BvCGT1-mediated differential distribution of flavonoid C-glycosides contributes to plant's response to UV-B stress.

C-glycosides are a predominant class of flavonoids that demonstrate diverse medical properties and plant physiological functions. The chemical stability, structural diversity, and differential aboveground distribution of these compounds in plants make them ideal protectants. However, little is known about the transcriptional regulatory mechanisms that play these diverse roles in plant physiology. In this study, chard was selected from 69 families for its significantly different flavonoid C-glycosides distributions between the aboveground and underground parts to investigate the role and regulatory mechanism of flavonoid C-glycosides in plants. Our results indicate that flavonoid C-glycosides are affected by various stressors, especially UV-B. Through cloning and validation of key biosynthetic genes of flavonoid C-glycosides in chard (BvCGT1), we observed significant effects induced by UV-B radiation. This finding was further confirmed by resistance testing in BvCGT1 silenced chard lines and in Arabidopsis plants with BvCGT1 overexpression. Yeast one-hybrid and dual-luciferase assays were employed to determine the underlying regulatory mechanisms of BvCGT1 in withstanding UV-B stress. These results indicate a potential regulatory role of BvDof8 and BvDof13 in modulating flavonoid C-glycosides content, through their influence on BvCGT1. In conclusion, we have effectively demonstrated the regulation of BvCGT1 by BvDof8 and BvDof13, highlighting their crucial role in plant adaptation to UV-B radiation. Additionally, we have outlined a comprehensive transcriptional regulatory network involving BvDof8 and BvDof13 in response to UV-B radiation.

Controlling the Degree of Interpenetration in Chiral Three-Dimensional Covalent Organic Frameworks via Steric Tuning.

Network interpenetration plays a crucial role in functionalizing porous framework materials. However, controlling the degree of interpenetration in covalent organic frameworks (COFs) to influence their pore sizes, shapes, and functionalities still remains a significant challenge. Here, we demonstrate a steric tuning strategy to control the degree of COF interpenetration and modulate their physicochemical properties. By imine condensations of 1,1'-bi-2-naphthol-derived tetraaldehydes bearing different alkyl substituents with the monomer tetra(p-aminophenyl)-methane, we synthesized and characterized a family of two-component and three-component chiral COFs with different interpenetrated dia networks. The alkyl groups are periodically appended on the pore walls, and their types/contents that can be synthetically tuned control the interpenetration degree of COFs by minimizing repulsive interactions between the alkyl groups. Specifically, the COF with -OH groups adopts an interpenetrated dia-c5 topology, those with -OMe/-OEt groups take an interpenetrated dia-c4 topology, whereas those with the bulky -OnPr/-OnBu groups exhibit a noninterpenetrated dia-c1 topology. The multivariate COFs with both -OH and -OnBu groups display either a noninterpenetrated or dia-c5 topology, depending on the proportion of -OnBu groups. The extent of interpenetration in COFs significantly affects their porosity, thermal stability, and chemical stability, resulting in varying selective performances in the adsorption and separation of dyes and asymmetric catalysis. This work highlights the potential of using steric hindrance to tune and control interpenetration, porosity, stability, and functionalities of COFs materials, broadening the range of their applications.

Chiral Covalent Organic Cages: Structural Isomerism and Enantioselective Catalysis.

Covalent organic cages are a prominent class of discrete porous architectures; however, their structural isomerism remains relatively unexplored. Here, we demonstrate the structural isomerism of chiral covalent organic cages that renders distinct enantioselective catalytic properties. Imine condensations of tetra-topic 5,10-di(3,5-diformylphenyl)-5,10-dihydrophenazine and ditopic 1,2-cyclohexanediamine produce two chiral [4 + 8] organic cage isomers with totally different topologies and geometries that depend on the orientations of four tetraaldehyde units with respect to each other. One isomer (PN-1) has an unprecedented Johnson-type J26 structure, whereas another (PN-2) adopts a tetragonal prismatic structure. After the reduction of the imine linkages, the cages are transformed into two amine bond-linked isomers PN-1R and PN-2R. After binding to Ni(II) ions, both can serve as efficient catalysts for asymmetric Michael additions, whereas PN-2R affords obviously higher enantioselectivity and reactivity than PN-1R presumably because of its large cavity and open windows that can concentrate reactants for the reactions. Density-functional theory (DFT) calculations further confirm that the enantioselective catalytic performance varies depending on the isomer.

