Propylene carbonate (PC) ‐based electrolytes have many desirable advantageous properties compared to the currently used ethylene carbonate (EC) ‐based electrolytes for lithium ion batteries, however, their poor compatibility with the graphite anode hinders its applications. Here, a facile and effective strategy to make electrochemically compatible PC‐based electrolytes by use of a weakly coordinating diethyl carbonate co‐solvent to induce PF6− anions into the solvation shell of Li+ to form an anion‐induced ion–solvent‐coordinated (AI‐ISC) structure is reported. Such an AI‐ISC structure can lead to an increase of the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital energy level of the electrolyte, therefore considerably improving the reduction tolerance of the PC solvent. Furthermore, by using the film‐forming additive (fluoroethylene carbonate, FEC), an electrochemically stable, EC‐free PC‐based electrolyte, which enables reversible Li+ intercalation on the graphite electrode is obtained. The graphite/LiNi0.5Mn0.3Co0.2O2 pouch cells using this PC‐based electrolyte exhibit very similar room‐temperature electrochemical performance to those using conventional EC‐based electrolytes and excellent low‐temperature performance. This work provides a new approach to make EC‐free electrolytes with a similar AI‐ISC structure but without the need for a high concentration of Li salt of highly concentrated electrolytes, which may bring new insights in the development of advanced electrolyte systems for wide battery applications.

Our previous study demonstrated that 45S ribosomal DNA (45S rDNA) clusters were chromosome fragile sites expressed spontaneously in Lolium . In this study, fragile phenotypes of 45S rDNA were observed under aphidicolin (APH) incubation in several plant species. Further actinomycin D (ActD) treatment showed that transcriptional stress might interfere with chromatin packaging, resulting in 45S rDNA fragile expression. These data identified 45S rDNA sites as replication-dependent as well as transcription-dependent fragile sites in plants. In the presence of ActD, a dramatic switch to an open chromatin conformation and accumulated incomplete 5′ end of the external transcribed spacer (5′ETS) transcripts were observed, accompanied by decreased DNA methylation, decreased levels of histone H3, and increased histone acetylation and levels of H3K4me2, suggesting that these epigenetic alterations are associated with failure of 45S rDNA condensation. Furthermore, the finding that γ-H2AX was accumulated at 45S rDNA sites following ActD treatment suggested that the DNA damage signaling pathway was associated with the appearance of 45S rDNA fragile phenotypes. Our data provide a link between 45S rDNA transcription and chromatin-packaging defects and open the door for further identifying the molecular mechanism involved.

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The mechanism of how SARS-CoV-2 causes severe multi-organ failure is largely unknown. Acute kidney injury (AKI) is one of the frequent organ damage in severe COVID-19 patients. Previous studies have shown that human renal tubule cells could be the potential host cells targeted by SARS-CoV-2. Traditional cancer cell lines or immortalized cell lines are genetically and phenotypically different from host cells. Animal models are widely used, but often fail to reflect a physiological and pathogenic status because of species tropisms. There is an unmet need for normal human epithelial cells for disease modeling. In this study, we successfully established long term cultures of normal human kidney proximal tubule epithelial cells (KPTECs) in 2D and 3D culture systems using conditional reprogramming (CR) and organoids techniques. These cells had the ability to differentiate and repair DNA damage, and showed no transforming property. Importantly, the CR KPTECs maintained lineage function with expression of specific transporters (SLC34A3 and cubilin). They also expressed angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), a receptor for SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2. In contrast, cancer cell line did not express endogenous SLC34A3, cubilin and ACE2. Very interestingly, ACE2 expression was around twofold higher in 3D organoids culture compared to that in 2D CR culture condition. Pseudovirion assays demonstrated that SARS-CoV spike (S) protein was able to enter CR cells with luciferase reporter. This integrated 2D CR and 3D organoid cultures provide a physiological ex vivo model to study kidney functions, innate immune response of kidney cells to viruses, and a novel platform for drug discovery and safety evaluation. Keywords Conditionally reprogrammed cells (CRCs) Á Organoids Á Kidney proximal tubule epithelial cells (KPTECs) Á SARS-CoVs Á Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) Siyu Xia and Ming Wu contributed equally to this work Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (

Two isomers of 4,40-bis(1-phenyl-phenanthro[9,10-d]-imidazol-2-yl)biphenyl (BPPI), L-BPPI and Z-BPPI were prepared by tuning the substituted position on the biphenyl from para- to meta-coupling. Because of the conjugated degree change at the C2-position in the phenanthroimidazole block, the fluorescent color of L-BPPI (433 nm) and Z-BPPI (402 nm) showed an obvious blue-shift compared with that of BPPI (468 nm) in the films. Meanwhile, their non-doped devices exhibited more valuable and stable deep-blue emissions with a CIE coordinate of (0.16, 0.10) and (0.16, 0.11), respectively. Furthermore, some valuable information on structure–properties was obtained by density functional theory calculations, and photophysical and electrochemical characterization.

Batina et al. have proposed a privacy-preserving grouping-proof RFID protocol with colluding tag prevention (CTP) recently which relies exclusively on the use of Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC). In this paper, we show that this proposed protocol is not secure against the tracking attack. To make this attack successfully, the adversary needs to execute three phases. Firstly, the attacker just eavesdrops on the messages exchanged between Reader and Tags. Secondly, the attacker impersonates Reader to replay the message which is got from the first phase. Finally, the adversary acts as a man in the middle to tamper the messages exchanged between Reader and Tag B. Then we propose an enhancement and prove that the revision is secure against the tracking attack which keeps other security properties.

The microstructured surfaces of bioelectrical dry electrodes are important aspects of dry electrode design. However, traditional surfaces for microstructured bioelectrical dry electrodes are costly to produce and require complex fabrication methods. In this study, a novel stacked-template method is proposed for the first time, rapidly producing microstructured dry electrodes at a low cost and with a large surface area. Three types of microstructured Ag/AgCl thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) electrodes with a Fructus xanthii-inspired barb structure (FXbs) are prepared using this method; then, the dynamic friction, hair interference resistance, electrochemical, and electrocardiogram (ECG) signal acquisition performance of the electrodes are tested, and the dynamic noise characteristics of the electrodes are comprehensively evaluated with simulated instruments. Compared to the plate structure, the dynamic friction coefficient of the FXbs electrode improved by about 38.8%, exhibiting strong hair interference resistance. In addition, the FXbs electrode exhibits low dynamic noise and comparable performance to the wet electrode, in terms of signal acquisition, when it is tested using simulated instruments. Therefore, the prepared FXbs electrode increases the friction coefficient between the electrode and the skin, which effectively resolves issues related to dynamic noise in bioelectrical signals, making it suitable for dynamic measurements.

Asymmetric substitution effect at K-terminal or S-terminal in KSA-based derivatives plays a key role in their AIE performance and metal ion responsiveness via simple intrinsic electronic structure tunings.