Detection of Verticillium infection in cotton leaves using ATR-FTIR spectroscopy coupled with machine learning algorithms.

Verticillium wilt (VW) is a soil-borne vascular disease that affects upland cotton and is caused by Verticillium dahliae Kleb. A rapid and user-friendly early diagnostic technique is essential for the preventing and controlling VW disease. In this study, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy with attenuated total reflectance (ATR) technology was used to detect VW infection in cotton leaves. About 1800 FTIR spectra were obtained from 348 cotton leaves. The cotton leaves were collected from three categories: VW group, infected group and control group (non-infected). The vibrational peak of chitins at 1558 cm-1 was identified through mean and differential analysis of FTIR spectra as a criterion to differentiate the VW or infected group from the control group. Classification models were constructed using various machine learning algorithms. The support vector machines (SVM) model exhibited the highest predictive accuracy (>96 %) in each group and a total accuracy (>97 %) for the three groups. These results provide a new approach for detecting Verticillium infection in cotton leaves and shows a promising potential for the future applications of the method in plant science.

Efficacy of 3D printing-assisted treatment for acetabular fractures.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to investigate the efficacy of three-dimensional (3D) printing-assisted treatment for acetabular fractures (AFs) and to compare with conventional surgical methods. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Between May 2019 and May 2022, a total of 44 patients (33 males, 11 females; mean age: 40.6±11.8 years; range, 20 to 68 years) who were diagnosed with AFs based on clinical symptoms, X-ray and computed tomography (CT) and underwent open reduction and internal fixation in Hospital of Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps were retrospectively analyzed. The patients were divided into two groups based on whether 3D printing was applied as the experimental group (n=24) and control group (n=20). In the experimental group, pelvic and acetabular data were imported into a 3D printer, and an equal-scale highly simulated model was printed using photosensitive resin as the 3D printing material. The model was used to develop more specific personalized surgical plans, to determine the optimal sequence of surgical procedures for fracture reduction, and simulate surgery in vitro. RESULTS: In the experimental group, the mean surgical duration was shorter (123.57±22.05 vs. 163.57±26.20 min, p<0.001), the mean intraoperative bleeding loss was lower (557.14±174.15 vs. 885.71±203.27 mL, p<0.001), and the frequency of intraoperative fluoroscopy was lower (8.64±1.65 vs. 12.07±2.76, p<0.001) than in the control group. No statistically significant differences were found between the two groups in the Visual Analog Scale scores after surgery or the hip function score after treatment (p>0.05). No major postoperative complications were observed in any of the patients. CONCLUSION: Compared to conventional surgical treatment, preoperative 3D printing-assisted treatment for adult patients with AFs can significantly reduce surgical duration, intraoperative bleeding loss and frequency of intraoperative C-arm fluoroscopy, reducing surgical difficulty and improving surgical safety.

Application of targeted nursing intervention in patients undergoing synchronous carotid endarterectomy and coronary artery bypass grafting.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the effect of targeted nursing intervention on the short-term prognosis of patients with coronary heart disease and carotid artery stenosis undergoing synchronous coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) and carotid endarterectomy (CEA). METHODS: A total of 58 patients who received OPCABG + CEA from February 2018 to May 2021 at the Beijing Anzhen Hospital were selected as the study subjects. They were randomly divided into two groups, with 29 patients in each group. The control group received routine postoperative nursing care, while the observation group received targeted nursing intervention in addition to the routine care. The incidence of postoperative stroke and the length of postoperative stay were observed. RESULTS: There were no statistically significant differences in baseline data between the two groups. Postoperative acute stroke occurred in 2 cases (6.9%) in the control group and 0 cases in the observation group, although this difference was not statistically significant. The median postoperative hospital stay was 13 days in the control group, with the earliest discharge at 10 days. In the observation group, the median postoperative hospital stay was 10 days, with the earliest discharge on the 8th day. This difference was statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: Targeted nursing intervention can improve the short-term prognosis of patients with coronary heart disease and carotid artery stenosis undergoing OPCABG + CEA, and it can also shorten the length of postoperative hospital stay.

