Liver fibrosis as a predictor of liver failure and outcome following ALPPS among patients with primary liver cancer.

The influence of liver fibrosis on the rate of liver regeneration and complications following ALPPS has yet to be fully understood. This study aimed to scrutinize the effects of liver fibrosis on the postoperative complications, and prognosis subsequent to ALPPS. Clinical data were collected from patients with primary liver cancer who underwent ALPPS at Peking Union Medical College Hospital between May 2014 and October 2022. The degree of liver fibrosis was assessed using haematoxylin-eosin staining and Sirius red staining. This study encompassed thirty patients who underwent ALPPS for primary liver cancer, and there were 23 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma, 5 with cholangiocarcinoma, and 2 with combined hepatocellular-cholangiocarcinoma. The impact of severe liver fibrosis on the rate of liver regeneration was not statistically significant (P = 0.892). All patients with severe complications belonged to the severe liver fibrosis group. Severe liver fibrosis exhibited a significant association with 90 days mortality (P = 0.014) and overall survival (P = 0.012). Severe liver fibrosis emerges as a crucial risk factor for liver failure and perioperative mortality following the second step of ALPPS. Preoperative liver function impairment is an important predictive factor for postoperative liver failure.

Immune and regulative characterization of complement-related gene cfhl5 in response to Vibrio harveyi challenge in Cynoglossus semilaevis.

Complement factor H-related protein (CFHR) plays an important role in regulating complement activation and defensive responses. The function of CFHR2 (complement factor H related 2), a member of the CFHR family, in fish remains unclear. Here, we report the genetic relationship, expression characteristics and regulatory mechanism of cfhl5 (complement factor H like 5) gene, which encodes CFHR2 in Chinese tongue sole. We observed that the cfhl5 gene was widely expressed in several tissues, such as brain, heart and immune organs, and was most abundantly expressed in liver. After injection with Vibrio harveyi, the expression of cfhl5 was up-regulated significantly in liver, spleen and kidney at 12 or 24 hours post infection (hpi), suggesting an involvement of this gene in the acute immune response. Knockdown of cfhl5 in liver cells significantly up-regulated the expression of the pro-inflammatory cytokines tnf-α (tumor necrosis factor-alpha) and il1ß (interleukin-1beta), the immunomodulatory factor il10 (interleukin-10) and the lectin complement pathway gene masp1 (MBL-associated serine protease 1), and down-regulated the expression of complement components c3 (complement 3) and cfi (complement factor I). In our previous work, we found that cfhl5 gene was significantly higher methylated and lower expressed in the resistant family compared with the susceptible family. Therefore, we used dual-luciferase reporter system to determine the effect of DNA methylation on this gene and found that DNA methylation could inhibit the promoter activity to reduce its expression. These results demonstrated that the expression of cfhl5 is regulated by DNA methylation, and this gene might play an important role in the immune response by regulating the expression of cytokines and complement components genes in Chinese tongue sole.

A novel selenium analog of HDACi-based twin drug induces apoptosis and cell cycle arrest via CDC25A to improve prostate cancer therapy.

