Robotic micromanipulation for patterned and complex organoid biofabrication.

Organoids have emerged as powerful models for recapitulating tissue physiology and pathology in biomedical research. However, the need for consistent and complex manufacturing of organoids remains a challenge. The absence of standardization and quality control of cells dispersed within extracellular matrices impedes the widespread application of organoids.

Epicardial and paracardial adipose tissue quantification in short-axis cardiac cine MRI using deep learning.

Objective: Epicardial and paracardial adipose tissues (EAT and PAT) are two types of fat depots around the heart and they have important roles in cardiac physiology. Manual quantification of EAT and PAT from cardiac MR (CMR) is time-consuming and prone to human bias. Leveraging the cardiac motion, we aimed to develop deep learning neural networks for automated segmentation and quantification of EAT and PAT in short-axis cine CMR.

Two new diarylheptanoids from rhizomes.

Eighteen diarylheptanoids, including two new compounds kwangsiline A (), kwangsipyran A (), and sixteen known ones (-, -) were obtained from rhizomes. Through the comprehensive analyses of spectroscopic information and quantum chemical ECD calculation result led to the final determination of these compounds' structural characteristics. Kwangsipyran A () is the fourth epoxy diarylheptanoid with a tetrahydropyran moiety identified in .

A new dataset of province- and prefecture-level human development index in China.

The Human Development Index (HDI) is widely recognized as a key measure for assessing progress in health, education, and income. China's remarkable advances in human development, coupled with pronounced internal disparities, present a unique context for examining regional development trajectories. Existing HDI datasets, however, often focus on national or provincial scales, leaving finer details at the prefecture level underexplored.

Microstructural transformation for robust and high-efficiency Zintl thermoelectrics.

Thermoelectric materials offer an exceptional opportunity to convert waste heat into electricity directly, yet their widespread application remains hindered by intrinsic brittleness and poor processability. Here, we introduce a graded ball milling strategy that fundamentally enhances the mechanical robustness and processability of YbZnSb-based thermoelectrics. By refining grain microstructure, increasing dislocation density, and promoting intermediate-angle grain boundaries, this approach enables the fabrication of crack-free, large-size, disc-shaped, and microscale dices while maintaining excellent thermoelectric performance.

Acori Tatarinowii Rhizoma inhibited neuroinflammation in Alzheimer's disease rats by modulating the intestinal flora.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a degenerative disorder causing neuronal loss and cognitive deficits, which is associated with intestinal flora dysbiosis. Acori Tatarinowii Rhizoma (ATR) is the dried rhizome of Acorus tatarinowii Schott., and exhibits neuroprotective effects.

OsbZIP83-OsCOMT15 module confers melatonin-ameliorated cold tolerance in rice.

Cold stress is one of the most common abiotic stresses, and melatonin (Mel) is involved in the regulation of plant cold tolerance. However, the detailed mechanism underlying Mel-mediated cold tolerance remains largely unknown. Here, we reveal that caffeic acid O-methyltransferase 15 (OsCOMT15) is cold-responsive (COR) and acts as a key modulator of Mel biosynthesis to enhance rice cold tolerance at the seedling stage.

Falls and loneliness among Chinese older adults: evidence from a nationally representative longitudinal study.

Background: Falls and loneliness are both common during older adulthood and detrimental to older adults' health. However, it remains unclear whether and how falls may be longitudinally related to loneliness among older adults, despite some cross-sectional evidence in both Western and Chinese contexts. This study aimed to examine the longitudinal association between falls and loneliness among Chinese older adults, its potential variation across age groups, and the role of social adaptation in mediating the association.

Exploring the Regulatory Mechanism of Total Alkaloids from L. in UC Treatment Based on Network Pharmacology.

This study aimed to investigate the potential mechanisms of action of total alkaloids from L. (POL) on ulcerative colitis (UC) using a network pharmacology approach. Network pharmacology analysis identified two bioactive alkaloids within POL as primary anti-UC constituents, targeting 16 core therapeutic proteins and 113 UC-associated signaling pathways.

Mechanochemical Synthesis of Recyclable Biohybrid Polymer Networks Using Whole Biomass.

