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Lithium sulfur batteries (LiSBs) represent a highly promising avenue for future energy storage systems, offering high energy density and eco-friendliness. However, the sluggish kinetics of the sulfur redox reaction (SRR) poses a significant challenge to their widespread applications. To tackle this challenge, we have developed an efficient heteronuclear dual-atom catalyst (hetero-DAC) that leverages surface charge polarization to enhance the asymmetric adsorption of sulfur intermediates. This study investigates how asymmetric electronic redistribution of CoFe DACs modulates the d-p orbital hybridization with sulfur intermediates, revealing the mechanisms of moderate adsorption dynamics with enhanced catalytic performance. The dynamic switching between mono and dual adsorption sites, enabled by the heteronuclear polarized configuration, fine-tunes the orbital hybridization, boosting the bidirectional rate-determining steps, that is, the solid-solid conversion of Li 2 S 2 to Li 2 S and the reverse dissociation of Li 2 S. Consequently, the thus-designed CoFe DACs cathode delivers impressive rate performance, achieving a high initial specific capacity of 703.9 mA h g -1 at 3 C, with a negligible decay rate of only 0.031% over 1000 cycles, demonstrating sustained long-term cycling stability. This work bridges geometric configurations and electronic structures, elucidating the mechanisms of asymmetric trapping and conversion enabled by hetero-DACs and offering fresh perspectives for catalyst design in LiSBs and beyond.

Background: Trigeminal neuralgia (TN) is defined as spontaneous pain in the region of the trigeminal nerve that seriously affects a patient's quality of life. Percutaneous balloon compression of the trigeminal ganglion is a simple and reproducible surgical procedure that reduces the incidence of TN, but the postoperative outcome is poor in some patients, with it being ineffective or TN recurring., Objectives: To establish a machine learning-based clinical imaging nomogram to predict the recurrence of trigeminal neuralgia in patients treated with percutaneous balloon compression., Study Design: Retrospective study., Methods: The clinical data of 209 patients with TN treated with percutaneous balloon compression at Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University from January 2017 through August 2023 were retrospectively collected and randomized into training and validation cohorts. All imaging histologic morphological features were extracted from the intraoperative x-ray balloon region using 3D slicer software. The relationship among clinical factors, least absolute shrinkage and selection operator, and 4 machine learning predictions of the patient's TN prognosis were analyzed using a one-way analysis of clinical factors. A prediction model was constructed using receiver operating characteristics curve analysis. The performance of the clinical imaging histogram of patients' TN prognoses was evaluated using a receiver operating characteristics curve and decision curve analysis. The model was finally validated using a validation cohort and a receiver operating characteristics curve., Results: The training group included 149 patients; 16 morphology-related imaging histological features were extracted for analysis. After one-way logistic regression analysis, least absolute shrinkage and selection operator analysis incorporated original_shape_Elongation, original_shape_MajorAxisLength, original_shape_flatness morphology-related imaging histologic features, gender, and affected side to give a total of 6 predictors. The final results were obtained for gender, affected side, and MajorAxisLength. Finally, 4 machine learning receiver operating characteristics curves for random forest tree, support vector machine, generalized linear model, and extreme gradient boosting models were obtained for the clinical and imaging features of gender, affected side, drug, original_shape_MajorAxisLength, and original_shape_flatness. The areas under the receiver operating characteristics curves were 0.990, 0.993, 0.990, and 0.986, respectively. Finally, predictive column maps of affected side, gender, original_shape_flatness, and MajorAxisLength were constructed using the support vector machine method, and the area under the receiver operating characteristics curve of the model was 0.99, which suggests that the model had good predictive ability. Decision curve analysis  and calibration curves showed high applicability of column-line diagrams in clinical practice. Our validation cohort consisting of 60 patients had an area under the receiver operating characteristics curve of 0.857., Limitations: This study was performed in a single center. The nature of this study was retrospective rather than prospective and randomized, and it was not possible to entirely control for nuisance variables., Conclusion: Screening clinical information by machine learning, combined with a clinical imaging histology nomogram, has good potential for predicting the prognosis of a patient's TN treated with percutaneous balloon compression, and is suitable for clinical application in patients with TN after percutaneous balloon compression.

Optimizing the druggability of both native and AI-designed bioactive proteins is crucial for realizing their therapeutic potential. A key focus in designing protein-based therapeutics is improving their pharmacokinetic properties. However, a significant challenge is to preserve biological activity while implementing long-acting strategies. Fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21), an endogenous hormone with potential as a treatment for non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), exemplifies this challenge. In this study, we present a novel lipidation-dimerization (LiDi) platform that integrates lipidation with a dimeric form of FGF21 connected by a hydrophilic linker. The lipidation enhances albumin binding, enabling sustained release, while the dimeric structure boosts biological activity. In vivo evaluations of the LiDi FGF21 analogs demonstrated that they offer excellent pharmacokinetic properties and superior efficacy compared to other treatments for NASH. This platform effectively extends the therapeutic half-life of proteins without compromising their activity, substantially broadening the application range of proteins as therapeutics., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest Fei Zhao and Yunliang Qiu own shares of Shanghai InnoStar Bio-tech Co., Ltd. Jianguang Lu owns shares of Shanghai Duomirui Bio-tech Co., Ltd., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Background: Classic trigeminal neuralgia (CTN) seriously affects patients' quality of life. Percutaneous balloon compression (PBC) is a surgical program for treating trigeminal neuralgia. But some patients are ineffective or relapse after treatment. The aim is to use machine learning to construct clinical imaging models to predict relapse after treatment (PBC)., Methods: The clinical data and intraoperative balloon imaging data of CTN from January 2017 to August 2023 were retrospectively analyzed. The relationship between least absolute shrinkage and selection operator and random forest prediction of PBC postoperative recurrence, ROC curve and decision -decision curve analysis is used to evaluate the impact of imaging histology on TN recurrence., Results: Imaging features, like original_shape_Maximum2D, DiameterRow, Original_Shape_Elongation, etc. predict the prognosis of TN on PBC. The areas under roc curve were 0.812 and 0.874, respectively. The area under the ROC curve of the final model is 0.872. DCA and calibration curves show that nomogram has a promising future in clinical application., Conclusion: The combination of machine learning and clinical imaging and clinical information has the good potential of predicting PBC in CTN treatment. The efficacy of CTN is suitable for clinical applications of CTN patients after PBC., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Wu, Qin, Zhou, Wei, Qin, Chen, Cai, Shen, Yang, Xu, Chai and Xiong.)

Efficient DNA replication requires highly coordinated programs for the timely recruitment of protein complexes to DNA replication forks. Defects in this process result in replication stress, which in turn activates cell cycle checkpoints, suppresses cell proliferation and induces apoptosis. In response to persistent cell growth signals that speed up DNA replication processes, cells accelerate the recruitment of DNA replication proteins to avoid DNA replication stress. The mechanisms by which cell growth signals induce processes to facilitate the recruitment of DNA replication proteins onto the replication sites remain unclear. Here, we report that the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) phosphorylates heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) for DNA replication. Such a modification promotes nuclear localization and chromatin association of HSP70, which interacts with the DNA replication coordinator, proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA). HSP70 subsequently facilitates the loading of PCNA onto chromatin. Knockdown or chemical inhibition of HSP70 suppresses PCNA association with chromatin and impairs DNA synthesis and Okazaki fragment maturation, leading to replicative DNA double-strand breaks and apoptosis. Furthermore, chemical inhibition of HSP70 potentiates EGFR-tyrosine kinase inhibitor-induced tumor reduction in vivo. This work expands our understanding of oncogenesis-induced DNA replication processes and provides a foundation for improved treatments for EGFR-mutated lung cancer by simultaneously targeting HSP70., (© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research.)

