Yue Liu

The laboratory rat (Rattus norvegicus) is an indispensable tool in experimental medicine and drug development, having made inestimable contributions to human health. We report here the genome sequence of the Brown Norway (BN) rat strain. The sequence represents a high-quality ‘draft’ covering over 90% of the genome. The BN rat sequence is the third complete mammalian genome to be deciphered, and three-way comparisons with the human and mouse genomes resolve details of mammalian evolution. This first comprehensive analysis includes genes and proteins and their relation to human disease, repeated sequences, comparative genome-wide studies of mammalian orthologous chromosomal regions and rearrangement breakpoints, reconstruction of ancestral karyotypes and the events leading to existing species, rates of variation, and lineage-specific and lineage-independent evolutionary events such as expansion of gene families, orthology relations and protein evolution.

Next-generation sequencing technologies are revolutionizing human genomics, promising to yield draft genomes cheaply and quickly. One such technology has now been used to analyse much of the genetic code of a single individual — who happens to be James D. Watson. The procedure, which involves no cloning of the genomic DNA, makes use of the latest 454 parallel sequencing instrument. The sequence cost less than US$1 million (and a mere two months) to produce, compared to the approximately US$100 million reported for sequencing Craig Venter's genome by traditional methods. Still a major undertaking, but another step towards the goal of 'personalized genomes' and 'personalized medicine'. The DNA sequence of a diploid genome of a single individual, James D. Watson, sequenced to 7.4-fold redundancy in two months using massively parallel sequencing in picolitre-size reaction vessels is reported. The association of genetic variation with disease and drug response, and improvements in nucleic acid technologies, have given great optimism for the impact of ‘genomic medicine’. However, the formidable size of the diploid human genome1, approximately 6 gigabases, has prevented the routine application of sequencing methods to deciphering complete individual human genomes. To realize the full potential of genomics for human health, this limitation must be overcome. Here we report the DNA sequence of a diploid genome of a single individual, James D. Watson, sequenced to 7.4-fold redundancy in two months using massively parallel sequencing in picolitre-size reaction vessels. This sequence was completed in two months at approximately one-hundredth of the cost of traditional capillary electrophoresis methods. Comparison of the sequence to the reference genome led to the identification of 3.3 million single nucleotide polymorphisms, of which 10,654 cause amino-acid substitution within the coding sequence. In addition, we accurately identified small-scale (2–40,000 base pair (bp)) insertion and deletion polymorphism as well as copy number variation resulting in the large-scale gain and loss of chromosomal segments ranging from 26,000 to 1.5 million base pairs. Overall, these results agree well with recent results of sequencing of a single individual2 by traditional methods. However, in addition to being faster and significantly less expensive, this sequencing technology avoids the arbitrary loss of genomic sequences inherent in random shotgun sequencing by bacterial cloning because it amplifies DNA in a cell-free system. As a result, we further demonstrate the acquisition of novel human sequence, including novel genes not previously identified by traditional genomic sequencing. This is the first genome sequenced by next-generation technologies. Therefore it is a pilot for the future challenges of ‘personalized genome sequencing’.

Tribolium castaneum is a member of the most species-rich eukaryotic order, a powerful model organism for the study of generalized insect development, and an important pest of stored agricultural products. We describe its genome sequence here. This omnivorous beetle has evolved the ability to interact with a diverse chemical environment, as shown by large expansions in odorant and gustatory receptors, as well as P450 and other detoxification enzymes. Development in Tribolium is more representative of other insects than is Drosophila, a fact reflected in gene content and function. For example, Tribolium has retained more ancestral genes involved in cell-cell communication than Drosophila, some being expressed in the growth zone crucial for axial elongation in short-germ development. Systemic RNA interference in T. castaneum functions differently from that in Caenorhabditis elegans, but nevertheless offers similar power for the elucidation of gene function and identification of targets for selective insect control.

The screening of novel materials with good performance and the modelling of quantitative structure-activity relationships (QSARs), among other issues, are hot topics in the field of materials science. Traditional experiments and computational modelling often consume tremendous time and resources and are limited by their experimental conditions and theoretical foundations. Thus, it is imperative to develop a new method of accelerating the discovery and design process for novel materials. Recently, materials discovery and design using machine learning have been receiving increasing attention and have achieved great improvements in both time efficiency and prediction accuracy. In this review, we first outline the typical mode of and basic procedures for applying machine learning in materials science, and we classify and compare the main algorithms. Then, the current research status is reviewed with regard to applications of machine learning in material property prediction, in new materials discovery and for other purposes. Finally, we discuss problems related to machine learning in materials science, propose possible solutions, and forecast potential directions of future research. By directly combining computational studies with experiments, we hope to provide insight into the parameters that affect the properties of materials, thereby enabling more efficient and target-oriented research on materials discovery and design.

A survey of genetic diversity of cattle suggests two domestication events in Asia and selection by husbandry.

The process of generating raw genome sequence data continues to become cheaper, faster, and more accurate. However, assembly of such data into high-quality, finished genome sequences remains challenging. Many genome assembly tools are available, but they differ greatly in terms of their performance (speed, scalability, hardware requirements, acceptance of newer read technologies) and in their final output (composition of assembled sequence). More importantly, it remains largely unclear how to best assess the quality of assembled genome sequences. The Assemblathon competitions are intended to assess current state-of-the-art methods in genome assembly.In Assemblathon 2, we provided a variety of sequence data to be assembled for three vertebrate species (a bird, a fish, and snake). This resulted in a total of 43 submitted assemblies from 21 participating teams. We evaluated these assemblies using a combination of optical map data, Fosmid sequences, and several statistical methods. From over 100 different metrics, we chose ten key measures by which to assess the overall quality of the assemblies.Many current genome assemblers produced useful assemblies, containing a significant representation of their genes and overall genome structure. However, the high degree of variability between the entries suggests that there is still much room for improvement in the field of genome assembly and that approaches which work well in assembling the genome of one species may not necessarily work well for another.

Elucidation of the mutational landscape of human cancer has progressed rapidly and been accompanied by the development of therapeutics targeting mutant oncogenes. However, a comprehensive mapping of cancer dependencies has lagged behind and the discovery of therapeutic targets for counteracting tumor suppressor gene loss is needed. To identify vulnerabilities relevant to specific cancer subtypes, we conducted a large-scale RNAi screen in which viability effects of mRNA knockdown were assessed for 7,837 genes using an average of 20 shRNAs per gene in 398 cancer cell lines. We describe findings of this screen, outlining the classes of cancer dependency genes and their relationships to genetic, expression, and lineage features. In addition, we describe robust gene-interaction networks recapitulating both protein complexes and functional cooperation among complexes and pathways. This dataset along with a web portal is provided to the community to assist in the discovery and translation of new therapeutic approaches for cancer.

We have sequenced the genome of a second Drosophila species, Drosophila pseudoobscura, and compared this to the genome sequence of Drosophila melanogaster, a primary model organism. Throughout evolution the vast majority of Drosophila genes have remained on the same chromosome arm, but within each arm gene order has been extensively reshuffled, leading to a minimum of 921 syntenic blocks shared between the species. A repetitive sequence is found in the D. pseudoobscura genome at many junctions between adjacent syntenic blocks. Analysis of this novel repetitive element family suggests that recombination between offset elements may have given rise to many paracentric inversions, thereby contributing to the shuffling of gene order in the D. pseudoobscura lineage. Based on sequence similarity and synteny, 10,516 putative orthologs have been identified as a core gene set conserved over 25-55 million years (Myr) since the pseudoobscura/melanogaster divergence. Genes expressed in the testes had higher amino acid sequence divergence than the genome-wide average, consistent with the rapid evolution of sex-specific proteins. Cis-regulatory sequences are more conserved than random and nearby sequences between the species--but the difference is slight, suggesting that the evolution of cis-regulatory elements is flexible. Overall, a pattern of repeat-mediated chromosomal rearrangement, and high coadaptation of both male genes and cis-regulatory sequences emerges as important themes of genome divergence between these species of Drosophila.

Based upon advances in theoretical algorithms, modeling and simulations, and computer technologies, the rational design of materials, cells, devices, and packs in the field of lithium-ion batteries is being realized incrementally and will at some point trigger a paradigm revolution by combining calculations and experiments linked by a big shared database, enabling accelerated development of the whole industrial chain. Theory and multi-scale modeling and simulation, as supplements to experimental efforts, can help greatly to close some of the current experimental and technological gaps, as well as predict path-independent properties and help to fundamentally understand path-independent performance in multiple spatial and temporal scales.

A MEMS-based energy harvesting device, micro piezoelectric power generator, is designed to convert ambient vibration energy to electrical power via piezoelectric effect. In this work, the generator structure of composite cantilever with nickel metal mass is devised. Micro-electronic-mechanical systems (MEMS) related techniques such as sol–gel, RIE dry etching, wet chemical etching, UV-LIGA are developed to fabricate the device and then its performance is measured on vibration testing setup. The investigation shows that the designed device is expected to resonantly operate in low-frequency environmental vibration through tailoring the structure dimension. Under the resonant operation with frequency of about 608 Hz, a first prototype of the generator result in about 0.89 V AC peak–peak voltage output to overcome germanium diode rectifier toward energy storage, and its power output is in microwatt level of 2.16 μW.

Reduced graphene oxide coated polyurethane (rGPU) sponges were fabricated by a facile method. The structure and properties of these rGPU sponges were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, thermal gravimetric analysis, X-ray diffraction, and scanning electron microscopy. The rGPU sponges are hydrophobic and oleophilic and show extremely high absorption for organic liquids. For all the organic liquids tested, the absorption capacities were higher than 80 g g(-1) and 160 g g(-1) (the highest value) was achieved for chloroform. In addition, the absorption capacity of the rGPU sponge did not deteriorate after it was reused 50 times, so the rGPU sponge has excellent recyclability.

The biological functions of WRKY transcription factors in plants have been widely studied, but their roles in abiotic stress are still not well understood. We isolated an ABA overly sensitive mutant, abo3, which is disrupted by a T-DNA insertion in At1g66600 encoding a WRKY transcription factor AtWRKY63. The mutant was hypersensitive to ABA in both seedling establishment and seedling growth. However, stomatal closure was less sensitive to ABA, and the abo3 mutant was less drought tolerant than the wild type. Northern blot analysis indicated that the expression of the ABA-responsive transcription factor ABF2/AREB1 was markedly lower in the abo3 mutant than in the wild type. The abo3 mutation also reduced the expression of stress-inducible genes RD29A and COR47, especially early during ABA treatment. ABO3 is able to bind the W-box in the promoter of ABF2in vitro. These results uncover an important role for a WRKY transcription factor in plant responses to ABA and drought stress.

Marine mammals from different mammalian orders share several phenotypic traits adapted to the aquatic environment and therefore represent a classic example of convergent evolution. To investigate convergent evolution at the genomic level, we sequenced and performed de novo assembly of the genomes of three species of marine mammals (the killer whale, walrus and manatee) from three mammalian orders that share independently evolved phenotypic adaptations to a marine existence. Our comparative genomic analyses found that convergent amino acid substitutions were widespread throughout the genome and that a subset of these substitutions were in genes evolving under positive selection and putatively associated with a marine phenotype. However, we found higher levels of convergent amino acid substitutions in a control set of terrestrial sister taxa to the marine mammals. Our results suggest that, whereas convergent molecular evolution is relatively common, adaptive molecular convergence linked to phenotypic convergence is comparatively rare.

5-Methylthioadenosine phosphorylase (MTAP) is a key enzyme in the methionine salvage pathway. The MTAP gene is frequently deleted in human cancers because of its chromosomal proximity to the tumor suppressor gene CDKN2A. By interrogating data from a large-scale short hairpin RNA-mediated screen across 390 cancer cell line models, we found that the viability of MTAP-deficient cancer cells is impaired by depletion of the protein arginine methyltransferase PRMT5. MTAP-deleted cells accumulate the metabolite methylthioadenosine (MTA), which we found to inhibit PRMT5 methyltransferase activity. Deletion of MTAP in MTAP-proficient cells rendered them sensitive to PRMT5 depletion. Conversely, reconstitution of MTAP in an MTAP-deficient cell line rescued PRMT5 dependence. Thus, MTA accumulation in MTAP-deleted cancers creates a hypomorphic PRMT5 state that is selectively sensitized toward further PRMT5 inhibition. Inhibitors of PRMT5 that leverage this dysregulated metabolic state merit further investigation as a potential therapy for MTAP/CDKN2A-deleted tumors.

Gibbons are small arboreal apes that display an accelerated rate of evolutionary chromosomal rearrangement and occupy a key node in the primate phylogeny between Old World monkeys and great apes. Here we present the assembly and analysis of a northern white-cheeked gibbon (Nomascus leucogenys) genome. We describe the propensity for a gibbon-specific retrotransposon (LAVA) to insert into chromosome segregation genes and alter transcription by providing a premature termination site, suggesting a possible molecular mechanism for the genome plasticity of the gibbon lineage. We further show that the gibbon genera (Nomascus, Hylobates, Hoolock and Symphalangus) experienced a near-instantaneous radiation ∼5 million years ago, coincident with major geographical changes in southeast Asia that caused cycles of habitat compression and expansion. Finally, we identify signatures of positive selection in genes important for forelimb development (TBX5) and connective tissues (COL1A1) that may have been involved in the adaptation of gibbons to their arboreal habitat.

