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Using their own triazine groups as natural receptors, the introduction of various donor units to construct donor-receptor configuration in covalent triazine frameworks (CTFs) has been shown to be an effective strategy to improve photocatalytic activity. In this work, the effect of donor unit content (D-content) on the photoelectric properties and photocatalytic activity of CTFs was thoroughly investigated. Four analogous CTFs with different D-content have been rationally designed and synthesized, in which the bithiophene (Btp) as the donor unit and triazine as the acceptor unit. And CTF-Btp with the highest D-content showed the best photocatalytic activity. The experimental and theoretical results indicated this improvement is attributed to stronger visible light absorption capacity and higher photoinduced charge carrier separation efficiency. This study elucidates the relationship between the structural features of CTFs with varying D-content and their photocatalytic activity, offering a promising strategy for developing efficient photocatalysts., (© 2023 Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an inflammatory disease. Curcumin can inhibit NF-κB and reduce the expression of inflammation-related genes. Aim: To evaluate the potential development of 6d in the clinical treatment of inflammatory diseases such as RA. Methods: Using a skeleton fusion strategy to synthesize curcumin analogues for 6d . This work evaluates anti-inflammatory activity by conducting anti-arthritis experiments (adjuvant-induced RA models) on rats. Western blot and ELISA were used to detect the expression of inflammatory-related proteins and cytokines. Molecular docking analysis confirmed the binding effect of 6d with active sites. Conclusion: 6d inhibits NF-κB has a protective effect on arthritis caused by RA.

In recent years, numerous 1,2-R shift (R = aliphatic or aryl) based on tetracoordinate boron species have been well investigated. In the contrary, the corresponding radical migrations, especially 1,2-boryl radical shift for the construction of organoborons is still in its infancy. Given the paucity and significance of such strategies in boron chemistry, it is urgent to develop other efficient and alternative synthetic protocols to enrich these underdeveloped radical 1,2-boron migrations, before their fundamental potential applications could be fully explored at will. Herein, we have demonstrated a visible-light-induced photoredox neutral decarboxylative radical cross-coupling reaction, which undergoes a radical 1,2-boron shift to give a translocated C-radical for further capture of versatile radical acceptors. The mild reaction conditions, good functional-group tolerance, and broad β-boryl NHPI esters scope as well as versatile radical acceptors make this protocol applicable in modification of bioactive molecules. It can be expected that this methodology will be a very useful tool and an alternative strategy for the construction of primary organoborons via a novel radical 1,2-boron shift mode., (© 2023. Springer Nature Limited.)

The influence of grain structure and quenching rates on the exfoliation corrosion (EXCO) susceptibility of 7085 alloy was studied using immersion tests, optical microscopy (OM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD), and scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM). The results show that as the cooling rate decreases from 1048 °C/min to 129 °C/min; the size of grain boundary precipitates (GBPs); the width of precipitate-free zones (PFZ); and the content of Zn, Mg, and Cu in GBPs rise, leading to an increase in EXCO depth and consequently higher EXCO susceptibility. Meanwhile, there is a linear relationship between the average corrosion depth and the logarithm of the cooling rate. Corrosion cracks initiate at the grain boundaries (GBs) and primarily propagate along the HAGBs. In the bar grain (BG) sample at lower cooling rates, crack propagation along the sub-grain boundaries (SGBs) was observed. Compared to equiaxed grain (EG) samples, the elongated grain samples exhibit larger GBPs, a wider PFZ, and minor compositional differences in the GBPs, resulting in higher EXCO susceptibility.

