MgNiO2 as a Ceramic Additive To Improve the Durability of Lithium Metal Anode.

Ceramic materials are the most popular additives to regulate the reinless interfacial reaction between lithium and the electrolyte by strengthening the SEI layer or tuning lithium deposition. Here, we propose an exceptional material, MgNiO2, abbreviated as MN, which can improve the durability of lithium metal anode. Since it is undecomposed up to 0 V vs Li/Li+, the MN's particles give some semiconductive characteristics to the SEI layer to tune the interfacial reactions. The addition of MgNiO2 in the protective films lowers interfacial resistance, which is responsible for the improved durability of Li|Cu cells: ∼210 cycles, which is 4 times longer than that of the control. Furthermore, this ceramic is used to modify the carbon film woven with carbon nanofibers (CNF @ MN). The cells with this modified 3-D host present excellent operational lives, as high as ∼2400 h in Li|Li symmetric cells and ∼280 cycles in the Li|NCM811 cells. Our approaches demonstrate that MN is an effective ceramic for stabilizing the lithium anode. It also indicates that the inert nature of the semiconductor to lithium is worth exploring thoroughly.

A study of the mediating effect of social support on self-disclosure and demoralization in Chinese older adult homebound breast cancer patients.

Purpose: Demoralization is common in older adult homebound breast cancer patients, seriously affecting their quality of life. This study aimed to investigate the demoralization of older adult homebound breast cancer patients and to analyse the mediating effects of social support between self-disclosure and demoralization. Methods: The study enrolled 368 older adult homebound breast cancer patients reviewed in outpatient clinics of three hospitals from January 2022 to August 2023. A questionnaire survey was conducted using the general information questionnaire, the distress disclosure index (DDI), the social support revalued scale (SSRS), and the demoralization scale (DS). Path analysis was conducted to test the hypothesised serial mediation model. Results: The total scores of self-disclosure, social support, and demoralization were 37 (25-42), 34 (19-48.75), and 46.5 (35-68), respectively. The results indicated a positive correlation between self-disclosure and social support (p < 0.01). In contrast, a statistically significant negative correlation was observed between self-disclosure, social support, and various demoralization dimensions (p < 0.01). Social support played a partial mediation effects between self-disclosure and demoralization, indirect effect =0.6362, SE = -0.591, 95% CI (-0.785 ~ -0.415); Self-disclosure direct effect demoralization, direct effect =0.3638, SE = -0.337, 95% CI (-0.525 ~ -0.144); total effect, SE = -0.929, 95% CI (-0.945 ~ -0.904). Discussion: Social support a partial mediated between self-disclosure and demoralization in Chinese older adult homebound breast cancer patients. Clinical staff should focus on developing a social support system for Chinese older adult homebound breast cancer patients, encouraging patients to reveal their minds, and providing psychological counselling to enhance self-confidence and rebirth from adversity.

Activation of polyamine catabolism promotes glutamine metabolism and creates a targetable vulnerability in lung cancer.

Polyamines are a class of small polycationic alkylamines that play essential roles in both normal and cancer cell growth. Polyamine metabolism is frequently dysregulated and considered a therapeutic target in cancer. However, targeting polyamine metabolism as monotherapy often exhibits limited efficacy, and the underlying mechanisms are incompletely understood. Here we report that activation of polyamine catabolism promotes glutamine metabolism, leading to a targetable vulnerability in lung cancer. Genetic and pharmacological activation of spermidine/spermine N1-acetyltransferase 1 (SAT1), the rate-limiting enzyme of polyamine catabolism, enhances the conversion of glutamine to glutamate and subsequent glutathione (GSH) synthesis. This metabolic rewiring ameliorates oxidative stress to support lung cancer cell proliferation and survival. Simultaneous glutamine limitation and SAT1 activation result in ROS accumulation, growth inhibition, and cell death. Importantly, pharmacological inhibition of either one of glutamine transport, glutaminase, or GSH biosynthesis in combination with activation of polyamine catabolism synergistically suppresses lung cancer cell growth and xenograft tumor formation. Together, this study unveils a previously unappreciated functional interconnection between polyamine catabolism and glutamine metabolism and establishes cotargeting strategies as potential therapeutics in lung cancer.