Development of an ARMS multiplex real-time PCR assay for the detection of HLA-B*13:01 genotype by detecting highly specific SNPs.

OBJECTIVES: HLA-B*13:01 was strongly associated with Dapsone Hypersensitivity Syndrome (DHS). This study aimed to develop and validate a rapid and economical method for HLA-B*13:01 genotyping. METHODS: Two tubes multiplex real-time PCR detection system comprising amplification refractory mutation system primers and TaqMan probes was established for HLA-B*13:01 genotyping. Sequence-based typing was applied to validate the accuracy of the assay. RESULTS: The accuracy of the assay was 100% for HLA-B*13:01 genotyping. The detection limit of the new method was 0.025 ng DNA. The positive rate of HLA-B*13:01 in the Bouyei (20%, n = 50) populations was significantly higher than that in the Uighur population (4%, n = 100), Han (4.5%, n = 200), and Tibetan (1%, n = 100) ( P  < 0.05). CONCLUSION: The proposed method is rapid and reliable for HLA-B*13:01 screening in a clinical setting.

Dual-Emission Single Sensing Element-Assembled Fluorescent Sensor Arrays for the Rapid Discrimination of Multiple Surfactants in Environments.

Surfactants are considered as typical emerging pollutants, their extensive use of in disinfectants has hugely threatened the ecosystem and human health, particularly during the pandemic of coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19), whereas the rapid discrimination of multiple surfactants in environments is still a great challenge. Herein, we designed a fluorescent sensor array based on luminescent metal-organic frameworks (UiO-66-NH2@Au NCs) for the specific discrimination of six surfactants (AOS, SDS, SDSO, MES, SDBS, and Tween-20). Wherein, UiO-66-NH2@Au NCs were fabricated by integrating UiO-66-NH2 (2-aminoterephthalic acid-anchored-MOFs based on zirconium ions) with gold nanoclusters (Au NCs), which exhibited a dual-emission features, showing good luminescence. Interestingly, due to the interactions of surfactants and UiO-66-NH2@Au NCs, the surfactants can differentially regulate the fluorescence property of UiO-66-NH2@Au NCs, producing diverse fluorescent "fingerprints", which were further identified by pattern recognition methods. The proposed fluorescence sensor array achieved 100% accuracy in identifying various surfactants and multicomponent mixtures, with the detection limit in the range of 0.0032 to 0.0315 mM for six pollutants, which was successfully employed in the discrimination of surfactants in real environmental waters. More importantly, our findings provided a new avenue in rapid detection of surfactants, rendering a promising technique for environmental monitoring against trace multicontaminants.

Unsupervised spectral reconstruction from RGB images under two lighting conditions.

Unsupervised spectral reconstruction (SR) aims to recover the hyperspectral image (HSI) from corresponding RGB images without annotations. Existing SR methods achieve it from a single RGB image, hindered by the significant spectral distortion. Although several deep learning-based methods increase the SR accuracy by adding RGB images, their networks are always designed for other image recovery tasks, leaving huge room for improvement. To overcome this problem, we propose a novel, to our knowledge, approach that reconstructs the HSI from a pair of RGB images captured under two illuminations, significantly improving reconstruction accuracy. Specifically, an SR iterative model based on two illuminations is constructed at first. By unfolding the proximal gradient algorithm solving this SR model, an interpretable unsupervised deep network is proposed. All the modules in the proposed network have precise physical meanings, which enable our network to have superior performance and good generalization capability. Experimental results on two public datasets and our real-world images show the proposed method significantly improves both visually and quantitatively as compared with state-of-the-art methods.

Stable Axially Chiral Cyclohexylidenes from Catalytic Asymmetric Knoevenagel Condensation.

