Graphene-Assisted Electron-Based Imaging of Individual Organic and Biological Macromolecules: Structure and Transient Dynamics.

Characterizing the structures, interactions, and dynamics of molecules in their native liquid state is a long-existing challenge in chemistry, molecular science, and biophysics with profound scientific significance. Advanced transmission electron microscopy (TEM)-based imaging techniques with the use of graphene emerged as promising tools, mainly due to their performance on spatial and temporal resolution. This review focuses on the various approaches to achieving high-resolution imaging of individual molecules and their transient interactions.

Chemically reactive and aging macromolecular mixtures. II. Phase separation and coarsening.

In a companion paper, we put forth a thermodynamic model for complex formation via a chemical reaction involving multiple macromolecular species, which may subsequently undergo liquid-liquid phase separation and a further transition into a gel-like state. In the present work, we formulate a thermodynamically consistent kinetic framework to study the interplay between phase separation, chemical reaction, and aging in spatially inhomogeneous macromolecular mixtures. A numerical algorithm is also proposed to simulate domain growth from collisions of liquid and gel domains via passive Brownian motion in both two and three spatial dimensions.

The Epidemiologic and Clinical Features of Radiographic-Confirmed Community-Acquired Pneumonia Among Chinese Children: A Retrospective Hospital-Based Study.

Background: To help understand the disease burden of vaccine-preventable bacterial disease, we delineated the epidemiologic and clinical characteristics of radiographic-confirmed community-acquired pneumonia (CXR-CAP) among Chinese children.

Methods: We retrospectively screened the electronic database of the hospital information system to identify all pediatric CAP cases admitted to the Children's Hospital of Soochow University between 2010 and 2014. Radiographic findings and clinical data were extracted from the medical charts through individual chart reviews.

Nanopipette dynamic microscopy unveils nano coffee ring.

Liquid-phase electron microscopy (LP-EM) imaging has revolutionized our understanding of nanosynthesis and assembly. However, the current closed geometry limits its application for open systems. The ubiquitous physical process of the coffee-ring phenomenon that underpins materials and engineering science remains elusive at the nanoscale due to the lack of experimental tools.

Chemically reactive and aging macromolecular mixtures I: Phase diagrams, spinodals, and gelation.

Multicomponent macromolecular mixtures often form higher-order structures, which may display non-ideal mixing and aging behaviors. In this work, we first propose a minimal model of a quaternary system that takes into account the formation of a complex via a chemical reaction involving two macromolecular species; the complex may then phase separate from the buffer and undergo a further transition into a gel-like state. We subsequently investigate how physical parameters such as molecular size, stoichiometric coefficients, equilibrium constants, and interaction parameters affect the phase behavior of the mixture and its propensity to undergo aging via gelation.

Predicting histological grade in pediatric glioma using multiparametric radiomics and conventional MRI features.

Prediction of glioma is crucial to provide a precise treatment plan to optimize the prognosis of children with glioma. However, studies on the grading of pediatric gliomas using radiomics are limited. Meanwhile, existing methods are mainly based on only radiomics features, ignoring intuitive information about tumor morphology on traditional imaging features.

Investigating Nonspecific Effects of the Live-Attenuated Japanese Encephalitis Vaccine on Lower Respiratory Tract Infections in Children Aged 25-35 Months: Retrospective Cohort Study.

Background: Live attenuated vaccines may be used to prevent nontargeted diseases such as lower respiratory tract infections (LRTIs) due to their nonspecific effects (NSEs).

Objective: We aimed to analyze the NSEs of the Japanese encephalitis vaccine on pediatric LRTIs in children aged 25 months to 35 months.

Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted by using a population-based electronic health record database in Zhejiang, China.

Heterogeneous elasticity drives ripening and controls bursting kinetics of transcriptional condensates.

Many biomolecular condensates, including transcriptional condensates, are formed in elastic mediums. In this work, we study the nonequilibrium condensate dynamics in a chromatin-like environment modeled as a heterogeneous elastic medium. We demonstrate that the ripening process in such an elastic medium exhibits a temporal power-law scaling of the average condensate radius, depending on the local stiffness distribution and different from Ostwald ripening.

