Interactions between environmental pollutants and gut microbiota: a review connecting the conventional heavy metals and the emerging microplastics.

Growing epidemiological evidence suggests that the diverse and functional gut microbiota plays a vital role in regulating the health and disease of organisms including human. However, organisms are inevitably exposed to widespread environmental pollutants, and the interactions between their gut microbiota and pollutants are relatively underreported. The present paper considers heavy metals (HMs) and microplastics (MPs) as representatives of traditional and emerging pollutants and systematically summarizes their effects on gut microbiota and the effects of gut microbiota on pollutants.

A chromosome-scale genome assembly of the pioneer plant Stylosanthes angustifolia: insights into genome evolution and drought adaptation.

Background: Drought is a major limiting factor for plant survival and crop productivity. Stylosanthes angustifolia, a pioneer plant, exhibits remarkable drought tolerance, yet the molecular mechanisms driving its drought resistance remain largely unexplored.

Results: We present a chromosome-scale reference genome of S.

Beyond Tradition: A MOF-On-MOF Cascade Z-Scheme Heterostructure for Augmented CO Photoreduction.

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are rigorously investigated as promising candidates for CO capture and conversion. MOF-on-MOF heterostructures integrate bolstered charger carrier separation with the intrinsic advantages of MOF components, exhibiting immense potential to substantially escalate the efficiency of photocatalytic CO reduction (CORR). However, the structural and compositional complexity poses significant challenges to the controllable development of these heterostructures.

Combined Analysis of the Leaf Metabolome, Lipidome, and Candidate Gene Function: Insights into Genotypic Variation in Phosphorus Utilization Efficiency in .

Stylo () exhibits excellent tolerance to low-phosphate (Pi) availability, but the underlying mechanisms responsible for improving the phosphorus (P) utilization efficiency (PUE) remain unclear. This study employed metabolomics, lipidomics, and gene expression analyses to investigate the differential responses to low-Pi stress between the high-PUE genotype CF047827 and the cultivar Reyan No. 2.

R(3780) Resonance Interpreted as the 1^{3}D_{1}-Wave Dominant State of Charmonium from Precise Measurements of the Cross Section of e^{+}e^{-}→Hadrons.

We report the precise measurements of the cross section of e^{+}e^{-}→hadrons at center-of-mass energies from 3.645 to 3.871 GeV.

Intramolecular Repulsive Interactions Enable High Efficiency of NIR-II Aggregation-Induced Emission Luminogens for High-Contrast Glioblastoma Imaging.

Strategies to acquire high-efficiency luminogens that emit in the second near-infrared (NIR-II, 1000-1700 nm) range are still rare due to the impediment of the energy gap law. Herein, a feasible strategy is pioneered by installing large-volume encumbrances in a confined space to intensify the repulsive interactions arising from overlapping electron densities. The experimental results, including smaller coordinate displacement, reduced reorganization energy, and suppressed internal conversion, demonstrate that the repulsive interactions assist in the inhibition of radiationless deactivation.

Removal of Forearm Plate Leads to a Higher Risk of Refracture-A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Objective: Plate fixation is the preferred method for treating forearm shaft fractures. However, it remains controversial regarding the necessity of implant removal after bone union. This review aims to assess refracture risk after plate removal.

Time-resolved fluorescence studies reveal differences in dynamic motion between main proteases of SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV.

The main protease (M) is an attractive drug target for inhibiting the coronavirus. Lots of research has focused on the static viewpoint of the M, such as the X-ray crystal structure, inhibitors design, and the transition between monomer and dimer. However, the attention to the dynamical features of M is limited, which is essential for a deeper determination of the properties of the target protein.

Overexpression of Cassava Promotes Seedling Development.

The sugar transporter (STP) gene family is a key regulator of plant development, which is crucial for the efficient transport and utilization of sugars during plant growth and development. In this study, we identified the gene, which is highly expressed in cassava fibrous roots, early storage roots, and under hormonal treatment, including IAA, MeJA, ABA, and GA, and abiotic stressors, such as mannitol and NaCl. A strong response was observed with exoqenous IAA.

