Stearate-derived very long-chain fatty acids are indispensable to tumor growth.

Reprogramming of lipid metabolism is emerging as a hallmark of cancer, yet involvement of specific fatty acids (FA) species and related enzymes in tumorigenesis remains unclear. While previous studies have focused on involvement of long-chain fatty acids (LCFAs) including palmitate in cancer, little attention has been paid to the role of very long-chain fatty acids (VLCFAs). Here, we show that depletion of acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC1), a critical enzyme involved in the biosynthesis of fatty acids, inhibits both de novo synthesis and elongation of VLCFAs in human cancer cells. ACC1 depletion markedly reduces cellular VLCFA but only marginally influences LCFA levels, including palmitate that can be nutritionally available. Therefore, tumor growth is specifically susceptible to regulation of VLCFAs. We further demonstrate that VLCFA deficiency results in a significant decrease in ceramides as well as downstream glucosylceramides and sphingomyelins, which impairs mitochondrial morphology and renders cancer cells sensitive to oxidative stress and cell death. Taken together, our study highlights that VLCFAs are selectively required for cancer cell survival and reveals a potential strategy to suppress tumor growth.

Thermal Vapor Deposition of a Hydrophobic and Gas-Permeable Membrane on Zirconium Phosphate Cation Exchanger: An Oral Sorbent for the Urea Removal of Kidney Failure.

An oral sorbent with high capacity for NH4+ is desirable in lowering the blood urea level and mitigating the dialysis burden for end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) patients. Zirconium phosphate (ZrP) is an amorphous cation ion exchanger with high NH4+ binding capacity as a sorbent material, but its selectivity to remove NH4+ is limited in the presence of other competing ions in water solution. We previously have developed a gas-permeable and hydrophobic perfluorocarbon coating on ZrP, which improves ZrP's NH4+ selectivity. However, the coating preparation procedure, a wet chemistry approach, is complicated and time-consuming, and more importantly, the large amount of usage of acetone poses a concern for the application of ZrP as an oral sorbent. In this study, we developed a solventless coating protocol that effectively coats ZrP with tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) and 1H,1H,2H,2H-perfluorooctyltriethoxysilane (FOTS) via thermal vapor deposition (TVD) in a simplified manner. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and contact angle measurements verify the two coatings are successfully deposited on the ZrP surface, and the coating condition was optimized based on an in vitro static binding study. The dynamic binding study of competing ions on Na-loaded ZrP with TVD coatings yields a maximum NH4+ removal (∼3.2 mequiv/g), which can be improved to ∼4.7 mequiv/g if H-loaded ZrP under the same coating condition is used in basic stock solutions. More importantly, both materials barely remove Ca2+ and show excellent acid resistance. The significant improvement in the NH4+ binding capacity and selectivity reported here establishes a highly promising surface modification approach to optimize oral sorbents for ESKD patients.

Carbonized Polymer Dots with Controllable N, O Functional Groups as Electrolyte Additives to Achieve Stable Li Metal Batteries.

Electrolyte additive is an effective strategy to inhibit the uncontrolled growth of Li dendrites for lithium metal batteries (LMBs). However, most of the additives are complex synthesis and prone to decompose in cycling. Herein, in order to guide the homogeneous deposition of Li+ , carbonized polymer dots (CPDs) as electrolyte additives are successfully designed and synthesized by microwave (M-CPDs) and hydrothermal (H-CPDs) approaches. The controllable functional groups containing N or O (especially pyridinic-N, pyrrolic-N, and carboxyl group) enable CPDs to keep stable in electrolytes for at least 3 months. Meanwhile, the clusters formed between CPDs and Li+ through electrostatic interaction effectively guide the uniform Li dispersion and limit the "tip effect" and dendrite formation. Moreover, as lithiophilic groups increase, the strong electrostatic interference for the solvation effect of Li+ in the electrolyte is formed, which induces faster Li+ diffusion/transfer. As expected, H-CPDs achieve the ultra-even Li+ transfer. The corresponding Li//LiFePO4 full cell delivers a high capacity retention rate of 93.8% after 200 cycles, which is much higher than that of the cells without additives (61.2%) and with M-CPDs (83.7%) as additives. The strategy in this work provides a theoretical direction for CPDs as electrolyte additives used in energy storage devices.

