| 1. |
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| 2. |
- Beal, Jacob, et al.
(författare)
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Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density
- 2020
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Ingår i: Communications Biology. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2399-3642. ; 3:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals <1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data.
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| 3. |
- He, Yunfei, et al.
(författare)
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Sulfated complex metal oxides solid acids with dual Brønsted-Lewis acidic property for production of 5-ethoxymethylfurfural from biomass-derived carbohydrates
- 2022
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Ingår i: Chemical Engineering Journal. - : Elsevier BV. - 1385-8947. ; 429
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The transformation of aldose-based carbohydrates into 5-ethoxymethylfurfural (EMF) is very challenging as compared to ketose-based carbohydrates, but the formers are more abundant and cheaper. Here, a series of sulfated complex metal oxides were synthesized for the conversion of aldose-based mono-, di-, and poly-saccharides, as well as starchy food waste into EMF. The catalysts were carefully characterized and the results showed that the type and strength of the acid sites were more important than their concentration. It was also shown that the efficiency of these catalysts was significantly affected by the metal species in the catalyst composition and followed the order tetra- > tri- > bi- > mono-component metal oxides based catalyst. Among the prepared catalysts, Zr-Sn-Fe-Al-O-S exhibited superior catalytic activity, with an EMF yield of 33.1% from glucose, and yields ranging from 4.1−26.3% for di-, poly-saccharides and starchy food waste in ethanol/dimethyl sulfoxide solvent system under glucose/catalyst mass ratio of 4. The role of co-solvent in the reaction pathway was also studied. It was found that the predominant reaction pathway for EMF production was closely related to the co-solvent amount. A kinetic model of glucose conversion to EMF was developed and the thermodynamic analysis was performed, the main features of the experimental observations can be described by the model. Zr-Sn-Fe-Al-O-S was reused for four runs without intermediate regeneration steps, showing a slight decay in activity. After reactivation by calcination before the fifth cycle, the catalyst recovered its activity, indicating good reusability and thermal stability.
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| 4. |
- Huang, Tao, et al.
(författare)
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Dairy Consumption and Body Mass Index Among Adults : Mendelian Randomization Analysis of 184802 Individuals from 25 Studies
- 2018
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Ingår i: Clinical Chemistry. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0009-9147 .- 1530-8561. ; 64:1, s. 183-191
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- BACKGROUND: Associations between dairy intake and body mass index (BMI) have been inconsistently observed in epidemiological studies, and the causal relationship remains ill defined.METHODS: We performed Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis using an established dairy intake-associated genetic polymorphism located upstream of the lactase gene (LCT-13910 C/T, rs4988235) as an instrumental variable (IV). Linear regression models were fitted to analyze associations between (a) dairy intake and BMI, (b) rs4988235 and dairy intake, and (c) rs4988235 and BMI in each study. The causal effect of dairy intake on BMI was quantified by IV estimators among 184802 participants from 25 studies.RESULTS: Higher dairy intake was associated with higher BMI (β = 0.03 kg/m2 per serving/day; 95% CI, 0.00–0.06; P = 0.04), whereas the LCT genotype with 1 or 2 T allele was significantly associated with 0.20 (95% CI, 0.14–0.25) serving/day higher dairy intake (P = 3.15 × 10−12) and 0.12 (95% CI, 0.06–0.17) kg/m2 higher BMI (P = 2.11 × 10−5). MR analysis showed that the genetically determined higher dairy intake was significantly associated with higher BMI (β = 0.60 kg/m2 per serving/day; 95% CI, 0.27–0.92; P = 3.0 × 10−4).CONCLUSIONS: The present study provides strong evidence to support a causal effect of higher dairy intake on increased BMI among adults.
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| 5. |
- Li, Shuqi, et al.
