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Using a carbon-rich designer metal-organic framework (MOF), we open a high-yield synthetic strategy for iron-nitrogen-doped carbon (Fe-N-C) nanotube materials that emulate the electrocatalysis performance of commercial Pt/C. The Zr(IV)-based MOF solid boasts multiple key functions: (1) a dense array of alkyne units over the backbone and the side arms, which are primed for extensive graphitization; (2) the open, branched structure helps maintain porosity for absorbing nitrogen dopants; and (3) ferrocene units on the side arms as atomically dispersed precursor catalyst for targeting micropores and for effective iron encapsulation in the carbonized product. As a result, upon pyrolysis, over 89% of the carbon component in the MOF scaffold is successfully converted into carbonized products, thereby contrasting the easily volatilized carbon of most MOFs. Moreover, over 97% of the iron ends up being encased as acid-resistant Fe/Fe3C nanoparticles in carbon nanotubes/carbon matrices.

Wantai Dang,1,&ast; Xiaohui Xu,2,&ast; Danling Luo,2 Hui Luo,2 Jin Hu,2 Jingguo Zhou,1 Jian Liu,2 Lanlan You2 1Department of Rheumatism and Immunity, Clinical Medical College and The First Affiliated Hospital of Chengdu Medical College, Chengdu, Sichuan, 610500, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Ultrasound, Clinical Medical College and The First Affiliated Hospital of Chengdu Medical College, Chengdu, Sichuan, 610500, People’s Republic of China&ast;These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Lanlan You Email 17027279@qq.comObjective: To explore the effects of different blood uric acid levels in gout patients on the two-dimensional image of the kidney and the risk factors for gout-related kidney damage for providing clinical evidence to enable early prevention and treatment of gout-related kidney damage.Methods: We obtained information of 227 patients with primary gout and estimated the association between two-dimensional kidney images and clinical indicators using binary logistic regression.Results: Our study showed that different uric acid levels, age, disease course, cystatin C (CysC) level, and γ-glutamyl transpeptidase level were correlated with echo of the renal medulla (P < 0.05). CysC level was correlated with the renal cortex thickness and kidney stones in different uric acid-level groups (P < 0.05). Disease course, aspartate transaminase (AST) level, creatinine (CREA) level, and tophi were risk factors for renal cortex thinning in gout patients (P = 0.045, 0.026, 0.004, 0.006, respectively). The disease course, platelet (PLT) count, and high-density lipoprotein (HDL-C) level were risk factors for kidney stone formation in gout patients (P = 0.037, 0.022, 0.023, respectively), while CysC level and C-reactive protein (CRP) level were risk factors for increased renal medulla echo in these patients (P = 0.022, 0.028, respectively).Conclusion: Our study revealed disease course, AST level, CREA level, tophi, PLT count, HDL-C level, CysC level and CRP level may be important predictors of renal image changes.Keywords: gout, two-dimensional ultrasound, renal medulla, renal cortex, kidney stones

The dielectric permittivity of a material encapsulates the essential physics of light-matter interaction into the material’s local response to optical excitation. Photo-induced modulation of the permittivity can enable an unprecedented level of control over the phase, amplitude, and polarization of light. Therefore, the detailed dynamic characterization of technology-relevant materials with substantially tunable optical properties and fast response times is a crucial step to realize tunable optical devices. This work reports on the extraordinarily large permittivity changes in zinc oxide thin films (up to −3.6 relative change in the real part of the dielectric permittivity at 1600 nm wavelength) induced by optically generated free carriers. We demonstrate broadband reflectance modulation up to 70% in metal-backed oxide mirrors at the telecommunication wavelengths, with picosecond-scale relaxation times. The epsilon near zero points of the films can be dynamically shifted from 8.5 µm to 1.6 µm by controlling the pump fluence. The modulation can be selectively enhanced at specific wavelengths employing metal-backed zinc oxide disks while maintaining picosecond-scale switching times. This work provides insights into the free-carrier assisted permittivity modulation in zinc oxide and could enable the realization of novel dynamic devices for beam-steering, polarizers, and spatial light modulators.

Electrosynthesis of hydrogen peroxide via oxygen reduction reaction’s two-electron route is the potential alternative to the industrial anthraquinone process for being green and cost-effective. Whereas oxygen-doped graphitic carbons have been reported as efficient catalysts, two issues remained unsettled involving usually abundant carbon-basal-planes and a mixture of oxygen functional groups, which lower the efficiency due to massive inactive planes and functional groups. To achieve carbon-based catalysts with abundant edges and identical functional groups, a ‘bottom-up’ approach to design materials at the molecular level is presented here. Starting from the small molecules of pyrene, a microporous carbon framework is prepared with abundant micropores of 0.5 nm and a large surface area up to 1346 m2 g-1, which facilitates further combination of a high content of C–O–C with the rich carbon edges. The positive correlation between selectivity and oxygen content further confirms the C–O–C as active sites. The catalyst exhibits a comprehensive performance including a considerable selectivity of 87%, a low onsite-potential at 0.77 VRHE, and a high ring current density of 2.79 mA cm−2 at 0.42 VRHE. Such a ‘bottom-up’ structural and functional engineering strategy may extend to the synthesis of more catalysts/electrode materials and energy/environmental related applications.

Haliotis discus hannai is an important marine economic species in China. Its egg color was found to be associated with economic traits, which provides a new idea for breeding. However, the molecular mechanism of the egg-color formation has not been reported. Thus, the pigment composition and comparative transcriptome analyses of H. discus hannai with green and gray egg color were conducted using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and RNA-Seq methods. Results show that individuals with green and gray eggs both possess the fucoxanthin. Lutein existed in gray-egged individuals, but not in green-egged individuals. In transcriptome analysis, 272 310 unigenes were received from 461 162 transcripts with a mean length of 985 bp and N50 of 1 524 bp, respectively. A total of 185 unigenes were identified as differentially expressed genes (DEGs). The DEGs involved in “flavin-containing compound metabolic process”, “melanosome”, “glutathione metabolism”, and “cytochrome b6f complex” were likely related to the formation of the egg color. Our results provide foundational information for the functional analysis of egg-color related genes and are beneficial to the selective breeding of H. discus hannai.

Background and purpose Autophagy is the main protective mechanism against aging in podocytes, which are terminally differentiated cells that have a very limited capacity for mitosis and self-renewal. Here, a streptozotocin-induced DN C57BL/6 mouse model was used to investigate the effects of puerarin on the modulation of autophagy under conditions associated with endoplasmic reticulum stress (ERS). In addition, this study aimed to identify the potential underlying molecular mechanisms. Methods and results DN C57BL/6 mouse model was induced by streptozotocin (150 mg/kg) injection. The mice were administered rapamycin and puerarin, respectively, daily for up to 8 weeks. After the serum and kidney samples were collected, the fasting blood glucose (FBG), parameters of renal function, histomorphology, and the podocyte functional proteins were analyzed. Moreover, the autophagy markers and the expressions of PERK/ATF4 pathway were studied in kidney. Results found that the FBG level in DN mice was significantly higher than in normal mice. Compared with DN model mice, puerarin-treated mice showed an increased expression of podocyte functional proteins, including nephrin, podocin, and podocalyxin. Furthermore, the pathology and structure alterations were improved by treatment with rapamycin and puerarin compared with the DN control. The results indicated an elevated level of autophagy in rapamycin and puerarin groups compared with the DN model, as demonstrated by the upregulated expression of autophagy markers Beclin-1, LC3II, and Atg5, and downregulated p62 expression. In addition, the levels of PERK, eIF2α, and ATF4 were reduced in the DN model, which was partially, but significantly, prevented by rapamycin and puerarin. Conclusion This study emphasizes the renal-protective effects of puerarin in DN mice, particularly in the modulation of autophagy under ERS conditions, which may be associated with activation of the PERK/eIF2α/ATF4 signaling pathway. Therefore, PERK may be a potential target for DN treatment.

