Cicada rib-inspired tough films through nanoconfined crystallization for use in acoustic transducers.

Acoustic transducers require films that demonstrate both toughness and fatigue resistance, presenting notable challenges when achieved through conventional nanoscale reinforcing strategies. Here, we found that the rib structure of a cicada's tymbal exhibits exceptional toughness and fatigue resistance, attributed to its unique architecture composed of alternating soft and stiff polymer layers. Inspired by this rib structure, we developed a robust artificial rib film (ARF) using a nanoconfined crystallization strategy that involves the deposition of soft polyethylene oxide and stiff phenol formaldehyde.

Formulating cathode materials based on high-entropy strategies for sodium-ion batteries.

Sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) are promising alternatives to lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) owing to abundant resources and cost-effectiveness. However, cathode materials face persistent challenges in structural stability, ion kinetics, and cycle life. This review highlights the transformative potential of high-entropy (HE) strategies that leveraging multi-principal element synergies to address these limitations entropy-driven mechanisms.

Biomechanical evaluation of intelligent fluid-solid coupling vaginal dilatation system: Experimental and numerical analysis.

Objectives: Cervical cancer is a serious threat to women's life and health and has a high mortality rate. Colposcopy is an important method for early clinical cervical cancer screening, but the traditional vaginal dilator has problems such as discomfort in use and cumbersome operation. For this reason, this study aims to design an intelligent vaginal dilatation system to automate colposcopy and enhance patient comfort.

Conductive Microneedle Patch with Mitochondria-Localized Generation of Nitric Oxide Promotes Heart Repair after Ischemia-Reperfusion Therapy.

Timely blood resupply is a clinical strategy to treat myocardial infarction, which unavoidably causes myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury. With disturbed electrical conduction and oxidative stress in infarcted myocardium, injured heart experiences a negative ventricle remodeling process, and finally leads to heart failure. Nitric oxide (NO) is a short-lived signaling molecule regulating cardiovascular homeostasis, while vasodilation of systemic vasculature is accompanied by its exogenous supplementation.

Topology in Thermal, Particle, and Plasma Diffusion Metamaterials.

Diffusion is a fundamental process in the transfer of mass and energy. Diffusion metamaterials, a class of engineered materials with distinctive properties, enable precise control and manipulation of diffusion processes. Meanwhile, topology, a branch of mathematics, has attracted growing interest within the condensed matter physics community.

Reliable Strategy for the Covalent Bonding of MOFs to SiC Membranes for Ultrastable Noble Metal Capture in Harsh Environments.

Silicon carbide (SiC) membranes combine exceptional chemical, thermal, and mechanical stability but suffer from surface inertness that precludes functionalization. Conversely, MOFs offer unmatched molecular selectivity but are typically powders, severely limiting their practical use. To address this, we develop a generalizable route to fabricate ultrastable MOF@SiC membranes via sequential oxidation and acidification, creating abundant Si-OH sites on SiC surfaces that covalently bond with Zr-MOF crystals; the bonding mechanism between MOFs and substrates has been extensively studied.

Benzene induces myelodysplasia and hematotoxicity via ferroptosis induction and downregulation of GPX4.

Background: Benzene, a ubiquitous industrial chemical, is a well-established environmental toxin associated with hematological disorders such as myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) and acute myeloid leukemia (AML), which are characterized by impaired hematopoiesis and bone marrow failure. This study investigates the role of ferroptosis, an iron-dependent form of cell death, in benzene-induced hematotoxicity, focusing on the repression of glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPX4), a critical regulator of ferroptosis.

Materials And Methods: Male C57BL/6 mice were exposed to benzene at various doses over six weeks.

Research based on EEG for addiction level assessment methods and parietal/occipital lobes brain function analysis.

The methamphetamine use disorder (MUD) has emerged as a global public health concern. This article proposes an assessment method that combines electroencephalography (EEG)-based deep learning, visualization and time domain and frequency domain analysis, aiming to ensure accuracy while identifying corresponding brain channels and improving assessment efficiency. The collected EEG data were classified correctly using a enhanced compact convolutional neural network, namely ECCN-Net.

