Abstract: A method includes depositing a first metal layer on a semiconductor substrate; etching the first metal layer to form a first electrode having a first lead; depositing a piezoelectric layer on the semiconductor substrate and first electrode; etching the piezoelectric layer to a shape of the gyrator to be formed within the circulator; depositing a second metal layer on the piezoelectric layer; etching the second metal layer to form a second electrode having a second lead, the second electrode being positioned opposite the first electrode, wherein the first lead and the second lead form an electrical port; depositing a magnetostrictive layer on the second electrode; etching the magnetostrictive layer to approximately the shape of the piezoelectric layer; depositing a third metal layer on the magnetostrictive layer; and etching the third metal layer to form a metal coil that has a gap on one side to define a magnetic port.

Abstract: A method includes coating, via chemical vapor deposition, electronics disposed on a printed circuit board (PCB) with an electrical insulation coating of between one micron to 25 microns. The method further include depositing, on the electrical insulation coating, a metallic nano-layer comprising a porous metallic nano-structure. The method further includes, after the coating and the depositing, immersing the PCB in a water-based fluid to cool the electronics while the electronics are powered on.

Abstract: The invention provides a microplasma photonic crystal for reflecting, transmitting and/or storing incident electromagnetic energy includes a periodic array of elongate microtubes confining microplasma therein and having a column-to-column spacing, average electron density and plasma column diameter selected to produce a photonic response to the incident electromagnetic energy entailing the increase or suppression of crystal resonances and/or shifting the frequency of the resonances. The crystal also includes electrodes for stimulating microplasma the elongated microtubes Electromagnetic energy can be interacted with the periodic array of microplasma to reflect, transmit and/or trap the incident electromagnetic energy.

Abstract: Improved systems and methods are provided herein for extracting target speech from audio signals that can contain masking speech or other unwanted noise content. These systems and methods include detection of target speech in an input signal by detecting elevated frequency content in the signal above a threshold frequency. Portions of the signal determined to contain such elevated high frequency content are then used to generate audio filters to extract target speech from subsequently-obtained audio signals. This can include performing non-negative matrix factorization to determine a set of basis vectors to represent noise content in the spectral domain and then using the set of basis vectors to decompose subsequently-obtained audio signals into noise signals that can then be removed from the audio signals.

Abstract: A passive thermal management system and methods of using a thermoresponsive hydrogel coating configured to autonomously switch between a heating state and a cooling state based on ambient temperature. At temperature greater than a lower critical solution temperature of the thermoresponsive hydrogel, the thermoresponsive hydrogel coating becomes solar reflective and has enhanced radiative cooling ability to achieve daytime radiative cooling. At temperatures less than the lower critical solution temperature, the thermoresponsive hydrogel coating becomes transparent to facilitate absorption of solar radiation by sun absorber.

Abstract: The modified polypeptides include at least one amino acid substitution that allows the polypeptide to bind better to the S surface glycoprotein of coronaviruses that use ACE2 as a cell entry receptor, either through direct increases in affinity or through improved folding and expression of ACE2. Use of the modified ACE2 polypeptides for inhibiting CoV entry, replication and/or spread, for pre-exposure and post-exposure CoV prophylaxis, and for treating a CoV infection (e.g. COVTD-19), is also described.

Abstract: New synthetic methods to provide access to previously unexplored functionality at the C8 position of substituted imidazo[5,1-d][1,2,3,5]tetrazines of Formula I. Through synthesis and evaluation of a suite of compounds with a range of aqueous stabilities (from 0.5 to 40 hours), a predictive model for imidazotetrazine hydrolytic stability based on the Hammett constant of the C8 substituent was derived. Promising compounds were identified that possess activity against a panel of GBM cell lines, appropriate hydrolytic and metabolic stability, and brain-to-serum ratios dramatically elevated relative to TMZ, leading to lower hematological toxicity profiles and superior activity to TMZ in a mouse model of GBM.

Abstract: Methods of detecting presence of a virus in a sample are provided, the method including contacting the sample with a solid state nanopore comprising a plurality of virus-specific aptamers and measuring a current-voltage curve in the solid state nanopore, wherein a decrease in the current indicates presence of the virus in the sample. Solid state nanopores comprising a plurality of virus-specific aptamers covalently linked to the interior of the solid state nanopore are also provided. Membranes including a plurality of solid state nanopores including a plurality of covalently attached virus-specific aptamers and kits and systems with a membrane including a plurality of solid state nanopores including a plurality of covalently attached virus-specific aptamers are also provided.

Abstract: 4-Hydroxyphenyl-2H-indazol-5-ol compounds are estrogen receptor beta ligands that have immunomodulatory properties and increase oligodendrocyte survival, differentiation, and remyelination. The compounds, compositions, and kits are useful in the treatment of multiple sclerosis and endometriosis.

Abstract: The present disclosure provides genetically engineered microorganisms for the simultaneous fermentation of pentose and hexose sugars, for example, glucose and xylose. The microorganisms can be modified to express AtSWEET polypeptides, LST1 polypeptides, mutants thereof, homologs thereof or combinations thereof. Also provided are methods of co-fermenting hexose and pentose sugars, methods of increasing the conversion of lignocellulosic biomass via microbial fermentation, and methods of generating biofuel.

Abstract: Various methods and devices for spatial molecular analysis from tissue is provided. For example, a method of spatially mapping a tissue sample is provided with a microarray having a plurality of wells, wherein adjacent wells are separated by a shearing surface; overlaying said microarray with a tissue sample; applying a deformable substrate to an upper surface of said tissue sample; applying a force to the deformable substrate, thereby forcing underlying tissue sample into the plurality of wells; shearing the tissue sample along the shearing surface into a plurality of tissue sample islands, with each unique tissue sample island positioned in a unique well; and imaging or quantifying said plurality of tissue sample islands, thereby generating a spatial map of said tissue sample. The imaging and/or quantifying may use a nucleic acid amplification technique.

