Layer Pattern Research Articles

New material of the Early Devonian sarcopterygian Styloichthys changae illuminates the origin of cosmine

The Early Devonian sarcopterygian Styloichthys changae provides substantial information to resolve the phylogenetic relationships of early sarcopterygians. Its dermal bones show a cosmine surface with relatively large pores and a unique histological condition, which is essential to understanding the early evolution of the dermoskeleton in sarcopterygians. However, more detailed histological information on this taxon is needed. Here, we present new data about the morphology and histology of dermal bones and scales of S. changae based on two semi-articulated specimens. The scales bear parallel ridges and relatively large pores on their external surface resembling those of the dermal bones, showing an intermediate condition between stem sarcopterygians and crown sarcopterygians. We recognize three stages in the growth series of S. changae scales. The growth pattern of the cosmine layer undergoes two significant changes: from a superpositional pattern to a continuous areal pattern and then to a discontinuous areal pattern. In addition, the new data indicate that the pore-canal system predates the enamel-dentine complex of cosmine. This work supports the hypothesis that the cosmine arose step by step in sarcopterygians and provides more details on the evolutionary development pattern of cosmine.

The use of vertical gradients of radar reflectivity factor and radial velocity to diagnose dynamical and microphysical structures in extratropical cyclones: results from IMPACTS

Abstract The Investigation of Microphysics and Precipitation for Atlantic Coast-Threatening Snowstorms field campaign comprised three deployments in January and February of 2020, 2022, and 2023. Throughout these deployments, the NASA Earth Resources-2 (ER-2) aircraft conducted 26 research flights, equipped with three vertically pointing radars. These radars sampled the vertical structure of extratropical cyclone clouds at four distinct radar wavelengths, enabling a finer scale analysis of reflectivity and radial velocity structures within extratropical cyclones with a vertical sampling resolution of 26.5 m. In this analysis, we introduce a novel technique utilizing vertical gradients in radial velocity and reflectivity, which proved effective in identifying turbulence, waves, and layers of ascent over 132.5 m layers for all flight legs conducted during the campaign. The spatial scale of 132.5 m was chosen to capture fine-scale variations associated with small-scale turbulent eddies and shear zones in frontal regions. The gradient analysis aided in detecting small scale changes in reflectivity and radial velocity that might have gone unnoticed otherwise. Moreover, the corresponding gradients in reflectivity suggest potential interactions of falling ice crystals with turbulence, waves, and shear layers, possibly influencing the microphysical characteristics and the vertical spatial distribution of falling snow. The observed vertical gradients in radial velocity often exhibited linear, layered patterns, but in some instances displayed wave-like appearances, sloped patterns along frontal boundaries, or magnitude fluctuations. This paper focuses on presenting and detailing the vertical gradient technique to examine winter storms. Future work will involve a comprehensive analysis of these gradients in relation to dual-frequency radar measurements and in situ microphysical characteristics.

Sustainable ballistic solutions for recycling silkworm cocoon waste into high-performance bulletproof materials

ABSTRACT This study aims to develop a method for producing ballistic panels meeting NIJ Level IIIA standards by integrating silkworm cocoon waste (SCW) as reinforcement and utilizing bias fabric through cold pressing. Various SCW quantities (100 g designated as P2, 150 g designated as P3, and 225 g designated as P4) alongside 50 g of resin and 230 g of bias fabric were used, comparing six (type I) and three (type II) layer patterns. Panels with SCW exhibit enhanced mechanical properties, particularly in type II layouts, which show superior performance in tensile, impact, and flexural resistance. Ballistic impact tests reveal that only type I-P3, I-P4, II-P3, and II-P4 composite panels effectively stop bullet penetration, with BFS measurements ranging from 10.6–14.6 mm, below the 44 mm NIJ standard limit. Consequently, the study indicates that II-P3 is selected for producing bulletproof armor compliant with NIJ Level IIIA standards, supported by the method's simplicity, cost-effectiveness, and consistent outcomes. The decision to use II-P3 for producing ballistic panels is made due to its simplified processing requirements. Upon calculating the total component cost for panels sized at 150 × 150 mm, it is established that each panel has a cost of $1.5.

