Anhui University of Science and Technology

In 2008 we published the first set of guidelines for standardizing research in autophagy. Since then, research on this topic has continued to accelerate, and many new scientists have entered the field. Our knowledge base and relevant new technologies have also been expanding. Accordingly, it is important to update these guidelines for monitoring autophagy in different organisms. Various reviews have described the range of assays that have been used for this purpose. Nevertheless, there continues to be confusion regarding acceptable methods to measure autophagy, especially in multicellular eukaryotes. For example, a key point that needs to be emphasized is thatthere is a difference between measurements that monitor the numbers or volume of autophagic elements (e.g., autophagosomes or autolysosomes) at any stage of the autophagic process versus those that measure flux through the autophagy pathway (i.e., the completeprocess including the amount and rate of cargo sequestered and degraded). In particular, a block in macroautophagy that results in autophagosome accumulation must be differentiated from stimuli that increase autophagic activity, defined as increasedautophagy induction coupled with increased delivery to, and degradation within, lysosomes (inmost higher eukaryotes and some protists such as Dictyostelium) or the vacuole (in plants and fungi). In other words, it is especially important that investigators new to the field understand that the appearance of more autophagosomes does not necessarily equate with more autophagy. In fact, in manycases, autophagosomes accumulate because of a block in trafficking to lysosomes without a concomitant change in autophagosome biogenesis, whereas an increase in autolysosomes may reflect a reduction in degradative activity. It is worth emphasizing here that lysosomal digestion is a stage of autophagy and evaluating its competence is a crucial part of the evaluation of autophagic flux, or complete autophagy. Here, we present a set of guidelines for the selection and interpretation of methods for use by investigators who aim to examine macroautophagy and related processes, as well as forreviewers who need to provide realistic and reasonable critiques of papers that are focused on these processes. These guidelines are not meant to be a formulaic set of rules, because the appropriate assays depend in part on the question being asked and the system being used. In addition, we emphasize that no individual assay is guaranteed to be the most appropriate one in every situation, and we strongly recommend the use of multipleassays to monitor autophagy. Along these lines, because of the potential for pleiotropic effects due to blocking autophagy through genetic manipulation, it is imperative to target by gene knockout or RNA interference more than one autophagyrelated protein. In addition, some individual Atg proteins, or groups of proteins, are involved in other cellular pathways implying that not all Atg proteins can be used as a specific marker for an autophagic process. In these guidelines, we consider these various methods of assessing autophagy and what information can, or cannot, be obtained from them. Finally, by discussing the merits and limits of particular assays, we hope to encourage technical innovation in the field.

autophagic responses. Here, we critically discuss current methods of assessing autophagy and the information they can, or cannot, provide. Our ultimate goal is to encourage intellectual and technical innovation in the field.

Hybrid nanostructures composed of semiconductor and plasmonic metal components are receiving extensive attention. They display extraordinary optical characteristics that are derived from the simultaneous existence and close conjunction of localized surface plasmon resonance and semiconduction, as well as the synergistic interactions between the two components. They have been widely studied for photocatalysis, plasmon-enhanced spectroscopy, biotechnology, and solar cells. In this review, the developments in the field of (plasmonic metal)/semiconductor hybrid nanostructures are comprehensively described. The preparation of the hybrid nanostructures is first presented according to the semiconductor type, as well as the nanostructure morphology. The plasmonic properties and the enabled applications of the hybrid nanostructures are then elucidated. Lastly, possible future research in this burgeoning field is discussed.

The hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is a half-cell reaction in water electrolysis for producing hydrogen gas. In industrial water electrolysis, the HER is often conducted in alkaline media to achieve higher stability of the electrode materials. However, the kinetics of the HER in alkaline medium is slow relative to that in acid because of the low concentration of protons in the former. Under the latter conditions, the entire HER process will require additional effort to obtain protons by water dissociation near or on the catalyst surface. Heterostructured catalysts, with fascinating synergistic effects derived from their heterogeneous interfaces, can provide multiple functional sites for the overall reaction process. At present, the activity of the most active known heterostructured catalysts surpasses (platinum-based heterostructures) or approaches (noble-metal-free heterostructures) that of the commercial Pt/C catalyst under alkaline conditions, demonstrating an infusive potential to break through the bottlenecks. This review summarizes the most representative and recent heterostructured HER catalysts for alkaline medium. The basics and principles of the HER under alkaline conditions are first introduced, followed by a discussion of the latest advances in heterostructured catalysts with/without noble-metal-based heterostructures. Special focus is placed on approaches for enhancing the reaction rate by accelerating the Volmer step. This review aims to provide an overview of the current developments in alkaline HER catalysts, as well as the design principles for the future development of heterostructured nano- or micro-sized electrocatalysts.

