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• Integrated and multi-functional energy storage devices with excellent mechanical properties are fabricated. • The integrated paper-based supercapacitor displays ultrahigh areal specific capacitance. • The integrated paper-based supercapacitor shows excellent sensing and humidity power generation characteristics. • Zn2+ conductivity and transport mechanism are investigated by molecular dynamics simulation. The demand for flexible electric heating devices has increased due to technology advancement and improved living standards. These devices have various applications including personal thermal management, hyperthermia, defrosting, agricultural heating film, and oil-water separation. Joule heat, generated by electric currents, is commonly used in electrical appliances. To incorporate Joule heating into flexible electronics, new materials with excellent mechanical properties are necessary. Traditional polymers, used as reinforcements, limit the continuity of conductive networks in composites. Therefore, there is a need to develop flexible Joule thermal composite materials with enhanced mechanical strength and conductivity. Cellulose, a widely available renewable resource, is attracting attention for its excellent mechanical properties. It can be used as a dispersant and reinforcing agent for conductive fillers in cellulose-based composites, creating highly conductive networks. Various forms of cellulose, such as wood, nanocellulose, pulp fiber, bacterial cellulose, cellulose paper, textile clothing, and aramid fiber, have been utilized to achieve high-performance Joule thermal composites. Researchers have achieved excellent mechanical properties and developed efficient electric heating devices by designing cellulose-based composites with different structures. The scalable production methods enable large-scale application of cellulose-based devices, each with unique advantages in 1D, 2D, and 3D structures. This review summarizes recent advancements in cellulose-based Joule thermal composites, providing insights into different structural devices, and discussing prospects and challenges in the field. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the development of persulfate-based Fenton-like catalysis, how to control the PDS reaction pathway is a great challenge. Herein, we prepared catalysts with nitrogen-rich porous carbon (NPC) layers and oxygen vacancy (Ov) sites for PDS activation to degrade sulfamethazine (SMZ). Results revealed that the ZnO@NPC/PDS system exhibited only non-radical pathways, which comprised the singlet oxygen (1O2) and electron transfer process. The intrinsic mechanism underlying the production of active species was further verified by comparing the results of the ZnO@NPC/PDS and ZnO@NPC-Etch/PDS systems, Raman analysis and DFT calculations. Adsorption of PDS by carbon layers resulted in the formation of a catalyst–PDS complex, which not only elongated the S–O bond and accelerated the decomposition of PDS to generate 1O2but also provided access for electron transfer. Meanwhile, Ovsites increased electron density and electron migration strength, which promoted more electron transfer from Ovs to PDS molecules through nitrogen-rich porous carbon layers. Moreover, the ZnO@NPC/PDS system could maintain a degradation rate of >90% for SMZ in real water matrixes. T. E. S. T software prediction and toxicity tests were used to investigate environmental implications of degradation intermediates, which showed reduced ecological toxicity compared with SMZ. This work fabricated the ZnO@NPC/PDS system and explored the interaction between nitrogen-rich porous carbon layers and Ovto regulate the occurrence of non-radical pathways, which could provide a strategy to control the PDS reaction pathway.

The prevalence rate of colorectal cancer (CRC) has dramatically increased in recent decades. However, robust CRC biomarkers with therapeutic value for early diagnosis are still lacking. To comprehensively reveal the molecular characteristics of CRC development, we employed a multiomics strategy to investigate eight different types of CRC samples. Proteomic analysis revealed 2022 and 599 differentially expressed tissue proteins between CRC and control groups in CRC patients and CRC mice, respectively. In patients with colorectal precancerous lesions, 25 and 34 significantly changed proteins were found between patients and healthy controls in plasma and white blood cells, respectively. Notably, vesicle-associated membrane protein-associated protein A (VAPA) was found to be consistently and significantly decreased in most types of CRC samples, and its level was also significantly correlated with increased overall survival of CRC patients. Furthermore, 37 significantly enriched pathways in CRC were further validated via metabolomics analysis. Ten VAPA-related pathways were found to be significantly enriched in CRC samples, among which PI3K-Akt signaling, central carbon metabolism in cancer, cholesterol metabolism, and ABC transporter pathways were also enriched in the premalignant stage. Our study identified VAPA and its associated pathways as key regulators, suggesting their potential applications in the early diagnosis and prognosis of CRC.

