With the increasingly dominant role of smartphones in our lives, mobile health care systems integrating advanced point-of-care technologies to manage chronic diseases are gaining attention. Using a multidisciplinary design principle coupling electrical engineering, software development, and synthetic biology, we have engineered a technological infrastructure enabling the smartphone-assisted semiautomatic treatment of diabetes in mice. A custom-designed home server SmartController was programmed to process wireless signals, enabling a smartphone to regulate hormone production by optically engineered cells implanted in diabetic mice via a far-red light (FRL)-responsive optogenetic interface. To develop this wireless controller network, we designed and implanted hydrogel capsules carrying both engineered cells and wirelessly powered FRL LEDs (light-emitting diodes). In vivo production of a short variant of human glucagon-like peptide 1 (shGLP-1) or mouse insulin by the engineered cells in the hydrogel could be remotely controlled by smartphone programs or a custom-engineered Bluetooth-active glucometer in a semiautomatic, glucose-dependent manner. By combining electronic device-generated digital signals with optogenetically engineered cells, this study provides a step toward translating cell-based therapies into the clinic.

Novel self‐powered nanoscale photodetectors that can work without an external power source, which have great application potential in next‐generation nanodevices that operate wirelessly and independently, are being widely studied. This review aims to give a comprehensive summary of the state‐of‐the‐art research results on self‐powered nanoscale photodetectors. An introduction of recent progress on Schottky junction photodetectors is provided. Two types of Schottky junctions are discussed in detail: metal–semiconductor and semiconductor–graphene junctions. Next, recent developments of p–n junction photodetectors are highlighted, including homojunction and heterojunction photodetectors. Then, piezo‐phototronic effect enhanced photodetection performances of Schottky junctions and p–n junctions are discussed. Then, significant results on the photoelectrochemical‐cell‐based photodetector and integrated self‐powered nanosystem are presented, followed by a systematic comparison of different types of photodetectors. Finally, a summary of the previous results is given, and the major challenges that need to be addressed in the future are outlined. The hope is that this review can provide valuable insights into the current status of self‐powered photodetectors and spur new structure and device designs to further enhance photodetection performance.

Metabolic reprogramming is a hallmark of cancer. Herein we discovered that the key glycolytic enzyme pyruvate kinase M2 isoform (PKM2), but not the related isoform PKM1, is methylated by co-activator associated arginine methyltransferase 1 (CARM1). PKM2 methylation reversibly shifts the balance of metabolism from oxidative phosphorylation to aerobic glycolysis in breast cancer cells. Oxidative phosphorylation depends on mitochondria calcium concentration, which becomes critical for cancer cell survival when PKM2 methylation is blocked. By interacting with and suppressing the expression of inositol 1, 4, 5-trisphosphate receptors (IP3Rs), methylated PKM2 inhibits the influx of calcium from endoplasmic reticulum (ER) to mitochondria. Inhibiting PKM2 methylation with a competitive peptide delivered by nanoparticle perturbs metabolic energy balance in cancer cells, leading to decrease of cell proliferation, migration, and metastasis. Collectively, the CARM1-PKM2 axis serves as a metabolic reprogramming mechanism in tumorigenesis, and inhibiting PKM2 methylation generates metabolic vulnerability to IP3R-dependent mitochondrial functions.

Predicting the number of new suspected or confirmed cases of novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is crucial in the prevention and control of the COVID-19 outbreak. Social media search indexes (SMSI) for dry cough, fever, chest distress, coronavirus, and pneumonia were collected from 31

Traditional asymmetric supercapacitors are severely restricted due to the low specific capacitance of carbon negative materials. The rational design of positive and negative electrodes that afford the asymmetric device with high performances is particularly important. In this paper, we fabricate a novel cost-effective and environmental-friendly aqueous asymmetric supercapacitor by using CuCo 2 O 4 /CuO nanowire arrays as positive electrode and RGO/Fe 2 O 3 composites as negative electrode. The assembled device exhibits a high energy density of 33.0 Wh kg -1 at a power density of 200 W kg -1 , and can still operate at a high power density of 8.0 KW kg -1 with an energy density of 9.1 Wh kg -1 . The current strategy will provide a fresh route for design and fabricate of novel asymmetric supercapacitors with both high energy density and high power density.

To address the energy crisis and environmental problems, the applications of solar energy have received intensive attention. Converting solar energy to hydrogen using a photoelectrochemical (PEC) cell is one of the most promising approaches to meet future energy demands. As an earth abundant metal oxide, tungsten trioxide (WO3), which has a moderate band gap (2.5–2.7 eV), ideal valence band position, and high resistance to photocorrosion, has been widely utilized in PEC photoanodes. To obtain a WO3 photoanode with high PEC efficiency, tremendous efforts have been made to improve the light absorption capacity, charge carrier dynamics, and oxygen evolution activity. In this report, the recent advances in WO3 photoanode optimization, including morphology design, dopants doping, heterojunction fabrication, and surface modification are summarized. In this review, these developments and representative applications of WO3 photoanodes in unassisted water splitting devices are also discussed. Finally, perspectives on the significant challenges and future prospects for the development of WO3 photoanodes for PEC water splitting are provided.

Breast cancers with estrogen receptor a (ERa) expression are often more differentiated histologically than ERa-negative tumors, but the reasons for this difference are poorly understood. One possible explanation is that transcriptional cofactors associated with ERa determine the expression of genes which promote a more differentiated phenotype. In this study, we identify one such cofactor as coactivator-associated arginine methyltransferase 1 (CARM1), a unique coactivator of ERa that can simultaneously block cell proliferation and induce differentiation through global regulation of ERa-regulated genes. CARM1 was evidenced as an ERa coactivator in cell-based assays, gene expression microarrays, and mouse xenograft models. In human breast tumors, CARM1 expression positively correlated with ERa levels in ER-positive tumors but was inversely correlated with tumor grade. Our findings suggest that coexpression of CARM1 and ERa may provide a better biomarker of well-differentiated breast cancer. Furthermore, our findings define an important functional role of this histone arginine methyltransferase in reprogramming ERa-regulated cellular processes, implicating CARM1 as a putative epigenetic target in ER-positive breast cancers. Cancer Res; 71(6); 2118-28. Ó2011 AACR.

The therapeutic efficacy of anthracyclines relies, at least partially, on the induction of a dendritic cell-and T-lymphocyte-dependent anticancer immune response. Here, we show that anthracycline-based chemotherapy promotes the recruitment of functional CD11bpresenting cells (APC) into the tumor bed, but not into lymphoid organs. Accordingly, draining lymph nodes turned out to be dispensable for the proliferation of tumor antigen-specific T cells within neoplastic lesions as induced by anthracyclines. In addition, we found that tumors treated with anthracyclines manifest increased expression levels of the chemokine Ccl2. Such a response is important as neoplasms growing in Ccl2 À/À mice failed to accumulate dendritic cell-like APCs in response to chemotherapy. Moreover, cancers developing in mice lacking Ccl2 or its receptor (Ccr2) exhibited suboptimal therapeutic responses to anthracycline-based chemotherapy. Altogether, our results underscore the importance of the CCL2/CCR2 signaling axis for therapeutic anticancer immune responses as elicited by immunogenic chemotherapy. Cancer Res; 74(2); 436-45. Ó2013 AACR.