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Abstract Grapevine is an important economic fruit tree worldwide, but grape production has been plagued by a vast number of fungal diseases, which affect tree vigor and the quality and yield of berries. To seek remedies for such issues, researchers have always been committed to conventional and biotechnological breeding. In recent years, increasing progress has been made in elucidating the molecular mechanisms of grape–pathogenic fungi interactions and resistance regulation. Here, we summarize the current knowledge on the molecular basis of grapevine resistance to fungal diseases, including fungal effector-mediated susceptibility and resistance, resistant regulatory networks in grapevine, innovative approaches of genetic transformation, and strategies to improve grape resistance. Understanding the molecular basis is important for exploring and accurately regulating grape resistance to fungal diseases.

Abstract One-dimensional (1D) olivine iron phosphate (FePO4) is widely proposed for electrochemical lithium (Li) extraction from dilute water sources, however, significant variations in Li selectivity were observed for particles with different physical attributes. Understanding how particle features influence Li and sodium (Na) co-intercalation is crucial for system design and enhancing Li selectivity. Here, we investigate a series of FePO4 particles with various features and revealed the importance of harnessing kinetic and chemo-mechanical barrier difference between lithiation and sodiation to promote selectivity. The thermodynamic preference of FePO4 provides baseline of selectivity while the particle features are critical to induce different kinetic pathways and barriers, resulting in different Li to Na selectivity from 6.2 × 102 to 2.3 × 104. Importantly, we categorize the FePO4 particles into two groups based on their distinctly paired phase evolutions upon lithiation and sodiation, and generate quantitative correlation maps among Li preference, morphological features, and electrochemical properties. By selecting FePO4 particles with specific features, we demonstrate fast (636 mA/g) Li extraction from a high Li source (1: 100 Li to Na) with (96.6 ± 0.2)% purity, and high selectivity (2.3 × 104) from a low Li source (1: 1000 Li to Na) with (95.8 ± 0.3)% purity in a single step.

BackgroundMineral deficiencies, such as iron (Fe), zinc (Zn), and selenium (Se), play crucial roles in inflammation and immune responses and are linked to chronic inflammatory skin diseases. This study used genome-wide association study (GWAS) data and Mendelian randomization (MR) to investigate the genetic causality among serum levels of five minerals (Fe, Cu, Zn, Se, Ca), three iron metabolism indicators (TSAT, TIBC, ferritin), and three chronic inflammatory skin diseases [psoriasis (PS), atopic dermatitis (AD), acne vulgaris (AV)].MethodsTwo-sample MR analyses using the “TwoSample MR” package in R were conducted with aggregate outcome data from the FinnGen database. The inverse-variance-weighted (IVW) method was applied to assess causal relationships between mineral levels and disease outcomes. Robustness was examined via heterogeneity and pleiotropy tests.ResultsIVW analysis showed significant association between blood transferrin saturation (TSAT) and PS (p = 0.004, OR = 1.18). Serum Zn and Se levels showed inverse correlation with AD (p = 0.039, OR = 0.92). However, due to limited SNPs, robustness was reduced.ConclusionTSAT is genetically linked to PS, highlighting iron homeostasis in disease development. Zn and Se intake may reduce AD risk.

BackgroundBranched gold and silver nanoparticles coated with polydopamine (Au-Ag-PDA) demonstrate high photothermal conversion efficiency. Utilizing umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cell membranes (MSCM) as an effective drug delivery system, our preliminary studies investigated the suppression of sebum secretion in sebaceous glands using MSCM-coated Au-Ag-PDA nano-particles (Au-Ag-PDA@MSCM) combined with 808 nm laser irradiation, showing potential for dermatological applications in acne treatment.MethodsThis study employs proteomic analysis, complemented by subsequent techniques such as Western blotting (WB), small interfering RNA (siRNA), and transmission electron microscopy, to further investigate the differential mechanisms by which Au-Ag-PDA and Au-Ag-PDA@MSCM-mediated photothermal therapy (PTT) suppress sebum secretion.ResultsOur proteomic analysis indicated mitochondrial respiratory chain damage in sebaceous gland tissues post-PTT, with further validation revealing ferroptosis in sebaceous cells and tissues. Acyl-CoA Synthetase Long-Chain Family Member 4 (Acsl4) has been identified as a critical target, with Au-Ag-PDA@MSCM demonstrating enhanced ferroptotic effects.ConclusionThese findings significantly advance our understanding of how PTT mediated by Au-Ag-PDA@MSCM nanoparticles reduces sebum secretion and underscore the pivotal role of MSCM in inducing ferroptosis in sebaceous glands, thus providing a robust theoretical foundation for employing PTT via specific molecular pathways in acne treatment.

