We report acute antibody responses to SARS-CoV-2 in 285 patients with COVID-19. Within 19 days after symptom onset, 100% of patients tested positive for antiviral immunoglobulin-G (IgG). ...Seroconversion for IgG and IgM occurred simultaneously or sequentially. Both IgG and IgM titers plateaued within 6 days after seroconversion. Serological testing may be helpful for the diagnosis of suspected patients with negative RT-PCR results and for the identification of asymptomatic infections.
Understanding the molecular mechanisms regulating the maintenance and destruction of intervertebral disc may lead to the development of new therapies for intervertebral disc degeneration (IDD). Here ...we present evidence from miRNA microarray analyses of clinical data sets along with in vitro and in vivo experiments that miR-141 is a key regulator of IDD. Gain- and loss-of-function studies show that miR-141 drives IDD by inducing nucleus pulposus (NP) apoptosis. Furthermore, miR-141 KO in mice attenuated spontaneous and surgically induced IDD. Mechanistically, miR-141 promotes IDD development by targeting and depleting SIRT1, a negative regulator of NF-κB pathway. Therapeutically, upregulation or downregulation of miR-141 by nanoparticle delivery in IDD model aggravated or alleviated experimental IDD, respectively. Our findings reveal a novel mechanism by which miR-141, in part, promotes IDD progression by interacting with SIRT1/NF-κB pathway. Blockade of miR-141 in vivo may serve as a potential therapeutic approach in the treatment of IDD.
This paper discusses adaptive control problems of high-order stochastic nonlinear time-delay systems. Compared with the existing results, the considered system involves uncertain parameters, ...intricate stochastic drift terms, and unknown time-varying delays. Based on a modified method of adding a power integrator and Lyapunov-Krasoviskii functional technique, new controllers are successfully constructed to achieve the objectives of adaptive stabilization and adaptive tracking, respectively. Examples are given to show the effectiveness of the proposed control strategies.
Hemilabile ligands have been applied extensively in transition metal catalysis, but preparations of these molecules typically require multistep synthesis. Here, modular assembly of diverse ...phosphine‐amide ligands, including related axially chiral compounds, is first reported through ruthenium‐catalyzed C−H activation of phosphines with isocyanate directed by phosphorus(III) atoms. High reactivity and regioselectivity can be obtained by using a Ru3(CO)12 catalyst with a mono‐N‐protected amino acid ligand. This transformation significantly expands the pool of phosphine‐amide ligands, some of which have shown excellent efficiency for asymmetric catalysis. More broadly, the discovery constitutes a proof of principle for facile construction of hemilabile ligands directly from the parent monodentate phosphines by C−H activation with ideal atom, step and redox economy. Several dinuclear ruthenium complexes were characterized by single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction analysis revealing the key mechanistic features of this transformation.
A phosphorus(III)‐directed C−H aminocarbonylation of monodentate phosphines has been developed for modular assembly of bidentate hemilabile ligands. The use of mono‐N‐protected amino acid (MPAA) ligands is crucial for the inhibition of catalyst poisoning.
Exploration of low‐cost and earth‐abundant photocatalysts for highly efficient solar photocatalytic water splitting is of great importance. Although transition‐metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) showed ...outstanding performance as co‐catalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), designing TMD‐hybridized photocatalysts with abundant active sites for the HER still remains challenge. Here, a facile one‐pot wet‐chemical method is developed to prepare MS2–CdS (M=W or Mo) nanohybrids. Surprisedly, in the obtained nanohybrids, single‐layer MS2 nanosheets with lateral size of 4–10 nm selectively grow on the Cd‐rich (0001) surface of wurtzite CdS nanocrystals. These MS2–CdS nanohybrids possess a large number of edge sites in the MS2 layers, which are active sites for the HER. The photocatalytic performances of WS2–CdS and MoS2–CdS nanohybrids towards the HER under visible light irradiation (>420 nm) are about 16 and 12 times that of pure CdS, respectively. Importantly, the MS2–CdS nanohybrids showed enhanced stability after a long‐time test (16 h), and 70 % of catalytic activity still remained.
A single layer makes the difference: MS2–CdS (M=W or Mo) nanohybrids with single‐layer MS2 nanosheets selectively grown on the Cd‐rich (0001) surface of wurtzite CdS nanocrystals (see picture) are synthesized by a facile one‐pot wet‐chemical method. The MS2–CdS nanohybrids showed excellent photocatalytic activity towards the hydrogen evolution reaction and good stability.
Nanostructured transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) are proven to be efficient and robust earth‐abundant electrocatalysts to potentially replace precious platinum‐based catalysts for the hydrogen ...evolution reaction (HER). However, the catalytic efficiency of reported TMD catalysts is still limited by their low‐density active sites, low conductivity, and/or uncleaned surface. Herein, a general and facile method is reported for high‐yield, large‐scale production of water‐dispersed, ultrasmall‐sized, high‐percentage 1T‐phase, single‐layer TMD nanodots with high‐density active edge sites and clean surface, including MoS2, WS2, MoSe2, Mo0.5W0.5S2, and MoSSe, which exhibit much enhanced electrochemical HER performances as compared to their corresponding nanosheets. Impressively, the obtained MoSSe nanodots achieve a low overpotential of −140 mV at current density of 10 mA cm−2, a Tafel slope of 40 mV dec−1, and excellent long‐term durability. The experimental and theoretical results suggest that the excellent catalytic activity of MoSSe nanodots is attributed to the high‐density active edge sites, high‐percentage metallic 1T phase, alloying effect and basal‐plane Se‐vacancy. This work provides a universal and effective way toward the synthesis of TMD nanostructures with abundant active sites for electrocatalysis, which can also be used for other applications such as batteries, sensors, and bioimaging.
