A critical review on effects of artificial sweeteners on gut microbiota and gastrointestinal health.

Artificial sweeteners have emerged as popular alternatives to traditional sweeteners, driven by the growing concern over sugar consumption and its associated rise in obesity and metabolic disorders. Despite their widespread use, the safety and health implications of artificial sweeteners remain a topic of debate, with conflicting evidence contributing to uncertainty about their long-term effects. This review synthesizes current scientific evidence regarding the impact of artificial sweeteners on gut microbiota and gastrointestinal health.

Insights into the Absence of Lymphoma Despite Fulminant Epstein-Barr Virus Infection in Patients with XIAP Deficiency.

X-linked Lymphoproliferative Syndromes (XLP), which arise from mutations in the or genes, are characterized by the inability to control Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) infection. While primary EBV infection triggers severe diseases in each, lymphomas occur at high rates with XLP-1 but not with XLP-2. Why XLP-2 patients are apparently protected from EBV-driven lymphomagenesis, in contrast to all other described congenital conditions that result in heightened susceptibility to EBV, remains a key open question.

Four-Dimensional (4D) Ultrasound Shear Wave Elastography Using Sequential Excitation.

Objective: Current shear wave elastography methods primarily focus on 2D imaging. To explore mechanical properties of biological tissues in 3D, a four-dimensional (4D, x, y, z, t) ultrasound shear wave elastography is required. However, 4D ultrasound shear wave elastography is still challenging due to the limitation of the hardware of standard ultrasound acquisition systems.

Noninvasive imaging-guided ultrasonic neurostimulation with arbitrary 2D patterns and its application for high-quality vision restoration.

Retinal degeneration, a leading cause of irreversible low vision and blindness globally, can be partially addressed by retina prostheses which stimulate remaining neurons in the retina. However, existing electrode-based treatments are invasive, posing substantial risks to patients and healthcare providers. Here, we introduce a completely noninvasive ultrasonic retina prosthesis, featuring a customized ultrasound two-dimensional array which allows for simultaneous imaging and stimulation.

RNA-binding protein PTENα blocks RIG-I activation to prevent viral inflammation.

A timely inflammatory response is crucial for early viral defense, but uncontrolled inflammation harms the host. Retinoic acid-inducible gene I (RIG-I) has a pivotal role in detecting RNA viruses, yet the regulatory mechanisms governing its sensitivity remain elusive. Here we identify PTENα, an N-terminally extended form of PTEN, as an RNA-binding protein with a preference for the CAUC(G/U)UCAU motif.

Longitudinal molecular profiling elucidates immunometabolism dynamics in breast cancer.

Although metabolic reprogramming within tumor cells and tumor microenvironment (TME) is well described in breast cancer, little is known about how the interplay of immune state and cancer metabolism evolves during treatment. Here, we characterize the immunometabolic profiles of tumor tissue samples longitudinally collected from individuals with breast cancer before, during and after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) using proteomics, genomics and histopathology. We show that the pre-, on-treatment and dynamic changes of the immune state, tumor metabolic proteins and tumor cell gene expression profiling-based metabolic phenotype are associated with treatment response.

Toroidic phase transitions in a direct-kagome artificial spin ice.

Ferrotoroidicity-the fourth form of primary ferroic order-breaks both space and time-inversion symmetry. So far, direct observation of ferrotoroidicity in natural materials remains elusive, which impedes the exploration of ferrotoroidic phase transitions. Here we overcome the limitations of natural materials using an artificial nanomagnet system that can be characterized at the constituent level and at different effective temperatures.

Erratum to "Highly Integrated Multiplexing and Buffering Electronics for Large Aperture Ultrasonic Arrays".

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.34133/2022/9870386.].

Non-classical HLA-E restricted CMV 15-mer peptides are recognized by adaptive NK cells and induce memory responses.

Introduction: Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) reactivation causes complications in immunocompromised patients after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), significantly increasing morbidity and mortality. Adaptive Natural Killer (aNK) cells undergo a persistent reconfiguration in response to HCMV reactivation; however, the exact role of aNK cell memory in HCMV surveillance remains elusive.

Methods: We employed mass spectrometry and computational prediction approaches to identify HLA-E-restricted HCMV peptides that can elucidate aNK cell responses.

2-D Array Design and Fabrication With Pitch-Shifting Interposer at Frequencies From 4 MHz up to 10 MHz.

High element density and strict constraints of the element's size have significantly limited the design and fabrication of 2-D ultrasonic arrays, especially fully sampled 2-D arrays. Recently, 3-D printing technology has been one of the most rapidly developing fields. Along with the great progress of 3-D printing technology, complex and detailed 3-D structures have become readily available with a short iteration cycle, which allows us to reduce the complexity of routing and helps to ameliorate assembly problems in 2-D ultrasound array fabrication.

Autophagic flux restoration enhances the antitumor efficacy of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes.

Background: Although adoptive cell therapy with tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) has mediated effective antitumor responses in several cancers, dysfunction and exhaustion of TILs significantly impair the therapeutic effect of TILs. Thus, it is essential to elucidate the exhausted characteristics of TILs and improve the antitumor effect of TILs by reversing their exhaustion. Here, we focused on the influence of autophagy on TILs in terms of T-cell activation, proliferation, and differentiation in vitro and in vivo.

Autophagic flux restoration of senescent T cells improves antitumor activity of TCR-engineered T cells.

Objectives: Although adoptive cell therapy with T-cell receptor-engineered T cells (TCR-Ts) has mediated effective antitumor responses in several cancers, senescence of T cells could impair the therapeutic effect of TCR-Ts. Thus, it is essential to elucidate the characteristics of senescent TCR-Ts and how to subsequently improve their antitumor effect. Here, we focused on the influence of autophagy on TCR-Ts, since autophagy is tightly associated with the regulation of T-cell activation, proliferation and differentiation.

