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Simple Summary: Monolepta signata is a highly destructive agricultural pest that causes significant economic losses to important economic crops such as maize and cotton in its native area: Asia. This study uses the maximum entropy model, combined with bioclimatic variables and altitude, to predict the potentially suitable areas and spread patterns of M. signata worldwide. The research results show that, in addition to its native area, M. signata has potentially suitable areas all over the world. The potential geographical distribution of this pest is gradually expanding globally. By predicting the potential occurrence and spread areas of M. signata worldwide, this study provides an important theoretical basis for formulating effective prevention and control measures and early-warning strategies for this pest. Monolepta signata is a polyphagous and highly destructive agricultural pest, currently only distributed in Asia. In its place of origin, it poses a serious threat to important economic crops, for instance, maize (Zea mays L.) and cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.). Based on morphological and molecular data research, it has been found that M. quadriguttata (Motschulsky), M. hieroglyphica (Motschulsky), and M. signata are actually the same species. This discovery means that the range of this pest will expand, and it also increases the risk of it spreading to non-native areas worldwide. It is crucial for global agricultural production to understand which countries and regions are susceptible to invasion by M. signata and to formulate corresponding prevention, control, and monitoring strategies. This study uses the maximum entropy model, combined with bioclimatic variables and elevation, to predict the potentially suitable areas and diffusion patterns of M. signata worldwide. The results indicate that in its suitable area, M. signata is mainly affected by three key climatic factors: Precipitation of Wettest Month (bio13), Mean Temperature of Warmest Quarter (bio10), and Temperature Seasonality (bio4). Under the current status, the total suitable region of M. signata is 252,276.71 × 104 km2. In addition to its native Asia, this pest has potentially suitable areas in Oceania, South America, North America, and Africa. In the future, with climate change, the suitable area of M. signata will expand to high-latitude areas and inland areas. This study found that by the 2070s, under the SSP5-8.5 climate scenario, the change in the potentially suitable area of this insect is the largest. By identifying the potentially suitable areas and key climatic factors of M. signata, we can provide theoretical and technical support to the government, enabling them to more effectively formulate strategies to deal with the spread, outbreak, and invasion of M. signata. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: To assess the excess risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) associated with different criteria for metabolic health, and the interplay of body size, insulin sensitivity and metabolic health with CVD risk. Materials and Methods: We conducted a prospective study involving 115 638 participants from the China Cardiometabolic Disease and Cancer Cohort (4C) Study. Metabolic health was defined using three different definitions: (1) insulin sensitivity defined by homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance index; (2) absence of metabolic syndrome according to the National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III criteria; and (3) simultaneous absence of metabolic abnormalities (diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidaemia). The primary endpoint was a composite of incident CVD events comprising the first occurrence of myocardial infarction, stroke, heart failure, or cardiovascular death. Results: During a mean 3.61‐year follow‐up period, obese individuals with insulin sensitivity (multivariable‐adjusted hazard ratio [HR] 1.69, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.37–2.08), or without metabolic syndrome (HR 1.46, 95% CI 1.13–1.89) still exhibited increased CVD risks, when compared to their normal‐weight counterparts. Otherwise, those with obesity but simultaneous absence of metabolic abnormalities demonstrated similar CVD risk compared to normal‐weight individuals (HR 0.91, 95% CI 0.53–1.59). CVD risk increased with the number of abnormalities across body mass index categories, regardless of insulin sensitivity. Conclusions: This study emphasizes the need for refined definitions of metabolic health and advocates for meticulous screening for metabolic abnormalities to reduce cardiovascular risks, even in individuals with normal weight and insulin sensitivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper utilizes panel data from 278 cities in China spanning the years 2010 to 2020 to comprehensively assess the impact of digital inclusive finance on urban ecological efficiency. The study shows that digital inclusive finance significantly contributes to the enhancement of urban ecological efficiency, primarily attributed to the deepening of digital inclusive finance's usage depth and degree of digitization. Mechanism analysis further indicates that digital inclusive finance can expedite the concentration of human capital, foster technological innovation, and boost foreign direct investment, ultimately promoting the advancement of urban ecological efficiency. Moreover, the spatial spillover effect analysis demonstrates that digital inclusive finance not only enhances the ecological efficiency within a region but also notably elevates the ecological efficiency levels of neighboring cities. Additionally, our findings indicate that the development of digital inclusive finance has a more pronounced positive effect on improving ecological efficiency in the central and western regions, larger cities, and cities with higher levels of digital inclusive finance compared to the eastern region, small and medium-sized cities, and cities with lower digital inclusive finance development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Straw covering is a protective tillage measure in agricultural production, but there is relatively little research on the allelopathic effects of corn straw on weeds and foxtail millet. This experiment studied the allelopathic effects of corn straw on four weeds (Chenopodium album, Setaria viridis, Echinochloa crus-galli and Amaranthus retroflexus) in foxtail millet fields, and also measured the growth indicators of foxtail millet. The study consisted of Petri dish and field experiments. Five treatments were used in the Petri dish experiment: clear water as control (0 g/L, TCK) and four types of corn straw water extracts. They were, respectively, the stock solution (100 g/L, T1), 10 X dilution (10 g/L, T2), 50 X dilution (2 g/L, T3), and 100 X dilution (1 g/L, T4) of corn straw water extracts. Additionally, seven treatments were set up in the field experiment, consisting of three corn straw covering treatments, with covering amounts of 3000 (Z1), 6000 (Z2) and 12,000 kg/ha (Z3), and four control treatments—one treatment with no corn straw cover (CK) and three treatments involving the use of a black film to create the same shading area as the corn straw covered area, with black film coverage areas of 50% (PZ1), 70% (PZ2), and 100% (PZ3), respectively. The results showed that the corn straw water extract reduced the germination rate of the seeds of the four weeds. The T1 treatment resulted in the allelopathic promotion of C. album growth but the inhibition of S. viridis, E. crus-galli, and A. retroflexus growth. Treatments T2, T3, and T4 all induced the allelopathic promotion of the growth of the four weeds. The order of the effects of the corn straw water extracts on the comprehensive allelopathy index of the four weed seeds was as follows: C. album > S. viridis > A. retroflexus > E. crus-galli. With an increase in the corn straw mulching amount, the density and total coverage of the four weeds showed a gradual downward trend, whereas the plant control effect and fresh weight control effect showed a gradual upward trend. All indices showed the best results under 12,000 kg/ha of