Chromatic correction for super multi-view 3D display based on diffraction theory.

The traditional analysis method for super multi-view 3D display based on geometric optics, which approximates the lenticular lenses as a series of pinhole structures, ignored the chromatic aberration. In this paper, the optimization method based on diffraction theory is proposed for super multi-view 3D display, where the wavefronts are evaluated accurately by the forward propagation method, and the chromatic aberration of the synthetic viewpoint image is reduced dramatically by the backward reconstruction optimization method (BROM). The optical experiment is performed to verify the feasibility of the method, which is consistent with numerical simulation results. It is proved that the proposed method simulates the physical propagation process of super multi-view 3D display and improves the reconstructed image quality. In the future, it can be used to achieve the super multi-view 3D light field technology with low crosstalk.

Lyophilized lymph nodes for improved delivery of chimeric antigen receptor T cells.

Lymph nodes are crucial organs of the adaptive immune system, orchestrating T cell priming, activation and tolerance. T cell activity and function are highly regulated by lymph nodes, which have a unique structure harbouring distinct cells that work together to detect and respond to pathogen-derived antigens. Here we show that implanted patient-derived freeze-dried lymph nodes loaded with chimeric antigen receptor T cells improve delivery to solid tumours and inhibit tumour recurrence after surgery. Chimeric antigen receptor T cells can be effectively loaded into lyophilized lymph nodes, whose unaltered meshwork and cytokine and chemokine contents promote chimeric antigen receptor T cell viability and activation. In mouse models of cell-line-derived human cervical cancer and patient-derived pancreatic cancer, delivery of chimeric antigen receptor T cells targeting mesothelin via the freeze-dried lymph nodes is more effective in preventing tumour recurrence when compared to hydrogels containing T-cell-supporting cytokines. This tissue-mediated cell delivery strategy holds promise for controlled release of various cells and therapeutics with long-term activity and augmented function.

Lunar rock investigation and tri-aspect characterization of lunar farside regolith by a digital twin.

Yutu-2 rover conducted an exciting expedition on the 41st lunar day to investigate a fin-shaped rock at Longji site (45.44°S, 177.56°E) by extending its locomotion margin on perilous peaks. The varied locomotion encountered, especially multi-form wheel slippage, during the journey to the target rock, established unique conditions for a fin-grained lunar regolith analysis regarding bearing, shear and lateral properties based on terramechanics. Here, we show a tri-aspect characterization of lunar regolith and infer the rock's origin using a digital twin. We estimate internal friction angle within 21.5°-42.0° and associated cohesion of 520-3154 Pa in the Chang'E-4 operational site. These findings suggest shear characteristics similar to Apollo 12 mission samples but notably higher cohesion compared to regolith investigated on most nearside lunar missions. We estimate external friction angle in lateral properties to be within 8.3°-16.5°, which fills the gaps of the lateral property estimation of the lunar farside regolith and serves as a foundational parameter for subsequent engineering verifications. Our in-situ spectral investigations of the target rock unveil its composition of iron/magnesium-rich low-calcium pyroxene, linking it to the Zhinyu crater (45.34°S, 176.15°E) ejecta. Our results indicate that the combination of in-situ measurements with robotics technology in planetary exploration reveal the possibility of additional source regions contributing to the local materials at the Chang'E-4 site, implying a more complicated geological history in the vicinity.

Cryo-shocked tumor cells deliver CRISPR-Cas9 for lung cancer regression by synthetic lethality.