Transition metal mediated C-X (X = H, halogen) bond activation provides an impressive protocol for building polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in C-C bond coupling and annulation; however, mimicking both the reaction model and Lewis acid mediator simultaneously in a hetero-PAH system for selective C-P bond cleavage faces unsolved challenges. At present, developing the C-P bond activation protocol of the phosphonic backbone using noble-metal complexes is a predominant passway for the construction of phosphine catalysts and P-center redox-dependent photoelectric semiconductors, but non-noble metal triggered methods are still elusive. Herein, we report Mn(iii)-mediated C-P bond activation and intramolecular cyclization of diphosphines by a redox-directed radical phosphonium process, generating phosphahelicene cations or phosphoniums with nice regioselectivity and substrate universality under mild conditions. Experiments and theoretical calculations revealed the existence of the unusual radical mechanism and electron-deficient character of novel phosphahelicenes. These rigid quaternary bonding skeletons facilitated versatile fluorescence with good tunability and excellent efficiency. Moreover, the enantiomerically enriched crystals of phosphahelicenes emitted intense circularly polarized luminescence (CPL). Notably, the modulated CPL of racemic phosphahelicenes was induced by chiral transmission in the cholesteric mesophase, showing ultrahigh asymmetry factors of CPL (+0.51, -0.48). Our findings provide a new approach for the design of emissive phosphahelicenes towards chiral emitters and synthesized precursors., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest., (This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry.)

Digital coherent receivers adopting joint clock recovery and adaptive equalization (JCA) can avoid failures of the adaptive equalizer (AEQ) or clock recovery algorithm (CRA) due to clock asynchrony and chromatic dispersion (CD). But in the previous JCA scheme, the AEQ has a heavy computational load as it has to generate two samples per symbol (SPS) for the subsequent timing phase error detector (TPED) which is the core of the CRA. Furthermore, the previous JCA scheme cannot compensate for receiver skew or accommodate Nyquist signals with small roll-off factors (ROFs). These shortcomings hinder its practical applications in ultrahigh-speed short-reach coherent transmission requiring low power consumption, high spectral efficiency, whilst being sensitive to receiver skew. To solve this problem, we propose a new JCA scheme by integrating a two-section real-valued (RV) AEQ with an all-digital feedback CRA based on a baud-rate TPED versatile for different ROFs. Experiments for 61-GBaud dual-polarization (DP) Nyquist 16QAM signals with an ROF of 0.01 show that, compared with the previous JCA scheme, the proposed scheme can reduce the AEQ computational load by about 70% for 10-km transmission, whilst improving the receiver sensitivity by more than 1.7 dB for a receiver skew of 1.5 ps. As far as we know, the proposed JCA scheme is the most comprehensive and efficient solution for ultrahigh-speed short-reach coherent transmission where CD, receiver skew, clock asynchrony, and Nyquist signals with small ROFs have to be dealt with.

Electrochemical conversion of CO 2 to formic acid using Bismuth catalysts is one the most promising pathways for industrialization. However, it is still difficult to achieve high formic acid production at wide voltage intervals and industrial current densities because the Bi catalysts are often poisoned by oxygenated species. Herein, we report a Bi 3 S 2 nanowire-ascorbic acid hybrid catalyst that simultaneously improves formic acid selectivity, activity, and stability at high applied voltages. Specifically, a more than 95% faraday efficiency was achieved for the formate formation over a wide potential range above 1.0 V and at ampere-level current densities. The observed excellent catalytic performance was attributable to a unique reconstruction mechanism to form more defective sites while the ascorbic acid layer further stabilized the defective sites by trapping the poisoning hydroxyl groups. When used in an all-solid-state reactor system, the newly developed catalyst achieved efficient production of pure formic acid over 120 hours at 50 mA cm -2 (200 mA cell current)., (© 2023. Springer Nature Limited.)

