Validation of In-House Imaging System via Code Verification on Petunia Images Collected at Increasing Fertilizer Rates and pHs.

In a production environment, delayed stress recognition can impact yield. Imaging can rapidly and effectively quantify stress symptoms using indexes such as normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI). Commercial systems are effective but cannot be easily customized for specific applications, particularly post-processing.

Development of an Automated Low-Cost Multispectral Imaging System to Quantify Canopy Size and Pigmentation.

Canopy imaging offers a non-destructive, efficient way to objectively measure canopy size, detect stress symptoms, and assess pigment concentrations. While it is faster and easier than traditional destructive methods, manual image analysis, including segmentation and evaluation, can be time-consuming. To make imaging more widely accessible, it's essential to reduce the cost of imaging systems and automate the analysis process.

Invasive FoxM1 phosphorylated by PLK1 induces the polarization of tumor-associated macrophages to promote immune escape and metastasis, amplified by IFITM1.

Background: Understanding the mechanism behind immune cell plasticity in cancer metastasis is crucial for identifying key regulators. Previously we found that mitotic factors regulate epithelial-mesenchymal transition, but how these factors convert to metastatic players in the tumor microenvironment (TME) is not fully understood.

Methods: The clinical importance of mitotic factors was analyzed by heatmap analysis, a KM plot, and immunohistochemistry in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) patients.

Microenvironmental network of clonal CXCL13+CD4+ T cells and Tregs in pemphigus chronic blisters.

BACKGROUNDPemphigus, a rare autoimmune bullous disease mediated by antidesmoglein autoantibodies, can be controlled with systemic medication like rituximab and high-dose systemic corticosteroids combined with immunosuppressants. However, some patients continue to experience chronically recurrent blisters in a specific area and require long-term maintenance systemic therapy.METHODSSkin with chronic blisters was obtained from patients with pemphigus.

Image-based phenotyping to estimate anthocyanin concentrations in lettuce.

Anthocyanins provide blue, red, and purple color to fruits, vegetables, and flowers. Due to their benefits for human health and aesthetic appeal, anthocyanin content in crops affects consumer preference. Rapid, low-cost, and non-destructive phenotyping of anthocyanins is not well developed.

PLK1-mediated phosphorylation of β-catenin enhances its stability and transcriptional activity for extracellular matrix remodeling in metastatic NSCLC.

β-catenin is a component for cell adhesion and a transcriptional coactivator in epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). Previously we found that catalytically active PLK1 drives EMT in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), upregulating extracellular matrix factors including TSG6, laminin γ2, and CD44. To understand the underlying mechanism and clinical significance of PLK1 and β-catenin in NSCLC, their relationship and function in metastatic regulation were investigated.

Role of Substance P in Regulating Micro-Milieu of Inflammation in Alopecia Areata.

Background: Alopecia areata (AA) is an autoimmune disease characterized by chronic inflammation, the pathogenesis of which is unknown. Stress is believed to play a role; however, evidence remains insufficient. A recent study showed that substance P (SP) damaged hair follicles by causing neurogenic inflammation, activating perifollicular mast cells, and inducing keratinocyte apoptosis.

Binder-free and high-loading sulfurized polyacrylonitrile cathode for lithium/sulfur batteries.

Sulfurized polyacrylonitrile (SPAN) is a promising active material for Li/S batteries owing to its high sulfur utilization and long-term cyclability. However, because SPAN electrodes are synthesized using powder, they require large amounts of electrolyte, conducting agents, and binder, which reduces the practical energy density. Herein, to improve the practical energy density, we fabricated bulk-type SPAN disk cathodes from pressed sulfur and polyacrylonitrile powders using a simple heating process.

Mitotic protein kinase-driven crosstalk of machineries for mitosis and metastasis.

Accumulating evidence indicates that mitotic protein kinases are involved in metastatic migration as well as tumorigenesis. Protein kinases and cytoskeletal proteins play a role in the efficient release of metastatic cells from a tumor mass in the tumor microenvironment, in addition to playing roles in mitosis. Mitotic protein kinases, including Polo-like kinase 1 (PLK1) and Aurora kinases, have been shown to be involved in metastasis in addition to cell proliferation and tumorigenesis, depending on the phosphorylation status and cellular context.

Activation of NLRP3 Inflammasome by Palmitic Acid in Human Sebocytes.

Background: Sebocytes are the main cells involved in the pathogenesis of acne by producing lipids and inflammatory cytokines. Although palmitic acid (PA) has been suggested to induce an inflammatory reaction, its effect on sebocytes remains to be elucidated.

Objective: In the present study, we investigated whether PA promotes inflammasome-mediated inflammation of sebocytes both and .

Self-Assembly of Pulverized Nanoparticles: An Approach to Realize Large-Capacity, Long-Lasting, and Ultra-Fast-Chargeable Na-Ion Batteries.

