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While the transforming growth factor‐β1 (TGF‐β1) regulates the growth and proliferation of pancreatic β‐cells, its receptors trigger the activation of Smad network and subsequently induce the insulin resistance. A case‐control was conducted to evaluate the associations of the polymorphisms of TGF‐β1 receptor‐associated protein 1 (TGFBRAP1) and TGF‐β1 receptor 2 (TGFBR2) with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), and its genetic effects on diabetes‐related miRNA expression. miRNA microarray chip was used to screen T2DM‐related miRNA and 15 differential expressed miRNAs were further validated in 75 T2DM and 75 normal glucose tolerance (NGT). The variation of rs2241797 (T/C) at TGFBRAP1 showed significant association with T2DM in case‐control study, and the OR (95% CI) of dominant model for cumulative effects was 1.204 (1.060‐1.370), Bonferroni corrected P < 0.05. Significant differences in the fast glucose and HOMA‐β indices were observed amongst the genotypes of rs2241797. The expression of has‐miR‐30b‐5p and has‐miR‐93‐5p was linearly increased across TT, TC, and CC genotypes of rs2241797 in NGT, Ptrend values were 0.024 and 0.016, respectively. Our findings suggest that genetic polymorphisms of TGFBRAP1 may contribute to the genetic susceptibility of T2DM by mediating diabetes‐related miRNA expression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to their good chemical and thermal stability, high heat of melting, and suitability within the desired temperature range, organic phase change materials (PCMs) are widely used for cooling electronic devices, new energy utilization, solar thermal power generation, industrial waste heat recovery processes, and greenhouse construction. However, the flammability of organic PCMs has limited their commercial viability. In recent years, researchers have been striving to improve the flame retardancy of organic PCMs through various strategies, raising the question of which modification strategy best enhances the flame retardancy for different types of composite PCMs. Therefore, a comprehensive and timely review is needed to gain insight into the mechanism of action for flame retardant properties enhancement. This article firstly introduces the types of flame retardants and flame retardant mechanism, and briefly introduces the test methods commonly used in the laboratory for the analysis of flame retardant mechanism. Secondly, the strategies for improving the flame retardancy of organic PCMs are systematically summarized, and some scenarios for the application of organic flame‐retardant PCMs are introduced. Eventually, the challenges and future perspectives of the evolution of organic flame retardant PCMs are presented. This review is expected to provide new insights for the rational design of high flame‐retardant organic PCMs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT The development of empathy and the establishment of peer relationships significantly influence the quality of preschoolers' social lives. Past research consistently demonstrates a strong correlation between empathy and peer relationships. However, debates persist regarding causality. To provide evidence on this matter, we conducted a year‐long longitudinal study involving 160 preschoolers at T1, with 137 children (mean age = 60.99 months, SD = 3.51; 66 males) retained at T2, 1 year later. Our study employed a two‐wave design and cross‐lagged panel analysis. Data on empathy and peer relationships were collected through empathy story tasks and peer nominations. For the analysis of peer nominations, we selected three centrality measures from social network analysis: degree centrality (number of direct friendships), closeness centrality (proximity between network members), and betweenness centrality (control/mediation of information exchange). Results from the cross‐lagged panel analysis reveal that preschoolers' affective and cognitive empathy at T1 positively and significantly predict peer relationships at T2. Specifically, both forms of empathy predict degree centrality and closeness centrality. Additionally, hierarchical linear modeling indicates that, even after controlling for affective empathy, cognitive empathy significantly predicts both degree centrality and closeness centrality at T2. These findings underscore the importance of nurturing empathy, especially cognitive empathy, to enhance peer relationships among preschoolers. Consequently, educators can play a vital role in improving peer relationships by intervening in empathy development, promoting greater social interaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Humidity-responsive nanofiber film for Thyme control release. • Innovative gas generation in nanofibers for sensitive thyme control release. • The nanofiber film displays remarkable attributes for fruit preservation. • Gas-enhanced release offers new insights for nanofiber-based controlled release designs. The preservation of fruits using slow-release packaging for Thyme essential oil (THY) encounters a significant challenge associated with premature release. Therefore, the development of a controlled release system for essential oils is essential to enhance preservation and reduce wastage. This study introduces a novel humidity-responsive nanofiber film enhanced by gas generation for controlled THY release. This film can generate CO2 gas within its nanofibers in high humidity environments, facilitating the release of loaded THY. The film exhibits excellent humidity-responsive release properties and possesses notable antimicrobial and antifungal characteristics. It effectively extends the shelf life of strawberries, inhibits microbial growth, reduces weight loss, and mitigates hardness reduction. The humidity-responsive nanofiber film effectively addresses the issue of premature THY release, presenting significant potential for fruit preservation applications. Furthermore, this gas-enhanced release approach enhances the sensitivity of stimulus-responsive release, providing novel insights into the design of nanofiber-based controlled release systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ammonia is identified as a potential marine fuel, and ammonia bunkering will take place in major bunkering ports, including Singapore. Due to its toxic nature, any accidental release of ammonia into the environment during bunkering operation has a risk of spreading rapidly and causing injury to the personnel in the vicinity and damage to the marine ecosystem. This safety study simulates how key operational parameters affect ammonia dispersion and the consequences. The results show that bunkering ammonia stored in fully-refrigerated tanks as an atmospheric pressure saturated liquid is the safest, and the severity of the consequence increases significantly with a release height of more than 5 m. A vertical release of ammonia results in the most severe consequence and shall be avoided at all times. Reducing the release duration and transfer flow rate can reduce the severity significantly. Based on the scenario used in this study, ammonia cloud disperses over a longer distance over water due to the high vaporisation rate driven by the large amount of heat generated from the dissolution of ammonia in seawater. The dispersion of ammonia over the sea spreads over a larger area during the day than at night. [Display omitted] • Ammonia release and dispersion simulation for ammonia bunkering in Singapore. • Insights on lethality footprint of ammonia dispersion over sea compared to land. • Operational measures to reduce lethality footprint of accidental ammonia release. