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Abstract Background Breast cancer (BC) is the most common cancer in women and poses a significant health burden, especially in China. Despite advances in diagnosis and treatment, patient variability and limited early detection contribute to poor outcomes. This study examines the role of CD8 + T cells in the tumor microenvironment to identify new biomarkers that improve prognosis and guide treatment strategies. Methods CD8 + T-cell marker genes were identified using single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq), and a CD8 + T cell-related gene prognostic signature (CTRGPS) was developed using 10 machine-learning algorithms. The model was validated across seven independent public datasets from the GEO database. Clinical features and previously published signatures were also analyzed for comparison. The clinical applications of CTRGPS in biological function, immune microenvironment, and drug selection were explored, and the role of hub genes in BC progression was further investigated. Results We identified 71 CD8 + T cell-related genes and developed the CTRGPS, which demonstrated significant prognostic value, with higher risk scores linked to poorer overall survival (OS). The model’s accuracy and robustness were confirmed through Kaplan-Meier and ROC curve analyses across multiple datasets. CTRGPS outperformed existing prognostic signatures and served as an independent prognostic factor. The role of the hub gene TTK in promoting malignant proliferation and migration of BC cells was validated. Conclusion The CTRGPS enhances early diagnosis and treatment precision in BC, improving clinical outcomes. TTK, a key gene in the signature, shows promise as a therapeutic target, supporting the CTRGPS’s potential clinical utility.

A case of Cronkhite-Canada syndrome is reported. A 68-year-old man presented with stomachache and diarrhea for 3 months. The dermatological examination revealed diffuse hair thinning, especially on the frontal region, symmetrical distribution of brown pigmentation covered with green bean-sized maculopapules on the upper and lower lips, hands, and soles. Two-thirds of distal part of the toenails were missing, with rough and uneven dull surface. Pitted edema was observed on the upper eyelids and legs. Laboratory examination showed anemia and hypoproteinemia. Electronic colonoscopy revealed multiple polyps in the colon. Diagnosis: Cronkhite-Canada syndrome. Following high protein nutritional support and symptomatic treatment, anemia and hypoproteinemia were significantly improved. The patient is still under follow-up.

Developing red fluorescence emitters with simple structures via convenient synthetic routes is highly desirable yet challenging. Herein, two novel donor–acceptor-type red emitters, DCFOPV-TPA and SCFOPV-TPA, featuring the intramolecular charge transfer effect were designed by integrating triphenylamine and trifluoromethyl into a CN-substituted oligo(p-phenylene vinylene) backbone. Both chromophores exhibited aggregation-induced enhanced emission and solvatochromic behavior. Moreover, DCFOPV-TPA also displayed reversible mechanofluorochromic properties under external force.

The production of huge amounts of biogas slurry during livestock breeding has resulted in pressing environmental issues. Although paddy fields can be potential sinks for the disposal of biogas slurry, the impacts of biogas slurry on rice production, grain quality, and relevant environmental risks in the Yangtze Delta region remain unclear. Herein, we conducted a field trial from 2021 to 2023 which involved different gradients of biogas slurry utilization, including CK (no fertilizer), CN (100% chemical nitrogen (N) of 240 kg ha−1), NBS (biogas slurry replacing 50% chemical N), BS1 (replacing 100% chemical N), BS1.5 (replacing 150% chemical N), and BS2 (replacing 200% chemical N). The results showed that there were no significant differences in average rice yields between CN, NBS, BS1.5, and BS2 over the three-year study period, with an average yield of 8283 kg ha−1, and the average yields of BS1 and CK were 7815 kg ha−1 and 6236 kg ha−1, respectively. However, heavy utilization of biogas slurry (BS1.5 and BS2) not only significantly reduced the rice seed-setting rate, the 1000-grain weight, and the processing quality, but also significantly increased the protein, amylose, Cu, and Zn content in rice grains; additionally, higher N losses occurred via surface water and increased NH3 volatilization was observed, finally resulting in lower nitrogen-use efficiency. Meanwhile, moderate utilization of biogas slurry (NBS and BS1) led to better rice quality and nitrogen-use efficiency, lower potential food safety risk, and N loss. Further, compared to BS1, NBS showed higher yield, harvest index, processing quality, gel consistency, palatability scores, and nitrogen-use efficiency, but lower N losses were present. Overall, the NBS treatment balanced the agronomic benefits and environmental risks in the Yangtze River Delta region. In the future, more attention should be paid to food safety and environmental risks when using biogas slurry.

IntroductionResearch indicates that individuals experiencing hemorrhagic stroke face a greater likelihood of developing lower extremity deep vein thrombosis (DVT) compared to those with ischemic stroke. This study aimed to assess the predictive capacity of the Caprini risk assessment model (RAM), D-dimer (D-D) levels, and fibrinogen (FIB) levels for lower extremity DVT in patients with spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage (sICH).MethodologyThis study involved a retrospective analysis of medical records from all sICH patients admitted to Shanghai General Hospital between June 2020 and June 2023. Within 48 h of admission, patients underwent routine screening via color Doppler ultrasonography (CDUS). Patients were categorized into the DVT and control groups based on the occurrence of lower extremity DVT during hospitalization. Differences in Caprini RAM, D-dimer, and FIB levels between the two groups were compared. The sensitivity and specificity of combined Caprini RAM, peripheral blood D-dimer, and FIB levels in predicting lower extremity DVT in sICH patients were analyzed. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves assessed the overall predictive accuracy of Caprini RAM, D-D, and FIB levels.ResultsThe study involving 842 sICH patients revealed 225 patients with DVT and 617 patients without DVT. Caprini RAM, D-D, and FIB levels were significantly higher in the DVT group compared to the control group (P < 0.05). Sensitivity values for Caprini RAM, D-D, and FIB levels in predicting lower extremity DVT in sICH patients were 0.920, 0.893, and 0.680, respectively, while specificities were 0.840, 0.680, and 0.747, respectively. The ROC curve analysis demonstrated an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.947 for combined DVT prediction, with 97.33% sensitivity and 92.00% specificity, indicating superior predictive value compared to individual applications of Caprini RAM, D-D, and FIB levels.ConclusionThe combined utilization of Caprini RAM, D-D, and FIB levels holds significant clinical relevance in predicting lower extremity DVT in sICH patients.

