Liquid marble-derived solid-liquid hybrid superparticles for CO2 capture.

The design of effective CO2 capture materials is an ongoing challenge. Here we report a concept to overcome current limitations associated with both liquid and solid CO2 capture materials by exploiting a solid-liquid hybrid superparticle (SLHSP). The fabrication of SLHSP involves assembly of hydrophobic silica nanoparticles on the liquid marble surface, and co-assembly of hydrophilic silica nanoparticles and tetraethylenepentamine within the interior of the liquid marble. The strong interfacial adsorption force and the strong interactions between amine and silica are identified to be key elements for high robustness. The developed SLHSPs exhibit excellent CO2 sorption capacity, high sorption rate, long-term stability and reduced amine loss in industrially preferred fixed bed setups. The outstanding performances are attributed to the unique structure which hierarchically organizes the liquid and solid at microscales

Depletion of B2 but Not B1a B Cells in BAFF Receptor-Deficient ApoE−/− Mice Attenuates Atherosclerosis by Potently Ameliorating Arterial Inflammation

We have recently identified conventional B2 cells as atherogenic and B1a cells as atheroprotective in hypercholesterolemic ApoE−/− mice. Here, we examined the development of atherosclerosis in BAFF-R deficient ApoE−/− mice because B2 cells but not B1a cells are selectively depleted in BAFF-R deficient mice. We fed BAFF-R−/− ApoE−/− (BaffR.ApoE DKO) and BAFF-R+/+ApoE−/− (ApoE KO) mice a high fat diet (HFD) for 8-weeks. B2 cells were significantly reduced by 82%, 81%, 94%, 72% in blood, peritoneal fluid, spleen and peripheral lymph nodes respectively; while B1a cells and non-B lymphocytes were unaffected. Aortic atherosclerotic lesions assessed by oil red-O stained-lipid accumulation and CD68+ macrophage accumulation were decreased by 44% and 50% respectively. B cells were absent in atherosclerotic lesions of BaffR.ApoE DKO mice as were IgG1 and IgG2a immunoglobulins produced by B2 cells, despite low but measurable numbers of B2 cells and IgG1 and IgG2a immunoglobulin concentrations in plasma. Plasma IgM and IgM deposits in atherosclerotic lesions were also reduced. BAFF-R deficiency in ApoE−/− mice was also associated with a reduced expression of VCAM-1 and fewer macrophages, dendritic cells, CD4+ and CD8+ T cell infiltrates and PCNA+ cells in lesions. The expression of proinflammatory cytokines, TNF-α, IL1-β and proinflammatory chemokine MCP-1 was also reduced. Body weight and plasma cholesterols were unaffected in BaffR.ApoE DKO mice. Our data indicate that B2 cells are important contributors to the development of atherosclerosis and that targeting the BAFF-R to specifically reduce atherogenic B2 cell numbers while preserving atheroprotective B1a cell numbers may be a potential therapeutic strategy to reduce atherosclerosis by potently reducing arterial inflammation

Adaptative Potential of the Lactococcus Lactis IL594 Strain Encoded in Its 7 Plasmids

The extrachromosomal gene pool plays a significant role both in evolution and in the environmental adaptation of bacteria. The L. lactis subsp. lactis IL594 strain contains seven plasmids, named pIL1 to pIL7, and is the parental strain of the plasmid-free L. lactis IL1403, which is one of the best characterized lactococcal strains of LAB. Complete nucleotide sequences of pIL1 (6,382 bp), pIL2 (8,277 bp), pIL3 (19,244 bp), pIL4 (48,979), pIL5 (23,395), pIL6 (28,435 bp) and pIL7 (28,546) were established and deposited in the generally accessible database (GeneBank). Nine highly homologous repB-containing replicons, belonging to the lactococcal theta-type replicons, have been identified on the seven plasmids. Moreover, a putative region involved in conjugative plasmid mobilization was found on four plasmids, through identification of the presence of mob genes and/or oriT sequences. Detailed bioinformatic analysis of the plasmid nucleotide sequences provided new insight into the repertoire of plasmid-encoded functions in L. lactis, and indicated that plasmid genes from IL594 strain can be important for L. lactis adaptation to specific environmental conditions (e.g. genes coding for proteins involved in DNA repair or cold shock response) as well as for technological processes (e.g. genes encoding citrate and lactose utilization, oligopeptide transport, restriction-modification system). Moreover, global gene analysis indicated cooperation between plasmid- and chromosome-encoded metabolic pathways

Pan-cancer analysis of whole genomes

Cancer is driven by genetic change, and the advent of massively parallel sequencing has enabled systematic documentation of this variation at the whole-genome scale(1-3). Here we report the integrative analysis of 2,658 whole-cancer genomes and their matching normal tissues across 38 tumour types from the Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) Consortium of the International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). We describe the generation of the PCAWG resource, facilitated by international data sharing using compute clouds. On average, cancer genomes contained 4-5 driver mutations when combining coding and non-coding genomic elements; however, in around 5% of cases no drivers were identified, suggesting that cancer driver discovery is not yet complete. Chromothripsis, in which many clustered structural variants arise in a single catastrophic event, is frequently an early event in tumour evolution; in acral melanoma, for example, these events precede most somatic point mutations and affect several cancer-associated genes simultaneously. Cancers with abnormal telomere maintenance often originate from tissues with low replicative activity and show several mechanisms of preventing telomere attrition to critical levels. Common and rare germline variants affect patterns of somatic mutation, including point mutations, structural variants and somatic retrotransposition. A collection of papers from the PCAWG Consortium describes non-coding mutations that drive cancer beyond those in the TERT promoter(4); identifies new signatures of mutational processes that cause base substitutions, small insertions and deletions and structural variation(5,6); analyses timings and patterns of tumour evolution(7); describes the diverse transcriptional consequences of somatic mutation on splicing, expression levels, fusion genes and promoter activity(8,9); and evaluates a range of more-specialized features of cancer genomes(8,10-18).Peer reviewe