Chemically Conjugated Branched Staples for Super-DNA Origami.

DNA origami, comprising a long folded DNA scaffold and hundreds of linear DNA staple strands, has been developed to construct various sophisticated structures, smart devices, and drug delivery systems. However, the size and diversity of DNA origami are usually constrained by the length of DNA scaffolds themselves. Herein, we report a new paradigm of scaling up DNA origami assembly by introducing a novel branched staple concept. Owing to their covalent characteristics, the chemically conjugated branched DNA staples we describe here can be directly added to a typical DNA origami assembly system to obtain super-DNA origami with a predefined number of origami tiles in one pot. Compared with the traditional two-step coassembly system (yields <10%), a much greater yield (>80%) was achieved using this one-pot strategy. The diverse superhybrid DNA origami with the combination of different origami tiles can be also efficiently obtained by the hybrid branched staples. Furthermore, the branched staples can be successfully employed as the effective molecular glues to stabilize micrometer-scale, super-DNA origami arrays (e.g., 10 × 10 array of square origami) in high yields, paving the way to bridge the nanoscale precision of DNA origami with the micrometer-scale device engineering. This rationally developed assembly strategy for super-DNA origami based on chemically conjugated branched staples presents a new avenue for the development of multifunctional DNA origami-based materials.

Underwater Wavelength Attack on Discrete Modulated Continuous-Variable Quantum Key Distribution.

The wavelength attack utilizes the dependence of beam splitters (BSs) on wavelength to cause legitimate users Alice and Bob to underestimate their excess noise so that Eve can steal more secret keys without being detected. Recently, the wavelength attack on Gaussian-modulated continuous-variable quantum key distribution (CV-QKD) has been researched in both fiber and atmospheric channels. However, the wavelength attack may also pose a threat to the case of ocean turbulent channels, which are vital for the secure communication of both ocean sensor networks and submarines. In this work, we propose two wavelength attack schemes on underwater discrete modulated (DM) CV-QKD protocol, which is effective for the case with and without local oscillator (LO) intensity monitor, respectively. In terms of the transmittance properties of the fused biconical taper (FBT) BS, two sets of wavelengths are determined for Eve's pulse manipulation, which are all located in the so-called blue-green band. The derived successful criterion shows that both attack schemes can control the estimated excess noise of Alice and Bob close to zero by selecting the corresponding condition parameters based on channel transmittance. Additionally, our numerical analysis shows that Eve can steal more bits when the wavelength attack controls the value of the estimated excess noise closer to zero.

Enzymatic Synthesis of TNA Protects DNA Nanostructures.

Xeno-nucleic acids (XNAs) are synthetic genetic polymers with improved biological stabilities and offer powerful molecular tools such as aptamers and catalysts. However, XNA application has been hindered by a very limited repertoire of tool enzymes, particularly those that enable de novo XNA synthesis. Here we report that terminal deoxynucleotide transferase (TdT) catalyzes untemplated threose nucleic acid (TNA) synthesis at the 3' terminus of DNA oligonucleotide, resulting in DNA-TNA chimera resistant to exonuclease digestion. Moreover, TdT-catalyzed TNA extension supports one-pot batch preparation of biostable chimeric oligonucleotides, which can be used directly as staple strands during self-assembly of DNA origami nanostructures (DONs). Such TNA-protected DONs show enhanced biological stability in the presence of exonuclease I, DNase I and fetal bovine serum. This work not only expands the available enzyme toolbox for XNA synthesis and manipulation, but also provides a promising approach to fabricate DONs with improved stability under the physiological condition.

Competition between C-C and C-H Bond Fluorination: A Continuum of Electron Transfer and Hydrogen Atom Transfer Mechanisms.

In 2015, we reported a photochemical method for directed C-C bond cleavage/radical fluorination of relatively unstrained cyclic acetals using Selectfluor and catalytic 9-fluorenone. Herein, we provide a detailed mechanistic study of this reaction, during which it was discovered that the key electron transfer step proceeds through substrate oxidation from a Selectfluor-derived N-centered radical intermediate (rather than through initially suspected photoinduced electron transfer). This finding led to proof of concept for two new methodologies, demonstrating that unstrained C-C bond fluorination can also be achieved under chemical and electrochemical conditions. Moreover, as C-C and C-H bond fluorination reactions are both theoretically possible on 2-aryl-cycloalkanone acetals and would involve the same reactive intermediate, we studied the competition between single-electron transfer (SET) and apparent hydrogen-atom transfer (HAT) pathways in acetal fluorination reactions using density functional theory. Finally, these analyses were applied more broadly to other classes of C-H and C-C bond fluorination reactions developed over the past decade, addressing the feasibility of SET processes masquerading as HAT in C-H fluorination literature.

