Regulating Electron Filling and Orbital Occupancy of Anti-Bonding States of Transition Metal Nitride Heterojunction for High Areal Capacity Lithium-Sulfur Full Batteries.

The commercialization of lithium-sulfur (Li-S) battery is seriously hindered by the shuttle behavior of lithium (Li) polysulfide, slow conversion kinetics, and Li dendrite growth. Herein, a novel hierarchical p-type iron nitride and n-type vanadium nitride (p-Fe2 N/n-VN) heterostructure with optimal electronic structure, confined in vesicle-like N-doped nanofibers (p-Fe2 N/n-VN⊂PNCF), is meticulously constructed to work as "one stone two birds" dual-functional hosts for both the sulfur cathode and Li anode. As demonstrated, the d-band center of high-spin Fe atom captures more electrons from V atom to realize more π* and moderate σ* bond electron filling and orbital occupation; thus, allowing moderate adsorption intensity for polysulfides and more effective d-p orbital hybridization to improve reaction kinetics. Meanwhile, this unique structure can dynamically balance the deposition and transport of Li on the anode; thereby, more effectively inhibiting Li dendrite growth and promoting the formation of a uniform solid electrolyte interface. The as-assembled Li-S full batteries exhibit the conspicuous capacities and ultralong cycling lifespan over 2000 cycles at 5.0 C. Even at a higher S loading (20 mg cm-2 ) and lean electrolyte (2.5 µL mg-1 ), the full cells can still achieve an ultrahigh areal capacity of 16.1 mAh cm-2 after 500 cycles at 0.1 C.

Honeycomb-Structured MoSe2 /rGO Composites as High-Performance Anode Materials for Sodium-Ion Batteries.

Sodium-ion batteries are a promising substitute for lithium batteries due to the abundant resources and low cost of sodium. Herein, honeycomb-shaped MoSe2 /reduced graphene oxide (rGO) composite materials are synthesized from graphene oxide (GO) and MoSe2 through a one-step solvothermal process. Experiments show that the 3D honeycomb structure provides excellent electrolyte penetration while alleviating the volume change during electrochemical cycling. An anode prepared with MoSe2 /rGO composites exhibits significantly improved sodium-ion storage properties, where a large reversible capacity of 215 mAh g-1 is obtained after 2700 cycles at the current density of 30.0 A g-1 or after 5900 cycles at 8.0 A g-1 . When such an anode is paired with Na3 V2 (PO4 )3 to form a full cell, a reversible specific capacity of 107.5 mAh g-1 can be retained after 1000 cycles at the current of 1.0 A g-1 . Transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and in situ X-ray diffraction (XRD) characterization reveal the reversible storage reaction of Na ions in the MoSe2 /rGO composites. The significantly enhanced sodium storage capacity is attributed to the unique honeycomb microstructure and the use of ether-based electrolytes. This study illustrates that combining rGO with ether-based electrolytes has tremendous potential in constructing high-performance sodium-ion batteries.

Redefining Esophagectomy: The Manual Layered Insertion Method That May Reduce Anastomotic Leakage.

INTRODUCTION: Anastomotic leakage post-esophagectomy remains a significant challenge. Despite the use of both mechanical and manual anastomosis, leakage rates remain high. This study evaluated the effectiveness of the manual layered insertion anastomosis technique in addressing this issue. METHODS: A retrospective analysis was conducted on patients who underwent this technique from September 2020 to December 2021. The process involved thoracoscopic release of the esophagus, mediastinal lymph node dissection, laparoscopic stomach release, and its transformation into a tube. The latter was then guided to the neck for anastomosis. The posterior anastomotic wall was reshaped in the neck first for optimal insertion, followed by layered suturing with the gastric conduit. The anterior wall was subsequently sutured and repositioned into the chest. RESULTS: The study included 56 patients (51 men, five women, mean age 65.4 y), with nine having undergone neoadjuvant therapy. All received minimally invasive esophagectomy. Average intraoperative blood loss was 79.8 mL, operation time averaged 331 min, and feeding resumed after an average of 6.3 d. No anastomotic leakages were reported, with reduced incidences of anastomotic stenosis and gastric acid reflux compared to previous studies. CONCLUSIONS: The manual layered insertion anastomosis technique may reduce anastomotic leakage and associated complications, improving the efficacy of esophagectomy, which may improve postoperative results and patient quality of life, suggesting the method's potential suitability for wider clinical application.

