Steering Electron-Induced Surface Reaction via a Molecular Assembly Approach.

Electrons not only serve as a "reactant" in redox reactions but also play a role in "catalyzing" some chemical processes. Despite the significance and ubiquitousness of electron-induced chemistry, many related scientific issues still await further exploration, among which is the impact of molecular assembly. In this work, microscopic insights into the vital role of molecular assembly in tweaking the electron-induced surface chemistry are unfolded by combined scanning tunneling microscopy and density functional theory studies. It is shown that the selective dissociation of a C-Cl bond in 4,4″-dichloro-1,1':3',1''-terphenyl (DCTP) on Cu(111) can be efficiently triggered by an electron injection via the STM tip into the unoccupied molecular orbital. The DCTP molecules are embedded in different assembly structures, including its self-assembly and coassemblies with Br adatoms. The energy threshold for the C-Cl bond cleavage increases as more Br adatoms stay close to the molecule, indicative of the sensitive response of the electron-induced surface reactivity of the C-Cl bond to the subtle change in the molecular assembly. Such a phenomenon is rationalized by the energy shift of the involved unoccupied molecular orbital of DCTP that is embedded in different assemblies. These findings shed new light on the tuning effect of molecular assembly on electron-induced reactions and introduce an efficient approach to precisely steer surface chemistry.

Biomimetic wafer-scale alignment of tellurium nanowires for high-mobility flexible and stretchable electronics.

Flexible and stretchable thin-film transistors (TFTs) are crucial in skin-like electronics for wearable and implantable applications. Such electronics are usually constrained in performance owing to a lack of high-mobility and stretchable semiconducting channels. Tellurium, a rising semiconductor with superior charge carrier mobilities, has been limited by its intrinsic brittleness and anisotropy. Here, we achieve highly oriented arrays of tellurium nanowires (TeNWs) on various substrates with wafer-scale scalability by a facile lock-and-shear strategy. Such an assembly approach mimics the alignment process of the trailing tentacles of a swimming jellyfish. We further apply these TeNW arrays in high-mobility TFTs and logic gates with improved flexibility and stretchability. More specifically, mobilities over 100 square centimeters per volt per second and on/off ratios of ~104 are achieved in TeNW-TFTs. The TeNW-TFTs on polyethylene terephthalate can sustain an omnidirectional bending strain of 1.3% for more than 1000 cycles. Furthermore, TeNW-TFTs on an elastomeric substrate can withstand a unidirectional strain of 40% with no performance degradation.

Tislelizumab versus sorafenib as first-line treatment for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma in China: a cost-effectiveness analysis.

Objective: The goal of this study is to compare the cost-effectiveness of tislelizumab and sorafenib as first-line treatment for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma in China. Methods: A comprehensive cost-effectiveness analysis was undertaken within the framework of a partitioned survival model to accurately gage the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) of tislelizumab compared to sorafenib. The model incorporated relevant clinical data and all survival rates were from RATIONALE-301 trials. The stability of the partitioned survival model was assessed by performing one-way and two-way sensitivity analyses. Results: The total cost incurred for the tislelizumab treatment was $16181.24, whereas the sorafenib was $14306.87. The tislelizumab regimen resulted in a significant increase of 0.18 quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) and an extra cost of $1874.37 as compared to chemotherapy. The ICER was $10413.17 per QALY, which was found to be below the willingness-to-pay (WTP) threshold of $37304.34/QALY. The results of the sensitivity analysis found that no fluctuations in any of the factors affected our results, even when these parameters fluctuated. Conclusion: Tislelizumab appears to be a cost-effective first-line treatment for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma when compared to sorafenib in China. These findings can inform decision-making processes regarding the selection of the most cost-effective treatment option for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma.

Targeting cellular senescence as a therapeutic vulnerability in gastric cancer.

