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LncRNA ZNFX1 antisense RNA 1 (ZFAS1) could improve neuronal damage and inhibit inflammation and apoptosis. We conducted an in-depth exploration on the protective mechanism of ZFAS1 in cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury. Overexpressed or silenced plasmids of ZFAS1 were transfected into the cells to analyze the effects of oxygen-glucose deprivation/reperfusion (OGD/R) treatment on the viability, apoptosis and related gene expressions of Neuro-2a cell by performing MTT assay, flow cytometry, qRT-PCR, and Western blot. Bioinformatic analysis, qRT-PCR, dual-luciferase reporter assay and RNA immunoprecipitation were used to screen and verify the miRNA(s) which could competitively bind with ZFAS1 and downstream mRNA(s) targeted by the miRNA(s). The effects of ZFAS1 and the above target miRNA(s) or gene(s) on the apoptosis of OGD/R-injured cells, apoptosis-related proteins, inflammatory factors and p65/IκBα pathway were further verified via the rescue test. The results from the middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) mouse model

Background: Esophageal cancer (EC) is a lethal disease with dismal survival rates. The tumor immune microenvironment plays a key contributor to the poor prognosis of EC. Here, we aimed to identify an immune-associated gene biomarker signature in EC and explore potential therapeutic strategies. Methods: We combined the publicly available TCGA dataset with qRT-PCR results and constructed an immune-related 3-genemodel related to the survival of patients with EC. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and time-dependent receiver operating curve (ROC) were then conducted to determine the predictive performance of the model, followed by clinical validation and nomogram establishment using Cox regression analysis. The underlying molecular mechanisms were explored with gene set enrichment analysis and tumor mutational burden (TMB). Finally, the immune microenvironment landscape was described with ESTIMATE and CIBERSORT, and the TIDE algorithm and the pRRophetic package were used to evaluated the model’s ability to predict immunotherapeutic and chemotherapeutic efficacy for different EC patient sub-groups. Results: We identified a 3-gene signature that significantly associated with poor overall survival in the TCGA and clinical data sets. And the EC samples were divided into the high- and low-risk groups depending on their risk scores. Then, a nomogram was established which included the gene model, clinical stage and positive lymph node metastasis for potential clinical translation. There were significant differences in the tumor immune microenvironment, TMB and metabolic pathways between the two groups. Cell type composition analysis found that M0 Macrophages, CD8 T cell and other immune cells not only have increased abundance in the tumor, but also can be reflected by the model. Additionally, while low-risk patients were found to benefit more from immunotherapy, high-risk patients with a worse prognosis could benefit more from the application of agents such as Bryostatin.1and FH535. Conclusion: We report a novel gene model which reveals the driving immune-related factors in EC. These factors may act as immunotherapeutic biomarkers and potential therapeutic targets for novel EC treatments.

A diamido-bridged dicobalt complex supported by a diamidonaphthalene ligand, Cp*

Sympathetic hyperactivation is a significant risk factor in the development of cardiovascular disease. Safranal has shown good myocardial protection in recent studies, but the mechanism of its role in myocardial injury caused by sympathetic hyperactivation remains unclear.The purpose of this study was to investigate whether safranal can effectively reduce isoproterenol (ISO)-induced myocardial injury in rats and H9c2 cells and to reveal its pharmacological action and target in inhibiting myocardial injury caused by sympathetic hyperactivation.This study was carried out using network pharmacology, molecular docking, and in vitro and in vivo experiments. An in vivo model of myocardial injury was established by subcutaneous injection of ISO, and an in vitro model of H9c2 cell injury was induced by ISO.Safranal ameliorated myocardial injury caused by sympathetic hyperactivation by reducing the level of myocardial apoptosis. According to the results of network pharmacological analysis and molecular docking, the mechanism by which safranal alleviates myocardial injury may be closely related to the TNF signaling pathway, and safranal plays a role by regulating the core targets of the TNF signaling pathway. Safranal significantly inhibited the protein expression of TNF, PTGS2, MMP9 and pRELA.Safranal plays a protective role in myocardial injury induced by sympathetic hyperactivation by downregulating the TNF signaling pathway.

Nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR) under ambient conditions is always a long-standing challenge in science, due to the extreme difficulty in breaking the strong N N triple bond. The key to resolving this issue undoubtedly lies in searching superior catalysts to efficiently activate and hydrogenate the stable nitrogen molecules. We herein evaluate the feasibility of WP2 for N2 activation and reduction, and first demonstrate WP2 with an impressive ammonia yield rate of 7.13 μg h−1 cm−2, representing a promising W-based catalyst for NRR. DFT analysis further reveals that the NRR catalysis on WP2 proceeds in a distal reaction pathway, and the exceptional NRR activity is originated from superior surface electron energy level matching between WP2 and NRR potential which facilitates the interfacial proton-coupled electron transfer dynamics. The successfully unraveling the intrinsic catalytic mechanism of WP2 for NRR could offer a powerful platform to manipulate the NRR activity by tuning the electron energy levels.

The high unoccupied d band energy of Ni3N basically results in weak orbital coupling with water molecule, consequently leading to slow water dissociation kinetics. Herein, we demonstrate Cr doping can downshift the unoccupied d orbitals and strengthen the interfacial orbital coupling to boost the water dissociation kinetics. The prepared Cr-Ni3N/Ni displays an impressive overpotential of 37 mV at 10 mA·cmgeo−2, close to the benchmark Pt/C in 1.0 M KOH solution. Refined structural analysis reveals the Cr dopant exists as the Cr-N6 states and the average d band energy of Ni3N is also lowered. Density functional theory calculation further confirms the downshifted d band energy can strengthen the orbital coupling between the unpaired electrons in O 2p and the unoccupied state of Ni 3d, which thus facilitates the water adsorption and dissociation. The work provides a new concept to achieve on-demand functions for hydrogen evolution catalysis and beyond, by regulating the interfacial orbital coupling.

The interstitial structure and weak Ni-N interaction of Ni3N lead to high unoccupied d orbital energy and unsuitable orbital orientation, which consequently results in weak orbital coupling with H2O and slow water dissociation kinetics for alkaline hydrogen evolution catalysis. Herein, we successfully lower the unoccupied d orbital energy of Ni3N to strengthen the interfacial electronic coupling by employing the strong electron pulling capability of oxygen dopants. The prepared O-Ni3N catalyst delivers an overpotential of 55 mV at 10 mA cm−2, very close to the commercial Pt/C. Refined structural characterization indicates the oxygen incorporation can decrease the electron densities around the Ni sites. Moreover, density functional theory calculation further proves the oxygen incorporation can create more unoccupied orbitals with lower energy and superior orientation for water adsorption and dissociation. The concept of orbital-regulated interfacial electronic coupling could offer a unique approach for the rational design of hydrogen evolution catalysts and beyond.

Three-dimensional (3D) graphene networks are performance boosters for functional nanostructures in energy-related fields. Although tremendous intriguing nanostructures-decorated 3D graphene network...

Based on the reactivity of half-sandwich complexes [Cp*Fe(NCMe)3]PF6 and Cp*Co(1,2-Ph2PC6H4NH), (Cp* = Me5C5−), the iron(II)–cobalt(II) co-catalysis of the cycloaddition of alkynes to nitriles under mild reaction conditions has been studied. This method enables the synthesis of polysubstituted pyridines in a single step, and is especially valuable for the preparation of 2,3,4,5,6-pentafunctionalized pyridines.

Y.X. (File No. 201706340054) acknowledges the financial support by China Scholarship Council. M.B. is funded by the National Science Centre Grant No. UMO2016/23/D/ST3/03446. Access to computing facilities of PL-Grid Polish Infrastructure for Supporting Computational Science in the European Research Space and of the Interdisciplinary Center of Modeling (ICM), University of Warsaw is gratefully acknowledged. We made use of computing facilities of TU Dresden ZIH within the project “TransPheMat.” The low-temperature x-ray diffraction was performed in MGML [47], which was supported within the program of Czech Research Infrastructures (Project No. LM2018096). Author Y.X. performed the basic magnetic and transport measurements. Y.Y. and C.Z. performed angular-dependent magnetoresistance measurements. P.D. and D.K. performed the temperature-dependent XRD measurements. M.B. performed the DFT calculations and related analyses. J.G. contributed to the discussion about structural analyses. D.K. and X.Z. contributed to the discussion about transport analyses. M.H., S.Z., L.C., Y.-J.Z., and M.W. contributed to the revision of the manuscript. S.P. designed and supervised the whole project

