Spontaneous Atomic Ruthenium Doping in Mo2CTX MXene Defects Enhances Electrocatalytic Activity for the Nitrogen Reduction Reaction

The electrochemical nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR) process usually suffers extremely low Faradaic efficiency and ammonia yields due to sluggish N?N dissociation. Herein, single‐atomic ruthenium modified Mo₂CT_X MXene nanosheets as an efficient electrocatalyst for nitrogen fixation at ambient conditions are reported. The catalyst achieves a Faradaic efficiency of 25.77% and ammonia yield rate of 40.57 µg h^?1 mg^?1 at ‐0.3 V versus the reversible hydrogen electrode in 0.5 m K₂SO₄ solution. Operando X‐ray absorption spectroscopy studies and density functional theory calculations reveal that single‐atomic Ru anchored on MXene nanosheets act as important electron back‐donation centers for N₂ activation, which can not only promote nitrogen adsorption and activation behavior of the catalyst, but also lower the thermodynamic energy barrier of the first hydrogenation step. This work opens up a promising avenue to manipulate catalytic performance of electrocatalysts utilizing an atomic‐level engineering strategy.     

Understanding Molecular Structures of Buried Interfaces in Halide Perovskite Photovoltaic Devices Nondestructively with Sub‐Monolayer Sensitivity Using Sum Frequency Generation Vibrational Spectroscopy

As performance of halide perovskite devices progresses, the device structure becomes more complex with more layers. Molecular interfacial structures between different layers play an increasingly important role in determining the overall performance in a halide perovskite device. However, current understanding of such interfacial structures at a molecular level nondestructively is limited, partially due to a lack of appropriate analytical tools to probe buried interfacial molecular structures in situ. Here, sum frequency generation (SFG) vibrational spectroscopy, a state‐of‐the‐art nonlinear interface sensitive spectroscopy, is introduced to the halide perovskite research community and is presented as a powerful tool to understand molecule behavior at buried halide perovskite interfaces in situ. It is found that interfacial molecular orientations revealed by SFG can be directly correlated to halide perovskite device performance. Here how SFG can examine molecular structures (e.g., orientations) at the perovskite/hole transporting layer and perovskite/electron transporting layer interfaces is discussed. This will promote the use of SFG to investigate molecular structures of buried interfaces in various halide perovskite materials and devices in situ nondestructively with a sub‐monolayer interface sensitivity. Such research will help to elucidate structure–function relationships of buried interfaces, aiding in the rational design/development of halide perovskite materials/devices with improved performance.     

阿加曲班抗凝对连续血液净化患儿凝血功能及单核细胞TLR2rMnX、TLR4rMnX表达水平的影响

目的:探讨阿加曲班抗凝治疗连续血液净化患儿的疗效及对凝血功能及单核细胞TLR2rMnX、TLR4rMnX表达水平的影响。方法:选取从2017年3月至2018年10月于我院儿童重症医学科接受连续血液净化治疗的患儿86例进行研究,将其按照随机抽签法分成研究组与对照组。对照组予以普通肝素抗凝治疗,研究组予以阿加曲班抗凝治疗。分别比较两组的28 d死亡率、治疗前后凝血功能血小板计数(PLT)、活化部分凝血活酶时间(APTT)、纤维蛋白原(FIB)和单核细胞TLR2rMnX、TLR4rMnX表达水平、治疗过程中滤器与管路凝血程度、使用寿命以及穿刺部位出血情况的差异。结果:研究组28d死亡率(2.33%)比对照组(9.30%)低,但差异无统计学意义(x2=0.849,P=0.357)。治疗后研究组APTT(31.61±1.26)s、FIB水平(6.61±1.80)g/L较对照组的(27.92±1.44)s、(5.58±1.72)g/L明显更高(t=12.646、2.713,P=0.000、0.008)。研究组治疗过程中滤器与管路凝血程度0级人数占比(93.02%)相比对照组(76.74%)较高,而Ⅱ级人数占比(0.00%)相比对照组(9.30%)较低(x2=4.440、4.195,P=0.035,0.041)。研究组穿刺部位出血等级为0级人数占比(93.02%)高于对照组(74.42%),而Ⅱ级人数占比(0.00%)低于对照组(9.30%)(x2=5.460,4.195;P=0.019,0.041)。研究组管路、滤器使用寿命(18.73±7.74)h、(20.84±8.01)h相比对照组的(14.57±6.88)h、(16.20±7.15)h均较长(t=2.634、2.834,P=0.010,0.006)。治疗后研究组单核细胞TLR2rMnX、TLR4rMnX表达水平为(4.72±1.39)、(3.22±0.82),均低于对照组的(8.30±1.44)、(5.11±0.94)(t=11.729、9.936,P=0.000、0.000)。结论:阿加曲班抗凝应用于连续血液净化患儿中的疗效相比普通肝素抗凝更佳,且有利于改善凝血功能和单核细胞TLR2rMnX、TLR4rMnX表达水平,能够降低滤器或管路凝血发生风险,同时有效降低穿刺部位出血风险,增加管路、滤器使用寿命。     

Epidemiological,Clinical and Serological Characteristics of Children with Coronavirus Disease 2019 in Wuhan: A Single-centered,Retrospective Study

