Tissue adaptation of regulatory T cells in adipose tissue.

Foxp3+ regulatory T (Treg) cells critically suppress over-activated immune responses and therefore maintain immune homeostasis. Adipose tissue-resident Treg (AT Treg) cells are known for modulating immunity and metabolism in adipose tissue microenvironment through various physiological signals, as well as their heterogeneous subsets, which potentially play disparate roles in aging and obesity. Recent single-cell studies of Treg cells have revealed specialized trajectories of their tissue adaptation and development in lymphoid tissues and at barrier sites. Here, we reviewed a T Cell Receptor (TCR)-primed environmental cue-boosted model of adipose Treg cells' tissue adaptation, especially in response to IL-33, IFN-α, insulin, and androgen signals, which trigger sophisticated transcriptional cascades and ultimately establish unique transcriptional modules in adipose Treg cell subsets. In addition, we further discuss potential therapeutic strategies against aging and obesity by blocking detrimental environmental cues, strengthening the functions of specific AT Treg subsets and modifying the communications between AT Treg subsets and adipocytes.

Flexible Capacitive Sensors Based on Liquid Crystal Elastomer.

The disordered transformation of the ordered aligned polar liquid crystal molecules in liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs) under the influence of an external field imbues them with the unique property of thermally reversible shape memory, making them highly valuable for various applications, particularly in actuators. In this study, we examined the high dielectric constant exhibited by the orientation polarization of polar liquid crystal molecules in RM257-LCE films, which holds significant potential for developing flexible capacitive sensors. By manipulating the flexibility of the molecular chain network and introducing hydrogen bonds and metal ions into the main chain, we were able to enhance the relative dielectric constant of LCEs to an impressive value of 62 (at 100 Hz), which is approximately 23 times higher than for polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). This elevated dielectric constant displays a noteworthy positive temperature coefficient within a specific temperature range, starting from room temperature and extending to the clearing point. Using this property, we fabricated highly sensitive capacitive, flexible temperature sensors. Moreover, we successfully engineered a flexible pressure sensor with an excellent pressure-sensing range of 0-2 MPa by combining the porous structure of the prepared LCEs with mushroom electrodes. Additionally, the sensor showcases a remarkable capacitance recovery time of 0.8 s at 90 °C. These outstanding features collectively contribute to the excellent pressure-sensing characteristics of our sensor. The findings of this study offer valuable insights and serve as a reference for the design of innovative flexible sensors, enabling advancements in sensor technology.

Highly selective fluorimetric and colorimetric sensing of mercury(II) by exploiting the self-assembly-induced emission of 4-chlorothiophenol capped copper nanoclusters.

A highly stable copper nanoclusters (CuNC) carrying 4-chlorothiophenol as a protective ligand is described. They display self-assembly-induced emission with excitation/emission maxima at 330/605 nm even in neutral or alkaline aqueous environment. The fluorescence of these CuNC is quenched by Hg(II). Quenching is mainly ascribed to the formation of a complex formed via Hg-S bonding between the Hg(II) ions and the ligand. This destroys the ordered architectures of the assembled CuNC. The assay enables Hg(II) to be determined with good sensitivity and a linear response ranging from 1 to 500 nM Hg(II) with a 0.3 nM limit of detection. In addition, the method was implemented in a test strip (which undergoes a color change from red to blue) that can be used for visual determination of Hg(II) in complex environmental water samples. Graphical abstractNovel and highly selective fluorimetric and colorimetric methods have been designed for mercury(II) ions determination based on stable self-assembly-induced emission of copper nanoclusters.

Theoretical study on lithium storage performance of V-doped Ti2CO2 MXene.

With the increasing application of lithium-ion batteries, the demand for high energy density, high-rate performance and high stability lithium-ion batteries is becoming more and more urgent. Ti2CO2 MXene, as a two-dimensional material with multilayer atomic structure and multiple active sites, has great advantages in lithium-ion battery electrode materials. However, the original Ti2CO2 MXene has been unable to meet the requirements of lithium-ion batteries due to its semiconductor properties. Doping is an effective means to regulate the conductivity and electrochemical properties of Ti2CO2 and improve the capacity of lithium-ion batteries and other energy storage devices. Hence, we use first-principles calculations to study the effect of V atom doping on the adsorption and diffusion of Li on the MXene surface. The density of states (DOS) and partial density of states (PDOS) of TiVCO2 and Ti2CO2 MXene indicated the transition of their conductive types from semiconductors to conductors. In addition, we observed that TiVCO2 has higher electrical conductivity and ion transport speed than the original Ti2CO2 MXene, and at the same time, Li atoms can be adsorbed well on the surface of MXene and show a lower diffusion energy barrier. Therefore, TiVCO2 is expected to become the anode material for the next generation of lithium-ion batteries and has good lithium storage performance.

