Browse Articles

Mechanism of isoleucyl-tRNA synthetase 2 regulating proliferation and apoptosis of cervical cancer cells

Abstract Isoleucyl-tRNA synthetase 2 (IARS2) is a mitochondrial isoleucine-tRNA synthetase of the class I aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase family, and its role in cervical cancer remains poorly defined. Here, we report that IARS2 promotes cervical cancer cell proliferation and survival through regulation of the Rag GTPases and mTORC1. Elevated IARS2 expression was associated with poorer overall survival in patients with cervical cancer. Silencing of IARS2 significantly reduced cell viability and induced apoptosis in cervical cancer cells. Mechanistically, IARS2 inhibited mTOR degradation and sustained activation of the mTOR–eIF4E axis, thereby supporting cell proliferation. The amino acid–binding pocket of IARS2 was essential for these regulatory effects. Moreover, immunoprecipitation assays revealed that IARS2 interacted with Rag GTPases, particularly RagB and RagD. Together, these findings suggest that IARS2 may function as an amino acid sensor within the Rag–mTORC1 complex and highlight IARS2 as a potential therapeutic target in cervical cancer.

Publisher Correction: Engineering modular and orthogonal genetic logic gates for robust digital-like synthetic biology

Double‐Cyclized Dipeptides for Hierarchical Self‐Assembly Into Crystalline Macroscopic Superhelices

ABSTRACT Cyclic peptides have attracted significant attentiondue to their persistent structures and particular biological effects, which are also key building blocks for creating functional chiral materials. Here, we report a double‐cyclized dipeptide structure—a macrocycle embedded with a cyclic dipeptide—and its use in constructing superhelical structures. By further cyclizing modified cyclic diphenylalanine, a macrocyclic arene embedded with a cyclodipeptide was synthesized. Its unique, rigid structure allows to give hierarchical helical structures by bottom‐up assembly process in solution. These superhelical structures are macroscopic, reaching lengths of at centimeter scale. This demonstrates a bottom‐up, multiscale transfer of chirality from the molecular to the macroscopic scale. Moreover, assembly patterns can be precisely controlled by adjusting kinetic conditions such as temperature, concentration, enantiomeric ratio, and solvent, allowing for both rigid and flexible arrangement modalities. The presence of the macrocycle in these superhelices enables the encapsulation of cationic dyes, leading to both ground‐state and excited‐state chirality transfer. This provides a valuable template for designing macroscopic chiroptical materials.

Expression of Concern: Modified Liu estimators in the linear regression model: An application to Tobacco data

Predicting drainage capillary pressure curves in natural porous media by NMR-T2 relaxometry: implications for CO2 storage

Publisher Correction: An OTX2-PAX3 signaling axis regulates Group 3 medulloblastoma cell fate

Zinc‐Complex Orchestrating Pyroptosis for Hypoxia‐Tolerant Photoimmunotherapy

ABSTRACT Photon‐driven pyroptosis represents an advanced and promising modality in anti‐tumor immunotherapy, offering new avenue in combating cancer recurrence and metastasis. Essential metal‐complex shows great potential in photoimmunotherapy, which however hardly generates reactive oxygen species (ROS) to active photoimmunotherapy under light irradiation due to low spin–orbit coupling (SOC) resulting in intersystem crossing (ISC) being blocked. To address this challenge, we innovatively proposed the concept of essential‐metal ion as an electron‐withdrawing group to modulate the donor‐acceptor (D‐A) system, thereby significantly improving ROS generation efficiency. As a proof of concept, we designed and synthesized a series of Zn 2+ ‐complexes through constructing enhanced D‐A systems. Zn 2+ coordination efficiently enhances the ISC by lowering the excited singlet‐triplet energy gap (ΔE S1−T1 ), leading to exceptionally high ROS generation efficiency through Type I mechanisms to overcome hypoxia and the immunosuppression of tumor microenvironment. In these Zn 2+ ‐complexes, Zn‐TPY‐TPA‐DTZ can photodynamically damage lysosomes to trigger pyroptosis, which further induce anti‐tumor immune responses through the promotion of immunogenic cell death (ICD), and ultimately generates a robust anti‐tumor immune response and curbed the proliferation of 4T1 tumors in vivo. This study provides systematic guidance for the rational design of advanced Zn 2+ ‐complexes, propelling advancements in cancer treatment strategies.