Objectives: To investigate the risk factors for short-term residual low back pain (SRBP) following percutaneous kyphoplasty (PKP) in patients with initial thoracolumbar osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures (OVCFs)., Methods: The clinical data of 389 patients with primary thoracolumbar OVCFs treated with PKP in our hospital from January 2018 to December 2022 were retrospectively analysed. A numerical rating scale (NRS) was used to evaluate whether SRBP was present 2 days after the operation. Patients with NRS scores > 4 were assigned to the SRBP group, and those with NRS scores ≤ 4 were assigned to the non-SRBP group. The general clinical data and surgical imaging-related data of the two groups were statistically analysed. Risk factors were analysed using binary logistic regression analysis., Results: Binary logistic regression analysis showed four independent predictors of SRBP after PKP, including bone mineral density (BMD) (OR = 0.087, P = 0.044), preoperative injured vertebral kyphosis (OR = 1.26, P = 0.01), preoperative thoracolumbar fascia injury (TLFI) (OR = 8.929, P < 0.001), and cement distribution type (OR = 5.921, P < 0.001) and bone cement filling ratio (OR = 0.651, P < 0.001)., Conclusions: A decreased BMD, a larger preoperative kyphosis angle of the injured vertebra, preoperative TLFI, bone cement distributed in blocks and a low cement filling ratio of the injured vertebra are closely related to the occurrence of SRBP in OVCF patients after PKP. Clinicians should pay more attention to the prevention and treatment of risk indicators to further improve the therapeutic effect of PKP., Trial Registration: The trial was registered in the China Trial Registry (ChiCTR 2200067164)., Competing Interests: Declarations. Ethics approval and consent to participate: This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Yixing People’s Hospital (No. 2022 − 186). The data were obtained from the impatient medical records, as a retrospective study and data analysis were performed anonymously, this study was exempt from the informed consent from patients. All procedures were performed in accordance with relevant guidelines. Consent for publication: Not applicable. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Targeting Parkinson's disease (PD) related protein, α-synuclein (αS), via gold nanoclusters (AuNCs) has received considerable attention in PD treatments, but its molecular basis on the initial interactions between αS and AuNCs remains elusive due to the absence of a unique secondary structure of αS chains. Here, at the single-cluster level, we incorporate well-tempered metadynamics simulations to explore the structural and thermodynamic characteristics of the full length αS adsorbed on different-sized AuNCs (Au n , n = 25, 36, 44, 68, 102) with modeled thiolated ligands (Au n @Lig). The conformational landscapes of αS indicate that uncharged Au n @SCH 2 OH chaperones the native intrinsically disordered conformations of αS, while negatively and positively charged AuNCs greatly increase the likelihood of forming intramolecular β-sheet domains, which are necessary for αS fibrillation and are a hallmark of PD. The binding details further demonstrate the significant inhibitory effect of the medium-sized Au 36 @SCH 2 OH on αS misfolding into β-sheet domains. This provides a valuable guideline for customizing AuNCs to precisely manipulate protein folding and misfolding behaviors, with potential implications for disease treatments.

Conjugative plasmids are important vectors of mobile antibiotic resvistance genes (ARGs), facilitating their horizontal transfer within the environment. While composting is recognized as an effective method to reduce antibiotics and ARGs in animal manure, its impact on the bacterial host communities containing antibiotic-resistant plasmids remains unclear. In this study, we investigated the permissiveness of bacterial community during composting when challenged with multidrug-resistant conjugative RP4 plasmids, employing Pseudomonas putida as the donor strain. Ultimately, this represents the first exploration of the effects of aeration rates on the range of RP4 plasmid transfer hosts. Transconjugants were analyzed through fluorescent reporter gene-based fluorescence-activated cell sorting and Illumina sequencing. Overall, aeration rates were found to influence various physicochemical parameters of compost, including temperature, pH, total organic matter, total nitrogen, and potassium. Regarding RP4 plasmid host bacteria, the dominant phylum was determined to shift from Bacteroidetes in the raw material to Proteobacteria in the compost. Notably, a moderate-intensity aeration rate (0.05 L/min/L) was found to be more effective in reducing the diversity and richness of the RP4 plasmid host bacterial community. Following composting, the total percentage of dominant transconjugant-related genera decreased by 66.15-76.62%. Ultimately, this study determined that the aeration rate negatively impacts RP4 plasmid host abundance primarily through alterations to the environmental factors during composting. In summary, these findings enhance our understanding of plasmid host bacterial communities under varying composting aeration rates and offer novel insights into preventing the dissemination of ARGs from animal manure to farmland., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The decline in birth rates has raised concerns about the safety of infants and young children (0-18 months), particularly those who suffer suffocation or even death during sleep from their own or external causes. How to ensure that infants and young children can safely pass through this dangerous period after birth is the focus of this project. This article focuses on sleeping infants and young children as the subject of research. Blood oxygen sensors and heart rate sensors attached to socks are used to monitor changes in blood oxygen and heart rate when infants and young children experience asphyxia. The changes are then transmitted via Bluetooth to a mobile app and an alarm sound is generated to act as a good warning. At the same time, the researchers received good feedback from testing the garments on two babies and toddlers, indicating they provide an effective warning.

Background: To evaluate the utility of glucose chemical exchange saturation transfer (glucoCEST) MRI with non-contrast injection in predicting the histological grade of rectal cancer., Methods: This prospective analysis included 60 patients with preoperative rectal cancer who underwent pelvic glucoCEST, amide proton transfer-weighted imaging (APTWI), and diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI). In total, 21 low-grade and 39 high-grade cases were confirmed by postoperative pathology. The MTRasym (1.2 ppm), MTRasym (3.5 ppm), and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values of lesions between the low-grade and high-grade groups were compared. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) was generated to evaluate the diagnostic performance of each technique. Logistic regression (LR) analysis was applied to determine independent predictors and for multi-parameter combined diagnosis., Results: Elevated MTRasym (1.2 ppm), MTRasym (3.5 ppm) values and lower ADC values were observed in the high-grade group compared with low-grade cases (all p < 0.01). The AUCs of MTRasym (1.2 ppm), MTRasym (3.5 ppm), and ADC for differentiating between low- and high-grade rectal cancer cases were 0.792, 0.839, and 0.855, respectively. The diagnostic performance of the combination of the three indexes was improved (AUC, 0.969; sensitivity, 95.24%; specificity, 87.18%). The good consistency and reliability of the combination of independent predictors were demonstrated by calibration curve analysis and DCA., Conclusion: The glucoCEST MRI without contrast injection, APTWI, and DWI all facilitate the assessment of histological grade in rectal cancer, and the combination of the three can effectively discriminate between high- and low-grade rectal cancer, which is expected to be a promising imaging marker., Critical Relevance Statement: The glucose chemical exchange saturation transfer MRI method facilitates the assessment of histological grade in rectal cancer and offers additional information to improve the diagnostic performance of amide proton transfer-weighted imaging, and diffusion-weighted imaging., Key Points: Glucose chemical exchange saturation transfer imaging could differentiate histological grade. Amide proton transfer-weighted and diffusion-weighted were associated with histological grade. The combination of different parameters showed the best diagnostic performance., Competing Interests: Declarations Ethics approval and consent to participate This prospective study had approval from our hospital’s ethics review committee and each patient provided signed informed consent. Consent for publication All participants provided written informed consent. Competing interests Z.S., who is employee of Philips Healthcare, gave guidance to this paper in terms of technical parameters and language embellishment. The remaining authors declare no relationships with any companies whose products or services may be related to the subject matter of the article., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