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nitrogen (N) doped graphene has attracted various attention in many fields due to its adjustable physicochemical properties. However, directional control of graphitic N content in graphene sheets under mild conditions without decreasing the total N content remains a challenge. Here, by combining the defect engineering and lattice restoring agent, tuning the graphitic N contents in a wide range can be achieved at low temperature. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was used for identifying the N configuration and N content. The content of total N changes from 5.62% to 6.61%, and the content of graphitic N changes from 10.73% to 82.34% with the increase of defects in graphene sheets. Results from electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) suggest that the ion diffusion capacity increases with the increasing defect level. Results from scanning electron microscopy (SEM) suggest that higher defect level leads to smaller wrinkle structure. Nitrogen adsorption-desorption and electrochemical tests suggest that the specific pore volume, specific surface area and specific capacitances of the optimum sample are 4.35, 2.06 and 1.89 times higher than those samples without defect-introducing- treatment. The supercapacitor assembled with thus modified graphene has a high energy density of 13.8 Wh·Kg−1 and a high power density of 13 000 W·Kg−1. Moreover, the assembled supercapacitor holds a high capacitance retention of 86.8% after 10,000 charge-discharge cycles at 20 A·g−1. This simple and effective method of tuning surface chemistry of graphene provides a reference for the functionalization of graphene. [Display omitted] • Low temperature pre-oxidation method was developed to generate more defects in graphene lattice. • The N content and ratio of N species in NHG can be easily tuned by adjusting oxidation degree. • The specific capacitance of NHG-0.5 is 1.89 times higher than that of blank sample. • The specific capacitance retention of NHG-0.5 is 100% after 10,000 charge-discharge cycles at 10 A g−1. • The assembled supercapacitor holds a high energy density of 13.8 Wh Kg−1, and a high power density of 13,000 W Kg−1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A series of shaped binderless mordenite (MOR) zeolites were prepared through hydrothermal transformation with commercial MOR zeolite as seeds and aluminosilicate as raw materials. To investigate the effect of alkalinity on the crystallization process, samples with different Na 2 O/SiO 2 ratios from 0.041 to 0.12 were synthesized and characterized by XRD, SEM, N 2 adsorption-desorption, NH 3 -TPD, ICP-OES and pyridine adsorption-infrared measurements. It was surprisingly found that alkalinity plays a pivotal role in the formation of the binderless MOR zeolites. At Na 2 O/SiO 2 of 0.041, MOR zeolite could not be formed. Slightly increasing the Na 2 O/SiO 2 to 0.043 and upwards, the binderless MOR zeolite was formed. XRD patterns and SEM images revealed that the primary MOR zeolite particle size increased from 104 nm to 266 nm with the Na 2 O/SiO 2 ratio increasing from 0.043 to 0.10. Further increasing Na 2 O/SiO 2 ratio to 0.12 led to the formation of 0.6–1.6 μm micro-sized crystals. NH 3 -TPD and pyridine-adsorbed IR results indicated that the amount and strength of Brønsted acid sites in 8-membered ring channel (8-MR) decreased with the Na 2 O/SiO 2 ratio increasing to up to 0.10. Superior catalytic performance in dimethyl ether carbonylation was observed on the catalyst with a Na 2 O/SiO 2 ratio of 0.043, which exhibited the shortest diffusion path and highest 8-MR Brønsted acid amounts. This work provides a practical way of preparing and optimizing shaped binderless zeolites. [Display omitted] • Binderless MOR zeolites were synthesized via hydrothermal conversion. • Alkalinity played a pivotal role in the formation of binderless MOR zeolite. • The morphology and acid properties can be controlled by adjusting the alkalinity. • Binderless MOR zeolites exhibited high catalytic performance on DME carbonylation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The thin-walled seamless Ti-6Al-4V alloy tubing was prepared by cold rotary swaging (RS) with a 40% wall reduction. The microstructure, texture and residual stress of the tubing samples under different annealing temperatures were investigated. The results show that the grains of the tubing samples after RS are obviously refined and streamlined. The maximum density level displayed in the cut of orientation distribution function (ODF) increases from 4.51 to 8.32, with a basal tilt angle of 10° around the radial direction of the tubing, which indicates that the radial texture of the Ti-6Al-4V alloy tubing become stronger after RS. Additionally, the post-swaging annealing at 400 °C and 500 °C for 2.5 h were adopted to relieve the residual stress of the tubing samples. The former can just relieve at most 80% of the residual stress, while the latter can relieve 97% of the residual stress to achieve an almost stress-free state. Hence, it is thought that the annealing at 500 °C can achieve the better effect to relief the residual stress. • The thin-walled Ti-6Al-4V alloys seamless tubing can be prepared by cold-RS with wall thickness deformation rate of 40%. • Cold rotary swaging can remarkably refine the grain sizes of Ti-6Al-4V alloy tubing in the radial direction. • The favorable radial texture of Ti-6Al-4V titanium alloy tubing is formed after RS.. • Annealing at 500℃ for 2.5 h can fully eliminate the residual stress of the Ti-6Al-4V tubing without affecting the texture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The residual stresses of Ti-3Al-2.5V tubing have effects on