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Background Enzyme therapy based on differential metabolism of cancer cells has demonstrated promising potential as a treatment strategy. Nevertheless, the therapeutic benefit of reported enzyme drugs is compromised by their uncontrollable activity and weak stability. Additionally, thermozymes with high thermal-stability suffer from low catalytic activity at body temperature, preventing them from functioning independently. Results Herein, we have developed a novel thermo-enzymatic regulation strategy for near-infrared (NIR)-triggered precise-catalyzed photothermal treatment of breast cancer. Our strategy enables efficient loading and delivery of thermozymes (newly screened therapeutic enzymes from thermophilic bacteria) via hyaluronic acid (HA)-coupled gold nanorods (GNRs). These nanocatalysts exhibit enhanced cellular endocytosis and rapid enzyme activity enhancement, while also providing biosafety with minimized toxic effects on untargeted sites due to temperature-isolated thermozyme activity. Locally-focused NIR lasers ensure effective activation of thermozymes to promote on-demand amino acid deprivation and photothermal therapy (PTT) of superficial tumors, triggering apoptosis, G1 phase cell cycle arrest, inhibiting migration and invasion, and potentiating photothermal sensitivity of malignancies. Conclusions This work establishes a precise, remotely controlled, non-invasive, efficient, and biosafe nanoplatform for accurate enzyme therapy, providing a rationale for promising personalized therapeutic strategies and offering new prospects for high-precision development of enzyme drugs. Graphical Abstract

Dissolved oxygen and pH are critical factors influencing cell growth and metabolism. In our previous work, we constructed the recombinant strain Mortierella alpina CCFM698, which has the ability to produce EPA at room temperature. However, our experiments showed that the dissolved oxygen produced by the aeration and agitation of the fermenter was insufficient for cell growth and EPA synthesis by this recombinant strain. Moreover, the optimum pH for cell growth was incompatible with that of EPA accumulation. This study introduced a combined strategy of two-stage pH control with oxygen-enriched air in fed-batch fermentation to facilitate both cell growth and EPA production in M. alpina CCFM698. After 10 days of fermentation in a 7.5 L tank, the biomass production reached 41.2 g/L, with a lipid content of 31.5%, and EPA accounting for 26.7% of total lipids. The final EPA production reached 3.47 g/L, which is the highest yet achieved by M. alpina. This study reveals the critical role of dissolved oxygen and pH control for EPA production of M. alpina, and provides an easy and efficient strategy for industrial production of EPA.

Artificial photosynthesis of H 2 O 2 from H 2 O and O 2 , as a spotless method, has aroused widespread interest. Up to date, most photocatalysts still suffer from serious salt-deactivated effects with huge consumption of photogenerated charges, which severely limit their wide application. Herein, by using a phenolic condensation approach, carbon dots, organic dye molecule procyanidins and 4-methoxybenzaldehyde are composed into a metal-free photocatalyst for the photosynthetic production of H 2 O 2 in seawater. This catalyst exhibits high photocatalytic ability to produce H 2 O 2 with the yield of 1776 μmol g −1 h −1 ( λ  ≥ 420 nm; 34.8 mW cm −2 ) in real seawater, about 4.8 times higher than the pure polymer. Combining with in-situ photoelectrochemical and transient photovoltage analysis, the active site and the catalytic mechanism of this composite catalyst in seawater are also clearly clarified. This work opens up an avenue for a highly efficient and practical, available catalyst for H 2 O 2 photoproduction in real seawater. It is a challenge to produce hydrogen peroxide in seawater by photocatalysis. Here, the authors design and synthesize a metal-free photocatalyst based on carbon dots with a salt-protective electron sink effect, which exhibits enhanced hydrogen peroxide photoproduction in real seawater.

