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Acute liver failure (ALF) is a life-threatening condition caused by rapid hepatocyte death and impaired liver regeneration. Here we show that extracellular vesicles engineered to express Signal Regulatory Protein Alpha (SIRP-EVs), produced via a scalable 3D bioreactor process with high yield and purity, exhibit significant therapeutic potential by targeting damaged cells and promoting tissue repair. SIRP-EVs block CD47, a crucial inhibitory signal on necroptotic cells, to enhance macrophage-mediated clearance of dying hepatocytes. They also deliver regenerative cargo from mesenchymal stem cells, reprogramming macrophages to support liver regeneration. In male animal models, SIRP-EVs significantly reduce liver injury markers and improve survival, demonstrating their dual-function therapeutic efficacy. By integrating the resolution of necroptosis with regenerative macrophage reprogramming, SIRP-EVs represent a promising platform for restoring liver function. These findings support the development of EV-based in vivo macrophage reprogramming therapies for ALF and other inflammation-driven diseases, paving the way for the clinical application of engineered EV therapeutics. Acute liver failure arises from rapid cell death and impaired liver regeneration. Here, the authors show that scalable, high-purity engineered extracellular vesicles derived from stem cells promote the clearance of dying hepatocytes and drive liver repair through in vivo macrophage reprogramming.

In mammalian species, pregnancy is a complex process that involves the maternal recognition of pregnancy, implantation, decidualization, placentation, and parturition. The innate immune system is composed of cellular components, such as natural killer cells, neutrophils, monocytes, and macrophages, and effector molecules, such as cytokines, interferons, antimicrobial peptides, and complement components. The innate immune system plays a critical role as the first line of defense against infection or inflammation to maintain homeostasis and activate the adaptive immunity. During pregnancy, innate immune cells and effector molecules act on the regulation of innate immunity for host defense and processes such as embryo development, implantation, and placentation at the maternal–conceptus interface. In this review, we describe the components of the innate immune system and their functions at the maternal–conceptus interface to establish and maintain pregnancy in animal species that form hemochorial- or epitheliochorial-type placentas, including humans, rodents, ruminants, and pigs.

Background/Objectives: The YSK olfactory function (YOF) test is a culturally adapted psychophysical tool that assesses threshold, discrimination, and identification. This study evaluated whether functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) synchronized with routine YOF testing, combined with machine learning, can predict YOF subdomain performance in healthy adults, providing an objective neural correlate to complement behavioral testing. Methods: In this prospective diagnostic-accuracy (feasibility/validation) study in healthy adults with algorithm development, 100 healthy adults completed the YOF test while undergoing prefrontal/orbitofrontal fNIRS during odor blocks. Feature sets from ΔHbO/ΔHbR included time-domain descriptors, complexity (Lempel–Ziv), and information-theoretic measures (mutual information); the identification task used a hybrid attention–CNN. Separate models were developed for threshold (binary classification), discrimination (binary classification), and identification (binary classification). Performance was summarized with accuracy, area under the curve (AUC), F1-score, and (where applicable) sensitivity/specificity, using participant-level cross-validation. Results: The threshold classifier achieved accuracy 0.86, AUC 0.86, and F1 0.86, indicating strong discrimination of correct vs. incorrect threshold responses. The discrimination model yielded accuracy 0.75, AUC 0.76, and F1 0.75. The identification model (attention–convolutional neural network [CNN]) achieved accuracy 0.88, sensitivity 0.86, specificity 0.91, and F1 0.88. Feature-attribution (e.g., SHapley Additive exPlanations [SHAP]) provided interpretable links between fNIRS features and task performance for threshold and discrimination. Conclusions: Olfactory-evoked fNIRS signals can accurately predict YOF subdomain performance in healthy adults, supporting the feasibility of non-invasive, portable, near–real-time olfactory monitoring. These findings are preliminary and not generalizable to clinical populations; external validation in diverse cohorts is warranted. The approach clarifies the scientific essence of the method by (i) aligning psychophysical outcomes with objective hemodynamic signatures and (ii) introducing a feature-rich modeling pipeline (ΔHbO/ΔHbR + Lempel–Ziv complexity/mutual information; attention–CNN) that advances prior work.

