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Protein disulfide isomerase A4 (PDIA4) is highly expressed in clear cell ovarian carcinoma and lung cancer. Through analysis of TCGA database and CGGA database, we noted that PDIA4 is a key promotor of glioblastoma (GBM). However, the detailed role and molecular mechanism of PDIA4 in GBM remain unclear. In this study, the expression pattern and biological role of PDIA4 in GBM was investigated. PDIA4 was overexpressed in GBM tumor samples and cell lines and positively correlated with pathological grades in glioma patients. In addition, downregulation of PDIA4 promoted apoptosis and inhibited proliferation of GBM. Meanwhile, there was a concurrent decrease in aerobic glycolysis metabolites. Mechanistically, PDIA4 downregulation promoted the apoptosis of GBM cells by increased the expression of apoptosis pathway proteins (caspase 3, caspase 9 and Bax). Downregulation of PDIA4 decreased energy demand and inhibited GBM growth in vitro and in vivo. Besides, such effect also inhibited the PI3K/AKT/m-TOR pathway by inhibiting protein phosphorylation levels of PI3K, AKT and m-TOR. After addition of PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway activator 740Y-P, the effect of PDIA4 knockdown on GBM was reversed. Therefore, we believe that PDIA4 regulates the proliferation via activating the PI3K/AKT/m-TOR pathway and suppression of apoptosis in glioblastoma. It could be used as a potential target for the treatment of GBM.

Actively controlling the performance of surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) holds great promise in enabling novel applications of this technique. As a popular two-dimensional material, graphene shows intriguing tunable properties and thus has become a promising material in many potential active device applications. Here we proposed and experimentally demonstrated low-voltage electrically tunable SERS by using a plasmonic gold nanorod-graphene/ion-gel hybrid structure. The SERS signals of molecules adsorbed on such a structure were found to be continuously tunable through an external small bias voltage. As such a tuning process is highly related with the charge transfer between the adsorbed molecules and graphene, the proposed design is also helpful in understanding the charge transfer-based enhancement mechanism of SERS.

The phytochrome B mediated light signaling integrates with various phytohormone signalings to control plant immune response. However, it is still unclear whether phyB-mediated light signaling has an effect on the biosynthesis of jasmonate during plant defense response against B. cinerea. In this study, we demonstrated that phyB-mediated light signaling has a role in this process. Initially, we confirmed that phyb plants were obviously less resistant to B. cinerea while phyB overexpressing plants showed significantly enhanced resistance. We also found that the expression of numerous JA biosynthesis genes was promoted upon treatment with red or white light when compared to that of darkness, and that this promotion is dependent on phyB. Consistent with the gene expression results, phyb plants accumulated reduced pool of JA-Ile, indicating that phyB-mediated light signaling indeed increased JA biosynthesis. Further genetic analysis showed that light-mediated JAZ9 degradation and phyB-enhanced resistance were dependent on the receptor COI1, and that pif1/3/4/5 (pifq) can largely rescue the severe symptom of phyb. Taken together, our study demonstrates that phyB may participate in plant defense against B. cinerea through the modulation of the biosynthesis of JA.

In order to explore the effect of Fe doped CoP nanosheets on both hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and hydrodesulfurization (HDS), FeCoP/C nanosheets have been successfully synthesized by the solvothermal process with Fe doped ZIF-67/C for the growth of FeCo-hydroxides nanosheets, as well as a following low-temperature phosphorization process. The performance evaluation results show that the FeCoP/C nanosheet exhibits an excellent acidic HER performance and an ordinary HDS performance compared to CoP/C and FeP/C catalysts. Experimental characterization and density functional theory results show that the high HER activity of the FeCoP/C nanosheet can be attributed to the fact that the nanosheet structure facilitates the exposure of active sites and the doped Fe atoms make CoP have a suitable hydrogen adsorption energy, while the ordinary HDS activity of the FeCoP/C nanosheet can be attributed to the fact that the doped Fe atoms can inhibit the cleavage of C–S bonds by CoP.

