Exploring the mechanism of exopolysaccharides in mitigating cadmium toxicity in rice through analyzing the changes of antioxidant system

Recently, exopolysaccharides (EPS) were found to alleviate cadmium (Cd) toxicity to crops by regulating the antioxidant system, but the mechanism remains unclear. Herein, by quantitative and transcriptomic approaches, a systematical map of the changes in the antioxidant system was drawn to dissected the underlying mechanism. The results demonstrated that the ascorbate-glutathione cycle (ASA-GSH cycle) is a major contributor. Specifically, compared to the control, the rice exposed to Cd exhibited a significant increase in the GSH pool (about 9-fold at 7 d), but a continuous decrease in the ASA pool (only 15.42% remained at 15 d) and an excessive accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Interestingly, with the addition of EPS, the increase of the GSH pool significantly slowed down (decreased by 180.18% at 7 d, compared to the Cd-stressed treatment), and the ASA pool remained high (consistently above 70.00% of the control group). ROS also maintained at a good level. Moreover, the activities of enzymatic antioxidants showed the similar trend. By RNA-Seq analysis, multiple genes enriched in ASA-GSH related pathway were screened (such as OsRBOHB, OsGST, OsPOD) for further study. This study provides a foundation for EPS application in agriculture, which also establishes a better way for analyzing antioxidant system.

Plastid genome and its phylogenetic implications of Asiatic Spiraea (Rosaceae)

BACKGROUND

Spiraea L. is a genus comprising approximately 90 species that are distributed throughout the northern temperate regions. China is recognized as the center of species diversity for this genus, hosting more than 70 species, including 47 endemic species. While Spiraea is well-known for its ornamental value, its taxonomic and phylogenetic studies have been insufficient.

RESULTS

In this study, we conducted sequencing and assembly of the plastid genomes (plastomes) of 34 Asiatic Spiraea accessions (representing 27 Asiatic Spiraea species) from China and neighboring regions. The Spiraea plastid genome exhibits typical quadripartite structures and encodes 113-114 genes, including 78-79 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 30 tRNA genes, and 4 rRNA genes. Linear regression analysis revealed a significant correlation between genome size and the length of the SC region. By the sliding windows method, we identified several hypervariable hotspots within the Spiraea plastome, all of which were localized in the SC regions. Our phylogenomic analysis successfully established a robust phylogenetic framework for Spiraea, but it did not support the current defined section boundaries. Additionally, we discovered that the genus underwent diversification after the Early Oligocene (~ 30 Ma), followed by a rapid speciation process during the Pliocene and Pleistocene periods.

CONCLUSIONS

The plastomes of Spiraea provided us invaluable insights into its phylogenetic relationships and evolutionary history. In conjunction with plastome data, further investigations utilizing other genomes, such as the nuclear genome, are urgently needed to enhance our understanding of the evolutionary history of this genus.

Effect of Streptomyces JD211 application on soil physicochemical properties and N2O emission characteristics of rice rhizosphere

Biocontrol agent, as a pollution-free and sustainable plant disease control method, can inhibit the spread of soil-borne diseases and promote the growth of crops. However, there are few studies on the effect of biocontrol agent on N2O emission in rice soil. In this study, after the application of the biocontrol agent Streptomyces JD211, N2O emission from rice soil were measured, and the relationship between the agent and soil N2O emissions were studied in soil chemistry and molecular biology. The results showed that the application of Streptomyces JD211 can significantly reduce the rate of N2O emission from rice soil. The NH4+-N and NO3--N contents in rice soil decreased in a short period of time after the application of Streptomyces JD211, while the mineral N content in the soil remained stable with rice growth. 16S rRNA gene sequencing and metagenomic sequencing revealed Streptomyces JD211 application mainly increased the relative abundance of Burkholderia and Streptomyces in the soil microbial community, reduced the relative abundance of hao, norB, norC genes, and increased the relative abundance of nosZ and hcp genes. Streptomyces JD211 application promoted N2O transformation and weakened N2O production pathways, which ultimately reduced N2O emissions from rice soils. This study provided new insight of biocontrol agents to regulate soil N2O emissions, which is of great significance for the development and application of biocontrol bacteria and farmland environmental protection.

Esketamine inhibits the c-Jun N-terminal kinase pathway in the spinal dorsal horn to relieve bone cancer pain in rats