Large Organic Polar Molecules Tailored Electrode Interfaces for Stable Lithium Metal Battery.

Lithium (Li) metal batteries (LMBs) are deemed as ones of the most promising energy storage devices for next electrification applications. However, the uneven Li electroplating process caused by the diffusion-limited Li+ transportation at the Li metal surface inherently promotes the formation of dendritic morphology and instable Li interphase, while the sluggish Li+ transfer kinetic can also cause lithiation-induced stress on the cathode materials suffering from serious structural stability. Herein, a novel electrolyte designing strategy is proposed to accelerate the Li+ transfer by introducing a trace of large organic polar molecules of lithium phytate (LP) without significantly altering the electrolyte structure. The LP molecules can afford a competitive solvent attraction mechanism against the solvated Li+, enhancing both the bulk and interfacial Li+ transfer kinetic, and creating better anode/cathode interfaces to suppress the side reactions, resulting in much improved cycling efficiency of LMBs. Using LP-based electrolyte, the performance of LMB pouch cell with a practical capacity of ~1.5 Ah can be improved greatly. This strategy opens up a novel electrolyte designing route for reliable LMBs.

Binding FSI- to Construct a Self-Healing SEI Film for Li-Metal Batteries by In situ Crosslinking Vinyl Ionic Liquid.

The solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) membrane on the Li metal anode tends to breakdown and undergo reconstruction during operation, causing Li metal batteries to experience accelerated decay. Notably, an SEI membrane with self-healing characteristics can help considerably in stabilizing the Li-electrolyte interface; however, uniformly fixing the repairing agent onto the anode remains a challenging task. By leveraging the noteworthy film-forming attributes of bis(fluorosulfonyl)imide (FSI-) anions and the photopolymerization property of the vinyl group, the ionic liquid 1-vinyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(fluorosulfonyl)imide (VMI-FSI) was crosslinked with polyethylene oxide (PEO) in this study to form a self-healing film fixing FSI- groups as the repairing agent. When they encounter lithium metal, the FSI- groups are chemically decomposed into LiF & Li3N, which assist forming SEI membrane on lithium sheet and repairing SEI membrane in the cracks lacerated by lithium dendrite. Furthermore, the FSI- anions exchanged from film are electrochemically decomposed to generate inorganic salts to strengthen the SEI membrane. Benefiting from the self-healing behavior of the film, Li/LiCoO2 cells with the loading of 16.3 mg cm-2 exhibit the initial discharge capacities of 183.0 mAh ⋅ g-1 and are stably operated for 500 cycles with the retention rates of 81.4 % and the average coulombic efficiency of 99.97 %, operated between 3.0-4.5 V vs. Li+/Li. This study presents a new design approach for self-healing Li metal anodes and durable lithium metal battery.

Designing Compatible Ceramic/Polymer Composite Solid-State Electrolyte for Stable Silicon Nanosheet Anodes.

The commercialization of silicon anode for lithium-ion batteries has been hindered by severe structure fracture and continuous interfacial reaction against liquid electrolytes, which can be mitigated by solid-state electrolytes. However, rigid ceramic electrolyte suffers from large electrolyte/electrode interfacial resistance, and polymer electrolyte undergoes poor ionic conductivity, both of which are worsened by volume expansion of silicon. Herein, by dispersing Li1.3Al0.3Ti1.7(PO4)3 (LATP) into poly(vinylidene fluoride)-hexafluoropropylene (PVDF-HFP) and poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) matrix, the PVDF-HFP/PEO/LATP (PHP-L) solid-state electrolyte with high ionic conductivity (1.40 × 10-3 S cm-1), high tensile strength and flexibility is designed, achieving brilliant compatibility with silicon nanosheets. The chemical interactions between PVDF-HFP and PEO, LATP increase amorphous degree of polymer, accelerating Li+ transfer. Good flexibility of the PHP-L contributes to adaptive structure variation of electrolyte with silicon expansion/shrinkage, ensuring swift interfacial ions transfer. Moreover, the solid membrane with high tensile limits electrode structural degradation and eliminates continuous interfacial growth to form stable 2D solid electrolyte interface (SEI) film, achieving superior cyclic performance to liquid electrolytes. The Si//PHP-L15//LiFePO4 solid-state full-cell exhibits stable lithium storage with 81% capacity retention after 100 cycles. This work demonstrates the effectiveness of composite solid electrolyte in addressing fundamental interfacial and performance challenges of silicon anodes.

