The placenta is crucial for a successful pregnancy and the health of both the fetus and the pregnant woman. However, how the human trophoblast lineage is regulated, including the categorization of ...the placental cell subtypes is poorly understood. Here we performed single-cell RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) on sorted placental cells from first- and second-trimester human placentas. New subtypes of cells of the known cytotrophoblast cells (CTBs), extravillous trophoblast cells (EVTs), Hofbauer cells, and mesenchymal stromal cells were identified and cell-type-specific gene signatures were defined. Functionally, this study revealed many previously unknown functions of the human placenta. Notably, 102 polypeptide hormone genes were found to be expressed by various subtypes of placental cells, which suggests a complex and significant role of these hormones in regulating fetal growth and adaptations of maternal physiology to pregnancy. These results document human placental trophoblast differentiation at single-cell resolution and thus advance our understanding of human placentation during the early stage of pregnancy.
Optimizing charge transfer and alleviating volume expansion in electrode materials are critical to maximize electrochemical performance for energy storage systems. Herein, an atomically thin ...soft-rigid Co
S
@MoS
core-shell heterostructure with dual cation vacancies at the atomic interface is constructed as a promising anode for high-performance sodium-ion batteries. The dual cation vacancies involving V
and V
in the heterostructure and the soft MoS
shell afford ionic pathways for rapid charge transfer, as well as the rigid Co
S
core acts as the dominant active component and resists structural deformation during charge/discharge. Electrochemical testing and theoretical calculations demonstrate both excellent Na
transfer kinetics and pseudocapacitive behavior. Consequently, the soft-rigid heterostructure delivers extraordinary sodium storage performance (389.7 mA h g
after 500 cycles at 5.0 A g
), superior to those of the single-phase counterparts; and the assembled Na
V
(PO
)
||d-Co
S
@MoS
/S-Gr full cell achieves an energy density of 235.5 Wh kg
at 0.5 C. Our finding opens up a new strategy of soft-rigid heterostructure and broadens the horizons of material design in energy storage and conversion. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
It is still very urgent and challenging to simultaneously develop high‐rate and long‐cycle oxide cathodes for sodium‐ion batteries (SIBs) because of the sluggish kinetics and complex multiphase ...evolution during cycling. Here, the concept of accurately manipulating structural evolution and formulating high‐performance heterostructured biphasic layered oxide cathodes by local chemistry and orbital hybridization modulation is reported. The P2‐structure stoichiometric composition of the cathode material shows a layered P2‐ and O3‐type heterostructure that is explicitly evidenced by various macroscale and atomic‐scale techniques. Surprisingly, the heterostructured cathode displays excellent rate performance, remarkable cycling stability (capacity retention of 82.16% after 600 cycles at 2 C), and outstanding compatibility with hard carbon anode because of the integrated advantages of intergrowth structure and local environment regulation. Meanwhile, the formation process from precursors during calcination and the highly reversible dynamic structural evolution during the Na+ intercalation/deintercalation process are clearly articulated by a series of in situ characterization techniques. Also, the intrinsic structural properties and corresponding electrochemical behavior are further elucidated by the density of states and electron localization function of density functional theory calculations. Overall, this strategy, which finely tunes the local chemistry and orbitals hybridization for high‐performance SIBs, will open up a new field for other materials.
An abnormal heterostructured biphasic layered oxide cathode for sodium‐ion batteries (SIBs) is successfully constructed, and its dynamic formation process, intrinsic structural properties, and electrochemical behavior are elucidated by a series of in situ characterization techniques and density functional theory calculations. The concept of accurately manipulating structural evolution and formulating heterostructured cathode materials by local chemistry and orbital hybridization modulation is further demonstrated.
Scutellaria baicalensis root is traditionally used for the treatment of common cold, fever and influenza. Flavonoids are the major chemical components of S. baicalensis root.
To evaluate the ...therapeutic effects and action mechanism of flavonoids-enriched extract from S. baicalensis root (FESR) on acute lung injury (ALI) induced by influenza A virus (IAV) in mice.
The anti-influenza, anti-inflammatory and anti-complementary properties of FESR and the main flavonoids were evaluated in vitro. Mice were challenged intranasally with influenza virus H1N1 (A/FM/1/47) 2 h before treatment. FESR (50, 100 and 200 mg/kg) was administrated intragastrically. Baicalin (BG), the most abundant compound in FESR was given as reference control. Survival rates, life spans and lung indexes of IAV-infected mice were measured. Histopathological changes, virus levels, inflammatory markers and complement deposition in lungs were analyzed.
Compared with the main compound BG, FESR and lower content aglycones (baicalein, oroxylin A, wogonin and chrysin) in FESR significantly inhibited H1N1 activity in virus-infected Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cells and markedly decreased nitric oxide (NO) production from lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated RAW264.7 cells. In vitro assays showed that FESR and BG had no anti-complementary activity whereas baicalein, oroxylin A, wogonin and chrysin exhibited obvious anti-complementary activity.
