The increasing demands of energy storage require the significant improvement of current Li-ion battery electrode materials and the development of advanced electrode materials. Thus, it is necessary to gain an in-depth understanding of the reaction processes, degradation mechanism, and thermal decomposition mechanisms of electrode materials under realistic operation conditions. This understanding can be obtained by in situ/operando characterization techniques that provide information on the structure evolution, redox mechanism, solid-electrolyte interphase (SEI) formation, side reactions and Li-ion transport properties under operating conditions. Here, the recent developments in the in situ/operando techniques employed for the investigation of the structural stability, dynamic properties, chemical environment changes and morphological evolution during electrochemical processes are described and summarized in detail. The experimental approaches reviewed in this paper include X-ray, electron, neutron, optical, and scanning probes. Each advanced technique has unique capabilities to study specific properties of electrode materials within specific limitations. The experimental methods and operating principles, especially the in situ cell designs, are described in detail. To illustrate the applicability and uniqueness of each technique, representative studies making use of the in situ/operando techniques are discussed and summarized. Finally, the major current challenges and future opportunities of the in situ/operando techniques are discussed. Several important battery challenges are likely to benefit from these in situ/operando techniques, including the inhomogeneous reactions of This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. 4high energy density cathodes, the development of safe and reversible Li metal plating and the development of stable SEI on electrodes.Received: ((will be filled in by the editorial staff))Revised: ((will be filled in by the editorial staff))

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Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are emerging as key molecules in human cancer. Highly upregulated in liver cancer (HULC), an lncRNA, has recently been revealed to be involved in hepatocellular carcinoma development and progression. It remains unclear, however, whether HULC plays an oncogenic role in human gastric cancer (GC). In the present study, we demonstrated that HULC was significantly overexpressed in GC cell lines and GC tissues compared with normal controls, and this overexpression was correlated with lymph node metastasis, distant metastasis and advanced tumor node metastasis stages. In addition, a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was constructed to evaluate the diagnostic values and the area under the ROC curve of HULC was up to 0.769. To uncover its functional importance, gain- and loss-of-function studies were performed to evaluate the effect of HULC on cell proliferation, apoptosis and invasion in vitro. Overexpression of HULC promoted proliferation and invasion and inhibited cell apoptosis in SGC7901 cells, while knockdown of HULC in SGC7901 cells showed the opposite effect. Mechanistically, we discovered that overexpression of HULC could induce patterns of autophagy in SGC7901 cells; more importantly, autophagy inhibition increased overexpression of HULC cell apoptosis. We also determined that silencing of HULC effectively reversed the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) phenotype. In summary, our results suggest that HULC may play an important role in the growth and tumorigenesis of human GC, which provides us with a new biomarker in GC and perhaps a potential target for GC prevention, diagnosis and therapeutic treatment.

All patients with confirmed Corona Virus Disease 2019 were enrolled, and their clinical data were gathered by reviewing electronic medical records. Outcomes of severely ill patients and non-severely ill patients were compared. Results Of 145 hospitalized patients with COVID-19, the average age was 47.5 years old (standard deviation, 14.6) and 54.5% were men. Hypertension was the most common comorbidity (15.2%), followed by diabetes mellitus (9.7%). Common symptoms included dry cough (81.4%), fever (75.2%), anorexia (42.8%), fatigue (40.7%), chest tightness (32.4%), diarrhea (26.9%) and dizziness (20%). According to imaging examination, 79.3% patients showed bilateral pneumonia, 18.6% showed unilateral pneumonia, 61.4% showed ground-glass opacity, and 2.1% showed no abnormal result. Compared with non-severely ill patients, severely ill patients were older (mean, years, 52.8 vs. 45.3, p < 0.01), had a higher proportion of diabetes mellitus (16.3% vs. 6.9%, p = 0.08), had a higher body mass index (mean, 24.78 vs. 23.20, p = 0.02) and were more likely to have fever (90.7% vs. 68.6%, p = 0.01), anorexia (60.5% vs. 35.3%, p = 0.01), chest tightness (60.5% vs.20.6%, p < 0.01) and dyspnea (7.0% vs. 0%, p = 0.03). Of the 43 severely ill patients, 6 (14%) received high-flow nasal cannula oxygen therapy, and 1 (2.3%) received invasive mechanical ventilation. Conclusions Older patients or patients with comorbidities such as obesity or diabetes mellitus were more likely to have severe condition. Treatments of COVID-19 is still experimental and more clinical trials are needed.

