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Sequestering CO2in depleted oil reservoirs provides one of the most appealing measures to reduce greenhouse gases (GHG) concentration in the atmosphere. The remaining liquids after enhanced oil recovery (EOR) processes, including residual oil and remaining water, lead to the main challenges to this approach. How to effectively evacuate a depleted oil reservoir by recovering not only residual oil but also remaining water is a critical consideration for this type of CO2sequestration. This paper presents conceptual investigations concerning the methods which effectively evacuate depleted oil reservoirs from both the displacement efficiency and the sweep efficiency points of view. To improve the displacement efficiency, surfactant slug and solvent slug injection was examined using a core scale numerical model. Investigations regarding improving sweep efficiency, such as horizontal well pattern infilling and foam injection, were carried out based on a typical row well pattern. Simulation results showed that surfactant slug which modified the relative permeability and capillary pressure remarkably reduced both residual oil saturation and remaining water saturation. A CO2slug injected before surfactant slug can help improve the oil recovery. Solvent enriched CO2slug also remarkably reduced the residual oil saturation to as low as 2%. Horizontal well pattern infilling had great advantage for thick or inclined reservoirs, and foam slug injection greatly improved CO2storage capacity in thin reservoirs by improving the sweep efficiency. Maximum mobility reduction (MRF) is the most important parameter to maximize the storage capacity and the benefit. The variation of CO2storage capacity along with CO2slug size. Larger foam slug size will play a better storage performance. The conceptual simulation investigations confirmed that depleted oil reservoirs can be effectively evacuated for CO2storage. Depleted oil reservoirs with maximum evacuation are the best candidates for CO2sequestrations.

Zinc-based aqueous batteries (ZABs) have attracted wide interest and become a hot topic in the field of secondary batteries due to their low cost, high safety, and environmental friendliness. However, challenges pertaining to zinc anodes, such as dendrites growth and side reactions, which are associated with the high activity of freedom water molecules in the aqueous electrolyte, significantly hinder the advancement of ZABs. In recent years, strategies aimed at regulating water molecular activity have been demonstrated to address the above issues effectively. Nevertheless, there is a lack of systematic summary regarding the electrolyte engineering and the functional mechanisms for stabilizing zinc anodes from the point of view of water molecular activity management. Hence, this review comprehensively introduces strategies for regulating water activity through the electrolyte engineering to achieve side reaction-suppressed ZABs, including the latest research on aqueous zinc-metal batteries, the origin of critical zinc-related problems, and the development of technological and electrolyte additives. Lastly, various strategies were summarized from different perspectives to improve the performance of zinc metal anodes. This work is expected to present the latest outline and inspire future innovation in electrolyte technologies.

The inhibition of lithium polysulfide (LiPS) diffusion and the acceleration of reaction kinetics are two major challenges for the practical application of lithium–sulfur (Li–S) batteries. Herein, through an interface engineering strategy, a multifunctional sulfur host based on Ru nanocluster-modified TiO2nanotubes (TiO2–Ru) was designed. The TiO2–Ru interface field effect, combined with the hollow nanotube structure and the strong chemical action of TiO2, enhanced the LiPS trapping ability and inhibited the “shuttle effect”. Furthermore, the high catalytic activity of Ru nanoclusters reduced the energy barrier of multistep LiPS reactions, thus speeding up the electrode kinetics. As a result, the TiO2–Ru-based composite sulfur cathode delivered excellent electrochemical performance, including an extremely low capacity loss of ∼0.015% per cycle and an increased areal capacity of ∼6.1 mAh cm–2at 4.8 mg cm–2. This work contributes to a better sulfur cathode design from insights into morphology and phase interface engineering.

ABSTRACT This study characterized the influence of salts on bricks in correlation with the efflorescence, exfoliation and pelletizing occurring in the ancient brick wall at Xi'an, China. After 640 years [...]

