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Abstract Mechanical bound states in the continuum (BICs) present an alternative avenue for developing high-frequency, high-Q mechanical resonators, distinct from the conventional band structure engineering method. While symmetry-protected mechanical BICs have been realized in phononic crystals, the observation of accidental mechanical BICs—whose existence is independent of mode symmetry and tunable by structural parameters—has remained elusive. This challenge is primarily attributed to the additional radiation channel introduced by the longitudinal component of elastic waves. Here, we employ a coupled wave theory to predict and experimentally demonstrate mechanical accidental BICs within a high-aspect-ratio gallium arsenide phononic crystal grating. We observe the merging process of accidental BICs with symmetry-protected BICs, resulting in reduced acoustic radiation losses compared to isolated BICs. This finding opens up new possibilities for phonon trapping using BIC-based systems, with potential applications in sensing, transduction, and quantum measurements.

Background: ACSS3 (acyl-CoA synthetase short-chain family member 3) is found in numerous tissues and is linked to tumor cell type development and metastasis. Methods: We conducted a comprehensive pan-cancer analysis of ACSS3. The TCGA (Cancer Genome Atlas), CPTAC (Clinical Proteomic Tumor Analysis Consortium), and HPA databases were used to ascertain the connection between ACSS3 and various types of tumors. Genes in the TCGA database would be identified using cBioPortal queries, and their transcriptome expression would then be verified using GEO data. ACSS3 expression and cellular localization in various tumor tissues of most cancer types were analyzed using single-cell sequencing data from the TISCH database. According to HPA and CPTAC databases, we analyzed and evaluated protein expression levels. Predictive analysis based on precise survival data of ACSS3 expression levels for 26 cancer types predicted using the TCGA database. Furthermore, we investigated the relationship between ACSS3 and immune microenvironments in different tumor tissues using the TIMER and TISCH databases. CellMiner, GDSC, and CTRP data would clarify the relationship between ACSS3 and drug resistance and explore the chemicals that affect ACSS3 expression. The final part of our study explored and validated the role ACSS3 played in glioma proliferation, migration, and invasion. Results: ACSS3 is differentially expressed in various tumors and exhibits early diagnostic value. ACSS3 expression is associated with clinical features, and high ACSS expression anticipates a worse prognosis in multiple tumors and may impact drug sensitivity. The changes in the immunosuppressive microenvironment of gliomas are closely related to the upregulation of ACSS3. Conclusions: ACSS3 is a novel biomarker for forecasting different human cancer prognoses, as it can influence the biological process by modulating the immune microenvironment. ACSS3 is a critical prognostic factor for glioma and is related to its proliferation, migration, and invasion.

IntroductionThe enteric microbiome and its possible modulation to improve feed conversion or vaccine efficacy is gaining more attention in pigs. Weaning pigs from their dam, along with many routine procedures, is stressful. A better understanding of the impact of this process on the microbiome may be important for improving pig production. The objective of this study was to develop a weaner pig cannulation model, thus allowing ileum content collection from the same pig over time for 16S rRNA sequencing under different porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) infection statuses.MethodsA total of 15 3-week-old pigs underwent abdominal surgery and were fitted with an ileum cannula, with ileum contents collected over time. In this pilot study, treatment groups included a NEG-CONTROL group (no vaccination, no PRRSV challenge), a POS-CONTROL group (no vaccination, challenged with PRRSV), a VAC-PRRSV group (vaccinated, challenged with PRRSV), a VAC-PRO-PRRSV group (vaccinated, supplemented with a probiotic, challenged with PRRSV), and a VAC-ANTI-PRRSV group (vaccinated, administered an antibiotic, challenged with PRRSV). We assessed the microbiome over time and measured anti-PRRSV serum antibodies, PRRSV load in serum and nasal samples, and the severity of lung lesions.ResultsVaccination was protective against PRRSV challenge, irrespective of other treatments. All vaccinated pigs mounted an immune response to PRRSV within 1 week after vaccination. A discernible impact of treatment on the diversity, structure, and taxonomic abundance of the enteric microbiome among the groups was not observed. Instead, significant influences on the ileum microbiome were observed in relation to time and treatment.DiscussionThe cannulation model described in this pilot study has the potential to be useful in studying the impact of weaning, vaccination, disease challenge, and antimicrobial administration on the enteric microbiome and its impact on pig health and production. Remarkably, despite the cannulation procedures, all vaccinated pigs exhibited robust immune responses and remained protected against PRRSV challenge, as evidenced by the development of anti-PRRSV serum antibodies and viral shedding data.