Photoelectric characteristic of hybrid thin-film solar cells and metasurface absorbers

Abstract As the demand for high-efficiency, low-cost solar cells continue to increase, existing thin-film solar cells still face many challenges in terms of light absorption efficiency and charge transport performance. To address these issues, we design and study a PEDOT:PSS/CdTe hybrid thin-film solar cell structure combined with a metasurface absorber layer. We use a metasurface structure with a tetragonal embedded ring resonator pattern in the CdTe absorber layer. This structure can produce a strong electric and magnetic field localization effect on the surface of the absorption layer, improving the light absorption rate of the battery. At the same time, the introduction of organic polymer materials (PEDOT: PSS) optimizes the electrode interface quality and reduces the interface defects and composite losses between materials, and further improves the photoelectric conversion efficiency (PCE) of the battery. we introduce traditional absorption enhancement methods (titanium nanoparticle arrays and pyramid TiO2 arrays) to this structure. The solar cell proposed has a spectral response rate of 96.71% and its PCE reaches 35.66%. The research indicates that the new structure holds significant potential for the application of high-efficiency solar cells, offering new ideas for the design and manufacture of solar cells in the future.

Tear film parameters in females with thyroid eye disease and diabetes: an observational study

Objective: To assess different tear film parameters in female patients with thyroid eye disease and diabetes using a single portable device. Method: The observational study was conducted at the College of Applied Medical Sciences, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, from January 12 to April 28, 2022, and comprised women patients with thyroid eye disease in group A, women patients with diabetes in group B, and healthy controls in group C. The participants were subjected first to the Ocular Surface Disease Index, followed by non-invasive tear breakup time, tear meniscus height, and lipid layer pattern tests using EasyTear View+. Data was analysed using SPSS 22. Results: Of the 120 women, 40(33.33%) with mean age 40.4±11.7 years were in group A, 40(33.33%) with mean age 39.8±12.2 years in group B, and 40(33.33%) controls with mean age 37.2±9.5 years were in group C. Significant differences were found in the median values of Ocular Surface Disease Index, non-invasive tear breakup time, tear meniscus height and lipid layer pattern in group C compared to groups A and B (p less than 0.001). The non-invasive tear breakup time score was strongly correlated in group B with the tear meniscus height score (r=0.559, p less than 0.001). The lipid layer pattern analysis indicated that grade A was predominant in groups A and B, while grade D was typical in group C. Conclusion: Women with thyroid eye disease and diabetes had significantly thin lipid layers and lower tear meniscus height and non-invasive tear breakup time than healthy subjects. Key Words: Dry eye syndrome, Eye abnormalities, Diabetes complications, Females, Lipids.

Integrated structure–function design of 3D-printed porous polydimethylsiloxane for superhydrophobic engineering

Abstract Three-dimensional (3D) printing technology can be used to fabricate layer-by-layer regular porous polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) structures with excellent superhydrophobic ability and mechanical stability. However, for engineering applications, the design must consider the structure and superhydrophobicity of the resulting material. In this study, we propose an approach to regulate the mechanical properties of PDMS by adjusting the layered pattern, such as by changing filament orientation with 30°, 45°, and 90° angle steps and using staggered structures with a half-shifted spacing. A finite element analysis was conducted to investigate how the layered pattern influenced the tensile and compressive properties. The results reveal that a layered, staggered design can modulate the compressive properties of the porous PDMS, particularly the ratio between the compressive moduli of the sample without and with staggered structures could reach as high as 686% when the layering angle is 0°/90°. The tensile properties are better regulated by the filament angle rather than by the staggered design and improve as the raster angle of the filaments increases. This occurs when the upper and lower filaments tend toward orthogonality. Thus, the required layered pattern can be selected, enabling the integrated design of mechanical properties and function in 3D-printed porous PDMS.

