Spinal projecting neurons in rostral ventromedial medulla co-regulate motor and sympathetic tone.

Many behaviors require the coordinated actions of somatic and autonomic functions. However, the underlying mechanisms remain elusive. By opto-stimulating different populations of descending spinal projecting neurons (SPNs) in anesthetized mice, we show that stimulation of excitatory SPNs in the rostral ventromedial medulla (rVMM) resulted in a simultaneous increase in somatomotor and sympathetic activities. Conversely, opto-stimulation of rVMM inhibitory SPNs decreased both activities. Anatomically, these SPNs innervate both sympathetic preganglionic neurons and motor-related regions in the spinal cord. Fiber-photometry recording indicated that the activities of rVMM SPNs correlate with different levels of muscle and sympathetic tone during distinct arousal states. Inhibiting rVMM excitatory SPNs reduced basal muscle and sympathetic tone, impairing locomotion initiation and high-speed performance. In contrast, silencing the inhibitory population abolished muscle atonia and sympathetic hypoactivity during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. Together, these results identify rVMM SPNs as descending spinal projecting pathways controlling the tone of both the somatomotor and sympathetic systems.

Re-analysis of single-cell RNA-seq data reveals the origin and roles of cycling myeloid cells.

Cycling myeloid cells (CMCs) are often detected from various tissues using single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) datasets, however, their research value was not noticed before. For the first time, our study preliminarily revealed the origin, differentiation, and roles of CMCs in physiological processes. Particularly, subgroup a of cycling myeloid cells (aCMCs) were conclusively identified as belonging to a specific cell type. In an active state, aCMCs rapidly proliferate during the early stages of an embryonic development. With an individual maturing, most aCMCs differentiate into specialized cells, while a small portion of them enter an inactive or dormant state. Under pathological conditions, aCMCs restore their proliferative and differentiation capacities via activation or revival. The present study has set the stage for future research on CMCs by linking them with progenitors of immune cells, and provided a crucial starting point to understand the origin, differentiation, and roles of CMCs in various physiological and pathological processes, particularly those related to traumatic injury, cancer, and pathogen infection, leading to develop targeted therapies or interventions.

Long-Acting Heterodimeric Paclitaxel-Idebenone Prodrug-Based Nanomedicine Promotes Functional Recovery after Spinal Cord Injury.

After spinal cord injury (SCI), successive systemic administration of microtubule-stabilizing agents has been shown to promote axon regeneration. However, this approach is limited by poor drug bioavailability, especially given the rapid restoration of the blood-spinal cord barrier. There is a pressing need for long-acting formulations of microtubule-stabilizing agents in treating SCI. Here, we conjugated the antioxidant idebenone with microtubule-stabilizing paclitaxel to create a heterodimeric paclitaxel-idebenone prodrug via an acid-activatable, self-immolative ketal linker and then fabricated it into chondroitin sulfate proteoglycan-binding nanomedicine, enabling drug retention within the spinal cord for at least 2 weeks and notable enhancement in hindlimb motor function and axon regeneration after a single intraspinal administration. Additional investigations uncovered that idebenone can suppress the activation of microglia and neuronal ferroptosis, thereby amplifying the therapeutic effect of paclitaxel. This prodrug-based nanomedicine simultaneously accomplishes neuroprotection and axon regeneration, offering a promising therapeutic strategy for SCI.

Distinct characteristics of the gut virome in patients with osteoarthritis and gouty arthritis.

BACKGROUND/PURPOSE(S): The gut microbiota and its metabolites play crucial roles in pathogenesis of arthritis, highlighting gut microbiota as a promising avenue for modulating autoimmunity. However, the characterization of the gut virome in arthritis patients, including osteoarthritis (OA) and gouty arthritis (GA), requires further investigation. METHODS: We employed virus-like particle (VLP)-based metagenomic sequencing to analyze gut viral community in 20 OA patients, 26 GA patients, and 31 healthy controls, encompassing a total of 77 fecal samples. RESULTS: Our analysis generated 6819 vOTUs, with a considerable proportion of viral genomes differing from existing catalogs. The gut virome in OA and GA patients differed significantly from healthy controls, showing variations in diversity and viral family abundances. We identified 157 OA-associated and 94 GA-associated vOTUs, achieving high accuracy in patient-control discrimination with random forest models. OA-associated viruses were predicted to infect pro-inflammatory bacteria or bacteria associated with immunoglobulin A production, while GA-associated viruses were linked to Bacteroidaceae or Lachnospiraceae phages. Furthermore, several viral functional orthologs displayed significant differences in frequency between OA-enriched and GA-enriched vOTUs, suggesting potential functional roles of these viruses. Additionally, we trained classification models based on gut viral signatures to effectively discriminate OA or GA patients from healthy controls, yielding AUC values up to 0.97, indicating the clinical utility of the gut virome in diagnosing OA or GA. CONCLUSION: Our study highlights distinctive alterations in viral diversity and taxonomy within gut virome of OA and GA patients, offering insights into arthritis etiology and potential treatment and prevention strategies.

