Ferroptosis, a newfound non-apoptotic cell death pathway, results from the accumulation of iron-dependent lipid peroxide (LPO). Recently, emerging iron-based nanomaterials have been extensively ...developed to induce Fenton reaction-dependent ferroptosis for cancer therapy. However, insufficient amount of H2O2 and limited acidity of tumor could not satisfy the optimal conditions for Fenton reaction, which extremely limited the efficacy of ferroptosis therapy. Herein, we report a novel glutathione (GSH) and iron redox couple sequentially triggered LPO generator (LPOgener) which can directly supply the Fenton reaction-independent downstream executioner of ferroptosis for cancer therapy. By harnessing GSH-mediated Fe3+ reduction and the well-established iron redox couple-mediated lipid peroxidation, LPOgener was constructed by complete ferric ammonium citrate (FAC) and unsaturated lipids-rich phosphatidylcholine, and formed as FAC loaded liposome. The Fe3+ encapsulated in LPOgener could be efficiently reduced to Fe2+ under high GSH level in tumor cells. Subsequently, the formed iron redox couple could trigger overwhelming lipid peroxidation for Fenton reaction-independent ferroptosis. Superior anticancer therapeutic effect with little systemic toxicity demonstrated that LPOgener was a potent ferroptosis-inducing agent for cancer therapy. Therefore, to directly supply the druglike, easily prepared, GSH and iron redox couple sequentially triggered LPOgener would provide a new direction in designing strategies for ferroptosis therapy.
Display omitted
Ferrocene and its derivatives, especially ferrocene‐based coordination polymers (Fc‐CPs), offer the benefits of high thermal stability, two stable redox states, fast electron transfer, and excellent ...charge/discharge efficiency, thus holding great promise for electrochemical applications. Herein, we describe the synthesis and electrochemical applications of Fc‐CPs and reveal how the incorporation of ferrocene units into coordination polymers containing other metals results in unprecedented properties. Moreover, we discuss the usage of Fc‐CPs in supercapacitors, batteries, and sensors as well as further applications of these polymers, for example in electrocatalysts, water purification systems, adsorption/storage systems.
Iron strength: The incorporation of ferrocene as an organometallic building block into coordination polymers containing other metals to impart certain properties can afford attractive structures denoted as ferrocene‐based coordination polymers. This Review focuses on the synthesis and electrochemical applications (e. g., supercapacitors, batteries, electrosensors, and electrocatalysts) of these coordination polymers.
Nonfullerene (NF) organic solar cells (OSCs) have been attracting significant attention in the past several years. It is still challenging to achieve high‐performance flexible NF OSCs. NF acceptors ...are chemically reactive and tend to react with the low‐temperature‐processed low‐work‐function (low‐WF) interfacial layers, such as polyethylenimine ethoxylated (PEIE), which leads to the “S” shape in the current‐density characteristics of the cells. In this work, the chemical interaction between the NF active layer and the polymer interfacial layer of PEIE is deactivated by increasing its protonation. The PEIE processed from aqueous solution shows more protonated N+ than that processed from isopropyl alcohol solution, observed from X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy. NF solar cells (active layer: PCE‐10:IEICO‐4F) with the protonated PEIE interfacial layer show an efficiency of 13.2%, which is higher than the reference cells with a ZnO interlayer (12.6%). More importantly, the protonated PEIE interfacial layer processed from aqueous solution does not require a further thermal annealing treatment (only processing at room temperature). The room‐temperature processing and effective WF reduction enable the demonstration of high‐performance (12.5%) flexible NF OSCs.
Protonation of polyethylenimine ethoxylated (PEIE) can effectively passivate the chemical reaction between the PEIE and a nonfullerene (NF) active layer. As a result, the PEIE can work very efficiently as a low‐work‐function interface for NF solar cells. These flexible solar cells exhibit power conversion efficiency up to 12.5% with a room‐temperature‐processed PEIE interface.
Dietary fibre has beneficial effects on energy metabolism, and the majority of studies have focused on short-chain fatty acids produced by gut microbiota. Ginseng has been reported to aid in body ...weight management, however, its mechanism of action is not yet clear. In this study, we focused on the potential modulating effect of ginseng on gut microbiota, aiming to identify specific strains and their metabolites, especially long-chain fatty acids (LCFA), which mediate the anti-obesity effects of ginseng.
Db/db mice were gavaged with ginseng extract (GE) and the effects of GE on gut microbiota were evaluated using 16S rDNA-based high throughput sequencing. To confirm the candidate fatty acids, untargeted metabolomics analyses of the serum and medium samples were performed.
We demonstrated that GE can induce
, which can produce an unsaturated LCFA, myristoleic acid (MA). Our results indicate that
and its metabolite MA can reduce adiposity by brown adipose tissue (BAT) activation and beige fat formation. In addition, the gene of
encoding Acyl-CoA thioesterases (ACOTs) exhibited the biosynthetic potential to synthesise MA, as knockdown (KD) of the ACOT gene by CRISPR-dCas9 significantly reduced MA production. Furthermore, exogenous treatment with KD
could not reproduce the beneficial effects of wild type
, which work by augmenting the circulating MA levels.
