Histone lactylation: epigenetic mark of glycolytic switch.

Histone lactylation and acetylation compete for epigenetic modification of lysines and mark the levels of lactates and acetyl-CoA. Whether pyruvate is committed to lactate or acetyl-CoA generation as the outlet of glycolysis determines cell fate towards malignancy or not. Taking control over the glycolytic switch as marked by lactylation suggests novel therapeutic opportunities against cancers.

Damage Tolerance of Superhydrophobic Coatings with Binary Cooperative Cells for Water Harvesting.

Multifunction superhydrophobic coatings that facilitate water harvesting are attractive for addressing the daunting water crisis, yet, they are caught in a double bind when their durability is considered, as durable coatings will require both tough micro-textures to survive concentrated stress and high-surface-energy chemistry to form chemical bonds within the matrix. To date, a universal bulk-phase coating that combines multifunctionality, ultra-durability, and fabrication feasibility remains challenging. Here, a binary cooperative cell design is reported that can solve the contradiction between the multifunctionality and durability requirements of superhydrophobic coatings. In this strategy, mechanochemically tailored cells with releasable nanoseeds are infused in the common matrix, which serves both as a versatile chemical bridge to achieve strong bonds within the coating building blocks, and as an instantaneous self-repairing generator to improve durability. Such a strategy significantly boosted the wear resistance and outdoor stability of the coatings by over 30-100 and 18 folds, respectively, compared with conventional coatings. The coating is applied to the sustainable application, i.e., enhancing the water collection efficiency by at least 1000% even after harsh abrasion. The strategy will broaden the vision in handling the dilemma properties among functional coatings and promote the application of superhydrophobic coatings in extreme environments.

Active multi-focus vortex beam terahertz encoding metasurface based on Dirac semimetals.

An electromagnetic wavefront can be flexibly manipulated by discrete phase coding on the coding unit. In this paper, we designed two coding metasurfaces with 1-bit and 3-bit based on active tuning of Dirac semimetals by controlling the Fermi level (E F) with an external polarization voltage. The size and structure of the metasurface remain unchanged with this strategy. Both designs were found to be dynamically tunable. The 1-bit coding metasurface enables beam conversion, single-focus switching, and switching between single-focus and multi-focus. On the other hand, the 3-bit coding metasurface enables the switching between vortex beams and single-beam mirror reflections. These proposed structures have potential applications in terahertz (THz) communications and terahertz-focused imaging, opening up new possibilities for the dynamic modulation of THz waves.

Lactate, histone lactylation and cancer hallmarks.

Histone lactylation, an indicator of lactate level and glycolysis, has intrinsic connections with cell metabolism that represents a novel epigenetic code affecting the fate of cells including carcinogenesis. Through delineating the relationship between histone lactylation and cancer hallmarks, we propose histone lactylation as a novel epigenetic code priming cells toward the malignant state, and advocate the importance of identifying novel therapeutic strategies or dual-targeting modalities against lactylation toward effective cancer control. This review underpins important yet less-studied area in histone lactylation, and sheds insights on its clinical impact as well as possible therapeutic tools targeting lactylation.

Discovery of Metastable W3P Single Crystals with High Hardness and Superconductivity.

Hard and superconducting materials play significant roles in their respective application areas and are also crucial research fields in condensed matter physics. Materials with the key properties of both hard and superconducting properties could lead to technology development, but it is also full of challenges. Herein, we report the synthesis of high-quality metastable W3P single crystals with superconductivity and excellent mechanical properties. The synergistic effect of temperature and pressure was effective in suppressing further decomposition of metastable W3P as-synthesized by our synthesis technique (high-pressure and high-temperature method). The transport and magnetic measurements indicate that W3P is a typical type-II BCS superconductor, displaying a superconducting transition temperature of 5.9 K and an impressive critical magnetic field of 4.35 T. Theory calculations reveal a metallic property in W3P, and the phonon modes of the vibration of W atoms are important for electron-phonon interaction. Meanwhile, W3P shows excellent mechanical properties with a high fracture toughness of 8 MPa m1/2 and an impressive asymptotic hardness of 22 GPa, which is currently reported as being the hardest among transition metal phosphides. It opens up a new class of advanced materials that combine excellent mechanical properties with superconductivity.

