A novel Cdc42-YAP-fibronectin signaling axis regulates ameloblast differentiation during early enamel formation.

Enamel formation is a developmental event governed by intricate molecular signal pathways. Cdc42 is proven to regulate enamel development yet its underlying role and molecular mechanism in early amelogenesis remain elusive. The extracellular matrix of tooth germ basement membrane is critical for the regulation of ameloblast differentiation.

Thermally Conductive Elastomer Composites with High Toughness, Softness, and Resilience Enabled by Regulating Interfacial Structure and Dynamics.

The emerging applications of thermally conductive elastomer composites in modern electronic devices for heat dissipation require them to maintain both high toughness and resilience under thermomechanical stresses. However, such a combination of thermal conductivity and desired mechanical characteristics is extremely challenging to achieve in elastomer composites. Here this long-standing mismatch is resolved via regulating interfacial structure and dynamics response.

Design of Soft/Hard Interface with High Adhesion Energy and Low Interfacial Thermal Resistance via Regulation of Interfacial Hydrogen Bonding Interaction.

Adhesion ability and interfacial thermal transfer capacity at soft/hard interfaces are of critical importance to a wide variety of applications, ranging from electronic packaging and soft electronics to batteries. However, these two properties are difficult to obtain simultaneously due to their conflicting nature at soft/hard interfaces. Herein, we report a polyurethane/silicon interface with both high adhesion energy (13535 J m) and low thermal interfacial resistance (0.

Insight into the fracture energy dissipation mechanism in elastomer composites sacrificial bonds and fillers.

Most tough elastomer composites are reinforced by introducing sacrificial structures and fillers. Understanding the contribution of fillers and sacrificial bonds in elastomer composites to the energy dissipation is critical for the design of high-toughness materials. However, the energy dissipation mechanism in elastomer composites remains elusive.

Elastomer Composites with High Damping and Low Thermal Resistance via Hierarchical Interactions and Regulating Filler.

Modern microelectronics and emerging technologies such as wearable electronics and soft robotics require elastomers to integrate high damping with low thermal resistance to avoid damage caused by vibrations and heat accumulation. However, the strong coupling between storage modulus and loss factor makes it generally challenging to simultaneously increase both thermal conductance and damping. Here, a strategy of introducing hierarchical interaction and regulating fillers in polybutadiene/spherical aluminum elastomer composites is reported to simultaneously achieve extraordinary damping ability of tan δ > 1.

Dual Reversible Network Nanoarchitectonics for Ultrafast Light-Controlled Healable and Tough Polydimethylsiloxane-Based Composite Elastomers.

It is highly desirable to develop polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) elastomers with high self-healing efficiency and excellent mechanical properties. However, most self-healable materials reported to date still take several hours to self-heal and improving the self-healing property often comes at the expense of mechanical properties. Herein, a simple design strategy of dual reversible network nanoarchitectonics is reported for constructing ultrafast light-controlled healable (40 s) and tough (≈7.

How chemical cross-linking and entanglements in polybutadiene elastomers cope with tearing.

New applications of elastomers, such as flexible electronics and soft robotics, have brought great attention to tear resistance since elastomers are prone to shear failure. Most elastomers contain chemical cross-links and entanglements. The effects of both on their mechanical properties have been intensively studied, while how they cope with tearing remains elusive.

The Synergy of Hydrogen Bond and Entanglement of Elastomer Captures Unprecedented Flaw Insensitivity Rate.

Elastomers are regarded as one of the best candidates for the matrix material of soft electronics, yet they are susceptible to fracture due to the inevitable flaws generated during applications. Introducing microstructures, sacrificial bonds, and sliding cross-linking has been recognized as an effective way to improve the flaw insensitivity rate (R ). However, these elastomers still prone to failure under tensile loads with the presence of even small flaws.

Interfacial Coordination Interaction Enables Soft Elastomer Composites High Thermal Conductivity and High Toughness.

Soft elastomers have attracted wide applications, such as soft electronic devices and soft robotics, due to their ability to undergo large deformation with a small external force. Most elastomers suffer from poor toughness and thermal conductivity, which limits their use. The addition of inorganic fillers can enhance the thermal conductivity and toughness, but it deteriorates the softness (low Young's modulus and high stretchability).

Zebularine protects against blood-brain-barrier (BBB) disruption through increasing the expression of zona occludens-1 (ZO-1) and vascular endothelial (VE)-cadherin.

Blood-brain-barrier (BBB) disruption is an important pathological characteristic of ischemic stroke (IS) and mainly results from dysfunction of brain vascular endothelial cells and tight junctions. Zebularine is a novel inhibitor of DNA methyltransferase (DNMT). Here, we assessed its effects on BBB disruption in IS.

Phoenixin-20 Ameliorates Lipopolysaccharide-Induced Activation of Microglial NLRP3 Inflammasome.

Injury associated with neuroinflammation has been linked with several kinds of neurodegenerative diseases. The activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome plays an important role in microglia-mediated inflammation. Phoenixin (PNX)-20 is a newly discovered neuropeptide with pleiotropic effects involved in the regulation of reproductive and cognitive function, depression, and food uptake.

Room-Temperature Welding of Silver Telluride Nanowires for High-Performance Thermoelectric Film.

Flexible thermoelectric materials that can harvest waste heat energy have attracted great attention because of the rapid progress of flexible electronics. AgTe nanowires (AgTe NWs) are considered as promising thermoelectric materials to fabricate flexible thermoelectric film and device because of their high Seebeck coefficient, but poor contact between the AgTe NWs results in low electrical conductivity. Generally, hot or cold pressing can increase the electrical conductivity between the AgTe NWs.

Highly Compressive Boron Nitride Nanotube Aerogels Reinforced with Reduced Graphene Oxide.

Boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs), structural analogues of carbon nanotubes, have attracted significant attention due to their superb thermal conductivity, wide bandgap, excellent hydrogen storage capacity, and thermal and chemical stability. Despite considerable progress in the preparation and surface functionalization of BNNTs, it remains a challenge to assemble one-dimensional BNNTs into three-dimensional (3D) architectures (such as aerogels) for practical applications. Here, we report a highly compressive BNNT aerogel reinforced with reduced graphene oxide (rGO) fabricated using a freeze-drying method.