Decomposable Nanoagonists Enable NIR-Elicited cGAS-STING Activation for Tandem-Amplified Photodynamic-Metalloimmunotherapy

Activation of the cyclic GMP-AMP synthase-stimulator of interferon genes (cGAS-STING) pathway has emerged as an efficient strategy to improve the therapeutic outcomes of immunotherapy. However, the "constantly active" mode of current STING agonist delivery strategies typically leads to off-target toxicity and hyperimmunity. To address this critical issue, herein a metal-organic frameworks-based nanoagonist (DZ@A7) featuring tumor-specific and near-infrared (NIR) light-enhanced decomposition is constructed for precisely localized STING activation and photodynamic-metalloimmunotherapy. The engineered nanoagonist enabled the generation of mitochondria-targeted reactive oxygen species under NIR irradiation to specifically release mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and inhibit the repair of nuclear DNA via hypoxia-responsive drugs. Oxidized tumor mtDNA serves as an endogenous danger-associated molecular pattern that activates the cGAS-STING pathway. Concurrently, NIR-accelerated zinc ions overloading in cancer cells further enhance the cGAS enzymatic activity through metalloimmune effects. By combining the synergistically enhanced activation of the cGAS-STING pathway triggered by NIR irradiation, the engineered nanoagonist facilitated the maturation of dendritic cells and infiltration of cytotoxic T lymphocytes for primary tumor eradication, which also established a long-term anti-tumor immunity to suppress tumor metastasis. Therefore, the developed nanoagonist enabled NIR-triggered, agonist-free, and tandem-amplified activation of the cGAS-STING pathway, thereby offering a distinct paradigm for photodynamic-metalloimmunotherapy.

Piezocatalytic Schottky Junction Treats Atherosclerosis by a Biomimetic Trojan Horse Strategy

The atherosclerotic vulnerable plaque is characterized by the foamy macrophage burden, involving impaired cholesterol efflux and deficient efferocytosis. Correspondingly, piezocatalytic therapy is an emerging solution for eliminating the foamy macrophage burden with satisfactory spatiotemporal controllability and deep penetration depth. Herein, a biomimetic Trojan horse (Au-ZnO@MM) is engineered by coating the macrophage membrane (MM) onto the surface of a rod-like Au-ZnO Schottky Junction to effectively relieve the atherosclerotic progression. These Trojan horses with the coating of MM are actively transported into subsistent foamy macrophages and generate abundant reactive oxygen species (ROS) via ultrasound-activated piezocatalysis. ROS-initiated autophagy and mitochondrial dysfunction induce substantial cell apoptosis, alleviating the burden of subsistent foamy macrophages. The resulting apoptotic fragments further significantly facilitate cholesterol excretion and trigger efferocytosis of intraplaque fresh macrophages. Ultimately, the biomimetic Au-ZnO@MM piezocatalyst not only inhibits the foaming capacity of macrophages, but also improves the function of removing cell debris, which can stabilize atherosclerotic vulnerable plaque. Meanwhile, the plasmon resonance effect of integrated gold nanoparticles enables favorable photoacoustic molecular imaging for real-time image-guided atherosclerotic therapy. This proposed biomimetic Trojan horse strategy provides the paradigm of employing ultrasound-activated piezocatalytic methodology for enhanced atherosclerotic theranostics.

Catalytic Nanodots-Driven Pyroptosis Suppression in Nucleus Pulposus for Antioxidant Intervention of Intervertebral Disc Degeneration

Low back pain resulting from intervertebral disc degeneration (IVDD) is a prevalent global concern; however, its underlying mechanism remains elusive. Single-cell sequencing analyses revealed the critical involvement of pyroptosis in IVDD. Considering the involvement of reactive oxygen species (ROS) as the primary instigator of pyroptosis and the lack of an efficient intervention approach, this study developed carbonized Mn-containing nanodots (MCDs) as ROS-scavenging catalytic biomaterials to suppress pyroptosis of nucleus pulposus (NP) cells to efficiently alleviate IVDD. Catalytic MCDs have superior efficacy in scavenging intracellular ROS and rescuing homeostasis in the NP microenvironment compared with N-acetylcysteine, a classical antioxidant. The data validates that pyroptosis plays a vital role in mediating the protective effects of catalytic MCDs against oxidative stress. Systematic in vivo assessments substantiate the effectiveness of MCDs in rescuing a puncture-induced IVDD rat model, further demonstrating their ability to suppress pyroptosis. This study highlights the potential of antioxidant catalytic nanomedicine as a pyroptosis inhibitor and mechanistically unveils an efficient strategy for the treatment of IVDD.