(författare)
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Rtt105 functions as a chaperone for replication protein A to preserve genome stability
- 2018
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Ingår i: EMBO Journal. - : Wiley-VCH Verlagsgesellschaft. - 0261-4189 .- 1460-2075. ; 37:17
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Generation of single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) is required for the template strand formation during DNA replication. Replication Protein A (RPA) is an ssDNA-binding protein essential for protecting ssDNA at replication forks in eukaryotic cells. While significant progress has been made in characterizing the role of the RPA-ssDNA complex, how RPA is loaded at replication forks remains poorly explored. Here, we show that the Saccharomyces cerevisiae protein regulator of Ty1 transposition 105 (Rtt105) binds RPA and helps load it at replication forks. Cells lacking Rtt105 exhibit a dramatic reduction in RPA loading at replication forks, compromised DNA synthesis under replication stress, and increased genome instability. Mechanistically, we show that Rtt105 mediates the RPA-importin interaction and also promotes RPA binding to ssDNA directly in vitro, but is not present in the final RPA-ssDNA complex. Single-molecule studies reveal that Rtt105 affects the binding mode of RPA to ssDNA These results support a model in which Rtt105 functions as an RPA chaperone that escorts RPA to the nucleus and facilitates its loading onto ssDNA at replication forks.
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| 6. |
- Lu, Song, et al.
(författare)
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Theory of transformation-mediated twinning
- 2023
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Ingår i: PNAS NEXUS. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 2752-6542. ; 2:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- High-density and nanosized deformation twins in face-centered cubic (fcc) materials can effectively improve the combination of strength and ductility. However, the microscopic dislocation mechanisms enabling a high twinnability remain elusive. Twinning usually occurs via continuous nucleation and gliding of twinning partial dislocations on consecutive close-packed atomic planes. Here we unveil a completely different twinning mechanism being active in metastable fcc materials. The transformation-mediated twinning (TMT) is featured by a preceding displacive transformation from the fcc phase to the hexagonal close-packed (hcp) one, followed by a second-step transformation from the hcp phase to the fcc twin. The nucleation of the intermediate hcp phase is driven by the thermodynamic instability and the negative stacking fault energy of the metastable fcc phase. The intermediate hcp structure is characterized by the easy slips of Shockley partial dislocations on the basal planes, which leads to both fcc and fcc twin platelets during deformation, creating more twin boundaries and further enhancing the prosperity of twins. The disclosed fundamental understanding of the complex dislocation mechanism of deformation twinning in metastable alloys paves the road to design novel materials with outstanding mechanical properties.
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| 7. |
- Sun, Huiliang, et al.
(författare)
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A monothiophene unit incorporating both fluoro and ester substitution enabling high-performance donor polymers for non-fullerene solar cells with 16.4% efficiency
- 2019
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Ingår i: Energy & Environmental Science. - : ROYAL SOC CHEMISTRY. - 1754-5692 .- 1754-5706. ; 12:11, s. 3328-3337
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Thiophene and its derivatives have been extensively used in organic electronics, particularly in the field of polymer solar cells (PSCs). Significant research efforts have been dedicated to modifying thiophene-based units by attaching electron-donating or withdrawing groups to tune the energy levels of conjugated materials. Herein, we report the design and synthesis of a novel thiophene derivative, FE-T, featuring a monothiophene functionalized with both an electron-withdrawing fluorine atom (F) and an ester group (E). The FE-T unit possesses distinctive advantages of both F and E groups, the synergistic effects of which enable significant downshifting of the energy levels and enhanced aggregation/crystallinity of the resulting organic materials. Shown in this work are a series of polymers obtained by incorporating the FE-T unit into a PM6 polymer to fine-tune the energetics and morphology of this high-performance PSC material. The optimal polymer in the series shows a downshifted HOMO and an improved morphology, leading to a high PCE of 16.4% with a small energy loss (0.53 eV) enabled by the reduced non-radiative energy loss (0.23 eV), which are among the best values reported for non-fullerene PSCs to date. This work shows that the FE-T unit is a promising building block to construct donor polymers for high-performance organic photovoltaic cells.
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| 8. |
- Sun, Huiliang, et al.