Lnc2Cancer (http://www.bio-bigdata.net/lnc2cancer) is a manually curated database of cancer-associated long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) with experimental support that aims to provide a high-quality and integrated resource for exploring lncRNA deregulation in various human cancers. LncRNAs represent a large category of functional RNA molecules that play a significant role in human cancers. A curated collection and summary of deregulated lncRNAs in cancer is essential to thoroughly understand the mechanisms and functions of lncRNAs. Here, we developed the Lnc2Cancer database, which contains 1057 manually curated associations between 531 lncRNAs and 86 human cancers. Each association includes lncRNA and cancer name, the lncRNA expression pattern, experimental techniques, a brief functional description, the original reference and additional annotation information. Lnc2Cancer provides a user-friendly interface to conveniently browse, retrieve and download data. Lnc2Cancer also offers a submission page for researchers to submit newly validated lncRNA-cancer associations. With the rapidly increasing interest in lncRNAs, Lnc2Cancer will significantly improve our understanding of lncRNA deregulation in cancer and has the potential to be a timely and valuable resource.

Materials of perovskite-type structure have attracted considerable attention for their applications in photocatalysis. In this study, a novel composite of p-type LaFeO3 microsphere coated with n-type nanosized graphitic carbon nitride nanosheets was constructed by the quasi-polymeric calcination method with the aid of electrostatic self-assembly interaction. Results indicate that the LaFeO3/g-C3N4p-n heterostructured photocatalyst obtained, in contrast to the pure constituents, enabled improved visible-light absorption, and more efficient separation and migration of charge carriers via solid p-n heterojunction interfacial effect. Correspondingly, the LaFeO3/g-C3N4 composite allowed for higher visible-light-responsive photocatalytic activity for the degradation of Brilliant Blue, which was 16.9 and 7.8 times that of pristine g-C3N4 and LaFeO3, respectively. The photocatalytic degradation of Brilliant Blue was ascribed to the combined contributions of the photogenerated holes (h+), superoxide radicals (O2-) and hydroxyl radicals (OH). Based on solid p-n heterojunction interfacial interaction, a Z-scheme charge carrier transfer pathway integrated with the dye-sensitization effect is proposed as the underlying mechanism of the photocatalytic reaction process. Therefore, we believe that the perovskite-type LaFeO3/g-C3N4 Z-scheme photcatalyst promotes the development of photocatalysis and holds much promise for environmental remediation.

The role of parallel and sequential reactions in Brønsted acid-catalyzed conversion of methanol to olefins (MTO) on H-ZSM-5 was explored by comparing the catalysis in plug-flow (PFR) and fully back-mixed reactors (CSTR). Catalysts deactivated under homogeneous gas phase in the back-mixed reactor show unequivocally that in the early stages of the reaction the zeolite deactivates via blocking of individual Brønsted acid sites and not by coke-induced impeding access to pores. While the two reactors led only to slight differences in product distribution, catalyst deactivation rates were drastically lower in the CSTR. H-ZSM-5 deactivated in the CSTR first rapidly and then at a much slower rate. During the initial phase, the rate was directly proportional to the methanol partial pressure and was caused by oxygen-containing surface species. These species were transformed to aromatic compounds with time on stream and the deactivation proceeded then via methylation of aromatic compounds, forming the typical coke species for MTO processes. The outer surface of the polycrystalline particles is virtually carbon free under these conditions. Formation of condensed aromatic species throughout the deactivation in voids between crystalline domains occurs as parallel reaction without affecting the deactivation kinetics.

Chopped up: The success of the title reaction strongly depends on the domain size of the WO3 crystallites, and the type of support. Structurally stable WO3 plays a bifunctional role in the promotion of the hydrolysis of cellulose into sugar intermediates, and more significantly in the selective cleavage of the CC bonds in these sugars. Detailed facts of importance to specialist readers are published as ”Supporting Information”. Such documents are peer-reviewed, but not copy-edited or typeset. They are made available as submitted by the authors. Please note: The publisher is not responsible for the content or functionality of any supporting information supplied by the authors. Any queries (other than missing content) should be directed to the corresponding author for the article.

The synthesis of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) from H2O and O2 by metal-free photocatalysts (e.g., graphitic carbon nitride, C3N4) is a potentially promising approach to generate H2O2. However, the photocatalytic H2O2 generation activity of the pristine C3N4 in pure H2O is poor due to unpropitious rapid charge recombination and unfavorable selectivity. Herein, we report a facile method to boost the photocatalytic H2O2 production by grafting cationic polyethylenimine (PEI) molecules onto C3N4. Experimental results and density functional theory (DFT) calculations demonstrate PEI can tune the local electronic environment of C3N4. The unique intermolecular electronic interaction in PEI/C3N4 not only improves the electron–hole separation but also promotes the two-electron O2 reduction to H2O2 via the sequential two-step single-electron reduction route. With the synergy of improved charge separation and high selectivity of two-electron O2 reduction, PEI/C3N4 exhibits an unexpectedly high H2O2 generation activity of 208.1 μmol g–1 h–1, which is 25-fold higher than that of pristine C3N4. This study establishes a paradigm of tuning the electronic property of C3N4 via functional molecules for boosted photocatalysis activity and selectivity.

The nuclear factor-erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) plays a critical role in protecting various tissues against inflammation, which is a potential risk factor for colorectal and other cancers. Our previously published mouse model work showed that Nrf2 helps protect against dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced colitis/inflammation, and others have shown that Nrf2 helps protect against inflammation-associated colorectal carcinogenesis (aberrant crypt foci). The present study extended these important earlier findings by exploring the role of Nrf2 in colitis-associated colorectal cancer in a mouse model involving azoxymethane/DSS-induced colorectal carcinogenesis in Nrf2 knockout mice. Azoxymethane/DSS-treated Nrf2 knockout mice had increased incidence, multiplicity, and size of all colorectal tumors, including adenomas, versus treated wild-type (WT) mice, and the proportion of tumors that were adenocarcinoma was much higher in knockout (80%) versus WT (29%) mice. Compared with WT mice, knockout mice also had increased markers of inflammation in tumor tissue (cyclooxygenase-2 and 5-lipoxygenase expressions and prostaglandin E(2) and leukotriene B(4) levels) and in inflamed colonic mucosa (nitrotyrosine expression), supporting the association of knockout mouse tumor formation with inflammation. The phase II detoxifying/antioxidant enzymes NAD(P)H-quinone reductase 1 and UDP-glucurosyltransferase 1A1 were elevated in the normal mucosa of WT, but not Nrf 2 knockout, mice treated with azoxymethane/DSS. Our findings show that Nrf2 plays a critical role in protecting against inflammation-associated colorectal cancer.

Hydrogen transfer is the major route in catalytic conversion of methanol to olefins (MTO) for the formation of nonolefinic byproducts, including alkanes and aromatics. Two separate, noninterlinked hydrogen transfer pathways have been identified. In the absence of methanol, hydrogen transfer occurs between olefins and naphthenes via protonation of the olefin and the transfer of the hydride to the carbenium ion. A hitherto unidentified hydride transfer pathway involving Lewis and Brønsted acid sites dominates as long as methanol is present in the reacting mixture, leading to aromatics and alkanes. Experiments with purely Lewis acidic ZSM-5 showed that methanol and propene react on Lewis acid sites to HCHO and propane. In turn, HCHO reacts with olefins stepwise to aromatic molecules on Brønsted acid sites. The aromatic molecules formed at Brønsted acid sites have a high tendency to convert to irreversibly adsorbed carbonaceous deposits and are responsible for the critical deactivation in the methanol to olefin process.

In this study, biochar derived from aerobic granular sludge was modified by ZnCl2 (Zn-BC) to improve the adsorption performance of tetracycline (TC). The surface area, pores, and functional groups of Zn-BC were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction (XRD) and the effects of initial pH, TC concentration, and temperature on TC adsorption performance were analyzed. At the same time, the adsorption kinetics, isotherms, thermodynamics and diffusion models were studied. The results showed that the BET surface area and micropore volume of Zn-BC were 852.41 m2·g−1 and 0.086 cm3·g−1, respectively. The maximum adsorption performance of TC was 93.44 mg·g−1, and it was less influenced by pH. The adsorption of TC on Zn-BC agreed well with the pseudo-second-order model and the Langmuir isotherm. The thermodynamic parameters indicated that the adsorption process was a spontaneously endothermic reaction.

The extent to which myelin-specific Th1 and Th17 cells contribute to the pathogenesis of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) is controversial. Combinations of interleukin (IL)-1beta, IL-6, and IL-23 with transforming growth factor beta were used to differentiate myelin-specific T cell receptor transgenic T cells into Th17 cells, none of which could induce EAE, whereas Th1 cells consistently transferred disease. However, IL-6 was found to promote the differentiation of encephalitogenic Th17 cells. Further analysis of myelin-specific T cells that were encephalitogenic in spontaneous EAE and actively induced EAE demonstrated that T-bet expression was critical for pathogenicity, regardless of cytokine expression by the encephalitogenic T cells. These data suggest that encephalitogenicity of myelin-specific T cells appears to be mediated by a pathway dependent on T-bet and not necessarily pathway-specific end products, such as interferon gamma and IL-17.

It is well known that abscisic acid (ABA) promotes reactive oxygen species (ROS) production through plasma membrane-associated NADPH oxidases during ABA signaling. However, whether ROS from organelles can act as second messengers in ABA signaling is largely unknown. Here, we identified an ABA overly sensitive mutant, abo6, in a genetic screen for ABA-mediated inhibition of primary root growth. ABO6 encodes a DEXH box RNA helicase that is involved in regulating the splicing of several genes of complex I in mitochondria. The abo6 mutant accumulated more ROS in mitochondria, as established using a mitochondrial superoxide indicator, circularly permuted yellow fluorescent protein. Two dominant-negative mutations in ABA insensitive1 (abi1-1) and abi2-1 greatly reduced ROS production in mitochondria. The ABA sensitivity of abo6 can also be compromised by the atrbohF mutation. ABA-mediated inhibition of seed germination and primary root growth in abo6 was released by the addition of reduced GSH and exogenous auxin to the medium. Expression of auxin-responsive markers ProDR5:GUS (for synthetic auxin response element D1-4 with site-directed mutants in the 5'-end from soybean):β-glucuronidase) and Indole-3-acetic acid inducible2:GUS was greatly reduced by the abo6 mutation. Hence, our results provide molecular evidence for the interplay between ABA and auxin through the production of ROS from mitochondria. This interplay regulates primary root growth and seed germination in Arabidopsis thaliana.

Abstract Polymeric metal‐organic framework (MOF)‐derived composites are promising functional materials because of their exceptional chemical homogeneity, designable components, and adjustable pore size. The modulation of oxygen and Mn vacancies via the introduction of heteroatoms and changes in the annealing temperature in MOFs‐derived composites can be a possible solution to investigate the polarization loss mechanism, which facilitates the improvement of electromagnetic loss capacity. Herein, the design of laminate‐stacked sphere‐shaped trimetallic CoNiMn‐MOFs is presented. The derived CoNi/MnO@C composites retain the original topography of the MOFs. The concentration of oxygen vacancies increases with the incorporation of heteroatoms, but decreases with annealing temperature, which prevails in the polarization loss mechanism rather than the contribution of Mn 2+ vacancies and heterogeneous interfaces. Therefore, the minimum reflection loss of the CoNi/MnO@C sample demonstrates −55.2 dB at 2.6 mm and the broad effective absorption bandwidth reaches 8.0 GHz at 2.1 mm. This work is expected to provide meaningful insights into the significant effect of ion vacancy modulation on the EM wave‐absorbing performance of Mn‐based MOFs‐derived composites.

The underlying mechanisms of the two distinct catalytic cycles operating during conversion of methanol to olefins (MTO) on HZSM-5 have been elucidated under industrially relevant conditions. The co-existence of olefins and aromatic molecules in the zeolite pores leads to competition between the two cycles. Therefore, their importance depends on the local chemical potential of specific carbon species and the methanol conversion. Due to a faster, “autocatalytic” reaction pathway in the olefin based cycle, olefin homologation/cracking is dominant under MTO conditions, irrespective of whether aromatic molecules or olefins are co-fed with methanol. Another hydrogen transfer pathway, faster than the usual route, has been identified, which is directly linked to methanol. In agreement with that, the co-feeding of olefins resulted in a remarkable longer lifetime of the catalyst under MTO conditions, because the high rate methylation competes with the formation of more deactivating coke – presumably oxygenates- through methanol derivatives.

Considered herein is a two-component Camassa–Holm system modeling shallow water waves moving over a linear shear flow. A wave-breaking criterion for strong solutions is determined in the lowest Sobolev space Hs, s>32 by using the localization analysis in the transport equation theory. Moreover, an improved result of global solutions with only a nonzero initial profile of the free surface component of the system is established in this Sobolev space Hs.

The biological processes that are disrupted in the Alzheimer's disease (AD) brain remain incompletely understood. In this study, we analyzed the proteomes of more than 1,000 brain tissues to reveal new AD-related protein co-expression modules that were highly preserved across cohorts and brain regions. Nearly half of the protein co-expression modules, including modules significantly altered in AD, were not observed in RNA networks from the same cohorts and brain regions, highlighting the proteopathic nature of AD. Two such AD-associated modules unique to the proteomic network included a module related to MAPK signaling and metabolism and a module related to the matrisome. The matrisome module was influenced by the APOE ε4 allele but was not related to the rate of cognitive decline after adjustment for neuropathology. By contrast, the MAPK/metabolism module was strongly associated with the rate of cognitive decline. Disease-associated modules unique to the proteome are sources of promising therapeutic targets and biomarkers for AD.

