Oxygen‐redox‐based cathode materials for sodium‐ion batteries (SIBs) have attracted considerable attention in recent years owing to the possibility of delivering additional capacity in the ...high‐voltage region. However, they still suffer from not only fast capacity fading but also poor rate capability. Herein, P2‐Na0.75Li0.15Ni0.15Mn0.7O2 is introduced, an oxygen‐redox‐based layered oxide cathode material for SIBs. The effect of Ni doping on the electrochemical performance is investigated by comparison with Ni‐free P2‐Na0.67Li0.22Mn0.78O2. The Na0.75Li0.15Ni0.15Mn0.7O2 delivers a specific capacity of ≈160 mAh g−1 in the voltage region of 1.5–4.6 V at 0.1 C in Na cells. Combined experiments (galvanostatic cycling, neutron powder diffraction, X‐ray absorption spectroscopy, X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and nuclear magnetic resonance (7Li NMR)) and theoretical studies (density functional theory calculations) confirm that Ni substitution not only increases the operating voltage and decreases voltage hysteresis but also improves the cycling stability by reducing Li migration from transition metal to Na layers. This research demonstrates the effect of Li and Ni co‐doping in P2‐type layered materials and suggests a new strategy of using Mn‐rich cathode materials via oxygen redox with optimization of doping elements for SIBs.
The role of Ni substitution on the structure and electrochemical properties of oxygen‐redox‐based P2‐type Na0.67Li0.22Mn0.78O2 layered cathode materials is investigated. Ni provides not only an increase of the operating voltage and decrease of voltage hysteresis, but also improves the cycling stability by reducing Li migration from transition metal to Na layers.
Adiponectin is known to take part in the regulation of energy metabolism. AdipoRon, an orally-active synthetic adiponectin agonist, binds to both adiponectin receptors (AdipoR)1/R2 and ameliorates ...diabetic complications. Among the lipid metabolites, the ceramide subspecies of sphingolipids have been linked to features of lipotoxicity, including inflammation, cell death, and insulin resistance. We investigated the role of AdipoRon in the prevention and development of type 2 diabetic nephropathy.
AdipoRon (30 mg/kg) was mixed into the standard chow diet and provided to db/db mice (db + AdipoRon, n = 8) and age-matched male db/m mice (dm + AdipoRon, n = 8) from 17 weeks of age for 4 weeks. Control db/db (db cont, n = 8) and db/m mice (dm cont, n = 8) were fed a normal diet of mouse chow.
AdipoRon-fed db/db mice showed a decreased amount of albuminuria and lipid accumulation in the kidney with no significant changes in serum adiponectin, glucose, and body weight. Restoring expression of adiponectin receptor-1 and -2 in the renal cortex was observed in db/db mice with AdipoRon administration. Consistent up-regulation of phospho-Thr172 AMP-dependent kinase (AMPK), peroxisome proliferative-activated receptor α (PPARα), phospho-Thr473 Akt, phospho-Ser79Acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC), and phospho-Ser1177 endothelial NO synthase (eNOS), and down-regulation of protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A), sterol regulatory element-binding protein-1c (SREBP-1c), and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) were associated within the same group. AdipoRon lowered cellular ceramide levels by activation of acid ceramidase, which normalized ceramide to sphingosine-1 phosphate (S1P) ratio. In glomerular endothelial cells (GECs) and podocytes, AdipoRon treatment markedly decreased palmitate-induced lipotoxicity, which ultimately ameliorated oxidative stress and apoptosis.
AdipoRon may prevent lipotoxicity in the kidney particularly in both GECs and podocytes through an improvement in lipid metabolism, as shown by the ratio of ceramide to sphingosines, and further contribute to prevent deterioration of renal function, independent of the systemic effects of adiponectin. The reduction in oxidative stress and apoptosis by AdipoRon provides protection against renal damage, thereby ameliorating endothelial dysfunction in type 2 diabetic nephropathy.
