With the continuous expansion of the lithium-ion battery market, the collection and recycling of spent lithium-ion batteries have gradually become a concern for researchers. In this research, based ...on the hydrometallurgical recovery process of spent lithium-ion batteries, an efficient and continuous synthesis process of industrial lithium carbonate was developed in a microreactor system. The effects of initial concentration of lithium solution, temperature and washing conditions on recovery rate of Li and product purity were investigated, and the optimal conditions of synthesis were obtained. Compared with the semi-batch method, the microreactor system had excellent mass and heat transfer characteristics. The product had good microscopic properties, uniform particle size distribution, and the recovery rate of Li reached 94.8 % with the purity of Li2CO3 reached 99.4 %, meeting the national standard of China for industrial grade lithium carbonate. The particle size distribution of the synthesized lithium carbonate was 6.2<D50 < 7.1 μm. Finally, the hydrometallurgical recycling process of spent cathode materials was well constructed in combination with leaching, co-extraction and separation steps of metal ions.
Currently, microsatellite high instability (MSI-H)/mismatch repair protein deletion (dMMR) has become a crucial biomarker for utilizing immune checkpoint inhibitors in patients with advanced ...colorectal cancer (mCRC). However, the proportion of MSI-H/dMMR in advanced patients is only about 5% and mCRC patients with microsatellite stability (MSS)/proficient mismatch repair (pMMR) exhibit poor responses to immunotherapy. Although diverse immune combination therapy regimens have been examined in patients with advanced colorectal cancer who demonstrate MSS/pMMR, these approaches have not yielded favorable efficacy and only a limited proportion of patients have benefited, especially for advanced colorectal cancer patients with liver metastases. Therefore, the mechanism of benefit and potential biomarkers of immunotherapy in patients with MSS/pMMR mCRC deserve more in-depth exploration. Here, we present a case study of a rectal cancer patient with MSS and PD-L1-negative recurrent hepatopulmonary metastases who attained complete remission (CR) and sustained benefits with immunotherapy after systemic therapy had failed. The analysis of the patient's genetic and immune microenvironmental characteristics revealed that mutations in DNA damage repair (DDR) pathway genes and the existence of abundant tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes could contribute to his potential benefit.
Metal graphitic nanocapsules have the advantages of both graphitic and metal nanomaterials, showing great promise in biomedicine. On one hand, the chemically inert graphitic shells are able to ...protect the metal core from external environments, quench the fluorescence signal from the biological system, offer robust platform for targeted molecules or drugs loading, and act as stable Raman labels or internal standard molecule. On the other hand, the metal cores with different compositions, sizes, and morphologies show unique physicochemical properties, and further broaden their biomedical functions. In this review, we firstly introduce the preparation, classification, and properties of metal graphitic nanocapsules, then summarize the recent progress of their applications in biodetection, bioimaging, and therapy. Challenges and their development prospects in biomedicine are eventually discussed in detail. We expect the versatile metal graphitic nanocapsules will advance the development of future clinical biomedicine.
In this review, we summary the preparation, classification, and properties of versatile metal graphitic nanocapsules, and then introduce the recent progress of their applications in biodetection, bioimaging, and therapy in detail. In addition, challenges and their development prospects in biomedicine are also discussed. We expect the metal graphitic nanocapsules will advance the development of future clinical biomedicine.
Distributed data storage (DDS) provides a promising approach to the reliable recovery of the whole sensor readings in a wireless sensor network (WSN) by visiting a small subset of sensor nodes. To ...reduce the number of transmissions/receptions, various DDS schemes based on compressive sensing (CS) have been proposed in the literature. However, these schemes only exploit the spatial correlation among sensor readings from geographically neighboring nodes, and the potential temporal correlation over multiple time slots within a frame duration is ignored. This results in energy inefficiency of DDS within the WSN. In this letter, we take a new approach, and exploit spatial and temporal (spatiotemporal) correlations among sensor readings simultaneously. A novel DDS coding scheme, referred to as spatiotemporal compressive network coding (ST-CNC), is proposed to collect sensor readings across the WSN in a more energy-efficient manner. Compared with the existing DDS schemes with CS, the proposed scheme significantly reduces the number of transmissions and receptions with similar recovery performance.
In this paper, we proposed a microextraction approach for the extraction and separation of Mn(II) and Co(II) from sulfate solution simulating leachate of spent lithium-ion battery cathode materials ...using saponified di-(2-ethylhexyl)phosphoric acid system. The effects of the following operational variables were investigated: equilibrium pH, tri-
n
-butyl phosphate concentration, saponification rate, two-phase ratio and residence time. The results showcased that the microextractor can reach the extraction equilibrium within 20 s, thereby greatly reducing necessary extraction time comparing to that of conventional processes. The volumetric mass transfer coefficient showed 8–21 times larger than that of batch device. With the help of microextractor, 95% of Mn(II) was extracted with a single theoretical stage at a chosen two-phase ratio of 3:1, and the separation factor
β
Mn/Co
was as large as 65.5. In the subsequent stripping step, more than 99% of manganese from loaded phase was easily stripped under optimal conditions. The microextraction approach greatly enhances the mass transfer while enabling a continuous and controllable extraction process within a simple structure design. When extracting spent electrode material with microextractors, the comprehensive recovery of mangenese can reach 96%. The microextraction approach has a good applicability in the spent lithium-ion battery cathode materials recycling at both bench and industrial scales.
