Integrated Photorechargeable Energy Storage System: Next‐Generation Power Source Driving the Future

Solar energy is one of the most abundant renewable energy sources. For efficient utilization of solar energy, photovoltaic technology is regarded as the most important source. However, due to the intermittent and unstable characteristics of solar radiation, photoelectric conversion (PC) devices fail to meet the requirements of continuous power output. With the development of rechargeable electric energy storage systems (ESSs) (e.g., supercapacitors and batteries), the integration of a PC device and a rechargeable ESS has become a promising approach to solving this problem. The so‐called integrated photorechargeable ESSs which can directly store sunlight generated electricity in daylight and reversibly release it at night time, has a huge potential for future applications. This review summarizes the development of several types of mainstream integrated photorechargeable ESSs and introduces different working mechanisms for each photorechargeable ESS in detail. Several general perspectives on challenges and future development in the field are also provided.     

MARCH5 restores endothelial cell function against ischaemic/hypoxia injury via Akt/eNOS pathway

MARCH5 is a critical regulator of mitochondrial dynamics, apoptosis and mitophagy. However, its role in cardiovascular system remains poorly understood. This study aimed to investigate the role of MARCH5 in endothelial cell (ECs) injury and the involvement of the Akt/eNOS signalling pathway in this process. Rat models of myocardial infarction (MI) and human cardiac microvascular endothelial cells (HCMECs) exposed to hypoxia (1% O₂) were used in this study. MARCH5 expression was significantly reduced in ECs of MI hearts and ECs exposed to hypoxia. Hypoxia inhibited the proliferation, migration and tube formation of ECs, and these effects were aggravated by knockdown of MARCH5 but antagonized by overexpressed MARCH5. Overexpression of MARCH5 increased nitric oxide (NO) content, p-eNOS and p-Akt, while MARCH5 knockdown exerted the opposite effects. The protective effects mediated by MARCH5 overexpression on ECs could be inhibited by eNOS inhibitor L-NAME and Akt inhibitor LY294002. In conclusion, these results indicated that MARCH5 acts as a protective factor in ischaemia/hypoxia-induced ECs injury partially through Akt/eNOS pathway.     

The Role of Hydrogen from ALD‐Al2O3 in Kesterite Cu2ZnSnS4 Solar Cells: Grain Surface Passivation

In this research, a new route of surface passivation is reported by introducing hydrogen from the atomic layer deposited (ALD) Al₂O₃ layer into pure sulfide Cu₂ZnSnS₄ (CZTS) solar cells. Different amounts of hydrogen are incorporated into the Cu₂ZnSnS₄/CdS interface through controlling the thickness of the ALD‐Al₂O₃ layer. The device with three cycles of ALD‐Al₂O₃ yields the highest efficiency of 8.08% (without antireflection coating) with improved open‐circuit voltage of up to 70 mV. With closer examination on the passivation route of ALD‐Al₂O₃, it is revealed by the surface chemisty study that the Al₂O₃ can be etched away by ammonium hydroxide in the CdS buffer deposition process. Instead, the hydrogen is detected within a shallow depth from the CZTS surface, and makes a significant difference in the measured distribution of contact potential difference and device performance. This may be interpreted by the effect of hydrogen passivation of the CZTS surface by curing dangling bonds at the surface of CZTS grains. This work may provide a new direction of further improving the performance of kesterite solar cells.     

Largescale Transcriptomics Analysis Suggests Over-Expression of BGH3, MMP9 and PDIA3 in Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) has been reported as the most prevalent cancer of the head and neck region, while early diagnosis remains challenging. Here we took a comprehensive bioinformatics study on microarray data of 326 OSCC clinical samples with control of 165 normal tissues. The cell interaction pathways of ECM-receptor interaction and focal adhesion were found to be significantly regulated in OSCC samples. Further analysis of the topological properties and expression consistency identified that three hub genes in the gene interaction network, MMP9, PDIA3 and BGH3, were consistently up-expressed in OSCC samples. When being validated on additional microarray datasets of 41 OSCC samples, the validation rate of over-expressed BGH3, MMP9, and PDIA3 reached 90%, 90% and 84% respectively. At last, immuno-histochemical assays were done to test the protein expression of the three genes on newly collected clinical samples of 35 OSCC, 20 samples of pre-OSCC stage, and 12 normal oral mucosa specimens. Their protein expression levels were also found to progressively increase from normal mucosa to pre-OSCC stage and further to OSCC (ANOVA p = 0.000), suggesting their key roles in OSCC pathogenesis. Based on above solid validation, we propose BGH3, MMP9 and PDIA3 might be further explored as potential biomarkers to aid OSCC diagnosis.     

