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Traditional high-precision satellite orbits rely on globally dense and evenly distributed ground tracking stations, while the accuracy of precise orbit determination (POD) based on a regional network cannot compare with that of a global network. Low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites can serve as space-based monitoring stations to compensate for this. In response to the current regional integrated POD that only resolves the ambiguities of ground stations, this paper proposes an ambiguity resolution (AR) strategy related to LEO satellites to enhance GPS orbit accuracy. A joint observation network is established using seven International GNSS Service (IGS) stations within China and 10 LEO satellites, including GRACE-C/D, LuTan1-A/B, SWARM-A/B/C, Sentinel-3A/B, and Sentinel-6A. Experiments are conducted and analyzed from three aspects: independent baseline selection, the common view time, and the wide-lane (WL) threshold of double-differenced ambiguity. The ambiguity fixing strategy is determined to be a combination of inter-satellite and satellite–ground baselines, a common view time of 5 min, and a WL ambiguity threshold of 0.2 cycles. Taking the final products released by the IGS as the reference, the GPS orbit accuracy in the along-track, cross-track, radial, and 1D RMS is 3.23, 2.74, 2.36, and 2.89 cm, respectively, which represents improvements of 9.3%, 12.5%, 10.9%, and 10.8% compared with the solution that only fixes the ambiguities of ground stations. This result demonstrates that, in regional integrated POD, further implementation of LEO satellite-related ambiguity fixing significantly improves GPS orbit accuracy. Given the limitation that most LEO satellites can only receive GPS satellite signals, in the future, as more LEO satellites gain access to GNSS observations, the ambiguity fixing strategy presented in this paper can provide an effective and feasible approach.

Precise point positioning ambiguity resolution (PPP-AR) is a key technique for high-precision global navigation satellite system (GNSS) observations, with phase bias products playing a critical role in its implementation. The multi-GNSS experiment analysis center at Wuhan University (WUM) has adopted the undifferenced ambiguity resolution (UDAR) approach to generate high-precision orbit, clock, and observable-specific bias (OSB) products to support PPP-AR since day 162 of 2023. This study presents the analysis strategy employed and assesses the impact of the transition to ambiguity resolution on the orbit precision, using metrics such as orbit boundary discontinuities (OBD) and satellite laser ranging (SLR) validation. Additionally, the stability of the OSB products and the overall performance of PPP-AR solutions are evaluated. The OBD demonstrates specific improvements of 7.1% and 9.5% for GPS and Galileo, respectively, when UDAR is applied. Notably, BDS-3 medium Earth orbit satellites show a remarkable 15.2% improvement compared to the double-differenced results. However, for the remaining constellations, the improvements are either minimal or result in degradation. Using GPS and GLONASS solutions from the International GNSS Service (IGS) and other solutions from the European Space Agency (ESA) as references, the orbit differences of WUM solutions based on UDAR exhibit a significant reduction. However, the improvements in SLR validation are limited, as the radial orbit precision is primarily influenced by the dynamic model. The narrow-lane ambiguity fixing rate for static PPP-AR, based on data from approximately 430 globally distributed stations, reaches 99.2%, 99.2%, 88.8%, and 98.6% for GPS, Galileo, BDS-2, and BDS-3, respectively. The daily repeatability of station coordinates is approximately 1.4 mm, 1.9 mm, and 3.9 mm in the east, north, and up directions, respectively. Overall, these results demonstrate the effectiveness and potential of WUM’s undifferenced ambiguity resolution approach in enhancing GNSS data processing and facilitating PPP-AR applications.

The low efficiency of somatic embryo induction, proliferation, germination, and conversion to plantlets is a major problem in walnut. In this study, we used the cotyledons of immature embryos of apomictic seeds in walnut plus trees ‘Y17’ as explants. The optimum medium and culture conditions of somatic embryo induction, proliferation, and germination were tested through comparative experiments. The results showed that the optimum formula for somatic embryo induction, proliferation, and germination medium was DKW medium with 1.0 mg L−1 6-BA, 2.0 mg L−1 KT, and 0.01 mg L−1 IBA, DKW medium with 30–40 g L−1 sucrose and 7–8 g L−1 agar, and DKW medium with 2.0 mg L−1 concentrations of GA3, respectively. Meanwhile, the optimum time of seedling training was 36 h, and the substrate ratio was perlite: peat soil: vermiculite (1: 2: 1) after plant transplanting. The inter simple sequence repeat marker banding patterns of the primary embryo, secondary embryo and regenerated plants were all identical to that of the mother plant and proved the genetic stability of regenerated plants. An excellent walnut tissue culture system from walnut somatic embryo to the whole plant was formed, which can accelerate the speed of walnut genetic improvement.Key messageAn excellent walnut tissue culture system from walnut somatic embryo to the whole plant was formed, which can accelerate the speed of walnut genetic improvement.

Ion beam figuring (IBF) technology is an effective technique for fabricating continuous phase plates (CPPs) with small feature structures. This study proposes a multi-pass IBF approach with different beam diameters based on the frequency filtering method to improve the machining accuracy and efficiency of CPPs during IBF. We present the selection principle of the frequency filtering method, which incorporates different removal functions that maximize material removal over the topographical frequencies being imprinted. Large removal functions are used early in the fabrication to figure the surface profile with low frequency. Small removal functions are used to perform final topographical correction with higher frequency and larger surface gradient. A high-precision surface can be obtained as long as the filtering frequency is suitably selected. This method maximizes the high removal efficiency of the large removal function and the high corrective capability of the small removal function. Consequently, the fast convergence of the machining accuracy and efficiency can be achieved.

