Wide bandgap (WB) organic–inorganic hybrid perovskites (OIHPs) with a bandgap ranging between 1.7 and 2.0 eV have shown great potential to improve the efficiency of single‐junction silicon or ...thin‐film solar cells by forming a tandem structure with one of these cells or with a narrow bandgap perovskite cell. However, WB‐OIHPs suffer from a large open‐circuit voltage (Voc) deficit in photovoltaic devices, which is associated with the phase segregation of the materials under light illumination. In this work the photoinstability is demonstrated and Voc loss can be addressed by combining grain crystallization and grain boundary passivation, achieved simultaneously through tuning of perovskite precursor composition. Using FA0.17Cs0.83PbI3–xBrx (x = 0.8, 1.2 1.5, and 1.8), with a varied bandgap from 1.72 to 1.93 eV, as the model system it is illustrated how precursor additive Pb(SCN)2 should be matched with a proper ratio of FAX (I and Br) to realize large grains with defect‐healed grain boundaries. The optimized WB‐OIHPs show good photostability at both room‐temperature and elevated temperature. Moreover, the corresponding solar cells exhibit excellent photovoltaic performances with the champion Voc/stabilized power output efficiency reaching 1.244 V/18.60%, 1.284 V/16.51%, 1.296 V/15.01%, and 1.312 V/14.35% for WB‐OIHPs with x = 0.8, 1.2, 1.5, and 1.8, respectively.
The photoinduced phase segregation in wide bandgap hybrid perovskites are greatly suppressed by combining grain crystallization and grain boundary passivation. As a result, the open‐circuit voltage (Voc) loss of the corresponding devices is highly reduced, demonstrating a monotonic increase of Voc with increasing of bandgap from 1.72 to 1.93 eV.
Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder with no absolute cure. The evidence of the involvement of gut microbiota in PD pathogenesis suggests the need to identify certain molecule(s) ...derived from the gut microbiota, which has the potential to manage PD. Osteocalcin (OCN), an osteoblast-secreted protein, has been shown to modulate brain function. Thus, it is of interest to investigate whether OCN could exert protective effect on PD and, if yes, whether the underlying mechanism lies in the subsequent changes in gut microbiota.
The intraperitoneal injection of OCN can effectively ameliorate the motor deficits and dopaminergic neuronal loss in a 6-hydroxydopamine-induced PD mouse model. The further antibiotics treatment and fecal microbiota transplantation experiments confirmed that the gut microbiota was required for OCN-induced protection in PD mice. OCN elevated Bacteroidetes and depleted Firmicutes phyla in the gut microbiota of PD mice with elevated potential of microbial propionate production and was confirmed by fecal propionate levels. Two months of orally administered propionate successfully rescued motor deficits and dopaminergic neuronal loss in PD mice. Furthermore, AR420626, the agonist of FFAR3, which is the receptor of propionate, mimicked the neuroprotective effects of propionate and the ablation of enteric neurons blocked the prevention of dopaminergic neuronal loss by propionate in PD mice.
Together, our results demonstrate that OCN ameliorates motor deficits and dopaminergic neuronal loss in PD mice, modulating gut microbiome and increasing propionate level might be an underlying mechanism responsible for the neuroprotective effects of OCN on PD, and the FFAR3, expressed in enteric nervous system, might be the main action site of propionate. Video abstract.
Layered transition metal oxide (NaxTMO2), being one of the most promising cathode candidates for sodium‐ion batteries (SIBs), have attracted intensive interest because of their nontoxicity, high ...theoretical capacities, and easy manufacturability. However, their physical and electrochemical properties of water sensitivity, sluggish Na+ transport kinetics, and irreversible multiple‐phase translations hinder the practical application. Here, a concept of surface lattice‐matched engineering is proposed based on in situ spinel interfacial reconstruction to design a spinel coating P2/P3 heterostructure cathode material with enhanced air stability, rate, and cycle performance. The novel structure and its formation process are verified by transmission electron microscopy and in situ high‐temperature X‐ray diffraction. The electrode exhibits an excellent rate performance with the highly reversible phase transformation demonstrated by in situ charging/discharging X‐ray diffraction. Additionally, even after a rigorous water sensitivity test, the electrode materials still retain almost the same superior electrochemical performance as the fresh sample. The results show that the surface spinel phase can play a vital role in preventing the ingress of water molecules, improving transport kinetics, and enhancing structural integrity for NaxTMO2 cathodes. The concept of surface lattice‐matched engineering based on in situ spinel interfacial reconstruction will be helpful for designing new ultra‐stable cathode materials for high‐performance SIBs.