Influence of process parameters on the tensile properties of CFRTP composites 3D printed structures

This study aims to elucidate the relationship between process specifically fiber layer, raster angle and infill pattern and the tensile mechanical properties of composite structures. Tensile specimens, fabricated with varying process parameters using Continuous fiber-reinforced thermoplastic (CFRTP) composites printing equipment, underwent tensile testing to assess their strength and elasticity modulus. Additionally, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) is employed to examine the fracture cross sections post-tensile testing to determine predominant fracture modes. This examination also revealed the internal mechanisms behind these modes and the impact of process parameters on microscopic defects such as voids, interlayer gaps and delamination.

Persistent Heterogeneities in the Oceanic Lithosphere Due To Differential Freezing Beneath Ridges

AbstractOceanic lithosphere, which forms two‐thirds of Earth's surface, is generated at mid‐ocean ridge spreading centers. Yet the internal structure of the lithosphere is not well characterized and often considered to be homogeneous relative to the structure of continental lithosphere. While geophysical observations clearly delineate the crust‐mantle boundary and the lithosphere‐asthenopshere boundary, other seismic anomalies known as mid‐lithosphere discontinuities (MLDs) have been challenging to detect and poorly constrained. Here we present melt transport models applied to the mid‐ocean ridge system that indicate MLDs are a widespread fundamental feature of oceanic lithosphere. In our models, some melt generated from decompression melting is frozen back into the lithosphere, forming a layered refertilization pattern. These refertilized layers are due to the stacked horizontal layering pattern of melt pooling beneath the freezing front. If the recrystallized melt is incorporated into the lithosphere as mafic lenses, the predicted seismic velocity is compatible with observations.

Correlation-Embedded Transformer Tracking: A Single-Branch Framework.

Developing robust and discriminative appearance models has been a long-standing research challenge in visual object tracking. In the prevalent Siamese-based paradigm, the features extracted by the Siamese-like networks are often insufficient to model the tracked targets and distractor objects, thereby hindering them from being robust and discriminative simultaneously. While most Siamese trackers focus on designing robust correlation operations, we propose a novel single-branch tracking framework inspired by the transformer. Unlike the Siamese-like feature extraction, our tracker deeply embeds cross-image feature correlation in multiple layers of the feature network. By extensively matching the features of the two images through multiple layers, it can suppress non-target features, resulting in target-aware feature extraction. The output features can be directly used to predict target locations without additional correlation steps. Thus, we reformulate the two-branch Siamese tracking as a conceptually simple, fully transformer-based Single-Branch Tracking pipeline, dubbed SBT. After conducting an in-depth analysis of the SBT baseline, we summarize many effective design principles and propose an improved tracker dubbed SuperSBT. SuperSBT adopts a hierarchical architecture with a local modeling layer to enhance shallow-level features. A unified relation modeling is proposed to remove complex handcrafted layer pattern designs. SuperSBT is further improved by masked image modeling pre-training, integrating temporal modeling, and equipping with dedicated prediction heads. Thus, SuperSBT outperforms the SBT baseline by 4.7%,3.0%, and 4.5% AUC scores in LaSOT, TrackingNet, and GOT-10K. Notably, SuperSBT greatly raises the speed of SBT from 37 FPS to 81 FPS. Extensive experiments show that our method achieves superior results on eight VOT benchmarks.

Analysis of Frost Heaving Force in Seasonal Frost Region Tunnels: A Case Study of the Xiangyang Tunnel in China

Frost damage in seasonally frozen regions is a primary factor affecting tunnel safety, with frost heaving forces being the main external cause. Therefore, analyzing and calculating the distribution and magnitude of frost heaving forces on surrounding rock is essential for addressing frost damage in tunnels. When the frost heaving force exceeds the design strength, it can lead to the cracking of the lining concrete and a reduction in the tunnel's load-bearing capacity and support stability, posing serious safety risks during construction and operation. This paper is based on the Xiangyang Tunnel project and is grounded in elasticity theory for deriving the frost heaving force formula. Utilizing the von Mises criterion, it employs finite element software to perform thermal-structural coupling analysis, which provides insights into the temperature distribution within the tunnel and the stress distribution patterns of both the lining and the surrounding rock under the influence of frost heaving forces. In the shallow-buried section of the Xiangyang Tunnel, the maximum frost heaving force on the lining is concentrated at the junction of the arch and the base slab. In the deeply buried sections, the distribution of the frost heaving force in the lining is relatively uniform. In contrast, the surrounding rock's frost heaving force distribution follows a layered pattern from the inside out. Beyond a burial depth of 7 meters, the lining and surrounding rock frost heaving forces gradually decrease, approaching a constant value.

