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Metabolic reprogramming induced by Epstein‐Barr virus (EBV) often mirrors metabolic changes observed in cancer cells. Accumulating evidence suggests that lytic reactivation is crucial in EBV‐associated oncogenesis. The aim of this study was to explore the role of metabolite changes in EBV‐associated malignancies and viral life cycle control. We first revealed that EBV (LMP1) accelerates the secretion of the oncometabolite D‐2HG, and serum D‐2HG level is a potential diagnostic biomarker for NPC. EBV (LMP1)‐driven metabolite changes disrupts the homeostasis of global DNA methylation and demethylation, which have a significantly inhibitory effect on active DNA demethylation and 5hmC content. We found that loss of 5hmC indicates a poor prognosis for NPC patients, and that 5hmC modification is a restriction factor of EBV reactivation. We confirmed a novel EBV reactivation inhibitor, α‐KG, which inhibits the expression of EBV lytic genes with CpG‐containing ZREs and the latent‐lytic switch by enhancing 5hmC modification. Our results demonstrate a novel mechanism of which metabolite abnormality driven by EBV controls the viral lytic reactivation through epigenetic modification. This study presents a potential strategy for blocking EBV reactivation, and provides potential targets for the diagnosis and therapy of NPC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High metastatic propensity of osteosarcoma leads to its therapeutic failure and poor prognosis. Although nuclear activation miRNAs (NamiRNAs) are reported to activate gene transcription via targeting enhancer and further promote tumor metastasis, it remains uncertain whether NamiRNAs regulate osteosarcoma metastasis and their exact mechanism. Here, we found that extracellular vesicles of the malignant osteosarcoma cells (143B) remarkably increased the migratory abilities of MNNG cells representing the benign osteosarcoma cells by two folds, which attributed to their high miR‐1246 levels. Specially, miR‐1246 located in nucleus could activate the migration gene expression (such as MMP1) to accelerate MNNG cell migration through elevating the enhancer activities via increasing H3K27ac enrichment. Instead, MMP1 expression was dramatically inhibited after Argonaute 2 (AGO2) knockdown. Notably, in vitro assays demonstrated that AGO2 recognized the hybrids of miR‐1246 and its enhancer DNA via PAZ domains to prevent their degradation from RNase H and these protective roles of AGO2 may favor the gene activation by miR‐1246 in vivo. Collectively, our findings suggest that miR‐1246 could facilitate osteosarcoma metastasis through interacting with enhancer to activate gene expression dependent on AGO2, highlighting the nuclear AGO2 as a guardian for NamiRNA‐targeted gene activation and the potential of miR‐1246 for osteosarcoma metastasis therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dielectric capacitors are desired for electronics and electrical power systems because of their fast charge–discharge speed and high‐power density. Nevertheless, dielectric capacitors typically exhibit lower energy densities in comparison to other energy storage systems like batteries or fuel cells. Among dielectrics, antiferroelectrics have shown great promise for high energy density because of their characteristic double hysteresis loops. However, current antiferroelectric capacitors still face challenges of low efficiency and low breakdown strength due to their large hysteresis, which is harmful to energy efficiency and reliability of the system. Herein, by engineering the nanoscale heterogeneity to mitigate hysteresis and controlling orientation to enhance the polarization, the exceptional energy storage performance of antiferroelectric (Pb0.97La0.02)(Zr0.55Sn0.45)O3 epitaxial thin films is demonstrated. Atomic‐resolution transmission electron microscopy and X‐ray reciprocal space mapping confirm the presence of nanoscale structural heterogeneity, characterized by fragmented antipolar nanodomains. These films exhibit remarkable energy densities, reaching up to ≈84.5 J cm−3, coupled with ultrahigh efficiencies of up to ≈98.5% and superior stability, maintaining efficiencies above 92% across a wide field range of ≈5 MV cm−1. Notably, these findings surpass the capabilities of previously reported dielectric materials, opening new avenues for advanced energy storage applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Rice false smut caused by Ustilaginoidea virens is a devastating rice (Oryza sativa) disease worldwide. