Diffusion-Dominated Luminescence Dynamics of CsPbBr3 Studied Using Cathodoluminescence and Microphotoluminescence Spectroscopy.

Time-resolved or time-correlation measurements using cathodoluminescence (CL) reveal the electronic and optical properties of semiconductors, such as their carrier lifetimes, at the nanoscale. However, halide perovskites, which are promising optoelectronic materials, exhibit significantly different decay dynamics in their CL and photoluminescence (PL). We conducted time-correlation CL measurements of CsPbBr3 using Hanbury Brown-Twiss interferometry and compared them with time-resolved PL. The measured CL decay time was on the order of subnanoseconds and was faster than PL decay at an excited carrier density of 2.1 × 1018 cm-3. Our experiment and analytical model revealed the CL dynamics induced by individual electron incidences, which are characterized by highly localized carrier generation followed by a rapid decrease in carrier density due to diffusion. This carrier diffusion can play a dominant role in the CL decay time for undoped semiconductors, in general, when the diffusion dynamics are faster than the carrier recombination.

Electrical Polarity Modulation in V-Doped Monolayer WS2 for Homogeneous CMOS Inverters.

As demand for higher integration density and smaller devices grows, silicon-based complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) devices will soon reach their ultimate limits. 2D transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) semiconductors, known for excellent electrical performance and stable atomic structure, are seen as promising materials for future integrated circuits. However, controlled and reliable doping of 2D TMDs, a key step for creating homogeneous CMOS logic components, remains a challenge. In this study, a continuous electrical polarity modulation of monolayer WS2 from intrinsic n-type to ambipolar, then to p-type, and ultimately to a quasi-metallic state is achieved simply by introducing controllable amounts of vanadium (V) atoms into the WS2 lattice as p-type dopants during chemical vapor deposition (CVD). The achievement of purely p-type field-effect transistors (FETs) is particularly noteworthy based on the 4.7 at% V-doped monolayer WS2, demonstrating a remarkable on/off current ratio of 105. Expanding on this triumph, the first initial prototype of ultrathin homogeneous CMOS inverters based on monolayer WS2 is being constructed. These outcomes validate the feasibility of constructing homogeneous CMOS devices through the atomic doping process of 2D materials, marking a significant milestone for the future development of integrated circuits.

Multislip-enabled morphing of all-inorganic perovskites.

All-inorganic lead halide perovskites (CsPbX3, X = Cl, Br or I) are becoming increasingly important for energy conversion and optoelectronics because of their outstanding performance and enhanced environmental stability. Morphing perovskites into specific shapes and geometries without damaging their intrinsic functional properties is attractive for designing devices and manufacturing. However, inorganic semiconductors are often intrinsically brittle at room temperature, except for some recently reported layered or van der Waals semiconductors. Here, by in situ compression, we demonstrate that single-crystal CsPbX3 micropillars can be substantially morphed into distinct shapes (cubic, L and Z shapes, rectangular arches and so on) without localized cleavage or cracks. Such exceptional plasticity is enabled by successive slips of partial dislocations on multiple [Formula: see text] systems, as evidenced by atomic-resolution transmission electron microscopy and first-principles and atomistic simulations. The optoelectronic performance and bandgap of the devices were unchanged. Thus, our results suggest that CsPbX3 perovskites, as potential deformable inorganic semiconductors, may have profound implications for the manufacture of advanced optoelectronics and energy systems.

Nicotine downregulates miR-375-3p via neurotrophic tyrosine receptor kinase 2 to enhance the malignant behaviors of laryngopharyngeal squamous epithelial cells.

