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The catalytic upcycling of end-of-life polyethylene by using hierarchical zeolites has garnered attention. Fine-tuning these zeolites’ micromesoporous structure and acidity is crucial for process efficiency, which requires a comprehensive understanding of their impact on polyethylene cracking. The impact of the mesoporosity and acidity of aggregated hierarchical HZSM-5 zeolites on high-density polyethylene (HDPE) vapor cracking was studied. The results indicated that the hierarchical structure enhanced accessibility to internal acid sites, facilitating monomolecular cracking and aromatization. Intercrystalline mesopores additionally heightened the alkylated aromatic yields. The Si/Al ratio shows a positive correlation toward the C5+aliphatic hydrocarbon cracking, which boosts the formation of C2–C4olefins and BTEX (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene). However, the presence of mesopores also yielded more heavy aromatics, thus increasing the risk of coking. The role of acid sites spatial distribution was investigated by poisoning the acid sites in micropores via pre-coking. The results indicated that the cracking of HDPE vapor occurred on the external acid of the zeolite, followed by the subsequent C5+aliphatic hydrocarbon cracking on the mesopore and micropore to form aromatics and C1–C4products. The formation of BTEX mainly occurred in the micropore, while the heavier aromatics and other alkylated benzenes were formed in the mesopore. The results of this study highlighted the importance of a proper hierarchical structure and acid site distribution in zeolites for effective and stable polyolefin cracking.

Endometrium fibrosis is the leading cause of uterine infertility. Macrophages participated in the occurrence and development of endometrial fibrosis. We previously reported that human umbilical cord multipotent stromal cells (hUC-MSCs) exerted their therapeutic effect in a macrophage-dependent manner in endometrial fibrosis. However precise mechanisms by which hUC-MSCs may influence macrophages in endometrial fibrosis remain largely unexplored. Here, we demonstrated that abnormal iron and lipid metabolism occurred in patients with intrauterine adhesions (IUA) and murine models. Ferroptosis has been proven to contribute to the progression of fibrotic diseases. Our results revealed that pharmacological activation of ferroptosis by Erastin aggravated endometrial fibrosis, while inhibition of ferroptosis by Ferrostatin-1 ameliorated endometrial fibrosis in vivo. Moreover, ferroptosis of macrophages was significantly upregulated in endometria of IUA murine models. Of note, transcriptome profiles revealed that CD36 gene expression was significantly increased in patients with IUA and immunofluorescence analysis showed CD36 protein was mainly located in macrophages. Silencing CD36 in macrophages could reverse cell ferroptosis. Dual luciferase reporter assay revealed that CD36 was the direct target of activation transcription factor 3 (ATF3). Furthermore, through establishing coculture system and IUA murine models, we found that hUC-MSCs had a protective role against macrophage ferroptosis and alleviated endometrial fibrosis related to decreased CD36 and ATF3. The effect of hUC-MSCs on macrophage ferroptosis was attributed to the upregulation of amphiregulin (AREG). Our data highlighted that macrophage ferroptosis occurred in endometrial fibrosis via the ATF3-CD36 pathway and hUC-MSCs protected against macrophage ferroptosis to alleviate endometrial fibrosis via secreting AREG. These findings provided a potential target for therapeutic implications of endometrial fibrosis.Graphical AbstractSchematic graph of the hyperactivation mechanism of macrophage ferroptosis and the therapeutic effects of hUC-MSCs to suppress macrophage ferroptosis and promote endometrial regeneration in endometrial fibrosis.

Silicon wafers are crucial materials for semiconductor chip manufacturing. Detecting surface defects on wafers is essential for enhancing yield rates and identifying manufacturing issues. Traditional defect detection methods, relying on manual monitoring, are inefficient and inaccurate. Thus, there is a growing interest in leveraging deep learning for defect detection. However, existing algorithms still suffer from missed detections and slow processing speeds. To address these challenges, our study proposes a refined algorithm based on YOLOv7 for detecting wafer defects. We integrate SPD-Conv into the YOLOv7 MP module to enhance feature extraction accuracy and reduce computational complexity. Additionally, we incorporate the CBAM attention mechanism module into the backbone network to adapt to complex scenes. Moreover, we employ the SIoU loss function to improve bounding box regression accuracy. The WM-811k dataset is utilised for testing and evaluating the enhanced algorithm, achieving a recognition accuracy of 92.23%, a recall rate of 94.1%, and a mAP of 92.5%. Additionally, the frame rate remains stable at 136 frames per second, outperforming existing algorithms.