In December 2019, SARS-CoV-2 was first detected in the samples obtained from three adult patients who suffered from an unknown viral pneumonia in Wuhan (Li et al. 2020). This unknown viral pneumonia is further named as coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) by the World Health Organization. To date, the number of new COVID-19 cases has continued to skyrocket and the impact of SARS-CoV-2 on humans is far greater than any pathogen of this century in both breadth and depth. Previous studies have shown that adults with COVID-19 have symptoms of fever, dry cough, dyspnea, fatigue and lymphocytopenia. Moreover, COVID-19 is more likely to cause death in the elderly, especially those with chronic comorbidities (Huang et al. 2020). In Wuhan, more than 50, 000 COVID-19 cases have been confirmed, including over 780 pediatric patients, and only one child death case (Lu et al. 2020). Although the number of children cases was far fewer than that of adults, COVID-19 might endanger children's health and the information on children remains limited, especially in serological study. In the retrospective study, the investigators analyzed the epidemiological, clinical and serological characteristics of children with COVID-19 in Wuhan in the early stages of the outbreak, which might provide theoretical and practical help in controlling COVID-19 and similar emerging infectious diseases in the future.     

Molecular phylogeny and species delimitation of Stachyuraceae: Advocating a herbarium specimen‐based phylogenomic approach in resolving species boundaries

Species concept and delimitation are fundamental to taxonomic and evolutionary studies. Both inadequate informative sites in the molecular data and limited taxon sampling have often led to poor phylogenetic resolution and incorrect species delineation. Recently, the whole chloroplast genome sequences from extensive herbarium specimen samples have been shown to be effective to amend the problem. Stachyuraceae are a small family consisting of only one genus Stachyurus of six to 16 species. However, species delimitation in Stachyurus has been highly controversial because of few and generally unstable morphological characters used for classification. In this study, we sampled 69 individuals of seven species (each with at least three individuals) covering the entire taxonomic diversity, geographic range, and morphological variation of Stachyurus from herbarium specimens for genome‐wide plastid gene sequencing to address species delineation in the genus. We obtained high‐quality DNAs from specimens using a recently developed DNA reconstruction technique. We first assembled four whole chloroplast genome sequences. Based on the chloroplast genome and one nuclear ribosomal DNA sequence of Stachyurus, we designed primers for multiplex polymerase chain reaction and high throughput sequencing of 44 plastid loci for species of Stachyurus. Data of these chloroplast DNA and nuclear ribosomal DNA internal transcribed spacer sequences were used for phylogenetic analyses. The phylogenetic results showed that the Japanese species Stachyurus praecox Siebold & Zucc. was sister to the rest in mainland China, which indicated a typical Sino‐Japanese distribution pattern. Based on diagnostic morphological characters, distinct distributional range, and monophyly of each clade, we redefined seven species for Stachyurus following an integrative species concept, and revised the taxonomy of the family based on previous reports and specimens, in particular the type specimens. Furthermore, our divergence time estimation results suggested that Stachyuraceae split from its sister group Crossosomataceae from the New World at ca. 54.29 Mya, but extant species of Stachyuraceae started their diversification only recently at ca. 6.85 Mya. Diversification time of Stachyurus in mainland China was estimated to be ca. 4.45 Mya. This research has provided an example of using the herbarium specimen‐based phylogenomic approach in resolving species boundaries in a taxonomically difficult genus.     

Osmotic stress induces gut microbiota community shift in fish

Alteration of the gut microbiota plays an important role in animal health and metabolic diseases. However, little is known with respect to the influence of environmental osmolality on the gut microbial community. The aim of the current study was to determine whether the reduction in salinity affects the gut microbiota and identify its potential role in salinity acclimation. Using Oryzias melastigma as a model organism to perform progressive hypotonic transfer experiments, we evaluated three conditions: seawater control (SW), SW to 50% sea water transfer (SFW) and SW to SFW to freshwater transfer (FW). Our results showed that the SFW and FW transfer groups contained higher operational taxonomic unit microbiota diversities. The dominant bacteria in all conditions constituted the phylum Proteobacteria, with the majority in the SW and SFW transfer gut comprising Vibrio at the genus level, whereas this population was replaced by Pseudomonas in the FW transfer gut. Furthermore, our data revealed that the FW transfer gut microbiota exhibited a reduced renin–angiotensin system, which is important in SW acclimation. In addition, induced detoxification and immune mechanisms were found in the FW transfer gut microbiota. The shift of the bacteria community in different osmolality environments indicated possible roles of bacteria in facilitating host acclimation.     

Aging shifts mitochondrial dynamics toward fission to promote germline stem cell loss

Changes in mitochondrial dynamics (fusion and fission) are known to occur during stem cell differentiation; however, the role of this phenomenon in tissue aging remains unclear. Here, we report that mitochondrial dynamics are shifted toward fission during aging of Drosophila ovarian germline stem cells (GSCs), and this shift contributes to aging‐related GSC loss. We found that as GSCs age, mitochondrial fragmentation and expression of the mitochondrial fission regulator, Dynamin‐related protein (Drp1), are both increased, while mitochondrial membrane potential is reduced. Moreover, preventing mitochondrial fusion in GSCs results in highly fragmented depolarized mitochondria, decreased BMP stemness signaling, impaired fatty acid metabolism, and GSC loss. Conversely, forcing mitochondrial elongation promotes GSC attachment to the niche. Importantly, maintenance of aging GSCs can be enhanced by suppressing Drp1 expression to prevent mitochondrial fission or treating with rapamycin, which is known to promote autophagy via TOR inhibition. Overall, our results show that mitochondrial dynamics are altered during physiological aging, affecting stem cell homeostasis via coordinated changes in stemness signaling, niche contact, and cellular metabolism. Such effects may also be highly relevant to other stem cell types and aging‐induced tissue degeneration.