Synergistic Molecular Engineering of Fully Non-fused Ring Acceptors for Achieving Efficient Zigzag Charge Transport Channel and Low Non-Radiative Voltage Loss.

Fully non-fused ring acceptor (FNFRA) are potentially important for boosting the performance and lowering the material costs of organic solar cells (OSCs). Despite their potential, FNFRA-based OSCs have not yet matched the performance of their fused ring and partial non-fused ring counterparts due to limited molecular engineering research. In this work, by incorporating a synergistic strategy of tailoring the β-side chain and end-group of FNFRA with the cyclic "belt" simultaneously, a FNFRA named C6FT-2F2Cl is constructed.

Gut microbiome-derived indole-3-carboxaldehyde regulates stress vulnerability in chronic restraint stress by activating aryl hydrocarbon receptors.

Chronic stress constitutes a major precipitating factor for Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), and comprehending individual differences in stress responses is crucial for the development of effective intervention strategies for MDD. Recent studies indicate that an individual's vulnerability to chronic stress is closely associated with gut microbiota composition, but the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. This study aims to investigate whether the gut microbiota and its metabolites can serve as gut-brain signaling molecules and explores how the gut microbiota affects stress sensitivity.

Comprehensive evaluation of genomic and functional assays for homologous recombination deficiency with high-grade epithelial ovarian cancer: Platinum sensitivity and prognosis.

Objective: Homologous recombination deficiency assays, guiding treatment of poly (adenosine diphosphate ribose) polymerase inhibitors, are increasingly applied in clinics. This study aimed to evaluate the predictive performance of homologous recombination deficiency status at genomic and functional perspective on the efficacy of platinum-based chemotherapy in ovarian cancer.

Methods: Between 2016 and 2019, 134 patients with high-grade ovarian cancer were retrospectively analyzed.

Novel molecular subtypes of METex14 non-small cell lung cancer with distinct biological and clinical significance.

Not all MET exon 14 skipping (METex14) NSCLC patients benefited from MET inhibitors. We hypothesized an inter-tumoral heterogeneity in METex14 NSCLC. Investigations at genomic and transcriptomic level were conducted in METex14 NSCLC samples from stage I-III and recurrent/metastatic patients as discovery and validation cohort.

Assessing the potential spray drift of a six-rotor unmanned aerial vehicle sprayer using a test bench and airborne drift collectors under low wind velocities: impact of atomization characteristics and application parameters.

Background: The unmanned aerial spraying systems (UASS) have gained widespread use for plant protection in recent years. However, spray drift from UASS is a major concern when controlling weeds over large areas and warrants a thorough investigation. This study examined the atomization characteristics of the herbicide florpyrauxifen-benzyl under downwash airflow using a UASS spray test platform.

Microbial tryptophan catabolism as an actionable target via diet-microbiome interactions.

In recent years, the role of microbial tryptophan (Trp) catabolism in host-microbiota crosstalk has become a major area of scientific interest. Microbiota-derived Trp catabolites positively contribute to intestinal and systemic homeostasis by acting as ligands of aryl hydrocarbon receptor and pregnane X receptor, and as signaling molecules in microbial communities. Accumulating evidence suggests that microbial Trp catabolism could be therapeutic targets in treating human diseases.

CRISPR/Pepper-tDeg: A Live Imaging System Enables Non-Repetitive Genomic Locus Analysis with One Single-Guide RNA.

CRISPR-based genomic-imaging systems have been utilized for spatiotemporal imaging of the repetitive genomic loci in living cells, but they are still challenged by limited signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) at a non-repetitive genomic locus. Here, an efficient genomic-imaging system is proposed, termed CRISPR/Pepper-tDeg, by engineering the CRISPR sgRNA scaffolds with the degron-binding Pepper aptamers for binding fluorogenic proteins fused with Tat peptide derived degron domain (tDeg). The target-dependent stability switches of both sgRNA and fluorogenic protein allow this system to image repetitive telomeres sensitively with a 5-fold higher SNR than conventional CRISPR/MS2-MCP system using "always-on" fluorescent protein tag.

