Dynamically-evolved surface heterojunction in iridium nanocrystals boosting acidic oxygen evolution and overall water splitting

Simultaneously realizing improved activity and stability of acidic oxygen evolution reaction(OER) electrocatalysts is highly promising for developing cost-effective sustainable energy in the splitting of water technique.Herein,we report iridium nanocrystals embedded into 3D conductive clothes(Ir-NCT/CC) as a low iridium electrocatalyst realizing ultrahigh acidic OER activity and robust stability.The well-designed Ir-NCT/CC requires a low overpotential of 202 mV to reach the current density of 10 mA cm^(-2)with a high mass activity of 1754 A g^(-1).Importantly,in acidic overall water splitting,Ir-NCT/CC merely delivers a cell voltage of 1.469 V at a typical current density of 10 mA cm^(-2)and also maintains robust durability under continuous operation.We identify that a low working voltage drives the formation of a highly stable amorphous IrOxactive phase over the surface of Ir nanocrystals(surface heterojunction IrOx/Ir-NCT) during operating conditions,which contributes to an effective and durable OER process.

The anti-cancerous mechanism of licochalcone A on human hepatoma cell HepG2 based on the miRNA omics

To explore the function of licochalcone A as an anticancer phytochemical on HepG2 cells and investigate its potential mechanisms,we analyzed the microRNAs(miRNAs)expression profile of HepG2 cells in response to licochalcone A(70μmol/L)in vitro.102 dysregulated miRNAs were detected,and SP1 was expected as the transcription factor that regulates the functions of most screened miRNAs.A sum of 431 targets,the overlap of predicted mRNAs from TargetScan,miRDB,and miRtarbase were detected as the targets for these dysregulated miRNAs.FoxO signaling pathway was the hub pathway for the targets.A protein-protein interaction network was structured on the STRING platform to discover the hub genes.Among them,PIK3R1,CDC42,ESR1,SMAD4,SUMO1,KRAS,AGO1,etc.were screened out.Afterwards,the miRNA-target networks were established to screen key dysregulated miRNAs.Two key miRNAs(hsa-miR-133b and hsa-miR-145-5p)were filtered.Finally,the miRNA-target-transcription factor networks were constructed for these key miRNAs.The networks for these key miRNAs included three and two transcription factors,respectively.These identified miRNAs,transcription factors,targets,and regulatory networks may offer hints to understand the molecular mechanism of licochalcone A as a natural anticarcinogen.

TabHLH27 orchestrates root growth and drought tolerance to enhance water use efficiency in wheat

Cultivating high-yield wheat under limited water resources is crucial for sustainable agriculture in semiarid regions.Amid water scarcity,plants activate drought response signaling,yet the delicate balance between drought tolerance and development remains unclear.Through genome-wide association studies and transcriptome profiling,we identified a wheat atypical basic helix-loop-helix(b HLH)transcription factor(TF),Tab HLH27-A1,as a promising quantitative trait locus candidate for both relative root dry weight and spikelet number per spike in wheat.Tab HLH27-A1/B1/D1 knockout reduced wheat drought tolerance,yield,and water use efficiency(WUE).Tab HLH27-A1 exhibited rapid induction with polyethylene glycol(PEG)treatment,gradually declining over days.It activated stress response genes such as Ta CBL8-B1 and Ta CPI2-A1 while inhibiting root growth genes like Ta SH15-B1 and Ta WRKY70-B1 under short-term PEG stimulus.The distinct transcriptional regulation of Tab HLH27-A1 involved diverse interacting factors such as Ta ABI3-D1 and Tab ZIP62-D1.Natural variations of Tab HLH27-A1influence its transcriptional responses to drought stress,with Tab HLH27-A1^(Hap-II)associated with stronger drought tolerance,larger root system,more spikelets,and higher WUE in wheat.Significantly,the excellent Tab HLH27-A1^(Hap-II)was selected during the breeding process in China,and introgression of Tab HLH27-A1^(Hap-II)allele improved drought tolerance and grain yield,especially under water-limited conditions.Our study highlights Tab HLH27-A1's role in balancing root growth and drought tolerance,providing a genetic manipulation locus for enhancing WUE in wheat.

Increased telocytes involved in the proliferation of vascular smooth muscle cells in rat carotid artery balloon injury

Telocytes(TCs) are a novel type of interstitial cells that are thought to be involved in tissue regeneration and repair. However, the possible roles of TCs in vascular diseases remain unclear. In this study, we used a rat model of carotid artery balloon injury(CABI) to study the changes and potential roles of vascular TCs after vascular injury. Transmission electron microscopy(TEM) and CD34/vimentin immunolabeling were used to identify and quantify TCs in normal and injured carotid arteries. Quantitative immunofluorescence analysis revealed that, compared with the sham group, the number of TCs in the CABI group increased from 7.2±1.0 to an average of 20.4±1.8 per 1-mm^2 vascular area. The expression level of mi R-24 in TCs was three times higher than in vascular smooth muscle cells(VSMCs). The percentage of VSMCs in S phase and G2/M phase increased by approximately 5% when VSMCs were incubated with the supernatant of TCs. The antagomir of mi R-24 in TCs reduced the ratio of VSMCs in S phase and G2/M phase. This study illuminates the function of TCs in the proliferation of VSMCs.

