys show great promise for solid-state power generation and refrigeration, owing to their excellent figure-of-merit (ZT) and using cheap Mg. However, their rigorous preparation conditions and poor thermal stability limit their large-scale applications. Here, this work develops an Mg compensating strategy to realize n-type Mg 3 (Bi, Sb) 2 by a facile melting-sintering approach. "2D roadmaps" of TE parameters versus sintering temperature and time are plotted to understand the Mg-vacancy-formation and Mg-diffusion mechanisms. Under this guidance, high weight mobility of 347 cm 2  V -1  s -1 and power factor of 34 µW cm -1  K -2 can be obtained for Mg 3.05 Bi 1.99 Te 0.01 , and a peak ZT≈1.55 at 723 K and average ZT≈1.25 within 323-723 K can be obtained for Mg 3.05 (Sb 0.75 Bi 0.25 ) 1.99 Te 0.01 . Moreover, this Mg compensating strategy can also improve the interfacial connecting and thermal stability of corresponding Mg 3 (Bi, Sb) 2 /Fe TE legs. As a consequence, this work fabricates an 8-pair Mg 3 Sb 2 -GeTe-based power-generation device reaching an energy conversion efficiency of ≈5.0% at a temperature difference of 439 K, and a one-pair Mg 3 Sb 2 -Bi 2 Te 3 -based cooling device reaching -10.7 °C at the cold side. This work paves a facile way to obtain Mg 3 Sb 2 -based TE devices at low cost and also provides a guide to optimize the off-stoichiometric defects in other TE materials., (© 2023 Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

In thermoelectrics, phase engineering serves a crucial function in determining the power factor by affecting the band degeneracy. However, for low-symmetry compounds, the mainstream one-step phase manipulation strategy, depending solely on the valley or orbital degeneracy, is inadequate to attain a high density-of-states effective mass and exceptional zT . Here, we employ a distinctive two-step phase manipulation strategy through stepwise tailoring chemical bonds in GeSe. Initially, we amplify the valley degeneracy via CdTe alloying, which elevates the crystal symmetry from a covalently bonded orthorhombic to a metavalently bonded rhombohedral phase by significantly suppressing the Peierls distortion. Subsequently, we incorporate Pb to trigger the convergence of multivalence bands and further enhance the density-of-states effective mass by moderately restraining the Peierls distortion. Additionally, the atypical metavalent bonding in rhombohedral GeSe enables a high Ge vacancy concentration and a small band effective mass, leading to increased carrier concentration and mobility. This weak chemical bond along with strong lattice anharmonicity also reduces lattice thermal conductivity. Consequently, this unique property ensemble contributes to an outstanding zT of 0.9 at 773 K for Ge 0.80 Pb 0.20 Se(CdTe) 0.25 . This work underscores the pivotal role of the two-step phase manipulation by stepwise tailoring of chemical bonds in improving the thermoelectric performance of p -bonded chalcogenides., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2023 The Author(s).)

Background: Piper nigrum essential oil (PnEO) possesses pleasant aroma, unique flavor, and various bioactivities; however, its role against colitis remains unclear., Purpose: In this study, we investigated the role of PnEO in relieving colitis and explored its potential mechanisms in a mouse model of dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced colitis., Methods: Initially, we identified and quantified the components of PnEO by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Subsequently, we investigated the protective role of PnEO (50 and 200 mg/kg) in DSS-induced colitis in mice by evaluating disease activity index (DAI) scores and colon length, and performing histological analyses. Eyeball blood was collected and cytokines were determined using ELISA kits. The anti-inflammatory mechanisms of PnEO were analyzed by western blot (WB) and immunohistochemistry (IHC). The intestinal barrier function was evaluated according to tight junction (TJ) protein mRNA levels. We used 16S rRNA gene sequencing to analyze the intestinal microflora of mouse cecal contents., Results: Supplementation with PnEO (50 and 200 mg/kg) increased colon length and improved colon histopathology. PnEO regulated inflammatory responses by downregulating TLR4/MAPKs activation, thereby reducing the release of cytokines and mediators. Moreover, it also protected the intestinal barrier through enhancing the expression of claudin-1, claudin-3, occludin, ZO-1, and mucin 2. 16S rRNA gene sequencing revealed that PnEO (200 mg/kg) decreased the abundance of Akkermansia in the gut microbiome., Conclusion: PnEO treatment (50 and 200 mg/kg) relieved DSS-induced colitis by inhibiting TLR4/MAPK pathway and protecting intestinal barrier, and high-dose PnEO exhibited better effects. Moreover, PnEO (200 mg/kg) regulated key compositions of the gut microbiome, which indicated that it had therapeutic potential for sustaining gut health to lower the risk of colitis., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors of this manuscript declare that they have no financial or personal affiliations with any individuals or organizations that may have unduly affected this work. They also have no vested interests in any product, service, or company that may have influenced the positions presented in the manuscript or in its review., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.)

Background: Leucine-rich repeat-containing protein 59 (LRRC59) is an endoplasmic reticulum membrane protein involved in various cancers, but its role in bladder cancer (BC) has not been reported. The aim of the present study was to investigate the role of LRRC59 protein in BC progression and prognosis., Methods: The expression profile and clinical significance were retrieved from BC patients in the Cancer Genome Atlas database. The methylation status of LRRC59 was analyzed by UALCAN and MethSurv databases. Potential signaling pathways and biological functions were explored by functional enrichment analysis. Immunocyte infiltration was evaluated by CIBERSORT analysis. The prognostic value of LRRC59 was evaluated by Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression analyses. Overall survival (OS) was predicted by the nomogram plot established in this study. LRRC59 expression in 10 pairs BC and adjacent noncancerous tissues were analyzed by immunohistochemistry (IHC). Cell proliferation, migration, and invasion were detected by CCK8, colony formation assay, transwell assay, and cell scratch assay, respectively. Proteins related to epithelial-mesenchymal transition and apoptosis were detected by western blot., Results: LRRC59 overexpression significantly decreased OS, disease-specific survival, and progress-free interval of BC patients. LRRC59 was a prognostic marker for OS and its hypomethylation status signified a poor prognosis. LRRC59 overexpression was correlated with infiltration of resting memory CD4 T cells, memory activated CD4 T cells, resting NK cells, macrophages M0, M1, M2, and neutrophils. IHC showed that the LRRC59 expression in BC tissue was significantly higher than that in adjacent noncancerous tissue. Knockdown of LRRC59 expression inhibited the proliferation of BC cells and reduced their migratory ability. Western blot showed that Snail and vimentin protein expressions decreased, while E-cadherin expressions increased., Conclusions: LRRC59 expression can predict the outcome of BC independently and serve as a new biomarker for diagnosis., (© 2023 The Authors. Cancer Medicine published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

