CTB6 Confers Cold Tolerance at the Booting Stage by Maintaining Tapetum Development in Rice.

Rice is highly sensitive to cold stress, particularly at the booting stage, which significantly threatens rice production. In this study, we cloned a gene, CTB6, encoding a lipid transfer protein involved in cold tolerance at the booting stage in rice, based on our previous fine-mapped quantitative trait locus (QTL) qCTB10-2. CTB6 is mainly expressed in the tapetum and young microspores of the anther.

Global Protein Interactome Mapping in Rice Using Barcode-Indexed PCR Coupled with HiFi Long-Read Sequencing.

Establishing the protein-protein interaction network sheds light on functional genomics studies by providing insights from known counterparts. However, the rice interactome has barely been studied due to the lack of massive, reliable, and cost-effective methodologies. Here, the development of a barcode-indexed PCR coupled with HiFi long-read sequencing pipeline (BIP-seq) is reported for high throughput Protein Protein Interaction (PPI)identification.

Chiral and Quantum Plasmonic Sensors: New Frontiers in Selective and Ultra-Sensitive Sensing.

Surface Plasmon Polaritons (SPPs) and Localized Surface Plasmon Resonances (LSPRs) are fundamental phenomena in plasmonics that enable the confinement of electromagnetic waves beyond the diffraction limit. This confinement results in a significant enhancement of the electric field, making this phenomenon particularly beneficial for sensitive detection applications. However, conventional plasmonic sensors face several challenges, notably their difficulty in distinguishing chiral molecules, which are vital in drug development.

A Homozygous Variant in HSD17B1 Identified in Women With Poor Ovarian Response.

An increasing number of patients utilizing in vitro fertilization (IVF) and assisted reproductive technology (ART) are characterized as impaired or poor ovarian responders (PORs). Owing to its unclear molecular etiology, the management of patients with age-related ovarian characteristics remains a controversial and complex clinical concern. Therefore, it is important to identify and understand the etiological causes behind POR to develop more effective and efficient management strategies for these patients.

Photobiomodulation Combined With Human Umbilical Cord Mesenchymal Stem Cells Modulates the Polarization of Microglia.

Neuroinflammation plays a key role in the development of neurodegenerative diseases, with microglia regulating this process through pro-inflammatory M1 and anti-inflammatory M2 phenotypes. Studies have shown that human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (hUCMSCs) modulate neuroinflammation by secreting anti-inflammatory cytokines. Photobiomodulation (PBM), a non-invasive therapy, has demonstrated significant potential in alleviating neuroinflammation.

3D-Printed Myocardium-Specific Structure Enhances Maturation and Therapeutic Efficacy of Engineered Heart Tissue in Myocardial Infarction.

Despite advancements in engineered heart tissue (EHT), challenges persist in achieving accurate dimensional accuracy of scaffolds and maturing human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CMs), a primary source of functional cardiac cells. Drawing inspiration from cardiac muscle fiber arrangement, a three-dimensional (3D)-printed multi-layered microporous polycaprolactone (PCL) scaffold is created with interlayer angles set at 45° to replicate the precise structure of native cardiac tissue. Compared with the control group and 90° PCL scaffolds, the 45° PCL scaffolds exhibited superior biocompatibility for cell culture and improved hiPSC-CM maturation in calcium handling.

Improved Efficacy of Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Immunotherapy via Hydrogel-Based Co-Delivery of CAR-T Cells and Mitophagy Agonist.

Leaky and structurally abnormal blood vessels and increased pressure in the tumor interstitium reduce the infiltration of CAR-T cells in solid tumors, including triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). Furthermore, high burden of tumor cells may cause reduction of infiltrating CAR-T cells and their functional exhaustion. In this study, various effector-to-target (E:T) ratio experiments are established to model the treatment using CAR-T cells in leukemia (high E:T ratio) and solid tumor (low E:T ratio).

Nanodrugs Targeting Key Factors of Ferroptosis Regulation for Enhanced Treatment of Osteoarthritis.

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a globally prevalent degenerative joint disease. Recent studies highlight the role of ferroptosis in OA progression. Targeting ferroptosis regulation presents a promising therapeutic strategy for OA; however, current research primarily focuses on single targets associated with ferroptosis.

Advances on Defect Engineering of Niobium Pentoxide for Electrochemical Energy Storage.

The reasonable design of advanced anode materials for electrochemical energy storage (EES) devices is crucial in expediting the progress of renewable energy technologies. NbO has attracted increasing research attention as an anode candidate. Defect engineering is regarded as a feasible approach to modulate the local atomic configurations within NbO.