Targeting procaspase‐3 with WF‐208, a novel PAC‐1 derivative,causes selective cancer cell apoptosis

Caspase‐3 is a critical effector caspase in apoptosis cascade, and is often over‐expressed in many cancer tissues. The first synthesized procaspase‐3 activator, PAC‐1, induces cancer cell apoptosis and exhibits antitumour activity in murine xenograft models. To identify more potent procaspase‐3 activators, a series of compounds were designed, synthesized and evaluated for their ability of inducing cancer cell death in culture. Among these compounds, WF‐208 stood out by its high cytotoxicity against procaspase‐3 overexpressed HL‐60 cells. Compared with PAC‐1, WF‐208 showed higher cytotoxicity in cancer cells and lower toxicity in normal cells. The further investigation described herein showed that WF‐208 activated procaspase‐3, degraded IAPs (The Inhibitors of apoptosis proteins) and leaded to caspase‐3‐dependent cell death in tumour cells, which possibly because of the zinc‐chelating properties. WF‐208 also showed greater antitumour activity than PAC‐1 in murine xenograft model. In conclusion, we have discovered WF‐208 as a promising procaspase‐3 activating compound, with higher activity and higher cell selectivity than PAC‐1.     

Nanoscale Microstructure and Chemistry of Cu2ZnSnS4/CdS Interface in Kesterite Cu2ZnSnS4 Solar Cells

Sulfurization with various atmosphere and postheat treatments has been reported for earth abundant kesterite Cu₂ZnSnS₄ (CZTS) preparation as cost‐effective material for next‐generation solar cells. A full understanding of the nanoscale microstructure and chemistry of CZTS/CdS interface obtained from these different fabrication routes is currently lacking, yet is critical to developing optimal processing routes for high‐performance kesterite solar cells. Here, the first detailed investigation of the interfacial microstructure and chemistry of CdS/Cu₂ZnSnS₄ heterojunctions is presented. For CZTS obtained from sulfurization in a sulfur‐only atmosphere where highly defective surfaces are present, air annealing followed by etching in the initial stage of chemical bath deposition (CBD) process can effectively eliminate interfacial defects and allow the epitaxial growth of CBD‐CdS, improving the minority lifetime, open circuit voltage (V_OC), and fill factor (FF) of the devices, while blocking Cd diffusion and deteriorating short circuit current (J_sc). For CZTS from sulfurization in a combined sulfur and SnS atmosphere where CBD‐CdS can directly epitaxially grow on CZTS and Cd‐diffusion is clearly observed, associated devices show the longest lifetime and the highest efficiency of 8.76%. Epitaxial growth of CdS and Cd diffusion into CZTS are found to be two crucial features minimizing interfacial recombination and achieving high‐efficiency devices. This will not only enhance the understanding of the device structure and physics of kesterite based solar cells, but also provide an effective way for designing other chalcogenide heterojunction solar cells.     

Alteration of Streptococcus salivarius in Buccal Mucosa of Oral Lichen Planus and Controlled Clinical Trial in OLP Treatment

Oral lichen planus (OLP) is a T cell-mediated common chronic inflammatory mucosal disease, with limited therapies available for long-term use. Previous study showed that ratio of genus Streptococcus decreased significantly in OLP patients when compared with controls. Buccal cotton swab samples of 43 OLP patients and 48 healthy individuals were collected for real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) to investigate relative abundance alteration of Streptococcus salivarius in OLP lesions. Bacterial supernatants of S. salivarius ATCC® BAA-2593™ were collected by centrifugation and added to HSC-3 cells, and quantitative analysis of expression of IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8, and TNF-α in the HSC-3 cells was determined by RT-PCR. Then, a randomized, non-blinded, controlled study was conducted. Forty patients with symptomatic OLP were randomly allocated into two groups and received topical treatment of 0.1% triamcinolone acetonide dental paste (group A) and S. salivarius K12 lozenge (group B), respectively, for 4 weeks. Sign scores, visual analogue scale (VAS), and adverse reactions were recorded. Relative abundance of S. salivarius in the OLP group was lower than that of control group (P < 0.05). After treated with 0.1% supernatants of S. salivarius ATCC® BAA-2593™, the expression level of IL-6 in the HSC-3 cells significantly reduced (P < 0.001), while IL-1β, IL-8, and TNF- α showed a decreasing tendency (P > 0.05). There was significant reduction in sign scores and VAS scores in both groups after the 4-week treatment, with no significant difference between two groups. No adverse reaction was observed. S. salivarius might maintain local immune balance by inhibiting the NF-κB pathway. Topical application of Streptococcus salivarius K12 seemed to be effective in treatment of symptomatic OLP, especially with promising potential in long-term use. More detailed clinical studies with long follow-up period and standardized usage/dosage are expected to acquire definite conclusions.