Nitrogen-Doped Porous MXene (Ti3C2) for Flexible Supercapacitors with Enhanced Storage Performance.

Flexible supercapacitors (FSCs) are limited in flexible electronics applications due to their low energy density. Therefore, developing electrode materials with high energy density, high electrochemical activity, and remarkable flexibility is challenging. Herein, we designed nitrogen-doped porous MXene (N-MXene), using melamine-formaldehyde (MF) microspheres as a template and nitrogen source. We combined it with an electrospinning process to produce a highly flexible nitrogen-doped porous MXene nanofiber (N-MXene-F) as a self-supporting electrode material and assembled it into a symmetrical supercapacitor (SSC). On the one hand, the interconnected mesh structure allows the electrolyte to penetrate the porous network to fully infiltrate the material surface, shortening the ion transport channels; on the other hand, the uniform nitrogen doping enhances the pseudocapacitive performance. As a result, the as-assembled SSC exhibited excellent electrochemical performance and excellent long-term durability, achieving an energy density of 12.78 Wh kg-1 at a power density of 1080 W kg-1, with long-term cycling stability up to 5000 cycles. This work demonstrates the impact of structural design and atomic doping on the electrochemical performance of MXene and opens up an exciting possibility for the fabrication of highly FSCs.

Parkinson's severity diagnosis explainable model based on 3D multi-head attention residual network.

The severity evaluation of Parkinson's disease (PD) is of great significance for the treatment of PD. However, existing methods either have limitations based on prior knowledge or are invasive methods. To propose a more generalized severity evaluation model, this paper proposes an explainable 3D multi-head attention residual convolution network. First, we introduce the 3D attention-based convolution layer to extract video features. Second, features will be fed into LSTM and residual backbone networks, which can be used to capture the contextual information of the video. Finally, we design a feature compression module to condense the learned contextual features. We develop some interpretable experiments to better explain this black-box model so that it can be better generalized. Experiments show that our model can achieve state-of-the-art diagnosis performance. The proposed lightweight but effective model is expected to serve as a suitable end-to-end deep learning baseline in future research on PD video-based severity evaluation and has the potential for large-scale application in PD telemedicine. The source code is available at https://github.com/JackAILab/MARNet.

V2O3@C Microspheres as the High-Performance Cathode Materials for Advanced Aqueous Zinc-Ion Storage.

Vanadium oxides attract increasing research interests for constructing the cathode of aqueous zinc-ion batteries (ZIBs) because of high theoretical capacity, but the low intrinsic conductivity and unstable phase changes during the charge/discharge process pose great challenges for their adoption. In this work, V2O3@C microspheres were developed to achieve enhanced conductivity and improved stability of phase changes. Compounding vanadium oxides and conductive carbon through the in-situ carbonization led to significant improvement of the cathode materials. ZIBs prepared with V2O3@C cathodes produce a specific capacity of 420 mA h g-1 at 0.2 A g-1. A reversible capacity of 132 mA h g-1 was achieved at 21.0 A g-1. After 2000 cycles, the electrode could still deliver a capacity of 202 mA h g-1 at the current of 5.0 A g-1. Besides, the energy density of batteries constructed with the thus-prepared electrodes was about 294 W h kg-1 at 148 W kg-1 power. The in-situ compounding of V2O3 and carbon resulted in a microstructure that facilitated the stable phase transformation of ZnxV2O5-a·nH2O (ZnVOH), which provided more Zn2+ storage activity than the original phase before electrochemical activation. Moreover, the in-situ compositing strategy presents a simple route to the development of ZIB cathodes with promising performance.

Heat shock protein 60 in parasitic helminths: A role in immune responses and therapeutic applications.

Heat shock protein 60 (HSP60) is an unique member of the heat shock protein family, being involved in parasite infections. To cope with harsh environments where parasites live, HSP60s are indispensable and involved in a variety of biological processes. HSP60s have relative low similarity among parasites, but their ATPase /Mg2+ active sites are highly conserved. The interactions of HSP60s with signaling pathway regulators in immune cells suggest a crucial role in immune responses, rendering them a potential therapeutic target. This paper reviews the current understandings of HSP60s in parasitic helminths in aspects of molecular characteristics, immunoregulatory responses and HSP60-based therapeutics.

Comparative characterization of microRNA-71 of Echinococcus granulosus exosomes.

