Deciphering DED assembly mechanisms in FADD-procaspase-8-cFLIP complexes regulating apoptosis.

Fas-associated protein with death domain (FADD), procaspase-8, and cellular FLICE-inhibitory proteins (cFLIP) assemble through death-effector domains (DEDs), directing death receptor signaling towards cell survival or apoptosis. Understanding their three-dimensional regulatory mechanism has been limited by the absence of atomic coordinates for their ternary DED complex. By employing X-ray crystallography and cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM), we present the atomic coordinates of human FADD-procaspase-8-cFLIP complexes, revealing structural insights into these critical interactions. These structures illustrate how FADD and cFLIP orchestrate the assembly of caspase-8-containing complexes and offer mechanistic explanations for their role in promoting or inhibiting apoptotic and necroptotic signaling. A helical procaspase-8-cFLIP hetero-double layer in the complex appears to promote limited caspase-8 activation for cell survival. Our structure-guided mutagenesis supports the role of the triple-FADD complex in caspase-8 activation and in regulating receptor-interacting protein kinase 1 (RIPK1). These results propose a unified mechanism for DED assembly and procaspase-8 activation in the regulation of apoptotic and necroptotic signaling across various cellular pathways involved in development, innate immunity, and disease.

Ternary Phase-Field Simulation of Poly(vinylidene fluoride) Microporous Membrane Structures Prepared by Nonsolvent-Induced Phase Separation with Different Additives and Solvent Treatments.

In this study, an existing ternary membrane system based on nonsolvent-induced phase separation (NIPS) with a phase-field model was optimized. To study and analyze the effects of different additives on the formation of the skin layer and the effects of the three solvents on membrane characterization under the same conditions, two-dimensional simulations of the relevant parameters of a poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) membrane system were performed. The specific application of quaternary substances in ternary membrane systems was elaborated by determining the cohesive energy density between the additives and solvents, followed by the interaction parameters χ under the joint effect of the two. The results showed that the PVDF microporous membrane formed a dense surface layer at the mass transfer exchange interface, and with an increase in the poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) concentration, the phase separation of the skin layer was predominantly transformed from liquid-solid partitioning to liquid-liquid partitioning; the number of membrane pores increased with increasing poly(vinylpyrrolidone) (PVP) concentration. The N,N-dimethylacetamide (DMAc) solvent system had the most stable thermodynamic properties; the dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) solvent system had mostly large pores running through the membrane and exhibited a porous structure. Related experiments also validated the model. Therefore, this model can be applied to other PVDF ternary membrane systems to better understand the structural development of microporous PVDF membranes under different conditions.

A Room-Temperature Self-Healing Liquid Metal-Infilled Microcapsule Driven by Coaxial Flow Focusing for High-Performance Lithium-Ion Battery Anode.

Liquid metals have attracted a lot of attention as self-healing materials in many fields. However, their applications in secondary batteries are challenged by electrode failure and side reactions due to the drastic volume changes during the "liquid-solid-liquid" transition. Herein, a simple encapsulated, mass-producible method is developed to prepare room-temperature liquid metal-infilled microcapsules (LMMs) with highly conductive carbon shells as anodes for lithium-ion batteries. Due to the reasonably designed voids in the microcapsule, the liquid metal particles (LMPs) can expand freely without damaging the electrode structure. The LMMs-based anodes exhibit superior capacity of rete-performance and ultra-long cycling stability remaining 413 mAh g-1 after 5000 cycles at 5.0 A g-1. Ex situ X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) patterns and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) reveal that the LMMs anode displays a stable alloying/de-alloying mechanism. DFT calculations validate the electronic structure and stability of the room-temperature LMMs system. These findings will bring some new opportunities to develop high-performance battery systems.

Preparation and Application of Hemostatic Hydrogels.

Hemorrhage remains a critical challenge in various medical settings, necessitating the development of advanced hemostatic materials. Hemostatic hydrogels have emerged as promising solutions to address uncontrolled bleeding due to their unique properties, including biocompatibility, tunable physical characteristics, and exceptional hemostatic capabilities. In this review, a comprehensive overview of the preparation and biomedical applications of hemostatic hydrogels is provided. Particularly, hemostatic hydrogels with various materials and forms are introduced. Additionally, the applications of hemostatic hydrogels in trauma management, surgical procedures, wound care, etc. are summarized. Finally, the limitations and future prospects of hemostatic hydrogels are discussed and evaluated. This review aims to highlight the biomedical applications of hydrogels in hemorrhage management and offer insights into the development of clinically relevant hemostatic materials.

Phase-change metasurfaces for dynamic control of chiral quasi-bound states in the continuum.

