Biologically safe restoration of heavy metal-contaminated soils through plant-microbe synergy.

Abandoned mines have created extensive idle areas contaminated with heavy metals (HMs). Conventional remediation methods are often costly, environmentally disruptive, and pose risks to human health. As a sustainable alternative, a biological approach utilizing metal-tolerant plant growth-promoting bacteria (mPGPBs) was employed to remediate HM-contaminated soils and assess their biological safety.

Prognostic Implication of LDL-C Variability and Its Association with Lipid-Lowering Strategies: Insights from the RACING and LODESTAR Trials.

Purpose: We aimed to compare the visit-to-visit variability in low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) according to different lipid-lowering strategies and evaluate its prognostic implications using data from previous trials.

Materials And Methods: We analyzed two randomized clinical trials: the RACING trial and the LODESTAR trial. LDL-C variability was evaluated using standard deviation (SD), coefficient of variation, and variation independent of mean.

Aesthetic Reconstruction of Fingertip Defect Using Second Toe Pulp Free Flap.

Varioaus methods are available to address fingertip injuries, which are becoming increasingly common. Coverage should ideally involve both functional and aesthetic improvements. The second toe pulp-free flap is useful because of its similarity to the fingertips in shape, texture, and sensation.

Twenty-Four-Month Outcomes of Intravascular Ultrasound-Guided Drug-Coated Balloon Angioplasty for Femoropopliteal Artery Disease.

Background: The IVUS-DCB (Intravascular Ultrasound-Guided Drug-Coated Balloon Angioplasty for Femoropopliteal Artery Disease) trial found that intravascular ultrasound (IVUS)-guided drug-coated balloon (DCB) angioplasty was associated with superior 12-month outcomes, compared with conventional angiography-guided DCB angioplasty. However, the durability of these benefits remains uncertain. The aim of this study was to compare the 24-month outcomes of IVUS-guided versus angiography-guided DCB angioplasty for femoropopliteal artery disease.

Utilizing Leuconostoc mesenteroides C6 as a starter culture to improve flatfish-Sikhae fermentation stability and quality.

Sikhae is a traditional Korean fermented fish product rich in microbial diversity and flavor. The fermentation process of Sikhae often yields unstable and variable quality. To address this, this study aimed to evaluate the potential of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) as a starter culture for flatfish-Sikhae fermentation in terms of fermentation stability, microbial community dynamics, and quality improvement.

Intravascular Ultrasound Guided Endovascular Therapy for Femoropopliteal Disease: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the clinical benefits of intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) vs. angiography guidance in endovascular therapy through systematic review and meta-analysis.

Data Sources: A systematic literature search was conducted in PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library from inception through to 1 August 2024.

Prognostic implication of venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation in acute myocardial infarction-related cardiogenic shock.

Background: Given the conflicting results regarding the clinical outcomes of venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VA-ECMO) based on etiology, its benefit for patients with cardiogenic shock (CS) remains controversial. This study aimed to report the real-world clinical outcomes of VA-ECMO treatment for patients with CS, based on the presence of acute myocardial infarction (AMI).

Methods: Patients treated with peripheral VA-ECMO between 2008 and 2023 at a tertiary cardiovascular center were included and classified into two groups based on CS etiology (AMI-CS and non-AMI-CS).

Wild and cultivated Ecklonia cava: A comparative study of metabolites and bioactivities for industrial applications.

Ecklonia cava, an East Asian brown algae, is valued for its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory metabolites. This study is the first to investigate the metabolite profiles and biological activities of cultivated E. cava (CE) in comparison with those of wild E.

Periostin Promotes Invasiveness and Metastasis of Oral Cancer Epithelial-mesenchymal Transition.

Background/aim: Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is a significant global health burden, with a modest 5-year survival rate; therefore, novel therapeutic targets are needed. Periostin, an extracellular matrix protein, is implicated in tumor progression, yet its role in OSCC, particularly epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), is poorly understood.

Materials And Methods: We investigated periostin's role in OSCC using a multifaceted approach: retrospective analysis of 97 OSCC patient samples, bioinformatics analyses of GEO and TCGA datasets, and / experiments using the HNSCC-31 cell line and xenograft mouse models.