Axially chiral cycloalkylidenes are interesting but less developed axially chiral molecules. Here, a bispidine-based chiral amine catalytic system was developed to promote efficiently the asymmetric Knoevenagel condensation of N-protected oxindoles and benzofuranones with 4-substituted cyclohexanones. A variety of alkylidenecycloalkanes with stable axial chirality were obtained in good yields and fairly good er (enantiomeric ratio). Based on the absolute configuration determination of product and DFT calculations, a possible mechanism of stereoselective induction was proposed.

Vagococcus fluvialis isolation from the urine of a bladder cancer patient: a case report.

Vagococcus fluvialis infection is rare in humans, and there is limited research on the clinical manifestations and antimicrobial susceptibility testing of Vagococcus fluvialis infection. Here, We isolated Vagococcus fluvialis from the urine samples of bladder cancer patients at Hunan Provincial People's Hospital, and it is the first reported case of Vagococcus fluvialis isolated from the urine. The fully automated microbial identification system and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) identified the bacterium as Vagococcus fluvialis with a confidence level of 99.9%. The VITEK-2Compact fully automated microbial susceptibility analysis system indicated that it was most sensitive to tigecycline, vancomycin, quinupristin/dalfopristin, linezolid, and showed moderate sensitivity to erythromycin, levofloxacin, ciprofloxacin, ampicillin/sulbactam, and tetracycline. Additionally, it exhibited synergy when combined with high-level gentamicin and vancomycin, showing sensitivity. However, it displayed poor activity against penicillin and furanth. According to our knowledge, this is the first study to isolate and identify Vagococcus fluvialis from the urine of bladder cancer patients and the systematically reviewed other reported Vagococcus infections on human, which provide an experimental basis for guiding the rational use of drugs in the clinical treatment and diagnose of Vagococcus fluvialis infection and related pathogenic mechanism research. Meanwhile, we have systematically reviewed other reported.

A new strategy for the treatment of Parkinson's disease: Discovery and bio-evaluation of the first central-targeting tyrosinase inhibitor.

The high level of tyrosinase leads to the generation of neuromelanin, further causing the abnormality of redox-related protein level and mediating the occurrence and development of Parkinson's disease (PD). However, the existing tyrosinase inhibitors are mostly natural product extracts or polyphenolic derivatives, which hindered them from penetrating the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Herein, we obtained a novel tyrosinase inhibitor, 2-06 (tyrosinase: monophenolase IC50 = 70.44 ± 22.69 µM, diphenolase IC50 = 1.89 ± 0.64 µM), through the structure-based screening method. The compound 2-06 presented good in vitro and in vivo safety, and can inhibit the tyrosinase and melanogenesis in B16F10. Moreover, this compound showed neuroprotective effects and Parkinsonism behavior improving function. 2-06 was proved to penetrate the BBB and enter the central nervous system (CNS). The exploration of the binding mode between 2-06 and tyrosinase provided the foundation for the subsequent structural optimization. This is the first research to develop a central-targeting tyrosinase inhibitor, which is crucial for in-depth study on the new strategy for utilizing tyrosinase inhibitors to treat PD.

Occurrence, removal, and risk assessment of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and their derivatives in typical wastewater treatment plants.

Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) have a certain removal capacity for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and their derivatives, but some of them are discharged with effluent into the environment, which can affect the environment. Therefore, to understand the presence, sources, and potential risks of PAHs and their derivatives in WWTPs. Sixteen PAHs, three chlorinated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (ClPAHs), three oxidized polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (OPAHs), and three methylated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (MPAHs) were detected in the influent and effluent water of three WWTPs in China. The average concentrations of their influent ∑PAHs, ∑ClPAHs, ∑OPAHs, and ∑MPAHs ranged from 2682.50 to 2774.53 ng/L, 553.26-906.28 ng/L, 415.40-731.56 ng/L, and 534.04-969.83 ng/L, respectively, and the effluent concentrations ranged from 823.28 to 993.37 ng/L, 269.43-489.94 ng/L, 285.93-463.55 ng/L, and 376.25-512.34 ng/L, respectively. The growth of heat transport and industrial energy consumption in the region has a significant impact on the level of PAHs in WWTPs. According to the calculated removal efficiencies of PAHs and their derivatives in the three WWTPs (A, B, and C), the removal rates of PAHs and their derivatives were 69-72%, 62-71%, and 68-73%, respectively, and for the substituted polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (SPAHs), the removal rates were 41-49%, 31-40%, and 33-39%, respectively; moreover, the removal rates of PAHs were greater than those of SPAHs in the WWTPs. The results obtained via the ratio method indicated that the main sources of PAHs in the influent of WWTPs were the combustion of coal and biomass, and petroleum contamination was the secondary source. In risk evaluation, there were 5 compounds for which the risk quotient was considered high ecological risk. During chronic disease evaluation, there were 11 compounds with a risk quotient considered to indicate high risk. PAHs and SPAHs with high relative molecular masses in the effluent of WWTPs pose more serious environmental hazards than their PAHs counterparts.

Theory-guided unraveling of the mechanism underlying Cu1.0/Mn1.0-ZnO with dual reaction centers for enhanced peroxymonosulfate activation.

Developing efficient catalytic systems for water contamination removal is a topic of great interest. However, the use of heterogeneous catalysts faces challenges due to insufficient active sites and electron cycling. In this study, results from first-principles calculations demonstrate that dual reaction centers (DRCs) are produced around the Cu and Mn sites in Cu1.0/Mn1.0-ZnO due to the electronegativity difference. Experimental results reveal the material with DRCs greatly enhances electron transfer efficiency and significantly impacts the oxidation and reduction of peroxymonosulfate (PMS). In addition, the self-consistent potential correction (SCPC) method was introduced to correct the energy and charge of charged periodic systems simulating a catalytic process, resulting in more precise catalytic results. Specifically, the material exhibits a preference for adsorbing negatively charged PMS anions at electron-deficient Mn sites, facilitating PMS oxidation for the generation of 1O2, and PMS reduction around the electron-rich Cu for the formation of •OH and SO4•-. The major reactive oxygen species is 1O2, showcasing effective performance in various degradation systems. Overall, our work provides novel insights into the persulfate-based heterogeneous catalytic oxidation process, paving the way for the development of high-performance catalytic systems for water purification.

Endoscopic ultrasound-guided versus surgical pancreatic duct drainage after failed endoscopic retrograde pancreatography: a pilot comparative study.

BACKGROUND: Endoscopic ultrasound-guided pancreatic duct (PD) drainage (EUS-PDD) is being increasingly performed as an alternative method to surgical drainage to achieve PD decompression after failed endoscopic retrograde pancreatography (ERP). However, no directly study has compared EUS-PDD with surgical PD drainage after failed ERP in patients with chronic pancreatitis. METHODS: Consecutive patients who underwent EUS-PDD or longitudinal pancreaticojejunostomy after failed ERP were retrospectively identified from our endoscopy and medical information systems. The primary end point was the Izbicki pain score. The secondary end points were pain relief at the end of follow-up, procedure outcomes, adverse events, readmission, and reintervention. RESULTS: A total of 21 patients (11 EUS-PDD, 10 surgical drainages) were analyzed. There were no significant differences in mean Izbicki pain score (EUS-PDD, 13.6 ± 10.1 vs. surgical drainage 10.7 ± 7.9, p = 0.483) or complete/partial pain relief (60%/30% vs. 70%/30%, p = 0.752) at the end of follow-up of the two groups. The rates of overall adverse events (27.3% vs. 30.0%, p = 0.893) and readmission (63.6% vs. 40.0%, p = 0.290) were similar in the two treatment groups, while patients in EUS-PDD group required more reinterventions (45.5% vs. 0%, p = 0.039) compared with patients in the surgery group. CONCLUSION: EUS-PDD showed comparable pain relief and safety to surgical PD drainage after failed ERP, with a higher rate of reintervention. The selection of EUS-PDD or surgical drainage may be appropriate based on an individualized strategy.

