Enhancing Nitrate Reduction to Ammonia Through Crystal Phase Engineering: Unveiling the Hydrogen Bonding Effect in δ-FeOOH Electrocatalysis.

Crystal phase engineering has emerged as a powerful tool for tailoring the electrocatalytic performance, yet its impact on nitrate reduction to ammonia (NRA) remains largely uncharted territory. Herein, density functional theory (DFT) calculations are performed to unravel the influence of the crystal phase of FeOOH on the adsorption behavior of *NO3 . Inspiringly, FeOOH samples with four distinct crystal phases (δ, γ, α, and ß) are successfully synthesized and deployed as electrocatalysts for NRA. Remarkably, among all FeOOH samples, δ-FeOOH demonstrates the superior NRA performance, achieving a NH3 Faradic efficiency ( FE NH 3 $\rm{FE} _ {\rm{NH_3}}$ ) of 90.2% at -1.0 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE) and a NH3 yield rate ( Yield NH 3 $\rm{Yield} _ {\rm{NH_3}}$ ) of 5.73 mg h-1 cm-2 at -1.2 V. In-depth experiments and theoretical calculations unveil the existence of hydrogen bonding interaction between δ-FeOOH and *NOx , which not only enhances the adsorption of *NOx but also disrupts the linear relationships between the free energy of *NO3 adsorption and various parameters, including limiting potential, d-band center (εd ) and transferred charge from FeOOH to *NO3 , ultimately contributing to the exceptional NRA performance.

Inhibition of Neuromyelitis Optica Immunoglobulin G Binding to Aquaporin-4 by the Small Molecule Blocker Melanthioidine.

BACKGROUND: Neuromyelitis optica (NMO) is a severe neurological demyelinating autoimmune disease affecting the optic nerves and spinal cord. The binding of neuromyelitis optica immunoglobulin G (NMO- IgG) and aquaporin-4 (AQP4) on the surface of astrocytes in the serum and cerebrospinal fluid is the main pathogenesis of NMO. Currently, therapeutic strategies for NMO include a reduction of the secondary inflammation response and the number of NMO-IgG, which can only alleviate clinical symptoms rather than fundamentally preventing a series of pathological processes caused by NMO-IgG binding to AQP4. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the blocking effect of melanthioidine on the binding of NMO-IgG to AQP4 and its potential cytotoxicity. METHODS: The current study developed a cell-based high-throughput screening approach to identify a molecular blocker of NMO-IgG binding to AQP4 using the Chinese hamster lung fibroblast (V79) cells expressing M23- AQP4. By screening ~400 small molecules, we identified melanthioidine with blocking effects without affecting AQP4 expression or its water permeability. RESULTS: Melanthioidine effectively blocked the binding of NMO-IgG to AQP4 in immunofluorescence assays and reduced complement-dependent cytotoxicity against both NMO-IgG/complement-treated Fischer rat thyroid- AQP4 cells and primary astrocytes. The docking computations identified the putative sites of blocker binding at the extracellular surface of AQP4. CONCLUSION: This study serves as proof of a potential NMO therapy by using a small-molecule blocker to target NMO pathogenesis.

One-pot fabrication of nanozyme with 2D/1D heterostructure by in-situ growing MoS2 nanosheets onto single-walled carbon nanotubes with enhanced catalysis for colorimetric detection of glutathione.

A nanozyme with 2D/1D heterostructure has been fabricated by the in-situ growth of molybdenum disulfide nanosheets (MoS2 NSs) onto single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs). It was discovered that the so-obtained SWCNTs@MoS2 nanozyme could exhibit greatly improved peroxidase-like catalysis, due to that the formed 2D/1D interfacial coupling in the heterostructure might provide more active sites and exhibit enhanced charge transferring during the catalytic reactions, as confirmed by the X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, photoluminescence, electrochemical impedance spectra and radical capturing experiments. Furthermore, the catalysis of the developed nanozyme could be selectively inhibited by glutathione (GSH) through the competitive consumption of hydroxyl radicals with enzyme substrate in the catalytic reaction system. A SWCNTs@MoS2 catalysis-based colorimetric strategy was further proposed for the quantitative analysis of GSH with the concentrations linearly ranging from 0.01 to 1000.0 µM. Besides, the feasibility of the developed colorimetric method was evaluated by monitoring GSH separately in the extractions from hela cells and human serum, promising the extensive applications for monitoring various biological species like GSH in the clinical laboratory. Importantly, such a fabrication route for nanozyme with 2D/1D heterostructure may pave the way towards the wide applications for designing various nanzymes with improved catalysis.

Industrial linkage effects of RCEP economies' imports of producer services on manufacturing advantages.

This study examines the industrial transmission mechanisms between producer services imports and manufacturing advantages in RCEP economies. Based on the framework of GVCs'decomposition, we establish a hierarchical linear model (HLM) withthe data from 2007 to 2017 in the ADB MIRO, WTO BaTiS and WITS databases to analyze the impact of producer services imports in RCEP economies on the value-added domestic exports of manufacturing in countries around the world, and the conclusions are as follows: (1) Producer service imports have a significant positive impact on the domestic value-added of manufacturing exports through direct effects, upstream effects and downstream effects. The downstream effect is the main driving force for the improvement of manufacturing. After using instrumental variables to resolve endogeneity, the conclusion remains stable; (2) The downstream effect of insurance imports is the largest among producer services imports. After the outbreak of the world financial crisis, the transmission effect of the industry chain was higher in 2008 than before the crisis. (3) Due to the high degree of specialization of industrial division in developed economies, the transfer effect of the three major industrial chains is greater than that of developing countries and regions.