Hybrid energy-harvesting systems that capture both wave and solar energy from the oceans using triboelectric nanogenerators and photovoltaic cells are promising renewable energy solutions. However, ...ubiquitous shadows cast from moving objects in these systems are undesirable as they degrade the performance of the photovoltaic cells. Here we report a shadow-tribo-effect nanogenerator that hybrids tribo-effect and shadow-effect together to overcome this issue. Several fiber-supercapacitors are integrated with the shadow-tribo-effect nanogenerator to form a self-charging power system. To capture and store wave/solar energy from oceans, an energy ball based on the self-charging power system is demonstrated. By harnessing the shadow-effect, i.e. the shadow of the moving object in the energy ball, the charging time shortens to 253.3 s to charge the fiber-supercapacitors to the same voltage (0.3 V) as using pure tribo-effect. This cost-effective method to harvest and store the wave/solar energy from the oceans in this work is expected to inspire next-generation large-scale blue energy harvesting.
Despite incorporation of organic groups into silica‐based aerogels to enhance their mechanical flexibility, the wide temperature reliability of the modified silicone aerogel is inevitably degraded. ...Therefore, facile synthesis of soft silicone aerogels with wide‐temperature stability remains challenging. Herein, novel silicone aerogels containing a high content of Si are reported by using polydimethylvinylsiloxane (PDMVS), a hydrosilylation adduct with water‐repellent groups, as a “flexible chain segment” embedded within the aerogel network. The poly(2‐dimethoxymethylsilyl)ethylmethylvinylsiloxane (PDEMSEMVS) aerogel is fabricated through a cost‐effective ambient temperature/pressure drying process. The optimized aerogel exhibits exceptional performance, such as ultra‐low density (50 mg cm−3), wide‐temperature mechanical flexibility, and super‐hydrophobicity, in comparison to the previous polysiloxane aerogels. A significant reduction in the density of these aerogels is achieved while maintaining a high crosslinking density by synthesizing gel networks with well‐defined macromolecules through hydrolytic polycondensation crosslinking of PDEMSEMVS. Notably, the pore/nanoparticle size of aerogels can be fine‐tuned by optimizing the gel solvent type. The as‐prepared silicone aerogels demonstrate selective absorption, efficient oil–water separation, and excellent thermal insulation properties, showing promising applications in oil/water separation and thermal protection.
A soft polysiloxane aerogel is designed and successfully fabricated through the condensation process of polydimethylvinylsiloxane macromolecules. In addition to its ultra‐lightweight nature, this material possesses several advantageous properties, including exceptional mechanical stability when exposed to liquid nitrogen, effective thermal insulation, super‐hydrophobicity, and notable advancements in porous material development.
The mechanism by which osteosarcomas metastasize is elusive, and challenges remain regarding its treatment with modalities including immunotherapy. CXCL12 is deeply involved in the process of tumor ...metastasis and T-cell homing, which is driven by a chemokine gradient, but healthy bones are supposed to preferentially express CXCL12. Here, we show for the first time that osteosarcomas epigenetically downregulate CXCL12 expression via DNA methyltransferase 1 (DNMT1) and consequently acquire the ability to metastasize and to impair cytotoxic T-cell homing to the tumor site. Analysis of human osteosarcoma cases further revealed that CXCL12 expression strongly correlated with overall survival. Evaluations on fresh human chemotherapy-free osteosarcoma samples also showed a positive correlation between CXCL12 concentration and the number of intratumoral lymphocytes. Critically, treatment targeting DNMT1 in immunocompetent mouse models significantly elevated expression of CXCL12 in tumors, resulting in a robust immune response and consequently eradicating early lung metastases in addition to suppressing subcutaneous tumor growth. These antitumor effects were abrogated by CXCL12-CXCR4 blockade or CD8
T-cell depletion. Collectively, our data show that CXCL12 regulation plays a significant role in both tumor progression and immune response, and targeting CXCL12 is promising for therapeutics against osteosarcoma.
Epigenetic regulation of CXCL12 controls metastasis and immune response in osteosarcoma, suggesting epigenetic therapies or therapies targeting CXCL12 have potential for therapeutic intervention in osteosarcoma.
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The combination of a fluorescent reporter and enzymatic reporter provides a flexible and versatile way for the study of diverse biological processes, such as the detection of transcription and ...translation. Thus, there is an urgent need to develop this novel bifunctional reporter system. This study reports the design, construction, and validation of a new dicistronic mCherry-lacZα reporter system by artificial lac operon and pbr operon models in lacZM15-producing E. coli. It allows two reporter genes to be co-transcribed into a dicistronic mRNA strand, followed by coupled expression of mCherry and lacZα. In artificial lac operons, expression of the downstream lacZα was demonstrated to be positively related to expression of the upstream ORF. In artificial pbr operons, compared with the insertion of downstream full-length lacZ, the insertion of downstream lacZα exerted a slight effect on the response from the upstream mCherry. Furthermore, the downstream lacZα reporter showed stronger response to Pb(II) than the downstream full-length lacZ. Importantly, the response sensitivity of downstream lacZα was still higher than that of upstream mCherry in a dual RFP-lacZα reporter construct. The highly efficient expression profile of the reporter lacZα peptide makes it a preferred downstream reporter in polycistronic constructs. This novel bifunctional reporter system offers a robust tool for biological studies.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Producing functional soft fibers via existing spinning methods is environmentally and economically costly due to the complexity of spinning equipment, involvement of copious solvents, intensive ...consumption of energy, and multi-step pre-/post-spinning treatments. We report a nonsolvent vapor-induced phase separation spinning approach under ambient conditions, which resembles the native spider silk fibrillation. It is enabled by the optimal rheological properties of dopes via engineering silver-coordinated molecular chain interactions and autonomous phase transition due to the nonsolvent vapor-induced phase separation effect. Fiber fibrillation under ambient conditions using a polyacrylonitrile-silver ion dope is demonstrated, along with detailed elucidations on tuning dope spinnability through rheological analysis. The obtained fibers are mechanically soft, stretchable, and electrically conductive, benefiting from elastic molecular chain networks via silver-based coordination complexes and in-situ reduced silver nanoparticles. Particularly, these fibers can be configured as wearable electronics for self-sensing and self-powering applications. Our ambient-conditions spinning approach provides a platform to create functional soft fibers with unified mechanical and electrical properties at a two-to-three order of magnitude less energy cost under ambient conditions.