Anisotropic strain relaxation-induced directional ultrafast carrier dynamics in RuO films.

Ultrafast light-matter interactions inspire potential functionalities in picosecond optoelectronic applications. However, achieving directional carrier dynamics in metals remains challenging due to strong carrier scattering within a multiband environment, typically expected for isotropic carrier relaxation. In this study, we demonstrate epitaxial RuO/TiO (110) heterostructures grown by hybrid molecular beam epitaxy to engineer polarization selectivity of ultrafast light-matter interactions via anisotropic strain engineering.

Comparison of High-Dose versus Low-Dose Paclitaxel Drug-Coated Balloons for Native Femoropopliteal Artery Disease: An Analysis of the K-VIS ELLA Registry.

Purpose: Drug-coated balloons (DCBs) have demonstrated favorable outcomes in the treatment of femoropopliteal artery (FPA) disease. A variety of DCBs are currently available, with differing doses of antiproliferative agents and types of excipients. The objective of this study was to compare the efficacy and safety of high-dose versus low-dose paclitaxel DCBs for the treatment of FPA disease.

Energy Efficient Hybrid Reservoir Computing Using HfZrO Ferroelectric Thin-Film Transistors with an Integrated Optically and Electrically Synaptic Functions.

This study introduces an ultralow power hybrid reservoir computing (HRC) system employing an indium gallium zinc oxide (IGZO)/HfZrO (HZO)-based ferroelectric thin-film transistor (FeTFT) for neuromorphic applications. The proposed FeTFT system integrates volatile and nonvolatile functionalities, respectively driven by optical and electrical stimuli, to emulate short-term and long-term synaptic behaviors. Leveraging persistent photoconductivity in the IGZO channel under optical excitation, the FeTFT exhibits dynamic reservoir characteristics, while HZO-induced ferroelectric polarization enables robust long-term memory for the readout layer.

Metallicity and anomalous Hall effect in epitaxially strained, atomically thin RuO films.

The anomalous Hall effect (AHE), a hallmark of time-reversal symmetry breaking, has been reported in rutile RuO, a debated metallic altermagnetic candidate. Previously, AHE in RuO was observed only in strain-relaxed thick films under extremely high magnetic fields (~50 T). Yet, in ultrathin strained films with distinctive anisotropic electronic structures, there are no reports, likely due to disorder and defects suppressing metallicity thus hindering its detection.

Portable Ultrasound Bladder Volume Measurement Over Entire Volume Range Using a Deep Learning Artificial Intelligence Model in a Selected Cohort: A Proof of Principle Study.

Objective: We aimed to prospectively investigate whether bladder volume measured using deep learning artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms (AI-BV) is more accurate than that measured using conventional methods (C-BV) if using a portable ultrasound bladder scanner (PUBS).

Patients And Methods: Patients who underwent filling cystometry because of lower urinary tract symptoms between January 2021 and July 2022 were enrolled. Every time the bladder was filled serially with normal saline from 0 mL to maximum cystometric capacity in 50 mL increments, C-BV was measured using PUBS.

Large Spin-Orbit Torque with Multi-Directional Spin Components in NiW.

Spin-orbit torque (SOT) offers an efficient mechanism for manipulating the magnetization of ferromagnetic materials in spintronics-based memory and logic devices. However, conventional SOT materials, such as heavy metals and topological insulators, are limited by high crystal symmetry to generating and injecting only in-plane spins into the ferromagnet. Low-symmetry materials and symmetry-breaking strategies have been employed to generate unconventional spin currents with out-of-plane spin polarization, enabling field-free deterministic switching of perpendicular magnetization.

Moiré Kramers-Weyl Fermions with Ideal Radial Spin Texture from Structural Chirality.

We demonstrate that two-dimensional Kramers-Weyl fermions can be engineered in spin-orbit coupled twisted bilayers, where the chiral structure of these moiré systems breaks all mirror symmetries, confining Kramers-Weyl fermions to high-symmetry points in the Brillouin zone under time reversal symmetry. Our theoretical analysis reveals a symmetry-enforced, Weyl-like spinful interlayer moiré coupling that universally ensures an ideal radial spin-texture at arbitrary twist angles, under C_{nz} symmetry with n>2. First principles density functional calculation confirm the realization of these fermions in twisted α-In_{2}Se_{3} homobilayers, where flat bands and out-of-plane ferroelectric polarization in each layer guarantee two-dimensional Kramers-Weyl physics with ideal radial spin textures.

