Engineering synthetic signaling receptors to enable erythropoietin-free erythropoiesis.

Blood transfusion plays a vital role in modern medicine, but frequent shortages occur. Ex vivo manufacturing of red blood cells (RBCs) from universal donor cells offers a potential solution, yet the high cost of recombinant cytokines remains a barrier. Erythropoietin (EPO) signaling is crucial for RBC development, and EPO is among the most expensive media components.

Electrochemical Denitrative Cyclization Driven by Alternating Polarity.

Alternating current electrolysis has emerged as a promising technique for addressing challenging redox reactions that are otherwise difficult or impossible for direct current electrolysis. Under mild and transition-metal-free reaction conditions, a general electrochemical denitrative cyclization of nitroarenes was developed to access various cyclic sulfone-containing derivatives of biological significance. The key to success lies in the facile manipulation of multiple redox events upon rapid alternating polarity switching to enhance the selectivity and efficiency.

A guidance to intelligent metamaterials and metamaterials intelligence.

The bidirectional interactions between metamaterials and artificial intelligence have recently attracted immense interest to motivate scientists to revisit respective communities, giving rise to the proliferation of intelligent metamaterials and metamaterials intelligence. Owning to the strong nonlinear fitting and generalization ability, artificial intelligence is poised to serve as a materials-savvy surrogate electromagnetic simulator and a high-speed computing nucleus that drives numerous self-driving metamaterial applications, such as invisibility cloak, imaging, detection, and wireless communication. In turn, metamaterials create a versatile electromagnetic manipulator for wave-based analogue computing to be complementary with conventional electronic computing.

Discovery of ketene/acetyl as a potential receptor for hydrogen-transfer reactions in zeolites.

Hydrogen-transfer is the primary process responsible for elevating the degree of unsaturation of intermediates in zeolite-catalyzed methanol-to-hydrocarbon reactions, with olefins serving as the typical receptor and alkanes being produced as the by-product. Intriguingly, the introduction of CO was shown to suppress the selectivity of alkanes and enhance the production of aromatics, yet microscopic understanding of this phenomenon remains elusive. Here, based on ab initio molecular dynamics simulations and free energy sampling methods, we discover a non-olefin-induced hydrogen-transfer reaction in the presence of CO, with ketene/acetyl emerging as a more suitable hydrogen-transfer receptor than olefins.

Recurrence after surgery for clear cell and papillary renal cell carcinoma: Head-to head comparison of validated risk scores.

Introduction: The American Urology Association (AUA) recently introduced in their guidelines a subtype-agnostic, 4-tiered risk classification score to assess oncologic outcomes after surgery in patients with localized renal cell carcinoma (RCC). We provide a head-to-head comparison of the AUA score with 3, internationally validated and EAU recommended, histological-specific models.

Materials And Methods: We retrieved from a prospectively-maintained database 2,560 surgically-treated patients with localized RCC in a single high-volume European center (1987-2023).

MemScreen: A smartphone application for detection of mild cognitive impairment: A validation study: Smartphone App for MCI Detection.

Background And Objectives: Primary care is often the first point of contact for patients with cognitive complaints, making initial cognitive screening an essential step to avoid delays in diagnosing Alzheimer's disease (AD) at an early stage. We developed MemScreen, a self-administered smartphone application that assesses overall cognition and verbal memory, and evaluated its ability to detect mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in both general and clinical populations.

Methods: We conducted two validation cohort studies: (1) UK-based Whitehall II cohort study (13th wave, 2018-2022) involving a general population (MCI defined by poor performance on a global cognitive score), and (2) five French memory clinics involving patients without dementia (amnestic MCI defined by the Free and Cued Selective Reminding Test).

Primary Renal Lymphoma: A Single-Center Study of 14 Cases.

Objective: To investigate the clinical characteristics, pathology, imaging features, and prognosis of primary renal lymphoma (PRL), a rare malignancy.

Patients And Method: We conducted a retrospective review of 14 PRL cases diagnosed between January 2009 and January 2022, with follow-up data collected from medical records.

Results: The study included 14 patients (7 males, 7 females), with a mean age of 60.

Aptamer-Antibody Birecognized Sandwich SERRS Biosensor in Accurate and Rapid Identification of Intraoperative Parathyroid Hormone.

With the increasing incidence of thyroid cancer worldwide and the increasing demand for surgery, the risk of parathyroid injury is also increasing, which will lead to postoperative hypoparathyroidism (HP) and hypocalcemia. In order to improve the quality of life of patients after surgery, there is an urgent need to develop a novel platform that can identify the parathyroid gland immediately during surgery. The parathyroid gland promotes the increase of blood calcium concentration by secreting parathyroid hormone (PTH).