Tumors pose a significant global public health challenge, resulting in numerous fatalities annually. CD8+ T cells play a crucial role in combating tumors; however, their effectiveness is compromised by the tumor itself and the tumor microenvironment (TME), resulting in reduced efficacy of immunotherapy. In this dynamic interplay, extracellular vesicles (EVs) have emerged as pivotal mediators, facilitating direct and indirect communication between tumors and CD8+ T cells. In this article, we provide an overview of how tumor-derived EVs directly regulate CD8+ T cell function by carrying bioactive molecules they carry internally and on their surface. Simultaneously, these EVs modulate the TME, indirectly influencing the efficiency of CD8+ T cell responses. Furthermore, EVs derived from CD8+ T cells exhibit a dual role: they promote tumor immune evasion while also enhancing antitumor activity. Finally, we briefly discuss current prevailing approaches that utilize functionalized EVs based on tumor-targeted therapy and tumor immunotherapy. These approaches aim to present novel perspectives for EV-based tumor treatment strategies, demonstrating potential for advancements in the field.

As the main contributor to greenhouse gas (GHG) in paddy soil, information on methane (CH4) emission characteristics under different tillage and cultivation practices are limited. A five-year field trial was conducted from 2019 in a single-cropping rice system in Taihu Lake region, east of China. The experiment had a completely randomized block design, and the treatments included rotary tillage plus rice dry direct seeding (RD), rotary tillage plus rice mechanical transplanting (RT), and plowing tillage plus rice mechanical transplanting (PT). We determined the rice yield, GHG emission, soil traits, and methanogens and methanotrophs in 2022 and 2023. The results revealed that PT and RT significantly increased rice yield compared to RD, whereas PT simultaneously increased CH4 emissions. The year-averaged cumulative CH4 emissions in PT were increased by 38.5% and 61.4% higher than RT and RD, respectively. Meanwhile, yield-scaled global warming potentials (GWPs) in RT and RD were lower than those in PT. Tillage and cultivation practices shifted mcrA and pmoA abundances, and PT significantly decreased pmoA abundance. The community structure and diversity of the methanogens and methanotrophs were not significantly affected. Structural equation model analyses illustrated that CH4 emissions were regulated by mcrA and pmoA directly, which in turn, regulated by soil carbon and nitrogen. Overall, rotary tillage plus mechanism transplanting was a feasible agronomic technology in a single-cropping rice system in Taihu Lake region, exhibiting higher and more stable rice productivity, accompanied with lower CH4 emissions and yield-scaled GWP.

Loop closure detection plays an important role in the construction of reliable maps for intelligent agricultural machinery equipment. With the combination of convolutional neural networks (CNN), its accuracy and real-time performance are better than those based on traditional manual features. However, due to the use of small embedded devices in agricultural machinery and the need to handle multiple tasks simultaneously, achieving optimal response speeds becomes challenging, especially when operating on large networks. This emphasizes the need to study in depth the kind of lightweight CNN loop closure detection algorithm more suitable for intelligent agricultural machinery. This paper compares a variety of loop closure detection based on lightweight CNN features. Specifically, we prove that GhostNet with feature reuse can extract image features with both high-dimensional semantic information and low-dimensional geometric information, which can significantly improve the loop closure detection accuracy and real-time performance. To further enhance the speed of detection, we implement Multi-Probe Random Hyperplane Local Sensitive Hashing (LSH) algorithms. We evaluate our approach using both a public dataset and a proprietary greenhouse dataset, employing an incremental data processing method. The results demonstrate that GhostNet and the Linear Scanning Multi-Probe LSH algorithm synergize to meet the precision and real-time requirements of agricultural closed-loop detection.

Abstract The N−N atropisomer, as an important and intriguing chiral system, was widely present in natural products, pharmaceutical lead compounds, and advanced material skeletons. The anisotropic structural characteristics caused by its special axial rotation have always been one of the challenges that chemists strive to overcome. Herein, we report an efficient method for the enantioselective synthesis of N−N axially chiral frameworks via a cobalt-catalyzed atroposelective C-H activation/annulation process. The reaction proceeds under mild conditions by using Co(OAc)2·4H2O as the catalyst with a chiral salicyl-oxazoline (Salox) ligand and O2 as an oxidant, affording a variety of N−N axially chiral products with high yields and enantioselectivities. This protocol provides an efficient approach for the facile construction of N−N atropisomers and further expands the range of of N−N axially chiral derivatives. Additionally, under the conditions of electrocatalysis, the desired N−N axially chiral products were also successfully achieved with good to excellent efficiencies and enantioselectivities.

