Terahertz Saturable Absorption across Charge Separation in Photoexcited Monolayer Graphene/MoS Heterostructure.

Unveiling the nonlinear interactions between terahertz (THz) electromagnetic waves and free carriers in two-dimensional materials is crucial for the development of high-field and high-frequency electronic devices. Herein, we investigate THz nonlinear transport dynamics in a monolayer graphene/MoS heterostructure using time-resolved THz spectroscopy with intense THz pulses as the probe. Following ultrafast photoexcitation, the interfacial charge transfer establishes a nonequilibrium carrier redistribution, leaving free holes in the graphene and trapping electrons in the MoS.

Robust extraction of pneumonia-associated clinical states from electronic health records.

Mining of electronic health records (EHR) promises to automate the identification of comprehensive disease phenotypes. However, the realization of this promise is hindered by the unavailability of generalizable ground-truth information, data incompleteness and heterogeneity, and the lack of generalization to multiple cohorts. We present here a data-driven approach to identify clinical states that we implement for 585 critical care patients with suspected pneumonia recruited by the SCRIPT study, which we compare to and integrate with 9,918 pneumonia patients from the MIMIC-IV dataset.

A Comparative Study of Retrograde Intrarenal Surgery versus Percutaneous Nephrolithotomy for the Management of Staghorn Renal Calculi.

Aim: The indications for performing retrograde intrarenal surgery (RIRS) have increased. However, no comparative studies have been conducted on the treatment of staghorn renal calculi using RIRS and percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL). We aimed to compare the effectiveness and safety of RIRS and PCNL as treatments for staghorn renal calculi.

Open-source machine learning pipeline automatically flags instances of acute respiratory distress syndrome from electronic health records.

Physicians could greatly benefit from automated diagnosis and prognosis tools to help address information overload and decision fatigue. Intensive care physicians stand to benefit greatly from such tools as they are at particularly high risk for those factors. Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) is a life-threatening condition affecting >10% of critical care patients and has a mortality rate over 40%.

Hierarchy between forelimb premotor and primary motor cortices and its manifestation in their firing patterns.

Though hierarchy is commonly invoked in descriptions of motor cortical function, its presence and manifestation in firing patterns remain poorly resolved. Here we use optogenetic inactivation to demonstrate that short-latency influence between forelimb premotor and primary motor cortices is asymmetric during reaching in mice, demonstrating a partial hierarchy between the endogenous activity in each region. Multi-region recordings revealed that some activity is captured by similar but delayed patterns where either region's activity leads, with premotor activity leading more.

Class IIa HDAC4 and HDAC7 cooperatively regulate gene transcription in Th17 cell differentiation.

Class II histone deacetylases (HDACs) are important in regulation of gene transcription during T cell development. However, our understanding of their cell-specific functions is limited. In this study, we reveal that class IIa Hdac4 and Hdac7 (Hdac4/7) are selectively induced in transcription, guiding the lineage-specific differentiation of mouse T-helper 17 (Th17) cells from naive CD4 T cells.

Long-term aspirin administration suppresses inflammation in diabetic cystopathy.

Diabetic cystopathy (DCP) is one of the most common and troublesome urologic complications of diabetes mellitus, characterized by chronic low-grade inflammatory response. However, the correlation between inflammation and disease progression remains ambiguous and effective drugs interventions remain deficient. Herein, during 12-week study, 48 male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly assigned to four groups: negative control (NC), NC treated with aspirin (NC+Aspirin), DCP, and DCP treated with aspirin (DCP+Aspirin).

Research on Safety Helmet Detection Algorithm Based on Improved YOLOv5s.

Safety helmets are essential in various indoor and outdoor workplaces, such as metallurgical high-temperature operations and high-rise building construction, to avoid injuries and ensure safety in production. However, manual supervision is costly and prone to lack of enforcement and interference from other human factors. Moreover, small target object detection frequently lacks precision.

Minimally invasive nephrolithotomy versus retrograde intrarenal surgery in surgical management of Lower calyceal stones: a systematic review with meta-analysis.

Objective: The efficacy and safety of minimally invasive nephrolithotomy (MPCNL) versus retrograde intrarenal surgery (RIRS) was assessed for lower calyceal (LC) stones.

Methods: Our team conducted a systematic literature search up to December, 2022, using PUBMED, EMBASE and the Cochrane Library. The study was registered in PROSPERO, CRD 42021247197.

Efficacy and safety of the surgical treatments for lower calyceal stones: a systematic review and network meta-analysis.