Engineering Photothermal Catalytic CO2 Nanoreactor for Osteomyelitis Treatment by In Situ CO Generation

Photocatalytic carbon dioxide (CO2) reduction is an effective method for in vivo carbon monoxide (CO) generation for antibacterial use. However, the available strategies mainly focus on utilizing visible-light-responsive photocatalysts to achieve CO generation. The limited penetration capability of visible light hinders CO generation in deep-seated tissues. Herein, a photothermal CO2 catalyst (abbreviated as NNBCs) to achieve an efficient hyperthermic effect and in situ CO generation is rationally developed, to simultaneously suppress bacterial proliferation and relieve inflammatory responses. The NNBCs are modified with a special polyethylene glycol and further embellished by bicarbonate (BC) decoration via ferric ion-mediated coordination. Upon exposure to 1064 nm laser irradiation, the NNBCs facilitated efficient photothermal conversion and in situ CO generation through photothermal CO2 catalysis. Specifically, the photothermal effect accelerated the decomposition of BC to produce CO2 for photothermal catalytic CO production. Benefiting from the hyperthermic effect and in situ CO production, in vivo assessments using an osteomyelitis model confirmed that NNBCs can simultaneously inhibit bacterial proliferation and attenuate the photothermal effect-associated pro-inflammatory response. This study represents the first attempt to develop high-performance photothermal CO2 nanocatalysts to achieve in situ CO generation for the concurrent inhibition of bacterial growth and attenuation of inflammatory responses.

Immunogenic Material Vaccine for Cancer Immunotherapy by Structure-Dependent Immune Cell Trafficking and Modulation

Inherently immunogenic materials offer enormous prospects in enhancing vaccine efficacy. However, the understanding and improving material adjuvanticity remain elusive. Herein how the structural presentation of immunopotentiators in a material governs the dynamic dialogue between innate and adaptive immunity for enhanced cancer vaccination is reported. The immunopotentiator manganese into six differing structures that resemble the architectures of two types of pathogens (spherical viruses or rod-like bacteria) is precisely manipulated. The results reveal that innate immune cells accurately sense and respond to the architectures, of which two outperformed material candidates (151 nm hollow spheres and hollow microrods with an aspect ratio of 4.5) show higher competence in creating local proinflammatory environment with promoted innate immune cell influx and stimulation on dendritic cells (DCs). In combination with viral peptides, model proteins, or cell lysate antigens, the outperformed microrod material remarkably primes antigen-specific CD8 cytolytic T cells. In prophylactic and therapeutic regimens, the microrod adjuvanted vaccines display optimal aptitude in tumor suppression in four aggressive murine tumor models, by promoting the infiltration of heterogeneous cytolytic effector cells while decreasing suppressive immunoregulatory populations in tumors. This study demonstrates that a rationally selected architecture of immunogenic materials potentially advances the clinical reality of cancer vaccination.

Monoclonal antibody-based systematic identification of SUMO1-modification sites reveals TFII-I SUMOylation is involved in tumor growth

SUMOylation plays an essential role in diverse physiological and pathological processes. Identification of wild-type SUMO1-modification sites by mass spectrometry is still challenging. In this study, we produced a monoclonal SUMO1C-K antibody recognizing SUMOylated peptides and proposed an efficient streamline for identification of SUMOylation sites. We identified 471 SUMOylation sites in 325 proteins from five raw data. These identified sites exhibit a high positive rate when evaluated by mutation-verified SUMOylation sites. We identified many SUMOylated proteins involved in mitochondrial metabolism and non-membrane-bounded organelles formation. We proposed a SUMOylation motif, ΨKXD/EP, where proline is required for efficient SUMOylation. We further revealed SUMOylation of TFII-I was stimulated by growth signals and was required for nucleus-localization of p-ERK1/2. Mutation of SUMOylation sites of TFII-I suppressed tumor cell growth in vitro and in vivo. Taken together, we provided a strategy for personalized identification of wild-type SUMO1-modification sites and revealed the physiological significance of TFII-I SUMOylation in this study.

Palladium-Catalyzed Hydrogenation of Black Barium Titanate for Multienzyme-Piezoelectric Synergetic Tumor Therapy

Piezocatalytic tumor therapy is an emerging reactive oxygen species (ROS)-generating therapeutic approach that relies on piezoelectric polarization under ultrasound (US) irradiation. Optimizing ROS production is a primary objective for enhancing treatment efficiency. In this study, oxygen-vacancy-rich Pd-integrated black barium titanate (BTO) nanoparticles are rationally engineered to boost the ROS generation efficiency via the introduction of Pd. Pd-catalyzed hydrogenation at low temperatures narrows the bandgap of BTO and reduces the recombination rate of electron-hole pairs. Furthermore, Pd has dual-enzyme-mimicking characteristics, including peroxidase- and catalase-mimicking activities, which further heighten the therapeutic efficacy by enhancing ROS production and reversing the hypoxic tumor microenvironment. Importantly, the dual enzymatic activity of Pd can be amplified by multiple redox processes sparked by the piezoelectric potential under US stimulation, resulting in bilaterally enhanced multienzyme-piezoelectric synergetic therapy. In vitro and in vivo results confirm high tumor inhibition in murine breast cancer cells. This work stresses the critical effects of defect engineering-optimized piezodynamic tumor therapy.

