Uniform Ni3C nanodots dispersed in ultrathin N‐doped carbon nanosheets were successfully prepared by carburization of the two dimensional (2D) nickel cyanide coordination polymer precursors. The Ni3C ...based nanosheets have lateral length of about 200 nm and thickness of 10 nm. When doped with Fe, the Ni3C based nanosheets exhibited outstanding electrocatalytic properties for both the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER). For example, 2 at % Fe (atomic percent) doped Ni3C nanosheets depict a low overpotential (292 mV) and a small Tafel slope (41.3 mV dec−1) for HER in KOH solution. An outstanding OER catalytic property is also achieved with a low overpotential of 275 mV and a small Tafel slope of 62 mV dec−1 in KOH solution. Such nanodot‐incorporated 2D hybrid structures can serve as an efficient bifunctional electrocatalyst for overall water splitting.
Flatland catalysis: Two‐dimensional (2D) ultrathin Ni3C based nanosheets were prepared by a facile process from coordination polymer precursors. Furthermore, Fe doping into Ni3C can be achieved. The samples thus prepared show promising hydrogen‐evolution and oxygen‐evolution reaction (HER and OER) activities.
Background
The missing asymptomatic COVID‐19 infections have been overlooked because of the imperfect sensitivity of the nucleic acid testing (NAT). Globally understanding the humoral immunity in ...asymptomatic carriers will provide scientific knowledge for developing serological tests, improving early identification, and implementing more rational control strategies against the pandemic.
Measure
Utilizing both NAT and commercial kits for serum IgM and IgG antibodies, we extensively screened 11 766 epidemiologically suspected individuals on enrollment and 63 asymptomatic individuals were detected and recruited. Sixty‐three healthy individuals and 51 mild patients without any preexisting conditions were set as controls. Serum IgM and IgG profiles were further probed using a SARS‐CoV‐2 proteome microarray, and neutralizing antibody was detected by a pseudotyped virus neutralization assay system. The dynamics of antibodies were analyzed with exposure time or symptoms onset.
Results
A combination test of NAT and serological testing for IgM antibody discovered 55.5% of the total of 63 asymptomatic infections, which significantly raises the detection sensitivity when compared with the NAT alone (19%). Serum proteome microarray analysis demonstrated that asymptomatics mainly produced IgM and IgG antibodies against S1 and N proteins out of 20 proteins of SARS‐CoV‐2. Different from strong and persistent N‐specific antibodies, S1‐specific IgM responses, which evolved in asymptomatic individuals as early as the seventh day after exposure, peaked on days from 17 days to 25 days, and then disappeared in two months, might be used as an early diagnostic biomarker. 11.8% (6/51) mild patients and 38.1% (24/63) asymptomatic individuals did not produce neutralizing antibody. In particular, neutralizing antibody in asymptomatics gradually vanished in two months.
Conclusion
Our findings might have important implications for the definition of asymptomatic COVID‐19 infections, diagnosis, serological survey, public health, and immunization strategies.
The combination of NAT and serological testing for IgM antibody significantly improves the detection sensitivity of asymptomatic COVID‐19 infections, compared with NAT alone. S1‐specific IgM antibody response with rapid emergence and disappearance might be helpful to assist NAT for early identification of infectious individuals. A majority of asymptomatics induce very low levels of neutralizing antibody that disappear in two months. Abbreviations: NAT, nucleic acid testing; FI, fluorescence intensity; NT50, half‐maximal neutralizing titer.
Solid oxide cell (SOC) based energy conversion systems have the potential to become the cleanest and most efficient systems for reversible conversion between electricity and chemical fuels due to ...their high efficiency, low emission, and excellent fuel flexibility. Broad implementation of this technology is however hindered by the lack of high-performance electrode materials. While many perovskite-based materials have shown remarkable promise as electrodes for SOCs, cation enrichment or segregation near the surface or interfaces is often observed, which greatly impacts not only electrode kinetics but also their durability and operational lifespan. Since the chemical and structural variations associated with surface enrichment or segregation are typically confined to the nanoscale, advanced experimental and computational tools are required to probe the detailed composition, structure, and nanostructure of these near-surface regions in real time with high spatial and temporal resolutions. In this review article, an overview of the recent progress made in this area is presented, highlighting the thermodynamic driving forces, kinetics, and various configurations of surface enrichment and segregation in several widely studied perovskite-based material systems. A profound understanding of the correlation between the surface nanostructure and the electro-catalytic activity and stability of the electrodes is then emphasized, which is vital to achieving the rational design of more efficient SOC electrode materials with excellent durability. Furthermore, the methodology and mechanistic understanding of the surface processes are applicable to other materials systems in a wide range of applications, including thermo-chemical photo-assisted splitting of H
O/CO
and metal-air batteries.
