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Conducting polymers are promising material candidates in diverse applications including energy storage, flexible electronics, and bioelectronics. However, the fabrication of conducting polymers has mostly relied on conventional approaches such as ink-jet printing, screen printing, and electron-beam lithography, whose limitations have hampered rapid innovations and broad applications of conducting polymers. Here we introduce a high-performance 3D printable conducting polymer ink based on poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS) for 3D printing of conducting polymers. The resultant superior printability enables facile fabrication of conducting polymers into high resolution and high aspect ratio microstructures, which can be integrated with other materials such as insulating elastomers via multi-material 3D printing. The 3D-printed conducting polymers can also be converted into highly conductive and soft hydrogel microstructures. We further demonstrate fast and streamlined fabrications of various conducting polymer devices, such as a soft neural probe capable of in vivo single-unit recording. Conducting polymers are promising materials for diverse applications but the fabrication of conducting polymers mostly relies on conventional fabrication techniques. Here the authors introduce a high performance 3D printable conducting polymer ink to take full advantage of advanced 3D printing.

Hydrogels of conducting polymers, particularly poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrene sulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS), provide a promising electrical interface with biological tissues for sensing and stimulation, owing to their favorable electrical and mechanical properties. While existing methods mostly blend PEDOT:PSS with other compositions such as non-conductive polymers, the blending can compromise resultant hydrogels’ mechanical and/or electrical properties. Here, we show that designing interconnected networks of PEDOT:PSS nanofibrils via a simple method can yield high-performance pure PEDOT:PSS hydrogels. The method involves mixing volatile additive dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) into aqueous PEDOT:PSS solutions followed by controlled dry-annealing and rehydration. The resultant hydrogels exhibit a set of properties highly desirable for bioelectronic applications, including high electrical conductivity (~20 S cm −1 in PBS, ~40 S cm −1 in deionized water), high stretchability (> 35% strain), low Young’s modulus (~2 MPa), superior mechanical, electrical and electrochemical stability, and tunable isotropic/anisotropic swelling in wet physiological environments. Hydrogels of conducting polymers provide an electrical interface with biological tissues for sensing and stimulation, but currently have compromised mechanical and electrical properties. Here, the authors show a simple method to achieve pure PEDOT:PSS hydrogels that exhibit superior mechanical and electrical properties, stability, and tunable swelling.

Micro-expressions (MEs) are involuntary facial movements that reveal genuine emotions, holding significant value in fields like deception detection and psychological diagnosis. However, micro-expression recognition (MER) is fundamentally challenged by the entanglement of subtle emotional motions with identity-specific features. Traditional methods, such as those based on Robust Principal Component Analysis (RPCA), attempt to separate identity and motion components through fixed preprocessing and coarse decomposition. However, these methods can inadvertently remove subtle emotional cues and are disconnected from subsequent module training, limiting the discriminative power of features. Inspired by the Bruce–Young model of facial cognition, which suggests that facial identity and expression are processed via independent neural routes, we recognize the need for a more dynamic, learnable disentanglement paradigm for MER. We propose LFD-TCMEN, a novel network that introduces an end-to-end learnable feature disentanglement framework. The network is synergistically optimized by a multi-task objective unifying orthogonality, reconstruction, consistency, cycle, identity, and classification losses. Specifically, the Disentangle Representation Learning (DRL) module adaptively isolates pure motion patterns from subject-specific appearance, overcoming the limitations of static preprocessing, while the Temporal-Complemented Motion Enhancement (TCME) module integrates purified motion representations—highlighting subtle facial muscle activations—with optical flow dynamics to comprehensively model the spatiotemporal evolution of MEs. Extensive experiments on CAS(ME)3 and DFME benchmarks demonstrate that our method achieves state-of-the-art cross-subject performance, validating the efficacy of the proposed learnable disentanglement and synergistic optimization.