An Electrochemical Approach to Directed Fluorination.

Electrosynthesis has made a revival in the field of organic chemistry and, in particular, radical-mediated reactions. Herein, we report a simple directed, electrochemical C-H fluorination method. Employing a dabconium mediator, commercially available Selectfluor, and RVC electrodes, we provide a range of steroid-based substrates with competent regioselective directing groups, including enones, ketones, and hydroxy groups, as well as never reported before lactams, imides, lactones, and esters.

A DNA Origami-Based Gene Editing System for Efficient Gene Therapy in Vivo.

DNA nanostructures have played an important role in the development of novel drug delivery systems. Herein, we report a DNA origami-based CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing system for efficient gene therapy in vivo. In our design, a PAM-rich region precisely organized on the surface of DNA origami can easily recruit and load sgRNA/Cas9 complex by PAM-guided assembly and pre-designed DNA/RNA hybridization. After loading the sgRNA/Cas9 complex, the DNA origami can be further rolled up by the locking strands with a disulfide bond. With the incorporation of DNA aptamer and influenza hemagglutinin (HA) peptide, the cargo-loaded DNA origami can realize the targeted delivery and effective endosomal escape. After reduction by GSH, the opened DNA origami can release the sgRNA/Cas9 complex by RNase H cleavage to achieve a pronounced gene editing of a tumor-associated gene for gene therapy in vivo. This rationally developed DNA origami-based gene editing system presents a new avenue for the development of gene therapy.

Inclusion bodies of human parainfluenza virus type 3 inhibit antiviral stress granule formation by shielding viral RNAs.

Viral invasion triggers the activation of the host antiviral response. Besides the innate immune response, stress granules (SGs) also act as an additional defense response to combat viral replication. However, many viruses have evolved various strategies to suppress SG formation to facilitate their own replication. Here, we show that viral mRNAs derived from human parainfluenza virus type 3 (HPIV3) infection induce SG formation in an eIF2α phosphorylation- and PKR-dependent manner in which viral mRNAs are sequestered and viral replication is inhibited independent of the interferon signaling pathway. Furthermore, we found that inclusion body (IB) formation by the interaction of the nucleoprotein (N) and phosphoprotein (P) of HPIV3 correlated with SG suppression. In addition, co-expression of P with NL478A (a point mutant of N, which is unable to form IBs with P) or with NΔN10 (lacking N-terminal 10 amino acids of N, which could form IBs with P but was unable to synthesize or shield viral RNAs) failed to inhibit SG formation, suggesting that inhibition of SG formation also correlates with the capacity of IBs to synthesize and shield viral RNAs. Therefore, we provide a model whereby viral IBs escape the antiviral effect of SGs by concealing their own newly synthesized viral RNAs and offer new insights into the emerging role of IBs in viral replication.

Improving Underwater Continuous-Variable Measurement-Device-Independent Quantum Key Distribution via Zero-Photon Catalysis.

Underwater quantumkey distribution (QKD) is tough but important formodern underwater communications in an insecure environment. It can guarantee secure underwater communication between submarines and enhance safety for critical network nodes. To enhance the performance of continuous-variable quantumkey distribution (CVQKD) underwater in terms ofmaximal transmission distance and secret key rate as well, we adopt measurement-device-independent (MDI) quantum key distribution with the zero-photon catalysis (ZPC) performed at the emitter of one side, which is the ZPC-based MDI-CVQKD. Numerical simulation shows that the ZPC-involved scheme, which is a Gaussian operation in essence, works better than the single photon subtraction (SPS)-involved scheme in the extreme asymmetric case. We find that the transmission of the ZPC-involved scheme is longer than that of the SPS-involved scheme. In addition, we consider the effects of temperature, salinity and solar elevation angle on the system performance in pure seawater. The maximal transmission distance decreases with the increase of temperature and the decrease of sunlight elevation angle, while it changes little over a broad range of salinity.

Effect of heme oxygenase-1 gene promoter polymorphism on cancer risk by histological subtype: A prospective study in arseniasis-endemic areas in Taiwan.

