Light-Triggered Droplet Gating Strategy Based on Janus Membrane Fabricated by Femtosecond Laser.

The characteristics of the directed transport of liquids based on Janus membranes play a crucial role in practical applications in energy, materials, physics, chemistry, medicine, biology, and other fields. Although extensive progress has been made, it is still difficult to realize the accurate controllability of liquid directional transmembrane transport. The current gating strategies for the directed transport of liquids based on Janus membranes still have some limitations: (a) using magnetic fluid may cause contamination due to the addition of new substances and (b) utilizing hydrophobicity/hydrophilicity conversion of titanium dioxide requires a long switching time (over 30 min).

Inhibition of neutrophil swarming by type I interferon promotes intracellular bacterial evasion.

Listeria monocytogenes (LM) possesses the ability to breach multiple barriers and elicit intricate immune responses. However, there remains a lack of explicit understanding regarding how LM evades innate immune surveillance within the body. Here, we utilized liver intravital imaging to elucidate the dynamic process of LM during infection in the liver.

QTL mapping for plant height and ear height using bi-parental immortalized heterozygous populations in maize.

Introduction: Plant height (PH) and ear height (EH) are key plant architectural traits in maize, which will affect the photosynthetic efficiency, high plant density tolerance, suitability for mechanical harvesting.

Methods: QTL mapping were conducted for PH and EH using a recombinant inbred line (RIL) population and two corresponding immortalized backcross (IB) populations obtained from crosses between the RIL population and the two parental lines.

Results: A total of 17 and 15 QTL were detected in the RIL and IB populations, respectively.

A conserved ion channel function of STING mediates noncanonical autophagy and cell death.

The cGAS/STING pathway triggers inflammation upon diverse cellular stresses such as infection, cellular damage, aging, and diseases. STING also triggers noncanonical autophagy, involving LC3 lipidation on STING vesicles through the V-ATPase-ATG16L1 axis, as well as induces cell death. Although the proton pump V-ATPase senses organelle deacidification in other contexts, it is unclear how STING activates V-ATPase for noncanonical autophagy.

Genetic architecture of ear traits based on association mapping and co-expression networks in maize inbred lines and hybrids.

Unlabelled: Ear traits are key contributors to grain yield in maize; therefore, exploring their genetic basis facilitates the improvement of grain yield. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms of ear traits remain obscure in both inbred lines and hybrids. Here, two association panels, respectively, comprising 203 inbred lines (IP) and 246 F hybrids (HP) were employed to identify candidate genes for six ear traits.

Characterization of the Isocitrate Dehydrogenase Gene Family and Their Response to Drought Stress in Maize.

Isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) is a key rate-limiting enzyme in the tricarboxylic acid cycle and acts in glutamine synthesis. IDH also participates in plant growth and development and in response to abiotic stresses. We identified 11 maize genes () and classified these genes into and groups based on their different coenzymes (NAD or NADP).

Microclaw Array Fabricated by Single Exposure of Femtosecond Airy Beam and Self-Assembly for Regulating Cell Migratory Plasticity.

The highly aligned extracellular matrix of metastatic breast cancer cells is considered to be the "highway" of cancer invasion, which strongly promotes the directional migration of cancer cells to break through the basement membrane. However, how the reorganized extracellular matrix regulates cancer cell migration remains unknown. Here, a single exposure of a femtosecond Airy beam followed by a capillary-assisted self-assembly process was used to fabricate a microclaw-array, which was used to mimic the highly oriented extracellular matrix of tumor cells and the pores in the matrix or basement membrane during cell invasion.

A Multidimensional Visible Evaluation Model for Stroke Rehabilitation: A Pilot Study.

Efficient rehabilitation state evaluation is important to the design of rehabilitation strategies after stroke. However, most traditional evaluations have depended on subjective clinical scales, which do not entail quantitative evaluation of the motor function. Functional corticomuscular coupling (FCMC) can be used to quantitatively describe the rehabilitation state.

Lysosomal quality control: molecular mechanisms and therapeutic implications.

Lysosomes are essential catabolic organelles with an acidic lumen and dozens of hydrolytic enzymes. The detrimental consequences of lysosomal leakage have been well known since lysosomes were discovered during the 1950s. However, detailed knowledge of lysosomal quality control mechanisms has only emerged relatively recently.

Postpartum depression and major depressive disorder: the same or not? Evidence from resting-state functional MRI.

Background: Although postpartum depression (PPD) and non-peripartum major depressive disorder (MDD) occurring within and outside the postpartum period share many clinical characteristics, whether PPD and MDD are the same or not remains controversial.

Methods: The current study was devoted to identify the shared and different neural circuits between PPD and MDD by resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data from 77 participants (22 first-episodic drug-naïve MDD, 26 drug-naïve PPD, and 29 healthy controls (HC)).

Results: Both the PPD and MDD groups exhibited higher fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (fALFF) in left temporal pole relative to the HC group; the MDD group showed specifically increased degree centrality in the right cerebellum while PPD showed specifically decreased fALFF in the left supplementary motor area and posterior middle temporal gyrus (pMTG_L), and specifically decreased functional connectivities between pMTG and precuneus and between left subgeneual anterior cingulate cortex (sgACC_L) and right sgACC.

