A superior mulberry-like nanoparticle NiB binary catalyst for borohydride oxidation.

A NiB binary catalyst with a unique mulberry-like nanoparticle morphology has been prepared by one-step electrodeposition. The NiB-0.2 catalyst exhibits excellent catalytic activity, selectivity, and stability for the borohydride oxidation reaction. Moreover, a direct borohydride fuel cell using the NiB-0.2 catalyst anode can deliver a peak power density of 453 mW cm-2 and open-circuit voltage of 1.96 V at 343 K. The improved performances are due to the introduction of B. This study may inspire the development of efficient noble-metal-free anode catalysts for DBFCs.

Advances in CRISPR/Cas9-based research related to soybean [Glycine max (Linn.) Merr] molecular breeding.

Soybean [Glycine max (Linn.) Merr] is a source of plant-based proteins and an essential oilseed crop and industrial raw material. The increase in the demand for soybeans due to societal changes has coincided with the increase in the breeding of soybean varieties with enhanced traits. Earlier gene editing technologies involved zinc finger nucleases and transcription activator-like effector nucleases, but the third-generation gene editing technology uses clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/CRISPR-associated protein 9 (Cas9). The rapid development of CRISPR/Cas9 technology has made it one of the most effective, straightforward, affordable, and user-friendly technologies for targeted gene editing. This review summarizes the application of CRISPR/Cas9 technology in soybean molecular breeding. More specifically, it provides an overview of the genes that have been targeted, the type of editing that occurs, the mechanism of action, and the efficiency of gene editing. Furthermore, suggestions for enhancing and accelerating the molecular breeding of novel soybean varieties with ideal traits (e.g., high yield, high quality, and durable disease resistance) are included.

Lattice strain controlled Ni@NiCu efficient anode catalysts for direct borohydride fuel cells.

We successfully fabricated a novel tensile lattice strained Ni@NiCu catalyst with a popcorn-like morphology, which is composed of a crystalline Ni core and a NiCu alloy shell. It exhibits outstanding catalytic activity, selectivity, and stability towards borohydride electrooxidation. Moreover, a direct borohydride fuel cell (DBFC) with a Ni@NiCu anode can deliver a power density of 433 mW cm-2 and an open circuit voltage of 1.94 V, much better than the performances of DBFCs employing other anode catalysts reported in the literature. This could be attributed to the fact that the tensile lattice strain generated by the introduction of Cu leads to a rise in the d-band center of the Ni metal and promotes the final B-H decoupling, which is the rate-determining step in the borohydride oxidation reaction, thus improving remarkably the catalytic performances of Ni@NiCu.

Succulent-plant-like Ni-Co alloy efficient catalysts for direct borohydride fuel cells.

A Ni-Co alloy catalyst with a unique succulent-plant-like morphology is prepared by a simple electrodeposition method, while the effects of deposition conditions on its performance are also investigated systematically. The research results show that the Ni0.889-Co0.111 catalyst exhibits excellent activity, selectivity, and stability to the borohydride oxidation reaction. Moreover, when Ni0.889-Co0.111 is assembled as the anode catalyst, the direct borohydride fuel cell delivers a peak power density of 490 mW cm-2 and an open-circuit voltage of 1.87 V at 343 K and can run stably for dozens of hours. The significant improvement in Ni-Co catalyst performance can be attributed to its unique succulent-plant-like morphology and the introduction of an appropriate amount of Co.

Associations between urinary caffeine and caffeine metabolites and cognitive function in older adults.

