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The current work delivers preparation of MXene-based magnetic nanohybrid coating for flexible electronic applications. Herein, we report carbon dot-triggered photopolymerized polynorepinepherene (PNE)-coated MXene and iron oxide hybrid deposited on the cellulose microporous membrane via a vacuum-assisted filtration strategy. The surface morphologies have been monitored by scanning electron microscopy analysis, and the coating thickness was evaluated by the gallium-ion-based focused ion beam method. Coated membranes have been tested against uniaxial tensile stretching and assessed by their fracture edges in order to assure flexibility and mechanical strength. Strain sensors and electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding have both been tested on the material because of its electrical conductivity. The bending strain sensitivity has been stringent because of their fast 'rupture and reform' percolation network formation on the coated surface. Increased mechanical strength, solvent tolerance, cyclic deformation tolerance, and EMI shielding performance were achieved by decreasing interstitial membrane porosity. Considering a possible application, the membrane also has been tested against simulated static and dynamic water flow conditions that could infer its excellent robustness which also has been confirmed by elemental analysis via ICP-MS. Thus, as of nurturing the works of the literature, it could be believed that the developed material will be an ideal alternative of flexible lightweight cellulose for versatile electronic applications.

Simple Summary Aberrant activation of Wnt/β-catenin signaling and the subsequent induction of downstream target genes is a hallmark of colorectal cancer (CRC) development. Previously, we found that overexpression of the immunoglobulin-like cell adhesion receptor L1CAM (L1), a target of the Wnt/β-catenin pathway, confers enhanced proliferation, motility, tumorigenesis, and liver metastasis in CRC cells. Transcriptomic and proteomic analyses revealed changes in both pro-tumorigenic and potential tumor-suppressor genes in L1-overexpressing CRC cells. We wished to identify such tumor suppressor/s, and found that trefoil family factor 1 (TFF1) was involved in L1-mediated CRC progression. TFF1 overexpression suppressed the growth, motility and tumorigenesis of L1-expressing CRC cells by inhibiting the NF-κB pathway. In human CRC tissue, TFF1-positive staining was evident in goblet cells of the normal mucosa, while in CRC tissue, TFF1 expression was lost in >50% of the tumor samples. Our results support a tumor-suppressor role of TFF1 in human CRC, and we suggest that TFF1 could be used for CRC detection and as a novel therapeutic target in L1-mediated CRC. Abstract The immunoglobulin family cell adhesion receptor L1 is induced in CRC cells at the invasive front of the tumor tissue, and confers enhanced proliferation, motility, tumorigenesis, and liver metastasis. To identify putative tumor suppressors whose expression is downregulated in L1-expressing CRC cells, we blocked the L1–ezrin–NF-κB signaling pathway and searched for genes induced under these conditions. We found that TFF1, a protein involved in protecting the mucus epithelial layer of the colon, is downregulated in L1-expressing cells and displays characteristics of a tumor suppressor. Overexpression of TFF1 in L1-transfected human CRC cells blocks the pro-tumorigenic and metastatic properties conferred by L1 by suppressing NF-κB signaling. Immunohistochemical analyses revealed that human CRC tissue samples often lose the expression of TFF1, while the normal mucosa displays TFF1 in goblet cells. Identifying TFF1 as a tumor suppressor in CRC cells could provide a novel marker for L1-mediated CRC development and a potential target for therapy.

The current work presents a facile and green synthesis of carbon quantum dots (C-dots), which could serve as initiators for polymerization. Herein, C-dots have been synthesized from an easily available green herb, dill leaves, by a single-step hydrothermal method. These C-dots were efficiently utilized as initiators for the photopolymerization of the polymer poly(norepinephrine) (PNE) for the first time. The photopolymerization is discussed by a factorial design, and the optimized synthesis conditions were evaluated by a third-order regression model of three reaction parameters: monomer concentration, C-dots concentration, and UV exposure time. The sign convention of the factorial design mode indicated that monomer concentration and time of exposure are the most important factors for polymerization. The photopolymerized poly(norepinephrine) was extensively studied using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) analysis, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), mass spectra, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), contact angle measurement, and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). UV-assisted deposition of PNE on six different types of substrates was performed, and their water contact angle and surface morphology were studied to evaluate the coating. This UV-triggered polymerization technique was further applied to fabricate sandwich-like composite catalyst MXene/poly(norepinephrine)/copper nanoparticles. This catalyst displayed good performance in the reduction of 4-NP (4-nitrophenol) at ambient temperature, and the first-order rate constant of the catalysis was 9.39 × 10-3 s-1. The reusability of the catalyst was evaluated in terms of the conversion factor. After 10 catalytic cycles, the conversion to catalyze 4-NP was still greater than 91%. The catalytic performance was also evaluated in the continuous flow condition through a membrane, fabricated from a cellulose filter paper coated with MXene/poly(norepinephrine)/copper nanoparticles. This composite catalyst not only offers a practical mode for the catalytic reaction of MXene-based materials but also lays down the foundation for the development of new catalysts.

Degradation processes at the cathode–electrolyte interface are a major limitation in the development of high-energy lithium-ion rechargeable batteries. Deposition of protective thin coating layers on the surface of high-energy cathodes is a promising approach to control interfacial reactions. However, rational design of effective protection layers is limited by the scarcity of analytical tools that can probe thin, disordered, and heterogeneous phases. Here we propose a new structural approach based on solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy coupled with dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) for characterizing thin coating layers. We demonstrate the approach on an efficient alkylated LixSiyOz coating layer. By utilizing different sources for DNP, exogenous from nitroxide biradicals and endogenous from paramagnetic metal ion dopants, we reveal the outer and inner surface layers of the deposited artificial interphase and construct a structural model for the coating. In addition, lithium isotope exchange experiments provide direct evidence for the function of the surface layer, shedding light on its role in the enhanced rate performance of coated cathodes. The presented methodology and results advance us in identifying the key properties of effective coatings and may enable rational design of protective and ion-conducting surface layers.

