Multispectral stealth multilayer etched film structure based on ultrathin silver.

Spontaneous infrared radiation dissipation is a critical factor in facilitating object cooling, which influences the thermal stability and stealth efficacy of infrared stealth devices. Furthermore, the compatibility between efficient visible, infrared, and radar stealth is challenging due to different camouflage principles in different bands. This Letter presents a five-layer etched film structure to achieve multispectral stealth, and the utilization of the high-quality ultrathin silver films enables highly efficient infrared selective emission. This etched film structure with few layers demonstrates potential applications in diverse domains, including multi-band anti-detection and multispectral manipulation.

Prevalence and molecular characterization of Trichomonas gallinae from pigeons in Anhui, China.

Trichomonas gallinae, a protozoan parasite causing avian trichomonosis, exhibits a widespread global prevalence. It primarily affects the upper digestive tract of birds and has resulted in significant ecological problems worldwide. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence and genotypes of T. gallinae in Anhui Province, China. A total of 1612 oropharyngeal swab samples were collected from pigeon farms in Anhui Province to determine the prevalence of T. gallinae infection. The results revealed 565 (35.1%) positive samples of T. gallinae. Significant differences in infection rates were observed among different regions and age groups. Furthermore, the ITS1/5.8 S/ITS2 region was amplified, sequenced, and subjected to phylogenetic analysis. Genotypes A and B of T. gallinae were identified, and genotype B was the dominant genotype in Anhui Province. This is the first report on the prevalence and molecular characterization of T. gallinae in Anhui Province, China. Additionally, we integrated reports on the prevalence and genotype of T. gallinae in relevant provinces in China.

USP40 promotes hepatocellular carcinoma progression through a YAP/USP40 positive feedback loop.

Yes-associated protein (YAP) is an essential driver of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) progression and the ubiquitin-proteasome system controls its abundance. However, the role of ubiquitin-specific protease 40 (USP40) in YAP stability remains unclear. Here, USP40 was first identified as a novel regulator of YAP abundance and its target genes in HCC cells. USP40 interacted with YAP to remove the lysine 48 (K48)-linked polyubiquitination of YAP at K252 and K315 sites, thereby maintaining YAP stability. USP40 facilitated the proliferation, colony formation, migration and spheroid formation of HCC cells in vitro and promoted HCC growth in vivo in a YAP-dependent manner. In turn, YAP transcriptionally activated USP40 expression in HCC cells. RNA sequencing analysis showed that about 37% of USP40-regulated genes overlapped with YAP-regulated genes. Interestingly, stiffness-induced USP40 upregulation was abolished by YAP knockdown, and USP40 knockdown attenuated stiffness-induced YAP accumulation in HCC cells. Clinical data demonstrated that USP40 was positively associated with YAP expression in HCC tissues and its high expression indicated a poor prognosis. In conclusion, the USP40/YAP positive feedback loop contributes to HCC progression, suggesting that USP40 may be a promising drug target for anti-HCC.

Broadband High Optical Transparent Intelligent Metasurface for Adaptive Electromagnetic Wave Manipulation.

Intelligent metasurfaces have garnered widespread attention owing to their properties of sensing electromagnetic (EM) environments and multifunctional adaptive EM wave manipulation. However, intelligent metasurfaces with broadband high optical transparency have not been studied to date, and most of the previous intelligent metasurfaces lack an integrated design for their actuators and sensors, resulting in lower integration levels. This study proposes a novel intelligent metasurface with adaptive EM wave manipulation ability and high optical transparency from visible to infrared bands. This metasurface consists of a transparent and current-controlled reconfigurable metasurface as an actuator by integrating patterned vanadium dioxide (VO2) into metal-meshed resonant units, transparent broadband microstrip antenna as a sensor, recognition-and-feedback module, and actuator- and sensor-integrated design on the same substrate. The EM-regulating capability of the designed transparent intelligent metasurface is theoretically analyzed using the coupled mode theory, and a prototype metasurface device is fabricated for experimental verification. Simulation and experimental results demonstrate that the metasurface exhibits over 80% normalized transmittance from 380 to 5,000 nm and adaptive EM wave manipulation (reflective strong shielding function with a shielding efficiency of over 24 dB, high transmittance function with a transmission loss of 1.24 dB, and strong absorption function with an absorption of 97%) according to the EM wave power parameters without manual intervention. This study provides an avenue for transparent intelligent metasurfaces with extensive application prospects in areas such as intelligent optical windows, radar enclosures, and communication.