Parity-time symmetry transition and exceptional points in terahertz metal-graphene hybrid metasurface with switchable transmission and reflection characteristics.

Non-Hermitian metasurfaces provide an excellent platform for the study of parity-time (PT) symmetry transition. The exceptional point (EP) in the transition process exhibits peculiar physical phenomena and enriches the development of metasurfaces. In this study, a terahertz metal-graphene hybrid metasurface that can study PT symmetry transition and EP in transmission and reflection polarization channels is designed by using the phase transition characteristics of VO2. The tunable asymmetric loss and PT symmetry transition can be actively controlled by changing the Fermi energy of the graphene strip. Interestingly, owing to the special chirality of the structure, the original metasurface, and the mirrored metasurface degenerate into a circularly polarized state with opposite rotations at the same Fermi energy. The π-phase mutation at EP is observed following the interaction of circularly polarized waves and the metasurface and is expected to have good application prospects in environmental monitoring and gas sensing.

Antibiofilm Activity and Mechanism of Linalool against Food Spoilage Bacillus amyloliquefaciens.

Pellicle biofilm-forming bacteria Bacillus amyloliquefaciens are the major spoilage microorganisms of soy products. Due to their inherent resistance to antibiotics and disinfectants, pellicle biofilms formed are difficult to eliminate and represent a threat to food safety. Here, we assessed linalool's ability to prevent the pellicle of two spoilage B. amyloliquefaciens strains. The minimum biofilm inhibitory concentration (MBIC) of linalool against B. amyloliquefaciens DY1a and DY1b was 4 µL/mL and 8 µL/mL, respectively. The MBIC of linalool had a considerable eradication rate of 77.15% and 83.21% on the biofilm of the two strains, respectively. Scanning electron microscopy observations revealed that less wrinkly and thinner pellicle biofilms formed on a medium supplemented with 1/2 MBIC and 1/4 MBIC linalool. Also, linalool inhibited cell motility and the production of extracellular polysaccharides and proteins of the biofilm matrix. Furthermore, linalool exposure reduced the cell surface hydrophobicity, zeta potential, and cell auto-aggregation of B. amyloliquefaciens. Molecular docking analysis demonstrated that linalool interacted strongly with quorum-sensing ComP receptor and biofilm matrix assembly TasA through intermolecular hydrogen bonds, hydrophobic contacts, and van der Waals forces interacting with site residues. Overall, our findings suggest that linalool may be employed as a potential antibiofilm agent to control food spoilage B. amyloliquefaciens.

The dynamics of microsaccade amplitude reflect shifting of covert attention.

Attention flexibly shifts between spatial locations to accommodate task demands. The present study examined if the dynamics of attentional shifting are seen in microsaccades whose direction has been shown to accompany the shifts of covert attention. In a spatial cueing task, the cue predicted the target location on 100%, 75%, or 50% of the trials. The results revealed that microsaccade rate and amplitude were both reduced following cue onset and then rebounded. Both microsaccade rate and amplitude were biased towards the opposite direction of the cue and then returned to the cued direction. Importantly, the cue validity modulated the temporal profile of microsaccade amplitude but had little impact on the temporal profile of microsaccade rate. In line with this, the cueing effect measured with target response accuracy was correlated with the microsaccade amplitude only. These results indicate that the temporal dynamics of microsaccade amplitude reflect shifting of covert attention.

The oxidative stress caused by atrazine in root exudation of Pennisetum americanum (L.) K. Schum.