Enhanced brain functional connectivity and activation after 12-week Tai Chi-based action observation training in patients with Parkinson's disease.

Introduction: Motor-cognitive interactive interventions, such as action observation training (AOT), have shown great potential in restoring cognitive function and motor behaviors. It is expected that an advanced AOT incorporating specific Tai Chi movements with continuous and spiral characteristics can facilitate the shift from automatic to intentional actions and thus enhance motor control ability for early-stage PD. Nonetheless, the underlying neural mechanisms remain unclear. The study aimed to investigate changes in brain functional connectivity (FC) and clinical improvement after 12 weeks of Tai Chi-based action observation training (TC-AOT) compared to traditional physical therapy (TPT). Methods: Thirty early-stage PD patients were recruited and randomly assigned to the TC-AOT group (N = 15) or TPT group (N = 15). All participants underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) scans before and after 12 weeks of training and clinical assessments. The FCs were evaluated by seed-based correlation analysis based on the default mode network (DMN). The rehabilitation effects of the two training methods were compared while the correlations between significant FC changes and clinical improvement were investigated. Results: The results showed that the TC-AOT group exhibited significantly increased FCs between the dorsal medial prefrontal cortex and cerebellum crus I, between the posterior inferior parietal lobe and supramarginal gyrus, and between the temporal parietal junction and clusters of middle occipital gyrus and superior temporal. Moreover, these FC changes had a positive relationship with patients' improved motor and cognitive performance. Discussion: The finding supported that the TC-AOT promotes early-stage PD rehabilitation outcomes by promoting brain neuroplasticity where the FCs involved in the integration of sensorimotor processing and motor learning were strengthened.

Gaussian optics optimization of an optical particle counter for measurement in high-pressure gas.

An optimization model for the parameters of the pressure-resistant lens of an optical particle counter, based on Gaussian optics theory, was established to increase the measurement accuracy of the counter for high-pressure natural gas. Comparing the experimental and calculated values of the calibrated model, when the pressure-resistant lens is displaced by 2 mm under atmospheric pressure, the relative error of the measured body deformation is 0.15%. When the air pressure varies in the range 0.10-5.09 MPa, the maximum relative error of optical measurement volume deformation with the change of refractive index is 0.13%, which shows that the model has high reliability and accuracy.

Mass Loading-Independent Lithium Storage of Transitional Metal Compounds Achieved by Multi-Dimensional Synergistic Nanoarchitecture.

Nanostructured transitional metal compounds (TMCs) have demonstrated extraordinary promise for high-efficient and rapid lithium storage. However, good performance is usually limited to electrodes with low mass loading (≤1.0 mg cm-2 ) and is difficult to realize at higher mass loading due to increased electrons/ions transport limitations in the thicker electrode. Herein, the multi-dimensional synergistic nanoarchitecture design of graphene-wrapped MnO@carbon microcapsules (capsule-like MnO@C-G) is reported, which demonstrates impressive mass loading-independent lithium storage properties. Highly porous MnO nanoclusters assembled by 0D nanocrystals facilitate sufficient electrolyte infiltration and shorten the solid-state ions transport path. 1D carbon shell, 2D graphene, and 3D continuous network with tight interconnection accelerate electrons transport inside the thick electrode. The capsule-like MnO@C-G delivers ultrahigh gravimetric capacity retention of 91.0% as the mass loading increases 4.3 times, while the areal capacities increase linearly with the mass loading at various current densities. Specifically, the capsule-like MnO@C electrode delivers a remarkable areal capacity of 2.0 mAh cm-2 at a mass loading of 3.0 mg cm-2 . Moreover, the capsule-like MnO@C also demonstrates excellent performance in full battery applications. This study demonstrates the effectiveness of multi-dimensional synergistic nanoarchitecture in achieving mass loading-independent performance, which can be extended to other TMCs for electrochemical energy storage.

