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Nanotechnology is a young branch of the discipline generated by nanomaterials. Its development has greatly contributed to technological progress and product innovation in the field of agriculture. The antimicrobial properties of nanoparticles (NPs) can be used to develop nanopesticides for plant protection. Plant diseases caused by bacterial and fungal infestations are the main types of crop diseases. Once infected, they will seriously threaten crop growth, reduce yield and quality, and affect food safety, posing a health risk to humans. We reviewed the application of metal‐based nanoparticles in inhibiting plant pathogenic bacteria and fungi, and discuss the antibacterial mechanisms of metal‐based nanoparticles from two aspects: the direct interaction between nanoparticles and pathogens, and the indirect effects of inducing plant resilience to disease. © 2022 Society of Chemical Industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although ceramic dielectric materials have been extensively explored owing to their numerous advantages, there are still obstacles in the collaborative enhancement of recoverable energy density (Wrec) and efficiency (η). In this work, a combinatorial optimization strategy is proposed to optimize energy storage properties of (K, Na)NbO3‐based ceramics, that is, drive a specific temperature region between the temperature of maximum dielectric constant and the Burns temperature to room temperature under the guidance of phase field simulation to induce the polar nanoregions, then further improve the breakdown strength by repeated rolling process. As a result, an ultrahigh Wrec of 6.7 J cm−3 and a high η of 92% at 600 kV cm−1 are achieved simultaneously in the 0.85K0.5Na0.5NbO3‐0.15Bi(Zn2/3Ta1/3)O3 ceramic prepared by repeated rolling process, together with excellent temperature stability under 400 kV cm−1 over a temperature range of 25 to 150 °C, outperforming all reported (K, Na)NbO3‐based energy storage ceramics. This approach should also be generalizable for designing high‐performance dielectrics for electrical energy storage applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The photonic generation of high-accuracy triangular waveforms with a tunable duty cycle based on a dual-wavelength in-phase/quadrature-phase (I/Q) modulation is proposed and analyzed. By adjusting the modulation index, the phase shift caused by the electric phase shifter and the bias voltage of the modulator, the optical signals of the upper and lower paths can be superimposed and then passed through the bandwidth limited photodetector to obtain a triangular wave, form with a tunable duty cycle ranging from 0.1≤σ≤0.9. High-order harmonic Fourier series components are used to construct the high-accuracy function waveform. It is found that the waveform rms error can be greatly decreased (around two-time performance improvement with duty cycle 0.1≤σ≤0.9). To evaluate the feasibility of our proposal, the effects of modulation index drift, bias voltage drift, and phase shift drift on the obtained waveform are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polymer dielectrics are crucial for electronic communications and industrial applications due to their high breakdown field strength (E b ), fast charge/discharge speed, and temperature stability. The upcoming electronic-electrical systems pose a significant challenge, necessitating polymeric dielectrics to exhibit exceptional thermal stability and energy storage capabilities at high temperatures. Here, ultra-high dielectric constant (ɛ r ) and charge/discharge efficiency (η) of 0.55Bi 0.5 (Na 0.84 K 0.16 ) 0.5 TiO 3 -0.45(Bi 0.1 Sr 0.85 )TiO 3 (BNKT-BST) ceramics are prepared by the solid-phase reaction method and added to polyetherimide (PEI) to form BNKT-BST/PEI nanocomposites with various structures. The findings indicate that the sandwich-structured BNKT-BST/PEI nanocomposite achieves the highest discharged energy density (U d ) of 7.7 J cm -3 with η of 80.2% when the E b is 650 MV m -1 at 150 °C. This is primarily due to the incorporation of BNKT-BST nanoparticles and the multilayer structure design, which significantly improves the composite's ɛ r and E b . Additionally, the sandwich-structured composites show excellent cycling stability at 500 MV m -1 and 150 °C, with U d of ≈ 4.7 J cm -3 and η greater than 90%. The research presents nanocomposites with high energy storage density and excellent stability, crucial for the practical application of polymer dielectrics in high-temperature environments., (© 2024 Wiley‐VCH GmbH.)