Cancer-induced bone pain (CIBP) is one of the most common and feared symptoms in patients with advanced tumors. The X-C motif chemokine ligand 12 (CXCL12) and the CXCR4 receptor have been associated with glial cell activation in bone cancer pain. Moreover, mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs), as downstream CXCL12/CXCR4 signals, and c-Jun, as activator protein AP-1 components, contribute to the development of various types of pain. However, the specific CIBP mechanisms remain unknown. Esketamine is a non-selective N-methyl-d-aspartic acid receptor (NMDA) inhibitor commonly used as an analgesic in the clinic, but its analgesic mechanism in bone cancer pain remains unclear. We used a tumor cell implantation (TCI) model and explored that CXCL12/CXCR4, p-MAPKs, and p-c-Jun were stably up-regulated in the spinal cord. Immunofluorescence images showed activated microglia in the spinal cord on day 14 after TCI and co-expression of CXCL12/CXCR4, p-MAPKs (p-JNK, p-ERK, p-p38 MAPK), and p-c-Jun in microglia. Intrathecal injection of the CXCR4 inhibitor AMD3100 reduced JNK and c-Jun phosphorylations, and intrathecal injection of the JNK inhibitor SP600125 and esketamine also alleviated TCI-induced pain and reduced the expression of p-JNK and p-c-Jun in microglia. Overall, our data suggest that the CXCL12/CXCR4-JNK-c-Jun signaling pathway of microglia in the spinal cord mediates neuronal sensitization and pain hypersensitivity in cancer-induced bone pain and that esketamine exerts its analgesic effect by inhibiting the JNK-c-Jun pathway.

MALT1 Positively Relates to T Helper 1 and T Helper 17 cells, and Serves as a Potential Biomarker for Predicting 30-Day Mortality in Stanford Type A Aortic Dissection Patients

Mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue 1 (MALT1) regulates inflammation and T helper (Th) cell differentiation, which may participate in the progression of Stanford type A aortic dissection (TAAD). This study intended to assess the association of MALT1 expression with prognosis in TAAD patients. In this prospective study, MALT1 expression was measured by reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction assay from peripheral blood samples in 100 TAAD patients and 100 non-AD controls (non-AD patients with chest pain) before treatment. Besides, Th1, Th2, and Th17 cells of TAAD patients before treatment were measured by flow cytometry assay, and their 30-day mortality was recorded. MALT1 expression was ascended in TAAD patients vs. non-AD controls (P < 0.001). In TAAD patients, elevated MALT1 expression was linked with hypertension complication (P = 0.009), increased systolic blood pressure (r = 0.291, P = 0.003), C-reactive protein (CRP) (r = 0.286, P = 0.004), and D-dimer (r = 0.359, P < 0.001). Additionally, MALT1 expression was positively correlated with Th1 cells (r = 0.312, P = 0.002) and Th17 cells (r = 0.397, P < 0.001), but not linked with Th2 cells (r = -0.166, P = 0.098). Notably, the 30-day mortality of TAAD patients was 28.0%. MALT1 expression [odds ratio (OR) = 1.936, P = 0.004], CRP (OR = 1.108, P = 0.002), D-dimer (OR = 1.094, P = 0.003), and surgery timing (emergency vs. selective) (OR = 8.721, P = 0.024) independently predicted increased risk of death within 30 days in TAAD patients. Furthermore, the combination of the above-mentioned independent factors had an excellent ability in predicting 30-day mortality with the area under curve of 0.949 (95% confidence interval: 0.909-0.989). MALT1 expression relates to increased Th1 cells, Th17 cells, and 30-day mortality risk in TAAD patients.

Landscape of molecular crosstalk between SARS-CoV-2 infection and cardiovascular diseases: emphasis on mitochondrial dysfunction and immune-inflammation

BACKGROUND

SARS-CoV-2, the pathogen of COVID-19, is a worldwide threat to human health and causes a long-term burden on the cardiovascular system. Individuals with pre-existing cardiovascular diseases are at higher risk for SARS-CoV-2 infection and tend to have a worse prognosis. However, the relevance and pathogenic mechanisms between COVID-19 and cardiovascular diseases are not yet completely comprehended.

METHODS

Common differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were obtained in datasets of human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CMs) infected with SARS-CoV-2 and myocardial tissues from heart failure patients. Further GO and KEGG pathway analysis, protein-protein interaction (PPI) network construction, hub genes identification, immune microenvironment analysis, and drug candidate predication were performed. Then, an isoproterenol-stimulated myocardial hypertrophy cell model and a transverse aortic constriction-induced mouse heart failure model were employed to validate the expression of hub genes.

RESULTS

A total of 315 up-regulated and 78 down-regulated common DEGs were identified. Functional enrichment analysis revealed mitochondrial metabolic disorders and extensive immune inflammation as the most prominent shared features of COVID-19 and cardiovascular diseases. Then, hub DEGs, as well as hub immune-related and mitochondria-related DEGs, were screened. Additionally, nine potential therapeutic agents for COVID-19-related cardiovascular diseases were proposed. Furthermore, the expression patterns of most of the hub genes related to cardiovascular diseases in the validation dataset along with cellular and mouse myocardial damage models, were consistent with the findings of bioinformatics analysis.

CONCLUSIONS

The study unveiled the molecular networks and signaling pathways connecting COVID-19 and cardiovascular diseases, which may provide novel targets for intervention of COVID-19-related cardiovascular diseases.