Thyroid-Targeted Nano-Bombs Empower HIFU for Graves' Disease.

Graves' disease (GD) is an autoimmune disorder with a high incidence rate, particularly affecting women of reproductive age. Current treatment modalities for GD carry significant disadvantages, especially for pregnant or nursing women. As a novel extracorporeal therapeutic technique, high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) shows great promise for treating GD; however, its low treatment efficacy impedes clinical application.

Efficient Carbon-Based Optoelectronic Synapses for Dynamic Visual Recognition.

The human visual nervous system excels at recognizing and processing external stimuli, essential for various physiological functions. Biomimetic visual systems leverage biological synapse properties to improve memory encoding and perception. Optoelectronic devices mimicking these synapses can enhance wearable electronics, with layered heterojunction materials being ideal materials for optoelectronic synapses due to their tunable properties and biocompatibility.

"Popping the Ion-Basket": Enhancing Thermoelectric Performance of Conjugated Polymers by Blending with Latently Dissociable Perovskite Quantum Dots.

A novel additive method to boost the Seebeck coefficient of doped conjugated polymers without a significant loss in electrical conductivity is demonstrated. Perovskite (CsPbBr) quantum dots (QDs) passivated by ligands with long alkyl chains are mixed with a conjugated polymer in a solution phase to form polymer-QD blend films. Solution sequential doping of the blend film with AuCl solution not only doped the conjugated polymer but also decomposed the QDs, resulting in a doped conjugated polymer film embedded with separated ions dissociated from the QDs.

The safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of an optimized dual GLP-1/GIP receptor agonist (BGM0504) in healthy volunteers: A dose-escalation Phase I study.

Objective: Previous experiments have demonstrated that BGM0504, a GLP-1R/GIPR dual agonist drug by molecular dynamics-guided optimization, had enhanced agonistic activity compared to tirzepatide. This study aims to investigate its safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics (PK) and pharmacodynamics (PD) in Chinese healthy volunteers.

Methods: A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled and dose-escalation Phase I study was conducted as follows: a single dose (2.

A Clinical Drug as the Three-Photon Fluorescence Probe for In Vivo Microscopic Imaging of Mouse Kidney.

Three-photon fluorescence (3PF) microscopy encounters significant challenges in biological research and clinical applications, primarily due to the limited availability of high-performance probes. We took a shortcut by exploring the excellent 3PF property of berberine hydrochloride (BH), a clinically utilized drug derived from the traditional Chinese medicine, Coptis. Capitalizing on its renal metabolism characteristics, we employed BH for in vivo 3PF microscopic imaging of the mouse kidney.

Two-dimensional inverse double sandwich CoB: strain-induced non-magnetic to ferromagnetic transition.

A full-scale structural search was performed using density functional theory calculations and a universal structural prediction evolutionary algorithm. This produced a lowest energy two-dimensional (2D) CoB structure. The CoB-1 global minimum structure has unusual inverse double sandwich features.

Programmed Transformation of Osteogenesis Microenvironment by a Multifunctional Hydrogel to Enhance Repair of Infectious Bone Defects.

Repair of infectious bone defects remains a serious problem in clinical practice owing to the high risk of infection and excessive reactive oxygen species (ROS) during the early stage, and the residual bacteria and delayed Osseo integrated interface in the later stage, which jointly creates a complex and dynamic microenvironment and leads to bone non-union. The melatonin carbon dots (MCDs) possess antibacterial and osteogenesis abilities, greatly simplifying the composition of a multifunctional material. Therefore, a multifunctional hydrogel containing MCDs (GH-MCD) is developed to meet the multi-stage and complex repair needs of infectious bone injury in this study.

Phase Transition Process of Graphite to Diamond Induced by Monodispersed Tantalum Atoms at Ordinary Pressure.

The transformation of graphite into diamond (2-10 nm) at ordinary pressure by monodispersed Ta atoms was recently reported, while the effects of Ta concentration on the transition process remain obscure. Here, by regulating the Ta wire treatment time, as well as the annealing time and temperature, larger diamond grians (5-20 nm) are successfully synthesized, and the transition process of graphite to diamond is revealed to vary with Ta concentration. Specifically, short Ta wire treatments (5-10 min) induce graphite to form a "circle" structure and transforms into diamond directly after annealing.

Navigating Tumor Microenvironment Barriers with Nanotherapeutic Strategies for Targeting Metastasis.

Therapeutic strategy for efficiently targeting cancer cells needs an in-depth understanding of the cellular and molecular interplay in the tumor microenvironment (TME). TME comprises heterogeneous cells clustered together to translate tumor initiation, migration, and proliferation. The TME mainly comprises proliferating tumor cells, stromal cells, blood vessels, lymphatic vessels, cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs), extracellular matrix (ECM), and cancer stem cells (CSC).

