Ti O nanoparticles with high performance of photothermal conversion are demonstrated for the first time. Benefiting from the nanosize and narrow-bandgap features, the Ti O nanoparticles possess strong light absorption and nearly 100% internal solar-thermal conversion efficiency. Furthermore, Ti O -nanoparticle-based thin film shows potential use in seawater desalination and purification.

environments, [7-12] where Zn deposition even during shelf time is continuously interfered by competitive hydrogen evolution through H 2 O decomposition (Zn + 2H 2 O → Zn(OH) 2 + H 2) and by consuming both the electrolyte and active Zn metal. This long-neglected problem will remarkably affect calendar life of batteries, which is equivalently important with the intensively studied cycling life of batteries. As revealed in our preliminary quantitative study shown in Figure 1a, immersing Zn in 2 m ZnSO 4 electrolyte will induce an ≈0.25 mmol h-1 cm-2 hydrogen flux. The continuous hydrogen evolution will cause local pH changes, which further induce the formation of loose and brittle Zn 4 SO 4 (OH) 6 •xH 2 O (3Zn(OH) 2 + ZnSO 4 •xH 2 O → Zn 4 SO 4 (OH) 6 •xH 2 O), as revealed in Figure 1b. [13-18] It is generally assumed that these by-products augment the tortuosity and irregularity at the electrode/electrolyte interface with physical contact surface being increased (Figure 1c-h), which will further accelerate hydrogen evolution reaction. The above issues necessitate an effective method to detect hydrogen evolution. Nevertheless, for a Zn-based battery, these assumption and hypotheses are only based on oversimplified observations of battery swelling, gas bubbles, or conducting polarization curve in the absence of Zn 2+ condition, not reflecting physical truth of battery. [19-21] Hydrogen production during electrochemical procedure and even shelf time has not been precisely quantified. Consequently, efforts to make Zn metal a valid anode material may be misdirected. Quantifying the hydrogen production on the electrode during Zn deposition is key to understanding the mechanisms leading to capacity loss and battery failure. On the other hand, these Zn protrusions caused by hydrogen evolution reaction will attract more Zn 2+ flux ("tip" effect) [22] under concentrated electric field during electrochemical cycling, thus accelerating the vertical growth of Zn dendrites instead of planar growth and hydrogen production further flourish (Figure 1g). Up to now, various strategies have been evolved to prohibit the Zn dendrite growth, such as electrolyte optimization, [8,23-25] Zn surface coating, [9,21,26-29] and alloying. [30] To some extent, these strategies stabilize Zn metal, but they do The hydrogen evolution in Zn metal battery is accurately quantified by in situ battery-gas chromatography-mass analysis. The hydrogen fluxes reach 3.76 mmol h −1 cm −2 in a Zn//Zn symmetric cell in each segment, and 7.70 mmol h −1 cm −2 in a Zn//MnO 2 full cell. Then, a highly electronically insulating (0.11 mS cm −1) but highly Zn 2+ ion conductive (80.2 mS cm −1) ZnF 2 solid ion conductor with high Zn 2+ transfer number (0.65) is constructed to isolate Zn metal from liquid electrolyte, which not only prohibits over 99.2% parasitic hydrogen evolution but also guides uniform Zn electrodeposition. Precisely quantitated, the Zn@ZnF 2 //Zn@ZnF 2 cell only produces 0.02 mmol h −1 cm −2 of hydrogen (0.53% of the Zn//Zn cell). Encouragingly, a hig...

Despite half a century of research, the biology of dinoflagellates remains enigmatic: they defy many functional and genetic traits attributed to typical eukaryotic cells. Genomic approaches to study dinoflagellates are often stymied due to their large, multi-gigabase genomes. Members of the genus Symbiodinium are photosynthetic endosymbionts of stony corals that provide the foundation of coral reef ecosystems. Their smaller genome sizes provide an opportunity to interrogate evolution and functionality of dinoflagellate genomes and endosymbiosis. We sequenced the genome of the ancestral Symbiodinium microadriaticum and compared it to the genomes of the more derived Symbiodinium minutum and Symbiodinium kawagutii and eukaryote model systems as well as transcriptomes from other dinoflagellates. Comparative analyses of genome and transcriptome protein sets show that all dinoflagellates, not only Symbiodinium, possess significantly more transmembrane transporters involved in the exchange of amino acids, lipids, and glycerol than other eukaryotes. Importantly, we find that only Symbiodinium harbor an extensive transporter repertoire associated with the provisioning of carbon and nitrogen. Analyses of these transporters show species-specific expansions, which provides a genomic basis to explain differential compatibilities to an array of hosts and environments, and highlights the putative importance of gene duplications as an evolutionary mechanism in dinoflagellates and Symbiodinium.