This study aimed to purify and characterize immunoregulatory peptides from Sipunculus nudus L. and to explore the underlying mechanisms. Ultrafiltration, gel filtration chromatography, and reverse phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) were used to purify the peptide following enzymatic hydrolysis. Rates of lymphocyte proliferation and phagocytosis as well as nitric oxide (NO) production levels were used as indicators of immunoregulatory activity to screen the fractions. The amino acid sequence of the peptide, designated as SNLP, was identified as Arg-Val-Lys-Gly-Lys-Ile-Leu-Ala-Lys-Arg-Leu-Asn (RVKGKILAKRLN) by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Treatment with the synthetic SNLP increased the proliferation and phagocytosis of RAW 264.7 macrophages and promoted the secretion of tumor necrosis factor-ɑ (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-1β (IL-1β), and NO levels. The mRNA levels of these cytokines and iNOS were also increased by SNLP. Our results provide preliminary evidence suggesting that SNLP acts as a dual immunomodulatory peptide with immunostimulatory and anti-inflammatory activities. In summary, SNLP derived from Sipunculus nudus L. is a potent immunoregulatory peptide and represents a potential functional food or immunoregulatory drug., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest., (© 2023 The Authors. Food Science & Nutrition published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

Background: Adherence to the diabetes risk reduction diet (DRRD) may potentially reduce the risk of developing head and neck cancer (HNC) as the diet includes fruits and limits red and processed meats, known risk factors for HNC. However, there is currently no epidemiological research to investigate this potential association., Methods: The present study utilized data on demographics, lifestyles, medications, and diets of participants from the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian (PLCO) Cancer Screening Trial to explore the potential association between adherence to DRRD and the risk of HNC. We used a DRRD score to evaluate adherence to the dietary pattern and employed Cox regression analysis to calculate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for HNC risk. Several subgroup analyses were carried out to identify potential effect modifiers, and multiple sensitivity analyses were performed to evaluate the stability of the correlation. The nine components of the DRRD was assessed separately for its association with the risk of HNC., Results: During a mean follow up of 8.84 years, 279 cases of HNC were observed. DDRD score was found to be inversely associated with the risk of HNC (HR Q4 vs. Q1 : 0.582; 95% CI: 0.396, 0.856; p  = 0.005 for trend) in a linear dose-response manner ( p  = 0.211 for non-linearity). Subgroup analysis indicated this inverse correlation was more pronounced among participants who had never smoked (HR Q4 vs. Q1 : 0.193; 95% CI: 0.073, 0.511; p  < 0.001 for trend) compared to current or former smokers ( p  = 0.044 for interaction). The primary association of DDRD and HNC risk remained robust after several sensitivity analyses. Regarding the individual components of DRRD, an inverse association was also observed between the risk of HNC and increased intake of cereal fiber and whole fruit (all p  < 0.05 for trend)., Conclusion: Our findings provide evidence that following the DRRD pattern may reduce the risk of NHC, especially for non-smokers., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Wu, Peng, Luo, Xu, Wang, Gu, Wang, Xiao, Zhang and Xiang.)

Bi 2 Te 3 -based alloys have great market demand in miniaturized thermoelectric (TE) devices for solid-state refrigeration and power generation. However, their poor mechanical properties increase the fabrication cost and decrease the service durability. Here, this work reports on strengthened mechanical robustness in Bi 2 Te 3 -based alloys due to thermodynamic Gibbs adsorption and kinetic Zener pinning at grain boundaries enabled by MgB 2 decomposition. These effects result in much-refined grain size and twofold enhancement of the compressive strength and Vickers hardness in (Bi 0.5 Sb 1.5 Te 3 ) 0.97 (MgB 2 ) 0.03 compared with that of traditional powder-metallurgy-derived Bi 0.5 Sb 1.5 Te 3 . High mechanical properties enable excellent cutting machinability in the MgB 2 -added samples, showing no missing corners or cracks. Moreover, adding MgB 2 facilitates the simultaneous optimization of electron and phonon transport for enhancing the TE figure of merit (ZT). By further optimizing the Bi/Sb ratio, the sample (Bi 0.4 Sb 1.6 Te 3 ) 0.97 (MgB 2 ) 0.03 shows a maximum ZT of ≈1.3 at 350 K and an average ZT of 1.1 within 300-473 K. As a consequence, robust TE devices with an energy conversion efficiency of 4.2% at a temperature difference of 215 K are fabricated. This work paves a new way for enhancing the machinability and durability of TE materials, which is especially promising for miniature devices., (© 2023 The Authors. Advanced Science published by Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

In this study, we investigated the effects of cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) technology on endogenous enzyme characteristics and muscle protein properties of the golden pomfret (Trachinotus ovatus) under different treatment power and time conditions. Results showed that the enzymatic activity of cathepsin B, L, and calpain in crude protease extracts (CPE) decreased significantly as the treatment power and treatment time of CAP increased (p < 0.05). Oxidative degradation of the CPE after exposure to CAP resulted in significant changes in the structure, total sulfhydryl, and carbonyl content of the CPE (p < 0.05). CAP of an appropriate intensity resulted in significant improvements in the color parameters, hydration properties, and textural property parameters of muscle proteins (p < 0.05). These results suggest that CAP, as a non-thermophysical modification technique, can inhibit the activity of endogenous enzymes as well as alter the protein function in food., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Manipulating and integrating the microstructures at different scales is crucial to tune the electrical and thermal properties of a given compound. High-pressure sintering can modify the multiscale microstructures and thus empower the cutting-edge thermoelectric performance. In this work, the high-pressure sintering technique followed by annealing is adopted to prepare Gd-doped p -type (Bi 0.2 Sb 0.8 ) 2 (Te 0.97 Se 0.03 ) 3 alloys. First, the high energy of high-pressure sintering promotes the reduction of grain size, thus increasing the content of 2D grain boundaries. Next, high-pressure sintering induces strong interior strain, where 1D dense dislocations are generated near the strain field. More interestingly, the rare-earth element Gd with a high melting temperature is dissolved into the matrix via high-pressure sintering, thus promoting the formation of 0D extrinsic point defects. This concurrently improves the carrier concentration and density-of-state effective mass, resulting in an enhanced power factor. In addition, the integrated 0D point defects, 1D dislocations, and 2D grain boundaries by high-pressure sintering strengthen phonon scattering, thereby achieving a low lattice thermal conductivity of 0.5 Wm -1 K -1 at 348 K. Consequently, a maximum zT value of ∼1.1 at 348 K is achieved in the 0.4 at % Gd-doped (Bi 0.2 Sb 0.8 ) 2 (Te 0.97 Se 0.03 ) 3 sample. This work demonstrates that high-pressure sintering enables microstructure modification to enhance the thermoelectric performance of Bi 2 Te 3 -based and other bulk materials.

