Dopaminergic modulation of propofol-induced activation in VLPO neurons: the role of D1 receptors in sleep-promoting neural circuits.

Background: The ventrolateral preoptic nucleus (VLPO) is a crucial regulator of sleep, and its neurons are implicated in both sleep-wake regulation and anesthesia-induced loss of consciousness. Propofol (PRO), a widely used intravenous anesthetic, modulates the activity of VLPO neurons, but the underlying mechanisms, particularly the role of dopaminergic receptors, remain unclear.

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the effects of PRO on NA (-) neurons in the VLPO and to determine the involvement of D1 and D2 dopaminergic receptors in mediating these effects.

The whistle-blower effect vs. the cry-wolf effect: A game analysis framework for collaborative epidemic information governance.

The unpredictability of the epidemics caused by new, unknown viruses, combined with differing responsibilities among government departments, often leads to a prisoner's dilemma in epidemic information governance. In this context, the whistle-blower effect in the health departments leads to delayed reporting to avoid potential retaliation, and the cry-wolf effect in the administrative departments results in sustained observation to avoid ineffective warnings. To address these challenges, we employ game theory to analyze the dynamics of epidemic information governance and focus on two external governance mechanisms-superior accountability and media supervision-that can help resolve the prisoner's dilemma during and after an outbreak.

Phellodendrine inhibits oxidative stress and promotes autophagy by regulating the AMPK/mTOR pathway in burn sepsis-induced intestinal injury.

Intestinal injury is an important complication of burn sepsis with limited therapeutic choices. Phellodendrine is a promising compound for gastrointestinal inflammatory diseases and is extracted from the traditional Chinese medicine phellodendron bark. The study aimed to explore the role of phellodendrine against oxidative stress and autophagy in burn sepsis-induced intestinal injury.

Reducing Cross-Sensor Domain Gaps in Tactile Sensing via Few-Sample-Driven Style-to-Content Unsupervised Domain Adaptation.

Transferring knowledge learned from standard GelSight sensors to other visuotactile sensors is appealing for reducing data collection and annotation. However, such cross-sensor transfer is challenging due to the differences between sensors in internal light sources, imaging effects, and elastomer properties. By understanding the data collected from each type of visuotactile sensors as domains, we propose a few-sample-driven style-to-content unsupervised domain adaptation method to reduce cross-sensor domain gaps.

A Self-Phase Separated Electrolyte toward Durable and Rollover-Stable Zinc Metal Batteries.

Aqueous zinc (Zn) metal batteries (ZMBs) have received great attention due to their safety and environmental friendliness. Although aqueous electrolytes facilitate fast kinetics in metal oxide cathodes, their incompatibility with the Zn metal anodes triggers severe hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and dendrite growth. Herein, a self-phase separated electrolyte (SPSE) is proposed to fulfill the contradictory requirements of the anode and cathode in ZMBs.

Classification of childhood obesity using longitudinal clinical body mass index and its validation.

Objective: Persistence of childhood adiposity is known to be associated with long-term adverse cardiometabolic risks. Yet, cross-sectional body mass index (BMI) is often used to classify obesity in clinical care and research. This study aimed to develop and validate a childhood obesity classification system using longitudinal clinical data.

Metabolites in Serum Small Extracellular Vesicles Instead of Small Extracellular Vesicles-depleted Serum Have Better Diagnostic Value for Cancers at Early Stage.

Serum is one of the most commonly used biofluids for biomarker exploration. Some studies examine serum directly, while others focus on specific components like small extracellular vesicles (sEVs), which are lipid-bilayer encapsulated particles carrying a variety of molecular cargos. However, the diagnostic value of serum sEVs versus sEVs-depleted fractions (EV-free serum) for early cancer detection are unclear.

Elongator subunit Elp3 regulates reproduction in Tribolium castaneum by interacting with FOXO.

As the catalytic subunit of the Elongator complex, Elongator protein 3 (Elp3) plays a crucial role in multiple physiological processes, including growth, development and immune responses. Previous studies on Elp3 have focused on Caenorhabditis elegans, Drosophila melanogaster, Homo sapiens (human) or Mus musculus (mouse), whereas there are few reports on Elp3 in agricultural pests. Here, the role of TcElp3 in reproduction in the red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum, was investigated, and the underlying mechanisms were explored.

Non-Invasive Diagnosis of Moyamoya Disease Using Serum Metabolic Fingerprints and Machine Learning.

