Bacteroidetes promotes esophageal squamous carcinoma invasion and metastasis through LPS-mediated TLR4/Myd88/NF-κB pathway and inflammatory changes.

Gut microbiota plays a crucial role in gastrointestinal tumors. Additionally, gut microbes influence the progression of esophageal cancer. However, the major bacterial genera that affect the invasion and metastasis of esophageal cancer remain unknown, and the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Here, we investigated the gut flora and metabolites of patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma and found abundant Bacteroides and increased secretion and entry of the surface antigen lipopolysaccharide (LPS) into the blood, causing inflammatory changes in the body. We confirmed these results in a mouse model of 4NQO-induced esophageal carcinoma in situ and further identified epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) occurrence and TLR4/Myd88/NF-κB pathway activation in mouse esophageal tumors. Additionally, in vitro experiments revealed that LPS from Bacteroides fragile promoted esophageal cancer cell proliferation, migration, and invasion, and induced EMT by activating the TLR4/Myd88/NF-κB pathway. These results reveal that Bacteroides are closely associated with esophageal cancer progression through a higher inflammatory response level and signaling pathway activation that are both common to inflammation and tumors induced by LPS, providing a new biological target for esophageal cancer prevention or treatment.

Non-volatile rippled-assisted optoelectronic array for all-day motion detection and recognition.

In-sensor processing has the potential to reduce the energy consumption and hardware complexity of motion detection and recognition. However, the state-of-the-art all-in-one array integration technologies with simultaneous broadband spectrum image capture (sensory), image memory (storage) and image processing (computation) functions are still insufficient. Here, macroscale (2 × 2 mm2) integration of a rippled-assisted optoelectronic array (18 × 18 pixels) for all-day motion detection and recognition. The rippled-assisted optoelectronic array exhibits remarkable uniformity in the memory window, optically stimulated non-volatile positive and negative photoconductance. Importantly, the array achieves an extensive optical storage dynamic range exceeding 106, and exceptionally high room-temperature mobility up to 406.7 cm2 V-1 s-1, four times higher than the International Roadmap for Device and Systems 2028 target. Additionally, the spectral range of each rippled-assisted optoelectronic processor covers visible to near-infrared (405 nm-940 nm), achieving function of motion detection and recognition.

Configurable circular-polarization-dependent optoelectronic silent state for ultrahigh light ellipticity discrimination.

Filterless light-ellipticity-sensitive optoelectronic response generally has low discrimination, thus severely hindering the development of monolithic polarization detectors. Here, we achieve a breakthrough based on a configurable circular-polarization-dependent optoelectronic silent state created by the superposition of two photoresponses with enantiomerically opposite ellipticity dependences. The zero photocurrent and the significantly suppressed noise of the optoelectronic silent state singularly enhance the circular polarization extinction ratio (CPER) and the sensitivity to light ellipticity perturbation. The CPER of our device approaches infinity by the traditional definition. The newly established CPER taking noise into account is 3-4 orders of magnitude higher than those of ordinary integrated circular polarization detectors, and it remains high in an expanded wavelength range. The noise equivalent light ellipticity difference goes below 0.009° Hz-1/2 at modulation frequencies above 1000 Hz by a light power of 281 µW. This scheme brings a leap in developing monolithic ultracompact circular polarization detectors.

All-in-one two-dimensional retinomorphic hardware device for motion detection and recognition.

With the advent of the Internet of Things era, the detection and recognition of moving objects is becoming increasingly important1. The current motion detection and recognition (MDR) technology based on the complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) image sensors (CIS) platform contains redundant sensing, transmission conversion, processing and memory modules, rendering the existing systems bulky and inefficient in comparison to the human retina. Until now, non-memory capable vision sensors have only been used for static targets, rather than MDR. Here, we present a retina-inspired two-dimensional (2D) heterostructure based retinomorphic hardware device with all-in-one perception, memory and computing capabilities for the detection and recognition of moving trolleys. The proposed 2D retinomorphic device senses an optical stimulus to generate progressively tuneable positive/negative photoresponses and memorizes it, combined with interframe differencing computations, to achieve 100% separation detection of moving trichromatic trolleys without ghosting. The detected motion images are fed into a conductance mapped neural network to achieve fast trolley recognition in as few as four training epochs at 10% noise level, outperforming previous results from similar customized datasets. The prototype demonstration of a 2D retinomorphic device with integrated perceptual memory and computation provides the possibility of building compact, efficient MDR hardware.

Fast Uncooled Mid-Wavelength Infrared Photodetectors with Heterostructures of van der Waals on Epitaxial HgCdTe.

