Search Results (6,186)

Skeletal muscle satellite cells are indispensable for muscle growth and regeneration, and their myogenic differentiation is precisely controlled by transcription factors. As a core member of the TEAD family, TEAD4 participates in various biological processes, yet its function and regulatory mechanism in porcine skeletal muscle satellite cells (PSCs) remain largely unknown. High-purity PSCs were isolated and identified from 7-day-old Large White piglets. Combined approaches of siRNA-mediated TEAD4 knockdown, RT-qPCR, Western blotting, immunofluorescence, EdU assays, and transcriptome sequencing were applied to explore the role of TEAD4 during myogenic differentiation. TEAD4 expression was gradually upregulated during PSC differentiation and positively correlated with myogenic marker genes. Knockdown of TEAD4 did not affect PSC proliferation but significantly suppressed myogenic differentiation, as indicated by reduced expression of myogenic genes and blocked myotube formation. Transcriptomic analysis demonstrated that DEGs were highly enriched in metabolic pathways, particularly the AMPK signaling pathway. TEAD4 knockdown led to excessive upregulation of PRKAG3 and prominent induction of SLC2A4. Collectively, these results indicate that TEAD4 promotes myogenic differentiation in PSCs, likely by maintaining metabolic homeostasis. This study provides the first characterization of TEAD4 in porcine skeletal muscle satellite cells and demonstrates that it promotes myogenic differentiation. Full article

DNA must be efficiently extracted from samples to accurately test the authenticity of food, particularly from processed matrices in which DNA integrity may be compromised. We systematically evaluated the efficiency of extracting DNA from dairy and blood products by four methods, namely SDS-CTAB, SDS-isopropanol precipitation, guanidine isothiocyanate magnetic beads, and a commercial kit. The guanidine isothiocyanate-magnetic bead method yields high quantities and purity of DNA; for example, the yield obtained from chicken blood samples was 318.34 ± 4.77 ng/µL, with an A260/A280 ratio ranging from 1.8 to 2.0. The processing time of this method was compared with the DNA Extraction Kit shorter by 40% and unlike methods such as the SDS-CTAB protocol, does not require the use of toxic reagents such as phenol or chloroform, meeting green chemistry requirements. Among the dairy and blood samples tested, it enables the extraction of DNA in quantities comparable to those obtained using commercial kits; moreover, the DNA yield achieved is 20–30% higher than that of these kits. Furthermore, this method is free from the limitations associated with protein contamination and amplification instability often encountered in protocols such as the CTAB-SDS and SDS-isopropanol methods. The magnetic bead approach was adaptable for complex matrices and demonstrated strong tolerance to coexisting contaminants, thereby improving extraction performance in challenging food samples. The magnetic bead surface functionalization and buffer systems could be improved to further increase their versatility. This method enables reliable DNA extraction and advanced technical support for DNA analysis. Full article

The pharmaceutical industry has seen significant growth in the development of antibody-based therapeutics, especially monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) and bispecific antibodies (bsAbs), used in the treatment of cancer and neurodegenerative diseases. However, their production and purification remain challenging. It is difficult to achieve both high product yield and the strict purity required for clinical use. Downstream processing is expensive and often involves trade-offs between efficiency and product quality. In addition, current purification methods do not fully remove contaminants, especially host cell proteins, residual DNA, and protein aggregates, affecting the safety and effectiveness of the final product. Recent advances in purification technologies, such as improved chromatography techniques and alternative separation methods, have shown promise in addressing some of these limitations. Process optimization and the integration of continuous manufacturing approaches are being explored to enhance efficiency and scalability. Furthermore, increased regulatory expectations are driving the need for more robust and reproducible purification strategies. As the antibody therapeutics market continues to expand, optimizing manufacturing and purification processes is crucial to achieve cost efficiency and large-scale production. This article discusses the main challenges in antibody production and downstream purification, focusing on monoclonal and bispecific antibodies, and compares current strategies to increase yield, improve purity, and reduce contaminants. Full article

