Synthetic chitin oligosaccharide nanocrystals and their higher-order assemblies.

Self-assembly is a powerful strategy for creating complex architectures and elucidating the aggregation behaviors of biopolymers. Herein, we investigate the hierarchical assembly of chitin using a approach based on synthetic oligosaccharides. We discovered that chitin oligosaccharides self-assemble into platelets, which then form higher-order structures.

Assessment of the effect of ascorbic acid, sodium isoascorbate and calcium ascorbate treatments on the browning and wound healing process of fresh-cut potatoes.

Browning significantly affects consumer perception, while texture hardening due to wound healing further reduces the commercial value of fresh-cut potatoes. This study evaluated the effects of 5 g L ascorbic acid (AA), sodium isoascorbate (SI), and calcium ascorbate (CA) on browning and wound healing during ambient storage. The results indicated that AA and SI were more effective than CA and the control in delaying browning and wound healing.

Engineered moiré photonic and phononic superlattices.

Recent discoveries of Mott insulating and unconventional superconducting states in twisted bilayer graphene with moiré superlattices have not only reshaped the landscape of 'twistronics' but also sparked the rapidly growing fields of moiré photonic and phononic structures. These innovative moiré structures have opened new routes of exploration for classical wave physics, leading to intriguing phenomena and robust control of electromagnetic and mechanical waves. Drawing inspiration from the success of twisted bilayer graphene, this Perspective describes an overarching framework of the emerging moiré photonic and phononic structures that promise novel classical wave devices.

The rate of QMGS change predicts recurrence after thymectomy in myasthenia gravis.

Objective: To investigate the relationship between short-term changes in quantitative myasthenia gravis score (QMGS) after thymectomy and postoperative recurrence in myasthenia gravis (MG) patients without thymoma.

Methods: A retrospective observational cohort study. The QMGS of 44 patients with non-thymomatous MG were evaluated before and 1 month after thymectomy, and the frequency and time of postoperative recurrence were recorded.

Local-Nonlinearity-Enabled Deep Subdiffraction Control of Acoustic Waves.

Diffraction sets a natural limit for the spatial resolution of acoustic wave fields, hindering the generation and recording of object details and manipulation of sound at subwavelength scales. We propose to overcome this physical limit by utilizing nonlinear acoustics. Our findings indicate that, contrary to the commonly utilized cumulative nonlinear effect, it is in fact the local nonlinear effect that is crucial in achieving subdiffraction control of acoustic waves.

Transcranial Phase Correction Using Pulse-Echo Ultrasound and Deep Learning: A 2-D Numerical Study.

Phase aberration caused by human skulls severely degrades the quality of transcranial ultrasound images, posing a major challenge in the practical application of transcranial ultrasound techniques in adults. Aberration can be corrected if the skull profile (i.e.

A frequency-domain model-based reconstruction method for transcranial photoacoustic imaging: A 2D numerical investigation.

Phase aberration caused by the skull is a major barrier to achieving high quality photoacoustic images of human and non-human primates' brains. To address this issue, time-reversal methods have been used but they are computationally demanding and slow due to relying on solving the full-wave equation. The proposed approach is based on model-based image reconstruction in the frequency-domain to achieve near real-time image reconstruction.

Realization of a Z-Classified Chiral-Symmetric Higher-Order Topological Insulator in a Coupling-Inverted Acoustic Crystal.

Higher-order topological band theory has transformed the landscape of topological phases in quantum and classical systems. Here, we experimentally demonstrate a two-dimensional higher-order topological phase, referred to as the multiple chiral topological phase, which is protected by a multipole chiral number (MCN). Our realization differs from previous higher-order topological phases in that it possesses a larger-than-unity MCN, which arises when the nearest-neighbor couplings are weaker than long-range couplings.

Broad-spectrum kinome profiling identifies CDK6 upregulation as a driver of lenvatinib resistance in hepatocellular carcinoma.

Increasing evidence has demonstrated that drug resistance can be acquired in cancer cells by kinase rewiring, which is an obstacle for efficient cancer therapy. However, it is technically challenging to measure the expression of protein kinases on large scale due to their dynamic range in human proteome. We employ a lysine-targeted sulfonyl fluoride probe, named XO44, which binds to 133 endogenous kinases in intact lenvatinib-resistant hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells.

On the Importance of Low-Frequency Signals in Functional and Molecular Photoacoustic Computed Tomography.

In photoacoustic computed tomography (PACT) with short-pulsed laser excitation, wideband acoustic signals are generated in biological tissues with frequencies related to the effective shapes and sizes of the optically absorbing targets. Low-frequency photoacoustic signal components correspond to slowly varying spatial features and are often omitted during imaging due to the limited detection bandwidth of the ultrasound transducer, or during image reconstruction as undesired background that degrades image contrast. Here we demonstrate that low-frequency photoacoustic signals, in fact, contain functional and molecular information, and can be used to enhance structural visibility, improve quantitative accuracy, and reduce spare-sampling artifacts.

Non-local and non-Hermitian acoustic metasurfaces.

Acoustic metasurfaces are at the frontier of acoustic functional material research owing to their advanced capabilities of wave manipulation at an acoustically vanishing size. Despite significant progress in the last decade, conventional acoustic metasurfaces are still fundamentally limited by their underlying physics and design principles. First, conventional metasurfaces assume that unit cells are decoupled and therefore treat them individually during the design process.

On the importance of low-frequency signals in functional and molecular photoacoustic computed tomography.

