N/P-doped NiFeV oxide nanosheets with oxygen vacancies as an efficient electrocatalyst for the oxygen evolution reaction.

Plasma treatment as an effective strategy can simultaneously achieve surface modification and heteroatom doping. Here, an N/P-doped NiFeV oxide nanosheet catalyst (N/P-NiFeVO) constructed by Ar/PH3 plasma treatment is used to drive the oxygen evolution reaction (OER). The introduction of V species leads to the formation of an ultrathin ordered nanostructure and exposure of more active sites. Compared to the 2D NiFeV LDH, the prepared N/P-NiFeVO by plasma treatment possesses multiple-valence Fe, V and Ni species, which regulate the intrinsic electronic structure and enable a superior catalytic activity for the OER in alkaline media. Specifically, the N/P-NiFeVO only require an overpotential of 273 mV to drive the current density of 100 mA cm-2. What's more, the electrode can maintain a stable current density in a long-term oxygen evolution reaction (∼120 h) under alkaline conditions. This work provides new insight for the rational design of mixed metal oxides for OER electrocatalysts.

Dimensional and Doping Engineering of Chiral Perovskites with Enhanced Spin Selectivity for Green Emissive Spin Light-Emitting Diodes.

Chiral perovskites play a pivotal role in spintronics and optoelectronic systems attributed to their chiral-induced spin selectivity (CISS) effect. Specifically, they allow for spin-polarized charge transport in spin light-emitting diodes (LEDs), yielding circularly polarized electroluminescence at room temperature without external magnetic fields. However, chiral lead bromide-based perovskites have yet to achieve high-performance green emissive spin-LEDs, owing to limited CISS effects and charge transport. Herein, we employ dimensional regulation and Sn2+-doping to optimize chiral bromide-based perovskite architecture for green emissive spin-LEDs. The optimized (PEA)x(S/R-PRDA)2-xSn0.1Pb0.9Br4 chiral perovskite film exhibits an enhanced CISS effect, higher hole mobility, and better energy level alignment with the emissive layer. These improvements allow us to fabricate green emissive spin-LEDs with an external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 5.7% and an asymmetry factor |gCP-EL| of 1.1 × 10-3. This work highlights the importance of tailored perovskite architectures and doping strategies in advancing spintronics for optoelectronic applications.

Neutrophils in glioma microenvironment: from immune function to immunotherapy.

Glioma is a malignant tumor of the central nervous system (CNS). Currently, effective treatment options for gliomas are still lacking. Neutrophils, as an important member of the tumor microenvironment (TME), are widely distributed in circulation. Recently, the discovery of cranial-meningeal channels and intracranial lymphatic vessels has provided new insights into the origins of neutrophils in the CNS. Neutrophils in the brain may originate more from the skull and adjacent vertebral bone marrow. They cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB) under the action of chemokines and enter the brain parenchyma, subsequently migrating to the glioma TME and undergoing phenotypic changes upon contact with tumor cells. Under glycolytic metabolism model, neutrophils show complex and dual functions in different stages of cancer progression, including participation in the malignant progression, immune suppression, and anti-tumor effects of gliomas. Additionally, neutrophils in the TME interact with other immune cells, playing a crucial role in cancer immunotherapy. Targeting neutrophils may be a novel generation of immunotherapy and improve the efficacy of cancer treatments. This article reviews the molecular mechanisms of neutrophils infiltrating the central nervous system from the external environment, detailing the origin, functions, classifications, and targeted therapies of neutrophils in the context of glioma.

Influences of elevational gradient on flower size and number of Gentiana lawrencei var. farreri.

