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Strain DM2021935 T representing a novel Acinetobacter species was isolated from a spoiled bath lotion in Guangdong, China. Based on 16S rRNA gene phylogenetic analysis, strain DM2021935 T was closely related to 'Acinetobacter thutiue' VNH17 T , Acinetobacter junii CIP 64.5  T , and Acinetobacter tibetensis Y-23  T . Cells of strain DM2021935 T were Gram-stain-negative, non-spore-forming, strictly aerobic, catalase-positive, oxidase-negative, α-hemolytic, and non-motile. Strain DM2021935 T exhibited growth in 1-3% (w/v) NaCl at temperatures ranging from 4 to 37 °C and tolerated pH levels from 6.0 to 8.0. The predominant fatty acids in strain DM2021935 T are C 12:0 , C 16:0 , C 18:1 ω9c, and summed feature 3. Polar lipid profiles included glycolipids, phospholipids, phosphatidylethanolamine, and phosphatidyl-N-methylethanolamine. The identified respiratory quinones were ubiquinone Q-8 and Q-9. The genomic size of DM2021935 T comprised 4.15 Mb, consisting of one chromosome (3,827,633 bp) and two plasmids (241,357 and 83,010 bp). The G + C content was 41.8%. The average nucleotide identity, average amino acid identity, and digital DNA-DNA hybridization values between strain DM2021935 T and phylogenetically related type strains were below the species delineation thresholds (72.2-95.4, 53.1-87.0, and 20.4-66.4%, respectively). AntiSMASH analysis identified four gene clusters: non-ribosomal peptide synthetase, non-alpha poly-amino group acids, YcaO cyclodehydratase, and aryl polyene biosynthesis. Based on genotypic data, strain DM2021935 T represents a novel species within the genus Acinetobacter. The proposed name for the novel species is Acinetobacter corruptisaponis sp. nov. (type strain DM2021935 T  = KCTC 92772  T  = GDMCC 1.3703  T )., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

In this work, a ratiometric fluorescence hydrogel nanosensor was developed by integrating a composite consisting of o-phenylenediamine (OPD), manganese dioxide nanoflakes (MnO 2 NFs), and N-doped carbon dots (N-CDs) into an agarose hydrogel for sulfite detection. MnO 2 NFs demonstrated intense oxidase-like activity, facilitating the conversion of non-fluorescent OPD into yellow-emissive 2,3-diaminophenazine (DAP). As a result, a significant emission peak belongs to DAP, alongside the fluorescence quenching of N-CDs through FRET. Upon interaction with sulfite, MnO 2 NFs lost their oxidase-like function. This process decreased the fluorescence of DAP and restored the blue fluorescence of N-CDs, producing a typical ratiometric response, ranging from 3 nM ∼ 400 μM, with a detection limit (LOD) of 3.79 nM. Employing a smartphone, the fluorescence color change demonstrated by the hydrogel sensor was translated into quantitative data (LOD: 8.44 nM). This hydrogel sensor offers an affordable, portable, and user-friendly solution for sulfite detection and food safety monitoring., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

An aerobic, Gram-stain negative bacterium was isolated from sediment samples of Barkol salt lake in Hami City, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China, with the number EGI_FJ10229 T . The strain is ellipse-shaped, oxidase-negative, catalase-positive, and has white, round, smooth, opaque colonies on marine 2216 E agar plate. Growth occurs at 4.0-37.0 ℃ (optimal:30.0 ℃), pH 7.0-9.0 (optimal: pH 8.0) and NaCl concentration of 0-8.0% (optimal: 3.0%). Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene and genome sequences indicated that the isolated strain should be assigned to the genus Aquibaculum and was most closely related to Aquibaculum arenosum CAU 1616  T . Average nucleotide identity (ANI) and Average amino-acid identity (AAI) values between the type species of the genus Aquibaculum and other related type species were lower than the threshold values recommended for bacterial species. The genomic DNA G + C content of EGI_FJ10229 T was 65.41%. The major polar lipids were diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylmethylethanolamine, phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylethanolamine and unidentified phospholipid. The major fatty acids (> 5%) were C 19:0 cyclo ω8c (42.0%) and C 18:1 ω7c (33.78%). The respiratory quinone identified was Q-10. Differential phenotypic and genotypic characteristics of this strain and species of genus Aquibaculum showed that the strain should be classified as representing a new species belonging to this genus, for which the name Aquibaculum sediminis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain of the proposed novel species is EGI_FJ10229 T (= KCTC 8570  T  = GDMCC 1.4598  T )., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.)

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is effective for headache disorders. However, it is unclear whether the emerging digital CBT is noninferior to face-to-face CBT. An indirect treatment comparison (ITC) meta-analysis was conducted to assess the relative effects between them using standard mean differences (SMDs). Effective sample size (ESS) and required sample size (RSS) were calculated to demonstrate the robustness of the results. Our study found that digital CBT had a similar effect on headache frequency reduction (SMD, 0.12; 95%CI, -2.45 to 2.63) compared with face-to-face CBT. The ESS had 84 participants, while the RSS had 466 participants to achieve the same power as a non-inferior head-to-head trial. Digital CBT is as effective as face-to-face CBT in preventing headache disorders. Due to the heterogeneity (I 2  = 94.5%, τ 2  = 1.83) and the fact that most of the included studies were on migraine prevention, further head-to-head trials are warranted., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

The 2-aminoimidazolone is a major and ubiquitous in vitro product of guanine oxidation. The flash-quench method, combining spectroscopy and product analysis, offers a novel and tunable approach to study guanine oxidation on double helical DNA. Herein we found that imidazolone dIz (2-amino-5-[(2-deoxy-β-D-erythro-pentofuranosyl)amino]-4H-imidazole-4-one) and dZ (2,2-diamino-5-[2-deoxy-β-D-erythro-pentofuranosyl)amino]-5(2H)-oxazolone) were the major oxidation products of double-strand DNA from the visible-light irradiation of the well-known DNA intercalating and light-switching Ru(OP) 2 dppz 2+ (OP = 1,10-phenanthroline, dppz = dipyrido [3,2-a:2',3'-c]phenazine) in the presence of a typical quencher methyl viologen (MV 2+ ). Using ESR spin-trapping method, the radical intermediate MV •+ with typical hyperfine pattern was detected which indicated the successful formation of the corresponding Ru 3+ intercalated oxidant. The formation of dIz and dZ decreased markedly with the addition of nitrotetrazolium blue chloride (NBT), a typical O 2 •- reactant. With a more specific and highly sensitive O 2 •- probe CT02-H, its ESR signal decayed rapidly in the presence of Ru(OP) 2 dppz 2+ and MV 2+ , suggesting that O 2 •- was indeed produced. More interestingly, enantio-selective generation of oxidation products from dsDNA was observed with the two chiral forms of Ru(OP) 2 dppz 2+ . This represents the first report that the flash-quench technique with MV 2+ as the quencher can oxidize dsDNA effectively to form dIz and dZ via the Ru 3+ /O 2 •- mediated mechanism. Our new findings provide a novel method to generate two radicals simultaneously, G (-H) • and O 2 •- , in close proximity to one another in dsDNA., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