The commercialization of the high energy, lithium, and manganese-rich NCM (LMR-NCM) is impeded by its complex interfacial electrochemical processes, oxygen release, and surface degradation. Here, we introduced t-butyl-dimethylsilyllithium as a single-source precursor for depositing LixSiyOz with an integrated network of siloxane moieties as an artificial cathode/electrolyte interphase (ACEI) which stabilizes LMR-NCM by mitigating oxygen release, electrolyte degradation and preventing fractures. Using solid-state NMR coupled with dynamic nuclear polarization, detailed molecular-level characterization of the ACEI is presented. The proposed CEI enabled improved energy-density at high rates (644 Wh.kg-1, compared to uncoated material with 457 Wh.kg-1 at 4C) with suppressed parasitic reactions and O2 evolution. The efficacy of the CEI is demonstrated in full graphite/LMR-NCM pouch cells with ~ 35% enhanced capacity and >80% capacity retention over 200 cycles. Altogether, these results present the importance of careful selection and design of surface chemistry for stabilizing the electrode/electrolyte interphase in challenging battery chemistries.

Aberrant activation of Wnt/β-catenin signaling and downstream β-catenin-TCF target genes is a hallmark of colorectal cancer (CRC) development. We identified the immunoglobulin-like cell adhesion receptor L1CAM (L1) as a target of β-catenin-TCF transactivation in CRC cells. Overexpression of L1 in CRC cells confers enhanced proliferation, motility, tumorigenesis, and liver metastasis, and L1 is exclusively localized at invasive areas of human CRC tissue. Several genes are induced after L1 transfection into CRC cells by a mechanism involving the L1-ezrin-NF-κB pathway. We conducted a secretomic analysis of the proteins in the culture medium of L1-overexpressing CRC cells. We detected a highly increased level of biglycan, a small leucine-rich ECM component, and a signaling molecule. We found that induction of biglycan is required for the cellular processes conferred by L1, including enhanced proliferation, motility, tumorigenesis, and liver metastasis. The suppression of endogenous biglycan levels or a point mutation in the L1 ectodomain that regulates cell–cell adhesion mediated by L1 blocked the enhanced tumorigenic properties conferred by L1. The mechanism of biglycan induction by L1 involves the L1-NF-κB pathway. Blocking NF-κB signaling in L1 expressing cells suppressed the induction of biglycan and the tumorigenic properties conferred by L1. Biglycan expression was undetectable in the normal colonic mucosa, but expressed at highly increased levels in the tumor tissue, especially in the stroma. The therapeutic strategies to target biglycan expression might provide a useful approach for CRC treatment in L1-overexpressing tumors.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has been often characterized as a respiratory disease. However, it is increasingly being understood as an infection that impacts multiple systems, and many patients report neurological symptoms. Indeed, there is accumulating evidence for neural damage in some individuals, with recent studies suggesting loss of gray matter in multiple regions particularly in the left hemisphere. There are a number of mechanisms by which COVID-19 infection may lead to neurological symptoms and structural and functional changes in the brain, and cognitive problems are one of the most commonly reported symptoms in those suffering from Long COVID—the chronic illness following COVID-19 infection that affects between 10–25% of sufferers. However, there is as yet little research testing cognition in Long COVID. The COVID and Cognition Study is a cross-sectional/longitudinal study aiming to understand cognitive problems in Long COVID. The first paper from the study explored the characteristics of our sample of 181 individuals who had suffered COVID-19 infection, and 185 who had not, and the factors that predicted ongoing symptoms and self-reported cognitive deficits. In this second paper from the study, we assess this sample on tests of memory, language and executive function. We hypothesize that performance on “objective” cognitive tests will reflect self-reported cognitive symptoms. We further hypothesize that some symptom profiles may be more predictive of cognitive performance than others, perhaps giving some information as to mechanism. We found a consistent pattern of memory deficits in those that had suffered COVID-19 infection, with deficit increasing with severity of self-reported ongoing symptoms. Fatigue/Systemic symptoms during the initial illness and ongoing neurological symptoms were predictive of cognitive performance.

High-Ni-rich layered oxides [e.g., LiNi

Since its first emergence in December 2019, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has evolved into a global pandemic. Whilst often considered a respiratory disease, a large proportion of COVID-19 patients report neurological symptoms, and there is accumulating evidence for neural damage in some individuals, with recent studies suggesting loss of gray matter in multiple regions, particularly in the left hemisphere. There are a number of mechanisms by which COVID-19 infection may lead to neurological symptoms and structural and functional changes in the brain, and it is reasonable to expect that many of these may translate into cognitive problems. Indeed, cognitive problems are one of the most commonly reported symptoms in those suffering from “Long COVID”—the chronic illness following COVID-19 infection that affects between 10–25% of sufferers. The COVID and Cognition Study is a part cross-sectional, part longitudinal, study documenting and aiming to understand the cognitive problems in Long COVID. In this first paper from the study, we document the characteristics of our sample of 181 individuals who had suffered COVID-19 infection, and 185 who had not. We explore which factors may be predictive of ongoing symptoms and their severity, as well as conducting an in-depth analysis of symptom profiles. Finally, we explore which factors predict the presence and severity of cognitive symptoms, both throughout the ongoing illness and at the time of testing. The main finding from this first analysis is that that severity of initial illness is a significant predictor of the presence and severity of ongoing symptoms, and that some symptoms during the acute illness—particularly limb weakness—may be more common in those that have more severe ongoing symptoms. Symptom profiles can be well described in terms of 5 or 6 factors, reflecting the variety of this highly heterogenous condition suffered by the individual. Specifically, we found that neurological and fatigue symptoms during the initial illness, and that neurological, gastro-intestinal, and cardiopulmonary symptoms during the ongoing illness, predicted experience of cognitive symptoms.