Liver hepatocellular carcinoma (LIHC) is one of the main cancers worldwide and has high morbidity and mortality rates. Although previous studies have shown that ANXA10 is expressed at low levels in LIHC tumor tissues, the biological function of ANXA10 in LIHC is still unclear. Therefore, we utilized TCGA, TIMER, GEPIA2, TISIDB, LinkedOmics, ssGSEA algorithms and CIBERSORT methodology to preliminarily evaluate the potential mechanism of ANXA10 in LIHC. In vitro experiments were used to further verify some functions of ANXA10. Consequently, we found that ANXA10 mRNA/protein expression was downregulated in LIHC tissue compared to normal tissue. ANXA10 was significantly linked with clinicopathological features, immunocytes, multiple cancer-related pathways, m6A modification and a ceRNA network. A three-gene prognostic signature rooted in ANXA10-related immunomodulators was determined and found to be an independent prognostic predictor. A nomogram was constructed to predict survival with good accuracy. Additionally, in vitro trials revealed that ANXA10 upregulation inhibited LIHC cell proliferation and migration. This study reveals that ANXA10 may serve as a prognostic marker and promising therapeutic target in LIHC clinical practice through various biologic functions., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Purpose: To investigate the long-term effects of transurethral bladder neck incision (TUBNI) for female primary bladder neck obstruction (PBNO)., Materials and Methods: We retrospectively reviewed seventy women diagnosed with bladder neck obstruction by video-urodynamic study (VUDS). TUBNI was performed for each patient, with incisions made at 2 different sites on the bladder neck. Postoperatively, patients were assessed by international prostate symptom score (IPSS), quality of life (QOL) and uroflowmetry., Results: Follow-up data were available for 4-108 months (median 42 months) postoperatively. During follow-up, the IPSS, QOL, time to maximum uroflow rate, postvoid residual urine volume decreased significantly after TUBNI compared with preoperative [13.0 (10.0, 15.0) versus 3.0 (3.0, 8.0), P ＜ .001], [5.0 (5.0, 5.0) versus 2.0 (1.0, 3.0), P ＜ .001], [9.0 (5.0, 37.0) versus 6.1 (4.2, 8.7), P ＜ .001], [77.5 (23.5, 165.8) versus 0.0 (0.0, 30.0), P ＜ .001]. The maximum uroflow rate, average uroflow rate and the voided volume increased significantly compared with preoperative [7.0 (4.0, 10.3) versus 19.8 (12.8, 25.2), P ＜ .001], [3.0 (2.0, 5.0) versus 8.0 (4.9, 10.7), P ＜ .001] and [156.5 (85.0, 211.3) versus 261.3 (166.2, 345.6), P ＜ .001]. Several complications were identified after surgery, including bladder neck reobstruction, urethral stricture, and stress urinary incontinence, the corresponding number was 5 (7.1%), 7(10%) and 7(10%). Successful operation was achieved in 60/70 (85.7 %) patients., Conclusion: PBNO is a very rare yet easily treatable condition. VUDS is the primary diagnostic tool for the diagnosis of bladder neck obstruction in women, while TUBNI can effectively relieve obstruction symptoms and improve the quality of life for patients.

This study aimed to purify and identify antiphotoaging peptides from oyster ( Crassostrea hongkongensis ) protein enzymatic hydrolysates (OPEH) and to investigate the possible mechanism underlying its antiphotoaging effect. Multiple methods (Ultrafiltration, G25 Chromatography, RP-HPLC, and LC/MS/MS) had been used for this purpose, and eventually, two peptides, including WNLNP and RKNEVLGK, were identified. Particularly, WNLNP exerted remarkable antiphotoaging effect on the UVB-irradiated HaCaT photoaged cell model in a dose-dependent manner. WNLNP exerted its protective effect mainly through inhibiting ROS production, decreasing MMP-1 expression, but increasing extracellular pro-collagen I content. Furthermore, WNLNP downregulated p38, JNK, ERK, and p65 phosphorylation in the MAPK/NF-κB signaling pathway and attenuated bax over-expressions but reversed bcl-2 reduction in UVB- irradiated HaCaT cells. The molecular docking analysis showed that WNLNP forms five and seven hydrogen bonds with NF-κB (p65) and MMP-1, respectively. This study suggested that a pentapeptide WNLNP isolated from OPEH had great potential to prevent and regulate skin photoaging.

Currently, the processing method of introducing plant protein into meat products has attracted great attention. However, the direct addition of plant protein often leads to a decline in meat product quality. This paper aims to provide an efficient method for incorporating plant protein into fish sausage. Pea protein isolate (PPI), grass carp protein isolate (CPI) and pea-grass carp coprecipitated dual protein (Co) were derived from pea and grass carp by an isoelectric solubilisation/precipitation method. At the same time, the blended dual protein (BL) was obtained by blending PPI with CPI, and the plant and animal protein content of Co and BL was both controlled to be the same. The four proteins were combined with soybean oil and water to form a three-phase pre-emulsification system of protein-oil-water, which was added to grass carp meat as a replacement for animal fat to prepare fish sausage. The gelation properties of the four fish sausages and those without protein were analysed. The results showed that the gel quality of PPI fish sausage is poor, while the overall quality of Co fish sausage as a whole was significantly superior to that of PPI and BL, which was equivalent to CPI fish sausage. The sensory score of the Co fish sausage was slightly lower than that of CPI, but it had significantly higher water-holding capacity and hardness ( p < 0.05). The Co fish sausage showed the synergistic effect of heterologous proteins, while BL had some antagonistic effects. This study shows that Co pre-emulsion is an effective strategy to introduce plant protein, so it has a good application prospect in the meat industry.

Isoelectric solubilisation/co-precipitation (ISP) has been proven to be a better method than blending for preparing plant-animal dual-proteins, which can achieve synergies in the functional properties of heterologous proteins. This paper aims to investigate the effect of extraction pH on the functional properties of co-precipitated dual-protein. The basic composition, subunit composition, solubility, surface hydrophobicity, emulsification and gel properties of co-precipitated dual-protein (Co) prepared from pea and grass carp with pH (2.0, 3.0, 9.0, 10.0 and 11.0) were analysed in this study using ISP. The results showed that the functional properties of Co (Co9, Co10, Co11) prepared by alkali extraction were generally better than those prepared by acid extraction (Co2, Co3). Among them, Co10 has the highest vicilin/legumin α + β value and solubility, while having the lowest surface hydrophobicity, making its emulsification and gel properties superior to other extraction pH values. This study provides an important method reference for preparing plant-animal Co with exceptional functional properties.

In thermoelectrics, entropy engineering as an emerging paradigm-shifting strategy can simultaneously enhance the crystal symmetry, increase the solubility limit of specific elements, and reduce the lattice thermal conductivity. However, the severe lattice distortion in high-entropy materials blocks the carrier transport and hence results in an extremely low carrier mobility. Herein, the design principle for selecting alloying species is introduced as an effective strategy to compensate for the deterioration of carrier mobility in GeTe-based alloys. It demonstrates that high configurational entropy via progressive MnZnCdTe 3 and Sb co-alloying can promote the rhombohedral-cubic phase transition temperature toward room temperature, which thus contributes to the enhanced density-of-states effective mass. Combined with the reduced carrier concentration via the suppressed Ge vacancies by high-entropy effect and Sb donor doping, a large Seebeck coefficient is attained. Meanwhile, the severe lattice distortions and micron-sized Zn 0.6 Cd 0.4 Te precipitations restrain the lattice thermal conductivity approaching to the theoretical minimum value. Finally, the maximum zT of Ge 0.82 Sb 0.08 Te 0.90 (MnZnCdTe 3 ) 0.10 reaches 1.24 at 723 K via the trade-off between the degraded carrier mobility and the improved Seebeck coefficient, as well as the depressed lattice thermal conductivity. These results provide a reference for the implementation of entropy engineering in GeTe and other thermoelectric materials.