Cytochrome P450 monooxygenases (P450s), a multifunctional protein superfamily, are one of three major classes of detoxification enzymes. However, the diversity and functions of P450 genes from pyrethroid-resistant populations of Anopheles sinensis have not been fully explored. In this study, P450 genes associated with pyrethroid resistance were systematically screened using RNA-seq in three field pyrethroid-resistant populations (AH-FR, CQ-FR, YN-FR) and one laboratory resistant strain (WX-LR) at developmental stages, tissues, and post blood-meal in comparison to the laboratory susceptible strain (WX-LS) in An. sinensis. Importantly, the expression of significantly upregulated P450s was verified using RT-qPCR, and the function of selected P450s in pyrethroid detoxification was determined with RNA interference using four laboratory pyrethroid-resistant strains (WX-LR, AH-LR, CQ-LR, YN-LR). Sixteen P450 genes were significantly upregulated in at least one field-resistant population, and 44 were significantly upregulated in different developmental stages, tissues or post blood-meal. A total of 19 P450s were selected to verify their association with pyrethroid resistance, and four of them (AsCYP6P3v1, AsCYP6P3v2, AsCYP9J10, and AsCYP9K1) demonstrated significant upregulation in laboratory pyrethroid-resistant strains using RT-qPCR. Knockdown of these four genes all significantly reduced pyrethroid resistance and increased the mortality by 57.19% (AsCYP6P3v1 and AsCYP6P3v2 knockdown group), 38.39% (AsCYP9K1 knockdown group) and 48.87% (AsCYP9J10 knockdown group) in An. sinensis by RNAi, which determined the pyrethroid detoxification function of these four genes. This study revealed the diversity of P450 genes and provided functional evidence for four P450s in pyrethroid detoxification in An. sinensis for the first time, which increases our understanding of the pyrethroid resistance mechanism, and is of potential value for pyrethroid resistance detection and surveillance., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Heroin dependence (HD) is a complex disease with a substantial genetic contribution and is associated with traits of impulsivity and specific personality traits. The neurotrophic factor nerve growth factor (NGF) may mediate the reward processes in HD. This study aims to investigate whether NGF gene polymorphisms are associated with the co-occurrence of HD and impulsivity/specific personality traits in HD patients. To minimize the potential confounding effects of population stratification, we selected a homogeneous Han Chinese population and recruited 1364 participants (831 HD patients and 533 healthy controls). In addition, 163 female HD patients completed the Chinese version of the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale Version 11 (BIS-11), and 440 HD patients completed the Chinese version of the Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire (TPQ) for subsequent analysis. We identified three polymorphisms with altered allele and genotype frequency in HD patients versus controls (p = 0.035 for rs2254527; p = 0.005 for rs6678788; p = 0.006 for rs7523654), especially in the female subgroup. Four associations identified via haplotype analysis were significant in the female subgroup (p = 0.003 for T-T-A haplotype and p = 0.002 for C-C-A haplotype in block 1; p = 0.011 for T-T haplotype and p = 0.009 for C-T haplotypes in block 2), but not in the male subgroup. Male HD patients had higher novelty-seeking (NS) scores, and female HD patients had higher harm avoidance (HA) scores. However, there was no significant association between the selected NGF polymorphisms and BIS or TPQ scores in HD patients. NGF variants may contribute to the risk of HD development in females but do not mediate the relationship between impulsivity and specific personality traits in the female population., (© 2024. Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

The absence of high-affinity antibodies has hindered the development of satisfactory immunoassays for dichlorvos (DDVP) and trichlorfon (TCP), two highly toxic organophosphorus pesticides. Herein, the de novo synthesis of a novel anti-DDVP hapten was introduced. Subsequently, a specific anti-DDVP monoclonal antibody (Mab) was produced with satisfying affinity to DDVP (IC 50 : 12.4 ng mL -1 ). This Mab was highly specific to DDVP, and TCP could readily convert into DDVP under mild alkaline conditions. Leveraging this insight, an indirect competitive ELISA was successfully developed for simultaneous detection of DDVP and TCP. The limit of detection in rice, cabbage and apple for DDVP /TCP was found to be 12.1/14.6 μg kg -1 , 7.3/8.8 μg kg -1 and 6.9/8.3 μg kg -1 , respectively. This study not only provides an effective strategy for producing a high-quality anti-DDVP Mab but also affords a reliable and cost-effective tool suitable for high-throughput detection of DDVP and TCP in food samples., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

A Gram-stain-negative, aerobic, motile and rod-shaped bacterium, the color of the bacterial colony ranges from light yellow to yellow, designated YC-2023-2T, was isolated from sediment sample of Yuncheng salt lake. Growth occurred at 15-45℃ (optimum 37℃), pH 6.0-9.0 (optimum pH 7.0-8.0) and with 0-8.0% NaCl (w/v, optimum 2.0%). The phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain YC-2023-2T belonged to the family Kordiimonadaceae. The closely related members were Gimibacter soli 6D33T (92.38%), Kordiimonas lipolytica M41T (91.88%), Eilatimonas milleporae DSM 25217T (91.88%) and Kordiimonas gwangyangensis JCM 12864T (91.84%). The genome of strain YC-2023-2T was 2957513 bp, and the genomic DNA G+C content was 63.91%. The main respiratory quinone was Q-10 and the major fatty acids (>10%) were iso-C15:0, C16:0, C19:0 cyclo ω8c, Summed Feature 8 (C18:1 ω6c or C18:1 ω7c) and Summed Feature 9 (iso-C17:1 ω9c or C16:0 10-methyl). The major polar lipids consisted of phosphatidylethanolamine, diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, unidentified glycolipid, unidentified lipid, and two unidentified aminolipids. Based on the phylogenetic, phenotypic and chemotaxonomic characteristics, strain YC-2023-2T is proposed to represent a novel species of a novel genus named Yunchengibacter salinarum gen. nov., sp. nov., within the family Kordiimonadaceae. The type strain is YC-2023-2T (= GDMCC 1.4502T = KCTC 8546T)., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.)

Background: Recent studies have shown an association between trace elements and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), but the relationship between trace elements and SLE is still unclear. This study aims to determine the distribution of plasma trace elements in newly diagnosed SLE patients and the association between these essential and toxic element mixtures and SLE., Methods: In total, 110 SLE patients and 110 healthy controls were included. Blood samples were collected. 15 plasma trace elements were quantified using an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (ICP-MS). Multivariate logistic regression, restricted cubic spline (RCS), weighted quantile sum (WQS) regression, quantile g-computation (qgcomp), and Bayesian kernel machine regression (BKMR) are used to analyze the association between single and mixed exposure of elements and SLE., Results: The logistic regression model shows that, plasma lithium (Li) [OR (95 % CI): 1.963 (1.49-2.586)], vanadium (V) [OR (95 % CI): 2.617(1.645-4.166)] and lead (Pb) [OR (95 % CI): 1.603(1.197-2.145)] were positively correlated with SLE, while selenium (Se) [OR (95 % CI): 0.055(0.019-0.157)] and barium (Ba) [OR (95 % CI): 0.792(0.656-0.957)] had been identified as protective factors for SLE. RCS results showed a non-linear correlation between the elements Li, V, Ni, copper, Se, rubidium and SLE. In addition, WQS regression, qgcomp, and BKMR models consistently revealed significant positive effects of plasma Li and Pb on SLE, as well as significant negative effects of plasma Se., Conclusions: Exposure to heavy metals such as Li and Pb is significantly positively correlated with SLE, but Se may be protective factors for SLE. In addition, there is a nonlinear correlation between the elements Li and Se and SLE, and there are complex interactions between the elements. In the future, larger populations and prospective studies are needed to confirm these associations., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier GmbH.)