Objective: Efficacy and safety of five common surgical treatments for lower calyceal (LC) stones were assessed for LC stones 20 mm or less.

Methods: A systematic literature search was conducted up to June 2020 using PubMed, EMBASE, and Cochrane Library. The study has been registered in PROSPERO, CRD42021228404.

Performance-guaranteed distributed control for multiple plant protection UAVs with collision avoidance and a directed topology.

The urgent requirement for improving the efficiency of agricultural plant protection operations has spurred considerable interest in multiple plant protection UAV systems. In this study, a performance-guaranteed distributed control scheme is developed in order to address the control of multiple plant protection UAV systems with collision avoidance and a directed topology. First, a novel concept called predetermined time performance function (PTPF) is proposed, such that the tracking error can converge to an arbitrary small preassigned region in finite time.

SIRPα maintains macrophage homeostasis by interacting with PTK2B kinase in Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection and through autophagy and necroptosis.

Background: To determine whether SIRPα can be a diagnostic marker of pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) and the molecular mechanism of SIRPα regulating macrophages to kill Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB).

Methods: Meta-analysis combined with subsequent qRT-PCR, western-blotting and flow cytometry assay were used to detect SIRPα expression in PTB patients. Cell-based assays were used to explore the regulation of macrophage function by SIRPα.

Anti-inflammation properties of resveratrol in the detrusor smooth muscle of the diabetic rat.

Purpose: In this paper, we aimed to prove that resveratrol can inhibit inflammation in the detrusor smooth muscle of diabetic rats, which may provide a new direction for diabetic cystopathy (DCP) treatment.

Methods: We induced a Sprague-Dawley (SD) rat model of type 1 diabetes by intraperitoneal injections of streptozotocin (STZ). Then, we separated the SD rats into four groups: (1) an excipient-treated control group; (2) a resveratrol-treated control group; (3) an excipient-treated streptozotocin (STZ)-injected group; and (4) a resveratrol-treated STZ-injected group.

HIPK2 directs cell type-specific regulation of STAT3 transcriptional activity in Th17 cell differentiation.

SignificanceSTAT3 (signal transducer and activator of transcription 3) is a master transcription factor that organizes cellular responses to cytokines and growth factors and is implicated in inflammatory disorders. STAT3 is a well-recognized therapeutic target for human cancer and inflammatory disorders, but how its function is regulated in a cell type-specific manner has been a major outstanding question. We discovered that Stat3 imposes self-directed regulation through controlling transcription of its own regulator homeodomain-interacting protein kinase 2 () in a T helper 17 (Th17) cell-specific manner.

A novel protein biochip screening serum anti-sperm antibody expression and natural pregnancy rate in a follow-up study in Chinese infertility.

Production of anti-sperm antibody (ASA) often suffers from autoimmune reaction against sperms in human infertility. The antibodies are measured in both blood and seminal plasma of males. Here, we reported a simple protein biochip methodology that takes advantage of a functionalized self-assembled monolayer modified by N-hydroxysuccinimide (NHS) and enables identification of anti-sperm antibody in Chinese male infertility.

Flexible Insole Sensors with Stably Connected Electrodes for Gait Phase Detection.

Gait analysis is an important assessment tool for analyzing vital signals collected from individuals and for providing physical information of the human body, and it is emerging in a diverse range of application scenarios, such as disease diagnosis, fall prevention, rehabilitation, and human-robot interaction. Herein, a kind of surface processed conductive rubber was designed and investigated to develop a pressure-sensitive insole to monitor planar pressure in a real-time manner. Due to a novel surface processing method, the pressure sensor was characterized by stable contact resistance, simple manufacturing, and high mechanical durability.

Nanoassembly and Multiscale Computation of Multifunctional Optical-Magnetic Nanoprobes for Tumor-Targeted Theranostics.

Gold nanorods, mesoporous silica, gadolinia, folic acid, and polyethylene glycol (PEG) derivatives have been investigated due to their own advantages in cancer theranostics. However, it remains a great challenge to assemble these components into a stable unity with the diverse and enhanced functionality for more potential applications. Herein, as inspired by the first-principles calculation, a highly stable and safe all-in-one nanoprobe is fabricated via a novel nanoassembly strategy.

MicroRNA-448 overexpression inhibits fibroblast proliferation and collagen synthesis and promotes cell apoptosis via targeting ABCC3 through the JNK signaling pathway.

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a condition that results in the progressive deterioration of lung function with poor prognosis. The current study is aimed at exploring how microRNA-448 (miR-448) targeting ABCC3 affects fibroblast proliferation, apoptosis, and collagen synthesis of mice with IPF via the Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) signaling pathway. Bioinformatics and dual-luciferase polymerase chain reaction were used to predict the relationship of miR-448 and ABCC3.

