Boosting the Efficiency and Stability of Li-CO2 Batteries via a Ruthenium-Based Olefin-Metathesis Catalyst.

The practical application of Li-CO2 batteries is significantly hindered by high charge potential and short lifespan, mainly due to sluggish reaction kinetics and inadequate reaction reversibility. Homogeneous catalysts added to the electrolyte provide a promising strategy to address these issues. In this work, the third-generation Grubbs catalyst (G-III), which is efficient for olefin metathesis reactions, has been adopted as a homogeneous catalyst for Li-CO2 batteries. Batteries with G-III exhibited a low overpotential of 0.86 V and a lifespan of 1300 h at a current density of 300 mA g-1. Even at a high current density of 2000 mA g-1, the batteries remained stable for over 300 cycles, with an initial overpotential of 1.11 V. A two-step discharge/charge reaction involving Li2C2O4 as an intermediate was well illustrated, attributed to both low overpotentials and high specific capacity. These findings provide insights into catalyst selection and mechanism analysis for Li-CO2 batteries, offering practical strategies for Li-CO2 battery performance enhancement and practical applications.

[Effects of Grazing on Plant Diversity and Their Carbon Stocks in Different Types of Grasslands].

With the drying and warming of the climate and irrational grazing, various types of grasslands in Inner Mongolia have been degraded to different degrees, and different management modes will inevitably affect the plant diversity and vegetation carbon stock of soil grasslands. To clarify the changes and influencing factors of plant diversity and carbon stock in different types of grasslands under different management modes, plant species composition, aboveground biomass, and vegetation carbon were analyzed based on 18 sentinel monitoring stations across three different types of grasslands in Inner Mongolia. The results showed that grazing increased the dominance of typical grassland and desert grassland, whereas meadow grassland decreased, and the evenness index and Shannon Wiener diversity index increased less in meadow grassland and desert grassland. Grazing decreased graminaceous biomass in meadow grassland and typical grassland, whereas it increased in desert grassland. Above-ground vegetation and below-ground root carbon stocks were much higher than those in grazing areas, 1.5 and 1.2 higher, respectively, but vegetation carbon stocks in long-term grazing sites were significantly lower than those in short-term grazing. Further, the structural equations showed that the effects of geographic location, climatic factors, and soil factors on the biomass and vegetation carbon stocks of the three grassland types differed significantly. The results can provide a reference for the ecologically sustainable development of grassland and the optimization of management mode.

Lymph node metastasis diagnosis of postoperative OSCC patients by analyzing extracellular vesicles in drainage fluid based on microfluidic isolation.

Lymph node metastasis (LNM) is a typical marker in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) indicating poor prognosis. Pathological examination by artificial image acquisition and analysis, as the main diagnostic method for LNM, often takes a week or longer which may cause great anxiety of the patient and also retard timely treatment. However, there are few efficient fast LNM diagnosis methods in clinical applications currently. Our previous study profiled the proteomics of extracellular vesicles (EVs) derived from postoperative drainage fluid (PDF) and showed the potential of detecting specific EVs that expressed aspartate ß-hydroxylase (ASPH) for LNM diagnosis in OSCC patients. Considering that the analysis of ASPH+ PDF-EVs is challenging due to their low abundance (counting less than 10% of total EVs in PDF) and the complex EV isolation process of ultra-centrifugation, we developed a facile platform containing two microfluidic chips filled with antibody-modified microbeads to isolate ASPH+ PDF-EVs, with both the capture and retrieval rate reaching around 90%. Clinical sample analysis based on our method revealed that a mean of 6 × 106 /mL ASPH+ PDF-EVs could be isolated from LNM+ OSCC patients compared to 2.5 × 106 /mL in LNM- OSCC ones. When combined with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) technique that was commonly used in clinical laboratories in hospitals, this microfluidic platform could precisely distinguish postoperative OSCC patients with LNM or not in several hours, which were validated by a double-blind test containing 6 OSCC patients. We believe this strategy has promise for early diagnosis of LNM in postoperative OSCC patients and finally helps guiding timely and reasonable treatment in clinic.

