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[Display omitted] • PDMAAm/Zn(CF 3 SO 3) 2 ionogels were synthesized by UV-initiated polymerization of DMAAm in ionic liquid solvent [Bmim][TfO]. • The obtained ionogels demonstrated high mechanical properties and superior healable performance under infrared light treatment. • The developed zinc ion batteries showed the high working voltage of 2.5 V. • The zinc ion batteries possessed excellent rehealability for five broken/healed cycles with slight 12.5% performance decay. • The re-healable zinc ion batteries exhibited good flexibility even after 5000 times bending cycles. Flexible and multifunctional zinc ion batteries (ZIBs) play an important role in flexible or wearable electronics. Polymer gels with outstanding mechanical stretchability and high ionic conductivity are very promising to be used as electrolytes for the solid-state ZIBs. Herein, a novel ionogel of poly(N,N′-dimethylacrylamide)/zinc trifluoromethanesulfonate (PDMAAm/Zn(CF 3 SO 3) 2) is designed and synthesized by UV-initiated polymerization of monomer DMAAm in ionic liquid solvent 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium trifluoromethanesulfonate ([Bmim][TfO]). The prepared PDMAAm/Zn(CF 3 SO 3) 2 ionogels possess high mechanical performance (893.7% tensile strain and 151.0 kPa tensile strength), moderate ionic conductivity (0.96 mS cm−1) and superior healable performance. The as-prepared ZIBs based on PDMAAm/Zn(CF 3 SO 3) 2 ionogel electrolyte assembled by carbon nanotubes (CNTs)/polyaniline as cathode and CNTs/Zn as anode not only exhibit excellent electrochemical properties (up to 2.5 V), flexible and cyclic performance , but also possess good healability for five broken/healed cycles with slight 12.5% performance decay. More significantly, the broken/healed ZIBs exhibit superior flexibility and cyclic stability. This ionogel electrolyte can be extended the flexible energy storage devices for use in other multifunctional portable and wearable energy related devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Delirium is a common complication in intensive care unit (ICU) patients, and it can significantly increase the length of hospital stay and cost. Dexamethasone is widely used in various inflammatory diseases and must be used with caution in critically ill patients. Previous studies have shown that the effect of corticosteroid use on the development of delirium in critically ill patients is still controversial, and there is inconclusive conclusion about the effect of dexamethasone on delirium in such patients. Therefore, this study aimed to confirm the effect of dexamethasone use and the dose on the incidence of delirium and patient prognosis in critically ill patients through a large cohort study. A retrospective cohort study was conducted using data extracted from the Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care III database, which is a large and freely available database of all 46,476 patients who visited Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts, USA and were admitted to the ICU between 2001 and 2012. The primary outcome was the development of delirium, using multivariate logistic regression analysis to reveal the relationship between dexamethasone and delirium. Secondary endpoints were in-hospital mortality, ICU mortality, total length of stay, and length of ICU stay, and the relationship between dexamethasone and prognosis was assessed with Cox proportional hazards models. Propensity score matching with 1:1 grouping was used to eliminate the effect of confounders on both cohorts. The locally weighted scatter plot smoothing technique was used to investigate the dose correlation between dexamethasone and outcomes, subgroup analysis was used to account for heterogeneity, and different correction models and propensity matching analysis were used to eliminate potential confounders. Finally, 38,509 patients were included, and 2204 (5.7%) used dexamethasone. No significant statistical difference was observed in basic demographic information after propensity score matching between the two study groups. A significantly higher incidence of delirium (5.0% versus 3.4%, P < 0.001), increased in-hospital mortality (14.9% versus 10.3%, P < 0.001), ICU mortality (9.0% versus 7.5%, P = 0.008), and longer length of stay and ICU stay were observed in patients taking dexamethasone compared with those not taking dexamethasone. Multivariate logistic and Cox regression analyses confirmed that dexamethasone was significantly associated with delirium (adjusted odds ratio = 1.48, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.09-2.00, P = 0.012), in-hospital mortality (adjusted hazard ratio = 1.19, 95% CI = 1.02-1.40, P = 0.032), and ICU mortality (adjusted hazard ratio = 1.62, 95% CI = 1.22-2.15, P = 0.001). Compared with critically ill patients using high-dose dexamethasone, the risk of