Design of polymetallic sulfide NiS2@Co4S3@FeS as bifunctional catalyst for high efficiency seawater splitting.

The shortage of freshwater resources in the world today has limited the development of water splitting, and our eyes have turned to the abundant seawater. The development of relatively low-toxicity and high-efficiency catalysts is the most important area in seawater electrolysis. In this paper, the preparation of NiS2@Co4S3@FeS via a hydrothermal method on nickel foam has been studied for the first time. In the process of vulcanization, Fe will first generate FeS by virtue of its high affinity for vulcanization. Once Fe is vulcanized, the residual sulfur will be used to generate NiS2, while the vulcanization of Co requires a higher sulfur concentration and reaction temperature; thus, Co4S3 will be generated last. NiS2@Co4S3@FeS is confirmed to have excellent hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) catalytic properties in alkaline seawater. Its unique structure allows it to expose more reaction centres, and the synergies between the multiple metals optimize the charge distribution of the material and accelerate the OER and HER kinetics. NiS2@Co4S3@FeS requires overpotentials of only 122 mV and 68 mV for the OER and HER when reaching 10 mA cm-2, which is superior to most catalysts reported to date for seawater electrolysis, and the material displays acceptable stability. In an electrolytic cell composed of both positive and negative electrodes, when the current density is 10 mA cm-2, the NiS2@Co4S3@FeS material displays a low overpotential of only 357 mV for seawater splitting. Density functional theory shows that the FeS electrode has the optimum Gibbs free energy of H to accelerate reaction kinetics, and the synergistic catalysis of the NiS2, Co4S3 and FeS materials promotes the hydrogen production activity of the NiS2@Co4S3@FeS electrode. This work proposes a novel idea for designing environmentally friendly seawater splitting catalysts.

Controlled synthesis of M doped NiVS (M = Co, Ce and Cr) as a robust electrocatalyst for urea electrolysis.

Urea electrolysis can be used to treat wastewater containing urea and alleviate the energy crisis, so it is one of the best ways to solve environmental and energy problems. This paper reports the synthesis of M doped NiVS (M = Co, Ce and Cr) composites by a simple hydrothermal process for the first time. What is noteworthy is that the Ce-NiVS material as a catalytic electrode requires only 141 mV overpotential for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and 1.291 V potential for the urea oxidation reaction (UOR) at a current density of 10 mA cm-2 in 1.0 M KOH and 0.5 M urea mixed alkaline solution. Using Ce-NiVS/NF as both the anode and cathode for urea electrolysis, a current density of 10 mA cm-2 is driven by a voltage of only 1.55 V, which is better than most previous catalysts. Experimental results demonstrate that the excellent catalytic activity of Ce-NiVS materials is due to the formation of a large number of active sites and the improvement of conductivity due to doping with Ce. Density functional theory calculation shows that the VS4 material has a small Gibbs free energy of hydrogen adsorption, which plays a major role in the hydrogen production process, and Ce-NiS has a higher density of states (DOS) near the Fermi level, indicating that Ce-NiS has better electronic conductivity. The synergistic catalysis of VS4 and Ce-NiS promoted the hydrogen production performance of the Ce-NiVS material. This work provides guidance for the optimization and design of low-cost electrocatalysts to replace expensive precious metal-based electrocatalysts for overall urea electrolysis.

Controlled synthesis of ACo2O4 (A = Fe, Cu, Zn, Ni) as an environmentally friendly electrocatalyst for urea electrolysis.

Water electrolysis is relatively an environmentally friendly hydrogen production technology, but due to the slow transfer of four electrons in the anodic oxidation reaction, it needs a theoretical voltage of up to 1.23 V. Therefore, in this experiment, a series of transition metal oxides, ACo2O4 (A = Fe, Cu, Zn, Ni), was synthesized on Ni foam current collectors by a hydrothermal and calcination method, and the material was applied in urea electrolysis to produce hydrogen. What is noteworthy is that the CuCo2O4 electrode has a unique flower-like nanoneedle structure, and has a larger electrochemical active area, more reactive active sites, and a faster charge transfer rate. In 1.0 M KOH and 0.5 M urea solution, CuCo2O4 provides a potential of only 1.268 V at a current density of 10 mA cm-2 during the urea oxidation reaction (UOR), while in 1.0 M KOH solution, with the same current density, the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is required to provide a potential of 1.53 V, indicating that the UOR can effectively replace the OER. Density functional theory calculations show that the CuCo2O4 material exhibits Gibbs free energy of the hydrogen closest to zero, thus promoting the electrochemistry performance of the electrode. In a cell composed of CuCo2O4//CuCo2O4, the current density of 10 mA cm-2 can be achieved by providing a potential of only 1.509 V. This work offers a novel scheme for reducing energy consumption of the OER and improving catalytic performance of the UOR.

