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Single-atom nickel catalysts hold great promise for photocatalytic water splitting due to their plentiful active sites and cost-effectiveness. Herein, we adopt a reactive-group guided strategy to prepare atomically dispersed nickel catalysts on red phosphorus. The hydrothermal treatment of red phosphorus leads to the formation of P-H and P-OH groups, which behave as the reactive functionalities to generate the dual structure of single-atom P-Ni and P-O-Ni catalytic sites. The produced single-atom sites provide two different functions: P-Ni for water reduction and P-O-Ni for water oxidation. Benefitting from this specific Janus structure, Ni-red phosphorus shows an elevated hydrogen evolution rate compared to Ni nanoparticle-modified red phosphorus under visible-light irradiation. The hydrogen evolution rate was additionally enhanced with increased reaction temperature, reaching 91.51 μmol h

Bisphosphonic acids, which are structural analogs of pyrophosphate, constitute a class of compounds with very high potential for the construction of effective inhibitors of enzymes operating on oligo- and polyphosphates. The bisphosphonate-based methodology was applied for the discovery of inhibitors of two families of polyphosphate kinases (PPK1 and PPK2). Screening of thirty-two structurally diverse bisphosphonic acids and related compounds revealed several micromolar inhibitors of both enzymes. Importantly, selectivity of bisphosphonates could be achieved by application of the appropriate side chain.

Two novel 2D bisthienoacenes with annulated thiophene units at different positions were developed. Both 1,2- and 1,4-addition of the α,β-unsaturated ketone moieties lead to the major formation of four-fold alkylsilylethynyl substituted 2D heteroacenes (namely BTT-4TIPS and BTP-4TIPS). The photophysical, electrochemical properties, crystal packing structures, and charge carrier transport performances were investigated in detail.

Background Systematic reviewers often encounter incomplete or missing data, and the information desired may be difficult to obtain from a study author. Thus, systematic reviewers may have to resort to estimating data from figures with little or no raw data in a study's corresponding text or tables. Methods We discuss a case study in which participants used a publically available Web-based program, called webplotdigitizer, to estimate data from 2 figures. We evaluated and used the intraclass coefficient and the accuracy of the estimates to the true data to inform considerations when using estimated data from figures in systematic reviews. Results The estimates for both figures were consistent, although the distribution of estimates in the figure of a continuous outcome was slightly higher. For the continuous outcome, the percent difference ranged from 0.23% to 30.35% while the percent difference of the event rate ranged from 0.22% to 8.92%. For both figures, the intraclass coefficient was excellent (>0.95). Conclusions Systematic reviewers should consider and be transparent when estimating data from figures when the information cannot be obtained from study authors and perform sensitivity analyses of pooled results to reduce bias.

A major disadvantage of the two-step deposition method of perovskite films is the incomplete conversion from PbI₂ to perovskite resulting in the presence of a thick PbI₂ layer, which hinder charge carrier transportation. In this study, a quaternary ammonium salt has been used to manipulate the crystallization of PbI₂ in the first deposition step, which leads to facile incorporation of the methylammonium iodide into the Pb-I lattice and promotes the conversion of PbI₂ to perovskite which leads to improved device performance.

Our aim was to study the influence of low doses (0.2-4 μGy) of α radiation on the stability of human erythrocytes isolated from healthy and diabetic erythrocytes. Absorption spectroscopy was used to measure the level of red blood cell (RBC) hemolysis, along with Mossbauer spectroscopy, which is a highly specific method suited to monitoring various hemoglobin forms. States of hemoglobin are sensitive to a homeostatic imbalance in red blood cells. Changes in the membrane skeleton organization of irradiated erythrocytes isolated from healthy donors were studied using atomic force microscopy (AFM). Hemolysis, in healthy red blood cells, showed characteristic discontinuities, depending on the α particle flux and the exposure time to the low doses applied. This phenomenon was not observed in severe diabetic cases, which could be a result of modified protein-lipid-sugar complexes and the attenuation/absence of some antioxidative enzymatic processes in their RBC membranes. Similar effects were also observed for red blood cells treated with low doses of neutron and γ-radiation. AFM measurements demonstrated a reorganization of the RBC membrane skeleton network depending on the time of RBC exposure to α radiation. This suggests that the changes in the activity of the acute defense processes against free radicals which are activated within the erythrocyte membrane irradiated with α-particles could additionally be up- or down regulated by modifications to the membrane-skeleton network. However, even the highest dose of α radiation applied in these studies did not cause any significant changes in the ability of hemoglobin to transport oxygen. Microsc. Res. Tech. 80:131-143, 2017. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

