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New antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) were developed with selective antifungal activity and high efficiency in wound healing.

In this paper, xPbTiO3/(1-x)NiFe2O4 (PTO/NFO, x = 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4 and 0.5) ceramic composites were prepared by mixing of sol-gel synthesized PTO and NFO powders, followed by their uniaxial pressing and sintering at 1150 °C. The effects of PTO/NFO composition on crystal structure, surface morphology, electrical, magnetic and magnetoelectric coupling properties were studied. XRD results showed that the prepared ceramics contain only PTO and NFO phases without any impurity phase. The samples were relatively dense while the grains were evenly distributed. The dielectric constant and loss varied monotonically with the frequency for different molar ratios. The hysteresis loop of the composites with high amount of high resistance NFO phase (x = 0.1, 0.2) has the shape characteristic for a material with large leakage current. The samples with x = 0.1 showed the largest saturated magnetization, while the sample with x = 0.2 had the maximum remnant magnetization. It was also shown that the polarization was affected by the external magnetic field of 1mT and the strongestME coupling (relative polarization change of 15.4%) was observed for the 0.5PbTiO3/0.5NiFe2O4 composite. In addition, the relevant calculation showed that the leakage mechanism may not be the main factor affecting the polarization of the obtained ceramics.

0.8BaTiO3-0.2BiAlO3/Co0.8Cu0.2Fe2O4 composite ceramics with a molar ratio of 6:1 were prepared by hydrothermal method combined with solid-state method, and effects of the sintered temperature and time on the microstructure, dielectric, ferroelectric, and magnetic properties were investigated. XRD result indicates that the composite ceramics show bi-phase structure, and the secondary phase is indexed as Ba3Fe32O51, and proves that we can change the sintered temperature and sintered time to adjust the crystallinity of the composite ceramics and the concentration of impurities. The surface is relatively uniform except for few pores, and the grain size of ferromagnetic phase increases as the function of temperature and time. The dielectric dispersion of composite ceramics is obtained, and the character comes from inhomogeneous structure and Maxwell–Wagner type interfacial polarization. The two peaks of dielectric constant are obtained, and the composite ceramics (1200 °C/4 h) show high dielectric constant and loss due to the interface effect, and this result is confirmed by the AC conductively. The relaxation result is different from the ferroelectric phase, and this may be caused by the thermally activated, the grain size of ferroelectric phase, impurity phase, pore, and defect of composite ceramics. The ferromagnetic result refers that the sintered temperature has obvious influence on the coercive force by the grain size and magnetic anisotropy.

Ba0.85Ca0.15Zr0.9Ti0.1O3 (BCZT) ceramics with various grain sizes were fabricated through solid-state method followed by different sintering temperatures. The influences of grain size and phase structure on the electric properties and energy storage performance were systematically investigated. The remnant polarization and quasi-static piezoelectric constant of BCZT samples increase gradually as grain size increases, and the samples with the grain size of 44.37 µm exhibit excellent ferroelectricity and piezoelectricity (2Pr = 25.4 µC/cm2, d33 = 513 pC/N). Although the energy storage density of BCZT samples with the grain size of 8.28–44.37 µm is relative lower, all the ceramic samples have higher energy storage efficiency (82–87.4%). There is the maximum energy storage density in phase transition temperature of tetragonal–cubic phase for all BCZT ceramics and the maximum energy storage density first increases and then decreases with the increase of grain size. But the energy storage density of BCZT ceramics near room temperature decreases with increasing of grain size. The smaller grain size is beneficial to improve the room temperature energy storage density of BCZT samples and is disadvantageous to obtaining superior ferroelectric and piezoelectric properties.

Organic–inorganic hybrid perovskite is currently one of the most promising photovoltaic materials. In the present work, CH3NH3PbI3 nanowires were prepared by saturated vapor-assisted crystallization. The effects of annealing time on the size (width or height) and optical properties of CH3NH3PbI3 nanowires were systematically studied. It was found that the width of nanowires first decreases and then increases with the increase in annealing time. Moreover, as the size of the nanowires decreases, the absorbance increases, but the transmittance and the band gap decrease.