In recent years, there has been an increasing focus on microbial ecology and its possible impact on agricultural production, owing to its eco-friendly nature and sustainable use. The current study employs metabolomics technologies and bioinformatics approaches to identify changes in the exometabolome of Streptomyces albidoflavus B24. This research aims to shed light on the mechanisms and metabolites responsible for the antifungal and growth promotion strategies, with potential applications in sustainable agriculture. Metabolomic analysis was conducted using Q Exactive UPLC-MS/MS. Our findings indicate that a total of 3,840 metabolites were identified, with 137 metabolites exhibiting significant differences divided into 61 up and 75 downregulated metabolites based on VIP >1, |FC| >1, and p < 0.01. The interaction of S. albidoflavus B24 monoculture with the co-culture demonstrated a stronger correlation coefficient. The Principal Component Analysis (PCA) demonstrates that PCA1 accounted for 23.36%, while PCA2 accounted for 20.28% distinction. OPLS-DA score plots indicate significant separation among different groups representing (t1) 24% as the predicted component (to1) depicts 14% as the orthogonal component. According to the findings of this comprehensive study, crude extracts from S. albidoflavus demonstrated varying abilities to impede phytopathogen growth and enhance root and shoot length in tested plants. Through untargeted metabolomics, we discovered numerous potential molecules with antagonistic activity against fungal phytopathogens among the top 10 significant metabolites with the highest absolute log2FC values. These include Tetrangulol, 4-Hydroxybenzaldehyde, and Cyclohexane. Additionally, we identified plant growth-regulating metabolites such as N-Succinyl-L-glutamate, Nicotinic acid, L-Aspartate, and Indole-3-acetamide. The KEGG pathway analysis has highlighted these compounds as potential sources of antimicrobial properties. The inhibitory effect of S. albidoflavus crude extracts on pathogen growth is primarily attributed to the presence of specific gene clusters responsible for producing cyclic peptides such as ansamycins, porphyrin, alkaloid derivatives, and neomycin. Overall, it is apparent that crude extracts from S. albidoflavus exhibited varying abilities to inhibit the growth of three phytopathogens and enhancement in both root and shoot length of tested plants. This research enhances our understanding of how secondary metabolites contribute to growth promotion and biocontrol, supporting ecosystem sustainability and resilience while boosting productivity in sustainable agriculture., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Abdelshafy Mohamad, Liu, Huang, Kuchkarova, Dong, Jiao, Fang, Ma, Hatab and Li.)

Acidimicrobiia are widely distributed in nature and suggested to be autotrophic via the Calvin-Benson-Bassham (CBB) cycle. However, direct evidence of chemolithoautotrophy in Acidimicrobiia is lacking. Here, we report a chemolithoautotrophic enrichment from a saline lake, and the subsequent isolation and characterization of a chemolithoautotroph, Salinilacustristhrix flava EGI L10123T, which belongs to a new Acidimicrobiia family. Although strain EGI L10123T is autotrophic, neither its genome nor Acidimicrobiia metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) from the enrichment culture encode genes necessary for the CBB cycle. Instead, genomic, transcriptomic, enzymatic, and stable-isotope probing data hinted at the activity of the reversed oxidative TCA (roTCA) coupled with the oxidation of sulfide as the electron donor. Phylogenetic analysis and ancestral character reconstructions of Acidimicrobiia suggested that the essential CBB gene rbcL was acquired through multiple horizontal gene transfer events from diverse microbial taxa. In contrast, genes responsible for sulfide- or hydrogen-dependent roTCA carbon fixation were already present in the last common ancestor of extant Acidimicrobiia. These findings imply the possibility of roTCA carbon fixation in Acidimicrobiia and the ecological importance of Acidimicrobiia. Further research in the future is necessary to confirm whether these characteristics are truly widespread across the clade., (© The Author(s) [2024]. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the International Society for Microbial Ecology.)

We have found recently that two-step intrinsic hydroxyl radical ( · OH)-dependent chemiluminescence (CL) could be produced by carcinogenic tetrahaloquinone and H 2 O 2 . However, the first-step CL was too fast to clearly detect the stepwise generation of · OH and CL, and to distinguish the exact dividing point between the first-step and second-step CL. Here we found that, extremely clear two-step intrinsic CL could be produced by the relative slow reaction of tetrabromohydroquinone (TBHQ) with H 2 O 2 , which was directly dependent on the two-step · OH generation. Interestingly, the second-step, but not the first-step CL production of TBHQ/H 2 O 2 (CRET donor) was markedly enhanced by fluorescein (a typical xanthene dye, CRET acceptor) through a unique chemiluminescence resonance energy transfer (CRET) process. The novel CRET system of TBHQ/H 2 O 2 /fluorescein was successfully applied for the sensitive detection of TBHQ with the detection limit as low as 2.5 µmol/L. These findings will help to develop more sensitive and highly efficient CL or CRET systems and specific CL sensor to detect the carcinogenic haloquinones, which may have broad environmental applications., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Background: Eugenol compounds (EUGs), which share chemical similarities with eugenol, belong to a group of phenolic compounds primarily found in clove oil. They are highly valued by fish dealers due to their exceptional anesthetic properties, playing a crucial role in reducing disease incidence and mortality during the transportation of live fish. Despite their widespread use, the safety of EUGs remains a contentious topic, raising concerns about the safety of aquatic products. This underscores the need for efficient and sensitive analytical methods for detecting EUGs., Results: Nanomaterial-based ratiometric fluorescence immunoassay has gained increasing attention due to its integration of the immunoassay's excellent specificity and compatibility for high-throughput analysis, coupled with the exceptional sensitivity and anti-interference capabilities of ratiometric fluorescence assays. In this study, we developed a sensitive ratiometric fluorescence immunoassay for screening five EUGs. This method employs a broad-specificity monoclonal antibody (mAb) as a recognition reagent, selective for five EUGs. It leverages the horseradish peroxidase (HRP)-triggered formation of fluorescent 2,3-diaminophenazine (DAP) and the quenching of fluorescent gold clusters (Au NCs) for detection. The assay's detection limits for eugenol, isoeugenol, eugenol methyl eugenol, methyl isoeugenol, and acetyl isoeugenol in tilapia fish and shrimp were found to be 9.8/19.5 μg/kg, 0.11/0.22 μg/kg, 19/36 Tilapia ng/kg, 8/16 ng/kg, and 3.0/6.1 μg/kg, respectively. Furthermore, when testing spiked Tilapia fish and shrimp samples, recoveries ranging from 84.1 to 111.9 %, with the coefficients of variation staying below 7.1 % was achieved., Significance: This work introduces an easy-to-use, broad-specificity, and highly sensitive method for the screening of five EUGs at a pg/mL level, which not only provides a high-throughput strategy for screening eugenol-type fish anesthetics in aquatic products, but also can serve as a benchmark for developing immunoassays for other small molecular pollutants, rendering potent technological support for guarding food safety and human health., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper. Lin Luo, Zhen-Xi He, Bao-Zhu Jia, Rui-Yao Kang, Wen-Feng Zhang, Ri-Ming Huang, Zhen-Lin Xu., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Two Gram-stain-positive, aerobic, oxidase- and catalase-negative, non-motile, and short rod-shaped actinomycetes, named SYSU T00b441 T and SYSU T00b490, were isolated from tidal flat sediment located in Guangdong province, PR China. The 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity, average nucleotide identity (ANI) and digital DNA-DNA hybridization (dDDH) values between SYSU T00b441 T and SYSU T00b490 were 99.3, 99.5 and 97.1 %, respectively. Strains SYSU T00b441 T and SYSU T00b490 exhibited the highest 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities to Actinotalea ferrariae CF 5-4 T (97.1 %/98.2 %), with ANI values of 74.01/73.88 % and dDDH values of 20.5/20.4 %. In the phylogenomic tree, the two isolates were affiliated with the genus Actinotalea . The genomes of strains SYSU T00b441 T and SYSU T00b490 were 3.31 and 3.34 Mb, and both had DNA G+C contents of 72.8 mol%, coding 3077 and 3085 CDSs, three and three rRNA genes, and 53 and 51 tRNAs, respectively. Growth occurred at 15-40 °C (optimum, 28-30 °C), pH 4.0-10.0 (optimum, 7.0) and in the presence of 0-7 % (w/v) NaCl (optimum, 3 %). The major fatty acids (>10  %) of strains SYSU T00b441 T and SYSU T00b490 were anteiso-C 15 : 0 and C 16 : 0 . The major respiratory quinone was identified as MK-10(H 4 ). The polar lipids of strains SYSU T00b441 T and SYSU T00b490 were diphosphatidyl glycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphoglycolipid, phosphatidyl ethanolamine, two phosphatidylinositol mannosides, two glycolipids and two phospholipids. Based on these data, the two strains (SYSU T00b441 T and SYSU T00b490) represent a novel species of the genus Actinotalea , for which the name Actinotalea lenta sp. nov is proposed. The type strain is SYSU T00b441 T (=GDMCC 1.3827 T =KCTC 49943 T ).

