The comprehensive properties and sintering temperature of microwave dielectric ceramics are the key factors limiting their practical application. In this work, a novel strategy of complex ...(Co1/3Nb2/3)4+ ions substituted and adding glass (Li2O-B2O3- SiO2-CaO-Al2O3: LBSCA) was proposed to greatly enhance the microwave dielectric properties of Ba3Ti4-x(Co1/3Nb2/3)xNb4O21 (0 ≤ x ≤ 12 mol%, xCN-BTN) ceramics. A new ceramic of (Co1/3Nb2/3)4+ substitution improved hexagonal phase BTN was successfully fabricated and systematically investigated. As the increased of (Co1/3Nb2/3)4+ ions concentration, the Q×f was greatly increased because of higher packing fraction, and the reduction in the Nb1/Ti1O6 octahedral distortion caused great changes of τf. Besides, the P-V-L theory revealed that the Ti/Nb ratio greatly contributed in permittivity εr, and the Nb-O bonds mainly affected dielectric loss, especially in Nb(1)-O2(1) bond. As a result, the superior microwave dielectric properties were obtained in 6CN-BTN ceramic sintered at 950 °C: εr∼40.99 ± 0.48, Q×f∼17,310 ± 565 GHz, and τf∼8.62 ± 4.34 ppm/°C. More encouragingly, 6CN-BTN showed good compatibility with silver, making it a promising K40 LTCC material for filter and dielectric resonators. This study presented a new strategy to improve the properties of BTN-based materials by complex ions substitution, which was expected to provide a general approach for the design of advanced microwave dielectric ceramics for other material systems.
•A novel strategy of (Co1/3Nb2/3)4+ substituted was proposed to greatly enhance the microwave performance of BTN ceramics.•(Co1/3Nb2/3)4+ ions can greatly change the Nb/TiO6 octahedral distortion, thus greatly improving the Q×f and τf.•6CN-BTN ceramic with high performance, low sintering temperature and temperature stable.•6CN-BTN ceramics is expected to be a candidate material for K40-LTCC ceramics.
Chemically modified DNA has been widely developed to fabricate various nucleic acid nanostructures for biomedical applications. Herein, we report a facile strategy for construction of branched ...antisense DNA and small interfering RNA (siRNA) co‐assembled nanoplatform for combined gene silencing in vitro and in vivo. In our design, the branched antisense can efficiently capture siRNA with 3′ overhangs through DNA–RNA hybridization. After being equipped with an active targeting group and an endosomal escape peptide by host–guest interaction, the tailored nucleic acid nanostructure functions efficiently as both delivery carrier and therapeutic cargo, which is released by endogenous RNase H digestion. The multifunctional nucleic acid nanosystem elicits an efficient inhibition of tumor growth based on the combined gene silencing of the tumor‐associated gene polo‐like kinase 1 (PLK1). This biocompatible nucleic acid nanoplatform presents a new strategy for the development of gene therapy.
A nucleic acid nanoplatform‐based co‐delivery system containing a pair of functionalized branched antisenses and siRNA with 3′ overhangs was constructed through controlled co‐assembly for combined gene silencing and tumor therapy in vivo.
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•A new porous carbonaceous adsorbent was investigated for antibiotics adsorption.•Bamboo charcoal (BC) exhibits a strong adsorption affinity to antibiotics.•The key process ...controlling the rate of antibiotics adsorption was identified.•The mechanism regarding BC adsorption of antibiotics was explored.•BC could be used as a potential adsorbent for antibiotics removal in wastewater.
Adsorption of two antibiotics, tetracycline (TC) and chloramphenicol (CAP), on a new porous carbonaceous adsorbent, bamboo charcoal (BC), is investigated in batch and fixed bed column experiments. Adsorption isotherms of TC and CAP obtained from batch experiments are better fitted by Freundlich and Dubinin–Radushkevich models compared with Langmuir model. In the fixed bed column experiments, lower bed height, higher flow rate and lower influent contaminant concentration lead to greater adsorption of TC and CAP on BC. A mass transfer model that incorporates both surface and intraparticle diffusion theory into the convection–dispersion equation (CDE) is developed to identify the key process controlling the rate of TC and CAP adsorption. The results demonstrate that the surface diffusion is the rate-limiting step for antibiotics adsorption onto BC, which is consistent with the results of traditional Adams–Bohart model. π–π Electro-donor–acceptor (EDA), cation-π bond in conjunction with hydrogen bonding interaction are the main mechanisms for the adsorption of TC and CAP on BC, while the hydrophobic interaction and electrostatic interaction have minor contributions.
