Screening of Intermetallic Compounds Based on Intermediate Adsorption Equilibrium for Electrocatalytic Nitrate Reduction to Ammonia.

Electrocatalytic nitrate (NO3-) reduction reaction (NO3RR) holds great potential for the conversion of NO3- contaminants into valuable NH3 in a sustainable method. Unfortunately, the nonequilibrium adsorption of intermediates and sluggish multielectron transfer have detrimental impacts on the electrocatalytic performance of the NO3RR, posing obstacles to its practical application. Herein, we initially screen the adsorption energies of three key intermediates, i.e., *NO3, *NO, and *H2O, along with the d-band centers on 21 types of transition metal (IIIV and IB)-Sb/Bi-based intermetallic compounds (IMCs) as electrocatalysts. The results reveal that hexagonal CoSb IMCs possess the optimal adsorption equilibrium for key intermediates and exhibit outstanding electrocatalytic NO3RR performance with a Faradaic efficiency of 96.3%, a NH3 selectivity of 89.1%, and excellent stability, surpassing the majority of recently reported NO3RR electrocatalysts. Moreover, the integration of CoSb IMCs/C into a novel Zn-NO3- battery results in a high power density of 11.88 mW cm-2.

A Biphasic Strategy to Synergistically Accelerate Activation and CO Spillover in Formic Acid Oxidation Catalysis.

Developing highly efficient and carbon monoxide (CO)-tolerant platinum (Pt) catalysts for the formic acid oxidation reaction (FAOR) is vital for direct formic acid fuel cells (DFAFCs), yet it is challenging due to the high energy barrier of direct intermediates (HCOO* and COOH*) as well as the CO poisoning issues associated with Pt alloy catalysts. Here we present a versatile biphasic strategy by creating a hexagonal/cubic crystalline-phase-synergistic PtPb/C (h/c-PtPb/C) catalyst to tackle the aforementioned issues. Detailed investigations reveal that h/c-PtPb/C can simultaneously facilitate the adsorption of direct intermediates while inhibiting CO adsorption, thereby significantly improving the activation and CO spillover. As a result, h/c-PtPb/C showcases an outstanding FAOR activity of 8.1 A mgPt-1, which is 64.5 times higher than that of commercial Pt/C and significantly surpasses monophasic PtPb. Moreover, the h/c-PtPb/C-based membrane electrode assembly exhibits an exceptional peak power density of 258.7 mW cm-2 for practical DFAFC applications.

Histone methyltransferase MLL4 protects against pressure overload-induced heart failure via a THBS4-mediated protection in ER stress.

Pressure overload-induced pathological cardiac hypertrophy eventually leads to heart failure (HF). Unfortunately, lack of effective targeted therapies for HF remains a challenge in clinical management. Mixed-lineage leukemia 4 (MLL4) is a member of the SET family of histone methyltransferase enzymes, which possesses histone H3 lysine 4 (H3K4)-specific methyltransferase activity. However, whether and how MLL4 regulates cardiac function is not reported in adult HF. Here we report that MLL4 is required for endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress homeostasis of cardiomyocytes and protective against pressure overload-induced cardiac hypertrophy and HF. We observed that MLL4 is increased in the heart tissue of HF mouse model and HF patients. The cardiomyocyte-specific deletion of Mll4 (Mll4-cKO) in mice leads to aggravated ER stress and cardiac dysfunction following pressure overloading. MLL4 knockdown neonatal rat cardiomyocytes (NRCMs) also display accelerated decompensated ER stress and hypertrophy induced by phenylephrine (PE). The combined analysis of Cleavage Under Targets and Tagmentation sequencing (CUT&Tag-seq) and RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) data reveals that, silencing of Mll4 alters the chromatin landscape for H3K4me1 modification and gene expression patterns in NRCMs. Interestingly, the deficiency of MLL4 results in a marked reduction of H3K4me1 and H3K27ac occupations on Thrombospondin-4 (Thbs4) gene loci, as well as Thbs4 gene expression. Mechanistically, MLL4 acts as a transcriptional activator of Thbs4 through mono-methylation of H3K4 and further regulates THBS4-dependent ER stress response, ultimately plays a role in HF. Our study indicates that pharmacologically targeting MLL4 and ER stress might be a valid therapeutic approach to protect against cardiac hypertrophy and HF.

