Melittin inhibited glycolysis and induced cell apoptosis in cisplatinresistant lung adenocarcinoma cells via TRIM8

Chemotherapy is widely used for non-small cell lung cancer(NSCLC)patients at a late stage;however,NSCLC patients often acquire resistance to chemotherapeutic drugs,thus limiting the therapy efficacy.Melittin,a major component of bee venom,possesses anti-tumor activity in various cancer cells.Here,we examined the effects of melittin on A549/DDP cisplatin-resistant lung adenocarcinoma cells and xenografts formed from this cell line and investigated the possible target of melittin.Treatment with melittin resulted in the induction of cell apoptosis,glycolysis inhibition,and reduction of phosphorylated AKT(p-AKT)in A549/DDP cells.We also identified that tripartite motif-containing 8(TRIM8)was a potential target of melittin.Moreover,we found that TRIM8 mRNA expression was elevated in NSCLC specimens as compared to adjacent normal tissues(N=25)and that patients with high expression of TRIM8 had a poor prognosis for lung adenocarcinoma.The knockdown of TRIM8 had a similar effect of melittin,while overexpression of TRIM8 reversed the effects of melittin in A549/DDP cells.More importantly,we revealed that melittin enhanced cisplatin sensitivity in A549/DDP cells and tumor growth in vivo using a xenograft model of A549/DDP cells.In conclusion,melittin appears to be a potential chemotherapy sensitization agent in NSCLC.

Insight into the large electro-strain in bismuth sodium titanate-based relaxor ferroelectrics:From fundamentals to regulation methods

Due to the demand for environmental protection,developing eco-friendly piezoelectric applica-tions/materials is an inevitable trend.The market share of lead-free materials is growing steadily every year.Among typical lead-free systems,Bi_(0.5)Na_(0.5)TiO_(3)(BNT)has attracted wide attention due to its supe-rior strain property(e.g.,dynamic piezoelectric coefficient d33*of most modified-BNT ceramics exceeds 600 pm/V,which is higher than commercial soft PZT ceramics PIC151).The excellent strain performance in BNT-based materials is thought to arise from the relaxor-ferroelectric transition,and currently,the mainstream strain regulation method is chemical modifying.So far,amounts of effective dopants have been investigated,while the intrinsic strain regulation mechanism is still ambiguous(e.g.,how do dopants work?).Therefore,we review the intrinsic strain regulation mechanism,and strain origination and reg-ulation methods are also investigated to comprehend the regulation mechanism.Significantly,the strain origination and regulation mechanism are investigated from different dimensions(e.g.,macro perspective and micro perspective),which is vacant in previous reports.From the macro view,the particular tai-lored relaxor-ferroelectric crossover is the critical key for the giant electro-strain,while from the micro view,the electro-strain is dominated by the cracked ferroelectric order and relaxor-ferroelectric transi-tion,resulting from the broken Bi-O bonds due to the local field effect.Exploring the strain origination and regulation mechanism of BNT-based ceramics is of great importance to exclude the blind researching mode and rationally design the experimental scheme.

Low-temperature dielectric relaxation associated with NbO_6 octahedron distortion in antimony modified potassium sodium niobate ceramics

Although the antimony(Sb) has been widely used to modify potassium sodium niobate(KNN) ceramics for tailoring the phase structure and performance, the role of Sb still remains insufficiently understood,consequently hindering the understanding of the physical origin of high-performance KNN-based ceramics. Here, we combine the experiments and first-principles calculations to deeply reveal the effects of Sb on KNN ceramics. Our results reveal a re-entrant-like relaxation behavior near the rhombohedralorthorhombic(R-O) phase transition at the low content of Sb, which transforms into a canonical one at higher content of Sb. First-principles calculations show a significantly decreased difference in the bond length of six B-O bonds of Nb O6 octahedral in Sb-modified KNN ceramics compared to pristine KNN ceramics, responsible for the low-temperature re-entrant-like dielectric relaxation. Furthermore, the addition of Sb would soften the B-O repulsion and gradually break the long-range ferroelectric ordering,resulting in the occurrence of nanoscale domains and enhanced local heterogeneity. Finally, we find that the optimized piezoelectric properties are the trade-off between the long-range ferroelectric ordering and the local heterogeneity. Therefore, this work not only deeply reveals the effects of Sb on KNN ceramics from multi-scale perspectives but also helps the future composition design for achieving high piezoelectricity.

Advances in metal phosphides for sodium-ion batteries

Sodium-ion batteries(SIBs)have been extensively studied as the potential alter-native to lithium-ion batteries(LIBs)due to the abundant natural reserves and low price of sodium resources.Nevertheless,Na+ions possess a larger radius than Li+,resulting in slow diffusion dynamics in electrode materials,and thus seeking appropriate anode materials to meet high performance standards has become a trend in the field of SIBs.In this context,owing to the advantages of high theoretical capacity and proper redox potential,metal phosphides(MPs)are considered to be the promising materials to make up for the gap of SIBs anode materials.In this review,the recent development of MPs anode materials for SIBs is reviewed and analyzed comprehensively and deeply,including the synthesis method,advanced modification strategy,electrochemical performance,and Na storage mechanism.In addition,to promote the wide application of the emerg-ing MPs anodes for SIBs,several research emphases in the future are pointed out to overcome challenges toward the commercial application.