Fast detection of hypobromous acid in cells and the water environment using a lysosome-targeted fluorescent probe.

A new fluorescent probe SWJT-23 with lysosomal targeting ability for detection of hypobromous acid (HBrO) was synthesised based on the naphthalimide skeleton. This probe exhibited a fast response (within 3s), a low detection limit (1.24 nM), excellent selectivity and a high fluorescence quantum yield (Φ = 0.490). Moreover, SWJT-23 not only realized the sensitive detection of HBrO in cells and water samples, but also was fabricated as a paper-based sensor. In consequence, SWJT-23 is expected to be an efficient and powerful tool for monitoring HBrO in organisms and the environment in realistic scenarios.

A Case of Invasive Pulmonary Aspergillosis.

BACKGROUND: Invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (IPA) is a deep fungal infection caused by invasion of Aspergillus mycelium into the lung parenchyma resulting in tissue destruction and necrosis, which occurs more often in im-munosuppressed populations. The severity of the disease and the rapid progression of the lung lesions puts pa¬tients at high risk of death and poor prognosis if the correct therapeutic intervention is not given as early as possible. METHODS: Here we report a case of IPA, which was initially diagnosed as community-acquired pneumonia in a local hospital. The symptoms did not improve after receiving anti-infective treatment. The patient was diagnosed with IPA after completing a chest CT examination and an electronic bronchoscopy, as well as pathogenetic examination of the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid and pathological examination of the left bronchial mass in the respiratory department of our hospital, which was finally diagnosed as IPA. After one week of administration of voriconazole for anti-fungal infection treatment, the patient's symptoms improved significantly, and a repeat chest CT suggested that the lung lesions were better than before. In order to raise clinicians' awareness of this disease, we also conducted a literature analysis. RESULTS: The final diagnosis of IPA was made by analyzing the patient's history, symptoms, signs, and relevant findings. CONCLUSIONS: When the patient's clinical symptoms and imaging manifestations are consistent with IPA, electronic bronchoscopy and pathogenetic and pathological examinations may be appropriately performed to clarify the na-ture of the lesion. More consideration should be given to the possibility of disease diagnosis to avoid misdiagnosis and underdiagnosis. Appropriate treatment should be given at an early stage.

A Case of IgG4 Related Lung Disease.

BACKGROUND: IgG4-related disease (IgG4-RD) is an immune-mediated systemic inflammatory fibrotic disease, which is a relatively rare and novel disease that can involve multiple organs or tissues, with variable clinical manifestations, and for which pulmonary involvement has been reported relatively infrequently. METHODS: Here we report a case of pulmonary infection that was initially suspected and received anti-inflammatory treatment, but the symptoms did not improve. CT examination indicated progression of the pulmonary lesion, and the nature of the lesion could not be determined by tracheoscopy and bronchoalveolar lavage. The diagnosis of IgG4 related lung disease (IgG4-RLD) was confirmed by percutaneous lung biopsy. A joint literature analysis was conducted to improve clinicians' understanding of this disease. RESULTS: The patient's history, symptoms, signs and relevant examination results were analyzed. The final diagnosis was IgG4-RLD. CONCLUSIONS: When the clinical symptoms and imaging manifestations of the patients are consistent with IgG4-RLD, pathological examination can be appropriately performed to clarify the nature of the lesions. More consideration should be given to the possibility of disease diagnosis to avoid misdiagnosis and underdiagnosis, and proper treatment should be given at an early stage.

A Prediction Model for Prolonged Hospital Length of Stay (ProLOS) in Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Patients.

