Alterations in the gut microbiota may influence gastrointestinal (GI) dysbiosis frequently reported in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). In this study, we sequenced the bacterial 16S rRNA gene to evaluate changes in fecal microbiota between 48 children with ASD and 48 healthy children in China. At the phylum level, the number of Firmicutes, Proteobacteria, and Verrucomicrobia decreased in children with ASD, while the Bacteroidetes/Firmicutes was significantly higher in autistic children due to enrichment of Bacteroidetes. At the genus level, the amount of Bacteroides, Prevotella, Lachnospiracea_incertae_sedis, and Megamonas increased, while Clostridium XlVa, Eisenbergiella, Clostridium IV, Flavonifractor, Escherichia/Shigella, Haemophilus, Akkermansia, and Dialister decreased in children with ASD relative to the controls. Significant increase was observed in the number of species synthesizing branched‐chain amino acids (BCAAs), like Bacteroides vulgatus and Prevotella copri, while the numbers of Bacteroides fragilis and Akkermansia muciniphila decreased in children with ASD compared to the controls. Most importantly, the highest levels of pathogenic bacteria were different for each child with ASD in this cohort. We found that only one functional module, cellular antigens, was enriched in children with ASD, and other pathways like lysine degradation and tryptophan metabolism were significantly decreased in children with ASD. These findings provide further evidence of altered gut microbiota in Chinese ASD children and may contribute to the treatment of patients with ASD. Lay Summary This study characterized the gut bacteria composition of 48 children with ASD and 48 neurotypical children in China. The metabolic disruptions caused by altered gut microbiota may contribute significantly to the neurological pathophysiology of ASD, including significant increases in the number of species synthesizing BCAAs, and decreases in the number of probiotic species. These findings suggest that a gut microbiome‐associated therapeutic intervention may provide a novel strategy for treating GI symptoms frequently seen in individuals with ASD. Autism Res 2020, 13: 1614–1625. © 2020 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The feature paper gives an overview of the preparation of pillararene-based supramolecular polymers and covers recent research advance and future trends of pillararene-based host–guest pairs, assembly methods, topological architectures, stimuli-responsiveness, and functional features.

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Hydro-and/or solvo-thermal nanocrystallization of lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO 4 ) has been well recognized as an effective pathway to improve its electrochemical performances. Herein, it is reported that high-performance LiFePO 4 single-crystalline nanoparticles have been successfully prepared by the additive-free solvothermal reaction and subsequent glucose-assisted calcination. In comparison with the similar hydrothermal reaction, the presence of ethylene glycol can unexpectedly induce the formation of gel-like intermediates at the time interval of 0.5 h, resulting in LiFePO 4 nanoparticles with a three-dimensional (3D) lattice structure and an amorphous nanocoating for a reaction time of 2 h. Interestingly, the lattice structure of growing LiFePO 4 crystals can be thoroughly damaged under the irradiation of an electron beam. Furthermore, after the continuous crystal growth and subsequent heattreatment, nanocrystalline LiFePO 4 can achieve a discharge capacity of $165 mAh g À1 at 0.1 C in assembled LiFePO 4 /Li half-cells, proving a successful nanocrystal-forming engineering of LiFePO 4 for a lithium-ion battery cathode.

In this work, two TPE-bridged monomers M4 and N4, and a heteroditopic monomer AE were designed and synthesized. They could self-assemble by self-sorting mode to form supramolecular cross-linked alternating polymer. The process of supramolecular polymerization induced fluorescence emission enhancement on the basis of an AIE mechanism. Furthermore, the "off-on" switchable fluorescence emission could be achieved by adding-removing potassium ion from the solution of supramolecular polymer or heating−cooling method. At relatively high concentration, the supramolecular cross-linked polymer transformed into supramolecular gel and the obtained gel showed excellent self-healing capability and thermal reversibility.

Supramolecular polymer gels (SPGs) are precisely designed gels brought together by noncovalent interactions to form three-dimensional network structures of polymers. In general, SPGs are different from supramolecular gels as they...

Fluorescent supramolecular polymers are an important kind of smart material. In this work, a new fluorescent supramolecular hyperbranched polymer (FSHP) is constructed by orthogonal self-assembly: pillararene-based host-guest interaction and metal ion complexation interaction. The FSHP exhibits concentration-controllable fluorescence emissions. The photoluminescence spectra and light-emitting colors of FSHP can be effectively tuned by changing metal ion types or using mixed metal ions. The fluorescence quenching of FSHP solutions or FSHP-based films would occur when removing the metal ions from the backbone of FSHP. This study supplies a convenient approach toward the construction of structure-tunable fluorescent supramolecular materials with different colors.

Temporarily stabilized iron oxychloride (FeOCl) nanospindles have been collected for the first time shortly after the forced hydrolysis of iron(III) chloride (FeCl 3 ) in the reaction medium of glycerol and water (1 : 7, v/ v) at 145 uC. In this paper, a novel chemical composition evolution of orthorhombic FeOCl to tetragonal akaganeite (b-FeOOH) and then to cubic magnetite (Fe 3 O 4 ) has been successfully used for the shapecontrolled synthesis of Fe 3 O 4 -C spindle-like nanocomposites. During this evolution process, the crystal structures of spindle-like intermediates have been investigated, along with the random doping of amorphous carbon into the final products. As a lithium ion battery anode, Fe 3 O 4 -C composite nanospindles can give a significantly high initial coulombic efficiency (80.6%), a reversible discharge capacity of 1029 mA h g 21 at 200 mA g 21 over 100 cycles, and the 100th retention value of 711.6 mA h g 21 at a high current rate of 1000 mA g 21 . Therefore, a combination of the fine nanofabrication of Fe 3 O 4 crystals with a spindle-like shape and the random doping of amorphous carbon may offer an effective approach to the development of transition metal oxide-based anode materials for high-energy lithium ion batteries.