Dysprosium-doped iron oxide nanoparticles boosting spin-spin relaxation: a computational and experimental study.

Early diagnosis of diseases by contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) using iron oxide superparamagnetic nanoparticles (IOSNPs) has been extensively investigated due to the good biocompatibility of modified IOSNPs. However, the low magnetic sensitivity of IOSNPs still inflicts a certain limitation on their further application. In this study, we employed first-principles calculations based on spin-polarized density functional theory (SDFT) to find the optimal dysprosium-doped scheme for improving the magnetic sensitivity of IOSNPs.

Interleukin-1β-induced IRAK1 ubiquitination is required for T-GM-CSF cell differentiation in T cell-mediated inflammation.

Accumulating evidence suggests granulocyte macrophage-colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) can function as an inflammatory mediator, but whether GM-CSF-producing CD4 T cells (T-GM-CSF) are a distinct T helper cell subset is lacking. Herein we demonstrate that interleukin (IL)-1β exclusively drives differentiation of naïve CD4 T cells into T-GM-CSF cells via inducing ubiquitination of IL-1 receptor-associated kinase 1 (IRAK1) and subsequent activation of the transcription factor NF-kappaB (NF-κB), independent of RAR-related orphan receptor gamma (RORγt) required for T17 differentiation. In vivo, T-GM-CSF cells are present in murine Citrobacter Rodentium infections and mediate colitis following adoptive transfer of CD4 T cells into Rag1 mice via GM-CSF-induced macrophage activation.

CD180 Ligation Inhibits TLR7- and TLR9-Mediated Activation of Macrophages and Dendritic Cells Through the Lyn-SHP-1/2 Axis in Murine Lupus.

Activation of TLR7 and TLR9 by endogenous RNA- or DNA-containing ligands, respectively, can lead to hyper-activation of immune cells, including macrophages and DCs, subsequently contributes to the pathogenesis of SLE. CD180, a TLR-like protein, is specifically involved in the development and activation of immune cells. Our previous study and others have reported that CD180-negative B cells are dramatically increased in SLE patients and responsible for the production of auto-antibodies.

T follicular helper cells restricted by IRF8 contribute to T cell-mediated inflammation.

The follicular helper T cell (T) are established regulators of germinal center (GC) B cells, whether T have pathogenic potential independent of B cells is unknown. Based on in vitro T cell differentiation, in vivo T cell transfer animal colitis model, and intestinal tissues of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients, T and its functions in colitis development were analyzed by FACS, ChIP, ChIP-sequencing, WB, ELISA and PCR. Herein we demonstrate that intestinal tissues of patients and colon tissues obtained from Rag1 recipients of naïve CD4 T cells with colitis, each over-express T-associated gene products.

Observation of corneal transplantation in peripheral corneal disease postoperatively.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the role of the limbal stem cells in corneal epithelial homeostasis in patients with peripheral corneal disease who received corneal transplantation surgery. This retrospective study enrolled 85 patients (85 eyes) with peripheral corneal lesion who underwent corneal transplantation at Department of Ophthalmology in First Hospital of Jilin University, Jilin, China. All patients during each follow-up period were examined for best corrected visual acuity, corneal reconstruction (assessed by slit-lamp biomicroscopy), anterior segment optical coherence tomography, and confocal microscopy.

Nerve Growth Factor Changes and Corneal Nerve Repair after Keratoplasty.

Significance: Measured tear concentration of nerve growth factor is correlated with postoperative corneal reinnervation among patients who undergo keratoplasty. This may be a future therapeutic target for post-keratoplasty corneal nerve regeneration.

Purpose: To determine the relationship between changes in the content of nerve growth factor (NGF) in tear fluid and corneal subepithelial nerve regeneration in patients after keratoplasty.

BET N-terminal bromodomain inhibition selectively blocks Th17 cell differentiation and ameliorates colitis in mice.

T-helper 17 (Th17) cells have important functions in adaptor immunity and have also been implicated in inflammatory disorders. The bromodomain and extraterminal domain (BET) family proteins regulate gene transcription during lineage-specific differentiation of naïve CD4 T cells to produce mature T-helper cells. Inhibition of acetyl-lysine binding of the BET proteins by pan-BET bromodomain (BrD) inhibitors, such as JQ1, broadly affects differentiation of Th17, Th1, and Th2 cells that have distinct immune functions, thus limiting their therapeutic potential.