Pearl millet (Pennisetum americanum (L.) K. Schum) has been proven as a potential remediation plant of the pollution caused by atrazine. Plants used in remediation can release root exudates to communicate with rhizosphere microorganisms and accelerate the removal of pollutants in soil. However, the response of pearl millet root exudates under atrazine stress has remained unclear. In this study, hydroponic experiments were conducted at Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin, China, to investigate the oxidative stress response and the changes in composition of root exudates in pearl millet plants that were exposed to 19.4 mgL-1 of atrazine, compared to the untreated control. The experiment was established as six treatments with exposure to no atrazine for 2, 4 and 6 days (CK-2, CK-4, CK-6) and 19.4 mgL-1 atrazine for 2, 4 and 6 days (AT-2, AT-4, AT-6), respectively. The results suggest that the growth of the seedlings changed slightly when exposed to atrazine for 2 days. The content of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances exposed to atrazine for 6 days increased 26% compared with the treatment that was exposed for 2 days. Moreover, the reactive oxygen species in test plant obviously increased when exposed to atrazine for 6 days. In addition, the activity of superoxide dismutase increased from 30.82 ug-1 to 37.33 ug-1 fresh weight after 6 days of exposure to atrazine. The results of a nontargeted metabolomic analysis suggest that carbohydrate metabolism, fatty acid metabolism and amino acid metabolism in pearl millet were obviously affected by the oxidative stress caused by atrazine. The contents of sphinganine and methylimidazole acetaldehyde in CK-6 increased by 5.14 times and 2.05 times, respectively, compared with those of CK-2. Furthermore, the contents of (S)-methylmalonic acid semialdehyde and 1-pyrroline-2-carboxylic acid decreased by 0.56 times and 0.5 times, respectively, compared with the AT-6. These results strongly suggest that the changes observed in the composition of root exudates in pearl millet seedlings can be attributed to the oxidative stress caused by atrazine.

Aurantio-obtusin relaxes systemic arteries through endothelial PI3K/AKT/eNOS-dependent signaling pathway in rats.

Aurantio-obtusin is a natural effective compound isolated from Semen Cassiae, which possesses hypotensive and hypolipidemic effects. Although its hypotensive effect have been clarified, mechanisms Aurantio-obtusin relaxes systemic arteries remain unclear. This study was to investigate effects and mechanisms of Aurantio-obtusin on isolated mesenteric arteries (MAs). We examined MAs relaxation induced by Aurantio-obtusin on rat isolated MAs, expression and activity of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) and protein kinase B (AKT), and nitric oxide (NO) production in bovine artery endothelial cells (BAECs). Findings showed Aurantio-obtusin elicited dose-dependent vasorelaxation with phenylephrine (PE) precontracted rat MA rings (diameter: 200-300 µm), which can be diminished by denudation of endothelium and inhibition of eNOS activity, while having no effect on rat isolated pulmonary artery (PA) rings. Aurantio-obtusin increased NO production by promoting phosphorylations of eNOS at Ser-1177 and Thr-495 in endothelial cells. Aurantio-obtusin also promoted phosphorylations of Akt at Ser-473. PI3K inhibitor LY290042 could diminish vasorelaxation induced by Aurantio-obtusin. Moreover Aurantio-obtusin also elicited dose-dependent vasorelaxation effect with PE precontracted MA rings (diameter: 100-150 µm). Therefore, vasorelaxation induced by Aurantio-obtusin was dependent on endothelium integrity and NO production, which mediated by endothelial PI3K/Akt/eNOS pathway. Results suggest Aurantio-obtusin may offer therapeutic effects in hypertension, as a new potential vasodilator.

Sliding Mode Control for Uncertain 2-D FMII Systems Under Stochastic Scheduling.

In this article, the sliding mode control (SMC) problem is addressed for two-dimensional (2-D) systems depicted by the second Fornasini-Marchesini (FMII) model. The communication from the controller to actuators is scheduled via a stochastic protocol modeled as Markov chain, by which only one controller node is permitted to transmit its data at each instant. A compensator for other unavailable controller nodes is introduced by means of previous transmitted signals at two most adjacent points. To characterize the features of 2-D FMII systems state recursion and stochastic scheduling protocol, a sliding function associated with the states at both the present and previous positions is constructed, and a scheduling signal-dependent SMC law is designed. By constructing token- and parameter-dependent Lyapunov functionals, both the reachability of the specified sliding surface and the uniform ultimate boundedness in the mean-square sense of the closed-loop system are analyzed and the corresponding sufficient conditions are derived. Furthermore, an optimization problem is formulated to minimize the convergent bound via searching desirable sliding matrices, meanwhile, a feasible solving procedure is provided by using the differential evolution algorithm. Finally, the proposed control scheme is further demonstrated via simulation results.