Inner-outer dual space protection of free-standing MoS2anodes via electrospinning for stable lithium-ion storage.

Although significant achievements in improving the stability of MoS2anodes have been made, the cycling life in most studies is still less than 1000 cycles. This is because MoS2anodes directly contact the electrolyte and generate byproducts, leading to the loss of active mass and capacity decay. Herein, the inner-outer dual space protection of MoS2fibers is realized by regulating the surface and interface structure of electrospinning precursors (noted as X-MoS2/CNFs). Inside the fibers, Mo-N covalent bond is constructed to anchor the active material, preventing MoS2from falling off the matrix after multiple cycles. Simultaneously, surface of the fibers, a stable solid electrolyte interface layer is induced to prevent contact between active materials and electrolytes. In addition, the initial Coulombic efficiency is enhanced as high as 84.4%. The profound investigations of morphological evolution and internal real-time resistance confirm the double structural protection of 800-MoS2/CNFs. As a result, a decent cycling performance (408.9 mAh g-1at 1000 mA g-1for 2000 cycles) and the satisfied rate capacities (100-1000 mA g-1) are achieved. This work provides a new idea for the preparation of stable anodes for alkali metal ion secondary batteries.

Dual Stimulus Responsive GO-Modified Tb-MOF toward a Smart Coating for Corrosion Detection.

Smart-sensing coatings that exhibit multistimulus response, rapid indication, and reusability are in urgent need to effectively enhance the practicability of coatings while accurately detecting metal corrosion. In this work, a reusable corrosion self-reporting coating with multiple pH and Fe3+ stimulus responses was first constructed by the integration of a composite fluorescent probe into the resin matrix. This composite sensor was constructed by combining a lanthanide metal-organic framework (Ln-MOF) based on terbium and trimeric acid (H3BTC) with graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets (GO@Tb-BTC). The incorporation of GO formed a sea-urchin-like structure, thereby increasing the specific surface area and active sites of the probe. The coatings were characterized by using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), visual observation, and fluorescence spectrophotometry. The surface morphology, wettability, and adhesion of the coating samples were analyzed using SEM, XPS, hydrostatic contact angle test, and an adhesion test. EIS measurements in 3.5 wt % NaCl solution for 72 h demonstrated the superior corrosion protection performance of the 0.3 wt %/GO@Tb-BTC/WEP coating compared to blank coating, with the charge-transfer resistance reaching 4.33 × 107 Ω·cm2, which was 9.5 times higher than that of the pure coating. The bright green fluorescence of GO@Tb-BTC/WEP coating exhibited a turn-off response when there was an excess of OH-/H+, but it demonstrated a reversible turn-on fluorescence when the ambient pH returned to neutral. Furthermore, such Fe3+-triggered fluorescence quenching responded to concentrations as low as 1 × 10-6 M. The fluorescence quenching rate of both intact and damaged coatings surpassed that of visual and EIS detection methods. Significantly, the fluorescence in scratches was effectively quenched within 25 min using 0.3 wt %/GO@Tb-BTC/WPU coating for visual observation. GO@Tb-BTC demonstrated exceptional corrosion self-reporting capabilities in both epoxy and polyurethane systems, making it a versatile option beyond single-coating applications.

How to Make Plastic Surfaces Simultaneously Hydrophilic/Oleophobic?

