Elucidating Energy Conversion Pathways at Biotic/Abiotic Interfaces in Microbe-Semiconductor Hybrids.

Biotic/abiotic hybrid systems integrating microbes with light-absorbing semiconductor materials offer promising solutions for sustainable energy conversion and value-added chemical production. In this Perspective, we discuss the mechanistic insights into upstream energy conversion processes at the biotic-abiotic interfaces, underscoring their pivotal roles in determining biohybrid performance. We explore how biological, physicochemical, and electrochemical characterization techniques have advanced our understanding of energy conversion pathways and electron transport mechanisms within these complex systems.

Building a highly concentration responsive optical thermometer via tunable electron transfer pathways supported by intervalence charge transfer states.

The thermal-coupled levels (TCLs) of lanthanides have attracted great attention in the field of optical thermometer, offering an efficient method to achieve non-contect temperatuer feedback in complex environment. However, the iner 4f electrons are shielded, which becomes the core obstacle in improving the sensing performance. This issue is now circumvented by constructing an electron transfer pathway between Tm(D) and Eu(D) configurations.

Gossypol Acetic Acid Alleviates the Ferroptosis of Chondrocytes in Osteoarthritis by Inhibiting GPX4 Methylation.

Background: Osteoarthritis (OA) is a chronic joint disease, usually accompanied by degeneration of the articular cartilage, fibrosis, bone hyperplasia around the joint, and damage to the entire articular surface. Gossypol is a natural phenolic compound isolated from the seed of cotton plants, and gossypol acetic acid (GAA) is a medicinal form of Gossypol. Recently, various biological activities of GAA, including anti-inflammatory and anti-tumor effects, have been widely reported.

Calcipotriol suppresses GPX4-mediated ferroptosis in OA chondrocytes by blocking the TGF-β1 pathway.

Globally, tens of millions of individuals experience osteoarthritis (OA), a degenerative joint condition for which a definitive cure is currently lacking. This condition is characterized by joint inflammation and the progressive deterioration of articular cartilage. In this study, western blotting, quantitative reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction, and immunofluorescence analysis were performed to elucidate the molecular mechanisms by which calcipotriol alleviates chondrocyte ferroptosis.

Adipokines regulate mesenchymal stem cell osteogenic differentiation.

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) can differentiate into various tissue cell types including bone, adipose, cartilage, and muscle. Among those, osteogenic differentiation of MSCs has been widely explored in many bone tissue engineering studies. Moreover, the conditions and methods of inducing osteogenic differentiation of MSCs are continuously advancing.

Exceeding 80% Efficiency of Single-Bead Encapsulation in Microdroplets through Hydrogel Coating-Assisted Close-Packed Ordering.

High-efficiency encapsulation of single microbeads in microdroplets is essential for droplet-based high-throughput analysis such as single-cell genomics and digital immunoassays. However, the demand has been hindered by the Poisson statistics of beads arbitrarily distributed in the droplet partitions. Although techniques such as inertial ordering have been proven useful to improve bead-loading efficiency, a general method that requires no advanced microfluidics and owns compatibility with diverse bead types is still highly desired.

Isorhynchophylline alleviates cartilage degeneration in osteoarthritis by activating autophagy of chondrocytes.

Context: Osteoarthritis is a common degenerative disease, the cause of it is still unknown, and the treatment mainly focuses on improving symptoms. Studies have found that Isorhynchophylline (Isorhy) has antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antiproliferative and neuroprotective effects.

Objective: This study investigates the role and mechanism of Isorhy in OA.

Permeability-Engineered Compartmentalization Enables In Vitro Reconstitution of Sustained Synthetic Biology Systems.

In nature, biological compartments such as cells rely on dynamically controlled permeability for matter exchange and complex cellular activities. Likewise, the ability to engineer compartment permeability is crucial for in vitro systems to gain sustainability, robustness, and complexity. However, rendering in vitro compartments such a capability is challenging.

Artemisinin relieves osteoarthritis by activating mitochondrial autophagy through reducing TNFSF11 expression and inhibiting PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling in cartilage.

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a widespread chronic degenerative joint disease characterized by the degeneration of articular cartilage or inflamed joints. Our findings indicated that treatment with artemisinin (AT) downregulates the protein levels of MMP3, MMP13, and ADAMTS5, which are cartilage degradation-related proteins in OA, and inhibits the expression of inflammatory factors in interleukin-1β (IL-1β)-stimulated chondrocytes. However, the mechanism of the role of AT in OA remains unclear.

SEMA6D, Negatively Regulated by miR-7, Contributes to C28/I2 chondrocyte's Catabolic and Anabolic Activities via p38 Signaling Pathway.

MiR-7 has been recognized as an osteoarthritis (OA-)-promoting factor, but the specific downstream pathway of miR-7 still remains unknown. Further investigation of the molecular regulatory mechanism of miR-7 might help develop a novel therapeutic method for OA. In this study, we revealed that Semaphorin 6D (SEMA6D) was a direct target gene of miR-7 and presented a negative regulatory relation with SEMA6D and .

Label-free electrical monitoring of nucleic acid amplification with integrated hydrogel ionic diodes.

We demonstrate here for the first time the utility of a monolithically integrated hydrogel ionic diode for label-free quantitative DNA detection and real-time monitoring of nucleic acid amplification. The hydrogel ionic diode presented herein, unlike nanomaterial-based field-effect biosensors, features high cost-effectiveness and convenient fabrication. This is realized by patterning a micrometer-sized heterojunction consisting of adjacent segments of polycationic and polyanionic hydrogels on a microfluidic chip through simple photocuring steps.

An Experimental and Numerical Study of Polyelectrolyte Hydrogel Ionic Diodes: Towards Electrical Detection of Charged Biomolecules.

Polyelectrolyte hydrogel ionic diodes (PHIDs) have recently emerged as a unique set of iontronic devices. Such diodes are built on microfluidic chips that feature polyelectrolyte hydrogel junctions and rectify ionic currents owing to the heterogeneous distribution and transport of ions across the junctions. In this paper, we provide the first account of a study on the ion transport behavior of PHIDs through an experimental investigation and numerical simulation.

A novel versatile instrument for combined studies of persistent luminescence, thermoluminescence, and mechanoluminescence in micro-scale.

This paper presents a new method for combined measurements of persistent luminescence (PersL), thermoluminescence (TL), and mechanoluminescence (ML) of luminescent materials in the micrometer scale. Both the hardware and software designs have been illustrated in detail, and the experimental procedures to execute the emission map, PersL, TL, and ML measurements have been demonstrated. The PersL, TL, and ML properties of the SrAlO:Eu, Dy micropowder, as well as the corresponding temperature variable emission spectra, have been measured.