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Background and Aims: Portal vein thrombosis (PVT) is a challenging complication in liver cirrhosis, with no currently available sensitive diagnostic markers. This study aimed to investigate the potential of neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) and Deoxyribonuclease (DNase) as diagnostic indicators for PVT in chronic hepatitis B (CHB)-related decompensated cirrhosis., Methods: We analyzed 145 CHB-related decompensated cirrhosis patients from the Ditan study and 33 from the Changgung validation study, categorizing them based on PVT occurrence. Plasma samples were assessed for NET markers, including cell-free DNA (cfDNA) and histone-DNA complexes, along with DNase activity., Results: PVT patients exhibited elevated levels of cfDNA and histone-DNA complexes, and reduced DNase activity. This pattern persisted regardless of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) status. Histone-DNA levels, DNase activity, and hemoglobin were identified as independent risk factors for PVT. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis revealed that high histone-DNA levels may serve as a potential diagnostic marker for PVT, with an area under the curve of 0.8628 in the Ditan study and 0.7521 in the Changgung study. When combined with cfDNA and DNase activity, the area under the curve improved to 0.8774 in the Ditan study and 0.7975 in the Changgung study., Conclusions: Imbalances in NET homeostasis are associated with PVT in CHB-related decompensated cirrhosis, including cases involving HCC. Histone-DNA complexes, a significant risk factor for PVT, show potential as a diagnostic marker for PVT in decompensated cirrhosis, particularly in HBV-related HCC., Competing Interests: The authors have no conflict of interests related to this publication., (© 2024 Authors.)

The use of health-relevant bacteria originating from human microbiomes for the control or therapy of diseases, including neurodegenerative disorders or diabetes, is currently gaining increasing importance in medicine. Directed and successful engineering of microbiomes via probiotic supplementation requires subtle, precise as well as, more importantly, easy, fast and convenient monitoring of its success, e.g. , in patients' gut. Based on a previously described polyclonal SELEX aptamer library evolved against the human gut bacterium Blautia producta , we finally isolated three individual aptamers that proved their performance concerning affinity, specificity and robustness in reliably labeling the target bacterium and in combination with "contaminating" control bacteria. Using biofunctionalization molecules on gFETs, we could specifically quantify 10 1 -10 6 cells per mL, retrace their number in mixtures and determine aptamer K d -values around 2 nM. These measurements were possible even in the context of a real human stool sample. Our results qualify gFETs in combination with BL2, BL7 and BL8 aptamers as a promising foundation for the construction of respective sensing devices, which will open new avenues towards developing an intended monitoring technique for probiotic therapy and microbiome engineering approaches.

Metabolism plays a key role in the maintenance of normal hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) and in the development of leukemia. A better understanding of the metabolic characteristics and dependencies of preleukemic cells could help identify potential therapeutic targets to prevent leukemic transformation. As AML1-ETO, one of the most frequent fusion proteins in acute myeloid leukemia that is encoded by a RUNX1::RUNX1T1 fusion gene, is capable of generating preleukemic clones, in this study, we used a conditional Runx1::Runx1t1 knockin mouse model to evaluate preleukemic cell metabolism. AML1-ETO expression resulted in impaired hematopoietic reconstitution and increased self-renewal ability. Oxidative phosphorylation and glycolysis decreased significantly in these preleukemic cells accompanied by increased HSC quiescence and reduced cell cycling. Furthermore, HSCs expressing AML1-ETO exhibited an increased requirement for fatty acids through metabolic flux. Dietary lipid deprivation or loss of the fatty acid transporter FATP3 by targeted deletion using CRISPR/Cas9 partially restored differentiation. These findings reveal the unique metabolic profile of preleukemic cells and propose FATP3 as a potential target for disrupting leukemogenesis. Significance: Fatty acid metabolism is required for maintenance of preleukemic cells but dispensable for normal hematopoiesis, indicating that dietary lipid deprivation or inhibiting fatty acid uptake may serve as potential strategies to prevent leukemogenesis., (©2024 American Association for Cancer Research.)

Background: National treatment guidelines of China evolving necessitates population-level surveillance of transmitted drug resistance (TDR) to inform or update HIV treatment strategies., Methods: We analyzed the demographic, clinical, and virologic data obtained from people with HIV (PWH) residing in 31 provinces of China who were newly diagnosed between 2018 and 2023. Evidence of TDR was defined by the World Health Organization list for surveillance of drug resistance mutations., Results: Among the 22 124 PWH with protease and reverse transcriptase sequences, 965 (4.36%; 95% CI, 4.1-4.63) had at least 1 TDR mutation. The most frequent TDR mutations were nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI) mutations (2.39%; 95% CI, 2.19%-2.59%), followed by nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor mutations(1.35%; 95% CI, 1.2%-1.5%) and protease inhibitor mutations (1.12%; 95% CI, .98%-1.26%). The overall protease and reverse transcriptase TDR increased significantly from 4.05% (95% CI, 3.61%-4.52%) in 2018 to 5.39% (95% CI, 4.33%-6.57%) in 2023. A low level of integrase strand transfer inhibitor TDR was detected in 9 (0.21%; 95% CI, .1%-.38%) of 4205 PWH., Conclusions: Presently, the continued use of NNRTI-based first-line antiretroviral therapy regimen for HIV treatment has been justified., Competing Interests: Potential conflicts of interest. All authors: No reported conflicts. All authors have submitted the ICMJE Form for Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest. Conflicts that the editors consider relevant to the content of the manuscript have been disclosed., (© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Infectious Diseases Society of America. All rights reserved. For commercial re-use, please contact reprints@oup.com for reprints and translation rights for reprints. All other permissions can be obtained through our RightsLink service via the Permissions link on the article page on our site—for further information please contact journals.permissions@oup.com.)

To address the prevailing scenario where comprehensive susceptibility assessments of ground deformation disasters primarily rely on knowledge-driven models, with weight judgments largely founded on expert subjective assessments, this study initially explores the feasibility of integrating data-driven models into the evaluation of urban ground collapse and subsidence. Hangzhou city, characterized by filled soil and silty sand, was selected as the representative study area. Nine pertinent evaluation factors were identified, and the RF-BP neural network coupling model was employed to assess the susceptibility of ground collapse and subsidence in the study area, the results indicate that the stacked model achieved a 7% increase in AUC value compared to the single model. Subsequently, this study utilized the advanced large language model (LLM), ChatGPT-4, to supplant expert judgment in the weight determination of ground deformation disasters. The advantages of ChatGPT-4, such as its ability to process vast amounts of data and provide consistent, unbiased judgments, were highlighted. ChatGPT-4's assessments were validated by geological experts in the study area through the analytic hierarchy process. The results show that, by analyzing the same textual materials, the weights determined by experts differed by only 3% from those judged by ChatGPT, demonstrating the reliability and human-expert-like logic of ChatGPT-4's judgments. Finally, a comprehensive susceptibility assessment of ground deformation disasters was conducted utilizing ChatGPT-4's judgment results, yielding favorable outcomes., Competing Interests: 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 Yu et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Roseburia intestinalis, enriched in the gut, is closely associated with obesity, intestinal inflammation, and other diseases. A novel detection method for R. intestinalis to replace the commonly used 16S rRNA sequencing technique is aim to developed, thus enabling real-time and low-cost monitoring of gut microbiota. The optimal solution is to utilize rGO-FET (reduced graphene oxide field-effect transistor) functionalized with aptamers. Due to the high sensitivity of graphene sensors to electronic changes in the system, it is anticipated to achieve detection sensitivity that traditional fluorescence detection techniques cannot attain. The previous work reported a nucleic acid aptamer library, Ri 7_2, capable of quantitatively tracking R. intestinalis in complex systems. However, due to the complexity of the aptamer library itself, large-scale industrial synthesis is challenging, significantly limiting its further commercial application potential. Therefore, in this study, through Next-Generation Sequencing analysis, four representative single aptamers from the aptamer library is strategically selected, named A-Rose 1, A-Rose 2, A-Rose 3, and A-Rose 4, and confirmed their excellent performance similar to the aptamer library Ri 7_2. Furthermore, aptamer-modified rGO-FET demonstrated universality in detecting R. intestinalis in a series of biochemical analyses, providing a novel and powerful diagnostic tool for the clinical diagnosis of R. intestinalis., (© 2024 The Author(s). Advanced Healthcare Materials published by Wiley‐VCH GmbH.)

