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The extremely high proliferation rate of tumor cells contributes to pancreatic cancer (PC) progression. Runt-related transcription factor 1(RUNX1), a key factor in hematopoiesis that was correlated with tumor progression. However, the role of RUNX1 in PC proliferation was still unclear. We found that RUNX1 was significantly upregulated in PC tissues and its expression was negatively associated with prognosis of PC patients in a multicenter analysis according to immunohistochemical (IHC). RUNX1 downregulation in PC resulted in a significantly reduced cell proliferation rate, which was consistent with in vivo subcutaneous tumor formation assay results. RNA-seq and ChIP-seq results revealed that a portion of target genes, including HAP1, GPRC5B, PTPN21, VHL and EN2, were regulated by RUNX1, a finding successfully validated by ChIP-qPCR, qRT-PCR and Western blot. Subsequently, IHC and proliferation assays showed these target genes to be dysregulated in PC, affecting tumor growth. Our data suggest that RUNX1 plays an oncogenic role in tumor proliferation and is a potential prognostic biomarker and therapeutic target for PC.

Uncontrollable growth of sodium dendrite during repeated sodium plating/stripping process results in low Coulombic efficiency, short cycle life and safety problem of sodium metal batteries. Herein, cobalt-based metal organic frameworks (Co-MOFs) was chosen as precursor, a porous nitrogen-anchored carbon rhombic dodecahedron (CoNC) embedded with Co nanoparticles is designed to uniform Na nucleation and deposition for sodium metal anodes, integrating high surface area and high conductivity. Both DFT calculations and experiment results demonstrate that the CoNC can enhance the sodiophilic for sodium nucleation and deposition, encapsulating sodium into CoNC nanoparticles and realize a dendrite-free Na plating and stripping process. CoNC@Na symmetric cell exhibits stable cycle performance for 1200 ​h ​at 1.0 ​mA ​cm−2 for 1.0 ​mAh cm−2 with low nucleation overpotential. The CoNC@Na half cell can operate stable cycling with a superhigh average Coulombic efficiency of 99.6% for 400 cycles. Moreover, full cell paired with Na3V2(PO4)2F3 (NVPF) cathode exhibits excellent cycling performance with a high reversible specific capacity of 113 ​mAh g−1 and capacity retention of 90%. This offers a sight into the design of electrode for encapsulating sodium into carbon matrix by sodiophilic sites to uniform Na nucleation and growth for dendrite-free Na metal anodes.

Integrating biomass upgrading and hydrogen production in an electrocatalytic system is attractive both environmentally and in terms of sustainability. Conventional electrolyser systems coupling anodic biosubstrate electrooxidation with hydrogen evolution reaction usually require electricity input. Herein, we describe the development of an electrocatalytic system for simultaneous biomass upgrading, hydrogen production, and electricity generation. In contrast to conventional furfural electrooxidation, the employed low-potential furfural oxidation enabled the hydrogen atom of the aldehyde group to be released as gaseous hydrogen at the anode at a low potential of approximately 0 V

Developing active and cost-effective electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction is greatly desired for growing energy demands. Here, we report a promisingly hierarchical nickel-copper nitride electrode via a simple surface engineering process with a direct growth of copper-based metal-organic frameworks on nickel foam, followed by a low temperature ammonization, as the efficient catalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction. The as-fabricated nickel-copper nitride electrode exhibits a remarkable activity with a lower overpotential of 58 mV for hydrogen evolution reaction at the current density of 10 mA cm −2 , and with strong long-term stability of a negligible morphological changes and potential increases after uninterrupted testing. This work opens a new avenue to design robust and eco-friendly electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction.

The structural design and atomic adjustment of the catalyst are the main factors that regulate the intrinsic electrocatalytic activity. Herein, we report a novel and facile strategy of synthesizing three-dimensional porous carbon network by polymer-assisted molding strategy. The porous carbon framework with Co-CoF2 and carbon nanotubes (PCF@CCFCNT) was directly obtained by the calcination, in which Co-CoF2 heterojunctions uniformly dispersed in the interconnected holes. Benefiting from the special hierarchical porous morphology, the dual-function catalytic activity of Co-CoF2 heterojunctions and existence of Co-Nx species, the as-obtained PCF@CCFCNT composites exhibit excellent performance in the oxygen evolution reaction (η = 300 mV@10 mA cm−2), as well as outstanding oxygen reduction reaction performance in alkaline medium (E1/2 = 0.852 V, vs RHE). Moreover, as an air electrode in Zn-air batteries (ZABs), PCF@CCFCNT demonstrates a large peak power density of 184 mW cm−2 and superior long-term stability, which is much more stable than the one consisting of commercial Pt/C. This finding not only shows a simple composite design to achieve high-performance ZABs but also may stimulate the rapid development of 3D hierarchical porous electrocatalysts for advanced energy technologies.

