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Specific leaf area (SLA) is one of the most important plant functional traits. It integrates multiple functions and reflects strategies of plants to obtain resources. How plants employ different strategies (e.g., through SLA) to respond to dynamic environmental conditions remains poorly understood. This study aimed to explore the spatial variation in SLA and its divergent adaptation through the lens of biogeographic patterns, evolutionary history, and short-term responses. SLA data for 5424 plant species from 76 natural communities in China were systematically measured and integrated with meta-analysis of field experiments (i.e., global warming, drought, and nitrogen addition). The mean value of SLA across all species was 21.8 m

Variation in the architecture of trait networks among ecosystems has been rarely quantified, but can provide high resolution of the contrasting adaptation of the whole phenotype. We constructed leaf trait networks (LTNs) from 35 structural, anatomical and compositional leaf traits for 394 tree species in nine forests from tropical to cold-temperate zones in China. Our analyses supported the hypothesis that LTNs would increase in modular complexity across forests in parallel with species-richness and climatic warmth and moisture, due to reduced phenotypic constraints and greater opportunities for niche differentiation. Additionally, we found that within LTNs, leaf economics traits including leaf thickness would have central importance, acting as hub traits with high connectivity due to their contributions to multiple functions. Across the continent, the greater species richness and trait diversity observed in forests under resource-rich climates enable greater complexity in whole phenotype structure and function as indicated by the trait network architecture.

The diagnosis and treatment of hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) in pregnancy is challenging due to its rarity. We aim to analyze and summarize the clinical characteristics of HLH in pregnancy, and to discuss effective diagnostic and treatment options.Thirteen patients with HLH during pregnancy who were diagnosed and treated at the Peking Union Medical College Hospital of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences from January 2000 to December 2019 were studied retrospectively. We collected data on treatment regimens and on maternal and pregnancy outcomes.All patients had a singleton pregnancy, with a median age of 28 years (range, 22-33 years) and a median gestational age of 23 weeks (7-36 weeks). Twelve patients received corticosteroids, and four patients (with/without intravenous immunoglobulin) showed a curative effect. Two patients who were treated with dexamethasone and etoposide after termination of pregnancy achieved complete remission. Two patients attained remission after termination of pregnancy. Four pregnant women died, and the mortality rate was 30.8% (4/13). Fetal or neonatal death up to 1 week after delivery occurred in eight (61.5%) pregnancies.Early diagnosis and treatment are important for maternal survival, and corticosteroids are the first choice for most patients with HLH during pregnancy. For patients who do not respond to corticosteroids, etoposide and termination of pregnancy may be life-saving.

The aggregation of α-synuclein plays a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease (PD). Epidemiological evidence indicates that high level of homocysteine (Hcy) is associated with an increased risk of PD. However, the molecular mechanisms remain elusive. Here, we report that homocysteine thiolactone (HTL), a reactive thioester of Hcy, covalently modifies α-synuclein on the K80 residue. The levels of α-synuclein K80Hcy in the brain are increased in an age-dependent manner in the TgA53T mice, correlating with elevated levels of Hcy and HTL in the brain during aging. The N-homocysteinylation of α-synuclein stimulates its aggregation and forms fibrils with enhanced seeding activity and neurotoxicity. Intrastriatal injection of homocysteinylated α-synuclein fibrils induces more severe α-synuclein pathology and motor deficits when compared with unmodified α-synuclein fibrils. Increasing the levels of Hcy aggravates α-synuclein neuropathology in a mouse model of PD. In contrast, blocking the N-homocysteinylation of α-synuclein ameliorates α-synuclein pathology and degeneration of dopaminergic neurons. These findings suggest that the covalent modification of α-synuclein by HTL promotes its aggregation. Targeting the N-homocysteinylation of α-synuclein could be a novel therapeutic strategy against PD.