Plants can adapt to environmental changes by adjusting their functional traits and biomass allocation. The size and number of flowers are functional traits related to plant reproduction. Life history theory predicts that there is a trade-off between flower size and number, and the trade-off can potentially explain the adaptability of plants. Elevation gradients in mountains provide a unique opportunity to test how plants will respond to climate change. In this study, we tried to better explain the adaptability of the alpine plant Gentiana lawrencei var. farreri in response to climate change. We measured the flower size and number, individual size, and reproductive allocation of G. lawrencei var. farreri during the flowering period along an elevation gradient from 3200 to 4000 m, and explored their relationships using linear mixed-effect models and the structural equation model. We found that with elevation increasing, individual size and flower number decreased and flower size increased, while reproductive allocation remained unchanged. Individual size positively affected flower number, but was not related to flower size; reproductive allocation positively affected flower size, but was not related to flower number; there is a clear trade-off between flower size and number. We also found that elevation decreased flower number indirectly via directly reducing individual size. In sum, this study suggests that G. lawrencei var. farreri can adapt to alpine environments by the synergies or trade-offs among individual size, reproductive allocation, flower size, and flower number. This study increases our understanding of the adaptation mechanisms of alpine plants to climate change in alpine environments.

A Comparative Study of Prevalence and Associated Factors of Social Support Among Chinese Shidu Parents and Non-Shidu Parents.

The number of parents in China who have lost their only child, referred to as shidu parents, currently exceeds one million and is increasing by approximately 76,000 annually. Shidu parents face a unique challenge in long-term care, primarily stemming from the sudden and tragic loss of their only child, which leads to a substantial decrease in their social support network. A multi-stage, stratified, and cluster sampling method was employed across various economic belts. Linear regression analysis was utilized to examine factors associated with the social support status of shidu and non-shidu parents. The level of social support decreases as the severity of depression increases. Shidu parents with grandchildren tend to have good social support. The city of Hangzhou exhibits relatively high levels of social support. Married individuals typically report higher levels of social support. It is recommended to prioritize shidu parents without grandchildren as a primary focus for government and societal support. Key recommendations include strengthening social skills training and developing social support networks. Drive economic development, particularly in relatively underdeveloped regions. Strengthen social organizations and community development. Enhancing access to support services, leveraging technology, and encouraging volunteerism for non-married parents.

Lineage-Specific Mesenchymal Stromal Cells Derived from Human iPSCs Showed Distinct Patterns in Transcriptomic Profile and Extracellular Vesicle Production.

Over the past decades, mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) have been extensively investigated as a potential therapeutic cell source for the treatment of various disorders. Differentiation of MSCs from human induced pluripotent stem cells (iMSCs) has provided a scalable approach for the biomanufacturing of MSCs and related biological products. Although iMSCs shared typical MSC markers and functions as primary MSCs (pMSCs), there is a lack of lineage specificity in many iMSC differentiation protocols. Here, a stepwise hiPSC-to-iMSC differentiation method is employed via intermediate cell stages of neural crest and cytotrophoblast to generate lineage-specific MSCs with varying differentiation efficiencies and gene expression. Through a comprehensive comparison between early developmental cell types (hiPSCs, neural crest, and cytotrophoblast), two lineage-specific iMSCs, and six source-specific pMSCs, are able to not only distinguish the transcriptomic differences between MSCs and early developmental cells, but also determine the transcriptomic similarities of iMSC subtypes to postnatal or perinatal pMSCs. Additionally, it is demonstrated that different iMSC subtypes and priming conditions affected EV production, exosomal protein expression, and cytokine cargo.

Mechanism of action of Sambucus williamsii Hance var. miquelii in the treatment of osteoporosis analyzed by UHPLC-HRMS/MS combined network pharmacology and experimental validation.