Moyamoya disease (MMD) is a progressive cerebrovascular disorder that increases the risk of intracranial ischemia and hemorrhage. Timely diagnosis and intervention can significantly reduce the risk of new-onset stroke in patients with MMD. However, the current diagnostic methods are invasive and expensive, and non-invasive diagnosis using biomarkers of MMD is rarely reported.

Multidimensional Proteomic Landscape Reveals Distinct Activated Pathways Between Human Brain Tumors.

Brain metastases (BrMs) and gliomas are two typical human brain tumors with high incidence of mortalities and distinct clinical challenges, yet the understanding of these two types of tumors remains incomplete. Here, a multidimensional proteomic landscape of BrMs and gliomas to infer tumor-specific molecular pathophysiology at both tissue and plasma levels is presented. Tissue sample analysis reveals both shared and distinct characteristics of brain tumors, highlighting significant disparities between BrMs and gliomas with differentially activated upstream pathways of the PI3K-Akt signaling pathway that have been scarcely discussed previously.

Molecular imaging-guided diagnosis and treatment integration for brain diseases.

In practical clinical scenarios, improved diagnostic methods have been developed for the precise visualization of molecular targets using molecular imaging in brain diseases. Recently, the introduction of innovative molecular imaging modalities across both macroscopic and mesoscopic dimensions, with remarkable specificity and spatial resolution, has expanded the scope of applications beyond diagnostic testing, with the potential to guide therapeutic interventions, offering real-time feedback in the context of brain therapy. The molecular imaging-guided integration of diagnosis and treatment holds the potential to revolutionize disease management by enabling the real-time monitoring of treatment responses and therapy adjustments.

Enhanced mite control and agricultural safety with etoxazole-loaded chitin nanocrystals: Synthesis, characterization, and ecological impacts.

Chitin nanocrystals (ChNCs), known for their high aspect ratio, surface charge, and mobility, are promising bio-based nanomaterials for drug delivery. However, their potential as pesticide carriers in agriculture remains underexplored. Etoxazole, a diphenyl oxalate acaricide, effectively inhibits egg hatching and the normal molting process in mites but suffers from rapid degradation and short persistence in field applications.

Noble Metal Nanoparticle Assisted Mass Spectrometry for Metabolite-Based In Vitro Diagnostics.

In vitro diagnostics (IVD) makes clinical diagnosis rapid, simple, and noninvasive to patients, playing a crucial role in the early diagnosis and monitoring of diseases. Metabolic biomarkers are closely correlated to the phenotype of diseases. However, most IVD platforms are constrained by the sensitivity and throughput of assay.

Diagnostic Performance of Multiparametric MRI for Detection of Prostate Cancer After Focal Therapy.

Background: Minimally invasive focal therapy of low- to intermediate-risk prostate cancer is becoming more common and has demonstrated lower morbidity compared to other treatments. Multiparametric prostate magnetic resonance imaging (mpMRI) has the potential to be an effective posttreatment evaluation method for residual/recurrent neoplasm.

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the ability of mpMRI to detect residual/recurrent neoplasm after focal therapy treatment of prostate cancer using a 3-point Likert scale.

Decoding aging clocks: New insights from metabolomics.

Chronological age is a crucial risk factor for diseases and disabilities among older adults. However, individuals of the same chronological age often exhibit divergent biological aging states, resulting in distinct individual risk profiles. Chronological age estimators based on omics data and machine learning techniques, known as aging clocks, provide a valuable framework for interpreting molecular-level biological aging.

Efficacy and safety of human umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells versus placebo added to second-line therapy in patients with steroid-refractory acute graft-versus-host disease: a multicentre, randomized, double-blind, phase 2 trial.

Background: Failure of systemic corticosteroid therapy is common in patients with newly diagnosed acute graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD) above grade II. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been used as a tolerable and potentially effective second-line therapy for steroid-refractory aGVHD (SR-aGVHD); however, well-designed, prospective, controlled studies are lacking.

Methods: This multicentre, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, exploratory phase 2 study enrolled patients with SR-aGVHD above grade II from 7 centres.

The synergistic effects of platelet-rich plasma and negative pressure wound therapy in cavitary infected wounds: a single-centre experience.

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of the combined application of platelet-rich plasma (PRP) and negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) in cavitary infected wounds, in addition to the parameter settings of NPWT.