Although CRISPR-mediated genome editing holds promise for cancer therapy, inadequate tumor targeting and potential off-target side effects hamper its outcomes. In this study, we present a strategy using cryo-shocked lung tumor cells as a CRISPR-Cas9 delivery system for cyclin-dependent kinase 4 (CDK4) gene editing, which initiates synthetic lethal in KRAS-mutant non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). By rapidly liquid nitrogen shocking, we effectively eliminate the pathogenicity of tumor cells while preserving their structure and surface receptor activity. This delivery system enables the loaded CRISPR-Cas9 to efficiently target to lung through the capture in pulmonary capillaries and interactions with endothelial cells. In a NSCLC-bearing mouse model, the drug accumulation is increased nearly fourfold in lung, and intratumoral CDK4 expression is substantially down-regulated compared to CRISPR-Cas9 lipofectamine nanoparticles administration. Furthermore, CRISPR-Cas9 editing-mediated CDK4 ablation triggers synthetic lethal in KRAS-mutant NSCLC and prolongs the survival of mice.

Activating the MnS0.5Se0.5 Microspheres as High-Performance Cathode Materials for Aqueous Zinc-Ion Batteries: Insight into In Situ Electrooxidation Behavior and Energy Storage Mechanisms.

Manganese-based materials are regarded as the most prospective cathode materials because of their high natural abundance, low toxicity, and high specific capacity. Nevertheless, the low conductivity, poor cycling performance, and controversial energy storage mechanisms hinder their practical application. Here, the MnS0.5Se0.5 microspheres are synthesized by a two-step hydrothermal approach and employed as cathode materials for aqueous zinc-ion batteries (AZIBs) for the first time. Interestingly, in-depth ex situ tests and electrochemical kinetic analyses reveal that MnS0.5Se0.5 is first irreversibly converted into low-crystallinity ZnMnO3 and MnOx by in situ electrooxidation (MnS0.5Se0.5-EOP) during the first charging process, and then a reversible co-insertion/extraction of H+/Zn2+ occurs in the as-obtained MnS0.5Se0.5-EOP electrode during the subsequent discharging and charging processes. Benefiting from the increased surface area, shortened ion transport path, and stable lamellar microsphere structure, the MnS0.5Se0.5-EOP electrodes deliver high reversible capacity (272.8 mAh g-1 at 0.1 A g-1), excellent rate capability (91.8 mAh g-1 at 2 A g-1), and satisfactory cyclic stability (82.1% capacity retention after 500 cycles at 1 A g-1). This study not only provides a powerful impetus for developing new types of manganese-based chalcogenides, but also puts forward a novel perspective for exploring the intrinsic mechanisms of in situ electrooxidation behavior.

Depth of field expansion method for integral imaging based on diffractive optical element and CNN.

In lens-based display systems, lens aberrations and depth of field (DoF) limitation often lead to blurring and distortion of reconstructed images; Meanwhile, expanding the display DoF will face a trade-off between horizontal resolution and axial resolution, restricting the achievement of high-resolution and large DoF three-dimensional (3D) displays. To overcome these constraints and enhance the DoF and resolution of reconstructed scenes, we propose a DoF expansion method based on diffractive optical element (DOE) optimization and image pre-correction through a convolutional neural network (CNN). This method applies DOE instead of the conventional lens and optimizes DOE phase distribution using the Adam algorithm, achieving depth-invariant and concentrated point spread function (PSF) distribution throughout the entire DoF range; Simultaneously, we utilize a CNN to pre-correct the original images and compensate for the image quality reduction introduced by the DOE. The proposed method is applied to a practical integral imaging system, we effectively extend the DoF of the DOE to 400 mm, leading to a high-resolution 3D display in multiple depth planes. To validate the effectiveness and practicality of the proposed method, we conduct numerical simulations and optical experiments.

Dual convolutional neural network for aberration pre-correction and image quality enhancement in integral imaging display.

This paper proposes a method that utilizes a dual neural network model to address the challenges posed by aberration in the integral imaging microlens array (MLA) and the degradation of 3D image quality. The approach involves a cascaded dual convolutional neural network (CNN) model designed to handle aberration pre-correction and image quality restoration tasks. By training these models end-to-end, the MLA aberration is corrected effectively and the image quality of integral imaging is enhanced. The feasibility of the proposed method is validated through simulations and optical experiments, using an optimized, high-quality pre-corrected element image array (EIA) as the image source for 3D display. The proposed method achieves high-quality integral imaging 3D display by alleviating the contradiction between MLA aberration and 3D image resolution reduction caused by system noise without introducing additional complexity to the display system.