Our results demonstrated that the gut microbiota-LCFA-BAT axis plays an important role in host metabolism, which may provide a strategic advantage for the next generation of anti-obesity drug development.
In this article, we present the analysis, design, and implementation of a wideband 10-W monolithic microwave integrated circuit power amplifier (PA), fabricated in a low-cost 0.1-<inline-formula> ...<tex-math notation="LaTeX">\mu \text{m} </tex-math></inline-formula> gallium nitride (GaN) on Si technology. The design is focused on the realization of a low-loss and wideband impedance transformation networks across 2-20 GHz using a reactive matching (RM) technique. The two-stage GaN PA achieves an average output power of 40.1 dBm and a peak output power of 41.6 dBm at 13 GHz, in the CW-mode operation, with a small-signal gain of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">S_{21} > 25.5 </tex-math></inline-formula> dB over the entire bandwidth. The average power-added efficiency (PAE) is 21%, with a peak PAE of 29% at 6 GHz. The PA chip occupies an area of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">2.9\times 2.6 </tex-math></inline-formula> mm 2 . To the best of our knowledge, the PA presented in this work demonstrates the highest broadband gain among the reported GaN-based RMPAs with a corresponding output power of about 10 W.
In recent years, tremendous effort is devoted to developing platforms, such as implantable drug delivery systems (IDDSs), with temporally and spatially controlled drug release capabilities and ...improved adherence. IDDSs have multiple advantages: i) the timing and location of drug delivery can be controlled by patients using specific stimuli (light, sound, electricity, magnetism, etc.). Some intelligent “closed‐loop” IDDS can even realize self‐management without human participation. ii) IDDSs enable continuous and stable delivery of drugs over a long period (months to years) and iii) to administer drugs directly to the lesion, thereby helping reduce dosage and side effects. iv) IDDSs enable personalized drug delivery according to patient needs. The high demand for such systems has prompted scientists to make efforts to develop intelligent IDDS. In this review, several common stimulus‐responsive mechanisms including endogenous (e.g., pH, reactive oxygen species, proteins, etc.) and exogenous stimuli (e.g., light, sound, electricity, magnetism, etc.), are given in detail. Besides, several types of IDDS reported in recent years are reviewed, including various stimulus‐responsive systems based on the above mechanisms, radio frequency‐controlled IDDS, “closed‐loop” IDDS, self‐powered IDDS, etc. Finally, the advantages and disadvantages of various IDDS, bottleneck problems, and possible solutions are analyzed to provide directions for subsequent research.
This review details the recent progress of implantable drug delivery systems (IDDSs) with spatiotemporally‐controlled drug release capabilities. The stimulus‐responsive mechanisms, including endogenous (e.g., pH, reactive oxygen species, etc.) and exogenous stimuli (e.g., light, electricity, magnetism, etc.) are reviewed. The advantages and disadvantages of various IDDSs, bottleneck problems, and possible solutions are discussed.
Oocyte quality is critical for the mammalian reproduction due to its necessity on fertilization and early development. During aging, the declined oocytes showing with organelle dysfunction and ...oxidative stress lead to infertility. AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) is a serine/threonine protein kinase which is important for energy homeostasis for metabolism. Little is known about the potential relationship between AMPK with oocyte aging.
In present study we reported that AMPK was related with low quality of oocytes under post ovulatory aging and the potential mechanism. We showed the altered AMPK level during aging and inhibition of AMPK activity induced mouse oocyte maturation defect. Further analysis indicated that similar with its upstream regulator PKD1, AMPK could reduce ROS level to avoid oxidative stress in oocytes, and this might be due to its regulation on mitochondria function, since loss of AMPK activity induced abnormal distribution, reduced ATP production and mtDNA copy number of mitochondria. Besides, we also found that the ER and Golgi apparatus distribution was aberrant after AMPK inhibition, and enhanced lysosome function was also observed.
Taken together, these data indicated that AMPK is important for the organelle function to reduce oxidative stress during oocyte meiotic maturation.
