There remains a critical need for the precise control of CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats)-based technologies. Here, we engineer a set of inducible CRISPR-based tools controllable by focused ultrasound (FUS), which can penetrate deep and induce localized hyperthermia for transgene activation. We demonstrate the capabilities of FUS-inducible CRISPR, CRISPR activation (CRISPRa), and CRISPR epigenetic editor (CRISPRee) in modulating the genome and epigenome.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFConventional powder metallurgy techniques fail to meet the demands for ultrahigh purity tungsten (UHPW) and scalable component sizes required by the semiconductor industry. In this study, ultrahigh purity (99.999998 wt %) large-size tungsten parts, with an adjustable thickness and a diameter of 350 mm, were prepared via a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method using ultrahigh purity (99.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIdentifying an optimal antigen for targeted cancer therapy is challenging as the antigen landscape on cancerous tissues mimics that of healthy tissues, with few unique tumor-specific antigens identified in individual patients. pH low insertion peptide (pHLIP) acts as a unique delivery platform that can specifically target the acidic microenvironment of tumors, sparing healthy tissue in the process. We developed a pHLIP-peptide conjugate to deliver the SIINFEKL peptide, an immunogenic fragment of ovalbumin (OVA), to tumor cells in vivo.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMicrobes may play an important role in the sugarcane leaf degradation and nutrient conversion process. Soil bacterial communities are more or less involved in material transformation and nutrient turnover. In order to make better use of the vast sugarcane leaf straw resources and reduce the overuse of chemical fertilizers in the subtropical red soil region of Guangxi, a pot experiment, with three sugarcane leaf return (SLR) amounts [full SLR (FS), 120 g/pot; half SLR (HS), 60 g/pot; and no SLR (NS)] and three fertilizer reduction (FR) levels [full fertilizer (FF), 4.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe cotton genus comprises both diploid and allotetraploid species, and the diversity in petal colour within this genus offers valuable targets for studying orthologous gene function differentiation and evolution. However, the genetic basis for this diversity in petal colour remains largely unknown. The red petal colour primarily comes from C, G, K, and D genome species, and it is likely that the common ancestor of cotton had red petals.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe sludge contains many high-value biological materials. However, current extraction methods focus only on individual materials, neglecting the further extraction potential of the residual after extraction. This study used continuous extraction to extract extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) and proteins (PN) from sludge, verified the flame retardancy of EPS and the foaming properties of PN and finally analyzed the economic feasibility of continuous extraction.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground/aim: Skin wound healing is a physiological process restoring the structural and functional integrity of injured skin. During this process, wound management preventing bacterial infection and complications is important for the regeneration of skin layers and adnexa, as well as the protective function of the skin. Therefore, the development of an effective ointment to promote wound healing without complications is beneficial.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: To develop a deep learning model combining CT scans and clinical information to predict overall survival in advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).
Methods: This retrospective study included immunotherapy-treated advanced HCC patients from 52 multi-national in-house centers between 2018 and 2022. A multi-modal prognostic model using baseline and the first follow-up CT images and 7 clinical variables was proposed.
In this work, chemical modification of the chitosan with ethyl acetoacetate was performed through a base-catalyzed reaction in which epichlorohydrin facilitated the insertion as well as nucleophilic substitution reaction to graft the 1,3-dioxo moiety across the linear chains of the base biopolymer to establish specificity and selectivity for U(VI) removal. The modified chitosan (EAA-CS) was intercalated into phosphate rich alginate matrix (PASA). Later on, the WO-doped composites with different WO to PASA mass ratio were prepared and characterized using FTIR, XPS, SEM-EDS, XRD, and elemental mapping analysis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSelective catalytic reduction of nitrogen oxides (NO) with ammonia (NH-SCR) is an efficient NO reduction strategy, while the denitrification (NO) catalysts suffer from serious deactivation due to the coexistence of multiple poisoning substances, such as alkali metal (e.g., K), SO, .
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Recent genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have reported a genetic association with Alzheimer's disease (AD) at the TNIP1/GPX3 locus, but the mechanism is unclear.