AIMS: Cellular senescence (CS) represents an intracellular defense mechanism responding to stress signals and can be leveraged as a "vulnerability" in cancer treatment. This study aims to construct a CS atlas for gastric cancer (GC) and uncover potential therapeutics for GC patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 38 senescence-associated regulators with prognostic significance in GC were obtained from the CellAge database to construct Gastric cancer-specific Senescence Score (GSS). Using eXtreme Sum algorism, GSS-based drug repositioning was conducted to identify drugs that could antagonize GSS in CMap database. In vitro experiments were conducted to test the effect of combination of palbociclib and exisulind in eliminating GC cells. KEY FINDINGS: Patients with high GSS exhibited CS-related features, such as CS markers upregulation, adverse clinical outcomes and hypomethylation status. scRNA-seq data showed malignant cells with high GSS exhibited enhanced senescence state and more immunosuppressive signals such as PVR-CD96 compared with malignant cells with low GSS. In addition, the GSS-High cancer associated fibroblasts might secrete cytokines and chemokines such as IL-6, CXCL1, CXCL12, and CCL2 to from an immunosuppressive microenvironment, and GSS could serve as an indicator for immunotherapy resistance. Exisulind exhibited the greatest potential to reverse GSS. In vitro experiments demonstrated that exisulind could induce apoptosis and suppress the proliferation of palbociclib-induced senescent GC cells. SIGNIFICANCE: Overall, GSS offers a framework for better understanding of correlation between senescence and GC, which might provide new insights into the development of novel therapeutics in GC.

Effects of vaginal dilation therapy on vaginal length, vaginal stenosis, vaginal elasticity and sexual function of cervical cancer survivors.

BACKGROUND: Cervical cancer survivors can experience vaginal length shortening, vaginal stenosis, vaginal elasticity deterioration, sexual frequency reduction and sexual dysfunction. This prospective, uncontrolled, monocentric clinical interventional study aimed to evaluate the effect of vaginal dilation therapy on vaginal condition and sexual function of cervical cancer survivors who had not received timely vaginal dilation. METHODS: A total of 139 patients completed the study. They received 6 months of vaginal dilation therapy. We evaluated their vaginal elasticity, vaginal diameter, vaginal length and sexual function before and after vaginal dilation therapy. Their vaginal conditions were evaluated by customised vaginal moulds, and the sexual function was assessed by female sexual function index. The SPSS 25 software was used to analyse all the data. RESULTS: Age, vaginal diameter and sexual intercourse frequency before diagnosis were significantly associated with female sexual dysfunction of the patients after cancer treatment. Vaginal dilation therapy improved vaginal stenosis, vaginal length and sexual function in all the patients; however, the vaginal elasticity and incidence of sexual dysfunction did not improve significantly. Sexual intercourse frequency before diagnosis, vaginal elasticity, time interval from last treatment and treatment modalities were significantly associated with the change in female sexual function index score before and after vaginal dilation therapy. Patients with a time interval from the last treatment less than 24 months or those who had moderate or good vaginal elasticity, benefitted more from vaginal dilatation therapy. CONCLUSIONS: Cervical cancer survivors who had not received timely vaginal dilation still benefitted from vaginal dilation therapy, irrespective of the treatment methods they received. Moreover, vaginal dilation therapy should be performed as early as possible after cervical cancer treatment.

Cervical cancer survivors can experience vaginal condition deterioration and sexual dysfunction after treatment. Vaginal dilation can help improve vaginal stenosis, vaginal length and sexual function of these patients. However, some medical institutions in China do not provide timely vaginal dilation for this population. This study aimed to explore whether vaginal dilation was still effective for cervical cancer survivors who had not received timely vaginal dilation. The results showed that these patients still benefitted from vaginal dilation, irrespective of the treatment methods they received. Patients with a time interval from the last treatment less than 24 months or those who had moderate or good vaginal elasticity, benefitted more from vaginal dilation. The findings of the study is an indication to developing countries that more attention should be given to sexual issue of cervical cancer survivors in clinical practice, and vaginal dilation therapy should be performed promptly after treatment.

Seven new triterpenoids from the roots of Adenophora tetraphylla (Thub.) Fisch.