The necessity for improving lipid testing reagents: A real world study.

BACKGROUND: We investigated the interference of vitamin C (VitC), glycerol fructose, lipoprotein X (LpX) and lipemia on the analysis of serum lipids. METHODS: Serum were collected from 44 patients with VitC infusion, serum lipid concentrations before and after VitC auto-oxidation were compared. Serum of 31 patients with glycerol fructose infusion were collected, triglycerides (TG) measured by glycerol blanking and non-blanking reagents were compared. Forty-four serum samples suspected to contain LpX were collected, LDL-C measured by reagents from five manufacturers were compared. Lipemia samples were collected, LDL-C measured using five different reagents were compared. The interference rate was considered unacceptable if it was greater than 1/2 total allowable error (TEa). RESULTS: In patients with VitC infusion, the interference rates of TG and total cholesterol (TC) were -59% (-123%, -28%) and -15% (-21%, -11%), respectively. In patients with glycerol fructose infusion, the interference rate of TG was 13% (4%, 113%). LpX interference led to increased LDL-C results for most reagents. Lipemia caused great interference with LDL-C analysis. CONCLUSION: VitC, glycerol fructose, LpX and lipemia significantly interfered with lipid assays. The reagent formulation should be improved to get reliable results.

Scientific exploration of challenging planetary analog environments with a team of legged robots.

The interest in exploring planetary bodies for scientific investigation and in situ resource utilization is ever-rising. Yet, many sites of interest are inaccessible to state-of-the-art planetary exploration robots because of the robots' inability to traverse steep slopes, unstructured terrain, and loose soil. In addition, current single-robot approaches only allow a limited exploration speed and a single set of skills. Here, we present a team of legged robots with complementary skills for exploration missions in challenging planetary analog environments. We equipped the robots with an efficient locomotion controller, a mapping pipeline for online and postmission visualization, instance segmentation to highlight scientific targets, and scientific instruments for remote and in situ investigation. Furthermore, we integrated a robotic arm on one of the robots to enable high-precision measurements. Legged robots can swiftly navigate representative terrains, such as granular slopes beyond 25°, loose soil, and unstructured terrain, highlighting their advantages compared with wheeled rover systems. We successfully verified the approach in analog deployments at the Beyond Gravity ExoMars rover test bed, in a quarry in Switzerland, and at the Space Resources Challenge in Luxembourg. Our results show that a team of legged robots with advanced locomotion, perception, and measurement skills, as well as task-level autonomy, can conduct successful, effective missions in a short time. Our approach enables the scientific exploration of planetary target sites that are currently out of human and robotic reach.

Holographic display using layered computer-generated volume hologram.

The spatial frequency of the reconstructed image of planar computer-generated hologram(CGH) is limited by the sampling interval and the lack of thickness. To break through this limitation of planar CGH, we propose a new computer-generated volume hologram(CGVH) for full-color dynamic holographic three-dimensional(3D) display, and an iteration-free layered CGVH generation method. The proposed CGVH is equivalent to a volume hologram sampled discretely in three directions. The generation method employs the layered angular spectral diffraction to calculate the light field in the layered CGVH, and then encodes it into a CGVH. Numerical simulation results show that the CGVH can accurately reconstruct full-color 3D objects, where better imaging quality, more concentrated diffraction energy, denser reconstructed spatial frequency information, and larger viewing angle are achieved. The proposed CGVH is expected to be applied to realize dynamic modulation, wavelength multiplexing, and angle multiplexing in various optical fields in the future.

Epigenome-wide DNA methylation analysis of myasthenia gravis.