A Memristor-Based Learning Engine for Synaptic Trace-Based Online Learning.

The memristor has been extensively used to facilitate the synaptic online learning of brain-inspired spiking neural networks (SNNs). However, the current memristor-based work can not support the widely used yet sophisticated trace-based learning rules, including the trace-based Spike-Timing-Dependent Plasticity (STDP) and the Bayesian Confidence Propagation Neural Network (BCPNN) learning rules. This paper proposes a learning engine to implement trace-based online learning, consisting of memristor-based blocks and analog computing blocks. The memristor is used to mimic the synaptic trace dynamics by exploiting the nonlinear physical property of the device. The analog computing blocks are used for the addition, multiplication, logarithmic and integral operations. By organizing these building blocks, a reconfigurable learning engine is architected and realized to simulate the STDP and BCPNN online learning rules, using memristors and 180 nm analog CMOS technology. The results show that the proposed learning engine can achieve energy consumption of 10.61 pJ and 51.49 pJ per synaptic update for the STDP and BCPNN learning rules, respectively, with a 147.03× and 93.61× reduction compared to the 180 nm ASIC counterparts, and also a 9.39× and 5.63× reduction compared to the 40 nm ASIC counterparts. Compared with the state-of-the-art work of Loihi and eBrainII, the learning engine can reduce the energy per synaptic update by 11.31× and 13.13× for trace-based STDP and BCPNN learning rules, respectively.

Histone H3 lysine 27 crotonylation mediates gene transcriptional repression in chromatin.

Histone lysine acylation, including acetylation and crotonylation, plays a pivotal role in gene transcription in health and diseases. However, our understanding of histone lysine acylation has been limited to gene transcriptional activation. Here, we report that histone H3 lysine 27 crotonylation (H3K27cr) directs gene transcriptional repression rather than activation. Specifically, H3K27cr in chromatin is selectively recognized by the YEATS domain of GAS41 in complex with SIN3A-HDAC1 co-repressors. Proto-oncogenic transcription factor MYC recruits GAS41/SIN3A-HDAC1 complex to repress genes in chromatin, including cell-cycle inhibitor p21. GAS41 knockout or H3K27cr-binding depletion results in p21 de-repression, cell-cycle arrest, and tumor growth inhibition in mice, explaining a causal relationship between GAS41 and MYC gene amplification and p21 downregulation in colorectal cancer. Our study suggests that H3K27 crotonylation signifies a previously unrecognized, distinct chromatin state for gene transcriptional repression in contrast to H3K27 trimethylation for transcriptional silencing and H3K27 acetylation for transcriptional activation.

Introducing Hybrid Defects of Silicon Doping and Oxygen Vacancies into MOF-Derived TiO2-X @Carbon Nanotablets Toward High-Performance Sodium-Ion Storage.

Titanium dioxide (TiO2 ) is a promising anode material for sodium-ion batteries (SIBs), which suffer from the intrinsic sluggish ion transferability and poor conductivity. To overcome these drawbacks, a facile strategy is developed to synergistically engineer the lattice defects (i.e., heteroatom doping and oxygen vacancy generation) and the fine microstructure (i.e., carbon hybridization and porous structure) of TiO2 -based anode, which efficiently enhances the sodium storage performance. Herein, it is successfully realized that the Si-doping into the MIL-125 metal-organic framework structure, which can be easily converted to SiO2 /TiO2-x @C nanotablets by annealing under inert atmosphere. After NaOH etching SiO2 /TiO2-x @C which contains unbonded SiO2 and chemically bonded SiOTi, thus the lattice Si-doped TiO2-x @C (Si-TiO2-x @C) nanotablets with rich Ti3+ /oxygen vacancies and abundant inner pores are developed. When examined as an anode for SIB, the Si-TiO2-x @C exhibits a high sodium storage capacity (285 mAh g-1 at 0.2 A g-1 ), excellent long-term cycling, and high-rate performances (190 mAh g-1 at 2 A g-1 after 2500 cycles with 95.1% capacity retention). Theoretical calculations indicate that the rich Ti3+ /oxygen vacancies and Si-doping synergistically contribute to a narrowed bandgap and lower sodiation barrier, which thus lead to fast electron/ion transfer coefficients and the predominant pseudocapacitive sodium storage behavior.