Seven new triterpenoids, named Adeterpenoids A-G (1-7) and eight known compounds (8-15), were isolated from 70% ethanol extract of the roots of Adenophora tetraphylla (Thub.) Fisch. The compounds from it were separated by column chromatography techniques such as silica gel, ODS, and preparative liquid chromatography. Their structures were clarified based on extensive spectral analysis (1D, 2D-NMR, HR-ESI-MS, IR, UV, and CD) and comparison with the literature. At the same time, all compounds were evaluated for their cytotoxic activity against the LN229 (human glioma cell line). The results showed that compounds 2, 5, 6, 13, and 14 had a significant inhibitory effect on LN229 cells.

Malignancy-associated ischemic stroke: Implications for diagnostic and therapeutic workup.

BACKGROUND: Patients with malignancies have an increased risk of suffering ischemic stroke via several mechanisms such as coagulation dysfunction and other malignancy-related effects as well as iatrogenic causes. Moreover, stroke can be the first sign of an occult malignancy, termed as malignancy-associated ischemic stroke (MAS). Therefore, timely diagnostic assessment and targeted management of this complex clinical situation are critical. FINDINGS: Patients with both stroke and malignancy have atypical ages, risk factors, and often exhibit malignancy-related symptoms and multiple lesions on neuroimaging. New biomarkers such as eicosapentaenoic acid and blood mRNA profiles may help in distinguishing MAS from other strokes. In terms of treatment, malignancy should not be considered a contraindication, given comparable rates of recanalization and complications between stroke patients with or without malignancies. CONCLUSION: In this review, we summarize the latest developments in diagnosing and managing MAS, especially stroke with occult malignancies, and provide new recommendations from recently emerged clinical evidence for diagnostic and therapeutic workup strategies.

Development of a Novel Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasound-Based Nomogram for Superficial Lymphadenopathy Differentiation: Postvascular Phase Value.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to develop and prospectively validate a prediction model for superficial lymphadenopathy differentiation using Sonazoid contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) combined with ultrasound (US) and clinical data. METHODS: The training cohort comprised 260 retrospectively enrolled patients with 260 pathological lymph nodes imaged between January and December 2020. Two clinical US-CEUS models were created using multivariable logistic regression analysis and compared using receiver operating characteristic curve analysis: Model 1 included clinical and US characteristics; Model 2 included all confirmed predictors, including CEUS characteristics. Feature contributions were evaluated using the SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) algorithm. Data from 172 patients were prospectively collected between January and May 2021 for model validation. RESULTS: Age, tumor history, long-axis diameter of lymph node, blood flow distribution, echogenic hilus, and the mean postvascular phase intensity (MPI) were identified as independent predictors for malignant lymphadenopathy. The area under the curve (AUC), sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of MPI alone was 0.858 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.817-0.891), 86.47%, 74.55%, and 81.2%, respectively. Model 2 had an AUC of 0.919 (95% CI, 0.879-0.949) and good calibration in training and validation cohorts. The incorporation of MPI significantly enhanced diagnostic capability (p < 0.0001 and p = 0.002 for training and validation cohorts, respectively). Decision curve analysis indicated Model 2 as the superior diagnostic tool. SHAP analysis highlighted MPI as the most pivotal feature in the diagnostic process. CONCLUSION: The employment of our straightforward prediction model has the potential to enhance clinical decision-making and mitigate the need for unwarranted biopsies.

Surface-confined alternating copolymerization with molecular precision by stoichiometric control.

Keen desires for artificial mimicry of biological polymers and property improvement of synthesized ones have triggered intensive explorations for sequence-controlled copolymerization. However, conventional synthesis faces great challenges to achieve this goal due to the strict requirements on reaction kinetics of comonomer pairs and tedious synthetic processes. Here, sequence-controlled alternating copolymerization with molecular precision is realized on surface. The stoichiometric control serves as a thermodynamic strategy to steer the polymerization selectivity, which enables the selective alternating organometallic copolymerization via intermolecular metalation of 4,4"-dibromo-p-terphenyl (P-Br) and 2,5-diethynyl-1,4-bis(phenylethynyl)benzene (A-H) with Ag adatoms on Ag(111) at P-Br: A-H = 2, as verified by scanning tunneling microscopy and density functional theory studies. In contrast, homopolymerization yield increases as the stoichiometric ratio deviates from 2. The microscopic characterizations rationalize the mechanism, providing a delicate explanation of the stoichiometry-dependent polymerization. These findings pave a way to actualizing an efficient sequence control of copolymerization by surface chemistry.