Metal organic frameworks (MOFs) based catalysts are the most promising candidates for electrocatalytic reaction. Herein, we describe a fast, cost-effective and efficient method to construct an oxygen evolution electrocatalyst with a “bivalve hollow nanoellipsoid” structure, namely three dimensional (3D) bi-shells Co9S8/Fe3O4 embedded in S/N co-decorated hollow carbon nanoellipsoid (H-Co9S8/Fe3O4@SNC). The bivalve metallic compounds hollow structure decreases the proton-electron transfer kinetics on carbon nanoellipsoid, and promoting the oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Specifically, the H- Co9S8/Fe3O4@SNC reveals an excellent catalytic activity with a low overpotential of 280 mV at the current density of 10 mA cm−2 and a small Tafel slope of 87 mV dec−1. Moreover, this H-Co9S8/Fe3O4@SNC electrode is applied to rotating ring-disk electrode (RRDE) and show remarkable catalytic stability and give ∼97.5% Faradic efficiency toward OER via chronoamperometric measurement at a rotation rate of 1600 rpm. Following that, the mechanism is investigated and reveal the excellent catalytic activity is mainly owed to the hollow structure and the catalytic synergistic effects of the double shell Co9S8/Fe3O4, simultaneously, the introduction of oxygen vacancy during the pyrolysis process to the formation of Fe3O4.

The oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) are essential to metal-air batteries and fuel cells. Highly efficient and low-cost electrocatalysts for oxygen reactions are in urgent demand. Herein, we synthesized materials through Fe2O3 and NiO depositing on carbon nanotubes (CNTs) by hydrothermal method, which can perform as efficient bifunctional electrocatalysts for the ORR and OER. These catalysts mainly contain macropores which can provide sufficient surface area for active sites. With metal oxides depositing on CNTs, it overcomes some drawbacks such as low conductivity and agglomeration of metal oxides. The catalysts show great electrocatalytic toward ORR and OER even comparing with commercial Pt-C/RuO2 catalysts. Through constructing an air battery and testing the performance of cycling, the stability of the catalyst can also be proved.

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) or exosomes have recently been shown to play vital regulatory or communication roles in cancer biology. However, the roles and mechanisms of exosomal lncRNAs in tumor invasion or metastasis of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) remain unknown. In this study, we aimed to investigate the detailed roles and mechanisms of tumor-generated exosomes in progression and metastasis of PDAC in vitro and in vivo. We identified a lncRNA-Sox2ot from exosomes of highly invasive PDAC cells, and analyzed the expression of Sox2ot in the plasma samples and found that the plasma exosomal Sox2ot expression was high and correlated with TNM stage and overall survival rate of PDAC patients. Further research showed that Sox2ot promotes epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and stem cell like properties by regulating Sox2 expression. Sox2ot competitively binds to the miR-200 family to regulate the expression of Sox2, thus promoting invasion and metastasis of PDAC. We also confirmed the transmission of the exosomes from producer cells to recipient PDAC cells, exosomal Sox2ot can promote tumor invasion and metastasis in vitro and in vivo. We further confirmed tumor generated exosomes could excrete to tumor cell or blood circulation in vivo condition. Finally, we observed a decreased exosomal Sox2ot expression in postoperative blood samples of PDAC patients. The exosomal lncRNA Sox2ot plays important roles in tumor progression and may be a useful maker for pancreatic cancer prognosis.

Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) is an aggressive tumour with a poor prognosis due to its late clinical presentation and the lack of effective non-surgical therapies. Previous studies have reported that platelets are implicated in tumour invasion and metastasis, while their role and the underlying mechanism in CCA remain unclear. Here, we show that platelets are hyperactivated in patients with CCA and that platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) promotes the migration of CCA tumour cells both in vitro and in vivo. Further investigations revealed that PDGF can upregulate the expression of MMP2/MMP9 and induce epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) by activating the p38/MAPK signalling pathway in CCA cells. In addition, the expression of MMP2/MMP9 was associated with lymph node metastasis and poor prognosis in CCA patients after surgical resection. In conclusion, our findings demonstrate that platelets play an important role in facilitating the invasion and metastasis of CCA cells by secreting PDGF, which may provide a novel target for CCA treatment.