The ring-shaped chaperonin T-complex protein ring complex (TRiC; also known as chaperonin containing TCP-1, CCT) is an ATP-driven protein-folding machine that is essential for maintenance of cellular homeostasis 1,2 . Its dysfunction is related to cancer and neurodegenerative disease 3,4 . Despite its importance, how TRiC works in the cell remains unclear. Here we structurally analysed the architecture, conformational dynamics and spatial organization of the chaperonin TRiC in human cells using cryo-electron tomography. We resolved distinctive open, closed, substrate-bound and prefoldin-associated states of TRiC, and reconstructed its duty cycle in situ. The substrate-bound open and symmetrically closed TRiC states were equally abundant. Closed TRiC containing substrate forms distinctive clusters, indicative of spatial organization. Translation inhibition did not fundamentally change the distribution of duty cycle intermediates, but reduced substrate binding for all states as well as cluster formation. From our in-cell structures, we identified the programmed cell death protein 5 (PDCD5) as an interactor that specifically binds to almost all open but not closed TRiC, in a position that is compatible with both substrate and prefoldin binding. Our data support a model in which TRiC functions at near full occupancy to fold newly synthesized proteins inside cells. Defining the TRiC cycle and function inside cells lays the foundation to understand its dysfunction during cancer and neurodegeneration., Competing Interests: Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Weed management is an essential intervention for maintaining food security and protecting biodiversity but is heavily reliant on chemical control measures ( i.e. , herbicides). Concerningly, only one herbicide has been developed with a new mode of action (MOA) since the 1980s. Therefore, alternative strategies for preventing weed growth need to be explored. The lesser-known concept of halting weed growth through herbistasis could be one strategy to alleviate the lack of success in obtaining new MOA leads, but this type of activity has rarely been investigated. Herein reported is a bioisosteric cyclooctatetraene (COT) for phenyl ring replacement tactic, using the commercial acetolactate synthase (ALS) inhibitor metsulfuron methyl, that has unearthed a rare agent displaying herbistatic properties against the weed, Cryptostegia grandiflora (rubber vine)., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts to declare., (This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry.)

Ammonia is an important component of PM2.5 and PM10, and is also a major harmful gas in intensive and large-scale pig houses, which poses a potential threat to the health of farmers and animals. Intestinal tract is the largest immune organ in the body and is also an important target organ for ammonia exposure. However, the potential toxicity mechanism of ammonia exposure to the intestine remains unclear. L-selenomethionine is an important source of organic selenium with the advantages of high bioavailability, safety and high efficiency. In order to explore the mechanism of ammonia enterotoxicity and the mitigation effect of L-selenomethionine on ammonia enterotoxicity, multi-dimensional ammonia toxicity models and L-selenomethionine intervention models were established in vivo and in vitro. The results showed that ammonia exposure up-regulated the levels of iron, ROS, MDA, and LPO in the small intestinal tissue and the IPEC-J2 cell, down-regulated the activities of antioxidant enzymes and the content of GSH, inhibited the Nrf2 pathway, significantly altered the expression of ferroptosis (TFR-1, FPN-1, FTH1, SLC7A11, GPX4, ACSL4) and intestine tight junctions (Claudin-1, Occludin, ZO-1) genes. Compared with the ammonia exposure group, L-selenomethionine group could significantly improve the changes of these ferroptosis indicators by affecting ROS and iron levels through Nrf2 pathway. Our results indicated that L-selenomethionine inhibited small intestinal epithelial cells ferroptosis caused by ammonia exposure through regulating ROS-mediated iron metabolism., 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. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

Background: Cardioplegic ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury poses substantial challenges during postoperative recovery, with diabetic patients particularly susceptible to adverse events. Using a model entailing the subjection of human coronary artery endothelial cells (HCAECs) to simulated cardioplegic I/R, we investigated the potential of protein kinase c β (PKC-β) inhibition to augment cellular survival in this context., Study Design: HCAECs were isolated from harvested coronary arteries of diabetic (D) and nondiabetic (C) patients (N = 4 per group). HCAECs were either cultured in normoxic conditions without drug (D and C), subjected to hypoxia/reoxygenation alone (DH and CH), or subjected to hypoxia/reoxygenation and the PKC-β inhibitor LY333531 (DHT and CHT). Molecular signaling was assessed using immunoblotting., Results: Simulated I/R decreased anti-apoptotic phosphorylated protein kinase b (p-Akt, p = 0.04) and p-Akt:Akt ratio (p = 0.004) in CH versus C, with PKC-β inhibition restoring expression in CHT (p ≤ 0.04). Treatment also increased p-Akt:Akt ratio in DHT versus D (p = 0.03). Anti-apoptotic inducible nitric oxide synthase increased in CHT versus CH (p = 0.003), and pro-apoptotic phosphor-FOXO:FOXO ratio decreased in CHT versus CH (p = 0.001). I/R elevated Bcl-2-associated agonist of cell death (BAD) in CH versus C (p = 0.01), but PKC-β inhibition increased anti-apoptotic p-BAD (p = 0.001) and p-BAD:BAD ratio (p = 0.03) in CHT. I/R also increased cleaved PARP (p < 0.001) and cleaved caspase 3 (p < 0.001) in DH versus D, both of which were reversed by treatment (p < 0.001 for DHT versus DH)., Conclusion: PKC-β inhibitor treatment increased pro-survival signaling and decreased pro-apoptotic signaling in nondiabetic and diabetic HCAECs subjected to simulated I/R, with mechanistic differences observed between these cohorts., (Copyright © 2024 by the American College of Surgeons. Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.)

The transformation of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) released by macroalgae into refractory dissolved organic carbon (RDOC) through microbial carbon pump (MCP) represents a crucial carbon sequestration process. This process mainly takes place in coastal areas, where it is likely affected by marine anoxia. The interactions between the components of DOC released by kelp and the community structure of heterotrophic bacteria both under normoxic and anoxic conditions were studied by three-dimensional fluorescence parallel factor analysis (PARAFAC), Fourier Transform-Ion Cyclotron Resonance-Mass Spectrometry (FT-ICR-MS) and 16S rRNA high-throughput sequencing. Following 240 days of decomposition, we found that the proportion of labile dissolved organic carbon (LDOC) was 4.61 % greater under anoxic conditions compared to normoxic conditions. Conversely, the proportion of RDOC was 8.06 % lower under anoxic conditions than under normoxic conditions. These findings suggest that anoxia hinders the conversion of LDOC to RDOC in the DOC released by kelp. Although normoxic conditions favor RDOC production, anoxic conditions could be more advantageous for the transport of DOC to the deep ocean, potentially enhancing carbon sequestration. The cultivation of macroalgae in anoxic zones may further boost their carbon sequestration potential., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest 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 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: The role of inflammation in the development of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) has recently become a focus of research. The systemic immune-inflammation index (SII) and systemic inflammation response index (SIRI), novel indices, reflect the body's chronic immune-inflammatory state. This study aimed to investigate the associations between the SII or SIRI and GDM., Methods: A prospective birth cohort study was conducted at Beijing Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital from from February 2018 to December 2020, recruiting participants in their first trimester of pregnancy. Baseline SII and SIRI values were derived from routine clinical blood results, calculated as follows: SII = neutrophil (Neut) count × platelet (PLT) count/lymphocyte (Lymph) count, SIRI = Neut count × monocyte (Mono) count/Lymph count, with participants being stratified into quartiles. Follow-up included a 75-g, 2-h oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) at 20-32 weeks of gestation, using the glucose thresholds of the International Association of Diabetes and Pregnancy Study Groups (IADPSG). Logistic regression was used to analyze the odds ratios (ORs) (95% confidence intervals [CIs]) for the SII, SIRI, and GDM risk., Results: Among the 28,124 women included in the study, the average age was 31.8 ± 3.8 years, and 15.76% (4432/28,124) developed GDM. Higher SII and SIRI quartiles were correlated with increased GDM rates, with rates ranging from 12.26% (862/7031) in the lowest quartile to 20.10% (1413/7031) in the highest quartile for the SII ( Ptrend  <0.001) and 11.92-19.31% for the SIRI ( Ptrend  <0.001). The SII and SIRI were positively correlated with GDM risk. The ORs (95% CIs) of the second, third, and fourth SII quartiles were 1.09 (0.98-1.21), 1.21 (1.09-1.34), and 1.39 (1.26-1.54), respectively. The SIRI findings paralleled the SII outcomes. For the second through fourth quartiles, the ORs (95% CIs) were 1.24 (1.12-1.38), 1.41 (1.27-1.57), and 1.64 (1.48-1.82), respectively. These associations were maintained in subgroup and sensitivity analyses., Conclusions: The SII and SIRI are potential independent risk factors contributing to the onset of GDM., (Copyright © 2024 The Chinese Medical Association, produced by Wolters Kluwer, Inc. under the CC-BY-NC-ND license.)

