Wearable Sensors Based on Miniaturized High-Performance Hybrid Nanogenerator for Medical Health Monitoring.

Wearable sensors are important components, converting mechanical vibration energy into electrical signals or other forms of output, which are widely used in healthcare, disaster warning, and transportation. However, the reliance on batteries limits the portability of wearable sensors and hinders their application in the field of Internet of Things. To solve this problem, we designed a miniaturized high-performance hybrid nanogenerator (MHP-HNG), which combined the functions of triboelectric sensing and electromagnetic power generation as well as the advantages of miniaturization. By optimizing the design of TENG and EMG, the wearable sensor achieved a voltage output of 14.14 V and a power output of 49 mW. Based on the wireless optical communication and wireless communication technologies, the wearable sensor achieved the integration of sensing, communication, and self-powered function, which is expected to realize health monitoring, emergency warning, and rehabilitation assistance, and further extend the potential application value in the medical field.

Perfluorinated Amines: Accelerating Lithium Electrodeposition by Tailoring Interfacial Structure and Modulated Solvation for High-Performance Batteries.

Modulating interfacial electrochemistry represents a prevalent approach for mitigating lithium dendrite growth and enhancing battery performance. Nevertheless, while most additives exhibit inhibitory characteristics, the accelerating effects on interfacial electrochemistry have garnered limited attention. In this work, perfluoromorpholine (PFM) with facilitated kinetics is utilized to preferentially adsorb on the lithium metal interface. The PFM molecules disrupt the solvation structure of Li+ and enhance the migration of Li+. Combined with the benzotrifluoride, a synergistic acceleration-inhibition system is formed. The ab initio molecular dynamics (AIMD) and density functional theory (DFT) calculation of the loose outer solvation clusters and the key adsorption-deposition step supports the fast diffusion and stable interface electrochemistry with an accelerated filling mode with C─F and C─H groups. The approach induces the uniform lithium deposition. Excellent cycling performance is achieved in Li||Li symmetric cells, and even after 200 cycles in Li||NCM811 full cells, 80% of the capacity is retained. This work elucidates the accelerated electrochemical processes at the interface and expands the design strategies of acceleration fluorinated additives for lithium metal batteries.

HT-NMR Studies of the Be-F Coordination Structure in FNaBe and FLiBe Mixed Salts.

Molten NaF-BeF2 salt is widely considered a promising candidate to replace FLiBe in molten salt reactor applications, which is crucial to reducing the operating costs of the molten salt reactor. Studies on beryllium compounds are rarely conducted due to their volatility and high toxicity. Herein, the Be-F coordination structure of NaF/BeF2 mixed salts was investigated in-depth through various HT-NMR and solid-state NMR methods, which are optimized to be appropriate for the detection of beryllium compounds. It was found that Na2BeF4 and NaBeF3 crystals were transformed into amorphous tetrahedral coordinated networks when there was an increase in the BeF2 concentration in the mixed salts. The main coordinate structure comparisons between FNaBe and FLiBe were analyzed, which exhibit high similarity due to the covalent effect of Be-F bonding, demonstrating the theoretical feasibility of applying FNaBe salts as a substitute for FLiBe in MSR systems. In addition, the transition from the crystal phase to the amorphous phase occurred at a lower BeF2 concentration for FNaBe than that for FLiBe. This was further verified by the results of ab initio molecular dynamics (AIMD) simulation that FNaBe melts had more disordered structures, thus causing slight changes in their physical properties.

Effect of liver transplants with retrograde reperfusion on early postoperative recovery of liver function and its risk factors.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to investigate effect of liver Transplants (LT) with retrograde reperfusion on early postoperative recovery of liver function and its risk factors. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective analysis of clinical data from 136 liver transplantation (LT) patients at the 900th Hospital of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Joint Support Army, covering the period from January 2015 to January 2021. All participants provided informed consent, adhering to medical ethics guidelines. Patients were stratified into two groups based on the liver perfusion technique used: retrograde reperfusion (RTR, n = 108) and initial portal reperfusion (IPR, n = 28). Our study focused on a subset of 23 patients from each group to compare postoperative liver function recovery. The final analysis included 86 RTR and 28 IPR cases after excluding 8 RTR patients who underwent initial hepatic artery reperfusion and 14 who received simultaneous hepatic artery and portal vein reperfusion. Further subdivision within the RTR group identified 19 patients with early hepatic allograft dysfunction (EAD) and 67 without, allowing for an assessment of the influence of preoperative and intraoperative parameters, as well as perfusion methods, on EAD incidence post-LT. RESULTS: Alanine aminotransferase (ALT) was 329 (211 ~ 548) and 176 (98 ~ 282) U/L on the 3rd and 7th day after RTR, respectively, which was significantly lower than 451 (288 ~ 918) and 251 (147 ~ 430) U/L in the IPR group (Z =-1.979, -2.299, P = 0.048, 0.021). Aspartate aminotransferase (AST) on postoperative days 3, 5, and 7 was 252 (193, 522), 105 (79, 163), and 93 (41, 135) U/L in the RTR group, respectively; it was also significantly lower than 328 (251, 724), 179 (129, 306), and 150 (91, 200)U/L in the IPR group (Z=-2.212, -3.221, -2.979; P = 0.027, 0.001, 0.003). Logistic regression analysis showed that MELD score was an independent risk factor for EAD after LT. CONCLUSION: RTR LT is more favorable for patients' early postoperative liver function recovery. For patients undergoing LT for RTR, preoperative MELD score was an independent risk factor for their postoperative development of EAD.