Differential diagnosis of cervical lymphadenopathy: Integration of postvascular phase of contrast-enhanced ultrasound and predictive nomogram model.

BACKGROUND: Distinguishing benign from malignant cervical lymph nodes is critical yet challenging. This study evaluates the postvascular phase of contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) and develops a user-friendly nomogram integrating demographic, conventional ultrasound, and CEUS features for accurate differentiation. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed 395 cervical lymph nodes from 395 patients between January 2020 and December 2022. The cohort was divided into training and validation sets using stratified random sampling. A predictive model, based on demographic, ultrasound, and CEUS features, was created and internally validated. RESULTS: The training set included 280 patients (130 benign, 150 malignant nodes) and the validation set 115 patients (46 benign, 69 malignant). Relative hypoenhancement in the postvascular phase emerged as a promising indicator for MLN, with sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and accuracy of 96.7 %,52.3 %, 70.0 %, 93.2 %, and 76.1 %, respectively in the training set and 95.7 %, 52.2 %, 75.0 %, 88.9 %, and 74.8 % in the validation set. Age over 50 years, history of malignancy, short-axis diameter greater than 1.00 cm, focal hyperechogenicity, ill-defined borders, and centripetal perfusion were also identified as independent MLN indicators. The nomogram prediction model showed outstanding accuracy, with an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.922 (95 % CI: 0.892-0.953) in the training set and 0.914 (95 % CI: 0.864-0.963) in the validation set. CONCLUSION: Relative hypoenhancement in the postvascular phase of CEUS, combined with demographics and ultrasound features, is effective for identifying MLNs. The developed prediction model, with a user-friendly nomogram, can facilitate clinical decision-making.

Association of air pollution and risk of chronic kidney disease: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Although epidemiological studies have evaluated the association between ambient air pollution and chronic kidney disease (CKD), the results remain mixed. To clarify the nature of the association, we conducted a comprehensive systematic review and meta-analysis to assess the global relationship between air pollution and CKD. The Web of Science, PubMed, Embase and Cochrane Library databases systematically were searched for studies published up to July 2023 and included 32 studies that met specific criteria. The random effects model was used to derive overall risk estimates for each pollutant. The meta-analysis estimated odds ratio (ORs) of risk for CKD were 1.42 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.31-1.54) for each 10 µg/m3 increase in PM2.5 ; 1.20 (95% CI: 1.14-1.26) for each 10 µg/m3 increase in PM10 ; 1.07 (95% CI: 1.05-1.09) for each 10 µg/m3 increase in NO2 ; 1.03 (95% CI: 1.02-1.03) for each 10 µg/m3 increase in NOX ; 1.07 (95% CI: 1.01-1.12) for each 1 ppb increase in SO2 ; 1.03 (95% CI: 1.00-1.05) for each 0.1 ppm increase in CO. Subgroup analysis showed that this effect varied by gender ratio, age, study design, exposure assessment method, and income level. Furthermore, PM2.5 , PM10 , and NO2 had negative effects on CKD even within the World Health Organization-recommended acceptable concentrations. Our results further confirmed the adverse effect of air pollution on the risk of CKD. These findings can contribute to enhance the awareness of the importance of reducing air pollution among public health officials and policymakers.

Aramid Nanodielectrics for Ultraconformal Transparent Electronic Skins.

