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Light has profoundly impacted modern medicine and healthcare, with numerous luminescent agents and imaging techniques currently being used to assess health and treat diseases. As an emerging concept in luminescence, aggregation-induced emission (AIE) has shown great potential in biological applications due to its advantages in terms of brightness, biocompatibility, photostability, and positive correlation with concentration. This review provides a comprehensive summary of AIE luminogens applied in imaging of biological structure and dynamic physiological processes, disease diagnosis and treatment, and detection and monitoring of specific analytes, followed by representative works. Discussions on critical issues and perspectives on future directions are also included. This review aims to stimulate the interest of researchers from different fields, including chemistry, biology, materials science, medicine, etc., thus promoting the development of AIE in the fields of life and health.

The Beijing‒Tianjin‒Hebei (BTH) region is intensive in energy consumption and carbon emission. Under the constraint of the carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals, it is significant to analyze the coordinated development policies that synergistically promote low-carbon economic and social transformation in the BTH region. A long-range energy alternatives planning system (LEAP)-BTH model is constructed considering the characteristics of the BTH region, to analyze the energy demand and carbon emission of the region from 2021 to 2060. Three scenarios are considered, namely baseline scenario, low-carbon scenario, and coordinated scenario, and eight sub-scenarios are taken into account. The results indicate that: (1) In the baseline scenario, the energy demand in the BTH region will continue to grow, and the carbon emissions of Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei in 2060 will decrease to 41%, 40%, and 53% of that in 2020, respectively, facing great challenges for achieving carbon neutrality. (2) In the low-carbon scenario, the carbon emissions of Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei in 2060 will decrease to 20%, 26%, and 46% of that in 2020, respectively, and the BTH region will still not be carbon neutral. (3) In the coordinated scenario, the carbon emissions of Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei in 2060 will decrease to 13%, 15%, and 21% of that in 2020, respectively, thus achieving carbon neutrality. Several suggestions were further proposed. Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei should adopt clearer and stricter policies for their key emission reduction sectors and measures. For example, Beijing should promote low-carbon transition in its transportation and construction sectors, while Tianjin and Hebei should promote renewable energy alternatives and low-carbon industrial upgrading. Top-level design should be optimized to fully tap the potentials for coordinated development of industry, energy, transportation, and other sectors, with the focus on promoting coordinated industrial upgrading and coordinated energy development.

Numerous studies have shown that the release of stress hormones resulting from repeated exposure to chronic psychological stress increases DNA damage and promotes tumorigenesis. However, the mechanisms that enable cancerous cells adapt to stress hormone-induced DNA damage and survive remain unclear. The present study aimed to investigate the impact of stress hormones on the survival of liver cancer cells and the underlying mechanism. HepG2 human liver cancer cells were treated with dexamethasone (DEX), epinephrine (EPI) and norepinephrine (NE) and subjected to the testing of DNA damage, cell survival and cell apoptosis by alkaline comet assay, CCK-8 viability assay and flow cytometry, respectively. The protein expression levels of DNA damage response factors were determined by western blotting analysis. The results revealed that treatment of HepG2 cells with DEX, EPI and NE induced DNA damage without affecting cell survival or inducing apoptosis. The protein levels of wild-type p53-induced phosphatase 1 (Wip1), a type 2C family serine/threonine phosphatase, were increased, and the dephosphorylation of DNA damage response factors, including phosphorylated (p-)ataxia-telangiectasia mutated and p-checkpoint kinase 2, occurred following treatment with DEX, EPI and NE. In addition, a cycloheximide chase assay was performed to explore the protein stability under treatment with stress hormones. Compared with vehicle-treated cells, Wip1 exhibited increased protein stability in stress hormone-treated HepG2 cells. Eventually, the depletion of Wip1 using small interfering RNA verified the role of Wip1 in the modulation of stress hormone-induced DNA damage. These findings suggest that cancerous cells likely adapt to stress hormone-induced DNA damage via Wip1 upregulation. The present study provides an insight into the underlying mechanism that links chronic psychological stress with tumor growth and progression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To investigate the implications of serum hsa_circ_0007534 levels in ovarian cancer (OC) patients., Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted on the clinical data of 102 OC patients, and 102 healthy controls (HCs) were included in this study. Serum levels of hsa_circ_0007534 were measured using qPCR. The relationship between circRNA levels and clinicopathologic characteristics was analyzed. Additionally, the diagnostic performances of serum hsa_circ_0007534 and CA-125 levels in OC patients were evaluated using Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve analyses., Results: OC patients had significantly elevated serum hsa_circ_0007534 levels compared to HCs, allowing a differentiation between OC patients and HCs. Higher serum hsa_circ_0007534 levels were associated with more aggressive disease features and poorer overall survival. Patients with elevated hsa_circ_0007534 levels tended to have worse clinical outcome compared to those with lower levels. Multivariate analyses indicated that high hsa_circ_0007534 levels were independently associated with poorer outcome. Furthermore, serum hsa_circ_0007534 levels effectively distinguished between chemoresistant and chemosensitive patient groups., Conclusions: Serum hsa_circ_0007534 levels may serve as valuable predictors of prognosis in OC patients., Competing Interests: None., (AJTR Copyright © 2024.)

Cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) is pivotal in plant breeding and widely employed in various crop hybrids, including pepper. However, the functional validation of the restorer of fertility ( Rf ) gene in pepper has been lacking until now. This study identifies and characterizes CaRf , a single dominant locus crucial for restoring CMS in the pepper strong recovery inbred line Zhangshugang. The CaRf gene encodes a mitochondria-targeted pentatricopeptide repeat protein, validated through the induction of male sterility upon its silencing in hybrid F 1 plants. To enhance pepper breeding efficiency, 176 important pepper breeding parent materials were resequenced, and a PepperSNP50K liquid-phase breeding chip was developed, comprising 51 172 markers. Integration of CaRf functional characterization and PepperSNP50K facilitated the development of a high-quality red pepper hybrid. These findings provide significant insights and practical strategies for advancing molecular-designed breeding in peppers., Competing Interests: The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose., (© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nanjing Agricultural University.)