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Host immune responses are tightly controlled by various immune factors during infection, and protozoan parasites also manipulate the immune system to evade surveillance, leading to an evolutionary arms race in host‒pathogen interactions; however, the underlying mechanisms are not fully understood. We observed that the level of superoxide dismutase 3 (SOD3) was significantly elevated in both Plasmodium falciparum malaria patients and mice infected with four parasite species. SOD3-deficient mice had a substantially longer survival time and lower parasitemia than control mice after infection, whereas SOD3-overexpressing mice were much more vulnerable to parasite infection. We revealed that SOD3, secreted from activated neutrophils, bound to T cells, suppressed the interleukin-2 expression and concomitant interferon-gamma responses crucial for parasite clearance. Overall, our findings expose active fronts in the arms race between the parasites and host immune system and provide insights into the roles of SOD3 in shaping host innate immune responses to parasite infection. Superoxide dismutase 3 is elevated in patients and animals infected by protozoan parasites such as Plasmodium . Here, Li et al. show that SOD3 expression is associated with experimental cerebral malaria and inhibition of host immune responses.

The synergetic effect of alloy and morphology of nanocatalysts play critical roles towards ethanol electrooxidation. In this work, we developed a novel electrocatalyst fabricated by one-pot synthesis of hierarchical flower-like palladium (Pd)-copper (Cu) alloy nanocatalysts supported on reduced graphene oxide (Pd-Cu (F) /RGO) for direct ethanol fuel cells. The structures of the catalysts were characterized by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and X-ray photoelectron spectrometer (XPS). The as-synthesized Pd-Cu (F) /RGO nanocatalyst was found to exhibit higher electrocatalytic performances towards ethanol electrooxidation reaction in alkaline medium in contrast with RGO-supported Pd nanocatalyst and commercial Pd black catalyst in alkaline electrolyte, which could be attributed to the formation of alloy and the morphology of nanoparticles. The high performance of nanocatalyst reveals the great potential of the structure design of the supporting materials for the future fabrication of nanocatalysts.

Intermolecular charge transport plays an essential role in organic electronic materials and biological systems. To date, experimental investigations of intermolecular charge transport in molecular materials and electronic devices have been restricted to conjugated systems in which π–π stacking interactions are involved. Herein we demonstrate that the σ–σ stacking interactions between neighbouring non-conjugated molecules offer an efficient pathway for charge transport through supramolecular junctions. The conductance of σ–σ stacked molecular junctions formed between two non-conjugated cyclohexanethiol or single-anchored adamantane molecules is comparable to that of π–π stacked molecular junctions formed between π-conjugated benzene rings. The current–voltage characteristics and flicker noise analysis demonstrate the existence of stacked molecular junctions formed between the electrode pairs and exhibit the characteristics of through-space charge transport. Density functional theory calculations combined with the non-equilibrium Green’s function method reveal that efficient charge transport occurs between two molecules configured with σ–σ stacking interactions. Supramolecular interactions play an essential role in organic electronic materials and biological systems. Now, it has been demonstrated that the σ–σ stacking interactions between neighbouring non-conjugated molecules can offer an efficient pathway for charge transport through supramolecular junctions, which provides a new guideline for the design and fabrication of organic materials and devices.

Benefiting from the development of molecular electronics and molecular plasmonics, the interplay of light and electronic transport in molecular junctions has attracted growing interest among researchers in both fields, leading to a new research direction of “single-molecule optoelectronics”. Here, we review the latest developments of photo-modulated charge transport, electroluminescence and Raman spectroscopy from single-molecule junctions, and suggest future directions for single-molecule optoelectronics.

We report on a reverse microemulsion method for the synthesis of silver nanocrystals and examine their antibacterial activities. As the molar ratio of water to sodium bis(2-ethylhexyl) sulfosuccinate (AOT) increases to 25, a morphology transition from a sphere-like nanocrystal to a wire-like one was observed. For both the gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria, the wire-like silver nanocrystal showed higher antibacterial activities. We conclude that the morphology of silver nanocrystals dominates their antibacterial activity.