Engineering Versatile Nanomedicines for Ultrasonic Tumor Immunotherapy

Due to the specific advantages of ultrasound (US) in therapeutic disease treatments, the unique therapeutic US technology has emerged. In addition to featuring a low-invasive targeted cancer-cell killing effect, the therapeutic US technology has been demonstrated to modulate the tumor immune landscape, amplify the therapeutic effect of other antitumor therapies, and induce immunosensitization of tumors to immunotherapy, shedding new light on the cancer treatment. Tremendous advances in nanotechnology are also expected to bring unprecedented benefits to enhancing the antitumor efficiency and immunological effects of therapeutic US, as well as therapeutic US-derived bimodal and multimodal synergistic therapies. This comprehensive review summarizes the immunological effects induced by different therapeutic US technologies, including ultrasound-mediated micro-/nanobubble destruction (UTMD/UTND), sonodynamic therapy (SDT), and focused ultrasound (FUS), as well as the main underlying mechanisms involved. It is also discussed that the recent research progress of engineering intelligent nanoplatform in improving the antitumor efficiency of therapeutic US technologies. Finally, focusing on clinical translation, the key issues and challenges currently faced are summarized, and the prospects for promoting the clinical translation of these emerging nanomaterials and ultrasonic immunotherapy in the future are proposed.

Nanomedicine for Diagnosis and Treatment of Atherosclerosis

With the changing disease spectrum, atherosclerosis has become increasingly prevalent worldwide and the associated diseases have emerged as the leading cause of death. Due to their fascinating physical, chemical, and biological characteristics, nanomaterials are regarded as a promising tool to tackle enormous challenges in medicine. The emerging discipline of nanomedicine has filled a huge application gap in the atherosclerotic field, ushering a new generation of diagnosis and treatment strategies. Herein, based on the essential pathogenic contributors of atherogenesis, as well as the distinct composition/structural characteristics, synthesis strategies, and surface design of nanoplatforms, the three major application branches (nanodiagnosis, nanotherapy, and nanotheranostic) of nanomedicine in atherosclerosis are elaborated. Then, state-of-art studies containing a sequence of representative and significant achievements are summarized in detail with an emphasis on the intrinsic interaction/relationship between nanomedicines and atherosclerosis. Particularly, attention is paid to the biosafety of nanomedicines, which aims to pave the way for future clinical translation of this burgeoning field. Finally, this comprehensive review is concluded by proposing unresolved key scientific issues and sharing the vision and expectation for the future, fully elucidating the closed loop from atherogenesis to the application paradigm of nanomedicines for advancing the early achievement of clinical applications.

Liquid Nanoparticles for Nanocatalytic Cancer Therapy

Nanotechnology is revolutionizing cancer therapy, and catalyzes the emerging of ion-involved cancer-therapeutic modality, which unfortunately suffers from undesirable nanocarriers for efficient intracellular ion delivery. To radically extricate from this critical issue, the glutathione (GSH)-responsive organosilica network is employed to lock the liquid drops at the nanoscale via a general bottom-up strategy to achieve the systemic delivery of "ion drugs". In this work, a sulfate radical generation donor (Na2 S2 O8 ), as a paradigm "ion drug", is entrapped into this liquid nanoparticle for efficiently delivering to the tumor region. After further surface engineering with pH-responsive tannic acid-Fe2+ framework, these liquid nanoparticles achieve tumor-microenvironmental pH/GSH-dual responsive ion release (Fe2+ /Na+ /S2 O8 2- ) after reaching the tumor sites, where the Fe2+ further triggers S2 O8 2- to generate toxic •SO4 - and •OH, effectively executing cancer cell ferroptosis (Fe2+ , reactive oxygen species-ROS) and pyroptosis (Na+ , ROS). Such a tumor-responsive/specific liquid nanoplatform is highly instructive for further ion-mediated nanomedicine and disease treatment.