Accumulation and propagation of pathological α-synuclein (α-Syn) are the major contributing factors to the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease (PD). Therapy to halt the spreading of α-Syn pathology needs to be established.After phage display and affinity maturation, human-derived anti-α-Syn autoantibodies were selected and applied to biochemical, cellular and animal models of PD.The novel naturally occurring anti-α-Syn autoantibodies (α-Syn-nAbs), P21 and P22, selectively bind α-Syn preformed fibrils (PFFs), recognise Lewy bodies (LBs) and Lewy neurites (LNs) in human PD brains, block α-Syn fibrillization and inhibit the seeding of α-Syn PFFs. Moreover, systematic administration of P21 and P22 attenuates α-Syn pathology, degeneration of the nigrostriatal pathway and motor deficits in mice injected with α-Syn PFFs.P21 and P22 attenuate α-synuclein pathology and are promising candidates for PD treatment.

Objectives We examine political connections at the horizontal level of local government officials and their impacts on economic growth in China. Methods We identify two types of horizontal networks: hometown tie and alumni tie, and analyze the biographic data of the top officials of 256 prefecture‐cities during the period of 1999–2013. Results We find a positive relationship between city leaders’ hometown tie and economic growth, measured by either the relative GDP per capita growth rate or the GDP per capita growth rate. Furthermore, we find the positive relationship is more profound in the low market‐open cities. However, we do not find any significant impacts of the alumni tie on economic growth. Conclusions The hometown tie improves the city leaders’ economic performance.

Carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) are the primary elements involved in the growth and development of plants. The C:N ratio is an indicator of nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) and an input parameter for some ecological and ecosystem models. However, knowledge remains limited about the convergent or divergent variation in the C:N ratios among different plant organs (e.g., leaf, branch, trunk, and root) and how evolution and environment affect the coefficient shifts. Using systematic measurements of the leaf-branch-trunk-root of 2,139 species from tropical to cold-temperate forests, we comprehensively evaluated variation in C:N ratio in different organs in different taxa and forest types. The ratios showed convergence in the direction of change but divergence in the rate of change. Plants evolved toward lower C:N ratios in the leaf and branch, with N playing a more important role than C. The C:N ratio of plant organs (except for the leaf) was constrained by phylogeny, but not strongly. Both the change of C:N during evolution and its spatial variation (lower C:N ratio at midlatitudes) help develop the adaptive growth hypothesis. That is, plants with a higher C:N ratio promote NUE under strong N-limited conditions to ensure survival priority, whereas plants with a lower C:N ratio under less N-limited environments benefit growth priority. In nature, larger proportion of species with a high C:N ratio enabled communities to inhabit more N-limited conditions. Our results provide new insights on the evolution and drivers of C:N ratio among different plant organs, as well as provide a quantitative basis to optimize land surface process models.

Inducing the osteogenic differentiation from bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs) might be a potent strategy for treating bone loss and nonunion during fracture and improving fracture healing. Among several signaling pathways involved, mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) have been reported to play a critical role. Magnesium (Mg)-based alloys, including Mg-Zn alloy, have been used clinically as implants in the musculoskeletal field and could promote BMSC osteogenic differentiation. However, the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. In this study, we produced Mg-Zn alloy consists of Mg and low concentrations of Zn, calcium carbonate, and β-tricalcium phosphate (β-TCP; manifesting process not shown), prepared Mg, Zn, and Mg-Zn extracts, and investigated the specific effects of these extracts on human BMSC (hBMSC) osteogenic differentiation and MAPK signaling. Mg extracts and Mg-Zn extracts could significantly promote the osteogenic differentiation of hBMSCs as manifested as increased alkaline phosphatase levels, enhanced calcium nodules formation, and increased messenger RNA expression and protein levels of osteogenesis markers, including BMPs, Col-I, Runx2, and Osx; in the meantime, Mg culture medium (CM) and Mg-Zn CM both significantly enhanced the activation of MAPK signaling in hBMSCs. By adding ERK1/2 signaling, p38 signaling, or JNK signaling inhibitor to Mg-Zn CM, or conducting p38 MAPK silence in hBMSCs, we revealed that these extracts might promote hBMSC osteogenic differentiation via p38 MAPK signaling and MAPK-regulated Runx2/Osx. In conclusion, Mg2+ in β-TCP/Mg-Zn extract promotes the osteogenic differentiation of hBMSCs via MAPK-regulated Runx2/Osx interaction.

