Plant invasion risk assessment in Argentina's arid and semi-arid rangelands.

Climate change and anthropogenic activities have amplified the risk of invasive species spread. Approximately two-thirds of Argentina's land area comprises arid and semi-arid rangelands, yet the current state of invasions across these vast regions and their projected spread under future climate change scenarios remain insufficiently understood. To address this research gap, we employed an ensemble modeling approach to simulate and predict the distribution of 30 major invasive species across Argentina's five key arid and semi-arid rangelands.

Analysis of study Global Burden of Disease in 2021: global, regional, and national burden of nutritional deficiency from 1990 to 2021.

Background: Nutrient deficiency disorders (NDs) harm growth, causing economic losses. Addressing NDs is a global priority, yet recent data is limited. This study examines latest NDs data across 204 countries and 21 regions from 1990 to 2021.

HER2 regulates autophagy and promotes migration in gastric cancer cells through the cGAS-STING pathway.

In gastric cancer, the relationship between human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2), the cyclic GMP-AMP synthase-stimulator of the interferon genes (cGAS-STING) pathway, and autophagy remains unclear. This study examines whether HER2 regulates autophagy in gastric cancer cells via the cGAS-STING signaling pathway, influencing key processes such as cell proliferation and migration. Understanding this relationship could uncover new molecular targets for diagnosis and treatment.

Invited Review for 20th Anniversary Special Issue of PLRev "AI for Mechanomedicine".

Mechanomedicine is an interdisciplinary field that combines different areas including biomechanics, mechanobiology, and clinical applications like mechanodiagnosis and mechanotherapy. The emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) has revolutionized mechanomedicine, providing advanced tools to analyze the complex interactions between mechanics and biology. This review explores how AI impacts mechanomedicine across four key aspects, i.

Systematic optimization of UCNPs-LFA for Helicobacter pylori nucleic acid detection at point-of-care.

Helicobacter pylori (Hp) prevail globally as the primary cause of gastritis, gastric ulcer, and potential gastric cancer, highlighting the need for rapid and precise point-of-care (POC) detection of Hp nucleic acid. Upconversion nanoparticle-based lateral flow assay (UCNPs-LFA) exhibit great potential in POC detection, due to their high optical stability and absence of background fluorescence. However, insufficient sensitivity for nucleic acid detection remains a key challenge.

Development and Application of SPOSiPs: A Class of Diphosphine Ligands Based on SPOSiOL.

Here, we report the development and application of a novel class of spirosilacycle-based diphosphine ligands (SPOSiPs). This type of diphosphine ligand could be readily prepared in two steps with high efficiency starting from enantiopure spirobiphenoxasilin-diol (SPOSiOL). According to the structural analysis of SPOSiP and its PdCl complex, SPOSiPs possess a flexible chiral pocket and feature a rigid configuration, a large dihedral angle, a long P-P distance, and a large P-M-P bite angle in their metal complexes.

Point-of-care detection of Monkeypox virus clades using high-performance upconversion nanoparticle-based lateral flow assay.

There is an urgent need for a point-of-care testing (POCT) method in developing and underserved regions to distinguish between two Monkeypox virus (MPXV) clades, given their varying transmissibility and clinical manifestations. In this paper, we target the specific complement protein gene fragment of two MPXV clades and construct a high-performance upconversion nanoparticles-based lateral flow assay (UCNPs-based LFA) with double T-lines and a shared C-line. This enables qualitative and quantitative dual-mode detection when combined with a smartphone and a benchtop fluorescence analyzer.

Development and validation of a nomogram for Siewert II esophagogastric junction adenocarcinoma: a retrospective analysis.

Background: Due to the complex histological type and anatomical structures, there has been considerable debate on the classification of adenocarcinoma of the esophagogastric junction (AEG), especially Siewert II AEG. Furthermore, neither the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) 7th tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) [esophageal adenocarcinoma (E) or gastric cancer (G)] nor the AJCC 8th TNM (E or G) accurately predicted the prognosis of patients with Siewert II AEG.

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the factors influencing the survival and prognosis of patients with Siewert II AEG and establish a new and better prognostic predictive model.

Association between IL-6 and prognosis of gastric cancer: a retrospective study.

Background: Gastric cancer (GC) is one of the common and fatal cancers. Even though the Tumor, Node, Metastasis (TNM) staging system is the most classical staging system recognized worldwide, it has been controversial because there are various factors affecting the prognosis of GC patients.

Objectives: The study aims to evaluate the relationship between interleukin-6 (IL-6) and several clinical indicators and construct a prognostic model to better predict the prognosis of GC.

PigBiobank: a valuable resource for understanding genetic and biological mechanisms of diverse complex traits in pigs.

To fully unlock the potential of pigs as both agricultural species for animal-based protein food and biomedical models for human biology and disease, a comprehensive understanding of molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying various complex phenotypes in pigs and how the findings can be translated to other species, especially humans, are urgently needed. Here, within the Farm animal Genotype-Tissue Expression (FarmGTEx) project, we build the PigBiobank (http://pigbiobank.farmgtex.