both fatigue performance and stress corrosion resistance. The inner surface, which directly contacts the hydraulic fluid of the aircraft, is the working surface of Ti-3Al-2.5V aerospace hydraulic tubing and fatigue cracks probably initiate on the inner surface. However, measuring residual stresses on the inner surface of small caliber tubing is difficult using X-ray diffraction at diffraction angles (2 θ) of higher than 120° because the X-rays would be shaded by the outer surface. In this work, the as-received Ti-3Al-2.5V tubing was transversely cut using an electric discharge machine to obtain a sample having a length that was suitable for subsequent measurements and as long as possible to avoid stress relief. Then a diffractometer with Cu Kα radiations was used to scan the lattice planes {103} at the 2 θ of 70.631° for the inner surface stresses of the sample. In particular, to avoid shading effects, we let the incident X-rays enter from one end of the sample and let the diffracted radiations exit from the other end. This work is of theoretical significance and application value for optimizing stress relief annealing process and for X-ray stress analysis of titanium and other metallic tubing. • The residual stress on the inner surface of small caliber Ti-3Al-2.5V tubing was measured by X-ray diffraction. • We let the incident X-rays enter from one end of the tubing sample and let the diffracted X-rays exit from the other end. • It can be reliable and time-saving to measure residual stresses by reflections at lower 2θ by X-ray diffraction. • This work is beneficial for optimizing stress relief annealing process and for X-ray stress analysis of metallic tubing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reward processing dysfunction and inhibition control deficiency have been observed in Internet gaming disorder (IGD). However, it is still unclear whether the previous reinforcement learning depends on reward/punishment feedback influences on the cognitive inhibitory control of IGD. This study compared the differences between an IGD group and healthy people without game experiences in the probability selection task and the subsequent stop signal task by the method of behavioral experiments, in order to explore whether the reward learning ability is impaired in the IGD group. We also discuss the influence of previous reward learning on subsequent inhibition control. The results showed that (1) during the reward learning phase, the IGD group's accuracy was significantly lower than that of the control group; (2) compared with the control group, the IGD group's reaction times were longer in the transfer phase; (3) for no-go trials of the inhibitory control phase after reward learning, the accuracy of the reward-related stimulation in the IGD group was lower than that of punishment-related or neutral stimulation, but there was no significant difference among the three conditions in the control group. These findings indicated that the reinforcement learning ability of the IGD group was impaired, which further caused the abnormal response to reinforcement stimuli., (© 2024 The Author(s). PsyCh Journal published by Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences and John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.)

The accumulation of photosensitizers (PSs) in lesion sites but not in other organs is an important challenge for efficient image guiding in photodynamic therapy. Cancer cells are known to express a significant number of albumin-binding proteins that take up albumin as a nutrient source. Here, we converted albumin to a novel BODIPY-like PS by generating a tetrahedral boron environment via a flick reaction. The formed albumin PS has almost the same 3-dimensional structural feature as free albumin because binding occurs at Sudlow Site 1, which is located in the interior space of albumin. An i.v. injection experiment in tumor-bearing mice demonstrated that the human serum albumin PS effectively accumulated in cancer tissue and, more surprisingly, albumin PS accumulated much more in the cancer tissue than in the liver and kidneys. The albumin PS was effective at killing tumor cells through the generation of reactive oxygen species under light irradiation. The crystal structure of the albumin PS was fully elucidated by X-ray crystallography; thus, further tuning of the structure will lead to novel physicochemical properties of the albumin PS, suggesting its potential in biological and clinical applications., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare no competing financial interest., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Modern cryptography based on computational complexity theory is mainly constructed with silicon-based circuits. As DNA nanotechnology penetrates the molecular domain, utilizing molecular cryptography for data access protection in the biomolecular domain becomes a unique approach to information security. However, building security devices and strategies with robust security and compatibility is still challenging. Here, this study reports a time-controlled molecular authentication strategy using DNAzyme and DNA strand displacement as the basic framework. A time limit exists for authorization and access, and this spontaneous shutdown design further protects secure access. Multiple hierarchical authentications, temporal Boolean logic authentication, and enzyme authentication strategies are constructed based on DNA networks'good compatibility and programmability. This study gives proof of concept for the detection and protection of bioinformation about single nucleotide variants and miRNA, highlighting their potential in biosensing and security protection., (© 2024 Wiley‐VCH GmbH.)