Nicotine exposure from smoking constitutes a significant global public health concern. Furthermore, smoking represents a pivotal risk factor for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). However, the influence of nicotine on HNSCC remains relatively underexplored. Our aim was to unravel the molecular mechanisms that underlie the effect of nicotine on the metastatic cascade of HNSCC. In this study, we discovered a significant association between smoking and HNSCC metastasis and prognosis. Nicotine significantly enhanced HNSCC cell proliferation, migration, invasion, and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in vitro. Analysis of TCGA-HNSCC and FDEENT-HNSCC cohorts revealed reduced miR-375-3p levels in HNSCC tumor tissues, particularly among current smokers. Additionally, miR-375-3p level was strongly correlated with both lymph node metastasis and tumor stage. By downregulating miR-375-3p, nicotine promotes HNSCC cell metastasis in vitro and hematogenous metastatic capacity in vivo. Utilizing transcriptomic sequencing, molecular docking, dual-luciferase reporter assay, and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), we demonstrated that miR-375-3p specifically binds to 3' untranslated region (3'UTR) of NTRK2 mRNA. Thus, this study uncovers a novel nicotine-induced mechanism involving miR-375-3p-mediated NTRK2 targeting, which promotes HNSCC metastasis. These findings have implications for improving the prognosis of patients with HNSCC, especially in smokers.

Au-Seeded CsPbI3 Nanowire Optoelectronics via Exothermic Nucleation.

Converting vapor precursors to solid nanostructures via a liquid noble-metal seed is a common vapor deposition principle. However, such a noble-metal-seeded process is excluded from the crystalline halide perovskite synthesis, mainly hindered by the growth mechanism shortness. Herein, powered by a spontaneous exothermic nucleation process (ΔH < 0), the Au-seeded CsPbI3 nanowires (NWs) growth is realized based on a vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) growth mode. It is energetically favored that the Au seeds are reacted with a Pb vapor precursor to form molten Au-Pb droplets at temperatures down to 212 °C, further triggering the low-temperature VLS growth of CsPbI3 NWs. More importantly, this Au-seeded process reduces in-bandgap trap states and consequently avoids Shockley-Read-Hall recombination, contributing to outstanding photodetector performances. Our work extends the powerful Au-seeded VLS growth mode to the emerging halide perovskites, which will facilitate their nanostructures with tailored material properties.

Automatic Classification of Mass Shape and Margin on Mammography with Artificial Intelligence: Deep CNN Versus Radiomics.

The purpose of this study is to test the feasibility for deep CNN-based artificial intelligence methods for automatic classification of the mass margin and shape, while radiomic feature-based machine learning methods were also implemented in this study as baseline and for comparison study. In this retrospective study, 596 patients with breast mass that underwent mammography from 4 hospitals were enrolled from January 2012 to October 2019. Margin and shape of each mass were annotated according to BI-RADS by 2 experienced radiologists. Deep CNN-based AI was implemented for the classification task based on Resnet50. Balanced sampler and CBAM were also used to improve the performance of the Deep CNNs. As comparison, image texture features were extracted and then dimensionality reduction methods (such as PCA, ICA) and classical classifiers (such as SVM, DT, KNN) were used for classification task. Based on Python programming software, accuracy (ACC) was used to evaluate the performance of the model, and the model with the highest ACC value was selected. Deep CNN based on Resnet50 with balanced sampler and CBAM achieved the best performance for both margin and shape classification, with ACC of 0.838 and 0.874, respectively. For the radiomics-based machine learning, the best performance for margin was achieved as 0.676 by the combination of FA + RF, while the best performance for shape was 0.802 by the combination of PCA + MLP. The feasibility for automatic classification with coarse labeling of the mass shape and margin was testified with the deep CNN-based AI methods, while radiomic feature-based machine learning methods achieved inferior classification results.

Vacancy Modulating Co3 Sn2 S2 Topological Semimetal for Aqueous Zinc-Ion Batteries.