Association of ESR1 germline variants with TP53 somatic variants in breast tumors in a genome-wide study

Background

In breast tumors, somatic mutation frequencies in TP53 and PIK3CA vary by tumor subtype and ancestry. HER2 positive and triple negative breast cancers (TNBC) have a higher frequency of TP53 somatic mutations than other subtypes. PIK3CA mutations are more frequently observed in hormone receptor positive tumors. Emerging data suggest tumor mutation status is associated with germline variants and genetic ancestry. We aimed to identify germline variants that are associated with somatic TP53 or PIK3CA mutation status in breast tumors.

Methods

A genome-wide association study was conducted using breast cancer mutation status of TP53 and PIK3CA and functional mutation categories including TP53 gain of function (GOF) and loss of function mutations and PIK3CA activating/hotspot mutations. The discovery analysis consisted of 2850 European ancestry women from three datasets. Germline variants showing evidence of association with somatic mutations were selected for validation analyses based on predicted function, allele frequency, and proximity to known cancer genes or risk loci. Candidate variants were assessed for association with mutation status in a multi-ancestry validation study, a Malaysian study, and a study of African American/Black women with TNBC.

Results

The discovery Germline x Mutation (GxM) association study found five variants associated with one or more TP53 phenotypes with P values <1×10-6, 33 variants associated with one or more TP53 phenotypes with P values <1×10-5, and 44 variants associated with one or more PIK3CA phenotypes with P values <1×10-5. In the multi-ancestry and Malaysian validation studies, germline ESR1 locus variant, rs9383938, was associated with the presence of TP53 mutations overall (P values 6.8×10-5 and 9.8×10-8, respectively) and TP53 GOF mutations (P value 8.4×10-6). Multiple variants showed suggestive evidence of association with PIK3CA mutation status in the validation studies, but none were significant after correction for multiple comparisons.

Conclusions

We found evidence that germline variants were associated with TP53 and PIK3CA mutation status in breast cancers. Variants near the estrogen receptor alpha gene, ESR1, were significantly associated with overall TP53 mutations and GOF mutations. Larger multi-ancestry studies are needed to confirm these findings and determine if these variants contribute to ancestry-specific differences in mutation frequency.

Colonic L-cell impairment in aged subjects with type 2 diabetes leads to diminished GLP-1 production

AIMS

Glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) is produced by the L subtype of enteroendocrine cells (EECs). Patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) exhibit reduced incretin effect, but the pathophysiology and functional change of the L-cells remain unclear. Deciphering the mechanisms of the biological changes in L-cells under T2D conditions may assist in the research of gut-based strategies for T2D therapy.

METHODS

We investigated the fasting serum GLP-1 levels and the distribution of colonic L-cells in young and aged participants with and without T2D. Additionally, we established an aged male T2D Wistar rat model subjected to a long-term high-fat and high-fructose (HFHF) diet. Histological investigations and single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) analyses were performed to explore the mechanisms underlying functional changes in the colonic EECs.

RESULTS

We observed a decline in circulating GLP-1 levels and a reduced number of colonic L-cells in elderly patients with T2D. The mechanisms underlying impaired L-cell formation and disturbed GLP-1 production were revealed using aged T2D rats induced by a long-term HFHF diet. The scRNA-seq results showed that the transcription factors that regulate L-cell commitment, such as Foxa1, were downregulated, and the expression of genes that participate in encoding GLP-1, GLP-1 posttranslational processing, hormone secretion, and nutrient sensing was disturbed.

CONCLUSIONS

Taken together, the reduced L-cell lineage commitment and disturbed L-cell functions might be the major cause of the reduced GLP-1 production in aged populations with T2D. Our study provides new insights for identifying novel targets in colonic L-cells for improving endogenous GLP-1 production.

Interlocking-Governed Ultra-Strong and Highly Conductive MXene Fibers Through Fluidics-Assisted Thermal Drawing

High-performance MXene fibers are always of significant interest for flexible textile-based devices. However, achieving high mechanical property and electrical conductivity remains challenging due to the uncontrolled loose microstructures of MXene (Ti3 C2 Tx and Ti3 CNTx ) nanosheets. Herein, high-performance MXene fibers directly obtained through fluidics-assisted thermal drawing are demonstrated. Tablet interlocks are formed at the interface layer between the outer cyclic olefin copolymer and inner MXene nanosheets due to the thermal drawing induced stresses, resulting in thousands of meters long macroscopic compact MXene fibers with ultra-high tensile strength, toughness, and outstanding electrical conductivity. Further, large-scale woven textiles constructed by these fibers offer exceptional electromagnetic interference shielding performance with excellent durability and stability. Such an effective and sustainable approach can be applied to produce functional fibers for applications in both daily life and aerospace.

Life quality among psoriasis patients based on Dermatology Life Quality Index evaluation and its association with psoriasis severity in China: a cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND

Psoriasis critically influences the psychosocial well-being of patients and reduces their quality of life and work efficiency beyond skin symptoms. However, evidence on the association between life quality based on the Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI) and psoriasis severity is limited, particularly in China. This study aimed to explore the association between life quality based on the DLQI evaluation and disease severity among psoriasis patients in China.

