Aqueous dispersion polymerization of diacetone acrylamide (DAAM) by chain extension from a hydrophilic poly(N,N-dimethylacrylamide) (PDMA30) macromolecular chain transfer agent (macro-CTA) to ...produce PDMA30–PDAAM x block copolymer nano-objects was investigated in detail by systematically varying solids content and degree of polymerization of the core-forming PDAAM, leading to the formation of pure lamellae, mixed lamellae/vesicles, and pure vesicles as revealed by dynamic light scattering (DLS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). PDMA30–PDAAM x lamellae were found to span an unprecedented wide space in the morphology phase diagram. Moreover, in situ cross-linking of lamellae via statistical copolymerization of DAAM with an asymmetric cross-linker allyl acrylamide and the effect of cross-linking density on the colloidal and morphological stabilities were studied, representing the first report on in situ cross-linking of lamellae during polymerization-induced self-assembly (PISA). Finally, reversible, temperature-induced morphological transitions from lamellae to worms/spheres on cooling were investigated by DLS, TEM, 1H NMR spectroscopy, and rheology. The kinetics of the temperature-dependent morphological transitions and the rheological properties could be tuned by the cross-linking density.
The imaging quality of the Mapping Imaging Spectrometer (IMS) is crucial for spectral identification and detection performance. In IMS, the image mapper significantly influences the imaging quality. ...Traditional image mappers utilize a single-point diamond machining process. This process leads to inevitable edge eating phenomena that further results in noticeable deficiencies in imaging, impacting spectral detection performance. Therefore, we propose a manufacturing process for the image mapper based on ultra-thin layered glass. This process involves precision polishing of ultra-thin glass with two-dimensional angles, systematically assembling it into an image mapper. The surface roughness after coating is generally superior to 10 nm, with a maximum angle deviation of less than 3'. This results in high mapping quality. Subsequently, a principle verification experimental system was established to conduct imaging tests on real targets. The reconstructed spectrum demonstrates excellent alignment with the results obtained from the Computed Tomography Imaging Spectrometer (CTIS). We thereby validate that this approach effectively resolves the issues associated with edge eating (caused by traditional single-point diamond machining), and leads to improved imaging quality. Also when compared to other techniques (like two-photon polymerization (2PP)), this process demonstrates notable advantages such as simplicity, efficiency, low processing costs, high fault tolerance, and stability, showcasing its potential for practical applications.
Efficient design and preparation of cost-effective and binder-free bifunctional electrocatalysts to accelerate the hydrogen and oxygen evolution reaction (HER and OER) are critical for overall water ...splitting. In this work, 3D hierarchical NiFe-LDH/FeCoS
2
/CFC electrodes were synthesized for the first time. The carboxyl groups derived from acid treating promote the homogeneously coated FeCoS
2
on CFC, giving rise to the strongly coupled FeCoS
2
/CFC hybrid. The NiFe-LDH exhibited the vertical growth feature on the FeCoS
2
/CFC composite, which can efficiently expose the active edges sites. Due to unique structure and synergistic effect between the components, the NiFe-LDH/FeCoS
2
/CFC exhibits significant electrocatalytic activity and stability under alkaline environments, with overpotentials of 190 and 308 mV to achieve 10 mA cm
−2
for OER and HER, respectively, providing it as a promising electrocatalyst for water splitting reaction. In addition, we deeply studied the synergistic catalytic mechanism of NiFe-LDH/FeCoS
2
/CFC, explaining the reasons leading to the improved catalytic performance of HER and OER.
Graphic abstract
This study investigated the outcomes and major adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs) incurred by acute myocardial infarction (AMI) patients comorbiding with hypertension and hyperhomocysteinemia ...(HHcy) during hospitalization and 1-year follow-up. 648 consecutive AMI patients were divided into four categories: (1) hypertension with Hcy ≥ 15 µmol/L; (2) hypertension with Hcy < 15 µmol/L; (3) no-hypertension with Hcy ≥ 15 µmol/L; (4) no-hypertension with Hcy < 15 µmol/L. Information taken from these case files included gender, past medical history, vital signs, laboratory examination, electrocardiogram, coronary angiography, cardiac ultrasound, and medicine treatment. The primary endpoints were duration of coronary care units (CCU) stay, duration of in-hospital stay, and MACEs during follow-up. Our data show that hypertension and HHcy have a synergistic effect in AMI patients, AMI comorbiding with hypertension and HHcy patients had more severe multi-coronary artery disease and more frequent non-culprit coronary lesions complete clogging, had a higher prevalence of pro-brain natriuretic peptide, and significant decreases in the left ventricular ejection fraction. These patients had significant increases in the duration of CCU stay and in-hospital stay, had significant increase in the rate of MACEs, had significant decreases in the survival rate during follow-up.
