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Hedysari Radix is a commonly used traditional Chinese medicine that improves immunity; formononetin, ononin, calycosin, medicarpin, and vanillic acid play an important role in achieving this effect. Herein, a precise and sensitive ultra‐high‐performance‐tandem mass spectrometry method was developed and validated for the determination of five bioactive components that were extracted from plasma using a protein precipitation method. A Waters CORTES C18 (4.6 × 50 mm, 2.7 µm) and a mobile phase composed of methanol and water (containing 0.2% formic acid) were used for the separation. The method was linear within the concentration range of 19.53–625.00 ng/mL for formononetin; 0.01–3.13 ng/mL for ononin; 0.01–3.13 ng/mL for calycosin; 0.16–5.00 ng/mL for medicarpin; and 19.53–625.00 ng/mL for vanillic acid. This method has a lower limit of quantification, is simple, and has a short analysis time and a high degree of separation. The intra‐day precisions and inter‐day precisions of quality control samples were traced to be below 8.58% and 12.64%, respectively. Fidelity intervened from −8.61% to 10%. Finally, the developed method was used to determine the concentrations of the five bioactive components in rat plasma after the administration of rubbing‐ and non‐rubbing processed Hedysari Radix. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lipid droplet, an intracellular lipid reservoir, is vital for energy metabolism and signal transmission in cells. The viscosity directly affects the metabolism of lipid droplets, and the abnormal viscosity is associated with the occurrence and development of various diseases. Therefore, it is indispensable to develop techniques that can detect viscosity changes in intracellular lipid droplets. Based on twisted intramolecular charge transfer (TICT) mechanism, a novel small‐molecule lipid droplet‐targeted viscosity fluorescence probe PPF‐1 was designed. The probe was easy to synthesize, it had a large Stokes shift, stable optical properties, and low bio‐toxicity. Compared to being in methanol solution, the fluorescence intensity of PPF‐1 in glycerol solution was increased 26.7‐fold, and PPF‐1 showed excellent ability to target lipid droplets. Thus, the probe PPF‐1 could provide an effective means of detecting viscosity changes of lipid droplets and was of great value for physiological diagnosis of related diseases, pathological analysis, and medical research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Perovskite oxides are able to realize pseudocapacitive energy storage through oxygen anion intercalation. Herein, it is demonstrated that, based on the three 2H‐perovskite related oxides Sr6Co5O15‐x, Sr5Co4O12‐x, and Sr5Co3NiO12‐x as the research objects, metal oxyhydroxides generated through surface reconfiguration during electrochemical processes can contribute extra capacity besides the oxygen‐anion intercalation. This is because the electron spin state controlled by the transition metal valence state in the pseudo trigonal prisms for the 2H‐perovskite structure will affect the Jahn–Teller (JT) distortion. The strong JT distortion of Co2+ and Ni3+ would elongate metal‐O bonds, thereby helping the formation of metal oxyhydroxides on the surface of the pristine material. Among the three 2H‐perovskite related oxides, the specific capacity of Sr5Co3NiO12‐x having the most Co2+ and Ni3+ contents showed the highest capacity increase. This study will provide a promising pathway to develop advanced perovskite‐like oxide pseudocapacitive materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The catalyst innovation that aims at noble‐metal‐free substitutes is one key aspect for future sustainable hydrogen energy deployment. In this paper, a nickel cobalt sulfoselenide/black phosphorus heterostructure (NiCoSe|S/BP) was fabricated to realize the highly active and durable water electrolysis through interface and valence dual‐engineering. The NiCoSe|S/BP nanostructure was constructed by in‐situ growing NiCo hydroxide nanosheet arrays on few‐layer BP and subsequently one‐step sulfoselenization by SeS2. Besides the conductive merit of BP substrate, holes in p‐type BP are capable of oxidizing the Co2+ to high‐valence and electron‐accepting Co3+, benefiting the oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Meanwhile, Ni3+/Ni2+ ratio in the heterostructure is reduced to maintain the electrical neutrality, which corresponds to the increased electron‐donating character for boosting hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). As for HER and OER, the heterostructured NiCoSe|S/BP electrocatalyst exhibits small overpotentials of 172 and 285 mV at 10 mA