Cancer therapy has moved from single agents to more mechanism-based targeted approaches. In recent years, the combination of HDAC inhibitors and other anticancer chemicals has produced exciting progress in cancer treatment. Herein, we developed a novel prodrug via the ligation of dichloroacetate to selenium-containing potent HDAC inhibitors. The effect and mechanism of this compound in the treatment of prostate cancer were also studied. Methods: The concerned prodrug SeSA-DCA was designed and synthesized under mild conditions. This compound's preclinical studies, including the pharmacokinetics, cell toxicity, and anti-tumor effect on prostate cancer cell lines, were thoroughly investigated, and its possible synergistic mechanism was also explored and discussed. Results: SeSA-DCA showed good stability in physiological conditions and could be rapidly decomposed into DCA and selenium analog of SAHA (SeSAHA) in the tumor microenvironment. CCK-8 experiments identified that SeSA-DCA could effectively inhibit the proliferation of a variety of tumor cell lines, especially in prostate cancer. In further studies, we found that SeSA-DCA could also inhibit the metastasis of prostate cancer cell lines and promote cell apoptosis. At the animal level, oral administration of SeSA-DCA led to significant tumor regression without obvious toxicity. Moreover, as a bimolecular coupling compound, SeSA-DCA exhibited vastly superior efficacy than the mixture with equimolar SeSAHA and DCA both in vitro and in vivo. Our findings provide an important theoretical basis for clinical prostate cancer treatment. Conclusions: Our in vivo and in vitro results showed that SeSA-DCA is a highly effective anti-tumor compound for PCa. It can effectively induce cell cycle arrest and growth suppression and inhibit the migration and metastasis of PCa cell lines compared with monotherapy. SeSA-DCA's ability to decrease the growth of xenografts is a little better than that of docetaxel without any apparent signs of toxicity. Our findings provide an important theoretical basis for clinical prostate cancer treatment.

Metabolic Syndrome and Risk of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis: Insights from a Large-Scale Prospective Study.

OBJECTIVE: Although metabolic abnormalities are implicated in the etiology of neurodegenerative diseases, their role in the development of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) remains a subject of controversy. We aimed to identify the association between metabolic syndrome (MetS) and the risk of ALS. METHODS: This study included 395,987 participants from the UK Biobank to investigate the relationship between MetS and ALS. Cox regression model was used to estimate hazard ratios (HR). Stratified analyses were performed based on gender, body mass index (BMI), smoking status, and education level. Mediation analysis was conducted to explore potential mechanisms. RESULTS: In this study, a total of 539 cases of ALS were recorded after a median follow-up of 13.7 years. Patients with MetS (defined harmonized) had a higher risk of developing ALS after adjusting for confounding factors (HR: 1.50, 95% CI: 1.19-1.89). Specifically, hypertension and high triglycerides were linked to a higher risk of ALS (HR: 1.53, 95% CI: 1.19-1.95; HR: 1.31, 95% CI: 1.06-1.61, respectively). Moreover, the quantity of metabolic abnormalities showed significant results. Stratified analysis revealed that these associations are particularly significant in individuals with a BMI <25. These findings remained stable after sensitivity analysis. Notably, mediation analysis identified potential metabolites and metabolomic mediators, including alkaline phosphatase, cystatin C, γ-glutamyl transferase, saturated fatty acids to total fatty acids percentage, and omega-6 fatty acids to omega-3 fatty acids ratio. INTERPRETATION: MetS exhibits a robust association with an increased susceptibility to ALS, particularly in individuals with a lower BMI. Furthermore, metabolites and metabolomics, as potential mediators, provide invaluable insights into the intricate biological mechanisms. ANN NEUROL 2024.

Development and validation of a nomogram for predicting heterotopic ossification following spinal cord injury.

OBJECTIVE: Heterotopic ossification (HO) following spinal cord injury (SCI) can severely compromise patient mobility and quality of life. Precise identification of SCI patients at an elevated risk for HO is crucial for implementing early clinical interventions. While the literature presents diverse correlations between HO onset and purported risk factors, the development of a predictive model to quantify these risks is likely to bolster preventive approaches. This study is designed to develop and validate a nomogram-based predictive model that estimates the likelihood of HO in SCI patients, utilizing recognized risk factors to expedite clinical decision-making processes. METHODS: We recruited a total of 145 patients with SCI and presenting with HO who were hospitalized at the China Rehabilitation Research Center, Beijing Boai Hospital, from June 2016 to December 2022. Additionally, 337 patients with SCI without HO were included as controls. Comprehensive data were collected for all study participants, and subsequently, the dataset was randomly partitioned into training and validation groups. Using Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator regression, variables were meticulously screened during the pretreatment phase to formulate the predictive model. The efficacy of the model was then assessed using metrics including receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) analysis, calibration assessment, and decision curve analysis. RESULTS: The final prediction model incorporated age, sex, complete spinal cord injury status, spasm occurrence, and presence of deep vein thrombosis (DVT). Notably, the model exhibited commendable performance in both the training and validation groups, as evidenced by areas under the ROC curve (AUCs) of 0.756 and 0.738, respectively. These values surpassed the AUCs obtained for single variables, namely age (0.636), sex (0.589), complete spinal cord injury (0.681), spasm occurrence (0.563), and DVT presence (0.590). Furthermore, the calibration curve illustrated a congruence between the predicted and actual outcomes, indicating the high accuracy of the model. The decision curve analysis indicated substantial net benefits associated with the application of the model, thereby underscoring its practical utility. CONCLUSIONS: HO following SCI correlates with several identifiable risk factors, including male gender, youthful age, complete SCI, spasm occurrence and DVT. Our predictive model effectively estimates the likelihood of HO development by leveraging these factors, assisting physicians in identifying patients at high risk. Subsequently, correct positioning to prevent spasm-related deformities and educating healthcare providers on safe lower limb mobilization techniques are crucial to minimize muscle injury risks from rapid iliopsoas muscle extension. Additionally, the importance of early DVT prevention through routine screening and anticoagulation is emphasized to further reduce the incidence of HO.