As Africa grapples with the challenges of energy access, economic growth, urbanization and industrialization, as well as the environmental degradation, the adoption of renewable energy technologies emerges as a promising solution. Therefore, this article examines the effects of socioeconomic growth and renewable energy integration on environmental sustainability in 32 African countries using the auto-regressive distributed lag (ARDL) model, nonlinear ARDL (NARDL) model, and Dumitrescu and Hurlin causality. The findings demonstrate that urbanization, industrialization, and economic growth all contribute to environmental deterioration. The ARDL model estimation shows that for every 1% increase in economic growth, industrialization, and urbanization, there will be a 1% rise in CO 2 , respectively. Similarly, the results indicate that an additional 1% in economic growth and industrialization is expected to result in a 0.14% and 0.02% increase in ecological footprint, respectively. The NARDL model shows that industrialization significantly contribute into the CO 2 increase, while renewable energy consumption decreases ecological footprint. Moreover, the causality test revealed the bidirectional causality between industrialization and CO 2 , and urbanization and ecological footprint. Renewable energy consumption in both models showed the potential to enhance environmental quality, underscoring the significance of integrating renewable energy with socioeconomic development to support sustainable development., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Liver cancer, one of the most common malignant tumors, has seriously threatened people's physical and mental health. The paper was conducted to investigate the functions of two different anesthesia methods on Tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), C-reactive protein (CRP) and T lymphocyte subsets in patients undergoing liver cancer resection, and to explore the liver function impact of patients undergoing liver cancer surgery. 80 liver cancer patients were split into propofol intravenous anesthesia group and sevoflurane inhalation anesthesia group. The patient's operation-related indicators and changes in TNF-α, CRP and T lymphocyte subsets before anesthesia, after anesthesia, 1 day after anesthesia, and 3 days after anesthesia were calculated. The levels of TNF-α and CRP in the two groups after operation were clearly higher than those before anesthesia, but there was no obvious difference between the two groups. After operation, the TNF-α of the propofol intravenous anesthesia group was lower than the sevoflurane inhalation anesthesia group. The CD3+, CD4+ and CD4+/CD8+ levels in both groups recovered to the pre-anaesthesia level 3 days after the operation. The levels of ALT, AST, ALB and TBIL returned to normal at d4 in both propofol intravenous anesthesia and sevoflurane inhalation anesthesia groups. Compared with evoflurane inhalation anesthesia for patients with liver cancer, intravenous anesthesia with propofol can reduce the body's inflammatory response to a certain extent, has weak inhibitory effect on T lymphocyte immune function, and a smaller effect on liver function.

Purpose: A major limitation of long-term peritoneal dialysis (PD) is peritoneal membrane dysfunction characterized by faster peritoneal solute-transport rate (PSTR). This study aimed to identify efficient complement factors in peritoneal effluents of continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) patients that can predict the PSTR., Methods: A multiplex suspension protein array was used to screened related complement pathways in overnight peritoneal effluents among 58 CAPD patients. Then the related complement factors in lectin and classical pathways in effluents were analyzed using ELISA kits among another cohort of 129 CAPD patients. Logistic regression modeling was fitted to predict the PSTR of PD patients., Results: The multiplex suspension protein array showed complement factors including C2, C4b, C5, C5a, Factor D, Factor I, and MBL were detected in effluents of CAPD patients, and the effluent C2 Appearance rate (Ar) and C4b Ar levels were significantly correlated with D/P Cr and D/D0 glucose. The levels of effluents MASP-1 Ar, M-Ficolin Ar, C2 Ar and C4b Ar, which belong to the lectin pathway were also positively correlated with D/P Cr according the ELISA results and these parameters were expressed higher in the high and high-average (H/HA) groups according to the PET results. Moreover, effluent Masp-1 was independently associated with increased PSTR and adverse events related peritoneal transport function failure., Conclusion: This study suggested that the lectin pathway may be involved in local complement activation and peritoneal injury of PD patients, intraperitoneal level of Masp-1 was an independent predictor of increased PSTR in PD patients., Competing Interests: The authors hereby declare that they have no competing interests., (© 2024 Li et al.)

Aim: Preoperative pneumonia in children with CHD may lead to longer stays in the ICU after surgery. However, research on the associated risk factors is limited. This study aims to evaluate the pre-, intra-, and postoperative risk factors contributing to extended ICU stays in these children., Methods: This retrospective cohort study collected data from 496 children with CHD complicated by preoperative pneumonia who underwent cardiac surgery following medical treatment at a single centre from 2017 to 2022. We compared the clinical outcomes of patients with varying ICU stays and utilised multivariate logistic regression analysis and multiple linear regression analyses to evaluate the risk factors for prolonged ICU stays., Results: The median ICU stay for the 496 children was 7 days. Bacterial infection, severe pneumonia, and Risk Adjustment for Congenital Heart Surgery-1 were independent risk factors for prolonged ICU stays following cardiac surgery ( P < 0.05)., Conclusion: CHD complicated by pneumonia presents a significant treatment challenge. Better identification of the risk factors associated with long-term postoperative ICU stays in these children, along with timely diagnosis and treatment of respiratory infections in high-risk populations, can effectively reduce ICU stays and improve resource utilisation.

Osteopetrosis is an inherited metabolic disease, characterized by increased bone density and narrow marrow cavity. Patients with severe osteopetrosis exhibit abnormal bone brittleness, anemia, and infection complications, which commonly cause death within the first decade of life. Pathologically, osteopetrosis impairs not only the skeletal system, but also the hemopoietic and immune systems during development, while the underlying osteoimmunological mechanisms remain unclear. Osteoclastic mutations are regarded as the major causes of osteopetrosis, while osteoclast non-autonomous theories have been proposed in recent years with unclear underlying mechanisms. Retinoic acid (RA), the metabolite of Vitamin A, is an essential requirement for skeletal and hematopoietic development, through the activation of retinoic acid signaling. RA can relieve osteopetrosis symptoms in some animal models, while its effect on bone health is still controversial and the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. In this study, we constructed an osteoblast-specific inhibitory retinoic acid signaling mouse model and surprisingly found it mimicked the symptoms of osteopetrosis found in clinical cases: dwarfism, increased imperfectly-formed trabecular bone deposition with a reduced marrow cavity, thin cortical bone with a brittle skeleton, and hematopoietic and immune dysfunction. Micro-CT, the three-point bending test, and histological analysis drew a landscape of poor bone quality. Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) of the femur and RNA-seq of osteoblasts uncovered an atlas of pathological skeletal metabolism dysfunction in the mutant mice showing that osteogenesis was impaired in a cell-autonomous manner and osteoclastogenesis was impaired via osteoblast-osteoclast crosstalk. Moreover, scRNA-seq of bone marrow and flow cytometry of peripheral blood, spleen, and bone marrow uncovered pathology in the hematopoietic and immune systems in the mutant mice, mimicking human osteopetrosis. Results showed that hematopoietic progenitors and B lymphocyte differentiation were affected and the osteoblast-dominated cell crosstalk was impaired, which may result from transcriptional impairment of the ligands Pdgfd and Sema4d. In summary, we uncovered previously unreported pathogenesis of osteopetrosis-like disorder in mice with skeletal, hematopoietic, and immune system dysfunction, which was induced by the inhibition of retinoic acid signaling in osteoblasts, and sheds new insights into a potential treatment for osteopetrosis., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Background: The co-occurrence of Lemierre's syndrome, primarily triggered by Fusobacterium necrophorum following oropharyngeal infection, with diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) in diabetes mellitus (DM) patients, underscores a rare but life-threatening clinical scenario. Lemierre's syndrome induced DKA is extremely rare, with only one case report in adult and no case yet reported in elderly., Case Presentation: We reported a case of a 69-year-old female who presented with DKA triggered by deep neck space infection (DNSI), leading to rapid clinical deterioration within 6 h that necessitated high flow nasal cannula (HFNC) and antibiotic administration. Laboratory findings included leukocytosis, elevated serum C-reactive protein, hyperglycemia, ketonemia, and severe metabolic acidosis. Culture of the fluid from a neck mass puncture drainage and blood were positive for Klebsiella pneumoniae. The patient was further complicated by thrombosis of the left internal jugular vein with extension to the sigmoid and a neck abscess surrounding the carotid artery sheath, consistent with Lemierre's syndrome. This condition was managed aggressively with fluid resuscitation, insulin therapy, surgical drainage, antibiotics, and anticoagulation led to a significant improvement in her condition. Following a 13-day hospitalization, there was significant clinical improvement, culminating in the patient's discharge., Conclusions: The case highlights the need for greater awareness and understanding of the interrelated and mutually promoting conditions of DKA and Lemierre's syndrome among clinicians. Early recognition and treatment are crucial to prevent mortality in such complex cases., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Dobinin K is a novel eudesmane sesquiterpenoids compound isolated from the root of Dobinea delavayi and displays potential antiplasmodial activity in vivo. Here, we evaluate the antiplasmodial activity of dobinin K in vitro and study its acting mechanism. The antiplasmodial activity of dobinin K in vitro was evaluated by concentration-, time-dependent, and stage-specific parasite inhibition assay. The potential target of dobinin K on Plasmodium falciparum was predicted by transcriptome analysis. Apoptosis of P. falciparum was detected by Giemsa, Hoechst 33258, and TUNEL staining assay. The reactive oxygen species (ROS) level, oxygen consumption, and mitochondrial membrane potential of P. falciparum were assessed by DCFH-DA, R01, and JC-1 fluorescent dye, respectively. The effect of dobinin K on the mitochondrial electron transport chain (ETC) was investigated by enzyme activity analysis and the binding abilities of dobinin K with different enzymes were learned by molecular docking. Dobinin K inhibited the growth of P. falciparum in a concentration-, time-dependent, and stage-specific manner. The predicted mechanism of dobinin K was related to the redox system of P. falciparum . Dobinin K increased intracellular ROS levels of P. falciparum and induced their apoptosis. After dobinin K treatment, P. falciparum mitochondria lost their function, which was presented as decreased oxygen consumption and depolarization of the membrane potential. Among five dehydrogenases in P. falciparum ETC, dobinin K displayed the best inhibitory power on NDH2 activity. Our findings indicate that the antiplasmodial effect of dobinin K in vitro is mediated by the enhancement of the ROS level in P. falciparum and the disruption of its mitochondrial function.

