Nov 2022
Leonardo Ricotti, Andrea Cafarelli, Cristina Manferdini, Diego Trucco, Lorenzo Vannozzi, Elena Gabusi, Francesco Fontana, Paolo Dolzani, Yasmin Saleh, Enrico Lenzi, Marta Columbaro, Manuela Piazzi, Jessika Bertacchini, Andrea Aliperta, Markys Cain, Paola Parlanti, Carsten Jost, Yirij Fedutik, Gilbert Nessim, Madina Telkhozhayeva, Eti Teblum, Erik Dumont, Chiara Delbaldo, Giorgia Codispoti, Lucia Martini, Matilde Tschon, Milena Fini, Gina Lisignoli
Osteoarthritis implies a progressive degeneration of the whole joint. Cartilage is particularly affected, with in ammation playing a pivotal role1. In recent years, cartilage regeneration has been pursued through several bioengineering strategies and using different stem cell types2-6. Adipose-derived mesenchymal stromal cells (ASCs) constitute an intriguing and minimally invasive option. However, the use of ASCs for cartilage regeneration is hampered by a relatively ine cient expression of key chondrogenic markers7. Thus, new strategies to boost both in situ targeting and chondrogenesis of ASCs are highly desirable. Here we show that ASCs embedded in a nanocomposite hydrogel including piezoelectric nanomaterials and graphene oxide nano akes, and stimulated with ultrasound waves with precisely controlled parameters (1 MHz and 250 mW/cm2, for 5 min once every two days for a period of 10 days) dramatically boost cell chondrogenic commitment. Furthermore, this stimulation regimen also has a considerable anti-in ammatory effect. The proposed nanocomposite hydrogel also shows excellent biocompatibility in vivo. Our results show for the rst time the chondrogenic potential of the combined piezoelectric nanoparticle-ultrasound stimulus; the proposed paradigm has the potential to trigger cartilage regeneration in osteoarthritis, focal cartilage defects and other pathological conditions involving cartilage lesions and degeneration. Future efforts should expand preclinical data, and target clinical applications of this therapeutic strategy.
Show moreNov 2022 • Springer Nature, 2022
Avi Zadok, Hilel Hagai Diamandi, Yosef London, Gil Bashan
This book, the first dedicated to the topic, provides a comprehensive treatment of forward stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) in standard optical fibers. SBS interactions between guided light and sound waves have drawn much attention for over fifty years, and optical fibers provide an excellent playground for the study of Brillouin scattering as they support guided modes of both wave types and provide long interaction lengths. This book is dedicated to forward SBS processes that are driven by co-propagating optical fields. The physics of forward SBS is explained in detail, starting from the fundamentals of interactions between guided optical and acoustic waves, with emphasis given to the acoustic modes that are stimulated in the processes. The realization of forward SBS in standard single-mode, polarization-maintaining and multi-core fibers is then discussed in depth. Innovative potential applications in sensors, monitoring of coating layers, lasers, and radio-frequency oscillators are presented. This book introduces the subject to graduate students in optics and applied physics, and it will be of interest to scientists working in fiber-optics, nonlinear optics and opto-mechanics. Provides the first treatment of forward stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) in book form; Reflects the dramatic recent increase in interest in forward SBS processes, driven in part by the promise of new fiber sensing concepts; Delivers a solid and comprehensive grounding in the physics of forward SBS along with detailed experimental set-ups, measurement protocols, and applications.