SUMMARY Regulatory T (Treg) cells suppress inflammatory immune responses and autoimmunity caused by self-reactive T cells. The key Treg cell transcription factor Foxp3 is downregulated during inflammation to allow for the acquisition of effector T cell-like functions. Here, we demonstrate that stress signals elicited by proinflammatory cytokines and lipopolysaccharide lead to the degradation of Foxp3 through the action of the E3 ubiquitin ligase Stub1. Stub1 interacted with Foxp3 to promote its K48-linked polyubiquitination in an Hsp70-dependent manner. Knockdown of endogenous Stub1 or Hsp70 prevented Foxp3 degradation. Furthermore, the overexpression of Stub1 in Treg cells abrogated their ability to suppress inflammatory immune responses in vitro and in vivo, and conferred a T helper 1 (Th1) cell-like phenotype. Our results demonstrate the critical role of the stress-activated Stub1-Hsp70 complex in promoting Treg cell inactivation, thus providing a potential therapeutic target for the intervention against autoimmune disease, infection and cancer.

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PurposeThis study investigates the neck/shoulder pain (NSP) and low back pain (LBP) among current high school students in Shanghai and explores the relationship between these pains and their possible influences, including digital products, physical activity, and psychological status.MethodsAn anonymous self-assessment was administered to 3,600 students across 30 high schools in Shanghai. This questionnaire examined the prevalence of NSP and LBP and the level of physical activity as well as the use of mobile phones, personal computers (PC) and tablet computers (Tablet). The CES-D (Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression) scale was also included in the survey. The survey data were analyzed using the chi-square test, univariate logistic analyses and a multivariate logistic regression model.ResultsThree thousand sixteen valid questionnaires were received including 1,460 (48.41%) from male respondents and 1,556 (51.59%) from female respondents. The high school students in this study showed NSP and LBP rates of 40.8% and 33.1%, respectively, and the prevalence of both influenced by the student’s grade, use of digital products, and mental status; these factors affected the rates of NSP and LBP to varying degrees. The multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that Gender, grade, soreness after exercise, PC using habits, tablet use, sitting time after school and academic stress entered the final model of NSP, while the final model of LBP consisted of gender, grade, soreness after exercise, PC using habits, mobile phone use, sitting time after school, academic stress and CES-D score.ConclusionsHigh school students in Shanghai showed high prevalence of NSP and LBP that were closely related to multiple factors. Appropriate interventions should be implemented to reduce the occurrences of NSP and LBP.

Electronic skin (e-skin) has been under the spotlight due to great potential for applications in robotics, human-machine interfaces, and healthcare. Meanwhile, triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) have been emerging as an effective approach to realize self-powered e-skin sensors. In this work, bioinspired TENGs as self-powered e-skin sensors are developed and their applications for robotic tactile sensing are also demonstrated. Through the facile replication of the surface morphology of natural plants, the interlocking microstructures are generated on tribo-layers to enhance triboelectric effects. Along with the adoption of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) tinny burrs on the microstructured tribo-surface, the sensitivity for pressure measurement is boosted with a 14-fold increase. The tactile sensing capability of the TENG e-skin sensors are demonstrated through the characterizations of handshaking pressure and bending angles of each finger of a bionic hand during handshaking with human. The TENG e-skin sensors can also be utilized for tactile object recognition to measure surface roughness and discern hardness. The facile fabrication scheme of the self-powered TENG e-skin sensors enables their great potential for applications in robotic dexterous manipulation, prosthetics, human-machine interfaces, etc.

OER) are two of the most important electrochemical reactions that limit the efficiencies of fuel cells, metal-air batteries, and electrolytic water-splitting. [4][5][6][7] Although some noble metals and their associated compounds, such as Pt, RuO 2 , and IrO 2 , exhibit high ORR or OER catalytic activity, [8][9][10][11][12] the high cost and scarcity of such precious metals prevent their large-scale use. [13,14] Perovskite-structured (ABO 3 ) transition metal oxides are promising bifunctional electrocatalysts for efficient oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). In this paper, a set of epitaxial rare-earth nickelates (RNiO 3 ) thin films is investigated with controlled A-site isovalent substitution to correlate their structure and physical properties with ORR/OER activities, examined by using a three-electrode system in O 2 -saturated 0.1 m KOH electrolyte. The ORR activity decreases monotonically with decreasing the A-site element ionic radius which lowers the conductivity of RNiO 3 (R = La, La 0.5 Nd 0.5 , La 0.2 Nd 0.8 , Nd, Nd 0.5 Sm 0.5 , Sm, and Gd) films, with LaNiO 3 being the most conductive and active. On the other hand, the OER activity initially increases upon substituting La with Nd and is maximal at La 0.2 Nd 0.8 NiO 3 . Moreover, the OER activity remains comparable within error through Sm-doped NdNiO 3 . Beyond that, the activity cannot be measured due to the potential voltage drop across the film. The improved OER activity is ascribed to the partial reduction of Ni 3+ to Ni 2+ as a result of oxygen vacancies, which increases the average occupancy of the e g antibonding orbital to more than one. The work highlights the importance of tuning A-site elements as an effective strategy for balancing ORR and OER activities of bifunctional electrocatalysts.