Objective The presence of cancer stem-like cells (CSCs) in the majority of tumors is one of the factors responsible for disease relapse in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). In this study, we investigated the role of octamer-binding transcription factor 4 (OCT4) and Kruppel-like factor 4 (KLF4) in OSCC progression and disease relapse. Study Design In this study, 102 patients with OSCC were included. The expression of β-catenin and CSC markers (KLF4 and OCT4) in surgical cut margin and tumor were investigated through Western blot analysis, immunohistochemistry, and quantitative polymerase chain reaction analysis. The χ2 test was used to evaluate the association of β-catenin, OCT4, and KLF4 expression with clinicopathologic characteristics. Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression analyses were performed to correlate different clinical factors with the prognoses of patients with OSCC. Results We observed increased expression of OCT4, KLF4, and β-catenin in the cut margins (CMs) in recurrent OSCC. The χ2 test exhibited recurrence as one of the key factors associated with high expression of these markers. Kaplan-Meier and COX regression analyses demonstrated that increased expression of KLF4 in the CM region of recurrent patients was independently associated with a poor prognosis. Conclusions Our findings indicated that expression of KLF4 can be used for monitoring disease progression and may serve as prognostic marker to predict recurrence.

The current work presents a facile and green synthesis of carbon quantum dots (C-dots), which could serve as initiators for polymerization. Herein, C-dots have been synthesized from an easily available green herb, dill leaves, by a single-step hydrothermal method. These C-dots were efficiently utilized as initiators for the photopolymerization of the polymer poly(norepinephrine) (PNE) for the first time. The photopolymerization is discussed by a factorial design, and the optimized synthesis conditions were evaluated by a third-order regression model of three reaction parameters: monomer concentration, C-dots concentration, and UV exposure time. The sign convention of the factorial design mode indicated that monomer concentration and time of exposure are the most important factors for polymerization. The photopolymerized poly(norepinephrine) was extensively studied using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) analysis, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), mass spectra, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), contact angle measurement, and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). UV-assisted deposition of PNE on six different types of substrates was performed, and their water contact angle and surface morphology were studied to evaluate the coating. This UV-triggered polymerization technique was further applied to fabricate sandwich-like composite catalyst MXene/poly(norepinephrine)/copper nanoparticles. This catalyst displayed good performance in the reduction of 4-NP (4-nitrophenol) at ambient temperature, and the first-order rate constant of the catalysis was 9.39 × 10

The need for low-cost, high-safety batteries for large-scale energy storage applications has sparked a surge in research of rechargeable aqueous batteries. While most research efforts are focused on the development of electrolyte formulations and electrode materials, it appears that the current collector impact on the battery performance is frequently overlooked. Even though the current collector is traditionally thought of as an inactive battery component, it is included in the battery energy density calculations, making its activation desirable. Furthermore, poor current collector selection can cause irreversible side reactions, resulting in rapid cell efficiency decay. Herein we propose a new approach to design current collectors that makes use of anodized Ti. The redox-active anodized Ti significantly improves the overall anode capacity and provides effective inhibition of hydrogen formation on the electrified interface. The use of TiO2 particles on an anodized Ti current collector in an aqueous electrolyte solution resulted in capacity of 130 mAh g−1 and exceptional capacity retention of 99% after 1000 cycles. Although the concept of active current collectors needs to be refined before it can be implemented in commercial cells, our findings indicate that this approach could be useful for improving overall cell performance without requiring significant changes to its configuration.

Hydrogen is undoubtedly considered as the cleanest energy source and hence the urgency for production of H 2 is a concern to the scientific community. The major bottleneck for electrocatalytic hydrogen production is still exists as the reported catalysts, mainly noble metal based, are extremely costly. Thus the fabrication of cheap and noble metal free electrocatalyst for Hydrogen Evolution Reaction (HER) is still seeking. Here, a simplistic method is developed for the synthesis of carbon assimilated molybdenum carbide (β-Mo 2 C) hollow sphere which showed effective electrocatalysis for HER. The synthesis of desired β-Mo 2 C C hollow sphere is based on high temperature carbothermal reduction (800 °C in 10%-H 2 /N 2 atmosphere) of carbon incorporated MoO 2 spheres. The synthesized β-Mo 2 C with an optimal carbon loading reaches 10 mA/cm −2 current density at a low overpotential of 146 mV with a small tafel slope of 90 mV dec −1 for the electrochemical hydrogen evolution (HER) in 0.5 M H 2 SO 4 . The improved catalytic performance, long-term stability make β-Mo 2 C C hollow sphere an auspicious HER electrocatalyst.