Background Studies have demonstrated that the roots of Averrhoa carambola L. (Oxalidaceae), a traditional Chinese medicine, can be used to treat diabetes and diabetes-related diseases. Nevertheless, the potential beneficial effects and mechanism of benzoquinone isolated from the roots of Averrhoa carambola L. (BACR) on diabetes remain unclear. Methods Diabetic Kunming mice were injected with STZ (120 mgkg-1) in the tail vein. Fasting blood glucose (FBG) and the change of body weight were measured after oral administration of BACR (120, 60, 30 mg/kg/d) every week. The levels of the total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), free fatty acids (FFA), glucosylated hemoglobin (GHb), fasting insulin (FINS), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) were measured. The histological examination of pancreatic tissues and the TLR4/NF-κB pathway was analyzed by RT-PCR, immunohistochemistry and Western blot. Results The study found that clearly the BACR obviously reduced the blood glucose, serum lipids, GHb and FINS. In addition, BACR treatment markedly reduced the release of inflammatory factors, including IL-6 and TNF-α, and down-regulated the expression of the TLR4/NF-κB pathway. Conclusion BACR has potential benefits for the treatment of diabetes by ameliorating metabolic functions and attenuating the inflammatory response via inhibition of the activation of theTLR4/NF-κB pathway.

Summary We report the collective alignment of molecular chromophores in the backbone of covalent organic frameworks (COFs) as a new chemical approach to construct efficient two-photon absorption (2PA) materials. Six imine COFs were synthesized from aldehyde-terminated triarylamine linkers and p-phenylenediamine. Attainment of these COFs in single-crystal form revealed the underlying layered structures and precise spatial arrangements of the constituent chromophores including an unusual serrated packing between the layers. Coherent orientation of chromophores within each layer made possible collective alignment of their transition dipoles, while the serrated packing between the layers maximized the crystal anisotropy. As a result, the full potential of molecular chromophores for 2PA was developed. Up to 110-fold enhancement of two-photon action cross-section (2PACS) was achieved for the COFs relative to their constituents, with one member exhibiting a high 2PACS value of 8,756 GM/chromophore-standing among the best molecule-based 2PA materials.

Given the efficiency, stability and sustainability, the carbon-based materials have become one of promising bifunctional electrocatalysts to the electrochemical water splitting, involving hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER). However, there are still many challenges about the design and mechanism study of the carbon-based electrocatalysts. In this paper, we reported B, N co-doping carbon nanosheets which were synthesized via cationic intercalation stripping guar gum carbon aerogels pre-crosslinked by borate, B(OH)4-. This facile strategy not only realizes the structure tailoring, but also concurrently improves the doping efficiency and the stability of the hetero atoms. Specifically, the cost-efficient carbon-based bifunctional catalyst (B5/GCS) shows an outstanding HER and OER performance displaying a remarkable activity both in acidic and alkaline media, low onset potentials for both HER (39.12 mV) and OER (1.38 V) in the same electrolyte (0.5 M H2SO4). Notably, when employed as the bifunctional electrocatalysts with a two-electrode electrolyzer for water splitting, the B5/GCS generated a cell voltage of 1.45 V to attain 10 mA cm−2 in 0.5 M H2SO4. Furthermore, a series of experiments combining density functional theory calculations revealed that the observed superb water splitting activity could be attributed to a synergistic effect of N, B co-doping and the formation of fragmented nanosheets with topological defects, which collaboratively promotes the proton adsorption and catalytic kinetics.

Glycogen content is a quantitative trait, its phenotype differences are found between individual oysters due to genetic effects and environmental factors which were including food, water temperature, salinity, and so on. In this study, a full sibling family of Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas showed different phenotypes with high and low glycogen content between South Huanghai Sea (Rizhao offshore area, RZ) and North Huanghai Sea (Kongtong Dao area, KTD), respectively. At the same time, the content of 11 glucogenic amino acids and 13 fatty acids were also significant differences between RZ and KTD. RNA-seq and small RNA-seq technologies were used for transcriptome sequencing and functional enrichment analysis of differentially expressed RNA were used by Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway. A total of 2,084 mRNAs, 1,080 long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), 34 circular RNAs (circRNAs), and 7 microRNAs (miRNAs) were differentially expressed. Based on these differentially expressed genes (DEGs), miRNA target interactions (lncRNA/circRNA–miRNA pairs and miRNA–mRNA pairs) were predicted using the miRanda software. The differentially expressed mRNAs in this network were mainly shown to be involved in calcium signaling pathway and insulin signaling pathway. These findings could help to speculate that environmental factors may be epigenetically regulated by non-coding RNA in C. gigas, thereby further affecting glycogen content.

Improvement of understanding of the safety profile and biological significance of antidiabetic agents in breast cancer (BC) progression may shed new light on minimizing the unexpected side effect of antidiabetic reagents in diabetic patients with BC. Our recent finding showed that Saxagliptin (Sax) and Sitagliptin (Sit), two common antidiabetic dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors (DPP-4i) compounds, promoted murine BC 4T1 metastasis via a ROS–NRF2–HO-1 axis in nonobese diabetic–severe combined immunodeficiency (NOD-SCID) mice. However, the potential role of DPP-4i in BC progression under immune-competent status remains largely unknown. Herein, we extended our investigation and revealed that Sax and Sit also accelerated murine BC 4T1 metastasis in orthotopic, syngeneic, and immune-competent BALB/c mice. Mechanically, we found that DPP-4i not only activated ROS–NRF2–HO-1 axis but also triggered reactive oxygen species (ROS)-dependent nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) activation and its downstream metastasis-associated gene levels in vitro and in vivo, while NF-кB inhibition significantly abrogated DPP-4i-driven BC metastasis in vitro. Meanwhile, inhibition of NRF2–HO-1 activation attenuated DPP-4i-driven NF-кB activation, while NRF2 activator ALA enhanced NF-кB activation, indicating an essential role of ROS–NRF2–HO-1 axis in DPP-4i-driven NF-кB activation. Furthermore, we also found that DPP-4i increased tumor-infiltrating CD45, MPO, F4/80, CD4, and Foxp3-positive cells and myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs), and decreased CD8-positive lymphocytes in metastatic sites, but did not significantly alter cell viability, apoptosis, differentiation, and suppressive activation of 4T1-induced splenic MDSCs. Moreover, we revealed that DPP-4i triggered ROS-NF-κB-dependent NLRP3 inflammasome activation in BC cells, leading to increase in inflammation cytokines such as interleukin (IL)-6, tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), intercellular cell adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM-1), vascular cell adhesion molecule 1 (VCAM-1), IL-1β and IL-33, and MDSCs inductors granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF), G-CSF, and M-CSF, which play a crucial role in the remodeling of tumor immune-suppressive microenvironment. Thus, our findings suggest that antidiabetic DPP-4i reprograms tumor microenvironment that facilitates murine BC metastasis by interaction with BC cells via a ROS–NRF2–HO-1–NF-κB–NLRP3 axis. This finding not only provides a mechanistic insight into the oncogenic ROS–NRF2–HO-1 in DPP-4i-driven BC progression but also offers novel insights relevant for the improvement of tumor microenvironment to alleviate DPP-4i-induced BC metastasis.