Carbon capture and utilization (CCU) is imperative for industrial decarbonization. However, current life cycle assessment (LCA) methodologies often apply a static, one-size-fits-all approach, assuming a 99% CO₂ purity standard for all utilization pathways. This ignores the thermodynamic limits of capture technologies and the tolerance of certain endpoints for coarse gas, leading to severe over-purification energy penalties. To bridge this gap, we developed a quality-matched dynamic LCA framework targeting steam methane reforming (SMR) tail gas in industrial parks. A superstructure matrix was constructed, coupling 16 capture configurations (spanning chemical absorption to cryogenic separation across 85–99% purities) with five utilization pathways, under a dynamic grid decarbonization model (2024–2060). The baseline scenario shows that methanol is the most carbon-intensive pathway at 16.88 kg CO₂-eq per kg CO₂ utilized, whereas mineralization and concrete curing remain near break-even at 0.221 and 0.010 kg CO₂-eq, respectively. When low-purity demand is matched with PSA capture at 85–90% purity, the net GWP of mineralization and concrete curing decreases to 0.134 and 0.005 kg CO₂-eq, corresponding to capture-stage penalty reductions exceeding 60% relative to unnecessary 99% purification. Under the dynamic electricity scenario, concrete curing reaches the net-zero tipping point around 2031, and the coupled mineralization substitution strategy ultimately achieves −0.046 kg CO₂-eq per kg CO₂ utilized. These findings provide a compelling scientific basis for policymakers to design dual-grade CO₂ pipeline networks and prioritize low-purity, high-circularity building materials over carbon-intensive chemical synthesis in near-term industrial transitions. Full article

Fucoxanthin is a carotenoid belonging to the xanthophyll family and has been shown to exhibit various physiological activities. While brown algae have traditionally been used as a source of fucoxanthin, microalgae have been attracting attention as an alternative source to brown algae in recent years. Although various methods have been devised to isolate fucoxanthin from microalgae, these methods have drawbacks such as requiring special equipment or being unsuitable for large-scale production. Therefore, we tried to develop a simple method that anyone can easily try and that allows for mass production. First, the extraction yields using various solvents were compared. Acetone showed the most efficient extraction yield for short extraction times, but as the extraction time increased, there was almost no difference in the extraction yields among methanol, ethanol, and acetone. Compared to ethanol, methanol had an extraction efficiency of approximately 98%, while acetone had an extraction efficiency of 90%. Then, our efforts have resulted in the development of a method that can isolate fucoxanthin with a purity of over 90% with just a single run of a silica gel column chromatography. Furthermore, the fucoxanthin with this method retained a wide range of physiological activities, including antioxidant, anti-cancer, and anti-inflammatory effects. Our findings might broaden the scope of fucoxanthin research and contribute to process development of fucoxanthin. Full article

RR Lyrae stars are pulsating variables crucial for distance determination and galactic structure studies. Metallicities of fundamental-mode (RRab) RR Lyrae stars are commonly derived from photometry using empirical relations involving the Fourier parameter ${\varphi }_{31}$ and the pulsation period. We present a new, calibrated G-band relationship between pulsation period P, Fourier parameter ${\varphi }_{31}$, and metallicity [Fe/H] for galactic RR Lyrae stars from the Gaia survey. A set of 72 fundamental mode RR Lyrae stars were identified for deriving the relation in the G-band after visual examination of their light curves. Unlike recent large-scale calibrations, our relation prioritizes calibration purity by anchoring exclusively to a homogeneously analyzed sample of high-resolution spectroscopic metallicities from the literature. Our best fit relation is $[\mathrm{Fe}/\mathrm{H}]=(-6.93\pm 0.58)-(6.04\pm 0.37)P+(1.65\pm 0.11){\varphi }_{31}$. We compare the [Fe/H] predicted by our relation for the stars in our calibration sample with that obtained from previously established relations in the G-band using different approaches. Our calibrated G-band P-${\varphi }_{31}$-[Fe/H] relationship demonstrates high reliability when validated against spectroscopic data, achieving a negligible bias of 0.00 dex and an empirical RMS scatter of 0.26 dex. Furthermore, by applying an Orthogonal Distance Regression (ODR) routine that fully propagates parameter covariance, we establish a mathematically strict empirical baseline whose theoretical uncertainties perfectly align with this observed dispersion. We find that the inclusion of the $R_{21}$ Fourier parameter offers no significant improvement in metallicity estimation. Comparisons with literature confirm that our linear relation aligns closely with other Gaia DR3-based studies, while offering improved precision over older DR2-based relations. Full article