Upgrading Gel Electrolytes Through Electrostatic-Induced Dual-Salt Paradigm for Superior Zn-Ion Battery Performance.

Gel electrolytes are gaining attention for rechargeable Zn-ion batteries because of their high safety, high flexibility, and excellent comprehensive electrochemical performances. However, current gel electrolytes still perform at mediocre levels due to incomplete Zn salts dissociation and side reactions. Herein, an electrostatic-induced dual-salt strategy is proposed to upgrade gel electrolytes to tackle intrinsic issues of Zn metal anodes. The competitive coordination mechanism driven by electrostatic repulsion and steric hindrance of dual anions promotes zinc salt dissociation at low lithium salt addition levels, improving ion transport and mechanical properties of gel electrolytes. Li+ ions and gel components coordinate with H2O, reducing active H2O molecules and inhibiting associated side reactions. The dual-salt gel electrolyte enables excellent reversibility of Zn anodes at both room and low temperatures. Zn||Polyaniline cells using the dual-salt gel electrolyte exhibit a high discharge capacity of 180 mAh g-1 and long-term cycling stability over 180 cycles at -20 °C. The dual-salt strategy offers a cost-effective approach to improving gel electrolytes for high-performance flexible Zn-ion batteries.

Manganese-based nanomaterials promote synergistic photo-immunotherapy: green synthesis, underlying mechanisms, and multiple applications.

Single phototherapy and immunotherapy have individually made great achievements in tumor treatment. However, monotherapy has difficulty in balancing accuracy and efficiency. Combining phototherapy with immunotherapy can realize the growth inhibition of distal metastatic tumors and enable the remote monitoring of tumor treatment. The development of nanomaterials with photo-responsiveness and anti-tumor immunity activation ability is crucial for achieving photo-immunotherapy. As immune adjuvants, photosensitizers and photothermal agents, manganese-based nanoparticles (Mn-based NPs) have become a research hotspot owing to their multiple ways of anti-tumor immunity regulation, photothermal conversion and multimodal imaging. However, systematic studies on the synergistic photo-immunotherapy applications of Mn-based NPs are still limited; especially, the green synthesis and mechanism of Mn-based NPs applied in immunotherapy are rarely comprehensively discussed. In this review, the synthesis strategies and function of Mn-based NPs in immunotherapy are first introduced. Next, the different mechanisms and leading applications of Mn-based NPs in immunotherapy are reviewed. In addition, the advantages of Mn-based NPs in synergistic photo-immunotherapy are highlighted. Finally, the challenges and research focus of Mn-based NPs in combination therapy are discussed, which might provide guidance for future personalized cancer therapy.

YOLOv8s-CGF: a lightweight model for wheat ear Fusarium head blight detection.

Fusarium head blight (FHB) is a destructive disease that affects wheat production. Detecting FHB accurately and rapidly is crucial for improving wheat yield. Traditional models are difficult to apply to mobile devices due to large parameters, high computation, and resource requirements. Therefore, this article proposes a lightweight detection method based on an improved YOLOv8s to facilitate the rapid deployment of the model on mobile terminals and improve the detection efficiency of wheat FHB. The proposed method introduced a C-FasterNet module, which replaced the C2f module in the backbone network. It helps reduce the number of parameters and the computational volume of the model. Additionally, the Conv in the backbone network is replaced with GhostConv, further reducing parameters and computation without significantly affecting detection accuracy. Thirdly, the introduction of the Focal CIoU loss function reduces the impact of sample imbalance on the detection results and accelerates the model convergence. Lastly, the large target detection head was removed from the model for lightweight. The experimental results show that the size of the improved model (YOLOv8s-CGF) is only 11.7 M, which accounts for 52.0% of the original model (YOLOv8s). The number of parameters is only 5.7 × 106 M, equivalent to 51.4% of the original model. The computational volume is only 21.1 GFLOPs, representing 74.3% of the original model. Moreover, the mean average precision (mAP@0.5) of the model is 99.492%, which is 0.003% higher than the original model, and the mAP@0.5:0.95 is 0.269% higher than the original model. Compared to other YOLO models, the improved lightweight model not only achieved the highest detection precision but also significantly reduced the number of parameters and model size. This provides a valuable reference for FHB detection in wheat ears and deployment on mobile terminals in field environments.

Porphyrin-Thiophene Based Conjugated Polymer Cathode with High Capacity for Lithium-Organic Batteries.

