Developing a plant microbial fuel cell by planting water spinach in a hanging-submerged plant pot system.

To plant crops (especially dry crops such as water spinach) with concomitant electricity recovery, a hanging-submerged-plant-pot system (HSPP) is developed. The HSPP consists of a soil pot (anodic) partially submerged under the water surface of a cathode tank. The microbial communities changed with conditions were also investigated. It was found that with chemical fertilizers the closed-circuit voltage (CCV, with 1 kΩ) was stable (approximately 250 mV) within 28 d; however, without fertilizer, the water spinach could adjust to the environment to obtain a better power output (approximately 3 mW m-2) at day 28. The microbial-community analyses revealed that the Pseudomonas sp. was the only exoeletrogens found in the anode pots. Using a secondary design of HSPP, for a better water-level adjustment, the maximum power output of each plant was found to be approximately 27.1 mW m-2. During operation, high temperature resulted in low oxygen solubility, and low CCV as well. At this time, it is yet to be concluded whether the submerged water level significantly affects electricity generation.

Relationship between weight-adjusted-waist index and all-cause and cardiovascular mortality in individuals with type 2 diabetes.

AIM: To investigate the relationship between the weight-adjusted-waist index (WWI) and all-cause mortality as well as cardiovascular mortality in individuals with type 2 diabetes. METHODS: We used data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) from 1999 to 2018 and the UK Biobank database. Restricted cubic spline curves and Cox proportional hazards models were employed to assess hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for all-cause mortality. RESULTS: In the UK Biobank database, compared with the lowest WWI quartile, the HR for all-cause and cardiovascular death in the highest quartile was 1.846 (95% CI 1.687-2.019) and 2.118 (95% CI 1.783-2.517), respectively, in the fully adjusted model. In the NHANES database, compared with the lowest WWI quartile, the highest quartile had an HR of 1.727 (95% CI 1.378-2.163) for all-cause death and 1.719 (95% CI 1.139-2.595) for cardiovascular death in the fully adjusted model. CONCLUSIONS: Our study indicates that WWI has a long-term synergistic negative impact on all-cause mortality and cardiovascular mortality in individuals with type 2 diabetes. The WWI is an independent predictor of mortality in individuals with type 2 diabetes.

Enhancing representation in radiography-reports foundation model: a granular alignment algorithm using masked contrastive learning.

Recently, multi-modal vision-language foundation models have gained significant attention in the medical field. While these models offer great opportunities, they still face crucial challenges, such as the requirement for fine-grained knowledge understanding in computer-aided diagnosis and the capability of utilizing very limited or even no task-specific labeled data in real-world clinical applications. In this study, we present MaCo, a masked contrastive chest X-ray foundation model that tackles these challenges. MaCo explores masked contrastive learning to simultaneously achieve fine-grained image understanding and zero-shot learning for a variety of medical imaging tasks. It designs a correlation weighting mechanism to adjust the correlation between masked chest X-ray image patches and their corresponding reports, thereby enhancing the model's representation learning capabilities. To evaluate the performance of MaCo, we conducted extensive experiments using 6 well-known open-source X-ray datasets. The experimental results demonstrate the superiority of MaCo over 10 state-of-the-art approaches across tasks such as classification, segmentation, detection, and phrase grounding. These findings highlight the significant potential of MaCo in advancing a wide range of medical image analysis tasks.

Antioxidants alleviated low-temperature stress in microalgae by modulating reactive oxygen species to improve lipid production and antioxidant defense.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of various concentrations of antioxidants, including butyl hydroxy anisd (BHA), butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT), fulvic acid (FA), melatonin (MT), glycine betaine (GB) and putrescine (Put), on growth and lipid synthesis of microalgae under low-temperature (15 ℃). Changes in biochemical indicators, reactive oxygen species (ROS) level, glutathione (GSH) content and antioxidant enzyme activities were also studied. The results indicated that the maximum biomass concentration (1.3 g/L) and lipid productivity (75.3 ± 5.8 mg/L d-1) were achieved under 100 µM MT and 1 µM GB, respectively. Moreover, antioxidants were able to increase the GSH and antioxidant enzymes activities in algal cells under low-temperature stress. This study was enlightening for the utilization of antioxidants to improve the resistance to low-temperature stress and lipid production in microalgae, and provided a theoretical basis for the application of microalgae for lipid accumulation in cold regions.