• A one-step thermal stretching strategy is developed to fabricate anti-fatigue ionic gels (AIG). • A multimodal wearable respiratory monitoring system (WRMS) is designed based on the AIG. • The WRMS can long-term detect the movement of the chest and abdomen simultaneously. • The WMRS provides four effective parameters for patient-doctor interaction detection. Wearable electronics integrated with stretchable sensors are considered a promising and non-invasive strategy to monitor respiratory status for health assessment. However, long-term and stable monitoring of respiratory abnormality is still a grand challenge. Here, we report a facile one-step thermal stretching strategy to fabricate an anti-fatigue ionic gel (AIG) sensor with high fatigue threshold (Γ 0 = 1130 J m–2), high stability (> 20,000 cycles), high linear sensitivity, and recyclability. A multimodal wearable respiratory monitoring system (WRMS) developed with AIG sensors can continuously measure respiratory abnormality (single-sensor mode) and compliance (multi-sensor mode) by monitoring the movement of the ribcage and abdomen in a long-term manner. For single-sensor mode, the respiratory frequency (F r), respiratory energy (E r), and inspire/expire time (I / E ratio) can be extracted to evaluate the respiratory status during sitting, sporting, and sleeping. Further, the multi-sensors mode is developed to evaluate patient-ventilator asynchrony through validated clinical criteria by monitoring the incongruous movement of the chest and abdomen, which shows great potential for both daily home care and clinical applications. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The primary site of infection in COVID-19 exhibit is the respiratory system, but multiple organ systems could be affected. The virus could directly invade cardiomyocytes. Alternatively, cytokine storm could lead to myocardial injury. More importantly, the management of existing cardiovascular diseases must be re-examined in COVID-19 due to, for example, interaction between antiviral agents and with a wide variety of pharmacological agents. The Branch of Cardiovascular Physicians of Chinese Medical Doctor Association organized a panel of experts in cardiovascular and related fields to discuss this important issue, and formulated the “2023 Chinese Expert Consensus on the Impact of COVID-19 on the Management of Cardiovascular Diseases.” The Consensus was drafted on the basis of systematic review of existing evidence and diagnosis and treatment experience, and covers three major aspects: myocardial injury caused by COVID-10 and COVID-19 vaccine, the impact of COVID-19 on patients with cardiovascular disease, and the impact of COVID-19 on the cardiovascular system of healthy people, and rehabilitation guidance recommendations. The Consensus involves 11 core clinical issues, including incidence, pathogenesis, clinical manifestations, treatment strategies, prognosis, and rehabilitation. It is our hope that this Consensus will provide a practical guidance to cardiologists in the management of cardiovascular diseases in the new era of COVID-19 pandemic.

Polyallylamine functionalized holey Pt nanotubes are achieved by a simple post-modification method, which promotes the activity of Pt-H-NTs for both FAEOR and HER. The constructed FAEOR-assisted water splitting system only requires 0.47 V for H2production.

Functional nanomaterials offer an attractive strategy to mimic the catalysis of natural enzymes, which are collectively called nanozymes. Although the development of nanozymes shows a trend of diversification of materials with enzyme-like activity, most nanozymes have been discovered via trial-and-error methods, largely due to the lack of predictive descriptors. To fill this gap, this work identified egoccupancy as an effective descriptor for spinel oxides with peroxidase-like activity and successfully predicted that the egvalue of spinel oxide nanozymes with the highest activity is close to 0.6. The LiCo2O4with the highest activity, which is finally predicted, has achieved more than an order of magnitude improvement in activity. Density functional theory provides a rationale for the reaction path. This work contributes to the rational design of high performance nanozymes by using activity descriptors and provides a methodology to identify other descriptors for nanozymes.

Porous inorganic materials play an important role in adsorbing targeted analytes and supporting efficient reactions in analytical science. The detection performance relies on the structural properties of porous materials, considering the tunable pore size, shape, connectivity, etc. Herein, we first clarify the enhancement mechanisms of porous materials for bioanalysis, concerning the detection sensitivity and selectivity. The diagnostic applications of porous material-assisted platforms by coupling with various analytical techniques, including electrochemical sensing, optical spectrometry, and mass spectrometry, etc., are then reviewed. We foresee that advanced porous materials will bring far-reaching implications in bioanalysis toward real-case applications, especially as diagnostic assays in clinical settings.

Current Product Service Systems (PSS) research mainly focuses on car sharing schemes and chemical management services, which has not really addressed consumer products. Existing methods and tools related to PSS are mainly concerned with general PSS and service design, which can not readily assist manufacturers of consumer products to implement and realize PSS solutions. This paper proposes a methodology for the realization of product-oriented and use-oriented PSS for consumer products through the use of product lifecycle data. It has been demonstrated in large-scale field trials that product related services can be delivered through the PSS built utilizing the methodology proposed. The PSS methodology proposed within this research study can contribute to next generation product design, which will be intelligent, sustainable and environmentally sensitive. Keywords: Software agent Service enabler Product service systems

