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A tert -butyldiphenylsilyl-containing polyimide ( PI-OSi ) has been established as a colorimetric and ratiometric chemosensor for rapid detecting fluoride ions (F - ). The UV-vis absorbance ratio value (A 322 /A 288 ) of PI-OSi in a DMF solution displays a wide linear range change to F - concentrations with a detection limit (DL) value of 2.13 μM. Additionally, adding incremental amounts of F - to a DMF solution of PI-OSi shows an immediate color change to yellow and finally to green from colorless. More interestingly, the resulting PI-OSi plus F - system ( PI-OSi ·F) could detect trace water in DMF. The A 292 /A 322 value of PI-OSi ·F almost linearly increases with low water content, which suggests convenient quantitative sensing of trace water content in DMF. The DL value of PI-OSi ·F for sensing water in DMF is determined to be 0.00149% ( v / v ). The solution color of PI-OSi ·F returns to colorless when the water content increases, indicating that PI-OSi ·F can conveniently estimate water content in DMF by naked-eye detection. The detection mechanisms confirmed by an 1 H NMR study and a DFT calculation involve a F - -induced desilylation reaction of PI-OSi to form phenolate anion followed by protonation with trace water. Finally, PI-OSi film was fabricated for the colorimetric detection of F - and water in CH 3 CN.

The collective directional movement of animals occurs over both short distances and longer migrations, and is a critical aspect of feeding, reproduction and the ecology of many species. Despite the implications of collective motion for lifetime fitness, we know remarkably little about its energetics. It is commonly thought that collective animal motion saves energy: moving alone against fluid flow is expected to be more energetically expensive than moving in a group. Energetic conservation resulting from collective movement is most often inferred from kinematic metrics or from computational models. However, the direct measurement of total metabolic energy savings during collective motion compared with solitary movement over a range of speeds has yet to be documented. In particular, longer duration and higher speed collective motion must involve both aerobic and non-aerobic (high-energy phosphate stores and substrate-level phosphorylation) metabolic energy contributions, and yet no study to date has quantified both types of metabolic contribution in comparison to locomotion by solitary individuals. There are multiple challenging questions regarding the energetics of collective motion in aquatic, aerial and terrestrial environments that remain to be answered. We focus on aquatic locomotion as a model system to demonstrate that understanding the energetics and total cost of collective movement requires the integration of biomechanics, fluid dynamics and bioenergetics to unveil the hydrodynamic and physiological phenomena involved and their underlying mechanisms., Competing Interests: Competing interests The authors declare no competing or financial interests., (© 2023. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.)

Multistimuli-responsive fluorescent materials have garnered great research interest benefited from their practical applications. Two twisted-structure compounds containing tetraphenylethylene (TPE) as the aggregation-induced emission (AIE) group and a pyridine unit as the acid reaction site to obtain new multistimuli-responsive fluorescent compounds (namely, TPECNPy: TPECNPy-2 and TPECNPy-3) were successfully synthesized through a one-step Knoevenagel condensation reaction. The multiple-stimuli response process of TPECNPy was investigated by means of photoluminescence (PL) spectra and emission colour. The results showed that both TPECNPy compounds with excellent AIE abilities displayed reversible emission wavelength and colour changes in response to multiple external stimuli, including grinding-fuming by CH 2 Cl 2 or annealing and HCl-NH 3 vapour fuming. More importantly, fluorescent nanofibre films were prepared by electrospinning a solution of TPECNPy mixed with cellulose acetate (CA), and these exhibited reversible acid-induced discolouration, even with only 1 wt% TPECNPy. The results of this study may inspire strategies for designing multistimuli-responsive materials and preparing fluorescent sensing nanofibre films., (© 2023 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Despite the numerous treatments for triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), chemotherapy is still one of the most effective methods. However, the impact of chemotherapy on immune cells is not yet clear. Therefore, this study aims to explore the different roles of immune cells and their relationship with treatment outcomes in the tumor and blood before and after paclitaxel therapy. We analyzed the single-cell sequencing data of immune cells in tumors and blood before and after paclitaxel treatment. We confirmed a high correlation between T cells, innate lymphoid cells (ILCs), and therapeutic efficacy. The differences in T cells were analyzed related to therapeutic outcomes before and after paclitaxel treatment. In the effective treatment group, post-treatment tumor-infiltrating CD8 + T cells were associated with elevated inflammation, cytokines, and Toll-like-receptor-related gene expression, which were expected to enhance anti-tumor capabilities in tumor immune cells. Moreover, we found that the expression of immune-checkpoint-related genes is also correlated with treatment outcomes. In addition, an ILC subgroup, b_ILC1-XCL1, in which the corresponding marker gene XCL1 was highly expressed, was mainly present in the effective treatment group and was also associated with higher patient survival rates. Overall, we found differences in gene expression in T cells across different groups and a correlation between the expression of immune checkpoint genes in T cells, the b_ILC1-XCL1 subgroup, and patient prognosis.