Avermectins (AVEs), a family of macrocyclic polyketides produced by Streptomyces avermitilis, have eight components, among which B1a is noted for its strong insecticidal activity. Biosynthesis of AVE "a" components requires 2-methylbutyryl-CoA (MBCoA) as starter unit, and malonyl-CoA (MalCoA) and methylmalonyl-CoA (MMCoA) as extender units. We describe here a novel strategy for increasing B1a production by enhancing acyl-CoA precursor supply. First, we engineered meilingmycin (MEI) polyketide synthase (PKS) for increasing MBCoA precursor supply. The loading module (using acetyl-CoA as substrate), extension module 7 (using MMCoA as substrate) and TE domain of MEI PKS were assembled to produce 2-methylbutyrate, providing the starter unit for B1a production. Heterologous expression of the newly designed PKS (termed Mei-PKS) in S. avermitilis wild-type (WT) strain increased MBCoA level, leading to B1a titer 262.2 μg/mL - 4.36-fold higher than WT value (48.9 μg/mL). Next, we separately inhibited three key nodes in essential pathways using CRISPRi to increase MalCoA and MMCoA levels in WT. The resulting strains all showed increased B1a titer. Combined inhibition of these key nodes in Mei-PKS expression strain increased B1a titer to 341.9 μg/mL. Overexpression of fatty acid β-oxidation pathway genes in the strain further increased B1a titer to 452.8 μg/mL - 8.25-fold higher than WT value. Finally, we applied our precursor supply strategies to high-yield industrial strain A229. The strategies, in combination, led to B1a titer 8836.4 μg/mL - 37.8% higher than parental A229 value. These findings provide an effective combination strategy for increasing AVE B1a production in WT and industrial S. avermitilis strains, and our precursor supply strategies can be readily adapted for overproduction of other polyketides., (© 2024 The Authors. Microbial Biotechnology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Ammonia is an alternative marine fuel to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Conducting studies on ammonia bunkering risk is essential as ammonia is toxic and corrosive to humans and the environment. This study aims to assess the ammonia bunkering operational risk from the perspectives of small, medium and large release scales. Scaling releases from small to medium results in more changes in cloud footprints at lower gas concentrations. Conversely, transitioning from medium to large releases causes more changes in cloud footprints at higher gas concentrations and lethality footprints with higher values. Moreover, this study performs a sensitivity analysis on ammonia bunkering supply, release, and meteorological factors. Wind speed is the most significant factor in small and medium releases, while hose diameter is the most significant factor in large releases. Under the given inputs, a 50% change in wind speed can have up to 100% change in the 1100 ppm maximum cloud footprint for small releases and a 663% change for medium releases. Similarly, a 50% change in hose diameter can result in a 1689% change in the 1100 ppm maximum cloud footprint for large releases. The research provides valuable insights into analysing ammonia bunkering operational risk considering different risk assessment criteria., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Objectives: To establish accurate and objective dermoscopic diagnostic criteria and grading standards for males and females with androgenetic alopecia (AGA)., Methods: Twenty patients each with AGA, diffuse alopecia areata, telogen effluvium, and healthy controls were enrolled in the current study. In addition, 60 patients with grades F1/V1, F2/V2, and F3/V3 AGA (20 cases each) were enrolled. The patients underwent dermoscopic examinations. The sensitivity and specificity of the diagnostic criteria were based on the 60 AGA and 60 non-AGA. In addition, 150 patients diagnosed with AGA clinically and by dermoscopy were enrolled to calculate the accuracy of the grading criteria., Results: The diagnostic criteria included primary, secondary, and exclusion criteria. The grading criteria included three indices, which divided the severity of AGA into grades 1, 2, and 3. The sensitivity and specificity of the diagnostic criteria were 98.3% and 96.7% respectively. The accuracy of grade 1, 2, and 3 dermoscopic grading criteria were 96%, 92%, and 100% respectively, with a total accuracy of 96%., Limitations: To test the diagnostic and grading criteria, more patients need to be collected., Conclusions: The dermoscopic diagnostic and grading criteria are objective with good accuracy, which could provide a reasonable basis for the early diagnosis, grading treatment, and improved prognosis for AGA., (© 2024 The Authors. Skin Research and Technology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Objectives: Public's interest in noninvasive skin rejuvenation treatments continues to grow. The advantage of combination therapy lies in that it can target different aspects of skin rejuvenation. This study aimed to assess the efficacy and safety of microfocused ultrasound (MFU) combined with delicate pulsed light (DPL) for facial rejuvenation., Methods: Twenty-one patients with facial relaxation were enrolled. All patients received whole-face MFU treatment, and one side of the face was randomly assigned to receive DPL. MFU treatment was performed at Months 0 and 3, while DPL treatment was performed at Months 1, 2, 4, and 5. The length and angle of the nasolabial fold and perioral wrinkles, melanin index (MI), erythema index (EI), transepidermal water loss (TEWL), and follow-up time were recorded at Months 0, 3, and 6. Side effects were recorded during treatment and each follow-up visit., Results: Twenty patients successfully completed the study. At the sixth month, the average length of perioral wrinkles and nasolabial folds on the combined side decreased by 11.5% (p within  < 0.001) and 6.5% (p within  = 0.011), while 8.3% (p within  = 0.012) and 3.8% (p within  = 0.02) on the MFU side. Compared with MFU treatment alone, the combined treatment also showed significant improvements in nasolabial fold angle (from 28.8 ± 3.4° to 32.7 ± 5.0°) and perioral wrinkle angle (from 39.3 ± 5.0° to 43.7 ± 5.1°). In addition, the combined side had greater benefits than the MFU side in improving MI, EI, TEWL, and skin elasticity (p between  < 0.05). Except for one patient who withdrew due to increased skin sensitivity after MFU treatment, other subjects did not experience permanent or serious side effects., Conclusions: The combination of MFU and DPL for facial rejuvenation treatment is safe and effective. The combined treatment has better efficacy in skin firmness, and improving skin tone., (© 2024 Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