Whole-plant biomass from non-agricultural sources and waste biomass from processing agricultural products are both promising feedstocks for biopolymer production because they are abundant and do not compete with food production. However, their processing steps are notoriously tedious with the final materials often displaying inferior performance and limited scope in their properties. Here, we report a strategy to integrate whole-cell spirulina, a green-blue algae, into robust biohybrid algae-polyimine networks by leveraging a mechanochemical ball milling method.

5-Oxoproline prevents doxorubicin-induced cardiotoxicity and tumor growth.

Background: Doxorubicin (DOX), a classical chemotherapeutic agent, faces significant limitations because of its well-documented risk of inducing cardiotoxicity. Effective prevention of DOX-induced cardiotoxicity is urgently needed. Given that alterations in metabolic pathways have been observed in both cardiovascular diseases and cancer, targeting specific metabolic pathways may offer dual benefits by mitigating DOX-induced cardiotoxicity while simultaneously enhancing its antitumor efficacy.

The impact of noun animacy on the processing of L1 and L2 action metaphors among Chinese English learners: An event-related potential study.

Background: Animacy is a key semantic property of nouns and an important factor influencing the processing of action metaphors.

Methods: This study investigates how the animacy of nouns influences the processing of action metaphors in first (L1) and second (L2) languages by conducting an event-related potential study of Chinese English learners' brain activity during a semantic judgment task using Chinese (L1) and English (L2) action metaphor sentences as materials.

Results: The results showed L1 conditions had shorter reaction times than L2 conditions, while high-animacy conditions produced longer reaction times than low-animacy ones; object-evoked N170 amplitudes did not differ significantly between L1 and L2, but in L2, high-animacy objects evoked smaller N170 amplitudes than low-animacy ones; the P200 amplitude evoked by L1 objects was larger than that evoked by L2 objects, with no significant difference between high- and low-animacy conditions; the N400 amplitude evoked by L1 objects was larger than that evoked by L2 objects, and high-animacy objects evoked larger N400 amplitudes than low-animacy ones only in L1.

Will the embedded semantic radicals be activated when recognizing Chinese phonograms?

Introduction: A majority of Chinese characters are phonograms composed of phonetic and semantic radicals that serve different functions. While radical processing in character recognition has drawn significant interest, there is inconsistency regarding the semantic activation of embedded semantic radicals, and little is known about the duration of such sub-lexical semantic activation.

Methods: Using a priming character decision task and a between-subjects design, this study examined whether semantic radicals embedded in SP phonograms (semantic radicals on the left and phonetic radicals on the right) can be automatically activated and how long such activation persists.

17β-Estradiol point-of-care test by commercial pregnancy test strips based on target-triggered CRISPR/Cas12a cleavage activity.

17β-Estradiol (E2) serves as both a reproductive accelerator and growth promoter, yet its uncontrolled application induces severe endocrine dysfunction. Point-of-care testing (POCT) has emerged as a promising analytical platform for on-site E2 quantification, due to its inherent advantages in terms of sensitive, specific, cost-effective, and instrument-free. We developed a novel strategy combining the high collateral cleavage activity of CRISPR/Cas12a with the strong amplification power of dual-cycle reaction, translating target presence into a colorimetric signal on pregnancy test strip (PTS).

Enhancing uterine contraction detection through novel EHG signal processing: a pilot study leveraging the relationship between slow and fast wave components to improve signal quality and noise resilience.

Uterine contractions, driven by complex electrical activities within the uterine smooth muscle cells, play a critical role in labor and delivery. Various techniques, including EHG and EMMI, have been developed to record and image uterine electrical activities. Both EHG and EMMI use a bandpass filter (fast wave 0.

The "Dogs' Catching Mice" conjecture in Chinese phonogram processing.

In Chinese phonogram processing studies, it is not strange that phonetic radicals contribute phonologically to phonograms' phonological recognition. The present study, however, based on previous findings of phonetic radicals' proneness to semantic activation, as well as free-standing phonetic radicals' possession of triadic interconnections of orthography, phonology, and semantics at the lexical level, proposed that phonetic radicals may contribute semantically to the host phonograms' phonological recognition. We label this speculation as the "Dogs' Catching Mice" Conjecture.

