Nav1.7 as a chondrocyte regulator and therapeutic target for osteoarthritis.

Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common joint disease. Currently there are no effective methods that simultaneously prevent joint degeneration and reduce pain1. Although limited evidence suggests the existence of voltage-gated sodium channels (VGSCs) in chondrocytes2, their expression and function in chondrocytes and in OA remain essentially unknown. Here we identify Nav1.7 as an OA-associated VGSC and demonstrate that human OA chondrocytes express functional Nav1.7 channels, with a density of 0.1 to 0.15 channels per µm2 and 350 to 525 channels per cell. Serial genetic ablation of Nav1.7 in multiple mouse models demonstrates that Nav1.7 expressed in dorsal root ganglia neurons is involved in pain, whereas Nav1.7 in chondrocytes regulates OA progression. Pharmacological blockade of Nav1.7 with selective or clinically used pan-Nav channel blockers significantly ameliorates the progression of structural joint damage, and reduces OA pain behaviour. Mechanistically, Nav1.7 blockers regulate intracellular Ca2+ signalling and the chondrocyte secretome, which in turn affects chondrocyte biology and OA progression. Identification of Nav1.7 as a novel chondrocyte-expressed, OA-associated channel uncovers a dual target for the development of disease-modifying and non-opioid pain relief treatment for OA.

Phase fluctuations-induced bit error ratio of deep-space optical communication systems during superior solar conjunction.

Deep-space optical communication has garnered increasing attention for its high data transfer rate, wide bandwidth, and high transmission speed. However, coronal plasma turbulence severely degrades optical signals during superior solar conjunction. In this study, we introduce the models for plasma density and generalized non-Kolmogorov turbulence power spectrum. Based on these models, we derive the variance of the phase fluctuations with the assistance of the Rytov theory in the weak turbulence regime involving various variables, such as turbulence outer scale, spectral index, relative fluctuation factor, and wavelength. Subsequently, we evaluate the bit error ratio (BER) performance of the deep-space optical communication system, considering phase fluctuations and intensity scintillations, under binary phase shift keying modulation. Numerical calculations reveal that small heliocentric distance, large relative fluctuation factor and spectral index, could induce severe phase fluctuations and high BER. Fortunately, the effects of the plasma irregularities on the BER performance can be mitigated by short optical wavelength under large outer scale.

New strategy for intraoperative phonosurgical management of recurrent laryngeal nerve infiltrated by thyroid carcinoma.

PURPOSE: Treating an infiltration of the recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN) by thyroid carcinoma remains a subject of ongoing debate. Therefore, this study aims to provide a novel strategy for intraoperative phenosurgical management of RLN infiltrated by thyroid carcinoma. METHODS: Forty-two patients with thyroid carcinoma infiltrating the RLN were recruited for this study and divided into three groups. Group A comprised six individuals with medullary thyroid cancer who underwent RLN resection and arytenoid adduction. Group B consisted of 29 differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC)patients who underwent RLN resection and ansa cervicalis (ACN)-to-RLN anastomosis. Group C included seven patients whose RLN was preserved. RESULTS: The videostroboscopic analysis and voice assessment collectively indicated substantial improvements in voice quality for patients in Groups A and B one year post-surgery. Additionally, the shaving technique maintained a normal or near-normal voice in Group C one year post-surgery. CONCLUSION: The new intraoperative phonosurgical strategy is as follows: Resection of the affected RLN and arytenoid adduction is required in cases of medullary or anaplastic carcinoma, regardless of preoperative RLN function. Suppose RLN is found infiltrated by well-differentiated thyroid cancer (WDTC) during surgery, and the RLN is preoperatively paralyzed, we recommend performing resection the involved RLN and ACN-to-RLN anastomosis immediately during surgery. If vocal folds exhibit normal mobility preoperatively, the MACIS scoring system is used to assess patient risk stratification. When the MACIS score > 6.99, resection of the involved RLN and immediate ACN-to-RLN anastomosis were performed. RLN preservation was limited to patients with MACIS scores ≤ 6.99.