BACKGROUND: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an acute respiratory infectious disease caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). With the normalization of COVID-19 globally, it is crucial to construct a prediction model that enables clinicians to identify patients at risk for ProLOS based on demographics and serum inflammatory biomarkers. METHODS: The study included hospitalized patients with a confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19. These patients were randomly grouped into a training (80%) and a test (20%) cohort. The LASSO regression and ten-fold cross-validation method were applied to filter variables. The training cohort utilized multifactorial logistic regression analyses to identify the independent factors of ProLOS in COVID-19 patients. A 4-variable nomogram was created for clinical use. ROC curves were plotted, and the area under the curve (AUC) was calculated to evaluate the model's discrimination; calibration analysis was planned to assess the validity of the nomogram, and decision curve analysis (DCA) was used to evaluate the clinical usefulness of the model. RESULTS: The results showed that among 310 patients with COVID-19, 80 had extended hospitalization (80/310). Four independent risk factors for COVID-19 patients were identified: age, coexisting chronic respiratory diseases, white blood cell count (WBC), and serum albumin (ALB). A nomogram based on these variables was created. The AUC in the training cohort was 0.808 (95% CI: 0.75 - 0.8671), and the AUC in the test cohort was 0.815 (95% CI: 0.7031 - 0.9282). The model demonstrates good calibration and can be used with threshold probabilities ranging from 0% to 100% to obtain clinical net benefits. CONCLUSIONS: A predictive model has been created to accurately predict whether the hospitalization duration of COVID-19 patients will be prolonged. This model incorporates serum WBC, ALB levels, age, and the presence of chronic respiratory system diseases.

A Case of Organizing Pneumonia Resembling Lung Cancer.

BACKGROUND: Organizing pneumonia (OP) is a pathologic diagnosis with clinical and imaging manifestations that often resemble other diseases, such as infections and cancers, which can lead to delays in diagnosis and inappropriate management of the underlying disease. In this article, we present a case of organized pneumonia that resembles lung cancer. METHODS: We report a case of initial suspicion of pulmonary malignancy, treated with anti-inflammatory medication and then reviewed with CT suggesting no improvement, and finally confirmed to be OP by pathological biopsy taken via transbronchoscopy. A joint literature analysis was performed to raise clinicians' awareness of the diagnosis and treatment of OP. RESULTS: Initially, because of the atypical auxiliary findings, we thought that the disease turned out to be a lung tumor, which was eventually confirmed as OP by pathological diagnosis. CONCLUSIONS: The diagnosis and treatment of OP requires a combination of clinical information and radiological expertise, as well as biopsy to obtain histopathological evidence. That is, clinical-imaging-pathological tripartite cooperation and comprehensive analysis.

CEA Negative Initial Diagnosis of HP Infection Finally Confirmed by Bronchoscopic Biopsy as Lung Adenocarcinoma.

BACKGROUND: Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) is a polysaccharide complex that is found in the human respiratory system. It is of significant use in disease surveillance of lung cancer; however, serum CEA can occasionally only offer little assistance. We present a case of recurring infection initially diagnosed as carcinoembryonic antigen-negative in a patient with a history of hypersensitivity pneumonitis infection, which finally led to the diagnosis of lung adenocarcinoma following percutaneous lung puncture. METHODS: Appropriate laboratory tests, chest CT, bronchoscopy, percutaneous lung puncture, and pathologic examination were performed to explore the cause of the disease. RESULTS: Because CEA was negative and a chest CT showed interstitial changes in both lungs with numerous hyperdense shadows, coupled with the patient's history of hypersensitivity pneumonitis, we initially believed that the infection was relapsing. However, a percutaneous lung puncture eventually revealed that the patient had lung adenocarcinoma. CONCLUSIONS: Vigilance needs to be increased in clinical work for patients with interstitial lung disease, low tumor markers such as CEA, and imaging suggestive of inflammatory progression, which in fact turns into lung cancer. When the treatment is ineffective after standardized application of hormone and anti-infection, lung tissue should be obtained for pathological examination in time to obtain pathological evidence.

A Case of Tuberculosis Misdiagnosed as Sarcoidosis and then Confirmed by NGS Testing.

