Advanced Chamfering Technology for Edge Strengthening

Damage‐free chamfering method for strengthening a glass edge was introduced and its effect on the edge property was discussed in detail. The chamfered surface was evaluated using an optical microscope, a confocal LSM, and a birefringence measurement system. The mechanical properties were characterized by measuring hardness, Young's modulus, and bending strength. The results revealed that the cut edge of 0.55t thin glass sheet containing median cracks and chips was exfoliated uniformly to a thickness of 200 μm, and a smooth edge surface was created (Ra = 0.03 μm). We also reported that the chamfered surface had a compressive stress enabling hardness and Young's modulus increase, and the edge strength improved from 117 to 199 MPa.     

Copper‐Catalyzed Aerobic Formation of Unstable Sulfinyl Radicals for the Synthesis of Sulfinates and Thiosulfonates

Copper‐catalyzed aerobic coupling of thiols and alcohols affords sulfinates and thiosulfonates. These products are assumed to form via sulfinyl radicals which are not commonly found in oxidative coupling reactions of thiols. A reaction mechanism involving sulfinyl radicals is proposed, and mass and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) experimental results are provided.

     

Copper(I) Bromide‐Dimethyl Sulfide‐Catalyzed Direct Sulfanylation of 4‐Hydroxycoumarins and 4‐Hydroxyquinolinones with Arylsulfonylhydrazides and Selective Fluorescence Switch‐ On Sensing of Cadmium(II) Ion in Water

An efficient protocol for the direct sulfanylation of various 4‐hydroxycoumarins and 4‐hydroxyquinolinones in good yield with arylsulfonylhydrazides as sulfanylating agents was developed via copper(I) bromide⋅dimethyl sulfide‐catalyzed S–O, S–N bond cleavage and C–S cross‐coupling reactions. A highly selective fluorescence turning‐on sensing of cadmium(II) ions in water using the synthesized 3‐sulfanyl‐4‐hydroxycoumarin derivative was also investigated.

     

Phase Behavior of Selected Condensed Double-Decker Shaped Silsesquioxane Compounds

Silicon - Bisfunctional dichlorosilanes were reacted with tetrasilanol of double-decker shaped octaphenylsilsesquioxane (DDSQ) to form fully condensed DDSQ compounds. The crystallographic and...     

Preface

Evolutionary Algorithms(EAs)mimicking the principles of natural evolution can be used as powerful search and optimization methods.These Evolutionary Optimization methods are superior to traditional optimization methods especially in situations where gradient information is not readily available.EAs are generic and robust optimization methods since they do not make any assumption about the underlying search space.This is clearly evident by the success of EAs in a diverse range of real-world applications.T...     

CuO Modified by 7,7,8,8-Tetracyanoquinodimethane and Its Application to CO2 Separation

7,7,8,8-Tetracyanoquinomethane (TCNQ) was added to polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP)/CuO composites to modify and prevent agglomeration of the particles, and thus the CuO particles were well dispersed to a small size, thereby increasing CO₂ solubility and separation performance. When the separation performance of the PVP/CuO/TCNQ composite membrane was measured for CO₂/N₂ gases, a CO₂ separation of about 174 was measured. This improvement in performance was attributed to the fact that TCNQ was applied to PVP and CuO to prevent agglomeration between particles with surface modification. Due to TCNQ, CuO could be dispersed to a small size in PVP; the bonds between chains in PVP weakened; the interaction between molecules weakened; and the free volume increased, as confirmed by FT-IR, TGA, and UV–Vis spectroscopy.     

Nicotinamide Mononucleotide Protects against Retinal Dysfunction in a Murine Model of Carotid Artery Occlusion

Cardiovascular abnormality-mediated retinal ischemia causes severe visual impairment. Retinal ischemia is involved in enormous pathological processes including oxidative stress, reactive gliosis, and retinal functional deficits. Thus, maintaining retinal function by modulating those pathological processes may prevent or protect against vision loss. Over the decades, nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN), a crucial nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD⁺) intermediate, has been nominated as a promising therapeutic target in retinal diseases. Nonetheless, a protective effect of NMN has not been examined in cardiovascular diseases-induced retinal ischemia. In our study, we aimed to investigate its promising effect of NMN in the ischemic retina of a murine model of carotid artery occlusion. After surgical unilateral common carotid artery occlusion (UCCAO) in adult male C57BL/6 mice, NMN (500 mg/kg/day) was intraperitoneally injected to mice every day until the end of experiments. Electroretinography and biomolecular assays were utilized to measure ocular functional and further molecular alterations in the retina. We found that UCCAO-induced retinal dysfunction was suppressed, pathological gliosis was reduced, retinal NAD⁺ levels were preserved, and the expression of an antioxidant molecule (nuclear factor erythroid-2-related factor 2; Nrf2) was upregulated by consecutive administration of NMN. Our present outcomes first suggest a promising NMN therapy for the suppression of cardiovascular diseases-mediated retinal ischemic dysfunction.     