Metabolic disorder in the progression of heart failure

Heart failure(HF) is a major clinical concern owing to its high prevalence and high mortality.Metabolomics,an effective approach to predict diagnostic biomarkers and to explore the altered metabolic pathways in pathogenesis,has been extensively applied in evaluating the course of diseases.In this study,we used this approach to analyse the abundance of metabolites,with liquid chromatograph-mass spectrometer,in plasma samples from rats with transverse aortic constriction(TAC) and patients at different stages of HF.We compared the metabolic parameters within and between TAC rats and patients.An apparent metabolic shift was observed in rats,from compensated hypertrophy stage to decompensated hypertrophy stage,and in patients with HF,from stage A to stage B and subsequently stage C.Diagnostic biomarkers were predicted by comparing the variable importance in the projection scores and fold change analysis within and between rats and patients.Enrichment pathway analysis and network analysis provided an overview of the largely disturbed metabolic pathways,and those interfered at different stages and across species were confirmed.The significantly changed metabolites and pathways revealed the underlying mechanisms of HF pathogenesis,hinted at novel potential biomarkers,and provided potential therapeutic intervention targets for HF.

Realizing ranged performance in SnTe through integrating bands convergence and DOS distortion

As a typical IV-VI compound,SnTe has aroused widely attentions in the thermoelectric community due its similar crystal and band structures with PbTe.However,both the large number of inherent Sn vacancies and high thermal conductivity result in inferior thermoelectric performance in intrinsic SnTe over a broad temperature.In this work,we successfully improved those disadvantages of SnTe via stepwisely Pb heavily alloying and then In doping.A significantly wide fraction of Pb into SnTe(0-50%)achieves multiple effects:(a)the carrier concentration of SnTe is reduced through decreasing Sn vacancies via alloying high solution Pb atoms in the matrix;(b)the band structure is optimized through promoting the convergence of the two valence bands,simultaneously enhancing the Seebeck coefficient;(c)HAADF-STEM coupled with EDS results illustrate that guest Pb atoms randomly and uniformly occupied Sn atomic sites in the matrix,concurrently strengthening the phonon scattering.Furthermore,we introduced indium into Sn_(0.6)Pb_(0.4)Te system to create resonant states further enlarging the power factors at low-medium temperature.The integration of bands convergence and DOS distortion achieves a considerably high ZT_(ave) of~0.67 over the wide temperature range of 300-823 K in(Sn_(0.6)Pb_(0.4))_(0.995)In_(0.005)Te sample.

Catalytic effects of V-and O-species derived from PrF_(3)/V_(2)C for efficient hydrogen storage in MgH_(2)

Magnesium hydride(MgH_(2))is considered as an ideal hydrogen storage material with excellent hydrogen capacity,but the slow kinetics impedes its application.Herein,an efficient additive of V2C MXene-anchored PrF_(3) nanoparticles(PrF_(3)/V_(2)C)was synthesized,which presents excellent catalytic effect in improving the reversibility and stability of hydrogen storage in MgH_(2).The initial dehydrogenation temperature of the 5 wt.% PrF_(3)/V_(2)C-containing MgH_(2)(182℃) is 105℃ lower than that of pure MgH_(2),and 6.5 wt.%hydrogen is rapidly released from 5 wt.%PrF_(3)/V_(2)C-added MgH_(2)sample in 6 min at 240℃.In addition,5 wt.%PrF_(3)/V_(2)C-containing MgH_(2) sample possesses outstanding reversible hydrogen storage capability of 6.5 wt.% after 10 cycles of dehydrogenation and hydrogenation.Microstructure analysis shows that the introduction of Pr improves the stability of V-species(V^(0)and V^(2+))and O-species(lattice oxygen(OL)and vacancy oxygen(OV))formed during ball milling,promotes the interaction between V-species and O-species,and enhances their reversibility,which contributes to the significant improvement in re/dehydrogenation reversibility and cycling stability of MgH_(2).This study provides effective ideas and strategies for the purpose of designing and fabricating high-efficient catalysts for solid-state hydrogen storage materials.

A controllable gelatin-based microcarriers fabrication system for the whole procedures of MSCs amplification and tissue engineering

Biopolymer microbeads present substantial benefits for cell expansion,tissue engineering,and drug release applications.However,a fabrication system capable of producing homogeneous microspheres with high precision and controllability for cell proliferation,passaging,harvesting and downstream application is limited.Therefore,we developed a co-flow microfluidics-based system for the generation of uniform and size-controllable gelatin-based microcarriers(GMs)for mesenchymal stromal cells(MSCs)expansion and tissue engineering.Our evaluation of GMs revealed superior homogeneity and efficiency of cellular attachment,expansion and harvest,and MSCs expanded on GMs exhibited high viability while retaining differentiation multipotency.Optimization of passaging and harvesting protocols was achieved through the addition of blank GMs and treatment with collagenase,respectively.Furthermore,we demonstrated that MSC-loaded GMs were printable and could serve as building blocks for tissue regeneration scaffolds.These results suggested that our platform held promise for the fabrication of uniform GMs with downstream application of MSC culture,expansion and tissue engineering.