Molecular characterization, expression and antibacterial function of a macin, HdMac, from Haliotis discus hannai.

Macins are a family of antimicrobial peptides, which play multiple roles in the elimination of invading pathogens. In the present study, a macin was cloned and characterized from Pacific abalone Haliotis discus hannai (Designated as HdMac). Analysis of the conserved domain suggested that HdMac was a new member of the macin family. In non-stimulated abalones, HdMac transcripts were constitutively expressed in all five tested tissues, especially in hemocytes. After Vibrio harveyi stimulation, the expression of HdMac mRNA in hemocytes was significantly up-regulated at 12 hr (P < 0.01). RNAi-mediated knockdown of HdMac transcripts affected the survival rates of abalone against V. harveyi. Moreover, recombinant protein of HdMac (rHdMac) exhibited high antibacterial activities against invading bacteria, especially for Vibrio anguillarum. In addition, rHdMac possessed binding activities towards glucan, lipopolysaccharides (LPS), and peptidoglycan (PGN), but not chitin in vitro. Membrane integrity analysis revealed that rHdMac could increase the membrane permeability of bacteria. Meanwhile, both the phagocytosis and chemotaxis ability of hemocytes could be significantly enhanced by rHdMac. Overall, the results showed that HdMac could function as a versatile molecule involved in immune responses of H. discus hannai.

Identifying chemical markers in wine-processed Salvia miltiorrhiza using ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole-time-of-flight-tandem mass spectrometry.

To find the chemical markers of wine-processed Salvia miltiorrhiza (WSM), 76 constituents, including diterpenoid quinones and phenolic acids in Salvia miltiorrhiza (SM) and WSM, were profiled using ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole-time-of-flight-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-Q-TOF-MS/MS) in positive- and the negative-ion modes. Thirty compounds were screened out as candidate differential components using chemometrics analysis, and the concentration of most compounds increased after processing with wine. Seven compounds, namely tanshinone IIA, magnesium lithospermate B, salvianolic acid G, cryptotanshinone, isocryptotanshinone, salvianolic acid B, and rosmarinic acid, were selected as chemical markers of WSM using variable importance of the project. This study revealed the chemical markers of WSM and confirmed that WSM can improve the extraction and solubility effect of chemical constituents.

Palladium-Catalyzed Deuteration of Arylketone Oxime Ethers.

We report herein the development of palladium-catalyzed deacylative deuteration of arylketone oxime ethers. This protocol features excellent functional group tolerance, heterocyclic compatibility, and high deuterium incorporation levels. Regioselective deuteration of some biologically important drugs and natural products are showcased via Friedel-Crafts acylation and subsequent deacylative deuteration. Vicinal meta-C-H bond functionalization (including fluorination, arylation, and alkylation) and para-C-H bond deuteration of electro-rich arenes are realized by using the ketone as both directing group and leaving group, which is distinct from aryl halide in conventional dehalogenative deuteration.

Circular RNA hsa_circ_0064559 affects tumor cell growth and progression of colorectal cancer.

BACKGROUND: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths globally. It is essential to identify new CRC-associated therapeutic targets and diagnostic biomarkers. Previous studies have demonstrated that a series of circular RNAs (circRNAs) play a crucial role in CRC pathogenesis. This study assessed the potential of hsa_circ_0064559 in tumor cell growth and progression of CRC. METHODS: Six pairs of matched CRC and normal colorectal tissue samples were sequenced using the Affymetrix Clariom D array. Using RNA interference, the expression of thirteen circRNAs was knocked down in CRC cells. The proliferation of CRC cell lines (RKO and SW620 cells) was detected using 3-(4,5-dimethyl-2-thiazolyl)-2,5-diphenyl-2-H-tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. Apoptosis and cell cycle were determined by flow-cytometric analysis. An in vivo study uses nude mice to establish a CRC mouse model. The differentially expressed genes were analyzed using Affymetrix primeview human GeneChip array and verified by polymerase chain reaction. RESULTS: Affymetrix Clariom D array analysis revealed that thirteen circRNAs were upregulated in CRC. The proliferation of CRC cell lines was decreased, while the proportion of apoptotic and G1 phase cells was higher after hsa_circ_0064559 knockdown. In vivo xenograft nude mice model revealed that the volume and weight of the tumor were reduced by hsa_circ_0064559 knockdown. In Affymetrix primeview human GeneChip array, we found six upregulated genes (STAT1, ATF2, TNFRSF10B, TGFBR2, BAX, and SQSTM1) and two downregulated genes (SLC4A7 and CD274) related to apoptosis and proliferation of colorectal cancer cells after hsa_circ_0064559 knockdown. CONCLUSIONS: The hsa_circ_0064559 knockdown could inhibit the proliferation, promote apoptosis in CRC cell lines in vitro, and inhibit the development of CRC tumors in vivo. The mechanism may be related to activating a wide range of signaling pathways. The hsa_circ_0064559 may be a potential biomarker for early diagnosis or prognosis of CRC and a novel drug target for CRC therapy.