The constant oxidation state of Earth's mantle since the Hadean.

Determining the evolutionary history of mantle oxygen fugacity (fo2) is crucial, as it controls the fo2 of mantle-derived melts and regulates atmospheric composition through volcanic outgassing. However, the evolution of mantle fo2 remains controversial. Here, we present a comprehensive dataset of plume-derived komatiites, picrites, and ambient mantle-derived (meta)basalts, spanning from ~3.8 Ga to the present, to investigate mantle thermal and redox states evolution. Our results indicate that fo2 of both mantle plume-derived and ambient mantle-derived melts was lower during the Archean compared to the post-Archean period. This increase in the fo2 of mantle-derived melts over time correlates with decreases in mantle potential temperature and melting depth. By normalizing fo2 to a constant reference pressure (potential oxygen fugacity), we show that the fo2 of both the mantle plume and ambient upper mantle has remained constant since the Hadean. These findings suggest that secular mantle cooling reduced melting depth, increasing the fo2 of mantle-derived melts and contributing to atmospheric oxygenation.

Analysis of Factors Affecting Range of Motion Loss after Elbow Joint Release Surgery in Elderly Patients with Traumatic Elbow Stiffness.

AIM: Elbow joint release surgery is commonly used to treat elbow joint stiffness. Though it can restore elbow joint mobility, some patients may still experience range of motion (ROM) loss after surgery. Therefore, this study aims to explore the factors influencing ROM loss after elbow joint release surgery in elderly patients with traumatic elbow stiffness. METHODS: This retrospective study included 122 elderly patients with traumatic elbow stiffness who underwent elbow joint release surgery at Hanzhong Central Hospital from January 2023 to April 2024. The patients with range of motion loss were included in the observation group (n = 41), and those without range of motion loss were placed in the control group (n = 81). The general data of the two groups were compared, and Logistic regression analysis was performed to identify factors influencing the loss of ROM after elbow joint release surgery in elderly patients with traumatic elbow stiffness. A risk prediction model was also established based on the identified risk factors. RESULTS: Multivariate Logistic regression analysis unveiled that high-energy injury (odds ratio (OR) = 4.632, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.363∼15.737), open injury (OR = 3.967, 95% CI = 1.308∼12.029), passive rehabilitation method (OR = 10.115, 95% CI = 1.113∼91.924), injury-to-release surgery time of ≥6 months (OR = 5.983, 95% CI = 1.677∼21.350), heterotopic ossification traumatic factors (OR = 5.409, 95% CI = 1.316∼22.224), and complex elbow joint damage (OR = 5.658, 95% CI = 1.457∼21.962) were all independent risk factors for ROM loss following elbow joint release surgery in elderly patients with traumatic elbow stiffness (p < 0.05). A risk prediction model was developed based on these factors, indicating a predictive sensitivity of 73.17%, a specificity of 69.14%, and an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.767. CONCLUSIONS: Clinically, the independent risk factors identified in this study should be closely monitored. Furthermore, treatment should be tailored based on the specific conditions of the patient, and high-risk factors should be effectively controlled to reduce the risk of ROM loss after elbow joint release surgery in traumatic elbow joint stiffness elderly patients.

Single-cell RNA sequencing reveals special basal cells and fibroblasts in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is the most predominant type of idiopathic interstitial pneumonia and has an increasing incidence, poor prognosis, and unclear pathogenesis. In order to investigate the molecular mechanisms underlying IPF further, we performed single-cell RNA sequencing analysis on three healthy controls and five IPF lung tissue samples. The results revealed a significant shift in epithelial cells (ECs) phenotypes in IPF, which may be attributed to the differentiation of alveolar type 2 cells to basal cells. In addition, several previously unrecognized basal cell subtypes were preliminarily identified, including extracellular matrix basal cells, which were increased in the IPF group. We identified a special population of fibroblasts that highly expressed extracellular matrix-related genes, POSTN, CTHRC1, COL3A1, COL5A2, and COL12A1. We propose that the close interaction between ECs and fibroblasts through ligand-receptor pairs may have a critical function in IPF development. Collectively, these outcomes provide innovative perspectives on the complexity and diversity of basal cells and fibroblasts in IPF and contribute to the understanding of possible mechanisms in pathological lung fibrosis.

