Abstract
The surface electron density significantly affects the photocatalytic efficiency, especially the photocatalytic CO
2
reduction reaction, which involves multi-electron participation in the ...conversion process. Herein, we propose a conceptually different mechanism for surface electron density modulation based on the model of Au anchored CdS. We firstly manipulate the direction of electron transfer by regulating the vacancy types of CdS. When electrons accumulate on vacancies instead of single Au atoms, the adsorption types of CO
2
change from physical adsorption to chemical adsorption. More importantly, the surface electron density is manipulated by controlling the size of Au nanostructures. When Au nanoclusters downsize to single Au atoms, the strong hybridization of Au 5
d
and S 2
p
orbits accelerates the photo-electrons transfer onto the surface, resulting in more electrons available for CO
2
reduction. As a result, the product generation rate of Au
SA
/Cd
1−x
S manifests a remarkable at least 113-fold enhancement compared with pristine Cd
1−x
S.
The prognosis of spinal cord injury (SCI) is closely related to secondary injury, which is dominated by neuroinflammation. There is evidence that α-synuclein aggregates after SCI and that inhibition ...of α-synuclein aggregation can improve the survival of neurons after SCI, but the mechanism is still unclear. This study was designed to investigate the effects of α-synuclein on neuroinflammation after SCI and to determine the underlying mechanisms.
A T3 spinal cord contusion model was established in adult male Sprague-Dawley rats. An SNCA-shRNA-carrying lentivirus (LV-SNCA-shRNA) was injected into the injury site to block the expression of α-synuclein (forming the SCI+KD group), and the SCI and sham groups were injected with an empty vector. Basso-Beattie-Bresnahan (BBB) behavioural scores and footprint analysis were used to detect motor function. Inflammatory infiltration and myelin loss were measured in the spinal cord tissues of each group by haematoxylin-eosin (HE) and Luxol Fast Blue (LFB) staining, respectively. Immunohistochemistry, Western blot analysis, and RT-qPCR were used to analyse protein expression and transcription levels in the tissues. Immunofluorescence was used to determine the morphology and function of glial cells and the expression of matrix metalloproteinase-9 in the central canal of the spinal cord. Finally, peripheral serum cytokine levels were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.
Compared with the SCI group, the SCI+KD group exhibited reduced inflammatory infiltration, preserved myelin, and functional recovery. Specifically, the early arrest of α-synuclein inhibited the pro-inflammatory factors IL-1β, TNF-α, and IL-2 and increased the expression of the anti-inflammatory factors IL-10, TGF-β, and IL-4. The neuroinflammatory response was regulated by reduced proliferation of Iba1+ microglia/macrophages and promotion of the shift of M1-polarized Iba1+/iNOS+ microglia/macrophages to M2-polarized Iba1+/Arg1+ microglia/macrophages after injury. In addition, compared with the SCI group, the SCI+KD group also exhibited a smaller microglia/astrocyte (Iba1/GFAP) immunostaining area in the central canal, lower MMP-9 expression, and improved cerebrospinal barrier function.
Lentivirus-mediated downregulation of α-synuclein reduces neuroinflammation, improves blood-cerebrospinal barrier function, promotes functional recovery, reduces microglial activation, and promotes the polarization of M1 microglia/macrophages to an M2 phenotype to confer a neuroprotective immune microenvironment in rats with SCI.
In locoregionally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma (LANPC) patients, variance of tumor response to induction chemotherapy (ICT) was observed. We developed and validated a novel imaging biomarker to ...predict which patients will benefit most from additional ICT compared with chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) alone.
All patients, including retrospective training (n = 254) and prospective randomized controlled validation cohorts (a substudy of NCT01245959, n = 248), received ICT+CCRT or CCRT alone. Primary endpoint was failure-free survival (FFS). From the multi-parameter magnetic resonance images of the primary tumor at baseline, 819 quantitative 2D imaging features were extracted. Selected key features (according to their interaction effect between the two treatments) were combined into an Induction Chemotherapy Outcome Score (ICTOS) with a multivariable Cox proportional hazards model using modified covariate method. Kaplan-Meier curves and significance test for treatment interaction were used to evaluate ICTOS, in both cohorts.
Three imaging features were selected and combined into ICTOS to predict treatment outcome for additional ICT. In the matched training cohort, patients with a high ICTOS had higher 3-year and 5-year FFS in ICT+CCRT than CCRT subgroup (69.3% vs. 45.6% for 3-year FFS, and 64.0% vs. 36.5% for 5-year FFS; HR = 0.43, 95% CI = 0.25-0.74, p = 0.002), whereas patients with a low ICTOS had no significant difference in FFS between the subgroups (p = 0.063), with a significant treatment interaction (p
< 0.001). This trend was also found in the validation cohort with high (n = 73, ICT+CCRT 89.7% and 89.7% vs. CCRT 61.8% and 52.8% at 3-year and 5-year; HR = 0.17, 95% CI = 0.06-0.51, p < 0.001) and low ICTOS (n = 175, p = 0.31), with a significant treatment interaction (p
= 0.019). Compared with 12.5% and 16.6% absolute benefit in the validation cohort (3-year FFS from 69.9 to 82.4% and 5-year FFS from 63.4 to 80.0% from additional ICT), high ICTOS group in this cohort had 27.9% and 36.9% absolute benefit. Furthermore, no significant survival improvement was found from additional ICT in both groups after stratifying low ICTOS patients into low-risk and high-risks groups, by clinical risk factors.
