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•Dendritic-like structured CuSn catalysts were simply prepared for CO2 reduction.•FEformate reached over 80 % with partial current density close to −200 mA cm−2.•Sn (II) species were ...formed and stabilized with adjacent Cu (I).•Sn (II)-enriched interfaces lowered the binding energy for CO2− intermediate.
CuSn alloy electrocatalysts have shown a promising CO2 electroreduction performance towards formate production. However, it is still a big challenge for the electrode to achieve superior selectivity towards formate at a current density over hundreds of mA cm−2. Herein, a CuSn alloy catalyst with predominant electrochemical CO2-to-formate conversion was designed. With a unique dendritic-like structure, CuSn4 (prepared at current density of 4 A cm−2) exhibited a maximum faradaic efficiency (FEformate) of 82.1 %, and the FEformate could be maintained over 80 % with the partial current density close to −200 mA cm−2. Mechanism analysis unveiled that the dendritic structure of CuSn4 induced higher CO2 concentration around the reaction sites. Meanwhile, the higher electric density due to the unique structure and the generated Sn (II) species lowered the binding energy of CO2− intermediate. Such a structure and Sn (II)-enriched interfaces could be stably maintained and sustainably generated as a result of “natural oxidation-CO2 reduction”. This study presents a straightforward approach to develop an efficient electrode for CO2-to-formate conversion at higher current densities.
To provide theoretical support for the digestive properties of soup, nutrition concentration, colloidal properties, and structures were analyzed in colloidal nanoparticles (CNPs) from the lamb bone ...soup group (BS) and the lamb meat soup group (MS). BS-CNPs had higher protein and triglyceride concentrations than MS-CNPs. After 3 h stewing, the rate of protein leaching from CNPs in both groups slowed down, with the triglyceride being largest at 3 h with 2.05 mmol/L in BS-CNPs and 1.44 mmol/L in MS-CNPs. Colloidal properties results showed that as the stewing time increased, particle size and derived count rate increased in both groups. The maximum particle size was observed at 5 h with 268 nm of BS-CNPs and 488 nm of MS-CNPs. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy reflected that O-H, N-H and C-H absorption peaks were blue-shifted with time, but valence bonds in both groups were the same. Circular dichroism spectroscopy revealed that the α-helix and β-turn of both groups decreased while β-sheet and random coil increased with time. Scanning electron microscope showed that CNPs became larger with time, and BS-CNPs resembled cubes while MS-CNPs were spherical. In conclusion, stewing time influenced the physicochemical properties of CNPs significantly (P<0.05) with 3 h stewing soup time recommended.
•The particle size of colloidal nanoparticles increased with stewing time.•Colloidal nanoparticles of bone soup were more stable than those of meat soup.•3 h was the best stewing time for lamb soup.
Wind energy is an important option of renewable energy and plays more and more an irreplaceable role in many regions. A technical and meanwhile a scientific problem directly relevant to selecting the ...wind farm site, optimizing the wind farm layout and evaluating the power output, is to calculate accurately the wake effects generated behind wind turbines, which affect the wind velocity distribution of downstream turbines and reduce the power output of a wind farm. Through modifications of near-field and far-field empirical wake models and the wake model on a complex terrain, a unified wake model is developed to calculate the full-field wake velocity distribution over a wind farm with arbitrary turbine arrays located on flat or complex terrains. The derived wake velocity is formulated in an explicit and concise form to obtain the wind velocity at any position within the turbine arrays. The velocity distribution over the whole array can be fast acquired by implementing a simple procedure and occupying the least computing resources. Compared to the CFD modelling, the present method performs superiorly in both easiness and efficiency, which would be a powerful tool in designing and optimizing a large wind farm composed of numerous and variably deployed turbines of different densities on complex terrains. With this solution, it becomes feasible to construct the wind turbine arrays at the sites of restricted space, specifically the offshore islands and the large floating structures.
