Anhui University of Science & Technology

To explore SLE staging markers, we analyzed eccDNA in plasma using circular sequencing, comparing healthy controls (HC), active SLE (ASLE), and inactive SLE (ISLE) patients. We found higher eccDNA levels and lower GC content in ASLE and ISLE compared to healthy controls, with a negative correlation between GC content and anti-daDNA, C3, and C4 levels in SLE and HC samples. Differential expression of exon-derived eccGenes in ASLE and ISLE suggests their role in SLE development, with KEGG analysis showing enrichment in SLE-related pathways for these differentially expressed genes. By protein-protein interactions network analysis we found 9 exon-derived eccGenes that were significantly differentially expressed and scored high in both ISLE-HC and ASLE-ISLE as diagnostic criteria for differentiating different disease stages of SLE. In conclusion, the present study reveals that eccDNA length GC content as well as chromosomal distribution in ASLE, ISLE and HC suggests that with eccDNA is associated with the creation of SLE, suggesting GC count of eccDNA as a diagnostic marker for systemic lupus erythematosus. Significant changes in the abundance of eccDNA-related genes from exons such as SOS1, GAD2, BCL11B, PPT1, and GCNT3 were observed in ISLE as compared to ASLE and HC groups and were significantly correlated with SLEDAI-2K. This suggests that these exon-derived eccGenes may play a role in the development and progression of the disease. Consequently, the abundance levels of these exon-derived eccGenes could potentially assist in distinguishing different stages of SLE, beyond a confirmed diagnosis, thus serving as possible biomarkers for the condition.

Terahertz (THz)-based metasurface sensors offer potential and extensive application prospects for organic solvent detection. This study proposed a liquid sensor comprising an electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT)-like THz metasurface covered by a channel. The designed device can exploit variations in the EIT-like resonance peaks to distinguish between the concentrations of three types of organic solvents (ethanol(ET), acetone(AC), and isopropyl alcohol(IPA)). The experimental results indicate that the maximum sensitivity values are 0.442 for ET, 0.365for AC, and 0.129 for IPA. A wavelet transform method was proposed to convert one-dimensional frequency-dependent transmission spectra into two-dimensional coefficient intensity cards, facilitating significant differentiation between solvent concentrations. Radar charts integrating multiple transmission characteristic points were employed to provide multidimensional information to identify three types of organic solutions. This study proposes a liquid sensor for the rapid, label-free detection and identification of organic solvents of different concentrations and types.

A solid-state lithium (Li) target for 2.5 MeV, 20 mA proton beam (PB) accelerator boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) was developed at the Energy Research Institute of Hefei National Comprehensive Science Center (Anhui Energy Laboratory).The Li target must withstand a high heat flux (HHF) of up to 2.8 MV/m² generated by the PB bombardment.The research team designed an optimized cross-rib structure.To test the thermal removal ability of the structure, electron beam thermal loading experiments verified its effective performance.The results showed that the designed Li target meets the requirement to remove the thermal load generated by the PB (2.8 MW/m²).