The formation process and function mechanism for inhibiting phase transformation and enhancing air stability of surface lattice‐matched engineering based on in situ spinel interfacial reconstruction are studied. This strategy of designing heterostructure with in situ interfacial reconstruction will inspire the exploitation of new chemistries and materials.
Many strategies have been developed for constructing anisotropic hydrogels, however, it remains a challenge to fabricate hydrogels with anisotropic nanocrystalline domains from intrinsically soft ...networks. Here, we report a naphthotube‐based polyrotaxane‐containing hydrogel that can be reinforced via mechanical training. During the training process, the hydrogel can adopt reorientation of polymer chains to form anisotropic structures driven by external uniaxial force. Due to the multiple hydrogen bonding sites and movable feature of naphthotube, the sliding of naphthotube on PEG chains simultaneously inducing the zipping of adjacent polymer chains to form densely anisotropic nanocrystalline domains through hydrogen bonded networks. Thus, the trained hydrogel exhibits an enhanced tension stress of ≈110 kPa, which realize a remarkable enhancement of ≈10 times compare to initial state. This study provides a new tactic for improving the mechanical performance of soft materials.
A naphthotube‐based polyrotaxane‐containing hydrogel was constructed through one‐pot photo‐initiated copolymerization. Naphthotube can slide along the PEG chain upon repeated stretching. The slide motion further induces the zipping of adjacent polymer chains to form compact hydrogen bonded nanocrystalline domains through integrated hydrogen bonds, which enabled the hydrogel to achieve reinforcement.
Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) are believed to play an essential role in cancer initiation and development. However, little research has been undertaken to evaluate the role of CAFs in ...endometrial cancer (EC) progression. We aim to detect the functional contributions of CAFs to promote progression of EC.
Stromal fibroblasts were isolated from endometrioid adenocarcinomas and normal endometrial tissues. The conditioned media of cultured CAFs and normal fibroblasts (NFs) were collected to detect the level of stromal cell-derived factor-1alpha (SDF-1α), macrophage chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1), migration inhibitory factor (MIF), colony stimulating factor-1 (CSF-1), and interleukin-1 (IL-1) by ELISA. The CAFs or NFs were cocultured with EC cell lines to determine the proliferation, migration, and invasion by MTT assays and transwell chambers. Xenograft models were used to observe tumor growth. Matrix metalloproteinases (MMP)-2 and MMP-9 activity was evaluated by zymography. AMD3100 (a chemokine receptor 4 (CXCR4) antagonist) was used to block the SDF-1/CXCR4 axis. Neutralizing antibodies were used to detect PI3K/Akt and MAPK/Erk pathways by western blotting. SDF-1α and CXCR4 expressions were analyzed in xenotransplanted tumors and 348 cases by immunohistochemistry.
CAFs promoted proliferation, migration, and invasion as well as in vivo tumorigenesis of admixed EC cells significantly more than NFs by secreting SDF-1α. These effects were significantly inhibited by AMD3100. CAFs promoted EC progression via the SDF-1α/CXCR4 axis to activate the PI3K/Akt and MAPK/Erk signalings in a paracrine-dependent manner or increase MMP-2 and MMP-9 secretion in an autocrine-dependent manner. SDF-1α and CXCR4 expression upregulation accompanied clinical EC development and progression. High SDF-1α expression levels were associated with deep myometrial invasion, lymph node metastasis, and poor prognosis in EC.
Our data indicated that CAFs derived from EC tissues promoted EC progression via the SDF-1/CXCR4 axis in a paracrine- or autocrine-dependent manner. SDF-1α is a novel independent poor prognostic factor for EC patients' survival. Targeting the SDF-1/CXCR4 axis might provide a novel therapeutic strategy for EC treatment.