Background: Our study aimed to assess the clinical and hemodynamic characteristics of pulmonary hypertension (PH) in patients with overlapping obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), referred to OSA-COPD overlap syndrome (OS)., Methods: We enrolled a total of 116 patients with OS, COPD, or OSA who underwent right heart catheterization (RHC) due to suspected PH. We conducted a retrospective analysis of the clinical and hemodynamic characteristics of these patients., Results: Among the three groups (OS group, n = 26; COPD group, n = 36; OSA group, n = 54), the prevalence of PH was higher in the OS group (n = 17, 65.4%)compared to OSA group (n = 26,48.1%) and COPD group (n = 20,55.6 %). Among three groups with PH, the superior vena cava pressure (CVP) and right ventricular pressure (RAP) were higher in the OS group than in the OSA group (P < 0.05). Patients in the OS and COPD groups had higher pulmonary artery wedge pressure (PAWP) than in the OSA group (14.88 ± 4.79 mmHg, 13.45 ± 3.68 mmHg vs. 11.00 ± 3.51 mmHg, respectively, P < 0.05). OS patients with PH exhibited higher respiratory event index (REI), time spent with SpO 2 <90%, oxygen desaturation index (ODI), minimal SpO 2 (MinSpO 2 ) and mean SpO 2 (MSpO 2 ) compared to OS patients without PH. After adjusting for potential covariates, we found that MinSpO 2 (OR 0.937, 95 % CI 0.882-0.994, P = 0.032), MSpO 2 (OR 0.805, 95% CI 0.682-0.949, P = 0.010), time spent with SpO 2 <90% (OR 1.422, 95% CI 1.137-1.780, P = 0.002), and FEV1 % pred (OR 0.977, 95 % CI 0.962-0.993, P = 0.005) were related to the development of PH., Conclusions: Patients with OS showed higher prevalence of PH, along with higher PAWP, CVP and RAP. Worse nocturnal hypoxemia was found in OS patients with PH., Competing Interests: Conflict of interest The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Southern Society for Clinical Investigation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Dietary trans 10, cis 12-conjugated linoleic acid (t10c12-CLA) is a potential candidate in anti-obesity trials. A transgenic mouse was previously successfully established to determine the anti-obesity properties of t10c12-CLA in male mice that could produce endogenous t10c12-CLA. To test whether there is a different impact of t10c12-CLA on lipid metabolism in both sexes, this study investigated the adiposity and metabolic profiles of female Pai mice that exhibited a dose-dependent expression of foreign Pai gene and a shift of t10c12-CLA content in tested tissues. Compared to their gender-match wild-type littermates, Pai mice had no fat reduction but exhibited enhanced lipolysis and thermogenesis by phosphorylated hormone-sensitive lipase and up-regulating uncoupling proteins in brown adipose tissue. Simultaneously, Pai mice showed hepatic steatosis and hypertriglyceridemia by decreasing gene expression involved in lipid and glucose metabolism. Further investigations revealed that t10c10-CLA induced excessive prostaglandin E2, adrenaline, corticosterone, glucagon and inflammatory factors in a dose-dependent manner, resulting in less heat release and oxygen consumption in Pai mice. Moreover, fibroblast growth factor 21 overproduction only in monoallelic Pai/wt mice indicates that it was sensitive to low doses of t10c12-CLA. These results suggest that chronic t10c12-CLA has system-wide effects on female health via synergistic actions of various hormones., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Barkol Lake, a shrinking hypersaline lake situated in the northeast of Xinjiang, China, has experienced the exposure of its riverbed and the gradual drying up of its original sediment due to climate change and human activities, resulting in the formation of alkaline soils. These changes have correspondingly altered the physicochemical characteristics of the surrounding environment. Microorganisms play a crucial role, with special functioning involved in various nutrient cycling and energy transfer in saline lake environments. However, little is known about how the microbial community dynamics and metabolic functions in this shrinking saline lake relate to the degradation process. To address this knowledge gap, a cultivation-independent method of amplicon sequencing was used to identify and analyze the microbial community and its potential ecological functions in the sediment and degraded area. The microbial community diversity was found to be significantly lower in the degraded areas than in the sediment samples. The Pseudomonadota was dominant in Barkol Saline Lake. The abundance of Desulfobacterota and Bacillota in the degraded areas was lower than in the lake sediment, while Pseudomonadota , Acidobacteriota , and Actinobacteriota showed an opposite trend. The βNTI showed that microbial community assembly was primarily associated with deterministic processes in Barkol Saline Lake ecosystems and stochastic processes at the boundary between sediment and degraded areas. Functional predictions showed that sulfur metabolism, particularly sulfate respiration, was much higher in sediment samples than in the degraded areas. Overall, these findings provided a possible perspective for us to understand how microorganisms adapt to extreme environments and their role in saline lakes under environmental change., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Liu, Gao, Jiang, Fang, Huang, Li, Li, Abdugheni, Lian, Zhang, Yang, Mohamad and Li.)

