The efficacy and safety of fexuprazan in treating erosive esophagitis: a phase III, randomized, double-blind, multicenter study.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Fexuprazan is a novel potassium-competitive acid blocker (P-CAB). This study aimed to explore the noninferior efficacy and safety of fexuprazan to esomeprazole in treating erosive esophagitis (EE). METHODS: This was a phase III, randomized, double-blind multicenter study. Patients with endoscopically confirmed EE were randomized to receive fexuprazan 40 mg or esomeprazole 40 mg once a daily for 4-8 weeks. The healing rates of EE, symptom response, GERD-health-related quality life (GERD-HRQL), and treatment-emergent adverse events (TEAEs) were compared between fexuprazan group and esomeprazole group. RESULTS: A total of 332 subjects were included in full analysis set (FAS) and 311 in per-protocol set (PPS). The healing rates of fexuprazan and esomeprazole groups at 8 weeks were 88.5% (146/165) and 89.0% (145/163), respectively, in FAS and 97.3% (145/149) and 97.9% (143/146), respectively, in PPS. Noninferiority of fexuprazan compared with esomeprazole according to EE healing rates at 8 weeks was demonstrated in both FAS and PPS analysis. No significant difference was found between groups in EE healing rates at 4 weeks, symptom responses, and changes of GERD-HRQL. The incidence of drug-related AEs was 19.4% (32/165) in fexuprazan arm and 19.6% (32/163) in esomeprazole arm. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated noninferior efficacy of fexuprazan to esomeprazole in treating EE. The incidence of TEAEs was similar between fexuprazan and esomeprazole. Trial registration number NCT05813561.

Analyzing the Correlation Between Serum Biomarkers and Child-Pugh Score in Liver Cirrhosis.

Objective: This study aimed to analyze the diagnostic efficacy of serum biomarkers in liver cirrhosis patients categorized by Child-Pugh scores. Methods: An observational cross-sectional study design was employed. A total of 110 liver cirrhosis patients, classified according to Child-Pugh scores and 60 healthy individuals were included in this study. Serum levels of adenosine deaminase (ADA), adiponectin (APN), matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) were measured. Results: The levels of ADA, APN, MMP-2, ALP, ALT, and AST were significantly higher in the study group compared to the control group (P < .05). Furthermore, these levels increased with the severity of liver cirrhosis, with higher levels observed in patients with Child-Pugh class C. The positive diagnostic rates for joint detection in Child-Pugh class A, B, and C were 93.75% (30/32), 100% (34/34), and 100% (44/44), respectively. Conclusions: Combined detection of serum biomarkers improves the diagnostic efficacy of liver cirrhosis. The diagnostic rates were higher when considering Child-Pugh scores, with the highest rates observed in class C.

Two Birds with One Stone: Prelithiated Two-Dimensional Nanohybrids as High-Performance Anode Materials for Lithium-Ion Batteries.

As an inexpensive and naturally abundant two-dimensional (2D) material, molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) exhibits a high Li-ion storage capacity along with a low volume expansion upon lithiation, rendering it an alternative anode material for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). However, the challenge of using MoS2-based anodes is their intrinsically low electrical conductivity and unsatisfied cycle stability. To address the above issues, we have exploited a wet chemical technique and integrated MoS2 with highly conductive titanium carbide (Ti3C2) MXene to form a 2D nanohybrid. The binary hybrids were then subjected to an n-butyllithium (n-Buli) treatment to induce both MoS2 deep phase transition and MXene surface functionality modulation simultaneously. We observed a substantial increase in 1T-phase MoS2 content and a clear suppression of -F-containing functional groups in MXene due to the prelithiation process enabled by the n-Buli treatment. Such an approach not only increases the overall network conductivity but also improves Li-ion diffusion kinetics. As a result, the MoS2/Ti3C2 composite with n-Buli treatment delivered a high Li-ion storage capacity (540 mA h g-1 at 100 mA g-1), outstanding cycle stability (up to 300 cycles), and excellent rate capability. This work provides an effective strategy for the structure-property engineering of 2D materials and sheds light on the rational design of high-performance LIBs using 2D-based anode materials.

