生物信息学在诊疗阿尔茨海默病的应用研究进展

阿尔茨海默病(Alzheimer’s Disease,AD)发病机制复杂,诊断方法局限,且临床上缺乏有效的治疗药物,是现代医学领域的难点。生物信息学可为筛选AD关键病理学生物标志物、分析AD差异性表达基因、筛选AD有效药物作用靶点、研究AD的发病机制,以及发现抗AD新型药物提供了新的思路。然而,在生物信息学研究中数据的预处理和统计分析方式会对结果造成较大影响,且在实际研究中跨平台和跨实验室的分析方法缺乏一致协调性,导致难以进行数据间的对比。因此,建立标准的操作程序和质量控制协议、提高跨平台之间方法的可重复性、促进研究间的数据对比至关重要。

Dynamic cooperations between lattice oxygen and oxygen vacancies for photocatalytic ethane dehydrogenation by a self-restoring LaVO_(4)catalyst

Thermocatalytic nonoxidative ethane dehydrogenation(EDH)is a promising strategy for ethene production but suffers from intense energy consumption and poor catalyst durability;exploring technology that permits efficient EDH by solar energy remains a giant challenge.Herein,we present that an oxygen vacancy(O_v)-rich LaVO_(4)(LaVO_(4)-O_v)catalyst is highly active and stable for photocatalytic EDH,through a dynamic lattice oxygen(O_(latt.))and O_(v)co-mediated mechanism.Irradiated by simulated sunlight at mild conditions,LaVO_(4)-O_(v)effectively dehydrogenates undiluted ethane to produce C_(2)H_(4)and CO with a conversion of 2.3%.By loading a small amount of Pt cocatalyst,the evolution and selectivity of C_(2)H_(4)are enhanced to 275μmol h^(-1)g^(-1)and 96.8%.Of note,LaVO_(4)-O_(v)appears nearly no carbon deposition after the reaction.The isotope tracked reactions reveal that the consumed O_(latt.)recuperates by exposing the used catalyst with O_(2),thus establishing a dynamic cycle of O_(latt.)and achieving a facile catalyst regeneration to preserve its intrinsic activity.The refreshed LaVO_(4)-O_(v)exhibits superior reusability and delivers a turnover number of about 305.The O_(v)promotes photo absorption,boosts ethane adsorption/activation,and accelerates charge separation/transfer,thus improving the photocatalytic efficiency.The possible photocatalytic EDH mechanism is proposed,considering the key intermediates predicted by density functional theory(DFT)and monitored by in-situ diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy(DRIFTS).

Tuning the exciton binding energy of covalent organic frameworks for efficient photocatalysis

Owing to the large exciton binding energy(>100 meV)of most organic materials,the process of exciton dissociation into free electrons and holes is seriously hindered,which plays a key role in the photocatalytic system.In this study,a series of chalcogen(S,Se)-substituted mesoporous covalent organic frameworks(COFs)have been synthesized for enhanced photocatalytic organic transformations.Photoelectrochemical measurements indicate that the introduction of semi-metallic Se atom and the enlargement of conjugation degree can not only reduce the exciton binding energy accelerating the charge separation,but also reduce the band gap of COFs.As a result,the COF-NUST-36 with the lowest exciton binding energy(39.5 meV)shows the highest photocatalytic performance for selective oxidation of amines(up to 98%Conv.and 97.5%Sel.).This work provides a feasible method for designing COFs with high photocatalytic activity by adjusting exciton binding energy.

High-performance non-Fermi-liquid metallic thermoelectric materials

Searching for high-performance thermoelectric(TE)materials in the paradigm of narrow-bandgap semiconductors is hampered by a bottleneck.Here we report on the discovery of metallic compounds,TiFe_(x)Cu_(2x−1)Sb and TiFe1.33Sb,showing the thermopower exceeding many TE semiconductors and the dimensionless figure of merits zTs comparable with the state-of-the-art TE materials.A quasi-linear temperature(T)dependent electrical resistivity in 2–700 K and the logarithmic T-dependent electronic specific heat at low temperature coexist with the high thermopower,highlighting the strong intercoupling of the non-Fermi-liquid(NFL)quantum critical behavior of electrons with TE transports.Electronic structure analysis reveals a competition between the antiferromagnetic(AFM)ordering and Kondo-like spin compensation as well as a parallel two-channel Kondo effect.The T-dependent magnetic susceptibility agrees with the quantum critical scenario of strong local correlation.Our work demonstrates the correlation among high TE performance,NFL quantum criticality,and magnetic fluctuation,which opens up directions for future research.

