Characteristics of ZnO thin film for film bulk acoustic-wave resonators

Highly c-axis-oriented zinc oxide (ZnO) thin films were deposited on Au electrodes by reactive radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering and their sputtering pressure on thin film bulk acoustic-wave resonator (FBAR) characteristics are presented. The evolution of the preferred orientation and the surface morphologies of the deposited ZnO films are investigated using X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and atomic force microscopy measurement techniques. The result obtained in this study show that the ZnO films prepared using a lower sputtering pressure of 2?×?10^?3 Torr have a strong c-axis orientation, promote smoother surface and higher resonance frequency. The experimental results demonstrate that the fabricated two-port FBAR using the optimum process parameters yields an effective electromechanical coupling constant ( $ k^{2}_{{{\text{eff}}}} $ ) of 2.8%, series quality factor (Q _s) of 436, and a parallel quality factor (Q _p) of 600.     

Type I Interferons in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus: A Journey from Bench to Bedside

Dysregulation of type I interferons (IFNs) has been implicated in the pathogenesis of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) since the late 1970s. The majority of SLE patients demonstrate evidence of type I IFN pathway activation; however, studies attempting to address the relationship between type I IFN signature and SLE disease activity have yielded conflicting results. In addition to type I IFNs, type II and III IFNs may overlap and also contribute to the IFN signature. Different genetic backgrounds lead to overproduction of type I IFNs in SLE and contribute to the breakdown of peripheral tolerance by activation of antigen-presenting myeloid dendritic cells, thus triggering the expansion and differentiation of autoreactive lymphocytes. The consequence of the continuous stimulation of the immune system is manifested in different organ systems typical of SLE (e.g., mucocutaneous and cardiovascular involvement). After the discovery of the type I IFN signature, a number of different strategies have been developed to downregulate the IFN system in SLE patients, finally leading to the successful trial of anifrolumab, the second biologic to be approved for the treatment of SLE in 10 years. In this review, we will discuss the bench to bedside translation of the type I IFN pathway and put forward some issues that remain unresolved when selecting SLE patients for treatment with biologics targeting type I IFNs.     

A GC–MSD method for analysis of dimethyl sulfate in palm oil-based esterquat

Dimethyl sulfate (DMS) is a quarternizing agent for esteramine used for the synthesis of esterquat. To date there is no reliable published method for quantification of DMS in palm-based esterquat. Esterquat is used in the formulation of personal care and textile cleaning. The process of quaternization is usually incomplete and there will be unreacted DMS. This work presents a new simple method involving solvent extraction of DMS followed by analysis with gas chromatography–mass spectrometry detector to quantify the unreacted DMS. This method was validated as per International Council for Harmonization requirements. This novel method showed good repeatability (relative standard deviation [RSD] < 5%) and inter-day with different analyst reproducibility (RSD < 5%). The limits of detection and quantification were 5 and 10 μg mL⁻¹, respectively. The accuracy of the method was evaluated by the analysis of spiked samples and it was found that good recovery was found at spiking levels of 20, 30, and 50 μg mL⁻¹ with % recovery falling within the 80%–120% acceptable limit. However, at 10 μg mL⁻¹, the percentage recovery was slightly below the recommended limit.     

Regulation and Reconstruction of Cell Phenotype Gradients Along the Tendon-Bone Interface

Tendon–bone interface is prevalent in the human body. It is divided into four zones: tendon (soft tissue), unmineralized fibrocartilage, mineralized fibrocartilage, and bone (hard tissue). Tendon–bone interface is characterized by a cell phenotype gradient that appears in the different zones. The cell phenotype gradients at the tendon–bone interface are orchestrated by specific intracellular molecular mechanisms, extracellular factors, immune signals, and neurovascular factors. These features have inspired scientists to design systems that mimic natural cell phenotype gradients. These biomimetic systems include the construction of cell sheets, regulation of cellular microenvironments, and the design of gradient functional scaffolds. Exploration of methods to mimic cell phenotype gradients is instructional for future clinical applications in reconstituting the tendon–bone interface. The present review elucidates the gradient composition of the tendon–bone interface. The associated regulatory mechanisms and applications are discussed, with the anticipation of creating a mise en scène for future research in interface tissue engineering.     

Cryopreservation in the Era of Cell Therapy: Revisiting Fundamental Concepts to Enable Future Technologies

Cryopreservation strives to maximize the viability and biofunctionality of cells and tissues by cooling them to a subzero temperature to facilitate storage and delivery. This technology has enabled clinics and labs to preserve rare and crucial samples and is poised to become more important with rising interest in cell therapy. Here, the biological impact of cooling rates on different cellular components is first described, paying special emphasis on the differences between slow cooling and vitrification with a heat transfer perspective based on the Biot number. This is followed by an overview of various classes of chemical-based cryoprotective agents including small molecules, antifreeze proteins, hydrogels, and cryoprotective nanomaterials. Most importantly, fundamental concepts of cryopreservation including Mazur's “two-factor hypothesis” are revisited, gaps in them are highlighted, and experiments to validate reported claims to deepen mechanistic understanding of cryoprotection are proposed. A matric is also introduced to assess the suitability of biomaterials for use in cell therapy to support manufacturers in making strategic choices for storing clinical samples. It is believed that this review would inspire readers to scrutinize fundamental concepts in cryopreservation to facilitate the development of new cryoprotective materials and technologies to support the emerging cell manufacturing and therapy industry.     