Acute ischemic stroke (AIS), one of the leading causes of mortality worldwide, is characterized by a rapid inflammatory cascade resulting in exacerbation of ischemic brain injury. Microglia are the first immune responders. However, the role of postischemic microglial activity in ischemic brain injury remains far from being fully understood. Here, using the transgenic mouse line CX 3 CR1 creER :R26 iDTR to genetically ablate microglia, we showed that microglial deletion exaggerated ischemic brain injury. Associated with this worse outcome, there were increased neutrophil recruitment, microvessel blockade and blood flow stagnation in the acute phase, accompanied by transcriptional upregulation of chemokine (C-X-C motif) ligand 1 (CXCL1). Our study showed that microglial interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1RA) suppressed astrocytic CXCL1 expression induced by oxygen and glucose deprivation and inhibited neutrophil migration. Furthermore, neutralizing antibody therapy against CXCL1 or the administration of recombinant IL-1RA protein reduced brain infarct volume and improved motor coordination performance of mice after ischemic stroke. Our study suggests that microglia protect against acute ischemic brain injury by secreting IL-1RA to inhibit astrocytic CXCL1 expression, which reduces neutrophil recruitment and neutrophil-derived microvessel occlusion., (© 2023 Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

TREX1 encodes a major DNA exonuclease and mutations of this gene are associated with type I interferonopathies in human. Mice with Trex1 deletion or mutation have shortened life spans accompanied by a senescence-associated secretory phenotype. However, the contribution of cellular senescence in TREX1 deficiency-induced type I interferonopathies remains unknown. We found that features of cellular senescence present in Trex1 -/- mice are induced by multiple factors, particularly DNA damage. The cGAS-STING and DNA damage response pathways are required for maintaining TREX1 deletion-induced cellular senescence. Inhibition of the DNA damage response, such as with Checkpoint kinase 2 (CHK2) inhibitor, partially alleviated progression of type I interferonopathies and lupus-like features in the mice. These data provide insights into the initiation and development of type I interferonopathies and lupus-like diseases, and may help inform the development of targeted therapeutics., Competing Interests: The authors declare no further conflicts of interests., (© 2023 The Author(s).)

Micro-optics based on the artificial adjustment of physical dimensions, such as the phase, polarization, and wavelength of light, constitute the basis of contemporary information optoelectronic technology. As the main means of optical integration, it has become one of the important ways to break through the future bottleneck of microelectronic technology. Geometric phase optical components can precisely control the polarization, phase, amplitude and other properties of the light field at the sub-wavelength scale by periodically arranging nanometer-sized unit structures. It has received extensive attention in the fields of holographic imaging and polarization optics. This paper reviews the physical mechanism of micro-nano structure modification, research progress of femtosecond laser direct-writing photoresist, femtosecond laser ablation of metal thin films, femtosecond laser-induced nanograting, and other methods for preparing polarization converters and geometric phase optics. The challenges of fabricating ultrafast optical devices using femtosecond laser technology are discussed.