BACKGROUND: Data from trials investigating the effects and risks of endovascular thrombectomy for the treatment of stroke due to basilar-artery occlusion are limited. METHODS: We conducted a multicenter, prospective, randomized, controlled trial of endovascular thrombectomy for basilar-artery occlusion at 36 centers in China. Patients were assigned, in a 2:1 ratio, within 12 hours after the estimated time of basilar-artery occlusion to receive endovascular thrombectomy or best medical care (control). The primary outcome was good functional status, defined as a score of 0 to 3 on the modified Rankin scale (range, 0 [no symptoms] to 6 [death]), at 90 days. Secondary outcomes included a modified Rankin scale score of 0 to 2, distribution across the modified Rankin scale score categories, and quality of life. Safety outcomes included symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage at 24 to 72 hours, 90-day mortality, and procedural complications. RESULTS: Of the 507 patients who underwent screening, 340 were in the intention-to-treat population, with 226 assigned to the thrombectomy group and 114 to the control group. Intravenous thrombolysis was used in 31% of the patients in the thrombectomy group and in 34% of those in the control group. Good functional status at 90 days occurred in 104 patients (46%) in the thrombectomy group and in 26 (23%) in the control group (adjusted rate ratio, 2.06; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.46 to 2.91, P<0.001). Symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage occurred in 12 patients (5%) in the thrombectomy group and in none in the control group. Results for the secondary clinical and imaging outcomes were generally in the same direction as those for the primary outcome. Mortality at 90 days was 37% in the thrombectomy group and 55% in the control group (adjusted risk ratio, 0.66; 95% CI, 0.52 to 0.82). Procedural complications occurred in 14% of the patients in the thrombectomy group, including one death due to arterial perforation. CONCLUSIONS: In a trial involving Chinese patients with basilar-artery occlusion, approximately one third of whom received intravenous thrombolysis, endovascular thrombectomy within 12 hours after stroke onset led to better functional outcomes at 90 days than best medical care but was associated with procedural complications and intracerebral hemorrhage. (Funded by the Program for Innovative Research Team of the First Affiliated Hospital of USTC and others; ATTENTION ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT04751708.).

Effective and selective removal of 99 TcO 4 – from aqueous solution is highly desirable for both waste partitioning and contamination remediation purposes in the modern nuclear fuel cycle, but is of significant challenge. We report here a hydrolytically stable and radiation-resistant cationic metal–organic framework (MOF), SCU-101, exhibiting extremely fast removal kinetics, exceptional distribution coefficient, and high sorption capacity toward TcO 4 – . More importantly, this material can selectively remove TcO 4 – in the presence of large excesses of NO 3 – and SO 4 2–, as even 6000 times of SO 4 2– in excess does not significantly affect the sorption of TcO 4 – . These superior features endow that SCU-101 is capable of effectively separating TcO 4 – from Hanford low-level waste melter off-gas scrubber simulant stream. The sorption mechanism is directly unraveled by the single crystal structure of TcO 4 – -incorporated SCU-101, as the first reported crystal structure to display TcO 4 – trapped in a sorbent material. A recognition site for the accommodation of TcO 4 – is visualized and is consistent with the DFT analysis results, while no such site can be resolved for other anions.

Transparent ceramics have various potential applications such as infrared (IR) windows/domes, lamp envelopes, opto-electric components/devices, composite armors, and screens for smartphones and they can be used as host materials for solid-state lasers. Transparent ceramics were initially developed to replace single crystals because of their simple processing route, variability in composition, high yield productivity, and shape control, among other factors. Optical transparency is one of the most important properties of transparent ceramics. In order to achieve transparency, ceramics must have highly symmetric crystal structures; therefore, the majority of the transparent ceramics have cubic structures, while tetragonal and hexagonal structures have also been reported in the open literature. Moreover, the optical transparency of ceramics is determined by their purity and density; the production of high-purity ceramics requires high-purity starting materials, and the production of high-density ceramics requires sophisticated sintering techniques and optimized sintering aids. Furthermore, specific mechanical properties are required for some applications, such as window materials and composite armor. This review aims to summarize recent progress in the fabrication and application of various transparent ceramics.