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•Superfluous ceramide via decrease in acid ceramidase activity causes lipotoxicity.•Adiponectin and adiponectin receptors potentially increase ceramidase activity.•AdipoRon ameliorated renal lipotoxicity by AdipoR1-AMPK and AdipoR2-PPARα pathway.•AdipoRon is a promising tool for treatment of diabetic nephropathy in type 2 DM.
Mass spectrometry (MS) based proteomics is widely used for biomarker discovery. However, often, most biomarker candidates from discovery are discarded during the validation processes. Such ...discrepancies between biomarker discovery and validation are caused by several factors, mainly due to the differences in analytical methodology and experimental conditions. Here, we generated a peptide library which allows discovery of biomarkers in the equal settings as the validation process, thereby making the transition from discovery to validation more robust and efficient. The peptide library initiated with a list of 3393 proteins detectable in the blood from public databases. For each protein, surrogate peptides favorable for detection in mass spectrometry was selected and synthesized. A total of 4683 synthesized peptides were spiked into neat serum and plasma samples to check their quantifiability in a 10 min liquid chromatography-MS/MS run time. This led to the PepQuant library, which is composed of 852 quantifiable peptides that cover 452 human blood proteins. Using the PepQuant library, we discovered 30 candidate biomarkers for breast cancer. Among the 30 candidates, nine biomarkers, FN1, VWF, PRG4, MMP9, CLU, PRDX6, PPBP, APOC1, and CHL1 were validated. By combining the quantification values of these markers, we generated a machine learning model predicting breast cancer, showing an average area under the curve of 0.9105 for the receiver operating characteristic curve.
During viral infections, chemokines guide activated effector T cells to infection sites. However, the cells responsible for producing these chemokines and how such chemokines recruit T cells are ...unknown. Here, we show that the early recruitment of neutrophils into influenza-infected trachea is essential for CD8(+) T cell-mediated immune protection in mice. We observed that migrating neutrophils leave behind long-lasting trails that are enriched in the chemokine CXCL12. Experiments with granulocyte-specific CXCL12 conditionally depleted mice and a CXCR4 antagonist revealed that CXCL12 derived from neutrophil trails is critical for virus-specific CD8(+) T cell recruitment and effector functions. Collectively, these results suggest that neutrophils deposit long-lasting, chemokine-containing trails, which may provide both chemotactic and haptotactic cues for efficient CD8(+) T cell migration and localization in influenza-infected tissues.
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•Zwitterion-functionalized graphene oxide was used as a nanofiller for ultrafiltration membrane.•Cysteine was functionalized on the surface of graphene oxide (CGO) through a simple ...thiol-ene click reaction.•A series of polyethersulfone nanocomposite membranes were fabricated using very small amount of CGO (CGO-Ms).•The CGO-Ms exhibited enhanced surface hydrophilicity and negative charge.•The CGO-Ms showed improved ultrafiltration performance due to their zwtterionic moiety.
Polyethersulfone (PES) membranes containing cysteine-functionalized graphene oxide (CGO) were prepared to enhance the ultrafiltration performance such as water flux and antifouling property. The synthesis of CGO was achieved through a simple thiol-ene click reaction between graphene oxide and cysteine. Since CGO has a zwitterionic moiety, it was observed to improve the hydrophilicity and negative charge of the membranes. The results of the ultrafiltration test showed that the separation performance of the prepared CGO/PES nanocomposite membranes was much better than that of the pristine PES membrane. For example, the CGO/PES nanocomposite membrane with 0.5wt.% CGO content has the pure water flux and BSA rejection values of 82.6Lm−2h−1 and 99.8%, respectively, while the pristine PES membrane has these values of 51.7Lm−2h−1 and 96.7%, respectively, indicating that the addition of CGO successfully improves the separation performance of PES-based membrane by overcoming the intrinsic trade-off relationship between permeability and selectivity. Furthermore, CGO/PES nanocomposite membranes also showed much better antifouling property than the pristine PES membrane. For example, the flux recovery ratio of the CGO/PES nanocomposite membrane with 0.5wt.% CGO content is 92.1%, while that of the pristine PES membrane is only 47.5%.