Detector and event visualization are essential parts of the software used in high-energy physics (HEP) experiments. Modern visualization techniques and multimedia production platforms such as Unity ...provide impressive display effects and professional extensions for visualization in HEP experiments. In this study, a method for automatic detector description transformation is presented, which can convert the complicated HEP detector geometry from GDML in offline software to 3D modeling in Unity. The method was successfully applied in the BESIII experiment and can be further developed into applications such as event displays, data monitoring, or virtual reality. It has great potential in detector design, offline software development, physics analysis, and outreach for next-generation HEP experiments as well as applications in nuclear techniques for the industry.
Historically, it has been difficult to propagate cells in vitro that are derived directly from human tumors or healthy tissue. However, in vitro preclinical models are essential tools for both the ...study of basic cancer biology and the promotion of translational research, including drug discovery and drug target identification. This protocol describes conditional reprogramming (CR), which involves coculture of irradiated mouse fibroblast feeder cells with normal and tumor human epithelial cells in the presence of a Rho kinase inhibitor (Y-27632). CR cells can be used for various applications, including regenerative medicine, drug sensitivity testing, gene expression profiling and xenograft studies. The method requires a pathologist to differentiate healthy tissue from tumor tissue, and basic tissue culture skills. The protocol can be used with cells derived from both fresh and cryopreserved tissue samples. As approximately 1 million cells can be generated in 7 d, the technique is directly applicable to diagnostic and predictive medicine. Moreover, the epithelial cells can be propagated indefinitely in vitro, yet retain the capacity to become fully differentiated when placed into conditions that mimic their natural environment.
Metal‐free heterostructure photocatalysts composed of black phosphorus (BP) and polymeric carbon nitride (CN) are successfully synthesized via a one‐step liquid exfoliation method assisted by ...sonication. The combination of BP with CN strengthens the visible‐light harvesting ability, facilitates the charge separation in the photocatalytic process, and renders promoted activity of photoinduced molecular oxygen activation, such as superoxide radicals (·O2−) evolution and H2O2 production. This work highlights that coupling semiconductors with well‐matched band levels provide a flexible route to enhance the performance of photocatalysts for producing reactive oxygen species, and gives ideas for the design of highly active and metal‐free materials toward sustainable solar‐to‐chemical energy conversion and environmental remediation.
The black phosphorus and polymeric carbon nitride heterostructure photocatalysts not only exhibit higher visible light absorption ability and accelerated electron–hole separation rate, but also show higher photocatalytic activities in one‐electron and two‐electron reduction of molecular oxygen than pristine carbon nitride. This work promotes the application of metal‐free photocatalysts in solar energy conversion and environmental remediation.
The development of efficient and sustainable methods for carbon-phosphorus bond formation is of great importance due to the wide application of organophosphorus compounds in chemistry, material ...sciences and biology. Previous C-H phosphorylation reactions under nonelectrochemical or electrochemical conditions require directing groups, transition metal catalysts, or chemical oxidants and suffer from limited scope. Herein we disclose a catalyst- and external oxidant-free, electrochemical C-H phosphorylation reaction of arenes in continuous flow for the synthesis of aryl phosphorus compounds. The C-P bond is formed through the reaction of arenes with anodically generated P-radical cations, a class of reactive intermediates remained unexplored for synthesis despite intensive studies of P-radicals. The high reactivity of the P-radical cations coupled with the mild conditions of the electrosynthesis ensures not only efficient reactions of arenes of diverse electronic properties but also selective late-stage functionalization of complex natural products and bioactive compounds. The synthetic utility of the electrochemical method is further demonstrated by the continuous production of 55.0 grams of one of the phosphonate products.