Regulating Second-Shell Coordination in Cobalt Single-Atom Catalysts toward Highly Selective Hydrogenation.

Manipulating the local coordination environment of central metal atoms in single-atom catalysts (SACs) is a powerful strategy to exploit efficient SACs with optimal electronic structures for various applications. Herein, Co-SACs featured by Co single atoms with coordinating S atoms in the second shell dispersed in a nitrogen-doped carbon matrix have been developed toward the selective hydrogenation of halo-nitrobenzene. The location of the S atom in the model Co-SAC is verified through synchrotron-based X-ray absorption spectroscopy and theoretical calculations. The resultant Co-SACs containing second-coordination shell S atoms demonstrate excellent activity and outstanding durability for selective hydrogenation, superior to most precious metal-based catalysts. In situ characterizations and theoretical results verify that high activity and selectivity are attributed to the advantageous formation of the Co-O bond between p-chloronitrobenzene and Co atom at Co1N4-S moieties and the lower free energy and energy barriers of the reaction. Our findings unveil the correlation between the performance and second-shell coordination atom of SACs.

Quercetin@UiO-66 NPs and chloroquine in combined tumor therapy by dual autophagy-ubiquitination system blockade.

In this study, we propose a novel therapy system composed of UiO-66 nanoparticles, which contain quercetin combined with chloroquine (UQCNP), to achieve dual autophagy-ubiquitination blockade. Through UiO-66 NP drug loading, the solubility of quercetin (a proteasome inhibitor) was improved under physiological conditions, thereby increasing its effective concentration at the tumor site. The cell experiment results showed that UQCNP significantly increased the apoptosis rate of 4T1 cells by 73.6%, which was significantly higher than other groups. Transmission electron microscopy results showed that the autophagosome of cells in the UQCNP treatment group was significantly lower than that in other treatment groups. Moreover, western blot results showed that, compared with other groups, LC3 expression and proteasome activity (p < 0.01), as well as the tumor volume of mice treated with UQCNP (p < 0.01) were significantly reduced. These results indicate that UQCNP achieves effective tumor therapy by blocking the autophagy and proteasome pathways synchronously.

Overexpression of Rhodiola crenulata glutathione peroxidase 5 increases cold tolerance and enhances the pharmaceutical value of the hairy roots.

Rhodiola crenulata, a plant of great medicinal value found in cold high-altitude regions, has been excessively exploited due to the difficulty in cultivation. Understanding Rhodiola crenulata's adaptation mechanisms to cold environment can provide a theoretical basis for artificial breeding. Glutathione peroxidases (GPXs), critical enzymes found in plants, play essential roles in antioxidant defense through the ascorbate-glutathione cycle. However, it is unknown whether GPX5 contributes to Rhodiola crenulata's cold tolerance. In this study, we investigated the role of GPX5 in Rhodiola crenulata's cold tolerance mechanisms. By overexpressing Rhodiola crenulata GPX5 (RcGPX5) in yeast and Arabidopsis thaliana, we observed down-regulation of Arabidopsis thaliana GPX5 (AtGPX5) and increased cold tolerance in both organisms. Furthermore, the levels of antioxidants and enzyme activities in the ascorbate-glutathione cycle were elevated, and cold-responsive genes such as AtCBFs and AtCORs were induced. Additionally, RcGPX5 overexpressing lines showed insensitivity to exogenous abscisic acid (ABA), suggesting a negative regulation of the ABA pathway by RcGPX5. RcGPX5 also promoted the expression of several thioredoxin genes in Arabidopsis and interacted with two endogenous genes of Rhodiola crenulata, RcTrx2-3 and RcTrxo1, located in mitochondria and chloroplasts. These findings suggest a significantly different model in Rhodiola crenulata compared to Arabidopsis thaliana, highlighting a complex network involving the function of RcGPX5. Moreover, overexpressing RcGPX5 in Rhodiola crenulata hairy roots positively influenced the salidroside synthesis pathway, enhancing its pharmaceutical value for doxorubicin-induced cardiotoxicity. These results suggested that RcGPX5 might be a key component for Rhodiola crenulata to adapt to cold stress and overexpressing RcGPX5 could enhance the pharmaceutical value of the hairy roots.