Association of birth weight with neuropsychological functioning in early adolescence: A retrospective cohort study.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to compare the neuropsychological function in early adolescence between children born small for gestational age (SGA) or large for gestational age (LGA) and those born appropriate for gestational age (AGA). METHODS: This retrospective cohort study utilized data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development study in 2016-18. Children born of singleton pregnancy with complete information of birth weight and delivery week were enrolled. Their neuropsychological functioning were assessed by the brain structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), combined with cognitive and behavioral measurements. Linear mixed-effects models and subgroup analyses were performed. RESULTS: Among 5,922 children aged 9-11, children born SGA and LGA demonstrated similar cognitive and behavioral performances as children born AGA (P > 0.05). In the MRI measurement, brain area and volume were lower among SGA children compared to AGA children (t=-5.626, Cohen's d = 0.448, P < 0.001; t=-6.071, Cohen's d = 0.427, P < 0.001); brain area and volume were higher among LGA children compared to AGA children (t = 8.562, Cohen's d = 0.470, P < 0.001; t = 8.562, Cohen's d = 0.470, P < 0.001). Cortical thickness was of no statistical difference (P > 0.05). These associations were confirmed by sensitivity analyses and propensity score matching. CONCLUSION: Children born of SGA and LGA status were associated with altered brain area and volume structure in early adolescence.

Integrative analysis of the metabolome and transcriptome reveals the mechanism of polyphenol biosynthesis in Taraxacum mongolicum.

Introduction: Dandelion is widely used in clinical practice due to its beneficial effects. Polyphenolic compounds are considered the main anti-inflammatory active ingredient of dandelion, but the gene expression patterns of polyphenolic compounds in different dandelion tissues are still unclear. Methods: In this study, we combined a nontargeted metabolome, PacBio Iso-seq transcriptome, and Illumina RNA-seq transcriptome to investigate the relationship between polyphenols and gene expression in roots, flowers, and leaves of flowering dandelion plants. Results: Eighty-eight flavonoids and twenty-five phenolic acids were identified, and 64 candidate genes involved in flavonoid biosynthesis and 63 candidate genes involved in chicoric acid biosynthesis were identified. Most flavonoid and chicoric acid-related genes demonstrated the highest content in flowers. RNA-seq analysis revealed that genes involved in polyphenol biosynthesis pathways, such as CHS, CHI, F3H, F3'H, FLS, HQT, and CAS, which are crucial for the accumulation of flavonoids and chicoric acid, were upregulated in flowers. Discussion: The combination of transcriptomic and metabolomic data can help us better understand the biosynthetic pathways of polyphenols in dandelion. These results provide abundant genetic resources for further studying the regulatory mechanism of dandelion polyphenol biosynthesis.

Amelioration of immunoglobulin A vasculitis by suppression of the pathological expansion of T follicular helper 17 cells.

The main pathogenic features of immunoglobulin A vasculitis (IgAV) are overactive B cells and elevated production of IgA, which requires help from T follicular helper 17 (Tfh17) cells. To evaluate the pathological role of Tfh17 cells in IgAV, we investigated the mechanism responsible for Tfh17 differentiation and explored how to ameliorate IgAV by modulating Tfh17 generation. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells from IgAV patients were analyzed by flow cytometry. In vitro culture was performed to assess the modulation of cytokine-induced phenotypes. IgAV rats were used to explore the therapeutic effects of IL-6 blockade and the regulatory functions of IL-6 in Tfh17 cells. Serum cytokine and IgA levels were measured by ELISA while histopathological changes were evaluated by H&E,PAS or immunofluorescence staining. Frequency of CD4+CXCR5+CCR6+ Tfh17 cells were increased in IgAV patients and associated with disease severity. There was also a significant infiltration of Tfh17 cells in the kidney of human IgAV nephritis patients. IL-6 promoted the dendritic cell production of TGF-ß and Tfh17 differentiation. In IgAV rats, the in vivo blockade of IL-6 signaling inhibited Tfh17 differentiation, resulting in reduction of the germinal center and IgA production. Suppression of Tfh17 cells using IL-6 blockade greatly ameliorated clinical symptoms such as hemorrhagic rash and bloody stool and decreased IgA deposition and mesangial proliferation in the kidney in IgAV rats. Our findings suggest that suppression of Tfh17 differentiation can alleviate IgA-mediated vasculitis and may permit the development of tailored medicines for treating IgAV.