Cystic echinococcosis (CE) is a global zoonotic disease caused by Echinococcus granulosus, posing a great threat to human and animal health. MiRNAs are small regulatory noncoding RNA involved in the pathogenesis of parasitic diseases, possibly via exosomes. Egr-miR-71 has been identified as one of the miRNAs in the blood of CE patients, but its secretory characteristics and functions remains unclear. Herein, we studied the secretory and biological activity of exosomal egr-miR-71 and its immunoregulatory functions in sheep peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). Our results showed that egr-miR-71 was enriched in the exosome secreted by protoscoleces with biological activity. These egr-miR-71-containing exosomes were easily internalized and then induced the dysregulation of cytokines (IL-10 and TNF-α), nitric oxide (NO) and key components (CD14 and IRF5) in the LPS/TLR4 pathway in the coincubated sheep PBMCs. Similarly, egr-miR-71 overexpression also altered the immune functions but exhibited obvious differences in regulation of the cytokines and key components, preferably inhibiting proinflammatory cytokines (IL-1α, IL-1ß and TNF-α). These results demonstrate that exosomal egr-miR-71 is bioactive and capacity of immunomodulation of PBMCs, potentially being involved in immune responses during E. granulosus infection.

Title: Caractérisation comparative du microARN-71 des exosomes d'Echinococcus granulosus. Abstract: L'échinococcose kystique (EK) est une maladie zoonotique mondiale causée par Echinococcus granulosus, représentant une grande menace pour la santé humaine et animale. Les miARN sont des petits ARN régulateurs non codants impliqués dans la pathogenèse des maladies parasitaires, éventuellement via les exosomes. Egr-miR-71 a été identifié comme l'un des miARN présents dans le sang des patients atteints d'EK, mais ses caractéristiques et fonctions sécrétoires restent floues. Ici, nous avons étudié l'activité sécrétoire et biologique du egr-miR-71 exosomal et ses fonctions immunorégulatrices dans les cellules mononucléées du sang périphérique (CMSP) de mouton. Nos résultats ont montré qu'egr-miR-71 était enrichi dans l'exosome sécrété par les protoscolex ayant une activité biologique. Ces exosomes contenant egr-miR-71 ont été facilement internalisés et ont ensuite induit la dérégulation des cytokines (IL-10 et TNF-α), de l'oxyde nitrique (NO) et des composants clés (CD14 et IRF5) de la voie LPS/TLR4 dans les CMSP de mouton co-incubées. De même, la surexpression d'egr-miR-71 a également modifié les fonctions immunitaires mais a montré des différences évidentes dans la régulation des cytokines et des composants clés, inhibant de préférence les cytokines pro-inflammatoires (IL-1α, IL-1ß et TNF-α). Ces résultats démontrent que l'egr-miR-71 exosomal est bioactif et possède une capacité d'immunomodulation des CMSP, potentiellement impliquée dans les réponses immunitaires lors d'une infection à E. granulosus.

Amorphization-Activated Copper Indium Core-Shell Nanoparticles for Stable Syngas Production from Electrochemical CO2 Reduction.

Electrochemical carbon dioxide reduction reaction (CO2 RR) refers to the conversion of carbon dioxide into compounds with added value through electrolysis. It is still a great challenge to design and manufacture efficient CO2 RR catalysts for desired products. Producing syngas via CO2 RR is an environmentally friendly way to reduce CO2 in the atmosphere and the dependence on fossil fuels. Herein, a new class of Cu/In2 O3 nanoparticles (NPs) with controlled phases and structures were successfully prepared as superior electrocatalysts for CO2 RR, where the CO/H2 ratios in syngas on Cu/In2 O3 NPs/C-H2 remained about 1 : 2 at a broad potential range and the total faradaic efficiency of H2 and CO always remained about 90 %. Electronic structural analysis revealed that the excellent performance was attributed to the electronic interaction between amorphous In2 O3 and Cu. This work broadens the horizons for designing and preparing fascinating electrocatalysts for CO2 RR.

Efficient delivery of Echinococcus multilocularis miRNAs using chitosan nanoparticles.