Dual Residual Denoising Autoencoder with Channel Attention Mechanism for Modulation of Signals.

Aiming to address the problems of the high bit error rate (BER) of demodulation or low classification accuracy of modulation signals with a low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), we propose a double-residual denoising autoencoder method with a channel attention mechanism, referred to as DRdA-CA, to improve the SNR of modulation signals. The proposed DRdA-CA consists of an encoding module and a decoding module. A squeeze-and-excitation (SE) ResNet module containing one residual connection is modified and then introduced into the autoencoder as the channel attention mechanism, to better extract the characteristics of the modulation signals and reduce the computational complexity of the model. Moreover, the other residual connection is further added inside the encoding and decoding modules to optimize the network degradation problem, which is beneficial for fully exploiting the multi-level features of modulation signals and improving the reconstruction quality of the signal. The ablation experiments prove that both the improved SE module and dual residual connections in the proposed method play an important role in improving the denoising performance. The subsequent experimental results show that the proposed DRdA-CA significantly improves the SNR values of eight modulation types in the range of -12 dB to 8 dB. Especially for 16QAM and 64QAM, the SNR is improved by 8.38 dB and 8.27 dB on average, respectively. Compared to the DnCNN denoising method, the proposed DRdA-CA makes the average classification accuracy increase by 67.59∼74.94% over the entire SNR range. When it comes to the demodulation, compared with the RLS and the DnCNN denoising algorithms, the proposed denoising method reduces the BER of 16QAM by an average of 63.5% and 40.5%, and reduces the BER of 64QAM by an average of 46.7% and 18.6%. The above results show that the proposed DRdA-CA achieves the optimal noise reduction effect.

The early faecal microbiota transfer alters bile acid circulation and amino acid transport of the small intestine in piglets.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of faecal microbiota transfer (FMT) with lactation Min sows as faecal donor on blood immunity, small intestine amino acid transport capacity, bile acid circulation, and colon microbiota of recipient piglets. From Days 1 to 10, the recipient group (R group) was orally inoculated with a faecal suspension. The control group (Con group) was orally inoculated with sterile physiological saline. On Day 21, the results showed that the immunoglobulin A (IgA) concentration in plasma of the R group was increased (p < 0.05). The expression of 4F2hc in the jejunal mucosa and ileum mucosa of the R group was ameliorated (p < 0.05). The relative abundance of Synergistetes in the colon of the R group was increased, Proteobacteria was diminished by FMT (p < 0.05). On Day 40, the concentrations of IgA, IgG, and interleukin-2 detected in the plasma of the R group were increased (p < 0.05). FXR and fibroblast growth factor 19 gene expression was upregulated in ileum mucosa, CYP7A1 and Na+ taurocholate cotransporter polypeptide gene expression were downregulated in the liver and organic solute transporters α/ß was downregulated in colonic mucosa (p < 0.05). The relative abundance of Proteobacteria and Spirochaetes in the colon of the R group was decreased (p < 0.05). In conclusion, an early FMT with lactation Min sows as faecal donors can alter the small intestine amino acid transport capacity, bile acid circulation, and colonic microbiota of recipient piglets during lactation and after weaning.