Change in subjective well-being and the associated costs of a woman-targeted presbyopia correction programme among older craftswomen in Zanzibar: a cost-outcome and scenario analysis.

Background: A pilot eyecare programme aimed to address the urgent eye health needs of older Zanzibari craftswomen. We investigated the impact of correcting presbyopia on their subjective well-being (SWB) 6 months post-correction and assessed the cost-effectiveness of a women-targeted presbyopia correction programme.

Methods: This study involved Zanzibari craftswomen aged 40 and older with presenting and corrected distance visual acuity better than 6/12 in both eyes and were presbyopic.

Efficacy of Rheocarna, a Novel Apheresis Device, in Patients With No- or Poor-Option Chronic Limb-Threatening Ischemia.

Background: Although revascularization is first-line therapy for chronic limb-threatening ischemia (CLTI), there are no established treatments for patients in whom revascularization is not (or is a poor) option, including CLTI that has responded poorly to revascularization. This study verified the efficacy of the Rheocarna, a novel apheresis device, for no-option CLTI or poor-response CLTI after revascularization.

Methods And Results: This multicenter retrospective observational study analyzed 221 patients (221 limbs) with no- or poor-option CLTI (mean [±SD] age 71±10 years; males, 70.

Suppressive Mechanism of Benzalkonium Chloride-Bactericidal Activity in the Presence of Oil.

Cleaning and sterilization are critical Prerequisite Programs in sanitation management based on HACCP. Most food factories clean and sanitize equipment daily after production using detergents containing benzalkonium chloride (BAC). However, in factories that produce oil and fat-rich foods, it has been discovered that microbes can persist on production equipment.

Analysis of Total, Free, and Esterified Sterols and Triterpene Alcohols in Edible Oils using a Gas Chromatography-Flame Ionization Detector.

Sterols and triterpene alcohols exist in free and esterified forms in edible oils. To date, only few studies have determined the content of free or esterified sterols and triterpene alcohols using gas chromatography-flame ionization detection (GC-FID). In this study, analytical conditions were optimized using free and esterified sterol standards.

Experimental and DFT Studies of Intermolecular Interaction-Assisted Oxindole Cyclization Reaction of Di-t-butyl 2-Aminophenyl-2-methyl Malonate.

Density functional theory calculations on the cyclization of di-t-butyl 2-(2-aminophenyl)-2-methyl malonate (1) to t-butyl 3-methyloxindole-3-carboxylate (2) reveal that acetic acid-assisted protonation of the carbonyl oxygen atom reduces the activation Gibbs free energy significantly lower than methanol-assisted pathways. Experimental data confirm that reaction concentration plays a pivotal role in oxindole formation. Experimental results also indicate distinct reaction mechanisms at low and high concentrations.

Low-coverage whole genome sequencing of low-grade dysplasia strongly predicts advanced neoplasia risk in ulcerative colitis.

Background: The risk of developing advanced neoplasia (AN; colorectal cancer and/or high-grade dysplasia) in ulcerative colitis (UC) patients with a low-grade dysplasia (LGD) lesion is variable and difficult to predict. This is a major challenge for effective clinical management.

Objective: We aimed to provide accurate AN risk stratification in UC patients with LGD.

Multiple gRNAs-assisted CRISPR/Cas12a-based portable aptasensor enabling glucometer readout for amplification-free and quantitative detection of malathion.

Background: The threat of toxic malathion residues to human health has always been a serious food safety issue. The CRISPR/Cas system represents an innovative detection technology for pesticide residues, but its application to malathion detection has not been reported yet. In addition, the multiple-guide RNA (gRNA) powered-CRISPR/Cas biosensor has the advantages of being fast, sensitive and does not require pre-amplification.

Facile preparation of iridium-based AIE polymer dots for sensitive electrochemiluminescence immunoassay of CD44 protein.

The development of aggregation-induced emission (AIE) luminophores is a fascinating and promising topic in electrochemiluminescence (ECL) bioanalysis. Herein, the AIE-active but water-insoluble [Ir(bt)₂(acac)] (bt = 2-phenylbenzothiazole, acac = acetylacetonate) was encapsulated within poly(styrene-maleic anhydride) (PSMA) using a simple nanoprecipitation method. This encapsulation strategy could effectively limit the free motion of Ir(bt)₂(acac) and trigger the aggregation-induced electrochemiluminescence (AIECL) effect.

Multicentre adaptive randomised trial of GvHD prophylaxis following unrelated donor stem cell transplantation comparing Thymoglobulin versus calcineurin inhibitor-based or sirolimus-based post-transplant cyclophosphamide (Methods of T cell Depletion, MoTD trial).