On-skin electronics require minimal thicknesses and decent transparency for conformal contact, imperceptible wearing, and visual aesthetics. It is challenging to search for advanced ultrathin dielectrics capable of supporting the active components while maintaining bending softness, easy handling, and wafer-scale processability. Here, self-delaminated aramid nanodielectrics (ANDs) are demonstrated, enabling any skin-like electronics easily exfoliated from the processing substrates after complicated nanofabrication. In addition, ANDs are mechanically strong, chemically and thermally stable, transparent and breathable, therefore are ideal substrates for soft electronics. As demonstrated, compliant epidermal electrodes comprising silver nanowires and ANDs can successfully record high-quality electromyogram signals with low motion artifacts and satisfying sweat and water resistance. Furthermore, ANDs can serve as both substrates and dielectrics in single-walled carbon nanotube field-effect transistors (FETs) with a merely 160-nm thickness, which can be operated within 4 V with on/off ratios of 1.4 ± 0.5 × 105 , mobilities of 39.9 ± 2.2 cm2 V-1 s-1 , and negligible hysteresis. The ultraconformal FETs can function properly when wrapped around human hair without any degradation in performance.

Accuracy of implant placement via dynamic navigation and autonomous robotic computer-assisted implant surgery methods: A retrospective study.

OBJECTIVE: Optimal implant planning and placement allows the prosthesis to be well designed to achieve a satisfactory aesthetic and functional outcome. We aimed to compare deviations between implant planning and placement with the assistance of dynamic computer-assisted implant surgery (d-CAIS) or autonomous robotic computer-assisted implant surgery (r-CAIS) methods in a clinical setting. METHODS: The retrospective analysis of medical records between 2021 July and 2022 December was conducted to compare the implantation accuracy of the d-CAIS and r-CAIS system in partially edentulous patients through cone-beam computed tomography. Patient-reported outcomes (PROs) were recorded using a visual analogue scale (VAS). The Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was used to check the data distribution. Student's t-test or Mann-Whitney U-test was used as appropriate, with a defined significant difference (p < .05). RESULTS: Seventy-seven patients were analysed (124 implants), with 38 patients (62 implants) in the d-CAIS group and 39 patients (62 implants) in the r-CAIS group. The differences between d-CAIS and r-CAIS were 4.09 ± 1.79° versus 1.37 ± 0.92° (p < .001) in angular deviation; 1.25 ± 0.54 versus 0.68 ± 0.36 mm (p < .001) in coronal global deviation; 1.39 ± 0.52 versus 0.69 ± 0.36 mm (p < .001) in apical global deviation; the results of the PROMs showed no statistical difference between the two groups. CONCLUSIONS: r-CAIS allows more accurate implant placement than the d-CAIS technology. And both groups achieved overall satisfactory outcomes via VAS (Chinese Clinical Trial Registry ChiCTR2300072004).

Effects of vaginal dilation therapy on vaginal condition and sexual function of endometrial cancer patients treated with radiotherapy after surgery.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to evaluate the effect of vaginal dilation therapy on vaginal length, vaginal stenosis, vaginal elasticity, and sexual function of endometrial cancer patients treated with radiotherapy after surgery. METHODS: A total of 117 women were enrolled in this study. They received 6 months of vaginal dilation therapy. We evaluated their vaginal length, vaginal diameter, vaginal elasticity, and sexual function before radiotherapy, after radiotherapy, and after 6 months of vaginal dilation therapy. Their vaginal condition was assessed by customized vaginal dilating molds. Their sexual function was assessed by female sexual function index. The SPSS 25 software was used to analyze all the data. RESULTS: According to multivariate analysis, vaginal diameter (ß = 0.300, 95% CI [0.217-1.446], p = 0.010) and sexual intercourse frequency before diagnosis (ß = 0.424, 95% CI [0.164-0.733], p = 0.006) were significantly correlated with female sexual function after radiotherapy. Vaginal dilation therapy helped increase vaginal length, improve vaginal stenosis and sexual function (p < 0.05), though most of the figures at the end of the intervention did not fully return to those before radiotherapy. Noticeably, vaginal dilation therapy was ineffective in improving vaginal elasticity and the incidence rate of female sexual dysfunction (p > 0.05). Moreover, patients with medium or good vaginal elasticity benefited more from vaginal dilation therapy than patients with poor vaginal elasticity (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Vaginal dilation therapy should be carried out timely and preventatively in endometrial cancer patients treated with radiotherapy after surgery to improve their vaginal condition and sexual function.

