Growing meat on autoclaved vegetables with biomimetic stiffness and micro-patterns.

Cultured meat needs edible bio-scaffolds that provide not only a growth milieu for muscle and adipose cells, but also biomimetic stiffness and tissue-sculpting topography. Current meat-engineering technologies struggle to achieve scalable cell production, efficient cell differentiation, and tissue maturation in one single culture system. Here we propose an autoclaving strategy to transform common vegetables into muscle- and adipose-engineering scaffolds, without undergoing conventional plant decellularization.

Exploring Ion Transmission Mechanisms in Clay-Based 2D Nanofluidics for Osmotic Energy Conversion.

Clay-based 2D nanofluidics present a promising avenue for osmotic energy harvesting due to their low cost and straightforward large-scale preparation. However, a comprehensive understanding of ion transport mechanisms, and horizontal and vertical transmission, remains incomplete. By employing a multiscale approach in combination of first-principles calculations and molecular dynamics simulations, the issue of how transmission directions impact on the clay-based 2D nanofluidics on osmotic energy conversion is addressed.

Comparative Study on Protein Composition and Foam Characteristics of Barley and Wheat Beer.

Protein is an important component of beer, and its type, content and molecular weight directly affect the quality of beer, especially the foam quality of beer. Different brands of wheat beer and barley beer available in the market were used for this analysis. The differences in protein composition and foam performance between multi-sample barley and wheat beer were analyzed using sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and high-pressure size exclusion chromatography.

S-ketamine alleviates depression-like behavior and hippocampal neuroplasticity in the offspring of mice that experience prenatal stress.

Prenatal stress exerts long-term impact on neurodevelopment in the offspring, with consequences such as increasing the offspring's risk of depression in adolescence and early adulthood. S-ketamine can produce rapid and robust antidepressant effects, but it is not clear yet whether and how S-ketamine alleviates depression in prenatally stressed offspring. The current study incestigated the preliminary anti-depression mechanism of S-ketamine in prenatally stressed offspring, particularly with regard to neuroplasticity.

Association between possible sarcopenia, all-cause mortality, and adverse health outcomes in community-dwelling older adults in China.

The relationship between possible sarcopenia and mortality remains ambiguous within Asian populations. To clarify this, we investigated the association in older adults residing in Chinese communities. Utilizing data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study, this population-based cohort study included individuals aged ≥ 60 years, followed from 2011 to 2012 through 2020.

Preparation of active films with antioxidant and antimicrobial properties by combining ginger essential oil nanoemulsion with xylan and polyvinyl alcohol.

Due to the environmental challenges of petroleum-based packaging, new biodegradable and active food packaging has garnered significant attention. In this work, active films were generated with xylan/polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) as the film-forming matrix, combined with ginger essential oil nanoemulsions (GEO-NEs) at varying concentrations (2.0 %, 4.

Water Transport-Induced Liquid-Liquid Phase Separation Facilitates Gelation for Controllable and Facile Fabrication of Physically Crosslinked Microgels.

Physically crosslinked microgels (PCMs) offer a biocompatible platform for various biomedical applications. However, current PCM fabrication methods suffer from their complexity and poor controllability, due to their reliance on altering physical conditions to initiate gelation and their dependence on specific materials. To address this issue, a novel PCM fabrication method is devised, which employs water transport-induced liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) to trigger the intermolecular interaction-supported sol-gel transition within aqueous emulsion droplets.

The sex of organ geometry.

Organs have a distinctive yet often overlooked spatial arrangement in the body. We propose that there is a logic to the shape of an organ and its proximity to its neighbours. Here, by using volumetric scans of many Drosophila melanogaster flies, we develop methods to quantify three-dimensional features of organ shape, position and interindividual variability.

All-natural 2D nanofluidics as highly-efficient osmotic energy generators.