Chiral quasi-bound states in the continuum (QBIC) offer novel mechanisms to achieve intrinsic chiroptical responses. However, current studies on chiral QBIC metasurfaces are restricted to the excitation of intrinsic chirality and fail to dynamically control its circular dichroism (CD) responses. Herein, we construct a phase-change metasurface based on paired Ge2Sb2Te5 (GST) bars to demonstrate the dynamic control of the CD responses of chiral QBIC. The modified coupled mode theory (CMT) is proposed to evaluate the intrinsic chirality, and the predicted results are in good agreement with the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) results. The maximal intrinsic chirality is associated with the spin-selected dipole mode, i.e., the coupled magnetic dipole (MD) QBIC mode for the left-handed circularly polarized (LCP) light and the decoupled electric dipole (ED) QBIC mode for the right-handed circularly polarized (RCP) light. By varying the volume fraction of GST, the location of chiral BIC can be tuned linearly, and the corresponding chiral response can be switched.

Helicobacter pylori infection increases the risk of carotid plaque formation: Clinical samples combined with bioinformatics analysis.

Objective: Infection with Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) may increase atherosclerosis, which can lead to carotid plaque formation. Our study examined the relationship between H. pylori infection and carotid plaque formation, and its underlying mechanisms. Methods: A total of 36,470 people who underwent physical examination in Taizhou Hospital Health Examination Center from June 2017 to June 2022 were included in this study. All people participated in the urease test, neck ultrasound, blood pressure detection, anthropometric measurement and biochemical laboratory examination. In addition, the GSE27411 and GSE28829 datasets in the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database were used to analyze the mechanism of H. pylori infection and atherosclerosis progression. Results: H. pylori infection, sex, age, blood lipids, blood pressure, fasting blood glucose, glycated hemoglobin and body mass index were risk factors for carotid plaque formation. An independent risk factor was still evident in the multivariate logistic regression analysis, indicating H. pylori infection. Furthermore, after weighted gene coexpression network analysis (WGCNA), we discovered 555 genes linked to both H. pylori infection and the advancement of atherosclerosis. Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analyses revealed a strong correlation between these genes and immunity, infection, and immune disorders. SsGSEA analysis showed that H. pylori infection and atherosclerosis included changes in the immune microenvironment. Finally, three genes MS4A6A, ADAMDEC1 and AQP9 were identified to be involved in the formation of atherosclerosis after H. pylori infection. Conclusion: Our research affirms that H. pylori is a unique contributor to the formation of carotid plaque, examines the immune microenvironment associated with H. pylori infection and advanced carotid atherosclerosis, and offers fresh perspectives on how H. pylori infection leads to atherosclerosis.

Relationship between Helicobacter pylori and glycated hemoglobin: a cohort study.

Background: Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) has increasingly been shown to be related to extragastric diseases. Glycated hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), an indicator of glycemic control, is closely linked to the event of diabetes. The purpose of this research was to analyze the association between H. pylori and HbA1c through a cohort study. Methods: The population who underwent multiple physical checkups in the physical examination center of Taizhou Hospital was included. All of them underwent urea breath test, serological examination and physical parameter measurement. Multiple regression was used for analyzing the influencing factors of HbA1c. In addition, the result of HbA1c on H. pylori infection was studied by restricted cubic spline (RCS) analysis. The triglyceride glucose (TyG) index represents the level of insulin resistance (IR) in the population. The population was classified on the basis of primary and last H. pylori infection, therefore, the variations of HbA1c and TyG index among totally different teams were investigated. Results: Multiple regression demonstrated that H. pylori was an influential factor in HbA1c. RCS analysis showed a nonlinear relationship between HbA1c and H. pylori infection. When HbA1c>5.7%, the chance of H. pylori infection was considerably enlarged. Additionally, long-term H. pylori infection increased HbA1c levels, while HbA1c levels decreased after H. pylori eradication. Similarly, long-term H. pylori infection also increased the TyG index. Conclusion: Prediabetes increases the danger of H. pylori infection, long-term H. pylori infection increases HbA1c and IR levels, and wipeout of H. pylori could have a positive impact for glycemic control in the population.

Selective excitation of hyperbolic phonon polaritons-induced broadband absorption via α-MoO3 square pyramid arrays.

