Theoretical Study on Ion Diffusion Mechanism in W-Doped K3SbS4 as Solid-State Electrolyte for K-Ion Batteries.

The development of a solid-state electrolyte (SSE) is crucial for overcoming the side reactions of metal potassium anodes and advancing the progress of K-ion batteries (KIBs). Exploring the diffusion mechanism of the K ion in SSE is important for deepening our understanding and promoting its development. In this study, we conducted static calculations and utilized deep potential molecular dynamics (DeepMD) to investigate the behavior of cubic K3SbS4. The original K3SbS4 exhibited poor ionic conductivity, but we discovered that introducing heterovalent tungsten doping created vacancies, which significantly reduced the activation energy to 0.12 eV and enhanced the ionic conductivity to 1.80 × 10-2 S/cm. The diffusion of K-ions in K3SbS4 primarily occurs through the exchange of positions with K vacancies. This research provides insights into the design of SSE with high ionic conductivity. Furthermore, it highlights the effectiveness of DeepMD as a powerful tool for studying the SSE.

GASZ self-interaction clusters mitochondria into the intermitochondrial cement for proper germ cell development.

Mitochondrial features and activities vary in a cell type- and developmental stage-dependent manner to critically impact cell function and lineage development. Particularly in male germ cells, mitochondria are uniquely clustered into intermitochondrial cement (IMC), an electron-dense granule in the cytoplasm to support proper spermatogenesis. But it remains puzzling how mitochondria assemble into such a stable structure as IMC without limiting membrane during development. Here, we showed that GASZ (germ cell-specific, ankyrin repeat, SAM and basic leucine zipper domain containing protein), a mitochondrion-localized germ cell-specific protein, self-interacted with each other to cluster mitochondria and maintain protein stability for IMC assembling. When the self-interaction of GASZ was disrupted by either deleting its critical interaction motif or using a blocking peptide, the IMC structure was destabilized, which in turn led to impaired spermatogenesis. Notably, the blocked spermatogenesis was reversible once GASZ self-interaction was recovered. Our findings thus reveal a critical mechanism by which mitochondrion-based granules are properly assembled to support germ cell development while providing an alternative strategy for developing nonhormonal male contraceptives by targeting IMC protein interactions.

Depth estimation from a single-shot fringe pattern based on DD-Inceptionv2-UNet.

The quick and accurate retrieval of an object's depth from a single-shot fringe pattern in fringe projection profilometry has been a topic of ongoing research. In recent years, with the development of deep learning, a deep learning technique to FPP for single-shot 3D measurement is being used. To improve the accuracy of depth estimation from a single-shot fringe pattern, we propose the depthwise separable Dilation Inceptionv2-UNet (DD-Inceptionv2-UNet) by adjusting the depth and width of the network model simultaneously. And we evaluate the model on both simulated and experimental datasets. The experimental results show that the error between the depth map predicted by the proposed method and the label is smaller, and the depth curve map is closer to the ground truth. And on the simulated dataset, the MAE of the proposed method decreased by 35.22%, compared to UNet. On the experimental dataset, the MAE of the proposed method decreased by 34.62%, compared to UNet. The proposed method is relatively outstanding in both quantitative and qualitative evaluations, effectively improving the accuracy of 3D measurement results from a single-shot fringe pattern.

Xenotransplantation of Human Spermatogonia Into Various Mouse Recipient Models.

Spermatogonial stem cells are the foundation of continuous spermatogenesis in adult mammals. Xenograft models have been established to define human SSCs, mostly using infertile and immune-deficient mice as the recipients for human germ cell transplantation. However, it is time-consuming to prepare such recipients using irradiation or chemotherapeutic agents, and this approach may also introduce confounding factors when residual endogenous germ cells recover in transplanted recipients. It remains to be determined whether immune-competent genetically infertile mice can be suitable recipients for xenotransplantation. In this study, we observed similar engraftment efficiencies when using spermatogonia from human biopsied testes across immune-deficient nude mice, immune-competent ICR mice, and genetically infertile Kit w/w-v mice, suggesting minimal immunological rejection from immune-competent mouse recipients upon xenotransplantation of human germ cells. More importantly, we derived EpCAM negative and TNAP positive spermatogonia-like cells (SLCs) from human pluripotent stem cells (PSCs), which highly expressed spermatogonial markers including PLZF, INTERGRINα6, TKTL1, CD90, and DRMT3. We found that upon transplantation, these SLCs proliferated and colonized at the basal membrane of seminiferous tubules in testes of both immune-deficient nude mice and Kit w/w-v mice, though complete spermatogenesis would likely require supporting human signaling factors and microenvironment. Taken together, our study functionally defined the cell identity of PSC-derived SLCs, and supported xenotransplantation using genetically infertile recipients as a convenient model for functionally evaluating spermatogonia derived from different species.