Micro water bodies are essential to regional ecosystems but are difficult to extract from high-resolution remote sensing images due to fragmentation and building shadows. To address edge breakage and high false-alarm rates in existing semantic segmentation models, this study proposes MEF-TransUNet, an improved TransUNet-based model for fine micro water body extraction. The model integrates a multi-scale edge-guided attention module (MEGA), a high–low-frequency decomposition fusion module (HLFD), and a convolutional block attention module (CBAM). Specifically, MEGA extracts edge priors using a Laplacian pyramid to repair topological breaks in slender water bodies. HLFD uses frequency-domain decoupling to suppress high-frequency background noise and reduce confusion between water bodies and shadows. CBAM enhances channel and spatial feature attention. Experiments using PlanetScope images from the Songhuajiang River Basin in Daqing City of the Heilongjiang Province in China showed that MEF-TransUNet achieves 91.74% precision, a 90.07% F1-score, a recall of 90.22%, and a B-IoU of 43.88%. For the GID dataset, the model attains a precision of 91.85%, an F1-score of 91.48%, a recall of 92.01%, and a B-IoU of 55.42%. Its overall performance clearly outperforms DeepLabV3+, SegFormer, U-Net, AttenUNet, and UNet++, enabling accurate micro water body localization, high output purity, and reduced manual correction costs, thus supporting fine water resource management in complex surface environments. Full article

The increasing demand for sustainable agricultural inputs has driven interest in biodegradable polymers from agro-industrial residues. Pineapple crown biomass (PCB), a widely available lignocellulosic waste, represents a promising feedstock for producing carboxymethylcellulose (CMC). However, the optimal pulping and bleaching conditions for CMC synthesis from this residue remain underexplored. Nevertheless, the combination of CMC derived from PCB with Bacillus subtilis as a seed coating agent for the bean cultivar has not yet been investigated. Here, we produced cellulosic pulps from PCB using a bioreactor, varying NaOH concentration (1–3%), pulping time (1.5–2.5 h), bleaching volume (55–75 mL) and time (60–120 min). The selected pulping condition (2% NaOH, 1.5 h) yielded pulp with high purity (83.9%) and crystallinity (76.35%). After bleaching (65 mL, 90 min), the material was suitable for CMC synthesis under two conditions: CMC1 and CMC2. CMC2 showed a higher degree of substitution (1.010) than CMC1 (0.620) but led to reduced seed germination (77.67%) due to excessive water retention and fungal growth. In contrast, CMC1, with or without B. subtilis, maintained high germination (91%) and significantly increased seedling length (21.30 cm). We conclude that PCB is a viable feedstock for CMC production, and CMC1 exhibits strong potential as an effective seed coating agent for sustainable agriculture. Full article

The escalating demand for high-performance dielectric energy storage materials in pulse-power systems and portable electronics calls for polymer film capacitors with high discharged energy density and breakdown strength. Conventional polymers, however, suffer severe performance degradation under concurrent thermal and electrical stress, and existing reinforcement strategies—involving inorganic nanofillers or chemical crosslinking—often compromise flexibility, introduce interfacial defects, or involve complex processing. Herein, we demonstrate that incorporating a rigid mechanically interlocked molecule, specifically an octacationic homo[2]catenane, into a polyimide matrix yields robust, crosslink-like networks through strong [π∙∙∙π] electrostatic interaction between electron-rich aromatic units of polyimide and electron-deficient homo[2]catenane. This supramolecular network simultaneously enhances breakdown strength via densified chain packing and suppresses conduction loss by forming deep electron traps derived from the high electron affinity of homo[2]catenane. The optimized PI–HC⁸⁺ composite achieves a high discharged energy density of 7.86 J/cm³ with an efficiency > 80% and sustains stable performance over 10⁵ charge–discharge cycles at 150 °C. This research establishes mechanically interlocked molecules as a new class of functional fillers for high-performance polymer dielectrics, opening an unexplored avenue in the design of next-generation capacitive energy-storage materials. Full article