Improving the resilience of power grids against typhoons with data-driven spatial distributionally robust optimization.

In recent years, the increased frequency of natural hazards has led to more disruptions in power grids, potentially causing severe infrastructural damages and cascading failures. Therefore, it is important that the power system resilience be improved by implementing new technology and utilizing optimization methods. This paper proposes a data-driven spatial distributionally robust optimization (DS-DRO) model to provide an optimal plan to install and dispatch distributed energy resources (DERs) against the uncertain impact of natural hazards such as typhoons.

Spatial-temporal NDVI pattern of global mangroves: A growing trend during 2000-2018.

Mangroves are coastal vegetation with high ecological and economic value that are mainly distributed in tropical and subtropical intertidal zones. In the past, they have been degraded by extensive deforestation for agricultural and aquatic land. In recent years, mangroves have been protected and sustainably used through considerable measures of conservation, restoration and afforestation, but the health trends of mangroves during this process are not clear.

Astragalus Polysaccharide Relieves Inflammatory Responses in Guinea Pigs with Allergic Rhinitis via Ameliorating NF-kB-Mediated Treg/Th17 Imbalance.

Background: Allergic rhinitis (AR) is regarded as a prevalent and non-infectious inflammation in nasal mucosa, and astragalus polysaccharide (APS) could mitigate inflammation.

Objectives: Herein, this study probed the specific mechanism of APS in inflammatory responses in AR.

Methods: Firstly, AR guinea pig models were established through the stimulation and sensitization of ovalbumin (OVA) and received APS treatment.

Design of COVID-19 staged alert systems to ensure healthcare capacity with minimal closures.

Community mitigation strategies to combat COVID-19, ranging from healthy hygiene to shelter-in-place orders, exact substantial socioeconomic costs. Judicious implementation and relaxation of restrictions amplify their public health benefits while reducing costs. We derive optimal strategies for toggling between mitigation stages using daily COVID-19 hospital admissions.

Brain Proteomic Profiling in Intractable Epilepsy Caused by TSC1 Truncating Mutations: A Small Sample Study.

Tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) is a genetic disease characterized by seizures, mental deficiency, and abnormalities of the skin, brain, kidney, heart, and lungs. TSC is inherited in an autosomal dominant manner and is caused by variations in either the TSC1 or TSC2 gene. TSC-related epilepsy (TRE) is the most prevalent and challenging clinical feature of TSC, and more than half of the patients have refractory epilepsy.

MALAT1 Protected the Angiogenesis Function of Human Brain Microvascular Endothelial Cells (HBMECs) Under Oxygen Glucose Deprivation/re-oxygenation (OGD/R) Challenge by Interacting with miR-205-5p/VEGFA Pathway.

Long non-coding RNA MALAT1 was previously revealed to express abnormally in animal and cellular models of stroke, suggesting its indispensable role in stroke. The aims of the present study were to further investigate the functions of MALAT1 and to elucidate the underlying molecular mechanisms. Oxygen glucose deprivation/re-oxygenation (OGD/R) challenge was used in human brain microvascular endothelial cells (HBMECs) to mimic stroke injury in vitro.

Evaluating the Therapeutic Effect of Low-Intensity Transcranial Ultrasound on Traumatic Brain Injury With Diffusion Kurtosis Imaging.

Background: Low-intensity transcranial ultrasound (LITUS) has a therapeutic effect on traumatic brain injury (TBI). Diffusion kurtosis imaging (DKI) might be able to evaluate the effect changes of injured brain microstructure.

Purpose: To evaluate the therapeutic effect of LITUS in a moderate TBI rat model with DKI parameters.

Significant Down-Regulation of Urea Cycle Generates Clinically Relevant Proteomic Signature in Hepatocellular Carcinoma Patients with Macrovascular Invasion.

Vascular invasion is considered as the critical risk factor of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). To reveal the molecular mechanisms underlying macrovascular invasion (MaVI) in HCC, we performed an iTRAQ based proteomic study to identify notably dysregulated proteins from eight HCC patients with differential vascular invasion and further confirmed them in the other 53 HCC patients. Forty-seven proteins were found significantly down-regulated in HCC with MaVI.

Resolving Age-Related Differences in Working Memory: Equating Perception and Attention Makes Older Adults Remember as Well as Younger Adults.

Objectives: Older adults show clear deficits in working memory functioning. Here, we investigate the often-reported decline in focus switching, that is, the ability to shift items from the focus of attention into working memory, and back. Specifically, we examined whether equating subjects on early processing (perception and attention) might ameliorate the deficit.

A study for the mechanism of sensory disorder in restless legs syndrome based on magnetoencephalography.

In spite of the relatively high incidence rate, the etiology and pathogenesis of restless legs syndrome (RLS) are still unclear. Long-term drug treatments fail to achieve satisfying curative effects, which is reflected by rebound and augmentation of related symptoms. An electrophysiological endophenotype experiment was done to investigate the mechanism of somatosensory disorder among RLS patients.