One important goal of the current electrocatalysis is to develop integrated electrodes from the atomic level design to multilevel structural engineering in simple ways and low prices. Here, a series ...of oxygen micro‐alloyed high‐entropy alloys (O‐HEAs) is developed via a metallurgy approach. A (CrFeCoNi)97O3 bulk O‐HEA shows exceptional electrocatalytic performance for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER), reaching an overpotential as low as 196 mV and a Tafel slope of 29 mV dec−1, and with stability longer than 120 h in 1 m KOH solution at a current density of 10 mA cm−2. It is shown that the enhanced OER performance can be attributed to the formation of island‐like Cr2O3 microdomains, the leaching of Cr3+ ions, and structural amorphization at the interfaces of the domains. These findings offer a technological‐orientated strategy to integrated electrodes.
A new class of bulk electrodes is designed by incorporating oxide microdomains into the so‐called high‐entropy alloys (HEAs). From these, unprecedented oxygen evolution reaction (OER) activity is achieved, with an ultralow overpotential of 196 mV and a Tafel slope of 29 mV dec−1, and with stability longer than 120 h in 1 m KOH solution at current density of 10 mA cm−2.
Background and Purpose
Parvalbumin (PV)‐positive neurons are a type of neuron in the lateral globus pallidus (LGP) which plays an important role in motor control. The present study investigated the ...effect of histamine on LGPPV neurons and motor behaviour.
Experimental Approach
Histamine levels in LGP as well as its histaminergic innervation were determined through brain stimulation, microdialysis, anterograde tracing and immunostaining. Mechanisms of histamine action were detected by immunostaining, single‐cell qPCR, whole‐cell patch‐clamp recording, optogenetic stimulation and CRISPR/Cas9 gene‐editing techniques. The effect of histamine on motor behaviour was detected by animal behavioural tests.
Key Results
A direct histaminergic innervation in LGP from the tuberomammillary nucleus (TMN) and a histamine‐induced increase in the intrinsic excitability of LGPPV neurons were determined by pharmacological blockade or by genetic knockout of the histamine H1 receptor (H1R)‐coupled TWIK‐related potassium channel‐1 (TREK‐1) and the small‐conductance calcium‐activated potassium channel (SK3), as well as by activation or overexpression of the histamine H2 receptor (H2R)‐coupled hyperpolarization‐activated cyclic nucleotide‐gated channel (HCN2). Histamine negatively regulated the STN → LGPGlu transmission in LGPPV neurons via the histamine H3 receptor (H3R), whereas blockage or knockout of H3R increased the intrinsic excitability of LGPPV neurons.
Conclusions and Implications
Our results indicated that the endogenous histaminergic innervation in the LGP can bidirectionally promote motor control by increasing the intrinsic excitability of LGPPV neurons through postsynaptic H1R and H2R, albeit its action was negatively regulated by the presynaptic H3R, thereby suggesting possible role of histamine in motor deficits manifested in Parkinson's disease (PD).
Histaminergic fibres from the TMN project to the LGP and release histamine in a paracrine form through its terminal varicosities. Histamine promotes locomotor behaviour in animals by bidirectionally modulating the intrinsic excitability of LGPPV neurons: Postsynaptic H1R and H2R increase the intrinsic excitability of LGPPV neurons, whereas presynaptic H3R negatively modulates this effect.
Aim
To characterize gingival metabolome in high‐fat diet (HFD)‐induced obesity in mice with/without periodontitis.
Methods
HFD‐induced obesity mouse model was established by 16‐week feeding, and a ...lean control group was fed with low‐fat diet (n = 21/group). Both models were induced for periodontitis on the left sides by molar ligation for 10 days, whereas the right sides were used as controls. Gingival metabolome and arginine metabolism were analysed by non‐targeted/targeted liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry.
Results
Of 2247 reference features, presence of periodontitis altered 165 in lean versus 885 in HFD mice; and HFD altered 525 in absence versus 1435 in presence of periodontitis. Compared with healthy condition, periodontitis and HFD had distinct effects on gingival metabolome. Metabolomic impacts of periodontitis were generally greater in HFD mice versus lean controls. K‐medoids clustering showed that HFD amplified the impacts of periodontitis on gingival metabolome in both intensity and extensity. Ten metabolic pathways were enriched, including 2 specific to periodontitis, 5 specific to HFD and 3 shared ones. Targeted validation on arginine metabolism confirmed the additive effects between HFD and periodontitis.
