In the study of adsorption, changes in free energy (ΔG°), enthalpy (ΔH°), and entropy (ΔS°) have been most frequently calculated from the Langmuir equilibrium constant. In a strict theoretical sense, ...the Langmuir equilibrium constant with units of liters per mole and the thermodynamic equilibrium constant without units are not the same. Moreover, the equilibrium constants for thermodynamic calculation have also been derived in different ways in the literature, for example, Frumkin isotherm, Flory−Huggins isotherm, distribution constants, and so on. As a result, values of ΔG°, ΔH°, and ΔS° of adsorption reported in the literature are very confusing. This study shows that for a dilute solution of charged adsorbates or for a solution of uncharged adsorbates at any concentration, the thermodynamic equilibrium constant of adsorption would be reasonably approximated by the Langmuir equilibrium constant, and thus the use of the Langmuir equilibrium constant for calculation of ΔG° and subsequent determination of ΔH° and ΔS° of adsorption would be acceptable. However, special attention should be given if the equilibrium constants derived from other adsorption isotherm equations or distribution constants were used for determination of ΔG°.
Background and Purpose
Mitochondrial dysfunction plays a role in the progression of cardiovascular diseases including heart failure. 3‐Hydroxy‐3‐methylglutaryl‐CoA reductase inhibitors (statins), ...which inhibit ROS synthesis, show cardioprotective effects in chronic heart failure. However, the beneficial role of statins in mitochondrial protection in heart failure remains unclear.
Experimental Approach
Rats were treated with angiotensin II (1.5 mg·kg−1·day−1) or co‐administered simvastatin (oral, 10 mg·kg−1) for 14 days; and then administration was stopped for the following 14 days. Cardiac structure/function was examined by wheat germ agglutinin staining and echocardiography. Mitochondrial morphology and the numbers of lipid droplets, lysosomes, autophagosomes, and mitophagosomes were determined by transmission electron microscopy. Human cardiomyocytes were stimulated, and intracellular ROS and mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔΨm) changes were measured by flow cytometry and JC‐1 staining, respectively. Autophagy and mitophagy‐related and mitochondria‐regulated apoptotic proteins were identified by immunohistochemistry and western blotting.
Key Results
Simvastatin significantly reduced ROS production and attenuated the disruption of ΔΨm. Simvastatin induced the accumulation of lipid droplets to provide energy for maintaining mitochondrial function, promoted autophagy and mitophagy, and inhibited mitochondria‐mediated apoptosis. These findings suggest that mitochondrial protection mediated by simvastatin plays a therapeutic role in heart failure prevention by modulating antioxidant status and promoting energy supplies for autophagy and mitophagy to inhibit mitochondrial damage and cardiomyocyte apoptosis.
Conclusion and Implications
Mitochondria play a key role in mediating heart failure progression. Simvastatin attenuated heart failure, induced by angiotensin II, via mitochondrial protection and might provide a new therapy to prevent heart failure.
Due to the highest theoretical specific capacity of 4200 mA h g−1 for Li4.4Si, silicon(Si)-based materials could fulfill the increasing demands of high-energy lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). However, ...the intrinsic huge volume expansion during the lithiation/delithiation process results in rapid capacity decay and short cycle life and restricts the satisfactory electrical performance of Si-based anodes. Binder plays an important role of maintaining the contact integrity between active material, conductive additive and the current collector, thereby reducing the pulverization of the Si particles during charge/discharge. Here, the review systematically summarizes the synthesis methods, design principles and working mechanisms, including chemical composition, superstructure, and various interactions between different functional moieties of synthetic binders and natural biomass binders, to reveal the structure-composition-performance relationship, offer practical solutions to challenging problems associated with defects of Si-based electrode materials in LIBs and aim at exploiting new family of binders that could be used in industrial level as well as providing design principles for other electrode binders in rechargeable batteries.
Display omitted
•Working mechanisms and design principles of Si-based anodes binders are presented.•Synergistic strategy of combining binders with anode structure design is discussed.•Synthesis methods, applied anodes, ICE and cycling performance are listed.
Group 2 innate lymphoid cells (ILC2s) are emerging as key players in the pathogenesis of allergic airway inflammation. The mechanisms regulating ILC2, however, are not fully understood. Here, we ...found that ICAM-1 is required for the development and function of ILC2. ICAM-1-deficient (
) mice displayed significantly lower levels of ILC2s in the bone marrow and peripheral tissues than wild-type controls. CLP transfer and in vitro culture assays revealed that the regulation of ILC2 by ICAM-1 is cell intrinsic. Furthermore, ILC2s from
mice were functionally impaired, as indicated by the diminished production of type-2 cytokines in response to IL-33 challenge. The reduction in lung ILC2s caused a clear remission of airway inflammation in
mice after administration of papain or
We further demonstrate that ILC2 defects caused by ICAM-1 deficiency are due to ERK signaling-dependent down-regulation of GATA3 protein. Collectively, these observations identify ICAM-1 as a novel regulator of ILC2.