Weyl semimetals (WSMs) with high electrical conductivity and suitable carrier density near the Fermi level are enticing candidates for aqueous Zn-ion batteries (AZIBs), meriting from topological surface states (TSSs). We propose a WSM Co3 Sn2 S2 cathode for AZIBs showing a discharge plateau around 1.5 V. By introducing Sn vacancies, extra redox peaks from the Sn4+ /Sn2+ transition appear, which leads to more Zn2+ transfer channels and active sites promoting charge-storage kinetics and Zn2+ storage capability. Co3 Sn1.8 S2 achieves a specific energy of 305 Wh kg-1 (0.2 Ag-1 ) and a specific power of 4900 Wkg-1 (5 Ag-1 ). Co3 Sn1.8 S2 and Znx Co3 Sn1.8 S2 benefit from better conductivity at lower temperatures; the quasi-solid Co3 Sn1.8 S2 //Zn battery delivers 126 mAh g-1 (0.6 Ag-1 ) at -30 °C and a cycling stability over 3000 cycles (2 Ag-1 ) with 85 % capacity retention at -10 °C.

High-Performance Flexible Self-Powered Photodetectors Utilizing Spontaneous Electron and Hole Separation in Quasi-2D Halide Perovskites.

Although there are recent advances in many areas of quasi-2D halide perovskites, photodetectors based on these materials still cannot achieve satisfactory performance for practical applications where high responsivity, fast response, self-powered nature, and excellent mechanical flexibility are urgently desired. Herein, utilizing one-step spin-coating method, self-assemble quasi-2D perovskite films with graded phase distribution in the order of increasing number of metal halide octahedral layers are successfully prepared. Gradient type-II band alignments along the out-of-plane direction of perovskites with spontaneous separation of photo-generated electrons and holes are obtained and then employed to construct self-powered vertical-structure photodetectors for the first time. Without any driving voltage, the device exhibits impressive performance with the responsivity up to 444 mA W-1 and ultrashort response time down to 52 µs. With a bias voltage of 1.5 V, the device responsivity becomes 3463 mA W-1 with the response speed as fast as 24 µs. Importantly, the device's mechanical flexibility is greatly enhanced since the photocurrent prefers flowing through the metal halide octahedral layers between the top and bottom contact electrodes in the vertical device structure, being more tolerant to film damage. These results evidently indicate the potential of graded quasi-2D perovskite phases for next-generation optoelectronic devices.

Self-Anti-Stacking 2D Metal Phosphide Loop-Sheet Heterostructures by Edge-Topological Regulation for Highly Efficient Water Oxidation.

2D metal phosphide loop-sheet heterostructures are controllably synthesized by edge-topological regulation, where Ni2 P nanosheets are edge-confined by the N-doped carbon loop, containing ultrafine NiFeP nanocrystals (denoted as NiFeP@NC/Ni2 P). This loop-sheet feature with lifted-edges prevents the stacking of nanosheets and induces accessible open channels for catalytic site exposure and gas bubble release. Importantly, these NiFeP@NC/Ni2 P hybrids exhibit a remarkable oxygen evolution activity with an overpotential of 223 mV at 20 mA cm-2 and a Tafel slope of 46.1 mV dec-1 , constituting the record-high performance among reported metal phosphide electrocatalysts. The NiFeP@NC/Ni2 P hybrids are also employed as both anode and cathode to achieve an alkaline electrolyzer for overall water splitting, delivering a current density of 10 mA cm-2 with a voltage of 1.57 V, comparable to that of the commercial Pt/C||RuO2 couple (1.56 V). Moreover, a photovoltaic-electrolysis coupling system can as well be effectively established for robust overall water splitting. Evidently, this ingenious protocol would expand the toolbox for designing efficient 2D nanomaterials for practical applications.

Classification of microcalcification clusters in digital breast tomosynthesis using ensemble convolutional neural network.