Abstract Background The excellent physicochemical and biomedical properties make silk fibroin (SF) suitable for the development of biomedical materials. In this research, the silk fibroin microspheres (SFMS) were customized in two size ranges, and then carried gold nanoparticles or doxorubicin to evaluate the performance of drug loading and releasing. Embolization efficiency was evaluated in rat caudal artery and rabbit auricular artery, and the in vivo distribution of iodinated SFMS (125I/131I-SFMS) after embolization of rat hepatic artery was dynamically recorded by SPECT. Transhepatic arterial radioembolization (TARE) with 131I-SFMS was performed on rat models with liver cancer. The whole procedure of selective internal radiation was recorded with SPECT/CT, and the therapeutic effects were evaluated with 18 F-FDG PET/CT. Lastly, the enzymatic degradation was recorded and followed with the evaluation of particle size on clearance of sub-micron silk fibroin. Results SFMS were of smooth surface and regular shape with pervasive pores on the surface and inside the microspheres, and of suitable size range for TAE. Drug-loading functionalized SFMS with chemotherapy or radio-sensitization, and the enhanced therapeutic effects were proved in treating HUH-7 cells as lasting doxorubicin release or more lethal radiation. For artery embolization, SFMS effectively blocked the blood supply; when 131I-SFMS serving as the embolic agent, the good labeling stability and embolization performance guaranteed the favorable therapeutic effects in treating in situ liver tumor. At the 5th day post TARE with 37 MBq/3 mg 131I-SFMS per mice, tumor activity was quickly inhibited to a comparable glucose metabolism level with surrounding normal liver. More importantly, for the fragments of biodegradable SFMS, smaller sized SF ( 800 nm) entered the liver within 72 h for further metabolism. Conclusion The feasibility of SFMS as degradable TARE agent for liver cancer was primarily proved as providing multiple therapeutic potentials. Graphical abstract

ABSTRACT: Gut microbiota dysbiosis plays a crucial role in the occurrence and progression of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), which may be influenced by nutritional supplementation. Quinoa, a type of pseudocereal, has gained prominence due to its high nutritional value and diverse applications. This study aimed to determine whether yogurt containing quinoa can ameliorate NAFLD and alleviate metabolic disorders by protecting against the divergence of gut microbiota. Our findings suggested that quinoa yogurt could significantly reduce the body weight gain and fat tissue weight of high-fat diet (HFD)–fed obese mice. In addition, quinoa yogurt significantly reduced liver steatosis and enhanced glucose homeostasis and insulin sensitivity. Additional research indicates that quinoa yogurt can reduce the levels of proinflammatory cytokines (i.e., tumor necrosis factor α, IL-1β, and IL-6) and inhibit endotoxemia and systemic inflammation. The characteristics of the gut microbiota were then determined by analyzing 16S rRNA. In addition, we discovered that the gut microbiota was disturbed by HFD consumption. Particularly, intestinal probiotics and beneficial intestinal secretions were increased, leading to the expression of glucagon-like peptide-1 in the colon, contributing to NAFLD. Furthermore, endotoxemia and systemic inflammation in HFD-fed mice were restored to the level of control mice when they were fed yogurt and quinoa. Therefore, yogurt containing quinoa can effectively alleviate NAFLD symptoms and may exert its effects via microbiome-gut-liver axis mechanisms. According to some research, the role of the enteric-liver axis may also influence metabolic disorders to reduce the development of NAFLD.

BackgroundBreast cancer is the key global menace to women’s health, which ranks first by mortality rate. The rate reduction and early diagnostics of breast cancer are the mainstream of medical research. Immunohistochemical examination is the most important link in the process of breast cancer treatment, and its results directly affect physicians’ decision-making on follow-up medical treatment.PurposeThis study aims to develop a computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) method based on deep learning to classify breast ultrasound (BUS) images according to immunohistochemical results.MethodsA new depth learning framework guided by BUS image data analysis was proposed for the classification of breast cancer nodes in BUS images. The proposed CAD classification network mainly comprised three innovation points. First, a multilevel feature distillation network (MFD-Net) based on CNN, which could extract feature layers of different scales, was designed. Then, the image features extracted at different depths were fused to achieve multilevel feature distillation using depth separable convolution and reverse depth separable convolution to increase convolution depths. Finally, a new attention module containing two independent submodules, the channel attention module (CAM) and the spatial attention module (SAM), was introduced to improve the model classification ability in channel and space.ResultsA total of 500 axial BUS images were retrieved from 294 patients who underwent BUS examination, and these images were detected and cropped, resulting in breast cancer node BUS image datasets, which were classified according to immunohistochemical findings, and the datasets were randomly subdivided into a training set (70%) and a test set (30%) in the classification process, with the results of the four immune indices output simultaneously from training and testing, in the model comparison experiment. Taking ER immune indicators as an example, the proposed model achieved a precision of 0.8933, a recall of 0.7563, an F1 score of 0.8191, and an accuracy of 0.8386, significantly outperforming the other models. The results of the designed ablation experiment also showed that the proposed multistage characteristic distillation structure and attention module were key in improving the accuracy rate.ConclusionThe extensive experiments verify the high efficiency of the proposed method. It is considered the first classification of breast cancer by immunohistochemical results in breast cancer image processing, and it provides an effective aid for postoperative breast cancer treatment, greatly reduces the difficulty of diagnosis for doctors, and improves work efficiency.

With the continuous emergence of various advanced packaging technologies such as copper interconnection and 3-D packaging technology, it is essential to efficiently and accurately investigate the thermal analysis of high-performance, high-power and complicated electronic devices to better design heat dissipation structures. However, multiscale transient thermal analysis of complex electronic devices by existing numerical methods is still a challenge. In this work, the 3-D domain decomposition method (DDM) with the adaptive time step for the transient thermal analysis of integrated circuits (ICs) is proposed to tackle this problem. By flexible multiscale mesh generation and automatically time step changes based on posteriori errors, the new method significantly improves computational efficiency. Some illustrative numerical examples are presented to verify the accuracy and efficiency of the proposed method by considering 3-D transient heat transfer with thermal conduction, natural convection and radiation boundaries.

