High Rate and Low-Temperature Stable Lithium Metal Batteries Enabled by Lithiophilic 3D Cu-CuSn Porous Framework.

Lithium (Li) metal is regarded as the "Holy Grail" of anodes for high-energy rechargeable lithium batteries by virtue of its ultrahigh theoretical specific capacity and the lowest redox potential. However, the Li dendrite impedes the practical application of Li metal anodes. Herein, lithiophilic three-dimensional Cu-CuSn porous framework (3D Cu-CuSn) was fabricated by a vapor phase dealloying strategy via the difference in saturated vapor pressure between different metals and the Kirkendall effect. CuSn alloy sites were converted into LiSn alloy sites through the molten Li infusion method, and composite Li metal anodes (3D Cu-LiSn-Li) are achieved. Alloyed tin, as the bridge between the porous copper substrate and metallic Li, plays a critical role in optimizing Li nucleation and enhancing the fast lithium migration kinetics. This work demonstrates that lithiophilic binary copper alloys are an effective way to achieve room-temperature high rate performance and satisfied low-temperature cycling stability for Li metal batteries.

Medium-Entropy-Alloy FeCoNi Enables Lithium-Sulfur Batteries with Superb Low-Temperature Performance.

Lithium-sulfur battery suffers from sluggish kinetics at low temperatures, resulting in serious polarization and reduced capacity. Here, this work introduces medium-entropy-alloy FeCoNi as catalysts and carbon nanofibers (CNFs) as hosts. FeCoNi nanoparticles are in suit synthesized in cotton-derived CNFs. FeCoNi with atomic-level mixing of each element can effectively modulate lithium polysulfides (LiPSs), multiple components making them promising to catalyze more LiPSs species. The higher configurational entropy endows FeCoNi@CNFs with extraordinary electrochemical activity, corrosion resistance, and mechanical properties. The fractal structure of CNFs provides a large specific surface area, leaving room for volume expansion and Li2 S accumulation, facilitating electrolyte wetting. The unique 3D conductive network structure can suppress the shuttle effect by physicochemical adsorption of LiPSs. This work systematically evaluates the performance of the obtained Li2 S6 /FeCoNi@CNFs electrode. The initial discharge capacity of Li2 S6 /FeCoNi@CNFs reaches 1670.8 mAh g-1 at 0.1 C under -20 °C. After 100 cycles at 0.2 C, the capacity decreases from 1462.3 to 1250.1 mAh g-1 . Notably, even under -40 °C at 0.1 C, the initial discharge capacity of Li2 S6 /FeCoNi@CNFs still reaches 1202.8 mAh g-1 . After 100 cycles at 0.2 C, the capacity retention rate is 50%. This work has important implications for the development of low-temperature Li-S batteries.

Racemic Norlignans as Diastereoisomers from Ferula sinkiangensis Resins with Antitumor and Wound-Healing Promotion Activities.

Ferulasinkins A-D (1-4), four new norlignans, were isolated from the resins of Ferula sinkiangensis, a medicinal plant of the Apiaceae family. All of them were obtained as racemic mixtures, chiral HPLC was used to produce their (+)- and (-)-antipodes. The structures of these new compounds, including their absolute configurations, were elucidated by spectroscopic and computational methods. This isolation provides new insight into the chemical profiling of F. sinkiangensis resins beyond the well-investigated structure types such as sesquiterpene coumarins and disulfides. Compounds 2a and 3a were found to significantly inhibit the invasion and migration of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) cell lines via CCK-8 assay. On the other hand, the wound-healing assay also demonstrated that compounds 4a and 4b could promote the proliferation of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). Notably, the promoting effects of 4a and 4b were observed as more significant versus a positive control using basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF).

Design, synthesis, fungicidal activities and structure-activity relationship studies of (-)-borneol derivatives containing 2-aryl-thiazole scaffold.