ZnO hierarchical microstructures with uniform flower-like morphology were prepared on a large scale through a template- and surfactant-free low-temperature (80 °C) aqueous solution route. The product was characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and Brunauer−Emmett−Teller N 2 adsorption−desorption analyses. The flower-like ZnO microstructures are assembled by many interleaving nanosheets which have the uniform thickness of about 10 nm and a well-crystalline structure with dominant surfaces as {21̅1̅0} planes. Control experiments revealed that the formation of the flower-like ZnO was based on the fast nucleation−growth kinetics. The flower-like ZnO sample shows an enhanced photocatalytic performance compared with the other nanostructured ZnO powders of nanoparticles, nanosheets, and nanorods, which can be attributed to the special structural feature with an open and porous nanostructured surface layer that significantly facilitates the diffusion and mass transportation of RhB molecules and oxygen species in photochemical reaction of RhB degradation.

BACKGROUND: Controlling childhood overweight/obesity would help early prevention on children from getting chronic noncommunicable diseases, exposing to screen for long periods may increase the risk of overweight/obesity due to lack of physical activity and tend to intake too much energy, and the relationship between screen time and overweight/obesity is inconsistent. Thus, the object of the present study was to estimate the relationship between screen time and overweight/obesity in children (<18 years) by systematically review prevalence studies. METHODS: We collected data from relevant studies published up to May 2019 using predefined inclusion/exclusion criteria. And all the literatures were searched in PubMed, ScienceDirect, Embase, and Web of Science. RESULTS: A total of 16 studies met the criteria and were included in the meta-analysis. When compared with the screen time <2 hr/day, an increased overweight/obesity risk among children was shown in the screen time ≥2 hr/day (OR = 1.67; 95% CI [1.48, 1.88], P < .0001). The subgroup analysis showed a positive association between the different types of screen time and overweight/obesity among children. CONCLUSION: Based on our study, increasing screen time could be a risk factor for being overweight/obesity in children and adolescents.

With the enhancement of copper (Cu) stress, the germination percentage of wheat seeds decreased gradually. Pretreatment with sodium hydrosulfide (NaHS), hydrogen sulfide (H(2)S) donor alleviated the inhibitory effect of Cu stress in a dose-dependent manner; whereas little visible symptom was observed in germinating seeds and radicle tips cultured in NaHS solutions. It was verified that H(2)S or HS(-) rather than other sulfur-containing components derived from NaHS attribute to the potential role in promoting seed germination against Cu stress. Further studies showed that NaHS could promote amylase and esterase activities, reduce Cu-induced disturbance of plasma membrane integrity in the radicle tips, and sustain lower levels of malondialdehyde and H(2)O(2) in germinating seeds. Furthermore, NaHS pretreatment increased activities of superoxide dismutase and catalase and decreased that of lipoxygenase, but showed no significant effect on ascorbate peroxidase. Alternatively, NaHS prevented uptake of Cu and promoted the accumulation of free amino acids in seeds exposed to Cu. In addition, a rapid accumulation of endogenous H(2)S in seeds was observed at the early stage of germination, and higher level of H(2)S in NaHS-pretreated seeds. These data indicated that H(2)S was involved in the mechanism of germinating seeds' responses to Cu stress.

Novel accordion structure Ti ₃ C ₂ –Ni _0.5 Zn _0.5 Fe ₂ O ₄ composites with nice electromagnetic wave absorption properties.

More recently, remote sensing image classification has been moving from pixel-level interpretation to scene-level semantic understanding, which aims to label each scene image with a specific semantic class. While significant efforts have been made in developing various methods for remote sensing image scene classification, most of them rely on handcrafted features. In this letter, we propose a novel feature representation method for scene classification, named bag of convolutional features (BoCF). Different from the traditional bag of visual words-based methods in which the visual words are usually obtained by using handcrafted feature descriptors, the proposed BoCF generates visual words from deep convolutional features using off-the-shelf convolutional neural networks. Extensive evaluations on a publicly available remote sensing image scene classification benchmark and comparison with the state-of-the-art methods demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed BoCF method for remote sensing image scene classification.