CRISPR screening uncovers nucleolar RPL22 as a heterochromatin destabilizer and senescence driver.

Dysfunction of the ribosome manifests during cellular senescence and contributes to tissue aging, functional decline, and development of aging-related disorders in ways that have remained enigmatic. Here, we conducted a comprehensive CRISPR-based loss-of-function (LOF) screen of ribosome-associated genes (RAGs) in human mesenchymal progenitor cells (hMPCs). Through this approach, we identified ribosomal protein L22 (RPL22) as the foremost RAG whose deficiency mitigates the effects of cellular senescence. Consequently, absence of RPL22 delays hMPCs from becoming senescent, while an excess of RPL22 accelerates the senescence process. Mechanistically, we found in senescent hMPCs, RPL22 accumulates within the nucleolus. This accumulation triggers a cascade of events, including heterochromatin decompaction with concomitant degradation of key heterochromatin proteins, specifically heterochromatin protein 1γ (HP1γ) and heterochromatin protein KRAB-associated protein 1 (KAP1). Subsequently, RPL22-dependent breakdown of heterochromatin stimulates the transcription of ribosomal RNAs (rRNAs), triggering cellular senescence. In summary, our findings unveil a novel role for nucleolar RPL22 as a destabilizer of heterochromatin and a driver of cellular senescence, shedding new light on the intricate mechanisms underlying the aging process.

Association between psychiatric disorders and irritable bowel syndrome: A bidirectional Mendelian randomization study.

OBJECTIVE: Previous studies have suggested that irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is strongly associated with psychiatric disorders. However, it is unclear whether this association is causal, concomitant, or accidental. Thus, we performed Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis to evaluate the causal effects of several psychiatric disorders on IBS. METHODS: Summary data of genome-wide association studies (GWASs) were obtained mainly from the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium (PGC) on individuals of European ancestry and from a recent GWAS on IBS. We used three MR methods, the inverse-variance weighting (IVW), weighted median (WM), and MR-Egger regression (MR-Egger). In addition, two other indicators, namely, the MR-IVW Cochran's Q statistic and MR-Egger intercept, were used to assess heterogeneity and detect directional horizontal pleiotropy, respectively. RESULTS: Heritability was high for bipolar disorder (81.18 %, 95 % CI = 73.18-148.18 %), schizophrenia (33.88 %, 95 % CI = 33.57-38.19 %), and panic disorder (30.66 %, 95 % CI = 20.74-40.58 %). For other disorders, there was a low liability-scale SNP heritability for major depressive disorder (MDD) (0.67 %, 95 % CI = 0.61-0.73 %), anxiety disorder (7.63 %, 95 % CI = 1.67-13.59 %), PTSD (0.96 %, 95 % CI = 0.12-1.8 %), and IBS (2.44 %, 95 % CI = 2.13-2.75 %). We also observed that schizophrenia had a significant causal effect on IBS according to MR-IVW. Notably, the individual causal estimates of genetic instruments for MDD and schizophrenia were heterogeneous, but no pleiotropic effects were observed. CONCLUSIONS: Our analyses revealed the causal effects of MDD and schizophrenia on IBS, a matter that has been subject to debate for decades, and also showed that IBS had causal effects on MDD.

Three-dimensional valley-contrasting sound.

Spin and valley are two fundamental properties of electrons in crystals. The similarity between them is well understood in valley-contrasting physics established decades ago in two-dimensional (2D) materials like graphene-with broken inversion symmetry, the two valleys in graphene exhibit opposite orbital magnetic moments, similar to the spin-1/2 behaviors of electrons, and opposite Berry curvature that leads to a half topological charge. However, valley-contrasting physics has never been explored in 3D crystals. Here, we develop a 3D acoustic crystal exhibiting 3D valley-contrasting physics. Unlike spin that is fundamentally binary, valley in 3D can take six different values, each carrying a vortex in a distinct direction. The topological valley transport is generalized from the edge states of 2D materials to the surface states of 3D materials, with interesting features including robust propagation, topological refraction, and valley-cavity localization. Our results open a new route for wave manipulation in 3D space.

Ultra-smooth processing of lithium niobate for outstanding mid-infrared transmittance.