A series of (-)-borneol derivatives containing 2-aryl-thiazole scaffold were designed, synthesized, and characterized by 1H NMR, 13C NMR, and HRMS. The fungicidal activities of these novel compounds against Fusarium oxysporum, Magnaporthe grisea, Botrytis cinerea, and Penicillium digitatum were evaluated. The results indicated that (1S,2R,4S)-1,7,7-trimethylbicyclo[2.2.1]heptan-2-yl(Z)-4-oxo-4-(((2-phenylthiazol-4-yl)methyl)amino)but-2-enoate (6a) displayed potential fungicidal activities with broad spectrum. Especially, 6a exhibited an IC50 value of 48.5 mg/L against P. digitatum, which has higher fungicidal activity than commercial products hymexazol and amicarthiazol. Moreover, (1S,2R,4S)-1,7,7-trimethylbicyclo[2.2.1]heptan-2-yl-4-oxo-4-(((2-phenylthiazol-4-yl)methyl)amino)butanoate (5a) possesses an IC50 value of 24.3 mg/L against B. cinerea, comparable to hymexazol and far superior to amicarthiazol. Furthermore, the superficial structure-activity relationship was discussed, which might be helpful for discovering novel fungicides.

First-Principles Design of Refractory High Entropy Alloy VMoNbTaW.

The elastic properties of seventy different compositions were calculated to optimize the composition of a V-Mo-Nb-Ta-W system. A new model called maximum entropy approach (MaxEnt) was adopted. The influence of each element was discussed. Molybdenum (Mo) and tungsten (W) are key elements for the maintenance of elastic properties. The V-Mo-Nb-Ta-W system has relatively high values of C44, bulk modulus (B), shear modulus (G), and Young's modulus (E), with high concentrations of Mo + W. Element W is brittle and has high density. Thus, low-density Mo can substitute part of W. Vanadium (V) has low density and plays an important role in decreasing the brittleness of the V-Mo-Nb-Ta-W system. Niobium (Nb) and tantalum (Ta) have relatively small influence on elastic properties. Furthermore, the calculated results can be used as a general guidance for the selection of a V-Mo-Nb-Ta-W system.

Evaluating the value of uPAR of serum and tissue on patients with cervical cancer.

We investigated the relationship between the urokinase type plasminogen activator receptor (uPAR) in sera and tissues of patients with cervical cancer and the clinical and pathological features of the cancer. Immunohistochemistry (SABC method) was used to detect uPAR expression in cervical cancer and normal tissues; ELISA was employed to assay the uPAR levels in cervical cancer and normal tissues and the corresponding sera. The immunohistochemistry results showed that there were 37 cases of uPAR expression in 56 patients of cervical cancer with a positive expression rate of 66%, whereas there was no uPAR expression in normal cervical tissues. The uPAR levels in cancer tissue from patients with cervical cancer (70.92 ± 28.55 ng/100 mg protein) were significantly higher than those of adjacent tissues obtained from the cancer patients (11.01 ± 5.40 ng/100 mg protein) (P < 0.001). Furthermore, the tissue uPAR levels are correlated with the TNM stages, lymph node metastasis, and the degree of differentiation instead of tumor-infiltrating and vessel thrombosis. Serum uPAR levels of patients (2.38 ± 0.29 ng/ml) were significantly increased compared with health control group (0.50 ± 0.16 ng/ml) (P < 0.001). Single-factor analysis shows that the serum uPAR levels of preoperative patients are related with clinical grade, lymph node metastasis, vein embolism, and the depth of infiltration instead of tumor differentiation. We conducted multiple regression analysis and found that the factors affecting preoperative serum suPAR include clinical stage (P = 0.000), pelvic lymph node metastasis (P = 0.000), and depth of myometrial invasion (P = 0.001). The serum suPAR levels of patients with cervical cancer after surgery are significantly decreased compared with preoperation (P < 0.001). The uPAR levels of serum and tissue present a positive correlation (r = 0.705, P < 0.001). The soluble uPAR in serum (suPAR) may be a more convenient indicator to reflect the uPAR system activity in vivo. It could be a tumor marker for clinical diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis monitor of cervical cancer.