Astragalus membranaceus Bunge has been used to treat numerous diseases for thousands of years. As the main active substance of Astragalus membranaceus Bunge, astragaloside IV (AS-IV) also demonstrates the potent protective effect on focal cerebral ischemia/reperfusion, cardiovascular disease, pulmonary disease, liver fibrosis, and diabetic nephropathy. Based on studies published during the past several decades, the current state of AS-IV research and the pharmacological effects are detailed, elucidated, and summarized. This review systematically summarizes the pharmacological effects, metabolism mechanism, and the toxicity of AS-IV. AS-IV has multiple pharmacologic effects, including anti-inflammatory, antifibrotic, antioxidative stress, anti-asthma, antidiabetes, immunoregulation, and cardioprotective effect via numerous signaling pathways. According to the existing studies and clinical practices, AS-IV possesses potential for broad application in many diseases.

In this work, a novel microencapsulated phase change composite of paraffin@SiO 2 was prepared by in situ emulsion interfacial hydrolysis and polycondensation of tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS). The as-prepared paraffin@SiO 2 composite was determined by Fourier transformation infrared spectroscope (FT-IR), X-ray diffractometer (XRD), scanning electronic microscope (SEM), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), respectively. The results showed that the paraffin@SiO 2 composite is composed of quasi-spherical particles with diameters of 200–500 nm. The paraffin is encapsulated in a SiO 2 shell, and there is no chemical reaction between them. The DSC results indicate that the melting temperature and latent heat of the composite are 56.5 °C and 45.5 J/g, respectively. The encapsulation ratio of paraffin was calculated to be 31.7% from the results of the DSC measurements, slightly lower than the loading content (32.5%) of paraffin in the microencapsulated composite from the TGA measurements. The as-prepared paraffin@SiO 2 composite could maintain its phase transition perfectly after 30 melting–freezing cycles, and no leakage of paraffin was observed at 70 °C for 20 min. Moreover, the high heat storage capability and good thermal stability of the composite enable it to be a potential material to store thermal energy in practical applications.

Biochar is being recognized as a promising tool for long-term carbon sequestration, and biochar with high carbon retention and strong stability is supposed to be explored for that purpose. In this study, three minerals, including kaolin, calcite (CaCO3), and calcium dihydrogen phosphate [Ca(H2PO4)2], were added to rice straw feedstock at the ratio of 20% (w/w) for biochar formation through pyrolysis treatment, aiming to improve carbon retention and stabilization in biochar. Kaolin and CaCO3 had little effect on the carbon retention, whereas Ca(H2PO4)2 increased the carbon retention by up to 29% compared to untreated biochar. Although the carbon loss from the kaolin-modified biochar with hydrogen peroxide oxidation was enhanced, CaCO3 and Ca(H2PO4)2 modification reduced the carbon loss by 18.6 and 58.5%, respectively. Moreover, all three minerals reduced carbon loss of biochar with potassium dichromate oxidation from 0.3 to 38.8%. The microbial mineralization as CO2 emission in all three modified biochars was reduced by 22.2-88.7% under aerobic incubation and 5-61% under anaerobic incubation. Enhanced carbon retention and stability of biochar with mineral treatment might be caused by the enhanced formation of aromatic C, which was evidenced by cross-polarization magic angle spinning (13)C nuclear magnetic resonance spectra and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy analysis. Our results indicated that the three minerals, especially Ca(H2PO4)2, were effective in increasing carbon retention and strengthening biochar stabilization, which provided a novel idea that people could explore and produce the designated biochar with high carbon sequestration capacity and stability.

Lactylation has been recently identified as a new type of posttranslational modification occurring widely on lysine residues of both histone and nonhistone proteins. The acetyltransferase p300 is thought to mediate protein lactylation, yet the cellular concentration of the proposed lactyl-donor, lactyl-coenzyme A, is about 1,000 times lower than that of acetyl-CoA, raising the question of whether p300 is a genuine lactyltransferase. Here, we report that alanyl-tRNA synthetase 1 (AARS1) moonlights as a bona fide lactyltransferase that directly uses lactate and ATP to catalyze protein lactylation. Among the candidate substrates, we focused on the Hippo pathway, which has a well-established role in tumorigenesis. Specifically, AARS1 was found to sense intracellular lactate and translocate into the nucleus to lactylate and activate the YAP-TEAD complex; and AARS1 itself was identified as a Hippo target gene that forms a positive-feedback loop with YAP-TEAD to promote gastric cancer (GC) cell proliferation. Consistently, the expression of AARS1 was found to be upregulated in GC, and elevated AARS1 expression was found to be associated with poor prognosis for patients with GC. Collectively, this work found AARS1 with lactyltransferase activity in vitro and in vivo and revealed how the metabolite lactate is translated into a signal of cell proliferation.

