Revealing transport, uptake and damage of polystyrene microplastics using a gut-liver-on-a-chip.

Microplastics (MPs) are pervasive pollutants present in various environments. They have the capability to infiltrate the human gastrointestinal tract through avenues like water and food, and ultimately accumulating within the liver. However, due to the absence of reliable platforms, the transportation, uptake, and damage of microplastics in the gut-liver axis remain unclear.

Gut-on-a-Chip Reveals Enhanced Peristalsis Reduces Nanoplastic-Induced Inflammation.

Nanoplastics (NPs) pollution is a global issue posing potential threats to human health, particularly the digestive system. NPs may exacerbate intestinal inflammation, increasing the risk of inflammatory bowel disease. However, the impact of intestinal peristalsis on NP-induced inflammation remains unknown.

Reconsidering learnable fine-grained text prompts for few-shot anomaly detection in visual-language models.

Few-Shot Anomaly Detection (FSAD) in industrial images aims to identify abnormalities using only a few normal images, which is crucial for industrial scenarios where sample training is limited. The recent advances in large-scale pre-trained visual-language models have brought significant improvements to the FSAD, which typically requires hundreds of text prompts to be manually crafted through prompt engineering. However, manually designed text prompts cannot accurately match the informative features of different categories across diverse images, and the domain gap between train and test datasets can severely impact the generalization capability of text prompts.

Enhancing urban flow prediction via mutual reinforcement with multi-scale regional information.

Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) are essential for modern urban development, with urban flow prediction being a key component. Accurate flow prediction optimizes routes and resource allocation, benefiting residents, businesses, and the environment. However, few methods address the spatial-temporal heterogeneity of urban flows.

BCN-driven interfacial effect: A novel strategy to remarkably enhance the capacitance of CoO/NiO for supercapacitor.

A BCN/CoO/NiO (BCN/CNOs) hetero-interface was developed to introduce a novel strategy that remarkably enhances the specific capacitance of transition metal oxides (TMOs). The engineered hetero-interface driven by BCN was characterized by plentiful electrons accumulation and effectively increased the specific capacitance of the as-prepared BCN/CNOs electrode to 8533 mF cm at 2 mA cm, obtaining 154 % improvement compared to acid-treated carbon cloth loaded CNOs (ACC/CNOs). DFT theoretical calculations indicated that the BCN-driven interfacial effect primarily accelerates the charge transfer due to charge accumulation at interface between BCN and CNOs.

Fumigation with dimethyl trisulfide to inhibit Aspergillus flavus growth, aflatoxin B1 production and virulence.

Aspergillus flavus is a common saprophytic aerobic fungus in oil crops that poses a serious threat worldwide with the carcinogenic aflatoxin. Prevention of aflatoxin B1 contamination has great significance to ensure food safety and reduce the economic loss. The present work focuses on the antagonistic activity against A.

STAT4 gene polymorphisms in human diseases.

Signal transducer and activator of transcription 4 (STAT4) is a member of the STAT family, which is a group of transcription factors that regulate cytokine signaling. Genetic polymorphisms in STAT4 strongly influence immune responses and disease outcomes, especially in cancer and autoimmune diseases. Several studies have indicated that certain STAT4 gene variants are associated with alterations in STAT4 expression and/or activity and that there is a close relationship between STAT4 polymorphisms and drug efficacy.

High modulus and strength polyurethane film synthesized from lignin-based polyol with various lignin contents and NCO/OH molar ratios.

This study explored the synthesis of lignin-polyol (LP) by liquefaction of Kraft lignin in polyethylene glycol and glycerol. LP23 (23 wt% lignin) and LP41 (41 wt% lignin) were obtained with remarkable liquefaction yields of 97.43 % and 93.

Neutral nickel complexes with tetradentate N-heterocyclic carbene amidate ligands for electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution.

Neutral nickel complexes bearing tetradentate N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) amidate ligands were prepared; the effect of the electronic properties of the ligand on the redox behavior as well as the electrocatalytic activity for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) were investigated.

Steering N/S coordination number to accelerate catecholase-like catalysis over low-coordinated Cu site.