The ancylite supergroup has been approved by the Commission on New Minerals, Nomenclature and Classification of the International Mineralogical Association, with the general crystal chemical formula (M3+xM2+2-x)(CO3)2[(OH)x·(2-x)H2O] (1 ≤ x ≤ 2, Z = 2). The ancylite supergroup can be divided into two groups defined by different proportions of the M cation and hydroxyl anion and/or water molecule: the ancylite group is defined for 1 ≤ x ≤ 1.5; the kozoite group is defined for 1.5 < x ≤ 2. The ancylite supergroup minerals are orthorhombic with space group Pmcn, or monoclinic with space group Pm11, and have a crystal structure with species-defining trivalent and divalent M cations (M = La3+, Ce3+, Nd3+, Ca2+, Sr2+ and Pb2+) which centre ten-vertex polyhedra formed by oxygen atoms at three independent O sites. Two vertices of the triangular (CO3)2- anion are oxygen atoms, whereas the third one, O(3), is statistically filled with (OH)- groups and H2O molecules. The triangular faces of three oxygen atoms of MO10 coordination polyhedra join the chains of this ten-vertex polyhedron, which is extended along the c axis. The (CO3) triangles connect chains in three dimensions. To date, eight valid mineral species with M2+ = Sr2+, Ca2+ and Pb2+ belong to the ancylite group [ancylite-(La), ancylite-(Ce), calcioancylite-(La), calcioancylite-(Ce), calcioancylite-(Nd), gysinite-(La), gysinite-(Ce) and gysinite-(Nd)]. Two hydroxyl carbonates with only rare earth elements as species-defining cations, kozoite-(La) and kozoite-(Nd) are members of the kozoite group.

Osteopontin, a phosphorylated glycoprotein, is highly expressed in lung tissues and is elevated in inflammatory diseases. However, its role in acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD) remains unclear. A total of 281 AECOPD patients, 89 stable COPD (SCOPD) cases, and 89 healthy volunteers were enrolled in this prospective cohort according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Demographic information and clinical features were obtained from electronic medical records systems. Fasting venous blood was collected on the day of admission, and baseline serum osteopontin was measured using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The primary endpoints—death, frequency of acute exacerbations, and hospital length of stay—were evaluated through a follow-up study. Baseline serum osteopontin levels were higher in AECOPD patients compared to SCOPD patients and healthy volunteers. Linear regression analysis revealed positive associations between serum osteopontin and severity scores in AECOPD patients, and an inverse correlation of serum osteopontin and pulmonary function in SCOPD patients. In addition, baseline serum osteopontin levels were elevated in AECOPD patients with poorer prognosis. Logistic regression analysis indicated that serum osteopontin was positively correlated with the risks of death and acute exacerbations in the first year. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis suggested that the predictive ability of serum osteopontin for poor prognosis was comparable to that of the COPD Assessment Test (CAT) score and superior to the modified Medical Research Council (mMRC) score among AECOPD patients. Our findings indicate that baseline serum osteopontin is positively associated with severity scores and adverse clinical outcomes, highlighting its potential value as a surrogate prognostic biomarker in AECOPD patients.

Calcioancylite-(La), ideally (La,Ca)2(CO3)2(OH,H2O)2, has been discovered from nepheline syenite of the Gejiu alkaline complex in the Honghe Hani and Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province, China. The mineral occurs as aggregates of subhedral grains, and the size of single crystals varies between 5-20 µm. Calcioancylite-(La) is colourless to pale pinkish grey and has transparent to translucent lustre. It is brittle with a Mohs hardness of 4. The calculated density is 4.324 g/cm3. The mineral is biaxial (-), with α =1.662, β = 1.730, γ = 1.771, 2Vmeas. = 70°(1) and 2Vcalc. = 73°. Electron microprobe analysis for holotype material yielded an empirical formula of (La0.58Ce0.55Pr0.14Nd0.10Ca0.39Sr0.20K0.04)Σ2.00(CO3 )2[(OH)1.25F0.06·0.69H2O]Σ2.00. Calcioancylite-(La) is orthorhombic, with space group Pmcn, a = 5.0253(3) Å, b = 8.5152(6) Å, c = 7.2717(6) Å, V = 311.17(4) Å3 and Z = 2. By using single-crystal X-ray diffraction, the crystal structure has been determined and refined to a final R1 = 0.0652 on the basis of 347 independent reflections (I > 2σ). The seven strongest powder X-ray diffraction lines [d in Å (I) (hkl)] are: 2.334 (100) (013), 2.970 (80) (121), 4.334 (75) (110), 3.678 (68) (111), 2.517 (55) (200), 2.647 (47) (031) and 2.077 (44) (221). Calcioancylite-(La) is the La-analogue of calcioancylite-(Ce) and is a new member of ancylite-group minerals. The mineral and its name have been approved by the Commission on New Minerals, Nomenclature and Classification of the International Mineralogical Association (IMA2021-090).