Two-dimensional nanofluidics based on naturally abundant clay are good candidates for harvesting osmotic energy between the sea and river from the perspective of commercialization and environmental sustainability. However, clay-based nanofluidics outputting long-term considerable osmotic power remains extremely challenging to achieve due to the lack of surface charge and mechanical strength. Here, a two-dimensional all-natural nanofluidic (2D-NNF) is developed as a robust and highly efficient osmotic energy generator based on an interlocking configuration of stacked montmorillonite nanosheets (from natural clay) and their intercalated cellulose nanofibers (from natural wood).

The impact of brominated flame retardants (BFRs) on pulmonary function in US adults: a cross-sectional study based on NHANES (2007-2012).

Brominated flame retardants (BFRs) are a group of chemicals widely used in various applications to prevent or slow down the spread of fire. However, they have adverse effects on human health. There is a relative scarcity of population-based studies regarding BFRs, particularly their impact on the respiratory system.

Extended Dynamic Mode Decomposition with Invertible Dictionary Learning.

The Koopman operator has received attention for providing a potentially global linearization representation of the nonlinear dynamical system. To estimate or control the original system, the invertibility problem is introduced into the data-driven modeling, i.e.

Caffeinated beverages intake and risk of deep vein thrombosis: A Mendelian randomization study.

This study aimed to explore the potential link between coffee and tea consumption and the risk of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) through Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis. Employing the MR, we identified 33 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) as instrumental variables (IVs) for coffee intake and 38 SNPs for tea intake. The investigation employed the inverse-variance weighted (IVW) method to evaluate the causal impact of beverage consumption on DVT risk.

Studies on the degradation pattern of wheat malt endo-1,4-β-xylanase on wheat-derived arabinoxylans.

Background: Wheat malt endo-1,4-β-xylanase is a key enzyme for arabinoxylan degradation, but its wheat-derived arabinoxylan degradation pattern is unclear.

Results: Water-extractable arabinoxylan (WEAX) of 300-750 kDa and 30-100 kDa were the two components with the highest degradation efficiency of wheat malt endo-1,4-β-xylanase, followed by > 1000 kDa WEAX, but 100-300 kDa WEAX showed the lowest degradation efficiency. The main enzymatic products were the 5-30 kDa WEAX, which accounted for 57.

Association between lactate-to-albumin ratio and 28-days all-cause mortality in patients with sepsis-associated liver injury: a retrospective cohort study.

Background: The mortality rate of sepsis-associated liver injury (SALI) is relatively high, but there is currently no authoritative prognostic criterion for the outcome of SALI. Meanwhile, lactate-to-albumin ratio (LAR) has been confirmed to be associated with mortality rates in conditions such as sepsis, heart failure, and respiratory failure. However, there is a scarcity of research reporting on the association between LAR and SALI.

Recent progress in SEI engineering for boosting Li metal anodes.

Lithium metal anodes (LMAs) are ideal anode candidates for achieving next-generation high-energy-density battery systems due to their high theoretical capacity (3680 mA h g) and low working potential (-3.04 V the standard hydrogen electrode). However, the non-ideal solid electrolyte interface (SEI) derived from electrolyte/electrode interfacial reactions plays a vital role in the lithium deposition/stripping process and battery cycling performance.

Aspergillus niger fermentation residues application to produce biochar for the anode of lithium-ion batteries.

Aspergillus niger is widely applied in the fermentation industry, but produce abundant mycelium residues every year. As a kind of solid waste, mycelium residues seriously affect the environment. How to manage and utilize this solid waste is a problem for the fermentation industry.

Hepatotoxicity evaluation and possible mechanisms of decabrominated diphenyl ethers (BDE-209) in broilers: Oxidative stress, inflammatory, and transcriptomics.