Enhancing SO Sensing Performance of a Fuel Cell-Type Sensor with N-Doped Cu/CNT Aerogel Electrode and COF/Nafion Electrolyte.

Sulfur dioxide (SO) is a common environmental pollutant with significant hazards. However, sensors for SO real-time monitoring at room temperature often face problems such as a poor response and sluggish recovery. In this work, a fuel cell-type gas sensor based on nitrogen-doped carbon nanotube (CNT) aerogels loaded with Cu particle electrode material and COF/Nafion composite electrolyte was developed, which exhibited excellent SO sensitivity and fast response/recovery.

Light-modulated van der Waals force microscopy.

Atomic force microscope generally works by manipulating the absolute magnitude of the van der Waals force between tip and specimen. This force is, however, less sensitive to atom species than to tip-sample separations, making compositional identification difficult, even under multi-modal strategies or other atomic force microscopy variations. Here, we report the phenomenon of a light-modulated tip-sample van der Waals force whose magnitude is found to be material specific, which can be employed to discriminate heterogeneous compositions of materials.

Luminescence Modulation in Boron-Cluster-Based Luminogens via Boron Isotope Effects.

Recent advances in luminescent materials highlight the significant impact of hydrogen isotope effects on improving optoelectronic properties. However, the research on the influence of the boron isotope effects on photophysical properties remains underdeveloped. This study focused on exploring the boron isotope effects in boron-cluster-based luminogens.

Water-soluble AIE photosensitizer in short-wave infrared region for albumin-enhanced and self-reporting phototheranostics.

Organic photosensitizers (PSs) play important roles in phototheranostics, and contribute to the fast development of precision medicine. However, water-soluble and highly emissive organic PSs, especially those emitting in the short-wave infrared region (SWIR), are still challenging. Also, it's difficult to prepare self-reporting PSs for visualizing the treatment via stimulated emission depletion (STED) nanoscopy.

In vitro digestion and fermentation of polysaccharides from nine common Polygonatum spp. and their impact on human gut microbiota.

This study aimed to investigate the dynamic changes in the physicochemical properties of polysaccharides from nine common Polygonatum spp. during in vitro simulated saliva-gastrointestinal digestion, in vitro fermentation, and their subsequent effects on human gut microbiota. Results revealed that the total sugar contents of Polygonatum spp.

Adhesion Reduction at Solid/Liquid Interfaces Based on Topologically Optimized Microtextures.

Artificial microtextures adopted to achieve adhesion reduction help avoid the vulnerability associated with chemical coatings. Most current microtextures strongly rely on biological inspiration or designers' physical intuition. There are also manufacturing challenges due to the complex geometrical configurations.

Visualizing Triplet Energy Transfer in Organic Near-Infrared Phosphorescent Host-Guest Materials.

Limited by the energy gap law, purely organic materials with efficient near-infrared room temperature phosphorescence are rare and difficult to achieve. Additionally, the exciton transition process among different emitting species in host-guest phosphorescent materials remains elusive, presenting a significant academic challenge. Herein, using a modular nonbonding orbital-π bridge-nonbonding orbital (n-π-n) molecular design strategy, we develop a series of heavy atom-free phosphors.

Chromosome-scale reference genome of an ancient landrace: unveiling the genetic basis of seed weight in the food legume crop pigeonpea ().

Pigeonpea () is a nutrient-rich and versatile food legume crop of tropical and subtropical regions. In this study, we describe the assembly of a high-quality genome for the ancient pigeonpea landrace 'D30', achieved through a combination of Pacific Biosciences high-fidelity (PacBio HiFi) and high-throughput chromatin conformation capture (Hi-C) sequencing technologies. The assembled 'D30' genome has a size of 813.