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Colorectal cancer (COCA) has a poor prognosis, with growing evidence implicating basement membranes (BMs) in cancer progression. Our goal was to investigate the role and predictive significance of BMs in COCA patients. We obtained BMs‐related genes from cutting‐edge research and used TCGA and GTEx databases for mRNA expression and patient information. Cox regression and LASSO regression were used for prognostic gene selection and risk model construction. We compared prognosis using Kaplan–Meier analysis and examined drug sensitivity differences. The CMAP dataset identified potential small molecule drugs. In vitro tests involved suppressing a crucial gene to observe its impact on tumour metastasis. We developed a 12 BMs‐based approach, finding it to be an independent prognostic factor. Functional analysis showed BMs concentrated in cancer‐associated pathways, correlating with immune cell infiltration and immune checkpoint activation. High‐risk individuals exhibited increased drug sensitivity. AGRN levels were linked to decreased progression‐free survival (p < 0.001). AGRN knockdown suppressed tumour growth and metastasis. Our study offers new perspectives on BMs in COCA, concluding that AGRN is a dependable biomarker for patient survival and prognosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The limited oxidation stability of ether solvents has posed significant challenges for their applications in high‐voltage lithium metal batteries (LMBs). To tackle this issue, the prevailing strategy either adopts a high concentration of fluorinated salts or relies on highly fluorinated solvents, which will significantly increase the manufacturing cost and create severe environmental hazards. Herein, an alternative and sustainable salt engineering approach is proposed to enable the utilization of dilute electrolytes consisting of fluorine (F)‐free ethers in high‐voltage LMBs. The proposed 0.8 M electrolyte supports stable lithium plating‐stripping with a high Coulombic efficiency of 99.47 % and effectively mitigates the metal dissolution, phase transition, and gas release issues of the LiNi0.8Co0.1Mn0.1O2 (NCM811) cathode upon charging to high voltages. Consequently, the 4.5 V high‐loading Li||NCM 811 cell shows a capacity retention of 75.2 % after 300 cycles. Multimodal experimental characterizations coupled with theoretical investigations demonstrate that the boron‐containing salt plays a pivotal role in forming the passivation layers on both anode and cathode. The present simple and cost‐effective electrolyte design strategy offers a promising and alternative avenue for using commercially mature, environmentally benign, and low‐cost F‐free ethers in high‐voltage LMBs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Immune microenvironment plays an important role in aortic dissection (AD). Therefore, novel immune biomarkers may facilitate AD prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. This study aimed at mining key immune-related genes and relevant mechanisms involved in AD pathogenesis. Patients and Methods: Key immune cells in AD were identified by ssGESA algorithm. Next, genes associated with key immune cells were screened by weighted gene coexpression network analysis (WGCNA). Then hub immune genes were picked from protein-protein interaction network of overlapped genes from differential expression and WGCNA analyses by cytohubba plug-in. Their diagnostic potential was evaluated in two independent cohorts from GEO database. In addition, the expressions of hub immune genes were determined by quantitative RT-PCR, immunohistochemistry, and Western blotting in dissected and normal aortic tissues. Results: Activated B cells, CD56dim natural killer cells, eosinophils, gamma delta T cells, immature B cells, natural killer cells and type 17 T helper cells were identified as key immune cells in AD. Thereafter, a gene module significantly correlated with key immune cells were found by WGCNA method. Subsequently, KDR, IGF1, NOS3, PECAM1, GAPDH, FLT1, DLL4, CDH5, VWF, and TEK were identified as hub immune cell related genes by PPI network analysis, which may be potential diagnostic markers for AD, as evidenced by ROC curves. Moreover, the decreased expression of VWF in AD was validated at both mRNA and protein levels, and its expression was significantly positive correlated with the marker of smooth muscle cells, ACTA2, in AD. Further immunofluorescent results showed that VWF was colocalized with ACTA2 in aortic tissues. Conclusion: We identified key immune cells and hub immune cell-related genes involved in AD. Moreover, we found that VWF was co-expressed with the smooth muscle cell marker ACTA2, indicating the important role of VWF in smooth muscle cell loss in AD pathogenesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the increasing demand for next‐generation electrochemical energy storage systems, various kinds of metal‐ion batteries have been developed in the past several decades, such as lithium‐ion batteries (LIBs), sodium‐ion batteries (NIBs), potassium‐ion batteries (KIBs), magnesium‐ion batteries (MIBs), zinc‐ion batteries (ZIBs), calcium‐ion batteries (CIBs), and aluminum‐ion batteries (AIBs). Due to its open structure, large interlayer spacings, multiple valence states, and reversible structural variations, layered V2O5, including two polymorphs of single layered α‐V2O5 and double layered V2O5 ⋅ nH2O, has been reported as a universal electrode material for all kinds of metal‐ion batteries mentioned above. In this review, we aim to summarize and compare the structure evolution of α‐V2O5 and V2O5 ⋅ nH2O during the insertion/extraction of various kinds of metal‐ions. This short review is expected to be helpful to comprehensively understand the structure evolution mechanism of α‐V2O5 and V2O5 ⋅ nH2O reacting with different metallic charge carriers and inspire the development of new electrode materials for high‐performance metal‐ion batteries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rechargeability of contemporary lithium‐ion batteries (LIBs) is challenging at low temperatures, mainly due to the hurdles faced by graphite anodes. Herein, by exploiting the Li‐solvent co‐intercalation into graphite, its low‐temperature rechargeability is boosted. Experimental characterizations aided by theoretical calculations demonstrate that the co‐intercalation process is featured by low interfacial resistance with a small charge transfer activation energy (0.23 eV atom−1) and an extremely low diffusion energy barrier (0.09 eV atom−1) which leads to nearly temperature‐independent diffusion coefficients of the solvated Li‐ion in graphite, enabling graphite to be stably charged‐discharged at −60 °C with 73.7 % of its room‐temperature capacity. Consequently, the full‐cell consisting of a LiNi0.65Co0.15Mn0.2O2 cathode and a graphite anode shows impressive rechargeability under −60 °C. This work provides an alternative approach to develop low‐temperature rechargeable LIBs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The high activation barrier, inferior rate performance, and short cycling life severely constrain the practical applications of the high‐capacity Li2S cathode. Herein, we fabricate a Li2S−Cu nanocomposite with a drastically reduced activation potential, fast rate capability, and extraordinary cycling stability even under a practically relevant areal capacity of 2.96 mAh cm−2. Detailed experimental investigations aided by theoretical calculations indicate that instead of converting to S8 via troublesome soluble lithium polysulfides, Li2S is thermodynamically and kinetically more favorable to react with Cu by the displacement reaction, which alters the redox couple from Li2S/S to Cu/Cu2S, leading to the excellent electrochemical performance. Moreover, the stability of the composite is demonstrated in the full‐cell configuration consisting of commercial graphite anodes. This work provides an innovative and effective approach to realize highly activated and stable Li2S cathode materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]