Protein content, a vital component determining the nutritional quality of oysters, is unevenly distributed in different parts of oyster. In this study, the spatial distribution (visceral mass, mantle, gill, and adductor) patterns and structural characteristics of proteins, including water-soluble proteins (WSP), salt-soluble proteins (SSP), acid-soluble proteins (ASP) and alkali-soluble proteins (ALSP) of oysters ( Crassostrea hongkongensis ) were investigated with the amino acid analyzer, circular dichroism spectroscopy (CD), fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and fluorescence spectroscopy. The results showed that oyster proteins were mainly distributed in the visceral mass and mantle. The protein composition was WSP, SSP, ALSP, and ASP in descending order, which conformed to the ideal amino acid pattern. Variations in secondary structure, molecular weight distribution, and thermal denaturation temperatures of the oyster proteins were observed. SSP had wider bands (16-270 kDa) than those of ASP (30-37 kDa) and ALSP (66-270 kDa). Among the four proteins, the SSP of the mantle showed the highest thermal stability (87.4 °C), while ALSP of the adductor muscle had the lowest the lowest the peak denaturation temperature (Tm) (53.8 °C). The proportions of secondary structures in oyster proteins were different, with a higher proportion of solid protein β-folds, and the exposure of aromatic amino acid residues and disulfide bonds and the microenvironment in which they were located were also different.

In this study, the yield, content of piperine, and antioxidant activity of pepper oleoresin obtained with the methods of maceration, ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE), microwave-assisted extraction (MAE), and ultrasound-MAE (UMAE) were analyzed, and the microstructure of pepper residue was observed. For the yield and piperine content, the UMAE method had the best extraction capacity among the four methods. While, the oleoresin obtained with maceration had the highest total phenolic content, and the antioxidant activity of the oleoresin obtained by maceration was higher than that of the extracts acquired by UAE, MAE, and UMAE, and a high positive correlation was observed between the antioxidant activity and total phenolic content of the oleoresin obtained by these extraction methods. The ideal parameters for UMAE were an 80-mesh particle size and a 1 g/10 mL solid-liquid ratio. The kinetic parameters and models of the UMAE extraction process were also compared using first- and second-order models. The second-order kinetic equation with the lowest root mean square deviation and highest adjusted correlation coefficient proved to be more suitable for describing the extraction kinetics of pepper oleoresin. This study showed that UMAE is a fast, efficient, and cost-effective technique for the extraction of green pepper oleoresin., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Zhang, Gu, Hu, Wu, Chen, Dong and Niu.)

Carotenoid cleavage dioxygenase (CCD) is the key enzyme for carotenoid cleavage, and the products of carotenoid cleavage regulate the ability of plants to stress. In this paper, six CCD genes were obtained from Morus notabilis (Mn) by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and we classified them into three subgroups based on gene structures and phylogenetic analysis. The CDS (coding sequence) regions of the six MnCCD genes were 1617, 1620, 1635, 1713, 1746, and 1791 bp in full length, encoding 538, 539, 544, 570, 581, and 596 amino acids, respectively. Then, Pcold-TF- MnCCD plasmids were constructed and independently transferred into E. coli BL21 (DE3), and the MnCCD proteins were successfully expressed by prokaryotic expression with an expected molecular weight of recombinant proteins (∼120 kDa) and high solubility. These results will lay a foundation for the identification of mulberry carotenoid products., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Dan Liu et al.)

Previous studies found that both oral and topical administration of enzymatic digestion products < 3 K Da ultrafiltration fractions of Pinctada martensii mantle (PMPs) had pro-healing effects. Thus, we further purified them by Sephadex-G25 and screened them by cellular assays to obtain Pinctada martensii purified peptides (PMPPs). In this study, we explored the mechanism of PMPPs on wound healing by in vivo, in vitro, and in silico experiments. LC-MS/MS results showed that PMPPs consisted of 33 peptides with molecular weights ranging from 758.43 to 2014.04 Da, and the characteristic peptide was Leu-Asp. The results of cellular assays showed that PMPPs promoted the proliferation of human skin fibroblasts (HSF) (135%) and human immortalized keratinocyte (HaCaT) cells (125%) very significantly at 12.5 μg/mL. The in vivo results showed that PMPPs could achieve scarless healing by inhibiting the inflammatory response, accelerating the epithelialization process, and regulating collagen I/III ratio. The optimal peptide sequence FAFQAEIAQLMS of PMPPs was screened for key protein receptors in wound healing (EGFR1, FGFR1, and MMP-1) with the help of molecular docking technique, which also showed to be the key pro-healing active peptide sequence. Therefore, it may provide a therapeutic strategy with great potential for wound healing.

Processing stages play critical role in the nutrition and flavor changes of marine products. This study investigated the nutrition and flavor profiles in noble scallop Chlamys nobilis adductor during boiling, rinsing, baking and drying processing stages by high performance liquid chromatography, headspace solid-phase microextraction and gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. The results showed that the overall processing stages favorably preserved the essential amino acids. Drying obviously increased the umami and sweet amino acids contents by 72.08%, 67.77%, respectively (P < 0.05), and promoted the production of flavor nucleotides. In addition, the overall processing stages significantly increased the protein and lipid oxidation degree by (1.49-3.01)-fold and (4.25-5.81)-fold, respectively, compared with raw group (P < 0.05). Moreover, alcohols were the major volatiles in raw group, while the aldehydes, alcohols, and hydrocarbons predominated in rinsing, baking and drying stages. In conclusion, the processing maintained the nutrition value and improved the flavor of scallop adductors., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Oyster meat has a tender texture and delicate flavor, and the oyster is an aquatic shellfish with high nutritional and economic values. As they are rich in protein, oysters serve as a good source for the preparation of bioactive peptides. However, research on the lactation effect and mechanism of the synthesis of polypeptides from oyster hydrolysates is yet to be observed. This study aimed to analyze the lactation activity of the fraction UEC4-1 and explore its mechanism. The results show that, in an in vivo experiment, UEC4-1 could significantly increase the concentration of PRL in the serum and mammary tissue and the concentration of PRLR in the mammary tissue in rats with postpartum hypogalactia. UEC4-1 promoted the development of mammary tissue structure, resulting in active lactation. UEC4-1 promoted the proliferation of MCF-10A in a dose-dependent manner and could significantly upregulate the gene expression levels of PRL, PRLR, CSN1S1, CSN2, CSN3 and CCND1. UEC4-1 could also significantly increase the expression of mTOR, AKT1, RPS6KB1 and STAT5A in MCF-10A and improve its phosphorylation level. These results show that UEC4-1 had the ability to upregulate the proliferation and PRL synthesis of MCF-10A and promote lactation. The ability of UEC4-1 to regulate the milk-protein synthesis signaling pathway is the mechanism behind this. Oysters had a remarkable effect on lactating mothers' sweating irritability after childbirth and may serve as an everyday diet to promote lactation. Postpartum dysgalactia is a common problem for lactating women. The study of the oyster's lactation-active peptide can provide dietary nutrition guidance for postpartum lactating mothers, and it has the potential to be used for the development of drugs for the treatment of postpartum hypogalactia or oligogalactia.