The study aims to explore the optimal actuator switching scheme of observer-based event-triggered state feedback control for distributed parameter systems. The performance of distributed parameter systems is improved through the observer-based event-triggered control, in which the state feedback is updated only when a triggered event happens. In such an event-triggered mechanism, the event-based closed-loop system and minimum time interval between consecutive events are bounded. Based on finite horizon linear quadratic regulator (LQR) optimal control, the optimal switching algorithm is proposed based on the event-triggered mechanism during an unfixed time interval. Finally, the proposed scheme is verified through a simulation case.

Engineered nanoparticles responsive to tumor microenvironment parameters such as pH have been developed as drug carriers and for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) as contrast agents (CA). Nanoscale hydroxyapatite (HAP) has good biocompatibility and specific inhibition of tumor cells. However, the inherent tendency of nanoscale HAP to agglomerate and degrade under natural conditions has hindered its further application. To address this challenge, polyacrylic acid-coordinated Mn

PRKCH is a member of the PKC family with the potential to regulate cell proliferation and differentiation. Glioma is the most common primary tumor of the central nervous system, with a high recurrence rate and poor prognosis. Recent studies have demonstrated that PRKCH can promote the proliferation of glioma cells. The purpose of this study was to investigate the promoting effect and possible mechanism of PRKCH on glioma development.Tumor tissue and paracancerous tissue were collected from 160 glioma patients treated at the General Hospital of Northern Theater Command. The expression level of PRKCH was detected by immunohistochemistry and immunoblotting. Univariate/multivariate analysis and log-rank analysis, as well as prognosis and survival analysis, were performed using SPSS26 software. The PRKCH overexpression model was constructed in vitro to study the effect of PRKCH expression on the characteristics of glioma stem cells.The expression of PRKCH in glioma tissues was higher than that in adjacent tissues. PRKCH expression level is an independent prognostic factor in glioma patients, promoting poor prognosis and shorter survival in glioma patients. Furthermore, overexpression of PRKCH in glioma stem cells significantly increased stem cell properties and enhanced cell viability. Downregulation of PRKCH significantly inhibited the progression of glioma stem cells.PRKCH promotes the development of gliomas and may be a therapeutic target for gliomas.

A ratiometric fluorescence strategy was proposed based on carbon dots (CDs) and self-assembled copper nanoclusters (CuNCs) driven by Al

Co–Mo–S based catalysts have promising applications in both hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and hydrodesulfurization (HDS). Herein, MoS2–Co3S4 hollow polyhedrons have been successfully synthesized by the vulcanization of Mo doped ZIF-67. MoS2–Co3S4 hollow polyhedrons show the superior HER and HDS catalytic activities to pure MoS2, Co3S4 and MoS2–Co3S4 nanoparticles prepared by the traditional coprecipitation methods, owing to the both morphology effect and synergistic effect between Co3S4 and MoS2. DFT calculation studied the activation energies needed by MoS2 and Co–Mo–S for HER and HDS, respectively. The required activation energies for C–S bond fracture and H2 generation on Co–Mo–S structure are both obviously lower than that of MoS2 structure. Our work reported a new method to synthesize Co–Mo–S catalysts with large surface area and numerous active sites, and further experimentally and theoretically proved Co–Mo–S structure had better catalytic activities for both HER and HDS.

Water electrolysis is considered to be an effective way to fabricate hydrogen, and it is desirable to find the highly efficient, inexpensive and good durability bifunctional electrocatalysts for overall water splitting. In this paper, we synthesis a unique structured catalyst that was composed by Co9S8 nanowires and nickel cobalt layered double hydroxide (NiCo-LDH) nanosheets. The ultrathin nanosheets decorated on the Co9S8 nanoarrays offer large specific surface area, numerous active edge sites and excellent electrical conductivity for fast electron transfer. Benefiting from this heterogeneous structure, the catalyst presents excellent catalytic performance in alkaline media. It requires 168 mV to reach current density of 10 mA/cm2 for HER and 278 mV to reach current density of 30 mA/cm2 for OER. When used as electrode in a homemade two-electrode system, it only needs t a voltage of 1.63 V to achieve current densities of 10 mA/cm2, which proves Co9S8@NiCo LDH/NF as a superior bifunctional catalyst for water splitting.