Machine learning plays an important role in accelerating the discovery and design process for novel electrochemical energy storage materials. This review aims to provide the state-of-the-art and prospects of machine learning for the design of rechargeable battery materials. After illustrating the key concepts of machine learning and basic procedures for applying machine learning in rechargeable battery materials science, we focus on how to obtain the most important features from the specific physical, chemical and/or other properties of material by using wrapper feature selection method, embedded feature selection method, and the combination of these two methods. And then, the applications of machine learning in rechargeable battery materials design and discovery are reviewed, including the property prediction for liquid electrolytes, solid electrolytes, electrode materials, and the discovery of novel rechargeable battery materials through component prediction and structure prediction. More importantly, we discuss the key challenges related to machine learning in rechargeable battery materials science, including the contradiction between high dimension and small sample, the conflict between the complexity and accuracy of machine learning models, and the inconsistency between learning results and domain expert knowledge. In response to these challenges, we propose possible countermeasures and forecast potential directions of future research. This review is expected to shed light on machine learning in rechargeable battery materials design and property optimization.

In this paper, we investigate the formation of singularities and the existence of peaked traveling-wave solutions for a modified Camassa-Holm equation with cubic nonlinearity. The equation is known to be integrable, and is shown to admit a single peaked soliton and multi-peakon solutions, of a different character than those of the Camassa-Holm equation. Singularities of the solutions can occur only in the form of wave-breaking, and a new wave-breaking mechanism for solutions with certain initial profiles is described in detail.

The development of novel hybrid photocatalysts with high efficiency and durability for photocatalytic degradation and hydrogen production is highly desired, but still remains a great challenge currently. In this work, novel hierarchical composites consisting of petal-like Zn3In2S6 nanosheets and varying amounts of fluorine doped polymeric carbon nitride (FCN) were successfully prepared as photocatalysts for the photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange and H2 evolution under visible light irradiation. The incorporation of FCN into Zn3In2S6 nanosheets significantly enhanced the photocatalytic activity for H2 evolution (reduction) and degradation of methyl orange (oxidation). And the best-performing Zn3In2S6/FCN composite (i.e., ZF3) exhibited enhanced visible-light-driven photocatalytic methyl orange degradation efficiency of about 7.36 and 5.35 times higher than those of pure FCN and Zn3In2S6, respectively. Trapping experiments combined with electron spin resonance spectroscopy indicated that the active radicals (O2− and OH) and oxidizing h+ were responsible for the photocatalytic reaction. Meanwhile, the cumulative H2 evolution quantity by ZF3 sample via photocatalytic H2 evolution from water splitting under 5 h of light irradiation reached 2553.9 μmol.g−1, which was 3.66 times higher than that of Zn3In2S6 (698.2 μmol.g−1). Cyclic tests demonstrated the stability of the ZF3 composite over five cycles of repeated use. These excellent performances were found to be attributable to the remarkable charge carrier separation between FCN and Zn3In2S6, with the aid of interfacial heterojunction structures. Based on the above results, the possible photocatalytic reaction mechanisms of ZF3 composite in both pollutant degradation and H2 evolution from water splitting were also proposed. This study provides new insights into the preparation of highly-efficient hierarchical composite photocatalysts, which are promising for implementation in wide-ranging environmental applications.

Three kinds of graphene oxide (GO) foams were fabricated using different freezing methods (unidirectional freezing drying (UDF), non-directional freezing drying, and air freezing drying), and the corresponding reduced graphene oxide (RGO) foams were prepared by their thermal reduction of those GO foams. These RGO foams were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, thermal gravimetric analysis, X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy. The absorption process and the factors that influence the absorption capacity were investigated. The RGO foams are hydrophobic and showed extremely high absorbing abilities for organic liquids. The absorption capacity of the RGO foams made by UDF was higher than 100 g g(-1) for all the oils tested (gasoline, diesel oil, pump oil, lubricating oil and olive oil) and had the highest value of about 122 g g(-1) for olive oil. The oil absorption capacity of the GO foams was lower than that of the RGO foams, but for olive oil, the absorption capacity was still high than 70 g g(-1), which is higher than that of most oil absorbents.

Uncontrolled growth of abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs) is a life-threatening vascular disease without an effective pharmaceutical treatment. AAA incidence dramatically increases with advancing age in men. However, the molecular mechanisms by which aging predisposes individuals to AAAs remain unknown.In this study, we investigated the role of SIRT1 (Sirtuin 1), a class III histone deacetylase, in AAA formation and the underlying mechanisms linking vascular senescence and inflammation.The expression and activity of SIRT1 were significantly decreased in human AAA samples. SIRT1 in vascular smooth muscle cells was remarkably downregulated in the suprarenal aortas of aged mice, in which AAAs induced by angiotensin II infusion were significantly elevated. Moreover, vascular smooth muscle cell-specific knockout of SIRT1 accelerated angiotensin II-induced formation and rupture of AAAs and AAA-related pathological changes, whereas vascular smooth muscle cell-specific overexpression of SIRT1 suppressed angiotensin II-induced AAA formation and progression in Apoe-/- mice. Furthermore, the inhibitory effect of SIRT1 on AAA formation was also proved in a calcium chloride (CaCl2)-induced AAA model. Mechanistically, the reduction of SIRT1 was shown to increase vascular cell senescence and upregulate p21 expression, as well as enhance vascular inflammation. Notably, inhibition of p21-dependent vascular cell senescence by SIRT1 blocked angiotensin II-induced nuclear factor-κB binding on the promoter of monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 and inhibited its expression.These findings provide evidence that SIRT1 reduction links vascular senescence and inflammation to AAAs and that SIRT1 in vascular smooth muscle cells provides a therapeutic target for the prevention of AAA formation.

Owing to their low cost, high energy densities, and superior performance compared with that of Li-ion batteries, Li–S batteries have been recognized as very promising next-generation batteries. However, the commercialization of Li–S batteries has been hindered by the insulation of sulfur, significant volume expansion, shuttling of dissolved lithium polysulfides (LiPSs), and more importantly, sluggish conversion of polysulfide intermediates. To overcome these problems, a state-of-the-art strategy is to use sulfur host materials that feature chemical adsorption and electrocatalytic capabilities for LiPS species. In this review, we comprehensively illustrate the latest progress on the rational design and controllable fabrication of materials with chemical adsorbing and binding capabilities for LiPSs and electrocatalytic activities that allow them to accelerate the conversion of LiPSs for Li–S batteries. Moreover, the current essential challenges encountered when designing these materials are summarized, and possible solutions are proposed. We hope that this review could provide some strategies and theoretical guidance for developing novel chemical anchoring and electrocatalytic materials for high-performance Li–S batteries.

Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) is an advanced composite material with the advantages of high strength, lightweight, no corrosion and excellent fatigue resistance. Therefore, unidirectional CFRP has great potential for cables and to replace steel cables in cable structures. However, CFRP is a typical orthotropic material and its strength and modulus perpendicular to the fiber direction are much lower than those in the fiber direction, which brings a challenge for anchoring CFRP cables. This paper presents an overview of application of CFRP cables in cable structures, including historical review, state of the art and prospects for the future. After introducing properties of carbon fibers, mechanical characteristics and structural forms of CFRP cables, existing CFRP cable structures in the world (all of them are cable bridges) are reviewed. Especially, their CFRP cable anchorages are presented in detail. New applications for CFRP cables, i.e., cable roofs and cable facades, are also presented, including the introduction of a prototype CFRP cable roof and the conceptual design of a novel structure—CFRP Continuous Band Winding System. In addition, other challenges that impede widespread application of CFRP cable structures are briefly introduced.

This critical review presents recent advances in light-driven H₂O₂ production from the viewpoint of H₂O₂ generation pathways.

INTRODUCTION Design and construction of an extensively modified yeast genome is a direct means to interrogate the integrity, comprehensiveness, and accuracy of the knowledge amassed by the yeast community to date. The international synthetic yeast genome project (Sc2.0) aims to build an entirely designer, synthetic Saccharomyces cerevisiae genome. The synthetic genome is designed to increase genome stability and genetic flexibility while maintaining cell fitness near that of the wild type. A major challenge for a genome synthesis lies in identifying and eliminating fitness-reducing sequence variants referred to as “bugs.” RATIONALE Debugging is imperative for successfully building a fit strain encoding a synthetic genome. However, it is time-consuming and laborious to replace wild-type genes and measure strain fitness systematically. The Sc2.0 PCRTag system, which specifies recoded sequences within open reading frames (ORFs), is designed to distinguish synthetic from wild-type DNA in a simple polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay. This system provides an opportunity to efficiently map bugs to the related genes by using a pooling strategy and subsequently correct them. Further, as we identify bugs in designer sequences, we will identify gaps in our knowledge and gain a deeper understanding of genome biology, allowing refinement of future design strategies. RESULTS We chemically synthesized yeast chromosome X, synX, designed to be 707,459 base pairs. A high-throughput mapping strategy called pooled PCRTag mapping (PoPM) was developed to identify unexpected bugs during chromosome assembly. With this method, the genotypes of pools of colonies with normal or defective fitness are assessed by PCRTag analysis. The PoPM method exploits the patchwork structure of synthetic and wild-type sequences observed in the majority of putative synthetic DNA integrants or meiotic progeny derived from synthetic/wild-type strain backcross. PCRTag analysis with both synthetic and wild-type specific primers, carried out with genomic DNA extracted from the two pools of clones (normal fitness versus a specific growth defect), can be used to identify regions of synthetic DNA missing from the normal fitness pool and, analogously, sections of wild-type DNA absent from the specific growth-defect pool. In this way, the defect can be efficiently mapped to a very small overlapping region, and subsequent systematic analysis of designed changes in that region can be used to identify the bug. Several bugs were identified and corrected, including a growth defect mapping to a specific synonymously recoded PCRTag sequence in the essential FIP1 ORF and the effect of introducing a loxPsym site that unexpectedly altered the the promoter function of a nearby gene, ATP2. In addition, meiotic crossover was employed to repair the massive duplications and rearrangements in the synthetic chromosome. The debugged synX strain exhibited high fitness under a variety of conditions tested and in competitive growth with the wild-type strain. CONCLUSION Synthetic yeast chromosome X was chemically synthesized from scratch, a rigorous, incremental step toward complete synthesis of the whole yeast genome. Thousands of designer modifications in synX revealed extensive flexibility of the yeast genome. We developed an efficient mapping method, PoPM, to identify bugs during genome synthesis, generalizable to any watermarked synthetic chromosome, and several details of yeast biology were uncovered by debugging. Considering the numerous gene-associated PCRTags available in the synthetic chromosomes, PoPM may represent a powerful tool to map interesting phenotypes of mutated synthetic strains or even mutated wild-type strains to the relevant genes. It may also be useful to study yeast genetic interactions when an unexpected phenotype is generated by alterations in two or more genes, substantially expanding understanding of yeast genomic and cellular functions. The PoPM method is also likely to be useful for mapping phenotype(s) resulting from the genome SCRaMbLE system. Characterization of synX and debugging by pooled PCRTag mapping. ( Top ) Design overview of synthetic chromosome X. ( Bottom ) Flow diagram of pooled PCRTag mapping (PoPM).

In this paper, the Ca doped MnOx/TiO2 catalysts were synthesized through a sol–gel method, which exhibited promoting effects on selective catalytic reduction (SCR) of NO with NH3 at low temperature. The NO conversion of MnOx/TiO2 had been greatly improved from ca. 40% to 90% at 140 °C after Ca doping. After the catalysts being subjected to a variety of analytical measurements, we observed that the addition of Ca could result in better dispersion of MnOx on TiO2, leading to the enhancement of BET surface area and pore volume. This could be attributed to the strong interactions among calcium, manganese oxides and titania. Furthermore, an obvious increase in the amounts of ad-NOx species, especially monodentate nitrate and NO2− species, was also observed. All of these would give the contributions to the great improvement of catalytic activity by the addition of Ca.

The insufficient separation of photogenerated charge carriers and faint CO2 capture remains the major obstacles for photocatalytic conversion of CO2 into solar fuel. Rational design of semiconductor photocatalysts with unique structures may be promising to break this bottleneck. Herein, bismuth rich Bi4O5B2 hollow microspheres are designed as a robust photocatalyst for efficient CO2 reduction. Thanks to the bismuth rich strategy, the highly dispersed band structure and the elevated conduction band (CB) potential facilitate the charge transfer and photoreduction ability. Meanwhile, hollow structure provides the large specific area and creates a resonance in its interior to enhance the CO2 adsorption and activation. Benefiting from the collaborative promotion effect, the local charge arrangement and electronic structure are tuned so as to an exceptional efficiency of photocatalytic CO2 conversion into CO (3.16 μmol g−1 h−1) and CH4 (0.5 μmol g−1 h−1) is attained over hollow Bi4O5Br2, which is superior to that of solid Bi4O5Br2 and BiOBr, as well as other reported Bi-based photocatalysts. This work paves new opportunities for exploring high-efficiency CO2 photoreduction catalysts.

