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Background Long COVID is a common problem in the recovery period of coronavirus disease (COVID-19). The prevention and treatment of long COVID has become the focus of the medical fields of COVID-19. It is important to clarify the situation of long COVID in China and find out the follow-up research route, thus providing evidence-based evidence for clinical practice. Objective To explore the characteristics of long COVID in China, aiming to provide references for the follow-up research. Methods From January 2023 to August 2023, a self-made survey questionnaire was used to investigate the current situation of long COVID in China. The questionnaire included general information, such as gender and age, treatment expectations, symptoms and signs in acute and recovery period, etc. Results A total of 1 001 questionnaires were collected, including 901 people infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), and 585 (64.9%) people with long COVID. Binary Logistic regression analysis showed that female (OR=2.000, 95%CI=1.477-2.705, P

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are highly effective in the treatment of acute liver failure (ALF). The efficacy of MSCs is closely related to the inflammatory environment. Therefore, we investigated the functional changes of MSCs in response to interleukin‐33 (IL‐33) stimulation. The results showed that bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) pretreated with IL‐33 had increased CCR2 expression, targeted CCL2 in the injured liver tissue, and improved the migration ability. Under LPS stimulation, the NF‐κB pathway of BMDM was activated, and its phenotype polarized to the M1‐type, while BMSCs pretreated with IL‐33 inhibited the NF‐κB pathway and enhanced M2 macrophage polarization. The M2‐type macrophages could further inhibit hepatocytes inflammation, reduce hepatocytes apoptosis, and promote hepatocytes repair. These results suggest that IL‐33 can enhance the efficacy of BMSCs in ALF and provide a new strategy for cell therapy of liver diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the properties of photodynamic therapy (PDT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), combining them to construct multifunctional nanotheranostics can leverage strengths and avoid weaknesses for tumor diagnosis and treatment. However, certain problems remain unsolved, notably the short observation window caused by insufficient retention time. In this study, a GSH‐responsive shape‐transformable nanotheranostics Gd‐Ce6‐FFVLGGGC‐SS‐PEG are designed (abbreviated as GdCFS) by combining a single metal Gd with Ce6, and peptide (Phe‐Phe‐Val‐Leu‐Gly‐Gly‐Gly‐Cys) disulfide‐conjugated with polyethylene glycol (PEG) to perform dual‐modal T1/T2 MRI specifically at the tumor site. Due to its amphiphilic features, GdCFS can self‐assemble to spherical nanoparticles, while transforming to nanofibers (NFs) in the presence of intracellular overexpressed GSH stimuli. After NFs formation, the hydrophobic core of GdCFS is exposed, resulting in T1 positive contrast enhancement, whereas NFs can simultaneously achieve T2 negative contrast enhancement. Furthermore, GSH depletion can cause imbalance in intracellular redox state, ultimately improving PDT efficacy. GdCFS benefits from the shape‐transformation in terms of sufficient retention time, thus positively minimizing the toxicity risk. On the tumor model of nasopharyngeal carcinoma, in vivo and in vitro outcomes confirm that GdCFS can be a promising candidate for early diagnosis, real‐time monitoring, and precise treatment of tumors with great biocompatibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Far-red lights (FRs), with a wavelength range between 700 and 800 nm, have substantial impacts on plant growth, especially horticultural crops. Previous studies showed conflicting results on the effects of FRs on vegetable growth and quality. Therefore, we conducted a meta-analysis on the influence of FRs on vegetable growth, aiming to provide a comprehensive overview of their effects on the growth and nutritional indicators of vegetables. A total of 207 independent studies from 55 literature sources were analyzed. The results showed that FR treatment had significant effects on most growth indicators, including increasing the fresh weight (+25.27%), dry weight (+21.99%), plant height (+81.87%), stem diameter (+12.91%), leaf area (+18.57%), as well as reducing the content of chlorophyll (−11.88%) and soluble protein (−11.66%), while increasing soluble sugar content (+19.12%). Further subgroup analysis based on various factors revealed significant differences in the effects of FR on different physiological indicators, such as FR intensity, plant species, duration of FR exposure, and the ratio of red light to FR. In general, moderate FR treatment is beneficial for vegetable growth. This study provides important references and guidelines for optimizing the application of FR in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The central vacuole in a plant cell occupies the majority of the cellular volume and plays a key role in turgor regulation. The vacuolar membrane (tonoplast) contains a large number of transporters that mediate fluxes of solutes and water, thereby adjusting cell turgor in response to developmental and environmental signals. We report that two tonoplast Detoxification efflux carrier (DTX)/Multidrug and Toxic Compound Extrusion (MATE) transporters, DTX33 and DTX35, function as chloride channels essential for turgor regulation in Arabidopsis Ectopic expression of each transporter in Nicotiana benthamiana mesophyll cells elicited a large voltage-dependent inward chloride current across the tonoplast, showing that DTX33 and DTX35 each constitute a functional channel. Both channels are highly expressed in Arabidopsis tissues, including root hairs and guard cells that experience rapid turgor changes during root-hair elongation and stomatal movements. Disruption of these two genes, either in single or double mutants, resulted in shorter root hairs and smaller stomatal aperture, with double mutants showing more severe defects, suggesting that these two channels function additively to facilitate anion influx into the vacuole during cell expansion. In addition, dtx35 single mutant showed lower fertility as a result of a defect in pollen-tube growth. Indeed, patch-clamp recording of isolated vacuoles indicated that the inward chloride channel activity across the tonoplast was impaired in the double mutant. Because MATE proteins are widely known transporters of organic compounds, finding MATE members as chloride channels expands the functional definition of this large family of transporters.

Trap states in organic solar cells (OSCs) can capture free charges, leading to a reduction in current density and significant energy loss. Since charge collection is primarily dependent on the interface layer, minimizing trap states at interfaces can effectively suppress energy losses, a topic that has been rarely explored. Herein, an interface strategy is proposed by combining Me‐4PACz and PEDOT:PSS to mitigate the trap‐assisted nonradiative recombination at the hole transport layer (HTL). OSCs based on the Me‐4PACz/PEDOT:PSS exhibit reduced trap densities and low energy losses compared to devices fabricated with a single‐layer HTL. This reduction can be attributed to a lower nonradiative recombination rate during hole transport at the interface. Changes in the work function of the two interlayers due to contact result in the existence of a built‐in potential inside the composite interlayer, promoting charge collection and reducing energy loss from charge recombination. Furthermore, the composite HTL interface induces vertical phase separation of active layer, leading to significant improvements of the fill factor for OSCs. As a result, high power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) of 18.70% and 19.02% are achieved for binary all‐polymer solar cells and polymer donor/small molecule acceptor solar cells, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]