Reactive oxygen species/glutathione dual sensitive nanoparticles with encapsulation of miR155 and curcumin for synergized cancer immunotherapy.

Considerable attention has been directed towards exploring the potential efficacy of miR-155 in the realm of cancer immunotherapy. Elevated levels of miR-155 in dendritic cells (DCs) have been shown to enhance their maturation, migration, cytokine secretion, and their ability to promote T cell activation. In addition, overexpression of mir155 in M2 macrophages boost the polarization towards the M1 phenotype. Conversely, miR-155 has the propensity to induce the accumulation of immunosuppressive cells like regulatory T cells (Tregs) and myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) in the tumor tissue. To account for this discrepancy, it is imperative to get help from a drug that could deal with immunosuppressive effect. Curcumin (CUR) exhibits the capacity to prompt Tregs converse into T helper 1 cells, fostering the polarization of M2 tumor-associated macrophage towards the M1 phenotype, and impeding the recruitment and aggregation of MDSCs within the tumor microenvironment. Nonetheless, CUR is known to exert an immunosuppressive impact on DCs by hindering the expression of maturation markers, cytokines, and chemokines, thereby prevent DCs response to immunostimulatory agents. Hence, a reactive oxygen species/glutathione dual responsive drug conveyance platform (CUR/miR155@DssD-Hb NPs) was devised to co-deliver CUR and miR155, with the aim of exploring their synergistic potential in bolstering a sustained and robust anti-tumor immune response. In vitro and in vivo results have suggested that CUR/miR155@DssD-Hb NPs can effectively inhibit the viability of 4T1 and B16F10 tumor cells, trigger the release of damage associated molecular patterns, stimulate DCs maturation, subsequent activation of CD8+ T cells, diminish immunosuppressive cell populations (MDSCs, Tregs, M2 TAMs and exhausted T cells), promote the formation of long-term immunity and lessen the formation of metastatic nodules in the lungs. In summary, the co-delivery system integrating CUR and miR155 (CUR/miR155@DssD-Hb NPs) demonstrates promise as a promising strategy for the immunotherapy of melanoma and triple negative breast cancer.

Momordica charantia L.-derived exosome-like nanovesicles stabilize p62 expression to ameliorate doxorubicin cardiotoxicity.

BACKGROUND: Doxorubicin (DOX) is a first-line chemotherapeutic drug for various malignancies that causes cardiotoxicity. Plant-derived exosome-like nanovesicles (P-ELNs) are growing as novel therapeutic agents. Here, we investigated the protective effects in DOX cardiotoxicity of ELNs from Momordica charantia L. (MC-ELNs), a medicinal plant with antioxidant activity. RESULTS: We isolated MC-ELNs using ultracentrifugation and characterized them with canonical mammalian extracellular vesicles features. In vivo studies proved that MC-ELNs ameliorated DOX cardiotoxicity with enhanced cardiac function and myocardial structure. In vitro assays revealed that MC-ELNs promoted cell survival, diminished reactive oxygen species, and protected mitochondrial integrity in DOX-treated H9c2 cells. We found that DOX treatment decreased the protein level of p62 through ubiquitin-dependent degradation pathway in H9c2 and NRVM cells. However, MC-ELNs suppressed DOX-induced p62 ubiquitination degradation, and the recovered p62 bound with Keap1 promoting Nrf2 nuclear translocation and the expressions of downstream gene HO-1. Furthermore, both the knockdown of Nrf2 and the inhibition of p62-Keap1 interaction abrogated the cardioprotective effect of MC-ELNs. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings demonstrated the therapeutic beneficials of MC-ELNs via increasing p62 protein stability, shedding light on preventive approaches for DOX cardiotoxicity.