MXene/graphene oxide heterojunction as a high performance anode material for lithium ion batteries.

MXene/graphene oxide composites with strong interfacial interactions were constructed by ball milling in vacuum. Graphene oxide (GO) acted as a bridge between Ti3C2Tx nanosheets in the composite material, which could buffer the mechanical shear force during the ball milling process, avoid the structural damage of nanosheets and improve the structural stability of the composite material during the lithium process. Partial oxidation of Ti3C2Tx nanosheets is caused by high temperatures during ball milling, which is beneficial to improve the intercalation of lithium ions in the material, reduce the stress and electrostatic repulsion between adjacent layers, and cause the composite to have better lithium storage performance. Under the high current density of 2.5 A g-1, the reversible capacity of the Ti3C2Tx/GO composite material after 2000 cycles was 116.5 mA h g-1, and the capacity retention was as high as 116.6%.

Skin-friendly and antibacterial monodomain liquid crystal elastomer actuator.

Monodomain liquid crystal elastomers (mLCEs) are flexible and biocompatible smart materials that show unique behaviors of soft elasticity, anisotropy, and reversible shape changes above the nematic-isotropic transition temperature. Therefore, it has great potential for application in wearable devices and biologically. However, most of the reported mLCEs have nematic-isotropic transition temperature (TNI) higher than 60 °C; and above this TNI, the tensile strength of the mLCEs decreases by orders of magnitude. These issues have received little attention, limiting their application in humans. Herein, the TNI of mLCEs was reduced from 78.4 °C to 23.5 °C by substituting part of the rigid LC mesogens with a flexible backbone. The physical entanglement of hydrogen bonds between molecular chains alleviated the molecular chain slip caused by the long flexible backbone. The tensile strength remained constant during the phase transformation. Furthermore, dynamic disulfide bonds were used to modify the LC polymer network, imparting it with excellent antimicrobial, programmable, and self-healing properties. To realize its application in the closure of skin wounds, a porous PHG-mLCE/hydrogel patch that was breathable and waterproof was designed to increase skin adhesion (262 N/m).

First-in-Maintenance Therapy for Localized High-Grade Osteosarcoma: An Open-Label Phase I/II Trial of the Anti-PD-L1 Antibody ZKAB001.

PURPOSE: We investigated the safety and preliminary efficacy of anti-PD-L1 antibody (ZKAB001) as maintenance therapy for localized patients with high-grade osteosarcoma to reduce the risk of recurrence and metastasis. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This open-label Phase I/II study was divided into dose-escalation Phase I and expansion Phase II. Phase I used a 3+3 design with ZKAB001 at three escalating doses ranging: 5, 10, 15 mg/kg every 2 weeks in 9 patients with localized high-grade osteosarcoma and Phase II tested 10 mg/kg in 12 patients for up to 24 cycles. Primary endpoints were safety and tolerability assessed using CTCAE4.0.3. RESULTS: Between October 2018 and 2019, 21 eligible patients were enrolled and accepted ZKAB001 treatment: 9 in the dose-escalation phase, and 12 in expansion phase. Six patients with disease progression withdrew from this study and follow-up is ongoing. The MTD was not defined in Phase I. All doses had a manageable safety profile. The recommended dose in Phase II was set at 10 mg/kg. Most frequent immune-related adverse events were thyroiditis (76.2%) and dermatitis (42.9%). Only 1 (4.8%) of 21 patients had a Grade 3 skin rash. The median 3-year event-free survival (EFS) and overall survival (OS) were not established; however, 24-month EFS was 71.4% (95% confidence interval, 47.2-86.0) and 2-year OS was 100%. Preliminary efficacy data showed EFS benefits in patients with PD-L1 positive or an MSI-H sub-population. CONCLUSIONS: Switching to maintenance using ZKAB001 showed an acceptable safety profile and provided preliminary evidence of clinical activity in localized patients with osteosarcoma.

