83 ± 0.11, based on band intensities), but not in plasma from patients with other mosquito-borne infectious diseases. The results of AACT immunoblot analyses showed that AACT protein was significantly elevated in vivax and falciparum malaria patient plasma samples (≥ 2-fold) compared to healthy control donor plasma samples, which has not been previously reported. [BMB Reports 2022; 55(11) 571-576].Mitochondria are cellular organelles that perform various functions within cells. They are responsible for ATP production, cell-signal regulation, autophagy, and cell apoptosis. Because the mitochondrial proteins that perform these functions need Ca2+ ions for their activity, mitochondria have ion channels to selectively uptake Ca2+ ions from the cytoplasm. The ion channel known to play the most important role in the Ca2+ uptake in mitochondria is the mitochondrial calcium uniporter (MCU) holo-complex located in the inner mitochondrial membrane (IMM). This ion channel complex exists in the form of a complex consisting of the pore-forming protein through which the Ca2+ ions are transported into the mitochondrial matrix, and the auxiliary protein involved in regulating the activity of the Ca2+ uptake by the MCU holo-complex. Studies of this MCU holocomplex have long been conducted, but we didn’t know in detail how mitochondria uptake Ca2+ ions through this ion channel complex or how the activity of this ion channel complex is regulated. Recently, the protein structure of the MCU holo-complex was identified, enabling the mechanism of Ca2+ uptake and its regulation by the MCU holo-complex to be confirmed. In this review, I will introduce the mechanism of action of the MCU holo-complex at the molecular level based on the Cryo-EM structure of the MCU holo-complex to help understand how mitochondria uptake the necessary Ca2+ ions through the MCU holo-complex and how these Ca2+ uptake mechanisms are regulated. [BMB Reports 2022; 55(11) 528-534].Macrophage activation has long been implicated in a myriad of human pathophysiology, particularly in the context of the dysregulated capacities of an unleashing intracellular or/and extracellular inflammatory response. A growing number of studies have functionally coupled the macrophages‘ inflammatory capacities with dynamic metabolic reprogramming which occurs during activation, albeit the results have been mostly interpreted through classic metabolism point of view; macrophages take advantage of the rewired metabolism as a source of energy and for biosynthetic precursors. However, a specific subset of metabolic products, namely immune-modulatory metabolites, has recently emerged as significant regulatory signals which control inflammatory responses in macrophages and the relevant extracellular milieu. In this review, we introduce recently highlighted immuno-modulatory metabolites, with the aim of understanding their physiological and pathological relevance in the macrophage inflammatory response. [BMB Reports 2022; 55(11) 519-527].Over the past few years, hydrogen sulfide (H2S) has been shown to exert several biological functions in mammalian. The endogenous production of H2S is mainly mediated by cystathione β-synthase, cystathione γ-lyase and 3-mercaptopyruvate sulfur transferase. These enzymes are broadly expressed in liver tissue and regulates liver function by working on a variety of molecular targets. As an important regulator of liver function, H2S is critically involved in the pathogenesis of various liver diseases, such as non-alcoholic steatohepatitis and liver cancer. Targeting H2S-generating enzymes may be a therapeutic strategy for controlling liver diseases. This review described the function of H2S in liver disease and summarized recent characterized role of H2S in several cellular process of the liver. [BMB Reports 2022; 55(10) 481-487].Harnessing solar energy by employing concentrated solar power (CSP) systems requires materials with high electrical conductivity and optical reflectivity. Hexadimethrine Bromide Silver, with its excellent optical reflectance, is traditionally used as a reflective layer in solar mirrors for CSP technologies. However, silver is soft and expensive, quickly tarnishes, and requires a protective layer of glass for practical applications. Moreover, supply-side constraints and high-temperature instability of silver have led to the search for alternative materials that exhibit high solar and infrared reflectance. Transition metal nitrides, such as titanium nitride, have emerged as alternative plasmonic materials to gold starting from a spectral range of ∼500 nm. However, to achieve high solar reflection (∼320-2500 nm), materials with epsilon-near-zero starting from the near-ultraviolet (UV) spectral region are required. Here, we show the development of refractory epitaxial hafnium nitride (HfN) and zirconium nitride (ZrN) thin films as excellent mirrors with a solar reflectivity of ∼90.3% and an infrared reflectivity of ∼95%. Low-loss and high-quality epsilon-near-zero resonance at near-UV (∼340-380 nm) spectral regions are achieved in HfN and ZrN by carefully controlling the stoichiometry, leading to a sharp increase in the reflection edge that is on par with silver. Temperature-dependent reflectivity and dielectric constants are further measured to demonstrate their high-temperature suitability. The development of refractory epitaxial HfN and ZrN thin films with high solar and infrared reflectance makes them excellent alternative plasmonic materials to silver and would pave their applications in CSP, daytime radiative cooling, and others.

