Crystalline and porous covalent organic frameworks (COFs) and metal‐organic frameworks (MOFs) materials have attracted enormous attention in the field of photocatalytic H2 evolution due to their ...long‐range order structures, large surface areas, outstanding visible light absorbance, and tunable band gaps. In this work, we successfully integrated two‐dimensional (2D) COF with stable MOF. By covalently anchoring NH2‐UiO‐66 onto the surface of TpPa‐1‐COF, a new type of MOF/COF hybrid materials with high surface area, porous framework, and high crystallinity was synthesized. The resulting hierarchical porous hybrid materials show efficient photocatalytic H2 evolution under visible light irradiation. Especially, NH2‐UiO‐66/TpPa‐1‐COF (4:6) exhibits the maximum photocatalytic H2 evolution rate of 23.41 mmol g−1 h−1 (with the TOF of 402.36 h−1), which is approximately 20 times higher than that of the parent TpPa‐1‐COF and the best performance photocatalyst for H2 evolution among various MOF‐ and COF‐based photocatalysts.
Effective separation: A novel MOF/COF hybrid material assembled by covalent connecting two components, exhibits effective visible‐light‐driven photocatalytic H2 evolution due to the ideal band matching and effectively promoting the separation of the photogenerated charges and holes.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
Selective macroautophagy of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and the nucleus, known as ER-phagy and nucleophagy, respectively, are processes whose mechanisms remain inadequately understood. Through an ...imaging-based screen, we find that in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe, Yep1 (also known as Hva22 or Rop1), the ortholog of human REEP1-4, is essential for ER-phagy and nucleophagy but not for bulk autophagy. In the absence of Yep1, the initial phase of ER-phagy and nucleophagy proceeds normally, with the ER-phagy/nucleophagy receptor Epr1 coassembling with Atg8. However, ER-phagy/nucleophagy cargos fail to reach the vacuole. Instead, nucleus- and cortical-ER-derived membrane structures not enclosed within autophagosomes accumulate in the cytoplasm. Intriguingly, the outer membranes of nucleus-derived structures remain continuous with the nuclear envelope-ER network, suggesting a possible outer membrane fission defect during cargo separation from source compartments. We find that the ER-phagy role of Yep1 relies on its abilities to self-interact and shape membranes and requires its C-terminal amphipathic helices. Moreover, we show that human REEP1-4 and budding yeast Atg40 can functionally substitute for Yep1 in ER-phagy, and Atg40 is a divergent ortholog of Yep1 and REEP1-4. Our findings uncover an unexpected mechanism governing the autophagosomal enclosure of ER-phagy/nucleophagy cargos and shed new light on the functions and evolution of REEP family proteins.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Graphene oxide (GO), which has many oxygen functional groups, is a promising candidate for use in moisture‐responsive sensors and actuators due to the strong water–GO interaction and the ultrafast ...transport of water molecules within the stacked GO sheets. In the last 5 years, moisture‐responsive actuators based on GO have shown distinct advantages over other stimuli‐responsive materials and devices. Particularly, inspired by nature organisms, various moisture‐enabled soft robots have been successfully developed via rational assembly of the GO‐based actuators. Herein, the milestones in the development of moisture‐responsive soft robots based on GO are summarized. In addition, the working mechanisms, design principles, current achievement, and prospects are also comprehensively reviewed. In particular, the GO‐based soft robots are at the forefront of the advancement of automatable smart devices.
In recent years, moisture‐responsive actuators based on graphene oxide (GO) have revealed a series of distinct advantages over other stimuli‐responsive materials and devices. In this research news, the milestones in moisture‐responsive soft robots based on the GO, including working mechanisms, design principles, current achievement, and prospects, are comprehensively reviewed.
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FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
Spore killers in fungi are selfish genetic elements that distort Mendelian segregation in their favor. It remains unclear how many species harbor them and how diverse their mechanisms are. Here, we ...discover two spore killers from a natural isolate of the fission yeast
. Both killers belong to the previously uncharacterized
gene family with 25 members in the reference genome. These two killers act in strain-background-independent and genome-location-independent manners to perturb the maturation of spores not inheriting them. Spores carrying one killer are protected from its killing effect but not that of the other killer. The killing and protecting activities can be uncoupled by mutation. The numbers and sequences of
genes vary considerably between
isolates, indicating rapid divergence. We propose that
genes contribute to the extensive intraspecific reproductive isolation in
, and represent ideal models for understanding how segregation-distorting elements act and evolve.
