Control of TiO2 crystal facets has attracted enormous interest due to the fascinating shape-dependent photocatalytic activity of this material. In this work, the effect of the ratio of {001} and {101} facets on the photocatalytic CO2-reduction performance of anatase TiO2 is reported. A new "surface heterojunction" concept is proposed on the basis of the density functional theory (DFT) calculations to explain the difference in the photocatalytic activity of TiO2 with coexposed {001} and {101} facets.

Background: A novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) causing an outbreak of pneumonia in Wuhan, Hubei province of China was isolated in January 2020. This study aims to investigate its epidemiologic history, and analyze the clinical characteristics, treatment regimens, and prognosis of patients infected with 2019-nCoV during this outbreak. Methods: Clinical data from 137 2019-nCoV-infected patients admitted to the respiratory departments of the respiratory departments of nine tertiary hospitals in Hubei province from December 30, 2019 to January 24, 2020 were retrospectively collected, including general status, clinical manifestations, laboratory test results, imaging characteristics, and treatment regimens. Results: None of the 137 patients (61 males, 76 females, aged 20-83 years, median age 57 years) had a definite history of exposure to Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market. Major initial symptoms included fever (112/137, 81.8%), coughing (66/137, 48.2%), and muscle pain or fatigue (44/137, 32.1%), with other, less typical initial symptoms observed at low frequency, including heart palpitations, diarrhea, and headache. Nearly 80% of the patients had normal or decreased white blood cell counts, and 72.3% (99/137) had lymphocytopenia. Lung involvement was present in all cases, with most chest computed tomography scans showing lesions in multiple lung lobes, some of which were dense; ground-glass opacity co-existed with consolidation shadows or cordlike shadows. Given the lack of effective drugs, treatment focused on symptomatic and respiratory support. Immunoglobulin G was delivered to some critically ill patients according to their conditions. Systemic corticosteroid treatment did not show significant benefits. Notably, early respiratory support facilitated disease recovery and improved prognosis. The risk of death was primarily associated with age, underlying chronic diseases, and median interval from the appearance of initial symptoms to dyspnea. Conclusions: The majority of patients with 2019-nCoV pneumonia present with fever as the first symptom, and most of them still showed typical manifestations of viral pneumonia on chest imaging. Middle-aged and elderly patients with underlying comorbidities are susceptible to respiratory failure and may have a poorer prognosis.

OBJECTIVE To assess the efficacy and safety of hydroxychloroquine plus standard of care compared with standard of care alone in adults with coronavirus disease 2019 (covid-19).

Formaldehyde (HCHO) is a major indoor pollutant and long-term exposure to HCHO may cause health problems such as nasal tumors and skin irritation. Photocatalytic oxidation is considered as the most promising strategy for the decomposition of HCHO. Herein, for the first time, a direct g-C3N4-TiO2 Z-scheme photocatalyst without an electron mediator was prepared by a facile calcination route utilizing affordable P25 and urea as the feedstocks. Photocatalytic activities of the as-prepared samples were evaluated by the photocatalytic oxidation decomposition of HCHO in air. It was shown that the photocatalytic activity of the prepared Z-scheme photocatalysts was highly dependent on the g-C3N4 content. At the optimal g-C3N4 content (sample U100 in this study), the apparent reaction rate constant was 7.36 × 10(-2) min(-1) for HCHO decomposition, which exceeded that of pure P25 (3.53 × 10(-2) min(-1)) by a factor of 2.1. The enhanced photocatalytic activity could be ascribed to the formation of a g-C3N4-TiO2 Z-scheme photocatalyst, which results in the efficient space separation of photo-induced charge carriers. Considering the ease of the preparation method, this work will provide new insights into the design of high-performance Z-scheme photocatalysts for indoor air purification.