BACKGROUND: The classification of benign and malignant microcalcification clusters (MCs) is an important task for computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) of digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) images. Influenced by imaging method, DBT has the characteristic of anisotropic resolution, in which the resolution of intra-slice and inter-slice is quite different. In addition, the sharpness of MCs in different slices of DBT is quite different, among which the clearest slice is called focus slice. These characteristics limit the performance of CAD algorithms based on standard 3D convolution neural network (CNN). METHODS: To make full use of the characteristics of the DBT, we proposed a new ensemble CNN, which consists of the 2D ResNet34 and the anisotropic 3D ResNet to extract the 2D focus slice features and 3D contextual features of MCs, respectively. Moreover, the anisotropic 3D convolution is used to build 3D ResNet to avoid the influence of DBT anisotropy. RESULTS: The proposed method was evaluated on 495 MCs in DBT images of 275 patients, which are collected from our collaborative hospital. The area under the curve (AUC) of receiver operating characteristic (ROC) and accuracy of classifying benign and malignant MCs using decision-level ensemble strategy were 0.8837 and 82.00%, which were significantly higher than the experimental results of 2D ResNet34 (AUC: 0.8264, ACC: 76.00%) and anisotropic 3D ResNet (AUC: 0.8455, ACC: 76.00%). Compared with the results of 3D features classification in the radiomics, the AUC of the deep learning method with decision-level ensemble strategy was improved by 0.0435, and the F1 score was improved from 79.37 to 85.71%. More importantly, the sensitivity increased from 78.13 to 84.38%, and the specificity increased from 66.67 to 77.78%, which effectively reduced the false positives of diagnosis CONCLUSION: The results fully prove that the ensemble CNN can effectively integrate 2D features and 3D features, improve the classification performance of benign and malignant MCs in DBT, and reduce the false positives.

Contrast analysis of the relationship between the HRCT sign and new pathologic classification in small ground glass nodule-like lung adenocarcinoma.

PURPOSE: To perform contrast analysis of the relationship between high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) signs and new pathologic classification of small GGNs-like lung adenocarcinoma. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The HRCT data from 145 pathologically confirmed cases of small GGNs of lung adenocarcinoma were analysed retrospectively. The 145 cases of GGNs were divided into pre-invasive (PI) group (n = 46), micro-invasive adenocarcinoma (MIA) group (n = 48), and invasive adenocarcinoma (IAC) group (n = 51). HRCT imaging sign of GGNs in each group was assessed and compared. RESULTS: Significant differences in GGN size were found among the three groups (P < 0.05). The presence of a tumour-lung interface in the MIA and IAC groups was significantly higher than that in the PI group (P < 0.05), but no significant difference was found between the MIA and IAC groups. The presence of a pleural indentation sign in the IAC group was significantly higher than that in the other two groups (P < 0.05), but no significant difference was noted between the latter two groups. Significant differences were found in the lobulated and spicule signs among the three groups (P < 0.05). The presence of a microvascular sign in the MIA and IAC groups was significantly higher than that in the PI group (P < 0.05). No significant difference was found in the GGN density, vacuole sign, air bronchus sign and notch sign among the three groups. CONCLUSIONS: The HRCT signs of GGNs could be used to differentiate among pre-invasive lesions, micro-invasive lesions and invasive lung adenocarcinoma.

Stress-related arterial hypertension in Gper-deficient rats.

Numerous studies have demonstrated that estrogens may exert multifaceted effects on the cardiovascular system via activating the classical nuclear receptors ERα or ERß and the novel G protein coupled estrogen receptor (Gper). However, some studies have reported inconsistent cardiovascular phenotypes in Gper-deficient mice. The current study was aimed to reveal the effects of genetic deletion of Gper on the arterial blood pressure (ABP) and heart rate in rats. Gper-deficient Sprague-Dawley rats were generated by utilizing the CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing technique. ABP of 10-week old male (n = 6) and 12-week old female (n = 6) Gper-deficient rats and age-matched wild type (WT) rats (6 females and 6 males) were measured under awake and restrained conditions through the non-invasive tail-cuff method daily for 8 (females) or 9 days (males). In the male WT rats, ABP and heart rate were slightly higher in day 1 to 4 than those in day 5 to 9, indicative of stress-related sympathoexcitation in the first few days and gradual adaptation to the restrained stress in later days. Gper-deficient rats had significantly higher ABP initially (male: day 1 to day 5; female: day 1 to day 3) and similar ABP in later days of measurement compared with the WT rats. The heart rate of male Gper-deficient rats was consistently higher than that of the male WT rats from day 1 to day 8. Both male and female Gper-deficient rats appeared to show slower body weight gain than the WT counterparts during the study period. Under anesthesia, ABP of Gper-deficient rats was not significantly different from their WT counterparts. These results indicate that Gper-deficient rats may be more sensitive to stress-induced sympathoexcitation and highlight the importance of Gper in the regulation of the cardiovascular function in stressful conditions.

