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Supercapacitor represents an important electrical energy storage technology with high-power performance and superior cyclability. However, currently commercialized supercapacitors still suffer limited energy densities. Here we report an unprecedentedly respiring supercapacitor with chlorine gas iteratively re-inspires in porous carbon materials, that improves the energy density by orders of magnitude. Both electrochemical results and theoretical calculations show that porous carbon with pore size around 3 nm delivers the best chlorine evolution and adsorption performance. The respiring supercapacitor with multi-wall carbon nanotube as the cathode and NaTi

Although Fenton or Fenton-like reactions have been widely used in the environment, biology, life science, and other fields, the sharp decrease in their activity under macroneutral conditions is still a large problem. This study reports a MoS2 cocatalytic heterogeneous Fenton (CoFe2 O4 /MoS2 ) system capable of sustainably degrading organic pollutants, such as phenol, in a macroneutral buffer solution. An acidic microenvironment in the slipping plane of CoFe2 O4 is successfully constructed by chemically bonding with MoS2 . This microenvironment is not affected by the surrounding pH, which ensures the stable circulation of Fe3+ /Fe2+ on the surface of CoFe2 O4 /MoS2 under neutral or even alkaline conditions. Additionally, CoFe2 O4 /MoS2 always exposes "fresh" active sites for the decomposition of H2 O2 and the generation of 1 O2 , effectively inhibiting the production of iron sludge and enhancing the remediation of organic pollutants, even in actual wastewater. This work not only experimentally verifies the existence of an acidic microenvironment on the surface of heterogeneous catalysts for the first time, but also eliminates the pH limitation of the Fenton reaction for pollutant remediation, thereby expanding the applicability of Fenton technology.

Capturing radioactive iodomethane and its vapors is a major challenge due to its low adsorption capacity. Herein, we have developed for the first time a pyridine-entrapped elastic crosslinked polysulfate gel (pyridine/TPC-cPS) as an efficient absorbent for iodomethane capture. Each pyridine-encased TPC-cPS network cell acts as a mini-reactor for salt formation between pyridine and iodomethane. The yield reaches up to 96.65 % and traps saturated iodomethane vapor of 1.573 g g

Acute myelocytic leukemia (AML) is an aggressive malignant tumor and typically fatal without treatment. Identification and development of novel biomarkers could be beneficial for the diagnosis and prognosis of AML patients. Here, we aimed to identify the accurate DNA methylation prognostic signatures for AML patients. The DNA methylation data of AML patients and corresponding clinical information were retrieved from The Cancer Genome Atlas database. CPG sites that correlates closely with the survival of the AML patients were identified and further combined into CPG sites pairs to screen the survival-related pairs. The prognostic signatures were identified by the C-index and forward search algorithms and validated by the verification group. Finally, the functional enrichment analysis was performed on these CPG sites. As a result, a total of 498 CPG sites associated with the overall survival of AML patients was obtained. A prognostic signature composed of 10 CPG sites pairs was obtained and validated. The functional enrichment analysis showed prognostic genes were mainly enriched in tumor protein processing, cell differentiation, blood leukocyte immunity, and platelet growth factor pathways. In summary, we identified two accurate prognostic methylation signatures (NDRG2 and TLR7), which would be served as a novel therapy target for AML.

Funding: Royal Society (Grant Number(s): IE160703); Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (Grant Number(s): EP/L015110/1). Conventional fluorescence sensing equipment for disease detection is expensive and bulky, restricting access of patients to accurate diagnosis. Organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) have the potential to enable compact fluorescence sensing compatible with point-of-care (POC) testing. However, the limited brightness and broad emission spectra of OLEDs can be a challenge for achieving good sensitivity. Here, co-host microcavity OLEDs with narrowed spectra, high conductivity, and high brightness are developed for fluorescence sensing. The OLEDs are driven in pulsed mode for achieving higher brightness and stable light output. To sense the presence of single-stranded DNA (ssDNA), two complementary ssDNA labelled with Cyanine dyes – Cy3 (ssDNA-Cy3) or Cy5 (ssDNA-Cy5) are used to form a Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) pair when the DNA hybridized. The dye-labelled DNA is then excited by the OLED at the Cy3 excitation wavelength, and the fluorescence is detected at the emission wavelength of Cy5. As a result, the device shows a very high sensitivity that can detect as low as 1 × 10−9 m of ssDNA-Cy5 in fetal bovine serum (FBS). This work shows a simple approach to highly sensitive fluorescence sensing with OLED light sources that is promising for use in POC diagnostics. Publisher PDF