The high content of organic matter in sludge is the primary reason for the poor solidifying effect and excessive dosage of the cement base. In this study, potassium ferrate and straw fiber are utilized to synergistically enhance the solidifying effect of the cement and elaborate the strength mechanisms. Among them, potassium ferrate was selected to oxidize and crack the structure of organic matter in sludge and consume part of organic matter; straw fiber was used as an adsorption material to absorb some of the organic material and reduce its interference with the cement hydration reaction; the skeleton function of straw fiber in solidified sludge was used to improve the final solidified sludge strength. It is shown that the presence of these two additives significantly improved the cement solidification strength and reduced the moisture content of the solidified body. Moreover, the moisture content and strength followed an obvious linear relationship (adjusted R 2  = 0.92), with the strength increasing as the moisture content decreased. After pretreatment with potassium ferrate, the free water content in the dewatered sludge increased by 4.5%, which was conducive to the adequate hydration reaction with cement. The analysis using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM/EDS), and mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP) revealed potassium ferrate synergizes with straw fibers to promote the production of hemihydrate gypsum and gismondine. However, hemihydrate gypsum, calcium carbonate, and gismondine resulted in structural swelling, which was confirmed by the microscopic morphology and pore structure analysis. However, the adverse effects due to swelling were offset by the increase in strength brought by the above crystalline substances., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Immunotherapy is an effective treatment for esophageal cancer (ESCA) patients. However, there are no dependable markers for predicting prognosis and immunotherapy responses in ESCA. Our study aims to explore immune gene prognostic models and markers in ESCA as well as predictors for immunotherapy. The expression profiles of ESCA were obtained from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO), and International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) databases. Cox regression analysis was performed to construct an immune gene prognostic model. ESCA was grouped into three immune cell infiltration (ICI) clusters by CIBERSORT algorithm. The immunotherapy response of patients in different ICI score clusters was also compared. The copy number variations, somatic mutations, and single nucleotide polymorphisms were analyzed. Enrichment analyses were also performed. An immune gene prognostic model was successfully constructed. The ICI score may be used as a predictor independent of tumor mutation burden. Enrichment analyses showed that the differentially expressed genes were mostly enriched in microvillus and the KRAS and IL6/JAK/STAT3 pathways. The top eight genes with the highest mutation frequencies in ESCA were identified and all related to the prognosis of ESCA patients. Our study established an effective immune gene prognostic model and identified markers for predicting the prognosis and immunotherapy response of ESCA patients., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

The intestinal microbiota and fecal metabolome have been shown to play a vital role in human health, and can be affected by genetic and environmental factors. We found that individuals with Down syndrome (DS) had abnormal serum cytokine levels indicative of a pro-inflammatory environment. We investigated whether these individuals also had alterations in the intestinal microbiome. High-throughput sequencing of bacterial 16S rRNA gene in fecal samples from 17 individuals with DS and 23 non-DS volunteers revealed a significantly higher abundance of Prevotella , Escherichia / Shigella , Catenibacterium , and Allisonella in individuals with DS, which was positively associated with the levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines. GC-TOF-MS-based fecal metabolomics identified 35 biomarkers (21 up-regulated metabolites and 14 down-regulated metabolites) that were altered in the microbiome of individuals with DS. Metabolic pathway enrichment analyses of these biomarkers showed a characteristic pattern in DS that included changes in valine, leucine, and isoleucine biosynthesis and degradation; synthesis and degradation of ketone bodies; glyoxylate and dicarboxylate metabolism; tyrosine metabolism; lysine degradation; and the citrate cycle. Treatment of mice with fecal bacteria from individuals with DS or Prevotella copri significantly altered behaviors often seen in individuals with DS, such as depression-associated behavior and impairment of motor function. These studies suggest that changes in intestinal microbiota and the fecal metabolome are correlated with chronic inflammation and behavior disorders associated with DS., 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 © 2023 Cai, Lin, Li, Liu, Feng, Zhang, Zhang, Huang and Chen.)

Organic perovskites are promising optoelectronic semiconductor materials with photoelectric applications. It is known that the luminescence of perovskites is highly sensitive to hydron molecules due to its low moisture resistance of crystal structure, indicating its potential application on humidity-sensing. Herein, a novel perovskite-based compound (PBC) with minimal defects was developed to promote the photoluminescence performance via optimization of the drying method and precursor constitutions. Perovskite materials with good structural integrity and enhanced fluorescence performance up to four times were obtained from supercritical drying. Moreover, the hydrophilic polymer matrix, polyethylene oxide (PEO), was added to obtain a composite of perovskite/PEO (PPC), introducing enhanced humidity sensitivity and solution processibility. These perovskite/PEO composites also exhibited long-term stability and manifold cycles of sensitivity to humidity owing to perovskite encapsulation by PEO. In addition, this precursor solution of perovskite-based composites could be fancily processed by multiple methods, including printing and handwriting, which demonstrates the potential and broaden the applications in architecture decoration, logos, trademarks, and double encryption of anti-fake combined with humidity.