Electron Tomography Reveals Porosity Degradation Spatially on Individual Pt-Based Nanocatalysts.

Probing porosity evolution is essential to understand the degradation mechanism of electrocatalytic activity. However, spatially dependent degradation pathways for porous catalysts remain elusive. Here, we reveal the multiple degradation behaviors of individual PtCu3 nanocatalysts spatially by three-dimensional (3D) electron tomography. We demonstrate that the surface area-volume ratio (SVR) of cycled porous particles decreases linearly rather than reciprocally with particle size. Additionally, an improved SVR (about 3-fold enhancement) results in increased oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) efficiency at the early stage. However, in the subsequent cycles, the degradation of catalytic activity is due to the excessive growth of pores, the reduction of reaction sites, and the chemical segregation of Cu atoms. The spatial porosity evolution model of nanocatalysts is applicable for a wide range of catalytic reactions, providing a critical insight into the degradation of catalyst activity.

miR-184 delays cell proliferation, migration and invasion in prostate cancer by directly suppressing DLX1.

A number of previous studies have reported that dysregulated miR-184 expression is associated with the development of cancer. The aim of the present study was to investigate the role of miR-184 in prostate cancer (PC) and the mechanism underlying its effects. Data from human tumor tissue samples were collected from The CEancer Genome Atlas to determine the expression levels of miR-184 and DLX1. The miR-184 mimic and pcDNA3.1-DLX1 plasmid were utilized to induce overexpression of miR-184 and DLX1 in Du145 cells, respectively. Cell Counting Kit-8, wound healing and Transwell assays were performed to examine the effects of miR-184 on the aggressiveness of PC cells. Dual-luciferase reporter gene assay was used to investigate the association between miR-184 and DLX1, and reverse transcription-quantitative PCR and western blot analyses were utilized to determine the mRNA and protein levels. miR-184 expression was found to be downregulated whereas DLX1 was upregulated in PC tissues compared with normal prostate tissues. Cell propagation, migration and invasion were all inhibited by miR-184 upregulation in Du145 cells. Dual luciferase reporter assay confirmed the association between miR-184 and DLX1. The inhibitory effect of miR-184 mimic on cell behaviors was reversed by upregulation of DLX1. These findings suggest that miR-184 plays a beneficial role in suppressing the tumorigenesis of PC by directly targeting DLX1, and it may represent a potential therapeutic strategy for PC.

Rho guanine nucleotide exchange factor 39 increases the viability, migration and invasion of clear cell renal cell carcinoma cells via the activation of the AKT/ERK signaling pathway.

We attempted to explore the effect of Rho guanine nucleotide exchange factor 39 (ARHGEF39) on the phenotypes of clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) cells and the underlying mechanism. Analyses of the data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) illustrated that ARHGEF39 expression was upregulated in ccRCC and high ARHGEF39 expression was correlated with a worse prognosis. The mRNA and protein expression of ARHGEF39 in ccRCC and nontumorigenic cells was measured by qRT-PCR and western blotting, respectively. The results showed that ARHGEF39 expression was upregulated in ccRCC cells compared with nontumorigenic cells. CCK8 and clonogenic assays were used to measure the viability of ccRCC cells after knockdown or overexpression of ARHGEF39. Transwell assays were used to examine the changes in cell motility after alterations in ARHGEF39 expression and treatment with LY294002 (an AKT inhibitor) or PD98059 (an ERK inhibitor). ARHGEF39-mediated changes in the phosphorylation of AKT and ERK were measured by western blotting. The results indicated that ARHGEF39 promoted the viability, migration and invasion of ccRCC cells by regulating the activation of the AKT/ERK signaling pathway. Overall, our research suggested that ARHGEF39 was upregulated in ccRCC and possibly facilitated the malignant development of ccRCC by modulating the AKT/ERK signaling pathway.