Coupling effects of the A-site ions on high-performance potassium sodium niobate ceramics

Although vast efforts have been given to the phase boundary engineering(PBE) of potassium sodium niobate(KNN) ceramics by using chemical dopants,the inherent issues like the K/Na ratio were not paid enough attention,hindering the further understanding of physical mechanisms.Herein,we investigated the effect of the K/Na ratio on PBE-featured KNN-based ceramics.The K/Na ratio significantly influences the local A-site environment and thereby alters mesoscopic ferroelectric domains and macroscopic structure and performance.A much higher Na^(+)content results in the local stress heterogeneity,while a much higher K^(+)content brings in the local polar heterogeneity.Due to the appropriate coupling between the local stress and the polar heterogeneity,piezoelectric properties and the temperature stability of electrostrain are optimized on the Na-rich side.Therefore,beyond seeking appropriate chemical dopants,elaborately tailoring the K/Na ratio is also important for further improving the piezoelectric properties of PBE-featured KNN-based ceramics.

Multiscale Structure Engineering for High-Performance Pb-Free Piezoceramics

CONSPECTUS:The increasing world energy crisis drives humans to harvest the energy in nature as much as possible without heavily damaging the environment.However,most of the energy in nature cannot be used directly.Therefore,pursuing technologies or matter that can directly interconvert different energies has been one of the most cutting-edge fields in science and technology.Such a magic ability exists in true-life piezoelectric materials that generate charge when being given a force and vice versa,rendering them highly promising for energy harvesting and conversion because of the tremendous mechanical energy on the earth,such as tide energy.Thus,piezoelectric materials,represented by the lead zirconate titanate(Pb(Zr,Ti)O_(3),PZT)family,have been largely used in various traditional and burgeoning fields,such as electronic information,biomedical treatment,and wearable flexible electronic devices,and are one of the most important favorites in multidisciplinary fields.However,Pb is highly toxic.Driven by environmental protection and concern for human health,Pb-free piezoceramics are rapidly being developed to hopefully replace Pb-based ones.In particular,the renewal of Restriction of the use of certain Hazardous Substances(e.g.,RoHS 2),issued by the European Union,declared that replacement of PZT“...may be scientif ically and technologically practical to a certain degree...”.Therefore,developing high-performance Pb-free piezoceramics has become more urgent than ever.In this context,some Pb-free piezoceramics,represented by potassium sodium niobate((K,Na)NbO_(3),KNN),barium titanate(BaTiO_(3),BT),bismuth barium titanate((Bi,Na)TiO_(3),BNT),and bismuth ferrite(BiFeO_(3),BFO),stand out because of their unique or similar traits.However,several key challenges,including an inferior overall performance compared to Pb-based counterparts and an unclear structure−property relationship from multiscale viewpoints,have severely hindered the development of Pb-free piezoceramics for a long time.Pb-based piezoceramics possess decent performance due to the strategy of phase boundary engineering,which inspired the researchers to pursue it in Pb-free counterparts.In the last 10 years,our group has been aiming at the new phase boundary(NPB)and new physical phenomenon in Pb-free piezoceramics.This Account presents our recent contributions to the development of Pbfree piezoceramics concerning the good performance and emerging phenomenon.First,we introduce the construction of the NPB in KNN-based piezoceramics by emphasizing the role of some key elements(i.e.,Bi,Sb,Zr,and Hf).Then,we summarize the effects of the NPB on KNN-and BT-based ceramics and the new physical phenomenon in BNT-based ceramics.The NPB boosts the piezoelectric properties and temperature stability of KNN-and BT-based piezoceramics,comparable to some Pb-based piezoceramics.Combining the NPB and the multilayer ceramics substantially enhances the temperature stability of the piezoelectric constant.A new physical phenomenon of the nanoscale bubble domains with polar topologies is for the first time revealed in BNTbased ceramics,showing potential applications for nonconventional and high-density nonvolatile memories.In particular,we emphasize structure engineering from multiscale viewpoints including the local,microscopic,mesoscopic,and macroscopic structure(e.g.,lattice structure,ferroelectric domains,and phase structure).Finally,we provide perspectives on the future developments of Pb-free piezoceramics toward practical applications.

Equivalence of coefficients extraction of one-loop master integrals

Now,there have been many different methods to calculate one-loop amplitudes.Two of them are the unitarity cut method and the generalized unitarity cut method.In this short paper,we present an explicit connection between these two methods,especially how the extractions of triangle and bubble coefficients are equivalent to each other.

Sodium–gallium alloy layer for fast and reversible sodium deposition

Sodium metal has been regarded as the potential alternative for metal batter-ies owing to its advantages of high theoretical capacity and abundant reserves.Nevertheless,propagation of Na dendrites can boost the interfacial instability of Na metal,retarding its practical implementation.Thus,the Na–Ga alloy layer is designed and fabricated by in situ rolling of metal Ga on the surface of Na metal.This alloy layer possesses good sodiophilicity,which can effectively pro-tect Na metal and favor the uniform Na+deposition,obtaining the inhibition of Na dendrites growth.Consequently,the symmetric cells assembled by the alloy-layer protected Na metal electrodes(NGAL-Na||NGAL-Na)have a long lifetime(468 h)even under a high plating/stripping capacity of 6 mAh cm^(−2) in carbon-ate electrolyte.The full battery of NGAL-Na||Na 3 V 2(PO 4)3 is able to sustain an excellent rate capability of 100 mAh g−1 after 500 cycles at 10 C under ambi-ent temperature.This work provides a new route to prevent metal anodes from severe dendrite growth,and paves the way toward safer and stable-performing metal-based rechargeable batteries.