BACKGROUND: Pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) is an important infectious disease that threatens the health and life of human beings. In the diagnosis of PTB, imaging plays a dominant role, but due to the increasing drug resistance of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, atypical clinical manifestations, "different images with the same disease" or "different diseases with the same image" in chest imaging, and the low positivity rate of routine sputum bacteriology, which leads to a high rate of misdiagnosis of PTB. We report a case of pulmonary tuberculosis that was misdiagnosed on imaging. We report a case of pulmonary tuberculosis that resembled sarcoidosis on imaging and was negative for antacid staining on sputum smear and alveolar lavage fluid, and was later diagnosed by microbial next-generation sequencing (NGS). The case was initially misdiagnosed as sarcoidosis. METHODS: Alveolar lavage fluid NGS, chest CT, bronchoscopy. RESULTS: Chest CT showed multiple inflammatory lesions in both lungs, multiple nodular foci in both lungs, and multiple enlarged lymph nodes in the mediastinum and hilar region on both sides. Fiberoptic bronchoscopy was performed in the basal segment of the left lower lobe of the lungs to carry out bronchoalveolar lavage, and the lavage fluid was sent to the NGS test and returned the following results: Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex group detected in the number of sequences of 293. Based on the results of the NGS test, the diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis could be confirmed. CONCLUSIONS: The diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis cannot be easily excluded in patients with "different images with the same disease" or "different diseases with the same image" on chest imaging without the support of sputum positivity. The goal was to improve the alertness of medical personnel to the misdiagnosis of tuberculosis and the application of NGS technology.

Accidental Detection of Tuberculous Empyema at Health Check-Up.

BACKGROUND: Patients with tuberculous empyema (TE) can have a serious impact on lung function as their disease progresses, and, if left untreated, can cause damage to other parts of the body such as the thorax and spine, causing pain and inconvenience to the patient. Early diagnosis and the search for appropriate treatment are key to improving the survival rate of the disease. METHODS: We report a case of a young patient with an unexpected finding of right pleural effusion on physical examination, who was eventually diagnosed with TE using next-generation sequencing of pleural tissue. We analyzed the literature to improve clinicians' understanding of TE and how to properly diagnose and treat the disease. RESULTS: Laboratory results of the pleural effusion suggested a possible Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection, but pathogen-related tests were negative, and the diagnosis was eventually successfully confirmed by thoracoscopic pleural biopsy. CONCLUSIONS: The diagnosis of TE should be considered in young patients with pleural thickening of the empyema. Adenosine deaminase may provide diagnostic direction in patients with unexplained thorax abscess. Pleural biopsy, although an invasive procedure, is an essential diagnostic tool in some cases.

Rational design of ROS scavenging and fluorescent gold nanoparticles to deliver siRNA to improve plant resistance to Pseudomonas syringae.

Bacterial diseases are one of the most common issues that result in crop loss worldwide, and the increasing usage of chemical pesticides has caused the occurrence of resistance in pathogenic bacteria and environmental pollution problems. Nanomaterial mediated gene silencing is starting to display powerful efficiency and environmental friendliness for improving plant disease resistance. However, the internalization of nanomaterials and the physiological mechanisms behind nano-improved plant disease resistance are still rarely understood. We engineered the polyethyleneimine (PEI) functionalized gold nanoparticles (PEI-AuNPs) with fluorescent properties and ROS scavenging activity to act as siRNA delivery platforms. Besides the loading, protection, and delivery of nucleic acid molecules in plant mature leaf cells by PEI-AuNPs, its fluorescent property further enables the traceability of the distribution of the loaded nucleic acid molecules in cells. Additionally, the PEI-AuNPs-based RNAi delivery system successfully mediated the silencing of defense-regulated gene AtWRKY1. Compared to control plants, the silenced plants performed better resistance to Pseudomonas syringae, showing a reduced bacterial number, decreased ROS content, increased antioxidant enzyme activities, and improved chlorophyll fluorescence performance. Our results showed the advantages of AuNP-based RNAi technology in improving plant disease resistance, as well as the potential of plant nanobiotechnology to protect agricultural production.

Characteristics and outcomes of the drug patent linkage system in China.

BACKGROUND: On July 4, 2021, China officially introduced the drug patent linkage system, which has made more localized adjustments than have similar systems in the US and South Korea. This study describes the characteristics and outcomes of China's patent linkage system. METHODS: For this study, we used the database of China's patent information registration platform for marketed drugs to capture all listed patents and patent certifications from June 25, 2021, to June 30, 2023. We used descriptive statistics for the above data to assess the impact of patent linkage on branded drug manufacturers, generic drug manufacturers, and the public's access to medicines. RESULTS: During the study period, the patents of 632 branded drugs were listed, and 5058 ANDAs submitted patent certifications to the Registration Platform. Of these 632 branded drugs, 462 (73.1%) drugs were approved before the year of patent registration, and the average number of listed patents per drug was 1.8, with a standard deviation of 1.4. However, of these 5058 ANDAs, P1 certifications accounted for 85.1%, and P3 and P4 certifications accounted for 16% combined. In addition, according to the detailed statistics of P2 certifications, we found that the proportion of patent invalidation cases was 46.4%. The remaining validity of the patents corresponding to P3 certifications was longer, with a median value of 17 months, and the IQR was 10-30.75, ranging from - 2 to 204 months. CONCLUSIONS: China's patent linkage aims to promote the balance of multiple interests -innovation, imitation and public health-and has its own system characteristics. Patent listing and patent certification are the key indicators reflecting the implementation effect of the system. From the perspective of system outcomes, ANDAs have been connected to the patent linkage system in an orderly manner, but the growth of patent challenges is not obvious. Moreover, manufacturers of foreign branded drugs that have not yet entered the Chinese market need to pay more attention to the role of patent listing.