The soil microbial community plays a vital role in the biogeochemical cycles of bioelements and maintaining healthy soil conditions in agricultural ecosystems. However, how the soil microbial ...community responds to mitigation measures for continuous cropping obstacles remains largely unknown. Here we examined the impact of quicklime (QL), chemical fungicide (CF), inoculation with earthworm (IE), and a biocontrol agent (BA) on the soil microbial community structure, and the effects toward alleviating crop yield decline in lily. High-throughput sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene from the lily rhizosphere after 3 years of continuous cropping was performed using the Illumina MiSeq platform. The results showed that Proteobacteria, Acidobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Actinobacteria, Chloroflexi and Gemmatimonadetes were the dominant bacterial phyla, with a total relative abundance of 86.15-91.59%. On the other hand, Betaproteobacteriales, Rhizobiales, Myxococcales, Gemmatimonadales, Xanthomonadales, and Micropepsales were the dominant orders with a relative abundance of 28.23-37.89%. The hydrogen ion concentration (pH) and available phosphorus (AP) were the key factors affecting the structure and diversity of the bacterial community. The yield of continuous cropping lily with using similar treatments decreased yearly for the leaf blight, but that of IE was significantly (p < 0.05) higher than with the other treatments in the same year, which were 17.9%, 18.54%, and 15.69% higher than that of blank control (CK) over 3 years. In addition, IE significantly (p < 0.05) increased organic matter (OM), available nitrogen (AN), AP, and available potassium (AK) content in the lily rhizosphere soil, optimized the structure and diversity of the rhizosphere bacterial community, and increased the abundance of several beneficial bacterial taxa, including Rhizobiales, Myxococcales, Streptomycetales and Pseudomonadales. Therefore, enriching the number of earthworms in fields could effectively optimize the bacterial community structure of the lily rhizosphere soil, promote the circulation and release in soil nutrients and consequently alleviate the loss of continuous cropping lily yield.
Mitochondrial metabolism has been shown to play a key role in immune cell survival and function, but mitochondrial creatine kinase 2 (CKMT2) has been relatively little studied about tumor immunity. ...We aimed to explore the prognostic value of CKMT2 in 33 cancer types and investigate its potential immune function. We used a range of bioinformatics approaches to explore the potential carcinogenic role of CKMT2 in multiple cancers. CKMT2 was lowly expressed in 14 tumor tissues and highly expressed in 4 tumor tissues. Immunohistochemical assays showed overexpression of CKMT2 in colon cancer and rectal cancer. CKMT2 overexpression was positively correlated with the prognosis of lung adenocarcinoma and prostate cancer. CKMT2 overexpression is mainly enriched in the adaptive immune system and immune regulatory pathways of immunoglobulins. Seven cancers were positively correlated with low CKMT2 expression in tumor microenvironment analysis. Among the five cancers, low expression of CKMT2 resulted in better immunotherapy treatment outcomes. There was a strong correlation between CKMT2 and most immune-related genes in specific cancer types. CKMT2 plays an important role in tumorigenesis and cancer immunity and can be used as a prognostic biomarker and potential target for cancer immunotherapy.
Landslides are an important type of natural disaster that can cause catastrophic destruction of infrastructure and result in human casualties. An accurate digital surface model (DSM) is essential for ...analysis of landslide stability and associated risks. This work presents a rapid modeling method of landslide topography by combining high-resolution imagery from an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) with structure-from-motion (SfM) photogrammetry. Because of the relatively high efficiency and low costs, the micro-UAV system is suitable for emergency investigation of landslide disaster when compared to geodetic or other remote-sensing techniques, especially for inaccessible landslide area after earthquakes. Based on the micro-UAV images, the use of SfM combines well-established photogrammetric principles with modern computation to rapidly reconstruct a DSM. The relative error determined by comparison with measured data for the UAV–SfM technology is <1%. An unstable slope in Panyu District, Guangzhou City, China, was selected as a case study, in which a small UAV system was deployed for landslide investigation and generation of a highly efficient, cost-effective and user-friendly approach for 3D terrain modeling.