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying U. virens–rice interactions are largely unknown. In this study, we identified a secreted protein, Uv1809, as a key virulence factor. Heterologous expression of Uv1809 in rice enhanced susceptibility to rice false smut and bacterial blight. Host‐induced gene silencing of Uv1809 in rice enhanced resistance to U. virens, suggesting that Uv1809 inhibits rice immunity and promotes infection by U. virens. Uv1809 suppresses rice immunity by targeting and enhancing rice histone deacetylase OsSRT2‐mediated histone deacetylation, thereby reducing H4K5ac and H4K8ac levels and interfering with the transcriptional activation of defence genes. CRISPR‐Cas9 edited ossrt2 mutants showed no adverse effects in terms of growth and yield but displayed broad‐spectrum resistance to rice pathogens, revealing a potentially valuable genetic resource for breeding disease resistance. Our study provides insight into defence mechanisms against plant pathogens that inactivate plant immunity at the epigenetic level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Laser‐induced periodic surface structure (LIPSS) can form structural color on the metal surfaces with high production efficiency and thermal stability, and has been used in various industrial applications such as unfaded color marking and anti‐counterfeiting. Herein, a novel fabrication scheme of multilayer LIPSS is proposed by multiple writing in situ with changing the laser polarization direction, to exhibit an effect of color superposition. To verify this approach, the color formation mechanism of LIPSS on the stainless‐steel surface is analyzed by finite‐element numerical calculation and reveals that the high‐angular dispersion of LIPSS is mainly the result of optical diffraction occurring on the surface of periodic structures. The relationship between the angular dispersion of multilayer LIPSS and laser‐processing parameters is established. Through the proposed multilayer LIPSS coloring technology, vivid full‐color patterns on the steel surface are demonstrated, and the in situ superposition of three‐layer graphs is realized, which can greatly enrich the color levels and be competitive in industrial applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the operation and maintenance of the power system, power outages and supply‐demand imbalances can disrupt the normal power supply process. This issue must be mitigated or even resolved through the implementation of an appropriate power system risk warning. The article proposes a self‐assessment and early warning strategy for power system hazards based on an enhanced ant colony optimization algorithm (IACO) and a BP neural network. First, a combination of the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and the Entropy Weighting Method (EWM) is used to assign weights comprehensively to indicators that have a significant impact on the stability and safety of power system operation, thereby avoiding the negative impact of subjective experience or objective factors on the weight allocation results. Secondly, multiple regression analysis is used to calculate the risk assessment results of the selected indicators and weights corresponding to the power system. Training and testing samples for the BP neural network were calculated based on the weight allocation procedure described previously. Then, IACO is employed to global optimize the weights and thresholds of the BP neural network, and an enhanced BP neural network model for independent power system risk assessment is developed. The designed risk assessment and warning strategy was finally evaluated. The results indicate that the proposed power system risk assessment and early warning method can precisely predict the actual operating status of the power system based on weight values, thereby enhancing power supply quality by providing technical personnel with a data reference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intracellular decay of N6‐methyladenine (m6A)‐containing RNA potentially induces aberrant N6‐methyl‐2′‐adenine (6mdA) misincorporation into DNA. Biophysically, misincorporated 6mdA may destabilize the DNA duplex in a manner similar to bona fide methylated 6mdA DNA, thereby affecting DNA replication and transcription. Utilizing heavy stable isotope labeling and ultrasensitive UHPLC–MS/MS assay, we demonstrate that intracellular m6A‐RNA decay does not generate free 6mdA species, nor lead to any misincorporated DNA 6mdA in most mammalian cell lines tested, unveiling the existence of a sanitation mechanism that prevents 6mdA misincorporation. Depletion of deaminase ADAL increases the levels of free 6mdA species, concomitant with the presence of DNA‐misincorporated 6mdA resulting from intracellular RNA m6A decay, suggesting that ADAL catabolizes 6mdAMP in vivo. Furthermore, we show that the overexpression of adenylate kinase 1 (AK1) promotes 6mdA misincorporation, while AK1 knockdown diminishes 6mdA incorporation, in