Ultra-high-temperature ceramics (UHTCs) in the Ta–Hf–C ternary system are of significant interest for extreme aerospace and energy applications due to their melting points near 4000 °C. However, their synthesis typically requires extreme temperatures and pressures. This study reports a pectin-assisted low-temperature route for Ta-rich Ta_xHf_1−xC powder synthesis via carbothermal reduction at 1500 °C. The effect of Ta/Hf molar ratios (2.7/1, 0.9/1, and 0.3/1) on phase evolution, crystallinity, and morphology was systematically investigated. FTIR confirmed the successful formation of homogeneous hybrid organic–inorganic precursors through the chelation of metal ions with pectin functional groups. XRD results demonstrated that the Ta-rich composition (Ta/Hf = 2.7/1) promotes the formation of a high-purity (95.87%) cubic solid solution (lattice parameter a = 4.453 Å) with sharp reflections and improved crystallinity. In contrast, Hf-rich samples exhibited incomplete conversion, leaving unreacted HfO₂ and Ta₂Hf₆O₁₇ oxide phases due to the high thermodynamic stability of hafnia. Microstructural analysis revealed quasi-spherical Ta_xHf_1−xC particles with an average size of approximately 123 nm, together with finer residual oxide particles of about 50 nm. Overall, these results demonstrate that pectin-assisted precursor chemistry is an effective strategy for promoting low-temperature carbide formation in Ta-rich Ta_xHf_1−xC compositions. Full article

To clarify the instability behavior of the columnar microstructure in RF magnetron sputtered TiN coatings under compressive loading, experimental characterization and finite element simulation were combined to investigate the microstructural features, mechanical properties, and linear and nonlinear buckling responses of the coating. TiN coatings were deposited on cemented carbide and Si substrates by RF magnetron sputtering using a 99.9% purity TiN target. The surface and cross-sectional morphologies were characterized by field-emission scanning electron microscopy, and the nanohardness and Young’s modulus were determined by nanoindentation. Based on the experimentally observed morphology and measured mechanical properties, a finite element model of the columnar structure was established in ABAQUS, and the instability responses predicted by solid, shell, and beam element models were comparatively analyzed. The results showed that the as-deposited TiN coating exhibited a dense and uniform surface and a distinct columnar microstructure in cross-section. Linear buckling analysis indicated that the first-order critical buckling loads predicted by different element models were different, among which the solid element model gave a value of 3.43 × 10⁻⁵ N, showing the closest agreement with the theoretical result. Furthermore, nonlinear buckling analysis was performed by introducing an initial geometric imperfection of 4 × 10⁻³ mm based on the first-order buckling mode of the solid element model. The results showed that the columnar structure became unstable at a load of 0.74 × 10⁻⁶ N, accompanied by irreversible deformation. These findings demonstrate that linking experimentally observed TiN columnar microstructures with microstructure-informed instability analysis provides a useful perspective for understanding the local instability behavior and potential failure tendency of sputtered coatings and offers theoretical support for the structural design and reliability evaluation of protective coatings for cutting tools. Full article

The solidification process is crucial for preparing high-performance superconductors and is strongly dependent on the characteristics of the starting powder, including particle size, morphology, and phase purity. This review concisely examines the study on four key superconductors: REBCO, Bi-2212, FeSeTe, and MgB₂. In REBCO, additives such as CeO₂, Pt, or BaO₂ powder can refine the RE-211 phase. In Bi-2212, Pb doping stabilizes the high-T_c phase. For FeSeTe, doping with F or Co modifies phase separation and introduces Δκ pinning. Meanwhile, in MgB₂, the incorporation of SiC nanoparticles powder generates effective pinning centers. Concurrently, processing conditions exert a decisive influence on the final microstructure, as demonstrated by the TSMG/TSIG route in REBCO, partial melting parameters for Bi-2212, specific cooling protocols and thermal treatments for FeSeTe, and optimized sintering and post-annealing processes for MgB₂. Future research directions should prioritize fundamental understanding of phase separation mechanisms during powder processing, development of multi-component doping strategies for powder modification, and advancement of scalable powder processing routes for practical conductor architectures. Full article