Lower-grade glioma (LGG) is a common primary brain tumor with a highly heterogeneous clinical presentation, and its prognosis cannot be accurately predicted by current histopathology. It has been found that mitochondria play an important role in hypoxia, angiogenesis, and energy metabolism in glioma, and mitochondrial function may have an important impact on LGG prognosis. The goal of this study was to develop a novel prognostic model based on Mitochondrial-related genes (MRGs). We first analyzed the somatic alterations profiles of MRGs in patients with LGG and found that somatic alterations were common in LGG and correlated with prognosis. Using RNA-seq data from TCGA and CGGA, 12 prognosis-related MRGs were identified to construct a mitochondrial activation score (MiAS) model by combining univariate regression and LASSO regression analysis. The model and nomogram were evaluated using the area under the ROC curve with AUC = 0.910. The model was closely correlated with the clinical characteristics of LGG patients and performed well in predicting the prognosis of LGG patients with significantly shorter overall survival (OS) time in the high-MiAS group. GSVA and GSEA results showed that oxidative stress, pro-cancer, and immune-related pathways were significantly enriched in the high-MiAS group. CIBERSORT results showed that MiAS was significantly associated with immune cell infiltration in LGG. Macrophage M1 and follicular helper T cells had increased infiltration in the high-MiAS group. TIDE predicted a better immunotherapy outcome in patients in the low-MiAS group. Finally, using data from the CTRPv2 and GDSC2 datasets to assess chemotherapy response in LGG, it was predicted that the chemotherapeutic agents AZD6482, MG-132, and PLX-4720 might be potential agents for patients in the high-MiAS group of LGG. In addition, we performed in vitro experiments and found that knockdown of OCIAD2 expression reduced the abilities of glioma cells to proliferate, migrate, and invade. In contrast, overexpression of OCIAD2 enhanced these abilities of glioma cells. This study found that MRGs were correlated with LGG patient prognosis, which is expected to provide new treatment strategies for LGG patients with different MiAS., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

Accurate construction of artificial nano-chaperones' structure is crucial for precise regulation of protein conformational transformation, facilitating effective treatment of proteopathy. However, how the ligand-anchors of nano-chaperones affect the spatial conformational changes in proteins remains unclear, limiting the development of efficient nano-chaperones. In this study, three types of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) with different core/ligands interface anchor structures (Au─NH─R, Au─S─R, and Au─C≡C─R, R = benzoic acid) are synthesized as an ideal model to investigate the effect of interfacial anchors on Aβ and amylin fibrillization. Computational results revealed that the distinct interfacial anchors imparted diverse distributions of electrostatic potential on the nanointerface and core/ligands bond strength of AuNPs, leading to differential interactions with amyloid peptides. Experimental results demonstrated that all three types of AuNPs exhibit site-specific inhibitory effects on Aβ 40 fibrillization due to preferential binding. For amylin, amino-anchored AuNPs demonstrate strong adsorption to multiple sites on amylin and effectively inhibit fibrillization. Conversely, thiol- and alkyne-anchored AuNPs adsorb at the head region of amylin, promoting folding and fibrillization. This study not only provided molecular insights into how core/ligands interfacial anchors of nanomaterials induce spatial conformational changes in amyloid peptides but also offered guidance for precisely engineering artificial-chaperones' nanointerfaces to regulate the conformational transformation of proteins., (© 2024 Wiley‐VCH GmbH.)

Regulating the morphology of graphitic carbon nitride (g-C 3 N 4 , CN) and constructing CoFe 2 O 4 /g-C 3 N 4 (CFO/CN) heterojunctions were adopted in the photocatalytic energy storage and photocatalytic CO 2 reduction (PCR). CFO/CNS had outstanding light response ability, while CFO/CNT possessed excellent charge transfer ability. Consequently, CFO/CNT electrode exhibited the highest specific capacitance without light, CFO/CNS electrode showed the most obvious photo-enhanced capacitance behavior with an increase by 21.05 % under light. This was ascribed to the generation and separation of photo-generated carriers, promoting oxidation/reduction reactions. And in PCR, the electron consumption rates of four CFO/CN heterojunctions were CFO/CNT > CFO/BCN > CFO/MCN > CFO/CNS. CFO/CNT presented the highest photocatalytic activity, attributing to the strong redox ability and photo-enhanced electron transfer. This strategy of utilizing CFO/CN heterojunctions to construct photo-enhanced supercapacitor electrodes and photocatalytic CO 2 reduction catalysts provided new ideas for energy conversion and storage., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Alcoholic liver disease (ALD) is a chronic toxic liver injury caused by long-term heavy drinking. Due to the increasing incidence, ALD is becoming one of important medical tasks. Many studies have shown that the main mechanism of liver damage caused by large amounts of alcohol may be related to antioxidant stress. As an important antioxidant, cysteine (Cys) is involved in maintaining the normal redox balance and detoxifying metabolic function of the liver, which may be closely related to the pathogenesis of ALD. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a simple non-invasive method for rapid monitoring of Cys in liver. Thus, a near-infrared (NIR) fluorescent probe DCI-Ac-Cys which undergoes Cys triggered cascade reaction to form coumarin fluorophore is developed. Using the DCI-Ac-Cys, decreased Cys was observed in the liver of ALD mice. Importantly, different levels of Cys were monitored in the livers of ALD mice taking silybin and curcumin with the antioxidant effects, indicating the excellent therapeutic effect on ALD. This study provides the important references for the accurate diagnosis of ALD and the pharmacodynamic evaluation of silybin and curcumin in the treatment of ALD, and support new ideas for the pathogenesis of ALD., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Aim: This cross-sectional study explored the relationships among perceived stress, social support, positive coping, and mental health in frontline nurses caring for patients with COVID-19 in China., Design: A quantitative cross-sectional study., Methods: A convenience sample of 339 eligible frontline nurses was identified from a designated hospital for COVID-19 in Shanghai, China, between May 2022 and August 2022. Data from nurses were collected through an online survey that contained 4 measurement domains: perceived stress, social support, coping strategies, and mental health. Path analysis was used to analyze the data in SPSS 24.0 and AMOS 23.0., Results: The model tested in the path analysis fit the data well. The results demonstrated relationships among perceived stress, social support, positive coping, and mental health among frontline nurses caring for patients with COVID-19. Social support had a positive effect on positive coping strategies and a negative effect on perceived stress and mental health. In addition, path analysis indicated that social support moderated the relationship between perceived stress and mental health in nurses., Conclusions: Nurses experienced work-related mental stress while providing COVID-19-related care. Based on study findings, social support is expected to play a key role in stress management in nurses. Expanding opportunities for social support is an essential step for nurses to improve their mental health and quality of life., Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Early prediction of acute pancreatitis (AP) with acute kidney injury (AKI) using abdominal contrast-enhanced CT could effectively reduce the mortality and the economic burden on patients and society. However, this challenge is limited by the imaging manifestations of early-stage AP that are not clearly visible to the naked eye. To address this, we developed a machine learning model using imperceptible variations in the structural changes of pancreas and peripancreatic region, extracted by radiomics and artificial intelligence technology, to screen and stratify the high-risk AP patients at the early stage of AP. The results demonstrate that the machine learning model could screen the high-risk AP with AKI patients with an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.82 for the external cohort, superior to the human radiologists. This finding confirms the significant potential of machine learning in the screening of acute pancreatitis and contributes to personalized treatment and management for AP patients., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2024 The Author(s).)

