Dissolution, solvation and diffusion in low-temperature zinc electrolyte design.

Aqueous zinc-based batteries have garnered the attention of the electrochemical energy storage community, but they suffer from electrolytes freezing and sluggish kinetics in cold environments. In this Review, we discuss the key parameters necessary for designing anti-freezing aqueous zinc electrolytes. We start with the fundamentals related to different zinc salts and their dissolution and solvation behaviours, by highlighting the effects of anions and additives on salt solubility, ion diffusion and freezing points.

Analysis of the MYB gene family in tartary buckwheat and functional investigation of FtPinG0005108900.01 in response to drought.

Tartary buckwheat (Fagopyrum tataricum) is an important crop used for edible food and medicinal usage. Drought annually brings reduction in crop yield and quality, causing enormous economic losses. Transcription factors are often involved in the regulation of plant responses to environmental stresses.

Sex-Stratified Bidirectional Mendelian Randomization Analysis of Eating Habits and Female Pelvic Peritoneal Adhesions.

Background: Female pelvic peritoneal adhesions (FPPA) represent a significant global health burden. Dietary habits play a crucial role in health outcomes, yet their influence on FPPA remains unclear. This study aims to explore the bidirectional causal relationships between 72 eating habits and FPPA using sex-stratified Mendelian randomization (MR).

Fuzheng Jiedu decoction alleviates H1N1 virus-induced acute lung injury in mice by suppressing the NLRP3 inflammasome activation.

Ethnopharmacological Relevance: Severe influenza, marked by excessive cytokine production, is a major contributor to death in hospitalized individuals. Fuzheng Jiedu decoction (FZJDD), an effective traditional Chinese herbal recipe, has demonstrated promising results in combating the COVID-19 pandemic by reducing mortality and improving Symptoms, and has exhibited anti-inflammatory properties in both clinical trials and laboratory research. Given that pneumonia is a common outcome of SARS-CoV-2 and H1N1 virus infections, we hypothesized that FZJDD may also have therapeutic effects on influenza-related pneumonia and acute lung injury (ALI).

Drug Interaction of SGLT2Is and ARNI on Acute Kidney Injury: A Real-world Pharmacovigilance Analysis Through the FAERS.

Sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors (SGLT2Is) and angiotensin receptor-neprilysin inhibitor (ARNI) may cause potential renal damage, the combined impact of SGLT2Is and ARNI on acute kidney injury (AKI) remains unclear. This pharmacovigilance study conducted a disproportionality analysis using reports from the FAERS database. The reporting odds ratio (ROR) was used as an estimate for detecting AKI signal.

Integrated proteomics and metabolomics network analysis across different delivery modes in human pregnancy: a pilot study.

Background: Delivery mode has been linked to child health, e.g., allergic disease.

Progress on oxygen-releasing bioactive polymeric scaffolds in tissue engineering and biomedical treatment: A review.

Tissue engineering presents promising avenues for addressing issues related to tissue defects and regenerative medicine. However, the translational efficacy of tissue engineering in clinical settings remains limited, primarily due to the inadequate survival rates of implanted tissue scaffolds. This is attributed to the grafts' inability to adequately supply oxygen and their dependence on the diffusion of oxygen from surrounding tissues for tissue regeneration.

Serotonin neurons integrate GABA and dopamine inputs to regulate meal initiation.

Obesity is a growing global health epidemic with limited orally administered therapeutics. Serotonin (5-HT) is one neurotransmitter which remains an excellent target for new weight-loss therapies, but a gap remains in understanding the mechanisms involved in 5-HT produced in the dorsal Raphe nucleus (DRN) and its involvement in meal initiation. Using an optogenetic feeding paradigm, we showed that the 5-HT➔arcuate nucleus (ARH) circuit plays a role in meal initiation.

Functionalized Nanozyme Microcapsules Targeting Deafness Prevention via Mitochondrial Homeostasis Remodeling.

Mitochondrial dysfunction, which is the primary mechanism underlying cisplatin-induced hearing loss, can potentially be mitigated by modulating the redox balance and reprogramming the energy metabolism to remodel mitochondrial homeostasis. Herein, N-acetyl-l-cysteine-derived carbonized polymer dots (NAC CPDs) are embedded into manganese porphyrin-doped metal-organic frameworks and encapsulated using a polydopamine (PDA) coating and gelatin methacryloyl (GelMA) hydrogel to afford functionalized nanozyme microcapsules. Owing to their injectability and adhesion properties, these microcapsules exhibit the advantages of prolonged retention in the middle ear and sustained release in the inner ear.

