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Cr(VI) pollution in wastewater has increasingly become a global environmental problem owing to its acute toxicity. Herein, we present the one-pot procedure for preparing the amino-functionalized (-NH2) graphene oxide (GO-) supported networked Pd–Ag nanowires by co-reduction growth in polyol solution, which show the highly efficient catalytic performance with the excellent cycling stability for the catalytic Cr(VI) reduction by formic acid as an in-situ source of hydrogen at room temperature. The electron transfer from Ag and amino to Pd increases the electron density of Pd, which enhances the catalytic formic acid decomposition and subsequent the catalytic Cr(VI) reduction. The catalytic reduction rate constant of Pd3Ag1/GO-NH2 is determined to be 0.0768 min−1, which is much superior to the monometallic Pd/GO-NH2 and Pd3Ag1/GO. This study provides a novel strategy to develop catalysts for the catalytic reduction of Cr(VI) to Cr(III) in the industrial effluent using formic acid as an in-situ source of hydrogen.

ZnxCd1-xS is a prospective photocatalyst with wide visible-light absorption up to 500 nm, but its stability and activity are still facing huge challenges. Herein, L-Cysteine capped Mo2C (L-Mo2C) nanoplates were used to anchor Zn2+/Cd2+ to in-situ grow Zn0.67Cd0.33S nanomaterial for constructing a highly efficient and robust L-Mo2C/Zn0.67Cd0.33S heterojunction through intimate Mo-S covalent bonds for photocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). This work not only suppresses the photo-corrosion of Zn0.67Cd0.33S nanomaterial by the construction of strong L-Mo2C/Zn0.67Cd0.33S Schottky heterojunction but also greatly improves the charge transfer efficiency by generating a strong internal electric field. As a result, the optimized L-Mo2C/Zn0.67Cd0.33S-5 heterojunction exhibits an enhanced HER rate of 34.66 mmol h−1 g−1 without an obvious decrease for continuous 24 h under visible irradiation, which is 4.8 times and 1.23 times than that of pristine Zn0.67Cd0.33S and uncapped Mo2C/Zn0.67Cd0.33S-5. This research highlights the role of Mo2C in photocatalytic HER, which provides a novel method to suppress the photo-corrosion of Zn0.67Cd0.33S-based composite.

Enhancer of Zeste Homolog 2 (EZH2) is highly expressed in kinds of malignant tumors and related to tumor occurrence, development, and prognosis. EZH2 is the catalytic subunit of the polycomb repressive complex 2 (PRC2), which promotes cell proliferation, migration, and invasion by epigenetic regulation of anti-tumor gene. It can activate numerous tumor-associated signaling pathways and interfere with DNA damage repair. In recent years, large amounts of studies have shown that EZH2 is closely related to gynecologic-related malignancies and can be used as a potential target gene for the treatment of gynecological-related malignancies. This review summarizes the oncogenic function of EZH2 and introduces the recent advances in the development of EZH2 inhibitors. On this basis, future research prospect of EZH2 is proposed.

Rational construction of MnCo

The present study was designed to examine the protection of D-β-hydroxybutyrate (BHB) against ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury in heart and investigate its underlying mechanism. Male adult mice were exposed to 30 min of ischemia and 24 h of reperfusion. Osmotic pumps were implanted subcutaneously 5 min before reperfusion for continuous delivery of the exogenous BHB (1.6 mmol/kg/24 h). Treatment with BHB reduced infarct size and levels of cardiac troponin I, creatine kinase and lactate dehydrogenase in serum, attenuated apoptosis in myocardium, and preserved cardiac function of I/R mice. Importantly, treatment of I/R mice with BHB promoted autophagic flux, evidenced by reduced the ratio of LC3-II/LC3-I and protein expression of p62 and enhanced protein expression of lysosome associated membrane protein-2 (Lamp2) in myocardium. Treatment of I/R mice with BHB reduced mitochondrial formation of reactive oxygen species, enhanced adenosine triphosphate production, attenuated mitochondrial swelling, and partly restored mitochondrial membrane potential in myocardium. Furthermore, treatment of I/R mice with BHB abated oxidative stress and attenuated endoplasmic reticulum stress in myocardium. Our results indicated that treatment with exogenous BHB protected heart from I/R injury in mice.

In this paper, hierarchical mesoporous Co3O4@ZnCo2O4 hybrid nanowire arrays (NWAs) on Ni foam were prepared through a two-step hydrothermal process associated with successive annealing treatment. The Co3O4@ZnCo2O4 hybrid NWAs exhibited excellent electrochemical performances with a high specific capacity of 1,240.5 C g−1 at a current density of 2 mA cm−2, with rate capability of 59.0% shifting from 2 to 30 mA cm−2, and only a 9.1% loss of its capacity even after 3,000 cycles at a consistent current density of 10 mA cm−2. An asymmetric supercapacitor (Co3O4@ZnCo2O4 NWAs||activated carbon) was fabricated and exhibited a high specific capacity of 168 C g−1 at a current density of 1 A g−1. And a preferable energy density of 37.3 W h kg−1 at a power density of 800 W kg−1 was obtained. The excellent electrochemical performances indicate the promising potential application of the hierarchical mesoporous Co3O4@ZnCo2O4 hybrid NWAs in energy storage field.