With the rapid development of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology in the art field, AI painting tools (AIPT) have attracted a high interest in the creation of painting art. However, the factors affecting Chinese users’ continued or interrupted use of AIPTs have not been adequately studied. This study builds a new theoretical model based on the perspective of user experience, combining the Expectation Confirmation Model (ECM) and the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), with the aim of deeply exploring the Chinese users’ continuance intention to use AIPT in the painting process. We collected data from 532 Chinese users that regarded AIPT as a production tool and performed data analysis and model testing using SPSS 27 and Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) with Smartpls 4. The results of the study showed a positive trend in the overall continuous intention to use AIPT. Among the 14 hypotheses proposed, 11 were validated and 3 were rejected. The emotion experience (EE) has the most significant effect on users’ continuance intention (CI), with users valuing the emotional involvement in the AIPT experience. This is followed by satisfaction (SAT), attitude (ATT), perceived usefulness (PU), and perceived trust (PT), while perceived intelligence (PI) and perceived novelty (PN) indirectly affect CI through the mediating variables of PT and SAT. The findings of this study not only contribute both theoretical insights into the continued use of AIPT in the painting process, and a comprehensive and robust discussion of the future direction of AIPT. Furthermore, it offers valuable technical solutions and practical guidance for AIPT developers, underscoring the importance of considering user experience and emotional needs when optimizing technology. It also improves the sustained usage of AIPT in painting creation and facilitates the co-creation of both human beings and AI, which provides essential information for the further commercialization of the AI painting art field.

Abstract Background In the present study, we aimed to develop a novel isotretinoin delivery model for treating skin diseases, revealing its potential advantages in drug delivery and targeted therapy. Using a self-assembly strategy, we grafted a dendrimer, based on a well-defined branched structure for nanomedical devices, with a well-defined nanoarchitecture, yielding spherical, highly homogeneous molecules with multiple surface functionalities. Accordingly, a self-assembled dendrimer-conjugated system was developed to achieve the transdermal delivery of isotretinoin (13cRA-D). Results Herein, 13cRA-D showed remarkable controlled release, characterized by slow release in normal tissues but accelerated release in tissues with low pH, such as sites of inflammation. These release characteristics could abrogate the nonteratogenic side effects of isotretinoin and allow efficient skin permeation. Moreover, 13cRA-D exhibited high therapeutic efficacy in acne models. Based on in vitro and in vivo experimental results, 13cRA-D afforded better skin penetration than isotretinoin and allowed lesion targeting. Additionally, 13cRA-D induced minimal skin irritation. Conclusion Our findings suggest that 13cRA-D is a safe and effective isotretinoin formulation for treating patients with skin disorders. Graphical Abstract

Abstract A wearable sensing system that can reconstruct dynamic 3D human body models for virtual cloth fitting is highly important in the era of information and metaverse. However, few research has been conducted regarding conformal sensors for accurately measuring the human body circumferences for dynamic 3D human body reshaping. Here, we develop a stretchable spring‐sheathed yarn sensor (SSYS) as a smart ruler, for precisely measuring the circumference of human bodies and long‐term tracking the movement for the dynamic 3D body reconstruction. The SSYS has a robust property, high resilience, high stability (>18 000), and ultrafast response (12 ms) to external deformation. It is also washable, wearable, tailorable, and durable for long‐time wearing. Moreover, geometric, and mechanical behaviors of the SSYS are systematically investigated both theoretically and experimentally. In addition, a transfer learning algorithm that bridges the discrepancy of real and virtual sensing performance is developed, enabling a small body circumference measurement error of 1.79%, noticeably lower than that of traditional learning algorithm. Furtherly, 3D human bodies that are numerically consistent with the actual bodies are reconstructed. The 3D dynamic human body reconstruction based on the wearing sensing system and transfer learning algorithm enables excellent virtual fitting and shirt customization in a smart and highly efficient manner. This wearable sensing technology shows great potential in human‐computer interaction, intelligent fitting, specialized protection, sports activities, and human physiological health tracking.