Genome-wide analyses of Glutathione S-transferase gene family and expression profiling under deltamethrin exposure in non-biting midge Propsilocerus akamusi.

Glutathione S-transferases (GSTs) are major enzymes in detoxification phase II, and have been functioned in resistance to various insecticides or oxidative stress. Herein, we selected the non-biting midge, Propsilocerus akamusi, widespread in Asian aquatic ecosystems, to uncover the gene location, structure, and phylogenetics relationship of GSTs at genome scale first time. Thirty-three cytosolic and four microsomal GST genes were identified and located on the four chromosomes. The cytosolic GSTs involved in the eight subclasses and five GST genes were unclassified. The expansion of GST genes in P. akamusi experienced duplication events on the delta, theta, xi, iota, and unclassified subclasses. The RNA-Seq analyses and RT-qPCR validation showed that the expression of PaGSTt2 gene is significantly elevated, with deltamethrin concentration increasing. The tertiary structure of PaGSTt2 enzyme was reconstructed, which was different from the other theta gene in the active site. In addition, the GST genes of six chironomids were first described based on the assembled genomes to explore the difference of those in the adaptation to kinds of environments. The GST frame for P. akmusi and its expression profiles provide valuable resources to understand their role in insecticide resistance of this species, as well as those of other biting midges.

GSH-Activatable Aggregation-Induced Emission Cationic Lipid for Efficient Gene Delivery.

The key to gene therapy is the design of biocompatible and efficient delivery systems. In this work, a glutathione (GSH)-activated aggregation-induced-emission (AIE) cationic amphiphilic lipid, termed QM-SS-KK, was prepared for nonviral gene delivery. QM-SS-KK was composed of a hydrophilic biocompatible lysine tripeptide headgroup, a GSH-triggered disulfide linkage, and a hydrophobic AIE fluorophore QM-OH (QM: quinoline-malononitrile) tail. The peptide moiety could not only efficiently compact DNA but also well modulate the dispersion properties of QM-SS-KK, leading to the fluorescence-off state before GSH treatment. The cleavage of disulfide in QM-SS-KK by GSH generated AIE signals in situ with a tracking ability. The liposomes consisted of QM-SS-KK, and 1,2-dioleoylphosphatidylethanolamine (DOPE) (QM-SS-KK/DOPE) delivered plasmid DNAs (pDNAs) into cells with high efficiency. In particular, QM-SS-KK/DOPE had an enhanced transfection efficiency (TE) in the presence of 10% serum, which was two times higher than that of the commercial transfection agent PEI25K. These results highlighted the great potential of peptide and QM-based fluorescence AIE lipids for gene delivery applications.

Atomic-Level Regulated 2D ReSe2 : A Universal Platform Boostin Photocatalysis.

Solar hydrogen (H2 ) generation via photocatalytic water splitting is practically promising, environmentally benign, and sustainably carbon neutral. It is important therefore to understand how to controllably engineer photocatalysts at the atomic level. In this work, atomic-level engineering of defected ReSe2 nanosheets (NSs) is reported to significantly boost photocatalytic H2 evolution on various semiconductor photocatalysts including TiO2 , CdS, ZnIn2 S4 , and C3 N4 . Advanced characterizations, such as atomic-resolution aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy (AC-STEM), synchrotron-based X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES), in situ X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), transient-state surface photovoltage (SPV) spectroscopy, and transient-state photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy, together with theoretical computations confirm that the strongly coupled ReSe2 /TiO2 interface and substantial atomic-level active sites of defected ReSe2 NSs result in the significantly raised activity of ReSe2 /TiO2 . This work not only for the first time realizes the atomic-level engineering of ReSe2 NSs as a versatile platform to significantly raise the activities on different photocatalysts, but, more importantly, underscores the immense importance of atomic-level synthesis and exploration on 2D materials for energy conversion and storage.

Memory Effect on the Survival of Deinococcus radiodurans after Exposure in Near Space.

