Multilayered CWO/MXene/PANI-Coated Thermoplastic Expanded Microsphere Sponge for Enhanced Solar Desalination Efficiency.

Interfacial solar-driven evaporation (ISDE) is a promising method for addressing the global freshwater shortage. However, it remains challenging to develop an ISDE system that combines high evaporation rates, low cost, ease of processing, and self-floatability. In this study, we present a flexible, porous sponge photothermal material based on three-dimensional thermoplastic expanded microspheres (TEMs).

Biomimetic Design of Breathable 2D Photothermal Fabric with Three-Layered Structure for Efficient Four-Plane Evaporation of Seawater.

2D photothermal membranes have demonstrated numerous advantages in solar desalination due to their flexibility, scalability, and low cost. However, their practical applications are limited by the restricted evaporation area and obstructed vapor channels. A biomimetic design of the breathable 2D photothermal fabric is reported, which is composed of two carbon-nanotube-hydrogel-coated polyester (PET) fabrics separated by fiber pillars, with the upper fabric layer having a hole array as stomatal channels.

A novel DES-enhanced sodium alginate-based conductive organohydrogel fiber for high-performance wearable sensors.

Conductive organohydrogel fibers based on sodium alginate (SA) exhibit remarkable flexibility and electrical conductivity, making them ideal candidates for conformal skin adhesion and real-time monitoring of human activity signals. However, traditional conductive hydrogels often suffer from issues such as uneven distribution of conductive fillers, and achieving the integration of high mechanical strength, stretchability, and transparency using environmentally friendly methods remains a significant challenge. In this study, a novel and sustainable strategy was developed to fabricate dual-network organohydrogel fibers using sodium alginate as the primary material.

Self-healing PVA/Chitosan/MXene triple network hydrogel for strain and temperature sensors.

Conductive hydrogels have attracted intensive attention for their promising applications in flexible electronics, sensors, and electronic skins. However, extremely poor adaptability under cold or dry environmental conditions along with inferior repairability seriously hinders the development of hydrogels in wearable electronics. Here, a triple network conductive hydrogel (PBCP-MXene) was prepared by proportionally mixing polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), borax, chitosan (CS), phytic acid (PA), and MXene.

PVA/chitosan-based multifunctional hydrogels constructed through multi-bonding synergies and their application in flexible sensors.

Hydrogels have garnered significant interest as promising materials for flexible wearable devices. However, it remains a major challenge to develop multifunctional hydrogels. In this study, we prepared a multifunctional hydrogel based on the polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and chitosan (CS), which is characterized by high strength, good electrical conductivity, and resistance to freezing and water retention.

Systemic inflammation and lymphocyte activation precede rheumatoid arthritis.

Some autoimmune diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis (RA), are preceded by a critical subclinical phase of disease activity. Proactive clinical management is hampered by a lack of biological understanding of this subclinical 'at-risk' state and the changes underlying disease development. In a cross-sectional and longitudinal multi-omics study of peripheral immunity in the autoantibody-positive at-risk for RA period, we identified systemic inflammation, proinflammatory-skewed B cells, expanded Tfh17-like cells, epigenetic bias in naive T cells, TNF+IL1B+ monocytes resembling a synovial macrophage population, and CD4 T cell transcriptional features resembling those suppressed by abatacept (CTLA4-Ig) in RA patients.

Controlling Circular RNA Encapsulation within Extracellular Vesicles for Gene Editing and Protein Replacement.

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are a population of vesicular bodies originating from cells, and EVs have been proven to have the potential to deliver different cargos, such as RNAs. However, conventional methods are not able to encapsulate long RNAs into EVs efficiently or may compromise the integrity of EVs. In this study, we have devised a strategy to encapsulate long circRNAs (>1000 nt) into EVs by harnessing the sorting mechanisms of cells.

Direct Printing of Disperse Dye Inks to Polyester Fabrics without Chemical Pretreatment.

Direct inkjet digital printing is a relatively green and environmentally friendly textile printing method with a wide range of applications in the textile printing and dyeing industry. However, pretreatment of the fabric is required before digital printing, which will generate certain energy consumption and wastewater. In this study, a digital direct inkjet printing method was developed to improve the printing accuracy of poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) fabrics without any pretreatment.