This paper considers multiple resolvable group target estimation under clutter environment. The proposed algorithm involves two aspects: target estimation and group state (group size, shape, etc.) estimation. First, we propose dynamic models and observation function for the group targets. Second, we derive the connection relation of individual targets through the predicted target states. In the following step, we combine the graph theory with the group targets and build the adjacency matrix of the estimated state set. The connection information is used to correct the collaboration noise and estimate the target states. For group estimation, we focus on the number of subgroups, the group states and the group sizes. Finally, several examples are given to verify the proposed algorithm, respectively.

L10-FePt/[Fe/Pt]27 multilayer films were prepared on (100)-oriented single-crystal MgO substrates. Structural analysis indicates epitaxial growth of the L10-FePt films during high-temperature deposition. The room-temperature-deposited [Fe/Pt]27 multilayer exhibits the fcc-FePt structure grown epitaxially on the L10-FePt base layer. The degree of chemical order and thereby the anisotropy of the top layer has been controlled by varying the temperature of a post-deposition annealing process. Compared with the as-deposited films, coercivities of the films annealed below 400 ∘C are substantially decreased by introducing the formation of a graded anisotropy in the partially ordered top layer. Coercivities decrease for annealing temperatures that are greater than 400 ∘C due to improved ordering of the top layer.

In this work, we describe a new protocol to synthesize SmCo5 single crystal particles with remarkable shape anisotropy (hexagonal and rodlike), which exhibit a giant coercivity of 36.6 kOe and a high Mr/Ms value of 0.95 after an alignment. On this basis, the morphological evolution mechanism is illustrated by employing the template effect.

The demand for nylon-66 has sharply increased in industry because of its high mechanical strength, high rigidity, and excellent stability. The deep hydrogenation of adiponitrile (ADN) to 1,6-hexanediamine (HDA) is considered as a crucial step to produce nylon-66 in industry. Herein, we report a diffusion strategy to prepare surface Pd-rich PdAg nanowires (NWs) via a seed-mediated growth in polyol solution for efficient dehydrogenation catalysis of formic acid (FA) and subsequent hydrogenation of ADN by using FA as an in situ hydrogen source. The composition of surface Pd-rich PdAg NWs could be easily tuned by controlling the amounts of the precursors. And the surface Pd-rich Pd5Ag5 NWs exhibit the highest activity for dehydrogenation catalysis of FA with an initial TOF of 1600 h−1 and a highly efficient hydrogenation of ADN to HDA with 99% selectivity and 99% conversion at 50 °C. Their enhanced catalytic performance could be attributed to the Pd-rich surface of the NWs and more efficient electron transfer from Ag to Pd. This work demonstrates a new way to prepare surface Pd-rich Pd5Ag5 NWs for deeply hydrogenating ADN to HDA with FA as an in situ hydrogen source.

Lead-free (1−x)Ba0.90Ca0.10Ti0.95Zr0.05O3–(x)RuO2 (x = 0–2.0 mol%) ceramics were prepared by conventional solid state reaction with the as-synthesized nanoparticles by a modified Pechini method, showing high densification (96.4–97.1%) with the grain size of ∼2.2 μm. Effects of RuO2 contents on the ceramics crystal structure and electrical properties were investigated. The phase evolution was identified by X-ray powder diffraction analysis, and the coexisted Tetragonal and Rhombohedral phases were detected at x around 1.0 mol%. The formation mechanism of defect electron complexes was sated in detail. Diversified dielectric properties and ferroelectric relaxation stemmed from defect electron complexes, charge accumulation at grain boundary, long-range ferroelectric dipole order, etc. Ferroelectric properties could be optimized apparently by polarized–aged process. The optimum electrical properties, i.e. d33 = 195 pC/N, kp = ∼0.22, and Qm = 78.9, were obtained at x = 1.0 mol%.

The electronic structure tuning of heterogeneous nanocatalysts is considered as one of the most effective ways of enhancing the catalytic activity of different chemical reactions. Herein, we demonstrate an effective way of tuning the electronic structure of networked PdAg nanowires (NWs) using polyvinylpyrrolidine imine (PVPI) as a new ligand to achieve more efficient hydrogen generation from formic acid (FA) decomposition. The PVPI-capped Pd5Ag5 NWs show the highest activity for the dehydrogenation catalysis of FA with an initial turnover frequency (TOF) of 242 h−1 among all the reported catalysts, and an increased TOF of 312 h−1 under 365 nm light irradiation at room temperature. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy studies reveal that there is an interfacial electron transfer from PVPI to the PdAg NW surface, which is the key factor in boosting the dehydrogenation catalysis of FA herein. Density functional theory calculations suggest that the high catalytic activity primarily stems from both electronegative Pd active centers and the imino group (CN) in PVPI for efficiently deprotonating FA to Pd-formate intermediates and subsequently for promoting the cleavage of C–H. The PVPI-capped Pd5Ag5 NWs are very stable and reusable for FA dehydrogenation catalysis.

