In recent years, a rechargeable aluminum-ion battery based on ionic liquid electrolyte is being extensively explored due to three-electron electrochemical reactions, rich resources, and safety. Herein, a rechargeable Al-ion battery composed of MoS microsphere cathode, aluminum anode, and ionic liquid electrolyte has been fabricated for the first time. It can be found that Al intercalates into the MoS during the electrochemical reaction, whereas the storage mechanisms of the electrode material interface and internal are quite different. This result is confirmed by ex situ X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction etching techniques. Meanwhile, this aluminum-ion battery also shows excellent electrochemical performance, such as a discharge specific capacity of 253.6 mA h g at a current density of 20 mA g and a discharge capacity of 66.7 mA h g at a current density of 40 mA g after 100 cycles. This will lay a solid foundation for the commercialization of aluminum-ion batteries.

Herein, a novel graphite-graphite dual ion battery (GGDIB) based on a AlCl /1-ethyl-3-methylimidazole Cl ([EMIm]Cl) room temperature ionic liquid electrolyte, using conductive graphite paper as cathode and anode material is developed. The working principle of the GGDIB is investigated, that is, metallic aluminum is deposited/dissolved on the surface of the anode, and chloroaluminate ions are intercalated/deintercalated in the cathode material. The self-discharge phenomenon and pseudocapacitive behavior of the GGDIB are also analyzed. The GGDIB shows excellent rate performance and cycle performance due to the high ionic conductivity of ionic liquids. The initial discharge capacity is 76.5 mA h g at a current density of 200 mA g over a voltage window of 0.1-2.3 V, and the capacity remains at 62.3 mA h g after 1000 cycles with a corresponding capacity retention of 98.42% at a current density of 500 mA g . With the merits of environmental friendliness and low cost, the GGDIB has a great advantage in the future of energy storage application.

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a relevant risk factor for developing hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Steatohepatitic HCC (SH-HCC), characterized by HCC with steatosis, is influenced by lipid metabolism disorders. A hypoxic microenvironment is common in HCC and affects lipid metabolism. However, whether hypoxia-induced HIF-2α upregulation exacerbates lipid accumulation to contribute to SH-HCC progression remains unclear. In this study, we demonstrated that HIF-2α was elevated in tissues from NAFLD-HCC patients and was associated with survival. Under hypoxic conditions, upregulated HIF-2α was accompanied by lipid accumulation and PI3K-AKT-mTOR pathway activation. HIF-2α knockdown (KD) in steatotic HCC ameliorated triglyceride accumulation and steatosis. HIF-2α-KD steatotic HCC showed minimal lipid synthesis in a hypoxic environment, which contributes to a reduction in malignant behaviours. However, treatment with MHY1485 restored these behaviours. STAM mice, a mouse model that develops NAFLD-HCC, exhibit more rapid tumour progression upon exposure to hypoxia. STAM mice treated with INK-128 presented abrogated mTOR expression and tumour progression under hypoxic conditions with lower triglycerides and steatosis. In conclusion, in a hypoxic microenvironment, HIF-2α upregulation promotes steatotic HCC progression by activating lipid synthesis via the PI3K-AKT-mTOR pathway. Therefore, HIF-2α can be a biomarker and target in developing specific therapeutic measures for NAFLD-HCC patients.

The rapeseed branch angle is an important morphological trait because an adequate branch angle enables more efficient light capture under high planting densities. Here, we report that the average angle of the five top branches provides a reliable representation of the average angle of all branches. Statistical analyses revealed a significantly positive correlation between the branch angle and multiple plant-type and yield-related traits. The 60 K Brassica Infinium® single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) array was utilized to genotype an association panel with 520 diverse accessions. A genome-wide association study was performed to determine the genetic architecture of branch angle, and 56 loci were identified as being significantly associated with the branch angle trait via three models, including a robust, novel, nonparametric Anderson-Darling (A-D) test. Moreover, these loci explained 51.1% of the phenotypic variation when a simple additive model was applied. Within the linkage disequilibrium (LD) decay ranges of 53 loci, we observed plausible candidates orthologous to documented Arabidopsis genes, such as LAZY1, SGR2, SGR4, SGR8, SGR9, PIN3, PIN7, CRK5, TIR1, and APD7. These results provide insight into the genetic basis of the branch angle trait in rapeseed and might facilitate marker-based breeding for improvements in plant architecture.

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