Background
Cuproptosis is a recently discovered mechanism of programmed cell death caused by intracellular aggregation of mitochondrial lipoylated proteins and destabilization of iron-sulfur proteins ...triggered by copper. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a common malignant tumor with a poor prognosis. We aimed to predict the survival of patients with HCC using the cuproptosis-related gene (CRG) expression.
Methods
We analyzed the expression, methylation, and mutation status of CRGs in 538 HCC patients and correlated the date with clinical prognosis. HCC patients were divided into two clusters based on their CRG expression. The relationship between CRGs, risk genes, and the immune microenvironment was analyzed using the CIBERSORT algorithm and the single-cell data analysis method. A cuproptosis risk model was constructed according to the five risk genes using the LASSO COX method. To facilitate the clinical applicability of the proposed risk model, we constructed a nomogram and conducted an antineoplastic drug sensitivity analysis.
Results
Our results suggest that the expression levels of CRGs in HCC are regulated by methylation. The prognoses were significantly different between the patients of the two clusters. The prognostic risk score positively correlated with memory T cell activation and negatively correlated with natural killer (NK) and regulatory T cell activation.
Conclusion
Our findings indicate the involvement of CRG regulation in HCC and provide new insights into prognosis assessment. Drug sensitivity analysis predicted drug candidates for the treatment of patients with different HCC subtypes.
Graphical abstract
Wildfires are an important source of disturbances in the Earth's system and are of great significance for understanding the interactions between environmental, atmospheric and vegetation changes over ...deep time. The early Cretaceous was a “high-fire” interval with frequent and widespread wildfires globally, but the timing and global significance of these wildfire events during this time remain uncertain. We undertook a multi-proxy study evaluating kerogen macerals, inertinite reflectance, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from mudstones to characterize wildfire activity in the Albian coal-forming Fuxin lacustrine Basin, and correlate these with (i) environmental and floral changes on land, and (ii) well-dated marine events including the early Albian Oceanic Anoxic Event 1b (OAE 1b), to consider their environmental and climatic significance. The presence of high inertinite contents demonstrate that multiple, widespread wildfire events occurred during the early Albian, which are correlated stratigraphically to the Kilian, Paquier and Leenhardt sub-events of the early Albian OAE 1b. Inertinite reflectance values ranging from 0.6% to 3.8%Ro show that wildfires in the early Albian were dominated by ground fires, with a smaller proportion of surface fires and almost no crown fires. Atmospheric oxygen concentration (pO2) levels, estimated from inertinite contents, attained ~25% during the early Albian, which exceeded the present atmospheric oxygen level of 21% and was able to support sustained combustion. Climatic conditions and frequent wildfire activity in the early Albian might have acted as an important control on vegetation distribution and diversification, which possibly further promoted the evolution of early angiosperms during the early Cretaceous. Wildfire activity resulted in the burning and destruction of both vegetation and soil structure, enhancing the post-fire erosion associated with intensified continental weathering under warmer and more humid conditions during the early Albian OAE 1b interval. These episodes of high wildfire activity correlate with high nutrients and organic matter levels in lakes and thereby contributed to eutrophication and anoxia in lacustrine and in contemporaneous oceanic systems.
•Widespread wildfires in the early Albian lacustrine Fuxin Basin•Early Albian high pO2 levels of ~25% inferred from inertinite content•Wildfires enhanced erosion and weathering and promoted lake anoxia•Early Albian wildfires stratigraphically correlated to Ocean Anoxic Event 1b
Pyroptosis is a recently described mechanism of programmed cell death mediated by proteins of the gasdermin family. Widely recognized signaling cascades include the classical, non-classical, ...caspase-3-dependent gasdermin E and caspase-8-dependent gasdermin D pathways. Additional pyroptotic pathways have been subsequently reported. With the rising prevalence of advanced age, the role of pyroptosis in the degenerative diseases of the elderly has attracted increased research attention. This article reviews the primary mechanisms of pyroptosis and summarizes progress in the research of degenerative diseases of the elderly such as presbycusis, age-related macular degeneration, Alzheimer's disease, intervertebral disc degeneration, and osteoarthritis.
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