Benzothiadiazole-Based Ordered Mesoporous Polymer as a Versatile, Metal-Free Heterogeneous Photocatalyst.

Visible-light active heterogeneous organophotocatalysts have recently gained considerable interest in organic synthetic community. Ordered mesoporous polymers (OMPs) are highly promising as heterogeneous alternative to traditional precious metal/organic dyes-based photocatalysts. Herein, we report the preparation of a benzothiadiazole functionalized OMPs (BT-MPs) through a "bottom-up" strategy. High ordered periodic porosity, large surface area, excellent stability and rational energy-band structures guarantee the high catalytic activity of BT-MPs. As a result, at least six conversions, e.g., the [3+2] cycloaddition of phenols with olefins, the selective oxidation of sulfides, the C-3 thiocyanation of indole and the aminothiocyanation of ß-keto ester, could be promoted smoothly by BT-MPs. In addition, BT-MPs was readily recovered with well maintaining its photocatalytic activity and could be reused for at least eight times. This study highlights the potential of exploiting photoactive OMPs as recyclable, robust and metal-free heterogeneous photocatalysts.

Elastic Droplet-Based Magnetoelectric Generator for High-performance Energy Collection.

Conventional magnetoelectric generators are regarded as effective devices for harvesting concentrated hydraulic power but are ineffective for dispersed hydropower (e.g., raindrops) due to their bulkiness and immobility. Here, we propose a superhydrophobic magnetoelectric generator (MSMEG) based on an elastic magnetic film that can efficiently convert the energy of lightweight water droplets into electricity. The MSMEG consists of five parts: a superhydrophobic magnetic material-based film (SMMF), a coil, a NdFeB magnet, an acrylic housing, and an expandable polystyrene (EPS) base. The SMMF with coil can deform/recover when droplets impact/leave the MSMEG, resulting in a peak current, peak charge density, and peak power density of ∼13.02 mA, ∼1826.5 mC/m2, and ∼1413.0 mW/m2, respectively, with a load resistance of 47 Ω. Related working mechanism is analyzed through Maxwell numerical simulation, which is used for further guidance on increasing the electrical output of the MSMEG. Furthermore, the MSMEG can quickly charge a commercial capacitor with 2.7 V/1 F to 1.18 V within 200 s and power diverse electronic devices (e.g., light emitting diodes (LEDs), fans) with constant excitation by water droplets. We believe that such an MSMEG is expected to provide a promising strategy for efficiently harvesting dispersed raindrop energy.

Protection of blood-brain barrier by endothelial DAPK1 deletion after stroke.

Death-associated protein kinase (DAPK) 1 is a critical mediator for neuronal cell death in cerebral ischemia, but its role in blood-brain barrier (BBB) disruption is incompletely understood. Here, we found that endothelial-specific deletion of Dapk1 using Tie2 Cre protected the brain of Dapk1fl/fl mice against middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO), characterized by mitigated Evans blue dye (EBD) extravasation, reduced infarct size and improved behavior. In vitro experiments also indicated that DAPK1 deletion inhibited oxygen-glucose deprivation (OGD)-induced tight junction alteration between cerebral endothelial cells (CECs). Mechanistically, we revealed that DAPK1-DAPK3 interaction activated cytosolic phospholipase A2 (cPLA2) in OGD-stimulated CECs. Our results thus suggest that inhibition of endothelial DAPK1 specifically prevents BBB damage after stroke.

Influence of Fibre Orientation on the Slotting Quality of CFRP Composites Using the Multi-Tooth Mill.

Carbon fibre-reinforced plastic (CFRP) composites, prized for their exceptional properties, often encounter surface quality issues during slotting due to their inherent heterogeneity. This paper tackles CFRP slotting challenges by employing multi-tooth mills in experiments with various fibre orientations and tool feed rates. In-plane scratching tests are performed under linearly varying loads; then, slotting experiments are conducted at different parameters. The scratching test results indicate that the fibre orientation and cutting angles have significant influences on forces and fracture process. The slotting experiments demonstrate that cutting forces and surface roughness Sa of the bottom slotting surface are notably affected by the fibre orientation, with disparities between up-milling and down-milling sides. Reorganising Sa data by local fibre cutting angle θ highlights consistent Sa variations between up-milling and down-milling sides for 0° ≤ θ ≤ 90°, with lower Sa on the up-milling side. However, for 90° < θ ≤ 150°, Sa variations diverge, with lower Sa on the down-milling side. Unexpectedly, Sa on the down-milling side decreases with increasing θ in this range. Additionally, the tool feed rate exerts a more pronounced influence on Sa on the up-milling side.