A visible-near-infrared transparent miniaturized frequency-selective metasurface with a microwave transmission window.

In this work, we propose a meshed miniaturized frequency-selective metasurface (MMFSM), which is insensitive to the incidence microwave angle and has great optical imaging quality by extending the effective length of the aperture within the periodic unit and replacing large metal parts with different metallic meshes. Experimental results indicated that our MMFSM had an average normalized transmittance of 87.2% in the visible-near-infrared band, a passband loss of 1.446 dB, and an oblique incidence stabilization angle of 50° (the passband loss was less than 2.38 dB). These are excellent characteristics required for applications in the optics and communication fields.

Antioxidants and the risk of stroke: results from NHANES and two-sample Mendelian randomization study.

BACKGROUND: Stroke is the second leading cause of death worldwide, and observational studies have suggested a correlation between antioxidants and reduced stroke risk. However, it remains unclear whether causal relationships exist. METHODS: This study first performed a cross-sectional study of the association between the Composite Dietary Antioxidant Index (CDAI) and stroke using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2007-2018. Second, a two-sample univariable Mendelian Randomization (MR) was performed to analyze the causal effect of circulating levels of antioxidants on different subtypes of stroke. RESULTS: The cross-sectional study included a total of 24,892 participants representing more than 200 million US non-institutionalized residents, a multivariable logistic regression model revealed that the risk of stroke decreased by 3.4% for each unit increase in CDAI (P = 0.017), with a non-linear association found, indicating a reduction in stroke risk before an inflection point of 3.078. MR analysis revealed that genetically determined levels of retinol had a suggestive protective effect on subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) (OR = 0.348, P = 0.025), and genetically determined levels of selenium had a suggestive protective effect against SAH (OR = 0.826, P = 0.007). However, no causal relationship was found between antioxidants and ischemic stroke or intracranial hemorrhage risk. CONCLUSIONS: Evidence suggests that diet-derived antioxidants may reduce the risk of stroke, as indicated by the protective effects of retinol and selenium against SAH. However, more research is needed to fully understand how antioxidants prevent stroke.

Mechanochemical synthesis of organoselenium compounds.

We disclose herein a strategy for the rapid synthesis of versatile organoselenium compounds under mild conditions. In this work, magnesium-based selenium nucleophiles are formed in situ from easily available organic halides, magnesium metal, and elemental selenium via mechanical stimulation. This process occurs under liquid-assisted grinding (LAG) conditions, requires no complicated pre-activation procedures, and operates broadly across a diverse range of aryl, heteroaryl, and alkyl substrates. In this work, symmetrical diselenides are efficiently obtained after work-up in the air, while one-pot nucleophilic addition reactions with various electrophiles allow the comprehensive synthesis of unsymmetrical monoselenides with high functional group tolerance. Notably, the method is applied to regioselective selenylation reactions of diiodoarenes and polyaromatic aryl halides that are difficult to operate via solution approaches. Besides selenium, elemental sulfur and tellurium are also competent in this process, which showcases the potential of the methodology for the facile synthesis of organochalcogen compounds.

APDDD: Animal parasitic diseases and drugs database.

Animal parasitic diseases not only have an economic impact, but also have serious social and public health impacts. Although antiparasitic drugs can treat these diseases, it seems difficult for users to comprehensively utilize the information, due to incomplete and difficult data collection. Thus, there is an urgent need to establish a comprehensive database, that includes parasitic diseases and related drugs. In this paper, we develop a knowledge database dedicated to collecting and analyzing animal parasitic diseases and related drugs, named Animal Parasitic Diseases and Drugs Database (APDDD). The current version of APDDD includes animal parasitic disease data of 8 major parasite classifications that cause common parasitic diseases and 96 subclass samples mined from many literature and authoritative books, as well as 182 antiparasitic drugs. Furthermore, we utilized APDDD data to add a knowledge graph representing the relationships between parasitic diseases, drugs, and the targeted gene of drugs acting on parasites. We hope that APDDD will become a good database for animal parasitic diseases and antiparasitic drugs research and that users can gain a more intuitive understanding of the relationships between parasitic diseases, drugs, and targeted genes through the knowledge graph.