One of the most attractive characteristics of diluted ferromagnetic semiconductors is the possibility to modulate their electronic and ferromagnetic properties, coupled by itinerant holes through various means. A prominent example is the modification of Curie temperature and magnetic anisotropy by ion implantation and pulsed laser melting in III–V diluted magnetic semiconductors. In this study, to the best of our knowledge, we performed, for the first time, the co-doping of (In,Mn)As diluted magnetic semiconductors by Al by co-implantation subsequently combined with a pulsed laser annealing technique. Additionally, the structural and magnetic properties were systematically investigated by gradually raising the Al implantation fluence. Unexpectedly, under a well-preserved epitaxial structure, all samples presented weaken Curie temperature, magnetization, as well as uniaxial magnetic anisotropies when more aluminum was involved. Such a phenomenon is probably due to enhanced carrier localization introduced by Al or the suppression of substitutional Mn atoms.

Aim: To provide clarity surrounding the association between tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) and esophageal cancer prognosis. Materials & methods: Several databases were searched. The meta-analysis was conducted by using software Stata 12.0 and Revman. Results: Sixteen studies were included in this analysis (2292 samples). CD68+ TAM density was not associated with overall survival (OS; hazard ratio [HR]: 0.88, 95% CI: 0.67–1.15; p = 0.33) and disease-free survival (HR: 1.25, 95% CI: 0.66–2.35; p = 0.49). M2-like TAMs were associated with poor overall survival (HR: 1.47, 95% CI: 1.10–1.98; p = 0.01), Tumor, Node, Metastasis staging and vessel metastasis. Conclusion: CD68+ TAM density is not associated with esophageal cancer progression, while CD163+ M2-like TAMs is a potential risk factor.

Molybdenum disulfide is naturally inert for alkaline hydrogen evolution catalysis, due to its unfavorable water adsorption and dissociation feature originated from the unsuitable orbital orientation. Herein, we successfully endow molybdenum disulfide with exceptional alkaline hydrogen evolution capability by carbon-induced orbital modulation. The prepared carbon doped molybdenum disulfide displays an unprecedented overpotential of 45 mV at 10 mA cm−2, which is substantially lower than 228 mV of the molybdenum disulfide and also represents the best alkaline hydrogen evolution catalytic activity among the ever-reported molybdenum disulfide catalysts. Fine structural analysis indicates the electronic and coordination structures of molybdenum disulfide have been significantly changed with carbon incorporation. Moreover, theoretical calculation further reveals carbon doping could create empty 2p orbitals perpendicular to the basal plane, enabling energetically favorable water adsorption and dissociation. The concept of orbital modulation could offer a unique approach for the rational design of hydrogen evolution catalysts and beyond., Technologies allowing for sustainable hydrogen production will contribute to the decarbonization of the future energy supply. Here the authors report that carbon induced orbital modulation can facilitate the otherwise inert MoS2 electrocatalyst superior alkaline hydrogen evolution reactivity.

Although Ni3N possesses superior hydrogen desorption behavior, its alkaline hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) catalysis is substantially hindered, due to the high-lying unoccupied orbital center induced sluggish water dissociation kinetics. Herein, we successfully endow Ni3N with exceptional alkaline HER activity by in situ interfacial engineering. The prepared Ni3N/MoO2 interfacial system delivers an ultra-small overpotential of 21 mV at 10 mA cm−2, which is very close to that of the benchmark Pt/C catalysts. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations reveal that MoO2 with a lower unoccupied orbital center could substantially boost the water dissociation kinetics, while the hydrogen desorption proceeds on Ni3N. The capability to understand and design interfacial systems provides an effective pathway for the rational construction of HER catalysts and beyond.