Ni0.5Zn0.5Fe2O4/Ba0.8Sr0.2TiO3 (NZFO/BST) composite ceramics with different additions of Bi2O3 (0%, 1%, 3%, and 5% wt) were synthesized via the solid-phase sintering method. XRD analysis indicates that the composite ceramics show bi-phase structure, without apparent secondly phases can be observed. SEM images show that all the specimens have relative dense structure, the grain size is in the range 1–2 μm. A certain amount of Bi2O3 is beneficial to grain growth, the average grain size of NZFO/BST ceramics increases from 179 to 297 nm when the concentration of Bi2O3 is 0 and 3%, respectively. EDS results indicate that the distribution of NZFO phase and BST phase is not uniform. The sample NZFO/BST-3%Bi2O3 not only has the largest dielectric constant (er) in the whole temperature range (25–500 °C), but also presents the smallest dielectric loss (tanδ) at high temperature region (> 400 °C), and the maximum tanδ value is less than 0.4 for all the samples, indicating excellent dielectric performance. Compared with other samples, the specimen NZFO/BST-3%Bi2O3 has the largest remnant polarization (~ 1.14 μC/cm2). The sample NZFO/BST-3%Bi2O3 has the largest leakage current density, while the ceramic NZFO/BST-5%Bi2O3 presents the opposite behavior, the value of leakage current of the sample NZFO/BST-3%Bi2O3 is about 7 times larger than that of the specimen NZFO/BST-5%Bi2O. All the composite ceramics show soft magnetic behavior, since Bi2O3 is a non-magnetic phase, addition of Bi2O3 will dilute the magnetic moment per unit volume so as to decrease the magnetic properties of the ceramics. The sample NZFO/BST-3%Bi2O3 has the second largest saturation magnetization (Mr) of 11.27 emu/g and the smallest coercive field (HC) ~ 3.54 Oe. All the samples show strong magnetoelectric coupling effect, the highest magnetoelectric coupling coefficient is ~ 47 Vcm−1Oe−1, which was obtained in the sample without addition of Bi2O3. In short, the addition of Bi2O3 not only affects the structure of composite ceramics, but also plays an important role in affecting the magnetoelectric performance.

Ni0.5Zn0.5Fe2O4/Ba0.8Sr0.2TiO3 (NZFO/BST) magnetoelectric composites were synthesized through traditional solid-phase method, and effects of IrO2 addition on the microstructure, surface appearance and magnetoelectric properties were comparatively investigated. XRD patterns demonstrate a spinel structure of NZFO and tetragonal perovskite structure of BST, and the addition of IrO2 is conducive to improving the crystallinity of materials. SEM presents that a certain amount of IrO2 is beneficial to the growth of ceramic grains and the densification of ceramics. Through SEM and EDS analysis, it is found that the smaller grain size is BST, and its size is about 100 nm. Sample NZFO/BST-5% has the largest average grain size (~ 277.51), while sample NZFO/BST-1% has a relative density of 91.23%. The relaxation behavior is more obvious with the addition of a certain content of IrO2, which leads to the increase of dielectric constants. In the high temperature region (> 200 ℃), the sample exhibits a large dielectric loss, particularly, the more the content of IrO2, the more obvious this phenomenon is. The addition of IrO2 causes the larger leakage current of NZFO/BST composites so that samples NZFO/BST-3% and NZFO/BST-5% exhibit poor ferroelectricity, in addition, the magnetic properties of the sample are also weakened, and the NZFO/BST composites exhibited a soft ferromagnetic behavior.

In this paper, Ba0.8Sr0.2TiO3 and Co1−xCuxFe2O4 (x = 0.1, 0.3, 0.5, 0.7) powders were prepared by sol–gel method and chemical coprecipitation, respectively. Then Co1−xCuxFe2O4/Ba0.8Sr0.2TiO3 composite particles with the weight ratio of 1:1 were distributed into a highly insulated non-polar silicon oil to form composite liquid. Effects of Cu content on the microstructure, magnetic, dielectric, and ferroelectric properties as well as the magnetoelectric coupling effect were studied. The results indicate that with the increase of Cu content, the values of remnant magnetization, saturated magnetization, and coercive field of Co1−xCuxFe2O4/Ba0.8Sr0.2TiO3 composite powders were gradually decreased. The dielectric constant values of both Co1−xCuxFe2O4/Ba0.8Sr0.2TiO3 composite powders and liquid are strongly dependent on the Cu content, which increase first and then decrease with the increase of x, when x = 0.5, the dielectric constant shows the maximum value of 2400 at 2 kHz. With the increase of x, the remnant polarization of Co1−xCuxFe2O4/Ba0.8Sr0.2TiO3 composite liquid gradually increases from 0.5 to 0.025 μC/cm2. At the same time, the magnetoelectric coupling coefficient decreases first and then increase with increasing the concentration of Cu, the maximal value is 88 V/(cm Oe), obtained when x = 0.7. These results show that the magnetoelectric properties of magnetoelectric composite liquid depend heavily on the copper content, and successful preparation of magnetoelectric composite liquid can provide an opportunity to improve the magnetoelectric coupling coefficient of multiferroic materials.

BFO thin films were deposited on Pt substrate by RF magnetron sputtering technology. The effects of annealing atmosphere on the phase evolution, microstructure, surface element chemical state, leakage current density, dielectric, ferroelectric and magnetic properties of BFO thin films were systematically investigated. The XRD analyses reveal that O2 annealing atmosphere benefits to prepare single phase BFO thin film compared with air. AFM images demonstrate that BFO thin film annealed in O2 shows smaller grain size and better surface roughness than that annealed in air. The XPS analyses clarify that Fe2+ and Fe3+ ions are co-existed in both obtained BFO thin films, while BFO thin film annealed in O2 shows lower Fe2+ and oxygen vacancy concentration. Comparing with BFO thin film annealed in air, BFO thin film annealed in O2 shows a lower leakage current density of 4.4 × 10−6 A/cm2 with enhanced dielectric, ferroelectric and magnetic properties. Our results provide useful reference for practical application of BFO thin film prepared by RF magnetron sputtering.