The major problem to effective treatment of oral cancer is the presence of therapy resistance. Presence of cancer stem cell in the bulk of tumor have been implicated in therapeutic resistance. In this study, we report a non-telomeric role of TRF2 in formation of oral cancer spheroids and CSC phenotype maintenance via an efficient DNA damage repair mechanism in the presence of chemotherapeutic insult. We report reduced sphere formation efficiency and reduced spheroid size in TRF2 silenced oral cancer cell lines. TRF2 silenced orospheres further reported reduced proliferative capacity as compared to non-silenced orospheres. Furthermore, TRF2 silencing hampered the migratory potential of oral cancer cell line and also reduced the expression of several CSC markers like CD44, Oct4, Sox2, KLF4 and c-Myc along with β-catenin and hTERT molecules both in Cal27 cell line and generated orospheres. TRF2 silencing impaired efficient DNA damage repair capacity of non-orospheric and orospheric cells and repressed ERCC1 expression levels when treated with Cisplatin. TRF2 overexpression was also observed to correlate with poor overall survival and disease relapse of OSCC patients. In silico studies further identified several amino acid residues that show high binding affinity and strong protein-protein interactions among TRF2 and CSC marker KLF4. Hence, our report confirms a non-telomeric role of TRF2 in spheroid generation, maintenance of CSC phenotype and efficient DNA damage repair capacity contributing to chemotherapy resistance in oral cancer cell line. We further iterate the use of TRF2 as a prognostic marker in OSCC for faster detection and improved survival.

For the first time, we report in situ exfoliated titanate nanosheet-supported silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) toward environmental sustainability through rapid catalytic reduction of p-nitrophenol (4-NP), organic dyes for decoloration, as well as by inhibiting the growth of microbes. The ternary nanocomposite hydrogel has been synthesized through stabilization of an anionically charged titanate sheet by three-dimensional amino-functionalized chemically cross-linked amylopectin for proper growth and stabilization of AgNPs. Here, titanate nanosheets act as an excellent solid support for proper fabrication of AgNPs that could restrict its agglomeration and rapid leaching of AgNPs from the ternary nanocomposite hydrogel. The structural confirmation as well as the stability of titanate nanosheets along with AgNPs have been studied using various characterization techniques. The preparaed nanocomposite hydrogel demonstrates excellent catalytic efficacy and recycling ability toward rapid reduction of toxic 4-NP and ...

Herein, we report the development of a hydrogenated MoS2 QD-TiO2 (HMT) heterojunction as an efficient photocatalytic system via a one-pot hydrothermal reaction followed by hydrogenation. This synthetic strategy facilitates the formation of MoS2 QDs with an enhanced band gap and a proper heterojunction between them and TiO2, which accelerates charge transfer process. Hydrogenation leads to oxygen vacancies in TiO2, enhancing the visible light absorption capacity through narrowing its band gap, and sulfur vacancies in MoS2, which enhance the active sites for hydrogen adsorption. Due to the band gap reduction of hydrogenated TiO2 and the band gap enhancement of the MoS2 QDs, the energy states are rearranged to create a reverse movement of electrons and holes facilitated the charge transfer process which enhance life-time of photo-generated charges. The photocatalyst showed stable, efficient and exceptionally high noble metal free sunlight-induced hydrogen production with a maximum rate of 3.1 mmol g−1 h−1. The developed synthetic strategy also provides flexibility towards the shape of the MoS2, e.g. QDs/single or few layers, on TiO2 and offers the opportunity to design novel visible light active photocatalysts for different applications.

Transition-metal oxide hollow yolk–shell micro/nanostructures combined with a conducting substance have gained significant attention as efficient electrode materials for electrochemical energy storage applications due to their large surface area, internal void space, and structural stability. Herein, we report a facile aqueous solution-based soft template method using sucrose–CTAB for the synthesis of a hollow yolk–shell structure of carbon-incorporated MoO2 (C@MoO2) with a diameter of 0.9–1.1 μm, wall thickness of 100 nm, inner yolk size of 400–450 nm, and BET surface area of 40 m2 g−1. During the synthesis process, sucrose plays a dual role, both as a template and a carbon source. The electrochemical charge storage mechanism follows a battery-type behaviour when tested as a faradaic electrode in 3.0 M KOH electrolyte. C@MoO2 exhibits a high specific capacity of 188 C g−1 at the current density of 0.5 A g−1, good rate performance (50.6 C g−1 at 10 A g−1), and 78% retention of capacity after 5000 cycles at 5 A g−1. The obtained performance is superior to those obtained for pure MoO2 hollow spheres (137.1 C g−1 at 0.5 A g−1) as well as previously reported MoO2 and MoO3, indicating the potential applicability of the as-synthesised yolk–shell C@MoO2.

Multifunctional human transcriptional positive co-activator 4 (PC4) is a bona fide nonhistone component of the chromatin and plays a pivotal role in the process of chromatin compaction and functional genome organization. Knockdown of PC4 expression causes a drastic decompaction which leads to open conformation of the chromatin, and thereby altered nuclear architecture, defects in chromosome segregation and changed epigenetic landscape. Interestingly, these defects do not induce cellular death but result in enhanced cellular proliferation, possibly through enhanced autophagic activity. Moreover, PC4 depletion confers significant resistance to gamma irradiation. Exposure to gamma irradiation further induced autophagy in these cells. Inhibition of autophagy by small molecule inhibitors as well as by silencing of a critical autophagy gene drastically reduces the ability of PC4 knockdown cells to survive. On the contrary, complementation with wild-type PC4 could reverse this phenomenon, confirming the process of autophagy as the key mechanism for radiation resistance in the absence of PC4. These data connect the unexplored role of chromatin architecture in regulating autophagy during stress conditions such as radiation.