METHODS

Four thousand two hundred and thirty psoriasis patients were recruited from the Chinese National Clinical Research Center for Skin and Immune Diseases from 2020 to 2021. Information was collected by applying a structured questionnaire and onsite physical examination. Data analysis was performed by using SAS software (version 9.4; SAS Inc., Cary, NC), and statistical significance was set at p < .05.

RESULTS

Four thousand two hundred and thirty psoriasis patients were predominantly male (64.6%), with a median age of 38.6 years (interquartile range (IQR): 30.0-50.9). The Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI) score for patients with psoriasis was 7.2 (IQR: 3.0-13.5), and 50% of patients with PASI scored over 7. A total of 84.1% of psoriasis patients reported that psoriasis affected their quality of life from mild to severe. The DLQI scores among psoriasis patients were positively correlated with PASI scores (r = 0.43, p < .01), both in patients of different sex and different age. Logistic regression analysis with the adjustment of potential confounders indicated that patients with higher PASI score also had higher DLQI score, the odds ratio (OR) were 1.69 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.38-2.08) for patients with PASI score 3-7, 2.61 (95% CI: 2.10-3.25) for patients with PASI score 8-11 and 3.36 (95% CI: 2.78-4.07) for patients with PASI score ≥12, compared with patients with PASI score <3, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

Life quality based on DLQI evaluation positively correlated with disease severity among patients with psoriasis, especially among male patients and those with higher body mass index. Therefore, we recommend that clinicians treat the DLQI as an important indicator during patient treatment.

Mucosal-associated invariant T cells display both pathogenic and protective roles in patients with inflammatory bowel diseases

An important subtype of the innate-like T lymphocytes is mucosal-associated invariant T (MAIT) cells expressing a semi-invariant T cell receptor α (TCR-α) chain. MAIT cells could be activated mainly by TCR engagement or cytokines. They have been found to have essential roles in various immune mediated. There have been growing preclinical and clinical findings that show an association between MAIT cells and the physiopathology of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). Of note, published reports demonstrate contradictory findings regarding the role of MAIT cells in IBD patients. A number of reports suggests a protective effect, whereas others show a pathogenic impact. The present review article aimed to explore and discuss the findings of experimental and clinical investigations evaluating the effects of MAIT cells in IBD subjects and animal models. Findings indicate that MAIT cells could exert opposite effects in the course of IBD, including an anti-inflammatory protective effect of blood circulating MAIT cells and an effector pathogenic effect of colonic MAIT cells. Another important finding is that blood levels of MAIT cells can be considered as a potential biomarker in IBD patients.

Fiber Crossbars: An Emerging Architecture of Smart Electronic Textiles

Smart wearables have a significant impact on people's daily lives, enabling personalized motion monitoring, realizing the Internet of Things, and even reshaping the next generation of telemedicine systems. Fiber crossbars (FCs), constructed by crossing two fibers, have become an emerging architecture among the accessible structures of state-of-the-art smart electronic textiles. The mechanical, chemical, and electrical interactions between crossing fibers result in extensive functionalities, leading to the significant development of innovative electronic textiles employing FCs as their basic units. This review provides a timely and comprehensive overview of the structure designs, material selections, and assembly techniques of FC-based devices. The recent advances in FC-based devices are summarized, including multipurpose sensing, multiple-mode computing, high-resolution display, high-efficient power supply, and large-scale textile systems. Finally, current challenges, potential solutions, and future perspectives for FC-based systems are discussed for their further development in scale-up production and commercial applications.

LncRNA MIR17HG Suppresses Breast Cancer Proliferation and Migration as ceRNA to Target FAM135A by Sponging miR-454-3p

Breast cancer is one of the most common malignant tumors in women, and causes a large number of cancer-related deaths. The main cause of death of breast cancer patients is tumor recurrence and metastasis. Recent studies show that lncRNA (Long non-coding RNA) plays an important role in breast cancer. However, the overall biological activity and clinical consequences of the lncRNA MIR17HG in breast cancer remain unclear. Thus, we investigate how the MIR17HG/miR-454-3p network impacts breast cancer cell proliferation and migration. Given the TCGA and Oncomine databases, the researchers evaluated variations in MIR17HG expression for the survival rates of breast cancer patients. The influence of MIR17HG on cell proliferation, migration, cell cycle, and the mRNA expression level of miR-454-3p and FAM135A (family with sequence similarity 135 member A) is identified. Luciferase assay was used to detect the regulatory effect of miR-454-3p on the 3'UTR region of FAM135A, and rescue experiments demonstrated that MIR17HG can up-regulate FAM135A expression by competitively binding miR-454-3p. The effect of FAM135A on the cloning and invasion of MCF-7 cells was detected. MIR17HG expression is reduced in breast cancer tissues, and patients with greater levels of MIR17HG expression have a better prognosis. MIR17HG overexpression caused G2/M arrest in breast cancer cells according to a flow cytometry assay. FAM135A knockdown enhances breast cancer cell proliferation and clone creation, as well as two-dimensional and three-dimensional migratory capacities. Patients with high FAM135A expression in their breast cancer had a better prognosis. These novel findings indicate that MIR17HG may be a potential target for breast cancer. Our findings demonstrated that MIR17HG might suppress breast cancer cell proliferation and migration by sponge miR-454-3p through ceRNA(competing endogenous RNAs) mechanism, indicating that targeting MIR17HG may be a feasible therapeutic candidate for breast cancer.

