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HighlightsRecent advances in biomedical applications of metal–organic framework (MOF) nanocarriers for drug delivery are summarized.State-of-the-art strategies to functionalize MOFs with therapeutic agents, as well as their merits and drawbacks, are comprehensively discussed.Investigation of metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) for biomedical applications has attracted much attention in recent years. MOFs are regarded as a promising class of nanocarriers for drug delivery owing to well-defined structure, ultrahigh surface area and porosity, tunable pore size, and easy chemical functionalization. In this review, the unique properties of MOFs and their advantages as nanocarriers for drug delivery in biomedical applications were discussed in the first section. Then, state-of-the-art strategies to functionalize MOFs with therapeutic agents were summarized, including surface adsorption, pore encapsulation, covalent binding, and functional molecules as building blocks. In the third section, the most recent biological applications of MOFs for intracellular delivery of drugs, proteins, and nucleic acids, especially aptamers, were presented. Finally, challenges and prospects were comprehensively discussed to provide context for future development of MOFs as efficient drug delivery systems.

Polysemy is an inherent characteristic of natural language. In order to make it easier to distinguish between different senses of polysemous words, we propose a method for encoding multiple different senses of polysemous words using a single vector. The method first uses a two-layer bidirectional long short-term memory neural network and a self-attention mechanism to extract the contextual information of polysemous words. Then, a K -means algorithm, which is improved by optimizing the density peaks clustering algorithm based on cosine similarity, is applied to perform word sense induction on the contextual information of polysemous words. Finally, the method constructs the corresponding word sense embedded representations of the polysemous words. The results of the experiments demonstrate that the proposed method produces better word sense induction than Euclidean distance, Pearson correlation, and KL-divergence and more accurate word sense embeddings than mean shift, DBSCAN, spectral clustering, and agglomerative clustering.

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have attracted considerable attention for various applications due to their tunable structure, porosity and functionality. In general, MOFs have been synthesized from isolated metal ions and organic linkers under hydrothermal or solvothermal conditions via one-spot reactions. The emerging precursor approach and kinetically tuned dimensional augmentation strategy add more diversity to this field. In addition, to speed up the crystallization process and create uniform crystals with reduced size, many alternative synthesis routes have been explored. Recent advances in microwave-assisted synthesis and electrochemical synthesis are presented in this review. In recent years, post-synthetic approaches have been shown to be powerful tools to synthesize MOFs with modified functionality, which cannot be attained via de novo synthesis. In this review, some current accomplishments of post-synthetic modification (PSM) based on covalent transformations and coordinative interactions as well as post-synthetic exchange (PSE) in robust MOFs are provided.

To address the freezing damage to tunnel lining caused by frost heaving of the surrounding rock in water-rich tunnels in cold regions, a numerical thermo-mechanical coupling model for tunnel-surrounding rock that considers the anisotropy of frost heave deformation was established by examining overall frost heaves in a freeze–thaw cycle. Using a COMSOL Multiphysics 6.0 platform and the sequential coupling method, the temperature field evolution of tunnel-surrounding rock, freezing cycle development, and distribution characteristics of the frost heaving force of a tunnel lining under different minimum temperatures, numbers of negative temperature days, frost heave ratios, and anisotropy coefficients of frost heave deformation were systematically simulated. The results revealed that the response of the temperature field of tunnel-surrounding rock to the external temperature varies spatially with time lags, the shallow surface temperatures and the area around the lining fluctuate with the climate, and the temperature of the deep surrounding rock is dominated by the geothermal gradient. The extent of the freezing cycle and the frost heaving force increase significantly when lowering the minimum temperature. The maximum frost heaving force usually occurs in the region of the side wall and the spring line, and tensile stress is prone to be generated at the spring line; the influence of slight fluctuations in the minimum temperature or the short shift in the coldest day on the frost heaving force is limited. A substantial increase in frost heaving force is observed with higher frost heave ratios; for example, an increase from 0.25% to 2.0% results in a 116% rise at the sidewall. Although the increase in the anisotropy coefficient of frost heave deformation does not change the overall distribution pattern of frost heaving force, it can exacerbate the directional concentration of frost heave strain, which can increase the frost heaving force at the periphery of the top arch of the lining. This study revealed the distribution pattern and key influencing factors of the freezing cycle and frost heaving force for tunnels, providing a theoretical basis and data reference for the frost resistance design of tunnels in cold regions.