Cancer has been as one of common comorbidities of diabetes. Long-term antidiabetic treatment may potentially exert uncertain impacts on diabetic patients with cancer including breast cancer (BC). Dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors (DPP-4i) are currently recommended by the AACE as first-line hypoglycemic drugs in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Although the safety of DPP-4i has been widely evaluated, the potential side-effects of DPP-4i in cancer metastasis were also reported and remain controversial. Here, we revealed that Saxagliptin (Sax) and Sitagliptin (Sit), two common DPP-4i compounds, potentially promoted murine BC 4T1 metastasis in vitro and in vivo under immune-deficient status. Mechanically, we observed that DPP-4i treatment induced aberrant oxidative stress by triggering ROS overproduction, as well as ROS-dependent NRF2 and HO-1 activations in BC cells, while specific inhibition of ROS, NRF2 or HO-1 activations abrogated DPP-4i-driven BC metastasis and metastasis-associated gene expression in vitro. Furthermore, ALA, a NRF2 activator significantly promoted BC metastasis in vitro and in vivo, which can be abrogated by specific HO-1 inhibition in vitro. Moreover, specific HO-1 inhibition not only reversed DPP-4i-induced NRF2 activation but also abrogated ALA-induced NRF2 activation, resulting in a decrease of metastasis-associated genes, indicating a positive-feedback NRF2-HO-1 loop. Our findings suggest that DPP-4i accelerates murine BC metastasis through an oncogenic ROS-NRF2-HO-1 axis via a positive-feedback NRF2-HO-1 loop. Therefore, this study not only offers novel insights into an oncogenic role of DPP-4i in BC progression but also provides new strategies to alleviate the dark side of DPP-4i by targeting HO-1.

Autophagy serves a crucial role in the etiology of kidney diseases, including drug-induced renal impairment, inherited kidney disease, diabetic nephropathy and aristolochic acid nephropathy (AAN) and is, therefore, a potential target for treatment. We previously demonstrated that rapamycin could attenuate AAN in mice; however, the underlying mechanism remains to be elucidated. Therefore, whether the renal protective effect of rapamycin (an autophagy activator) is related to autophagy in aristolochic acid (AA)-treated mice was of particular interest. The pathophysiological roles of rapamycin were investigated in AA-induced nephrotoxicity in mice and the mechanisms of rapamycin action were explored by evaluating the modulation of autophagy in rapamycin-treated mice and cultured renal tubular epithelial cells. Supplementation with rapamycin reversed AA-induced kidney injury in mice and improved AA-induced autophagy damage in vivo and in vitro. Mechanistically, rapamycin inhibited the renal expression of phosphorylated (p-)mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) and p-ribosomal S6 protein kinase 1, which in turn activated renal autophagy and decreased apoptosis, probably by removing AA-elicited damaged mitochondria and misfolded proteins. The findings of the present study demonstrated that rapamycin protects against AA-induced nephropathy by activating the mTOR-autophagy axis and suggested that rapamycin may be a promising pharmacological target for the treatment of AAN.

Pancreatic β cell damage is one of the crucial factors responsible for the development of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Previous studies have suggested that puerarin (PR) could regulate the activities of the mitochondrial respiratory chain complex in diabetic nephropathy (DN); however, whether PR can inhibit pancreatic β-cell apoptosis in T2DM remains to be elucidated. In the present study, T2DM mice induced by high-fat diet and streptozotocin (STZ) injection were used as a working model to investigate the mechanism of PR on pancreatic β cell apoptosis. The results showed that PR decreased the serum fasting blood glucose (FBG), total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG) and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) levels but significantly increased the fasting blood insulin (FINS) and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) levels. Furthermore, decreased caspase-3, 8, 9 and apoptosis-inducing factor (AIF) proteins in the pancreas were detected by Western blot analysis. Terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick end labelling (TUNEL) staining demonstrated that the pancreatic β cell apoptosis was inhibited by PR. Furthermore, PR improved the histopathological changes in pancreatic tissue in T2DM mice. Collectively, the data show that PR can protect the β cells from apoptotic death in a mouse model of T2DM through regulating the expression of apoptosis-related protein-AIF and caspase family proteins.

A novel inorganic polymer flocculant, biopolymeric ferric sulfate (BPFS), was prepared by immobilization technology of microorganisms and by oxidation of ferrous sulfate using domestic Thiobacillus ferrooxidans (T. f) under acidic condition. T. f was isolated on the agarose single-plate medium, which exhibited an unusual trait on the utilization of low concentration of the nitrogen source and phosphorus as the nutrient substance. Under the optimal conditions, the microorganism could grow and reproduce normally and maintain the strong catalytic oxidation activity to Fe2+. The immobilization of T. f on the polyurethane as the support matrix was investigated. Cycling batch operation was applied to the preparation of 40 kg/m3, 60 kg/m3, and 80 kg/m3 BPFS when the optimal conditions are pH value of 1.8, circulation flow rate of 0.28–0.30 L/h, and reaction temperature of 28 ± 1°C. When the prepared BPFS and SPFS (solid biopolymeric ferric sulfate) were used to dispose Songhua River water, the removal rate of turbidity and CODMn of BPFS was slightly better than that of SPFS. The removal efficiencies of turbidity and CODMn by BPFS could reach 93.9% and 79.7%, respectively. The result suggests that the BPFS has good flocculating activity.

Here, we present an ionothermal strategy to synthesize a series of porous organic polymers (POPs) derived template-free hierarchical porous carbons. Our designed strategy could effectively address the issue of pore structure collapse during the carbonization process, making it possible to realize the porosity control of porous carbons. Accordingly, the obtained porous carbons with diverse pore characteristics, which are designed at the bottom-up molecular level, show remarkable improved electrochemical performance compared with the traditionally carbonized ones. The supercapacitor electrodes based on these carbons with optimized pore structures can reach a maximum specific capacitance of 189 F/g (with a gravimetric energy density of 76 Wh/kg) in pure ionic liquid while the porous carbon with wide pore size distribution exhibits high rate capability with a high energy density of 36 Wh/kg at a high power density of 40 kW/kg.