The degradation of farmland in China underscores the need for developing and utilizing saline-alkali soil. Soil health relies on microbial activity, which aids in the restoration of the land's ecosystem, and hence it is important to understand microbial diversity. In the present study, two Gram-stain-positive strains HR 1-10 T and J-A-003 T were isolated from saline-alkali soil. Preliminary analysis suggested that these strains could be a novel species. Therefore, the taxonomic positions of these strains were evaluated using polyphasic analysis. Phylogenetic and 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis indicated that these strains should be assigned to the genus Halalkalibacter . Cell wall contained meso -2,6-diaminopimelic acid. The polar lipids present in both strains were diphosphatidyl-glycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, and an unidentified phospholipid. The major fatty acids (>10%) were anteiso-C 15:0 , C 16:0 and iso-C 15:0 . Average nucleotide identity and digital DNA#x2013;DNA hybridization values were below the threshold values (95% and 70%, respectively) for species delineation. Based on the above results, the strains represent two novel species of the genus Halalkalibacter , for which the names Halalkalibacter flavus sp. nov., and Halalkalibacter lacteus sp. nov., are proposed. The type strains are HR 1-10 T (=GDMCC 1.2946 T = MCCC 1K08312 T = JCM 36285 T ), and J-A-003 T (=GDMCC 1.2949 T = MCCC 1K08417 T = JCM 36286 T ).

Activation of the NOD-like receptor protein 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome signaling pathway is an important mechanism underlying myocardial pyroptosis and plays an important role in inflammatory damage to myocardial tissue in patients with cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), such as diabetic cardiomyopathy, ischemia/reperfusion injury, myocardial infarction, heart failure and hypertension. Noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs) are important regulatory factors. Many Chinese medicine (CM) compounds, including their effective components, can regulate pyroptosis and exert myocardium-protecting effects. The mechanisms underlying this protection include inhibition of inflammasome protein expression, Toll-like receptor 4-NF-κB signal pathway activation, oxidative stress, endoplasmic reticulum stress (ERS), and mixed lineage kinase 3 expression and the regulation of silent information regulator 1. The NLRP3 protein is an important regulatory target for CVD prevention and treatment with CM. Exploring the effects of the interventions mediated by CM and the related mechanisms provides new ideas and perspectives for CVD prevention and treatment., (© 2024. The Chinese Journal of Integrated Traditional and Western Medicine Press and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

It is well-known that highly reactive hydroxyl radicals (HO • ) can be produced by the classic Fenton system and our recently discovered haloquinone/H 2 O 2 system, but rarely from thiol-derivatives. Here, we found, unexpectedly, that HO • can be generated from H 2 O 2 and thiourea dioxide (TUO 2 ), a widely used and environmentally friendly bleaching agent. A carbon-centered radical and sulfite were detected and identified as the transient intermediates, and urea and sulfate as the final products, with the complementary application of electron spin-trapping, oxygen-18 isotope labeling coupled with HPLC/MS analysis. Density functional theory calculations were conducted to further elucidate the detailed pathways for HO • production. Taken together, we proposed that the molecular mechanism for HO • generation by TUO 2 /H 2 O 2 : TUO 2 tautomerizes from sulfinic acid into ketone isomer (TUO 2 -K) through proton transfer, then a nucleophilic addition of H 2 O 2 on the S atom of TUO 2 -K, forming a S-hydroperoxide intermediate TUO 2 -OOH, which dissociates homolytically to produce HO • . Our findings represent the first experimental and computational study on an unprecedented new molecular mechanism of HO • production from simple thiol-derived sulfinic acids, which may have broad chemical, environmental, and biomedical significance for future research on the application of the well-known bleaching agent and its analogs., Competing Interests: Competing interests statement:The authors declare no competing interest.

A Gram-stain-negative, non-motile, and slightly halophilic alphaproteobacterium, designated strain EGI FJ00035 T , was isolated from enrichment sediment samples of a saline lake in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, PR China. The taxonomic position of the isolate was determined using the polyphasic taxonomic and phylogenomic analyses. Phylogenetic analysis based on the 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that strain EGI FJ00035 T formed a distinct clade with ' Chelativorans alearense ' UJN715 and ' Chelativorans xinjiangense ' lm93 with sequence similarities of 98.44 and 98.22 %, respectively, while sharing less than 96.7 % with other valid type strains. The novel isolate could be distinguished from other species of the genus Chelativorans by its distinct phenotypic, physiological, and genotypic characteristics. Optimal growth of strain EGI FJ00035 T occurred on marine agar 2216 at pH 7.0 and 30 °C. The major respiratory quinone was Q-10, while the major fatty acids (>5 %) were C 19 : 0 cyclo ω8 c , summed feature 8 (C 17 : 1  ω6 c and/or C 17 : 1  ω7 c ), C 16 : 0 , C 18 : 0 , and iso-C 17 : 0 . The detected polar lipids included diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol, unidentified aminophospholipids, unidentified glycolipids, and an unidentified lipid. Based on its genome sequence, the G+C content of strain EGI FJ00035 T was 63.2 mol%. The average nucleotide identity, average amino acid identity, and digital DNA-DNA hybridization values of strain EGI FJ00035 T against related members of the genus Chelativorans were below the thresholds for delineation of a novel species. According our polyphasic taxonomic data, strain EGI FJ00035 T represents a new species of the genus Chelativorans , for which the name Chelativorans salis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain of the proposed novel isolate is EGI FJ00035 T (=KCTC 92251 T =CGMCC 1.19480 T ).

Our study focused on human brain transcriptomes and the genetic risks of cigarettes per day (CPD) to investigate the neurogenetic mechanisms of individual variation in nicotine use severity. We constructed whole-brain and intramodular region-specific coexpression networks using BrainSpan's transcriptomes, and the genomewide association studies identified risk variants of CPD, confirmed the associations between CPD and each gene set in the region-specific subnetworks using an independent dataset, and conducted bioinformatic analyses. Eight brain-region-specific coexpression subnetworks were identified in association with CPD: amygdala, hippocampus, medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC), orbitofrontal cortex (OPFC), dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, striatum, mediodorsal nucleus of the thalamus (MDTHAL), and primary motor cortex (M1C). Each gene set in the eight subnetworks was associated with CPD. We also identified three hub proteins encoded by GRIN2A in the amygdala, PMCA2 in the hippocampus, MPFC, OPFC, striatum, and MDTHAL, and SV2B in M1C. Intriguingly, the pancreatic secretion pathway appeared in all the significant protein interaction subnetworks, suggesting pleiotropic effects between cigarette smoking and pancreatic diseases. The three hub proteins and genes are implicated in stress response, drug memory, calcium homeostasis, and inhibitory control. These findings provide novel evidence of the neurogenetic underpinnings of smoking severity., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest None., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The plant cuticle is an important protective barrier on the plant surface, constructed mainly by polymerized cutin matrix and a complex wax mixture. Although the pathway of plant cuticle biosynthesis has been clarified, knowledge of the transcriptional regulation network underlying fruit cuticle formation remains limited. In the present work, we discovered that tomato fruits of the NAC transcription factor SlNOR-like1 knockout mutants (nor-like1) produced by CRISPR/Cas9 [clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/CRISPR-associated protein 9] displayed reduced cutin deposition and cuticle thickness, with a microcracking phenotype, while wax accumulation was promoted. Further research revealed that SlNOR-like1 promotes cutin deposition by binding to the promoters of glycerol-3-phosphate acyltransferase6 (SlGPAT6; a key gene for cutin monomer formation) and CUTIN DEFICIENT2 (SlCD2; a positive regulator of cutin production) to activate their expression. Meanwhile, SlNOR-like1 inhibits wax accumulation, acting as a transcriptional repressor by targeting wax biosynthesis, and transport-related genes 3-ketoacyl-CoA synthase1 (SlKCS1), ECERIFERUM 1-2 (SlCER1-2), SlWAX2, and glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored lipid transfer protein 1-like (SlLTPG1-like). In conclusion, SlNOR-like1 executes a dual regulatory effect on tomato fruit cuticle development. Our results provide a new model for the transcriptional regulation of fruit cuticle formation., (© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Experimental Biology. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Objectives: To investigate the causal relationships between pneumoconiosis and rheumatoid arthritis (RA), systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), and gout., Methods: The random-effects inverse variance weighted (IVW) approach was utilized to explore the causal effects of the instrumental variables (IVs). Sensitivity analyses using the MR-Egger and weighted median (WM) methods were did to investigate horizontal pleiotropy. A leave-one-out analysis was used to avoid the bias resulting from single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs)., Results: There was no causal association between pneumoconiosis and SLE, RA or gout in the European population [OR = 1.01, 95% CI: 0.94-1.10, p  = 0.74; OR = 1.00, 95% CI: 0.999-1.000, p  = 0.50; OR = 1.00, 95% CI: 1.000-1.001, p  = 0.55]. Causal relationships were also not found in pneumoconiosis due to asbestos and other mineral fibers and SLE, RA and gout [OR = 1.01, 95% CI: 0.96-1.07, p  = 0.66; OR = 1.00, 95% CI: 1.00-1.00, p  = 0.68; OR = 1.00, 95% CI: 1.00-1.00, p  = 0.20]., Conclusion: Our study suggests that pneumoconiosis may have no causal relationship with the three inflammatory immune diseases., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Du, Lu, Li, Wang, Wu, Huang, Jin, Wang, Wang, Geng and Li.)