Abstract Lipids play fundamental roles in regulating agronomically important traits. Advances in plant lipid metabolism have until recently largely been based on reductionist approaches, although modulation of its components can have system-wide effects. However, existing models of plant lipid metabolism provide lumped representations, hindering detailed study of component modulation. Here, we present the Plant Lipid Module (PLM) which provides a mechanistic description of lipid metabolism in the Arabidopsis thaliana rosette. We demonstrate that the PLM can be readily integrated in models of A. thaliana Col-0 metabolism, yielding accurate predictions (83%) of single lethal knock-outs and 75% concordance between measured transcript and predicted flux changes under extended darkness. Genome-wide associations with fluxes obtained by integrating the PLM in diel condition- and accession-specific models identify up to 65 candidate genes modulating A. thaliana lipid metabolism. Using mutant lines, we validate up to 40% of the candidates, paving the way for identification of metabolic gene function based on models capturing natural variability in metabolism.

Abstract Human telomeres are linked to genetic instability and a higher risk of developing cancer. Therefore, to improve the dismal prognosis of pancreatic cancer patients, a thorough investigation of the association between telomere-related genes and pancreatic cancer is required. Combat from the R package “SVA” was performed to correct the batch effects between the TCGA-PAAD and GTEx datasets. After differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were assessed, we constructed a prognostic risk model through univariate Cox regression, LASSO-Cox regression, and multivariate Cox regression analysis. Data from the ICGC, GSE62452, GSE71729, and GSE78229 cohorts were used as test cohorts for validating the prognostic signature. The major impact of the signature on the tumor microenvironment and its response to immune checkpoint drugs was also evaluated. Finally, PAAD tissue microarrays were fabricated and immunohistochemistry was performed to explore the expression of this signature in clinical samples. After calculating 502 telomere-associated DEGs, we constructed a three-gene prognostic signature (DSG2, LDHA, and RACGAP1) that can be effectively applied to the prognostic classification of pancreatic cancer patients in multiple datasets, including TCGA, ICGC, GSE62452, GSE71729, and GSE78229 cohorts. In addition, we have screened a variety of tumor-sensitive drugs targeting this signature. Finally, we also found that protein levels of DSG2, LDHA, and RACGAP1 were upregulated in pancreatic cancer tissues compared to normal tissues by immunohistochemistry analysis. We established and validated a telomere gene-related prognostic signature for pancreatic cancer and confirmed the upregulation of DSG2, LDHA, and RACGAP1 expression in clinical samples, which may provide new ideas for individualized immunotherapy.

Abstract Overlapping radio signals recognition is attracting more attention as the development and ubiquitous application of radio technologies. The traditional blind signal separation (BSS) method is mostly not effective when both radio propagation effects and low signal‐to‐noise ratio (SNR) scenarios are taken into consideration. In this letter, joint conformer and CNN model (JCCM) is proposed to separate and recognize the overlapping radio signals which are also unknown by the monitor node. JCCM utilizes the attention mechanism of conformer to encode signal spectrum into feature maps and decodes the feature maps into signal component proportions by perceiving the global and local features through convolutional neural networks (CNN). In addition, a signal preprocessing module is designed including MinPool and AvgPool layers for signal denoising. JCCM is evaluated in terms of signal separation, scaling preservation and principal signal classification experiments. The results show that JCCM has better performance especially in low SNR conditions.

