Large-area radiation-modulated thermoelectric fabrics for high-performance thermal management and electricity generation.

Flexible thermoelectric systems capable of converting human body heat or solar heat into sustainable electricity are crucial for the development of self-powered wearable electronics. However, challenges persist in maintaining a stable temperature gradient and enabling scalable fabrication for their commercialization. Herein, we present a facile approach involving the screen printing of large-scale carbon nanotube (CNT)-based thermoelectric arrays on conventional textile.

Clinical value of contrast-enhanced ultrasound combined with quantitative analysis in Bosniak ≥ II cystic renal masses.

Objective: The 2019 Bosniak classification has improved the precise and detailed quantitative evaluation criteria, making the diagnosis of cystic renal masses (CRMs) more accurate and objective. This study addresses the clinical value of quantitative analysis and aims to investigate the feasibility of combining contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) with quantitative analysis for diagnosing Bosniak ≥ II CRMs.

Methods: We retrospectively obtained 58 CRMs with confirmed pathology, which underwent CEUS and Contrast-enhanced computer tomography (CECT) evaluations according to Bosniak classification between January 2013 and August 2024.

Development of a Method for the Determination of Rifaximin and Rifampicin Residues in Foods of Animal Origin.

Rifaximin and rifampicin are good broad-spectrum antimicrobials. The irrational use of antimicrobial drugs in veterinary clinics could threaten public health and food safety. It is necessary to develop a reliable detection method of the residue for enhancing the rational supervision of the use of such drugs, reducing and slowing down the generation of bacterial resistance, and promoting animal food safety and human health.

Scalable Layered Heterogeneous Hydrogel Fibers with Strain-Induced Crystallization for Tough, Resilient, and Highly Conductive Soft Bioelectronics.

The advancement of soft bioelectronics hinges critically on the electromechanical properties of hydrogels. Despite ongoing research into diverse material and structural strategies to enhance these properties, producing hydrogels that are simultaneously tough, resilient, and highly conductive for long-term, dynamic physiological monitoring remains a formidable challenge. Here, a strategy utilizing scalable layered heterogeneous hydrogel fibers (LHHFs) is introduced that enables synergistic electromechanical modulation of hydrogels.

Structuring and Shaping of Mechanically Robust and Functional Hydrogels toward Wearable and Implantable Applications.

Hydrogels possess unique features such as softness, wetness, responsiveness, and biocompatibility, making them highly suitable for biointegrated applications that have close interactions with living organisms. However, conventional man-made hydrogels are usually soft and brittle, making them inferior to the mechanically robust biological hydrogels. To ensure reliable and durable operation of biointegrated wearable and implantable devices, mechanical matching and shape adaptivity of hydrogels to tissues and organs are essential.

Giant polarization ripple in transverse pyroelectricity.

Pyroelectricity originates from spontaneous polarization variation, promising in omnipresent non-static thermodynamic energy harvesting. Particularly, changing spontaneous polarization via out-of-plane uniform heat perturbations has been shown in solar pyroelectrics. However, these approaches present unequivocal inefficiency due to spatially coupled low temperature change and duration along the longitudinal direction.

An Elastic and Damage-Tolerant Dry Epidermal Patch with Robust Skin Adhesion for Bioelectronic Interfacing.

On-skin patches that record biopotential and biomechanical signals are essential for wearable healthcare monitoring, clinical treatment, and human-machine interaction. To acquire wearing comfort and high-quality signals, patches with tissue-like softness, elastic recovery, damage tolerance, and robust bioelectronic interface are highly desired yet challenging to achieve. Here, we report a dry epidermal patch made from a supramolecular polymer (SESA) and an in situ transferred carbon nanotubes' percolation network.

Macromolecule conformational shaping for extreme mechanical programming of polymorphic hydrogel fibers.