cm−2 (η10) in alkaline media, respectively. And overall water splitting has been achieved at a low cell potential of 1.67 V at η10 with high stability. Molecular sensing and density functional theory (DFT) calculations are further proposed for understanding the rate‐determine steps and enhanced catalytic mechanism. The investigation presents a deep‐seated perception for the electrocatalytic performance enhancement of BP‐based heterostructure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Perovskite materials can store charge through rapid oxygen anions intercalation. Although numerous perovskite materials owing to rich selections of A and B‐site elements are reported as electrodes of supercapatteries, the effect of the crystal structure of perovskite materials on their electrochemical performance has never been studied so far. Herein, using SrCo0.9Mo0.1O3−δ, SrFeO3−δ, Ba0.5Sr0.5Co0.8Fe0.2O3−δ, and LaMnO3−δ as research targets, it is proved that their corresponding cubic structure materials display the best electrochemical performance. And then, the origin of such superiority of cubic structure for SrCo0.9Mo0.1O3−δ is explored through experimental investigations and theoretical calculations. The results show that the increase in the content of oxygen vacancies and the enhancement of B‐O hybridization of cubic structure can optimize the electronic structure of the perovskite materials, thereby improving its conductivity and accelerating the reaction kinetics. The filtering strategy based on crystal structure proposed by this report will provide a new perspective to faster and more efficient choice of perovskite materials for supercapatteries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The newly proposed Global Leadership Initiative on Malnutrition (GLIM) framework is promising to gain global acceptance for diagnosing malnutrition. However, the role of machine learning in facilitating its application in clinical practice remains largely unknown. Methods: We performed a multicenter, observational cohort study including 3998 patients with cancer. Baseline malnutrition was defined using the GLIM criteria, and the study population was randomly divided into a derivation group (n = 2998) and a validation group (n = 1000). A classification and regression trees (CART) algorithm was used to develop a decision tree for classifying the severity of malnutrition in the derivation group. Model performance was evaluated in the validation group. Results: GLIM criteria diagnosed 588 patients (14.7%) with moderate malnutrition and 532 patients (13.3%) with severe malnutrition among the study population. The CART cross‐validation identified 5 key predictors for the decision tree construction, including age, weight loss within 6 months, body mass index, calf circumference, and the Nutritional Risk Screening 2002 score. The decision tree showed high performance, with an area under the curve of 0.964 (κ = 0.898, P <.001, accuracy = 0.955) in the validation group. Subgroup analysis showed that the model had apparently good performance in different cancers. Among the 5 predictors constituting the tree, age contributed the least to the classification power. Conclusion: Using the machine learning, we visualized and validated a decision tool based on the GLIM criteria that can be conveniently used to accelerate the pretreatment identification of malnutrition in patients with cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Malnutrition is prevalent in lung cancer (LC) patients, yet there are no globally accepted criteria for diagnosing malnutrition. Recently, the Global Leadership Initiative on Malnutrition (GLIM) criteria were proposed. However, the role of these criteria in prospective LC cohorts remains unclear.Methods: We performed a multicenter, observational cohort study including 1219 LC patients. Different anthropometric measures were compared for assessment of reduced muscle mass (RMM) in the GLIM criteria. Least absolute shrinkage and selection operator and multivariate Cox regressions were performed to analyze the association between the GLIM criteria and survival. Independent prognostic predictors were incorporated to develop a nomogram for individualized survival prediction, and decision curve was applied to assess the clinical significance of the nomogram.Results: Patients in the stage II (severe) malnutrition group, diagnosed using combined calf circumference (CC) plus body weight-standardized handgrip strength (HGS/W) criteria, had the highest hazard ratio (HR, 2.07; 95%CI, 1.50-2.86) compared with other methods used to evaluate RMM. The GLIM criteria diagnosed malnutrition in 24% of cases (292 patients, using the CC and HGS/W criteria) and