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Bioethanol production from xylose is important for utilization of lignocellulosic biomass as raw materials. The research on yeast conversion of xylose to ethanol has been intensively studied especially for genetically engineered Saccharomyces cerevisiae during the last 20 years. S . cerevisiae , which is a very safe microorganism that plays a traditional and major role in industrial bioethanol production, has several advantages due to its high ethanol productivity, as well as its high ethanol and inhibitor tolerance. However, this yeast cannot ferment xylose, which is the dominant pentose sugar in hydrolysates of lignocellulosic biomass. A number of different strategies have been applied to engineer yeasts capable of efficiently producing ethanol from xylose, including the introduction of initial xylose metabolism and xylose transport, changing the intracellular redox balance, and overexpression of xylulokinase and pentose phosphate pathways. In this review, recent progress with regard to these studies is discussed, focusing particularly on xylose-fermenting strains of S . cerevisiae . Recent studies using several promising approaches such as host strain selection and adaptation to obtain further improved xylose-utilizing S . cerevisiae are also addressed.

Obtaining “hard” and “crack-resistant” glasses have always been of great important in glass science and glass technology. However, in most commercial glasses both properties are not compatible. In this work, colorless and transparent x Al 2 O 3 –(100– x )SiO 2 glasses (30 ≤  x  ≤ 60) were fabricated by the aerodynamic levitation technique. The elastic moduli and Vickers hardness monotonically increased with an increase in the atomic packing density as the Al 2 O 3 content increased. Although a higher atomic packing density generally enhances crack formation in conventional oxide glasses, the indentation cracking resistance increased by approximately seven times with an increase in atomic packing density in binary Al 2 O 3 –SiO 2 glasses. In particular, the composition of 60Al 2 O 3 •40SiO 2 glass, which is identical to that of mullite, has extraordinary high cracking resistance with high elastic moduli and Vickers hardness. The results indicate that there exist aluminosilicate compositions that can produce hard and damage-tolerant glasses.

An 80‐year‐old man, who developed multiple lymph node and skin metastasis of malignant melanoma, received nivolumab monotherapy. Two weeks after the first dose, he experienced anorexia and fatigue, and suffered from progressive, severe dyspnea and muscle weakness. We diagnosed him with myocarditis, myositis, and myasthenic crisis induced by nivolumab. We commenced steroid therapy, immune absorption therapy, plasma exchange therapy, and i.v. immunoglobulin therapy, and succeeded in saving his life. Because his serum level of anti‐acetylcholine receptor antibodies in a sample collected before nivolumab treatment were positive and were elevated significantly after nivolumab, we suspected that nivolumab triggered a severe autoimmune response, which progressed subclinical myasthenia gravis to myasthenic crisis. We carried out T cell receptor repertoire analysis using next‐generation sequencing technologies and identified infiltration of clonally expanded T cell populations in the skeletal muscle after nivolumab treatment, implying a very strong T cell immune response against muscular cells. To avoid severe immune‐related adverse events, the exclusion of patients with subclinical autoimmune disease is very important for treatment with immune checkpoint inhibitors. Myasthenic crisis and polymyositis were induced by one dose of nivolumab. We performed T cell receptor repertoire analysis using the next‐generation sequencing technologies and identified infiltration of clonally expanded T cell populations in the skeletal muscle tissue after the nivolumab treatment, implying the very strong T cell immune response against muscular cells

x La 2 O 3 -(100 −  x )Ga 2 O 3 binary glasses were synthesized by an aerodynamic levitation technique. The glass-forming region was found to be 20 ≤  x  ≤ 57. The refractive indices were greater than 1.92 and increased linearly with increasing x . The polarizabilities of oxide ions were estimated to be 2.16–2.41 Å 3 , indicating that the glasses were highly ionic. The glasses were transparent over a very wide range from the ultraviolet to the mid-infrared region. The widest transparent window among the oxide glasses was from 270 nm to 10 μm at x  = 55. From the Raman scattering spectra, a decrease in bridging oxide ions and an increase in non-bridging oxide ions were confirmed to occur with increasing La 2 O 3 content. The maximum phonon energy was found to be approximately 650 cm −1 , being one of the lowest among oxide glasses. These results show that La 2 O 3 -Ga 2 O 3 binary glasses should be promising host materials for optical applications such as lenses, windows, and filters over a very wide wavelength range.

Weyl semimetals host topologically protected surface states, with arced Fermi surface contours that are predicted to propagate through the bulk when their momentum matches that of the surface projections of the bulk's Weyl nodes. We used spectroscopic mapping with a scanning tunneling microscope to visualize quasiparticle scattering and interference at the surface of the Weyl semimetal TaAs. Our measurements reveal 10 different scattering wave vectors, which can be understood and precisely reproduced with a theory that takes into account the shape, spin texture, and momentum-dependent propagation of the Fermi arc surface states into the bulk. Our findings provide evidence that Weyl nodes act as sinks for electron transport on the surface of these materials.

