Topical Versus Intravenous Tranexamic Acid in Patients Undergoing Cardiac Surgery: The DEPOSITION Randomized Controlled Trial.

BACKGROUND: Although intravenous tranexamic acid is used in cardiac surgery to reduce bleeding and transfusion, topical tranexamic acid results in lower plasma concentrations compared to intravenous tranexamic acid, which may lower the risk of seizures. We aimed to determine whether topical tranexamic acid reduces the risk of in-hospital seizure without increasing the risk of transfusion among cardiac surgery patients. METHODS: We conducted a multicenter, double dummy, blinded, randomized controlled trial of patients recruited by convenience sampling in academic hospitals undergoing cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass. Between September 17, 2019, and November 28, 2023, a total of 3242 patients from 16 hospitals in 6 countries were randomly assigned (1:1 ratio) to receive either intravenous tranexamic acid (control) through surgery or topical tranexamic acid (treatment) at the end of surgery. The primary outcome was seizure, and the secondary outcome was red blood cell transfusion. After the last planned interim analysis-when 75% of anticipated participants had completed follow up-the Data and Safety Monitoring Board recommended to terminate the trial, and upon unblinding, the Operations Committee stopped the trial for safety. RESULTS: Among 3242 randomized patients (mean age, 66.0 years; 77.7% male), in-hospital seizure occurred in 4 of 1624 patients (0.2%) in the topical group and in 11 of 1628 patients (0.7%) in the intravenous group (absolute risk difference, -0.5%; 95% CI, -0.9 to 0.03; P = .07). Red blood cell transfusion occurred in 570 patients (35.1%) in the topical group and in 433 (26.8%) in the intravenous group (absolute risk difference, 8.3%; 95% CI, 5.2 to 11.5; P = .007). The absolute risk difference in transfusion of ≥4 units of red blood cells in the topical group compared to the intravenous group was 8.2% (95% CI, 3.4 to 12.9). CONCLUSIONS: Among patients having cardiac surgery, topical administration of tranexamic acid resulted in an 8.3% absolute increase in transfusion without reducing the incidence of seizure, compared to intravenous tranexamic acid.

NK-cell-elicited gasdermin-D-dependent hepatocyte pyroptosis induces neutrophil extracellular traps that facilitate HBV-related acute-on-chronic liver failure.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: HBV infection is a major etiology of acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF). At present, the pattern and regulation of hepatocyte death during HBV-ACLF progression are still undefined. Evaluating the mode of cell death and its inducers will provide new insights for developing therapeutic strategies targeting cell death. In this study, we aimed to elucidate whether and how immune landscapes trigger hepatocyte death and lead to the progression of HBV-related ACLF. APPROACH AND RESULTS: We identified that pyroptosis represented the main cell death pattern in the liver of patients with HBV-related ACLF. Deficiency of MHC-I in HBV-reactivated hepatocytes activated cytotoxic NK cells, which in turn operated in a perforin/granzyme-dependent manner to trigger GSDMD/caspase-8-dependent pyroptosis of hepatocytes. Neutrophils selectively accumulated in the pyroptotic liver, and HMGB1 derived from the pyroptotic liver constituted an important factor triggering the generation of pathogenic extracellular traps in neutrophils (NETs). Clinically, elevated plasma levels of myeloperoxidase-DNA complexes were a promising prognostic biomarker for HBV-related ACLF. More importantly, targeting GSDMD pyroptosis-HMGB1 release in the liver abrogates NETs that intercept the development of HBV-related ACLF. CONCLUSIONS: Studying the mechanisms that selectively modulate GSDMD-dependent pyroptosis, as well as its immune landscapes, will provide a novel strategy for restoring the liver function of patients with HBV-related ACLF.

Three-Dimensional Au Octahedral Nanoheptamers: Single-Particle and Bulk Near-Field Focusing for Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering.