Air pollution and risk of 32 health conditions: outcome-wide analyses in a population-based prospective cohort in Southwest China.

BACKGROUND: Uncertainty remains about the long-term effects of air pollutants (AP) on multiple diseases, especially subtypes of cardiovascular disease (CVD). We aimed to assess the individual and joint associations of fine particulate matter (PM2.5), along with its chemical components, nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and ozone (O3), with risks of 32 health conditions. METHODS: A total of 17,566 participants in Sichuan Province, China, were included in 2018 and followed until 2022, with an average follow-up period of 4.2 years. The concentrations of AP were measured using a machine-learning approach. The Cox proportional hazards model and quantile g-computation were applied to assess the associations between AP and CVD. RESULTS: Per interquartile range (IQR) increase in PM2.5 mass, NO2, O3, nitrate, ammonium, organic matter (OM), black carbon (BC), chloride, and sulfate were significantly associated with increased risks of various conditions, with hazard ratios (HRs) ranging from 1.06 to 2.48. Exposure to multiple air pollutants was associated with total cardiovascular disease (HR 1.75, 95% confidence intervals (CIs) 1.62-1.89), hypertensive diseases (1.49, 1.38-1.62), cardiac arrests (1.52, 1.30-1.77), arrhythmia (1.76, 1.44-2.15), cerebrovascular diseases (1.86, 1.65-2.10), stroke (1.77, 1.54-2.03), ischemic stroke (1.85, 1.61-2.12), atherosclerosis (1.77, 1.57-1.99), diseases of veins, lymphatic vessels, and lymph nodes (1.32, 1.15-1.51), pneumonia (1.37, 1.16-1.61), inflammatory bowel diseases (1.34, 1.16-1.55), liver diseases (1.59, 1.43-1.77), type 2 diabetes (1.48, 1.26-1.73), lipoprotein metabolism disorders (2.20, 1.96-2.47), purine metabolism disorders (1.61, 1.38-1.88), anemia (1.29, 1.15-1.45), sleep disorders (1.54, 1.33-1.78), renal failure (1.44, 1.21-1.72), kidney stone (1.27, 1.13-1.43), osteoarthritis (2.18, 2.00-2.39), osteoporosis (1.36, 1.14-1.61). OM had max weights for joint effects of AP on many conditions. CONCLUSIONS: Long-term exposure to increased levels of multiple air pollutants was associated with risks of multiple health conditions. OM accounted for substantial weight for these increased risks, suggesting it may play an important role in these associations.

Panax notoginseng Saponins Ameliorate Gamma Radiation-Mediated Damages in Human Peripheral Blood Monocytes and Swiss Albino Mice.

In this study, the protective effects of Panax notoginseng saponins (PNS) against gamma radiation-induced DNA damage and associated physiological alterations in Swiss albino mice were investigated. Exposure to gamma radiation led to a dose-dependent increase in cytokinesis-blocked micronuclei (CBMN) double-strand DNA breaks (DSBs), dicentric aberrations (DC), formation in peripheral blood mononuclear cells. However, pretreatment with PNS at concentrations of 1, 5, and 10 µg/mL significantly attenuated the frequencies of DC and CBMN in a concentration-dependent manner. PNS administration before radiation exposure also reduced radiation-induced DSBs in BL, indicating protection against reactive oxygen species generation and DNA damage. Notably, pretreatment with PNS at 10 µg/mL prevented the overexpression of γ-H2AX, proteins associated with DNA damage response, in irradiated mice. In addition, in vivo studies showed intraperitoneal administration of PNS (25 mg/kg body weight) for 1 h before radiation exposure mitigated lipid peroxidation levels and restored antioxidant status, countering oxidative damage induced by gamma radiation. Furthermore, PNS pretreatment reversed the decrease in hemoglobin (Hb) content, white blood cell count, and red blood cell count in irradiated mice, indicating preservation of hematological parameters. Overall, PNS demonstrated an anticlastogenic effect by modulating radiation-induced DSBs and preventing oxidative damage, thus highlighting its potential as a protective agent against radiation-induced DNA damage and associated physiological alterations. Clinically, PNS will be beneficial for cancer patients undergoing radiotherapy, but their pharmacological properties and toxicity profiles need to be studied.

