Ligand-Tuned AgBiS Planar Heterojunctions Enable Efficient Ultrathin Solar Cells.

AgBiS quantum dots (ABS QDs) have emerged as highly promising candidates for photovoltaic applications due to their strong sunlight absorption, nontoxicity, and elemental availability. Nevertheless, the efficiencies of ABS solar cells currently fall far short of their thermodynamic limits due in large part to sluggish charge transport characteristics in nanocrystal-derived films. In this study, we overcome this limitation by tuning the surfaces of ABS semiconductor QDs via a solvent-induced ligand exchange (SILE) strategy and provide key insights into the role of surface composition on both - and -type charge transfer doping, as well as long-range charge transport.

Isomeric Covalent Organic Frameworks for High-Efficiency Photocatalytic CO Reduction: Substituent Position Effect.

The exploration of covalent organic frameworks (COFs) for high-efficiency photocatalytic CO reduction is urgently demanded. Herein, COF-based catalysts are constructed for the selective photoreduction of CO to CO via delicately designed isomeric monomers with substituent at the 4,5,9,10- positions (K) or 1,3,6,8-positions (A) of pyrene knots. The distinct substituted regions significantly affect the planarity of pyrene knots, resulting in COFs with different microstructures and photocatalytic activities.

General-purpose machine-learned potential for 16 elemental metals and their alloys.

Machine-learned potentials (MLPs) have exhibited remarkable accuracy, yet the lack of general-purpose MLPs for a broad spectrum of elements and their alloys limits their applicability. Here, we present a promising approach for constructing a unified general-purpose MLP for numerous elements, demonstrated through a model (UNEP-v1) for 16 elemental metals and their alloys. To achieve a complete representation of the chemical space, we show, via principal component analysis and diverse test datasets, that employing one-component and two-component systems suffices.

Reducing crystal symmetry to generate out-of-plane Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction.

The Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya antisymmetric exchange interaction (DMI) stabilises topological spin textures with promising future spintronics applications. According to crystal symmetry, the DMI can be categorized as four different types that favour different chiral textures. Unlike the other three extensively-investigated types, out-of-plane DMI, as the last type that favours in-plane chirality, remained missing so far.

Dual impacts of serine/glycine-free diet in enhancing antitumor immunity and promoting evasion via PD-L1 lactylation.

The effect of the serine/glycine-free diet (-SG diet) on colorectal cancer (CRC) remains unclear; meanwhile, programmed death-1 (PD-1) inhibitors are less effective for most CRC patients. Here, we demonstrate that the -SG diet inhibits CRC growth and promotes the accumulation of cytotoxic T cells to enhance antitumor immunity. Additionally, we also identified the lactylation of programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) in tumor cells as a mechanism of immune evasion during cytotoxic T cell-mediated antitumor responses, and blocking the PD-1/PD-L1 signaling pathway is able to rejuvenate the function of CD8+ T cells recruited by the -SG diet, indicating the potential of combining the -SG diet with immunotherapy.

Cryptic phosphoribosylase activity of NAMPT restricts the virion incorporation of viral proteins.

As obligate intracellular pathogens, viruses activate host metabolic enzymes to supply intermediates that support progeny production. Nicotinamide phosphoribosyltransferase (NAMPT), the rate-limiting enzyme of salvage nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) synthesis, is an interferon-inducible protein that inhibits the replication of several RNA and DNA viruses through unknown mechanisms. Here, we show that NAMPT restricts herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) replication by impeding the virion incorporation of viral proteins owing to its phosphoribosyl-hydrolase (phosphoribosylase) activity, which is independent of the role of NAMPT in NAD synthesis.

Strain-Induced Antiferroelectric-Ferroelectric-Antiferroelectric Phase Transitions in Epitaxial LaTaO Films.

We employed first-principles to delve into the strain-induced structural phase transitions in epitaxial LaTaO films. The ground state of bulk LaTaO adopts a monoclinic antiferroelectric phase, characterized by the antiphase rotation of two adjacent oxygen octahedra layers. Under epitaxial tensile strain, LaTaO thin films undergo a consecutive phase transition, namely, antiferroelectric-ferroelectric-antiferroelectric phase transitions.

Design of a High-Performance Near-Infrared Scintillator through Metal-Atom Substitution in Metal Chalcogenide.

We report the synthesis and optical characterization of a series of metal chalcogenides, ASiSTe (A = Sr, Ba, Eu), highlighting the metal-atom substitution strategy for the discovery of a high-performance metal chalcogenide-based near-infrared (NIR) scintillator of EuSiSTe. EuSiSTe exhibits exceptionally broad NIR emission with a full width at half-maximum of 210 nm, the largest among all known Eu-based NIR emitters. EuSiSTe has a high light yield of 41697 photons/MeV and excellent resistance to hygroscopicity.

Ubiquitination and Metabolic Disease.

The increasing incidence of metabolic diseases, including obesity, type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), in the past decade is a serious concern worldwide. Disruption of cellular protein homeostasis has been considered as a crucial contributor to the pathogenesis of metabolic diseases. To maintain protein homeostasis, cells have evolved multiple dynamic and self-regulating quality control processes to adapt new environmental conditions and prevent prolonged damage.

BRD4 Degradation Enhanced Glioma Sensitivity to Temozolomide by Regulating Notch1 via Glu-Modified GSH-Responsive Nanoparticles.

