Asymmetric Electrode Design for High-Area Capacity and High-Energy Efficiency Hybrid Zn Batteries.

Compared to Zn-air batteries, by integrating Zn-transition metal compound reactions and oxygen redox reactions at the cell level, hybrid Zn batteries are proposed to achieve higher energy density and energy efficiency. However, attaining relatively higher energy efficiency relies on controlling the discharge capacity. At high area capacities, the proportion of the high voltage section can be neglected, resulting in a lower energy efficiency similar to that of Zn-air batteries. Here, a high-loading integrated electrode with an asymmetric structure and asymmetric wettability is fabricated, which consists of a thick nickel hydroxide (Ni(OH)2) electrode layer with vertical array channels achieving high capacity and high utilization, and a thin NiCo2O4 nanopartical-decorated N-doped graphene nanosheets (NiCo2O4/N-G) catalyst layer with superior oxygen catalytic activity. The asymmetric wettability satisfies the wettability requirements for both Zn-Ni and Zn-air reactions. The hybrid Zn battery with the integrated electrode exhibits a remarkable peak power density of 141.9 mW cm-2, superior rate performance with an energy efficiency of 71.4% even at 20 mA cm-2, and exceptional cycling stability maintaining a stable energy efficiency of ≈84% at 2 mA cm-2 over 100 cycles (400 h).

Trilaciclib dosage in Chinese patients with extensive-stage small cell lung cancer: a pooled pharmacometrics analysis.

This study aimed to analyze potential ethnic disparities in the dose-exposure-response relationships of trilaciclib, a first-in-class intravenous cyclin-dependent kinase 4/6 inhibitor for treating chemotherapy-induced myelosuppression in patients with extensive-stage small cell lung cancer (ES-SCLC). This investigation focused on characterizing these relationships in both Chinese and non-Chinese patients to further refine the dosing regimen for trilaciclib in Chinese patients with ES-SCLC. Population pharmacokinetic (PopPK) and exposure-response (E-R) analyses were conducted using pooled data from four randomized phase 2/3 trials involving Chinese and non-Chinese patients with ES-SCLC. PopPK analysis revealed that trilaciclib clearance in Chinese patients was approximately 17% higher than that in non-Chinese patients with ES-SCLC. Sex and body surface area influenced trilaciclib pharmacokinetics in both populations but did not exert a significant clinical impact. E-R analysis demonstrated that trilaciclib exposure increased with a dosage escalation from 200 to 280 mg/m2, without notable changes in myeloprotective or antitumor efficacy. However, the incidence of infusion site reactions, headaches, and phlebitis/thrombophlebitis rose with increasing trilaciclib exposure in both Chinese and non-Chinese patients with ES-SCLC. These findings suggest no substantial ethnic disparities in the dose-exposure-response relationship between Chinese and non-Chinese patients. They support the adoption of a 240-mg/m2 intravenous 3-day or 5-day dosing regimen for trilaciclib in Chinese patients with ES-SCLC.

Long-wave-infrared pulse production at 11 µm via difference-frequency generation driven by femtosecond mid-infrared all-fluoride fiber laser.

We present an ultrafast long-wave infrared (LWIR) source driven by a mid-infrared fluoride fiber laser. It is based on a mode-locked Er:ZBLAN fiber oscillator and a nonlinear amplifier operating at 48 MHz. The amplified soliton pulses at ∼2.9 µm are shifted to ∼4 µm via the soliton self-frequency shifting process in an InF3 fiber. LWIR pulses with an average power of 1.25-mW centered at 11 µm with a spectral bandwidth of ∼1.3 µm are produced through difference-frequency generation (DFG) of the amplified soliton and its frequency-shifted replica in a ZnGeP2 crystal. Soliton-effect fluoride fiber sources operating in the mid-infrared for driving DFG conversion to LWIR enable higher pulse energies than with near-infrared sources, while maintaining relative simplicity and compactness, relevant for spectroscopy and other applications in LWIR.

Multifunctional composite coatings with hydrophobic, UV-resistant, anti-oxidative, and photothermal performance for healthcare.

