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This article examines the potential of the 'biography of things' to enhance mobility studies in the context of the climate emergency of the Anthropocene. It suggests that mobility research should thoroughly consider non-human entities to address this unprecedented crisis. To achieve this goal, the article draws on anthropological literature about the biography of things and new materialist discourses about non-human agency. The text begins by exploring vitalism as a philosophical foundation for investigating the agency of things and their relationship to the biography of things in mobility studies. To address this issue, the 'mobility biography of things' methodology is proposed as a valuable approach. This methodology acknowledges the agency and 'personhood' of non-human entities, revealing the temporal and spatial entanglement of things by studying their mobility throughout their lifespan. It can derive ethical and political significance without strict boundaries between the social and natural worlds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous conventional mist devices can induce a detrimental effect of leaf burn by intense, focused sunlight in summer. A mist generator is designed to prevent particulate matter (PM) damage to trees by combining mist with PM during high PM episodes. We measured changes in microclimate conditions and the concentration of PM before, during, and after mist spraying in urban parks (Yangjae Citizen Forest, YCF; Cheongdam Road Park, CRP) from May 6 to 8, 2020. PM changes in YCF and CRP were observed immediately after mist spraying and were found to return to the previous concentrations. Mist spraying had no significant effects on the meteorological traits of air temperature, humidity, and wind speed but had significant effects on the concentration of PMx and the ratio of PM during a short time. Also, the ratio of PMx was partially affected by mist spraying. During the morning rush hour and lunch, mist, high wind speed, and low relative humidity conditions were related to the increase in mist movement, resulting in increasing PM (2.5–10 μm) and the deposition of these PM. During the evening rush hour, high relative humidity and low wind speed affected PM concentrations more than mist. This prototype of mist spraying could effectively condense and deposit the PM during high PM episodes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Direct epitaxy of III−V materials on Si is a promising approach for highly stable, scalable, and efficient Si‐based multijunction solar cells. However, challenges lie in overcoming epitaxial dislocations and residual thermal strain generated by lattice constant and thermal‐expansion‐coefficient mismatches, respectively. Herein, a 15.2% efficient InGaP/GaAs/Si triple‐junction solar cell with an open‐circuit voltage of 2.36 V by using In0.10Al0.16Ga0.74As digital‐alloy dislocation filter layers is first demonstrated. The filter layers are utilized in the n‐GaAs buffer on Si to reduce threading dislocation density to 4 × 107 cm−2 while maintaining optical transparency to Si bottom cell. Then, the impacts of threading dislocations and residual tension on InGaP/GaAs/Si cells are systematically investigated by comparing them to the co‐grown InGaP/GaAs tandem cells on a native GaAs substrate. Based on the comparative analysis, a strategy to suppress material deformation and defect formation toward 30% efficient InGaP/GaAs/Si triple‐junction solar cells is proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microalgae are unicellular, photosynthetic organisms in aquatic environments and are sensitive to water quality and contaminants. While green algae and diatoms are widely used for toxicity assessments, there is a relatively limited amount of toxicity data available for freshwater dinoflagellates. Here, we evaluated the sub‐lethal effects of the metals Cu, Cr, Ni, and Zn and the herbicides atrazine and S‐metolachlor on the freshwater dinoflagellate Palatinus apiculatus. Based on the 72‐h median effective concentration (EC50), P. apiculatus showed sensitive responses to metals in the order of Cu (0.052 mg L−1), Cr (0.085 mg L−1), Zn (0.098 mg L−1), and Ni (0.13 mg L−1). Among the tested herbicides, P. apiculatus was more sensitive to atrazine (0.0048 mg L−1) than S‐metolachlor (0.062 mg L−1). In addition, we observed morphological alterations and significant increases in reactive oxygen species (ROS) production in cells exposed to 0.05 mg L−1 of Cu and 0.005 mg L−1 of atrazine. These indicated that metals and pesticides induced oxidative stress in cellular metabolic processes and consequently caused severe physiological damage to the cells. Our results provide baseline data on the toxic effects of typical environmental contaminants on freshwater dinoflagellate, suggesting that P. apiculatus could be used as a bioindicator in freshwater toxicity assessments. Practitioner Points: The sub‐lethal effects of metals and pesticides on the freshwater dinoflagellate Palatinus apiculatus were evaluated.Palatinus sensitively responded to metals and pesticides; of test chemicals, atrazine (0.0048 mg L−1 of EC50) was the most sensitive.Metals and pesticides induced oxidative stress and consequently caused severe physiological damage to the Palatinus cells.The freshwater dinoflagellate Palatinus can be used as a bioindicator in freshwater toxicity assessments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Solar and wind energy for water electrolysis are gaining interest in contemporary times. In this context, platinum catalysts are commonly recognized as the standard for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), yet their effectiveness is constrained by their high cost and inadequate stability. Combining Ru and Ni lowers the material expense and greatly improves the electrocatalytic performance. Therefore, in the present study, a 3D nanostructured amorphous RuO2 aerogel is doped with various concentrations of Ni for enhanced HER activity. The results indicate that the 4% Ni‐RuO2 aerogel exhibits a 0D colloidal network featuring interconnected mesopores, with a high specific surface area of 241.5 m2·g−1. In addition, the 4% Ni‐RuO2 aerogel catalyst exhibits the lowest overpotentials of 63 and 122 mV at current densities of 10 and 50 mA·cm−2, respectively, along with enhanced hydrogen adsorption activity for the HER due to the 3D porous structure of the aerogel. However, a further increase in Ni doping leads to a decrease in HER activity due to a reduction in the number of catalytic Ru sites. The study found that doping with the optimum amount of Ni causes a redistribution of charges on the sample surface, thereby uncovering more reaction sites and enhancing the electrocatalytic performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Photosynthetic dinoflagellates are one of the major microalgal taxa, playing essential roles in biogeochemical cycles and food webs in aquatic environments. Some freshwater dinoflagellates are known to be sensitive to environmental conditions, like water quality and contaminants; however, their molecular toxicological responses are insufficiently discovered. In the present study, we evaluated the physiological and transcriptomic responses of the freshwater dinoflagellate Palatinus apiculatus exposed to cadmium (Cd), focusing on stress-responsive genes. The cell number of P. apiculatus decreased significantly at Cd concentrations above 0.25 mg/L after 72 h, with an estimated EC 50 value of 1.35 mg/L. In addition, we constructed 87,207 transcriptomic contigs from the P. apiculatus cells exposed to the Cd. Differential expression gene analysis showed that 21.0 % of total contigs were statistically significant, including 8647 up-regulated and 4195 down-regulated genes. Gene Ontology enrichment results revealed that genes responsive to stress and external stimuli were highly expressed in Cd-treated cells. Moreover, Cd significantly induced reactive oxygen species (ROS) production in P. apiculatus cells, and their patterns were similar to the expressions of certain antioxidant genes. Among the selected genes, GR expression levels were down-regulated, which may lead to the failure of cell defense against heavy metals. These results showed molecular defense pathways of the freshwater dinoflagellate P. apiculatus against the heavy metal that could be served as potential sensitive biomarkers for evaluating molecular toxicity in freshwater ecosystems., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