The fabrication of anti-reflection (AR) subwavelength structures (SWSs) of lithium niobate (LN) is a challenging but rewarding task in mid-infrared LN laser systems. However, there are still some issues with the high-quality processing and fabrication of bifacial AR SWSs. Herein, a novel, to the best of our knowledge, approach to the fabrication of SWSs was proposed, which includes femtosecond laser ablation followed by wet etching and thermal annealing. The fabricated structures exhibit high surface quality (Ra = 0.08 nm) and uniformity. According to the experimental and simulated results, the transmittance of the mid-infrared AR SWSs with a period of 1.8 µm could be improved from 78% to 87% in the 3.6-5 µm band. Furthermore, the double-sided construction enabled a transmittance of up to 90%. The results have great potential in the promotion of the development of mid-infrared laser systems and LN-based photonics.

Research Progress on the Microstructure Evolution Mechanisms of Al-Mg Alloys by Severe Plastic Deformation.

Al-Mg alloys are widely used as important engineering structural materials in aerospace engineering, transportation systems, and structural constructions due to their low density, high specific strength, corrosion resistance, welding capability, fatigue strength, and cost-effectiveness. However, the conventional Al-Mg alloys can no longer fully satisfy the demands of practical production due to difficulties caused by many defects. The high strength of Al-Mg alloys as non-heat treatment precipitation-strengthened alloys is achieved primarily by solid solution strengthening along with work hardening rather than precipitation strengthening. Therefore, severe plastic deformation (SPD) techniques can be often used to produce ultrafine-grained structures to fabricate ultra-high strength aluminum alloys. However, this approach often achieves the strengthening of material at the cost of reduced ductility. This paper comprehensively summarizes the various approaches of ultrafine/nanocrystalline materials for enhancing their plasticity, elaborates on the creation of a bimodal microstructure within the alloy, and discusses the formation of a nanotwin microstructure within the alloy and the incorporation of dispersed nanoparticles. The mechanisms underlying both the strengthening and toughening during large plastic deformation in aluminum alloys are summarized, and the future research direction of high-performance ultrafine crystalline and nanocrystalline Al-Mg aluminum alloys is prospected.

Endoscopic submucosal resection (ESD) and endoscopic full-thickness resection (EFTR) via balloon-assisted enteroscopy (BAE) in small bowel subepithelial lesions: experience in treating fifteen cases.

AIM: The study objective was to evaluate the primary feasibility of endoscopic submucosal resection (ESD) and endoscopic full-thickness resection (EFTR) via balloon-assisted enteroscopy (BAE) to treat small bowel subepithelial lesions (SELs). METHOD: A retrospective case series study was performed. The first fifteen consecutive patients who underwent ESD (n = 10) and EFTR (n = 5) via BAE to remove small bowel SELs from November 2016 to December 2023 were included. The main outcome measures were the technique success rate, operative time and complication rate. RESULTS: This research focused on 15 cases of jejunoileal SELs, four cases of lipomyoma, three cases of ectopic pancreas, two cases of NETs, three cases of benign fibrous tumours and three cases of angioma. The overall technique success rate was 86.7%, with 100% (10/10) and 60% (3/5) for BAE-ESD and BAE-EFTR, respectively, in removing small bowel SELs. Two cases of EFTR failed, as the BAE operation was unsuitable for tumour resection and suture repair of a perforated wound. No serious bleeding or any postoperative complications occurred. The median time of endoscopic resection via BAE for SELs was 44 min (range 22-68 min). CONCLUSION: ESD and EFTR via BAE might be alternative choices for treating small SELs in the small bowel, with the advantages of clear and accurate positioning and minimal invasiveness. However, its superiority over surgery still needs to be further investigated.

Additive-Controlled Divergent Synthesis of Fluorenone-4-carboxylic Acids and Diphenic Anhydrides via Rhodium-Catalyzed Oxidative Dimeric Cyclization of Aromatic Acids.

A rhodium-catalyzed one-pot access to valuable polycyclic frameworks of fluorenone-4-carboxylic acids and diphenic anhydrides via the oxidative dimeric cyclization of aromatic acids has been developed. This transformation proceeded via carboxyl-assisted 2-fold C-H activation followed by intramolecular Friedel-Crafts or dehydration reactions. The silver salt additive plays a vital role in the chemoselectivity of the products. Diphenic anhydride 3l exhibits a maximum fluorescence quantum yield of up to 59%.

[Impact of road infrastructure on ecological networks in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, China]. / 粤港澳大湾区道路基础设施对生态网络的影响.

