Advanced Nanotechnology-Based Nucleic Acid Medicines.

Nucleic acid medicines are a highly attractive modality that act in a sequence-specific manner on target molecules. To date, 21 such products have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration. However, the development of nucleic acid medicines continues to face various challenges, including tissue and cell targeting as well as intracellular delivery.

Amphiphilic phospholipid polymers as a cryoprotectant for vitrification and nanowarming of rat livers.

Liver biobanking is a promising approach that saves the lives of patients with end-stage liver disease. Cryopreservation based on vitrification enables semi-permanent organ preservation, contributing to overcome the shortage of donors for liver transplants. A technical challenge in cryopreservation of transplantable organs lies in thawing methodology, and conventional convective warming cannot maintain the glassy state during thawing because of the large temperature gradient between the inner and outer parts of the organs, leading to ice formation and damage of cells in the organ.

Tracing the genealogy of research on the mechanism of blue flower coloration by anthocyanin based on Keita Shibata's work.

K. Shibata is the ancestor of the research on anthocyanins in Japan and proposed metal complex theory against the pH theory by R. Willstätter.

Skeleton-guided 3D convolutional neural network for tubular structure segmentation.

Purpose: Accurate segmentation of tubular structures is crucial for clinical diagnosis and treatment but is challenging due to their complex branching structures and volume imbalance. The purpose of this study is to propose a 3D deep learning network that incorporates skeleton information to enhance segmentation accuracy in these tubular structures.

Methods: Our approach employs a 3D convolutional network to extract 3D tubular structures from medical images such as CT volumetric images.

Machine Learning-Aided Analysis of the Rolling and Recrystallization Textures of Pure Iron with Different Cold Reduction Ratios and Cold-Rolling Directions.

We performed a machine learning-aided analysis of the rolling and recrystallization textures in pure iron with different cold reduction ratios and cold-rolling directions. Five types of specimens with different cold reduction ratios and cold-rolling directions were prepared. The effect of two-way cold-rolling on the rolling texture was small at cold reduction ratios different from 60%.

[Microorganism Immobilization Device Using Artificial Siderophores].

Inspired by the mechanism by which microorganisms utilize siderophores to ingest iron, four different Fe complexes of typical artificial siderophore ligands containing catecholate and/or hydroxamate groups, K[Fe-L], K[Fe-L], K[Fe-L], and [Fe-L], were prepared. They were modified on an Au substrate surface (Fe-L/Au) and applied as microorganism immobilization devices for fast, sensitive, selective detection of microorganisms, where HL, HL, HL, and HL denote the tri-catecholate, biscatecholate-monohydroxamate, monocatecholate-bishydroxamate, and tri-hydroxamate type of artificial siderophores, respectively. Their adsorption properties for the several microorganisms were investigated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), quartz crystal microbalance (QCM), and electric impedance spectroscopy (EIS) methods.

Utilizing Activated Carbon Nanopores for Electrochemical Oxidation of Perylene to Redox-Active 3,10-Perylenedione: Application in Electrochemical Capacitor Electrodes.

We demonstrate that nanopores of activated carbon (AC) function as nanoreactors that oxidize perylene (PER) to a redox-active organic compound, 3,10-perylenedione (PERD), without any metal catalysts or organic solvents. PER is first adsorbed on AC in the gas phase, and the PER-adsorbed AC is subjected to electrochemical oxidation in aqueous HSO as the electrolyte. Because gas-phase adsorption is solvent-free, PER is completely adsorbed on AC as long as the amount of PER does not exceed the saturated adsorption capacity of the AC, which enables accurate control of the amount adsorbed.

Revisiting instrument segmentation: Learning from decentralized surgical sequences with various imperfect annotations.

This paper focuses on a new and challenging problem related to instrument segmentation. This paper aims to learn a generalizable model from distributed datasets with various imperfect annotations. Collecting a large-scale dataset for centralized learning is usually impeded due to data silos and privacy issues.

Chemical and biological study of flavonoid-related plant pigment: current findings and beyond.

Flavonoids are polyphenolic plant constituents. Anthocyanins are flavonoid pigments found in higher plants that show a wide variety of colors ranging from red through purple to blue. The blue color of the flowers is mostly attributed to anthocyanins.