Biomass carbon dots (CDs) prepared by sweet potato peels were superior fluorophores with low toxicity and excellent photostability. A novel designed fluorescence probe for specific recognition and sensitive detection of oxytetracycline (OTC) was fabricated with CDs and molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP). The quenching of CDs happened when rebinding with OTC due to electron-transfer-induced fluorescence quenching mechanism. The fluorescence probe was successfully applied in honey with the recoveries ranging from 90.2% to 97.3%. The detection limit of OTC was 15.3 ng mL−1. This work provides promising perspectives that the development of fluorescent MIP will be valuable for rapid analysis in complex samples.

Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is a multifactorial disease and the sixth leading cause of death from cancer worldwide. Patients with ESCC usually have a short survival period due to the late stage at diagnosis. Incidence rates of ESCC remain high among the elderly. With recent advances, it has been demonstrated that ESCC tumors display a unique genetic profile. This study aimed to examine the possible function of OTX1 in ESCC.We collected paraffin-embedded tumor tissues from 107 patients originally diagnosed with ESCC at Xijing Hospital and fresh-harvested and paired adjacent normal esophageal tissues from 15 ESCC patients undergoing curative resection. The expression level of OTX1 was evaluated through immunohistochemistry and western blot. Prognostic and survival analyses were conducted using univariate/multivariate analysis and log-rank analysis with SPSS 23.0. Cell models and xenograft models were used to examine the overexpression of OTX1 in vivo and in vitro.OTX1 was overexpressed in ESCC tissues compared with normal esophageal tissues. Both the mRNA expression level and protein level of OTX1 were higher than they were in paired normal tissue. Prognostic and OS analyses showed that the OTX1 expression level was an individual prognostic factor in ESCC patients. Cell viability was significantly promoted when OTX1 was overexpressed in ESCC cell, Furthermore, downregulating OTX1 in EC109 cell significantly attenuated the cell proliferation migration and invasion. Flow cytometric detection showed that cells overexpressing OTX1 were predominantly in the S and G2M phases. In the xenograft model, both tumor size and weight in the OTX1 overexpression group were significantly larger than those in the control group.OTX1 is an independent prognostic factor of ESCC and contributes to tumorigenesis both in vivo and in vitro.

Janus particles have a noncentral symmetric structure. Since they have two or more different physical and chemical properties, they show different properties and application potential of isotropic particles. Janus nanoparticles have been extensively used in catalysts, surfactants, nanosensors and cancer therapy. This review outlines the different types of techniques for designing and synthesizing Janus nanoparticles. It also describes the latest developments in Janus nanoparticle research in cancer treatment, catalysis, nanosensors and surfactants over the past few years. Finally, the future orientations of the research and the possibilities of application are discussed.

In this work, a smartphone platform based on ratiometric fluorescence signals was reported, which can achieve fast, sensitive, and on-site visual detection of silver ions. The ratiometric fluorescent probe was constructed with fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) and telluride quantum dots (CdTe QDs) through electrostatic interaction. Silver ions will interact with -SH on the surface of CdTe QDs, which can cause the decrease of the fluorescence intensity at 680 nm, while the fluorescence of FITC at 522 nm remains unchanged. It displays the obvious color changes from orange-red to light yellow to green. Based on the changes, the portable smartphone platform was used to identify the RGB values of the system. Then, an analysis model was established according to the variation of RGB values for the visual analysis of Ag+. Under the best experimental conditions, the detection limit of Ag+ by fluorescence spectrometer analysis can be as low as 3.65 nM, the linear range was 12.50 nM to 500 nM. Additionally, the linear range of smartphone platform was 0.125-12.5 μM, and the detection limit was 40 nM. Therefore, visual on-site analysis of Ag+ in environmental water samples can be achieved by capturing the obvious color changes of the system on a smartphone platform.