Yanhe River Basin is located in the hilly gully area of the Loess Plateau with serious soil erosion. Strong human activities in the middle and lower reaches lead to fragile ecological environment. Soil erosion status varies among different geomorphic units within the watershed (loess liang hilly and gully region, loess mao hilly and gully region, and broken platform region). In this study, we surveyed the benthic community from the Yanhe River Basin in April (spring) and October (autumn) of 2021. To evaluate the water ecological health status of the watershed and investigate the effects of different geomorphic units on the benthic integrity of the benthos, we constructed the benthic-index of biotical integrity (B-IBI) based on the biological data. We identified a total of 113 species of 73 genera in 4 phyla of benthic fauna, with aquatic insects as the dominant taxa in both seasons. Through screening 26 candidate indicators, we found that the spring B-IBI consisted of three indicators: relative abundance of individuals of dominant taxonomic units, family biotic index (FBI), and relative abundance of predator individuals, and that autumn B-IBI was composed of the number of taxonomic units of Ephemeroptera, FBI value, and the relative abundance of predator individuals. Results of the B-IBI evaluation showed that 83.3% of the sampling sites in the upper mainstem and tributaries were at a healthy condition, while only 28.6% sampling sites in the middle and lower mainstem and tributaries were at a healthy condition. In addition, the health status of the watershed was better in spring than in autumn. The Kruskal-Wallis nonparametric tests showed that benthic density, species number, and B-IBI percentile scores in the fragmented loess area were significantly higher in spring than in autumn, and significantly lower in autumn than in the loess liang hilly and gully region and loess mao hilly and gully region, being mainly caused by the increasing erosion due to the concentrated rainfall in wet season. Results of the redundancy analysis showed that key environmental factors affecting benthic community structure in spring were boulder substrate, chlorophyll-a, oxidation reduction potential, turbidity, conductivity, and dissolved oxygen, and were nitrate-nitrogen, oxidation reduction potential, and pH in autumn.

Exploring the correlations between ecosystem service value (ESV) and landscape ecological risk and the driving factors of their spatial variations is crucial for maintaining regional ecological security and promoting sustainable human well-being. We carried out a grid resampling size of 5 km×5 km assessment units of Jilin Pro-vince based on the remote sensing monitoring data of land use in 2000, 2005, 2010, 2015, and 2020. We quantitatively evaluated the landscape ecological risk and ESV, and analyzed their spatial-temporal variations. Employing bivariate spatial autocorrelation analysis and the geographical detector models, we examined the correlation between the landscape ecological risk and ESV and explored the driving factors for their spatial variations. The results showed that ESV in Jilin Province decreased from 385.895 billion yuan to 378.211 billion yuan during 2000-2020. The eastern region was dominated by extremely low risk, medium risk, and low risk areas. In contrast, the western region was mainly composed of extremely high risk and high risk areas. There was a significant negative correlation and spatial negative correlation between landscape ecological risk and ESV in Jilin Province. Human activity and land use type were the important driving factors for spatial differentiation in both landscape ecological risk and ESV. Our findings suggested that scientific land use regulation and appropriate control of human activities are critically needed to optimize Jilin Province's ecological environment.

In this study, three eugenol fragment-containing haptens were synthesized, and a monoclonal antibody (mAb) selective for five commonly-found eugenol compounds (EUGs, i.e., eugenol, isoeugenol, methyl eugenol, methyl isoeugenol, and acetyl isoeugenol) was obtained. Based on this mAb, a broad-spectrum indirect competitive ELISA for high-throughput detection of five EUGs was developed. The detection limits for eugenol, isoeugenol, methyl eugenol, methyl isoeugenol and acetyl isoeugenol in both tilapia and shrimp samples were 25.3/ 50.6 μg/kg, 0.075/0.15 μg/kg, 0.48/0.96 μg/kg, 0.16/0.32 μg/kg, and 18.16/36.32 μg/kg, respectively. The recoveries for five EUGs ranged from 80.4 to 114.0 % with a coefficient of variation less than 11.5 %. Moreover, homology modelling and molecular docking were conducted to elucidate the interactions mechanism of mAb-EUGs. The work provides a promising tool for high-throughput screening of EUGs in aquatic products, which can serve as a benchmark for designing haptens and developing immunoassays for other small molecules., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2024 The Author(s).)

CBL0137, a promising small molecular anti-cancer drug candidate, has been found to effectively induce apoptosis via activating p53 and suppressing nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB). However, it is still not clear whether CBL0137 can induce necroptosis in liver cancer; and if so, what is the underlying molecular mechanism. Here we found that CBL0137 could significantly induce left-handed double helix structure Z-DNA formation in HepG2 cells as shown by Z-DNA specific antibody assay, which was further confirmed by observing the expression of Z-DNA binding protein 1 (ZBP1) and adenosine deaminase acting on RNA 1 (ADAR1). Interestingly, we found that caspase inhibition significantly promoted CBL0137-induced necroptosis, which was further supported with the increase of the late apoptosis and necrosis assessed by the flow cytometry. Furthermore, we found that CBL0137 can also induce the expression of the three necroptosis-related proteins: receptor interacting serine/threonine kinase 1 (RIPK1), receptor interacting serine/threonine kinase 3 (RIPK3), and mixed lineage kinase domain-like (MLKL). Taken together, it was assumed that CBL0137-indued necroptosis in liver cells was due to induction of Z-DNA and ZBP1, which activated RIPK1/RIPK3/MLKL pathway. This represents the first report on the induction of the Z-DNA-mediated necroptosis by CBL0137 in the liver cancer cells, which should provide new perspectives for CBL0137 treatment of liver cancer., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is known to play a critical role in cellular functions. However, the fluorescent probe enantio-selectively targeting live-cell mtDNA is rare. We recently found that the well-known DNA 'light-switch' [Ru(phen)2dppz]Cl2 can image nuclear DNA in live-cells with chlorophenolic counter-anions via forming lipophilic ion-pairing complex. Interestingly, after washing with fresh-medium, [Ru(phen)2dppz]Cl2 was found to re-localize from nucleus to mitochondria via ABC transporter proteins. Intriguingly, the two enantiomers of [Ru(phen)2dppz]Cl2 were found to bind enantio-selectively with mtDNA in live-cells not only by super-resolution optical microscopy techniques (SIM, STED), but also by biochemical methods (mitochondrial membrane staining with Tomo20-dronpa). Using [Ru(phen)2dppz]Cl2 as the new mtDNA probe, we further found that each mitochondrion containing 1-8 mtDNA molecules are distributed throughout the entire mitochondrial matrix, and there are more nucleoids near nucleus. More interestingly, we found enantio-selective apoptotic cell death was induced by the two enantiomers by prolonged visible light irradiation, and in-situ self-monitoring apoptosis process can be achieved by using the unique 'photo-triggered nuclear translocation' property of the Ru complex. This is the first report on enantio-selective targeting and super-resolution imaging of live-cell mtDNA by a chiral Ru complex via formation and dissociation of ion-pairing complex with suitable counter-anions., (© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research.)