LS-007, an inhibitor of cyclin-dependent kinase 9 (CDK9), exhibits potential antitumor activity against chronic lymphocytic leukemia and ovarian cancer, but its effect on melanoma and tumor microenvironment (TME) has not been reported yet. This study aimed to investigate the role of LS-007 in B16F10 melanoma and relevant mechanisms. LS-007 significantly inhibited viability and induced apoptosis of B16F10 cells in a dose-dependent manner, which were accompanied with the increased ratio of Bax to Bcl-2 and decreased Mcl-1 mRNA level. Western blot analysis showed that LS-007 increased the expression of cleaved caspase-3 and poly ADP-ribose polymerase (PARP). Furthermore, flow cytometry analysis and qRT-PCR results showed that LS-007 treatment resulted in cell cycle arrest by changing cell cycle-related gene expression. Notably, in vivo evaluation showed that LS-007 significantly decreased the weight and volume of tumor and the expression of Ki67, promoted the expression of iNOS and inhibited the expression of CD206, suggesting that LS-007 might inhibit tumor growth by suppressing polarization of macrophages into tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) in the TME. The increase in M1/M2 treated with LS-007 detected by flow cytometry hinted that macrophages were polarized towards an antitumor phenotype. In addition, LS-007 induced higher apoptotic rate of B16F10 cells when co-cultured B16F10 with BMDMs. LS-007 has inhibitory effects on B16F10 cells in vivo and in vitro via inducing apoptosis, cell cycle arrest, and changing macrophage function in the TME.

To simultaneously achieve low overpotentials and stable operation for water splitting at high current densities, bifunctional electrocatalysts must be designed based on interfacial engineering for the oxygen/hydrogen evolution reaction (OER/HER). Herein, we report a boronization tactic to ingeniously tailor metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) anchored on iron foam (IF). The boron atoms induce the structural reconstitution of the Fe-MOF nanosheets, including the surface roughness, oxygen vacancies, and in-plane heterojunctions between crystalline Fe-MOF and amorphous Fe—B. The in-plane heterojunctions modulate the d-band center of the Fe sites to reduce the energy barrier of the OER/HER. As expected, the optimized Fe—B/Fe-MOF/IF only needed 1.44 and 1.53 V at 10 mA cm−2to drive the OER and overall water splitting, respectively. The water-splitting system served at 500 mA cm−2for 100 h with negligible structure variation and performance degradation. This work sheds light on the engineering of heterostructure interfaces and promotes the rational design of advanced electrocatalysts.

Many inspiring achievements have been made in inducing chiral amplification in helical polymers; however, the induction of helical chirality in random coil polymers by the intermolecular noncovalent force in solutions so far is still an intractable task, which is almost only accomplishable in biopolymer systems. In this contribution, we found that a random coil poly(N-propargylamide) with an l- or d-alanine residue as the pendant (P-l(or -d)-ala-NH2) can be induced to form a predominantly one-handed helical structure in an aqueous solution by complexing with metal ions, including Cu2+and Ag+. The random coil to predominantly one-handed helix transformation and the chiral amplification therein were clearly evidenced by the remarkable red-shift of the UV–vis absorption peak, the occurrence of strong circular dichroism (CD), and the sharp increase in the absolute value of specific rotation. When Cu2+was used as an inducer, the CD and UV–vis absorptions of P-l-ala-NH2were barely affected by heating and changing anions, demonstrating the high stability of the induced helical structure. The results obtained from CD, UV–vis, resonance Raman, Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopies and differential scanning calorimetry indicate that a contracted cis-cisoidal helical structure was formed in the polymer main chain through the generation of cis nearly square-planar complexes between each Cu2+ion and the four nitrogens of two pendants. The metal ion coordination concurrently provided appropriate linkage among the pendants and reduced the pendant flexibility, thus endowing the main chain with helicity and triggering chiral amplification. Inspired by this mechanism, a universal and convenient methodology for preparing helical polymer/metal ion complexes and the corresponding chiral materials from random coil polymers may be established.

The heat transfer efficiency during the pyrolysis process is a key factor to be considered in the design of pyrolysis reactors. In this study, the average apparent heat transfer characteristics of molten plastic pyrolysis in a vertical falling film reactor were explored by experiments and numerical simulation and the apparent heat transfer coefficients were determined. In addition, the temperature distribution and the thickness of the liquid film in the reactor were predicted and the influences of pyrolysis temperatures on the average apparent heat transfer coefficients were discussed.