Exosomes are implicated in cancer cell development, migration and invasion. Pigment epithelium-derived factor (PEDF) is a secreted anticancer protein that can regulate lung cancer progression; ...however, the role of PEDF in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), including metastasis and cancer cell-derived exosome secretion, is unclear. In this study, we analyzed the effects of PEDF on exosome-mediated migration, invasion, and tumorigenicity of cultured NSCLC cells. The results showed that PEDF overexpression significantly reduced NSCLC invasion and migration, while inducing cell aggregation, whereas PEDF knockdown had the opposite effects. Exosomes from NSCLC cells treated with recombinant PEDF had a significantly reduced ability to promote cancer cell motility, migration, and invasion compared to exosomes from untreated cells. Exosomes from PEDF-treated cells contained thrombospondin 1 (THBS1), which inhibited cytoskeletal remodeling and exosome-induced lung cancer cell motility, migration, and invasion. Furthermore, PEDF-overexpressing NSCLC cells formed smaller xenograft tumors with higher THBS1 expression compared to control tumors. Our findings indicate that PEDF decreases the metastatic potential of NSCLC cells through regulation of THBS1 release in cancer cell-derived exosomes, thus uncovering a new mechanism of lung cancer progression.
•PEDF induces aggregation and reduces invasion and migration of lung cancer cells.•Exosomes from PEDF-treated cancer cells inhibit metastatic behavior of NSCLC cells.•PEDF-expressing NSCLC cells have reduced tumorigenicity in vivo.•PEDF increases thrombospondin 1 content in lung cancer cell-derived exosomes.•Thrombospondin 1 inhibits exosome-induced lung cancer cell migration and invasion.
The direct detection of gravitational waves opens the possibility to test general relativity and its alternatives in the strong field regime. Here we focus on the test of the existence of extra ...dimensions. The classification of gravitational waves in metric gravity theories according to their polarizations in higher-dimensional space-time and the possible observation of these polarizations in three-dimensional subspace are discussed in this work. We also show that the difference in the response of gravitational waves in detectors with and without extra dimensions can serve as evidence for the existence of extra dimensions.
In this paper, we investigate the possible parameter space of Palatini–Horndeski theory with gravitational waves in a spatially flat Universe. We develop a general method for obtaining the speed of ...gravitational waves in the Palatini formalism in the cosmological background and we find that if the theory satisfies the following condition: in any spatially flat cosmological background, the tensor gravitational wave speed is the speed of light
c
, then only
S
=
∫
d
4
x
-
g
K
(
ϕ
,
X
)
-
G
3
(
ϕ
,
X
)
□
~
ϕ
+
G
4
(
ϕ
)
R
~
is left as the possible action in Palatini–Horndeski theory. We also find that when
G
5
(
ϕ
,
X
)
≠
0
, the tensor part of the connection will propagate and there are two different tensor gravitational wave speeds.
DNA methylation is closely related to senescence, so it has been used to develop statistical models, called clock models, to predict chronological ages accurately. However, because the training data ...always have a biased age distribution, the model performance becomes weak for the samples with a small age distribution density. To solve this problem, we developed the R package eClock, which uses a bagging-SMOTE method to adjust the biased distribution and predict age with an ensemble model. Moreover, it also provides a bootstrapped model based on bagging only and a traditional clock model. The performance on three datasets showed that the bagging-SMOTE model significantly improved rare sample age prediction. In addition to model construction, the package also provides other functions such as data visualization and methylation feature conversion to facilitate the research in relevant areas.
Summary An estimated 95 million people worldwide are affected by cataract. Cataract still remains the leading cause of blindness in middle-income and low-income countries. With the advancement of ...surgical technology and techniques, cataract surgery has evolved to small-incisional surgery with rapid visual recovery, good visual outcomes, and minimal complications in most patients. With the development of advanced technology in intraocular lenses, the combined treatment of cataract and astigmatism or presbyopia, or both, is possible. Paediatric cataracts have a different pathogenesis, surgical concerns, and postoperative clinical course from those of age-related cataracts, and the visual outcome is multifactorial and dependent on postoperative visual rehabilitation. New developments in cataract surgery will continue to improve the visual, anatomical, and patient-reported outcomes. Future work should focus on promoting the accessibility and quality of cataract surgery in developing countries.
Researches on electrochemical energy storage devices with a high energy density have attracted the tremendous attention in recent years due to the ever-growing energy demands and rapid development of ...electric vehicles. Carbon-based materials are widely employed as the electrode materials in supercapacitors (SCs) which are promising devices for highly efficient energy and power managements. However, such devices suffer from the moderate energy densities in common organic liquid electrolytes compared to secondary batteries, significantly limiting their future applications. To circumvent this issue, enlarging the working cell voltage of SCs is a more effective strategy for increasing the energy density in comparison with enhancing the specific capacitance. This critical review points out the potential strategies for enlarging the working cell voltage and surveying recent achievements of high cell voltage SCs obtained through the modification and development of hybrid systems. Various factors influencing the operating cell voltage of carbon-based materials are discussed from the intrinsic property viewpoints of carbon. Consequently, we make an in-depth summary on various promising approaches of significant breakthroughs in recent years and provide the strategies to choose suitable carbon materials or modification methods for approaching the high-voltage SCs.
The AC-based EDLCs employing common organic liquid electrolytes suffer from the moderate energy density because of the relatively low cell voltages of 2.5–2.7 V. Enlarging the working cell voltage of SCs, achieved by different combinations among electrode materials and electrolytes, is a more effective strategy for increasing the energy density in comparison with enhancing the specific capacitance of electrode materials. In addition, there are four general strategies: change in electrolytes, control of surface functional groups on carbons, modification of carbon surface, and asymmetric/hybrid designs, to achieve the high-voltge SC purpose. Display omitted
PDF
