Morphology-Tailored Dynamic State Transition in Active-Passive Colloidal Assemblies

Mixtures of active self-propelled and passive colloidal particles promise rich assembly and dynamic states that are beyond reach via equilibrium routes. Yet, controllable transition between different dynamic states remains rare. Here, we reveal a plethora of dynamic behaviors emerging in assemblies of chemically propelled snowman-like active colloids and passive spherical particles as the particle shape, size, and composition are tuned. For example, assembles of one or more active colloids with one passive particle exhibit distinct translating or orbiting states while those composed of one active colloid with 2 passive particles display persistent "8"-like cyclic motion or hopping between circling states around one passive particle in the plane and around the waist of 2 passive ones out of the plane, controlled by the shape of the active colloid and the size of the passive particles, respectively. These morphology-tailored dynamic transitions are in excellent agreement with state diagrams predicted by mesoscale dynamics simulations. Our work discloses new dynamic states and corresponding transition strategies, which promise new applications of active systems such as micromachines with functions that are otherwise impossible.

Degradation of the Three-Phase Boundary Zone of Carbon Fiber Anodes in an Electrochemical System

The electrochemical recycling nanoarchitectonics of graphene oxide from carbon fiber reinforced polymers (CFRPs) is a promising approach due to its economic and environmental benefits. However, the rapid degradation of the CFRP anode during the recycling process reduces its overall efficiency. Although previous studies have investigated the electrochemical oxidation of carbon fibers (CFs) and bonding of CFs to the matrix, few researchers have explicitly studied the electrochemical activity of CFs and the possible fracture caused by strong electrochemical reactions. To address this gap, this study investigates the degradation mechanism of CF anodes by analyzing changes in overall mechanical properties, hardness, elastic modulus, functional groups, and elemental composition of individual fibers. The experimental results demonstrate that the three-phase boundary region experiences the most severe degradation, primarily due to the number of oxygen-containing functional groups, which is the most important factor affecting the degree of degradation. This continuous decrease in the hardness and elastic modulus of individual fibers eventually leads to the fracture of CF anodes.

Plant-derived exosomal nanoparticles: potential therapeutic for inflammatory bowel disease

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), encompassing Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, is a chronic autoimmune disorder characterized by inflammation. However, currently available disease-modifying anti-IBD drugs exhibit limited efficacy in IBD therapy. Furthermore, existing therapeutic approaches provide only partial relief from IBD symptoms and are associated with certain side effects. In recent years, a novel category of nanoscale membrane vesicles, known as plant-derived exosome-like nanoparticles (PDENs), has been identified in edible plants. These PDENs are abundant in bioactive lipids, proteins, microRNAs, and other pharmacologically active compounds. Notably, PDENs possess immunomodulatory, antitumor, regenerative, and anti-inflammatory properties, making them particularly promising for the treatment of intestinal diseases. Moreover, PDENs can be engineered as targeted delivery systems for the efficient transport of chemical or nucleic acid drugs to the site of intestinal inflammation. In the present study, we provided an overview of PDENs, including their biogenesis, extraction, purification, and construction strategies, and elucidated their physiological functions and therapeutic effects on IBD. Additionally, we summarized the applications and potential of PDENs in IBD treatment while highlighting the future directions and challenges in the field of emerging nanotherapeutics for IBD therapy.

In vitro activities of licochalcone A against planktonic cells and biofilm of Enterococcus faecalis

