Surface modification of rare earth Sm-doped WO3 films through polydopamine for enhanced electrochromic energy storage performance.

Electrochromic materials (ECMs) could exhibit reversible color changes upon application of the external electric field, which exhibits huge application prospects in smart windows, energy storage devices, and displays. For the practical application of ECMs, the fast response speed and long cyclic stability are urgent. In this work, the nanoporous Sm-doped WO3 (WSm) films were constructed using hydrothermal technology, then polydopamine (PDA) was modified on the surface of WSm film to obtain the WSm/Px (x = 0.25, 0.5, 1.0, and 2.0) hybrid films. WSm/Px hybrid films displayed high optical contrast and large areal capacitance. In addition, in comparison with WSm film, the WSm/Px hybrid films exhibited faster response speed and better cyclic stability because PDA film enhanced the interface ion transport ability and electrochemical structural stability of the nanoporous WSm film. Notably, the WSm/P1.0 hybrid film displayed the colored/bleached times of 7.4/2.9 s, retained 90.2% of the primitive optical contrast (68.5%) after 5000 electrochromic cycles. Furthermore, the areal capacitance of WSm film could be increased by 224% through the modification of the PDA. Therefore, WSm/Px hybrid films are great prospects for electrochromic energy-saving and storage windows.

Integrative analyses of immune-related biomarkers and associated mechanisms in coronary heart disease.

Various studies showed that the effect of immune activation is pro-atherogenic and coronary heart disease (CHD) should therefore be considered an autoimmune disease. This study aimed to identify potential immune-related biomarkers, pathways, and the potential regulatory networks underlying CHD. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between CHD and control samples were determined by analyzing GSE71226 and GSE9128. The overlapping differential expression immune-related genes (DE-IRGs) for CHD were identified by analyzing the ImmPort database and two GEO databases. A total of 384 DE-IRGs were identified. Subsequently, comprehensive enrichment analyses suggested that DE-IRGs were enriched in immune-related pathways, including autoimmune thyroid disease, the intestinal immune network for IGA production, and downstream signaling events of B cell receptors. The signature of DE-IRGs was validated using an external independent dataset GSE20681 (AUC = 0.875). Furthermore, we conducted protein-protein interaction network analysis and identified eight hub genes, which were most enriched in regulation of defense response, NF-κB signaling pathway, regulation of JNK cascade, and regulation of cytokine production. Moreover, networks of miRNAs-mRNAs and transcription factors (TFs)-mRNA underlying the integrated data were established, involving eight miRNAs and 76 TF-targeting hub genes. Ultimately, 17 SNPs in miRNA-mediated gene networks were identified. We screened potential immune-related genes in CHD and constructed miRNA-mRNA-TF and SNP-miRNA networks, which not only provide inspired insights into the occurrence and the molecular mechanisms of CHD but also lay a foundation for targeting potential biomarkers using immunotherapy and for understanding the molecular mechanisms of CHD.

Genetic Diversity of Genes Controlling Unilateral Incompatibility in Japanese Cultivars of Chinese Cabbage.

In recent years, unilateral incompatibility (UI), which is an incompatibility system for recognizing and rejecting foreign pollen that operates in one direction, has been shown to be closely related to self-incompatibility (SI) in Brassica rapa. The stigma- and pollen-side recognition factors (SUI1 and PUI1, respectively) of this UI are similar to those of SI (stigma-side SRK and pollen-side SP11), indicating that SUI1 and PUI1 interact with each other and cause pollen-pistil incompatibility only when a specific genotype is pollinated. To clarify the genetic diversity of SUI1 and PUI1 in Japanese B. rapa, here we investigated the UI phenotype and the SUI1/PUI1 sequences in Japanese commercial varieties of Chinese cabbage. The present study showed that multiple copies of nonfunctional PUI1 were located within and in the vicinity of the UI locus region, and that the functional SUI1 was highly conserved in Chinese cabbage. In addition, we found a novel nonfunctional SUI1 allele with a dominant negative effect on the functional SUI1 allele in the heterozygote.

Cardiovascular protective effects of IL-1 ra-Fc-IL-18BP on experimental myocardial infarction by inhibiting oxidative stress and inflammation in a rat model.

In this study, we examined the cardiovascular protective effects of IL-1ra-Fc-IL-18BP on experimental myocardial infarction in a rat model. An animal model of myocardial infarction (MI) was induced by permanent ligation of the left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD) in SD rats. After surgery sixty male rats and sixty female rats were randomly divided into groups as followed: sham group, MI group, IL-1ra-Fc-IL-18BP 50,100, 200 mg/kg treatment groups, and verapamil 5 mg/kg treatment group. IL-1 ra-Fc-IL-18BP and verapamil were administered to the animals immediately after operation by intravenous injection. Treatment with IL-1ra-Fc-IL-18BP (50, 100 and 200 mg/kg) could remarkably decrease infarct size from 24.82% to 13.43% (p < 0.05), and decrease the activities of serum aspartate aminotransferase (AST), creatine phosphokinase (CPK) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) compared with sham group (p < 0.05). Meanwhile, treatment with IL-1ra-Fc-IL-18BP (200 mg/kg) could significantly increase the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), but decreased the content of malondiadehyde (MDA) in serum (p < 0.05). Furthermore, IL-1ra-Fc-IL-18BP marablely reduced the content of calcium (Ca2+) in serum (p < 0.05), and also decreased the levels of serum interleukin-1ß (IL-1ß), tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α) (p < 0.05). Histopathological results demonstrated the same protective effect of IL-1ra-Fc-IL-18BP All these results above indicated that IL-1ra-Fc-IL-18BP has protective effects in myocardial infarction, improves free radicals metabolism, ameliorates myocardial calcium overload and inhibits the release of inflammatory cytokines.