The repeated fast radio bursts FRB 121102A and FRB 190520B have been reported, along with a spatially coincident, compact, persistent radio emission. In this paper, we present a parameterized one-zone model, with the basic scenario that a relativistic magnetized wind from the pulsar sweeps up the surroundings, e.g., freely expanding supernova ejecta, giving rise to a power-law distribution of electrons between the forward shock and the termination shock. We show that via appropriate adjustment of the model parameters, we can obtain synchrotron radio emission properties from the one-zone model bright enough to account for the observation, simply and analytically fitting the observed spectra well. Through dynamical evolution of the model, we can also obtain time-varying relevant properties. This parameterized model does not depend on concrete physical models such as a central engine; instead, we can constraint the physical model via comparison between parameters and observations, indicating the information about the central engine and surroundings. We also discuss the synchrotron self-Compton emission in our scenario in the end but find no clue about the counterparts at other wave bands.

We report detection results of nine millisecond pulsars (MSPs) at 8600 MHz using simultaneous 2250 and 8600 MHz observations conducted with the Shanghai Tian Ma Radio Telescope. Mainly benefiting from updated ephemerids with 2250 MHz observations, integrated profiles of all nine MSPs at 8600 MHz are successfully obtained by coherently adding multi-epoch (3–83 epochs) observation data spanning from 19–1210 days, which significantly increases the number of MSPs with published profiles (from 4 to 11) above 8000 MHz, as seven of our target MPSs had no related results previously. Combining our new flux density and pulse width measurements with previous low-frequency results, we study their integrated profile evolution and spectral behaviors in a wider frequency range. We find their component separations and pulse widths remain almost constant, which is consistent with previous findings. While dramatic evolution of integrated profiles exists at low frequencies, we observe a potential end of the related evolution around 5 GHz in eight MSPs. The spectra of four MSPs are found to deviate from a single power law, and we fit them with a broken power law. The change in the profile of PSR J1713+0747, which started around MJD 59320−59321, seems to be more prominent as the observation frequency increases. Compared with the effects of the interstellar medium, we prefer to explain this event as some changes in the magnetosphere. We also find its integrated profile possibly had not recovered to the pre-event state until MJD 59842–59857.

Objective: To solve the problem of low accuracy of tobacco grading. Methods: An improved tobacco leaf grading model based on convolutional neural network was proposed. According to the VGG16 network structure, the network model was built in a custom way. The traditional convolution was replaced by the hole convolution, which increased the image receptive field while avoiding. The loss of image features was changed, and the activation function was changed to Leaky_relu. The data distribution was corrected, and the hard saturation problem of the ReLU function was solved. 41 levels of tobacco leaf pictures were used for testing. Results: The grading accuracy rate of the test algorithm was 95.89%, which was 10.46% higher than the traditional SVM algorithm, and 7.87% higher than the classic VGG16 algorithm. The loss rate finally converged to 0.13. Conclusion: Compared with the original model and traditional feature extraction methods, this algorithm has improved the accuracy of tobacco leaf classification.

Unsuspended optomechanical systems might enable unique applications for quantum sensing and transduction. Here, the authors demonstrate a two-dimensional slab-on-substrate optomechanical crystal empowered by mechanical bound states in the continuum.

This study investigates the impact of green bond issuance on corporate performance and further checks the intermediate effect of corporate innovation performance on the primary relationship. This study uses the quarterly panel data of Chinese non-financial listed companies in 11 subdivided industry categories from January 1, 2016, to September 30, 2020. Using the difference-in-difference (DID) model and the parallel trend test, it is found that companies' issuance of green bonds has a significant positive effect on improving corporate innovation performance and corporate value. Furthermore, the improvement of innovation performance assists in enhancing the promotion effect of green bond issuance on corporate value. Despite data limitations, this study's findings can be very helpful for all relevant stakeholders, especially regulators, to introduce conducive policies to support the issuance of green bonds in Chinese. Our findings can be useful for other emerging markets that are dealing with the same green bond-based growth-sustainability conundrum.