Stretchable and Lithography-Compatible Interconnects Enabled by Self-Assembled Nanofilms with Interlocking Interfaces.

Stretchable interconnects with miniature widths are vital for the high-density integration of deformable electronic components on a single substrate for targeted data logic or storage functions. However, it is still challenging to attain high-resolution patternability of stretchable conductors with robust circuit fabrication capability. Here, we report a self-assembled silver nanofilm firmly interlocked by an elastomeric nanodielectric that can be photolithographically patterned into microscale features while preserving high stretchability and conductivity. Both silver and dielectric nanofilms are fabricated by layer-by-layer assembly, ensuring wafer-scale uniformity and meticulous control of thicknesses. Without any thermal annealing, the as-fabricated nanofilms from silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) exhibit conductivity of 1.54 × 106 S m-1 and stretchability of ∼200%, which is due to the impeded crack propagation by the underlying PU nanodielectrics. Furthermore, it is revealed that AgNP microstrips defined by photolithography show higher stretchability when their widths are downscaled to 100 µm owing to confined cracks. However, further scaling restricts the stretchability, following the early development of cracks cutting across the strip. In addition, the resistance change of these silver interconnects can be decreased using serpentine architectures. As a demonstration, these self-assembled interconnects are used as stretchable circuit boards to power LEDs.

Deep learning models of ultrasonography significantly improved the differential diagnosis performance for superficial soft-tissue masses: a retrospective multicenter study.

BACKGROUND: Most of superficial soft-tissue masses are benign tumors, and very few are malignant tumors. However, persistent growth, of both benign and malignant tumors, can be painful and even life-threatening. It is necessary to improve the differential diagnosis performance for superficial soft-tissue masses by using deep learning models. This study aimed to propose a new ultrasonic deep learning model (DLM) system for the differential diagnosis of superficial soft-tissue masses. METHODS: Between January 2015 and December 2022, data for 1615 patients with superficial soft-tissue masses were retrospectively collected. Two experienced radiologists (radiologists 1 and 2 with 8 and 30 years' experience, respectively) analyzed the ultrasound images of each superficial soft-tissue mass and made a diagnosis of malignant mass or one of the five most common benign masses. After referring to the DLM results, they re-evaluated the diagnoses. The diagnostic performance and concerns of the radiologists were analyzed before and after referring to the results of the DLM results. RESULTS: In the validation cohort, DLM-1 was trained to distinguish between benign and malignant masses, with an AUC of 0.992 (95% CI: 0.980, 1.0) and an ACC of 0.987 (95% CI: 0.968, 1.0). DLM-2 was trained to classify the five most common benign masses (lipomyoma, hemangioma, neurinoma, epidermal cyst, and calcifying epithelioma) with AUCs of 0.986, 0.993, 0.944, 0.973, and 0.903, respectively. In addition, under the condition of the DLM-assisted diagnosis, the radiologists greatly improved their accuracy of differential diagnosis between benign and malignant tumors. CONCLUSIONS: The proposed DLM system has high clinical application value in the differential diagnosis of superficial soft-tissue masses.

TCF-Trans: Temporal Context Fusion Transformer for Anomaly Detection in Time Series.

Anomaly detection tasks involving time-series signal processing have been important research topics for decades. In many real-world anomaly detection applications, no specific distributions fit the data, and the characteristics of anomalies are different. Under these circumstances, the detection algorithm requires excellent learning ability of the data features. Transformers, which apply the self-attention mechanism, have shown outstanding performances in modelling long-range dependencies. Although Transformer based models have good prediction performance, they may be influenced by noise and ignore some unusual details, which are significant for anomaly detection. In this paper, a novel temporal context fusion framework: Temporal Context Fusion Transformer (TCF-Trans), is proposed for anomaly detection tasks with applications to time series. The original feature transmitting structure in the decoder of Informer is replaced with the proposed feature fusion decoder to fully utilise the features extracted from shallow and deep decoder layers. This strategy prevents the decoder from missing unusual anomaly details while maintaining robustness from noises inside the data. Besides, we propose the temporal context fusion module to adaptively fuse the generated auxiliary predictions. Extensive experiments on public and collected transportation datasets validate that the proposed framework is effective for anomaly detection in time series. Additionally, the ablation study and a series of parameter sensitivity experiments show that the proposed method maintains high performance under various experimental settings.

