SUMMARYNecrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in premature infants. During NEC pathogenesis, bacteria are able to penetrate innate immune defenses and invade the intestinal epithelial layer, causing subsequent inflammation and tissue necrosis. Normally, Paneth cells appear in the intestinal crypts during the first trimester of human pregnancy. Paneth cells constitute a major component of the innate immune system by producing multiple antimicrobial peptides and proinflammatory mediators. To better understand the possible role of Paneth cell disruption in NEC, we quantified the number of Paneth cells present in infants with NEC and found that they were significantly decreased compared with age-matched controls. We were able to model this loss in the intestine of postnatal day (P)14-P16 (immature) mice by treating them with the zinc chelator dithizone. Intestines from dithizone-treated animals retained approximately half the number of Paneth cells compared with controls. Furthermore, by combining dithizone treatment with exposure to Klebsiella pneumoniae, we were able to induce intestinal injury and inflammatory induction that resembles human NEC. Additionally, this novel Paneth cell ablation model produces NEC-like pathology that is consistent with other currently used animal models, but this technique is simpler to use, can be used in older animals that have been dam fed, and represents a novel line of investigation to study NEC pathogenesis and treatment.

Tubular In2O3 was fabricated by the annealing of In-MIL-68 and further treated by Ar plasma to yield oxygen vacancies (O v ) followed by the growth of In2S3 nanoflowers. Unexpectedly, the resulting porous In2S3@In2O3 composites were discovered to display a broad visible-light response and especially enhanced capacities for efficient photocatalytic production of H2O2 in pure water, with a rate of 4.59 μmol·g–1·min–1. An apparent quantum yield of 28.9% at 420 nm can also be expected without the use of noble metals or organic scavengers. Herein, the high light utilization might be profited from their porous tubular heterostructure for powerful “light captivity”. Moreover, the Ar plasma-derived O v sites on the composites might tune the H2O2 generation route from the single-electron reduction to the two-electron one toward the significantly enhanced photocatalysis, as validated by the Koutecky–Levich plots. This work demonstrates a new perspective of designing porous heterostructures with the advantages of high light harvest and plasma-derived O v active sites. Importantly, it may provide a promising defect-induced strategy of two-electron reduction triggered by the plasma treatment for the efficient photocatalytic H2O2 production under visible light.

Ultrathin g-C3N4 nanosheets have been fabricated via a two-step calcination regulated by melamine precursors at a high heating rate (30 °C/min). The resulting g-C3N4 nanosheets were further employed as carriers...

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A selective photoelectrochemical (PEC) sensor has been designed for the signal-on detection of H2S using g-C3N4 nanosheets that were treated with N2 plasma for depositing Cd probes. It was discovered that the yielded Cd/N@g-C3N4 nanocomposites could present enhanced photocurrents of specific responses to H2S under visible light irradiation, in contrast to the ones without the pretreatment of N2 plasma showing no H2S response. Herein, the Cd probes deposited on g-C3N4 nanosheets might react with H2S to generate CdS on Cd/N@g-C3N4, forming the efficient heterojunctions. Especially, the plasma-derived N contents might act as the “bridge” to promote charge transfer between the generated CdS and g-C3N4, resulting in the “signal-on” PEC responses to H2S. A selective PEC sensor was thereby developed for sensing H2S of concentrations linearly ranging from 40.0 to 10,000 pM, with a detection limit of about 21 pM. Also, the feasibility of sensing H2S in industrial waste gas was demonstrated by recovery tests. More importantly, this N2 plasma treatment route for g-C3N4 nanosheets may open a new door toward the construction of a Cd probe-based heterojunction for the signal-on PEC sensing platform, which is promising for the wide application in the fields of environmental monitoring, food safety, and biomedical analysis.