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Layered Ni-rich oxide is a promising cathode material for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) of high energy density, yet its poor electrochemical stability induced by electrode-electrolyte interfacial degradation has still needed to be addressed. Surface coating is one of the powerful techniques to tackle this issue, nevertheless, it has been extensively used on particle but not electrode regarding a larger area of protection. Herein, we have covered a nano-scaled layer of lithium phosphorus oxynitride (LiPON) on the electrode level of LiNi0.8Co0.1Mn0.1O2 (NCM) surface and found lower impedance, longer cycle life, and better safety for treated battery. Most notably, such an NCM-LiPON based 1.3 Ah pouch cell delivers an energy density of 364.4 Wh kg−1 (based on positive and negative materials), along with the retention of 80.0% over 745 cycles at 0.5 C-rate, which is 1.3 times longer than the bare one. This results from modification of both superficial cathode-electrolyte interphase (CEI) and structure stabilization of general particle surface, therefore, role of conformal coating upon electrode surface should be highlighted.

This 33-color panel delineates immune phenotypes of the major lymphocyte subsets in murine tissues. The panel identifies surface markers for cell activation, differentiation, and exhaustion, and chemokine receptors, in CD4 T cells, CD8 T cells, γδ T cells, NK cells, NKT cells and B cells in spleen and liver. This panel was designed to include only surface markers to avoid the need for fixation and permeabilization steps. Cells were analyzed on a full spectrum flow cytometer, 5-Laser Aurora system (Cytek Biosciences). This panel enables in-depth immunophenotyping of murine lymphocytes in immune and non-immune tissues of mice. It could be a tool for systematic analysis of immune cell response to infectious diseases and immune disorders.

A newly synthesized solid acid catalyst SO42−/SnO2-diatomite was prepared for synthesizing furfural from corncob in the presence of homogeneous Bronsted acid. The relationship between pKa of Bronsted acid and turnover frequency (TOF) of co-catalysis with Bronsted acid plus SO42−/SnO2-diatomite was explored on the conversion of corncob to furfural. HCl (pKa = −7.0) (0.5 wt%) plus SO42−/SnO2-diatomite (3.6 wt%) gave the highest furfural yield (40.1%) with TOF value at 2.98 h−1 in the aqueous media. In the γ-valerolactone–water (6:4, v:v) biphasic media containing 15 g/L ZnCl2, one-pot conversion of corncob with co-catalysts gave a furfural yield of 68.9% at 170 °C for 30 min. Additionally, an efficient SO42−/SnO2-diatomite recycling was achieved with a productivity of 15.6 g furfural/(g solid acid·day) after 5 cycles of repeated use. Clearly, this one-pot co-catalysis process has high potential application for furfural production in future.

Objective To investigate the role of HELQ in chemo-resistance of epithelial ovarian carcinoma (EOC), which is a critical factor of patients' prognosis. Methods Immunohistochemistry, survival analysis of our 87 EOC patients and bioinformatics analysis of The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) datasets (Nature, 2011) disclosed the clinical importance of HELQ expression. Quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR), and Western Blot analyses of EOC tissue were used to confirm it. Ectopic overexpression and RNA interference knockdown of HELQ were carried out in OVCAR3 and A2780 cell lines, respectively, to determine the effect of altered HELQ expression on cellular response to cisplatin by CCK8 assay. The DNA repair capacity of these cells was evaluated by using host-cell reactivation assay. Western Blot analyses were carried out to determine the effect of HLEQ on the DNA repair genes by using cells with altered HELQ expression. Results HELQ expression associates with response of EOC patients to platinum-based chemotherapy and their overall survival (OS), disease free survival (DFS). HELQ overexpression or knockdown, respectively, increased and decreased the cellular resistance to cisplatin, DNA repair activity, and expression of DNA repair proteins of Nucleotide excision repair (NER) pathway. Conclusions HELQ plays an important role in regulating the expression of DNA repair proteins NER pathway which, in turn, contributes to cellular response to cisplatin and patients' response to platinum-based chemotherapy. Our results demonstrated that HELQ could serve as a novel indicator for chemo-resistance of EOC, which can predict the prognosis of the disease.

Utilizing the anionic redox reaction opens new approaches for the development of new cathode materials with extra capacities. Although, it suffers from several obstacles such as voltage hysteresis and sluggish kinetics. In this paper, a new layered chalcogenide-based on dual anionic-redox reaction is reported. The newly designed layered NaCrSSe exhibits the capacity of almost all Na + intercalation/deintercalation (137 mAh g−1 at 50 mA g−1), and a unique charge/discharge feature with a small polarization of 0.15 V and high energy efficiencies of ~92% in initial cycles. Furthermore, a superior high-rate charge capacity of 115.5mAh g−1 (83.7% retention) was achieved at 27.8 C (4000 mA g−1). Systematic characterization studies on structure evolution and DFT calculation show the charge compensation of S and Se anions during cycling. These results will enrich the anion redox chemistry and provide valuable information for developing new anion-redox based cathode materials with high capacity and fast kinetics.

Li3N in the form of powder as the most appealing sacrificial salt has already been investigated for prelithiation, yet not been widely acknowledged due to its incompatibility with common solvents to a great extent. Herein, we report an unexpected way by depositing metal lithium directly on cathode surface and then fixing it by nitrogen gas to synthesize pure alpha-Li3N film with (001) plane perpendicular to surface. Moreover, its decomposition pathway along the direction from the surface to the inner cathode is revealed. After being used to compensate the lithium loss in LiFePO4/graphite full cell, discharge capacity at 120th cycle has raised by 30.7% with 1% Li3N coating. Apart from that, this kind of Li3N film has successfully served as the sole lithium source to fabricate full-cell with TiS2 and graphite as electrodes, in which 142.4 mAh g−1 of capacity can remain after 50 cycles. In short, the introducing/expelling of nitrogen for Li fixation/Li+ release is a facile strategy to realize battery prelithiation with easy preparation and high efficiency.

Increasing evidence indicates that oxidative damage and inflammation is present in patients with schizophrenia. In this study, we investigated the association between the serum concentrations of four typical oxidative stress and inflammatory biomarkers (monocyte chemotactic protein-1, heme oxygenase-1, interleukin-8, and 8-Hydroxydeoxyguanine) and schizophrenia using a case-control study design. In total, 44 patients with schizophrenia and 45 normal controls from Shandong Province, China were recruited. Fasting blood samples were collected from all participants and the serum concentration of the four biomarkers were analyzed by Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The concentrations of monocyte chemotactic protein-1 and interleukin-8 were significantly higher in the patients than in the controls, while there was no significant difference in the serum concentrations of heme oxygenase-1 and 8-Hydroxydeoxyguanine. Moreover, the serum concentrations of monocyte chemotactic protein-1 and interleukin-8 in patients were positively correlated with severity of clinical symptoms. Dose-response relationships between serum biomarker concentrations and schizophrenia were observed. This study suggests that levels of monocyte chemotactic protein-1 and interleukin-8 are increased in patients with schizophrenia and correlated with positive symptom severity.