The development of new electrode materials with various components, structures, morphologies and porosities is critical for improving the performance of supercapacitors. Here, we report a facile strategy for synthesizing porous layered stacked MnCo2O4 cubes through a hydrothermal method, followed by annealing treatment. Compared with other morphologies of MnCo2O4, the specific capacitance of porous layered stacked MnCo2O4 cubes reaches 480.5 F g-1 at a current density of 1 A g-1. Furthermore, porous layered stacked MnCo2O4 cubes show an ultrahigh capacity retention of 75.7% even at a current density of 25 A g-1 and good cycling stability with 96.6% specific capacitance retained after 3000 cycles, which makes porous layered stacked MnCo2O4 cubes a great potential electrode material for supercapacitor applications.

On the purpose of accurate data acquisition for the aeroacoustic testing mostly in open jet test section of aeroacoustic wind tunnel, the large scale anechoic chamber is specifically designed to build the low background noise environment. A newly acoustic test section is presented in this paper, of which the contour is similar as the closed test section, and the wall is fabricated by the fiber fabric, both the characteristics of closed and open jet test section of conventional wind tunnel are combined in it. By thoroughly researching on the acoustics and aerodynamics of this acoustically transparent test section, significant progress in reducing the background noises in test section and improving the ratio of energy of the wind tunnel and some other aspects have been achieved. Acoustically transparent test section behaves better in acoustics and aerodynamics than conventional acoustic test section because of their high definition in detecting the sound sources and great performance in transmitting sounds.

Nitrate (NO3−) and nitrite (NO2−) pollution in water has increasingly become a serious environmental concern. The catalytic reduction of NO3− and NO2− to harmless N2 by a reducing agent is considered to be one of the most promising methods to remove NO3− and NO2− from water. Herein, we report the one-pot synthesis of networked Ag/AgPd core/shell nanowires (CS-NWs) via seed-mediated growth in polyol solution. The shell thickness of the networked Ag/AgPd CS-NWs can be readily controlled by tuning the amount of precursors. The networked Ag/AgPd CS-NWs with a 0.9 nm shell thickness exhibited the highest activity towards the dehydrogenation catalysis of FA with an initial TOF of 1400 h−1 at 50 °C, and the highest selectivity for the catalysis of NO3− and NO2− to N2 in water and at room temperature. Their enhanced bifunctional catalytic performance could be attributed to more efficient electron transfer from PVPI and Ag to Pd. This work demonstrates a new way to prepare bifunctional nanocatalysts for the removal of NO3− and NO2− from water using FA as the in situ hydrogen source.

In this study, the corrosion behaviors of Sc0.04Ce0.16Zr0.80O1.98 (SCZ) and YSZ (4 mol% Y2O3-stabilized ZrO2) in CMAS (Ca-Mg-Al-Si) at 1250 °C were investigated systematically by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM), and field emission transmission electron microscope (FE-TEM). The results showed that Y3+can be easily precipitated from YSZ and diffused into the CMAS molten salt due to high solubility in the CMAS corrosion environment, prompting the transition from the tetragonal (t) phase to the monoclinic (m) phase. During the corrosion of YSZ powder, the reverse migration of Mg and Ca into the lattice increased the stabilizer content in part of the YSZ crystal lattice, resulting in the generation of a small amount of cubic (c) phase. For SCZ materials, the stabilizer CeO2 was chemically inert in the CMAS environment. Sc3+ had low solubility and poor affinity with Ca2+, and can only be readily precipitated from the surface layer of the ceramic bulk with high CMAS concentrations, which led to the generation of the m phase. The SCZ material had better resistance to CMAS corrosion and t phase stability than the YSZ material.

The pollutant of hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)) threats to the environment as well as to the human beings due to its strong toxicity, carcinogenicity, mobility and undegradability. Herein, a novel porous aminated red phosphorus (RP) nanosheet photocatalyst was synthesized to remove Cr(VI) from water through adsorption and in-situ photocatalytic reduction. The introduction of NH2 on the surface of RP nanosheet could effectively improve adsorption and photocatalytic reduction performance for Cr(VI) removal during visible light irradiation. As a result, the optimized RP-AP-0.5 (AP: 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane) nanosheet displays the apparent reaction rate constant of 0.0190 min−1, which is 5.5 times higher than that of pure RP (0.0035 min−1), the 96.5% reduction efficiency for Cr(VI) within 120 min at pH = 4.8 ± 0.1 and still exhibits more than 95% removal efficiency after 5 cycles at the same condition. The enhanced Cr(VI) removal performance of the aminated RP nanosheet can be assigned to accelerating the interfacial reaction dynamics and more effective electron-hole separation owing to the presence of NH2 groups. This study provides a new method to develop high-efficiency metal-free photocatalysts with NH2 modification for Cr(VI) removal.

In this work, a novel low cost and durable geopolymer based rapid repair material (RRM) with hydrophobic surface and high strength was proposed derived from fly ash, ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS) and rice husk ash (RHA). The experimental results show that RRM exhibits 142–212 mm flow diameter and the less setting time 35 min, resulting in a higher early compressive strength and bonding strength. In addition, the increased contact angle (from 25° to 92°) of RPM indicated the complete surface hydrophobic modification, which contributes to higher waterproof properties and chloride permeability, stronger freeze-thaw and surface abrasion resistance. The RPM developed in this work show significant potential in rapid repair concrete materials.