Small : nano micro (2104356), (2021). doi:10.1002/smll.202104356, Published by Wiley-VCH, Weinheim

We report a change in the structural and magnetic properties of epitaxial Mn5Ge3 on a Ge-on-Si (111) substrate by applying strain engineering through ms-range flash lamp annealing (FLA). X-ray diffraction results demonstrate that during FLA for 20 ms, the formation of nonmagnetic MnxGey secondary phases is suppressed, while the in-plane expansion of the lattice increases with increasing annealing temperature. Temperature-dependent magnetization results indicate that the Curie temperature of Mn5Ge3 rises from 287 K in the as-prepared sample to above 400 K after FLA, making Mn5Ge3 an attractive material for spintronics. Experimental results together with theoretical Monte Carlo simulations allow us to conclude that the expansion of the in-plane lattice causes the increase of the Curie temperature due to enhancement of the ferromagnetic interaction between Mn atoms.

The underlying causes of esophageal cancer (EC) are unknown. To explore the molecular mechanisms that lead to EC, gene expression profiles of large cohorts of patients with EC were obtained from The Cancer Genome Atlas and the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) databases (GSE5364, GSE20347 and GSE23400). The present study identified 83 upregulated and 22 downregulated genes between EC and normal tissue using R statistical software and the GEO2R web tool. The Database for Annotation, Visualization and Integrated Discovery was used to identify the associated pathways, and for functional annotation of the differentially expressed genes (DEGs). Protein-protein interactions of these DEGs were analyzed based on the Search Tool for the Retrieval of Interacting Genes database, and hub genes were visualized using Cytoscape software. An online Kaplan-Meier plotter survival analysis tool was utilized to evaluate the prognostic value of hub gene expression in patients with EC. Further analysis of an additional dataset from GEO (GSE21293) revealed that these genes were associated with infiltration and metastasis in EC. In addition, the Gene Expression Profiling Interactive Analysis tool was used to evaluate expression levels of hub genes in patients with EC for different pathological stages. The Ualcan analysis tool was used to evaluate the expression levels of hub genes for different histological types. Overall, ubiquitin conjugating enzyme E2 C, cyclin dependent kinase inhibitor 3, CDC28 protein kinase regulatory subunit 2, kinesin family member 20A (KIF20A) and RAD51 associated protein 1 (RAD51AP1) were upregulated in EC tissues compared with normal tissues, and upregulation of these genes was a poor prognostic factor for patients with EC, indicating that these genes may mediate EC cell infiltration and metastasis. Among the hub genes, KIF-20A had potential value for predicting the pathological stage of EC. KIF20A and RAD51AP1 were more informative biomarkers of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. Further studies are required to explore the value of these genes in the treatment of EC.

Hyperdoping Si with chalcogens is a topic of great interest due to the strong sub-bandgap absorption exhibited by the resulting material, which can be exploited to develop broadband room-temperature infrared photodetectors using fully Si-compatible technology. Here, we report on the critical behavior of the impurity-driven insulator-to-metal transition in Te-hyperdoped Si layers fabricated via ion implantation followed by nanosecond pulsed-laser melting. Electrical transport measurements reveal an insulator-to-metal transition, which is also confirmed and understood by density functional theory calculations. We demonstrate that the metallic phase is governed by a power law dependence of the conductivity at temperatures below 25 K, whereas the conductivity in the insulating phase is well described by a variable-range hopping mechanism with a Coulomb gap at temperatures in the range of 2-50 K. These results show that the electron wave-function in the vicinity of the transition is strongly affected by the disorder and the electron-electron interaction., Comment: 19 pages, 6 figures

Background A hypoxic tumor microenvironment promotes the recruitment and transformation of macrophages and facilitates tumor progression. Hypoxia-induced factor-1α (HIF-1α) is a key factor in hypoxia. It is not clear whether HIF-1α and tumor associated macrophages (TAMs) play a synergistic role in neoplastic progression. Here we investigated potential synergism between HIF-1α and TAMs in the progression of Kazakh esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). Methods We used immunohistochemistry (IHC) verify the expression of HIF-1α and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in tumor tissue. CD163 was used as a marker for TAMs, and the density of TAMs in tumor tissues were determined. Kazakh ESCC samples exhibited higher expression of HIF-1α and VEGF and greater density of TAMs compared to cancer adjacent normal (CAN) tissues. Results Overexpression of HIF-1α was significantly correlated with vascular invasion, lymph node metastasis and the clinical tumor stage of Kazakh ESCCs. Overexpression of HIF-1α was also associated with poor prognosis of Kazakh ESCC. Moreover, overexpression of HIF-1α was positively correlated with high TAM density and overexpression of VEGF (P P

