In this review, a comprehensive overview about the antifouling compounds from marine invertebrates is described. In total, more than 198 antifouling compounds have been obtained from marine ...invertebrates, specifically, sponges, gorgonian and soft corals.
In this work, the two example rare earth‐based metal‐organic frameworks (LaIII‐based MOFs), Eu‐ETTB and Gd‐ETTB, were obtained by self‐assembly. Both materials showed extremely high proton ...conductivity, with the proton conductivity of Eu‐ETTB being 1.53×10−2 S cm−1 at 98 % relative humidity (RH) and 85 °C and that of Gd‐ETTB being 2.63×10−2 S cm−1 at 98 % RH and 75 °C. This was almost the best performance observed for three‐dimensional porous MOFs without post‐synthetic modification and was based on milder conditions than for most materials. Furthermore, cycle test experiments and continuous work tests showed that both materials had excellent performance both in terms of stability and durability. Water vapor adsorption experiments showed that a large number of water molecules are adsorbed the hydrogen‐bond network's being rebuilt by the adsorbed water molecules in the pore channel and thus optimizing the channels for proton transfer explained the MOF's high performance.
Eu‐ETTB and Gd‐ETTB were obtained with the same topology by self‐assembly. Both materials showed extremely high proton conductivity: the proton conductivity of Eu‐ETTB was 1.53×10−2 S cm−1 at 98 % relative humidity (RH) and 85 °C, while Gd‐ETTB had a proton conductivity value of 2.63×10−2 S cm−1 at 98 % RH and 75 °C. Furthermore, both materials had excellent performance both in terms of stability and durability.
During the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), consistent and considerable differences in disease severity and mortality rate of patients treated in Hubei province compared to those in ...other parts of China have been observed. We sought to compare the clinical characteristics and outcomes of patients being treated inside and outside Hubei province, and explore the factors underlying these differences.
Collaborating with the National Health Commission, we established a retrospective cohort to study hospitalised COVID-19 cases in China. Clinical characteristics, the rate of severe events and deaths, and the time to critical illness (invasive ventilation or intensive care unit admission or death) were compared between patients within and outside Hubei. The impact of Wuhan-related exposure (a presumed key factor that drove the severe situation in Hubei, as Wuhan is the epicentre as well the administrative centre of Hubei province) and the duration between symptom onset and admission on prognosis were also determined.
At the data cut-off (31 January 2020), 1590 cases from 575 hospitals in 31 provincial administrative regions were collected (core cohort). The overall rate of severe cases and mortality was 16.0% and 3.2%, respectively. Patients in Hubei (predominantly with Wuhan-related exposure, 597 (92.3%) out of 647) were older (mean age 49.7
44.9 years), had more cases with comorbidity (32.9%
19.7%), higher symptomatic burden, abnormal radiologic manifestations and, especially, a longer waiting time between symptom onset and admission (5.7
4.5 days) compared with patients outside Hubei. Patients in Hubei (severe event rate 23.0%
11.1%, death rate 7.3%
0.3%, HR (95% CI) for critical illness 1.59 (1.05-2.41)) have a poorer prognosis compared with patients outside Hubei after adjusting for age and comorbidity. However, among patients outside Hubei, the duration from symptom onset to hospitalisation (mean 4.4
4.7 days) and prognosis (HR (95%) 0.84 (0.40-1.80)) were similar between patients with or without Wuhan-related exposure. In the overall population, the waiting time, but neither treated in Hubei nor Wuhan-related exposure, remained an independent prognostic factor (HR (95%) 1.05 (1.01-1.08)).
There were more severe cases and poorer outcomes for COVID-19 patients treated in Hubei, which might be attributed to the prolonged duration of symptom onset to hospitalisation in the epicentre. Future studies to determine the reason for delaying hospitalisation are warranted.
