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Purpose: Behçet's syndrome (BS) is a chronic inflammatory disease affecting the small and large vessels of the venous and arterial systems and is characterized by recurrent oral and genital ulcers. Uveitis represents the most typical ocular manifestation and completes the triple symptom complex originally described. Recognized treatments for Behçet's uveitis (BU) include systemic glucocorticoids and immunosuppressive agents. No study has reported on the use of upadacitinib for BS with panuveitis. Herein, we report the use of upadacitinib in two patients with BU suffering from macular edema and persistent inflammation, which was refractory to systemic glucocorticoids and immunosuppressive agents. Methods: We retrospectively followed-up two cases, including an adolescent girl and a man in his thirties, with a 2- and 10-year history of BS, respectively. Results: Upadacitinib successfully treated BU, leading to improved visual acuity, controlled intraocular inflammation, and the disappearance of macular edema in both patients. The patients in this study were either recalcitrant to or intolerant to conventional therapy and adalimumab. Only the female patient revealed a mildly abnormal blood picture and slight transaminitis after 6 months of upadacitinib administration. However, no serious adverse events were reported in either of the two patients during follow-up. Conclusion: Upadacitinib can be considered an important future option for managing recurrent and recalcitrant cases of BU, especially in those with chronic ocular inflammation and macular edema, which are refractory to conventional therapies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Metastasis, the hallmark of cancer, is accountable for about 90% of cancer-related deaths. Long noncoding RNA (lncRNA), a subset of the noncoding RNAs, has exhibited involvement in various processes, including immune evasion, cell proliferation, migration, and invasion, across multiple human diseases, notably cancer. The objective of our study was to identify a metastasis-associated lncRNA in lung cancer and elucidate the underlying mechanisms. Our findings indicate that Linc01703, which is notably downregulated in metastatic lung cancer cells, effectively suppresses lung cancer metastasis in vivo. Interestingly, Linc01703 does not directly impact the proliferation and invasion capabilities of lung cancer cells but rather inhibits cancer metastasis by promoting the secretion of CD81+ exosomes through the Rab27a/SYTL1/CD81 transport complexes. Consequently, our observations provide new insights into the potential clinical application of CD81+ exosome-based cancer therapy. Metastasis, a major cause of cancer-related mortality worldwide, frequently occurs early in the diagnosis of lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD). However, the precise molecular mechanisms governing the aggressive metastatic behavior of LUAD remain incompletely understood. In this study, we present compelling evidence indicating that the long noncoding RNA linc01703 is significantly downregulated in metastatic lung cancer cells. Intriguingly, in vivo experiments revealed that Linc01703 exerted a profound inhibitory effect on lung cancer metastasis without discernible impact on the in vitro proliferation or invasion capacities of LUAD cells. Mechanistically, Linc01703 enhanced the interaction between Rab27a, SYTL1, and CD81, consequently promoting the secretion of CD81+ exosomes. These exosomes, in turn, suppressed the infiltration of immune cells within the tumor microenvironment, thereby impeding LUAD metastasis. Importantly, our analysis of lung cancer tissues revealed a correlation between reduced CD81 expression and an unfavorable patient prognosis. Collectively, our findings suggest that Linc01703 functions as a metastasis suppressor by facilitating the secretion of CD81+ exosomes through the formation of the Rab27a/SYTL1/CD81 complex. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Uveitis is an inflammation of the iris, ciliary body, vitreous, retina, or choroid, which has been shown to be the first manifestation of numerous systemic diseases. Studies about the immunopathogenesis and treatment of uveitis are helpful to comprehend systemic autoimmune diseases, and delay the progression of systemic autoimmune diseases, respectively. Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), a pleiotropic cytokine, plays a pivotal role in intraocular inflammation based on experimental and clinical data. Evidence of the feasibility of using anti-TNF-α agents for uveitis management has increased. Although there are numerous studies on TNF-α in various autoimmune diseases, the pathological mechanism and research progress of TNF-α in uveitis have not been reviewed. Therefore, the objective of this review is to provide a background on the role of TNF-α in the immunopathogenesis of uveitis, as well as from bench to clinical research progress, to better guide TNF-α-based therapeutics for uveitis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although TiNb2O7 is regarded as a fast‐rechargeable lithium‐ion battery (LIB) anode material, the intrinsic poor electrochemical kinetics of TiNb2O7 still dramatically impedes its development. Herein, an ionothermal synthesis‐assisted doping strategy is proposed for the preparation of a new W6+‐doped TiNb2O7 material (Ti0.95W0.05Nb2O7) with nanoporous structure (denoted as NPTWNO). The improved Li+ diffusion coefficient of NPTWNO suggests that the ionic‐liquid‐templated nanoporous architecture improves the Li+ diffusion kinetics. The density functional theory computational study reveals that the doped W6+ successfully boosts the electronic conductivity due to the narrowed conduction‐valance bandgap resulted from charge redistribution, which is reflected by the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy data. With the simultaneously enhanced Li+ diffusivity and electronic conductivity, NPTWNO achieves fast‐rechargeability in LIBs. Therefore, this work indicates the potential of ionothermal synthesis‐assisted doping strategy on energy storage materials and offers NPTWNO material with promising electrochemical performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inner product arguments allow a prover to prove that the inner product of two committed vectors equals a public scalar. They are used to reduce the complexity of many cryptographic primitives, such as range proofs. Range proofs are deployed in numerous applications to prove that a committed value lies in a certain range. As core building blocks, their complexity largely determines the performance of corresponding applications. In this paper, we have optimised the inner product argument with statement including two vector commitments (IPAtvc) and range proof of Daza et al. (PKC'20), the inner product argument with statement including only one vector commitment (IPAovc) of Bünz et al. (S&P′18). For IPAtvc, we reduce the concrete communication complexity by 2 log2n field elements, where n is the vector dimension. For range proofs, we reduce the concrete communication and prover complexities by about 2 log2m field elements and 11m field multiplications, respectively, where m is the bit length of range. For IPAovc, we exponentially reduce the asymptotic verifier complexity from linear to logarithmic. Due to the asymptotic characteristics, our protocols are highly competitive when the vector dimension or bit length of range is large. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a disease with great heterogeneity and a high mortality rate. It is crucial to identify reliable biomarkers for diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment to improve clinical outcomes in patients with HCC. Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) is not only a widely used biomarker in clinical practice but also plays a complicated role in HCC, and it has recently been considered to be related to immunotherapy. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are regarded as key regulators and promising biomarkers of HCC. We investigated the role of an AFP-related miRNA, miR-135b-5p, in HCC progression. Methods. Identification of miR-135b-5p was performed based on a cohort of 65 HCC cases and the liver hepatocellular carcinoma cohort of The Cancer Genome Atlas (Asian people only). A combination of whole-transcriptome sequencing and high-dimensional proteomic technologies was used to study the role of miR-135b-5p in HCC. Results. Upregulation of miR-135b-5p was detected in patients with HCC with high serum AFP levels (AFP > 400 ng / ml). Elevated miR-135b-5p expression was associated with adverse prognosis. We also identified the relevance between high miR-135b-5p expression and tumor-related pathological characteristics, such as Edmondson grade and vascular invasion. We revealed tyrosine kinase nonreceptor 1 as a potential target of miR-135b-5p. Additionally, the transcriptional start site of miR-135b-5p had potential binding sites for SRY-box transcription factor 9, and the stemness properties of tumor cells were more remarkable in HCC with the upregulation of miR-135b-5p. The molecular characterization of the miR-135b-5p-high group was similar to that of the HCC subclasses containing moderately and poorly differentiated tumors. Finally, gene signatures associated with improved clinical outcomes in immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy were upregulated in the miR-135b-5p-high group. Conclusion. miR-135b-5p could be a biomarker for predicting the prognosis and antiprogrammed cell death protein 1 monotherapy response in HCC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Insight into the Fast-Rechargeability of a Novel Mo1.5W1.5Nb14O44 Anode Material for High-Performance Lithium-Ion Batteries (Adv. Keywords: doping; electrical conductivity; fast-rechargeable lithium-ion batteries; ionothermal synthesis; lithium-ion diffusivity; Mo1.5W1.5Nb14O44 EN doping electrical conductivity fast-rechargeable lithium-ion batteries ionothermal synthesis lithium-ion diffusivity Mo1.5W1.5Nb14O44 1 1 1 09/27/22 20220922 NES 220922 B Lithium Ion Batteries b In article number 2200519, Sheng Dai and co-workers facilely develop a new high-performance nanoporous Mo SB 1.5 sb W SB 1.5 sb Nb SB 14 sb O SB 44 sb lithium-ion battery anode material via a novel ionothermal-synthesis-assisted doping strategy, realizing the concurrent improvement of lithium-ion diffusivity and electrical conductivity. Doping, electrical conductivity, fast-rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, ionothermal synthesis, lithium-ion diffusivity, Mo1.5W1.5Nb14O44. [Extracted from the article]

We study the existence of patterns (nontrivial, stationary solutions) in the one-dimensional Swift–Hohenberg Equation in a directional quenching scenario, that is, on x ≤ 0 the energy potential associated to the equation is bistable, whereas on x ≥ 0 it is monostable. This heterogeneity in the medium induces a symmetry break that makes the existence of heteroclinic orbits of the type point-to-periodic not only plausible but, as we prove here, true. In this search, we use an interesting result of [13] in order to understand the multiscale structure of the problem, namely, how multiple scales - fast/slow - interact with each other. In passing, we advocate for a new approach in finding connecting orbits, using what we call "far/near decompositions", relying both on information about the spatial behavior of the solutions and on Fourier analysis. Our method is functional analytic and PDE based, relying minimally on dynamical system techniques and making no use of comparison principles whatsoever. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High coercivity (Nd8Y3)-(Fe62Nb3Cr1)-B23 magnets in rods have been produced by copper mold injection casting. Magnetic properties, microstructure, and phase evolution in the as-cast and annealed states have been presented and discussed. The (Nd8Y3)-(Fe62Nb3Cr1)-B23 alloys show hard magnetic properties in the as-cast state. Annealing induces ideal microstructure containing magnetically hard and soft phases with hard/soft volume ratio of 73/27. Exchange coupling between magnetically hard (Nd,Y)2Fe14B phase and soft α-Fe (Fe3B) phase leads to excellent hard magnetic properties. Highest coercivity of 1230 kA/m in (Nd8Y3)-(Fe62Nb3Cr1)-B23 magnet originates from the large amount of hard phase with high magnetocrystalline anisotropy, formation of thin grain boundary phase and refinement of magnetic grains. Nb and Cr doping modify the magnetic phases. Annealed magnetic rods with a diameter of 2 mm and 36 mm in length demonstrated the maximum magnetic properties i.e., iHc of 1230 kA/m, Br of 0.49 T, and (BH)max of 45.6 kJ/m3. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Fe64B22.8Nd6.6Y3.9Nb2.7 nanocomposite permanent magnets in the form of rods of 2 mm in diameter and 25 mm in length have been prepared by annealing the amorphous precursors. The phase evolution, microstructure, and magnetic properties of Fe64B22.8Nd6.6Y3.9Nb2.7 nanocomposite permanent magnets have been investigated by x-ray diffractometry, transmission electron microscopy, and magnetometry techniques. The exchange coupling between the magnetically soft and hard magnetic phase is evidenced by the δM curves. The hard magnetic properties of the nanocomposites were found to be sensitive to the annealing process. The microstructure of the annealed nanocomposite consists of magnetically soft α-Fe (15–25 nm) and Fe3B (25–35 nm) grains and hard magnetic Nd2Fe14B (45–55 nm) grains. The optimum hard magnetic properties, such as jHc = 961.6 kA/m (12.0 kOe), Br = 0.65 T (6.5 kG), and BHmax = 65.17 kJ/m3 (8.19 MGOe), were obtained by annealing the alloy at 700 °C for 15 min and are related to the more refined nanostructure leading to strong exchange coupling between the soft and hard magnetic grains. Annealing above 700 °C induces a decoupling effect due to the coarsening of soft and hard magnetic phases. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The front cover and issue information on the "Journal of Materials Research" are presented.