Purpose: Radiation therapy is an integral part of current treatment modality for colorectal cancer. Recent studies have revealed the presence of cancer stem-like cells (CSCs) population, in different tumors are responsible for therapeutic resistance and disease relapse, including colorectal cancer with poorer survival rate. Hence, characterization of the effect of Ionizing Radiation (IR) in colorectal cancer may serve to explain possible mechanisms. Material and methods: Parental HCT116 and HCT-15 cells and derived colonospheres were irradiated and dose was optimized based on cell survival assay and cell cycle analysis. DNA damage response (DDR) was elucidated by γH2AX foci formation, COMET assay, and ATM, p-ATM, ERCC1 expression post-treatment. The expression level of developmental marker (β-catenin), CSC markers (CD44, KLF4) and telomeric components (TRF2, RAP1, hTERT) were evaluated. Results: We observed cell survival was more in colonospheres post-irradiation and also exhibited decreased γH2AX foci, olive tail moment, increased ERCC1, and p-ATM expression than its parental counterpart which corresponds to efficient DDR. Differential expression of developmental marker, CSC markers, and telomeric components were observed after irradiation. Conclusion: This study highlighted the presence of CSC phenotype in colonospheres having increased DNA repair capacity. Differential expression of developmental marker, CSC markers and telomeric components between parental and colonospheres may contribute in radio-resistance property of CSCs.

Herein, functionalized amylopectin and in situ generated TiO2 and Au nanoparticles (NPs)-based nanocomposite with excellent toxic organic dye removal capacity, via synergistic effects of adsorption and photocatalytic degradation, along with enhanced antimicrobial activity, is reported. The TiO2 and TiO2–AuNPs incorporated nanocomposites (g-AP-pAA/TiO2, g-AP-pAA/TiO2–Au) have been synthesized by the addition of ethanolic solution of titanium isopropoxide (Ti-iPr) followed by HAuCl4 to the gelling matrix of functionalized amylopectin. Characterization results confirm the formation of uniform distribution of anatase TiO2 (5–8 nm) and Au (7–15 nm) NPs in the polymer matrix. The synthesized g-AP-pAA/TiO2–Au nanocomposite demonstrates excellent potential to remove dyes from concentrated aqueous dye solution via simultaneous adsorption followed by photocatalytic degradation under sunlight through plasmonic photocatalysis. Synthesized g-AP-pAA/TiO2–Au is capable of removing one specific dye from a mixture of dyes...

Herein we report a facile method for the scalable production of Fe3O4/Fe doped graphene nanosheets (Fe3O4/Fe–GN) from a naturally abundant seaweed resource. The granules that remained after the recovery of liquid juice from a fresh brown seaweed, Sargassum tenerrimum, were utilized as a raw material and a deep eutectic solvent (DES) generated by the complexation of choline chloride and FeCl3 (ChoCl–FeCl3) was employed as a template as well as a catalyst for the production of graphene nanosheets. Pyrolysis of a mixture of seaweed granules and DES at 700–900 °C under a 95% N2 and 5% H2 atmosphere resulted in the formation of Fe3O4/Fe–GN with a high surface area (220 m2 g−1) and high electrical conductivity (2384.6 mS m−1). The synthesized nanosheets were then tested for their electrocatalytic activity in the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in an alkaline fuel cell. The electrocatalyst demonstrated a positive onset potential, high cathodic current density, low hydrogen peroxide formation ( 80% activity of the catalyst, making the functionalized graphene sheets derived from Sargassum tenerrimum a sustainable replacement for existing precious metal-based ORR catalysts.

Hard carbon (HC) has emerged as potential anode material for sodium-ion batteries (SIB). However, it is plagued with several issues like low capacity, poor cyclability, significant electrolyte degradation on interface. Realization of HC as anode requires fundamental understanding of the effect of its porous structure/composition on electrochemical performance. Herein, we report the use of lignocellulosic orange peel precursor for HC synthesis with tuneable surface area (SA), controlled porosity using phosphoric acid treatment. Physicochemical properties of HC were further tailored using N-doping. The electrochemical response of various HCs was tested with careful attention to the effect of HC SA and nitrogen content on the performances as anode. We show that optimized bio-waste based HC exhibits Na+ specific capacity of 125 mAhg−1 at 70 mAg−1 with significantly suppressed CO2 evolution during cycling, indicating mitigated electrolyte degradation and superior performance. We believe that this study sheds light on design rules for bio-waste low-cost precursors for synthesizing HC with tailored physical and electrochemical properties. Using such design guidelines, is crucial for developing HC based anode materials for SIB’s.

TRF2 is a telomere binding protein, a component of the shelterin complex that plays a major role in maintaining the integrity of the genome. TRF2 is over-expressed in a number of human cancers including Head and Neck cancer and might play a key role in tumor initiation and development. p38 MAPK signaling pathway is strongly activated in response to various environmental and cellular stresses and thus overexpressed in most of the Head and Neck cancer cases. In this study, we investigated potential interactions of TRF2 with p38 in HNSCC cells and patient samples. Using in silico experiments, we identified interface polar residue Asp-354 of p38 and Arg-492, Arg-496 of TRF2 as protein–protein interaction hotspots. In addition to these interactions, Arg-49 residue of p38 was also found to interact with Glu-456 of TRF2. A detailed understanding of how phosphorylated and unphosphorylated state of p38 protein can influence the stability, specificity and to some extent a conformational change of p38-TRF2 binding is presented. Silencing of TRF2 significantly decreased the phosphorylation of p38 in HNSCC cells which was confirmed by western blot, immunofluorescence and co-immunoprecipitation and alternatively inhibiting p38 using p38 inhibitor (SB 203580) decreased the expression of TRF2 in HNSCC cells. Furthermore, we checked the effect of TRF2 silencing and p38 inhibition in cisplatin induced chemosensitivity of SCC-131 cells. TRF2 silencing and p38 inhibition chemosensitize HNSCC cells to cisplatin. Thus, targeting TRF2 in combinatorial therapeutics can be a treatment modality for Head and Neck cancer which involves inhibition of p38 MAPK pathway.