The synthesis of W-Ni3S2/NiS nanosheets with heterostructure as a high-efficiency catalyst for urea oxidation.

The development of efficient and stable non-precious-metal-based electrocatalysts is essential for practical water splitting applications. The electrolysis of water for hydrogen production is a green and efficient method, while urea electrolysis can improve energy conversion efficiency. In this paper, W-Ni3S2/NiS catalysts with heterogeneous structures were synthesized via a one-step hydrothermal method using a W-doping-induced phase transition strategy. The doping of W modulates the morphology of the catalyst, which can form uniform nanorod arrays and improve the activity of the electrocatalyst. In an alkaline solution of 1 M KOH and 0.5 M urea, W-Ni3S2/NiS requires a potential of only 1.309 V to achieve a current density of 10 mA cm-2. An electrolyzer containing urea with W-Ni3S2/NiS as both the cathode and anode can drive a current density of 10 mA cm-2 with a potential of only 1.569 V and has relatively good stability after testing for 20 h. Experimental results show that the improvement in the catalytic activity is due to the rapid charge transfer, exposure of more active sites and better conductivity. Density functional theory calculations show that the W-Ni3S2 material exhibits higher urea adsorption energy, indicating that urea is preferentially adsorbed on its surface. The NiS material shows more state density near the Fermi level, indicating that the introduction of this material enhances the conductivity of the W-Ni3S2/NiS material. The synergistic catalysis of the two materials promoted the improvement of the catalytic activity. This work provides new ideas for the development of highly efficient and stable catalysts by means of doping and interface construction.

In situ construction of WNiM-WNi LDH (M = Se, S, or P) with heterostructure as highly efficient electrocatalyst for overall water splitting and urea oxidation reaction.

Electrochemical water splitting as an important means of obtaining high purity hydrogen fuel has attracted great interest. In this study, the structural engineering of complex WNiM-WNi LDH (M = Se, S, or P) was firstly developed by in situ growth on Ni foam for use in overall water splitting and the urea oxidation reaction. These WNiM-WNi LDH (M = Se, S, or P) catalysts exhibit outstanding electrocatalytic performance in the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and urea oxidation reaction (UOR), respectively. An overpotential of only 64 mV of OER is required for WNiS-WNi LDH and 126 mV of HER is required for WNiP-WNi LDH to achieve 10 mA cm-2. The WNiSe-WNi LDH materials display a particularly outstanding performance for UOR, requiring a potential of 1.25 V to drive 10 mA cm-2. Moreover, the optimized WNiS-WNi LDH as an anode and WNiP-WNi LDH as a cathode can achieve 10 mA cm-2 at a low cell voltage of 1.45 V in 1 M KOH solution for overall water splitting. The density functional theory calculations show that the introduction of the NiP2 and WP material greatly reduces the Gibbs free energy of the hydrogen adsorption of the material.

Controlled synthesis of Crx-FeCo2P nanoarrays on nickel foam for overall urea splitting.

Urea splitting is a highly promising technology for hydrogen production to cope with the fossil energy crisis, which requires the development of catalysts with high electrocatalytic activity. In this article, Crx-FeCo2P/NF catalysts were synthesized by hydrothermal and low-temperature phosphorylation and used in the overall urea splitting process. Cr0.15-FeCo2P/NF and Cr0.1-FeCo2P/NF exhibited excellent urea oxidation reaction (UOR) activity (potential of 1.355 V at 100 mA cm-2) and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) activity (overpotential of 173 mV at 10 mA cm-2) in 0.5 M urea solution containing 1 M KOH. In the assembled Cr0.15-FeCo2P/NF//Cr0.1-FeCo2P/NF electrolytic cell, only a small voltage of 1.50 V is needed to reach 10 mA cm-2. Density functional theory (DFT) calculation results demonstrate that an appropriate amount of Cr doping accelerates the kinetic performance of hydrogen production as well as improving the metallic properties of the electrode.

