Preparation of Calcium Alginate-Based Hydrogels with Precisely Designed Centrosymmetric Geometries for Efficient Water Evaporation in Response to Different Solar Incidence Angles.

Hydrogels are popular materials for desalination and can significantly reduce the vaporization enthalpy of water; however, there are few reports on hydrogels with a controllable multilevel structural design for water evaporation. Herein, a calcium alginate and traditional Chinese ink-based evaporator (CIE) are proposed and fabricated using directed freezing technology to construct radial channels, followed by freeze-drying and physical cross-linking. Because of the squeezing of ice crystals and the shaping effect of the PDMS template, the prepared evaporator exhibits a sea-urchin-shaped highly geometrical centrosymmetric structure with numerous multilevel pore channels, which promotes the rapid transport of water under different solar incidence angles as the sun rotates as well as overcomes the structural shrinkage of the hydrogel caused by insufficient water supply.

Robust and Antifouling Composite Hydrogels Enhanced by Directional Freeze-Casting and Salting-Out for Highly Efficient Solar Evaporation.

Hydrogels have been identified as a promising material platform for solar-driven interfacial evaporation. However, designing durable hydrogel solar evaporators that can combine effective photothermal conversion, superior water transport, salt resistance, and robust mechanical properties to ensure stable and efficient evaporation remains a significant challenge. Herein, a robust and antifouling hydrogel-based solar evaporator composed of poly(vinyl alcohol), sodium alginate, and MXene is successfully constructed through directional freeze-casting and salting-out processes.

Subtype-WGME enables whole-genome-wide multi-omics cancer subtyping.

We present an innovative strategy for integrating whole-genome-wide multi-omics data, which facilitates adaptive amalgamation by leveraging hidden layer features derived from high-dimensional omics data through a multi-task encoder. Empirical evaluations on eight benchmark cancer datasets substantiated that our proposed framework outstripped the comparative algorithms in cancer subtyping, delivering superior subtyping outcomes. Building upon these subtyping results, we establish a robust pipeline for identifying whole-genome-wide biomarkers, unearthing 195 significant biomarkers.

Analysis of global research hotspots and trends in immune cells in intervertebral disc degeneration: A bibliometric study.

Intervertebral disc degeneration is an important pathological basis for spinal degenerative diseases. The imbalance of the immune microenvironment and the involvement of immune cells has been shown to lead to nucleus pulposus cells death. This article presents a bibliometric analysis of studies on immune cells in IDD in order to clarify the current status and hotspots.

Current status and trends in quantitative MRI study of intervertebral disc degeneration: a bibliometric and clinical study analysis.

Background: Quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has the function of noninvasive quantitative evaluation, providing unique advantages in intervertebral disc degeneration (IDD) assessment. Although studies exploring the field for domestic and international scholars are increasingly being published, there is a lack of systematic scientific measurement and clinical analysis of the literature in this field.

Methods: Articles published from the respective database establishment to September 30, 2022, were obtained from the Web of Science core collection (WOSCC), PubMed database, and ClinicalTrials.

Research hotspots and trends of microRNAs in intervertebral disc degeneration: a comprehensive bibliometric analysis.

Background: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are involved in various pathological processes, such as proliferation, growth, and apoptosis, of intervertebral disc (IVD) cells and play an important role in the development of intervertebral disc degeneration (IDD). Although some studies have reported the role of miRNAs in IDD, scientific econometric analysis in this field is not available.

Objectives: We designed this study to describe the current research trends and potential mechanisms associated with the role of miRNAs in IDD and to provide new ideas for future research in this field.

Comprehensive analysis of potential ceRNA network and immune cell infiltration in intervertebral disc degeneration.

Background: Intervertebral disc degeneration (IDD) has become a serious public health problem, the mechanism of which is complex and still unclear. We aimed to construct a ceRNA network related to IDD to explore its pathogenesis.

Methods: We downloaded the GSE67566, GSE63492, GSE116726 and GSE124272 datasets from GEO database, and obtained the differentially expressed RNAs.

Global research status and hot trends in stem cells therapy for Intervertebral disc degeneration: A bibliometric and clinical study analysis.

Stem cells (SCs) therapy for intervertebral disc degeneration (IDD) has been studied for nearly 20 years and it is an important part of regenerative medicine and tissue engineering research, as well as a current research hotspot and challenge. Although the volume of literature has shown an annual growth trend, there is no literature available for bibliometric and clinical analysis of the content of multiple databases in this field. The articles were obtained from the WOSCC, Scopus, Pubmed, and ClinicalTrials on 27 December 2021.

Identification of SMIM1 and SEZ6L2 as Potential Biomarkers for Genes Associated with Intervertebral Disc Degeneration in Pyroptosis.

Background: Inflammatory reactions and pyroptosis play an important role in the pathology of intervertebral disc degeneration (IDD). The aim of the present study was to investigate pyroptosis in the nucleus pulposus cells (NPCs) of inflammatory induced IDD by bioinformatic methods and to search for possible diagnostic biomarkers.

Methods: Gene expression profiles related to IDD were downloaded from the GEO database to identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between inflammation-induced IDD and non-inflammatory intervention samples.

Disc measurement and nucleus calibration in a smoothened lumbar model increases the accuracy and efficiency of in-silico study.

Backgrounds: Finite element analysis (FEA) is an important tool during the spinal biomechanical study. Irregular surfaces in FEA models directly reconstructed based on imaging data may increase the computational burden and decrease the computational credibility. Definitions of the relative nucleus position and its cross-sectional area ratio do not conform to a uniform standard in FEA.

Corrigendum: Dislocation Strengthening without Ductility Trade-off in Metastable Austenitic Steels.

This corrects the article DOI: 10.1038/srep35345.

Dislocation Strengthening without Ductility Trade-off in Metastable Austenitic Steels.

Strength and ductility are mutually exclusive if they are manifested as consequence of the coupling between strengthening and toughening mechanisms. One notable example is dislocation strengthening in metals, which invariably leads to reduced ductility. However, this trend is averted in metastable austenitic steels.

[The historical condition in the spread of Sanqi (Panax notoginseng) in the Ming Dynasty].

A well-known and extensively applied Chinese herbs for promoting blood circulation and resolving blood stasis, San qi (Pana Notoginseng) is one of the medicinal plants first applied by the minority ethnic groups in southwestern China originally grown in Wenshan of Yunnan and Baise of Guangxi, China. The doctors in inland China began to know and apply it in the Ming Dynasty, indicating that the spread of medicine is restricted and influenced not only by geographical positions but also by social environments. The author suggests that it was the appropriate social environment, medical improvement inherited from previous generations and Li Shizhen's contributions that led to the spread of Sanqi (Panax notoginseng) in the Ming Dynasty.