Orderly porous graphene oxide/carboxymethyl cellulose (GO/CMC) monoliths were prepared by a unidirectional freeze-drying method. The porous monoliths were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectra, X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. Their properties including compressive strength and moisture adsorption were measured. The incorporation of GO changed the porous structure of the GO/CMC monoliths and significantly increased their compressive strength. The porous GO/CMC monoliths exhibited a strong ability to adsorb metal ions, and the Ni(2+) ions adsorbed on GO/CMC monolith were reduced by NaBH4 to obtain Ni GO/CMC monolith which could be used as catalyst in the reduction of 4-nitrophenol to 4-aminophenol. Since CMC is biodegradable and non-toxic, the porous GO/CMC monoliths are potential environmental adsorbents.

With the rapid economic globalization and energy development, heavy metal ions/radionuclides are inevitably discharged into aqueous system and cause pollution, which seriously endanger human health and environmental sustainability. In recent years, zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIFs) with huge specific surface area, excellent pore structure and abundant surface functional groups show great potential in the elimination of heavy metal ions/radionuclides. This review systematically summarizes the research progress of ZIFs and ZIF-based materials for capturing heavy metal ions/radionuclides. Firstly, the preparation and modification of ZIF-based materials are briefly introduced. Then, the removal behaviors and possible interaction mechanisms between ZIF-based materials and pollutants are explored through macro-batch experiments, micro-spectroscopy analyses and theoretical calculations. In addition, the partition coefficient as evaluation indicator was employed to objectively compare the removal performance of ZIFs and other commonly used traditional adsorbents for heavy metal ions/radionuclides. Finally, the challenges and prospects of ZIF materials in environmental governance are briefly discussed so as to provide references for future research and practical applications.

The quality of perovskite absorber is one of the most important factors to influence the efficiency and stability of perovskite solar cells (PSCs). However, it is still challenging to obtain perovskite layers with required properties including large grain sizes, better crystallinity, less grain boundaries, and uniform morphology by the current preparation techniques. Here we develop a novel method, where the CsPbBr3 nanoparticles (NPs) are introduced into the chlorobenzene anti-solvent to improve the MAPbI3 film quality in terms of film structure, morphology and crystallinity, leading to reduced charge recombination and improved charge transfer. CsPbBr3 NPs play a role as nucleation centers in the growth process of perovskite films, and CsPbBr3 NPs also induce a passivation layer Cs1-yMAyPbI3-xBrx on the top of perovskite layer. The charge transport and power conversion efficiency (PCE) are improved due to the introduction of CsPbBr3 NPs. A champion PCE of 20.46% is obtained for the PSCs based on high quality perovskite film prepared with CsPbBr3 NPs. In addition, the PSCs with CsPbBr3 NPs also exhibit improved stability. This work not only demonstrates a novel strategy to prepare high quality perovskite films for PSCs with high efficiency and stability, but also provides important insight in the growth mechanisms of perovskite films toward high crystallinity and less defects.

Metallic lithium is one of the most promising anode materials for rechargeable lithium-based batteries owing to its high theoretical capacity of 3860 mA h g−1. However, several severe issues such as uncontrollable lithium dendrites and infinitely large volume change are urgently needed to be solved, since they cause very short cycle life and severe safety hazards. Here we explore an effective strategy to create lamellar structured flexible Ti3C2 MXene (graphene, BN)-lithium film anode, based on the unique ductility of metallic lithium and lubricity of these nanosheets. By harnessing the lithiophobic property of atomic layers, not only the nucleation and growth of lithium dendrites can be efficiently controlled, but also the plating lithium is well confined in the nanoscaled gaps of above nanosheets. As a consequence, the optimal Ti3C2 MXene-lithium film anode exhibits significantly low overpotential (32 mV at 1.0 mA cm–2) with a very small increase of 1.5% in 200 cycles, flat voltage profiles and good high-rate performances (53 mV at 3.0 mA cm–2).

The water stable core-shell microspheres (Fe3O4@ZIF-8) with strong magnetism were successfully fabricated through a facile modification strategy. Concrete procedures included firstly pretreatment of Fe3O4 core with anionic polyelectrolyte to acquire negatively charged Fe3O4 particle surface, followed by nucleation through attracting Zn2+ cation, and then growth of a thin layer of ZIF-8 (~25 nm). Various characterization techniques (SEM, TEM, FT-IR, XRD, VSM, BET and XPS) indicated that the Fe3O4@ZIF-8 microspheres were highly stable and magnetic with a large specific surface area (606.91 m2/g) and fairly sufficient functional groups (NH, OH, COOH, ZnO, NO and CN). Multi-factors affecting the radionuclides removal performance on Fe3O4@ZIF-8 was adequately explored, comprising contact time, temperature, pH, ionic strength, co-existing ions and extreme conditions. And the results showed that Fe3O4@ZIF-8 exhibited fast reaction kinetics (~30 min to achieve equilibrium), excellent uptake capabilities (539.7 mg U/g and 255.6 mg Eu/g), remarkable selectivity and favorable physicochemical stability. These researches suggested that Fe3O4@ZIF-8 could not only simultaneously achieve favorable stability and functionality, but also easily to be separated by external magnetic field after used in radioactive sewage treatment, which was of considerable practical utility in extracting radioactive wastes though in harsh circumstance.

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified many risk loci for Alzheimer’s disease (AD)1,2, but how these loci confer AD risk is unclear. Here, we aimed to identify loci that confer AD risk through their effects on brain protein abundance to provide new insights into AD pathogenesis. To that end, we integrated AD GWAS results with human brain proteomes to perform a proteome-wide association study (PWAS) of AD, followed by Mendelian randomization and colocalization analysis. We identified 11 genes that are consistent with being causal in AD, acting via their cis-regulated brain protein abundance. Nine replicated in a confirmation PWAS and eight represent new AD risk genes not identified before by AD GWAS. Furthermore, we demonstrated that our results were independent of APOE e4. Together, our findings provide new insights into AD pathogenesis and promising targets for further mechanistic and therapeutic studies. Integrating human brain proteomes with genome-wide association data followed by Mendelian randomization identifies 11 genes with potentially causal roles in Alzheimer’s disease pathogenesis.

The elementary reactions leading to the formation of the first carbon-carbon bond during early stages of the zeolite-catalyzed methanol conversion into hydrocarbons were identified by combining kinetics, spectroscopy, and DFT calculations. The first intermediates containing a C-C bond are acetic acid and methyl acetate, which are formed through carbonylation of methanol or dimethyl ether even in presence of water. A series of acid-catalyzed reactions including acetylation, decarboxylation, aldol condensation, and cracking convert those intermediates into a mixture of surface bounded hydrocarbons, the hydrocarbon pool, as well as into the first olefin leaving the catalyst. This carbonylation based mechanism has an energy barrier of 80 kJ mol(-1) for the formation of the first C-C bond, in line with a broad range of experiments, and significantly lower than the barriers associated with earlier proposed mechanisms.

A computer algorithm that performs at or above the level of radiologists in mammography screening assessment could improve the effectiveness of breast cancer screening.To perform an external evaluation of 3 commercially available artificial intelligence (AI) computer-aided detection algorithms as independent mammography readers and to assess the screening performance when combined with radiologists.This retrospective case-control study was based on a double-reader population-based mammography screening cohort of women screened at an academic hospital in Stockholm, Sweden, from 2008 to 2015. The study included 8805 women aged 40 to 74 years who underwent mammography screening and who did not have implants or prior breast cancer. The study sample included 739 women who were diagnosed as having breast cancer (positive) and a random sample of 8066 healthy controls (negative for breast cancer).Positive follow-up findings were determined by pathology-verified diagnosis at screening or within 12 months thereafter. Negative follow-up findings were determined by a 2-year cancer-free follow-up. Three AI computer-aided detection algorithms (AI-1, AI-2, and AI-3), sourced from different vendors, yielded a continuous score for the suspicion of cancer in each mammography examination. For a decision of normal or abnormal, the cut point was defined by the mean specificity of the first-reader radiologists (96.6%).The median age of study participants was 60 years (interquartile range, 50-66 years) for 739 women who received a diagnosis of breast cancer and 54 years (interquartile range, 47-63 years) for 8066 healthy controls. The cases positive for cancer comprised 618 (84%) screen detected and 121 (16%) clinically detected within 12 months of the screening examination. The area under the receiver operating curve for cancer detection was 0.956 (95% CI, 0.948-0.965) for AI-1, 0.922 (95% CI, 0.910-0.934) for AI-2, and 0.920 (95% CI, 0.909-0.931) for AI-3. At the specificity of the radiologists, the sensitivities were 81.9% for AI-1, 67.0% for AI-2, 67.4% for AI-3, 77.4% for first-reader radiologist, and 80.1% for second-reader radiologist. Combining AI-1 with first-reader radiologists achieved 88.6% sensitivity at 93.0% specificity (abnormal defined by either of the 2 making an abnormal assessment). No other examined combination of AI algorithms and radiologists surpassed this sensitivity level.To our knowledge, this study is the first independent evaluation of several AI computer-aided detection algorithms for screening mammography. The results of this study indicated that a commercially available AI computer-aided detection algorithm can assess screening mammograms with a sufficient diagnostic performance to be further evaluated as an independent reader in prospective clinical trials. Combining the first readers with the best algorithm identified more cases positive for cancer than combining the first readers with second readers.

Novel composite photocatalysts consisting of petal-like cadmium sulphide (CdS) nanoparticles and varying amounts of exfoliated sulfur-doped carbon nitride (SCN) were successfully prepared. The as-obtained materials were characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, ultraviolet–visible diffuse reflection spectroscopy, photoluminescence spectroscopy and photocurrent-time measurement. Results indicate a strong electric coupling interaction between SCN and CdS due to the heterojunction formed at the amine functionalities sites and oxidized chain terminations of SCN. Two typical pollutants like rhodamine B (RhB) and colorless bisphenol A (BPA) were used for the evaluation of photocatalytic activity. The best-performing CdS/SCN composite (i.e., CS5) synthesized exhibited enhanced visible-light-driven photocatalytic RhB efficiency of about 8.71 and 4.06 times higher than those of pure exfoliated SCN and CdS, respectively. As for BPA degradation, the CS5 composite was 9.00 and 3.61 times more efficient than that of exfoliated SCN and CdS, respectively. These excellent performances were found to be attributable to the remarkable charge carrier separation between CdS and exfoliated SCN with the aid of heterojunction interfacial structures. More importantly, the exfoliated SCN substantially reinforced the photostability of the CdS nanoparticles. Evaluation of the photocatalytic H2 evolution showed that the visible-light H2 production rate of the best-performing CS5 composite was also much greater than the constituents at 247.72 μmol h−1 g−1. Cyclic tests demonstrated the stability of the CS5 composite over repeated use. A possible mechanism was proposed to explain the photocatalytic reaction process. This study provides new insights into the preparation of highly efficient and stable sulfide-based composite photocatalysts, which are promising for implementation in wide-ranging environmental applications.

In this paper, the torque production of fractional-slot concentrated-winding (FSCW) permanent-magnet synchronous machines (PMSMs) is analyzed from the perspective of the air-gap field harmonics modulation accounting for slotting effect. It is found that the average torque of FSCW PMSM is produced by both the principle of conventional PMSM and the magnetic gearing effect. A finite-element analysis (FEA) based equivalent current sheet model and harmonic restoration method is first used in FSCW PM machines with different slot-pole number combinations to quantify the respective contribution of the conventional PMSM and the magnetic gearing effect to the average torque. The influence of slot opening on the magnetic gearing effect, cogging torque, and torque ripple is analyzed. The results show that the magnetic gearing effect makes a nonignorable contribution to the average torque when a large slot opening stator is used. The expression of the gear ratio in FSCW PMSMs is derived. The influence of gear ratio on the contribution of the magnetic gearing effect to the total torque is investigated by FEA. The FEA-predicted torques are validated by experiments on the prototypes.

Abstract Fluorinated ketones are widely prevalent in numerous biologically interesting molecules, and the development of novel transformations to access these structures is an important task in organic synthesis. Herein, we report the multicomponent radical acylfluoroalkylation of a variety of olefins in the presence of various commercially available aromatic aldehydes and fluoroalkyl reagents through N‐heterocyclic carbene organocatalysis. With this protocol, over 120 examples of functionalized ketones with diverse fluorine substituents have been synthesized in up to 99 % yield with complete regioselectivity. The generality of this catalytic strategy was further highlighted by its successful application in the late‐stage functionalization of pharmaceutical skeletons. Excellent diastereoselectivity could be achieved in the reactions forging multiple stereocenters. In addition, preliminary results have been achieved on the catalytic asymmetric variant of the olefin difunctionalization process.