The Respiratory Burst Oxidase Homologue OsRBOHE is crucial for root hair formation, drought resistance and tillering in rice.

Respiratory Burst Oxidase Homologues (RBOHs) are involved in plant growth, development, and stress adaptation. How OsRBOHs affect root hair formation and consequently nutrient acquisition and drought resistance in rice is not well understood. We knocked out six OsRBOH genes in rice that were expressed in roots and identified OsRBOHE as the only one affecting root hair formation. OsRBOHE was strongly expressed in the root epidermis, root hairs and tiller buds. OsRBOHE is localised at the plasma membrane. Knockout of OsRBOHE decreased reactive oxygen species generation in the root hairs and tiller buds, downregulated genes involved in cell wall biogenesis, and decreased root hair length and tillering by 90% and 30%, respectively. Knockout of OsRBOHE decreased phosphorus acquisition only in low available P soil under aerobic conditions, but not in high P soil or under flooded conditions when P was likely not limited by diffusion. Knockout of OsRBOHE markedly decreased drought resistance of rice plants through the effect on root hair formation and the associated rhizosheath. Taken together, OsRBOHE is crucial for root hair formation and tillering and consequently on drought resistance in rice. The contribution of root hairs to P acquisition in rice is limited to aerobic soil.

Energy Landscape Reveals the Underlying Mechanism of Cancer-Adipose Conversion in Gene Network Models.

Cancer is a systemic heterogeneous disease involving complex molecular networks. Tumor formation involves an epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), which promotes both metastasis and plasticity of cancer cells. Recent experiments have proposed that cancer cells can be transformed into adipocytes via a combination of drugs. However, the underlying mechanisms for how these drugs work, from a molecular network perspective, remain elusive. To reveal the mechanism of cancer-adipose conversion (CAC), this study adopts a systems biology approach by combing mathematical modeling and molecular experiments, based on underlying molecular regulatory networks. Four types of attractors are identified, corresponding to epithelial (E), mesenchymal (M), adipose (A) and partial/intermediate EMT (P) cell states on the CAC landscape. Landscape and transition path results illustrate that intermediate states play critical roles in the cancer to adipose transition. Through a landscape control approach, two new therapeutic strategies for drug combinations are identified, that promote CAC. These predictions are verified by molecular experiments in different cell lines. The combined computational and experimental approach provides a powerful tool to explore molecular mechanisms for cell fate transitions in cancer networks. The results reveal underlying mechanisms of intermediate cell states that govern the CAC, and identified new potential drug combinations to induce cancer adipogenesis.

Pulmonary fibroblast-specific delivery of siRNA exploiting exosomes-based nanoscaffolds for IPF treatment.

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a progressive pulmonary disease that leads to interstitial inflammation, lung damage, and eventually life-threatening complications. Among various pathologic factors, Smad4 is a pivotal molecule involved in the progression and exacerbation of IPF. It mediates nuclear transfer of Smad2/Smad3 complexes and initiates the transcription of fibrosis-promoting genes. Thus, the inhibition of Smad4 expression in pulmonary fibroblasts by small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) might be a promising therapeutic strategy for IPF. Herein, we engineered exosome membranes (EM) by cationic lipid (i.e., DOTAP) to load siRNAs against Smad4 (DOTAP/siSmad4@EM), and investigated their specific delivery to pulmonary fibroblasts for treating IPF in a mouse model via pulmonary administration. As reference nanoscaffolds, undecorated DOTAP/siSmad4 complexes (lipoplexes, consisting of cationic lipid DOTAP and siRNAs) and siSmad4-loaded lipid nanoparticles (DOTAP/siSmad4@lipo, consisting of lipoplexes fused with DPPC-Chol liposomes) were also prepared. The results showed that DOTAP/siSmad4@EM exhibited a higher cellular uptake and gene silencing efficacies in mouse pulmonary fibroblasts (viz., MLg2908) as compared to the two reference nanoscaffolds. Furthermore, the outcomes of the in vivo experiments illustrated that DOTAP/siSmad4@EM could significantly down-regulate the Smad4 expression with augmented anti-fibrosis efficiency. Additionally, the DOTAP/siSmad4@EM conferred excellent biocompatibility with low cytokine levels in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid and proinflammatory responses in the pulmonary area. Taken together, the outcomes of our investigation imply that specific inhibition of Smad4 expression in pulmonary fibroblasts by pulmonary administrated DOTAP/siSmad4@EM is a promising therapeutic strategy for IPF, which could safely and effectively deliver siRNA drugs to the targeted site of action.

