Browse Articles

The impacts of indoor residual spraying with bendiocarb and pirimiphos-methyl on allelic frequencies of kdr and ace-1 mutations in central Senegal

Twelvefold Dearomative Esterification of (6,6)Carbon Nanobelt

Abstract Carbon nanobelts (CNBs), cyclic aromatic hydrocarbons with belt‐shaped topologies, have growing interest as structurally unique and optoelectronically promising nanocarbons. Yet, strategies for their direct and site‐selective functionalization remain scarce. Here, we report a magnesium‐mediated, multifold dearomative esterification of (6,6)CNB, enabling the installation of twelve ester groups in a single transformation. Single‐crystal X‐ray structural analysis revealed regioselective dearomatization patterns, whereas mechanistic studies uncovered a radical‐driven pathway involving oxyiminium intermediate generated in situ from alkyl chloroformates and amide solvents. Computational analysis further indicated that strain release in the CNB framework drives the high degree of functionalization. This methodology not only expands the synthetic toolbox for aromatic nanobelts but also allows tunable modulation of their host–guest properties via enhanced conformational flexibility.

Characterization of recombinase activity across cellular growth phases

Breaking the Activity‐Selectivity Trade‐off in Direct Levulinate Hydrodeoxygenation to Pentanoic Biofuels over La‐Modulated Ru‐Zeolite Catalysts

Abstract Disentangling the activity‐selectivity trade‐off in hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) of biomass‐derived oxygenates has been a great challenge in biomass valorization and related tandem catalysis, by virtue of involving a series of reactions in parallel and in cascade. Herein, we demonstrate the importance of La modulation for Ru‐zeolite combinations in the case of direct HDO of neat ethyl levulinate (EL) into ethyl pentanoate (EP). An unprecedented EP yield of 80% and an EP turnover rate (TOR) of 224 mol EP ·mol Ru −1 ·h −1 , together with excellent stability, were obtained for the optimal Ru/2.8La‐Y catalyst for the first time, compared to the current reported “performance ceiling” of EP yields of <40% and EP TORs of <120 mol EP ·mol metal −1 ·h −1 under similar conditions. Optimal La modulation could maximize the density of the active Brønsted acid sites and efficiently attenuate the acid strength, thus enhancing both activity and selectivity in the direct HDO of EL into EP while suppressing the further hydrolysis reactions that consume EP. This study provides an effective approach to regulate the acid properties of metal‐zeolite bifunctional catalysts, in particular in mediation of compromise in acid density and acid strength factors, for breaking the activity‐selectivity trade‐off in biomass valorization and beyond.

Generalized predictive control based on interval gray model with adaptive buffer operator for pattern-moving systems

Catalyst‐Engineered Proton Transfer Pathways for Selective Hydrogen Peroxide Electrosynthesis in Solid‐State Electrolytes

Abstract Polymer‐based solid electrolyte (SE) cells promise electrochemical synthesis of pure hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ), yet the protonation mechanisms governing the two‐electron oxygen reduction reaction (2e − ‐ORR) remain unclear when using pure water as the proton source. Both Langmuir–Hinshelwood (LH, surface *H‐mediated) and Eley–Rideal (ER, water‐derived proton‐coupled) pathways are theoretically plausible, but their practical dominance under SE conditions lacks experimental validation. Herein, we designed a hierarchical Ni─N 2 ─C─O single‐atom/NiO nanocluster co‐decorated porous carbon nanosheet catalyst (NiSA‐NiO/pCNs) that achieved a Faradaic efficiency of 97% and a H 2 O 2 partial current density of 356 mA cm⁻ 2 (equivalent to 6.6 mmol cm −2  h −1 production rate) in a porous SE cell. Analysis of reaction intermediates and the local pH using in situ Raman spectroscopy, kinetic isotope effect, and density functional theory simulations showed the critical role of NiO nanoclusters in tuning the protonation pathway: NiO activates the ER mechanism via fast proton transfer from water dissociation, whereas NiSA/pCNs without NiO preferentially follow the LH mechanism through surface‐adsorbed *H intermediates from interfacial transferred proton. These findings establish a catalyst design principle for proton transfer control in solid‐state H 2 O 2 electrosynthesis.