Show moreNov 2022 • Nano Letters
Hadas Shtrikman, Man Suk Song, Magdalena A Załuska-Kotur, Ryszard Buczko, Xi Wang, Beena Kalisky, Perla Kacman, Lothar Houben, Haim Beidenkopf
In the pursuit of magneto-electronic systems nonstoichiometric magnetic elements commonly introduce disorder and enhance magnetic scattering. We demonstrate the growth of (EuIn)As shells, with a unique crystal structure comprised of a dense net of Eu inversion planes, over InAs and InAs1–xSbx core nanowires. This is imaged with atomic and elemental resolution which reveal a prismatic configuration of the Eu planes. The results are supported by molecular dynamics simulations. Local magnetic and susceptibility mappings show magnetic response in all nanowires, while a subset bearing a DC signal points to ferromagnetic order. These provide a mechanism for enhancing Zeeman responses, operational at zero applied magnetic field. Such properties suggest that the obtained structures can serve as a preferred platform for time-reversal symmetry broken one-dimensional states including intrinsic topological …
Show moreNov 2022 • Energy Storage Materials
Sandipan Maiti, Hadar Sclar, Judith Grinblat, Michael Talianker, Maria Tkachev, Merav Tsubery, Xiaohan Wu, Malachi Noked, Boris Markovsky, Doron Aurbach
Herein, a systematic surface modification approach via double gas (SO2 and NH3) treatment at elevated temperatures is described, aimed to achieve a stable electrochemical performance of Li and Mn-rich NCM cathode materials of a typical composition 0.33Li2MnO3•0.67LiNi0.4Co0.2Mn0.4O2 (HE-NCM). Partial surface reduction of Mn4+ and the formation of a modified interface comprising Li-ions conductive nano-sized Li2SO4/Li2SO3 phases are established. Li-coin cells’ prolonged cycling performance demonstrated significantly improved capacity retention (∼2.2 times higher than untreated cathode materials) for the double-gas-treated cathodes after 400 cycles at a 1.0 C rate. Stable discharge potential and lower voltage hysteresis during cycling were also achieved through the double gas treatment. Comparative electrochemical studies in full-pouch cells [vs. Graphite anodes] also demonstrated …
Show moreNov 2022 • Superconductor Science and Technology
Ariel Roitman, A Shaulov, Y Yeshurun
We demonstrate an improved YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7− δ-based microwave kinetic inductance detector with a quality factor and noise equivalent power, $\sim {10^{-12}}{\mkern 1mu}{\text {W}}{\mkern 1mu}{\sqrt {{\text {Hz}}}^{-1}} $ at 10 K. Zero field cooled (ZFC) and field cooled (FC) measurements of the magnetic field dependence of the resonance characteristics, show substantially different behavior, indicating that both the screening currents and vortices play a role. The ZFC measurements exhibit a sharp decrease of the resonance frequency, , and at low fields, up to the full penetration field, revealing the dominant role of the screening currents. In contrast, the FC measurements exhibit a moderate decrease of and with field, revealing the role of vortices and reflecting the field dependence of the penetration depth in a d-wave superconductor.
Show moreNov 2022 • Desalination 542, 116043, 2022
Qinghao Wu, Dawei Liang, Shanfu Lu, Haining Wang, Yan Xiang, Doron Aurbach, Eran Avraham, Izaak Cohen
Capacitive deionization (CDI) has been considered as the most promising and environmentally friendly electrical desalination technology owing to its low energy consumption and no secondary pollution. CDI is based on the principle of electric double layer for salt ion adsorption, but the existence of co-ions repulsion reduce the charge efficiency, leading to the low salt adsorption capacity. To prevent the intrinsic “co-ion effect” inside the porous carbon electrodes, membrane capacitive deionization (MCDI) by applying an ion-exchange membrane (IEM) to the surface of electrode is of increasing interest. However, MCDI brings various resistances, such as the internal and interface resistances of membrane, as well as the contact resistance between membrane and carbon electrode. More recently, by integrating “membrane” with carbon electrode without the introduction of free-standing IEM, integrated-MCDI has …
Show moreNov 2022 • arXiv preprint arXiv:2211.06278
Subhajit Sarkar, Seif Alwan, Amos Sharoni, Yonatan Dubi
We detail here some matters arising from the recent paper by Qian et. al., Nature 606, pages 902-908 (2022). We demonstrate, based on data supplied by Qian et. al., and corroborated by theoretical modeling, that one of the central conclusions of the manuscript - namely the behavior of the chirality-induced spin-selectivity (CISS) effect at low temperatures - can actually be consistently interpreted in a different way, which is in fact opposite to the interpretation proposed by Qian et. al.
Show moreNov 2022 • Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter
Netanel Shpigel, Mikhael D Levi, Sergey Sigalov, Doron Aurbach, Leonid Daikhin, Volker Presser
It has been brought to the authors' notice that the SEM images in figure 2 panels (b) and (d) are related to the incorrect carbon material. A corrected version is shown here in figure 2. The authors apologize for the unfortunate mistake.
Show moreNov 2022 • Nature Energy
Doron Aurbach, Mikhael Levi, Netanel Shpigel
One of the biggest hurdles to realise high-performance Li-metal batteries is the instability of Li metal towards all relevant electrolytes. Now, an approach is reported to improve Li cells’ stability by upshifting the Li electrodes’ potential to reduce their voltage gap with the electrolyte electrochemical stability windows.
