Interactions Between Commensal Microbes and Mosquito-Borne Viruses.

Emerging and re-emerging mosquito-borne viruses pose a significant threat to global public health. Unfortunately, effective preventive and therapeutic measures are scarce. An in-depth understanding of the mechanisms regulating viral pathogenesis, vector competence, and viral transmission between mammalian hosts and vectors may lay the foundations for new preventive and therapeutic approaches.

STDatav2: Accessing Efficient Black-Box Stealing for Adversarial Attacks.

On account of the extreme settings, stealing the black-box model without its training data is difficult in practice. On this topic, along the lines of data diversity, this paper substantially makes the following improvements based on our conference version (dubbed STDatav1, short for Surrogate Training Data). First, to mitigate the undesirable impacts of the potential mode collapse while training the generator, we propose the joint-data optimization scheme, which utilizes both the synthesized data and the proxy data to optimize the surrogate model.

Functional Divergence of Plant-Derived Thaumatin-Like Protein Genes in Two Closely Related Whitefly Species.

The recent discovery that various insects have acquired functional genes through horizontal gene transfer (HGT) has prompted numerous studies into this puzzling and fascinating phenomenon. So far, horizontally transferred genes are found to be functionally conserved and largely retained their ancestral functions. It evidently has not yet been considered that horizontally transferred genes may evolve and can contribute to divergence between species.

Organophosphonic acid-assisted efficient delamination of spent lithium-ion battery cathodes for regeneration.

Organophosphonic acids are highlighted to delaminate cathode materials from Al foil, with an Al leaching rate of only 2.88%. Mechanistic analysis revealed that organophosphonic acids formed a dense passivation layer on the surface of the Al foil, inhibiting the dissolution of the Al foil and reducing the interaction between the Al foil and binder.

Van der Waals Engineering of One-Transistor-One-Ferroelectric-Memristor Architecture for an Energy-Efficient Neuromorphic Array.

Two-dimensional-material-based memristor arrays hold promise for data-centric applications such as artificial intelligence and big data. However, accessing individual memristor cells and effectively controlling sneak current paths remain challenging. Here, we propose a van der Waals engineering approach to create one-transistor-one-memristor (1T1M) cells by assembling the emerging two-dimensional ferroelectric CuCrPS with MoS and -BN.

Chiral Molecular Magnet Superstructures with Light Control.

Chiral magnets are crucial for magneto-optical coupling to advance spin-optoelectronics. Chirality breaks spatial inversion symmetry, while magnetism breaks time-reversal symmetry. However, understanding and controlling the interplay between chirality and magnetism remain fundamental challenges.

Effects of NK cell-related lncRNA on the immune microenvironment and molecular subtyping for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.

Background: Patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) face a highly unfavorable outcome and have a poor response to standard treatments. Immunotherapy, especially therapy based on natural killer (NK) cells, presents a promising avenue for the treatment of PDAC.

Aims: This research endeavor seeks to formulate a predictive tool specifically designed for PDAC based on NK cell-related long non-coding RNA (lncRNA), revealing new molecular subtypes of PDAC to promote personalized and precision treatment.

Deciphering the senescence-based tumoral heterogeneity and characteristics in pancreatic cancer: Results from parallel bulk and single-cell transcriptome data.

The prevalent intra- and intertumoral heterogeneity results in undesirable prognosis and therapy failure of pancreatic cancer, potentially resulting from cellular senescence. Herein, integrated analysis of bulk and single-cell RNA-seq profiling was conducted to characterize senescence-based heterogeneity in pancreatic cancer. Publicly available bulk and single-cell RNA sequencing from pancreatic cancer patients were gathered from TCGA-PAAD, PACA-AU, PACA-CA, and GSE154778 datasets.

Using light to image millimeter wave based on stacked meta-MEMS chip.

A stacked metamaterial MEMS (meta-MEMS) chip is proposed, which can perfectly absorb electromagnetic waves, convert them into mechanical energy, drive movement of the optical micro-reflectors array, and detect millimeter waves. It is equivalent to using visible light to image a millimeter wave. The meta-MEMS adopts the design of upper and lower chip separation and then stacking to achieve the "dielectric-resonant-air-ground" structure, reduce the thickness of the metamaterial and MEMS structures, and improve the performance of millimeter wave imaging.

Erucic acid promotes intramuscular fat deposition through the PPARγ-FABP4/CD36 pathway.

The regulation of intramuscular fat (IMF) accumulation plays a crucial role in determining meat quality in the beef industry. In humans, fat deposition in skeletal muscle is closely associated with insulin resistance and obesity. However, its underlying mechanisms are not fully elucidated.

Silencing of the plant-derived horizontally transferred gene BtSC5DL effectively controls Bemisia tabaci MED.

Background: The whitefly Bemisia tabaci is a notorious agricultural pest known for its ability to cause significant crop damage through direct feeding and virus transmission. Its remarkable adaptability and reproductive capacity are linked to its ability to acquire and integrate horizontally transferred genes (HTGs) into its genome. These HTGs increase the physiological and metabolic capacities of this pest, including cholesterol synthesis, which is critical for its survival and reproductive success.

