Analysis of Significant Genes and Pathways in Esophageal Cancer Based on Gene Expression Omnibus Database

Objective To screen antigen targets for immunotherapy by analyzing over-expressed genes,and to identify significant pathways and molecular mechanisms in esophageal cancer by using bioinformatic methods such as enrichment analysis,protein-protein interaction(PPI)network,and survival analysis based on the Gene Expression Omnibus(GEO)database.Methods By screening with highly expressed genes,we mainly analyzed proteins MUC13 and EPCAM with transmembrane domain and antigen epitope from TMHMM and IEDB websites.Significant genes and pathways associated with the pathogenesis of esophageal cancer were identified using enrichment analysis,PPI network,and survival analysis.Several software and platforms including Prism 8,R language,Cytoscape,DAVID,STRING,and GEPIA platform were used in the search and/or figure creation.Results Genes MUC13 and EPCAM were over-expressed with several antigen epitopes in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma(ESCC)tissue.Enrichment analysis revealed that the process of keratinization was focused and a series of genes were related with the development of esophageal cancer.Four genes including ALDH3A1,C2,SLC6A1,and ZBTB7C were screened with significant P value of survival curve.Conclusions Genes MUC13 and EPCAM may be promising antigen targets or biomarkers for esophageal cancer.Keratinization may greatly impact the pathogenesis of esophageal cancer.Genes ALDH3A1,C2,SLC6A1,and ZBTB7C may play important roles in the development of esophageal cancer.

Fast Remaining Capacity Estimation for Lithium-ion Batteries Based on Short-time Pulse Test and Gaussian Process Regression

It remains challenging to effectively estimate the remaining capacity of the secondary lithium-ion batteries that have been widely adopted for consumer electronics,energy storage,and electric vehicles.Herein,by integrating regular real-time current short pulse tests with data-driven Gaussian process regression algorithm,an efficient battery estimation has been successfully developed and validated for batteries with capacity ranging from 100%of the state of health(SOH)to below 50%,reaching an average accuracy as high as 95%.Interestingly,the proposed pulse test strategy for battery capacity measurement could reduce test time by more than 80%compared with regular long charge/discharge tests.The short-term features of the current pulse test were selected for an optimal training process.Data at different voltage stages and state of charge(SOC)are collected and explored to find the most suitable estimation model.In particular,we explore the validity of five different machine-learning methods for estimating capacity driven by pulse features,whereas Gaussian process regression with Matern kernel performs the best,providing guidance for future exploration.The new strategy of combining short pulse tests with machine-learning algorithms could further open window for efficiently forecasting lithium-ion battery remaining capacity.

Achieving highly selective electrochemical CO_(2) reduction to C_(2)H_(4) on Cu nanosheets

The conversion of CO_(2)into value-added chemicals coupled with the storage of intermittent renewable electricity is attractive.CuO nanosheets with an average size and thickness of~30 and~20 nm have been developed,which are in situ reduced into Cu nanosheets during electrochemical CO_(2)reduction reaction(ECO_(2)RR).The derived Cu nanosheets demonstrate much higher selectivity for C2H4production than commercial CuO derived Cu powder,with an optimum Faradaic efficiency of 56.2%and a partial current density of C_(2)H_(4)as large as 171.0 mA cm^(-2)in a gas diffusion flow cell.The operando attenuated total reflectance-Fourier transform infrared spectra measurements and density functional theory simulations illustrate that the high activity and selectivity of Cu nanosheets originate from the edge sites on Cu nanosheets with a coordinate number around 5(4–6),which facilitates the formation of^(*)CHO rather than^(*)COH intermediate,meanwhile boosting the C-C coupling reaction of^(*)CO and^(*)CHO intermediates,which are the critical steps for C_(2)H_(4)formation.