Optical anisotropy of α-MoO3 in its reststrahlen (RS) bands provides exciting opportunities for constructing the polarization-dependent devices. However, achieving broadband anisotropic absorptions through the same α-MoO3 arrays is still challenging. In this study, we demonstrate that selective broadband absorption can be achieved by using the same α-MoO3 square pyramid arrays (SPAs). For both the x and y polarizations, the absorption responses of the α-MoO3 SPAs calculated by using the effective medium theory (EMT) agreed well with those of the FDTD, indicating the excellent selective broadband absorption of the α-MoO3 SPAs are associated with the resonant hyperbolic phonon polaritons (HPhPs) modes assisted by the anisotropic gradient antireflection (AR) effect of the structure. The near-field distribution of the absorption wavelengths of the α-MoO3 SPAs shows that the magnetic-field enhancement of the lager absorption wavelength tends to shift to the bottom of the α-MoO3 SPAs due to the lateral Fabry-Pérot (F-P) resonance, and the electric-field distribution exhibits the ray-like light propagation trails due to the resonance nature of the HPhPs modes. In addition, broadband absorption of the α-MoO3 SPAs can be maintained if the width of the bottom edge of the α-MoO3 pyramid is large than 0.8 µm, and excellent anisotropic absorption performances are almost immune to the variations of the thickness of the spacer and the height of the α-MoO3 pyramid.

Bioinspired Jellyfish Microparticles from Microfluidics.

Nonspherical particles have attracted increasing interest because of their shape anisotropy. However, the current methods to prepare anisotropic particles suffer from complex generation processes and limited shape diversity. Here, we develop a piezoelectric microfluidic system to generate complex flow configurations and fabricate jellyfish-like microparticles. In this delicate system, the piezoelectric vibration could evolve a jellyfish-like flow configuration in the microchannel and the in situ photopolymerization could instantly capture the flow architecture. The sizes and morphologies of the particles are precisely controlled by tuning the piezoelectric and microfluidic parameters. Furthermore, multi-compartmental microparticles with a dual-layer structure are achieved by modifying the injecting channel geometry. Moreover, such unique a shape endows the particles with flexible motion ability especially when stimuli-responsive materials are incorporated. On the basis of that, we demonstrate the capability of the jellyfish-like microparticles in highly efficient adsorption of organic pollutants under external control. Thus, it is believed that such jellyfish-like microparticles are highly versatile in potential applications and the piezoelectric-integrated microfluidic strategy could open an avenue for the creation of such anisotropic particles.

Nerve-on-a-Chip Derived Biomimicking Microfibers for Peripheral Nerve Regeneration.

Fibrous scaffolds have shown their advantages in tissue engineering, such as peripheral nerve regeneration, while most of the existing fiber-shaped scaffolds are with simple structures, and the in vitro performance for nerve regeneration lacks systematic analysis. Here, novel nerve-on-a-chip derived biomimicking microfibers for peripheral nerve regeneration are presented. The microfibers with controllable core-shell structures and functionalities are generated through capillary microfluidic devices. By integrating these microfibers into a multitrack-architectured chip, and coculturing them with nerve cells as well as gradient bioactive elements, the nerve-on-a-chip with the capabilities of systematically assessing the performances of nerve fiber formation in the hollow microfibers at in vitro level is constructed. Based on a rat sciatic nerve injury model, the rapid promotion ability is demonstrated of optimized microfibers in nerve regeneration and function recovery in vivo, which implies the credibility of the nerve-on-a-chip on biomimicking microfibers evaluation for peripheral nerve regeneration. Thus, it is convinced that the organ-on-a-chip will undoubtedly open up a new chapter in evaluating biological scaffolds for in vivo tissue engineering.

A LiDAR SLAM-Assisted Fusion Positioning Method for USVs.

Confronted with unmanned surface vessel (USV) operations where GNSS signals are unavailable due to obscuration and other factors, a LiDAR SLAM-assisted fusion positioning method for USVs is proposed to combine GNSS/INS positioning with LiDAR-SLAM. When the USV works in wide-open water, the carrier phase differential GNSS/INS loosely coupled integration strategy is applied to fuse and calibrate the positioning data, and the positioning information of the USV is obtained through the coordinate conversion process. The system uses a dynamic switching strategy to enter to LiDAR-SLAM positioning when GNSS signals are not available, compensating the LiDAR data with precise angle information to ensure accurate and stable positioning. The experiments show that compared with the traditional Kalman filter and adaptive Kalman filter fusion algorithms, the positioning error is reduced by 55.4% and 43.5%. The velocity error is also limited by 78.2% and 57.9%. The standard deviation and the root mean square error are stable within 0.1 m, indicating that our method has better data stability, while the probability of positioning anomaly is effectively controlled.

Phase-Field Simulation of the Effect of Coagulation Bath Temperature on the Structure and Properties of Polyvinylidene Fluoride Microporous Membranes Prepared by a Nonsolvent-Induced Phase Separation.