Layered Babinet complementary patterns acting as asymmetric negative index metamaterial

Azimuthal orientation and handedness dependence of the optical responses, accompanied by asymmetric transmission and asymmetric dichroism, were demonstrated on multilayers constructed with subwavelength periodic arrays of Babinet complementary miniarrays, illuminated by linearly and circularly polarized light. In case of single-sided illumination asymmetric optical responses were observed at the spectral location of maximal cross-polarization that is accompanied by radiative electric dipoles and weak, slowly-rotating in-plane magnetic dipoles on the nano-objects; where the outgoing waves are elliptically (almost circularly) polarized. The negative index material phenomenon was demonstrated, where the electric and magnetic dipoles overlap both spatially and spectrally. The negative index material (NIM) phenomenon is accompanied by electric multipoles that add up non-radiatively and correlates with the strong, pronouncedly-tilted, rotating magnetic dipoles characteristic on the nano-entities, where the outgoing waves are linearly (slightly elliptically) polarized. By illuminating the multilayer with two counter-propagating circularly polarized beams it was proven that asymmetrical normal component displacement currents at the bounding interfaces, arising along flat and tilted bands, accompany the asymmetric copolarized and cross-polarized transmission. The latter correlates with the asymmetric dichroism in the cross-polarized signal observed in case of single-sided circularly polarized light illumination. The dispersion maps in the single-sided asymmetrical co-polarized reflectance and absorptance indicate flat bands of analogous and complementary extrema, proving the partially dichroic nature of the observed asymmetric phenomena. The Tellegen (chirality) coefficients exhibit a maximum in a spectral region coincident with the asymmetric transmission (maximal polarization rotation in the 90° azimuthal orientation). The multilayer is proposed as an ultrathin NIM and nonreciprocal nanophotonic element.

Fabrication of Patterned TiO2 Nanotube Layers Utilizing 3D Printer Platform and Their Electrochromic Properties

An anodization method can easily fabricate nanostructured oxide layers by controlling electrochemical parameters such as the types of electrolyte solutions, the electrolyte composition, applied voltage/current, temperature and pH. In the anodization process, it is common to form an oxide on the surface of a metal substrate with an area of several to several hundred cm2. However, several approaches have been attempted to form oxide layers on a local area or manufacture a certain oxide layer pattern using the anodization process. For this purpose, partial oxidation can be achieved through the masks and patterned metal substrates can be employed for local anodization. However, these methods are disadvantageous in process-complexity and time-consumption. Therefore, this study realizes complicated patterns composed of anodized TiO2 nanostructures using a 3D printer and apply them to the electrochromic displays. A commercial 3D printer was modified to enable a direct anodization and TiO2 nanotube was anodized on the Ti substrate with the desired pattern designed by a digital code (G-code). High speed anodization was performed at a speed of 1 mm/s. Furthermore, the surface of the patterned TiO2 nanotube was modified by adsorption of the viologen molecules and the electrochromic properties of the viologen-anchored TiO2 (V-TiO2) nanotube layers were investigated.

The people behind the papers – Kerim Anlaş and Vikas Trivedi

A vertebrate embryo undergoes gastrulation, wherein it reorganises into a structure with three germ layers and three distinct body axes. Here, Vikas Trivedi and colleagues investigate spatial patterning of germ layers in the absence of external cues. To find out more about their work, we spoke to the first author, Kerim Anlaş, and the corresponding author, Vikas Trivedi, Research Group Leader and Co-Chair of Theory Transversal Theme at European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), Barcelona, Spain.