N6-methyladenosine (m6A) is the most prevalent internal RNA modification in mammals that regulates homeostasis and function of modified RNA transcripts. Here, we aimed to investigate the role of YTH m6A RNA-binding protein 1 (YTHDF1), a key regulator of m6A methylation in gastric cancer tumorigenesis. Multiple bioinformatic analyses of different human cancer databases identified key m6A-associated genetic mutations that regulated gastric tumorigenesis. YTHDF1 was mutated in about 7% of patients with gastric cancer, and high expression of YTHDF1 was associated with more aggressive tumor progression and poor overall survival. Inhibition of YTHDF1 attenuated gastric cancer cell proliferation and tumorigenesis in vitro and in vivo. Mechanistically, YTHDF1 promoted the translation of a key Wnt receptor frizzled7 (FZD7) in an m6A-dependent manner, and mutated YTHDF1 enhanced expression of FZD7, leading to hyperactivation of the Wnt/β-catenin pathway and promotion of gastric carcinogenesis. Our results demonstrate the oncogenic role of YTHDF1 and its m6A-mediated regulation of Wnt/β-catenin signaling in gastric cancer, providing a novel approach of targeting such epigenetic regulators in this disease. SIGNIFICANCE: This study provides a rationale for controlling translation of key oncogenic drivers in cancer by manipulating epigenetic regulators, representing a novel and efficient strategy for anticancer treatment. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT: http://cancerres.aacrjournals.org/content/canres/81/10/2651/F1.large.jpg.

Device failure detection is one of most essential problems in Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). However, in conventional IIoT device failure detection, client devices need to upload raw data to the central server for model training, which might lead to disclosure of sensitive business data. Therefore, in this article, to ensure client data privacy, we propose a blockchain-based federated learning approach for device failure detection in IIoT. First, we present a platform architecture of blockchain-based federated learning systems for failure detection in IIoT, which enables verifiable integrity of client data. In the architecture, each client periodically creates a Merkle tree in which each leaf node represents a client data record, and stores the tree root on a blockchain. Furthermore, to address the data heterogeneity issue in IIoT failure detection, we propose a novel centroid distance weighted federated averaging (CDW_FedAvg) algorithm taking into account the distance between positive class and negative class of each client data set. In addition, to motivate clients to participate in federated learning, a smart contact-based incentive mechanism is designed depending on the size and the centroid distance of client data used in local model training. A prototype of the proposed architecture is implemented with our industry partner, and evaluated in terms of feasibility, accuracy, and performance. The results show that the approach is feasible, and has satisfactory accuracy and performance.

The sixth-generation (6G) communication requires supporting massive Internet of Things (IoT) devices and extremely differentiated IoT applications for the air–space–ground integrated network. Relying on the aerial superiority, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is capable of acting as an aerial base station (BS) and supporting IoT deployment in remote and disaster areas. A UAV-supported clustered nonorthogonal multiple access (C-NOMA) system is put forward in this article. Specifically, the UAV provides services to IoT terminals as an aerial BS based on the wireless-powered communication (WPC) technique. According to this system, we propose a synergetic scheme for UAV trajectory planning and subslot allocation. Our goal is to maximize the uplink average achievable sum rate of IoT terminals by synergistically planning UAV trajectory and subslot duration, while guaranteeing the uplink achievable sum rate and the UAV mobility constraints. As the formulated problem suffers nonconvexity and complication, an efficient iterative algorithm is proposed to address it. First, for fixed UAV trajectory, all the terminals are clustered and a subslot allocation algorithm based on the Lagrange multiplier and bisection method is proposed. Then, for a fixed clustering state and subslot duration, we optimize the UAV trajectory. Finally, we solve these two subproblems alternatively until the objective function converges. The effectiveness of the proposed scheme in the UAV-supported C-NOMA system is verified by the numerical results.

Strigolactones (SLs) are endogenous hormones and exuded signaling molecules in plant responses to low levels of mineral nutrients. Key mediators of the SL signaling pathway in rice include the α/β-fold hydrolase DWARF 14 (D14) and the F-box component DWARF 3 (D3) of the ubiquitin ligase SCFD3 that mediate ligand-dependent degradation of downstream signaling repressors. One perplexing feature is that D14 not only functions as the SL receptor but is also an active enzyme that slowly hydrolyzes diverse natural and synthetic SLs including GR24, preventing the crystallization of a binary complex of D14 with an intact SL as well as the ternary D14/SL/D3 complex. Here we overcome these barriers to derive a structural model of D14 bound to intact GR24 and identify the interface that is required for GR24-mediated D14-D3 interaction. The mode of GR24-mediated signaling, including ligand recognition, hydrolysis by D14, and ligand-mediated D14-D3 interaction, is conserved in structurally diverse SLs. More importantly, D14 is destabilized upon the binding of ligands and D3, thus revealing an unusual mechanism of SL recognition and signaling, in which the hormone, the receptor, and the downstream effectors are systematically destabilized during the signal transduction process.

Blockchain technology enables decentralization as new forms of distributed software architectures, where components can reach agreements on the shared system states without trusting on a central integration point. Since blockchain is an emerging technology which is still at an early stage of development, there is limited experience on applying blockchain to real-world software applications. We applied blockchain application design approaches proposed in software architecture community in a real-world project called originChain, which is a blockchain-based traceability system that restructures the current system by replacing the central database with blockchain. In this paper, we share our experience of building originChain. By using blockchain and designing towards security, originChain provides transparent tamper-proof traceability data with high availability and enables automated regulatory-compliance checking and adaptation in product traceability scenarios. We also demonstrate both qualitative and quantitative analysis of the software architecture of originChain. Based on our experience and analysis, we found that the structural design of smart contracts has large impact on the quality of the system.

Obesity, defined as excessive accumulation of fat in adipose tissue, is a metabolic disorder resulting from behavioral, environmental and heritable causes. Obesity increases the risks of hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, sleep apnea, respiratory problems, osteoarthritis and cancer. Meanwhile, the negative impact of obesity on male reproduction is gradually recognized. According to the clinical investigations and animal experiments, obesity is correlated with reductions in sperm concentration and motility, increase in sperm DNA damage and changes in reproductive hormones. Several mechanisms can elucidate the effects of obesity on sperm functions and male subfertility, i.e., the excessive conversion of androgens into estrogens in redundant adipose tissue causes sexual hormone imbalance, subsequently resulting in hypogonadism. Secondly, adipokines produced by adipose tissue induce severe inflammation and oxidative stress in male reproductive tract, directly impairing testicular and epididymal tissues. Moreover, increased scrotal adiposity leads to increase gonadal heat, continuously hurting spermatogenesis. Therefore, obesity alters the systematic and regional environment crucial for spermatogenesis in testis and sperm maturation in epididymis, and finally results in poor sperm quality including decreased sperm motility, abnormal sperm morphology and acrosome reaction, changed membrane lipids and increased DNA damage. Furthermore, recent studies indicate that epigenetic changes may be a consequence of increased adiposity. A major effort to identify epigenetic determinants of obesity revealed that sperm DNA methylation and non-coding RNA modification are associated with BMI changes and proposed to inherit metabolic comorbidities across generations. This review will explain how obesity-related changes in males to influence sperm function and male fertility as well.

In this study, nanoscale zero-valent iron (nZVI) supported on layered double hydroxide (LDH) composite ([email protected]) was prepared, characterized and applied to U(VI) scavenging in water. Removal of U(VI) as a function of pH, ionic strength, reaction time, initial concentrations of U(VI), and temperature were studied and compared with pure LDH and nZVI, the [email protected] had best U(VI) removal efficiency owning to the excellent synergistic combination of LDH adsorption and nZVI reduction. XPS analysis found that surface oxygen functional groups and surface-bound Fe(II) played a critical role in U(VI) remediation. The large surface areas (334.0 m2/g), abundant functional groups (i.e., MO, CO and OH), rapid kinetics (adsorption equilibrium within 1 h) and excellent adsorption capacities (176 mg/g) indicating that [email protected] can be considered as a potential material for preconcentration of U(VI) from sewage water.

The role of oxygen vacancy (VO) in catalyst is manifested to be positive in the Fenton-like process. However, rational modulation of VO with a simple strategy for the efficient Fenton-like catalysts remains desirable and challenging. Here a facile heat treatment method without any additives was demonstrated to introduce VO on mesoporous cobalt oxide (Co3O4) hollow nanospheres, which served as highly reactive and stable Fenton-like catalysts for recalcitrant organic pollutants (bisphenol A, BPA) degradation by activating peroxymonosulfate (PMS). The VO-rich Co3O4 nanospheres exhibited superior BPA removal efficiency with high BPA degradation rate (0.0232 min−1, 100 min). The concentration of VO in Co3O4 was proved to act as an important role for the PMS activating efficiency. A series of mechanism studies, including radical scavengers, chemical probes and electrochemical characterizations, were conducted to identify the active radicals generated by PMS activation. Singlet oxygen produced from the VO-based reaction pathway, rather than sulfate radical and hydroxyl radical, was unveiled to play a key role in the BPA degradation process. This work provided new insight into designing transition metal oxide-based Fenton-like catalysts with efficient and sustainable remediation of refractory organic contaminants in wastewater.

Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) have now been recognized as promising therapeutic molecules and are extending their use in cancer diagnosis and therapy. This study demonstrates for the first time the antitumor activity of green-synthesized AgNPs against lung cancer in vitro and in vivo. Cytotoxicity effect was explored on human lung cancer H1299 cells in vitro by MTT and trypan blue assays. Apoptosis was measured by morphological assessment, and nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) transcriptional activity was determined by a luciferase reporter gene assay. The expressions of phosphorylated stat3, bcl-2, survivin, and caspase-3 were examined by Western blot analysis. AgNPs showed dose-dependent cytotoxicity and stimulation of apoptosis in H1299 cells. The effects on H1299 cells correlated well with the inhibition of NF-κB activity, a decrease in bcl-2, and an increase in caspase-3 and survivin expression. AgNPs significantly suppressed the H1299 tumor growth in a xenograft severe combined immunodeficient (SCID) mouse model. The results demonstrate the anticancer activities of AgNPs, suggesting that they may act as potential beneficial molecules in lung cancer chemoprevention and chemotherapy, especially for early-stage intervention.

With the rapid development of intelligent technology, tactile sensors as sensing devices constitute the core foundation of intelligent systems. Biological organs that can sense various stimuli play vital roles in the interaction between human beings and the external environment. Inspired by this fact, research on skin-like tactile sensors with multifunctionality and high performance has attracted extensive attention. An overview of the development of high-performance tactile sensors applied in intelligent systems is systematically presented. First, the development of tactile sensors endowed with stretchability, self-healing, biodegradability, high resolution and self-powered capability is discussed. Then, for intelligent systems, tactile sensors with excellent application prospects in many fields, such as wearable devices, medical treatment, artificial limbs and robotics, are presented. Finally, the future prospects of tactile sensors for intelligent systems are discussed.

<h2>Summary</h2><h3>Background</h3> We examined the potential change in cancer detection when using an artificial intelligence (AI) cancer-detection software to triage certain screening examinations into a no radiologist work stream, and then after regular radiologist assessment of the remainder, triage certain screening examinations into an enhanced assessment work stream. The purpose of enhanced assessment was to simulate selection of women for more sensitive screening promoting early detection of cancers that would otherwise be diagnosed as interval cancers or as next-round screen-detected cancers. The aim of the study was to examine how AI could reduce radiologist workload and increase cancer detection. <h3>Methods</h3> In this retrospective simulation study, all women diagnosed with breast cancer who attended two consecutive screening rounds were included. Healthy women were randomly sampled from the same cohort; their observations were given elevated weight to mimic a frequency of 0·7% incident cancer per screening interval. Based on the prediction score from a commercially available AI cancer detector, various cutoff points for the decision to channel women to the two new work streams were examined in terms of missed and additionally detected cancer. <h3>Findings</h3> 7364 women were included in the study sample: 547 were diagnosed with breast cancer and 6817 were healthy controls. When including 60%, 70%, or 80% of women with the lowest AI scores in the no radiologist stream, the proportion of screen-detected cancers that would have been missed were 0, 0·3% (95% CI 0·0–4·3), or 2·6% (1·1–5·4), respectively. When including 1% or 5% of women with the highest AI scores in the enhanced assessment stream, the potential additional cancer detection was 24 (12%) or 53 (27%) of 200 subsequent interval cancers, respectively, and 48 (14%) or 121 (35%) of 347 next-round screen-detected cancers, respectively. <h3>Interpretation</h3> Using a commercial AI cancer detector to triage mammograms into no radiologist assessment and enhanced assessment could potentially reduce radiologist workload by more than half, and pre-emptively detect a substantial proportion of cancers otherwise diagnosed later. <h3>Funding</h3> Stockholm City Council.

In this study, the performance of simultaneous nitrification and denitrification via nitrite was investigated by alternating the dissolved oxygen (DO) concentration in a sequencing batch reactor with the DO-control area and the non-control area. In addition, bacterial communities and their metabolic functions were analyzed by high-throughput sequencing technology and phylogenetic investigation of the communities by reconstruction of unobserved states (PICRUSt). The removal efficiencies of NH4+-N and total nitrogen via the nitrite pathway were 97.91 ± 2.04% and 72.28 ± 2.23%, respectively, by maintaining low DO levels (0.7 ± 0.1 mg/L) in the DO-control area. PICRUSt analysis showed that the metabolic potential of the bacterial community for amino acids, nucleotides, coenzymes and inorganic ions decreased, while the relative abundance of key enzymes involved in nitrification and denitrification, and the relative population of denitrifying bacteria increased when the DO decreased from 1.2 ± 0.2 mg/L to 0.7 ± 0.1 mg/L.

Highly luminescent glass-stabilized CsPbX₃ (X = Cl, Br, I) perovskite QDs are fabricated <italic>via</italic> an <italic>in situ</italic> glass crystallization strategy and fluorine doping.

