High-Performance Sensing Platform Based on Morphology/Lattice Collaborative Control of Femtosecond-Laser-Induced MXene-Composited Graphene.

Flexible sensors based on laser-induced graphene (LIG) are widely used in wearable personal devices, with the morphology and lattice arrangement of LIG the key factors affecting their performance in various applications. In this study, femtosecond-laser-induced MXene-composited graphene (LIMG) is used to improve the electrical conductivity of graphene by incorporating MXene, a 2D material with a high concentration of free electrons, into the LIG structure. By combining pump-probe detection, laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS), and density functional theory (DFT) calculations, the morphogenesis and lattice structuring principles of LIMG is explored, with the results indicating that MXene materials are successfully embedded in the graphene lattice, altering both their morphology and electrical properties. The structural sparsity and electrical conductivity of LIMG composites (up to 3187 S m-1) are significantly enhanced compared to those of LIG. Based on these findings, LIMG has been used in wearable electronics. LIMG electrodes are used to detect uric acid, with a minimum detection limit of 2.48 µM. Additionally, LIMG-based pressure and bending sensors have been successfully used to monitor human limb movement and pulse. The direct in situ femtosecond laser patterning synthesis of LIMG has significant implications for developing flexible wearable electronic sensors.

Transparent cap adjusted the stent placed for stenosis after endoscopic injection of esophageal varices: A case report.

BACKGROUND: The stent embedded in the esophageal mucosa is one of the complications after stenting for esophageal stricture. We present a case of stent adjustment with the aid of a transparent cap after endoscopic injection of an esophageal varices stent. CASE SUMMARY: A 61-year-old male patient came to the hospital with discomfort of the chest after the stent implanted for the stenosis because of endoscopic injection of esophageal varices. The gastroscopy was performed, and the stent embedded into the esophageal mucosa. At first, we pulled the recycling line for shrinking the stent, however, the mucosa could not be removed from the stent. Then a forceps was performed to remove the mucosa in the stent, nevertheless, the bleeding form the mucosa was obvious. And then, we used a transparent cap to scrape the mucosa along the stent, and the mucosa were removed successfully without bleeding. CONCLUSION: A transparent cap helps gastroscopy to remove the mucosa embedded in the stent after endoscopic injection of the esophageal varices stent.

In Situ Laser-Induced 3D Porous Graphene within Transparent Polymers for Encapsulation-Free and Tunable Ultrabroadband Terahertz Absorption.

Three-dimensional (3D) porous carbon materials have great potential for fabricating flexible tunable broadband absorbers owing to their high electrical conductivity, strong dielectric loss, and unique microstructure. Herein, we introduce an innovative method for synthesizing 3D porous graphene that incorporates advanced tuning and encapsulation processes to augment its functional efficacy. Through the modulation of both thermal and nonthermal interactions between a femtosecond (fs) laser and a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) film, we have synergistically fine-tuned the surface morphology and lattice properties of 3D porous graphene. This approach enabled us to create a flexible terahertz (THz) absorber with customizable characteristics, boasting an impressive absorbance range of 80%-99% in the 0.4-1.0 THz spectrum, alongside a peak reflection loss (RL) of up to 35.6 dB. Furthermore, we have successfully demonstrated the production of photoinduced 3D porous graphene within a PDMS film, which serves as both a carbon precursor and protective layer. This simplifies the conventional packaging process. These devices exhibit a RL of up to 41.6 dB and an absorption bandwidth of 2.5 THz (0.6-3.1 THz). Our study presents a production methodology for high-performance, flexible THz absorbers, offering a straightforward and innovative solution for the rapid development of sophisticated, flexible THz absorbing materials.

Renewable and efficient removal of arsenic from contaminated water by modified biochars derived from As-enriched plant.

There were limited researches on the scientific disposal of As-enriched plants, and how to reduce the available As content in the processed products and improve the utilization value were the key. In this study, the effect and mechanism of biochar produced by the As-enriched Pteris vittate before and after modification on the removal of As(III) in water were studied. The results indicated that the available As contents of Fe-BC300 and Fe-BC500 were reduced by 78.7 % and 91.9 % compared to original biochars, respectively. Modified biochars not only had a large adsorption capacity for As(III) (50.3 and 39.7 mg/g), but also can efficiently oxidize As(III) to As(V). The removal rate of As(III) by modified biochar was still higher than 50% after 3 cycles. The increase of the point of zero charge and the introduction of Fe were the main reasons for its efficient adsorption and oxidation of As(III).

