Dual-mode detection of α-fetoprotein using the photothermal effect and peroxidase-like activity of Au@Cu/Cu2O-rGO.

α-Fetoprotein (AFP) is widely recognized as an important marker for monitoring hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), and its monitoring using two different transduction mechanisms is an effective way to avoid the risk of false positives or false negatives. In this paper, Au@Cu/Cu2O-rGO was used as a photothermal converter as well as an actuator to promote the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), which was further designed as a probe for dual-mode detection to quantitatively assess AFP. The composite nanomaterials possessed photothermal conversion efficiencies (η) of up to 54.9 % and catalytically generated signals up to 1.6 times greater, relative to a single material. Based on the generated temperature and current signals, AFP has been sensitively detected in the range of 0.01-100 ng/mL, with limits of detection (LOD) of 5.62 pg/mL and 1.23 pg/mL, respectively. The dual-mode assay combines portability with high accuracy for the detection of human health systems.

Vitrification cryo-foil method for shoot tip cryopreservation and virus eradication in apple.

Establishment of a new method for improved shoot tip cryopreservation is crucial to facilitate the long-term preservation of plant germplasm as well as the use of cryotherapy for pathogen eradication. The present study reported a vitrification (V) cryo-foil method for shoot tip cryopreservation and virus eradication in apple. Shoot tip regrowth levels after cryopreservation were comparable among V cryo-foil (53 %), V cryo-plate (46 %) and conventional droplet vitrification (Dr-vi, 48 %). The V cryo-foil is more efficient to perform than Dr-vi as more shoot tips can be cryopreserved by one person. In the histological study applying an image-overlaying strategy, shoot tips cryopreserved by V cryo-foil showed a higher survival chance in the youngest leaf primordia than in the apical dome. When V cryo-foil was tested for virus eradication, fifty-five percent (55 %) of cryo-derived shoots were free of the apple stem pitting virus (ASPV), while none and less than 10 % were free of the apple stem grooving virus (ASGV) and the apple chlorotic leaf spot virus (ACLSV), respectively. Thus, these two viruses were efficiently preserved by V cryo-foil cryopreservation. Noticeably, although the shoot regrowth level was reduced to 27 %, a higher frequency (81 %) of ASPV eradication was achieved when a reduced duration of cryoprotectant exposure was applied in V cryo-foil, supporting the use of insufficient cryoprotection for improved virus eradication.

Phylogenetics, Molecular Species Delimitation and Geometric Morphometrics of All Reddish-Brown Species in the Genus Neotriplax Lewis, 1887 (Coleoptera: Erotylidae: Tritomini).

To date, five species of reddish-brown Neotriplax have been described, but their highly similar body color and other phenotypic traits make accurate taxonomy challenging. To clarify species-level taxonomy and validate potential new species, the cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) was used for phylogenetic analysis and the geometric morphometrics of elytron, pronotum, and hind wing were employed to distinguish all reddish-brown Neotriplax species. Phylogenetic results using maximum likelihood and Bayesian analyses of COI sequences aligned well with the current taxonomy of the Neotriplax species group. Significant K2P divergences, with no overlap between intra- and interspecific genetic distances, were obtained in Neotriplax species. The automatic barcode gap discovery (ABGD), assemble species by automatic partitioning (ASAP), and generalized mixed Yule coalescent (GMYC) approaches concurred, dividing the similar species into eight molecular operational taxonomic units (MOTUs). Geometric morphometric analysis using pronotum, elytron, hind wing shape and wing vein patterns also validated the classification of all eight species. By integrating these analytical approaches with morphological evidence, we successfully delineated the reddish-brown species of Neotriplax into eight species with three new species: N. qinghaiensis sp. nov., N. maoershanensis sp. nov., and N. guangxiensis sp. nov. Furthermore, we documented the first record of N. lewisii in China. This study underscores the utility of an integrative taxonomy approach in species delimitation within Neotriplax and serves as a reference for the taxonomic revision of other morphologically challenging beetles through integrative taxonomy.