Alveolar echinococcosis caused by Echinococcus multilocularis is an important zoonotic disease, a great threat to human health due to limited interventions. microRNAs are a type of small non-coding RNA that plays a key role in many diseases and is considered as a potential therapeutic target for control of parasitic diseases. However, naked miRNAs are difficult to enter into cells and are easily degraded in both external and internal environments. Chitosan (CS) has recently been used as a promising vehicle for delivery of nucleic acids. Therefore, we prepared miRNA-bearing CS nanoparticles and investigated the physicochemical properties as well as the delivery efficiency. We found that CS nanoparticles was relatively stable, offered miRNA strong protection from degradation and had low cytotoxicity with no significant effects on cell proliferation and apoptosis. CS nanoparticles were shown to be easily absorbed by cells and have remarkable liver tropism. Furthermore, CS nanoparticles were used to efficiently deliver E. multilocularis miR-4989 in vitro and in vivo and caused a significant reduction in the expression of UBE2N in the liver, a potential target of emu-miR-4989, at both mRNA and protein levels. Our data demonstrate that CS nanoparticles can act as a vehicle for efficient liver-targeted delivery of miRNAs and for development of miRNA-based therapeutics against E. multilocularis infection.

Advanced TexSy-C Nanocomposites for High-Performance Lithium Ion Batteries.

This study is dedicated to expand the family of lithium-tellurium sulfide batteries, which have been recognized as a promising choice for future energy storage systems. Herein, a novel electrochemical method has been applied to engineer micro-nano TexSy material, and it is found that TexSy phases combined with multi-walled carbon nanotubes endow the as-constructed lithium-ion batteries excellent cycling stability and high rate performance. In the process of material synthesis, the sulfur was successfully embedded into the tellurium matrix, which improved the overall capacity performance. TexSy was characterized and verified as a micro-nano-structured material with less Te and more S. Compared with the original pure Te particles, the capacity is greatly improved, and the volume expansion change is effectively inhibited. After the assembly of Li-TexSy battery, the stable electrical contact and rapid transport capacity of lithium ions, as well as significant electrochemical performance are verified.

Molecular cloning and functional characterization of a thioredoxin peroxidase gene in Echinococcus multilocularis.

Thioredoxin peroxidase (TPx) plays an important role in protecting parasites against oxidative damage. However, studies on the role of TPxs in Echinococcus multilocularis are limited. In this study, one tpx gene of E. multilocularis, named as emtpx-1, was identified. EmTPx-1 shares two positionally conserved cysteine residues (Cys48 and Cys169) with orthologs from other platyhelminths. EmTPx-1 is highly expressed in the germinal layer and present in exosome-like vesicles secreted by E. multilocularis metacestodes. EmTPx-1 displays peroxidase activity, which removes hydrogen peroxide in the presence of dithiothreitol. Furthermore, EmTPx-1 could protect DNA from oxidative damages, and EmTPx-1-expressing E. coli cells had an enhanced resistance to oxidative stress. In addition, EmTPx-1 enhanced the expression of arg1, ym1, and il-10, but suppressed inos, tnf-α, and il-1ß expression in LPS-stimulated macrophages. Our data suggest a critical role for EmTPx-1 in oxidative stresses and M2 macrophage polarization.

Characterization of Fructose-1,6-Bisphosphate Aldolase 1 of Echinococcus multilocularis.

Glycolysis is one of the important ways by which Echinococcus multilocularis acquires energy. Fructose-1, 6-bisphosphate aldolase (FBA) plays an important role in this process, but it is not fully characterized in E. multilocularis yet. The results of genome-wide analysis showed that the Echinococcus species contained four fba genes (FBA1-4), all of which had the domain of FBA I and multiple conserved active sites. EmFBA1 was mainly located in the germinal layer and the posterior of the protoscolex. The enzyme activity of EmFBA1 was 67.42 U/mg with Km and Vmax of 1.75 mM and 0.5 mmol/min, respectively. EmFBA1 was only susceptible to Fe3+ but not to the other four ions (Na+, Ca2+, K+, Mg2+), and its enzyme activity was remarkably lost in the presence of 0.5 mM Fe3+. The current study reveals the biochemical characters of EmFBA1 and is informative for further investigation of its role in the glycolysis in E. multilocularis.