It is widely acknowledged that gold-based materials are of significant interest in the field of biomedicine. Consequently, considerable efforts have been devoted to identifying gold nanoparticles that exhibit effective performance in tumor diagnosis and treatment. However, the underlying reasons for the enhanced efficacy of these gold-based nanomaterials in cancer therapy and diagnosis remain unclear, primarily due to the lack of an in-depth understanding of the mechanisms involved. Therefore, it is essential to summarize the progress in the field to facilitate the rational design of more efficient nanodevices. In this review, we present recent achievements drawn from the latest research to demonstrate the broad applications of gold-based materials. We begin by illustrating the mechanisms of gold-derived nanoparticles during therapeutic and diagnostic processes, including photothermal therapy, photodynamic therapy, sonodynamic therapy, photoacoustic tomography, fluorescence imaging, and X-ray computed tomography. We then summarize the advancements of gold-based nanomaterials in cancer diagnosis and treatment while also analyzing the factors contributing to their enhanced performance. Finally, we highlight key descriptors for evaluating the efficacy and strategies for designing high-performance nanomaterials. This review aims to pave the way for addressing future challenges and outlines directions for the advancement of gold-based biomedicine.

Chiral detection of tryptophan (Trp) isomers is of vital importance and the introduction of efficient, stable and sensitive enantioselective recognition technology is in high demand in the fields of medicine, food and life science. Herein, a facile and sensitive electrochemical probe for the chiral recognition of Trp enantiomers by using chiral polyaniline (D-PANI) and β-CD-MOF is presented. The structure and electrochemical performance of the designed sensor (GCE/β-CD-MOF/D-PANI) were characterized via FT-IR, SEM, TEM, EIS, CV and DPV methods. Under the optimized conditions, the enantiomer selection coefficient ( I L / I D ) reached 2.26, and the detection limits for L- and D-Trp were calculated to be 6.67 and 16.1 μM, respectively. The higher DPV result for L-Trp was attributed to its higher affinity for the chiral selectors D-PANI and β-CD-MOF than that of D-Trp. Moreover, the proposed chiral sensing platform could be used for analyzing the percentage of D-Trp in enantiomer mixed solutions and human urine samples with satisfactory recoveries.

Extracting uranium from water is crucial for environmental protection and the sustainable nuclear power industry. However, high-efficiency extraction and mild desorption condition still poses significant challenges. Herein, a polyoxometalate-based metal-organic framework (POMOF) for high-performance uranium extraction is prepared by in situ confined encapsulating H 3 [PW 12 O 40 ] (PW 12 ) into MIL-101(Cr). The highly dispersed PW 12 enables adsorption sites to be sufficiently exposed, supports the pore structure of MIL-101(Cr), while being protected by spatial confinement. Furthermore, its abundant oxygen groups form high-affinity coordination with uranium and provide the pH-dependent conformation switch to achieve selective adsorption and instantaneous structural transformation. The assembly of structure and function makes POMOF exhibit substantial synergistic stability and adsorption capacity. Consequently, the constructed MIL-101(Cr)@PW 12 exhibits excellent uranium adsorption ability of 461.88 mg/g, as well as superior selectivity towards a wide variety of metal ions. Remarkably, instantaneous desorption can be achieved in 2 s under mild desorption conditions of 0.005 mol/L HCl, and the adsorption capacity remained at 94.30 % after 8 adsorption cycles. POMOF demonstrates the vast potential for uranium capture from water and offers new insight into designing structure and functional synergistic materials for the selective adsorption and instantaneous desorption of uranium., 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.)

Background: The relationship between serum concentrations of different or multiple vitamins and sarcopenia remains underexplored. This investigation evaluates potential links between serum concentrations of different or multiple vitamins and sarcopenia prevalence among adults in the United States., Methods: Utilizing a cross-sectional design, this research draws from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) dataset of 2003-2006, encompassing 5,060 participants with comprehensive serum vitamin A, E, B9, B12, C, and D concentrations, alongside sarcopenia and covariate measurements. Participant stratification into distinct vitamin co-exposure clusters was achieved through K-means clustering. Analytical models, including weighted logistic regression, restricted cubic splines (RCS), weighted quantile sum regression (WQS), quantile g-computation (Q-gcomp), and Bayesian kernel machine regression (BKMR), were employed to evaluate the association between serum concentrations of different or multiple vitamins and sarcopenia risk, with an emphasis on nonlinearity., Results: In this study, sarcopenia was detected in 681 individuals (13.46%). Logistic regression results did not demonstrate any linear association between individual vitamin levels and sarcopenia risk (P FDR > 0.05). Contrastingly, the RCS model unveiled significant non-linear relationships for vitamins A and D (P&#95;non-linear < 0.05). The K-means clustering results showed that participants in high-level vitamin exposure group had lower sarcopenia risk compared with those in low-level vitamin exposure group (OR (95% CI): 0.582 (0.397, 0.852)). Additionally, higher serum concentrations of different or multiple vitamins correlated inversely with sarcopenia risk (P&#95;trend = 0.002). This inverse association was corroborated by WQS, Q-gcomp, and theBKMR models and remained consistent upon sensitivity analysis., Conclusions: This study elucidates an inverse correlation between serum concentrations of different or multiple vitamins and sarcopenia risk, emphasizing a non-linear association, particularly with suboptimal vitamin D concentrations. Given the limitations of the NHANES study, further researches are required to clarify the existence of these relationships., Competing Interests: Declarations. Ethics approval and consent to participate: The NHANES study protocol was approved by the NCHS Research Ethics Review Board, and written informed consent was provided by all participants. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Structural DNA nanotechnology makes the programmable design and assembly of DNA building blocks into user-defined microstructures feasible. However, the formation and further growth of these microstructures requires slow heat treatment in precise instruments, as otherwise amorphous aggregates result. Here, we used an organic solute, urea, as the catalyst for the crystallization of DNA origami building blocks to achieve the fast synthesis of DNA origami single crystals with a cubic Wulff shape at room temperature. The ordered assemblies can be formed within 4 hours at room temperature, which further grew into cubic microcrystals with an average size of about 5 micrometers within 2 days. Furthermore, the phase diagram provides an inverse logic that allows users to proactively customize the melting temperature ( T m ) of crystallization according to the target temperature conditions, rather than requiring de novo design of DNA sequences or painstakingly difficult trial-and-error attempts. On this basis, even under random fluctuating outdoor temperature conditions, DNA origami crystals can still grow and maintain high quality and high yield comparable to those of crystals synthesized in precise instruments, creating a basis for the development of adaptive self-assemblies and the industrialization of functional DNA microstructures., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts to declare., (This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry.)