Objective: This study aimed to investigate and compare the efficacy and safety of retinal laser photocoagulation (PRP) alone, PRP with aflibercept 3+PRN, and PRP with aflibercept 5+PRN in patients with both high-risk proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) and diabetic macular edema (DME)., Methods: Overall, 170 patients with high-risk PDR and DME (170 eyes from 170 patients) who visited our ophthalmology clinic from December 2018 to December 2020 were divided into the PRP (n=58), aflibercept 5+PRN with PRP (n=53), and aflibercept 3+PRN with PRP (n= 59) groups. General information, such as age, sex, and eye category, was obtained. Moreover, best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), baseline central macular foveal thickness (CFT), microaneurysm (MA), area of neovascularization (NV), area of hard exudate (HE), and cytokine levels in atrial fluid before and after treatment, were assessed. The χ 2 test was used for comparison between groups for statistical data. Analysis of variance was used for the statistical description of measurement data, independent samples were analyzed using Student's t -test, and Student-Newman-Keuls test was used for group comparisons. Differences were considered statistically significant at P < 0.05., Results: After treatment, no significant improvement in the BCVA (logMAR) of patients in the PRP group was observed. The BCVA (log MAR) decreased from 0.72 ± 0.17 and 0.74 ± 0.17 to 0.50 ± 0.13 and 0.53 ± 0.17 in PRP with aflibercept 5+PRN and PRP with aflibercept 3+PRN groups, respectively, with a statistically significant difference compared to those in the PRP group (P<0.05 in all cases). However, no statistically significant difference was observed between the combined treatment groups (P>0.05). The CFT in the PRP-only group decreased slightly from 361.80 ± 36.70 μm to 353.86 ± 40.88 μm, with no statistically significant difference (P>0.05), whereas the CFT in the aflibercept 5+PRN with PRP and aflibercept 3+PRN with PRP groups decreased from 356.57 ± 37.57 μm and 358.17 ± 44.66 μm to 284.87 ± 31.52 μm and 303.19 ± 37.00 μm, respectively, with statistically significant differences before and after treatment (P<0.05 for both groups). Statistically significant differences were observed in CFT between the three groups after treatment (P<0.05 in all cases). The number of MA (pcs) in the PRP, aflibercept 5+PRN with PRP, and aflibercept 3+PRN with PRP groups decreased from 118.34 ± 27.96, 118.60 ± 33.34, and 116.59 ± 28.95 to 92.95 ± 29.04, 44.60 ± 20.73, and 54.26 ± 25.43, respectively. The two-way comparison of the three groups revealed statistically significant differences in MA (P<0.05 in all cases). In the three groups, NV decreased from 1.00 ± 0.21 mm², 1.01 ± 0.18 mm², and 0.98 ± 0.20 mm² before treatment to 0.49 ± 0.17 mm², 0.31 ± 0.16 mm², and 0.38 ± 0.14 mm², respectively, with statistically significant differences (P<0.05 in all cases). After 12 months of treatment, 13, 18, and 18 patients had reduced HE area in the PRP-only, aflibercept 5+PRN with PRP, and aflibercept 3+PRN with PRP groups, respectively, with statistically significant differences (P<0.05 in all cases). After 12 months of treatment, vascular endothelial growth factor, monocyte chemoattractant protein-1, and glial fibrilliary acidic protein levels (pg/mL) in the aqueous humor decreased in both combined treatment groups compared with that at baseline, with statistically significant differences; however, no significant difference was observed between the two combined treatment groups (P>0.05)., Conclusion: Aflibercept 5+PRN combined with PRP was safe and effective in treating patients with high-risk PDR and DME, and was more effective than PRP-only and aflibercept 3+PRN with PRP in improving CFT and MA., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Li, Tao, Yang, Zhao, Si, Cui and Wang.)

Prometryn has been extensively detected in marine environment because of its widespread usage in agriculture and aquaculture and has been concerns since its serious effects on aquatic organisms. However, its impact on the microbial community in the marine ecosystem including seawater and biofilm is still unclear. Therefore, a short-term indoor microcosm experiment of prometryn exposure was conducted. This study found that prometryn had a more significant impact on the structure and stability of the microbial community in seawater compared to microplastic biofilms. Additionally, we observed that the assembly of the microbial community in biofilms was more affected by stochastic processes than in seawater under the exposure of prometryn. Our study provided evidence for the increasing impact of the microbial communities under the stress of prometryn and microplastics., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Toehold-mediated DNA strand displacement is the foundation of dynamic DNA nanotechnology, encompassing a wide range of tools with diverse functions, dynamics, and thermodynamic properties. However, a majority of these tools are limited to unidirectional reactions driven by thermodynamics. In response to the growing field of dissipative DNA nanotechnology, we present an approach: DNAzyme-based dissipative DNA strand displacement (D-DSD), which combines the principles of dynamic DNA nanotechnology and dissipative DNA nanotechnology. D-DSD introduces circular and dissipative characteristics, distinguishing it from the unidirectional reactions observed in conventional strand displacement. We investigated the reaction mechanism of D-DSD and devised temporal control elements. By substituting temporal components, we designed two distinct temporal AND gates using fewer than 10 strands, eliminating the need for complex network designs. In contrast to previous temporal logic gates, our temporal storage is not through dynamics control or cross-inhibition but through autoregressive storage, a more modular and scalable approach to memory storage. D-DSD preserves the fundamental structure of toehold-mediated strand displacement, while offering enhanced simplicity and versatility.

Accumulation studies have found that adipose-derived stem cell (ADSC) exosomes have anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory characteristics. The current study verified their therapeutic potential to elucidate mechanisms of ADSC exosome actions in ultraviolet B (UVB) light-induced skin injury. Exosomes were isolated from ADSCs and hypoxic pretreated ADSCs. Next-generation sequencing (NGS) was applied to characterize differential mRNA expression. A UV-induced mice skin injury model was generated to investigate therapeutic effects regarding the exosomes via immunofluorescence and ELISA analysis. Regulatory mechanisms were illustrated using luciferase report analysis and in vitro experiments. The results demonstrated that exosomes from hypoxic pretreated ADSCs (HExos) inhibited UVB light-induced vascular injury by reversing reactive oxygen species, inflammatory factor expression and excessive collagen degradation. NGS showed that HExos inhibits UV-induced skin damage via GLRX5 delivery, while GLRX5 downregulation inhibited the therapeutic effect of HExos on UV-induced skin damage. GLRX5 upregulation increased the protective Exo effect on UV-induced skin and EPC damage by inhibiting ferroptosis, inflammatory cytokine expression and excessive collagen degradation. Therefore, the data indicate that HExos attenuate UV light-induced skin injury via GLRX5 delivery and ferroptosis inhibition., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to European Photochemistry Association, European Society for Photobiology.)