Prevalence and impact of metabolic associated fatty liver disease in non-metastatic breast cancer women at initial diagnosis: a cross-sectional study in China.

PURPOSE: The epidemiologic data of metabolic associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) in breast cancer (BC) patients remains limited. We aimed to investigate the prevalence and clinicopathological characteristics of hepatic steatosis (HS) and MAFLD in Chinese BC women at initial diagnosis. METHODS: 3217 non-metastatic primary BC women with MAFLD evaluation indexes at initial diagnosis and 32,170 age-matched (in a 1:10 ratio) contemporaneous health check-up women were enrolled. RESULTS: The prevalence of HS (21.5% vs. 19.7%, p = 0.013) and MAFLD (20.8% vs. 18.6%, p = 0.002) were significantly higher in BC women than in health check-ups, respectively. Meanwhile, the prevalence of HS/MAFLD among elderly BC women (≥ 60 years) was significantly higher than the health check-ups (38.7%/37.6% vs 31.9%/30.8%), respectively. In BC women with HS/MAFLD, the prevalence of overweight/obesity was up to 85.7%/88.6%, dyslipidemia and elevated blood pressure were 63.2%/63.7% and 59.7%/61.7%, respectively. No statistical significance of the expressions of estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), human epidermal growth factor 2 (HER-2) and Ki67 were found between BC women with HS/MAFLD and BC women without HS/MAFLD. After adjustment, BC women with HS showed significantly higher risk of lymph node metastasis than BC women without HS. Subjects with HS/MAFLD had higher risks of overweight/obesity, dyslipidemia, elevated blood pressure, hyperuricemia, and elevated enzymes than those without HS/MAFLD. CONCLUSIONS: Compared with health check-ups, BC patients have higher prevalence of HS/MAFLD. HS/MAFLD coexist with high prevalence of metabolic complications, and the risk of lymph node metastasis was significantly higher in BC women with HS than in BC women without HS.

Exploring the association between ambient air pollution and COVID-19 risk: A comprehensive meta-analysis with meta-regression modelling.

