AlCoCrFeNi High-Entropy Alloys Enable Simultaneous Electrical and Mechanical Robustness at Thermoelectric Interfaces.

The interface between high-performance thermoelectric materials and electrodes critically governs the conversion efficiency and long-term reliability of thermoelectric generators under high-temperature operation. Here, we propose AlCoCrFeNi high-entropy alloys (HEA) as barrier layers to bond Cu-W electrodes with p-type skutterudite (p-SKD) thermoelectric materials. The HEA/p-SKD interface exhibited excellent chemical bonding with a stable and controllable reaction layer, forming a dense, defect-free (Fe,Ni,Co,Cr)Sb phase (thickness of ~2.

Mechanical Roles of Polysaccharide Assembly and Interactions in Plant Cell Walls.

Plants synthesize polysaccharide-based primary cell walls that possess unique microstructures and mechanical properties to accommodate plant growth and provide protection. It remains challenging to assess the role of polysaccharide organization and interactions in the mechanical behavior of primary cell walls owing to their complex microstructure and highly nonlinear mechanical responses. Employing a coarse-grained molecular dynamics model developed for onion epidermal walls, this work explores the conditions under which polysaccharide assembly and interactions might play a significant role in primary cell wall mechanics.

Combination of robot-assisted glove and mirror therapy improves upper limb motor function in subacute stroke patients: a randomized controlled pilot study.

Objective: This pilot study aimed to investigate the effects of combining mirror therapy with robot-assisted glove therapy (RMT) on upper limb functional recovery in patients with post-stroke hemiplegia.

Methods: Fifty-two patients with subacute stroke were randomly assigned to three groups mirror therapy (MT) group, robot-assisted therapy (RT) group or RMT group-using a computer-generated randomization table. Patients in all three groups received routine rehabilitation training, MT group received mirror therapy on the basis of this, RT group received rehabilitation robot glove training on the basis of conventional rehabilitation treatment, and the RMT group received rehabilitation robot glove training and mirror therapy at the same time.

Chronic Lung Diseases and Depressive Symptoms in Older Adults: Insights from Observational Studies and Mendelian Randomization.

Introduction: To elucidate the currently unknown relationship between chronic lung diseases (CLDs) and depressive symptoms among older adults.

Methods: A total of 8079 older adults from China Longitudinal Aging Social Survey (CLASS) and 1119 individuals from a Sichuan Province cohort were included in this study. We used regression analysis and propensity score matching (PSM) to assess the association between CLDs and depressive symptoms among older adults, while the causal relationship was assessed using Mendelian randomization (MR).

A large-scale curated and filterable dataset for cryo-EM foundation model pre-training.

Cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) is a transformative imaging technology that enables near-atomic resolution 3D reconstruction of target biomolecule, playing a critical role in structural biology and drug discovery. Cryo-EM faces significant challenges due to its extremely low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) where the complexity of data processing becomes particularly pronounced. To address this challenge, foundation models have shown great potential in other biological imaging domains.

Accuracy and time efficiency of deep learning-based three-dimensional crown segmentation on intraoral scanning: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Objectives: Clinically, accurate tooth segmentation in intraoral scans is vital for clinical diagnosis and treatments. Deep learning is utilized for image segmentation in mesh segmentation such as intraoral scans lately. This review and meta-analysis aimed to present evidence regarding the accuracy of deep learning-based tooth segmentation in intraoral scanning and assess its time-effectiveness.

CoARF++: Content-Aware Radiance Field Aligning Model Complexity With Scene Intricacy.

This paper introduces the concept of Content-Aware Radiance Fields (CoARF), which adaptively aligns the model complexity with the scene intricacy. By examining the intricacies of radiance fields from three perspectives, model complexity is adapted through scalable feature grids, dynamic neural networks, and model quantization. Specifically, we propose a hash collision detection mechanism that removes redundant feature grid by restricting the valid hash collision to reasonable level, making the space complexity scalable.

BentRay-NeRF: Bent-Ray Neural Radiance Fields for Robust Speed-of-Sound Imaging in Ultrasound Computed Tomography.

Ultrasound computed tomography (USCT) is a promising technique for breast cancer detection because of its quantitative imaging capability of the speed of sound (SOS) of soft tissues and the fact that malignant breast lesions often have a higher SOS compared to healthy tissues in the human breast. Compared to waveform inversion-based USCT, bent-ray tracing USCT is relatively less computationally expensive, which particularly suits breast cancer screening in a large population. However, SOS image reconstruction using bent-ray tracing in USCT is a highly ill-conditioned problem, making it susceptible to measurement errors.

Prenylated isoflavonoids with anti-inflammatory activities from the twigs and leaves of Maclura fruticosa.

Six new prenylated isoflavonoids, named maccosas A-F (1-6), together with ten known prenylated isoflavonoids (7-16) were isolated from the twigs and leaves of Maclura fruticosa. Compounds were isolated by various column chromatographic methods including silica gel, sephadex LH-20, and semi-preparative HPLC. Their structures were elucidated by a combination of 1D and 2D NMR techniques, mass spectrometry, and comparison of their spectral data with those in the literature.

Instant Gaussian Splatting Generation for High-Quality and Real-Time Facial Asset Rendering.

Traditional and AI-driven modeling techniques enable high-fidelity 3D asset generation from scans, videos, or text prompts. However, editing and rendering these assets often involves a trade-off between quality and speed. In this paper, we propose GauFace, a novel Gaussian Splatting representation, tailored for efficient rendering of facial mesh with textures.