Identification of a longevity gene through evolutionary rate covariation of insect mito-nuclear genomes.

Oxidative phosphorylation, essential for energy metabolism and linked to the regulation of longevity, involves mitochondrial and nuclear genes. The functions of these genes and their evolutionary rate covariation (ERC) have been extensively studied, but little is known about whether other nuclear genes not targeted to mitochondria evolutionarily and functionally interact with mitochondrial genes. Here we systematically examined the ERC of mitochondrial and nuclear benchmarking universal single-copy ortholog (BUSCO) genes from 472 insects, identifying 75 non-mitochondria-targeted nuclear genes. We found that the uncharacterized gene CG11837-a putative ortholog of human DIMT1-regulates insect lifespan, as its knockdown reduces median lifespan in five diverse insect species and Caenorhabditis elegans, whereas its overexpression extends median lifespans in fruit flies and C. elegans and enhances oxidative phosphorylation gene activity. Additionally, DIMT1 overexpression protects human cells from cellular senescence. Together, these data provide insights into the ERC of mito-nuclear genes and suggest that CG11837 may regulate longevity across animals.

Inhibition of silica scaling with functional polymers: Role of ionic strength, divalent ions, and temperature.

High concentrations of dissolved silica in saline industrial wastewaters and brines cause silica scale formation, significantly hampering the efficacy of diverse engineered systems. Applying functional polymers as scale inhibitors in process feedwater is a common strategy to mitigate silica scaling. However, feedwater characteristics often vary widely, depending on the specific processes, making the inhibition of silica scaling challenging and complex. In this study, we systematically investigate the role of ionic composition, specifically ionic strength and divalent ions, and solution temperature, in inhibiting silica scaling using molecularly designed amine/amide polymers. The inhibitor demonstrates effective stabilization of silicic acid, with inhibition efficiency of 74 and 55 % in the absence and presence of 20,000 ppm NaCl, respectively. However, further increasing the ionic strength of oversaturated silicic acid solutions significantly diminishes inhibition performance, rendering it ineffective at 180,000 ppm NaCl. Divalent inorganic cations exhibit a stronger impact on reducing inhibition efficiency compared to sodium ions. Molecular dynamics simulations reveal a competition mechanism between anionic silicic acid reactants (i.e., H3SiO4-) and chlorides for binding to ammonium groups within the polymeric inhibitor. Additionally, cations form clusters with H3SiO4- ions, hindering their stabilization with polymeric inhibitor. Notably, at elevated temperatures, the inhibitor achieves near-perfect inhibition for 500 ppm silicic acid solutions. This comprehensive assessment provides important insights into the effectiveness of silica scaling inhibitors under solution conditions relevant to real-world applications, addressing the challenges posed by varying solution parameters in diverse industrial processes.