We used the phase-field model of the existing Nonsolvent Induced Phase Separation (NIPS) method to add the variable of temperature in simulating the changes in the process of membrane formation. The polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membrane system was applied to examine the influence of coagulation bath temperature change on the skin-sublayer of the membrane structure, thereby elucidating the development process of membrane structure under different conditions and shedding light on the most suitable coagulation bath temperature ranges. It was found that as coagulation bath temperature increased, the number of interface pores in the outer skin layer decreased, but the size increased. As a result, it changed from the crack shape to round-hole shape, thus making the pore structure looser. In the sublayer, the mesh support structure was increased, which enhanced the mechanical strength of the membrane. Relevant experiments also verify the effectiveness of the model.

Multifunctional GO Hybrid Hydrogel Scaffolds for Wound Healing.

Hydrogel dressings have received extensive attention for the skin wound repair, while it is still a challenge to develop a smart hydrogel for adapting the dynamic wound healing process. Herein, we develop a novel graphene oxide (GO) hybrid hydrogel scaffold with adjustable mechanical properties, controllable drug release, and antibacterial behavior for promoting wound healing. The scaffold was prepared by injecting benzaldehyde and cyanoacetate group-functionalized dextran solution containing GO into a collection pool of histidine. As the GO possesses obvious photothermal behavior, the hybrid hydrogel scaffold exhibited an obvious stiffness decrease and effectively promoted cargo release owing to the breaking of the thermosensitive C=C double bond at a high temperature under NIR light. In addition, NIR-assisted photothermal antibacterial performance of the scaffold could be also achieved with the local temperature rising after irradiation. Therefore, it is demonstrated that the GO hybrid hydrogel scaffold with vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) encapsulation can achieve the adjustable mechanical properties, photothermal antibacterial, and angiogenesis during the wound healing process. These features indicated that the proposed GO hybrid hydrogel scaffold is potentially valuable for promoting wound healing and other biomedical application.

Dynamically Responsive Scaffolds from Microfluidic 3D Printing for Skin Flap Regeneration.

Biological scaffolds hold promising perspectives for random skin flap regeneration, while the practical application is greatly limited by their insufficient vascularization ability and the lack of responsiveness during the dynamical healing process. Herein, a novel MXene-incorporated hollow fibrous (MX-HF) scaffold with dynamically responsive channels is presented for promoting vascularization and skin flap regeneration by using a microfluidic-assisted 3D printing strategy. Benefiting from the photothermal conversion capacity of the MXene nanosheets and temperature-responsive ability of poly(NIPAM) hydrogels in the MX-HF scaffolds, they display a near-infrared (NIR)-responsive shrinkage/swelling behavior, which facilitates the cell penetration into the scaffold channels from the surrounding environment. Moreover, by incorporating vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) into the hydrogel matrix for controllable delivery, the MX-HF scaffolds can achieve promoted proliferation, migration, and proangiogenic effects of endothelial cells under NIR irradiation. It is further demonstrated in vivo that the NIR-responsive VEGF@MX-HF scaffolds can effectively improve skin flap survival by promoting angiogenesis, decreasing inflammation, and attenuating apoptosis in skin flaps. Thus, it is believed that such responsive MX-HF scaffolds are promising candidates for clinical random skin flap regeneration as well as other diverse tissue engineering applications.

Microfluidic electrospray generation of porous magnetic Janus reduced graphene oxide/carbon composite microspheres for versatile adsorption.

HYPOTHESIS: Graphene-based microparticles materials are broadly utilized in all sorts of fields owing to their outstanding properties. Despite great progress, the present graphene microparticles still face challenges in the aspects of size uniformity, motion flexibility, and tailorable surface chemistry, which limit their application in some specific fields, such as versatile adsorption. Hence, the development of novel graphene microparticles with the aforementioned characteristics is urgently required. EXPERIMENTS: We presented a simple microfluidic electrospray strategy to generate magnetic Janus reduced graphene oxide/carbon (rGO/C) composite microspheres with a variety of unique features. Specifically, the microfluidic electrospray method endowed the obtaiend microspheres with sufficient size uniformity as well as magnetic responsive motion ability. Additionally, magnetic-mediated surface assembly of phase transition lysozyme (PTL) nanofilm on the microspheres rendered the deposited area hydrophilic while non-deposited area hydrophobic. FINDINGS: Such magnetic Janus rGO/C composite microspheres with regionalized wettability characteristics not only showed prominent performance in adsorbing organic liquids with high adsorption capacity and remarkable reusability but also displayed satisfying biocompatibility for the efficient uptake of bilirubin. More encouragingly, the microspheres could serve as adsorbents in a simulative hemoperfusion setup, which further demonstrated the clinical application potential of the magnetic Janus rGO/C microspheres. Thus, we anticipate that the obtained magnetic Janus rGO/C composite microspheres could show multifunctional properties toward water treatment and blood molecule cleaning.