Social gaze dynamics in teams: Comparing face-to-face and video meeting settings

Understanding the factors that promote cooperative behavior in teams is essential for organizational success. While the role of verbal communication in fostering cooperation and team cohesion is well established, the impact of nonverbal signals, particularly eye contact and related patterns, known as social gaze dynamics, has been neglected. In this study, we conducted a multiparty eye-tracking experiment, enabling us to explore the relationship between social gaze, cooperation, and team cohesion. In particular, teams of three participants engaged in a two-stage task: a structured pre-play communication stage (1) and a social dilemma game (2). During pre-play communication, eye-tracked participants performed a real-effort task mirroring the ensuing social dilemma. This allowed us to capture social gaze dynamics and assess their relation to subsequent cooperation and team cohesion. Specifically, we compared the emergence and impact of attentional reciprocity between face-to-face and video meeting settings and provided initial evidence that the extent to which direct gaze is reciprocated within teams influences subsequent cooperative behavior. Overall, our findings highlight potential downsides of increasingly shifting team meetings to the virtual space, where the absence of gaze information affects the emergence and impact of social gaze dynamics.

Effects of static and dynamic canine-assisted intervention in young adults: sex differences in hormonal, EEG, HRV, and emotional responses

Risk of cervical cancer and high-grade lesions in vulnerable women a systematic review and meta-analysis

PCA‐Based Database Mining Enables the Discovery of Bacterial Carbene Transferases for Stereodivergent Cyclopropanation

ABSTRACT Protein engineering is a practical approach to providing enzymes with an “abiotic” catalytic activity. However, it remains difficult to explore the full diversity of natural sequence space through the engineering of a single specific protein. As an alternative to these protein engineering approaches, we here demonstrate a database mining approach using a principal component analysis (PCA)‐based clustering method to facilitate the identification of promising enzyme candidates. As a proof of concept, we applied this method to the cyclopropanation of styrene, and the sequence space of bacterial globins in the database was extensively investigated. By screening 275 globins from 171 different organisms, we successfully discovered enzymes capable of catalyzing stereodivergent carbene transfer reactions. Furthermore, statistical analyses of sequence data allowed us to detect characteristic structural properties of these globins, which determine the unique stereoselectivity of cyclopropanation. While these bioinformatics tools have primarily been applied to predict enzymes’ natural biological functions, this study demonstrates their applicability to exploring enzyme candidates for abiotic reactions unrelated to their native biological activity. Given the increasing interest in biocatalytic applications beyond natural reactivity, this PCA‐based mining approach provides a promising direction for expanding the functional diversity of biocatalysts.

Behavior change intervention targeting physical activity and diet improves stress and sleep

Background Poor diet, low physical activity, high stress, and poor sleep are prevalent modifiable risk factors for chronic diseases. Synergistic effects of interventions targeting diet and activity on other health risk behaviors such as stress and sleep are understudied. Purpose To conduct a secondary data analysis to investigate whether interventions targeting diet and activity produce collateral improvements in stress and sleep. Methods Make Better Choices 2 was a randomized clinical trial to test a technology-assisted coaching intervention with modest incentives to improve diet and activity, as compared to a matched intervention targeting improved stress and sleep. Participants (n = 212) were adults (76.4% female, 59% non-white minority, mean age = 40.8 years) with multiple diet and activity risk behaviors. For 7 days at baseline, 3-, 6-, and 9-months, participants reported perceived sleep duration, stress, diet, and activity through a smartphone application. Outcomes were evaluated by linear mixed models. The study was registered on clinicaltrials.gov (NCT01249989) . Results Both interventions produced significant, statistically comparable improvements in average daily stress rating (z = 1.35, p = .177). Reduction in average daily stress rating was 1.68 following diet/activity intervention (z = −12.25, P  < .001) and 2.08 following stress/sleep intervention (z = −7.83, P  < .001) on an 11-point Likert scale. Though changes in sleep duration for both groups were clinically meaningful, the stress/sleep intervention produced statistically larger improvements in sleep as compared to the diet/activity intervention (z = −3.79, P  < .001). Sleep duration increased 26.39 minutes following diet/activity intervention (z = 3.16, P  = 0.002) and 92.65 minutes following stress/sleep intervention (z = 5.912, P  < 0.001). Conclusions Findings suggest that diet and activity behavior change interventions can effectively improve outcomes within and between the behavior domains they directly target. Future research should identify common mechanistic pathways to inform development of interventions that efficiently change multiple health behaviors implicated in chronic disease morbidity and mortality.