A Highly Bioactive Organic-Inorganic Nanoparticle for Activating Wnt10b Mediated Osteogenesis by Specifically Anchor CCN3 Protein.

The rapid and efficient bone regeneration is still in unsatisfactory outcomes, demonstrating alternative strategy and molecular mechanism is necessary. Nanoscale biomaterials have shown some promising results in enhancing bone regeneration, however, the detailed interaction mechanism between nanomaterial and cells/tissue formation is not clear. Herein, a molecular-based inorganic-organic nanomaterial poly(citrate-siloxane) (PCS) is reported which can rapidly enhance osteogenic differentiation and bone formation through a special interaction with the cellular surface communication network factor 3 (CCN3), further activating the Wnt10b/β-catenin signaling pathway.

In Situ Anchoring Functional Molecules to Polymer Chains Through Supramolecular Interactions for a Robust and Self-Healing Multifunctional Waterborne Polyurethane.

Nowadays, much attention is paid to the development of high-performance and multifunctional materials, but it is still a great challenge to obtain polymer materials with high mechanical properties, high self-healing properties, and multifunctionality in one. Herein, an innovative strategy is proposed to obtain a satisfactory waterborne polyurethane (PMWPU-Bx) by in situ anchoring 3-aminophenylboronic acid (3-APBA) in a pyrene-capped waterborne polyurethane (PMWPU) via supramolecular interactions. The multiple functional sites inherent in 3-APBA can produce supramolecular interactions with groups on PMWPU, promoting the aggregation of hard domains in the polymer network, which confers the PMWPU-Bx strength (7.

Smart Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles in Cancer: Diagnosis, Treatment, Immunogenicity, and Clinical Translation.

In cancer research and personalized medicine, mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) have emerged as a significant breakthrough in both cancer treatment and diagnosis. MSNs offer targeted drug delivery, enhancing therapeutic effectiveness while minimizing adverse effects on healthy cells. Due to their unique characteristics, MSNs provide targeted drug delivery, maximizing therapeutic effectiveness with minimal adverse effects on healthy cells.

Side Reaction Turned Positive: Synchronous OER Manipulating the Electrocatalytic Properties of Anodic Electrodeposited Lead Dioxide.

The preparation and modification of porous electrodes are an important component of the new generation electrochemical oxidation technology. Rapid preparation of porous electrodes can be easily achieved by synchronous oxygen bubble electrodeposition. However, according to the reaction mechanism of lead dioxide anodic electrodeposition, there is bound to be a competitive reaction of adsorbed hydroxyl radicals in the oxygen bubble template method, which means that synchronous OER impacts both the surface morphology and potentially the crystalline structure of the metal oxides.

Double-Dynamic-Bond Cross-Linked Hydrogel Adhesive with Cohesion-Adhesion Enhancement for Emergency Tissue Closure and Infected Wound Healing.

The hydrogel adhesives with strong tissue adhesion and biological characteristics adhm202404447are urgently needed for injury sealing and tissue repair. However, the negative correlation between tissue adhesion and the mechanical strength poses a challenge for their practical application. Herein, a bio-inspired cohesive enhancement strategy is developed to prepare the hydrogel adhesive with simultaneously enhanced mechanical strength and tissue adhesion.

Backbone Engineering of Bithiophene Imide Dimer-Based Polymeric Mixed Ionic-Electronic Conductors for High-Performance n-Type Organic Electrochemical Transistors.

Polymeric mixed ionic-electronic conductors (PMIECs) are gaining significant attention due to their potential applications in organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs). However, the performance of n-type OECTs still lags behind that of their p-type counterparts. Here, the structure-performance correlation of fused bithiophene imide dimer (BTI2)-based PMIECs is systematically investigated with the backbone evaluation from acceptor-strong donor (A-SD) to acceptor-donor (A-D), to acceptor-weak donor (A-WD), to acceptor-weak acceptor (A-WA), and finally to A-A structures.

Ahmed glaucoma valve implant for refractory glaucoma in children: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of the Ahmed glaucoma valve in pediatric patients with refractory glaucoma.

Methods: A comprehensive literature search was conducted across multiple major databases, including PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane Library of Systematic Reviews, Science Direct, China's National Knowledge Infrastructure, and the Wanfang database. We retrieved studies published before December 2022 that met the inclusion criteria, including clinical controlled trials (randomized controlled trials) and clinical noncontrolled trials (non-randomized controlled trials) on the use of Ahmed glaucoma valve in pediatric patients with refractory glaucoma.