Ni3S2/MxSy-NiCo LDH (M = Cu, Fe, V, Ce, Bi) heterostructure nanosheet arrays on Ni foam as high-efficiency electrocatalyst for electrocatalytic overall water splitting and urea splitting.

Here, we synthesized a series of Ni3S2/MxSy-NiCo LDH materials (M = Cu, Fe, V, Ce, and Bi) by a two-step hydrothermal method for the first time, which display excellent oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and urea oxidation reaction (UOR) properties. M (M = Cu, Fe, V, Ce, and Bi) ions were firstly doped into NiCo LDH to change the original electronic structure and enhance the activity of the LDH. Then, Ni3S2 and MxSy were introduced by sulfurization of the Ni support and doping cations, and the combination of Ni3S2, MxSy and NiCo-LDH improved the electron transfer rate and activity of the original material. With Ni3S2/Bi2S3-NiCo LDH/NF as anode and Ni3S2/CuS-NiCo LDH as cathode, an electrolytic cell can reach 10 mA cm-2 at 1.622 V with outstanding durability for overall water splitting. In addition, with Ni3S2/Bi2S3-NiCo LDH/NF as both electrodes, it can reach 10 mA cm-2 at 1.56 V with outstanding durability for overall urea splitting, which is better than that of the overall water splitting. Density functional theory (DFT) calculation shows that the superior electrocatalytic activity can be explained by the water adsorption energy being optimized and enhanced conductivity. This study provides a new idea for improving the catalytic activity and stability of non-noble metals instead of noble metals.

Controlled synthesis of M doped Co3O4 (M = Ce, Ni and Fe) on Ni foam as robust electrocatalyst for oxygen evolution reaction and urea oxidation reaction.

Electrocatalytic water splitting has become one of the most promising and effective ways to solve energy crises and environmental pollution.In this work, a series of M-doped Co3O4 materials with foreign ions (M = Ce, Ni and Fe) were grown on a Ni foam substrate through classical hydrothermal and calcination methods.It is worth noting that not all doping of foreign ions can promote the electrocatalytic performance of intrinsic materials.The Ce-doped Co3O4 material shows excellent oxidation properties of water (overpotential of 320 mV at 50 mA cm-2) and urea (potential of 1.39 V at 50 mA cm-2).However, the doping of Ni reduces the water oxidation performance of the intrinsic material (overpotential of 410 mV@ 50 mA cm-2), and the doping of Fe reduces the urea oxidation performance of the inherent material (potential of 1.45 V@ 50 mA cm-2).A series of experimental results indicate that the improved activity of the Ce-Co3O4 electrode is attributed to faster electron transport capacity, higher exposure to active sites, and improved conductivity due to doping of Ce. It is noteworthy that the doping of these ions does alter the rate-determination step for the water oxidation reaction. The stability test demonstrated that the current density of water oxidation and urea oxidation of the catalyst had no significant attenuation after a long electrocatalytic activity test. This work provides a new idea for improving the electrocatalytic activity of catalysts by a doping strategy.

Transition metal atom M (M = Fe, Co, Cu, Cr) doping and oxygen vacancy modulated M-Ni5P4-NiMOH nanosheets as multifunctional electrocatalysts for efficient overall water splitting and urea electrolysis reaction.