mulching and returning to the field. Overall, corn straw coverage significantly impacted the net photosynthetic rate and transpiration rate of foxtail millet and increased the yield of foxtail millet. Under coverages of 6000 and 12,000 kg/ha, the growth of foxtail millet is better. Based on our findings, we recommend a corn straw coverage of 12,000 kg/ha for the allelopathic control of weeds in foxtail millet fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tomatoes are frequently challenged by various pathogens, among which Phytophthora capsici (P. capsici) is a destructive soil‐borne pathogen that seriously threatens the safe production of tomatoes. Plant growth‐promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) positively induced plant resistance against multiple pathogens. However, little is known about the role and regulatory mechanism of PGPR in tomato resistance to P. capsici. Here, we identified a new strain Serratia plymuthica (S. plymuthica), HK9‐3, which has a significant antibacterial effect on P. capsici infection. Meanwhile, stable colonization in roots by HK9‐3, even under P. capsici infection, improved tomato growth parameters, root system architecture, photosynthetic capacity, and boosted biomass. Importantly, HK9‐3 colonization significantly alleviated the damage caused by P. capsici infection through enhancing ROS scavenger ability and inducing antioxidant defense system and pathogenesis‐related (PR) proteins in leaves, as evidenced by elevating the activities of peroxidase (POD), superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), ascorbate peroxidase (APX), phenylalanine ammonia lyase (PAL), polyphenol oxidase (PPO), and chitinase, β‐1,3‐glucanase, and increasing the transcripts of POD, SOD, CAT, APX1, PAL1, PAL2, PAL5, PPO2, CHI17 and β‐1,3‐glucanase genes. Notably, HK9‐3 colonization not only effectively improved soil microecology and soil fertility, but also significantly enhanced fruit yield by 44.6% and improved quality. Our study presents HK9‐3 as a promising and effective solution for controlling P. capsici infection in tomato cultivation while simultaneously promoting plant growth and increasing yield, which may have implications for P. capsici control in vegetable production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

(1) Background: Spinal cord injuries and diseases necessitate sophisticated tools for accurate diagnosis and treatment planning. However, the lack of reliable phantoms mimicking the complex structure of the spinal cord hinders the development and validation of advanced imaging techniques. This study aims to address this critical unmet need by exploring the application of electrospinning to create polymeric fibers resembling the human spinal cord; (2) Methods: Direct jet coaxial electrospinning (DJ-co-ES) is a specialized electrospinning process characterized by the presence of solely the straight segment of a fluid jet. The research firstly investigates the effects of various solution properties and process parameters on the formation and characteristics of core/shell fibers with polycaprolactone (PCL) as the shell and polyethylene oxide (PEO) as the core. Furthermore, the study explores the potential of these DJ-co-ES fibers as phantoms by measuring various diffusion MRI parameters; (3) Results: Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) revealed the successful production of hollow PCL microfibers (2–12 μm diameter) with smooth, cylindrical morphology and high orientation. The DJ-co-ES process demonstrated optimal stability when utilizing 10 w/v% PCL in DCM/DMF for the shell and 4 w/v% PEO in deionized water for the core. Additionally, the high miscibility between core and shell solvents in other core and shell solutions cases facilitated the production of fibers with smaller diameters. The findings demonstrate that the measured values fall within the range observed in both healthy and diseased spinal cord tissues; (4) Conclusions: This research paves the way for utilizing DJ-co-ES technology to develop reliable phantoms for spinal cord applications, ultimately fostering advancements in diagnosis, treatment, and research related to spinal cord conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Foxtail millet planting has a long history and profound role in agricultural civilization. However, weeds have become one of the obstacles restricting the development of the foxtail millet industry. Penoxsulam, as an early post-emergence herbicide for controlling gramineous weeds in paddy fields, is effective for some broadleaf weeds. In this study, six different doses (CK, 0.5X, 1X, 2X, 3X, 4X) of penoxsulam were sprayed at the 3–5 leaf stage of the conventional variety Jingu 21 to study its effect on the growth and development of foxtail millet, in order to screen out the appropriate spraying concentration. The main results are as follows: Within 15 days after spraying penoxsulam, the plant height and leaf area of foxtail millet decreased with the increase in spraying dose, and gradually recovered 15–25 days after spraying, but there were still significant differences compared with CK. The photosynthetic pigment content, net photosynthetic rate (Pn), transpiration rate (Tr), stomatal conductance (Gs), the maximum photochemical efficiency (Fv/Fm), photosynthetic system II actual photochemical efficiency (Y(II)), and photochemical quenching coefficient (qP) of foxtail millet decreased with an increase in the penoxsulam spraying dose, while the intercellular CO2 concentration (Ci) and non-photochemical quenching coefficient (NPQ) showed an upward trend. There was almost no significant difference in each index between the spraying dose of 0.5X and 1X and CK, but the photosynthesis of foxtail millet leaves was still significantly inhibited under a spraying dose of 3X and 4X. Penoxsulam had certain growth-inhibiting effects on Echinochloa crus-galli (L.) Beauv. (E. crus-galli), Digitaria sanguinalis (L.) Scop. (D. sanguinalis), Chenopodium album L. (C. album), and Amaranthus retroflexus L. (A. retroflexus) which increased as the spraying dosage increased. Our study found that spraying dose groups of 0.5X and 1X penoxsulam were safe for foxtail millet growth and could be used to control gramineous weeds in fields. Other spraying doses are not recommended in the field due to their serious phytotoxicity to foxtail millet, which provides a new measure for weed control in foxtail millet fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deregulation of circular RNAs (circRNAs) is widely recognized in cancer progression. Our study aims to investigate the role of circ_0020460 in the development of cervical cancer (CC) and its potential mechanism of action. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and western blot assays were used to detect the expression levels of circ_0020460, miR-485-3p and C-X-C motif chemokine ligand 1 (CXCL1). The roles of circ_0020460 on cell proliferation, cell migration, cell invasion, cell apoptosis, and angiogenesis were investigated using cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) and Ethynyl deoxyuridine (Edu) assay, wound healing assay, transwell assay, flow cytometry assay, and tube formation assay, respectively. The putative relationship predicted by bioinformatics analysis was verified by dual-luciferase reporter assay and RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP) assay. Xenograft models were constructed to explore the role of circ_0020460 in vivo. The expression of circ_0020460 and CXCL1 expression were increased, while miR-485-3p expression was declined in CC tissues and cells. Circ_0020460 knockdown suppressed CC cell proliferation, cell migration, cell invasion, angiogenesis, and promoted cell apoptosis. Circ_0020460 functioned as a miR-485-3p sponge to inhibit miR-485-3p level, and the anti-cancer effects mediated by circ_0020460 knockdown were reversed by miR-485-3p inhibitor. MiR-485-3p bound to CXCL1 3ʹ untranslated region (3ʹUTR) to degrade CXCL1 expression, and the anti-cancer effects of miR-485-3p restoration were impaired by CXCL1 overexpression. Circ_0020460 downregulation inhibited CC xenograft tumor growth. These results suggest that circ_0020460 promoted the malignant behavior of