Changes on Cognition and Brain Network Temporal Variability After Pediatric Neurosurgery.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Pediatric intracranial space-occupying lesions are common, with prognoses improving markedly in recent years, significantly extending survival. As such, there is an imperative to pay increased attention to the postoperative cognitive functions and brain network alterations in these children because these factors significantly influence their quality of life. Temporal variability (TV) analysis of brain networks captures the full extent of resting-state activities, reflecting cognitive functions and rehabilitation potential. However, previous research rarely uses TV analyses and most focus on adults or children after multidisciplinary treatments, not reflecting the combined effect caused by neurosurgery only and self-repair. This study gives our insights into this field from a holistic perspective. METHODS: We studied 35 children with intracranial space-occupying lesions, analyzing pre- and postsurgery MRI and cognitive tests. We used TV analysis to assess changes and correlated imaging indicators with cognitive performance. RESULTS: We observed a tendency for cognitive recovery after about 3 months postsurgery, primarily in the domains of social cognition and nonverbal reasoning. TV analysis of brain networks indicated increased nodal variability within systems such as the visual and sensorimotor networks, which are integral to external interactions. Correlative analysis showed that alterations in certain occipital regions were associated with changes in social cognition and nonverbal reasoning. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest significant intrinsic repair in cognitive functions and brain networks at around 3 months postneurosurgery in children. This study not only enriches our comprehension of postoperative cognitive and brain network self-repair processes in children but also furnishes potential therapeutic targets for rehabilitation interventions and establishes a theoretical foundation for proactive surgical interventions.

Advancing presurgical non-invasive molecular subgroup prediction in medulloblastoma using artificial intelligence and MRI signatures.

Global investigation of medulloblastoma has been hindered by the widespread inaccessibility of molecular subgroup testing and paucity of data. To bridge this gap, we established an international molecularly characterized database encompassing 934 medulloblastoma patients from thirteen centers across China and the United States. We demonstrate how image-based machine learning strategies have the potential to create an alternative pathway for non-invasive, presurgical, and low-cost molecular subgroup prediction in the clinical management of medulloblastoma. Our robust validation strategies-including cross-validation, external validation, and consecutive validation-demonstrate the model's efficacy as a generalizable molecular diagnosis classifier. The detailed analysis of MRI characteristics replenishes the understanding of medulloblastoma through a nuanced radiographic lens. Additionally, comparisons between East Asia and North America subsets highlight critical management implications. We made this comprehensive dataset, which includes MRI signatures, clinicopathological features, treatment variables, and survival data, publicly available to advance global medulloblastoma research.

Structural and functional changes following brain surgery in pediatric patients with intracranial space-occupying lesions.

We explored the structural and functional changes of the healthy hemisphere of the brain after surgery in children with intracranial space-occupying lesions. We enrolled 32 patients with unilateral intracranial space-occupying lesions for brain imaging and cognitive assessment. Voxel-based morphometry and surface-based morphometry analyses were used to investigate the structural images of the healthy hemisphere. Functional images were analyzed using regional homogeneity, amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations, and fractional-amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations. Voxel-based morphometry and surface-based morphometry analysis used the statistical model built into the CAT 12 toolbox. Paired t-tests were used for functional image and cognitive test scores. For structural image analysis, we used family-wise error correction of peak level (p < 0.05), and for functional image analysis, we use Gaussian random-field theory correction (voxel p < 0.001, cluster p < 0.05). We found an increase in gray matter volume in the healthy hemisphere within six months postoperatively, mainly in the frontal lobe. Regional homogeneity and fractional-amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations also showed greater functional activity in the frontal lobe. The results of cognitive tests showed that psychomotor speed and motor speed decreased significantly after surgery, and reasoning increased significantly after surgery. We concluded that in children with intracranial space-occupying lesions, the healthy hemisphere exhibits compensatory structural and functional effects within six months after surgery. This effect occurs mainly in the frontal lobe and is responsible for some higher cognitive compensation. This may provide some guidance for the rehabilitation of children after brain surgery.

Diseased Erythrocyte Enrichment Based on I-Shaped Pillar DLD Arrays.