Autocrine CCL3 and CCL4 induced by the oncoprotein LMP1 promote Epstein-Barr virus-triggered B cell proliferation.

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) alters the regulation and expression of a variety of cytokines in its host cells to modulate host immune surveillance and facilitate viral persistence. Using cytokine antibody arrays, we found that, in addition to the cytokines reported previously, two chemotactic cytokines, CCL3 and CCL4, were induced in EBV-infected B cells and were expressed at high levels in all EBV-immortalized lymphoblastoid cell lines (LCLs). Furthermore, EBV latent membrane protein 1 (LMP1)-mediated Jun N-terminal protein kinase activation was responsible for upregulation of CCL3 and CCL4. Inhibition of CCL3 and CCL4 in LCLs using a short hairpin RNA approach or by neutralizing antibodies suppressed cell proliferation and caused apoptosis, indicating that autocrine CCL3 and CCL4 are required for LCL survival and growth. Importantly, significant amounts of CCL3 were detected in EBV-positive plasma from immunocompromised patients, suggesting that EBV modulates this chemokine in vivo. This study reveals the regulatory mechanism and a novel function of CCL3 and CCL4 in EBV-infected B cells. CCL3 might be useful as a therapeutic target in EBV-associated lymphoproliferative diseases and malignancies.

Local airway anesthesia attenuates hemodynamic responses to intubation and extubation in hypertensive surgical patients.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of topical ropivacaine anesthesia on hemodynamic responses during intubation and extubation of hypertensive patients. MATERIAL AND METHODS: One hundred fifty patients with hypertension ASA II-III were scheduled for noncardiac operations. Patients were divided into 3 groups: a control group receiving 5 ml saline, and 2 groups receiving topical anesthesia with 100 mg lidocaine or 37.5 mg ropivacaine. Hemodynamic responses, including blood pressure and heart rate (HR), were recorded at baseline (T0), before intubation (T1), during tracheal intubation (T2), 2 min after intubation (T3), upon eye opening on verbal commands (T4), during tracheal extubation (T5), and 2 min after extubation (T6). Patients were injected with urapidil 5 mg during intubation and extubation if their systolic blood pressure (SBP) was ≥160 mmHg or diastolic blood pressure (DBP) was ³90 mmHg, and esmolol 10 mg when HR was ≥90 bpm. RESULTS: During extubation, the total dosages of urapidil and esmolol were significantly higher in the saline than in the lidocaine or ropivacaine groups, and were significantly lower in the ropivacaine than in the lidocaine group. At T2, SBP, SBP, MAP, and HR were lower in the lidocaine and ropivacaine groups than in the saline group, but the differences were not significant. From T4 to T6, SBP, DBP, MAP, and HR were significantly lower in the ropivacaine group than in the other 2 groups (P<0.05 each). CONCLUSIONS: Topical lidocaine and ropivacaine anesthesia can effectively reduce hemodynamic responses during intubation, with ropivacaine better at inhibiting hemodynamic changes at emergence in hypertensive patients.

A new 4-gene-based prognostic model accurately predicts breast cancer prognosis and immunotherapy response by integrating WGCNA and bioinformatics analysis.