The reliable observation and accurate estimates of land–atmosphere water vapor (H2O) flux is essential for ecosystem management and the development of Earth system models. Currently, the most direct measurement method for H2O flux is eddy covariance (EC), which depends on the development of fast-response H2O sensors. In this study, we presented a cost-efficient open-path H2O analyzer (model: HT1800) based on the tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy (TDLAS) technique, and investigated its applicability for measuring atmospheric turbulent flux of H2O using the EC method. We prepared two HT1800 analyzers with lasers that operate at wavelengths of 1392 nm and 1877 nm, respectively. The field performance of the two analyzers was evaluated through inter-comparative experiments with LI-7500RS and IRGASON, two of the most commonly used H2O analyzers in the EC community. Water vapor densities measured by the three types of analyzers had high overall agreement with the reference sensor; however, they all experienced drift. The mean density drifts of HT1800, LI-7500 and IRGASON were 3.7–5.2%, 4.0% and 3.8%, respectively. Even so, the half-hourly H2O fluxes measured by HT1800 were highly consistent with those by LI-7500RS and IRGASON (with a difference of less than 2%), suggesting that HT1800 can obtain H2O fluxes with high confidence. The HT1800 was also proved to be suitable for EC application in terms of data availability, flux detection limit and response to the high-frequency turbulent variation. Furthermore, we investigated how the spectroscopic effect influences the measurements of H2O density and flux. Despite the fact that the 1392 nm laser was much more susceptible to the spectroscopic effect, the fluxes after correcting for this bias showed excellent agreement with the IRGASON fluxes. Considering the cost advantage in laser and photodetector, the HT1800 analyzer using a 1392 nm infrared laser is a promising and economical solution for EC measurement studies of water vapor.

Forming pyridine salts to construct covalent organic cages is an effective strategy for constructing covalent cage compounds. Covalent organic cages based on pyridine salt structures are prone to form water-soluble supramolecular compounds. Herein, we designed and synthesized a triangular prism-shaped hexagonal cage with a larger cavity and relatively flexible conformation. The supramolecular cage structure was also applied to the encapsulation of pyrene and information encryption.

Imidazo[1,2-a]pyridines are unique nitrogen-containing organic compounds with wide applications in pharmaceuticals, natural products, material science and organometallics. Due to their significant biological and synthetic value, the construction of imidazo[1,2-a]pyridine scaffolds has been a highly intriguing research topic, and substantial progress had been made in the past decades. In this review, we aim to summarize the current advances in direct C–H functionalization of imidazo[1,2-a]pyridines under transition-metal-free conditions. For the selected examples, we focused on the design and catalytic cycle mechanism, as well as on representative outcomes and applications.

Longan yield estimation is an important practice before longan harvests. Statistical longan yield data can provide an important reference for market pricing and improving harvest efficiency and can directly determine the economic benefits of longan orchards. At present, the statistical work concerning longan yields requires high labor costs. Aiming at the task of longan yield estimation, combined with deep learning and regression analysis technology, this study proposed a method to calculate longan yield in complex natural environment. First, a UAV was used to collect video images of a longan canopy at the mature stage. Second, the CF-YD model and SF-YD model were constructed to identify Cluster_Fruits and Single_Fruits, respectively, realizing the task of automatically identifying the number of targets directly from images. Finally, according to the sample data collected from real orchards, a regression analysis was carried out on the target quantity detected by the model and the real target quantity, and estimation models were constructed for determining the Cluster_Fruits on a single longan tree and the Single_Fruits on a single Cluster_Fruit. Then, an error analysis was conducted on the data obtained from the manual counting process and the estimation model, and the average error rate regarding the number of Cluster_Fruits was 2.66%, while the average error rate regarding the number of Single_Fruits was 2.99%. The results show that the method proposed in this paper is effective at estimating longan yields and can provide guidance for improving the efficiency of longan fruit harvests.

Reducing carrier leakage is the key to obtain laterally coupled distributed feedback (DFB) lasers with high injection efficiency. We proposed a device structure with slots fabricated between the ridge and gratings to form a good confinement on carriers. The incorporation of slots also makes the grating morphology easier to fabricate. To evaluate the dependence of coupling efficient on main structural parameters, four grating samples with different sizes are studied with FDTD Solutions. Calculation results indicate that slots with a width of $0.1\!-\!0.3\;\mu{m}$ is suitable for the device. And, changing the lateral width of the grating can be used as a direct method to adjust the coupling strength. In addition, the carrier distribution and optical field distribution of the device were simulated with Crosslight PICS3D, and the results show that compared with the traditional laterally-coupled gratings, this structure can strengthen the competitive advantage of fundamental mode and enhance the mode discrimination of the device. This structural design provides ideas and references for improving the injection efficiency and mode stability of laterally-coupled DFB lasers.