Enrichment of erythrocytes is a necessary step in the diagnosis of blood diseases. Due to the high deformability and viscosity of erythrocytes, they cannot be regarded as stable point-like solids, so the influence of their deformability on fluid dynamics must be considered. Therefore, by using the special effect of an I-shaped pillar (I-pillar) on erythrocytes, erythrocytes with different deformability can be made to produce different provisional distances in the chip, so as to achieve the separation of the two kinds of erythrocytes. In this study, a microfluidic chip was designed to conduct a control test between erythrocytes stored for a long time and fresh erythrocytes. At a specific flow rate, the different deformable erythrocytes in the chip move in different paths. Then, the influence of erythrocyte deformability on its movement trajectory was analyzed by two-dimensional finite element flow simulation. DLD sorting technology provides a new method for the sorting and enrichment of diseased erythrocytes.

TC-SfM: Robust Track-Community-Based Structure-From-Motion.

Structure-from-Motion (SfM) aims to recover 3D scene structures and camera poses based on the correspondences between input images, and thus the ambiguity caused by duplicate structures (i.e., different structures with strong visual resemblance) always results in incorrect camera poses and 3D structures. To deal with the ambiguity, most existing studies resort to additional constraint information or implicit inference by analyzing two-view geometries or feature points. In this paper, we propose to exploit high-level information in the scene, i.e., the spatial contextual information of local regions, to guide the reconstruction. Specifically, a novel structure is proposed, namely, track-community, in which each community consists of a group of tracks and represents a local segment in the scene. A community detection algorithm is performed on the track-graph to partition the scene into segments. Then, the potential ambiguous segments are detected by analyzing the neighborhood of tracks and corrected by checking the pose consistency. Finally, we perform partial reconstruction on each segment and align them with a novel bidirectional consistency cost function which considers both 3D-3D correspondences and pairwise relative camera poses. Experimental results demonstrate that our approach can robustly alleviate reconstruction failure resulting from visually indistinguishable structures and accurately merge the partial reconstructions.

Intermittent fasting protects ß-cell identity and function in a type-2 diabetes model.

Type 2 diabetes (T2DM) is caused by the interaction of multiple genes and environmental factors. T2DM is characterized by hyperglycemia, insulin secretion deficiency and insulin resistance. Chronic hyperglycemia induces ß-cell dysfunction, loss of ß-cell mass/identity and ß-cell dedifferentiation. Intermittent fasting (IF) a commonly used dietary regimen for weight-loss, also induces metabolic benefits including reduced blood glucose, improved insulin sensitivity, reduced adiposity, inflammation, oxidative-stress and increased fatty-acid oxidation; however, the mechanisms underlying these effects in pancreatic ß-cells remain elusive. KK and KKAy, mouse models of polygenic T2DM spontaneously develop hyperglycemia, glucose intolerance, glucosuria, impaired insulin secretion and insulin resistance. To determine the long-term effects of IF on T2DM, 6-weeks old KK and KKAy mice were subjected to IF for 16 weeks. While KKAy mice fed ad-libitum demonstrated severe hyperglycemia (460 mg/dL) at 6 weeks of age, KK mice showed blood glucose levels of 230 mg/dL, but progressively became severely diabetic by 22-weeks. Strikingly, both KK and KKAy mice subjected to IF showed reduced blood glucose and plasma insulin levels, decreased body weight gain, reduced plasma triglycerides and cholesterol, and improved insulin sensitivity. They also demonstrated enhanced expression of the ß-cell transcription factors NKX6.1, MAFA and PDX1, and decreased expression of ALDH1a3 suggesting protection from loss of ß-cell identity by IF. IF normalized glucose stimulated insulin secretion in islets from KK and KKAy mice, demonstrating improved ß-cell function. In addition, hepatic steatosis, gluconeogenesis and inflammation was decreased particularly in KKAy-IF mice, indicating peripheral benefits of IF. These results have important implications as an optional intervention for preservation of ß-cell identity and function in T2DM.

Wnt-3a improves functional recovery after spinal cord injury by regulating the inflammatory and apoptotic response in rats via wnt/ß-catenin signaling pathway.