Triple-Function Au-Ag-Stuffed Nanopancakes for SERS Detection, Discrimination, and Inactivation of Multiple Bacteria.

New strategies combining sensitive pathogenic bacterial detection and high antimicrobial efficacy are urgently desirable. Here, we report smart triple-functional Au-Ag-stuffed nanopancakes (AAS-NPs) exhibiting (1) controllably oxidative Ag-etching thickness for simultaneously obtaining the best surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) enhancement and high Ag-loading antibacterial drug delivery, (2) expressive Ag+-accelerated releasing capability under neutral phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) (pH ∼ 7.4) stimulus and robust antibacterial effectiveness involving sustainable Ag+ release, and (3) three-in-one features combining specific discrimination, sensitive detection, and inactivation of different pathogenic bacteria. Originally, AAS-NPs were synthesized by particle growth of the selective Ag-etched Au@Ag nanoparticles with K3[Fe(CN)6], followed by the formation of an unstable Prussian blue analogue for specifically binding with bacteria through the cyano group. Using specific bacterial "fingerprints" resulting from the introduction of dual-function 4-mercaptophenylboronic acid (4-MPBA, serving as both the SERS tag and internal standard) and a SERS sandwich nanostructure that was made of bacteria/SERS tags/AAS-NPs, three bacteria (E. coli, S. aureus, and P. aeruginosa) were highly sensitively discriminated and detected, with a limit of detection of 7 CFU mL-1. Meanwhile, AAS-NPs killed 99% of 1 × 105 CFU mL-1 bacteria within 60 min under PBS (pH ∼ 7.4) pretreatment. Antibacterial activities of PBS-stimulated AAS-NPs against S. aureus, E. coli, and P. aeruginosa were extraordinarily increased by 64-fold, 72-fold, and 72-fold versus PBS-untreated AAS-NPs, respectively. The multiple functions of PBS-stimulated AAS-NPs were validated by bacterial sensing, inactivation in human blood samples, and bacterial biofilm disruption. Our work exhibits an effective strategy for simultaneous bacterial sensing and inactivation.

Serum concentrations of neonicotinoids and their characteristic metabolites in elderly population from South China: Association with osteoporosis.

Neonicotinoids (NEOs) are extensively applied in global agricultural production for pest control but have adverse effects on human health. In this study, the concentrations of six NEOs and three characteristic metabolites were investigated by collecting 200 serum samples from an elderly population in China. Results showed that the NEOs and their metabolites were widely detected (89%-98 %) in the serum samples from the osteoporosis (OP) (n = 120) and non-OP (n = 80) population, and their median concentrations ranged from 0.04 ng/mL to 5.99 ng/mL and 0.01 ng/mL to 2.02 ng/mL, respectively. N-desmethyl-acetamiprid (ACE-dm) was the most abundant NEOs in the serum samples. Gender-related differences were found in concentrations of most NEOs and their metabolites in serum, with males having higher target analytes than females. Significantly (p < 0.05) positive correlations were observed among most NEO concentrations, suggesting that exposure source of these substances is common or related. However, associations between the concentrations of characteristic metabolites and their corresponding NEOs were insignificant, probably because the exogenous intake are the primary sources of metabolites of NEOs instead of the internal biotransformation. The associations between NEO concentrations (i.e., ACE-dm, dinotefuran, and olefin-imidacloprid) and OP (OR = 2.33-6.92, 95 % CI = 0.37-16.9, p-trend < 0.05) indicate that NEO exposure is correlated with increased odds of prevalent OP. This study is the first to document the profiles of NEOs and their metabolites in serum samples collected from an elderly population in South China and examine the relationships between NEO exposure and OP.

Intra-familial transmission of Streptococcus dysgalactiae subsp. equisimilis (SDSE): A first case report and review of the literature.

