Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is a gastrointestinal disease frequently prevalent in premature neonates. Despite advances in research, there is a lack of accurate, early diagnoses of NEC and the current therapeutic approaches remain exhausted and disappointing. In this review, we have taken a close look at the regenerative medical literature available in the context of NEC treatment. Stem cells from amniotic fluid (AFSC) administration may have the greatest protective and restorative effects on NEC. This review summarizes the potential protection and restoration AFSCs have on NEC-induced intestinal injury while comparing various components within AFSCs like conditioned medium (CM) and extracellular vesicles (EVs). In addition to therapeutic interventions that focus on targeting intestinal epithelial damage and regeneration, a novel discovery that AFSCs act in a Wnt-dependent manner provides insight into this mechanism of protection. Finally, we have highlighted the most important aspects that remain unknown that should be considered to guide future research on the translational application of AFSC-based therapy. We hope that this will be a beneficial frame of reference for the guidance of future studies and towards the clinical application of AFSC and/or its derivatives as a treatment against NEC.

As a highly reactive oxidative species, chlorine radicals (E Cl • 0 = 2.47 V vs standard hydrogen electrode, SHE) could react with carboxylic and amino group-containing organic matter efficiently. To this end, mechanistic insights into the reactive species (Cl • and • OH)-mediated Ni−EDTA decomposition were examined in depth. The used boron-doped diamond (BDD) anode could achieve remarkably enhanced decomposition of Ni−EDTA in NaCl electrolyte, indicated by the apparent reaction kinetics constant being 2.7 and 4 times that in the presence of Na 2 SO 4 and NaClO 4 , respectively. The experimental results and theoretical simulations revealed that the chlorine evolution reaction (CER) was thermodynamically favorable on the BDD anode, which facilitated the electro-generation of Cl • . Competitive kinetics and quenching experiments proved that the second-order rate constant of Cl • with Ni−EDTA is ∼1.38 × 10 10 M −1 s −1 , which is higher than that of • OH with Ni−EDTA (∼2.68 × 10 9 M −1 s −1 ). Furthermore, the experimental results and density functional theory (DFT) calculations show that the molecular changes of Ni−EDTA are mediated by Cl • and • OH through the H-abstraction and electron-transfer pathway in EDTA 4− . This study demonstrates positive implications in the electrochemical decomplexation of wastewater containing chlorine, which makes water treatment more effective, more economical, and much easier.

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The water oxidation reaction (WOR) is of fundamental importance for the development of promising technologies in the field of energy conversion and environmental remediation. Although effort has been devoted to uncovering the mechanism of the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) by four-electron WOR, little attention has been paid to an in-depth understanding of one-electron WOR for •OH formation, which is the key to the electrochemical advanced oxidation process (EAOP) for environmental applications. Currently, oxygen evolution potential (OEP) is generally regarded as an important thermodynamic descriptor responsible for •OH production, but the kinetic descriptor has been overlooked; thus, the trade-off between thermodynamic and kinetic factors remains unclear. In this study, the thermodynamic feasibility and kinetic activity of electrogeneration of •OH were regulated by doping three kinds of low-electronegativity elements (Ce, Al, and In) into the prototype PbO2 nonactive anode. We investigated these electrodes in terms of •OH production and electrochemical decontamination performance in the context of sulfamethoxazole (SMX) removal. The results showed that 0.8%Ce-PbO2 anode (OEP = 3.67 V vs Ag/AgCl) achieved the highest SMX removal performance (∼100%; k obs = 0.027 min–1) and the highest •OH production with a relatively high number of •OH = 2.7 × 107. In comparison, the highest OEP (5.98 V vs Ag/AgCl) for the 1.6%Ce-PbO2 anode exhibited the lowest SMX removal (∼59%; k obs = 0.008 min–1) and 1 order of magnitude lower •OH production (relative number of •OH = 1.5 × 106). This suggested that the electrogeneration of •OH was unlikely to be always positively correlated to the OEP of the anode. Both experimental results and theoretical calculations verified the importance of suitably high OEP and relative fast electron transfer rate toward WOR to generate H2O+ (oxidation intermediate of H2O) for the ideal anode of EAOP. This study not only demonstrates the trade-off existing between thermodynamic (OEP) and kinetic (charge/electron transfer) factors responsible for electrogeneration of •OH via WOR fundamentally but also suggests a possible strategy for developing a high-efficiency anode by doping low-electronegativity elements to optimize one-electron WOR for environmental applications.