Bacteriosynthetic Degradable Tranexamic Acid-Functionalized Short Fibers for Inhibiting Invisible Hemorrhage

Current research on hemostatic materials have focused on the inhibition of visible hemorrhage, however, invisible hemorrhage is the unavoidable internal bleeding that occurs after trauma or surgery, leading directly to a dramatic drop in hemoglobin and then to anemia and even death. In this study, bacterial nanocellulose (BNC) was synthesized and oxidized from the primary alcohols to carboxyl groups, and then grafted with tranexamic acid through amide bonds to construct degradable nanoscale short fibers (OBNC-TXA), which rapidly activated the coagulation response. The hemostatic material is made up of nanoscale short fibers that can be constructed into different forms such as emulsions, gels, powders, and sponges to meet different clinical applications. In the hemostatic experiments in vitro, the composites had significantly superior pro-coagulant properties due to the rapid aggregation of blood cells. In the coagulation experiments with rat tail amputation and liver trauma hemorrhage models, the group treated with OBNC-TXA1 sponge showed low hemorrhage and inhibited invisible hemorrhage in rectus abdominis muscle defect hemorrhage models, with a rapid recovery of hemoglobin values from 128±5.5 to 165±2.6 g L-1 within 4 days. In conclusion, the degradable short fibers constructed from bacterial nano-cellulose achieved inhibition of invisible hemorrhage in vivo.

Peptide-Appended Nanosonosensitizers Targeting Tumor Glycolysis for Synergistic Sonodynamic-Immunometabolic Therapy of Spinal-Metastasized Tumors

Despite recent advancements in cancer immunotherapy, challenges have yet to be surmounted to achieve two major goals of magnifying antitumor immunity and remodeling the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment. Here, a nanosystem (ODM-R) that integrates oxygen-deficient molybdenum oxide (ODM) nanosonosensitizers and R7 peptides with tumor metabolism regulation effects is designed and fabricated for synergistic sonodynamic-immunometabolic therapy of spinal-metastasized tumors. The ODM generates reactive oxygen species upon ultrasound irradiation to implement sonodynamic therapy (SDT), inducing cancer cell apoptosis and immunogenic cell death. The R7 attached on ODM markedly inhibits the uptake of glucose and excretion of lactic acid in cancer cells by perturbing the glycolysis process. The combination of SDT and tumor glycolysis obstruction by ODM-R guarantees satisfactory efficacy in synergizing with PD-L1 antibody to eradicate spinal-metastasized tumors, achieving concurrent sonodynamic-triggered immune activation and immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment remodeling. This work provides a proof-of-concept of nanosonosensitizers for boosting cancer immunotherapy by SDT and tumor metabolic regulation.

Multienzyme-Mimicking LaCoO3 Nanotrigger for Programming Cancer-Cell Pyroptosis

Pyroptosis, a distinct paradigm of programmed cell death, is an efficient strategy against cancer by overcoming resistance to apoptosis. In this study, LaCoO3 (LCO) lanthanide-based nanocrystals with multienzyme characteristics are rationally designed and engineered to trigger the generation of cytotoxic reactive oxygen species (ROS) and the release of lanthanum ions, ultimately inducing lung cancer cell pyroptosis. The peroxidase- and oxidase-mimicking activities of LCO nanocrystals endow LCO with ROS production capacity in tumor tissues with an acidic pH and high hydrogen peroxide content. Concurrently, the LCO nanoenzyme exhibits catalase- and glutathione peroxidase-like activities, reversing the hypoxic microenvironment, destroying the activated antioxidant system of tumor cells, and amplifying the sensitivity of tumor cells to ROS. The use of ultrasound further accelerates the enzymatic kinetic rate. Most importantly, the La3+ ions released by LCO robustly destroy the lysosomal membrane, finally inducing canonical pyroptotic cell death, together with ROS. LCO-nanocrystal-triggered programmed cell pyroptosis amplifies the therapeutic effects both in vitro and in vivo, effectively restraining lung cancer growth and metastasis. This study paves a new avenue for the efficient treatment of lung cancer and metastasis through US-enhanced lanthanum-based nanoenzyme platforms and pyroptotic cell death.

Sonocatalytic Optimization of Titanium-Based Therapeutic Nanomedicine

Recent considerable technological advances in ultrasound-based treatment modality provides a magnificent prospect for scientific communities to conquer the related diseases, which is featured with remarkable tissue penetration, non-invasive and non-thermal characteristics. As one of the critical elements that influences treatment outcomes, titanium (Ti)-based sonosensitizers with distinct physicochemical properties and exceptional sonodynamic efficiency have been applied extensively in the field of nanomedical applications. To date, a myriad of methodologies has been designed to manipulate the sonodynamic performance of titanium-involved nanomedicine and further enhance the productivity of reactive oxygen species for disease treatments. In this comprehensive review, the sonocatalytic optimization of diversified Ti-based nanoplatforms, including defect engineering, plasmon resonance modulation, heterojunction, modulating tumor microenvironment, as well as the development of synergistic therapeutic modalities is mainly focused. The state-of-the-art Ti-based nanoplatforms ranging from preparation process to the extensive medical applications are summarized and highlighted, with the goal of elaborating on future research prospects and providing a perspective on the bench-to-beside translation of these sonocatalytic optimization tactics. Furthermore, to spur further technological advancements in nanomedicine, the difficulties currently faced and the direction of sonocatalytic optimization of Ti-based therapeutic nanomedicine are proposed and outlooked.