Lithiating magneto-ionics in a rechargeable battery.

Magneto-ionics, real-time ionic control of magnetism in solid-state materials, promise ultralow-power memory, computing, and ultralow-field sensor technologies. The real-time ion intercalation is also the key state-of-charge feature in rechargeable batteries. Here, we report that the reversible lithiation/delithiation in molecular magneto-ionic material, the cathode in a rechargeable lithium-ion battery, accurately monitors its real-time state of charge through a dynamic tunability of magnetic ordering. The electrochemical and magnetic studies confirm that the structural vacancy and hydrogen-bonding networks enable reversible lithiation and delithiation in the magnetic cathode. Coupling with microwave-excited spin wave at a low frequency (0.35 GHz) and a magnetic field of 100 Oe, we reveal a fast and reliable built-in magneto-ionic sensor monitoring state of charge in rechargeable batteries. The findings shown herein promise an integration of molecular magneto-ionic cathode and rechargeable batteries for real-time monitoring of state of charge.

Dative Epitaxy of Commensurate Monocrystalline Covalent van der Waals Moiré Supercrystal.

Realizing van der Waals (vdW) epitaxy in the 1980s represents a breakthrough that circumvents the stringent lattice matching and processing compatibility requirements in conventional covalent heteroepitaxy. However, due to the weak vdW interactions, there is little control over film qualities by the substrate. Typically, discrete domains with a spread of misorientation angles are formed, limiting the applicability of vdW epitaxy. Here, the epitaxial growth of monocrystalline, covalent Cr5 Te8 2D crystals on monolayer vdW WSe2 by chemical vapor deposition is reported, driven by interfacial dative bond formation. The lattice of Cr5 Te8 , with a lateral dimension of a few tens of micrometers, is fully commensurate with that of WSe2 via 3 × 3 (Cr5 Te8 )/7 × 7 (WSe2 ) supercell matching, forming a single-crystalline moiré superlattice. This work establishes a conceptually distinct paradigm of thin-film epitaxy, termed "dative epitaxy", which takes full advantage of covalent epitaxy with chemical bonding for fixing the atomic registry and crystal orientation, while circumventing its stringent lattice matching and processing compatibility requirements; conversely, it ensures the full flexibility of vdW epitaxy, while avoiding its poor orientation control. Cr5 Te8 2D crystals grown by dative epitaxy exhibit square magnetic hysteresis, suggesting minimized interfacial defects that can serve as pinning sites.

Two-Dimensional Cold Electron Transport for Steep-Slope Transistors.

Room-temperature Fermi-Dirac electron thermal excitation in conventional three-dimensional (3D) or two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors generates hot electrons with a relatively long thermal tail in energy distribution. These hot electrons set a fundamental obstacle known as the "Boltzmann tyranny" that limits the subthreshold swing (SS) and therefore the minimum power consumption of 3D and 2D field-effect transistors (FETs). Here, we investigated a graphene (Gr)-enabled cold electron injection where the Gr acts as the Dirac source to provide the cold electrons with a localized electron density distribution and a short thermal tail at room temperature. These cold electrons correspond to an electronic refrigeration effect with an effective electron temperature of ∼145 K in the monolayer MoS2, which enables the transport factor lowering and thus the steep-slope switching (across for three decades with a minimum SS of 29 mV/decade at room temperature) for a monolayer MoS2 FET. Especially, a record-high sub-60-mV/decade current density (over 1 µA/µm) can be achieved compared to conventional steep-slope technologies such as tunneling FETs or negative capacitance FETs using 2D or 3D channel materials. Our work demonstrates the potential of a 2D Dirac-source cold electron transistor as a steep-slope transistor concept for future energy-efficient nanoelectronics.