Introduction: The development of highly effective wound dressings is crucial for successful clinical applications. Achieving wound closure, preventing infection, and minimizing scarring are key objectives in wound healing. Drawing inspiration from the regenerative mechanisms observed in embryonic tissue repair, we designed a series of wound-contractible dressings with exceptional antibacterial properties., Methods: This was achieved by encapsulating quaternized silicone (QP12) and poly( N -isopropylacrylamide-co- N -hydroxymethylacrylamide-co-octadecyl acrylate) (PNNS) within electrospun nanofibers of poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL)., Results and Discussion: The resulting nanofibrous dressings demonstrated remarkable thermo-responsive self-contraction and tissue adhesion capabilities, enabling secure adherence to the skin and active wound closure. Notably, these nanofibers exhibited potent antibacterial activity against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. Furthermore, they possessed desirable properties such as hydrophilicity, biocompatibility and mechanical properties resembling human skin. A full-thickness skin defect model evaluation revealed that these temperature-sensitive nanofibers expedited wound closure, enhanced wound healing, and suppressed scar formation. This result was evidenced by reduced infiltration of inflammatory cells, well-organized collagen arrangement, and improved vascularization. In summary, we propose that these wound-contractible nanofibers, with their antibacterial and anti-scarring properties, hold great promise as an advanced solution for skin wound repair., 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 © 2023 Qi, Li, Wang, Hou and Li.)

A clock recovery algorithm (CRA) suitable for non-integer oversampled Nyquist signals with a small roll-off factor (ROF) is appealing to short-reach high-speed inter-datacenter transmission systems which need to cut down the transceiver power consumption and cost by reducing the oversampling factor (OSF) and using cheap low-bandwidth components. However, due to the lack of a suitable timing phase error detector (TPED), CRAs proposed now fail for non-integer OSFs below two and small ROFs close to zero and are not hardware-efficient. To solve these problems, we propose a low-complexity TPED by modifying the time-domain quadratic signal and reselecting the synchronization spectral component. We demonstrate that the proposed TPED, in combination with a piece-wise parabolic (PWP) interpolator, can significantly improve the performance of feedback CRAs for non-integer oversampled Nyquist signals with a small ROF. Numerical simulations and experiments show that, based on the improved CRA, the receiver sensitivity penalty can keep below 0.5 dB when the OSF is reduced from 2 to 1.25 and the ROF is varied from 0.1 to 0.001 for 45 GBaud dual-polarization Nyquist 16QAM signals.

Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the changes in serum levels of retinol-binding protein 4 (RBP4) with cerebral infarction, relationship of RBP4 with oxidative stress and carotid atherosclerosis, and its possible role in cerebral infarction., Materials and Methods: According to the results of cervical vascular ultrasound, the experimental group was divided into three groups: intima thickening group ( n = 31), stable plaque group ( n = 51), and unstable plaque group ( n = 54). Forty healthy subjects were selected as the control group. Their serum levels of RBP4, 8-iso-prostaglandin-F2alpha (8-iso-PGF2α), and catalase (CAT) were measured. Carotid vascular ultrasound was used to measure the plaque area and intima-media thickness (IMT)., Results: The serum RBP4 and 8-iso-PGF2α levels, IMT and plaque area in the control, intimal thickening, stable plaque, and unstable plaque groups increased, while the serum level of CAT decreased ( P < 0.001). The serum levels of RBP4 positively correlated with 8-iso-PGF2α, IMT, and plaque area and negatively correlated with CAT level. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.778 in predicting unstable plaques., Conclusions: The serum levels of RBP4 were significantly elevated in elderly patients with cerebral infarction and correlated with oxidative stress injury and the degree of atherosclerosis. Serum RBP4 has diagnostic value for unstable plaques in carotid arteries., Competing Interests: Conflict of 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 article., (© 2022 Qingqing Wang et al., published by De Gruyter.)