Personal protective textiles have attracted extensive interest since Corona Virus Disease 2019 has broken out. Moreover, developing eco-friendly, multifunctional waterproof, and breathable surface is of great importance but still faces enormous challenges. Notably, good hydrophobicity and breathability are necessary for protective textiles, especially protective clothing and face masks for healthcare. Herein, the multifunctional composite coatings with good UV-resistant, anti-oxidative, hydrophobic, breathable, and photothermal performance has been rapidly created to meet protective requirements. First, the gallic acid and chitosan polymer was coated onto the cotton fabric surface. Subsequently, the modified silica sol was anchored on the coated cotton fabric surface. The successful fabrication of composite coatings was verified by RGB values obtained from the smartphone and K/S value. The present work is an advance for realizing textile hydrophobicity by utilizing fluorine-free materials, compared with the surface hydrophobicity fabricated with conventional fluorinated materials. The surface free energy has been reduced from 84.2 to27.6 mJ/m2 so that the modified cotton fabric could repel the ethylene glycol, hydrochloric acid, and sodium hydroxide solutions, respectively. Besides, the composite coatings possesses lower adhesion to deionized water. After 70 cycles of the sandpaper abrasion, the fluorine-free hydrophobic coatings still exhibits good hydrophobicity with WCA of 124.6 ± 0.9°, with overcoming the intrinsic drawback of the poor abrasion resistance of hydrophobic surfaces. Briefly, the present work may provide a universal strategy for rapidly creating advanced protective coatings to meet personal healthcare, and a novel method for detecting RGB values of composite coatings by smartphone.

Optimization of enzymatic soy protein isolate-glucosamine conjugates to improve the freeze-thaw stability of emulsion.

BACKGROUND: Using transglutaminase (TGase) is a new method to improve protein properties in order to promote protein glycosylation. This article mainly studies soy protein isolate (SPI) and glucosamine to improve the freeze-thaw stability of emulsion under the action of TGase. The degree of glycosylation was studied by the content of free amino groups and the degree of conjugation. The optimal conditions for preparing soy protein isolate-glucosamine (SPI-G) conjugate were determined by a response surface optimization model based on single-factor experiments using the creaming index of the emulsion after the first freeze-thaw cycle as the response value. RESULTS: The results showed that the emulsion had the lowest creaming index when the conditions of protein concentration was 20 g L-1 , mass ratio of SPI-G was 5:3 (w/w), enzyme addition amount was 10 U g-1 , and reaction time was 2 h. The optimized modified product was measured for the creaming index after the first freeze-thaw cycle. It was found that the creaming index of the modified product SPI-G after the first freeze-thaw cycle was 9.02%, which was less than and close to the optimized model predicted value. The creaming index and optical microscopy results after three freeze-thaw cycles confirmed that the freeze-thaw stability of the SPI-G samples was significantly enhanced after optimization of the response surface model. CONCLUSION: It showed that glycosylation promoted by TGase could improve the freeze-thaw stability of SPI emulsion, thereby broadening the application of SPI in food. © 2022 Society of Chemical Industry.

Mutations in surface-sensing receptor WspA lock the Wsp signal transduction system into a constitutively active state.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa rugose small-colony variants (RSCVs) are frequently isolated from chronic infections, yet, they are rarely reported in environmental isolates. Here, during the comparative genomic analysis of two P. aeruginosa strains isolated from crude oil, we discovered a spontaneous in-frame deletion, wspAΔ280-307 , which led to hyper-biofilm and RSCV phenotypes. WspA is a homologue of methyl-accepting chemotaxis proteins (MCPs) that senses surfaces to regulate biofilm formation by stimulating cyclic-di-guanosine monophosphate (c-di-GMP) synthesis through the Wsp system. However, the methylation sites of WspA have never been identified. In this study, we identified E280 and E294 of WspA as methylation sites. The wspAΔ280-307 mutation enabled the Wsp system to lock into a constitutively active state that is independent of regulation by methylation. The result is an enhanced production of c-di-GMP. Sequence alignment revealed three conserved repeat sequences within the amino acid residues 280-313 (aa280-313) region of WspA homologues, suggesting that a spontaneous deletion within this DNA encoding region was likely a result of intragenic recombination and that similar mutations might occur in several related bacterial genera. Our results provide a plausible explanation for the selection of RSCVs and a mechanism to confer a competitive advantage for P. aeruginosa in a crude-oil environment.