BACKGROUND: The effects of caffeine on cognitive impairment have not been conclusively determined. This study aimed to objectively assess the correlation between the urinary caffeine and caffeine metabolites and cognitive decline in older adults. METHODS: Data on urinary caffeine and caffeine metabolites and the cognitive performance of participants aged 60 years and older were extracted from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys 2011-2014. Binary logistic regression and restricted cubic splines (RCS) analyses were used to evaluate the association between urinary caffeine and caffeine metabolites and cognitive performance. RESULTS: Eight hundred twenty-seven individuals were enrolled in this cross-sectional study. We observed that 1-methylxanthine, 3-methylxanthine, 7-methylxanthine, 1,3-dimethylxanthine, 1,7-dimethylxanthine, and 3,7-dimethylxanthine levels were significantly and inversely associated with cognitive decline. The RCS results suggested an approximately linear dose-response relationship between the aforementioned metabolites and cognitive performance. Moreover, the effects of urinary caffeine and caffeine metabolites on cognitive function assessed using the AFT were more evident in men. CONCLUSIONS: Our study suggested that urinary caffeine and caffeine metabolite levels were associated with a reduced risk of cognitive impairment in a linear manner, especially in men.

Ultra-wideband circularly polarized cavity-backed crossed-dipole antenna.

This letter demonstrates an ultra-wideband circularly polarized cavity-backed crossed-dipole antenna. It consists of a modified crossed-dipole and a modified cavity. Each arm of the modified crossed-dipole is mainly made up by the combination of a triangle and a fan-shaped sector, and the arms within the same layer of substrate are connected by a vacant-quarter ring. The modified cavity is composed of a rectangular cavity, four coupled rotated vertical metallic plates, and four sequentially rotated metallic steps. Through combining the modified crossed-dipole and modified cavity together, ultra-wideband characteristics in terms of - 10-dB impedance bandwidth (IBW) and 3-dB axial-ratio bandwidth (ARBW) can be realized. The IBW and ARBW are correspondingly calculated to be 128.9% and 121.2%. The prototype of the proposed antenna was fabricated and measured. The proposed antenna has a compact size of 0.74 λ0 × 0.74 λ0 × 0.17 λ0 (λ0 is the wavelength at the lowest frequency of operation band). The measured IBW and ARBW are 125.2% (1.67-7.26 GHz) and 120.1% (1.79-7.17 GHz), respectively, which are in good agreement with the simulated ones. The proposed antenna has stable radiation patterns in the operation band and exhibits a right-hand circular polarization with a peak gain of 12.2 dBic at 6.7 GHz.

Systemic inflammatory regulators and 7 major psychiatric disorders: A two-sample Mendelian randomization study.

Systemic inflammation has been thought to play a considerable part in psychiatric disorders. However, the causal relationships between systemic inflammation and psychiatric disorders and the directions of the causal effects remain elusive and need further investigation. By leveraging the summary statistics of genome-wide association studies, the standard inverse variance weighted method was applied to assess the causal associations among 41 systemic inflammatory regulators and 7 major psychiatric disorders, including attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), anorexia nervosa (AN), autism spectrum disorder (ASD), bipolar disorder (BIP), major depression disorder (MDD), obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and schizophrenia (SCZ), within a two-sample bidirectional Mendelian randomization analysis. Additionally, the weighted median test and the Mendelian randomization pleiotropy residual sum and outlier test were conducted for sensitivity analyses. The results suggested a total of 15 unique systemic inflammatory regulators might be causally associated with disease risk, including 2 for ADHD, 4 for AN, 2 for ASD, 2 for MDD, 2 for OCD, and 5 for SCZ. Among them, the genetically predicted concentration of basic fibroblast growth factor was significantly related to AN at the Bonferroni-corrected threshold (Odds ratio = 0.403, 95% confidence interval = (0.261, 0.622), P = 4.03 × 10-5). Furthermore, the concentrations of 9 systemic inflammatory regulators might be influenced by neuropsychiatric disorders, including 2 by ADHD, 2 by BIP, 3 by MDD, and 2 by SCZ, and the causal effects of ASD, AN, and OCD need to be further assessed when more significant genetic variants are identified in the future. Overall, this study provides additional insights into the relationships between systemic inflammation and psychiatric disorders and may provide new clues regarding the aetiology, diagnosis and treatment of psychiatric disorders.