Herein, we present a synthetic approach to fabricate Au nanoheptamers composed of six individual Au nanospheres interconnected through thin metal bridges arranged in an octahedral configuration. The resulting structures envelop central Au nanospheres, producing Au nanosphere heptamers with an open architectural arrangement. Importantly, the initial Pt coating of the Au nanospheres is a crucial step for protecting the inner Au nanospheres during multiple reactions. As-synthesized Au nanoheptamers exhibit multiple hot spots formed by nanogaps between nanospheres, resulting in strong electromagnetic near-fields. Additionally, we conducted surface-enhanced Raman-scattering-based detection of a chemical warfare agent simulant in the gas phase and achieved a limit of detection of 100 ppb, which is 3 orders lower than that achieved using Au nanospheres and Au nanohexamers. This pseudocore-shell nanostructure represents a significant advancement in the realm of complex nanoparticle synthesis, moving the field one step closer to sophisticated nanoparticle engineering.

Van der Waals Magnetic Electrode Transfer for Two-Dimensional Spintronic Devices.

Two-dimensional (2D) materials are promising candidates for spintronic applications. Maintaining their atomically smooth interfaces during integration of ferromagnetic (FM) electrodes is crucial since conventional metal deposition tends to induce defects at the interfaces. Meanwhile, the difficulties in picking up FM metals with strong adhesion and in achieving conductance match between FM electrodes and spin transport channels make it challenging to fabricate high-quality 2D spintronic devices using metal transfer techniques. Here, we report a solvent-free magnetic electrode transfer technique that employs a graphene layer to assist in the transfer of FM metals. It also serves as part of the FM electrode after transfer for optimizing spin injection, which enables the realization of spin valves with excellent performance based on various 2D materials. In addition to two-terminal devices, we demonstrate that the technique is applicable for four-terminal spin valves with nonlocal geometry. Our results provide a promising future of realizing 2D spintronic applications using the developed magnetic electrode transfer technique.

Coacervate Phase Evolution and Membrane Formation in Natural Seawater.

Marine organisms produce biological materials through the complex self-assembly of protein condensates in seawater, but our understanding of the mechanisms of microstructure evolution and maturation remains incomplete. Here, we show that critical processing attributes of mussel holdfast proteins can be captured by the design of an amphiphilic, fluorescent polymer (PECHIA) consisting of a polyepichlorohydrin backbone grafted with 1-imidazolium acetonitrile. Aqueous solutions of PECHIA were extruded into seawater, wherein the charge repulsion of PECHIA is screened by high salinity, facilitating interfacial condensation via enhanced "cation-dipole" interactions. Diffusion of seawater into the PECHIA solution caused droplets to form immiscibly within the PECHIA phase (i.e., inverse coacervation). Simultaneously, weakly alkaline seawater catalyzes nitrile cyclization and time-dependent solidification of the PECHIA phase, leading to hierarchically porous membranes analogous to porous architectures in mussel plaques. In contrast to conventional polymer processing technologies, processing of this biomimetic polymer required neither organic solvents nor heating and enabled the template-free production of hollow spheres and fibers over a wide range of salinities.

Role of a novel circRNA-CGNL1 in regulating pancreatic cancer progression via NUDT4-HDAC4-RUNX2-GAMT-mediated apoptosis.

BACKGROUND: Pancreatic cancer (PC) is an extremely malignant tumor with low survival rate. Effective biomarkers and therapeutic targets for PC are lacking. The roles of circular RNAs (circRNAs) in cancers have been explored in various studies, however more work is needed to understand the functional roles of specific circRNAs. In this study, we explore the specific role and mechanism of circ_0035435 (termed circCGNL1) in PC. METHODS: qRT-PCR analysis was performed to detect circCGNL1 expression, indicating circCGNL1 had low expression in PC cells and tissues. The function of circCGNL1 in PC progression was examined both in vitro and in vivo. circCGNL1-interacting proteins were identified by performing RNA pulldown, co-immunoprecipitation, GST-pulldown, and dual-luciferase reporter assays. RESULTS: Overexpressing circCGNL1 inhibited PC proliferation via promoting apoptosis. CircCGNL1 interacted with phosphatase nudix hydrolase 4 (NUDT4) to promote histone deacetylase 4 (HDAC4) dephosphorylation and subsequent HDAC4 nuclear translocation. Intranuclear HDAC4 mediated RUNX Family Transcription Factor 2 (RUNX2) deacetylation and thereby accelerating RUNX2 degradation. The transcription factor, RUNX2, inhibited guanidinoacetate N-methyltransferase (GAMT) expression. GAMT was further verified to induce PC cell apoptosis via AMPK-AKT-Bad signaling pathway. CONCLUSIONS: We discovered that circCGNL1 can interact with NUDT4 to enhance NUDT4-dependent HDAC4 dephosphorylation, subsequently activating HDAC4-RUNX2-GAMT-mediated apoptosis to suppress PC cell growth. These findings suggest new therapeutic targets for PC.