CC cells by modulating the miR-485-3p/CXCL1 axis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modern electronic power systems rely heavily on analog circuits. The accurate detection of analog circuit faults, especially soft faults, is of great significance for the maintenance and inspection of electronic systems. This paper proposes the application of the Boruta feature selection method to the field of the soft fault diagnosis of analog circuits to screen out low-dimensional and efficient feature components from the high-dimensional time-domain statistical features and frequency-domain features of circuit responses. Then, the feature components are used as the input to train the LightGBM classification model, and the Bayesian optimization method is introduced to optimize the model's hyperparameters. Finally, the trained fault diagnosis model is verified in two typical experimental circuits, and satisfactory accuracy is obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: Primary mucoepidermoid carcinomas (MECs) of the sinonasal tract and nasopharynx are rare entities that represent a diagnostic challenge, especially in biopsy samples. Herein, we present a case series of MECs of the sinonasal and skull base and its mimics to evaluate the clinicopathological and molecular characteristics in order to avoid misdiagnosis. Methods: We reviewed the pathology records of patients diagnosed from 2014 to 2022. Thirty MECs were consecutively diagnosed during that period. Results: Based on morphological and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) analyses, 30 tumors originally diagnosed as MECs were separated into MAML2 fusion-positive (7 cases) and MAML2 fusion-negative groups (23 cases), in which 14 tumors were positive for the EWSR1::ATF1 fusion; these tumors were reclassified to have hyalinizing clear cell carcinoma (HCCC). The remaining nine MAML2 FISH negative cases were reconfirmed as squamous cell carcinoma (SCC, 3 cases) which showed keratinization and high Ki-67 expression; DEK::AFF2 carcinomas (2 cases), in which DEK gene rearrangement was detected by FISH; and MECs as previously described (4 cases) with typical morphological features. Including 7 MAML2 rearrangements tumors, 11 MEC cases had a male-to-female ratio of 4.5:1, and 6 tumors arose from the nasopharyngeal region, while 5 tumors arose from the sinonasal region. The prognosis of this series of salivary gland-type MECs was favorable. Conclusions: Our study confirmed that HCCC runs the risk of being misdiagnosed as MEC in the sinonasal tract and nasopharynx, particularly with biopsy specimens. Careful histological evaluation with supporting molecular testing can facilitate pathological diagnoses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deep neural networks have made significant progress benefiting large-scale correctly human-labeled datasets. However, large-scale human-labeled datasets are often ambiguous because the limited experience can lead to mislabeled classes. Most research related to learning with noisy labels concentrates on image classification, while we focus on object detection that also suffers from noisy labels. In this paper, we propose a method that applies gradient optimization for object detection (GOOD), aiming to combat poor generalization caused by noisy labels in objection detection. Usually, a detection task is divided into a foreground-background subtask and a foreground-object subtask. Hence, gradient descent with cross-entropy exploits corrected gradient guidance for foreground-background subtask, while dynamic gradient underweighted ascent with cross-entropy and variant gradient clipping with improved symmetric cross-entropy are mutually employed to prevent incorrect gradient guidance for foreground-object subtask. We conducted extensive experiments on PASCAL VOC 2012 and COCO 2017, demonstrating the effectiveness of GOOD. Furthermore, we promote GOOD to instance segmentation, and competitive results on Cityscapes show that it is also appropriate for instance segmentation. Specifically, we achieved a 9.4% improvement on PASCAL VOC 2012, 5.2% on COCO 2017, and 4.3% on Cityscapes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thermoacoustic oscillation is indeed a phenomenon characterized by the symmetric coupling of thermal and acoustic waves. This paper introduces a novel approach for monitoring and predicting thermoacoustic combustion instability using a combination of recurrence quantification analysis (RQA) and an optimized deep belief network (DBN). Six samples of combustion state data were collected using two distinct types of burners to facilitate the training and validation of GA-DBN. The proposed methodology leverages RQA to extract intricate patterns and dynamic features from time series data representing combustion behavior. By quantifying the recurrence plot of specific patterns, the analysis provides valuable insights into the underlying thermoacoustic dynamics. Among three different feature extraction methods, RQA stands out remarkably in performance. These RQA-derived features serve as input to a carefully tuned DBN, which is trained to learn the complex relationships within the combustion process. The classification accuracy of deep belief network optimized by genetic algorithm (GA-DBN) reached an impressive 99.8%. Subsequent multiple comparisons were conducted between GA-DBN, DBN, and support vector machine (SVM), revealing that GA-DBN consistently demonstrated satisfactory classification results. This method holds significant importance in monitoring intricate combustion states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Intestinal fibrosis, a common and serious complication of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), results from chronic inflammation. A high-cholesterol diet may be a risk factor for IBD and 27-hydroxylcholesterol (27HC) is the main human cholesterol metabolite. This study investigated whether 27HC can induce intestinal fibrosis. Methods: The effects of cholesterol and 27HC on intestinal fibrosis were assessed in zebrafish and human intestinal epithelial Caco-2 cells. Results: Cholesterol and 27HC induced intestinal inflammation and collagen deposition, inhibited E-cadherin (E-ca) expression in the intestinal epithelium, and promoted nuclear translocation of β-catenin in zebrafish. Cholesterol and 27HC up-regulated expression of COL-1, α-SMA, CTGF, TIMP1, N-cadherin, vimentin, glycogen synthesis kinase-3β (GSK-3β) and β-catenin, but inhibited E-ca, in Caco-2 cells. The expression of these proteins was inhibited by CYP27A1 knockdown and β-catenin knockdown. 27HC-induced nuclear translocation of β-catenin occurs in Caco-2 cells. p38, ERK, and AKT activate β-catenin and thereby participate in 27HC-induced epithelia–mesenchymal transition (EMT) and fibrosis. 27HC-increased oxidative stress and the fibrosis and EMT markers, the nuclear translocation of β-catenin, and the up-regulation of p-cell kinase proteins promoted by 27HC were inhibited by N-acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC). Folic acid (FA), resveratrol (RES), and NAC all ameliorated the 27HC-induced effects in Caco-2 cells and zebrafish. Conclusion: A high-cholesterol diet caused intestinal fibrosis in zebrafish, mediated by a major cholesterol metabolite, 27HC. 27HC increased oxidative stress and activated p38, ERK, AKT, and β-catenin, leading to EMT of epithelial cells and intestinal fibrosis. FA and RES both ameliorated intestinal fibrosis by restraining 27HC-induced β-catenin activation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Malnutrition in early life increases the risk of osteoporosis, but the association of early-life undernutrition combined with adulthood obesity patterns with low-energy fracture remains unknown. This study included 5323 community-dwelling subjects aged ⩾40 years from China. Early-life famine exposure was identified based on the participants' birth dates. General obesity was assessed using the body mass index (BMI), and abdominal obesity was evaluated with the waist-to-hip ratio (WHR). Low-energy fracture was defined as fracture occurring after the age of ⩾40 typically caused by falls from standing height or lower. Compared to the nonexposed group, the