Sensing alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity with high sensitivity and accuracy is critical for both ALP-related health and food safety supervision and the development of ALP-triggered immunoassay platforms. Herein, an ultrasensitive ratiometric fluorescence (RF) sensing system based on the controllable formation of luminescent polydopamine and efficient quenching of carbon dots was proposed for the ALP activity assay, achieving quantitative detection in the range of 0.01-100 mU/L. Furthermore, this RF sensing system was integrated with an ALP-based ELISA platform to construct an RF-ELISA for benzocaine, a potentially abused anesthetic in edible fish, and ultrasensitive assay at the level of fg/mL was realized. This ratiometric strategy-based platform effectively shields various interferences through the self-calibration effect, thus providing more accurate and reliable quantification results. This study not only offers an efficient method for ultratrace detection of ALP and benzocaine but also proposes a universal platform for ultrasensitive detection of diverse targets in food analysis by replacing the recognition unit., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: Acute liver failure (ALF), previously known as fulminant hepatic failure, has become a common, rapidly progressive, and life-threatening catastrophic hepatic disease in intensive care unit (ICU) due to the continuous increase in drug abuse, viral infection, metabolic insult, and auto-immune cause. At present, plasma exchange (PE) is the main effective alternative treatment for ALF in ICU clinical practice, and high-volume plasma exchange (HVP) has been listed as a grade I recommendation for ALF management in the American Society for Apheresis (ASFA) guidelines. However, no existing models can provide a satisfactory performance for clinical prediction on 90-day transplant-free mortality in adult patients with ALF undergoing PE. Our study aims to identify a novel and simple clinical predictor of 90-day transplant-free mortality in adult patients with ALF undergoing PE., Methods: This retrospective study contained adult patients with ALF undergoing PE from the Medical ICU (MICU) in the Second Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University between January 2017 and December 2020. Baseline and clinical data were collected and calculated on admission to ICU before PE, including gender, age, height, weight, body mass index (BMI), etiology, total bilirubin, direct bilirubin, indirect bilirubin, prothrombin activity, model for end-stage liver disease (MELD) score, and sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA) score. Enrolled adult patients with ALF undergoing PE were divided into a survival group and a death group at discharge and 90 days on account of medical records and telephone follow-up. After each PE, decreased rates of total bilirubin and MELD score and increased rates of prothrombin activity were calculated according to the clinical parameters. In clinical practice, different patients underwent different times of PE, and thus, mean decrease rates of total bilirubin and MELD score and mean increase rate of prothrombin activity were obtained for further statistical analysis., Results: A total of 73 adult patients with ALF undergoing 204 PE were included in our retrospective study, and their transplant-free mortality at discharge and 90 days was 6.85% (5/73) and 31.51% (23/73), respectively. All deaths could be attributed to ALF-induced severe and life-threatening complications or even multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS). Most of the enrolled adult patients with ALF were men (76.71%, 56/73), with a median age of 48.77 years. Various hepatitis virus infections, unknown etiology, auto-immune liver disease, drug-induced liver injury, and acute pancreatitis (AP) accounted for 75.34%, 12.33%, 6.85%, 4.11%, and 1.37% of the etiologies in adult patients with ALF, respectively. Univariate analysis showed a significant difference in age, mean decrease rates of total bilirubin and MELD score mean increase rate of prothrombin activity, decrease rates of total bilirubin and MELD score, and increase rate of prothrombin activity after the first PE between the death group and survival group. Multivariate analysis showed that age and mean decrease rates of total bilirubin and MELD score were closely associated with 90-day transplant-free mortality in adult patients with ALF undergoing PE. The 90-day transplant-free mortality was 1.081, 0.908, and 0.893 times of the original value with each one-unit increase in age and mean decrease rates of total bilirubin and MELD score, respectively. The areas under the receiver operatingcharacteristic (ROC) curve of age, mean decrease rates of total bilirubin and MELD score, and the three combined were 0.689, 0.225, 0.123, and 0.912, respectively. The cut-off values of age, mean decrease rates of total bilirubin and MELD score, and the three combined were 61.50, 3.12, 1.21, and 0.33, respectively. The specificity and sensitivity of combined age with mean decrease rates of total bilirubin and MELD score for predicting 90-day transplant-free mortality in adult patients with ALF undergoing PE were 87% and 14%., Conclusion: Combined age with mean decrease rates of total bilirubin and MELD score as a novel and simple clinical predictor can accurately predict 90-day transplant-free mortality in adult patients with ALF undergoing PE, which is worthy of application and promotion in clinical practice, especially in the identification of potential transplant candidates., Competing Interests: All authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Di Jin et al.)

A Gram-positive, facultatively anaerobic, oval beaded-shape, oxidase-negative, and non-motile bacterium designated DM20194951 T was isolated from a spoiled eye mask obtained from Guangdong, China. Based on the 16S rRNA gene sequence, phylogenetic analysis indicated that strain DM20194951 T showed the highest sequence similarity (95.8%) to Fundicoccus ignavus WS4937 T . Meanwhile, strain DM20194951 T could be distinguished from the type strains in the genus Fundicoccus by distinct phenotypic and genotypic traits. Strain DM20194951 T grew variably with 1-2% (w/v) NaCl and tolerated pH 6.0-10.0. Growth was observed from 28 to 37 °C. The diagnostic diamino acids in the cell-wall peptidoglycan consisted of aspartic and glutamic acids as well as alanine. The predominant fatty acids were C 18:1 ω9c, C 16:0 , and C 16:1 ω9c. In the polar lipid profile, two glycolipids, three phospholipids, one phosphatidylglycerol, and one diphosphatidylglycerol were found. No respiratory quinones were detected. The DM20194951 T genome is 3.2 Mb in size and contains a G + C content of 38.1%. A gene cluster for lactococcin 972 family bacteriocin production was found in the DM20194951 T genome. Based on morphological, genotypic, and phylogenetic data, strain DM20194951 T should be considered to represent a novel species in the genus Fundicoccus, for which the name Fundicoccus culcitae sp. nov. is proposed with the type strain DM20194951 T (= KCTC 43472 T  = GDMCC 1.3614 T )., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.)