In many vertebrates, the brain's right hemisphere which is connected to the left visual field specializes in the processing of information about threats while the left hemisphere which is connected to the right visual field specializes in the processing of information about conspecifics. This is referred to as hemispheric lateralization. But individuals that are too predictable in their response to predators could have reduced survival and we may expect selection for somewhat unpredictable responses. We studied hemispheric lateralization in yellow-bellied marmots Marmota flaviventer, a social rodent that falls prey to a variety of terrestrial and aerial predators. We first asked if they have lateralized responses to a predatory threat. We then asked if the eye that they used to assess risk influenced their perceptions of risk. We recorded the direction marmots were initially looking and then walked toward them until they fled. We recorded the distance that they responded to our experimental approach by looking, the eye with which they looked at us, and the distance at which they fled (i.e., flight initiation distance; FID). We found that marmots had no eye preference with which they looked at an approaching threat. Furthermore, the population was not comprised of individuals that responded in consistent ways. However, we found that marmots that looked at the approaching person with their left eye had larger FIDs suggesting that risk assessment was influenced by the eye used to monitor the threat. These findings are consistent with selection to make prey less predictable for their predators, despite underlying lateralization.

Waste plastics mainly come from MSW and usually exist in the form of mixed plastics. During the co-pyrolysis process of mixed plastics, various plastic components have different physicochemical properties and reaction mechanisms. Considering the high viscosity and low thermal conductivity of molten plastics, a falling film pyrolysis reactor was selected to explore the rapid co-pyrolysis process of typical plastic components (PP, PE and PS). The oil and gas yields and the compositions of pyrolysis products of the three components under different ratios at pyrolysis temperatures were analyzed to explore the co-pyrolysis characteristics of PP, PE, and PS. The study is of great significance to the recycling of waste plastics.

Sewage sludge is an important pool of phosphorus (P), while thermal disposal results in the enrichment of P into a final solid product. Hydrothermal treatment combined with steam gasification is an effective method to produce high-quality syngas from sewage sludge. This study discussed the transformation of P during this integrated thermochemical process based on thermodynamic calculation and the Standards, Measurements and Testing Programme analysis of solid products. The results showed that P was enriched in hydrochar with the concentration above 14 mg/g. By the hydrothermal pretreatment, organic phosphorus (OP) was significantly removed from the solid as a result of destruction, while inorganic phosphorus (IP) was mostly recovered. Part of OP was converted to IP in disposal from 220 to 240 °C. At 260 °C, destructed OP was emitted to the gaseous phase in the form of phosphorus oxide and, thus, not captured by minerals. In addition, inorganic phosphorus associated with oxides and hydroxides of Al, Fe, and Mn (NAIP) tended to be transformed into Ca-associated forms (AP) with the increase of pH, and CaO addition significantly promoted this transformation. In the gasification process, OP was completely removed, while IP was almost recovered with the substantial conversion from NAIP to AP. The highest total P recovery (84.92%) was achieved from gasification ash of hydrochar pretreated at 200 °C with CaO addition, while P was the most concentrated in gasification ash of hydrochar pretreated at 240 °C (30.39 mg/g). This study provided basic data for P recovery from sewage sludge using thermochemical conversion.

Molten plastics are characterised with high viscosity and low thermal conductivity. Applying falling film pyrolysis reactor to deal with waste plastics can not only improve heat transfer efficiency, but also solve the flow problem. In this work, the pyrolysis process of molten polypropylene (PP) in a vertical falling film reactor is experimentally studied, and the influence of heating temperature on pyrolysis products is discussed. It has been found that with the temperature increases from 550°C to 625°C, the yield of pyrolysis oil decreases from 74.4wt% (±2.2wt%) to 53.5wt% (±1.3wt%). The major compositions of the pyrolysis oil are C9, C12and C18, and β-scission reactions are predominant. The content of the light fraction C6–C12of pyrolysis oil is 69.7wt%. Compared with other pyrolysis reactors, the yield of oil from vertical falling film pyrolysis reactor is slightly higher than that from tubular reactor, equal to that from rotary kiln reactor, and slightly lower than that in medium fluidised-bed reactor.

The rational construction of electrocatalysts with desired features is significant but challenging for superior water splitting at high current density. Herein, amorphous CoNiS nanosheets are synthesized on nickel foam (NF) through a facile structure evolution strategy and present advanced performance at high current densities in water splitting. The high catalytic activity can be attributed to the sufficient active sites exposed by the flexible amorphous configuration. Moreover, the hydrophilicity and aerophobicity of a-CoNiS/NF promote surface wettability of the self-supporting electrode and avoid the aggregation of bubbles, which expedites the diffusion of electrolyte and facilitates the mass transfer. As a result, the optimized electrode demonstrates low overpotentials of 289 and 434 mV at 500 mA/cm2under alkaline conditions for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER), respectively. Impressively, an electrolytic water splitting cell assembled by bifunctional a-CoNiS/NF operates with a low cell voltage of 1.46 V@10 mA/cm2and reaches 1.79 V at 500 mA/cm2. The strategy sheds light on a competitive platform for the reasonable design of non-precious-metal electrocatalysts under high current density.