V-ATPase E mediates Cry2Ab binding and toxicity in Helicoverpa armigera.

Cry2Ab is one of the important alternative Bt proteins that can be used to manage insect pests resistant to Cry1A toxins and to expand the insecticidal spectrum of pyramided Bt crops. Previous studies have showed that vacuolar H+-ATPase subunits A and B (V-ATPase A and B) may be involved in Bt insecticidal activities. The present study investigated the role of V-ATPases subunit E in the toxicity of Cry2Ab in Helicoverpa amigera. RT-PCR analysis revealed that oral exposure of H. amigera larvae to Cry2Ab led to a significant reduction in the expression of H. armigera V-ATPase E (HaV-ATPase E). Ligand blot, homologous and heterologous competition experiments confirmed that HaV-ATPases E physically and specifically bound to activated Cry2Ab toxin. Heterologous expressing of HaV-ATPase E in Sf9 cells made the cell line more susceptible to Cry2Ab, whereas knockdown of the endogenous V-ATPase E in H. zea midgut cells decreased Cry2Ab's cytotoxicity against this cell line. Further in vivo bioassay showed that H. armigera larvae fed a diet overlaid with both Cry2Ab and E. coli-expressed HaV-ATPase E protein suffered significantly higher mortality than those fed Cry2Ab alone. These results support that V-ATPases E is a putative receptor of Cry2Ab and can be used to improve Cry2Ab toxicity and manage Cry2Ab resistance at least in H. armigera.

Clinical Significance of Long Non-Coding RNA SNHG5 in the Diagnosis and Prognosis of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is preventable and requires early screening. The study aimed to examine the clinical values of long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) SNHG5 in COPD diagnosis and prognosis. Out of 160 COPD patients, 80 were in the stable stage and 80 were in the acute exacerbation of COPD stage (AECOPD). SNHG5 expression was detected via qRT-PCR. The survival analysis was conducted using Cox regression analysis and K-M curve. SNHG5 levels significantly reduced in both stable COPD and AECOPD groups compared with the control group, with AECOPD group recording the lowest values. SNHG5 levels were negatively correlated with GOLD stage. Serum SNHG5 can differentiate stable COPD patients from healthy individuals (AUC = 0.805), and can screen AECOPD from stable ones (AUC = 0.910). SNHG5 negatively influenced the release of inflammatory cytokines. For AECOPD patients, those with severe cough and wheezing dyspnea symptoms exhibited the lowest values of SNUG5. Among the 80 AECOPD patients, 16 cases died in the one-year follow-up, all of whom had low levels of SNHG5. SNHG5 levels independently influenced survival outcomes, patients with low SNHG5 levels had a poor prognosis. Thus, lncRNA SNHG5, which is downregulated in patients with COPD (especially AECOPD), can potentially protect against AECOPD and serve as a novel prognostic biomarker for AECOPD.

[Central inflammatory mechanism of celastrol in intervention of obesity-depression comorbidity in mice from amygdala-dorsal raphe nucleus].

