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Scope: Disruptions of circadian rhythm cause metabolic disorders and are closely related to dietary factors. In this study, we investigated the interplays between the dietary conjugated linoleic acid (CLA)-induced hepatic steatosis and the circadian clock regulation, in association with lipid homeostasis. Methods and Results: Exposure of mice to 1.5% dietary CLA for 28 days caused insulin resistance, enlarged livers, caused hepatic steatosis, and increased triglyceride levels. Transcriptional profiling showed that hepatic circadian clock genes were significantly downregulated with increased expression of the negative transcription factor, REV-ERBα. We uncovered that the nuclear receptor (NR) PPARα, as a major target of dietary CLA, drives REV-ERBα expression via its binding to key genes of the circadian clock, including Cry1 and Clock, and the recruitment of histone marks and cofactors. The PPARα or REV-ERBα inhibition blocked the physical connection of this NR pair, reduced the cobinding of PPARα and REV-ERBα to the genomic DNA response element, and abolished histone modifications in the CLA-hepatocytes. In addition, we demonstrated that CLA promotes PPARα driving REV-ERBα transcriptional activity by directly binding to the PPAR response element (PPRE) at the Nr1d1 gene. Conclusions: Our results add a layer to the understanding of the peripheral clock feedback loop, which involves the PPARα-REV-ERBα, and provide guidance for nutrients optimization in circadian physiology.

Phase‐change random access memory (PCRAM) is one of the most technologically mature candidates for next‐generation non‐volatile memory and is currently at the forefront of artificial intelligence and neuromorphic computing. Traditional PCRAM exploits the typical phase transition and electrical/optical contrast between non‐crystalline and crystalline states of chalcogenide phase‐change materials (PCMs). Currently, traditional PCRAM faces challenges that vastly hinder further memory optimization, for example, the high‐power consumption, significant resistance drift, and the contradictory nature between crystallization speed and thermal stability, nearly all of them are related to the non‐crystalline state of PCMs. In this respect, a reversible crystalline‐to‐crystalline phase transition can solve the above problems. This review delves into the atomic structures and switching mechanisms of the emerging atypical crystalline‐to‐crystalline transitions, and the understanding of the thermodynamic and kinetic features. Ultimately, an outlook is provided on the future opportunities that atypical all‐crystalline phase transitions offer for the development of a novel PCRAM, along with the key challenges that remain to be addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reconstruction‐engineered electrocatalysts with enriched high active Ni species for urea oxidation reaction (UOR) have recently become promising candidates for energy conversion. However, to inhibit the over‐oxidation of urea brought by the high valence state of Ni, tremendous efforts are devoted to obtaining low‐value products of nitrogen gas to avoid toxic nitrite formation, undesirably causing inefficient utilization of the nitrogen cycle. Herein, we proposed a mediation engineering strategy to significantly boost high‐value nitrite formation to help close a loop for the employment of a nitrogen economy. Specifically, platinum‐loaded nickel phosphides (Pt‐Ni2P) catalysts exhibit a promising nitrite production rate (0.82 mol kWh−1 cm−2), high stability over 66 h of Zn‐urea‐air battery operation, and 135 h of co‐production of nitrite and hydrogen under 200 mA cm−2 in a zero‐gap membrane electrode assembly (MEA) system. The in situ spectroscopic characterizations and computational calculations demonstrated that the urea oxidation kinetics is facilitated by enriched dynamic Ni3+ active sites, thus augmenting the "cyanate" UOR pathway. The C−N cleavage was further verified as the rate‐determining step for nitrite generation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: The aim of this study is to prepare Maillard reaction products (MRPs) with low Browning intensity for microencapsulation of Lactococcus lactis and to improve its processing stability and anti‐digestive ability. In this study, whey protein isolate (WPI) was combined with xylose oligosaccharides (XOS) and feruloyl oligosaccharides (FOs) at 90 °C for 90 min to prepare two Maillard reaction products (MRPs), which were applied to the construction of L. lactis microcapsules. The results showed that WPI‐FOs had a lower Browning intensity and slightly lower intermediate content than WPI‐XOS. Both MRPs showed strong inhibitory effects on the pathogens and probiotics effect on L. lactis. In addition, L. lactis coated with MRPs showed significantly enhanced resistance to heat and mechanical stress. Therefore, this study demonstrated that the Maillard conjugation of WPI with oligosaccharides has the potential to be the encapsulant for probiotic microcapsules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explored the changes in cross-linking of low-salt myosin mediated by microbial transglutaminase (MTGase) under high intensity ultrasound (HIU). HIU activated the fish endogenous transglutaminase by 14.11%. Meanwhile, HIU induced the conformational changes in low-salt myosin with decrease of α-helix and increase of β-sheet structures. At 0.1 mol/L salt, compared to solely treated MTGase/solely treated myosin, the most ε-(γ-Glu)-Lys bonds were formed in HIU-treated MTGase + myosin, evidenced by the lowest solubility. Correspondingly, the G' showed the highest increase rate. Consequently, the samples formed regular and continuous protein matrix structures. Specifically, the microstructures of HIU-treated MTGase + myosin samples at 0.1 mol/L salt were even more compact than those of control samples at 0.3 mol/L salt. Besides, HIU-treated MTGase + myosin improved the water holding capacity by 18.28%. In summary, HIU promoted the cross-linking between low-salt myosin mediated by MTGase through activating the enzyme, improving substrate dispersion, or both, with the largest improvement degree observed for HIU-treated MTGase + myosin group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]