Steering Geometric Reconstruction of Bismuth with Accelerated Dynamics for CO2 Electroreduction.

Bismuth-based materials have emerged as promising catalysts in the electrocatalytic reduction of CO2 to formate. However, the reasons for the reconstruction of Bi-based precursors to form bismuth nanosheets are still puzzling, especially the formation of defective bismuth sites. Herein, we prepare bismuth nanosheets with vacancy-rich defects (V-Bi NS) by rapidly reconstructing Bi19Cl3S27 under negative potential. Theoretical analysis reveals that the introduction of chlorine induces the generation of intrinsic electric field in the precursor, thereby increasing the electron transfer rate and further promoting the metallization of trivalent bismuth. Meanwhile, in situ Raman and ex situ XRD tests verify that Bi19Cl3S27 has a faster reconstruction rate than Bi2S3. The formed V-Bi NS exhibits up to 96% HCOO- Faraday efficiency and 400 mA cm-2 HCOO- partial current densities, and its ECSA normalized formate current density and yield are 2.2 times higher than those of intact bismuth nanosheets (I-Bi NS). Density functional theory (DFT) calculations indicate that bismuth vacancies with electron-rich aggregation reduce the activation energy of CO2 to *CO2- radicals and stabilize the adsorption of the key intermediate *OCHO, thus facilitating the reaction kinetics of formate production.

Heterophase Intermetallic Compounds for Electrocatalytic Hydrogen Production at Industrial-Scale Current Densities.

Heterophase nanomaterials have sparked significant research interest in catalysis due to their distinctive properties arising from synergistic effects of different components and the formed phase boundary. However, challenges persist in the controlled synthesis of heterophase intermetallic compounds (IMCs), primarily due to the lattice mismatch of distinct crystal phases and the difficulty in achieving precise control of the phase transitions. Herein, orthorhombic/cubic Ru2Ge3/RuGe IMCs with engineered boundary architecture are synthesized and anchored on the reduced graphene oxide. The Ru2Ge3/RuGe IMCs exhibit excellent hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) performance with a high current density of 1000 mA cm-2 at a low overpotential of 135 mV. The presence of phase boundaries enhances charge transfer and improves the kinetics of water dissociation while optimizing the processes of hydrogen adsorption/desorption, thus boosting the HER performance. Moreover, an anion exchange membrane electrolyzer is constructed using Ru2Ge3/RuGe as the cathode electrocatalyst, which achieves a current density of 1000 mA cm-2 at a low voltage of 1.73 V, and the activity remains virtually undiminished over 500 h.

Association between urinary arsenic species and vitamin D deficiency: a cross-sectional study in Chinese pregnant women.

Background: An increasing number of studies suggest that environmental pollution may increase the risk of vitamin D deficiency (VDD). However, less is known about arsenic (As) exposure and VDD, particularly in Chinese pregnant women. Objectives: This study examines the correlations of different urinary As species with serum 25 (OH) D and VDD prevalence. Methods: We measured urinary arsenite (As3+), arsenate (As5+), monomethylarsonic acid (MMA), and dimethylarsinic acid (DMA) levels and serum 25(OH)D2, 25(OH)D3, 25(OH) D levels in 391 pregnant women in Tianjin, China. The diagnosis of VDD was based on 25(OH) D serum levels. Linear relationship, Logistic regression, and Bayesian kernel machine regression (BKMR) were used to examine the associations between urinary As species and VDD. Results: Of the 391 pregnant women, 60 received a diagnosis of VDD. Baseline information showed significant differences in As3+, DMA, and tAs distribution between pregnant women with and without VDD. Logistic regression showed that As3+ was significantly and positively correlated with VDD (OR: 4.65, 95% CI: 1.79, 13.32). Meanwhile, there was a marginally significant positive correlation between tAs and VDD (OR: 4.27, 95% CI: 1.01, 19.59). BKMR revealed positive correlations between As3+, MMA and VDD. However, negative correlations were found between As5+, DMA and VDD. Conclusion: According to our study, there were positive correlations between iAs, especially As3+, MMA and VDD, but negative correlations between other As species and VDD. Further studies are needed to determine the mechanisms that exist between different As species and VDD.