Magnetoionography enhances diagnostic accuracy of magnetocardiography in coronary artery disease

Abstract Coronary artery disease (CAD) remains a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Traditional diagnostic approaches, including coronary angiography and electrocardiography, have limitations in detecting ischemia and microvascular dysfunction, leading to misdiagnoses and unnecessary interventions. This study evaluates the efficacy of magnetoionography (MIG), a novel parameter extension of magnetocardiography (MCG), in improving the detection of CAD by analyzing potential intracellular cardiac currents. We conducted a prospective study including 93 CAD patients and 36 healthy controls. All CAD patients underwent non-invasive MCG measurements before coronary angiography. Conventional MCG parameters were assessed alongside retrospectively together with the MIG-derived indices, focusing on the characterization of intracellular ion currents during repolarization. MIG analysis significantly improved CAD detection accuracy. The inclusion of MIG parameters in a stepwise linear discriminant analysis increased sensitivity from 90.3% (MCG alone) to 93.5% and specificity from 76.5 to 85.3%. Key discriminative parameters included Heart Rate, Current Moment Dynamics, and Dipolarity Index for ST Segment (all stress). Our findings support the further study of MIG for its potential use in clinical practice as a non-invasive, highly sensitive diagnostic tool for CAD. Through intracellular cardiac currents captured by an MCG system, the MIG parameter extension may offer deeper pathophysiological insights, potentially enhancing risk stratification and early disease detection.

Selective Nanopore Detection of Monoamine Oxidase A and B in a Single Sample

Abstract Monoamine oxidases A and B (MAO‐A and MAO‐B) are key enzymes involved in neurotransmitter metabolism and are critical biomarkers for neurodegenerative and psychiatric disorders. Here, we present a highly sensitive nanopore‐based method for the selective detection and quantification of MAO‐A and MAO‐B using specifically designed peptide probes. These probes undergo enzyme‐specific oxidation, generating distinct nanopore translocation signatures that enable precise identification. Our method achieves picomolar‐level detection, outperforming conventional assays such as ELISA. Importantly, we demonstrate its applicability in complex biological samples, including cell lysates (SH‐SY5Y and HepG2) and mouse brain and liver tissues, with results strongly correlating with ELISA. The ability to selectively detect both enzymes within a single sample highlights its advantage in studying enzyme interplay in biological systems. This label‐free, real‐time approach offers a powerful tool for biomedical research, disease diagnostics, and drug screening, with potential for expanding to other clinically relevant enzymes.

Characterization of genetic mutations in hepatitis B virus isolated from HBsAg+/HBcAb+/HBsAb-/HBV DNA + Japanese blood donors

A Multivalent Targeting Strategy for Developing Reactive Oxygen Species‐Activated Tumor‐Seeking Probe to Guide Precise Surgical Resection

Abstract Optical molecular imaging with near‐infrared (NIR) dyes provides a promising strategy for the visual detection of tumor tissues. However, conventional molecular probes often suffer from poor targeting specificity and low signal contrast during tumor detection. In this work, we developed a reactive oxygen species (ROS)‐activated tumor‐seeking probe (termed MB‐PEG‐Bio2 ) based on a multivalent biotin‐targeting strategy. A bivalent biotin‐targeting ligand was bonded to an ROS‐responsive molecular scaffold to maximize receptor–ligand interactions, resulting in significantly stronger tumor affinity and selectivity of the probe. The optical signal of the proposed probe was initially masked and could be selectively activated by overexpressed ROS levels in the tumor microenvironment. This activation led to the specific release of the clinical dye methylene blue (MB), offering high‐contrast NIR fluorescence and photoacoustic imaging signals for precise tumor visualization. MB‐PEG‐Bio2 demonstrated strong tumor selectivity, enabling the detection of tumors in different mice models, including accurate identification of small tumors (∼3 mm). Consequently, the probe could delineate tumor boundaries during fluorescence‐guided surgery, significantly reducing postoperative tumor recurrence.