[Pathogenic mechanisms of impaired neuronal autophagy flux after ischemic stroke].

Autophagy is a metabolic process in which damaged organelles, obsolete proteins, excess cytoplasmic components, and even pathogens are presented to lysosomes for degradation via autophagosomes. It includes 4 processes: the initiation of autophagy, the formation of autophagosomes, the fusion of autophagosomes with lysosomes, and the degradation and removal of autophagic substrates within autophagic lysosomes. When these processes are continuous, it is called autophagy flux. Blockage of one or certain steps in the autophagy/lysosome signaling pathway can lead to impaired autophagy flux. Numerous studies have shown that impaired autophagy flux is an important cause of neuronal damage in the ischemic penumbra after stroke. This paper summarized research progress in the pathological mechanisms that cause impaired neuronal autophagy flux after ischemic stroke and discusses methods to improve neuronal autophagy flux, in order to provide a reference for an in-depth investigation of the pathological injury mechanisms after stroke.

Visible-light induced C(sp3)-H arylation of glycine derivatives by cerium catalysis.

A Ce(III)-catalyzed, visible-light induced aerobic oxidative dehydrogenative coupling reaction between glycine derivatives and electron-rich arenes is disclosed. The protocol proceeds efficiently under mild conditions, providing an efficient method for the rapid synthesis of α-arylglycine derivatives without the need for an external photosensitizer and additional oxidant. Moreover, this protocol could be performed on a 5 mmol scale, without obvious reduction of the efficiency.

Airborne transmission of human-isolated avian H3N8 influenza virus between ferrets.

H3N8 avian influenza viruses (AIVs) in China caused two confirmed human infections in 2022, followed by a fatal case reported in 2023. H3N8 viruses are widespread in chicken flocks; however, the zoonotic features of H3N8 viruses are poorly understood. Here, we demonstrate that H3N8 viruses were able to infect and replicate efficiently in organotypic normal human bronchial epithelial (NHBE) cells and lung epithelial (Calu-3) cells. Human isolates of H3N8 virus were more virulent and caused severe pathology in mice and ferrets, relative to chicken isolates. Importantly, H3N8 virus isolated from a patient with severe pneumonia was transmissible between ferrets through respiratory droplets; it had acquired human-receptor-binding preference and amino acid substitution PB2-E627K necessary for airborne transmission. Human populations, even when vaccinated against human H3N2 virus, appear immunologically naive to emerging mammalian-adapted H3N8 AIVs and could be vulnerable to infection at epidemic or pandemic proportion.

Antifouling Slippery Surface against Marine Biofouling.

Titanium and its alloys have become the most excellent structure materials for naval seawater pipelines due to their high strength and good corrosion resistance. However, marine biofouling poses a serious threat to titanium alloy piping systems because of their good biocompatibility. Recently, the biomimetic antifouling coating, a novel antifouling method, has received great attention. Here, based on this biomimetic idea, we develop a nontoxic antifouling slippery surface (AFSS) using silicone oil, silane coupling agent, nanosilica, nanoceramic coating, epoxy resin, and capsaicin. The developed AFSS has excellent slippery performance for various droplets, good durability, and a superior self-cleaning property. Additionally, the antifouling performance of the AFSS was significantly enhanced, as confirmed by the reduced adhesion of proteins (70.7%), bacteria (97.2%), and algae (97.7%) compared to the ordinary titanium alloy. With these excellent properties, the AFSS was expected to be a promising candidate for protecting titanium alloy piping systems from marine biofouling.

Antiadhesion Superhydrophobic Bipolar Electrocoagulation Tweezers with High Conductivity and Stability.