Temozolomide (TMZ) serves as the principal chemotherapeutic agent for glioma; nonetheless, its therapeutic efficacy is compromised by the rapid emergence of drug resistance, the inadequate targeting of glioma cells, and significant systemic toxicity. ARV-825 may play a role in modulating drug resistance by degrading the BRD4 protein, thereby exerting anti-glioma effects. Therefore, to surmount TMZ resistance and achieve efficient and specific drug delivery, a dual-targeted glutathione (GSH)-responsive nanoparticle system (T+A@Glu-NP) is designed and synthesized for the co-delivery of ARV-825 and TMZ.

Deciphering the molecular mechanism underlying morphology transition in two-component DNA-protein cophase separation.

Nucleic acid and protein co-condensates exhibit diverse morphologies crucial for fundamental cellular processes. Despite many previous studies that advanced our understanding of this topic, several interesting biophysical questions regarding the underlying molecular mechanisms remain. We investigated DNA and human transcription factor p53 co-condensates-a scenario where neither dsDNA nor the protein demonstrates phase-separation behavior individually.

Quinoline Substituted Anthracene Isomers: A Case Study for Simultaneously Optimizing High Mobility and Strong Luminescence in Herringbone-Packed Organic Semiconductors.

The development of high mobility emissive organic semiconductors is significant for advancing optoelectronic devices with simplified architecture and enhanced performance. The herringbone-packed structure is regarded as the ideal arrangement for simultaneously achieving high mobility and strong emission in organic semiconductors. However, it remains a great challenge that the relationship between molecular structure and optoelectronic property is still elusive.

Prolonged Phase Segregation of Mixed-Halide Perovskite Nanocrystals in the Dark.

A critical issue hindering the potential applications of semiconductor mixed-halide perovskites is the phase segregation effect, wherein localized regions enriched with one type of halide anions would be formed upon continuous photogeneration of the excited-state charge carriers. These unexpected phases are capable of remixing again in the dark under the entropic driving force, the process of which is now being exclusively studied after the mixed-halide perovskites have arrived at the final stage of complete phase segregation. Here, we show that after the removal of laser excitation from a solid film of the mixed-halide perovskite nanocrystals (NCs) with partial phase segregation, the iodide- and bromide-rich regions can continuously grow in the dark for a prolonged time period of several minutes.

Investigations of the interactions between ZnO nanorods and H with O NMR spectroscopy.

The interactions between ZnO nanorods and H at different temperatures are revealed with O solid-state NMR spectroscopy in combination with a variety of different characterization methods. These results should enable further understanding of the adsorption properties of H on ZnO nanocrystalline or related nanomaterials.

RAS signaling in carcinogenesis, cancer therapy and resistance mechanisms.

Variants in the RAS family (HRAS, NRAS and KRAS) are among the most common mutations found in cancer. About 19% patients with cancer harbor RAS mutations, which are typically associated with poor clinical outcomes. Over the past four decades, KRAS has long been considered an undruggable target due to the absence of suitable small-molecule binding sites within its mutant isoforms.

Waxberry-like TiO with Synergistic Surface Modification of Pyrolytic Carbon Coating and Carbon Nanotubes as an Anode for Li-Ion Battery.

Titanium dioxide (TiO) as an anode material for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) has the advantages of tiny volume expansion, high operating voltage, and outstanding safety performance. However, due to the low conductivity of TiO and the slow diffusion rate of lithium ions (Li), it is limited in the application of LIBs. Therefore, waxberry-like TiO comodified by pyrolytic carbon coating and carbon nanotubes was prepared in this work.

Enhancing the Self-Healing Efficiency of TiAlC MAX Phase via Irradiation.

Self-healing materials are highly desirable in the nuclear industry to ensure nuclear security. Although extensive efforts have been devoted to developing self-healing materials in the past half century, very limited successes have been reported for ceramics or metals. Here, we report an intrinsic self-healing material of TiAlC MAX phase, which exhibits both ceramic and metallic properties, and a strategy for further enhancing the self-healing via irradiation is proposed.

A Mixed-Pure Planar Heterojunction Structure of Active Layers for Efficient Sequential Blade-Coating Organic Solar Cells.

Precise modulating the vertical structure of active layers to boost charge transfer is an effective way to achieve high power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) in organic solar cells (OSCs). Herein, efficient OSCs with a well-controlled vertical structure are realized by a rapid film-forming method combining low boiling point solvent and the sequential blade-coating (SBC) technology. The results of grazing incident wide-angle X-ray scattering measurement show that the vertical component distribution is varied by changing the processing solvent.

The structural Basis of NMN synthesis catalyzed by NadV from Haemophilus ducreyi.

NMN is a precursor in the biosynthesis of NAD, a molecule that plays a crucial role within cells. Supplementation with NMN can elevate NAD levels in the blood, improving symptoms of diabetes, neurodegenerative diseases, and cancer, as well as providing anti-aging benefits. Escherichia coli was engineered to heterologously express nicotinamide phosphoribosyltransferase (Nampt), enabling the recombinant E.

Facial aging, cognitive impairment, and dementia risk.

Background: Facial aging, cognitive impairment, and dementia are all age-related conditions. However, the temporal relation between facial age and future risk of dementia was not systematically examined.

Objectives: To investigate the relationship between facial age (both subjective/perceived and objective) and cognitive impairment and/or dementia risk.