Dendritic cells(DCs) play a protective role in the antitumor immunity of most cancers, which can be divided into conventional dendritic cells (cDCs) and plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs). Most ...current studies are only based on either cDCs or pDCs for the study of the relationship between DCs and breast cancer prognosis, without combining the two together. We aimed to select new biomarkers from pDCs and cDCs. In this paper, the xCell algorithm was first used to calculate the cellular abundance of 64 types of immune cells and stromal cells in tumor samples from the TCGA database, and the high-abundance pDC group and cDC group were divided according to the results of a survival analysis. Then, we looked for the co-expressed gene module of highly infiltrating pDC and cDC patients with a weighted correlation network analysis (WGCNA) and screened out the hub genes, including
,
,
,
, and
. Finally, we analyzed the biological functions of the hub genes, and the results showed that
,
, and
were significantly related to the immune cells and prognosis of patients, and
and
were involved in responding to TCF-related instructions of the Wnt pathway. In addition, we also evaluated the response of pDCs and cDCs with different abundances to chemotherapy, and the results showed that the higher the abundance of pDCs and cDCs, the higher their sensitivity to drugs. This paper revealed new biomarkers related to DCs-among them,
,
, and
were proven to be closely related to dendritic cells in cancer. For the first time, this paper puts forward that
and
are related to the prognosis of dendritic cells in cancer, which also provides new possibilities for finding new targets for breast cancer immunotherapy.
A novel and highly practical reaction for the copper-catalyzed intermolecular cyanotrifluoromethylation of alkenes is presented here. This methodology provides a general and straightforward way to ...synthesize a variety of useful CF3-containing nitriles, which can be used for further preparation of pharmaceutically and agrochemically important compounds in synthetic organic chemistry.
Early detection of acute kidney injury is difficult due to lack of known biomarkers; previous studies have tried to identify new biomarkers for detecting acute kidney injury at an early stage. ...MicroRNA, a 21-23 nucleotide noncoding RNA molecule, has emerged as a desirable marker in the diagnosis and prognosis of various diseases. This study aims to identify the expression profile of microRNA in ischemia–reperfusion-induced kidney injury and determine the possibility of using the candidate microRNA as biomarker for the detection of I/R-induced kidney injury. Based on the established rat model of I/R-induced kidney injury, a microarray analysis of rat urine was performed at the beginning of operation (0 h) as well as 72 h post operation. To validate the results, urine samples from 71 patients who underwent cardiac surgery were collected, after which urinalysis was conducted to determine the microRNA concentration. An alternative expression profile of microRNAs was detected in rat urine. The quantitative validation of microRNA showed that the expression of miR-30c-5p, miR-192-5p, and miR-378a-3p was elevated significantly in urine post operation, which was consistent with those of the microarray analysis and earlier than kidney injury molecule-1 (KIM-1). In patients with acute kidney injury, increased levels of miR-30c-5p and miR-192-5p were also detected 2 h post operation, and miR-30c-5p showed preferable diagnostic value compared with protein-based biomarkers. In conclusion, an aberrant expression profile of microRNA was detected in rat urine based on the established ischemia–reperfusion animal model. Both miR-30c-5p and miR-192-5p served as important potential diagnostic markers for I/R-induced kidney injury.
Impact statement
Firstly, one differentiating factor in our study is that the candidate miRNAs were screened in a controlled animal model rather than in patients with acute kidney injury (AKI) to ensure the purity of the cause of disease and to avoid possible effects of comorbidities on the spectrum of urine miRNA. This ensured the presence of only the relevant candidate miRNA (that associated with I/R injury); and what’s more, the alterative expression of miR-192-5p and miR-30c-5p in animal model, patients with AKI, and cell model was confirmed simultaneously, which is likely to be more convincing. Secondly, the candidate miRNAs were screened sequentially at regular time points, which covered the initiation, progression, and partial repair stages, thus ensuring that no significant miRNAs were omitted in the screening process, and miR-biomarkers in 2 h post operation showed preferable diagnostic performance.
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