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Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are known to participate in the pathological process of cardiac hypertrophy. This study aimed to investigate the function of the lncRNA, myosin heavy-chain associated RNA transcript (Mhrt), in cardiac hypertrophy and its possible mechanism of action. Adult mouse cardiomyocytes were treated with angiotensin II (Ang II) and transfected with Mhrt; cardiac hypertrophy was evaluated by estimating atrial natriuretic peptide, brain natriuretic peptide, and beta-myosin heavy-chain levels, and cell surface area by reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction, western blotting, and immunofluorescence staining. The interaction between the Mhrt/Wnt family member 7B (WNT7B) and miR-765 was assessed using a luciferase reporter assay. Rescue experiments were performed by analyzing the role of the miR-765/WNT7B pathway underlying the function of Mhrt. The results indicated that Ang II induced hypertrophy of cardiomyocytes; however, overexpression of Mhrt alleviated the Ang II-induced cardiac hypertrophy. Mhrt acted as a sponge for miR-765 to regulate the expression of WNT7B. Rescue experiments revealed that the inhibitory effect of Mhrt on myocardial hypertrophy was abolished by miR-765. Additionally, the knockdown of WNT7B reversed the suppression of myocardial hypertrophy induced by downregulating miR-765. Taken together, Mhrt alleviated cardiac hypertrophy by targeting the miR-765/WNT7B axis.

Lin, Tian, Huaping Jia, Yunming Li, Yongxing Xu, Bei Zhao, Dong Zheng, Hongfeng Yan, Meihui Zhao, Yanlei Li, Liping Xia, Fengxia Zhou, Cuiping Liu, Ke Ma, Ma Mi, and Jianwen Gu. Epidemiological survey of congenital heart disease among children aged from 2 to 18 in Suo County, Nagqu, Tibet. High Alt Med Biol. 00:000–000, 2024. Background: Studies have reported the prevalence of congenital heart disease (CHD) in parts of Tibet, but relative epidemiological surveys are rare. We aimed to explore the prevalence of CHD in children and its relationship with family history in Suo County, Nagqu, Tibet, an altitude of 3,980 meters. Methods: We recruited 4,002 children aged 2–18 years. Subjects underwent a family history investigation, cardiac auscultation, and clinical manifestation examination and then received echocardiographic screening. Results: The prevalence of CHD among children in Suo County was 0.97% (39 cases), much higher than the prevalence at sea level. The most common subtype was atrial septal defect, accounting for 53.9% of CHD, followed by patent ductus arteriosus (33.3%) and ventricular septal defect (12.8%). We also found that children whose mothers had previously borne children with CHD had a higher risk of CHD than those without (p = 0.002); other factors related to CHD during pregnancy, such as smoking, drinking, drug use, and viral infection, showed no statistical differences between children with and without CHD. Conclusions: The prevalence of CHD in children in Suo County is much higher than at low altitude, consisting mostly of simple forms with left-to-right shunt, with rare complex CHD. These results support implementing diagnostic and treatment plans to prevent CHD in Suo County. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Excessive CO2 and food shortage are two grand challenges of human society. Directly converting CO2 into food materials can simultaneously alleviate both, like what green crops do in nature. Nevertheless, natural photosynthesis has a limited energy efficiency due to low activity and specificity of key enzyme D‐ribulose‐1,5‐bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (RuBisCO). To enhance the efficiency, many prior studies focused on engineering the enzymes, but this study chooses to learn from the nature to design more efficient reactors. This work is original in mimicking the stacked structure of thylakoids in chloroplasts to immobilize RuBisCO in a microreactor using the layer‐by‐layer strategy, obtaining the continuous conversion of CO2 into glucose precursor at 1.9 nmol min−1 with enhanced activity (1.5 times), stability (≈8 times), and reusability (96% after 10 reuses) relative to the free RuBisCO. The microreactors are further scaled out from one to six in parallel and achieve the production at 15.8 nmol min−1 with an energy conversion efficiency of 3.3 times of rice, showing better performance of this artificial synthesis than NPS in terms of energy conversion efficiency. The exploration of the potential of mass production would benefit both food supply and carbon neutralization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid recombination of photogenerated electron‐hole pairs is one of the main reasons for limiting the photocatalytic efficiency of semiconductor photocatalysts. This paper investigates and analyzes two methods to improve the separation and lifetimes of electron‐hole pairs: semiconductor heterojunction and metal electron sink. As a specific example, an Au‐TiO2‐ZnO composite film with a sandwich structure is prepared. The energy level gradient formed at the TiO2/ZnO heterojunction separates the electron‐hole pairs effectively, and the AuNPs promote the photo‐induced charge transfer. Moreover, a synergistic effect of TiO2/ZnO heterojunction and AuNPs, which can further improve the photocatalytic performance, has been found by the photoelectric performance measurement. The experimental results demonstrate that the UV photocurrent density of the Au‐TiO2‐ZnO composite film is almost 22 times that of the pure TiO2 film. And a similar result has been observed in the UV light degradation of methylene blue. Such Au‐TiO2‐ZnO composite film combining semiconductor heterojunctions and metal electron sink has a potential prospect in the photo‐degradation of organic pollutants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The design and synthesis of two semiconducting bis (4‐ethynyl‐bridging 1, 8‐naphthalimide) bolaamphiphiles (BENI‐COO− and BENI‐NH3+) to fabricate supramolecular metal–insulator–semiconductor (MIS) nanostructures for biomimetic hydrogen evolution under visible light irradiation is presented. A H2 evolution rate of ca. 3.12 mmol g−1⋅h−1 and an apparent quantum efficiency (AQE) of ca. 1.63 % at 400 nm were achieved over the BENI‐COO−‐NH3+‐Ni MIS photosystem prepared by electrostatic self‐assembly of BENI‐COO− with the opposite‐charged DuBois‐Ni catalysts. The hot electrons of photoexcited BENI‐COO− nanofibers were tunneled to the molecular Ni collectors across a salt bridge and an alkyl region of 2.2–2.5 nm length at a rate of 6.10×108 s−1, which is five times larger than the BENI‐NH3+ nanoribbons (1.17×108 s−1). The electric field benefited significantly the electron tunneling dynamics and compensated the charge‐separated states insufficient in the BENI‐COO− nanofibers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The unique structural, electronic and magnetic properties of intrinsic defect in tetragonal ultrathin BaTiO3 nanotube (u-BTONT) have been investigated by first-principle calculations. The zigzag (9,0) u-BTONTs with two different terminations (TiO2 and BaO) can be formed by rolling up one monolayer BTO along a certain crystallographic axis, and the BaO-terminated NT is more stable than TiO2 terminated due to its lower binding energy. The oxygen vacancies on the tube are more stable than cation vacancies, and their magnetic coupling is related not only to the kinds of oxygen vacancies but also to the distance of vacancies. Moreover, both Ba and Ti vacancies also can introduce the ferromagnetism in u-BTONT, which is different from the origin of magnetism in BTO bulk and (001) surface. It is indicated that one-dimensional structure with high surface area can make it easier to form more useful vacancies which prefer ferromagnetism. Our work offers a possible route to fabricate the multiferroic materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Excessive CO 2 and food shortage are two grand challenges of human society. Directly converting CO 2 into food materials can simultaneously alleviate both, like what green crops do in nature. Nevertheless, natural photosynthesis has a limited energy efficiency due to low activity and specificity of key enzyme D-ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (RuBisCO). To enhance the efficiency, many prior studies focused on engineering the enzymes, but this study chooses to learn from the nature to design more efficient reactors. This work is original in mimicking the stacked structure of thylakoids in chloroplasts to immobilize RuBisCO in a microreactor using the layer-by-layer strategy, obtaining the continuous conversion of CO 2 into glucose precursor at 1.9 nmol min -1 with enhanced activity (1.5 times), stability (≈8 times), and reusability (96% after 10 reuses) relative to the free RuBisCO. The microreactors are further scaled out from one to six in parallel and achieve the production at 15.8 nmol min -1 with an energy conversion efficiency of 3.3 times of rice, showing better performance of this artificial synthesis than NPS in terms of energy conversion efficiency. The exploration of the potential of mass production would benefit both food supply and carbon neutralization., (© 2023 The Authors. Advanced Science published by Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