Transition metal phosphides have shown Pt-like hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) activity in acid and alkaline solution, while their HER performance in neutral-pH is really poor owing to the high resistance and inefficient mass transfer in neutral-pH electrolyte. In this work, the well-arranged core/shell PSS-PPy/Ni-Co-P growing on Cu foil, in which Ni-Co-P is the core and the mixed polymer of pyrrole and sodium polystyrene sulfonate is the shell, has been demonstrated to be a highly efficient electrocatalyst for HER in neutral-pH electrolyte. The PSS-PPy/Ni-Co-P/CF self-supporting electrode was easily synthesized by electrodeposition and chemical deposition at room temperature. According to the experiment and DFT calculation results, PSS-PPy not only improves the conductivity and hydrophilicity of Ni-Co-P, but also optimizes the electronic structure of Ni-Co-P. Thus, the PSS-PPy/Ni-Co-P shows remarkable HER activity with only overpotential of 106 and 67 mV at the current density of 10 mA cm−2 in neutral-pH and alkaline electrolytes, respectively. Furthermore, PSS-PPy/Ni-Co-P has excellent stability in neutral-pH, alkaline electrolytes and even seawater. The current surface modification method directs us to design more low-cost, high-efficiency and stable electrocatalysts for HER in neutral-pH electrolyte.

The synthesis of highly efficient non-noble bifunctional electrocatalysts for both hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in the same electrolyte is important for the industrial application of electrocatalytic water splitting. Herein, non-noble bifunctional electrocatalyst Ni0.67Co0.33(PO3)2 nets with optimized morphology were successfully synthesized. Owing to the micropores with the accelerated electrolyte and gases transfer and nanopores architecture with more exposed active edge sites, the self-supported Ni0.67Co0.33(PO3)2-12 h electrode exhibits a superior water splitting performance. Impressively, the Ni0.67Co0.33(PO3)2-12 h electrode only needs a cell voltage of 1.46 V to achieve 10 mA/cm2 and shows over 22 h stability at 10, 50 and 100 mA/cm2, respectively. This present work suggests a unique and earth abundant material synthesis method for water electrolysis, which has broad prospects for practical water splitting application.

Ion substitution is considered to be one of the efficient approaches to improve the magnetic properties of the barium hexaferrites. In this work, we fabricated BaFe12−xAlxO19 (x = 0, 1, 2, 4, 6) via a simple auto-combustion method and investigated their structures, morphologies and magnetic properties. The coercivity is greatly affected by annealing temperature and Al3+ content. In addition, the Al3+ substitution sites in BaFe12−xAlxO19 were further investigated by the Mossbauer spectroscopy and the superparamagnetic components were found in the BaFe8Al4O19 and BaFe6Al6O19. The highest coercivity of 13.7 kOe was achieved in the BaFe8Al4O19, which increases by 168.6% compared with that of BaFe12O19. This work opens up a new and meaningful insight for the understanding of microstructure and coercivity mechanism towards the Al3+ substituted barium hexaferrites.

Ultrathin nanosheet catalysts deliver great potential in catalyzing the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), but encounter the ceiling of the surface atomic utilizations, thus presenting a challenge associated with further boosting catalytic activity. Herein, a kind of PdPtCu ultrathin nanorings with increased numbers of electrocatalytically active sites is reported, with the purpose of breaking the activity ceiling of conventional catalysts. The as-made PdPtCu nanorings possess abundant high-index facets at the edge of both the exterior and interior surfaces. An ultrahigh electrochemical active surface area of 92.2 m

Author name disambiguation is an important problem that needs to be resolved in bibliometric analysis or tech mining. Many techniques have been presented; however, most of them require a long run time or additional information. A new method based on semantic fingerprints was presented to disambiguate author names without external data. A manually annotated dataset was built to testify on the efficiency of the presented method. Experiments using co-author features, institution features, and text fingerprints were conducted respectively. We found that the first two methods had higher precision, but their recall was low, and the text fingerprint method had higher recall and satisfied precision. Based on these results, we integrated co-author features, institution features, and text fingerprints to provide semantic fingerprints for disambiguating author names and achieving better performance on the F-measure.

Targeted covalent inhibitors of protein–protein interactions differ from reversible inhibitors in that the former bind and covalently bond the target protein at a specific site of the target. The site specificity is the result of the proximity of two reactive groups at the bound state, for example, one mild electrophile in the inhibitor and a natural cysteine in the target close to the ligand binding site. Only a few pharmaceutically relevant proteins have this structural feature. Grb2, a key adaptor protein in maintaining the ERK activity via binding Sos1 to activated RTKs, is one: the N-terminal SH3 domain of Grb2 (Grb2N-SH3) carries a unique solvent-accessible cysteine Cys32 close to its Sos1-binding site. Here we report the design of a peptide-based antagonist (a reactive peptide) that specifically binds to Grb2N-SH3 and subsequently undergoes a nucleophilic reaction with Cys32 to form a covalent bond thioether, to block Grb2–Sos1 interaction. Through rounds of optimization, we eventually obtained a d...

