Effects of tin and lead on organ levels of essential minerals in rabbits

The effect of tin and lead on levels of essential metals (Zn, Cu, Ca, Fe) in rabbit tissues was compared in relation to the route of administration. Animals received intraperitoneally, or per os, SnCl2 (2 mg Sn/kg) or Pb(CH3COO)2 (3.5 mg Pb/kg) every day for 5 d or for 1 mo. Copper, zinc, iron, and calcium were determined by AAS in the liver, kidneys, spleen, brain, bone marrow, and blood; lead and tin concentration were measured in the blood of animals. Tin and lead administered per os caused either no changes or the decreased concentration of endogenous metals in several tissues. The other route of administration (ip) of both metals generally contributed to the increased storage of essential elements. Blood tin levels of tin treated animals were only about less than or equal to 1/10 of blood lead concentrations of rabbits exposed to lead.     

Acetazolamide inhibits the recovery from triethyl tin intoxication: Putative role of carbonic anhydrase in dehydration of central myelin

The vacuolar degeneration of central myelin was produced in Sprague-Dawley rats by oral administration of triethyl tin. The wet weight of brain stems which seems to reflect the degree of accumulation of water increased during the administration of the toxin, whereas the activity of 2, 3-cyclic nucleotide 3-phosphodiesterase altered less remarkably. When TET was withdrawn from the drinking water, the rats showed a dramatic clinical improvement along with reduction in wet weight of brain stems. Treatment with acetazolamide following TET inhibited the clinical improvement and reduction in wet weight of brain stems. The present results indicates that central myelin has plasticity in recovering from the vacuolar degeneration by removing the accumulated fluid and carbonic anhydrase is possibly involved in the dehydration, of myelin in such a recovery phase.     

Tin Halide Perovskites: Progress and Challenges

The chemical composition engineering of lead halide perovskites via a partial or complete replacement of toxic Pb with tin has been widely reported as a feasible process due to the suitable ionic radius of Sn and its possibility of existing in the +2 state. Interestingly, a complete replacement narrows the bandgap while a partial replacement gives an anomalous phenomenon involving a further narrowing of bandgap relative to the pure Pb and Sn halide perovskite compounds. Unfortunately, the merits of this anomalous behavior have not been properly harnessed. Although promising progress has been made to advance the properties and performance of Sn‐based perovskite systems, their photovoltaic (PV) parameters are still significantly inferior to those of the Pb‐based analogs. This review summarizes the current progress and challenges in the preparation, morphological and photophysical properties of Sn‐based halide perovskites, and how these affect their PV performance. Although it can be argued that the Pb halide perovskite systems may remain the most sought after technology in the field of thin film perovskite PV, prospective research directions are suggested to advance the properties of Sn halide perovskite materials for improved device performance.     

Electrochemical Performance of Porous Carbon/Tin Composite Anodes for Sodium‐Ion and Lithium‐Ion Batteries

The electrochemical performance of mesoporous carbon (C)/tin (Sn) anodes in Na‐ion and Li‐ion batteries is systematically investigated. The mesoporous C/Sn anodes in a Na‐ion battery shows similar cycling stability but lower capacity and poorer rate capability than that in a Li‐ion battery. The desodiation potentials of Sn anodes are approximately 0.21 V lower than delithiation potentials. The low capacity and poor rate capability of C/Sn anode in Na‐ion batteries is mainly due to the large Na‐ion size, resulting in slow Na‐ion diffusion and large volume change of porous C/Sn composite anode during alloy/dealloy reactions. Understanding of the reaction mechanism between Sn and Na ions will provide insight towards exploring and designing new alloy‐based anode materials for Na‐ion batteries.     