In photoacoustic computed tomography (PACT) with short-pulsed laser excitation, wideband acoustic signals are generated in biological tissues with frequencies related to the effective shapes and sizes of the optically absorbing targets. Low-frequency photoacoustic signal components correspond to slowly varying spatial features and are often omitted during imaging due to the limited detection bandwidth of the ultrasound transducer, or during image reconstruction as undesired background that degrades image contrast. Here we demonstrate that low-frequency photoacoustic signals, in fact, contain functional and molecular information, and can be used to enhance structural visibility, improve quantitative accuracy, and reduce spare-sampling artifacts.

Small Extracellular Vesicle-Derived vWF Induces a Positive Feedback Loop between Tumor and Endothelial Cells to Promote Angiogenesis and Metastasis in Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a hypervascular malignancy by which its growth and dissemination are largely driven by the modulation of tumor-derived small extracellular vesicles (sEVs). Proteomic profiling of circulating sEVs of control individuals and HCC patients identifies von Willibrand factor (vWF) to be upregulated progressively along HCC stages. Elevated sEV-vWF levels are found in a larger cohort of HCC-sEV samples and metastatic HCC cell lines compared to their respective normal counterparts.

Clathrin light chain A facilitates small extracellular vesicle uptake to promote hepatocellular carcinoma progression.

Background: Endocytosis is a fundamental process for internalizing small extracellular vesicles (sEVs). The present study aimed to elucidate the role of clathrin light chain A (CLTA) in sEV uptake in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

Materials And Methods: CLTA expression was analyzed by bioinformatics, quantitative PCR and immunohistochemistry.

Structural Anisotropy Governs the Kink Formation in Cellulose Nanocrystals.

Understanding the defect structure is fundamental to correlating the structure and properties of materials. However, little is known about the defects of soft matter at the nanoscale beyond their external morphology. We report here on the molecular-level structural details of kink defects of cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) based on a combination of experimental and theoretical methods.

Miniaturized Stacked Transducer for Intravascular Sonothrombolysis With Internal-Illumination Photoacoustic Imaging Guidance and Clot Characterization.

Thromboembolism in blood vessels can lead to stroke or heart attack and even sudden death unless brought under control. Sonothrombolysis enhanced by ultrasound contrast agents has shown promising outcome on effective treatment of thromboembolism. Intravascular sonothrombolysis was also reported recently with a potential for effective and safe treatment of deep thrombosis.

Ultra-sparse near-perfect sound absorbers.

There is a trade-off between the sparseness of an absorber array and its sound absorption imposed by wave physics. Here, near-perfect absorption (99% absorption) is demonstrated when the spatial period of monopole-dipole resonators is close to one working wavelength (95% of the wavelength). The condition for perfect absorption is to render degenerate monopole-dipole resonators critically coupled.

High-fidelity deep functional photoacoustic tomography enhanced by virtual point sources.

Photoacoustic tomography (PAT), a hybrid imaging modality that acoustically detects the optical absorption contrast, is a promising technology for imaging hemodynamic functions in deep tissues far beyond the traditional optical microscopy. However, the most clinically compatible PAT often suffers from the poor image fidelity, mostly due to the limited detection view of the linear ultrasound transducer array. PAT can be improved by employing highly-absorbing contrast agents such as droplets and nanoparticles, which, however, have low clinical translation potential due to safety concerns and regulatory hurdles imposed by these agents.

Airy Beam-enabled Binary Acoustic Metasurfaces for Underwater Ultrasound Beam Manipulation.

Airy beams are peculiar beams that are non-diffracting, self-accelerating, and self-healing, and they have offered great opportunities for ultrasound beam manipulation. However, one critical barrier that limits the broad applications of Airy beams in ultrasound is the lack of simply built device to generate Airy beams in water. This work presents a family of Airy beam-enabled binary acoustic metasurfaces (AB-BAMs) to generate Airy beams for underwater ultrasound beam manipulation.

A Multi-Spark Electrohydraulic Shock Wave Generator with Adjustable Pressure Field Distribution and Beam Steering Capability.

Background And Objective: All clinical shock wave lithotripters produce an axisymmetric acoustic field without accounting for the anatomic features of the kidney or respiratory motion of the patient. This work presents a steerable and adjustable focusing electrohydraulic (SAFE) shock wave generator design with variable beam size and shape.

Materials And Methods: 90 electrohydraulic transducers are mounted concentrically on a spherical basin with adjustable connection to individual transducers.

Benchmark problems for transcranial ultrasound simulation: Intercomparison of compressional wave models.

Computational models of acoustic wave propagation are frequently used in transcranial ultrasound therapy, for example, to calculate the intracranial pressure field or to calculate phase delays to correct for skull distortions. To allow intercomparison between the different modeling tools and techniques used by the community, an international working group was convened to formulate a set of numerical benchmarks. Here, these benchmarks are presented, along with intercomparison results.

Caspase-3-Induced Activation of SREBP2 Drives Drug Resistance via Promotion of Cholesterol Biosynthesis in Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

Unlabelled: Accumulating evidence has demonstrated that drug resistance can be acquired in cancer through the repopulation of tumors by cancer stem cell (CSC) expansion. Here, we investigated mechanisms driving resistance and CSC repopulation in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) as a cancer model using two drug-resistant, patient-derived tumor xenografts that mimicked the development of acquired resistance to sorafenib or lenvatinib treatment observed in patients with HCC. RNA sequencing analysis revealed that cholesterol biosynthesis was most commonly enriched in the drug-resistant xenografts.