The sensitivity of a nanoscale crack‐based sensor is enhanced markedly by modulating the crack depth. The crack‐depth‐propagated sensor exhibits ≈16 000 gauge factor at 2% strain and a superior ...signal‐to‐noise ratio of ≈35, which facilitates detection of target signals for voice‐pattern recognition.
Various miRNAs play critical roles in the development and progression of solid tumors. In this study, we describe the role of miR-204-5p in limiting growth and progression of breast cancer. In breast ...cancer tissues, miR-204-5p was significantly downregulated compared with normal breast tissues, and its expression levels were associated with increased survival outcome in patients with breast cancer. Overexpression of miR-204-5p inhibited viability, proliferation, and migration capacity in human and murine breast cancer cells. In addition, miR-204-5p overexpression resulted in a significant alteration in metabolic properties of cancer cells and suppression of tumor growth and metastasis in mouse breast cancer models. The association between miR-204-5p expression and clinical outcomes of patients with breast cancer showed a nonlinear pattern that was reproduced in experimental assays of cancer cell behavior and metastatic capacities. Transcriptome and proteomic analysis revealed that various cancer-related pathways including PI3K/Akt and tumor-immune interactions were significantly associated with miR-204-5p expression. PIK3CB, a major regulator of PI3K/Akt pathway, was a direct target for miR-204-5p, and the association between PIK3CB-related PI3K/Akt signaling and miR-204-5p was most evident in the basal subtype. The sensitivity of breast cancer cells to various anticancer drugs including PIK3CB inhibitors was significantly affected by miR-204-5p expression. In addition, miR-204-5p regulated expression of key cytokines in tumor cells and reprogrammed the immune microenvironment by shifting myeloid and lymphocyte populations. These data demonstrate both cell-autonomous and non-cell-autonomous impacts of tumor suppressor miR-204-5p in breast cancer progression and metastasis. SIGNIFICANCE: This study demonstrates that regulation of PI3K/Akt signaling by miR-204-5p suppresses tumor metastasis and immune cell reprogramming in breast cancer.
We report on the first demonstration of broadband tunable, single-mode plasmonic nanolasers (spasers) emitting in the full visible spectrum. These nanolasers are based on a single ...metal–oxide–semiconductor nanostructure platform comprising of InGaN/GaN semiconductor nanorods supported on an Al2O3-capped epitaxial Ag film. In particular, all-color lasing in subdiffraction plasmonic resonators is achieved via a novel mechanism based on a property of weak size dependence inherent in spasers. Moreover, we have successfully reduced the continuous-wave (CW) lasing thresholds to ultrasmall values for all three primary colors and have clearly demonstrated the possibility of “thresholdless” lasing for the blue plasmonic nanolaser.
Acinetobacter baumannii is an opportunistic pathogen that has recently emerged as a global threat associated with high morbidity, mortality, and antibiotic resistance. We determined the role of type ...I interferon (IFN) signaling in A. baumannii infection. We report that A. baumannii can induce a type I IFN response that is dependent upon TLR4-TRIF-IRF3 and phagocytosis of the bacterium. Phase variants of A. baumannii that have a reduced capsule, lead to enhanced TLR4-dependent type I IFN induction. This was also observed in a capsule-deficient strain. However, we did not observe a role for this pathway in vivo. The enhanced signaling could be accounted for by increased phagocytosis in capsule-deficient strains that also lead to enhanced host cell-mediated killing. The increased cytokine response in the absence of the capsule was not exclusive to type I IFN signaling. Several cytokines, including the proinflammatory IL-6, were increased in cells stimulated with the capsule-deficient strain, also observed in vivo. After 4 h in our acute pneumonia model, the burden of a capsule-null strain was significantly reduced, yet we observed increases in innate immune cells and inflammatory markers compared to wild-type A. baumannii. This study underscores the role of phase variation in the modulation of host immune responses and indicates that the capsule of A. baumannii plays an important role in protection against host cell killing and evasion from activation of the innate immune response.
