Decrease in Serum Amyloid a Protein Levels Following Three-month Stays in Negatively Charged Particle-dominant Indoor Air Conditions

Objective The changes in serum adipokines and cytokines related to oxidative stress were examined during 3 months ‘Off to On’ and ‘On to Off’ periods using negatively charged particle-dominant indoor air conditions（NCPDIAC）.Methods Seven volunteers participated in the study,which included ‘OFF to 3 months ON’ periods（ON trials） for a total of 16 times,and ‘ON to 3 months OFF’（OFF trials） periods for a total of 13 times.Results With the exception of one case,serum amyloid A（SAA） levels decreased significantly during the ON trials.Conclusion Considering that SAA is an acute phase reactive protein such as C reactive protein（CRP）,this observed decrease might indicate the prevention of cardiovascular and atherosclerotic changes,since an increase in high-sensitive CRP is associated with the subsequent detection of these events.

Negatively charged insulated boron nitride nanofibers directing subsurface zinc deposition for dendrite-free zinc anodes

The practical application of aqueous zinc-ion batteries(ZIBs)is limited by the growth of dendrite during cycling.How to rationally design and construct an efficient artificial interface layer by selecting suitable building units to control the dendrite growth is still a challenge.Herein,a porous boron nitride nanofibers(BNNFs)artificial interface layer was constructed,and its working mechanisms were revealed by both experiments(electrochemical characterization and in-situ optical microscope)and theoretical calculations(density functional theory(DFT)and finite element simulation).The insulated BNNFs layer leads to position-selected electroplating between BNNFs layer and Zn foil.The unique negatively charged surface and porosity of BNNFs contribute to the self-concentrating and pumping features of Zn ions,thus suppressing the concentration polarization on the Zn surface.Additionally,densely arranged porous BNNFs have a shunt effect on Zn ions diffusion,resulting in uniform distributions of Zn ions and electric field.The introduced BNNFs layer not only makes Zn deposition uniform but also restrains the dendrite growth,therefore the Zn+BNNFs symmetric cells perform ultralong stable cycling for 1,600 h at 1 mA·cm–2 and more than 500 h at 10 mA·cm–2.Moreover,Zn+BNNFs||CNT/MnO2 battery presents a high initial capacity of 293.6 mAh·g–1 and an excellent retention rate of 97.6%at 1 A·g–1 after 400 cycles,while Zn||CNT/MnO2 battery only maintains 37.1%discharge capacity.This artificial interface layer with negatively charged BNNFs exhibits excellent dendrite-inhibit and may have enormous prospects in other metal batteries.

Amino-functionalized UiO-66-doped mixed matrix membranes with high permeation performance and fouling resistance

For the reduction of bovine serum proteins from wastewater,a novel mixed matrix membrane was prepared by functionalizing the substrate material polyaryletherketone(PAEK),followed by carboxyl groups(C-SPAEKS),and then adding amino-functionalized UiO-66-NH_(2)(Am-UiO-66-NH_(2)).Aminofunctionalization of UiO-66 was accomplished by melamine,followed by an amidation reaction to immobilize Am-UiO-66-NH_(2),which was immobilized on the surface of the membrane as well as in the pore channels,which enhanced the hydrophilicity of the membrane surface while increasing the negative potential of the membrane surface.This nanoparticle-loaded ultrafiltration membrane has good permeation performance,with a pure water flux of up to 482.3 L·m^(-2)·h^(-1) for C-SPAEKS/AmUiO-66-NH_(2) and a retention rate of up to 98.7%for bovine serum albumin(BSA)-contaminated solutions.Meanwhile,after several hydrophilic modifications,the flux recovery of BSA contaminants by this series of membranes increased from 56.2%to 80.55%of pure membranes.The results of ultra-filtration flux time tests performed at room temperature showed that the series of ultrafiltration membranes remained relatively stable over a test time of 300 min.Thus,the newly developed mixed matrix membrane showed potential for high efficiency and stability in wastewater treatment containing bovine serum proteins.