Ni1−xZnxFe2O4/BaTiO3 (x = 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 0.6, and 0.7) magnetoelectric composite ceramics have been prepared by combining the coprecipitation and sol–gel methods, and their structural and multiferroic properties studied and compared. The results indicate that the synthesized composites present biphase and composite structure, with no evident impurities observed. The lattice of the Ni1−xZnxFe2O4 crystal structure is distorted owing to the incorporation of Zn2+ ions. The samples present irregular microstructure and abnormal grain growth, which can be attributed to the heterogeneous distribution of the ferroelectric and magnetic phases during preparation. The chemical composition of the larger grains is Ni1−xZnxFe2O4, while that of the smaller grains is proven to be BaTiO3. The dielectric constant of the ceramics first increases then decreases as the Zn2+ ion content is increased, which is related to the irregular microstructure of the ceramics. Both the frequency dependence of the dielectric loss and the temperature dependence of the dielectric constant present two relaxation peaks for all samples. The dielectric loss peaks are attributed to the slow polarization process, such as turning-direction and space-charge polarization, while the dielectric constant peaks can be ascribed to the ferroelectric phase transition of BaTiO3 and relaxation polarization of the composites. The abnormal magnetization behaviors can be induced by the A–B superexchange interaction caused by the addition of nonmagnetic Zn2+ ions.

The Na+/K+-ATPase inhibitor cinobufagin exhibits numerous anticancer effects on hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells expressing wild-type p53 via inhibition of aurora kinase A (AURKA) and activation of p53 signaling. However, the effects of cinobufagin on HCC cells expressing mutant p53 remain unclear. In the present study, the anticancer effects of cinobufagin were investigated on HCC Huh-7 cells with mutant p53, and the effects of AURKA overexpression or inhibition on the anticancer effects of cinobufagin were analyzed. Viability, cell cycle progression and apoptosis of cells were determined using an MTT assay, flow cytometry and Hoechst 33342 staining, respectively. The expression levels of p53 and p73 signaling-associated proteins were investigated via western blot analysis. The results demonstrated that the expression levels of AURKA, B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2), cyclin-dependent kinase 1, cyclin B1, proliferating cell nuclear antigen and heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein K, as well as the phosphorylation of p53 and mouse double minute 2 homolog, were significantly decreased in Huh-7 cells treated with 5 µmol/l cinobufagin for 24 h. Conversely, the expression levels of Bcl-2-associated X protein, p21, p53 upregulated modulator of apoptosis and phorbol-12-myristate-13-acetate-induced protein 1, were significantly increased by cinobufagin treatment. Overexpression or inhibition of AURKA suppressed or promoted the anticancer effects of cinobufagin on Huh-7 cells, respectively. These results indicated that cinobufagin may induce anticancer effects on Huh-7 cells via the inhibition of AURKA and p53 signaling, and via the activation of p73 signaling, in an AURKA-dependent manner.

Co0.5Zn0.5Fe2O4/Ba0.8Sr0.2TiO3 (CZFO/BST) composite ceramics with different molar ratios (1:3, 1:2, 1:1, 2:1 and 3:1) were prepared by combining chemical co-precipitation and sol-gel method. Effects of molar ratio on the microstructure, dielectric and multiferroic properties were investigated. The formation of the individual phases and the composites was confirmed by XRD results and small amount of secondary phase (Ba2Fe2Ti4O13) was observed. The grain sizes of magnetic (CZFO) and ferroelectric phase (BST), measured by SEM, were about 5 μm and 0.5 μm, respectively. The sample with molar ratio (1:2) has the largest dielectric constant, while the sample with molar ratio (3:1) shows the lowest dielectric constant. A distinct loss peak can be observed for all the samples. Both the peak position and peak intensity increase with the frequency, indicating relaxation polarization process generated by space charge or interface polarization. The ceramics with molar ratio (1:1) shows the smallest leakage current (~ 10−7 A/cm at 1.5 kV/cm), while the leakage current (~ 10−5 A/cm at 1.5 kV/cm) of the sample with molar ratio (3:1) is the largest. The ferroelectric hysteresis loop is not apparent due to the low Curie temperature of the ferroelectric phase, but the sample with molar ratio (2:1) shows the best ferroelectric properties. It was found that with the increase of CZFO content, the values of saturation (Ms) and remnant (Mr) magnetization increase at first and then decrease. The sample with molar ratio (3:1) has the maximum Ms value (about 50.34 emu/g), while the sample with molar ratio (1:2) shows the minimal Mr value (about 0.46 emu/g). This anomalous magnetic property is induced by the interface interaction between the two phases.

Dianchi Lake is the cradle of Kunming’s survival and development. It plays a vital role in the development of Kunming’s economy and society as well as the formation of a pleasant climate. The phenomenon of cyanobacteria blooms in Dianchi Lake has always been an ecological problem that has attracted much attention. Cyanobacteria blooms destroy the ecological environment, cause a large number of deaths of fish and other animals, pollute drinking water, and cause huge economic losses. In order to monitor the cyanobacteria blooms in Dianchi Lake more effectively and intelligently, this paper proposes a computer vision system for cyanobacteria discrimination based on deep learning. The neural network was trained by using the collected image data of cyanobacteria in Lake Dianchi, and then the network model was tested by using the images captured by the surveillance cameras around the lake. The experimental results show that the system can better discriminate and classify cyanobacteria blooms in different environments, and has a high recognition accuracy.