Abstract Statement of problem Conventional impression-making methods are being replaced by intraoral digital scanning. How long dental professionals take to master the new technologies is unknown. ...Purpose The purpose of this human subject study was to compare the experience curves of 2 intraoral scanners among dental hygienists and determine whether repeated scanning experience could change the scan time (ST). Material and methods A total of 29 dental hygienists with more than 3 years of working experience were recruited (group 1: 3-5 years; group 2: >6 years of clinical experience) to learn the iTero and Trios systems. All learners scanned the oral cavities of 4 human participants (participants A, B, C, and D) 10 times (T1-T10) throughout the learning sessions and the experimental dentoform model twice at the beginning and end of the 10 sessions. ST was measured, and changes in ST were compared between the 2 devices. Results The average ST for 10 sessions was greater with iTero than with Trios, but the decrease in the measured ST was greater for iTero than for Trios. Baseline and postexperience STs with iTero showed statistically significant differences, with a decrease in time related to the clinical experience levels of the dental hygienists (group 1: T2 and T4, P <.01; group 2: T2 and T5, P <.01). The experience curve with iTero was not influenced by the human participant’s intraoral characteristics, and greater ST was shown for participants B and C than for participants A and D with Trios. Conclusions Although the learning rate of iTero was rapid, the average ST for iTero was longer than Trios, and clinical experience levels influenced the operator’s ability to manipulate the device. In contrast, the learning rate of Trios was slow, and measured ST was shorter than iTero, and was not influenced by clinical experience.
Salivary glands that produce and secrete saliva, which is essential for lubrication, digestion, immunity, and oral homeostasis, consist of diverse cells. The long-term maintenance of diverse salivary ...gland cells in organoids remains problematic. Here, we establish long-term murine and human salivary gland organoid cultures. Murine and human salivary gland organoids express gland-specific genes and proteins of acinar, myoepithelial, and duct cells, and exhibit gland functions when stimulated with neurotransmitters. Furthermore, human salivary gland organoids are established from isolated basal or luminal cells, retaining their characteristics. Single-cell RNA sequencing also indicates that human salivary gland organoids contain heterogeneous cell types and replicate glandular diversity. Our protocol also enables the generation of tumoroid cultures from benign and malignant salivary gland tumor types, in which tumor-specific gene signatures are well-conserved. In this study, we provide an experimental platform for the exploration of precision medicine in the era of tissue regeneration and anticancer treatment.
A nanolaser is a key component for on-chip optical communications and computing systems. Here, we report on the low-threshold, continuous-wave operation of a subdiffraction nanolaser based on surface ...plasmon amplification by stimulated emission of radiation. The plasmonic nanocavity is formed between an atomically smooth epitaxial silver film and a single optically pumped nanorod consisting of an epitaxial gallium nitride shell and an indium gallium nitride core acting as gain medium. The atomic smoothness of the metallic film is crucial for reducing the modal volume and plasmonic losses. Bimodal lasing with similar pumping thresholds was experimentally observed, and polarization properties of the two modes were used to unambiguously identify them with theoretically predicted modes. The all-epitaxial approach opens a scalable platform for low-loss, active nanoplasmonics.
A vanadium pentoxide electrode is prepared in the amorphous form (a-V2O5), and its electrode performances are compared to those for its crystalline counterpart (c-V2O5). The a-V2O5 electrode ...outperforms c-V2O5 in several ways. First, it is free from irreversible phase transitions and Li trapping, which evolve in c-V2O5, probably due to the lack of interactions between the inserted Li+ ions/electrons and V2O5 matrix. Second, the absence of Li trapping allows a reversible capacity amounting to >600 mA h g–1, which is larger than that given by c-V2O5. Third, it shows an excellent rate property. The notably high reversible capacity and rate capability seem to be due to Li storage at vacant sites that are ill-defined but numerous in a-V2O5, which Li+ ions can easily access. However, irreversible capacity of a-V2O5 is appreciable in the first cycle due to a parasitic Li reaction with surface hydroxyl groups. Treatment with n-butyllithium can suppress the irreversible capacity by removing the surface hydroxyl groups.
Topology optimization is currently the only way to provide bone microstructure information by enhancing a 600 μm low-resolution image into a 50 μm high-resolution image. Particularly, the recently ...proposed localized reconstruction method for the region of interest has received much attention because it has a high possibility to overcome inefficiency such as iterative large-scale problems of the conventional reconstruction. Despite the great potential, the localized method should be thoroughly validated for clinical application. This study aims to quantitatively validate the topology optimization-based localized bone microstructure reconstruction method in terms of accuracy and efficiency by comparing the conventional method. For this purpose, this study re-constructed bone microstructure for three regions of interest in the proximal femur by localized and conventional methods, respectively. In the comparison, the dramatically reduced total progress time by at least 88.2% (20.1 h) as well as computational resources by more than 95.9% (54.0 gigabytes) were found. Moreover, very high reconstruction accuracy in the trabecular alignment (up to 99.6%) and morphometric indices (up to 2.71%) was also found. These results indicated that the localized method could reconstruct bone microstructure, much more effectively preserving the originality of the conventional method.
PDF
