The gut-brain axis underlying hepatic encephalopathy in liver cirrhosis.

Up to 50-70% of patients with liver cirrhosis develop hepatic encephalopathy (HE), which is closely related to gut microbiota dysbiosis, with an unclear mechanism. Here, by constructing gut-brain modules to assess bacterial neurotoxins from metagenomic datasets, we found that phenylalanine decarboxylase (PDC) genes, mainly from Ruminococcus gnavus, increased approximately tenfold in patients with cirrhosis and higher in patients with HE. Cirrhotic, not healthy, mice colonized with R.

Janus graphene nanoribbons with localized states on a single zigzag edge.

Topological design of π electrons in zigzag-edged graphene nanoribbons (ZGNRs) leads to a wealth of magnetic quantum phenomena and exotic quantum phases. Symmetric ZGNRs typically show antiferromagnetically coupled spin-ordered edge states. Eliminating cross-edge magnetic coupling in ZGNRs not only enables the realization of a class of ferromagnetic quantum spin chains, enabling the exploration of quantum spin physics and entanglement of multiple qubits in the one-dimensional limit, but also establishes a long-sought-after carbon-based ferromagnetic transport channel, pivotal for ultimate scaling of GNR-based quantum electronics.

Role of Radiomics-based Multiomics Panel in the Microenvironment and Prognosis of Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most prevalent form of liver tumor, characterized by restricted therapeutic options and typically low long-term survival rates. Recently, immunotherapy has revolutionized HCC treatment, making the tumor microenvironment (TME) a research focus. Radiomics is increasingly crucial in HCC clinical decisions, offering advanced tools for TME characterization and prognosis assessment.

Pressure-Induced Assembly of Organic Phase-Change Materials Hybridized with Expanded Graphite and Carbon Nanotubes for Direct Solar Thermal Harvesting and Thermoelectric Conversion.

Direct harvesting of abundant solar thermal energy within organic phase-change materials (PCMs) has emerged as a promising way to overcome the intermittency of renewable solar energy and pursue high-efficiency heating-related applications. Organic PCMs, however, generally suffer from several common shortcomings including melting-induced leakage, poor solar absorption, and low thermal conductivity. Compounding organic PCMs with single-component carbon materials faces the difficulty in achieving optimized comprehensive performance enhancement.

Multifunctional Phase Change Films with High Mechanical Strength, Thermally Induced Switchable Adhesion, and Shape Recoverability for Infrared Stealth.

The application of organic solid-liquid phase change materials (PCMs) is limited for the leakage problem after phase change and high rigidity. In this work, a novel flexible solid-solid PCM (DXPCM) was synthesized using a block copolymerization process with polyethylene glycol (PEG) as the energy storage segment. The phase transition temperature (from 36.

Flexible Phase-Change Films with Exceptional Water and Temperature Resistance for Smart Personal Thermal Protection.

Personal thermal protection is crucial in extreme temperature environments, and the rising global temperatures present significant challenges in managing heat stress for individuals. Phase-change materials (PCMs) can absorb or release heat during phase transition to maintain a constant temperature, thus making them ideal innovative thermal protection materials. However, it is currently a bottleneck issue for using PCMs in wearable thermal protection systems due to a balance between the mechanical properties, latent heat, temperature resistance, and rapid response on demand.

Pulsed Field Ablation of Paroxysmal Supraventricular Tachycardia: A Prospective Multicenter Single-Arm Study in China.

Background: Pulsed field ablation (PFA) has gained attention in cardiac electrophysiology, but data on its application to paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia are limited. This study aimed to assess the feasibility and safety of PFA and its combination with radiofrequency ablation for treating paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia.

Methods: A prospective, multicenter, single-arm study was conducted across 8 centers in China.

Covalent Organic Frameworks with Regulated Water Adsorption Sites for Efficient Cooling of Electronics.

The excessive heat accumulation has been the greatest danger for chips to maintain the computing power. In this paper, a passive thermal management strategy for electronics cooling was developed based on the water vapor desorption process of the covalent organic frameworks (COFs). The precise regulation for the number of carbonyl group and the ratio of hydrophilicity and hydrophobicity within pore channels was achieved by water adsorption sites engineering.

A Bio-Based Polybenzoxazine Derived from Diphenolic Acid with Intrinsic Flame Retardancy, High Glass Transition Temperature and Dielectric Properties.

A bio-based benzoxazine monomer, diphenolic methyl ester hexafluoro diamino benzoxazine (DPME-HFBz), was successfully synthesized from diphenolic acid (DPA), and the chemical structure was successfully verified. The curing kinetics were studied via non-isothermal differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The activation energies of DPME-HFBz were calculated by Kissinger and Ozawa methods to be 136.

Experimental and computational insights into starch pasting as influenced by amino acids with different R-groups.

The effects of amino acids with different R-groups, namely glutamic acid (GLU), glutamine (GLN), and theanine (THE), on the pasting and structure properties of corn starch (CS) were investigated. During gelatinization, GLU decreased viscosity of CS. GLN and THE increased pasting enthalpy of CS from 7.

CT-FFR by expanding coronary tree with Newton-Krylov-Schwarz method to solve the governing equations of CFD.

