Three-Dimensional Porous Indium Single-Atom Catalysts with Improved Accessibility for CO2 Reduction to Formate.

Single-atom catalysts (SACs) present substantial potential in electrocatalytic CO2 reduction reactions; however, inferior accessibility of single-atom sites to CO2 limits the overall CO2RR performances. Herein, we propose to improve the accessibility between In sites and CO2 through the construction of a three-dimensional (3D) porous indium single-atom catalyst (In1/NC-3D). The NaCl template-mediated synthesis strategy generates the unique 3D porous nanostructure of In1/NC-3D. Multiple characterizations validate that In1/NC-3D exhibits increased exposure of active sites and enhanced CO2 transport/adsorption capacity compared to the bulk In1/NC, thus improving accessibility of active sites to CO2. As a result, the In1/NC-3D presents superior CO2RR performance to the bulk In1/NC, with a partial current density of formate of 67.24 mA cm-2 at -1.41 V, relative to a reversible hydrogen electrode (vs RHE). The CO2RR performances with high formate selectivity at a large current density also outperform most reported In-based SACs. Importantly, the In1/NC-3D is demonstrated to maintain an FEformate of >82% at -66.83 mA·cm-2 over 21 h. This work highlights the design of a 3D porous single-atom catalyst for efficient CO2RR, promoting the development of advanced catalysts toward advanced energy conversion.

Mn Single-Atom Tuning Fe-N-C Catalyst Enables Highly Efficient and Durable Oxygen Electrocatalysis and Zinc-Air Batteries.

Fe-N-C catalyst is one of most promising candidates for oxygen electrocatalysis reaction in zinc-air batteries (ZABs), but achieving sustained high activity is still a challenging issue. Herein, we demonstrate that introducing Mn single atoms into Fe-N-C (Mn1@Fe-N-C/CNTs) enables the realization of highly efficient and durable oxygen electrocatalysis performance and application in ZABs. Multiple characterizations confirm that Mn1@Fe-N-C/CNTs is equipped with Mn-N2O2 and Fe-N4 sites and Fe nanoparticles. The Mn-N2O2 sites not only tune the electron structure of Fe-Nx sites to enhance intrinsic activity, but also scavenge the attack of radicals from Fe-Nx sites for improvement in ORR durability. As a result, Mn1@Fe-N-C/CNTs exhibits enhanced ORR performance to traditional Fe-N-C catalysts with high E1/2 of 0.89 V vs reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE) and maintains ORR activity after 15 000 CV. Impressively, Mn1@Fe-N-C/CNTs also presents excellent OER activity and the difference (ΔE) between E1/2 of ORR and OER potential at 10 mA cm-2 (Ej10) is only 0.59 V, outperforming most reported catalysts. In addition, the maintainable bifunctional activity of Mn1@Fe-N-C/CNTs is demonstrated in ZABs with almost unchanged cycle voltage efficiency up to 200 h. This work highlights the critical role of Mn single atoms in enhancing ORR activity and stability, promoting the development of advanced catalysts.

Propensity score matching analysis on the safety and short-term outcomes of laparoscopic hepatectomy after conversion therapy versus pure laparoscopic hepatectomy / 中华肝胆外科杂志

Objective:To compare the safety and short-term prognosis of laparoscopic hepatectomy after conversion therapy versus pure laparoscopic hepatectomy for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).Methods:A total of 740 patients with HCC undergoing laparoscopic hepatectomy at Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University between January 2019 and December 2022 were screened for study eligibility, among which 433 patients were eligible, including 364 males and 69 females, aged (57.2±11.1) years. Patients who underwent laparoscopic hepatectomy after conversion therapy (including interventional therapy combined with targeted therapy or targeted therapy combined with immunotherapy, etc.) were marked as conversion resection group ( n=36), and those who underwent laparoscopic hepatectomy alone were marked as pure resection group ( n=397). After propensity score matching (PSM), 29 cases in the conversion resection group and pure resection group were finally enrolled. Preoperative (tumor number, maximum tumor diameter, etc.), intraoperative (operation time, intraoperative blood loss, etc.) and postoperative (hospital stay, drainage volume, complications, etc.) data and short-term prognosis were compared between the two groups. Survival curves and rates were analyzed using Kaplan-Meier and log-rank test. Results:The baseline characteristics including the occurrence of liver cirrhosis, the tumor number and maximum diameter showed no significant differences between the two groups after PSM (all P>0.05), indicating comparability. There were no statistical differences between the two groups in terms of operation time, intraoperative blood loss, postoperative hospital stay, postoperative drainage volume etc. (all P>0.05). The incidences of postoperative complications and severe complications (Clavien-Dindo grade ≥Ⅲ) were 34.5% (10/29) and 6.9% (2/29) in pure resection group, and 41.4% (12/29) and 10.3% (3/29) in conversion resection group, respectively, with no significant difference between the two groups (χ 2=0.29, 0, P=0.588, 1.000). The recurrence-free survival rates at 6, 12 and 18 months after surgery were 79.2%, 70.7% and 70.7% in conversion resection group and 86.2%, 82.8% and 79.3% in pure resection group, the overall survival rates at 6, 12, and 18 months after surgery were 96.4%, 89.5%, 74.6% in conversion resection group, and 100.0%, 96.6% and 93.1% in pure resection group, with no significant difference (χ 2=1.90, 1.91, P=0.168, 0.167). Conclusion:Laparoscopic hepatectomy after conversion therapy for initially unresectable HCC has comparable safety and short-term prognosis with the pure laparoscopic hepatectomy.

Concurrent silencing of TBCE and drug delivery to overcome platinum-based resistance in liver cancer

Platinum-based chemotherapy resistance is a key factor of poor prognosis and recurrence in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Herein, RNAseq analysis revealed that elevated tubulin folding cofactor E (TBCE) expression is associated with platinum-based chemotherapy resistance. High expression of TBCE contributes to worse prognoses and earlier recurrence among liver cancer patients. Mechanistically, TBCE silencing significantly affects cytoskeleton rearrangement, which in turn increases cisplatin-induced cycle arrest and apoptosis. To develop these findings into potential therapeutic drugs, endosomal pH-responsive nanoparticles (NPs) were developed to simultaneously encapsulate TBCE siRNA and cisplatin (DDP) to reverse this phenomena. NPs (siTBCE + DDP) concurrently silenced TBCE expression, increased cell sensitivity to platinum treatment, and subsequently resulted in superior anti-tumor effects both in vitro and in vivo in orthotopic and patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models. Taken together, NP-mediated delivery and the co-treatment of siTBCE + DDP proved to be effective in reversing chemotherapy resistance of DDP in multiple tumor models.