ADAL‐deficient cells. We conclude that ADAL together with other factors (such as MTH1) contributes to 2′‐deoxynucleotide pool sanitation in most cells but compromised sanitation (e.g., in NIH3T3 cells) and increased AK1 expression may facilitate aberrant 6mdA incorporation. This sanitation mechanism may provide a framework for the maintenance of the epigenetic 6mdA landscape. Synopsis: Intracellular decay of m6A‐containing RNA may induce aberrant N6‐methyl‐2′‐adenine (6mdA) incorporation into DNA, affecting its replication and transcription. This study unveils a 2′‐deoxynucleotide pool sanitation mechanism acting to suppress potential DNA 6mdA misincorporation.Intracellular m6A‐RNA decay does not induce any free 6mdA species, nor lead to any misincorporated DNA 6mdA in most mammalian cell lines tested.An active sanitation mechanism blocks 6mdA misincorporation.ADAL deaminase and other regulatory factors, such as MTH1, contribute to the sanitation.Compromised sanitation and increased adenylate kinase AK1 expression facilitate aberrant 6mdA incorporation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simultaneous optical microscopy and electric transport measurements on La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 nanobridges, grown on SrTiO3 (STO), show direct evidence of directional oxygen vacancy migration under large voltage bias. Comparative study on discontinuous structures, with voltages applied across a micron‐scale gap, demonstrates that high electric fields induce electrolytic modifications confined to the anode. Extensive electromigration is shown to induce the formation of linear surface scars on the STO substrate, following well defined crystallographic directions. The reproducible triggering of these surface dislocations is demonstrated, unveiling their thermal rather than electrical origin and it is shown that they do not represent electroformed conduction channels. High‐resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy imaging reveals that the scars correspond to nanometer scale steps caused by (101) gliding planes in the STO caused by the proliferation of edge dislocations and local lattice expansion. These findings shed light on selective electrically‐controlled atom migration and its role in structural modification of functional oxides, opening a unique avenue for ionotronic device design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Solar ultraviolet (UV)‐induced DNA lesions are associated with skin carcinogenesis. The detection of these DNA lesions is important to understand their genotoxicity and health effects. However, sunlight exposure‐relevant DNA damage measurement is still a challenge. Here, we summarize our recent progresses on the related analytical techniques, including synthesis of dimeric lesions, the optimization of procedures for ultrahigh performance liquid chromatography–coupled mass spectrometry (UHPLC‐MS/MS), and the maturation of anti‐T(6‐4)T photoproduct antibodies and their potential applications for immunoassay. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Solar ultraviolet (UV)‐induced DNA lesions are associated with skin carcinogenesis. The detection of these DNA lesions is important to understand their genotoxicity and health effects. However, sunlight exposure‐relevant DNA damage measurement is still a challenge. Here, we summarize our recent progresses on the related analytical techniques, including synthesis of dimeric lesions, the optimization of procedures for ultrahigh performance liquid chromatography–coupled mass spectrometry (UHPLC‐MS/MS), and the maturation of anti‐T(6‐4)T photoproduct antibodies and their potential applications for immunoassay. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and objectives: For most of the application of cereal materials, sample pretreatments are considered critical factors. Different pretreatments (roasting and amylase hydrolysis) prior to extraction were employed to obtain oat protein (OP) from oat grains. The effect of pretreatment on the structure and functional properties of OPs was determined. Findings: Analysis of sodium dodecyl sulfate–polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS‐PAGE) revealed that the oat proteins were glycated during the roasting pretreatment and amylase hydrolysis pretreatment, of which the grafting degree was increased to 55.34 ± 0.32% by amylase hydrolysis pretreatment. These pretreatments could lead to the increase in surface hydrophobicity (H0) and thermal stability of OP, but reduced its emulsifying properties and solubility. In addition, the pretreatments also raised the content of α‐helix, turns, and random coil, but decreased β‐strand content. Conclusions: These results suggested that glycation induced prominent changes in the secondary