Phaeocystis globosa is one of the major dominant species that cause harmful algae, and its massive reproduction will have a significant impact on marine ecosystems and aquaculture. Therefore, the development of sensitive, fast and portable detection methods is crucial for early identification of algae and follow-up risk assessment. Based on the split aptamer identification strategy, this study constructs a split aptamer-lateral flow dipstick (SA-LFD) platform for the detection of P. globosa, and systematically evaluates its analysis performance. The results show that the method is simple to perform and yields clearly visible results, with the caveat that sample pretreatment requires centrifugation. The system has high specificity for P. globosa, and no cross-reaction was detected in various non-target algae tested. The detection limit of the system is 1.35 × 10[3] cells mL[- 1], and it also shows robustness in mixed algae communities and simulated natural seawater samples, indicating that it has a high resistance to matrix interference. The split aptamer strategy effectively reduced background signal interference and improved detection accuracy. Overall, this method integrates sensitivity, specificity, and portability, making it suitable for rapid laboratory-based screening and emergency assessment, and provides a feasible technical approach for the rapid detection of harmful algae and red tide early warning, with potential extension to the detection of other algal species after further simplification of sample pretreatment.

Developing highly efficient and durable bifunctional electrocatalysts for large-scale alkaline water and seawater electrolysis remains a major challenge. In this work, we synthesized core-shell Co9S8-MnO2@MoS2/NF with ternary heterojunction interfaces via a two-step hydrothermal method. This ternary structure modulates the electronic structure at the interface, improves the adsorption of HER/OER intermediates, and enhances overall catalytic activity and stability. The MoS2 overlayer acts as a protective and electronic-modulation layer. Consequently, the Co9S8-MnO2@MoS2/NF exhibits outstanding bifunctional performance in alkaline freshwater, simulated seawater, and natural seawater, requiring overpotentials of only 64/87/97 mV for HER and 181/191/215 mV for OER at 10 mA cm[-2]. In a two-electrode configuration, the symmetric electrolyzer achieves 10 mA cm[-2] at cell voltages of 1.46/1.51/1.52 V in the three electrolytes, outperforming most reported electrocatalysts. Moreover, it maintains stable operation for 210 h under multicurrent step testing in natural seawater. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations confirm that the MoS2 incorporation increases the density of states near the Fermi level and upshifts the d-band center, which significantly optimizes the Gibbs free energy for hydrogen adsorption (ΔGH*) and reduces the energy barrier of the OER rate-determining step (ΔGRDS). This work demonstrates that heterojunction engineering and electronic modulation provide an effective strategy for designing high-performance, corrosion-resistant bifunctional electrocatalysts for practical water-splitting and seawater-splitting applications.

Artificial photosynthesis through proton reduction or CO2 reduction to generate chemical fuels has gained increasing attention as an attractive strategy for solar-to-fuel conversion. In these systems, the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) provides the necessary electrons and protons for driving the overall reaction but represents the rate-limiting step due to its inherently sluggish kinetics. Therefore, efficient overall artificial photosynthesis requires photocatalysts that can drive both the oxidation and reduction half-reactions, which impose stringent demands on catalyst design. Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) offer a versatile platform for designing such photocatalysts, owing to their strong light-harvesting capabilities , periodic architectures, and highly tunable frameworks that allow programmable catalytic sites and adjustable electronic band structures. While notable progress has been made in developing COF photocatalysts for the OER and overall artificial photosynthesis, these advances remain scattered across the literature and existing reviews, and a dedicated, systematic overview of the OER and its central role in integrated artificial photosynthetic processes is still lacking. This Review systematically summarizes recent advances in COF-based photocatalysts for the OER half-reaction and overall artificial photosynthesis. Our aim is to offer a comprehensive roadmap that establishes fundamental design principles for next-generation COF-based photocatalysts toward efficient and sustainable artificial photosynthesis.

