Egg white protein‑sodium alginate smart labels based on pH-driven method and nonphase change 3D printing in mackerel freshness response.

The smart labels prepared via the casting method and molten 3D printing method have a long heating time at high temperature and a dense network structure, resulting in a decrease in the color response ability of the labels. Therefore, this study uses a nonphase change foam 3D printing method with a shorter heating time to improve the color sensitivity of smart labels. By the pH driving method, the blending and pregelation of sodium alginate (Alg) can extend the drainage time of the interfacial film to the maximum extent, thus further improving the foam stability of egg white protein (EWP) and endowing the interfacial adsorption layer with better flexibility and fluidity.

A sodium alginate-based injectable hydrogel system for locoregional treatment of colorectal cancer by eliciting pyroptosis and apoptosis.

Effective delivery of sufficient doxorubicin (DOX) molecules in tumors is hindered by the complex biological barriers. Herein, a DOX-loaded sodium alginate-based injectable hydrogel (DOX@MHB-conj-SA) was designed by the Michael addition reactions between the sulfydryl in cross-linkers and the double bonds in a derivative of sodium alginate. DOX@MHB-conj-SA was administrated to CT26 tumor-bearing mice via peritumoral injection for locoregional treatment of colorectal cancer by inducing apoptosis and pyroptosis.

Phycocyanin hexamers and their associated linker polypeptides in phycobilisomes from the marine red alga Polysiphonia urceolata.

Pure phycocyanin (PC) hexamers from red algae were first prepared in this research. PC hexamers are helpful for studying the role and mechanism of PCs in energy transfer within phycobilisomes from red algae. The PC hexamers from Polysiphonia urceolata are stable at lower pH (pH 5.

Structural and physicochemical properties of debranched lotus seed starch treated with high hydrostatic pressure.

Lotus seeds represent a significant economic crop and are abundant in starch. To further enhance their application value, this study investigates the structural characteristics of lotus seed starch (LS) under the combined influence of pullulanase and high hydrostatic pressure (HHP). Pullulanase increased amylose content from 39.

Preparation of sodium alginate and chitosan modified curcumin liposomes and study on the formation of protein corona.

Curcumin (CUR) is a polyphenolic compound extracted from plants with a wide range of pharmacological activities. However, the low stability and bioavailability limits its practical application. This work utilized the chitosan (CH) and sodium alginate (SA) to modify the surface of the liposome to improve the stability of curcumin.

Neuronal protective effect of Artemisinin in ischemic stroke: Achieved by blocking lysine demethylase 1A-mediated demethylation of sphingosine kinase 2.

Artemisinin (ART), a natural product isolated from the traditional Chinese plant Artemisia annua L., has shown neuroprotective properties in addition to its well-established antimalarial activities. This study investigates the therapeutic effect of ART in ischemic stroke (IS) and delves into its functional mechanism.

Improved biosynthesis of tyrosol by epigenetic modification-based regulation and metabolic engineering in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Aromatic amino acids and their derivatives are high value chemicals widely used in food, pharmaceutical and feed industries. Current preparation methods for aromatic amino acid products are fraught with limitations. In this study, the efficient biosynthesis of aromatic amino acid compound tyrosol was investigated by epigenetic modification-based regulation and optimization of the biosynthetic pathway of aromatic amino acids.

IConDiffNet: an unsupervised inverse-consistent diffeomorphic network for medical image registration.

This paper introduces a novel unsupervised inverse-consistent diffeomorphic registration network termed IConDiffNet, which incorporates an energy constraint that minimizes the total energy expended during the deformation process. The IConDiffNet architecture consists of two symmetric paths, each employing multiple recursive cascaded updating blocks (neural networks) to handle different virtual time steps parameterizing the path from the initial undeformed image to the final deformation. These blocks estimate velocities corresponding to specific time steps, generating a series of smooth time-dependent velocity vector fields.

Poly(ionic liquid)-regulated green one-pot synthesis of Au@Pt porous nanospheres for the smart detection of acid phosphatase and organophosphorus inhibitor.