Diode-Like Selective Enhancement of Carrier Transport through Metal-Semiconductor Interface Decorated by Monolayer Boron Nitride.

2D semiconductors such as monolayer molybdenum disulfide (MoS2 ) are promising material candidates for next-generation nanoelectronics. However, there are fundamental challenges related to their metal-semiconductor (MS) contacts, which limit the performance potential for practical device applications. In this work, 2D monolayer hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) is exploited as an ultrathin decorating layer to form a metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) contact, and an innovative device architecture is designed as a platform to reveal a novel diode-like selective enhancement of the carrier transport through the MIS contact. The contact resistance is significantly reduced when the electrons are transported from the semiconductor to the metal, but is barely affected when the electrons are transported oppositely. A concept of carrier collection barrier is proposed to interpret this intriguing phenomenon as well as a negative Schottky barrier height obtained from temperature-dependent measurements, and the critical role of the collection barrier at the drain end is shown for the overall transistor performance.

Enhanced carrier transport by transition metal doping in WS2 field effect transistors.

High contact resistance is one of the primary concerns for electronic device applications of two-dimensional (2D) layered semiconductors. Here, we explore the enhanced carrier transport through metal-semiconductor interfaces in WS2 field effect transistors (FETs) by introducing a typical transition metal, Cu, with two different doping strategies: (i) a "generalized" Cu doping by using randomly distributed Cu atoms along the channel and (ii) a "localized" Cu doping by adapting an ultrathin Cu layer at the metal-semiconductor interface. Compared to the pristine WS2 FETs, both the generalized Cu atomic dopant and localized Cu contact decoration can provide a Schottky-to-Ohmic contact transition owing to the reduced contact resistances by 1-3 orders of magnitude, and consequently elevate electron mobilities by 5-7 times. Our work demonstrates that the introduction of transition metal can be an efficient and reliable technique to enhance the carrier transport and device performance in 2D TMD FETs.

Direct Growth of Two Dimensional Molybdenum Disulfide on Flexible Ceramic Substrate.

In this paper, we report the first successful demonstration of the direct growth of high-quality two-dimensional (2D) MoS2 semiconductors on a flexible substrate using a 25-µm-thick Yttria-stabilized zirconia ceramic substrate. Few-layered MoS2 crystals grown at 800 °C showed a uniform crystal size of approximately 50 µm, which consisted of about 10 MoS2 layers. MoS2 crystals were characterized using energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. Raman spectroscopy was performed to investigate the crystal quality under bending conditions. The Raman mapping revealed a good uniformity with a stable chemical composition of the MoS2 crystals. Our approach offers a simple and effective route to realize various flexible electronics based on MoS2. Our approach can be applied for MoS2 growth and for other 2D materials. Therefore, it offers a new opportunity that allows us to demonstrate high-performance flexible electronic/optoelectronic applications in a less expensive, simpler, and faster manner without sacrificing the intrinsic performance of 2D materials.

Clinical diagnostic value of digestive endoscopic narrow-band imaging in early esophageal cancer.

Clinical diagnostic value of digestive endoscopic narrow-band imaging in early esophageal cancer (EC) and benign lesions was explored. Retrospective analysis was carried out on the clinical data of 186 patients with early EC and benign lesions diagnosed by the Department of Gastroenterology in Cangzhou Central Hospital from February 2011 to April 2018. Among them, 102 patients examined by Narrow Band Imaging (NBI) were regarded as the research group. Eighty-four patients examined by conventional white light staining endoscopy were regarded as the control group. The lesion boundary definition, image clarity, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, diagnostic compliance rate, detection rate of lesions and adverse reactions were compared between the groups after examination. The results showed that the lesion boundary definition in the research group was higher than that in the control group (P<0.05). The 4-points of image clarity in the research group was higher than that in the control group (P<0.05). The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and diagnostic compliance rate of the early EC and benign lesions in the research group were higher than those in the control group (P<0.05). The detection rate of the upper, middle and lower segments of lesions in the research group was higher than that in the control group. In conclusion, NBI has higher sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and diagnostic compliance rate for the diagnosis of early EC and benign lesions. Also it has more accuracy in the detection of lesions and fewer adverse reactions, the screening of early EC and benign lesions is effective, and worth promoting clinically.