This paper designed a multivariate analysis method through carbon dots (CDs) to detect and distinguish heavy metal ions in aqueous systems. The carbon dots were derived from three kinds of animal bones through hydrothermal process. Therefore, N, O, S, Ca elements contained in the three different bones themselves are doped directly into the carbon dots by hydrothermal method. CDs gained from diverse raw materials (pork bone, bovine bone, and sheep bone) interact with heavy metal ions of varying degrees were used as probes to distinguish heavy metal ions Ag+, Cu2+, Hg2+, Fe3+ and Pb2+. Specific fingerprints are formed with the output signal, which is the changing rate of fluorescence intensity before and after the addition of metal ions to the bone CDs. The fingerprints indicate Fe3+ has the highest quenching effect on three biomass CDs, while Ag+ has the best quenching effect on sheep bone biomass CD and the detection range was 40–4000 nM. Hierarchical cluster analysis and linear discriminant analysis were used to distinguish Ag+, Cu2+, Hg2+, Fe3+ and Pb2+. The accuracy is 100% not only for individual ions, but also for binary and ternary mixtures. Simultaneously, metal ions in environmental water have been successfully distinguished. The sensor array can identify various metal ions in water simply, efficiently and systematically at the same time.

The all-optical switch is an important device in the all-optical network, and is widely used in optical network protection, network performance monitoring and testing. In this paper, all-optical switches in fiber lasers are investigated analytically. An effective method is suggested to control the related characteristics of all-optical switches through soliton interactions. The effects of corresponding parameters on the performance of all-optical switches are discussed in detail. Results of this paper is helpful to improve the all-optical switching speed and the work efficiency of the all-optical network in nonlinear optics.

A new off-on fluorescent probe was successfully synthesized and used to detect ascorbic acid and phytase. The composite material of hydrotalcite and graphene quantum dots were synthesized through citrate intercalated hydrotalcite using hydrothermal carbonization method. The layered structure of hydrotalcite can prevent the aggregation and promote the uniformity of graphene quantum dots. The off-on fluorescent probe detection mechanism is as follows. Fe3+ ions were firstly added into the solution of the composite material, and the fluorescence was quenched. Then, ascorbic acid was added into the fluorescence probe system, which reduced iron ions and turned on fluorescence to realize the detection of ascorbic acid. In addition, the reaction of phytase and l -ascorbyl-2-phosphate can produce ascorbic acid, further achieving the purpose of phytase detection. The concentration of the analyte and the recovery of the fluorescence intensity show a linear relationship, the linear ranges were 5−300 μmol L−1 and 0.1–4 U mL−1 for ascorbic acid and phytase, respectively. The recoveries of the experiment were 96.3 %–103.1 % and 95.4 %–104.9 %, respectively. The fluorescence method has the advantages of fast, stable, high sensitivity and high selectivity, which has been successfully applied to the determination of ascorbic acid in fruit juice and phytase in feed.

Ischemic stroke is one of the leading causes of death and disability among adults. Despite the economic burden of the disease, available treatment options are still very limited. With the exception of anti-thrombolytics and hypothermia, current therapies fail to reduce neuronal injury, neurological deficits and mortality rates, suggesting that the development of novel and more effective therapies against ischemic stroke is urgent. In the present study, we found that artemether, which has been used in the clinic as an anti-malarial drug, was able to improve the neurological deficits, attenuate the infarction volume and the brain water content in a middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) animal model. Furthermore, artemether treatment significantly suppressed cell apoptosis, stimulated cell proliferation and promoted the phosphorylation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2), P90rsk and cAMP responsive element-binding protein (CREB). Artemether protective effect was attenuated by PD98059, an ERK1/2 inhibitor, administration. Similarly, in oxygen-glucose deprivation/reperfusion (OGD/RP) cell models, artemether pre-treatment induced the suppression of the intracellular ROS, the down-regulation of LDH activity, the reduction of caspase 3 activity and of the apoptosis cell rate and reversed the decrease of mitochondrial membrane potential. As with MCAO animal model, artemether promoted the activation of Erk1/2-P90rsk-CREB signaling pathway. This effect was blocked by the inhibition or knock-down of ERK1/2. The present study provides evidences of the neuroprotective effect of artemether unravelling its potential as a new therapeutic candidate for the prevention and treatment of stroke., Graphical abstract A schematic diagram of artemether confers neuroprotection on cerebral ischemic injury. Artemether stimulated ERK1/2 phosphorylation in PC12 cells, primary cultured cortical neurons and MCAO mouse model, which results in activation of CREB/Bcl-2 pathway and inhibition of apoptosis pathway. All these findings indicate the potential application of artemether in the prevention and treatment of ischemic stroke.Image 1, Highlights • Artemether conferred neuroprotection in a middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) animal model. • Artemether conferred neuroprotection on oxygen-glucose deprivation/reperfusion-induced cell injury model. • Artemether promoted the activation of Erk1/2-P90rsk-CREB signaling pathway in vitro and in vivo.