Backgound: Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol can lead to the occurrence of atherosclerotic plaques, but patients with normal LDL still have atherosclerotic plaques in clinical practice. With the proposal of LDL subclass, this experiment investigated the relationship between the LDL content of different subclasses and the stability of carotid plaques., Methods: Plaque stability was suggested by carotid ultrasound results. 37 patients with stable plaques were classified into one group and 41 patients with unstable plaques were classified into another group. The data of age, glycosylated hemoglobin (Ghb), and homocysteine (Hcy) were collected. The contents of LDL subclasses were measured by LIPOPRINT system. The data of total cholesterol (TC), LDL cholesterol, and triglyceride (TG) were collected. The plaque stability was assessed by carotid artery color Doppler ultrasound and the intima-media thickness (IMT) was measured., Results: The levels of LDL-1 subclass 19.00 (13.00, 27.50) and LDL-2 subclass (21.62 ± 7.24) in the stable plaque group were higher than those in the unstable plaque group ( p < 0.05). The levels of LDL-3 subclass (12.24 ± 4.58), LDL-4 subclass 5.00 (2.00, 9.00), and sd-LDL 0 (0.00, 3.00) in the unstable plaque group were higher than those in the stable plaque group ( p < 0.05). LDL-1 subclass (adjusted OR = 0.923 and p < 0.05), and LDL-3 subclass (adjusted OR = 1.176 and p < 0.05) were independent risk factors for plaque stability., Conclusion: Elevated LDL1 is associated with stable plaques whereas LDL3 was found associated with unstable plaques., Competing Interests: Conflict of interest: Authors state no conflict of interest., (© 2022 Zhanhai Pan et al., published by De Gruyter.)

The electrochemical N 2 reduction reaction (NRR) demonstrates a process of NH 3 synthesis from N 2 molecules under ambient conditions, which is environmentally friendly and recyclable. However, it requires an efficient electrocatalyst to activate inert N 2 molecules, which is still difficult to satisfy. Recently, as an active NRR electrocatalyst and a typical metal oxide, CeO 2 has featured ultrahigh thermal stability and the ability to apply heteroatom doping, which is an imperative approach importing oxygen vacancy by replacing metal ions with selective elements to greatly influence the activity of catalysts. Here, we analyze the unique properties of manganese dopants in modulating the activity of CeO 2 nanospheres for NRR. It attains a larger NH 3 yield of 27.79 μg h -1 mg cat -1 and a higher Faradaic efficiency of 9.1% than pure CeO 2 at -0.30 V in 0.1 M HCl, with high electrochemical and structure stability. With calculations by density functional theory, the performance enhancement of Mn-doped CeO 2 is also proved mathematically.

Developing ultrasensitive and user-friendly methods for the detection glucose has attracted more and more attention. By virtue of high selectivity and sensitivity, enzyme-based glucose sensor plays a key role in point-of-care sensing technology for detecting glucose concentration. In this study, Amplex Red (AR), as both indicator and mediator, was investigated to detect glucose in presence of glucose oxidase (GOx) enzymes using colorimetric and electrochemical methods. Without using any advanced techniques and sophisticated nanomaterials, 1 μM glucose can be easily detected through simply detecting the solution color with a visual colorimetric method. On the other hand, the electrochemical method can provide much higher sensitivity for the detection of glucose, which achieves a linear range spanning from 20 nM to 3.56 μM with a limit of 7.3 nM (signal-to-noise ratio SNR = 3). It is also found that the presence of other sugars such as fructose, lactose, and maltose have very limited interference effects on the detection of glucose. More importantly, a bare GC electrode was used in all these electrochemical measurements without any electrode surface modification, guaranteeing a simple and fast operation. The analytical platforms for the detection of glucose presented here not only provide simple, fast, and ultrasensitive methods, but also have the potential to advance the sensing technology in the application of other health diagnostic research areas. Amplex Red (AR) was reported as both an indicator and mediator for the sensitive and specific determination of glucose using the colorimetric and electrochemical methods. The detection limit was 1 μM glucose by the visual colorimetric methods. A bare glassy carbon electrode without any functional modification was employed for the detection as low as 20 nM glucose with LOD of 7.3 nm (SNR = 3) in the electrochemical method., (© 2021. Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