Heme oxygenase (HO)-1 is upregulated by many stressful stimuli, including arsenic. A GT-repeat ((GT)n) polymorphism in the HO-1 gene promoter inversely modulates the levels of HO-1 induction. Previous HO-1 (GT)n polymorphism studies in relation to cancer risk have shown disparate results. We prospectively investigated the associations between HO-1 (GT)n polymorphism and cancer risk related to arsenic from drinking water. Totally, 1,013 participants from community-based cohorts of arseniasis-endemic areas in Taiwan were followed for 13 years. Allelic polymorphisms were classified into long (L, ≥ 27 (GT)n) and short (S, <27 (GT)n). Newly developed cases were identified through linkage with National Cancer Registry of Taiwan. Multivariate Cox proportional hazard methods were used to evaluate effects of the HO-1 polymorphism alone or combined with arsenic exposure. Results showed that participants with the S/S genotype had an increased risk of Bowen's disease (HR = 10.49; 95% CI: 2.77-39.7), invasive skin cancer (HR = 2.99; 95% CI: 1.13-7.87), and lung squamous cell carcinoma (HR = 3.39; 95% CI: 1.15-9.95) versus those with L/S or L/L genotype. The S/S genotype combined with high arsenic exposure (>300 µg/L) had a greater risk of skin cancer compared to the genotype alone. Consistent with previous findings, participants with the S-allele had a reduced risk of lung adenocarcinoma (HR = 0.21; 95% CI: 0.03-0.68) versus those with L/L genotype. There were no significant differences in risk of urothelial carcinoma among the three genotypes. Associations of HO-1 (GT)n polymorphism with cancer risk differs by histological subtype and the polymorphism should be considered a modifier in the risk assessment of arsenic exposure.

Efficient one-pot assembly of higher-order DNA nanostructures by chemically conjugated branched DNA.

Chemically conjugated branched DNA was successfully synthesized by a copper-free click reaction to construct sophisticated and higher-order polyhedral DNA nanostructures with pre-defined units in one pot, which can be used as an efficient nanoplatform to precisely organize multiple gold nanoparticles in predesigned patterns.

The effect of collectivism-oriented human resource management on employee resilience of hospitality employees.

Introduction: In the face of an increasingly challenging and rapidly evolving business environment, not all the employees exhibit the requisite resilience necessary to recover from adversity. From both the individual and organizational perspectives, enhancing employee resilience emerges as a critical issue not only in the practical and academic fields. In the Chinese culture, this research aims to investigate how and why collectivism-oriented human resource management (C-HRM) fosters employee resilience. Drawing on the group engagement model, we propose a serial mediating effect of perceived overall fairness and three dimensions of social identity between C-HRM and employee resilience. Methods: Using a sample of frontline employees in the hospitality industry, we conducted a field survey among 342 employees (study 1) and a two-wave online survey among 294 hospitality employees (study 2). Results: Findings from empirical analysis indicated that C-HRM significantly increases overall fairness perception of hospitality frontline employees and in turn, their identification and respect, which further fertilize employee resilience. In addition, the indirect effect of C-HRM on employee resilience through perceived overall fairness and pride was not statistically significant. Discussion: These important findings are expected to help employees cope with the workplace pressures caused by ongoing challenges and change, and contribute to sustainable career development.

An analytical form of ring artifact correction for computed tomography based on directional gradient domain optimization.

BACKGROUND: Ring artifact is a common problem in Computed Tomography (CT), which can lead to inaccurate diagnoses and treatment plans. It can be caused by various factors such as detector imperfections, anti-scatter grids, or other nonuniform filters placed in the x-ray beam. Physics-based corrections for these x-ray source and detector non-uniformity, in general cannot completely get rid of the ring artifacts. Therefore, there is a need for a robust method that can effectively remove ring artifacts in the image domain while preserving details. PURPOSE: This study aims to develop an effective method for removing ring artifacts from reconstructed CT images. METHODS: The proposed method starts by converting the reconstructed CT image containing ring artifacts into polar coordinates, thereby transforming these artifacts into stripes. Relative Total Variation is used to extract the image's overall structural information. For the efficient restoration of intricate details, we introduce Directional Gradient Domain Optimization (DGDO) and design objective functions that make use of both the image's gradient and its overall structure. Subsequently, we present an efficient analytical algorithm to minimize these objective functions. The image obtained through DGDO is then transformed back into Cartesian coordinates, finalizing the ring artifact correction process. RESULTS: Through a series of synthetic and real-world experiments, we have effectively demonstrated the prowess of our proposed method in the correction of ring artifacts while preserving intricate details in reconstructed CT images. In a direct comparison, our method has exhibited superior visual quality compared to several previous approaches. These results underscore the remarkable potential of our approach for enhancing the overall quality and clinical utility of CT imaging. CONCLUSIONS: The proposed method offers an analytical solution for removing ring artifacts from CT images while preserving details. As ring artifacts are a common problem in CT imaging, this method has high practical value in the medical field. The proposed method can improve image quality and reduce the difficulty of disease diagnosis, thereby contributing to better patient care.