Fluid Biomarkers in HPV and Non-HPV Related Oropharyngeal Carcinomas: From Diagnosis and Monitoring to Prognostication—A Systematic Review

Biomarkers are crucial in oncology, from detection and monitoring to guiding management and predicting treatment outcomes. Histological assessment of tissue biopsies is currently the gold standard for oropharyngeal cancers, but is technically demanding, invasive, and expensive. This systematic review aims to review current markers that are detectable in biofluids, which offer promising non-invasive alternatives in oropharyngeal carcinomas (OPCs). A total of 174 clinical trials from the PubMed search engine in the last 5 years were identified and screened by 4 independent reviewers. From these, 38 eligible clinical trials were found and subsequently reviewed. The biomarkers involved, categorized by human papillomavirus (HPV)-status, were further divided according to molecular and cellular levels. Recent trials investigating biomarkers for both HPV-positive and HPV-negative OPCs have approaches from various levels and different biofluids including plasma, oropharyngeal swabs, and oral rinse. Promising candidates have been found to aid in detection, staging, and predicting prognosis, in addition to well-established factors including HPV-status, drinking and smoking status. These studies also emphasize the possibility of enhancing prediction results and increasing statistical significance by multivariate analyses. Liquid biopsies offer promising assistance in enhancing personalized medicine for cancer treatment, from lowering barriers towards early screening, to facilitating de-escalation of treatment. However, further research is needed, and the combination of liquid biopsies with pre-existing methods, including in vivo imaging and invasive techniques such as neck dissections, could also be explored in future trials.     

Berbamine Reduces Chloroquine-Induced Itch in Mice through Inhibition of MrgprX1

Chloroquine (CQ) is an antimalaria drug that has been widely used for decades. However, CQ-induced pruritus remains one of the major obstacles in CQ treatment for uncomplicated malaria. Recent studies have revealed that MrgprX1 plays an essential role in CQ-induced itch. To date, a few MrgprX1 antagonists have been discovered, but they are clinically unavailable or lack selectivity. Here, a cell-based high-throughput screening was performed to identify novel antagonists of MrgprX1, and the screening of 2543 compounds revealed two novel MrgprX1 inhibitors, berbamine and closantel. Notably, berbamine potently inhibited CQ-mediated MrgprX1 activation (IC₅₀ = 1.6 μM) but did not alter the activity of other pruritogenic GPCRs. In addition, berbamine suppressed the CQ-mediated phosphorylation of ERK1/2. Interestingly, CQ-induced pruritus was significantly reduced by berbamine in a dose-dependent manner, but berbamine had no effect on histamine-induced, protease-activated receptors 2-activating peptide-induced, and deoxycholic acid-induced itch in mice. These results suggest that berbamine is a novel, potent, and selective antagonist of MrgprX1 and may be a potential drug candidate for the development of therapeutic agents to treat CQ-induced pruritus.     

CRISPR/Cas9-Mediated Editing of AGAMOUS-like Genes Results in a Late-Bolting Phenotype in Chinese Cabbage (Brassica rapa ssp. pekinensis)

Due to the sudden change in temperature in spring, Chinese cabbage, a leafy vegetable cultivated for consumption, loses its commercial value due to the onset of bolting—the phenomenon of switching from vegetative to reproductive growth. In this study, we applied clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats/(CRISPR)-associated system 9 (CRISPR/Cas9) technology to analyze AGAMOUS-like genes. We performed functional analysis of AGL19 and AGL24 genes related to bolting and flowering using CRISPR/Cas9-mediated Chinese cabbage transformation. Single-guide RNA (sgRNA) sequences were created with a low off-targeting probability to construct gene-editing vectors. Agrobacterium-mediated transformation was conducted, and tentative E₀ AGL-edited lines were analyzed using molecular biotechnological methods. Two AGL19-edited lines with nucleotide sequence mutations in the target sequence of the AGL19 genes and four AGL24-edited lines with nucleotide sequence mutations in the target sequence of the AGL24 genes showed particularly late bolting compared to the inbred line ‘CT001.’ Generational progression using bud pollination obtained T-DNA-free E₁ AGL-edited lines, which also showed late bolting. The loss of function of the AGL protein was caused by the occurrence of an indel mutation in the AGL19 and AGL24 genes, which results in an early stop codon. Furthermore, frameshift mutations led to structural changes and the introduction of an early stop codon in the AGL19 and AGL24 proteins. Our results indicate that CRISPR/Cas9-mediated editing of AGAMOUS-like genes results in a late-bolting phenotype and that CRISPR/Cas9 is a useful technology for analyzing gene function in Chinese cabbage (Brassica rapa ssp. pekinensis).