Multistage adaptive control strategy based on image contour data for autonomous endoscope navigation.

The physician burnout, poor ergonomics are hardly conducive to the sustainability and high quality of colonoscopy. In order to reduce doctors' workload and improve patients' experiences during colonoscopy, this paper proposes a multistage adaptive control approach based on image contour data to guide the autonomous navigation of endoscopes. First, a fast image preprocessing and contour extraction algorithms are designed.

Highly Integrated Multiplexing and Buffering Electronics for Large Aperture Ultrasonic Arrays.

Large aperture ultrasonic arrays can be implemented by tiling together multiple pretested modules of high-density acoustic arrays with closely integrated multiplexing and buffering electronics to form a larger aperture with high yield. These modular arrays can be used to implement large 1.75D array apertures capable of focusing in elevation for uniform slice thickness along the axial direction which can improve image contrast.

Flexible ultrasound-induced retinal stimulating piezo-arrays for biomimetic visual prostheses.

Electronic visual prostheses, or biomimetic eyes, have shown the feasibility of restoring functional vision in the blind through electrical pulses to initiate neural responses artificially. However, existing visual prostheses predominantly use wired connections or electromagnetic waves for powering and data telemetry, which raises safety concerns or couples inefficiently to miniaturized implant units. Here, we present a flexible ultrasound-induced retinal stimulating piezo-array that can offer an alternative wireless artificial retinal prosthesis approach for evoking visual percepts in blind individuals.

Manipulation and Mechanical Deformation of Leukemia Cells by High-Frequency Ultrasound Single Beam.

Ultrasound single-beam acoustic tweezer system has attracted increasing attention in the field of biomechanics. Cell biomechanics play a pivotal role in leukemia cell functions. To better understand and compare the cell mechanics of the leukemia cells, herein, we fabricated an acoustic tweezer system in-house connected with a 50-MHz high-frequency cylinder ultrasound transducer.

A Gradient pH-Sensitive Polymer-Based Antiviral Strategy via Viroporin-Induced Membrane Acidification.

Lipid-membrane-targeting strategies hold great promise to develop broad-spectrum antivirals. However, it remains a big challenge to identify novel membrane-based targets of viruses and virus-infected cells for development of precision targeted approaches. Here, it is discovered that viroporins, viral-encoded ion channels, which have been reported to mediate release of hydrogen ions, trigger membrane acidification of virus-infected cells.

Design and Fabrication of 15-MHz Ultrasonic Transducers Based on a Textured Pb(MgNb)O-Pb(Zr, Ti)O Ceramic.

Ultrasound medical imaging is an entrenched and powerful tool for medical diagnosis. Image quality in ultrasound is mainly dependent on performance of piezoelectric transducer elements, which is further related to the electromechanical performance of the constituent piezoelectric materials. With rising need for piezoelectric materials with better performance and low cost, a highly 〈001〉 textured piezo ceramic, Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-Pb(Zr, Ti)O3, has been developed.

PTENα functions as an immune suppressor and promotes immune resistance in PTEN-mutant cancer.

PTEN is frequently mutated in human cancers and PTEN mutants promote tumor progression and metastasis. PTEN mutations have been implicated in immune regulation, however, the underlying mechanism is largely unknown. Here, we report that PTENα, the isoform of PTEN, remains active in cancer bearing stop-gained PTEN mutations.

A familial cluster of COVID-19 infection in a northern Chinese region.

Objective: Currently, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has spread worldwide and become a global health concern. Here, we report a familial cluster of six patients infected with severe acute respiratory coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in a northern Chinese region and share our local experience with regard the control of COVID-19.

Methods: The demographic data, clinical features, laboratory examinations, and epidemiological characteristics of enrolled cases were collected and analyzed.

Manganese nanodepot augments host immune response against coronavirus.

Unlabelled: Interferon (IFN) responses are central to host defense against coronavirus and other virus infections. Manganese (Mn) is capable of inducing IFN production, but its applications are limited by nonspecific distributions and neurotoxicity. Here, we exploit chemical engineering strategy to fabricate a nanodepot of manganese (nanoMn) based on Mn.

3D-Printing Piezoelectric Composite with Honeycomb Structure for Ultrasonic Devices.

Piezoelectric composites are considered excellent core materials for fabricating various ultrasonic devices. For the traditional fabrication process, piezoelectric composite structures are mainly prepared by mold forming, mixing, and dicing-filing techniques. However, these techniques are limited on fabricating shapes with complex structures.

The phosphatase PAC1 acts as a T cell suppressor and attenuates host antitumor immunity.

Cancer cells subvert immune surveillance through inhibition of T cell effector function. Elucidation of the mechanism of T cell dysfunction is therefore central to cancer immunotherapy. Here, we report that dual specificity phosphatase 2 (DUSP2; also known as phosphatase of activated cells 1, PAC1) acts as an immune checkpoint in T cell antitumor immunity.

Improved current efficiency of quasi-2D multi-cation perovskite light-emitting diodes: the effect of Cs and K.

Multiple cation-substitution is an effective method to improve the stability of organic-inorganic hybrid perovskite thin-films. Here, we apply this approach to quasi two-dimensional (quasi-2D) perovskite materials, and investigate the effect of Cs and K doping on the performance of quasi-2D perovskite LEDs (PeLEDs). It is found that Cs significantly reduces the efficiency roll-off of quasi-2D PLEDs at high current density, which leads to a high current efficiency (CE) - even at an operation current density as high as 1000 mA cm-2.