Terahertz spectral features of alkali halide crystals were studied with the combination of broadband terahertz time-domain spectroscopy and the solid-state-based density functional theory calculations. To understand the particular modes of the observed terahertz features of the alkali halide crystals, the resonant modes of KCl and CsCl were analyzed using face-centered cubic and body-centered cubic lattice models, respectively. The results show that the characteristic terahertz absorption peaks could be assigned to the lattice vibration of the ionic crystals. Furthermore, the terahertz responses of a series of alkali halides were recorded, and obvious absorption peaks were observed in each salt in the frequency region below 8.5 THz. What is more interestingly is that the frequencies of these observed peaks are red-shifted with the increases of the mass and radius of the ions. This correlation between the resonant frequency of the lattice vibration, the reduced atomic mass, and the equilibrium distance between the ions agrees well with the harmonic oscillator model.

RSK4 refers to one Ser/Thr protein kinase functioning downstream pertaining to the signaling channel of protein kinase (MAPK) stimulated by Ras/mitogen. RSK4 can regulate numerous substrates impacting cells' surviving state, growing processes and proliferating process. Thus, dysregulated RSK4 active state display a relationship to several carcinoma categories, covering breast carcinoma, esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, glioma, colorectal carcinoma, lung carcinoma, ovarian carcinoma, leukemia, endometrial carcinoma, and kidney carcinoma. Whether RSK4 is a tumor suppressor gene or one oncogene remains controversial. No specific inhibiting elements for RSK4 have been found. This review briefs the existing information regarding RSK4 activating process, the function and mechanism of RSK4 in different tumors, and the research progress and limitations of existing RSK inhibitors. RSK4 may be a potential target of molecular therapy medicine in the future.

ZnS nanostructures were prepared using different S sources precursor solution by hydrothermal method, and the crystalline structure, surface morphologies and optical properties were studied in detail. XRD patterns show that all samples have a diffraction peak near 28.5°, corresponding to crystal direction (111) of β-ZnS. SEM diagrams show that ZnS nanostructures prepared using TAA and thiourea are spherical and granular, while ZnS prepared using Na2S is irregular and grainy, with some larger blocky structures. EDS spectra show that the chemical element ratio (Zn:S) of ZnS prepared using thiourea is closest to 1:1. The PL peaks of ZnS prepared using TAA and Na2S are around 450 nm, while that of ZnS prepared using thiourea has a green light emission centered at 530 nm with a shoulder peak at 570 nm, and the emission intensity is very strong. Therefore, ZnS nanostructures prepared using thiourea as S source are more suitable for optical devices.

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), a highly malignant brain tumor, accounts for half of all gliomas. Despite surgery, radiation and chemotherapy, the median survival is between 12 and 15 months. The poor prognosis is due to tumor recurrence attributed to chemoresistant glioma cancer stem cells (GSCs). Here we examined the effects of a novel compound NEO212, which is composed of two covalently conjugated anti-cancer compounds - temozolomide (TMZ) and perillyl alcohol (POH), on GSCs expressing either the proneural or mesenchymal gene signatures. These GSCs were obtained from patient-derived tumor tissue. Our findings demonstrate that NEO212 is 10 fold more cytotoxic to GSCs than TMZ (standard-of-care). Furthermore, NEO212 is effective against both proneural and clinically aggressive mesenchymal GSC subtypes. The mechanism of NEO212 mediated-cytotoxicity is through double-strand DNA breaks and apoptosis. In vivo studies show that NEO212 significantly delays tumor growth of both proneural and mesenchymal tumor stem cell populations. Patient-derived GSCs and tumors derived from these cells are highly reflective of the heterogeneity in human GBM. The efficacy of NEO212 against both GSC subtypes indicates that NEO212 has great clinical potential to effectively target GBM.