Single Atom Iron-Doped Graphic-Phase C3 N4 Semiconductor Nanosheets for Augmented Sonodynamic Melanoma Therapy Synergy with Endowed Chemodynamic Effect

Sonodynamic therapy (SDT) is a non-invasive therapeutic modality with high tissue-penetration depth to induce reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation for tumor treatment. However, the clinical translation of SDT is restricted seriously by the lack of high-performance sonosensitizers. Herein, the distinct single atom iron (Fe)-doped graphitic-phase carbon nitride (C3 N4 ) semiconductor nanosheets (Fe-C3 N4 NSs) are designed and engineered as chemoreactive sonosensitizers to effectively separate the electrons (e- ) and holes (h+ ) pairs, achieving high yields of ROS generation against melanoma upon ultrasound (US) activation. Especially, the single atom Fe doping not only substantially elevates the separation efficiency of the e- -h+ pairs involved in SDT, but also can serve as high-performance peroxidase mimetic enzyme to catalyze the Fenton reaction for generating abundant hydroxyl radicals, therefore synergistically augmenting the curative effect mediated by SDT. As verified by density functional theory simulation, the doping of Fe atom significantly promotes the charge redistribution in the C3 N4 -based NSs, which improves their synergistic SDT/chemodynamic activities. Both the in vitro and in vivo assays demonstrate that Fe-C3 N4 NSs feature an outstanding antitumor effect by aggrandizing the sono-chemodynamic effect. This work illustrates a unique single-atom doping strategy for ameliorating the sonosensitizers, and also effectively expands the innovative anticancer-therapeutic applications of semiconductor-based inorganic sonosensitizers.

Engineering 2D Multienzyme-Mimicking Pyroptosis Inducers for Ultrasound-Augmented Catalytic Tumor Nanotherapy

Overcoming apoptosis resistance is necessary to ensure an effective cancer treatment; however, it is currently very difficult to achieve. A desirable alternative for cancer treatment is the targeted activation of pyroptosis, a unique type of programmed cell death. However, the pyroptosis inducers that are efficient for cancer therapy are limited. This work reports the engineering of 2D NiCoOx nanosheets as inducers of the production of harmful reactive oxygen species (ROS), which promote intense cell pyroptosis, and that can be applied to ultrasound (US)-augmented catalytic tumor nanotherapy. The main therapeutic task is carried out by the 2D NiCoOx nanosheets, which have four multienzyme-mimicking activities: peroxidase- (POD), oxidase- (OXD), glutathione peroxidase- (GPx), and catalase- (CAT) mimicking activities. These activities induce the reversal of the hypoxic microenvironment, endogenous glutathione depletion, and a continuous ROS output. The ROS-induced pyroptosis process is carried out via the ROS-NLRP3-GSDMD pathway, and the exogenous US activation boosts the multienzyme-mimicking activities and favors the incremental ROS generation, thus inducing mitochondrial dysfunction. The anti-cancer experimental results support the dominance of NiCoOx nanosheet-induced pyroptosis. This work expands on the biomedical applications of engineering 2D materials for US-augmented catalytic breast cancer nanotherapy and deepens the understanding of the multienzyme activities of nanomaterials.

Ultrasound-Triggered Cascade Amplification of Nanotherapy

Ultrasound (US)-triggered cascade amplification of nanotherapies has attracted considerable attention as an effective strategy for cancer treatment. With the remarkable advances in materials chemistry and nanotechnology, a large number of well-designed nanosystems have emerged that incorporate presupposed cascade amplification processes and can be activated to trigger therapies such as chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and ferroptosis, under exogenous US stimulation or specific substances generated by US actuation, to maximize antitumor efficacy and minimize detrimental effects. Therefore, summarizing the corresponding nanotherapies and applications based on US-triggered cascade amplification is essential. This review comprehensively summarizes and highlights the recent advances in the design of intelligent modalities, consisting of unique components, distinctive properties, and specific cascade processes. These ingenious strategies confer unparalleled potential to nanotherapies based on ultrasound-triggered cascade amplification and provide superior controllability, thus overcoming the unmet requirements of precision medicine and personalized treatment. Finally, the challenges and prospects of this emerging strategy are discussed and it is expected to encourage more innovative ideas and promote their further development.