New-onset or relapse of uveitis after rapid spreading of COVID-19 infection in China and risk factor analysis for relapse.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to report the clinical profile of new-onset and relapse of uveitis following rapid spreading of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection due to change of anti-COVID-19 policies in China and investigate potential risk factors for inflammation relapse. METHODS: In this retrospective case-control study, patients with new-onset or a history of uveitis between December 23, 2022, and February 28, 2023, were included to assess the influence of COVID-19 infection on uveitis. Detailed information on demographic data, clinical characteristics, treatment measures, treatment response, and ocular inflammatory status before and after COVID-19 infection was collected. RESULTS: This study included 349 patients with a history of uveitis. The uveitis relapse rate was higher (28.8%, n = 288) in those with COVID-19 infection than in patients without COVID-19 infection (14.8%, n = 61) (P = 0.024). Among the relapse cases, 50.8% experienced a relapse of anterior uveitis, while 49.2% had a relapse of uveitis involving the posterior segment. Multivariable regression analysis indicated a positive correlation between disease duration and uveitis relapse, while the last relapse exceeding one year before COVID-19 infection and the use of methotrexate during COVID-19 infection were negatively correlated with relapse of uveitis. Thirteen patients who developed new-onset uveitis following COVID-19 infection were included; among them, three (23.1%) had anterior uveitis and 10 (76.9%) had uveitis affecting the posterior segment. Regarding cases involving the posterior segment, four patients (30.8%) were diagnosed with Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada disease. CONCLUSIONS: COVID-19 infection increases the rate of uveitis relapse. Long disease duration is a risk factor, while time since the last relapse more than 1 year and methotrexate use are protective factors against uveitis relapse.

UPLC-quadrupole time-of-flight-tandem mass spectrometry combined with chemometrics and network pharmacology to differentiate Coreopsis tinctoria Nutt.

Coreopsis tinctoria Nutt. (C. tinctoria) is a traditional medicinal plant, primarily found in plateau areas with altitudes exceeding 3000 m. The efficacy of C. tinctoria appears to be intricately tied to its quality. However, there is a scarcity of studies focused on evaluating the quality of C. tinctoria from diverse geographical locations. In this study, we used ultra-performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight-tandem mass spectrometry to analyze and identify the prevalent chemical components in 12 batches of C. tinctoria sourced from Xinjiang, Qinghai, Tibet, and Yunnan provinces in China. By using cluster analysis and discriminant analysis of partial least squares, we assessed the similarity and identified varying components in the 12 batches of C. tinctoria. Subsequently, their quality was further evaluated. Utilizing network pharmacology, we identified potential active components for the treatment of diabetes mellitus. The findings revealed the presence of 16 flavonoids, 3 phenylpropanes, 2 sugars, 2 amino acids, and 7 hydrocarbons in the analyzed samples. Through variable importance screening, 17 constituents were identified as quality difference markers. Marein and flavanomarein emerged as pivotal markers, crucial for distinguishing variations in C. tinctoria. In addition, network pharmacology predicted 187 targets for 9 common active components, including marein and flavanomarein. Simultaneously, 1747 targets related to diabetes mellitus were identified. The drug-component-disease target network comprised 91 nodes and 179 edges, encompassing 1 drug node, 9 component nodes, and 81 target nodes. In summary, marein and flavanomarein stand out as key biomarkers for assessing the quality of C. tinctoria, offering a scientific foundation for the quality evaluation of C. tinctoria Nutt.

A Novel Piecewise Cubic Hermite Interpolating Polynomial-Enhanced Convolutional Gated Recurrent Method under Multiple Sensor Feature Fusion for Tool Wear Prediction.

The monitoring of the lifetime of cutting tools often faces problems such as life data loss, drift, and distortion. The prediction of the lifetime in this situation is greatly compromised with respect to the accuracy. The recent rise of deep learning, such as Gated Recurrent Unit Units (GRUs), Hidden Markov Models (HMMs), Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs), Recurrent Neural Networks (RNNs), Attention networks, and Transformers, has dramatically improved the data problems in tool lifetime prediction, substantially enhancing the accuracy of tool wear prediction. In this paper, we introduce a novel approach known as PCHIP-Enhanced ConvGRU (PECG), which leverages multiple-feature fusion for tool wear prediction. When compared to traditional models such as CNNs, the CNN Block, and GRUs, our method consistently outperformed them across all key performance metrics, with a primary focus on the accuracy. PECG addresses the challenge of missing tool wear measurement data in relation to sensor data. By employing PCHIP interpolation to fill in the gaps in the wear values, we have developed a model that combines the strengths of both CNNs and GRUs with data augmentation. The experimental results demonstrate that our proposed method achieved an exceptional relative accuracy of 0.8522, while also exhibiting a Pearson's Correlation Coefficient (PCC) exceeding 0.95. This innovative approach not only predicts tool wear with remarkable precision, but also offers enhanced stability.