Irregularly shaped electrosurgical devices face significant challenges in electrosurgery due to serious blood and tissue adhesion. Superhydrophobic surfaces inspired by lotus leaves have attracted great attention for their promising antiadhesion properties. However, there are few methods for efficiently preparing superhydrophobic irregularly shaped bipolar electrocoagulation tweezers (BETs). Herein, we propose a simple and environmentally friendly method to fabricate antiadhesion superhydrophobic surfaces on BETs. The superhydrophobicity is obtained by combining laser texturing to form rough structures and low surface energy modification via stearic acid. The formation mechanism of superhydrophobicity is investigated through analyzing microstructures and chemical compositions by scanning electron microscopy, white-light interferometry, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The functionalized BET surfaces exhibit excellent water repellency with a contact angle of 159.6°, a roll-off angle of 1°, and a surface energy of 14.3 mJ/m2, possessing excellent antiadhesion properties against blood, chicken breast tissue, and pork tissue. Compared with ordinary BETs, the mass of blood, pork tissue, and chicken breast tissue adhered to the superhydrophobic BET is reduced by 97.70, 70.34, and 75.35%, respectively. Moreover, the superhydrophobic BETs have excellent conductivity and maintain good antiadhesion properties after low-temperature storage for 2 weeks, after being impacted by sand and blood and 30 cycles of tape peeling tests. With outstanding antiadhesion performance, the superhydrophobic BET may have promising application prospects in the electrosurgery field.

Visible-light-induced Csp3-H functionalization of glycine derivatives by cerium catalysis.

A Ce(III)-catalyzed, visible-light-induced aerobic oxidative dehydrogenative coupling/aromatization reaction between glycine derivatives and alkenes has been developed, which provides an efficient approach for the synthesis of quinoline derivatives and post-modification of oligopeptides containing glycine residues under mild conditions without the need for external photosensitizers.

Human infection of avian influenza A H3N8 virus and the viral origins: a descriptive study.

BACKGROUND: The H3N8 avian influenza virus (AIV) has been circulating in wild birds, with occasional interspecies transmission to mammals. The first human infection of H3N8 subtype occurred in Henan Province, China, in April, 2022. We aimed to investigate clinical, epidemiological, and virological data related to a second case identified soon afterwards in Hunan Province, China. METHODS: We analysed clinical, epidemiological, and virological data for a 5-year-old boy diagnosed with H3N8 AIV infection in May, 2022, during influenza-like illness surveillance in Changsha City, Hunan Province, China. H3N8 virus strains from chicken flocks from January, 2021, to April, 2022, were retrospectively investigated in China. The genomes of the viruses were sequenced for phylogenetic analysis of all the eight gene segments. We evaluated the receptor-binding properties of the H3N8 viruses by using a solid-phase binding assay. We used sequence alignment and homology-modelling methods to study the effect of specific mutations on the human receptor-binding properties. We also conducted serological surveillance to detect the H3N8 infections among poultry workers in the two provinces with H3N8 cases. FINDINGS: The clinical symptoms of the patient were mild, including fever, sore throat, chills, and a runny nose. The patient's fever subsided on the same day of hospitalisation, and these symptoms disappeared 7 days later, presenting mild influenza symptoms, with no pneumonia. An H3N8 virus was isolated from the patient's throat swab specimen. The novel H3N8 virus causing human infection was first detected in a chicken farm in Guangdong Province in December, 2021, and subsequently emerged in several provinces. Sequence analyses revealed the novel H3N8 AIVs originated from multiple reassortment events. The haemagglutinin gene could have originated from H3Ny AIVs of duck origin. The neuraminidase gene belongs to North American lineage, and might have originated in Alaska (USA) and been transferred by migratory birds along the east Asian flyway. The six internal genes had originated from G57 genotype H9N2 AIVs that were endemic in chicken flocks. Reassortment events might have occurred in domestic ducks or chickens in the Pearl River Delta area in southern China. The novel H3N8 viruses possess the ability to bind to both avian-type and human-type sialic acid receptors, which pose a threat to human health. No poultry worker in our study was positive for antibodies against the H3N8 virus. INTERPRETATION: The novel H3N8 virus that caused human infection had originated from chickens, a typical spillover. The virus is a triple reassortment strain with the Eurasian avian H3 gene, North American avian N8 gene, and dynamic internal genes of the H9N2 viruses. The virus already possesses binding ability to human-type receptors, though the risk of the H3N8 virus infection in humans was low, and the cases are rare and sporadic at present. Considering the pandemic potential, comprehensive surveillance of the H3N8 virus in poultry flocks and the environment is imperative, and poultry-to-human transmission should be closely monitored. FUNDING: National Natural Science Foundation of China, National Key Research and Development Program of China, Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hunan Provincial Innovative Construction Special Fund: Emergency response to COVID-19 outbreak, Scientific Research Fund of Hunan Provincial Health Department, and the Hunan Provincial Health Commission Foundation.