group with fetal, childhood, and adolescence famine exposure was associated with an increased risk of fracture in women with odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of 3.55 (1.57–8.05), 3.90 (1.57–9.71), and 3.53 (1.05–11.88), respectively, but not in men. Significant interactions were observed between fetal famine exposure and general obesity with fracture among women (P for interaction = 0.0008). Furthermore, compared with the groups with normal BMI and WHR, the group of women who underwent fetal famine exposure and had both general and abdominal obesity had the highest risk of fracture (OR, 95% CI: 3.32, 1.17–9.40). These results indicate that early-life famine exposure interacts with adulthood general obesity and significantly increases the risk of low-energy fracture later in life in women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The three-dimensional (3D) porous carbon materials are helpful for forming thin, light-weight, wide effective absorption bandwidth and strong absorption intensity absorbers. However, previous methods were not environmentally friendly enough. Thus, in this work, the Fe/Fe3C@porous carbon was synthesized from soluble starch and Fe(NO3)3·9H2O via chemical bowling and subsequent carbonization at 700 °C with different ratios. When the ratio of starch to Fe(NO3)3·9H2O is 1:1.5, the porous carbon exhibits a strong absorption ability with minimum reflection loss (RLmin) value of −16.64 dB at 16.78 GHz, when the thickness is 1.75 mm and the proportion of paraffin wax is 30 wt%. The synergy of well impedance matching, sufficient loss performance, and interface polarization makes 3D porous carbon materials an excellent wave absorber. This work provides a good inspiration for studying outstanding performance microwave absorption materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We carry out a series of experimental investigations in a model combustor to detect a precursor of thermoacoustic combustion oscillations based on permutation entropy, which can amplify the subtle changes effected in the time sequence to identify the anomaly. By changing the flame's location or the fuel flow to a value, an abrupt switch from aperiodic small-amplitude oscillations to periodic large-amplitude oscillations would occur in pressure fluctuations. The characteristic frequency of combustion oscillation is obtained by spectral analysis, with which a modified algorithm of the permutation entropy is proposed. The impact evaluation on key parameters such as moving step sizes and window sizes reveals that the moving data permutation entropy has strong robustness, and can accurately detect the onset of thermoacoustic oscillations. Further nonlinear analysis exhibits peculiar dynamics of the combustion system, which result in specific patterns in the time series and provide a theoretical basis for anomaly detection. Our results suggest that the permutation entropy has a certain potential in early warning and detection of combustion oscillations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Epidemiological evidence regarding the effect of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) supplementation on inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is conflicting. Additionally, little evidence exists regarding the effects of specific omega-3 components on IBD risk. We applied two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) to disentangle the effects of omega-3 PUFAs (including total omega-3, α-linolenic acid, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), or docosahexaenoic acid (DHA)) on the risk of IBD, Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC). Our findings indicated that genetically predicted increased EPA concentrations were associated with decreased risk of IBD (odds ratio 0.78 (95% CI 0.63–0.98)). This effect was found to be mediated through lower levels of linoleic acid and histidine metabolites. However, we found limited evidence to support the effects of total omega-3, α-linolenic acid, and DHA on the risks of IBD. In the fatty acid desaturase 2 (FADS2) region, robust colocalization evidence was observed, suggesting the primary role of the FADS2 gene in mediating the effects of omega-3 PUFAs on IBD. Therefore, the present MR study highlights EPA as the predominant active component of omega-3 fatty acids in relation to decreased risk of IBD, potentially via its interaction with linoleic acid and histidine metabolites. Additionally, the FADS2 gene likely mediates the effects of omega-3 PUFAs on IBD risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate prediction of thermoacoustic instability is a prerequisite for thermoacoustic control to avoid the damage of combustion chamber, however, this problem has not been completely solved yet. This paper proposes a data-driven method based on the Elman neural network (ENN) to predict the value of acoustic pressure of combustion instability. As a comparison, a model based on support vector machine (SVM) was built. It is proved that ENN has better prediction performance with a certain predicted time horizon compared to the SVM method. What is more, the prediction model based on ENN can adapt to time-varying characteristics of the transition scenario which is characterized by amplitude modulation, multiple frequencies, and irregular bursts. ENN model still maintains enough prediction accuracy for various input training sets, indicating that ENN can fully mine the features of data and has a strong feature extraction ability in combustion oscillation prediction. Hence, it is demonstrated that ENN is a promising prediction tool for thermoacoustic instability under various combustion conditions. These findings are of great significance for the accurate prediction and control of thermoacoustic instability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hollow polymer microfibers with variable microstructural and hydrophilic properties were proposed as building elements to create axon‐mimicking phantoms for validation of diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). The axon‐mimicking microfibers were fabricated in a mm‐thick 3D anisotropic fiber strip, by direct jet coaxial electrospinning of PCL/polysiloxane‐based surfactant (PSi) mixture as shell and polyethylene oxide (PEO) as core. Hydrophilic PCL‐PSi fiber strips were first obtained by carefully selecting appropriate solvents for the core and appropriate fiber collector rotating and transverse speeds. The porous cross‐section and anisotropic orientation of axon‐mimicking fibers were then quantitatively evaluated using two ImageJ plugins—nearest distance (ND) and directionality based on their scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images. Third, axon‐mimicking phantom was constructed from PCL‐PSi fiber strips with variable porous‐section and fiber orientation and tested on a 3T clinical MR scanner. The relationship between DTI measurements (mean diffusivity [MD] and fractional anisotropy [FA]) of phantom samples and their pore size and fiber orientation was investigated. Two key microstructural parameters of axon‐mimicking phantoms including normalized pore distance and dispersion of fiber orientation could well interpret the variations in DTI measurements. Two PCL‐PSi phantom samples made from different regions of the same fiber strips were found to have similar MD and FA values, indicating that the direct jet coaxial electrospun fiber strips had consistent microstructure. More importantly, the MD and FA values of the developed axon‐mimicking phantoms were mostly in the biologically relevant range. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Saikosaponin‐D (SSD), an active ingredient in Bupleurum chinense, exerts anticancer effects in various cancers by inhibiting cancer proliferation and inducing apoptosis. However, whether SSD can induce other forms of cell death is unknown. The current study aims to demonstrate that SSD can induce pyroptosis in non‐small‐cell lung cancer. In this study, HCC827 and A549 non‐small‐cell lung cancer cells were treated with different concentrations of SSD for 1.5 h. HE and TUNEL staining were used to verify cell damage caused by SSD. Immunofluorescence and western blotting were performed to verify the effect of SSD on the NF‐κB/NLRP3/caspase‐1/gasdermin D (GSDMD) pathway. Changes in inflammatory factors were detected by ELISAs. Finally, the reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenger N‐acetylcysteine (NAC) was introduced to verify that SSD induces pyroptosis through the ROS/NF‐κB pathway. The results of the HE and TUNEL staining showed that SSD resulted in balloon‐like swelling of NSCLC cells accompanied by increased DNA damage. Immunofluorescence and western blot assays confirmed that SSD treatment activated the NLRP3/caspase‐1/GSDMD pathway, stimulated an increase in ROS levels and activated NF‐κB in lung cancer cells. The ROS scavenger N‐acetylcysteine significantly attenuated SSD‐induced NF‐κB/NLRP3/caspase‐1/GSDMD pathway activation and inhibited the release of the inflammatory cytokines IL‐1β and IL‐18. In conclusion, SSD induced lung cancer cell pyroptosis by inducing ROS accumulation and activating the NF‐κB/NLRP3/caspase‐1/GSDMD pathway. These experiments lay the foundation for the application of SSD in the treatment of non‐small‐cell lung cancer and regulation of the lung cancer immune microenvironment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The innate immune pathway serves as the first line of defense against viral infections and plays a crucial role in the host's immune response in clearing viruses. Prior research has indicated that the influenza A virus has developed various strategies to avoid host immune responses. Nevertheless, the role of the NS1 protein of the canine influenza virus (CIV) in the innate immune pathway remains unclear. In this study, eukaryotic plasmids of NS1, NP, PA, PB1, and PB2 were constructed, and it was found that these proteins interact with melanoma differentiation-associated gene 5 (MDA5) and antagonize the activation of IFN-β promoters by MDA5. We selected the NS1 protein for further study and found that NS1 does not affect the interaction between the viral ribonucleoprotein (RNP) subunit and MDA5, but that it downregulates the expression of the laboratory of genetics and physiology 2 (LGP2) and retinoic acid-inducible gene-I (RIG-I) receptors in the RIG-I pathway. Additionally, NS1 was found to inhibit the expression of several antiviral proteins and cytokines, including MX dynamin like GTPase 1 (MX1), 2′-5′oligoadenylate synthetase (OAS), Signal Transducers and Activators of Transcription (STAT1), tripartite motif 25 (TRIM25), interleukin-2 (IL-2), IFN, IL-8, and IL-1β. To further investigate the role of NS1, a recombinant H3N2 virus strain (rH3N2) and an NS1-null virus (rH3N2ΔNS1) were rescued using reverse-genetic technology. The rH3N2ΔNS1 virus exhibited lower viral titers compared to rH3N2, but had a stronger activation effect on the receptors LGP2 and RIG-I. Furthermore, when compared to rH3N2, rH3N2ΔNS1 exhibited a more pronounced activation of antiviral proteins such as MX1, OAS, STAT1, and TRIM25, as well as antiviral cytokines such as IL-6, IFN-β, and IL-1β. These findings suggest a new mechanism by which NS1, a nonstructural protein of CIV, facilitates innate immune signaling and provides new avenues for the development of antiviral strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Observational studies and conventional Mendelian randomization (MR) studies showed inconclusive evidence to support the association between omega-3 fatty acids and type 2 diabetes. We aim to evaluate the causal effect of omega-3 fatty acids on type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), and the distinct intermediate phenotypes linking the two. Methods: Two-sample MR was performed using genetic instruments derived from a recent genome-wide association study (GWAS) of omega-3 fatty acids (N = 114,999) from UK Biobank and outcome data obtained from a large-scale T2DM GWAS (62,892 cases and 596,424 controls) in European ancestry. MR-Clust was applied to determine clustered genetic instruments of omega-3 fatty acids that influences T2DM. Two-step MR analysis was used to identify potential intermediate phenotypes (e.g. glycemic traits) that linking omega-3 fatty acids with T2DM. Results: Univariate MR showed heterogenous effect of omega-3 fatty acids on T2DM. At least two pleiotropic effects between omega-3 fatty acids and T2DM were identified using MR-Clust. For cluster 1 with seven instruments, increasing omega-3 fatty acids reduced T2DM risk (OR: 0.52, 95%CI 0.45–0.59), and decreased HOMA-IR (β = − 0.13, SE = 0.05, P = 0.02). On the contrary, MR analysis using 10 instruments in cluster 2 showed that increasing omega-3 fatty acids increased T2DM risk (OR:1.10; 95%CI 1.06–1.15), and decreased HOMA-B (β = − 0.04, SE = 0.01, P = 4.52 × 10–5). Two-step MR indicated that increasing omega-3 fatty acid levels decreased T2DM risk via decreasing HOMA-IR in cluster 1, while increased T2DM risk via decreasing HOMA-B in cluster 2. Conclusions: This study provides evidence to support two distinct pleiotropic effects of omega-3 fatty acids on T2DM risk influenced by different gene clusters, which could be partially explained by distinct effects of omega-3 fatty acids on insulin resistance and beta cell dysfunction. The pleiotropic feature of omega-3 fatty acids variants and its complex relationships with T2DM need to be carefully considered in future genetic and clinical studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Purpose: To evaluate prognostic significance of human papillomavirus (HPV) in hypopharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma patients, and to investigate the effect of p53 and TP53 mutations on the prognosis of patients. Methods: A total of 111 patients were enrolled in our retrospective study. HPV infection status was detected in formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue by real-time multiplex PCR test. p53 expression was evaluate by immunohistochemical staining. TP53 exon mutations were analyzed by PCR amplification and Sanger sequencing. HPV infection status, p53 expression and TP53 mutation were compared with clinical outcome including overall survival and recurrence-free survival by Kaplan-Meier method and Log-rank test. Results: Of the 111 investigated patients, 18 (16.22%) were positive for HPV infection. HPV(-) patients have a worse clinical outcome than HPV(+) patients. TP53 mutations have similar mutation rates in patients with and without HPV (55.56% vs. 41.94%). p53 and TP53 mutation were not associated with prognosis of patients in HPV(-) patients. TP53 disruptive mutations were found both in patients with or without HPV infection. Furthermore, TP53 non-disruptive mutation had a significantly better clinical outcome than those with disruptive mutation in HPV(-) patients. Conclusion: Our results showed that HPV infection status is a strong prognostic indicator of survival. p53 and TP53 mutations do not appear to significantly impact survival in HPV(-) patients. TP53 disruptive mutation is associated with reduced survival in HPV(-)/TP53 mutation patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The photocatalytic property of available semiconductor catalysts still suffers from some urgent problems, such as the high excitation energy, easy agglomeration of powders, or weak recycling property. Therefore, developing novel visible light-supported catalysts and catalyst loading have aroused great attention recently. In this work, a novel Ag3PO4/BiVO4/MWCNTs@Cotton functional fabric was prepared by introducing Ag3PO4 as a plasma resonance photocatalyst and MWCNTs with cotton as composite substrates. Not only did the introduction of Ag3PO4 and MWCNTs effectively strengthen the application ability of BiVO4, but also inhibited the recombination of carriers, and promoted the transport of carriers according to spectroscopic and electrochemical tests. Degradation tests remained that Ag3PO4/BiVO4/MWCNTs @cotton retained the high photocatalytic efficiency of the powder catalyst, along with the degradation degree of active blue KN-R (50mg/L) as well as Cr (VI) (20mg/L) could reach more than 90% within 120 min. What's more, the functional fabric has gained excellent performance in degrading pollutants for 5 cycles. Meanwhile, the prepared BiVO4 is consistent with the band structure and electron