Streptomyces secretes a siderophore that sensitizes competitor bacteria to phage infection.

To overtake competitors, microbes produce and secrete secondary metabolites that kill neighbouring cells and sequester nutrients. This metabolite-mediated competition probably evolved in complex microbial communities in the presence of viral pathogens. We therefore hypothesized that microbes secrete natural products that make competitors sensitive to phage infection.

Prevalence and multiple-level determinants of smoking among women in the workforce in China.

Introduction: To describe the prevalence of smoking among Chinese women in the workforce and to investigate its potential associated factors from a multi-level perspective.

Methods: The study was based on data collected from the "Asia Best Workplace" program in 2021. We obtained a sample of 6,260 women in the workforce and collected the data using a self-administered questionnaire, including occupational characteristics, utilization of workplace health services, and mental health status.

E-cigarette use and associated factors among adults aged 18-44 years in China: Findings from an online survey.

Introduction: There needs to be more up-to-date evidence on the prevalence of e-cigarette use among Chinese adults. This study aims to investigate the prevalence and associated factors of e-cigarette use among adults aged 18-44 years in China.

Methods: Cross-sectional design and convenience sampling were used.

Dual-species proteomics and targeted intervention of animal-pathogen interactions.

Introduction: Host-microbe interactions are important to human health and ecosystems globally, so elucidating the complex host-microbe interactions and associated protein expressions drives the need to develop sensitive and accurate biochemical techniques. Current proteomics techniques reveal information from the point of view of either the host or microbe, but do not provide data on the corresponding partner. Moreover, it remains challenging to simultaneously study host-microbe proteomes that reflect the direct competition between host and microbe.

Bistable soft jumper capable of fast response and high takeoff velocity.

In contrast with jumping robots made from rigid materials, soft jumpers composed of compliant and elastically deformable materials exhibit superior impact resistance and mechanically robust functionality. However, recent efforts to create stimuli-responsive jumpers from soft materials were limited in their response speed, takeoff velocity, and travel distance. Here, we report a magnetic-driven, ultrafast bistable soft jumper that exhibits good jumping capability (jumping more than 108 body heights with a takeoff velocity of more than 2 meters per second) and fast response time (less than 15 milliseconds) compared with previous soft jumping robots.

Biomimetic Hydrodynamic Sensor with Whisker Array Architecture and Multidirectional Perception Ability.

The rapid development of ocean exploration and underwater robot technology has put forward new requirements for underwater sensing methods, which can be used for hydrodynamic characteristics perception, underwater target tracking, and even underwater cluster communication. Here, inspired by the specialized undulated surface structure of the seal whisker and its ability to suppress vortex-induced vibration, a multidirectional hydrodynamic sensor based on biomimetic whisker array structure and magnetic 3D self-decoupling theory is introduced. The magnetic-based sensing method enables wireless connectivity between the magnetic functional structures and electronics, simplifying device design and endowing complete watertightness.

Occurrence, potential sources, and ecological risk assessment of microplastics in the inland river basins in Northern China.

Microplastics (MPs) are the pollutants, found widely across various environmental media. However, studies on the MP pollution in urban rivers and the necessary risk assessments remain limited. In this study, the abundance and characteristics of microplastics in a typical urban river were examined to evaluate their distribution, sources, and ecological risks.

Leucine as a Moisture-Protective Excipient in Spray-Dried Protein/Trehalose Formulation.

The incorporation of leucine (Leu), a hydrophobic amino acid, into pharmaceutically relevant particles via spray-drying can improve the physicochemical and particulate properties, stability, and ultimately bioavailability of the final product. More specifically, Leu has been proposed to form a shell on the surface of spray-dried (SD) particles. The aim of this study was to explore the potential of Leu in the SD protein/trehalose (Tre) formulation to control the water uptake and moisture-induced recrystallization of amorphous Tre, using lysozyme (LZM) as a model protein.