It is significant to develop reasonable and efficient hydrogen evolution reaction catalysts to alleviate the energy crisis, yet challenging to produce hydrogen through the electrolysis of water and urea. In this work, the dual control strategy of doping and vacancy creation was used to improve the electrocatalytic performance of the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) for the design of a multifunctional catalyst. A series of M-doped-Ni5P4/M-doped Ni(OH)2 (M = Fe, Co, Cu, Cr) hierarchical materials with abundant oxygen vacancies was constructed for the first time by hydrothermal and partial phosphating methods. The Co-doped-Ni5P4/Co-doped-Ni(OH)2 (Co-Ni5P4-NiCoOH) exhibited superior performance in HER, OER and urea oxidation reaction (UOR). Moreover, the electrode couple is fitted with two Co-Ni5P4-NiCoOH (C-NP-NCOH) electrodes to drive the current density of 10 mA cm-2; the necessary cell voltage was 1.57 V in 1.0 M KOH with 0.5 M urea for urea electrolysis and water electrolysis required a 1.6 V cell voltage in 1.0 M KOH electrolyte, which is one of the best catalytic activities reported so far. The experimental results suggest that the co-action of Co-doping and oxygen vacancies increases the specific surface area of the material, enhances the electronic conductivity and promotes the exposure of more active sites, thus improving the water splitting and urea electrolysis performances of the catalyst. Density functional theory analysis suggests that Co-Ni5P4-NiCoOH displays optimal adsorption energy of water and electrical conductivity, thus optimizing the adsorption/desorption of intermediates.

Electronic modulation of Co2P nanoneedle arrays by the doping of transition metal Cr atoms for a urea oxidation reaction.

Urea electrolysis is of great interest for energy-related applications, but it is limited by a complex six-electron transfer process with slow kinetics. Herein, the in situ growth of Cr-doped Co2P homogeneous nanoneedle arrays on nickel foam substrates (Cr-Co2P/NF) was reported for the first time by a typical hydrothermal and low-temperature phosphorization process. The appropriate amount of Cr doping was found to promote the electronic modulation of active centers and the expansion of the specific active surface area, resulting in the superior performance of the urea oxidation reaction (UOR). It is noteworthy that Cr0.4-Co2P/NF exhibited a superior performance of the UOR at an onset potential of 1.290 V and a cell voltage of 1.333 V at 50 mA cm-2 in 1 M KOH containing 0.5 M urea, which is one of the best catalytic activities reported so far. The experimental results demonstrate that the enhanced catalytic activity can be attributed to favorable electronic regulation, an improved charge transfer rate and increased exposure to active sites. Density functional theory (DFT) calculation indicates that the appropriate doping of Cr effectively regulates and controls the adsorption energy of urea and the conductivity of the Co2P material itself. This work provides new ideas for the development of robust catalysts for the electrolysis of urea through doping strategies.

Co, Mn co-doped Fe9S11@Ni9S8 supported on nickel foam as a high efficiency electrocatalyst for the oxygen evolution reaction and urea oxidation reaction.

The Earth's fossil resources will be exhausted soon, so it is urgent to find clean and efficient new energy for replacing fossil resources. Hydrogen energy is gradually attracting the attention of the public and electrolysis of water is considered to be one of the important means of hydrogen production because of its simplicity and convenience. In this paper, a hydrothermal method for the synthesis of a Co and Mn co-doped bimetallic sulfide Fe9S11@Ni9S8 electrocatalyst is proposed for the first time. The prepared Co-Mn-Fe9S11@Ni9S8/NF electrocatalyst exhibits excellent electrocatalytic activity for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and urea oxidation reaction (UOR). It can provide a current density of 10 mA cm-2 with only 193 mV overpotential for the OER and a current density of 10 mA cm-2 with only 1.33 V potential for the UOR, which are far superior to those of most reported electrocatalysts. What is noteworthy is that the unique nanoflower structure of Co-Mn-Fe9S11@Ni9S8/NF increases the specific surface area of the material and the introduction of Co and Mn ions promotes the formation of high valence state Ni and Fe and enhances the charge transfer rate. The density functional theory (DFT) calculation shows that the in situ generated Co-Mn-Fe-NiOOH material derived from Co-Mn-Fe9S11@Ni9S8 exhibits the best water adsorption energy and the best electrical conductivity, thus improving the catalytic performance of the material. This work provided a new idea for the development of bimetallic cation doped electrocatalysts with high efficiency and low cost.

Role of Ce in the enhanced performance of the water oxidation reaction and urea oxidation reaction for NiFe layered double hydroxides.