CO2 Etching Modulates Lithium and Sodium Storage Performance of Hard-Soft Carbon Composite-Based Freestanding Thick Electrodes.

Carbon-based materials are the most prospective anodes. Typically, a single carbon-based material is applied to different energy storage systems (EESs) without modification. However, the microcrystal structure of carbon plays a decisive role in the energy storage performance, and therefore, it should be adjusted when applied to different EESs. Here, a hierarchical porous carbon monomer monolith (HPCM) embedded with carbon nanotubes blooming on ZIF-67 was designed as a soft-hard carbon-based freestanding thick electrode for achieving high-energy lithium-ion and sodium-ion batteries. HPCM is resorcinol-formaldehyde (RF) resin-derived carbon, mainly composed of hard carbon, which has outstanding mechanical properties, a high surface area, and high porosity. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) derived from ZIF-67 have extraordinary electronic conductivity, which provides soft carbon. High-temperature CO2 etching was performed to adjust the microcrystal structure, and the lithium/sodium storage performance of the electrode was evaluated. After CO2 etching, the materials lose almost half their weight (mainly hard carbon), and pseudocapacitive contribution decreases for both lithium-ion and sodium-ion batteries, whereas the specific capacity increases for lithium-ion batteries and decreases for sodium-ion batteries. Capacities of 5.96 mAh cm-2 (areal) and 132.48 mAh cm-3 (volumetric) were achieved for lithium storage, and those for sodium storage were 2.31 and 51.24 mAh cm-3, respectively. In summary, it is significant to adjust the microcrystal structure of carbon-based electrodes, and this study provides related experience for lithium and sodium storage.

Rational construction of a CNTs@VO2 nanosheets modified separator for enhancing the performance of lithium-sulfur batteries.

Although lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries possess great potential to become the next generation of energy storage technology due to their fivefold higher energy density than commercial lithium-ion batteries, their practical application is still hindered by their poor cycling stability, especially resulting from the disturbing shuttle effect of soluble intermediates. In this study, vanadium dioxide (VO2) nanosheets were successfully grown onto CNTs to form CNTs@VO2 through hydrothermal and calcining processes. The hollow structure of the high conductive CNTs offers internal space and mesopores to accommodate the electrolyte combined with the polar metal oxide VO2 nanosheets providing the chemical anchoring. The hollow binary core-shell host acting as the nanoreactor that serves as the modifier of the separator results in the intensive physical and chemical dual adsorption of lithium polysulfide species (LiPSs), promoting the conversion of long-chain LiPSs to alleviate the shuttle effect significantly and boosting the performance. In addition, the CNTs enhance the electronic conductivity and the electrolyte infiltration of the separator. Notably, the modified separator demonstrates a high initial discharge capacity of 1397 mA h g-1 at 0.2C and retains a stable cycling ability with a reversible capacity of 965 mA h g-1 over 200 cycles at 1C. Even for the high sulfur loading of 7.4 mg cm-2, it can deliver a high areal capacity of 5.4 mA h cm-2 at 0.5C.

CoS2-TiO2@C Core-Shell fibers as cathode host material for High-Performance Lithium-Sulfur batteries.

Owing to the low cost, high energy density, and high theoretical specific capacity, lithium-sulfur batteries have been deemed as a potential choice for future energy storage devices. However, they also have suffered from several scientific and technical issues including low conductivity, polysulfides migration, and volume changes. In this study, CoS2-TiO2@carbon core-shell fibers were fabricated through combination of coaxial electrospinning and selective vulcanization method. The core-shell fibers are able to efficiently host sulfur, confine polysulfides, and accelerate intermediates conversion. This electrode delivers an initial specific capacity of 1181.1 mAh g-1 and a high capacity of 736.5 mAh g-1 after 300 cycles with high coulombic efficiency over 99.5% (capacity decay of 0.06% per cycle). This strategy of isolating interactant and selective vulcanization provides new ideas for effectively constructing heterostructure materials for lithium-sulfur batteries.