Molecular dipole engineering in dendrimeric perylene diimide (PDI) polymers creates powerful built-in electric fields (BIEFs) that dramatically enhance photoelectrochemical performance. By strategically tuning nitrogen content in aromatic linkers (pyridine, pyrimidine, and 1,3,5-triazine), the pyridine-linked C5N1-PDI achieves exceptional photocurrent density (68.7 µA cm[-] [2] at 1.23 V vs. RHE), outperforming its counterparts by 3.42-229 times. Ultrafast spectroscopy reveals this enhancement originates from sub-picosecond charge separation and efficient multi-electron accumulation, while theoretical modeling confirms the critical role of linker polarity in BIEF amplification. This work establishes a fundamental structure-kinetics relationship for designing high-performance organic photoelectrodes, providing a versatile strategy for advancing solar energy conversion technologies.

Xanthine and hypoxanthine are metabolic precursors of uric acid (UA), and their molecular structures and chemical properties are similar to those of UA. Consequently, accurately distinguishing between them has long posed a substantial challenge. In this study, library immobilization was employed to screen for aptamers for UA. An aptamer designated Apt2 exhibits a dissociation constant (Kd) of 14.11 μM for UA, demonstrating low affinity for xanthine and negligible affinity for hypoxanthine. DG10 and DG11 are critical sites for maintaining its affinity and selectivity. Microscale thermophoresis (MST) analysis yielded a Kd value of 461 nM for Apt2, while circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy indicated that Apt2 might adopt a parallel G-quadruplex conformation. Based on its conserved sequence and secondary structure, Apt2 was systematically split and tailored to generate two split aptamers: Apt2-T4/Apt-T5 and Apt2-T4-T3/Apt2-T5. The Kd values of these split aptamers, as measured by thioflavin T (ThT) fluorescence, were 48.78 μM and 38.72 μM, respectively. To facilitate sensor development, the kinetic and thermodynamic characteristics of these aptamers were evaluated. The results indicated that Apt2-T4-T3/Apt2-T5 binds rapidly to UA, and the melting temperature (Tm) of Apt2-T4-T3/Apt2-T5 was determined to be 40.48 ± 0.18 °C. Finally, we developed a label-free fluorometric split aptasensor based on Apt2-T4-T3/Apt2-T5, which achieved a detection limit of 0.60 μM and exhibited a strong linear response within the UA concentration range of 3.15-200 μM. Subsequently, the aptasensor was applied to detect UA in real urine samples.

We report a high-resolution rotational study of N-methylmaleimide and N-methylsuccinimide using a molecular jet Ka-band Chirped Pulse Fourier-Transform MicroWave (CP-FTMW) spectrometer and two resonator-based FTMW instruments (Passage And Resonance In Synergy─PARIS and Ka-band "small cavity"). In both molecules, the methyl group undergoes facile internal rotation, splitting each rotational transition into the m = 0 and m = 1 torsional species. For N-methylmaleimide, 672 hyperfine-resolved transitions were assigned from the PARIS (2-20 GHz) and "small cavity" data. A global fit using the XIAM program yielded an rms deviation of 89.1 kHz, and separate fits of the two torsional species confirmed the correctness of the assignment. The program BELGIimproved the rms deviation to 4.5 kHz, consistent with the measurement accuracy. For N-methylsuccinimide, 260 transitions were assigned from the Ka-band CP-FTMW spectra with a measurement accuracy of 25 kHz. The data were fitted first with the XIAM program to an rms deviation of 32.7 kHz, and then with the BELGI program, which reduced this value to 24.9 kHz. The V6 torsional barriers were determined to be 20.2364(16) cm[-1] for N-methylmaleimide and 25.833(11) cm[-1] for N-methylsuccinimide. These values are significantly lower than that of N-methylpyrrole (67.8 cm[-1]), suggesting that the two adjacent carbonyl substituents enhance the sensitivity of the methyl rotor to the local C2v electronic environment, thereby lowering the torsional barrier.