Spatiotemporal requirements of nuclear β-catenin define early sea urchin embryogenesis.

Establishment of the 3 primordial germ layers (ectoderm, endoderm, and mesoderm) during early animal development represents an essential prerequisite for the emergence of properly patterned embryos. β-catenin is an ancient protein that is known to play essential roles in this process. However, these roles have chiefly been established through inhibition of β-catenin translation or function at the time of fertilization. Comprehensive analyses reporting the totality of functions played by nuclear β-catenin during early embryogenesis of a given animal, i.e., at different developmental stages and in different germ layers, are thus still lacking. In this study, we used an inducible, conditional knockdown system in the sea urchin to characterize all possible requirements of β-catenin for germ layer establishment and patterning. By blocking β-catenin protein production starting at 7 different time points of early development, between fertilization and 12 h post fertilization, we established a clear correlation between the position of a germ layer along the primary embryonic axis (the animal-vegetal axis) and its dependence on nuclear β-catenin activity. For example, in the vegetal hemisphere, we determined that the 3 germ layers (skeletogenic mesoderm, non-skeletogenic mesoderm, and endoderm) require distinct and highly specific durations of β-catenin production for their respective specification, with the most vegetal germ layer, the skeletogenic mesoderm, requiring the shortest duration. Likewise, for the 2 animal territories (ectoderm and anterior neuroectoderm), we established that their restriction, along the animal-vegetal axis, relies on different durations of β-catenin production and that the longest duration is required for the most animal territory, the anterior neuroectoderm. Moreover, we found that 2 of the vegetal germ layers, the non-skeletogenic mesoderm and the endoderm, further require a prolonged period of nuclear β-catenin activity after their specification to maintain their respective germ layer identities through time. Finally, we determined that restriction of the anterior neuroectoderm territory depends on at least 2 nuclear β-catenin-dependent inputs and a nuclear β-catenin-independent mechanism. Taken together, this work is the first to comprehensively define the spatiotemporal requirements of β-catenin during the early embryogenesis of a single animal, the sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus, thereby providing new experimental evidence for a better understanding of the roles played by this evolutionary conserved protein during animal development.

Elucidating the formation pattern and mechanism of biofouling layer regulated by pre-deposition of powdered activated carbon in gravity-driven membrane systems

Powdered activated carbon (PAC) pre-deposition promotes pollutant removal in gravity driven membrane (GDM) but diversely affects flux. This study evaluated the effects of one-time deposition (GDM 1), batch deposition (GDM 2) and no deposition (GDM 3) of PAC on the biofouling layer formation mechanism and the GDM performance. The results showed that PAC particles effectively promoted the removal of dissolved organic carbon, ammonia nitrogen and fluorescent pollutants, while also significantly reducing the concentration of extracellular polymeric substances in the biofouling layer. The stable flux in GDM 1–3 were 6.58, 7.88 and 8.61 LMH respectively. One-time deposition of PAC compromised the structure of the biofouling layer and prevented its reverse relaxation. Pollutant floc particles continuously accumulated in the space between the PAC particles, forming a dense layer with low porosity and roughness. In GDM 2, the limited amount of PAC deposited each time helped to partially maintain the intact structure of the biofouling layer, which alleviated the decline in flux. The reverse relaxation of the intact biofouling layer in GDM 3 resulted in increased porosity, which positively influenced the flux. Additionally, the abundance of Bdelloidea significantly decreased in GDM 1 and GDM 2, and more predators with low agility showed limited modification on the biofouling layer, resulting in a dense biofouling layer. In conclusion, batch deposition of PAC is more recommended as the continuously renewed PAC promote pollutant removal, and compared with one-time deposition of PAC, the reduction in biofouling layer disturbance mitigates the flux decline.

In Vivo Photopolymerization: Achieving Detailed Conducting Patterns for Bioelectronics.