Constructing Ru-O-TM Bridge in NiFe-LDH Enables High Current Hydrazine-assisted H2 Production.

Hydrazine oxidation-assisted water splitting is a critical technology to tackle the high energy consumption in large-scale H2 production. Ru-based electrocatalysts hold promise for synergetic hydrogen reduction (HER) and hydrazine oxidation (HzOR) catalysis but are hindered by excessive superficial adsorption of reactant intermediate. Herein, this work designs Ru cluster anchoring on NiFe-LDH (denoted as Ruc/NiFe-LDH), which effectively enhances the intermediate adsorption capacity of Ru by constructing Ru─O─Ni/Fe bridges. Notably, it achieves an industrial current density of 1 A cm-2 at an unprecedentedly low voltage of 0.43 V, saving 3.94 kWh m-3 H2 in energy, and exhibits remarkable stability over 120 h at a high current density of 5 A cm-2. Advanced characterizations and theoretical calculation reveal that the presence of Ru─O─Ni/Fe bridges widens the d-band width (Wd) of the Ru cluster, leading to a lower d-band center and higher electron occupation on antibonding orbitals, thereby facilitating moderate adsorption energy and enhanced catalytic activity of Ru.

Breaking Highly Ordered PtPbBi Intermetallic with Disordered Amorphous Phase for Boosting Electrocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution and Alcohol Oxidation.

Constructing amorphous/intermetallic (A/IMC) heterophase structures by breaking the highly ordered IMC phase with disordered amorphous phase is an effective way to improve the electrocatalytic performance of noble metal-based IMC electrocatalysts because of the optimized electronic structure and abundant heterophase boundaries as active sites. In this study, we report the synthesis of ultrathin A/IMC PtPbBi nanosheets (NSs) for boosting hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and alcohol oxidation reactions. The resulting A/IMC PtPbBi NSs exhibit a remarkably low overpotential of only 25 mV at 10 mA cm-2 for the HER in an acidic electrolyte, together with outstanding stability for 100 h. In addition, the PtPbBi NSs show high mass activities for methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) and ethanol oxidation reaction (EOR), which are 13.2 and 14.5 times higher than those of commercial Pt/C, respectively. Density functional theory calculations demonstrate that the synergistic effect of amorphous/intermetallic components and multimetallic composition facilitate the electron transfer from the catalyst to key intermediates, thus improving the catalytic activity of MOR. This work establishes a novel pathway for the synthesis of heterophase two-dimensional nanomaterials with high electrocatalytic performance across a wide range of electrochemical applications.

Serum Folate and Vitamin B12 Modify the Associations of N6AMT1 Genetic Variants with Gestational Diabetes Mellitus: A Cross-Sectional Study in Chinese Pregnant Women.

Purpose: This study aimed to explore the association between N-6 adenine-specific DNA methyltransferase 1 (N6AMT1) single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and the modification of the relationship by folate and vitamin B12. Methods: A cross-sectional study involving 1303 pregnant women (262 GDM and 1041 non-GDM) was performed in Tianjin, China. Nine SNPs in N6AMT1 were genotyped, and serum folate, vitamin B12, and homocysteine (Hcy) levels were measured. The logistic regression models determined the odds ratios (ORs) for SNPs in N6AMT1 and the gene-nutrition interactions on GDM. Results: N6AMT1 rs7282280, rs1048546, and rs1997605 were related to GDM under the dominant model after adjusting for multiple covariates. Individuals carrying the N6AMT1 rs7282280 TC/TT genotypes had a lower risk of developing GDM, regardless of serum folate and vitamin B12 levels. However, rs1048546 TG/GG genotypes were associated with lower GDM risk when serum folate ≥ 6.0 ng/mL. Pregnancies with the risk genotypes in N6AMT1 and higher serum folate or lower vitamin B12 are more prone to GDM. The study also showed a statistically significant additive interaction between N6AMT1 rs1997605 GG genotypes and lower vitamin B12 (RERI: 2.54; 95% CI: 0.17, 4.92). Conclusion: SNPs in N6AMT1 were found to be associated with GDM, and serum folate and vitamin B12 levels can modify their associations.