Liposomes have been widely used in nanomedicine for the delivery of hydrophobic and hydrophilic anticancer agents. The most common applications of these formulations are vaccines and anticancer formulations (e.g., mRNA, small molecule drugs). However, large-scale production with precise control of size and size distribution of the lipid-based drug delivery systems (DDSs) is one of the major challenges in the pharmaceutical industry. In this study, we used newly designed microfluidic swirl mixers with simple 3D mixing chamber structures to prepare liposomes at a larger scale (up to 320 mL/min or 20 L/h) than the commercially available devices. This design demonstrated high productivity and better control of liposome size and polydispersity index (PDI) than conventional liposome preparation methods. The microfluidic swirl mixer devices were used to produce curcumin-loaded liposomes under different processing conditions which were later characterized and studied in vitro to evaluate their efficiency as DDSs. The obtained results demonstrated that the liposomes can effectively deliver curcumin into cancer cells. Therefore, the microfluidic swirl mixers are promising devices for reproducible and scalable manufacturing of DDSs.

Cinobufagin is a Na+/K+-ATPase (NKA) inhibitor with excellent anticancer effects to prolong the survival of patients. The purpose of the present study was to clarify the underlying mechanism of the anticancer effects of cinobufagin using overexpression or inhibition of aurora kinase A (AURKA) signaling. First, high expression of Na+/K+-ATPase alpha 1 subunit (ATP1A1) and AURAK resulted in increased malignant transformation in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients using the cancer genome atlas (TCGA) data and tissue samples. After treatment with cinobufagin, we successfully screened 202, 249, and 335 changing expression proteins in Huh-7 cells under normal, overexpression, and inhibition of AURKA using tandem mass tags (TMT)-labeled quantitative proteomics coupled to 2D liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Bioinformatics analysis revealed that these molecules were closely associated with chromosome segregation, DNA damage, and regulation of translation processes. We further confirmed that cinobufagin induced DNA damage and chromosome segregation disorders and suppresses translational processing in oncogenes by decreasing the expression of AURKA, mechanistic target of rapamycin kinase (mTOR), p-mTOR, p-extracellular regulated protein kinases (ERK), eukaryotic translation initiation factor 4E (eIF4E), and p-eIF4E, while increasing the expression of p-eukaryotic translation initiation factor 4E binding protein 1 (4E-BP1) (S65, T37, T46, T45) and increasing the interaction between eIF4 and 4E-BP1. Our results suggested that cinobufagin performed an antitumor effects in liver cancer cells by inhibiting the AURKA-mTOR-eIF4E axis.

Co0.1Cu0.9Fe2O4 (CCFO) and Ba0.8Sr0.2TiO3 (BST) particles were respectively prepared by chemical coprecipitation and hydrothermal method, then CCFO/BST composite liquid was synthesized by distributing surface modified CCFO and Ba0.8Sr0.2TiO3 particles into insulating silicone oil. Effects of volume fraction (ϕv = 1%, 2%, 5% and 10%) on the microstructure, dielectric, ferroelectric and magnetoelectric coupling effect were comparatively investigated. XRD showed that the pure phase of CCFO and BST particles was successfully prepared. CCFO/BST composite particle shows ferromagnetic behavior due to the contribution of magnetic phase CCFO. The dielectric constant of CCFO/BST composite liquid is about 1/25 of the composite particles, and the dielectric constant value of the composite liquid decreases with increasing the volume fraction because the permittivity of silicone oil is far smaller than that of CCFO/BST composite particles. The relative change of dielectric constant of composite liquid under the action of external magnetic field is greater than that of composite particle due to its mobility of particles in liquid. The values of remnant polarization (Pr), coercive field (Ec) and leakage current of CCFO/BST composite liquid increase monotonically with increasing volume fraction, while excessive volume fraction may result in abnormal phenomenon because of the agglomeration of particles. Magnetic field-induced chain structure of the composite liquid has been observed under a light microscope at a magnification of 200. The maximal magnetoelectric (ME) coupling coefficient is about 89.78 V/(cm Oe), which is obtained in the CCFO/BST composite liquid when the volume fraction is 10%.

Cu0.8Co0.2Fe2O4@Ba0.8Sr0.2TiO3 ceramics (@ stands for core-shell structure) were prepared by the sol-gel method, and the effects of the core size (20 nm, 40 nm, 50 nm, and 70 nm) on the microstructure, electrical properties, magnetic properties, and magnetoelectric coupling were studied. X-ray diffraction patterns show that Cu0.8Co0.2Fe2O4@Ba0.8Sr0.2TiO3 ceramics have a biphasic structure and only a small amount of Ba3Fe32O51 impurity phase exists when the core size is 70 nm. Scanning electron microscopy shows that the surface of all samples is relatively uniform except for a few holes and agglomerations. Transmission electron microscopy revealed an obvious shell-core structure, but the cladding effect became worse as the core size increased. The dielectric constant increases and the dielectric loss decreases with increase of the core size. However, as the core size increases, the change in the dielectric constant of the ceramic samples decreases with application of an external magnetic field. As the core size increases, the ferroelectric properties of the samples are gradually improved, and the ferroelectric properties are relatively good when the core size is 70 nm. The saturation magnetization (Ms), remanent magnetization (Mr), and coercive force (Hc) of the ceramics decrease with increase of the core size. As the core size increases, the magnetic domain switches more easily. The sample with a core size of 70 nm has strong magnetism, and its magnetoelectric coupling coefficient is about 78.14 V/cm·Oe.

