Synthesis and characterization of La_0.8Sr_1.2Co_0.5M_0.5O_4-? (M=Fe, Mn)

The M4+-containing K2NiF4-type phases La0.8Sr1.2Co0.5Fe0.5O4 and La0.8Sr1.2Co0.5Mn0.5O4 have been synthesized by a sol-gel procedure and characterized by X-ray powder diffraction, thermal analysis, neutron powder diffraction and Mössbauer spectroscopy. Oxide ion vacancies are created in these materials via reduction of M4+ to M3+ and of Co3+ to Co2+. The vacancies are confined to the equatorial planes of the K2NiF4-type structure. A partial reduction of Mn3+ to Mn2+ also occurs to achieve the oxygen stoichiometry in La0.8Sr1.2Co0.5Mn0.5O3.6. La0.8Sr1.2Co0.5Fe0.5O3.65 contains Co2+ and Fe3+ ions which interact antiferromagnetically and result in noncollinear magnetic order consistent with the tetragonal symmetry. Competing ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic interactions in La0.8Sr1.2Co0.5Fe0.5O4, La0.8Sr1.2Co0.5Mn0.5O4 and La0.8Sr1.2Co0.5Mn0.5O3.6 induce spin glass properties in these phases

Clay swelling of Quaternary and Paleogene deposits in the south-eastern flanks of West Siberian iron ore basin

Revealing soil swelling and estimation of swelling rate are of great importance at the initial survey stages as well as the bases for further determination of more accurate factors used for selection of recovery methods and facility design. The paper states briefly the most conventional prediction express-methods and determination of swelling indicators, the results of laboratory research in clay composition and properties, free swell index of Quaternary and Paleogene clays in the south-east of West Siberian iron-ore, gives the estimates of the swelling rate. The results have been statistically analyzed, revealing the relationship of properties, on the basis of which the correlation dependencies are suggested to predict the free swell index as well as to apply it for frost heave prediction

Morphology-directed synthesis of LiFePO4 and LiCoPO4 from nanostructured Li1+2xPO3+x

A LiPO3-type nanostructure has been developed using a simple microwave approach at temperatures as low as 200 °C. This phase presents an ideal architecture for the morphology-directed synthesis of the olivine-type phases LiFePO4 and LiCoPO4, through a simple and scalable solution-based technique. Pure and carbon-composited olivine phases of interconnected nanoparticulate morphologies display excellent performance at high rates (up to 20 C) over 500 cycles in Li-ion battery cells

Morphology-controlled synthesis of novel nanostructured Li4P2O7 with enhanced Li-ion conductivity for all-solid-state battery applications

Mechanical stiffness of oxide-type solid-electrolytes is a major drawback which has hindered their practical application in all-solid-state Li-ion batteries to date. Despite their enhanced structural and electrochemical stabilities, lack of deformability of fast-ion conducting oxides impedes the integration of these materials in bulk-type solid-state cells. Deformable solid-electrolytes such as sulfides, on the other hand, lack sufficient electrochemical stability in contact with conventional cathodes. This has recently triggered a search for new materials that combine high ion-conductivity, deformability and sufficient electrochemical stability. Here, we report the synthesis of a novel form of Li4P2O7 that can be densified by cold-pressing and possesses an ion conductivity that is two orders of magnitude higher than conventional Li4P2O7 phases. The material is synthesized by a combination of microwave synthesis and chemical lithiation and adopts a nanostructured morphology with a small amorphous component. The material is electrochemically stable at voltages >5 V vs. Li+/Li, which suggests safe use with high-voltage cathodes. The newly-synthesized material is therefore a bulk, deformable analogue of LiPON, with comparable ion conductivity and phase stability. This research highlights the potential of using novel low-temperature synthetic routes to control the morphology and enhance the electrochemical performance of conventional functional materials

Selective and facile synthesis of sodium sulfide and sodium disulfide polymorphs

Na2S and Na2S2 were selectively synthesized using a microwave-assisted thermal treatment of a Na+/S solution in tetraglyme between 100 and 200 °C, considerably lower than that of current routes. This novel synthetic pathway yields the Na2S phase in high purity and allows for good selectivity between the polymorphs of Na2S2 (α and β phases). These materials show promising electrochemical properties and are particularly interesting for the continued development of Na–S batteries