Heterogeneity beyond tumor heterogeneity—SULF2 involvement in Wnt/β-catenin signaling activation in a heterogeneous side population of liver cancer cells

Introduction:Sulfatase 2(SULF2),an endogenous extracellular sulfatase,can remove 6-O-sulfate groups of glucosamine residues from heparan sulfate(HS)chains to modulate the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway,which plays an important role in both liver carcinogenesis and embryogenesis.Side population(SP)cells are widely identified as stem-like cancer cells and are closely related to carcinoma metastasis,recurrence,and poor patient prognosis.However,the roles of SULF2 in SP cells of hepatomas are unclear,and the underlying mechanism is undefined.Objectives:This study aimed to compare the heterogeneity between SP cells and non-side population(NSP)cells derived from three different liver cancer cell lines and to elucidate the involvement of the SULF2-Wnt/β-catenin axis in liver cancer stem cells(CSCs)and its impact on the processes of carcinogenesis and invasiveness.Methods:In this work,three different liver cancer SP cells(HepG2,Huh7,and PRC/PRL/5)were sorted by flow cytometry.We also examined the migration and invasion behaviors of SP and NSP cells.To determine if this high tumorigenic potential of SP cells is correlated to SULF2,qPCR,western blotting,and immunofluorescence analysis were conducted.We also performed nude mouse xenograft experiments for in vivo analysis.Results:The results from the in vitro colony formation assay showed that SP cells exhibited a 2-fold higher colony formation efficiency compared to their NSP counterparts.The SP cells exhibited significantly higher potentials in terms of their migratory capacity and invasive ability compared to NSP cells.We found that higher expression of SULF2 in SP cells was associated with greater capabilities for clonogenicity,migration,and invasion.It was also linked to higher activation of the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway via stimulation of key downstream factors,particularlyβ-catenin,c-Myc,and cyclin D1.Further,a positive correlation between the upregulated SULF2 expression and tumorigenesis in the in vivo nude mouse xenograft models was demonstrated,highlighting that the potential underlying mechanism was Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway activation.Conclusion:Our findings show that variable SULF2 expression was associated with differential activation of the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway,which could lead to behavioral differences between SP and NSP cells and also among the SP cells of the three liver cancer cell lines assessed.It was reasonably concluded that the SULF2-Wnt/β-catenin axis could play an important role in the tumorigenicity of liver cancer stem cells.

SOFFLFM:Super-resolution optical fluctuation Fourierlight-field microscopy

Fourier light-field microscopy(FLFM)uses a microlens aray(MLA)to segment the Fourierplane of the microscopic objective lens to generate multiple two-dimensional perspective views,thereby reconstructing the threedimensional(3D)structure of the sample using 3D deconvo-lution calculation without scanning.However,the resolution of FLFM is stil limited by dif-fraction,and furthermore,it is dependent on the aperture division.In order to improve itsresolution,a super-resolution opticai fuctuation Fourier light-field microscopy(SOFFLFM)wasproposed here,in which the super-resolution optical fluctuation imaging(SOFI)with the abilityof super-resolution was introduced into FLFM.SOFFLFM uses higher-order cumulants statis-tical analysis on an image sequence collected by FLFM,and then carries out 3D deconvolutioncalculation to reconstruct the 3D structure of the sample.The theoretical basis of SOFFLFM onimproving resolution was explained and then verified with the simulations.Simulation resultsdemonstrated that SOFFLFM improved the lateral and axial resolution by more than V2 and 2times in the second-and fourth-order accumulations,compared with that of FLFM.

Precise carbon structure control by salt template for high performance sodium-ion storage

Carbon materials are considered to be one of the most promising anode materials for sodium-ion batteries(SIBs),but the well-ordered graphitic structure limits the intercalation of sodium ions.Besides,the sluggish intercalation kinetics of sodium ions impedes the rate performance.Thus,the precise structure control of carbon materials is important to improve the battery performance.Herein,a 3D porous hard-soft composite carbon(3DHSC)was prepared using the NaCl as the template and phenolic resin and pitch as carbon precursors.The NaCl template restrains the growth of the graphite crystallite during the carbonization process,resulting in small graphitic domains with expanded interlayer spacing which is favorable for the sodium storage.Moreover,the Na Cl templates help to create abundant mesopores and macropores for fast sodium ion diffusion.The porous structure and the graphite crystalline structure can be precisely controlled by simply adjusting the mass ratio of Na Cl,and thus,the suitable structure can be prepared to reach high capacity and rate performance while keeping a relatively high Coulombic efficiency.Typically,a high reversible capacity(215 mA h g^(-1)at 0.05 A g^(-1)),an excellent rate capability(97 mA h g^(-1)at 5 A g^(-1)),and a high initial Coulombic efficiency(60%)are achieved.

