Summary Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) are a new type of crystalline porous polymers known for chemical stability, excellent structural regularity, robust framework, and inherent porosity, making them promising materials for capturing various types of pollutants from aqueous solutions. This review thoroughly presents the recent progress and advances of COFs and COF-based materials as superior adsorbents for the efficient removal of toxic heavy metal ions, radionuclides, and organic pollutants. Information about the interaction mechanisms between various pollutants and COF-based materials are summarized from the macroscopic and microscopic standpoints, including batch experiments, theoretical calculations, and advanced spectroscopy analysis. The adsorption properties of various COF-based materials are assessed and compared with other widely used adsorbents. Several commonly used strategies to enhance COF-based materials’ adsorption performance and the relationship between structural property and sorption ability are also discussed. Finally, a summary and perspective on the opportunities and challenges of COFs and COF-based materials are proposed to provide some inspiring information on designing and fabricating COFs and COF-based materials for environmental pollution management.

Anatase TiO(2) microspheres with exposed mirror-like plane {001} facets were successfully synthesized via a facile hydrothermal process. The photoanode composed of TiO(2) microsphere top layer shows an improved DSSCs efficiency owing to the superior light scattering effect of microspheres and excellent light reflecting ability of the mirror-like plane {001} facets.

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The clinical characteristics and outcomes of Chinese patients with sporadic ALS were different compared with patients from other countries. Compared with other studies, the age at onset of Chinese patients was earlier, the percentage of bulbar-onset ALS was lower and the prognosis was better. This study substantially advances the understanding of the clinical features and epidemiology of this rare disease.

In this work, we present a low cost and environmentally benign hydrothermal method using dried grass as the sole starting material without any synthetic chemicals to directly produce high quality nitrogen-doped carbon nanodot/nanosheet aggregates (N-CNAs), achieving a high yield of 25.2%. The fabricated N-CNAs possess an N/C atomic ratio of 3.41%, consist of three typed of doped N at a ratio of 2.6 (pyridinic):1.7 (pyrrolic):1 (graphitic). The experimental results reveal that for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), the performance of N-CNAs, in terms of electrocatalytic activity, stability and resistance to crossover effects, is better or comparable to the commercial Pt/C electrocatalyst. The theoretical studies further indicate that the doped pyridinic-N plays a key role for N-CNAs' excellent four-electron ORR electrocatalytic activity.

Epicuticular wax in plants limits non-stomatal water loss, inhibits postgenital organ fusion, protects plants against damage from UV radiation and imposes a physical barrier against pathogen infection. Here, we give a detailed description of the genetic, physiological and morphological consequences of a mutation in the rice gene WSL2, based on a comparison between the wild-type and an EMS mutant. The mutant's leaf cuticle membrane is thicker and less organized than that of the wild type, and its total wax content is diminished by ~80%. The mutant is also more sensitive to drought stress. WSL2 was isolated by positional cloning, and was shown to encode a homologue of the Arabidopsis thaliana genes CER3/WAX2/YRE/FLP1 and the maize gene GL1. It is expressed throughout the plant, except in the root. A transient assay carried out in both A. thaliana and rice protoplasts showed that the gene product is deposited in the endoplasmic reticulum. An analysis of the overall composition of the wax revealed that the mutant produces a substantially reduced quantity of C22-C32 fatty acids, which suggests that the function of WSL2 is associated with the elongation of very long-chain fatty acids.

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Modular tissue engineering holds great potential in regenerating natural complex tissues by engineering three-dimensional modular scaffolds with predefined geometry and biological characters. In modular tissue-like construction, a scaffold with an appropriate mechanical rigidity for assembling fabrication and high biocompatibility for cell survival is the key to the successful bioconstruction. In this work, a series of composite hydrogels (GH0, GH1, GH2, and GH3) based on a combination of methacrylated gelatin (GelMA) and hydroxyapatite (HA) was exploited to enhance hydrogel mechanical rigidity and promote cell functional expression for osteon biofabrication. These composite hydrogels presented a lower swelling ratio, higher mechanical moduli, and better biocompatibility when compared to the pure GelMA hydrogel. Furthermore, on the basis of the composite hydrogel and photolithograph technology, we successfully constructed an osteon-like concentric double-ring structure in which the inner ring encapsulating human umbilical vascular endothelial cells (HUVECs) was designed to imitate blood vessel tubule while the outer ring encapsulating human osteoblast-like cells (MG63s) acts as part of bone. During the coculture period, MG63s and HUVECs exhibited not only satisfying growth status but also the enhanced genic expression of osteogenesis-related and angiogenesis-related differentiations. These results demonstrate this GelMA-HA composite hydrogel system is promising for modular tissue engineering.