We reported previously that higher doses (150–250 μM) of silibinin enhanced fission and inhibited fusion of mitochondria, accompanying apoptosis of double-positive breast cancer cell line MCF-7 cells ...and triple-negative breast cancer cell line MDA-MB-231 cells. We report here three important questions yet unclarified in the previous study; 1) Whether enhanced fission of mitochondria by the treatment of silibinin leads to mitophagy, 2) Whether mitophagy positively contributes to apoptosis and 3) Whether estrogen receptor-positive (ER+) MCF-7 cells and estrogen receptor-negative (ER−) MDA-MB-231 cells are affected in a different way by silibinin treatment, since silibinin often works through ERs signaling pathway. Mitophagy driven by Pink1/Parkin signaling, plays an important role in eliminating damaged mitochondria. Indeed, increased expression of Pink1 and the recruitment of Parkin and LC3-II to mitochondria by the treatment with silibinin account for silibinin induction of mitophagy. In this study, the effects of mitochondrial division inhibitor 1 (mdivi-1) and small interfering RNA targeting dynamin-related protein 1 (DRP1) were examined to reveal the effect of mitochondrial fission on mitophagy. As expected, mdivi-1 or siRNA targeting DRP1 reversed silibinin-induced mitochondrial fission due to down-regulation in the expression of DRP1. Inhibition of mitochondrial fission by mdivi-1 prevented induction of mitophagy as well as autophagy in both MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 cells, indicating that silibinin-induced mitochondrial fission leads to mitophagy. Inhibition of mitochondrial fission efficiently prevented silibinin-induced apoptosis in MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 cells in our previous work, and the second point of the present study, inhibition of mitophagy by Pink1 or Parkin knockdown increased silibinin-induced apoptosis of these cells, respectively, suggesting that the mitophagy induced by silibinin treatment serves as a cytoprotective effect, resulting in reduction of apoptosis of cancer cells in both cells. In the third point, we studied whether estrogen receptors (ERs) played a role in silibinin-induced mitophagy and apoptosis in MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 cells. ERα and ERβ are not involved in silibinin-induced mitophagic process in MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 cells. These findings demonstrated that silibinin induced mitochondria fission leads to mitophagy, which attenuates silibinin-induced apoptosis not through ERs-Pink1 or -Parkin pathway in MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231.
Heightened effector function and prolonged persistence, the key attributes of Th1 and Th17 cells, respectively, are key features of potent anti-tumor T cells. Here, we established ex vivo culture ...conditions to generate hybrid Th1/17 cells, which persisted long-term in vivo while maintaining their effector function. Using transcriptomics and metabolic profiling approaches, we showed that the enhanced anti-tumor property of Th1/17 cells was dependent on the increased NAD+-dependent activity of the histone deacetylase Sirt1. Pharmacological or genetic inhibition of Sirt1 activity impaired the anti-tumor potential of Th1/17 cells. Importantly, T cells with reduced surface expression of the NADase CD38 exhibited intrinsically higher NAD+, enhanced oxidative phosphorylation, higher glutaminolysis, and altered mitochondrial dynamics that vastly improved tumor control. Lastly, blocking CD38 expression improved tumor control even when using Th0 anti-tumor T cells. Thus, strategies targeting the CD38-NAD+ axis could increase the efficacy of anti-tumor adoptive T cell therapy.
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•Th1/17 cells with effector and stemness features exhibit durable tumor control•High glutaminolysis of Th1/17 cell regulates its viability and anti-tumor response•NAD+-Sirt1-Foxo1 axis is central to the anti-tumor phenotype of Th1/17 cells•Targeting NADase CD38 on T cells increases NAD+ levels and controls tumor growth
Chatterjee et al. show that intracellular NAD+ levels control the anti-tumor potential of hybrid Th1/17 cells through the NAD+-Sirt1-Foxo1 axis. Expression of the NADase CD38 inversely correlates with NAD+ levels and regulates anti-tumor T cell response. Genetic ablation or antibody-mediated targeting of CD38 on T cells improves tumor control.
Abstract Lactoferrin (LF) is a non-heme protein binding Fe3+ tightly and plays a role in regulating the absorption and metabolism of iron under physiological condition. The absorption of non-heme ...iron occurs in the duodenum. LF is incorporated as a functional factor of food products during food processing. In this review, we describe the structural and functional changes of LF due to thermal processing of food, as well as the metabolic processes of LF iron binding and release in vivo, which characterizes the value of LF as a food matrix from nutrition and biochemistry and provides a basis for the comprehensive utilization of LF in food.
Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers threatening women's health. Our previous study found that silibinin induced the death of MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 human breast cancer cells. We noticed ...that silibinin-induced cell damage was accompanied by morphological changes, including the increased cell aspect ratio (cell length/width) and decreased cell area. Besides, the cytoskeleton is also destroyed in cells treated with silibinin. YAP/TAZ, a mechanical signal sensor interacted with extracellular pressure, cell adhesion area and cytoskeleton, is also closely associated with cell survival, proliferation and migration. Thus, the involvement of YAP/TAZ in the cytotoxicity of silibinin in breast cancer cells has attracted our interests. Excitingly, we find that silibinin inhibits the nuclear translocation of YAP/TAZ in MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 cells, and reduces the mRNA expressions of YAP/TAZ target genes, ACVR1, MnSOD and ANKRD. More importantly, expression of YAP1 gene is negatively correlated with the survival of the patients with breast cancers. Molecular docking analysis reveals high probabilities for binding of silibinin to the proteins in the YAP pathways. DARTS and CETSA results confirm the binding abilities of silibinin to YAP and LATS. Inhibiting YAP pathway either by addition of verteporfin, an inhibitor of YAP/TAZ-TEAD, or by transfection of si-RNAs targeting YAP or TAZ further enhances silibinin-induced cell damage. While enhancing YAP activity by silencing LATS1/2 or overexpressing YAPS127/397A, an active form of YAP, attenuates silibinin-induced cell damage. These findings demonstrate that inhibition of the YAP/TAZ pathway contributes to cytotoxicity of silibinin in breast cancers, shedding lights on YAP/TAZ-targeted cancer therapies.
Adenovirus is among the most UV-resistant waterborne human pathogens. There is a need to identify nonpathogenic surrogates for adenovirus for the water treatment industry. In this study, the ...feasibility of using the algal virus
chlorella virus (PBCV-1) as an adenovirus surrogate for validation of UV reactors was evaluated. The UV dose-response behavior of PBCV-1 to monochromatic UV radiation at 254 nm and action spectrum for wavelengths ranging from 214 to 289 nm were measured. A culture-based infectivity assay was used to evaluate viral inactivation, and a quantitative PCR assay was used to quantify DNA damage. A UV
dose of 150 mJ/cm
resulted in roughly 5-log
units of reduction of PBCV-1, which is similar to that of adenovirus. Furthermore, the inactivation action spectrum of PBCV-1 was similar to that of adenovirus between 214 and 289 nm. A simplified and inexpensive prepurification method was also developed to prepare PBCV-1 viral suspensions with similar inactivation behavior to purified PBCV-1. Overall, PBCV-1 appears to represent an appropriate adenovirus surrogate for UV system performance evaluation and illustrates the potential of using algal viruses as nonpathogenic, easy to culture, and readily available surrogates for human pathogens.
Abstract Myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) are a group of myeloid cells composed of hematopoietic progenitor cells, immature macrophages, dendritic cells, and granulocytes, which accumulate in ...inflammatory diseases and various cancers. Here, we investigated the dynamic changes and effects of MDSCs in graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) development and/or tumor relapse after syngeneic and allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (BMT). We found that adding functional MDSCs in donor graft alleviated GVHD, whereas removal of MDSCs in vivo exacerbated GVHD. After T cell-deplete BMT, MDSCs transiently accumulated in the blood and spleen of recipients without GVHD. In contrast, after T cell-replete BMT, the levels of blood MDSCs were constantly elevated in recipients with GVHD. MDSC accumulation positively correlated with the severity of GVHD. Additionally, MDSC accumulation was further increased upon tumor relapse. Although MDSCs isolated from both syngeneic and allogeneic BMT recipients inhibited T cell proliferation in response to alloantigen stimulation ex vivo, MDSCs from the recipients with GVHD showed much higher suppressive potency compared with those from recipients without GVHD. These results indicate that MDSCs can regulate the immune response in acute GVHD, and possibly tumor relapse, subsequent to allogeneic BMT.
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