The deubiquitinase ZRANB1 is an E3 ubiquitin ligase for SLC7A11 and regulates ferroptotic resistance.

The dependency of cancer cells on iron increases their susceptibility to ferroptosis, thus providing new opportunities for patients with treatment-resistant tumors. However, we show that lipid peroxidation, a hallmark of ferroptosis, was found in various areas of patient samples, indicating the potential resistance of ferroptosis. Using whole deubiquitinases (DUBs) sgRNA screening, we found that loss of ZRANB1 confers cancer cell resistance to ferroptosis. Intriguingly, functional studies revealed that ZRANB1 ubiquitinates and represses SLC7A11 expression as an E3 ubiquitin ligase and that ZRANB1 inhibits glutathione (GSH) synthesis through SLC7A11 degradation, leading to elevated lipid peroxidation and ferroptosis. Deletion of the region (residues 463-584) abolishes the E3 activity of ZRANB1. Moreover, we show that ZRANB1 has lower expression in tumors, which is positively correlated with lipid peroxidation. Collectively, our results demonstrate the role of ZRANB1 in ferroptosis resistance and unveil mechanisms involving modulation of E3 ligase activity through an unconventional catalytic domain.

High-Performance Transparent Ultrabroadband Electromagnetic Radiation Shielding from Microwave toward Terahertz.

In the era of fifth-generation networks and Internet-of-Things, the use of multiband electromagnetic radiation shielding is highly desirable for next-generation electronic devices. Herein, we report a systematic exploration of optoelectronic behaviors of ultrathin-silver-based shielding prototype (USP) film structures at the nanometer scale, unlocking the transparent ultrabroadband electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding from microwave to terahertz frequencies. A theoretical model is proposed to optimize USP structures to achieve increased transparency, whereby optical antireflection resonances are introduced in dielectrics in conjunction with remarkable EMI shielding capability. USP can realize a state-of-the-art effective electromagnetic radiation shielding bandwidth with measured frequencies from 8 GHz up to 2 THz. Experimental results show that a basic USP (dAg = 10 nm) offers an average shielding efficiency of ∼27.5 dB from the X- to Ka-bands (8-40 GHz) and maintains a stable shielding performance of ∼22.6 dB across a broad range of 0.5-2 THz, with a measured optical transmittance of ∼95.2%. This extraordinary performance of ultrathin-silver-based film structures provides a new ultrabroadband EMI shielding paradigm for potential applications in next-generation electronics.

Selenium deficiency caused hepatitis in chickens via the miR-138-5p/SelM/ROS/Ca2+ overload pathway induced by hepatocyte necroptosis.

Selenoprotein M (SelM), a key thioredoxin like enzyme in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), is closely related to hepatocyte degeneration. However, the role of miR-138-5p/SelM and necroptosis in chicken SelM-deficient hepatitis and the specific biological mechanism of liver inflammation caused by SelM deficiency have not been elucidated. We established an in vivo chicken liver Se deficiency model by feeding a low-Se diet. The miR-138-5p knockdown and overexpression models and SelM knockdown models were established in LMH cells for an in vitro study. Transmission electron microscopy, H&E staining, Fluo4-AM/ER staining, and flow cytometry were used to detect the morphological changes in chicken liver tissue and the expression changes of necroptosis and inflammation in chicken liver cells. We observed that Se deficiency resulted in liver inflammation, up-regulation of miR-138-5p expression and down-regulation of SelM expression in chickens. Oxidative stress, Ca2+ overload, energy metabolism disorder and necroptosis occurred in chicken liver tissue. Importantly, ROS and the Ca2+ inhibitor could effectively alleviate the energy metabolism disorder, necroptosis and inflammatory cytokine secretion caused by miR-138-5p overexpression and SelM knockdown in LMH cells. In conclusion, selenium deficiency causes hepatitis by upregulating miR-138-5p targeting SelM. Our research findings enrich our knowledge about the biological functions of SelM and provide a theoretical basis for the lack of SelM leading to liver inflammation in chickens.