Metal-Sulfur Interfaces as the Primary Active Sites for Catalytic Hydrogenations.

The determination of catalytically active sites is crucial for understanding the catalytic mechanism and providing guidelines for the design of more efficient catalysts. However, the complex structure of supported metal nanocatalysts (e.g., support, metal surface, and metal-support interface) still presents a big challenge. In particular, many studies have demonstrated that metal-support interfaces could also act as the primary active sites in catalytic reactions, which is well elucidated in oxide-supported metal nanocatalysts but is rarely reported in carbon-supported metal nanocatalysts. Here, we fill the above gap and demonstrate that metal-sulfur interfaces in sulfur-doped carbon-supported metal nanocatalysts are the primary active sites for several catalytic hydrogenation reactions. A series of metal nanocatalysts with similar sizes but different amounts of metal-sulfur interfaces were first constructed and characterized. Taking Ir for quinoline hydrogenation as an example, it was found that their catalytic activities were proportional to the amount of the Ir-S interface. Further experiments and density functional theory (DFT) calculations suggested that the adsorption and activation of quinoline occurred on the Ir atoms at the Ir-S interface. Similar phenomena were found in p-chloronitrobenzene hydrogenation over the Pt-S interface and benzoic acid hydrogenation over the Ru-S interface. All of these findings verify the predominant activity of metal-sulfur interfaces for catalytic hydrogenation reactions and contribute to the comprehensive understanding of metal-support interfaces in supported nanocatalysts.

Dissolution-Induced Surface Reconstruction of Ni0.95 Pt0.05 Si/p-Si Photocathode for Efficient Photoelectrochemical H2 Production.

Metal silicide/Si photoelectrodes have demonstrated significant potential for application in photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting to produce H2 . To achieve an efficient and economical hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), a paramount consideration lies in attaining exceptional catalytic activity on the metal silicide surface with minimal use of noble metals. Here, this study presents the design and construction of a novel Ni0.95 Pt0.05 Si/p-Si photocathode. Dopant segregation is used to achieve a Schottky barrier height as high as 1.0 eV and a high photovoltage of 420 mV. To achieve superior electrocatalytic activity for HER, a dissolution-induced surface reconstruction (SR) strategy is proposed to in situ convert surface Ni0.95 Pt0.05 Si to highly active Pt2 Si. The resulting SR Ni0.95 Pt0.05 Si/p-Si photocathode exhibits excellent HER performance with an onset potential of 0.45 V (vs RHE) and a high maximum photocurrent density of 40.5 mA cm-2 and a remarkable applied bias photon-to-current efficiency (ABPE) of 5.3% under simulated AM 1.5 (100 mW cm-2 ) illumination. The anti-corrosion silicide layer effectively protects Si, ensuring excellent stability of the SR Ni0.95 Pt0.05 Si/p-Si photoelectrode. This study highlights the potential for achieving efficient PEC HER using bimetallic silicide/Si photocathodes with reduced Pt consumption, offering an auspicious perspective for the cost-effective conversion of solar energy to chemical energy.

A novel ZIF-L/PEI thin film nanocomposite membrane for removing perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) from water: Enhanced retention and high flux.