The tensile strength of loess is closely related to geological disasters. As eco-friendly materials, biopolymers have an excellent strengthening effect on the mechanical properties of soil. The ...effect of different initial dry densities and xanthan gum (XG) contents on the microstructure and mechanical behavior of XG-treated loess was studied with a series of microscopic tests and splitting tensile tests based on the particle image velocimetry technique. The results show that the XG became concentrated and agglomerated during dehydration, forming bridge links between soil particles and covering their surfaces. The XG-treated loess had a significant concentration of micropores and mesopores, with greater peak pore size distribution values than untreated loess. The specimens' load-displacement curves with different XG contents and initial dry densities showed strain-softening. The displacement vector field indicated that specimens' primary cracks were radial-vertical, and the secondary cracks were well-developed. The strain-softening phenomenon was more significant with increased XG content and initial dry density, and the specimens' splitting tensile strength and brittleness increased. XG treatment gave the soils stronger cementation and a denser structure, helping to increase strength and brittleness. This research provides a scientific basis and practical experience for applying XG in geotechnical engineering.
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IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
Solar interfacial evaporation has been recognized as a versatile energy conversion protocol for cutting-edge applications such as water treatment and power generation (e.g., hydro voltaic effect). ...Recently, to enhance water evaporation rates, water temperature and evaporation area have been considered as essential ingredients, and thus photothermal materials and three-dimensional hierarchical structures have been developed to promote light-to-heat conversion efficiency and enhance interfacial evaporation. However, less attention has been paid to the airflow effect, because the interfacial floatability of photothermal membranes should be considered under air blast. Here, inspired from the stable interfacial floatability of lotus leaves, we report the airflow enhanced solar interfacial evaporation approach using a graphene-based Janus membrane. Laser-induced graphene (LIG) film was treated unilaterally by O
plasma, forming a LIG/oxidized LIG (LIG-O) Janus membrane with distinct wettability on two sides. Higher water evaporation rate of 1.512 kg m
h
is achieved. The high solar interfacial evaporation performance can be attributed to the two advantages: (i) the combination of microscale capillary water transporting and nanoscale light trapping; (ii) hydrophobic/hydrophilic Janus membrane for stable interfacial floatability under airflow. Our approach is feasible for developing high-performance solar interfacial evaporation devices for practical clean energy utilization.
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IJS, KILJ, NUK, PNG, UL, UM
Background
The prognostic significance of preoperative plasma fibrinogen in patients with operable gastric cancer remains under debate. This study aimed to elucidate the prognostic value of ...fibrinogen in gastric cancer patients underwent gastrectomy.
Methods
A total of 4351 patients with gastric cancer collected from three comprehensive medical centers were retrospectively evaluated. Patients were categorized by minimum
P
value using X-tile, while the baseline confounders for fibrinogen was balanced through propensity score matching (PSM). The relationships between fibrinogen and other clinicopathologic features were evaluated, and nomogram was constructed to assess its prognostic improvement compared with TNM staging system.
Results
Fibrinogen was significantly correlated with macroscopic type, tumor differentiation, tumor size, and T and N stage. The factors, fibrinogen and T stage as well as N stage, were identified to be independent prognostic factors after PSM. Nomogram based on fibrinogen demonstrated a smaller Akaike information criterion (AIC) and a larger concordance index (C-index) than TNM staging system, illustrating that fibrinogen might be able to improve the prognostic accuracy.
Conclusions
Preoperative plasma fibrinogen levels in gastric cancer patients were significantly correlated with tumor progression, which could be regarded as a reliable marker for survival prognostic prediction.
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EMUNI, FZAB, GEOZS, GIS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OBVAL, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
Autophagic degradation of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER-phagy) is triggered by ER stress in diverse organisms. However, molecular mechanisms governing ER stress-induced ER-phagy remain insufficiently ...understood. Here we report that ER stress-induced ER-phagy in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe requires Epr1, a soluble Atg8-interacting ER-phagy receptor. Epr1 localizes to the ER through interacting with integral ER membrane proteins VAPs. Bridging an Atg8-VAP association is the main ER-phagy role of Epr1, as it can be bypassed by an artificial Atg8-VAP tether. VAPs contribute to ER-phagy not only by tethering Atg8 to the ER membrane, but also by maintaining the ER-plasma membrane contact. Epr1 is upregulated during ER stress by the unfolded protein response (UPR) regulator Ire1. Loss of Epr1 reduces survival against ER stress. Conversely, increasing Epr1 expression suppresses the ER-phagy defect and ER stress sensitivity of cells lacking Ire1. Our findings expand and deepen the molecular understanding of ER-phagy.