Background Dysregulated miR-7 and aberrant NF-κB activation were reported in various human cancers. However, the expression profile, clinical relevance and dysregulated mechanism of miR-7 and NF-κB RelA/p65 in human gastric cancers (GC) metastasis remain largely unknown. This study is to investigate the expression profile, clinical relevance and dysregulated mechanism of miR-7 and NF-κB RelA/p65 in GC and to explore the potential therapeutic effect of miR-7 to GC distant metastasis. Methods TCGA STAD and NCBI GEO database were used to investigate the expression profile of miR-7 and NF-κB RelA/p65 and clinical relevance. Lentivirus-mediated gene delivery was applied to explore the therapeutic effect of miR-7 in GC. Real-time PCR, FACS, IHC, IF, reporter gene assay, IP, pre-miRNA-7 processing and binding assays were performed. Results Low miR-7 correlated with high RelA/p65 in GC with a clinical relevance that low miR-7 and high RelA/p65 as prognostic indicators of poor survival outcome of GC patients. Moreover, an impaired pre-miR-7 processing caused by dysregulated Dicer1 expression is associated with downregulated miR-7 in GC cells. Functionally, delivery of miR-7 displays therapeutic effects to GC lung and liver metastasis by alleviating hemangiogenesis, lymphangiogenesis as well as inflammation cells infiltration. Mechanistically, miR-7 suppresses NF-κB transcriptional activity and its downstream metastasis-related molecules Vimentin, ICAM-1, VCAM-1, MMP-2, MMP-9 and VEGF by reducing p65 and p-p65-ser536 expression. Pharmacologic prevention of NF-κB activator LPS obviously restored miR-7-suppressed NF-κB transcriptional activation and significantly reverted miR-7-inhibited cell migration and invasion. Conclusions Our data suggest loss of miR-7 in GC promotes p65-mediated aberrant NF-κB activation, facilitating GC metastasis and ultimately resulting in the worse clinical outcome. Thus, miR-7 may act as novel prognostic biomarker and potential therapeutic target for aberrant NF-κB-driven GC distant metastasis. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s13046-019-1074-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) is a potential earth-abundant electrocatalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), but the lack of in-depth understanding of its intrinsic activity still impedes the further optimization and design of MoS2-based electrocatalysts. Herein, we report a facile in situ hydrothermal synthetic method to prepare vertical MoxSy arrays grown on guar gum-derived carbon aerogels (GCA), termed MoxSy@GCA. The obtained well-assembled MoxSy@GCA architectures consist of uniform, few-layered and S-edge-rich MoxSy nanoflakes with a length of approximately 100 nm, which effectively prevent the inherent stacking among MoxSy layers and connect the charge transfer path between interlayers, thus endowing MoxSy@GCA with a huge number of active sites and high conductivity. Benefitting from all these advantages, the optimal Mo4S16@GCA exhibited extraordinary HER/OER performances, including a low onset potential for both the HER (24.28 mV) and OER (1.53 V), and a low overpotential at 10 mA cm-2 for the HER (54.13 mV) and OER (370 mV), which are both extremely close to that of the noble Pt/C. Furthermore, a series of operando Raman spectroscopy measurements on Mo4S16@GCA were conducted to identify the intrinsic HER/OER-active sites during the HER and OER process. The results show that the S-H bond is generated simultaneously as HER/OER excitation, indicating the rich S-edge may be the intrinsic active site, which will accelerate the HER/OER kinetic process. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations revealed that the observed superb HER/OER activity can be attributed to the synergistic effect of rich S-edge of MoxSy and confinement effect of GCA, which collaboratively promote the proton adsorption and electrocatalytic kinetics. Reasonably, this study will have profound guiding value for the rational tailoring of the microstructure and size of transition metal electrocatalysts via hierarchical porous carbon aerogels.

We report the introduction of π-interaction sites into a series of chemically robust metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), MOF-526, -527, and -528, with progressively increased pore size, 1.9-3.7 nm, and the inclusion and release of large organic molecules in water. The mesopores in these MOFs lead to fast adsorption kinetics, whereas the π-interaction between isolated porphyrin units in the MOF backbone and polycyclic structure of the organic guests provides excellent reversibility. Specifically, seven large organic dyes were quantitatively captured by the porphyrin units of these MOFs in a 2:1 molar ratio, exhibiting unprecedented kinetics for MOFs [e.g., 4.54 × 105 L/mol for rhodamine B] at an extremely low concentration (10 ppm) in water. Rotational-echo double-resonance NMR experiments revealed that the distance between the guest molecules and porphyrin units in MOFs was in the range from 3.24 to 3.37 A, confirming the specific π-interaction. Repetitive and reversible dynamics was achieved in these MOFs for 10 complete inclusion-release cycles without any decay in performance, which is ideally suited for the removal and recycle of large polycyclic organic molecules from water. The performance of MOF-526 rivals that of state-of-the-art carbon and polymers.

Polymer blends with self-healing capability when damaged have received increasing interests and have been developing rapidly because of their many potential applications. Here, the polymer blend comprising of thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) and polycaprolactone (PCL) as shape memory matrix was initially prepared by melting blending, and then the multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were incorporated to endow the blend with excellent self-healing property in the presence of near infrared (NIR) irradiation (808 nm, 0.14 W). Compared with the traditional heat-induced self-healing shape memory composites, NIR irradiation could not only reduce the healing time, but also can selectively repair the exposed damaged regions without distinct interference to the performance of surrounding parts. As revealed, these composites presented superior shape memory and self-healing behavior in the presence of NIR irradiation. Specifically, the blend containing 50% TPU, 50% PCL and 3 MWCNTs (U1C1-3) possesses shape memory properties as manifested by a ca. 96.8% shape fixing ratio (Rf) and ca. 63.9% shape recovery ratio (Rr). The surface crack and scratches can be completely recovered in 3 min NIR irradiation. And moreover, this NIR stimulated self-healing could performed repeatedly for at least 4 times, with healing efficiency of ca. 96%. All these observations could be attributed to the hybrid crystalline and amorphous regions of PCL and TPU, as well as the well distribution of MWCNTs in the polymeric matrix. The superior shape memory and self-healing properties, along with the easy and scalable process of fabrication, make these blends ideal candidates for an ensemble of applications, including biomedical, packing and microelectronics.

Controlling the permittivity of materials enables control over the amplitude, phase and polarization of light interacting with them. Tailorable and tunable transparent conducting oxides have applications in optical switching, beam steering, imaging, sensing, and spectroscopy. In this work, we experimentally demonstrate wide tailoring and tuning of the optical properties of oxides to achieve fast switching with large modulation depths. In cadmium oxide, the permittivity and the epsilon-near-zero points can be tailored via yttrium doping to achieve large, ENZ-enhanced mid-IR reflectance modulation. In zinc oxide, the permittivity is tuned by interband pumping, achieving large reflectance modulation in the telecom regime. With aluminum-doped zinc oxide, we demonstrate tailorable Berreman-type absorbers that can achieve ultrafast switching in the telecom frequencies. Our work will pave the way to practical optical switching spanning the telecom to the mid-infrared wavelength regimes.

We report the discovery of room-temperature quantum emitters in silicon nitride. Photophysical analysis reveals bright (>105 counts/s), stable, and pure single-photon emission with an average of g(2)(0) of about 0.25 collected from a hundred emitters.

Chronic gastritis (CG) places a considerable burden on the healthcare system worldwide. Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) formulas characterized by multicompounds and multitargets have been acknowledged with striking effects in the treatment of CG in China’s history. Nevertheless, their accurate mechanisms of action are still ambiguous. In this study, we analyzed the effective compounds, potential targets, and related biological pathway of Lianpu Drink (LPD), a TCM formula which has been reported to have a therapeutic effect on CG, by contrasting a “compound-target-disease” network. According to the results, 92 compounds and 5762 putative targets of LPD were screened; among them, 8 compounds derived from different herbs in LPD and 30 common targets related to LPD and CG were selected as candidate compounds and precision targets, respectively. Meanwhile, the predicted common targets were verified by Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) signaling pathway analysis and pharmacological experiments. The results demonstrated that quercetin, ephedrine, trigonelline, crocetin, and β-sitosterol were major effective compounds of LPD responsible for the CG treatment by inhibiting the activation of the JAK 2-STAT 3 signaling pathway to reduce the expressions of cyclin D1 and Bcl-2 proteins. The study provides evidence for the mechanism of understanding of LPD for the treatment of CG.