Atomic doping and surface engineering are regarded as a promising method for improving their electrochemistry performance toward the water oxidation reaction and urea oxidation reaction (UOR) for layered double hydroxides (LDHs) containing low cost transition metals. However, the mechanism of how foreign ion doping and interface construction enhance catalytic activity remains unclear. In this work, NiFe LDH is reported as an example where Ce (Ce-NiFe LDH) is doped or the interface is constructed with Ce(OH)3(Ce(OH)3@NiFe LDH), and water oxidation and urea oxidation reaction are used as probe reactions. The Ce(OH)3@NiFe LDH material shows superior electrocatalytic performance for the water oxidation reaction (at an overpotential of 220 mV@10 mA cm-2) and urea oxidation reaction (at a potential of 1.40 V@10 mA cm-2), which is one of the best electrocatalytic performances reported so far. After a long time of stability testing, it was found that the catalytic current had significant attenuation, and further characterization showed that the surface of the electrode would be oxidized to oxyhydroxide, which is the true active species. The experimental results demonstrate that foreign Ce and Fe atom doping and interface construction improve the exposure of active centres, enhance the electron transfer rate and reduce the impedance of the NiFe LDH material. It is worth noting that this work provides new ideas for designing efficient, stable and environmentally friendly catalysts for water splitting and urea oxidation by means of doping and interface construction.

Measurement of VEGF Content in Exosomes and Subsequent Tumor Tubulogenesis and In Vivo Angiogenesis Functional Assays.

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) plays a vital role in angiogenesis, and is also involved in tumor cell growth and immunosuppression, showing very complex roles. VEGF-exosomes are released by tumor endothelial cells (ECs) following anti-angiogenesis therapies (AATs). Transwell assays enable the detection of migration and invasion capacities of tumor cells. Matrigel assays are used to evaluate the angiogenesis capacities of ECs. Here we describe the detection of VEGF content in exosomes by nano-flow cytometry, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and western blotting, and demonstrate the procedure for detection of the colon formation of tumor cells induced by exosomes, the angiogenesis of tumor cells co-cultured with ECs, the angiogenesis of tumor cells induced by exosomes in Matrigel assay in vitro and tumor xenografts.

Boosting alkaline water splitting and the urea electrolysis kinetic process of a Co3O4 nanosheet by electronic structure modulation of F, P co-doping.

Designing non-precious metal electrocatalysts for accelerated electron transfer and richer active site exposure is necessary and challenging to achieve the versatility of electrocatalysts. In this research, a self-grown nanosheet array electrocatalyst on nickel foam with high structural stability is first rationally designed through suitable anionic doping. The combined experimental and theoretical calculations reveal that the F-P-Co3O4/NF material optimizes the adsorption energy of hydrogen/water through electron coupling, and its nanosheet structure provides abundant active sites, accelerating the mass and electron transfer in the reaction process. It is worth noting that the as-developed F-P-Co3O4/NF materials exhibit outstanding catalytic activity for overpotentials of 192 and 110 mV at a current density of 10 mA cm-2 for the oxygen evolution reaction and the hydrogen evolution reaction in 1 M KOH, respectively. More notably, an assembled F-P-Co3O4/NF//F-P-Co3O4/NF alkaline electrolytic cell requires only an ultra-low cell voltage of 1.53 V to achieve a current density of 10 mA cm-2, which is one of the best activities reported so far. Furthermore, F-P-Co3O4/NF also shows excellent performance for urea electrolysis. Theoretical calculations show that the superior activity of the F-P-Co3O4/NF catalyst is attributed to the optimal electron configuration and the lower Gibbs free energy of hydrogen adsorption due to co-doping of P and F. The work provides an alternative solution for the preparation of electrocatalysts with high structural stability, high catalytic activity and multifunction for alkaline water splitting and urea electrolysis.

Industrial gearbox fault diagnosis based on multi-scale convolutional neural networks and thermal imaging.

Infrared thermal technology plays a vital role in the health condition monitoring of gearbox. In the traditional infrared thermal technology-based methods, Gaussian pyramid is applied as the feature extraction approach, which has disadvantages of noise influence and information missing. Focus on such disadvantages, an improved multi-scale decomposition method combined with convolutional neural network is proposed to extract the fault features of the multi-scale infrared images in this paper. It can enlarge the data length at large scales, and thus reduce the fluctuations of feature values and reserve the fault information. The effectiveness of the proposed method is validated using the experiment infrared data of one industrial gearbox. Results demonstrate that our proposed method has the best performance comparing with five methods.