Decabrominated diphenyl ether (BDE-209), a persistent organic pollutant, is linked to a great number of health problems, the most severe of which impact the liver due to its role in the elimination and degradation of exogenous harmful substances. Though the hepatotoxicity of BDE-209 has been observed, its underlying mechanism is yet unknown. The purpose of this study is to thoroughly investigate the hepatotoxicity of BDE-209 and its molecular processes in broilers by subjecting 120 male broilers to varied concentrations of BDE-209 for 42 days.

Vitamin D and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis: a two-sample mendelian randomization study.

Background: A prospective study of multiple small samples found that idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is often accompanied by a deficiency in Vitamin D levels. However, the causal relationship between the two remains to be determined. Therefore, our study aims to investigate the causal effect of serum 1,25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) on the risk of IPF through a two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis.

Possible sarcopenia and risk of new-onset type 2 diabetes mellitus in older adults in China: a 7-year longitudinal cohort study.

Background: Previous studies have shown that type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) can cause sarcopenia; however, these conditions may have a bidirectional association. This study aimed to explore the longitudinal association between possible sarcopenia and new-onset T2DM.

Methods: We conducted a population-based cohort study using nationally representative data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS).

Domesticating aquatic plants in hydroponic systems to demonstrate and advance phytoremediation of the artificial sweetener acesulfame.

Artificial sweeteners (ASs) are ubiquitously detected in the global water system, among which acesulfame (ACE) is an emerging contaminant for its chemical and biological stability and unsatisfying removal by conventional or advanced treatment technologies. Phytoremediation is an effective and sustainable in-situ remediation technology that this study is the first to explore ACE removal by aquatic plants. The emergent plants, Scirpus Validus (S.

Ion modulation engineering toward stable lithium metal anodes.

Homogeneous ion transport during Li plating/stripping plays a significant role in the stability of Li metal anodes (LMAs) and the electrochemical performance of Li metal batteries (LMBs). Controlled ion transport with uniform Li distribution is expected to suppress notorious Li dendrite growth while stabilizing the susceptible solid electrolyte interfacial (SEI) film and optimizing the electrochemical stability. Here, we are committed to rendering a comprehensive study of Li transport during the Li plating/stripping process related to the interactions between the Li dendrites and SEI film.

Functional Separator Enabled by Covalent Organic Frameworks for High-Performance Li Metal Batteries.

Uncontrolled ion transport and susceptible SEI films are the key factors that induce lithium dendrite growth, which hinders the development of lithium metal batteries (LMBs). Herein, a TpPa-2SO H covalent organic framework (COF) nanosheet adhered cellulose nanofibers (CNF) on the polypropylene separator (COF@PP) is successfully designed as a battery separator to respond to the aforementioned issues. The COF@PP displays dual-functional characteristics with the aligned nanochannels and abundant functional groups of COFs, which can simultaneously modulate ion transport and SEI film components to build robust lithium metal anodes.

Induced bimetallic sulfide growth with reduced graphene oxide for high-performance sodium storage.

Metal sulfide has been considered an ideal sodium-ion battery (SIB) anode material based on its high theoretical capacity. Nevertheless, the inevitable volume expansion during charge-discharge processes can lead to unsatisfying electrochemical properties, which limits its further large-scale application. In this contribution, laminated reduced graphene oxide (rGO) successfully induced the growth of SnCoS particles and self-assembled into a nanosheet-structured SnCoS@rGO composite through a facile solvothermal procedure.

Degradation of soybean meal proteins by wheat malt endopeptidase and the antioxidant capacity of the enzymolytic products.

This study investigated the hydrolysis effect of the endopeptidase from wheat malt on the soybean meal proteins. The results indicated that the endopeptidase broke the peptide bonds of soybean meal proteins and converted the alcohol- and alkali-soluble proteins into water-soluble and salt-soluble proteins. In addition, wheat malt endopeptidase did not break the disulfide bonds between proteins but affected the conformation of disulfide bonds between substrate protein molecules, which were changed from the gauche-gauche-trans (g-g-t) vibrational mode to the trans-gauche-trans (t-g-t) vibrational mode.