Mid-IR pulse amplification to ∼millijoule energies in a single transverse mode using large core Er:ZBLAN fibers operating at 2.8µm.

We demonstrate single transverse mode and high energy nanosecond pulse amplification at ∼2.8-µm using large core Er:ZBLAN fibers. The highest energies achieved are 0.75mJ from a 50 µm core, and 420µJ from a 30 µm core fibers respectively, seeded with 95 ns long pulses generated by a ring-cavity Q-switched Er:ZBLAN fiber laser. Nearly diffraction-limited beams with M2 = 1.2-1.3 were obtained using a single-mode excitation technique of multi-mode core fibers. Achieved pulse energies exceed by approximately an order of magnitude the previously reported highest pulse energies in a single transverse mode from a fiber laser or amplifier at these mid-IR wavelengths.

Enhanced production of seed oil with improved fatty acid composition by overexpressing NAD+ -dependent glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase in soybean.

There is growing interest in expanding the production of soybean oils (mainly triacylglycerol, or TAG) to meet rising feed demand and address global energy concerns. We report that a plastid-localized glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GPDH), encoded by GmGPDHp1 gene, catalyzes the formation of glycerol-3-phosphate (G3P), an obligate substrate required for TAG biosynthesis. Overexpression of GmGPDHp1 increases soybean seed oil content with high levels of unsaturated fatty acids (FAs), especially oleic acid (C18:1), without detectably affecting growth or seed protein content or seed weight. Based on the lipidomic analyses, we found that the increase in G3P content led to an elevated diacylglycerol (DAG) pool, in which the Kennedy pathway-derived DAG was mostly increased, followed by PC-derived DAG, thereby promoting the synthesis of TAG containing relatively high proportion of C18:1. The increased G3P levels induced several transcriptional alterations of genes involved in the glycerolipid pathways. In particular, genes encoding the enzymes responsible for de novo glycerolipid synthesis were largely upregulated in the transgenic lines, in-line with the identified biochemical phenotype. These results reveal a key role for GmGPDHp1-mediated G3P metabolism in enhancing TAG synthesis and demonstrate a strategy to modify the FA compositions of soybean oils for improved nutrition and biofuel.

Room Temperature Allenation of Terminal Alkynes with Aldehydes.

A gold-catalyzed room temperature allenation of terminal alkynes (ATA) with aldehydes affording 1,3-disubstituted allenes with diverse functional groups has been developed by identifying a gold(I) catalyst and an amine. The practicality of this reaction has been demonstrated by a ten gram-scale synthesis and the synthetic potentials have been demonstrated via various transformations and formal total synthesis of (-)-centrolobine. Mechanistic studies revealed that the gold catalyst, the aldehyde effect, the fluoroalkyl hydroxyl solvent (TFE or HFIP) and the structure of amine are vital in this room temperature ATA reaction.

Demonstration of 0.67-mJ and 10-ns high-energy pulses at 2.72 µm from large core Er:ZBLAN fiber amplifiers.

We explored generation of high-energy nanosecond short pulses in the mid-IR wavelength range using 30-70-µm-core Er:ZBLAN fiber amplifiers. The highest energies achieved were ∼0.7mJ at 2.72 µm in 11.5-ns-long pulses, with the corresponding peak power of 60.3 kW, obtained with a 70-µm-diameter core fiber amplifier pumped at 976 nm and seeded by a KTiOAsO4-based optical parametric oscillator/optical parametric amplifier system. To the best of our knowledge, these pulse energies are the highest achieved to date from mid-IR fiber lasers at longer than 2-µm wavelengths with nanosecond pulses. The achieved highest pulse energies were limited by the surface damage of unprotected fiber output facets.

Highly Efficient NO Decomposition via Dual-Functional Catalytic Perovskite Hollow Fiber Membrane Reactor Coupled with Partial Oxidation of Methane at Medium-Low Temperature.