Antifungal and wound healing promotive compounds from the resins of Dracaena cochinchinensis.

Five new compounds (xuejieins A-E), including three new phenolic glycosides (1, 2, and 5) and two new flavonoids (10 and 11), together with six known compounds were isolated from the resins of Dracaena cochinchinensis (Chinese dragon's blood). The structures of the new compounds were confirmed by extensive spectroscopic methods and electronic circular dichroism (ECD) data analysis. Especially, the absolute configurations of the sugar moieties in compounds 1, 2, and 5 were clarified by GC analysis after acid hydrolysis. All isolated compounds have been tested for antifungal and wound healing promoting activities, The results showed that compound 9 shows significant antifungal activities against Botrytis cinerea, Magnaporthe grisea, Penicillium digitatum, and Sclerotinia sclerotiorum. In addition, compound 4 could significantly stimulate human keratinocytes (HaCAT) proliferation, mobility, and human umbilical vein vascular endothelial cells (HUVECs) tube formation at 40 µM.

Modified alginate dressing with high thermal stability as a new separator for Li-ion batteries.

Alginate dressings can be used as a new type of lithium-ion battery separator with high thermal stability, excellent electrolyte adsorption/retention ability, and environmental friendliness, showing a broad application prospect in high safety lithium ion batteries.

Gold Nanorod Integrated Electrochemical Sensing for Hyperglycaemia on Interdigitated Electrode.

Gestational diabetes (hyperglycaemia) is an elevated blood sugar level diagnosed during the period of pregnancy and affects the baby's health. Hyperglycaemia has been found within the gestational weeks between 24 and 28, and the foetus has also the possibility of getting out prior to this test frame; it causes excessive birth weight, early birth, low-blood sugar level, respiratory distress syndrome, and type-2 diabetes to the mother. It creates a mandatory situation to identify the hyperglycaemia at least during the pregnancy weeks from 18 to 20. Further, a continuous monitoring of the level of glucose is necessary for the proper delivery. In this work, a method is introduced for glucose detection at 0.06 mg/mL, assisted by gold nanorod (GNR)-conjugated glucose oxidase (GOx) on interdigitated electrode sensor. In the absence of GNR, GOx shows the limit of glucose detection to be 0.25 mg/mL. Moreover, with GOx-GNR the reactions of all the glucose concentrations have recorded higher levels of the current from the baseline. With the specificity analysis, it was found that the glucose only reacts with GOx-GNR and discriminates other sugars efficiently. This method of detection is useful to diagnose and continuously monitor the glucose level during the pregnancy period.

[The relationship of cervical cancer with pathogen infectious, cytokine and Se].

BACKGROUND: To identify the relationship of cervical cancer with pathogen infectious, cytokine and Se. METHODS: On the one hand regarded tissues of the carcinoma of the uterine cervix with 195 cases as the experimental group and ordinary cervical tissues with 75 cases as the control group. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to detect them. On the other hand applied ELISA to detect cytokine IL-2R, TNF and fluorescent luminosity technique to detect element Se in the serums. RESULTS: In the experimental group those infected pathogen were 166 cases (85.1%), In all of pathogen HPV 16,18,35 type were 60 cases (30.8%), HSV 2 were 60 cases (30.8%), While those ordinary tissues infected pathogen were 15 cases (20 0%),in the contrast group. HPV 16,18,35 type and HSV 2 mere 4.0% and 6.7% respectively,(P<0.001). In the serums of effective 62 experimental objects IL-2R (x=356.44 U/ml) and TNF (x=373.48 pg/ml) were much high than them in the serums of effective 36 contrast objects (P<0.001). But Se (x=0.058 mg/ml) was lower than it in the serums of contrast objects (P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The occurrence of carcinoma of the uterine cervix is closely connected with infection of HPV 16,18,35 and HSV2, high level of cellular factors IL-2R, TNF and low level of element Se.