A predictive language model for SARS-CoV-2 evolution.

Modeling and predicting mutations are critical for COVID-19 and similar pandemic preparedness. However, existing predictive models have yet to integrate the regularity and randomness of viral mutations with minimal data requirements. Here, we develop a non-demanding language model utilizing both regularity and randomness to predict candidate SARS-CoV-2 variants and mutations that might prevail.

The Applications of Plant Polyphenols: Implications for the Development and Biotechnological Utilization of Species.

Plants belonging to the species are distinguished by their rich composition of diverse phenolic compounds and various bioactive substances, which demonstrate dual functionalities in therapeutic applications and health promotion. In recent years, these plants have garnered significant interest among researchers. While the application scope of plant polyphenols (PPs) is extensive, the exploration and utilization of holly polyphenols (HPs) remain comparatively underexplored.

Association of R3HDM1 variants with growth and meat quality traits in Qinchuan cattle and its role in lipid accumulation.

The R3H domain containing 1 (R3HDM1) gene has emerged as a candidate influencing residual feed intake and beef yield. Despite this, the genetic variation of R3HDM1 and its effects on beef cattle remain unexplored. This study identified four single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the R3HDM1 gene of Qinchuan cattle, with the g.

High Diversity in Genotypes of Human Rhinovirus Contributes to High Prevalence in Beijing, 2018-2022: A Retrospective Multiple-Center Epidemiological Study.

Objective: To comprehensively examine the molecular epidemiological characteristics of human rhinovirus (HRV) in Beijing.

Methods: A total of 7,151 children and adults with acute respiratory tract infections (ARTIs) were recruited from 35 sentinel hospitals in Beijing between 2018 and 2022. Their respiratory samples were obtained, and epidemiological and clinical data were collected.

A symbiotic mosquito-gut bacterium for flavivirus control.

Dengue virus (DENV) and Zika virus (ZIKV) have emerged as major global public health challenges, causing numerous infections and fatalities each year. However, current measures, including vaccines and treatments, are often limited or ineffective. This highlights the urgent need for novel preventive strategies to control the spread of key mosquito-borne viruses like DENV and ZIKV.

Inhalable nanocatalytic therapeutics for viral pneumonia.

Pneumonia is a ubiquitous disease caused by viral and bacterial infections, characterized by high levels of reactive oxygen species in inflamed areas. Therapeutic strategies targeting reactive oxygen species levels in pneumonia have limited success due to the intricate nature of lung tissues and lung inflammatory responses. Here we describe an inhalable, non-invasive therapeutic platform composed of engineered cerium-based tannic acid nanozymes bound to a self-assembling peptide.

Identifying immunohistochemical biomarkers panel for non-small cell lung cancer in optimizing treatment and forecasting efficacy.

Background: Chemotherapy and immunotherapy for non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) are gaining momentum. However, its long-term efficacy remains limited to only a small fraction of patients. Hence, it is crucial to identify reliable immunohistochemical biomarkers to facilitate the formulation of optimal treatment strategies and to predict therapeutic outcomes.

Injectable tissue-engineered human cartilage matrix composite fibrin glue for regeneration of articular cartilage defects.

Due to the lack of blood vessels and nerves, the ability of cartilage to repair itself is limited, and the injury of articular cartilage urgently needs effective treatment. Currently, the limitation of clinical repair for cartilage defects is that it is difficult to form pure hyaline cartilage repair, and the source of cartilage tissue and cells is limited. To obtain high-purity regenerated hyaline cartilage, we proposed to construct an injectable hydrogel precursor by using human living hyaline cartilage graft (hLhCG) secreted by human chondrocytes as the dispersed phase and fibrinogen solution as the continuous phase, by double injection with thrombin, three-dimensional network hydrogel structure was formed under the action of thrombin to repair joint defects.

Metabolic impact of low dose IL-2 therapy for primary Sjögren's Syndrome in a double-blind, randomized clinical trial.

Objectives: Low-dose interleukin 2 (Ld-IL2) is increasingly being explored as an immune-modulating treatment for autoimmune diseases which mainly affect T cell subsets. This study investigates the metabolic effects of Ld-IL2 therapy in patients with primary Sjögren's syndrome (pSS).

Method: A total of 60 patients were recruited to conduct a double-blind, randomized clinical trial.

Efficient and stable inverted perovskite solar cells enabled by homogenized PCBM with enhanced electron transport.

Fullerene derivatives are extensively employed in inverted perovskite solar cells due to their excellent electron extraction capabilities. However, [6,6]-phenyl-C-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) agglomerates easily in solution and exhibits a relatively low ionization barrier, increasing charge recombination losses and charge accumulation in the interface. Here, tetramethylthiuram disulfide (TMDS) is introduced into the PCBM solution to induce the formation of reducing sulfur radicals through UV light irradiation, allowing for n doping of the PCBM material.