Bacterial cellulose (BC) is a kind of high-purity cellulose biomaterial with a unique three-dimensional structure. To improve the mechanical properties and reinforce the BC composite films, in this study, we provide in detail a simple, fast, and environmentally-friendly method to prepare a biodegradable composite film using chitosan (CS) with different molecular weights and BC with excellent dispersion. The water moisture content (MC), water solubility (WS), contact angle (CA), mechanical properties and barrier properties were measured to assess the effect of CSn-OBC composite films. The morphology, structural and thermal properties of the films were evaluated by scanning electron microscopy, spectral analysis, thermogravimetry and X-ray diffraction. Results showed that the biodegradable film prepared by grafting chitosan with high molecular weight and uniformly dispersing bacterial cellulose exhibited superior mechanical properties, water resistance, and thermal stability, which are essential characteristics for commercial applications in complex environments., (Copyright © 2022. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Currently, the application of protein mixture derived from plants and animals is of great interest to the food industry. However, the synergistic effects of isolated protein blends (BL) are not well established. Herein, the development of a more effective method (co-precipitation) for the production of protein mixtures from pea and grass carp is reported. Pea protein isolate (PPI), grass carp protein isolate (CPI), and pea-carp protein co-precipitates (Co) were prepared via isoelectric solubilization/precipitation using peas and grass carp as raw materials. Meanwhile, the BL was obtained by blending PPI with CPI. In addition, the subunit composition and functional properties of Co and BL were investigated. The results show that the ratios of vicilin to legumin α + β and the soluble aggregates of Co were 2.82- and 1.69-fold higher than that of BL. The surface hydrophobicity of Co was less than that of BL, PPI, and CPI ( p < 0.05). The solubility of Co was greater than that of BL, PPI, and CPI ( p < 0.05), and the foaming activity was higher than that of BL and CPI ( p < 0.05) but slightly lower than that of PPI. In addition, based on the emulsifying activity index, particle size, microstructure, and viscosity, Co had better emulsifying properties than BL, PPI, and CPI. The study not only confirmed that co-precipitation was more effective than blending for the preparation of mixed protein using PPI and CPI but also provided a standard of reference for obtaining a mixture of plant and animal proteins.

Peptides from oyster hydrolysate (OPs) have a variety of biological activities. However, its protective effect and exact mechanism on testicular injury remain poorly understood. This study aimed to evaluate the protective effect of OPs on triptolide (TP)-induced testis damage and spermatogenesis dysfunction and investigate its underlying mechanism. In this work, the TP-induced testis injury model was created while OPs were gavaged in mice for 4 weeks. The results showed that OPs significantly improved the sperm count and motility of mice, and alleviated the seminiferous tubule injury. Further study showed that OPs decreased malonaldehyde (MDA) level and increased antioxidant enzyme (SOD and GPH-Px) activities, attenuating oxidative stress and thereby reducing the number of apoptotic cells in the testis. In addition, OPs improved the activities of enzymes (LDH, ALP and ACP) related to energy metabolism in the testis and restored the serum hormone level of mice to normal. Furthermore, OPs promoted the expression of Nrf2 protein, and then increased the expression of antioxidant enzyme regulatory protein (HO-1 and NQO1) in the testis. OPs inhibited JNK phosphorylation and Bcl-2/Bax-mediated apoptosis. In conclusion, OPs have a protective effect on testicular injury and spermatogenesis disorders caused by TP, suggesting the potential protection of OPs on male reproduction.

In thermoelectrics, the material's performance stems from a delicate tradeoff between atomic order and disorder. Generally, dopants and thus atomic disorder are indispensable for optimizing the carrier concentration and scatter short-wavelength heat-carrying phonons. However, the strong disorder has been perceived as detrimental to the semiconductor's electrical conductivity owing to the deteriorated carrier mobility. Here, we report the sustainable role of strong atomic disorder in suppressing the detrimental phase transition and enhancing the thermoelectric performance in GeTe. We found that AgSnSe 2 and Sb co-alloying eliminates the unfavorable phase transition due to the high configurational entropy and achieve the cubic Ge 1- x - y Sb y Te 1- x (AgSnSe 2 ) x solid solutions with cationic and anionic site disorder. Though AgSnSe 2 substitution drives the carrier mean free path toward the Ioffe-Regel limit and minimizes the carrier mobility, the increased carrier concentration could render a decent electrical conductivity, affording enough phase room for further performance optimization. Given the lowermost carrier mean free path, further Sb alloying on Ge sites was implemented to progressively optimize the carrier concentration and enhance the density-of-state effective mass, thereby substantially enhancing the Seebeck coefficient. In addition, the high density of nanoscale strain clusters induced by strong atomic disorders significantly restrains the lattice thermal conductivity. As a result, a state-of-the-art zT ≈ 1.54 at 773 K was attained in cubic Ge 0.58 Sb 0.22 Te 0.8 (AgSnSe 2 ) 0.2 . These results demonstrate that the strong atomic disorder at the high entropy scale is a previously underheeded but promising approach in thermoelectric material research, especially for the numerous low carrier mobility materials.

Powder metallurgy introduces small structures of high-density grain boundaries into Bi 2 Te 3 -based alloys, which promises to enhance their mechanical and thermoelectric performance. However, due to the strong donor-like effect induced by the increased surface, Te vacancies form in the powder-metallurgy process. Hence, the as-sintered n-type Bi 2 Te 3 -based alloys show a lower figure of merit (ZT) value than their p-type counterparts and the commercial zone-melted (ZM) ingots. Here, boron is added to one-step-sintered n-type Bi 2 Te 3 -based alloys to inhibit grain growth and to suppress the donor-like effect, simultaneously improving the mechanical and thermoelectric (TE) performance. Due to the alleviated donor-like effect and the carrier mobility maintained in our n-type Bi 2 Te 2.7 Se 0.3 alloys upon the addition of boron, the maximum and average ZT values within 298-473 K can be enhanced to 1.03 and 0.91, respectively, which are even slightly higher than that of n-type ZM ingots. Moreover, the addition of boron greatly improves the mechanical strength such as Vickers hardness and compressive strength due to the synergetic effects of Hall-Petch grain-boundary strengthening and boron dispersion strengthening. This facile and cost-effective grain boundary engineering by adding boron facilitates the practical application of Bi 2 Te 3 -based alloys and can also be popularized in other thermoelectric materials., (© 2021 Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

The configurational entropy is an emerging descriptor in the functional materials genome. In thermoelectric materials, the configurational entropy helps tune the delicate trade-off between carrier mobility and lattice thermal conductivity, as well as the structural phase transition, if any. Taking GeTe as an example, low-entropy GeTe generally have high carrier mobility and distinguished zT > 2, but the rhombohedral-cubic phase transition restricts the applications. In contrast, despite cubic structure and ultralow lattice thermal conductivity, the degraded carrier mobility leads to a low zT in high-entropy GeTe. Herein, medium-entropy alloying is implemented to suppress the phase transition and achieve the cubic GeTe with ultralow lattice thermal conductivity yet decent carrier mobility. In addition, co-alloying of (Mn, Pb, Sb, Cd) facilitates multivalence bands convergence and band flattening, thereby yielding good Seebeck coefficients and compensating for decreased carrier mobility. For the first time, a state-of-the-art zT of 2.1 at 873 K and average zT ave of 1.3 between 300 and 873 K are attained in cubic phased Ge 0.63 Mn 0.15 Pb 0.1 Sb 0.06 Cd 0.06 Te. Moreover, a record-high Vickers hardness of 270 is attained. These results not only promote GeTe materials for practical applications, but also present a breakthrough in the burgeoning field of entropy engineering., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest., (© 2021 The Authors. Advanced Science published by Wiley‐VCH GmbH.)

