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An efficient Ni-based heterogeneous catalyst from pine needles urban waste valorization was designed and developed with a resource recycling strategy. The Ni/PiNe catalyst was fully characterized and tested in the Suzuki-Miyaura coupling under microwave irradiation. Although Ni is a promising candidate for replacing Pd-based catalytic systems, it generally requires a high catalyst amount and the exploitation of ligands and additives to enhance the reaction rate. On the contrary, with our new Ni/PiNe, 30 different products were efficiently synthesized with an isolated yield of up to 93%, using a very low catalyst amount and in the absence of ligands. Furthermore, the Ni/PiNe catalyst also showed good durability for consecutive cycles and an impressive TON value (1140). In addition to the catalytic efficiency in short reaction time and to the stability and durability under MW irradiation, the Ni/PiNe allowed for further optimization, achieving a low E-factor value (14.0), thus highlighting the potential in further reducing the waste and costs associated to the process.

The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is a validated therapeutic target for RAS/RAF wild-type colorectal cancer (CRC). However, monoclonal antibody-based anti-EGFR therapies such as cetuximab have limited effectiveness. Herein, it is identified that EGFR internalization is associated with poor treatment response and prognosis in patients with CRC, based on a retrospective analysis of patients treated with cetuximab. It is further demonstrated that the endocytosis inhibitor prochlorperazine (PCZ) can move EGFR, which is hidden inside the cell, to the cell surface to improve therapeutic antibody binding. Thus, a thermosensitive hydrogel co-loaded with cetuximab and PCZ (Gel@Cmab/PCZ) is constructed for sustained inhibition of endocytosis and effective cetuximab delivery. Peritumoral injection of Gel@Cmab/PCZ shows strong antitumor efficacy in subcutaneous and orthotopic CRC tumor models and completely abrogated liver metastasis when combined with chemotherapy. In a humanized patient-derived xenograft model, a single injection of Gel@Cmab/PCZ with one-third of the conventional cetuximab dose achieved 91% tumor growth inhibition, which promoted NK cell infiltration into tumor tissues and their antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity effect. This study represents a novel strategy to boost the monoclonal antibody-mediated anti-tumor response in CRC.

This study introduces a novel approach to inverse vulcanization by utilizing a commercially available triaziridine crosslinker as an alternative to conventional olefin-based crosslinkers. The model reactions reveal a self-catalyzed ring-opening of "unactivated" aziridine with elemental sulfur, forming oligosulfide-functionalized diamines. The triaziridine-derived polysulfides exhibit impressive mechanical properties, achieving a maximum stress of ~8.3 MPa and an elongation at break of ~107%. The incorporation of silicon dioxide (20 wt%) enhances the composite's rigidity, yielding a Young's modulus of ~0.94 GPa. Furthermore, these polysulfides display excellent adhesion strength on various substrates, such as aluminum (~7.0 MPa), walnut (~9.6 MPa), and steel (~11.0 MPa), with substantial retention of adhesion strength (~3.3 MPa on steel) at -196 °C. The straightforward synthetic process, combined with the accessibility of the triaziridine crosslinker, emphasizes the potential for further innovations in sulfur polymer chemistry.

Eutectogels represent an attractive option for various industrial applications that use deep eutectic solvents (DESs) as effective liquid active ingredients and offer remarkable stability, cost-effectiveness, and environmental friendliness. However, the biological applications of these compounds are limited. DESs are highly structurally tunable and exhibit remarkable biofunctionality and biocompatibility, conferring substantial benefits in the treatment of diseases. In this study, choline-chloride and mannose are used to fabricate ChCl/M DES, followed by introduction of lysozyme fibers and gallic acid for self-assembly into injectable eutectogels through hydrogen bonding and hydrophilic/hydrophobic interaction interactions. The eutectogels demonstrate almost 100% bactericidal activities against three strains and significant immune-regulation. This is supported by a decrease in the proportion of CD86-expressing cells from 64.02% to 18.17% and an increase in CD206-expressing cells from 2.53% to 29.96% through flow cytometry experiments. The eutectogels effectively inhibit alveolar bone loss and alleviated local inflammation in a rat model of chronic periodontitis owing to the promotion of gallic acid in the cell membrane by the ChCl/M DES. Hence, self-assembled eutectogels exhibit the potential to enhance the efficacy if treatments/therapies against inflammatory diseases by facilitating bacterial control, reactive oxygen species scavenging, and the regulation of macrophages by promoting cell permeation of small-molecule drugs.

Background: Sarcopenia is thought to be underlined by age-associated anabolic resistance and dysregulation of intracellular signalling pathways. However, it is unclear whether these phenomena are driven by ageing per se or other confounding factors.

Methods: Lean and healthy young (n = 10, 22 ± 3 years, BMI; 23.4 ± 0.8 kg/m²) and old men (n = 10, 70 ± 3 years, BMI; 22.7 ± 1.3 kg/m²) performed unilateral resistance exercise followed by intake of essential amino acids (EAA). Muscle biopsies were collected from the rested and the exercised leg before, immediately after and 60 and 180 min after EAA intake. Muscle samples were analysed for amino acid concentrations, muscle protein synthesis (MPS) and associated anabolic signalling.