We demonstrate the effective generation of singlet oxygen (1O2) catalyzed by hot electrons obtained from the plasmon decay in TiN@TiO2 core-shell nanoparticles at 700 nm excitation.

Spherical titanium nitride (TiN) nanoparticles (NPs) (

In this contribution, a technique based on molding polycarbosilane-vinyltriethoxysilane-graphene oxide (PCS-VTES-GO) precursors synthesized by chemical modification was introduced to fabricate monolithic rGO/SiC(O) nanocomposite ceramics. Results reveal that the monoliths pyrolyzed at different temperatures (1100–1500 °C) consist of β-SiC nanocrystals homogeneously embedded in amorphous SiO x C y /C free , and multilayered rGO nanosheets composited with β-SiC/SiO x C y /C free . Their nanocomposite structure provides an ingenious strategy for constructing complexes with good integrity, high ceramic yield and low linear shrinkage. This improvement is primarily attributed to the presence of GO (as graft polymers and sintering additives) which enlarges the cross-linking structure of precursors and inhibits the growth of β-SiC nanocrystals during the pyrolysis process. The final rGO/SiC(O) monoliths sintered at 1200 °C with higher hardness (19.81 GPa), satisfying ceramic yield (80.98%) and linear shrinkage (25.23%) promise to be candidates for making complex-shaped ceramic components in a simple and economical manner.

Herein, we report a simple in situ hydrothermal synthetic method for the preparation of novel three-dimensional (3D) nanoflowers forming with few-layered and expanded interlayer spacing MoS2 nanoflakes via restricting the polymerization of guar gum and the growth of MoS2. In this process, hexaammonium molybdate ((NH4)6Mo7O24·4H2O) and thiourea (CH4N2S) acted as the precursor of molybdenum and sulfur respectively, while guar gum functioned as both the template of chemical reaction and carbon source. The obtained MoS2/guar gum carbon hybrid nanoflowers (MoS2/CF) in a well-assembled 3D nanoflowers architecture provides copious active sites and thus prevents inherent stacking among MoS2 layers. Because of all these advantages, the electrochemical evaluation demonstrates that MoS2/CF-750 shows extraordinary hydrogen evolution reaction electrocatalytic performances, possessing extremely low onset potential of approximately 20 mV, low overpotential of ∼125 mV at 10 mA cm–2 and an extraordinary small Tafel slope ...

Potential of effluents from biological hydrogen production process to improve ciprofloxacin (CIP) removal was investigated using ciprofloxacin-degrading enrichments in the presence of Fe 3 O 4 nanoparticles. Effluent addition clearly promoted CIP removal, which was 61%, 38% and 16% higher than those in the enrichments amended with fecal sewage, biogas digestate and water, respectively. Experiments of sterilization and organic components of effluents indicated that the organic substances served as co-metabolic substrate to facilitate CIP removal, where ethanol was the preferred co-metabolic substrate. Although the effluent addition changed the bacterial community composition which corresponded to the changes in the relative abundances of dominant genera in the enrichments, CIP removal performance remained unchanged. The increased Fe (II) concentrations indicated that there might be a positive relationship of CIP removal with the microbial reduction of Fe (III) to Fe (II) in Fe 3 O 4 in the effluents-amended enrichments. It was proposed that the organic substances in the effluents might serve as the co-metabolic substrate to promote CIP removal by CIP-degrading and Fe (III)-reducing bacteria.

Preparation of benzaldehyde by Swern oxidation of benzyl alcohol was carried out in a continuous flow microreactor system. Dimethyl sulfoxide (Me2SO) was used as oxidizing agent and oxalyl chloride or p-toluenesulfonyl (p-TsCl) chloride was used as the activating agent. Benzyl alcohol was oxidized to benzaldehyde by the Me2SO-activating agent mixture in the continuous flow microreactor system. The optimized reaction conditions of the Swern oxidation were as follows: oxalyl chloride was used as the activating agent; the mole ratio of Me2SO, oxalyl chloride, and benzyl alcohol was 4:2:1; the ow rate of Me2SO was 1.5 mL/min; the reaction temperature was 15 ℃; length of delay loop was 1.5 m; a Caterpillar Split-Recombine Micro Mixer was used; and all of the experiments were completed at atmospheric pressure. The yield of benzaldehyde can reach 84.7% with selectivity of 98.5%. Due to the small reactor volume and short residence times, the Swern oxidation of benzyl alcohol in a continuous flow microreactor system can be operated at nearly room temperature (5–19 ℃) instead of –70 ℃ in a batch reaction, with residence time of reactants in microreactors in milliseconds instead of several hours in a batch reaction.

Histone deacetylases modulate the dynamic balance of histone acetylation and deacetylation in cells, which participate in epigenetic regulations. Accumulated evidence has demonstrated that histone deacetylases are associated with angiogenesis, cell proliferation and survival in a variety of human cancers. However, the expression and distinct prognostic value of histone deacetylases in ovarian cancer have not been well elucidated. In the present study, we collected the overall survival (OS), progress free survival (PFS), and histone deacetylases (HDAC1-11) mRNA expression in ovarian cancer from the Kaplan-Meier plotter online database. We investigated the relationship between histone deacetylases mRNA level and the clinicopathological parameters of the ovarian cancer patients, such as histology subtypes, clinical stages, grades and TP53 mutation. Our analysis data showed that over-expression of HDAC1, HDAC2, HDAC4, HDAC5 and HDAC11 were correlated to poor overall survival and unfavorable progress free survival in all ovarian cancer patients. Notably, the higher level of HDAC11 was associated with the worse OS and PFS for serous/ stage III+IV/ grade III/ TP53 mutation ovarian cancer patients. In conclusion, HDACs may play a crucial role in the prognosis of ovarian cancer, but it is worth noting that HDAC11 may be a biomarker for poor prognosis in ovarian cancer patients.

Hexafluoropropylene oxide dimer acid (HFPO-DA) is a perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) substitute. In the current study, potential developmental cardiotoxicity and hepatotoxicity following HFPO-DA exposure in chicken embryo has been investigated, focusing on the roles of peroxisome proliferator activated receptor alpha (PPARα), the major molecular target in PFOA-induced toxicities. HFPO-DA was exposed to fertile chicken eggs via air cell injection, morphology and function of the target organs (heart and liver) in hatchlings were investigated with histopathology and electrocardiography, and the serum levels of HFPO-DA had been measured with quadrupole-time of flight liquid chromatograph-mass spectrometer (Q-TOF LC/MS). Additionally, lentivirus-mediated in ovo PPARα silencing was used to assess the roles of PPARα in HFPO-DA induced developmental toxicities. The results indicated that developmental exposure to HFPO-DA induced developmental cardiotoxicity, including thinned right ventricular wall and elevated heart rates, similar to those observed with PFOA exposure, as well as developmental hepatotoxicity in the form of steatosis. Silencing of PPARα alleviated such effects, suggesting participation of PPARα in HFPO-DA induced developmental toxicities in chicken embryo. Moreover, enhanced expression of PPARα downstream genes, cluster of differentiation 36 (CD36) and enoyl-CoA hydratase and 3-hydroxyacyl CoA dehydrogenase (EHHADH), were observed in HFPO-DA exposed animal heart tissues, which can be abolished by PPARα silencing. On the other hand, liver-type fatty acid binding protein (L-FABP) and CD36 expression were effectively enhanced in exposed liver tissues, but not EHHADH, suggesting differential mechanism of toxicity in heart and liver tissues. In summary, developmental exposure to HFPO-DA induced developmental cardiotoxicity and hepatotoxicity in hatchling chickens similar to PFOA, and PPARα still participates in such toxicities, with some differential downstream gene regulations in different organs. Further investigation on HFPO-DA-induced developmental toxicities is guaranteed.