Hetastarch-stabilized polypyrrole with hyperthermia-enhanced release and catalytic activity for synergistic antitumor therapy.

Fenton catalytic medicine that catalyzes the production of ·OH without external energy input or oxygen as a substrate has reshaped the landscape of conventional cancer therapy in recent decades, yet potential biosafety concerns caused by non-safety-approved components restrict their clinical translation from the bench to the bedside. Herein, to overcome this dilemma, we elaborately utilizate safety-approved hetastarch, which has been extensively employed in the clinic as a plasma substitute, as a stabilizer participating in the copper chloride-initiated polymerization of pyrrole monomer before loading it with DOX. The constructed DOX-loaded hetastarch-doped Cu-based polypyrrole (HES@CuP-D) catalyzes the excess HO in tumor cells to ·OH through a Cu-mediated Fenton-like reaction, which not only causes oxidative damage to tumor cells but also leads to the structural collapse and DOX release.

Complete mitochondrial genome of Hoek, 1883 (Balanomorpha: Balanidae) and a novel molecular phylogeny within Cirripedia.

Barnacles are crustaceans that are critical model organisms in intertidal ecology and biofouling research. In this study, we present the first mitochondrial genome of which is a circular molecule of 15,067 bp in length. Consistent with most barnacles, the mitochondrial genome of encodes 37 genes, including 13 PCGs, 22 tRNAs and 2 rRNAs.

[Analysis of a child with Verheij syndrome due to variant of PUF60 gene].

Objective: To explore the clinical phenotype and genetic variant in a child with Verheij syndrome (VRJS).

Methods: A child who had presented at the Soochow University Affiliated Children's Hospital and Wujiang District Children's Hospital in July 2022 for "elevated scapula since early childhood" was selected as the study subject. Peripheral blood samples of the child and his parents were collected and subjected to whole exome sequencing.

Feasibility and accuracy of coronary artery calcium score on virtual non-contrast images derived from a dual-layer spectral detector CT: A retrospective multicenter study.

Rationale And Objective: This retrospective study was to evaluate the feasibility and accuracy of coronary artery calcium score (CACS) from virtual non-contrast (VNC) images in comparison with that from true non-contrast (TNC) images.

Materials And Methods: A total of 540 patients with suspected of coronary artery disease (CAD) who underwent a dual-layer spectral detector CT (SDCT) in three hospitals were eligible for this study and 233 patients were retrospectively enrolled for further analysis. The CACS was calculated from both TNC and VNC images and compared.

Extracellular Matrix Rigidities Regulate the Tricarboxylic Acid Cycle and Antibiotic Resistance of Three-Dimensionally Confined Bacterial Microcolonies.

As a major cause of clinical chronic infection, microbial biofilms/microcolonies in host tissues essentially live in 3D-constrained microenvironments, which potentially modulate their spatial self-organization and morphodynamics. However, it still remains unclear whether and how mechanical cues of 3D confined microenvironments, for example, extracellular matrix (ECM) stiffness, exert an impact on antibiotic resistance of bacterial biofilms/microcolonies. With a high-throughput antibiotic sensitivity testing (AST) platform, it is revealed that 3D ECM rigidities greatly modulate their resistance to diverse antibiotics.

Bilayer Actuator with Overload Protection on the Basis of Semicrystalline Polyurethane.

Response to external stimuli plays a significant role in the environmental adaptation of living matters and intelligent devices. Most stimulus-response systems in nature can respond to appropriate stimuli, and inhibit the response under excessive stimuli, such as excessive heat or water, which can be called overload protection. However, even though various responsive materials have been developed for different stimuli, most of them are not protective against the overload stimuli.

Photoinduced Rippling of Two-Dimensional Hexagonal Nitride Monolayers.

Inducing structural changes and deformation using noninvasive methods, such as ultrafast laser technology, is an attractive route to multiple optomechanical and optoelectronic applications. Here, we show how photon excitation could accumulate in-plane stress and induce long-wavelength ripples in two-dimensional (2D) materials. Numerical results based on first-principles calculations and a continuum model predict that long-range nanoscale rippling could emerge under photon excitation in hexagonal nitride single atomic sheets.

