Reversible Oxygen Redox With Enhanced Structural Stability Through Covalency Modulation for Layered Oxide Cathodes.

P2-type Mn-based layered oxides have emerged as one of the most promising cathode materials for sodium-ion batteries owing to their advantages of facile preparation and high theoretical capacity. However, challenges such as phase transition and irreversible oxygen release during cycling often lead to rapid structural distortion and the formation of oxygen vacancies, ultimately resulting in rapid capacity decay. Herein, a covalency modulation strategy is adopted to address these challenges and successfully achieved a stable P2-type Mn-based layered oxide by introducing strong covalent Ni─O bonds.

Direct lexical control of eye movements in Chinese reading: Evidence from the co-registration of EEG and eye tracking.

The direct-lexical-control hypothesis stipulates that some aspect of a word's processing determines the duration of the fixation on that word and/or the next. Although the direct lexical control is incorporated into most current models of eye-movement control in reading, the precise implementation varies and the assumptions of the hypothesis may not be feasible given that lexical processing must occur rapidly enough to influence fixation durations. Conclusive empirical evidence supporting this hypothesis is therefore lacking.

Neural correlates for word-frequency effect in Chinese natural reading.

Word frequency effect has always been of interest for reading research because of its critical role in exploring mental processing underlying reading behaviors. Access to word frequency information has long been considered an indicator of the beginning of lexical processing and the most sensitive marker for studying when the brain begins to extract semantic information Sereno & Rayner, Brain and Cognition, 42, 78-81, (2000), Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 7, 489-493, (2003). While the word frequency effect has been extensively studied in numerous eye-tracking and traditional EEG research using the RSVP paradigm, there is a lack of corresponding evidence in studies of natural reading.

MOF-Based Membranes for Remediated Application of Water Pollution.

Membrane separation plays a crucial role in the current increasingly complex energy environment. Membranes prepared by metal-organic framework (MOF) materials usually possess unique advantages in common, such as uniform pore size, ultra-high porosity, enhanced selectivity and throughput, and excellent adsorption property, which have been contributed to the separation fields. In this comprehensive review, we summarize various designs and synthesized strategies of free-standing MOF and composite MOF-based membranes for water treatment.

Development and validation of a new diagnostic prediction model of ENHO and NOX4 for early diagnosis of systemic sclerosis.

Objective: Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a chronic autoimmune disease characterized by fibrosis. The challenge of early diagnosis, along with the lack of effective treatments for fibrosis, contribute to poor therapeutic outcomes and high mortality of SSc. Therefore, there is an urgent need to identify suitable biomarkers for early diagnosis of SSc.

Tree shrews as a new animal model for systemic sclerosis research.

Objective: Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a chronic systemic disease characterized by immune dysregulation and fibrosis for which there is no effective treatment. Animal models are crucial for advancing SSc research. Tree shrews are genetically, anatomically, and immunologically closer to humans than rodents.

Evolution of the thermostability of actin-depolymerizing factors enhances the adaptation of pollen germination to high temperature.

Double fertilization in many flowering plants (angiosperms) often occurs during the hot summer season, but the mechanisms that enable angiosperms to adapt specifically to high temperatures are largely unknown. The actin cytoskeleton is essential for pollen germination and the polarized growth of pollen tubes, yet how this process responds to high temperatures remains unclear. Here, we reveal that the high thermal stability of 11 Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) actin-depolymerizing factors (ADFs) is significantly different: ADFs that specifically accumulate in tip-growing cells (pollen and root hairs) exhibit high thermal stability.

Changes in Stress-Strain Index in School-Aged Children: A 3-Year Longitudinal Study.

Purpose: To determine three-year change of the corneal biomechanical parameter stress-strain index (SSI) in schoolchildren aged 7- 9 years and their correlation with refractive error and axial length (AL).

Methods: This is a prospective cohort study. Data of the AL, refractive error, and corneal biomechanical parameter SSI were collected at baseline and a 3-year follow-up for 217 schoolchildren.

The new insights into autophagy in thyroid cancer progression.

In recent decades, the incidence of thyroid cancer keeps growing at a shocking rate, which has aroused increasing concerns worldwide. Autophagy is a fundamental and ubiquitous biological event conserved in mammals including humans. Basically, autophagy is a catabolic process that cellular components including small molecules and damaged organelles are degraded for recycle to meet the energy needs, especially under the extreme conditions.

[A novel method for electroencephalography background analysis in neonates with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy].

Objectives: To explore a new method for electroencephalography (EEG) background analysis in neonates with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) and its relationship with clinical grading and head magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) grading.

Methods: A retrospective analysis was performed for the video electroencephalography (vEEG) and amplitude-integrated electroencephalography (aEEG) monitoring data within 24 hours after birth of neonates diagnosed with HIE from January 2016 to August 2022. All items of EEG background analysis were enrolled into an assessment system and were scored according to severity to obtain the total EEG score.

An Improved Shape from Focus Method for Measurement of Three-Dimensional Features of Fuel Nozzles.

The precise three-dimensional measurement of fuel nozzles is of great significance to assess the manufacturing accuracy and improve the spray and atomization performance. This paper proposes an improved fast shape from focus (SFF) method for three-dimensional measurement of key features of fuel nozzles. In order to ensure the measurement accuracy and efficiency of the SFF, the dispersion of the measured points from a standard flat plane was used to select the optimal combination of the focus measure operator, window size and sampling step size.

Long-term effects of mnemonic training in healthy older adults: A meta-analysis.

Mnemonic training can improve episodic memory function, the most aging-sensitive functional domain in older adults. However, it remains unclear whether memory training gains can be maintained over time. In this meta-analysis, we aimed to investigate the long-term effects (pretest to follow-up) of mnemonic training in improving memory among older adults.