Ciprofloxacin (CIP) biodegradation was investigated using enrichments obtained in the presence of magnetite nanoparticles, CIP and human fecal sewage. CIP addition inhibited methanogenic activity and altered the bacterial community composition. The magnetite-supplemented enrichments significantly promoted CIP biodegradation, especially in the presence of 2-bromoethanesulfonate (BES). When BES was added, CIP biodegradation in the magnetite-supplemented enrichments was 67% higher than in the magnetite-unamended enrichments. Fe (II) concentrations were also significantly increased in the BES and magnetite-supplemented enrichments. This indicated that there might be a positive relationship of CIP biodegradation with microbial reduction of Fe (III) to Fe (II). As for the magnetite-supplemented enrichments, DNA-sequencing analysis revealed that Stenotrophomonas was the dominant genus, while Desulfovibrio became the dominant genus in the presence of BES. These two genera might be related to Fe (III) reduction in the magnetite. The findings provide a strategy for improving CIP biodegradation during waste treatment.

A new fluorescent probe (ABPA) based on 1,8-naphthalimide, which designed on the “receptor1-fluorophore-spacer-receptor2” model and employed conjugated addition/cyclization sequence mechanism for Cys detection was reported. The probe shows high selectivity and sensitivity for cysteine (Cys) over other amino acids including the similar structured homocysteine (Hcy) and glutathione (GSH). It displays a highly sensitive fluorescence emission to Cys with a detection limit of 0.12 μM (S/N = 3), which is far below the normal level of Cys (30–200 μM) in living cells. Furthermore, ABPA was successfully applied to bioimage intracellular Cys in living cells with low cytotoxicity.

Solar steam generation as a green and sustainable technology has recently attracted significant interest for relieving the longstanding challenge of clean water resources. However, the large-scale preparation of low cost photothermal materials for solar steam generators is highly desired yet still challenging. Herein, semi-coke (SC), a solid byproduct of coal industrial, was first demonstrated as an efficient photothermal material and successfully applied in solar steam generation system by depositing SC on melamine sponge with the assistance of polydopamine. Then, the modified melamine sponge was functionalized by hydrophobic methyl trichlorosilane to fabricate the self-floating semi-coke/polydopamine@photothermal melamine sponge (SPMS). Based on their outstanding light absorption, good wettability, and effective thermal location, the SPMS performs a high evaporation rate of 1.41 kg m−2 h−1 with a solar thermal conversion efficiency of 90.56% under 1 sun irradiation. Meanwhile, the SPMS has remarkable cycle stability and water purification abilities for seawater, dyeing wastewater and heavy metal solution. By turning “waste” to “wealth”, the SPMS shows great potential for sustainable applications in synergetic solar clean water production.

BACKGROUND Increasing attention is being paid to find an alternative way to handle biogas residue from biogas production which is important for sustainable development of biogas project. In this study, biochars from distillers’ grains anaerobic digestion residue (BRC) in the pyrolysis temperature range of 300 to 800 °C were prepared. Subsequently, elemental analysis, thermal stability, specific surface area (SSA), scanning electron microscope (SEM), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) and the performance of ammonia (NH4+) adsorption were studied. RESULTS BRC produced at 700 °C exhibited the highest SSA (251.47 m2 g−1). Generally, the pH (6.2-8.4), ash (17.58-36.93%), carbon (48.09-56.18%) and the NH4+ adsorption capacity (1.95-5.86 mg N g−1) of BRC increased with pyrolysis temperature increasing (300-700 °C). However, for pyrolysis yield (76.39-40.44%), volatile matter (48.72-4.69%), phenolic (0.85-0.01 mmol g−1), total acidity (1.39-0.21 mmol g−1) and the contribution of H (4.92-1.13%), O (29.41-5.76%), O/C (0.61-0.10), H/C (0.10-0.02), (O + N)/C (0.65-0.13), an opposite trend was found. CONCLUSIONS Pyrolysis temperature has a significant effect on the physicochemical properties of BRC and thus on their quantity of NH4+ adsorbed. The BRC, especially produced at 700 °C, could serve as a highly efficient material for NH4+ removal, therefore present a high value-added application for biogas residues.

Pretreatment is very important for improvement of the biogas production from biomass in anaerobic digestion (AD) process, especially for lignocellulosic substrates. Hydrogen peroxide pretreatment (HPP) was used to enhance the AD of Miscanthus floridulus. Results showed that the maximum methane yield was produced at 0.8% H2O2 concentration at neutral pH, which was 278.7 mL/g VS (volatile solid) and increased by 49% compared to untreated sample. The results of XRD (X-ray diffraction) revealed that HPP process could marginally decrease crystallinity of cellulose which could be beneficial for better substrate utilization. In addition, SEM (scanning electron microscope) analysis suggested that pretreated miscanthus had a more porous structure compared to untreated substrate. Thus HPP is an environmental friendly and economical pretreatment method for AD of miscanthus. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Acetate can be used as an electron donor to stimulate 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D), which has not been determined under methanogenic condition. This study applied high-throughput sequencing and methanogenic inhibition approaches to investigate the 2,4-D degradation process using the enrichments obtained from paddy soil. Acetate addition significantly promoted 2,4-D degradation, which was 5-fold higher than in the acetate-unsupplemented enrichments in terms of the 2,4-D degradation rate constant. Dechloromonas and Pseudomonas were the dominant 2,4-D degraders. Methanogenic inhibition experiments indicated that the 2,4-D degradation was independent of methanogenesis. It was proposed that the accelerated 2,4-D degradation in the acetate-supplemented enrichment involved an unusual interaction, where members of the acetate oxidizers primarily oxidized acetate and produced H2. H2 was utilized by the 2,4-D degraders to degrade 2,4-D, but also partially consumed by the hydrogenotrophic methanogens to produce methane. The findings presented here provide a new strategy for the remediation of 2,4-D-polluted soils.

The water-triggered reversible transformation plays a significant role in bio-systems. To develop artificial materials with reversible structural transformability under mild conditions would be helpful to understand how bio-systems work. Here we report on a flexible coordination polymer, Cu–(Gly–Thr)·2H2O, whose structure can be controlled by humidity or temperature. This porous coordination polymer shows reversible single-crystal to single-crystal transformation with surprisingly high thermal stability. It was found that the ordered transformation occurs via coordination bonds breaking and reforming without changing the coordination numbers and valence of the copper ion. This reversible transformation makes it especially efficient at taking up CO2 under wet conditions, which is similar to the function of plant stomata.

