Controlling T cell-tumor cell interaction with a biomimetic physical barrier for cancer immunotherapy.

Cancer immunotherapy has shown tremendous promise in various cancers. However, current strategies, such as immune checkpoint blockade, primarily restore exhausted T cells but provide only transient efficacy, as the rapid clearance of antibodies. Their limited durability is further hindered by persistent T cell-tumor cell interactions that accelerate T cell exhaustion.

Recent advances in nanopharmaceutical strategies for cancer treatment.

Next-generation cancer nanomedicines are revolutionizing therapeutic precision through multifunctional, adaptive, and tumor-specific strategies. This review discusses emerging innovations in cancer nanomedicine, including stimuli-responsive nanomedicines, biomimetic nanomedicines, nanozymes, nanovaccines, immunotherapy, and diagnostic-integrated theranostics. These platforms allow for spatially controlled therapy, deep tumor penetration, and immune reprogramming with minimal systemic toxicity.

Experimental Investigation on Water-Glycerol Droplets with Varying Viscosities Impacting a Supercooled Superhydrophobic Surface.

Droplet rebounding from superhydrophobic surfaces represents a promising approach in anti-icing applications. The liquid viscosity and surface supercooling significantly influence the rebounding behavior. This study investigates the impact of a water-glycerol droplet with varying viscosities on a cold superhydrophobic surface through experimental methods.

Integrated Methodology from Synthesis to Study that Identifies Nanostructure Shape "Hot Spots" in T Cell Receptor Repertoire.

A new integrated tunable microfluidic particle synthesis and shape population analysis workflow allows us to study the immunological readouts for even highly complex shaped nanoparticles. Using this approach, we demonstrate that some gold nanoparticles, when injected parenterally, are taken up by axillary and brachial lymph nodes. We then show that specific nanoparticle shapes influence the primary structure of the T cell receptor, inducing changes in hypervariable complementary-determining regions (CDRs) and increasing the clonal diversity of the T cell receptor repertoires.

Remote Spin-Center Shift Enables Activation of Distal Benzylic C─O and C─N Bonds.

A spin-center shift (SCS) is a radical process that commonly involves a 1,2-radical shift along with the elimination of an adjacent leaving group by a two-electron ionic movement. The conventional SCS process is largely limited to 1,2-radical translocation, while a remote SCS event involving 1,n-radical translocation over a greater distance to enable distal bond functionalization remains largely underexplored. Herein, we report the boryl radical-promoted distal deoxygenation and deamination of free benzylic alcohols and simple benzylic amines, respectively, through a remote SCS event.

Financial Toxicity for Pembrolizumab and Atezolizumab for Metastatic Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: A Pooled Analysis of Cost-Effectiveness Analyses.

Background: Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) were promising medical treatments for advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), while the financial toxicity could not be neglected due to the high cost which might impair the prognosis and quality of life. Thus, we compared the cost-effectiveness analyses to identify the potential financial toxicity of metastatic NSCLC received ICIs.

Methods: A systematic literature search was performed for the published economic evaluation of ICIs in the Medline and Web of Science databases between January 2015 and September 2021.

Protein Corona of Nanoparticles: Isolation and Analysis.

Nanoparticles entering biological systems or fluids inevitably adsorb biomolecules, such as protein, on their surfaces, forming a protein corona. Ensuing, the protein corona endows nanoparticles with a new biological identity and impacts the interaction between the nanoparticles and biological systems. Hence, the development of reliable techniques for protein corona isolation and analysis is key for understanding the biological behaviors of nanoparticles.

An active representation learning method for reaction yield prediction with small-scale data.

Reaction optimization plays an essential role in chemical research and industrial production. To explore a large reaction system, a practical issue is how to reduce the heavy experimental load for finding the high-yield conditions. In this paper, we present an efficient machine learning tool called "RS-Coreset", where the key idea is to take advantage of deep representation learning techniques to guide an interactive procedure for representing the full reaction space.

Enantioselective Synthesis of Nonfused Eight-Membered O-Heterocycles by Sequential Catalysis.

This work describes a chiral bifunctional squaramide/DBU sequential catalytic strategy for the enantioselective synthesis of nonfused chiral eight-membered O-heterocycles through the asymmetric addition of ynones to β,γ-unsaturated α-ketoesters followed by the regio- and diastereoselective cyclization of the adduct intermediates. Mechanistic experiments revealed that an isomerization process should be involved in the ring formation step, and the origin of the high regioselectivity and diastereoselectivity has also been elucidated by the DFT calculations.

Quenching Rate Constants of Lewis Base-Boryl Radical by Substrates: a Laser Flash Photolysis Study.

The advanced strategy using Lewis base-boryl radicals (LBRs) has recently been proposed for the addition of alkyl substituents to the full-carbon quaternary center of an organic molecule. However, as the rate-determining step in the whole route, reaction rate constants of LBRs with substrates are extremely lacking. In this paper, 4-dimethylaminopyridine (DMAP)-BH⋅ was selected as a representative of LBRs, and its reactions with six monochloro-substituted substrates, including three methyl chlorobenzoates and three chlorinated acetanilides were studied in experiments and theoretical calculations.

Vapor Nucleation on Hybrid-Wetting Nanoconvex Surfaces: The Competition between Intrinsic Wettability and Topography.

Hybrid-wetting surfaces with hydrophilic spots reduced from the micrometer to nanometer scale have been confirmed to enhance vapor nucleation while simultaneously minimizing droplet pinning. Given that surface topography also plays a critical role in influencing nucleation characteristics, the effect of competition between intrinsic wettability and topography on nucleation remains unclear when both surface topography and hydrophilic regions approach the critical nucleation size. This work investigated vapor nucleation on two types of hybrid-wetting nanoconvex surfaces.