Membrane separation technology is widely recognized as an effective method for removing perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) in water treatment. ZIF-L, a metal-organic framework (MOF) family characterized by its mat-like cavities and leaf-like morphology, has garnered considerable interest and has been extensively employed in fabricating thin-film nanocomposite (TFN) membranes. In this study, a robust, high-performance TFN membrane to remove PFASs in a nanofiltration (NF) process was created through an interfacial polymerization approach on the surface of polysulfone (PSF), incorporating ZIF-L within the selective layer. The TFN membrane modified by adding 5 wt% ZIF-L (relative to the weight of ethylene imine polymer (PEI)) exhibits 2.3 times higher water flux (up to 47.56 L·m-2·h-1·bar-1) than the pristine thin film composite membrane (20.46 L·m-2·h-1·bar-1), and the rejection for typical PFASs were above 95 % (98.47 % for perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) and 95.85 % for perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA)). The effectiveness of the ZIF-L/PEI TFN membrane in retaining representative PFASs was examined under various conditions, including different pressures, feed concentrations, aqueous environments, and salt ions. Notably, the experiments demonstrated that even after contamination with humic acid (HA), >88 % of the water flux could be restored by washing. Additionally, density functional theory (DFT) calculations were employed to predict the distinct intermolecular interactions between PFASs and ZIF-L as well as PEI. These calculations provide additional insights into the interception mechanism of TFN membranes towards PFASs. Based on this study, TFN membranes incorporating MOF as nanofillers show great potential as an effective method for purifying PFASs from aqueous environments and possess superior environmental sustainability and cost-effectiveness.

Exercise-Induced miR-210 Promotes Cardiomyocyte Proliferation and Survival and Mediates Exercise-Induced Cardiac Protection against Ischemia/Reperfusion Injury.

Exercise can stimulate physiological cardiac growth and provide cardioprotection effect in ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury. MiR-210 is regulated in the adaptation process induced by exercise; however, its impact on exercise-induced physiological cardiac growth and its contribution to exercise-driven cardioprotection remain unclear. We investigated the role and mechanism of miR-210 in exercise-induced physiological cardiac growth and explored whether miR-210 contributes to exercise-induced protection in alleviating I/R injury. Here, we first observed that regular swimming exercise can markedly increase miR-210 levels in the heart and blood samples of rats and mice. Circulating miR-210 levels were also elevated after a programmed cardiac rehabilitation in patients that were diagnosed of coronary heart diseases. In 8-week swimming model in wild-type (WT) and miR-210 knockout (KO) rats, we demonstrated that miR-210 was not integral for exercise-induced cardiac hypertrophy but it did influence cardiomyocyte proliferative activity. In neonatal rat cardiomyocytes, miR-210 promoted cell proliferation and suppressed apoptosis while not altering cell size. Additionally, miR-210 promoted cardiomyocyte proliferation and survival in human embryonic stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hESC-CMs) and AC16 cell line, indicating its functional roles in human cardiomyocytes. We further identified miR-210 target genes, cyclin-dependent kinase 10 (CDK10) and ephrin-A3 (EFNA3), that regulate cardiomyocyte proliferation and apoptosis. Finally, miR-210 KO and WT rats were subjected to swimming exercise followed by I/R injury. We demonstrated that miR-210 crucially contributed to exercise-driven cardioprotection against I/R injury. In summary, this study elucidates the role of miR-210, an exercise-responsive miRNA, in promoting the proliferative activity of cardiomyocytes during physiological cardiac growth. Furthermore, miR-210 plays an essential role in mediating the protective effects of exercise against cardiac I/R injury. Our findings suggest exercise as a potent nonpharmaceutical intervention for inducing miR-210, which can alleviate I/R injury and promote cardioprotection.

Enhanced Superconductivity and Critical Current Density Due to the Interaction of InSe2 Bonded Layer in (InSe2)0.12NbSe2.

Superconductivity was discovered in (InSe2)xNbSe2. The materials are crystallized in a unique layered structure where bonded InSe2 layers are intercalated into the van der Waals gaps of 2H-phase NbSe2. The (InSe2)0.12NbSe2 superconductor exhibits a superconducting transition at 11.6 K and critical current density of 8.2 × 105 A/cm2. Both values are the highest among all transition metal dichalcogenide superconductors at ambient pressure. The present finding provides an ideal material platform for further investigation of superconducting-related phenomena in transition metal dichalcogenides.