Promoter Hypermethylation and Suppression of Glutathione Peroxidase 3 Are Associated with Inflammatory Breast Carcinogenesis

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) play a crucial role in breast cancer initiation, promotion, and progression. Inhibition of antioxidant enzymes that remove ROS was found to accelerate cancer growth. Studies showed that inhibition of glutathione peroxidase-3 (GPX3) was associated with cancer progression. Although the role of GPX3 has been studied in different cancer types, its role in breast cancer and its epigenetic regulation have not yet been investigated. The aim of the present study was to investigate GPX3 expression and epigenetic regulation in carcinoma tissues of breast cancer patients’ in comparison to normal breast tissues. Furthermore, we compared GPX3 level of expression and methylation status in aggressive phenotype inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) versus non-IBC invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC). We found that GPX3 mRNA and protein expression levels were downregulated in the carcinoma tissues of IBC compared to non-IBC. However, we did not detect significant correlation between GPX3 and patients’ clinical-pathological prosperities. Promoter hypermethylation of GPX3 gene was detected in carcinoma tissues not normal breast tissues. In addition, IBC carcinoma tissues showed a significant increase in the promoter hypermethylation of GPX3 gene compared to non-IBC. Our results propose that downregulation of GPX3 in IBC may play a role in the disease progression

Enhancement of the lithium ion conductivity of Ta-doped Li7La3Zr2O12 by incorporation of calcium

Fast ion conducting garnet materials have been identified as promising electrolytes for all solid-state batteries. However, reliable synthetic routes to materials with fully elucidated cation site occupancies where an enhancement in lithium conductivity is observed remains a challenge. Ca-Incorporation is developed here as a promising approach to enhance the ionic conductivity of garnet-type Li7-xLa3Zr2-xTaxO12phases. Here we present a new sol-gel synthetic strategy as a facile route to the preparation of materials of a desired stoichiometry optimized for Li+conductivity. We have found that the ionic conductivity of Li6.4La3Zr1.4Ta0.6O12is increased by a factor of four by the addition of 0.2 mol of Ca per formula unit. Ca is incorporated in the garnet lattice where it has no effect on the sinterability of the material and is predominately located at the La sites. We anticipate that the ease of our synthetic route and the phases presented here represents a starting point for the further realization of solid state electrolyte compositions with similarly high Li+conductivities using this methodology

IL-10 correlates with the expression of carboxypeptidase B2 and lymphovascular invasion in inflammatory breast cancer: The potential role of tumor infiltrated macrophages

Pro-carboxypeptidase B2 (pro-CPB2) or thrombin-activatable fibrinolysis inhibitor (TAFI) is a glycoprotein encoded by the CPB2 gene and deregulated in several cancer types, including breast cancer. Thrombin binding to thrombomodulin (TM), encoded by THBD, is important for TAFI activation. CPB2 gene expression is influenced by genetic polymorphism and cytokines such as interleukin 10 (IL-10). Our previous results showed that tumor infiltrating monocytes/macrophages (CD14+/CD16+) isolated from inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) patients’ secrete high levels of IL-10. The aim of the present study is to test genetic polymorphism and expression of CPB2 in healthy breast tissues and carcinoma tissues of non-IBC and IBC patients. Furthermore, to investigate whether IL-10 modulates the expression of CPB2 and THBD in vivo and in-vitro. We tested CPB2 Thr325Ile polymorphism using restriction fragment length polymorphism, (RFLP) technique in healthy and carcinoma breast tissues. The mRNA expression of CPB2, THBD and IL10 were assessed by RT-qPCR. Infiltration of CD14+ cells was assessed by immunohistochemistry. In addition, we investigated the correlation between infiltration of CD14+ cells and expression of IL10 and CPB2. Furthermore, we correlated IL10 expression with the expression of both CPB2 and THBD in breast carcinoma tissues. Finally, we validated the role of recombinant IL-10 in regulating the expression of CPB2 and THBD using different breast cancer cell lines. Our results showed that CPB2 genotypes carrying the high-risk allele [Thr/Ile (CT) and Ile/Ile (TT)] were more frequent in both IBC and non-IBC patients compared to control group. CPB2 genotypes did not show any statistical correlation with CPB2 mRNA expression levels or patients’ clinical pathological properties. Interestingly, CPB2 and IL10 expression were significantly higher and positively correlated with the incidence of CD14+ cells in carcinoma tissues of IBC as compared to non-IBC. On the other hand, THBD expression was significantly lower in IBC carcinoma versus non-IBC tissues. Based on molecular subtypes, CPB2 and IL10 expression were significantly higher in triple negative (TN) as compared to hormonal positive (HP) carcinoma tissues of IBC. Moreover, CPB2 expression was positively correlated with presence of lymphovascular invasion and the expression of IL10 in carcinoma tissues of IBC patients. Furthermore, recombinant human IL-10 stimulated CPB2 expression in SUM-149 (IBC cell line) but not in MDA-MB-231 (non-IBC cell line), while there was no significant effect THBD expression. In conclusion, carcinoma tissues of IBC patients are characterized by higher expression of CPB2 and lower expression of THBD. Moreover, CPB2 positively correlates with IL10 mRNA expression, incidence of CD14+ cells and lymphovascular invasion in IBC patients. IL-10 stimulated CPB2 expression in TN-IBC cell line suggests a relevant role of CPB2 in the aggressive phenotype of IBC