Exploiting highly effective and low-cost non-noble metal catalysts for metal/air batteries are still remain a great challenge. In this work, an “active site-framework” structure, namely iron carbide embedded in nitrogen and oxygen co-doped porous carbon framework (A-Fe3C@NO-PC), is successfully synthesized by a polydopamine-protection-assisted pyrolysis strategy. The as-prepared catalyst possesses excellent catalytic activity with a half-wave-potential of 0.85 V (vs. reversible hydrogen electrode) for oxygen reduction reaction. In addition, this A-Fe3C@NO-PC loaded zinc/air battery exhibits a negligible voltage gap increase after 300 continuous cycle tests (52 h) at the current density of 50 mA cm−2. The excellent catalytic performance of the catalyst is contributed to high electronic conductivity of Fe3C, high contents of pyridinic and graphitic-N doped porous carbon framework. The concept and achievement can inspire the development of the surface engineering to design other transition metal species decorated carbon catalysts for metal/air batteries.

Developing efficient and earth-abundant electrocatalysts for electrochemical water splitting is greatly desired due to growing energy demands. Herein, we develop a promising hierarchical nickel-iron-copper nitride electrode that is fabricated via a three-step process, starting with a hydrothermal synthesis of nickel-iron hydroxide on nickel foam and followed by the direct growth of copper metal-organic frameworks and, finally, low temperature ammonization. This approach yields a material that is an efficient catalyst for both the oxygen evolution reaction and the hydrogen evolution reaction. The as-fabricated heterostructured nickel-iron-copper nitride electrode exhibits an excellent activity with an overpotential of only 121 mV for the oxygen evolution reaction and an even a lower overpotential of 33 mV for the hydrogen evolution reaction. Additionally, this structure displays strong long-term stability with only a negligible increase in potential after 500 cycles of uninterrupted cyclic voltammetry testing. To the best of our knowledge, this as-prepared hierarchical nickel-iron-copper nitride is one of the most promising alternatives for the electrochemical oxygen and hydrogen evolution reactions.

A field study was conducted to investigate the probabilities of human participants to detect a small unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) at a certain distance. A Phantom 4 quadcopter was remotely controlled to hover at one of the 32 pre-determined locations in the air. Thirty-two participants on the ground were requested to judge if they could see the quadcopter on a four-point scale: 1. definitely yes, 2. probably yes, 3. probably no, and 4. definitely no. The participants also responded whether they could hear the quadcopter on the same four-point scale. Logistic regression models were established to estimate the probability of detecting the quadcopter in the air, both visually and auditory. When navigating a quadcopter flying away from the operator, the sound stimulus diminished and then disappeared earlier than that of the sight of the quadcopter. The results of the study indicated that the probability of visual detection of the quadcopter at a distance of 300 m was approximately 0.3. When adopting a 50% probability of visual detection and the “definitely or probably yes” criterion, the estimated distance of line-of-sight was 245 m. The corresponding visual angle was 0.065°. The information in this study is valuable for drone operators, operator training institutes, and drone designers. The aviation authorities may also consider revising the codes or regulations for small UAV operation based on our findings.

Rational design and development of non-precious metal-based electrocatalysts for bifunctional oxygen reduction/evolution reactions (ORR/OER) are essential to realize the dischargeable Zinc-air batteries (ZABs). Herein, for the first time we synthesize CoFe-alloy nanoparticles enveloped by N, P co-doped carbon nanotubes (NPMC/CoFe), through a simple route by pyrolyzing dicyandiamide complex in the presence of phytic acid. The obtained electrocatalysts possess excellent ORR (a half wave potential of 0.896 V in 0.1 M KOH) and OER (η10 mA cm-2 = 310 mV in 1 M KOH) performance, respectively. The liquid-state ZABs based on the NPMC/CoFe air-cathode demonstrates a high peak power density of 146.34 mW cm−2 and excellent durability. Specifically, flexible and button-like ZABs with impressive performances are both realized, which could power light-emitting diodes. This work offers an attractive approach to develop the nonprecious metal-based ORR/OER catalysts, and modulators for the design of performance oriented electrocatalysts for wider electrochemical energy applications.

A carboxymethyl chitosan (CMC)-assisted method is developed for the preparation of a palladium (Pd) nanoparticles (NPs)/carbon nanotubes (CNTs) nanohybrid. The addition of a small amount of CMC to the reaction solution leads to the production of well-crystallised metallic Pd NPs with small diameter and uniformly dispersed on CNTs. The obtained Pd NPs supported on CNTs show enhanced catalytic activity and stability for the electrochemical oxidation of methanol in alkaline media. The as-developed Pd NPs/CNTs nanohybrid is a highly promising catalyst for use in fuel cell technology.