Hubei University of Science and Technology

Brain diseases, including neurodegenerative disorders, brain tumors, and ischemic strokes, have shown significant threats to human neurological health and quality of life. With the aging population, the incidence of brain diseases continues to rise, further exacerbating public health issues. Traditional diagnostic methods, such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and positron emission tomography (PET), are hindered by limited image resolution and a high reliance on costly equipment. Single-molecule detection technologies, such as digital ELISA, have shown great promise for improving sensitivity, but their complex procedures and high costs remain barriers. Nanozymes, nanomaterials with enzyme-like activity, have emerged as a potential alternative. These materials offer high stability and lower costs in comparison with natural enzymes, making them ideal for portable, high-throughput diagnostics. In this review, we mainly summarize the types and applications of nanozymes with peroxidase-like activity and oxidase-like activity in brain disease biomarker detection and discuss the challenges and future directions for their clinical use.

Aging is accompanied by chronic low-grade inflammation (inflammaging), driving age-related diseases. Urolithin A (UA), a gut microbial metabolite, possesses anti-inflammatory properties, yet its mechanism in hepatic aging remains unclear. This study investigated UA's effects on aging-associated inflammation and the involvement of Nur77 in D-galactose-induced macrophage senescence and mouse liver aging models using molecular docking, Western blotting, and immunoprecipitation. UA alleviated cellular senescence markers (p53, p21), suppressed pro-inflammatory factors (IL-6, IL-1β), and elevated anti-inflammatory IL-10. Mechanistically, UA enhanced Nur77 protein stability by inhibiting MDM2-mediated ubiquitination and degradation, thereby restoring inflammatory homeostasis. In vivo, UA ameliorated D-gal-induced liver injury and modulated the hepatic Nur77-MDM2 axis. Conclusion: UA stabilizes Nur77 by inhibiting its ubiquitination, alleviating hepatic aging-associated inflammation. This study identifies the MDM2-Nur77 axis as a potential therapeutic target for hepatic aging.

The Atomic Clock Ensemble in Space (ACES) mission, currently operating aboard the International Space Station (ISS), is designed to provide high-precision time and frequency measurements and to test fundamental aspects of relativistic physics. Gravitational redshift (GRS), a fundamental prediction of General Relativity (GR), implies that clocks positioned at different gravitational potentials experience relative time dilation. Previous GRS experiments have focused primarily on microwave technologies, with negligible experimental coverage in the optical domain, particularly for ground-to-space links. Motivated by the European Laser Timing (ELT) experiment and the high-precision laser-cooled cesium clock aboard ACES, we introduce and evaluate an optical time-transfer method designed to achieve high-accuracy measurements of GRS. In the absence of actual ELT/ACES optical data, a high-fidelity numerical simulation framework was developed to assess the performance of this method. The framework incorporates representative ELT/ACES mission parameters, including the space-based cesium clock and the H-MASER clock located at the reference ground station, both providing frequency stability at the level of 10−15 for 1000 s averaging time. Applying a ±1σ filtering criterion, we obtain a simulated dataset comprising 33 ELT/ACES passes, representing a total observation time of 4.38 h over a single week. Analysis of this high-fidelity dataset reveals a GRS deviation from GR of (−7.19±0.63)×10−5, achieving a 3.4 orders of magnitude improvement over the best previous laser-ranging experiment conducted at the University of Maryland (UMD), USA, 51 years ago. These simulation results demonstrate that the optical time-transfer link constitutes a powerful tool for testing fundamental physics and, when combined with next-generation optical atomic clocks, enables unprecedented capabilities in space-based timekeeping and geoscience applications.

