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Most tough hydrogels are reinforced by introducing energy dissipation mechanisms, but simultaneously realizing a high toughness and low hysteresis is challenging because the energy dissipation structure cannot recover rapidly. In this work, high mechanical performance highly entangled double network hydrogels without energy dissipation structure are fabricated, in which physical entanglements act as the primary effective crosslinking in the first network. This sliding entanglement structure allows the hydrogel network to form a highly uniform oriented structure during stretching, resulting in a high tensile strength of ~3 MPa, a fracture energy of 8340 J m −2 and a strain-stiffening capability of 47.5 in 90% water content. Moreover, almost 100% reversibility is obtained in this hydrogel via energy storage based on entropy loss. The highly entangled double network structure not only overcomes the typical trade-off between the high toughness and low hysteresis of hydrogels, but more importantly, it provides an insight into the application of entanglement structures in high-performance hydrogels. Tough hydrogels commonly utilise energy dissipation mechanisms, but this can lead to challenges in achieving low hysteresis. Here, the authors report a hydrogel with a highly entangled double network that allows reversibility following stretching.

In the context of continuously increasing anthropogenic nitrogen inputs, knowledge of how ammonia oxidation (AO) in the ocean responds to warming is crucial to predicting future changes in marine nitrogen biogeochemistry. Here, we show divergent thermal response patterns for marine AO across a wide onshore/offshore trophic gradient. We find ammonia oxidizer community and ambient substrate co-regulate optimum temperatures (T opt ), generating distinct thermal response patterns with T opt varying from ≤14 °C to ≥34 °C. Substrate addition elevates T opt when ambient substrate is unsaturated. The thermal sensitivity of kinetic parameters allows us to predict responses of both AO rate and T opt at varying substrate and temperature below the critical temperature. A warming ocean promotes nearshore AO, while suppressing offshore AO. Our findings reconcile field inconsistencies of temperature effects on AO, suggesting that predictive biogeochemical models need to include such differential warming mechanisms on this key nitrogen cycle process. Microbial ammonia oxidation is important in marine nutrient cycling and greenhouse gas dynamics, but the responses to ocean warming are unclear. Here coast to open ocean incubations show that projected year 2100 temperatures might be too hot for these microbes in oligotrophic regions to handle, but may facilitate oxidation rates in coastal waters.

Among the multiple components of propolis, flavonoids contribute greatly to the antioxidant activities of propolis. Flavonoids mainly exist in the form of sugar-conjugated derivatives. Quercetin glycosides represent the predominant flavonoid fraction in propolis. In this work, density functional theory (DFT) calculations were applied to analyze the antioxidative properties of quercetin and its glucosides in the gas and in the liquid phase (ethanol, water). Three main antioxidant mechanisms, hydrogen atom transfer (HAT), single electron transfer followed by proton transfer (SET-PT) and sequential proton loss electron transfer (SPLET) were used to analyze the antioxidative capacity of the investigated compounds. Solvent effects dominantly affect SET-PT and SPLET. Thus, the thermodynamically preferred mechanism can be altered. HAT and SPLET are the thermodynamically dominant mechanisms in gas and solvent phases, respectively. Therefore, in the gas phase, the sequence of the antioxidative capacity is similar with the bond dissociation enthalpy values: quercetin > quercetin-5- O -glucoside > quercetin-7- O -glucoside > quercetin-3- O -glucoside > quercetin-3′- O -glucoside > quercetin-4′- O -glucoside. While, in the solvent phases, the sequence is similar with the proton affinity values: quercetin-4′- O -glucoside > quercetin-5- O -glucoside > quercetin > quercetin-3- O -glucoside > quercetin-7- O -glucoside > quercetin-3′- O -glucoside. OH groups in B-ring and C-ring contribute mainly to the antioxidative activities of quercetin and glucosides compared with A-ring.

