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Designing robust catalysts for increasing the sluggish kinetics of the urea oxidation reaction (UOR) is challenging. Herein, the regulation of spin states for metal active sites by photoexcitation to facilitate the adsorption of urea and intermediates is demonstrated. Mo-doped nickel sulfide nanoribbon arrays (Mo-Ni 3 S 2 @NMF) with excellent light-trapping capacity are successfully prepared. Under AM 1.5G illumination, the activity of the Mo-Ni 3 S 2 @NMF exhibits a 50% improvement in the UOR current. Compared with those under dark conditions, Mo-Ni 3 S 2 @NMF achieve 10 mA cm -2 at 1.315 V RHE for UOR and 1.32 V cell for urea electrolysis, which are decreases of 15 and 80 mV, respectively. The electron spin resonance, in situ Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy analysis and density functional theory calculations reveal that illumination led to the formation of Ni 3+ active sites in a high-spin state, which strengthens the d-p orbital hybridization of Ni-N, hence facilitating the adsorption of urea. C─N cleavage of the * CONN intermediate is further inhibited, which promotes the oxidation of urea molecules via the active N 2 pathway, thereby accelerating the UOR rate., (© 2024 Wiley‐VCH GmbH.)

Improving the catalytic efficiency of platinum group metal-free (PGM-free) catalysts for the sluggish alkaline hydrogen oxidation reaction (HOR) is crucial to the anion exchange membrane fuel cell. Recently, numerous Ni-based heterostructures have been designed based on bifunctional theory to enhance HOR activity by optimizing the binding energy of both H* and OH*; however, their activities are still far inferior to those of PGM catalysts. Indeed, the long transfer pathway for intermediates between different active sites in such heterostructures has rarely been investigated, which could be the reason for the bottleneck. Here, we design a Ni/MoO x H y heterostructure catalyst to promote H* migration from the Ni side to the interface for alkaline HOR via the hydrogen spillover effect. In situ X-ray absorption fine structure, Raman characterizations, H/D kinetic isotope effects, and theoretical calculations have proven facile H* migration from the Ni side to the interface, which further reacts with OH* on the MoO x H y surface. Besides, the hydrogen spillover effect is also beneficial for the preservation of the metallic phase of Ni during the reaction. The catalyst exhibits a high activity with J k,m of 58.5 mA mg Ni -1 and j 0,s of 42 μA cm Ni -2 , which is among the best PGM-free catalysts and is even comparable to some PGM catalysts. It also shows the highest power density (511 mW cm -2 ) as a PGM-free anode when assembled into fuel cells under moderate back pressure. These findings prove that in addition to optimizing electrophilicity and oxophilicity for active sites, we could also improve the HOR activity from the transfer pathway for intermediates, which provides insight into the design of other efficient HOR catalysts.

The electrocatalytic urea oxidation reaction (UOR) provides a promising alternative to the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) for various renewable energy-related systems owing to its lower thermodynamic barriers. However, its optimization and commercial utilization were hampered due to a lack of mechanistic understanding. Here, we demonstrate a Ce-doped Ni 3 S 2 catalyst supported on Ni foam (Ce-Ni 3 S 2 /NF) with superior activity toward UOR. The resultant Ce-Ni 3 S 2 /NF catalyst exhibits a lower Tafel slope of 20.3 mV dec -1 , a higher current density of 100 mA cm -2 at 1.39 V versus RHE, and better durability than those for Ni 3 S 2 /NF. Based on in situ synchrotron radiation X-ray absorption spectroscopy, in situ Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), and in situ Raman spectroscopy, we observe the structural reconstruction of sulfide and identify the adsorbed intermediates during UOR. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations reveal that Ce can regulate the electronic structure of Ni through Ce(4f)-O(2p)-Ni(3d) orbital electronic coupling. The modulated Ni sites have weaker adsorption of carbonaceous intermediates, thus accelerating the UOR. This work provides a promising route for the design of high-activity UOR catalysts.

The coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has led to more than 700 million confirmed cases and nearly 7 million deaths. Although severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) virus mainly infects the respiratory system, neurological complications are widely reported in both acute infection and long-COVID cases. Despite the success of vaccines and antiviral treatments, neuroinvasiveness of SARS-CoV-2 remains an important question, which is also centered on the mystery of whether the virus is capable of breaching the barriers into the central nervous system. By studying the K18-hACE2 infection model, we observed clear evidence of microvascular damage and breakdown of the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Mechanistically, SARS-CoV-2 infection caused pericyte damage, tight junction loss, endothelial activation and vascular inflammation, which together drive microvascular injury and BBB impairment. In addition, the blood-cerebrospinal fluid barrier at the choroid plexus was also impaired after infection. Therefore, cerebrovascular and choroid plexus dysfunctions are important aspects of COVID-19 and may contribute to neurological complications both acutely and in long COVID., (© 2024 Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

The electrochemical reduction of CO 2 to HCOOH is considered one of the most appealing routes to alleviate the energy crisis and close the anthropogenic CO 2 cycle. However, it remains challenging to develop electrocatalysts with high activity and selectivity towards HCOOH in a wide potential window. In this regard, Ag/Bi 2 O 2 CO 3 was prepared by an in situ electrochemical transformation from Ag/Bi 2 O 3 . The Ag/Bi 2 O 2 CO 3 catalyst achieves a faradaic efficiency (FE) of over 90% for HCOOH in a wide potential window between -0.8 V and -1.3 V versus the reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE). Moreover, a maximum FE of 95.8% and a current density of 15.3 mA cm -2 were achieved at a low applied potential of -1.1 V. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations prove that the high catalytic activity of Ag/Bi 2 O 2 CO 3 is ascribed to the fact that Ag can regulate the electronic structure of Bi, thus facilitating the adsorption of *OCHO and hindering the adsorption of *COOH. This work expands the in situ electrochemical derivatization strategy for the preparation of electrocatalysts.

Animals have endogenous clocks that regulate their behavior and physiology. These clocks rely on environmental cues (time givers) that appear approximately every 24 h due to the Earth's rotation; thus, most insects exhibit a circadian rhythm. One notable exception is the scarab beetle, Holotrichia parallela, a severe agricultural pest in China, Japan, South Korea, and India. Females emerge from the soil every other night, reach the canopy of host plants, evert an abdominal gland, and release a pheromone bouquet comprising l-isoleucine methyl ester (LIME) and l-linalool. To determine whether this circa'bi'dian rhythm affects the olfactory system, we aimed to identify H. parallela sex pheromone receptor(s) and study their expression patterns. We cloned 14 odorant receptors (ORs) and attempted de-orphanizing them in the Xenopus oocyte recording system. HparOR14 gave robust responses to LIME and smaller responses to l-linalool. Structural modeling, tissue expression profile, and RNAi treatment followed by physiological and behavioral studies support that HparOR14 is a sex pheromone receptor-the first of its kind discovered in Coleoptera. Examination of the HparOR14 transcript levels throughout the adult's life showed that on sexually active days, gene expression was significantly higher in the scotophase than in the photophase. Additionally, the HparOR14 expression profile showed a circabidian rhythm synchronized with the previously identified pattern of sex pheromone emission. 48 h of electroantennogram recordings showed that responses to LIME were abolished on non-calling nights. In contrast, responses to the green leaf volatile (Z)-3-henexyl acetate remained almost constant throughout the recording period., Competing Interests: Declaration of interests The authors declare no competing interests., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The clinical performance and failure issues are significantly influenced by prosthetic malposition in unicompartmental knee arthroplasty (UKA). Uncertainty exists about the impact of the prosthetic joint line height in UKA on tibial insert wear. In this study, we combined the UKA musculoskeletal multibody dynamics model, finite element model and wear model to investigate the effects of seven joint line height cases of fixed UKA implant on postoperative insert contact mechanics, cumulative sliding distance, linear wear depth and volumetric wear. As the elevation of the joint line height in UKA, the medial contact force and the joint anterior-posterior translation during swing phase were increased, and further the maximum von Mises stress, contact stress, linear wear depth, cumulative sliding distance, and the volumetric wear also were increased. Furthermore, the wear area of the insert gradually shifted from the middle region to the rear. Compared to 0 mm joint line height, the maximum linear wear depth and volumetric wear were decreased by 7.9% and 6.8% at -2 mm joint line height, and by 23.7% and 20.6% at -6 mm joint line height, the maximum linear wear depth and volumetric wear increased by 10.7% and 5.9% at +2 mm joint line height, and by 24.1% and 35.7% at +6 mm joint line height, respectively. UKA prosthetic joint line installation errors can significantly affect the wear life of the polyethylene inserted articular surfaces. Therefore, it is conservatively recommended that clinicians limit intraoperative UKA joint line height errors to -2-+2 mm.