Myasthenia gravis (MG) is a common neuromuscular junction disorder and autoimmune disease mediated by several antibodies. Several studies have shown that genetic factors play an important role in MG pathogenesis. To gain insight into the epigenetic factors affecting MG, we report here genome-scale DNA methylation profiles of MG. DNA was extracted from eight MG patients and four healthy controls for genome-wide DNA methylation analysis using the Illumina HumanMethylation 850K BeadChip. Verification of pyrosequencing was conducted based on differential methylation positions. Subsequently, C2C12 and HT22 cell lines (derived from mouse) were treated with demethylation drugs. Transcribed mRNA of the screened differential genes was detected using quantitative real-time PCR. The control and MG group were compared, and two key probe positions were selected. The corresponding genes were CAMK1D and CREB5 (P < 0.05). Similarly, the myasthenic crisis (MC) and non-MC group were compared and four key probe positions were selected. The corresponding genes were SAV1, STK3, YAP1, and WWTR1 (P < 0.05). Subsequently, pyrosequencing was performed for verification, revealing that hypomethylation of CAMK1D was significantly different between the MG and control group (P < 0.001). Moreover, transcription of CREB5, PKD, YAP1, and STK3 genes in the C2C12 cells was downregulated (P < 0.05) after drug treatment, but only YAP1 mRNA was downregulated in HT22 cells (P < 0.05). This is the first study to investigate genome-scale DNA methylation profiles of MG using 850 K BeadChip. The identified molecular markers of methylation may aid in the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis of MG.

Analysis of cerebral infarction caused by dysplasminogenemia in three pedigrees.

Background and aims: Dysplasminogenemia is a rare heritable disease caused by plasminogen (PLG) gene defects resulting in hypercoagulability. In this report we describe three notable cases of cerebral infarction (CI) complicated with dysplasminogenemia in young patients. Methods: Coagulation indices were examined on STAGO STA-R-MAX analyzer. PLG: A was analyzed using a chromogenic substrate-based approach using a chromogenic substrate method. All nineteen exons of PLG gene and their 5'and 3'flanking regions were amplified by Polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Suspected mutation was confirmed by reverse sequencing. Results: PLG activity (PLG:A) in proband 1 and 3 of his tested family members, proband 2 and 2 of his tested family members, and proband 3 and her father were all reduced to roughly 50% of normal levels. Sequencing led to the identification of a heterozygous c.1858G>A missense mutation in exon 15 of the PLG gene in these three patients and affected family members. Conclusion: We conclude that the observed reduction in PLG:A was the result of this p.Ala620Thr missense mutation in the PLG gene. The CI incidence in these probands may be attributable to the inhibition of normal fibrinolytic activity as a consequence of this heterozygous mutation.

Learning physical characteristics like animals for legged robots.

Physical characteristics of terrains, such as softness and friction, provide essential information for legged robots to avoid non-geometric obstacles, like mires and slippery stones, in the wild. The perception of such characteristics often relies on tactile perception and vision prediction. Although tactile perception is more accurate, it is limited to close-range use; by contrast, establishing a supervised or self-supervised contactless prediction system using computer vision requires adequate labeled data and lacks the ability to adapt to the dynamic environment. In this paper, we simulate the behavior of animals and propose an unsupervised learning framework for legged robots to learn the physical characteristics of terrains, which is the first report to manage it online, incrementally and with the ability to solve cognitive conflicts. The proposed scheme allows robots to interact with the environment and adjust their cognition in real time, therefore endowing robots with the adaptation ability. Indoor and outdoor experiments on a hexapod robot are carried out to show that the robot can extract tactile and visual features of terrains to create cognitive networks independently; an associative layer between visual and tactile features is created during the robot's exploration; with the layer, the robot can autonomously generate a physical segmentation model of terrains and solve cognitive conflicts in an ever-changing environment, facilitating its safe navigation.

Recent Advances in Oral and Transdermal Protein Delivery Systems.