Calcium enhanced the resistance against Phoma arachidicola by improving cell membrane stability and regulating reactive oxygen species metabolism in peanut.

Background: Peanut (Arachis hypogaea), a vital oil and food crop globally, is susceptible to web blotch which is a significant foliar disease caused by Phoma arachidicola Marasas Pauer&Boerema leading to substantial yield losses in peanut production. Calcium treatment has been found to enhance plant resistance against pathogens.

Results: This study investigates the impact of exogenous calcium on peanut resistance to web blotch and explores its mechanisms.

Enhancing bioretention efficiency for pollutant mitigation in stormwater runoff: Exploring ecosystem cycling dynamics amidst temporal variability.

In this study, three distinct bioretention setups incorporating fillers, plants, and earthworms were established to evaluate the operational efficiency under an ecosystem concept across varying time scales. The results revealed that under short-term operating conditions, extending the drying period led to a notable increase in the removal of NO-N, total phosphorus (TP), and chemical oxygen demand (COD) by 5 %-7%, 4 %-12 %, and 5 %-10 %, respectively. Conversely, under long-time operating conditions, the introduction of plants resulted in a significant boost in COD removal by 10 %-20 %, while the inclusion of earthworms improved NH-N and NO-N removal, especially TP removal by 9 %-16 %.

A Single Component, Single Layer Flexile Foam Evaporator with the Higher Efficiency for Water Generation.

One of the greenest and promising ways to solve the problem of freshwater crisis is surface solar steam generation from seawater. A great number of photothermal materials with multi-component and multi-layered delicate yet complex structures often suffer from either low evaporation rate or high energy loss. Here, this work presents a single component foam evaporator with steam generation rate of up to 4.

Managing energy consumption by adapted energy performance contracting modes in rural China.

Energy performance contracting (EPC) as a market instrument has been effective in promoting energy efficiency worldwide, but it has encountered many insurmountable obstacles in rural energy management. In this study, based on the characteristics of energy management in rural areas, three EPC modes are designed and tested in 24,000 rural households. The test results show that two adapted EPC modes of local government involvement and energy payment directly from the national grid can effectively overcome the barriers encountered in the traditional EPC modes and work well under the economic and social environmental conditions in rural areas.

Sustainable Seawater Desalination and Energy Management: Mechanisms, Strategies, and the Way Forward.

Solar-driven desalination systems have been recognized as an effective technology to address the water crisis. Recently, evaporators prepared based on advanced manufacturing technologies have emerged as a promising tool in enhancing ocean energy utilization. In this review, we discussed the thermal conversion, energy flow, salt deposition mechanisms, and design strategies for solar-driven desalination systems, and explored how to improve the desalination performance and energy use efficiency of the systems through advanced manufacturing technologies.

Catalytic Asymmetric Reverse Prenylation of Indol-2-one Enabled a Synthesis of (-)-Debromoflustramine A.

A catalytic asymmetric nucleophilic reverse prenylation of indol-2-ones generated from 3-bromooxindoles with prenyltributylstannane promoted by Ni(II)/chiral -dioxide was developed. This reaction provides facile access to C3 reverse-prenylated oxindoles in good to excellent enantioselectivities, which enabled the asymmetric synthesis of debromoflustramine A in five steps.

Prediction of oxygen distribution in the waste mass from an aeration well in bioreactor landfills.

The key to upgrade the efficiency of aerobic remediation of landfills is to determine the distribution characteristics of oxygen concentration during aerobic ventilation. This study discusses the distribution law of oxygen concentration with time and radial distance based on a single-well aeration test at an old landfill site. The transient analytical solution of the radial oxygen concentration distribution was deduced using the gas continuity equation and approximation of calculus and logarithmic functions.

Development of Binder-Free Pigment Inks for Direct Inkjet Printing on Cotton Fabric without Pretreatment.

