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.

Recapitulating familial hypercholesterolemia in a mouse model by knock-in patient-specific LDLR mutation.

Familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) is one of the most prevalent monogenetic disorders leading to cardiovascular disease (CVD) worldwide. Mutations in Ldlr, encoding a membrane-spanning protein, account for the majority of FH cases. No effective and safe clinical treatments are available for FH.

Dysregulation of sphingolipid metabolism in pain.

Pain is a clinical condition that is currently of great concern and is often caused by tissue or nerve damage or occurs as a concomitant symptom of a variety of diseases such as cancer. Severe pain seriously affects the functional status of the body. However, existing pain management programs are not fully satisfactory.

Highly Selective Acetylene-to-Ethylene Electroreduction Over Cd-Decorated Cu Catalyst with Efficiently Inhibited Carbon-Carbon Coupling.

Electrochemical acetylene reduction (EAR) employing Cu catalysts represents an environmentally friendly and cost-effective method for ethylene production and purification. However, Cu-based catalysts encounter product selectivity issues stemming from carbon-carbon coupling and other side reactions. We explored the use of secondary metals to modify Cu-based catalysts and identified Cd decoration as particular effective.

Bifunctional ligand Co metal-organic framework derived heterostructured Co-based nanocomposites as oxygen electrocatalysts toward rechargeable zinc-air batteries.

Rational construction of efficient and robust bifunctional oxygen electrocatalysts is key but challenging for the widespread application of rechargeable zinc-air batteries (ZABs). Herein, bifunctional ligand Co metal-organic frameworks were first explored to fabricate a hybrid of heterostructured CoO/Co nanoparticles anchored on a carbon substrate rich in CoN sites (CoO/Co@CoNC) via a one-step pyrolysis method. Such a unique heterostructure provides abundant CoN and CoO/Co active sites to drive oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER), respectively.

Engineered Peptides Harboring Cation Motifs Against Multidrug-Resistant Bacteria.

Multidrug-resistant (MDR) pathogens pose a serious threat to the health and life of humans, necessitating the development of new antimicrobial agents. Herein, we develop and characterize a panel of nine amino acid peptides with a cation end motif. Bioactivity analysis revealed that the short peptide containing "RWWWR" as a central motif harboring mirror structure "KXR" unit displayed not only high activity against MDR planktonic bacteria but also a clearance rate of 92.

Recent advances in bifunctional dual-sites single-atom catalysts for oxygen electrocatalysis toward rechargeable zinc-air batteries.

Rechargeable zinc-air batteries (ZABs) with high energy density and low pollutant emissions are regarded as the promising energy storage and conversion devices. However, the sluggish kinetics and complex four-electron processes of oxygen reduction reaction and oxygen evolution reaction occurring at air electrodes in rechargeable ZABs pose significant challenges for their large-scale application. Carbon-supported single-atom catalysts (SACs) exhibit great potential in oxygen electrocatalysis, but needs to further improve their bifunctional electrocatalytic performance, which is highly related to the coordination environment of the active sites.

Single-Atom-Based Oxygen Reduction Reaction Catalysts for Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells: Progress and Perspective.

Single-atom catalysts (SACs) are regarded as promising non-noble-metal alternatives for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in proton exchange membrane fuel cells due to their high atom utilization efficiency and excellent catalytic properties. However, the insufficient long-term stability issues of SACs under the working conditions seriously hinder their practical application. In this perspective, the recent progress of SACs with optimized ORR catalytic activity is first reviewed.

Titania-Supported Cu-Single-Atom Catalyst for Electrochemical Reduction of Acetylene to Ethylene at Low-Concentrations with Suppressed Hydrogen Evolution.

Electrochemical acetylene reduction (EAR) is a promising strategy for removing acetylene from ethylene-rich gas streams. However, suppressing the undesirable hydrogen evolution is vital for practical applications in acetylene-insufficient conditions. Herein, Cu single atoms are immobilized on anatase TiO nanoplates (Cu-SA/TiO ) for electrochemical acetylene reduction, achieving an ethylene selectivity of ≈97% with a 5 vol% acetylene gas feed (Ar balance).

Role of autophagy in the pathogenesis and regulation of pain.

Pain is a ubiquitous and highly concerned clinical symptom, usually caused by peripheral or central nervous injury, tissue damage, or other diseases. The long-term existence of pain can seriously affect daily physical function and quality of life and produce great torture on the physiological and psychological levels. However, the complex pathogenesis of pain involving molecular mechanisms and signaling pathways has not been fully elucidated, and managing pain remains highly challenging.

Engineered Staphylococcus auricularis Cas9 with high-fidelity.

CRISPR-Cas9 is a versatile gene editing tool with a broad application of basic research and clinical therapeutics. However, the potential impact caused by off-target effects remains a critical bottleneck. The small Cas9 ortholog from Staphylococcus auricularis (SauriCas9) was identified, which recognizes a 5'-NNGG-3' protospacer adjacent motif (PAM), exhibiting high activity for genome editing.

Peptide Supramolecular Hydrogels with Sustained Release Ability for Combating Multidrug-Resistant Bacteria.

Chronic wound infection caused by multidrug-resistant bacteria is a major threat globally, leading to high mortality rates and a considerable economic burden. To address it, an innovative supramolecular nanofiber hydrogel (Hydrogel-RL) harboring antimicrobial peptides was developed based on the novel arginine end-tagging peptide (Pep 6) from our recent study, triggering cross-linking. In vitro results demonstrated that Hydrogel-RL can sustain the release of Pep 6 up to 120 h profiles, which is biocompatible and exhibits superior activity for methicillin-resistant (MRSA) biofilm inhibition and elimination.