The construction of road infrastructure has resulted in the degradation of wildlife habitat and the decrease of ecological network connectivity and stability. Studying the impacts of road infrastructure on wildlife life and migration is significant for regional wildlife conservation and ecological network optimization. We assessed the impacts of road infrastructure on habitat suitability using the MaxEnt model based on wildlife occurrence point data in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. We constructed the ecological networks and identified ecological breakpoints using the minimum cumulative resistance model, and compared the ecological network connectivity of different scenarios with the landscape connectivity index and graph theory index. The results showed that railway and motorway significantly affected habitat suitability, causing a decrease in wildlife habitat suitability. Affected by road infrastructure, the fragmentation of ecological sources intensified, the resistance of ecological corridors increased, and the ecological network connectivity and stability significantly decreased. A total of 536 ecological breakpoints were identified, which were concentrated in the area adjacent to ecological sources. The results would provide important scientific references for wildlife habitat conservation and ecological restoration in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

Hydrothermal synthesis, structures, and catalytic performance of five coordination compounds driven by 5-aminoisophthalic acid.

An amino-functionalized-dicarboxylic acid, 5-aminoisophthalic acid (H2aipa), was used as a versatile building block to synthesize a series of five novel coordination compounds under hydrothermal conditions and formulated as [Co(µ3-aipa)(2,2'-H2biim)] n (1), [Ni2(µ-aipa)2(2,2'-H2biim)2(H2O)4]·4H2O (2), {[Cd(µ3-aipa)(2,2'-H2biim)]·H2O} n (3), {[Ni(µ-aipa)(µ-bpb)]·0.5bpb·H2O} n (4), and {[Ni2(µ-aipa)(µ3-aipa)(µ-dpea)2(H2O)][Ni(µ-aipa)(µ-dpea)(H2O)]·8H2O} n (5). Three supporting ligands (2,2'-biimidazole (H2biim),1,4-bis(pyrid-4-yl)benzene (bpb), and 1,2-di(4-pyridyl)ethane (dpea)) were used in the synthesis. The structures of the studied products 1-5 vary significantly, ranging from a 0D dimer (2), 2D sheets (1, 3 and 4) to 3D + 2D interpenetrated frameworks (5). Furthermore, these compounds were evaluated as heterogeneous catalysts for the Knoevenagel reaction, achieving high product yields under optimized conditions. In addition, we also investigated various reaction parameters, substrate scope, and assessed the feasibility of catalyst recycling. This thorough investigation highlights the versatility of H2aipa as a dicarboxylate building block in the formation of functional coordination polymers.

Vangl2 regulates intercellular junctions by remodeling actin-based cytoskeleton through the Rock signaling pathway during spermatogenesis in Eriocheir sinensis.

As a key planar cell polarity protein, Van Gogh-like 2 (Vangl2) is essential for mammalian spermatogenesis. As a decapod crustacean, Eriocheir sinensis exhibits distinct spermatogenic processes due to its unique seminiferous tubule morphology and hemolymph-testis barrier (HTB). To determine whether Vangl2 performs analogous functions in E. sinensis, we identified the Es-Vangl2. Es-Vangl2 exhibited high expression and wide distribution in the testes, indicating its crucial involvement in spermatogenesis. Following targeted knockdown of Es-Vangl2in vivo, the structure of seminiferous tubules was disrupted, characterized by vacuolization of the germinal zone and obstruction of spermatozoon release. Concurrently, the integrity of the HTB was compromised, accompanied by reduced expression and aberrant localization of junction proteins. More importantly, the regulatory influence of Es-Vangl2 was manifested through modulating the organization of microfilaments, a process mediated by epidermal growth factor receptor pathway substrate 8 (Eps8). Further studies demonstrated that these phenotypes resulting from Es-Vangl2 knockdown were attributed to the inhibition of Rock signaling pathway activity, which was verified by the Es-Rock interference and Y27632 inhibition assays. In summary, the findings highlight the pivotal role of Es-Vangl2 in stabilizing HTB integrity by regulating Eps8-mediated actin remodeling through the Rock signaling pathway in the spermatogenesis of E. sinensis.

Bioaccessibility and bioavailability of exogenous and endogenous toxic substances in traditional Chinese medicine and their significance in risk assessment.