Biochar, also known as black carbon, is a byproduct of biomass pyrolysis. As a low-cost, environmental-friendly material, biochar has the potential to replace more expensive synthesized carbon ...nanomaterials (e.g. carbon nanotubes) for use in future supercapacitors. To achieve high capacitance, biochar requires proper activation. A conventional approach involves mixing biochar with a strong base and baking at a high temperature. However, this process is time consuming and energy inefficient (requiring temperatures >900 degreesC). This work demonstrates a low-temperature (<150 degreesC) plasma treatment that efficiently activates a yellow pine biochar. Particularly, the effects of oxygen plasma on the biochar microstructure and supercapacitor characteristics are studied. Significant enhancement of the capacitance is achieved: 171.4 F g super(-1) for a 5-min oxygen plasma activation, in comparison to 99.5 F g super(-1) for a conventional chemical activation and 60.4 F g super(-1) for untreated biochar. This enhancement of the charge storage capacity is attributed to the creation of a broad distribution in pore size and a larger surface area. The plasma activation mechanisms in terms of the evolution of the biochar surface and microstructure are further discussed.
As a kind of lightweight structure with great economic benefits, metal/composite hybrid structure is raising rapidly among automobile safety components due to its excellent anti‐collision ...performance. In this paper, a new design was developed by introducing an induced circular hole to improve the energy absorption performance of the AL/CFRP hybrid thin‐walled tubes under different loading conditions. Quasi‐static experiments and finite element simulation were carried out on the hybrid tubular sample with induced circular holes, and the crash resistance of the number and diameter of induced round holes under different loading angles (θ) of 0°,10°, 20°, and 30° was analyzed through the verified finite element model. The results showed that the induction hole can effectively reduce the peak load and improve the energy absorption characteristics of the hybrid thin‐walled tube under the axial (0°) load. Under the inclined load, the energy absorption capacity of all samples decreased to different degrees with increasing loading angle, and the induced hole changed the deformation mode of the hybrid tube, especially under the 30° loading angle. The complex proportional assessment is then implemented on the optimal structures, and specific energy absorption, peak crush force, and crush force efficiency were selected as the objective functions to improve the overall impact resistance under different loading angles. Considering three design cases, the AL/CFRP hybrid thin‐walled structure with three groups of induced holes are finally found as the best energy absorbing devices. The work in this paper can provide a guide for the design of advanced energy absorbing devices for arbitrary loading condition.
Under investigation in this paper is a coherently coupled nonlinear Schrödinger system which describes the propagation of polarized optical waves in an isotropic medium. By virtue of the Darboux ...transformation, some new solutions have been generated on the vanishing and non-vanishing backgrounds, including multi-solitons, bound solitons, one-breathers, bound breathers, two-breathers, first-order and higher-order rogue waves. Dynamic behaviors of those solitons, breathers and rogue waves have been discussed through graphic simulation.
N-doped porous carbon materials derived from urea-modified lignin were prepared via efficient KOH activation under carbonization. The synthesized N-doped carbon materials, which displayed a ...well-developed porous morphology with high specific surface area of 3130 m2 g−1, were used as electrode materials in symmetric supercapacitors with aqueous and solid electrolytes. In consistent with the observed physical structures and properties, the supercapacitors exhibited specific capacitances of 273 and 306 F g−1, small resistances of 2.6 and 7.7 Ω, stable charge/discharge at different current densities for over 5000 cycles and comparable energy and power density in 6 mol L−1 KOH liquid and KOH-PVA solid electrolytes, respectively.
•KOH activated urea modified lignin was used as supercapacitor electrodes materials.•Porous structure, high specific surface area and conductivity were exhibited.•Excellent specific capacitance were obtained in liquid and solid electrolytes.•Discharging at large current density with excellent stability was achieved.