Passivation and remediation of Pb and Cr in contaminated soil by sewage sludge biochar tubule.

Currently, numerous studies have carried out to research the effect of biochars remediation soil heavy metals (HMs) contaminated, but there have been fewer explorations of the effect of biochars tubule on soil HMs remediation. This work aimed to study the effect of passivation and remediation of lead (Pb) and chromium (Cr) contaminated soil after insert sewage sludge biochar (SSB) tubule. The results showed that the high risky fractions of Pb and Cr could be transformed into more stable fractions; also, Pb and Cr total contents are significantly decreased by SSB tubule. The mechanisms include adsorption, ion exchange, complexation, and precipitation which are concluded from the characteristic analysis. Detailly, the passivation of Pb and Cr is better when the moisture is 25% and 35%, respectively [Pb: exchangeable (F1), carbonate bound (F2) decreased by 25.1%, 16.8%, Fe-Mn oxides bound (F3) increased by 18.5%; Cr: F1 decreased by 73.0%, F2, F3, organic matter bound (F4) increased by 13.2%, 23.9%, 30.8%), respectively]. The remediation of Pb and Cr is better when the moisture is 25% and 35%, respectively, (Pb: decreased by 23.3%; Cr: decreased by 38.4%, respectively). The findings showed that the SSB tubule is effective when used for soil HMs contaminated.

Poly(adenine)-templated fluorescent Au nanoclusters for the rapid and sensitive detection of melamine.

A rapid and label-free fluorescence sensing strategy has been established for the sensitive determination of melamine (MA) on the basis of poly(adenine) (poly (A))-templated Au nanoclusters (AuNCs). The poly(A)-templated AuNCs possessed excellent luminescence and photo-stability. In the presence of Hg2+, the luminescence of AuNCs was quenched by Hg2+ through the metallophilic interactions between Au+ and Hg2+. When melamine was introduced, the fluorescence intensity of sensing system could be recovered. There was a greater coordination interaction between Hg2+ and melamine, which blocked the Hg2+-mediated fluorescence quenching of AuNCs. The assay allowed sensitive determination of melamine with a linear detection range from 50 nM to 100 µM. The limit of detection was as low as 16.6 nM. Furthermore, the label-free strategy was successfully employed for the detection of melamine concentration in real samples.

DNA-templated Au nanoclusters coupled with proximity-dependent hybridization and guanine-rich DNA induced quenching: a sensitive fluorescent biosensing platform for DNA detection.

In this paper, the fluorescence signal of poly(A) DNA-templated Au nanoclusters (AuNCs) is found to be greatly quenched by photoinduced electron transfer (PET) when they are close to guanine (G)-rich DNA. Based on the findings, we have designed a low-cost fluorescence biosensing strategy for the sensitive detection of DNA. Highly luminescent and photo-stable poly(A) DNA-AuNCs were utilized as the fluorescent indicator and G-rich DNA was utilized as the fluorescent quencher. In the absence of target DNA, DNA-AuNCs failed to hybridize with the G-rich DNA and did not form the duplex DNA structure. Strong fluorescence intensity at 475 nm was observed due to the DNA-AuNCs being far away from the G-rich DNA. However, in the presence of target DNA, the DNA-AuNCs together with G-rich DNA could hybridize with the target DNA, leading to the 5' terminus of the DNA-AuNCs and the 3' terminus of G-rich DNA being in close proximity and promoting the cooperative hybridization. Therefore, a "Y" junction structure was formed and the G-rich sequences were brought close to the AuNCs. Therefore, the fluorescence intensity of the sensing system decreased significantly. Taking advantage of the poly(A) DNA-templated Au nanoclusters and G-rich DNA proximity-induced quenching, the strategy could be extended to determine other biomolecules by designing appropriate sequences of DNA probes.