Funding: UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (Grant Number(s): EP/L015110/1). Antimicrobial photodynamic therapy (APDT) has been studied as a non-invasive therapy for treating cutaneous leishmaniasis to overcome challenges with current treatment, such as toxicity, resistance and need for in-patient hospital treatment. Organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) have emerged as an attractive technology that can provide wearable light-emitting materials that are conformable to human skin. This makes OLEDs ideal candidates for APDT by light-bandages for ambulatory care. In this work, we successfully develop suitable OLEDs to match the absorbance of three photosensitizers: methylene blue, new methylene blue, and 1,9-dimethyl-methylene blue to inactivate two Leishmania species in vitro: Leishmania major and Leishmania amazonensis. Parasites are treated either by LED (20 mWcm-2) or OLED (6.5 mWcm-2) at increasing photosensitizer concentrations at a radiant exposure of 50 Jcm-2. 1,9-Dimethyl-methylene blue is the most potent photosensitizer, killing both strains at nanomolar concentrations. We also explore the effect of different intensities from the OLEDs (0.7, 1.5, and 6.5 mWcm-2) and show that effective killing of Leishmania occurs even at very low intensity. These findings demonstrate the great potential of OLEDs as a new approach for ambulatory treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis by APDT. Publisher PDF

The lattice density functional theory (LDFT) is used to describe the substrate effect on the phase behavior of polymer brush grafted on different substrates. The LDFT predicts that: both attractive and repulsive interactions between the substrate and the polymer chains have effects on the thickness of brushes; when the short-range monomer–substrate interaction is larger than a certain value, the thickness and density profiles of polymer brushes almost do not change. And also an attractive substrate can increase the critical grafting density of pancake to brush transition. For temperature responsive polymer brushes, the temperature transition points are almost the same with different substrates, however, an attractive substrate can increase the swelling ratio and a repulsive substrate can decrease the swelling ratio. We also find that an increasing grafting density can decrease the substrate effect on the swelling behavior of temperature responsive polymer brushes.

Summary Objective The study aims to evaluate the efficacy of combination therapy with propylthiouracil (PTU) and cholestyramine in the treatment of Graves’ hyperthyroidism. Background Thyroxine (T4) is metabolized mainly in the liver by conjugation to glucuronides and sulphates that enter the enterohepatic circulation. Thyrotoxic patients have an abnormal increase in thyroid hormone in their enterohepatic circulation. Previous studies on combination therapy with methimazole and cholestyramine for Graves’ hyperthyroidism have shown it to be an effective adjunctive treatment. In this study, we examined the efficacy of combination therapy with PTU and cholestyramine in the treatment of Graves’ hyperthyroidism. Methods Thirty patients with newly diagnosed Graves’ hyperthyroidism were randomly divided into two groups: group I (n = 15) received PTU 100 mg twice a day, propranolol 40 mg twice a day and cholestyramine 4 g twice a day for 4 weeks; group II (n = 15) received PTU 100 mg twice a day and propranolol 40 mg twice a day for 4 weeks. The therapeutic efficacy was determined by serum total triiodothyronine (TT3), free thyroxine (FT4) and TRAb levels at baseline, and at the end of 2 and 4 weeks during the study period. Results There was no significant difference in baseline thyroid function parameters. At the end of 2 and 4 weeks of the study period, serum TT3 and FT4 levels of group I were significantly lower than those of group II. No significant differences in the TRAb level were found between the two groups. Conclusion Cholestyramine contributed to a more rapid and complete decline in thyroid hormone levels in patients with Graves’ hyperthyroidism. It was thus proved to be an effective and well-tolerated adjunctive therapy.

Objective The present study was to compare the efficacy of a single daily dose of methimazole (MMI) and propylthiouracil (PTU) in the treatment of Graves' hyperthyroidism. Background Antithyroid drugs, MMI and PTU, are widely used in the treatment of hyperthyroidism. Previous studies in the treatment of hyperthyroidism with a single daily dose of antithyroid drugs have demonstrated a more favourable result with MMI. However, the efficacy of a single daily dose of PTU was inconsistent. In this study, we examined the therapeutic efficacy of single daily doses of MMI and PTU on the change of thyroid hormones and thyrotropin receptor antibodies (TRAb) levels. Methods Thirty patients with newly diagnosed Graves' hyperthyroidism were randomly divided into two groups, each receiving a single dose of either 15 mg MMI or 150 mg PTU daily for 12 weeks. The therapeutic efficacy was determined by serum total triiodothyronine (TT3), total thyroxine (TT4), thyrotropin (TSH), free thyroxine (FT4), and TRAb levels at baseline and at the end of 4, 8 and 12 weeks during the study period. Results There was no significant difference in baseline thyroid function parameters. Serum TT3, TT4 and FT4 levels in the MMI-treated group were significantly lower than those of the PTU-treated group after 4 weeks and through the end of the study. MMI also has superior effect on reducing serum TRAb levels than PTU after 8 weeks and at the end of the study. Conclusion During the 12-week treatment of Graves' hyperthyroidism, a single daily dose of 15 mg MMI was much more effective in the induction of euthyroidism than a single daily dose of 150 mg PTU. In the doses used in this study, MMI is preferable to PTU when a once-daily regimen of antithyroid drug is considered for the treatment of Graves' hyperthyroidism.