Background: Breast cancer (BRCA) is a common malignancy in women, and its resistance to immunotherapy is a major challenge. Abnormal expression of genes is important in the occurrence and development of BRCA and may also affect the prognosis of patients. Although many BRCA prognosis model scores have been developed, they are only applicable to a limited number of disease subtypes. Our goal is to develop a new prognostic score that is more accurate and applicable to a wider range of BRCA patients. Methods: BRCA patient data from The Cancer Genome Atlas database was used to identify breast cancer-related genes (BRGs). Differential expression analysis of BRGs was performed using the 'limma' package in R. Prognostic BRGs were identified using co-expression and univariate Cox analysis. A predictive model of four BRGs was established using Cox regression and the LASSO algorithm. Model performance was evaluated using K-M survival and receiver operating characteristic curve analysis. The predictive ability of the signature in immune microenvironment and immunotherapy was investigated. In vitro experiments validated POLQ function. Results: Our study identified a four-BRG prognostic signature that outperformed conventional clinicopathological characteristics in predicting survival outcomes in BRCA patients. The signature effectively stratified BRCA patients into high- and low-risk groups and showed potential in predicting the response to immunotherapy. Notably, significant differences were observed in immune cell abundance between the two groups. In vitro experiments demonstrated that POLQ knockdown significantly reduced the viability, proliferation, and invasion capacity of MDA-MB-231 or HCC1806 cells. Conclusion: Our 4-BRG signature has the potential as an independent biomarker for predicting prognosis and treatment response in BRCA patients, complementing existing clinicopathological characteristics.

On-Wire Design of Axial Periodic Halide Perovskite Superlattices for High-Performance Photodetection.

Precise synthesis of all-inorganic lead halide perovskite nanowire heterostructures and superlattices with designable modulation of chemical compositions is essential for tailoring their optoelectronic properties. Nevertheless, controllable synthesis of perovskite nanostructure heterostructures remains challenging and underexplored to date. Here, we report a rational strategy for wafer-scale synthesis of one-dimensional periodic CsPbCl3/CsPbI3 superlattices. We show that the highly parallel array of halide perovskite nanowires can be prepared roughly as horizontally guided growth on an M-plane sapphire. A periodic patterning of the sapphire substrate enables position-selective ion exchange to obtain highly periodic CsPbCl3/CsPbI3 nanowire superlattices. This patterning is further confirmed by micro-photoluminescence investigations, which show that two separate band-edge emission peaks appear at the interface of a CsPbCl3/CsPbI3 heterojunction. Additionally, compared with the pure CsPbCl3 nanowires, photodetectors fabricated using these periodic heterostructure nanowires exhibit superior photoelectric performance, namely, high ION/IOFF ratio (104), higher responsivity (49 A/W), and higher detectivity (1.51 × 1013 Jones). Moreover, a spatially resolved visible image sensor based on periodic nanowire superlattices is demonstrated with good imaging capability, suggesting promising application prospects in future photoelectronic imaging systems. All these results based on the periodic CsPbCl3/CsPbI3 nanowire superlattices provides an attractive material platform for integrated perovskite devices and circuits.

A 2D Heterostructure-Based Multifunctional Floating Gate Memory Device for Multimodal Reservoir Computing.

The demand for economical and efficient data processing has led to a surge of interest in neuromorphic computing based on emerging two-dimensional (2D) materials in recent years. As a rising van der Waals (vdW) p-type Weyl semiconductor with many intriguing properties, tellurium (Te) has been widely used in advanced electronics/optoelectronics. However, its application in floating gate (FG) memory devices for information processing has never been explored. Herein, an electronic/optoelectronic FG memory device enabled by Te-based 2D vdW heterostructure for multimodal reservoir computing (RC) is reported. When subjected to intense electrical/optical stimuli, the device exhibits impressive nonvolatile electronic memory behaviors including ≈108 extinction ratio, ≈100 ns switching speed, >4000 cycles, >4000-s retention stability, and nonvolatile multibit optoelectronic programmable characteristics. When the input stimuli weaken, the nonvolatile memory degrades into volatile memory. Leveraging these rich nonlinear dynamics, a multimodal RC system with high recognition accuracy of 90.77% for event-type multimodal handwritten digit-recognition is demonstrated.

Pulse irradiation synthesis of metal chalcogenides on flexible substrates for enhanced photothermoelectric performance.