In this study, we employed functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to explore dynamic functional connectivity (dFC) responses to olfactory stimulation in thirteen healthy control participants and seven patients with vascular dementia (VD). Participants underwent five rest and odor exposure cycles, and dFC was estimated using a sliding window correlation approach. The healthy control group exhibited limited changes, while the VD group exhibited more extensive fluctuations in both oxy- and deoxyhemoglobin dFC across multiple regions during several stimulation periods. Between-group analyses revealed differences, particularly during olfactory stimulation, with moderate to large effect sizes. These preliminary findings suggest that olfactory-evoked dFC may reflect altered brain network dynamics in VD and could potentially serve as a non-invasive, accessible tool to help understand vascular dementia.

Multiscale imaging and spectroscopy play a pivotal role in understanding the structural, chemical, and dynamic behavior of battery materials, providing critical insights that drive advancements in performance, longevity, and safety. This review provides a comprehensive analysis of various imaging techniques, from macroscopic tools like x‐ray tomography to nanoscale methods such as atomic force microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. By categorizing these techniques based on spatial resolution, the review highlights their applications in resolving key issues like electrode degradation, dendrite formation, and phase transitions during battery operation. Moreover, the integration of machine learning accelerates data processing, enabling multiscale correlations and predictive modeling. The review underscores the necessity of multiscale approaches to optimize battery performance, safety, and lifespan, showcasing how emerging methodologies contribute to next‐generation energy storage technologies. Key physical and chemical phenomena in battery materials are illustrated across multiple length scales, from atomic to device level. Corresponding characterization techniques are aligned with each regime, showing how structural, thermal, and interfacial changes affect performance. This multiscale framework underscores the importance of integrated imaging for next‐generation battery diagnostics and design.

The thalamus is thought to relay peripheral sensory information to the somatosensory cortex in the parietal lobe. Long-range thalamo-parietal interactions play an important role in inducing the effect of anesthetic. However, whether these interaction changes vary with different levels of anesthesia is not known. In the present study, we investigated the influence of different levels of isoflurane-induced anesthesia on the functional connectivity between the thalamus and the parietal region. Microelectrodes were implanted in rats to record local field potentials (LFPs). The rats underwent different levels of isoflurane anesthesia [deep anesthesia: isoflurane (ISO) 2.5 vol%, light anesthesia (ISO 1 vol%), awake, and recovery state] and LFPs were recorded from four different brain areas (left parietal, right parietal, left thalamus, and right thalamus). Partial directed coherence (PDC) was calculated for these areas. With increasing depth of anesthesia, the PDC in the thalamus-to-parietal direction was significantly increased mainly in the high frequency ranges; however, in the parietal-to-thalamus direction, the increase was mainly in the low frequency band. For both directions, the PDC changes were prominent in the alpha frequency band. Functional interactions between the thalamus and parietal area are augmented proportionally to the anesthesia level. This relationship may pave the way for better understanding of the neural processing of sensory inputs from the periphery under different levels of anesthesia.

In wafer polishing pad surface plays a crucial role in the polishing process. With the increase of friction time between pad and wafer, the pad becomes flattened or glazed with particles clogging the pores of the pad and forming a layer of slurry residue and wafer particles, leading to changes of COF, material removal rates and higher defects on the wafer surface. Thus, this study aims to determine the correlation between pad surface deformation, slurry adhesive rate and Coefficient of friction (COF) during friction between felt pad and single -crystal silicon, to analyze the relationship between pad condition and COF. The real-time COF between felt pad and single-crystal silicon wafer are tested which are sorted in groups depending on various loads and oscillation frequencies and surfaces of felt pads measuring by Scanning electron microscope (SEM) are compared. The correlation between pad surface deformation and abrasive adhesion and COF is evaluated through analyzing the experiment results.