Oxygen homeostasis is an important organizing principle for understanding development, physiology, disease, and evolution. Under various physiological and pathological states, organisms experience oxygen deficiency or hypoxia. FoxO4 has been recognized as an important transcriptional regulator involved in a variety of cellular functions, including proliferation, apoptosis, differentiation, and stress resistance, but its role in hypoxia adaptation mechanisms in animals is not so clear. To explore the role of foxO4 in the hypoxia response, we detected the expression of foxO4 and the regulatory relationship between Hif1α and foxO4 under hypoxic conditions. It was found that the expression of foxO4 was up-regulated in ZF4 cells and zebrafish tissues after hypoxia treatment, and Hif1α could directly target the HRE of the foxO4 promoter to regulate foxO4 transcription, indicating that foxO4 was involved in the hypoxia response by the Hif1α-mediated pathway. Furthermore, we obtained foxO4 knockout zebrafish and found that the disruption of foxO4 increased the tolerance to hypoxia. Further research found that the oxygen consumption and locomotor activity of foxO4−/− zebrafish were lower than those of WT zebrafish, as was true for NADH content, NADH/NAD+ rate, and expression of mitochondrial respiratory chain complex-related genes. This suggests that disruption of foxO4 reduced the oxygen demand threshold of the organism, which explained why the foxO4−/− zebrafish were more tolerant to hypoxia than WT zebrafish. These results will provide a theoretical basis for further study of the role of foxO4 in the hypoxia response.

As an emerging subset of organic complexes, metal complexes have garnered considerable attention owing to their outstanding structures, properties, and applications. In this content, metal-organic cages (MOCs) with defined shapes and sizes provide internal spaces to isolate water for guest molecules, which can be selectively captured, isolated, and released to achieve control over chemical reactions. Complex supramolecules are constructed by simulating the self-assembly behavior of the molecules or structures in nature. For this purpose, massive amounts of cavity-containing supramolecules, such as metal-organic cages (MOCs), have been extensively explored for a large variety of reactions with a high degree of reactivity and selectivity. Because sunlight and water are necessary for the process of photosynthesis, water-soluble metal-organic cages (WSMOCs) are ideal platforms for photo-responsive stimulation and photo-mediated transformation by simulating photosynthesis due to their defined sizes, shapes, and high modularization of metal centers and ligands. Therefore, the design and synthesis of WSMOCs with uncommon geometries embedded with functional building units is of immense importance for artificial photo-responsive stimulation and photo-mediated transformation. In this review, we introduce the general synthetic strategies of WSMOCs and their applications in this sparking field.

To evaluate the long-term effects of fertilisation on soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration in rice-wheat cropping ecosystems, SOC dynamics, stocks and fractionation were determined. The treatments included no fertiliser, mineral N and P, mineral N, P and K, organic fertiliser (OF), OF plus NP and OF plus NPK. The results showed that the average carbon inputs that derived from crop stubble, root residues and organic fertilisers were between 1.47 and 4.33 t/ha/year over the past 34 years. The average SOC stocks measured in the samples collected in 2011-2013 ranged from 31.20 to 38.52 t/ha. The range of the SOC sequestration rate was 0.11-0.40 t/ha/year with a SOC sequestration efficiency of 6.3%. Overall, organic fertilisation significantly promoted C-input, SOC and the sequestration rate compared to mineral fertilisation. The "active pool" (very labile and labile fractions) and "passive pool" (less labile and recalcitrant fractions) accounted for about 71.0% and 29.0% of the SOC fractions, respectively. Significant positive relationships between C-inputs and SOC fractions indicated that SOC was not saturated in this typical rice-wheat cropping system, and fertilisation, especially organic amendment, is an effective SOC strategy sequestration.

An efficient Cp*Rh(III)-catalyzed direct acylmethylation of 2H-indazoles with sulfoxonium ylides has been realized under air atmosphere via chelation-assisted strategy. This protocol enables a regioselective access to a variety of ortho-acylmethylated 2-phenylindazole derivatives in moderate to good yield, which has the advantages of broad substrate scope, good functional group tolerance, and operational convenience. The H/D exchange experiment reveals that a reversible cleavage of C–H bond might not be the rate-limiting step in this transformation.

In this paper, the settlement troughs induced by the excavation of adjacent and parallel tunnels in layered soils were studied. Firstly, a trough width parameter calculation method in layered soils was established based on the propagation model of the plastic zone and unloading disturbance zone. Secondly, the mechanism of the superposition disturbance between parallel tunnels is analyzed, and a method for calculating additional settlement trough is proposed. Finally, the applicability of the proposed model was demonstrated with two case studies of the parallel tunnels. The following conclusions were obtained: the difference of soil properties in layered soils had a significant influence on the width parameter of surface settlement trough; a Gaussian curve can describe the additional settlement caused by superimposed disturbance; and finally, the relationship between the ground loss induced by superposition disturbance and the ground loss induced by the preceding tunnel was approximately linear. The model presented in this paper is highly effective and convenient for use in practice and extends the calculation method of surface settlement trough based on the Gaussian curve.

Cereals and their derivative products such as starch and cyclodextrin are significant natural materials for sustainable textile processing (e.g., sizing, dispersing, etc.). However, the contamination of cereals with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) is often neglected, which has led to increasing concerns due to the adverse effects on end users. Therefore, monitoring PCBs in cereals is of great importance in preventing health risks. However, high starch, protein, and fat contents make cereals a complicated matrix and can challenge the analysis of PCBs in cereals. This work describes a facile and rapid strategy for quantifying 18 PCBs in cereals that included corn, wheat, and rice through dispersive solid-phase extraction and gas chromatography with mass spectrometry. Importantly, this was the first time that carboxyl-modified, multi-walled carbon nanotubes were incorporated in the detection of PCBs in cereals. The influences of several parameters on the extraction and clean-up efficiency were investigated; these included the type and volume of extraction solvent, sonication time, and the type and dosage of the adsorbent. The matrix effects on quantification were also evaluated. This approach exhibited a better clean-up performance. All the analytes showed weak matrix effects, and thus a solvent standard plot could be prepared for their quantification. Spiking experiments in the selected matrices at three concentration levels from 0.5 to 10 μg/kg resulted in satisfactory recoveries that ranged from 79.2% to 110.5% with relative standard deviations (RSDs; n = 6) less than 10.3%. The limits of detection (LODs) and quantification (LOQs) ranged from 0.04 to 0.1 μg/kg and 0.1 to 0.4 μg/kg, respectively. The practical application of this method was investigated by analyzing actual cereal samples, which demonstrated that the proposed approach was a facile and efficient strategy for PCB determination and provided a reference for the safety evaluation of sustainable textiles. The method also could be generalized to other troublesome samples for testing of multiple PCBs.