Laparoscopic surgery is increasingly used for rectal cancer, but the long-term oncological outcomes for low rectal cancer have not been fully established. We aimed to evaluate the 3-year survival outcomes of laparoscopic surgery versus open surgery in the treatment of low rectal cancer.

Additives of dioctyl phthalate (DOP), ethylene bis-stearomide (EBS), and epoxy (EP) were selected to modify the surface of 7075 Al alloy powder. Functional groups in DOP and EBS form hydrogen bonds with hydroxyl groups on the surface of Al powder. Additionally, the epoxy groups in the epoxy resin undergo ring-opening reactions with hydroxyl groups. The above interactions increased the compatibility between alloy powder and polyoxymethylene (POM). After sintering, samples containing DOP and EP presented high contents of C and O, while the part with EBS additive exhibited the lowest contents of 0.006 wt.% C and 0.604 wt.% O, respectively. Excessive C tends to accumulate at grain boundaries during sintering. Concurrently, excessive O causes secondary oxidation of aluminium alloy powder, inhibiting the sintering densification process. Therefore, the densities of the samples containing DOP and EP were only 85.52% and 79.01%, respectively. In contrast, using EBS as an additive, high-quality aluminium alloy parts were achieved, with a relative density of 97.64% and a tensile strength of 193 MPa.

This paper investigates the secure simultaneous wireless information and power transfer (SWIPT) assisted by the simultaneous transmitting and reflecting reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (STAR-RISs). Specifically, a base station (BS) configured multi-antennas has secure communication demand to an information receiver (IR) and performs wireless power transmission to an energy receiver (ER). We consider the fact that non-linear energy harvesting model is applied at the ER. Moreover, there is no direct link between the BS and the IR/ER, only the STAR-RIS-assisted cascade channel exists, and cascade channel state information (CSI) is imperfect. In particular, two CSI error models, i.e., the bounded CSI error model and the statistical CSI error model, are taken into account. Considering the potential eavesdropping risk of the ER under these two models, we study the quality of service (QoS) based robust design problems by jointly optimizing transmit beamforming and artificial noise (AN) at the BS as well as amplitude and phase shift at the STAR-RIS. To handle the formed non-convex optimization problems, we adopt S-Procedure to transform the bounded CSI error signal-to-interference-plus-noise-ratio (SINR) constraints into linear matrix inequalities (LMIs), and we utilize the Bernstein-Type Inequality (BTI) to convert the outage probability constraints with statistical CSI errors into second-order cone (SOC) constraints and linear inequalities. Accordingly, we propose two effective algorithms based on alternating optimization (AO), in which the semi-definite programming (SDP), penalty method, successive convex approximation (SCA) and semi-define relaxation (SDR) are used to solve the decomposed non-convex subproblems. We also analyze the complexity for the proposed algorithms. Finally, extensive simulation results are presented to verify the effectiveness of the proposed algorithms, and the impacts of the CSI uncertainty and the STAR-RIS parameters on the system performance are analyzed.

This study presents three bismuth-hydroxamate metal–organic frameworks (MOFs), namely, SUM-90A/B/C (SUM = Sichuan University Materials), prepared from Bi3+and the same bridging ligand (1,4-benzenedihydroxamic acid). By varying the synthetic conditions, the charge states of the framework backbones and the coordination environments of the Bi3+centers were finetuned, resulting in distinct structures and properties. The performances of MOFs as heterogeneous photocatalysts for Cr(VI) mitigation were comparatively studied, using both theoretical and experimental methods, and they exhibited remarkable kinetic stability in aqueous media and varied electronic structures. Specifically, SUM-90C, with an experimental band gap of 1.92 eV, was identified as a promising photocatalyst that could effectively convert Cr(VI) within 4 h and retain 96% of its capability over 3 cycles.