In this article, we report the synthesis of nitrogen-rich carbon layer-encapsulated Ni(0) nanoparticles as a core–shell structure (Ni@N/C-g-800) for the catalytic hydrogenation of furfural to furfuryl alcohol. The nickel nanoparticles were stabilized by the nitrogen-rich graphitic framework, which formed during the agitation of nickel acetate-impregnated cucurbit[6]uril surface in a reducing atmosphere. Furthermore, the catalyst was characterized using various physicochemical methods such as powder X-ray diffraction, Raman, field emission-scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Brunauer–Emmett–Teller surface area, CO2-temperature-programmed desorption, inductive coupled plasma, and CHN analyses. The nitrogen-rich environment of the solid support with metallic Ni nanoparticles was found to be active and selective for the catalytic hydrogenation of furfural with molecular H2 in an aqueous medium at 100 °C. To understand the reaction m...

Aim This study aimed to investigate the role of p38 MAPK in maintenance of cancer stem cell (CSC) phenotype, therapy resistance, and DNA damage repair and response in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). Methods In this study, 104 HNSCC patients were included. Western blot, immunohistochemistry, and qPCR analysis were performed to investigate the expression level of p-p38 and CSC markers in cut margin and tumor area of HNSCC patients. The expression level of p-p38 and CSC markers was also evaluated in HNSCC cells with or without p38 inhibitor. Chemoresistance, wound healing capacity, and multicellular tumor spheroids (MCTS) formation capacity were evaluated in HNSCC-derived cell lines with or without p38 inhibitor. In addition, DNA damage response and repair capacities were also evaluated in HNSCC cells after p38 inhibition using alkaline comet assay and γ-H2 AX immunostaining. Result We observed that recurrence could be associated with upregulated status of p-p38 and p38α gene in cut margin area of HNSCC patients as compared to tumor region. p38-inhibited cells showed significantly reduced expression of CSC markers, chemosensitivity toward cisplatin, reduced migration potential, and sphere-forming ability along with increased apoptotic population after treatment with increasing concentration of cisplatin. p38-inhibited cells also exhibited significantly increased comet olive tail moment and accumulation of γ-H2 AX, demonstrating increased DNA damage. Conclusion This study demonstrated that p38 MAPK activation may play a role in therapeutic resistance and disease relapse in HNSCC by maintenance of CSCs phenotype.

Multifunctional human transcriptional positive co-activator 4 (PC4) is a bonafide non-histone component of the chromatin and plays a pivotal role in the process of chromatin compaction and functional genome organization. Knockdown of PC4 expression leads to a drastic open conformation of the chromatin and thereby altered nuclear architecture, defects in chromosome segregation and changed epigenetic landscape. Interestingly, these defects do not induce cellular death but result in enhanced cellular proliferation possibly through enhanced autophagic activity. PC4 depletion confers significant resistance to gamma irradiation. Exposure to gamma irradiation further induced autophagy in these cells. Inhibition of autophagy by small molecule inhibitors as well as by silencing of a critical autophagy gene drastically reduces the survivability PC4 knockdown cells. On the contrary, complementation with wild type PC4 could reverse this phenomenon, confirming the process of autophagy as the key mechanism for radiation resistance in absence of PC4. These data connect the unexplored role of chromatin architecture in regulating autophagy during a stress condition such as radiation.

We report the development of a highly crystalline Ni/CeO2 catalyst with varying amounts of Ni content using ammonium carbonate complex solution of cerium(IV) at a low temperature. The catalyst was characterized by XRD, XPS, BET-surface area, TEM, and H2-TPR analysis. We have observed that the maximum incorporation of Ni in CeO2 crystal system as the substitution point defect took place up to impregnation of 2.5% Ni, and an almost maximum reduction of unit cell parameter was observed. Further increase in the amount of Ni, the additional Ni may create interstitial point defects with surface defects. The synthesized catalysts showed defect-dependent catalytic activity for low temperature (∼450 °C) methane activation to form synthesis gas. The 7.5 wt % Ni/CeO2 catalyst showed 98% conversion of methane with 73 and 71% selectivity of CO and H2, respectively, at 800 °C without any deactivation until 50 h on time on stream. We also believe that with enhancement of Ni loading, the interstitial point defects and th...

The controlled synthesis of a hierarchically assembled porous rectangular ZnO plate (2.5–3.5 μm length, 1.5–2.5 μm width and 100–150 nm thickness) from bulk ZnO without using any organic substrates, such as solvents/surfactants/structure-directing agents, is presented. The synthesized ZnO plates are single crystalline with exposed (100) facets on the flat surface, porous and formed through the calcination of a hydrozincite [Zn5(CO3)2(OH)6] intermediate. A gas sensor based on the synthesized porous ZnO architecture exhibited high sensitivity towards acetone even in low concentration (S = 3.4 in 1 ppm acetone) with good selectivity. The ZnO nanostructured material as a heterogeneous catalyst also showed excellent catalytic activity for the synthesis of 5-substituted-1H-tetrazoles (yield = 94%). Both the activities are superior than those of other reported ZnO based acetone sensors and heterogeneous catalysts. We believe that the improved properties of the synthesized ZnO nanostructure is due to the exposed (100) facets, and its porous and assembled structure, which provides a reasonably large accessible surface area, and facilitates diffusion and mass transport of gas or substrate molecules.