Immunomodulation in biotechnological processes requires an adequate level of specific, high-affinity recombinant antibodies expressed in the affected cells. Here, we report a new strategy to obtain a sensitive nanobody against the 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) herbicide. Unlike the previous methods that used total peripheral blood lymphocytes, specific peripheral lymphocytes stained with a fluorescein isothiocyanate-labeled 2,4-D coating antigen were isolated via fluorescence-activated cell sorting and used for phage display library construction. This strategy significantly reduced interference of anticarrier protein nanobody phages to small-molecule nanobody development and required only two cycles of panning to obtain the desired positive clones. Nb4-11, one of the most sensitive phage clones, showed good sensitivity and specificity against 2,4-D. Compared with previously reported 2,4-D nanobodies, the sequence of Nb4-11 exhibited completely different complementarity-determining regions (CDRs). The half-maximum inhibition concentration of the Nb4-11-based ic-ELISA was 29.3 ± 1.9 ng/mL. The Nb4-11 gene was subsequently transferred into Arabidopsis thaliana to confer herbicide resistance, and homozygous transgenic T3 lines were obtained. Stable expression of the 2,4-D nanobody in the model plant was confirmed via PCR, ic-ELISA, and Western blot analysis. In the dose-response bioassay, the transgenic T3 lines were resistant to 2 g of 2,4-D ai/ha. This work offers a new way to sort specific peripheral lymphocytes, efficiently develop nanobodies against small molecules, and create a novel mechanism for herbicide resistance based on the expression of nanobodies in plants.

In order to investigate the effect of different doping proportions of Yb 3+ on the structure and microwave absorption properties of ferrite, a sol-gel method was proposed to prepare spinel Ni 0.5 Co 0.5 Yb x Fe 2- x O 4 . The crystal shape, particle size, elements, microstructure, electromagnetic loss and microwave absorption properties of Ni 0.5 Co 0.5 Yb x Fe 2- x O 4 were characterized by X-ray diffraction, inductively coupled plasma emission spectrometry, transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy and vector network analysis. Results show that nickel-cobalt-ytterbium ferrite microwave absorbing materials can be prepared under optimal conditions, with an average particle size of 38.00-45.00 nm. With the increase in the doping amount, the microwave absorption performance first increases and then decreases. When Yb 3+ = 0.02, Ni 0.5 Co 0.5 Yb 0.02 Fe 1.98 O 4 has the best microwave absorption performance, the best reflection loss is -21.04 dB, and the effective microwave absorption bandwidth in the Ku band is 2.55 GHz (15.45-18.00 GHz). The prepared nickel-cobalt-ytterbium ferrite microwave absorbing material has the advantages of less thickness, light weight, strong reflection loss and simple synthesis method. The excellent absorbing properties of Ni 0.5 Co 0.5 Yb 0.02 Fe 1.98 O 4 are attributed to the interaction between natural resonance and exchange resonance., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts to declare., (This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry.)

The uMI Panorama GS PET/CT system is a new long-axial-field-of-view scanner featuring high sensitivity, time-of-flight (TOF) resolution, spatial resolution, and count rate performance. The aim of this study is to assess the PET system on the basis of the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) NU 2-2018 and European Association of Nuclear Medicine Research Limited (EARL) standards. Methods: Spatial resolution, count rate performance, sensitivity, accuracy, image quality, TOF resolution, and coregistration accuracy were evaluated following the NEMA NU 2-2018 standard. Additional experiments included energy resolution, 200-cm-long line sources for sensitivity, a 175-cm-long scatter phantom for count rate and TOF resolution, as well as the compliance with the EARL guideline. Moreover, an 18 F-FDG PET patient study was reconstructed with various frame durations. Results: The PET system achieved sub-3-mm transaxial and axial spatial resolutions at a 1-cm radial offset. The sensitivities with the 70-cm-long and 200-cm-long line sources were observed to be 176.3 and 90.8 kcps/MBq, respectively, at the center of the field of view. The noise-equivalent count rates (NECRs) of the 70-cm-long and 175-cm-long scatter phantoms were measured to be 3.35 Mcps at 57.57 kBq/mL and 2.24 Mcps at 33.27 kBq/mL, respectively. The TOF resolutions for both phantoms were approximately 189 ps at 5.3 kBq/mL and lower than 200 ps below the NECR peaks. The absolute count rate errors of all 34 acquisitions were less than 3% below the NECR peak for the 70-cm-long scatter phantom. With the standard NEMA image quality phantom experiment, the contrast recovery coefficient varied from 68.17% to 94.20% and the background variabilities were all below 2%. The maximum PET/CT coregistration error was 1.33 mm. Regarding EARL compliance, the gaussian filter of 5-mm full width at half maximum could produce acceptable images. The patient data demonstrate visually satisfactory image quality with short frames (less than 1 min). Conclusion: The uMI Panorama GS exhibits spatial resolution and TOF resolution similar to those of the uMI Panorama system (35-cm axial field of view), despite the extended axial field of view. The 148-cm axial coverage, sub-200-ps TOF resolution, high sensitivity, and count rate performances are expected to yield superior image quality and offer new opportunities for various clinical applications., (© 2024 by the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging.)

Previous survey studies have consistently shown a strong link between social anxiety and intolerance for uncertainty. However, this association lacks empirical validation from laboratory investigations. To bridge this gap, we conducted a study utilizing the ultimatum game task to assign distinct social connotations (egoistic, altruistic, and uncertain) to three initially neutral faces. Subsequently, we utilized the Approach-Avoidance Task (AAT) paradigm to evaluate participants' approach-avoidance tendencies towards the faces with varying social meanings. Additionally, we collected data on participants' levels of social anxiety and trait anxiety. Our results indicate that both social anxiety and trait anxiety levels impact individuals' avoidance behaviors when faced with socially uncertain cues. This suggests that individuals with higher levels of social anxiety may demonstrate increased sensitivity to uncertainty in social contexts, leading to avoidance behaviors. Crucially, our findings directly underscore the heightened avoidance tendencies of non-clinical individuals with social anxiety towards socially uncertain stimuli, thereby providing new empirical support for research on anxiety disorders related to uncertainty., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The corresponding author, on behalf of all authors, declares the absence of any conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The poor tolerance to gastric acid and low absorption of calcium supplements in the intestinal tract remain a serious limitation in applications. Herein, lysine-calcium (Lys-Ca) has been synthesized via the chelation of Lys and high-temperature calcination scallop shell powder (HCSP), and subsequently encapsulated in a carefully designed water-in-oil-in-water (W/O/W) emulsion with a high encapsulation efficiency of 93 % using chitosan (CS) and hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC). Owing to the interfacial film formed by CS and HPMC between the droplets, the resulting emulsion demonstrates good acid and thermal stability, as well as long-term stability even after 60 d of storage at 25 °C. Meanwhile, the emulsion effectively protects the encapsulated Lys-Ca from damage in simulated gastric fluid (SGF). with only about 20 % Lys-Ca escaping into SGF (after 4 h). In simulated intestinal fluid (SIF), it sustainedly releases with a 61 % ratio at 1 h under the influence of bile salts and lipase, and near-complete release occurred after 6 h. Additionally, the emulsion presents no cytotoxicity and possesses appreciable calcium transport capacity. This work provides a well-designed double-emulsion strategy that offers a promising approach for developing efficient calcium supplements, aiming at improving the bioavailability of biomass calcium., 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.)