Raltitrexed as a synergistic hyperthermia chemotherapy drug screened in patient-derived colorectal cancer organoids

Objective:Organoids have recently been used as in vitro models to screen chemotherapy drugs in combination with hyperthermia treatment in colorectal cancer.Our research aimed to establish a library of patient-derived colorectal cancer organoids to evaluate synergism between chemotherapy drugs and hyperthermia;validate an index of the hyperthermia chemotherapy sensitization enhancement ratio(HCSER)to identify the chemotherapeutics most enhanced by hyperthermia;and recommend chemotherapy drugs for hyperthermic intraperitoneal treatment.Methods:Organoids were grown from cells extracted from colorectal cancer patient samples or colorectal cancer cell lines.Cells from both sources were encapsulated in 3 D Matrigel droplets,which were formulated in microfluidics and phase-transferred into identical cell-laden Matrigel microspheres.The microspheres were seeded in 96-well plates,with each well containing a single microsphere that developed into an organoid after 7 days.The organoids were used to evaluate the efficacy of chemotherapy drugs at both 37℃ as a control and 43℃ for 90 min to examine hyperthermia synergism.Cell viability was counted with 10%CCK8.Results:We successfully established a library of colorectal cancer organoids from 22 patient parental tumors.We examined the hyperthermia synergism of 7 commonly used hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy drugs.In 11 of the 22 patient organoids,raltitrexed had significant hyperthermia synergism,which was indexed as the highest HCSER score within each patient group.Conclusions:Our results primarily demonstrated the use of patient-derived colorectal cancer organoids as in vitro models to evaluate hyperthermia synergistic chemotherapeutics.We found that hyperthermia enhanced the effect of raltitrexed the most among the common anti-colorectal cancer drugs.

The Cymbidium genome reveals the evolution of unique morphological traits

The marvelously diverse Orchidaceae constitutes the largest family of angiosperms.The genus Cymbidium in Orchidaceae is well known for its unique vegetation,floral morphology,and flower scent traits.Here,a chromosomescale assembly of the genome of Cymbidium ensifolium(Jianlan)is presented.Comparative genomic analysis showed that C.ensifolium has experienced two whole-genome duplication(WGD)events,the most recent of which was shared by all orchids,while the older event was the t event shared by most monocots.The results of MADS-box genes analysis provided support for establishing a unique gene model of orchid flower development regulation,and flower shape mutations in C.ensifolium were shown to be associated with the abnormal expression of MADS-box genes.The most abundant floral scent components identi fied included methyl jasmonate,acacia alcohol and linalool,and the genes involved in the floral scent component network of C.ensifolium were determined.Furthermore,the decreased expression of photosynthesis-antennae and photosynthesis metabolic pathway genes in leaves was shown to result in colorful striped leaves,while the increased expression of MADS-box genes in leaves led to perianth-like leaves.Our results provide fundamental insights into orchid evolution and diversi fication.

Flashover Characteristics of Dry Band-water band on Hydrophobic Surfaces

Due to their outstanding anti-flashover characteristics,composite insulators have been extensively applied in power systems.A lot of research has investigated flashover characteristics of hydrophobic specimens with artificial water droplets.However,the phenomenon is not consistent with that of the contaminated composite insulators.On the test specimens covered with water droplets,there is no obvious leakage current before the flashover and no obvious relationship between flashover voltage and the conductivity of water droplets.On the contaminated composite insulator surface,there are short continuous arcs on the insulators before critical flashover,making insulators look like a luminous lantern.Considering that under these two conditions,the proportion of water along the insulation distance is different,the flashover characteristic of“dry band-water band”on a hydrophobicity surface is analyzed in the present study.The influence of the water band parameter(including length,width,and conductivity)as well as the length of dry band is studied.On this basis,the arc generation and development process of the surface covered with“dry band-water band”is analyzed.The research results improve the understanding of the flashover process on contaminated composite insulators.