One of the physiological mechanisms that can limit the fish's ability to face hypoxia or elevated temperature, is maximal cardiac performance. Yet, few studies have measured how cardiac electrical activity and associated calcium cycling proteins change with acclimation to those environmental stressors. To examine this, we acclimated European sea bass for 6 weeks to three experimental conditions: a seasonal average temperature in normoxia (16 °C; 100% air sat.), an elevated temperature in normoxia (25 °C; 100% air sat.) and a seasonal average temperature in hypoxia (16 °C; 50% air sat.). Following each acclimation, the electrocardiogram was measured to assess how acclimation affected the different phases of cardiac cycle, the maximal heart rate (fH max ) and cardiac thermal performance during an acute increase of temperature. Whereas warm acclimation prolonged especially the diastolic phase of the ventricular contraction, reduced the fH max and increased the cardiac arrhythmia temperature (T ARR ), hypoxic acclimation was without effect on these functional indices. We measured the level of two key proteins involved with cellular relaxation of cardiomyocytes, i.e. sarco(endo)plasmic reticulum Ca 2+ -ATPase (SERCA) and Na + /Ca 2+ exchanger (NCX). Warm acclimation reduced protein level of both NCX and SERCA and hypoxic acclimation reduced SERCA protein levels without affecting NCX. The changes in ventricular NCX level correlated with the observed changes in diastole duration and fH max as well as T ARR . Our results shed new light on mechanisms of cardiac plasticity to environmental stressors and suggest that NCX might be involved with the observed functional changes, yet future studies should also measure its electrophysiological activity., (Copyright © 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The hypoxic constraint on peak oxygen uptake (ṀO2,peak) was characterized in rainbow trout over a range of ambient oxygen tensions with different testing protocols and statistical models. The best-fit model was selected using both statistical criteria (R2 and AIC) and the model's prediction of three anchor points for hypoxic performance: critical PO2 (Pcrit), maximum ṀO2 and a new metric, the minimum PO2 that supports 50% of absolute aerobic scope (PAAS-50). The best-fitting model was curvilinear using five strategically selected PO2 values. This model predicted PAAS-50 as 70 mmHg (coefficient of variation, CV=9%) for rainbow trout. Thus, while a five-point hypoxic performance curve can characterize the limiting effects of hypoxia in fish, as envisaged by Fry over 75 years ago, PAAS-50 is a promising metric to compare hypoxic constraints on performance in a standardized manner both within and across fish species., Competing Interests: Competing interests The authors declare no competing or financial interests., (© 2022. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.)

Background: Viruses can impose energetic demands on organisms they infect, in part by hosts mounting resistance. Recognizing that oxygen uptake reliably indicates steady-state energy consumption in all vertebrates, we comprehensively evaluated oxygen uptake and select transcriptomic messaging in sockeye salmon challenged with either a virulent rhabdovirus (IHNV) or a low-virulent reovirus (PRV). We tested three hypotheses relating to the energetic costs of viral resistance and tolerance in this vertebrate system: (1) mounting resistance incurs a metabolic cost or limitation, (2) induction of the innate antiviral interferon system compromises homeostasis, and (3) antiviral defenses are weakened by acute stress., Results: IHNV infections either produced mortality within 1-4 weeks or the survivors cleared infections within 1-9 weeks. Transcription of three interferon-stimulated genes (ISGs) was strongly correlated with IHNV load but not respiratory performance. Instead, early IHNV resistance was associated with a mean 19% (95% CI = 7-31%; p = 0.003) reduction in standard metabolic rate. The stress of exhaustive exercise did not increase IHNV transcript loads, but elevated host inflammatory transcriptional signaling up to sevenfold. For PRV, sockeye tolerated high-load systemic PRV blood infections. ISG transcription was transiently induced at peak PRV loads without associated morbidity, microscopic lesions, or major changes in aerobic or anaerobic respiratory performance, but some individuals with high-load blood infections experienced a transient, minor reduction in hemoglobin concentration and increased duration of excess post-exercise oxygen consumption., Conclusions: Contrary to our first hypothesis, effective resistance against life-threatening rhabdovirus infections or tolerance to high-load reovirus infections incurred minimal metabolic costs to salmon. Even robust systemic activation of the interferon system did not levy an allostatic load sufficient to compromise host homeostasis or respiratory performance, rejecting our second hypothesis that this ancient innate vertebrate antiviral defense is itself energetically expensive. Lastly, an acute stress experienced during testing did not weaken host antiviral defenses sufficiently to promote viral replication; however, a possibility for disease intensification contingent upon underlying inflammation was indicated. These data cumulatively demonstrate that fundamental innate vertebrate defense strategies against potentially life-threatening viral exposure impose limited putative costs on concurrent aerobic or energetic demands of the organism., (© 2021. The Author(s).)