Tejas functions as a core component in nuage assembly and precursor processing in Drosophila piRNA biogenesis.

PIWI-interacting RNAs (piRNAs), which protect genome from the attack by transposons, are produced and amplified in membraneless granules called nuage. In Drosophila, PIWI family proteins, Tudor-domain-containing (Tdrd) proteins, and RNA helicases are assembled and form nuage to ensure piRNA production. However, the molecular functions of the Tdrd protein Tejas (Tej) in piRNA biogenesis remain unknown. Here, we conduct a detailed analysis of the subcellular localization of fluorescently tagged nuage proteins and behavior of piRNA precursors. Our results demonstrate that Tej functions as a core component that recruits Vasa (Vas) and Spindle-E (Spn-E) into nuage granules through distinct motifs, thereby assembling nuage and engaging precursors for further processing. Our study also reveals that the low-complexity region of Tej regulates the mobility of Vas. Based on these results, we propose that Tej plays a pivotal role in piRNA precursor processing by assembling Vas and Spn-E into nuage and modulating the mobility of nuage components.

Ultrafine Pt Nanoparticles Anchored on 2D Metal-Organic Frameworks as Multifunctional Electrocatalysts for Water Electrolysis and Zinc-Air Batteries.

Multifunctional electrocatalysts are crucial to cost-effective electrochemical energy conversion and storage systems requiring mutual enhancement of disparate reactions. Embedding noble metal nanoparticles in 2D metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are proposed as an effective strategy, however, the hybrids usually suffer from poor electrochemical performance and electrical conductivity in operating conditions. Herein, ultrafine Pt nanoparticles strongly anchored on thiophenedicarboxylate acid based 2D Fe-MOF nanobelt arrays (Pt@Fe-MOF) are fabricated, allowing sufficient exposure of active sites with superior trifunctional electrocatalytic activity for hydrogen evolution, oxygen evolution, and oxygen reduction reactions. The interfacial Fe─O─Pt bonds can induce the charge redistribution of metal centers, leading to the optimization of adsorption energy for reaction intermediates, while the dispersibility of ultrafine Pt nanoparticles contributes to the high mass activity. When Pt@Fe-MOF is used as bifunctional catalysts for water-splitting, a low voltage of 1.65 V is required at 100 mA cm-2 with long-term stability for 20 h at temperatures (65 °C) relevant for industrial applications, outperforming commercial benchmarks. Furthermore, liquid Zn-air batteries with Pt@Fe-MOF in cathodes deliver high open-circuit voltages (1.397 V) and decent cycling stability, which motivates the fabrication of flexible quasisolid-state rechargeable Zn-air batteries with remarkable performance.

Vertically grown ultrathin Bi2SiO5 as high-κ single-crystalline gate dielectric.

Single-crystalline high-κ dielectric materials are desired for the development of future two-dimensional (2D) electronic devices. However, curent 2D gate insulators still face challenges, such as insufficient dielectric constant and difficult to obtain free-standing and transferrable ultrathin films. Here, we demonstrate that ultrathin Bi2SiO5 crystals grown by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) can serve as excellent gate dielectric layers for 2D semiconductors, showing a high dielectric constant (>30) and large band gap (~3.8 eV). Unlike other 2D insulators synthesized via in-plane CVD on substrates, vertically grown Bi2SiO5 can be easily transferred onto other substrates by polymer-free mechanical pressing, which greatly facilitates its ideal van der Waals integration with few-layer MoS2 as high-κ dielectrics and screening layers. The Bi2SiO5 gated MoS2 field-effect transistors exhibit an ignorable hysteresis (~3 mV) and low drain induced barrier lowering (~5 mV/V). Our work suggests vertically grown Bi2SiO5 nanoflakes as promising candidates to improve the performance of 2D electronic devices.