Introduction: Air pollution is speculated to increase the risk of Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19). Nevertheless, the results remain inconsistent and inconclusive. This study aimed to explore the association between ambient air pollution (AAP) and COVID-19 risks using a meta-analysis with meta-regression modelling. Methods: The inclusion criteria were: original studies quantifying the association using effect sizes and 95 % confidence intervals (CIs); time-series, cohort, ecological or case-crossover peer-reviewed studies in English. Exclusion criteria encompassed non-original studies, animal studies, and data with common errors. PubMed, Web of Science, Embase and Google Scholar electronic databases were systemically searched for eligible literature, up to 31, March 2023. The risk of bias (ROB) was assessed following the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality parameters. A random-effects model was used to calculate pooled risk ratios (RRs) and their 95 % CIs. Results: A total of 58 studies, between 2020 and 2023, met the inclusion criteria. The global representation was skewed, with major contributions from the USA (24.1 %) and China (22.4 %). The distribution included studies on short-term (43.1 %) and long-term (56.9 %) air pollution exposure. Ecological studies constituted 51.7 %, time-series-27.6 %, cohorts-17.2 %, and case crossover-3.4 %. ROB assessment showed low (86.2 %) and moderate (13.8 %) risk. The COVID-19 incidences increased with a 10 µg/m3 increase in PM2.5 [RR = 4.9045; 95 % CI (4.1548-5.7895)], PM10 [RR = 2.9427: (2.2290-3.8850)], NO2 [RR = 3.2750: (3.1420-3.4136)], SO2 [RR = 3.3400: (2.7931-3.9940)], CO [RR = 2.6244: (2.5208-2.7322)] and O3 [RR = 2.4008: (2.1859-2.6368)] concentrations. A 10 µg/m3 increase in concentrations of PM2.5 [RR = 3.0418: (2.7344-3.3838)], PM10 [RR = 2.6202: (2.1602-3.1781)], NO2 [RR = 3.2226: (2.1411-4.8504)], CO [RR = 1.8021 (0.8045-4.0370)] and O3 [RR = 2.3270 (1.5906-3.4045)] was significantly associated with COVID-19 mortality. Stratified analysis showed that study design, exposure period, and country influenced exposure-response associations. Meta-regression model indicated significant predictors for air pollution-COVID-19 incidence associations. Conclusion: The study, while robust, lacks causality demonstration and focuses only on the USA and China, limiting its generalizability. Regardless, the study provides a strong evidence base for air pollution-COVID-19-risks associations, offering valuable insights for intervention measures for COVID-19.

Fourier Raman light field microscopy based on surface-enhanced Raman scattering.

Raman scattering, as a vibrational spectrum that carries material information, has no photobleaching that enables long-duration imaging. Raman spectra have very narrow emission peaks, and multiplex Raman imaging can be achieved by using different Raman scattering peak signals. These advantages make Raman imaging widely used in biology, cytology, and medicine, which has a wider range of application scenarios. However, obtaining a three-dimensional (3D) Raman image requires scanning for tens of minutes to several hours at present. Therefore, a fast non-scanning 3D Raman imaging method is greatly needed. In this article, we propose a Fourier Raman light field microscopy based on surface-enhanced Raman scattering (sers-FRLFM). Using flower-like gap-enhanced Raman nanoparticles (F-GERNs) to enhance Raman scattering signals, a Fourier-configured light field microscope (LFM) is capable of recording complete four-dimensional Raman field information in a single frame, facilitating the 3D reconstruction of the Raman image without generating reconstruction artifacts at the native object plan. Moreover, F-GERNs can mark specific locations and have the potential to become a new tracing method to achieve specific imaging. This imaging method has great potential in the 3D real-time Raman imaging of cells, microorganisms, and tissues with the lateral resolution of 2.40 µm and an axial resolution of 4.02 µm.

Individual cell modification with cell surface specific atom transfer radical polymerization for enhanced Cr(VI) removal.

Modifying cells with polymers on the surface can enable them to gain or enhance function with various applications, wherein the atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) has garnered significant potential due to its biocompatibility. However, specifically initiating ATRP from the cell surface for in-situ modification remains challenging. This study established a bacterial surface-initiated ATRP method and further applied it for enhanced Cr(VI) removal. The cell surface specificity was facilely achieved by cell surface labelling with azide substrates, following alkynyl ATRP initiator specifically anchoring with azide-alkyne click chemistry. Then, the ATRP polymerization was initiated from the cell surface, and different polymers were successfully applied to in-situ modification. Further analysis revealed that the modification of Shewanella oneidensis with poly (4-vinyl pyridine) and sodium polymethacrylate improved the heavy metal tolerance and enhanced the Cr(VI) removal rate of 2.6 times from 0.088 h-1 to 0.314 h-1. This work provided a novel idea for bacterial surface modification and would extend the application of ATRP in bioremediation.

Long-read sequencing reveals extensive gut phageome structural variations driven by genetic exchange with bacterial hosts.