Bioelectronics holds great potential as therapeutics, but introducing conductive structures within the body poses great challenges. While implanted rigid and substrate-bound electrodes often result in inflammation and scarring in vivo, they outperform the in situ-formed, more biocompatible electrodes by providing superior control over electrode geometry. For example, one of the most researched methodologies, the formation of conductive polymers through enzymatic catalysis in vivo, is governed by diffusion control due to the slow kinetics, with curing times that span several hours to days. Herein, the discovery of the formation of biocompatible conductive structures through photopolymerization in vivo, enabling spatial control of electrode patterns is reported. The process involves photopolymerizing novel photoactive monomers, 3Es (EDOT-trimers) alone and in a mixture to cure the poly(3, 4-ethylenedioxythiophene)butoxy-1-sulfonate (PEDOT-S)derivative A5, resulting in conductive structures defined by photolithography masks. These reactions are adapted to in vivo conditions using green and red lights, with short curing times of 5-30min. In contrast to the basic electrode structures formed through other in situ methods, the formation of specific and layered patterns is shown. This opens up the creation of more complex 3D layers-on-layer circuits in vivo.

Enhanced Electromagnetic Wave Absorption in Hexaferrite/LSMO Bilayers: Optimization of Structural Design Using a High Frequency Software Simulation

In this study, the electromagnetic (EM) wave absorption properties of a two-layered structure composed of La0.7Sr0.3MnO3-epoxy (10 wt.%) (LSMO) and SrFe9.5Co1.25Ti1.25O19-epoxy (10 wt.%) (SFCTO), both exhibiting distinct high-frequency magnetic and dielectric properties, were investigated using a High Frequency Simulation Software (HFSS) simulation tool. LSMO had a high dielectric constant (ε' >30) within the measurement range (0.1-18 GHz), indicating that dielectric loss mechanisms primarily contribute to EM wave absorption. In contrast, SFCTO is a material capable of significantly absorbing EM waves near 10 GHz due to ferromagnetic resonance (FMR). The simulations were validated by comparing the measured and simulated reflection losses (RL) of an unpatterned LSMO/SFCTO bilayer. The RL spectra were examined by varying the layer thickness and pattern size in three configurations: a continuous LSMO/SFCTO structure, a cross-patterned LSMO on SFCTO, and a square-patterned LSMO on SFCTO. In the continuous LSMO/SFCTO structure, tunable absorption frequency bands were achieved by adjusting the layer thickness. However, it was difficult to achieve broadband absorption due to the reflective characteristics of the high dielectric LSMO layer. The cross-patterned LSMO structure on SFCTO demonstrated broader bandwidth absorption, with layer thickness being more influential than pattern width. The square-patterned LSMO on SFCTO exhibited the best broadband EM wave absorption (max Δf = 7.39 GHz). These results suggest that broader absorption is achievable by partially covering the high-dielectric layer with patterns on a hexaferrite sheet.

Sequentialized Virtual File System: A Virtual File System Enabling Address Sequentialization for Flash-Based Solid State Drives

Solid-state drives (SSDs) are widely adopted in mobile devices, desktop PCs, and data centers since they offer higher throughput, lower latency, and lower power consumption to modern computing systems and applications compared with hard disk drives (HDDs). However, the performance of the SSDs can be degraded depending on the I/O access pattern due to the unique characteristics of SSDs. For example, random I/O operation degrades the SSD performance since it reduces the spatial locality and induces garbage collection (GC) overhead. In this paper, we present an address reshaping scheme in a virtual file system (VFS) called sVFS for improving performance and easy deployment. To do this, it first sequentializes a random access pattern in the VFS layer which is an abstract layer on top of a more concrete file system. Thus, our scheme is independent and easily deployed on any concrete file systems, block layer configuration (e.g., RAID), and devices. Second, we adopt a mapping table for managing sequentialized addresses, which guarantees correct read operations. Third, we support transaction processing for updating the mapping table to avoid sacrificing the consistency. We implement our scheme at the VFS layer in Linux kernel 5.15.34. The evaluation results show that our scheme improve the random write throughput by up to 27%, 36%, 34%, and 2.35× using the microbenchmark and 25%, 22%, 20%, and 3.51× using the macrobenchmark compared with the existing scheme in the case of EXT4, F2FS, XFS, and BTRFS, respectively.