Electrochemical carbon dioxide reduction reaction (CO 2 RR) is an effective approach to capture CO 2 and convert it into value-added chemicals and fuels, thereby reducing excess CO 2 emissions. Recent reports have shown that copper-based catalysts exhibit excellent performance in converting CO 2 into multi-carbon compounds and hydrocarbons. However, theselectivityto the couplingproductsispoor. Therefore, tuningCO 2 -reductionselectivitytoward C 2+ productsover Cu-based catalyst is one of the most important issues in CO 2 RR. Herein, we prepare a nanosheet catalyst with interfaces of Cu 0 /Cu + . The catalyst achieves Faraday efficiency (FE) of C 2+ over 50% in a wide potential window between - 1.2 V to - 1.5 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode (vs. RHE). Moreover, the catalyst exhibits maximum FE of 44.5% and 58.9% towards C 2 H 4 and C 2+ , with a partial current density of 10.5 mA cm -2 at - 1.4 V. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations show that the interface of Cu 0 /Cu + facilitates CC coupling to form C 2+ products, while inhibits CO 2 conversion toC 1 products., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

As an intracellular parasite, the virus usurps cellular machinery and modulates cellular metabolism pathways to replicate itself in cells. Lipid droplets (LDs) are universally conserved energy storage organelles that not only play vital roles in maintaining lipid homeostasis but are also involved in viral replication. Increasing evidence has demonstrated that viruses take advantage of cellular lipid metabolism by targeting the biogenesis, hydrolysis, and lipophagy of LD during viral infection. In this review, we summarize the current knowledge about the modulation of cellular LD by different viruses, with a special emphasis on the Hepatitis C virus, Dengue virus, and SARS-CoV-2., (© 2023 Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection leads to the accumulation of lipid droplets (LD), the central hubs of the lipid metabolism, in vitro or in type II pneumocytes and monocytes from coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) patients and blockage of LD formation by specific inhibitors impedes SARS-CoV-2 replication. Here, we showed that ORF3a is necessary and sufficient to trigger LD accumulation during SARS-CoV-2 infection, leading to efficient virus replication. Although highly mutated during evolution, ORF3a-mediated LD modulation is conserved in most SARS-CoV-2 variants except the Beta strain and is a major difference between SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 that depends on the genetic variations on the amino acid position 171, 193, and 219 of ORF3a. Importantly, T223I substitution in recent Omicron strains (BA.2-BF.8) impairs ORF3a-Vps39 association and LD accumulation, leading to less efficient replication and potentially contributing to lower pathogenesis of the Omicron strains. Our work characterized how SARS-CoV-2 modulates cellular lipid homeostasis to benefit its replication during virus evolution, making ORF3a-LD axis a promising drug target for the treatment of COVID-19., (© 2023 Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

At steady state, the NOD-like receptor (NLR)-containing pyrin domain (PYD) (NLRP)1 inflammasome is maintained in an auto-inhibitory complex by dipeptidyl peptidases 8 and 9 (DPP8 and DPP9) and is activated by pathogen-encoded proteases after infection. Here, we showed that the open reading frame (ORF)45 protein of the Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus activated the human NLRP1 (hNLRP1) inflammasome in a non-protease-dependent manner, and we additionally showed that the Linker1 region of hNLRP1, situated between the PYD and NACHT domains, was required for the auto-inhibition and non-protease-dependent activation of hNLRP1. At steady state, the interaction between Linker1 and the UPA subdomain silenced the activation of hNLRP1 in auto-inhibitory complexes either containing DPP9 or not in a manner independent of DPP9. ORF45 binding to Linker1 displaced UPA from the Linker1-UPA complex and induced the release of the C-terminal domain of hNLRP1 for inflammasome assembly. The ORF45-dependent activation of the NLRP1 inflammasome was conserved in primates but was not observed for murine NLRP1b inflammasomes., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature America, Inc.)