Show moreNov 2022 • Physical Review B
Elihu Anouchi, Naor Vardi, Yoav Kalcheim, Ivan K Schuller, Amos Sharoni
The recently discovered ramp reversal memory (RRM) is a nonvolatile memory effect observed in correlated oxides with temperature-driven insulator–metal transitions (IMT). It appears as a resistance increase at predefined temperatures that are set or erased by simple heating–cooling (ie, ramp reversal) protocols. Until now RRM was measured for two materials: VO 2 and NdNiO 3. A heuristic model suggests that the RRM is caused by a local transition temperature increase at boundaries of spatially separated metallic and insulating domains during ramp reversal. However, there is no experimental measure of the magnitude of the effect, which is crucial for the development of a theoretical account of the RRM. Here we show that V 2 O 3 also shows RRM, including all related features, highlighting the generality of the effect. Moreover, an analysis of the RRM as an effective (average) increase of the critical …
Show moreNov 2022 • Measurement
Małgorzata Szczerska, Monika Kosowska, Paulina Listewnik, Michał Rycewicz, Mikhael Bechelany, Yafit Fleger, Dror Fixler, Paweł Jakóbczyk
Due to the global problem with plastic contaminating the environment, with bisphenol A (BPA) being one of the highest demand, effective monitoring and purification of the pollutants are required. The electrochemical methods constitute a good solution but, due to polymerization of electrochemical oxidation bisphenol A products and their adsorption to the surfaces, measurement head elements are clogged by the formed film. In this research, we propose a nanocrystalline diamond sheet protection for securing elements in direct contact with bisphenol A during electrochemical processes. The solution was presented on the example of a zinc oxide (ZnO) coating deposited on a fiber-optic end-face by Atomic Layer Deposition. Series of optical and electrochemical measurements were performed in a dedicated hybrid setup. The results show that ZnO can be modified during the electrochemistry leading to the drastic …
Show moreNov 2022 • ACS Applied Polymer Materials
Poushali Das, Sayan Ganguly, Syed Rahin Ahmed, Masoomeh Sherazee, Shlomo Margel, Aharon Gedanken, Seshasai Srinivasan, Amin Reza Rajabzadeh
Heteroatom-doped carbon dot (CD)-reinforced flexible, antioxidant, and UV-resistant polymeric thin films have been fabricated by a facile physical compounding strategy associated with the ‘cast and peel’ technique. The prepared CDs were found to be stable in aqueous media because of their zeta potential value (−5.85 mV). There was no significant change in the zeta potential values during 7 days of storage, indicating the long-term stability of CPCDs. CD-reinforced thermoplastic starch (TPS)/κ-carrageenan hybrid films have been developed as antioxidants to improve the shelf-life of agro-products. Besides this, they also qualified for mechanical strength (>40 MPa), transparency (∼77%), nondeteriorative dimensional integrity at a high relative humidity (∼97%), and UV-resistant properties. For assessing the food preservation behavior, the leaching of CDs also has been studied by time-dependent sustained …
Show moreNov 2022 • Cell Reports
Hadar Bootz-Maoz, Ayelet Pearl, Ehud Melzer, Stephen Malnick, Efrat Sharon, Yifat Bennet, Rotem Tsentsarevsky, Shlomi Abuchatzera, Sivan Amidror, Elana Aretz, Shalhevet Azriel, Chen Gam Ze Letova, Maria Naama, Irit Shoval, Orly Yaron, Sarit Karako-Lampert, Shai Bel, Nissan Yissachar
Nov 2022 • Journal of The Electrochemical Society
Shaul Bublil, Miryam Fayena-Greenstein, Yuval Elias, Doron Aurbach
The transference number for cations, t+, is one of the most important parameters for characterizing polymeric and/or composite solid electrolytes. It expresses the contribution of the positive charge carriers to the total conductivity, which in turn reflects the degree of polarization due to the negative carriers in the electrolyte systems. Four electrochemical methods based on different equations commonly used for obtaining t+ are compared. A series of experiments were conducted with solid polymer electrolytes based on polyethylene oxide with and without TiO2 ceramic additive. Interestingly, the oldest method developed and presented four decades ago, emerges as the most simple, reliable, sensitive, repeatable, and stable option for determining t+ values over time.
Show moreNov 2022 • The Journal of Physical Chemistry C
Shira Gigi, Tom Naor, Nir Waiskopf, David Stone, Michal Natan, Gila Jacobi, Adar Levi, Sergei Remennik, Yael Levi-Kalisman, Ehud Banin, Uri Banin
Semiconductor nanocrystals (NCs) are promising photocatalysts due to their high surface area to volume ratio and tunable physicochemical properties. Of particular interest are earth-abundant metal oxides, such as ZnO and CuO, which are stable under ambient conditions and in aqueous media and are environmentally and biologically compatible. While CuO NCs are efficient catalytic and antimicrobial materials featuring strong and broad absorption in the visible region, their challenging surface chemistry and low colloidal stability so far limited their wide implementation as photocatalysts. On the other hand, colloidal ZnO NCs function as excellent photocatalysts in various media, but their absorption is limited to the UV region. Herein, colloidal antimicrobial Cu1–xZnxO NCs are synthesized via a facile and cost-effective method, forming a unique spatial dependent structure and composition, with higher zinc …
Show moreNov 2022 • Micromachines
Hariharan Nhalil, Moty Schultz, Shai Amrusi, Asaf Grosz, Lior Klein
We report a specially designed magnetic field gradiometer based on a single elliptical planar Hall effect (PHE) sensor, which allows measuring magnetic field at nine different positions in a 4 mm length scale. The gradiometer detects magnetic field gradients with equivalent gradient magnetic noises of ∼958, ∼192, ∼51, and ∼26 nT/m√ Hz (pT/mm√Hz) at 0.1, 1, 10, and 50 Hz, respectively. The performance of the gradiometer is tested in ambient conditions by measuring the field gradient induced by electric currents driven in a long straight wire. This gradiometer is expected to be highly useful for the measurement of magnetic field gradients in confined areas for its small footprint, low noise, scalability, simple design, and low costs.