The lattice strain of a perovskite film is vital to the controllable growth and charge transport in perovskite solar cells (PSCs). In this work, a lead chloride (PbCl 2 ) assisted crystallization (LCAC) protocol is introduced for releasing the strain across the interface of a NiO x /perovskite, which induces a preferred ( h 00) crystal plane growth and grain homogenization. PSCs with LCAC show a facilitated charge extraction and suppressed nonradiative recombination. Thanks to the controlled film growth and strain-released interface, the inverted MAPbI 3 (MA = methylammonium) PSC devices with LCAC deliver a power conversion efficiency (PCE) over 20% with a short-circuit current density ( J sc ) of 23.60 mA cm -2 , which is obviously higher than that of the control device with a PCE of 18.36% and a J sc of 21.74 mA cm -2 . Meanwhile, the LCAC devices maintain 80% of their initial efficiency after being exposed to an ambient atmosphere with a relative humidity of 40% over 1000 h in the dark.

The microstructures, mechanical properties, and thermal conductivity (TC) of Al-2Fe- x Co ( x = 0~0.8) alloys in as-cast, homogeneous annealed, and cool rolled states are systematically studied. Results indicate that appropriate Co modification ( x ≤ 0.5) simultaneously improves the thermal and mechanical properties of as-cast Al-2Fe alloys. The improvement of TC is attributed to ameliorating the morphology of primary Al 3 Fe phases from needles to short rods and fine particles, which decreases the scattering probability of free electrons during the electronic transmission. However, further increasing the Co content ( x = 0.8) decreases the TC due to the formation of a coarse plate-like Al 2 FeCo phase. Besides, the thermal conductivity of annealed Al-2Fe- x Co alloys is higher than that of as-cast alloys because of the elimination of lattice defects and spheroidization of Al 3 Fe phases. After cool rolling with 80 % deformation, thermal conductivity of alloys slightly increases due to the breaking down of Al 2 FeCo phases. The rolled Al-2Fe-0.3Co alloy exhibits the highest thermal conductivity, which is about 225 W/(m·K), approximately 11 % higher than the as-cast Al-2Fe sample. The ultimate tensile strength (UTS) and elongation (EL) of as-cast Al-2Fe-0.5Co (UTS: 138 MPa; EL: 22.0 %) are increased by 35 % and 69 %, respectively, compared with those of unmodified alloy (UTS: 102 MPa; EL: 13.0 %).

Industrially, artifical N 2 fixation to NH 3 mainly relies on the Haber-Bosch process which is operated in a harsh environment with large energy consumption and heavy serious greenhouse gas emission. Electrochemical N 2 reduction offers a carbon-neutral and energy-saving method for NH 3 synthesis under ambient conditions. Herein, we demonstrate the first use of ZrO 2 nanoparticles as an earth-abundant electrocatalyst for NH 3 synthesis from N 2 and water under ambient conditions. In 0.1 M HCl, the electrocatalyst presents a large NH 3 yield rate of 24.74 μg h -1 mg cat. -1 with a faradaic efficiency of 5.0% at -0.45 V vs. the reversible hydrogen electrode. It also demonstrates high electrochemical stability and excellent selectivity for NH 3 generation.

The fabrication of efficient and convenient photocatalytic H 2 evolution systems is a fascinating research topic in the field of solar energy conversion. A ternary self-assembled photocatalytic H 2 evolution system was fabricated through supramolecular host-guest chemistry. The system consisted of the H 2 evolution catalyst [Co(dmgH) 2 (4-ppy) 2 ]NO 3 (1; dmgH 2 =dimethylglyoxime, 4-ppy=4-phenylpyridine) and the photosensitizer Eosin Y (EY) assembled with the macrocyclic compound cucurbit[7]uril (CB[7]) to form the 1@CB[7]/EY complex through inclusion and exclusion interactions, respectively. The synchronous self-assembly drives an orthogonal arrangement of the 1@CB[7]/EY system. The inclusion complex 1@CB[7] was successfully characterized by 1 H NMR spectroscopy and single-crystal XRD. The exclusion process of CB[7] with EY was identified by NMR titration and the optimized geometry of the exclusion structure was determined by DFT calculations. The use of CB[7] resulted in a 6-fold increase in turnover number, a 3-fold increase in turnover frequency, and a 3-fold extension of lifetime for photocatalytic H 2 evolution as compared with the system in the absence of CB[7]. The improvement of the light-driven H 2 evolution activity was ascribed to the ability of CB[7] to link the photosensitizer and catalyst., (© 2019 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