Results: Following exercise, peak plasma levels of EAA and leucine were similar between groups, but the area under the curve was ~11% and ~28% lower in Young (p < 0.01). Absolute levels of muscle EAA and leucine peaked 60 min after exercise, with ~15 and ~21% higher concentrations in the exercising leg (p < 0.01) but with no difference between groups. MPS increased in both the resting (~0.035%·h^-1 to 0.056%·h^-1, p < 0.05) and exercising leg (~0.035%·h^-1 to 0.083%·h^-1, p < 0.05) with no difference between groups. Phosphorylation of S6K1^Thr389 increased to a similar extent in the exercising leg in both groups but was 2.8-fold higher in the resting leg of Old at the 60 min timepoint (p < 0.001). Phosphorylation of 4E-BP1^Ser65 increased following EAA intake and exercise, but differences between legs were statistically different only at 180 min (p < 0.001). However, phosphorylation of this site was on average 78% greater across all timepoints in Old (p < 0.01). Phosphorylation of eEF2^Thr56 was reduced (~66% and 39%) in the exercising leg at both timepoints after EAA intake and exercise, with no group differences (p < 0.05). However, phosphorylation at this site was reduced by ~27% also in the resting leg at 60 min, an effect that was only seen in Old (p < 0.01). Total levels of Rheb (~45%), LAT1 (~31%) and Rag B (~31%) were higher in Old (p < 0.001).

Conclusion: Lean and healthy old men do not manifest AR as evidenced by potent increases in MPS and mTORC1 signalling following EAA intake and exercise. Maintained anabolic sensitivity with age appears to be a function of a compensatory increase in basal levels of proteins involved in anabolic signalling. Therefore, our results suggest that age per se does not appear to cause AR in human skeletal muscle.

Currently, the diagnosis of malocclusion is a highly demanding process involving complicated examinations of the dental occlusion, which increases the demand for innovative tools for occlusal data monitoring. Nevertheless, continuous wireless monitoring within the oral cavity is challenging due to limitations in sampling and device size. In this study, by embedding high-performance piezoelectric sensors into the occlusal surfaces using flexible printed circuits, a fully integrated, flexible, and self-contained transparent aligner is developed. This aligner exhibits excellent sensitivity for occlusal force detection, with a broad detection threshold and continuous pressure monitoring ability at eight distinct sites. Integrated with machine learning algorithm, this fully integrated aligner can also identify and track adverse oral habits that can cause/exacerbate malocclusion, such as lip biting, thumb sucking, and teeth grinding. This system achieved 95% accuracy in determining malocclusion types by analyzing occlusal data from over 1400 malocclusion models. This fully-integrated sensing system, with wireless monitoring and machine learning processing, marks a significant advancement in the development of intraoral wearable sensors. Moreover, it can also facilitate remote orthodontic monitoring and evaluation, offering a new avenue for effective orthodontic care.

Nitrate reduction reaction (NO3RR) involves an 8-electron transfer process and competes with the hydrogen evolution reaction process, resulting in lower yields and Faraday efficiency (FE) in the process of NH3 synthesis. Especially, Cu-based catalysts (Cu0 and Cu+) have been investigated in the field of NO3RR due to the energy levels of d-orbital and the least unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) π* of nitrate's orbital. Based on the above, we synthesized a Cu-based compound containing Cu3N (Cu+) through a simple one-step pyrolysis method, applied it to electrocatalytic NO3RR, and tested the performance of the Zn-NO3- battery. Through various characterization analyses, Cu-based catalysts (Cu+) are the key active sites in reduction reactions, making Cu3N a potential catalyst for ammonia synthesis. The research results indicate the application of Cu3N catalyst in NO3RR shows the best NH3 yield of 173.7 μmol h-1 cm-2, with FENH3 reaching 91.0% at -0.3 V vs. RHE, which is much higher than that of Cu catalyst without N. In addition, the Zn-NO3- battery based on Cu3N electrode also exhibits an NH3 yield of 39.8 μmol h-1 cm-2, 63.0% FENH3, and a power density of 2.7 mW cm-2, as well as stable cycling charge-discharge stability for 5 hours.

The photocatalytic co-reduction of CO2 and N2 is a sustainable method for urea synthesis under mild conditions. However, high-yield synthesis of urea is a challenge due to the sluggish kinetics of the C-N coupling reaction. Herein, we have successfully engineered a Z-scheme photocatalyst, SrTiO3-FeS-CoWO4, for boosting photocatalytic urea synthesis via enhancing the initial CO2 and N2 adsorption step and reducing the energy barrier for the C-N coupling reaction. A high urea yield of 8054.2 μg·gcat-1·h-1 was achieved on SrTiO3-FeS-CoWO4, which was significantly higher than the state-of-the-art. The SrTiO3-FeS-CoWO4 Z-scheme photocatalyst, with accelerated charge transfer by FeS, not only had dual active sites for the chemical adsorption and activation of CO2 and N2, but also retained the high conduction band (-1.50 eV) and accelerated supply of electrons and protons, which are responsible for its good photoreduction activity and significantly reduced energy barrier for the rate-determining step of C-N coupling reaction.