Protein and peptide drugs are predominantly administered by injection to achieve high bioavailability, but this greatly compromises patient compliance. Oral and transdermal drug delivery with minimal invasiveness and high adherence represent attractive alternatives to injection administration. However, oral and transdermal administration of bioactive proteins must overcome biological barriers, namely the gastrointestinal and skin barriers, respectively. The rapid development of new materials and technologies promises to address these physiological obstacles. This review provides an overview of the latest advances in oral and transdermal protein delivery, including chemical strategies, synthetic nanoparticles, medical microdevices, and biomimetic systems for oral administration, as well as chemical enhancers, physical approaches, and microneedles in transdermal delivery. We also discuss challenges and future perspectives of the field with a focus on innovation and translation.

Simultaneous removal of lead, manganese, and copper released from the copper tailings by a novel magnetic modified biosorbent.

Potentially toxic elements including lead (Pb), manganese (Mn), and copper (Cu) released from copper tailings would cause severe long-term environmental risks and potential threats to human health. To prevent these negative effects caused by the release of the metals, a novel magnetic carboxyl groups modified bagasse with high adsorption affinity and strong magnetism was synthesized through an in-situ precipitation method and used to simultaneously remove Pb, Mn, and Cu from the eluate of copper tailings. Results showed that release of Pb, Mn, and Cu from the copper tailings was pH, time, and particle size dependent, and maximum concentrations of them released in the eluate was 1.7, 1.9, and 4.1 mg L-1 under weak acid conditions. Batch adsorption experiment showed that the as-synthesized magnetic modified bagasse could selectively absorb Pb, Mn, and Cu from a complex solution with adsorption capacity of 137.3, 13.1, and 90.0 mg g-1, respectively. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and energy dispersive spectroscopy-mapping (EDS-mapping) demonstrated that Pb, Mn, and Cu interacted with the magnetic modified biosorbent mainly through coordination and ion exchange. Column experiments showed that higher than 99.5% of the released Pb, Mn, and Cu could be simultaneously removed by the magnetic modified bagasse, and the maximum concentrations of them released in the eluate of the copper tailings were all decreased to lower than 0.01 mg L-1, which reached the discharge standards. After recycled by a magnet, the magnetic modified bagasse could be collected easily and used repeatedly. Because of the high efficiency and easy recovery, the used method had great practical application value in removal of potentially toxic elements released from metallic tailings.

Selective capture of Pd(II) from aqueous media by ion-imprinted dendritic mesoporous silica nanoparticles and re-utilization of the spent adsorbent for Suzuki reaction in water.

The development of highly efficient adsorptive material for the selective capture of Pd(II), and re-utilization of spent Pd(II)-loaded adsorbent as an efficient catalyst for organic synthesis are of great significance, but challenging. Particularly, the heterogeneous palladium-catalyzed Suzuki reaction in aqueous media is much more challenging than that of homogeneous. Herein, several novel Pd(II) ion-imprinted polymers (PIIPs) based on dendritic fibrous silica particles are constructed by surface ion imprinting technology (SIIT), using Schiff base and pyridine groups functionalized organosilicon as functional monomer. The PIIP-3 prepared by 3 g of functional monomer exhibits the best adsorption performance, and shows ultrafast (10 min) and selective capture of Pd(II) with high uptake capacity (382.5 mg/g). Moreover, the waste Pd(II) loaded PIIP-3 (PIIP-3-Pd) can serve as a catalyst towards the Suzuki reaction in water, affording 94.2 % yield of the desired product. Interestingly, the PIIP-3-Pd can be reused 12 times without an appreciable decrease in catalytic activity, which is probably due to the imprinted cavity and specific recognition site of PIIP-3 can match and recapture Pd active species in a complex catalytic environment. Thus, this work demonstrates huge potentials of SIIT to enhance the selectivity of adsorption process and increase the lifetime of catalysts.