Here, a green poly(ionic liquid)-regulated one-pot method is developed for the synthesis of Au@Pt core-shell nanospheres (PNSs) under mild reaction conditions in water. It is found that the poly(ionic liquid) poly[1-methyl-3-butyl (3-hydroxy) imidazole] chloride (PIL-Cl) is very vital to guide the construction of Au@Pt PNSs. The as-obtained Au@Pt-1 PNSs have perfect spherical outlines, porous core-shell structures and large specific surface area by which they exhibit excellent peroxidase-like activity in acidic media and can be used to develop a simple and reliable colorimetric sensing platform.

Dual-mode ultrasensitive detection of acute leukemia gene Pax-5a based on smart DNA programmed dendrimer.

Accurate and sensitive detection of Pax-5a gene is the basis of early diagnosis and prediction of acute leukemia. This research aims to develop a universal dual-mode sensing method enables ultrasensitive gene detection based on smart control of DNA amplification by nucleic acid beacons e to form programmed dendrimer. The Pax-5a target gene triggers the opening of smart gate hairpin probe (Hp), exposing the stem sequence as the primer to bind with padlock probe for rolling circle amplification (RCA).

The characterization of tumor immune microenvironment after neoadjuvant immunotherapy in head and neck squamous cell cancer using multiplex immunohistochemistry.

Objective: Optimizing clinical decision-making in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is challenging due to the ambiguous understanding of the immune cell dynamics and immune checkpoints regulation in the disease after the administration of neoadjuvant immunotherapy (NIT).

Methods: HNSCC biopsy samples collected before and after the neoadjuvant treatment are classified into the pathologic response (PR) and the non-pathologic response (NPR) groups according to treatment responses and the expression of immune cells and checkpoints was labeled using multiplex immunohistochemistry (m-IHC).

Results: The populations of CD4 T cells, CD8 T cells, regulatory T cells (Treg), PD-1, and PD-L1 were particularly higher in the PR group than the NPR group in pre-treatment tissues, with the p-values of log-transformed positive cell density <0.

Distributed aggregative optimization with affine coupling constraints.

This paper investigates a distributed aggregative optimization problem subject to coupling affine inequality constraints, in which local objective functions depend not only on their own decision variables but also on an aggregation of all the agents' variables. The formulated problem encompasses numerous practical applications, such as commodity distribution, electric vehicle charging, and energy consumption control in power grids. Hence, there is a compelling need to explore a new neurodynamic approach to address this.

Defect-regulated MnS@NiCoSeS structures: A novel approach to unlock energy storage potential in supercapacitors.

Transition metal sulfides (TMSs) have significant potential in energy storage applications due to their high theoretical capacity and diverse reaction mechanisms. However, performance limitations in supercapacitors arise from various intrinsic defects, including low active material utilization and poor cycling stability caused by unstable electrical conductivity. To address these issues, this paper incorporates selenium atoms into sulfides, aiming to leverage selenium's high conductivity to enhance the electroactivity of transition metal sulfides.

Porphyrin based covalent organic frameworks via self-polycondensation for heterogeneous photocatalysis.

A novel porphyrin based covalent organic frameworks (Por-BABN-COF) has been successfully constructed via self-polycondensation of a newly developed AB porphyrin building block possessing two amino groups and two neopentyl acetal at the meso-position. Por-BABN-COF was employed as a heterogeneous photocatalyst for the selective oxidation of sulfides and CO cycloaddition due to its superior light absorption capacity, strong crystallinity and high stability. The high conversion, good selectivity and excellent reusability indicate Por-BABN-COF is a promising photocatalyst for both reactions.

Mechanism of oxygen vacancy engineering CoO/FeO regulated electrocatalytic reduction of nitrate to ammonia.