We describe complementary methods for synthesizing acyclic vinylic ethers from two carbohydrate-derived synthons. We compare a nonstereoselective olefination approach with a stereoselective catalytic C-O cross-coupling method, preparing 1,2-disubstituted vinylic ethers with complexity on both sides of the ether linkage. Upon epoxidation/ in situ oxacyclization of acyclic vinylic ethers, we synthesized disaccharides with α-d-galacto-, α-d-talo-, β-d-allo-, and α-d-altropyranoside stereochemistry, from d-lyxose and d-ribose precursors. Stereoselective CuI/CyDMEDA-catalyzed C-O cross-couplings offer considerable potential for broadly implementing this nontraditional strategy for glycoside synthesis.

Synovial Sarcoma (SySa) is an aggressive soft tissue sarcoma that accounts for 5 - 10% of all soft tissue sarcomas. Current treatment involves radiation and radical surgery including limb amputation, highlighting the urgent need to develop targeted therapies. We reasoned that transcriptional rewiring by the fusion protein SS18-SSX, the sole oncogenic driver in SySa, creates specific vulnerabilities that can be exploited for treatment. To uncover genes that are selectively essential for SySa, we mined The Cancer Dependency Map (DepMap) data to identify genes that specifically impact the fitness of SySa compared to other tumor cell lines. Targeted CRISPR library screening of SySa-selective candidates revealed that the small ubiquitin-like modifier 2 (SUMO2) was one of the strongest dependencies both in vitro as well as in vivo . TAK-981, a clinical-stage small molecule SUMO2 inhibitor potently inhibited growth and colony-forming ability. Strikingly, transcriptomic studies showed that pharmacological SUMO2 inhibition with TAK-981 treatment elicited a profound reversal of a gene expression program orchestrated by SS18-SSX fusions. Of note, genetic or pharmacological SUMO2 inhibition reduced global and chromatin levels of the SS18-SSX fusion protein with a concomitant reduction in histone 2A lysine 119 ubiquitination (H2AK119ub), an epigenetic mark that plays an important role in SySa pathogenesis. Taken together, our studies identify SUMO2 as a novel, selective vulnerability in SySa. Since SUMO2 inhibitors are currently in Phase 1/2 clinical trials for other cancers, our findings present a novel avenue for targeted treatment of synovial sarcoma., Competing Interests: Conflict-of-interest disclosure: The authors declare no competing interests or conflicts of interest related to this work.