Zn Single-Atom Catalysts Enable the Catalytic Transfer Hydrogenation of α,ß-Unsaturated Aldehydes.

Highly active nonprecious-metal single-atom catalysts (SACs) toward catalytic transfer hydrogenation (CTH) of α,ß-unsaturated aldehydes are of great significance but still are deficient. Herein, we report that Zn-N-C SACs containing Zn-N3 moieties can catalyze the conversion of cinnamaldehyde to cinnamyl alcohol with a conversion of 95.5% and selectivity of 95.4% under a mild temperature and atmospheric pressure, which is the first case of Zn-species-based heterogeneous catalysts for the CTH reaction. Isotopic labeling, in situ FT-IR spectroscopy, and DFT calculations indicate that reactants, coabsorbed at the Zn sites, proceed CTH via a "Meerwein-Ponndorf-Verley" mechanism. DFT calculations also reveal that the high activity over Zn-N3 moieties stems from the suitable adsorption energy and favorable reaction energy of the rate-determining step at the Zn active sites. Our findings demonstrate that Zn-N-C SACs hold extraordinary activity toward CTH reactions and thus provide a promising approach to explore the advanced SACs for high-value-added chemicals.

Overexpression of AtMYB2 Promotes Tolerance to Salt Stress and Accumulations of Tanshinones and Phenolic Acid in Salvia miltiorrhiza.

Salvia miltiorrhiza is a prized traditional Chinese medicinal plant species. Its red storage roots are primarily used for the treatment of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. In this study, a transcription factor gene AtMYB2 was cloned and introduced into Salvia miltiorrhiza for ectopic expression. Overexpression of AtMYB2 enhanced salt stress resistance in S. miltiorrhiza, leading to a more resilient phenotype in transgenic plants exposed to high-salinity conditions. Physiological experiments have revealed that overexpression of AtMYB2 can decrease the accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) during salt stress, boost the activity of antioxidant enzymes, and mitigate oxidative damage to cell membranes. In addition, overexpression of AtMYB2 promotes the synthesis of tanshinones and phenolic acids by upregulating the expression of biosynthetic pathway genes, resulting in increased levels of these secondary metabolites. In summary, our findings demonstrate that AtMYB2 not only enhances plant tolerance to salt stress, but also increases the accumulation of secondary metabolites in S. miltiorrhiza. Our study lays a solid foundation for uncovering the molecular mechanisms governed by AtMYB2 and holds significant implications for the molecular breeding of high-quality S. miltiorrhiza varieties.

An EEG Study on [Formula: see text] Phase-Amplitude Coupling-Based Functional Brain Network in Epilepsy Patients.