Semi-Dense Feature Matching With Transformers and its Applications in Multiple-View Geometry.

We present a novel method for local image feature matching. Instead of performing image feature detection, description, and matching sequentially, we propose to first establish pixel-wise dense matches at a coarse level and later refine the good matches at a fine level. In contrast to dense methods that use a cost volume to search correspondences, we use self and cross attention layers in Transformer to obtain feature descriptors that are conditioned on both images. The global receptive field provided by Transformer enables our method to produce dense matches in low-texture areas, where feature detectors usually struggle to produce repeatable interest points. The experiments on indoor and outdoor datasets show that LoFTR outperforms state-of-the-art methods by a large margin. We further adapt LoFTR to modern SfM systems and illustrate its application in multiple-view geometry. The proposed method demonstrates superior performance in Image Matching Challenge 2021 and ranks first on two public benchmarks of visual localization among the published methods. The code is available at https://zju3dv.github.io/loftr.

How Do Face-to-Face Stacked Aromatic Rings Activate Each Other to Electrophilic Aromatic Substitution?

We have found that face-to-face π-stacked aromatic rings show the propensity to activate one another toward electrophilic aromatic substitution through direct influence of the probe aromatic ring by the adjacent stacked ring, rather than through the formation of relay or "sandwich complexes." This activation remains in force even when one of the rings is deactivated through nitration. The resulting dinitrated products are shown to crystallize in an extended parallel offset stacked form, in stark contrast to the substrate.

Chromosome territory reorganization through artificial chromosome fusion is compatible with cell fate determination and mouse development.

Chromosomes occupy discrete spaces in the interphase cell nucleus, called chromosome territory. The structural and functional relevance of chromosome territory remains elusive. We fused chromosome 15 and 17 in mouse haploid embryonic stem cells (haESCs), resulting in distinct changes of territories in the cognate chromosomes, but with little effect on gene expression, pluripotency and gamete functions of haESCs. The karyotype-engineered haESCs were successfully implemented in generating heterozygous (2n = 39) and homozygous (2n = 38) mouse models. Mice containing the fusion chromosome are fertile, and their representative tissues and organs display no phenotypic abnormalities, suggesting unscathed development. These results indicate that the mammalian chromosome architectures are highly resilient, and reorganization of chromosome territories can be readily tolerated during cell differentiation and mouse development.

Gli1 marks a sentinel muscle stem cell population for muscle regeneration.

Adult skeletal muscle regeneration is mainly driven by muscle stem cells (MuSCs), which are highly heterogeneous. Although recent studies have started to characterize the heterogeneity of MuSCs, whether a subset of cells with distinct exists within MuSCs remains unanswered. Here, we find that a population of MuSCs, marked by Gli1 expression, is required for muscle regeneration. The Gli1+ MuSC population displays advantages in proliferation and differentiation both in vitro and in vivo. Depletion of this population leads to delayed muscle regeneration, while transplanted Gli1+ MuSCs support muscle regeneration more effectively than Gli1- MuSCs. Further analysis reveals that even in the uninjured muscle, Gli1+ MuSCs have elevated mTOR signaling activity, increased cell size and mitochondrial numbers compared to Gli1- MuSCs, indicating Gli1+ MuSCs are displaying the features of primed MuSCs. Moreover, Gli1+ MuSCs greatly contribute to the formation of GAlert cells after muscle injury. Collectively, our findings demonstrate that Gli1+ MuSCs represents a distinct MuSC population which is more active in the homeostatic muscle and enters the cell cycle shortly after injury. This population functions as the tissue-resident sentinel that rapidly responds to injury and initiates muscle regeneration.

Sufu limits sepsis-induced lung inflammation via regulating phase separation of TRAF6.