Hydrophilic/oleophobic surfaces are desirable in many applications including self-cleaning, antifogging, oil-water separation, etc. However, making plastic surfaces hydrophilic/oleophobic is challenging due to the intrinsic hydrophobicity/oleophilicity of plastics. Here, we report a simple and effective method of making plastics hydrophilic/oleophobic. Plastics, including poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), polystyrene (PS), and polycarbonate (PC), have been coated with a perfluoropolyether (PFPE) (i.e., commercially known as Zdol) via dip coating and then irradiated with UV/Ozone. The contact angle measurements indicate that the treated plastics have a lower water contact angle (WCA) and higher hexadecane contact angle (HCA), i.e., they are simultaneously hydrophilic/oleophobic. The Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) results suggest that UV/Ozone treatment introduces oxygen-containing polar groups on the plastic surfaces, which renders the plastic surfaces hydrophilic. Meanwhile, more orderly packed PFPE Zdol molecules, which is due to the UV-induced bonding between PFPE Zdol and the plastic surface, result in the oleophobicity. Moreover, the simultaneous hydrophilicity/oleophobicity of functionalized plastics does not degrade in aging tests, and they have superior antifogging performance and detergent-free cleaning capability. This simple method developed here potentially can be applied to other plastics and has important implications in the functionalization of plastic surfaces.

Repurposing a tricyclic antidepressant in tumor and metabolism disease treatment through fatty acid uptake inhibition.

Fatty acid uptake is essential for cell physiological function, but detailed mechanisms remain unclear. Here, we generated an acetyl-CoA carboxylases (ACC1/2) double-knockout cell line, which lacked fatty acid biosynthesis and survived on serum fatty acids and was used to screen for fatty acid uptake inhibitors. We identified a Food and Drug Administration-approved tricyclic antidepressant, nortriptyline, that potently blocked fatty acid uptake both in vitro and in vivo. We also characterized underlying mechanisms whereby nortriptyline provoked lysosomes to release protons and induce cell acidification to suppress macropinocytosis, which accounted for fatty acid endocytosis. Furthermore, nortriptyline alone or in combination with ND-646, a selective ACC1/2 inhibitor, significantly repressed tumor growth, lipogenesis, and hepatic steatosis in mice. Therefore, we show that cells actively take up fatty acids through macropinocytosis, and we provide a potential strategy suppressing tumor growth, lipogenesis, and hepatic steatosis through controlling the cellular level of fatty acids.

Manipulation of the LiZn Alloy Process toward High-Efficiency Lithium Metal Anodes.

Synthesis of alloy-type materials (X) is one of the most effective approaches to limit lithium dendrites in Li metal anode (LMA) because of their satisfactory lithiophilicity and easy electrochemical reaction with lithium. However, current investigations have only focused on the influence of the resulting alloyed products (LiX) on the properties of LMA, but the alloying reaction process between Li+ and X has been mostly ignored. Herein, by masterly taking advantage of the alloying reaction process, a novel approach is developed to more effectively inhibit lithium dendrites than the conventional strategy that just considers the utilization of alloyed products LiX. A three-dimensional substrate material loaded with metallic Zn on the surface of Cu foam is synthesized by a simple electrodeposition process. During Li plating/stripping, both alloy reaction processes between Li+ and Zn and LiZn product are involved, which makes the disordered Li+ flux near the substrate first react with Zn metal and then results in an even Li+ concentration for more uniform Li nucleation and growth. The full cell (Li-Cu@Zn-15//LFP) exhibits the reversible capacity of 122.5 mAh g-1, and a high capacity retention of 95% is achieved after 180 cycles. This work proposes a valuable concept for the development of alloy-type materials in energy storage devices.

In-situ formation of nanosized 1T-phase MoS2 in B-doped carbon nitride for high efficient visible-light-driven H2 production.

