Minimal domains for maximum energy
Dielectric capacitors are important electronic components that can store energy, at least for a short period of time. Pan
et al
. used phase-field simulations to help determine the right combination of bismuth iron oxide, barium titanium oxide, and samarium doping that is likely to generate a material with excellent dielectric properties (see the Perspective by Chu). The simulations guide a set of experimental measurements showing this system can produce a very high-energy storage by breaking down polar domains to the nanometer scale. These materials could be useful for high-power applications and to suppress failure. —BG
Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is a poor-prognosis cancer type with limited understanding of its molecular etiology. Using 508 ESCC genomes, we identified five novel significantly mutated genes and uncovered mutational signature clusters associated with metastasis and patients’ outcomes. Several functional assays implicated that
NFE2L2
may act as a tumor suppressor in ESCC and that mutations in
NFE2L2
probably impaired its tumor-suppressive function, or even conferred oncogenic activities. Additionally, we found that the
NFE2L2
mutations were significantly associated with worse prognosis of ESCC. We also identified potential noncoding driver mutations including hotspot mutations in the promoter region of
SLC35E2
that were correlated with worse survival. Approximately 5.9% and 15.2% of patients had high tumor mutation burden or actionable mutations, respectively, and may benefit from immunotherapy or targeted therapies. We found clinically relevant coding and noncoding genomic alterations and revealed three major subtypes that robustly predicted patients’ outcomes. Collectively, we report the largest dataset of genomic profiling of ESCC useful for developing ESCC-specific biomarkers for diagnosis and treatment.
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