A novel dual-functional catalytic perovskite hollow fiber membrane reactor was fabricated by integrating BaBi0.05Co0.8Nb0.15O3-δ (BBCN) perovskite hollow fiber membrane with Ni-phyllosilicate hollow sphere catalysts for simultaneous NO decomposition and partial oxidation of methane (POM) reaction. With this novel catalytic membrane reactor, NO could be completely converted to N2 at a medium-low temperature (675 °C) owing to instantaneous oxygen removal from the NO decomposition reaction system. Coupled POM reaction on the other side of BBCN hollow fiber membrane not only increased the driving force for oxygen permeation but also produced valuable products (syngas). This novel membrane reactor showed high NO removal capacity at comparatively low temperatures (675-700 °C), which is 100-200 °C lower than those of other membrane reactors reported in literature. In addition, even with the presence of a 2-5% oxygen concentration in NO stream, NO could still be completely decomposed to N2 via this catalytic BBCN membrane reactor. Evidently, the application of this novel catalytic membrane reactor could overcome the inhibition of oxygen present atmosphere for NO decomposition and achieve a remarkably high efficiency for NO removal.

Genome survey sequencing and genetic background characterization of yellow horn based on next-generation sequencing.

Yellowhorn (Xanthoceras sorbifolium Bunge) is an important wood oil tree species, with high ornamental and medicinal value. Nevertheless, genomic information of yellowhorn is currently unavailable. Here, for the first time, we conducted a genome survey of two yellowhorn cultivars, Zhongshi 4 and Zhongshi 9, which had distinct differences on the phenotype and drought resistance, to obtain knowledge on the genomic information by next generation sequencing (NGS). Meanwhile, its genome size was estimated using flow cytometry. As a result, the whole genome survey of Zhongshi 4 and Zhongshi 9 generated 34.40 and 39.55 GB sequence data. The genome size of Zhongshi 4 and Zhongshi 9 estimated were about 536.58 Mb and 569.52 Mb, which were closed to results of flow cytometry. The heterozygosity rates were calculated to be 0.75% and 0.89%, and the repeat rates were 60.08% and 62.00%. These reads were assembled into 1024,373 and 885,404 contigs with a N50 length of 1005 bp and 1219 bp, respectively, which were further assembled into 714,369 and 686,128 scaffolds with scaffold N50 length of ~ 1963 bp and ~ 1938 bp, total length of 386,915 Kb and 391,904 Kb. These results indicated that there was little difference in genome size and complexity among different cultivars. In addition, 63137 and 65271 high-quality genomic simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers in Zhongshi 4 and Zhongshi 9 were generated. We suggest that the technologies combining Illumina and PacBio, assisted by Hi-C and matching assemble software should be used to one of two yellowhorn cultivars genome sequencing. The result will help to design whole genome sequencing strategies for yellowhorn, and provided a large amount of gene resources for further excavation and utilization of yellowhorn.

Statistical inference problems in sequential parallel comparison design.

The sequential parallel comparison designhas recently been considered to solve the problem with high placebo response and the required sample size in the psychiatric clinical trials. One feature with this design is that a difference between the placebo group and the drug group may also arise in the variance-covariance structure of the clinical outcome. Provided the heterogeneity of the second moment, the treatment effect estimation at the second stage can be biased for the entire randomized patient population that includes patient responders. Our work presented here aims at how the coverage probability of the interval estimation of treatment effect performs under the unstructured variance-covariance matrix. The interaction between the truncation after the first stage and the heterogeneity of the second moment causes a substantial coverage probability problem. The type I error probability may not be controlled under the weak null due to this bias. This bias can also cause spurious power evaluation under an alternative hypothesis. The coverage probability of the ordinary least square statistic is shown in different scenarios.

Rejoinder to "Statistical inference problems in sequential parallel comparison designs".