Fluorescent chemosensors are powerful imaging tools used in a broad range of biomedical fields. However, the application of fluorescent dyes in bioimaging still remains challenging, with small Stokes shifts, interfering signals, background noise, and self-quenching on current microscope configurations. In this work, we reported a supramolecular cage (CA) by coordination-driven self-assembly of benzothiadiazole derivatives and Eu(OTf)3. The CA exhibited high fluorescence with a quantum yield (QY) of 38.57%, good photoluminescence (PL) stability, and a large Stokes shift (153 nm). Furthermore, the CCK-8 assay against U87 glioblastoma cells verified the low cytotoxicity of CA. We revealed that the designed probes could be used as U87 cells targeting bioimaging.

In recent years, incredible endeavors have been devoted to the design and self-assembly of discrete metal–organic cages (MOCs) with expanding intricacy and functionality. The controlled synthesis of metal–organic supramolecular cages with large branched chains remains an interesting and challenging work in supramolecular chemistry. Herein, a tetrahedral metal–organic supramolecular cage (ZnII4L4) containing 12 dendritic carbazole arms is unprecedentedly constructed through coordination-driven subcomponent self-assembly and characterized in different ways. Interestingly, tetrahedral supramolecular Cage-1 exhibited the potential for aggregation-induced emission (AIE) performance and stimulus-responsive luminescence features, and it achieved color-tunable photoluminescence due to the introduction of dendritic carbazole arms. Crucially, owing to the great photophysical properties of Cage-1 in solution, Cage-1 was enabled to act as a fluorescent ink for the vapor-responsive recording and wiping of information.

Porous organometallic nanomaterials are a new class of materials based on a three-dimensional structure. They have excellent applications in different fields, but their applications in gas storage and separation have not been fully developed. CO2 adsorption storage and hydrocarbon separation has been a challenging industrial problem. Several typical molecular adsorbents have been used to study the separation, but the problems of long-term stability, high selectivity and synthetic complexity of these adsorbents remain to be solved. Here, we have designed and synthesized tetrahedral metal supramolecular nanocage with custom cavities based on the unique rigid structure of triptycene derivatives. Using the unique discrete porous structure of tetrahedral metal nanocages, the gas adsorption and separation performance of the metal supramolecular nanocage was investigated. By analyzing the adsorption and desorption isotherms and the multi-component competitive adsorption curves, we noticed that the tetrahedral supramolecular nanocages had good CO2 storage capacity and good separation capacity for C2H2/CO2 and C2H2/N2. All these indicate that porous organic metal nanomaterials are expected to be a new energy saving separation material.

Background Interleukin-2 (IL-2) serves as a pioneer of immunotherapeutic agent in cancer treatment. However, there is a considerable proportion of patients who cannot benefit from this therapy due to the limited clinical responses and dose-limiting toxicities. Mounting evidence indicates that commensal microbiota shapes the outcome of cancer immunotherapies. In this study, we aim to investigate the enhancing effect of Akkermansia muciniphila (AKK), a beneficial commensal microbe receiving considerable attentions, on the antitumor efficacy of IL-2 and explore the underlying molecular mechanism.Methods Colorectal carcinoma patient-derived tumor tissues were used to evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of combination treatment. AKK was orally delivered to B16F10 and CT26 tumor-bearing mice along with systemic IL-2 treatment. Flow cytometry was carried out to analyze the tumor immune microenvironment. The molecular mechanism of the enhanced therapeutic efficacy was explored by RNA-seq and then verified in tumor-bearing mice.Results Combined treatment with IL-2 and AKK showed a stronger antitumor efficacy in colorectal cancer patient-derived tumor tissues. Meanwhile, the therapeutic outcome of IL-2 was significantly potentiated by oral administration of AKK in subcutaneous melanoma and colorectal tumor-bearing mice, resulting from the strengthened antitumor immune surveillance. Mechanistically, the antitumor immune response elicited by AKK was partially mediated by Amuc, derived from the outer membrane protein of AKK, through activating toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2) signaling pathway. Besides, oral supplementation with AKK protected gut barrier function and maintained mucosal homeostasis under systemic IL-2 treatment.Conclusion These findings propose that IL-2 combined with AKK is a novel therapeutic strategy with prospecting application for cancer treatment in clinical practice.