Motoric Cognitive Risk Syndrome as a Predictor of Adverse Health Outcomes: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

INTRODUCTION: Motoric cognitive risk syndrome (MCR) is a newly proposed pre-dementia syndrome characterized by subjective cognitive complaints (SCCs) and slow gait (SG). Increasing evidence links MCR to several adverse health outcomes, but the specific relationship between MCR and the risk of frailty, Alzheimer's disease (AD), and vascular dementia (VaD) remains unclear. Additionally, literature lacks analysis of MCR's components and associated health outcomes, complicating risk identification. This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to provide a comprehensive overview of MCR's predictive value for adverse health outcomes. METHODS: Relevant cross-sectional, cohort, and longitudinal studies examining the association between MCR and adverse health outcomes were extracted from ten electronic databases. The Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS) and modified NOS were used to assess the risk of bias in studies included in the analysis. Relative ratios (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were pooled for outcomes associated with MCR. RESULTS: Twenty-eight longitudinal or cohort studies and four cross-sectional studies with 1,224,569 participants were included in the final analysis. The risk of bias in all included studies was rated as low or moderate. Pooled analysis of RR indicated that MCR had a greater probability of increased the risk of dementia (adjusted RR = 2.02; 95% CI = 1.94-2.11), cognitive impairment (adjusted RR = 1.72; 95% CI = 1.49-1.99), falls (adjusted RR = 1.32; 95% CI = 1.17-1.50), mortality (adjusted RR = 1.66; 95% CI = 1.32-2.10), and hospitalization (adjusted RR = 1.46; 95% CI = 1.16-1.84); MCR had more prominent predictive efficacy for AD (adjusted RR = 2.23; 95% CI = 1.81-2.76) compared to VaD (adjusted RR = 3.78; 95% CI = 0.49-28.95), while excluding analyses from the study that utilized the timed-up-and-go test and one-leg-standing to evaluate gait speed. One study examined the association between MCR and disability (hazard ratios [HR] = 1.69; 95% CI = 1.08-2.02) and frailty (OR = 5.53; 95% CI = 1.46-20.89). SG was a stronger predictor of the risk for dementia and falls than SCC (adjusted RR = 1.22; 95% CI = 1.11-1.34 vs. adjusted RR = 1.19; 95% CI = 1.03-1.38). CONCLUSION: MCR increases the risk of developing any discussed adverse health outcomes, and the predictive value for AD is superior to VaD. Additionally, SG is a stronger predictor of dementia and falls than SCC. Therefore, MCR should be routinely assessed among adults to prevent poor prognosis and provide evidence to support future targeted interventions.

Above-room-temperature chiral skyrmion lattice and Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction in a van der Waals ferromagnet Fe3-xGaTe2.

Skyrmions in existing 2D van der Waals (vdW) materials have primarily been limited to cryogenic temperatures, and the underlying physical mechanism of the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI), a crucial ingredient for stabilizing chiral skyrmions, remains inadequately explored. Here, we report the observation of Néel-type skyrmions in a vdW ferromagnet Fe3-xGaTe2 above room temperature. Contrary to previous assumptions of centrosymmetry in Fe3-xGaTe2, the atomic-resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy reveals that the off-centered FeΙΙ atoms break the spatial inversion symmetry, rendering it a polar metal. First-principles calculations further elucidate that the DMI primarily stems from the Te sublayers through the Fert-Lévy mechanism. Remarkably, the chiral skyrmion lattice in Fe3-xGaTe2 can persist up to 330 K at zero magnetic field, demonstrating superior thermal stability compared to other known skyrmion vdW magnets. This work provides valuable insights into skyrmionics and presents promising prospects for 2D material-based skyrmion devices operating beyond room temperature.

Colossal Ferroelectric Photovoltaic Effect in Inequivalent Double-Perovskite Bi2FeMnO6 Thin Films.