Activation of farnesoid X receptor enhances the efficacy of normothermic machine perfusion in ameliorating liver ischemia-reperfusion injury.

The shortage of transplant organs remains a severe global issue. Normothermic machine perfusion (NMP) has the potential to increase organ availability, yet its efficacy is hampered by the inflammatory response during machine perfusion. Mouse liver ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI) models, discarded human liver models, and porcine marginal liver transplantation models were utilized to investigate whether farnesoid X receptor (FXR) activation could mitigate inflammation-induced liver damage. FXR expression levels before and after reperfusion were measured. Gene editing and coimmunoprecipitation techniques were employed to explore the regulatory mechanism of FXR in inflammation inhibition. The expression of FXR correlates with the extent of liver damage after reperfusion. Activation of FXR significantly suppressed the inflammatory response triggered by IRI, diminished the release of proinflammatory cytokines, and improved liver function recovery during NMP, assisting discarded human livers to reach transplant standards. Mechanistically, FXR disrupts the interaction between p65 and p300, thus inhibiting modulating the nuclear factor kappa-B signaling pathway, a key instigator of inflammation. Our research across multiple species confirms that activating FXR can optimize NMP by attenuating IRI-related liver damage, thereby improving the utilization of marginal livers for transplantation.

Antibody-Bridged DNAzyme Walker for Sensitive Detection of Small Molecules.

Sensitive detection of small molecules with biological and environmental interests is important for many applications, such as food safety, disease diagnosis, and environmental monitoring. Herein, we propose a highly selective antibody-bridged DNAzyme walker to sensitively detect small molecules. The antibody-bridged DNAzyme walker consists of a track, small-molecule-labeled DNAzyme walking strand, and antibody against small molecules. The track is built by co-modifying fluorophore-labeled substrates and small-molecule-labeled DNA linkers onto a gold nanoparticle (AuNP). In the absence of the target molecule, the antibody binds small molecule labels at the DNAzyme walking strand and the DNA linker, driving the DNAzyme walking strand on the surface of the AuNP. The attached DNAzyme walking strand moves along the track and cleaves substrates to generate high fluorescence signals to achieve signal amplification. As target molecules exist, they competitively bind with antibody to displace the small-molecule-labeled linker and DNAzyme walking strand, rendering the DNAzyme walker inactive in substrate cleavage and causing weak fluorescence. By using this antibody-bridged DNAzyme walker, we achieved sensitive detection of two biologically important small molecules, digoxin and folic acid. This work provides a new paradigm by combining the signal amplification strategy of a DNA walker and immunorecognition for sensitive and selective detection of small molecules.

CRISPR/Cas12a-Amplified Aptamer Switch Microplate Assay for Small Molecules.