The skin represents the exterior interface between the human body with the environment while providing a home to trillions of the commensal microorganisms—collectively referred to as the skin microbiota. These microbes that coexist in an established balance play a pivotal role in the protection of cutaneous health and the orchestration of skin homeostasis. However, the well-controlled but delicate balance can be perturbed by alterations in the skin microbial communities, namely, dysbiosis, often due to commensals defeated by pathogens competing for space and nutrients, which leads to the occurrence of multiple cutaneous disorders. In view of this, the analysis of skin microbiota constituents in skin diseases is crucial for defining the role of commensal microbes and treatment of skin diseases. Emerging evidence shows that the ecology-based therapy of microbial transplantation has been proven as a valid therapeutic strategy for cutaneous disorders caused by skin microbial dysbiosis. Although its mechanism is not well-understood, there are already some applications for ecology-based therapy with the aim of correcting the imbalances on the cutaneous ecosystem. In this review, we summarize the interactions between dysbiosis and the cutaneous disorders, including homeostasis and dysbiosis of skin microbiota, microbial composition in skin diseases, and the mechanisms and applications of reversing or ameliorating the dysbiosis by the targeted manipulation of the skin microbiota, which may contribute to aid development of therapeutic modality for ecology-based therapy.

Abstract The red swamp crayfish (Procambarus clarkii) is one of the most economically important farmed aquatic species in China. However, it is also a famous invasive species in the world. This invasive species was dispersed most via human activities including intentional or unintentional carry in China. Thus, P. clarkii naturally distributed in China provides us a desirable mode to investigate the genetic structure of an invasive species dispersed mainly by human-mediated factors. To reveal the impact of human-mediated dispersal on genetic structure of P. clarkii in China, a total of 22,043 genome-wide SNPs were obtained from approximately 7.4 billion raw reads using 2b-RAD technique in this study. An evident pattern of population genetic structure and the asymmetrical migrational rates between different regions were observed with 22 populations based on these SNPs. This study provide a better understanding of the population genetic structure and demographic history of P. clarkii populations in China, inferring that anthropogenic factors (aquaculture or by accident) and ecological factors (e.g., complicated topography and climatic environment), as well as its special biological traits could account for the current population structure pattern and dispersal history of P. clarkii.

High-quality, all-inorganic CsPbBr3/Cs4PbBr6 composite perovskite nanocrystals (NCs) were obtained with all-solution-processing at room temperature, and a photodetector (PD) with high detectivity was realized based on CsPbBr3/Cs4PbBr6 NCs. The detectivity (D*) of the proposed PD is 4.24 × 1012 Jones under 532 nm illumination, which is among the highest levels for PDs based on all-inorganic perovskite NCs. In addition, a high linear dynamic range (LDR) of 115 dB under 1 V bias was also realized. Furthermore, the underlying mechanism for the enhanced performance of the proposed PD was discussed. Our work might promote the preparation of high-performance PDs based on dual-phase all-inorganic perovskite nanocrystals.

The realization of electrically pumped emitters at micro and nanoscale, especially with flexibility or special shapes is still a goal for prospective fundamental research and application. Herein, zinc oxide (ZnO) microwires were produced to investigate the luminescent properties affected by stress. To exploit the initial stress, room temperature in situ elastic bending stress was applied on the microwires by squeezing between the two approaching electrodes. A novel unrecoverable deformation phenomenon was observed by applying a large enough voltage, resulting in the formation of additional defects at bent regions. The electrical characteristics of the microwire changed with the applied bending deformation due to the introduction of defects by stress. When the injection current exceeded certain values, bright emission was observed at bent regions, ZnO microwires showed illumination at the bent region priority to straight region. The bent emission can be attributed to the effect of thermal tunneling electroluminescence appeared primarily at bent regions. The physical mechanism of the observed thermoluminescence phenomena was analyzed using theoretical simulations. The realization of electrically induced deformation and the related bending emissions in single microwires shows the possibility to fabricate special-shaped light sources and offer a method to develop photoelectronic devices.

Elodea nuttallii is widely used in Chinese mitten crab (CMC) rearing practice, but it is not a native aquatic plant and cannot endure high temperature. Thus, large E. nuttallii mortality and water deterioration events could occur during high-temperature seasons. The aim of this study was to identify the use of local macrophytes in CMC rearing practice, including Ipomoea aquatic and Oryza sativa. A completely randomized field experiment was conducted to investigate the crab yield, water quality, bacterioplankton community and functions in the three different systems (E. nuttallii, I. aquatic, and O. sativa). Average crab yields in the different macrophyte systems did not differ significantly. The I. aquatic and O. sativa systems significantly decreased the total nitrogen and nitrate-N quantities in the outflow waters during the rearing period compared to the E. nuttallii system, and the I. aquatic and O. sativa plants assimilated more nitrogen than the E. nuttallii plant. Moreover, the significant changes of bacterioplankton abundances and biodiversity in the three systems implied that cleanliness of rearing waters was concomitantly attributed to the differential microbial community and functions. In addition, principle component analysis successfully differentiated the bacterioplankton communities of the three macrophytes systems. Environmental factor fitting and the co-occurrence network analyses indicated that pH was the driver of bacterioplankton community structure. Functional predictions using PICRUSt (v.1.1.3) software based on evolutionary modeling indicated a higher potential for microbial denitrification in the I. aquatic and O. sativa systems. Notably, the O. sativa plants stopped growing in the middle of the rearing period. Thus, the I. aquatic system rather than the O. sativa system could be a feasible and environmental-friendly alternative to the E. nuttallii system in CMC rearing practice.