In this rejoinder the authors stipulate further for two challenging issues. First, if placebo non-responders are selected simply by their response meeting a threshold, this selection may have misclassification error and consequently the treatment effect estimate may be biased, regardless of whether the estimand at the second stage is the treatment effect in the entire population or placebo non-responders. Secondly, the weak null hypothesis considered in our article Statistical Inference Problems in Sequential Parallel Comparison Design (2019) is that the expected treatment effects in placebo non-responders and in the entire set of patients entering the trial are both zero, in contrast to the strong null hypothesis that the statistical distribution of the response variable is equal in the compared treatments. The impact of violating the assumption of equal moments other than the mean parameter on statistical operating characteristics in estimation and testing of treatment effect can be substantial. As an example, the ordinary least squares based test detects a treatment difference even if the expected treatment effects in placebo non-responders and the entire population are both zero.

Acetylation of p53 Protein at Lysine 120 Up-regulates Apaf-1 Protein and Sensitizes the Mitochondrial Apoptotic Pathway.

The p53 tumor suppressor controls cell growth, metabolism, and death by regulating the transcription of various target genes. The target-specific transcriptional activity of p53 is highly regulated. Here we demonstrate that acetylation of p53 at Lys-120 up-regulates its transcriptional activity toward Apaf-1, a core component in the mitochondrial apoptotic pathway, and thus sensitizes caspase activation and apoptosis. We found that histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors, including butyrate, augment Lys-120 acetylation of p53 and thus Apaf-1 expression by inhibiting HDAC1. In p53-null cells, transfection of wild-type but not K120R mutant p53 can restore the p53-dependent sensitivity to butyrate. Strikingly, transfection of acetylation-mimicking K120Q mutant p53 is sufficient to up-regulates Apaf-1 in a manner independent of butyrate treatment. Therefore, HDAC inhibitors can induce p53 acetylation at lysine 120, which in turn enhances mitochondrion-mediated apoptosis through transcriptional up-regulation of Apaf-1.

Intensity noise suppression in mode-locked fiber lasers by double optical bandpass filtering.

We show that the relative intensity noise (RIN) of a mode-locked fiber laser can be suppressed below a -140 dB/Hz level for the entire >20 Hz offset frequency range by a proper combination of intra-cavity and extra-cavity optical bandpass filters. When a 12-nm-bandwidth intra-cavity filter and a 16-nm-bandwidth extra-cavity filter are employed for a polarization-maintaining-nonlinear-amplifying-loop-mirror (PM-NALM)-based Er-fiber laser, the RIN spectrum level is suppressed by ∼30 dB in the low offset frequency range. The resulting integrated rms RIN is only 0.0054% [1 Hz-1 MHz]-to our knowledge, one of the lowest integrated RIN performances for any mode-locked laser reported so far. Besides the simplicity, this double-filtering approach has an additional advantage: unlike active pump-laser feedback methods, it does not have any resonant peaks in the stabilized RIN spectrum. In addition to the RIN suppression, with intra-cavity bandpass filtering, the integrated rms timing jitter is also reduced from 7.29-fs (no-filter) to 2.95-fs (12-nm intra-cavity filter) [10 kHz-1 MHz] in the soliton PM-NALM laser.

Long-term phase-locking technique for locking the repetition rate of an optical frequency comb laser with 1.67 × 10-19 precision.

An ultrahigh stable phase-locked loop system for synchronization of an optical frequency comb to a hydrogen maser has been proposed and experimentally demonstrated. A mathematical model has been set up to investigate the feasibility and steady state of the phase-locking system. The fractional frequency instability is evaluated by measuring the mixed-phase signal of an improved experimental system. Experimental results show that the fractional frequency instability of the phase-locked loop system lies from 8.83×10-16 at 1 s to 1.67×10-19 at 1000 s, which indicates our proposed phase-locking system possesses ultrahigh measurement precision with good long-term stabilization performance.

Fat fraction bias correction using T1 estimates and flip angle mapping.