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•Epr1 is a soluble ER-phagy receptor critical for ER stress-induced ER-phagy•The main role of Epr1 is to bridge the association between Atg8 and VAPs•VAP-mediated ER-plasma membrane contact is important for ER stress-induced ER-phagy•UPR regulator Ire1 contributes to ER stress-induced ER-phagy by upregulating Epr1
Zhao et al. show that the fission yeast protein Epr1 confers resistance to ER stress by promoting the autophagic degradation of the ER (ER-phagy). Epr1 acts as a bridging molecule to mediate the association between Atg8 on the autophagic membrane and the integral membrane proteins VAPs on the ER.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Both methane (CH4) and acetylene (C2H2) are important energy source and raw chemicals in many industrial processes. The development of an energy-efficient and environmentally friendly separation and ...purification strategy for CH4 and C2H2 is necessary. Ultramicroporous metal–organic framework (MOF) materials have shown great success in the separation and purification of small-molecule gases. Herein, the synergy effect of tritopic polytetrazolate and ditopic terephthalate ligands successfully generates a series of isoreticular ultramicroporous cadmium tetrazolate–carboxylate MOF materials (SNNU-13–16) with excellent CH4 and C2H2 purification performance. Except for the uncoordinated tetrazolate N atoms serving as Lewis base sites, the pore size and pore surface of MOFs are systematically engineered by regulating dicarboxylic acid ligands varying from OH-BDC (SNNU-13) to Br-BDC (SNNU-14) to NH2-BDC (SNNU-15) to 1,4-NDC (SNNU-16). Benefiting from the ultramicroporous character (3.8–5.9 Å), rich Lewis base N sites, and tunable pore environments, all of these ultramicroporous MOFs exhibit a prominent separation capacity for carbon dioxide (CO2) or C2 hydrocarbons from CH4 and C2H2. Remarkably, SNNU-16 built by 1,4-NDC shows the highest ideal adsorbed solution theory CO2/CH4, ethylene (C2H4)/CH4, and C2H2/CH4 separation selectivity values, which are higher than those of most famous MOFs with or without open metal sites. Dynamic breakthrough experiments show that SNNU-16 can also efficiently separate the C2H2/CO2 mixtures with a gas flow rate of 4 mL min–1 under 1 bar and 298 K. The breakthrough time (18 min g–1) surpasses most best-gas-separation MOFs and nearly all other metal azolate–carboxylate MOF materials under the same conditions. The above prominently CH4 and C2H2 purification abilities of SNNU-13–16 materials were further confirmed by the Grand Canonical Monte Carlo (GCMC) simulations.
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IJS, KILJ, NUK, PNG, UL, UM
Moisture-responsive actuators based on graphene oxide (GO) have attracted intensive research interest in recent years. However, current GO actuators suffer from low mechanical strength. Inspired by ...the robustness of nacre's structure, moisture-responsive actuators with high mechanical strength and self-healing properties were successfully developed based on GO and cellulose fiber (CF) hybrids. The hybrid paper demonstrated significantly improved tensile strength, ∼20 times higher than that of pure GO paper, and self-healing properties. A broken paper can be well cured under moist conditions, and the mechanical properties of the self-healed hybrid paper can still maintain similar tensile strength to the pristine one. After controllable ultraviolet light photoreduction treatment, a hybrid paper with a photoreduction gradient along the normal direction was prepared, which can act as a moisture-responsive actuator. A maximum bending curvature of ∼1.48 cm
−1
can be achieved under high relative humidity (RH = 97%). As a proof-of-concept, a butterfly-like actuator that can deform itself with moisture actuation was demonstrated. Our approach may pave a new way for designing robust and self-healable graphene actuators.
Inspired by the robustness of nacre's structure, moisture-responsive actuators with high mechanical strength and self-healing properties were successfully developed based on graphene oxide and cellulose fiber hybrids.
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