The presence of small molecule contaminants such as mycotoxins and heavy metals in foods and the environment causes a serious threat to human health and huge economic losses. The development of simple, rapid, sensitive, and on-site methods for small molecule pollutant detection is highly demanded. Here, combining the advantages of structure-switchable aptamer-mediated signal conversion and CRISPR/Cas12a-based signal amplification, we developed a CRISPR/Cas12a-amplified aptamer switch assay on a microplate for sensitive small molecule detection. In this assay, a short DNA strand complementary to the aptamer (cDNA) is immobilized on a microplate, which can capture the aptamer-linked active DNA probe (Apt-acDNA) in the sample solution when the target is absent. With the addition of the Cas12a reporter system, the captured Apt-acDNA probes activate Cas12a to indiscriminately cleave fluorescent DNA substrates, producing a high fluorescence signal. When the target is present, the Apt-acDNA probe specifically binds to the target rather than hybridizing with cDNA on the microplate, and the fluorescence signal is reduced. The analytical performance of our method was demonstrated by the detection of two highly toxic pollutants, aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) and cadmium ion (Cd2+), as examples. The assay exhibited good selectivity and high sensitivity, with detection limits of 31 pM AFB1 and 3.9 nM Cd2+. It also allowed the detection of targets in the actual sample matrix. With the general signal conversion strategy, this method can be used to detect other targets by simply changing the aptamer and cDNA, showing potential practical applications in broad fields.

Supermolecular Confined Silicon Phosphorescence Nanoprobes for Time-Resolved Hypoxic Imaging Analysis.

Room temperature phosphorescence (RTP) nanoprobes play crucial roles in hypoxia imaging due to their high signal-to-background ratio (SBR) in the time domain. However, synthesizing RTP probes in aqueous media with a small size and high quantum yield remains challenging for intracellular hypoxic imaging up to present. Herein, aqueous RTP nanoprobes consisting of naphthalene anhydride derivatives, cucurbit[7]uril (CB[7]), and organosilicon are reported via supermolecular confined methods. Benefiting from the noncovalent confinement of CB[7] and hydrolysis reactions of organosilicon, such small-sized RTP nanoprobes (5-10 nm) exhibit inherent tunable phosphorescence (from 400 to 680 nm) with microsecond second lifetimes (up to ∼158.7 µs) and high quantum yield (up to ∼30%). The as-prepared RTP nanoprobes illustrate excellent intracellular hypoxia responsibility in a broad range from ∼0.1 to 21% oxygen concentrations. Compared to traditional fluorescence mode, the SBR value (∼108.69) of microsecond-range time-resolved in vitro imaging is up to 2.26 times greater in severe hypoxia (<0.1% O2), offering opportunities for precision imaging analysis in a hypoxic environment.

Interaction between membrane curvature sensitive factors SpoVM and SpoIVA in Bicelle condition.

SpoVM and SpoIVA are essential proteins for coat assembly in Bacillus subtilis. SpoVM is a membrane curvature sensor, specifically localized on the forespore membrane. SpoIVA is an ATP hydrolase that self-assembles by hydrolyzing ATP. In this work, SpoVM and its mutant SpoVMP9A were obtained by cyanogen bromide cleavage and reconstituted into bicelles. The purification of SpoIVA was achieved through a rigorous process involving Ni-NTA chromatography column and size exclusion chromatography. This study utilized Biacore to obtain a direct determination of the kinetic parameters of interaction between SpoVM (SpoVMP9A) and SpoIVA in Bicelle conditions.

Genome-wide analysis of the common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) laccase gene family and its functions in response to abiotic stress.

BACKGROUND: Laccase (LAC) gene family plays a pivotal role in plant lignin biosynthesis and adaptation to various stresses. Limited research has been conducted on laccase genes in common beans. RESULTS: 29 LAC gene family members were identified within the common bean genome, distributed unevenly in 9 chromosomes. These members were divided into 6 distinct subclades by phylogenetic analysis. Further phylogenetic analyses and synteny analyses indicated that considerable gene duplication and loss presented throughout the evolution of the laccase gene family. Purified selection was shown to be the major evolutionary force through Ka / Ks. Transcriptional changes of PvLAC genes under low temperature and salt stress were observed, emphasizing the regulatory function of these genes in such conditions. Regulation by abscisic acid and gibberellins appears to be the case for PvLAC3, PvLAC4, PvLAC7, PvLAC13, PvLAC14, PvLAC18, PvLAC23, and PvLAC26, as indicated by hormone induction experiments. Additionally, the regulation of PvLAC3, PvLAC4, PvLAC7, and PvLAC14 in response to nicosulfuron and low-temperature stress were identified by virus-induced gene silence, which demonstrated inhibition on growth and development in common beans. CONCLUSIONS: The research provides valuable genetic resources for improving the resistance of common beans to abiotic stresses and enhance the understanding of the functional roles of the LAC gene family.