The specific molecular mechanism of neuroprotective effects of wnt-3a on spinal cord injury (SCI) has not been elucidated. In our study, we evaluated the recovery of motor function after SCI by BBB, observed neuronal apoptosis by western blot and TUNEL, observed the changes of neuronal inflammation by western blot and immunofluorescence staining, and observed the changes of motoneurons and spinal cord area in the anterior horn of the spinal cord via Nissl and HE staining. We found that wnt-3a could significantly promote the recovery of motor function, reduce the loss of motor neurons in the anterior horn of the spinal cord, promote the recovery of injured spinal cord tissue, inhibit neuronal apoptosis and inflammatory response, and ultimately promote neuronal function after SCI. However, when XAV939 inhibits the wnt/ß-catenin signaling pathway, the neuroprotective effects of wnt-3a are also significantly inhibited. The above results together indicated that wnt-3a exerts its neuroprotective effect on after SCI via activating the wnt/ß-catenin signaling pathway.

Single-cell analysis of prenatal and postnatal human cortical development.

We analyzed >700,000 single-nucleus RNA sequencing profiles from 106 donors during prenatal and postnatal developmental stages and identified lineage-specific programs that underlie the development of specific subtypes of excitatory cortical neurons, interneurons, glial cell types, and brain vasculature. By leveraging single-nucleus chromatin accessibility data, we delineated enhancer gene regulatory networks and transcription factors that control commitment of specific cortical lineages. By intersecting our results with genetic risk factors for human brain diseases, we identified the cortical cell types and lineages most vulnerable to genetic insults of different brain disorders, especially autism. We find that lineage-specific gene expression programs up-regulated in female cells are especially enriched for the genetic risk factors of autism. Our study captures the molecular progression of cortical lineages across human development.

Review on descaling and anti-scaling technology of heat exchanger in high-salt wastewater thermal desalination.

Thermal desalination evaporation of high-salt wastewater has been widely used in industry because of the proposed concept of 'zero liquid discharge'. However, due to the high content of Ca2+ and Mg2+ in high-salt wastewater, the heat exchanger, as the main treatment equipment, suffers from serious scaling problems. This review presents descaling and scale inhibition technologies of high-salt wastewater. The advantages and disadvantages of various technologies are summarized and analyzed to provide theoretical support for the research of descaling and anti-scaling of heat exchangers with high-salt wastewater. In future industrial development, the synergistic application of electromagnetic water treatment technology and scale inhibitors can significantly improve the anti-scaling effect, which can reach over 95% stably. Furthermore, the addition of a physical field can also expand the application range of scale inhibitors.

The combined signatures of telomere and immune cell landscape provide a prognostic and therapeutic biomarker in glioma.

Background: Gliomas, the most prevalent primary malignant tumors of the central nervous system in adults, exhibit slow growth in lower-grade gliomas (LGG). However, the majority of LGG cases progress to high-grade gliomas, posing challenges for prognostication. The tumor microenvironment (TME), characterized by telomere-related genes and immune cell infiltration, strongly influences glioma growth and therapeutic response. Therefore, our objective was to develop a Telomere-TME (TM-TME) classifier that integrates telomere-related genes and immune cell landscape to assess prognosis and therapeutic response in glioma. Methods: This study encompassed LGG patients from the TCGA and CCGA databases. TM score and TME score were derived from the expression signatures of telomere-related genes and the presence of immune cells in LGG, respectively. The TM-TME classifier was established by combining TM and TME scores to effectively predict prognosis. Subsequently, we conducted Kaplan-Meier survival estimation, univariate Cox regression analysis, and receiver operating characteristic curves to validate the prognostic prediction capacity of the TM-TME classifier across multiple cohorts. Gene Ontology (GO) analysis, biological processes, and proteomaps were performed to annotate the functional aspects of each subgroup and visualize the cellular signaling pathways. Results: The TM_low+TME_high subgroup exhibited superior prognosis and therapeutic response compared to other subgroups (P<0.001). This finding could be attributed to distinct tumor somatic mutations and cancer cellular signaling pathways. GO analysis indicated that the TM_low+TME_high subgroup is associated with the neuronal system and modulation of chemical synaptic transmission. Conversely, the TM_high+TME_low subgroup showed a strong association with cell cycle and DNA metabolic processes. Furthermore, the classifier significantly differentiated overall survival in the TCGA LGG cohort and served as an independent prognostic factor for LGG patients in both the TCGA cohort (P<0.001) and the CGGA cohort (P<0.001). Conclusion: Overall, our findings underscore the significance of the TM-TME classifier in predicting prognosis and immune therapeutic response in glioma, shedding light on the complex immune landscape within each subgroup. Additionally, our results suggest the potential of integrating risk stratification with precision therapy for LGG.