Background: Seizures are prevalent in glioma patients, especially in those with low-grade gliomas. The interaction between gliomas and epilepsy involves complex biological mechanisms that are not fully understood., Methods: We collected Genome-Wide Association Study data for epilepsy and gliomas, performed differential expression analysis, and conducted Gene Ontology (GO) enrichment analysis on the identified genes. Single-cell RNA sequencing data (scRNA-seq) from GSE221534 dataset in Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) were used to analyze cell-cell interactions within glioma samples from patients with and without epilepsy., Results: Mendelian Randomization (MR) analysis revealed significant associations between genetic variants related to epilepsy and glioma risk, suggesting a potential causal relationship, especially in astrocytomas. Differential expression analysis identified epilepsy-related genes that were significantly upregulated in astrocytoma tissues compared to normal brain tissues. GO enrichment analysis indicated that these genes are involved in critical biological processes such as neurogenesis and cellular signaling. The scRNA-seq analysis showed, compared to non-epileptic samples, glioma stem cells, microglia, and NK cells are increased in the core regions of astrocytomas in epileptic patients. Additionally, intercellular communication between tumor cells and other non-tumor cells is markedly enhanced in astrocytoma samples from epileptic patients., Conclusion: This study provides evidence of a genetic association between epilepsy and gliomas and elucidates the biological mechanisms through which epilepsy may influence glioma progression., 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. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

Innervation is closely linked to several biological processes that promote tumor growth, making it an increasingly promising therapeutic target. In this study, biomimetic hollow MnO 2 nanocarriers camouflaged with tumor cell membranes (HMLC) are developed to encapsulate lidocaine, an innervation inhibitor, for effective antineoplastic therapy. This approach aims to suppress nerve fiber growth and induce intracellular redox imbalance. Benefiting from the tumor-homing effect, HMLC accumulates in cancerous tissue during circulation and is endocytosed by tumor cells through homologous membrane fusion. Once inside the cells, MnO 2 can be degraded by the overproduced glutathione and H 2 O 2 , leading to the tumor-specific release of Mn 2+ and lidocaine. The Mn 2+ -mediated Fenton-like reaction promotes the accumulation of reactive oxygen species, and the resulting oxidative stress, combined with glutathione depletion, exacerbates redox imbalance. Simultaneously, the released lidocaine downregulates nerve growth factor and neuronatin. The reduction in nerve growth factor significantly inhibits nerve fiber formation and infiltration in tumor tissue, while the decrease in neuronatin reduces intracellular Ca 2+ , which helps prevent metastasis. Overall, this strategy highlights the potential of nanoparticle-based tumor innervation disruptors in antineoplastic therapy., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

IL-9-producing T cells (T9) regulate immunological responses that affect various cellular biological processes, though their precise function remains fully understood. Previous studies have linked T9 cells to conditions such as allergic disorders, parasitic infection clearance, and various types of cancers. While the functional heterogeneity of IL-9 and T9 cells in cancer development has been documented, these cells present promising therapeutic opportunities for treating solid tumors. This review highlights the roles of IL-9 and T9 cells in cancer progression and treatment responses, focusing on potential discrepancies in IL-9/IL-9R signaling between murine tumors and cancer patients. Additionally, we discuss the regulation of tumor-specific Th9/Tc9 cell differentiation, the therapeutic potential of these cells, and current strategies to enhance their anti-tumor activities., 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. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Osteoarthritis (OA), a joint disease associated with inflammatory processes, contributes to joint destruction. Esculin (ESC) extracted from the stem bark of Fraxinus rhynchophylla Hance has been shown to possess anti-inflammatory properties. In this study, we investigated the effect of ESC on chondrocytes treated with IL-1β and its molecular mechanism. The importance and potential mechanism of ESC in the progression of OA were evaluated. The viability of chondrocytes after exposure to ESC was examined through the CCK-8 assays. The cells were then subjected to quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR), western blot, and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) techniques to analyze the degradation of the extracellular matrix (ECM) and occurrence of inflammation. The NF-κB mechanism was evaluated by western blot analysis, immunofluorescence (IF), and luciferase reporter assay. Molecular docking was performed to allow for predictions on proteins that interact with ESC. Moreover, the significance of Sirt1 was explored through a knockdown experiment based on siRNA. Micro-computed tomography (CT), H&E, Safranin O-Fast Green (S-O), and immunohistochemical analyses were carried out to assess the treatment efficacy of ESC on OA in destabilization of medial meniscus (DMM) models. ESC treatment effectively inhibited ECM degradation, modulated the levels of pro-inflammatory factors, and regulated the NF-κB signaling in chondrocytes exposed to IL-1β. Mechanistically, we found that ESCs bound to Sirt1 to inhibit the activity of the NF-κB mechanism. Furthermore, ESC treatment suppressed OA progression in the DMM models. Our findings reveal that ESC ameliorates OA progression via modulating the Sirt1/NF-κB axis. This demonstrates that ESC has the potential to be applied in the treatment of OA., (© 2024 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Objective: This study aimed to integrate intraoperative ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging (IMRI) with neuronavigation (NN) to create a multimodal surgical protocol for diffuse gliomas. Clinical outcomes were compared to the standard NN-guided protocol., Methods: Adult patients with diffuse gliomas scheduled for gross total resection (GTR) were consecutively enrolled to undergo either NN-guided surgery (80 patients, July 2019-January 2022) or multimodal-integrated surgery (80 patients, February 2022-August 2023). The primary outcomes were the extent of resection (EOR) and GTR. Additional outcomes included operative time, blood loss, length of hospital stay, and patient survival., Results: GTR was achieved in 69% of patients who underwent multimodal-integrated surgery, compared to 43% of those who received NN-guided surgery (P = 0.002). Residual tumor was detected by IMRI in 53 patients (66%), and further GTR was achieved in 28 of these cases. The median EOR was 100% for the multimodal group and 95% for the NN-guided group (P = 0.001), while the median operative time was 8 hours versus 5 hours (P < 0.001). Neurological deficits, blood loss, and hospital stay durations were comparable between 2 groups. Multimodal-integrated surgery resulted in greater EOR and higher GTR rates in contrast-enhancing gliomas, gliomas in eloquent regions, and large gliomas (≥50 mm). GTR in glioblastomas and other contrast-enhancing gliomas contributed to improved overall survival., Conclusions: Compared to standard NN-guided surgery, multimodal-integrated surgery using NN, IMRI, and intraoperative ultrasound significantly increased the EOR and GTR rates for diffuse gliomas., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Phytophthora root and stem rot caused by Phytophthora sojae (P. sojae) is one of the most destructive diseases to affect soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr) production. GmSRC2 that encodes a C2 domain-containing protein can respond to various stresses, however, the molecular mechanism of GmSRC2 in resistance of soybean to P. sojae is yet to be fully elucidated. In this study, GmSRC2 was found to be significantly up-regulated under P. sojae treatment; GmSRC2-overexpression (OE) transgenic lines and GmSRC2-silencing transient plants were generated via Agrobacterium tumefaciens mediated transformation and virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) system, respectively. Infected leaves and cotyledons of OE-GmSRC2-1 and OE-GmSRC2-2 lines showed significant decreases in the disease symptoms and P. sojae biomass than those of wild type (WT); the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and peroxidase (POD) confirmed the accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in overexpressed transgenic lines. Whereas, silencing of GmSRC2 severely increased the disease symptoms and the biomass of P. sojae. Further, we confirmed that GmSRC2 interacted with the effector PsAvh23 of P. sojae, and the C2 domain was crucial for the interaction. Overexpression of GmSRC2 upregulated the ADA2/GCN5 module upon P. sojae. The aforementioned results demonstrated that GmSRC2 played vital roles in regulating soybean resistance to oomycetes., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no competing interests., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Construction waste (CW) is produced in large quantities, resulting in severe land occupation and resource depletion. This study utilized CW as fillers to construct a denitrification biofilter (DNBF-CW) for treating secondary effluent from wastewater plants. Performance and mechanism were analyzed by water quality, biomass and its distribution, physicochemical characteristics, microbial community structure, extracellular polymeric substances and protein secondary structure analysis. Results indicated that DNBF-CW achieve NO 3 - -N and chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal efficiencies (RE) of 97 % and 70 %. The β-sheet of DNBF-CW increased from 47 % to 58 %, accompanied by decrease in random curls from 22 % to 0. Post-use CW showed potential as soilless cultivation substrates, boosting germination rates by 42 ± 7 %. Mechanism investigations elucidated that ZX3 improved efficiency by modulating microbial community composition, with Pseudomonas reaching 37 %. This study shows the multiple use of construction waste, which presents a novel, efficient, and eco-friendly solution for water treatment., 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 presence of a circadian cycle of cerebral blood flow may have implications for the occurrence of daily variations in cerebrovascular events in humans, but how cerebral blood flow varies throughout the day and its mechanism are still unclear. The study aimed to explore the diurnal variation of cerebral blood flow in healthy humans and its possible mechanisms. Arterial spin labelling images were collected at six time-points (09:00 hours, 13:00 hours, 17:00 hours, 21:00 hours, 01:00 hours, 05:00 hours) from 18 healthy participants (22-39 years old; eight females) to analyse diurnal variations in cerebral blood flow. Resting heart rate and blood pressure at six time-points and blood indicators (20-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid, epoxyeicosatrienoic acids, prostaglandin E2, noradrenaline and nitric oxide) related to cerebral vascular tone at two time-points (09:00 hours and 21:00 hours) were collected to analyse possible influences on diurnal variations in cerebral blood flow. From 21:00 hours to 05:00 hours, parietal cortical relative cerebral blood flow tended to increase, while frontal cortical and cerebellar relative cerebral blood flow tended to decrease. There was a time-dependent negative correlation between parietal cortical relative cerebral blood flow and resting heart rate, whereas there was a time-dependent positive correlation between cerebellar relative cerebral blood flow and resting heart rate. The change of parietal cortical relative cerebral blood flow was positively correlated with the change of nitric oxide. There was also a time-dependent positive correlation between mean arterial pressure and mean whole-brain cerebral blood flow. The findings indicated that parietal cortical relative cerebral blood flow and frontal cortical/cerebellar relative cerebral blood flow showed roughly opposite trends throughout the day. The diurnal variations in relative cerebral blood flow were regional-specific. Diurnal variation of nitric oxide and neurogenic regulation may be potential mechanisms for diurnal variation in regional relative cerebral blood flow., (© 2024 European Sleep Research Society.)