This study aims to evaluate the in vitro antibacterial and anti-biofilm activities of licochalcone A on Enterococcus faecalis and to investigate the possible target genes of licochalcone A in E. faecalis. This study found that licochalcone A had antibacterial activities against E. faecalis, with the MIC50 and MIC90 were 25 μM. Licochalcone A (at 4 × MIC) indicated a rapid bactericidal effect on E. faecalis planktonic cells, and killed more E. faecalis planktonic cells (at least 3-log10 cfu/ml) than vancomycin, linezolid, or ampicillin at the 2, 4, and 6 h of the time-killing test. Licochalcone A (at 10 × MIC) significantly reduced the production of E. faecalis persister cells (at least 2-log10 cfu/ml) than vancomycin, linezolid, or ampicillin at the 24, 48, 72, and 96 h of the time-killing test. Licochalcone A (at 1/4 × MIC) significantly inhibited the biofilm formation of E. faecalis. The RNA levels of biofilm formation-related genes, agg, esp, and srtA, markedly decreased when the E. faecalis isolates were treated with licochalcone A at 1/4 × MIC for 6 h. To explore the possible target genes of licochalcone A in E. faecalis, the licochalcone A non-sensitive E. faecalis clones were selected in vitro by induction of wildtype strains for about 140 days under the pressure of licochalcone A, and mutations in the possible target genes were detected by whole-genome sequencing. This study found that there were 11 nucleotide mutations leading to nonsynonymous mutations of 8 amino acids, and among these amino acid mutations, there were 3 mutations located in transcriptional regulator genes (MarR family transcriptional regulator, TetR family transcriptional regulator, and MerR family transcriptional regulator). In conclusion, this study found that licochalcone A had an antibacterial effect on E. faecalis, and significantly inhibited the biofilm formation of E. faecalis at subinhibitory concentrations.

Strengthening leaf physiological functioning and grain yield formation in heat-stressed wheat through potassium application

Wheat crops are highly sensitive to high temperatures during their reproductive and grain-filling phases. We hypothesized that potassium could increase thermotolerance in wheat during grain filling by protecting cellular organelles, particularly chlorophyll, from heat injury. Two wheat genotypes, Ujala-16 (relatively heat tolerant) and Anaj-17 (relatively susceptible) were grown in pots and were submitted to 4 and 8 days of heat stress under polythene sheets 1 week after anthesis. One day before the onset of heat stress, 2% potassium (K) as K₂SO₄ was sprayed on all the plants. Flag leaves from both genotypes were collected after 4 and 8 days of heat stress. Leaf physiology changes were measured to quantify heat damage and to understand the K-induced recovery mechanism. The crop was harvested 125 days after sowing, and grain yield data were collected. Increasing duration of heat stress significantly impaired leaf physiology and grain yield of both studied wheat genotypes. Compared with control (under optimum temperature), 4 and 8 days heat-stressed plants produced 11 and 19% lesser grain yield per spike (averaged across genotypes and in the second years of study), respectively. Likewise, 4- and 8-days heat-stressed plants had 15 and 37% (averaged across genotypes and in the second years of study) lower flag leaf photosynthesis, respectively, compared with control plants. Across the genotypes, 8-days heat caused significantly more grain yield loss in Anaj-17 during the second year than in Ujala-16. Foliar K significantly restored leaf chlorophyll, Pn, Fv/Fm by reducing cellular membrane damage in the heat-stressed plants. This physiological recovery and activation of the plant defensive system by K under high-temperature stress protected the growth and grain development. For example, K_-treated plants produced 19% higher 1,000 grain weight in 8 days of heat stress (across genotypes and in the second years of study) compared with water-treated plants under the hot environment of the respective thermal regime. Our study suggests that wheat performance under terminal heat stress can be improved through the exogenous application of K.

Early COPD Risk Decision for Adults Aged From 40 to 79 Years Based on Lung Radiomics Features

Background

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a preventable lung disease, has the highest prevalence in the elderly and deserves special consideration regarding earlier warnings in this fragile population. The impact of age on COPD is well known, but the COPD risk of the aging process in the lungs remains unclear. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the COPD risk of the aging process in the lungs, providing an early COPD risk decision for adults.