We synthesize dumbbell-like FePt–Fe3O4 nanoparticles (NPs) and study their electrocatalytic oxidation and sensing of dopamine (DA). The FePt and Fe3O4 NPs are strongly coupled in the dumbbell structure and as a result, the dumbbell FePt–Fe3O4 NPs show the best activity for DA oxidation with the DA detection limit reaching 1 nM. They are used successfully to monitor the DA concentration increase induced by K+-stimulation of PC12 cells. Our data show that an electrode modified with dumbbell-like FePt–Fe3O4 NPs can serve as the most sensitive probe for real-time quantitative detection of DA in a neurological environment.

It is extremely desirable but challenging to develop a facile solution phase synthesis to directly prepare well-dispersed L10-FePt nanoparticles (NPs) to meet the requirements of advanced magnets in modern industry and information technology. Here, we report a novel strategy to synthesize hard magnetic L10-FePt NPs via controlled co-reduction of Fe(acac)3 and K2PtCl6 in the presence of oleylamine, in which effective control of the magnetic properties and chemical ordering of L10-FePt NPs was achieved by tuning the mole ratio of the precursors, reaction time and temperature. The highest coercivity of 10.5 kOe can be obtained for the NPs synthesized at 350 °C for 8 h, which is much higher than the coercivities reported by the previous studies on solution-synthesized FePt NPs without annealing or the third elemental additive. The reported one-pot synthesis of L10-FePt NPs may provide an ideal class of building blocks for magnetic energy applications.

Accurate and sensitive detection of dopamine (DA) is fundamental to monitor and diagnose certain neurological diseases. Herein, highly ordered mesoporous ZnFe

AdipoRon is an orally active adiponectin receptor agonist. The aim of this study was to characterize the metabolites of AdipoRon in rat and human liver microsomes using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography combined with Q-Exactive Orbitrap tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-Q-Exactive-Orbitrap-MS) together with data processing techniques including extracted ion chromatograms and a mass defect filter. AdipoRon (10 μm) was incubated with liver microsomes in the presence of NADPH and this resulted in a total of 11 metabolites being detected. The identities of these metabolites were characterized by comparing their accurate masses and fragment ions as well as their retention times with those of AdipoRon using MetWorks software. Metabolites M1-M3, M6, and M8-M11 were identified for the first time. Metabolite M4, the major metabolite both in rat and human liver microsomes, was further confirmed using the reference standard. Our results revealed that the metabolic pathways of AdipoRon in liver microsomes were N-dealkylation (M2), hydroxylation (M, M5-M9), carbonyl reduction (M4) and the formation of amide (M10 and M11). Our results provide valuable information about the in vitro metabolism of AdipoRon, which would be helpful for us to understand the mechanism of the elimination of AdipoRon and, in turn, its effectiveness and toxicity.

Domestic cattle are an important type of livestock, with beef production playing a major role in the agricultural economy. Adipocyte levels and fat content are interrelated, with meat quality being highly dependent on its fat content and distribution. Acyl-CoA synthetases of long-chain (ACSL) fatty acids (FAs) play an integral role in virtually every metabolic pathway in mammalian biochemistry, including complex lipid biosynthesis, protein modification, and β-oxidation processes.

Fabrication of exchange-coupled nanocomposite magnets has been considered to be the most effective method to achieve the high energy product for advanced permanent magnet applications. In this work, we report a facile auto-combustion synthesis to prepare porous exchange-coupled hard-soft ferrite-based magnetic BaFe8Al4O19-x wt% Co0.6Zn0.4Fe2O4 nanocomposites (where x = 10, 20, 30 and 40), which realize an effective exchange-coupled interaction when the x value is less than 30. Compared with BaFe8Al4O19, the optimized nanocomposite with 20% Co0.6Zn0.4Fe2O4 shows a 70.3% increase in Ms and a 60.4% enhancement in Mr and maintains a high Hc value of 8.8 kOe. The work demonstrates that the auto-combustion synthesis is a promising approach for the fabrication of high-performance ferrite-based permanent magnets.

Graphical abstract, The small molecule drug 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) is widely used in the treatment for gastric cancer (GC), however, it exerts poor efficacy and is associated with acquired and intrinsic resistance. Focal adhesion kinase (FAK), a non-receptor tyrosine kinase, plays a key role in adhesion, migration, and proliferation of gastric carcinoma cells, suggesting that this kinase may be a promising therapeutic target. Differentially expressed FAK in GC tissue was detected by RT-qPCR and TCGA database analysis. To investigate the biological functions of FAK, loss-of-function experiments were performed. CCK-8 assay, colony formation assay, flow cytometry, dual-luciferase reporter assays, and western blot assays were conducted to determine the underlying mechanisms of FAK in 5-FU chemosensitivity in GC. FAK is overexpressed in GC patients, and positively correlated with poor prognosis. The use of shRNA interference to target FAK decreased proliferation and increased apoptosis of GC cells in vitro. Importantly, FAK silencing enhanced the therapeutic efficacy of 5-FU, leading to reduced tumor growth in vivo. We further demonstrated that FAK silencing increased 5-FU-induced caspase-3 activity, and promoted p53 transcriptional activities. Clinical data also has shown that patients with higher levels of FAK had significantly shorter overall survival (OS) and time to first progression (FP) than those with lower levels of FAK. These findings indicate that FAK plays a critical role in 5-FU chemosensitivity in GC, and the use of FAK inhibitors as an adjunct to 5-FU might be an effective strategy for patients who undergo chemotherapy.