Glioblastoma is a malignant CNS tumor with an extremely poor prognosis. F-box protein 11 (FBXO11) has E3 ubiquitin ligase activity and participates in the pathogenesis of multiple tumors but the role and mechanism of FBXO11 activity in glioblastoma remain unknown. In this study, FBXO11 was first observed to be downregulated in glioblastoma tissues and cell lines. 3-(4,5)-dimethylthiahiazo (-z-y1)-3,5-di- phenytetrazoliumromide (MTT) and colony formation assays and enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) demonstrated that overexpression of FBXO11 suppressed proliferation and aerobic glycolysis and induced cell cycle arrest in U251-MG and A172 cells. FBXO1 decreased cell division cycle 25 A (Cdc25A) expression through ubiquitin degradation in a coprecipitation assay. A Western blot assay validated FBXO11 suppression of PKM2 dephosphorylation and c-Myc-mediated aerobic glycolysis via reduction of Cdc25A. In addition, a rescue experiment revealed that FBXO11 suppressed proliferation and aerobic glycolysis, both of which were reversed by overexpression of Cdc25A. FBXO11 overexpression also inhibited tumorigenesis via suppressing Cdc25A expression in vivo. These findings indicate that FBXO11 suppresses cell proliferation and aerobic glycolysis in glioblastomas by mediating the ubiquitin degradation of Cdc25A thereby providing insight into mechanisms of glioblastoma tumorigenesis and identifying a new potential therapeutic strategy.

Ultrafine in-situNiO-Ni3N heterojunction nanoparticles combine the advantages of NiO and Ni3N, and show stronger polysulfide adsorption and conversion capacity.

In this paper, a component-based software framework that can facilitate the development of lifecycle information management systems for consumer products is developed. This software framework can accommodate the management of lifecycle data at all stages, especially data that occur in distribution, usage, maintenance and end-of-life stages, and use them to provide information and knowledge. The software framework is built with software components, based on a component-based concept with reference to a product lifecycle information acquisition and management model proposed within this research study. Two actual lifecycle information management systems are created using the Framework in field trials. This software framework can open new horizons for product design which are sustainable and environmentally sensitive. It also contributes to the wider exploration of middleware solutions for implementing next generation consumer products (e.g. smart home appliances) and intelligent products. Index Terms--Product Lifecycle Information Management

Increasing global concerns about psychoactive substance addiction and psychotic disorders highlight the need for comprehensive research into the structure-function relationship governing ligand recognition between these substances and their receptors in the brain. Recent studies indicate the significant involvement of trace amine-associated receptor 1 (TAAR1) in the signaling regulation of the hallucinogen lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and other antipsychotic drugs. This study presents structures of the TAAR1-Gs protein complex recognizing LSD, which exhibits a polypharmacological profile, and the partial agonist RO5263397, which is a drug candidate for schizophrenia and addiction. Moreover, we elucidate the cross-species recognition and partial activation mechanism for TAAR1, which holds promising implications from a drug discovery perspective. Through mutagenesis, functional studies, and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, we provide a comprehensive understanding of a versatile TAAR1 pocket in recognizing various ligands as well as in the ligand-free state, underpinning the structural basis of its high adaptability. These findings offer valuable insights for the design of antipsychotic drugs.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has been an unmitigated disaster for society and the economy worldwide. However, much remains unknown about the pathogenesis of, treatment methods for, and preventive measures against COVID-19. Single-cell sequencing is a novel sequencing technology whose use has recently become prevalent in various life-science fields. This high-resolution technology is being used to analyze the COVID-19 pandemic at a single-cell level. In this review, we summarize the application of single-cell sequencing technology to the field of COVID-19-related research, including the biology of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, clinical concerns associated with COVID-19, neutralizing antibody screening, and vaccine development. We also address challenges to, and improvements in, existing single-cell research related to COVID-19.

Gliomas are the most aggressive primary brain tumors. However, no significant improvement in survival has been achieved with the addition of temozolomide (TMZ) or radiation as initial therapy, although many clinical efforts have been carried out to target various signaling pathways or putative driver mutations. Here, we report that glycosyltransferase 8 domain containing 1 (GLT8D1), induced by HIF-1α under a hypoxic niche, significantly correlates with a higher grade of glioma, and a worse clinical outcome. Depletion of GLT8D1 inhibits self-renewal of glioma stem cell (GSC) in vitro and represses tumor growth in glioma mouse models. GLT8D1 knockdown promotes cell cycle arrest at G2/M phase and cellular apoptosis with or without TMZ treatment. We reveal that GLT8D1 impedes CD133 degradation through the endosomal-lysosomal pathway by N-linked glycosylation and protein-protein interaction. Directly blocking the GLT8D1/CD133 complex formation by CD133N1~108(referred to as FECD133), or inhibiting GLT8D1 expression by lercanidipine, suppresses Wnt/β-catenin signaling dependent tumorigenesis both in vitro and in patient-derived xenografts mouse model. Collectively, these findings offer mechanistic insights into how hypoxia promotes GLT8D1/CD133/Wnt/β-catenin signaling during glioma progression, and identify GLT8D1 as a potential therapeutic target in the future.

Compared with visual angiographic assessment, pressure wire-based physiological measurement more accurately identifies flow-limiting lesions in patients with coronary artery disease. Nonetheless, angiography remains the most widely used method to guide percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). In FAVOR III China, we aimed to establish whether clinical outcomes might be improved by lesion selection for PCI using the quantitative flow ratio (QFR), a novel angiography-based approach to estimate the fractional flow reserve.