Exploring new materials is essential in the field of material science. Especially, searching for optimal materials with utmost atomic utilization, ideal activities and desirable stability for catalytic applications requires smart design of materials’ structures. Herein, we report iridium metallene oxide: 1 T phase-iridium dioxide (IrO 2 ) by a synthetic strategy combining mechanochemistry and thermal treatment in a strong alkaline medium. This material demonstrates high activity for oxygen evolution reaction with a low overpotential of 197 millivolt in acidic electrolyte at 10 milliamperes per geometric square centimeter (mA cm geo −2 ). Together, it achieves high turnover frequencies of 4.2 s UPD −1 (3.0 s BET −1 ) at 1.50 V vs. reversible hydrogen electrode. Furthermore, 1T-IrO 2 also shows little degradation after 126 hours chronopotentiometry measurement under the high current density of 250 mA cm geo −2 in proton exchange membrane device. Theoretical calculations reveal that the active site of Ir in 1T-IrO 2 provides an optimal free energy uphill in *OH formation, leading to the enhanced performance. The discovery of this 1T-metallene oxide material will provide new opportunities for catalysis and other applications. Identifying new, active material phases provides a promising avenue in the development of efficient catalysts. Here, authors demonstrate a metastable 1T-phase IrO 2 metallene oxide as an oxygen evolution electrocatalyst in acidic electrolytes.

The oxygen evolution reactions in acid play an important role in multiple energy storage devices. The practical promising Ru-Ir based catalysts need both the stable high oxidation state of the Ru centers and the high stability of these Ru species. Here, we report stable and oxidative charged Ru in two-dimensional ruthenium-iridium oxide enhances the activity. The Ru 0.5 Ir 0.5 O 2 catalyst shows high activity in acid with a low overpotential of 151 mV at 10 mA cm −2 , a high turnover frequency of 6.84 s −1 at 1.44 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode and good stability (618.3 h operation). Ru 0.5 Ir 0.5 O 2 catalysts can form more Ru active sites with high oxidation states at lower applied voltages after Ir incorporation, which is confirmed by the pulse voltage induced current method. Also, The X-ray absorption spectroscopy data shows that the Ru-O-Ir local structure in two-dimensional Ru 0.5 Ir 0.5 O 2 solid solution improved the stability of these Ru centers. Stabilizing high oxidation state of Ru centers is important to achieve stable performance for acidic oxygen evolution reaction. Here the authors report two-dimensional ruthenium-iridium oxide for enhanced stability and activity for acidic water oxidation in proton exchange membrane electrolyzer.

Photocatalytic hydrogen production by overall water solar-splitting is a prospective strategy to solve energy crisis. However, the rapid recombination of photogenerated electron-hole pairs deeply restricts photocatalytic activity of catalysts. Here, the in-situ transient photovoltage (TPV) technique was developed to investigate the interfacial photogenerated carrier extraction, photogenerated carrier recombination and the interfacial electron delivery kinetics of the photocatalyst. The carbon dots/NiCo 2 O 4 (CDs/NiCo 2 O 4 ) composite shows weakened recombination rate of photogenerated carriers due to charge storage of CDs, which enhances the photocatalytic water decomposition activity without any scavenger. CDs can accelerate the interface electron extraction about 0.09 ms, while the maximum electron storage time by CDs is up to 0.7 ms. The optimal CDs/NiCo 2 O 4 composite (5 wt.% CDs) displays the hydrogen production of 62 µmol·h −1 g −1 and oxygen production of 29 µmol·h −1 g −1 at normal atmosphere, which is about 4 times greater than that of pristine NiCo 2 O 4 . This work provides sufficient evidence on the charge storage of CDs and the interfacial charge kinetics of photocatalysts on the basis of in-situ TPV tests.

The energy crisis has always been a widely concerned problem. It is an urgent need for green and renewable energy technologies to achieve sustainable development, and the photo-assisted charging energy storage devices provide a new way to realize the sustainable utilization of solar energy. Here, we fabricated a photo-assisted charging fibrous supercapacitor (NM 2 P 1 ) with Ti 3 C 2 T x -based hybrid fibre modified by nitrogen-doped carbon dots (NCDs). The NM 2 P 1 fibre provides a volumetric capacitance of 1,445 F·cm −3 (630 F·g −1 ) at 10 A·cm −3 under photo-assisted charging, which increases by 35.9% than that of dark condition (1,063 F·cm −3 /464 F·g −1 ). Furthermore, the NM 2 P 1 fibrous supercapacitor device shows that the maximum volumetric energy density and volumetric power density are 18.75 mWh·cm −3 and 8,382 mW·cm −3 . Notably, the transient photovoltage (TPV) test was used to further confirm that NCDs as a photosensitizer enhance the light absorption capacity and faster charge transfer kinetics of NM 2 P 1 fibre. This work directly exploits solar energy to improve the overall performance of supercapacitor, which opens up opportunities for the utilization of renewable energy and the development of photosensitive energy equipment.