Double perovskite films have been extensively studied for ferroelectric order, ferromagnetic order, and photovoltaic effects. The customized ion combinations and ordered ionic arrangements provide unique opportunities for bandgap engineering. Here, a synergistic strategy to induce chemical strain and charge compensation through inequivalent element substitution is proposed. A-site substitution of the barium ion is used to modify the chemical valence and defect density of the two B-site elements in Bi2FeMnO6 double perovskite epitaxial thin films. We dramatically increased the ferroelectric photovoltaic effect to ∼135.67 µA/cm2 from 30.62 µA/cm2, which is the highest in ferroelectric thin films with a thickness of less than 100 nm under white-light LED irradiation. More importantly, the ferroelectric polarization can effectively improve the photovoltaic efficiency of more than 5 times. High-resolution HAADF-STEM, synchrotron-based X-ray diffraction and absorption spectroscopy, and DFT calculations collectively demonstrate that inequivalent ion plays a dual role of chemical strain (+1.92 and -1.04 GPa) and charge balance, thereby introducing lattice distortion effects. The reduction of the oxygen vacancy density and the competing Jahn-Teller distortion of the oxygen octahedron are the main phenomena of the change in electron-orbital hybridization, which also leads to enhanced ferroelectric polarization values and optical absorption. The inequivalent strategy can be extended to other double perovskite systems and applied to other functional materials, such as photocatalysis for efficient defect control.

Transcriptomic Insights into Host Metabolism and Immunity Changes after Parasitization by Leptopilina myrica.

Parasitoids commonly manipulate their host's metabolism and immunity to facilitate their offspring survival, but the mechanisms remain poorly understood. Here, we deconstructed the manipulation strategy of a newly discovered parasitoid wasp, L. myrica, which parasitizes D. melanogaster. Using RNA-seq, we analyzed transcriptomes of L. myrica-parasitized and non-parasitized Drosophila host larvae. A total of 22.29 Gb and 23.85 Gb of clean reads were obtained from the two samples, respectively, and differential expression analysis identified 445 DEGs. Of them, 304 genes were upregulated and 141 genes were downregulated in parasitized hosts compared with non-parasitized larvae. Based on the functional annotations in the Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) databases, we found that the genes involved in host nutrition metabolism were significantly upregulated, particularly in carbohydrate, amino acid, and lipid metabolism. We also identified 30 other metabolism-related DEGs, including hexokinase, fatty acid synthase, and UDP-glycosyltransferase (Ugt) genes. We observed that five Bomanin genes (Boms) and six antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) were upregulated. Moreover, a qRT-PCR analysis of 12 randomly selected DEGs confirmed the reproducibility and accuracy of the RNA-seq data. Our results provide a comprehensive transcriptomic analysis of how L. myrica manipulates its host, laying a solid foundation for studies on the regulatory mechanisms employed by parasitoid wasps in their hosts.

Half-spectrum OFDM to quadruple the spectral efficiency of underwater wireless optical communication with digital power division multiplexing.

Improving the spectrum efficiency (SE) is an effective method to further enhance the data rate of bandwidth-limited underwater wireless optical communication (UWOC) systems. Non-orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (NOFDM) with a compression factor of 0.5 can save half of the bandwidth without introducing any inter-carrier-interference (ICI) only if the total number of subcarriers is large enough, and we termed it as half-spectrum OFDM (HS-OFDM). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first reported work on a closed-form HS-OFDM signal in the discrete domain from the perspective of a correlation matrix. Due to the special mathematical property, no extra complex decoding algorithm is required at the HS-OFDM receiver, making it as simple as the conventional OFDM receiver. Compared with traditional OFDM, HS-OFDM can realize the same data rate, but with a larger signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) margin. To fully use the SNR resource of the communication system, we further propose a digital power division multiplexed HS-OFDM (DPDM-HS-OFDM) scheme to quadruple the SE of conventional OFDM for the bandwidth-starved UWOCs. The experimental results show that HS-OFDM can improve the receiver sensitivity by around 4 dB as opposed to conventional 4QAM-OFDM with the same data rate and SE. With the help of the DPDM-HS-OFDM scheme, the data rate of multi-user UWOC can reach up to 4.5 Gbps under the hard-decision forward error correction (HD-FEC) limit of a bit error rate (BER) of 3.8×10-3. Although there is some performance degradation in comparison with single-user HS-OFDM, the BER performance of multi-user DPDM-HS-OFDM is still superior to that of conventional single-user 4QAM-OFDM. Both single-user HS-OFDM and multi-user DPDM-HS-OFDM successfully achieve 2 Gbps/75 m data transmission, indicating that the DPDM-HS-OFDM scheme is of great importance in bandwidth-limited UWOC systems and has guiding significance to underwater wireless optical multiple access.