Spinal disease is an important cause of cervical discomfort, low back pain, radiating pain in the limbs, and neurogenic intermittent claudication, and its incidence is increasing annually. From the ...etiological viewpoint, these symptoms are directly caused by the compression of the spinal cord, nerve roots, and blood vessels and are most effectively treated with surgery. Spinal surgeries are primarily performed using two different techniques: spinal canal decompression and internal fixation. In the past, tactile sensation was the primary method used by surgeons to understand the state of the tissue within the operating area. However, this method has several disadvantages because of its subjectivity. Therefore, it has become the focus of spinal surgery research so as to strengthen the objectivity of tissue state recognition, improve the accuracy of safe area location, and avoid surgical injury to tissues. Aside from traditional imaging methods, surgical sensing techniques based on force, bioelectrical impedance, and other methods have been gradually developed and tested in the clinical setting. This article reviews the progress of different tissue state recognition methods in spinal surgery and summarizes their advantages and disadvantages.
Using a model from political economy, we predict that U.S. Internal Revenue Code sections and related Treasury Regulations will have more verbiage, complex terms, and cognitive complexity for ...tax-reducing sections to limit free riding and the scope of tax benefits. Using textual analysis, we find our model's predictions are generally supported using both Code and Regulations from 1997 to 2017. Importantly, the complexity of tax-reducing sections has a disproportionate impact on the Code and Regulations as a whole, which in turn may result in outsized compliance time and costs. Policy implications include that complexity (and related deadweight costs) may be an unavoidable feature of tax law, that tax benefits may be underutilized, and that suboptimal taxpayer behavior may result.
Generating aptamers that bind to specific metal ions is challenging because existing aptamer discovery methods typically require chemical labels or modifications that can alter the structure and ...properties of the ions. In this work, we report an aptamer discovery method that enables us to generate high-quality structure-switching aptamers (SSAs) that undergo a conformational change upon binding a metal ion target, without the requirement of labels or chemical modifications. Our method is more efficient than conventional selection methods because it enables direct measurement of target binding via fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS), isolating only the desired aptamers with the highest affinity. Using this strategy, we obtained a highly specific DNA SSA with ∼30-fold higher affinity than the best aptamer for Hg2+ in the literature. We also discovered DNA aptamers that bind to Cu2+ with excellent affinity and specificity. Both aptamers were obtained within four rounds of screening, demonstrating the efficiency of our aptamer discovery method. Given the growing availability of FACS, we believe our method offers a general strategy for discovering high-quality aptamers for other ions and small-molecule targets in an efficient and reproducible manner.
The gut microbes have a close symbiotic relationship with their host. Interactions between host and the microbiota affect the nutritional, immunological, and physiological status of the host. The ...Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor (AHR) is a ligand activated transcription factor that mediates the toxicity of xenobiotics. Recently, the relationship between the gut microbiota and AHR has attracted the attention of many researchers.
We undertook a structured search of bibliographic databases for peer-reviewed research literature.
We found and reviewed 49 peer-reviewed papers dealing with the major aspects related to the crosstalk between AHR and microbiota. The AHR influences the intestinal microbiota population and mediates host-microbe homeostasis. Interestingly, the gut microbiota also produces ligands of AHR from bacterial metabolism and thereby activates the AHR signaling pathway. Concusion: This review presents current knowledge of the cross-regulatory circuit between the AHR and intestinal microbiota. The findings of this review confirm the importance of AHR-microbiota interactions in health and disease.
Gamecock chickens are one of the earliest recorded birds in China, and have accumulated some unique morphological and behavioral signatures such as large body size, muscularity and aggressive ...behavior, whereby being excellent breeding materials and a good model for studying bird muscular development and behavior. In this study, we sequenced 126 chicken genomes from 19 populations, including four commercial chicken breeds that are commonly farmed in China, 13 nationwide Chinese typical indigenous chicken breeds (including two Chinese gamecock breeds), one red jungle fowl from Guangxi Province of China and three gamecock chickens from Laos. Combined with 31 published chicken genomes from three populations, a comparative genomics analysis was performed across 157 chickens. We found a severe confounding effect on potential cold adaptation exerted by introgression from commercial chickens into Chinese indigenous chickens, and argued that the genetic introgression from commercial chickens into indigenous chickens should be seriously considered for identifying selection footprint in indigenous chickens. LX gamecock chickens might have played a core role in recent breeding and conservation of other Chinese gamecock chickens. Importantly, AGMO (Alkylglycerol monooxygenase) and CPZ (Carboxypeptidase Z) might be crucial for determining the behavioral pattern of gamecock chickens, while ISPD (Isoprenoid synthase domain containing) might be essential for the muscularity of gamecock chickens. Our results can further the understanding of the evolution of Chinese gamecock chickens, especially the genetic basis of gamecock chickens revealed here was valuable for us to better understand the mechanisms underlying the behavioral pattern and the muscular development in chicken.
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