One-step fabrication of vanadium-doped CoFe PBA nanosheets for efficient oxygen evolution reaction.

Finding effective and affordable non-noble metal catalysts is one of the most important yet difficult tasks because of the sluggish kinetics of the oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Therefore, we synthesized vanadium-doped CoFe PBA nanosheets on nickel foam in a single step to change the electronic structure with metal doping. The sheet structure facilitates charge transfer, while vanadium doping modifies the electronic structure to enhance the catalytic activity. With just a 229 mV overpotential needed in the OER reaction to reach 10 mA cm-2, the as-synthesised electrocatalyst demonstrates high electrocatalytic activity. The produced electrocatalyst can operate at a current density of 10 mA cm-2 for 12 h, and it displays outstanding stability even at a high OER current density of 100 mA cm-2 for 12 h. This study will contribute to the development of efficient and affordable non-noble metal-based electrocatalysts.

A Q-marker screening strategy based on ADME studies and systems biology for Chinese herbal medicine, taking Qianghuo Shengshi decoction in treating rheumatoid arthritis as an example.

Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) exhibits a broad spectrum of clinical applications and demonstrates favorable therapeutic efficacy. Nonetheless, elucidating the underlying mechanism of action (MOA) of CHM in disease treatment remains a formidable task due to its inherent characteristics of multi-level, multi-linked, and multi-dimensional non-linear synergistic actions. In recent years, the concept of a Quality marker (Q-marker) proposed by Liu et al. has significantly contributed to the monitoring and evaluation of CHM products, thereby fostering the advancement of CHM research. Within this study, a Q-marker screening strategy for CHM formulas has been introduced, particularly emphasising efficacy and biological activities, integrating absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion (ADME) studies, systems biology, and experimental verification. As an illustrative case, the Q-marker screening of Qianghuo Shengshi decoction (QHSSD) for treating rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has been conducted. Consequently, from a pool of 159 compounds within QHSSD, five Q-markers exhibiting significant in vitro anti-inflammatory effects have been identified. These Q-markers encompass notopterol, isoliquiritin, imperatorin, cimifugin, and glycyrrhizic acid. Furthermore, by employing an integrated analysis of network pharmacology and metabolomics, several instructive insights into pharmacological mechanisms have been gleaned. This includes the identification of key targets and pathways through which QHSSD exerts its crucial roles in the treatment of RA. Notably, the inhibitory effect of QHSSD on AKT1 and MAPK3 activation has been validated through western blot analysis, underscoring its potential to mitigate RA-related inflammatory responses. In summary, this research demonstrates the proposed strategy's feasibility and provides a practical reference model for the systematic investigation of CHM formulas.

Tsinghua facial expression database - A database of facial expressions in Chinese young and older women and men: Development and validation.

Perception of facial identity and emotional expressions is fundamental to social interactions. Recently, interest in age associated changes in the processing of faces has grown rapidly. Due to the lack of older faces stimuli, most previous age-comparative studies only used young faces stimuli, which might cause own-age advantage. None of the existing Eastern face stimuli databases contain face images of different age groups (e.g. older adult faces). In this study, a database that comprises images of 110 Chinese young and older adults displaying eight facial emotional expressions (Neutral, Happiness, Anger, Disgust, Surprise, Fear, Content, and Sadness) was constructed. To validate this database, each image was rated on the basis of perceived facial expressions, perceived emotional intensity, and perceived age by two different age groups. Results have shown an overall 79.08% correct identification rate in the validation. Access to the freely available database can be requested by emailing the corresponding authors.

Plasma neurofilament light chain levels in Alzheimer's disease.

Plasma neurofilament light (NFL) levels may be a marker of neuronal injury. We examined whether plasma NFL might be a potential biomarker for the prodromal and dementia stages of AD. Participants included 193 cognitively normal (CN), 198 amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) and 187 Alzheimer's disease (AD) individuals enrolled in the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI). Plasma NFL levels were examined by the Single Molecule array (Simoa) technique. Our results showed significantly increased plasma NFL levels in both AD (50.9pg/ml) and aMCI (43.0pg/ml) groups compared to CN (34.7pg/ml) group (both p<0.001), but with substantial overlap between the groups. Plasma NFL levels in AD group was also markedly increased, compared with aMCI group (p<0.001). Plasma NFL levels were positively associated with age (r=0.355, p<0.001) and negatively with global cognition (r=-0.355, p<0.001) in all subjects. Our results suggest that plasma NFL levels may not be a useful biomarker for the diagnosis of prodromal and dementia stages of AD.