In this research, Ru-doped TiO 2 nanotube arrays (Ru-TNTA) were prepared by anodizing TiRu alloys, and the effects of annealing temperature, Ru content and test temperature on their performances for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) were investigated. The results show that the unannealed Ru-TNTA (a-Ru-TNTA) exhibits superior activity for the HER, and the Ru-TNTA annealed at 450 °C (c-Ru-TNTA) shows excellent activity for the OER. The Ru content of TiRu impacts the electrochemically active surface area (ECSA) and the charge transfer resistance ( R ct ) significantly. When the Ru content of Ru-TNTA is 6%, its performance is optimal. Moreover, the electrocatalytic activity of Ru-TNTA improves with increasing test temperature, and the overpotentials of a-Ru-TNTA and c-Ru-TNTA at 80 °C are 19 mV and 227 mV (10 mA cm -2 ), respectively. Ru-TNTA exhibits excellent electrocatalytic performance for water splitting and good stability, which provides a new idea for the preparation of advanced bifunctional electrocatalysts for water splitting.

Purpose: This retrospective study aimed to determine the prevalence and morphological characteristics of accessory mandibular canals (AMCs) in an eastern Chinese population to provide clinical guidance for reducing intraoperative and postoperative complications., Methods: Cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) scans of 300 Chinese patients were used to identify AMCs according to a modification of Naitoh's classification. The length of the branch (L0) and the upper and lower angles between the branch and mandibular canal were measured on sagittal images. Additionally, the branches were divided into narrow or wide types by calculating the ratio of the branch diameter to the main canal diameter. The location of the bifurcation point was characterized by measuring its distance to the buccal wall of the mandible (L1), lingual wall of the mandible (L2) and alveolar ridge (L3)., Results: The prevalence rate of AMCs was 40.7% (95% CI: 35.1-46.3), and the most common type was the retromolar canal, followed by the forward canal, dental canal, trifid mandibular canals (TMCs) or others, inferior canal and buccolingual canal. Twenty-one cases of multiple branches with unusual patterns were observed in the study. The average values of L0, L1, L2 and L3 were 15.05 ± 0.63 mm, 5.79 ± 0.14 mm, 4.40 ± 0.18 mm and 14.61 ± 0.31 mm, respectively. The mean upper angle and lower angle were 141.59° ± 2.44° and 50.64° ± 2.57°, respectively. Approximately 20.8% of the branches were defined as wide type, and no statistical significance was found between different types., Conclusion: AMCs are not rare anatomic variations of the mandibular canal in the eastern Chinese population; thus, CBCT examination is highly recommended for precise evaluation before surgeries involving the mandibles., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag France SAS, part of Springer Nature.)

Nanoplastic is increasing in environments and can address toxic effects on various organisms. Particle size, concentration, and surface functionalization most influence nanoplastic toxicity. Besides, nanoplastic can adsorb other contaminants (e.g., antibiotics) to aggravate its adverse effects. The combined effects of nanoplastics and antibiotics on planktonic/benthic microbial communities, however, are still largely unknown. In this study, the combined effects of polystyrene nanoplastic and ofloxacin on the structure, assembly, and metabolic activities of marine microbial communities were investigated based on amplicon sequencing data. The results mainly demonstrate that: (1) nanoplastic and ofloxacin have greater impacts on prokaryotic communities than eukaryotic ones; (2) niche breadths of planktonic prokaryotes and benthic eukaryotes were shrank with both high nanoplastic and ofloxacin concentrations; (3) increased ofloxacin mainly reduces nodes/edges of co-occurrence networks, while nanoplastic centralizes network modularity; (4) increased nanoplastic under high ofloxacin concentration induces more differential prokaryotic pathways in planktonic communities, while benthic communities are less influenced. The present work indicates that co-presence of nanoplastics and ofloxacin has synergistic combined effects on community structure shifts, niche breadth shrinking, network simplifying, and differential prokaryotic pathways inducing in marine microbial communities, suggesting nanoplastics and its combined impacts with other pollutions should be paid with more concerns., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: A close connection between a protozoan parasite and the balance of the other gut microbes of the host has been demonstrated. The calves may be naturally co-infected with many parasites, and the co-effects of parasites on other intestinal microbes of calves remain unclear. This study aims to preliminarily reveal the relationship between intestinal parasites and other intestinal microbes in calves., Methods: Fecal samples were collected from four calves with bloody diarrhea, four calves with watery diarrhea, and seven normal calves, and the microbial flora of the samples were analyzed by whole-genome sequencing. Protozoal parasites were detected in the metagenome sequences and identified using polymerase chain reaction (PCR)., Results: Cryptosporidium, Eimeria, Giardia, Blastocystis, and Entamoeba were detected by metagenomic analysis, and the identified species were Giardia duodenalis assemblage E, Cryptosporidium bovis, Cryptosporidium ryanae, Eimeria bovis, Eimeria subspherica, Entamoeba bovis, and Blastocystis ST2 and ST10. Metagenomic analysis showed that the intestinal microbes of calves with diarrhea were disordered, especially in calves with bloody diarrhea. Furthermore, different parasites show distinct relationships with the intestinal microecology. Cryptosporidium, Eimeria, and Giardia were negatively correlated with various intestinal bacteria but positively correlated with some fungi. However, Blastocystis and Entamoeba were positively associated with other gut microbes. Twenty-seven biomarkers not only were significantly enriched in bloody diarrhea, watery diarrhea, and normal calves but were also associated with Eimeria, Cryptosporidium, and Giardia. Only Eimeria showed a distinct relationship with seven genera of bacteria, which were significantly enriched in the healthy calves. All 18 genera of fungi were positively correlated with Cryptosporidium, Eimeria, and Giardia, which were also significantly enriched in calves with bloody diarrhea. Functional genes related to parasites and diseases were found mainly in fungi., Conclusions: This study revealed the relationship between intestinal protozoan parasites and the other calf gut microbiome. Different intestinal protozoan parasites have diametrically opposite effects on other gut microecology, which not only affects bacteria in the gut, but also is significantly related to fungi and archaea., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Background: Malignant glioma is among the most lethal and frequently occurring