Conclusion
The obese population consuming excessive HFD display amplified metabolic response to periodontitis, presenting a metabolic susceptibility to exacerbated periodontal destruction.
Red deer (
) blood is widely used as a health product. Mixed culture fermentation improves the flavor and bioavailability of deer blood (DB), and both DB and its enzymatic hydrolysates exhibit ...anti-fatigue activities in vivo. To elucidate the bioactive ingredients, enzymatic hydrolysates were fractioned into different peptide groups using reversed phase resin chromatography, and then evaluated using an exhaustive swimming mice model to assess swimming time and biochemical parameters. The structures of the bioactive peptides were elucidated by high performance liquid chromatography with tandem mass detection. Thirty-one compounds were identified as glutamine or branched-chain amino acids containing short peptides, of which Val-Ala-Asn, Val-Val-Ser-Ala, Leu(Ile)-Leu(Ile)-Val-Thr, Pro-His-Pro-Thr-Thr, Glu-Val-Ala-Phe and Val-Leu(Ile)-Asp-Ala-Phe are new peptides. The fractions containing glutamine or valine short peptides, Ala-Gln, Val-Gln, Val-Val-Ser-Ala, Val-Leu(Ile)-Ser improved exercise endurance by increasing hepatic glycogen (HG) storage. The peptides group containing Leu(Ile)-Leu(Ile), Asp-Gln, Phe- Leu(Ile), Val-Val-Tyr-Pro contributed to decreased muscle lactic acid (MLA)accumulation and to an increase in HG. The anti-fatigue activities of DB hydrolysates were attributed to the synergistic effects of different types of peptides.
Tristetraprolin (TTP) regulates the stability of multiple targets that have important biological roles. However, the role of TTP in trophoblasts at the maternal-fetal interface remains poorly ...understood. We demonstrated that TTP was upregulated in placental trophoblasts from patients with recurrent miscarriages (RMs). Immunofluorescence and immunoblotting analyses indicated that TTP was redistributed from the nucleus to the cytoplasm in trophoblasts from patients with RMs. Trophoblast invasion and proliferation was repressed by TTP overexpression and was enhanced by TTP knockdown. Interestingly, TTP knockdown promoted trophoblast invasion in an ex vivo explant culture model. Furthermore, TTP overexpression in trophoblasts significantly inhibited the expression of the long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) HOTAIR. TTP was found to regulate HOTAIR expression by a posttranscriptional mechanism. To RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP) and RNA-protein, pull-down identified TTP as a specific binding partner that decreased the half-life of HOTAIR and lowered steady-state HOTAIR expression levels, indicating a novel posttranscriptional regulatory mechanism. Our findings identify a novel function for TTP in lncRNA regulation and provide important insights into the regulation of lncRNA expression. This study reveals a new pathway governing the regulation of TTP/HOTAIR in trophoblast cell invasion during early pregnancy.
•Structural properties and electronic structure of Al2Zr and Al2Hf are studied.•Mechanical properties are well described and discussed.•The Debye temperature and anisotropic sound velocity are first ...assessed.•The bonding strength for Al–Zr bonding is stronger than that of Al–Hf bonding.
Structural, mechanical and electronic properties of Laves phases Al2Zr and Al2Hf with C14-type structure were investigated by performing the first-principle calculations. The calculated equilibrium structural parameters agree closely with available experimental values. Mechanical parameters, such as bulk modulus B, shear modulus G, Young’s modulus E and the Poisson’s ratio ν are determined within the framework of the Voigt–Reuss–Hill approximation. We show that both Al2Zr and Al2Hf are mechanically stable and brittle with the estimation from the Poisson’s ratio and the B/G relationship. The mechanical anisotropies of the two phases are discussed in detail using several different anisotropic indexes and factors, showing that the anisotropy degree of Al2Hf is slightly larger than that of Al2Zr. In addition, the Debye temperature and anisotropic sound velocity of the two phases are predicted. Finally, the electronic structures are determined to reveal the bonding characteristics of both phases. These results are helpful to deepen the understanding of the physical and chemical nature of C14-type Al2Zr and Al2Hf.