Elevated HBXIP expression is associated with aggressive phenotype and poor prognosis in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

The oncoprotein hepatitis B virus X-interacting protein (HBXIP) has been suggested to play an essential role in several malignancies. However, the clinicopathological significance and prognostic value of HBXIP expression in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is still unknown. Therefore the aim of this study was to characterize HBXIP expression and its prognostic value in ESCC. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and Western blot were performed to assess the mRNA and protein expression of HBXIP in ESCC tissues and cell lines. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) was conducted to characterize the expression pattern of HBXIP in 152 archived paraffin-embedded ESCC and matched nontumorous tissues. The mRNA and protein expression of HBXIP in ESCC tissues was significantly higher than those in adjacent nontumorous tissues. High HBXIP expression was associated with histological grade (P=0.016), depth of tumor invasion (P=0.012), lymph node metastasis (P<0.001) and TNM stage (P=0.002). Kaplan-Meier analysis indicated that ESCC patients with high HBXIP expression had poor disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS). Furthermore, multivariate Cox regression analyses demonstrated that HBXIP expression remained an independent prognostic factor for DFS and OS. Collectively, our present study demonstrated that HBXIP may be a candidate molecular prognostic marker for ESCC.

High resolution neutron Larmor diffraction using superconducting magnetic Wollaston prisms.

The neutron Larmor diffraction technique has been implemented using superconducting magnetic Wollaston prisms in both single-arm and double-arm configurations. Successful measurements of the coefficient of thermal expansion of a single-crystal copper sample demonstrates that the method works as expected. The experiment involves a new method of tuning by varying the magnetic field configurations in the device and the tuning results agree well with previous measurements. The difference between single-arm and double-arm configurations has been investigated experimentally. We conclude that this measurement benchmarks the applications of magnetic Wollaston prisms in Larmor diffraction and shows in principle that the setup can be used for inelastic phonon line-width measurements. The achievable resolution for Larmor diffraction is comparable to that using Neutron Resonance Spin Echo (NRSE) coils. The use of superconducting materials in the prisms allows high neutron polarization and transmission efficiency to be achieved.

[Effects of cetuximab combined with celecoxib on apoptosis and KDR and AQP1 expression in lung cancer].

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Neoadjuvant chemotherapy is a new development in the treatment of lung cancer. In recent years, cetuximab and celecoxib have been commonly used in this procedure. This study aims to explore the effect of cetuximab combined with celecoxib on apoptosis and KDR and AQP1 expression in lung cancer A549 cells. METHODS: The cells were cultured in RPMI-1640 and then divided into four groups: control group, 1 nmol/L cetuximab group, 25 µmol/L celecoxib group, and 1 nmol/L cetuximab+25 µmol/L celecoxib group. The treatment time was 48 h. The mRNA and protein expression levels of KDR and AQP1 were detected by RT-PCR and Western blot, respectively. The apoptosis, proliferation, and invasive ability of A549 cells before and after transfection were examined using flow cytometry, MTT, and transwell methods. RESULTS: Cetuximab and celecoxib inhibited the growth of A549 cells in a dose-dependent manner. Their combination produced a greater growth inhibition than when either was used alone (P<0.01). Cetuximab and celecoxib both induced the apoptosis of A549 cells, and their combination produced a higher apoptosis rate (P<0.01). Cetuximab in combination with celecoxib also induced G1 phase arrest and downregulated the expression of KDR and AQP1 in A549 cells (P<0.05). As a result, the invasion ability of the A549 cells was significantly decreased. CONCLUSIONS: Cetuximab in combination with celecoxib can synergistically inhibit the growth of A549 cells and downregulate the expression of KDR and AQP1 in A549 cells. The combination of cetuximab and celecoxib is a potential strategy for lung cancer therapy.

[Application of the localization technique in video-assisted thoracoscopy for the diagnosis and treatment of solitary pulmonary nodule].

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Video-assisted thoracoscopy is widely used in diagnosis and treatment of solitary pulmonary nodule (SPN). However, localization of the nodule during surgery is occasionally difficult. The purpose of the current research is to evaluate the localization technique during diagnosis and treatment of SPN with video-assistant thoracoscopic surgery (VATS). METHODS: Three-dimensional computed tomography is performed for SPN localization. If SPN is less than 1.5 cm or more than 2.0 cm beneath the pleura, Hook-wire localization technique is used. During operation, initial action is palpation with equipment. If this method fails, video-assisted minithoracotomy (VAMS) and direct finger use are applied for localization. Upon successful localization, a linear cutter is used for wedge resectioning. Fast frozen pathology is employed to make the decision for the next procedure. RESULTS: SPNs are resected for 23 cases. Among them, 10 cases are performed with VATS and 13 cases are conducted with VAMS. CONCLUSIONS: The accurate localization of SPN before and during surgery is very significant for the resectioning of SPN by VATS.