Marine collagen peptides have high potential in promoting skin wound healing. This study aimed to investigate wound healing activity of collagen peptides derived from Sipunculus nudus (SNCP). The effects of SNCP on promoting healing were studied through a whole cortex wound model in mice. Results showed that SNCP consisted of peptides with a molecular weight less than 5 kDa accounted for 81.95%, rich in Gly and Arg. SNCP possessed outstanding capacity to induce human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC), human immortalized keratinocytes (HaCaT) and human skin fibroblasts (HSF) cells proliferation and migration in vitro. In vivo, SNCP could markedly improve the healing rate and shorten the scab removal time, possessing a scar-free healing effect. Compared with the negative control group, the expression level of tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin-1β and transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) in the SNCP group was significantly down-regulated at 7 days post-wounding ( p < 0.01). Moreover, the mRNA level of mothers against decapentaplegic homolog 7 (Smad7) in SNCP group was up-regulated ( p < 0.01); in contrast, type II TGF-β receptors, collagen I and α-smooth muscle actin were significantly down-regulated at 28 days ( p < 0.01). These results indicate that SNCP possessed excellent activity of accelerating wound healing and inhibiting scar formation, and its mechanism was closely related to reducing inflammation, improving collagen deposition and recombination and blockade of the TGF-β/Smads signal pathway. Therefore, SNCP may have promising clinical applications in skin wound repair and scar inhibition.

The effect of fully deacetylated chitosan (FDCH) edible coating combined with kojic acid (KA) and clove essential oil (CEO) as natural preservatives was investigated on the shelf-life of white prawn shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) during 15 days at cold storage. The results indicated that FDCH 1 :KA 0.25 :CEO 0.25 coating significantly inhibited the increase in total aerobic plate count, total volatile basic nitrogen content and pH of shrimp in comparison with the control. Moreover, compared with the control, the changes of total color difference (ΔE values) and melanosis were significantly retarded, and the texture parameters and sensory scores were significantly improved in shrimp treated by FDCH 1 :KA 0.25 :CEO 0.25, suggesting that there is a synergistic effect between FDCH, KA, and CEO. In addition, a significant (P < 0.05) reduction in weight loss was observed for coated shrimp during the storage. The results suggested that FDCH 1 :KA 0.25 :CEO 0.25 coating may be promising to be used as active packaging for extending the shelf life, and incorporation of KA and CEO may enhance the efficacy of the coating., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

To achieve high-performance thermoelectric (TE) devices, constructing a good interfacial connection between TE materials and electrodes is as important as having high figure-of-merit TE materials. Although CoSb 3 -based TE devices have received great attention for power generation recently, the limited long-term service stability is the main obstruct for their applications. In this work, we have prepared two kinds of Ti-based alloys (Ti 83.7 Al 10.7 Si 5.6 and Ti 74 Ni 26 ) as the diffusion barrier layer of CoSb 3 -based TE joints by the spark plasma sintering method and have systematically investigated their interfacial behaviors during the aging process. The performances of contact resistivity and mechanical strength for Ti 74 Ni 26 /Yb 0.4 Co 3.8 Fe 0.2 Sb 12 TE joints are good before aging treatment but gradually deteriorate during the aging process, which should be ascribed to the phase-transition-induced negative thermal expansion in Ti-Ni alloys. On the other hand, Ti 83.7 Al 10.7 Si 5.6 /Yb 0.4 Co 3.8 Fe 0.2 Sb 12 TE joints show both low contact resistivity (<10 μΩ·cm 2 ) and high mechanical strength (>20 MPa) before and after 16-day aging at 500 °C, which is originated from the matching of the coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) and the formation of network structures in Ti-Al-Si alloys. We have also prepared an eight-couple TE module of p-Ge 0.9 Sb 0.1 TeB 0.01 /n-Yb 0.4 Co 3.8 Fe 0.2 Sb 12 and have measured its corresponding device performance. Our work has demonstrated that the matched CTE and network structures in the Ti-Al-Si alloy are key to obtain high-performance CoSb 3 -based TE joints for long-term service.

For decades, the V 2 VI 3 compounds, specifically p-type Bi 2- x Sb x Te 3 and n-type Bi 2 Te 3 -x Se x , have remained the cornerstone of commercial thermoelectric solid-state cooling and power generation near room temperature. However, a long-standing problem in V 2 VI 3 thermoelectrics is that n-type Bi 2 Te 3 -x Se x is inferior in performance to p-type Bi 2- x Sb x Te 3 near room temperature, restricting the device efficiency. In this work, we developed high-performance n-type Bi 2- x Sb x Te 3 , a composition long thought to only make good p-type thermoelectrics, to replace the mainstream n-type Bi 2 Te 3 -x Se x . The success arises from the synergy of the following mechanisms: (i) the donorlike effect, which produces excessive conduction electrons in Bi 2 Te 3 , is compensated by the antisite defects regulated by Sb alloying; (ii) the conduction band degeneracy increases from 2 for Bi 2 Te 3 and Bi 2 Te 3 -x Se x to 6 for Bi 2- x Sb x Te 3 , favoring high Seebeck coefficients; and (iii) the larger mass fluctuation yet smaller electronegativity difference and smaller atomic radius difference between Bi and Sb effectively suppresses the lattice thermal conductivity and retains decent carrier mobility. A state-of-the-art zT of 1.0 near room temperature was attained in hot deformed Bi 1.5 Sb 0.5 Te 3 , which is higher than those for most known n-type thermoelectric materials, including commercial Bi 2 Te 3 -x Se x ingots and the popular Mg 3 Sb 2 . Technically, building both the n-leg and p-leg of a thermoelectric module using similar chemical compositions has key advantages in the mechanical strength and the durability of devices. These results attested to the promise of n-type Bi 2- x Sb x Te 3 as a replacement of the mainstream n-type Bi 2 Te 3 -x Se x near room temperature.

In order to explore the effect of Sipunculus nudus extract (SNE) on skin wound healing in mice and its mechanism, hemostasis effect of SNE was measured, the mouse skin wound model was established by full-thickness excision. The morphological changes of the wound were observed after the treatment with SNE and the healing rate was measured. The changes of wound histology were observed by hematoxylin eosin (HE) staining, Masson staining and transmission electron microscope (TEM). The expression of cell factors and related proteins was detected by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Results showed that the SNE possessed hemostatic function. SNE could obviously improve the healing rate of wound in mouse and shorten time of scab removal compared with the none-treatment (NT) group ( P < 0.05).The pathological histology analysis results showed complete epidermal regeneration, with remarkable capillary and collagen fiber observed in the SNE group. The expression level of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF -α), interleukin-1β (IL-1β) and transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) in SNE group was significantly lower than that of the NT group on 7 d ( P < 0.05). Moreover, compared with the NT group, the gene expressions level of Smad7 was significantly increased and the level of type II TGF-β receptors (TGF-βRII), collagen I (COL1A1) and α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) were significantly reduced in the SNE group on 28 d ( P < 0.05), but the difference was not statistically significant compared to Yunnanbaiyao group (PC group) ( P > 0.05). These results indicated that SNE possessed obvious activity of accelerating wound healing and inhibiting scar formation, and its mechanism was closely related to hemostatic function, regulation of inflammatory factors, collagen deposition, collagen fiber remodeling and intervening TGF-β/Smads signal pathway. Therefore, SNE may have promising clinical applications in skin wound repair and scar inhibition.

