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Objective To analyze the effect of benralizumab in severe eosinophilic asthma (SA) and chronic rhinosinusitis with polyps (CRSwP). Methods Retrospective review of patients with both SA and CRSwP that were treated with benralizumab. Asthma controlled test (ACT), pulmonary function metrics (FEV1), Meltzer endoscopic polyp scores, SNOT-22 scores, were collected before and after at least 4 months of benralizumab therapy. Results 23 patients were included. The mean age at the time of enrollment into benralizumab therapy was 50.47 ± 17.3 years and majority (65.2%, n = 15) were males. Pulmonary Effects: In comparison to baseline ACT, scores at four months showed significant improvement (p = 0.03). In those with pre and post spirometry measurements, mean FEV1 showed significant increase following benralizumab therapy (p = 0.04) with a mean increase of 547 mL ± 597 mL following therapy. Sinonasal Effects: 78.5% of subjects on benralizumab had a significant improvement in sinonasal symptoms (p = 0.009) based on their SNOT-22 scores. Additionally, there was an improvement in endoscopic polyp scores, although not statistically significant, following benralizumab therapy (p = 0.2) with 54.5% patients showing improvement. Conclusion Usage of benralizumab in patients with SA and CRSwNP can lead to significantly improved asthma control, lung function, and sinonasal quality of life. Additionally, in this patient population, there was a subset of patients that showed a significant reduction in polyp burden.

The present article is a systematic and constructive review of the traditional medicinal uses, chemistry, pharmacology, toxicology, and formulation aspects of Glycosmis species. The genus Glycosmis comprise 51 accepted species broadly distributed in Australia, China, India, and South-East Asia. Traditionally, Glycosmis species are used in folk medicines to treat cancer, anaemia, rheumatism, fever, cough, liver-related problems, skin ailments, intestinal worm infections, wounds, and facial inflammation. This review aims to provide readers with the latest information highlighting chemical constituents isolated from the Glycosmis species, plant parts utilized for their isolation and their pharmacological activities. So far, 307 chemical constituents have been isolated and characterized from different species of the genus Glycosmis; among these constituents, alkaloids, flavonoids, terpenoids, phenolics, and sulphur-containing amides are the major bioactive compounds. Modern pharmacological studies have shown that the crude extracts and compounds isolated from this genus exhibit a broad spectrum of biological activities like anticancer, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, antipyretic, antidiabetic, antioxidant, larvicidal, insecticidal, hepatoprotective, wound healing, antiviral, antidiarrheal, and anxiolytic. The carbazole and acridone alkaloids from this genus have shown potential anticancer activity in various in vitro and in vivo studies. Rare scaffolds like dimeric carbazoles, dimeric acridone alkaloids, flavanocoumarins and sulphur-containing amides from this genus need further exploration for their potential bioactivity. This article also briefs about the toxicological screening and discusses various polyherbal and nano formulation aspects of Glycosmis species. Most of the pharmacological studies reported from this genus were carried out in vitro. An in-depth in vivo and toxicology evaluation of the crude extracts and isolated specialized compounds is required to explore the full therapeutic potential of this genus.

Natural gas is racing neck and neck with coal to be the top fuel for generating electricity in the U.S. thanks to increased use of techniques, such as hydraulic fracturing, that extract the gas from unconventional sources. Since burning natural gas emits half as much carbon dioxide as does burning coal, the natural gas boom has helped lower per capita carbon emissions in the U.S. over the past decade. However, a major downside of natural gas is that it leaks. Millions of tons every year—roughly 9 million tons in the U.S. alone—spill into the atmosphere during extraction, storage, and transport. Because natural gas comprises 95% methane, a greenhouse gas that traps 86 times as much heat as does carbon dioxide over a 20-year period, leaking just 2–3% of the gas that’s produced worldwide can wipe out its environmental benefits over coal. “The short-term climate punch of waste methane is equivalent

Renewables are poised to expand by 50 percent in the next five years, according to the International Energy Agency. Much of that wind and solar power will need to be stored. But a growing electric-vehicle market might not leave enough lithium and cobalt for lithium-ion grid batteries.

Lithium-ion batteries boast a powerful blend of energy capacity and long cycle life. But they have a dangerous tendency to burst into flames, leading to injuries, product recalls, and flight bans. Researchers have touted solid-state lithium batteries as a safer alternative. These devices swap out flammable liquid electrolytes for an inert solid such as plastic or ceramic. But researchers have pursued solid-state battery technology for decades without coming up with any products.