High-loading and thermally stable Pt1/MgAl1.2Fe0.8O4 single-atom catalysts for high-temperature applications

Single-atom catalysts(SACs)have attracted extensive attention in the field of heterogeneous catalysis.However,the fabrication of SACs with high loading and hightemperature stability remains a grand challenge,especially on oxide supports.In this work,we have demonstrated that through strong covalent metal-support interaction,highloading and thermally stable single-atom Pt catalysts can be readily prepared by using Fe modified spinel as support.Better catalytic performance in N2O decomposition reaction is obtained on such SACs than their nanocatalyst counterpart and low-surface-area Fe2O3 supported Pt SACs.This work provides a strategy for the fabrication of high-loading and thermally stable SACs for applications at high temperatures.

Atomistic observation of in situ fractured surfaces at a V-doped WC–Co interface

1.Introduction Cemented carbides are composites of WC ceramic phases and metallic Co binders that endow them with superior hardness and excellent toughness.Hard metals are widely used as metal cutting and rock drilling tools[1,2].Their hardness is believed to be inversely proportional to the sizes of WC grains^([3]).Grain growth inhibitors are widely employed to achieve smaller grain sizes.

A versatile defect engineering strategy for room-temperature flash sintering

In this study,we reported that flash sintering(FS)could be efficiently triggered at room temperature(25℃)by manipulating the oxygen concentration within ZnO powders via a versatile defect engineering strategy,fully demonstrating a promising method for the repaid prototyping of ceramics.With a low concentration of oxygen defects,FS was only activated at a high onset electric field of~2.7 kV/cm,while arcs appearing on the surfaces of samples.Strikingly,the onset electric field was decreased to<0.51 kV/cm for the activation of FS initiated,which was associated with increased oxygen concentrations coupled with increased electrical conductivity.Thereby,a general room-temperature FS strategy by introducing intrinsic structural defect is suggested for a broad range of ceramics that are prone to form high concentration of point defects.

Fast electrochemical activation of the broadband saturable absorption of tungsten oxide nanoporous film

The on-demand modulation of defects in materials for the effective modulation of optical nonlinearity is desirable,while it remains a great challenge.In this work,we demonstrate that electrochemical activation is a facile and convenient approach to modulating the broadband third-order nonlinear absorption of nanoporous tungsten oxide(WO3-x)thin film.The film does not exhibit optical nonlinearity at the initial state,while shows a distinct saturable absorption under an applied voltage of-2.5 V with the excitation of 515,800,and 1,030 nm laser.The nonlinear absorption coefficient(β_(eff))is-766.38±6.67 cm·GW^(-1) for 1,030 nm laser,-624.24±17.15 cm·GW-1 for 800 nm laser,and-120.70±11.49 cm·GW^(-1) for 515 nm laser,and the performance is competitive among inorganic saturable absorbers.The activation is accomplished in 2 min.The performance enhancement is ascribed to the formation of abundant in-gap defect states because of the reduction of the tungsten atoms,and a Pauli-blocking effect occurs during the excitation of in-gap defect states.The small feature size of WO_(3-x)(-12 nm)enables the effective and fast introduction and removal of the defects in porous film,and accordingly the fast and broadband modulation of optical nonlinearity.Our results suggest a controllable,effective,and convenient approach to tuning the nonlinear absorption of materials.

Computing grain boundary diagrams of thermodynamic and mechanical properties

Computing the grain boundary(GB)counterparts to bulk phase diagrams represents an emerging research direction.Using a classical embrittlement model system Ga-doped Al alloy,this study demonstrates the feasibility of computing temperature-and composition-dependent GB diagrams to represent not only equilibrium thermodynamic and structural characters,but also mechanical properties.Specifically,hybrid Monte Carlo and molecular dynamics(MC/MD)simulations are used to obtain the equilibrium GB structure as a function of temperature and composition.Simulated GB structures are validated by aberrationcorrected scanning transmission electron microscopy.Subsequently,MD tensile tests are performed on the simulated equilibrium GB structures.GB diagrams are computed for not only GB adsorption and structural disorder,but also interfacial structural and chemical widths,MD ultimate tensile strength,and MD tensile toughness.This study suggests a research direction to investigate GB composition–structure–property relationships via computing GB diagrams of thermodynamic,structural,and mechanical(or potentially other)properties.