Decline Mechanism of Graphite/Lithium Metal Hybrid Anode and Its Stabilization by Inorganic-Rich Solid Electrolyte Interface.

The graphite/lithium metal hybrid anode shows great potential for achieving high-specific-energy lithium batteries. Despite the "dead lithium" problem caused by repeated stripping and deposition of Li component based on a conversion reaction, the degradation mechanism, based on intercalation reaction, of graphite in a hybrid anode is generally ignored. In this contribution, through in situ X-ray diffraction and in situ Raman analysis, we reveal that hysteresis and the mixed-phase state of graphite during deintercalation play a critical role in hybrid battery degradation. On the other hand, we successfully mitigated graphite degradation and increased the reversible capacity of the hybrid anode by introducing an inorganic-rich solid electrolyte interface. Remarkably, the hybrid anode (30% higher specific capacity compared to graphite) exhibits an average coulombic efficiency of 99.11% and retains 96.13% of initial capacity over 120 cycles. This work sheds new light on the advancement of high-specific-energy lithium secondary batteries.

The Effect of Oleic Acid Emulsification using SPE on Fluorite and Dolomite Flotation.

Collector OA, oleic acid, is widely used industrially for fluorite flotation. Low selectivity, dispersibility and collecting capability of the OA collector are always observed. In this study, compared with flotation of dolomite, a collector mixture of OA and SPE (styrylphenol polyoxyethylene ether) demonstrated significantly better performances for the fluorite. An optimal mass ratio 4 : 1 OA : SPE was found, and the recovery of fluorite was increased from over 85 % to more than 94 % compared with pure OA. Furthermore, the dosage of the collector agent was reduced from 50  mg mL-1 to 20 mg mL-1 , which did not negatively impact the recovery of dolomite. The results from the contact angle tests indicated that SPE selectively increased the surface hydrophobicity of fluorite but had little effect on dolomite. Besides, zeta potential measurements and IR analyses revealed that the addition of SPE led to strong chemical adsorption on the surface of fluorite, resulting in a significant difference in the flotation performances of the two minerals. Therefore, SPE-emulsified OA is corroborated to prompt more selectivity and collecting capability on flotation of fluorite over dolomite.

Hsa_circ_0137008 suppresses the malignant phenotype in colorectal cancer by acting as a microRNA-338-5p sponge.

BACKGROUND: Circular RNAs (circRNAs) have been shown to play a crucial role in tumorigenesis. In this study, we investigated the function of hsa_circ_0137008 and its underlying molecular mechanism in colorectal cancer (CRC). METHODS: Gene expression was conducted by quantitative real-time PCR or western blot. Functional experiments were performed by cell count kit-8, colony formation assay, wound healing, and transwell assays. Luciferase reporter assay and RNA pull-down assay were performed to investigate the molecular mechanism of hsa_circ_0137008 in CRC. In addition, the xenograft tumor model was applied to determine the role of hsa_circ_0137008 in vivo. RESULTS: Downregulation of hsa_circ_0137008 was observed in CRC tissues and cell lines. Functionally, overexpression of hsa_circ_0137008 inhibited the proliferation of CRC cells, as indicated by the inhibition of proliferative protein expression (Ki67 and PCNA), reduced cell viability and colony formation ability. Upregulation of hsa_circ_0137008 suppressed the migration, invasion, and epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) of CRC cells. Mechanically, hsa_circ_0137008 negatively regulated the expression of microRNA-338-5p (miR-338-5p). Furthermore, hsa_circ_0137008 abated the miR-338-5p mediated promotion on CRC cell progression. Tumor suppressive function of hsa_circ_0137008 was validated in vivo. CONCLUSION: These findings highlighted the fact that overexpression of hsa_circ_0137008 inhibited the progression of CRC via sponging miR-338-5p, suggesting that hsa_circ_0137008/miR-338-5p axis is a principal regulator of CRC tumorigenesis.

Characterization and protective efficacy of a Salmonella pathogenicity island 2 (SPI2) mutant of Salmonella Paratyphi A.