PLC-Based Polymer/Silica Hybrid Inverted Ridge LP11 Mode Rotator.

The mode rotator is an important component in a PLC-based mode-division multiplexing (MDM) system, which is used to implement high-order modes with vertical intensity peaks, such as LP11b mode conversions from LP11a in PLC chips. In this paper, an LP11 mode rotator based on a polymer/silica hybrid inverted ridge waveguide is demonstrated. The proposed mode rotator is composed of an asymmetrical waveguide with a trench. According to the simulation results, the broadband conversion efficiency between the LP11a and LP11b modes is greater than 98.5%, covering the C-band after optimization. The highest mode conversion efficiency (MCE) is 99.2% at 1550 nm. The large fabrication tolerance of the proposed rotator enables its wide application in on-chip MDM systems.

Antioxidant amyloid fibril derived from rice protein hydrolysate as stabilizer towards preparing high-stable emulsion.

An antioxidant amyloid fibril was prepared as an emulsifier by fibrillating limited enzymatic hydrolysis-modified rice protein (HRP). The purpose of this study was to investigate the feasibility of using fibrillated HRP to stabilize oil-in-water emulsion. A free radical scavenging assay revealed that the antioxidant activity of fibrillated HRP was 2.09 times higher than that of native rice protein. Fibrillated HRP demonstrated a marked reduction in interfacial tension, increased surface hydrophobicity and contact angle (> 80°), and rapid adsorption to the interface, with 35.34 ± 2.43% interfacial adsorbed protein content. The fibrillated HRP barriers resisted environment stresses such as NaCl, pH variations, long-term storage, while reducing lipid oxidation degree. Additionally, fibrillated HRP-based emulsion was more effective in protecting ß-carotene from degradation compared to other samples. These findings provide theoretical support for the development of rice protein-based antioxidant emulsifiers and modification of emulsifying properties of plant proteins.

Identification of potential suitable areas and conservation priority areas for representative wild animals in the Greater and Lesser Khingan Mountains.

Species geographic distribution and conservation priority areas are important bases for in situ biodiversity conservation and conservation decision-making. In view of the urgency of endangered species protection, eight representative endangered species in the typical forest ecosystem of the Greater and Lesser Khingan Mountains were studied. Based on 1127 occurrence points and environmental data collected from 2016 to 2021, used BIOMOD2 and Zonation to reconstruct the potential distribution area and identify conservation priority areas of eight species (Tetrao parvirostris, T. tetrix, Gulo gulo, Alces alces, Martes zibellina, Moschus moschiferus, Lynx lynx, Lutra lutra). The results showed potential distribution areas for almost all species concentrated in the northern part of the Greater Khingan Mountains (GKM) and the central part of the Lesser Khingan Mountains (LKM). The potential distribution areas of each species were as follows: black-billed capercaillie, 102,623 km2; black grouse, 162,678 km2; wolverine, 63,410 km2; moose, 140,287 km2; sable, 112,254 km2; Siberian musk deer, 104,787 km2; lynx, 139,912 km2; and Eurasian otter, 49,386 km2. Conservation priority areas (CPAs) clustered in the north GKM and central LKM and totaled 220,801 km2, and only 16.94% of the CPAs were currently protected by nature reserves. We suggest that the Chinese government accelerate the integration of existing protected areas in the northern GKM and establish a larger GKM National Park based on cost-effective multi-species protection.

Bile acids attenuate hepatic inflammation during ischemia/reperfusion injury.