ABSTRACT Poor inherent conductivity, sluggish reaction kinetics, and structural instability have widely limited the use of layered δ ‐MnO 2 in aqueous magnesium‐ion storage. Inspired by the d‐band center ( ε d ) theory, this study synthesizes oxygen defective W‐doped δ ‐MnO 2 (O d ‐WMO) with a tailored d‐band center through a two‐step hydrothermal‐calcination method to address the above bottlenecks. The results of theoretical calculation demonstrate that synergistic modulation mechanism of tungsten doping and oxygen defects not only promotes the upward shift of the ε d of Mn, significantly enhancing the adsorption capacity for Mg 2+ , but also simultaneously strengthens Mn‐O bonds, thereby markedly improving structural stability. Moreover, the synergistic modulation effect of the two also dramatically narrows the band gap, lowers the migration energy barrier, as well as speeds up the dynamics of charge transport/ion diffusion. As expected, O d ‐WMO demonstrates outstanding structural durability and remarkable storage capacity (185.2 mAh g −1 at 0.1 A g −1 ). Moreover, 3,4,9,10‐perylenetetracarboxylic diimide (PTCDI) as anode to assembled O d ‐WMO//PTCDI full cell also exhibit a stable working state. This study uncovers the synergistic modulation mechanism of doping and defect engineering on MnO 2 's ε d , makes up for the limitation in current research that focuses solely on individual regulatory effects of doping or defects. It provides valuable insights for the rational design of high‐performance electrode materials for AMIBs and other electrochemical energy storage systems via d‐band center engineering.

The effects of Ca doping content on the crystal structure, electronic transport, thermal transport, and mechanical properties of In2O3 were systematically studied by means of X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermoelectric performance test, and first-principles calculation. XRD analysis shows that Ca2+ can be completely solid-dissolved into the In2O3 lattice to form a single-phase solid solution without the formation of impurity phases, and the lattice constant increases linearly with the increase in doping content, confirming that Ca2+ successfully replaces In3+ and triggers lattice expansion. The results of thermoelectric performance tests show that Ca doping can significantly improve the electrical conductivity of the material. The essence is that Ca doping introduces a large number of free electrons through the charge compensation effect, and coordinately regulates the carrier concentration and mobility to optimize the electronic transport performance. In terms of thermal transport performance, Ca doping leads to a decreasing trend of the total thermal conductivity of the material. The core mechanism is that the difference in ionic radius between Ca2+ and In3+ causes lattice distortion, enhanced mass fluctuation scattering, and defect scattering. At the same time, the decrease in Young’s modulus intensifies phonon scattering, resulting in a significant decrease in lattice thermal conductivity (dominating the change in total thermal conductivity), while the electronic thermal conductivity increases slightly but accounts for a very low proportion. Under the synergistic optimization of electrical and thermal transport, the thermoelectric figure of merit (ZT) of the material increases from ~0.05 to ~0.239, with particularly prominent effects in the medium and high-temperature range.

Diabetes-induced osteoporosis significantly elevates the risk of fracture-related disability and mortality. Developing effective therapeutic strategies for diabetic-related bone defects has become a pressing concern in both clinical and research domains. This study innovatively constructs a near-infrared light-responsive (NIR) intelligent hydrogel system (carboxymethyl chitosan/gelatin/black phosphorus@bFGF, CG/BPb), utilizing carboxymethyl chitosan and gelatin as the matrix while integrating polydopamine (PDA)-functionalized black phosphorus nanosheets (BP@PDA) as a controlled-release carrier for basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF). The CG/BPb hydrogel demonstrated remarkable mechanical strength (up to 25kPa compressive stress at 55% strain) and antioxidant capacity, scavenging 81.1% of ROS and 83.3% of hydroxyl radicals. Under NIR irradiation (1W/cm², 5min), the hydrogel achieved a stable photothermal temperature of 42 ± 1°C, enabling controlled release of bFGF (60% cumulative release within 20min at pH 6.5) and phosphate ions. In vitro, assessments revealed that the hydrogel enhanced osteoblast viability by 85% in scratch assays and upregulated osteogenic genes (ALP, Runx2, and OCN). Additionally, it also promoted M2 macrophage polarization (increased CD206, decreased iNOS) and suppressed osteoclast activity via NFATc1 and MAPK pathways. In vivo, in a diabetic rat calvarial defect model, the CG/BPb + NIR group showed significant bone regeneration, with increases in bone volume fraction (BV/TV) and bone mineral density (BMD), alongside enhanced vascularization (elevated CD31/CD34/α-SMA expression). This innovative strategy, grounded in material design and synergistic biological functions, not only provides a new solution for the treatment of diabetic bone defects but also promotes technological progress in the field of bone tissue engineering, with substantial academic value and practical applications.