were effective for determining the nutrition status of LC patients. GLIM-diagnosed malnutrition was an independent risk factor for survival, and malnutrition severity was monotonically associated with death hazards (P = .002). The GLIM nomogram showed good performance in predicting the survival of LC patients, and the decision-curve analysis demonstrated that the nomogram was clinically useful.Conclusion: These findings support the effectiveness of GLIM in diagnosing malnutrition and predicting survival among LC patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bone tissue engineering is a promising approach for tackling clinical challenges. Osteoprogenitor cells, osteogenic factors, and osteoinductive/osteoconductive scaffolds are employed in bone tissue engineering. However, scaffold materials remain limited due to their source, low biocompatibility, and so on. In this study, a composite hydrogel scaffold composed of hydroxyapatite (HA) and sodium alginate (SA) was manufactured using three‐dimensional printing. Naringin (NG) and calcitonin‐gene‐related peptide (CGRP) were used as osteogenic factors in the fabrication of drug‐loaded scaffolds. Investigation using animal experiments, as well as scanning electron microscopy, cell counting kit‐8 testing, alkaline phosphatase staining, and alizarin red‐D staining of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell culture showed that the three scaffolds displayed similar physicochemical properties and that the HA/SA/NG and HA/SA/CGRP scaffolds displayed better osteogenesis than that of the HA/SA scaffold. Thus, the HA/SA scaffold could be a biocompatible material with potential applications in bone regeneration. Meanwhile, NG and CGRP doping could result in better and more positive proliferation and differentiation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water‐in‐salt electrolytes (WISEs) have attracted widespread attention due to their non‐flammability, environmental friendliness, and wider electrochemical stability window than conventional dilute aqueous electrolytes. When applied in the electrochemical energy storage (EES) devices, WISEs can offer many advantages such as high‐level safety, manufacturing efficiency, as well as, superior electrochemical performances. Therefore, there is an urgent need for a timely and comprehensive summary of WISEs and their EES applications. In this review, the physicochemical and electrochemical properties of the WISEs are first introduced. Then, the research progresses of the WISEs using different metal salts and their analogues are summarized. Next, the current research progresses of WISEs applied in different EES devices (e.g., batteries and supercapacitors) as well as the insights into challenging and future perspectives are systematically discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The unstable link quality in wireless sensor networks (WSNs) directly affects the success rate of data transmission. The retransmission mechanism is one of the commonly used methods to solve this problem. However, too many retransmissions could lower the communication efficiency. Therefore, to reduce retransmissions while guaranteeing the communication reliability in WSNs, this study introduces the NarrowBand Internet of Things (NB‐IoT) technology, and builds a network including both sensor and NB‐IoT nodes. The NB‐IoT node is designed to support both the radio frequency and the NarrowBand communication modes; thus it can communicate with both sensor nodes and NB‐IoT base stations. Further, the communication reliability metrics considering both the link quality and the number of retransmissions in different communication modes are defined, based on which, an adaptive communication reliability algorithm is proposed to switch the communication modes of nodes. The simulation results verify that the proposed algorithm can achieve higher success rate with less end‐to‐end delay and flexibly control the cost on NB‐IoT communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We previously demonstrated that a deficiency of natural antibodies against CD25, Mucin 1 (MUC1), and vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 1 (VEGFR1) could contribute to high risk of non‐small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). This study was designed to investigate whether natural IgG antibodies against POU domain class 5 transcription factor 1 (POU5F1), tumor necrosis factor‐α (TNF‐α), and the combination of CD25, VEGFR1, and MUC1 could play an anti‐tumorigenic role against developing NSCLC. An ELISA was developed in‐house to examine plasma IgG against peptide antigens derived from POU5F1, TNF‐α, and a combination of peptide antigens