Molybdenum-Catalyzed Asymmetric Amination of α-Hydroxy Esters: Synthesis of α-Amino Acids.

Unnatural α-amino acids are found in a wide variety of bioactive compounds ranging from proteins to pharmaceutical agents to materials science. As a result, the investigation of efficient and simple methods for their synthesis is a major purpose in reaction development. In this study, it is found that a catalyst based on molybdenum, an earth-abundant transition metal, can facilitate the amination of readily accessible α-hydroxy esters to afford N-protected unnatural α-amino acid esters in high yield.

Analysis of serum NLR combined with intraoperative margin condition to predict the prognosis of cervical HSIL patients undergoing LEEP surgery.

Objective: This study analyzed the prognosis of patients with high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (HSIL) after loop electrosurgical excision procedure (LEEP) and elucidated the predictive value of neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and margin condition in relation to prognostic recurrence.

Methods: A total of 209 patients were included, with 46 cases in the recurrence/residual group, 156 cases in the no recurrence/residual group, and 7 cases lost to follow-up. General information, past history and comorbid underlying diseases, laboratory tests, and other relevant clinical information were compared between the two groups.

Catalytic Asymmetric Synthesis of β-Amino α-Tertiary Alcohol through Borrowing Hydrogen Amination.

The first enantioconvergent transition-metal-catalyzed amination of racemic α-tertiary 1,2-diols providing access to vicinal β-amino α-tertiary alcohols is disclosed. The iridium-catalyzed amination reaction proceeds through a chiral phosphoric acid-mediated borrowing hydrogen pathway with excellent yields and enantioselectivities for a range of amine nucleophiles and α-tertiary 1,2-diols. An array of β-amino α-tertiary alcohols were obtained with high yields and enantioselectivities (50 examples with up to 91% yield and up to 99% ee).

Pancreas-targeted lipid nanoparticles for relatively non-invasive interleukin-12 mRNA therapy in orthotopic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) represents 90 % of pancreatic cancers and shows limited response to immune therapy owing to the highly immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment (TME). Cytokine-encoded mRNA therapy demonstrates a great promise in converting "cold" tumors into "hot" ones, while it is typically administered through intratumoral injection and applicable only to superficial tumors, which limites their application in PDAC. In this study, we design and develop a lipid nanoparticle (LNP) delivery system capable of targeting pancreatic tissue via intraperitoneal (I.

Asymmetric Amination of 1,2-Diol through Borrowing Hydrogen: Synthesis of Vicinal Amino α-Tertiary Alcohol.

Methods to prepare vicinal amino alcohols are important because of their presence in biologically active compounds. Despite the development of various methods for vicinal amino alcohol synthesis, C(sp3)-rich oxygen-containing β-amine compounds continue to pose great challenge. While ring-opening reaction of epoxides with amine nucleophile is the prime method for vicinal amino alcohol preparation, epoxides are highly reactive and sometimes difficult to make, resulting in drawbacks regarding selectivity of this approach.

Gut microbiota interacting with vitamin D but not anandamide might contribute to the pathogenesis of preeclampsia: a preliminary study.

Introduction: Preeclampsia (PE) is a pregnancy-specific multisystem disorder and a leading cause of maternal and perinatal mortality globally. Despite numerous studies highlighting the potential roles of gut microbiota, anandamide (AEA), and Vitamin D (VitD) in PE, none have established them as reliable biomarkers for predicting disease onset. Moreover, their interactions in late-stage pregnancy women remain poorly understood.

Robustness of radiomics within photon-counting detector CT: impact of acquisition and reconstruction factors.

Objectives: To assess the impact of acquisition and reconstruction factors on the robustness of radiomics within photon-counting detector CT (PCD-CT).

Methods: A phantom with twenty-eight texture materials was scanned with different acquisition and reconstruction factors including reposition, scan mode (standard vs high-pitch), tube voltage (120 kVp vs 140 kVp), slice thickness (1.0 mm vs 0.

Pyrrolopyrrole Cyanine Aggregates with Amplified Superoxide Radical Generation, GSH Depletion, and Photothermal Action for Hypoxic Cancer Phototherapy.