A general and facile method is developed for high‐yield, large‐scale production of water‐dispersed, ultrasmall, high‐percentage 1T‐phase, single‐layer transition metal dichalcogenide nanodots with high‐density active edge sites and clean surface, including MoS2, WS2, MoSe2, Mo0.5W0.5S2, and MoSSe, which exhibit much enhanced electrochemical hydrogen evolution reaction performances as compared to their corresponding nanosheets.
Phase engineering of nanomaterials (PEN) offers a promising route to rationally tune the physicochemical properties of nanomaterials and further enhance their performance in various applications. ...However, it remains a great challenge to construct well‐defined crystalline@amorphous core–shell heterostructured nanomaterials with the same chemical components. Herein, the synthesis of binary (Pd‐P) crystalline@amorphous heterostructured nanoplates using Cu3−χP nanoplates as templates, via cation exchange, is reported. The obtained nanoplate possesses a crystalline core and an amorphous shell with the same elemental components, referred to as c‐Pd‐P@a‐Pd‐P. Moreover, the obtained c‐Pd‐P@a‐Pd‐P nanoplates can serve as templates to be further alloyed with Ni, forming ternary (Pd‐Ni‐P) crystalline@amorphous heterostructured nanoplates, referred to as c‐Pd‐Ni‐P@a‐Pd‐Ni‐P. The atomic content of Ni in the c‐Pd‐Ni‐P@a‐Pd‐Ni‐P nanoplates can be tuned in the range from 9.47 to 38.61 at%. When used as a catalyst, the c‐Pd‐Ni‐P@a‐Pd‐Ni‐P nanoplates with 9.47 at% Ni exhibit excellent electrocatalytic activity toward ethanol oxidation, showing a high mass current density up to 3.05 A mgPd−1, which is 4.5 times that of the commercial Pd/C catalyst (0.68 A mgPd−1).
Binary (Pd‐P) and ternary (Pd‐Ni‐P) nanoplates, both with crystalline@amorphous core–shell nanostructures, are synthesized using Cu3−χP nanoplates as templates. The obtained c‐Pd‐Ni‐P@a‐Pd‐Ni‐P heterostructured nanoplates exhibit superior electrocatalytic performance toward the ethanol oxidation reaction in alkaline media compared to c‐Pd‐P@a‐Pd‐P heterostructured nanoplates and commercial Pd/C catalysts.
This paper aims to solve the finite-time stabilization problem for stochastic high-order nonlinear systems with stochastic inverse dynamics. By characterizing unmeasured stochastic inverse dynamics ...with finite-time stochastic input-to-state stability (FT-SISS), borrowing from some ideas of the Lyapunov function, sign function, backstepping and FT-SISS methods, and using stochastic finite-time stability theory, a new design and analysis method is given to guarantee global finite-time stability in probability of the closed-loop stochastic systems.
Self-assembling peptides (SAPs) have enormous potential in medical and biological applications, particularly noninvasive tumor therapy. SAPs self-assembly is governed by multiple non-covalent ...interactions and results in the formation of a variety of morphological features. SAPs can be assembled in a variety of ways, including chemical conjugation and physical encapsulation, to incorporate multiple bioactive motifs. Peptide-based nanomaterials are used for chemotherapy, delivery vehicles, immunotherapy, and noninvasive tumor therapies (e.g. photodynamic therapy) by employing the self-assembling properties of peptides. The recent increase of SAPs is almost entirely due to their excellent biocompatibility, responsiveness toward tumor microenvironment, multivalency, and structural versatility. Synergistic therapy is a more effective and powerful approach to treat the tumor. Notably, SAPs can be used to subtly combine various treatments. Importantly, SAPs are capable of subtly making the combination of various treatments. This review describes mechanisms of peptides self-assemble into various structures and their biomedical applications with a focus on possible treatments.
Transition‐metal‐catalyzed C−H borylation has been widely used in the preparation of organoboron compounds. Here, we developed a general protocol on metal‐free P(III)‐directed C−H borylation of ...phosphines mediated by BBr3, resulting in the formation of products bearing both phosphorus and boron. The development of the metal‐free strategy to mimic previous metallic processes has shown low cost, superior practicality, and environmental friendliness. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations demonstrate the preferred pathway for this metal‐free directed C−H borylation process.
Boron Chemistry. An efficient metal‐free system has been uncovered for the site‐selective C−H borylation of phosphines directed by P(III) atom just using BBr3. This robust method enables the rapid construction of phosphine boronate esters in selective, practical, low‐cost, and environmentally friendly modes.
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