Fructose-mineralized black phosphorus for syncretic bone regeneration and tumor suppression.

Black phosphorus (BPs) nanosheets with their inherent and selective chemotherapeutic effects have recently been identified as promising cancer therapeutic agents, but challenges in surface functionalization hinder satisfactory enhancement of their selectivity between tumors and normal cells. To address this issue, we developed a novel biomineralization-inspired strategy to synthesize CaBPs-Na2FDP@CaCl2 nanosheets, aiming to achieve enhanced and selective anticancer bioactivity along with accelerated osteoblast activity. Benefiting from the in situ mineralization and fructose modification, CaBPs-Na2FDP@CaCl2 exhibited improved pH-responsive degradation behavior and targeted therapy for osteosarcoma. The in vitro results indicated that CaBPs-Na2FDP@CaCl2 exhibited efficient uptake and quick degradation by GLUT5-positive 143B osteosarcoma cells, enhancing BPs-driven chemotherapeutic effects through ATP level disturbance-mediated apoptosis of tumor cells. Moreover, CaBPs-Na2FDP@CaCl2 underwent gradual degradation into PO43-, Ca2+ and fructose in MC3T3-E1 cells, eliminating systemic toxicity. Intracellular Ca2+ bound to calmodulin (CaM), activating Ca2+/CaM-dependent signaling cascades, thereby enhancing osteoblast differentiation and mineralization in pro-osteoblastic cells. In vivo experiments affirmed the anti-tumor capability, inhibition of tumor recurrence and bone repair promotion of CaBPs-Na2FDP@CaCl2. This study not only broadens the application of BPs in bone tumor therapy but also provides a versatile surface functionalization strategy for nanotherapeutic agents.

Analysis of the uterine artery pulsatility index on the day of endometrial transformation and pregnancy outcomes of patients undergoing frozen-thawed embryo transfer.

Objective: The objective was to analyze the impact of the uterine artery pulsatility index (PI) on pregnancy outcomes by measuring uterine artery blood flow on the day of endometrial transformation in patients undergoing frozen-thawed embryo transfer (FET). Methods: This was a case-control study. In total, 2,036 patients who underwent FET at the Third Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University from October 2019 to September 2020 were included. The patients were divided into a clinical pregnancy group and a nonclinical pregnancy group according to pregnancy outcome. A multivariate logistic regression model was used to analyze the factors affecting the clinical pregnancy rate. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to determine the optimal mean PI cutoff value of 1.75. After 1:1 propensity score matching (PSM), 562 patients were included. For statistical description and analysis, the patients were divided into two groups: a group with a mean PI > 1.75 and a group with a mean PI ≤ 1.75. Results: The clinical pregnancy group included 1,218 cycles, and the nonclinical pregnancy group included 818 cycles. There were significant differences in female age (P<0.01), infertility type (P=0.04), baseline follicle-stimulating hormone level (P=0.04), anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) level (P<0.01), antral follicle count (P<0.01), number of transferred embryos (P=0.045) and type of transferred embryo (P<0.01). There was no significant difference in the mean bilateral PI (1.98 ± 0.34 vs. 1.95 ± 0.35, P=0.10). The multivariate analysis results showed that maternal age (AOR=0.95, 95% CI=0.93-0.98, P<0.01), AMH level (AOR=1.00, 95% CI=1.00-1.01, P=0.045), number of transferred embryos (AOR=1.98, 95% CI=1.47-2.70, P<0.01), and type of transferred embryo (AOR=3.10, 95% CI=2.27-4.23, P<0.01) were independent factors influencing the clinical pregnancy rate. The mean PI (AOR=0.85, 95% CI=0.70-1.05; P=0.13) was not an independent factor influencing the clinical pregnancy rate. Participants were divided into two groups according to the mean PI cutoff value of 1.75, and there was no significant difference between the two groups (P > 0.05). Conclusion: In this study, we found that the uterine artery PI on the day of endometrial transformation in patients undergoing FET is not a good predictor of pregnancy outcomes.