To enhance the activity of the nitrate reduction reaction (NORR), the development of oxygen vacancies electrocatalysts is a promising approach for improving the efficiency of ammonia synthesis. However, the mechanism by which oxygen vacancies regulate NORR to ammonia remains poorly understood. In this study, a series of CoO/FeO composite catalysts derived from ZIF-67 containing oxygen vacancies (OVs) were synthesized to elucidate the role of OVs on the activity and selectivity of ammonia synthesis.

An oxidation-reduction-triggered thiamine disulfide-based prodrug of 10-hydroxycamptothecin for selective tumor cell locking and therapeutic delivery.

Chemotherapy, a primary method of cancer treatment, has been limited in clinical application due to its lack of specificity and tumor multidrug resistance, resulting in numerous undesired side effects. Herein, a small molecule conjugate, TDK-HCPT, was designed and synthesized, which could target tumor cells and prolong the retention of chemotherapy agents within tumor cells. Moreover, a similarly designed control system, TDK-Nap, has been developed as well to enable cancer cell imaging.

The association between non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol to high-density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio (NHHR) and risk of infertility among US adults: A cross-sectional NHANES study.

Background: Infertility affects millions worldwide, with a significant proportion of cases remaining unexplained. Recent evidence suggests a potential link between lipid metabolism and reproductive health, prompting investigations into novel biomarkers like the non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol to high-density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio (NHHR) for assessing infertility risk.

Methods: This study utilized data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) to conduct a cross-sectional analysis of 5,524 women aged 20-45 in the United States.

Boosting Impedance Matching by Depositing Gradiently Conductive Atomic Layers on Porous Polyimide for Lightweight, Flexible, Broadband, and Strong Microwave Absorption.

Gradient structures are effective for microwave absorbing but suffer from inadequate lightweight and poor flexibility, making them fall behind the comprehensive requirements of electromagnetic protection. Herein, we propose a hierarchical gradient structure by integration with porous and sandwich structures. Specifically, polyimide (PI) foams are used as a robust and flexible skeleton, in which the foam cell walls are sandwiched by TiCT, ZnO, and ZrO atomic layers in sequence.

Rapid and Controlled Assembly of Polysubstituted Furans and Their Oligoaryls from Alkynes and Aldehydes Facilitated by Sequential Deprotonation.

A new sequential deprotonation strategy of dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and propargyl alcohol in the presence of a base was developed for the generation of the α-hydroxyl carbanion, which enables rapid and controllable access to a wide range of valuable highly functionalized furans in one pot from alkynes and aldehydes under transition-metal- and additive-free conditions. Preliminary mechanistic studies revealed the crucial role of the base and DMSO. More importantly, deuterium labeling experiments confirmed the formation of the α-hydroxyl carbanion.

Assessment of the methodological quality of studies on core outcome sets for respiratory diseases: A systematic review and meta-research study.

Background: With increasing attention to core outcome sets (COS), the number of studies on COS for respiratory diseases (COS-RD) is on the rise. However, the methodological quality is still unclear. Therefore, we conducted a study to assess the methodological quality of studies on COS-RD.

The first direct detection of spotted fever group Rickettsia spp. diversity in ticks from Ningxia, northwestern China.

Background: Tick-borne infectious diseases caused by the spotted fever group Rickettsia (SFGR) have continuously emerging, with many previously unidentified SFGR species reported. The prevalence of SFGRs in northwestern China remains unclear. This study aimed to examine the prevalence of SFGRs and Anaplasma species by analyzing tick samples collected from the Ningxia region.

Structural Basis of High-Precision Protein Ligation and Its Application.

Enzyme-catalyzed protein modifications have become invaluable in diverse applications, outperforming chemical methods in terms of precision, conjugation efficiency, and biological compatibility. Despite significant advances in ligases, such as sortase A and OaAEP1, their use in heterogeneous biological environments remains constrained by limited target sequence specificity. In 2021, Lupas' group introduced Connectase, a family of repurposed archaeal proteases for protein ligations, but its low processivity and lack of structural information have impeded further engineering for practical biological and biophysical applications.