Application of novel radio technologies and equipment inevitably leads to electromagnetic pollution. One-dimensional polymer-based composite membrane structures have been shown to be an effective strategy to obtain high-performance microwave absorbers. Herein, we reported a one-dimensional N-doped carbon nanofibers material which encapsulated the hollow Co3SnC0.7 nanocubes in the fiber lumen by electrospinning. Space charge stacking formed between nanoparticles can be channeled by longitudinal fibrous structures. The dielectric constant of the fibers is highly related to the carbonization temperature, and the great impedance matching can be achieved by synergetic effect between Co3SnC0.7 and carbon network. At 800 °C, the necklace-like Co3SnC0.7/CNF with 5% low load achieves an excellent RL value of - 51.2 dB at 2.3 mm and the effective absorption bandwidth of 7.44 GHz with matching thickness of 2.5 mm. The multiple electromagnetic wave (EMW) reflections and interfacial polarization between the fibers and the fibers internal contribute a major effect to attenuating the EMW. These strategies for regulating electromagnetic performance can be expanded to other electromagnetic functional materials which facilitate the development of emerging absorbers.

Creep rupture life is a key material parameter for service life and mechanical properties of Ni-based single crystal superalloy materials. Therefore, it is of much practical significance to accurately and efficiently predict creep life. Here, we develop a divide-and-conquer self-adaptive (DCSA) learning method incorporating multiple material descriptors for rational and accelerated prediction of the creep rupture life. We characterize a high-quality creep dataset of 266 alloy samples with such features as alloy composition, test temperature, test stress, and heat treatment process. In addition, five microstructural parameters related to creep process, including stacking fault energy, lattice parameter, mole fraction of the γ' phase, diffusion coefficient and shear modulus, are calculated and introduced by the CALPHAD (CALculation of PHAse Diagrams) method and basic materials structure-property relationships, that enables us to reveal the effect of microstructure on creep properties. The machine learning explorations conducted on the creep dataset demonstrate the potential of the approach to achieve higher prediction accuracy with RMSE, MAPE and R2 of 0.3839, 0.0003 and 0.9176 than five alternative state-of-the-art machine learning models. On the newly collected 8 alloy samples, the error between the predicted creep life value and the experimental measured value is within the acceptable range (6.4486 h–40.7159 h), further confirming the validity of our DCSA model. Essentially, our method can establish accurate structure-property relationship mapping for the creep rupture life in a faster and cheaper manner than experiments and is expected to serve for inverse design of alloys.

Recent studies suggest that closely related species can accumulate substantial genetic and phenotypic differences despite ongoing gene flow, thus challenging traditional ideas regarding the genetics of speciation. Baboons (genus Papio) are Old World monkeys consisting of six readily distinguishable species. Baboon species hybridize in the wild, and prior data imply a complex history of differentiation and introgression. We produced a reference genome assembly for the olive baboon (Papio anubis) and whole-genome sequence data for all six extant species. We document multiple episodes of admixture and introgression during the radiation of Papio baboons, thus demonstrating their value as a model of complex evolutionary divergence, hybridization, and reticulation. These results help inform our understanding of similar cases, including modern humans, Neanderthals, Denisovans, and other ancient hominins.

<h2>Summary</h2> Despite mounting evidence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) engagement with immune cells, most express little, if any, of the canonical receptor of SARS-CoV-2, angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2). Here, using a myeloid cell receptor-focused ectopic expression screen, we identified several C-type lectins (DC-SIGN, L-SIGN, LSECtin, ASGR1, and CLEC10A) and Tweety family member 2 (TTYH2) as glycan-dependent binding partners of the SARS-CoV-2 spike. Except for TTYH2, these molecules primarily interacted with spike via regions outside of the receptor-binding domain. Single-cell RNA sequencing analysis of pulmonary cells from individuals with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) indicated predominant expression of these molecules on myeloid cells. Although these receptors do not support active replication of SARS-CoV-2, their engagement with the virus induced robust proinflammatory responses in myeloid cells that correlated with COVID-19 severity. We also generated a bispecific anti-spike nanobody that not only blocked ACE2-mediated infection but also the myeloid receptor-mediated proinflammatory responses. Our findings suggest that SARS-CoV-2-myeloid receptor interactions promote immune hyperactivation, which represents potential targets for COVID-19 therapy.

Photocatalytic disinfection based on semiconductors has been expected to tackle bio-contaminated water issue by leveraging reactive oxygen species (ROS) as “green” bactericide. However, semiconductor along usually inactivates bacteria tardily due to the fierce competition between high recombination rate of photo-excited charge carriers and the capture of them on surface to catalyse reactions. In this study, we in situ hybridized a cost-effective co-catalyst (MoS2) on an earth-abundant semiconductor (g-C3N4 in nanosheets) based on similar nano-layered configuration. The spontaneously synthesized MoS2 nano-layers (5–8 layers) was dominant in 1 T-phase which was found serviceable for efficient charge separation possibly by extracting electrons from g-C3N4 nanosheets through the fully contacted interface and accelerated charge transfer in highly conductive metallic MoS2, meanwhile affording additional active sites both at edges and on basal plans relative to edge-active 2H MoS2. The optimized 1 T-rich MoS2/g-C3N4 nanocomposite impressively enlarged the photocurrent density by a factor of 5.5 compared to bare g-C3N4 and promoted the formation of H2O2 as the main ROS, thus leading to a better photocatalytic water disinfection performance than those of single component catalysts, 2H-rich counterpart and physical MoS2/g-C3N4 mixture. This strategy would potentially enlighten the construction of other effective co-catalysts as alternatives to the expensive noble metals in catalysing photo-activated reactions.

Highly porous zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIFs), with disparate metal ions (ZIF-8 and ZIF-67), disparate organic ligands (ZIF-9 and ZIF-67), single or double central metal atoms (ZIF-8, Zn/Co-ZIF and ZIF-67) were prepared and used in the elimination of typical radionuclide U(VI). The detailed interaction mechanisms were studied by batch experiments, spectral analyses and DFT calculation. Langmuir isotherms model revealed a decreasing tendency to remove U(VI): ZIF-8 (540.4 mg/g) > Zn/Co-ZIF (527.5 mg/g) > ZIF-9 (448.6 mg/g) > ZIF-67 (368.2 mg/g). Based on the effects of pH and foreign ions, FTIR and XPS spectra analyses, the possible interaction mechanisms of U(VI) onto ZIFs were surface complexation and electrostatic interaction. Among them, ZIF-8 with Zn metal center and 2-methylimidazolate organic ligand had the best elimination capacity for U(VI) because of its large surface area, active metal ion and abundant nitrogen-containing groups (e.g., C–N, Zn–N and CN). Specially, the adsorption energy of ZIF-8-Zn2-UO22+ structure was −2.299 eV obtained by DFT calculation, illustrating that U(VI) and N atoms were formed the most stable bidentate coordination compounds. This paper highlights the effects of the hydroxylated metals, the functional groups of the imidazole ring on the elimination of U(VI), which can provide constructive suggestions for further adsorbent materials amelioration.

Abstract Jiaodong gold deposits are mainly sited along faulted contacts between Upper Jurassic Linglong granite and Precambrian basement metamorphic rocks or Lower Cretaceous Guojialing granite. Long-standing controversies relate to timing of gold mineralization and granite-gold relationships. In this study, gold-related muscovite consistently provides concordant 40Ar/39Ar plateau ages of 120 ± 2 Ma (2σ) for the Jiaojia, Sizhuang, and Luoshan deposits. Analogous 40Ar/39Ar timing constraints from gold-related muscovite are provided by total gas and high-temperature ages from Fushan, concordant high-temperature ages from Rushan, and fusion-step ages from Xiadian deposits. These new 40Ar/39Ar ages, when combined with previous reliable 40Ar/39Ar and U-Pb age constraints for mineralization, including ages of pre- and postgold dikes, define a widespread gold mineralization event at 120 ± 2 Ma (2σ). Published zircon U-Pb ages for Guojialing and Aishan granite magmatism suggest an ~8-m.y. lag between peak intrusive activity and gold mineralization. This, together with lack of both high-temperature alteration assemblages and alteration and/or metal zonation, indicates that the structurally controlled Jiaodong deposits are orogenic rather than intrusion-related deposits. Despite this, granite intrusions are considered to have provided suitable fluid trap sites. New 40Ar/39Ar analyses of biotite from the Linglong and Guojialing granites show they had cooled to about ~300° ± 50°C by ca. 123 to 124 Ma, providing pressure-temperature conditions similar to those under which most orogenic gold deposits formed close to the ductile-brittle transition. This enabled the effective ingress of fluids at supralithostatic pressures at 120 ± 2 Ma, leading to intensive brecciation, alteration, and deposition of both vein-type and disseminated gold ores. New zircon (U-Th)/He dates together with apatite fission-track data indicate that preservation of the gold province is due to slow postmineralization uplift and exhumation.

Salidroside, an active component from Traditional Chinese Medicine Rhodiola rosea L., has various pharmacological functions including anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer and anti-oxidative properties. However, whether salidroside plays a beneficial role in diabetic nephropathy is still unclear.The objective of this work was to investigate the potential roles of salidroside against diabetic nephropathy and the underlying molecular mechanisms.Streptozocin was given to obese mice to generate diabetic nephropathy animal model. Salidroside was administered to these mice and proteinuria, podocyte integrity, renal morphology and fibrosis, mitochondrial biogenesis were examined.Our results showed that salidroside treatment greatly attenuates diabetic nephropathy as evidenced by decreased urinary albumin, blood urea nitrogen and serum creatinine. Morphological analysis indicated that salidroside improves renal structures in diabetic nephropathy. The decreases in nephrin and podocin expression were markedly reversed by salidroside. Moreover, kidney fibrosis in diabetic nephropathy mice was largely prevented by salidroside. Mechanistically, in salidroside-treated mice, the mitochondrial DNA copy and electron transport chain proteins were significantly enhanced. Meanwhile, the reduced Sirt1 and PGC-1α expression in diabetic nephropathy was almost completely counteracted in the presence of salidroside.Our data showed that salidroside plays a beneficial role against diabetic nephropathy in mice, which probably via Sirt1/PGC-1α mediated mitochondrial biogenesis.

Removing contaminants from wastewater is critical to secure the global water supply. Membrane technologies for water purification are exceptionally attractive due to their high efficiency and low energy consumption. The traditional porous polymer films, however, are easy to be fouled by the organic pollutants, causing pore blockage and deteriorated separation performance. We herein report the rational design of a porous SiO2/GO hybrid membrane by coupling graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets with SiO2 nanoparticles and using ethylenediamine to crosslink them, for efficient oil/water separation and dye removal. The SiO2 nanoparticles provide an excellent hydrophilicity and underwater superoleophobicity interface, resulting in efficient and antifouling oil/water separation with an outstanding rejection rate over 99.4% for different types of oil; and the hierarchical scaffold, formed from the hydrophilic GO nanosheets embedded with SiO2 nanoparticles, greatly facilitates the rapid permeation of water with a high flux rate of up to 2387 L m−2 h−1 for pure water and 470 L m−2 h−1 for oil/water separation. Moreover, the abundant functional groups on the GO surface also render this membrane with a high removal capability for dye blocking, enabling it to remove soluble pollutants in molecular dimensions as well. This design strategy not only provides an outstanding membrane for water purification but also sheds light on the design of multi-purpose functional membranes for a variety of energy and environment-related applications.

Paneth cells are the primary source of C-type lysozyme, a β-1,4-N-acetylmuramoylhydrolase that enzymatically processes bacterial cell walls. Paneth cells are normally present in human cecum and ascending colon, but are rarely found in descending colon and rectum; Paneth cell metaplasia in this region and aberrant lysozyme production are hallmarks of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) pathology. Here, we examined the impact of aberrant lysozyme production in colonic inflammation. Targeted disruption of Paneth cell lysozyme (Lyz1) protected mice from experimental colitis. Lyz1-deficiency diminished intestinal immune responses to bacterial molecular patterns and resulted in the expansion of lysozyme-sensitive mucolytic bacteria, including Ruminococcus gnavus, a Crohn’s disease-associated pathobiont. Ectopic lysozyme production in colonic epithelium suppressed lysozyme-sensitive bacteria and exacerbated colitis. Transfer of R. gnavus into Lyz1−/− hosts elicited a type 2 immune response, causing epithelial reprograming and enhanced anti-colitogenic capacity. In contrast, in lysozyme-intact hosts, processed R. gnavus drove pro-inflammatory responses. Thus, Paneth cell lysozyme balances intestinal anti- and pro-inflammatory responses, with implications for IBD.

Abstract Lead‐free 0D metal halide perovskites are emerging environmentally friendly materials exhibiting large exciton binding energy, which have recently attracted great attention for their excellent light emission properties and favorable stability. Herein, solvent evaporation crystallization at room temperature is adopted to fabricate 0D Cs 3 Cu 2 I 5 perovskite millimeter‐sized crystals, which show strong blue photoluminescence (PL) with quantum yield of up to 89%, a large Stockes shift and long (microsecond) PL lifetime, originating from self‐trapped excitons. UV pumped light‐emitting diodes are demonstrated by using Cs 3 Cu 2 I 5 powder as a solid‐state phosphor, and the precursor solution of these perovskite crystals is used as a fluorescent ink. Furthermore, blue‐emitting composite Cs 3 Cu 2 I 5 /polyvinylidene fluoride films are produced by spin coating through the solvent evaporation and followed patterning using a direct laser writing technology, which are potentially useful for displays. Finally, the solvent evaporation crystallization method is expanded to fabricate yellow emissive CsCu 2 I 3 crystals by changing the chemical molar ratio of precursor.