Efficient Ternary Mn-Based Spinel Oxide with Multiple Active Sites for Oxygen Evolution Reaction Discovered via High-Throughput Screening Methods (Small 2/2023)

The discovery of more efficient and stable catalysts for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is vital in improving the efficiency of renewable energy generation devices. Given the large numbers of possible binary and ternary metal oxide OER catalysts, high-throughput methods are necessary to accelerate the rate of discovery. Herein, Mn-based spinel oxide, Fe₁₀Co₄₀Mn₅₀O, is identified for the first time using high-throughput methods demonstrating remarkable catalytic activity (overpotential of 310 mV on fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) substrate and 237 mV on Ni foam at 10 mA cm⁻²). Using a combination of soft X-ray absorption spectroscopy and electrochemical measurements, the high catalytic activity is attributed to 1) the formation of multiple active sites in different geometric sites, tetrahedral and octahedral sites; and 2) the formation of active oxyhydroxide phase due to the strong interaction of Co²⁺ and Fe³⁺. Structural and surface characterizations after OER show preservation of Fe₁₀Co₄₀Mn₅₀O surface structure highlighting its durability against irreversible redox damage on the catalytic surface. This work demonstrates the use of a high-throughput approach for the rapid identification of a new catalyst, provides a deeper understanding of catalyst design, and addresses the urgent need for a better and stable catalyst to target greener fuel.     

Laser Annealing-Induced Phase Transformation Behaviors of High Entropy Metal Alloy,Oxide, and Nitride Nanoparticle Combinations

High entropy materials made up of dissimilar elements have enormous potentials in various fields and applications such as catalysis, energy generation and bioengineering. Developments of facile rapid synthesis routes toward functional multicomponent nanoparticles (NPs) of metals and ceramics with control of single/mixed crystalline structure configurations as well as understanding their transformative behaviors to enable unexpected properties, however, has remained challenging. Here a transient laser heating strategy to generate high entropy metal alloy, oxide, and nitride nanoparticles (HE-A/O/N NPs) is described. Laser irradiation of the identical metal salt mixture under different millisecond heating times provides direct control of cooling rates and thereby results in HEA NPs with tunable single- and multiphasic solid solution characteristics, atomic compositions, nanoparticle morphologies, and physicochemical properties. Extending the elemental selection to nitride-forming precursors enables laser-induced carbothermal reduction and nitridation of high entropy tetragonal rutile oxide nanoparticlesNPs to the cubic rock salt nitride phase. The combination of laser heating with spatially resolved X-ray diffraction facilitates combinatorial studies of phase transitions and reaction pathways of multicomponent nanoparticles. These findings provide a general strategy to design nonequilibrium multicomponent metal alloys and ceramic materials amalgamations for fundamental studies and practical applications such as carbon nanotube growth, water splitting, and antimicrobial applications.     

Thalassemia Screening by Sentiment Analysis on Social Media Platform Twitter

Thalassemia syndrome is a genetic blood disorder induced by the reduction of normal hemoglobin production, resulting in a drop in the size of red blood cells. In severe forms, it can lead to death. This genetic disorder has posed a major burden on public health wherein patients with severe thalassemia need periodic therapy of iron chelation and blood transfusion for survival. Therefore, controlling thalassemia is extremely important and is made by promoting screening to the general population, particularly among thalassemia carriers. Today Twitter is one of the most influential social media platforms for sharing opinions and discussing different topics like people’s health conditions and major public health affairs. Exploring individuals’ sentiments in these tweets helps the research centers to formulate strategies to promote thalassemia screening to the public. An effective Lexiconbased approach has been introduced in this study by highlighting a classifier called valence aware dictionary for sentiment reasoning (VADER). In this study applied twitter intelligence tool (TWINT), Natural Language Toolkit (NLTK), and VADER constitute the three main tools. VADER represents a gold-standard sentiment lexicon, which is basically tailored to attitudes that are communicated by using social media. The contribution of this study is to introduce an effective Lexicon-based approach by highlighting a classifier called VADER to analyze the sentiment of the general population, particularly among thalassemia carriers on the social media platform Twitter. In this study, the results showed that the proposed approach achieved 0.829, 0.816, and 0.818 regarding precision, recall, together with F-score, respectively. The tweets were crawled using the search keywords, “thalassemia screening,” thalassemia test, “and thalassemia diagnosis”. Finally, results showed that India and Pakistan ranked the highest in mentions in tweets by the public’s conversations on thalassemia screening with 181 and 164 tweets, respectively.     

DNA-Based Materials Inspired by Natural Extracellular DNA

The advent of biotechnology has expedited the understanding of the biochemistry of deoxyribonucleic acids (DNA). In the past, DNA are thought to be present only in cell nucleus as bearers of the genetic code. With the identification of extracellular DNA in circulating body fluids, DNA are now utilized, at least experimentally, for diagnosis and treatment of diseases. Extracellular DNA of host origin trigger immune responses, and are closely linked to autoimmune disease, cancer-related inflammation, bacteria adhesion and thrombosis. Recent advancements in DNA nanotechnology have led to the development of a series of DNA-based materials for treating diseases because of their structural programmability. Current discussions on biosafety and immunogenicity of artificial DNA materials are insufficient. This issue severely restricts the clinical translation of these novel biotechnologies. The present review attempts to bridge the gap between natural extracellular DNA and their derivatives, DNA-based materials. The pathological attributes of endogenous extracellular DNA motivate the design of targeting DNA materials. In addition, the fate of exogenous DNA in the host inspires the optimization of DNA materials in reducing immune rejection. These bioinspired strategies provide the blueprint for utilizing DNA materials in the management of diseases that are currently challenging to diagnose or treat.