High synthesis temperatures and specific growth substrates are typically required to obtain crystalline or oriented inorganic functional thin films, posing a significant challenge for their utilization in large-scale, low-cost (opto-)electronic applications on conventional flexible substrates. Here, we explore a pulse irradiation synthesis (PIS) to prepare thermoelectric metal chalcogenide (e.g., Bi2Se3, SnSe2, and Bi2Te3) films on multiple polymeric substrates. The self-propagating combustion process enables PIS to achieve a synthesis temperature as low as 150 °C, with an ultrafast reaction completed within one second. Beyond the photothermoelectric (PTE) property, the thermal coupling between polymeric substrates and bismuth selenide films is also examined to enhance the PTE performance, resulting in a responsivity of 71.9 V/W and a response time of less than 50 ms at 1550 nm, surpassing most of its counterparts. This PIS platform offers a promising route for realizing flexible PTE or thermoelectric devices in an energy-, time-, and cost-efficient manner.

An inorganic-blended p-type semiconductor with robust electrical and mechanical properties.

Inorganic semiconductors typically have limited p-type behavior due to the scarcity of holes and the localized valence band maximum, hindering the progress of complementary devices and circuits. In this work, we propose an inorganic blending strategy to activate the hole-transporting character in an inorganic semiconductor compound, namely tellurium-selenium-oxygen (TeSeO). By rationally combining intrinsic p-type semimetal, semiconductor, and wide-bandgap semiconductor into a single compound, the TeSeO system displays tunable bandgaps ranging from 0.7 to 2.2 eV. Wafer-scale ultrathin TeSeO films, which can be deposited at room temperature, display high hole field-effect mobility of 48.5 cm2/(Vs) and robust hole transport properties, facilitated by Te-Te (Se) portions and O-Te-O portions, respectively. The nanosphere lithography process is employed to create nanopatterned honeycomb TeSeO broadband photodetectors, demonstrating a high responsibility of 603 A/W, an ultrafast response of 5 µs, and superior mechanical flexibility. The p-type TeSeO system is highly adaptable, scalable, and reliable, which can address emerging technological needs that current semiconductor solutions may not fulfill.

Arsenic trioxide augments immunogenic cell death and induces cGAS-STING-IFN pathway activation in hepatocellular carcinoma.

The treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is particularly challenging due to the inherent tumoral heterogeneity and easy resistance towards chemotherapy and immunotherapy. Arsenic trioxide (ATO) has emerged as a cytotoxic agent effective for treating solid tumors, including advanced HCC. However, its effectiveness in HCC treatment remains limited, and the underlying mechanisms are still uncertain. Therefore, this study aimed to characterize the effects and mechanisms of ATO in HCC. By evaluating the susceptibilities of human and murine HCC cell lines to ATO treatment, we discovered that HCC cells exhibited a range of sensitivity to ATO treatment, highlighting their inherent heterogeneity. A gene signature comprising 265 genes was identified to distinguish ATO-sensitive from ATO-insensitive cells. According to this signature, HCC patients have also been classified and exhibited differential features of ATO response. Our results showed that ATO treatment induced reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation and the activation of multiple cell death modalities, including necroptosis and ferroptosis, in ATO-sensitive HCC cells. Meanwhile, elevated tumoral immunogenicity was also observed in ATO-sensitive HCC cells. Similar effects were not observed in ATO-insensitive cells. We reported that ATO treatment induced mitochondrial injury and mtDNA release into the cytoplasm in ATO-sensitive HCC tumors. This subsequently activated the cGAS-STING-IFN axis, facilitating CD8+ T cell infiltration and activation. However, we found that the IFN pathway also induced tumoral PD-L1 expression, potentially antagonizing ATO-mediated immune attack. Additional anti-PD1 therapy promoted the anti-tumor response of ATO in ATO-sensitive HCC tumors. In summary, our data indicate that heterogeneous ATO responses exist in HCC tumors, and ATO treatment significantly induces immunogenic cell death (ICD) and activates the tumor-derived mtDNA-STING-IFN axis. These findings may offer a new perspective on the clinical treatment of HCC and warrant further study.