The ionic conductivity and small size of the hydrogen ion make it an ideal charge carrier for hydrogen-ion energy storage (HES); however, high-voltage two-electrode configurations are difficult to construct as the result of the lack of efficient cathodic energy storage. Herein, the high potential fast anionic redox at the cathode of reduced graphene oxide (rGO) was applied by introducing redox additive electrolytes. By coupling the storing hydrogen ion in the Ti3 C2 Tx at the anode, a HES with a voltage of 1.8 V and a plateau voltage at 1.2 V was constructed. Compared with 2.2 Wh kg-1 for the low-voltage Ti3 C2 Tx //Ti3 C2 Tx , the specific energy of asymmetric rGO//Ti3 C2 Tx reaches 34.4 Wh kg-1 . Furthermore, it possesses an energy density of 23.7 Wh kg-1 at high power density of 22.5 kW kg-1 . Thus, this study provides a novel guideline for constructing high-voltage fast HES full cells.

1.Stomata control carbon and water vapor exchange between leaves and the atmosphere, thus it can influence water use efficiency and reflect plant adaptation to climate. However, the spatial patterns of leaf stomatal traits and relationships between stomatal trait and water use efficiency across natural communities remain unclear. 2.We measured stomatal density, stomatal size, and stomatal area fraction for 737 plant species from nine forests ranging from tropical to cold-temperate forests. 3.Stomatal density, stomatal size, and stomatal area fraction were all log-normally distributed, and different across species, plant functional groups (trees, shrubs, and herbs), and communities. At the regional scale, variation in stomatal traits was primarily related to species, followed by climate and soil types. 4.The community-weighted mean of stomatal size increased linearly with latitude, whereas those of stomatal density and stomatal area fraction showed humpbacked relationship. The community-weighted mean of stomatal area fraction was correlated with climatic aridity, consistent with the adaptation strategies of plant species to achieve high maximum rates of gas exchange in arid regions when water is available. Further, community-weighted mean of stomatal area fraction was positively correlated with water use efficiency in natural forest communities, indicating that plants have lower stomatal conductance in order to adapt greater aridity conditions. 5.These findings highlight the strong associations of stomatal traits with plant functional group and climate at a regional scale, representing the adaptation strategies of stomatal traits across natural forest communities to climate. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Summary Ecological stoichiometry connects different levels of biology, from the gene to the globe, by scaling up elemental ratios (e.g., carbon [C], nitrogen [N], and phosphorus [P]). Thus, ecological stoichiometry could be a powerful tool for revealing certain physiological processes of plants. However, C:N:P stoichiometry remains unclear at the community and ecosystem level, despite it being potentially important for primary productivity. In this study, we measured the C, N, and P content of different plant organs, litter, and soil in 9 natural forest ecosystems (cold-temperate to tropical forests along a 3700-km transect in China) to explore C:N:P stoichiometry and the main influencing factors. C:N:P stoichiometry was evaluated for different components in the forest ecosystems (plant community, soil, litter, and ecosystem) and, at the community level, for different organs (leaves, branches, trunks, and roots) from 803 plant species. The ratios of C:P and N:P decreased with increasing latitude, with spatial patterns being primarily regulated by climate. Interestingly, the homeostasis of N, P, and N:P was highest in leaves, followed by branches, roots, and trunk, supporting the hypothesis that more active organs have a higher capacity to maintain relatively stable element content and ratios. At the community level, the leaf N:P ratio indicated increasing P limitation in forests of lower latitude (i.e., more southerly) in China's forests. Our findings demonstrate the spatial patterns of C:N:P stoichiometry and the strategies of element distribution among different organs in a plant community, providing important data on C:N:P to improve the parameterization of future ecological models. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Leaf anatomical traits may reflect plants adaption to environmental changes and influence ecosystem functions, as they regulate light absorption and gas exchange to some extent. Here, we hypothesized that leaf anatomical traits were closely related to gross primary productivity (GPP) because photosynthesis commonly occurs in the chloroplasts of palisade and spongy tissues in leaf. Eight leaf anatomical traits were measured in 916 plant species inhabiting from tropical to cold-temperate forests in eastern China: adaxial epidermis thickness (AD), abaxial epidermis thickness (AB), leaf thickness (LT), palisade tissue thickness (PT), and spongy tissue thickness (ST), palisade–spongy tissue ratio (PT/ST), palisade tissue–leaf thickness ratio (PT/LT), and spongy tissue–leaf thickness ratio (ST/LT). Leaf anatomical traits showed significant latitudinal patterns at species, plant functional group (PFG), and community levels (p