Chronic exposure to ultraviolet B (UVB) irradiation is a major cause for skin photoaging. UVB induces damage to skin mainly by oxidative stress, inflammation, and collagen degradation. This paper investigated the photo-protective effects of peptides from oyster ( Crassostrea hongkongensis ) protein hydrolysates (OPs) by topical application on the skin of UVB-irradiated mice. Results from mass spectrometry showed that OPs consisted of peptides with a molecular weight range of 302.17-2936.43 Da. In vivo study demonstrated that topical application of OPs on the skin significantly alleviated moisture loss, epidermal hyperplasia, as well as degradation of collagen and elastin fibers caused by chronic UVB irradiation. In this study, OPs treatment promoted antioxidant enzymes (SOD and GPH-Px) activities, while decreased malondialdehyde (MDA) level in the skin. In addition, OPs treatment significantly decreased inflammatory cytokines (IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α) content, and inhibited inflammation related (iNOS, COX-2) protein expression in the skin. Via inhibiting metalloproteinase 1(MMP1) expression, OPs treatment markedly decreased the degradation of collagen and elastin fibers as well as recovered the altered arrangement of extracellular matrix network in the dermis of skin. Our study demonstrated for the first time that OPs protected against UVB induced skin photodamage by virtue of its antioxidative and anti-inflammatory properties, as well as regulating the abnormal expression of MMP-1. The possible molecular mechanism underlying OPs anti-photoaging is possibly related to downregulating of the MAPK/NF-κB signaling pathway, while promoting TGF-β production in the skin.

To build high-performance thermoelectric (TE) devices for power generation, a suitable diffusion-barrier layer between the electrodes and the TE materials in a TE device is generally required for achieving good interfacial connection with high reliability, high mechanical strength but low electrical and thermal contact resistivities. GeTe-based materials have attracted great attention recently due to their high TE performance in the mid-temperature range, but studies on their TE devices are still limited. Here, we selected the Al 66 Si 34 alloy as a diffusion barrier for GeTe-based TE legs based on the matching test of the coefficient of thermal expansion. The good connection between Al 66 Si 34 and Ge 0.9 Sb 0.1 TeB 0.01 is realized by the interfacial reaction, where the randomly distributed Al 2 Te 3 and Ge precipitates are formed at the interface of the joint. The as-prepared interfacial electrical contact resistivity can be as low as 20.7 μΩ·cm 2 and only slightly increases to 26.1 μΩ·cm 2 after 16 days of aging at 500 °C. Moreover, the shear strength of the joints can be as high as 26.6 MPa and unexpectedly increases to 41.7 MPa after 16 days of aging. The thickness of the reaction layer tends to be stabilized after 8 days of aging and nearly does not change after further aging to 16 days, which may be ascribed to the drag effect from Si and the secondary Ge phases. These results demonstrate the great potential of the Al-Si alloy as a diffusion barrier for GeTe-based TE devices with high performance.

Desloratadine, a potent antagonist for human histamine H1 receptor, has been revealed to exhibit antihistaminic activity and anti-inflammatory activity. However, it is not yet known whether desloratadine has any effect on the biological behaviors of tumor cells. In this study, we aimed to investigate the effects of desloratadine on cell growth and invasion in bladder cancer EJ and SW780 cells in vitro . We observed that desloratadine inhibited cell viability of EJ and SW780 cells in a dose- and time-dependent manner. Desloratadine treatment was also revealed to suppress colony-formation ability and induce cell cycle arrest at G1 phase in EJ cells. Desloratadine promoted cell apoptosis via modulating the expression of Bcl-2, Bax, cleaved caspase 3, and cleaved caspase 9 in EJ and SW780 cells. Western blot resulted showed that desloratadine also impaired the expression of autophagy-related proteins, such as Beclin 1, P62, and LC3I/II in EJ and SW780 cells; while autophagy inhibitor LY294002 reversed the effects of desloratadine on these proteins. Moreover, desloratadine remarkably attenuated cell migration and invasion. Furthermore, we illustrated that desloratadine downregulated the expression of N-cadherin, Vimentin, Snail1, and Snail2, while upregulated the expression of E-cadherin in EJ and SW780 cells in vitro . The level of interleukin 6 was reduced in desloratadine-treated cells, while upregulation of interleukin 6 significantly abolished the anticancer activity of desloratadine in cell invasion and Bcl-2, Bax, Beclin1, LC3-I/II, N-cadherin, and E-cadherin expression in EJ cells. Taken together, our data suggest a potential anticancer activity of desloratadine on cell growth and invasion for bladder cancer, which may be mediated by diminishing the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition and interleukin 6.

Skin wound healing, especially chronic wound healing, is a common challenging clinical problem. It is urgent to broaden the sources of bioactive substances that can safely and efficiently promote skin wound healing. This study aimed to observe the effects of active peptides (APs) of the mantle of Pinctada martensii on wound healing. After physicochemical analysis of amino acids and mass spectrometry of APs, the effect of APs on promoting healing was studied through a whole cortex wound model on the back of mice for 18 consecutive days. The results showed that APs consisted of polypeptides with molecular weights in the range 302.17-2936.43 Da. The content of polypeptides containing 2-15 amino acids accounted for 73.87%, and the hydrophobic amino acids accounted for 56.51%. Results of in vitro experimentation showed that mice in APs-L group which were fed a low dose of APs (0.5 g/kg bw) had a shortened epithelialization time due to a shortening inflammatory period ( p < 0.05). Mechanistically, this relied on its specific ability to promote the proliferation of CD31, FGF and EGF which accelerated the percentage of wound closure. Moreover, the APs-L group mice had enhanced collagen synthesis and increased type III collagen content in their wounds through a TGF-β/Smad signaling pathway ( p > 0.05). Consequently, scar formation was inhibited and wound healing efficiency was significantly improved. These results show that the APs of Pinctada martensii promote dermal wound healing in mice and have tremendous potential for development and utilization in skin wound healing.

The Bi 2 Te 3 -based alloys have been commercialized for the applications of energy harvesting and refrigeration for decades. However, the commercial Bi 2 Te 3 -based alloys produced by the zone-melting (ZM) method usually show poor mechanical strength and crack problems as well as the sluggish figure of merit ZT, especially for the less-progressed n-type samples. In this work, we have simultaneously enhanced the thermoelectric and mechanical performance of the one-step spark plasma sintering (SPS)-derived n-type Bi 2 Te 2.7 Se 0.3 alloys just by doping a small amount of superconducting material MgB 2 where Mg and B atoms can play significant roles in carrier density optimization and hardness enhancement. Besides the optimization of carrier density, the MgB 2 doping can also increase the carrier mobility but decrease the lattice and bipolar thermal conductivity, leading to a peak ZT of 0.96 at 325 K and an average ZT of 0.88 within 300-500 K in the 0.5% MgB 2 -doped Bi 2 Te 2.7 Se 0.3 (BTSMB) alloys. The peak ZT and average ZT of our optimized BTSMB samples are comparable and higher than those of the state-of-the-art commercial ZM ingot. Moreover, the optimized BTSMB sample also exhibits almost 70% enhancement in hardness compared with the ZM ingot. Our results demonstrate the great potential of the MgB 2 doping strategy for mass production of SPS-derived Bi 2 Te 3 -based alloys in one-step sintering.