Synthetic Gene Circuit-Based Assay with Multilevel Switch Enables Background-Free and Absolute Quantification of Circulating Tumor DNA.

Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) detection has found widespread applications in tumor diagnostics and treatment, where the key is to obtain accurate quantification of ctDNA. However, this remains challenging due to the issue of background noise associated with existing assays. In this work, we developed a synthetic gene circuit-based assay with multilevel switch (termed CATCH) for background-free and absolute quantification of ctDNA.

Association between circulating tumor cells in the peripheral blood and the prognosis of gastric cancer patients: a meta-analysis.

Background: Research on the correlation between circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and gastric cancer (GC) has increased rapidly in recent years. However, whether CTCs are associated with GC patient prognosis is highly controversial.

Objective: This study aims to evaluate the value of CTCs to predict the prognosis of GC patients.

Long-wave opsin involved in body color plastic development in Nilaparvata lugens.

Background: As one of the components of visual photopigments in photoreceptor cells, opsin exhibits different spectral peaks and plays crucial roles in visual function. Besides, it is discovered to evolve other functions despite color vision. However, research on its unconventional function is limited nowadays.

A three-in-one microfluidic droplet digital PCR platform for absolute quantitative analysis of DNA.

Droplet digital polymerase chain reaction (ddPCR) technology has found widespread applications in the ultrasensitive analysis of nucleic acids, where integrated ddPCR platforms with the capability of sample dispersion, followed by amplification and data analysis, are highly expected. However, current integrated ddPCR platforms are usually limited by either difficultly mass-produced materials or lack of integrated control instruments, restricting their practical application. This paper proposes an integrated three-in-one ddPCR platform with high user-friendliness and practicability, which is composed of an easy-to-use chip and a matching control instrument.

Modularized synthetic biology enabled intelligent biosensors.

Biosensors that sense the concentration of a specified target and produce a specific signal output have become important technology for biological analysis. Recently, intelligent biosensors have received great interest due to their adaptability to meet sophisticated demands. Advances in developing standard modules and carriers in synthetic biology have shed light on intelligent biosensors that can implement advanced analytical processing to better accommodate practical applications.

Regulation of probe density on upconversion nanoparticles enabling high-performance lateral flow assays.

Upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs)-based fluorescence probes have shown great potential in point-of-care testing (POCT) applications, due to UCNPs' features of high photostability and background-free fluorescence. Ceaseless improvements of UCNPs-probes have been carried out to increase detection sensitivity and to broaden detection range of UCNPs-based POCT. In this paper, we optimized UCNPs-probes by regulating probe density.

A Gastrectomy for early-stage gastric cancer patients with or without preserving celiac branches of vagus nerves: A meta-analysis.

Background: Vagus nerve-preserving gastrectomy is increasingly popular in treating gastric cancer in the early stage, however the long and short-term outcomes after gastrectomy while preserving the celiac branch of the vagus nerve are not well defined. We aimed to summarize and compare perioperative and longer-term outcomes after celiac branch vagus nerve-preserving gastrectomy (CBP, preserving both the celiac and hepatic branches of the vagus nerve), compared to those without CBP (non-CBP, only the hepatic branch of the vagus nerve is preserved).

Methods: We searched the Embase, PubMed, Cochrane Library and Web of Science databases for papers published before October 2021.

Eu-Chelate Polystyrene Microsphere-Based Lateral Flow Immunoassay Platform for hs-CRP Detection.

caused by viral or bacterial infection is a major threat to human health globally. Blood C-reactive protein (CRP) has been proven to be a sensitive indicator for the occurrence and development of inflammation. Furthermore, a tiny change of blood CRP concentration may portend chronic diseases; therefore, high-sensitivity CRP (hs-CRP) detection in a quantitative, rapid, user-friendly, and low-cost manner is highly demanded.

Anxiety and depression in the post-pandemic era: concerns about viral mutation and re-outbreak.

Background: The 2020 coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) has been raging for more than 20 months, putting significant strain on public health systems around the world. Despite the fact that the pandemic has been effectively managed in certain countries, regional outbreaks and viral mutations continue to pose a threat to people's lives. The likelihood of post-pandemic changes in people's psychological situations warrants more investigation.

Neural Component Analysis for Key Performance Indicator Monitoring.

The partial least squares (PLS) algorithm is a commonly used key performance indicator (KPI)-related performance monitoring method. To address nonlinear features in the process, this paper proposes neural component analysis (NCA)-PLS, which combines PLS with NCA. (NCA)-PLS realizes all the principles of PLS by introducing a new loss function and a new principal component selection mechanism to NCA.

Ball pen writing-without-ink: a truly simple and accessible method for sensitivity enhancement in lateral flow assays.

Lateral flow assays (LFAs), a popular point-of-care testing platform, have found widespread applications from laboratory to clinics. However, LFA-based testing is still subject to limited detection sensitivity, especially for classical gold nanoparticle-based LFAs. Inspired by traditional pen-based writing technologies, we developed a ball pen writing-without-ink method to amplify the detection signal of LFAs through controlling fluid flow rate.