Large-scale brain activity mapping is important for understanding the neural basis of behaviour. Electrocorticograms (ECoGs) have high spatiotemporal resolution, bandwidth, and signal quality. However, the invasiveness and surgical risks of electrode array implantation limit its application scope. We developed an ultrathin, flexible shape-changing electrode array (SCEA) for large-scale ECoG mapping with minimal invasiveness. SCEAs were inserted into cortical surfaces in compressed states through small openings in the skull or dura and fully expanded to cover large cortical areas. MRI and histological studies on rats proved the minimal invasiveness of the implantation process and the high chronic biocompatibility of the SCEAs. High-quality micro-ECoG activities mapped with SCEAs from male rodent brains during seizures and canine brains during the emergence period revealed the spatiotemporal organization of different brain states with resolution and bandwidth that cannot be achieved using existing noninvasive techniques. The biocompatibility and ability to map large-scale physiological and pathological cortical activities with high spatiotemporal resolution, bandwidth, and signal quality in a minimally invasive manner offer SCEAs as a superior tool for applications ranging from fundamental brain research to brain-machine interfaces. The invasiveness of extensive craniotomy hinders large-scale cortex mapping. Here, the authors developed a flexible, shape-changing electrode array which enables minimally invasive implantation and achieves high spatiotemporal resolution brain mapping.

Stem cells need to be protected from genotoxic and proteotoxic stress to maintain a healthy pool throughout life1–3. Little is known about the proteostasis mechanism that safeguards stem cells. Here we report endoplasmic reticulum-associated degradation (ERAD) as a protein quality checkpoint that controls the haematopoietic stem cell (HSC)–niche interaction and determines the fate of HSCs. The SEL1L–HRD1 complex, the most conserved branch of ERAD4, is highly expressed in HSCs. Deletion of Sel1l led to niche displacement of HSCs and a complete loss of HSC identity, and allowed highly efficient donor-HSC engraftment without irradiation. Mechanistic studies identified MPL, the master regulator of HSC identity5, as a bona fide ERAD substrate that became aggregated in the endoplasmic reticulum following ERAD deficiency. Restoration of MPL signalling with an agonist partially rescued the number and reconstitution capacity of Sel1l-deficient HSCs. Our study defines ERAD as an essential proteostasis mechanism to safeguard a healthy stem cell pool by regulating the stem cell–niche interaction.Xu, Liu, Pen, Zhang et al. demonstrate that the SEL1L–HRD1 complex, which is part of the ERAD protein quality control machinery, safeguards haematopoietic stem cell identity and niche location by ensuring the haematopoietic stem cell surface expression of MPL.

Multidrug-resistant Salmonella Paratyphi poses a severe threat to public health. As conventional antibiotics lose efficacy against emerging resistant strains, the need to develop alternative antimicrobial agents has become increasingly urgent. In this study, we isolated and characterized a novel lytic bacteriophage, designated SEP1, from poultry sewage using the S. Paratyphi C strain QH as the host and systematically evaluated its therapeutic potential in a murine infection model Genomic analysis confirmed that SEP1 belongs to the genus Felixounavirus, with an 85,703-bp genome devoid of lysogeny-associated or virulence genes. SEP1 exhibits robust environmental stability, maintaining infectivity at 10–50 °C and pH 4–9; it has a 30 min latent period and a burst size of 133 PFU per infected cell. In vivo, SEP1 treatment conferred 100% survival in infected mice, reduced organ bacterial loads, alleviated tissue damage, and normalized inflammatory cytokine profiles. Collectively, these results demonstrate that SEP1 is a promising candidate for phage therapy targeting S. Paratyphi C infections.

Myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) are a group of heterogeneous cells which are abnormally accumulated during the differentiation of myeloid cells. Immunosuppression is the main functional feature of MDSCs, which inhibit T cell activity in the tumor microenvironment (TME) and promote tumoral immune escape. The main principle for immunotherapy is to modulate, restore, and remodel the plasticity and potential of immune system to have an effective anti-tumor response. In the TME, MDSCs are major obstacles to cancer immunotherapy through reducing the anti-tumor efficacy and making tumor cells more resistant to immunotherapy. Therefore, targeting MDSCs treatment becomes the priority of relevant studies and provides new immunotherapeutic strategy for cancer treatment. In this review, we mainly discuss the functions and mechanisms of MDSCs as well as their functional changes in the TME. Further, we review therapeutic effects of immunotherapy against MDSCs and potential breakthroughs regarding immunotherapy targeting MDSCs and immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) immunotherapy.

Correlated insulating states such as fermionic and bosonic insulators have been observed individually in transition metal dichalcogenide heterostructures. However, the interplay between fermionic and bosonic correlated states and their dynamical evolution on a single system, remain largely unexplored. Here, we demonstrate that the twisted trilayer heterostructures host an unconventional fermionic complex, namely the charge-layer-locked trion with a symmetric charge configuration. Owing to its spatially-indirect charge distribution, this fermionic trion can dynamically evolve into a bosonic inter-layer exciton plus an extra charge under an external optical or electric field, making the trilayer system a flexible platform to generate fermionic and bosonic quasiparticles as well as their mixtures. Notably, this charge-layer-locked trion can serve as a reservoir for both charge and exciton fillings of the lattice, where the resulting correlated insulating state can evolve from fermionic, fermionic-bosonic, to bosonic nature as controllably tuning of the external optical and electric fields. These results highlight that the hetero-trilayer semiconductors are an informative toy-model system to simulate the many-body correlations ranging from Fermi-, Fermi-Bose-, to Bose-Hubbard Hamiltonians. The interplay of correlated fermionic and bosonic states in transition metal dichalcogenide heterostructures has not been fully explored. Here the authors propose a twisted WSe 2 /WS 2 /WSe 2 trilayer as a platform to study hybrid correlated states and demonstrate a novel trion state with charge-layer-locked structure.