The present study aimed at developing a simple and sensitive LC–MS/MS assay for the determination of H3B-6545 in dog plasma. The plasma samples were processed with acetonitrile and subsequently separated on a ZORBAX SB-C18 column (50 mm × 4.6 mm, 5 μm), using 0.1% formic acid in water and acetonitrile as mobile phase, at a flow rate of 0.4 mL/min. Mass detection was obtained using selected reaction monitoring mode with precursor-to-product ion transitions at m/z 568.2→155.2 for H3B-6545 and m/z 304.1→161.1 for IS. The assay showed excellent linearity over the concentration range of 0.1–1000 ng/mL, with correlation coefficient >0.9987. The assay was demonstrated to be precise, accurate, and free of matrix effect. The sample preparation procedure offered a high extraction recovery (> 88.67%). H3B-6545 was stable in dog plasma after storage at different conditions. The newly established assay was further applied to the pharmacokinetic study of H3B-6545 in dog plasma after intravenous and oral administration, and the results revealed that H3B-6545 showed dose-independent pharmacokinetic characteristics over the dose range of 1–10 mg/kg with oral bioavailability being ˜50%. Additionally, the metabolites present in dog plasma were identified by LC-ESI-Q-Exactive-Orbitrap-MS and their identities were characterized by retention times, accurate masses and fragment ions. The metabolic pathways referred to N-demethylation, N-dealkylation, deamination, aldehyde oxidation, aldehyde reduction and formation of amide.

The development of a robust and low-cost non-noble metal catalyst for photocatalytic H2 evolution is of great importance for practical applications. In this study, monodisperse Ni nanoparticles of controlled sizes were prepared by a facile method and anchored on graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) nanosheets via a self-assembly route. The noble-metal-free Ni/g-C3N4 composite catalysts exhibit excellent photocatalytic activities for the hydrolytic dehydrogenation of ammonia borane (AB) under visible light. An optimum AB hydrolysis rate was obtained when the size of the Ni NPs was 3.2 nm, with an initial turnover frequency of 18.7 mol(hydrogen) mol(catalyst)-1 min-1 and an apparent activation energy of 36 kJ mol-1. This study provides validity for constructing high performance first-row transition metal nano-photocatalysts for the hydrolytic dehydrogenation of AB.

Background and purpose Myocardial infarction (MI) is one of the leading causes of death in China and often results in the development of heart failure. In this work, we tested the therapeutic role of Interleukin-19 (IL-19) in mice with MI and investigated the underlying molecular mechanism. Experimental approach Mice were subjected to MI by ligation of left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD) and treated with IL-19 (10ng g-1 ; i.p.). Key results Protein expression of IL-19 and its receptor in myocardium were upregulated 24 hrs post-MI in male mice. IL-19 treatment decreased infarct and apoptosis in myocardium, accompanied by enhanced haem oxygenase-1 (HO-1) activities and reduced malondialdehyde (MDA) formation. Pretreatment with IL-19 upregulated HO-1 expression in cultured neonatal mouse ventricular myocytes and attenuated oxygen-glucose deprivation (OGD)-induced injuries in vitro. Furthermore, IL-19 preserved cardiac function and improved survival of mice with MI. IL-19 reduced inflammatory infiltrates and suppressed formation of TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-6. More importantly, IL-19 inhibited polarization toward proinflammatory M1 macrophages and stimulated M2 macrophage polarization in myocardium of mice with MI. IL-19 enhanced protein levels of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and promoted angiogenesis in myocardium of mice with MI. In addition, IL-19 treatment increased DNA-binding of the transcription factor STAT3 in myocardium of mice with MI. Conclusions and implications Treatment with exogenous IL-19 attenuated acute ischemic injury and improved survival of mice with MI. The mechanisms underlying these effects involved induction of HO-1, M2 macrophage polarization, angiogenesis, and STAT3 activation.