Finding similar images in real time plays a key role in information retrieval and serves as an indispensable function of the search engine. However, image retrieval involves massive distance computation. With the increase in image data volume and dimension, distance computation is suffering from huge power consumption and high computational complexity. Despite the remarkable advantages in energy efficiency shown by nonvolatile content addressable memory (nvCAM)‐based in‐memory search, achieving software‐comparable search accuracy remains a critical challenge under the impact of device variations and other nonideal factors. Here, a heterogeneous image retrieval system combining highly parallel in‐memory search with a high‐precision digital system is reported. Hamming distance (HD) can be calculated in situ with a few memory read operations on the memristor‐based CAM, and several similar images are fetched for further high‐precision rerank in the digital system. This heterogeneous computing system shows high energy efficiency (50×) compared to the CPU and higher search accuracy than the fully in‐memory computing method, thus alleviating the efficiency bottleneck of CPU‐based image retrieval.

Phenotypic plasticity is a heritable trait that provides sessile organisms a strategy to rapidly mitigate negative effects of environmental change. Yet, we have little understanding of the mode of inheritance and genetic architecture of plasticity in different focal traits relevant to agricultural applications. This study builds on our recent discovery of genes controlling temperature-mediated flower size plasticity in Arabidopsis thaliana and focuses on dissecting the mode of inheritance and combining ability of plasticity in the context of plant breeding. We created a full diallel cross using 12 A. thaliana accessions displaying different temperature-mediated flower size plasticities, scored as the fold change between two temperatures. Griffing’s analysis of variance in flower size plasticity indicated that non-additive genetic action shapes this trait and pointed at challenges and opportunities when breeding for reduced plasticity. Our findings provide an outlook of flower size plasticity that is important for developing resilient crops for future climates.

Background: Growing evidence suggests that infiltrating neutrophils are key players in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tumor progression. However, a comprehensive analysis of the biological roles of neutrophil infiltration and related genes in clinical outcomes and immunotherapy is lacking.Methods: HCC samples were obtained from the TCGA and GEO databases. The CIBERSORT algorithm was used to reveal the TIME landscape. Gene modules significantly associated with neutrophils were found using weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA), a “dynamic tree-cut” algorithm, and Pearson correlation analysis. Genes were screened using Cox regression analysis and LASSO and prognostic value validation was performed using Kaplan-Meier curves and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. Risk scores (RS) were calculated and nomograms were constructed incorporating clinical variables. Gene set variation analysis (GSVA) was used to calculate signaling pathway activity. Immunophenoscore (IPS) was used to analyze differences in immunotherapy among samples with different risk scores. Finally, the relationship between RS and drug sensitivity was explored using the pRRophetic algorithm.Results: 10530 genes in 424 samples (50 normal samples, 374 tumor samples) were obtained from the TCGA database. Using WGCNA, the “MEbrown” gene module was most associated with neutrophils. Nine genes with prognostic value in HCC (PDLIM3, KLF2, ROR2, PGF, EFNB1, PDZD4, PLN, PCDH17, DOK5) were finally screened. Prognostic nomograms based on RS, gender, tumor grade, clinical stage, T, N, and M stages were constructed. The nomogram performed well after calibration curve validation. There is an intrinsic link between risk score and TMB and TIME. Samples with different risk scores differed in different signaling pathway activity, immunopharmaceutical treatment and chemotherapy sensitivity.Conclusion: In conclusion, a comprehensive analysis of neutrophil-related prognostic features will help in prognostic prediction and advance individualized treatment.

BackgroundWith advances in early diagnosis and treatment, the number of cancer survivors continues to grow, and more and more cancer survivors face the threat of second primary cancer (SPM). Second primary pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (spPDAC) is an important subclass of SPM, but its prognostic characteristics are poorly understood.MethodsA total of 5,439 spPDAC samples and 67,262 primary pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (pPDAC) samples were extracted from the SEER database for this study. Survival differences between spPDAC and pPDAC samples were compared using Kaplan–Meier curves and log-rank tests. The Fine and Gray proportional subdistributed hazard method was used to analyze potential associations between clinical variables and pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma-specific death (PDACSD) and death from other causes. After that, the clinical variables significantly related to PDACSD were screened out to construct a competing risk nomogram, which was used to evaluate the probability of the occurrence of PDACSD. The C-index was used to evaluate the discriminative ability of the model. The area under the curve (AUC) was used to verify the discrimination of the model. The calibration curve was used to verify the calibration of the model. Decision curve analysis (DCA) was used to validate the clinical utility of the model.ResultsCompared with patients with spPDAC, the pPDAC sample had a better prognosis (p = 0.0017). Across all spPDAC samples, the three most common sites of first-present cancer were the prostate, breast, and digestive system. Age (p

Antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), as a new type of environmental pollutant that threaten human health, have been detected in the effluent of sewage treatment systems. In this study, the removal from water of ARGs, 16S rRNA, class 1 integron (intI1), and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) were investigated using processes combining nano-iron (nFe), ultrasound (US), activated persulfate (PS) and ultrafiltration (UF). The oxidation mechanism was also studied. The results showed that both nFe and US activation could improve the oxidative effect of PS, and the effect of nFe was better than that of US. Compared with PS-UF, nFe/PS-UF and US/PS-UF significantly enhanced the removal of various ARGs and DOC. nFe/PS-UF was the most effective treatment, reducing cell-associated and cell-free ARGs by 1.74–3.14-log and 1.00–2.61-log, respectively, while removing 30% of DOC. Pre-oxidation methods using PS, nFe/PS, and US/PS significantly enhanced the efficacy of UF for removing DOC with molecular weights above 50 kDa and below 10 kDa, but the removal of DOC between 10 and 50 kDa decreased. The free radicals SO4·− and ·OH were shown to participate in the process of ARGs oxidation. HIGHLIGHTS Persulfate oxidation pretreatment significantly improved the removal effect of ultrafiltration on ARGs due to release of SO4·−.; Nano-iron forms a loose and porous oxide shell on the surface of the particles, which can adsorb ARGs.; Cavitation during ultrasound treatment can lyse the cell structure, transforming cell-associated ARGs into the free state;

Based on the Chinese General Social Survey database (2010–2015), this article explores the relationship between income inequality and residents’ subjective well-being from the perspective of inequality of opportunity and inequality of effort. We find that inequality of opportunity has a negative impact on subjective well-being in China, where inequality of effort has a positive impact. Our empirical results are robust for changing the inequality indicators. In the sub-sample studies, consistent conclusions are obtained in rural areas, whereas in urban areas only inequality of effort has a significant impact. The results of mechanism study show that inequality of opportunity decreases residents’ sense of fairness, and inequality of effort increases residents’ sense of fairness, thus affecting their subjective well-being. The results of this study provide a good response to the inconclusive research findings on the impact of income inequality on subjective well-being.

We did 194 epochs of simultaneous 2.25/8.60 GHz observations of XTE J1810−197 in 926 days shortly following its reactivation in 2018 with Shanghai Tian Ma Radio Telescope (TMRT). Although its integrated profiles changed with both time and frequency during this period, they could be classified into 12 types according to phase areas of active radiation components. After MJD 59015, XTE J1810−197 turned from the normal emission state into the spiky emission state that was manifesting as a series of bright narrow sub-pulse bursts at both 2.25 and 8.60 GHz. Due to its variable integrated profiles and unsteady rotations, we got the spin frequency ν and spin-frequency derivatives $\dot{\nu }$ with the piecewise fitting method. In addition, its long-term declining trend of ν was also obtained as $\dot{\nu }=-3.2(1)\times {10}^{-13}$ s ^−2 with the linear fitting method based on our observations spanning a comparatively longer period. We found its flux densities went through three stages: sharp decrease, stabilization, and day-to-day fluctuations in our dual-frequency observations. Although the flux density showed different stages, XTE J1810−197 showed a relatively flat spectrum ( α > –1) in most observations. Assuming an ideal dipole magnetic field as some previous research works, we obtained the emission heights of XTE J1810−197 were about 7.5(9) × 10 ^4 km and 2.38(7) × 10 ^4 km at 2.25 and 8.60 GHz, respectively. We also found that its emission heights would decrease rapidly with the degree of magnetic field twisting.

Typically, phonon trapping is performed using mechanically suspended structures which have many limitations. Here the authors study a phononic structure that supports mechanical bound states in the continuum (BICs) at microwave frequencies with topological features.