Sambucus williamsii Hance var. miquelii(SWH) is a precious wild Chinese herb whose fruit, rhizome, leaves and root bark can be used as medicine. Sambucus Linn has pharmacological effects such as anti-osteoporosis, promoting fracture healing, anti-viral and anti-inflammatory. In this study, the main chemical components of the alcoholic extracts from SWH were rapidly identified by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole orbit trap high-resolution mass spectrometry (UHPLC- HRMS MS), and a total of 42 compounds were characterized from the alcoholic extracts of SWH. The results of network pharmacological validation showed that kaempferol, quercetin, luteolin, isorhamnetin and morroniside were the main active components, and KEGG enrichment demonstrated that SWH mainly affected the signaling pathways such as PI3K-Akt, TNF and FoxO by modulating the related targets such as AKT1, PIK3R1, EGFR, RELA SRC and PTGS2. The molecular docking results showed binding solid activity between the main active components of SWH and the targets. The network pharmacology was validated by establishing an animal model of osteoporosis (OP) in rats by gavage administration of vitamin A acid. The results of the pharmacological experiments showed that SWH could improve the degree of bone loss in the femur of osteoporotic rats, increase the number of trabeculae and decrease trabeculae porosity, up-regulate the Ca and P content in the serum of OP rats, down-regulate the scope of ALP and BGP in the serum, and promote the calcification of the bone matrix, and then exert the anti-OP efficacy. In this study, network pharmacology and pharmacological experiments verified the pharmacological mechanism of SWH in anti-OP rats. This provides a theoretical basis for the research and development of anti-OP drugs and a reference for the application of other traditional Chinese medicines in treating OP diseases.

Preoperatively predicting vessels encapsulating tumor clusters in hepatocellular carcinoma: Machine learning model based on contrast-enhanced computed tomography.

BACKGROUND: Recently, vessels encapsulating tumor clusters (VETC) was considered as a distinct pattern of tumor vascularization which can primarily facilitate the entry of the whole tumor cluster into the bloodstream in an invasion independent manner, and was regarded as an independent risk factor for poor prognosis in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). AIM: To develop and validate a preoperative nomogram using contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CECT) to predict the presence of VETC+ in HCC. METHODS: We retrospectively evaluated 190 patients with pathologically confirmed HCC who underwent CECT scanning and immunochemical staining for cluster of differentiation 34 at two medical centers. Radiomics analysis was conducted on intratumoral and peritumoral regions in the portal vein phase. Radiomics features, essential for identifying VETC+ HCC, were extracted and utilized to develop a radiomics model using machine learning algorithms in the training set. The model's performance was validated on two separate test sets. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was employed to compare the identified performance of three models in predicting the VETC status of HCC on both training and test sets. The most predictive model was then used to constructed a radiomics nomogram that integrated the independent clinical-radiological features. ROC and decision curve analysis were used to assess the performance characteristics of the clinical-radiological features, the radiomics features and the radiomics nomogram. RESULTS: The study included 190 individuals from two independent centers, with the majority being male (81%) and a median age of 57 years (interquartile range: 51-66). The area under the curve (AUC) for the combined radiomics features selected from the intratumoral and peritumoral areas were 0.825, 0.788, and 0.680 in the training set and the two test sets. A total of 13 features were selected to construct the Rad-score. The nomogram, combining clinical-radiological and combined radiomics features could accurately predict VETC+ in all three sets, with AUC values of 0.859, 0.848 and 0.757. Decision curve analysis revealed that the radiomics nomogram was more clinically useful than both the clinical-radiological feature and the combined radiomics models. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates the potential utility of a CECT-based radiomics nomogram, incorporating clinical-radiological features and combined radiomics features, in the identification of VETC+ HCC.

Isthmin-1 alleviates cardiac ischemia/reperfusion injury through cGMP-PKG signaling pathway.