Titanium-based catalysts are needed to achieve electrocatalytic N 2 reduction to NH 3 with a large NH 3 yield and a high Faradaic efficiency (FE). One of the cheapest and most abundant metals on earth, iron, is an effective dopant for greatly improving the nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR) performance of TiO 2 nanoparticles in ambient N 2 -to-NH 3 conversion. In 0.5 m LiClO 4 , Fe-doped TiO 2 catalyst attains a high FE of 25.6 % and a large NH 3 yield of 25.47 μg h -1  mg cat -1 at -0.40 V versus a reversible hydrogen electrode. This performance compares favorably to those of all previously reported titanium- and iron-based NRR electrocatalysts in aqueous media. The catalytic mechanism is further probed with theoretical calculations., (© 2019 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

The artificial N2 fixation to NH3 is dominated by the traditional Haber-Bosch process, which consumes large amounts of energy and natural gas with low energy efficiency and large amounts of CO2 emissions. Electrochemical N2 reduction is a promising and environmentally friendly route for artificial N2-to-NH3 fixation under milder conditions. Herein, we report that dendritic Cu acts as a highly active electrocatalyst to catalyze N2 to NH3 fixation under ambient conditions. When tested in 0.1 M HCl, such an electrocatalyst achieves a high faradaic efficiency of 15.12% and a large NH3 yield rate of 25.63 μg h-1 mgcat.-1 at -0.40 V versus a reversible hydrogen electrode. Notably, this catalyst shows high electrochemical stability and excellent selectivity toward NH3 synthesis.

Excellent nonlinear optical materials simultaneously meet the requirements of large SHG response, phase-matching capability, wide transparency windows, considerable energy band-gap, good thermal stability and structure stability. Herein, two new promising nonlinear optical (NLO) crystals LiM II (IO 3 ) 3 (M II =Zn and Cd) are rationally designed by the aliovalent substitution strategy from the commercialized α-LiIO 3 with the perfect parallel alignment of IO 3 groups. Compared with parent α-LiIO 3 and related A I 2 M IV (IO 3 ) 6 , the title compounds exhibit more stable covalent 3D structure, and overcome the racemic twinning problem of A I 2 M IV (IO 3 ) 6 . More importantly, both compounds inherit NLO-favorable structure merits of α-LiIO 3 and show larger SHG response (≈14× and ≈12×KDP), shorter absorption edge (294 and 297 nm) with wider energy band-gap (4.21 and 4.18 eV), good thermal stability (460 and 430 °C), phase-matching behaviors, wider optical transparency window and good structure stability, achieving an excellent balance of NLO properties., (© 2019 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

The production of ammonia (NH 3 ) in the industrial scale basically relies on the traditional technology of Haber-Bosch, which is operated under harsh conditions with high energy consumption and a huge number of greenhouse gas emissions. Electrochemical N 2 reduction reaction (NRR) is a promising route for artificial N 2 -to-NH 3 fixation with less energy consumption. However, an effective electrocatalyst, as a prerequisite of the NRR, is of significance. Here, we report that a spinel LiMn 2 O 4 nanofiber acts as a noble-metal-free electrocatalyst for NH 3 synthesis with excellent performance under ambient conditions. The electrocatalyst, which was tested in 0.1 M HCl, has an excellent Faradaic efficiency of 7.44% and a NH 3 yield of 15.83 μg h -1 mg cat. -1 at -0.50 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode. Moreover, it also possesses excellent electrochemical and structure stability.