Adsorptive removal of Rhodamine B (RhB) on a novel kind of magnetic metal–organic framework (MOF) was studied in view of adsorption isotherm, thermodynamics and kinetics. The adsorbent was characterized by physical property measurement system, X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. The adsorption isotherm of RhB on magnetic MOF followed the Freundlich model. The resultant kinetics data was well described by the pseudo-second-order model. Most of the RhB was removed from the aqueous solution within 30 min. Thermodynamic parameters including Gibbs free energy, enthalpy, and entropy of adsorption were obtained. The result confirmed that the adsorption is controlled by an entropy effect rather than an enthalpy change. The maximum removal has been achieved in the pH range of 4–8 at 150 rpm. The sorbent can be used at least five times after washing with methanol including HCl (0.001 mol L −1 ). The π−π stacking interaction and electrostatic interaction may play an important role in the adsorption of RhB onto magnetic MOF. Compared with other adsorbents, this kind of magnetic material demonstrated a superior dye adsorption capability.

Introducing novel nanomaterials into azobenzene (AB) and its derivatives enables a remarkable influence on the molecular isomerization and thus is of great interest for a variety of applications. We systematically study the thermal and photoinduced isomerization of p-aminoazobenzene (pAAB) directly anchored on MoS2/GO nanocomposites by employing in-situ and real-time surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) spectroscopy. The MoS2/GO nanocomposite provides the enhancements for the thermal isomerization efficiency of pAAB of more than 3-fold compared with that of the bare pAAB. We also show that the MoS2/GO nanocomposite has little impact on the UV-induced isomerization of the pAAB, but has apparent impact on the reverse cis-to-trans isomerization of the pAAB under blue light illumination. The results reveal that the effect of MoS2/GO nanocomposite on the photoinduced isomerization of pAAB depends on irradiation wavelength, which can be attributed to the competing interplay of charge transfer and structural relaxation in the hybrid system composed of pAAB and MoS2/GO nanocomposites. The study helps elucidate how the isomerization of azobenzene molecules is affected as incorporated into nanoscale assemblies, and thus open new opportunities for the applications of the isomerization of azobenzene in complex hybrid nanodevices.

This study describes the fabrication, performance and characterization of a luminescence temperature sensor based on ordered all-quantum-dot (QD) multilayers. Highly photoluminescent and stable CdSe/ZnS core-shell QDs modified with two types of surface functional groups (-NH2 and –COOH) were prepared via aqueous route. Ordered thin films (film-A), based on alternate assembly of CdSe/ZnS–COOH (negatively charged) and CdSe/ZnS–NH2 (positively charged), were fabricated through electrostatic layer-by-layer (LBL) self-assembly technique. The temperature-dependent fluorescent properties of film-A (temperature-dependent photoluminescence; transient spectroscopy) were compared with that of a QD-polymer film (PDDA-CdSe/ZnS–COOH films; film-B) also prepared using electrostatic LBL self-assembly. Compared with film-B, film-A showed significant temperature sensitivity and fluorescence lifetime over the range 50–300 K. In addition, structural characterization of CdSe/ZnS–COOH and CdSe/ZnS–NH2 QDs were symmetrically characterized by transmission electron microscope (TEM) and the average diameters of the two QDs were both around 4.2 nm. The two functional groups (-COOH and –NH2) were confirmed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The results suggested that ordered all-QD multilayer films may have good potential in applications requiring sensors for optical thermometry.

A novel approach was proposed to prepare carbon dots (CDs) by acid carbonization and hydrothermal treatment of pork rib bones from food waste. The synthesized animal waste biomass CDs have the merits of eco-friendly, superior fluorescence properties and biocompatibility. The fluorescence of animal waste biomass CDs could be quenched efficiently by dithizone due to the coordination effect. With the addition of dimethoate, the dithizone ligands at CDs are replaced by hydrolysates, and hence the fluorescence is recovered. Thus, a sensing platform was constructed based on the coordination-originated fluorescence of animal waste biomass CDs which can sensitively and selectively detect dimethoate due to a simple displacement mechanism. Upon optimal conditions, the detection limit of dimethoate is 0.064 μM. The linear ranges were obtained in a range of 0.15 μM–5.0 μM. The method is rapid, convenient and environmentally acceptable that can directly detect dimethoate in water samples with recoveries of 93 %–105 %, and the relative standard deviations (RSDs) were 2 %–6 %, respectively. This simple strategy can be used to develop the fluorescence recovery sensors for chemical detection.