An increase in genomic selection (GS) accuracy can accelerate genetic gain by shortening the breeding cycles. Here, the authors introduce a network-based GS method that uses metabolic models and improves the prediction accuracy of Arabidopsis growth within and across environments.

Objectives Migration of macrophages and atherosclerosis result in various diseases, including coronary heart disease. This study aimed to clarify the roles that ghrelin and Rho-associated coiled-coil-containing protein kinase 2 (ROCK2) play in migration of macrophages under chronic intermittent hypoxia (CIH). Methods A rat model of CIH was constructed and changes in ghrelin and ROCK2 protein expression were measured by western blot assay. The migratory ability of macrophages was determined by the transwell assay. Hematoxylin and eosin staining was applied to detect the changes in intima-media thickness. Results We found that CIH enhanced migration of macrophages, and this effect was attenuated by exogenous ghrelin. Additionally, the facilitative effect of CIH on migration of macrophages was strengthened or decreased by upregulation or downregulation of ROCK2, respectively. This phenomenon indicated that ROCK2 was involved in CIH-induced migration in macrophages. Furthermore, western blot and transwell assays showed that ghrelin inhibited CIH-induced migration via ROCK2 suppression in macrophages. Conclusions In summary, the present study shows that ghrelin inhibits CIH-induced migration via ROCK2 suppression in macrophages. Our research may help lead to identifying a new molecular mechanism for targeted therapy of atherosclerosis and its associated coronary artery diseases under intermittent hypoxia.

Abstract Superlattices consisting of stacked nano-sized GeTe and Sb2Te3 blocks have attracted considerable attention owing to their potential for an efficient non-melting switching mechanism, associated with complex bonding between blocks. Here, we propose possible atomic models for the superlattices, characterized by different interfacial bonding types. Based on interplanar distances extracted from ab initio calculations and electron diffraction measurements, we reveal possible intercalation of dangling bonds as the GeTe content in the superlattice increases. The dangling bonds were further confirmed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, anisotropic temperature dependent resistivity measurements down to 2 K and magnetotransport analysis. Changes of partially coherent decoupled topological surfaces states upon dangling bonds varying contributed to the switching mechanism. Furthermore, the topological surface states controlled by changing the bonding between stacking blocks may be optimized for multi-functional applications.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) influence stem cell functions, including mobilization, proliferation, and differentiation. miR-150 is abundantly expressed in monocytes. Knockdown of miR-150 promotes bone marrow stem cell migration. The role of miR-150 in adipose-derived stem cells (ADSCs) is unclear. In this study, the effects of miR-150 on adipogenic differentiation and proliferation of ADSCs were investigated. ADSCs were isolated from the inguinal adipose tissue of wild-type (WT) and miR-150 knockout (KO) mice and were induced for adipogenic differentiation. The miR-150 level was detected by real-time PCR. ADSCs were transfected by miR-150 or small-interfering RNA (siRNA) of Notch3. MTT assay and colony formation assay were performed in miR-150 knockdown and control ADSCs. Real-time PCR showed that miR-150 was expressed in ADSCs. miR-150 knockdown significantly decreased the capacity of adipogenic differentiation of ADSCs, as compared with their counterparts from WT mice. It is intriguing that the overexpression of miR-150 significantly increased C/EBPα and PPAR-γ expression and lipid formation in ADSCs with adipogenic induction. Overexpression of miR-150 significantly decreased Notch3 expression in ADSCs compared with the control groups. Furthermore, Notch3 inhibition promoted the adipogenic differentiation in ADSCs. miR-150 also suppressed proliferation potential and the expression of Nanog in ADSCs. In summary, this study demonstrates, for the first time, that miR-150 promotes adipogenic differentiation and inhibits proliferation of ADSCs. miR-150 regulates adipogenic differentiation of ADSCs, likely mediated by the downregulation of Notch3.