Therapeutic angiogenesis for revascularization in peripheral artery disease

Therapeutic angiogenesis for peripheral artery disease (PAD), achieved by gene and cell therapy, has recently raised a great deal of hope for patients who cannot undergo standard revascularizing treatment. Although pre-clinical studies gave very promising data, still clinical trials of gene therapy have not provided satisfactory results. On the other hand, cell therapy approach, despite several limitations, demonstrated more beneficial effects but initial clinical studies must be constantly validated by larger randomized, multi-center, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trials. This review focuses on previous and recent gene and cell therapy studies for limb ischemia, including both experimental and clinical research, and summarizes some important papers published in this field. Moreover, it provides a short comment on combined gene and cell therapy approach on the example of heme oxygenase-1 overexpressing cells with therapeutic properties.     

Low‐Temperature Solution‐Based Phosphorization Reaction Route to Sn4P3/Reduced Graphene Oxide Nanohybrids as Anodes for Sodium Ion Batteries

Different from previously reported mechanical alloying route to synthesize Sn _x P₃, novel Sn₄P₃/reduced graphene oxide (RGO) hybrids are synthesized for the first time through an in situ low‐temperature solution‐based phosphorization reaction route from Sn/RGO. Sn₄P₃ nanoparticles combining with advantages of high conductivity of Sn and high capacity of P are homogenously loaded on the RGO nanosheets, interconnecting to form 3D mesoporous architecture nanostructures. The Sn₄P₃/RGO hybrid architecture materials exhibit significantly improved electrochemical performance of high reversible capacity, high‐rate capability, and excellent cycling performance as sodium ion batteries (SIBs) anode materials, showing an excellent reversible capacity of 656 mA h g^?1 at a current density of 100 mA g^?1 over 100 cycles, demonstrating a greatly enhanced rate capability of a reversible capacity of 391 mA h g^?1 even at a high current density of 2.0 A g^?1. Moreover, Sn₄P₃/RGO SIBs anodes exhibit a superior long cycling life, delivering a high capacity of 362 mA h g^?1 after 1500 cycles at a high current density of 1.0 A g^?1. The outstanding cycling performance and rate capability of these porous hierarchical Sn₄P₃/RGO hybrid anodes can be attributed to the advantage of porous structure, and the synergistic effect between Sn₄P₃ nanoparticles and RGO nanosheets.     

Surface Engineering of 3D Gas Diffusion Electrodes for High‐Performance H2 Production with Nonprecious Metal Catalysts

In this work, a methodology is demonstrated to engineer gas diffusion electrodes for nonprecious metal catalysts. Highly active transition metal phosphides are prepared on carbon‐based gas diffusion electrodes with low catalyst loadings by modifying the O/C ratio at the surface of the electrode. These nonprecious metal catalysts yield extraordinary performance as measured by low overpotentials (51 mV at ?10 mA cm^?2), unprecedented mass activities (>800 A g^?1 at 100 mV overpotential), high turnover frequencies (6.96 H₂ s^?1 at 100 mV overpotential), and high durability for a precious metal‐free catalyst in acidic media. It is found that a high O/C ratio induces a more hydrophilic surface directly impacting the morphology of the CoP catalyst. The improved hydrophilicity, stemming from introduced oxyl groups on the carbon electrode, creates an electrode surface that yields a well‐distributed growth of cobalt electrodeposits and thus a well‐dispersed catalyst layer with high surface area upon phosphidation. This report demonstrates the high‐performance achievable by CoP at low loadings which facilitates further cost reduction, an important part of enabling the large‐scale commercialization of non‐platinum group metal catalysts. The fabrication strategies described herein offer a pathway to lower catalyst loading while achieving high efficiency and promising stability on a 3D electrode.     