The bovine respiratory disease complex causes significant morbidity and mortality with numerous aetiological agents known to contribute to its development, including several bacteria and viruses. In Albania, there is limited information on the prevalence or genetic makeup of viral bovine respiratory disease complex pathogens, which limits mitigation strategies and effective responses such as targeted vaccination against circulating viruses. Nasal or pulmonary samples were collected from cattle in 2022/2023, and then, PCR of bovine Betacoronavirus gravedinis (BoCoV) and Orthopneumovirus bovis (BRSV) was used to determine their prevalence in Albanian cattle with or without respiratory symptoms. From 105 cattle that were tested, 5 animals tested positive for BoCoV only, 5 animals tested positive for BRSV only and 1 animal tested positive for both BoCoV and BRSV. Four of the eleven positive animals had respiratory symptoms accounting for 8.3% of all symptomatic animals tested. There was an increased prevalence of viruses detected in animals sampled in farms or slaughterhouses within or neighbouring the region of Tiranë compared to other locations. Sequencing of genes encoding the surface proteins enabled phylogenetic analysis and genotyping of Albanian isolates. BoCoV spike and haemagglutinin esterase sequences sat in the European clade, with the spike sequences split across three lineages. BRSV isolates were either in subgroup II, with many other European isolates, or subgroup VIII with several Croatian isolates. This study has shown that BoCoV and BRSV were not highly prevalent in cattle with respiratory symptoms in Albania at the time of sampling. Phylogenetic analyses showed that the detected pathogens are closely related to isolates from other European countries, and there have been multiple introductions of each.

The growing demand for green hydrogen requires efficient, cost-effective electrocatalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER), a process currently hindered by sluggish kinetics. This study explores the optimisation of the spinel oxide NiFe2O4 through the partial Fe substitution with Cr and Mn, synthesised via a subcritical hydrothermal method, as an alternative to the standard Pt-group metals (PGM)-based electrocatalysts for the OER in alkaline environment. The work aims to establish a direct correlation between the chemical nature of the dopant, the resulting physicochemical properties, and the electrocatalytic performance. Detailed structural and surface characterisation, including XRD, TEM, and XPS, revealed distinct behaviours for the two dopants. Cr incorporation successfully produced phase-pure spinel nanoparticles with significantly reduced crystallite sizes and very high specific surface area (up to 226 m[2]/g). In contrast, high Mn substitution led to the formation of secondary phases (Ni(OH)2) and nanoscale inhomogeneity, which persisted even after calcination, suggesting an incomplete inclusion of the three different metals in the same spinel lattice. Electrochemical investigations demonstrated that the nature of the dopant strongly influences OER activity. While Mn-doped samples showed higher apparent activity than pristine NiFe2O4, this improvement was attributed solely to an increased number of active sites (surface area) rather than improved intrinsic kinetics. Conversely, the Cr-substituted sample NiFeCrO4 exhibited superior performance, surprisingly matching the OER performances of the benchmark IrOX. This outstanding activity was ascribed to a synergistic effect: the material combines a high specific surface area with enhanced intrinsic kinetics, driven by an optimal composition rich in Cr[3+] which is hypothesised to modulate the overall e g occupation to a favourable value for promoting the OER.

1 Gene flow from extinct or unsampled ghost populations is increasingly being discovered across species, but it remains difficult to detect without genomes from donor populations. Signals of ghost introgression can also resemble other demographic events, including bottlenecks, population structure, or migration among sampled populations. We introduce GhostHunter, a multi-step framework that combines (1) analyses of coalescent time distributions across loci, (2) goodness-of-fit and likelihood-based tests under the isolation-with-migration (IM) model, and (3) population structure inference under an admixture model to detect ghost introgression from population genomic data. By integrating multiple independent tests, GhostHunter is designed to capture different consequences of ghost introgression, including hidden ancestry components, heterogeneity in genealogical histories across the genome, and improved fit of demographic models that include an unsampled source. Using extensive simulations under the IM model with varying ghost migration rates and divergence times, we show that ghost introgression leaves clear genome-wide signatures in distributions of time to the most recent common ancestor (TMRCA). In particular, TMRCA distributions show multimodality and step-like patterns in the empirical cumulative distribution function (ECDF), even when median coalescent times are similar across scenarios. Likelihood comparisons under IM models consistently support the presence of unsampled lineages, although estimating ghost gene flow is more difficult and depends on admixture strength and divergence time. Model-based clustering also indicates that ghost introgression can increase support for additional population structure, although support is generally concentrated at low values of K . We then apply GhostHunter to genomic data from Central Europeans (CEU) and Han Chinese (CHS) in the 1000 Genomes Project Phase 3. In these data, TMRCA estimates show strong heterogeneity across genomic windows (62,748 TMRCAs; median 42,471 generations; median KS D = 0.271; Hartigan's dip test rejects unimodality), consistent with mixed genealogical histories across the genome. Population structure analyses favor K = 2, consistent with a strong CEU-CHS split. In contrast, IMa3 comparisons of models with and without ghost gene flow do not support estimating non-zero ghost gene flow in the empirical dataset, suggesting that genealogical heterogeneity is clearer than the migration-parameter signal in this case. Overall, these results support GhostHunter as a practical first-pass screening framework for flagging hidden ancestry and reducing avoidable errors before full demographic inference, especially in non-model systems. GhostHunter is available as an open-source Snakemake pipeline at https://github.com/Megmugure/GhostHunter .