Liquid Metal-Vitrimer Conductive Composite for Recyclable and Resilient Electronics.

Electronic devices are ubiquitous in modern society, yet their poor recycling rates contribute to substantial economic losses and worsening environmental impacts from electronic waste (E-waste) disposal. Here, recyclable and healable electronics are reported through a vitrimer-liquid metal (LM) microdroplet composite. These electrically conductive, yet plastic-like composites display mechanical qualities of rigid thermosets and recyclability through a dynamic covalent polymer network.

Semantic radicals' semantic attachment to their composed phonograms.

In Chinese character processing studies, it is widely accepted that semantic radicals, whether character or non-character ones, can undergo semantic activation. However, there is a notable absence of studies dedicated to understanding the nature and operation of the semantic radicals' semantic information. To address this gap, the present study employed a masked semantic priming paradigm combined with a part-of-speech decision task and a lexical decision task across three experiments.

Crocin drives intestinal microbiota variation in a rat model of Alzheimer's disease by reducing DKK3 expression.

Background: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a common neurodegenerative disease. Targeting DKK3-mediated intestinal microbiota (IM) variation is a promising strategy to treat AD. Crocin can alter IM distribution and inhibit DKK3 expression.

Analysis of influencing factors and equity in health education for mobile populations based on random forest model: evidence from the China migrants dynamic survey.

Background: Strengthening health education is an important measure to improve the health of mobile populations and a key objective of China's basic public health services. Existing studies demonstrate that health education affects the health of mobile populations, but insufficient attention is paid to the importance of factors that influence health education. Moreover, few studies examine how these factors contribute to health education equity among mobile populations in China.

Fertility-sparing treatment for patients with endometrial cancer: a bibliometric analysis from 2000 to 2024.

Introduction: The rising global incidence of endometrial cancer (EC), particularly among younger patients, has established fertility-sparing treatment as a critical focus in gynecological and reproductive medicine. Despite its clinical significance, comprehensive bibliometric analyses in this field remain limited.

Methods: This study conducted the most extensive bibliometric analysis to date, encompassing 506 publications on fertility-sparing EC treatments published between January 1, 2000, and December 22, 2024.

Empagliflozin attenuates DOX-induced cardiotoxicity by inhibiting RIPK1-mediated endoplasmic reticulum stress and autophagy.

Background: Doxorubicin (DOX), a classical chemotherapeutic agent, remains indispensable in cancer treatment but is limited by dose-dependent cardiotoxicity. Investigating strategies to mitigate DOX-induced cardiac damage is critical. Empagliflozin, a sodium-glucose co-transporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitor, exhibits anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects in cardiovascular disease.

Microglial MS4A4A Protects against Epileptic Seizures in Alzheimer's Disease.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a predominant neurodegenerative disorder worldwide, with epileptic seizures being a common comorbidity that can exacerbate cognitive deterioration in affected individuals, thus highlighting the importance of early therapeutic intervention. It is determined that deletion of Ms4a4a, an AD-associated gene, exacerbates seizures in amyloid β (Aβ)-driven AD mouse model. MS4A4A is significantly upregulated in brain lesions in patients with epilepsy.

scRNA-seq reveals an immune microenvironment and JUN-mediated NK cell exhaustion in relapsed T-ALL.

T cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) is a heterogeneous disease characterized by a high relapse rate. By single-cell transcriptome analysis, we characterize the bone marrow immune microenvironment in patients with T-ALL, identifying 13 major cell clusters. These patients exhibited abnormally expanded hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) and granulocyte-monocyte progenitors (GMPs), immunosuppressive traits in CD4 T, CD8 T, and natural killer (NK) cells.

Lactate Provides Metabolic Substrate Support and Attenuates Ischemic Brain Injury in Mice, Revealed by H-C Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Metabolic Technique.

Lactate, classically considered a metabolic byproduct of anaerobic glycolysis, is implicated in ischemic acidosis and neuronal injury. The recent evidence highlights its potential role in sustaining metabolic networks and neuroprotection. This study investigates lactate's compensatory mechanisms in ischemic brain injury by analyzing post-ischemic metabolic enrichments and inter-regional metabolite correlations.