The microwave dielectric properties of a Ba(2−x)Sm(4+2x/3)Ti9O26 system (BST) (0.0≤x≤0.3) and the design procedures for a microwave coaxial dielectric bandpass filter are investigated in this work. Dielectric coaxial resonators with excellent dielectric properties of er=75–80, a Q×f value=11,000, and great temperature stability at the resonant frequency (τf=∼0 ppm/°C) were used. Microwave bandpass filters for mobile communication systems were constructed by using such λ/4 coaxial resonators. Both air-gap coupling and direct coupling methods were applied as the coupling instruments in the transformation of electromagnetic energy. The comb-line theory was used to adjust the response of filters. The resonant frequency of each resonator, the coupling coefficients between adjacent resonators, and the external quality factor were adjusted to achieve the target specifications. The measured responses were in excellent agreement with the expected results. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 29: 359–362, 2001.

In this study, the stability of oil-in-water (O/W) emulsions prepared with structured lipid (SL) were evaluated in which the SL was produced through lipase-catalyzed interesterification between soybean oil and rice bran oil. After interesterification, the major TAG species in the SL were PLP (22.5 %), PLL/OOLn (21.8 %), LPL (16.1 %), and LLS/PLO (16.1 %), and the total amount of tocopherol and tocotrienol was 20.9 mg/100 g of SL. Sophorolipid was used as an emulsifier for preparing SL-based O/W emulsions, and the effect of pH (pH 5.8, 7 and 7.2) on stability was studied by analyzing the fat globule size. From the results, SL-based O/W emulsions showed similar stabilities to those prepared with Tween 20 at the neutral environment. In the oxidation study, any antioxidant addition of propyl gallate (PG), ascorbic acid 6-palmitate (AP) or quercetin hydrate (Que) distinctively prevented peroxide formation on the SL-based O/W emulsion throughout the 23 days of storage while AP was less effective to lower TBARS values than PG and Que.

The stem bark of Calophyllum inophyllum gave one new prenylated dipyranoxanthone inophinone (1), together with two other xanthones, inophyllin A (2) and caloxanthone B (3) and three common triterpenes, friedelin (4), stigmasterol (5) and betulinic acid (6). 1D and 2D NMR spectral data (1H, 13C, DEPT, COSY, HMBC & HMQC) were used to elucidate the structures of these compounds.

Artosimmin (I) is significantly cytotoxic against cell lines HL-60 and MCF-7 and possesses antioxidant properties towards DPPH.

Styrylpyrone derivatives (+)-goniothalamin (1), (+)-goniothalamin epoxide (2) and (–)-iso-5-deoxygoniopypyrone (4b), and the acetogenin (+)-annonacin (7) were bioactive compounds isolated from the stem bark of Goniothalamus dolichocarpus. The stereochemical relationships for (+)-goniothalamin epoxide (2), (+)-isogoniothalamin epoxide (3) and (+)-goniodiol diacetate (6) were established by chemical transformations and single-crystal X-ray crystallography.

We screened more than 60 Malaysian plants against two species of insects and found that Melicope subunifoliolata (Stapf) T.G. Hartley (Rutaceae) showed strong feeding deterrent activity against Sitophilus zeamais Motsch. (Curculionidae) and very good larvicidal activity against Aedes aegypti L. (Diptera). One anti-insect compound, meliternatin (3,5-dimethoxy-3′,4′,6,7-bismethylendioxyflavone) ( 6 ) and six other minor polyoxygenated flavones were isolated from M. subunifoliolata .

Ancient silverware objects have been analysed by energy dispersive XRF fundamental parameters method. Accuracy obtained was better than 2%. It is a useful and nondestructive technique for valuable relies.