Amorphization Activated Multimetallic Pd Alloys for Boosting Oxygen Reduction Catalysis.

Amorphous nanomaterials have drawn extensive attention owing to their unique features, while amorphization on noble metal nanomaterials still remains formidably challenging. Herein, we demonstrate a universal strategy to synthesize amorphous Pd-based nanomaterials from unary to quinary metals through the introduction of phosphorus (P). The amorphous Pd-based nanoparticles (NPs) exhibit generally promoted oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activity and durability compared with their crystalline counterparts. Significantly, the quinary P-PdCuNiInSn NPs, benefiting from the amorphous structure and multimetallic component effect, exhibit mass activities as high as 1.04 A mgPd-1 and negligible activity decays of 1.8% among the stability tests, which are much better than values for original Pd NPs (0.134 A mgPd-1 and 28.4%). Experimental and theoretical analyses collectively reveal that the synergy of P-induced amorphization and the expansion of metallic components can considerably lower the free energy changes in the rate-determined step, thereby explaining the positive correlation with the catalytic activity.

Construction of a myoglobin scaffold-based biocatalyst for the biodegradation of sulfadiazine and sulfathiazole.

Sulfonamide antibiotics, a family of broad-spectrum antibiotic drugs, are increasingly used in aquaculture and are frequently detected in aquatic environments. This poses a potential threat to organisms and may cause the evolution of antimicrobial resistance. Therefore, it is important to develop an environmentally friendly and efficient biocatalyst to degrade sulfonamides (SAs) such as sulfadiazine (SD) and sulfathiazole (ST). Here, we realized the direct and efficient degradation of SD and ST using a hydrogen peroxide-dependent artificial catalytic system based on myoglobin (Mb). The arrangements of amino acids at positions 29, 43, 64, and 68 were found to influence catalytic activity. An L29H/H64D/V68I myoglobin mutant showed the best catalytic efficiency (i.e., kcat/Km = 720.42 M-1 s-1) against SD. Next, mutant H64D/V68I showed the best degradation rate against SD (i.e., 91.45 ± 0.16%). Moreover, L29H/H64D/V68I Mb was found to efficiently catalyze ST oxidation (kcat/Km = 670.08 M-1 s-1), while H64D/V68I had the best degradation rate against ST (i.e., 99.45 ± 0.23%). Our results demonstrate that SAs can be efficiently degraded by artificial peroxygenases constructed using a myoglobin scaffold. This therefore provides a simple and economical method for the biodegradation of SD and ST.

Modulating Charge Separation of Oxygen-Doped Boron Nitride with Isolated Co Atoms for Enhancing CO2 -to-CO Photoreduction.

To alleviate the greenhouse effect and address the related energy crisis, solar-driven reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2 ) to value-added products is considered as a sustainable strategy. However, the insufficient separation and rapid recombination of photogenerated charge carriers during photocatalysis greatly limit their reduction efficiency and practical application potential. Here, isolated Cobalt (Co) atoms are successfully decorated into oxygen-doped boron nitride (BN) via an in situ pyrolysis method, achieving greatly improved catalytic activity and selectivity to the carbon monoxide (CO) product. X-ray absorption fine spectroscopy demonstrates that the isolated Co atoms are stabilized by the O and N atoms with an unsaturated CoO2 N1 configuration. Further experimental investigation and theoretical simulations confirm that the decorated Co atoms not only work as the real active center during the CO2 reduction process, but also perform as the electron pump to promote the electron/hole separation and transfer, resulting in greatly accelerated reaction kinetics and improved activity. In addition, the CoO2 N1 coordination geometry is favorable to the conversion from *CO2 to *COOH, which shall be considered as a selectivity-determining step for the evolution of the CO products. The surface modulation strategy at the atomic level opens a new avenue for regulating the reaction kinetics for photocatalytic CO2 reduction.

Epitaxial van der Waals contacts of 2D TaSe2-WSe2 metal-semiconductor heterostructures.

