Shandong Normal University

About: Shandong Normal University is a education organization based out in Jinan, Shandong, China. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Laser & Catalysis. The organization has 12378 authors who have published 12576 publications receiving 174572 citations.

Enhancing Electrocatalytic N2 Reduction to NH3 by CeO2 Nanorod with Oxygen Vacancies

Abstract: As a sustainable and environmentally friendly route, electrochemical N2 reduction has been expected to replace the traditional N2 fixation process of Haber–Bosch, which is energy-consuming and capital-intensive. In this work, we demonstrate that CeO2 nanorod with oxygen vacancies achieves a great enhancement for NRR with excellent selectivity and stability. Such electrocatalyst delivers NH3 yield of 16.4 μg h–1 mg–1cat. at −0.5 V vs reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE) and Faradaic efficiency of 3.7% at −0.4 V vs RHE using aqueous 0.1 M Na2SO4 electrolyte, higher than that of pristine CeO2 counterpart (5.4 μg h–1 mg–1cat.; 2.1%).

Integration of isothermal amplification with quantum dot-based fluorescence resonance energy transfer for simultaneous detection of multiple microRNAs.

Abstract: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs that regulate important physiological processes, and their dysregulation is associated with various human diseases. Simultaneous sensitive detection of multiple miRNAs may facilitate early clinical diagnosis. In this research, we demonstrate for the first time the integration of hyperbranched rolling circle amplification (HRCA) with quantum dot (QD)-based fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) for the simultaneous detection of multiple microRNAs with a single-color QD as the donor and two fluorescent dyes as the acceptors. We used miR-21 and miR-221 as target miRNAs. We designed two circular templates which may specifically hybridize with miR-21 and miR-221, respectively, for the initiation of the HRCA reaction. The products of the HRCA reaction may hybridize with both capture probes and reporter probes to form the biotinylated acceptor-labeled sandwich hybrids. The resultant sandwich hybrids can assemble on the surface of the QD, enabling efficient FRET between the QD and the acceptors, with the Cy3 signal indicating the presence of miR-21 and the Texas Red signal indicating the presence of miR-221. This assay has significant advantages of simplicity and low cost. The HRCA reaction can be performed under isothermal conditions with the same reverse primer for different target miRNAs, and the products of the HRCA reaction for both miR-21 and miR-221 can specifically hybridize with the same capture probes. This assay exhibits excellent specificity and high sensitivity with a detection limit of 7.2 × 10-16 M for miR-21 and 1.6 × 10-17 M for miR-221, and it can be used for simultaneous detection of multiple miRNAs in human cancer cells, holding great potential in biomedical research and clinical diagnosis.

Salt-induced photoinhibition of PSII is alleviated in halophyte Thellungiella halophila by increases of unsaturated fatty acids in membrane lipids

Abstract: The effect of salinity on plant growth, chlorophyll content, photosynthetic parameters, photochemical efficiency of PSII, membrane lipid content and fatty-acid composition of halophyte Thellungiella halophila and glycophyte Arabidopsis thaliana was investigated to examine the possible role of unsaturated fatty acids in photosynthesis under saline conditions. The growth of Arabidopsis was significantly decreased by the 100 and 200 mM NaCl treatments; however, there was no significant difference in the fresh and dry weight of Thellungiella at different concentrations of NaCl. Exposure of Arabidopsis to salt resulted in a progressive decline in chlorophyll content, while there was no significant change in that of Thellungiella. The net photosynthetic rate, maximal photochemical efficiency of PSII (F v/F m) and actual PSII efficiency were significantly reduced in Arabidopsis but remained unaffected in Thellungiella. Arabidopsis under NaCl treatment showed decreased PG levels and decreased values for the unsaturated fatty acid content and the double bond index (DBI) of monogalactosyldiacylglycerols and phosphatidylglycerols; these values significantly increased in Thellungiella under NaCl treatment, as did the DBI values of digalactosyldiacylglycerols and sulphoquinovosyldiacylglycerols. These results suggest that Thellungiella under salt stress displays high resistance to photoinhibition and that increased concentrations of unsaturated fatty acids in membrane lipids enhances the tolerance of photosystem II to salt stress.