Magnetoelectric multiferroic materials have attracted great attention due to their intriguing properties and potential applications. In this paper, (1 − x) Co0.8Cu0.2Fe2O4-xBa0.6Sr0.4TiO3 (x = 0, 0.4, 0.45, 0.475, 0.5, 0.525, 0.55, 1) composites were prepared by the conventional solid-state method combining with a sol–gel process. The effect of x on the microstructure, dielectric and multiferroic properties has been systematically investigated and discussed. The results confirm pure bi-phase Co0.8Cu0.2Fe2O4 and Ba0.6Sr0.4TiO3 composites except for slight impurity phases, which are indexed as BaCuO2/BaFe12O19. All the samples show uniform and relatively smooth surfaces with the mean grain size of ∼ 1.5 μm which decreases slightly with the increase of x, demonstrating the moderating effect of the ferroelectric phase on the grain size. The dielectric constant shows intense dependence on the components and the highest value is obtained when x = 0.525. The ferroelectric loops demonstrate that the coercive field and remnant polarization of the sample x = 0.525 are higher than other samples except for the pure Ba0.6Sr0.4TiO3 specimen at room temperature. The Co0.8Cu0.2Fe2O4 shows better magnetic properties and the performance of magnetization decreases with the decrease of Ba0.6Sr0.4TiO3; meanwhile, the impurity phase and inhomogeneous structure have certain influences on the magnetic properties.

In the present work, Ni0.5Zn0.5Fe2O4/Pb0.8Zr0.2TiO3 nanocomposite with different molar ratio (1: 2, 1: 3, 1: 5, 1: 7) was prepared by hydrothermal method and sol–gel method, and the effect of molar ratio on the microstructure, dielectric and multiferroic properties was systematically investigated. X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy analysis reveal inhomogeneous structures with isolated ferrite embedded into the ferroelectric (FE) matrix. Both the dielectric constant and the loss decrease firstly, and then increase with the increase of molar ratio, which is caused by the different microstructures and the formation of impurity phase. The dielectric resonance peak decreases firstly and then increases with increasing molar ratio, which is based on FE phase transition of Pb0.8Zr0.2TiO3 tuned by the magnetic phase. Among them, the nanocomposite with the molar ratio of 1:5 shows better FE properties and the lowest leakage current density, the saturation polarization, remnant polarization and coercive field are 3.74, 1.51 µC/cm2 and 7.93 kV/cm, respectively, at the measure frequency of 2 kHz. Unexpectedly, the magnetization first decreases and then increase with the increase of molar ratio, this abnormal behavior may be the result of the interface coupling effect between magnetic and FE phases. Also, this high sensitivity of multiferroic properties towards the molar ratio between magnetic and FE phases can be applied to the application in magnetoelectric devices.

Heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) is an inducible and cytoprotective enzyme that provides a defense against oxidant damage. The present study screened 137 HO-1/interacting proteins using a profound co-immunoprecipitation (Co-IP) coupled with proteomics, and profiled the global HO-1 interactome network, including oxidative phosphorylation, endoplasmic reticulum and transport vesicle functions. Among these molecules, we observed that a novel interactor, emopamil-binding protein (EBP), is closely related to the cholesterol metabolism process. This study demonstrated that cholesterol promotes excessive oxidative stress and alters the energy metabolism in cardiomyocytes, further triggering numerous cardiovascular diseases. We observed that cholesterol caused the overexpression of EBP and HO-1 by the activation of AKT and Nrf2/mTOR pathways. In addition, HO-1 and EBP performed a myocardial protective function. The overexpression of HO-1 alleviated the cholesterol-induced excessive oxidative stress status by inhibition of the carbohydrate metabolism. Notably, we also confirmed that the loss of partial HO-1 activity aggravated the oxidative damage and cardiac systolic function induced by a high-fat diet in HO-1 heterozygous (HO-1+/-) mice. These findings indicate that the HO-1/EBP interaction plays a protective role in alleviating the dysfunction of oxidative stress and cardiac systolic function induced by cholesterol stimulation.