Show moreNov 2022 • ACS Applied Polymer Materials
Poushali Das, Sayan Ganguly, Syed Rahin Ahmed, Masoomeh Sherazee, Shlomo Margel, Aharon Gedanken, Seshasai Srinivasan, Amin Reza Rajabzadeh
Nov 2022 • Beilstein Journal of Organic Chemistry
Liang Shi, Zhiyu Gao, Yiqing Li, Yuanhao Dai, Yu Liu, Lili Shi, Hong-Dong Hao
An approach to aberrarone, an antimalarial diterpenoid natural product with tetracyclic skeleton is reported. Key to the stereoselective preparation of the 6-5-5 tricyclic skeleton includes the mediation of Nagata reagent for constructing the C1 all-carbon quaternary centers and gold-catalyzed cyclopentenone synthesis through C–H insertion.
Show moreNov 2022 • Advanced Photonics Research
Tchiya Zar, Racheli Ron, Omer Shavit, Alon Krause, David Gachet, Adi Salomon
Herein, centrosymmetric aluminum plasmonic structures composed of triangular cavities are studied and their long‐range coupling by cathodoluminescence nanoscopy are visualized. Four different plasmonic structures containing the same subunit are studied. The plasmonic modes of the individual triangular subunits are localized at the triangle sides rather than at the vertices, in agreement with other studies. Yet, upon strong interaction between the cavities, a redistribution of the electromagnetic field is observed such that it delocalizes around the cavities in the form of a contour, providing a mode enhancement and a pronounced nonlinear response as observed by second harmonic generation. Comparison between plasmonic structures made of either silver or aluminum reveals that the metal dielectric function plays an important role in the interaction between the cavities. This work provides a rationale for …
Show moreNov 2022 • Iscience
Roi Isaac, Yaron Vinik, Martin Mikl, Shani Nadav-Eliyahu, Hadas Shatz-Azoulay, Adi Yaakobi, Natalie DeForest, Amit R Majithia, Nicholas JG Webster, Yaron Shav-Tal, Eytan Elhanany, Yehiel Zick
The seven-transmembrane superfamily member 3 protein (TM7SF3) is a p53-regulated homeostatic factor that attenuates cellular stress and the unfolded protein response. Here we show that TM7SF3 localizes to nuclear speckles; eukaryotic nuclear bodies enriched in splicing factors. This unexpected location for a trans-membranal protein enables formation of stable complexes between TM7SF3 and pre-mRNA splicing factors including DHX15, LARP7, HNRNPU, RBM14, and HNRNPK. Indeed, TM7SF3 regulates alternative splicing of >330 genes, mainly at the 3′end of introns by directly modulating the activity of splicing factors such as HNRNPK. These effects are observed both in cell lines and primary human pancreatic islets. Accordingly, silencing of TM7SF3 results in differential expression of 1465 genes (about 7% of the human genome); with 844 and 621 genes being up- or down-regulated, respectively …
Show moreNov 2022 • Cell Reports
Hadar Bootz-Maoz, Ayelet Pearl, Ehud Melzer, Stephen Malnick, Efrat Sharon, Yifat Bennet, Rotem Tsentsarevsky, Shlomi Abuchatzera, Sivan Amidror, Elana Aretz, Shalhevet Azriel, Chen Gam Ze Letova, Maria Naama, Irit Shoval, Orly Yaron, Sarit Karako-Lampert, Shai Bel, Nissan Yissachar
Changes in microbiome composition are associated with a wide array of human diseases, turning the human microbiota into an attractive target for therapeutic intervention. Yet, clinical translation of these findings requires the establishment of causative connections between specific microbial taxa and their functional impact on host tissues. Here, we infuse gut organ cultures with longitudinal microbiota samples collected from therapy-naive patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) under a low-fermentable oligo-, di-, mono-saccharides and polyols (FODMAP) diet. We show that post-diet microbiota regulates intestinal expression of inflammatory and neuro-muscular gene sets. Specifically, we identify Bifidobacterium adolescentis as a diet-sensitive pathobiont that alters tight junction integrity and disrupts gut barrier functions. Collectively, we present a pathway discovery platform for mechanistic dissection and …
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