In mammals, bitter taste is mediated by TAS2Rgenes, which belong to the large family of seven transmembrane G protein-coupled receptors. Because TAS2Rs are directly involved in the interaction between mammals and their dietary sources, it is likely that these genes evolved to reflect species-specific diets during mammalian evolution. Here, we investigated the sensitivities of TAS2R16s of various primates by using a cultured cell expression system, and found that the sensitivity of each primate species varied according to the ligand. Especially, the sensitivity of TAS2R16 of Japanese macaques to salicin was much lower than that of human TAS2R16, which was supported by behavioural tests. These results suggest the possibility that bitter-taste sensitivities evolved independently by replacing specific amino acid residues of TAS2Rs in different primate species to adapt to food items they use.

The impact of timing of antigen introduction into fetus and neonates leads to the suggestion that pre-existing antigens are tolerogenic to immunocompetent cells generated thereafter. This hypothesis predicts that in patients with cancer who are undergoing bone marrow transplantation, newly produced T cells with specificity for pre-existing tumor cells will be inactivated by the tumor antigens in the host. Because the effect of tumor cells on developing cancer-reactive T cells has not been investigated, we set out to systematically analyze the impact of tumor cells in the periphery on the development of tumor-reactive T cells in the thymus and their immunocompetence in the periphery. Our data demonstrate that in the host in which a tumor is established in the periphery, the cancer-reactive T cells develop normally, remain fully immunocompetent, become activated in the periphery, and cause regression of large established tumors. The immunocompetence of T cells generated in an antigen-bearing host is also confirmed in a skin graft transplantation model.

The impact of timing of antigen introduction into fetus and neonates leads to the suggestion that pre-existing antigens are tolerogenic to immunocompetent cells generated thereafter. This hypothesis predicts that in patients with cancer who are undergoing bone marrow transplantation, newly produced T cells with specificity for pre-existing tumor cells will be inactivated by the tumor antigens in the host. Because the effect of tumor cells on developing cancer-reactive T cells has not been investigated, we set out to systematically analyze the impact of tumor cells in the periphery on the development of tumor-reactive T cells in the thymus and their immunocompetence in the periphery. Our data demonstrate that in the host in which a tumor is established in the periphery, the cancer-reactive T cells develop normally, remain fully immunocompetent, become activated in the periphery, and cause regression of large established tumors. The immunocompetence of T cells generated in an antigen-bearing host is also confirmed in a skin graft transplantation model.

Recent work demonstrates that costimulatory molecules play a critical role for clonal deletion of autoreactive T cells in the thymus. The role of CD28 in the survival of autoreactive T cells in the periphery, however, has not been reported. Here we demonstrate that while mutation of the CD28 gene consistently increased the burden of autoreactive T cells in the thymus, such an increase was not always found in the periphery, as the CD28(−/−) autoreactive T cells disappeared in the spleen over a period between 4 and 10 weeks. The disappearance of autoreactive T cells associates with a diminished induction of Bcl-2 protein by the self antigen and an increased proportion of apoptotic cells in the periphery. Moreover, the elimination of autoreactive T cells in the periphery requires chronic stimulation by the self antigen, as adoptive transfer analysis revealed no enhancement of apoptosis in CD28(−/−) T cells in antigen-bearing hosts over a 3 day period. Thus, CD28 plays a significant role in both clonal deletion and survival of autoreactive T cells after chronic exposure to autoantigens, resulting in opposite effects on the burden of autoreactive T cells.

B7H1 (PDL1) and B7DC (PDL2) are two new members of the B7 family that can interact with PD-1, a putative negative regulator for immune function. Recent studies have provided evidence for inhibitory functions of both members via PD-1. Meanwhile, compelling evidence exists for costimulatory function of both members. Here we demonstrate that expression of B7DC on the tumor cells promotes CD8 T cell–mediated rejection of tumor cells, at both the induction and effector phase of antitumor immunity. Moreover, B7DC binds to PD-1(−/−) cells and enhances T cell killing in a PD-1–independent mechanism. Our results demonstrate a novel pathway for B7DC to promote tumor immunity and may reconcile the apparently contradictory findings on the function of B7DC.