This study aims to further elucidate the efficacy targets of celastrol(CEL) intervention in central inflammation in mice with obesity-depression comorbiditiy, based on the differential mRNA expression in the amygdala(AMY) and dorsal raphe nucleus(DRN) after CEL intervention. C57BL/6J mice were randomly divided into a normal diet group(Chow), a obesity-depression comorbidity(COM) group, and low-, medium-, and high-dose CEL groups(CEL-L, CEL-M, CEL-H, 0.5, 1.0, 2.0 mg·kg~(-1)). The Chow group received a normal diet, while the COM group and CEL-L, CEL-M, CEL-H groups received a high-fat diet combined with chronic stress from wet bedding. After 10 weeks of feeding, the mice were orally administered CEL for three weeks. Subsequently, the AMY and DRN of mice in the Chow, COM, and CEL-H groups were subjected to transcriptome analysis, and the intersection of target differentially expressed genes in both nuclei was visualized using a Venn diagram. The intersected genes were then imported into STRING for protein-protein interaction(PPI) analysis, and Gene Ontology(GO) analysis was performed using DAVID to identify the core targets regulated by CEL in the AMY and DRN. Independent samples were subjected to quantitative real-time PCR(qPCR) to validate the intersection genes. The results revealed that the common genes regulated by CEL in the AMY and DRN included chemokine family genes Ccl2, Ccl5, Ccl7, Cxcl10, Cxcr6, and Hsp70 family genes Hspa1a, Hspa1b, as well as Myd88, Il2ra, Irf7, Slc17a8, Drd2, Parp9, and Nampt. GO analysis showed that the top 5 nodes Ccl2, Cxcl10, Myd88, Ccl5, and Irf7 were all involved in immune-inflammation regulation(P<0.01). The qPCR results from independent samples showed that in the AMY, compared with the results in the Chow group, chemokine family genes, Hsp70, Myd88, Il2ra, Irf7, Slc17a8, Parp9, and Nampt were significantly up-regulated in the COM group, with Drd2 showing a decreasing trend; these pathological changes were significantly improved in the CEL-H group compared to the COM group. In the DRN, compared with the results in the Chow group, chemokine family genes, Hsp70, Myd88, Il2ra, Irf7, Parp9, and Nampt were significantly down-regulated, while Slc17a8 was significantly up-regulated in the COM group; compared with those in the COM group, Cxcr6, Irf7, and Drd2 were significantly up-regulated, while Slc17a8 was significantly down-regulated in the CEL-H group. In both the AMY and DRN, the expression of Irf7 by CEL showed both inhibition and activation in a dose-dependent manner(R~2 were 0.709 8 and 0.917 2, respectively). These findings suggest that CEL can effectively improve neuroinflammation by regulating bidirectional expression of the same target proteins, thereby intervening in the immune activation of the AMY and immune suppression of the DRN in COM mice.

Synergistic Ni-W Dimer Sites Induced Stable Compressive Strain for Boosting the Performance of Pt as Electrocatalyst for the Oxygen Reduction Reaction.

Alloying Pt catalysts with transition metal elements is an effective pathway to enhance the performance of oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), but often accompanied with severe metal dissolution issue, resulting in poor stability of alloy catalysts. Here, instead of forming traditional alloy structure, we modify Pt surface with a novel Ni-W dimer structure by the atomic layer deposition (ALD) technique. The obtained NiW@PtC catalyst exhibits superior ORR performance both in liquid half-cell and practical fuel cell compared with initial Pt/C. It is discovered that strong synergistic Ni-W dimer structure arising from short atomic distance induced a stable compressive strain on the Pt surface, thus boosting Pt catalytic performance. This surface modification by synergistic dimer sites offers an effective strategy in tailoring Pt with excellent activity and stability, which provides a significant perspective in boosting the performance of commercial Pt catalyst modified with polymetallic atom sites.

Structural Self-Regulation-Promoted NO Electroreduction on Single Atoms.

Simultaneously elevating loading and activity of single atoms (SAs) is desirable for SA-containing catalysts, including single-atom catalysts (SACs). However, the fast self-nucleation of SAs limits the loading, and the activity is confined by the adsorption-energy scaling relationships on monotonous SAs. Here, we theoretically design a novel type of SA-containing catalyst generated by two-step structural self-regulation. In the thermodynamic self-regulation step, divacancies in graphene spontaneously pull up SAs from transition metal supports (dv-g/TM; TM = fcc Co, hcp Co, Ni, Cu), leading to the expectably high loading of SAs. The subsequent kinetic self-regulation step involving an adsorbate-assisted and reversible vacancy migration dynamically alters coordination environments of SAs, helping circumvent the scaling relationships, and consequently, the as-designed dv-g/Ni can catalyze NO-to-NH3 conversion at a low limiting potential of -0.25 V vs RHE.

A fluorescein-based fluorescent probe for fast detection of malondialdehyde and its imaging study.

A simple fluorescein derivative as a fluorescent probe was synthesized for the detection of malondialdehyde (MDA) through a synergistic reaction to achieve ring-opening of fluorescein and formation of a benzohydrazide derivative. It exhibited high sensitivity and selectivity for MDA detection. The probe could also detect MDA quickly (within 60 s) and visually via UV-vis and fluorescent modes. Moreover, this probe showed good performance in the imaging of MDA in living cells and bacteria.