The HER activities of P-rich transition metal phosphides can be substantially boosted by N-induced lattice contraction., P-rich transition metal phosphides (TMPs) with abundant P sites have been predicted to be more favorable for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) catalysis. However, the actual activities of P-rich TMPs do not behave as expected, and the underlying essence especially at the atomic level is also ambiguous. Our structural analysis reveals the inferior activity could stem from the reduced overlap of atomic wave functions between metal and P with the increase in P contents, which consequently results in too strong P-H interaction. To this end, we used N-induced lattice contraction to generally boost the HER catalysis of P-rich TMPs including CoP2, FeP2, NiP2, and MoP2. Refined structural characterization and theoretical analysis indicate the N-P strong interaction could increase the atomic wave function overlap and eventually modulate the H adsorption strength. The concept of lattice engineering offers a new vision for tuning the catalytic activities of P-rich TMPs and beyond.

Background: LigaSure hemorrhoidectomy and the procedure for prolapse and hemorrhoids (PPH) are both relatively new treatments for managing symptomatic hemorrhoids. This review aimed to evaluate and compare their short-term outcomes. Methods: We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials and the China National Knowledge Infrastructure database for randomized controlled trials comparing the LigaSure procedure and PPH published in any language from 1998 to October 2013. Results: A total of 5 studies involving 397 participants were included in this review. Pooled analysis showed that the LigaSure procedure was associated with significantly lower recurrence rate [relative risk (RR) = 0.21, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.06 to 0.72, P = .01] and significantly shorter operating time [mean difference (MD) = −6.39, 95% CI: −7.68 to −5.10, P .05). Conclusions: Our review indicates that both LigaSure hemorrhoidectomy and PPH are safe alternatives for the management of hemorrhoids. Available evidence suggests that the LigaSure technique is associated with shorter operating time and lower hemorrhoid recurrence rate, but these conclusions should be further confirmed in large, multicenter randomized controlled trials with long-term follow-up.

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are believed to participate in infiltration of tumors. High mortality of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) related to its primary infiltration; however, it is not clear whether the expression of VEGF and MMPs is involved in this process. Screening of The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database showed that among the VEGF family and MMP9, VEGF-A, VEGF-C, and MMP-9 mRNA were overexpression in ESCC. This result was verified using the Oncomine database and in Kazakh patients with ESCC. Overexpression of VEGF-C and MMP-9 and positive association with advanced esophageal cancer and invading ESCC cells (Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO): GSE21293). Immunohistochemical staining revealed that VEGF-C and MMP-9 were overexpressed in Kazakh ESCCs. VEGF-C expression was related to invasive depth, tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) staging, lymphatic, and lymph node metastasis of ESCC. The linear association between them was further confirmed in TCGA database and the specimens from Kazakh patients with ESCC. Patients with both proteins expression had tumors with greater aggressiveness, suffered from poor prognosis compared with patients who did not express either protein or expressed protein alone. Both proteins expression predicted high invasiveness of ESCC, which is related to worse prognosis of Kazakh ESCCs.

Metal sulfides for hydrogen evolution catalysis typically suffer from unfavorable hydrogen desorption properties due to the strong interaction between the adsorbed H and the intensely electronegative sulfur. Here, we demonstrate a general strategy to improve the hydrogen evolution catalysis of metal sulfides by modulating the surface electron densities. The N modulated NiCo2S4 nanowire arrays exhibit an overpotential of 41 mV at 10 mA cm−2 and a Tafel slope of 37 mV dec−1, which are very close to the performance of the benchmark Pt/C in alkaline condition. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, synchrotron-based X-ray absorption spectroscopy, and density functional theory studies consistently confirm the surface electron densities of NiCo2S4 have been effectively manipulated by N doping. The capability to modulate the electron densities of the catalytic sites could provide valuable insights for the rational design of highly efficient catalysts for hydrogen evolution and beyond. The hydrogen evolution reaction is a promising route to produce clean hydrogen fuel; however, its efficient electrolytic generation relies on expensive platinum. Here, the authors show how modulating electron density in a metal sulfide, NiCo2S4, boosts hydrogen desorption to achieve high catalytic activity.