High Thermoelectric Performance in p‐type Polycrystalline Cd‐doped SnSe Achieved by a Combination of Cation Vacancies and Localized Lattice Engineering

Herein, a high figure of merit (ZT) of ≈1.7 at 823 K is reported in p‐type polycrystalline Cd‐doped SnSe by combining cation vacancies and localized‐lattice engineering. It is observed that the introduction of Cd atoms in SnSe lattice induce Sn vacancies, which act as p‐type dopants. A combination of facile solvothermal synthesis and fast spark plasma sintering technique boosts the Sn vacancy to a high level of ≈2.9%, which results in an optimum hole concentration of ≈2.6 × 10¹⁹ cm^?3 and an improved power factor of ≈6.9 µW cm^?1 K^?2. Simultaneously, a low thermal conductivity of ≈0.33 W m^?1 K^?1 is achieved by effective phonon scattering at localized crystal imperfections, as observed by detailed structural characterizations. Density functional theory calculations reveal that the role of Cd atoms in the SnSe lattice is to reduce the formation energy of Sn vacancies, which in turn lower the Fermi level down into the valence bands, generating holes. This work explores the fundamental Cd‐doping mechanisms at the nanoscale in a SnSe matrix and demonstrates vacancy and localized‐lattice engineering as an effective approach to boosting thermoelectric performance. The work provides an avenue in achieving high‐performance thermoelectric properties of materials.     

Ni‐Metalloid (B,Si, P,As, and Te) Alloys as Water Oxidation Electrocatalysts

Breakthroughs toward effective water‐splitting electrocatalysts for mass hydrogen production will necessitate material design strategies based on unexplored material chemistries. Herein, Ni‐metalloid (B, Si, P, As, Te) alloys are reported as an emergent class of highly promising electrocatalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and insight is offered into the origin of activity enhancement on the premise of the surface electronic structure, the OER activation energy, influence of the guest metalloid elements on the lattice structure of the host metal (Ni), and surface‐oxidized metalloid oxoanions. The metalloids modify the lattice structure of Ni, causing changes in the nearest Ni–Ni interatomic distance (d_Ni–Ni). The activation energy E_a scales with d_Ni–Ni indicating an apparent dependence of the OER activity on lattice properties. During the OER, surface Ni atoms are oxidized to nickel oxyhydroxide, which is the active state of the catalyst, meanwhile, the surface metalloids are oxidized to the corresponding oxoanions that affect the interfacial electrode/electrolyte properties and hence the adsorption/desorption interaction energies of the reacting species.     

Effect of Inorganic and Organic Tin Compounds on ACh- and Voltage-Activated Na Currents

1. Inorganic tin and organotin compounds, occurring in aquatic ecosystems, are toxic and can cause behavioral abnormalities in living organisms. To determine the possible neuronal basis of these actions, the effects of both forms of Sn were studied on identified neurones of the mollusk, Lymnaea stagnalis L.2. SnCl₂ caused a dose-dependent decrease in the acetylcholine (Ach)-induced inward current. The effective threshold concentration, measured by a two microelectrode voltage clamp technique, was 0.1 M, and the maximal effect occurred at 5 M SnCl₂. The depression of the inward current was greater after a 10 min preapplication (20%) than after 3 min treatment (7%).3. The next series of experiments compared the actions of inorganic or organic tin compounds. In whole cell clamp experiments both (CH₃)₂SnCl₂ and (CH₃)₃SnCl, like inorganic Sn, decreased the amplitude of Ach-induced current. Increasing the duration of the preapplication time resulted in an increase in the effect, but the action was not reversible. SnCl₂ treatment caused a concentration-dependent alteration (initial potentiation followed by depression) of the amplitude of I _Na(V) over the whole voltage range and slightly shifted the I–V curves to the left. In contrast, trimethyl tin decreased the amplitude of I _Na(V) only at high concentration (100 M). The activation time course of I _Na was increased ( = 0.43 ms in control and 0.55 ms in Sn), but Sn did not alter the inactivation parameters ( = 3.43 and 3.41 ms).4. These results support earlier findings that agonist- and voltage-activated channels are direct targets of toxic metals. We conclude that tin in both inorganic and organic forms acts at neuronal membranes to modulate synaptic transmission through direct actions on agonist-activated ion channels, and suggest that these actions may be the basis of the altered behavior of animals in tin-polluted environments.