Bivalent transition metal complexes of triazole pyridine Schiff base with theoretical and biological investigations

Abstract Copper(II), manganese(II), and mercury(II) complexes of 4-amino-5-(2-(1-pyridine-2-yl)ethylidene)hydrazinyl)-4H-1,2,4-triazole-3-thiol (H2TAP) were synthesized and characterized using CHN analysis, FT-IR, 1H-NMR, 13C-NMR, UV–Vis, ESR, MS, PXRD, magnetic moment measurements, molar conductance, and TG/DTA. DFT calculations indicate octahedral geometries and the neutral bidentate or tridentate chelating behavior of the ligand. Cyclic voltammetry revealed the complexes’ redox properties, and Job’s method elucidated stoichiometric compositions in solution. Biochemical assays demonstrated antimicrobial activity against Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, and Candida albicans. The MnII complex exhibited potent antitumor activity against HepG-2 cells. Antioxidant and DNA binding studies showed promising results, with docking investigations indicating strong interactions between the ligand/complexes and target proteins (PDB: 1YWN) and DNA (PDB: 8EC1), suggesting therapeutic potential.

An efficient machine-learning framework for predicting protein post-translational modification sites

Abstract Post-Translational Modifications (PTMs), particularly lysine 2-hydroxyisobutyrylation (Khib), represent critical regulatory mechanisms governing protein structure and function, with mounting evidence underscoring their important implications in cellular metabolism, transcriptional regulation, and pathological processes. Despite this significance, the experimental identification of Khib sites remains constrained by resource-intensive methodologies and the transient nature of these modifications. To overcome these limitations, we introduce HyLightKhib, a computational framework that leverages Light Gradient Boosting Machine architecture for accurate Khib site prediction. Our approach depends on a hybrid feature extraction strategy, integrating Evolutionary Scale Modeling (ESM-2) embeddings with comprehensive Composition, Transition, and Distribution (CTD) descriptors as well as curated amino acid physicochemical properties for fixed-length peptides of 43 amino acids. The proposed classifier demonstrated considerable performance over contemporary algorithms, including XGBoost and CatBoostimplementations through mutual information-based feature selection optimization. Cross-species validation on diverse organisms including, human, parasite , and rice achieved improved Area Under the Receiver Operating Characteristic Curve (AUC-ROC) scores of 0.893, 0.876, and 0.847, respectively, outperforming existing predictors, such as DeepKhib, and ResNetKhib. HyLightKhib represents an advancement in computational PTM prediction, providing enhanced predictive performance and valuable biological insights with direct implications for functional proteomics and PTM-targeted therapies.

Scalable Hyperpolarized MRI Enabled by Ace‐SABRE of [1‐ ¹³ C]Pyruvate

Abstract Hyperpolarized (HP) MRI using [1– 13 C]pyruvate is emerging as a promising molecular imaging approach. Among hyperpolarization methods, Signal Amplification By Reversible Exchange (SABRE) is attractive because SABRE polarizes the substrates directly in room‐temperature solutions avoiding complex hardware. Most SABRE experiments have historically been performed in methanol, a relatively toxic and difficult‐to‐remove solvent. Here we demonstrate the use of a 80/20 acetone/water (A/W) solvent system (Ace‐SABRE) to provide hyperpolarized [1– 13 C]pyruvate with up to 17% polarization, then implement a solvent processing protocol to achieve injectable solutions retaining 74% of the initial polarization, and lastly we demonstrate HP in vivo spectroscopy and imaging using the Ace‐SABRE platform to showcase metabolic tracking in a hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tumor as well as HP‐MRI, both in direct comparison to dissolution dynamic nuclear polarization (d‐DNP) experiments. The Ace‐SABRE technique promises faster adoption of SABRE hyperpolarization in biological experiments, overall lowering the barriers to entry for HP‐NMR and HP‐MRI.