Astragaloside IV restores Th17/Treg balance via inhibiting CXCR4 to improve chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

BACKGROUND

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) has a high fatality rate and poses a great threat to human health. Astragaloside IV (AS-IV) is proven to attenuate cigarette smoke (CS)-induced pulmonary inflammation, based on which this research focuses on the mechanism of AS-IV in COPD.

METHODS

To evaluate the effects of AS-IV, CD4+ T cells received different concentrations of AS-IV. CD4+ T cell viability, T helper 17 (Th17)/regulatory T (Treg) markers and CXCR4 expressions in CD4+ T cells or spleen/lung tissues were detected by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl-2H-tetrazolium bromide assay, quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction and Western blot. The proportions of Treg and Th17 cells were assessed by flow cytometry. Enzyme-linked immune sorbent assay was employed to determine cytokine contents in serum and lung tissues.

RESULTS

AS-IV with concentration exceeding 40 µM inhibited CD4+ T cell viability. In vitro, AS-IV suppressed the expressions of CXCR4, retinoid-related orphan receptor γt (RORγt), and interleukin (IL)-17A as well as Th17 cells but promoted the expressions of forkhead box p3 (Foxp3) and IL-10 as well as Treg cells, while CXCR4 overexpression reversed the effects of AS-IV. In vivo, AS-IV alleviated COPD, and CS-induced Th17/Treg imbalance in mice and reduced CS-induced down-regulation of IL-10 in serum and lung tissues and Foxp3 and up-regulation of IL-1β, tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), IL-6, and IL-17A in serum and lung tissues and RORγt. AS-IV mitigated CS-induced CXCR4 up-regulation. Above effects of AS-IV on mice were offset by CXCR4 overexpression.

CONCLUSIONS

AS-IV restores Th17/Treg balance via impeding CXCR4 to ameliorate COPD.

Capping layer enabled controlled fragmentation of two-dimensional materials by cold drawing

Cold drawing, a well-established processing technique in the polymer industry, was recently revisited and discovered as an efficient material structuring method to create ordered patterns in composites consisting of both cold-drawable polymers and brittle target materials. Such a high-yield and low-cost manufacturing technique enables the large-scale fabrication of micro-ribbon structures for a wide range of functional materials, including two-dimensional (2D) layered materials. Compared to the abundant phenomenological results from experiments, however, the underlying mechanisms of this technique are not fully explored. Here, supported by experimental investigation, finite element calculations, and theoretical modeling, we systematically study the effect of a capping layer on the controlled fragmentation of 2D materials deposited on polymer substrates during the cold drawing. The capping layer is found to prevent the premature fracture of the 2D thin films during elastic deformation of the substrate, when a specific requirement proposed by the theoretical model is satisfied. Controlled fragmentation is enabled in the necking stage due to the protective effect of the capping layer, which also influences the size of the resulting fragments. Flexible and stretchable electrodes based on 2D material ribbons are fabricated to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed roadmap. This study gives an accurate understanding of interactions between 2D materials, polymer substrates, and capping layers during cold drawing, and offers guidance for potential applications such as flexible electronics.

Regional Citrate Anticoagulation versus No Anticoagulation for CKRT in Patients with Liver Failure with Increased Bleeding Risk

BACKGROUND

The opinions on the efficacy and safety of no anticoagulation versus regional citrate anticoagulation for continuous KRT (CKRT) were controversial in patients with severe liver failure with a higher bleeding risk. We performed a randomized controlled trial to assess no anticoagulation versus regional citrate anticoagulation for CKRT in these patients.

METHODS

Adult patients with liver failure with a higher bleeding risk who required CKRT were considered candidates. The included participants were randomized to receive regional citrate anticoagulation or no-anticoagulation CKRT. The primary end point was filter failure.