Abstract: A genus of proteolysis-targeting chimeras (PROTACs)-type compounds/antiestrogens has now been found that act as selective estrogen receptor degraders (SERDs) and estrogen receptor antagonists by degrading and antagonizing ERa in breast cancer cells. The compounds are of the following genus: The compounds described herein exhibit anti-proliferative effects, and are potentially useful, alone or in combination with other therapies, for the treatment of breast cancer. In general, these compounds combine a tight binding ERa targeting ligand tethered to a recognition motif or degron. Once bound, the degron recruits destructive cellular components and the targeted receptor (i.e., ERa) is degraded (i.e., destroyed) or antagonized.

Abstract: Catalyst design in asymmetric reaction development has traditionally been driven by empiricism, wherein experimentalists attempt to qualitatively recognize structural patterns to improve selectivity. Machine learning algorithms and chemoinformatics can potentially accelerate this process by recognizing otherwise inscrutable patterns in large datasets. Herein we report a computationally guided workflow for chiral catalyst selection using chemoinformatics at every stage of development. Robust molecular descriptors that are agnostic to the catalyst scaffold allow for selection of a universal training set on the basis of steric and electronic properties. This set can be used to train machine learning methods to make highly accurate predictive models over a broad range of selectivity space. Using support vector machines and deep feed-forward neural networks, we demonstrate accurate predictive modeling in the chiral phosphoric acid-catalyzed thiol addition to N-acylimines.

Abstract: The discovery of mutant or fusion kinases that drive oncogenesis, and the subsequent approval of specific inhibitors for these enzymes, has been instrumental in the management of some cancers. However, acquired resistance remains a significant problem in the clinic, limiting the long-term effectiveness of most of these drugs. Herein is demonstrated a strategy to overcome this resistance through drug-induced MEK cleavage (via direct procaspase-3 activation) combined with targeted kinase inhibition. This combination effect is shown to be general across diverse tumor histologies (melanoma, lung cancer, and leukemia) and driver mutations (mutant BRAF or EGFR, fusion kinases EML4-ALK and BCR-ABL). Caspase-3-mediated degradation of MEK kinases results in sustained pathway inhibition and substantially delayed or eliminated resistance in cancer cells in a manner superior to combinations with MEK inhibitors.

Abstract: A sample carrier may include a sample preparation module and an amplification module. A sample mixes with a lysis medium and a nucleic acid amplification medium in the sample preparation module and then flows into a plurality of microfluidic chambers in the amplification module. The microfluidic chambers have disposed therein primers configured to initiate amplification of one or more target nucleic acid sequences corresponding to one or more pathogens. The sample carrier is inserted into an apparatus that includes a plurality of Sight sources and a camera. The light sources illuminate the microfluidic chambers with excitation light, a fluorophore emits fluorescence light indicative of nucleic acid amplification in response to the excitation-light, and the camera captures images of the microfluidic chambers. A target nucleic acid sequence in the sample is indicated by the images showing an increasing fluorescence in a microfluidic chamber that has the primers for that sequence.

Abstract: A method for monitoring a treatment of a subject having a musculoskeletal disorder is provided. The method includes measuring a first expression level of at least two biomarkers at a treatment site prior to the treatment and measuring a second expression level of the at least two biomarkers at the treatment site after the treatment begins. The method further includes comparing the first expression level of the at least two biomarkers prior to the treatment to the second expression level of the at least two biomarkers post treatment and continuing the treatment, altering the treatment or stopping the treatment based on the comparison. A method of treating a musculoskeletal disorder in a subject is also provided. The method includes removing a aggrecan-hyaluronan matrix from a treatment site in the subject.

Abstract: Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, a porous device, comprising a porous material, and a hierarchical network of flow channels defined in the porous material, wherein at least one flow channel in the hierarchical network of flow channels has a shape that at least partially approximates a cube-root profile or a quartic-root profile. Additional embodiments are disclosed.

Abstract: The present disclosure describes one or more embodiment of a method for creating a patterned quantum dot layer. The method includes bringing a patterning stamp in contact with a layer of quantum dots disposed on a substrate, the patterning stamp comprising a patterned photoresist layer disposed on an elastomer layer, such that a portion of the quantum dots in contact with the patterned photoresist layer adheres to the patterning stamp, the portion of the quantum dots being adhered quantum dots. The method also includes peeling the patterning stamp from the substrate with a peeling speed larger than a pre-determined peeling speed to remove the adhered quantum dots from the substrate. A remaining portion of the quantum dots forms a patterned quantum dot layer on the substrate.

Abstract: A material for manipulating liquid includes a porous substrate having first and second surfaces; and a wedge-shaped transport element disposed on one of the first and second surfaces, wherein the wedge-shaped transport element has a narrow end and a wide end, the wide end connected to a first reservoir, wherein the wedge-shaped transport element is configured to pass liquid from the narrow end to the wide end to the first reservoir, regardless of gravity, and wherein the first reservoir is configured to pass liquid away from the substrate in a z-direction opposite from the surface on which a liquid is deposited. The surface on which the wedge-shaped transport element is disposed is one of hydrophobic or superhydrophobic, and the wedge-shaped transport element is one of a) superhydrophilic when the first surface is hydrophobic, b) superhydrophilic when the first surface is superhydrophobic, and c) hydrophilic when the first surface is superhydrophobic.

Abstract: Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, a porous electrode that includes a porous layer, and a pattern of flow channels defined in the porous layer, wherein a first flow channel in the pattern of flow channels has a shape that at least partially approximates a cube-root profile. Additional embodiments are disclosed.