CRISPR-Cas9 screening identifies the role of FER as a tumor suppressor.

It is important to systematically identify tumor suppressor genes (TSGs) to improve our understanding of tumorigenesis and develop strategies for early diagnosis and mitigating disease progression. In the present study, we used an in vivo genome-wide clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-CRISPR-associated protein 9 (Cas9) screen and identified FPS/FES-related (FER) as a TSG. Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) revealed that normal cells with low FER expression exhibited elevated malignant transformation potential and stemness properties.

Effective real-time transmission estimations incorporating population viral load distributions amid SARS-CoV-2 variants and pre-existing immunity.

Background: Population-level viral load distribution, measured by cycle threshold (Ct), has been demonstrated to enable real-time estimation of Rt for SARS-CoV-2 ancestral strain. The generalizability of the framework under different circulating variants and pre-existing immunity remains unclear.

Methods: We obtained the first Ct record of local COVID-19 cases from July 2020 to January 2023 in Hong Kong.

Double-layer microencapsulation of ammonium polyphosphate and its enhancement on the hydrophobicity and flame retardancy of cellulose paper.

Cellulose paper is a flammable and hygroscopic material, which limits its application. In this paper, melamine-formaldehyde resin (MF) and silane coupling agents were used to microencapsulate ammonium polyphosphate (Si@MFAPP) in turn and added to the fibers suspension to prepare hydrophobic and flame-retardant cellulose paper. It was found that the surface of the ammonium polyphosphate (APP) was smooth with the water solubility of 0.

Structural characteristics and potential antidepressant mechanism of a water-insoluble β-1,3-glucan from an edible fungus Wolfiporia cocos.

A water-insoluble β-1,3-glucan (Wβ) with a molecular weight of 8.12 × 10 Da was extracted from an edible fungus Wolfiporia cocos. Its backbone was composed of 1,3-β-linked Glcp branched at the C-2, C-4, and C-6 positions, connecting more 1,3-β-linked Glcp with a triple helical structure.

Visualizing supramolecular assembly behavior, stimulus response, and solid state emission of higher-order Pt aggregates.

Here, we present the first instance of a highly efficient red tetramer aggregate with tunable emission based on a cationic platinum(II) complex in conjunction with a silver cluster anion counterpart. This system exhibits multicolor emission response behaviors, which can be conveniently and directly detected through spectroscopic analysis, showcasing intriguing luminescence changes. The self-assembly of Pt⋯, π-π, and hydrogen bonding interactions not only enables an intriguing color adjustment from green to yellow emission, and eventually to red emission, but also demonstrates the co-existence of the monomer, excimer, and aggregation.

Dual Photoswitching of a Diarylethene Ligand-Anchored Hofmann-Type Spin-Crossover Compound.

A diarylethene ligand-anchored two-dimensional Hofmann-type compound [Fe(BTEPy){Pt(CN)}](CHOH) (BTEPy = 1,2-bis[2-methyl-5-(4-pyridyl)-3-thienyl]cyclopentene) is synthesized, which undergoes a two-step spin-state transition and dual photoinduced magnetic switching.

Artificial Intelligence-Assisted Automatic Raman-Activated Cell Sorting (AI-RACS) System for Mining Specific Functional Microorganisms in the Microbiome.

The microbiome represents the natural presence of microorganisms, and exploring, understanding, and leveraging its functions will bring about significant breakthroughs in life sciences and applications. Raman-activated cell sorting (RACS) enables the correlation of phenotype and genotype at the single-cell level, offering a solution to the bottleneck in microbial community functional analysis caused by challenges in cultivating diverse microorganisms. However, current labor-intensive manual procedures fall short in catering to the demands of single-cell functional analysis in microbial communities.

FGL2 peptides improve the antitumor effect of HCMV-IE1mut vaccine against glioblastoma by modulating immunosuppressive cells in the tumor microenvironment.

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is a highly aggressive primary brain tumor characterized by poor prognosis and lack of effective treatments. In recent years, peptide vaccines that use sequences based on tumor-specific or tumor-associated antigens to activate immune responses against tumor cells have emerged as a new therapeutic strategy. In this study, we developed a novel therapeutic polypeptide vaccine targeting the tumor-associated antigen Fibrinogen-Like Protein 2 (FGL2), whose dominant epitope peptide was tandemly linked to the C-terminus of HCMV-IE1mut via a linker.