Wetting characteristics of the hydrophobic material surface through condensation

Composite insulators are generally considered to have excellent anti-pollution flashover performance,but recently there has been a flashover accident on the indoor clean insulator in China,which is suspected to be related to the wetting of insulators through condensation.Therefore,this paper studied the water condensation on hydrophobic surfaces.The changes in the mass,length,and proportion of the water droplets on the hydrophobic surface during the wetting process were measured,and the influence of wetting degree on the flashover characteristics was studied.It was found that the insulator surface temperature lower than the dew point is a prerequisite for the wetting of the clean hydrophobic surface,and the wetting velocity increases with the electric field.The results could provide some reference for understanding the insulator flashover accidents.

Photo-induced surface frustrated Lewis pairs for promoted photocatalytic decomposition of perfluorooctanoic acid

Heterogeneous photocatalysis has gained substantial research interest in treating per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances(PFAS)-contaminated water.However,sluggish degradation kinetics and low defluorination efficiency compromise their practical applications.Here,we report a superior photocatalyst,defected Bi_(3)O(OH)(PO_(4))_(2),which could effectively degrade typical PFAS,perfluorooctanoic acid(PFOA),with high defluorination efficiency.The UV light irradiation could in situ generate oxygen vacancies on Bi_(3)O(OH)(PO_(4))_(2) through oxidation of the lattice hydroxyls,which further promotes the formation of Lewis acidic coordinately unsaturated bismuth sites.Then,the Lewis acidic sites couple with the proximal surface hydroxyls to constitute the surface frustrated Lewis pairs(SFLPs).With the in-depth spectroscopic analysis,we revealed that the photo-induced SFLPs act as collection centers to effectively adsorb PFOA and endow accessible pathways to transfer photogenerated holes to PFOA rapidly.Consequently,activation of the terminal carboxyl,a ratelimiting step for PFOA decomposition,could be easily achieved over the defected Bi_(3)O(OH)(PO_(4))_(2) photocatalyst.These results suggest that SFLPs exhibit great potential in developing highly efficient photocatalysts to degrade persistent organic pollutants.

Microplastics’Aging Processes in the Aquatic Environment:Aging Mechanisms,Altered Environmental Behaviors and Ecotoxicity

Microplastics(MPs)have been one of the most concerned environmental issues since the 21st century.MPs are plastic particles with diameters less than 5 mm,which are widely sourced in the aquatic environment.After being released into the aquatic environment,MPs would experience complicated physical,chemical and biological aging processes driven by mechanical forces,photooxidation,and biological degradation,which would result in changes in MPs’physicochemical properties,such as the particle size,specific surface area,hydrophobicity,crystallinity,etc.In this review,we have illustrated the current study status on MPs’environmental aging processes and pointed out the knowledge gaps.MPs’aging processes would consequentially influence MPs’interaction with the co-existing organic and inorganic pollutants in the aquatic environment as well as lead to the leaching of chemical additives involved in plastic production,including plasticizers and flame retardants,which can trigger high ecotoxicity to the aquatic environment.Furthermore,aged MPs would cause ecotoxicity to aquatic organisms via bioaccumulation,biomagnification,and indirect carrier pathways.The review would provide an in-depth overview of MPs’environmental aging processes and consequential ecotoxicity implications,as well as propose future research needs.