A new technique to capture carbon dioxide from the air could be less expensive and use less energy than today’s technologies ( Cell Rep. Phys. Sci. 2021, DOI: 10.1016/j.xcrp.2021.100385 ). Direct a...

Heat, whether from the sun or from engines and furnaces, is often wasted. Thermophotovoltaic devices, which convert heat into electricity, promise a superefficient way to scavenge it. And they coul...

Lithium-ion battery cathodes have always relied on cobalt, but the expensive metal’s supply chain is fraught with issues. A new cobalt-free cathode could provide reprieve ( 2020, DOI: ). In lab tes...

For decades, scientists have tried to make surgical glues modeled after the strong adhesive proteins that mussels use to cling to underwater surfaces. But making a practical, biocompatible glue tha...

Synthetic nitrogen fertilizers such as urea help grow the crops that feed about half the world’s population. But making urea is a multistep endeavor that consumes copious amounts of energy and emit...

Using doped polymers, researchers have made magnetic nanoparticles in a rainbow of colors, including white (ACS Appl. Polym. Mater. 2020, DOI: 10.1021/acsapm.0c00038). Brightly colored magnetic par...

The lightest element has carried a heavy burden for half a century. Expectations for the hydrogen economy, first proposed in the 1970s, have been high. But hydrogen as a renewable, low-carbon fuel for vehicles, heating, and energy storage has remained evasive, held back by high costs, low efficiency, and a lack of infrastructure and storage technologies.

Perovskites have received a lot of attention as semiconductor materials for solar cells because they’re inexpensive and easy to make. But attempts to make transistors using perovskites have resulted in devices that quickly stop working. Now, by swapping out the insulating material, researchers have made perovskite transistors that work much longer than past devices (ACS Mater. Lett. 2019, DOI: 10.1021/acsmaterialslett.9b00357). Transistors are electronic switches that flip between the 1 and 0 of digital logic. In these devices, a voltage applied at a gate electrode turns the flow of current on and off through a channel made of a semiconductor such as silicon. An insulating layer—traditionally silicon dioxide—protects the channel from the gate voltage. A team led by Aditya D. Mohite of Rice University instead made transistors with a more effective insulating material, hafnium dioxide, and used the perovskite methylammonium lead iodide as the channel semiconductor. Changing the insulator overcame a

To prevent the worst effects of global warming, the world needs to drastically cut carbon dioxide emissions by capturing them at their source and even removing the gas from the atmosphere—where levels have surpassed 400 ppm—according to the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Researchers hope a new carbon-capture technique that is energy efficient and low cost will help (Energy Environ. Sci. 2019, DOI: 10.1039/C9EE02412C). The compact, battery-like system could remove carbon emissions from car tailpipes. What’s more, it works at low CO2 concentrations close to those in the atmosphere and with further refinement should be able to directly capture the gas from air. Large-scale carbon capture currently relies on sorbent materials, most commonly water-based amine solutions, that soak up CO2. But separating the captured carbon dioxide and regenerating the amines requires a large amount of heat. The technique requires bulky equipment that is difficult to integrate into existing

Nacre, the iridescent material that mollusks make to line their shells and coat their pearls, is exceptionally tough. Researchers have now made a composite of graphene and an epoxy resin inspired by nacre that is lightweight and crack resistant (Matter 2019, DOI: 10.1016/j.matt.2019.08.013). What’s more, the new composite is conductive and might be used for self-monitoring automobile, aircraft, and wind turbine parts. The tiniest crack would disrupt the material’s conductivity, a property researchers could use to build self-monitoring structural materials that sound a warning before the fractures get bigger and cause catastrophic failure. Nacre’s mechanical properties arise from its structure, composed of platelets of brittle calcium carbonate held together by organic biopolymers. The layered structure thwarts cracks. Researchers have copied this structure using platelet-mimicking graphene or other particles embedded in epoxy. But graphene sheets tend to clump together, and the composite’s mechanical prop...

Researchers have made the first carbon nanotube computer capable of running simple programs (Nature 2019, DOI: 10.1038/s41586-019-1493-8). The microprocessor integrates more than 14,000 carbon nano...