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•g-C3N4@Co-TiO2 (CNCT) nanofibrous membranes exhibiting robust flexibility were first fabricated.•The core-shell quantum heterojunction between g-C3N4 and Co-TiO2 effectively promoted ...carrier separation and transfer.•The CNCT membranes displayed remarkable photocatalytic activity towards antibiotic degradation and E. coil inactivation.•The CNCT membranes possessed excellent reversibility and easy-recycling ability.
Functional semiconductor nanomaterials modified TiO2 fibrous membranes with desirable heterostructures, good mechanical properties, and superior visible-light-driven photocatalytic activity would have broad applications in environmental remediation; however, constructing such fantastic fibrous membranes still remains an enormous challenge. Herein, we fabricated a soft and heterostructured g-C3N4@Co-TiO2 (CNCT) nanofibrous membranes by a facile electrospinning approach and subsequent thermal polymerization process. The ultrathin g-C3N4 nanoshell was in situ synthesized and uniformly wrapped onto Co-TiO2 nanofiber to form core-shell quantum heterojunction, and the thickness and loading amount of g-C3N4 nanoshell can be precisely controlled through simply regulating the content of precursor (melamine). Benefiting from the three-dimensional porous networks, enhanced visible-light response, and the effective charge transfer induced by uniform and compact heterojunction, the as-synthesized CNCT membranes exhibited a prominent photodegradation efficiency of 90.8% within 60 min towards tetracycline hydrochloride, and also displayed excellent antibacterial performance with a 6 log inactivation of E. coil after 90 min visible light exposure. Moreover, the stable core-shell structures and robust mechanical strength also endow the membranes with favorable reversibility and easy-recycling ability. This study may open up new avenues for designing and constructing flexible high-performance photocatalytic membranes for water purification.
Abstract
Schizophrenia is a serious neuropsychiatric disorder with abnormal age-related neurodevelopmental (or neurodegenerative) trajectories. Although an accelerated aging hypothesis of ...schizophrenia has been proposed, the quantitative study of the disruption of the physiological trajectory caused by schizophrenia is inconclusive. In this study, we employed 3 “epigenetic clock” methods to quantify the epigenetic age of a large sample size of whole blood (1069 samples from patients with schizophrenia vs 1264 samples from unaffected controls) and brain tissues (500 samples from patients with schizophrenia vs 711 samples from unaffected controls). We observed significant positive correlations between epigenetic age and chronological age in both blood and brain tissues from unaffected controls and patients with schizophrenia, as estimated by 3 methods. Furthermore, we observed that epigenetic age acceleration was significantly delayed in schizophrenia from the whole blood samples (aged 20–90 years) and brain frontal cortex tissues (aged 20–39 years). Intriguingly, the genes regulated by the epigenetic clock also contained schizophrenia-associated genes, displaying differential expression and methylation in patients with schizophrenia and involving in the regulation of cell activation and development. These findings were further supported by the dysregulated leukocyte composition in patients with schizophrenia. Our study presents quantitative evidence for a neurodevelopmental model of schizophrenia from the perspective of a skewed “epigenetic clock.” Moreover, landmark changes in an easily accessible biological sample, blood, reveal the value of these epigenetic clock genes as peripheral biomarkers for schizophrenia.
Abstract
Motivation
Alternative polyadenylation (APA) has been increasingly recognized as a crucial mechanism that contributes to transcriptome diversity and gene expression regulation. As RNA-seq ...has become a routine protocol for transcriptome analysis, it is of great interest to leverage such unprecedented collection of RNA-seq data by new computational methods to extract and quantify APA dynamics in these transcriptomes. However, research progress in this area has been relatively limited. Conventional methods rely on either transcript assembly to determine transcript 3′ ends or annotated poly(A) sites. Moreover, they can neither identify more than two poly(A) sites in a gene nor detect dynamic APA site usage considering more than two poly(A) sites.