Decorating UiO-66-NH2 crystals on recyclable fiber bearing polyamine and amidoxime bifunctional groups via cross-linking method with good stability for highly efficient capture of U(VI) from aqueous solution.

Although polyacrylonitrile fiber (PANF) and metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have been extensively investigated to remove U(VI) from water, their practical applications are seriously hindered by the relatively low stability of PANF in acidic solution and great difficulty of separating MOFs nanoparticles from solution, beside that, little attention is paid to the fabrication of MOFs and PANF composite materials (MPCMs) with excellent adsorption capacity for U(VI). Herein, we report the synthesis of novel MPCMs by decorating different concentrations of UiO-66-NH2 crystals onto polyamine and amidoxime groups functionalized PANF (PA-AO-PANF) through cross-linking method for U(VI) extraction. The characterization results reveal that the combination of PA-AO-PANF and UiO-66-NH2 crystals endows MPCMs with excellent separation ability, large surface area, good stability and plentiful surface functional groups, which contributes to good selectivity and enhanced adsorption performance. Consequently, the obtained UN-PA-AO-PANF-2 shows the maximum uptake capacity of 441.8 mg/g and equilibrium uptake time of 30 min towards U(VI). Besides, the U(VI) uptake ability and structure of UN-PA-AO-PANF-2 are well preserved after ten adsorption-desorption cycles. With these outstanding properties, the adsorbent has great potential for the capture of U(VI) from aqueous solutions. Importantly, this work provides a cost-effective and efficient way to construct extremely stable MPCMs hybrid fibers.

Synthesis of rice husk-based ion-imprinted polymer for selective capturing Cu(II) from aqueous solution and re-use of its waste material in Glaser coupling reaction.

With the deepening of the concept of recycling economy and green chemistry, selective capture of Cu(II) from wastewater by biosorbent and reuse of the spent Cu(II)-loaded adsorbent are of great significance. Herein, we synthesized composite of rice husk (RH) with mesoporous silica MCM-41 (RH@MCM-41) modified by organosilane containing amino and schiff groups as functional monomer and cross-linking agent. The silica modified RH@MCM-41 was employed as supporter to fabricate copper ion-imprinted polymers as absorbents (named as RM-CIIPs) via surface ion imprinting technique. Adsorption isotherms, kinetics, selectivity and mechanism of RM-CIIPs to remove Cu(II) were investigated with respect to different adsorption condition. Furthermore, we explored the catalytic activity of spent Cu(II)-loaded adsorbent in Glaser coupling reaction. Batch adsorption studies revealed that RM-CIIP-3 prepared with functional monomer shows the best adsorption capacity (91.4 mg/g) for Cu(II), and adsorption equilibrium could be reached within 30 min. RM-CIIP-3 exhibited an excellent selectivity for capturing Cu(II) and reusability in six adsorption/desorption cycles. More importantly, the spent Cu(II)-loaded adsorbent could be used as bio-heterogeneous catalyst and afford the desired product (1,4-diphenylbutadiyne) in 99.1% yield. Our research indicates an eco-friendly systematic strategy to utilize the waste material as an adsorbent for removing heavy metals and catalyst for industry.

Microneedle-mediated therapy for cardiovascular diseases.

Cardiovascular diseases remain a leading cause of global disease burden. To date, the limited drug delivery efficacy confines the therapeutic effect in most conventional approaches, such as intramyocardial injections and vascular devices, due to short-term drug release and low retention within the disease sites. As a typical transdermal medical device with a minimally invasive manner and controlled/sustained drug release pattern, microneedles have gained momentum in the field of cardiovascular therapy, from which several cardiovascular diseases have been benefited to the ultimate therapeutic effects. In this concise review, strategies based on the microneedles for the treatments of cardiovascular diseases are introduced, mainly focus on hypertension, atherosclerosis, thrombus, and myocardial diseases. The limitations at the present stage and perspectives of the next-generation microneedles for cardiovascular therapy are also discussed.