RESULTS

Of the included participants, 44 and 45 were randomized to receive regional citrate anticoagulation and no-anticoagulation CKRT, respectively. The no-anticoagulation group had a significantly higher filter failure rate (25 [56%] versus 12 [27%], P = 0.003), which was confirmed by cumulative incidence function analysis and sensitive analysis including only the first CKRT sessions. In the cumulative incidence function analysis, the cumulative filter failure rates at 24, 48, and 72 hours of the no-anticoagulation and regional citrate anticoagulation groups were 31%, 58%, and 76% and 11%, 23%, and 35%, respectively. Participants in the regional citrate anticoagulation group had significantly higher incidences of Ca 2+tot /Ca 2+ion >2.5 (7% versus 57%, P < 0.001), hypocalcemia (51% versus 82%, P = 0.002), and severe hypocalcemia (13% versus 77%, P < 0.001). However, most (73%) of the increased Ca 2+tot /Ca 2+ion ratios were normalized after the upregulation of the calcium substitution rate. In the regional citrate anticoagulation group, there was no significant additional increase in the systemic citrate concentration after 6 hours.

CONCLUSIONS

For patients with liver failure with a higher bleeding risk who required CKRT, regional citrate anticoagulation resulted in significantly longer filter lifespan than no anticoagulation. However, regional citrate anticoagulation in patients with liver failure was associated with a significantly higher risk of hypocalcemia, severe hypocalcemia, and Ca 2+tot /Ca 2+ion >2.5.

CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRY NAME AND REGISTRATION NUMBER

RCA for CRRT in Liver Failure and High Risk Bleeding Patients, NCT03791190 .

High-Sensitivity Self-Powered Photodetector Fibers Using Hierarchical Heterojunction Photoelectrodes Enable Wearable Amphibious Optoelectronic Textiles

Fiber-shaped photodetectors (FPDs) with multidirectional light absorption properties offer exciting opportunities for intelligent optoelectronic textiles. However, achieving FPDs capable of working in ampule environments, especially with high sensitivity, remains a fundamental challenge. Here, quasi-solid-state twisted-fiber photoelectrochemical photodetectors (FPPDs) consisting of photoanode, gel electrolyte, and counter electrode are successfully assembled. In situ decorated n-type one-dimensional (1D) TiO2 nanowire arrays with 2D Ni-Fe metal-organic framework (NiFeMOF) nanosheets serve as hierarchical heterojunction photoanodes, thereby optimizing carrier transfer dynamics at the photoanode/electrolyte interface. As expected, the resulting self-powered FPPD exhibits 88.6 mA W-1 high responsiveness and a < 30 ms fast response time. Significantly, our FPPD can operate in both terrestrial and aquatic environments thanks to its intrinsic ionic properties, making it a versatile tool for detecting ultraviolet light on land and facilitating optical communication underwater. These high-sensitivity self-powered FPPDs with hierarchical heterojunction photoelectrodes hold promise for the development of wearable amphibious optoelectronic textiles.

Noncontact Cardiac Activity Detection Based on Single-Channel ISM Band FMCW Radar

The heart is an important organ that maintains human life activities, and its movement reflects its health status. Utilizing electromagnetic waves as a sensing tool, radar sensors enable noncontact measurement of cardiac motion, offering advantages over conventional contact-based methods in terms of comfort, hygiene, and efficiency. In this study, the high-precision displacement detection algorithm of radar is applied to measure cardiac motion. Experimental is conducted using a single out-channel frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) radar operating in the ISM frequency band with a center frequency of 24 GHz and a bandwidth of 150 MHz. Since the detection signal is influenced by both respiratory and heartbeat movements, it is necessary to eliminate the respiratory signal from the measurement signal. Firstly, the harmonic composition of the respiratory signal is analyzed, and a method is proposed to calculate the parameters of the respiratory waveform by comparing the respiratory waveform coverage area with the area of the circumscribed rectangle. This allows for determining the number of respiratory harmonics, assisting in determining whether respiratory harmonics overlap with the frequency range of the heartbeat signal. Subsequently, a more accurate cardiac motion waveform is extracted. A reference basis is provided for extracting cardiac health information from radar measurement waveforms by analyzing the corresponding relationship between certain extreme points of the waveform and characteristic positions of the electrocardiogram (ECG) signal. This is achieved by eliminating the fundamental frequency component of the heartbeat waveform to emphasize other spectral components present in the heartbeat signal and comparing the heartbeat waveform, the heartbeat waveform with the fundamental frequency removed, and the heartbeat velocity waveform with synchronized ECG signals.

Improved method for modulation transfer function measurement of Bayer color cameras

Aiming at the difficulty of detecting the modulation transfer function (MTF) of Bayer color cameras during focusing, the traditional scheme is modified in this paper. First, through analysis, it is found that the MTF of the Bayer detector decreased substantially compared to the monochromatic detector, which was caused by the loss of a large amount of light from the Bayer detector. When the MTF is calculated for the color image after de-mosaicing, the degradation of image quality leads to the inability to obtain the full-frequency MTF curve. Therefore, this paper proposes a solution to detect the MTFs of the three primary colors in the Bayer image individually, and then weight the MTFs of each primary color to obtain the MTF of the color image based on the calibration results of the light source. Then, considering the steps of differentiation and Fourier transform in the slanted-edge method, this paper solves the problem of non-uniform sampling of edge spread function by using the modification of the slanted-edge method with non-uniform Fourier transform. Finally, the optimal imaging position of a certain type of Bayer color camera is determined using the methods proposed in this paper. Simulation and test results verify the effectiveness and accuracy of the methods in this paper.