Developing noble-metal-free, earth-abundant, highly active, and stable electrocatalysts with high efficiency for both hydrogen and oxygen evolution reactions is of great importance for the development of overall water-splitting devices, but still remains a challenging issue. Herein, a 3D heterostructured NiC/MoC/NiMoO

Melanoma differentiation-associated gene 9 (MDA-9)/Syntenin is a multidomain PDZ protein and identified as a key oncogene in melanoma initially. This protein contains a unique tandem PDZ domain architecture (PDZ1 and PDZ2 spaced by a 4-amino acid linker), an N-terminal domain (NTD) that is structurally uncharacterized and a short C-terminal domain (CTD). The PDZ1 domain is regarded as the PDZ signaling domain while PDZ2 served as the PDZ superfamily domain. It has various cellular roles by regulating many of major signaling pathways in numerous cancertypes. Through the use of novel drug design methods, such as dimerization and unnatural amino acid substitution of inhibitors in our group, the protein may provide a valuable therapeutic target. The objective of this review is to provide a current perspective on the cancer-specific role of MDA-9/Syntenin in order to explore its potential for cancer drug discovery and cancer therapy. Keywords: MDA-9/Syntenin, PDZ domain, Drug target, Dimeric peptide, Cancer

L1

Dopamine (DA) detection is significant for the prevention of unfavorable neuronal illness. However, the detection of DA with low concentration still face tremendous challenges. In this study, highly ordered mesoporous Fe

It is highly desirable but remains extremely challenging to develop a facile strategy to prepare adsorbent for dealing with heavy metal pollution in water. Here, we report a facile approach for preparing sulfydryl-functionalized graphene oxide (S-GO) by cross-linking method with an unprecedented adsorption capacity and ultrahigh selectivity for efficient Hg(II) removal. The adsorbents exhibit a prominent performance in capturing Hg(II) from wastewater with a record-high adsorption capacity of 3490 mg/g and rapid kinetics to reduce Hg(II) contaminants below the discharge standard of drinking water (2 ppb) within 60 min under a wide pH range even in the coexistent of other interfering metal ions. In addition, the adsorbents can be also easily recycled and reused multiple times with no apparent decline in removal efficiency. Considering the broad diversity, we developed also a magnetic Fe3O4/S-GO adsorbent by a simple chemical cross-linking reaction to achieve rapid separation of S-GO from their aqueous solution. In addition, the adsorbents were successfully applied in dealing with the practical industrial wastewater. The results indicate the potential of rationally designed sulfydryl-functionalized graphene oxide for high performance Hg(II) removal.

The 3D nanosheets arrays architecture, coupled with the modulation of surface structure and the incorporation of foreign atoms, constructs an anticipated method to boost the electrocatalytic performance on the transition metal compounds-based non-precious catalysts. Herein, we report a structural engineering strategy of Fe-doped Ni2P nanosheets arrays supported on Ni foam for enhancing electrocatalytic performance of both oxygen evolution (OER) and hydrogen evolution (HER) reactions. Benefitting from the increased electrochemical active sites caused by structural engineering and the strong electronic effect derived from Fe-doping, the Fe-doped Ni2P nanosheets arrays with slightly rough surface can achieve the highest OER activity with a low overpotential of 213 mV at a current density of 100 mA cm−2 and a Tafel slope of 50.7 mV dec–1, better than the other catalysts with different surface structures. Moreover, the enhanced HER performance can also be obtained based on this distinct structure. Finally, a two-electrode alkaline electrolyzer, applying this optimized bifunctional catalyst as both the cathode and anode, can be driven with a low cell voltage of 1.54 V to afford a current density of 10 mA cm−2, as well as excellent stability. The present study bridges the gap between structural engineering and bifunctional electrocatalytic activity towards overall water splitting, and opens up a new avenue for the material designs of high-performance nanoarrays electrocatalysts.

Conventional antibody-based targeted cancer therapy is one of the most promising avenues of successful cancer treatment, with the potential to reduce toxic side effects to healthy cells surrounding tumor cells. However, the full potential of antibodies is severely limited due to their large size, low stability, slow clearance, and high immunogenicity. Alternatively, recently discovered nanobodies, which are the smallest naturally occurring antigen-binding format, have shown great potential for addressing these limitations. Bioconjugation of nanobodies to functional groups such as toxins, enzymes, radionucleotides, and fluorophores can improve the efficacy and potency of nanobodies, enhance their in vivo pharmacokinetics, and expand the range of potential applications. Herein, we review the superior characteristics of nanobodies in comparison to conventional antibodies and provide insight into recent developments in nanobody conjugates for targeted cancer therapy and imaging.

Hierarchically porous structures were regulated based on the size and surface charge by adjusting the ratios of silica and γ-AlOOH nanosheets (SiNSs and AlNSs). Above multi-scale nanosheets were derived from layered kaolinite via a selective etching-assisted exfoliation and the subsequent hydrothermal approach, respectively. The diverse structures and surface properties of as-prepared hierarchically porous nanosheets (HPNSs) were studied. As a result, the broad-ranged surface areas (217–544 m2/g) and pore volumes (0.49–2.24 cm3/g) of HPNSs are significantly greater than that of as-received kaolinite (23 m2/g and 0.22 cm3/g). The composition, pore structure and Zeta potential analysis reveal the different contributions of SiNSs and AlNSs to the hierarchical micro/meso/macroporous structure based on the steric hindrance effects of multi-scale nanosheets with electrostatic repulsion (pH = 8.5), while the surface charges of as-prepared HPNSs under neutral conditions are originated from the competition between negatively charged Si−OH (SiNSs) and positively charged Al−OH (AlNSs). The adsorption tests toward Congo red anionic dye show larger sorption capacities of the kaolinite-based HPNSs (63–786 mg/g) than that of natural kaolinite, and fast kinetic (within 30 min), further indicating the favorable adsorption characteristics of HPNSs due to the surface Al−OH groups (electrostatic attraction) and the hierarchically porous structures (physisorption and transfer). It exhibits the great potential of diverse kaolinite-based HPNSs as advanced functional materials in the fields of adsorption, separation, catalysis, energy storage and conversion, and biomedicine.