Methods: The outcomes of patients with cavitary wounds who received debridement with either PRP plus NPWT (PRP group) or NPWT alone (controls) as part of their treatment protocol were retrospectively compared by examining preoperative and postoperative data on high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), white blood cell (WBC) count, neutrophil percentage, bacterial cultures, pain (measured using visual analogue scale [VAS] scores), postoperative hospitalization duration, and effective hospitalization days.

Results: A total of 24 patients were included (11 who received PRP plus NPWT and 13 who received NPWT alone).

Phosphorylated octa-aminopropyl POSS grafting on proanthocyanidin interface decorated 2D MXene for enhanced flame-retardancy of cotton fabric nanocomposites.

Two-dimensional (2D) nanosheet materials (MXenes) have unparalleled advantages in the field of flame-retardant multifunctional composites, but their dispersibility, flame retardancy and compatibility with the matrix are poor and need to be enhanced. In this research, we employed interfacial decoration and grafting modification to firstly introduce proanthocyanidins (PCs) onto MXenes surface (forming PC-MXenes) to increase the number of available active sites. On this basis, phosphorylated A-POSS was grafted onto PC-MXene (resulting in PAP@P-MXene) via a one-pot method, organic-inorganic hybrid flame-retardant PAP@P-MXene nano-coatings were subsequently constructed on the surface of cotton fabrics via an immersion method, and their structure-property relationships were verified.

Mucus-Penetrable Biomimetic Nanoantibiotics for Pathogen-Induced Pneumonia Treatment.

Bacterial pneumonia has garnered significant attention in the realm of infectious diseases owing to a surge in the incidence of severe infections coupled with the growing scarcity of efficacious therapeutic modalities. Antibiotic treatment is still an irreplaceable method for bacterial pneumonia because of its strong bactericidal activity and good clinical efficacy. However, the mucus layer forming after a bacterial infection in the lungs has been considered as the "Achilles' heels" facing the clinical application of such treatment.

Co-application of Validamycin A and dsRNAs targeting trehalase genes conferred enhanced insecticidal activity against Laodelphax striatellus.

The small brown planthopper (SBPH), Laodelphax striatellus, poses a significant threat to rice crops, necessitating innovative pest control strategies. This study evaluated the potential of validamycin A (Val A) and RNA interference (RNAi) targeting trehalase genes (LsTre1 and LsTre2) in controlling SBPH. Our results demonstrated that Val A treatment of rice seedlings led to a dose-dependent mortality of SBPH.

Knockdown of TcGluCl leads to the premature pupation of Tribolium castaneum larvae possibly by influencing the calcium-mediating hormone homeostasis.

The glutamate-gated chloride channels (GluCls) are widely existed in the neural and nonneural tissues of invertebrate. In addition to play important roles in signal transduction, the GluCls also showed multiple physiological functions in insects such as participate in the juvenile hormone synthesis. In the present study, the potential roles of TcGluCl in growth and development of the red flour beetle Tribolium castaneum were explored.

NRO-stylization: A novel algorithm for regular octahedral stylization aesthetic modeling of three-dimensional surface mesh.

Stylization of 3D shapes has been a prominent topic in computer graphics. Geometric stylization, as a category within 3D shape stylization, has garnered widespread attention due to its distinctive geometric aesthetics. This paper introduces a novel and simplified method for achieving regular octahedral stylization, capable of transforming the input shape into the regular octahedral style while preserving the content of the original shape.

An On-Board Executable Multi-Feature Transfer-Enhanced Fusion Model for Three-Lead EEG Sensor-Assisted Depression Diagnosis.

The development of affective computing and medical electronic technologies has led to the emergence of Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based methods for the early detection of depression. However, previous studies have often overlooked the necessity for the AI-assisted diagnosis system to be wearable and accessible in practical scenarios for depression recognition. In this work, we present an on-board executable multi-feature transfer-enhanced fusion model for our custom-designed wearable three-lead Electroencephalogram (EEG) sensor, based on EEG data collected from 73 depressed patients and 108 healthy controls.

Discovering Photoswitchable Molecules for Drug Delivery with Large Language Models and Chemist Instruction Training.

As large language models continue to expand in size and diversity, their substantial potential and the relevance of their applications are increasingly being acknowledged. The rapid advancement of these models also holds profound implications for the long-term design of stimulus-responsive materials used in drug delivery. The large model used Hugging Face's Transformers package with BigBird, Gemma, and GPT NeoX architectures.