(författare)
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Reducing energy loss via tuning energy levels of polymer acceptors for efficient all-polymer solar cells
- 2020
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Ingår i: Science China Chemistry. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1869-1870 .- 1674-7291. ; 63:12, s. 1785-1792
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The open-circuit voltage (Voc) of all-polymer solar cells (all-PSCs) is typically lower than 0.9 V even for the most efficient ones. Large energy loss is the main reason for limiting Voc and efficiency of all-PSCs. Herein, through materials design using electron deficient building blocks based on bithiophene imides, the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) energy levels of polymer acceptors can be effectively tuned, which resulted in a reduced energy loss induced by charge generation and recombination loss due to the suppressed charge-transfer (CT) state absorption. Despite a negligible driving force, all-PSC based on the polymer donor and acceptor combination with well-aligned energy levels exhibited efficient charge transfer and achieved an external quantum efficiency over 10% while maintaining a large Voc of 1.02 V, leading to a 9.21% efficiency. Through various spectroscopy approaches, this work sheds light on the mechanism of energy loss in all-PSCs, which paves an avenue to achieving efficient all-PSCs with large Voc and drives the further development of all-PSCs.
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| 9. |
- Sun, Huiliang, et al.
(författare)
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Reducing energy lossviatuning energy levels of polymer acceptors for efficient all-polymer solar cells
- 2020
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Ingår i: Science China Chemistry. - : Science China Press and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany. - 1674-7291 .- 1869-1870. ; 63, s. 1785-1792
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The open-circuit voltage (V-oc) of all-polymer solar cells (all-PSCs) is typically lower than 0.9 V even for the most efficient ones. Large energy loss is the main reason for limitingV(oc)and efficiency of all-PSCs. Herein, through materials design using electron deficient building blocks based on bithiophene imides, the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) energy levels of polymer acceptors can be effectively tuned, which resulted in a reduced energy loss induced by charge generation and recombination loss due to the suppressed charge-transfer (CT) state absorption. Despite a negligible driving force, all-PSC based on the polymer donor and acceptor combination with well-aligned energy levels exhibited efficient charge transfer and achieved an external quantum efficiency over 10% while maintaining a largeV(oc)of 1.02 V, leading to a 9.21% efficiency. Through various spectroscopy approaches, this work sheds light on the mechanism of energy loss in all-PSCs, which paves an avenue to achieving efficient all-PSCs with largeV(oc)and drives the further development of all-PSCs.
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| 10. |
- Sun, Weiwei, et al.
(författare)
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Monodispersed FeS 2 Electrocatalyst Anchored to Nitrogen-Doped Carbon Host for Lithium–Sulfur Batteries
- 2022
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Ingår i: Advanced Functional Materials. - : Wiley. - 1616-3028 .- 1616-301X. ; 32:43
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Despite their high theoretical energy density, lithium–sulfur (Li–S) batteries are hindered by practical challenges including sluggish conversion kinetics and shuttle effect of polysulfides. Here, a nitrogen-doped continuous porous carbon (CPC) host anchoring monodispersed sub-10 nm FeS2 nanoclusters (CPC@FeS2) is reported as an efficient catalytic matrix for sulfur cathode. This host shows strong adsorption of polysulfides, promising the inhibition of polysulfide shuttle and the promoted initial stage of catalytic conversion process. Moreover, fast lithium ion (Li-ion) diffusion and accelerated solid–solid conversion kinetics of Li2S2 to Li2S on CPC@FeS2 host guarantee boosted electrochemical kinetics for conversion process of sulfur species in Li–S cell, which gives a high utilization of sulfur under practical conditions of high loading and low electrolyte/sulfur (E/S) ratio. Therefore, the surfur cathode (S/CPC@FeS2) delivers a high specific capacity of 1459 mAh g−1 at 0.1 C, a stable cycling over 900 cycles with ultralow fading rate of 0.043% per cycle, and an enhanced rate capability compared with cathode only using carbon host. Further demonstration of this cathode in Li–S pouch cell shows a practical energy density of 372 Wh kg−1 with a sulfur loading of 7.1 mg cm−2 and an E/S ratio of 4 µL mg−1.