Herein, we report a generalized novel soft-template approach for the synthesis of a variety of uniform metal oxide (MoO2, Fe3O4, V2O3) and sulphide (MoS2, ZnS)@C hollow spheres using sucrose and cetyl trimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) as a soft template. The synthesized hollow spheres are uniform in size, with a size range of 800 nm to 1.3 μm. The developed methodology allows for altering the carbon content by just varying the amount of sucrose in the precursor solution. The formation mechanism of the soft template was also studied by using isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC), infrared (IR) spectroscopic analysis and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) of the intermediate. The strategy was developed based on the in situ formation of the spherical soft template by the interaction of sucrose and CTAB under the experimental conditions, formation of an inorganic shell by the interaction of a metal salt and template surface, carbonization of sucrose under hydrothermal conditions, and finally formation of the desired metal oxide/sulphide@C through calcination under 5% H2 in a flow of N2. Using the synthesized MoS2@C hollow sphere as a typical representative of such hollow spheres, its performance was examined as an anode for a lithium-ion battery to determine the applicability of the developed procedure; it exhibited a high specific capacity (∼1100 mA h g−1 at 150 mA g−1) as a lithium-ion battery (LiB) anode.

Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is one of the most common types of cancer in India with high incidence and rapid recurrence rates. Here, we aimed to investigate the role of β-catenin, a developmental pathway gene, in HNSCC therapy resistance, DNA damage response, recurrence and prognosis. In total 80 HNSCC samples were included. Western blot, immunohistochemistry and qRT-PCR analyses were performed to assess β-catenin expression in the cut margin and tumor areas of each sample. Kaplan-Meier analyses were performed to correlate β-catenin expression with the survival and prognosis of HNSCC patients. In addition, chemo-resistance, DNA damage response and DNA repair capacities were evaluated in HNSCC-derived cell lines through LiCl-mediated up-regulation and siRNA-mediated silencing of β-catenin expression. We observed β-catenin up-regulation in cut margin areas of recurrent patients compared to their corresponding tumor regions, which subsequently could be associated with poor prognosis. In addition, we found that LiCl-mediated up-regulation of β-catenin in HNSCC-derived cells led to cisplatin resistance, evasion of apoptosis, enhanced DNA repair and enhanced migration. The effects of β-catenin silencing correlated with its putative role in chemo-resistance and DNA damage response. From our results we conclude that β-catenin may contribute to HNSCC therapy resistance and disease relapse. As such, β-catenin may be explored as a therapeutic target along with conventional therapeutics.

Four different Photonic Crystal Fibers (PCFs) with variation in ratio of diameter of air holes and hole to hole spacing (d/∧) has been investigated. Two different ratio of (d/∧) equals to 0.5 and 0.6 has been made in different quadrants of hexagonal PCF structures. Structure C with uniform distribution of (d/∧)= 0.6 shows excellent results. Besides all the structures reports very low dispersion and very low loss.

Herein, we report the development of a hydrogenated MoS

Objective CDKN2A/p16 is a known tumor suppressor gene with a homologous deletion in Oral Squamous cell carcinoma. CDKN2A/p16 is found to be inactivated in a broad spectrum of solid tumors and in more than 80% of OSCC. Molecular alteration of CDKN2A/p16 in progression of OSCC can pose an important tool for the prognosis of squamous cell carcinoma. Material and method Systematic network analysis was carried out to obtain involvement of CDKN2A/p16 in oral cancer by polysearch and FunDO. In the present study we have screened 104 OSCC patients from eastern region of India for CDKN2A/p16 expression in recurrent and non-recurrent OSCC. The observation was validated by Comparative Genomic Hybridisation and Next generation sequencing in recurrent cases. Result Systematic analysis revealed direct involvement of CDKN2A/p16 in oral cancer. There was a consistent downregulated expression of CDKN2A/p16 in the recurrent cases. The gene expression study confirmed a >5-fold downregulation of CDKN2A/p16 in recurrent tumors as compared to non-recurrent ones. Array CGH analysis revealed a copy number deletion in the recurrent case. Furthermore, next generation sequencing validated deletion of CDKN2A/p16 and reported it as a common variant with a nonsense mutation having stop /loss of function of the gene in recurrent cases. Recurrent cases with deleted CDKN2A/p16 expression had poor prognosis and low survival rate. Conclusion CDKN2A/p16 frequently alters in oral cancer progression with a deletion/loss of function in the recurrent cases displaying its role in aiding several molecular events for the malignant transformations occurring throughout disease progression.

In post disaster situation, the existing network infrastructure might be partly or fully damaged. In that case, a very popular online social network like twitter can be an effective tool, where people can share their views and knowledge about what is actually happening in the affected areas. It is a very challenging task to analyze the situation during the golden hours of any large scale disaster due to the absence of any renowned news media. All the tweets posted related to disaster are not genuine. Hence, some filtration must be performed to discard rumor tweets. After eliminating rumors, it has been observed that the volume of genuine tweets obtained is also very large. Thus, it is non-trivial for relief or rescue teams to analyze that large number of tweets and to take any decision regarding the relief and rescue as manual processing of those large numbers of tweets take significant amount of time. It is necessary to devise a summarization technique for efficient processing and analysis of genuine information at any point of time. In this work, an FOPL based summarization technique has been adopted to summarize the genuine tweets. From results it has been analyzed that the proposed technique has achieved better ROUGH-1 variant score compared to some other existing popular baseline techniques. The generated summary achieves an average precision, recall and F-measure score of 0.79, 0.39 and 0.55 respectively.