The purinergic system is composed of purine nucleotides, enzymes, transporters, and receptors and involved in a variety of physiological processes in the body, including development, metabolism, immunity, tumorigenesis, and reproduction. The importance of the purinergic system for embryo implantation in the endometrium and in pathophysiological conditions has been shown in some species. However, the expression, regulation, and function of purinergic system molecules at the maternal-conceptus interface in pigs is not fully understood. Therefore, we determined the expression of purinergic system molecules in the endometrium during the estrous cycle and pregnancy and in the conceptus and chorioallantoic tissues during pregnancy in pigs. The expression of many purinergic system molecules in the endometrium changed dynamically during pregnancy, with the expression of several components in the endometrium greater on Day 15 of pregnancy than Day 15 of the estrous cycle, and it was regulated by conceptus-derived interleukin-1β and interferon-γ. Purinergic system molecules were also expressed in conceptuses during early pregnancy and in chorioallantoic tissues during mid- to term pregnancy. Furthermore, ATP, a major purinergic signaling molecule, increased migration of endometrial epithelial and conceptus trophectoderm cells, the expression of prostaglandin synthetic enzymes, and the secretion of prostaglandin F2α in endometrial epithelial cells in vitro. These data suggest that the purinergic system molecules expressed in the endometrium, conceptus, and chorioallantoic tissues might play an important role in the establishment and maintenance of pregnancy by regulating various cellular functions at the maternal-conceptus interface in pigs.The purinergic system is composed of purine nucleotides, enzymes, transporters, and receptors and involved in a variety of physiological processes in the body, including development, metabolism, immunity, tumorigenesis, and reproduction. The importance of the purinergic system for embryo implantation in the endometrium and in pathophysiological conditions has been shown in some species. However, the expression, regulation, and function of purinergic system molecules at the maternal-conceptus interface in pigs is not fully understood. Therefore, we determined the expression of purinergic system molecules in the endometrium during the estrous cycle and pregnancy and in the conceptus and chorioallantoic tissues during pregnancy in pigs. The expression of many purinergic system molecules in the endometrium changed dynamically during pregnancy, with the expression of several components in the endometrium greater on Day 15 of pregnancy than Day 15 of the estrous cycle, and it was regulated by conceptus-derived interleukin-1β and interferon-γ. Purinergic system molecules were also expressed in conceptuses during early pregnancy and in chorioallantoic tissues during mid- to term pregnancy. Furthermore, ATP, a major purinergic signaling molecule, increased migration of endometrial epithelial and conceptus trophectoderm cells, the expression of prostaglandin synthetic enzymes, and the secretion of prostaglandin F2α in endometrial epithelial cells in vitro. These data suggest that the purinergic system molecules expressed in the endometrium, conceptus, and chorioallantoic tissues might play an important role in the establishment and maintenance of pregnancy by regulating various cellular functions at the maternal-conceptus interface in pigs.

Insects impact human health through vector-borne diseases and cause major economic losses by damaging crops and stored agricultural products. Insect-specific growth regulators represent attractive control agents because of their safety to the environment and humans. We identified plant compounds that serve as juvenile hormone antagonists (PJHANs). Using the yeast two-hybrid system transformed with the mosquito JH receptor as a reporter system, we demonstrate that PJHANs affect the JH receptor, methoprene-tolerant (Met), by disrupting its complex with CYCLE or FISC, formation of which is required for mediating JH action. We isolated five diterpene secondary metabolites with JH antagonist activity from two plants: Lindera erythrocarpa and Solidago serotina . They are effective in causing mortality of mosquito larvae at relatively low LD ₅₀ values. Topical application of two diterpenes caused reduction in the expression of Met target genes and retardation of follicle development in mosquito ovaries. Hence, the newly discovered PJHANs may lead to development of a new class of safe and effective pesticides. Significance Juvenile hormone (JH) plays key roles in insect development, reproduction, and many other physiological functions. Because JH is specific to insects, it has been investigated for use as pest control. Although compounds that mimic the action of JH (JH analogues/agonists) are efficient, they have a limited scope of application. Development of potent compounds counteracting JH action (JH antagonists) would find a wider range of control applications. However, thus far, such JH antagonists have not been developed. Here, we report on the discovery of potent JH antagonists in plants, which represents an innate resistance mechanism of plants against insect herbivores. These newly discovered plant JH antagonist compounds could be used as the starting material for developing novel insecticides.

A new algorithm for controlling sound quality actively in a car cabin using a virtual error microphone (VEM) is considered in this paper. Active sound quality control (ASQC) is known to improve engine sound in a cabin by canceling boomings and enhancing some engine order sound at the same time. The VEM based ASQC (VEM-ASQC) algorithm in this study is devised to relocate a controlled sound zone formed at an error microphone position to the driver’s ear position where a virtual error microphone locates. Since the error microphone just by the driver’s ear can block free movement of the driver’s head, the error microphone can be positioned just beneath the ceiling in a cabin. A target profile containing the sound level in dB of the nine engine orders from C2 to C6 with the half-order interval was pre-designed. Control experiments in real-time were carried out at the neutral mode of an actual car when the engine speed was swept from 1000 to 4800 RPM. Experiment results showed that the performance of the VEM-ASQC algorithm was achieved required sound quality within small errors. Therefore, the VEM-ASQC algorithm can be applied to the practical implementation in a passenger car by reducing the degradation effect due to the distance between the driver’s ear and the error microphone.