Parkinson's disease is a prevalent neurological disorder, with dimethylamine (DMA) recognized as a crucial breath biomarker, particularly at the parts per billion (ppb) level. Detecting DMA gas at this level, especially at room temperature and high humidity, remains a formidable challenge. This study presents an ultrasensitive chemiresistor DMA gas sensor, leveraging the CeO 2 -coated Ti 3 C 2 T x MXene/carbon nanofiber (CeO 2 /MXene/C NFs) heterostructure to enhance dimethylamine sensing. The high conductivity of MXene, combined with C-Ti-O bonds and a sp 2 hybridized hexagonal carbon structure, increases surface active sites. The presence of Ce 3+ promotes the formation of surface-active oxygen species, while the MXene-CeO 2 heterojunction broadens the electron depletion layer. Theoretical calculations reveal that the highest adsorption energy for DMA gas is at the Ce top site, explaining the sensor's satisfactory sensitivity, rapid response and recovery process, low detection limit (5 ppb), and high selectivity at room temperature. The Ce 3+ /Ce 4+ dynamic self-refresh mechanism, involving surface hydroxyl elimination, enhances the sensor's performance under high-humid conditions. Clinical breath tests demonstrate the sensor's ability to distinguish between healthy individuals and Parkinson's disease patients, paving the way for developing next-generation sensors for early diagnosis of neurological disorders.

In computational molecular and materials science, determining equilibrium structures is the crucial first step for accurate subsequent property calculations. However, the recent discovery of millions of new crystals and super large twisted structures has challenged traditional computational methods, both ab initio and machine-learning-based, due to their computationally intensive iterative processes. To address these scalability issues, here we introduce DeepRelax, a deep generative model capable of performing geometric crystal structure relaxation rapidly and without iterations. DeepRelax learns the equilibrium structural distribution, enabling it to predict relaxed structures directly from their unrelaxed ones. The ability to perform structural relaxation at the millisecond level per structure, combined with the scalability of parallel processing, makes DeepRelax particularly useful for large-scale virtual screening. We demonstrate DeepRelax's reliability and robustness by applying it to five diverse databases, including oxides, Materials Project, two-dimensional materials, van der Waals crystals, and crystals with point defects. DeepRelax consistently shows high accuracy and efficiency, validated by density functional theory calculations. Finally, we enhance its trustworthiness by integrating uncertainty quantification. This work significantly accelerates computational workflows, offering a robust and trustworthy machine-learning method for material discovery and advancing the application of AI for science., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of steamed ginger extract (GGE03) in subjects with mild knee osteoarthritis (OA). In total, 100 subjects were randomly assigned (1 : 1) to the GGE03 (0.48 g day -1 as GGE03) or placebo (0 g day -1 as GGE03) group and administered 1.6 g of the product for 12 weeks. Biomarkers were measured before and after intervention. At the efficacy endpoint, pain visual analog scale (VAS) Korean-Western Ontario and McMaster University Osteoarthritis Index (K-WOMAC; total scores, sub-scores) and patient global assessment (PGA) were found to be decreased in a statistically significantly manner in the GGE03 group compared to the placebo group. No significant changes were observed in any safety endpoint. These results suggest that GGE03 intake is useful as a functional food because it has beneficial effects in terms of improving joint pain as well as managing or preventing knee OA without side effects.

Postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD) is a prevalent neurological complication that can impair learning and memory for days, months, or even years after anesthesia/surgery. POCD is strongly associated with an altered composition of the gut microbiota (dysbiosis), but the accompanying metabolic changes and their role in gut-brain communication and POCD pathogenesis remain unclear. Here, the present study reports that anesthesia/surgery in aged mice induces elevated intestinal indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) expression and activity, which shifts intestinal tryptophan (TRP) metabolism toward more IDO-catalyzed kynurenine (KYN) and less gut bacteria-catabolized indoleacetic acid (IAA). Both anesthesia/surgery and intraperitoneal KYN administration induce increased KYN levels that correlate with impaired spatial learning and memory, whereas dietary IAA supplementation attenuates the anesthesia/surgery-induced cognitive impairment. Mechanistically, anesthesia/surgery increases interferon-γ (IFN-γ)-producing group 1 innate lymphoid cells (ILC1) in the small intestine lamina propria and elevates intestinal IDO expression and activity, as indicated by the higher ratio of KYN to TRP. The IDO inhibitor 1-MT and antibodies targeting IFN-γ or ILCs mitigate anesthesia/surgery-induced cognitive dysfunction, suggesting that intestinal ILC1 expansion and the ensuing IFN-γ-induced IDO upregulation may be the primary pathway mediating the shift to the KYN pathway in POCD. The ILC1-KYN pathway in the intestine could be a promising therapeutic target for POCD., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

ConspectusElectrides make up a fascinating group of materials with unique physical and chemical properties. In these materials, excess electrons do not behave like normal electrons in metals or form any chemical bonds with atoms. Instead, they "float" freely in the gaps within the material's structure, acting like negatively charged particles called anions (see the graph). Recently, there has been a surge of interest in van der Waals (vdW) electrides or electrenes in two dimensions. A typical example is layered lanthanum bromide (LaBr 2 ), which can be taken as [La 3+ (Br 1- ) 2 ] + •(e - ). Each excess free electron is trapped within a hexagonal pore, forming dense dots of electron density. These anionic electrons are loosely bound, giving vdW electrides some unique properties such as ferromagnetism, superconductivity, topological features, and Dirac plasmons. The high density of the free electron makes electrides very promising for applications in thermionic emission, organic light-emitting diodes, and high-performance catalysts.In this Account, we first discuss the discovery of numerous vdW electrides through high-throughput computational screening of over 67,000 known inorganic crystals in Materials Project. A dozen of them have been newly discovered and have not been reported before. Importantly, they possess completely different structural prototypes and properties of anionic electrons compared to widely studied electrides such as Ca 2 N. Finding these new vdW electrides expands the variety of electrides that can be made in the experiment and opens up new possibilities for studying their unique properties and applications.Then, based on the screened vdW electrides, we delve into their various emerging properties. For example, we developed a new magnetic mechanism specific to atomic-orbital-free ferromagnetism in electrides. We uncover the dual localized and extended nature of the anionic electrons in such electrides and demonstrate the formation of the local moment by the localized feature and the ferromagnetic interaction by the direct overlapping of their extended states. We further show the effective tuning of the magnetic properties of vdW electrides by engineering their structural, electronic, and compositional properties. Besides, we show that the complex interaction between the multiple quantum orderings in vdW electrides leads to many interesting properties including valley polarization, charge density waves, a topological property, a superconducting property, and a thermoelectrical property.Moreover, we discuss strategies to leverage the unique intrinsic properties of vdW electrides for practical applications. We show that these properties make vdW electrides potential candidates for advanced applications such as spin-orbit torque memory devices, valleytronic devices, K-ion batteries, and thermoelectricity. Finally, we discuss the current challenges and future perspectives for research using these emerging materials.