The elevated glutathione (GSH) level and hypoxia in tumor cells are two key obstacles to realizing the high performance of phototherapy. Herein, the electron-donating rotors are introduced to wings of electron-withdrawing pyrrolopyrrole cyanine (PPCy) to form donor-acceptor-donor structure -aggregates for amplified superoxide radical generation, GSH depletion, and photothermal action for hypoxic cancer phototherapy to tackle this challenge. Three PPCy photosensitizers (PPCy-H, PPCy-Br, and PPCy-TPE) produce hydroxyl radicals (•OH) and superoxide radicals (O) in hypoxia tumors exclusively as well as excellent photothermal performances under light irradiation.

Highly ionic conductive, elastic, and biocompatible double-network composite gel for epidermal biopotential monitoring and wearable sensing.

Soft ionic conductors are promising candidates for epidermal electrodes, flexible sensors, ionic skins, and other soft iontronic devices. However, their inadequate ionic conductivity and mechanical properties (such as toughness and adhesiveness) are still the main constraints for their wide applications in wearable bioelectronics. Herein, an all-biocompatible composite gel with a double-network (DN) strategy is proposed.

Triboelectric Bending Sensors for AI-Enabled Sign Language Recognition.

Human-machine interfaces and wearable electronics, as fundamentals to achieve human-machine interactions, are becoming increasingly essential in the era of the Internet of Things. However, contemporary wearable sensors based on resistive and capacitive mechanisms demand an external power, impeding them from extensive and diverse deployment. Herein, a smart wearable system is developed encompassing five arch-structured self-powered triboelectric sensors, a five-channel data acquisition unit to collect finger bending signals, and an artificial intelligence (AI) methodology, specifically a long short-term memory (LSTM) network, to recognize signal patterns.

The potential of cellular homing behavior in tumor immunotherapy: from basic discoveries to clinical applications of immune, mesenchymal stem, and cancer cell homing.

The efficacy of immunotherapy, a pivotal approach in the arsenal of cancer treatment strategies, is contingent on the capacity of effector cells to localize at the tumor site. The navigational capacity of these cells is intricately linked to the homing behaviors of specific cell types. Recent studies have focused on leveraging immune cells and mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) homing for targeted tumor therapy and incorporating cancer cell homing properties into anti-tumor strategies.

BreakNet: discontinuity-resilient multi-scale transformer segmentation of retinal layers.

Visible light optical coherence tomography (vis-OCT) is gaining traction for retinal imaging due to its high resolution and functional capabilities. However, the significant absorption of hemoglobin in the visible light range leads to pronounced shadow artifacts from retinal blood vessels, posing challenges for accurate layer segmentation. In this study, we present BreakNet, a multi-scale Transformer-based segmentation model designed to address boundary discontinuities caused by these shadow artifacts.

Advances in Chiral Macrocycles: Molecular Design and Applications.

Chiral macrocycles have recently emerged as promising materials for enantioselective recognition, asymmetric catalysis, and circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) due to their terminal-free structure, preorganized chiral cavities, and unique host-guest and self-assembly properties. This review summarizes recent advances in the design and synthesis of chiral macrocycles with central, axial, helical, and planar chirality, each imparting distinct structural and chiroptical characteristics. We highlight key strategies for constructing these macrocycles and their applications in optoelectronic and catalytic systems.

Detection, measurement, and diagnosis of lung nodules by ultra-low-dose CT in lung cancer screening: a systematic review.

Objective: There is a lack of recent meta-analyses and systematic reviews on the use of ultra-low-dose CT (ULDCT) for the detection, measurement, and diagnosis of lung nodules. This review aims to summarize the latest advances of ULDCT in these areas.

Methods: A systematic review of studies in PubMed and Web of Science was conducted, using search terms specific to ULDCT and lung nodules.

Macrocyclic catalysis mediated by water: opportunities and challenges.

Nanospaces within enzymes play a crucial role in chemical reactions in biological systems, garnering significant attention from supramolecular chemists. Inspired by the highly efficient catalysis of enzymes, artificial supramolecular hosts have been developed and widely employed in various reactions, paving the way for innovative and selective catalytic processes and offering new insights into enzymatic catalytic mechanisms. In supramolecular macrocycle systems, weak non-covalent interactions are exploited to enhance substrate solubility, increase local concentration, and stabilize the transition state, ultimately accelerating reaction rates and improving product selectivity.