Separation of inorganic anions on reversed-phase C18 columns with a phosphomolybdate mobile phase.

Reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) is the most widely used chromatographic method. In addition to hydrophobic interactions, additional interactions such as electrostatic interactions may participate in the retention behaviour of an analyte. This makes it possible to use RP-HPLC for many types of analyte.

Effects of repetition of a car-driving pedal maneuver and neural output in older adults.

Understanding the ability of older adults to control pedal position angle and investigating whether this ability can be enhanced through practice may contribute to the prevention of traffic accidents. This study aimed to investigate repetitive effects on variability of the pedal position and neural drive during car-pedal operation in older adults. Thirteen older and 11 young adults performed 105 (21 sets × 5 repetitions) pedal angle control tasks with plantar flexor contraction.

Catalytic Oxidation of Methanol to Formaldehyde Catalyzed by Iron Complex with NS-type Tripodal Ligand.

A Fe complex with NS-type tripod ligand, 1, reacts with O in CHOH to generate formaldehyde, which has been studied structurally, spectroscopically, and electrochemically. Complex 1 crystallizes as an octahedral structure with crystallographic C symmetry around the metal, with Fe-N=2.2917(17) Å and Fe-S=2.

Detection of Microorganisms Using Artificial Siderophore-Fe Complex-Modified Substrates.

Four Fe complexes of typical artificial siderophore ligands containing catecholate and/or hydroxamate groups of tricatecholate, biscatecholate-monohydroxamate, monocatecholate-bishydroxamate, and trihydroxamate type artificial siderophores (K[], K[], K[], and []) were modified on Au substrate surfaces. Their abilities to adsorb microorganisms were investigated using scanning electron microscopy, quartz crystal microbalance, and AC impedance methods. The artificial siderophore-iron complexes modified on Au substrates (/Au, /Au, /Au, and /Au) showed the selective immobilization behavior for various microorganisms, depending on the structural features of the artificial siderophores (the number of catecholate and hydroxamate arms).

Association between physical fitness tests and neuromuscular properties.

Purpose: While various fitness tests have been developed to assess physical performances, it is unclear how these tests are affected by differences, such as, in morphological and neural factors. This study was aimed to investigate associations between individual differences in physical fitness tests and neuromuscular properties.

Methods: One hundred and thirty-three young adults participated in various general physical fitness tests and neuromuscular measurements.

Two- and Three-Dimensional Modeling and Simulations of Grain Growth Behavior in Dual-Phase Steel Using Monte Carlo and Machine Learning.

Dual-phase (DP) steel has been widely used in automotive steel plates with a balance of excellent strength and ductility. Grain refinement in DP steel is important to improve the properties further; however, the factors affecting grain growth need to be well understood. The remaining problem is that acquiring data through experiments is still time-consuming and difficult to evaluate quantitatively.

Copper oxide nanoparticles fabricated by green chemistry using Tribulus terrestris seed natural extract-photocatalyst and green electrodes for energy storage device.

Nanobiotechnology is a unique class of multiphase and recently become a branch of contemporary science and a paradigm shift in material research. One of the two main problems facing the field of nanomaterial synthesis is the discovery of new natural resources for the biological production of metal nanoparticles and the absence of knowledge about the chemical composition of bio-source required for synthesis and the chemical process or mechanism behind the production of metal nanoparticles presents the second difficulty. We reported template-free green synthesized copper oxide nanoparticles using Tribulus terrestris seed natural extract without any isolation process.

Evaluation of Austenite-Ferrite Phase Transformation in Carbon Steel Using Bayesian Optimized Cellular Automaton Simulation.

Austenite-ferrite phase transformation is a crucial metallurgical tool to tailor the properties of steels required for particular applications. Extensive simulation and modeling studies have been conducted to evaluate the phase transformation behaviors; however, some fundamental physical parameters still need to be optimized for better understanding. In this study, the austenite-ferrite phase transformation was evaluated in carbon steels with three carbon concentrations during isothermal annealing at various temperatures using a developed cellular automaton simulation model combined with Bayesian optimization.