A graphene oxide scaffold-encapsulated microcapsule for polysulfide-immobilized long life lithium-sulfur batteries.

Engineering high-performance cathodes for high energy-density lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries is quite significant to achieve commercialization. Here, we develop a graphene oxide scaffold/sulfur composite-encapsulated microcapsule (GSM) for high-performance Li-S batteries, which is prepared through the co-flow focusing (CFF) approach. The GSM-based cathode displays a high capacity of 1004 mA h g-1 at 0.2C after cycling 200 times, a long-term cycling stability after 1000 cycles at 2C, and a good rate-performance. At temperatures of -5 °C and 45 °C, the electrochemical performance is also excellent. The computational calculations based on density functional theory (DFT) verify the high adsorption energies of the microcapsules towards polysulfides, suppressing the shuttle effect efficiently. It is expected that the GSM system developed based on the CFF method here and its high electrochemical performance will enable it to be applicable for preparing many other emerging energy-storage materials and secondary batteries.

In Situ 3D Bioprinting Living Photosynthetic Scaffolds for Autotrophic Wound Healing.

Three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting has been extensively explored for tissue repair and regeneration, while the insufficient nutrient and oxygen availability in the printed constructs, as well as the lack of adaptive dimensions and shapes, compromises the overall therapeutic efficacy and limits their further application. Herein, inspired by the natural symbiotic relationship between salamanders and algae, we present novel living photosynthetic scaffolds by using an in situ microfluidic-assisted 3D bioprinting strategy for adapting irregular-shaped wounds and promoting their healing. As the oxygenic photosynthesis unicellular microalga (Chlorella pyrenoidosa) was incorporated during 3D printing, the generated scaffolds could produce sustainable oxygen under light illumination, which facilitated the cell proliferation, migration, and differentiation even in hypoxic conditions. Thus, when the living microalgae-laden scaffolds were directly printed into diabetic wounds, they could significantly accelerate the chronic wound closure by alleviating local hypoxia, increasing angiogenesis, and promoting extracellular matrix (ECM) synthesis. These results indicate that the in situ bioprinting of living photosynthetic microalgae offers an effective autotrophic biosystem for promoting wound healing, suggesting a promising therapeutic strategy for diverse tissue engineering applications.

Lithography-free tunable absorber at visible region via one-dimensional photonic crystals consisting of an α-MoO3 layer.

Flexible control of light absorption within the lithography-free nanostructure is crucial for many polarization-dependent optical devices. Herein, we demonstrated that the lithography-free tunable absorber (LTA) can be realized by using two one-dimensional (1D) photonic crystals (PCs) consisting of an α-MoO3 layer at visible region. The two 1D PCs have different bulk band properties, and the topological interface state-induced light absorption enhancement of α-MoO3 can be realized as the α-MoO3 thin film is inserted at the interface between the two 1D PCs. The resonant cavity model is proposed to evaluate the anisotropic absorption performances of the LTA, and the results are in good agreement with those of the transfer matrix method (TMM). The absorption efficiency of the LTA can be tailored by the number of the period of the two PCs, and the larger peak absorption is the direct consequence of the larger field enhancement factor (FEF) within the α-MoO3 layer. In addition, near-perfect absorption can be achieved as the LTA is operated at the over-coupled resonance. By varying the polarization angle, the absorption channels can be selected and the reflection response can be effectively modulated due to the excellent in-plane anisotropy of α-MoO3.

Shear-flow-induced graphene coating microfibers from microfluidic spinning.

The advancements in flexible electronics call for invention of fiber-based electronic systems by surface modification or encapsulation. Here we present novel shear-flow-induced graphene nanosheets coating microfibers by integrating the dip coating approach with the microfluidic spinning method. The core hydrogel microfiber was first spun continuously from the microfluidic device, and the shear flow from the dip coating approach allowed formation of the thin graphene oxide (GO) nanosheet coating shell. Because the fluid components and flow rates in the microfluidic spinning together with the lifting speed in the dip coating approach are highly controllable, the morphology of the resultant microfibers could be precisely tailored, including the core-shell structure, conductivity, and thermal responsibilities. These features equipped the resultant microfibers with the potential of thermal and motion sensors, and their value in gesture indicators has also been explored. Microfibers generated from such a simple and controllable method could be versatile in flexible electronics.