derived from CD25, MUC1, and VEGFR1 in 211 patients with NSCLC and 200 healthy controls. Mann–Whitney U test demonstrated that plasma IgG levels for the combination of peptide antigens derived from CD25, MUC1, and VEGFR1 were significantly lower in NSCLC patients than control subjects (Z = −12.978, P < 0.001) although plasma levels of IgG antibodies for POU5F1 and TNFα were not significantly changed. The in‐house ELISA made with the CD25‐MUC1‐VEGFR1 combination had a sensitivity of 49.6% against a specificity of 95% to detect early‐stage NSCLC. In conclusion, natural antibodies against the combination of CD25, VEGFR1, and MUC1 may be an effective biomarker for early diagnosis of NSCLC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The exploration and scalable synthesis of the earth‐abundant and excellent electrocatalysts without noble metal are crucial to the future hydrogen production and application. Herein, an affordable electrocatalyst is built through an in‐situ growth of MoS2 nanosheets vertically on the electro‐exfoliated black phosphorus (EEBP) for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). The electro‐exfoliation achieves the high‐yield production of few‐layer BP lamellae from its bulk crystal, hosting the scalable synthesis of uniform MoS2/EEBP heterostructure. Moreover, the vertical growth manner can effectively aggrandize the exposed MoS2 edge sites and probably advance the catalytic activity to a certain extent. As for HER, such a MoS2/EEBP heterostructure exhibits promising catalytic performance with low overpotentials of 126 mV, 237 mV and 258 mV at 10 mA cm−2 (η10) as well as low Tafel slopes in both acid, alkaline and neutral media, respectively. The rationales behind the satisfactory catalytic properties are explained by density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Theoretically, it is revealed that the MoS2/EEBP heterostructure with a more neutral hydrogen adsorption energy can benefit the electrons migration and boost the water dissociation kinetics. This study presents an effective method to design and fabricate highly efficient heterostructure electrocatalysts through interface engineering towards hydrogen production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Long noncoding RNA paternally expressed gene 10 (lncRNA PEG10) has been certified to regulate cell proliferation, metastasis, and apoptosis in diversified cancer cells. Nevertheless, the functions of PEG10 in bladder cancer cells remain uninvestigated. We tried to probe the impacts of PEG10 on proliferation, migration, and invasion of bladder cancer cells. PEG10 expression in SV‐HUC‐1, T24, RT4, and 253J‐BV cells was estimated by quantitative reverse transcription‐polymerase chain reaction (RT‐qPCR). After pc‐PEG10 or sh‐PEG10 transfection, the impacts of PEG10 on T24 and 253J‐BV cell viability, migration, invasion, and the relevant proteins were disclosed via employing CCK‐8, Transwell, and western blot. The relevancy between miR‐29b and PEG10 was probed, and the influences of overexpressed miR‐29b in above‐mentioned cell biological processes were reassessed. Wnt/β‐catenin and JNK pathways were ultimately analyzed to unmake the underling mechanism. We found that overexpressed PEG10 facilitated cell viability and upregulated CyclinD1, CDK4, and CDK6 in T24 and 253J‐BV cells. Cell migration and invasion were also elevated by overexpressed PEG10 through the enhancement of MMP‐2, MMP‐9, and Vimentin. In addition, repressed miR‐29b was observed in PEG10‐overexpressed T24 and 253J‐BV cells. Moreover, overexpressed miR‐29b overtly overturned the carcinogenic impacts of PEG10 on T24 cells. The activations of Wnt/β‐catenin and JNK pathways were enhanced by overexpressed PEG10 via mediating miR‐29b. SP600125 (JNK inhibitor) disposition reversed the acceerative impacts of PEG10 on cell proliferation, migration, and invasion in T24 cells. In conclusion, the investigations testified that PEG10 gave play to the carcinogenic impacts on bladder cancer cells via mediating miR‐29b‐Wnt/β‐catenin‐JNK axis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel and efficient method for direct tosyloxylation at C5 position of 8‐aminoquinolines has been accomplished by nonmetal‐catalyzed C–H functionalization at mild conditions. It is shown, for the first time, that the radical RSO3· could be generated by the reaction of phenyliodine bistrifluoroacetate with substituted 1,2‐disulfonyl hydrazides. This reaction reveals excellent reactivity, good functional group tolerance, and moderate to good yield. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spinel structured Li4Ti5O12 (LTO) spheres modified with carbon (Carbon/LTO composites) using Chinese yam (CY) as carbon source have been obtained by a hydrothermal method combining with a calcining at 700 °C in N2 atmosphere. The influences of the additions of CY on the morphology, structure, carbon content and also the electrochemical properties of the resulted carbon/LTO composite spheres have been investigated in details. SEM and TEM investigations show that all the composites possess spherical morphology and consist of nanosized Li4Ti5O12 crystals modified with carbon. With the increase of CY additions, the size of Li4Ti5O12 primary crystals decrease gradually, and reach to a turn over point and then the crystal size turn to large ones when the CY content increased further. It has been demonstrated that carbon modification of Li4Ti5O12 with Chinese yam as carbon source could efficiently improve the electrochemical performance of Li4Ti5O12. One of the composite sample named as C/LTO‐10 shows an ultrahigh initial specific capacity of about 211.9 mAh ⋅ g−1 at a current density of 1 C. It shows excellent cycle performance and maintains a specific capacity of 184.5 mAh ⋅ g−1 even after 300 cycles. A specific capacity of 123.5 mAh ⋅ g−1 still could be delivered at a high current density of 30 C, exhibiting also superior rate capability. Composites of Li4Ti5O12 modified with N doped carbon have been prepared with Chinese yam as carbon precursor by using a hydrothermal method and followed by a calcination process at 700 °C. The composites show an ultrahigh initial specific capacity of about 211.9 mAh.g−1 at a current density of 1 C. Even after 300 cycles a specific capacity of 184.5 mAh ⋅ g−1 still could be maintained. A specific capacity of 123.5 mAh ⋅ g−1 were delivered at a high current density of 30 C, exhibiting also superior rate capability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been reported to play diverse roles in biologic and pathologic processes, including myogenesis. We found that lncRNA AK017368 is highly expressed in skeletal muscle cells. Functional analyses showed that overexpression of AK017368 promoted proliferation and restrained differentiation of myoblasts; whereas inhibition of AK017368 had completely opposite effects in vitro. In mice, knockdown of AK017368 promoted muscle hypertrophy in vivo. RNA molecules of AK017368 acted mechanistically as competing endogenous RNAs to target micro‐RNA (miR)‐30c, which was supported by the results of bioinformatics analyses and dual‐luciferase reporter assays. It has been shown that lncRNA AK017368 competes with trinucleotide repeat containing‐6A (Tnrc6a)for miR‐30c. Tnrc6a was previously reported to promote proliferation and inhibit differentiation of myoblast cells, whereas miR‐30c targets the 3'‐UTR of Tnrc6a mRNA to weaken its function. Taken together, lncRNA AK017368 promotes proliferation and inhibits differentiation of myoblast cells by attenuating function of miR‐30c.—Liang, T., Zhou, B., Shi, L., Wang, H., Chu, Q., Xu, F., Li, Y., Chen, R., Shen, C., Schinckel, A. P. lncRNA AK017368 promotes proliferation and suppresses differentiation of myoblasts in skeletal muscle devel‐opment by attenuating the function of miR‐30c. FASEB J. 32,377‐389 (2018). www.fasebj.org [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The electrocatalytic nitrate reduction reaction (NO3−RR) presents a promising pathway for achieving both ammonia (NH3) electrosynthesis and water pollutant removal simultaneously. Among various electrocatalysts explored, 2D materials have emerged as promising candidates due to their ability to regulate electronic states and active sites through doping. However, the impact of doping effects in 2D materials on the mechanism of NO3−RR remains relatively unexplored. Here, Ni‐doped MoS2 (Ni‐MoS2) nanosheets are investigated as a model system, demonstrating enhanced NO3−RR performance compared to undoped counterparts. By controlling the doping concentration, the Ni‐MoS2 nanosheets achieve a remarkable faradic efficiency (FE) of 92.3% for NH3 at −0.3 VRHE with excellent stability. The mechanistic studies reveal that the elevation of the NO3−RR performances originates from the generation of more active hydrogen and the acceleration of the reaction from nitrite (NO2−) to NH3 facilitated by Ni doping. Combining the experimental observations and theoretical calculations it is revealed that the appropriate Ni doping level in MoS2 can enhance *NO3 adsorption strength, thereby facilitating subsequent electrocatalytic steps. Together with the demonstration of Zn−NO3− and Zn−NO2− battery devices, the work provides new insights into the design and regulation of the active sites in 2D material catalysts for efficient NO3−RR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]