Detection and subtyping of hepatic echinococcosis from plain CT images with deep learning: a retrospective, multicentre study

BACKGROUND

Hepatic echinococcosis is a severe endemic disease in some underdeveloped rural areas worldwide. Qualified physicians are in short supply in such areas, resulting in low rates of accurate diagnosis of this condition. In this study, we aimed to develop and evaluate an artificial intelligence (AI) system for automated detection and subtyping of hepatic echinococcosis using plain CT images with the goal of providing interpretable assistance to radiologists and clinicians.

METHODS

We developed EDAM, an echinococcosis diagnostic AI system, to provide accurate and generalisable CT analysis for distinguishing hepatic echinococcosis from hepatic cysts and normal controls (no liver lesions), as well as subtyping hepatic echinococcosis as alveolar or cystic echinococcosis. EDAM includes a slice-level prediction model for lesion classification and segmentation and a patient-level diagnostic model for patient classification. We collected a plain CT database (n=700: 395 cystic echinococcosis, 122 alveolar echinococcosis, 130 hepatic cysts, and 53 normal controls) for developing EDAM, and two additional independent cohorts (n=156) for external validation of its performance and generalisation ability. We compared the performance of EDAM with 52 experienced radiologists in diagnosing and subtyping hepatic echinococcosis.

FINDINGS

EDAM showed reliable performance in patient-level diagnosis on both the internal testing data (overall area under the receiver operating characteristic curve [AUC]: 0·974 [95% CI 0·936-0·994]; accuracy: 0·952 [0·939-0·965] for cystic echinococcosis, 0·981 [0·973-0·989] for alveolar echinococcosis; sensitivity: 0·966 [0·951-0·979] for cystic echinococcosis, 0·944 [0·908-0·970] for alveolar echinococcosis) and the external testing set (overall AUC: 0·953 [95% CI 0·840-0·973]; accuracy: 0·929 [0·915-0·947] for cystic echinococcosis, 0·936 [0·919-0·950] for alveolar echinococcosis; sensitivity: 0·913 [0·879-0·944] for cystic echinococcosis, 0·868 [0·841-0·897] for alveolar echinococcosis). The sensitivity of EDAM was robust across images from different CT manufacturers. EDAM outperformed most of the enrolled radiologists in detecting both alveolar echinococcosis and cystic echinococcosis.

INTERPRETATION

EDAM is a clinically applicable AI system that can provide patient-level diagnoses with interpretable results. The accuracy and generalisation ability of EDAM demonstrates its potential for clinical use, especially in underdeveloped areas.

FUNDING

Project of Qinghai Provincial Department of Science and Technology of China, National Natural Science Foundation of China, and Tsinghua-Fuzhou Institute of Data Technology Project.

TRANSLATION

For the Chinese translation of the abstract see Supplementary Materials section.

Soft Hydrogen-Bonded Organic Frameworks Constructed Using a Flexible Organic Cage Hinge

Soft porous crystals combine flexibility and porosity, allowing them to respond structurally to external physical and chemical environments. However, striking the right balance between flexibility and sufficient rigidity for porosity is challenging, particularly for molecular crystals formed by using weak intermolecular interactions. Here, we report a flexible oxygen-bridged prismatic organic cage molecule, Cage-6-COOH, which has three pillars that exhibit "hinge-like" rotational motion in the solid state. Cage-6-COOH can form a range of hydrogen-bonded organic frameworks (HOFs) where the "hinge" can accommodate a remarkable 67° dihedral angle range between neighboring units. This stems both from flexibility in the noncovalent hydrogen-bonding motifs in the HOFs and the molecular flexibility in the oxygen-linked cage hinge itself. The range of structures for Cage-6-COOH includes two topologically complex interpenetrated HOFs, CageHOF-2α and CageHOF-2β. CageHOF-2α is nonporous, while CageHOF-2β has permanent porosity and a surface area of 458 m2 g-1. The flexibility of Cage-6-COOH allows this molecule to rapidly transform from a low-crystallinity solid into the two crystalline interpenetrated HOFs, CageHOF-2α and CageHOF-2β, under mild conditions simply by using acetonitrile or ethanol vapor, respectively. This self-healing behavior was selective, with the CageHOF-2β structure exhibiting structural memory behavior.