Fluid-Induced Piezoelectric Field Enhancing Photo-Assisted Zn-Air Batteries Based on a Fe@P(V-T) Microhelical Cathode.

Photo-assisted Zn-air batteries can accelerate the kinetics of oxygen reduction and oxygen evolution reactions (ORR/OER); however, challenges such as rapid charge carrier recombination and continuous electrolyte evaporation remain. Herein, for the first time, piezoelectric catalysis is introduced in a photo-assisted Zn-air battery to improve carrier separation capability and accelerate the ORR/OER kinetics of the photoelectric cathode. The designed microhelical catalyst exploits simple harmonic vibrations to regenerate the built-in electric field continuously.

Reproducibility study of intravoxel incoherent motion and apparent diffusion coefficient parameters in normal pancreas.

Background: The consistency of pancreatic apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values and intravoxel incoherent motion (IVIM) parameter values across different magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) devices significantly impacts the patient's diagnosis and treatment.

Aim: To explore consistency in image quality, ADC values, and IVIM parameter values among different MRI devices in pancreatic examinations.

Methods: This retrospective study was approved by the local ethics committee, and informed consent was obtained from all participants.

Photo-Assisted Chemical Self-Rechargeable Zinc Ion Batteries with High Charging and Discharging Efficiency.

Chemical self-recharging zinc ion batteries (ZIBs), which are capable of auto-recharging in ambient air, are promising in self-powered battery systems. Nevertheless, the exclusive reliance on chemical energy from oxygen for ZIBs charging often would bring some obstacles in charging efficiency. Herein, we develop photo-assisted chemical self-recharging aqueous ZIBs with a heterojunction of MoS/SnO cathode, which are favorable to enhancing both the charging and discharging efficiency as well as the chemical self-charging capabilities under illumination.

Short-chain fatty acids: Important components of the gut-brain axis against AD.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) comprises a group of neurodegenerative disorders with some changes in the brain, which could lead to the deposition of certain proteins and result in the degeneration and death of brain cells. Patients with AD manifest primarily as cognitive decline, psychiatric symptoms, and behavioural disorders. Short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) are a class of saturated fatty acids (SFAs) produced by gut microorganisms through the fermentation of dietary fibre ingested.

Bouncing Dynamics of Drops' Successive Off-Center Impact.

Bouncing dynamics of a trailing drop off-center impacting a leading drop with varying time intervals and Weber numbers are investigated experimentally. Whether the trailing drop impacts during the spreading or receding process of the leading drop is determined by the time interval. For a short time interval of 0.

Lymph node dissection in small-sized pulmonary metastasectomy: Impact on the long-term survival.

Introduction: Pulmonary metastasectomy has been clarified in improving long-term survival in most primary malignancies with pulmonary metastasis, while the role of additional lymph node dissection remained controversial. We aimed to investigate the prognosis of lymph node involvement and identify the role of lymph node dissection during pulmonary metastasectomy in a real-world cohort.

Methods: We identified patients diagnosed with pulmonary metastases with ≤3 cm in size and received pulmonary metastasectomy between 2004 and 2017 in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database.

Boryl Radical as a Catalyst in Enabling Intra- and Intermolecular Cascade Radical Cyclization Reactions: Construction of Polycyclic Molecules.

Cascade radical cyclization constitutes an atom- and step-economic route for rapid assembly of polycyclic molecular skeletons. Although an array of redox-active metal catalysts has recently shown robust applications in enabling various catalytic cascade radical processes, the use of free organic radical as the catalyst, which is capable of triggering strategically distinct cascades, has rarely been developed. Here, we disclosed that the benzimidazolium-based N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC)-boryl radical is capable of catalyzing cascade cyclization reactions in both intra- and intermolecular pathways, assembling [5,5] fused bicyclic and [6,6,6] fused tricyclic molecules, respectively.

Radical hydroboration for the synthesis of organoboron compounds.

Organoboron compounds demonstrate diverse applications in the fields of organic synthesis, materials science, and medicinal chemistry. Compared to the conventional hydroboration reaction, radical hydroboration serves as an alternative approach for the synthesis of organoborons different mechanisms. In radical hydroboration, a boryl radical is initially generated from homolytic cleavage of a B-H or a B-B bond, which is then added to an unsaturated double bond to deliver a carbon radical.

Diastereo- and Enantioselective Synthesis of Eight-Membered N-Heterocycles from Benzofuran-Derived Azadienes and Ynones.

Enantioselective synthesis of eight-membered N-heterocycles represents a long-standing challenge in organic synthesis. Here, by combining the squaramide and DBU catalysis, a sequential asymmetric conjugate addition/cyclization reaction between benzofuran-derived azadienes and ynones has been well-developed, providing straightforward access to chiral eight-membered N-heterocycles in high yields with stereoselectivities. This protocol features the use of a bifunctional squaramide catalyst for controlling the enantioselectivity of products, while the DBU is utilized to achieve intramolecular cyclization and improve the diastereoselectivity of products.

Synthesis of Chiral Diarylmethylamides via Catalytic Asymmetric Aza-Michael Addition of Amides to -Quinomethanes.

Chiral diarylmethylamides are a privileged skeleton in many bioactive molecules. However, the enantioselective synthesis of such molecules remains a long-standing challenge in organic synthesis. Herein, we report a chiral bifunctional squaramide catalyzed asymmetric aza-Michael addition of amides to generated -quinomethanes, affording enantioenriched diarylmethylamides in good yields with excellent enantioselectivities.