Genome-wide identification of SAMS gene family in Cucurbitaceae and the role of ClSAMS1 in watermelon tolerance to abiotic stress.

S-Adenosyl-L-methionine (SAM) is widely involved in plant growth, development, and abiotic stress response. SAM synthetase (SAMS) is the key enzyme that catalyzes the synthesis of SAM from methionine and ATP. However, the SAMS gene family has not been identified and their functions have not been characterized in most Cucurbitaceae plants.

Remodeling the tumor-immune microenvironment by anti-CTLA4 blockade enhanced subsequent anti-PD-1 efficacy in advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

Sequential immunotherapy has shown certain advantages in malignancy. Here, we aim to evaluate the efficacy of sequential anti-CTLA-4 and anti-PD-1 treatment for recurrent or metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients (R/M NPC). We retrospectively analysis 2 phase I trial of ipilimumab and camrelizumab in Chinese R/M NPC patients.

Attenuation of intestinal ischemia-reperfusion-injury by anesthetics: a potentially protective effect of anesthetic management in experimental studies.

Intestinal ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI) is a potentially severe clinical syndrome after major surgical procedures. In addition to causing intestinal mucosa injury, intestinal IRI further damages distant organs, causing the severity of the condition in patients. So far, effective therapy for intestinal IRI is still absent, and the survival rate of the patients is low.

On-Site-Activated Transmembrane Logic DNA Nanodevice Enables Highly Specific Imaging of Cancer Cells by Targeting Tumor-Related Nucleolin and Intracellular MicroRNA.

The ability to specifically image cancer cells is essential for cancer diagnosis; however, this ability is limited by the false positive associated with single-biomarker sensors and off-site activation of "always active" nucleic acid probes. Herein, we propose an on-site, activatable, transmembrane logic DNA (TLD) nanodevice that enables dual-biomarker sensing of tumor-related nucleolin and intracellular microRNA for highly specific cancer cell imaging. The TLD nanodevice is constructed by assembling a tetrahedral DNA nanostructure containing a linker (L)-blocker (B)-DNAzyme (D)-substrate (S) unit.

A DNAzyme dual-feedback autocatalytic exponential amplification biocircuit for microRNA imaging in living cells.

Autocatalytic biocircuit are powerful tools for analysing intracellular biomarkers, but these tools are constrained by limitations in amplification capacity and intracellular delivery efficiency. In this work, we developed a DNAzyme-based dual-feedback autocatalytic exponential amplification biocircuit sustained by a honeycomb MnO nanosponge (EDA@hMNS) for live-cell imaging of intracellular low-abundance microRNAs (miRNA). The EDA biocircuit comprises a blocked DNAzyme (b-DNAzyme), a Fuel strand and a Substrate strand.

Field evaluation of a six-rotor unmanned agricultural aerial sprayer: effects of application parameters on spray deposition and control efficacy against rice planthopper.

Background: Unmanned Aerial Spraying System (UASS) has emerged as an advanced, precise, and efficient tool for pesticide application in numerous nations in recent years. Despite this, there is a noticeable gap in research advocating viable, quantifiable methodologies for application parameter optimization. This investigation was primarily oriented toward identifying optimal UASS application parameters.

DNAzyme-Amplified Cascade Catalytic Hairpin Assembly Nanosystem for Sensitive MicroRNA Imaging in Living Cells.

Sensitive imaging of microRNAs (miRNAs) in living cells is significant for accurate cancer clinical diagnosis and prognosis research studies, but it is challenged by inefficient intracellular delivery, instability of nucleic acid probes, and limited amplification efficiency. Herein, we engineered a DNAzyme-amplified cascade catalytic hairpin assembly (CHA)-based nanosystem (DCC) that overcomes these challenges and improves the imaging sensitivity. This enzyme-free amplification nanosystem is based on the sequential activation of DNAzyme amplification and CHA.

Impact of High-Fiber or High-Protein Diet on the Capacity of Human Gut Microbiota To Produce Tryptophan Catabolites.