Citrus fruits are rich in phenolic compounds that possess several health benefits. However, few studies have focused on the changes in phenolic compounds in citrus fruits during postharvest storage. ...This study dynamically monitored the phenolic content, components and antioxidant activity of ‘Tarocco’ blood oranges during a period of 12-week cold storage and on-tree storage, respectively. We investigated the alteration mechanism of phenolic compounds in blood oranges by evaluating phenylpropanoid pathway-related enzyme activities and gene expression. Results showed that flavanones were the main phenolic compounds in blood oranges. Both storage methods mainly stimulated the accumulation of phenolic acids to improve total phenolic content, which reached the maximum at week 12. Nonetheless, blood oranges had a higher phenolic content and antioxidant activity under on-tree storage than cold storage. Furthermore, the enzyme activities and gene expression of the phenylpropanoid pathway demonstrated that the accumulation of phenolics in blood oranges during storage was highly related to the activation of the phenylpropanoid pathway. These results demonstrate that on-tree storage is a potential approach for extending the supply period of blood orange from the perspective of phenolic compounds.
Prior investigations on the associations of polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) with fetal growth are mixed. Moreover, little research has accrued pertaining to the association between isomers of ...PFASs with gestational age and birth weight. To address this gap and present novel information, we conducted a study including 321 pairs of mothers and their infants recruited from Guangzhou, China. High performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry was utilized to analyze isomers of perfluorooctanesulfonate (PFOS), perfluorooctanoate (PFOA) along with other PFAS levels in cord serum samples. Mothers' and infants' characteristics were gathered from medical records. The resulting data revealed that higher PFOS, PFOA and isomers of PFOS were associated with lower birth weight. Per ln-unit (ng/mL) increase in cord serum total branched PFOS isomers was associated with a 126.3g (95% CI: −195.9, −56.8) reduction in the weight of infants at birth, while an ln-unit (ng/mL) increase of serum linear PFOS isomers (n-PFOS) was associated with a 57.2g (95% CI: −103.1, −11.3) reduction in the weight of infants at birth upon the subsequent adjustment for potential confounding variables. Notably, the association between cord PFAS level and birth weight was more pronounced in male infants. Furthermore, a positive association among branched PFOS isomers (1m-PFOS and 3+4+5m-PFOS) and gestational age was found. No associations could be found among other PFASs in conjunction with gestational age or birth weight. In conclusion, this investigation suggests that higher PFAS concentrations are associated with lower birth weight, and branched PFOS isomers show greater impact on infant birth weight than linear PFOS.
•The study included 321 infants from the Guangzhou Birth Cohort Study.•PFOS and other PFASs coincide with lower birth weight.•Branched isomers of PFOS had a stronger effect on birth weight than linear PFOS.•The associations were stronger in boys than in girls.
BACKGROUND:Little information exists regarding the effect of interaction of obesity and long-term air pollution exposure on children’s blood pressure and hypertension in areas with high levels of air ...pollution. The aim of this study is to assess effect modification by obesity on the association between exposure and blood pressure in Chinese children.
METHODS:We studied 9,354 Chinese children, ages 5–17 years old, from 24 elementary schools and 24 middle schools in the Seven Northeastern Cities during 2012–2013. Four-year average concentrations of particles with an aerodynamic diameter ≤10 µm (PM10), sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxides, and ozone (O3) were measured at the monitoring stations in the 24 districts. We used generalized additive models and two-level logistic regression models to examine the health effects.
RESULTS:Consistent interactions were found between exposure and obesity on blood pressure and hypertension. The association between exposure and hypertension was consistently larger for overweight/obese children than for children with normal-weight, with odds ratios for hypertension ranging from 1.16 per 46.3μg/m for O3 (95% confidence interval CI = 1.12, 1.20) to 2.91 per 30.6μg/m for PM10 (95% CI = 2.32, 3.64), and estimated increases in mean systolic and diastolic blood pressure ranging from 0.57 mmHg (95% CI = 0.36, 0.78) and 0.63 mmHg (95% CI = 0.46, 0.81) per 46.3 μg/m for O3 to 4.04 mmHg (95% CI = 3.00, 5.09) and 2.02 mmHg (95% CI = 1.14, 2.89) per 23.4 μg/m for sulfur dioxide.
CONCLUSIONS:Obesity amplifies the association of long-term air pollution exposure with blood pressure and hypertension in Chinese children.
This paper investigates the stability of time-delayed load frequency control (LFC) systems with electric vehicles (EV) aggregators based on Lyapunov theory and linear matrix inequality (LMI) ...technology. A novel Lyapunov-Krasovskii functional (LKF) is constructed. Then, based on Bessel-Legendre (B-L) inequality and model reconstruction technique, two stability criteria are derived, respectively. Some simulations are carried out to verify the effectiveness of the proposed methods. And the interaction of time-delays between areas and the effect of gains of EVs on delay margins are discussed.
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