Background: Normal bile is sterile. Studies have shown that cholangitis after liver transplantation (LT) was associated with a relatively poor prognosis. It remains unclear whether the bacteriobilia or fungibilia impact the patient outcomes in LT recipients, especially with donation after circulatory death (DCD) allografts, which was correlated with a higher risk of allograft failure., Methods: This retrospective study included 139 LT recipients of DCD grafts from 2019 to 2021. All patients were divided into two groups according to the presence or absence of bacteriobilia or fungibilia. The prevalence and microbial spectrum of postoperative bacteriobilia or fungibilia and its possible association with outcomes, especially hospital stay were analyzed., Results: Totally 135 and 171 organisms were isolated at weeks 1 and 2, respectively. Among all patients included in this analysis, 83 (59.7%) developed bacteriobilia or fungibilia within 2 weeks post-transplantation. The occurrence of bacteriobilia or fungibilia [β = 7.43, 95% CI (confidence interval): 0.02 to 14.82, P = 0.049], particularly the detection of Pseudomonas (β = 18.84, 95% CI: 6.51 to 31.07, P = 0.003) within 2 weeks post-transplantation was associated with a longer hospital stay. However, it did not affect the graft and patient survival., Conclusions: The occurrence of bacteriobilia or fungibilia, particularly Pseudomonas within 2 weeks post-transplantation, could influence the recovery of liver function and was associated with prolonged hospital stay but not the graft and patient survival., (Copyright © 2024 First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine in China. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a highly heterogeneous tumor and a primary cause of cancer-relevant deaths worldwide. The role of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in HCC development is less studied., Methods: Seurat package and CellMarker database were employed for single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) analysis based on the GSE189175 dataset from Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO). DAVID and MsigDB database were utilized for pathway analysis. SCENIC analysis was performed to map a transcription factors (TFs) regulatory network. CellChat was used for cellular communication analysis., Results: Six major cell subpopulations were identified, among which hepatocytes accounted for the highest proportion in both cancer and adjacent tissues. The enrichment scores of the 50 hallmark gene sets showed that the ROS pathway was abnormally activated in HCC hepatocytes and positively correlated with energy metabolism-related pathways (glucose metabolism, lipid metabolism, amino acid metabolism, etc.). Then, the hepatocytes were divided into four subgroups. Noticeably, GPX4+  hepatocytes with the highest activity of the ROS pathway was related to a worse prognosis of HCC. Mechanism analysis revealed that JUND was involved in the positive regulation of the ROS pathway in GPX4+  hepatocytes. It was found that the interdependent ligand-receptor interaction between GPX4+  liver cells and immune cells facilitated the malignant development of HCC., Conclusion: ROS pathway was over-activated in the hepatocytes of HCC tissues. GPX4+  hepatocytes having the highest activity of the ROS pathway closely interacted with T cells and M2 macrophage cells. Molecular subtypes and risk score signature based on the ROS pathway and its potential target gene JUND are encouraged to be developed for improving the precision treatment of HCC., Competing Interests: Declarations. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Objective: We conducted this meta-analysis to explore the risk factors and incidence of deep surgical site infections (DSSIs) after orthopaedic trauma surgery., Methods: A systematic search was conducted across various databases, including MEDLINE, Embase, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science, for studies examining risk factors associated with DSSIs after bone trauma procedures. The search concluded on September 1, 2024. Data analysis was performed using Stata 15.0., Results: Among 2,722 publications screened, 16 studies that met the eligibility criteria were included in the analysis, involving a total of 22,318 patients, of whom 894 experienced DSSIs. The meta-analysis revealed a combined incidence of deep infections after orthopedic trauma surgery at [ES = 6.7%, 95% CI (5.1%-8.2%)]. Risk factors identified included male gender [OR = 1.99, 95% CI (1.39, 2.86), p < 0.0001], current smoking status [OR = 2.60, 95% CI (1.85, 3.65), p < 0.0001], open injuries [OR = 3.17, 95% CI (1.72, 5.85), p < 0.0001], a BMI greater than 26.0 kg/m 2 [OR = 1.95, 95% CI (1.24, 3.07), p = 0.004], wound class ≥ 2 [OR = 2.40, 95% CI (1.56, 3.70), p < 0.0001], and a surgery duration of 60 min or more [OR = 2.41, 95% CI (1.63, 3.55), p < 0.0001]. These factors significantly contribute to the risk of developing DSSIs post-surgery. However, age did not exhibit a significant difference., Conclusion: This study identifies key risk factors for DSSI following orthopedic trauma surgery, addressing a gap in the existing literature and offering some insights for clinical decision-making. To mitigate the risk of DSSI, clinical practice should encourage patients to lose weight and quit smoking prior to surgery, optimize surgical procedures, and improve wound management strategies. Future research should aim to standardize follow-up durations and further refine the classification of risk factors, in order to validate and expand on the conclusions of this study., Competing Interests: Declarations. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Charge-redistributed Co 3 O 4 /Fe 0.3 Co 0.7 P heterointerfaces are designed for effective electrocatalytic urea oxidation in alkaline medium, delivering excellent performance with only 1.41 V vs. RHE at 100 mA cm -2 , low Tafel slope of 74 mV dec -1 and 36-h robust stability. The fine regulation of charge redistribution through heterointerfaces provides an effective strategy to design highly efficient electrocatalysts.

Within the research field of bilingual lexical representation and organization, much attention has been given to whether two languages share a conceptual system and what factors modulate the connection between this conceptual system and the lexical systems of a bilingual's L1 and L2. One of the most valid ways in the psycholinguistics domain to explore these doubts is to examine the masked translation priming effect and the priming asymmetry through cross-language priming experiments. In this study, a masked priming lexical decision task was conducted with unbalanced English-Chinese bilinguals to investigate whether the masked translation priming effect exists in both translation directions, and to further reveal how the number of translations, which can be categorized into one-translation pair and more-than-one-translation pair conditions, affects the priming effects and modulates translation priming asymmetry. It was demonstrated that both translation direction and the number of translations influence the priming effect. Specifically, the priming effect was observable from L1 to L2 but not from L2 to L1, and the priming for one-translation pairs was significantly greater when compared to that for more-than-one-translation pairs. Moreover, the impacts of translation direction on the priming effect differed between the one-translation pair and more-than-one-translation pair conditions: under the former condition, substantial priming occurred in both directions, whereas for the latter condition, it was observed only in the L1-L2 direction. Several models of the bilingual mental lexicon, mainly the Revised Hierarchical Model and the Distributed Conceptual Feature Model, were used to elucidate the above results., 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 Zhao, Li, Xiong and Xing.)