Background & Aims: Persistent cholestasis has been associated with poor prognosis after orthotopic liver transplantation. In this study, we aimed to investigate how the accumulation of tauro-beta-muricholic acid (TßMCA), resulting from the reprogramming of bile acid (BA) metabolism during liver ischemia/reperfusion (IR) stress, attenuates liver inflammation. Methods: Ingenuity Pathway Analysis was performed using transcriptome data from a murine hepatic IR model. Three different models of hepatic IR (liver warm IR, bile duct separation-IR, common bile duct ligation-IR) were employed. We generated adeno-associated virus-transfected mice and CD11b-DTR mice to assess the role of BAs in regulating the myeloid S1PR2-GSDMD axis. Hepatic BA levels were analyzed using targeted metabolomics. Finally, the correlation between the reprogramming of BA metabolism and hepatic S1PR2 levels was validated through RNA-seq of human liver transplant biopsies. Results: We found that BA metabolism underwent reprogramming in murine hepatocytes under IR stress, leading to increased synthesis of TßMCA, catalyzed by the enzyme CYP2C70. The levels of hepatic TßMCA were negatively correlated with the severity of hepatic inflammation, as indicated by the serum IL-1ß levels. Inhibition of hepatic CYP2C70 resulted in reduced TßMCA production, which subsequently increased serum IL-1ß levels and exacerbated IR injury. Moreover, our findings suggested that TßMCA could inhibit canonical inflammasome activation in macrophages and attenuate inflammatory responses in a myeloid-specific S1PR2-GSDMD-dependent manner. Additionally, Gly-ßMCA, a derivative of TßMCA, could effectively attenuate inflammatory injury in vivo and inhibit human macrophage pyroptosis in vitro. Conclusions: IR stress orchestrates hepatic BA metabolism to generate TßMCA, which attenuates hepatic inflammatory injury by inhibiting the myeloid S1PR2-GSDMD axis. Bile acids have immunomodulatory functions in liver reperfusion injury that may guide therapeutic strategies. Impact and implications: Our research reveals that liver ischemia-reperfusion stress triggers reprogramming of bile acid metabolism. This functions as an adaptive mechanism to mitigate inflammatory injury by regulating the S1PR2-GSDMD axis, thereby controlling the release of IL-1ß from macrophages. Our results highlight the crucial role of bile acids in regulating hepatocyte-immune cell crosstalk, which demonstrates an immunomodulatory function in liver reperfusion injury that may guide therapeutic strategies targeting bile acids and their receptors.

IFNγ synergies with cold atmospheric plasma in triggering colorectal cancer cell ferroptosis via the IFNγ/IFNR2/APC/TCF4/GPX4 axis.

Colorectal cancer accounts for the second most common cancer-related lethality. Intestinal stem cells are responsible for enteric homeostasis maintenance that, once being transformed, become colorectal cancer stem cells. Arresting cancer stemness represents an innovative strategy for colorectal cancer management. Using intestinal stem cell organoids as the primary model, we screened common inflammatory cytokines to identify key players targeting cancer stemness. We also explored the downstream signaling that drives the functionalities of the identified cytokine through both experimental investigations and computational predictions. As the results, we identified IFNγ as the key cytokine capable of arresting intestinal stem cells via the IFNγ/IFNGR2/APC/TCF4/GPX4 axis, proposed its role in killing colorectal cancer stem cells via triggering GPX4-dependent ferroptosis, and demonstrated its synergistic anti-cancer effect with cold atmospheric plasma in killing colorectal cancer cells that is worthy to be experimentally validated.

Exogenous application of Bradyrhizobium japonicum AC20 enhances soybean tolerance to atrazine via regulating rhizosphere soil microbial community and amino acid, carbohydrate metabolism related genes expression.