To evaluate the influence of transition metal substituents on the characteristics of CH 3 NH 3 PbI 3 /TiO 2 , we investigated the geometrical and electronic properties of transition metal-substituted CH 3 NH 3 PbI 3 /TiO 2 by first-principles calculations. The results suggested that the substitution of Ti 4+ at the five-fold coordinated (Ti 5c ) sites by transition metals is energetically favored. The substituted interface has enhanced visible light sensitivity and photoelectrocatalytic activity by reducing the transition energies. The transition metal substitution can effectively tune the band gap of the interface, which significantly improves the photo-reactivity. The substituted systems are expected to be more efficient in separating the photo-generated electrons-holes and active in the visible spectrum., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

The synthesis of NH3 heavily relies on the Haber-Bosch process suffering from a large amount of CO2 emission and energy consumption. Possessing eco-friendly and sustainable characteristics, electrochemical reduction is considered as a promising candidate for artificial N2 fixation under ambient conditions, but efficient electrocatalysts are crucial for the N2 reduction reaction (NRR). In this communication, we report that perovskite La2Ti2O7 nanosheets behave as an efficient NRR electrocatalyst with excellent selectivity under ambient conditions. In 0.1 M HCl, this catalyst achieves a high NH3 yield rate of 25.15 μg h-1 mgcat.-1 with a faradaic efficiency of 4.55% at -0.55 V vs. a reversible hydrogen electrode. Notably, it also shows high electrochemical stability.

Background: In 2009, severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus (SFTSV) was identified as a novel member of the genus phlebovirus in the Bunyaviridae family in China. The detailed clinical features of cases with SFTSV infection have not been well described, and the risk factors for severity among patients and fatality among severe patients remain to be determined., Methodology/principal Findings: Clinical and laboratory features of 115 hospitalized patients with SFTSV infection during the period from June 2010 to December 2011 in Northeast China were retrospectively reviewed. We assessed the risk factors associated with severity in confirmed cases and fatality in severe cases by multivariate analysis. One hundred and three (89.6%) of 115 patients presented with multiple organ dysfunction, and 22 (19.1%) of 115 proceeded to the stage of life threatening multiple organ failure. Of the 115 patients, 14 fatalities (12.2%) were reported. Multivariate analysis demonstrated that the independent predictors of risk for severity were: albumin ≤ 30 g/l (OR, 8.09; 95% CI, 2.58-25.32), APTT ≥ 66 seconds (OR, 14.28; 95% CI, 3.28-62.24), sodium ≤ 130 mmol/l (OR, 5.44; 95% CI, 1.38-21.40), and presence of neurological manifestations (OR, 7.70; 95% CI, 1.91-31.12). Among patients with severe disease, presence of acute lung injury/acute respiratory distress syndrome (HR, 4.59; 95% CI, 1.48-14.19) and disseminated intravascular coagulation (HR, 4.24; 95% CI, 1.38-13.03) were independently associated with fatality., Conclusions/significance: SFTSV infection may present with more severe symptoms and laboratory abnormalities than hitherto reported. Due to infection with a novel bunyavirus, the patients may sufferer multiple organ dysfunction and die of multiple organ failure. In the clinical assessment of any case of SFTS, independent factors relating to prognosis need to be taken into account by clinicians.

Grain number, panicle seed setting rate, panicle number and grain weight are the most important components of rice grain yield. To date, several genes related to grain weight, grain number and panicle number have been described in rice. However, no genes regulating the panicle seed setting rate have been functionally characterized. Here we show that the domestication-related POLLEN TUBE BLOCKED 1 (PTB1), a RING-type E3 ubiquitin ligase, positively regulates the rice panicle seed setting rate by promoting pollen tube growth. The natural variation in expression of PTB1 which is affected by the promoter haplotype and the environmental temperature, correlates with the rice panicle seed setting rate. Our results support the hypothesis that PTB1 is an important maternal sporophytic factor of pollen tube growth and a key modulator of the rice panicle seed setting rate. This finding has implications for the improvement of rice yield.