Cathepsin b: a potential prognostic marker for inflammatory breast cancer

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) is the most aggressive form of breast cancer. In non-IBC, the cysteine protease cathepsin B (CTSB) is known to be involved in cancer progression and invasion; however, very little is known about its role in IBC.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In this study, we enrolled 23 IBC and 27 non-IBC patients. All patient tissues used for analysis were from untreated patients. Using immunohistochemistry and immunoblotting, we assessed the levels of expression of CTSB in IBC versus non-IBC patient tissues. Previously, we found that CTSB is localized to caveolar membrane microdomains in cancer cell lines including IBC, and therefore, we also examined the expression of caveolin-1 (cav-1), a structural protein of caveolae in IBC versus non-IBC tissues. In addition, we tested the correlation between the expression of CTSB and cav-1 and the number of positive metastatic lymph nodes in both patient groups.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Our results revealed that CTSB and cav-1 were overexpressed in IBC as compared to non-IBC tissues. Moreover, there was a significant positive correlation between the expression of CTSB and the number of positive metastatic lymph nodes in IBC.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>CTSB may initiate proteolytic pathways crucial for IBC invasion. Thus, our data demonstrate that CTSB may be a potential prognostic marker for lymph node metastasis in IBC.</p

NASICON LiM2(PO4)(3) electrolyte (M = Zr) and electrode (M = Ti) materials for all solid-state Li-ion batteries with high total conductivity and low interfacial resistance

All solid-state batteries based on NASICON-type LiM2(PO4)3 electrolyte phases are highly promising owing to their high ionic conductivities and chemical stabilities. Unlike Ti-based phases, extensively studied as Li+ solid electrolyte membranes, LiZr2(PO4)3 (LZP) is expected to form a stable interface with a metallic lithium anode, a challenge which has posed a serious roadblock to realising safe all solid-state batteries. However, prohibitively large grain boundary resistances are often observed in this material and this issue, combined with processing difficulties in fabricating LZP in dense forms, has impinged on the application of LZP as a solid electrolyte for all solid-state batteries. To overcome these shortcomings and demonstrate the excellent potential of LZP as a solid electrolyte, we have developed a simple approach, based on sol–gel chemistry, to effectively improve the densification of the material leading to higher total conductivity than previously reported (1.0 × 10−4 S cm−1 at 80 °C) and enabling the investigation of the material as a Li+ solid electrolyte without the need for elaborate post-processing steps. The interfacial resistance decreases dramatically on using thin layers of Au buffer to improve the contact between Li and the LZP surface. The Li/LZP interface shows constant resistance upon Li+ cycling (at 40 μA cm−2), despite the formation of a passivation layer of Li3P/Li8ZrO6 on the LZP surface. This is consistent with the prediction that this surface layer serves as a Li+ conductive, solid electrolyte interface between Li and LZP. Finally, an analogue material, LiTi2(PO4)3, is also introduced and demonstrated as an electrode material for proposed LZP-based all-solid-state batteries