Development of photothermal materials which are able to harness sunlight and convert it to thermal energy seems attractive. Besides carbon-based nanomaterials, conjugated polymers are emerging promising photothermal materials but their facile syntheses remain challenging. In this work, by modification of a CBT-Cys click condensation reaction and rational design of the starting materials, we facilely synthesize conjugated polymers poly-2-phenyl-benzobisthiazole (PPBBT) and its dihexyl derivative with good photothermal properties. Under the irradiation of either sunlight-mimicking Xe light or near-infrared laser, we verify that PPBBT has comparable photothermal heating-up speed to that of star material single-wall carbon nanotube. Moreover, PPBBT is used to fabricate water-soluble NP PPBBT nanoparticles which maintain excellent photothermal properties in vitro and photothermal therapy effect on the tumours exposed to laser irradiation. We envision that our synthetic method provides a facile approach to fabricate conjugated polymers for more promising applications in biomedicine or photovoltaics in the near future. Conjugated polymers are of interest for photothermal applications; however, synthesis of these polymers can be complex. Here, the authors report on a facile synthesis method that uses a modified CBT-Cys click reaction to make conjugated polymers and test these polymers for photothermal therapy applications.

High‐performance and air‐stable single‐molecule magnets (SMMs) can offer great convenience for the fabrication of information storage devices. However, the controversial requisition of high stability and magnetic axiality is hard to balance for lanthanide‐based SMMs. Here, a family of dysprosium(III) crown ether complexes possessing hexagonal‐bipyramidal (pseudo‐D6h symmetry) local coordination geometry with tunable air stability and effective energy barrier for magnetization reversal (Ueff) are shown. The three complexes share the common formula of [Dy(18‐C‐6)L2][I3] (18‐C‐6 = 1,4,7,10,13,16‐hexaoxacyclooctadecane; L = I, 1; L = OtBu 2 and L = 1‐AdO 3). 1 is highly unstable in the air. 2 can survive in the air for a few minutes, while 3 remains unchanged in the air for more than 1 week. This is roughly in accordance with the percentage of buried volumes of the axial ligands. More strikingly, 2 and 3 show progressive enhancement of Ueff and 3 exhibits a record high Ueff of 2427(19) K, which significantly contributes to the 100 s blocking temperature up to 11 K for Yttrium‐diluted sample, setting a new benchmark for solid‐state air‐stable SMMs. Two bis‐alkoxide Dy(III)‐18‐Crown‐6 single‐molecule magnets with local hexagonal‐bipyramidal coordination geometry have been isolated by using the triiodide precursor and show progressive enhancement of magnetic axiality and air stability. The adamantanol analog exhibits a record Ueff of 2427(19) K and the TB100s of 11 K, setting a new benchmark for solid‐state air‐stable SMMs.

Understanding quantum tunnelling of the magnetisation (QTM) in single-molecule magnets (SMMs) is crucial for improving performance and achieving molecule-based information storage above liquid nitrogen temperatures. Here, through a field- and temperature-dependent study of the magnetisation dynamics of [Dy( t BuO)Cl(THF) 5 ][BPh 4 ]·2THF, we elucidate the different relaxation processes: field-independent Orbach and Raman mechanisms dominate at high temperatures, a single-phonon direct process dominates at low temperatures and fields >1 kOe, and a field- and temperature-dependent QTM process operates near zero field. Accounting for the exponential temperature dependence of the phonon collision rate in the QTM process, we model the magnetisation dynamics over 11 orders of magnitude and find a QTM tunnelling gap on the order of 10 −4 to 10 −5  cm −1 . We show that removal of Dy nuclear spins does not suppress QTM, and argue that while internal dipolar fields and hyperfine coupling support QTM, it is the dynamic crystal field that drives efficient QTM. Understanding quantum tunnelling of the magnetisation in single-molecule magnets is crucial for their potential application in information storage. Here the authors conduct a field- and temperature-dependent study of the magnetisation dynamics of a dysprosium-based SMM, finding four distinct relaxation processes that dominate in different regimes.