Integrating High-Sensitivity Photodetector and High-Energy Aqueous Battery in All-in-One Triple-Twisted Fiber

Fiber-shaped photodetectors (FPDs) have attracted special attention to wearable health monitoring due to their 3D absorption capabilities. However, the practical application of traditional FPDs is severely limited by the irreversible degradation of performance caused by vulnerable interface compatibility on complex deformation and a single function. Here, an integrated photoelectrochemical FPD/battery device (FPDB) is designed, consisting of a common electrode, photoanode, anode, and sol-gel electrolyte as an isolation layer, which not only effectively avoids the short circuit problem of FPD but also endows high-efficiency energy storage capacity. As expected, the resulting all-in-one triple-twisted fiber-shaped FPDB simultaneously achieves high responsiveness of 151.45 mA W-1 and excellent volume capacity of 18.75 mAh cm-3. Such a stable architectural design and multifunctional integration of functional fibers accelerate the development of next-generation wearable fabrics.

Deep learning based on susceptibility-weighted MR sequence for detecting cerebral microbleeds and classifying cerebral small vessel disease

BACKGROUND

Cerebral microbleeds (CMBs) serve as neuroimaging biomarkers to assess risk of intracerebral hemorrhage and diagnose cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD). Therefore, detecting CMBs can evaluate the risk of intracerebral hemorrhage and use its presence to support CSVD classification, both are conducive to optimizing CSVD management. This study aimed to develop and test a deep learning (DL) model based on susceptibility-weighted MR sequence (SWS) to detect CMBs and classify CSVD to assist neurologists in optimizing CSVD management. Patients with arteriolosclerosis (aSVD), cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA), and cerebral autosomal dominant arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencephalopathy (CADASIL) treated at three centers were enrolled between January 2017 and May 2022 in this retrospective study. The SWSs of patients from two centers were used as the development set, and the SWSs of patients from the remaining center were used as the external test set. The DL model contains a Mask R-CNN for detecting CMBs and a multi-instance learning (MIL) network for classifying CSVD. The metrics for model performance included intersection over union (IoU), Dice score, recall, confusion matrices, receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) analysis, accuracy, precision, and F1-score.

RESULTS

A total of 364 SWS were recruited, including 336 in the development set and 28 in the external test set. IoU for the model was 0.523 ± 0.319, Dice score 0.627 ± 0.296, and recall 0.706 ± 0.365 for CMBs detection in the external test set. For CSVD classification, the model achieved a weighted-average AUC of 0.908 (95% CI 0.895-0.921), accuracy of 0.819 (95% CI 0.768-0.870), weighted-average precision of 0.864 (95% CI 0.831-0.897), and weighted-average F1-score of 0.829 (95% CI 0.782-0.876) in the external set, outperforming the performance of the neurologist group.

CONCLUSION

The DL model based on SWS can detect CMBs and classify CSVD, thereby assisting neurologists in optimizing CSVD management.

Deep flanking sequence engineering for efficient promoter design using DeepSEED

Designing promoters with desirable properties is essential in synthetic biology. Human experts are skilled at identifying strong explicit patterns in small samples, while deep learning models excel at detecting implicit weak patterns in large datasets. Biologists have described the sequence patterns of promoters via transcription factor binding sites (TFBSs). However, the flanking sequences of cis-regulatory elements, have long been overlooked and often arbitrarily decided in promoter design. To address this limitation, we introduce DeepSEED, an AI-aided framework that efficiently designs synthetic promoters by combining expert knowledge with deep learning techniques. DeepSEED has demonstrated success in improving the properties of Escherichia coli constitutive, IPTG-inducible, and mammalian cell doxycycline (Dox)-inducible promoters. Furthermore, our results show that DeepSEED captures the implicit features in flanking sequences, such as k-mer frequencies and DNA shape features, which are crucial for determining promoter properties.

A pixelated liquid perovskite array for high-sensitivity and high-resolution X-ray imaging scintillation screens

Scintillators with high spatial resolution at a low radiation dose rate are desirable for X-ray medical imaging. A low radiation dose rate can be achieved using a sufficiently thick scintillator layer to absorb the incident X-ray energy completely, however, often at the expense of low spatial resolution due to the issue of optical crosstalk of scintillation light. Therefore, to achieve high sensitivity combined with high-resolution imaging, a thick scintillator with perfect light guiding properties is in high demand. Herein, a new strategy is developed to address this issue by embedding liquid scintillators into lead-containing fiber-optical plates (FOPs, n = 1.5) via the siphon effect. The liquid scintillator is composed of perovskite quantum dots (QDs)/2,5-diphenyloxazole (PPO) and the non-polar high-refractive index (n = 1.66) solvent α-bremnaphthalene. Benefiting from the pixelated and thickness-adjustable scintillators, the proposed CsPbBr3 QDs/PPO liquid scintillator-based X-ray detector achieves a detection limit of 79.1 μGy s-1 and a spatial resolution of 4.6 lp mm-1. In addition, it displays excellent tolerance against radiation (>34 h) and shows outstanding stability under ambient conditions (>160 h). This strategy could also be applied to other liquid scintillators (such as CsPbCl3 QDs and Mn:CsPbCl3 QDs). The combination of high sensitivity, high spatial resolution and stability, easy fabrication and maintenance, and a reusable substrate matrix makes these liquid scintillators a promising candidate for practical X-ray medical imaging applications.