Impact of in vitro exposure to 5G-modulated 3.5 GHz fields on oxidative stress and DNA repair in skin cells

Abstract The rapid deployment of fifth-generation (5G) wireless networks has raised societal concerns regarding potential biological effects, particularly on human skin, due to the use of higher carrier frequencies that penetrate tissue less deeply. Consequently, whether 5G-modulated radiofrequency (RF) electromagnetic fields (EMFs) at 3.5 GHz affect oxidative stress and DNA repair in skin cells remains an open question. Using genetically encoded Bioluminescence Resonance Energy Transfer (BRET)-based biosensors targeted to the cytoplasm and mitochondria, we assessed whether exposure of human fibroblasts to 5G RF-EMF at specific absorption rates (SAR) of 0.08 and 4 W/kg for 24 h could alter basal reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels or potentiate the effects of known ROS inducers, including H₂O₂, Kp372-1, and Antimycin A. We also evaluated whether pre-exposure to 5G RF-EMF could induce an adaptive response (AR), by modulating ROS production following a subsequent challenge with arsenic trioxide (As₂O₃). Additionally, we investigated the impact of combined RF-EMF and ultraviolet-B (UV-B) exposure on the formation and repair of cyclobutane pyrimidine dimer (CPD) lesions in HaCaT keratinocytes. Our results showed no significant effect of 5G RF-EMF exposure, either alone or in combination with chemical ROS inducers, on oxidative stress markers in either compartment. Likewise, RF-EMF exposure did not induce an adaptive response to oxidative challenge, nor did it alter the kinetics or the efficiency of CPD repair by the nucleotide excision repair (NER) pathway. These findings support the conclusion that the exposure to 5G RF-EMF at 3.5 GHz up to 4 W/kg does not induce oxidative stress or impair DNA repair efficiency in human skin cells, within the experimental conditions tested.

Cobalt‐Catalyzed Stereodivergent Semihydrogenation of Alkynes: Synthesis of <i>E</i> ‐ and <i>Z</i> ‐Alkenes

Abstract Transition metal‐catalyzed semihydrogenation of alkynes is one of the most efficient, sustainable, and environmental‐friendly strategies for accessing stereoisomerically pure olefins. Herein, we report a tridentate nitrogen‐containing ligand (8‐OIQ) promoted cobalt‐catalyzed stereodivergent semihydrogenation of internal alkynes; a series of Z ‐ and E ‐alkenes could be synthesized with high stereoselectivity. Besides, this protocol exhibits excellent functional group tolerance and operates under mild reaction conditions (1 bar H 2 , room temperature). A preliminary mechanistic study revealed that acetonitrile plays an important role in suppressing over‐reduction and controlling the stereoselectivity in this transformation.

Highly sensitive and label-free detection of SARS-CoV-2 proteins via surface plasmon resonance using biofunctionalization with 1 nm thick carbon nanomembranes

Abstract Here we report a novel platform for the detection of nucleocapsid (N) and receptor-binding domain (RBD) of spike (S) proteins of SARS-CoV-2 viruses using the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) technique. We demonstrate that the functionalization of SPR sensors with molecular 2D materials − 1 nm thick carbon nanomembranes (CNMs) significantly enhances sensitivity. CNMs terminated with azide linker (N3-CNM) enable covalent bonding of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies for specific immobilization of the N- and S-proteins to the sensor surface. The successful and stable hierarchical functionalization is confirmed by multiparametric SPR measurements complemented with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and polarization modulation infrared reflection absorption spectroscopy. The obtained equilibrium dissociation constants (K D ) for the N-protein and the S-protein in the physiological buffer are 570 ± 50 pM and 22 ± 2 pM and the low detection limits (LODs) are ~ 190 pM and ~ 10 pM, respectively. The high specificity of the developed sensors is shown via their negligible cross-reactivity with SARS-CoV-1 and MERS-CoV proteins. Finally, detection of SARS-CoV-2 proteins in nasopharyngeal swab samples with the LOD of ~ 40 pM is demonstrated. The proposed methodology enables the development of biosensors that cover clinically relevant range for the direct and immediate detection of SARS-CoV-2 without any amplification or labeling.