An imaging biomarker, ICTOS, as proposed, identified patients who were more likely to gain additional survival benefit from ICT+CCRT (high ICTOS), which could influence clinical decisions, such as the indication for ICT treatment.
ClinicalTrials.gov , NCT01245959 . Registered 23 November 2010.
Background
Cysteine‐rich protein 2 (CSRP2) is discovered as oncogene. The study aims to investigate the clinical significance and potential mechanism of CSRP2 in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma ...(HNSCC).
Methods
CSRP2 expression was explored by immunohistochemistry tissue microarrays and Western blotting in HNSCC. The effect of CSRP2 on the cancer stemness and epithelial‐to‐mesenchymal transition (EMT) of HNSCC cells was investigated by sphere formation, wound healing, and transwell assays. The vitro and vivo experiments revealed that CSRP2 modulated cancer stemness and EMT phenotypes in HNSCC.
Results
CSRP2 was overexpressed in HNSCC patients and presented poor prognosis. CSRP2 knockdown inhibited the migration and invasion ability of the HNSCC cells. And CSRP2 expression was closely associated with CSCs markers, EMT‐transcription factor, new oncoprotein, and immune checkpoint.
Conclusion
The overexpression of CSRP2 indicates poor prognosis and plays a key role in maintaining the cancer cell stemness and EMT.
Rational design and development of ruthenium phosphide-based nanomaterials with Pt-like catalytic performance and long-term stability for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) are highly desirable. ...Herein, a three-dimensional (3D) hybrid of graphene hollow nanospheres-supported ruthenium phosphides through a nanosphere-directed templating approach is developed. As expected, when evaluated as an electrocatalyst for the HER, the resultant composite exhibits excellent catalytic performance over a wide pH range due to the synergistic effects of the unique structure and composition. Particularly, the catalyst shows a low overpotential of 25.5 mV to achieve the current density of 10 mA cm−2, a small Tafel slope of 34.4 mV dec−1, as well as long-term operational stability for 10 h in basic conditions, which is superior to all other reported HER catalysts, including commercial 20% Pt–C. More importantly, this work provides new options for the design of 3D hollow graphene nanospheres supported transition metal phosphides as high-performance electrocatalysts for large-scale hydrogen production.
A novel hybrid of 3D graphene hollow nanospheres supported ruthenium phosphides was prepared through a nanosphere-directed templating approach for the first time. When evaluated as an electrocatalyst for the HER, the resultant composite exhibits excellent catalytic performance over a wide pH range due to the synergistic effect of the unique structure and composition. Display omitted
Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is featured with inflammation and extensive lung remodeling caused by overloaded deposition of extracellular matrix. Scutellarin is the major effective ingredient ...of breviscapine and its anti-inflammation efficacy has been reported before. Nevertheless, the impact of scutellarin on IPF and the downstream molecular mechanism remain unclear. In this study, scutellarin suppressed BLM-induced inflammation via NF-κB/NLRP3 pathway both in vivo and in vitro. BLM significantly elevated p-p65/p65 ratio, IκBα degradation, and levels of NLRP3, caspase-1, caspase-11, ASC, GSDMD
, IL-1β, and IL-18, while scutellarin reversed the above alterations except for that of caspase-11. Scutellarin inhibited BLM-induced epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) process in vivo and in vitro. The expression levels of EMT-related markers, including fibronectin, vimentin, N-cadherin, matrix metalloproteinase 2 (MMP-2) and MMP-9, were increased in BLM group, and suppressed by scutellarin. The expression level of E-cadherin showed the opposite changes. However, overexpression of NLRP3 eliminated the anti-inflammation and anti-EMT functions of scutellarin in vitro. In conclusion, scutellarin suppressed inflammation and EMT in BLM-induced pulmonary fibrosis through NF-κB/NLRP3 signaling.
