Electroextraction of neodymium from LiCl-KCl melt using binary liquid Ga-Al cathode

The electrochemical behaviour of Nd(Ⅲ)ion was investigated on inert W,active Ga and Ga-AI cathodes.It is established that the reduction of Nd(Ⅲ)ion on the inert electrode is a consecutive two-step process while that on the active electrodes is a one-step process.The apparent standard potential of the Nd(Ⅲ)/Nd redox couple at different temperatures was determined by open-circuit chronopotentiometry and semi-differential method,and the relationship between temperature and apparent standard potential was further discussed.The thermodynamic properties of Nd in Ga and Ga-Al electrodes such as activity coefficient and activity were evaluated via intermittent coulomb titration and temperature dependence test,and the effect of temperature on activity coefficient was verified.Finally,Nd was successfully extracted in form of alloy from molten salt by galvanostatic electrolysis,in which the current efficiency of91.7%for the electroextraction indicates that the binary liquid Ga-Al electrode has favorable performance.

Domesticated cynomolgus monkey embryonic stem cells allow the generation of neonatal interspecies chimeric pigs

Blastocyst complementation by pluripotent stem cell(PSC)injection is believed to be the most promising method to generate xenogeneic organs.However,ethical issues prevent the study of human chimeras in the late embryonic stage of development.Primate embryonic stem cells(ESCs),which have similar pluripotency to human ESCs,are a good model for studying interspecies chimerism and organ generation.However,whether primate ESCs can be used in xenogenous grafts remains unclear.In this study,we evaluated the chimeric ability of cynomolgus monkey(Macaca fascicularis)ESCs(cmESCs)in pigs,which are excellent hosts because of their many similarities to humans.We report an optimized culture medium that enhanced the anti-apoptotic ability of cmESCs and improved the development of chimeric embryos,in which domesticated cmESCs(D-ESCs)injected into pig blastocysts differentiated into cells of all three germ layers.In addition,we obtained two neonatal interspecies chimeras,in which we observed tissue-specific D-ESC differentiation.Taken together,the results demonstrate the capability of D-ESCs to integrate and differentiate into functional cells in a porcine model,with a chimeric ratio of 0.001-0.0001 in different neonate tissues.We believe this work will facilitate future developments in xenogeneic organogenesis,bringing us one step closer to producing tissue-specific functional cells and organs in a large animal model through interspecies blastocyst complementation.

Two-dimensional heterostructure promoted infrared photodetection devices

It is a rapidly developed subject in expanding the fundamental properties and application of two-dimensional(2D)materials.The weak van der Waals interaction in 2D materials inspired researchers to explore 2D heterostructures(2DHs)based broadband photodetectors in the far-infrared(IR)and middle-IR regions with high response and high detectivity.This review focuses on the strategy and motivation of designing 2DHs based high-performance IR photodetectors,which provides a wide view of this field and new expectation for advanced photodetectors.First,the photocarriers'generation mechanism and frequently employed device structures are presented.Then,the 2DHs are divided into semimetal/semiconductor 2DHs,semiconductor/semiconductor 2DHs,and multidimensional semi-2DHs;the advantages,motivation,mechanism,recent progress,and outlook are discussed.Finally,the challenges for next-generation photodetectors are described for this rapidly developing field.

Durable pluripotency and haploidy in epiblast stem cells derived from haploid embryonic stem cells in vitro

Haploid pluripotent stem cells,such as haploid embryonic stem cells(haESCs),facilitate the genetic study of recessive traits.In vitro,fish haESCs maintain haploidy in both undifferentiated and differentiated states,but whether mammalian haESCs can preserve pluripotency in the haploid state has not been tested.Here,wereport thatmousehaESCs can differentiate in vitro into haploid epiblast stem cells(haEpiSCs),which maintain an intact haploid genome,unlimited self-renewal potential,and durable pluripotency to differentiate into various tissues in vitro and in vivo.Mechanistically,the maintenance of self-renewal potential depends on the Activin/bFGF pathway.We further show that haEpiSCs can differentiate in vitro into haploid progenitor-like cells.When injected into the cytoplasm of an oocyte,androgenetic haEpiSC(ahaEpiSCs)can support embryonic development until midgestation(E12.5).Together,these resultsdemonstrate durable pluripotency inmousehaESCs andhaEpiSCs,aswell asthe valuable potential of using these haploid pluripotent stem cells in high-throughput genetic screening.

RNA Guided Genome Editing in Mouse Germ-Line Stem Cells

Spermatogonial stem cells （SSCs） reside on the basement membrane of the seminiferous tubules in mammalian testes （Nagano et al., 1998）. After isolation and purification of SSCs from mouse testis, SSCs can be cultured in vitro to derive germ-line stem cells （GSCs） which have the ability of proliferation over 2 years （Kanatsu-Shinohara et al.. 2003;

Cyclodextrin derivatives functionalized highly sensitive chiral sensor based on organic field-effect transistor

Novel highly sensitive chiral organic field-effect transistors(COFET)were developed by directly assembling imidazolium3,5-dimethylphenylcabamoylated-β-cyclodextrin(lm^+-Ph-β-CD)and 3,5-dimethylphenylcarbamoylated-β-CD(Ph-β-CD)respectively onto the semiconductor layer as sensing units.The Im+-Ph-β-CD/COFET afforded better enantioselectivity and a lowest detection concentration of10^-18 L/mol as well as the potentiality in quantitative analysis of commercial medicines.