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| 11. |
- Sun, Yujie, et al.
(författare)
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A comparative analysis of cytosolic Na+ changes under salinity between halophyte quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa) and glycophyte pea (Piswn sativwn)
- 2017
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Ingår i: Environmental and Experimental Botany. - : Elsevier BV. - 0098-8472 .- 1873-7307. ; 141, s. 154-160
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Sodium (Na+) uptake into the halophyte quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.) plants was compared with the uptake into pea (Pisum sativum L.), and related to changes in cytosolic pH and potassium (K+) concentration in plant tissues. The total uptake of Na+ and K+ in roots and shoots was analyzed and compared with net ion fluxes at the root xylem parenchyma, determined by ion-specific microelectrodes in a non-invasive way. The cytosolic changes of Na+ concentration, [Na-cyt(+)], and pH, pH(cyt), were measured by fluorescent probes, specific to Na+ and H+, using a dual-wavelength fluorescence microscopy. These changes were monitored in protoplasts after cultivation with or without 100 mM NaCl, and after addition of NaC1 to the protoplasts. Roots and shoots of quinoa controls contained much higher K+ levels than pea roots and shoots, and the K+ levels increased even more after salinity treatments in quinoa. The cytosolic uptake of Na+ in quinoa protoplasts was transient if less than 200 mM NaCl was added, while in pea the Na+ concentration increased even upon addition of 50 mM Na+ and gradually increased with time. Saline conditions during cultivation increased pH(cyt) of both species. However, with a direct addition of NaCl to control protoplasts only a small increase was seen in pea pH(cyt) while in quinoa this increase was much larger. The different reactions of pH(cyt) to salinity when NaCl was added to salinity-treated seedlings may reflect an increased proton pump activity in quinoa, while this activation is lacking in pea. ABA addition to the root xylem parenchyma cells induced a net efflux of K+ and acidification of the xylem. On the other hand, 20 mM NaC1 addition induced a net flux of protons in both species, and a net K+ flux in pea, but not in quinoa, probably since such a low concentration is not a stress for quinoa. It is suggested that salinity tolerance in quinoa is achieved by a faster removal of Na+ from the cytosol and a high K+ concentration in roots and shoots under salinity, resulting in a high K+/Na+ ratio, and that this mechanism is driven by a higher proton pump activity, compared with glycophytic pea species.
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| 12. |
- Zou, Yatao, et al.
(författare)
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Boosting Perovskite Light-Emitting Diode Performance via Tailoring Interfacial Contact
- 2018
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Ingår i: ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces. - : AMER CHEMICAL SOC. - 1944-8244 .- 1944-8252. ; 10:28, s. 24320-24326
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Solution-processed perovskite light-emitting diodes (LEDs) have attracted wide attention in the past several years. However, the overall efficiency and stability of perovskite-based LEDs remain inferior to those of organic or quantum dot LEDs. Nonradiative charge recombination and the unbalanced charge injection are two critical factors that limit the device efficiency and operational stability of perovskite LEDs. Here, we develop a strategy to modify the interface between the hole transport layer and the perovskite emissive layer with an amphiphilic conjugated polymer of poly[(9,9-bis(3-(N,N-dimethylamino)propy1)-2,7-fluorene)-alt-2,7-(9,9-dioctylfluorene)] (PFN). We show evidences that PFN improves the quality of the perovskite film, which effectively suppresses nonradiative recombination. By further improving the charge injection balance rate, a green perovskite LED with a champion current efficiency of 45.2 cd/A, corresponding to an external quantum efficiency of 14.4%, is achieved. In addition, the device based on the PFN layer exhibits improved operational lifetime. Our work paves a facile way for the development of efficient and stable perovskite LEDs.
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