MFN2 Plays a Distinct Role from MFN1 in Regulating Spermatogonial Differentiation.

Although mitochondrial morphology is well-known for its role in cellular homeostasis, there is surprisingly little knowledge on whether mitochondrial remodeling is required for postnatal germ cell development. In this study, we investigated the functions of MFN1 and MFN2, two GTPases in mitochondrial fusion, during early spermatogenesis. We observed increased MFN expressions along with increased mitochondrial and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) activities during spermatogonial differentiation. Deletion of either Mfn led to DNA oxidation and apoptosis specifically in differentiating spermatogonia and spermatocytes, which in turn caused male infertility. We further found MFN2 regulated spermatogenesis by modulating both mitochondrial and ER functions, a mechanism distinct from that of MFN1. Defects of germ cell development in MFN2 mutants were corrected by MFN2 at either mitochondria or ER but not by MFN1. Our study thus reveals an essential requirement of MFN-mediated mitochondrial and ER coordination in spermatogenesis, providing critical insights into mitochondrial determinants of male fertility.

Mechanical Behavior of InP Twinning Superlattice Nanowires.

Taper-free InP twinning superlattice (TSL) nanowires with an average twin spacing of ∼13 nm were grown along the zinc-blende close-packed [111] direction using metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy. The mechanical properties and fracture mechanisms of individual InP TSL nanowires in tension were ascertained by means of in situ uniaxial tensile tests in a transmission electron microscope. The elastic modulus, failure strain, and tensile strength along the [111] direction were determined. No evidence of inelastic deformation mechanisms was found before fracture, which took place in a brittle manner along the twin boundary. The experimental results were supported by molecular dynamics simulations of the tensile deformation of the nanowires that also showed that the fracture of twinned nanowires occurred in the absence of inelastic deformation mechanisms by the propagation of a crack from the nanowire surface along the twin boundary.

Flying Small Target Detection for Anti-UAV Based on a Gaussian Mixture Model in a Compressive Sensing Domain.

Addressing the problems of visual surveillance for anti-UAV, a new flying small target detection method is proposed based on Gaussian mixture background modeling in a compressive sensing domain and low-rank and sparse matrix decomposition of local image. First of all, images captured by stationary visual sensors are broken into patches and the candidate patches which perhaps contain targets are identified by using a Gaussian mixture background model in a compressive sensing domain. Subsequently, the candidate patches within a finite time period are separated into background images and target images by low-rank and sparse matrix decomposition. Finally, flying small target detection is achieved over separated target images by threshold segmentation. The experiment results using visible and infrared image sequences of flying UAV demonstrate that the proposed methods have effective detection performance and outperform the baseline methods in precision and recall evaluation.

[Primary cutaneous T-cell lymphoma of the penis complicated by Fournier gangrene: a case report].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the clinical presentation, pathologic characteristics, diagnosis and treatment of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma of the penis. METHODS: A 49-year-old man presented with painful swelling and inflammation of the foreskin, failed to respond to antibiotic treatment and dorsal incision, and was instead complicated by Fournier gangrene. Then he underwent debridement and pathological examination. RESULTS: Pathological results indicated cutaneous T-cell lymphoma of the penis. Immunohistochemistry showed CD3 and CD45 RO to be positive, but CD30, CD79a, CD20 and HMB negative. The patient was treated by interferon alpha and ultraviolet B for 2 weeks, followed by total removal of the external genitalia because of necrosis of the corpus spongiosum, which involved the scrotum and right testis on pathological examination. CONCLUSION: Cutaneous T-cell lymphoma of the penis is a rare condition and easily mis diagnosed in the early phase. Definitive diagnosis depends on pathological study.