UV-C irradiation can activate endogenous enzymes in the body of many aquatic animals. Autolysis kinetics of shrimp head after UV-C irradiation stress was investigated. During the first 5 hr of autolysis, the release of the autolysis products was in line with the first-order equations of the reaction rate: Y  = 37.681e -0.173 t , Pe  = -1.769 Y  + 74.156, and TP  = -1.5117 Y  + 60.866. A good linear correlation was founded between the release of total protein and that of products with molecular weight of 3,000 Da after these products associated with residual total protein were autolyzed. In contrast to the inconsistent effect of substrate concentration on autolysis rate constants, the effects of pH and temperature on the autolysis rate constants of shrimp head showed a consistent pattern. An Arrhenius equation (ln Ka =  8,090.2/ T  - 26.497) was established to validate the proposed autolysis kinetic equations. The autolysis rate of products with molecular weight < 3,000 Da increased rapidly from 0 hr to 3 hr. The aliphatic amino acids showed a higher amount release than that of other amino acids during the autolysis. The amounts of released heterocyclic amino acids (Trp and His) were also much more than that of other amino acids., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest., (© 2019 The Authors. Food Science & Nutrition published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Skin wound healing, especially chronic wound healing, is a common challenging clinical problem. It is urgent to broaden the sources of bioactive substances that can safely and efficiently promote skin wound healing. This study aimed to observe the effects of small molecular peptides (SMPs) of the mantle of Pinctada martensii on wound healing. After physicochemical analysis of amino acids and mass spectrometry of SMPs, the effect of SMPs on promoting healing was studied through a whole cortex wound model on the back of mice for 18 consecutive days. The results showed that SMPs consisted of polypeptides with a molecular weight of 302.17-2936.43 Da. The content of polypeptides containing 2-15 amino acids accounted for 73.87%, and the hydrophobic amino acids accounted for 56.51%. Results of in vitro experimentation showed that SMPs possess a procoagulant effect, but no antibacterial activity. Results of in vivo experiments indicated that SMPs inhibit inflammatory response by secretion of anti-inflammatory factor IL-10 during the inflammatory phase; during the proliferative phase, SMPs promote the proliferation of fibroblasts and keratinocytes. The secretion of transforming growth factor-β1 and cyclin D1 accelerates the epithelialization and contraction of wounds. In the proliferative phase, SMPs effectively promote collagen deposition and partially inhibit superficial scar hyperplasia. These results show that SMPs promotes dermal wound healing in mice and have a tremendous potential for development and utilization in skin wound healing.

Oysters, favored as a delicious seafood by people worldwide, contain various nutritional components, especially proteins. In this work, the immunoregulatory peptides were isolated and purified from oyster enzymatic hydrolysate by utilizing anion exchange chromatography and RP-HPLC, and were identified via LC-MS/MS. A proliferation assay, a phagocytosis assay, and TNF-α production, NO production and IL-6 production assays were used to examine the immunoregulatory effects of the two identified peptides. The results indicate that the peptides, DNSIAMESMK (P1) and LLQLGSGR (P2), increased the proliferation rate of macrophages, TNF-α and NO production, IL-6 production, and the phagocytosis ability, but to different degrees; P2, with more hydrophobic amino acids, was more potent than P1. This suggested that these peptides might be potential candidates for developing immunoregulatory functional foods and nutraceuticals., Competing Interests: None., (This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry.)

Materials with low lattice thermal conductivity (κ lat ) are crucial for the applications of thermal insulation and thermoelectric (TE) energy conversion. Stacking fault (SF)-induced phonon scattering within interfaces has been put forward theoretically by Klemens in 1950s. However, unlike other traditional defects such as point defects, grain boundaries, and dislocations, the role of SF for reducing κ lat remains poorly understood and is yet to be revealed experimentally. The layered Bi 2 Te 3 with a van der Waals gap shows different stacking structures than the nonlayered GeTe, which is used to introduce SFs into the GeTe-based alloys in this work. On the basis of the experimental and theoretical modeling results, this paper reveals the significant contribution of SF phonon scattering for minimizing the κ lat . Besides the achieved extremely low κ lat (∼0.39 W m -1 K -1 at 573 K), optimized carrier density and band convergence are also realized in the GeTe-based alloys upon Bi 2 Te 3 alloying, leading to a significant high TE figure of merit ZT > 2 at 773 K and an averaged ZT > 1.4 within 300-773 K. This SF engineering strategy provides a different avenue to reduce the κ lat for enhancing the performance of thermal insulation and TE materials.

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) participate in immune defenses of invertebrate, vertebrate and plant species. As a kind of AMPs, penaeidins play important roles in innate immunity of shrimp. In this study, two penaeidin homologues termed FmPEN3 and FmPEN5 were cloned and identified from Fenneropenaeus merguiensis for the first time. The complete open reading frames (ORFs) of FmPEN3 and FmPEN5 were 216 bp and 240 bp, encoding 71 and 79 amino acids, respectively. Both FmPEN3 and FmPEN5 contain an N-terminal proline-rich domain (PRD) and a C-terminal cysteine-rich domain (CRD). The genome structure of FmPEN3 and FmPEN5 genes both consist of 2 exons and 1 intron. qPCR analysis showed that FmPEN3 was constitutively expressed but FmPEN5 transcripts were found only in hemocytes, gills, epidermis, nerve and pyloric cecum. The FmPEN3 and FmPEN5 expression were responsive to Vibrio parahaemolyticus and Micrococcus lysodeikticus infection and their transcription levels were downregulated by RNAi silencing of the transcription factors FmDorsal and FmRelish. In addition, recombinant proteins of FmPEN3 (rFmPEN3) and FmPEN5 (rFmPEN5) were successfully expressed in E. coli. The antibacterial assays revealed that rFmPEN3 and rFmPEN5 could inhibit the growth of M. lysodeikticus but only rFmPEN5 could inhibit the growth of V. parahaemolyticus in vitro. In summary, the results presented in this study indicated the functions of FmPEN3 and FmPEN5 played in anti-bacterial immunity of F. merguiensis, providing some insights into the function of AMPs in shrimp., (Copyright © 2019. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

ZrNiSn-based half-Heusler (HH) alloys are considered very promising thermoelectric (TE) materials at intermediate and high temperatures due to their favorable intrinsic electrical properties, but they are also limited by their inherent high thermal conductivities. Numerous works have focused on reducing their thermal conductivities, especially their lattice thermal conductivities. A multielement (Ti, Hf, Nb, V, and Sb) and multisite alloying strategy for simultaneously improving the electrical properties and greatly reducing the lattice thermal conductivity of ZrNiSn-based HH TE materials is reported in this work. The continuous enhancement in structural disorder is the main factor in dramatically suppressing the lattice thermal conductivity of the materials. The use of suitable dopants also optimizes the electrical properties of the material, which is also an indispensable aspect in achieving high ZT values. As a consequence, a lowest lattice thermal conductivity κ l = 0.99 W/(m K) and a highest ZT ∼ 1.2 were obtained for Zr 0.95 M 0.05 Ni 1.04 Sn 0.99 Sb 0.01 (M = Ti 0.25 Hf 0.25 V 0.25 Nb 0.25 ) refined by a ball-milling process. The calculated conversion efficiency (η) of the same sample from room temperature to 873 K was close to 12%. In addition, compared with that used in other studies, the amount of Hf used in this study was greatly reduced, which means a reduction in cost. All of the findings in this study make the commercialization of ZrNiSn-based TE materials more competitive.