Sonic Hedgehog Signaling Pathway: A Role in Pain Processing.

Pain, as one of the most prevalent clinical symptoms, is a complex physiological and psychological activity. Long-term severe pain can become unbearable to the body. However, existing treatments do not provide satisfactory results.

Pt Single Atoms on CrN Nanoparticles Deliver Outstanding Activity and CO Tolerance in the Hydrogen Oxidation Reaction.

The large-scale application of proton exchange membrane fuel cells is currently hampered by high cost of commercial Pt catalysts and their susceptibility to poisoning by CO impurities in H feed. In this context, the development of CO-tolerant electrocatalysts with high Pt atom utilization efficiency for hydrogen oxidation reaction (HOR) is of critical importance. Herein, Pt single atoms are successfully immobilized on chromium nitride nanoparticles by atomic layer deposition method, denoted as Pt SACs/CrN.

Normalization of the H3K9me2/H3K14ac-ΔFosB pathway in the nucleus accumbens underlying the reversal of morphine-induced behavioural and synaptic plasticity by Compound 511.

Background: Although opioid agonist-based treatments are considered the first-line treatment for opioid use disorders, nonopioid alternatives are urgently needed to combat the inevitable high relapse rates. Compound 511 is a formula derived from ancient traditional Chinese medical literature on opiate rehabilitation. Previously, we observed that Compound 511 could effectively prevent the acquisition of conditioned place preference (CPP) during early morphine exposure.

Ensemble learning supervision augmentation for white matter hyperintensity segmentation.

Since the ambiguous boundary of the lesion and inter-observer variability, white matter hyperintensity segmentation annotations are inherently noisy and uncertain. On the other hand, the high capacity of deep neural networks (DNN) enables them to overfit labels with noise and uncertainty, which may lead to biased models with weak generalization ability. This challenge has been addressed by leveraging multiple annotations per image.

Niclosamide as a repurposing drug against Gram-positive bacterial infections.

Objectives: Niclosamide is commonly used as an antiparasitic drug in veterinary clinics. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the efficacy of niclosamide against resistant Gram-positive bacteria in vitro and in an in vivo experimental model of topical bacterial infection. Moreover, to study the antibacterial mechanism of niclosamide to Staphylococcus aureus.

Evaluating Automatic Segmentation for Swallowing-Related Organs for Head and Neck Cancer.

To evaluate the accuracy of deep-learning-based auto-segmentation of the superior constrictor, middle constrictor, inferior constrictor, and larynx in comparison with a traditional multi-atlas-based method. One hundred and five computed tomography image datasets from 83 head and neck cancer patients were retrospectively collected and the superior constrictor, middle constrictor, inferior constrictor, and larynx were analyzed for deep-learning versus multi-atlas-based segmentation. Eighty-three computed tomography images (40 diagnostic computed tomography and 43 planning computed tomography) were used for training the convolutional neural network, and for atlas-based model training.

Mesopore-Rich Fe-N-C Catalyst with FeN -O-NC Single-Atom Sites Delivers Remarkable Oxygen Reduction Reaction Performance in Alkaline Media.

Fe-N-C catalysts offer excellent performance for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in alkaline media. With a view toward boosting the intrinsic ORR activity of Fe single-atom sites in Fe-N-C catalysts, fine-tuning the local coordination of the Fe sites to optimize the binding energies of ORR intermediates is imperative. Herein, a porous FeN -O-NCR electrocatalyst rich in catalytically accessible FeN -O sites (wherein the Fe single atoms are coordinated to four in-plane nitrogen atoms and one subsurface axial oxygen atom) supported on N-doped carbon nanorods (NCR) is reported.

Interfacial wettability and mass transfer characterizations for gas-liquid-solid triple-phase catalysis.

Heterogeneous catalysis is inseparable from interfacial mass transfer and chemical reaction processes determined by the structure and microenvironment. Different from high-temperature thermochemical processes, photo- and electrocatalysis operated at mild conditions often involve both gas and liquid phases, making it important but challenging to characterize the reaction process typically occurring at the gas-liquid-solid interface. Herein, we review the scope, feasibility, and limitation of ten types of currently available technologies used to characterize interfacial wettability and mass transfer properties of various triple-phase catalytic reactions.

pH-Responsive Antimicrobial Peptide with Selective Killing Activity for Bacterial Abscess Therapy.

The unusual acidic pH of the abscess milieu is an adverse factor that decreases the therapeutic efficacy of traditional antibiotics. Moreover, avoiding both the undesired killing of commensal bacteria and the development of drug resistance remains difficult during abscess therapy. Hence, we synthesized a series of pH-responsive antimicrobial peptides equipped with efficient bacterial killing activity at pH 6.

Novel Arginine End-Tagging Antimicrobial Peptides to Combat Multidrug-Resistant Bacteria.

The emergence of multidrug-resistant microorganisms has been termed one of the most common global health threats, emphasizing the discovery of new antibacterial agents. To address this issue, we engineered peptides harboring "RWWWR" as a central motif plus arginine (R) end-tagging and then tested them and . Our results demonstrate that Pep 6, one of the engineered peptides, shows great potential in combating bacteremia and the skin burn infection model, which induces a 62-90% reduction in bacterial burden.