Large and rapidly growing abdominal tumors may result in fatal outcomes in newborns. In some cases, a rapidly worsening clinical condition requires surgical decision-making despite the absence of a precise histological diagnosis. In these situations, there is neither a guide nor consensus.

We highlight our experience with five patients with large abdominal tumors and assess the available literature for the best possible management of a rare condition.

In these cases, laparostomy should be considered as a life-saving procedure. If the liver is involved and coagulopathy is present, prognosis is often compromised.

In these cases, laparostomy should be considered as a life-saving procedure. If the liver is involved and coagulopathy is present, prognosis is often compromised.Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are considered potential electrocatalysts for efficient water splitting. However, the structure-activity relationship of most MOFs is not systematically analyzed for electrocatalysis for anodes and cathodes. In this paper, we provide a strategy to modulate the electronic microstructure of iron-based bimetallic MOFs (MFe-BDC (M Mg, Zn, Cd)) grown on the nickel foam (NF) as bifunctional electrocatalysts for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). The optimal bimetallic CdFe-BDC via modulating appropriate metal cations of IIA and IIB possesses excellent OER and HER performance with the lowest overpotentials of 290 mV at 100 mA cm-2 and 148 mV at 10 mA cm-2, respectively. The overall water splitting performance of the as-prepared CdFe-BDC requires 1.68 V to achieve a current density of 10 mA cm-2 in the real seawater media, and it exhibits the competitive H2 and O2 production rates of 6.4 and 3.1 μL s-1, respectively, in ambient alkaline conditions, suggesting its potential practical applications. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations demonstrate the relationship between microstructure and electrocatalytic performance of bimetallic MFe-BDC. This work emphasizes the significance of tailoring the electronic microstructure of bimetallic MOFs for efficient overall water splitting in alkaline and seawater environment.Home potentiometric sensing devices can real-time monitor personal health status and are widely used in the prevention and management of related diseases. However, variations in the composition and the pH of the sample matrix tend to change the basic potential and response slope of some potentiometric sensors, thus affecting detection reliability. Therefore, this work uses the detection of urea in urine as a model to improve reliability of the potentiometric sensor in home detection. Au@urease nanoparticles were synthesized as the sensing material to improve the stability of the urease-based potentiometric sensor. Meanwhile, a multicalibrated urea potential (MCUP) sensing array was designed, which consists of a urea electrode group, a pH electrode group, and a reference channel. The urea electrode group and the pH electrode group contain respectively a sensing channel and a calibration channel. The basic potential of sensing channels can be calibrated through the corresponding calibration channels. Moreover, the pH electrode group can not only measure the pH values of the samples but also calibrate the response slope of the urea electrode group through the calibration coefficient, thus improving the reliability of home detection. Consequently, the potentiometric sensing array based on the enzyme reaction can be applied in body fluids with a wide pH range.The reaction of the lithium aryl(silyl)amide Dipp(i Pr3 Si)NLi (Dipp=2,6-i Pr2 C6 H3 ) with one equivalent of SnCl2 in THF gave a novel stannylenoid Dipp(i Pr3 Si)NSnCl⋅LiCl(THF)2 . Heating the solution of amidostannylenoid in toluene to 80 °C resulted in dimeric amido(chloro)stannylene [Dipp(i Pr3 Si)NSnCl]2 , which can be converted to bis(amido)stannylene Sn[N(Dipp)(i Pr3 Si)]2 and amido(imino)stannylene Sn[N(Dipp)(i Pr3 Si)][IPrN] (IPrN=bis(2,6-diisopropylphenyl)imidazolin-2-imino). Treatment of bis(imino)stannylenoid [IPrN]2 Sn(Cl)Li with N2 O resulted in the dimeric complex [IPrNSn(Cl)OLi]2 . All compounds were characterized by NMR, elementary analysis, and X-ray structural determination.TiO2 is a model transition metal oxide that has been applied frequently in both photocatalytic and electrocatalytic nitrogen reduction reactions (NRR). However, the phase which is more NRR active still remains a puzzle. This work presents a theoretical study on the NRR activity of the (001), (100), (101), and (110) surfaces of both anatase and rutile TiO2 . We found that perfect surfaces are not active for NRR, while the oxygen vacancy can promote the reaction by providing excess electrons and low-coordinated Ti atoms that enhance the binding of the key intermediate (HNN*). The NRR activity of the eight facets can be unified into a single scaling line. The anatase TiO2 (101) and rutile TiO2 (101) surfaces were found to be the most and the second most active surfaces with a limiting potential of -0.91 V and -0.95 V respectively, suggesting that the TiO2 NRR activity is not very phase-sensitive. For photocatalytic NRR, the results suggest that the anatase TiO2 (101) surface is still the most active facet. We further found that the binding strength of key intermediates scale well with the formation energy of oxygen vacancy, which is determined by the oxygen coordination number and the degree of relaxation of the surface after the creation of oxygen vacancy. This work provides a comprehensive understanding of the activity of TiO2 surfaces. The results should be helpful for the design of more efficient TiO2 -based NRR catalysts.