Neutrophils are essential in combating invading pathogens such as

Mycoplasma pneumoniae (M. pneumoniae) is a significant pathogen causing community-acquired pneumonia in children aged 5 years and older. While numerous studies have demonstrated that M. pneumoniae infection can impair lung function, the dynamic changes in lung function following M. pneumoniae infection remain poorly understood. This study aimed to observe the dynamic changes in lung function after M. pneumoniae infection in children. Children with M. pneumoniae infection and healthy volunteers were recruited from Nanjing Gaochun People’s Hospital between February 2022 and January 2023. The M. pneumoniae -infected children were followed up for one year, with lung function assessed at admission, discharge, and at the 4th, 8th, and 12th months post-discharge. M. pneumoniae infection was found to be associated with lung function, which gradually recovered over time. Several factors were found to be associated with lung function, including lymphocyte count, albumin, prealbumin, carbon dioxide levels, A/G ratio, triglycerides, and apolipoprotein B. M. pneumoniae infection is indeed associated with pulmonary function in children.

In response to the issues of low merging success rates and poor safety in the on-ramp merging scenario within autonomous driving, we propose an on-ramp merging model for unmanned vehicles based on the Multi-Agent Proximal Policy Optimization (MAPPO) algorithm. Firstly, we introduce an Action-Mask (AM) to prevent the sampling of invalid actions during merging, thus enhancing safety by ensuring only valid actions are considered. Secondly, we incorporate noise advantage values to encourage unmanned vehicles to thoroughly explore the environment and avoid being trapped in local optimal solutions. Experimental results demonstrate that the AM-MAPPO algorithm model improves both safety and traffic efficiency.

Most solid tumors are not diagnosed and treated until the advanced stage, in which tumors have shaped mature self-protective power, leading to off-target drugs and nanomedicines. In the present studies, we established a more realistic large tumor model to test the antitumor activity of a multifunctional ginsenoside Rh2-based liposome system (Rh2-lipo) on advanced breast cancer. Both cholesterol and PEG were substituted by Rh2 to prepare the Rh2-lipo using ethanol-water system and characterized. The effects of Rh2-lipo on cell uptake, penetration of the tumor spheroid, cytotoxicity assay was investigated with 4T1 breast cancer cells and L929 fibroblast cells. The 4T1 orthotopic-bearing large tumor model was established to study the targeting effect of Rh2-lipo and inhibitory effect of paclitaxel loaded Rh2-lipo (PTX-Rh2-lipo) on advanced breast tumors. Rh2-lipo exhibit many advantages that address the limitations of current liposome formulations against large tumors, such as enhanced uptake in TAFs and tumor cells, high targeting and penetration capacity, cytotoxicity against TAFs, normalization of the vessel network, and depletion of stromal collagen. In in vivo study, PTX-Rh2-lipo effectively inhibiting the growth of advanced breast tumors and outperformed most reported PTX formulations, including Lipusu and Abraxane . Rh2-lipo have improved drug delivery efficiency and antitumor efficacy in advanced breast cancer, which offers a novel promising platform for advanced tumor therapy.

Aqueous zinc (Zn)-ion batteries (AZIBs) present safe and environmentally friendly features thereby emerging as an attractive energy storage device. The V 2 O 5 -based cathodes are promising because of their high theoretical capacity and energy density. However, insufficient interlayer distance, easy dissolution and structural collapse due to irreversible crystalline phase transition limit the development of V 2 O 5 cathodes in AZIBs. Herein, doubly modified V 2 O 5 -based cathode which was in-situ intercalated by polyaniline (PANI) and composited with MXene (Ti 3 C 2 T x ) (denoted PVM) were synthesized by one-step method for the first time. The in situ intercalation of PANI provides a channel for the rapid diffusion of Zn 2+ and the heterogeneous structures effectively promote charge transfer and enable structural integrity of cathode during cycling. Meanwhile, the conductivity of PVM electrode is greatly improved. Specifically, the PVM electrode shows a superior rate performance of 82 mAh·g −1 after 2000 cycles at 10 A·g −1 . And it shows high pseudocapacitance behavior (80.23% capacitor contribution ratio at 0.1 mV·s −1 ). A novel method of intercalation composite modification for the cathode is proposed, which provides fundamental guidance for the development of high-performance cathodes for AZIBs.