Crosslinking is an effective way to improve the physiochemical and biochemical properties of hydrogels. In this study, we describe an interpenetrating polymer network (IPN) of alginate/gelatin hydrogels (i.e., A-G-IPN) in which cells can be encapsulated for in vitro three-dimensional (3D) cultures and organ bioprinting. A double crosslinking model, i.e., using Ca2+ to crosslink alginate molecules and transglutaminase (TG) to crosslink gelatin molecules, is exploited to improve the physiochemical, such as water holding capacity, hardness and structural integrity, and biochemical properties, such as cytocompatibility, of the alginate/gelatin hydrogels. For the sake of convenience, the individual ionic (i.e., only treatment with Ca2+) or enzymatic (i.e., only treatment with TG) crosslinked alginate/gelatin hydrogels are referred as alginate-semi-IPN (i.e., A-semi-IPN) or gelatin-semi-IPN (i.e., G-semi-IPN), respectively. Tunable physiochemical and biochemical properties of the hydrogels have been obtained by changing the crosslinking sequences and polymer concentrations. Cytocompatibilities of the obtained hydrogels are evaluated through in vitro 3D cell cultures and bioprinting. The double crosslinked A-G-IPN hydrogel is a promising candidate for a wide range of biomedical applications, including bioartificial organ manufacturing, high-throughput drug screening, and pathological mechanism analyses.

The innovation of this research is to build connection between the traditional reciprocal structure and the contemporary architectural modeling design. The purpose of this reasearch is to explore the design method of architectural modeling based on mutual structure. Firstly, the reciprocal structure is classified according to the multi-dimensionality of the construction mode.Secondly, the relationship between the mutual structure and the architectural modeling is explained. Finally, the three factors affecting the architectural modeling on the basis of mutual structure are summarized: 1) morphology; 2) interface; 3) space, and then from these three layers to present the shaping method.

Chitosan is a unique natural resourced polysaccharide derived from chitin with special biocompatibility, biodegradability, and antimicrobial activity. During the past three decades, chitosan has gradually become an excellent candidate for various biomedical applications with prominent characteristics. Chitosan molecules can be chemically modified, adapting to all kinds of cells in the body, and endowed with specific biochemical and physiological functions. In this review, the intrinsic/extrinsic properties of chitosan molecules in skin, bone, cartilage, liver tissue repair, and organ three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting have been outlined. Several successful models for large scale-up vascularized and innervated organ 3D bioprinting have been demonstrated. Challenges and perspectives in future complex organ 3D bioprinting areas have been analyzed.

Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA), a deadly vascular disease in human, is a chronic degenerative process of the abdominal aorta. In this process, inflammatory responses and immune system work efficiently by inflammatory cell attraction, proinflammatory factor secretion and subsequently MMP upregulation. Previous studies have demonstrated various inflammatory cell types in AAA of human and animals. The majority of cells, such as macrophages, CD4+ T cells, and B cells, play an important role in the diseased aortic wall through phenotypic modulation. Furthermore, immunoglobulins also greatly affect the functions and differentiation of immune cells in AAA. Recent evidence suggests that innate immune system, especially Toll-like receptors, chemokine receptors, and complements are involved in the progression of AAAs. We discussed the innate immune system, inflammatory cells, immunoglobulins, immune-mediated mechanisms, and key cytokines in the pathogenesis of AAA and particularly emphasis on a further trend and application of these interventions. This current understanding may offer new insights into the role of inflammation and immune response in AAA.

We have coated phase change materials (PCMs) on rough and flexible substrates to achieve multicolor changeable devices. The principle of the device is based on an earlier discovery that lights have strong interference effect in PCM films, leading to various colors by reflection. In this work, paper substrates are laminated by parylene layers to protect the device from water before coated with functional PCM films. The PCM-based color printing (PCP) on paper is not affected by rough surfaces and shows a similar color appearance as that on smooth surfaces. In particular, the color-printed device can be patterned by UV lithography to display a clear and tunable optical image, and it exhibits a low sensitivity to the angle of view. Such PCP has potential applications for low-cost, disposable, and flexible displays.