Bifunctional magnetic/fluorescent core-shell silica nanospheres (MNPs) encapsulated with the magnetic Fe3O4 core and a derivate of 8-amimoquinoline (N-(quinolin-8-yl)-2-(3-(triethoxysilyl) propylamino) acetamide) (QTEPA) into the shell were synthesized. These functional MNPs were prepared with a modified stöber method and the formed Fe3O4@SiO2-QTEPA core-shell nanocomposites are biocompatible, water-dispersible, and stable. These prepared nanoparticles were characterized by X-ray power diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), thermoelectric plasma Quad II inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID), TG/DTA thermal analyzer (TGA) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Further application of the nanoparticles in detecting Zn2+ was confirmed by the fluorescence experiment: the nanosensor shows high selectivity and sensitivity to Zn2+ with a 22-fold fluorescence emission enhancement in the presence of 10 μM Zn2+. Moreover, the transverse relaxivity measurements show that the core-shell MNPs have T2 relaxivity (r2) of 155.05 mM−1 S−1 based on Fe concentration on the 3.0 T scanner, suggesting that the compound can be used as a negative contrast agent for MRI. Further in vivo experiments showed that these MNPs could be used as MRI contrast agent. Therefore, the new nanosensor provides the dual modality of magnetic resonance imaging and optical imaging.

A preliminary examination was carried out for hot corrosion resistance to V2O5 and thermal cycling behaviors of two alternative materials: zirconia co-doped with 16 mol% YO1.5 + 16 mol% TaO2.5 (YTZ) and zirconia co-doped with 14 mol% YO1.5+ 2 mol% GdO1.5 + 16 mol% TaO2.5 (2GYTZ). The compositions and microstructures of the samples were analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). Results showed ZrV2O7 and YVO4/GdVO4 were the main reaction products at 750 °C and 850 °C for 2 h, while YVO4 and m-ZrO2 were detected as the main corrosion products at 850 °C for 10 h or rising temperature to 950 °C. With the depletion of V2O5, ZrV2O7 disappeared and decomposed into m-ZrO2 and V2O5. The hot corrosion mechanisms are similar for YTZ and 2GYTZ ceramics. However, the amount of m-ZrO2 in the 2GYTZ was much more than that in the YTZ at the same corrosion conditions. The weaker bonds due to partial substitution of Y3+ with larger size of Gd3+ and the size misfit between Gd3+ and Zr4+ resulted in decreasing the anti-corrosion capability of 2GYTZ ceramic. The tetragonal phase was very stable for YTZ and 2GYTZ coatings during high temperature heat treatment. The thermal durability of the YTZ and 2GYTZ TBCs can be significantly improved by using the YSZ buffer layer. While the cycling lifetimes for 2GYTZ coating was much shorter than that of YTZ coating whether designed for single-ceramic-layer structure or double-ceramic-layer structure. Failure of the 2GYTZ coating mainly resulted from the thermal expansion mismatch stress, concentrated thermal stress introduced by the severe sintering and low fracture toughness.

We herein developed a facile method to prepare PEI grafted amino-functionalized graphene oxide nanosheets, which exhibit a high selectivity in capturing Cr(VI) contaminants from aqueous solutions with an ultrahigh adsorption capacity of 1185 mg/g and fast kinetics to reduce trace Cr(VI) concentrations below the allowed safe levels for drinking water defined by the WHO (0.05 mg/L) within 15 min in the presence of other coexistent ions. To the best of our knowledge, the adsorption capacity of the composites is highest among all PEI functional adsorbents reported so far. Furthermore, the cycle experiments indicated that the composites still exhibited excellent adsorption performance after 40 cycles. The adsorption-reduction mechanism of Cr(VI) on composites was further confirmed. Moreover, the separation performance of the composites was further improved by introducing magnetic nanoparticles on the surface of the composites. Finally, the composites were successfully utilized in dealing with the actual industrial effluent.

Single α-cordierite glass-ceramics for low temperature co-fired ceramics (LTCCs) substrates were prepared successfully from perlite as the basic raw material. The glass-ceramics could be highly densified above 850 °C and the α-cordierite being the only crystalline phase precipitated from the glass power sintered within 900–950 °C. With increasing sintering temperature or sintering holding time, μ-cordierite was effectively transformed into α-cordierite, and completely transformed into α-cordierite at 900 °C for 6 h. The synthesized single-phase α-cordierite glass-ceramics possessed low dielectric constants (5.6–6.1), low dielectric losses (0.0019–0.02), appropriate flexural strength (112–117 MPa) and suitable coefficients of thermal expansion (2.56–2.91 × 10 − 6 K − 1 ), which qualify them as a potential material for LTCC substrates application.