Fe and Cu dual-doped Ni3S4 nanoarrays with less low-valence Ni species for boosting water oxidation reaction.

Transition metal materials with high efficiency and durable electrocatalytic water splitting activity have attracted widespread attention among scientists. In this work, two cation co-doped Ni3S4 nanoarrays grown on a Ni foam support were firstly synthesized through a typical two step hydrothermal process. Cu and Fe co-doping can regulate the internal electron configuration of the material, thus reducing the activation energy of the active species. Moreover, density functional theory calculations demonstrate that a low Ni2+ amount improves the adsorption energy of H2O, which facilitates the formation and reaction of intermediate species in the water splitting process. The experimental results indicate that the Cu and Fe co-doped Ni3S4 material has superior electrochemical activity for water oxidation reaction to pure Ni3S4, Fe doped Ni3S4 and Cu doped Ni3S4. The Fe-Cu-Ni3S4 material displays a significantly enhanced electrocatalytic performance with low overpotentials of 230 mV at 50 mA cm-2 and 260 mV at 100 mA cm-2 for the oxygen evolution reaction under alkaline conditions. It's worth noting that when Fe-Cu-Ni3S4 was used as the anode and cathode, a small cell voltage of 1.59 V at 10 mA cm-2 was obtained to achieve stable overall water splitting. Our work will afford a novel view and guidance for the preparation and application of efficient and environmentally friendly water splitting catalysts.

The controlled synthesis of nitrogen and iron co-doped Ni3S2@NiP2 heterostructures for the oxygen evolution reaction and urea oxidation reaction.

At present, global resources are nearly exhausted and environmental pollution is becoming more and more serious, so it is urgent to develop efficient catalysts for hydrogen production. Herein, nitrogen and iron co-doped Ni3S2 and NiP2 heterostructures with high efficiency oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and urea oxidation reaction (UOR) performances were firstly successfully prepared on nickel foam by hydrothermal and high-temperature calcination methods. Benefiting from the hierarchical structure, the exposure of more active sites and the doping effect of N and Fe, the N-Fe-Ni3S2@NiP2/NF material showed excellent electrocatalytic activity for the OER and UOR. The N-Fe-Ni3S2@NiP2/NF material displays excellent catalytic OER performance; the overpotential is only 251 mV to drive 100 mA cm-2 current density, while for the UOR, the potential is only 1.353 V to drive 100 mA cm-2 current density, which is one of the best catalytic activities reported so far. It is worth noting that scanning electron microscopy showed that the surface of N-Fe-Ni3S2@NiP2/NF is rough and has some mesopores, which may have resulted in an increase of active sites during the electrocatalytic process. The N-Fe-Ni3S2@NiP2/NF electrode couple also has relatively long-term durability in alkaline solutions, maintaining a stable current density for 15 h at 1.35 V. The density functional theory (DFT) calculation shows that the in situ generated Fe doped nanooxides exhibit strong water adsorption energy, which may be one of the reasons for the good catalytic activity. Our work is conducive to the rational design of electrocatalysts for efficient hydrogen production from water splitting and wastewater treatment.

Mechanism of cell death of endothelial cells regulated by mechanical forces.

Cell death of endothelial cells (ECs) is a common devastating consequence of various vascular-related diseases. Atherosclerosis, hypertension, sepsis, diabetes, cerebral ischemia and cardiac ischemia/reperfusion injury, and chronic kidney disease remain major causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide, in which ECs are constantly subjected to a great amount of dynamic changed mechanical forces including shear stress, extracellular matrix stiffness, mechanical stretch and microgravity. A thorough understanding of the regulatory mechanisms by which the mechanical forces controlled the cell deaths including apoptosis, autophagy, and pyroptosis is crucial for the development of new therapeutic strategies. In the present review, experimental and clinical data highlight that nutrient depletion, oxidative stress, tumor necrosis factor-α, high glucose, lipopolysaccharide, and homocysteine possess cytotoxic effects in many tissues and induce apoptosis of ECs, and that sphingosine-1-phosphate protects ECs. Nevertheless, EC apoptosis in the context of those artificial microenvironments could be enhanced, reduced or even reversed along with the alteration of patterns of shear stress. An appropriate level of autophagy diminishes EC apoptosis to some extent, in addition to supporting cell survival upon microenvironment challenges. The intervention of pyroptosis showed a profound effect on atherosclerosis. Further cell and animal studies are required to ascertain whether the alterations in the levels of cell deaths and their associated regulatory mechanisms happen at local lesion sites with considerable mechanical force changes, for preventing senescence and cell deaths in the vascular-related diseases.