Epilepsy, a chronic neuropsychiatric brain disorder characterized with recurrent seizures, is closely associated with abnormal neural communications within the brain. Despite that the phase-amplitude coupling (PAC) has been suggested to offer a new way to observe neural interactions during epilepsy, however, few studies pay attention to alterations of the epileptic functional brain network based on PAC, especially on the [Formula: see text] PAC. Therefore, we use scalp electroencephalography (EEG) data of epileptic patients and the [Formula: see text] PAC modulation index (MI) to construct functional brain networks to examine variations of neural interactions during different epileptic phases. Statistically, the findings show that between-channel MI values in the post-ictal period significantly increase compared to that in the pre-ictal period, and the between-channel MI value has a close association with the information of phase and amplitude provided by the channels. Importantly, in both the phase-amplitude and amplitude-phase functional brain networks, the average node degree is remarkably higher in the post-ictal period than that in the pre-ictal period, whereas the characteristic path length in the ictal and post-ictal periods is significantly lower than that in the pre-ictal period. Besides, the average betweenness centrality in the post-ictal period is remarkably higher than that in the ictal period. Interestingly, the positive correlations between within-channel MI values and between-channel MI values can be observed during the pre-ictal, ictal and post-ictal periods. These findings suggest that the [Formula: see text] PAC-based functional brain network may provide a novel perspective to understanding alterations of neural interactions during the epileptic evolution, and may contribute to effectively controlling the spread of epileptic seizures.

Transcriptomic and physiological analyses reveal different grape varieties response to high temperature stress.

High temperatures affect grape yield and quality. Grapes can develop thermotolerance under extreme temperature stress. However, little is known about the changes in transcription that occur because of high-temperature stress. The heat resistance indices and transcriptome data of five grape cultivars, 'Xinyu' (XY), 'Miguang' (MG), 'Summer Black' (XH), 'Beihong' (BH), and 'Flame seedless' (FL), were compared in this study to evaluate the similarities and differences between the regulatory genes and to understand the mechanisms of heat stress resistance differences. High temperatures caused varying degrees of damage in five grape cultivars, with substantial changes observed in gene expression patterns and enriched pathway responses between natural environmental conditions (35 °C ± 2 °C) and extreme high temperature stress (40 °C ± 2 °C). Genes belonging to the HSPs, HSFs, WRKYs, MYBs, and NACs transcription factor families, and those involved in auxin (IAA) signaling, abscisic acid (ABA) signaling, starch and sucrose pathways, and protein processing in the endoplasmic reticulum pathway, were found to be differentially regulated and may play important roles in the response of grape plants to high-temperature stress. In conclusion, the comparison of transcriptional changes among the five grape cultivars revealed a significant variability in the activation of key pathways that influence grape response to high temperatures. This enhances our understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying grape response to high-temperature stress.

Identification and Analysis of the MIR399 Gene Family in Grapevine Reveal Their Potential Functions in Abiotic Stress.

MiR399 plays an important role in plant growth and development. The objective of the present study was to elucidate the evolutionary characteristics of the MIR399 gene family in grapevine and investigate its role in stress response. To comprehensively investigate the functions of miR399 in grapevine, nine members of the Vvi-MIR399 family were identified based on the genome, using a miRBase database search, located on four chromosomes (Chr 2, Chr 10, Chr 15, and Chr 16). The lengths of the Vvi-miR399 precursor sequences ranged from 82 to 122 nt and they formed stable stem-loop structures, indicating that they could produce microRNAs (miRNAs). Furthermore, our results suggested that the 2 to 20 nt region of miR399 mature sequences were relatively conserved among family members. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the Vvi-MIR399 members of dicots (Arabidopsis, tomato, and sweet orange) and monocots (rice and grapevine) could be divided into three clades, and most of the Vvi-MIR399s were closely related to sweet orange in dicots. Promoter analysis of Vvi-MIR399s showed that the majority of the predicted cis-elements were related to stress response. A total of 66.7% (6/9) of the Vvi-MIR399 promoters harbored drought, GA, and SA response elements, and 44.4% (4/9) of the Vvi-MIRR399 promoters also presented elements involved in ABA and MeJA response. The expression trend of Vvi-MIR399s was consistent in different tissues, with the lowest expression level in mature and young fruits and the highest expression level in stems and young leaves. However, nine Vvi-MIR399s and four target genes showed different expression patterns when exposed to low light, high light, heat, cold, drought, and salt stress. Interestingly, a putative target of Vvi-MIR399 targeted multiple genes; for example, seven Vvi-MIR399s simultaneously targeted VIT_213s0067g03280.1. Furthermore, overexpression of Vvi_MIR399e and Vvi_MIR399f in Arabidopsis enhanced tolerance to drought compared with wild-type (WT). In contrast, the survival rate of Vvi_MIR399d-overexpressed plants were zero after drought stress. In conclusion, Vvi-MIR399e and Vvi-MIR399f, which are related to drought tolerance in grapevine, provide candidate genes for future drought resistance breeding.