The nitrate electroreduction reaction (NO3–-ERR) is an efficient and green approach for nitrate remediation, which requires a highly active and selective electrocatalyst. In this work, porous and amorphous cobalt phosphide nanoshuttles (CoP PANSs) are successfully synthesized by using Mg2+ion-doped calcium carbonate nanoshuttles (Mg-CaCO3NSs) as the initial reaction precursor via precipitation transformation and a high-temperature phosphidation strategy. Various physical characterizations show that CoP PANSs have porous architecture, amorphous crystal structure, and big surface area. Electrochemical measurements reveal for the first time that CoP PANSs have outstanding electroactivity for NO3–-ERR in a neutral electrolyte. At an applied potential of −0.5 V vs reversible hydrogen electrode, CoP PANSs can achieve a high Faraday efficiency (94.24 ± 2.8%) and high yield rate (19.28 ± 0.53 mg h–1mgcat–1) for ammonia production, which exceeds most reported values at various electrocatalysts for NO3–-ERR. Thus, the present result indicates that cobalt phosphide nanomaterials have promising application for NO3–-ERR.

Left atrial strain derived by using cardiac MRI was associated major adverse cardiac events after ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction, overriding outcome predictors such as left atrial volume and left ventricular function.

•Pt nanocubes (Pt-NCs) with 4.5 nm size are achieved by 2-methylimidazole assisted hydrothermal synthesis.•Pt-NCs display outstanding electroactivity for ammonia oxidation and hydrogen evolution reactions.•A symmetric Pt-NCs||Pt-NCs ammonia electrolyzer based on bifunctional Pt-NCs electrocatalyst is constructed.•The ammonia electrolyzer only requires 0.68 V electrolysis voltage for hydrogen generation.•The ammonia electrolyzer has excellent reversible switch capability for anodic/cathodic reactions.

Hydrogel bioelectronics as one of the next-generation wearable and implantable electronics ensures excellent biocompatibility and softness to link the human body and electronics. However, volatile, opaque, and fragile features of hydrogels due to the sparse and microscale three-dimensional network seriously limit their practical applications. Here, we report a type of smart and robust nanofibrillar poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) organohydrogels fabricated via one-step physical cross-linking. The nanofibrillar network cross-linked by numerous PVA nanocrystallites enables the formation of organohydrogels with high transparency (90%), drying resistance, high toughness (3.2 MJ/m3), and tensile strength (1.4 MPa). For strain sensor application, the PVA ionic organohydrogel after soaking in NaCl solution shows excellent linear sensitivity (GF = 1.56, R2> 0.998) owing to the homogeneous nanofibrillar PVA network. We demonstrate the potential applications of the nanofibrillar PVA-based organohydrogel in smart contact lens and emotion recognition. Such a strategy paves an effective way to fabricate strong, tough, biocompatible, and ionically conductive organohydrogels, shedding light on multifunctional sensing applications in next-generation flexible bioelectronics.

Oxidation coatings were prepared on the surface of AZ31B magnesium alloy by micro-arc oxidation in the electrolytes with CoSO4addition varying from 0 to 0.8 g/L. The effects of different concentrations of CoSO4on the properties and microstructure of the coating were analysed by Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray Diffraction (XRD) and Electrochemical Workstation. The results revealed that the addition of different concentrations of CoSO4caused the voltage variation, which resulted in the changes of microstructure, phase composition and element distribution of coatings. Furthermore, it led to the improvement of coating properties. It was found that the oxidation voltage increased firstly and then decreased. Because of CoSO4addition, the morphology of the coating was changed. XRD patterns and XPS confirmed that Co3O4, MgO and Mg2SiO4were generated. The addition of CoSO4could effectively improve the hardness, corrosion resistance and thermal-shock resistance.

Flexible and stretchable strain sensors have broad applications in human physiological activities, object deformation, as well as human–machine interface. However, it is still challenging to fabricate stretchable strain sensors with linear and superior piezoresistive signal response. Herein, we report a facile and scalable microstructure design strategy to generate a unique segmental hierarchical fiber-surface structure that mimics an arthropod's body and a lobster's tail structure for achieving linear strain sensing response. The alternate modulus difference of the micro-nanoscale segmental soft (thermoplastic polyurethane, TPU)-hard (polystyrene, PS) configurations enables the initiation of significant strain concentration effect, which is consistent with the finite element analysis, thus allowing to tune the sensing properties, for e.g., the linear degree varies from 0.48 to 0.99 and the gauge factor ranges from 5.25 to 23 800 for the strain within 30%. The bionic structured fiber sensors demonstrate potential applications for the detection of human skin epidermal disturbance, small curvature changes, sound wave vibration, as well as mechanochromic response if a fluorescent agent is added to the TPU core. Besides, they are also capable of detecting various types of organic vapors due to the strain amplification effect heterogeneous structure design, paving a new way for the design of multifunctional flexible sensors for variable human–machine interface applications.