Graphitic carbon nitride (C3N4) has gained broad attention as a metal-free photocatalyst for water disinfection. However, the low photocatalytic bactericidal activity of pristine C3N4 limits its applications. Here, we report a facile method to boost the photocatalytic disinfection activity of C3N4 with polyethyleneimine (PEI). With PEI modification, the generation of long-lifespan reactive oxygen species (ROS,•O2− and H2O2) in photocatalysis is significantly improved. Additionally, scanning electron microscopy and the atomic force microscopy force spectroscopy characterization reveal that PEI promotes the bacteria-photocatalyst contact via electrostatic adhesion. Due to the synergistic modulation of ROS generation and bacteria-photocatalyst interaction, the photocatalytic bactericidal activity of C3N4 is dramatically enhanced after PEI modification. Notably PEI/C3N4 composite achieves 6.2 logs of inactivation efficiency for Escherichia coli within 45 min and 4.2 logs for Enterococcus faecalis within 60 min under simulated solar irradiation. Overall, this work provides insights on designing metal-free photocatalysts with judicious polymer for antibacterial applications.

The fabrication of high-performance electromagnetic (EM) wave absorption (EMA) materials is an effective strategy to deal with ever-increasing EM pollution. In this work, a series of manganese oxides/porous carbon (MnxOy@C) hybrid composites are obtained by a two-step process. It is revealed that different manganese oxides play various influence on the dielectric properties of absorbers. Owing to the moderate complex permittivity of [email protected] hybrid composites, the optimal reflection loss could reach as high as -76.0 dB at the matching thickness of 2.0 mm with 5.2 GHz of effective absorption bandwidth at thickness of 2.1 mm. We demonstrated that the addition of porous carbon is vital for enhancing EMA performance of composites, which not only coordinates impedance matching allowing more EM waves enter the absorber, but also provides the path for electron movement, thus profiting conductive loss. Besides, different heterogeneous interfaces including porous carbon, manganese oxide and so on, are conducive to contribution of interface polarization. The most noteworthy is ingenious design of composite materials and systematic research of EM energy attenuation mechanism in this work will provide the possibility to realize high-performance EMA.

Depression is a common condition, but current treatments are only effective in a subset of individuals. To identify new treatment targets, we integrated depression genome-wide association study (GWAS) results (N = 500,199) with human brain proteomes (N = 376) to perform a proteome-wide association study of depression followed by Mendelian randomization. We identified 19 genes that were consistent with being causal in depression, acting via their respective cis-regulated brain protein abundance. We replicated nine of these genes using an independent depression GWAS (N = 307,353) and another human brain proteomic dataset (N = 152). Eleven of the 19 genes also had cis-regulated mRNA levels that were associated with depression, based on integration of the depression GWAS with human brain transcriptomes (N = 888). Meta-analysis of the discovery and replication proteome-wide association study analyses identified 25 brain proteins consistent with being causal in depression, 20 of which were not previously implicated in depression by GWAS. Together, these findings provide promising brain protein targets for further mechanistic and therapeutic studies.

A proton exchange membrane water electrolyzer (PEMWE) in acidic medium is a hopeful scenario for hydrogen production using renewable energy, but the grand challenge lies in substituting noble-metal catalysts. Herein, a robust electrocatalyst of V-CoP2 porous nanowires arranged on a carbon cloth is successfully fabricated by incorporating vanadium into the CoP2 lattice. Structural characterizations and theoretical analysis indicate that lattice expansion of CoP2 caused by V incorporation results in the upshift of the d-band center, which is conducive to hydrogen adsorption for boosting the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Besides, V promotes surface reconstruction to generate a thicker Co3 O4 layer with an oxygen vacancy that enhances acid-corrosion resistance and optimizes the adsorption of water and oxygen-containing species, thus improving activity and stability toward the oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Accordingly, it presents a superior acidic overall water splitting activity (1.47 V@10 mA cm-2 ) to Pt-C/CC||RuO2 /CC (1.59 V@10 mA cm-2 ), and remarkable stability. This work proposes a new route to design efficient non-noble metal electrocatalysts for PEMWE.

Metal-sulfide photocatalysts feature outstanding optoelectronic properties and suitable band-gap energy. Photocatalyst active sites, which are rationally designed, are very important for increasing the photocatalytic reaction rate. In this review, we classify the reactive sites of metal sulfides mainly into metal-edge sites, S-edge sites, terrace sites, and defects. We summarize recent research progress in the identification and characterization of reactive sites in metal sulfides, followed by recent synthesis methods for increasing the number of these reactive sites and adjusting their reactivity. A thorough understanding of the relationship between photocatalytic performance and reactive sites in metal sulfide is helpful for enhancing the activity and selectivity. Hence, we build different correlations between the active sites of metal sulfides and photocatalytic applications, including photocatalytic hydrogen production, CO2 reduction, pollutant decomposition, and N2 fixation. Finally, we discuss the opportunities and challenges for the development of active sites in metal sulfides in photocatalysis.

Excessive inflammatory responses contribute to the pathogenesis and lethality of highly pathogenic human coronaviruses, but the underlying mechanism remains unclear. In this study, the N proteins of highly pathogenic human coronaviruses, including severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV), middle east respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), were found to bind MASP-2, a key serine protease in the lectin pathway of complement activation, resulting in excessive complement activation by potentiating MBL-dependent MASP-2 activation, and the deposition of MASP-2, C4b, activated C3 and C5b-9. Aggravated inflammatory lung injury was observed in mice infected with adenovirus expressing the N protein. Complement hyperactivation was also observed in SARS-CoV-2-infected patients. Either blocking the N protein:MASP-2 interaction, MASP-2 depletion or suppressing complement activation can significantly alleviate N protein-induced complement hyperactivation and lung injury in vitro and in vivo. Altogether, these data suggested that complement suppression may represent a novel therapeutic approach for pneumonia induced by these highly pathogenic coronaviruses.

Curcumin (Cur) is a natural polyphenol with beneficial effect against obesity and related metabolic disorders, but its precise mechanisms of action remain to be defined due to its limited systemic bioavailability. We hypothesized that gut microbiota may be a prospective therapeutic target for Cur-induced metabolic benefits. This study aimed to investigate whether the metabolic adaptations resulting from Cur supplementation were mediated by the gut microbiota in high-fat diet (HFD)-fed obese mice. C57BL/6 mice were fed a control diet or a HFD diet with or without 0.2% Cur for 10 weeks. Lipid profiles, insulin sensitivity, hepatic metabolism, gut microbiota composition and short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) production were determined. Dietary Cur reduced fat mass, hepatic steatosis and circulating lipopolysaccharide levels and improved the insulin sensitivity in HFD-fed mice. More importantly, Cur supplementation modulated the gut microbiota composition and ameliorated intestinal dysbiosis by decreasing the ratio of Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes and endotoxin-producing Desulfovibrio bacteria and increasing the abundance of Akkermansia population and SCFA-producing bacteria, such as Bacteroides, Parabacteroides, Alistipes and Alloprevotella, along with increases in caecal and colonic SCFA concentrations. These dominant bacterial genera altered by Cur showed strong correlations with the obesity-related metabolic parameters in HFD-fed mice. In conclusion, our data suggest that Cur alleviated metabolic features of hepatic steatosis and insulin resistance in HFD-fed obese mice, which might be associated with the modulation of gut microbiota composition and metabolites.

Aberrant activation of NLRP3 inflammasome in colonic macrophages strongly associates with the occurrence and progression of ulcerative colitis. Although targeting NLRP3 inflammasome has been considered to be a potential therapy, the underlying mechanism through which pathway the intestinal inflammation is modulated remains controversial. By focusing on the flavonoid lonicerin, one of the most abundant constituents existed in a long historical anti-inflammatory and anti-infectious herb Lonicera japonica Thunb., here we report its therapeutic effect on intestinal inflammation by binding directly to enhancer of zeste homolog 2 (EZH2) histone methyltransferase. EZH2-mediated modification of H3K27me3 promotes the expression of autophagy-related protein 5, which in turn leads to enhanced autophagy and accelerates autolysosome-mediated NLRP3 degradation. Mutations of EZH2 residues (His129 and Arg685) indicated by the dynamic simulation study have found to greatly diminish the protective effect of lonicerin. More importantly, in vivo studies verify that lonicerin dose-dependently disrupts the NLRP3–ASC–pro-caspase-1 complex assembly and alleviates colitis, which is compromised by administration of EZH2 overexpression plasmid. Thus, these findings together put forth the stage for further considering lonicerin as an anti-inflammatory epigenetic agent and suggesting EZH2/ATG5/NLRP3 axis may serve as a novel strategy to prevent ulcerative colitis as well as other inflammatory diseases.

Abstract Although multifunctional aerogels are expected to be used in applications such as portable electronic devices, it is still a great challenge to confer multifunctionality to aerogels while maintaining their inherent microstructure. Herein, a simple method is proposed to prepare multifunctional NiCo/C aerogels with excellent electromagnetic wave absorption properties, superhydrophobicity, and self-cleaning by water-induced NiCo-MOF self-assembly. Specifically, the impedance matching of the three-dimensional (3D) structure and the interfacial polarization provided by CoNi/C as well as the defect-induced dipole polarization are the primary contributors to the broadband absorption. As a result, the prepared NiCo/C aerogels have a broadband width of 6.22 GHz at 1.9 mm. Due to the presence of hydrophobic functional groups, CoNi/C aerogels improve the stability in humid environments and obtain hydrophobicity with large contact angles &gt; 140°. This multifunctional aerogel has promising applications in electromagnetic wave absorption, resistance to water or humid environments.

Abstract Aims To explore the beneficial effects of virtual reality (VR) interventions on upper‐ and lower‐limb motor function, balance, gait, cognition and daily function outcomes in stroke patients. Design A systematic review and meta‐analysis of randomized controlled trials. Data Sources English databases (PubMed, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library, CINAHL, Web of Science, Physiotherapy Evidence Database, ProQuest Dissertations and Theses) and Chinese databases (Chinese BioMedical Literature Service System, WANFANG, CNKI) and the Clinical Trial Registry Platform were systematically searched from inception until December 2019. Additionally, reference lists of the included studies were manually searched. Review Methods The methodological quality of studies was scored with the Cochrane ‘risk‐of‐bias tool’ and PEDro scale from the Physiotherapy Evidence Database by two independent evaluators. Results In total, 87 studies with 3540 participants were included. Stroke patients receiving VR interventions showed significant improvements in Fugl‐Meyer assessment of Upper Extremity, Action Research Arm Test, Wolf Motor Function Test, Fugl‐Meyer Assessment of Lower Extremity, Functional Ambulation Classification, Berg Balance Scale, Time Up and Go, Velocity, Cadence, Modified Barthel Index and Functional Independence Measure. However, differences between VR intervention and traditional rehabilitation groups were not significant for Box‐Block Test, 10 m Walk Test, Auditory Continuous Performance Test, Mini‐Mental State Examination and Visual Continuous Performance Test. Conclusion This review suggests that VR interventions effectively improve upper‐ and lower‐limb motor function, balance, gait and daily function of stroke patients, but have no benefits on cognition. Impact This review identified the positive effects of VR‐assisted rehabilitation on upper‐ and lower‐limb motor function, balance, gait and daily function of stroke patients. And, we verified the duration of VR intervention affects some health benefits. The benefit of VR on cognitive function requires further investigation through large‐scale multicentre RCTs.

It is difficult to remove heavy metal–organic complex by conventional chemical precipitation. In this study, a novel strategy of coupling non-thermal plasma (NTP) and persulfate (PS) oxidation was developed for decomplexation of Cu-ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (Cu-EDTA). An obvious synergistic effect between NTP and PS was achieved, resulting in 126% increase in reaction rate constant at 7 kV compared with single NTP system. PS was effectively activated by ultraviolet irradiation, heat, Cu-EDTA, and Cu2+ generated endogenously in NTP system. O2−, 1O2, OH, and SO4− contributed to Cu-EDTA decomplexation. Multiple spectroscopy analyses and Density Functional Theory calculation indicated that Cu–O and Cu–N of Cu-EDTA were destroyed. Finally, synergetic decomplexation pathways of Cu-EDTA in the NTP/PS system were proposed.

Organic-based phase change materials (PCMs) are widely used for energy storage due to high latent heat and wide phase change temperature range. Nowadays, alkanes, fatty acids and polyols are the three main types of organic-based PCMs for thermal energy storage with medium and low temperature. However, there are obvious defects of organic-based PCMs in the practical application due to low thermal conductivity and easy leakage in molten state. Encapsulation, vacuum impregnation, adsorption and penetration are the main preparation methods of organic-based PCMs, preventing the leakage in solid-liquid phase change and improving their thermal stability. This paper provides a comprehensive review of the preparation strategies, the differences in thermal properties, the improving strategies for thermal conductivity and potential applications for organic-based PCMs. This paper benefits the researcher in conducting further research in solar energy utilization, green energy-saving building, textile, infrared stealthy and thermal management of electronic devices.

