Integrating thermodynamically favorable ethanol reforming reactions with hybrid water electrolysis will allow room‐temperature production of high‐value organic products and decoupled hydrogen ...evolution. However, electrochemical reforming of ethanol has not received adequate attention due to its low catalytic efficiency and poor selectivity, which are caused by the multiple groups and chemical bonds of ethanol. In addition to the thermodynamic properties affected by the electronic structure of the catalyst, the dynamics of molecule/ion dynamics in electrolytes also play a significant role in the efficiency of a catalyst. The relatively large size and viscosity of the ethanol molecule necessitates large channels for molecule/ion transport through catalysts. Perforated CoNi hydroxide nanosheets are proposed as a model catalyst to synergistically regulate the dynamics of molecules and electronic structures. Molecular dynamics simulations directly reveal that these nanosheets can act as a “dam” to enrich ethanol molecules and facilitate permeation through the nanopores. Additionally, the charge transfer behavior of heteroatoms modifies the local charge density to promote molecular chemisorption. As expected, the perforated nanosheets exhibit a small potential (1.39 V) and high Faradaic efficiency for the conversion of ethanol into acetic acid. Moreover, the concept in this work provides new perspectives for exploring other molecular catalysts.
Nanoporous ultrathin bimetallic compound sheets are used as a model catalyst to realize synergistic optimization of ethanol molecular spatial distribution and chemisorption. They exhibit a small potential (1.39 V) and high Faradaic efficiency for acetic acid.
A
bstract
From the S-matrix of spinning particles, we extract the 2 PM conservative potential for binary spinning black holes up to quartic order in spin operators. An important ingredient is the ...exponentiated gravitational Compton amplitude in the classical spin-limit for all graviton helicity sectors. The validity of the resulting Hamiltonian is verified by matching to known lower spin order results, as well as direct computation of the 2PM impulse and spin kicks from the eikonal phase and that from the test black hole scattering based on Mathisson-Papapetrou-Dixon equations.
A
bstract
Much of the structure of cosmological correlators is controlled by their singularities, which in turn are fixed in terms of flat-space scattering amplitudes. An important challenge is to ...interpolate between the singular limits to determine the full correlators at arbitrary kinematics. This is particularly relevant because the singularities of correlators are not directly observable, but can only be accessed by analytic continuation. In this paper, we study rational correlators — including those of gauge fields, gravitons, and the inflaton — whose only singularities at tree level are poles and whose behavior away from these poles is strongly constrained by unitarity and locality. We describe how unitarity translates into a set of cutting rules that consistent correlators must satisfy, and explain how this can be used to bootstrap correlators given information about their singularities. We also derive recursion relations that allow the iterative construction of more complicated correlators from simpler building blocks. In flat space, all energy singularities are simple poles, so that the combination of unitarity constraints and recursion relations provides an efficient way to bootstrap the full correlators. In many cases, these flat-space correlators can then be transformed into their more complex de Sitter counterparts. As an example of this procedure, we derive the correlator associated to graviton Compton scattering in de Sitter space, though the methods are much more widely applicable.
A
bstract
Effects of massive object’s spin on massive-massless 2 → 2 classical scattering is studied. Focus is set on the less-considered dimensionless expansion parameter
λ/b
, where
λ
is the ...massless particle’s wavelength and
b
is the impact parameter. Corrections in
λ/b
start to appear from
O
(
G
2
), with leading correction terms tied to the gravitational Faraday effect, which is a special case of the Lense-Thirring effect. We compute the eikonal phase up to
O
(
G
2
) and extract spin effect on the scattering angle and time delay up to 14th order in spin. The gravitational Faraday effect at linear order in spin
1
is reproduced by
λ/b
correction terms, which we compute to higher orders in spin. We find that the equivalence principle, or universality, holds up to NLO for general spinning bodies, i.e. away from geometric optics limit. Furthermore, in the black hole limit, we confirm the absence of particular spin structure observed
2
–
8
, along with the associated shift symmetry
7
, and argue that it holds to arbitrary spin order at
O
(
G
2
) in the massless probe limit.