Separation of memory span and learning rate: Evidence from behavior and spontaneous brain activity in older adults.

It is unclear how the ability to initially acquire information in a first learning trial relates to learning rate in subsequent repeated trials. The separation of memory span and learning rate is an important psychological dilemma that remains unaddressed. Given the potential effects of aging on memory and learning, this study investigated the separation of memory span and learning rate from behavior and spontaneous brain activity in older adults.

Identification of immune-related diagnostic markers in primary Sjögren's syndrome based on bioinformatics analysis.

Background: Primary Sjögren's syndrome (pSS) is a relatively common diffuse connective tissue disease that often invades exocrine glands, such as the lacrimal and salivary glands, and manifests as dry eyes and dry mouth. At present, the molecular mechanism of pSS is not clear. This study was designed to explore the internal mechanism of pSS from the gene level and screen out the immune-related diagnostic markers of pSS.

Boundary-aware context neural network for medical image segmentation.

Medical image segmentation can provide a reliable basis for further clinical analysis and disease diagnosis. With the development of convolutional neural networks (CNNs), medical image segmentation performance has advanced significantly. However, most existing CNN-based methods often produce unsatisfactory segmentation masks without accurate object boundaries.

Correlation of electroencephalogram background evolution with the degree of brain injury in neonates with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy.

Objectives: To study the correlation of electroencephalogram (EEG) background evolution with the degree of brain injury in neonates with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE).

Methods: A retrospective analysis was performed for 56 neonates with HIE who underwent continuous video electroencephalogram (cVEEG) and brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) examinations. According to clinical symptoms, they were divided into a mild group with 3 neonates, a moderate group with 36 neonates, and a severe group with 17 neonates.

POSTAR3: an updated platform for exploring post-transcriptional regulation coordinated by RNA-binding proteins.

RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) play key roles in post-transcriptional regulation. Accurate identification of RBP binding sites in multiple cell lines and tissue types from diverse species is a fundamental endeavor towards understanding the regulatory mechanisms of RBPs under both physiological and pathological conditions. Our POSTAR annotation processes make use of publicly available large-scale CLIP-seq datasets and external functional genomic annotations to generate a comprehensive map of RBP binding sites and their association with other regulatory events as well as functional variants.

Plaque Elasticity and Intraplaque Neovascularisation on Carotid Artery Ultrasound: A Comparative Histological Study.

Objective: Plaque elasticity and intraplaque neovascularisation are strongly suggestive of vulnerable plaque. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between intraplaque neovascularisation and plaque elasticity, and to compare the ultrasound findings with histopathological changes.

Methods: Patients enrolled in this study presented with symptomatic carotid stenosis (> 70%) and later underwent both pre-operative ultrasonography and endarterectomy.

Ultrasound-Targeted Microbubble Destruction Mediates Gene Transfection for Beta-Cell Regeneration and Glucose Regulation.

Ultrasound-targeted microbubble destruction (UTMD) mediates gene transfection with high biosafety and thus has been promising toward treatment of type 1 diabetes. However, the potential application of UTMD in type 2 diabetes (T2D) is still limited, due to the lack of systematic design and dynamic monitoring. Herein, an efficient gene delivery system is constructed by plasmid deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) encoding glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) in ultrasound-induced microbubbles, toward treatment of T2D in macaque.

Bacterial Peptidoglycan Fragments Differentially Regulate Innate Immune Signaling.

The human innate immune system responds to both pathogen and commensal bacteria at the molecular level using bacterial peptidoglycan (PG) recognition elements. Traditionally, synthetic and commercially accessible PG monosaccharide units known as muramyl dipeptide (MDP) and -glycolyl MDP (ng-MDP) have been used to probe the mechanism of innate immune activation of pattern recognition receptors, such as NOD-like receptors. However, bacterial PG is a dynamic and complex structure, with various chemical modifications and trimming mechanisms that result in the production of disaccharide-containing elements.

Enhanced leaching of manganese from low-grade pyrolusite using ball milling and electric field.

In this study, electric field and ball milling were used to leach Mn from low-grade pyrolusite (LGP). The effects of current density, reaction time, reaction temperature, ball-to-powder weight ratio, and ball milling time on the leaching efficiency of Mn from LGP as well as the leaching mechanism were systematically studied. The results showed that the combined use of electric field and ball milling enhanced the leaching of Mn from LGP.

Checkpoint therapeutic target database (CKTTD): the first comprehensive database for checkpoint targets and their modulators in cancer immunotherapy.

Background: Checkpoint targets play a key role in tumor-mediated immune escape and therefore are critical for cancer immunotherapy. Unfortunately, there is a lack of bioinformatics resource that compile all the checkpoint targets for translational research and drug discovery in immuno-oncology.

Methods: To this end, we developed checkpoint therapeutic target database (CKTTD), the first comprehensive database for immune checkpoint targets (proteins, miRNAs and LncRNAs) and their modulators.

Research methodology for in vivo measurements of resting energy expenditure, daily body temperature, metabolic heat and non-viral tissue-specific gene therapy in baboons.

A large number of studies have shown that the baboon is one of the most commonly used non-human primate (NHP) research model for the study of immunometabolic complex traits such as type 2 diabetes (T2D), insulin resistance (IR), adipose tissue dysfunction (ATD), dyslipidemia, obesity (OB) and cardiovascular disease (CVD). This paper reports on innovative technologies and advanced research strategies for energetics and translational medicine with this NHP model. This includes the following: measuring resting energy expenditure (REE) with the mobile indirect calorimeter Breezing®; monitoring daily body temperature using subcutaneously implanted data loggers; quantifying metabolic heat with veterinary infrared thermography (IRT) imaging, and non-viral non-invasive, tissue-specific ultrasound-targeted microbubble destruction (UTMD) gene-based therapy.