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Precious metals such as gold and platinum are valued materials for a variety of important applications, but their scarcity poses a risk of supply interruption. However, the dissolution and recovery of precious metals using the current methods are limited by associated serious environmental pollution and high energy consumption. Here, we show a photocatalytic process that allows one to selective retrieve 7 kinds of precious metal elements (Ag, Au, Pd, Pt, Ru, Rh and Ir) (with dissolution efficiency of 99%) from waste circuit boards, ternary automotive catalysts and even ores. Precious metals is recovered with high purity (≥98%) through a simple reductive method. The whole process only needs light and catalyst without strong acid, strong base and highly toxic cyanide. It has an environmentally friendly, scalable and efficient way, in which the catalyst has been recycled more than 100 times under normal temperature and pressure without performance degradation. It has successfully realized the scale of dissolution from grams to kilograms, and it is expected to realize large-scale recovery of precious metals in industrial application. This general approach provides an unprecedent technology for recycling resources on earth.

For the organic memory device with vertically arranged electrodes, controlling the film‐packing to achieve highly oriented crystallite arrangement is critical but challenging for obtaining the satisfied performance. Here, the effect of backbone planarity on the crystallite orientation is studied. Two diketopyrrolopyrrole‐based small molecules (NI2PDPP and NI2FDPP) are synthesized with increasing planarity by furan substitution for phenyl rings. Upon thin‐film analysis by atomic force microscopy, X‐ray diffraction, and grazing‐incidence small‐angle X‐ray scattering, the orientations of these crystallites are demonstrated to be well controlled through tailoring molecular planarity. The highly planar NI2FDPP in film prefers out‐of‐plane crystallite orientation with respect to the substrate normal while the nonplanar NI2PDPP displays less ordered packing with a broad orientation distribution relative to the substrate. As a result, NI2FDPP‐based memory device exhibits superior multilevel performance. More importantly, the oriented crystallite arrangement favors uniformity in NI2FDPP thin film, thus, the device displays higher reproducibility of memory effects. This study provides an effective synthetic strategy for designing multilevel memory materials with favorable crystallite orientation.

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Chemotherapy-induced side effects affect the quality of life and efficacy of treatment of cancer patients. Current approaches for treating the side effects of chemotherapy are poorly effective and may cause numerous harmful side effects. Therefore, developing new and effective drugs derived from natural non-toxic compounds for the treatment of chemotherapy-induced side effects is necessary. Experiments in vivo and in vitro indicate that Panax ginseng ( PG ) and its ginsenosides are undoubtedly non-toxic and effective options for the treatment of chemotherapy-induced side effects, such as nephrotoxicity, hepatotoxicity, cardiotoxicity, immunotoxicity, and hematopoietic inhibition. The mechanism focus on anti-oxidation, anti-inflammation, and anti-apoptosis, as well as the modulation of signaling pathways, such as nuclear factor erythroid-2 related factor 2 (Nrf2)/heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1), P62/keap1/Nrf2, c-jun N-terminal kinase (JNK)/P53/caspase 3, mitogen-activated protein kinase (MEK)/extracellular signal-regulated kinases (ERK), AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK)/mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase 4 (MKK4)/JNK, and phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/AKT. Since a systemic review of the effect and mechanism of PG and its ginsenosides on chemotherapy-induced side effects has not yet been published, we provide a comprehensive summarization with this aim and shed light on the future research of PG.

KIF22 is a microtubule-dependent molecular motor protein with DNA-binding capacity. It is well known that KIF22 plays a critical role in cell mitosis as a motor protein; however, the role of altered KIF22 expression and its transcriptional regulatory function in cancer development have not yet been defined. This study showed that KIF22 was overexpressed in human cancer tissues, and inhibition of KIF22 significantly led to accumulation of cells in the G2/M phases, resulting in suppression of cancer cell proliferation. The investigation of the molecular mechanisms demonstrated that cell division cycle 25C (CDC25C) is a direct transcriptional target of KIF22, and inhibition of KIF22 increased CDC25C expression and cyclin-dependent kinase 1 (CDK1) activity, resulting in delayed mitotic exit. Phosphorylation of KIF22 was required for its transcriptional regulatory function and the reduction of CDK1 activity. Thus, we conclude that inhibition of KIF22 suppresses cancer cell proliferation by delaying mitotic exit through the transcriptional upregulation of CDC25C.

A zeolite-based microengineered reactor was fabricated and tested for 1-pentene epoxidation over titanium silicalite-1 (TS-1) catalyst, which has been selectively incorporated within the microreactor channel using a new synthesis procedure.