Liraglutide attenuates type 2 diabetes mellitus-associated non-alcoholic fatty liver disease by activating AMPK/ACC signaling and inhibiting ferroptosis.

BACKGROUND: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is one of the most common complications of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). The pathogenesis of NAFLD involves multiple biological changes, including insulin resistance, oxidative stress, inflammation, as well as genetic and environmental factors. Liraglutide has been used to control blood sugar. But the impact of liraglutide on T2DM-associated NAFLD remains unclear. In this study, we investigated the impact and potential molecular mechanisms of inhibiting ferroptosis for liraglutide improves T2DM-associated NAFLD. METHODS: Mice were fed on high-fat-diet and injected with streptozotocin to mimic T2DM-associated NAFLD and gene expression in liver was analysed by RNA-seq. The fast blood glucose was measured during the period of liraglutide and ferrostatin-1 administration. Hematoxylin and eosin staining was used to evaluate the pathological changes in the liver. The occurrence of hepatic ferroptosis was measured by lipid peroxidation in vivo. The mechanism of liraglutide inhibition ferroptosis was investigated by in vitro cell culture. RESULTS: Liraglutide not only improved glucose metabolism, but also ameliorated tissue damage in the livers. Transcriptomic analysis indicated that liraglutide regulates lipid metabolism related signaling including AMPK and ACC. Furthermore, ferroptosis inhibitor rather than other cell death inhibitors rescued liver cell viability in the presence of high glucose. Mechanistically, liraglutide-induced activation of AMPK phosphorylated ACC, while AMPK inhibitor compound C blocked the liraglutide-mediated suppression of ferroptosis. Moreover, ferroptosis inhibitor restored liver function in T2DM mice in vivo. CONCLUSIONS: These findings indicate that liraglutide ameliorates the T2DM-associated NAFLD, which possibly through the activation of AMPK/ACC pathway and inhibition of ferroptosis.

The regulation of amino acid metabolism in tumor cell death: from the perspective of physiological functions.

Amino acids (AAs) are crucial molecules for the synthesis of mammalian proteins as well as a source of energy and redox equilibrium maintenance. The development of tumors also requires AAs as nutrients. Increased AAs metabolism is frequently seen in tumor cells to produce enough biomass, energy, and reduction agents. However, increased AA demand may result in auxotrophy in some cancer cells, highlighting the vulnerabilities of cancers and exposing the AA metabolism as a potential target for cancer therapy. The dynamic balance of cell survival and death is required for cellular homeostasis, growth, and development. Malignant cells manage to avoid cell death through a range of mechanisms, such as developing an addiction to amino acids through metabolic adaptation. In order to offer some guidance for AA-targeted cancer therapy, we have outlined the function of AA metabolism in tumor progression, the modalities of cell death, and the regulation of AA metabolism on tumor cell death in this review.

A novel transcription factor SIPA1: identification and verification in triple-negative breast cancer.

Transcription factors (TFs) regulate the expression of genes responsible for cell growth, differentiation, and responses to environmental factors. In this study, we demonstrated that signal-induced proliferation-associated 1 (SIPA1), known as a Rap-GTPase-activating protein, bound DNA and served as a TF. Importin ß1 was found to interact with SIPA1 upon fibronectin treatment. A TGAGTCAB motif was recognized and bound by DNA-binding region (DBR) of SIPA1, which was confirmed by electrophoretic mobility shift assay. SIPA1 regulated the transcription of multiple genes responsible for signal transduction, DNA synthesis, cell adhesion, cell migration, and so on. Transcription of fibronectin 1, which is crucial for cell junction and migration of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) cells, was regulated by SIPA1 in a DBR-dependent manner both in vivo and in vitro. Furthermore, single-cell transcriptome sequencing analysis of specimens from a metastatic TNBC patient revealed that SIPA1 was highly expressed in metastatic TNBC. Hence, this study demonstrated that SIPA1 served as a TF, promoting TNBC migration, invasion, and metastasis.