To assess the benefits of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitors as neoadjuvant/adjuvant therapies in locally advanced
mutation-positive non-small-cell lung cancer.
This ...was a multicenter (17 centers in China), open-label, phase II, randomized controlled trial of erlotinib versus gemcitabine plus cisplatin (GC chemotherapy) as neoadjuvant/adjuvant therapy in patients with stage IIIA-N2 non-small-cell lung cancer with
mutations in exon 19 or 21 (EMERGING). Patients received erlotinib 150 mg/d (neoadjuvant therapy, 42 days; adjuvant therapy, up to 12 months) or gemcitabine 1,250 mg/m
plus cisplatin 75 mg/m
(neoadjuvant therapy, two cycles; adjuvant therapy, up to two cycles). Assessments were performed at 6 weeks and every 3 months postsurgery. The primary end point was objective response rate (ORR) by Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST) version 1.1; secondary end points were pathologic complete response, progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival, safety, and tolerability.
Of 386 patients screened, 72 were randomly assigned to treatment (intention-to-treat population), and 71 were included in the safety analysis (one patient withdrew before treatment). The ORR for neoadjuvant erlotinib versus GC chemotherapy was 54.1% versus 34.3% (odds ratio, 2.26; 95% CI, 0.87 to 5.84;
= .092). No pathologic complete response was identified in either arm. Three (9.7%) of 31 patients and zero of 23 patients in the erlotinib and GC chemotherapy arms, respectively, had a major pathologic response. Median PFS was significantly longer with erlotinib (21.5 months) versus GC chemotherapy (11.4 months; hazard ratio, 0.39; 95% CI, 0.23 to 0.67;
< .001). Observed adverse events reflected those most commonly seen with the two treatments.
The primary end point of ORR with 42 days of neoadjuvant erlotinib was not met, but the secondary end point PFS was significantly improved.
Drug repurposing has emerged as an attractive strategy for accelerating drug discovery for cancer treatment. In this study, we investigated combining Tranylcypromine (TCP) with a number of ...well‐characterized drugs. Among these combinations, NRF2 inhibitor (ML385) exhibited synergistic effects in combination with TCP. Specifically, our results showed that the combination of TCP and ML385 resulted in a significant reduction in tumor proliferation while neither drug affected cancer cell growth meaningfully on its own. While further studies are needed to understand fully the extent of the synergistic efficacy, the underlying respective mechanisms and the potential side effects of this approach, our study has yielded a promising start for the development of an effective combination cancer therapy.
Fast‐tracking cancer drug discovery, drug repurposing has become an appealing strategy: In our study, we paired Tranylcypromine (TCP) with established drugs, uncovering synergy with NRF2 inhibitor (ML385). TCP+ML385 significantly inhibits tumor growth, while individual drugs have limited effects. Our study signifies a promising start for effective combination cancer therapy.
The outstanding efficiency of Fe‐based metallic glass powders in degrading organic water contaminants is reported. While the glassy alloy contains 24% chemically inactive metalloid elements, the ...powders are capable to completely decompose the C32H20N6Na4O14S4 azo dye in aqueous solution in short time, about 200 times faster than the conventional Fe powders. The metastable thermodynamic nature and the particle surface topography are the major factors controlling the chemical performance of the metallic glass. Our findings may open a new opportunity for functional applications of metallic glasses.
Fe‐based metallic glass powders show outstanding efficiency in degrading organic contaminants due to their far‐from‐equilibrium thermodynamic nature. The –N=N– bond of the dye can be completely decomposed in a short time. Higher degradation efficiency can be achieved by tailoring the particle morphology. The findings are expected to open new areas for the applications of metallic glasses.