Semi-Rational Screening of Probiotics from the Fecal Flora of Healthy Adults against DSS-Induced Colitis Mice by Enhancing Anti-Inflammatory Activity and Modulating the Gut Microbiota.

Ulcerative colitis (UC), a chronic inflammatory bowel disease, substantially impacts patients' health-related quality of life. In this study, an effective strategy for discovering high-efficiency probiotics has been developed. First, in order to survive in the conditions of the stomach and intestine, high bile salt-resistant and strong acid-resistant strains were screened out from the fecal flora of healthy adults. Next, the probiotic candidates were rescreened by examining the induction ability of IL-10 (anti-inflammatory factor) production in dextran sodium sulfate (DSS)-induced colitis mice, and Lactobacillus sakei 07 (L07) was identified and selected as probiotic P. In the end, fourteen bifidobacterium strains isolated from stools of healthy males were examined for their antimicrobial activity. Bifidobacterium bifidum B10 (73.75% inhibition rate) was selected as probiotic B. Moreover, the colonic IL-6 and TNF-α expression of the DSSinduced colitis mice treated with L. sakei 07 (L07) - B. bifidum B10 combination (PB) significantly decreased and the IL-10 expression was up-regulated by PB compared to the DSS group. Furthermore, Bacteroidetes and Actinobacteria decreased and Firmicutes increased in the DSS group mice, significantly. More interestingly, the intestinal flora biodiversity of DSS colitis mice was increased by PB. Of those, the level of B. bifidum increased significantly. The Bacteriodetes/Firmicutes (B/F) ratio increased, and the concentration of homocysteine and LPS in plasma was down-regulated by PB in the DSS-induced colitis mice. Upon administration of PB, the intestinal permeability of the the DSS-induced colitis mice was decreased by approximately 2.01-fold. This method is expected to be used in high-throughput screening of the probiotics against colitis. In addition, the L. sakei 07 - B. bifidum B10 combination holds potential in UC remission by immunomodulatory and gut microbiota modulation.

Curcumin protects against the intestinal ischemia-reperfusion injury: involvement of the tight junction protein ZO-1 and TNF-α related mechanism.

Present study aimed to investigate the eff ect of curcumin-pretreatment on intestinal I/R injury and on intestinal mucosa barrier. Thirty Wistar rats were randomly divided into: sham, I/R, and curcumin groups (n=10). Animals in curcumin group were pretreated with curcumin by gastric gavage (200 mg/kg) for 2 days before I/R. Small intestine tissues were prepared for Haematoxylin & Eosin (H&E) staining. Serum diamine oxidase (DAO) and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α levels were measured. Expression of intestinal TNF-α and tight junction protein (ZO-1) proteins was detected by Western blot and/or immunohistochemistry. Serum DAO level and serum and intestinal TNF-α leves were signifi cantly increased after I/R, and the values were markedly reduced by curcumin pretreatment although still higher than that of sham group (p<0.05 or p<0.001). H&E staining showed the significant injury to intestinal mucosa following I/R, and curcumin pretreatment signifi cantly improved the histological structure of intestinal mucosa. I/R insult also induced significantly down-regulated expression of ZO-1, and the eff ect was dramatically attenuated by curcumin-pretreatment. Curcumin may protect the intestine from I/R injury through restoration of the epithelial structure, promotion of the recovery of intestinal permeability, as well as enhancement of ZO-1 protein expression, and this eff ect may be partly attributed to the TNF-α related pathway.