Effect of aspect ratio of vertically aligned copper nanowires in the presence of cellulose nanofibers on the thermal conductivity of epoxy composites

The composites comprising vertically aligned network of copper nanowires (CuNWs) in the presence of cellulose nanofibers were fabricated by using the freeze‐templating method and the effect of aspect ratio (A/R) of CuNWs on the thermal conductivity of epoxy composites was investigated. The thermal conductivity of epoxy composites increased to 0.79 W m^?1 K^?1 at 1.12 vol% of high A/R CuNWs loading, corresponding to the thermal conductivity enhancement of 365% as compared to the pure epoxy. The thermal conductivity of vertically aligned higher A/R CuNWs/epoxy, which is 38.5% and 51.9% higher than those of the lower A/R CuNWs and the randomly aligned CuNWs, respectively. The application of the epoxy composites in heat dissipation was demonstrated by the temperature changes of composites on a hot plate with the increase of heating time. These results indicate that the thermally conductive composites in this study could be applied for thermal dissipating materials in electronic devices.     

γ‐Glutamylcysteine‐ and Cysteinylglycine‐Directed Growth of Chiral Gold Nanoparticles and their Crystallographic Analysis

Chiral optical metamaterials with delicate structures are in high demand in various fields because of their strong light–matter interactions. Recently, a scalable strategy for the synthesis of chiral plasmonic nanoparticles (NPs) using amino acids and peptides has been reported. Reported herein, 3D chiral gold NPs were synthesized using dipeptide γ‐Glu‐Cys and Cys‐Gly and analyzed crystallographically. The γ‐Glu‐Cys‐directed NPs present a cube‐like outline with a protruding chiral wing. In comparison, the NPs synthesized with Cys‐Gly exhibited a rhombic dodecahedron‐like outline with curved edges and elliptical cavities on each face. Morphology analysis of intermediates indicated that γ‐Glu‐Cys generated an intermediate concave hexoctahedron morphology, while Cys‐Gly formed a concave rhombic dodecahedron. NPs synthesized with Cys‐Gly are named 432 helicoid V because of their unique morphology and growth pathway.     

In Vivo Imaging of the Tumor‐Associated Enzyme NCEH1 with a Covalent PET Probe

Herein, we report the development of an ¹⁸F‐labeled, activity‐based small‐molecule probe targeting the cancer‐associated serine hydrolase NCEH1. We undertook a focused medicinal chemistry campaign to simultaneously preserve potent and specific NCEH1 labeling in live cells and animals, while permitting facile ¹⁸F radionuclide incorporation required for PET imaging. The resulting molecule, [¹⁸F]JW199, labels active NCEH1 in live cells at nanomolar concentrations and greater than 1000‐fold selectivity relative to other serine hydrolases. [¹⁸F]JW199 displays rapid, NCEH1‐dependent accumulation in mouse tissues. Finally, we demonstrate that [¹⁸F]JW199 labels aggressive cancer tumor cells in vivo, which uncovered localized NCEH1 activity at the leading edge of triple‐negative breast cancer tumors, suggesting roles for NCEH1 in tumor aggressiveness and metastasis.     

A Simple Route to Produce Highly Efficient Porous Carbons Recycled from Tea Waste for High-Performance Symmetric Supercapacitor Electrodes

High-performance porous carbons derived from tea waste were prepared by hydrothermal treatment, combined together with KOH activation. The heat-treatment-processed materials possess an abundant hierarchical structure, with a large specific surface of 2235 m² g⁻¹ and wetting-complemental hydrophilicity for electrolytes. In a two-electrode system, the porous carbon electrodes’ built-in supercapacitor exhibited a high specific capacitance of 256 F g⁻¹ at 0.05 A g⁻¹, an excellent capacitance retention of 95.4% after 10,000 cycles, and a low leakage current of 0.014 mA. In our work, the collective results present that the precursor crafted from the tea waste can be a promising strategy to prepare valuable electrodes for high-performance supercapacitors, which offers a practical strategy to recycle biowastes into manufactured materials in energy storage applications.     

Control of Enzymatic Degradation of Microbial Polyesters by Plasma Modification

The rate of enzymatic degradation of surface‐modified microbial polyesters, poly[(R)‐3‐hydroxybutyrate] and poly[(R)‐3‐hydroxybutyrate‐co‐3‐hydroxyvalerate], was studied. The plasma treatments were carried out in a CF₃H or O₂ environment. It was found that the CF₃H plasma‐treated polyesters exhibited significant retardation of enzymatic erosion because of the surface fluorocarbon groups induced by CF₃H plasma. These surface fluorocarbon groups act as retardants on enzymatic degradation due to increased hydrophobicity and of the inactivity of enzymes. However, the increased surface hydrophilicity of polyesters induced by O₂ plasma results in no significant acceleration of the enzymatic erosion, which may be due to the thin modified layer.