Organic electrode materials are promising for next-generation energy storage materials due to their environmental friendliness and sustainable renewability. However, problems such as their high solubility in electrolytes and low intrinsic conductivity have always plagued their further application. Polymerization to form conjugated organic polymers can not only inhibit the dissolution of organic electrodes in the electrolyte, but also enhance the intrinsic conductivity of organic molecules. Herein, we synthesized a new conjugated organic polymer (COPs) COP500-CuT2TP (poly [5,10,15,20-tetra(2,2'-bithiophen-5-yl) porphyrinato] copper (II)) by electrochemical polymerization method. Due to the self-exfoliation behavior, the porphyrin cathode exhibited a reversible discharge capacity of 420 mAh g-1, and a high specific energy of 900 Wh Kg-1 with a first coulombic efficiency of 96 % at 100 mA g-1. Excellent cycling stability up to 8000 cycles without capacity loss was achieved even at a high current density of 5 A g-1. This highly conjugated structure promotes COP500-CuT2TP combined high energy density, high power density, and good cycling stability, which would open new opportunity for the designable and versatile organic electrodes for electrochemical energy storage.

Upregulation of HCFC1 expression promoted hepatocellular carcinoma progression through inhibiting cell cycle arrest and correlated with immune infiltration.

Background: Host cell factor 1 (HCFC1) was reported associated with the progression of a variety of cancers. However, its role in the prognosis and immunological characteristics of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients has not been revealed. Methods: The expression and prognostic value of HCFC1 in HCC were investigated from the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) dataset and a cohort of 150 HCC patients. The associations between HCFC1 expression with somatic mutational signature, tumor mutational burden (TMB), and microsatellite instability (MSI) were investigated. Next, the correlation of HCFC1 expression with immune cell infiltration was investigated. In vitro, cytological experiments were conducted to verify the role of HCFC1 in HCC. Results: HCFC1 mRNA and protein upregulated in HCC tissues and correlated to poor prognosis. Multivariate regression analysis based on a cohort of 150 HCC patients revealed that high HCFC1 protein expression was an independent risk factor for prognosis. Upregulation of HCFC1 expression was associated with TMB, MSI, and tumor purity. HCFC1 expression showed a significant positive association with B cell memory, T cell CD4 memory, macrophage M0, and a significant positive association with immune checkpoint-related gene expression in the tumor microenvironment. HCFC1 expression negatively correlated to ImmuneScore, EstimateScore, and StromalScore. The single-cell RNA sequencing analysis demonstrated that the malignant cells and immune cells (B cells, T cells, and macrophages) represented high HCFC1 expression in HCC tissues. Functional analysis revealed that HCFC1 was remarkably correlated with cell cycle signaling. HCFC1 knockdown inhibited the proliferation, migration, and invasion capacity while promoting the apoptosis of HCC cells. At the same time, the cell-cycle-related proteins such as Cyclin D1 (CCND1), Cyclin A2 (CCNA2), cyclin-dependent kinase 4 (CDK4), and cyclin-dependent kinase 6 (CDK6) were downregulated. Conclusion: Upregulation of HCFC1 predicted undesirable prognosis of HCC patients and promoted tumor progression through inhibiting cell cycle arrest.

SNRPD1 inhibition suppresses the proliferation of hepatocellular carcinoma and promotes autophagy through the PI3K/AKT/mTOR/4EBP1 pathway.

BACKGROUND: Small nuclear ribonucleoprotein Sm D1 (SNRPD1) has been reported as an oncogene in some solid cancers. Our previous study suggested that SNRPD1 has diagnostic and prognostic value in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), but its role in tumor growth and biological behavior remains unknown. In this study, we aimed to unravel the role and mechanism of SNRPD1 in HCC. METHODS: We investigated the SNRPD1 mRNA level in adjacent normal liver tissues and HCC tissues with different tumor stages in the UALCAN database. The associations between SNRPD1 mRNA expression and HCC prognosis were investigated in TCGA database. Then, 52 pairs of frozen HCC tissues and corresponding adjacent normal liver tissues were collected to perform qPCR and immunohistochemistry assay. Next, we carried out a series of experiments in vitro and in vivo to investigate the effects of SNRPD1 expression on cell invasion, migration, proliferation, autophagy, and the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway. RESULTS: The bioinformatics analysis and qPCR in our patient cohort demonstrated that the SNRPD1 mRNA level in HCC tissues was higher than in adjacent normal tissues. In addition, the immunohistochemistry assay exhibited an increased SNRPD1 protein level with the tumor stage increase. Survival analysis suggested that higher expression of SNRPD1 was significantly associated with unfavorable prognosis of patients with HCC. The functional experiments in vitro indicated that SNRPD1 knockdown suppressed the cellular proliferation, migration, and invasion capacities. Furthermore, SNRPD1 inhibition induced cellular apoptosis and arrested the HCC cells at the G0/G1 phase of the cell cycle. Mechanistic analyses demonstrated that SNRPD1 knockdown induced the increase of autophagic vacuoles and the expression of autophagy-related genes (ATG5, ATG7, and ATG12) and blocked the PI3K/AKT/mTOR/4EBP1 pathway in vitro. Moreover, SNRPD1 inhibition suppressed tumor growth and expression of the Ki67 protein in vivo. CONCLUSIONS: SNRPD1 may serve as an oncogene in HCC and promote tumor proliferation via inhibiting autophagy induced through the PI3K/Akt/mTOR/4EBP1 pathway.