Chitosan materials have been applied widely in protein separation and purification processes, however, pure chitosan materials generally suffer from inadequate mechanical properties and low densities of active adsorption sites, thereby leading to short service lives, limited actual re-usage counts and unexpected re-absorption capacities as adsorbents. Herein, a novel CA-CS/HHF composite was firstly constructed by impregnating human hair fiber into a CS matrix and then functionalized with citric acid. The structures and morphologies of the thus-produced composites were characterized by FTIR and SEM, respectively. A mechanical stability test showed that the impregnation of HHF into the chitosan matrix could effectively enhance the mechanical stability of the CA-CS/HHF beads in comparison with pure chitosan spheres. The adsorption of proteins and a protein mixture revealed that the product could adsorb positively charged proteins, as ascertained by the method of sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The maximum value for LYZ adsorption on the CA-CS/HHF composite was 42.1 mg g−1 with a fast equilibrium time of 3 h. Moreover, the resultant product exhibited good reversibility with respect to lysozyme. This simple and intriguing approach characterized by both environmental conservation and waste recycling strongly extends any future utilization of human hair fiber, and the resultant CA-CS/HHF can potentially be truly applied for the quick and effective adsorption of positively charged lysozyme.

For the effective utilization of pesticides and the treatment of abundant waste wheat straw (WS) resources, an eco-friendly composite PA-WS platform was prepared by modification of WS with phytic acid (PA). The structure and morphology of the synthesized products were characterized via SEM, FTIR, and zeta surface potential analyses. Elemental analysis and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) were used to determine the degree of substitution (DS) and degree of surface substitution (DSS). The evaluation of the release properties of PA-WS@IM showed that the release of imidacloprid (IM) molecules could be controlled via a pH-sensitive dynamic chemical bond. The release efficiency of IM was enhanced with a decrease in pH and the release efficiency achieved a maximum (85.29%) at pH 2. The release efficiency of IM in a solution of Ca2+ ions was higher than in the solution of Na+ ions, while Fe3+ ions aqueous solutions had no significant influence. Due to its controllable release, cost-effectiveness, reusability of a resource and eco-friendly preparation, it is believed that PA-WS@IM may have potential application in agriculture fields to enhance the utilization efficiency of pesticides and improve the comprehensive utilization of agriculture resources.

Background/Aims: The roots of Averrhoa carambola L. (Oxalidaceae) have long been used as a traditional Chinese medicine for the treatment of diabetes and diabetes-related diseases. 2-dodecyl-6-methoxycycyclohexa-2,5-1,4-dione (DMDD) has been isolated from A. carambola L. roots, and this study was carried out to investigate the potential beneficial effects of DMDD on obesity and insulin resistance induced by a high-fat diet (HFD) in mice. Methods: C57BL/6J mice were fed a HFD for 16 weeks and orally administered DMDD (12.5, 25, or 50 mg/kg of body weight per day) and metformin (280 mg/kg of body weight per day) for the last 4 weeks. Results: The body weights and adipose tissue weights as well as the serum levels of blood glucose, total cholesterol, triglycerides, free fatty acids, insulin, interleukin-6, and tumor necrosis factor-α were significantly decreased by DMDD, and the expression of Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) and myeloid differentiation factor (Myd88) in the epididymal adipose tissue was downregulated by DMDD. In contrast, insulin sensitivity was enhanced. The results of the glucose tolerance tests, insulin tolerance tests, and insulin release tests indicated that there was a marked improvement in insulin secretion, and the areas under the curve corresponding to the three tests were also significantly decreased by DMDD. The activities of superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase were simultaneously enhanced, whereas the content of malondialdehyde was decreased by DMDD in the liver homogenates of the C57BL/6J mice. In addition, hepatic steatosis and adipocyte hypertrophy, as assessed by H&E staining of liver and adipose tissues, were significantly improved by DMDD. Conclusion: These data suggest that MDD has potential benefits for the treatment of HFD-induced obesity and insulin resistance, and its effects may be associated with improvements in lipid metabolism and inhibition of the expression of TLR4 in adipose tissues.

The creation and engineering of artificial enzymes remain a challenge, especially the arrangement of enzymes into geometric patterns with nanometer precision. In this work, we fabricated a series of novel DNA-tetrahedron-scaffolded-DNAzymes (Tetrazymes) and evaluated the catalytic activity of these Tetrazymes by electrochemistry. Tetrazymes were constructed by precisely positioning G-quadruplex on different sites of a DNA tetrahedral framework, with hemin employed as the co-catalyst. Immobilization of Tetrazymes on a gold electrode surface revealed horseradish peroxidase (HPR)-mimicking bioelectrocatalytic property. Cyclic voltammogram and amperometry were employed to evaluate the capability of Tetrazymes of different configurations to electrocatalyze the reduction of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). These artificial Tetrazymes displayed 6- to 14-fold higher enzymatic activity than G-quadruplex/hemin (G4-hemin) without the DNA tetrahedron scaffold, demonstrating application potential in developing novel G-quadruplex-based electrochemical sensors.

In this work, Prussian blue nanoparticles (PB NPs) were in situ grown on S. cerevisiae cells via one-step hydrothermal synthesis and the as-prepared Prussian blue@yeast (PB@yeast) hybrids exhibited synergistic adsorption and Fenton catalytic activities. FE-SEM, XRD and BET analysis of the prepared samples confirmed the successful formation of hollow porous structured PB@yeast microspheres, while FT-IR and XPS spectra indicated the fine structures were occupied by both functional adsorptive and catalytic sites. The experimental results of adsorption coupled Fenton reaction of PB@yeast hybrid microspheres revealed that the functional groups on the cell wall and the active iron sites in PB framework were fully utilized due to the triple synergistic effects of adsorption–Fenton catalysis–adsorption sites regeneration, thus endowing synergistically enhanced performance in removal of the selected cationic methylene blue (MB), anionic Methyl Orange (MO) and fluorescent brightener 71 (CXT) in aqueous solution. The high Fenton catalytic efficiency was related to the improvement of adsorption, in which the enrichment of contaminant molecules on the outer and inner surface of the hollow porous microspheres could lower mass transfer resistance and shorten charge transport pathways, thereby introducing more efficient Fenton catalytic activity than PB NPs.

Oxidized-low density lipoprotein (ox-LDL) can induce injury of endothelial cells, causing atherosclerosis, which is an important initial event in several cardiovascular diseases. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have emerged as regulators of diverse biological processes, but their specific biological functions and biochemical mechanisms in ox-LDL-induced endothelial cell injury have not been well investigated. Here, we describe the initial functional analysis of a poorly characterized human lncRNA ZEB1 antisense 1 (ZEB1-AS1). We found that ox-LDL treatment could induce a decreased cell viability and an increased cell apoptosis in endothelial cells, and knockdown of ZEB1-AS1 significantly reversed this effect. Mechanistically, ox-LDL treatment could sequester p53 from binding to ZEB1-AS1 promoter region, causing transcriptional activation and upregulation of ZEB1-AS1. Moreover, enhanced ZEB1-AS1 could upregulate Nucleotide-Binding Oligomerization Domain 2 (NOD2) expression through recruiting leucine-rich pentatricopeptide repeat motif-containing protein (LRPPRC) to stabilize NOD2 mRNA. Experimental data showed that knockdown of NOD2 or LRPPRC dramatically abrogated the functional role of ZEB1-AS1 in ox-LDL-induced endothelial cell injury. In summary, we demonstrated that lncRNA ZEB1-AS1 regulates the ox-LDL-induced endothelial cell injury via an LRPPRC-dependent mRNA stabilization mechanism. Therefore, ZEB1-AS1 may serve as a multi-potency target to overcome endothelial cell injury, atherosclerosis and other cardiovascular diseases.