Water-soluble humic like substances (HULIS) in smoke particles emitted from combustion of biomass materials and coal were characterized by ultrahigh-resolution Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry. The formulas identified were classified into four main groups: CHO, CHON, CHOS, and CHONS. The average H/C and O/C ratios are 1.13–1.33, 1.01–1.13, 1.26–1.48, 1.09–1.24 and 0.21–0.41, 0.27–0.45, 0.41–0.46, 0.44–0.61 for the CHO, CHON, CHOS, and CHONS groups, respectively. The CHO compound was the predominant component (43%–72%) of the smoke HULIS from biomass burning (BB) and coal combustion, followed by the CHON group for BB-smoke HULIS and the S-containing groups (i.e., CHOS and CHONS) for coal-smoke HULIS. These results indicate that the primary HULIS emitted from biomass burning contain a high abundance of CHON species, which appear to be made up mainly of oxidized nitrogen functional groups such as nitro compounds and/or organonitrates. The coal-smoke HULIS contained more compounds with relatively low molecular weight and high aromaticity index (AI mod ). They were significantly enriched in S-containing compounds with high double bond equivalent (≥4), and O/S ratios suggest that they are most likely made up of aromatic organosulfates and nitrooxy organosulfates that are usually found in polluted atmospheres. These findings imply that the primary emissions from combustion of biomass and coal fuels are potential sources of water-soluble HULIS in an atmospheric matrix and that coal combustion is an especially important source of sulfate compounds.

Graphene foams with three-dimensional (3D) network structure, high porosity, and ultralow density have been regarded as lightweight microwave absorption materials. Herein, nitrogen-doped reduced graphene oxide/multi-walled carbon nanotube composite foams were prepared through a two-step strategy of hydrothermal self-assembly and subsequent high-temperature calcination. Morphology analysis indicated that the 3D networks were composed of overlapped flaky reduced graphene oxide. In addition, the influences of nitrogen doping, calcination temperature, and filler ratios on microwave absorption of composite foams were explored. Results manifested that the microwave absorption of composite foams was remarkably improved with the calcination temperature increased. Dramatically, it was noteworthy that the composite foam obtained under 600 °C calcination (bulk density of ∼10.8 mg/cm 3 ) with an 8 wt % mass filler ratio presented the strongest microwave absorption of −69.6 dB at 12.5 GHz and broadest absorption bandwidth achieved 4.3 GHz (13.2–17.5 GHz) at an extremely low matching thickness equal to 1.5 mm. Moreover, the microwave absorption performance could be conveniently adjusted through modifying the thicknesses, filler ratios, and calcination temperature. The excellent microwave absorption performance of as-prepared composite foams was greatly derived from a well-constructed 3D network structure, significant nitrogen doping, enhanced polarization relaxation, and improved conduction loss. This work proposed a new strategy for fabricating graphene-based composites with a 3D network structure as high-efficiency microwave absorbers.

Separation of TcO ₄ ^– by a cationic covalent organic framework is achieved for the first time, showing advantages of extremely fast sorption kinetics, ultrahigh uptake capacity, good anion-exchange selectivity, and excellent radiation resistance.

Gene therapy holds great promise for treating a multitude of inherited and acquired diseases by delivering functional genes, comprising DNA or RNA, into targeted cells or tissues to elicit manipulation of gene expression. However, the clinical implementation of gene therapy remains substantially impeded by the lack of safe and efficient gene delivery vehicles. This review comprehensively outlines the novel fastest-growing and efficient non-viral gene delivery vectors, which include liposomes and lipid nanoparticles (LNPs), highly branched poly(β-amino ester) (HPAE), single-chain cyclic polymer (SCKP), poly(amidoamine) (PAMAM) dendrimers, and polyethyleneimine (PEI). Particularly, we discuss the research progress, potential development directions, and remaining challenges. Additionally, we provide a comprehensive overview of the currently approved non-viral gene therapeutics, as well as ongoing clinical trials. With advances in biomedicine, molecular biology, materials science, non-viral gene vectors play an ever-expanding and noteworthy role in clinical gene therapy.