Atomic Molybdenum Nanomaterials for Electrocatalysis.

As a sustainable energy technology, electrocatalytic energy conversion requires electrocatalysts, which greatly motivates the exploitation of high-performance electrocatalysts based on nonprecious metals. Molybdenum-based nanomaterials have demonstrated promise as electrocatalysts because of their unique physiochemical and electronic properties. Among them, atomic Mo catalysts, also called Mo-based single-atom catalysts (Mo-SACs), have the most accessible active sites and tunable microenvironments and are thrivingly explored in various electrochemical conversion reactions. A timely review of such rapidly developing topics is necessary to provide guidance for further exploration of optimized Mo-SACs toward electrochemical energy technologies. In this review, recent advances in the synthetic strategies for Mo-SACs are highlighted, focusing on the microenvironment engineering of Mo atoms. Then, the representative achievements of their applications in various electrocatalytic reactions involving the N2, H2O, and CO2 cycles are summarized by combining experimental and computational results. Finally, prospects for the future development of Mo-SACs in electrocatalysis are provided and the key challenges that require further investigation and optimization are highlighted.

Inducing Intermolecular Oxygen Coupling by Introducing S and FeOOH on Co(OH)2 Nanoneedle Arrays for Industrial Water Oxidation.

The design of electrocatalysts for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) remains a limitation of industrial hydrogen production by electrolysis of water. Excellent and stable OER catalysts can be developed by activating lattice oxygen and changing the reaction path. Herein, S and FeOOH on the Co(OH)2 nanoneedle arrays are introduced to construct a heterostructure (S-FeOOH/Co(OH)2/NF) as a proof of concept. Theoretical calculations and experimental suggest that the Co-O-Fe motif formed at the heterogeneous interface with the introduction of FeOOH, inducing electron transfer from Co to Fe, enhancing Co─O covalency and reducing intramolecular charge transfer energy, thereby stimulating direct intramolecular lattice oxygen coupling. Doping of S in FeOOH further accelerates electron transfer, improves lattice oxygen activity, and prevents dissolution of FeOOH. Consequently, the overpotential of S-FeOOH/Co(OH)2/NF is only 199 mV at 10 mA cm-2, and coupled with the Pt/C electrode can be up to 1 A cm-2 under 1.79 V and remain stable for over 120 h in an anion exchange membrane water electrolyzer (AEMWE). This work proposes a strategy for the design of efficient and stable electrocatalysts for industrial water electrolysis and promotes the commercialization of AEMWE.

Benzoquinone-Lubricated Intercalation in Manganese Oxide for High-Capacity and High-Rate Aqueous Aluminum-Ion Battery.

Aqueous aluminum-ion batteries are attractive post-lithium battery technologies for large-scale energy storage in virtue of abundant and low-cost Al metal anode offering ultrahigh capacity via a three-electron redox reaction. However, state-of-the-art cathode materials are of low practical capacity, poor rate capability, and inadequate cycle life, substantially impeding their practical use. Here layered manganese oxide that is pre-intercalated with benzoquinone-coordinated aluminum ions (BQ-AlxMnO2) as a high-performance cathode material of rechargeable aqueous aluminum-ion batteries is reported. The coordination of benzoquinone with aluminum ions not only extends interlayer spacing of layered MnO2 framework but reduces the effective charge of trivalent aluminum ions to diminish their electrostatic interactions, substantially boosting intercalation/deintercalation kinetics of guest aluminum ions and improving structural reversibility and stability. When coupled with Zn50Al50 alloy anode in 2 m Al(OTf)3 aqueous electrolyte, the BQ-AlxMnO2 exhibits superior rate capability and cycling stability. At 1 A g-1, the specific capacity of BQ-AlxMnO2 reaches ≈300 mAh g-1 and retains ≈90% of the initial value for more than 800 cycles, along with the Coulombic efficiency of as high as ≈99%, outperforming the AlxMnO2 without BQ co-incorporation.