The controlled synthesis of porous nanostructure materials and their use as active materials for cholesterol sensing are of key importance in current research due to their exceptionally high surface area, their optical and electrical properties, and their good electron transport characteristics. In the present study we have synthesized a microtubular ZnO@ZnS heterostructure from the corresponding ZnO microtubes by a simple aqueous chemical sulphidation process. ZnS microtubes have also been synthesized by removal of ZnO from the ZnO@ZnS heterostructure using acetic acid. Both ZnO@ZnS and ZnS microtubes have a high surface area (56 and 68 m2 g−1, respectively) and a modified electronic structure. A ZnO@ZnS heterostructure-modified electrode has excellent amperometric cholesterol-sensing performance, with sensitivity 52.67 mA M−1 cm−2, signal to noise (S/N) ratio = 15, and limit of detection (LOD) 0.02 mM with S/N = 3. The sensing performance of the ZnO@ZnS heterostructure, including both sensitivity and LOD, is superior to that reported either for ZnO-based or Au- or Pt-modified sensors. Its superior performance originates both from its high microstructure-based surface area and its modified electronic structure, which facilitate electron transport to the electrode.

A fully exfoliated titanate layer-natural polymer amylopectin based nanocomposite, with pH responsive superior selective adsorption, separation of both cationic (MB: 599 mg g(-1) at pH 9) and anionic (MO: 558 mg g(-1) at pH 3) dyes and photodegradation properties, has been realized through simultaneous in situ layered titanate formation, exfoliation and polymerization.

Wound healing is an inherent property of injured tissue or a group of cells. The healing front is always developed by new cells which are progenitor of differentiated parental cells. In cancer tissues we aim to study the healing front and observed an enriched population of stem cell like properties in the developing front when compared to the other areas of the cell matrix.In vitro scratch assays with special focus on stem cell expression was used to analyze metastatic potential of the tumor cell, epithelial to mesenchymal transition and rate of cell migration to get an insight into the genes and the proteins getting expressed at the developing front. In this protocol we describe a fluorescence dependent method to document stem cell like enrichment at the developing front of a given wound in drug treated and untreated control cells under the same culture conditions in a time lag manner. We have tried to compare the rate of cell migration and the expression levels of stem cell markers between the treated and untreated cells.CD44 being a cell surface protein and being involved in cell migration and proliferation, higher intensity of CD44 was observed at the developing front with increasing time. The rate of cell migration differed with different treatments and so did the CD44 expression with expression being higher in 0.6mM concentration of bleomycin when compared to 0.4mM. Similar expression was observed for ALDH1 stem cell marker. This particular technique can not only be used for studying expression of CSC markers (like CD44, ALDH1) but also in assaying the expression profile of several proteins involved in cellular processes like EMT (Epithelial to Mesenchymal Transition), cell migration, tumorigeneisis and rate of proliferation.Would healing is an integral property of solid tissues and in solid tumors properties of solid tissue wound are important characteristics of tumor development. Therefore combining the properties of stem cell like enrichment in the development front would be an important and fast assay to study migratory and metastatic properties of an invitro culture.

Clonospheres formed due to modified culture conditions are often studied for their stem cell like behaviour. The main objective of the current study is to compare the stem cell markers and link it to hTERT levels by monitoring their quantitative gene expression as they are potential targets for new generation combination therapeutics.In the present study we created stable colonospheres of Human colon cancer cell line HCT-116 long term culture conditions of Serum deprivation. Clonospheres formed after 15 days were collected by gentle and enzymatic dissociation was performed. Single cell suspension was obtained by mechanically dissociating the cells through a 22G needle. Single cells were replanted at a density 1200 cells/ml in Serum Free Medium in the 6 well plates for further passage. Passaging of cells was done at an interval of 8 days. The spheres formed were cyto-spun in special slides for Immunocytochemistry (ICC) studies for β-catenin protein and hTERT. The colonospheres were also processed for real time PCR expression studies for the same genes to confirm.In this present study, immunofluorescence studies revealed high β-catenin expression in the nucleus in colonospheres as compared to that of differentiated cancer cell line HCT-116 where the signal was localized mostly in the membranous and non-nuclear regions. Also increased TRF2 signal in colonospheres indicated higher activity of hTERT gene as TRF2 is the direct activator of hTERT to protect the telomere. Quantitative PCR studies showed that there was a significant over expression (p0.05) at the mRNA level of the hTERT, TRF2, Rap1 genes along with the β-catenin over expression. Immunofluorescence analysis also revealed higher expression of CSC marker CD44 and ALDH1in colonospheres compared to the parental population.Clonospheres sub-population is showing higher degree of hTERT gene expression along with β-catenin when compared to the parental HCT-116 cancer cells. We also checked the co expression of other telomere maintenance genes mainly TRF 2 and Rap1 which also showed similar results. Therefore, we conclude that not only hTERT but possibly other Sheltrin proteins are regulated by β-catenin which is co expressed.

Background: Tumorigenesis is a complex process of accumulated alteration in function of multiple genes and pathways. Wnt signalling pathway is involved in various differentiation events during embryonic development and is conserved in various species. Objective: A multicentre collaborative initiative is undertaken to study the occurrence, prognosis and molecular mechanism of HNSCC (Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma) which is highly prevalent in eastern parts of India. From a large cohort of HNSCC tissue repository, 67 cases were selected for multi-parametric investigation. Results: 67 cases showed stable β-catenin expression. We have seen correlation, if any, of the transcription factor - β-catenin, telomere maintenance and shelterin complex proteins - TRF2, Rap1 and hTert with respect to tumor differentiation and telomere dysfunction. Immunohistochemistry of β-catenin protein showed stable and high expression in tumor when compared to stroma. MDSCC (Moderately Differentiated Squamous cell carcinoma) cases expressed nuclear expression of β-catenin in invasive fronts and showed increased genomic instability. Higher frequency of Anaphase bridges was observed ranging from