Experimental Guidelines to Image Transient Single-Molecule Events Using Graphene Liquid Cell Electron Microscopy.

In quest of the holy grail to "see" how individual molecules interact in liquid environments, single-molecule imaging methods now include liquid-phase electron microscopy, whose resolution can be nanometers in space and several frames per second in time using an ordinary electron microscope that is routinely available to many researchers. However, with the current state of the art, protocols that sound similar to those described in the literature lead to outcomes that can differ. The key challenge is to achieve sample contrast under a safe electron dose within a frame rate adequate to capture the molecular process.

Dual-layer dual-energy CT for improving differential diagnosis of squamous cell carcinoma from adenocarcinoma at gastroesophageal junction.

Objective: To examine the clinical values of dual-energy CT parameters derived from dual-layer spectral detector CT (SDCT) in the differential diagnosis of squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and adenocarcinoma (AC) of the gastroesophageal junction (GEJ).

Methods: Totally 66 patients with SCC and AC of the GEJ confirmed by pathological analysis were retrospectively enrolled, and underwent dual-phase contrast-enhancement chest CT with SDCT. Plain CT value, CT attenuation enhancement (△CT), iodine concentration (IC), spectral slope (λ), effective atomic number (Z) and 40keV CT value (CT) of the lesion in the arterial phase (AP) and venous phase (VP) were assessed.

The creation of raspberry-like droplets and their coalescence dynamics: An ideal model for certain biological processes.

Hypothesis: Although a raspberry-like configuration has been long observed in biological processes (e.g., the intimate association between Cajal bodies and B-snurposomes), studies on this morphology are very limited.

An anisotropic immerse precipitation process for the preparation of polymer membranes.

We study the immerse precipitation process in a ternary polymer/solvent/non-solvent system by numerically solving the two-dimensional Cahn-Hilliard phase field equation. In particular, we introduce anisotropic mobility, namely the mobility of a polymer varies over different spatial directions, and focus on the porosity morphology of the obtained polymer membrane. Simulations reveal that as the anisotropy increases in the polymer mobility, the polymer pattern changes from nearly isotropic and random voids to strips parallel to the direction with smaller mobility.

Transmural pressure signals through retinoic acid to regulate lung branching.

During development, the mammalian lung undergoes several rounds of branching, the rate of which is tuned by the relative pressure of the fluid within the lumen of the lung. We carried out bioinformatics analysis of RNA-sequencing of embryonic mouse lungs cultured under physiologic or sub-physiologic transmural pressure and identified transcription factor-binding motifs near genes whose expression changes in response to pressure. Surprisingly, we found retinoic acid (RA) receptor binding sites significantly overrepresented in the promoters and enhancers of pressure-responsive genes.

Self-Paced Learning and Privileged Information based Cascaded Multi-column Classification algorithm for ASD diagnosis.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is one of the most serious mental disorder in children. Machine learning based computer aided diagnosis (CAD) on resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) for ASD has attracted widespread attention. In recent years, learning using privileged information (LUPI), a supervised transfer learning method, has been generally used on multi-modality cases, which can transfer knowledge from source domain to target domain in order to improve the prediction capability on the target domain.

Quantitative assessment of normal hip cartilage in children under 9 years old by T2 mapping.

Objective: To investigate the variation in T2 at different zones of normal hip cartilage in children and the relationship between T2 value and age.

Materials And Methods: Nineteen children with 30 normal hip joints were evaluated with a coronal T2 mapping sequence at a 3-Tesla MRI system. The femoral cartilage and acetabular cartilage were firstly segmented by mask-based interactive method and then equally divided into eight and six radial sections, respectively.

The first mitochondrial genome of Darwin, 1854 (Sessilia: Balanidae) and molecular phylogeny within Cirripedia.

The triangle barnacle Darwin, 1854, a cosmopolitan inhabitant of tropical and warm temperate seas, is a member of robust system for the study of evolutionary processes in the intertidal zone. The first mitochondrial genome of is presented. The complete mitochondrial genome of is a circular molecule of 15,560 bp, which encodes 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 2 rRNA genes, and 22 tRNA genes.