The electrochemical nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR) is a promising strategy of nitrogen fixation into ammonia under ambient conditions. However, the development of electrochemical NRR is highly ...bottlenecked by the expensive noble metal catalysts. As a representative 2D nonmetallic material, black phosphorus (BP) has the valence electron structure similar to nitrogen, which can effectively adsorb the inactive nitrogen molecule and activate its triple bond. In addition, the relatively weak hydrogen adsorption can restrict the competitive and vigorous hydrogen evolution reaction. Herein, ultrafine BP quantum dots (QDs) are prepared via liquid‐phase exfoliation and then assembled on catalytically active MnO2 nanosheets through van der Waals interactions. The obtained BP QDs/MnO2 catalyst demonstrates admirable synergetic effects in electrochemical NRR. The monodisperse BP QDs providing major activity manifest excellent ammonia production steadily with high selectivity, which benefits from the robust confinement of the BP QDs on the wrinkled MnO2 nanosheets with decent activity. A high ammonia yield rate of 25.3 µg h−1 mgcat.−1 and faradic efficiency of 6.7% can be achieved at −0.5 V (vs RHE) in 0.1 m Na2SO4 electrolyte, which are dramatically superior to either component. The isotopic labelling and other control tests further exclude the external contamination possibility and attest the genuine activity.
Monodisperse black phosphorus quantum dots exfoliated from bulk phase are elaborately confined on wrinkled MnO2 nanosheets via facile van der Waals interactions. The consequent double‐active BP QDs/MnO2 composite as electrochemical nitrogen reduction reaction catalyst demonstrates superior synergy effect, revealing admirable activity, selectivity, stability, and durability.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
An aerosol‐spray‐assisted approach (ASAA) is proposed and confirmed as a precisely controllable and continuous method to fabricate amorphous mixed metal oxides for electrochemical water splitting. ...The proportion of metal elements can be accurately controlled to within (5±5) %. The products can be sustainably obtained, which is highly suitable for industrial applications. ASAA was used to show that Fe6Ni10Ox is the best catalyst among the investigated Fe‐Ni‐Ox series with an overpotential of as low as 0.286 V (10 mA cm−2) and a Tafel slope of 48 mV/decade for the electrochemical oxygen evolution reaction. Therefore, this work contributes a versatile, continuous, and reliable way to produce and optimize amorphous metal oxide catalysts.
Spraying out catalysts: An aerosol‐spray‐assisted route with metal salts is a reliable route to identify amorphous metal oxide catalysts for electrochemical water splitting. The composition of the products can be precisely controlled from the precursor solution. The catalysts can be continuously collected at a rate of about 0.1 g h−1 from a single home‐made device, and this method is thus scalable and suitable for industrial applications.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
Abstract
TLR4 signaling plays key roles in the innate immune response to microbial infection. Innate immune cells encounter different mechanical cues in both health and disease to adapt their ...behaviors. However, the impact of mechanical sensing signals on TLR4 signal-mediated innate immune response remains unclear. Here we show that TLR4 signalling augments macrophage bactericidal activity through the mechanical sensor Piezo1. Bacterial infection or LPS stimulation triggers assembly of the complex of Piezo1 and TLR4 to remodel F-actin organization and augment phagocytosis, mitochondrion-phagosomal ROS production and bacterial clearance and genetic deficiency of Piezo1 results in abrogation of these responses. Mechanistically, LPS stimulates TLR4 to induce Piezo1-mediated calcium influx and consequently activates CaMKII-Mst1/2-Rac axis for pathogen ingestion and killing. Inhibition of CaMKII or knockout of either Mst1/2 or Rac1 results in reduced macrophage bactericidal activity, phenocopying the Piezo1 deficiency. Thus, we conclude that TLR4 drives the innate immune response via Piezo1 providing critical insight for understanding macrophage mechanophysiology and the host response.
Reactive oxygen species (ROS) production in phagocytes is a major defense mechanism against pathogens. However, the cellular self-protective mechanism against such potential damage from oxidative ...stress remains unclear. Here we show that the kinases Mst1 and Mst2 (Mst1/2) sense ROS and maintain cellular redox balance by modulating the stability of antioxidant transcription factor Nrf2. Site-specific ROS release recruits Mst1/2 from the cytosol to the phagosomal or mitochondrial membrane, with ROS subsequently activating Mst1/2 to phosphorylate kelch like ECH associated protein 1 (Keap1) and prevent Keap1 polymerization, thereby blocking Nrf2 ubiquitination and degradation to protect cells against oxidative damage. Treatment with the antioxidant N-acetylcysteine disrupts ROS-induced interaction of Mst1/2 with phagosomes or mitochondria, and thereby diminishes the Mst-Nrf2 signal. Consistently, loss of Mst1/2 results in increased oxidative injury, phagocyte ageing and death. Thus, our results identify the Mst-Nrf2 axis as an important ROS-sensing and antioxidant mechanism during an antimicrobial response.