Analysis of Comfort during Transfer by a Dual-Arm Care Robot Based on Human Body Pressure and Surface Electromyographic Signals

In-home elderly care faces a crucial challenge regarding mobility among essential assistive devices, for which dual-arm care robots present a viable solution. However, ensuring human comfort in human-robot interactions necessitate quantifiable standards. Currently, the field lacks accurate biomechanical model solutions and objective comfort evaluation. In response to this need, this study proposes a method for solving human-robot statics models based on real-time pressure and position information. Employing the Optitrack motion capture system and Tekscan pressure sensors, we collect real-time positional and pressure data. This information is then incorporated into our human-robot statics model, facilitating the instantaneous calculation of forces and moments within the human body's sagittal plane. Building on this, comprehensive research literature review and meticulous questionnaire surveys are conducted to establish a comprehensive comfort evaluation function. To validate this function, experiments are performed to enable real-time assessment of comfort levels experienced during the process of transferring the human body. Additionally, the Noraxon surface electromyography (sEMG) sensors are utilized to capture real-time sEMG signals from the erector spinae, adductor muscles and quadratus lumborum, thereby providing objective validation for the comfort evaluation function. The experimental findings demonstrate that the proposed methodology for evaluating comfort achieves an accuracy rate of 85.1%.

A New Target Detection Method of Ferrography Wear Particle Images Based on ECAM-YOLOv5-BiFPN Network

For mechanical equipment, the wear particle in the lubrication system during equipment operation can reflect the lubrication condition, wear mechanism, and severity of wear between equipment friction pairs. To solve the problems of false detection and missed detection of small, dense, and overlapping wear particles in the current ferrography wear particle detection model in a complex oil background environment, a new ferrography wear particle detection network, EYBNet, is proposed. Firstly, the MSRCR algorithm is used to enhance the contrast of wear particle images and reduce the interference of complex lubricant backgrounds. Secondly, under the framework of YOLOv5s, the accuracy of network detection is improved by introducing DWConv and the accuracy of the entire network is improved by optimizing the loss function of the detection network. Then, by adding an ECAM to the backbone network of YOLOv5s, the saliency of wear particles in the images is enhanced, and the feature expression ability of wear particles in the detection network is enhanced. Finally, the path aggregation network structure in YOLOv5s is replaced with a weighted BiFPN structure to achieve efficient bidirectional cross-scale connections and weighted feature fusion. The experimental results show that the average accuracy is increased by 4.46%, up to 91.3%, compared with YOLOv5s, and the detection speed is 50.5FPS.

Spontaneous formation of MXene-oxidized sono/chemo-dynamic sonosensitizer/nanocatalyst for antibacteria and bone-tissue regeneration

Prolonged and incurable bacterial infections in soft tissue and bone are currently causing large challenges in the clinic. Two-dimensional (2D) materials have been designed to address these issues, but materials with satisfying therapeutic effects are still needed. Herein, CaO₂-loaded 2D titanium carbide nanosheets (CaO₂-TiO_x@Ti₃C₂, C-T@Ti₃C₂) were developed. Surprisingly, this nanosheet exhibited sonodynamic ability, in which CaO₂ caused the in situ oxidation of Ti₃C₂ MXene to produce acoustic sensitiser TiO₂ on its surface. In addition, this nanosheet displayed chemodynamic features, which promoted a Fenton reaction triggered by self-supplied H₂O₂. We detected that C-T@Ti₃C₂ nanosheets increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) production in response to sonodynamic therapy, which displayed an ideal antibacterial effect. Furthermore, these nanoreactors facilitated the deposition of Ca²⁺, which promoted osteogenic transformation and enhanced bone quality in osteomyelitis models. Herein, a wound healing model and prosthetic joint infection (PJI) model were established, and the C-T@Ti₃C₂ nanosheets played a protective role in these models. Taken together, the results indicated that the C-T@Ti₃C₂ nanosheets function as a multifunctional instrument with sonodynamic features, which might reveal information regarding the treatment of bacterial infections during wound healing.

Recent development of surface-enhanced Raman scattering for biosensing

Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) technology, as a powerful tool to identify molecular species by collecting molecular spectral signals at the single-molecule level, has achieved substantial progresses in the fields of environmental science, medical diagnosis, food safety, and biological analysis. As deepening research is delved into SERS sensing, more and more high-performance or multifunctional SERS substrate materials emerge, which are expected to push Raman sensing into more application fields. Especially in the field of biological analysis, intrinsic and extrinsic SERS sensing schemes have been widely used and explored due to their fast, sensitive and reliable advantages. Herein, recent developments of SERS substrates and their applications in biomolecular detection (SARS-CoV-2 virus, tumor etc.), biological imaging and pesticide detection are summarized. The SERS concepts (including its basic theory and sensing mechanism) and the important strategies (extending from nanomaterials with tunable shapes and nanostructures to surface bio-functionalization by modifying affinity groups or specific biomolecules) for improving SERS biosensing performance are comprehensively discussed. For data analysis and identification, the applications of machine learning methods and software acquisition sources in SERS biosensing and diagnosing are discussed in detail. In conclusion, the challenges and perspectives of SERS biosensing in the future are presented.