brain tumors, and the average survival period is 15 months. Existing chemotherapy has low tolerance and low blood-brain barrier (BBB) permeability; therefore, the required drug dose cannot be accurately delivered to the tumor site, resulting in an insufficient drug effect., Methods: Herein, we demonstrate a precision photodynamic tumor therapy using a photosensitizer (ZnPcS) capable of binding to albumin in situ, which can increase the permeability of the BBB and accurately target glioma. Albumin-binding ZnPcS was designed to pass through the BBB and bind to secreted protein acidic and rich in cysteine (SPARC), which is abundant in the glioma plasma membrane., Results: When the upper part of a mouse brain was irradiated using a laser (0.2 W cm - 2 ) after transplantation of glioma and injection of ZnPcS, tumor growth was inhibited by approximately 83.6%, and the 50% survival rate of the treatment group increased by 14 days compared to the control group. In glioma with knockout SPARC, the amount of ZnPcS entering the glioma was reduced by 63.1%, indicating that it can target glioma through the SPARC pathway., Conclusion: This study showed that the use of albumin-binding photosensitizers is promising for the treatment of malignant gliomas., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

This study investigated the distribution of triazine herbicides in the Laizhou Bay, China and found that the total concentrations of triazine herbicides in the seawater and sediments were 111.15-234.85 ng/L and 0.902-4.661 μg/kg, respectively. Triazine herbicides especially ametryn, atrazine, and simazine were negatively correlated with prokaryote diversity in the seawater. While ametryn, desethylatrazine and desisopropylatrazine had positively significant effects on eukaryotes Dinophyceae, Bacillariophyta, and Cercozoa in the sediments. Moreover, the degree of fragmentation of eukaryotic networks increased dramatically with the increasing numbers of removed nodes, but prokaryotic networks did not change with the decrease of nodes. In addition, the stability analysis and neutral community models revealed that eukaryotes were more sensitive to triazine herbicides than prokaryotes. These results suggest that triazine herbicides might affect the structure and interactions of microbial communities. Therefore, more attentions should be paid to the ecological risk of triazine herbicides in marine ecosystems., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Most existing image classification methods have achieved significant progress in the field of natural images. However, in the field of diabetic foot ulcer (DFU) where data is scarce and complex, the accurate classification of data is still a thorny problem. In this paper, we propose an Asymmetric Convolutional Transformer Network (ACTNet) for the multi-class (4-class) classification task of DFU. Specifically, in order to strengthen the expressive ability of the network, we design an asymmetric convolutional module in the front part of the network to model the relationship between local pixels, extract the underlying features of the image, and guide the network to focus on the central region in the image that contains more information. Furthermore, a novel pooling layer is added between the encoder and the classification head in the Transformer, which weights the data sequence generated by the encoder to better correlate the features between the input data. Finally, to fully exploit the performance of the model, we pretrained our model on ImageNet and fine-tune it on DFU images. The model is validated on the DFUC2021 test set, and the F1-score and AUC value are 0.593 and 0.824, respectively. The experiments show that our model has excellent performance even in the case of a small dataset., (© 2022. Australasian College of Physical Scientists and Engineers in Medicine.)

Multidrug-resistant (MDR) gram-positive bacteria are an inevitable source of infection for hospitalized patients and one of the reasons for the increased proportion of severe diseases. Therefore, constructing smart agents for specific and effective combating infections in vivo caused by MDR gram-positive strains is very urgent. Herein, we reported a structure-oriented design strategy (SODS) to reasonably construct an organic photo-antimicrobial near-infrared (NIR) AIEgen BDPTV equipped with a phenylboronic acid moiety, which could be bound to the thick peptidoglycan layer of MDR gram-positive bacteria, resulting in a tight distribution with the cell wall in a confined space. Compared to the contrast compounds DQVTA and DPTVN, upon photoirradiation of AIEgen BDPTV, the generation of abundant and highly toxic reactive oxygen species (ROS) irreversibly destroys MDR gram-positive bacteria through photodynamic therapy, which is better than commercial photosensitizers (including methylene blue, chlorin e6, and protoporphyrin IX) and antibiotic (cefoxitin). As a proof of concept, in vitro experimental results showed that methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) were completely killed using AIEgen BDPTV. More importantly, AIEgen BDPTV was capable of successfully combating MRSA-infected wounds of mice, but not Escherichia coli (E. coli)-infected wounds. We hope that this strategy could provide a new method to design powerful AIEgens to avoid the overuse and misuse of antibiotics., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The MnO 2 -TNTA composite electrodes were obtained through depositing MnO 2 into TiO 2 nanotube arrays (TNTA) by successive ionic layer adsorption reaction (SILAR) and subsequent hydrothermal method. The MnO 2 -TNTA nanocomposites were used as electrochemical sensors for the detection of hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ). The preparation conditions of MnO 2 -TNTA electrodes and test conditions affect the electrochemical detection performance significantly. The optimal conditions are listed as follows: the number of SILAR cycles, 6 times; KMnO 4 solution temperature, 50 °C; supporting electrolyte, 0.5 M NaOH. Under these conditions, the MnO 2 -TNTA electrode exhibits the best performance for detecting H 2 O 2 . The optimized MnO 2 -TNTA electrode has a minimum detection limit of 0.6 μM (S/N = 3) and a linear range of 5 μM ∼ 13 mM, which is much superior to the previously-reported electrodes. Moreover, the optimized MnO 2 -TNTA electrode possesses high selectivity, excellent stability and good reproducibility in the detection of H 2 O 2 . When used in the determination of H 2 O 2 content in actual samples including disinfectant and milk, it also shows good accuracy, ideal recovery (96.00% ∼ 102.67%) and high precision (RSD < 4.0%)., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