Solar energy triggered steam generation has emerged as a green and sustainable strategy that can potentially address the long-standing global freshwater scarcity issue. However, given that there is inadequate light illumination early in the morning or late afternoon or cloudy days, it is continuous steam generation in all weather that is a great challenge for the state-of-the-art solar-driven steam generators. Here, we present an all-weather-available steam generation system, which is capable of harvesting solar energy to continuously generate steam based on the alternative photo-thermal and electro-thermal conversion of crosslinked MXene aerogels (CMAs) in the day time and at night. In virtue of the strong light absorption and excellent electrical conductivity of the CMA, the constructed steam generation system can not only convert sunlight into heat for steam generation on sunny days but persistently achieve heat generation by utilization of electricity in low-light or dark circumstances. Furthermore, the ingenious introduction of solar cells-battery components makes full use of the daytime sunlight to further power the steam generation system for heating up the CMA at night, avoiding extra electrical energy input and loss. This work offers new insights into developing continuous steam generation technologies applicable to day–night alternation and complex environments.

The development of new antimalarial therapeutics is necessary to address the increasing resistance to current drugs. Bicyclic azetidines targeting Plasmodium falciparumphenylalanyl-tRNA synthetase comprise one promising new class of antimalarials, especially due to their activities against three stages of the parasite’s life cycle, but a lengthy synthetic route to these compounds may affect the feasibility of delivering new therapeutic agents within the cost constraints of antimalarial drugs. Here, we report an efficient synthesis of antimalarial compound BRD3914 (EC50= 15 nM) that hinges on a Pd-catalyzed, directed C(sp3)–H arylation of azetidines at the C3 position. This newly developed protocol exhibits a broad substrate scope and provides access to valuable, stereochemically defined building blocks. BRD3914 was evaluated in P. falciparum-infected mice, providing a cure after four oral doses.

Solar-driven interfacial water evaporation is regarded as an effective, renewable, and environment-friendly technology for clean water production. However, biofouling caused by the nonspecific interaction between the steam generator and biofoulants generally hinders the efficient application of wastewater treatment. Herein, this work reports a facile strategy to fabricate flexible anti-biofouling fibrous photothermal membrane consisting of a MXene-coated cellulose membrane for highly efficient solar-driven water steam evaporation toward water purification applications. The as-prepared MXene/cellulose photothermal membrane exhibits light absorption efficiency as high as ∼94% in a wide solar spectrum range and a water evaporation rate up to 1.44 kg m–2h–1under one solar illumination. Also, the MXene/cellulose membrane shows very high antibacterial efficiency (above 99.9%) owing to the MXene coating as a highly effective bacteriostatic agent. Such a flexible, anti-biofouling, and high-efficiency photothermal membrane sheds light on practical applications in long-term wastewater treatments.

ABSTRACTMgO micro-powder of different concentrations from 0 to 8 g L−1was added in the electrolyte. Effects of MgO micro-powder concentration on properties of micro-arc oxidation (MAO) coating were analysed by scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectrometer, X-ray diffraction, electrochemical workstation, thermal shock tester equipment, etc. The result revealed that the concentration of MgO has evident effects on the properties of the MAO coating. When MgO micro-powder increased, the oxide voltage, the coating thickness and hardness increased first and then decreased. In this case, the diameter of the hole on the coating surface also increased and more linear holes appeared. The phases mainly consist of γ-Al2O3, α-Al2O3, MgAl2O4and Mg2SiO4. As a result, the corrosion resistance and the adhesion of the MAO coating increase first and then decrease mainly related to the surface morphologies and phase of the coating. The coating has good thermal shock resistance. The performance of micro-arc oxidation coating with MgO micro-powder was improved.

Small-for-size graft (SFSG) has emerged as one of the very contentions in adult-to-adult living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) as a certain graft size is related to recipients' prognosis. Graft-to-recipient weight ratio (GRWR) ≥0.8% was considered as a threshold to conduct LDLT. However, this also has been challenged over decades as a result of technique refinements. For a better understanding of SFSG in practice, we conducted this meta-analysis to compare the perioperative outcomes and long-term outcomes between patients adopting the grafts with a lower volume (GRWR < 0.8%, SFSG group) and sufficient volume (GRWR ≥ 0.8%, non-SFSG group) in adult-to-adult LDLT.