The high photogenerated carrier recombination rate and the low visible light utilization limit the development of graphitic carbon nitride (CN) in industrial photocatalytic H2 generation. Herein, 1T-phase MoS2 nanoparticles with high conductivity and more active sites are in-situ grown on B-doped carbon nitride (CNB) nanosheets through a one-step hydrothermal method. The doping of boron element effectively improves the harvesting visible light ability by tuning the energy gap, while the introduction of 1T-phase MoS2 successfully increases the carrier transfer rate by suppressing charge trapping. An optimized H2 production activity of 5334 µmol h-1 g-1 with the apparent quantum efficiency of 10.2% is achieved by 1T-MoS2/CNB sample, which is 167 times higher than that of pure CN. The mechanism is systematically illustrated by the combination of DFT calculations and transient absorption measurements. This work provides a new way for the construction of transition metal-derived co-catalysts in photocatalytic hydrogen energy storage.

[Searching QSO candidates and calculating their redshfit from a flood of spectra].

In the present paper the author offers a method to search the QSO candidates and calculate their redshfit using their broad emission lines which are the most important character of quasars. It is hard to identify the lines in the quasar's spectra due to their redshifts distributing on a broad range. Spectra contain two components. One is continuum and the other is lines. The author uses a method of LFPS (low frequency points set) to build the continuum and detect the obvious emission lines, a method that can avoid the broad emission lines as a part of the continuum. The redshift can be calculated by comparing the extracted lines with the line table. The classification can be done with both emission lines and the redshift. For a better accurate rate to recognize the lines, this paper provides a method to estimate the level of the local noise. The method this paper used is independent of the flux calibration of the spectra. It can work for the spectra of the present LAMOST.

Separating a multicomponent and multiphase liquid mixture with a 3D-printed membrane device.

The separation of multicomponent and multiphase liquid mixtures is critical in many important applications, e.g., wastewater treatment. While conventional technologies have been utilized in the separation, it usually takes many steps, resulting in high cost and energy consumption. Here we have demonstrated that, using a 3D-printed membrane device with multiple selectivity, a multicomponent and multiphase liquid mixture can be separated in a much more efficient way. The water-benzene-heptane mixture has been successfully separated with a 3D-printed "box", which has a supported ionic liquid membrane (SILM) on the side wall and a hydrogel-coated hydrophilic/oleophobic membrane on the bottom. The water and oil (i.e., benzene/heptane) are separated by the hydrogel-coated hydrophilic/oleophobic membrane. Then the benzene is separated from heptane with the SILM. To further increase the separation throughput, the structure of the 3D-printed "box" has been optimized to increase the total surface area of SILM. Our results suggest that 3D-printed membrane device with multiple selectivity is promising in the separation of multicomponent and multiphase liquid mixtures.

Robust Electrodes for Flexible Energy Storage Devices Based on Bimetallic Encapsulated Core-Multishell Structures.

Developing flexible electrodes with high active materials loading and excellent mechanical stability is of importance to flexible electronics, yet remains challenging. Herein, robust flexible electrodes with an encapsulated core-multishell structure are developed via a spraying-hydrothermal process. The multilayer electrode possesses an architecture of substrate/reduced graphene oxide (rGO)/bimetallic complex/rGO/bimetallic complex/rGO from the inside to the outside, where the cellulosic fibers serve as the substrate, namely, the core; and the multiple layers of rGO and bimetallic complex, are used as active materials, namely, the shells. The inner two rGO interlayers function as the cement that chemically bind to two adjacent layers, while the two outer rGO layers encapsulate the inside structure effectively protecting the electrode from materials detachment or electrolyte corrosion. The electrodes with a unique core-multishell structure exhibit excellent cycle stability and exceptional temperature tolerance (-25 to 40 °C) for lithium and sodium storage. A combination of experimental and theoretical investigations are carried out to gain insights into the synergetic effects of cobalt-molybdenum-sulfide (CMS) materials (the bimetallic complex), which will provide guidance for future exploration of bimetallic sulfides. This strategy is further demonstrated in other substrates, showing general applicability and great potential in the development of flexible energy storage devices.