Atrazine is used to control broad-leaved weeds in farmland and has negative impacts on soybean growth. Legume-rhizobium symbiosis plays an important role in regulating abiotic stress tolerance of plants, however, the mechanisms of rhizobia regulate the tolerance of soybean to atrazine based on the biochemical responses of the plant-soil system are limited. In this experiment, Glycine max (L.) Merr. Dongnong 252, planted in 20 mg kg-1 of atrazine-contaminated soil, was inoculated with Bradyrhizobium japonicum AC20, and the plant growth, rhizosphere soil microbial diversity and the expression of the genes related to soybean carbon and nitrogen metabolism were assessed. The results indicated that strain AC20 inoculation alleviated atrazine-induced growth inhibition via increasing the contents of leghemoglobin and total nitrogen in soybean seedlings. The psbA gene expression level of the soybean seedlings that inoculated strain AC20 was 1.4 times than that of no rhizobium inoculating treatments. Moreover, the inoculated AC20 increased the abundance of Acidobacteria and Actinobacteria in soybean rhizosphere. Transcriptome analysis demonstrated that strain AC20 regulated the genes expression of amino acid metabolism and carbohydrate metabolism of soybean seedlings. Correlation analysis between 16S rRNA and transcriptome showed that strain AC20 reduced Planctomycetes abundance so as to down-regulated the expression of genes Glyma. 13G087800, Glyma. 12G005100 and Glyma.12G098900 involved in starch synthesis pathway of soybean leaves. These results provide available information for the rhizobia application to enhance the atrazine tolerate in soybean seedlings.

High-efficiency in situ amplitude and phase control of infrared light using topological polaritons.

Polaritons - material excitation coupled with light - are thought to hold the potential for the extreme control of light down to the atomic length scale because of their high field confinement and sub-wavelength scales. For practical applications, it is essential but still a formidable challenge to manipulate polaritons with high efficiency and a wide tunable range. These obstacles may be overcome by the topology of polaritons. In photonic systems composed of graphene/α-MoO3 heterostructures, the topology of the hybrid polariton characterized by the isofrequency curve can transform from open hyperbolas to closed ellipse-like curves, driven by the carrier concentrations of graphene. The electronic tunability of such topological polaritons offers a unique platform for two-dimensional energy transfer. Here, by introducing local gates to obtain a tunable spatial carrier density profile in the graphene/α-MoO3 heterostructure, the phase of the polariton is predicted to be efficiently tuned from 0 to 2π in situ. Remarkably, the reflectance and transmittance through the gap between local gates can also be modulated in situ from 0 to 1 with high efficiency, where the device length can be less than 100 nm. The modulation is achieved owing to the dramatic changes in the wave vector of polaritons near the topological transition point. The proposed structures not only have direct applications in two-dimensional optics such as total reflectors, phase (amplitude) modulators, and optical switches but also can serve as an important component for complex nano-optical devices.

Adaptive Neural Network Control for Full-State Constrained Robotic Manipulator With Actuator Saturation and Time-Varying Delays.

This article proposes an adaptive neural network (NN) control method for an n -link constrained robotic manipulator. Driven by actual demands, manipulator and actuator dynamics, state and input constraints, and unknown time-varying delays are taken into account simultaneously. NNs are employed to approximate unknown nonlinearities. Time-varying barrier Lyapunov functions are utilized to cope with full-state constraints. By resorting to saturation function and Lyapunov-Krasovskii functionals, the effects of actuator saturation and time delays are eliminated. It is proved that all the closed-loop signals are semiglobally uniformly ultimately bounded, full-state constraints and actuator saturation are not violated, and error signals remain within compact sets around zero. Simulation studies are given to demonstrate the validity and advantages of this control scheme.

Distributed Estimation for Stochastic Hamiltonian Systems With Fading Wireless Channels.

This article introduces a distributed estimator design problem for the stochastic Hamiltonian systems under fading wireless channels. The phenomenon that the channel outputs are related to the target state and the estimation of the adjacent state is considered to facilitate the implementation of distributed state estimation. Furthermore, the fixed undirected graph simplifies the analysis of the system. By resorting to fading channels and the graph theory, the main goal of the addressed problem is to design estimators to estimate the target state of the Hamiltonian system and guarantee the exponential stability in the mean-square sense of the estimation system. Based on the stochastic analysis method and the structural properties of the Hamiltonian system, sufficient conditions are obtained for the existence of the designed estimator gain for each sensor. Two examples are given to indicate the effectiveness of the theoretical claim.