BACKGROUND: Concern about Streptococcus dysgalactiae infections has been increasing worldwide, and many cases of invasive infections have been reported. Streptococcus dysgalactiae has two main subspecies: S. dysgalactiae subsp. equisimilis (SDSE) and S. dysgalactiae subsp. dysgalactiae (SDSD). The epidemiology of invasive SDSE infections is not well understood, and the exact numbers of human SDSE infections are not known because standard laboratories are not able to identify Lancefield group C streptococci (GCS) or group G streptococci (GGS) to the species level. SDSE is often present in skin lesions, and sites of SDSE colonization and focal SDSE infections serve as the principal reservoirs for the transmission of skin and soft-tissue infections. Although the person-to-person transmission of S. pyogenes infections has been reported, the intra-familial transmission of SDSE has not been reported. CASE PRESENTATION: We report two cases of cellulitis with bacteremia in a family. A 72-year-old female with cellulitis in her right lower extremity was hospitalized, and a 104-year-old male relative was hospitalized with cellulitis 2 days later. Two strains of Streptococcus dysgalactiae subsp. equisimilis were isolated from the blood of the patients. Single nucleotide polymorphism analysis of the bacterial genomes suggested that the two strains had the same origin. This is the first case report about the intra-familial transmission of Streptococcus dysgalactiae subsp. equisimilis. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first case report about the intra-familial transmission of Streptococcus dysgalactiae subsp. equisimilis.

Automatic system for high-throughput and high-sensitivity diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has had severe consequences for health and the global economy. To control the transmission, there is an urgent demand for early diagnosis and treatment in the general population. In the present study, an automatic system for SARS-CoV-2 diagnosis is designed and built to deliver high specification, high sensitivity, and high throughput with minimal workforce involvement. The system, set up with cross-priming amplification (CPA) rather than conventional reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), was evaluated using more than 1000 real-world samples for direct comparison. This fully automated robotic system performed SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid-based diagnosis with 192 samples in under 180 min at 100 copies per reaction in a "specimen in data out" manner. This throughput translates to a daily screening capacity of 800-1000 in an assembly-line manner with limited workforce involvement. The sensitivity of this device could be further improved using a CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats)-based assay, which opens the door to mixed samples, potentially include SARS-CoV-2 variants screening in extensively scaled testing for fighting COVID-19.

Propane dehydrogenation: catalyst development, new chemistry, and emerging technologies.

Propylene is an important building block for enormous petrochemicals including polypropylene, propylene oxide, acrylonitrile and so forth. Propane dehydrogenation (PDH) is an industrial technology for direct propylene production which has received extensive attention in recent years. With the development of dehydrogenation technologies, the efficient adsorption/activation of propane and subsequential desorption of propylene on the surfaces of heterogeneous catalysts remain scientifically challenging. This review describes recent advances in the fundamental understandings of the PDH process in terms of emerging technologies, catalyst development and new chemistry in regulating the catalyst structures and inhibiting the catalyst deactivation. The active sites, reaction pathways and deactivation mechanisms of PDH over metals and metal oxides as well as their dependent factors are also analysed and discussed, which is expected to enable efficient catalyst design for minimizing the reaction barriers and controlling the selectivity towards propylene. The challenges and perspectives of PDH over heterogeneous catalysts are also proposed for further development.

Dietary Glucose Ameliorates Impaired Intestinal Development and Immune Homeostasis Disorders Induced by Chronic Cold Stress in Pig Model.

Endotherms are easily challenged by chronic cold stress. In this study, the development and injury of the small intestine in the Min pig model and Yorkshire pig model under chronic cold stress, and the molecular mechanisms by which glucose supplementation reduces small intestinal mucosal damage were investigated. The results showed that morphological structure lesions of the jejunal mucosa and ileal mucosa were visible in Yorkshire pigs under chronic cold stress. Meanwhile, the Occludin mRNA and protein expression in jejunal mucosa of Yorkshire pigs was decreased. Chronic cold stress enhanced the expression of Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), the myeloid differentiation main response 88 (MyD88), nucleotide-binding domain and leucine-rich repeat protein 3 (NLRP3), cleaved caspase-1, mature-IL-1ß, and high-mobility group box 1 (HMGB 1) mRNA and protein expression in jejunal mucosa of Yorkshire pigs, whereas the mRNA and protein of Bax was triggered in ileal mucosa. In Min pigs, no such deleterious consequences were observed. Dietary glucose supplementation ameliorates small intestinal mucosal injury, declined TLR4 and MyD88 expression in jejunal mucosa. In conclusion, chronic cold stress induced the small intestinal mucosa damage in Yorkshire pigs, whereas glucose supplementation mitigated the deleterious effects of chronic cold stress on the small intestine.