Design of intelligent inspection system for solder paste printing defects based on improved YOLOX.

Aiming at the current SPI (solder paste inspection) system for printing solder paste similar defects detection accuracy is not high, the system intelligence degree is low and so on, design a for the solder paste similar defects and combined with phase modulation profile measurement technique and improve the YOLOX intelligent detection system. The core of the system is the improved YOLOX depth model based on s-mosica and kt-iou algorithms proposed in this paper. The experimental results show that the proposed s-mosica and kt-iou algorithms can effectively improve the detection accuracy of printed solder paste, and when combined with the YOLOX model, the best 90.33% detection accuracy is obtained, which is better than the detection performance of the existing algorithms in the same scenario, and it provides an effective and feasible reference program for the design of the SPI high-precision intelligent detection system.

Adaptive-memory-length look-up table (LUT)-based digital pre-distortion for IM/DD underwater wireless optical communications.

A digital pre-distortion (DPD) scheme based on an adaptive-memory-length look-up table (AML-LUT) is proposed and experimentally demonstrated in a four-level pulse amplitude modulation (4-PAM) underwater optical wireless communication (UOWC) system. By implementing adaptive memory length for each pattern in the AML-LUT-based DPD, the size of the AML-LUT can be significantly reduced without sacrificing performance compared to both the full-size LUT and the multi-symbol simplified look-up table (MSS-LUT)-based DPDs. The performance of the proposed AML-LUT-based DPD is experimentally evaluated for a 625 Mbit/s 4-PAM UOWC over 1 m transmission length. Experimental results show that compared with the full-size LUT with a memory length of 7 (LUT-7)-based DPD, the proposed AML-LUT-based DPD (i) incurs a marginal power penalty of 0.5 dB at both the 7% hard-decision forward error correction (HD-FEC) and KP4-FEC threshold limits, while simultaneously reducing the implementation complexity (i.e., the LUT size) by 93%; (ii) achieves comparable transmission performance compared to the MSS-LUT-based DPD, while reducing the implementation complexity by 89%; and (iii) shows great potential for high-speed, low-complexity and memory-efficient intensity modulation and direct detection (IM/DD) UOWC and short-reach optical interconnects.

Communication between the stem cell niche and an adjacent differentiation niche through miRNA and EGFR signaling orchestrates exit from the stem cell state in the Drosophila ovary.

The signaling environment, or niche, often governs the initial difference in behavior of an adult stem cell and a derivative that initiates a path towards differentiation. The transition between an instructive stem cell niche and differentiation niche must generally have single-cell resolution, suggesting that multiple mechanisms might be necessary to sharpen the transition. Here, we examined the Drosophila ovary and found that Cap cells, which are key constituents of the germline stem cell (GSC) niche, express a conserved microRNA (miR-124). Surprisingly, loss of miR-124 activity in Cap cells leads to a defect in differentiation of GSC derivatives. We present evidence that the direct functional target of miR-124 in Cap cells is the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and that failure to limit EGFR expression leads to the ectopic expression of a key anti-differentiation BMP signal in neighboring somatic escort cells (ECs), which constitute a differentiation niche. We further found that Notch signaling connects EFGR activity in Cap cells to BMP expression in ECs. We deduce that the stem cell niche communicates with the differentiation niche through a mechanism that begins with the selective expression of a specific microRNA and culminates in the suppression of the major anti-differentiation signal in neighboring cells, with the functionally important overall role of sharpening the spatial distinction between self-renewal and differentiation environments.

