Nest-like NiCoP for Highly Efficient Overall Water Splitting

The investigation of high-efficiency nonprecious electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is of great significance for renewable energy technologies. Here, we provide a successive hydrothermal, oxidation, and phosphidation method to fabricate a 3D nest-like ternary NiCoP/carbon cloth (CC) electrocatalyst with superior catalytic activity and stability toward HER/OER. Nest-like NiCoP/CC requires overpotentials of 44 and 62 mV to reach the current density of 10 mA cm^–2 in acidic and alkaline media, respectively, toward HER. For OER, the NiCoP/CC exhibits high active and durable performance with an overpotential of 242 mV at current density of 10 mA cm^–2 in alkaline solutions. Furthermore, the practical application of NiCoP/CC as a bifunctional catalyst for overall water splitting reaction yields current densities of 10 and 100 mA cm^–2 at 1.52 and 1.77 V, respectively

3D Network and 2D Paper of Reduced Graphene Oxide/Cu₂O Composite for Electrochemical Sensing of Hydrogen Peroxide

In this study, two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) freestanding reduced graphene oxide-supported Cu₂O composites (Cu₂O-rGO) were synthesized via simple and cost-efficient hydrothermal and filtration strategies. The structural characterizations clearly showed that highly porous 3D graphene aerogel-supported Cu₂O microcrystals (3D Cu₂O-GA) have been successfully synthesized, and the Cu₂O microcrystals are uniformly assembled in the 3D GA. Meanwhile, paper-like 2D reduced graphene oxide-supported Cu₂O nanocrystals (2D Cu₂O-rGO-P) have also been prepared by a filtration process. It was found that the products prepared from different precursors and methods exhibited different sensing performances for H₂O₂ detection. The electrochemical measurements demonstrated that the 3D Cu₂O-GA has high electrocatalytic activity for the H₂O₂ reduction and excellent sensing performance for the electrochemical detection of H₂O₂ with a detection limit of 0.37 μM and a linear detection range from 1.0 μM to 1.47 mM. Meanwhile, the 2D Cu₂O-rGO-P structure also showed good electrochemical sensing performance toward H₂O₂ detection with a much wider linear response over the concentration range from 5.0 μM to 10.56 mM. Compared to the previously reported sensing materials, the as-obtained 2D and 3D Cu₂O-rGO materials exhibited higher electrochemical sensing properties toward the detection of H₂O₂ with high sensitivity and selectivity. The 2D and 3D Cu₂O-rGO composites also exhibited high sensing performance for the real-time detection of H₂O₂ in human serum. The present study indicates that 2D and 3D graphene-Cu₂O composites have promising applications in the fabrication of nonenzymatic electrochemical sensing devices

pT120 β-catenin blocks generation of nuclear ABC and accumulates in trans Golgi network.

<p>(A) C4-2 and C4-2/PKD1 cells were fractionated into fractions enriched for cytoplasmic, nuclear or membrane proteins and analyzed by Western blot with antibodies as noted. E-cadherin, lamin A/C and b-actin were used as plasma membrane, nuclear and cytosol markers, respectively. The * indicates a leftover band from previous blotting. The densitometric data of each β-catenin isoform in a cell was the average of three assays and was expressed as percentage. (B) Overexpression of PKD1 prevents Wnt-induced β-catenin accumulation. C4-2 and C4-2/PKD1 cells were cultured with recombinant Wnt3a for indicated times. The relative amount of β-catenin at each time point was expressed as a ratio to the amount of β-catenin at starting time 0 (data was from a single assay). (C) Immunofluorescence staining of C4-2/PKD1 cells with pT120 and TGN p230 antibodies The TGN and pT120 colocalization are indicated by white arrows.</p

pT120 β-catenin is significantly decreased in TGN of prostate cancer samples.

<p>Immunohistological staining was performed with H102 (panel A) and pT120 (panel B) antibodies on serial section of tissues. 3 and 4 are higher magnification of 1 and 2, respectively. 1 and 3 are normal prostate tissue. 5 and 6 show that pT120 β-catenin predominantly distributes to plasma membrane and nucleus in tumor samples. Bars in panels 1 and 2 equal to 50 micrometer. (C) Scatter plot for pT120 staining pattern in normal and prostate cancer samples. Normal and tumor samples were counted for the “particle” staining pattern as described in <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0033830#pone-0033830-g004" target="_blank">Fig. 4B</a> and <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0033830#pone-0033830-g005" target="_blank">5B3</a>. The number on Y-axis represents the average of two independent counts. A cutoff at 30 (dashline) is used to as arbitrary definition of positive and negative staining.</p

Characterization of pT120 antibody.