While computer vision has proven valuable for medical image segmentation, its application faces challenges such as limited dataset sizes and the complexity of effectively leveraging unlabeled images. To address these challenges, we present a novel semi-supervised, consistency-based approach termed the data-efficient medical segmenter (DEMS). The DEMS features an encoder-decoder architecture and incorporates the developed online automatic augmenter (OAA) and residual robustness enhancement (RRE) blocks. The OAA augments input data with various image transformations, thereby diversifying the dataset to improve the generalization ability. The RRE enriches feature diversity and introduces perturbations to create varied inputs for different decoders, thereby providing enhanced variability. Moreover, we introduce a sensitive loss to further enhance consistency across different decoders and stabilize the training process. Extensive experimental results on both our own and three public datasets affirm the effectiveness of DEMS. Under extreme data shortage scenarios, our DEMS achieves 16.85% and 10.37% improvement in dice score compared with the U-Net and top-performed state-of-the-art method, respectively. Given its superior data efficiency, DEMS could present significant advancements in medical segmentation under small data regimes. The project homepage can be accessed at https://github.com/NUS-Tim/DEMS., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Given that it was a once-in-a-century emergency event, the confinement measures related to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic caused diverse disruptions and changes in life and work patterns. These changes significantly affected water consumption both during and after the pandemic, with direct and indirect consequences on biodiversity. However, there has been a lack of holistic evaluation of these responses. Here, we propose a novel framework to study the impacts of this unique global emergency event by embedding an environmentally extended supply-constrained global multi-regional input-output model (MRIO) into the drivers-pressure-state-impact-response (DPSIR) framework. This framework allowed us to develop scenarios related to COVID-19 confinement measures to quantify country-sector-specific changes in freshwater consumption and the associated changes in biodiversity for the period of 2020-2025. The results suggest progressively diminishing impacts due to the implementation of COVID-19 vaccines and the socio-economic system's self-adjustment to the new normal. In 2020, the confinement measures were estimated to decrease global water consumption by about 5.7% on average across all scenarios when compared with the baseline level with no confinement measures. Further, such a decrease is estimated to lead to a reduction of around 5% in the related pressure on biodiversity. Given the interdependencies and interactions across global supply chains, even those countries and sectors that were not directly affected by the COVID-19 shocks experienced significant impacts: Our results indicate that the supply chain propagations contributed to 79% of the total estimated decrease in water consumption and 84% of the reduction in biodiversity loss on average. Our study demonstrates that the MRIO-enhanced DSPIR framework can help quantify resource pressures and the resultant environmental impacts across supply chains when facing a global emergency event. Further, we recommend the development of more locally based water conservation measures-to mitigate the effects of trade disruptions-and the explicit inclusion of water resources in post-pandemic recovery schemes. In addition, innovations that help conserve natural resources are essential for maintaining environmental gains in the post-pandemic world., (Copyright © 2024 Science China Press. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: Group 3 innate lymphoid cells (ILC3s) are enriched in the intestinal mucosa and play important roles in host defense against infection and inflammatory diseases. Sirtuin 6 (SIRT6) is a nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+)- dependent deacetylase and has been shown to control intestinal epithelial cell differentiation and survival. However, the role of SIRT6 in ILC3s remains unknown., Methods: To investigate the role of SIRT6 in gut ILC3s, we generated SIRT6 conditional knockout mice by crossing Rorccre and Sirt6flox/flox mice. Cell number and cytokine production was examined using flow cytometry. Citrobacter rodentium infection and dextran sodium sulfate-induced colitis models were used to determine the role of SIRT6 in gut defense. RT-qPCR, flow cytometry and immunohistochemistry were used to assess the intestinal inflammatory responses., Results: Here we show that SIRT6 inhibits IL-22 expression in intestinal ILC3s in a cell-intrinsic manner. Deletion of SIRT6 in ILC3s does not affect the cell numbers of total ILC3s and subsets, but results in increased IL-22 production. Furthermore, ablation of SIRT6 in ILC3s protects mice against Citrobacter rodentium infection and dextran sodium sulfate-induced colitis. Our results suggest that SIRT6 may play a role in ILC3 function by regulating gut immune responses against bacterial infection and inflammation., Discussion: Our finding provided insight into the relation of epigenetic regulators with IL-22 production and supplied a new perspective for a potential strategy against inflammatory bowel disease., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Su, Zhao, Zhang, Wang, Sun and Shen.)

Weakly coupled mode-division-multiplexing (MDM) systems based on intensity modulation and direct detection (IM-DD) are a good candidate for further improving the capacity of short-reach optical interconnections. However, restrained by the modal crosstalk of the transmission link and the reception of degenerate mode groups (DMGs) utilizing bandwidth-limited multimode photodetectors (PDs), high-speed MDM IM-DD has encountered a capacity bottleneck. In this Letter, we investigate a high-speed weakly coupled MDM IM-DD transmission system utilizing a degenerate mode diversity receiver scheme adopting high-bandwidth single-mode PDs over a multiple-ring-core (MRC) few-mode fiber (FMF) and a low-crosstalk mode multiplexer/demultiplexer (MUX/DMUX). An MDM IM-DD transmission with four DMGs and eight wavelengths is experimentally demonstrated with 112-GBaud four-level pulse-amplitude modulation (PAM4) and probabilistically shaped PAM8 per lane over 200-m weakly coupled MRC-FMF. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first experimental demonstration of the MDM IM-DD transmission system with up to 112-GBaud baud rate and beyond 6.4-Tb/s net rate. Meanwhile, the experimental results show that the proposed MDM IM-DD transmission link has a superior performance only adopting a low-complexity feedforward equalizer, making it a promising candidate for high-speed optical interconnections.

Chronic graft-versus-host disease (GvHD) is the leading cause of late death in allogenic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation recipients, of which the kidney is a potential target. In this article, we report an extremely rare case of chronic GvHD, characterized by immune complex-mediated diffuse proliferative glomerulonephritis and various autoantibodies detected in the serum; it is the first case of lupus-like chronic GvHD reported to date. The patient responded well to intensive immunosuppressive therapy and reached complete remission. Mycophenolate mofetil was more effective than tacrolimus in this case, suggesting that treatment of kidney diseases associated with chronic GvHD should be based on pathogenesis and pathological patterns., (© 2024. The Author(s) under exclusive licence to Italian Society of Nephrology.)

Transient receptor potential (TRP) melastatin member 8 (TRPM8) is a non-selective cation channel that can be activated by low temperatures (8-26 °C), cooling agents (including menthol analogs such as menthol, icilin, and WS-12), voltage, and extracellular osmotic pressure changes. TRPM8 expression has been identified in the digestive system by several research teams, demonstrating its significant involvement in tissue function and pathologies of the digestive system. Specifically, studies have implicated TRPM8 in various physiological and pathological processes of the esophagus, stomach, colorectal region, liver, and pancreas. This paper aims to comprehensively outline the distinct role of TRPM8 in different organs of the digestive system, offering insights for future mechanistic investigations of TRPM8. Additionally, it presents potential therapeutic targets for treating conditions such as digestive tract inflammation, tumors, sensory and functional disorders, and other related diseases. Furthermore, this paper addresses the limitations of existing studies and highlights the research prospects associated with TRPM8.

Aims: This study aims to assess the status and related factors among healthcare workers (HCWs) in designated quarantine-hospital-site (DQHS) based on the model of health ecology., Methods: The cross-sectional study was conducted from April to May, 2022, which included 351 valid samples. We measured sleep quality using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, which encompasses seven dimensions: subjective sleep quality, sleep latency, sleep duration, habitual sleep efficiency, sleep disturbances, use of sleep medication, and daytime dysfunction. Each dimension is scored individually, contributing to an overall sleep quality score. Factors associated with the sleep quality of HCWs in DQHS were divided into individual, behavioral, interpersonal and social dimensions. Hierarchical linear regressions were conducted to identify the potential factors associated with sleep quality among HCWs in DQHS., Results: HCWs in DQHS had a statistically higher sleep quality than the Chinese national norm. HCWs who were female, afraid of Coronavirus disease, had more negative emotions, frequently worked overtime, were married, and had a higher income were more likely to experience worse sleep quality ( p  < 0.05), while those who worked between 51 and 70 h weekly, treated over 10 patients daily, and engaged in more health behaviors may have better sleep quality ( p  < 0.05)., Conclusion: This study revealed a worrying level of sleep quality among HCWs in DQHS. The government, hospital managers, and families should collaborate to ensure the sleep quality of HCWs in DQHS., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Zhou, Shen, Tan, Zhou, Zheng and Jiang.)