Objective: Umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cell membrane-loaded minoxidil (MXD) nanoparticles (STCM-MXD-NPs) were prepared to investigate their effects on hair growth in C57BL/6J mice.Methods: STCM-MXD-NPs were obtained by freeze-thawing and differential centrifugation, and their effects on hair growth were evaluated using C57BL/6J mice. The mRNA and protein expression levels of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) were detected by real-time polymerase chain reaction and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays, respectively. Protein expression levels of marker of proliferation Ki-67 (MKI67) and β-catenin (CTNNB) in skin tissue were detected by immunohistochemistry.Results: STCM-MXD-NPs improved MXD solubility. They released the drug slowly, increasing its transdermal properties, accumulation in the skin, and content in the hair bulb tissues with a better efficacy than that of ordinary MXD. Moreover, STCM-MXD-NPs significantly upregulated the mRNA and protein levels of VEGF and IGF-1 and promoted the protein expression of MKI67 and CTNNB in mouse skin tissues, promoting mouse hair growth.Conclusion: Stem cell membrane-loaded MXD nanoparticles with slow-release properties increased MXD accumulation in the skin by improving its transdermal properties, increasing VEGF, IGF-1, MKI67, and CTNNB expression levels and promoting hair growth in C57BL/6J mice.

Abstract Global warming has been affecting human health, including direct mortality and morbidity from extreme heat, storms, drought, and indirect infectious diseases. It is not only “global” but extremely “personal”—it is a matter of life and death for many of us. In this perspective, we propose the use of wearable technologies for localized personal thermoregulation as an innovative method to reduce the impact on health and enable wider adaptability to extreme thermal environments. The state‐of‐the‐art thermoregulation methods and wearable sensing technologies are summarized. In addition, the feasibility of thermoregulation technology in preventive medicine for promoting health under climate change is comprehensively discussed. Further, we provide an outlook on health‐oriented closed loop that can be achieved based on parallel thermoregulation and multiple data inputs from the physiological, environmental, and psychological cues, which could promote individuals and the public to better adapt to global warming.

Abstract Yarn sensors have shown promising application prospects in wearable electronics owing to their shape adaptability, good flexibility, and weavability. However, it is still a critical challenge to develop simultaneously structure stable, fast response, body conformal, mechanical robust yarn sensor using full microfibers in an industrial-scalable manner. Herein, a full-fiber auxetic-interlaced yarn sensor (AIYS) with negative Poisson’s ratio is designed and fabricated using a continuous, mass-producible, structure-programmable, and low-cost spinning technology. Based on the unique microfiber interlaced architecture, AIYS simultaneously achieves a Poisson’s ratio of−1.5, a robust mechanical property (0.6 cN/dtex), and a fast train-resistance responsiveness (0.025 s), which enhances conformality with the human body and quickly transduce human joint bending and/or stretching into electrical signals. Moreover, AIYS shows good flexibility, washability, weavability, and high repeatability. Furtherly, with the AIYS array, an ultrafast full-letter sign-language translation glove is developed using artificial neural network. The sign-language translation glove achieves an accuracy of 99.8% for all letters of the English alphabet within a short time of 0.25 s. Furthermore, owing to excellent full letter-recognition ability, real-time translation of daily dialogues and complex sentences is also demonstrated. The smart glove exhibits a remarkable potential in eliminating the communication barriers between signers and non-signers.

Osteosarcoma (OS), as a typical kind of bone tumors, has a high incidence among adolescents. Traditional tumor eradication avenues for OS such as chemotherapy, surgical therapy and radiation therapy usually have their own drawbacks including recurrence and metastasis. In addition, another serious issue in the treatment of OS is bone repair because the bone after tumor invasion usually has difficulty in repairing itself. Hydrogels, as a synthetic or natural platform with a porous three-dimensional structure, can be applied as desirable platforms for OS treatment. They can not only be used as carriers for tumor therapeutic drugs but mimic the extracellular matrix for the growth and differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), thus providing tumor treatment and enhancing bone regeneration at the same time. This review focuses the application of hydrogels in OS suppression and bone regeneration, and give some suggests on future development.