Molybdenum disulfide (nano-MoS 2 ) nanomaterials have shown great potential for biomedical and catalytic applications due to their unique enzyme-mimicking properties. However, their potential agricultural applications have been largely unexplored. A key factor prior to the application of nano-MoS 2 in agriculture is understanding its behavior in a complex soil-plant system, particularly in terms of its transformation. Here, we investigate the distribution and transformation of two types of nano-MoS 2 (MoS 2 nanoparticles and MoS 2 nanosheets) in a soil-soybean system through a combination of synchrotron radiation-based X-ray absorption near-edge spectroscopy (XANES) and single-particle inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (SP-ICP-MS). We found that MoS 2 nanoparticles (NPs) transform dynamically in soil and plant tissues, releasing molybdenum (Mo) and sulfur (S) that can be incorporated gradually into the key enzymes involved in nitrogen metabolism and the antioxidant system, while the rest remain intact and act as nanozymes. Notably, there is 247.9 mg/kg of organic Mo in the nodule, while there is only 49.9 mg/kg of MoS 2 NPs. This study demonstrates that it is the transformation that leads to the multifunctionality of MoS 2 , which can improve the biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) and growth. Therefore, MoS 2 NPs enable a 30% increase in yield compared to the traditional molybdenum fertilizer (Na 2 MoO 4 ). Excessive transformation of MoS 2 nanosheets (NS) leads to the overaccumulation of Mo and sulfate in the plant, which damages the nodule function and yield. The study highlights the importance of understanding the transformation of nanomaterials for agricultural applications in future studies.

Purpose: Our study investigates ChatGPT and its ability to communicate with glaucoma patients., Methods: We inputted eight glaucoma-related questions/topics found on the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO)'s website into ChatGPT. We used the Flesch-Kincaid test, Gunning Fog Index, SMOG Index, and Dale-Chall readability formula to evaluate the comprehensibility of its responses for patients. ChatGPT's answers were compared with those found on the AAO's website., Results: ChatGPT's responses required reading comprehension of a higher grade level (average = grade 12.5 ± 1.6) than that of the text on the AAO's website (average = 9.4 grade ± 3.5), (0.0384). For the eight responses, the key ophthalmic terms appeared 34 out of 86 times in the ChatGPT responses vs. 86 out of 86 times in the text on the AAO's website. The term "eye doctor" appeared once in the ChatGPT text, but the formal term "ophthalmologist" did not appear. The term "ophthalmologist" appears 26 times on the AAO's website. The word counts of the answers produced by ChatGPT and those on the AAO's website were similar ( p = 0.571), with phrases of a homogenous length., Conclusion: ChatGPT trains on the texts, phrases, and algorithms inputted by software engineers. As ophthalmologists, through our websites and journals, we should consider encoding the phrase "see an ophthalmologist". Our medical assistants should sit with patients during their appointments to ensure that the text is accurate and that they fully comprehend its meaning. ChatGPT is effective for providing general information such as definitions or potential treatment options for glaucoma. However, ChatGPT has a tendency toward repetitive answers and, due to their elevated readability scores, these could be too difficult for a patient to read., 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 © 2023 Wu, Lee, Zhao, Wong and Sidhu.)

