Effect of water molecules on the diffusion of alkali metal ions in CuHCF cathodes.

Prussian blue analogues have shown promise as cathode materials competing with sodium ion batteries, while the presence of water molecules severely affects their performance in batteries. Based on density functional theory, the effect of water molecules on the diffusion of alkali ions is revealed by employing CuHCF (copper hexacyanoferrate) as a cathode. The diffusions of alkali ions in CuHCF with or without inserted water molecules are investigated. It was found that Li+/Na+ forms hydrated ions with water molecules in the interstitial voids, while K+ cannot form hydrated ions due to spatial constraints. It would lead to a dramatic increase of diffusion barriers when Li+/Na+ ions carrying water molecules diffuse. The number of inserted water molecules significantly impacts the diffusion of Li+/Na+ ions.

Co-Assembled Nanoparticles toward Multi-Target Combinational Therapy of Alzheimer's Disease by Making Full Use of Molecular Recognition and Self-Assembly.

The complex pathologies in Alzheimer's disease (AD) severely limit the effectiveness of single-target pharmic interventions, thus necessitating multi-pronged therapeutic strategies. While flexibility is essentially demanded in constructing such multi-target systems, for achieving optimal synergies and also accommodating the inherent heterogeneity within AD. Utilizing the dynamic reversibility of supramolecular strategy for conferring sufficient tunability in component substitution and proportion adjustment, amphiphilic calixarenes are poised to be a privileged molecular tool for facilely achieving function integration. Herein, taking ß-amyloid (Aß) fibrillation and oxidative stress as model combination pattern, a supramolecular multifunctional integration is proposed by co-assembling guanidinium-modified calixarene with ascorbyl palmitate and loading dipotassium phytate within calixarene cavity. Serial pivotal events can be simultaneously addressed by this versatile system, including 1) inhibition of Aß production and aggregation, 2) disintegration of Aß fibrils, 3) acceleration of Aß metabolic clearance, and 4) regulation of oxidative stress, which is verified to significantly ameliorate the cognitive impairment of 5×FAD mice, with reduced Aß plaque content, neuroinflammation, and neuronal apoptosis. Confronted with the extremely intricate clinical realities of AD, the strategy presented here exhibits ample adaptability for necessary alterations on combinations, thereby may immensely expedite the advancement of AD combinational therapy through providing an exceptionally convenient platform.

Harnessing Nanochaperone-Mediated Autophagy for Selective Clearance of Pathogenic Tau Protein in Alzheimer's Disease.

Accumulation of pathological tau is a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease (AD), which correlates more closely with cognitive impairment than does the amyloid-ß (Aß) burden. Autophagy is a powerful process for the clearance of toxic proteins including aberrant tau. However, compromised autophagy is demonstrated in neurodegeneration including AD, and current autophagy inducers remain enormously challenging due to inability of restoring autophagy pathway and lack of targeting specificity. Here, pathogenic tau-specific autophagy based on customized nanochaperone is developed for AD treatment. In this strategy, the nanochaperone can selectively bind to pathogenic tau and maintain tau homeostasis, thereby ensuring microtubule stability which is important for autophagy pathway. Meanwhile, the bound pathogenic tau can be sequestered in autophagosomes by in situ autophagy activation of nanochaperone. Consequently, autophagosomes wrapping with pathogenic tau are able to be trafficked along the stabilized microtubule to achieve successful fusion with lysosomes, resulting in the enhancement of autophagic flux and pathologic tau clearance. After treatment with this nanochaperone-mediated autophagy strategy, the tau burden, neuron damages, and cognitive deficits of AD mice are significantly alleviated in the brain. Therefore, this work represents a promising candidate for AD-targeted therapy and provides new insights into future design of anti-neurodegeneration drugs.

MAPbI3perovskite photodetectors for high-performance optical wireless communication.

High-sensitivity and fast-response photodetectors (PDs) are vital part of optical wireless communication (OWC) system. In this work, we develop an organic-inorganic hybrid perovskite material (MAPbI3) based p-i-n structured PD. By optimizing the precursor solution concertation, the PD showed a high responsivity of 0.98 A W-1, a fast response timetrise/tfallof 12/12.5 µs, a specific detectivity of 2.62 × 1013Jones, and the f-3dBof 24 kHz under the 532 nm laser and -0.2 V bias voltage. Furthermore, we designed an OWC system based on the prepared PD. With the baud rate of 19200 bps, the system exhibits a bit error rate less than 10-6, and it can realize 9.63 m long-distance communication and quick transmission applications such as strings, texts, photos, and audios. Our work demonstrates the great application potential of perovskite PDs in the field of optical communication.

Fine manipulation of terahertz waves via all-silicon metasurfaces with an independent amplitude and phase.

Integrating independent wavefront controls into one device can meet the increasing demand for high-capacity flat electromagnetic devices. Simultaneously and independently controlling the amplitude and phase is pivotal for completely manipulating the propagation of electromagnetic waves. Here, we propose several all-silicon metasurfaces to achieve multifunctional designs and simultaneous modulation of amplitude and phase profiles in the terahertz (THz) band. These metasurfaces integrate two degrees of freedom of the propagation phase and Pancharatnam-Berry (PB) phase. To illustrate the feasibility of this design, three schematic functions are shown below: a three-channel vortex beam generator, a controllable intensity ratio of co- and cross-polarizations corresponding to the incident circular polarization (CP), and a bifocal metasurface that is capable of generating two off-axis vortices with controllable power allocation. A sample is fabricated to specifically verify the amplitude and phase modulation of this design. The experimental results agree well with the simulations and validate the good performances of our proposals. This approach for directly generating an editable amplitude and phase may provide a new choice to design ultra-thin photonic devices.

Clinical study of radiofrequency ablation combined with TACE in the treatment of breast cancer with liver metastasis.

We studied the clinical effects of percutaneous radiofrequency ablation (RFCA) combined with trans-catheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) in the treatment of breast cancer with liver metastasis. Eighty-eight patients with a diagnosis of breast cancer with liver metastasis for the first time and patients with liver metastasis after radical mastectomy were consecutively selected. The subjects were divided according to the different treatment methods. They were divided either into the control group of 50 cases or the observation group of 38 cases. Breast cancer patients underwent radical mastectomy with conventional systemic venous chemotherapy. The liver metastasis control group used TACE, while the observation group combined RFCA with TACE. The two groups were followed up for a median time of 20 months, and the clinical effects were compared. The effective rate of the observation group was higher than that of the control group; differences were statistically significant (P<0.05). There was no differences in the incidence of complications between the two groups (P>0.05). The progression free survival, median survival time and survival rate of the observation group were increased; differences were statistically significant (P<0.05). Therefore, RFCA combined with TACE in the treatment of breast cancer with liver metastasis is safe and effective.

[Studies on chemical constituents from Polygonum macrophyllum].

OBJECTIVE: To study the chemical structures from Polygonum macrophyllum D. Don. METHODS: To isolate the constituents by reverse phase chromatography and characterize their structures by the analysis of chemical property and spectral data. RESULT: Six compounds were isolated from the 70% acetone extract from the complete herb of P. macrophyllum. Their structures were elucidated as (-)-epicatechin-5-O-beta-D-glucopyranoside (I), (+)-catechin-7-O-beta-D-glucopyranoside (II), 1-(3-O-beta-D-glucopyranosyl 4,5-dihydroxy-phenyl)-ethanone (III) (-)-epicatechin (IV), chlorogenic acid (V) and gallic acid (VI). CONCLUSION: Compounds I-VI were isolated from the plant for the first time.