Peroxymonocarbonate activation via Co nanoparticles confined in metal-organic frameworks for efficient antibiotic degradation in different actual water matrices.

Traditional advanced oxidation processes suffer from low availability of ultrashort lifetime radicals and declining stability of catalysts. Co nanoparticles in hollow bimetallic metal-organic frameworks (Co@MOFs) were synthesized via a solvothermal method. Nanoconfinement and peroxymonocarbonate (PMC) degradation system endows Co@MOFs with high catalytic activity and stability even in the actual water matrices. The nanocomposites exhibited 100-200 nm polyhedron structure with irregular nanocavity between the 20 nm shell and multicores. Co nanoparticles were completely encapsulated by the FeIII-MOF-5 shell according to the X-ray diffraction and photoelectron spectra. Both 0.8 nm micropores and 3.6 nm mesopores were proven to be present. The yolk-shell Co@MOFs exhibited higher catalytic performance than that of Co nanoparticles, hollow FeIII-MOF-5 and its core-shell counterpart toward PMC activation during sulfamethoxazole degradation. The catalytic activities of Co@MOFs for the activation of unsymmetrical peroxides (PMC and peroxymonosulfate) were much higher than those for the symmetrical peroxides (H2O2 and persulfate) and the heterogeneous catalysis was dominant in the Co@MOFs activated H2O2 and PMC systems. The MOF stability was the highest and metal leakages were the least in the activated PMC system among the four peroxides because of mild reaction conditions and the alkalescent solution (pH = 8.3-8.4). Furthermore, the high removal efficiencies (>94%) and degradation rates could be maintained in the different actual water matrices due to the confinement effects. The contributions of carbonate and hydroxyl radicals were primary for sulfamethoxazole degradation, and superoxide anion and singlet oxygen also played essential roles according to scavenging experiments and time-series spin-trapping electron spin resonance spectra. Six degradation pathways were proposed according to 26 intermediate identification and the pharmacophores of more than 80% intermediates were destroyed, which would benefit subsequent biological treatment. Successful combination of nanoconfinement and PMC might provide a new effective solution for pollution remediation.

Locally spontaneous dynamic oxygen migration on biphenylene: a DFT study.

The dynamic oxygen migration at the interface of carbon allotropes dominated by the periodic hexagonal rings, including graphene and carbon nanotubes, has opened up a new avenue to realize dynamic covalent materials. However, for the carbon materials with hybrid carbon rings, such as biphenylene, whether the dynamic oxygen migration at its interface can still be found remains unknown. Using both density functional theory calculations and machine-learning-based molecular dynamics (MLMD) simulations, we found that the oxygen migration departing away from the four-membered carbon (C4) ring is hindered, and the oxygen atom prefers to spontaneously migrate toward/around the C4 ring. This locally spontaneous dynamic oxygen migration on the biphenylene is attributed to a high barrier of about 1.5 eV for the former process and a relatively low barrier of about 0.3 eV for the latter one, originating from the enhanced activity of the C-O bond near/around the C4 ring due to the hybrid carbon ring structure. Moreover, the locally spontaneous dynamic oxygen migration is further confirmed by MLMD simulations. This work sheds light on the potential of biphenylene as a catalyst for spatially controlled energy conversion and provides the guidance for realizing the dynamic covalent interface at other carbon-based or two-dimensional materials.

Resveratrol loaded native silk fiber-sericin hydrogel double interpenetrating bioactive wound dressing facilitates full-thickness skin wound healing.