This study investigates the impacts of tree-planting pattern and tree trunk height on the flow structure and pollutant dispersion inside a street canyon using the numerical model validated by wind ...tunnel dataset. The isolated canyon of L/H = 10 and W/H = 2 with trees are simulated considering the center tree-planting (CTP) and double rows tree-planting (DRTP) patterns as well as eight trunk heights under perpendicular approaching wind. The results reveal that tree-planting pattern and especially the trunk height affect significantly the flow and pollutant distributions. For each tree-planting pattern, the biggest characteristic of flow structure is, a strong stream of air passes through the canyon, resulting in the disappearance of canyon vortex and corner eddies at the canyon ends when h ≥ H. When compared to treeless case: trees lead to reduced ACH (air exchange rate) ranging from H/3 to 8H/9 and enhanced ACH at h = H and 10H/9; averaged/maximum concentration increases on wall A and slight decreases on wall B are found at h ranging from H/3 to 7H/9, while concentration dramatic decreases on wall A and significant increases on wall B are observed at h = H and 10H/9. Compared to the CTP counterpart, the DRTP present the similar flow structures, ACH and concentration distributions, which indicates that when the total volume and trunk height of trees are the same, the tree-planting patterns have little impacts on the flow structure and concentration distribution. This study will provide technical support for urban road planning to control air pollution.
•A CFD model of an isolated canyon with L/H = 10 and W/H = 2 is developed.•Impacts of tree-planting pattern and trunk height on flow and dispersion are studied.•The RSM turbulence model with Sct = 0.7 was better verified by WT dataset.•Two tree-planting patterns and eight trunk heights are considered.•The flow structures and concentration fields will change significantly when h ≥ H.
Endometriosis is defined as an oestrogen‐dependent and inflammatory gynaecological disease of which the pathogenesis remains unclear. This study aimed to investigate the cellular heterogeneity and ...reveal the effect of CD8+ T cells on the progress of endometriosis. Three ovarian endometriosis patients were collected, and single‐cell RNA sequencing (scRNA‐seq) progressed and delineated the cellular landscape of endometriosis containing five cell clusters. The endometrial cells (EMCs) were the major component, of which the mesenchymal cells were preponderant and characterized with increased inflammation and oestrogen synthesis in endometriosis. The proportion of T cells, mainly CD8+ T cells rather than CD4+, was reduced in endometriotic lesions, and the cytokines and cytotoxicity of ectopic T cells were depressed. CD8+ T cells depressed the proliferation of ESCs through inhibiting CDK1/CCNB1 pathway to arrest the cell cycle and triggered inflammation through activating STAT1 pathway. Correspondingly, the coculture with ESCs resulted in the dysfunction of CD8+ T cells through upregulating STAT1/PDCD1 pathway and glycolysis‐promoted metabolism reprogramming. The endometriotic lesions were larger in nude mouse models with T‐cell deficiency than the normal mouse models. The inhibition of T cells via CD90.2 or CD8A antibody increased the endometriotic lesions in mouse models, and the supplement of T cells to nude mouse models diminished the lesion sizes. In conclusion, this study revealed the global cellular variation of endometriosis among which the cellular count and physiology of EMCs and T cells were significantly changed. The depressed cytotoxicity and aberrant metabolism of CD8+ T cells were induced by ESCs with the activation of STAT1/PDCD1 pathway resulting in immune survival to promote endometriosis.
The proportion of T cells, mainly CD8+ T cells rather than CD4+, was reduced in endometriotic lesions, and the cytokines and cytotoxicity of ectopic T cells were depressed. CD8+ T cells depressed the proliferation of ESCs through inhibiting CDK1/CCNB1 pathway to arrest the cell cycle and triggered inflammation through activating STAT1 pathway. The coculture with ESCs resulted in the dysfunction of CD8+ T cells through upregulating STAT1/PDCD1 pathway and glycolysis‐promoted metabolism reprogramming.
The platform consists of three modules, which are pre‐configured bioinformatic pipelines, cloud toolsets, and online omics' courses. The pre‐configured bioinformatic pipelines not only combine ...analytic tools for metagenomics, genomes, transcriptome, proteomics and metabolomics, but also provide users with powerful and convenient interactive analysis reports, which allow them to analyze and mine data independently. As a useful supplement to the bioinformatics pipelines, a wide range of cloud toolsets can further meet the needs of users for daily biological data processing, statistics, and visualization. The rich online courses of multi‐omics also provide a state‐of‐art platform to researchers in interactive communication and knowledge sharing.
Abstract
The detection of inelastically scattered soft x-rays with high energy resolution usually requires large grating spectrometers. Recently, photoelectron spectrometry for analysis of x-rays ...(PAX) has been rediscovered for modern spectroscopy experiments at synchrotron light sources. By converting scattered photons to electrons and using an electron energy analyser, the energy resolution for resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS) becomes decoupled from the x-ray spot size and instrument length. In this work, we develop PAX towards high energy resolution using a modern photoemission spectroscopy setup studying Ba
2
Cu
3
O
4
Cl
2
at the Cu
L
3
-edge. We measure a momentum transfer range of 24% of the first Brillouin zone simultaneously. Our results hint at the observation of a magnon excitation below 100 meV energy transfer and show intensity variations related to the dispersion of
dd
-excitations. With dedicated setups, PAX can complement the best and largest RIXS instruments, while at the same time opening new opportunities to acquire RIXS at a range of momentum transfers simultaneously and combine it with angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy in a single instrument.
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