Engineering Bifunctional Calcium Alendronate Gene-Delivery Nanoneedle for Synergistic Chemo/Immuno-Therapy Against HER2 Positive Ovarian Cancer

Ovarian cancer is the most lethal gynecological malignancy. Most patients are diagnosed at an advanced stage with widespread peritoneal dissemination and ascites. Bispecific T-cell engagers (BiTEs) have demonstrated impressive antitumor efficacy in hematological malignancies, but the clinical potency is limited by their short half-life, inconvenient continuous intravenous infusion, and severe toxicity at relevant therapeutic levels in solid tumors. To address these critical issues, the design and engineering of alendronate calcium (CaALN) based gene-delivery system is reported to express therapeutic level of BiTE (HER2×CD3) for efficient ovarian cancer immunotherapy. Controllable construction of CaALN nanosphere and nanoneedle is achieved by the simple and green coordination reactions that the distinct nanoneedle-like alendronate calcium (CaALN-N) with a high aspect ratio enabled efficient gene delivery to the peritoneum without system in vivo toxicity. Especially, CaALN-N induced apoptosis of SKOV3-luc cell via down-regulation of HER2 signaling pathway and synergized with HER2×CD3 to generate high antitumor response. In vivo administration of CaALN-N/minicircle DNA encoding HER2×CD3 (MC-HER2×CD3) produces sustained therapeutic levels of BiTE and suppresses tumor growth in a human ovarian cancer xenograft model. Collectively, the engineered alendronate calcium nanoneedle represents a bifunctional gene delivery platform for the efficient and synergistic treatment of ovarian cancer.

Sonopiezoelectric Nanomedicine and Materdicine

Endogenous electric field is ubiquitous in a multitude of important living activities such as bone repair, cell signal transduction, and nerve regeneration, signifying that regulating the electric field in organisms is highly beneficial to maintain organism health. As an emerging and promising research direction, piezoelectric nanomedicine and materdicine precisely activated by ultrasound with synergetic advantages of deep tissue penetration, remote spatiotemporal selectivity, and mechanical-electrical energy interconversion, have been progressively utilized for disease treatment and tissue repair by participating in the modulation of endogenous electric field. This specific nanomedicine utilizing piezoelectric effect activated by ultrasound is typically regarded as "sonopiezoelectric nanomedicine". This comprehensive review summarizes and discusses the substantially employed sonopiezoelectric nanomaterials and nanotherapies to provide an insight into the internal mechanism of the corresponding biological behavior/effect of sonopiezoelectric biomaterials in versatile disease treatments. This review primarily focuses on the sonopiezoelectric biomaterials for biosensing, drug delivery, tumor therapy, tissue regeneration, antimicrobia, and further illuminates the underlying sonopiezoelectric mechanism. In addition, the challenges and developments/prospects of sonopiezoelectric nanomedicine are analyzed for promoting the further clinical translation. It is earnestly expected that this kind of nanomedicine/biomaterials-enabled sonopiezoelectric technology will provoke the comprehensive investigation and promote the clinical development of the next-generation multifunctional materdicine.

Photonic Hyperthermia Synergizes with Immune-Activators to Augment Tumor-Localized Immunotherapy

Photothermal immunotherapy, the combination of photothermal hyperthermia and immunotherapy, is a noninvasive and desirable therapeutic strategy to address the deficiency of traditional photothermal ablation for tumor treatment. However, insufficient T-cell activation following photothermal treatment is a bottleneck to achieve satisfactory therapeutic effectiveness. In this work, a multifunctional nanoplatform is rationally designed and engineered on the basis of polypyrrole-based magnetic nanomedicine modified by T-cell activators of anti-CD3 and anti-CD28 monoclonal antibodies, which have achieved robust near infrared laser-triggered photothermal ablation and long-lasting T-cell activation, realizing diagnostic imaging-guided immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment regulation following photothermal hyperthermia by reinvigorating tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes. By virtue of high-efficient immunogenic cell death and dendritic cell maturation combined with T-cell activation, this nanosystem markedly restrains primary and abscopal tumors as well as metastatic tumors with negligible side effects in vivo, exerting the specific function for suppressing tumor recurrence and metastasis by establishing a long-term memory immune response.