Metabolic reprogramming is closely linked to tumor proliferation, invasion, and immune escape. Despite its central role in amino acid metabolism, the regulatory mechanisms of asparagine metabolism in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) progression remain poorly characterized. Rather than focusing on canonical metabolic genes, prognostic markers were identified from co-expression modules associated with asparagine metabolism signatures. Using the TCGA database and asparagine metabolism-related gene sets, a prognostic risk-scoring model was developed through differential expression analysis, univariate Cox regression, and the LASSO algorithm and externally validated with the GEO dataset (GSE14620). Survival analysis, ROC curve evaluation, nomogram construction, scRNA-seq, GSEA, and drug sensitivity analysis were performed to systematically delineate the molecular mechanisms by which asparagine metabolism drives HCC progression. A three-gene signature comprising BOP1, SAC3D1, and PDE2A effectively stratified patients into high- and low-risk groups. High-risk patients exhibited markedly poorer overall survival, enrichment in tumor proliferation-associated pathways, increased tumor purity, reduced immune cell infiltration, and a substantially higher TP53 mutation rate (38% vs. 13%). In contrast, the low-risk group showed enrichment in pathways linked to hepatoblastoma suppression and liver function, alongside improved predicted response to immunotherapy. Single-cell analysis identified NK cells and endothelial cells as central mediators of asparagine metabolism-driven HCC progression, with BOP1, SAC3D1, and PDE2A displaying dynamic expression patterns during differentiation. Furthermore, the high-risk group was predicted to be more sensitive to chemotherapeutics such as cyclophosphamide and 5-fluorouracil. These findings highlight a potential interplay between nitrogen metabolism and asparagine metabolism in HCC and suggest mechanisms by which these pathways may influence NK cell and endothelial cell function to promote disease progression. This study establishes a novel prognostic model and identifies potential chemotherapeutic vulnerabilities in high-risk patients, warranting further experimental and clinical validation. Full article

An operationally simple procedure for the synthesis of 2-alkyl-4-quinolone N-oxides, relying on controlled platinum-catalyzed partial hydrogenation of 2-nitrobenzoyl enamines, has been developed. The Pseudomonas aeruginosa metabolite 2-heptyl-4-quinolone-N-oxide (HQNO) and four analogous products have been prepared in good yield and high purity by this method. All products showed ampholytic properties, with a tendency to form isolable organic-soluble hydrochlorides by switching from the N-hydroxy-4-quinolone to 4-hydroxyquinoline-N-oxide tautomeric form upon partitioning between dichloromethane and 1M aqueous HCl. In basic medium, on the other hand, water-soluble salts of the N-hydroxy-4-quinolone tautomers were formed. NMR measurements indicate pH-dependent equilibrium with fast exchange between the 4-quinolone and the protonated 4-quinolinol tautomer. Full article

Why are some behaviors perceived as moral norms while others are perceived as social norms? In a preregistered study (N = 535), we examined how people perceive different types of moral behaviors and whether those perceptions help distinguish between moral and social norms. To test this, we assigned participants to one of five types of commonly studied norms—conventional, fairness, harm, generosity, and purity—and presented them with eight behaviors, four prescriptive and four proscriptive. To capture differences in belief internalization, participants answered a series of measures assessing their intrinsic motivation to follow the behaviors, beliefs about the importance of adhering to (or avoiding) the behaviors, and sensitivity to reputational concerns in their intentions to engage in them. We had two main findings: First, our measures of internalization varied across behavioral domains, such that harm behaviors were generally perceived as the most internalized and conventional behaviors as the least. Second, harm perceptions partially mediated differences in intrinsic motivation between harm and several other behavioral domains, suggesting that harm perceptions may underlie differences in internalization between social and moral norms. Together, our results reveal important differences in how people perceive social and moral norms, informing our understanding of norm cognition and internalization. Full article