MGFKD: A semi-supervised multi-source domain adaptation algorithm for cross-subject EEG emotion recognition.

Currently, most models rarely consider the negative transfer problem in the research field of cross-subject EEG emotion recognition. To solve this problem, this paper proposes a semi-supervised domain adaptive algorithm based on few labeled samples of target subject, which called multi-domain geodesic flow kernel dynamic distribution alignment (MGFKD). It consists of three modules: 1) GFK common feature extractor: projects the feature distribution of source and target subjects to the Grassmann manifold space, and obtains the latent common features of the two feature distributions through GFK method. 2) Source domain selector: obtains pseudo-labels of the target subject through weak classifier, finds "golden source subjects" by using few known labels of target subjects. 3) Label corrector: uses a dynamic distribution balance strategy to correct the pseudo-labels of the target subject. We conducted comparison experiments on the SEED and SEED-IV datasets, and the results show that MGFKD outperforms unsupervised and semi-supervised domain adaptation algorithms, achieving an average accuracy of 87.51±7.68% and 68.79±8.25% on the SEED and SEED-IV datasets with only one labeled sample per video for target subject. Especially when the number of source domains is set as 6 and the number of known labels is set as 5, the accuracy increase to 90.20±7.57% and 69.99±7.38%, respectively. The above results prove that our proposed algorithm can efficiently and quickly improve the cross-subject EEG emotion classification performance. Since it only need a small number of labeled samples of new subjects, making it has strong application value in future EEG-based emotion recognition applications.

Multilayer network-based channel selection for motor imagery brain-computer interface.

Objective. The number of electrode channels in a motor imagery-based brain-computer interface (MI-BCI) system influences not only its decoding performance, but also its convenience for use in applications. Although many channel selection methods have been proposed in the literature, they are usually based on the univariate features of a single channel. This leads to a loss of the interaction between channels and the exchange of information between networks operating at different frequency bands.Approach. We integrate brain networks containing four frequency bands into a multilayer network framework and propose a multilayer network-based channel selection (MNCS) method for MI-BCI systems. A graph learning-based method is used to estimate the multilayer network from electroencephalogram (EEG) data that are filtered by multiple frequency bands. The multilayer participation coefficient of the multilayer network is then computed to select EEG channels that do not contain redundant information. Furthermore, the common spatial pattern (CSP) method is used to extract effective features. Finally, a support vector machine classifier with a linear kernel is trained to accurately identify MI tasks.Main results. We used three publicly available datasets from the BCI Competition containing data on 12 healthy subjects and one dataset containing data on 15 stroke patients to validate the effectiveness of our proposed method. The results showed that the proposed MNCS method outperforms all channels (85.8% vs. 93.1%, 84.4% vs. 89.0%, 71.7% vs. 79.4%, and 72.7% vs. 84.0%). Moreover, it achieved significantly higher decoding accuracies on MI-BCI systems than state-of-the-art methods (pairedt-tests,p< 0.05).Significance. The experimental results showed that the proposed MNCS method can select appropriate channels to improve the decoding performance as well as the convenience of the application of MI-BCI systems.

Rational Regulation of the Defect Density in Platinum Nanocrystals for Highly Efficient Hydrogen Evolution Reaction.