Genetic variations are instrumental for unraveling phage evolution and deciphering their functional implications. Here, we explore the underlying fine-scale genetic variations in the gut phageome, especially structural variations (SVs). By using virome-enriched long-read metagenomic sequencing across 91 individuals, we identified a total of 14,438 nonredundant phage SVs and revealed their prevalence within the human gut phageome. These SVs are mainly enriched in genes involved in recombination, DNA methylation, and antibiotic resistance. Notably, a substantial fraction of phage SV sequences share close homology with bacterial fragments, with most SVs enriched for horizontal gene transfer (HGT) mechanism. Further investigations showed that these SV sequences were genetic exchanged between specific phage-bacteria pairs, particularly between phages and their respective bacterial hosts. Temperate phages exhibit a higher frequency of genetic exchange with bacterial chromosomes and then virulent phages. Collectively, our findings provide insights into the genetic landscape of the human gut phageome.

Occlusion enhanced pan-cancer classification via deep learning.

Quantitative measurement of RNA expression levels through RNA-Seq is an ideal replacement for conventional cancer diagnosis via microscope examination. Currently, cancer-related RNA-Seq studies focus on two aspects: classifying the status and tissue of origin of a sample and discovering marker genes. Existing studies typically identify marker genes by statistically comparing healthy and cancer samples. However, this approach overlooks marker genes with low expression level differences and may be influenced by experimental results. This paper introduces "GENESO," a novel framework for pan-cancer classification and marker gene discovery using the occlusion method in conjunction with deep learning. we first trained a baseline deep LSTM neural network capable of distinguishing the origins and statuses of samples utilizing RNA-Seq data. Then, we propose a novel marker gene discovery method called "Symmetrical Occlusion (SO)". It collaborates with the baseline LSTM network, mimicking the "gain of function" and "loss of function" of genes to evaluate their importance in pan-cancer classification quantitatively. By identifying the genes of utmost importance, we then isolate them to train new neural networks, resulting in higher-performance LSTM models that utilize only a reduced set of highly relevant genes. The baseline neural network achieves an impressive validation accuracy of 96.59% in pan-cancer classification. With the help of SO, the accuracy of the second network reaches 98.30%, while using 67% fewer genes. Notably, our method excels in identifying marker genes that are not differentially expressed. Moreover, we assessed the feasibility of our method using single-cell RNA-Seq data, employing known marker genes as a validation test.

Cationic liposomes overcome neutralizing antibodies and enhance reovirus efficacy in ovarian cancer.

Reovirus (Reo) has shown promising potential in specifically killing tumor cells, and offering new possibilities for ovarian cancer (OC) treatment. However, neutralizing antibodies in the ascites from OC patients greatly limit the further application of Reo. In this study, we employed cationic liposomes (Lipo) to deliver Reo, significantly enhancing its ability to enter OC cells and its effectiveness in killing these cells under ascitic conditions. Pre-treatment with the MßCD inhibitor notably decreased Reo-mediated tumor cell death, indicating that Lipo primarily enables Reo's cellular uptake through caveolin-mediated endocytosis. Our results demonstrate that Lipo effectively facilitates the entry of Reo into the cytoplasm and triggers cell apoptosis. The above findings provide a new strategy to overcome the obstacle of neutralizing antibodies in the clinical application of Reo.

Electrochemical Detection of Ammonia in Water Using NiCu Carbonate Hydroxide-Modified Carbon Cloth Electrodes: A Simple Sensing Method.

Excessive ammonia nitrogen can potentially compromise the safety of drinking water. Therefore, developing a rapid and simple detection method for ammonia nitrogen in drinking water is of great importance. Nickel-copper hydroxides exhibit strong catalytic capabilities and are widely applied in ammonia nitrogen oxidation. In this study, a self-supported electrode made of nickel-copper carbonate hydroxide was synthesized on a carbon cloth collector via a straightforward one-step hydrothermal method for rapid ammonia nitrogen detection in water. It exhibits sensitivities of 3.9 µA µM-1 cm-2 and 3.13 µA µM-1 cm-2 within linear ranges of 1 µM to 100 µM and 100 µM to 400 µM, respectively, using a simple and rapid i-t method. The detection limit is as low as 0.62 µM, highlighting its excellent anti-interference properties against various anions and cations. The methodology's simplicity and effectiveness suggest broad applicability in water quality monitoring and environmental protection, particularly due to its significant cost-effectiveness.