Near space (20 to 100 km in altitude) is an extreme environment with high radiation and extreme cold, making it difficult for organisms to survive. However, many studies had shown that there were still microbes living in this extremely harsh environment. It was particularly important to study which factors affected the survival of microorganisms living in near space after exposure to irradiation, as this was related to many studies, such as studies of radioresistance mechanisms, panspermia hypothesis, long-distance microbial transfer, and developing extraterrestrial habitats. Survival after radiation was probably influenced by the growth condition before radiation, which is called the memory effect. In this research, we used different growth conditions to affect the growth of Deinococcus radiodurans and lyophilized bacteria in exponential phase to maintain the physiological state at this stage. Then high-altitude scientific balloon exposure experiments were carried out by using the Chinese Academy of Sciences Balloon-Borne Astrobiology Platform (CAS-BAP) at Dachaidan, Qinghai, China (37°44'N, 95°21'E). The aim was to investigate which factors influence survival after near-space exposure. The results suggested that there was a memory effect on the survival of D. radiodurans after exposure. If the differences in growth rate were caused by differences in nutrition, the survival rate and growth rate were positively correlated. Moreover, the addition of paraquat and Mn2+ during the growth phase can also increase survival. This finding may help to deepen the understanding of the mechanics of radiation protection and provide relevant evidence for many studies, such as of long-distance transfer of microorganisms in near space. IMPORTANCE Earth's near space is an extreme environment with high radiation and extreme cold. Which factors affect the survival of microbes in near space is related to many studies, such as studies of radioresistance mechanisms, panspermia hypothesis, long-distance microbial transfer, and developing extraterrestrial habitats. We performed several exposure experiments with Deinococcus radiodurans in near space to investigate which factors influence the survival rate after near-space exposure; that is, there was a relationship between survival after radiation and the growth condition before radiation. The results suggested that there was a memory effect on the survival of D. radiodurans after exposure. This finding may help to deepen the understanding of the mechanism of radiation protection and provide relevant evidence for many studies, such as of long-distance transfer of microorganisms in near space.

MHAU-Net: Skin Lesion Segmentation Based on Multi-Scale Hybrid Residual Attention Network.

Melanoma is a main factor that leads to skin cancer, and early diagnosis and treatment can significantly reduce the mortality of patients. Skin lesion boundary segmentation is a key to accurately localizing a lesion in dermoscopic images. However, the irregular shape and size of the lesions and the blurred boundary of the lesions pose significant challenges for researchers. In recent years, pixel-level semantic segmentation strategies based on convolutional neural networks have been widely used, but many methods still suffer from the inaccurate segmentation of fuzzy boundaries. In this paper, we proposed a multi-scale hybrid attentional convolutional neural network (MHAU-Net) for the precise localization and segmentation of skin lesions. MHAU-Net has four main components: multi-scale resolution input, hybrid residual attention (HRA), dilated convolution, and atrous spatial pyramid pooling. Multi-scale resolution inputs provide richer visual information, and HRA solves the problem of blurred boundaries and enhances the segmentation results. The Dice, mIoU, average specificity, and sensitivity on the ISIC2018 task 1 validation set were 93.69%, 90.02%, 92.7% and 93.9%, respectively. The segmentation metrics are significantly better than the latest DCSAU-Net, UNeXt, and U-Net, and excellent segmentation results are achieved on different datasets. We performed model robustness validations on the Kvasir-SEG dataset with an overall sensitivity and average specificity of 95.91% and 96.28%, respectively.

Combined application of moist exposed burn ointment and maggot therapy in wound healing.

OBJECTIVE: Hard-to-heal wounds are a global health challenge, and effective treatments are still lacking. Moist exposed burn ointment (MEBO) and maggots are traditional treatments for promoting wound healing. This study was a preliminary exploration of combined maggot therapy and MEBO in the treatment of hard-to-heal wounds. METHOD: A coexistence experiment was conducted to determine the survival rates of maggots in MEBO. The maggots were placed in two different existence conditions: one set in MEBO (MEBO group), and another set as the control group (no MEBO) to compare survival rates. Case reports describe the use of the combined application of MEBO and maggots in the treatment of patients with hard-to-heal wounds. RESULTS: The coexistence experiment indicated that maggots in the MEBO group had a higher survival rate. From the therapeutic effect of the clinical cases (n=7), the combined application was safe and effective, with all the reported wounds eventually healing. CONCLUSION: Based on the findings of this study, we believe the combined application of MEBO and maggots is a promising way of promoting wound healing. Further studies and clinical trials are needed to elucidate the mechanism of the combined application in promoting wound healing and to more persuasively clarify the therapeutic effect.