<p>(A) NIH 3T3 lysates that were transfected with either HA-tagged wild type, or T102I/T112R/T120I triple mutant, or T120I mutant β-catenin and blotted by pT120 antibody. (B) Cell lysates from C4-2 (lanes 1 and 3) and C4-2/PKD1 (lanes 2 and 4 to 7) cells were blotted with either β-catenin conventional antibody H102 (lanes 1 and 2) or pT120 antibody (lanes 3–7). Competition assay was performed in C4-2/PKD1 cell lysate in the presence of 20 nM of antigenic phospho-peptide (lane 6) or the nonphospho-peptide (lane 7). (C) Inhibition of PKD1 activity decreases T120 phosphorylation. LNCaP cells were transiently transfected with two shRNA targeting PKD1 or a control shRNA vector. Cell lysates were blotted with antibodies indicated. The relative protein levels quantified by densitometry are expressed as fraction of the control group on the average of two assays.</p

Analysis of pT120 antibody staining in prostate cancer.

<p>Analysis of pT120 antibody staining in prostate cancer.</p

Comparison of H102 and pT120 staining patterns.

<p>Comparison of H102 and pT120 staining patterns.</p

PKD1 represses Wnt/β-catenin transcription activity.

<p>(A) PKD1 inhibits β-catenin/TCF transcription activity. Topflash assay was performed in LNCaP cells. Data were normalized by <i>Renilla</i> luciferase activity based on average of triple samples. Error bars represent standard deviation. Significant difference between the control and tested groups were determined by Student's t-test. (B) Overexpression of PKD1 in C4-2 cells results in inhibition of Wnt target genes. Representative results of semi-quantitative RT-PCR for Wnt/β-catenin target genes from two independent assays (see <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0033830#s4" target="_blank">Materials and Methods</a>). (C) β-catenin in C4-2/PKD1 cells is co-localized with TGN marker p230 (white arrows). When the cells were treated with PKD1 small molecule inhibitor CID 755763 (50 nM) for 3days, the pattern is decreased (D). Anti β-catenin antibody H102 was used to stain endogenous β-catenin (red). TGN marker p230 and nuclei were labeled green. Images represent typical results from two tests.</p

Novel Au Catalysis Strategy for the Synthesis of Au@Pt Core–Shell Nanoelectrocatalyst with Self-Controlled Quasi-Monolayer Pt Skin

Design of catalytically active Pt-based catalysts with minimizing the usage of Pt is a major issue in fuel cells. Herein, for the first time, we have developed a Au catalytic reduction strategy to synthesize a Au@Pt core–shell electrocatalyst with a quasi-monolayer Pt skin spontaneously formed from the gold surface catalysis. In the presence of presynthesized gold nanocrystals (used as the catalyst and Au seeds) and 4-(2-hydroxyethyl)-1-piperazineethanesulfonic acid buffer (used as reductant), under the Au surface catalysis, platinum ions can be reduced and deposited on the gold nanocrystals to form a Pt skin surface with a quasi-monatomic thickness. In the present strategy, Pt ions can be reduced only under the catalysis of gold surface and thus when the surface of Au NPs is covered by a monatomic Pt layer, the reduction reaction of Pt ions will be spontaneously turned off. Therefore, the significant advantage of this synthesis strategy is that the formation of quasi-monolayer Pt skin surface can be self-controlled and is completely free of controlling the dosage of platinum ions and the size distribution of Au cores. The synthesized Au@Pt core@shell structure exhibited enhanced electrocatalytic activities for oxygen reduction reaction and methanol oxidation reaction, which are 6.87 and 10.17 times greater than those of Pt/C catalyst, respectively. The present study provides a new strategy for obtaining high-performance bimetallic/multimetallic electrocatalysts with high utilization of precious metals

The identification of ELR1 splicing variants.

<p>ELR1 cDNA was amplified from mRNA templates extracted from eMDMs using reverse transcription PCR and then subcloned. (<b>A</b>) The amplified ELR1 cDNA fragments were separated by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and visualized by silver staining. (<b>B</b>) The subcloned inserts were examined by digesting the recombinant plasmids with the restriction enzymes <i>Eco</i>RI and <i>Hin</i>dIII, followed by agarose gel electrophoresis. Nc: the negative control sample for the PCR. (<b>C</b>) To confirm the presence of ELR1-IN, this species of mRNA in total RNA extracted from eMDM was further detected by hybridizing with a specific and branched probe using the bDNA technique. Data are the means of two independent experiments.</p