Compound probiotics have been widely used and commonly coadministered with other drugs for treating various chronic illnesses, yet their effects on drug pharmacokinetics remain underexplored. This study elucidated the impact of VSL#3 on the metabolism of probe drugs for cytochrome P450 enzymes (P450s), specifically omeprazole, tolbutamide, midazolam, metoprolol, phenacetin, and chlorzoxazone. Male Wistar rats were administered drinking water containing VSL#3 or not for 14 days and then intragastrically administered a P450 probe cocktail; this was done to investigate the host P450’s metabolic phenotype. Stool, liver/jejunum, and serum samples were collected for 16S ribosomal RNA sequencing, RNA sequencing, and bile acid profiling. The results indicated significant differences in both αand βdiversity of intestinal microbial composition between the probiotic and vehicle groups in rats. In the probiotic group, the bioavailability of omeprazole increased by 269.9%, whereas those of tolbutamide and chlorpropamide decreased by 28.1% and 27.4%, respectively. The liver and jejunum exhibited 1417 and 4004 differentially expressed genes, respectively, between the two groups. In the probiotic group, most of P450 genes were upregulated in the liver but downregulated in the jejunum. The expression of genes encoding metabolic enzymes and drug transporters also changed. The serum-conjugated bile acids in the probiotic group were significantly reduced. Shorter duodenal villi and longer ileal villi were found in the probiotic group. In summary, VSL#3 administration altered the gut microbiota, host drug–processing gene expression, and intestinal structure in rats, which could be reasons for pharmacokinetic changes.

The precious metal based multi-principal elements alloy (MPEA) PdAgCuAuPtZn is mainly used in electrical contact applications, as a new type of multi-component alloy. However, there is a lack of detailed information about the precipitation evolution and its effect on the creep properties of the PdAgCuAuPtZn alloys. Combining nanoindentation and detailed electron microscopy analyses, we investigated the microstructural evolution and creep mechanism of the Pd–30Ag–14Cu–10Au–10Pt–1Zn alloy during aging treatment systematically. Microstructural analyses show that discontinuous precipitation (DP) with Cu-rich and Ag-rich phases is observed in aging-treated samples. As the aging temperature increases, DP gradually replaces the matrix and coarsens. Meanwhile, the grain size gradually decreases because of the existence of DP. Spinodal decomposition (SD) and chemical short-range order (CSRO) can be observed in the matrix and CSRO can be observed in the Cu-rich phase. Nanoindentation results show that when the aging temperature is below 500 °C, the matrix and DP hardness gradually increase, from 4.06 GPa to 7.42 GPa and 3.78 GPa–5.29 GPa, respectively, and gradually decreases at temperatures higher than 500 °C. Based on the creep displacement analysis, the increasing temperature contributes to improving the creep resistance and DP has higher creep resistance than matrix. The results of the creep stress exponent (n) and activation volume (V) also indicate that the creep mechanism is dominated by dislocation movement. Both CSRO and SD contribute to improving creep resistance. These results will be beneficial to both deeply understanding the creep behavior of PdAgCuAuPtZn alloys and designing high-performance precious metal multi-component alloys.

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is characterized by the selective loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra and the accumulation of α-synuclein (α-Syn) aggregates. However, the molecular mechanisms regulating α-Syn aggregation and neuronal degeneration remain poorly understood. The peptidase M20 domain containing 1(PM20D1) gene lies within the PARK16locus genetically linked to PD. Single nucleotide polymorphisms regulating PM20D1expression are associated with changed risk of PD. Dopamine (DA) metabolism and DA metabolites have been reported to regulate α-Syn pathology. Here we report that PM20D1 catalyzes the conversion of DA to N-arachidonoyl dopamine (NADA), which interacts with α-Syn and inhibits its aggregation. Simultaneously, NADA competes with α-Syn fibrils to regulate TRPV4-mediated calcium influx and downstream phosphatases, thus alleviating α-Syn phosphorylation. The expression of PM20D1 decreases during aging. Overexpression of PM20D1 or the administration of NADA in a mouse model of synucleinopathy alleviated α-Syn pathology, dopaminergic neurodegeneration, and motor impairments. These observations support the protective effect of the PM20D1-NADA pathway against the progression of α-Syn pathology in PD.