Inspired by a scuba-diving spider, researchers have made water-repelling copper electrode surfaces that boost carbon dioxide reduction by trapping the gas in bubbles (Nat. Mater. 2019, DOI: 10.1038/s41563-019-0445-x). Compared to conventional electrodes, this design converts five times as much CO2 into the valuable chemicals ethylene and ethanol. Electrochemical processes that use wind or solar power to convert CO2 into hydrocarbons could be a win-win for the environment. The process would provide a use for CO2 captured from the air or other sources, provide a way to store intermittent renewable electricity, and offer an alternative source of chemicals that are otherwise made from petroleum. Copper has proved the best CO2-reducing electrocatalyst so far. Researchers typically immerse copper-coated porous electrodes in an aqueous solution containing CO2. When electricity is applied, copper triggers the reduction of CO2 into a mix of carbon monoxide and other products such as methane, ethylene, and ethanol. But

Capturing energy from salinity gradients—where fresh and salty water mix—requires expensive porous membranes that can control the flow of ions. Researchers now report that membranes made of 2-D metal carbide or metal nitride materials, known as MXenes, could work as well as conventional polymer membranes. MXene membranes should be easier and less expensive to make at large scales (ACS Nano 2019, DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.9b02579). Peng Wang and Husam N. Alshareef of King Abdullah University of Science and Technology and their colleagues made a reverse electrodialysis (RED) membrane out of stacked, ultrathin sheets of negatively charged titanium carbide. Cations can pass through the membrane’s maze-like channels, enabling it to separate positive and negative ions to create an electric potential. The researchers tested the membrane by putting a 1 mM potassium chloride solution on one side and a 1 M solution on the other. The power output densities of 21 W/m2 at room

To mass-produce technologies that exploit graphene’s exciting electronic and optical properties, manufacturers will need to make large, high-quality films quickly. It turns out that fluorine can help. The gas accelerates graphene growth to more than 1,000 times as fast as without it, researchers report (Nat. Chem. 2019, DOI: 10.1038/s41557-019-0290-1). “The recorded growth rate of 1.2 mm/min could, in principle, allow us to grow a very large graphene wafer in less than 10 min,” says Feng Ding of the Institute for Basic Science in Ulsan, South Korea. Fluorine can also significantly speed the growth of two other promising 2-D electronic materials, tungsten disulfide and hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN). Researchers usually make graphene with chemical vapor deposition (CVD), which involves injecting methane vapors into a heated vacuum chamber, where the gas decomposes and deposits as graphene on copper foil. Recently, researchers have found that adding oxygen or hydrogen into the reactor helps

Hydrogels are invaluable for making medical devices, tissue-engineering scaffolds, and sensors. Being mostly water, though, they freeze and become useless at subzero temperatures. A new hydrogel averts this pitfall at subzero temperatures while also boasting high strength, moldability, adhesiveness, and self-healing powers (ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 2019, DOI: 10.1021/acsami.9b05652). The material stays stretchy down to –80 °C and is stronger than most other synthetic and natural polymer-based gels, says Junjie Li, a chemical engineer at Tianjin University. Li, Fanglian Yao of Tianjin University, and colleagues soaked a gelatin hydrogel precursor for 3 h in a water-glycerol solution containing sodium citrate. Glycerol prevents the freezing of water below 0 °C, Yao says. The gel’s strength comes from hydrogen bonds between the gelatin chains and glycerol and from ionic interactions between gelatin and the citrate ions. The gelatin chains also easily intertwine and untwine, making the gel moldable and hea...

As silicon transistors get harder to shrink, researchers are turning to 2-D semiconductors to try to continue producing tiny, powerful electronics. But attaching metal electrodes to atoms-thick 2-D...

A fast and easy method to produce conductive graphene yarn in bulk could open the door to mass production of wearable textile electronics (ACS Nano 2019, DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.9b00319). Nazmul Karim and Kostya S. Novoselov of the University of Manchester and colleagues made the flexible, washable yarn using an industrial dyeing process capable of producing 1,000 kg of the yarn in about half an hour, they say. The key is a new graphene-based dye. To make it, the researchers first dispersed graphene oxide flakes in water, then used ascorbic acid and sodium hydrosulfite to partially reduce the flakes to graphene. Next, they added polymers to the solution to prevent the flakes from clumping. They dyed a hank of cotton yarn with this solution using a lab-scale replica of a commercial yarn-dyeing machine. The partially reduced graphene oxide flakes retain some oxygen-containing functional groups that bond with the cellulose in the cotton

Researchers have made a strong, lightweight, foldable cloak that can render objects invisible to infrared, or thermal, cameras across a range of temperatures. Unlike previous cloaks, it doesn’t nee...

Doorknobs, faucet handles, bed rails, and other high-touch surfaces are the secret networks germs use to spread infections in hospitals. A new coating for stainless steel could stop them in their t...