Alumina(Al _2 O _3 ) thin film has been widely used in many applications due to its excellent properties, especially in optical films and semiconductor industries. Refractive index, amorphous property and surface roughness are essential parameters related to its applications. In this study, the fabrication method of preparing various refractive index Al _2 O _3 optical films was proposed. The Al _2 O _3 optical films were deposited at room temperature by electron beam evaporation(EBE) technique. The effects of deposition rate and post-annealed temperature on refractive index, vibration peak of molecular and atom, amorphous property and surface roughness were investigated. Refractive index ranging from 1.519 to 1.627 was realized by EBE method at different deposition rates and different post-annealed temperatures. The variable refractive index was very important in adjusting half-width of reflector band. Meanwhile, analysis showed that the suitable post-annealed temperature could not exceed 400 °C. In short, this work provided an effective approach to fabricate amorphous Al _2 O _3 optical film, which was pretty important in its applications in UV antireflection films and blue light reflection films.

In this article, an adaptive neural dynamic surface sliding mode control scheme is proposed for uncertain nonlinear systems with unknown input saturation. The non-smooth input saturation nonlinearity is firstly approximated by a smooth non-affine function, which can be further transformed into an affine form according to the mean value theorem. Then, one simple sigmoid neural network is employed to approximate the uncertain nonlinearity including the input saturation, and the approximation error is estimated using an adaptive learning law. Virtual controls are designed in each step by combing the dynamic surface control and integral sliding mode technique, and thus the problem of complexity explosion inherent in the conventional backstepping method is avoided. With the proposed control scheme, no prior knowledge is required on the bound of input saturation, and comparative simulations are given to illustrate the effectiveness and superior performance.

Organic photomultiplication photodetectors have attracted considerable research interest due to their extremely high external quantum efficiency and corresponding high detectivity. Significant progress has been made in the aspects of their structural design and performance improvement in the past few years. There are two types of organic photomultiplication photodetectors, which are made of organic small molecular compounds and polymers. In this paper, the research progress in each type of organic photomultiplication photodetectors based on the trap assisted carrier tunneling effect is reviewed in detail. In addition, other mechanisms for the photomultiplication processes in organic devices are introduced. Finally, the paper is summarized and the prospects of future research into organic photomultiplication photodetectors are discussed.

In this paper, we demonstrate high performance ultrathin silver (Ag) transparent electrodes with a thin MoO3 nucleation layer based on the thermal evaporation method. The MoO3/Ag transparent electrodes fabricated at different deposition rates were compared systematically on aspects of the transmission spectrum, surface resistance, and surface morphology. Our study indicates that with the presence of the MoO3 nucleation layer, an Ag film of only 7 nm thick can achieve percolation and the film is porous instead of forming isolated islands. In addition, the increase of the deposition rate can yield obvious improvement of the surface morphology of the Ag film. Specifically, with the help of a 1 nm thick MoO3 nucleation layer, the Ag film of 9 nm thick realized under the deposition rate of 0.7 nm/s has a surface resistance of about 20 ohm/sq and an average transmittance in the visible light range reaching 74.22%. Such a high performance of transmittance is superior to the reported results in the literature, which inevitably suffer obvious drop in the long wavelength range. Next, we applied the ultrathin MoO3/Ag transparent electrode in organic solar cells. The optimized semitransparent organic solar cell displays a power conversion efficiency of 2.76% and an average transmittance in the visible range of 38% when light is incident from the Ag electrode side.

Hyperlipidemia is a serious epidemic disease caused by lipid metabolism disorder, which is harmful to human health. MDG-1, a β-d-fructan polysaccharide extracted from Ophiopogon japonicus, has been shown to improve abnormal blood lipid levels and alleviate diabetes. However, the underlying mechanism on hyperlipidemia is largely unknown. In this study, male C57BL/6 mice were randomly separated into three groups, respectively: low-fat diet (Con), high-fat diet (HFD), and high-fat diet plus 5‰ MDG-1 (HFD + MDG-1). Body weight was measured and the serum lipid levels were analyzed. Using gene microarray, various core pathways, together with levels of gene expression within hepatocytes, were analyzed. RT-PCR was used to confirm the identity of the differentially expressed genes. MDG-1 could prevent obesity in HFD-induced mice and improve abnormal serum lipids. Besides, MDG-1 could regulate hyperlipidemia symptoms, specifically, and decrease fasting blood glucose, improve glucose tolerance, and ameliorate insulin resistance. According to results from gene microarray, most of the identified pathways were involved in the digestion and absorption of fat, biosynthesis, and catabolism of fatty acids as well as the secretion and biological synthesis of bile acids. Furthermore, MDG-1 may act upon peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPAR) α and γ, activating PPARα whilst inhibiting PPARγ, thus having a potent hypolipidemic effect.

Hypoxia, a common environmental condition, can affect cell survival and physiological function by triggering oxidative stress. Akt/FoxO pathway has been proven to play a non-negligible role in the regulation of autophagy. However, the role of Akt/FoxO pathway in hypoxia-induced autophagy is unclear in fish. Therefore, in this study, grass carp hepatocyte cells (L8824) were treated by CoCl2 to simulate hypoxia, and the results showed that CoCl2 can increase the expression of Hif-1a protein at different concentrations or different treatment time. Further study found that hypoxia increased intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) level, and the expression of autophagy-related genes (LC3-II, pink1, beclin-1 and p62) and foxO1a/1b. The mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔΨm) was also depolarized, and autophagosomes were intriguingly detected by transmission electron microscope (TEM) after the treatment of hypoxia. Moreover, hypoxia inhibited Akt phosphorylation, while PI3K/Akt pathway inhibitor, LY294002 significantly up-regulated the expression of foxO1a/1b and autophagy-related genes. Additionally, silencing foxo1b also resulted in down-regulation of autophagy-related genes. It was demonstrated that hypoxia induced autophagy via Akt/FoxO1 pathway. These results will provide a new light on further understanding the role of Akt/FoxO pathway in the response to hypoxia in fish. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]