Porous single crystalline-like titanium dioxide monolith with enhanced photoelectrochemical performance

Macro-sized porous single crystalline-like (PSC-like) TiO2 is endowed with unique structural advantages due to its structural consistency and porosity in a large area, which would significantly enhance its photoelectrochemical function. However, there are significant technical challenges in the growth of porous single crystalline-like monoliths. The consistency of structure dominates the structure so that the grain boundary is reduced to the minimum, which is in contradiction with the three-dimensional percolation structure. Here we report a lattice reconstruction strategy based on solid-solid transformation to grow porous single crystal-like anatase TiO2 dominated by (200) and (101) facets at 2 cm scale. In comparison with the traditional definition of porous single crystal, it has two different lattice orientations, but still has good photoelectrochemical properties. The band gap engineering introduces Ti3+ gap into the lattice to generate TinO2n−1 with Magneli phase, limiting the created active structure to the lattice with two-dimensional surface, which would open a new avenue to create highly active surfaces to capture photons and transport electrons stably. The PSC-like TinO2n−1 provides enhanced exciton lifetime (3–5 ns) as a photocatalytic catalyst and shows significant visible light absorption. The independent PSC-like TinO2n−1 delivers high photocurrent of 1.8–5.5 mA · cm−2 at room temperature and does not decay for 10 h

The Association Between ABO Blood Group and Preeclampsia: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Objective: This meta-analysis comprehensively evaluated the association between ABO blood group and the risk of preeclampsia (PE).Design: Systematic review and meta-analysis.Data sources: PubMed, Web of Science, and ScienceDirect databases from their inception to September 23, 2020.Methods: Pooled odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were obtained through random-effects and fixed-effects models according to heterogeneity. Meta-regression analysis was applied to explore the source of heterogeneity. We conducted a subgroup analysis by the publication year, study design, state, and Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS) score. In addition, we calculated the rate of each ABO blood group in PE by total pooled effects.Results: A total of 12 articles with 714,153 patients were included in our analysis. Compared with people without PE (control group), the O blood group presented a lower risk of PE (OR 0.95, 95% CI 0.93–0.97). The AB (OR 1.46, 95% CI 1.12–1.91) blood group presented a higher risk. However, the total pooled OR and 95% CI for the A (OR 1.02, 95% CI 0.90–1.16) and B (OR 1.02, 95% CI 0.98–1.05) blood groups were not significant. The funnel plot and linear regression equation showed that there was no publication bias for the O, A, or B blood groups (all P > 0.05). However, the funnel plot and linear regression equation for the AB blood group were obviously asymmetric (P < 0.05), and the publication bias persisted even after the trim-and-fill method was applied (P < 0.05). Multivariable meta-regression analysis did not find a specific source of heterogeneity. The A blood group showed an association with early-onset PE (OR 0.53, 95% CI 0.33–0.83), and the other blood groups showed no significant differences. In PE, the rates of the O, A, B, and AB blood groups decreased gradually (0.39, 0.33, 0.19, 0.07).Conclusion: These findings suggest that pregnant women with AB blood group are more likely to develop PE, and more attention should be paid to AB blood group whose blood pressure is high but not sufficient to diagnose PE.Systematic Review Registration: Prospero CRD42021227930

Why is autophagy important in human diseases?

The process of macroautophagy (referred to hereafter as autophagy), is generally characterized by the prominent formation of autophagic vesicles in the cytoplasm. In the past decades, studies of autophagy have been vastly expanded. As an essential process to maintain cellular homeostasis and functions, autophagy is responsible for the lysosome-mediated degradation of damaged proteins and organelles, and thus misregulation of autophagy can result in a variety of pathological conditions in human beings. Although our understanding of regulatory pathways that control autophagy is still limited, an increasing number of studies have shed light on the importance of autophagy in a wide range of physiological processes and human diseases. The goal of the reviews in the current issue is to provide a general overview of current knowledge on autophagy. The machinery and regulation of autophagy were outlined with special attention to its role in diabetes, neurodegenerative disorders, infectious diseases and cancer

The clinical characteristics of Chinese elderly patients with different durations of type 2 diabetes mellitus