Effects of font size, stroke, and background on the legibility of Chinese characters in virtual reality for the elderly.

To investigate the legibility of Chinese characters' font size, text background opacity, and font stroke for the elderly in virtual reality, we recruited old and young participants to conduct experiments with VR and used eye-tracking technology to record the data of task completion time and error rate. After analysis, we concluded that the minimum recognition font size for the elderly is 30 dmm, and the best font size is 60 dmm, which is 20 and 40 dmm for young people. The font style has a significant effect on old people (p = 0.000*). Besides, for font sizes smaller than 20 dmm and bigger than 50 dmm, text with strokes and over 50% semi-transparent backgrounds can improve legibility for the elderly. With a suitable font size, the influence of font style on the elderly is not significant. These conclusions can provide a reference for the elderly-oriented Chinese font design in VR.

To investigate the legibility of Chinese characters' font size, text background opacity, and font stroke for the elderly in virtual reality. We recruited old and young participants to conduct experiments with VR and concluded the minimum recognition font size and the best font size for them.

Homochiral Covalent Organic Frameworks with Superhelical Nanostructures Enable Efficient Chirality-Induced Spin Selectivity.

Despite significant advancements in fabricating covalent organic frameworks (COFs) with diverse morphologies, creating COFs with superhelical nanostructures remains challenging. We report here the controlled synthesis of homochiral superhelical COF nanofibers by manipulating pendent alkyl chain lengths in organic linkers. This approach yields homochiral 3D COFs 13-OR with a 10-fold interpenetrated diamondoid structure (R = H, Me, Et, nPr, nBu) from enantiopure 1,1'-bi-2-naphthol (BINOL)-based tetraaldehydes and tetraamine. COF-13-OEt exhibits macroscopic chirality as right-handed and left-handed superhelical fibers, whereas others adopt spherical or non-helical morphologies. Time-tracking shows a self-assembly process from non-helical strands to single-stranded helical fibers and intertwined superhelices. Ethoxyl substituents, being of optimal size, balance solvophobic effects and intermolecular interactions, driving the formation of superhelical nanostructures, with handedness determined by BINOL chirality. The superhelical nature of these materials is evident in their chiral recognition and spin-filter properties, showing significantly improved enantiodiscrimination in carbohydrate binding (up to six times higher enantioselectivity) and a remarkable chiral-induced spin selectivity (CISS) effect with a 48-51% spin polarization ratio, a feature absent in non-helical analogs.

Photocatalytic Synthesis of Glycine from Methanol and Nitrate.

Photocatalytic utilization of methanol and nitrate as carbon and nitrogen sources for the direct synthesis of amino acids could provide a sustainable way for the valorization of green "liquid sunlight" and nitrate waste. In this study, we developed an efficient photochemical method to synthesize glycine directly from methanol and nitrate, which cascades the C-C coupling to form glycol, nitrate reduction to NH3, and finally C-N coupling to generate glycine. Interestingly, the involved photocatalytic tandem reactions show a synergistic effect, in which the presence of nitrate is the dominant factor to enable the overall reaction and reach high synthetic efficiency. Ba2+-TiO2 nanoparticles are confirmed as a feasible and efficient catalyst system for the photosynthesis of glycine with a remarkable glycine photosynthesis rate of 870 µmol gcat-1 h-1 under optimal conditions. This work establishes a novel catalytic system for amino acid synthesis from methanol and nitrate under mild conditions. These results also allow us to further suppose the formation pathways of amino acids on the primitive earth, as an extension to proposals based on the Miller-Urey experiments.