and tertiary structure, including the formation of a new tertiary structure. Significance and novelty: These results are of great significance for improving the applicability of the oat pretreatment in the food industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metabolic remodeling is now widely recognized as a hallmark of cancer, yet its role in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) remains largely unknown. In this study, metabolomic analysis of melatonin‐treated HNSCC cell lines revealed that exogenous melatonin inhibited many important metabolic pathways including folate cycle in HNSCC cells. Methylenetetrahydrofolate dehydrogenase 1 like (MTHFD1L), a metabolic enzyme of the folate cycle regulating the production of formate, was identified as a downstream target of melatonin. MTHFD1L was found to be markedly upregulated in HNSCC, and MTHFD1L overexpression was significantly associated with unfavorable clinical outcome of HNSCC patients. In addition, MTHFD1L promoted HNSCC progression in vitro and in vivo and reversed the oncostatic effects of exogenous melatonin. More importantly, the malignant phenotypes suppressed by knockdown of MTHFD1L or exogenous melatonin could be partially rescued by formate. Furthermore, we found that melatonin inhibited the expression of MTHFD1L in HNSCC cells through the downregulation of cyclic AMP‐responsive element‐binding protein 1 (CREB1) phosphorylation. Lastly, this novel regulatory axis of melatonin‐p‐CREB1‐MTHFD1L‐formate was also verified in HNSCC tissues. Collectively, our findings have demonstrated that MTHFD1L‐formate axis promotes HNSCC progression and melatonin inhibits HNSCC progression through CREB1‐mediated downregulation of MTHFD1L and formate. These findings have revealed new metabolic mechanisms in HNSCC and may provide novel insights on the therapeutic intervention of HNSCC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, deep learning methods have made a remarkable improvement in compressed sensing image recovery stage. In the compressed measurement stage, the existing methods measured by block by block owing to a huge measurement dictionary for the whole images and the high computational complexity. In this work, a novel deep convolutional neural network (DCNN) named Convolutional Measurement Compressed Sensing network (CMCS‐net) is proposed for image compressed sensing considering both convolutional measurement (CM) and sparse prior. Different from existing works, the convolution operation is adopted both in the measurement phase and reconstruction phase, which retains the structure information of images much better. Simultaneously, the size of the measurement matrix is no longer limited by data dimensions. Particularly, by unfolding the CM process to analyse a Toeplitz‐type matrix, the theoretical support of the convolutional compressed measurement is proposed. In addition, in the recovery phase, the authors consider the sparse prior in nature images by embedding the truncated hierarchical projection algorithm into their architecture to solve the problem of multilayered convolutional sparse coding. Furthermore, extensive experiments demonstrate that their proposed CMCS‐net can marvellously reconstruct the images and fully remove the block artefact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adenosine triphosphate is a universal energy currency that can directly provide energy required for a multitude of biochemical reactions and biophysical actions through adenosine triphosphatase catalyzed hydrolysis. Adenosine triphosphatase activity is thus one important feature for the characterization of protein function and cell activity. Herein, we optimized ion‐pair reversed‐phase high‐performance liquid chromatography technique for highly efficient separation of adenosine triphosphate, adenosine diphosphate, and adenosine monophosphate, and the method demonstrated good linearity. Moreover, by coupling a protein‐removable ultrafiltration, we developed a sensitive and robust approach for quantification of adenosine triphosphatase hydrolytic activity. By this assay, we demonstrated that RecA filaments‐catalyzed adenosine triphosphate hydrolysis approached a second‐order reaction, and its rate constant was estimated as 0.057 mM−1 min−1. In addition, we explored the effects of DNA length on this reaction and revealed that the increase of the length of single‐stranded DNA can promote the adenosine triphosphatase hydrolytic activity of RecA filaments. All these results confirm the feasibility of this new method in quantification of adenosine triphosphatase hydrolytic activity assays. Compared with previous complicated enzyme‐coupled or homogeneous colorimetric measurements, the developed approach with high resolution separation allows a