Mechanical properties of hydrogels are crucial to emerging devices and machines for wearables, robotics and energy harvesters. Various polymer network architectures and interactions have been explored for achieving specific mechanical characteristics, however, extreme mechanical property tuning of single-composition hydrogel material and deployment in integrated devices remain challenging. Here, we introduce a macromolecule conformational shaping strategy that enables mechanical programming of polymorphic hydrogel fiber based devices.

Dynamic thermal trapping enables cross-species smart nanoparticle swarms.

Bioinspired nano/microswarm enables fascinating collective controllability beyond the abilities of the constituent individuals, yet almost invariably, the composed units are of single species. Advancing such swarm technologies poses a grand challenge in synchronous mass manipulation of multimaterials that hold different physiochemical identities. Here, we present a dynamic thermal trapping strategy using thermoresponsive-based magnetic smart nanoparticles as host species to reversibly trap and couple given nonmagnetic entities in aqueous surroundings, enabling cross-species smart nanoparticle swarms (SMARS).

Scalable thermoelectric fibers for multifunctional textile-electronics.

Textile electronics are poised to revolutionize future wearable applications due to their wearing comfort and programmable nature. Many promising thermoelectric wearables have been extensively investigated for green energy harvesting and pervasive sensors connectivity. However, the practical applications of the TE textile are still hindered by the current laborious p/n junctions assembly of limited scale and mechanical compliance.

EZH2-inhibitor DZNep enhances apoptosis of renal tubular epithelial cells in presence and absence of cisplatin.

Background: The enhancer of zeste homolog 2 (EZH2) is a histone methyltransferase and induces the trimethylation of histone H3 lysine 27 (H3K27me3) in the promoter of many key genes; EZH2 acts as a transcriptional repressor and is an epigenetic regulator for several cancers. However, the role of EZH2 in nonneoplastic diseases, such as kidney diseases, is unknown and has been investigated.

Materials And Method: NRK-52E cells were treated with DZNep, a potent inhibitor of EZH2, with different concentrations and for different times to evaluate the apoptosis level of NRK-52E cells by Western blot and Flow cytometry analysis.

Somatosensory, Light-Driven, Thin-Film Robots Capable of Integrated Perception and Motility.

Living organisms are capable of sensing and responding to their environment through reflex-driven pathways. The grand challenge for mimicking such natural intelligence in miniature robots lies in achieving highly integrated body functionality, actuation, and sensing mechanisms. Here, somatosensory light-driven robots (SLiRs) based on a smart thin-film composite tightly integrating actuation and multisensing are presented.

Direct-Ink-Write 3D Printing of Hydrogels into Biomimetic Soft Robots.

Hydrogels are promising starting materials for biomimetic soft robots as they are intrinsically soft and hold properties analogous to nature's organic parts. However, the restrictive mold-casting and post-assembly fabrication alongside mechanical fragility impedes the development of hydrogel-based soft robots. Herein, we harness biocompatible alginate as a rheological modifier to manufacture 3D freeform architectures of both chemically and physically cross-linked hydrogels using the direct-ink-write (DIW) printing.

In-built thermo-mechanical cooperative feedback mechanism for self-propelled multimodal locomotion and electricity generation.

Utilization of ubiquitous low-grade waste heat constitutes a possible avenue towards soft matter actuation and energy recovery opportunities. While most soft materials are not all that smart relying on power input of some kind for continuous response, we conceptualize a self-locked thermo-mechano feedback for autonomous motility and energy generation functions. Here, the low-grade heat usually dismissed as 'not useful' is used to fuel a soft thermo-mechano-electrical system to perform perpetual and untethered multimodal locomotions.

Hypochlorite modified albumins promote cell death in the tubule interstitium in rats via mitochondrial damage in obstructive nephropathy and the protective effects of antioxidant peptides.

A major feature of the injury sustained by the kidney during obstructive nephropathy is a profound induction of apoptosis in the tubular epithelium. In this study, we explored the central roles of mitochondria and the mechanism of the protective effect of the mitochondrial targeted peptides in tubular cell apoptosis and interstitial fibrosis during obstructive nephropathy. Unilateral ureter obstruction (UUO) was performed on rats, and the animals were randomly assigned to intravenous treatment with normal saline, rat serum albumin (RSA), or HOCl-rat serum albumin (HOCl-RSA) in the presence or absence of SS-31.

