Xiamen University

About: Xiamen University is a education organization based out in Amoy, Fujian, China. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Catalysis & Population. The organization has 50472 authors who have published 54480 publications receiving 1058239 citations. The organization is also known as: Amoy University & Xiàmén Dàxué.

Plasma membrane changes during programmed cell deaths

Abstract: Ruptured and intact plasma membranes are classically considered as hallmarks of necrotic and apoptotic cell death, respectively. As such, apoptosis is usually considered a non-inflammatory process while necrosis triggers inflammation. Recent studies on necroptosis and pyroptosis, two types of programmed necrosis, revealed that plasma membrane rupture is mediated by MLKL channels during necroptosis but depends on non-selective gasdermin D (GSDMD) pores during pyroptosis. Importantly, the morphology of dying cells executed by MLKL channels can be distinguished from that executed by GSDMD pores. Interestingly, it was found recently that secondary necrosis of apoptotic cells, a previously believed non-regulated form of cell lysis that occurs after apoptosis, can be programmed and executed by plasma membrane pore formation like that of pyroptosis. In addition, pyroptosis is associated with pyroptotic bodies, which have some similarities to apoptotic bodies. Therefore, different cell death programs induce distinctive reshuffling processes of the plasma membrane. Given the fact that the nature of released intracellular contents plays a crucial role in dying/dead cell-induced immunogenicity, not only membrane rupture or integrity but also the nature of plasma membrane breakdown would determine the fate of a cell as well as its ability to elicit an immune response. In this review, we will discuss recent advances in the field of apoptosis, necroptosis and pyroptosis, with an emphasis on the mechanisms underlying plasma membrane changes observed on dying cells and their implication in cell death-elicited immunogenicity.

Molecular Communication and Networking: Opportunities and Challenges

Abstract: The ability of engineered biological nanomachines to communicate with biological systems at the molecular level is anticipated to enable future applications such as monitoring the condition of a human body, regenerating biological tissues and organs, and interfacing artificial devices with neural systems From the viewpoint of communication theory and engineering, molecular communication is proposed as a new paradigm for engineered biological nanomachines to communicate with the natural biological nanomachines which form a biological system Distinct from the current telecommunication paradigm, molecular communication uses molecules as the carriers of information; sender biological nanomachines encode information on molecules and release the molecules in the environment, the molecules then propagate in the environment to receiver biological nanomachines, and the receiver biological nanomachines biochemically react with the molecules to decode information Current molecular communication research is limited to small-scale networks of several biological nanomachines Key challenges to bridge the gap between current research and practical applications include developing robust and scalable techniques to create a functional network from a large number of biological nanomachines Developing networking mechanisms and communication protocols is anticipated to introduce new avenues into integrating engineered and natural biological nanomachines into a single networked system In this paper, we present the state-of-the-art in the area of molecular communication by discussing its architecture, features, applications, design, engineering, and physical modeling We then discuss challenges and opportunities in developing networking mechanisms and communication protocols to create a network from a large number of bio-nanomachines for future applications

Atomic-level insight into super-efficient electrocatalytic oxygen evolution on iron and vanadium co-doped nickel (oxy)hydroxide.

Abstract: It is of great importance to understand the origin of high oxygen-evolving activity of state-of-the-art multimetal oxides/(oxy)hydroxides at atomic level. Herein we report an evident improvement of oxygen evolution reaction activity via incorporating iron and vanadium into nickel hydroxide lattices. X-ray photoelectron/absorption spectroscopies reveal the synergistic interaction between iron/vanadium dopants and nickel in the host matrix, which subtly modulates local coordination environments and electronic structures of the iron/vanadium/nickel cations. Further, in-situ X-ray absorption spectroscopic analyses manifest contraction of metal-oxygen bond lengths in the activated catalyst, with a short vanadium-oxygen bond distance. Density functional theory calculations indicate that the vanadium site of the iron/vanadium co-doped nickel (oxy)hydroxide gives near-optimal binding energies of oxygen evolution reaction intermediates and has lower overpotential compared with nickel and iron sites. These findings suggest that the doped vanadium with distorted geometric and disturbed electronic structures makes crucial contribution to high activity of the trimetallic catalyst.

Novel visible-light-driven AgX/graphite-like C3N4 (X = Br, I) hybrid materials with synergistic photocatalytic activity

Abstract: Novel visible-light-driven AgX/g-C 3 N 4 (X = Br, I) hybrid materials were synthesized by the facile water bath method. The AgX/g-C 3 N 4 hybrid materials were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer (EDS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), UV–vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), photoluminescence (PL), Fourier transform infrared spectra (FTIR), Raman and the special surface area. The XRD, EDS, TEM, FTIR, Raman and XPS analyses indicated that AgX nanoparticles were evenly distributed on the surface of g-C 3 N 4 and the heterostructures were formed. The photocatalytic activity of the AgX/g-C 3 N 4 hybrid materials was evaluated using methyl orange as a target organic pollutant. The as-prepared AgX/g-C 3 N 4 hybrid materials displayed much higher photocatalytic activity than the pure g-C 3 N 4 and AgX nanoparticles. After the introduction of AgX nanoparticles, the photocurrent of the AgBr/g-C 3 N 4 and AgI/g-C 3 N 4 hybrid materials was found to increase by 21 and 8 times than that of the pure g-C 3 N 4 , respectively. The increased photocatalytic activity of the AgX/g-C 3 N 4 hybrid materials was attributed to the synergic effect between g-C 3 N 4 and AgX, which included the optical property, the better dispersion and the small size. A photocatalytic mechanism and the kinetics of AgX/g-C 3 N 4 hybrid materials were also proposed.

Graphene oxide–chitosan composite hydrogels as broad-spectrum adsorbents for water purification

Abstract: Water pollution is one of the most pervasive problems afflicting people throughout the world, while adsorption is the most widely used method to remove the contaminants from water. Here, in this paper, we report an eco-friendly graphene oxide–chitosan (GO–CS) hydrogel as a new type of adsorbent for water purification. The GO–CS hydrogels were prepared via self-assembly of GO sheets and CS chains. A three-dimensional network composed of GO sheets crosslinked by CS was found in GO–CS hydrogels. The GO–CS composite hydrogels showed high adsorption capacity towards different contaminants, including cationic and anionic dyes, as well as heavy metal ions. The mechanism of the dye adsorption was investigated with a spectral method, and an electrostatic interaction was found to be the major interaction between ionic dyes and the hydrogel. The influence of the hydrogel composition on the adsorption capacity towards different adsorbates was also studied. Finally, it was demonstrated that the GO–CS hydrogel can be used as column packing, to fabricate a column for water purification by filtration.