Abstract Flexible biosensors with high accuracy and reliable operation in detecting pH and uric acid levels in body fluids are fabricated using well-engineered metal-doped porous carbon as electrode material. The gold nanoparticles@N-doped carbon in situ are prepared using wool keratin as both a novel carbon precursor and a stabilizer. The conducting electrode material is fabricated at 500 °C under customized parameters, which mimics A–B type (two different repeating units) polymeric material and displays excellent deprotonation performance (pH sensitivity). The obtained pH sensor exhibits high pH sensitivity of 57 mV/pH unit and insignificant relative standard deviation of 0.088%. Conversely, the composite carbon material with sp 2 structure prepared at 700 °C is doped with nitrogen and gold nanoparticles, which exhibits good conductivity and electrocatalytic activity for uric acid oxidation. The uric acid sensor has linear response over a range of 1–150 µM and a limit of detection 0.1 µM. These results will provide new avenues where biological material will be the best start, which can be useful to target contradictory applications through molecular engineering at mesoscale.

Abstract Bombyx mori silk fibers exhibit significant potential for applications in smart textiles, such as fiber sensors, fiber actuators, optical fibers, and energy harvester. Silk fibroin (SF) from B. mori silkworm fibers can be reconstructed/functionalized at the mesoscopic scale during refolding from the solution state into fibers. This facilitates the mesoscopic functionalization by engaging functional seeds in the refolding of unfolded SF molecules. In particular, SF solutions can be self‐assembled into regenerated fiber devices by artificial spinning technologies, such as wet spinning, dry spinning, microfluidic spinning, electrospinning, and direct writing. Meso‐functionalization manipulates the SF property from the mesoscopic scale, transforming the original silk fibers into smart fiber devices with smart functionalities, such as sensors, actuators, optical fibers, luminous fibers, and energy harvesters. In this review, the progress of mesoscopic structural construction from SF materials to fiber electronics/photonics is comprehensively summarized, along with the spinning technologies and fiber structure characterization methods. The applications, prospects, and challenges of smart silk fibers in textile devices for wearable personalized healthcare, self‐propelled exoskeletons, optical and luminous fibers, and sustainable energy harvesters are also discussed.

Although tremendous progress has been made in preparing sulfur nanoparticles to achieve high-rate lithium sulfur (Li-S) batteries, the synthetic methods involved are usually toxic, complicated and costly. To solve the above problem, a simple and green method through high pressure steam is developed to prepare sulfur nanoparticles (

Radiative cooling textiles hold promise for achieving personal thermal comfort under increasing global temperature. However, urban areas have heat island effects that largely diminish the effectiveness of cooling textiles as wearable fabrics because they absorb emitted radiation from the ground and nearby buildings. We developed a mid-infrared spectrally selective hierarchical fabric (SSHF) with emissivity greatly dominant in the atmospheric transmission window through molecular design, minimizing the net heat gain from the surroundings. The SSHF features a high solar spectrum reflectivity of 0.97 owing to strong Mie scattering from the nano-micro hybrid fibrous structure. The SSHF is 2.3°C cooler than a solar-reflecting broadband emitter when placed vertically in simulated outdoor urban scenarios during the day and also has excellent wearable properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a new pharmaceutical cocrystal was synthesized using apigenin (AP) and pharmaceutically acceptable conformer nicotinamide (Nico), and the drug delivery between AP-Nico pharmaceutical cocrystal and human serum albumin (HSA) in vivo was studied at atomic scale. The pharmaceutical cocrystal was characterized using Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, ¹H NMR spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), and the self-assembling mechanism was explored. The dissolution and cumulative release in vitro were investigated. Molecular dynamic (MD) simulation combined with fluorescence spectroscopy was used to study the delivery mechanism of AP-Nico to HSA. The results showed that AP was pharmaceutically cocrystallized with Nico, which formed a pharmaceutical cocrystal mainly through hydrogen interaction between the -OH groups of AP and -NH2 groups of Nico. The solubility of the AP-Nico was 3 times higher than raw AP and the cumulative release rate was 71%. The fluorescence spectroscopy results showed that the AP-Nico pharmaceutical cocrystal bind with Sudlow's site I inside the HSA molecule with hydrogen-bond interaction as the main force. The Sudlow's site I of HSA conjugated with AP-Nico explains the conformational changes of HSA in-silico. This study provided a useful reference for synthesizing flavonoid pharmaceutical cocrystal to improve solubility and exploring the interaction mechanism while understanding its delivery mechanism in vivo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]