Synergistic impact of starch-tannic acid complex in regulating gut microbiota to produce propionate.

Starch-tannic acid complex is a type of resistant starch, while the influence of these complexes with different starch chain-length distributions (CLDs) on gut microbiota is unclear. Therefore, starch-tannic acid complexes were prepared from five commercial starches with diverse CLDs, and their influence on the gut microbiota was explored using in vitro fermentation with human fecal microbiota. For the first time, results showed that wheat and corn starch-tannic acid complexes significantly promoted propionate production (p < 0.

Design and Fabrication of Microsphere-Based Micro/Nano Structures for Efficient Electromagnetic Modulation and Absorption.

The development of high-performance electromagnetic (EM) absorption materials is pivotal in addressing EM pollution. Such absorption materials enable flexible modulation of EM performance, which has become an important focal point of recent research. Among various EM absorption materials, microsphere-based micro/nano materials exhibit extremely high stability and remarkable attributes for modulating their EM performance.

A dual-mode electrochromic and thermochromic smart window utilizing a polyzwitterionic hydrogel.

Hydrogel electrolyte-based electrochromic devices (ECDs) have become a research frontier in the electrochromic community as hydrogels combine the advantages of both liquid and solid electrolytes. However, these ECDs still require external power to operate. In addition, the color change is induced by cations insertion/extraction, accompanying anions accumulation at electrode-electrolyte interface, which may reduce the lifespan of ECDs.

Genome-wide identification of xyloglucan endotransglucosylase/hydrolase genes in almond and PdXTH2 overexpression induces cell structural disassembly and promotes programmed cell death progression.

The xyloglucan endotransglucosylase/hydrolase (XTH) gene family plays a crucial role in fruit development and texture regulation. We used the telomere-to-telomere genome of 'Wanfeng' almond to identify and analyse the XTH gene family, examining protein physicochemical properties, phylogenetic relationships, protein conserved motifs, gene structure, gene replication, and expression patterns. We identified 23 PdXTH family members through the telomere-to-telomere level genome of 'Wanfeng' almond.

Quantification of Lung Ventilation Using Four-Dimensional Dynamic Ultrashort Echo Time MRI for Differentiating Preserved Ratio Impaired Spirometry From Non-Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Subjects.

Background: Radiation-free four-dimensional (4D) dynamic ultrashort echo time MRI (UTE MRI) enables quantification of ventilation defects in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and preserved ratio impaired spirometry (PRISm) populations.

Purpose: To quantify pulmonary ventilation using 4D UTE MRI in PRISm and COPD populations, and determine its ability to distinguish PRISm from non-COPD subjects.

Study Type: Prospective, cross-sectional.

A fragment in the 5' untranslated region of alcohol oxidase 1 promoter significantly influencing gene expression of Komagataella phaffii.

Komagataella phaffii is a famous microbial host in synthetic biology field for expressing heterologous proteins under alcohol oxidase 1 promoter (P). This study undertook two successive rounds of gene fragment knockout, identifying a 13 bp segment, termed D3, as a negative cis-acting element in the 5' untranslated region of P. Notably, upon knockout of the D3 fragment, the expression of green fluorescent protein (GFP), serving as the model for heterologous protein expression, improved by 3.

Engineering peptide-catecholamine co-assembled nanostructures for tunable fluorescence.

Precise engineering of hydrophobic microenvironments in synthetic peptide-catecholamine co-assemblies remains challenging for tunable fluorescence. Hierarchical nanostructures were constructed through sequence-specific peptide encoding (GYK tripeptide and Ac-IIIGYK-NH₂ hexapeptide) and co-assembly with catecholamines of graded hydrophobicity. Structural dynamics were analyzed via molecular simulations, HPLC, AFM, and spectroscopy.

Correction: Multi-label remote sensing classification with self-supervised gated multi-modal transformers.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fncom.2024.

Research advances in mesenchymal stem cells and related therapies for rotator cuff tendon-to-bone healing.

Rotator cuff tears (RCTs) are a prevalent cause of shoulder dysfunction, with postoperative retearing remaining a significant challenge due to poor tendon-to-bone healing. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), owing to their multipotency, immunomodulatory properties, and diverse tissue sources, have emerged as a promising therapeutic strategy. Current approaches include direct MSC implantation, MSC-laden scaffolds for structural support, and utilization of MSC-derived conditioned medium (CM) or exosomes to enhance regeneration.