A flat-top interleaver consisting of cascaded Mach-Zehnder interferometers (MZIs) was fabricated in bulk glass by femtosecond laser direct writing. Spectral contrast ratios of greater than 15 dB were demonstrated over a 30 nm bandwidth for 3 nm channel spacing. The observed spectral response agreed well with a standard transfer matrix model generated from responses of individual optical components, demonstrating the possibility for multi-component optical design as well as sufficient process accuracy and fabrication consistency for femtosecond laser writing of advanced optical circuits in three dimensions.

Hyperspectral data processing typically demands enormous computational resources in terms of storage, computation, and input/output throughputs, particularly when real-time processing is desired. In this paper, a proof-of-concept study is conducted on compressive sensing (CS) and unmixing for hyperspectral imaging. Specifically, we investigate a low-complexity scheme for hyperspectral data compression and reconstruction. In this scheme, compressed hyperspectral data are acquired directly by a device similar to the single-pixel camera based on the principle of CS. To decode the compressed data, we propose a numerical procedure to compute directly the unmixed abundance fractions of given endmembers, completely bypassing high-complexity tasks involving the hyperspectral data cube itself. The reconstruction model is to minimize the total variation of the abundance fractions subject to a preprocessed fidelity equation with a significantly reduced size and other side constraints. An augmented Lagrangian-type algorithm is developed to solve this model. We conduct extensive numerical experiments to demonstrate the feasibility and efficiency of the proposed approach, using both synthetic data and hardware-measured data. Experimental and computational evidences obtained from this paper indicate that the proposed scheme has a high potential in real-world applications.

Background: Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus (SFTSV), which can cause hemorrhagic fever-like illness, is a newly discovered bunyavirus in China. The pathogenesis of SFTSV infection is poorly understood. However, it has been suggested that immune mechanisms, including cytokines and chemokines, play an important role in disease pathogenesis. In the present study, we investigated host cytokine and chemokine profiles in serum samples of patients with SFTSV infection from Northeast China and explored a possible correlation between cytokine levels and disease severity., Methods and Principal Findings: Acute phase serum samples from 40 patients, diagnosed with SFTSV infection were included. Patients were divided into two groups--severe or non-severe--based on disease severity. Levels of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, transforming growth factor (TGF)-β, interleukin-6, interferon (IFN)-γ, IFN- γ-induced protein (IP)-10 and RANTES were measured in the serum samples with commercial ELISAs. Statistical analysis showed that increases in TNF-α, IP-10 and IFN-γ were associated with disease severity., Conclusions: We suggest that a cytokine-mediated inflammatory response, characterized by cytokine and chemokine production imbalance, might be in part responsible for the disease progression of patients with SFTSV infection.

Objectives: Cerebral edema is a major cause of death during acute liver failure (ALF), but the exact mechanism of this condition is still not entirely clear. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of tumor necrosis factor α (TNFα) in changing the permeability of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) during acetaminophen (APAP)-induced ALF., Materials and Methods: ALF animal models were generated by administering APAP. Anti-TNFα-IgG was intravenously injected (100 μg/mouse) 2 h after administration of APAP. We investigated BBB permeability with Evans blue staining, and structure with electron microscopy., Results: BBB permeability increased in APAP-induced ALF mice and correlated with elevated serum TNFα levels. Electron microscopy of mouse brain tissues revealed tight junction (TJ) disruptions and endothelial cell shrinkage, as well as increased vesicles and vacuoles. In addition, the expression of the TJ-associated protein, occludin, was significantly decreased in APAP-induced ALF mice. Changes in BBB permeability and occludin expression could be prevented by administering anti-TNFα-IgG 2 h after APAP challenge., Conclusion: TNFα plays a critical role in the development of brain edema in APAP-induced ALF. Increased BBB permeability may be due to the loss of the TJ-associated protein occludin.