Amino acids as stabilizers for lysozyme during the spray-drying process and storage.

Amino acids (AAs) have been used as excipients in protein formulations both in solid and liquid state products due to their stabilizing effect. However, the mechanisms by which they can stabilize a protein have not been fully elucidated yet. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of AAs with distinct physicochemical properties on the stability of a model protein (lysozyme, LZM) during the spray-drying process and subsequent storage.

Development and psychometric assessment of Health Action Process Approach (HAPA) in terms of smoking cessation among Chinese smokers.

The Health Action Process Approach (HAPA) is a two-stage (pre-intentional and post-intentional) behavioral change model that distinguishes between motivation and volition in behavior change process. This study aims to develop HAPA-based assessments for smoking cessation among current smokers. The HAPA-based measures were developed and the draft measures included nine constructs, namely, risk perception in smoking-induced cancer, risk perception in smoking-induced systemic disease, positive outcome expectancy, negative outcome expectancy, self-efficacy in quitting smoking, self-efficacy in maintaining, self-efficacy in re-initiating, quitting planning and coping planning in smoking cessation, with a total of 26 items.

Bacterium secretes chemical inhibitor that sensitizes competitor to bacteriophage infection.

To overtake competitors, microbes produce and secrete secondary metabolites that kill neighboring cells and sequester nutrients. This natural product-mediated competition likely evolved in complex microbial communities that included viral pathogens. From this ecological context, we hypothesized that microbes secrete metabolites that "weaponize" natural pathogens (i.

Long-acting inhaled medicines: Present and future.

Inhaled medicines continue to be an essential part of treatment for respiratory diseases such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and cystic fibrosis. In addition, inhalation technology, which is an active area of research and innovation to deliver medications via the lung to the bloodstream, offers potential advantages such as rapid onset of action, enhanced bioavailability, and reduced side effects for local treatments. Certain inhaled macromolecules and particles can also end up in different organs via lymphatic transport from the respiratory epithelium.

The spatial dissimilarities and connections of the microbiota in the upper and lower respiratory tract of beef cattle.

Bovine respiratory disease (BRD) causes morbidity and mortality in cattle. The critical roles of the respiratory microbiota in BRD have been widely studied. The nasopharynx was the most popular sampling niche for BRD pathogen studies.

Split-Type Magnetic Soft Tactile Sensor with 3D Force Decoupling.

Tactile sensory organs for sensing 3D force, such as human skin and fish lateral lines, are indispensable for organisms. With their sensory properties enhanced by layered structures, typical sensory organs can achieve excellent perception as well as protection under frequent mechanical contact. Here, inspired by these layered structures, a split-type magnetic soft tactile sensor with wireless 3D force sensing and a high accuracy (1.

Crystal Growth of Defect-Free Single-Crystalline Fibers in Super-High Supersaturation Solution.

By controlling the supersaturation and choosing high-quality seeds, we successfully suppress the prismatic growth of the tetragonal potassium dihydrogen phosphate (KDP) SCFs, realize the rapid growth along the [001] direction, and obtain SCFs less than 10 μm in width with lengths of centimeters. The experimental results show that there exist critical supersaturation points, 22.40% and 41.

Hybrid Multimaterial 3D Printing Using Photocuring-While-Dispensing.

Three-dimensional (3D) printing methods, such as vat photopolymerization (VPP) and direct-ink-writing (DIW) processes, are known for their high-resolution and multimaterial capabilities, respectively. Here a novel hybrid 3D printing technique that combines the strengths of VPP and DIW processes to achieve multimaterial and high-resolution printing of functional structures and devices, is presented. The method involves dispensing liquid-like materials via syringes into a photocurable matrix material and subsequently using a Galvano mirror-controlled laser beam to selectively photocure the dispensed material trace or the matrix material surrounding the trace.

Ravidomycin Analogs from sp. Exhibit Altered Antimicrobial and Cytotoxic Selectivity.