Two-dimensional (2D) WS2 nanosheets (NSs) as a promising thermoelectric (TE) material have gained great concern recently. The low electrical conductivity significantly limits its further development. Herein, we reported an effective method to enhance the TE performance of WS2 NSs by combining poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(4-styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS). The restacked WS2 NSs thin film with 1T phase structure obtained by a common chemical lithium intercalation show a high Seebeck coefficient of 98 μV K−1 and a poor electrical conductivity of 12.5 S cm−1. The introduction of PEDOT:PSS with different contents obviously improve the electrical conductivity of WS2 NSs thin films. Although a declining Seebeck coefficient was observed, an optimized TE power factor of 45.2 μW m−1 k−1 was achieved for WS2/PEDOT:PSS composite thin film. Moreover, the as-prepared WS2/PEDOT:PSS thin film can be easily peeled off and transferred to other substrate leading to a more promising application. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2017, 55, 997–1004

Newborn assessments, including gestational age (GA) and anthropometric measurements (birth weight, crown-heel length, head circumference) are routinely performed in pediatric settings, being used as important indicators in assessing neonatal development. Close associations of these birth indicators with later cognitive abilities were also reported. However, specific associations of these indicators with white matter (WM) development during the neonatal period remain unclear, as well as the extent to which they influence WM maturation. To address this issue, 51 full-term neonates (GA range, 37-42 weeks) with no abnormalities on MRI were retrospectively recruited. Specific correlations between birth indicators and WM maturation, quantified by diffusion tensor imaging (DTI)-metrics (fractional anisotropy, mean diffusivity, axial diffusivity, radial diffusivity), were identified by using DTI tract-based spatial statistics and automated fiber-tract quantification. Our findings suggest that (a) higher GA, birth weight, and crown-heel length may indicate greater WM maturation in full-term neonates, while head circumference presented weak correlation with WM maturation during early newborn period; (b) among the four indicators examined, GA was the one most associated with WM maturation. We believe that this study advances our knowledge of specific correlations between birth indicators and neonatal brain development and provides a valuable reference for future neonatal studies.

As conventional organic solvents present inherent toxicity, deep eutectic solvents (DES) have been considered as excellent candidates due to their green characteristics. In this work, thermoelectric properties enhancement of PEDOT:PSS films is achieved by introducing DES as an additive and post-treatment reagent. Direct addition and post-treatment approaches lead to a maximum Seebeck coefficient of 29.1 μV K−1 and electrical conductivity of 620.6 S cm−1, respectively. In addition, an optimal power factor is obtained by DES post-treatment, reaching up to 24.08 μW m−1 K−2, which is approximately four orders of magnitude higher than the pure PEDOT:PSS. Assuming a thermal conductivity of 0.17 W m−1 K−1, the maximum ZT value is estimated to be 0.042 at 300 K. Further, atomic force microscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy are performed and suggest that the remarkably enhanced electrical conductivity originates from the removal of the excess insulating PSS and the phase separation between the PEDOT and PSS chains. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2015, 53, 885–892

We developed a solid-phase microextraction coupled to GC with electron-capture detection method for the detection of acrylamide in food samples. Single-walled carbon nanotubes and polypyrrole were electropolymerized onto a stainless-steel wire as a coating, which possessed a homogeneous, porous, and wrinkled surface, chemical and mechanical stability, long lifespan (over 300 extractions), and good extraction efficiency for acrylamide. The linearity range between the signal intensity and the acrylamide concentration was found to be in the range 0.001–1 μg/mL, and the coefficient of determination was 0.9985. The LOD, defined as three times the baseline noise, was 0.26 ng/mL. The reproducibility for each single fiber (n = 6) and the fiber-to-fiber (n = 5) repeatability prepared in the same batch were less than 4.1 and 11.2%, respectively.