The filamentous fungus Talaromyces cellulolyticus is a well-characterized cellulolytic and hemicellulolytic enzyme producer. In this study, the function of the tclB2 gene, which is a homolog of the manR/clrB/clr-2 gene in other filamentous fungi, in mannanolytic enzyme production by T. cellulolyticus was investigated. When a tclB2-disrupted strain (YDTclB) was grown in the presence of glucomannan, the production of β-mannanase, β-mannosidase, and α-galactosidase was decreased at the protein and transcriptional levels when compared to the control strain. In addition, a tclB2-overexpressing strain (YHTclB) showed higher β-mannanase and β-mannosidase production. When cellulose was used as a carbon source, the expression of genes encoding mannanolytic enzymes also decreased in YDTclB. These results suggested that TclB2 contributes to mannanolytic enzyme production in T. cellulolyticus. This work is the first study to identify a transcriptional regulator of mannanolytic enzyme genes in T. cellulolyticus.

The fractional quantum Hall effect is a canonical example of topological phases. While electric currents flow downstream in edge modes, neutral edge modes, observed only in hole-conjugate states and in ν =5/2, flow upstream. It is believed that the latter transport results from multiple counter-propagating channels—mixed by disorder that is accompanied by Coulomb interaction. Here we report on sensitive shot noise measurements that reveal unexpected presence of neutral modes in non-hole-conjugate fractional states; however, not in the integer states. Furthermore, the incompressible bulk is also found to allow energy transport. While density reconstructions along the edge may account for the energy carrying edge modes, the origin of the bulk energy modes is unidentified. The proliferation of neutral modes changes drastically the accepted transport picture of the fractional quantum Hall effects. Their apparent ubiquitous presence may explain the lack of interference of fractional quasiparticles—preventing observation of fractional statistics. The accepted picture of transport in the fractional quantum Hall effect regime is that neutral modes are present only in hole-conjugate fractional states. Inoue et al. show the presence of upstream neutral modes and energy transport through the bulk in all tested non-hole-conjugate fractional states.

Small‐cell lung cancer (SCLC) is an aggressive tumor characterized by the frequent development of distant metastases. This study aimed to explore the mechanism of SCLC metastasis using an originally developed orthotopic transplantation model with DMS273 cells. An analysis of G3H cells, a highly metastatic subline of DMS273 cells, revealed that claudin‐11 promotes the invasive and metastatic ability of the cells. Further analysis revealed that membrane type 1‐matrix metalloproteinase (MT1‐MMP), which degrades a wide range of extracellular matrix components, was coprecipitated with claudin‐11. Gelatin zymography revealed that claudin‐11 enhanced MT1‐MMP activity, and MT1‐MMP silencing suppressed the invasive and metastatic ability of G3H cells. Moreover, in MT1‐MMP silencing DMS273 cells, the enhancement of invasion and metastatic potential induced by CLDN11 overexpression was abolished. These results demonstrate that claudin‐11 enhances the invasive capacity of the cells by activating MT1‐MMP, which promotes metastatic formation in the orthotopic transplantation model. Additionally, claudin‐11 expression was detected in SCLC tumor samples, and higher expression of CLDN11 correlated with poor prognosis in patients with SCLC. These findings suggest that the claudin‐11/MT1‐MMP axis plays an important role in SCLC pathogenesis. Claudin‐11 is a tight junction protein, and its role in small‐cell lung cancer (SCLC) remains unclear. This study showed that claudin‐11 was significantly upregulated in a highly metastatic subline of DMS273 SCLC cells, promoting cell invasion and metastasis through the activation of MT1‐MMP. Furthermore, claudin‐11 expression was detected in some SCLC tumors, and its expression was associated with poor patient prognosis.

The advent of immune checkpoint inhibitors targeting the PD-1/PD-L1 pathway has revolutionized cancer treatment, resulting in improved clinical outcomes. However, resistance remains a critical challenge. This study aimed to comparatively elucidate immunophenotypic changes in syngeneic mouse models sensitive (MC-38) or resistant (LLC1) to anti-PD-1 monoclonal antibody (mAb) treatment. In the sensitive MC-38 model, anti-PD-1 therapy increased dendritic cells (DCs) and macrophages, while decreasing myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) within the tumor microenvironment. Enhanced expression of antigen presentation molecules (MHC I/II) and costimulatory molecules (CD80/CD86) was observed on tumor-associated DCs and macrophages. Tumor-infiltrating CD4 + T, CD8 + T, regulatory T, NK, and NKT cells also significantly increased. Importantly, treatment boosted lymphocyte cytotoxic potential, with perforin identified as a key marker of efficacy. Notably, perforin expression in CD4 + T and NKT cells strongly negatively correlated with tumor volume. In contrast, the resistant LLC1 model exhibited minimal immunophenotypic changes upon treatment. These findings highlight critical immune modifications induced by anti-PD-1 therapy, particularly the role of perforin, and the DC/MDSC ratio in predicting therapeutic outcomes. This research offers valuable insights into potential predictive biomarkers and informs strategies to overcome resistance, emphasizing the complex interplay between anti-PD-1 treatment and the tumor microenvironment, ultimately aiming to improve immunotherapy response rates.