The electronic contact between two-dimensional (2D) transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) semiconductors and metal electrodes is a formidable challenge due to the undesired Schottky barrier, which severely limits the electrical performance of TMD devices and impedes the exploration of their unconventional physical properties and potential electronic applications. In this study, we report a two-step chemical vapor deposition (CVD) growth of 2D TaSe2-WSe2 metal-semiconductor heterostructures. Raman mapping confirms the precise spatial modulation of the as-grown 2D TaSe2-WSe2 heterostructures. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) characterization reveals that this two-step method provides a high-quality and clean interface of the 2D TaSe2-WSe2 heterostructures. Meanwhile, the upper 1T-TaSe2 is formed heteroepitaxially on/around the pre-synthesized 2H-WSe2 monolayers, exhibiting an epitaxial relationship of (20-20)TaSe2//(20-20)WSe2 and [0001]TaSe2//[0001]WSe2. Furthermore, characterization studies using a Kelvin probe force microscope (KPFM) and electrical transport measurements present compelling evidence that the 2D metal-semiconductor heterostructures under investigation can improve the performance of electrical devices. These results bear substantial significance in augmenting the properties of field-effect transistors (FETs), leading to notable improvements in FET mobility and on/off ratio. Our study not only broadens the horizons of direct growth of high-quality 2D metal-semiconductor heterostructures but also sheds light on potential applications in future high-performance integrated circuits.

Evaluation of time-dependent phenotypes of myocardial ischemia-reperfusion in mice.

BACKGROUND: A mouse model of myocardial ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) is widely used to study myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury (I/RI). However, few studies focus on the direct comparison of the extent of pathological events resulting from variant durations of ischemia and reperfusion process. METHODS: A mouse model of I/RI was established by ligation and perfusion of the left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD), and the dynamic changes were recorded by electrocardiogram at different stages of I/R. Subsequently, reperfusion duration was used as a variable to directly compare the phenotypes of different myocardial injury degrees induced by 3 h, 6 h and 24 h reperfusion from myocardial infarct size, myocardial apoptosis, myocardial enzyme, and inflammatory cytokine levels. RESULTS: All mice subjected to myocardial I/R surgery showed obvious myocardial infarction, extensive myocardial apoptosis, dynamic changes in serum myocardial enzyme and inflammatory cytokines, at least for the first 24 h of reperfusion. The infarct size and apoptosis rates gradually increased with the extension of reperfusion time. The peaks of serum myocardial enzyme and inflammatory cytokines occurred at 6 h and 3 h of reperfusion, respectively. We also established I/R mice models with 30 and 60 mins of ischemia. After 21 days of remodeling, longer periods of ischemia increased the degree of fibrosis and reduced cardiac function. CONCLUSIONS: In summary, we conclude that reperfusion durations of 3 h, 6 h, and 24 h induces different injury phenotypes in ischemia-reperfusion mouse model. At the same time, the ischemia duration before reperfusion also affects the degree of cardiac remodeling.

Defect-Mediated Growth of Crystallographic Shear Plane.

As representative extended planar defects, crystallographic shear (CS) planes, namely Wadsley defects, play an important role in modifying the physical and chemical properties of metal oxides. Although these special structures have been intensively investigated for high-rate anode materials and catalysts, it is still experimentally unclear how the CS planes form and propagate at the atomic scale. Here, the CS plane evolution in monoclinic WO3 is directly imaged via in situ scanning transmission electron microscope. It is found that the CS planes nucleate preferentially at the edge step defects and proceed by the cooperative migration of WO6 octahedrons along particular crystallographic orientations, passing through a series of intermediate states. The local reconstruction of atomic columns tends to form (102) CS planes featured with four edge-sharing octahedrons in preference to the (103) planes, which matches well with the theoretical calculations. Associated with the structure evolution, the sample undergoes a semiconductor-to-metal transition. In addition, the controlled growth of CS planes and V-shaped CS structures can be achieved by artificial defects for the first time. These findings enable an atomic-scale understanding of CS structure evolution dynamics.