Background/aim: Macrophages prevail in the microenvironment of several tumors, including non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), where they secrete pro-tumorigenic factors that contribute to cancer progression. This study investigated the role of macrophages on the resistance of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-mutated NSCLC cells to tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs)., Materials and Methods: EGFR-mutated cell lines PC-9 and HCC827 were cocultured with macrophages and treated with TKIs (erlotinib and gefitinib). The effects of the macrophage-conditioned medium (macrophage CM) on gefitinib resistance and cell migration were also evaluated., Results: Co-culture with macrophages significantly enhanced the resistance to erlotinib and gefitinib in PC-9 and HCC827 cells compared to that in cells cultured independently. Macrophage CM markedly induced gefitinib resistance in PC-9 cells, with maximum resistance observed at 50% CM concentration. This resistance persisted for up to 48 h post-CM removal. Macrophage CM inhibited gefitinib-induced apoptosis, as evidenced by the decreased expression of cleaved caspase-3, PARP, and BIM. Additionally, macrophage CM increased the migration ability of PC-9 cells, as shown by the wound healing and transwell migration assays. Studies have shown that TonEBP is crucial in cancer metastasis and drug resistance; we found that inhibition of TonEBP/NFAT5 expression reduced gefitinib resistance and migration in macrophage CM-induced PC-9 cells, indicating its role as mediator of these effects., Conclusion: Macrophages contribute to TKI resistance and enhance the migration of EGFR-mutated NSCLC cells through mechanisms involving TonEBP/NFAT5. Therefore, targeting TonEBP/NFAT5 represents a potential therapeutic strategy for overcoming macrophage-induced TKI resistance in NSCLC cells., (Copyright © 2024 International Institute of Anticancer Research (Dr. George J. Delinasios), All rights reserved.)

Lead halide perovskite quantum dots (QDs), the latest generation of the colloidal QD family, exhibit outstanding optical properties, which are now exploited as both classical and quantum light sources. Most of their rather exceptional properties are related to the peculiar exciton fine-structure of band-edge states, which can support unique bright triplet excitons. The degeneracy of the bright triplet excitons is lifted with energetic splitting in the order of millielectronvolts, which can be resolved by the photoluminescence (PL) measurements of single QDs at cryogenic temperatures. Each bright exciton fine-structure-state (FSS) exhibits a dominantly linear polarization, in line with several theoretical models based on the sole crystal field, exchange interaction, and shape anisotropy. Here, we show that in addition to a high degree of linear polarization, the individual exciton FSS can exhibit a non-negligible degree of circular polarization even without external magnetic fields by investigating the four Stokes parameters of the exciton fine-structure in individual CsPbBr 3 QDs through Stokes polarimetric measurements. We observe a degree of circular polarization up to ∼38%, which could not be detected by using the conventional polarimetric technique. In addition, we found a consistent transition from left- to right-hand circular polarization within the fine-structure triplet manifold, which was observed in magnetic-field-dependent experiments. Our optical investigation provides deeper insights into the nature of the exciton fine structures and thereby drives the yet-incomplete understanding of the unique photophysical properties of this class of QDs for the benefit of future applications in chiral quantum optics.

This study showed a significantly lower incidence of ILD among COVID-19 vaccinated individuals compared to unvaccinated, suggesting that the risk of COVID-19 vaccine-related ILD is not as high as previously reported https://bit.ly/3TWzzxP., Competing Interests: Conflict of interest: All authors have nothing to disclose., (Copyright ©The authors 2024.)

Objectives: : This study aimed to evaluate the effect of time-updated ambulatory blood pressure on chronic kidney disease (CKD) progression in patients with hypertension., Methods: : Among patients with hypertension and CKD stages 3 and 4, enrolled in a clinical trial in which hypertension was treated based on office or ambulatory blood pressure (BP), participants assigned to the ambulatory BP were included in this study. Ambulatory BP was measured at the start of the study and 3, 6, and 18 months. Renal events were defined as a decrease in the estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) by at least 30%, dialysis, or transplantation., Results: : A total of 21 cases of renal events were observed. For baseline BP, a multivariate Cox model revealed that neither office SBP nor any component of ambulatory SBP, including mean, day-time, night-time BPs was associated with the risk of renal events. For time-updated BP, a marginal structural model revealed that the office SBP was not associated with renal events [hazard ratio 1.03, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.99-1.07, P  = 0.117], but higher ambulatory SBPs, including day-time (hazard ratio 1.05, 95% CI 1.01-1.10, P  = 0.014), night-time (hazard ratio 1.05, 95% CI 1.02-1.08, P  = 0.001), and mean (hazard ratio 1.06, 95% CI 1.02-1.10, P  = 0.002) ambulatory SBPs, were significantly associated with an increased risk of renal events., Conclusion: : A higher time-updated ambulatory BP was associated with an increased risk of renal events in patients with hypertension and CKD, whereas baseline office and ambulatory BP, and time-updated office BP were not., (Copyright © 2023 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.)