The bat algorithm (BA) has fast convergence, a simple structure, and strong search ability. However, the standard BA has poor local search ability in the late evolution stage because it references ...the historical speed; its population diversity also declines rapidly. Moreover, since it lacks a mutation mechanism, it easily falls into local optima. To improve its performance, this paper develops a hybrid approach to improving its evolution mechanism, local search mechanism, mutation mechanism, and other mechanisms. First, the quantum computing mechanism (QCM) is used to update the searching position in the BA to improve its global convergence. Secondly, the X-condition cloud generator is used to help individuals with better fitness values to increase the rate of convergence, with the sorting of individuals after a particular number of iterations; the individuals with poor fitness values are used to implement a 3D cat mapping chaotic disturbance mechanism to increase population diversity and thereby enable the BA to jump out of a local optimum. Thus, a hybrid optimization algorithm—the chaotic cloud quantum bats algorithm (CCQBA)—is proposed. To test the performance of the proposed CCQBA, it is compared with alternative algorithms. The evaluation functions are nine classical comparative functions. The results of the comparison demonstrate that the convergent accuracy and convergent speed of the proposed CCQBA are significantly better than those of the other algorithms. Thus, the proposed CCQBA represents a better method than others for solving complex problems.
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EMUNI, FIS, FZAB, GEOZS, GIS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
A bifunctional evolution reaction (OER) and oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) electrocatalysts are developed, based on codoped mesoporous carbon microspheres from ecofriendly biomass of eggs without ...the introduction of extrinsic dopants, via a facile and high‐throughput spray‐drying process. The obtained egg‐derived mesoporous carbon microspheres (egg‐CMS) present large specific surface area and high pore volume, as well as abundant dopant types including nitrogen, phosphorous, and iron that are originated from the innate protein and small organic molecule contents. When fabricated as OER or ORR catalysts, these egg‐CMS exhibit low onset potentials, high current densities, small Tafel slopes, and excellent stabilities. As a proof‐of‐concept, a rechargeable Zn‐air battery is demonstrated using the high‐active egg‐CMS as a bifunctional OER and ORR catalyst, suggesting the capability of utilizing full biomass materials for efficient energy storage and utilization.
Codoped mesoporous carbon microspheres (egg‐CMS) with large surface area, pore volume, and abundant dopants are synthesized based on biomass eggs, without extrinsic dopants via a spray‐dry approach. The egg‐derived egg‐CMS exhibits high oxygen reduction reaction and oxygen evolution reaction activities as bifunctional catalysts, and is successfully applied in rechargeable Zn‐air batteries.
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FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
Chronic inflammation is a feature of pancreatic cancer, but little is known about how immune cells or immune cell-related signals affect pancreatic cancer stemness and development. Our previous work ...showed that IL22/IL22RA1 plays a vital role in acute and chronic pancreatitis progression by mediating cross-talk between immune cells and acinar cells or stellate cells, respectively. Here, we find IL22RA1 is highly but heterogeneously expressed in pancreatic cancer cells, with high expression associated with poor prognosis of patients with pancreatic cancer. The IL22RA1
population from pancreatic cancer harbored higher stemness potential and tumorigenicity. Notably, IL22 promoted pancreatic cancer stemness via IL22RA1/STAT3 signaling, establishing the mechanism of regulation of cancer stemness by microenvironmental factors. Moreover, STAT3 was indispensable for the maintenance of IL22RA1
cells. Overall, these findings provide a therapeutic strategy for patients with PDAC with high expression of IL22RA1.
IL22RA1/STAT3 signaling enhances stemness and tumorigenicity in pancreatic cancer.
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•A novel floating platform motion forecasting model is proposed.•A novel chaotic efficient bat algorithm is proposed to receive optimized parameter.•The ensemble empirical mode decomposition ...algorithm is proposed to decompose floating platform motion data.•The proposed hybrid kernel based support vector regression model receives higher forecasting accuracy.
This paper presents a model for forecasting the motion of a floating platform with satisfactory forecasting accuracy. First, owing to the complex nonlinear characteristics of a time series of floating platform motion data, a support vector regression model with a hybrid kernel function is used to simulate the motion of a floating platform. Second, the proposed chaotic efficient bat algorithm, based on the chaotic, niche search, and evolution mechanisms, is used to optimize the parameters of the hybrid kernel-based support vector regression model. Third, the ensemble empirical mode decomposition algorithm is utilized to decompose the original floating platform motion time series into a series of intrinsic mode functions and residuals. The ultimate forecasting results are obtained by summing the outputs of these functions. Subsequently, motion data for a real floating platform are used to evaluate the reliability and effectiveness of the proposed model.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
The Hippo signaling pathway has been established as a key regulator of organ size control, tumor suppression, and tissue regeneration in multiple organisms. Recently, emerging evidence has indicated ...that Hippo signaling might play an important role in regulating the immune system in both Drosophila and mammals. In particular, patients bearing a loss-of-function mutation of MST1 are reported to have an autosomal recessive primary immunodeficiency syndrome. MST1/2 kinases, the mammalian orthologs of Drosophila Hippo, may activate the non-canonical Hippo signaling pathway via MOB1A/B and/or NDR1/2 or cross-talk with other essential signaling pathways to regulate both innate and adaptive immunity. In this review, we present and discuss recent findings of cellular mechanisms/functions of Hippo signaling in the innate immunity in Drosophila and in mammals, T cell immunity, as well as the implications of Hippo signaling for tumor immunity.
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EMUNI, FIS, FZAB, GEOZS, GIS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
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