A Nomogram for Predicting Delayed Viral Shedding in Non-Severe SARS-CoV-2 Omicron Infection.

Purpose: The Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 has emerged as a significant global concern, characterized by its rapid transmission and resistance to existing treatments and vaccines. However, the specific hematological and biochemical factors that may impact the clearance of Omicron variant infection remain unclear. The present study aimed to identify easily accessible laboratory markers that are associated with prolonged virus shedding in non-severe patients with COVID-19 caused by the Omicron variant. Patients and Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted on 882 non-severe COVID-19 patients who were diagnosed with the Omicron variant in Shanghai between March and June 2022. The least absolute shrinkage and selection operator regression model was used for feature selection and dimensional reduction, and multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to construct a nomogram for predicting the risk of prolonged SARS-CoV-2 RNA positivity lasting for more than 7 days. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and calibration curves were used to assess predictive discrimination and accuracy, with bootstrap validation. Results: Patients were randomly divided into derivation (70%, n = 618) and validation (30%, n = 264) cohorts. Optimal independent markers for prolonged viral shedding time (VST) over 7 days were identified as Age, C-reactive protein (CRP), platelet count, leukocyte count, lymphocyte count, and eosinophil count. These factors were subsequently incorporated into the nomogram utilizing bootstrap validation. The area under the curve (AUC) in the derivation (0.761) and validation (0.756) cohorts indicated good discriminative ability. The calibration curve showed good agreement between the nomogram-predicted and actual patients with VST over 7 days. Conclusion: Our study confirmed six factors associated with delayed VST in non-severe SARS-CoV-2 Omicron infection and constructed a Nomogram which may assist non-severely affected patients to better estimate the appropriate length of self-isolation and optimize their self-management strategies.

Endoscopic ultrasonography guided cutting scar of esophageal stricture after endoscopic injection sclerotherapy.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate efficacy and safety of endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS) guiding to cut the scar of esophageal stricture after endoscopic injection sclerotherapy (EIS). METHODS: The data of 10 patients with oesophageal stricture after esophageal varices EIS in our hospital from September 1, 2021 to December 31, 2021 treated by cutting the scar guided by ultrasonic endoscopy were retrospective, and the efficacy was evaluated. RESULTS: The dysphagia was obviously relieved in 9 patients during follow-up, and 1 patient suffered dysphagia again after the treatment. There was no complications of perforation, bleeding and infection among the paitents. CONCLUSION: EUS guiding to cut the scar of esophageal stricture after EIS was safe and reliable.

Retraction Notice to: Application of Inorganic Nanocomposite Hydrogels in Bone Tissue Engineering.

[This retracts the article DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2020.101845.].

Case Report: A Malignant Liver and Thoracic Solitary Fibrous Tumor: A 10-Year Journey From the Brain to the Liver and the Spine.

Solitary fibrous tumors are rare neoplasms that originate from mesenchymal tissues and have been found to occur in any site, including the spine and liver. Although most of solitary fibrous tumors have benign features, only 10-20% are malignant and prone to metastasis. No previous reports have described the malignant and metastatic Solitary fibrous tumor arising in both of the liver and thoracic vertebrae. In this article, we present the case of a 60-year-old woman who underwent gross total resection of a meningeal tumor in 2007. She presented 10 years later with a thoracic vertebral mass that caused relentless pain and a lesion in the right lobe of liver. She underwent marginal excision of the T3 tumor with T2-4 pedicular screw fixation in March 2017, then right hemi-hepatectomy was performed to remove the liver lesion in June 2017. Both of the lesions were confirmed to be a metastatic and malignant tumor after surgery. The literature lacks randomized controlled trials and large studies that define the natural history of malignant solitary fibrous tumors and recommendations of precise management plan for the disease. However, the best choice for treatment is gross total resection, which probably provide the optimal treatment to achieve long-term disease-free survival.

Application of Inorganic Nanocomposite Hydrogels in Bone Tissue Engineering.

Bone defects caused by trauma and surgery are common clinical problems encountered by orthopedic surgeons. Thus, a hard-textured, natural-like biomaterial that enables encapsulated cells to obtain the much-needed biophysical stimulation and produce functional bone tissue is needed. Incorporating nanomaterials into cell-laden hydrogels is a straightforward tactic for producing tissue engineering structures that integrate perfectly with the body and for tailoring the material characteristics of hydrogels without hindering nutrient exchange with the surroundings. In this review, recent developments in inorganic nanocomposite hydrogels for bone tissue engineering that are of vital importance but have not yet been comprehensively reviewed are summarized.

miRNA-425-5p enhances lung cancer growth via the PTEN/PI3K/AKT signaling axis.

