Tough and Water-Resistant Bioelastomers with Active-Controllable Degradation Rates.

Biodegradable electronic devices have gained significant traction in modern medical applications. These devices are generally desired to have a long enough working lifetime for stable operation and allow for active control over their degradation rates after usage. However, current biodegradable materials used as encapsulations or substrates for these devices are challenging to meet the two requirements due to the constraints of inadequate water resistance, poor mechanical properties, and passive degradation characteristics. Herein, we develop a novel biodegradable elastomer named POC-SS-Res by introducing disulfide linkage and resveratrol (Res) into poly(1,8-octanediol-co-citrate) (POC). Compared to POC, POC-SS-Res exhibits good water resistance and excellent mechanical properties in PBS, providing effective protection for devices. At the same time, POC-SS-Res offers the unique advantage of an active-controllable degradation rate, and its degradation products express low biotoxicity. Good biocompatibility of POC-SS-Res is also demonstrated. Bioelectronic components encapsulated with POC-SS-Res have an obvious prolongation of working lifetime in PBS compared to that encapsulated with POC, and its degradation rate can be actively controlled by the addition of glutathione (GSH).

Drug repurposing screens identify Tubercidin as a potent antiviral agent against porcine nidovirus infections.

The emergence of new coronaviruses poses a significant threat to animal husbandry and human health. Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) is considered a re-emerging porcine enteric coronavirus, which causes fatal watery diarrhea in piglets. Currently, there are no effective drugs to combat PEDV. Drug repurposing screens have emerged as an attractive strategy to accelerate antiviral drug discovery and development. Here, we screened 206 natural products for antiviral activity using live PEDV infection in Vero cells and identified ten candidate antiviral agents. Among them, Tubercidin, a nucleoside analog derived from Streptomyces tubercidicus, showed promising antiviral activity against PEDV infection. Furthermore, we demonstrated that Tubercidin exhibited significant antiviral activity against both classical and variant PEDV. Time of addition assay showed that Tubercidin displayed a significant inhibitory effect on viral post-entry events but not during other periods. Molecular docking analysis indicated that Tubercidin had better docking efficiency and formed hydrophobic interactions with the active pocket of RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) of PEDV and other nidoviruses. Additionally, Tubercidin can effectively suppress other porcine nidoviruses, such as SADS-CoV and PRRSV, demonstrating its broad-spectrum antiviral properties. In summary, our findings provide valuable evidence for the antiviral activity of Tubercidin and offer insights into the development of new strategies for the prevention and treatment of coronavirus infections.

Fe-modified Co2(OH)3Cl microspheres for highly efficient oxygen evolution reaction.

Surface self-reconstruction by the electrochemical activation is considered as an effective strategy to increase the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) performance of transition metal compounds. Herein, uniform Co2(OH)3Cl microspheres are developed and present an activation-enhanced OER performance caused by the etching of lattice Cl- after 500 cyclic voltammetry (CV) cycles. Furthermore, the OER activity of Co2(OH)3Cl can be further enhanced after small amounts of Fe modification (Fe2+ as precursor). Fe doping into Co2(OH)3Cl lattices can make the etching of surface lattice Cl- easier and generate more surface vacancies to absorb oxygen species. Meanwhile, small amounts of Fe modification can result in a moderate surface oxygen adsorption affinity, facilitating the activation of intermediate oxygen species. Consequently, the 10% Fe-Co2(OH)3Cl exhibits a superior OER activity with a lower overpotential of 273 mV at 10 mA cm-2 (after 500 CV cycles) along with an excellent stability as compared with commercial RuO2.