Increasingly serious electromagnetic radiation pollution puts higher demands on wearable devices. Electronic sensor skin capable of shielding electromagnetic radiation can provide extra protection in emerging fields such as electronic skins, robotics, and artificial intelligence, but combining the sensation and electromagnetic shielding performance together remains a great challenge. Here, inspired by the structure and functions of the human skin, a multifunctional electronic skin (M-E-skin) with both tactile sensing and electromagnetic radiation shielding functions is proposed. The tactile sensing of human skin is mimicked with irregular dermislike rough surfaces, and the electromagnetic shielding performance not available on natural skin is introduced by mimicking the ultraviolet electromagnetic radiation absorption of melanin in epidermis. The M-E-skin shows superior sensitivity (9.8 × 104kPa–1for the pressure range 0–0.2 kPa and 3.5 × 103kPa–1within 0.2–20 kPa), broad operating range (0–20 kPa), fast response and relaxation times (<62.5 ms), great pressuring-relaxing stability (10 kPa, 1000 cycles), low operating voltage (0.1 V), low power consumption (1.5 nW), and low detection limit (5 Pa). Besides, a broad range of electromagnetic wave (0.5–7.5 GHz) is shielded more than 99.66% by the M-E-skin. This work holds great potential to enlarge the application scope of current electronic skins.

The conversion reaction of lithia can push up the capacity limit of tin oxide-based anodes. However, the poor reversibility limits the practical applications of lithia in lithium-ion batteries. The latest reports indicate that the reversibility of lithia has been appropriately promoted by compositing tin oxide with transition metals. The underlying mechanism is not revealed. To design better anodes, we studied the nanostructured metal/Li2O interfaces through atomic-scale modeling and proposed a porous nanoframe structure of Mn/Sn binary oxides. The first-principles calculation implied that because of a low interface energy of metal/Li2O, Mn forms smaller particles in lithia than Sn. Ultrafine Mn nanoparticles surround Sn and suppress the coarsening of Sn particles. Such a composite design and the resultant interfaces significantly enhance the reversible Li-ion storage capabilities of tin oxides. The synthesized nanoframes of manganese tin oxides exhibit an initial capacity of 1620.6 mA h g–1at 0.05 A g–1. Even after 1000 cycles, the nanoframe anode could deliver a capacity of 547.3 mA h g–1at 2 A g–1. In general, we demonstrated a strategy of nanostructuring interfaces with low interface energy to enhance the Li-ion storage capability of binary tin oxides and revealed the mechanism of property enhancement, which might be applied to analyze other tin oxide composites.

The Songke No.2 well (eastern hole) (referred to as Well SK-2), one of the “two wells and four holes” of the Deep Continental Scientific Drilling Engineering Project in the Songliao Basin, is in Anda City, Heilongjiang Province, and was officially completed on May 26, 2018. The scientific goals of Well SK-2 cover four aspects: paleoclimate research, resource and energy exploration, primary geological research, and development of deep earth exploration techniques. Since the official commencement of drilling in 2014, the Well SK-2 scientific drilling engineering team has organized and implemented drilling for coring, in situlogging, chemical analysis of core elements, and deep structural exploration around the well. Currently, the following preliminary scientific research progress has been made: 4334.81 m in situcore data has been obtained; the centimeter-level high-resolution characterization of the most complete and continuous Cretaceous continental strata ever unearthed has been completed, and the standard profile of continental strata has been initially established; the unconventional natural gas resources and basin-type hot dry rocks in the deep Songliao Basin were found to have good prospects for exploration and development; the climatic evolutionary history of the Cretaceous continental strata was rebuilt for the first time, covering hundreds of thousands to millions of years, and the major events of Cretaceous climate fluctuations have been discovered; all these reveal strong evidence for the subduction and aggregation of paleo-ocean plates, providing a theoretical basis for the re-recognition of the genesis of the Songliao Basin and for deep earth oil and gas exploration. The implementation of the Deep Continental Scientific Drilling Engineering Project in the Songliao Basin is of great significance for exploring the mysteries of the Earth and solving major problems such as those related to the deep energy environment. It is a solid step along the road of “going deep into the Earth”.

Sentrin-specific protease 3 (SENP3), a member of the desumoylating enzyme family, is known as a redox sensor and could regulate multiple cellular signaling pathways. However, its implication in myocardial ischemia reperfusion (MIR) injury is unclear. Here, we observed that SENP3 was expressed and upregulated in the mouse heart depending on reactive oxygen species (ROS) production in response to MIR injury. By utilizing siRNA-mediated cardiac specific gene silencing, SENP3 knockdown was demonstrated to significantly reduce MIR-induced infarct size and improve cardiac function. Mechanistic studies indicated that SENP3 silencing ameliorated myocardial apoptosis mainly via suppression of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress and mitochondrial-mediated apoptosis pathways. By contrast, adenovirus-mediated cardiac SENP3 overexpression significantly exaggerated MIR injury. Further molecular analysis revealed that SENP3 promoted mitochondrial translocation of dynamin-related protein 1 (Drp1) in reperfused myocardium. In addition, mitochondrial division inhibitor-1 (Mdivi-1), a pharmacological inhibitor of Drp1, significantly attenuated the exaggerated mitochondrial abnormality and cardiac injury by SENP3 overexpression after MIR injury. Taken together, we provide the first direct evidence that SENP3 upregulation pivotally contributes to MIR injury in a Drp1-dependent manner, and suggest that SENP3 suppression may hold therapeutic promise for constraining MIR injury.