Single Atom-Doped Nanosonosensitizers for Mutually Optimized Sono/Chemo-Nanodynamic Therapy of Triple Negative Breast Cancer

Sonodynamic therapy (SDT) represents a promising therapeutic modality for treating breast cancer, which relies on the generation of abundant reactive oxygen species (ROS) to induce oxidative stress damage. However, mutant breast cancers, especially triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), have evolved to acquire specific antioxidant defense functions, significantly limiting the killing efficiency of SDT. Herein, the authors have engineered a distinct single copper atom-doped titanium dioxide (Cu/TiO2 ) nanosonosensitizer with highly catalytic and sonosensitive activities for synergistic chemodynamic and sonodynamic treatment of TNBC. The single-atom Cu is anchored on the most stable Ti vacancies of hollow TiO2 sonosensitizers, which not only substantially improved the catalytic activity of Cu-mediated Fenton-like reaction, but also considerably augmented the sonodynamic efficiency of TiO2 by facilitating the separation of electrons (e- ) and holes (h+ ). Both the in vitro and in vivo studies demonstrate that the engineered single atom-doped nanosonosensitizers effectively achieved the significantly inhibitory effect of TNBC, providing a therapeutic paradigm for non-invasive and safe tumor elimination through the mutual process of sono/chemo-nanodynamic therapy based on multifunctional single-atom nanosonosensitizers.

The preliminary efficacy of virtual agent-assisted intelligent rehabilitation treatment (Echo app v2.0) in patients with alcohol use disorders: Study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

Background

Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is one of the most common substance use disorders. People with AUD are in great need of highly accessible and comprehensive management, involving medicine, exercise, and psychotherapy. However, due to limited resources, providing comprehensive treatment for every patient is challenging. Virtual agent-assisted intelligent rehabilitation treatment can improve the accessibility of comprehensive management.

Objectives

This randomized controlled trial aims to test whether the virtual agent-assisted intelligent rehabilitation treatment (Echo-app-v2.0) plus treatment as usual (TAU) has greater efficacy than only TAU in AUD.

Methods

One hundred participants with AUD will be recruited and randomly assigned to either TAU or virtual agent-assisted intelligent rehabilitation treatment plus TAU based on the 1:1 ratio. The virtual agent-assisted intelligent rehabilitation treatment is delivered by the Echo app v2.0 developed by our research team. Participants will be assessed at baseline, week 4 of treatment, one month, and three months after the end of treatment. The primary outcome is the participants' craving for alcohol, measured by Visual Analogue Scale. Other outcomes include the use of alcohol, motivation for treatment, coping style, depression, anxiety, impulsivity, stress, and sleep quality.

Discussion

The virtual agent, with vivid human image, high privacy, and the ability to interact with users, has the potential to play an important role in the delivery of digital psychotherapy. The development of Echo app v2.0 has the possibility to raise the availability of comprehensive treatment for people with AUD.

Targeted Cancer Immunotherapy: Nanoformulation Engineering and Clinical Translation

With the rapid growth of advanced nanoengineering strategies, there are great implications for therapeutic immunostimulators formulated in nanomaterials to combat cancer. It is crucial to direct immunostimulators to the right tissue and specific immune cells at the right time, thereby orchestrating the desired, potent, and durable immune response against cancer. The flexibility of nanoformulations in size, topology, softness, and multifunctionality allows precise regulation of nano-immunological activities for enhanced therapeutic effect. To grasp the modulation of immune response, research efforts are needed to understand the interactions of immune cells at lymph organs and tumor tissues, where the nanoformulations guide the immunostimulators to function on tissue specific subsets of immune cells. In this review, recent advanced nanoformulations targeting specific subset of immune cells, such as dendritic cells (DCs), T cells, monocytes, macrophages, and natural killer (NK) cells are summarized and discussed, and clinical development of nano-paradigms for targeted cancer immunotherapy is highlighted. Here the focus is on the targeting nanoformulations that can passively or actively target certain immune cells by overcoming the physiobiological barriers, instead of directly injecting into tissues. The opportunities and remaining obstacles for the clinical translation of immune cell targeting nanoformulations in cancer therapy are also discussed.

Ultrasound-Controlled CRISPR/Cas9 System Augments Sonodynamic Therapy of Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Sonodynamic therapy (SDT), relying on the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), is a promising clinical therapeutic modality for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) due to its noninvasiveness and high tissue-penetration depth, whereas the oxidative stress and antioxidative defense system in cancer cells significantly restrict the prevalence of SDT. Herein, we initially identified that NFE2L2 was immediately activated during SDT, which further inhibited SDT efficacy. To address this intractable issue, an ultrasound remote control of the cluster regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR)/CRISPR-associated protein 9 (Cas9) release system (HMME@Lip-Cas9) was meticulously designed and constructed, which precisely knocks down NFE2L2 to alleviate the adverse effects and augment the therapeutic efficiency of SDT. The hematoporphyrin monomethyl ether (HMME) in this system yielded abundant ROS to damage cancer cells under ultrasound irradiation, and meanwhile the generated ROS could induce lysosomal rupture to release Cas9/single guide RNA ribonucleoprotein (RNP) and destroy the oxidative stress-defensing system, significantly promoting tumor cell apoptosis. This study provides a new paradigm for HCC management and lays the foundation for the widespread application of CRISPR/Cas9 with promising clinical translation, meanwhile developing a synergistic therapeutic modality in the combination of SDT with gene editing.