Background/Aims: Circular RNAs (circRNAs), a type of RNA that is widely expressed in human cells, have essential roles in the development and progression of cancer. CircRNAs contain microRNA (miRNA) ...binding sites and can function as miRNA sponges to regulate gene expression by removing the inhibitory effect of an miRNA on its target gene. Methods: We used the bioinformatics software TargetScan and miRanda to predict circRNA-miRNA and miRNAi-Mrna interactions. Rate of inhibiting of proliferation was measured using a WST-8 cell proliferation assay. Clone formation ability was assessed with a clone formation inhibition test. Cell invasion and migration capacity was evaluated by performing a Transwell assay. Relative gene expression was assessed using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction and relative protein expression levels were determined with western blotting. circRNA and miRNA interaction was confirmed by dual-luciferase reporter and RNA-pull down assays. Results: In the present study, the miRNA hsa-miR-21-5p was a target of circRNA-ACAP2, and T lymphoma invasion and metastasis protein 1 (Tiam1) was identified as a target gene of hsa-miR-21-5p. CircRNA-ACAP2 and Tiam1 were shown to be highly expressed in colon cancer tissue and colon cancer SW480 cells, but miR-21-5p was expressed at a low level. SW480 cell proliferation was suppressed when the expression of circRNA-ACAP2 and Tiam1 was decreased and the expression of miR-21-5p was increased in vivo and in vitro. SW480 cell migration and invasion were also inhibited under the same circumstance. The circRNA-ACAP2 interaction regulated the expression of miR-21-5p, and miR-21-5p regulated the expression of Tiam1. Down-regulation of circRNA-ACAP2 promoted miR-21-5p expression, which further suppressed the transcription and translation of Tiam1. Conclusion: The present study shows that the circRNA-ACAP2/hsa-miR-21-5p/Tiam1 regulatory feedback circuit could affect the proliferation, migration, and invasion of colon cancer SW480 cells. This was probably due to the fact that circRNA-ACAP2 could act as a miRNA sponge to regulate Tiam1 expression by removing the inhibitory effect of miR-21-5p on Tiam1 expression. The results from this study have revealed new insights into the pathogenicity of colon cancer and may provide novel therapeutic targets for the treatment of colon cancer.
We study the atomic scale microstructure of nonstoichiometric two-dimensional (2D) transition metal dichalcogenide MoSe2–x by employing aberration-corrected high-resolution transmission electron ...microscopy. We show that a Se-deficit in single layers of MoSe2 grown by molecular beam epitaxy gives rise to a dense network of mirror-twin-boundaries (MTBs) decorating the 2D-grains. With the use of density functional theory calculations, we further demonstrate that MTBs are thermodynamically stable structures in Se-deficient sheets. These line defects host spatially localized states with energies close to the valence band minimum, thus giving rise to enhanced conductance along straight MTBs. However, electronic transport calculations show that the transmission of hole charge carriers across MTBs is strongly suppressed due to band bending effects. We further observe formation of MTBs during in situ removal of Se atoms by the electron beam of the microscope, thus confirming that MTBs appear due to Se-deficit, and not coalescence of individual grains during growth. At a very high local Se-deficit, the 2D sheet becomes unstable and transforms to a nanowire. Our results on Se-deficient MoSe2 suggest routes toward engineering the properties of 2D transition metal dichalcogenides by deviations from the stoichiometric composition.
Nanostructured materials with designable microstructure and controllable physical and chemical properties are highly desired for practical applications in nanotechnology. In this article, it is ...reported that nanoporous copper with a tunable nanopore size can be fabricated by controlling the dealloying process. The influence of acid concentration and etching potential on the formation of nanoprosity is systematically investigated. With optimal etching conditions, the nanopore sizes can be tailored from ∼15 to ∼120 nm by controlling the dealloying time. It is found that the tunable nanoporosity leads to significant improvements in surface‐enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) of nanoporous copper and peak values of SERS enhancements for both rhodamine 6G and crystal violet 10B molecules are observed at a pore size of ∼30–50 nm. This study underscores the effect of complex three‐dimensional nanostructures on physical and chemical properties and is helpful in developing inexpensive SERS substrates for sensitive instrumentations in molecular diagnostics.
Nanoporous copper (NPC) with tunable nanopore size is developed as a promising surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrate. By tailoring nanopore sizes, the SERS effects of NPC can be dramatically improved and the maximum enhancements for both rhodamine 6G and crystal violet 10B molecules are observed at a nanopore size of 30–50 nm; the maximum enhancement is found to be ∼1.85 × 105, comparable to that of nanoporous gold.