Three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting, known as a promising technology for bioartificial organ manufacturing, has provided unprecedented versatility to manipulate cells and other biomaterials with precise control their locations in space. Over the last decade, a number of 3D bioprinting technologies have been explored. Natural polymers have played a central role in supporting the cellular and biomolecular activities before, during and after the 3D bioprinting processes. These polymers have been widely used as effective cell-loading hydrogels for homogeneous/heterogeneous tissue/organ formation, hierarchical vascular/neural/lymphatic network construction, as well as multiple biological/biochemial/physiological/biomedical/pathological functionality realization. This review aims to cover recent progress in natural polymers for bioartificial organ 3D bioprinting. It is structured as introducing the important properties of 3D printable natural polymers, successful models of 3D tissue/organ construction and typical technologies for bioartificial organ 3D bioprinting.

Generating reference maps of interactome networks illuminates genetic studies by providing a protein-centric approach to finding new components of existing pathways, complexes, and processes. We apply state-of-the-art methods to identify binary protein-protein interactions (PPIs) for Drosophila melanogaster. Four all-by-all yeast two-hybrid (Y2H) screens of > 10,000 Drosophila proteins result in the FlyBi dataset of 8723 PPIs among 2939 proteins. Testing subsets of data from FlyBi and previous PPI studies using an orthogonal assay allows for normalization of data quality; subsequent integration of FlyBi and previous data results in an expanded binary Drosophila reference interaction network, DroRI, comprising 17,232 interactions among 6511 proteins. We use FlyBi data to generate an autophagy network, then validate in vivo using autophagy-related assays. The deformed wings (dwg) gene encodes a protein that is both a regulator and a target of autophagy. Altogether, these resources provide a foundation for building new hypotheses regarding protein networks and function.

Chronic inflammation and degradation of elastin are the main processes in the development of abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA). Recent studies show that zinc has an anti-inflammatory effect. Based on these, zinc may render effective therapy for the treatment of the AAA. Currently, we want to investigate the effects of zinc on AAA progression and its related molecular mechanism. Rat AAA models were induced by periaortic application of CaCl2. AAA rats were treated by daily intraperitoneal injection of ZnSO4 or vehicle alone. The aorta segments were collected at 4 weeks after surgery. The primary rat aortic vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) were stimulated with TNF-α alone or with ZnSO4 for 3 weeks. The results showed that zinc supplementation significantly suppressed the CaCl2-induced expansion of the abdominal aortic diameter, as well as a preservation of medial elastin fibers in the aortas. Zinc supplementation also obviously attenuated infiltration of the macrophages and lymphocytes in the aortas. In addition, zinc reduced MMP-2 and MMP-9 production in the aortas. Most importantly, zinc treatment significantly induced A20 expression, along with inhibition of the NF-κB canonical signaling pathway in vitro in VSMCs and in vivo in rat AAA. This study demonstrated, for the first time, that zinc supplementation could prevent the development of rat experimental AAA by induction of A20-mediated inhibition of the NF-κB canonical signaling pathway.

Cellulases play key roles in the degradation of lignocellulosic materials. The function and mechanism of the catalytic domain (CD) and carbohydrate-binding module (CBM) of cellulases were earlier revealed by analysis and characterization of protein structure. However, understanding of the catalytic mechanism of the entire enzyme, and the analysis of the catalytic model, were inadequate. Therefore, the linker chain between CD and CBM has been extensively studied to bridge this gap. Cellulase AcCel12B and three mutants with different linker lengths (with no or 1–3 PT/S-box units) were successfully constructed and purified. Results showed that the activity of cellulases on Avicel and regenerated amorphous cellulose (RAC) increased with the number of PT/S-box units. Furthermore, the desorption of AcCel12B and its mutants from RAC and Avicel were significantly different. The energy of desorption of wild-type and mutant AcCel12B from cellulose decreased with the number of PT/S-box units. Thus, AcCel12B containing more PT/S-box units was more easily desorbed and had more opportunity to hydrolyze cellulose than other samples. The number of PT/S-box units in endocellulase affected the desorption of the enzyme, which is possibly responsible for the differences in the activity of wild-type and mutant AcCel12B on Avicel and RAC.