Objective: To investigate the effect of testosterone propionate injection on the condition and prognosis of patients with sepsis., Methods: The clinical data of 61 sepsis patients admitted to the department of intensive care medicine, Weinan Central Hospital from June 2009 to October 2019 were retrospectively analyzed. All patients were treated with anti-infection, control of infection sources, organ function support, nutrition enhancement and supportive treatment. On the basis of routine treatment, observation group was given 100 mg of testosterone propionate injection for deep intramuscular injection twice a week (twice in total), and control group was not given testosterone propionate injection. The general information and laboratory indexes before treatment were observed, and the testosterone, albumin, acute physiology and chronic health evaluation II (APACHE II), sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA) score after treatment, intensive care unit (ICU) hospitalization time, total hospitalization cost, mechanical ventilation time, 28-day all-cause mortality and other indicators of the patients in two groups were compared., Results: There were no significant differences between the two groups in gender, age and other baseline data and laboratory indexes before treatment. After treatment, in observation group the testosterone (μg/L: 3.69±2.38 vs. 2.85±0.90) and albumin (g/L: 39.87±1.98 vs. 26.25±4.13) were significantly higher than those in control group. Total hospitalization expenses (ten thousand Yuan: 10.14±3.22 vs. 12.10±3.91), APACHE II (13.71±2.13 vs. 23.23±2.52), SOFA (4.45±1.57 vs. 9.97±2.65), ICU hospitalization time (days: 12.36±4.37 vs. 14.03±3.86) and mechanical ventilation time (days: 3.00±1.85 vs. 7.00±2.50) were significantly lower than those in control group (all P < 0.05), and the difference in 28-day all-cause mortality of two groups was not significant [3.2% (1/31) vs. 13.3% (4/30), P > 0.05]., Conclusions: Testosterone propionate injection can increase albumin level, shorten the time of mechanical ventilation, and improve the condition and prognosis of patients with sepsis.

Background: Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is an epithelial malignancy with high morbidity rates in the east and southeast Asia. The molecular mechanisms of NPC remain largely unknown. We explored the pathogenesis, potential biomarkers, and prognostic indicators of NPC., Methods: We analyzed mRNAs, long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), and microRNAs (miRNAs) in the whole transcriptome sequencing dataset of our hospital (five normal tissues vs. five NPC tissues) and six microarray datasets (62 normal tissues vs. 334 NPC tissues) downloaded from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GSE12452, GSE13597, GSE95166, GSE126683, and GSE70970, GSE43039). Differential expression analyses, gene ontology (GO) enrichment, kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes (KEGG) analysis, and gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) were conducted. The lncRNA-miRNA-mRNA competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) networks were constructed using the miRanda and TargetScan database, and a protein-protein interaction (PPI) network of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) was built using Search Tool for the Retrieval of Interacting Genes (STRING) software. Hub genes were identified using Molecular Complex Detection (MCODE), NetworkAnalyzer, and CytoHubba., Results: We identified 61 mRNAs, 14miRNAs, and 10 lncRNAs as shared DEGs related to NPC in seven datasets. Changes in NPC were enriched in the chromosomal region, sister chromatid segregation, and nuclear chromosome segregation. GSEA indicated that the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway, phosphatidylinositol-3 OH kinase/protein kinase B (PI3K-Akt) pathway, apoptotic pathway, and tumor necrosis factor (TNF) were involved in the initiation and development of NPC. Finally, 20 hub genes were screened out via the PPI network., Conclusions: Several DEGs and their biological processes, pathways, and interrelations were found in our current study by bioinformatics analyses. Our findings may offer insights into the biological mechanisms underlying NPC and identify potential therapeutic targets for NPC., Competing Interests: Competing interestsThe authors declare that they have no competing interests., (© The Author(s) 2020.)

Despite many recent attempts to restrict it, the dissolution and diffusion of polysulfides, leading to inferior cycling performance, is still the main bottleneck hindering commercialization of the Li-S battery. Herein, a new strategy of using lithium polyacrylate (LiPAA) to clad multiwalled carbon nanotube/sulfur (MWNT/S) composites as the interface layer for an MWNT/S/LiPAA cathode was proposed, not only to suppress polysulfide migration through physical encapsulation and chemical adsorption, but also to facilitate Li + diffusion during the charge/discharge process. Attributed to these functions of LiPAA, MWNT/S/LiPAA exhibited a rate capability and cycling performance superior to those of MWNT/S and MWNT/S/PAA. Moreover, thanks to the introduction of LiPAA, the MWNT/S/LiPAA was endowed with robust mechanical properties, making it suitable for a flexible cathode in a flexible Li-S battery with stable output under deformation. This work could open up a promising way to suppress polysulfide migration for high-performance flexible Li-S batteries.