Direct diagnosis and accurate assessment of metabolic syndrome (MetS) allow for prompt clinical interventions. However, traditional diagnostic strategies overlook the complex heterogeneity of MetS. Here, we perform metabolomic analysis in 13,554 participants from the natural cohort and identify 26 hub plasma metabolic fingerprints (PMFs) associated with MetS and its early identification (pre-MetS). By leveraging machine-learning algorithms, we develop robust diagnostic models for pre-MetS and MetS with convincing performance through independent validation. We utilize these PMFs to assess the relative contributions of the four major MetS risk factors in the general population, ranked as follows: hyperglycemia, hypertension, dyslipidemia, and obesity. Furthermore, we devise a personalized three-dimensional plasma metabolic risk (PMR) stratification, revealing three distinct risk patterns. In summary, our study offers effective screening tools for identifying pre-MetS and MetS patients in the general community, while defining the heterogeneous risk stratification of metabolic phenotypes in real-world settings.

Supplemental Digital Content is available in the text.

The energy and power densities of rechargeable batteries urgently need to be increased to meet the ever-increasing demands of consumer electronics and electric vehicles. Alloy anodes are among the most promising candidates for next-generation high-capacity battery materials. However, the high capacities of alloy anodes usually suffer from some serious difficulties related to the volume changes of active materials. Porous supports and nanostructured alloy materials have been explored to address these issues. However, these approaches seemingly increase the active material-based properties and actually decrease the electrode-based capacity because of the oversized pores and heavy mass of mechanical supports. In this study, we developed an ultralight porous nickel to scaffold with high-capacity SnSb alloy anodes. The porous-nickel-supported SnSb alloy demonstrates a high specific capacity and good cyclability for both Li-ion and Na-ion batteries. Its capacity retains 580 mA h g–1at 2 A g–1after 100 cycles in Li-ion batteries. For a Na-ion battery, the composite electrode can even deliver a capacity of 275 mA h g–1at 1 A g–1after 1000 cycles. This study demonstrates that combining the scaffolding function of ultralight porous nickel and the high capacity of the SnSb alloy can significantly enhance the electrochemical performances of Li/Na-ion batteries.

Lithium sulfur batteries attract the increasing attentions because of the high energy density. However, sulfur cathodes suffer from several scientific and technical issues which are related to polysulfide ion migration, low conductivity, and volume changes. Many strategies such as porous hosts, polysulfide adsorbents, catalyst, and conductive fillers and so on have been proposed to address these issues, separately. In this study, novel Co3S4nanotubes are developed to efficiently host sulfur, adsorb polysulfide, and catalyze their conversion. Because of these multifunctional advantages in one structure, the resulting Co3S4@S nanotube electrodes demonstrate superior electrochemical properties for high performance lithium sulfur batteries.

We rationally formulated a nucleic acid nanovector platform utilizing endogenous molecules in the following steps: nucleic acids are initially packed by a multifunctional peptide and a cationic liposome to form positively charged ternary complexes through electrostatic interaction; then the ternary complexes were coated with hyaluronic acid (HA) to form negatively charged quaternary nanocomplexes (Q-complexes). Among the components of Q-complexes, the multifunctional peptide was composed of a poly-16-arginine (R16) and a hepatic tumor-targeted cell penetrating peptide (KRPTMRFRYTWNPMK); the cationic lipid component included DOTAP and fusogenic lipid DOPE; the HA component shielded the cationic ternary complexes and actively targeted the CD44 overexpressed on the surface of tumor cells. Q-complexes have showed a relatively high stability in the medium, and HA component partially separated from the nanocomplexes after the Q-complexes bound to the cancer cells. The Q-complexes showed significantly enhanced nucleic acid delivery activity than the corresponding quaternary complexes containing R16and nonvisible cytotoxicity in SCMM-7721 cells. In vivo, a selected Q-complex HLP1R specifically targeted and entered tumor cells without affecting normal tissues. Furthermore, HLP1R wrapped survivin siRNA efficiently and silenced the targeting gene in the liver orthotropic transplantation tumor models and showed nontoxic in vivo. This study reveals that Q-complexes are reasonable and feasible gene therapeutic carriers.

