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Highlights Electrodeposited amorphous IrO x thin electrodes are first developed for proton exchange membrane electrolyzer cells. An ultralow loading of 0.075 mg cm−2 archives superior performance to catalyst-coated membrane (2 mg cm−2). > 96% of catalyst savings and > 42-fold higher catalyst utilization are demonstrated.

Highlights 4-nm-thick Pt nanosheets (Pt-NSs) are electrochemically grown on Ti substrates for hydrogen evolution reactions. Highly uniform Pt-NS surface coverage with an ultralow loading of 0.015 mgPt cm−2 is achieved. 99.5% catalyst savings and about 237-fold higher catalyst utilization are demonstrated.

Glial cells play an important role in signal transduction, energy metabolism, extracellular ion homeostasis and neuroprotection of the central nervous system. However, few studies have explained the potential effects of exosomes from glial cells on central nervous system health and disease. In this study, the genes expressed in exosomes from astrocytes and microglia were identified by deep RNA sequencing. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes analysis indicated that several pathways in these exosomes are responsible for promoting neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and Huntington’s disease. Gene ontology analysis showed that extracellular exosome, mitochondrion and growth factor activity were enriched in exosomes from the unique astrocyte group, while extracellular exosome and mitochondrion were enriched in exosomes from the unique microglia group. Next, combined with the screening of hub genes, the protein-protein interaction network analysis showed that exosomes from astrocytes influence neurodegenerative diseases through metabolic balance and ubiquitin-dependent protein balance, whereas exosomes from microglia influence neurodegenerative diseases through immune inflammation and oxidative stress. Although there were differences in RNA expression between exosomes from astrocytes and microglia, the groups were related by the hub genes, ubiquitin B and heat shock protein family A (Hsp70) member 8. Ubiquitin B appeared to be involved in pleiotropic regulatory functions, including immune regulation, inflammation inhibition, protein catabolism, intracellular protein transport, exosomes and oxidative stress. The results revealed the clinical significance of exosomes from glia in neurodegenerative diseases. This study was approved by the Animal Ethics Committee of Nantong University, China (approval No. S20180102-152) on January 2, 2018.

The quantitative understanding of hydraulic fracture (HF) properties guides accurate production forecasts and reserve estimation. Type curve is a powerful technique to characterize HF and reservoir properties from flowback and long-term production data. However, two-phase flow of water and hydrocarbon after an HF stimulation together with the complex transport mechanisms in shale nanopores exacerbate the nonlinearity of the transport equation, causing errors in type-curve analysis. Accordingly, we propose a new two-phase type-curve method to estimate HF properties, such as HF volume and permeability of fracture, through the analysis of flowback data of multi-fractured shale wells. The proposed type curve is based on a semianalytical solution that couples the two-phase flow from the matrix with the flow in HF by incorporating matrix influx, slippage effect, stress dependence, and the spatial variation of fluid properties in inorganic and organic pores. For the first time, multiple fluid transport mechanisms are considered into two-phase type-curve analysis for shale reservoirs. We analyze the flowback data from a multi-fractured horizontal well in a shale gas reservoir to verify the field application of the proposed method. The results show that the fracture properties calculated by the typecurve method are in good agreement with the long-time production data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The catalyst layer (CL) in the polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) has not been explored in detail due to its complexities and difficulties associated with accessing it. It is important to understand water ingress and egress at the CL as it offers potential for water management by manipulating the evaporation rate. A technique for in situ visual characterization of the CL is presented. This is accomplished by designing and fabricating a catalyst-visible operational fuel cell and developing a microvisualization system. The dynamics of microdroplets on the CL surface (including formation, growth, coalescence, and removal) were visualized in an operating PEMFC. The liquid water behavior at the interface of the CL and the gas diffusion layer (GDL) were shown to promote the periodic droplet reemergence on the GDL surface in the flow channels. Mechanisms of water condensation and transport within the CL pores are discussed with respect to pore architecture and wetting properties. It has been shown that reduction of pore size and CL thickness alleviates flooding therein and promotes better catalyst utilization. Evaporation was identified as one of the distinguishing mechanisms of the CL, and one of the future challenges will be to control this mechanism. The experimental results should prove useful in clarifying the role of the CL in water management, and in refining models used to optimize PEMFC performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An article "In Situ Characterization of the Catalyst Layer in a Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell," by Feng-Yuan Zhang and colleagues that was published in the previous is retracted.

Purpose: To explore the role and possible regulatory mechanisms of GRAIL in lung adenocarcinoma cells., Methods: Online databases were used to analyze the expression and prognosis of GRAIL in patients with lung adenocarcinoma. Lung adenocarcinoma cells (A549 and H1299) were transfected with small interfering RNA or infected with lentivirus. The constructed cell models were validated by real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR. Cell proliferation ability was detected by CCK8 assay, cell migration and invasion ability were detected by scratch assay and Transwell assay. Suppressed hallmark gene sets of GRAIL in lung adenocarcinoma was performed by GeneSet Enrichment Analysis. The mRNA and protein level of C-MYC were detected by real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR and western blot. The protein level of STAT3 and phosphorylated STAT3 were detected by western blot., Results: GRAIL is poorly expressed in lung adenocarcinoma tissue. Down-regulation of GRAIL is associated with poor prognosis of lung adenocarcinoma patients. GRAIL expression is negatively correlated with the proliferation, migration, and invasion of lung adenocarcinoma cells. GRAIL inhibits activation of STAT3 and transcription of C-MYC., Conclusions: GRAIL inhibits the growth, migration and invasion of lung adenocarcinoma cells. GRAIL might play an anti-cancer role through regulating STAT3/ C-MYC signaling pathways.