This study investigated the effect of high-fiber-low-protein (HF) and high-protein-low-fiber (HP) diets on microbial catabolism of tryptophan in the proximal colon (PC) and distal colon(DC) compartments of the Simulator of the Human Intestinal Microbial Ecosystem. The microbiota in PC and DC was dominated by Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes, in which Bacteroidetes were more abundant in DC (∼60% versus 50%) and Firmicutes were more abundant in PC (∼40% versus 25%). Most of the tryptophan catabolites were determined at a higher concentration in PC samples than in DC samples, but the overall concentration of tryptophan catabolites was over 10-fold higher in DC samples than that in PC samples.

Neural Network With a Preference Sampling Paradigm for Imbalanced Data Classification.

Most data in real life are characterized by imbalance problems. One of the classic models for dealing with imbalanced data is neural networks. However, the data imbalance problem often causes the neural network to display negative class preference behavior.

COL19A1 is a predictive biomarker for the responsiveness of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma patients to immune checkpoint therapy.

Background: The use of neoadjuvant immunotherapy plus chemotherapy has revolutionized the management of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) patients. Nevertheless, patients who would maximally benefit from these therapies have not been identified.

Methods: We collected postoperative specimens from 103 ESCC patients, of which 66 patients comprised a retrospective cohort and 37 comprised a prospective cohort.

Effect of whole foods on the microbial production of tryptophan-derived aryl hydrocarbon receptor agonists in growing pigs.

Effects of whole foods on the microbial production of tryptophan-derived aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) ligands in the intestine were investigated in a pig model. Ileal digesta and faeces of pigs after feeding of eighteen different foods were analyzed. Indole, indole-3-propionic acid, indole-3-acetic acid, indole-3-lactic acid, kynurenine, tryptamine, and indole-3-aldehyde were identified in ileal digesta, which were also identified in faeces but at higher concentrations except indole-3-lactic acid, together with skatole, oxindole, serotonin, and indoleacrylic acid.

Short-term dynamics of circulating tumor DNA predicting efficacy of sintilimab plus docetaxel in second-line treatment of advanced NSCLC: biomarker analysis from a single-arm, phase 2 trial.

Objective: Robust biomarker predicting efficacy of immunotherapy is limited. Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) sought to effectively monitor therapeutic response as well as disease progression. This study aims to investigate predictive role of ctDNA short-term dynamic change (6 weeks postimmunotherapy) in a single-arm, phase 2 trial of sintilimab plus docetaxel for previously treated advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients.

Field evaluation of spray drift and nontargeted soybean injury from unmanned aerial spraying system herbicide application under acceptable operation conditions.

Background: Droplets of plant production products sprayed from unmanned aerial spraying system (UASS) applications are prone to drift, threatening nontarget crops, humans, and environment. There are few studies that have investigated plant bioassay of UASS spray drift, and even fewer when it comes to herbicide application. This work reports a combined field-scale evaluation of spray drift and plant bioassay for a rice herbicide florpyrauxifen-benzyl application using a six-rotor motor UASS under acceptable operating conditions.

Palladium-Catalyzed Stereoselective Cleavage of C-P Bond: Enantioselective Construction of Atropisomers Containing a P-Stereogenic Center.

The transition-metal-catalyzed C-P bond cleavage has emerged as a powerful tool for the formation of both C-C and C-P bond. However, the transition-metal-catalyzed stereoselective cleavage of C-P bond is still undeveloped. Herein, we report a palladium-catalyzed stereoselective cleavage of C-P bond for the construction of P-stereogenic phosphines and stereogenic axis.

Distinct effects of fiber and colon segment on microbiota-derived indoles and short-chain fatty acids.

Effects of pectin, inulin, and their combination on the production of microbiota-derived indoles and short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) from different colon segments were investigated in a batch system inoculated with microbiota from proximal colon (PC) and distal colon (DC) compartments of the Simulator of Human Intestinal Microbial Ecosystem. Bacteria from DC compartment had a higher abundance of Firmicutes and a stronger capacity to produce indoles and SCFAs than bacteria from PC compartment. Fiber supplementation significantly increased the production of SCFAs, indole-3-propionic acid, and indole-3-lactic acid, but decreased the production of oxindole, tryptamine, and serotonin.