Objective To compare the efficacy and safety of flexible ureteroscopic lithotripsy using end-fire flexible negative-pressure ureteral access sheath (F-UAS) versus traditional ureteral access sheath (T-UAS) for 2–3-cm kidney stones. Methods This retrospective case–control study included 136 patients with kidney stones treated with flexible ureteroscopic lithotripsy using F-UAS at Shenzhen Second People’s Hospital from November 2022 to November 2023 (F-UAS group) and 132 patients treated with flexible ureteroscopic lithotripsy using T-UAS from November 2021 to October 2022 (T-UAS group). Preoperative assessments included imaging studies (kidney, ureter, and bladder X-ray; noncontrast computed tomography; and renal ultrasound) and laboratory tests (complete blood count, biochemical tests, coagulation function, and urine culture). The stone clearance rate, operation time, intraoperative blood loss, and complications were compared between the two groups. Results Baseline characteristics of the two groups were balanced. The F-UAS group showed significantly higher stone clearance rate (91.9% vs. 81.8%, p = 0.014), shorter operation time (51.0 ± 13.9 vs. 59.8 ± 18.2 min, p < 0.001), and lower postoperative antibiotic use (2.9% vs. 6.8%, p = 0.027) than the T-UAS group. The intraoperative blood loss and length of hospital stay did not differ significantly between the two groups. Conclusions Flexible ureteroscopic lithotripsy using F-UAS improves stone clearance, reduces infection-related complications, and shortens operation time compared with that using T-UAS in the treatment of 2–3-cm kidney stones. Further prospective studies are warranted to confirm these findings.

Typically, the formation of vesicles requires the addition of salts or other additives to surfactant micelles. However, in the case of catanionic surfactants, unilamellar vesicles can spontaneously form upon dilution of the micellar solutions. Our study explores the intriguing spontaneous vesicle-to-micelle transition in catanionic surfactant systems, specifically cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) and sodium octylsulfonate (SOS). To gain insights into the changes occurring at the interface, we employ a chemical trapping method to characterize variations in the molarities of sulfonate headgroups, water, and bromide ions during the transition. Our findings reveal the formation of ion pairs between the cationic component of CTAB and the anionic component of SOS, leading to tight interfacial packing in CTAB/SOS solutions. This interfacial packing promotes vesicle formation at low surfactant concentrations. Due to the significant difference in critical micelle concentration (cmc) between CTAB and SOS, an increase in the stoichiometric surfactant concentration results in a substantial rise in the SOS-to-CTAB ratio within the interfacial region. This enrichment of SOS in the aggregates triggers the transition from vesicles to micelles. Overall, our study may shed new light on the design of morphologies in catanionic and other surfactant systems.

Motion perception in real situations is often stimulated by multisensory information. Speed is an essential characteristic of moving objects; however, at present, it is not clear whether speed affects the process of audiovisual temporal integration in motion perception. Therefore, this study used a streaming-bouncing task (a bistable motion perception; SB task) combined with a simultaneous judgment task (SJ task) to explore the effect of speed on audiovisual temporal integration from implicit and explicit perspectives. The experiment had a within-subjects design, two speed conditions (fast/slow), eleven audiovisual conditions [stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA): 0 ms/ ± 60 ms/ ± 120 ms/ ± 180 ms/ ± 240 ms/ ± 300 ms], and a visual-only condition. A total of 30 subjects were recruited for the study. These participants completed the SB task and the SJ task successively. The results showed the following outcomes: (1) the optimal times needed to induce the “bouncing” illusion and maximum audiovisual bounce-inducing effect (ABE) magnitude were much earlier than that for the optimal time of audiovisual synchrony, (2) speed as a bottom-up factor could affect the proportion of “bouncing” perception in SB illusions but did not affect the ABE magnitude, (3) speed could also affect the ability of audiovisual temporal integration in motion perception, and the main manifestation was that the point of subjective simultaneity (PSS) in fast speed conditions was earlier than that of slow speed conditions in the SJ task and (4) the SB task and SJ task were not related. In conclusion, the time to complete the maximum audiovisual integration was different from the optimal time for synchrony perception; moreover, speed could affect audiovisual temporal integration in motion perception but only in explicit temporal tasks.