The fabrication of battery anodes simultaneously exhibiting large capacity, fast charging capability, and high cyclic stability is challenging because these properties are mutually contrasting in nature. Here, we report a rational strategy to design anodes outperforming the current anodes by simultaneous provision of the above characteristics without utilizing nanomaterials and surface modifications. This is achieved by promoting spontaneous structural evolution of coarse Sn particles to 3D-networked nanostructures during battery cycling in an appropriate electrolyte.

Development and Evaluation of Sn Foil Anode for Sodium-Ion Batteries.

Metal foil electrodes are simple to prepare and have a high active material loading, making them well suited for the fabrication of inexpensive high-energy-density batteries. Herein, Sn metal foil is used as a binder- and conductive additive-free anode for sodium-ion batteries, achieving a high reversible specific capacity of 692 mAh g and coulombic efficiency of 99% after 100 cycles at a rate of 0.1 C.

Ultrahigh-rate nickel monosulfide anodes for sodium/potassium-ion storage.

Transition-metal sulfides have been extensively studied as anode materials for use in sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) and potassium-ion batteries (PIBs) due to their multi-electron reactions, high rate performance, and abundant available resources. However, the practical capacities of metal sulfides remain low due to conductivity issues, volume expansion, and the use of traditional carbonate electrolytes. To overcome these drawbacks, ether electrolytes can be combined with nanoparticle-based metal sulfide anodes.

PLK1/vimentin signaling facilitates immune escape by recruiting Smad2/3 to PD-L1 promoter in metastatic lung adenocarcinoma.

The prerequisite function of vimentin for the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is not clearly elucidated yet. Here, we show that vimentin phosphorylated by PLK1, triggers TGF-β-signaling, which consequently leads to metastasis and PD-L1 expression for immune suppression in lung adenocarcinoma. The clinical correlation between expression of both vimentin and PLK1, and overall survival rates of patients was significant in lung adenocarcinoma but not in squamous cell carcinoma.

Combination of Inhibitors of USP7 and PLK1 has a Strong Synergism against Paclitaxel Resistance.

USP7 is a promising target for the development of cancer treatments because of its high expression and the critical functions of its substrates in carcinogenesis of several different carcinomas. Here, we demonstrated the effectiveness of targeting USP7 in advanced malignant cells showing high levels of USP7, especially in taxane-resistant cancer. USP7 knockdown effectively induced cell death in several cancer cells of lung, prostate, and cervix.

High power NaV(PO) symmetric full cell for sodium-ion batteries.

Sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) are a viable substitute for lithium-ion batteries due to the low cost and wide availability of sodium. However, practical applications require the development of fast charging sodium-ion-based full-cells with high power densities. NaV(PO) (NVP) is a bipolar material with excellent characteristics as both a cathode and an anode material in SIBs.

Free-Standing NiS₂ Electrode as High-Rate Anode Material for Sodium-Ion Batteries.

Owing to the speculated price hike and scarcity of lithium resources, sodium-ion batteries are attracting significant research interest these days. However, sodium-ion battery anodes do not deliver good electrochemical performance, particularly rate performance. Herein, we report the facile electrospinning synthesis of a free-standing nickel disulfide (NiS²) embedded on carbon nanofiber.

Fabrication and Electrochemical Characterization of Sulfurized-Polyacrylonitrile Nanofiber Electrodes for Na/S Batteries Using Various Polyacrylonitrile Solutions.

A polyacrylonitrile (PAN) nanofiber web was prepared by electrospinning PAN solutions with dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) or Dimethylformamide (DMF) as solvent. The PAN web was heated with sulfur to synthesize a sulfurized polyacrylonitrile (SPAN) nanofiber web. The shape of the SPAN web was found to depend on concentration of the PAN solution and properties of the solvent.

Roles of the Phosphorylation of Transcriptional Factors in Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition.

Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is the first step in the development of the invasive and migratory properties of cancer metastasis. Since the transcriptional reprogramming of a number of genes occurs in EMT, the regulation of EMT transcription factors has been intensively investigated. EMT transcriptional factors are commonly classified by the direct or indirect repression of E-cadherin because one of hallmarks of EMT is the loss of E-cadherin.

Initial Discharge Behavior of an Ultra High Loading 3D Sulfur Cathode for a Room-Temperature Na/S Battery.

A 3D sulfur cathode for a large-scale room-temperature (RT) Na/S battery with a high sulfur loading of 14.63 mg cm-2 was fabricated. The first discharge was tested in order to understand the macroscopic changes.

A Wearable EEG-HEG-HRV Multimodal System With Simultaneous Monitoring of tES for Mental Health Management.

A multimodal mental management system in the shape of the wearable headband and earplugs is proposed to monitor electroencephalography (EEG), hemoencephalography (HEG) and heart rate variability (HRV) for accurate mental health monitoring. It enables simultaneous transcranial electrical stimulation (tES) together with real-time monitoring. The total weight of the proposed system is less than 200 g.

A multimodal stress monitoring system with canonical correlation analysis.

The multimodal stress monitoring headband is proposed for mobile stress management system. It is composed of headband and earplugs. Electroencephalography (EEG), hemoencephalography (HEG) and heart-rate variability (HRV) can be achieved simultaneously in the proposed system for user status estimation.