Rationale: Sepsis is a potentially life-threatening condition caused by the body's response to a severe infection. Although the identification of multiple pathways involved in inflammation, tissue damage and aberrant healing during sepsis, there remain unmet needs for the development of new therapeutic strategies essential to prevent the reoccurrence of infection and organ injuries. Methods: Expression of Suppressor of Fused (Sufu) was evaluated by qRT-PCR, western blotting, and immunofluorescence in murine lung and peritoneal macrophages. The significance of Sufu expression in prognosis was assessed by Kaplan-Meier survival analysis. The GFP-TRAF6-expressing stable cell line (GFP-TRAF6 Blue cells) were constructed to evaluate phase separation of TRAF6. Phase separation of TRAF6 and the roles of Sufu in repressing TRAF6 droplet aggregation were analyzed by co-immunoprecipitation, immunofluorescence, Native-PAGE, FRAP and in vitro assays using purified proteins. The effects of Sufu on sepsis-induced lung inflammation were evaluated by cell function assays, LPS-induced septic shock model and polymicrobial sepsis-CLP mice model. Results: We found that Sufu expression is reduced in early response to lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced acute inflammation in murine lung and peritoneal macrophages. Deletion of Sufu aggravated LPS-induced and CLP (cecal ligation puncture)-induced lung injury and lethality in mice, and augmented LPS-induced proinflammatory gene expression in cultured macrophages. In addition, we identified the role of Sufu as a negative regulator of the Toll-Like Receptor (TLR)-triggered inflammatory response. We further demonstrated that Sufu directly interacts with TRAF6, thereby preventing oligomerization and autoubiquitination of TRAF6. Importantly, TRAF6 underwent phase separation during LPS-induced inflammation, which is essential for subsequent ubiquitination activation and NF-κB activity. Sufu inhibits the phase-separated TRAF6 droplet formation, preventing NF-κB activation upon LPS stimulation. In a septic shock model, TRAF6 depletion rescued the augmented inflammatory phenotype in mice with myeloid cell-specific deletion of Sufu. Conclusions: These findings implicated Sufu as an important inhibitor of TRAF6 in sepsis and suggest that therapeutics targeting Sufu-TRAF6 may greatly benefit the treatment of sepsis.

Anti-Hermitian plasmon coupling of an array of gold thin-film antennas for controlling light at the nanoscale.

Open quantum systems consisting of coupled bound and continuum states have been studied in a variety of physical systems, particularly within the scope of nuclear, atomic, and molecular physics. In the open systems, the effects of the continuum decay channels are accounted for by indirect non-Hermitian couplings among the quasibound states. Here we explore anti-Hermitian coupling in a plasmonic system for spatially manipulating light on the nanoscale. We show that by utilizing the anti-Hermitian coupling, plasmonic antennas closely packed within only λ/15 separations can be individually excited from the far field, which are otherwise indistinguishable from each other. This opens a new venue for the nanoscale lightwave control, wavelength multiplexing, and spectrum splitting.

Estimator design for complex networks with encoding decoding mechanism and buffer-aided strategy: A partial-nodes accessible case.

This article focuses on the partial-nodes-based state estimation (PNBSE) issue for a complex network with the encoding-decoding mechanism (EDM) over the unreliable communication channel, where the signals are transmitted in an intermittent manner. A so-called EDM is exploited to convert the transmitted signals into a set of codewords with finite bits so as to facilitate the transmission efficiency between the complex networks and the estimator. To guarantee the state estimation (SE) performance subject to the intermittent communication nature of the channel, a buffer with limited capacity, which stores the recent measurement signals and sends them to the estimator simultaneously, is adopted to improve the utilization rate of the measurement signals in the estimation process. The main objective of the investigated problem is to construct a partial-nodes-based (PNB) estimator to generate the desired state estimates for the underlying complex networks. Considering the intermittent feature of signal transmission, the ultimate boundedness of the SE error under the constructed PNB estimator is discussed, and then, sufficient conditions are derived which ensure that the desired PNB estimator exists. An simulation example is given to confirm the correctness and effectiveness of the proposed estimator design strategy in the end.

Nitrogen migration in products during the microwave-assisted hydrothermal carbonization of spirulina platensis.

Nitrogen has a vital influence on the properties of the microwave-assisted hydrothermal carbonization (MHTC) products of Spirulina platensis (SP). The effects of hydrothermal temperature (140-220 °C) and time (1-4 h) on the product distribution and nitrogen migration of SP in MHTC were studied. Increasing temperature led to an increase in the carbon content, and a decrease in the nitrogen content in hydrochar. Protein-N was the major nitrogen-containing species in hydrochar. The total nitrogen in liquid phase increased significantly with increasing temperature. Carbon dots were found to be one of the valuable products in the liquid phase. Higher temperatures improved the amine-N level and reduced the quaternary-N content in carbon dots. A close correspondence was found between the N-containing species and the luminescence centers of carbon dots. A possible nitrogen migration mechanism was proposed to provide guidance for the potential application of the products.