Modulation of coordination configuration is crucial for boosting the biomimetic catalytic activity of nanozymes, but remains challenging. Here, we found that the non-first-shell amino group in the ligand was capable of steering the N/S coordination number through remote induction to enable the formation of a low-coordinated CuNS configuration. This endowed the resulting nanozyme (ATT-Cu) with an upshifted d-band center compared with a control nanozyme (TT-Cu) with CuNS configuration, enhancing the adsorption capabilities of ATT-Cu for O and HO intermediates as well as its affinity for catechol.

Active polyvinyl alcohol films with enhanced strength, antioxidant and antibacterial properties by incorporating nanocellulose and tannin.

There is an increasing demand of food packaging materials from sustainable bio- polymers. In this study, tannin-cellulose nanocrystal (TCNCs) fillers were first prepared using dialdehyde cellulose nanocrystal (DACNCs) and tannin through the nucleophilic addition reaction, and then added to PVA matrix as reinforcement fillers to fabricate active food packaging films. FT-IR analysis confirmed the successful reaction between PVA and TCNCs.

Enhancing Motor Imagery Classification with Residual Graph Convolutional Networks and Multi-Feature Fusion.

Stroke, an abrupt cerebrovascular ailment resulting in brain tissue damage, has prompted the adoption of motor imagery (MI)-based brain-computer interface (BCI) systems in stroke rehabilitation. However, analyzing electroencephalogram (EEG) signals from stroke patients poses challenges. To address the issues of low accuracy and efficiency in EEG classification, particularly involving MI, the study proposes a residual graph convolutional network (M-ResGCN) framework based on the modified -transform (MST), and introduces the self-attention mechanism into residual graph convolutional network (ResGCN).

A Rapid Quantitative Assessment Method for Liver Damage Effects of Compounds Based on Zebrafish Liver Partition Area Ratio.

Total liver area is a traditional indicator in evaluating compound liver damage with zebrafish models. However, in some experiments, compounds changed zebrafish liver morphology but total liver area showed no significant difference, indicating it is inaccurate for evaluating compound effects on zebrafish liver damage. Therefore, in this study, transgenic zebrafish Tg(l-fabp:EGFP) labeled with liver cells using green fluorescent protein was used to evaluate compound effects on liver by the liver partition area ratio.

A multi-feature fusion graph attention network for decoding motor imagery intention in spinal cord injury patients.

Electroencephalogram (EEG) signals exhibit temporal-frequency-spatial multi-domain feature, and due to the nonplanar nature of the brain surface, the electrode distributions follow non-Euclidean topology. To fully resolve the EEG signals, this study proposes a temporal-frequency-spatial multi-domain feature fusion graph attention network (GAT) for motor imagery (MI) intention recognition in spinal cord injury (SCI) patients.The proposed model uses phase-locked value (PLV) to extract spatial phase connectivity information between EEG channels and continuous wavelet transform to extract valid EEG information in the time-frequency domain.

Functional connectivity of EEG motor rhythms after spinal cord injury.

Spinal cord injury (SCI), which is the injury of the spinal cord site resulting in motor dysfunction, has prompted the use of motor imagery (MI)-based brain computer interface (BCI) systems for motor function reconstruction. However, analyzing electroencephalogram signals and brain function mechanisms for SCI patients is challenging. This is due to their low signal-to-noise ratio and high variability.

Quantum dot-based biomimetic fluorescence immunoassays for enrofloxacin detection in animal-derived foods.

Long-term consumption of foods with excessive enrofloxacin (ENRO) residues may cause the accumulation of ENRO in the human body, thus damaging human health. In this study, quantum dot-based biomimetic fluorescence immunoassays were used for enrofloxacin detection in food of animal origin. Under the most suitable conditions, the detection limit (IC) of the method in standard solution was 0.

Integrated microbial activities and isotope analysis unveil the effects of zinc oxide nanoparticles on straw decomposition in agricultural soil.

Zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnONPs) are widely applied across multiple industries and ultimately accumulate in water and soil environments, raising significant concern about their toxicity to organisms in various ecosystems. While the effects of ZnONPs on microflora have been reported, their ecotoxicity to specific biogeochemical process and microbial activities and metabolic functions remains relatively unclear. In this study, a 56-day microcosmic experiment was conducted to explore the toxicity mechanism of ZnONPs (1000 mg kg soil) on straw decomposition, soil organic carbon (SOC) mineralization, and changes in microbial activities and functions in agricultural soil with general wheat straw incorporation using the C isotope tracer technique.

Preparation of Paeonol Ethosomes by Microfluidic Technology Combined with Gaussians and Evaluation of Biological Activity by Zebrafish.

Paeonol, a monoterpene glycoside compound, has extensive pharmacological activities. However, its applications are restricted by poor water solubility and low bioavailability. In this study, paeonol ethosomes (PAE-ethosomes) were successfully prepared with a microfluidic method by optimizing the single factors and RSM test.

imaging of microplastics in living organisms based on mass spectrometry technology.

Plastic pollution is widely present in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, and microplastics (MPs) can be detected in organisms. detection methods for MPs in organisms have attracted widespread attention. Traditional imaging characterization methods of MPs, including stereo microscopes and fluorescence microscopy, are typically used to image artificially added microsphere standards under laboratory conditions.

Achieving High Piezoelectric Performance Across Multidomains Design in K(Ta,Nb)O-Based Lead-free Single Crystals.

In light of environmental issues, the lead-free ferroelectric single crystal K(TaNb)O (KTN) has attracted considerable interest due to its excellent piezoelectric properties. This research focus on improving the piezoelectric performance of KTN by engineering domains through polarization in the [011] direction. The full-matrix parameters of KTN crystals after polarization along the [011] direction were determined.

Hydrodynamic Fluidic Pump Empowered Sensitive Recognition and Active Transport of Hydrogen Peroxide in 1D Channels.

Through synthetic chemistry, the development of molecular devices for the precise selective recognition and active transport of small molecules stands as one of the most ambitious objectives in extensive medical, environmental, and biological applications. The periodical channels of the metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) with excellent chemical affinity offer vast regulatory space for reaching this goal. Herein, by post-modifying fluorescent probes and ionic liquid molecules into the Zr-MOFs (NU-1000), a donor-acceptor (D-A) system within the periodical 1D channels is created to construct a hydrodynamic fluidic pump within the abundant 1D channels.

Mobility of biochar-derived dissolved organic matter and its effects on sulfamerazine transport through saturated soil porous media.

Dissolved organic matter (DOM) released from biochar may impact antibiotic mobility and environmental fate in subsurface environments. Here, DOM samples derived from biochars (BDOM) generated by pyrolyzing corn straw at 300, 450, and 600 °C were employed to elucidate the mobility characteristics of these organic substances and their influences on the transport of sulfamerazine (SMZ, a typical sulfonamide antibiotic) in soil porous media. The results demonstrated that BDOM produced at a lower pyrolysis temperature exhibited greater mobility owing to the weaker hydrophobic and H-bonding interactions between BDOM and soil particles.

Identification and Expression Analysis of TCP Transcription Factors Under Abiotic Stress in .

The gene family encodes plant transcription factors crucial for regulating growth and development. While genes have been identified in various species, they have not been studied in (Hemsl.).

Dual-Template Molecularly Imprinted Polymers for Dispersive Solid-Phase Extraction Combined with High Performance Liquid Chromatography for the Determination of Sulfonamide Antibiotics in Environmental Water Samples.

In this study, we designed a molecularly imprinted polymers-dispersive solid-phase extraction-high-performance liquid chromatography (MIPs-DSPE-HPLC) method, as a simple and efficient platform for the sensitive detection of two sulfonamide antibiotics (SAs) of sulfamethoxine (SMM) and sulfamethoxazole (SMZ) in environmental water samples. Using SMM and SMZ as templates, methacrylic acid as the functional monomer, ethylene glycol dimethacrylate as the crosslinking agent, and azodiisobutyronitrile as the catalyst, the dual-template molecularly imprinted polymers (dt-MIPs) were successfully synthesized via surface imprinting technology and multi-template imprinting strategy. The adsorption properties of the prepared MIPs were characterized, and the adsorption capacities of MIPs towards SMZ and SMM were 27.