Six new ravidomycin analogs (-, , and ) were isolated from sp. Am59 using UV- and LCMS-guided separation based on Global Natural Products Social (GNPS) molecular networking analysis. Furthermore, we isolated fucomycin V (), which possesses the same chromophore as ravidomycin but features a d-fucopyranose instead of d-ravidosamine.

Study of Preparation and Properties of Stereoregular Poly(cyclohexenylene carbonate).

Fixing carbon dioxide as a polymer material is an effective and environmentally beneficial approach for reducing the harm of CO greenhouse gas. In this paper, carbon dioxide and cyclohexene oxide were used as co-monomers, and a chiral binuclear cobalt complex with a biphenyl linker was employed as the catalyst to successfully prepare a poly(cyclohexenylene carbonate) with high stereoregularity. The influence of catalyst structure, CO pressure, and operating temperature on the copolymerization rate and polymer structure were systematically investigated.

Data-driven prediction of complex crystal structures of dense lithium.

Lithium (Li) is a prototypical simple metal at ambient conditions, but exhibits remarkable changes in structural and electronic properties under compression. There has been intense debate about the structure of dense Li, and recent experiments offered fresh evidence for yet undetermined crystalline phases near the enigmatic melting minimum region in the pressure-temperature phase diagram of Li. Here, we report on an extensive exploration of the energy landscape of Li using an advanced crystal structure search method combined with a machine-learning approach, which greatly expands the scale of structure search, leading to the prediction of four complex Li crystal structures containing up to 192 atoms in the unit cell that are energetically competitive with known Li structures.

A Personalized Mobile Cessation Intervention to Promote Smokers From the Preparation Stage to the Action Stage: Double-blind Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background: Most mobile cessation studies have found that such interventions have a higher quitting rate than interventions providing minimal smoking cessation support. However, why such interventions are effective has been almost unstudied by researchers.

Objective: This paper describes the principles of the personalized mobile cessation intervention-based WeChat app and used generalized estimated equations to assess why a personalized mobile cessation intervention was more likely to promote smokers from the preparation stage to the action stage than a nonpersonalized intervention.

Room Temperature Construction of Vicinal Amino Alcohols via Electroreductive Cross-Coupling of -Heteroarenes and Carbonyls.

Despite the widespread applications of α-hydroxyalkyl cyclic amines, direct and diverse access to such a class of unique vicinal amino alcohols still remains, to date, a challenge. Here, through a strategy of electroreductive α-hydroxyalkylation of inactive -heteroarenes with ketones or electron-rich arylaldehydes, we describe a room temperature approach for the direct construction of α-hydroxyalkyl cyclic amines, which features a broad substrate scope, operational simplicity, high chemoselectivity, and no need for pressurized H gas and transition metal catalysts. The zinc ion generated from anode oxidation plays a crucial role in the activation of both reactants by decreasing their reduction potentials.

[Microplastic Pollution Status and Ecological Risk Evaluation in Weihe River].

This study aimed to explore the occurrence state, morphological characteristics, polymer types, as well as potential ecology of microplastics in the Weihe River in Northwest China. Thus, we identified the abundance distribution, shape, particle size, color, and polymer type of microplastics in the surface water of the Weihe River by conducting field sampling, microscope observation, Fourier infrared spectroscopy, Micro-Raman spectroscopy, etc., during the normal water period (May) of 2021.

Wireless Flexible Magnetic Tactile Sensor with Super-Resolution in Large-Areas.

Tactile recognition is among the basic survival skills of human beings, and advances in tactile sensor technology have been adopted in various fields, bringing benefits such as outstanding performance in manipulating objects and general human-robot interactions. However, promoting enhanced perception of the existing tactile sensors is limited by their sensor array arrangement and wire-connected design. Here we present a wireless flexible magnetic tactile sensor (FMTS) consisting of a multidirection magnetized flexible film (perception module) and a contactless Hall sensor (signal receiving module).