In this paper, Co0.5Zn0.5FeCrO4/Ba0.85Ca0.15Zr0.1Ti0.9O3 (CZFC/BCZT) composite ceramics with mass ratios (1:1, 3:1, 5:1, and 7:1) were prepared by solid-solution reaction method combined with sol–gel method. Effects of mass ratios on the microstructure, magnetic, dielectric, and ferroelectric properties were investigated. The CZFC and BCZT phase is verified without any secondary phases by XRD. SEM is used to distinguish the microstructure of CZFC / BCZT composite ceramics, which reveals the porous- and homogeneous structures of specimens. The permittivity of CZFC/BCZT ceramics is strongly dependent on its composition and decreases with the increase of CZFC content. Saturated polarization (Ps) and remnant polarization (Pr) of CZFC / BCZT composite ceramics gradually decline with increasing CZFC content from 1:1 to 5:1. The Ps and Pr values of CZFC / BCZT ceramics increase abnormally at 7:1 due to the larger leakage current caused by the pore. Magnetic properties, including Mr (remnant magnetization), and Ms (saturation magnetization), increase with the increase of CZFC content. The largest Mr (0.67 emu/g) and Ms (0.015 emu/g) are obtained at 7:1.

Ba0.85Ca0.15Zr0.1Ti0.9O3 (BCZT) ceramics with excellent piezoelectric properties and environment friendliness are very potential alternatives for PbZrxTi1−xO3 (PZT) ceramics. The stability and reliability of ferroelectricity and piezoelectricity in BCZT ceramics under cyclic electric field are crucial to its long-term application. Herein, BCZT ceramics were synthesized by sol–gel method and different sintering atmospheres and the influences of sintering atmosphere on the fatigue behaviors of ferroelectric and piezoelectric properties have been investigated. XPS results confirm that the oxygen vacancy concentration of BCZT ceramics sintered in oxygen, air, and nitrogen atmosphere gradually increases. After 106 cycles, the polarization of all BCZT ceramics decreases to some extent and the fatigue resistance of polarization of BCZT ceramics sintered in the air is superior to BCZT ceramics sintered in oxygen and nitrogen atmospheres, which may result from the additional contribution of higher leakage current caused by relatively poor densification of BCZT ceramics sintered in air to polarization. The internal bias field of BCZT ceramics sintered in air, O2 and N2 atmospheres after fatigue decreases, and the reduced amplitude of internal bias field in BCZT ceramics with less oxygen vacancies sintered in air and oxygen atmospheres is obviously higher than that in BCZT ceramics with more oxygen vacancies sintered in nitrogen atmosphere, which is due to the redistribution of oxygen vacancy under the repetition of external electric field. After 106 cycles, the maximum electric field-induced strain and d33* of BCZT ceramics sintered in the air and oxygen atmospheres decrease and that of BCZT ceramics sintered in nitrogen atmosphere increases. The enhanced fatigue resistance of piezoelectric response of BCZT ceramics sintered in nitrogen atmosphere results from the interaction of (100) orientation, grain refinement, and “wake up” effect caused by the repetition of enough external electric field.

Magnetoelectric composite ceramics CoFe2O4–Pb(Zr0.52Ti0.48)O3(CFO-PZT) with different molar ratios (CFO/PZT = 1:4, 1:5, 1:6 and 1:7) were prepared by combining chemical coprecipitation and sol-gel method. The effects of molar ratio on the structure, dielectric and multiferroic properties were investigated. XRD results indicate that the composites show bi-phase structure, which can be indexed as CFO and PZT. SEM and EDS images present that the grain distribution is nonuniform, the average grain size of both CFO and PZT are near 1 μm, while they increase slightly with increasing the molar ratio. The dielectric constant is larger than 2000 in low frequency (

Magnetoelectric composites have attracted much attentions due to their excellent multiferroic properties at room temperature. In this paper, CoFe2O4-PbZr0.52Ti0.48O3 (CFO-PZT) composite ceramics with different molar ratios (CFO/PZT = 1:4, 1:5, 1:6 and 1:7) were prepared by conventional solid reaction method. Effects of molar ratio on the structure, dielectric, ferroelectric and magnetic properties were comparatively investigated. X-ray diffraction patterns confirmed bi-phase structures of the composites, which can be indexed as CFO and PZT, no other obvious phase can be found with the limitation of the XRD resolution. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images show that the surface of the prepared samples is not dense enough and many pores are formed, the mean grain size is about 200 nm. The same relaxation behavior was observed in the intermediate temperature range of PZT-CFO composite ceramics. At room temperature, the dielectric constant and dielectric loss of the specimen 1:4 are the highest. The leakage current of the sample 1:4 is the lowest while the sample 1:6 has the largest value. As the CFO content in the composite decreases, both the saturation (Ms) and the remnant (Mr) magnetization decrease. Among them, the sample 1:4 presents better ferroelectric and magnetic properties, the remnant polarization is 1.13 μC cm−2, the saturation magnetization and remnant magnetization are 11.01 and 3.28 emu g−1, respectively. The sample 1:6 has the largest coercive field (945.27 Oe) while the sample 1:7 show the smallest value (681.19 Oe). Interface interaction between CFO/PZT may be applied to explain this phenomenon.