density calculated theoretically by the GGA-PBE function. Free radical trapping and scavenging experiments exhibited that functional fabrics could produce active substances such as h+,·O2-, and·OH, among which the first two are the main active substances in the reaction. To sum up, this study is an effective attempt based on the existing problems of photocatalysts together with providing some study directions for the development of photocatalytic technology in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Complex aluminum hydrides with high hydrogen capacity are among the most promising solid-state hydrogen storage materials. The present study determines the thermal stability, hydrogen dissociation energy, and electronic structures of alkali metal aluminum hydrides, MAlH4 (M = Li, Na, K, and Cs), using first-principles density functional theory calculations in an attempt to gain insight into the dehydrogenation mechanism of these hydrides. The results show that the hydrogen dissociation energy (Ed-H2) of MAlH4 (M = Li, Na, K, and Cs) correlates with the Pauling electronegativity of cation M (χP); that is, the Ed-H2 (average value) decreases, i.e., 1.211 eV (LiAlH4) < 1.281 eV (NaAlH4) < 1.291 eV (KAlH4) < 1.361 eV (CsAlH4), with the increasing χP value, i.e., 0.98 (Li) > 0.93 (Na) > 0.82 (K) > 0.79 (Cs). The main reason for this finding is that alkali alanate MAlH4 at higher cation electronegativity is thermally less stable and held by weaker Al-H covalent and H-H ionic interactions. Our work contributes to the design of alkali metal aluminum hydrides with a favorable dehydrogenation, which is useful for on-board hydrogen storage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fluorine-containing coatings play an essential role in waterproof paint, but the harm of fluoride to the environment does not meet the current environmental protection requirements. The present study reports an eco-friendly and fluoride-free waterproof hybrid coating prepared by a semi-continuous seed emulsion method employing vinyl tributbutoxy silane (VTBS) as the functional monomer and octyl triethoxysilane modified SiO2 (OTES@ SiO2) as the inorganic filler. In vinyl acetate/butyl acrylate hybrid coatings, the surface covering of OTES@SiO2 and the cross-linking structure produced by VTBS not only significantly improve the thermal stability, mechanical properties, and strong hydrophobicity but also reduce the water absorption. In addition, the gloss loss of the organic–inorganic hybrid layer is <30% after being exposed to UV-irradiation for 720 h. The obtained coating could be a lovely environmental-friendly protective coating for many functional areas, especially for outdoor applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To investigate whether asiatic acid (AA) can improve the quantity and function of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs), as well as how AA regulates synaptic pathways in rat models with chronic glaucoma. Methods: In our study, a rat model of chronic glaucoma was prepared via the electrocoagulation of the episcleral veins. The numbers of surviving RGCs were counted via retrograde Fluorogold labeling, and a whole-cell patch clamp was used to clamp RGCs in normal retinal sections and in retinal sections 4 weeks after glaucoma induction. Results: Retrograde-Fluorogold-labeled RGC loss caused by persistent glaucoma was decreased by AA. Additionally, AA reduced the postsynaptic current produced by N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) and diminished miniature glutamatergic excitatory neurotransmission to RGCs. On the other hand, AA increased miniature gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)-ergic inhibitory neurotransmission to RGCs and enhanced the GABA-induced postsynaptic current. The excitability of the RGC itself was also decreased by AA. RGCs in glaucomatous slices were less excitable because AA decreased their spontaneous action potential frequency and membrane potential, which led to a hyperpolarized condition. Conclusions: AA directly protected RGCs in a chronic glaucoma rat model by lowering their hyperexcitability. To enhance RGCs' survival and function in glaucoma, AA may be a viable therapeutic drug. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Anti–PD-1/PD-L1 therapy, either by anti–PD-1 antibody or anti–PD-L1 antibody, has efficacy by reinvigorating tumor-infiltrating CD8+ T cells in a subset of patients with cancer, but it has unequal effects on heterogeneous CD8+ T cell populations. Hence, the subset crucial to efficacious PD-1 blockade therapy remains elusive. Here, we found an increase in tumor-infiltrating CD200+ cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) upon PD-1/PD-L1 blockade, with higher proportions of CD200+ T cells positively related to a favorable clinical outcome to anti–PD-1/PD-L1 therapy in three independent cohorts of patients with cancer. Using multiple mouse tumor models, we demonstrated that CD200+ CTLs are essential for efficacious anti–PD-L1 therapy. Mechanistically, we observed a unique chromatin landscape in CD200+ CTLs and found that these cells are enriched for tumor antigen–specific CTLs and have antitumor effector functions. Coinoculation of CD200+ CTLs with tumor cells led to robust tumor regression in two transplanted mouse models. Clinically, we found that infiltration of CD200+ CTLs into tumors could predict immunotherapy efficacy in six patient cohorts. Together, our findings reveal that CD200+ CTLs in the tumor microenvironment are crucial for efficacious anti–PD-1/PD-L1 therapy and could serve as a predictor of successful immunotherapy in the clinic. Identifying responders: A challenge for the field of cancer immunotherapy is identifying which patients will respond to immune checkpoint blockade treatments such as anti-PD-1 or anti-PD-L1. Here, Wang et al. showed using murine tumor models that CD200+ CD8+ T cells were crucial for the efficacy of anti-PD-1/PD-L1 therapy. These CD200+ cytotoxic T lymphocytes had a unique chromatin landscape and possessed superior anti-tumor effector functions as compared to CD200- CD8+ T cells. Further, the authors showed, using data from multiple patient cohorts, that CD200+ T cells could predict immunotherapy efficacy, suggesting that this cell population could serve as a potential marker in the clinic. —CM [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cang-ai volatile oil (CAVO) is an aromatic Chinese medicine and is widely used to treat upper respiratory tract infections in children. However, the mechanism of CAVO in asthma treatment is unclear. In this study, we investigated the effects of CAVO on airway inflammation and the mechanism of inhibiting Group-2 innate lymphoid cells (ILC2s) in asthmatic mice, which was induced with Ovalbumin (OVA). CAVO improved AHR and airway inflammation in asthmatic mice. CAVO reduced the production of interleukin (IL)-2, IL-4, IL-5, IL-6, IL-7, IL-9, IL-13, IL-25, IL-33, and thymic stromal lymphopoietin (TSLP) in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF), while increased the production of IL-10, significantly. CAVO also inhibited the suppressor of tumorigenicity 2 (ST2) and IL-33 expressions in the lung tissue. Moreover, flow analyses demonstrated that CAVO inhibited ILC2s activation by reducing the sedimentation of its upstream cytokines, thus alleviating downstream cytokines. This could be because of the downregulated microRNA-155 and upregulated microRNA-146a. CAVO inhibits ILC2s activation, thus further attenuating airway inflammation and AHR in asthmatic mice. These effects may be related to the downregulation of microRNA-155 and upregulation of microRNA-146a. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The interaction mechanism of internally-staged-swirling stratified flame is complex, and the pilot flame has a manifest influence on flame stability. To study this, a series of experimental investigations for the pilot flame has been carried out in a model swirl combustor by only supplying the pilot fuel. The CH* chemiluminescence images of the pilot flame are acquired by a high-speed camera with a CH* bandpass filter, whose dynamic characteristics are identified by image statistical analysis and proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) analysis. And the fast algorithm based on matrix theory proposed in this paper increases the operation efficiency and operability of POD. With the pilot equivalence ratio Φ increase, the pilot flame gradually shows an unstable state, whose POD energy distribution is significantly different. In the unstable state, the flame dynamics include three modes—spiral motion mode, flame shedding mode, and axial oscillation mode, whose formation reasons have also been further analyzed in combination with the experimental characteristics. And the fast Fourier transform (FFT) analysis of the time coefficients for the first four POD modes indicates all the dominant frequency is 280 Hz, which means the model combustor is in resonance. In addition, a sensitivity analysis based on the different image resolutions further reveals the robustness of the POD method and its optimization direction. These results emphasize the important influence of the pilot fuel flow rate on the stability of the pilot flame. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To investigate the effect of modified colonoscopy nursing pads in colonoscopy. Methods: A total of 262 subjects who underwent colonoscopy at our endoscopy center between September 1, 2021 and February 28, 2022 were selected and randomly divided into a control group and an experimental group, with 131 cases in each group. The control group used conventional nursing pads, while the experimental group used modified nursing pads. The success rate of the first correct position, the time spent by the nurse to guide the correct position, the bed unit contamination rate, the contamination rate of the operator's protective equipment, the privacy protection of the examinees and the satisfaction degree after the examination were compared between the two groups. Results: The success rate of the first correct position of the examinees in the experimental group was significantly higher than that of the control group (P < 0.05), and the time spent by the nurses to guide the correct position in the experimental group was less than that of the control group (P < 0.05). The bed unit contamination rate and operator's protective equipment contamination rate of the experimental group were lower than those of the control group, and the satisfaction degree of the examinees was higher in the experimental group than in the control group, and the differences were statistically significant (P < 0.05). Conclusion: The modified colonoscopy nursing pad can save the time of correct colonoscopy positioning of examinees, improve the efficiency of colonoscopy, reduce the workload of nursing staff, effectively protect the privacy of patients, reduce the bed unit contamination and protective equipment contamination, and then improve the comfort and satisfaction of patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Natural cellulose fibers obtained from areca fibers are substantially weaker than most cellulose fibers from lignocellulosic sources. TGA curves show the degradation of untreated fibers and fibers obtained after treating with various concentrations of alkali for 48 hours Morphological changes Alkali treatment resulted in visual changes in the cross-section of the fibers as seen from Figure 5. Fibers obtained from the coconut husks (coir fibers) also have substantially higher elongation (17 to 40%) compared to common fibers such as cotton, linen and jute (Tran et al. [20]). Keywords: Areca cathechu; biofibers; natural cellulose fibers; composition; extraction; areca shells; ; ; ; ; ; EN Areca cathechu biofibers natural cellulose fibers composition extraction areca shells ZH 9754 9764 11 11/21/22 20221220 NES 221220 Introduction I Areca Cathechu i belongs to the botanical family Arecaceae which also contains the more popular I Cocos nucifera i or the coconut tree. [Extracted from the article]

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Energy limitation is one of the intrinsic shortcomings of wireless sensor networks (WSNs), although it has been widely applied in disaster response, battlefield surveillance, wildfire monitoring, radioactivity detection, etc. Due to the large amount of energy consumed for data transmission, how to prolong the network lifespan by designing various hierarchical routing protocols has attracted more and more attention. As a result, numerous achievements have emerged successively. However, these presented mechanisms can rarely guarantee the satisfactory quality of service (QoS), while lowering the energy cost level of WSNs. Meanwhile, invulnerability is undoubtedly an excellent quantitative index to assess QoS. Therefore, it is critical to develop a practical routing method to optimize network lifetime by considering both invulnerability and energy efficiency. Game theory is suitable for such a critical problem as it can be used in node or at network level to encourage the decision-making capabilities of WSNs. In this paper, a novel invulnerability-aware clustering routing algorithm (IACRA) using game-theoretic method is proposed to solve the predicament. The core features of the addressed game-theory-based routing protocol include integral invulnerability awareness, optimal cluster head selection in hierarchical routing, distance-aware cluster head discovery, and cluster rotation update mechanism for lifetime optimization. Particularly, the integral network invulnerability based on weighted fusion is constructed for further defining the profit model by combining the invulnerability indicators used to evaluate the local and whole network. Meanwhile, the optimal probability function of every node elected as CH in per cluster is established through the game between invulnerability and node energy consumption. In addition, the cluster update mechanism base on cluster rotation is proposed to avoid the rapid death of nodes with large energy consumption for maximizing network lifetime. The experimental results indicated a significant improvement in energy balance as well as in invulnerability compared with the other three kinds of well-known clustering routing protocols including GEEC (Game-theory-based energy efficient clustering routing protocol), HGTD (Hybrid, game-theory-based distributed clustering protocol), and EEGC (Efficient energy-aware and game-theory-based clustering protocol). Concretely, at the 400 communication rounds, the invulnerability of IACRA was higher than that of GEEC, HGTD, and EEGC by 77.56%, 29.45% and 15.90%, respectively, and the average residual energy of IACRA was 8.61%, 18.35% and 6.36% larger than that of GEEC, HGTD, and EEGC, respectively. Based on these results, the proposed protocol can be utilized to increase the capability of WSNs against deterioration of QoS and energy constraints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Purpose: To investigate the expression and prognostic value of c-Jun in hypopharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (HPSCC).Methods: A retrospective study was performed on a cohort of 99 HPSCC patients. The expression of c-Jun and phosphorylated-c-Jun (p-c-Jun) was evaluated via immunohistochemistry (IHC) staining. Overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) were assessed using Kaplan-Meier method and multivariate Cox regression analysis.Results: The high expression of c-Jun and p-c-Jun in HPSCC accounted for 60.61% and 16.16%, respectively. High expression of c-Jun was closely associated with cT stage (p = 0.0401), tumor size (p = 0.0276), number of lymph node metastases (p = 0.0205) and pathological differentiation (p = 0.0108). The expression of c-Junhigh (p = 0.0043), p-c-Junhigh (p = 0.0376) and c-Junhigh/p-c-Junhigh were closely associated with poor OS. The Cox proportional multivariate hazard model revealed that lymphovascular invasion and c-Jun expression were independent influencing factors of OS in HPSCC patients.Conclusion: Our findings suggest that c-Jun is a reliable prognostic factors in HPSCC patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Background: Dysbiosis of the laryngeal microbiota has been demonstrated to the development of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), but the association of Fusobacterium and Fusobacterium