delirium was lower in the dose less than the 10 mg group, and patients using 10-14 mg may be associated with a lower risk of in-hospital death and the least ICU mortality, length of hospital stay, and ICU stay. This study demonstrated that the use of dexamethasone in critically ill patients exacerbated the occurrence of delirium while increasing the risk of in-hospital death, ICU death, and length of hospital stay, with a lower risk of delirium and a shorter total length of hospital stay with low-dose dexamethasone than with larger doses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evidence from mice with global deletion of fatty-acid transport protein4 (FATP4) indicates its role on β-oxidation and triglycerides (TG) metabolism. We reported that plasma glycerol and free fatty acids (FA) were increased in liver-specific Fatp4 deficient (L-FATP4−/−) mice under dietary stress. We hypothesized that FATP4 may mediate hepatocellular TG lipolysis. Here, we demonstrated that L-FATP4−/− mice showed an increase in these blood lipids, liver TG, and subcutaneous fat weights. We therefore studied TG metabolism in response to oleate treatment in two experimental models using FATP4-knockout HepG2 (HepKO) cells and L-FATP4−/− hepatocytes. Both FATP4-deificient liver cells showed a significant decrease in β-oxidation products by ∼30–35% concomitant with marked upregulation of CD36, FATP2, and FATP5 as well as lipoprotein microsomal-triglyceride-transfer protein genes. By using 13C 3 D 5 -glycerol, HepKO cells displayed an increase in metabolically labelled TG species which were further increased with oleate treatment. This increase was concomitant with a step-wise elevation of TG in cells and supernatants as well as the secretion of cholesterol very low-density and high-density lipoproteins. Upon analyzing TG lipolytic enzymes, both mutant liver cells showed marked upregulated expression of hepatic lipase, while that of hormone-sensitive lipase and adipose-triglyceride lipase was downregulated. Lipolysis measured by extracellular glycerol and free FA was indeed increased in mutant cells, and this event was exacerbated by oleate treatment. Taken together, FATP4 deficiency in liver cells led to a metabolic shift from β-oxidation towards lipolysis-directed TG and lipoprotein secretion, which is in line with an association of FATP4 polymorphisms with blood lipids. [Display omitted] • TG metabolism was studied in two models of FATP4-KO HepG2 and mouse liver cells. • FATP4-deificient liver cells showed a significant decrease in β-oxidation products. • These cells showed an increase in metabolically labelled TG from 13C 3 D 5 glycerol. • They showed upregulation of uptake CD36, FATP2, FATP5, MTTP and lipolysis HL gene. • Release of VLDL/HDL and lipolysis lipids were elevated in mutant cells and in vivo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The polymeric immunoglobulin receptor (pIgR) is an essential component of the mucosal immune system in jawed vertebrates including teleost fish, which mediate transepithelial transport of secretory immunoglobulins (sIgs) to protect organisms against environmental pathogens. In this study, we firstly cloned and identified the pIgR from dojo loach ( Misgurnus anguillicaudatus ). The full-length cDNA of Ma -pIgR was of 1145 bp, containing an open reading frame (ORF) of 1101 bp encoded a predicted protein of 336 amino acids. The structure of Ma -pIgR is comprised of a signal peptide, a transmembrane region, an intracellular region and an extracellular region with two Ig-like domains (ILDs), which are similar to their counterparts described in other teleosts. Multiple sequence alignment and phylogenetic analysis showed the dojo loach is closely related to the fish family Cyprinidae. The transcriptional level of Ma -pIgR was detected by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) in different tissues and high expression was found in liver, skin, kidney, eye, fin and gills. Two infection models of the loach with bacteria ( Aeromonas hydrophila ) and parasite ( Ichthyophthirius multifiliis ) were constructed for the first time. Histological studies showed the goblet cells in skin significantly increased and the ratio of gill length to width also significantly changed after challenged with A.hydrophila . Both challenge experiments resulted in the significant up-regulated expression of Ma -pIgR not only in kidney and spleen, but also in skin and gills. Our results suggest that pIgR may play an important role in skin and gill mucosal immunity to protect the loach against bacteria and parasite. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Neural tube defects (NTDs) are severe, common birth defects that result from failure of neural tube closure, but their pathological mechanisms are not yet fully understood. Histone modifications have an important role in gene regulation during fetal development. We therefore hypothesized that the human NTDs may be partly caused by an imbalance in metabolism, perhaps caused by nutritional deficiencies, that leads to aberrant histone modifications. Here, we report a screen of fetal brain histone modifications using 2D nano-LC strong cation exchange reverse phase (SCX/RP) MS/MS and the identification of 61 unique post-translational modification sites on histones H1, H2a, H2b, H3, and H4. Of these, 38 sites are novel (not already found in the Uniprot database). Furthermore, we compared the histone modification patterns between normal brains and NTD brains special of which maternal folate levels were lower than of normal control. The results showed that histone H3 lysine 79 dimethylation (H3K79me2) and a novel identified site, H2bK5 monomethylation (H2bK5me1), were completely absent in individuals with NTDs. Follow-up Western blotting validated the decreased H3K79me2 expression in brains with NTDs, but the amplified samples experiments displayed that decreased H3K79me2 expression was not suitable for all samples with NTDs. Furthermore, folate-free treated mouse embryonic stem cells induced the decreased H3K79me2 level. Subsequently, our ChIP results in normal fetal brain tissues showed that H3K79me2 binds to SUFU, RARA and ITGA3 which induce NTDs phenotype after knockout in mice, and in NTDs brain tissues the bindings of H3K79me2 to these three genes were significantly altered. Taken together, our study indicated that low folate treatment might attenuate H3K79 dimethylation, further affect its regulate activation on target genes, some of which are NTDs-resulting associated, lastly interrupt early embryo developing. Our study increases the understanding of normal fetal brain histone modifications and provides a platform for investigating histone modifications in neural disease and also has an insight into a potential role of aberrant histone modification in etiology of NTDs. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Graphical abstract The high quality CsPbBr 3 -Cs 4 PbBr 6 perovskite composites solids were synthesized by a single atomic supersaturated recrystallization method. Abstract Here, we present a single atomic supersaturated recrystallization method to synthesize the green-emitting CsPbBr 3 -Cs 4 PbBr 6 perovskite composites in solid state with the highest PLQY of 40.8% in pure polar solvent. The component, morphology, and optical properties of the microcrystals can be tuned by varying growth time, the content of ammonium bromide, and bromine source. The developed method provides a new route to large-scale synthesize high quality perovskite composites emitters for light-emitting diodes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Teleost fish are the most primitive bony vertebrates that contain immunoglobulin (Ig). Although teleost Ig is known to be important during tetrapod evolution and comparative immunology, little is known about the genomic organization of the immunoglobulin heavy-chain (IgH) locus. Here, three Ig isotype classes, IgM, IgD and IgT, were firstly identified in dojo loach (Misgurnus anguillicaudatus), and the IgH locus covering τ, μ and δ genes was also illustrated. Variable (V) gene segments lie upstream of two tandem diversity (D), joining (J) and constant (C) clusters and the genomic organization of the IgH locus presented as V n -D n -J n -C τ -D n -J n -C μ -C δ , similar to some other teleost fish. However, unlike some other teleost fish, ten V H , ten D and nine J genes were observed in this locus, which suggest teleost Igs might be conserved and diverse. Thus, it would be interesting to determine how Igs divide among themselves in immune response to different antigens. To address this hypothesis, we have developed three models by bath infection with parasitic, bacterial and fungal pathogens, respectively. We found that IgM, IgD and IgT were highly upregulated in the head kidney and spleen after infection with Ichthyophthirius multifiliis (Ich), suggesting that the three Igs might participate in the systemic immune responses to Ich. Moreover, the high expression of IgT in mucosal tissue, such as skin or gills, appeared after being infected with three different pathogens infection, respectively, in which the expression of IgT increased more rapidly in response to Ich infection. Interestingly, the expression of IgD showed a higher increase in spleen and head kidney being challenged with fungi, suggesting that IgD might play an important role in antifungal infection. Highlights • The IgH locus in the loach was illustrated for the first time. • Three infection models with bacteria, parasite and fungus were established, respectively. • The expressions of teleost Igs were detected in responses to fungal infection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eu 2+ and Eu 3+ co-doped Ga 2 O 3 nanocrystals (Ga 2 O 3 :Eu NCs) were synthesized in an organic phase at a