The design and synthesis of high-efficiency electrochemiluminescence (ECL) emitters hold great promise for a wide range of analytical applications. In this study, we developed a rapid and straightforward strategy to fabricate a self-luminous Cd-based metal-organic framework (Cd-MOF) using individual aggregation-induced emission ligands, specifically 1,1,2,2-tetrakis(4-(pyridin-4-yl)phenyl)ethane (TPPE), within a few seconds. The rigid and directionally enriched metal node of Cd, along with the organic ligands, is formed within the Cd-MOF via coordination, effectively constraining the intramolecular free motions of TPPE and suppressing nonradiative relaxation. Additionally, the unique porous structure combined with the catalytic activity resulting from the incorporation of Cd 2+ , endow the Cd-MOF with 90-fold ECL enhancement compared to individual TPPE as more chromophores are electro-excited and more coreactants are catalyzed to produce luminescence. The as-made Cd-MOF amplifies the ECL performance by integrating ECL emitters and coreactant accelerators into a single entity, simplifying the sensing process. Leveraging the excellent ECL performance, we constructed a sensitive ECL sensor for hydroquinone based on competitive reactions, with a wide linear range from 200 nM to 1 mM and a satisfying detection limit as low as 80 nM.

Covalent 2D magnets such as Cr 2 Te 3 , which feature self-intercalated magnetic cations located between monolayers of transition-metal dichalcogenide material, offer a unique platform for controlling magnetic order and spin texture, enabling new potential applications for spintronic devices. Here, it is demonstrated that the unconventional anomalous Hall effect (AHE) in Cr 2 Te 3 , characterized by additional humps and dips near the coercive field in AHE hysteresis, originates from an intrinsic mechanism dictated by the self-intercalation. This mechanism is distinctly different from previously proposed mechanisms such as topological Hall effect, or two-channel AHE arising from spatial inhomogeneities. Crucially, multiple Weyl-like nodes emerge in the electronic band structure due to strong spin-orbit coupling, whose positions relative to the Fermi level is sensitively modulated by the canting angles of the self-intercalated Cr cations. These nodes contribute strongly to the Berry curvature and AHE conductivity. This component competes with the contribution from bands that are less affected by the self-intercalation, resulting in a sign change in AHE with temperature and the emergence of additional humps and dips. The findings provide compelling evidence for the intrinsic origin of the unconventional AHE in Cr 2 Te 3  and further establish self-intercalation as a control knob for engineering AHE in complex magnets., (© 2024 The Author(s). Advanced Science published by Wiley‐VCH GmbH.)

The absorption of microplastics and nanoplastics (M(N)Ps) by plants has been reported, but their uptake from natural soils that is similar to the agro-ecosystems remains unclear. Additionally, the influence of soil environment factors, such as soil moisture (SM) and soil texture (ST), on the absorption and migration of M(N)Ps from soil remains uncertain. We examined absorption of M(N)Ps of various sizes by lettuce (Lactuca sativa) in Mollisols with varying levels of SM (5, 10, 15 ml water per 2d) across different ST (23.67 % and 44.09 % sand) under controlled incubation conditions. Our results revealed high M(N)Ps absorption by lettuce from natural soil, with notable distribution, particularly in stem and even on leaf surfaces, suggesting to the potential migration path. M(N)Ps presence reduced lettuce growth across different SM and ST compared with the control group (without M(N)Ps), possibly due to the uptake of M(N)Ps. Higher SM promoted plant growth and transpiration, enhanced M(N)Ps absorption and migration, and resulted in higher concentration observed in the leaves. Moreover, an interaction between SM and ST was observed, affecting the distribution of M(N)Ps in lettuce organs. These findings underscore the significance of SM and ST as key factors affecting M(N)Ps absorption and distribution in plants., 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.)

We explored expression and biological roles of collagen type VIII alpha-1 chain (COL8A1) in glioma. Bioinformatics analyses unveiled COL8A1 overexpression within glioma tissues correlates with adverse clinical outcomes of patients. COL8A1 overexpression was also detected in local glioma tissues and various glioma cells. In primary and immortalized glioma cells, COL8A1 shRNA or knockout (KO) reduced cell viability, proliferation and mobility, disrupted cell cycle, and prompted apoptosis. While COL8A1 overexpression augmented the malignant behaviors in glioma cells. COL8A1 shRNA or KO in primary glioma cells decreased phosphorylation of FAK and downstream targets Akt and Erk1/2. Conversely, elevating COL8A1 expression increased their phosphorylations. In vivo experiments confirmed growth inhibition of patient-derived glioma xenografts within the mouse brain following COL8A1 KO. Hindered proliferation, lowered phosphorylation levels of FAK, Akt, and Erk1/2, as well as increased apoptosis were observed within the COL8A1 KO intracranial glioma xenografts. Thus, COL8A1 overexpression promotes glioma cell growth., Competing Interests: Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Persistent infection with high-risk human papillomavirus (HR-HPV) is the principal etiological factor of cervical cancer. Considering the gradual progression of cervical cancer, the early, rapid, sensitive, and specific identification of HPV, particularly HR-HPV types, is crucial in halting the advancement of the illness. Here, we established a rapid, highly sensitive, and specific HR-HPV detection platform, leveraging the CRISPR/Cas12a assay in conjunction with multienzyme isothermal rapid amplification. Our platform enables the detection and genotyping of 14 types of HR-HPV by using type-specific crRNAs. The outcomes of the detection can be interpreted either through a fluorescence reader or visually. Furthermore, we achieved one-tube multiplex detection of 14 HR-HPV types through the use of multiple amplifications and a crRNA pool. The detection sensitivity of this method is 2 copies/μL with no cross-reactivity, and the results can be obtained within 30 minutes. This method exhibited 100% clinical sensitivity and 100% clinical specificity when applied to 258 clinical specimens. Based on these findings, our CRISPR/Cas-based HR-HPV detection platform holds promise as a novel clinical detection tool, offering a visually intuitive and expedited alternative to existing HPV infection diagnostics and providing fresh perspectives for clinical cervical cancer screening.IMPORTANCEThis study developed a novel high-risk human papillomavirus (HR-HPV) detection platform based on CRISPR/Cas12a technology. This platform not only enables the rapid, highly sensitive, and specific detection and genotyping of 14 types of HR-HPV but also achieves single-tube multiplex detection of 14 HR-HPV types through ingenious design. The outcomes of the detection can be interpreted either through a fluorescence reader or visually. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first paper to utilize CRISPR/Cas diagnostic technology for the simultaneous detection of 14 types of HPV and to evaluate its feasibility in clinical sample detection using a large number of clinical samples. We hope that this work will facilitate the rapid and accurate detection of HPV and promote the broader application of CRISPR/Cas diagnostic technology.

The 3D printing of a biomimetic scaffold with a high hydroxyapatite (HA) content (>80%) and excellent mechanical property is a serious challenge because of the difficulty of forming and printing, insufficient cohesion, and low mechanical property of the scaffold. In this study, hydroxyapatite whiskers (HAWs), with their superior mechanical property, biodegradability, and biocompatibility, were used to reinforce spherical HA scaffolds by 3D printing. The compressive strength and energy absorption capacity of HAW-reinforced spherical HA (HAW/HA) scaffolds increased when the HAW/HA ratio increased from 0:10 to 4:6 and then dropped with any further increases in the HAW/HA ratio. Bioceramic content (HAWs and spherical HA) in the scaffolds reached 83%, and the scaffold with a HAW/HA ratio of 4:6 (4-HAW/HA) exhibited an optimum compressive strength and energy absorption capacity. The scaffold using polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) as an additive possessed a good bonding between HA and PVA as well as a higher strength, which allowed the scaffold to bear a higher stress at the same strain. The compressive strength and toughness of the 4-HAW/HA-PVA scaffold were 1.96 and 1.63 times that of the 4-HAW/HA scaffold with hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose (HPMC), respectively. The mechanical property and inorganic components of the biomimetic HAW/HA scaffold were similar to those of human bone, which would make it ideal for repairing bone defects.