Natural Adrenocorticotropic Hormone (ACTH) Relieves Acute Inflammation in Gout Patients by Changing the Function of Macrophages.

Gout is a common arthritis caused by deposition of monosodium urate crystals. Macrophage is crucial in the process of monosodium urate (MSU)-induced inflammation. Although it has been reported that adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) in nature can be used to cure urarthritis, the mechanism concerning macrophage is still not clear. However, gout patients manifest other complications, such as hypertension, diabetes, chronic kidney disease, and hormone intolerance, which limit efficacy of some of these first-line drugs. Therefore, this study aims to explore how natural ACTH can alleviate urarthritis through functional changes in macrophage. We analyzed the variations in VAS pain scores of five patients, knowing the time of action and detecting the level of cortisol and ACTH in patients 24 hours after the application of ACTH. The effect of natural ACTH on joint inflammation and the level of cortisol in blood in the mouse model was evaluated by studies in vivo. In vitro studies, we evaluated the effect of natural ACTH on macrophages and revealed different functions of ACTH and dexamethasone on macrophages in the transcriptional level. In patients with acute gout, natural ACTH can quickly alleviate pain and does not affect the level of cortisol and ACTH. Natural ACTH is able to ease the swelling and inflammatory cell infiltration caused by arthritis, without changing the level of cortisol. Besides, natural ACTH in vitro can alleviate acute gouty inflammation by regulating phagocytosis and polarization of macrophage, which also exerts different effects on the transcription of some related genes. Natural ACTH is able to alleviate acute gouty inflammation by regulating macrophage, and this effect differs from that of dexamethasone at the transcriptional level.

Facile one-pot method of AuNPs/PEDOT/CNT composites for simultaneous detection of dopamine with a high concentration of ascorbic acid and uric acid.

In this research, a facile one-pot method was used to synthesize gold/poly-3,4-ethylene-dioxythiophene/carbon nanotube (AuNPs/PEDOT/CNTs) composite material. The composite material was investigated by Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). Then the synthesized nanocomposite material was dropped on a bare glassy carbon electrode (GCE) to improve the detection performance of dopamine with a high concentration of ascorbic acid and uric acid. The electrochemical behavior of AuNPs/PEDOT/CNTs/GCE was studied by Cyclic Voltammetry (CV), Differential Pulse Voltammetry (DPV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). Under optimum conditions, AuNPs/PEDOT/CNTs/GCE showed a good linear response in the concentration range from 9.14 to 29.704 µM with a detection limit (LOD) and sensitivity of 0.283 µM and 1.557 µA µM-1, respectively. This sensor was applied to detect practical samples with good average recovery. It also exhibited good reproducibility and stability.

Rational Design of High-Performance Cationic Organic Network Adsorbents.

