As Alzheimer’s disease (AD) becomes more prevalent, scientists are exploring new methods for its early detection. In a recent review, researchers from India outline how neuron-derived extracellular vesicles—tiny membrane-bound particles released by neurons—are emerging as a promising diagnostic tool for AD. The contents of these vesicles carry molecular clues on the health of neurons, and it may soon be possible to use them to predict the onset of AD several years in advance.

Research groups of Professors Weiqi Zhang, Haiyan Xu and Lin Wang from the Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, reported a positively-charged dextran nano-photosensitizer (p-Dex PS) facilitates tumor-associated macrophage (TAM)-mediated delivery and sublethal light-induced metabolic reprogramming, which boosts the TAM polarization and subsequently the anticancer immune effects.

While unitized regenerative fuel cells (URFCs) are promising for renewable energy storage, their efficient operation requires simultaneous water management and gas transport, which is challenging from the standpoint of water management. Herein, a novel approach is introduced for examining the alignment hydrophilic pattern of a Ti porous transport layer (PTL) with the flow field of a bipolar plate (BP). UV/ozone patterning and is employed to impart amphiphilic characteristics to the hydrophobic silanized Ti PTL, enabling low-cost and scalable fabrication. The hydrophilic pattern and its alignment with the BP are comprehensively analyzed using electrochemical methods and computational simulations. Notably, the serpentine-patterned (SP) Ti PTL, wherein the hydrophilic channel is directly aligned with the serpentine flow field of the BP, effectively enhances oxygen removal in the water electrolyzer (WE) mode and mitigates water flooding in the fuel cell (FC) mode, ensuring uninterrupted water and gas flow. Further, URFCs with SP configuration exhibit remarkable performance in the WE and FC modes, achieving a significantly improved round-trip efficiency of 25.7% at 2 A cm⁻².

Researchers have developed DrugtargetMR, a comprehensive computational tool designed to bridge the gap between genetic discoveries and clinical applications. By integrating multi-omics data with advanced statistical modeling in a unified R framework, the software simplifies the identification of causal genes and therapeutic targets for complex human traits, making sophisticated post-GWAS analysis accessible to the broader scientific community.