low reaction temperature of 300 °C. The surface of Ga 2 O 3 :Eu NCs was passivated by oleylamine (OAm) and acetylacetone (acac). The coexistence of Eu 2+ and Eu 3+ as well as passivation by acac and OAm enable Ga 2 O 3 to be excited in the broad spectral range of 200–500 nm. The broadened absorption band is attributed to the strong acac → Ln(III) ligand to the metal charge transfer transition at ∼370 nm, Eu(III) f-f allowed 7 F 0  →  5 L 6 transition at 395 nm, and 7 F 0  →  5 D 2 transition at 465 nm, as well as the efficient electronic transition of Eu(II) 4f → 5d at ∼400 nm. Under near-ultraviolet excitation, white light emission can be achieved by combining orange-red light from f-f electronic transition of Eu(III) with blue-green-yellow light from Ga 2 O 3 oxygen defects levels. Furthermore, the resultant Ga 2 O 3 :Eu NCs with optimized quantum yield of 14.5% were coated onto 395 nm near-ultraviolet chips to fabricate a white light emitting diode. It exhibits a luminous efficiency of 34 lm/W, CIE colour coordinate of (0.2964, 0.2831) and high colour rendering index of 80. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The complement component 3 (C3) is a central component of complement system. All three pathways converge at formation of C3 convertases and share the terminal pathways of membrane attack complex (MAC) formation. In this study, three isoforms of C3 were discovered in Misgurnus anguillicaudatus , named “C3-1”, “C3-2” and “C3-3”, respectively. The full-length of C3-1 cDNA sequence was firstly identified and analyzed from dojo loach ( Misgurnus anguillicaudatus ). The Ma -C3-1 cDNA sequence comprised of 4509 bp encoding 1454 amino acids with a putative signal peptide of 20 amino acid residues. The deduced amino acid sequence showed that Ma -C3-1 has conserved residues and domain, which are known to be crucial for C3 function. Interestingly, an amino acid substitution of the highly conserved GCGEQ was discovered in Ma -C3-1. Phylogenetic analysis showed that Ma -C3-1 was closely related to Cyprinidae. The mRNA expression levels of three isoforms of C3 were detected in kidney, eye, spleen, gonad, heart, fin ray, gut, muscle, brain, gill, skin, blood and liver. The expression of Ma -C3-1 and Ma -C3-3 were mainly detected in liver, followed by spleen, gonad. However, the high expression of Ma -C3-2 was found in kidney, followed by blood and gonad. The morphological changes of gill and skin, and the expression pattern of these three isoforms C3 molecular following the infection with Aeromonas hydrophila were investigated. The mRNA expression levels of three C3 isoforms were up-regulated in the gill, skin, liver and spleen after infection with A.hydrophila . Similarly, challenge experiments resulted in significant up-regulated expression of other complement-relevant genes in gill, liver and skin, such as C4, C5, C8b, especially at 24 h and 36 h. These results suggest that complement system might play an important role not only in liver, but also in the mucosal tissues as gill and skin of teleost fish. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ferredoxins are small, acidic proteins containing iron–sulfur clusters that are widespread in living organisms. They play key roles as electron carriers in various metabolic processes, including respiration, photosynthesis, fermentation, nitrogen fixation, carbon dioxide fixation, and hydrogen production. However, only several kinds of ferredoxins are commercially available now, greatly limiting the investigation of ferredoxin-related enzymes and metabolic processes. Here we describe the heterologous overproduction of 2[4Fe4S]- and [2Fe2S]-type clostridial ferredoxins and [2Fe2S]-type agrobacterial ferredoxin. Adding extra iron and sulfur sources to the medium in combination with using Escherichia coli C41(DE3) harboring pCodonplus and pRKISC plasmids as host greatly enhanced iron–sulfur cluster synthesis in the three ferredoxins. After induction for 12 h in terrific broth and purification by affinity chromatography and anion exchange chromatography, approximately 3.4 mg of streptavidin (Strep)-tagged and 3.7 mg of polyhistidine (His)-tagged clostridial 2[4Fe4S] ferredoxins were obtained from 1 l of culture. Excitingly, after induction for 24 h in terrific broth, around 40 mg of His-tagged clostridial [2Fe2S] and 23 mg of His-tagged agrobacterial [2Fe2S] ferredoxins were purified from 1 l of culture. The recombinant ferredoxins apparently exhibited identical properties and physiological function to native ferredoxins. No negative impact of two different affinity tags on ferredoxin activity was found. In conclusion, we successfully developed a convenient method for heterologous overproduction of the three kinds of ferredoxins with satisfactory yields and activities, which would be very helpful for the ferredoxin-related researches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]