AIMS: Ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury is an important complication of reperfusion therapy for acute myocardial infarction, extremely compromising the cardiac benefits of revascularization, however, specific and efficient treatment for cardiac I/R injury is still lacking. Isthmin-1 (ISM1) is a novel adipokine, and plays indispensable roles in regulating glycolipid metabolism and cell survival. The present study aims to investigate the potential role and molecular mechanism of ISM1 in cardiac I/R injury using gain- and loss-of-function approaches. METHODS AND RESULTS: Cardiac-specific ISM1 overexpression and silence were achieved using an adeno-associated virus serotype 9 system, and then these mice were subjected to I/R surgery, followed by biochemical test, echocardiography and histopathologic examinations, etc. Meanwhile, neonatal rat cardiomyocytes (NRCMs) with ISM1 silence or overexpression also received simulated I/R (sI/R) injury to further verify its role in vitro. The potential downstream pathways and molecular targets of ISM1 were screened by RNA-sequencing. We also treated injured mice and NRCMs with recombinant ISM1 (rISM1) to explore whether supplementation with ISM1 was sufficient to protect against I/R injury. Furthermore, acute myocardial infarction patients with percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) and paired healthy controls were included to reveal the clinical relevance of circulating ISM1. Cardiac-specific ISM1 silencing aggravated while ISM1 overexpression alleviated I/R-induced acute cardiac injury and cardiac remodeling and dysfunction. Mechanistically, ISM1 targeted αvß5 integrin to facilitate the nuclear accumulation of nuclear transcription factor Y subunit alpha, transcriptionally increased soluble guanylyl cyclase beta subunit expression, and eventually enhanced cGMP generation. Besides, we confirmed that treatment with rISM1 before or after reperfusion could confer cardioprotective effects in mice. Clinically, lower ISM1 levels post-PCI was associated with worse outcome in patients. CONCLUSION: ISM1 can protect against cardiac I/R injury through cGMP-PKG signaling pathway, and it is a promising therapeutic and predictive target of cardiac I/R injury.

Organoid intelligence: Integration of organoid technology and artificial intelligence in the new era of in vitro models.

Organoid Intelligence ushers in a new era by seamlessly integrating cutting-edge organoid technology with the power of artificial intelligence. Organoids, three-dimensional miniature organ-like structures cultivated from stem cells, offer an unparalleled opportunity to simulate complex human organ systems in vitro. Through the convergence of organoid technology and AI, researchers gain the means to accelerate discoveries and insights across various disciplines. Artificial intelligence algorithms enable the comprehensive analysis of intricate organoid behaviors, intricate cellular interactions, and dynamic responses to stimuli. This synergy empowers the development of predictive models, precise disease simulations, and personalized medicine approaches, revolutionizing our understanding of human development, disease mechanisms, and therapeutic interventions. Organoid Intelligence holds the promise of reshaping how we perceive in vitro modeling, propelling us toward a future where these advanced systems play a pivotal role in biomedical research and drug development.

Synthesis of substituted terpyridine nickel nitrate complexes and their inhibitory selectivity against cancer cell lines.

Six terpyridine­nickel complexes 1-6 were formed by the coordination of 4'-(4-R-phenyl)-2,2':6',2″-terpyridine (R = hydroxyl (L1), methoxyl (L2), methylsulfonyl (L3), fluoro (L4), bromo (L5), iodo (L6)) derivatives to nickel nitrate. The compositions and structures of these complexes were analyzed by Fourier Transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), elemental analyses, electrospray ionization mass spectra (ESI-MS), solid-state ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy, and single crystal X-ray diffraction (1, 2 and 4) studies. In vitro anticancer cell proliferation experiments against SiHa (human cervical squamous cancer cell line) cells, Bel-7402 (human hepatoma cancer cell line), Eca-109 (human esophageal cancer cell line) and HL-7702 (human normal hepatocyte cell line) indicate that they have more excellent anti-proliferation effects than the cis-platin against Siha cells, Bel-7402 cells and Eca-109 cells. Especially, complex 5 showed a rather outstanding inhibitory effect against the SiHa cell line and was less toxic than the other compounds to the HL-7702 cell line, implying an obvious specific inhibitory effect. Therefore, complex 5 has the potential value to be developed as an anticancer cell-specific drug against human cervical squamous carcinoma. Molecular docking simulation, UV-vis absorption spectroscopy and circular dichroism experiments show that they prefer to bind to DNA part in an embedded binding manner.