Oral administration of FESR effectively protected the IAV-infected mice, increased the survival rate (FESR: 67%; BG: 33%), decreased the lung index (FESR: 0.90; BG: 1.00) and improved the lung morphology in comparing with BG group. FESR efficiently decreased lung virus titers, reduced haemagglutinin (HA) titers and inhibited neuraminidase (NA) activities in lungs of IAV-infected mice. FESR modulated the inflammatory responses by decreasing the levels of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6) and monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1), and increasing the levels of interferon-γ (IFN-γ) and interleukin-10 (IL-10) in lung tissues. Although showing no anti-complementary activity in vitro, FESR obviously reduced complement deposition and decreased complement activation product level in the lung .
FESR has a great potential for the treatment of ALI induced by IAV and the underlying action mechanism might be closely associated with antiviral, anti-inflammatory and anti-complementary properties. Furthermore, FESR resulted in more potent therapeutic effect than BG in the treatment of IAV-induced ALI.
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Abstract
Follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) is involved in mammalian reproduction via binding to FSH receptor (FSHR). However, several studies have found that FSH and FSHR play important roles in ...extragonadal tissue. Here, we identified the expression of FSHR in human and mouse pancreatic islet β-cells. Blocking FSH signaling by Fshr knock-out led to impaired glucose tolerance owing to decreased insulin secretion, while high FSH levels caused insufficient insulin secretion as well. In vitro, we found that FSH orchestrated glucose-stimulated insulin secretion (GSIS) in a bell curve manner. Mechanistically, FSH primarily activates Gαs via FSHR, promoting the cAMP/protein kinase A (PKA) and calcium pathways to stimulate GSIS, whereas high FSH levels could activate Gαi to inhibit the cAMP/PKA pathway and the amplified effect on GSIS. Our results reveal the role of FSH in regulating pancreatic islet insulin secretion and provide avenues for future clinical investigation and therapeutic strategies for postmenopausal diabetes.
New tools for single‐cell interrogation enable deeper understanding of cellular heterogeneity and associated cellular behaviors and functions. Information of RNA expression in single cell could ...contribute to our knowledge of the genetic regulatory circuits and molecular mechanism of disease development. Although significant progresses have been made for intracellular RNA analysis, existing methods have a trade‐off between operational complexity and practical feasibility. We address this challenge by combining the ionic current rectification property of nanopipette reactor with duplex‐specific nuclease‐assisted hybridization chain reaction for signal amplification to realize a simple and practical intracellular nanosensor with minimal invasiveness, which enables single‐cell collection and electrochemical detection of intracellular RNA with cell‐context preservation. Systematic studies on differentiation of oncogenic miR‐10b expression levels in non‐malignant breast cells, metastatic breast cancer cells as well as non‐metastatic breast cancer cells were then realized by this nanotool accompanied by assessment of different drugs effects. This work has unveiled the ability of electrochemistry to probe intracellular RNA and opened new opportunities to study the gene expression and heterogeneous complexity under physiological conditions down to single‐cell level.
A DSN‐assisted ICR‐nanopipette was fabricated for tracking the drug‐induced variation of the oncogenic miR‐10b expression levels of a dynamic manner. This method unveils the ability of electrochemistry to probe intracellular RNA and to study the gene expression and heterogeneous complexity under physiological conditions down to single‐cell level.
The efficient construction of enantiomerically enriched molecules from simple starting materials via catalytic asymmetric synthesis strategies is a key challenge in synthetic chemistry. Metallated ...azomethine ylides are commonly-used synthons for the preparation of N-heterocycles and α-amino acids. Remarkably, to date, the utilization of azomethine ylides for the facile access to chiral amines has proven elusive. Here, we report that a synergistic Cu/Ir-catalytic system combined with careful tuning of the steric congestion can be used to convert aldimine esters to a variety of chiral homoallylic amines via a cascade allylation/2-aza-Cope rearrangement. The elucidation of the distinct effects of each stereogenic center of the allylation intermediates on the stereochemical outcome and chirality transfer in the rearrangement further guided the selection of catalysts combination.
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.
Mixed‐dimensional (0D, 1D, and 3D) heterostructures based on 2D layered materials have been proven as a promising candidate for future nanoelectronics and optoelectronics applications. In this work, ...it is demonstrated that 1D atomic chain based Se nanoplates (NPs) can be epitaxially grown on monolayer ReS2 by a chemical transport reaction, thereby creating an interesting mixed‐dimensional Se/ReS2 heterostructure. A unique epitaxial relationship is observed with the (110) planes of the Se NPs parallel to the corresponding ReS2 (010) planes. Experimental and theoretical studies reveal that the Se NPs could conjugate with underlying monolayer ReS2 via strong chemical hybridization at heterointerface, which is expected to originate from the intrinsic defects of ReS2. Remarkably, photodetectors based on Se/ReS2 heterostructures exhibit ultrahigh detectivity of up to 8 × 1012 Jones, and also show a fast response time of less than 10 ms. These results illustrate the great advantage of directly integrated 1D Se based nanostructure on planar semiconducting ReS2 films for optoelectronic applications. It opens up a feasible way to obtain mixed‐dimensional heterostructures with atomic interfacial contact by epitaxial growth.
1D atomic chain based Se nanoplates (NPs) are epitaxially grown on monolayer ReS2 to form an interesting mixed‐dimensional Se/ReS2 heterostructure. Experimental and theoretical studies reveal that the Se NPs are chemically hybridized with underlying monolayer ReS2 through intrinsic defects in ReS2. Photodetectors based on Se/ReS2 heterostructures exhibit ultrahigh detectivity and fast response time.
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