Whole-Brain Radiotherapy Simultaneous Integrated Boost Intensity-Modulated Radiotherapy Combined With Anlotinib in the Treatment of Brain Metastases.

Introduction: Whole-brain radiotherapy simultaneous integrated boost intensity-modulated radiotherapy (WBRT + SIB-IMRT) is a potential treatment approach for brain metastasis (BM) that may result in improved overall survival (OS). However, the safety and efficacy of WBRT + SIB-IMRT combined with anlotinib for BM treatment remain uncertain.

Methods: We retrospectively compared the safety and efficacy of anlotinib + WBRT + SIB-IMRT with those of WBRT + SIB-IMRT in patients with BM from 2019 to 2022.

Plant Cell Wall-Like Soft Materials: Micro- and Nanoengineering, Properties, and Applications.

Plant cell wall (CW)-like soft materials, referred to as artificial CWs, are composites of assembled polymers containing micro-/nanoparticles or fibers/fibrils that are designed to mimic the composition, structure, and mechanics of plant CWs. CW-like materials have recently emerged to test hypotheses pertaining to the intricate structure-property relationships of native plant CWs or to fabricate functional materials. Here, research on plant CWs and CW-like materials is reviewed by distilling key studies on biomimetic composites primarily composed of plant polysaccharides, including cellulose, pectin, and hemicellulose, as well as organic polymers like lignin.

Obeticholic acid aggravates liver fibrosis by activating hepatic farnesoid X receptor-induced apoptosis in cholestatic mice.

Obeticholic acid (OCA) was approved for the treatment of primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) patients. However, it can cause severe drug-induced liver injury (DILI), which may put PBC patients at risk of acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) and even death. Farnesoid X receptor (FXR) is considered as the target of OCA for cholestasis, but there is still a lack of research on whether hepatic and ileal FXR have different effects after OCA treatment.

Phenotypic and genetic characterization of daptomycin non-susceptible strains selected by adaptive laboratory evolution.

Background: Daptomycin non-susceptible (DNS) strains pose a serious clinical threat, yet their characteristics remain poorly understood.

Methods: DNS derivatives were generated by exposing strains to subinhibitory concentrations of daptomycin. Competition experiment and growth kinetics experiment were used to observe the growth of bacteria.

Synthesis, Characterization and Antibacterial Activity Study of Para-Substituted Derivatives of N-Benzyl-3-Methylbuten-2-Enamides.

In order to deeply explore the effect of para-substituents on the antibacterial activity of N-benzyl-3-methylbuten-2- enamide derivatives, we elaborately synthesized three such para-substituted derivatives (compound a: N-(4-hydroxybenzyl)-3-methylbut-2- enamide; compound b: N-(4-isobutoxybenzyl)-3- methylbut-2-enamide; compound c: N-(4-isopropoxybenzyl) -3-methylbut-2- enamide), of which the structures were determined by ways of single crystal X-ray diffraction data analysis mainly. The antibacterial performance experiments showed that compounds a, b and c were evaluated for their antibacterial (Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, and Enterobacter aerogenes) activities. Among them, compounds a, b and c have an effective antibacterial reagents for E.

The roles of cell wall inhibition responsive protein CwrA in the pathogenicity of .

The ability to form robust biofilms and secrete a diverse array of virulence factors are key pathogenic determinants of , causing a wide range of infectious diseases. Here, we characterized as a VraR-regulated gene encoding a cell wall inhibition-responsive protein (CwrA) using electrophoretic mobility shift assays. We constructed deletion mutants in the genetic background of methicillin-resistant (MRSA) and methicillin-sensitive (MSSA) strains.

Insights into small-molecule compound CY-158-11 antibacterial activity against .

Unlabelled: The widespread prevalence and dissemination of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, coupled with the diminishing supply of new antibiotics, emphasize the pressing necessity for the exploration of innovative antibacterial agents. Previously, we detailed the impact of the small-molecule compound CY-158-11 on biofilm. By hindering adhesion and PIA-mediated biofilm formation, subinhibitory concentrations of CY-158-11 exhibit antibiofilm activity toward .

HOLI-1-to-3: Transient-Enhanced Holistic Image-to-3D Generation.

We introduce HOLI-1-to-3, a novel technique for holistic 3D shape recovery from a single-viewpoint input, by effectively combining line-of-sight (LOS) and non-line-of-sight (NLOS) imaging. We leverage advancements in ultrafast time-of-flight (ToF) sensors and learning-based 3D shape inference techniques, such as diffusion models. HOLI-1-to-3 employs a new neural plenoptic representation, which unifies radiance fields (for LOS RGB images) and transient fields (for NLOS transients).

Biofilm-producing ability of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus clinically isolated in China.

Background: Staphylococcus aureus, a commensal bacterium, colonizes the skin and mucous membranes of approximately 30% of the human population. Apart from conventional resistance mechanisms, one of the pathogenic features of S. aureus is its ability to survive in a biofilm state on both biotic and abiotic surfaces.

Single-pixel p-graded-n junction spectrometers.

Ultra-compact spectrometers are becoming increasingly popular for their promising applications in biomedical analysis, environmental monitoring, and food safety. In this work, we report a single-pixel-photodetector spectrometer with a spectral range from 480 nm to 820 nm, based on the AlGaAs/GaAs p-graded-n junction with a voltage-tunable optical response. To reconstruct the optical spectrum, we propose a tailored method called Neural Spectral Fields (NSF) that leverages the unique wavelength and bias-dependent responsivity matrix.