Basic magnesium sulfate@TiO2 composite for efficient adsorption and photocatalytic degradation of 4-dodecylmorpholine in brine.

More than 70% of the potash fertilizer globally is produced by the froth flotation process, in which 4-dodecylmorpholine (DMP) serves as a reverse flotation agent. As the potash fertilizer production rapidly rises, the increased DMP levels in discharged brine pose a threat to the production of high-value chemicals. In this paper, composite particles of basic magnesium sulfate@TiO2 (BMS@TiO2) were prepared using a simple and mild loading method. These particles were utilized for the adsorption and photocatalytic degradation of DMP in brine. Compared with normal powdered materials, the granular BMS@TiO2 in this study can be easily separated from liquid, and the degradation intermediates will not enter the brine without causing secondary pollution. BMS@TiO2 consists of 5·1·7 phase (5Mg(OH)2·MgSO4·7H2O) whisker clusters embedding 2.3% TiO2. The adsorption equilibrium of DMP on BMS@TiO2 particles was achieved through hydrogen bonding and pore interception with the adsorption capacity of approximately 5 mg g-1 after 6 h. The photodegradation efficiency of DMP adsorbed on BMS@TiO2 reached about 92% within 16 h, which is compared with that of pure TiO2 nanoparticles. Additionally, excellent stability and recyclability of BMS@TiO2 were also observed in five cycle tests of adsorption and photocatalytic degradation of DMP, and the possible photocatalytic degradation pathways and mechanism of DMP are proposed following molecular electrostatic potential analysis. This work provides a sustainable and environmentally friendly approach for eliminating organic micropollutants from water environments.

Corrigendum: Genome-wide survey reveals the genetic background of Xinjiang Brown cattle in China.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fgene.2023.1348329.].

Ag engineered NiFe-LDH/NiFe2O4 Mott-Schottky heterojunction electrocatalyst for highly efficient oxygen evolution and urea oxidation reactions.

Efficient and durable electrocatalysts with sufficient active sites and high intrinsic activity are essential for advancing energy-saving hydrogen production technology. In this study, a Mott-Schottky heterojunction electrocatalyst with Ag nanoparticles in-situ grown on NiFe layered double hydroxides (NiFe-LDH)/NiFe2O4 nanosheets (Ag@NiFe-LDH/NiFe2O4) were designed and successfully synthesized through a hydrothermal process and subsequent spontaneous redox reaction. The in-situ growth of metallic Ag on semiconducting NiFe-LDH/NiFe2O4 triggers a strong electron interaction across the Mott-Schottky interface, leading to a significant increase in both the intrinsic catalytic activity and the electrochemical active surface area of the heterojunction electrocatalyst. As a result, the Ag@NiFe-LDH/NiFe2O4 demonstrates impressive oxygen evolution reaction (OER) performance in alkaline KOH solution, achieving a low overpotential of 249 mV at 100 mA cm-2 and a Tafel slope of 42.79 mV dec-1. When the self-supported Ag@NiFe-LDH/NiFe2O4 is coupled with the Pt/C electrocatalyst, the alkaline electrolyzer reaches a current density of 10 mA cm-2 at a cell voltage of only 1.460 V. Furthermore, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and in-situ Raman analysis reveal that the Ni(Fe)OOH is the possible active phase for OER in the catalyst. In addition, when employed for UOR catalysis, the Ag@NiFe-LDH/NiFe2O4 also displays intriguing activity with an ultralow potential of 1.389 V at 50 mA cm-2. This work may shed light on the rational design of multiple-phase heterogeneous electrocatalysts and demonstrate the significance of interface engineering in enhancing catalytic performance.

Photoinduced arylation or alkylation of 1,2,4-triazine-3,5(2H,4H)-diones with hydrazines.

A light-induced method is developed for synthesizing azauracils. This method is independent from traditional methodology. Remarkably, this reaction can also be powered by sunlight. The applicability of this method is further demonstrated through its successful implementation in large-scale reactions and its use in synthesizing derivatives.