Electrospun Tri-Layer Core-Sheath Nanofibrous Coating for Sequential Treatment of Postoperative Complications in Orthopedic Implants.

The growing global prevalence of orthopedic conditions associated with an aging population has significantly increased the clinical demand for orthopedic implants. However, postoperative complications, including postoperative bleeding, implant associated infections (IAIs), and inadequate osteogenesis, continue to limit surgical outcomes. To simultaneously mitigate these challenges, a multifunctional electrospun fibrous coating (EFC) is developed, with an inner tri-layer core-sheath nanostructure to separately load tranexamic acid (TXA), fenoprofen (Fen), and puerarin (Pue) in the shell, middle, and core sections, respectively.

Research on gait recognition of lower limb exoskeleton robot based on sEMG&IMU feature fusion.

Aiming at the problems of low accuracy and poor robustness in gait recognition of lower extremity exoskeleton robots in human-computer interaction, a depth residual contraction network recognition method based on the fusion of surface electrosemg (sEMG) and inertial measurement unit (IMU) signals was proposed. Firstly, a new energy kernel feature extraction method was used to extract sEMG signals. Based on the sEMG oscillator model, the sEMG energy kernel phase diagram was converted to gray level map by matrix counting method.

H -H Comproportionation Enables Stable Li-N-H-F Solid Electrolyte.

Nitride family compounds are among the earliest explored materials for solid electrolytes (SEs). The main challenge lies in effectively enhancing their electrochemical stability without compromising their excellent Li-ion conductivity and Li metal compatibility. Herein, a H -H comproportionation reaction between LiH and NHF is employed to synthesize a Li-N-H-F complex, consisting of Li NHF matrix and dispersed LiF nanoparticles.

Tripartite synergy in fermented barley: probiotic-driven enhancement of bioactive metabolites restores the gut barrier and microbiota in colitis.

The clinical management of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) requires novel intervention strategies, and functional fermented foods hold unique promise due to their multi-target modulatory effects. This study systematically evaluated the colitis-alleviating properties of dy-1 fermented barley (LFBE) compared with raw barley flour (RBE) and heat-inactivated strain and raw barley flour (HLFBE), emphasizing both the individual and synergistic roles of the functional matrices in LFBE. In a DSS-induced colitis model, the three interventions exhibited a clear gradient of efficacy (LFBE > HLFBE > RBE), with the LFBE group showing the most pronounced therapeutic benefits, including minimal body weight loss (14.

Acid-Alkaline Double Electrolytes for High-Energy Aqueous Proton Batteries.

Aqueous proton batteries offer a promising energy storage solution due to their inherent safety, rapid ion mobility, and low cost. However, their performance is largely constrained by water's limited electrochemical stability, restricting operating voltage and energy density. This study addresses this challenge by introducing an innovative acid-alkaline double electrolyte configuration to achieve high-voltage aqueous proton batteries.

The Dichotomous Role of Tertiary Lymphoid Structures in Hepatocellular Carcinoma: From Spatial Location to Clinical Implications.

Background: Tertiary lymphoid structures (TLSs) function as ectopic immune centers in non-lymphoid tissues and are a key area of research in tumor immunology, particularly in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, the role of TLSs in HCC shows significant heterogeneity; intratumoral TLSs (iTLSs) are linked to favorable outcomes and immune therapy responses, while peritumoral TLSs may be dysfunctional or promote tumor progression. This spatial paradox is a core scientific question for understanding and leveraging TLSs in HCC treatment.

Interpretable Auto Window setting for deep-learning-based CT analysis.

Background: Whether during the early days of popularization or in the present, the window setting in Computed Tomography (CT) has always been an indispensable part of the CT analysis process. Although research has investigated the capabilities of CT multi-window fusion in enhancing neural networks, there remains a paucity of domain-invariant, intuitively interpretable methodologies for Auto Window Setting.

Methods: In this work, we propose plug-and-play module derived from Tanh activation function.