We demonstrate fabrication of a two-dimensional Hf-containing MXene, HfCT, by selective etching of a layered parent Hf[Al(Si)]C compound. A substitutional solution of Si on Al sites effectively weakened the interfacial adhesion between Hf-C and Al(Si)-C sublayers within the unit cell of the parent compound, facilitating the subsequent selective etching. The underlying mechanism of the Si-alloying-facilitated etching process is thoroughly studied by first-principles density functional calculations. The result showed that more valence electrons of Si than Al weaken the adhesive energy of the etching interface. The MXenes were determined to be flexible and conductive. Moreover, this 2D Hf-containing MXene material showed reversible volumetric capacities of 1567 and 504 mAh cm for lithium and sodium ions batteries, respectively, at a current density of 200 mAg after 200 cycles. Thus, HfCT MXenes with a 2D structure are candidate anode materials for metal-ion intercalation, especially for applications where size matters.

ADAMTS13 limits platelet-rich thrombosis by cleaving von Willebrand factor at the Tyr1605 -Met 1606 bond. Previous studies showed that ADAMTS13 truncated after spacer domain remains proteolytically active or hyperactive. However, the relative contribution of each domain within the proximal carboxyl terminus of AD-AMTS13 in substrate recognition and specificity is not known. We showed that a metalloprotease domain alone was unable to cleave the Tyr-Met bond of glutathione S-transferase (GST)-VWF73-H substrate in 3 h, but it did cleave the substrate at a site other than the Tyr-Met bond after 16 -24 h of incubation. Remarkably, the addition of even one or several proximal carboxyl-terminal domains of ADAMTS13 restored substrate specificity. Full proteolytic activity, however, was not achieved until all of the proximal carboxyl-terminal domains were added. The addition of TSP1 2-8 repeats and two CUB domains did not further increase proteolytic activity. ADAMTS13 (a disintegrin and metalloprotease with thrombospondin type 1 repeat) (1-6) cleaves von Willebrand factor (VWF) 1 at the Tyr 1605 -Met 1606 bond of the central A2 subunit (7,8). Inability to cleave newly synthesized and released "unusually large" VWF multimers from endothelial cells or platelets due to deficiency of ADAMTS13 proteolytic activity may result in an accumulation of the unusually large VWF multimers (9), leading to formation of disseminated platelet-rich microthrombi in small arteries, a characteristic pathologic feature of thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura. For purposes of discussion, ADAMTS13 may be divided arbitrarily into four functionally distinct regions: the metalloprotease, the proximal, the middle, and the distal carboxyl-terminal regions. The metalloprotease domain is the catalytic center, containing a characteristic HEXXHXXGXXHD sequence that coordinates Zn 2ϩ or Ca 2ϩ binding (1-6, 10). The proximal carboxyl-terminal region consists of a disintegrin domain, a first thrombospondin type 1 (TSP1) repeat, a Cys-rich domain, and a spacer domain. The middle and distal carboxyl-terminal regions of ADAMTS13 have seven additional TSP1 repeats and two CUB (C1r/C1s, urinary epidermal growth factor, bone morphogenetic protein) domains (3, 6, 10, 11).Studies have shown that ADAMTS13 truncated after the spacer domain remains proteolytically active toward plasma VWF in the presence of 1.5 M urea and low ionic strength (12, 13) and appears to be hyperactive toward unusually large VWF that are newly released from cultured endothelial cells under flow conditions (14). In addition, the autoantibodies identified in patients with idiopathic thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura all react with the Cys-rich domain and spacer domain (15,16). These data suggest a critical role of the proximal C terminus of ADAMTS13 in substrate recognition in vivo. However, the relative contribution of each domain within the proximal carboxyl-terminal region of ADAMTS13 to substrate recognition and enzymatic activity remains unclear, as the assays using plasma VWF in the pr...

Among the cytokines linked to inflammation-associated cancer, interleukin (IL)-6 drives many of the cancer 'hallmarks' through downstream activation of the Janus kinase/signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (JAK/STAT3) signaling pathway. Additionally, dysregulation of the interleukin (IL)-6-mediated JAK/STAT3 signaling pathway is closely related to the development of diverse human solid tumors including colorectal cancer (CRC). On this basis, modulation of the IL-6/JAK/STAT3 signaling pathway is currently being widely explored to develop novel therapies for CRC. The present review details the mechanisms and roles of the IL-6/JAK/STAT3 pathway in CRC, describes current therapeutic strategies, and the search for potential therapeutic approaches to treat CRC.

Objective To determine the risk of chronic kidney disease in patients with psoriasis.