Irreversible phase transformation of layered structure into spinel structure is considered detrimental for most of the layered structure cathode materials. Here we report that this presumably ...irreversible phase transformation can be rendered to be reversible in sodium birnessite (Na
MnO
·yH
O) as a basic structural unit. This layered structure contains crystal water, which facilitates the formation of a metastable spinel-like phase and the unusual reversal back to layered structure. The mechanism of this phase reversibility was elucidated by combined soft and hard X-ray absorption spectroscopy with X-ray diffraction, corroborated by first-principle calculations and kinetics investigation. These results show that the reversibility, modulated by the crystal water content between the layered and spinel-like phases during the electrochemical reaction, could activate new cation sites, enhance ion diffusion kinetics and improve its structural stability. This work thus provides in-depth insights into the intercalating materials capable of reversible framework changes, thereby setting the precedent for alternative approaches to the development of cathode materials for next-generation rechargeable batteries.
Graphene oxides coated by tannic acid (GOT) can be obtained easily by the self-polymerization of tannic acid in basic buffer solution on a graphene oxide surface. Polyamide reverse osmosis ...nanocomposite membranes containing GOT in the active layer were prepared by the interfacial polymerization using an organic solution containing trimesoyl chloride and an aqueous solution containing m-phenylene diamine and GOT. The polyamide membrane containing GOT (PA-GOT) showed significantly improved performances such as water flux, chlorine resistance, and antimicrobial properties, compared to the polyamide membrane without any additives and the polyamide membranes containing only tannic acid and/or graphene oxide. These high performances of PA-GOT membrane could be ascribed to a various of advantageous properties of GOT such as improved hydrophilicity, oxidative stress capability, barrier property, and compatibility with the polymer matrix.
Polyamide nanocomposite membrane containing graphene oxide coated by natural polyphenol, tannic acid exhibits much improved chlorine-resistant and antimicrobial properties. These improvements originate from the synergistic combinations of tannic acid and graphene oxide, which can increase the oxidative stress capacity, barrier properties, and radical scavenging ability.
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•The surface of graphene oxide (GO) was modified by natural polyphenol, tannic acid (TA).•The modification of GO was simple and eco-friendly.•The GO coated by TA (GOT) was incorporated in polyamide reverse osmosis membrane via interfacial polymerization.•The polyamide membrane containing GOT (PA-GOT membrane) exhibited improved membrane performance such as water flux, chlorine-resistant properties, and antimicrobial properties.•The high performance of PA-GOT membrane was ascribed to the synergistic combination of TA and GO in GOT.
Bioink based 3D bioprinting is a promising new technology that enables fabrication of complex tissue structures with living cells. The printability of the bioink depends on the physical properties ...such as viscosity. However, the high viscosity bioink puts shear stress on the cells and low viscosity bioink cannot maintain complex tissue structure firmly after the printing. In this work, we applied dual crosslinkable bioink using Kappa-carrageenan (κ-CA) to overcome existing shortcomings. κ-CA has properties such as biocompatibility, biodegradability, shear-thinning and ionic gelation but the difficulty of controlling gelation properties makes it unsuitable for application in 3D bioprinting. This problem was solved by synthesizing methacrylated Kappa-carrageenan (MA-κ-CA), which can be dual crosslinked through ionic and UV (Ultraviolet) crosslinking to form hydrogel using NIH-3T3 cells. Through MA substitutions, the rheological properties of the gel could be controlled to reduce the shear stress. Moreover, bioprinting using the cell-laden MA-κ-CA showed cell compatibility with enhanced shape retention capability. The potential to control the physical properties through dual crosslinking of MA-κ-CA hydrogel is expected to be widely applied in 3D bioprinting applications.
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