The influences of substrates' physical properties on enzymatic PET hydrolysis: Implications for PET hydrolase engineering.

Plastic pollution in diverse terrestrial and marine environments is a widely recognised and growing problem. Bio-recycling and upcycling of plastic waste is a potential solution to plastic pollution, as these processes convert plastic waste into useful materials. Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is the most abundant plastic waste, and this material can be degraded by a class of recently discovered bacterial esterase enzymes known as PET hydrolases (PETase).

Modulating neuroinflammation through molecular, cellular and biomaterial-based approaches to treat spinal cord injury.

The neuroinflammatory response that is elicited after spinal cord injury contributes to both tissue damage and reparative processes. The complex and dynamic cellular and molecular changes within the spinal cord microenvironment result in a functional imbalance of immune cells and their modulatory factors. To facilitate wound healing and repair, it is necessary to manipulate the immunological pathways during neuroinflammation to achieve successful therapeutic interventions.

Relationship of Quantitative Retinal Capillary Network and Myocardial Remodeling in Systemic Hypertension.

Background This study examined the associations between quantitative optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) parameters and myocardial abnormalities as documented on cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging in patients with systemic hypertension. Methods and Results We conducted a cross-sectional study of 118 adults with hypertension (197 eyes). Patients underwent cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging and OCTA (PLEX Elite 9000, Carl Zeiss Meditec).

The impact of COVID-19 pandemic on gender-related work from home in STEM fields-Report of the WiMPBME Task Group.

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced many people, including those in the fields of science and engineering, to work from home. The new working environment caused by the pandemic is assumed to have a different impact on the amount of work that women and men can do from home. Particularly, if the major burden of child and other types of care is still predominantly on the shoulders of women.

Protein cages as building blocks for superstructures.

Proteins naturally self-assemble to function. Protein cages result from the self-assembly of multiple protein subunits that interact to form hollow symmetrical structures with functions that range from cargo storage to catalysis. Driven by self-assembly, building elegant higher-order superstructures with protein cages as building blocks has been an increasingly attractive field in recent years.

Effects of submerged liquid fermentation of WX-17 using okara as sole nutrient source on the composition of a potential probiotic beverage.

This work aims to produce a functional probiotic beverage using okara as the sole nutrient source. Hence, okara was fermented with WX-17 in submerged liquid fermentation and the supernatant was tested. Metabolomic analysis showed that the nutritional profile of the beverage was enhanced after fermentation.

A self-adhesive microneedle patch with drug loading capability through swelling effect.

Microneedles (MNs) offer a rapid method of transdermal drug delivery through penetration of the stratum corneum. However, commercial translation has been limited by fabrication techniques unique to each drug. Herein, a broadly applicable platform is explored by drug-loading via swelling effect of a hydrogel MN patch.

Imaging Chemical Kinetics of Radical Polymerization with an Ultrafast Coherent Raman Microscope.

Numerous mechanisms have been proposed for polymerization to provide qualitative and quantitative prediction of how monomers spatially and temporally arrange into the polymeric chains. However, less is known about this process at the molecular level because the ultrafast chemical reaction is inaccessible for any form of microscope so far. Here, to address this unmet challenge, a stimulated Raman scattering microscope based on collinear multiple beams (COMB-SRS) is demonstrated, which allows label-free molecular imaging of polymer synthesis in action at speed of 2000 frames per second.

Understanding optical reflectance contrast for real-time characterization of epithelial precursor lesions.

Detecting early-stage epithelial cancers and their precursor lesions are challenging as lesions could be subtle and focally or heterogeneously distributed over large mucosal areas. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) that enables wide-field imaging of subsurface microstructures in vivo is a promising screening tool for epithelial diseases. However, its diagnostic capability has not been fully appreciated since the optical reflectance contrast is poorly understood.

Au@CdS Core-Shell Nanoparticles-Modified ZnO Nanowires Photoanode for Efficient Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting.

Hydrogen production from water splitting using solar energy based on photoelectrochemical (PEC) cells has attracted increasing attention because it leaves less of a carbon footprint and has economic superiority of solar and hydrogen energy. Oxide semiconductors such as ZnO possessing high stability against photocorrosion in hole scavenger systems have been widely used to build photoanodes of PEC cells but under visible light their conversion efficiencies with respect to incident-photon-to-current conversion efficiency (IPCE) measured without external bias are still not satisfied. An innovative way is presented here to significantly improve the conversion efficiency of PEC cells by constructing a core-shell structure-based photoanode comprising Au@CdS core-shell nanoparticles on ZnO nanowires (Au@CdS-ZnO).