A type of nickel/manganese oxide (Ni/MnO)/carbon nanocomposite fibers were prepared via a facile and scalable electrospinning and carbonization approach. In comparison to the pure carbon showing a severe agglomeration, the uniformly embedded MnO and Ni nanoparticles promoted the formation of the fibrous carbon-based nanocomposites with an average diameter of 250 nm and a rough surface. The synergistic coactions of the MnO nanoparticles acting as impedance modulating mediator, the magnetic Ni nanoparticles, and the conductive, fibrous carbon with large aspect ratio and rough surface contributed to the excellent electromagnetic wave (EMW) absorbing performance of the nanocomposites. The nanocomposites with a MnO/Ni ratio of 1:1 exhibited an effective absorption bandwidth of 6.5 GHz at a thickness of 2.9 mm and a minimum reflection loss of −53.23 dB at a thickness of 2.3 mm. The EMW absorption mechanisms of the nanocomposite fibers were discussed at length, which showed the importance of the multi-component building units and microstructure for achieving high EMW absorbing performance. This work thus suggested a convenient, facile, and scalable manufacturing approach for constructing high-performance multi-component nanocomposite fiber based EMW absorbing materials.

Neuromorphic computing memristors are attractive to construct low-power- consumption electronic textiles due to the intrinsic interwoven architecture and promising applications in wearable electronics. Developing reconfigurable fiber-based memristors is an efficient method to realize electronic textiles that capable of neuromorphic computing function. However, the previously reported artificial synapse and neuron need different materials and configurations, making it difficult to realize multiple functions in a single device. Herein, a textile memristor network of Ag/MoS2/HfAlOx/carbon nanotube with reconfigurable characteristics was reported, which can achieve both nonvolatile synaptic plasticity and volatile neuron functions. In addition, a single reconfigurable memristor can realize integrate-and-fire function, exhibiting significant advantages in reducing the complexity of neuron circuits. The firing energy consumption of fiber-based memristive neuron is 1.9 fJ/spike (femtojoule-level), which is at least three orders of magnitude lower than that of the reported biological and artificial neuron (picojoule-level). The ultralow energy consumption makes it possible to create an electronic neural network that reduces the energy consumption compared to human brain. By integrating the reconfigurable synapse, neuron and heating resistor, a smart textile system is successfully constructed for warm fabric application, providing a unique functional reconfiguration pathway toward the next-generation in-memory computing textile system.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) has a complex genetic, immune and metabolic pathophysiology. Recent studies implicated the gut microbiome in MS pathogenesis. However, interactions between the microbiome and host immune system, metabolism and diet have not been studied over time in this disorder.We performed a six-month longitudinal multi-omics study of 49 participants (24 untreated relapse remitting MS patients and 25 age, sex, race matched healthy control individuals. Gut microbiome composition and function were characterized using 16S and metagenomic shotgun sequencing. Flow cytometry was used to characterize blood immune cell populations and cytokine profiles. Circulating metabolites were profiled by untargeted UPLC-MS. A four-day food diary was recorded to capture the habitual dietary pattern of study participants.Together with changes in blood immune cells, metagenomic analysis identified a number of gut microbiota decreased in MS patients compared to healthy controls, and microbiota positively or negatively correlated with degree of disability in MS patients. MS patients demonstrated perturbations of their blood metabolome, such as linoleate metabolic pathway, fatty acid biosynthesis, chalcone, dihydrochalcone, 4-nitrocatechol and methionine. Global correlations between multi-omics demonstrated a disrupted immune-microbiome relationship and a positive blood metabolome-microbiome correlation in MS. Specific feature association analysis identified a potential correlation network linking meat servings with decreased gut microbe B. thetaiotaomicron, increased Th17 cell and greater abundance of meat-associated blood metabolites. The microbiome and metabolome profiles remained stable over six months in MS and control individuals.Our study identified multi-system alterations in gut microbiota, immune and blood metabolome of MS patients at global and individual feature level. Multi-OMICS data integration deciphered a potential important biological network that links meat intakes with increased meat-associated blood metabolite, decreased polysaccharides digesting bacteria, and increased circulating proinflammatory marker.This work was supported by the Washington University in St. Louis Institute of Clinical and Translational Sciences, funded, in part, by Grant Number # UL1 TR000448 from the National Institutes of Health, National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, Clinical and Translational Sciences Award (Zhou Y, Piccio, L, Lovett-Racke A and Tarr PI); R01 NS10263304 (Zhou Y, Piccio L); the Leon and Harriet Felman Fund for Human MS Research (Piccio L and Cross AH). Cantoni C. was supported by the National MS Society Career Transition Fellowship (TA-180531003) and by donations from Whitelaw Terry, Jr. / Valerie Terry Fund. Ghezzi L. was supported by the Italian Multiple Sclerosis Society research fellowship (FISM 2018/B/1) and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society Post-Doctoral Fellowship (FG-190734474). Anne Cross was supported by The Manny & Rosalyn Rosenthal-Dr. John L. Trotter MS Center Chair in Neuroimmunology of the Barnes-Jewish Hospital Foundation. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

The human gastrointestinal tract harbours a complex microbial community, which interacts with the mucosal immune system closely. Gut microbiota plays a significant role in maintaining host health, which could supply various nutrients, regulate energy balance, modulate the immune response, and defence against pathogens. Therefore, maintaining a favourable equilibrium of gut microbiota through modulating bacteria composition, diversity, and their activity is beneficial to host health. Several studies have shown that probiotics and pre-biotics could directly and indirectly regulate microbiota and immune response. In addition, post-biotics, such as the bioactive metabolites, produced by gut microbiota, and/or cell-wall components released by probiotics, also have been shown to inhibit pathogen growth, maintain microbiota balance, and regulate an immune response. This review summarises the studies concerning the impact of probiotics, pre-biotics, and post-biotics on gut microbiota and immune systems and also describes the underlying mechanisms of beneficial effects of these substances. Finally, the future and challenges of probiotics, pre-biotics, and post-biotics are proposed.

The C/MnO/Co nanocomposite fibers were prepared via a facile electrospinning and subsequent carbonization process. Co acting as the magnetic nanoparticles and MnO nanoparticles serving as impedance modulator were introduced, effectively inhibiting the agglomeration of carbon fibers during annealing. This optimizes the microstructure and significantly improves the microwave absorption performance of the nanocomposites with diameters of 250–350 nm and rough surface morphologies. The nanocomposite fibers with equal MnO and Co molar contents exhibited the minimum reflection loss of − 71.7 dB at a frequency of 14.1 GHz and an absorber thickness of 2.3 mm, and the effective absorption bandwidth reached at 6.3 GHz at a thickness of 2.6 mm. The high microwave absorption performance can be attributed to the synergistic coactions of conduction loss, magnetic loss, interfacial polarization, and multiple scatterings derived from the rational design of the constituents and microstructure of the nanocomposites.

Several common psychiatric and neurodegenerative diseases share epidemiologic risk; however, whether they share pathophysiology is unclear and is the focus of our investigation. Using 25 GWAS results and LD score regression, we find eight significant genetic correlations between psychiatric and neurodegenerative diseases. We integrate the GWAS results with human brain transcriptomes (n = 888) and proteomes (n = 722) to identify cis- and trans- transcripts and proteins that are consistent with a pleiotropic or causal role in each disease, referred to as causal proteins for brevity. Within each disease group, we find many distinct and shared causal proteins. Remarkably, 30% (13 of 42) of the neurodegenerative disease causal proteins are shared with psychiatric disorders. Furthermore, we find 2.6-fold more protein-protein interactions among the psychiatric and neurodegenerative causal proteins than expected by chance. Together, our findings suggest these psychiatric and neurodegenerative diseases have shared genetic and molecular pathophysiology, which has important ramifications for early treatment and therapeutic development.

Deep graph clustering, which aims to reveal the underlying graph structure and divide the nodes into different groups, has attracted intensive attention in recent years. However, we observe that, in the process of node encoding, existing methods suffer from representation collapse which tends to map all data into the same representation. Consequently, the discriminative capability of the node representation is limited, leading to unsatisfied clustering performance. To address this issue, we propose a novel self-supervised deep graph clustering method termed Dual Correlation Reduction Network (DCRN) by reducing information correlation in a dual manner. Specifically, in our method, we first design a siamese network to encode samples. Then by forcing the cross-view sample correlation matrix and cross-view feature correlation matrix to approximate two identity matrices, respectively, we reduce the information correlation in the dual-level, thus improving the discriminative capability of the resulting features. Moreover, in order to alleviate representation collapse caused by over-smoothing in GCN, we introduce a propagation regularization term to enable the network to gain long-distance information with the shallow network structure. Extensive experimental results on six benchmark datasets demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed DCRN against the existing state-of-the-art methods. The code of DCRN is available at https://github.com/yueliu1999/DCRN and a collection (papers, codes and, datasets) of deep graph clustering is shared at https://github.com/yueliu1999/Awesome-Deep-Graph-Clustering on Github.

Environmental problems caused by intensive economic development and rapid urbanization have seriously constrained the sustainable development of social economy. Ecological security assessments have become an effective tool for measuring the unsustainability bottom line. Although Shanghai, Nanjing, Suzhou, Hangzhou, Wuhan, Hefei, Chongqing, and Chengdu are developed megacities in the Yangtze River basin of China, they are located in a fragile ecological environment. The megacities of the Yangtze River basin must achieve sustainable development based on an appropriate assessment of ecological security so that suitable suggestions can be proposed. To quantitatively measure and analyze the ecological security levels in these eight megacities in 2007–2016, this study applied the improved emergy ecological footprint model which optimizes the traditional emergy ecological carrying capacity by adding the new account of the socioeconomic emergy ecological carrying capacity. To improve accuracy, the environmental technology investment efficiency in the socioeconomic account was introduced using the slack based measure model of undesirable output. Then, this study constructed a framework of ecological security assessment. The results showed that from 2007 to 2016, the renewable resources carrying capacity varied greatly among these eight megacities which had an absolute effect on the contribution of emergy ecological carrying capacity. Environmental technology investment efficiency failed to increase. However, in the short term, it effectively increased the socioeconomic carrying capacity for megacities with poor renewable resources. The emergy ecological footprint followed a growth trend in Shanghai, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Hefei, and Chongqing, and a decreasing trend in Suzhou, Wuhan, and Chengdu. Across the study period, ecological deficits were identified in Shanghai, Suzhou, Nanjing, Wuhan, and Hefei. Hangzhou, Chengdu, and Chongqing had ecological surplus because of their superior renewable resources and their ecological security. Nanjing and Wuhan changed their status from sub-secure to secure. Except for Shanghai, the ecological footprint diversity indexes of all other megacities followed a growth trend, indicating that their consumption structure improved. Finally, this paper provides policy recommendations to help decision-makers formulate ecological security and sustainable development strategies. The results of this study provide a scientific reference for other megacities to mitigate ecological pressures by considering their local situations.

The emergence of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant is dominant in many countries worldwide. The high number of spike mutations is responsible for the broad immune evasion from existing vaccines and antibody drugs. To understand this, we first present the cryo-electron microscopy structure of ACE2-bound SARS-CoV-2 Omicron spike. Comparison to previous spike antibody structures explains how Omicron escapes these therapeutics. Secondly, we report structures of Omicron, Delta, and wild-type spikes bound to a patient-derived Fab antibody fragment (510A5), which provides direct evidence where antibody binding is greatly attenuated by the Omicron mutations, freeing spike to bind ACE2. Together with biochemical binding and 510A5 neutralization assays, our work establishes principles of binding required for neutralization and clearly illustrates how the mutations lead to antibody evasion yet retain strong ACE2 interactions. Structural information on spike with both bound and unbound antibodies collectively elucidates potential strategies for generation of therapeutic antibodies.

Malignant brain tumors, a heterogeneous group of primary and metastatic neoplasms in the central nervous system (CNS), are notorious for their highly invasive and devastating characteristics, dismal prognosis and low survival rate. Recently, near-infrared (NIR) optical imaging modalities including fluorescence imaging (FLI) and photoacoustic imaging (PAI) have displayed bright prospect in innovation of brain tumor diagnoses, due to their merits, like noninvasiveness, high spatiotemporal resolution, good sensitivity and large penetration depth. Importantly, these imaging techniques have been widely used to vividly guide diverse brain tumor therapies in a real-time manner with high accuracy and efficiency. Herein, we provide a systematic summary of the state-of-the-art NIR contrast agents (CAs) for brain tumors single-modal imaging (e.g., FLI and PAI), dual-modal imaging (e.g., FLI/PAI, FLI/magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and PAI/MRI) and triple-modal imaging (e.g., MRI/FLI/PAI and MRI/PAI/computed tomography (CT) imaging). In addition, we update the most recent progress on the NIR optical imaging-guided therapies, like single-modal (e.g., photothermal therapy (PTT), chemotherapy, surgery, photodynamic therapy (PDT), gene therapy and gas therapy), dual-modal (e.g., PTT/chemotherapy, PTT/surgery, PTT/PDT, PDT/chemotherapy, PTT/chemodynamic therapy (CDT) and PTT/gene therapy) and triple-modal (e.g., PTT/PDT/chemotherapy, PTT/PDT/surgery, PTT/PDT/gene therapy and PTT/gene/chemotherapy). Finally, we discuss the opportunities and challenges of the CAs and nanotheranostics for future clinic translation.

Hierarchical Ni(OH) 2 –MnO 2 hollow spheres are prepared via a simple self-templating route. The structural and compositional advantages of the Ni(OH) 2 –MnO 2 material endow it with remarkable performance as a supercapacitor.