A higher-yield hybrid rice is achieved by assimilating a dominant heterotic gene in inbred parental lines.

The exploitation of heterosis to integrate parental advantages is one of the fastest and most efficient ways of rice breeding. The genomic architecture of heterosis suggests that the grain yield is strongly correlated with the accumulation of numerous rare superior alleles with positive dominance. However, the improvements in yield of hybrid rice have shown a slowdown or even plateaued due to the limited availability of complementary superior alleles. In this study, we achieved a considerable increase in grain yield of restorer lines by inducing an alternative splicing event in a heterosis gene OsMADS1 through CRISPR-Cas9, which accounted for approximately 34.1%-47.5% of yield advantage over their corresponding inbred rice cultivars. To achieve a higher yield in hybrid rice, we crossed the gene-edited restorer parents harbouring OsMADS1GW3p6 with the sterile lines to develop new rice hybrids. In two-line hybrid rice Guang-liang-you 676 (GLY676), the yield of modified hybrids carrying the homozygous heterosis gene OsMADS1GW3p6 significantly exceeded that of the original hybrids with heterozygous OsMADS1. Similarly, the gene-modified F1 hybrids with heterozygous OsMADS1GW3p6 increased grain yield by over 3.4% compared to the three-line hybrid rice Quan-you-si-miao (QYSM) with the homozygous genotype of OsMADS1. Our study highlighted the great potential in increasing the grain yield of hybrid rice by pyramiding a single heterosis gene via CRISPR-Cas9. Furthermore, these results demonstrated that the incomplete dominance of heterosis genes played a major role in yield-related heterosis and provided a promising strategy for breeding higher-yielding rice varieties above what is currently achievable.

Hydrological profile observation scheme based on optical fiber sensing for polar sea ice buoy monitoring.

The monitoring of hydrological elements in the polar region is the basis for the study of the dynamic environment under the ice. The traditional cross-season subglacial hydrological environment monitoring mainly relies on tether-type vertical profile measurement ice-based buoys, which have the advantages such as high reliability, high measurement accuracy, and real-time communication, while also has disadvantages of high-cost, large volume and weight, high power consumption, and complex layout. Therefore, it is urgent to develop a new type of ice-based profile buoy with low-cost, miniaturization, low power consumption, convenient deployment, and high reliability. In this paper, a novel optical fiber sensing scheme for ice-based buoy monitoring is proposed, which uses arrayed fiber grating to measure seawater temperature and depth profile and uses a dual-conduction mode resonance mechanism to measure seawater salinity. The temperature, depth, and salinity of seawater can be detected by an all-optical fiber technology in real-time. Preliminary experiments show that the temperature accuracy is ±0.1 °C in the range of -5∼35 °C, the salinity accuracy is ±0.03‰ in the range of 30‰âˆ¼40‰, and the vertical spatial resolution of depth can be adjusted in the range of 0∼1000 m, which can better meet the requirements of polar hydrological multi-layer profile observation. It can provide an innovative technology and equipment support for studying the spatiotemporal change process of the polar subglacial ocean.

Isotropic Quantum Griffiths Singularity in Nd_{0.8}Sr_{0.2}NiO_{2} Infinite-Layer Superconducting Thin Films.

