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Background: Immune checkpoint inhibitors unleash inhibitory signals on T cells conferred by tumors and surrounding stromal cells. Despite the clinical efficacy of checkpoint inhibitors, the lack of target expression and persistence of immunosuppressive cells limit the pervasive effectiveness of the therapy. These limitations may be overcome by alternative approaches that co-stimulate T cells and the immune microenvironment. Methods: We analyzed single-cell RNA sequencing data from multiple human cancers and a mouse tumor transplant model to discover the pleiotropic expression of the Interleukin 7 (IL-7) receptor on T cells, macrophages, and dendritic cells. Results: Our experiment on the mouse model demonstrated that recombinant IL-7 therapy induces tumor regression, expansion of effector CD8 T cells, and pro-inflammatory activation of macrophages. Moreover, spatial transcriptomic data support immunostimulatory interactions between macrophages and T cells. Conclusion: These results indicate that IL-7 therapy induces anti-tumor immunity by activating T cells and pro-inflammatory myeloid cells, which may have diverse therapeutic applicability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The characteristics of water vapor adsorption depend on the structure, porosity, and functional groups of the material. Metal–organic framework (MOF)-derived carbon (MDC) is a novel material that exhibits a high specific area and tunable pore sizes by exploiting the stable structure and porosity of pure MOF materials. Herein, two types of aluminum-based MOFs were used as precursors to synthesize hydrophobic microporous C-MDC and micro-mesoporous A-MDC via carbonization and activation depending on the type of ligands in the precursors. C-MDC and A-MDC have different pore characteristics and exhibit distinct water adsorption properties. C-MDC with hydrophobic properties and micropores exhibited negligible water adsorption (108.54 mgg−1) at relatively low pressures (P/P0~0.3) but showed a rapid increase in water adsorption ability (475.7 mgg−1) at relative pressures of about 0.6. A comparison with the isotherm model indicated that the results were consistent with the theories, which include site filling at low relative pressure and pore filling at high relative pressure. In particular, the Do–Do model specialized for type 5 showed excellent agreement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, a parametric analysis was conducted for the design of a suggested dual flapping hydrofoil turbine. A Navier–Stokes‐based computational fluid dynamics code was utilized for the analysis while varying the pitch angle, reduced frequency, separation distance, and phase difference. The smallest pitch angle of 60° and the reduced frequency of 0.1 among the given ranges of the parameters were fixed for the first parametric analysis. After an assessment, the 90° front‐lead with the longest distance of 6c and the 90° rear‐lead with the shortest distance of 2c were chosen for further parametric analysis based on a suggested performance indicator and a margin for improvement. It was derived from a subsequent parametric analysis that a 70° pitch angle, 0.12 reduced frequency, and a 4c distance for the 90° front‐lead was the final optimum with 59.48% efficiency and 55.44% fluctuation according to the performance indicator as well as the system length and power balance of dual hydrofoils. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) enables the systemic assessment of intratumoral heterogeneity within tumor cell populations and in diverse stromal cells of the tumor microenvironment. Gain of treatment resistance during tumor progression or drug treatment are important subjects of tumor-centric scRNA-seq analyses, which are hampered by scarce tumor cell portions. To guarantee the inclusion of tumor cells in the data analysis, we developed a prescreening strategy for lung adenocarcinoma.Methods: We obtained candidate genes that were differentially expressed between normal and tumor cells, excluding stromal cells, from the scRNA-seq data. Tumor cell-specific expression of the candidate genes was assessed via real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) using lung cancer cell lines, normal vs. lung cancer tissues, and lymph node biopsy samples with or without metastasis.Results: We found that CEA cell adhesion molecule 5 (CEACAM5) and high mobility group box 3 (HMGB3) were reliable markers for RT-PCR-based prescreening of tumor cells in lung adenocarcinoma.Conclusions: The prescreening strategy using CEACAM5 and HMGB3 expression facilitates tumor-centric scRNA-seq analyses of lung adenocarcinoma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, power analysis of a variable-camber hydrofoil was conducted through a comparison with a rigid hydrofoil when used in a flapping hydrofoil turbine (FHT). The responses obtained by a mathematical dynamic model are inputted to calculate the available power, input power, hydrodynamic power, extracted power and system efficiency. This work considers two scenarios with identical counter-loads and with similar amplitudes of the obtained response conditions. In the former scenario, the efficiency of the variable-camber hydrofoil becomes slightly higher than that of the rigid hydrofoil. Meanwhile, in the other scenario, the efficiency of the variable-camber hydrofoil is considerably higher than that of the rigid hydrofoil. This study shows that the variable-camber hydrofoil would be a good scheme for improving the power performance of an FHT despite the slight increase in complexity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although vanadium redox flow batteries hold great promise for energy storage systems, Nafion (being a conventional membrane material) requires improvement in terms of the crossover phenomenon. Herein, a nanoporous metal–organic framework (MOF) is applied as a membrane for vanadium redox flow batteries via addition of the MOF to a Nafion solution to prepare Nafion/MOF composite membranes via casting. Composite membranes are fabricated into a Nafion matrix by introducing small amounts of CAU-10-X (X = –OH, –CH 3 , –OS1, –OS2), an Al-based MOF synthesized with ligands having hydroxyl, methyl, and a combination of hydroxyl and sulfonic acid functional groups. The membrane physicochemical properties (such as water uptake, swelling ratio, ion exchange capacity, proton conductivity, and electrochemical properties from charge–discharge experiments on a single cell) are compared and evaluated. In 100 charge–discharge cycles of the single cell at a current density of 160 mA cm−2, the composite membrane N/CAU-10-OS1 with 0.6 wt% dispersed MOF and a combination of hydroxyl and sulfonic acid functional groups exhibits capacity retention of 80.34% and energy efficiency of 77.56% at approximately 50 μm thickness. These values are better those achieved by commercial separation membrane Nafion 115 with 127 μm thickness tested under identical conditions and the proposed membrane is thus expected to be economically advantageous. [Display omitted] • Using casting, Nafion/metal organic framework (N/MOF) composite membrane prepared. • Small amount of functionalized MOF in Nafion improves membrane performance in energy efficiency and cycle retention. • N/MOF membrane has lower vanadium ion permeability and thickness than Nafion 115. • N/MOF membrane shows high capacity retention (80.34%) at 100 cycles and 160 mA cm−2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]