Cancer differentiation therapy is an attractive concept and has been clinically used to treat leukemia. However, it is limited to date for solid tumors. In this study, the pH-sensitive nanoparticles based on poly(amidoamine) (PAMAM) dendrimers are synthesized by coupling 3,4,5,6-tetrahydrophthalic anhydride with the first generation PAMAM. The modified dendrimers can self-assemble in aqueous solution to form nanoparticles with a diameter of 125-435 nm. The nanoparticles are relatively stable at physiological pH (pH 7.4) but dissociated in acidic environments (pH 5.0 or 6.0). The present studies show that the proliferation inhibition and albumin secretion of hepatoma carcinoma cells are enhanced with all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) encapsulated in the nanoparticles. The enhancement of induced differentiation is due to the high internalization of ATRA in the cells by the nanoparticles. These experimental results demonstrate that pH-sensitive nanoparticles may be efficient for improving the differentiation therapy for solid tumor.

Objective The recently developed noninvasive prenatal test (NIPT) presents a new era of prenatal screening. Previously reported studies were primarily conducted on high-risk and advanced maternal age (AMA) pregnancies. We sought to evaluate the performance of NIPT for detection of fetal aneuploidies in a Chinese cohort of women younger than 35 years old in a prospective clinical setting. Methods Maternal plasma samples were sequenced to identify the aneuploidies. The results were compared against the serum screening results and validated by karyotyping through invasive procedures and birth follow-up. Results A total of 1916 prospectively collected maternal plasma samples were sequenced, among which 73 samples (3.8%) failed the sequencing quality control. Birth follow-up missed 111 samples (5.8%). The remaining 1741 samples were analyzed. Sequencing reported 15 aneuploidy samples, including all the T21, T18, and T13 cases. Sequencing performed moderately in identifying sex chromosome aneuploidies, detecting two out of four samples, with a specificity of 99.88% (95% CI 99.53% to 99.98%). Conclusions Noninvasive prenatal detection of common fetal aneuploidies is a more sensitive and specific method than triple maternal serum screening. It has a remarkable low false positive rate and is applicable to women younger than 35 years old. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Four new tetralone derivatives, clindanones A and B (1 and 2) and cladosporols F and G (3 and 4), together with three known biogenetically related polyketides (5–7), were isolated from the deep-sea derived fungus Cladosporium cladosporioides HDN14-342. The structures of 1–4, including absolute configurations, were deduced based on MS, NMR and TD-DFT calculations of specific ECD spectra. The absolute configurations of the known cladosporols C (5) and E (6) were also revised. Compounds 1 and 2 possessed new dimeric forms of the skeleton composed by coupling of indanone and 1-tetralone units, and 4 showed the best cytotoxic activity against HeLa cells with an IC50 value of 3.9 μM.

Immobilization of ascorbate oxidase (AO) in poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT)/multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) composite films was achieved by one-step electrochemical polymerization. The PEDOT/MWCNTs/AO modified electrode was fabricated by the entrapment of enzyme in conducting matrices during electrochemical polymerization. The PEDOT/MWCNTs modified electrodes were investigated by cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The experimental results showed that the composite films exhibited better mechanical integrity, electrochemical activity, higher electronic and ionic conductivity, and larger redox capacitance compared with pure PEDOT films, which would be beneficial to the fabrication of PEDOT/MWCNTs/AO electrochemical biosensors. The scanning electron microscopy studies revealed that MWCNTs served as backbone for 3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene (EDOT) electropolymerization. Furthermore, the resulting enzyme electrode could be used to determine L-ascorbic acid successfully, which demonstrated the good bioelectrochemical catalytic activity of the immobilized AO. The results indicated that the PEDOT/MWCNTs composite are a good candidate material for the immobilization of AO in the fabrication of enzyme-based biosensor. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2011

With the rapid development of mobile electronics and electric vehicles, future electrochemical capacitors (ECs) need to store as much energy as possible in a rather limited space. As the core component of ECs, dense electrodes that have a high volumetric energy density and superior rate capability are the key to achieving improved energy storage. Here, the significance of and recent progress in the high volumetric performance of dense electrodes are presented. Furthermore, dense yet porous electrodes, as the critical precondition for realizing superior electrochemical capacitive energy, have become a scientific challenge and an attractive research focus. From a pore-engineering perspective, insight into the guidelines of engineering the pore size, connectivity, and wettability is provided to design dense electrodes with different porous architectures toward high-performance capacitive energy storage. The current challenges and future opportunities toward dense electrodes are discussed and include the construction of an orderly porous structure with an appropriate gradient, the coupling of pore sizes with the solvated cations and anions, and the design of coupled pores with diverse electrolyte ions.