We investigate data-driven forward-inverse problems for Yajima–Oikawa (YO) system by employing two technologies to improve the performance of deep physics-informed neural network (PINN), namely neuron-wise locally adaptive activation functions and L 2 norm parameter regularization. Indeed, we not only recover three different forms of vector rogue waves (RWs) under three distinct initial–boundary value conditions in the forward problem of YO system, including bright–bright RWs, intermediate–bright RWs and dark–bright RWs, but also study the inverse problem of YO system by using training data with different noise intensity. In order to deal with the problem that the capacity of learning unknown parameters is not ideal as utilizing training data with noise interference in the PINN with only locally adaptive activation functions, thus we introduce L 2 norm regularization, which can drive the weights closer to origin, into PINN with locally adaptive activation functions. Then we find that the PINN model with two strategies shows amazing training effect by using training data with noise interference to investigate the inverse problem of YO system. • YO system plays an irreplaceable role in many physical applications. • We introduce the L 2 norm regularization and locally adaptive activation functions to simulate RWs for the first time. • We recover three different forms of vector RWs via distinct initial–boundary value conditions in the forward problem. • We study the inverse problem via training data with different noise, and find the PINN with two strategies shows amazing training effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compared to other synthetic methods, the synthesis of boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) by the boron oxide chemical vapor deposition (BOCVD) method can balance the purity and quality of the product nanotubes. However, due to the solid reaction characteristics of boron monomers, the closed reaction system, and the synthesis temperature of over 1000 °C, growth studies of BNNTs have been in a dilemma. To this end, simultaneous thermal analysis combined with multi-atmosphere annealing experiments at corresponding temperatures is used to study the inorganic solid-state reaction of the classical BOCVD precursor B/Li2O in real time and confirmed by experimental results that lithium borate is the actual active component and catalyst. Further experiments reveal that the growth process of BNNTs and lithium borate not only consumes less of the precursor and ammonia but is also flexible in its configuration, showing exceptional efficiency and reactivity. Lastly, experiments have shown that the structure and activity of borate are equally applicable to alkali metals, alkaline earth metal, and transition metals.

Potassium (K) metal batteries have attracted great attention owing to their low price, widespread distribution, and comparable energy density. However, the arbitrary dendrite growth and side reactions of K metal are attributed to high environmental sensitivity, which is the Achilles’ heel of its commercial development. Interface engineering between the current collector and K metal can tailor the surface properties for K-ion flux accommodation, dendrite growth inhibition, parasitic reaction suppression, etc. We have designed bifunctional layers via prepassivation, which can be recognized as an O/F-rich Sn–K alloy and a preformed solid-electrolyte interphase (SEI) layer. This Sn–K alloy with high substrate-related binding energy and Fermi level demonstrates strong potassiophilicity to homogeneously guide K metal deposition. Simultaneously, the preformed SEI layer can effectually eliminate side reactions initially, which is beneficial for the spatially and temporally KF-rich SEI layer on K metal. K metal deposition and protection can be implemented by the bifunctional layers, delivering great performance with a low nucleation overpotential of 0.066 V, a high average Coulombic efficiency of 99.1%, and durable stability of more than 900 h (1 mA cm–2, 1 mAh cm–2). Furthermore, the high-voltage platform, energy, and power densities of K metal batteries can be realized with a conventional Prussian blue analogue cathode. This work provides a paradigm to passivate fragile interfaces for alkali metal anodes.

Transition metal oxides/oxyhydroxides (TMOs) are promising high-capacity materials for electrochemical energy storage. However, the low rate and poor cyclability hinder practical applications. In this work, we developed a general electrochemical route to fabricate monolithic core/shell sandwiched structures, which are able to significantly improve the electrochemical properties of TMO electrodes by electrically wiring the insulating active materials and alleviating the adverse effects caused by volume changes using engineered porous structures. As an example, a lithium ion battery anode of porous MnO sandwiched between CNT and carbon demonstrates a high capacity of 554 mAh g–1even after 1000 cycles at 2 A g–1. An all-solid-state symmetric pseudocapacitor consisting of CNT@MnOOH@polypyrrole exhibits a high specific capacitance of 148 F g–1and excellent capacitance retention (92% after 10000 cycles at 2 A g–1). Several other examples and applications have further confirmed the effectiveness of improving the electrochemical properties by core/shell sandwiched structures.

Intramyocardial hemorrhage (IMH) and microvascular obstruction (MVO) are two major mechanisms of reperfusion injury of the left ventricle after acute ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). The aim of this study was to assess the impact of IMH and MVO on left ventricular (LV) cardiac mechanics using two-dimensional speckle-tracking echocardiography during the acute phase of STEMI and on LV functional recovery.