PURPOSE: To develop a new method of reducing T1 bias in proton density fat fraction (PDFF) measured with iterative decomposition of water and fat with echo asymmetry and least-squares estimation (IDEAL). MATERIALS AND METHODS: PDFF maps reconstructed from high flip angle IDEAL measurements were simulated and acquired from phantoms and volunteer L4 vertebrae. T1 bias was corrected using a priori T1 values for water and fat, both with and without flip angle correction. Signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) maps were used to measure precision of the reconstructed PDFF maps. PDFF measurements acquired using small flip angles were then compared to both sets of corrected large flip angle measurements for accuracy and precision. RESULTS: Simulations show similar results in PDFF error between small flip angle measurements and corrected large flip angle measurements as long as T1 estimates were within one standard deviation from the true value. Compared to low flip angle measurements, phantom and in vivo measurements demonstrate better precision and accuracy in PDFF measurements if images were acquired at a high flip angle, with T1 bias corrected using T1 estimates and flip angle mapping. CONCLUSION: T1 bias correction of large flip angle acquisitions using estimated T1 values with flip angle mapping yields fat fraction measurements of similar accuracy and superior precision compared to low flip angle acquisitions.

Colorimetric-SERS dual-mode sensing of Pb(II) ions in traditional Chinese medicine samples based on carbon dots-capped gold nanoparticles as nanozyme.

Peroxidase (POD)-mimicking nanozymes have got great progress in the sensing field, but most nanozyme assaying systems are built with a single-signal output mode, which is vulnerable to the effect of different factors. Thus, establishment of a dual-signal output mode is necessary for acquiring dependable and durable performance. This work described an Fe doped noradrenaline-based carbon dots and Prussian blue (Fe,NA-CDs/PB) nanocomposite as a POD-like nanozyme and modified gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) for the colorimetric and surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) dual-mode sensor of Pb(II) in traditional Chinese medicine samples. With 2,2'-azino-bis-(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) (ABTS) and 3,3',5,5'-tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) as the substrates, it was found that the addition of Pb(II) inhibited the POD-like activity of Fe,NA-CDs/PB and AuNPs, so it was used for colorimetric and SERS dual-mode assays. The POD-like activity was shown to be a "ping-pong" catalytic mechanism, whereas the addition of Pb(II) produced noncompetitive inhibition with modulatory effects on Fe,NA-CDs/PB. The linear response range for colorimetric and SERS sensor detection of Pb(II) was 0.01-1.00 mg/L with the detection limit of 5 µg/L and 8 µg/L, respectively. This dual-mode detection system shows excellent selectivity. More importantly, the Pb(II) in traditional Chinese medicine samples have successfully assayed with good recovery from 90.4 to 108.9 %.

Chemodiversity of riverine dissolved organic matter: Effects of local environments and watershed characteristics.

Riverine dissolved organic matter (DOM) is crucial to global carbon cycling and aquatic ecosystems. However, the geographical patterns and environmental drivers of DOM chemodiversity remain elusive especially in the waters and sediments of continental rivers. Here, we systematically analyzed DOM molecular diversity and composition in surface waters and sediments across 97 broadly distributed rivers using data from the Worldwide Hydrobiogeochemistry Observation Network for Dynamic River Systems (WHONDRS) consortium. We further examined the associations of molecular richness and composition with geographical, climatic, physicochemical variables, as well as the watershed characteristics. We found that molecular richness significantly decreased toward higher latitudes, but only in sediments (r = -0.24, p < 0.001). The environmental variables like precipitation and non-purgeable organic carbon showed strong associations with DOM molecular richness and composition. Interestingly, we identified that less-documented factors like watershed characteristics were also related to DOM molecular richness and composition. For instance, DOM molecular richness was positively correlated with the soil sand fraction for waters, while with the percentage of forest for sediments. Importantly, the effects of watershed characteristics on DOM molecular richness and composition were generally stronger in waters than sediments. This phenomenon was further supported by the fact that 11 out of 13 watershed characteristics (e.g., the percentages of impervious area and cropland) showed more positive than negative correlations with molecular abundance especially in waters. As the percentage of forest increased, there was a continuous accumulation of the compounds with higher molecular weight, aromaticity, and degree of unsaturation. In contrast, human activities accumulated the compounds with lower molecular weight and oxygenation, and higher bioavailability. Our findings imply that it may be possible to use a small set of broadly available data types to predict DOM molecular richness and composition across diverse river systems. Elucidation of mechanisms underlying these relationships will provide further enhancements to such predictions, especially when extrapolating to unsampled systems.