Aims: A new model of computational fluid dynamics (CFD)-based algorithm for coronary CT angiography (CCTA)-derived fractional flow reserve (FFR) (CT-FFR) analysis by expanding the coronary tree to smaller-diameter lumen (0.8 mm) using Newton-Krylov-Schwarz (NKS) method to solve the three-dimensional time-dependent incompressible Navier-Stokes equations has been developed; however, the diagnostic performance of this new method has not been sufficiently investigated. The aim of this study was to determine the diagnostic performance of a novel CT-FFR technique by expanding the coronary tree in the CFD domain.

Multiomic analysis of familial adenomatous polyposis reveals molecular pathways associated with early tumorigenesis.

Familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) is a genetic disease causing hundreds of premalignant polyps in affected persons and is an ideal model to study transitions of early precancer states to colorectal cancer (CRC). We performed deep multiomic profiling of 93 samples, including normal mucosa, benign polyps and dysplastic polyps, from six persons with FAP. Transcriptomic, proteomic, metabolomic and lipidomic analyses revealed a dynamic choreography of thousands of molecular and cellular events that occur during precancerous transitions toward cancer formation.

Noise-Aware Active Learning to Develop High-Temperature Shape Memory Alloys with Large Latent Heat.

Shape memory alloys (SMAs) with large latent heat absorbed/released during phase transformation at elevated temperatures benefit their potential application on thermal energy storage (TES) in high temperature environment like power plants, etc. The desired alloys can be designed quickly by searching the vast component space of doped NiTi-based SMAs via data-driven method, while be challenging with the noisy experimental data. A noise-aware active learning strategy is proposed to accelerate the design of SMAs with large latent heat at elevated phase transformation temperatures based on noisy data.

Supramolecular assembly of polycation/mRNA nanoparticles and in vivo monocyte programming.

Size-dependent phagocytosis is a well-characterized phenomenon in monocytes and macrophages. However, this size effect for preferential gene delivery to these important cell targets has not been fully exploited because commonly adopted stabilization methods for electrostatically complexed nucleic acid nanoparticles, such as PEGylation and charge repulsion, typically arrest the vehicle size below 200 nm. Here, we bridge the technical gap in scalable synthesis of larger submicron gene delivery vehicles by electrostatic self-assembly of charged nanoparticles, facilitated by a polymer structurally designed to modulate internanoparticle Coulombic and van der Waals forces.

Comparative sensitivity of A-type and B-type starch crystals to ultrahigh magnetic fields.

In this study, maize starch (A-type) and potato starch (B-type) were treated with ultrahigh magnetic fields (UMF) of different intensities (5 T and 15 T) to investigate their sensitivity to UMF by measuring changes in their structure and rheological properties. The results indicate that the crystallinity of A-type starch significantly decreases, reaching a minimum of 20.01 % at 5 T.

May Measurement Month 2021: an analysis of blood pressure screening results from China.

We reported findings from participants screened during the May Measurement Month 2021 in China, which aimed to raise awareness of raised blood pressure (BP), and to investigate the risk factors of BP. The study participants were adults (≥18 years), ideally in whom BP had not been measured in the previous year. Blood pressure was measured three times consecutively with 1 min intervals in the sitting position, using a validated upper-arm cuff automated BP monitor (Omron HEM-7081IT), and transmitted to a central cloud database via a smartphone app.

Ticking Brain: Circadian Rhythm as a New Target for Cerebroprotection.

Circadian rhythm is a master process observed in nearly every type of cell throughout the body, and it macroscopically regulates daily physiology. Recent clinical trials have revealed the effects of circadian variation on the incidence, pathophysiological processes, and prognosis of acute ischemic stroke. Furthermore, core clock genes, the cell-autonomous pacemakers of the circadian rhythm, affect the neurovascular unit-composing cells in a nonparallel manner after the same pathophysiological processes of ischemia/reperfusion.

Flexible phase change film based on lignin-derived porous carbon/Eicosane for wearable thermal management and microwave absorption.

A flexible phase-change film with thermal management and microwave absorption capabilities was developed for use in wearable devices. The film was created using a solution casting method based on a porous carbon-loaded eicosane (LP33/EI) material. LP33 served as the porous encapsulation medium, while Eicosane (EI) acted as the phase change component.

Inverse association of prepregnancy systolic blood pressure and live birth rate in normotensive women undergoing in vitro fertilization/intracytoplasmic sperm injection.

Objective: To explore whether maternal baseline systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) affect pregnancy outcomes particularly in normotensive women (SBP, 90-139 mm Hg; DBP, 60-89 mm Hg) and hypertensive women undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF) or intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI).

Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Setting: Maximum care hospital for reproductive medicine.

In Situ MOF-74-Pyrolysis-Generated Porous Carbon Supporting Spinel CuCoO/C Boosts Ammonium Perchlorate Accelerating Decomposition: Precise Cu Doping Modulating Oxygen Vacancy Concentration.

As one of the main components of solid propellant, ammonium perchlorate (AP) shows slow sluggish decomposition kinetics with unconcentrated heat release. To achieve efficient catalytical decomposition, it is a significant challenge to design reasonable catalyst structure and explore the interaction between catalyst and AP. Herein, a series of porous carbon supported spinel-typed homogeneous heterometallic composites CuCoO/C via pyrolysis of MOF-74-Co doped Cu.