The improvement of performance for Pt-based electrocatalysts is of significant importance. Here we synthesized a Ce-modified Pt nanoparticle (NP) with Cerium (III) oxygenated species (1 wt% Ce content) anchored on Pt NPs for methanol oxidation reaction (MOR). High-angle annular dark field-scanning transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy were combined to prove and analyze this special structure. Surprisingly, the electrocatalytic activity of the Ce-modified Pt NPs for MOR reached 1470 mA/mg-Pt and 8670 mA/mg-Pt in acidic and alkaline media, respectively, which were superior to those of the Pt NPs/C and commercial Pt/C. Density functional calculations showed that the structure of Pt surface was deformed by the modification of Cerium, which made CO* + OH* bind more strongly, and the stronger anchoring of OH* induced the easier removal of CO* in the potential determining step. This work would provide an effective strategy to develop efficient MOR electrocatalysts.

Transmission mode terahertz time-domain spectroscopy system was employed to image BALB/c mouse skin tissue slices containing melanoma. The melanoma was unambiguously identified in the frequency region of 0.6–1.8 THz because melanoma has a higher refractive index as well as a higher absorption coefficient than the normal region of the skin tissue. Based on the results of hematoxylin-eosin staining and mass weighing, it was further suggested that the higher density of nucleic acids, higher water content, and lower fat content in the melanoma compared to the normal region are major factors responsible for melanoma's higher refractive index and absorption coefficient than normal tissue. The present work validates that terahertz time-domain spectroscopy imaging technique is possible to be used for the diagnosis of melanoma.

Composite oxides of CeO2 nanorods and Fe2O3 nanoparticles were prepared by a reducing gas atmosphere (H2 or CO) assisted hydrothermal method and used for the water-gas shift reaction. Powder XRD, Raman and XPS analyses showed that Fe3+ was introduced into the lattice space of CeO2 crystal structure to a significantly extent in a reducing gas atmosphere, which resulted in an increase in the activity of the catalyst for the water-gas shift reaction. DFT calculations showed that water molecules are more strongly adsorbed on the surface of the Fe-Ce-Ox composite oxide, which favors the water-gas shift reaction. Consequently, gas reductive atmosphere synthesis is considered to be an effective means to increasing the doping effect and prepare high performance WGS reaction catalysts.

The study of Cobalt mononitride (CoN) is of significant interest due to its excellent physical and mechanical properties as well as potential applications in magnetic storage and superconductive materials. In this work, we found that the ambient-pressure phase of ZnS-type CoN is superconductive with a superconducting critical temperature of 16.1 K. In addition to the superconductive nature of CoN at ambient pressure, we have also performed structure searches with the aim of identifying high-pressure phases of CoN, as a result, where an orthorhombic phase Pmc21 and a hexagonal phase P63 are found to become energetically more favorable than ZnS-type phase under high pressure. The dynamical and mechanical stabilities of predicted phases have been verified by calculating their phonons and elastic constants, indicating they are likely to be synthesized and recovered to ambient condition. The present results reveal that the CoN compound can be used as hard and superconductive materials, providing a broad prospect for practical applications.

As the building blocks of proteins, amino acids serve vital metabolic functions in addition to protein synthesis and thus attract enormous interest. Here we reported the far-infrared optical properties of L-cysteine (Lcys) and its hydrochloride monohydrate (LCHM) characterized by terahertz time-domain spectroscopy. The Lcys and LCHM exhibit quite distinct characteristics in the terahertz region due to diverse collective vibrations of the molecules, which is further confirmed by the solid-state density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The presented studies indicate that the intermolecular hydrogen bonds play a critical role in the far-infrared terahertz response of Lcys and LCHM.