The effect of Baduanjin on intestinal flora in patients with prediabetes mellitus: Study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: The incidence rate of prediabetes is increasing year by year. Prediabetes is a continuous ever fount of diabetes. Diabetes is closely related to intestinal flora imbalance and insulin resistance (IR). Previous studies have proved that Baduanjin can effectively improve the blood glucose and blood lipid of patients, but there is no relevant research on intestinal flora and IR. Therefore, this study focuses on the influence of Baduanjin on intestinal flora of patients with prediabetes, so as to improve the effect of IR, and finally delay or prevent the occurrence of to diabetes mellitus 2 type (T2DM). METHODS: This study will recruit 80 patients who meet the diagnostic criteria of prediabetes from Hospital of Chengdu University of traditional Chinese Medicine. Eighty patients will be randomly divided into experimental group and control group, 40 cases in each group. The control group received routine lifestyle intervention, and the experimental group received Baduanjin at least 3 to 5 times a week for a total of 6 months. The researchers monitored the intestinal flora, insulin resistance index, blood glucose, blood lipid, body mass index, and other indicators after 3 months of intervention and 6 months of intervention DISCUSSION:: Based on previous studies, intestinal flora is closely related to the occurrence and development of T2DM-IR. Baduanjin can significantly improve the blood glucose and blood lipid of patients with prediabetes, and has a positive effect on the intestinal flora of the elderly and significantly improve the intestinal microecological balance. This study used randomized controlled trial to explore the control method between Baduanjin and conventional lifestyle, in order to further establish the application of Baduanjin in patients with prediabetes. TRIAL REGISTRATION: This trial protocol has been approved by the research hospital and registered in China clinical trial registration center on July 6, 2020 (ChiCTR2000034490).

Artificial Intelligence-Based Application to Explore Inhibitors of Neurodegenerative Diseases.

Neuroinflammation is a common factor in neurodegenerative diseases, and it has been demonstrated that galectin-3 activates microglia and astrocytes, leading to inflammation. This means that inhibition of galectin-3 may become a new strategy for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. Based on this motivation, the objective of this study is to explore an integrated new approach for finding lead compounds that inhibit galectin-3, by combining universal artificial intelligence algorithms with traditional drug screening methods. Based on molecular docking method, potential compounds with high binding affinity were screened out from Chinese medicine database. Manifold artificial intelligence algorithms were performed to validate the docking results and further screen compounds. Among all involved predictive methods, the deep learning-based algorithm made 500 modeling attempts, and the square correlation coefficient of the best trained model on the test sets was 0.9. The XGBoost model reached a square correlation coefficient of 0.97 and a mean square error of only 0.01. We switched to the ZINC database and performed the same experiment, the results showed that the compounds in the former database showed stronger affinity. Finally, we further verified through molecular dynamics simulation that the complex composed of the candidate ligand and the target protein showed stable binding within 100 ns of simulation time. In summary, combined with the application based on artificial intelligence algorithms, we unearthed the active ingredients 1,2-Dimethylbenzene and Typhic acid contained in Crataegus pinnatifida and Typha angustata might be the effective inhibitors of neurodegenerative diseases. The high prediction accuracy of the models shows that it has practical application value on small sample data sets such as drug screening.

Insight into potent leads for alzheimer's disease by using several artificial intelligence algorithms.

Several proteins including S-nitrosoglutathione reductase (GSNOR), complement Factor D, complement 3b (C3b) and Protein Kinase R-like Endoplasmic Reticulum Kinase (PERK), have been demonstrated to be involved in pathogenesis pathways for Alzheimer's disease (AD) and considered as potential treatment targets to AD. Based on the concept of multitargets, a network pharmacology-based approach was employed to investigate potential Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) candidates that can dock well with GSNOR, C3b, Factor D and PERK proteins. To predict the bioactivities of candidates, Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithms composed of seven machine learning algorithms and a deep learning model were performed to validate the docking results. Furthermore, in this study, we propose a novel combined method for efficiently exploring the predicted results of AI algorithms. Besides, Comparative force field analysis (CoMFA) and comparative similarity indices analysis (CoMSIA) were performed to construct predicted models. The results show that the square correlation coefficients (R2) of all models are almost higher than 0.75, which also acquire good achievements on the test set. Moreover, the binding stability of the potential inhibitors were evaluated using 100 ns of MD simulation. Collectively, this study elucidate that the herbs Ardisia japonica, Ligusticum chuanxiong, Lippia nodiflora and Mirabilis jalapa containing 2,2'-[benzene-1,4-diylbis(methanediyloxybenzene-4,1-diyl)]bis(oxoacetic acid), Glyasperin B, Nodifloridin A, Miraxanthin III and l-Valine-l-valine anhydride might be a potential medicine formula for AD.