simple reaction system for adenosine triphosphatase assay and a sensitive detection free of interference from background noise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Double perovskite structure (A2BB′O6) oxides exhibit a breadth of multifunctional properties with a huge potential range of applications in fields as diverse as spintronics, magneto‐optic devices, or catalysis, and most of these applications require the use of thin films and heterostructures. Chemical solution deposition techniques are appearing as a very promising methodology to achieve epitaxial oxide thin films combining high performance with high throughput and low cost. In addition, the physical properties of these materials are strongly dependent on the ordered arrangement of cations in the double perovskite structure. Thus, promoting spontaneous cationic ordering has become a relevant issue. In this work, our recent achievements by using polymer‐assisted deposition (PAD) of environmentally friendly, water‐based solutions for the growth of epitaxial ferromagnetic insulating double perovskite La2CoMnO6 and La2NiMnO6 thin films on SrTiO3 and LaAlO3 single‐crystal substrates are presented. It is shown that the particular crystallization and growth process conditions of PAD (very slow rate, close to thermodynamic equilibrium conditions) promote high crystallinity and quality of the films, as well as favors spontaneous B‐site cationic ordering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A wideband high‐gain mm‐Wave antenna array operating in Ka‐band is reported. The antenna element consists of an antipodal Vivaldi antenna (AVA) with plated through vias on the edges of the radiating arms, which is utilized to eliminate the harmful gap resonance due to the electrically discontinuity. A modified wideband 8‐way substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) power divider is proposed to feed the linear array. In addition, in order to enhance antenna gain, a stacked dielectric superstrate is employed, which achieves 2.3 dBi average gain improvement over 25‐40 GHz. The proposed structure provides superior bandwidth of 25.4‐40 GHz with S11 < −9.5 dB (corresponding to VSWR < 2). The modified SIW power divider, 1 × 8 AVA array and the dielectric superstrate are designed and fabricated, resulting in a wideband and high‐gain structure as compared to other SIW‐fed antennas. A prototype is experimentally verified. The measured results show that the impedance bandwidth ranges from 25.37 to 39.48 GHz (S11 < −9.6 dB, relative bandwidth of 43%). The measured gain varies from 15.5 to 18.5 dBi in the frequency range with an average gain of 16.6 dBi. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Importance: Under‐detection and late diagnosis are major causes of glaucoma‐related visual impairment. Cost‐effective opportunistic glaucoma screening is of great interest in the early identification and prevention of glaucoma. Background: To describe the results of a health examination centre‐based opportunistic glaucoma screening and referral model. Design: This single centre cross‐sectional study was conducted in a health examination centre affiliated to a tertiary hospital in Shenyang, northeastern China. Participants: From 21 March to 30 September 2016, 14 367 individuals aged ≥ 30 years undergoing routine physical examinations were invited for this glaucoma screening. Methods: Presenting visual acuity, non‐contact pneumotonometry and non‐mydriatic fundus photography were evaluated. Fundus photographs were classified as non‐glaucoma, possible, probable and definitive glaucoma. Participants with probable and definite glaucomatous discs or intraocular pressure ≥ 24 mmHg were referred for definitive examinations. Main Outcome Measures: Detection rate of glaucoma suspects and ocular hypertension (OHT). Cost to identify a single case with suspected and diagnosed glaucoma was also calculated. Results: Altogether, 277 glaucoma suspects and 327 ocular hypertension suspects were identified. Among 190 participants with probable/definite glaucomatous discs, 93 (48.9%) accepted further examination. Among these, 78 were diagnosed as glaucoma, seven as suspects and eight were excluded. Only 98 ocular hypertension suspects (30.0%) accepted further examinations: eight had primary angle closure and 23 had confirmed ocular hypertension. The cost to identify a single glaucoma suspect and definite glaucoma case were US$135 and US$857, respectively. Conclusions and Relevance: This novel screening model provides opportunities to improve glaucoma detection at low cost. Interventions to improve follow‐up are needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this study was to examine the relationship between heterosis and genetic distance in upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.). Heterosis in the different environments was evaluated and the relationship between heterosis and genetic distance (GD) was determined based on SSR markers for yield quantitative trait loci (QTL). Yields of seed cotton and lint showed a linear relationship with mid‐parent heterosis (MPH) and better‐parent heterosis (BPH). The variation in heterosis for other traits and their correlation with GD may be due to environmental factors or the effort of QTLs tested in the present study may vary in different environments. The present findings provide a foundation for heterotic grouping of parental lines and breeding of new cotton hybrids with improved seed cotton yield. This study calls for more research with stable QTLs as well as advance molecular marker techniques may be used in predicting yield heterosis in a more precise and reliable manner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The misuse and overuse of antibiotics result in the emergence of resistant bacteria and fungi, which make an urgent need of the new antimicrobial agents. Nowadays, antimicrobial peptides have attracted great attention of researchers. However, the low physiological stability in biological system limits the application of naturally occurring antimicrobial peptides as novel therapeutics. In the present study, we synthesized derivatives of protonectin by substituting all the amino acid residues or the cationic lysine residue with the corresponding D-amino acids. Both the D-enantiomer of protonectin ( D-prt) and D-Lys-protonectin ( D-Lys-prt) exhibited strong antimicrobial activity against bacteria and fungi. Moreover, D-prt showed strong stability against trypsin, chymotrypsin and the human serum, while D-Lys-prt only showed strong stability against trypsin. Circular dichroism analysis revealed that D-Lys-prt still kept typical α-helical structure in the membrane mimicking environment, while D-prt showed left hand α-helical structure. In addition, propidium iodide uptake assay and bacteria and fungi killing experiments indicated that all D-amino acid substitution or partially D-amino acid substitution analogs could disrupt the integrity of membrane and lead the cell death. In summary, these findings suggested that D-prt and D-Lys-prt might be promising candidate antibiotic agents for therapeutic application against resistant bacteria and fungi infection. Copyright © 2017 European Peptide Society and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The introduction of a trifluoromethyl group into the 2′-position of spiro-pyrrolidine-3,3′-oxindoles is described. By using 1 mol% of a quinine-derived squaramide as catalyst, the 2,2,2-trfluoroethylamine (CF3CH2NH2)-derived ketimine is transformed initially into a trifluoromethylimine through an umpolung reaction. The subsequent 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition gives the pharmaceutical important target compounds in excellent yields, enantioselectivities and diastereoselectivies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In an optomechanical resonator, an optically active mechanical mode can couple to any of the optical resonances via radiation pressure. This unique property can enable a remarkable phenomenon: conversion of optical fields via optomechanical coupling between vastly different wavelengths. Here we expand an earlier experimental study [Science 338, 1609 (2012)] on classical wavelength conversion of coherent optical fields by coupling two optical modes to a mechanical breathing mode in a silica resonator. Heterodyne detection of the converted optical fields shows that the wavelength conversion process is coherent and bidirectional. The conversion efficiency obtained features a distinct saturation behavior that arises from optomechanical impedance matching. A measurement of the coherent mechanical excitation involved in the wavelength conversion process also provides additional insight on the underlying optomechanical interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the relationship between the fungus Ustilaginoidea virens and the WRKY transcription factor OsWRKY31 in rice plants. The researchers discovered that a specific protein, UvSec117, is a key factor in the virulence of U. virens and interacts with OsWRKY31. They also found that OsWRKY31 positively regulates rice's resistance to various diseases. Through further experiments, they identified the target genes of OsWRKY31, which are involved in induced systemic resistance and the salicylic acid/jasmonic acid signaling pathways. This research provides valuable insights into the molecular mechanisms of rice's resistance to grain-infecting pathogens and has implications for breeding disease-resistant rice varieties. [Extracted from the article]