nucleatum (F. nucleatum) with DNA mismatch repair (MMR) and microsatellite instability (MSI) has not been investigated. Methods: The abundance of Fusobacterium and F. nucleatum, the status of deficient MMR (dMMR) and MSI, and MMR‐related gene expression were analyzed in 171 HNSCC tissues, 61 paired para‐tumor tissues, and 60 vocal cord polyp tissues. The molecular mechanism of F. nucleatum and MMR‐related gene expression were investigated in two human HNSCC cell lines (Tu 686 and FD‐LSC‐1). Results: Our results demonstrated that a high Fusobacterium abundance was detected in the HNSCC tissues and was exaggerated in the recurrent patients. We further found that a high Fusobacterium abundance was detected in the HNSCC tissues with dMMR and MSI. The Fusobacterium abundance was negatively correlated with the expression of MLH1, MSH2, and MSH6 in the HNSCC tissues. The Fusobacterium abundance was closely associated with the F. nucleatum abundance in the HNSCC tissues. F. nucleatum increased miR‐205‐5p expression to suppress MLH1, MSH2, and MSH6 expression via the TLR4‐ and MYD88‐dependent innate immune signaling pathway, resulting in dMMR, DNA damage, and cell proliferation in HNSCC. Conclusions: F. nucleatum impacts HNSCC epigenetic changes in tissues with dMMR to promote DNA damage and cell proliferation by suppressing MMR‐related gene expression via the TLR4/MYD88/miR‐205‐5p signaling pathway, which is valuable in the development of efficient strategies for HNSCC prevention and treatment. LAY SUMMARY: This study clearly indicates that Fusobacterium induced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) aggressiveness to affect poor prognosis in HNSCC patients by epigenetic alteration of DNA mismatch repair (MMR) and microsatellite instability. Moreover, the research has shown that Fusobacterium nucleatum (F. nucleatum) impacts HNSCC epigenetic changes in tissues with deficient MMR to promote DNA damage and cell proliferation by suppressing MMRrelated gene expression via the TLR4/MYD88/miR‐205‐5p signaling pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Canadian Journal of Physiology & Pharmacology is the property of Canadian Science Publishing and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In the past decade, self‐healing polymer materials, being researched and utilized in many fields, have attracted more and more attention. In this work, self‐healing siloxane elastomer (SPUR) with flexible cross‐linked networks were designed through the reaction of amino‐functionalized polyether, isocyanate and α‐siloxane, which endowed elastomer with intermolecular hydrogen bond. Herein, these hydrogen bonds can break and reorganize via a simple thermal treatment to gain self‐healing and post‐processing actions. The self‐healing performance of the elastomer is confirmed through tensile test and SEM surface analysis. Consistent with our experiments, the researches show that siloxane modified polyurea elastomers (SPUR) congaing higher content of amino‐functionalized polyether with 2000 molecular weights (PEA20) show much better flexibility and healing efficiency. Also, the polyurea can be quickly cured without any metal catalyst due to the presence of α‐siloxane, which is a highlight of this article, and it is better than the related literature reported so far. Through tensile test and healing performance test, SPUR1 possessing the both remarkable strength and elasticity was obtained (elongation at break 530 %, tensile stress 5.26 MPa). In addition, it has relatively satisfied healing efficiency 30 % and excellent thermal stability. In view of such intermolecular hydrogen bond, we have developed a special self‐healing polymer material with tunable performance by varying the monomer ratio between amino‐functionalized polyether PEA9 (the molecular weight Mn=900 Da) and PEA20 (Mn=2000 Da). A variety of self‐healing polymer materials can be lightly synthesized on account of the wide extent of commercial activities of raw materials such as primary amine, silane and isocyanate. Therefore, self‐healable polymer elastomers are exceptionally popular in a rank of fields, such as coatings, construction, aerospace, flexible electronics, automobile, medical device and lithium‐ion batteries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This study is aimed at investigating the expressions and prognostic values of secreted or membrane-located proteins (SMPs) in laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC). The correlations between the expressions of SMPs and immune cells' infiltrations were also investigated.Methods: The expression data of normal laryngeal and LSCC samples were obtained from the TCGA and GEO datasets. The differentially expressed SMPs were identified, and their prognostic values were analyzed. The biological functions of differentially expressed and worse-survival-related SMPs were explored. LASSO regression, Cox multivariate analysis, and nomogram were used to construct a model to predict the survival. Then, the infiltrations of the 24 immune cell populations were calculated using the GSVA method, and the correlations between the expression of SMPs and the immune infiltration were investigated.Results: 122 samples (12 normal and 120 LSCC) of the TCGA database and 114 samples (57 normal and 57 LSCC) of GSE127165 were included. We identified that 138 SMPs were significantly upregulated in LSCC samples of both the TCGA and GEO datasets, among which 52 SMPs were significantly correlated with worse survival. GO and KEGG analyses revealed those 52 SMPs significantly participate in tumor microenvironment and immune cells' communication. Nine of 52 SMPs (ABCC5, ATP1B3, CLEC11A, FLNA, FSTL3, MMP1, NME1, OAS3, and PHLDB2) were included in the nomogram to effectively and accurately predict the LSCC patients' survival. The expressions of most SMPs, such as MMP1 and FSTL3, were significantly positively correlated with the immune infiltration of LSCC.Conclusions: In this study, the expression, prognostic values, and correlations with immune infiltration of SMPs were analyzed in LSCC samples. Our analyses identified several significant SMPs differentially expressed between normal laryngeal and LSCC samples, correlated with worse survival, and related to the immune infiltration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human hypertension caused by in-frame deletion of CULLIN3 exon-9 (Cul3∆9) is driven by renal and vascular mechanisms. We bred conditionally activatable Cul3∆9 transgenic mice with tamoxifen-inducible Tie2-CREERT2 mice to test the importance of endothelial Cul3. The resultant mice (E-Cul3∆9) trended towards elevated nighttime blood pressure (BP) correlated with increased nighttime activity, but displayed no difference in daytime BP or activity. Male and female E-Cul3∆9 mice together exhibited a decline in endothelial-dependent relaxation in carotid artery. Male but not female E-Cul3∆9 mice displayed severe endothelial dysfunction in cerebral basilar artery. There was no impairment in mesenteric artery and no difference in smooth muscle function, suggesting the effects of Cul3∆9 are arterial bed-specific and sex-dependent. Expression of Cul3∆9 in primary mouse aortic endothelial cells decreased endogenous Cul3 protein, phosphorylated (S1177) endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) and nitric oxide (NO) production. Protein phosphatase (PP) 2A, a known Cul3 substrate, dephosphorylates eNOS. Cul3∆9-induced impairment of eNOS activity was rescued by a selective PP2A inhibitor okadaic acid, but not by a PP1 inhibitor tautomycetin. Because NO deficiency contributes to salt-induced hypertension, we tested the salt-sensitivity of E-Cul3∆9 mice. While both male and female E-Cul3∆9 mice developed salt-induced hypertension and renal injury, the pressor effect of salt was greater in female mutants. The increased salt-sensitivity in female E-Cul3∆9 mice was associated with decreased renovascular relaxation and impaired natriuresis in response to a sodium load. Thus, CUL3 mutations in the endothelium may contribute to human hypertension in part through decreased endothelial NO bioavailability, renovascular dysfunction, and increased salt-sensitivity of BP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]