AimsTo explore the clinical characteristics among elderly (aged ≥60 years) patients with type 2 diabetes (T2DM) of different durations.MethodsClinical characteristics were investigated in 3840 elderly T2DM patients according to their different durations of diabetes (< 1 year, 1~5 years, 5~10 years, and ≥ 10 years). Kruskal-Wallis and Dunn tests were used to assess the differences among groups for continuous variables. The chi-square and post hoc tests were carried out for dichotomous variables. The logistic regression was adopted to investigate the relationships between various durations of diabetes and the control rates of achieving the control targets for T2DM as well as diabetic vascular complications.ResultsThere were 972, 896, 875 and 1097 patients with a duration of diabetes of <1, 1~5, 5~10 and ≥10 years, respectively. In logistic regression models adjusted for age, sex, education, BMI, smoking and family history of diabetes, elderly T2DM patients with a duration of diabetes of ≥10 years were more likely to reach the comprehensive control targets for TC (ORTC = 1.36, 95% CI =1.14-1.63), LDL-C (ORLDL-C = 1.39, 95% CI =1.17-1.66), TG (ORTG = 1.76, 95% CI =1.46-2.12) and BMI (ORBMI = 1.82, 95% CI =1.52-2.18). Elderly T2DM patients with a duration of diabetes of 1~5 years were more likely to achieve the HbA1c control target (ORHbA1c = 1.92, 95% CI = 1.59-2.31) than elderly T2DM patients with a duration of diabetes of <1 year. Furthermore, in elderly T2DM patients with a duration of diabetes of 5~10 years or ≥ 10 years, the duration of diabetes was positively associated with diabetic macrovascular complications (coronary heart disease and peripheral artery disease). In elderly T2DM patients with a duration of diabetes of over 10 years, the duration of diabetes was associated with diabetes kidney disease (all P < 0.05).ConclusionsIt is worth noting that the clinical characteristics of elderly patients with type 2 diabetes in different durations of diabetes are different

The Long Non-Coding RNA ENST00000537266 and ENST00000426615 Influence Papillary Thyroid Cancer Cell Proliferation and Motility

Background/Aims: Papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) is the most common histotype of Thyroid cancer (TC). Here, we detected the differentially expressed lncRNAs in tumor tissues and non-tumor tissues of PTC patients by lncRNA microarrays, and explored the function and molecular mechanisms of lncRNAs in the pathogenesis of PTC using a PTC cell line. Methods: CCK-8 assay, colony formation assay and EdU assay were used to detect the cell viability. Flow Cytometry was used to detect the cell cycle and apoptosis. Transwell and scratch assay were used to detect the cell motility. Results: CCK-8 assay, colony formation assay and EdU assay revealed that lncRNAs (ENST00000537266 and ENST00000426615) could inhibit cell proliferation. Cell cycle analysis showed that cell proportion was statistically significant increased in G1 phase and decreased in S phase and G2 phase in Si-266 transfected TPC-1 cells. In addition, a noteworthy increase of cell proportion in G1 phase accompanied by a decrease in S phase and unchanged G2 phase in Si-615 transfected TPC-1 cells were also observed. Meanwhile, transwell and scratch assay showed that ENST00000426615 could inhibit the cell motility while ENST00000537266 could not. Conclusion: Our results showed that lncRNAs (ENST00000426615 and ENST00000537266) might be important regulators of PTC cell proliferation and motility, which might provide new insight into the understanding of PTC pathogenesis

All-metallic geometric metasurfaces for broadband and high-efficiency wavefront manipulation

Geometric metasurfaces have shown superior phase control capacity owing to the geometric nature of their phase profile. The existing geometric metasurfaces are generally composed of metal-dielectric composites or all-dielectric subwavelength structures. Here, a novel configuration, all-metallic structure, is proposed to achieve broadband and high-performance electromagnetic wavefront manipulation based on the geometric phase. A catenary model is built to describe the optical dispersion and guide the design of metasurfaces. Two metadevices including a beam deflector and a hologram are designed and experimentally demonstrated in the infrared regime, with the measured optical efficiency up to 84% (the simulated efficiency reaches 93%). Compared to previous metal-insulator-metal structures, this approach can realize higher efficiency and broader operating bandwidth owing to its lower ohmic loss. This design strategy is universal and can be easily scaled to any other spectra without complex optimization. Moreover, since metals have excellent mechanical and physical properties, such as good thermal and electrical conductivity, this all-metallic structure may provide a new thinking on interdisciplinary research

Berberine reduces fibronectin expression by suppressing the S1P-S1P2 receptor pathway in experimental diabetic nephropathy models.

The accumulation of glomerular extracellular matrix (ECM) is one of the critical pathological characteristics of diabetic renal fibrosis. Fibronectin (FN) is an important constituent of ECM. Our previous studies indicate that the activation of the sphingosine kinase 1 (SphK1)-sphingosine 1- phosphate (S1P) signaling pathway plays a key regulatory role in FN production in glomerular mesangial cells (GMCs) under diabetic condition. Among the five S1P receptors, the activation of S1P2 receptor is the most abundant. Berberine (BBR) treatment also effectively inhibits SphK1 activity and S1P production in the kidneys of diabetic models, thus improving renal injury. Based on these data, we further explored whether BBR could prevent FN production in GMCs under diabetic condition via the S1P2 receptor. Here, we showed that BBR significantly down-regulated the expression of S1P2 receptor in diabetic rat kidneys and GMCs exposed to high glucose (HG) and simultaneously inhibited S1P2 receptor-mediated FN overproduction. Further, BBR also obviously suppressed the activation of NF-κB induced by HG, which was accompanied by reduced S1P2 receptor and FN expression. Taken together, our findings suggest that BBR reduces FN expression by acting on the S1P2 receptor in the mesangium under diabetic condition. The role of BBR in S1P2 receptor expression regulation could closely associate with its inhibitory effect on NF-κB activation