NMR and biochemical characterization of the interaction between FGFR1 juxtamembrane domain and phospholipids Dedicated to Professor Chaohui Ye on the occasion of his 80th birthday

Fibroblast growth factor receptors(FGFRs)play an important role in the regulation of cell proliferation,migration and differentiation,while the juxtamembrane domain(JMD)of FGFRs is the key in mediating these transmembrane signal transduction processes.Here,we expressed and purified the JMD(398K-470R)of FGFR1 with the presence of transmembrane domain(377I-397Y).The results from nuclear magnetic resonance(NMR)chemical shift analysis demonstrate that the main structure of JMD is disordered.Yet,the N-terminus of JMD was observed to form a short a-helix upon introducing negatively charged lipid 1,2-dioleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phospho-L-serine(DOPS)into its membrane mimic bicelles.Moreover,the N-terminus of JMD interacts with FRS2a,which is a substrate 2a of FGFR.Hence,we propose a model that FGFR1-JMD may interact with FRS2a and negatively charged lipids competitively.Our study provides a new understanding on the role of the JMD of FGFRs.

Sodium alginate coating simultaneously increases the biosafety and immunotherapeutic activity of the cationic mRNA nanovaccine

The extraordinary advantages associated with mRNA vaccines,including their high efficiency,relatively low severity of side effects,and ease of manufacture,have enabled them to be a promising immunotherapy approach against various infectious diseases and cancers.Nevertheless,most mRNA delivery carriers have many disadvantages,such as high toxicity,poor biocompatibility,and low efficiency in vivo,which have hindered the widespread use of mRNA vaccines.To further characterize and solve these problems and develop a new type of safe and efficient mRNA delivery carrier,a negatively charged SA@DOTAP-mRNA nanovaccine was prepared in this study by coating DOTAP-mRNA with the natural anionic polymer sodium alginate(SA).Intriguingly,the transfection efficiency of SA@DOTAP-mRNA was significantly higher than that of DOTAP-mRNA,which was not due to the increase in cellular uptake but was associated with changes in the endocytosis pathway and the strong lysosome escape ability of SA@DOTAP-mRNA.In addition,we found that SA significantly increased the expression of LUC-mRNA in mice and achieved certain spleen targeting.Finally,we confirmed that SA@DOTAP-mRNA had a stronger antigen-presenting ability in E.G7-OVA tumor-bearing mice,dramatically inducing the proliferation of OVA-specific CLTs and ameliorating the antitumor effect.Therefore,we firmly believe that the coating strategy applied to cationic liposome/mRNA complexes is of potential research value in the field of mRNA delivery and has promising clinical application prospects.

Metal cation removal by P（VC-r-AA） copolymer ultrafiltration membranes

A series of amphiphilic copolymers containing poly（vinyl chloride-r-acrylic acid） （P（VC-r-AA）） was synthesized and used to prepare membranes via a non-solvent induced phase separation method. The prepared membranes were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and water contact angle and zeta potential measurements. The copolymer P（VC-r-AA） chains did not dissolved in a coagulation bath, indicating that the AA segments were completely retained within the membrane. Enriching degree of AA segments in surface layer was 2 for copolymer membrane. In addition, the introduction of AA segments made the membrane electronegative and hydrophilic so that the membrane was sensitive to the solution pH. The fouling resistance, adsorption of Cu（II）, Cr（III） and Ce（IV） ions and the desorption properties of the membranes were also determined. The copolymer membranes exhibited good antifouling performance with a fouling reversibility of 92%. The membranes also had good adsorption capacities for Cu（II）, Cr（III） and Ce（IV） ions. The optimal pH for Cu（II） adsorption was 6 and the copolymer membrane has potential applications for low concentration Cu（II） removal.

Removal of ammonium ion from water by Na-rich birnessite:Performance and mechanisms

Na-rich birnessite（NRB） was synthesized by a simple synthesis method and used as a high-efficiency adsorbent for the removal of ammonium ion（NH＋4） from aqueous solution.In order to demonstrate the adsorption performance of the synthesized material,the effects of contact time,pH,initial ammonium ion concentration,and temperature were investigated.Adsorption kinetics showed that the adsorption behavior followed the pseudo second-order kinetic model.The equilibrium adsorption data were fitted to Langmuir and Freundlich adsorption models and the model parameters were evaluated.The monolayer adsorption capacity of the adsorbent,as obtained from the Langmuir isotherm,was 22.61 mg NH＋4-N/g at283 K.Thermodynamic analyses showed that the adsorption was spontaneous and that it was also a physisorption process.Our data revealed that the higher NH＋4adsorption capacity could be primarily attributed to the water absorption process and electrostatic interaction.Particularly,the high surface hydroxyl-content of NRB enables strong interactions with ammonium ion.The results obtained in this study illustrate that the NRB is expected to be an effective and economically viable adsorbent for ammonium ion removal from aqueous system.