Weight loss profiles of P(3HB) film exposed to CF₃H plasma as a function of plasma exposure time.     

Surface-enhanced Raman scattering of nucleic acid components in silver sol: Uracil and its derivatives

The surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) of uracil, uridine, 2′-deoxyuridine and 5′-rUMP adsorbed on aqueous silver sol was investigated. Uracil was found to adsorb as the N-3 deprotonated form, which underwent a reorientation from the situation where the base was perpendicular to the surface to the situation where the base lay flat on the surface as the surface charge was made more negative. The N-3 deprotonated molecules of uridine, 2′-deoxyuridine and 5′-rUMP were found to lie flat on the silver surface regardless of the bulk concentration and the silver surface charge.     

Recognition hysteresis of the acetylcholine receptor of torpedo Californica

The nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAcChR) of the electric organ of Torpedo californica fish exhibits a pronounced hysteresis loop in the high affinity binding of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine (AcCh). When increasing amounts of AcCh are added (pulse mode) an extremely long-lived, metastable conformer distribution is obtained (lower hysteresis branch) between low affinity AcCh binding states (R_l) and high (R_h) and very high (R_vh) affinity states. Dialysis conditions always lead to the equilibrium binding curve (upper hysteresis branch; K̄_A = 5 × 10⁻⁹M, 4°C; one A bound to the R-monomer of M_r ≈ 290 000). Cyclic, pulse mode addition and dilution of AcCh results in scanning loops within the main hysteresis. The kinetic analysis of the changes in free and bound AcCh during the open-system conditions of dialysis, that releases the metastability, shows that the AcCh (A) binding proceeds along an induced-fit pathway according to A+R_h ⇋ AR_n ⇋ AR_vh. The rate constant of the step AR_h → AR_vh is k₂ = 6 × 10⁻³s⁻¹ and that of the reverse step is k₋₂ = 3 × 10⁻⁴s⁻¹. Direct binding of A to free R_vh can be excluded. Therefore, the state R_vh does not preexist, it is induced and only stable, as AR_vh, by bound AcCh. The metastability can be described in terms of long-lived AR_vh ·R₁ hybrid dimers. Physiologically, the metastable hybrid may be viewed as a saving device: the functionally important, channel-active R₁ conformer is, at low AcCh-concentrations [A] < 1μM, prevented to convert to the desensitized states R_h and AR_vh. Furtheron, AcCh enhances the phosphorylation of phosphatidyl inositol and the auto-phosphorylation of the receptor. If the AcCh binding hysteresis causes a phosphorylation hysteresis the desensitized nAcChR may serve as a memory molecule of the transsynaptic information signalling of the neurotransmission.     

Tomatidine-stimulated maturation of human embryonic stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes for modeling mitochondrial dysfunction

Human embryonic stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hESC-CMs) have been reported to exhibit immature embryonic or fetal cardiomyocyte-like phenotypes. To enhance the maturation of hESC-CMs, we identified a natural steroidal alkaloid, tomatidine, as a new substance that stimulates the maturation of hESC-CMs. Treatment of human embryonic stem cells with tomatidine during cardiomyocyte differentiation stimulated the expression of several cardiomyocyte-specific markers and increased the density of T-tubules. Furthermore, tomatidine treatment augmented the number and size of mitochondria and enhanced the formation of mitochondrial lamellar cristae. Tomatidine treatment stimulated mitochondrial functions, including mitochondrial membrane potential, oxidative phosphorylation, and ATP production, in hESC-CMs. Tomatidine-treated hESC-CMs were more sensitive to doxorubicin-induced cardiotoxicity than the control cells. In conclusion, the present study suggests that tomatidine promotes the differentiation of stem cells to adult cardiomyocytes by accelerating mitochondrial biogenesis and maturation and that tomatidine-treated mature hESC-CMs can be used for cardiotoxicity screening and cardiac disease modeling.Subject terms: Heart failure, Embryonic stem cells, Stem-cell differentiation     

(<Emphasis Type="Italic">δ</Emphasis>,<Emphasis Type="Italic">δ</Emphasis>′)-continuity on generalized topological spaces

We introduce the notion of (δ,δ′)-continuous functions on generalized topological spaces and investigate characterizations for such functions. We study the relationship between (δ,δ′)-continuity and several types of continuity on generalized topological spaces.