5,10-Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) catalyzes the NADPH-dependent reduction of 5,10-methylenetetrahydrofolate to 5-methyltetrahydrofolate using FAD as the cofactor. Severe MTHFR deficiency is the most common inborn error of folate metabolism, resulting in hyperhomocysteinemia and homocystinuria. Approximately 70 missense mutations have been described that cause severe MTHFR deficiency, however, in most cases their mechanism of dysfunction remains unclear. Few studies have investigated mutational specific defects; most of these assessing only activity levels from a handful of mutations using heterologous expression. Here, we report the in vitro expression of 22 severe MTHFR missense mutations and two known single nucleotide polymorphisms (p.Ala222Val, p.Thr653Met) in human fibroblasts. Significant reduction of MTHFR activity (

Magnetic alignment (MA) results from the preference of animals to align themselves along the field lines of the geomagnetic field, a behavioural expression of a magnetic sense. MA is well documented for ruminants and might demonstrate a general magnetic sensory ability among artiodactyls. We measured body-axis alignment in 1614 foraging or resting wild boars Sus scrofa, 1849 wild boar beds, and 1347 warthogs Phacochoerus africanus, and found a highly significant north–south preference. The magnetic field was the only common denominator of all observations. Thus, we provide the first data suggesting a magnetic sense in the Suidae.

OBJECTIVES Sonouroflowmetry represents a novel method for estimating urinary flow parameters. The aim of this study was to compare the urinary flow parameters acquired using sonouroflowmetry with those of standard uroflowmetry in healthy female volunteers. METHODS Thirty-six healthy female volunteers (aged 25-54 years) were subjected to standard uroflowmetry. Simultaneously, subjects dialed a dedicated number on a mobile phone and kept recording until urination was finished. Sound data were analyzed and compared to the uroflowmetry data. Of 218 recordings, 183 were included in the final analysis. Thirty-four measurements were excluded for voided volume

Full optimizations of stationary points along the reaction coordinate for the hydration of several quinolone Ru(II) half-sandwich complexes were performed in water environment using the B3PW91/6-31+G(d)/PCM/UAKS method. The role of diffuse functions (especially on oxygen) was found crucial for correct geometries along the reaction coordinate. Single-point (SP) calculations were performed at the B3LYP/6-311++G(2df,2pd)/DPCM/saled-UAKS level. In the first part, two possible reaction mechanisms-associative and dissociative were compared. It was found that the dissociative mechanism of the hydration process is kinetically slightly preferred. Another important conclusion concerns the reaction channels. It was found that substitution of chloride ligand (abbreviated in the text as dechlorination reaction) represents energetically and kinetically the most feasible pathway. In the second part the same hydration reaction was explored for reactivity comparison of the Ru(II)-complexes with several derivatives of nalidixic acid: cinoxacin, ofloxacin, and (thio)nalidixic acid. The hydration process is about four orders of magnitude faster in a basic solution compared to neutral/acidic environment with cinoxacin and nalidixic acid as the most reactive complexes in the former and latter environments, respectively. The explored hydration reaction is in all cases endergonic; nevertheless the endergonicity is substantially lower (by ∼6 kcal/mol) in basic environment. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Due to their high kinetic inertness and consequently reduced side reactions with biomolecules, PtIV complexes are considered to define the future of anticancer platinum drugs. The aqueous stability of a series of biscarboxylato PtIV complexes was studied under physiologically relevant conditions. Unexpectedly and in contrast to the current chemical understanding, especially oxaliplatin and satraplatin complexes underwent fast hydrolysis in equatorial position (even in cell culture medium and serum). Notably, the resulting hydrolysis products strongly differ in their reduction kinetics, a crucial parameter for the activation of PtIV drugs, which also changes the anticancer potential of the compounds in cell culture. The discovery that intact PtIV complexes can hydrolyze at equatorial position contradicts the dogma on the general kinetic inertness of PtIV compounds and needs to be considered in the screening and design for novel platinum‐based anticancer drugs.