Development of high-performance ionic organic network (ION) adsorbents is of great importance for water remediation. However, the research on IONs is still nascent, especially, the design philosophy regarding contaminant adsorption has rarely been explored. In this contribution, we optimized the adsorption efficiency of IONs by increasing the density of charged sites and improving their accessibility. We first produced a new cationic organic network (CON), CON-LDU4, with a high density of positive sites via synthesis from tetra(4-pyridyl)ethene. Compared to the analogue CON-LDU2 that synthesized from tetra(4-(4-pyridyl)phenyl)ethene, CON-LDU4 exhibited higher efficiency in adsorption of methyl blue, indicating that the higher ionic density results in the higher adsorption efficiency. To further improve the accessibility of the active sites, another new CON material (CON-LDU5) was synthesized by employing a hard template. CON-LDU5 exhibited a larger specific surface area than CON-LDU4, with clearly enhanced adsorption efficiency. Finally, CON-LDU5 was used to capture CrO42- ions in water with fast adsorption kinetics (k2 = 0.0328 g mg-1 min-1) and high adsorption capacity (369 mg g-1).

Sound focusing by a broadband acoustic Luneburg lens.

The high-performance and aberration-free broadband acoustic lens holds promise for extensive applications, yet remains challenged. In this work, a scheme is proposed, and the experimental demonstration of a planar acoustic Luneburg lens capable of focusing broadband sound ranging from 1 to 3 kHz (relative bandwidth approaching to 100%) in an aberration-free manner is presented. Concretely, plane sound within the frequency range incident from one side can be concentrated on a same point on the opposite edge of the Luneburg lens. The demanded refractive indexes of the lens are obtained from the component space coil acoustic metamaterials, which can easily manipulate the refractive index by adjusting a structural parameter. The prototype of the proposed Luneburg lens is fabricated by three-dimensional printing technology and experimentally characterized in a two-dimensional acoustic measuring platform. The measured results are consistently in good agreement with those from the numerical simulations. Finally, the proposed Luneburg lens is employed to construct a wide-angle acoustic reflector, which can produce a strong echo propagating in the direction exactly opposite to the incident wave. These results facilitate potential possibilities for developing more acoustic functional devices capable of manipulating broadband sound.

A short-term follow-up CT based radiomics approach to predict response to immunotherapy in advanced non-small-cell lung cancer.

To develop a short-term follow-up CT-based radiomics approach to predict response to immunotherapy in advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and investigate the prognostic value of radiomics features in predicting progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS). We first retrospectively collected 224 advanced NSCLC patients from two centers, and divided them into a primary cohort and two validation cohorts respectively. Then, we processed CT scans with a series of image preprocessing techniques namely, tumor segmentation, image resampling, feature extraction and normalization. To select the optimal features, we applied the feature ranking with recursive feature elimination method. After resampling the training dataset with a synthetic minority oversampling technique, we applied the support vector machine classifier to build a machine-learning-based classification model to predict response to immunotherapy. Finally, we used Kaplan-Meier (KM) survival analysis method to evaluate prognostic value of rad-score generated by CT-radiomics model. In two validation cohorts, the delta-radiomics model significantly improved the area under receiver operating characteristic curve from 0.64 and 0.52 to 0.82 and 0.87, respectively (P < .05). In sub-group analysis, pre- and delta-radiomics model yielded higher performance for adenocarcinoma (ADC) patients than squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) patients. Through the KM survival analysis, the rad-score of delta-radiomics model had a significant prognostic for PFS and OS in validation cohorts (P < .05). Our results demonstrated that (1) delta-radiomics model could improve the prediction performance, (2) radiomics model performed better on ADC patients than SCC patients, (3) delta-radiomics model had prognostic values in predicting PFS and OS of NSCLC patients.

IL-37 blocks gouty inflammation by shaping macrophages into a non-inflammatory phagocytic phenotype.

