No abstract

Natural wetlands, occupying 3.8% of China's land and providing 54.9% of ecosystem services, are unevenly distributed among eight wetland regions. Natural wetlands in China suffered great loss and degradation (e.g., 23.0% freshwater swamps, 51.2% costal wetlands) because of the wetland reclamation during China's long history of civilization, and the population pressure and the misguided policies over the last 50 years. Recently, with an improved understanding that healthy wetland ecosystems play a vital role in her sustainable economic development, China started major efforts in wetland conservation, as signified by the policy to return reclaimed croplands to wetlands, the funding of billions of dollars to restore degraded wetlands, and the national plan to place 90% of natural wetlands under protection by 2030. This paper describes the current status of the natural wetlands in China, reviews past problems, and discusses current efforts and future challenges in protecting China's natural wetlands.

Mixed ionic–electronic conductors are widely used in devices for energy conversion and storage. Grain boundaries in these materials have nanoscale spatial dimensions, which can generate substantial resistance to ionic transport due to dopant segregation. Here, we report the concept of targeted phase formation in a Ce0.8Gd0.2O2−δ–CoFe2O4 composite that serves to enhance the grain boundary ionic conductivity. Using transmission electron microscopy and spectroscopy approaches, we probe the grain boundary charge distribution and chemical environments altered by the phase reaction between the two constituents. The formation of an emergent phase successfully avoids segregation of the Gd dopant and depletion of oxygen vacancies at the Ce0.8Gd0.2O2−δ–Ce0.8Gd0.2O2−δ grain boundary. This results in superior grain boundary ionic conductivity as demonstrated by the enhanced oxygen permeation flux. This work illustrates the control of mesoscale level transport properties in mixed ionic–electronic conductor composites through processing induced modifications of the grain boundary defect distribution.

Pancreatic cancer is a highly lethal malignancy associated with tissues of the pancreas. Early diagnosis and effective treatment are crucial to improving the survival rate of patients with pancreatic cancer. In a previous study, we employed the cell-SELEX strategy to obtain an ssDNA aptamer termed XQ-2d with high binding affinity for pancreatic cancer. Here, we first identify CD71 as the XQ-2d-binding target. We found that knockdown of CD71 abolished the binding of XQ-2d and that the binding affinity of XQ-2d is associated with membrane-bound CD71, rather than total CD71 levels. Competitive analysis revealed that XQ-2d shares the same binding site on CD71 with transferrin (Tf), but not anti-CD71 antibody. We then used a surface energy transfer (SET) nanoruler to measure the distance between the binding sites of XQ-2d and anti-CD71 *