Predictive nomogram for postoperative atrial fibrillation in locally advanced esophageal squamous carcinoma cell with neoadjuvant treatment.

Background: Neoadjuvant therapy following minimally invasive esophagectomy is recommended as the standard treatment for locally advanced esophageal squamous carcinoma cells (ESCC). Postoperative atrial fibrillation (POAF) after esophagectomy is common. We aimed to determine the risk factors and construct a nomogram model to predict the incidence of POAF among patients receiving neoadjuvant therapy. Methods: We retrospectively included patients with ESCC receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy (nCT), neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (nCRT), or neoadjuvant immunochemotherapy (nICT) following minimally invasive esophagectomy (MIE) for analysis. Patients without a history of AF who did not have any AF before surgery and who developed new AF after surgery, were defined as having POAF. We applied a LASSO regression analysis to avoid the collinearity of variables and screen the risk factors. We then applied a multivariate regression analysis to select independent risk factors and constructed a nomogram model to predict POAF. We used the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, calibration curve, and decision curve analysis (DCA) curve to evaluate the nomogram model. Results: A total of 202 patients were included for analysis, with 35 patients receiving nCRT, 88 patients receiving nCT, and 79 patients receiving nICT. POAF occurred in 34 (16.83%) patients. There was no significant difference in the distribution of neoadjuvant types between the POAF group and the no POAF group. There was a significant increase in postoperative hospital stay (p = 0.04), hospital expenses (p = 0.01), and comprehensive complication index (p < 0.001). The LASSO analysis screened the following as risk factors: blood loss; ejection fraction (EF); forced expiratory volume in 1 s; preoperative albumin (Alb); postoperative hemoglobin (Hb); preoperative Hb; hypertension; time to surgery; age; and left atrial (LA) diameter. Further, preoperative Alb ≤41.2 g/L (p < 0.001), preoperative Hb >149 g/L (p = 0.01), EF >67.61% (p = 0.008), and LA diameter >32.9 mm (p = 0.03) were determined as independent risk factors of POAF in the multivariate logistic analysis. The nomogram had an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.77. The Briser score of the calibration curve was 0.12. The DCA confirmed good clinical value. Conclusions: Preoperative Alb ≤41.2 g/L, LA diameter >32.9 mm, preoperative Hb >149 g/L, and EF >67.61% were determined as the risk factors for POAF among patients with ESCC. A novel and valuable nomogram was constructed and validated to help clinicians evaluate the risk of POAF and take personalized treatment plans.

Controllable synthesis of Ni3S2@MOOH/NF (M = Fe, Ni, Cu, Mn and Co) hybrid structure for the efficient hydrogen evolution reaction.

The design and synthesis of hybrid core-shell catalysts is of great significance for obtaining an excellent performance of hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). However, it remains a challenge to explore the exact active sites and research the catalytic mechanism for HER. Here, a series of Ni3S2@MOOH/NF (M = Fe, Ni, Cu, Mn and Co) hybrid structures is firstly in-site grown on Ni foam by the typical hydrothermal and electrodeposition methods. The Ni3S2@NiOOH/NF catalyst with a core-shell structure exhibits a relatively low overpotential of 79 mV for HER at a current density of 10 mA cm-2, which is one of the best catalytic activities reported so far. Moreover, it also shows good stability in the long-term durability test. Various spectral analysis and density functional theory calculations demonstrate that NiOOH is favorable for the adsorption of water molecules, and the S atom at the interface between Ni3S2 and NiOOH is favorable for the adsorption of H intermediates, which strongly accelerates the HER process in alkaline solution. This work provides a general strategy for the synthesis of electrocatalytic materials, which can be used for efficient electrocatalytic water splitting reactions.