Deep Learning-Based Classification of Hepatocellular Nodular Lesions on Whole-Slide Histopathologic Images.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Hepatocellular nodular lesions (HNLs) constitute a heterogeneous group of disorders. Differential diagnosis among these lesions, especially high-grade dysplastic nodules (HGDNs) and well-differentiated hepatocellular carcinoma (WD-HCC), can be challenging, let alone biopsy specimens. We aimed to develop a deep learning system to solve these puzzles, improving the histopathologic diagnosis of HNLs (WD-HCC, HGDN, low-grade DN, focal nodular hyperplasia, hepatocellular adenoma), and background tissues (nodular cirrhosis, normal liver tissue). METHODS: The samples consisting of surgical and biopsy specimens were collected from 6 hospitals. Each specimen was reviewed by 2 to 3 subspecialists. Four deep neural networks (ResNet50, InceptionV3, Xception, and the Ensemble) were used. Their performances were evaluated by confusion matrix, receiver operating characteristic curve, classification map, and heat map. The predictive efficiency of the optimal model was further verified by comparing with that of 9 pathologists. RESULTS: We obtained 213,280 patches from 1115 whole-slide images of 738 patients. An optimal model was finally chosen based on F1 score and area under the curve value, named hepatocellular-nodular artificial intelligence model (HnAIM), with the overall 7-category area under the curve of 0.935 in the independent external validation cohort. For biopsy specimens, the agreement rate with subspecialists' majority opinion was higher for HnAIM than 9 pathologists on both patch level and whole-slide images level. CONCLUSIONS: We first developed a deep learning diagnostic model for HNLs, which performed well and contributed to enhancing the diagnosis rate of early HCC and risk stratification of patients with HNLs. Furthermore, HnAIM had significant advantages in patch-level recognition, with important diagnostic implications for fragmentary or scarce biopsy specimens.

Phosphor-Enhanced, Visible-Light-Storing g-C3N4/Ag3PO4/SrAl2O4:Eu2+,Dy3+ Photocatalyst Immobilized on Fractal 3D-Printed Supports.

The combination of a phosphor with semiconductor photocatalysts can provide photoactivity in the dark. Indeed, the phosphor acts as a "light battery", harvesting photons during irradiation and later re-emitting light that can be used by the catalytic phase when in conditions of total darkness. This allows for continued activity of the composite catalyst, even in conditions of unstable light stimulation. In this study, we assess the use of a heterojunction, namely graphitic-C3N4/Ag3PO4, that enables efficient photoactivity specifically under visible light stimulation, in combination with a phosphor that exhibits green-blue phosphorescence (510 nm), that is SrAl2O4:Eu2+,Dy3+. Our findings showed that this combination was particularly interesting, noticeably displaying significant photoactivity in darkness, after short periods of activation by visible light. After finding the right combination and optimal ratios for maximum efficiency, the resulting catalyst composite was immobilized on resin supports with a fractal surface, printed by LCD-SLA 3D printing. The immobilization was effectuated via an aqueous-phase plasma-aided grafting (APPAG) process, using cold plasma discharge (CPD) and using vinylphosphonic acid (VPA) as a coupling agent. Whereas the colloidal photocatalyst displayed a serious problem of partial physical separation between the catalytic phase, g-C3N4/Ag3PO4, and the phosphor, the immobilization of the composite catalyst on polymer supports allowed solving this issue. Photodegradation assessments confirmed that the hybrid supported phosphor-enhanced catalyst was active, notably in dark conditions, as well as fairly photostable. This study offers new prospects for the fabrication of polymer-based panels for water purification, with round-the-clock activity and that are, in addition, extremely easy to recover and reuse, by comparison with colloidal catalysts.