OBJECTIVE: Interleukin (IL)-37 is a natural suppressor of inflammation. Macrophages play an important role in acute gout flare by dominating the inflammation and spontaneous relief. We have reported that IL-37 could limit runaway inflammation in gout. Here we focus on whether IL-37 inhibits gouty inflammation by altering macrophage functions, and how it does so. METHODS: Macrophage functions were evaluated in terms of phagocytosis, pyroptosis, polarization and metabolism. Phagocytosis and polarization of macrophages were detected by side scattering and double-labelling induced nitrogen monoxide synthase (iNOS)/arginase-1 (Arg-1) using flow cytometry, respectively. Transcription of pyroptosis-related molecules was detected by qPCR. Metabolomics was performed by liquid chromatograph mass spectrometer. Human IL-37 knock-in mice and a model with point mutation (S9A) at mouse Gsk3b locus were created by CRISPR/Cas-mediated genome engineering. MSU was injected into the paws and peritoneal cavity to model acute gout. Vernier calliper was used to measure the thickness of the paws. The mice paws and human synovium tissues or tophi were collected for pathological staining. Peritoneal fluid of mice was used to enrich macrophages to detect polarization. RESULTS: IL-37 promoted non-inflammatory phagocytic activity of macrophages by enhancing phagocytosis of MSU, reducing transcription of pyroptosis-related proteins and release of inflammatory cytokines, protecting mitochondrial function, and mediating metabolic reprogramming in MSU-treated THP-1 cells. These multifaceted roles of IL-37 were partly depended on the mediation of glycogen synthase kinase-3ß (GSK-3ß). CONCLUSIONS: Our study revealed that IL-37 could shape macrophages into a 'silent' non-inflammatory phagocytic fashion. IL-37 may become a potentially valuable treatment option for patients of chronic gout, especially for those with tophi.

Volumetric segmentation of ground glass nodule based on 3D attentional cascaded residual U-Net and conditional random field.

BACKGROUND: Ground glass nodule (GGN) segmentation is one of the important and challenging tasks in diagnosing early-stage lung adenocarcinomas. Manually delineating of 3D GGN in a computed tomography (CT) image is a subjective, laborious, and tedious task, which presents poor repeatability. PURPOSE: To reduce the annotation burden and improve the segmentation performance, this study proposes a 3D deep learning-based volumetric segmentation model to segment the GGN in CT images. METHODS: A total of 379 GGNs were retrospectively collected from the public database, Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital (SHPH), and Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center (FUSCC). First, a series of image preprocessing techniques involving image resampling, intensity normalization, 3D nodule patch cropping, and data augmentation, were adopted to generate the input images for the deep learning model by using CT scans. Then, a 3D attentional cascaded residual network (ACRU-Net) was proposed to develop the deep learning-based segmentation model by using the residual network and the atrous spatial pyramid pooling module. To improve the model performance, a voxel-based conditional random field (CRF) method was used to optimize the segmentation results. Finally, a balanced cross-entropy and Dice combined loss function was applied to train and build the segmentation model. RESULTS: Testing on SHPH and FUSCC datasets, the proposed method generates the Dice coefficients of 0.721 ± 0.167 and 0.733 ± 0.100, respectively, which are higher than those of 3D residual U-Net and ACRU-Net without CRF optimization. CONCLUSIONS: The results demonstrated that combining 3D ACRU-Net and CRF effectively improved the GGN segmentation performance. The proposed segmentation model may provide a potential tool to help the radiologist in the segmentation and diagnosis of 3D GGN.

N-linked glycosylation enhances hemagglutinin stability in avian H5N6 influenza virus to promote adaptation in mammals.

Clade 2.3.4.4 avian H5Ny viruses, namely H5N2, H5N6, and H5N8, have exhibited unprecedented intercontinental spread in poultry. Among them, only H5N6 viruses are frequently reported to infect mammals and cause serious human infections. In this study, the genetic and biological characteristics of surface hemagglutinin (HA) from clade 2.3.4.4 H5Ny avian influenza viruses (AIVs) were examined for adaptation in mammalian infection. Phylogenetic analysis identified an amino acid (AA) deletion at position 131 of HA as a distinctive feature of H5N6 virus isolated from human patients. This single AA deletion was found to enhance H5N6 virus replication and pathogenicity in vitro and in mammalian hosts (mice and ferrets) through HA protein acid and thermal stabilization that resulted in reduced pH threshold from pH 5.7 to 5.5 for viral-endosomal membrane fusion. Mass spectrometry and crystal structure revealed that the AA deletion in HA at position 131 introduced an N-linked glycosylation site at 129, which increases compactness between HA monomers, thus stabilizes the trimeric structure. Our findings provide a molecular understanding of how HA protein stabilization promotes cross-species avian H5N6 virus infection to mammalian hosts.