Wallace melon juice fermented with Lactobacillus alleviates dextran sulfate sodium-induced ulcerative colitis in mice through modulating gut microbiota and the metabolism.

Fermented foods have shown promise in preventing or treating ulcerative colitis (UC) via regulating intestinal flora and correcting metabolic disorders. However, the prevention effect of fermented Wallace melon juice (FMJ) on UC is unclear. In this study, the effects of FMJ on dextran sodium sulfate (DSS)-induced UC were investigated via 16S rRNA sequencing and non-targeted metabolomics. The results showed that FMJ was effective in alleviating the symptoms of UC, reducing histological damage and oxidative stress, decreasing the levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines. After FMJ treatment, the level of propionic acid, butyric acid, and valeric acid increased by 14.1%, 44.4%, and 52.4% compared to DSS-induced UC mice. Meanwhile, the levels of harmful bacteria such as Oscillospira, Bacteroidetes, and Erysipelotrichaceae and Clostridium decreased, while the levels of beneficial bacteria such as Akkermansia, Lactobacillus, and Bifidobacterium increased. Fecal metabolomics analysis identified 31 differential metabolites, which could regulate metabolic disorders in UC mice by controlling the primary bile acid biosynthesis, purine metabolism, and pantothenate and CoA biosynthesis pathway. Additionally, the abundances of butyric acid, bile acids, and pantothenic acid were positively correlated with Allobaculum, Bifidobacterium, and other beneficial bacteria (R2 > 0.80, p < 0.01). The results indicated that FMJ played a role in regulating the structure of intestinal flora, which in turn helped in repairing metabolic disorders and alleviated colitis inflammation.

High-Quality TiO2 Electron Transport Film Prepared via Vacuum Ultraviolet Illumination for MAPbI3 Perovskite Solar Cells.

The electron transport layer (ETL) plays an important role in determining the conversion efficiency and stability of perovskite solar cells (PSCs). Here, TiO2 thin film was prepared by irradiating diisopropoxy diacetylacetone titanium precursor thin film with 172 nm vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) at a low temperature. The prepared TiO2 thin film has higher electron mobility and conductivity. As it is used as an ETL for MAPbI3 PSCs, its band structure is better matched with the perovskite, and at the same time, due to the good interface contact, more uniform perovskite crystals are formed. Most importantly, a large number of hydroxyl radicals were formed during VUV irradiation of the precursor film, which made up for the oxygen defect present on the surface of the TiO2 thin film, and were adsorbed to the film surface. These hydroxyl groups form hydrogen bonds with methylammonium (MA) components on the MAPbI3 buried surface, thus promoting the transfer of photogenerated electrons at the MAPbI3/ETL interface. The power conversion efficiency of PSCs fabricated in air with the ETL prepared by VUV irradiation is 20.46%, which is higher than that of the contrast solar cell based on the sintered ETL (17.96%).

Creation of Room-Temperature Sub-100 nm Antiferromagnetic Skyrmions in an Antiferromagnet IrMn through Interfacial Exchange Coupling.

Antiferromagnetic (AFM) skyrmions are magnetic vortices composed of antiparallell-aligned neighboring spins. In stark contrast to conventional skyrmions based on ferromagnetic order, AFM skyrmions have vanished stray fields, higher response frequencies, and rectified translational motion driven by an external force. Therefore, AFM skyrmions promise highly efficient spintronics devices with high bit mobility and density. Nevertheless, the experimental realization of intrinsic AFM skyrmions remains elusive. Here, we show that AFM skyrmions can be nucleated via interfacial exchange coupling at the surface of a room-temperature AFM material, IrMn, exploiting the particular response from uncompensated moments to the thermal annealing and imprinting effects. Further systematic magnetic characterizations validate the existence of such an AFM order at the IrMn/CoFeB interfaces. Such AFM skyrmions have a typical size of 100 nm, which presents pronounced robustness against field and temperature. Our work opens new pathways for magnetic topological devices based on AFM skyrmions.