To alleviate the adverse effects of pesticide residues on the environment, development of a more safe, economical, and reliable usage approach of pesticides is critically urgent. In the present study, a novel pesticide carrier LA-NSM (lauric acid-modifiedNitrariaseed meal) with controlled release property was prepared through grafting esterification of lauric acid ontoNitrariaseed meal substrates. The structure of the obtained samples was characterized by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and contact angle measurements. The results indicated that LA-NSM products had a well-defined hydrophobic surface and irregular holes for efficient loading of pesticide molecules. Deltamethrin (DEL), a representative insoluble pyrethroid insecticide in water, was deliberately selected as the index pesticide to evaluate the loading and releasing efficiency of LA-NSM. The loading capacity of LA-NSM for DEL can reach about 1068 mg/g. pH, humidity of soil, and temperature had a significant influence on controlled release performance of LA-NSM@DEL. Moreover, the releasing kinetics of LA-NSM@DEL composites could be fitted well with the Higuchi model. Overall, the highly hydrophobic property, excellent loading, and controlled release ability of LA-NSM made it a promising candidate in agricultural applications.

Rationally designing single-atom catalysts (SACs) is a potential strategy to reach efficient energy conversion as they combine the merits of both maximizing atomic utilization and minimizing the cost of the heterogeneous catalysts. However, when increasing the loading capacity of single-atoms, how to effectively prevent the aggregation of metal single atoms to achieve higher atom utilization efficiency is an urgent issue. Herein, we develop an in-situ pre-crosslinking method to prepare a series of metal single-atoms anchored on nitrogen-doped carbon aerogel (M-SA@NCA, M = Co, Ni, Mo) as high-efficiency bifunctional catalysts for hydrogen/oxygen evolution reactions (HER/OER). Thanks to the intrinsic chemical crosslinking ability between the metal ions and the substrate functional groups, these metal single-atoms can be effectively and stably anchored in the three-dimensional network as crosslinked point of the substrate, thus endowing M-SA@NCA with ultrahigh single-atom loading (Co, ~27.30 wt%; Ni, ~18.35 wt%; Mo, ~18.16 wt%), and therefore display more active sites, and excellent stability (up to 100 h for water-splitting in 1.0 M KOH). Furthermore, the systematic X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS), in-situ attenuated total internal reflection (in-situ ATR spectra) and density functional theory (DFT) calculation are used to acquire deep insight on the bonding modes between metal single-atoms and substrates, and the influence of different configuration on the catalytic performance. The combined results reveal that Co atoms facilitate the formation of pyrr-N, and the optimal configuration is CoN4 in HER process with smallest onset potential of 12.5 mV, closing to the Pt/C (20 wt%); while the best OER catalyst is Ni-SA@NCA with NiC2N2-o-5 moieties, outperforming the benchmarked IrO2. This work provides a solution for investigating the interaction between single-atom-substrate configuration and catalytic performance, and represents a critical step towards the rational design and synthesis of SACs with extremely high single-atom loading, maximum atomic utilization efficiency and thus superior catalytic activity.

The Pacific oyster (Crassostrea gigas) is an important bivalve in global aquaculture, and glycogen contributes greatly to the flavor and quality of these oysters. Non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) are known to be involved in glycogen metabolism, but their impact on the oyster properties influenced by glycogen is poorly understood. We compared the expression profiles of two full-sib families with high-glycogen and low-glycogen content, respectively, in oyster gonadal tissues from the same area of the Rizhao district Huanghai Sea, China. A total of 2463 mRNAs, 547 lncRNAs, 84 circRNAs, and six miRNAs were differentially expressed. Differentially expressed mRNA and lncRNA regulatory genes were primarily shown to be involved in glucose metabolism and glucogenic amino acid metabolism through functional enrichment anaylsis. Based on these differentially expressed genes (DEGs), miRNA target interactions (lncRNA/circRNA-miRNA pairs and miRNA-mRNA pairs) were predicted using the miRanda software. The differentially expressed mRNAs in this network were mainly shown to be involved in glucogenic amino acid metabolism through functional enrichment analysis. These findings may help to understand how non-coding RNAs regulate glycogen content and explain the molecular mechanisms behind the epigenetic regulation of Pacific oysters with high glycogen contents. The results will further understand for non-classical inheritance of quality traits in marine economic shellfish, and will be of great significance in guiding the selection and breeding of quality traits in C. gigas.

96-Well technology is associated with automated sample preparation and simultaneous analysis based on the low-cost well plate format. To explore the potential applications of 96-well technology in SERS detection, we examined the surface-bound electroless deposition procedure for the preparation of uniform and stable Ag mirror films on polydopamine (PDA)-coated well plates as active-SERS substrates. In the presented procedure, small Ag seeds assembled on PDA coating were employed as the surface-bound catalyst and provided the active sites for electroless Ag deposition. The high-quality Ag mirror films showed high performance in terms of sensitivity, uniformity, reproducibility and stability using rhodamine 6G (R6G) as the probe molecule. A remarkable enhancement factor of 3.41 × 108 was obtained. The relative standard deviations against well-by-well and batch-by-batch reproducibility were less than 5%. The SERS films on well plates were successfully used to quantify the amounts of organic dyes (R6G and malachite green) in environmental water samples and small biological molecules (adenosine triphosphate and adenine) in urine matrix, displaying satisfactory sensitivity, selectivity and recovery. Their limit of detection values were at nanomolar, even picomolar concentration.

Introduction: Diabetes mellitus is characterized by hyperglycaemia causing changes in plasma lipoproteins, which leads to insulin resistance, secretion defects or both. The dried Averrhoa carambola L. (Oxalidaceae) root known as yang tao gen (YTG) in Chinese materia medica has been used in traditional medicine for treating diabetes mellitus. The present study aimed to evaluate the ability of 2-dodecyl-6-methoxy-cyclohexa-2,5-diene-1,4-dione (DMDD) isolated from Averrhoa carambola L. roots to lower hyperglycaemia and to investigate its potential mechanism in diabetic mice. Material and methods : DMDD was isolated using a column chromatographic technique. Experimental mice were fed with a high-fat diet for a month and were intravenously injected with streptozotocin (80 mg/kg, single dose). Diabetic mice were orally administered DMDD (12.5, 25, 50 mg/kg) and 50 mg/kg pioglitazone for 15 days. Fasting blood glucose (FBG), fasting blood insulin (FINS), pancreatic insulin content, interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumour necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), as well as serum total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG) and free fatty acid (FFA) were determined. Adipose tissue was assessed by histological examination, immunohistochemistry, western blot and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction methods. Results : DMDD significantly increased the insulin level. In contrast, FBG, IL-6, TNF-α, TC, TG and FFA were significantly decreased. However, DMDD induced the activation of adipocyte peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPAR-γ), confirmed by increased protein and mRNA expression of PPAR-γ. Conclusions : DMDD possessed hypoglycaemic activity due to its potential mechanism involving PPAR-mediated adipocyte endocrine regulation.