D-π-A type 4-((9-phenylcarbazol-3-yl)ethynyl)-N-dodecyl-1,8-naphthalimide (CZNI) with a large dipole moment of 8.49 D and A-π-A type bis[(4,4'-1,8-naphthalimide)-N-dodecyl]ethyne (NINI) with a negligible dipole moment of 0.28 D, were smartly designed and synthesized to demonstrate the evidence of a molecular dipole as the dominant mechanism for controlling charge separation of organic semiconductors. In aqueous solution, these two novel naphthalimides can self-assemble to form nanoribbons (NRs) that present significantly different traces of exciton dissociation dynamics. Upon photoexcitation of NINI-NRs, no charge-separated excitons (CSEs) are formed due to the large exciton binding energy, accordingly there is no hydrogen evolution. On the contrary, in the photoexcited CZNI-NRs, the initial bound Frenkel excitons are dissociated to long-lived CSEs after undergoing ultrafast charge transfer within ca. 1.25 ps and charge separation within less than 5.0 ps. Finally, these free electrons were injected into Pt co-catalysts for reducing protons to H 2 at a rate of ca. 417 μmol h -1  g -1 , correspondingly an apparent quantum efficiency of ca. 1.3 % can be achieved at 400 nm., (© 2022 Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

The design and synthesis of two semiconducting bis (4-ethynyl-bridging 1, 8-naphthalimide) bolaamphiphiles (BENI-COO - and BENI-NH 3 + ) to fabricate supramolecular metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) nanostructures for biomimetic hydrogen evolution under visible light irradiation is presented. A H 2 evolution rate of ca. 3.12 mmol g -1 ⋅h -1 and an apparent quantum efficiency (AQE) of ca. 1.63 % at 400 nm were achieved over the BENI-COO - -NH 3 + -Ni MIS photosystem prepared by electrostatic self-assembly of BENI-COO - with the opposite-charged DuBois-Ni catalysts. The hot electrons of photoexcited BENI-COO - nanofibers were tunneled to the molecular Ni collectors across a salt bridge and an alkyl region of 2.2-2.5 nm length at a rate of 6.10×10 8  s -1 , which is five times larger than the BENI-NH 3 + nanoribbons (1.17×10 8  s -1 ). The electric field benefited significantly the electron tunneling dynamics and compensated the charge-separated states insufficient in the BENI-COO - nanofibers., (© 2020 Wiley-VCH GmbH.)