Advancing Non-Aqueous Etching Strategy for Swift and High-Yield Synthesis of 2D Molybdenum Carbides (MXenes).

Aqueous hydrofluoric acid (HF)-based solutions are widely used for etching MAX phases to synthesize high-purity 2D molybdenum carbides (MXenes). However, their applicability is limited to selected MAX phases, and the production of certain MXenes, such as Mo-based MXenes, remains challenging owing to low quality, low yield, and the time-intensive process, often requiring several days to weeks. In this study, a non-aqueous etchant for faster and more efficient synthesis of high-purity Mo-based MXenes is introduced.

Carbapenemase-producing Enterobacterales and their carbapenemase genes are stably recovered across the wastewater-watershed ecosystem nexus.

Carbapenemase-producing Enterobacterales (CPE) have emerged as an important nosocomial threat to hospitalized patients, but CPE can also colonize the enteric microbiota of healthy individuals in the community. We hypothesized that clinically relevant CPE are frequently transported in municipal wastewater flows to treatment plants where they are reduced but not eliminated and are subsequently discharged into nearby surface waters and disseminate in the environment. We sampled untreated influent, treated effluent, and nearby surface waters weekly for a one-year period at a single large metropolitan wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) servicing Columbus, Ohio USA.

Collagen- and Hyaluronic Acid-Based Microneedles With Thiolated Pectin for Redox-Responsive Drug Delivery.

Microneedles have emerged as an effective strategy to bypass the stratum corneum by creating microchannels in the skin, allowing for enhanced drug permeation with minimal invasiveness. Pectin, a natural polysaccharide, when modified with thiol (-SH) groups, exhibits redox-sensitive behavior, making it responsive to reducing agents such as glutathione and dithiothreitol (DTT). The objective of this study was to investigate the transdermal delivery efficacy of redox-responsive microneedle-containing thiolated pectin.

Intravascular Ultrasound Predictors of 12-Month Patency Loss Following Drug-Coated Balloon Angioplasty for the Femoropopliteal Artery.

Intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) has been shown to improve outcomes of drug-coated balloon (DCB) angioplasty for treatment of femoropopliteal artery (FPA) disease. However, the optimal IVUS criteria for achieving improved outcomes of DCB angioplasty for FPA disease remain uncertain. The study aimed to identify IVUS predictors for loss of patency at 12 months after DCB angioplasty for FPA disease.

Notch Sensitivity of Hydrogen-Charged 316L Stainless Steel: Experimental Insights into Mechanical Degradation and Fracture Mechanics.

Hydrogen is a promising eco-friendly energy source, but its embrittlement effect on structural materials remains a significant challenge. This study investigates the notch sensitivity of 316L stainless steel under in situ electrochemical hydrogen charging, with a focus on mechanical degradation and fracture behavior. By examining the influence of notch geometry and hydrogen exposure, this research highlights the role of stress concentration in hydrogen embrittlement.

A Highly Efficient Low-Cost Flexible Neural Probe for Scalable Mass Fabrication.

Neural probes capable of the precise recording and control of brain signals are essential tools for brain-computer interfaces and neuroscience research. However, conventional neural probes have not been widely adopted due to the high costs associated with semiconductor fabrication and complex packaging procedures. Herein, we present a breakthrough in this area in the form of a highly efficient flexible neural probe with a production cost of only 1.

Continuous Renal Replacement Therapy and Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation in Patients with Cardiogenic Shock: Results from the Rescue Registry.

Cardiogenic shock (CS) frequently leads to multiorgan failure, often necessitating continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) or extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). We evaluated the association between CRRT, ECMO, and its prognostic implication in patients with CS. A total of 1247 patients with CS were enrolled from the RESCUE (Retrospective and Prospective Observational Study to Investigate Clinical Outcomes and Efficacy of Left Ventricular Assist Device for Korean Patients with Cardiogenic Shock) registry between January 2014 and December 2018.