Functional polymer passivatingFA_(0.85)PEA_(0.15)SnI_(3) for efficient and stable lead-free perovskite solar cells

Due to their excellent advantages such as low toxicity,superior optoelectronic properties,low-temperature fabrication,and costeffectiveness,Sn-based perovskites have become the most promising alternatives for high performance lead-free perovskite solar cells.However,the character of Sn ^(2+)is easily oxidized toSn ^(4+),causing unnecessary p-type self-doping and high leakage current.More seriously,trap-induced non-radiative recombination from rapid crystallization causes into large energy loss with a low open circuit voltage.Therefore,the Sn-based solar cells have efficiency far behind the Pb-based solar cells.Herein,the polymer poly(ethylene glycol)diacrylate(PEGDA)is used to control crystal growth and passivate the defects in FA_(0.85)PEA_(0.15)SnI_(3) thin film.This Sn-perovskite layer shows compact crystal with large grain size and reduced defects.Optimized perovskite thin film is further processed to fabricate the inverted solar cell with device structure of ITO(indium tin oxide)/PEDOT:PSS(Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)/poly(styrenesulfonate))/FA_(0.85)PEA_(0.15)SnI_(3)/ICBA(indene-C60 bisadduct)/BCP(bathocuproine)/Ag,which shows the power conversion efficiency(PCE)of 11.45%with voltage of 0.82 V.Moreover,corresponding perovskite solar cells exhibit an enhanced stability due to PEGDA induced compressive strain in perovskite.This work could shed light on one of successful attempts to improve Sn-based solar cell efficiency for sustainable energy conversion.

A controllable gelatin-based microcarriers fabrication system for the whole procedures of MSCs amplification and tissue engineering

Biopolymer microbeads present substantial benefits for cell expansion,tissue engineering,and drug release applications.However,a fabrication system capable of producing homogeneous microspheres with high precision and controllability for cell proliferation,passaging,harvesting and downstream application is limited.Therefore,we developed a co-flow microfluidics-based system for the generation of uniform and size-controllable gelatin-based microcarriers(GMs)for mesenchymal stromal cells(MSCs)expansion and tissue engineering.Our evaluation of GMs revealed superior homogeneity and efficiency of cellular attachment,expansion and harvest,and MSCs expanded on GMs exhibited high viability while retaining differentiation multipotency.Optimization of passaging and harvesting protocols was achieved through the addition of blank GMs and treatment with collagenase,respectively.Furthermore,we demonstrated that MSC-loaded GMs were printable and could serve as building blocks for tissue regeneration scaffolds.These results suggested that our platform held promise for the fabrication of uniform GMs with downstream application of MSC culture,expansion and tissue engineering.

Autonomous Vehicles Testing Considering Utility-Based Operable Tasks

Virtual simulation testing of Autonomous Vehicles(AVs)is gradually being accepted as a mandatory way to test the feasibility of driving strategies for AVs.Mainstream methods focus on improving testing efficiency by extracting critical scenarios from naturalistic driving datasets.However,the criticalities defined in their testing tasks are based on fixed assumptions,the obtained scenarios cannot pose a challenge to AVs with different strategies.To fill this gap,we propose an intelligent testing method based on operable testing tasks.We found that the driving behavior of Surrounding Vehicles(SVs)has a critical impact on AV,which can be used to adjust the testing task difficulty to find more challenging scenarios.To model different driving behaviors,we utilize behavioral utility functions with binary driving strategies.Further,we construct a vehicle interaction model,based on which we theoretically analyze the impact of changing the driving behaviors on the testing task difficulty.Finally,by adjusting SV’s strategies,we can generate more corner cases when testing different AVs in a finite number of simulations.

A lightweight carbon nanofiber-based 3D structured matrix with high nitrogen-doping level for lithium metal anodes

Lithium metal is considered to be the most promising anode material for the next-generation rechargeable batteries. However, the uniform and dendrite-free deposition of Li metal anode is hard to achieve, hindering its practical applications. Herein, a lightweight, free-standing and nitrogen-doped carbon nanofiber-based 3D structured conductive matrix(NCNF), which is characterized by a robust and interconnected 3D network with high doping level of 9.5 at%, is prepared by electrospinning as the current collector for Li metal anode. Uniform Li nucleation with reduced polarization and dendrite-free Li deposition are achieved because the NCNF with high nitrogen-doping level and high conductivity provide abundant and homogenous metallic Li nucleation and deposition sites. Excellent cycling stability with high coulombic efficiency are realized. The Li plated NCNF was paired with LiFePO4 to assemble the full battery, also showing high cyclic stability.