Results
We developed an approach called APAtrap based on the mean squared error model to identify and quantify APA sites from RNA-seq data. APAtrap is capable of identifying novel 3′ UTRs and 3′ UTR extensions, which contributes to locating potential poly(A) sites in previously overlooked regions and improving genome annotations. APAtrap also aims to tally all potential poly(A) sites and detect genes with differential APA site usages between conditions. Extensive comparisons of APAtrap with two other latest methods, ChangePoint and DaPars, using various RNA-seq datasets from simulation studies, human and Arabidopsis demonstrate the efficacy and flexibility of APAtrap for any organisms with an annotated genome.
Availability and implementation
Freely available for download at https://apatrap.sourceforge.io.
Supplementary information
Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
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•The components in food waste could determine the productivity of methane in AD.•The conversion rate of starchy food and fruits was the highest during AD.•Vegetables could release a ...higher SCOD and VFAs in the incipient stage during AD.•The components could alter acetoclastic and hydrogenotrophic methanogenic pathways.
Anaerobic digestion (AD) process is widely considered the most sustainable technology for food waste (FW) disposal due to its advantage of biomethane recovery and beneficial environmental consequences. However, the effects of key components in FW (i.e. starchy food, vegetables, fruits, and meats) on AD process and their methanogenic pathways remain unclear. In this study, the biochemical methane potential (BMP) of cooked rice, cabbage, banana peel, pork and local FW was 288, 283, 254, 630, and 476 NmL CH4/g VSadded, with t80 (time required for 80% methane produced) of 3, 9, 3, 11 and 11 days, respectively. Kinetic analysis suggested diverse hydrolysis rates (0.104–0.679 d-1) and specific methane yields (39–119 NmL CH4/g VSadded/d). The relative abundances of key methanogens in the reactors were diverse, leading to the variation in acetoclastic and hydrogenotrophic methanogenic pathways. This study provides fundamental information for the operation of AD systems with different FW compositions.
DNA nanotechnology has been employed in the construction of self-assembled nano-biomaterials with uniform size and shape for various biological applications, such as bioimaging, diagnosis, or ...therapeutics. Herein, recent successful efforts to utilize multifunctional DNA origami nanoplatforms as drug-delivery vehicles are reviewed. Diagnostic and therapeutic strategies based on gold nanorods, chemotherapeutic drugs, cytosine-phosphate-guanine, functional proteins, gene drugs, and their combinations for optoacoustic imaging, photothermal therapy, chemotherapy, immunological therapy, gene therapy, and coagulation-based therapy are summarized. The challenges and opportunities for DNA-based nanocarriers for biological applications are also discussed.
Nucleic acid nanostructures are promising biomaterials for the delivery of homologous gene therapy drugs. Herein, we report a facile strategy for the construction of target mRNA (scaffold) and ...antisense (staple strands) co-assembled RNA/DNA hybrid "origami" for efficient gene therapy. In our design, the mRNA was folded into a chemically well-defined nanostructure through RNA-DNA hybridization with high yield. After the incorporation of an active cell-targeting aptamer, the tailored RNA/DNA hybrid origami demonstrated efficient cellular uptake and controllable release of antisenses in response to intracellular RNase H digestion. The biocompatible RNA/DNA origami (RDO) elicited a noticeable inhibition of cell proliferation based on the silencing of the tumor-associated gene polo-like kinase 1 (PLK1). This RDO-based nanoplatform provides a novel strategy for the further development of gene therapy.
An RNA/DNA origami-based nanoplatform was designed for efficient antisense delivery to silence target gene without any transfection reagents in eukaryotic cells.
Blood-brain barrier (BBB) leakage is an important cause of the exacerbation of pathological features of cerebral ischemia reperfusion injury (CIRI). However, the specific mechanism of BBB leakage is ...not clear. It was found that the CIRI resulted in RIPK1 activation and subsequent RIPK1-dependent apoptosis (RDA). Inhibition of RIPK1 significantly reduced BBB breakdown and brain damage. The aim of this study is to investigate the mechanism of RIPK1 in the BBB leakage during CIRI. It was discovered by proteomics that autophagy activation resulting from ischemia and reperfusion significantly downregulated the level of A20 protein. A20 is an important protein that regulates RIPK1 and RDA. It was hypothesized that activation of autophagy caused by ischemic reperfusion led to a decrease in A20 protein, which, in turn, caused the activation of RIPK1 and the occurrence of RDA, leading to leakage of the BBB. The findings in this study revealed the role of RIPK1 in the cell death and BBB leakage upon cerebral ischemia reperfusion injury, and these findings provide a novel perspective for the treatment of ischemic reperfusion.
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