Methods: We used cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) proteomics data to test (n = 137) and replicate (n = 446) the association of glutathione peroxidase 3 (GPX3) with CSF biomarkers (including amyloid and tau) and the GWAS-implicated variants (rs34294852 and rs871269).
Results: CSF GPX3 levels decreased with amyloid and tau positivity (analysis of variance P = 1.
Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are small cellular organelles involved in intracellular signaling and cell-to-cell interactions. Recent studies suggested that exosomes may have potential applications in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer and neurodegenerative diseases. In this study, extracellular vesicles of the human nonsmall cell lung cancer cell line H1299 and the unlabeled antiCD63 antibody were imaged using a new label-free terahertz chemical microscopy (TCM) technique to detect changes in the terahertz wave amplitude.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEpstein-Barr virus (EBV) is linked to various malignancies and autoimmune diseases, posing a significant global health challenge due to the lack of specific treatments or vaccines. Despite its crucial role in EBV infection in B cells, the mechanisms of the glycoprotein gp42 remain elusive. In this study, we construct an antibody phage library from 100 EBV-positive individuals, leading to the identification of two human monoclonal antibodies, 2B7 and 2C1.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDiverse tumor metabolic phenotypes are influenced by the environment and genetic lesions. Whether these phenotypes extend to rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) and how they might be leveraged to design new therapeutic approaches remains an open question. Thus, we utilized a Pax7; Nras; p53 (P7NP) murine model of sarcoma with mutations that most frequently occur in human embryonal RMS.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAdvancements in decoding speech from brain activity have focused on decoding a single language. Hence, the extent to which bilingual speech production relies on unique or shared cortical activity across languages has remained unclear. Here, we leveraged electrocorticography, along with deep-learning and statistical natural-language models of English and Spanish, to record and decode activity from speech-motor cortex of a Spanish-English bilingual with vocal-tract and limb paralysis into sentences in either language.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSmall extracellular vesicles (sEV) derived from various cell sources have been demonstrated to enhance cardiac function in preclinical models of myocardial infarction (MI). The aim of this study was to compare different sources of sEV for cardiac repair and determine the most effective one, which nowadays remains limited. We comprehensively assessed the efficacy of sEV obtained from human primary bone marrow mesenchymal stromal cells (BM-MSC), human immortalized MSC (hTERT-MSC), human embryonic stem cells (ESC), ESC-derived cardiac progenitor cells (CPC), human ESC-derived cardiomyocytes (CM), and human primary ventricular cardiac fibroblasts (VCF), in in vitro models of cardiac repair.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Chromatogr B Analyt Technol Biomed Life Sci
June 2024
Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) is a diagnostic marker for prostate cancer; however, because it is a macromolecular glycoprotein with complex and diverse isoforms, it is difficult to standardize clinical PSA detection results. To overcome this limitation, herein, naturally extracted PSA was characterized as free PSA (fPSA), and the PSA solution was successfully quantified by amino acid analysis coupled with isotope-dilution mass spectrometry (AAA-IDMS) and enzymatic hydrolysis-IDMS; the results could be traced to the International System of Units (SI) through absolutely quantified amino acids and peptides. After protein hydrolysis or digestion condition optimization, amino acids and signature peptides were detected by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry with the multiple reaction monitoring mode.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe CLIP1-LTK fusion was recently discovered as a novel oncogenic driver in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Lorlatinib, a third-generation ALK inhibitor, exhibited a dramatic clinical response in a NSCLC patient harboring CLIP1-LTK fusion. However, it is expected that acquired resistance will inevitably develop, particularly by LTK mutations, as observed in NSCLC induced by oncogenic tyrosine kinases treated with corresponding tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFComprehensive, continuous quantitative monitoring of intricately orchestrated physiological processes and behavioral states in living organisms can yield essential data for elucidating the function of neural circuits under healthy and diseased conditions, for defining the effects of potential drugs and treatments, and for tracking disease progression and recovery. Here, we report a wireless, battery-free implantable device and a set of associated algorithms that enable continuous, multiparametric physio-behavioral monitoring in freely behaving small animals and interacting groups. Through advanced analytics approaches applied to mechano-acoustic signals of diverse body processes, the device yields heart rate, respiratory rate, physical activity, temperature, and behavioral states.
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