Wound repair is challenging for traditional wound dressings. New bioactive dressings need to be developed urgently. Herein, we reported a highly bioactive silk protein wound dressing (SPD) with natural silk fiber-sericin hydrogel interpenetrating double network structure, which combines the dual characteristics of natural silk and sericin hydrogel. Silk fiber scaffolds were secreted directly from silkworms bred by regulating their spinning behaviors. Sericin in SPD is obtained by dissolving silkworm cocoons at high temperature and high pressure, while it remains intact activities to self-assemble a hydrogel. To explore the effect of SPD, we first systematically evaluated its physicochemical properties and biological activitiesin vitro. The SPD exhibits high porosity, prominent mechanical strength, pH-responsive degradability, and excellent anti-oxidation and cell compatibility. Besides, SPD can load and maintain long-term drug release. Based on the satisfactory performance of SPDin vitro, effectivein vivotreatment was achieved in a mouse full-thickness wound model, as demonstrated by a significantly accelerated wound healing process, promote the regeneration of hair follicles and sebaceous glands, increased expression of vascular endothelial growth factor, and reduced inflammation. Further, resveratrol was loaded into SPD to enhance the effects of anti-oxidation and anti-inflammation for wound healing. Our investigation shows that SPD with excellent physicochemical and biological properties applied in a murine full-thickness skin wound model resulted in remarkable and efficient acceleration of healing process, which may inspire the design of new, effective, and safer medical materials for tissue regeneration.

XNLI: Explaining and Diagnosing NLI-based Visual Data Analysis.

Natural language interfaces (NLIs) enable users to flexibly specify analytical intentions in data visualization. However, diagnosing the visualization results without understanding the underlying generation process is challenging. Our research explores how to provide explanations for NLIs to help users locate the problems and further revise the queries. We present XNLI, an explainable NLI system for visual data analysis. The system introduces a Provenance Generator to reveal the detailed process of visual transformations, a suite of interactive widgets to support error adjustments, and a Hint Generator to provide query revision hints based on the analysis of user queries and interactions. Two usage scenarios of XNLI and a user study verify the effectiveness and usability of the system. Results suggest that XNLI can significantly enhance task accuracy without interrupting the NLI-based analysis process.

Unexpectedly spontaneous water dissociation on graphene oxide supported by copper substrate.

Water dissociation is of fundamental importance in scientific fields and has drawn considerable interest in diverse technological applications. However, the high activation barrier of breaking the OH bond within the water molecule has been identified as the bottleneck, even for the water adsorbed on the graphene oxide (GO). Herein, using the density functional theory calculations, we demonstrate that the water molecule can be spontaneously dissociated on GO supported by the (111) surface of the copper substrate (Copper-GO). This process involves a proton transferring from water to the interfacial oxygen group, and a hydroxide covalently bonding to GO. Compared to that on GO, the water dissociation barrier on Copper-GO is significantly decreased to be less than or comparable to thermal fluctuations. This is ascribed to the orbital-hybridizing interaction between copper substrate and GO, which enhances the reaction activity of interfacial oxygen groups along the basal plane of GO for water dissociation. Our work provides a novel strategy to access water dissociation via the substrate-enhanced reaction activity of interfacial oxygen groups on GO and indicates that the substrate can serve as an essential key to tuning the catalytic performance of various two-dimensional material devices.

Analysis of the Mitogenomes of Two Helotid Species Provides New Insights into the Phylogenetic Relationship of the Basal Cucujoidea (Insecta: Coleoptera).

Helotid beetles are commonly found in places where sap flows from tree trunks and in crevices in bark. The Helotidae family is a rare and primitive group of Cucujoidea. To date, no complete mitochondrial (mt) genome has been sequenced for this family. To better understand the characteristics of the mt genome and the evolution of Cucujoidea, we sequenced and annotated the complete mt genomes of Helota thoracica (Ritsema, 1895) and Helota yehi Lee, 2017 using next-generation sequencing. These are the first record of Helotidae mt genomes. The RNA secondary structures of both species were also predicted in this study. The mt genomes of H. thoracica and H. yehi are circular, with total lengths of 16,112 bp and 16,401 bp, respectively. After comparing the mt genomes of H. thoracica and H. yehi, we observed the gene arrangement, codon usage patterns, base content, and RNA secondary structures of both species to be similar, which has also been noted in other Coleoptera insects. The nucleotide sequence of the coding regions and the control region has small differences. The phylogenetic analysis indicated that Helotidae and Protocucujidae are sister groups and revealed the relationship between seven families; however, the validity of the two series (Erotylid series and Nitidulid series) as larger groups in the superfamily was not supported. The mt phylogenomic relationships have strong statistical support. Therefore, the division of Cucujoidea into series should be re-examined. Our results will provide a better understanding of the mt genome and phylogeny of Helotidae and Cucujoidea and will provide valuable molecular markers for further genetic studies.