This work reports on the emergence of quantum Griffiths singularity (QGS) associated with the magnetic field induced superconductor-metal transition (SMT) in unconventional Nd_{0.8}Sr_{0.2}NiO_{2} infinite layer superconducting thin films. The system manifests isotropic SMT features under both in-plane and perpendicular magnetic fields. Importantly, after scaling analysis of the isothermal magnetoresistance curves, the obtained effective dynamic critical exponents demonstrate divergent behavior when approaching the zero-temperature critical point B_{c}^{*}, identifying the QGS characteristics. Moreover, the quantum fluctuation associated with the QGS can quantitatively explain the upturn of the upper critical field around zero temperature for both the in-plane and perpendicular magnetic fields in the phase boundary of SMT. These properties indicate that the QGS in the Nd_{0.8}Sr_{0.2}NiO_{2} superconducting thin film is isotropic. Moreover, a higher magnetic field gives rise to a metallic state with the resistance-temperature relation R(T) exhibiting lnT dependence among the 2-10 K range and T^{2} dependence of resistance below 1.5 K, which is significant evidence of Kondo scattering. The interplay between isotropic QGS and Kondo scattering in the unconventional Nd_{0.8}Sr_{0.2}NiO_{2} superconductor can illustrate the important role of rare region in QGS and help to uncover the exotic superconductivity mechanism in this system.

Preparation and Decomposition of Spherical CL-20 Composites with Enhanced Laser Absorbance and Decreased Mechanical Sensitivity.

Direct initiation of secondary explosives by a semiconductor laser is highly demanded, but it is challenging to exclude the use of sensitive primers. Most laser-sensitive energetic materials are usually mechanically sensitive. In order to reduce the mechanical sensitivity (MS) of 2,4,6,8,10,12-hexanitro-2,4,6,8,10,12-hexaazaisowurtzitane (CL-20) while improving laser absorbance in the near-infrared band, spherical CL-20 composites (SCCs) embedded with nano aluminum (Al) powder and graphene-based catalyst (GO-CHZ-Co) were prepared by a spray drying method. These SCCs have been characterized comprehensively in terms of their morphologies, particle size distribution, laser absorbance, thermal decomposition behaviors, MS, and laser ignition properties. Results show that the maximum critical impact energy of SCCs was 3.8 J, which is 2.8 J higher than that of pristine ε-CL-20. The critical friction load was increased by at most 108 N compared to pristine CL-20. The absorbance has also been significantly increased up to almost 70% in the wavelength between 400 and 1400 nm, where the peak absorption is located in the region of 800-900 nm. In addition, the initial decomposition temperature (Ti) of SCCs is lower than that of pure CL-20, especially in the presence of GO-CHZ-Co. The apparent activation energy (Ea) for the decomposition of SCCs was largely dependent on the particle size of Al. Preliminary ignition tests indicate that the SCCs can be ignited successfully by a small-power laser.

Construction of a 12-Gene Prognostic Risk Model and Tumor Immune Microenvironment Analysis Based on the Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma Model.

OBJECTIVES: Accurate survival predictions and early interventional therapy are crucial for people with clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC). METHODS: In this retrospective study, we identified differentially expressed immune-related (DE-IRGs) and oncogenic (DE-OGs) genes from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) dataset to construct a prognostic risk model using univariate Cox regression and least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) analysis. We compared the immunogenomic characterization between the high- and low-risk patients in the TCGA and the PUCH cohort, including the immune cell infiltration level, immune score, immune checkpoint, and T-effector cell- and interferon (IFN)-γ-related gene expression. RESULTS: A prognostic risk model was constructed based on 9 DE-IRGs and 3 DE-OGs and validated in the training and testing TCGA datasets. The high-risk group exhibited significantly poor overall survival compared with the low-risk group in the training (P < 0.0001), testing (P = 0.016), and total (P < 0.0001) datasets. The prognostic risk model provided accurate predictive value for ccRCC prognosis in all datasets. Decision curve analysis revealed that the nomogram showed the best net benefit for the 1-, 3-, and 5-year risk predictions. Immunogenomic analyses of the TCGA and PUCH cohorts showed higher immune cell infiltration levels, immune scores, immune checkpoint, and T-effector cell- and IFN-γ-related cytotoxic gene expression in the high-risk group than in the low-risk group. CONCLUSION: The 12-gene prognostic risk model can reliably predict overall survival outcomes and is strongly associated with the tumor immune microenvironment of ccRCC.