An increasing amount of evidence indicates that the inhibition of β adrenergic signaling can result in the inhibition of tumor growth. However, the role of propranolol in liver cancer and the underlying mechanism remain to be elucidated. The present study aimed to investigate the role of propranolol in liver cancer cell lines and provide evidence for further clinical study. Propranolol was added at different concentrations to HepG2 and HepG2.2.15 liver cancer cells and HL-7702 normal human liver cells. The proliferation of the cell lines was monitored by live-cell imaging at a range of time intervals. Immunofluorescence using DAPI and Hoechst 33342/propidium iodide (PI) staining, Annexin V-FITC/PI double-staining flow cytometry, western blotting and reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction were used to investigate the effect of propranolol on liver cancer cell apoptosis. The proliferation of HepG2 and HepG2.2.15 cells was inhibited by 40 and 80 µmol/l propranolol. However, the proliferation of HL-7702 cells was not affected by

Background and Aim Recent studies have shown that imbalance between tumor-infiltrating interleukin (IL)-17+ T cells and regulatory T cells (Tregs) is an important regulator of progression in various cancers, but little is known regarding this imbalance in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). This study explored the role of imbalance between IL-17+ T cells and Tregs in the immunopathogenesis of HCC in patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) infection. Methods Fifty-six of patient-matched tumors and peritumoral surgical specimens from 56 patient with HCC and 136 liver biopsies specimens from 46 patients with CHB, 37 with atypical hyperplasia (AH), and 53 with HCC were enrolled. The expressions of IL-17, FoxP3, CD4, and CD8 in liver tissue were measured by immunochemistry for the evaluation of liver-infiltrating lymphocytes. Results The density of liver infiltrated FoxP3+ Tregs was increased in a stepwise manner from CHB to AH then HCC, while there was a decreasing trend for the density of IL-17+ T cells and CD8+ T cells. In surgical specimens of less differentiated HCC, the quantity of tumor-infiltrating FoxP3+ Tregs was significantly lower and IL-17+ T cells and CD8+ T cells were significantly higher. Additionally, peritumoral IL-17+ T cells were increased in poorly differentiated HCC. High intratumoral FoxP3+ Tregs with high intratumoral IL-17+ T cells showed a significantly lower overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) compared with other groups (OS, P = 0.033; DFS, P = 0.004). High intratumoral FoxP3+ Tregs with high peritumoral IL-17+ T cells showed a significantly lower survival rate compared with other groups (OS, P

Organic–inorganic hybrid perovskites with 3D perovskite structure have gained much attention as light harvesting materials in thin-film photovoltaics. This is because of their outstanding light-absorption characteristics, charge-transport dynamics and their simple processability using lab-scale solution and vapor phase deposition techniques. However, the inherent instability and lead toxicity of lead-based PSCs are the major problems at present. Recent studies have shown that the (CH3NH[Formula: see text]Bi2I9 (MBI) 0D bismuth-based compound can be used as an optical absorption layer in solar cells. In this paper, the (CH3NH[Formula: see text]Bi2I9 was doped with Cl− and a series of (CH3NH[Formula: see text]Bi2I[Formula: see text]Clx films were prepared. The effects of different doping amounts on the microstructure, photovoltaic properties and ferroelectric properties were systematically investigated. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) and Atomic force microscope (AFM) analysis showed that with the increase of doping content, the density of the films increased and the roughness decreased. The photoelectric conversion efficiency of (CH3NH[Formula: see text]Bi2I[Formula: see text]Clx raises with the increase of doping content. For example, the photoelectric conversion efficiency of (CH3NH[Formula: see text]Bi2I3Cl6 is 0.473%. We find that the leakage current descends into the increase in doping content, which may be due to the increase in the film density and the decrease of porosity. These research results have a positive effect on the development of Bi-based lead-free perovskite.

Many studies have shown the Na(+)/K(+)-ATPase (NKA) might be a potential target for anticancer therapy. Cardiac glycosides (CGs), as a family of naturally compounds, inhibited the NKA activity. The present study investigates the antitumor effect of ouabain and elucidates the pharmacological mechanisms of CG activity in liver cancer HepG2 cell using SILAC coupled to LC-MS/MS method. Bioinformatics analysis of 330 proteins that were changed in cells under treatment with 0.5 μmol/L ouabain showed that the biological processes are associated with an acute inflammatory response, cell cycle, oxidation reduction, chromosome segregation, and DNA metabolism. We confirmed that ouabain induced chromosome segregation disorder and S-cell cycle block by decreasing the expression of AURKA, SMC2, Cyclin D, and p-CDK1 as well as increasing the expression of p53. We found that the overexpression or inhibition of AURKA significantly reduced or enhanced the ouabain-mediated the anticancer effects. Our findings suggest that AURKA is involved in the anticancer mechanisms of ouabain in HepG2 cells.

Hypoxic status alters the energy metabolism and induces cell injury in cardiomyocytes, and it further triggers the occurrence and development of cardiovascular diseases. Our previous studies have shown that salidroside (SAL) exhibits anti-hypoxic activity. However, the mechanisms remain obscure. In the present study, we successfully screened 92 different expression proteins in CoCl2-induced hypoxic conditions, 106 different expression proteins in the SAL-mediated anti-hypoxic group were compared with the hypoxic group using quantitative proteomics strategy, respectively. We confirmed that SAL showed a positive protective function involving the acetyl-CoA metabolic, tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle using bioinformatics analysis. We also demonstrated that SAL plays a critical role in restoring the TCA cycle and in protecting cardiomyocytes from oxidative injury via up-regulation expressions of PDHE1-B, ACO2, SUCLG1, SUCLG2 and down-regulation of MDH2. SAL also inhibited H9c2 cell apoptosis by inhibiting the activation of pro-apoptotic molecules caspase 3 and caspase 9 as well as activation of the anti-apoptotic molecular Bcl-2. Additionally, SAL also improved mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔΨm), reduced reactive oxygen species (ROS) and intercellular Ca(2+) concentration ([Ca(2+)]i) accumulation and inhibited the excessive consumption of ATP in H9c2 cells.