•Six flavonoids were isolated from two Glycyrrhiza species.•Some of the isolates displayed potent antioxidant and/or anti-inflammatory activity.•The antioxidant and/or anti-inflammatory activities of ...three flavonoids were first reported.•These isolated flavonoids were quantified in four Glycyrrhiza species.
Licorice, the roots and rhizomes of several Glycyrrhiza species (Leguminosae), is an important natural sweetening agent and a widely used herbal medicine. In this work, six flavonoids, 5-(1,1-dimethylallyl)-3,4,4′-trihydroxy-2-methoxychalcone (1), licochalcone B (2), licochalcone A (3), echinatin (4), glycycoumarin (5) and glyurallin B (6), were isolated from the extracts of licorice (Glycyrrhiza inflata and Glycyrrhiza uralensis). Their structures were elucidated using various spectroscopic methods. To our knowledge, compound 1 was isolated from natural plants for the first time. All the isolates were tested by antioxidant and anti-inflammatory assays. Compounds 2, 4 and 5 showed strong scavenging activity toward the ABTS+ radical, and compounds 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6 exhibited potent inhibition of lipid peroxidation in rat liver microsomes compared with the reference controls. Compounds 1–4 dose-dependently inhibited LPS induced reactive oxygen species (ROS) production in RAW 264.7 cells. Furthermore, compounds 1–5 were demonstrated to inhibit the production of nitric oxide (NO), interleukin-6 (IL-6) and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) in LPS-induced macrophage cells. Moreover, the contents of the six compounds, in different Glycyrrhiza species, were quantified by HPLC–MS.
The outer blood-retina barrier (BRB) separates the neural retina from the choroidal vasculature, which is responsible for approximately 80% of blood supplies in the eye. To determine the significance ...of outer BRB breakdown in diabetic retinopathy, the outer BRB-specific leakage of macromolecules in diabetic and ischemic rodents was investigated.
Diabetes and ischemia were induced in rodents by streptozotocin and oxygen-induced retinopathy, respectively. Diabetic and ischemic rodents were injected intravenously with fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC)-dextran. The outer BRB-specific leakage in diabetic and ischemic rodents was visualized by fluorescent microscopy.
A microscopic imaging assay was developed to examine outer BRB breakdown. The outer BRB-specific leakage of fluorescent macromolecules was visualized in diabetic and ischemic rodents. Substantial leakages of macromolecules through the outer BRB in diabetic and ischemic rodents were detected with this assay. The number of severe outer BRB leakage sites is inversely proportional to the size of macromolecules. Significant depletion of occludin in the RPE of ischemic and diabetic rodents was also observed.
For the first time, a microscopic imaging assay for directly visualizing macromolecules leaked through the outer BRB in rodents was developed. Using this assay, the authors demonstrated the significance of outer BRB breakdown in diabetes and ischemia, which will have implications to the understanding, diagnosis, and treatment of diabetic macular edema and other ocular diseases with outer BRB defects. The microscopic imaging assay established in this study will likely be very useful to the development of drugs for macular edema.
In order to explore the drying-wetting cycle test method of concrete under sulfate accelerating erosion, the influence of dry-wet time ratio on concrete sulfate erosion was studied. Under the ...condition of 7 days for one cycle, five different dry-wet time ratios were designed: 1:3, 1:1, 3:1, 5:1, and 10:1. The basic properties such as compressive strength, splitting tensile strength and dynamic elastic modulus of concrete were tested. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to analyze the microstructure of concrete before and after erosion. The test results show that under the environment of sulfate drying-wetting cycle erosion, the change of mechanical properties of concrete are divided into three stages: ascending period, fluctuating period and rapid descending period. Concrete is subjected to periodic damage process of initial damage followed by filling compaction, cracking, further filling, and cracking again, in that order. Dry-wet ratio has a significant effect on concrete sulfate attack. Under the same drying-wetting cycle period, as the dry-wet ratio increases, the degree of deterioration of concrete by sulfate attack increases first and then decreases. When the dry-wet ratio is 5:1, the deterioration is the most serious.
PDF