Porous Ni-Cu Alloy Dendrite Anode Catalysts with High Activity and Selectivity for Direct Borohydride Fuel Cells.

A porous Ni-Cu alloy dendrite catalyst covered by Ni nanoparticles (Ni-np@NC) has been fabricated by an ultrafast and controllable strategy. The research results show that the morphology of the Ni-Cu alloy depends strongly on the Cu2+concentration. Moreover, the Ni-np@NC catalyst demonstrates excellent selectivity and activity toward the borohydride oxidation reaction (BOR). Furthermore, on the Ni-np@NC catalyst electrode, the overpotential merely requires 169 mV at a current density of 10 mA cm-2 for BOR, and the fuel efficiency may reach 70%. The direct borohydride fuel cell using the Ni-np@NC/C anode can export a maximum power density of 218 mW cm-2, much higher than that using the noble-based anode reported in the literature. The remarkable enhancement of Ni-np@NC catalyst performances is on the back of the unique morphology of porous dendrite covered by nanoparticles and the introduction of Cu.

A novel genetic variant potentially altering the expression of MANBA in the cerebellum associated with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in Han Chinese children.

OBJECTIVES: To obtain additional insight into the genetic factors of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). METHODS: First, we performed a transcriptome-wide association study (TWAS) integrating human cerebellum-specific variant-expression/splicing correlations to identify ADHD susceptibility genes. Then, the associations between expression/splicing quantitative trait loci (eQTLs/sQTLs) of the transcriptome-wide significant genes and ADHD were observed in a case-control study of Han Chinese children. Furthermore, dual luciferase reporter gene assays were performed to validate the regulatory function of ADHD risk variants. Additionally, the transcription level of target genes in blood was detected by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) assay. RESULTS: TWAS identified that the genetically regulated expression of MANBA in the cerebellum was significantly associated with ADHD risk. Furthermore, we observed a higher risk of ADHD and more severe clinical symptoms in subjects harbouring heterozygous (TC) or mutant homozygous (TT) genotypes of MANBA rs1054037 than CC carriers. The dual luciferase reporter gene assay revealed that the mutation of rs1054037(C > T) potentially upregulated MANBA expression by eliminating the binding site for hsa-miR-5591-3P. Finally, RT-qPCR showed that MANBA expression in blood samples of patients was significantly higher than that of controls. CONCLUSIONS: Taken together, these results suggest a role of MANBA in the development of ADHD.

A novel cis-regulatory variant modulating TIE1 expression associated with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in Han Chinese children.

BACKGROUND: The genetic factors of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are far from fully elucidated. This study aims to get additional insight into the genetic structure of ADHD. METHODS: First, a transcriptome-wide association study and summary data-based Mendelian randomization analysis were performed to identify ADHD susceptibility genes. Then, genetic variants influencing the expression of the identified susceptibility genes were tested for association with ADHD risk in a sample of Han Chinese children (543 cases and 560 controls). Dual-luciferase reporter gene assays and electrophoretic mobility shift assays were performed to verify the transcriptional regulatory functions of the identified ADHD-associated variants. Additionally, real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction was applied to quantify the expression levels of target genes in blood samples. RESULTS: Both TIE1 and MED8 were identified as ADHD susceptibility genes. Furthermore, we first found the G allele of rs3768046 was significantly associated with an increased risk of ADHD (recessive model: GG vs AA+AG, OR= 1.659, 95% CI= (1.262, 2.181); additive model: GG vs GA vs AA, OR= 1.493, 95% CI= (1.179, 1.890)). Additionally, in vitro functional experiments revealed that rs3768046 might alter TIE1 expression by affecting the binding sites of transcription factors. Moreover, the expression level of TIE1 in the blood samples of patients was significantly higher than that of controls. LIMITATIONS: Given the moderate statistical power of this study, it is necessary to verify our findings in other larger samples. CONCLUSIONS: Together, this study presents the first systematic evidence of TIE1 with potential implications for the genetic basis of ADHD.