BACKGROUND: miRNAs regulate a multitude of cellular processes and their aberrant regulation is linked to human cancer. However, the role of miR-425-5p in lung cancer (LCa) is still largely unclear. Here, we explored the role of miR-425-5p during LCa tumorigenesis. METHODS: Cell proliferation was evaluated by cell counting Kit-8 and colony formation assay. Western blot and real-time PCR were accordingly used to detect the relevant proteins, miRNA and gene expression. Luciferase reporter assays were used to illustrate the interaction between miR-425-5p and PTEN. RESULTS: We demonstrate that miR-425-5p is overexpressed in LCa tissue and enhances the proliferative and colony formation capacity of the LCa cell lines A549 and NCI-H1299. Through predictive binding assays, PTEN was identified as a direct gene target and its exogenous expression inhibited the pro-cancer effects of miR-425-5p. Through its ability to down-regulate PTEN, miR-425-5p activated the PI3K/AKT axis. CONCLUSION: We conclude that miR-425-5p promotes LCa tumorigenesis through PTEN/PI3K/AKT signaling.

Cisplatin-induced necroptosis in TNFα dependent and independent pathways.

Cisplatin is a chemotherapeutic drug for treatment of many solid tumors. It has been shown to induce apoptosis and/or necrosis in different types of cancer cells. However, the underlying mechanisms remain elusive. In this study, we provide evidences that cisplatin induces necroptosis in receptor-interacting protein 3 (RIP3)-expressing cell lines, but not in cell lines lacking RIP3 protein expression. Deficiency of core components of necroptotic pathway, RIP1, RIP3, or mixed lineage kinase domain-like protein (MLKL) blocked cisplatin-induced cell death in L929 cells. This phenomenon is dependent on RIP1/RIP3/MLKL necrosome formation and translocation to mitochondria-associated membrane (MAM), but only partially via autocrine production of tumor necrosis factor α (TNFα). Moreover, we demonstrate that the mitochondrial permeability transition pore opening (mPTP) opening and reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation is a critical downstream event of the formation of necrosome in cisplatin-induced necroptosis, which is TNFα independent. Deficiency of cyclophilin-D (CypD) partially reduced cisplatin-induced cell death, indicating CypD mediated-mPTP opening plays an important role during cisplatin-induced necroptosis. Both deletion of CypD and TNFα completely blocked cisplatin-induced cell death, suggesting that cisplatin could induce necroptosis through TNFα dependent and independent pathway. These findings provide new insight into the molecular mechanisms underlying cisplatin-induced necroptosis.

Piperidinium bis-(2-oxidobenzoato-κO,O)borate.

The asymmetric unit of the title compound, C(5)H(12)N(+)·C(14)H(8)BO(6) (-) or [C(5)H(12)N][BO(4)(C(7)H(4)O)(2)], contains two piperidinium cations and two bis-(salicylato)borate anions. The coordination geometries around the B atoms are distorted tetra-hedral. In the two mol-ecules, the aromatic rings are oriented at dihedral angles of 76.27 (3) and 83.86 (3)°. The rings containing B atoms have twist-boat conformations, while the two cations adopt chair conformations. In the crystal, the component species are linked by N-H⋯O hydrogen bonds. In the crystal structure, intra- and inter-molecular N-H⋯O hydrogen bonds link the mol-ecules.

Dominant mutations of hepatitis B virus variants in hepatoma accumulate in B-cell and T-cell epitopes of the HBx antigen.

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) X gene, encoding a pleotropic transactivator of HBx protein, has been associated with the development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Molecular information on liver-derived HBV variants isolated from HCC among Taiwanese population was studied. Amplification of the HBV X genes of 20 HCC patients in high stringency with HBV specific primers was observed. The resulting amplified HBV X genes were purified and individually-cloned into pUC-T vector. Sequences of the eight liver-derived X gene were aligned and compared with the wild type, the ayw HBV serotype. Results indicate that the HBx protein of variants were found predominantly within the regions of amino acid positions 26-45 in N-terminus, and positions 87, 88, 116, 118, 119, 127 and 144. Sequences from six out of the eight variants were found to be identical. These accumulated sequence mutations among the eight HBx variants were found to coincide within the B-cell epitopes (positions 29-48), particularly in the HBx proline and serine rich (PSR) domain, and the T-cell epitopes regions (positions 116-127). These frequent mutations of HBV variants, rather than subtype-specific polymorphic sites, may be involved in immunoevasion.