A Macrocycle‐Based Supramolecular Strategy for Interchangeable Screwdriver‐Like on‐Demand Post‐Functionalization of Covalent Organic Framework

Abstract Constructing functionalized covalent organic frameworks (COFs) through post‐functionalization constitutes one of the most important approaches to applications, but is frequently plagued by limited reaction types, tedious synthesis of different precursors, and time‐consuming screening of synthetic parameters for COFs. Moreover, their functions are difficult to change once the functionalities are covalently attached to COF skeletons. Herein, we report a macrocycle‐based supramolecular strategy for variable noncovalent post‐functionalization on the same COF platform like an interchangeable screwdriver. As a proof of concept, pillar[5]arene (P5A) with electron‐rich cavity is incorporated into COF as macrocycle host to anchor different electron‐deficient guests of various functions. Such a design allows tunable post‐functionalization of COF through host–guest interactions for customized utilities, which has been demonstrated by using a series of guests including organic salts for iodine capture and cyano‐based ligands for metal ion separation. Removing the guests enables recycling of COF, consecutive reinstallation of different guests, and continuous use for implementing expected tasks. This work establishes a general noncovalent approach to on‐demand interchangeable post‐functionalization of COFs.

Evolution of the roof caving and fracture zones during mining of close range coal seams

Hydrogen‐Bonding‐Assisted Assembly of Stable High‐Nuclearity Copper(I)‐Alkyne Nanoclusters for X‐Ray Scintillation

Abstract The construction of high‐nuclearity, atomically precise copper(I)‐alkyne nanoclusters remains a formidable challenge due to their high reactivity and strong aggregation tendency. Here, we report a hydrogen‐bonding‐assisted assembly strategy that enables the ambient‐condition synthesis of two robust copper(I)‐alkyne nanoclusters. Single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction reveals the different core structures including [(C 2 ) 8 @Cu 50 ] ( Cu50 ) and [(C 2 ) 10 @Cu 56 ] ( Cu56 ). Both clusters feature distinctive metal shells stabilized by synergistic Cu─C/O coordination interactions and an extensive outer‐layer hydrogen‐bonding network between the hydroxyl groups of 2‐methyl‐3‐butyn‐2‐ol  and CF 3 COO − ligands, enhancing molecular rigidity and inoxidizability. Notably, Cu50 displays strong yellow phosphorescence and prominent X‐ray‐excited luminescence (XEL). More significantly, it represents the first high‐nuclearity copper nanocluster to be processed into a scintillator film, which exhibits promising X‐ray imaging performance. The present work not only establishes a generalizable hydrogen‐bond‐assisted assembly strategy for constructing stable, high‐nuclearity copper(I)‐alkyne nanoclusters, but also demonstrates their practical applicability in X‐ray scintillation, providing new insights into the synthetic design and functional diversification of nanocluster‐based materials.

Nylon‐6 Precursor Electrosynthesis From Low‐Concentration NO via Carbon‐Enhanced NO Adsorption and Improved Mass Transfer

Abstract Cyclohexanone oxime electrosynthesis from low‐concentration NO is important but suffers from low Faraday efficiency and current density because of severe competitive hydrogen and ammonia evolution reactions. Here, porous carbon‐supported ultrasmall Ag nanoparticles are designed to achieve 85.5% FE at a partial current density of 100 mA cm −2 for cyclohexanone oxime with a 3% NO concentration, outperforming pure Ag nanoparticles. Mechanistic studies reveal that porous carbon can optimize the NO transport path and H 2 O molecule distribution on the catalyst surface, accelerating the reaction dynamics for cyclohexanone oxime electrosynthesis and suppressing ammonia and hydrogen formation. This work paves the way for accessing low‐concentration gaseous reactants for various catalytic reactions.