Inkjet printing technology is widely used in the textile digital printing application today though the current technology still requires pretreatment and postwashing procedures before and after printing. Additional chemical treatment generates a large amount of wastewater and complicates the process. Among the many potential approaches for reducing chemical waste, pigments with self-dispersing capability were prepared and formulated into binder-free inkjet inks that require no pretreatment or after-washing process when printing cotton fabrics.

siVAE: interpretable deep generative models for single-cell transcriptomes.

Neural networks such as variational autoencoders (VAE) perform dimensionality reduction for the visualization and analysis of genomic data, but are limited in their interpretability: it is unknown which data features are represented by each embedding dimension. We present siVAE, a VAE that is interpretable by design, thereby enhancing downstream analysis tasks. Through interpretation, siVAE also identifies gene modules and hubs without explicit gene network inference.

A Versatile Theranostic Nanoplatform with Aggregation-Induced Emission Properties: Fluorescence Monitoring, Cellular Organelle Targeting, and Image-Guided Photodynamic Therapy.

Photosensitizers (PSs) play a key role in the photodynamic therapy (PDT) of tumors. However, commonly used PSs are prone to intrinsic fluorescence aggregation-caused quenching and photobleaching; this drawback severely limits the clinical application of PDT, necessitating new phototheranostic agents. Herein, a multifunctional theranostic nanoplatform (named TTCBTA NP) is designed and constructed to achieve fluorescence monitoring, lysosome-specific targeting, and image-guided PDT.

Modification of Hollow Expanded Microspheres with Superior Thermal Insulation Properties and Their Applications.

Thermally expandable microspheres (TEMs) are hollow polymeric particles in which a blowing gas has been encapsulated. This property makes them excellent for thermal insulation applications, such as lightweight fillers. This study has developed a viable technology for further improving thermal insulation properties in the field that needs excellent thermal insulation of textile fabrics.

Adipocytes Encapsulating Telratolimod Recruit and Polarize Tumor-Associated Macrophages for Cancer Immunotherapy.

Tumor-associated adipocytes (TAAs) recruit monocytes and promote their differentiation into tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) that support tumor development. Here, TAAs are engineered to promote the polarization of TAMs to the tumor suppressive M1 phenotype. Telratolimod, a toll-like receptor 7/8 agonist, is loaded into the lipid droplets of adipocytes to be released at the tumor site upon tumor cell-triggered lipolysis.

Rhynchophylline ameliorates cerebral ischemia by improving the synaptic plasticity in a middle cerebral artery occlusion induced stroke model.

Introduction: Previous studies have documented that rhynchophylline exerts antioxidative and anti-inflammatory effects on ischemic neuronal damage in vitro or in vivo. There is a considerable lack of direct evidence for its role in neural function and neuroplasticity after ischemic stroke.

Aims: This study aims to explore the role of rhynchophylline in middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) induced ischemic stroke model and the potential mechanisms.

Mitigating the Immunogenicity of AAV-Mediated Gene Therapy with an Immunosuppressive Phosphoserine-Containing Zwitterionic Peptide.

Although recombinant adeno-associated viruses (AAVs) are considered low immunogenic and safe for gene delivery, the immunogenicity of capsids still represents a major obstacle to the readministration of AAV vectors. Here, we design an immunosuppressive zwitterionic phosphoserine (PS)-containing polypeptide to induce AAV-specific immune tolerance and eradicate the immunological response. AAVs modified with the zwitterionic PS polypeptide maintain their transduction activity and tissue tropism but suppress the induction of AAV-specific antibodies.

Phosphatidylserine Lipid Nanoparticles Promote Systemic RNA Delivery to Secondary Lymphoid Organs.

Secondary lymphoid organs (SLOs) are an important target for mRNA delivery in various applications. While the current delivery method relies on the drainage of nanoparticles to lymph nodes by intramuscular (IM) or subcutaneous (SC) injections, an efficient mRNA delivery carrier for SLOs-targeting delivery by systemic administration (IV) is highly desirable but yet to be available. In this study, we developed an efficient SLOs-targeting carrier using phosphatidylserine (PS), a well-known signaling molecule that promotes the endocytic activity of phagocytes and cellular entry of enveloped viruses.