Circularly Polarized Organic Long‐Persistent Luminescence from Polymer Films Doped with Chiral Cu(I) Complexes

Abstract The development of polymer materials with circularly polarized organic long‐persistent luminescence (CP‐OLPL) remains challenging yet highly desirable. Herein, a polymer‐based OLPL system is prepared by embedding a Cu(I) complex rac ‐NDP‐CuCl into polymethyl methacrylate, which exhibits a high phosphorescence quantum yield ( Φ phos. ) of 64.0% and an emission duration exceeding 3 h under ambient conditions. Moreover, by simply replacing the racemic guest rac ‐NDP‐CuCl with its enantiomers R ‐NDP‐CuCl and S ‐NDP‐CuCl, polymer‐based luminescent materials with CP‐OLPL properties are successfully developed for the first time. These doped polymer films display Φ phos. values and emission durations comparable to those of the racemic system, along with satisfactory asymmetry factors for both circularly polarized phosphorescence and OLPL, reaching up to 4.79 × 10 −3 at room temperature. In contrast to conventional OLPL systems based on binary donor–acceptor doping, the present design facilitates the formation of intermediate charge‐separated states via photoinduced metal‐to‐ligand charge transfer, which are effectively stabilized and spatially separated within the polar polymer matrix, thereby enabling notable OLPL and CP‐OLPL emissions. These findings provide new insights into the molecular design of ambient OLPL materials and open a promising avenue for developing polymer‐based CP‐OLPL systems.

Preliminary study on the distribution and risk assessments of microplastic pollution in surface water in Chengdu, China

Bioengineered ROS-tolerant probiotic reshapes gut microbiota-host axis to ameliorate type 2 diabetes in male mice

Dynamic Iodide Regeneration Enabled by Piperazine‐Tailored PCBM Interfaces for Photothermally Stable and Efficient Inverted Perovskite Photovoltaics

Abstract Molecular iodine release under working conditions remains a major obstacle to the long‐term stability of perovskite solar cells (PSCs). Despite significant progress, developing a simple yet effective strategy to suppress this degradation pathway—while reconciling high photothermal stability and high efficiency without sacrificing charge transport—remains challenging. Here, through integrated molecular design, theoretical modeling, and experimental validation, we develop a new class of piperazine (PA)‐tailored fullerene derivative, PCBM‐PA, that uniquely exhibits dual functionality in iodine capture and dissociation. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations reveal that PCBM‐PA promotes I 2 adsorption and I─I bond cleavage at the perovskite surface, facilitating dynamic iodide regeneration. Comprehensive experiments further confirm that PCBM‐PA effectively suppresses I 2 release through robust N···I halogen‐bonding (XB) interactions, while simultaneously promoting I─I bond cleavage and restoration of iodide ions, consistent with theoretical insights. This coupled “iodine adsorption–dissociation” behavior, unprecedented among previously reported XB acceptors, enables dynamic self‐repair of iodine vacancy defects. Consequently, inverted PSCs incorporating PCBM‐PA exhibit outstanding photothermal stability, retaining over 93% of their initial efficiency after 1000 h under maximum power point tracking (MPPT) at 65 °C, together with a champion efficiency of 26.26%. This work offers a new molecular‐engineering pathway toward iodine‐resilient, high‐performance perovskite photovoltaics.