Activation of Inflammatory Networks in the Lungs Caused by Chronic Cold Stress Is Moderately Attenuated by Glucose Supplementation.

Mammals that live in cold climates endure months of exposure to low temperature in the winter. The incidence of respiratory diseases has increased. The goal of this study was to investigate the effects of chronic cold stress on lung inflammatory networks, apoptosis, and mitochondrial function via Yorkshire pig models, as well as the ameliorative effect of glucose as energy supplements. Here, two trials were conducted (chronic cold stress and glucose supplementation). The results showed that chronic cold stress induced obvious inflammatory cell infiltration in the lungs and damaged the lung tissue structure. Compared with the Y-Con group, the expression of toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), myeloid differentiation primary response 88 (MyD88), high mobility group box 1 (HMGB1), nucleotide-binding domain, and leucine-rich repeat protein 3 (NLRP3), IL-1ß, IL-2, IL-6, and IFN-γ in the lungs of the Y-CS group was enhanced by chronic cold stress (p < 0.05). Moreover, chronic cold stress promoted the expression of the Bax and Mfn2 in lungs of Y-CS group (p < 0.05). Interestingly, dietary glucose supplementation significantly reduced inflammatory cell infiltration in the lungs. Moreover, glucose supplementation inhibited the expression of TLR4, MyD88, HMGB1, NLRP3, IL-1ß, IL-2, IL-6, IFN-γ, and Bax during chronic cold stress. In conclusion, chronic cold stress promoted inflammatory networks, apoptosis, and mitochondrial fusion in the lungs. Dietary glucose supplementation inhibited the inflammatory network during chronic cold stress.

[Therapeutic material basis of Daqinglong Decoction: based on serum pharmacochemistry and network pharmacology].

Based on the ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry(UPLC-Q-TOF-MS) technology, the components of Daqinglong Decoction absorbed in serum were analyzed and identified, and the therapeutic material basis of the prescription was revealed via network pharmacology. UPLC conditions are as follows: Waters Acquity UPLC BEH C_(18) column(2.1 mm × 100 mm, 1.7 µm), mobile phase of 0.1% formic acid aqueous solution(A)-0.1% formic acid in acetonitrile(B), gradient elution. Peakview 2.0 and MetabolitePilot 1.5 were employed for the comparison of Daqinglong Decoction, blank serum, and serum after the administration of the decoction, and the components of Daqinglong Decoction absorbed in serum were analyzed based on MS/MS profiles in related database and literature. The targets of the components absorbed in serum were retrieved from SwissTargetPrediction, DrugBank, and Batman-TCM. With the search terms of common cold, influenza, flu, bronchitis, bronchiolitis, asthma, allergic rhinitis, rhinallergosis, allergic coryza, rheumatic arthritis, and nephritis, the related disease targets were screened out. Then the absorbed component-potential target gene network and absorbed component target-disease target network were constructed, followed by Gene Ontology(GO) term enrichment and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes(KEGG) pathway enrichment analysis of the core targets. iGEMDOCK was employed for molecular docking of the absorbed components and core targets. In the serum after the administration of the decoction, 28 components were preliminarily identified, with 21 prototypes and 7 metabolites. Among them, 5 core components of ephedrine, demethylephedrine, glycyrrhetinic acid, p-hydroxybenzoic acid, and 2-methoxybenzoic acid were screened out, and 9 core targets, such as JUN, tumor protein 53(TP53), and protein kinase B(AKT1), were identified. Molecular docking showed high binding affinity of core components and core targets. Therefore, Daqinglong Decoction may exert therapeutic effect by regulating mitogen-activated protein kinase(MAPK), cyclic adenosine monophosphate(cAMP), and cyclic guanosine monophosphate(cGMP)-protein kinase G(PKG) signaling pathways and further improving and regulating inflammatory response and other physiological and pathological processes. This study clarifies the components of Daqinglong Decoction absorbed in serum and explores the therapeutic material basis of the prescription, which provides a reference for further elucidating the mechanism of Daqinglong Decoction and its clinical application.