The fungal diversity in deep-sea environments has recently gained an increasing amount attention. Our knowledge and understanding of the true fungal diversity and the role it plays in deep-sea ...environments, however, is still limited. We investigated the fungal community structure in five sediments from a depth of ∼ 4000 m in the East India Ocean using a combination of targeted environmental sequencing and traditional cultivation. This approach resulted in the recovery of a total of 45 fungal operational taxonomic units (OTUs) and 20 culturable fungal phylotypes. This finding indicates that there is a great amount of fungal diversity in the deep-sea sediments collected in the East Indian Ocean. Three fungal OTUs and one culturable phylotype demonstrated high divergence (89%-97%) from the existing sequences in the GenBank. Moreover, 44.4% fungal OTUs and 30% culturable fungal phylotypes are new reports for deep-sea sediments. These results suggest that the deep-sea sediments from the East India Ocean can serve as habitats for new fungal communities compared with other deep-sea environments. In addition, different fungal community could be detected when using targeted environmental sequencing compared with traditional cultivation in this study, which suggests that a combination of targeted environmental sequencing or traditional cultivation alone. This study is the first to report new insights into the fungal communities in deep-sea sediments environmental sequencing and traditional cultivation will generate a more diverse fungal community in deep-sea environments than using either from the East Indian Ocean, which increases our knowledge and understanding of the fungal diversity in deep-sea environments.
Incorporating enzymatic reactions into natural product synthesis can significantly improve synthetic efficiency and selectivity. In contrast to the increasing applications of biocatalytic ...functional‐group interconversions, the use of enzymatic C−C bond formation reactions in natural product synthesis is underexplored. Herein, we report a concise and efficient approach for the synthesis of 7.7paracyclophane natural products, a family of polyketides with diverse biological activities. By using enzymatic Friedel–Crafts alkylation, cylindrocyclophanes A and F and merocyclophanes A and D were synthesized in six to eight steps in the longest linear sequence. This study demonstrates the power of combining enzymatic reactions with contemporary synthetic methodologies and provides opportunities for the structure–activity relationship studies of 7.7paracyclophane natural products.
Cylindrocyclophanes A and F and merocyclophanes A and D were synthesized by a chemoenzymatic approach. The synthesis features an enzymatic Friedel–Crafts alkylation, reagent‐controlled lithiation–borylation chemistry, cobalt‐catalyzed asymmetric hydroboration, and Ni‐ or Pd‐catalyzed alkyl–alkyl cross‐coupling.
We focused on the KCNQ1OT1/miR-15a/PD-L1 axis and explored its significance in regulating immune evasion and malignant behaviors of prostate cancer (PC) cells.
The expression levels of KCNQ1OT1, ...miR-15a, PD-L1, and CD8 in cells or tissues were examined by RT-qPCR, western blot or immunohistochemistry (IHC) assays. The direct regulations between KCNQ1OT1, miR-15a and PD-L1 were validated by luciferase reporter assay. PC cells were co-cultured with CD8
T cells to study the immune evasion. Proliferation, apoptosis, migration and invasion abilities were detected by MTT, flow cytometry, wound healing and Transwell assays, respectively. The cytotoxicity of CD8
T cells was determined by LDH cytotoxicity Kit. Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and Ras/ERK signaling markers were evaluated by western blot.
KCNQ1OT1, PD-L1 and CD8 were increased, while miR-15a was decreased in PC tissues. MiR-15a directly bound to the 3'-UTR of PD-L1 and inhibited the expression of PD-L1. Overexpressing miR-15a in PC cells was sufficient to promote cytotoxicity and proliferation, while inhibit apoptosis of CD8
T cells, and also suppressed viability, migration, invasion and EMT while promoted apoptosis of PC cells. The above anti-tumor effects of miR-15a were reversed by overexpressing PD-L1. KCNQ1OT1 sponged miR-15a and released its inhibition on PD-L1. Functionally, KCNQ1OT1 in PC cells was essential for suppressing the cytotoxicity of CD8
T cells and maintaining multiple malignant phenotypes of PC cells. The Ras/ERK signaling was suppressed after overexpressing miR-15a or knocking down KCNQ1OT1.
LncRNA KCNQ1OT1 sponges miR-15a to promote immune evasion and malignant progression of PC via up-regulating PD-L1.
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