Highly Utilized Active Sites on Pt@Cu/C for Ethanol Electrocatalytic Oxidation in Alkali Metal Hydroxide Solutions

Using ethanol electrocatalytic oxidation reaction (EOR) with a lower reaction potential to replace oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and integrating hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) have a promising development prospect for more energy-saving electrolytic hydrogen production. However, the main challenges of EOR are insufficient catalytic activity, high overpotential, and slow kinetics. Active sites on the electrocatalysts surface are occupied by alkali metal ion hydrate clusters by noncovalent interactions, which is considered to be one of the major causes of these challenges. To reduce the effect of the noncovalent interactions on the catalytic activity of the electrocatalyst, copper is chosen and doped in the form of a single atom in the electrocatalyst (Pt@Cu/C) to increase the electrocatalyst conductivity and make the anode contain more positive charge in this study. Then, alkali metal ion hydrate clusters are difficult to adsorb at the active site of Pt@Cu/C. The EOR electrocatalytic activity of Pt@Cu/C is up to 8184 mA mg_Pt⁻¹, which is ≈4.8 times as high as that of Pt/C. The two-electrode hydrogen production device using Pt@Cu/C as anode for coupled EOR&HER requires a smaller voltage of 0.60 V to reach 10 mA cm⁻² compared with that of Pt/C (0.76 V).     

The hydromorphology index IHM based on fish requirements

Stream ecosystems are diverse and dynamic habitats that are strongly influenced by the direct and indirect consequences of human interventions. Several initiatives have been started all over Europe to satisfy the European guidelines for the protection of local water bodies, but a standardised procedure across national borders fulfilling all relevant aspects and parameters of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) does not exist. In this context, we propose a new methodical approach based on salmonid fish populations to assess stream quality to increase the comparability of individual assessments due to standardized survey and evaluation methods for hydromorphology. Our approach is based on the Austrian and Italian methods, which account for the European standards, and it has been tested in 81 stream sections representative of different site and anthropogenic use conditions in the European Alps. The assessment procedure is composed of a set of 11 indicators, which were selected to evaluate longitudinal and lateral morphological and temporal dynamics of morphological and hydrological conditions. The indicators were combined into three indices, the morphology (I_M), hydrology (I_H), and hydromorphology indices (I_HM), to obtain a holistic picture with as few parameters as possible. The definition of indicators and indices, their methodical implementation and practical testing in the field, were carried out by an interdisciplinary team of international experts. The resulting and tested field manual is included with this publication as Supplementary material. The applicability, strengths, and weaknesses of the approach are discussed in the present paper.     

Nanoparticles Targeted to Fibroblast Activation Protein Outperform PSMA for MRI Delineation of Primary Prostate Tumors

Accurate delineation of gross tumor volumes remains a barrier to radiotherapy dose escalation and boost dosing in the treatment of solid tumors, such as prostate cancer. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of tumor targets has the power to enable focal dose boosting, particularly when combined with technological advances such as MRI-linear accelerator. Fibroblast activation protein (FAP) is overexpressed in stromal components of >90% of epithelial carcinomas. Herein, the authors compare targeted MRI of prostate specific membrane antigen (PSMA) with FAP in the delineation of orthotopic prostate tumors. Control, FAP, and PSMA-targeting iron oxide nanoparticles were prepared with modification of a lymphotropic MRI agent (FerroTrace, Ferronova). Mice with orthotopic LNCaP tumors underwent MRI 24 h after intravenous injection of nanoparticles. FAP and PSMA nanoparticles produced contrast enhancement on MRI when compared to control nanoparticles. FAP-targeted MRI increased the proportion of tumor contrast-enhancing black pixels by 13%, compared to PSMA. Analysis of changes in R2 values between healthy prostates and LNCaP tumors indicated an increase in contrast-enhancing pixels in the tumor border of 15% when targeting FAP, compared to PSMA. This study demonstrates the preclinical feasibility of PSMA and FAP-targeted MRI which can enable targeted image-guided focal therapy of localized prostate cancer.     

Paste Development for an Optimized Filament Stretching Effect during Parallel Dispensing on Transparent Conductive Oxide Layers for Solar Cell Metallization

The availability of silver as an electrically conductive filler material in printing pastes for solar cell metallization is becoming a more crucial issue for multiterawatt-scale production due to its global constraints. Therefore, the silver consumption for solar cell production needs to be reduced drastically by substituting silver with alternative conductive filler materials or utilizing process-specific phenomena. The phenomenon of filament stretching during microextrusion allows significantly lower paste laydowns. The magnitude of filament stretching is paste-dependent and therefore further knowledge of the pastes’ impact to the filament stretching is required. This study presents nine low-temperature curing pastes differing in the particle system and binder resin. The rheological and thermal behavior of these suspensions are investigated and printing tests onto silicon heterojunction (SHJ) precursors are carried out. Additionally, scanning electron microscopy (SEM)-based microstructure analyses of printed electrodes are performed. Based on these experimental results, the impact of paste compositions regarding the paste behavior during microextrusion and the SHJ solar cell performances are analyzed. The developed paste formulations exhibit a strong filament stretching, leading to a reduced silver laydown of down to Δm_Ag = −60%_rel. and an absolute efficiency gain of up to Δη = +0.75%_abs. due to less shading losses.     

The Cyanobacterial “Nutraceutical” Phycocyanobilin Inhibits Cysteine Protease Legumain

The blue biliprotein phycocyanin, produced by photo-autotrophic cyanobacteria including spirulina (Arthrospira) and marketed as a natural food supplement or “nutraceutical,” is reported to have anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, immunomodulatory, and anticancer activity. These diverse biological activities have been specifically attributed to the phycocyanin chromophore, phycocyanobilin (PCB). However, the mechanism of action of PCB and the molecular targets responsible for the beneficial properties of PCB are not well understood. We have developed a procedure to rapidly cleave the PCB pigment from phycocyanin by ethanolysis and then characterized it as an electrophilic natural product that interacts covalently with thiol nucleophiles but lacks any appreciable cytotoxicity or antibacterial activity against common pathogens and gut microbes. We then designed alkyne-bearing PCB probes for use in chemical proteomics target deconvolution studies. Target identification and validation revealed the cysteine protease legumain (also known as asparaginyl endopeptidase, AEP) to be a target of PCB. Inhibition of this target may account for PCB's diverse reported biological activities.