Paratyphoid fever caused by Salmonella Paratyphi A is a serious public health problem in many countries. In order to and develop a live attenuated candidate vaccine of Salmonella Paratyphi A, a Salmonella pathogenicity island 2 (SPI2, approximate 40 kb) deletion mutant of Salmonella Paratyphi A was constructed by lambda Red recombination, then the biological characteristics and protective ability of the Salmonella Paratyphi A SPI2 mutant were evaluated. Our results showed that the growth and biochemical properties of the SPI2 mutant were consistent with that of its parent strain, and the mutant was stable with the loss of SPI2. The mice lethal test showed that the virulence of the SPI2 mutant was significantly decreased, it can colonize and persistent more than 14 days in the liver and spleen of mice. Vaccination with the SPI2 mutant in mice revealed no significant effect on body weight and clinical symptoms compared to control animals, and specific humoral and cellular immune responses were also significantly induced. Immunization of mice offered efficient protection against Salmonella Paratyphi A strain challenge at 14 days post vaccination based on mortality and clinical symptoms relative to control group. Overall, these findings suggested that SPI2 plays an important role in pathogenicity of Salmonella Paratyphi A, and the SPI2 mutant showed its potential to develop a live attenuated vaccine candidate.

Experimental Investigation of the Acoustic Nonlinear Behavior in Granular Polymer Bonded Explosives with Progressive Fatigue Damage.

The measurement of acoustic nonlinear response is known as a promising technique to characterize material micro-damages. In this paper, nonlinear ultrasonic approach is used to characterize the evolution of fatigue induced micro-cracks in polymer bonded explosives. The variations of acoustic nonlinearity with respect to fatigue cycles in the specimens are obtained in this investigation. The present results show a significant increase of acoustic nonlinearity with respect to fatigue cycles. The experimental observation of the correlation between the acoustic nonlinearity and fatigue cycles in carbon/epoxy laminates, verifies that an acoustic nonlinear response can be used to evaluate the progressive fatigue damage in the granular polymer bonded explosives. The sensitivity comparison of nonlinear and linear parameters of ultrasonic waves in the specimens shows that nonlinear acoustic parameters are more promising indicators to fatigue induced micro-damage than linear ones. The feasibility study of the micro-damage assessment of polymer bonded explosives by nonlinear ultrasonic technique in this work can be applied to damage identification, material degradation monitoring, and lifetime prediction of the explosive parts.

Norcantharidin enhances ABT-263-mediated anticancer activity in neuroblastoma cells by upregulation of Noxa.

Neuroblastoma is an aggressive childhood disease. Even with intensive conventional treatments, the long term survival rate for children with neuroblastoma remains less than 40%, highlighting the importance of finding new therapies. Bcl-2 family proteins play crucial roles in survival, proliferation and chemotherapeutic resistance of neuroblastoma cells. Therefore, targeting Bcl-2 with small molecule inhibitor ABT-263 could be a novel strategy for treatment of neuroblastoma. However, previous studies indicated that most neuroblastoma cell lines are resistant to ABT-263-mediated apoptosis. Thus, it is crucial to discover approaches that could overcome ABT-263 resistance. In this study, we examined the anticancer activity of ABT-263 in combination with norcantharidin (NCTD), a small-molecule anticancer drug derived from a traditional Chinese medicine, in human malignant neuroblastoma cells. We found that NCTD substantially enhanced ABT-263-mediated apoptosis induction, cell viability inhibition, and clonal formation inhibition in neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y and CHLA-119 cell lines. Moreover, the combination anticancer activity was accompanied by upregulation of Noxa, and was associated with characteristics of mitochondrial apoptosis signaling, such as cytosolic release of cytochrome c, activation of caspase-9,-3, and cleavage of PARP. Notably, we observed that knockdown of Noxa significantly attenuated cell death induction by cotreatment with ABT-263 and NCTD, indicating Noxa essentially contributes to the combination anticancer effect. Collectively, our study demonstrated that NCTD could overcome ABT-263-resistance in neuroblastoma cells, and suggested that combinational treatment of ABT-263 with NCTD might be a novel therapeutic option for children with neuroblastoma.