Uncooled infrared photodetectors have evoked widespread interest in basic research and military manufacturing because of their low-cost, compact detection systems. However, existing uncooled infrared photodetectors utilize the photothermoelectric effect of infrared radiation operating at 8-12 µm, with a slow response time in the millisecond range. Hence, the exploration of new uncooled mid-wavelength infrared (MWIR) heterostructures is conducive to the development of ultrafast and high-performance nano-optoelectronics. This study explores a van der Waals heterojunction on epitaxial HgCdTe (vdWs-on-MCT) as an uncooled MWIR photodetector, which achieves fast response as well as high detectivity for spectral blackbody detection. Specifically, the vdWs-on-MCT photodetector has a fast response time of 13 ns (77 MHz), which is approximately an order of magnitude faster than commercial uncooled MCT photovoltaic photodetectors. Importantly, the device exhibits a photoresponsivity of 2.5 A W-1 , quantum efficiency as high as 85%, peak detectivity of 2 × 1010  cm Hz1/2 W-1 under blackbody radiation at room temperature, and peak detectivity of up to 1011  cm Hz1/2 W-1 at 77 K. Thereby, this work facilitates the effective design of high-speed and high-performance heterojunction uncooled MWIR photodetectors.

Multifunctional computing-in-memory SRAM cells based on two-surface-channel MoS2 transistors.

Driven by technologies such as machine learning, artificial intelligence, and internet of things, the energy efficiency and throughput limitations of the von Neumann architecture are becoming more and more serious. As a new type of computer architecture, computing-in-memory is an alternative approach to alleviate the von Neumann bottleneck. Here, we have demonstrated two kinds of computing-in-memory designs based on two-surface-channel MoS2 transistors: symmetrical 4T2R Static Random-Access Memory (SRAM) cell and skewed 3T3R SRAM cell, where the symmetrical SRAM cell can realize in-memory XNOR/XOR computations and the skewed SRAM cell can achieve in-memory NAND/NOR computations. Furthermore, since both the memory and computing units are based on two-surface-channel transistors with high area efficiency, the two proposed computing-in-memory SRAM cells consume fewer transistors, suggesting a potential application in highly area-efficient and multifunctional computing chips.

Substitutionally Doped MoSe2 for High-Performance Electronics and Optoelectronics.

2D materials, of which the carrier type and concentration are easily tuned, show tremendous superiority in electronic and optoelectronic applications. However, the achievements are still quite far away from practical applications. Much more effort should be made to further improve their performance. Here, p-type MoSe2 is successfully achieved via substitutional doping of Ta atoms, which is confirmed experimentally and theoretically, and outstanding homojunction photodetectors and inverters are fabricated. MoSe2 p-n homojunction device with a low reverse current (300 pA) exhibits a high rectification ratio (104 ). The analysis of dark current reveals the domination of the Shockley-Read-Hall (SRH) and band-to-band tunneling (BTB) current. The homojunction photodetector exhibits a large open-circuit voltage (0.68 V) and short-circuit currents (1 µA), which is suitable for micro-solar cells. Furthermore, it possesses outstanding responsivity (0.28 A W-1 ), large external quantum efficiency (42%), and a high signal-to-noise ratio (≈107 ). Benefiting from the continuous energy band of homojunction, the response speed reaches up to 20 µs. Besides, the Ta-doped MoSe2 inverter exhibits a high voltage gain (34) and low power consumption (127 nW). This work lays a foundation for the practical application of 2D material devices.

A visualization method for probing grain boundaries of single layer graphene via molecular beam epitaxy.

Graphene, a member of layered two-dimensional (2D) materials, possesses high carrier mobility, mechanical flexibility, and optical transparency, as well as enjoying a wide range of promising applications in electronics. Adopting the chemical vaporization deposition method, the majority of investigators have ubiquitously grown single layer graphene (SLG), which inevitably involves polycrystalline properties. Here we demonstrate a simple method for the direct visualization of arbitrarily large-size SLG domains by synthesizing one-hundred-nm-scale MoS2 single crystals via a high-vacuum molecular beam epitaxy process. The present study based on epitaxial growth provides a guide for probing the grain boundaries of various 2D materials and implements higher potentials for the next-generation electronic devices.

Clinical significance of the expression of estrogen receptors alpha and beta for endocrine therapy of breast cancer.

The assessment of the estrogen receptor (ER) alpha and the progesterone receptor (PgR) in breast cancer tissues is important for discriminating between hormone-dependent and hormone-independent tumors. ERbeta, a more recently discovered ER, may influence estrogen action through the ERalpha pathway. To evaluate the clinical significance of these receptors in the response to endocrine therapy, we investigated their expression in primary breast cancer tissues. ERalpha and PgR were evaluated using immunohistochemistry (IHC) and enzyme immunoassay (EIA) and ERbeta expression was determined using IHC and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. When the cut-off level of EIA was set at 13 fmol/mg protein for ERalpha and that for IHC was set as an IHC score between 2 and 3, a significant correlation between ERalpha EIA and IHC was seen (concordance rate 88.4%). This indicates that this cut-off level of ERalpha IHC can be adopted to quantify breast cancer prognoses. Furthermore, the tumors with positive expression of ERalpha IHC or PgR IHC using this criterion were significantly related to the response to endocrine therapy. Additionally, tumors with positive expression of ERbeta wild-type tended to have a better response to endocrine therapy than negative ones, and tamoxifen responders tended to exhibit a lower ratio of ERbetacx (one of the ERbeta variants) to ERbeta wild-type than nonresponders. The results concerning ERbeta are not yet fully understood; further investigations and evaluations should analyze the role of ERbeta wild-type and variant type in breast cancer treatment.