Introduction: Graft-versus-host disease (GvHD) remains a major complication of allogeneic stem cell transplantation (allo-SCT), affecting 30-70% of patients (representing 800 new patients per year in the UK). The risk is higher in patients undergoing unrelated allo-SCT. About 1 in 10 patients die as a result of GvHD or through complications of its treatment.

Clinicopathological and prognostic significance of the microcystic elongated and fragmented pattern in endometrial cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Objective: The presence of the microcystic elongated and fragmented (MELF) pattern, distinguished by its microcystic, elongated and fragmented attributes, constitutes a common manifestation of myometrial invasion (MI) within endometrial carcinoma. However, the prognostic significance of this pattern has not been definitively established. Consequently, this research aimed to clarify the prognostic implications of the MELF pattern for individuals diagnosed with endometrial carcinoma.

Development of the fish invitrome for animal-free environmental risk assessment of chemicals.

Given the need to reduce animal testing for environmental risk assessment, we aim to develop a fish invitrome, an alternative fish modular framework capable of predicting chemical toxicity in fish without the use of animals. The central module of the framework is the validated RTgill-W1 cell line assay that predicts fish acute toxicity of chemicals (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Test Guideline (OECD TG) 249). Expanding towards prediction of chronic toxicity, the fish invitrome includes two other well-advanced modules for chemical bioaccumulation/biotransformation and inhibition of fish growth.

1-year efficacy results after MR-guided risk-adapted stereotactic radiotherapy of infra-diaphragmatic oligometastases in a multicenter phase II trial.

Background And Purpose: The SOFT (Stereotactic ablative radiotherapy of infra-diaphragmatic sOFT tissue metastases) trial assesses the safety and efficacy of risk-adapted MR-guided stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR) of infra-diaphragmatic soft tissue metastasis in patients with oligometastatic disease (OMD) (clinicaltrials.gov ID NCT04407897). This paper reports the one-year efficacy analysis and evaluates associations between local control (LC) and clinical and dosimetric parameters.

Consuming Pecans as a Snack Improves Lipids/Lipoproteins and Diet Quality Compared to Usual Diet in Adults at Increased Risk for Cardiometabolic Diseases: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background: The vascular and cardiometabolic effects of pecans are relatively under-studied.

Objectives: The aim was to examine how substitution of usual snack foods with 57 g/day of pecans affects vascular health, risk factors for cardiometabolic diseases and diet quality, compared to continuing usual intake in individuals at risk for cardiometabolic diseases.

Methods: A 12-week single-blinded, parallel, randomized controlled trial was conducted.

ALTERNATIVE AUTOLOGOUS VEIN GRAFTS VERSUS SINGLE SEGMENT GREAT SAPHENOUS VEIN IN LOWER EXTREMITY BYPASS SURGERY - SINGLE-CENTER STUDY.

Objectives: Studies comparing alternative autologous vein grafts (AAVG) to single-segment great saphenous vein (ssGSV) grafts report mixed results. The status of AAVG as first choice when ssGSV is unavailable is not unequivocal, based on current evidence. Our study compares results between AAVG and ssGSV in lower extremity bypass surgery.

Synthesis, characterization, anticancer, antibacterial and antifungal activities of nanocomposite based on tertiary metal oxide FeO@CuO@ZnONPs, starch, ethylcellulose and collagen.

This study aimed to synthesize a nanocomposite based on tertiary metal oxide FeO@CuO@ZnONPs, starch, ethylcellulose, and collagen, as well as evaluate its biological activities. The prepared nanocomposites were characterized using physicochemical analysis, which included FTIR, XRD, and DLS. Additionally, topographical analysis using FI-SEM, EDX, mapping, HR-TEM, and SAED affirmed the molecular structure and nanosized of formulated nanocomposites.

Cofactor-directed co-immobilization of dual-enzyme on functionalized montmorillonite with enhanced catalytic performance.

Recently, multi-enzyme cascade catalysis has attracted increasing attention due to the advantages of integrating multiple enzymes, few side reactions and high catalytic efficiency. Herein, a novel dual-enzyme cascade system (GOx-FMt-HRP) was developed through cofactor-directed orientational co-immobilization of glucose oxidase (GOx) and horseradish peroxidase (HRP) onto functional montmorillonite (FMt). The presented method realizes the reconstitution of cofactors and apo-enzymes (enzymes without cofactors), which enables enzymes to be immobilized in specific orientations on the support, thereby effectively reducing changes in their conformation.

An effective approach for lignin-based bamboo adhesive preparation via swelling crosslinking.

The preparation of lignin-based adhesives from sustainable lignin sources has garnered increasing attention from many researchers in recent years. However, developing high-performance and environmentally friendly lignin-based adhesives through a simple and efficient approach remains a significant challenge. In this study, aminated corn stover lignin (ACSL) was prepared by aminating corn stover lignin (CSL) using glutaraldehyde and ethylenediamine.