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Although several artificial nanotherapeutics have been approved for practical treatment of metastatic breast cancer, their inefficient therapeutic outcomes, serious adverse effects, and high cost of mass production remain crucial challenges. Herein, we developed an alternative strategy to specifically trigger apoptosis of breast tumors and inhibit their lung metastasis by using natural nanovehicles from tea flowers (TFENs). These nanovehicles had desirable particle sizes (131 nm), exosome-like morphology, and negative zeta potentials. Furthermore, TFENs were found to contain large amounts of polyphenols, flavonoids, functional proteins, and lipids. Cell experiments revealed that TFENs showed strong cytotoxicities against cancer cells due to the stimulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) amplification. The increased intracellular ROS amounts could not only trigger mitochondrial damage, but also arrest cell cycle, resulting in the in vitro anti-proliferation, anti-migration, and anti-invasion activities against breast cancer cells. Further mice investigations demonstrated that TFENs after intravenous (i.v.) injection or oral administration could accumulate in breast tumors and lung metastatic sites, inhibit the growth and metastasis of breast cancer, and modulate gut microbiota. This study brings new insights to the green production of natural exosome-like nanoplatform for the inhibition of breast cancer and its lung metastasis via i.v. and oral routes. Exosome-like nanovesicles from edible tea flowers induced mitochondrial damage, cell cycle arrest, cell apoptosis, microbiota modulation, and further inhibited the growth of breast tumors and their lung metastasis. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-entropy perovskite thin films, as the prototypical representative of the high-entropy oxides with novel electrical and magnetic features, have recently attracted great attention. Here, we reported the electronic structure and charge transport properties of sol-gel-derived high-entropy Ba(Zr 0.2 Sn 0.2 Ti 0.2 Hf 0.2 Nb 0.2)O 3 thin films annealed at various temperatures. By means of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and absorption spectrum, it is found that the conduction-band-minimum shifts downward and the valence-band-maximum shifts upward with the increase of annealing temperature, leading to the narrowed band gap. Electrical resistance measurements confirmed a semiconductor-like behavior for all the thin films. Two charge transport mechanisms, i.e. , the thermally-activated transport mechanism at high temperatures and the activation-less transport mechanism at low temperatures, are identified by a self-consistent analysis method. These findings provide a critical insight into the electronic band structure and charge transport behavior of Ba(Zr 0.2 Sn 0.2 Ti 0.2 Hf 0.2 Nb 0.2)O 3 , validating it as a compelling high-entropy oxide material for future electronic/energy-related technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the process and mechanism of synergistically assisted hydrogen production from tailings and coal slurry. We have identified the optimal tailings as lead-zinc tailings through experimentation with different tailings mixed with pulverized coal. Furthermore, we have analyzed the electrochemical properties of Fe2+ and Fe3+ at different concentration gradients in a hydrochloric acid environment and our results have confirmed that the presence of Fe3+ in the simplified environment does not affect the electrochemical processes. to determine the respective roles and effects of the extract and residue of the lead-zinc tailings slurry with equal amounts of coal dust added to them, which has confirmed that it is the lead-zinc tailings extract that has the primary influence. In addition, the electrocatalysis of Fe3+ in the presence of both lead-zinc tailings and coal results in a small increase in current density, and the improvement in current density due to direct and indirect oxidation of coal particles is also extremely limited. Based on our analysis, we have concluded that the increase in current density brought about by the synergistic hydrogen production from lead-zinc tailings-supported coal is mainly due to the different oxidation processes of Fe2+. [Display omitted] • For the first time, tailings was used for assisted coal electrolysis to produce H 2. • Adding lead-zinc tailings improved the efficiency of coal electrolysis by 133.3%. • The reason for the significant increase in efficiency is the acceleration of the reaction by Fe2+ as an electron donor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ulcerative colitis (UC) with its rapidly increasing incidence has become an emerging challenge for public health. Therapeutic agents are required to be specifically delivered to colon epithelial cells and macrophages with controlled release in the cytoplasm for wound healing, inflammation alleviation, and microbiota rebalance. As a promising biomaterial for accomplishing this, Antheraea pernyi silk fibroin (ApSF) was selected and engineered to form nanoparticles (NPs) loaded with the anti-inflammatory drug, resveratrol (Res). The intrinsic features of these fabricated Res-ApNPs included targeting of colonic epithelial cells and macrophages, lysosomal escape capacity, and responsiveness to pH, reactive oxygen species (ROS), and glutathione, which were pertinent to their functional units such as arginine-glycine-aspartate tripeptides, α -helixes, β -sheets, and disulfide bonds, enabling on-demand release of Res molecules in the cytoplasm of target cells. The Res-ApNP treatment restored damaged colonic epithelial barriers, polarized macrophages to type M2, alleviated inflammatory reactions, and reduced the level of intracellular ROS. Oral treatment with chitosan-alginate hydrogels embedded with Res-ApNPs substantially relieved UC symptoms, as evidenced by decreased colonic inflammation, increased synthesis of tight-junction proteins, and rebalanced intestinal microbiota. Our findings suggest that these high-performance ApSF-based NPs can be developed as effective drug carriers for oral UC treatment. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]