Metallic Zn as a promising anode material of aqueous batteries suffers from severe parasitic reactions and notorious dendrite growth. To address these issues, the desolvation and nucleation processes need to be carefully regulated. Herein, Zn foils coated by ZnF2–Ag nanoparticles (ZnF2–Ag@Zn) are used as a model to modulate the desolvation and nucleation processes by hybrid surfaces, where Ag has a strong affinity to Zn adatoms and ZnF2 shows an intense adsorption to H2O. This selective adsorption of different species on ZnF2 and Ag reduces the mutual interference between two species. Therefore, ZnF2–Ag@Zn exhibits the electrochemical performance much better than ZnF2@Zn or Ag@Zn. Even at −40 °C, the full cells using ZnF2–Ag@Zn demonstrate an ultralong lifespan of 5000 cycles with a capacity retention of almost 100%. This work provides new insights to improve the performance of Zn metal batteries, especially at low temperatures.

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) participate in physiological and pathophysiological processes. Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) accounts for more than 90 % of all cases of diabetes mellitus (DM). Diabetic neuropathic pain (DNP) is a common complication of T2DM. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of lncRNA NONRATT021972 small interference RNA (siRNA) on DNP mediated by the P2X receptor in dorsal root ganglia (DRG). These experiments showed that the expression levels of NONRATT021972 in DRG were increased in the T2DM rat model (intraperitoneal injection of STZ with 30 mg/kg). The concentration of NONRATT021972 in T2DM patient serum was higher compared to control healthy subjects. The mechanical withdrawal threshold (MWT) and thermal withdrawal latency (TWL) in T2DM rats were lower compared to control rats. MWT and TWL in T2DM rats treated with NONRATT021972 siRNA were higher compared with those in T2DM rats. The expression levels of the P2X protein and messenger RNA (mRNA) of T2DM rat DRG were higher compared to the control, while those in T2DM rats treated with NONRATT021972 siRNA were significantly lower compared to T2DM rats. The level of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) in the serum of T2DM rats treated with NONRATT021972 siRNA was significantly decreased compared with T2DM rats. NONRATT021972 siRNA inhibited the phosphorylation and activation of ERK1/2 in T2DM DRG. Thus, NONRATT021972 siRNA treatment may suppress the upregulated expression and activation of the P2X receptor and reduce the hyperalgesia potentiated by the pro-inflammatory cytokine TNF-α in T2DM rats.

Zinc anode in aqueous batteries always suffers from severe electrochemical corrosion and internal dendrite growth. These issues could be alleviated by using hydrophobic polymers and ion-conductive inorganics as an artificial...

It is still a challenging global task for oil/water separation. Here we fabricate superhydrophobic magnetic cellulose sponge (SMCE) that can be used to separate free oil/water mixtures and surfactant-stabilized W/O emulsions. The simple modification includes only two steps: a thin layer of ferroferric oxide (Fe3O4) was coated on cellulose sponge surface via codeposition method, and subsequently magnetic cellulose sponge was modified with hexadecyltrimethoxysilane, which could react with Fe3O4 or hydroxyl groups of cellulose. The purpose of coating Fe3O4 is to increase the roughness of the surface and recycle the sample by magnetic force. SMCE could separate oil–water mixtures with a high separation efficiency and good reusability. The sample is green, low cost, and environmental friendly, which makes it a promising candidate to be used in oil–water separation.

The transmission between community-associated (CA-) and healthcare-associated (HA-) methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) has increased the challenge of infection control. To understand the clonal evolution and transmission of MRSA isolates, we compared the characteristics of 175 CA-MRSA and 660 HA-MRSA strains at a Chinese tertiary hospital in 2012–2017. Antibiotic susceptibility was performed on VITEK system, the genetic background of the isolates was characterized by SCCmec, spa, and MLST typing, while virulence determinants were screened using conventional PCR. Although more than 70% of the CA-MRSA isolates were erythromycin and clindamycin resistant, CA-MRSA was more susceptible than HA-MRSA to most of the antibiotics tested. ST239-MRSA-III-t030 (30%) was the most prevalent clone among HA-MRSA, while ST59-MRSA-IVa-t437 (28.8%) was the major clone among CA-MRSA. Notably, ST59-MRSA-IVa-t437 accounted for 6.7% of the chosen HA-MRSA isolates. Additionally, difference in virulence gene content was found between the CA- and HA-MRSA strains. In conclusion, epidemiological characteristics were largely different between CA- and HA-MRSA. Although ST239-MRSA-III-t030 is still the predominant clone among HA-MRSA, the community clone ST59-MRSA-IVa-t437 has the potential of becoming an essential part of HA-MRSA in the region tested.