Methods

COPD risk is evaluated for adults to make an early COPD risk decision from the perspective of lung radiomics features. First, the subjects are divided into four groups according to the COPD stages. Their ages are divided into eight equal age intervals in each group. Second, four survival Cox models are established based on the lung radiomics features to evaluate the risk probability from COPD stage 0 to suffering COPD and COPD stages. Finally, four risk ranks are defined by equally dividing the COPD risk probability from 0 to 1. Subsequently, the COPD risk at different stages is evaluated with varying age intervals to provide an early COPD risk decision.

Results

The evaluation metrics area under the curve (AUC)/C index of four survival Cox models are 0.87/0.94, 0.84/0.83, 0.94/0.89, and 0.97/0.86, respectively, showing the effectiveness of the models. The risk rank levels up every 5 years for the subjects who had suffered COPD after 60. For the subjects with COPD stage 0, the risk rank of suffering COPD stage I levels up every 5 years after the age of 65 years, and the risk rank of suffering COPD stages II and III & IV levels up every 5 years after the age of 70 years.

Conclusion

Once the age is above 60 years, the patients with COPD need to take action to prevent the progress and deterioration of COPD. Once the age is above 65 years, the patients with COPD stage 0 need to take precautions against COPD.

The Influence of a School Social Network Intervention on Adolescent's Health Behaviors: A Gender-Specific Agent-Based Model

Introduction

Adolescence is a crucial stage for health behavior development, which is associated with health in adulthood. School closures caused by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic have exposed adolescents to an increased risk of obesity due to a lack of physical activity. Although social network interventions provide an effective approach for promoting health-related behavior, current practices neglect gender differences in adolescent behavioral patterns and emotional preferences. The aim of this study was to examine the effectiveness of centrality-based methods integrated with of gender contexts in a social network intervention to improve adolescent's health behavior.

Methods

We developed an agent-based model (ABM) that supports the small-world characteristics of adolescent social networks. Health-related data for junior middle school students (n = 234, 48% girls) were collected in November 2018, 2019 and 2020 in Tianjin, China. We simulated multiple network-based interventions with different criteria for influential agents (i.e., betweenness centrality, closeness centrality, eigenvector centrality, and PageRank) and a random condition. The rules for generating peer influence and accelerating behavioral changes were based on the diffusion of innovations theory, with gender specifications.

Results

After the school closures, there was a significant increase in the prevalence of overweight and obesity among adolescents, with a greater increase in girls than in boys (+8.85% vs. +1.65%, p < 0.001). Simulations showed that centrality-based network interventions were more effective than the random condition (average 6.17% per tick vs. 5.22% per tick, p < 0.05), with a higher efficiency in girls than boys (average 3.68% vs. 2.99% per tick, p < 0.05). PageRank outperformed other centrality conditions at the population level (6.37% per tick, p < 0.05). In girls, betweenness centrality was the best method (3.85% per tick, p < 0.05), while in boys, PageRank still had the greatest efficiency (3.21% per tick, p < 0.05).

Conclusions

We found evidence for gender differences in the negative impact of COVID-19-related school closures and the potential for centrality-based social network interventions to affect adolescent health behavior. Therefore, we emphasize the importance of gender-specific targeting strategies to further promote health-related school programs in the post-pandemic era.

MPPTM: A Bio-Inspired Approach for Online Path Planning and High-Accuracy Tracking of UAVs

The path planning and tracking problem of the multi-robot system (MRS) has always been a research hotspot and applied in various fields. In this article, a novel multi-robot path planning and tracking model (MPPTM) is proposed, which can carry out online path planning and tracking problem for multiple mobile robots. It considers many issues during this process, such as collision avoidance, and robot failure. The proposed approach consists of three parts: a neural dynamic path planner, a hyperbolic tangent path optimizer, and an error-driven path tracker. Assisted by Ultra-wideband positioning system, the proposed MPPTM is a low-cost solution for online path planning and high-accurate tracking of MRS in practical environments. In the proposed MPPTM, the proposed path planner has good time performance, and the proposed path optimizer improves tracking accuracy. The effectiveness, feasibility, and better performance of the proposed model are demonstrated by real experiments and comparative simulations.