is an important pathogen for aquaculture and causes high mortality in various marine fishes. Expression of was found significantly up-regulated at 18°C than at 28°C, which was verified by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). RNAi significantly reduced the content of mRNA of , whether in or in the spleen at all sampling time points. Compared with the wild-type strain, the infection of -RNAi strain resulted in the onset time delay, and 20% reduction in mortality of , as well as alleviates in the symptoms of spleen. Compared with wild-type strain, the gene silence of in resulted in a significant change in transcriptome of infected . The result of gene ontology and KEGG analysis on showed that genes of serine-type endopeptidase and chemokine signaling pathway, coagulation and complement system, and intestinal immune network for IgA production pathway were mostly affected by of . Meanwhile, the immune genes were associated with different number of miRNA and lncRNA, and some miRNAs were associated with more than one gene at the same time. The results indicated that was a virulent gene of . The up-regulation of the immune pathways made more likely to kill -RNAi strain than the wild-type strain of , while the immune genes were regulated by miRNA and lncRNA by a complex mode.

Due to the high content of impurities such as proteins in tamarind seed polysaccharide (TSP), they must be separated and purified before it can be used. TSP can disperse in cold water, but a solution can only be obtained by heating the mixture. Therefore, it is important to understand the dispersion and dissolution process of TSP at different temperatures to expand the application of TSP. In this study, pasting behavior and rheological properties as a function of temperature were characterized in comparison with potato starch (PS), and their relationship with TSP molecular features and microstructure was revealed. Pasting behavior showed that TSP had higher peak viscosity and stronger thermal stability than PS. Rheological properties exhibited that G′ and G′′ of TSP gradually increased with the increase in temperature, without exhibiting typical starch gelatinization behavior. The crystalline or amorphous structure of TSP and starch was disrupted under different temperature treatment conditions. The SEM results show that TSP particles directly transformed into fragments with the temperature increase, while PS granules first expanded and then broken down into fragments. Therefore, TSP and PS underwent different dispersion mechanisms during the dissolution process: As the temperature gradually increased, TSP possibly underwent a straightforward dispersion and was then dissolved in aqueous solution, while PS granules initially expanded, followed by disintegration and dispersion.

Visceral white spot disease caused by severely threatens marine aquaculture, highlighting the need for effective control strategies. To clarify the role of a novel small RNA, sRNA0024, in bacterial pathogenicity, we constructed an sRNA0024 deletion mutant (ΔsRNA0024) and compared its phenotype and virulence with those of the wild-type strain NZBD9. In vitro assays showed that deletion of sRNA0024 did not affect bacterial growth but significantly reduced biofilm formation and adhesion. In vivo infection experiments in orange-spotted grouper ( ) demonstrated that the ΔsRNA0024 mutant had a 3.8-fold higher 50% lethal dose (LD ), improved host survival, and milder splenic lesions than the wild type. Histopathology and host transcriptome analyses revealed weakened activation of complement-coagulation cascades, neutrophil extracellular traps, leukocyte migration, and inflammatory signaling pathways, indicating a lower-intensity immune response. Bacterial transcriptomics showed that deletion of sRNA0024 was associated with reduced expression and attenuated quorum-sensing-associated virulence traits, supporting a possible role for this small RNA in modulating expression and QS-related host immunopathology. These findings identify sRNA0024 as an important contributor to the virulence of and highlight the sRNA0024- module as a potential antivirulence target for controlling visceral white spot disease in aquaculture.