Background ZFP580 is a novel C2H2 type zinc-finger transcription factor recently identified by our laboratory. We previously showed that ZFP580 may be involved in cell survival and growth. The aim of this study was to elucidate whether ZFP580 is involved in the cardioprotective effects of intermittent high-altitude (IHA) hypoxia against myocardial ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury. Methods and Results After rats were subjected to myocardial ischemia for 30 min followed by reperfusion, ZFP580 expression in the left ventricle was measured. ZFP580 protein expression was found to be up-regulated within 1 h and decreased at 2 h after reperfusion. Comparing normoxic and IHA hypoxia-adapted rats (5000 m, 6 h day−1, 6 weeks) following I/R injury (30 min ischemia and 2 h reperfusion), we found that adaptation to IHA hypoxia attenuated infarct size and plasma leakage of lactate dehydrogenase and creatine kinase-MB. In addition, ZFP580 expression in the myocardium was up-regulated by IHA hypoxia. Consistent with this result, ZFP580 expression was found to be significantly increased in cultured H9c2 myocardial cells in the hypoxic preconditioning group compared with those in the control group following simulated I/R injury (3 h simulated ischemic hypoxia and 2 h reoxygenation). To determine the role of ZFP580 in apoptosis, lentivirus-mediated gene transfection was performed in H9c2 cells 72 h prior to simulated I/R exposure. The results showed that ZFP580 overexpression significantly inhibited I/R-induced apoptosis and caspase-3 activation. H9c2 cells were pretreated with or without PD98059, an inhibitor of ERK1/2 phosphorylation, and Western blot results showed that PD98059 (10 µM) markedly suppressed I/R-induced up-regulation of ZFP580 expression. Conclusions Our findings demonstrate that the cardioprotective effect of IHA hypoxia against I/R injury is mediated via ZFP580, a downstream target of ERK1/2 signaling with anti-apoptotic roles in myocardial cells.

Recent studies have shown that imbalance between tumor-infiltrating interleukin (IL)-17(+) T cells and regulatory T cells (Tregs) is an important regulator of progression in various cancers, but little is known regarding this imbalance in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). This study explored the role of imbalance between IL-17(+) T cells and Tregs in the immunopathogenesis of HCC in patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) infection.Fifty-six of patient-matched tumors and peritumoral surgical specimens from 56 patient with HCC and 136 liver biopsies specimens from 46 patients with CHB, 37 with atypical hyperplasia (AH), and 53 with HCC were enrolled. The expressions of IL-17, FoxP3, CD4, and CD8 in liver tissue were measured by immunochemistry for the evaluation of liver-infiltrating lymphocytes.The density of liver infiltrated FoxP3(+) Tregs was increased in a stepwise manner from CHB to AH then HCC, while there was a decreasing trend for the density of IL-17(+) T cells and CD8(+) T cells. In surgical specimens of less differentiated HCC, the quantity of tumor-infiltrating FoxP3(+) Tregs was significantly lower and IL-17(+) T cells and CD8(+) T cells were significantly higher. Additionally, peritumoral IL-17(+) T cells were increased in poorly differentiated HCC. High intratumoral FoxP3(+) Tregs with high intratumoral IL-17(+) T cells showed a significantly lower overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) compared with other groups (OS, P = 0.033; DFS, P = 0.004). High intratumoral FoxP3(+) Tregs with high peritumoral IL-17(+) T cells showed a significantly lower survival rate compared with other groups (OS, P0.001 and DFS, P0.001).Our findings suggest that intrahepatic IL-17(+) T cells and FoxP3(+) Tregs may cooperate to promote the progression of HCC.

ZNF580 (gene ID 51157), a novel gene encoding a C2H2 (Cys2-His2) zinc-finger transcription factor, may be involved in the maintenance of vascular endothelium homoeostasis. To investigate the physiological role of the transcription factor ZNF580, we screened human foetal brain cDNA library with a yeast two-hybrid system and identified 14 proteins that interact with ZNF580. The interaction between ZNF580 and Smad2 was confirmed by co-immunoprecipitation. Co-localization between endogenous ZNF580 and Smad2 was mainly found in the nuclei of EA.hy926 endothelial cells with immunofluorescence and confocal microscopy. Our results suggest that ZNF580 is a binding partner of Smad2 and is involved in the signal transduction of the TGF-β (transforming growth factor-β) signalling pathway, which provides a basis for additional research to investigate the role of ZNF580 in the maintenance of vascular endothelium homoeostasis and the onset of atherosclerotic diseases.