Hi-C, and more recently Micro-C, experiments suggest that genome organization is altered as normal cells become cancerous, often resulting in aberrant gene expression. In prostate cancer, there is evidence that large topologically associating domains in normal cells split and are accompanied by shifts in the epigenetic marks from inactive to active states. However, it is unclear whether changes in genome organization alone can account for the gene expression increase in cancer cells. By combining polymer physics concepts and data-driven modeling, we first calculated an ensemble of three-dimensional (3D) chromatin structures using only the 2D contact map as input. The enhancer-promoter (E-P) distance distributions for the overexpressed Androgen Receptor (AR) and Forkhead Box Protein A1 (FOXA1) are broad, with mean values exceeding the threshold for direct E-P contact. Importantly, the average E-P distances decrease in the cancer cells, compared to normal cells in the AR locus, whereas in FOXA1 they are roughly constant or increase modestly. Similarly, the number of multiway contacts increases as cancer progresses across cancer cell lines in the AR locus. In contrast, the number of multiway contacts in FOXA1 is similar in normal and cancer cells. Because the 3D characteristics do not explain the enhanced gene expression in cancer cells, we developed Activity-by-Multiway-Contact (AMC) Model that integrates the multiway contacts with enhancer biochemical activity. The AMC model provides a plausible mechanism for the overexpression of both AR and FOXA1 in prostate cancer. Moreover, using Micro-C data for breast cancer, we show that the number of multiway enhancer-promoter contacts increases in four of five genes studied. When multiway contacts are combined with biochemical activity, changes in gene expression found in the experiment, positively correlate with the AMC score. The predictions of the AMC model not only account for overexpression of genes in prostate and breast cancer but also provide a basis for understanding gene expression variations in other genes as well.

Epigenomic profiling facilitates access to investigate regulatory roles of histone marks in a type-specific cell, and serves as a critical path for discovering noninvasive epigenetic models in cell-free nucleosomes. Here, we present mChIP-seq, an epigenomic profiling technology that is compatible with both cell and cell-free samples for synchronously profiling multifactorial epigenetic landscapes on multiple samples. Combining sample indexing in a single reaction with a pool-and-split strategy for immunoprecipitation, mChIP-seq enhances efficiency and reduces cost. Using mChIP-seq, we profiled H2A.Z and 10 histone modifications in cell lines representing 9 cancer types. Integrative analyses further revealed an atypical association of H2A.Z and H3K4me3 at promoter regions in cancer. Based on mChIP-seq, we developed cf-mChIP-seq for circulating nucleosomes, which requires as little as 25 μl of plasma per profile. Profiling 38 plasma samples for H2A.Z, H3K4me3, H3K27ac, and H3K9me3 with cf-mChIP-seq revealed distinct histone mark-associated cfDNA fragment patterns in breast cancer versus healthy control, highlighting the potential of cf-mChIP-seq to expand liquid biopsy methodologies. These results demonstrate that mChIP-seq is a widely applicable technology for large-scale epigenomic profiling of nucleosomes in cellular or cell-free forms.