The efficacy of tuina in treating chronic ankle instability (CAI) arouses controversy. Therefore, the present study adopted the meta-analysis to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of tuina in treating CAI and aims to provide high-quality evidence for this promising treatment. We searched eight databases from inception to April 1st, 2024 for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of tuina treatment for CAI, including PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, Cochrane Library, Wanfang database, China National Knowledge Infrastructure database, and VIP Chinese Science and Technique Journals database. Information was independently extracted and bias risks were evaluated by two researchers. To assess the quality of the studies, we utilized Cochrane Collaboration's tool and the GRADE evaluation system. Meta-analysis was performed using the RevMan5.4 software. Thirteen RCTs involving 984 patients were included in this study. The overall methodological quality of the studies was low. The meta-analysis revealed the followings: (1) the clinical effective rate was higher in the treatment group compared to the control group (OR = 6.51, 95% CI [3.76, 11.28]); (2) the treatment group performed better in reducing the Visual Analogue Scale score (MD = -1.59, 95% CI [-2.59, -0.59]); (3) the Baird-Jackson Ankle Score was superior in the treatment group (MD = 8.20, 95% CI [6.37, 10.04]); (4) the improvement in the AOFAS Ankle Hindfoot Scale was greater in the treatment group (MD = 14.52, 95% CI [9.81, 19.23]). All differences were statistically significant. Regarding adverse events, there were no significant differences in incidence rates between the groups. Tuina is an effective and safe treatment option for CAI, the conclusions are limited by the methodological quality of the included trials. Further high-quality research is needed to confirm these findings and guide clinical practice.

Designing well-ordered nanocrystal arrays with subnanometre distances can provide promising materials for future nanoscale applications. However, the fabrication of aligned arrays with controllable accuracy in the subnanometre range with conventional lithography, template or self-assembly strategies faces many challenges. Here, we report a two-dimensional layered metastable oxide, trigonal phase rhodium oxide (space group, P-3m1 (164)), which provides a platform from which to construct well-ordered face-centred cubic rhodium nanocrystal arrays in a hexagonal pattern with an intersurface distance of only 0.5 nm. The coupling of the well-ordered rhodium array and metastable substrate in this catalyst triggers and improves hydrogen spillover, enhancing the acidic hydrogen evolution for H 2 production, which is essential for various clean energy-related devices. The catalyst achieves a low overpotential of only 9.8 mV at a current density of −10 mA cm − 2 , a low Tafel slope of 24.0 mV dec − 1 , and high stability under a high potential (vs. RHE) of −0.4 V (current density of ~750 mA cm − 2 ). This work highlights the important role of metastable materials in the design of advanced materials to achieve high-performance catalysis. The construction of well-ordered nanoarrays, particularly invoking metastable material phases, remains a challenge. Here, authors prepared a well-ordered, rhodium nanoarray on two-dimensional, metastable rhodium oxide to enhance hydrogen evolution electrocatalysis.

Highly efficient photo-assisted electrocatalysis for methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) realizes the conversion of solar and chemical energy into electric energy simultaneously. Here we report a Pt-MXene-TiO 2 composite for highly efficient MOR via a photoactive cascaded electro-catalytic process. With light (UV and visible light) irradiation, MXene-TiO 2 serves as the photo active centre (photoinduced hole) to activate the methanol molecules, while Pt particles are the active centre for the following electro-catalytic oxidation of those activated methanol molecules. Pt-MXene-TiO 2 catalyst exhibits a lower onset potential (0.33 V) and an impressive mass activity of 2,750.42 mA·mg −1 Pt under light illumination. It represents the highest MOR activity ever reported for photo-assisted electrocatalysts. Pt-MXene-TiO 2 also shows excellent CO tolerance ability and stability, in which, after long-term (5,000 s) reaction, still keeps a high mass activity of 1,269.81 mA·mg −1 Pt (62.66% of its initial activity). The photo-electro-catalytic system proposed in this work offers novel opportunities for exploiting photo-assisted enhancement of highly efficient and stable catalysts for MOR.