A highly active and durable electrocatalyst for large current density hydrogen evolution reaction

Splitting water under large current density is essential for efficient large-scale production and commercial utilization of hydrogen.However,the performance of the available electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction(HER)is far from satisfactory under large current density in alkaline electrolyte.Here we report a remarkably active and durable electrocatalyst,long and dense MoS2/Ni3S2 co-axial heterostructure nanowires on nickel foam(NF).Notably,it requires only 182 and 200 mV overpotential to achieve large current density of 500 and 1000 mA cm^-2,respectively,in alkaline solution,which are far superior to those of Pt/C-NF(281 and 444 mV)and the reported best non-noble metal catalysts(191 and 220 mV).The physical origin for this extraordinary HER performance is analyzed,which provides a useful guide for structure design of electrocatalysts to further improve their performance.

An air-stable and waterproof lithium metal anode enabled by wax composite packaging

The reviving use of lithium metal anode(LMA)is one of the most promising ways to upgrade the energy density of lithium ion batteries.In the roadmap towards the real use,besides the formation of the dendrite,various adverse reactions due to the high activity of LMA when exposed to air or the electrolyte limit its practical applications.Learning from the packaging technology in electronic industry,we propose a wax-based coating compositing with the ion conducting poly(ethylene oxide)by a simple dip-coating technology and the prepared LMA is featured with an air-stable and waterproof surface.The LMA thus remains stable for 24 h in ambient air even with the relative humidity of 70% while retaining about85% its electrochemical capacity.More importantly,the LMA is accessible to water and when dipping in water,no obvious adverse reactions or capacity decay is observed.With the composite coating,a steady cycling performance for 500 h in symmetrical cells and a low capacity decay rate of 0.075% per cycle after 300 cycles in lithium-sulfur batteries assembled with the packaged anode have been achieved.This work demonstrates a very simple and effective LMA package technology which is easily scalable and is very promising for speeding up the industrialization of lithium-sulfur batteries and shows potentials for the large-scale production of air-sensitive electrode materials not limited to LMAs.

Application-Oriented Performance Comparison of 802.11p and LTE-V in a V2V Communication System

In recent years, the Vehicle-to-Vehicle(V2V) communication system has been considered one of the most promising technologies to build a much safer and more efficient transportation system. Both simulation and field test have been extensively performed to evaluate the performance of the V2V communication system. However,most of the evaluation methods are communication-based, and although in a transportation environment, lack a V2V application-oriented analysis. In this study, we conducted real-world tests and built an application-oriented evaluation model. The experiments were classified into four scenarios: static, following, face 2 face, and crossing vertically, which almost covered all the V2V communication patterns on the road. Under these scenarios, we conducted experiments and built a probability model to evaluate the performance of 802.11p and LTE-V in safetyrelated applications. Consequently, we found out that improvements are still needed in Non-Line-of-Sight scenarios.

Group VB transition metal dichalcogenides for oxygen reduction reaction and strain-enhanced activity governed by p-orbital electrons of chalcogen

Developi ng alter native oxyge n reducti on reactio n (ORR) catalysts to replace precious Pt-based metals with abundant materials is the key challe nge of commercial application of fuel cells. Owing to their various compositi ons and tun able electronic properties, transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) have the great potential to realize high-efficiency catalysts for ORR. Here, various 3R-phase dichalcogenides of group VB and VIB transition metals (MX2, M = Nb, Ta, Mo, W;X = S, Se, Te) are investigated for ORR catalysts by using density functional theory calculations. The computed over-potentials of group VB TMDs are much less than those of group VIB TMDs. For group VB TMDs, a volcano-type plot of ORR catalytic activity is established on the adsorption energies of *OH, and NbS2 and TaTe2 exhibit best ORR activity with an oveepotential of 0.54 V. To achieve even better activity, strain engineering is performed to tune ORR catalytic activity, and the minimum over-potential of 0.43 V can be realized. We further dem on strate that the shift of p orbital center of surface chalcoge n elements under strain is responsible for tuning the catalytic activity of TMDs.