Serving the living and the dead: An integrated approach to Copper Age ceramic production and cultural dynamics in Campania, Southern Italy

This study explores the contribution of large scale integrated pottery analysis to the definition of broader cultural processes and, more specifically, highlights for the first time changes in the role and demand for ceramic objects during the Copper Age in Southern Italy. To identify such trends and drivers of change this study applies a holistic approach to ceramic production integrating typological analysis typical of the Italian tradition with a broader, theoretically informed, technological approach involving macroscopic observations and archaeometric analyses. The study area is Campania, in Southern Italy, where four multi-phase sites were selected spanning through the whole Copper Age (roughly 3800−2100 BC). This study represents the first large scale archaeometric programme on Copper Age contexts from southern Italy and allows us to detect and relatively dating technological innovations (such as the use of moulds and advances in the control of firing) as well as strong manufacturing traditions never previously fully characterised for Copper Age Southern Italy. The combination of typological and technological analyses of different ceramic assemblages highlighted the emergence in the Early/Middle Copper Age of a selected branch of production for complex funerary vessels deposed in collective graves linked to serving and consuming liquids. Towards the end of the 3rd millennium BC, important socio-economic and cultural dynamics led to a radical change in funerary practices in Central and Southern Italy and in the practical and symbolic role of ceramics in these contexts. Ceramic manufacture became more varied with no evidence of a dedicated funerary production, in fact, only few ceramic vessels, also common in domestic contexts, were generally deposed in single flat graves. This typological, productive and also symbolic disruption led to theorise a shift from a ‘ritual’ to a ‘functional’ demand for ceramic production, embedded in the cultural processes ongoing in this period. This integration of multiple lines of evidence (context, typology and technology) highlights how research on ceramics can contribute to the definition and understanding of larger phenomena at a regional and wider scale such as demands of production as well as symbolic, and economic drivers of change.

Mixture of experts extra tree-based sEMG hand gesture recognition

Abstract Human hand gesture recognition has emerged as a significant research interest in robotic hand control using surface electromyography. It is popular due to its non-invasive nature and ability to capture gesture movements. However, proper handling of overfitting and biases in gesture classification with multiple gestures is a common issue in the development of a generalized classifier. To address this issue, a Mixture of Experts Extra Tree classifier proposes to identify hand gestures. This model utilizes the concept of a Mixture of Experts, which combines individual highly accurate machine learning models (Extra Tree), referred to as experts, each focusing on a specific class, and a fully trained model for all classes, known as the gate (Extra Tree model), is employed to weigh the output of individual expert models. In this study, four subjects performing six hand gesture movements were collected, and their identification was evaluated among eleven models, including the Mixture of Experts Extra Tree classifier. The model was also evaluated on a publicly available dataset containing fifteen gesture classes. Results demonstrate that the Mixture of Experts Extra Tree classifier outperformed the other algorithms considered in this study, accurately identifying hand gesture movements. The MEET classifier achieved accuracies of 86.8%, 89.2%, 87.9%, and 78.4% for four subjects on collected data, and improved mean accuracy by 1.25% on the public dataset.

Engineering NIR-II carbon dots through aniline extension with graphene and nitrogen enrichment for hepatobiliary theranostics

Hetero‐Composition and Homo‐Structure Decoupling Charge and Phonon Properties in p‐Type Thermoelectric SnAgBiTeSe ₂

ABSTRACT The inherent compromise between charge mobility and phonon transport necessitates hierarchical structural modularity to achieve a high figure‐of‐merit ( ZT ) in homogeneous materials. Herein, shifting our focus from conventional grain boundaries to grain interiors, we leverage configurational entropy and metavalent bonding to design a novel SnAgBiTeSe 2 solid solution alloy with a single cubic crystal structure, representing a true hetero‐composition/homo‐structure (heC/hoS) system. Due to its highly polarizable metavalent bonds, the material maintains a uniform macroscopic symmetry, with strain fluctuations at the nanoscale preventing macroscopic phase separation. This dual mechanism strongly suppresses phonon propagation without significantly compromising charge transport. Its electronic structure exhibits a pronounced Rashba effect, which simultaneously modulates both valley and spin degeneracies. This leads to the formation of highly converged, multi‐spin‐split bands that facilitate efficient charge carrier transport. Moreover, owing to the suppression of Bi Ag antisite defect enabled by the heC/hoS architecture, slight Ag doping successfully induces rare p‐type conductivity. These features collectively yield a record‐low lattice thermal conductivity ( κ l  = 0.35 Wm −1 K −1 at 300 K) and high ZT values of 0.42 at 300 K and 0.6 at 402 K for SnAg 1.03 Bi 0.97 TeSe 2 , outperforming all reported AgBiSe 2 ‐based counterparts across the 300–500 K temperature window.