YOLO-B:An infrared target detection algorithm based on bi-fusion and efficient decoupled.

The YOLO-B infrared target detection algorithm is proposed to address the problems of incomplete extraction of detailed features and missed and wrong detection of infrared targets by YOLOv5s. The algorithm improves the SPPF of YOLOv5s feature extraction network by proposing the CSPPF structure to increase the sensory field of the model. The Bifusion Neck structure is invoked to fuse the shallow location information with deep semantic information to enhance the feature extraction capability of the model. Taking fully into account the different information of concern for classification and localization, the efficient decoupled head is used as the prediction head of this algorithm, which reduces the latency while maintaining the accuracy. WIoUv3 loss is used as a bounding box regression loss function to reduce the harmful gradient generated by low-quality examples and reduce the competitiveness of high-quality anchor frames. Comparative experiments were conducted for each of the four improvement points, and the experimental results showed that each improvement point had the highest detection accuracy in the comparative experiments of the same category. All improvement points are fused in turn and ablation experiments are performed. The YOLO-B algorithm improves 1.9% in accuracy, 7.3% in recall, 3.8% in map_0.5, and 4.6% in map_0.5:0.95 compared to YOLOv5s. When compared with YOLOv7 and YOLOv8s, the proposed algorithm has better performance in terms of the number of parameters and detection accuracy.

AI-organoid integrated systems for biomedical studies and applications.

In this review, we explore the growing role of artificial intelligence (AI) in advancing the biomedical applications of human pluripotent stem cell (hPSC)-derived organoids. Stem cell-derived organoids, these miniature organ replicas, have become essential tools for disease modeling, drug discovery, and regenerative medicine. However, analyzing the vast and intricate datasets generated from these organoids can be inefficient and error-prone. AI techniques offer a promising solution to efficiently extract insights and make predictions from diverse data types generated from microscopy images, transcriptomics, metabolomics, and proteomics. This review offers a brief overview of organoid characterization and fundamental concepts in AI while focusing on a comprehensive exploration of AI applications in organoid-based disease modeling and drug evaluation. It provides insights into the future possibilities of AI in enhancing the quality control of organoid fabrication, label-free organoid recognition, and three-dimensional image reconstruction of complex organoid structures. This review presents the challenges and potential solutions in AI-organoid integration, focusing on the establishment of reliable AI model decision-making processes and the standardization of organoid research.

Sarcomeric tropomyosin expression during human iPSC differentiation into cardiomyocytes.

Tropomyosin (TPM) is an essential sarcomeric component, stabilizing the thin filament and facilitating actin's interaction with myosin. In mammals, including humans, there are four TPM genes (TPM1, TPM2, TPM3, and TPM4) each of which generates a multitude of TPM isoforms via alternative splicing and using different promoters. In this study, we have examined the expression of transcripts as well as proteins of various sarcomeric TPM isoforms during human inducible pluripotent stem cell differentiation into cardiomyocytes. During the differentiation time course, we harvested cells on Days 0, 5, 10, 15, and 20 to analyze for various sarcomeric TPM transcripts by qRT-PCR and for sarcomeric TPM proteins using two-dimensional Western blot with sarcomeric TPM-specific CH1 monoclonal antibody followed by mass spectra analyses. Our results show increasing levels of total TPM transcripts and proteins during the period of differentiation, but varying levels of specific TPM isoforms during the same period. By Day 20, the rank order of TPM transcripts was TPM1α > TPM1κ > TPM2α > TPM1µ > TPM3α > TPM4α. TPM1α was the dominant protein produced with some TPM2 and much less TPM1κ and µ. Interestingly, small amounts of two lower molecular weight TPM3 isoforms were detected on Day 15. To the best of our knowledge this is the first demonstration of TPM1µ non-muscle isoform protein expression before and during cardiac differentiation.