The NF-kappaB family of transcription factors is activated in response to many stimuli, including pro-inflammatory cytokines, environmental stresses and, in the case of B and T lymphocytes, by antigenic stimulation. Bcl10 is essential for NF-kappaB activation by T- and B-cell receptors. T and B lymphocytes from Bcl10-deficient mice fail to activate NF-kappaB in response to antigen-receptor stimulation and, as a consequence, are unable to proliferate. Bcl10 overexpression is sufficient to activate NF-kappaB, a process that requires the NF-kappaB essential modulator NEMO (also known as IKK-gamma), which is the regulatory subunit of the IkappaB kinase complex. However, the cellular mechanism by which Bcl10 activates the NF-kappaB pathway remains unclear. Here we show that Bcl10 targets NEMO for lysine-63-linked ubiquitination. Notably, a mutant form of NEMO that cannot be ubiquitinated inhibited Bcl10-induced NF-kappaB activation. Paracaspase and a ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme (UBC13) were both required for Bcl10-induced NEMO ubiquitination and subsequent NF-kappaB activation. Furthermore, short interfering RNAs that reduced the expression of paracaspase and UBC13 abrogated the effects of Bcl10. Thus, the adaptor protein Bcl10 promotes activation of NF-kappaB transcription factors through paracaspase- and UBC13-dependent ubiquitination of NEMO.

Objectives To assess the efficacy and safety of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) plus standard-of-care (SOC) compared with SOC alone in adult patients with COVID-19.Design Multicenter, open-label, randomized controlled trial.Setting 16 government-designated COVID-19 treatment centers in China through 11 to 29 in February 2020.Participants 150 patients hospitalized with COVID-19. 75 patients were assigned to HCQ plus SOC and 75 were assigned to SOC alone (control group).Interventions HCQ was administrated with a loading dose of 1, 200 mg daily for three days followed by a maintained dose of 800 mg daily for the remaining days (total treatment duration: 2 or 3 weeks for mild/moderate or severe patients, respectively). Main outcome measuresThe primary endpoint was the 28-day negative conversion rate of SARS-CoV-2. The assessed secondary endpoints were negative conversion rate at day 4, 7, 10, 14 or 21, the improvement rate of clinical symptoms within 28-day, normalization of C-reactive protein and blood lymphocyte count within 28-day. Primary and secondary analysis was by intention to treat. Adverse events were assessed in the safety population. ResultsThe overall 28-day negative conversion rate was not different between SOC plus HCQ and SOC group (Kaplan-Meier estimates 85.4% versus 81.3%, P=0.341). Negative conversion rate at day 4, 7, 10, 14 or 21 was also similar between the two groups. No different 28-day symptoms alleviation rate was observed between the two groups. A significant efficacy of HCQ on alleviating symptoms was observed when the confounding effects of anti-viral agents were removed in the post-hoc analysis (Hazard ratio, 8.83, 95%CI, 1.09 to 71.3). This was further supported by a significantly greater reduction of CRP (6.986 in SOC plus HCQ versus 2.723 in SOC,

In this work, three types of MnO 2 nanostructures, viz., microsphere/nanosheet core-corona hierarchical architectures, one-dimensional (1D) nanorods, and nanotubes, have been synthesized employing a simple hydrothermal process. The formation mechanisms have been rationalized. The materials have been thoroughly characterized by X-ray diffraction, Brunauer-Emmett-Teller spectrometry, field-emission scanning electron miscroscopy, energy dispersive spectroscopy, and transmission electron microscopy. The microsphere/nanosheet core-corona hierarchical structures are found to be the layered birnessite-type MnO 2 , while 1D nanorods and nanotubes are of the R-MnO 2 phase. These MnO 2 nanostructures are used as a model system for studying the shape/phase-dependent electrocatalytic properties for the oxygen reduction reaction, which have be investigated by cyclic and linear sweep voltammetry. It is found that R-MnO 2 nanorods/tubes possess largely enhanced electrocatalytic activity compared to birnessite-type MnO 2 core-corona spheres despite the latter having a much higher specific surface area. The vast difference in electrocatalytic activity is discussed in terms of crystal structure, oxygen adsorption mode, and exposed crystal facets.

Our findings that PlGF is a cancer target and anti-PlGF is useful for anticancer treatment have been challenged by Bais et al. Here we take advantage of carcinogen-induced and transgenic tumor models as well as ocular neovascularization to report further evidence in support of our original findings of PlGF as a promising target for anticancer therapies. We present evidence for the efficacy of additional anti-PlGF antibodies and their ability to phenocopy genetic deficiency or silencing of PlGF in cancer and ocular disease but also show that not all anti-PlGF antibodies are effective. We also provide additional evidence for the specificity of our anti-PlGF antibody and experiments to suggest that anti-PlGF treatment will not be effective for all tumors and why. Further, we show that PlGF blockage inhibits vessel abnormalization rather than density in certain tumors while enhancing VEGF-targeted inhibition in ocular disease. Our findings warrant further testing of anti-PlGF therapies.