Background: An increasing number of studies have demonstrated the association of circular RNAs (circRNAs) with the pathological processes of various diseases and their involvement in the onset and progression of multiple cancers. Nevertheless, the functional roles and underlying mechanisms of circRNAs in the autophagy regulation of gastric cancer (GC) have not been fully elucidated., Methods: We used transmission electron microscopy and the mRFP-GFP-LC3 dual fluorescent autophagy indicator to investigate autophagy regulation. The cell counting kit-8 assay, colony formation assay, 5-ethynyl-2'-deoxyuridine incorporation assay, Transwell assay, and Western blot assay were conducted to confirm circPTPN22's influence on GC progression. Dual luciferase reporter assays validated the binding between circPTPN22 and miR-6788-5p, as well as miR-6788-5p and p21-activated kinase-1 (PAK1). Functional rescue experiments assessed whether circPTPN22 modulates PAK1 expression by competitively binding miR-6788-5p, affecting autophagy and other biological processes in GC cells. We investigated the impact of circPTPN22 on in vivo GC tumors using a nude mouse xenograft model. Bioinformatics tools predicted upstream regulatory transcription factors and binding proteins of circPTPN22, while chromatin immunoprecipitation and ribonucleoprotein immunoprecipitation assays confirmed the binding status., Results: Upregulation of circPTPN22 in GC has been shown to inhibit autophagy and promote cell proliferation, migration, and invasion. Mechanistically, circPTPN22 directly binds to miR-6788-5p, subsequently regulating the expression of PAK1, which activates protein kinase B (Akt) and extracellular signal-regulated kinase (Erk) phosphorylation. This modulation ultimately affects autophagy levels in GC cells. Additionally, runt-related transcription factor 1 (RUNX1) negatively regulates circPTPN22 expression, while RNA-binding proteins such as FUS (fused in sarcoma) and ELAVL1 (recombinant ELAV-like protein 1) positively regulate its expression. Inhibition of the autophagy pathway can increase FUS expression, further upregulating circPTPN22 in GC cells, thereby exacerbating the progression of GC., Conclusion: Under the regulation of the transcription factor RUNX1 and RNA-binding proteins FUS and ELAVL1, circPTPN22 activates the phosphorylation of Akt and Erk through the miR-6788-5p/PAK1 axis, thereby modulating autophagy in GC cells. Inhibition of autophagy increases FUS, which in turn upregulates circPTPN22, forming a positive feedback loop that ultimately accelerates the progression of GC., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

In this paper, an integrated few-mode erbium-doped fiber amplifier (FM-EDFA), with high gain, low differential modal gain (DMG), and low gain flatness for multi-wavelength amplification, is constructed using homemade weakly-coupled ring-core few-mode erbium-doped fiber (FM-EDF) and low insertion-loss passive components. The gain characteristics of the FM-EDFA for multi-wavelength amplification are analyzed in detail and compared with single-wavelength amplification. The experimental results demonstrate that, although multi-wavelength amplification in different modes has an impact on the gain characteristics, through simple LP 01 core pumping only, all guided modes can achieve a gain higher than 22.4 dB when simultaneously amplifying 8 wavelength channels. The DMG is less than 1.179 dB, the minimum DMG across the C-band is as low as 0.168 dB, and the wavelength gain flatness is less than 3.232 dB. Furthermore, when the three-signal mode is multiplexed for amplification, the DMG can be stabilised at less than 2 dB. The constructed FM-EDFA can achieve gain equalization in multi-wavelength amplification across the C-band, which has essential practical applications in long-haul WDM-MDM transmission systems.

Objective: To investigate the risk factors for delayed postoperative bleeding after endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) in patients with gastric precancerous lesions and to construct a risk prediction model., Methods: This retrospective analysis included clinical data from patients with gastric precancerous lesions who underwent ESD at Wuhan University People's Hospital between November 2016 and June 2022. An XGBoost model was built to predict delayed bleeding after ESD using risk factors identified by univariable and multivariate logistic regression analysis. The model was evaluated using receiver operating characteristic curves (ROC), and SHapely Additive exPlanations (SHAP) analysis was used to interpret the model., Results: Seven factors were statistically associated with delayed postoperative bleeding in gastric precancerous lesions after ESD: age, low-grade intraepithelial neoplasia, hypertension, lesion size ≥ 40 mm, operative time ≥ 120 min, female, and nonuse of hemoclips. A risk prediction model was established. In the training cohort, the model achieved an AUC of 0.97 (0.96-0.98), a sensitivity of 0.90, a specificity of 0.94, and an F1 score of 0.91. In the validation cohort, the AUC was 0.94(0.90-0.98), with a sensitivity of 0.85, a specificity of 0.89, and an F1 score of 0.85. In the test cohort, the AUC was 0.94 (0.89-0.99), the sensitivity was 0.80, the specificity was 0.92, and the F1 score was 0.84, indicating strong predictive capability., Conclusion: In this study, an XGBoost prediction model for assessing the risk of delayed postoperative bleeding after ESD in patients with gastric precancerous lesions was developed and validated. This model can be applied in clinical practice to effectively predict the risk of post-ESD bleeding for individual patients., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

Background: Amide proton transfer-weighted imaging (APTWI) and multiple models intravoxel incoherent motion (IVIM) based 18 F-FDG PET/MR could reflect the microscopic information of the tumor from multiple perspectives. However, its value in the prognostic assessment of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) still needs to be further explored., Purpose: To determine whether pretreatment APTWI, mono-, bi-, and stretched-exponential model IVIM, and 18 F-FDG PET-derived parameters of the primary lesion may be associated with progression-free survival (PFS) in NSCLC., Study Type: Prospective., Population: Seventy-seven patients (mean age, 62 years, range, 20-81 years) with 37 men and 40 women were included., Field Strength/sequence: 3.0 T 18 F-FDG PET/MRI, single shot echo planar imaging sequences for IVIM and fast spin-echo sequences with magnetization transfer pulses for APTWI., Assessment: Patient clinical characteristics (age, sex, smoke, subtype, TNM stage, and surgery), PFS (chest CT every 3 months, median follow-up was 18 months, range, 4-27 months), and APTWI (MTRasym(3.5 ppm)), IVIM (ADC stand , D, D*, f, DDC, and α), and 18 F-FDG PET (SUV max , MTV, and TLG) parameters were recorded., Statistical Tests: Proportional hazards model, concordance index, calibration curve, decision curve analysis (DCA), and Log-rank test. A P value <0.05 was considered statistically significant., Results: Histological subtype, TNM stage, MTV, D*, and MTRasym(3.5 ppm) were all independent predictors of PFS. A prediction model based on these predictors was developed with a C-index of 0.895 (95% CI: 0.839-0.951), which was significantly superior to each of the above predictors alone (C-index = 0.629, 0.707, 0.692, 0.678, and 0.558, respectively). The calibration curve and DCA indicated good consistency and clinical utility of the prediction model, respectively. Log-rank test results showed a significant difference in PFS between the high- and low-risk groups., Data Conclusion: APTWI and multiple models IVIM based 18 F-FDG PET/MRI can be used for PFS assessment in NSCLC., Evidence Level: 3 TECHNICAL EFFICACY: Stage 2., (© 2023 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.)

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) based on tin (Sn) have shown great potential as materials for lithium storage, thanks to their ability to alleviate volume expansion due to the homogeneous distribution of Sn in a porous matrix framework. However, the weak mechanical strength of the porous Sn-MOF structure has been a major challenge, leading to pulverization during the discharging/charging process. To overcome this issue, we have developed a feasible strategy to strengthen the Sn-MOF mechanical properties by incorporating SiO 2 /GeO 2 nanoparticles during the synthesis process. The resulting composites of Sn-Si and Sn-Ge exhibited high energy density and long-term cycle stability, thanks to their synergistic effect in alloying and conversion reactions. Our density functional theory (DFT) calculations have revealed that the rigid SiO 2 /GeO 2 nanoparticles enhance the Sn-MOF mechanical properties, including Young's and shear moduli, which contribute to the long-term cycle stability of these composites.