SARS-CoV-2 induced marked lymphopenia in severe patients with COVID-19. However, whether lymphocytes are targets of viral infection is yet to be determined, although SARS-CoV-2 RNA or antigen has been identified in T cells from patients. Here, we confirmed that SARS-CoV-2 viral antigen could be detected in patient peripheral blood cells (PBCs) or postmortem lung T cells, and the infectious virus could also be detected from viral antigen-positive PBCs. We next prove that SARS-CoV-2 infects T lymphocytes, preferably activated CD4 + T cells in vitro. Upon infection, viral RNA, subgenomic RNA, viral protein or viral particle can be detected in the T cells. Furthermore, we show that the infection is spike-ACE2/TMPRSS2-independent through using ACE2 knockdown or receptor blocking experiments. Next, we demonstrate that viral antigen-positive T cells from patient undergone pronounced apoptosis. In vitro infection of T cells induced cell death that is likely in mitochondria ROS-HIF-1a-dependent pathways. Finally, we demonstrated that LFA-1, the protein exclusively expresses in multiple leukocytes, is more likely the entry molecule that mediated SARS-CoV-2 infection in T cells, compared to a list of other known receptors. Collectively, this work confirmed a SARS-CoV-2 infection of T cells, in a spike-ACE2-independent manner, which shed novel insights into the underlying mechanisms of SARS-CoV-2-induced lymphopenia in COVID-19 patients.

We investigated the nucleation and grain growth of graphene grown on Cu through radio frequency plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (RF-PECVD) at different temperatures. A reasonable shielding method for the placement of copper was employed to achieve graphene by RF-PECVD. The nucleation and growth of graphene grains during PECVD were strongly temperature dependent. A high growth temperature facilitated the growth of polycrystalline graphene grains with a large size (~ 2 μm), whereas low temperature induced the formation of nanocrystalline grains. At a moderate temperature (790 to 850 °C), both nanocrystalline and micron-scale polycrystalline graphene grew simultaneously on Cu within 60 s with 50 W RF plasma power. As the growth time increased, the large graphene grains preferentially nucleated and grew rapidly, followed by the nucleation and growth of nanograins. There was competition between the growth of the two grain sizes. In addition, a model of graphene nucleation and grain growth during PECVD at different temperatures was established.

We present a sample of Lyα emitters (LAEs) at z ≈ 6.6 from our spectroscopic survey of high-redshift galaxies using the multi-object spectrograph M2FS on the Magellan Clay telescope. The sample consists of 36 LAEs selected by the narrowband (NB921) technique over nearly 2 deg2 in the sky. These galaxies generally have high Lyα luminosities spanning a range of ∼3 × 1042–7 × 1043 erg s−1, and include some of the most Lyα-luminous galaxies known at this redshift. They show a positive correlation between the Lyα line width and Lyα luminosity, similar to the relation previously found in z ≈ 5.7 LAEs. Based on the spectroscopic sample, we calculate a sophisticated sample completeness correction and derive the Lyα luminosity function (LF) at z ≈ 6.6. We detect a density bump at the bright end of the Lyα LF that is significantly above the best-fit Schechter function, suggesting that very luminous galaxies tend to reside in overdense regions that have formed large ionized bubbles around them. By comparing with the z ≈ 5.7 Lyα LF, we confirm that there is a rapid LF evolution at the faint end, but a lack of evolution at the bright end. The fraction of the neutral hydrogen in the intergalactic medium at z ≈ 6.6 estimated from such an evolution is about 0.3 ± 0.1, supporting a rapid and rather late process of cosmic reionization.

The S100 calcium-binding protein beta subunit (S100B) protein, which mostly exists in the central nervous system, is commonly noted as a marker of neuronal damage. We conducted the first systematic review with meta-analysis to compare peripheral blood S100B levels in individuals with ASD with those in healthy controls. A systematic search was carried out for studies published before May 5, 2020. In total, this meta-analysis involved ten studies with 822 participants and 451 cases. The meta-analysis revealed that individuals with ASD had higher peripheral blood S100B levels than healthy controls [standardized mean difference (SMD) = 0.97, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) = 0.41–1.53; p  < 0.001]. Peripheral blood S100B levels may have potential as a useful biomarker for ASD.