A Noise-Based Novel Strategy for Faster SNN Training.

Spiking neural networks (SNNs) are receiving increasing attention due to their low power consumption and strong bioplausibility. Optimization of SNNs is a challenging task. Two main methods, artificial neural network (ANN)-to-SNN conversion and spike-based backpropagation (BP), both have advantages and limitations. ANN-to-SNN conversion requires a long inference time to approximate the accuracy of ANN, thus diminishing the benefits of SNN. With spike-based BP, training high-precision SNNs typically consumes dozens of times more computational resources and time than their ANN counterparts. In this letter, we propose a novel SNN training approach that combines the benefits of the two methods. We first train a single-step SNN(T = 1) by approximating the neural potential distribution with random noise, then convert the single-step SNN(T = 1) to a multistep SNN(T = N) losslessly. The introduction of gaussian distributed noise leads to a significant gain in accuracy after conversion. The results show that our method considerably reduces the training and inference times of SNNs while maintaining their high accuracy. Compared to the previous two methods, ours can reduce training time by 65% to 75% and achieves more than 100 times faster inference speed. We also argue that the neuron model augmented with noise makes it more bioplausible.

Metasurface with Electrically Tunable Microwave Transmission Amplitude and Broadband High Optical Transparency.

Metasurfaces with tunable microwave transmission amplitude and broadband high optical transparency hold great promise for the next generation of optically transparent and smart electromagnetic transmission devices. In this study, a novel and electrically tunable metasurface with high optical transparency in the visible-infrared broadband is proposed and fabricated by integrating meshed electric-LC resonators and patterned VO2. Simulations and experiments demonstrate that the designed metasurface has a normalized transmittance greater than 88% over a wide wavelength range of 380-5000 nm, and the transmission amplitude can be continuously tuned from -1.27 to -15.38 dB at 10 GHz under current excitation, indicating significantly limited passband loss and strong electromagnetic shielding capability in the on and off cases, respectively. This study provides a simple, practical, and feasible method for optically transparent metasurfaces with electrically tunable microwave amplitude, paving the way for the application of VO2 in multiple fields such as intelligent optical windows, smart radomes, microwave communications, and optically transparent electromagnetic stealth.

Bisphenol A interferes with lncRNA Fhadlos2 and RUNX3 association in adolescent mouse ovary.

Bisphenol A (BPA) has a number of adverse effects on the reproductive development of females. In particular, the mechanism of disruption of ovarian development in adolescent mice is still unclear. Based on transcriptome sequencing results, a differentially expressed lncRNA, Fhad1os2, was detected in the ovaries of BPA-exposed pubertal mice. In our study, the lncRNA Fhad1os2, localized in the ovarian granulosa cell cytoplasm, could regulate the proliferation of mouse ovarian granulosa cells. Mechanistically, the results of RNA pull-down experiments as well as mass spectrometry analysis showed that ERα, an interfering signaling molecule of BPA, could directly bind lncRNA Fhad1os2 and decrease the transcription of lncRNA Fhad1os2 in response to the estrogen-like effect of BPA. BPA exposure also caused abnormal lncRNA Fhad1os2 pulldown protein-related signaling pathways in the ovaries of adolescent mice. Furthermore, lncRNA Fhad1os2 interacted with RUNX3, a transcription factor related to follicle development and hormone synthesis. As a negative regulator, lncRNA Fhad1os2 transactivated the expression of Runx3, which in turn induced RUNX3 to positively regulate aromatase (Cyp19a1) expression in mouse ovarian granulosa cells and promote estrogen synthesis. In conclusion, our study indicates that BPA exposure interferes with ERα-regulated lncRNA Fhad1os2 interactions with RUNX3 in pubertal mice, affecting estrogen synthesis in mouse granulosa cells and contributing to premature ovarian maturation in pubertal mice.

Integrating ecosystem services and complex network theory to construct and optimize ecological security patterns: a case study of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, China.