Successful genome editing in primary human islets could reveal features of the genetic regulatory landscape underlying β cell function and diabetes risk. Here, we describe a CRISPR-based strategy to interrogate functions of predicted regulatory DNA elements using electroporation of a complex of Cas9 ribonucleoprotein (Cas9 RNP) and guide RNAs into primary human islet cells. We successfully targeted coding regions including the PDX1 exon 1, and non-coding DNA linked to diabetes susceptibility. CRISPR/Cas9 RNP approaches revealed genetic targets of regulation by DNA elements containing candidate diabetes risk SNPs, including an in vivo enhancer of the MPHOSPH9 gene. CRISPR/Cas9 RNP multiplexed targeting of two cis -regulatory elements linked to diabetes risk in PCSK1 , which encodes an endoprotease crucial for insulin processing, also demonstrated efficient simultaneous editing of PCSK1 regulatory elements, resulting in impaired β cell PCSK1 regulation and insulin secretion. Multiplex CRISPR/Cas9 RNP provides powerful approaches to investigate and elucidate human islet cell gene regulation in health and diabetes., Competing Interests: Declaration of interests R.J.B., S.H.K., W.Z., and S.K.K. declare no competing interests. A.M. is a co-founder of Arsenal Biosciences, Spotlight Therapeutics, and Survey Genomics, serves on the boards of directors at Spotlight Therapeutics and Survey Genomics, is a board observer (and former member of the board of directors) at Arsenal Biosciences, is a member of the scientific advisory boards of Arsenal Biosciences, Spotlight Therapeutics, Survey Genomics, NewLimit, Amgen, Tenaya, and Lightcast. A.M. owns stock in Arsenal Biosciences, Spotlight Therapeutics, NewLimit, Survey Genomics, PACT Pharma, Tenaya, and Lightcast and has received fees from Arsenal Biosciences, Spotlight Therapeutics, NewLimit, Survey Genomics, 23andMe, PACT Pharma, Juno Therapeutics, Tenaya, Lightcast, Trizell, Vertex, Merck, Amgen, Genentech, AlphaSights, Rupert Case Management, Bernstein, and ALDA. A.M. is an investor in and informal advisor to Offline Ventures and a client of EPIQ. The Marson laboratory has received research support from Juno Therapeutics, Epinomics, Sanofi, GlaxoSmithKline, Gilead, and Anthem. A.L.G.’s spouse holds stock options in Roche and is an employee of Genentech.

Objective: To screen potential traditional Chinese medicine and their active monomer ingredients for treatment of diabetic nephropathy (DN) through the mechanism of caspase-1-mediated pyroptosis., Methods: Using the Chinese Medicine System Pharmacology Analysis Platform (TCMSP), we screened traditional Chinese drugs and their active monomer components targeting caspase-1, and searched for the potential gene targets of the monomer components using GeneCards database. Cytoscape was used to construct the monomer compound-gene target network. Gene ontology (GO) functional enrichment analysis and Kyoto Gene and Gene Encyclopedia (KEGG) pathway enrichment analysis were used to predict the molecular mechanism of the screened traditional Chinese medicine and monomers. In SD rat models of diabetic mellitus (DM), we tested the therapeutic effect of ginsenoside Rh2 (daily dose of 20 mg/kg for 12 weeks) by examining renal pathology with HE staining and detecting the expressions of pyroptosis marker proteins caspase-1, GSDMD, IL-1β and IL-18 in the renal tissues using Western blotting, the serum levels of IL-1β and IL-18 and activities of cathepsin B and cathepsin L., Results: Ginsenoside Rh2 could effectively dock with caspase-1 molecule. Fourteen targets were identified in ginsenoside Rh2 target network. GO function enrichment analysis revealed 27 GO terms associated with molecular function (4 terms), cell component (10 terms) and biological process (13 terms). KEGG pathyway enrichment analysis identified 4 signaling pathways involving lysosomes, glycosaminoglycan degradation, galactose metabolism, and sphingolipid metabolism pathways. In the animal experiment, treatment with ginsenoside Rh2 significantly alleviated renal pathologies and down-regulated the expressions of pyroptosis marker proteins (cleaved caspase-1, GSDMD-N, IL-1β and IL-18) ( P < 0.05 or 0.01), lowered serum levels of IL-1β and IL-18 ( P < 0.01), and enhanced the activities of cathepsin B and cathepsin L in the serum of the diabetic rats., Conclusions: Ginsenoside Rh2 may inhibit caspase-1-mediated pyroptosis through the lysosome pathway to improve kidney damages in rat models of DN.