Highly visible-light-responsive Cu2O/rGO decorated with Fe3O4@SiO2 nanoparticles as a magnetically recyclable photocatalyst.

The rhombic dodecahedral cuprous oxide-reduced graphene oxide/core-shell Fe3O4@SiO2 composites (denoted as rCu2O-rGO/Fe3O4@SiO2) are successfully synthesized facilely via a wet-chemical route. The resulting rCu2O-rGO/Fe3O4@SiO2 combines the unique structure of Cu2O, electronic characteristics of reduced graphene oxide (rGO) and magnetic property of Fe3O4@SiO2 to be an effective and recoverable photocatalyst for the degradation of methyl orange (MO). The obtained results show that rCu2O-rGO/Fe3O4@SiO2 is capable of completely degrading MO in the presence of a very low catalyst concentration (0.125 g l-1) within a short time (60 min) under visible light compared to the reported catalysts. The observations may be due to the distinctive interfacial structures of rhombic dodecahedral Cu2O nanoparticles connected to rGO sheets that can enhance the separation of photogenerated electron-hole pairs, stabilize the Cu2O and increase MO adsorption, as evidenced by a variety of spectroscopic analyses (transmission electron microscopy, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and photoluminescence). More importantly, these efficient photocatalysts can easily be recovered under a magnetic field and remain highly photoactive towards the degradation of MO after cyclic tests, and may be promising photocatalysts for practical applications in the solar-energy purification of wastewater.

Guanine nucleotide induced conformational change of Cdc42 revealed by hydrogen/deuterium exchange mass spectrometry.

Cdc42 regulates pathways related to cell division. Dysregulation of Cdc42 can lead to cancer, cardiovascular diseases and neurodegenerative diseases. GTP induced activation mechanism plays an important role in the activity and biological functions of Cdc42. P-loop, Switch I and Switch II are critical regions modulating the enzymatic activity of Cdc42. We applied amide hydrogen/deuterium exchange coupled with liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (HDXMS) to investigate the dynamic changes of apo-Cdc42 after GDP, GTP and GMP-PCP binding. The natural substrate GTP induced significant decreases of deuteration in P-loop and Switch II, moderate changes of deuteration in Switch I and significant changes of deuteration in the α7 helix, a region far away from the active site. GTP binding induced similar effects on H/D exchange to its non-hydrolysable analog, GMP-PCP. HDXMS results indicate that GTP binding blocked the solvent accessibility in the active site leading to the decrease of H/D exchange rate surrounding the active site, and further triggered a conformational change resulting in the drastic decrease of H/D exchange rate at the remote α7 helix. Comparing the deuteration levels in three activation states of apo-Cdc42, Cdc42-GDP and Cdc42-GMP-PCP, the apo-Cdc42 has the most flexible structure, which can be stabilized by guanine nucleotide binding. The rates of H/D exchange of Cdc42-GDP are between the GMP-PCP-bound and the apo form, but more closely to the GMP-PCP-bound form. Our results show that the activation of Cdc42 is a process of conformational changes involved with P-loop, Switch II and α7 helix for structural stabilization.

Research on characteristic spectrum extracting and matching for high-fidelity reproduction.

Reconstructing the spectrum rapidly and accurately is the key to the research on high-fidelity reproduction. A characteristic spectrum extracting and matching method for high-fidelity printing is proposed aiming at the problem of complex conversion between spectrum and ink combination caused by multi-color. The method filters and extracts feature bands of primary ink through derivative spectrum, and a characteristic spectrum multi-threshold coding method is proposed. Considering the problem of subarea judgment in hi-fi printing, an average derivative spectrum is taken as characteristic spectrum of each subarea and a spectrum matching method between target spectrum and average derivative spectrum of sub-spaces is proposed. The results show that the feature bands extracted can represent spectral characteristic of primary color significantly and the precision of color conversion model based on feature bands is higher than the model based on full bands. The spectrum matching method can achieve a high accuracy in sub-space judgments and greatly improve the efficiency of color convention. The spectrum extracting and matching method has the high practicability.

Non-volatile 180° magnetization reversal by an electric field in multiferroic heterostructures.

The deterministic rotation of magnetization by electric fields is a challenging issue for future low-power spintronics. In a Co/0.7Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-0.3PbTiO3 multiferroic heterostructure, piezostrain-mediated, macroscopically maneuverable, and non-volatile magnetization reversal without an applied magnetic field is demonstrated. This, combined with the presented phase-field simulations, is of practical relevance for designing prototype devices.

Fluoroketone inhibition of Ca(2+)-independent phospholipase A2 through binding pocket association defined by hydrogen/deuterium exchange and molecular dynamics.

The mechanism of inhibition of group VIA Ca(2+)-independent phospholipase A(2) (iPLA(2)) by fluoroketone (FK) ligands is examined by a combination of deuterium exchange mass spectrometry (DXMS) and molecular dynamics (MD). Models for iPLA(2) were built by homology with the known structure of patatin and equilibrated by extensive MD simulations. Empty pockets were identified during the simulations and studied for their ability to accommodate FK inhibitors. Ligand docking techniques showed that the potent inhibitor 1,1,1,3-tetrafluoro-7-phenylheptan-2-one (PHFK) forms favorable interactions inside an active-site pocket, where it blocks the entrance of phospholipid substrates. The polar fluoroketone headgroup is stabilized by hydrogen bonds with residues Gly486, Gly487, and Ser519. The nonpolar aliphatic chain and aromatic group are stabilized by hydrophobic contacts with Met544, Val548, Phe549, Leu560, and Ala640. The binding mode is supported by DXMS experiments showing an important decrease of deuteration in the contact regions in the presence of the inhibitor. The discovery of the precise binding mode of FK ligands to the iPLA(2) should greatly improve our ability to design new inhibitors with higher potency and selectivity.