Investigating the combination of Temsavir and entry inhibitors on HIV replication: Synergistic and antagonistic effects observed against various R5-tropic envelopes.

HIV is still a pandemic; antiretroviral therapeutics for preventing and treating HIV infection continue to present significant challenges. The demand for new drugs and effective treatments remains ongoing. Here, we investigated the effects of combining Temsavir with other HIV entry inhibitors, including CD4 mimetic BNM-III-170, T20 or enfuvirtide, Ibalizumab, and Maraviroc.

Comparative analysis of gut microbiota in incident and prevalent peritoneal dialysis patients with peritoneal fibrosis, correlations with peritoneal equilibration test data in the peritoneal fibrosis cohort.

Introduction: The connection between peritoneal function and gut microbiota in peritoneal fibrosis (PF) patients remains uncertain.

Methods: Peritoneal equilibration test (PET) was employed to evaluate peritoneal function in patients with peritoneal fibrosis (PF). 16S rRNA sequencing was used to analyze the gut flora in incident peritoneal dialysis (PD) and PF groups, identifying differential microbial communities.

An acute progressing hepatic angiosarcoma in a young male diagnosed by contrast-enhanced ultrasound-guided liver needle biopsy: a case report.

Background: Primary hepatic angiosarcoma (PHA) is a rare hepatic malignancy primarily observed in the elderly. It carries a poor prognosis as a result of the characteristics of rapid progression, high aggressiveness, and resistance to traditional chemo- and radiotherapies. Its nonspecific clinical manifestations, along with the lack of laboratory features and various imaging findings, make it hard to recognize in clinic, especially among non-high-risk populations.

Molybdenum Complex-Catalyzed -Alkylation of Bulky Primary and Secondary Amines.

Aliphatic allylic amines are present in a large number of complex and pharmaceutically relevant molecules. The direct amination of allylic electrophiles serves as the most common method toward the preparation of these motifs. However, the use of feedstock reaction components (allyl alcohol and aliphatic amine) in these transformations remains a great challenge.

Ultra-High-Resolution Photon-Counting Detector CT Benefits Visualization of Abdominal Arteries: A Comparison to Standard-Reconstruction.

This study aimed to investigate the potential benefit of ultra-high-resolution (UHR) photon-counting detector CT (PCD-CT) angiography in visualization of abdominal arteries in comparison to standard-reconstruction (SR) images of virtual monoenergetic images (VMI) at low kiloelectron volt (keV). We prospectively included 47 and 47 participants to undergo contrast-enhanced abdominal CT scans within UHR mode on a PCD-CT system using full-dose (FD) and low-dose (LD) protocols, respectively. The data were reconstructed into six series of images: FD_UHR_Br48, FD_UHR_Bv56, FD_UHR_Bv60, FD_SR_Bv40, LD_UHR_Bv48, and LD_SR_Bv40.

YkuR functions as a protein deacetylase in .

Protein acetylation is a common and reversible posttranslational modification tightly governed by protein acetyltransferases and deacetylases crucial for various biological processes in both eukaryotes and prokaryotes. Although recent studies have characterized many acetyltransferases in diverse bacterial species, only a few protein deacetylases have been identified in prokaryotes, perhaps in part due to their limited sequence homology. In this study, we identified YkuR, encoded by , as a unique protein deacetylase in .

Construction of Vine-Inspired Antimicrobial Filter with Multiscale 3D Nanonetwork for High-Efficiency Air Filtration.

Enhancing the antimicrobial activity of high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters while maintaining filtration efficiency and pressure drop is currently an urgent issue for preventing the spread of pathogenic microorganisms. Herein, inspired by vines which can enwind fences to fix as well as decorate them, a flexible antimicrobial chitin nanofiber (ChNF@CuO) was fabricated and loaded onto the rigid glass fiber (GF) skeleton of a HEPA filter. Through the physical interaction, ChNF@CuO was spontaneously enwound on GF, and ChNF@CuO itself interweaved to form a new nanonetwork between the GF skeleton.