Eukaryotic translation initiation factor 4E (eIF4E) is the rate-limiting factor for cap-dependent translation initiation, which is known to regulate oncogenesis. Elevated eIF4E and its negative ...impact on prognosis in human non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) have been reported previously. However, its potential as a therapeutic target and role in regulation of sensitivity to EGFR inhibitors is an area of ongoing investigations. In this study, we detected increased levels of eIF4E in 16 human NSCLC cell lines compared with their normal bronchial epithelial cells. Consistently, human tissue array analysis showed that eIF4E expression was significantly higher in human NSCLC tissues than normal tissues. Inhibition of eIF4E using eIF4E siRNA inhibited the growth and invasion of NSCLC cells. These data suggest that eIF4E overexpression plays a crucial role in positive regulation of the growth and invasion of NSCLC cells. By proteomics, we found that eIF4E levels were elevated in erlotinib-resistant cell lines compared with the sensitive parental cell line. In agreement, assembly of the eIF4F cap complex and several oncogenic proteins regulated by the cap-dependent translation mechanism, were also increased in erlotinib-resistant cells. Thus, erlotinib-resistant cells exhibit elevated eIF4E expression and cap-dependent translation. Inhibition of eIF4F with different means (e.g., gene knockdown) downregulated c-Met expression and partially restored cell sensitivity to erlotinib, suggesting that elevated eIF4E contributes to development of erlotinib resistance, likely through positive regulation of c-Met expression. Taken together, we suggest that elevated eIF4E in NSCLC cells is associated with proliferation, invasion and acquired erlotinib resistance.
Patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) is a common congenital heart disease. CITED2 plays an important role in the development of the heart, and genetic variants in its coding region are significantly ...associated with cardiac malformations. However, the role of variants in the promoter region of CITED2 in the development of PDA remains unclear. We extracted the peripheral blood of 646 subjects (including 353 PDA patients and 293 unrelated healthy controls) for sequencing. We identified 13 promoter variants of the CITED2 gene (including 2 novel heterozygous variants). Of the 13 variants, 10 were found only in PDA patients. In mouse cardiomyocytes (HL-1) and rat cardiac myocytes (RCM), the transcriptional activity of the CITED2 gene promoter was significantly changed by the variants (p < 0.05). The results of the experiments of electrophoretic mobility indicated that these variants may affect the transcription of the CITED2 gene by influencing the binding ability of transcription factors. These results, combined with the JASPAR database analysis, showed that the destruction/production of transcription factor binding sites due to the variants in the promoter region of the CITED2 gene may directly or indirectly affect the binding ability of transcription factors. Our results suggest for the first time that variants at the CITED2 promoter region may cause low expression of CITED2 protein related to the formation of PDA.
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) represents a highly recurrent gastrointestinal disorder and global public health issue. However, it lacks effective and safe strategies for its control. Although
...extract (GBE) has been suggested to exhibit preventive and therapeutic activity for the control of IBD, whether its activity is associated with its ability to modulate intestinal microbiota remains to be addressed. To investigate the effect of GBE on controlling IBD, a Citrobacter Rodentium (CR)-induced mouse colitis model was used, and then histopathological examinations, biochemical assays, immunohistochemistry, and immunoblotting were performed to detect histological changes, cytokines, and tight junction (TJ) proteins in the intestine samples. We also studied 16s rRNA to detect changes in intestinal microbiota and used GC-MS to determine the microbiota-related metabolites short chain fatty acids (SCFAs). The results of our studies revealed that pre-treatment with GBE was sufficient for protecting the animals from CR-induced colitis. As a mechanism for GBE activity, GBE treatment was able to modulate the intestinal microbiota and increase the SCFAs capable of decreasing the pro-inflammatory factors and up-regulating the anti-inflammatory factors while elevating the intestinal-barrier-associated proteins to maintain the integrity of the intestines. Accordingly, our results led to a strong suggestion that GBE should be seriously considered in the preventive control of CR-induced colitis and in the development of effective and safe therapeutic strategies for controlling IBD.
A rapid and efficient analysis and screening method is adopted for cell affinity capture coupled with HPLC–MS (CAC–HPLC–MS) analysis of bioactive components that have possible efficiency against ...cardiovascular diseases. This method involves affinity capture, concentration, and separation of bioactive components from Danshen library using oxidatively damaged endothelial cells induced by H2O2, as well as analysis and identification of targeted compounds with HPLC and MS. It combines the specific interaction between cell membrane receptors and bioactive components with the powerful analysis and identification function of HPLC–MS. The CAC–HPLC–MS method was also used for analysis and screening of bioactive components from crude extracts of Danshen. A total of 19 components were found to be bound to oxidatively damaged endothelial cells with seven of these identified. Existing literature confirms that these seven components have many activities related to cardioprotective diseases. Therefore, the combination of biological affinity capture with HPLC–MS should be regarded as an attractive method with great potential for rapid and efficient screening of bioactive components related to anti‐cardiovascular diseases from natural product libraries.
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