The urban agglomerations' rapid expansion and population growth have led to the fragmentation of landscape patterns and the degradation of ecosystems, seriously threatening regional ecological security. Ecological security pattern (ESP) is a spatial planning approach to effectively balance the development of urbanization and ecological protection. However, previous studies have ignored the difference in the importance of ecosystem services and the spatial compactness of ecological sources. The quantitative management objectives for maintaining the resilience of ESP are also rarely discussed. In this study, taking the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) as an example, ecological sources were identified by simulating multiple ES weight assignment scenarios through GeoSOS area optimization. Ecological corridors and strategic points were extracted by Linkage Mapper. The robustness analysis based on complex network theory was performed to quantify the management objectives of ESPs. The results showed that ESPs include 26,130.61 km2 ecological sources (accounting for 46.6% of the area of GBA), 557 ecological corridors, and 112 ecological strategic points. In more detail, ecological sources are mainly distributed in the western and eastern mountainous areas, and ecological corridors primarily link peripheral edge areas of GBA in a circular radial shape. Compared with the current nature reserves, the identified ecological sources are more compact in landscape pattern. According to the robustness analysis, at least 23% of the important ecological sources should be strictly restricted from development activities to maintain the ESP's ability to resist ecological risks. This study also proposed corresponding differentiated ESPs management strategies. By optimizing the existing ESPs construction method and clarifying the ESPs management strategies, this study provides a completely scientific framework for the construction and management of ESPs in urban agglomerations.

Single-shot isotropic differential interference contrast microscopy.

Differential interference contrast (DIC) microscopy allows high-contrast, low-phototoxicity, and label-free imaging of transparent biological objects, and has been applied in the field of cellular morphology, cell segmentation, particle tracking, optical measurement and others. Commercial DIC microscopy based on Nomarski or Wollaston prism resorts to the interference of two polarized waves with a lateral differential offset (shear) and axial phase shift (bias). However, the shear generated by these prisms is limited to the rectilinear direction, unfortunately resulting in anisotropic contrast imaging. Here we propose an ultracompact metasurface-assisted isotropic DIC (i-DIC) microscopy based on a grand original pattern of radial shear interferometry, that converts the rectilinear shear into rotationally symmetric along radial direction, enabling single-shot isotropic imaging capabilities. The i-DIC presents a complementary fusion of typical meta-optics, traditional microscopes and integrated optical system, and showcases the promising and synergetic advancements in edge detection, particle motion tracking, and label-free cellular imaging.

ROS mediated pyroptosis-M1 polarization crosstalk participates in inflammation of chicken liver induced by bisphenol A and selenium deficiency.

The earth's natural environmental factors and man-made industrial pollution often lead to the co-occurrence of environmental pathogenic factors and malnutrition. Bisphenol A (BPA) is a serious environmental endocrine disruptor, and its exposure can cause liver tissue damage. Selenium (Se) deficiency is a worldwide problem that afflicts thousands of people, and Se deficiency can cause M1/M2 imbalance. In addition, the crosstalk between hepatocyte and immune cell is closely related to the occurrence of hepatitis. Therefore, this study found for the first time that the combined exposure of BPA and Se deficiency caused liver pyroptosis and M1 polarization through ROS, and the crosstalk between pyroptosis and M1 polarization aggravated liver inflammation in chicken. In this study, the BPA or/and Se deficiency chicken liver, single and co-culture model of LMH and HD11 cells were established. The results displayed that BPA or Se deficiency induced liver inflammation accompanied by pyroptosis and M1 polarization through oxidative stress, and increased expressions of chemokines (CCL4, CCL17, CCL19, and MIF) and inflammatory factors (IL-1ß and TNF-α). The vitro experiments further verified the above changes and showed that LMH pyroptosis promoted M1 polarization of HD11 cells, and vice versa. NAC counteracted pyroptosis and M1 polarization caused by BPA and low-Se, reducing the release of inflammatory factors. In brief, BPA and Se deficiency treatment can exacerbate liver inflammation by increasing oxidative stress to induce pyroptosis and M1 polarization.