Data-Driven Interpretable Descriptors for the Structure-Activity Relationship of Surface Lattice Oxygen on Doped Vanadium Oxides.

Understanding the structure-activity relationship of surface lattice oxygen is critical but challenging to design efficient redox catalysts. This paper describes data-driven redox activity descriptors on doped vanadium oxides combining density functional theory and interpretable machine learning. We corroborate that the p-band center is the most crucial feature for the activity. Besides, some features from the coordination environment, including unoccupied d-band center, s- and d-band fillings, also play important roles in tuning the oxygen activity. Further analysis reveals that data-driven descriptors could decode more information about electron transfer during the redox process. Based on the descriptors, we report that atomic Re- and W-doping could inhibit over-oxidation in the chemical looping oxidative dehydrogenation of propane, which is verified by subsequent experiments and calculations. This work sheds light on the structure-activity relationship of lattice oxygen for the rational design of redox catalysts.

Synergistic Mechanism of Platinum-GaOx Catalysts for Propane Dehydrogenation.

The synergy between metals and metal oxides can effectively improve the heterogeneous catalytic process. This paper describes the intrinsic effect of Pt modification over GaOx (Pt-GaOx ) on propane dehydrogenation. The presence of Pt promotes H2 dissociation and surface coverage of hydrogen species, which is beneficial for the activation of C-H in propane. With excessive Pt, Gaδ+ can be further reduced to form Pt-Ga alloy with less surface hydrogen species. Consequently, the relative propylene formation rate between Pt-GaOx and the summed contribution of individual Pt and GaOx increases linearly with the content of hydrogen species. Optimally, the relative propylene formation rate of Pt-GaOx with 0.03 wt % Pt exceeds 25 % of the summed contribution of individual components.

Recruitment of γδ T cells to the lesion via the CCL2/CCR2 signaling after spinal cord injury.

BACKGROUND: Immune cell infiltration and neuroinflammation are heavily associated with spinal cord injury (SCI). C-C motif chemokine ligand 2/C-C chemokine receptor type 2 (CCL2/CCR2) axis has been identified as a critical role player during the invasion of immune cells to lesions in many diseases. γδ T cells, a subgroup of T cells, manage the course of inflammation response in various diseases; however, it remains unknown whether γδ T cells are recruited to injury site through CCL2/CCR2 signaling and exert the regulation effect on neuroinflammation after SCI. METHODS: Basso Mouse Scale (BMS), regularity index, cadence, max contact area, and motor-evoked potential testing (MEP) were measured to determine the neurological function recovery after spinal cord injury. Nissl staining was performed to identify the number of surviving motor neurons at lesion epicenter. Immunofluorescence, Western blot, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA), and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (QRT-PCR) also were employed to evaluate the expression of associated proteins and genes. RESULTS: In this study, we demonstrated that TCRδ-/- mice present improved neurological recovery after SCI. γδ T cell recruitment to the SCI site was significantly reduced and motor functional improvement enhanced in CCL2-/- and CCR2-/- mouse strains. Furthermore, reconstitution of TCRδ-/- mice with γδ T cells extracted from CCR2-/- mice also showed similar results to CCL2 and CCR2 deficient mice. CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion, γδ T cell recruitment to SCI site promotes inflammatory response and exacerbates neurological impairment. CCL2/CCR2 signaling is a vital recruitment mechanism of γδ T cells to the SCI site, and it may be taken as a novel therapeutic target for future SCI.