Electrochemical copolymerization of o-dihydroxybenzene (oDHB) and 3-methylthiophene (3MeT) was successfully achieved in boron trifluoride diethyl etherate by direct anodic oxidation of the monomer mixtures, although the oxidation potentials of oDHB and 3MeT were quite different. The influence of the applied polymerization potential on the synthesis of the copolymers was investigated. The higher applied potential favored the incorporation of 3MeT units into the copolymers. The structure and properties of the copolymers were investigated with UV-vis spectroscopy, fluorescence spectroscopy, FTIR spectroscopy, and thermal analysis. The novel copolymers had many advantages, including good redox activity, good thermal stability, and high electrical conductivity. Additionally, the copolymers fluorescence properties that were tunable through changes in the feed ratio of the monomer mixtures. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2010

High-performance, breathable, conductive, and flexible polypyrrole (PPy) coated paper electrodes are prepared by an interfacial polymerization method using air-laid paper as a substrate. Owing to the synergistic effect of superior electrical conductivity, high wettability, and the porous architecture, the prepared electrode not only shows an outstanding specific capacitance and rate abilities (3100 and 2579 mF cm−2 at 1 and 20 mA cm−2 for a PPy coated paper electrode), but also exhibits excellent flexibility, wearability, and breathability. Based on these superior features, an all-solid-state supercapacitor assembled with the PPy coated paper electrodes shows an outstanding energy density of 62.4 µW h cm−2, remarkable air permeability and excellent flexibility to sustain various deformations. Furthermore, large-scale fabrication of conductive flexible paper electrode can be easily achieved through this method. Therefore, this work offers a new vision for flexible energy storage.

The intrinsic catalytic activity at 10 mA cm-2 for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is currently working out at overpotentials higher than 320 mV. A highly efficient electrocatalyst should possess both active sites and high conductivity; however, the loading of powder catalysts on electrodes may often suffer from the large resistance between catalysts and current collectors. This work reports a class of bulk amorphous NiFeP materials with metallic bonds from the viewpoint of electrode design. The materials reported here perfectly combine high macroscopic conductivity with surface active sites, and can be directly used as the electrodes with active sites toward high OER activity in both alkaline and acidic electrolytes. Specifically, a low overpotential of 219 mV is achieved at the geometric current density 10 mA cm-2 in an alkaline electrolyte, with the Tafel slope of 32 mV dec-1 and intrinsic overpotential of 280 mV. Meanwhile, an overpotential of 540 mV at 10 mA cm-2 is attained in an acidic electrolyte and stable for over 30 h, which is the best OER performance in both alkaline and acidic media. This work provides a different angle for the design of high-performance OER electrocatalysts and facilitates the device applications of electrocatalysts.

The rapid development of novel organic technologies has led to significant applications of the organic electronic devices such as light-emitting diodes, solar cells, and field-effect transistors. There is a great need for conducting polymers with high conductivity and transparency to act as the charge transport layer or electrical interconnect in organic devices. Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene): poly(styrenesulfonic acid) (PEDOT:PSS), well-known as the most remarkable conducting polymer, has this role owing to its good film-forming properties, high transparency, tunable conductivity, and excellent thermal stability. In this Review, various of interesting physical and chemical approaches that can effectively improve the electrical conductivity of PEDOT:PSS are summarized, focusing especially on the mechanism of the conductivity enhancement as well as applications of PEDOT:PSS films. Prospects for future research efforts are also provided. It is expected that PEDOT:PSS films with high conductivity and transparency could be the focus of future organic electronic materials breakthroughs.