Suprachoroidal Umbilical Cord-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cell Transplantation for the Regeneration of Glaucomatous Optic Neuropathy: A Preliminary Investigation

Objective: This preliminary research presents clinical findings from patients with advanced Glaucomatous Optic Neuropathy (GON) who underwent transplantation of Umbilical Cord-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells (UCMSCs) into the suprachoroidal space. Methods: This prospective, single-center study included 17 eyes of 17 patients diagnosed with GON, who received suprachoroidal UCMSC implantation. Patients were registered if their visual acuity and/or Visual Field (VF) deteriorated despite maintaining good intraocular pressure control with anti-glaucomatous treatments. Evaluations were conducted at baseline, on the first postoperative day and at 1 month, 6 months and 1 year after surgery. Best Corrected Visual Acuity (BCVA), anterior segment and fundus examination, color photography, Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT), Retinal Nerve Fiber Layer (RNFL) analysis, VF testing and Pattern Visual Evoked Potential (PVEP) assessments were performed at baseline and during follow-up visits. Results: All 17 participants completed the 12-month follow-up period. No systemic or serious ocular complications were recorded. The study showed significant improvements in BCVA, VF results, RNFL measurements and PVEP amplitudes at the end of the follow-up period. Conclusion: Although the sample size is limited, suprachoroidal UCMSC therapy appears to be safe, with encouraging improvements. Further studies with larger patient groups and longer follow-up periods are required to assess the impact of stem cell delivery on visual acuity and quality of life in glaucoma patients.

USP20 deletion promotes eccentric cardiac remodeling in response to pressure overload and increases mortality.

Left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) caused by chronic pressure overload with subsequent pathological remodeling is a major cardiovascular risk factor for heart failure and mortality. The role of deubiquitinases in LVH has not been well characterized. To define whether the deubiquitinase ubiquitin-specific peptidase 20 (USP20) regulates LVH, we subjected USP20 knockout (KO) and cognate wild-type (WT) mice to chronic pressure overload by transverse aortic constriction (TAC) and measured changes in cardiac function by serial echocardiography followed by histological and biochemical evaluations. USP20-KO mice showed severe deterioration of systolic function within 4 wk of TAC compared with WT cohorts. Both USP20-KO TAC and WT-TAC cohorts presented cardiac hypertrophy following pressure overload. However, USP20-KO-TAC mice showed an increase in cardiomyocyte length and developed maladaptive eccentric hypertrophy, a phenotype generally observed with volume overload states and decompensated heart failure. In contrast, WT-TAC mice displayed an increase in cardiomyocyte width, producing concentric remodeling that is characteristic of pressure overload. In addition, cardiomyocyte apoptosis, interstitial fibrosis, and mouse mortality were augmented in USP20-KO-TAC compared with WT-TAC mice. Quantitative mass spectrometry of LV tissue revealed that the expression of sarcomeric myosin heavy chain 7 (MYH7), a fetal gene normally upregulated during cardiac remodeling, was significantly reduced in USP20-KO after TAC. Mechanistically, we identified increased degradative lysine-48 polyubiquitination of MYH7 in USP20-KO hearts, indicating that USP20-mediated deubiquitination likely prevents protein degradation of MYH7 during pressure overload. Our findings suggest that USP20-dependent signaling pathways regulate the layering pattern of sarcomeres to suppress maladaptive remodeling during chronic pressure overload and prevent cardiac failure.NEW & NOTEWORTHY We identify ubiquitin-specific peptidase 20 (USP20) as an important enzyme that is required for cardiac homeostasis and function, particularly during myocardial pressure overload. USP20 regulates protein stability of cardiac MYH7, an essential molecular motor protein expressed in sarcomeres; loss-of-function mutations of MYH7 are associated with human hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, cardiac failure, and sudden death. Enhancing USP20 activity could be a potential therapeutic approach to prevent the development of maladaptive state of eccentric hypertrophy and heart failure.