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the causative agent for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and there is an urgent need to understand the cellular response to SARS-CoV-2 infection. Beclin 1 is an essential scaffold autophagy protein that forms two distinct subcomplexes with modulators Atg14 and UVRAG, responsible for autophagosome formation and maturation, respectively. In the present study, we found that SARS-CoV-2 infection triggers an incomplete autophagy response, elevated autophagosome formation but impaired autophagosome maturation, and declined autophagy by genetic knockout of essential autophagic genes reduces SARS-CoV-2 replication efficiency. By screening 26 viral proteins of SARS-CoV-2, we demonstrated that expression of ORF3a alone is sufficient to induce incomplete autophagy. Mechanistically, SARS-CoV-2 ORF3a interacts with autophagy regulator UVRAG to facilitate PI3KC3-C1 (Beclin-1-Vps34-Atg14) but selectively inhibit PI3KC3-C2 (Beclin-1-Vps34-UVRAG). Interestingly, although SARS-CoV ORF3a shares 72.7% amino acid identity with the SARS-CoV-2 ORF3a, the former had no effect on cellular autophagy response. Thus, our findings provide the mechanistic evidence of possible takeover of host autophagy machinery by ORF3a to facilitate SARS-CoV-2 replication and raise the possibility of targeting the autophagic pathway for the treatment of COVID-19., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2021 Qu, Wang, Zhu, Wang, Wang, Hu, Liu, Li, Ren, Xiao, Liu, Wang, Fu, Zhang, Li, Zhang and Liang.)

Holotrichia parallela is one of the agriculturally important scarab beetle pests in China. In this study, HparOBP14 was cloned, which is the most abundantly expressed among the OBP genes in the legs of female H. parallela adults. Sequence comparison and phylogenetic analysis showed that HparOBP14 has a Plus-C structure motif. The expression profile analysis revealed that HparOBP14 expression was the highest in the female antennae and then in the legs. The fluorescence competitive binding experiment of the recombinant HparOBP14 protein showed that HparOBP14 had an affinity with 6-methyl-5-heptene-2-one (plant volatile), 3-methylindole, p -cymene, methanol, formaldehyde, α-pinene, and geraniol (organic fertilizer volatile). Knockdown HparOBP14 expression decreased significantly the EAG response of the injected female adults to p -cymene, methanol, formaldehyde, α-pinene, and geraniol. Similarly, the injected female adults were significantly less attracted to geraniol and methanol. Therefore, HparOBP14 might bind organic matter volatiles during oviposition. These results are not only helpful to analyze the olfactory recognition mechanism of female adult H. parallela when choosing suitable oviposition sites, but also to provide target genes for green prevention and control of H. parallela in the future.

Background: The ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a global public health concern due to relatively easy person-to-person transmission and the current lack of effective antiviral therapy. However, the exact molecular mechanisms of SARS-CoV-2 pathogenesis remain largely unknown., Methods: Genome-wide screening was used to establish intraviral and viral-host interactomes. Quantitative proteomics was used to investigate the peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) proteome signature in COVID-19., Findings: We elucidated 286 host proteins targeted by SARS-CoV-2 and >350 host proteins that are significantly perturbed in COVID-19-derived PBMCs. This signature in severe COVID-19 PBMCs reveals a significant upregulation of cellular proteins related to neutrophil activation and blood coagulation, as well as a downregulation of proteins mediating T cell receptor signaling. From the interactome, we further identified that non-structural protein 10 interacts with NF-κB-repressing factor (NKRF) to facilitate interleukin-8 (IL-8) induction, which potentially contributes to IL-8-mediated chemotaxis of neutrophils and the overexuberant host inflammatory response observed in COVID-19 patients., Conclusions: Our study not only presents a systematic examination of SARS-CoV-2-induced perturbation of host targets and cellular networks but it also reveals insights into the mechanisms by which SARS-CoV-2 triggers cytokine storms, representing a powerful resource in the pursuit of therapeutic interventions., Funding: National Key Research and Development Project of China, National Natural Science Foundation of China, National Science and Technology Major Project, Program for Professor of Special Appointment (Eastern Scholar) at Shanghai Institutions of Higher Learning, Shanghai Science and Technology Commission, Shanghai Municipal Health Commission, Shanghai Municipal Key Clinical Specialty, Innovative Research Team of High-level Local Universities in Shanghai, Interdisciplinary Program of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, SII Challenge Fund for COVID-19 Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) Large Research Infrastructure of Maintenance and Remolding Project, and Chinese Academy of Sciences Key Technology Talent Program., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2020 Elsevier Inc.)