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The regulation of gene expression is the key of organism genetic mechanism. Motif identification is an important step in constructing expression regulatory network. Based on Gibbs sampling method, this work constructed position weight matrix, thereby proposing motif recognition method based on genetic algorithm. Scoring function is defined to update the population and obtain the convergence matrix of position weight, achieving the identification of motifs with different length. Simulation and experimental data sets were utilized to verify the accuracy and execution time of the algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PNL) has been used in the treatment of urolithiasis for more than 20 years. However, bibliometric analysis of the global use of PNL for urolithiasis is rare. We retrieved the literatures on PNL and urolithiasis from Web of science core collection database. VOSviewer was used to analyze keywords, citations, publications, co-authorship, themes, and trend topics. A total of 3103 articles were analyzed, most of which were original ones. The most common keywords were “percutaneous nephrology” and “urolithiasis”, both of which were closely related to “ureteroscopy”. Journal of Urology and Zeng Guohua from the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University were the most published journal and author in this field. The most productive country was the United States, and its closest partners were Canada, China, and Italy. The five hot topics were the specific application methods and means, risk factors of urolithiasis, the development of treatment technology of urolithiasis, the characteristics, composition, and properties of stones, and the evaluation of curative effect. This study aimed to provide a new perspective for PNL treatment of urolithiasis and provided valuable information for urologic researchers to understand their research hotspots, cooperative institutions, and research frontiers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

0D/2D Pt-C3N4/CdS heterojunction photocatalyst were fabricated with CdS quantum dots interspersed on g-C3N4 nanosheets via successive ionic layer absorption process. The obtained Pt-C3N4/CdS Z-scheme heterojunction with Pt cocatalyst deposited on g-C3N4 nanosheets exhibited H2 production rate of 35.3 mmol g−1 h−1, which is 3.1 times higher than that of Pt-CdS/C3N4. The enhanced photocatalytic activity are attributed to the Z-scheme charge carrier transfer mechanism with stronger redox ability. The photocatalytic mechanism of the CdS/g-C3N4 composite is investigated and demonstrated in this work. It may provide unique insights to design 0D/2D Z-scheme heterojunction photocatalyst systems using a facile method for highly efficient H2 production. Schematic illustration of charge transfer modulated by the metal cocatalyst selective deposition on heterojunction-type II (a) and direct Z-Scheme mechanisms (b) over the C3N4/CdS heterostructure composites under visible light irradiation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) effect of noble metal nanoparticles (NPs) for photocatalysis has a significant enhancement. In this system, a plasmonic ternary hybrid photocatalyst of Ag/AgBr/g-C3N4 was synthetized and used in water splitting to generation H2 under visible light irradiation. 18%Ag/AgBr/g-C3N4 showed the highest photoactivity, with the efficiency of hydrogen generation as high as 27-fold to that of pristine g-C3N4. Compared to simple mixture of Ag/AgBr and g-C3N4, hetero-composite Ag/AgBr/g-C3N4 showed a higher photoactivity, even though they contained same content of Ag/AgBr. We find that significant factors for enhancing properties were the synergistic effect between Ag/AgBr and g-C3N4, and the light absorption enhancing by SPR effect of Ag NPs. Ag/AgBr NPs firmly anchored on the surface of g-C3N4 and their high dispersion were also responsible for the improved activity and long-term recycling ability. The structure of Ag/AgBr/g-C3N4 hybrid materials and their enhancement to photocatalytic activity were discussed. Meanwhile, the possible reaction mechanism of this system was proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: A universal strategy was proposed to producing conductive, redox-active, and hydrophilic sulfonated lignin-conductive polymer nanoparticles (CP/LS NPs). By incorporating the CP/LS NPs into hydrogel network, a good conductive, adhesive, and tough hydrogel was obtained. The redox-active NPs maintained enough catechol groups inner the hydrogel for adhesiveness.Conductive polymers (CPs) are generally insoluble, and developing hydrophilic CPs is significant to broaden the applications of CPs. In this work, a mussel-inspired strategy was proposed to construct hydrophilic CP nanoparticles (CP NPs), while endowing the CP NPs with redox activity and biocompatibility. This is a universal strategy applicable for a series of CPs, including polyaniline, polypyrrole, and poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene). The catechol/quinone contained sulfonated lignin (LS) was doped into various CPs to form CP/LS NPs with hydrophilicity, conductivity, and redox activity. These CP/LS NPs were used as versatile nanofillers to prepare the conductive hydrogels with long-term adhesiveness. The CP/LS NPs-incorporated hydrogels have a good conductivity because of the uniform distribution of the hydrophilic NPs in the hydrogel network, forming a well-connected electric path. The hydrogel exhibits long-term adhesiveness, which is attributed to the mussel-inspired dynamic redox balance of catechol/quinone groups on the CP/LS NPs. This conductive and adhesive hydrogel shows good electroactivity and biocompatibility and therefore has broad applications in electrostimulation of tissue regeneration and implantable bioelectronics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: A universal strategy was proposed to producing conductive, redox-active, and hydrophilic sulfonated lignin-conductive polymer nanoparticles (CP/LS NPs). By incorporating the CP/LS NPs into hydrogel network, a good conductive, adhesive, and tough hydrogel was obtained. The redox-active NPs maintained enough catechol groups inner the hydrogel for adhesiveness. Conductive polymers (CPs) are generally insoluble, and developing hydrophilic CPs is significant to broaden the applications of CPs. In this work, a mussel-inspired strategy was proposed to construct hydrophilic CP nanoparticles (CP NPs), while endowing the CP NPs with redox activity and biocompatibility. This is a universal strategy applicable for a series of CPs, including polyaniline, polypyrrole, and poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene). The catechol/quinone contained sulfonated lignin (LS) was doped into various CPs to form CP/LS NPs with hydrophilicity, conductivity, and redox activity. These CP/LS NPs were used as versatile nanofillers to prepare the conductive hydrogels with long-term adhesiveness. The CP/LS NPs-incorporated hydrogels have a good conductivity because of the uniform distribution of the hydrophilic NPs in the hydrogel network, forming a well-connected electric path. The hydrogel exhibits long-term adhesiveness, which is attributed to the mussel-inspired dynamic redox balance of catechol/quinone groups on the CP/LS NPs. This conductive and adhesive hydrogel shows good electroactivity and biocompatibility and therefore has broad applications in electrostimulation of tissue regeneration and implantable bioelectronics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to low charge separation efficiency and poor stability, it is usually difficult for single-component photocatalysts such as graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) and silver chromate (Ag2CrO4) to fulfill photocatalytic hydrogen production efficiently. Z-scheme charge transport mechanism that mimics the photosynthesis in nature is an effective way to solve the above problems. Inspired by photosynthesis, we report Ag2CrO4 nanoparticles-decorated g-C3N4 nanosheet as an efficient photocatalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) with methanol as sacrificial agent. The formation of Z-scheme g-C3N4/Ag2CrO4 nanosheets photocatalysts could inhibit the recombination of photogenerated electron-hole pairs, promote the generation of hydrogen by photosplitting of water. The experiment results indicate that g-C3N4/Ag2CrO4 nanocomposites present enhanced photocatalytic activity and stability in the H2 evolution of water splitting. And the nanocomposites g-C3N4/Ag2CrO4(23.1%) show the 14 times HER efficiency compared to that of bare g-C3N4. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]