Refractory metal-based MXenes refer to MXenes with M as a refractory metal. Due to their high conductivity, large specific surface area, multiple active sites, high photothermal conversion efficiency, adjustable surface groups, and controllable nanolayer spacing, they hold broad application prospects in various fields such as photoelectrocatalysis, biomedicine, water treatment, electromagnetic shielding, and sensors. The unique physical properties of refractory metal-based MXenes are related to their electronic and crystal structures. The interstitial layer causes the carbides to exhibit different behavior compared to the original metal. At the same time, different preparation methods have a great influence on the interlayer spacing and surface termination of refractory metal-based MXenes, thus affecting their performance. This review systematically summarizes the latest progress in the preparation methods and frontier applications of refractory metal-based MXenes, offering new insights for further development. Additionally, various characterization techniques and first-principles calculations are summarized, which are crucial for optimizing refractory metal-based MXenes for applications such as catalysis, energy storage, and sensors. In summary, the current challenges and future development prospects of refractory metal-based Mxenes are addressed, aiming to provide indispensable information for the intelligent design of 2D materials in the future., (© 2024 Wiley‐VCH GmbH.)

High-performance Ga 2 O 3 solar-blind photodetectors are critical for applications due to their selective solar-blind ultraviolet sensitivity. The quality of the Ga 2 O 3 film has a significant impact on the performance of photodetectors. This study presents an innovative approach to enhancing the quality of Ga 2 O 3 films through the introduction of a naturally graded buffer layer, which is formed by the oxidation of a metallic Ga film and significantly improves interface stability by accommodating lattice mismatches and reducing defects. The structural and compositional characteristics of Ga 2 O 3 films were comprehensively analyzed using UV-vis (ultraviolet-visible) spectroscopy, AFM (Atomic Force Microscope), PL (Photoluminescence Spectroscopy), TEM (Transmission Electron Microscope), and XPS (X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy). The photodetectors fabricated from these films demonstrate responsivity of 99.8 mA/W and a solar-blind UV/UV ratio of 1.17 × 10 3 , with significant improvement compared to direct deposited films. This research highlights the potential of natural buffering layers to advance the performance of Ga 2 O 3 -based solar-blind UV detectors.

Background: Zingiber Mill., a morphologically diverse herbaceous perennial genus of Zingiberaceae, is distributed mainly in tropical to warm-temperate Asia. In China, species of Zingiber have crucial medicinal, edible, and horticultural values; however, their phylogenetic relationships remain unclear., Methods: To address this issue, the complete plastomes of the 29 Zingiber accessions were assembled and characterized. Comparative plastome analysis and phylogenetic analysis were conducted to develop genomic resources and elucidate the intraspecific phylogeny of Zingiber ., Results: The newly reported plastomes ranged from 161,495 to 163,880 bp in length with highly conserved structure. Results of comparative analysis suggested that IR expansions/contractions and changes of repeats were the main reasons that influenced the genome size of the Zingiber plastome. A large number of SSRs and six highly variable regions ( rpl20 , clpP , ycf1 , petA - psbJ , rbcL - accD , and rpl32 - trnL ) have been identified, which could serve as potential DNA markers for future population genetics or phylogeographic studies on this genus. The well-resolved plastome phylogeny suggested that Zingiber could be divided into three clades, corresponding to sect. Pleuranthesis (sect. Zingiber + sect. Dymczewiczia ) and sect. Cryptanthium ., Conclusions: Overall, this study provided a robust phylogeny of Zingiber plants in China, and the newly reported plastome data and plastome-derived markers will be of great significance for the accurate identification, protection, and agricultural management of Zingiber resources in the future.

Purpose: We retrospectively analyzed the effect of Bevacizumab (BEV) on recurrent high-grade glioma (rHGG) and examined the relationship between dose and efficacy., Methods: A total of 182 patients with rHGG were included in this study. Patients were divided into a non-BEV group and a BEV group according to the treatment they received, and the BEV group was further divided into a low-dose group and a high-dose group based on the dose. Depending on the number of groups and the characteristics of numerical variables, t -test, ANOVA, or rank-sum test were selected. Categorical variables were compared using the chi-squared test., Results: Progression-free survival (PFS) was lower in the non-BEV group compared to the BEV group, while overall survival (OS) was not different between the two groups. There was no difference in PFS and OS between low-dose group and high-dose group. Notably, we found that patients with longer PFS and OS were more likely to be from the BEV group. In addition, differences in Karnofsky Performance Score (KPS), steroid dose, and brain edema were observed in the non-BEV, low-dose, and high-dose groups from 3 to 12 months after treatment., Conclusion: BEV can improve PFS in patients with rHGG, although its impact on OS is limited. There was no difference in the efficacy of different doses of BEV on rHGG. Interestingly, patients with longer PFS and OS were more likely to be from the BEV group. Based on these findings, long-term low-dose BEV appears to be an effective treatment option for rHGG., Competing Interests: The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose., (© 2024 Bai et al.)

Background: In 2016, China has implemented the World Health Organization's "treat all" policy. We aimed to assess the impact of significant improvements in the 95-95-95 targets on population-level human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) transmission dynamics and incidence., Methods: We focused on 3 steps of the HIV care continuum: diagnosed, on antiretroviral therapy, and achieving viral suppression. The molecular transmission clusters were inferred using HIV-TRACE. New HIV infections were estimated using the incidence method in the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control HIV Modelling Tool., Results: Between 2004 and 2023, the national HIV epidemiology database recorded 2.99 billion person-times of HIV tests and identified 1 976 878 new diagnoses. We noted a roughly "inverted-V" curve in the clustering frequency, with the peak recorded in 2014 (67.1% [95% confidence interval, 63.7%-70.5%]), concurrent with a significant improvement in the 95-95-95 targets from 10-13-<71 in 2005 to 84-93-97 in 2022. Furthermore, we observed a parabolic curve for a new infection with the vertex occurring in 2010., Conclusions: In general, it was suggested that the improvements in the 95-95-95 targets were accompanied by a reduction in both the population-level HIV transmission rate and incidence. Thus, China should allocate more effort to the first "95" target to achieve a balanced 95-95-95 target., Competing Interests: Potential conflicts of interest. All authors: No reported conflicts. All authors have submitted the ICMJE Form for Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest. Conflicts that the editors consider relevant to the content of the manuscript have been disclosed., (© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Infectious Diseases Society of America. All rights reserved. For commercial re-use, please contact reprints@oup.com for reprints and translation rights for reprints. All other permissions can be obtained through our RightsLink service via the Permissions link on the article page on our site—for further information please contact journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Due to the serious detrimental impact on human health, antibiotic pollution particularly tetracyclines residues has become a serious problem. Herein, a multiple response fluorescent probe consisted of dual-emission carbon dots and Eu 3+ (D-CDs@Eu 3+ ) is designed for the determination and discrimination of tetracyclines (TCs). Specifically, the carboxyl and amidogen group of dual-emission carbon dots (D-CDs) can coordinate with Eu 3+ to form the D-CDs@Eu 3+ . Upon adding TCs, the fluorescence intensities of D-CDs at 405 nm and 495 nm are quenched due to inner filter effect (IFE) and the localization of fluorescence resonance energy transfer (L-FRET) between the D-CDs@Eu 3+ and TC. Simultaneously, the D-CDs@Eu 3+ may chelate with TCs to enhance the occurrence of antenna effect, while the characteristic peaks of Eu 3+ at 590 nm and 615 nm are enhanced. On these bases, the TCs detection is achieved with low detection limits from 46.7 to 72.0 nM. Additionally, through the distinct efficiencies of L-FRET, the discrimination of TCs is achieved. Moreover, a novel centrifugated lateral flow assay strips (CLFASs) device is developed by integrating the D-CDs@Eu 3+ , lateral flow assay strips and smartphone using RGB variations for TCs detection, achieving remarkable recoveries (98.6-103.7 %) in real samples. Therefore, this CLFASs device provides a reliable approach for the TCs detection, demonstrating potential applications., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare no competing financial interest., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)