Thioredoxin-interacting protein (TXNIP) was originally named vitamin D3 upregulated protein-1 (VDUP1) because of its ability to bind to thioredoxin (TRX) and inhibit TRX function and expression. TXNIP is an alpha-arrestin protein that is essential for redox homeostasis in the human body. TXNIP may act as a double-edged sword in the cell. The balance of TXNIP is crucial. A study has shown that TXNIP can travel between diverse intracellular locations and bind to different proteins to play different roles under oxidative stress. The primary function of TXNIP is to induce apoptosis or pyroptosis under oxidative stress. TXNIP also inhibits proliferation and migration in cancer cells, although TXNIP levels decrease, and function diminishes in various cancers. In this review, we summarized the main structure, binding proteins, pathways, and the role of TXNIP in diseases, aiming to explore the double-edged sword role of TXNIP, and expect it to be helpful for future treatment using TXNIP as a therapeutic target.

The new mineral tennantite-(Ni), Cu6(Cu4Ni2)As4S13, has been discovered from the Luobusa Chromitite, Tibet, southwestern China. Tennantite-(Ni) occurs as anhedral grains ranging from 2 to 20 µm in size. In reflected light microscopy, tennantite-(Ni) is isotropic and appears yellow-greenish grey. Reflectance data for Commission on Ore Mineralogy wavelengths in air for tennantite-(Ni) are: 31.0 (470 nm), 29.6 (546 nm), 29.6 (589 nm) and 29.3 (650 nm). Electron microprobe analysis for holotype material gave the empirical formula (on basis of total cations = 16 apfu): M(2)Cu6M(1)[Cu4.00(Ni0.97Cu0.53Fe0.50)Σ2.00]Σ6.00 X(3)(As2. 94Sb1.06)Σ4S12.77. Tennantite-(Ni) is cubic, with space group I

Aim： Forkhead box M1 （FoxM1） is a transcription factor that plays important roles in the pathogenesis and progression of human cancers, including hepatocellular carcinoma （HCC）. The aim of this study was to examine the involvement of FoxM1 in the anti-cancer action of sorafenib, a multikinase inhibitor, in human HCC cells. Methods： HCC cell lines HepG2 and HUH-7 were tested. Cell viability was examined using MTT assay and cell invasion was determined with Transwell migration assay. The relevant mRNA expression was determined with RT-PCR, and the proteins were detected using Western blotting and immunofluorescence assays. RNA interference was used to modify the expression of p53 and FoxMl. HUH-7 cel line xenograft mice were used for in vivo study, which were treated with sorafenib （40 mg/kg, po） daily for 3 weeks. Results： Sorafenib （2-20 μmol/L） inhibited the proliferation of the cells in dose- and time-dependent manners with an IC50 value of nearly 6 iJmol/L at 48 h. Sorafenib （6 μmol/L） markedly suppressed the cell invasion. Furthermore, sorafenib （2-6 μmol/L） dose-dependently decreased the expression of FoxM1, MMP-2, and Ki-67, and up-regulated that of p53 in the cells. Silencing p53 abolished the decrease of FoxM1 and increase of p53 in sorafenib-treated cells. Silencing FoxM1 significantly reduced the expression of MMP-2 and Ki-67, and enhanced the anti-proliferation action of sorafenib in the cells, whereas overexpression of FoxM1 increased the expression of MMP-2 and Ki-67, and abrogated the anti-proliferation action of sorafenib. In the xenograft mice, sorafenib administration decreased the tumor growth by 40%, and markedly increased the expression of p53, and decreased the expression of FoxM1, MMP-2, and Ki-67 in tumor tissues. Conclusion： Sorafenib inhibits HCC proliferation and invasion by inhibiting MMP-2 and Ki-67 expression due to up-regulation of P53 and suppressing FoxMl.

Two-dimensional membranes have attracted significant attention due to their superior characteristics, and their ability to boost both flux and selectivity have led to their reputation as potential next-generation separation membranes. Among them, emerging MXene-based membranes play significant roles in the competitive membrane-separation field. In this mini-review, we systematically discuss the assembly and separation mechanisms of these membranes. Moreover, we highlight strategies based on the crosslinking of MXene nanosheets and the construction of additional nanochannels that further enhance the permeabilities and anti-swelling properties of MXene-based membranes and meet the requirements of practical applications, such as gas-molecule sieving, ion sieving, and other small-molecule sieving. MXene nanosheets can also be used as additives that introduce specific functionalities into hybrid membranes. In addition, extended applications that use MXenes as scaffolds are also discussed.