Electron-Sponge Nature of Polyoxometalates for Next-Generation Electrocatalytic Water Splitting and Nonvolatile Neuromorphic Devices.

Designing next-generation molecular devices typically necessitates plentiful oxygen-bearing sites to facilitate multiple-electron transfers. However, the theoretical limits of existing materials for energy conversion and information storage devices make it inevitable to hunt for new competitors. Polyoxometalates (POMs), a unique class of metal-oxide clusters, have been investigated exponentially due to their structural diversity and tunable redox properties.

Glutamate-pantothenate pathway promotes antibiotic resistance of .

Although cellular metabolic states have been shown to modulate bacterial susceptibility to antibiotics, the interaction between glutamate (Glu) and chloramphenicol (CAP) resistance remains unclear because of the specificity of antibiotics and bacteria. We found that the level of Glu was upregulated in the CAP-resistant strain of according to a comparative metabolomics approach based on LC-MS/MS. Furthermore, we verified that exogenous metabolites related to Glu, the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle, and glutathione (GSH) metabolism could promote CAP resistance in survival assays.

Continuous renal replacement therapy with oXiris in patients with hematologically malignant septic shock: A retrospective study.

Background: The mortality rate from septic shock in patients with hematological malignancies (HMs) remains significantly higher than that in patients without HMs. A longer resuscitation time would definitely be harmful because of the irreversibly immunocompromised status of the patients. Shortening the resuscitation time through continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) with oXiris would be an attractive strategy in managing such patients.

Engineering Multishelled Nanostructures Enables Stepwise Self-Degradability for Drug-Release Optimization.

The balance between degradability and drug release kinetics is a major challenge for the development of drug delivery systems. Here we develop hierarchically structured nanoparticles comprising multiple noncontact silica shells using an amorphous calcium carbonate template. The system could be degraded in a sequential fashion on account of the molecularly engineered multishelled structures.

Amorphous Calcium Carbonate Cluster Nanospheres in Water-Deficient Organic Solvents.

As the key intermediate phase of crystalline calcium carbonate biominerals, amorphous calcium carbonate (ACC) remains mysterious in its structures because of its long-range disorder and instability. We herein report the synthesis of ACC nanospheres in a water-deficient organic solvent system. The obtained ACC nanospheres are very stable under dry conditions.

Bio-Inspired Lotus-Fiber-like Spiral Hydrogel Bacterial Cellulose Fibers.

Hydrogel materials with high water content and good biocompatibility are drawing more and more attention now, especially for biomedical use. However, it still remains a challenge to construct hydrogel fibers with enough strength and toughness for practical applications. Herein, we report a bio-inspired lotus-fiber-mimetic spiral structure hydrogel bacterial cellulose fiber with high strength, high toughness, high stretchability, and energy dissipation, named biomimetic hydrogel fiber (BHF).

Tartary buckwheat protein prevented dyslipidemia in high-fat diet-fed mice associated with gut microbiota changes.

As one of low-digestible proteins, tartary buckwheat protein (BWP) revealed a cholesterol-lowering activity. The relationship between the prevention of BWP on dyslipidemia and changes in the numbers of gut microbiota was investigated. The male C57BL/6 mice were separately fed on normal diet, high-fat diet (HFD) with casein, and HFD with BWP extract for 6 weeks.

[Quantitative Measurement of Equivalence Ratios of Methane/Air Mixture by Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy: the Effects of Detector Gated Mode and Laser Wavelength].

Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) has been increasingly used in combustion diagnostics as a novel spectral analysis method in recent years. The quantitative local equivalence ratio of methane/air mixture is determined by LIBS using different emission intensity ratios of H/O and H/N. The comparison between calibration curves of H₆₅₆/O₇₇₇ and H₆₅₆/N₇₄₆ is performed in gated mode, which shows that H₆₅₆/O₇₇₇ can achieve better prediction accuracy and higher sensitivity.

Two-step biocatalytic process using lipase and whole cell catalysts for biodiesel production from unrefined jatropha oil.

Objective: To avoid lipase deactivation by methanol in the enzymatic transesterification process, a two-step biocatalytic process for biodiesel production from unrefined jatropha oil was developed.

Results: Unrefined jatropha oil was first hydrolyzed to free fatty acids (FFAs) by the commercial enzyme Candida rugosa lipase. The maximum yield achieved of FFAs 90.

Biodiesel production in a magnetically-stabilized, fluidized bed reactor with an immobilized lipase in magnetic chitosan microspheres.

Biodiesel production by immobilized Rhizopus oryzae lipase in magnetic chitosan microspheres (MCMs) was carried out using soybean oil and methanol in a magnetically-stabilized, fluidized bed reactor (MSFBR). The maximum content of methyl ester in the reaction mixture reached 91.3 (w/v) at a fluid flow rate of 25 ml/min and a magnetic field intensity of 150 Oe.