Extensive composition engineering research has been conducted on bandgap tunability, but the combination of two mechanisms for better photon harvesting over a wide range has rarely happened; this is ...of great importance for improving photocatalytic efficiency with sunlight. In order to enable concurrent heterogenic Fenton and Fenton-like reactions for dye degradation, two novel ferrocene-functionalized clusters, (PPh 3 ) 3 CuO 2 CFcCO 2 Cu(PPh 3 ) 3 ·3CH 3 OH (D 1 ) and (PPh 3 ) 2 AgO 2 CFcCO 2 Ag(PPh 3 ) 2 2 ·7CH 3 OH (D 2 ) were designed, synthesized and characterized by multiple techniques. These chemically and thermally stable coinage clusters exhibit high photocatalytic activity towards the degradation of methylene blue as a model dye in the presence of H 2 O 2 under direct sunlight irradiation. The degradation performance of complex D 1 is about twice that of complex D 2 . The catalytic performance of D 1 (15 000 mg g −1 in less than 20 min) is superior to those of other reported complexes, which can be attributed to the high level of generated hydroxyl radicals which are the most active species for dye degradation in the combination of Fenton and Fenton-like mechanisms. In addition to the degradation carried out with the aid of the Fe( iii ) of ferrocene, based on the Fenton mechanism, the photogenerated holes trapped by Cu( i ) act as catalysts in the Fenton-like mechanism to produce an excess of hydroxyl radicals, adding to those formed via scavenging of photogenerated electrons by hydrogen peroxide. Furthermore, the performance of D 1 in the presence of H 2 O 2 as a dual photocatalyst under natural sunlight irradiation needs no pH adjustment which is a unique characteristic. This bilateral compound offers a promising strategy for the design of new photocatalysts.
A2B2O7‐type oxides with low thermal conductivities are potential candidates for next‐generation thermal barrier coatings. The formation of high‐entropy ceramics is considered as a newly effective way ...to further lower their thermal conductivities. High‐entropy Y2(Ti0.2Zr0.2Hf0.2Nb0.2Ta0.2)2O7 (5HEO) and Y2(Ti0.25Zr 0.25Hf0.25Ta0.25)2O7 (4HEO) ceramics were prepared by in situ solid reaction sintering, considering the important roles of B‐site cations on thermal conductivities of the A2B2O7‐type oxides. Reaction process, phase structures, microstructures, and thermal conductivities of the as‐sintered ceramics were investigated. Lattice distortion effects on their thermal conductivities were also discussed by using the proposed criterion based on the supercell volume difference of the individual compounds. Near fully‐dense 5HEO and 4HEO ceramics were obtained after being sintered at 1600°C. The former one had a dual‐phase structure containing high‐entropy Y2(Ti0.227Zr0.227Hf0.227Nb0.136Ta0.182)2O7.318 pyrochlore oxide (5HEO‐P) and Y(Nb, Ta)O4 solid solution, while the latter one was a single‐phase pyrochlore oxide (4HEO‐P) with homogeneous element distribution. The formed 5HEO‐P oxide has larger lattice distortion than 4HEO‐P oxide due to the larger total amounts of Nb and Ta cations at B sites in the 5HEO‐P oxide. It results in lower thermal conductivity of 5HEO ceramics (keeping at 1.8 W·m–1·K–1) than those of 4HEO ceramics (ranging from 1.8 to 2.5 W·m–1·K–1) at temperatures from 25°C to 1400°C. Their glass‐like thermal conductivities were determined by the selection of B site cations and high‐entropy effects. These results provide some useful information for the material design of novel thermal barrier coating materials.
FBN1 encodes asprosin, a glucogenic hormone, following furin cleavage of the C‐terminus of profibrillin 1. Based on evolutionary conservation between FBN1 and FBN2, together with conserved furin ...cleavage sites, we identified a peptide hormone placensin encoded by FBN2 based on its high expression in trophoblasts of human placenta. In primary and immortalized murine hepatocytes, placensin stimulates cAMP production, protein kinase A (PKA) activity, and glucose secretion, accompanied by increased expression of gluconeogenesis enzymes. In situ perfusion of liver and in vivo injection with placensin also stimulate glucose secretion. Placensin is secreted by immortalized human trophoblastic HTR‐8/SVneo cells, whereas placensin treatment stimulates cAMP‐PKA signaling in these cells, accompanied by increases in MMP9 transcripts and activities, thereby promoting cell invasion. In pregnant women, levels of serum placensin increase in a stage‐dependent manner. During third trimester, serum placensin levels of patients with gestational diabetes mellitus are increased to a bigger extent compared to healthy pregnant women. Thus, placensin represents a placenta‐derived hormone, capable of stimulating glucose secretion and trophoblast invasion.
Synopsis
This study identifies placensin as a glucogenic hormone that stimulates hepatic cAMP and glucose production, as well as invasion of placental cells. Serum placensin levels increase during pregnancy and this increase is higher in patients with gestational diabetes mellitus.
Human placenta secretes a glucogenic hormone called placensin.
Placensin stimulates hepatic glucose and cAMP production.
Placesin also promotes placental cell invasiveness.
Serum placensin levels increase during pregnancy.
Patients with gestational diabetes mellitus display a more prominent increase in serum placensin levels.
This study identifies placensin as a glucogenic hormone that stimulates hepatic cAMP and glucose production, as well as invasion of placental cells. Serum placensin levels increase during pregnancy and this increase is higher in patients with gestational diabetes mellitus.
PDF