Scientific risk assessment of exogenous and endogenous toxic substances in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is of great significance. The present review comprises a comprehensive summary of progress in the health risk assessment of harmful exogenous substances in TCMs. Such substances include heavy metals, pesticide residues, biotoxins, and endogenous toxic components involving pyrrolizidine alkaloids. The review also discusses the strengths and weaknesses of various bioaccessibility and bioavailability models, and their applications in risk assessment. Future avenues of risk assessment research are highlighted, including further exploration of risk assessment parameters, innovation of bioaccessibility and bioavailability techniques, enhancement of probabilistic risk assessment combined with bioavailability, improvement of cumulative risk assessment strategies, and formulation of strategies for reducing relative bioavailability (RBA) values in TCMs. Such efforts represent an attempt to develop a risk assessment system that is capable of evaluating the exogenous and endogenous toxic substances in TCMs to ensure its safe use in clinics, and to promote the sustainable development of the TCM industry.

Concepts and applications of digital twins in healthcare and medicine.

The digital twin (DT) is a concept widely used in industry to create digital replicas of physical objects or systems. The dynamic, bi-directional link between the physical entity and its digital counterpart enables a real-time update of the digital entity. It can predict perturbations related to the physical object's function. The obvious applications of DTs in healthcare and medicine are extremely attractive prospects that have the potential to revolutionize patient diagnosis and treatment. However, challenges including technical obstacles, biological heterogeneity, and ethical considerations make it difficult to achieve the desired goal. Advances in multi-modal deep learning methods, embodied AI agents, and the metaverse may mitigate some difficulties. Here, we discuss the basic concepts underlying DTs, the requirements for implementing DTs in medicine, and their current and potential healthcare uses. We also provide our perspective on five hallmarks for a healthcare DT system to advance research in this field.

Transposition with Tn3-family elements occurs through interaction with the host ß-sliding clamp processivity factor.

Tn3 family transposons are a widespread group of replicative transposons, notorious for contributing to the dissemination of antibiotic resistance, particularly the global prevalence of carbapenem resistance. The transposase (TnpA) of these elements catalyzes DNA breakage and rejoining reactions required for transposition. However, the molecular mechanism for target site selection with these elements remains unclear. Here, we identify a QLxxLR motif in N-terminal of Tn3 TnpAs and demonstrate that this motif allows interaction between TnpA of Tn3 family transposon Tn1721 and the host ß-sliding clamp (DnaN), the major processivity factor of the DNA replication machinery. The TnpA-DnaN interaction is essential for Tn1721 transposition. Our work unveils a mechanism whereby Tn3 family transposons can bias transposition into certain replisomes through an interaction with the host replication machinery. This study further expands the diversity of mobile elements that use interaction with the host replication machinery to bias integration.

High throughput production of a self-floating MIL-88A(Fe)@polyurethane sponge for efficient oil/water separation.

A durable and efficient hydrophobic/superoleophilic MIL-88A(Fe)@sponge (MS) with high throughput was fabricated via the dip-coating technique. Its adsorption capacities for pump oil, peanut oil, and CCl4 were 32.13 g g-1, 34.85 g g-1, and 34.25 g g-1, respectively. The hydrophobic surface of MS has excellent chemical resistance and physical stability in harsh environments.

Macrocyclic-based strategy in drug design: From lab to the clinic.

Macrocyclic compounds have emerged as potent tools in the field of drug design, offering unique advantages for enhancing molecular recognition, improving pharmacokinetic properties, and expanding the chemical space accessible to medicinal chemists. This review delves into the evolutionary trajectory of macrocyclic-based strategies, tracing their journey from laboratory innovations to clinical applications. Beginning with an exploration of the defining structural features of macrocycles and their impact on drug-like characteristics, this discussion progresses to highlight key design principles that have facilitated the development of diverse macrocyclic drug candidates. Through a series of illustrative representative case studies from approved macrocyclic drugs and candidates spanning various therapeutic areas, particular emphasis is placed on their efficacy in targeting challenging protein-protein interactions, enzymes, and receptors. Additionally, this review thoroughly examines how macrocycles effectively address critical issues such as metabolic stability, oral bioavailability and selectivity. Valuable insights into optimization strategies employed during both approved and clinical phases underscore successful translation of promising leads into efficacious therapies while providing valuable perspectives on harnessing the full potential of macrocycles in drug discovery and development endeavors.