Nanophotonic-Engineered Photothermal Harnessing for Waste Heat Management and Pyroelectric Generation.

At present, there are various limitations to harvesting ambient waste heat which include the lack of economically viable material and innovative design features that can efficiently recover low grade heat for useful energy conversion. In this work, a thermal nanophotonic-pyroelectric (TNPh-pyro) scheme consisting of a metamaterial multilayer and pyroelectric material, which performs synergistic waste heat rejection and photothermal heat-to-electricity conversion, is presented. Unlike any other pyroelectric configuration, this conceptual design deviates from the conventional by deliberately employing back-reflecting NIR to enable waste heat reutilization/recuperation to enhance pyroelectric generation, avoiding excessive solar heat uptake and also retaining high visual transparency of the device.

Adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells therapy for acute kidney injury induced by ischemia-reperfusion in a rat model.

Acute kidney injury (AKI) represents a group of complicated syndromes with a high mortality rate. The administration of adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (ADMSCs) has been tested as a possible treatment method for AKI. The long-term evaluation of AKI induced by ischemia/reperfusion (IR) and the probable renal protection of ADMSCs are limited.

Macrophage-derived foam cells impair endothelial barrier function by inducing endothelial-mesenchymal transition via CCL-4.

Recently, endothelial-mesenchymal transition (EndMT) has been demonstrated to play an important role in the development of atherosclerosis, the molecular mechanisms of which remain unclear. In the present study, scanning electron microscopy directly revealed a widened endothelial space and immunohistofluorescence demonstrated that EndMT was increased in human aorta atherosclerotic plaques. M1 macrophage-derived foam cell (M1-FC) supernatants, but not M2 macrophage-derived foam cell (M2-FC) supernatants, induced EndMT.

[Multifractal Analysis of Rapeseed Spectrum for Chlorophyll Diagnosis Modeling].

One of the most important topics in crop information science is how to make use of the crop’s information for non-destructive nutrient diagnosis which can be solved with spectrum analysis. The canopy’s spectrum feature is a key indicator to describe the nutritional status for the rapeseeds. The original spectrum is to be disturbed with external factors such as environment and climate; however, it is difficult to be directly used for rapeseed biomass diagnosis due to its huge fluctuation.

Multifunctional Hydrogels with Temperature, Ion, and Magnetocaloric Stimuli-Responsive Performances.

In this work, multifunctional hydrogels with vivid color change and shrinking-swelling response to temperature, ion strength, and alternating magnetic field are fabricated via magnetic assembly. The hydrogels show gradual shift colors from yellowish green to green, cyan, blue, purple, and even reddish violet in response to temperature or ion strength. In the response process, the whole color modulation process is fully reversible and transferable along with a relative short response time.

Hydrogen sulfide suppresses endoplasmic reticulum stress-induced endothelial-to-mesenchymal transition through Src pathway.

Aims: Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) ameliorates cardiac fibrosis in several models by suppressing endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress. Endothelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EndMT) is implicated in the development of cardiac fibrosis. Therefore, we investigated whether H2S could attenuate EndMT by suppressing ER stress.

Atorvastatin Attenuates TNF-alpha Production via Heme Oxygenase-1 Pathway in LPS-stimulated RAW264.7 Macrophages.

Objective: To assess the effect of atorvastatin on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced TNF-α production in RAW264.7 macrophages.

Methods: RAW264.

C-reactive protein promotes vascular endothelial dysfunction partly via activating adipose tissue inflammation in hyperlipidemic rabbits.

Background: Endothelial dysfunction is the basic and original sign of atherogenesis. Some evidences show that C-reactive protein (CRP) and perivascular adipose tissue (PVAT) play a pivotal role in atherosclerosis. However, the effects of CRP on atherosclerosis and the related mechanisms require elucidation.