Adipose tissue group 2 innate lymphoid cells (ILC2s) help maintain metabolic homeostasis by sustaining type 2 immunity and promoting adipose beiging. Although impairment of the ILC2 compartment contributes to obesity-associated insulin resistance, the underlying mechanisms have not been elucidated. Here, we found that ILC2s in obese mice and humans exhibited impaired liver kinase B1 (LKB1) activation. Genetic ablation of LKB1 disrupted ILC2 mitochondrial metabolism and suppressed ILC2 responses, resulting in exacerbated insulin resistance. Mechanistically, LKB1 deficiency induced aberrant PD-1 expression through activation of NFAT, which in turn enhanced mitophagy by suppressing Bcl-xL expression. Blockade of PD-1 restored the normal functions of ILC2s and reversed obesity-induced insulin resistance in mice. Collectively, these data present the LKB1-PD-1 axis as a promising therapeutic target for the treatment of metabolic disease., Competing Interests: Declaration of interests Jiping Sun, Y.Z., and L.S. are co-inventors on a patent application filed by Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine related to this work., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Adipose progenitor cells (APCs) are heterogeneous stromal cells and help to maintain metabolic homeostasis. However, the influence of obesity on human APC heterogeneity and the role of APC subpopulations on regulating glucose homeostasis remain unknown. Here, we find that APCs in human visceral adipose tissue contain four subsets. The composition and functionality of APCs are altered in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D). CD9 + CD55 low APCs are the subset which is significantly increased in T2D patients. Transplantation of these cells from T2D patients into adipose tissue causes glycemic disturbance. Mechanistically, CD9 + CD55 low APCs promote T2D development through producing bioactive proteins to form a detrimental niche, leading to upregulation of adipocyte lipolysis. Depletion of pathogenic APCs by inducing intracellular diphtheria toxin A expression or using a hunter-killer peptide improves obesity-related glycemic disturbance. Collectively, our data provide deeper insights in human APC functionality and highlights APCs as a potential therapeutic target to combat T2D. All mice utilized in this study are male., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

As cost-effective catalysts, platinum (Pt) single-atom catalysts (SACs) have attracted substantial attention. However, most studies indicate that Pt SACs in acidic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) follow the slow Volmer-Heyrovsky (VH) mechanism instead of the fast kinetic Volmer-Tafel (VT) pathway. Here, this work propose that the VH mechanism in Pt SACs can be switched to the faster VT pathway for efficient HER by correlating Pt single atoms (SAs) with Pt clusters (Cs). Our calculations reveal that the correlation between Pt SAs and Cs significantly impacts the electronic structure of exposed Pt atoms, lowering the adsorption barrier for atomic hydrogen and enabling a faster VT mechanism. To validate these findings, this work purposely synthesize three catalysts: l-Pt@MoS 2 , m-Pt@MoS 2 and h-Pt@MoS 2 with low, moderate, and high Pt-loading, having different distributions of Pt SAs and Cs. The m-Pt@MoS 2 catalyst with properly correlating Pt SAs and Cs exhibits outstanding performance with an overpotential of 47 mV and Tafel slope of 32 mV dec -1 . Further analysis of the Tafel values confirms that the m-Pt@MoS 2 sample indeed follows the VT reaction mechanism, aligning with the theoretical findings. This study offers a deep understanding of the synergistic mechanism, paving a way for designing novel-advanced catalysts., (© 2024 Wiley‐VCH GmbH.)

Accumulating salinity in soil critically affected growth, development, and yield in plant. However, the mechanisms of plant against salt stress largely remain unknown. Herein, we identified a gene named SmCYP78A7a, which encoded a cytochrome P450 monooxygenase and belonged to the CYP78A sub-family, and its transcript level was significantly up-regulated by salt stress and down-regulated by dehydration stress. SmCYP78A7a located in the endoplasmic reticulum. Silencing of SmCYP78A7a enhanced susceptibility of eggplant to salt stress, and significantly down-regulated the transcript levels of salt stress defense related genes SmGSTU10 and SmWRKY11 as well as increased hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ) content and decreased catalase (CAT), peroxidase (POD), and ascorbate peroxidase (APX) enzyme activities. In addition, SmCYP78A7a transient expression enhanced eggplant tolerance to salt stress. By chromatin immunoprecipitation PCR (ChIP-PCR), luciferase reporter assay, and electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA), SmWRKY11 activated SmCYP78A7a expression by directly binding to the W-box 6-8 (W-box 6, W-box 7, and W-box 8) within SmCYP78A7a promoter to confer eggplant tolerance to salt stress. In summary, our finds reveal that SmCYP78A7a positively functions in eggplant response to salt stress via forming a positive feedback loop with SmWRKY11, and provide a new insight into regulatory mechanisms of eggplant to salt stress., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

RNA splicing dysregulation and the involvement of specific splicing factors are emerging as common factors in both obesity and metabolic disorders. The study provides compelling evidence that the absence of the splicing factor SRSF1 in mature adipocytes results in whitening of brown adipocyte tissue (BAT) and impaired thermogenesis, along with the inhibition of white adipose tissue browning in mice. Combining single-nucleus RNA sequencing with transmission electron microscopy, it is observed that the transformation of BAT cell types is associated with dysfunctional mitochondria, and SRSF1 deficiency leads to degenerated and fragmented mitochondria within BAT. The results demonstrate that SRSF1 effectively binds to constitutive exon 6 of Ndufs3 pre-mRNA and promotes its inclusion. Conversely, the deficiency of SRSF1 results in impaired splicing of Ndufs3, leading to reduced levels of functional proteins that are essential for mitochondrial complex I assembly and activity. Consequently, this deficiency disrupts mitochondrial integrity, ultimately compromising the thermogenic capacity of BAT. These findings illuminate a novel role for SRSF1 in influencing mitochondrial function and BAT thermogenesis through its regulation of Ndufs3 splicing within BAT., (© 2024 The Authors. Advanced Science published by Wiley‐VCH GmbH.)

Humoral immunity depends on the germinal center (GC) reaction where B cells are tightly controlled for class-switch recombination and somatic hypermutation and finally generated into plasma and memory B cells. However, how protein SUMOylation regulates the process of the GC reaction remains largely unknown. Here, we show that the expression of SUMO-specific protease 1 (SENP1) is up-regulated in GC B cells. Selective ablation of SENP1 in GC B cells results in impaired GC dark and light zone organization and reduced IgG1-switched GC B cells, leading to diminished production of class-switched antibodies with high-affinity in response to a TD antigen challenge. Mechanistically, SENP1 directly binds to Paired box protein 5 (PAX5) to mediate PAX5 deSUMOylation, sustaining PAX5 protein stability to promote the transcription of activation-induced cytidine deaminase. In summary, our study uncovers SUMOylation as an important posttranslational mechanism regulating GC B cell response., Competing Interests: Competing interests statement:The authors declare no competing interest.

Group 2 innate lymphoid cells (ILC2s) play crucial roles in mediating allergic inflammation. Recent studies also indicate their involvement in regulating tumor immunity. The tumor suppressor liver kinase B1 (LKB1) inactivating mutations are associated with a variety of human cancers; however, the role of LKB1 in ILC2 function and ILC2-mediated tumor immunity remains unknown. Here, we show that ablation of LKB1 in ILC2s results in an exhausted-like phenotype, which promotes the development of lung melanoma metastasis. Mechanistically, LKB1 deficiency leads to a marked increase in the expression of programmed cell death protein-1 (PD-1) in ILC2s through the activation of the nuclear factor of activated T cell pathway. Blockade of PD-1 can restore the effector functions of LKB1-deficient ILC2s, leading to enhanced antitumor immune responses in vivo. Together, our results reveal that LKB1 acts to restrain the exhausted state of ILC2 to maintain immune homeostasis and antitumor immunity., Competing Interests: Declaration of interests H.N., J.S., and L.S. are co-inventors on a patent application filed by Shanghai Institute of Immunology related to this work., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Hemifacial spasm (HFS) is most effectively treated with microvascular decompression (MVD). However, there are certain challenges in performing MVD for HFS when the vertebral artery (VA) is involved in compressing the facial nerve (VA-involved). This study aimed to introduce a "bridge-layered" decompression technique for treating patients with VA-involved HFS and to evaluate its efficacy and safety to treat patients with HFS., Methods: A single-center retrospective analysis was conducted on the clinical data of 62 patients with VA-involved HFS. The tortuous trunk of VA was lifted by a multi-point "bridge" decompression technique to avoid excessive traction of the cerebellum and reduce the risk of damage to the facial-acoustic nerve complex. To fully decompress all the responsible vessels, the branch vessels of VA were then isolated using the "layered" decompression technique., Results: Among the 62 patients, 59 patients were cured immediately after the surgery, two patients were delayed cured after two months, and one had occasional facial muscle twitching after the surgery. Patients were followed up for an average of 19.5 months. The long-term follow-up results showed that all patients had no recurrence of HFS during the follow-up period, and no patients developed hearing loss, facial paralysis, or other permanent neurological damage complications. Only two patients developed tinnitus after the surgery., Conclusion: The "bridge-layered" decompression technique could effectively treat VA-involved HFS with satisfactory safety and a low risk of hearing loss. The technique could be used as a reference for decompression surgery for VA-involved HFS., (© 2024. The Author(s).)