Constructing structural defects is a promising way to enhance the catalytic activity toward the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). However, the relationship between defect density and HER activity has rarely been discussed. In this study, a series of Pt/WOx nanocrystals are fabricated with controlled morphologies and structural defect densities using a facile one-step wet chemical method. Remarkably, compared with polygonal and star structures, the dendritic Pt/WOx (d-Pt/WOx) exhibited a richer structural defect density, including stepped surfaces and atomic defects. Notably, the d-Pt/WOx catalyst required 4 and 16 mV to reach 10 mA cm-2, and its turnover frequency (TOF) values are 11.6 and 22.8 times higher than that of Pt/C under acidic and alkaline conditions, respectively. In addition, d-Pt/WOx//IrO2 displayed a mass activity of 5158 mA mgPt -1 at 2.0 V in proton exchange membrane water electrolyzers (PEMWEs), which is significantly higher than that of the commercial Pt/C//IrO2 system. Further mechanistic studies suggested that the d-Pt/WOx exhibited reduced number of antibonding bands and the lowest dz2-band center, contributing to hydrogen adsorption and release in acidic solution. The highest dz2-band center of d-Pt/WOx facilitated the adsorption of hydrogen from water molecules and water dissociation in alkaline medium. This work emphasizes the key role of the defect density in improving the HER activity of electrocatalysts.

Rational Design of TiO2@g-C3N4/CNT Composite Separator for High Performance Lithium-Sulfur Batteries to Promote the Redox Kinetics of Polysulfide.

Lithium-sulfur batteries (LSB) show excellent potential as future energy storage devices with high energy density, but their slow redox kinetics and the shuttle effect seriously hinder their commercial application. Herein, a 0D@2D composite was obtained by anchoring polar nano-TiO2 onto a 2D layered g-C3N4 surface in situ, and a functional separator was prepared using multi-walled carbon nanotubes as a conductive substrate. Due to their long-range conductivity, multi-walled carbon nanotubes make up for the low conductivity of TiO2@g-C3N4 to some extent. A lithium-sulfur battery prepared with a modified separator exhibited excellent long-term cycle performance, a good lithium ion diffusion rate, and rapid redox kinetics. The initial specific discharge capacity of the composite was 1316 mAh g-1 at 1 C, and a high specific discharge capacity of 569.9 mAh g-1 was maintained after 800 cycles (the capacity decay rate per cycle was only 0.07%). Even at the high current density of 5 C, a specific capacity of 784 mAh g-1 was achieved. After 60 cycles at 0.5 C, the modified separator retained the discharge capacity of 718 mAh g-1 under a sulfur load of 2.58 mg cm-2. In summary, the construction of a heterojunction significantly improved the overall cycle stability of the battery and the utilization rate of active substances. Therefore, this study provides a simple and effective strategy for further improving the overall performance and commercial application of lithium-sulfur batteries.

P2 purinergic receptors regulate the progression of colorectal cancer.

More and more studies have revealed that P2 purinergic receptors play a key role in the progression of colorectal cancer (CRC). P2X and P2Y purinergic receptors can be used as promoters and regulators of CRC and play a dual role in the progression of CRC. CRC microenvironment is rich in ATP and its cleavage products (ADP, AMP, Ado), which act as activators of P2X and P2Y purinergic receptors. The activation of P2X and P2Y purinergic receptors regulates the progression of CRC mainly by regulating the function of immune cells and mediating different signal pathways. In this paper, we focus on the specific mechanisms and functional roles of P2X7, P2Y12, and P2Y2 receptors in the growth and progression of CRC. The antagonistic effects of these selective antagonists of P2X purinergic receptors on the growth, invasion, and metastasis of CRC were further discussed. Moreover, different studies have reported that P2X7 receptor can be used as an effective predictor of patients with CRC. All these indicate that P2 purinergic receptors are a key regulator of CRC. Therefore, antagonizing P2 purinergic receptors may be an innovative treatment for CRC.