An effective strategy to engineer selective photodynamic agents to surmount bacterial-infected diseases, especially Gram-positive bacteria remains a great challenge. Herein, we developed two examples of compounds for a proof-of-concept study where reactive differences in reactive oxygen species (ROS) can induce selective ablation of Gram-positive bacteria. Sulfur-replaced phenoxazinium (NBS-N) mainly generates a superoxide anion radical capable of selectively killing Gram-positive bacteria, while selenium-substituted phenoxazinium (NBSe-N) has a higher generation of singlet oxygen that can kill both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. This difference was further evidenced by bacterial fluorescence imaging and morphological changes. Moreover, NBS-N can also successfully heal the Gram-positive bacteria-infected wounds in mice. We believe that such reactive differences may pave a general way to design selective photodynamic agents for ablating Gram-positive bacteria-infected diseases., (© 2022 Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

Owing to widely available digital ECG data and recent advances in deep learning techniques, automatic ECG arrhythmia classification based on deep neural network has gained growing attention. However, existing neural networks are mainly validated on single‑lead ECG, not involving the correlation and difference between multiple leads, while multiple leads ECG provides more complete description of the cardiac activity in different directions. This paper proposes a 12‑lead ECG arrhythmia classification method using a cascaded convolutional neural network (CCNN) and expert features. The one-dimensional (1-D) CNN is firstly designed to extract features from each single‑lead signal. Subsequently, considering the temporal correlation and spatial variability between multiple leads, features are cascaded as input to two-dimensional (2-D) densely connected ResNet blocks to classify the arrhythmia. Furthermore, features based on expert knowledge are extracted and a random forest is applied to get a classification probability. Results from both CCNN and expert features are combined using the stacking technique as the final classification result. The method has been validated against the first China ECG Intelligence Challenge, obtaining a final score of 86.5% for classifying 12‑lead ECG data with multiple labels into 9 categories., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Understanding and controlling multicomponent co-assembly is of primary importance in different fields, such as materials fabrication, pharmaceutical polymorphism, and supramolecular polymerization, but these aspects have been a long-standing challenge. Herein, we discover that liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) into ion-cluster-rich and ion-cluster-poor liquid phases is the first step prior to co-assembly nucleation based on a model system of water-soluble porphyrin and ionic liquids. The LLPS-formed droplets serve as the nucleation precursors, which determine the resulting structures and properties of co-assemblies. Co-assembly polymorphism and tunable supramolecular phase transition behaviors can be achieved by regulating the intermolecular interactions at the LLPS stage. These findings elucidate the key role of LLPS in multicomponent co-assembly evolution and enable it to be an effective strategy to control co-assembly polymorphism as well as supramolecular phase transitions., (© 2020 Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

There is a real need for new antibiotics against self-evolving bacteria. One option is to use biofriendly broad-spectrum and mechanically tunable antimicrobial hydrogels that can combat multidrug-resistant microbes. Whilst appealing, there are currently limited options. Herein, broad-spectrum antimicrobial biometallohydrogels based on the self-assembly and local mineralization of Ag + -coordinated Fmoc-amino acids are reported. Such biometallohydrogels have the advantages of localized delivery and sustained release, reduced drug dosage and toxicity yet improved bioavailability, prolonged drug effect, and tunable mechanical strength. Furthermore, they can directly interact with the cell walls and membrane, resulting in the detachment of the plasma membrane and leakage of the cytoplasm. This leads to cell death, triggering a significant antibacterial effect against both Gram-negative (Escherichia coli) and Gram-positive (Staphylococcus aureus) bacteria in cells and mice. This study paves the way for developing a multifunctional integration platform based on simple biomolecules coordinated self-assembly toward a broad range of biomedical applications., (© 2020 The Authors. Published by WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

Cyclic dipeptides (CDPs), the smallest naturally occurring cyclic peptides, have attracted tremendous attention due to their exceptional biological and pharmacological activities such as antitumor, antimicrobial, and immune regulation. However, controlled fabrication of CDPs nanostructures to address the problem of poor aqueous solubility and low bioavailability existing in therapeutic application is still in challenging, due to their remarkable structural rigidity and superior hydrogen-bonding-forming capability. Herein, a simple but robust and universal strategy for the construction of CDP nanoribbons based on the amphiphilic dye-mediated hydrophobic self-assembly is presented. The amphiphilic dyes not only provide the robust hydrophobic interaction for the formation of CDP nanoribbons but also offer enough electrostatic repulsion forces to stabilize the formed assemblies. Moreover, the introduction of functional dyes endows the assembled CDP nanoribbons multiple benign therapeutic features, including adjustable shape and size, improved bioavailability, as well as preferable cellular uptake and biodistribution, thereby enhanced chemotherapy efficacy in vitro and in vivo. The strategy developed based on the dye-mediated self-assembly provides a promising way to rationally design water-insoluble bioactive CDPs for therapeutic applications., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Freshwater releases to wetlands degraded by excessive soil salinity in estuarine areas have been widely used to restore vegetation and maintain biodiversity of the wetland ecosystems. However, freshwater release also alters the physical and chemical properties of the water body, having a profound impact on the ecology of restored wetland ecosystems. In this study, physical and chemical parameters of water quality were compared between restored and non-restored tidal wetlands after 10 years of freshwater release in the Yellow River estuary. In addition, benthic invertebrates were used as bioindicators to reveal the effects of freshwater release on estuarine wetland ecology. The results showed that there was a significant difference in salinity between restored and non-restored wetlands (P < 0.05), which led to differences in the composition of benthic invertebrate communities (ANOSIM P < 0.001). The primary components of benthic invertebrate community were insects in restored wetlands, and in non-restored tidal wetlands the primary components were annelids, crustaceans, and gastropods. More long-term monitoring research of the impacts of freshwater introduction on degraded estuarine wetland ecosystems is needed to fully assess consequences., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)