Trans 10, cis 12-conjugated linoleic acid (t10c12-CLA) from ruminant-derived foodstuffs can induce body fat loss after oral administration. In the current study, a transgenic mouse that produced t10c12-CLA had been generated by inserting the Propionibacterium acnes isomerase (Pai) expression cassette into the Rosa26 locus, and its male offspring were used to elucidate the enduring influence of t10c12-CLA on overall health. Compared to their wild-type (wt) C57BL/6J littermates, both biallelic Pai/Pai and monoallelic Pai/wt mice exhibited reduced plasma triglycerides levels, and Pai/wt mice exclusively showed increased serum fibroblast growth factor 21. Further analysis of Pai/Pai mice found a decrease in white fat and an increase in brown fat, with more heat release and less physical activity. Analysis of Pai/Pai brown adipose tissues revealed that hyperthermia was associated with the over-expression of carnitine palmitoyltransferase 1B, uncoupling proteins 1 and 2. These findings suggest that the systemic and long-term impact of t10c12-CLA on obesity might be mediated through the pathway of fibroblast growth factor 21 when low doses are administered or through enhanced thermogenesis of brown adipose tissues when high doses are employed., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no competing interests., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background and Aims: Acute aortic dissection (AAD) is a serious life-threatening cardiovascular condition. It is necessary to find rapid and accurate biomarkers for the diagnosis of AAD. This study aimed to determine the efficacy of serum amyloid A1 (SAA1) in the diagnosis and prediction of long-term adverse events in AAD., Materials and Methods: Four-dimensional label-free quantification (4D-LFQ) technique was used to identify the differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) in aortic tissues of AAD. After comprehensive analysis, SAA1 was identified as a potential biomarker of AAD. ELISA was used to confirm the expression of SAA1 in serum of AAD patients. Moreover, the source of SAA1 in serum was explored by constructing AAD mouse model., Results: A total of 247 DEPs were identified, of which 139 were upregulated while 108 were downregulated. SAA1 was nearly 6.4-fold and 4.5-fold upregulated in AAD tissue and serum. ROC curve and Kaplan-Meier survival curve confirmed the good efficacy of SAA1 for the diagnosis and prediction of long-term adverse events in AAD. In vivo experiments revealed that SAA1 was mainly derived from the liver when AAD occurred., Conclusion: SAA1 can be used as a potential biomarker for AAD with effective diagnostic and prognostic value., Significance: Despite the advances in medical technology in recent years, the mortality rate of acute aortic dissection (AAD) is still high. It is still challenging for clinicians to diagnose AAD patients on time and reduce the mortality rate. In this study, 4D-LFQ technology was used to identify serum amyloid A1 (SAA1) as a potential biomarker of AAD and was verified in subsequent work. The results of this study determined the efficacy of SAA1 in the diagnosis and prediction of long-term adverse events in patients with AAD., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

The carcinogenicity of aristolochic acids (AAs) has been attributed mainly to the formation of stable DNA-aristolactam (DNA-AL) adducts by its reactive N-sulfonated metabolite N-sulfonatooxyaristolactam (N-OSO 3 - -AL). The most accepted mechanism for such DNA-AL adduct formation is via the postulated but never unequivocally-confirmed aristolactam nitrenium ion. Here we found that both sulfate radical and two ALI-derived radicals (N-centered and C-centered spin isomers) were produced by N-OSO 3 - -ALI, which were detected and unequivocally identified by complementary applications of ESR spin-trapping, HPLC-MS coupled with deuterium-exchange methods. Both the formation of the three radical species and DNA-ALI adducts can be significantly inhibited (up to 90%) by several well-known antioxidants, typical radical scavengers, and spin-trapping agents. Taken together, we propose that N-OSO 3 - -ALI decomposes mainly via a new N-O bond homolysis rather than the previously proposed heterolysis pathway, yielding reactive sulfate and ALI-derived radicals, which are together and in concert responsible for forming DNA-ALI adducts. This study presents strong and direct evidence for the production of free radical intermediates during N-OSO 3 - -ALI decomposition, providing an unprecedented free radical perspective and conceptual breakthrough, which can better explain and understand the molecular mechanism for the formation of DNA-AA adducts, the carcinogenicity of AAs and their potential prevention., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) widely exist in people's production and life which have great potential to damage human and animal health. Over the past few decades, growing attention has been paid to the impact of EDCs on human health, as well as immune system. So far, researchers have proved that EDCs (such as bisphenol A (BPA), phthalate, tetrachlorodibenzodioxin (TCDD), etc.) affect human immune function and promotes the occurrence and development of autoimmune diseases (ADs). Therefore, in order to better understand how EDCs affect ADs, we summarized the current knowledge about the impact of EDCs on ADs, and elaborated the potential mechanism of the impact of EDCs on ADs in this review., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of the unfolded protein response, specifically the inositol-requiring enzyme 1 (IRE1) signaling pathway, in hypoxia-induced autophagy in human umbilical venous endothelial cells (HUVECs)., Methods: The expression of IRE1 and autophagy relative protein in HUVECs with hypoxia was explored by Western blotting, qRT-PCR and confocal microscopy. Further, we evaluated the biological effects of HUVECs by tube formation assay and wound healing assay in vitro. Finally, we examined the function of IRE1 in local blood vessels through animal models., Results: Hypoxia activated the IRE1 signaling pathway and induced autophagy in a time-dependent manner in HUVECs and further influenced the biological effects of HUVECs. Intraperitoneal injection of IRE1 inhibitors inhibited local vascular autophagy levels and lipid accumulation in model animals., Conclusion: Hypoxia can induce autophagy and activate the IRE1 signaling pathway in HUVECs and the IRE1 signaling pathway is involved in autophagy in hypoxic conditions., (© 2023. Huazhong University of Science and Technology.)

Acetylhydrazine (AcHZ), a major human metabolite of the widely-used anti-tuberculosis drug isoniazid (INH), was considered to be responsible for its serious hepatotoxicity and potentially fatal liver injury. It has been proposed that reactive radical species produced from further metabolic activation of AcHZ might be responsible for its hepatotoxicity. However, the exact nature of such radical species remains not clear. Through complementary applications of ESR spin-trapping and HPLC/MS methods, here we show that the initial N-centered radical intermediate can be detected and identified from AcHZ activated by transition metal ions (Mn(III)Acetate and Mn(III) pyrophosphate) and myeloperoxidase. The exact location of the radical was found to be at the distal-nitrogen of the hydrazine group by 15 N-isotope-labeling techniques via using 15 N-labeled AcHZ we synthesized. Additionally, the secondary C-centered radical was identified unequivocally as the reactive acetyl radical by complementary applications of ESR spin-trapping and persistent radical TEMPO trapping coupled with HPLC/MS analysis. This study represents the first detection and unequivocal identification of the initial N-centered radical and its exact location, as well as the reactive secondary acetyl radical. These findings should provide new perspectives on the molecular mechanism of AcHZ activation, which may have potential biomedical and toxicological significance for future research on the mechanism of INH-induced hepatotoxicity., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Livestock excrement is a major pollutant yielded from husbandry and it has been constantly imported into various related environments. Livestock excrement comprises a variety of microorganisms including certain units with health risks and these microorganisms are transferred synchronically during the management and utilization processes of livestock excrement. The livestock excrement microbiome is extensively affecting the microbiome of humans and the relevant environments and it could be altered by related environmental factors as well. The zoonotic microorganisms, extremely zoonotic pathogens, and antibiotic-resistant microorganisms are posing threats to human health and environmental safety. In this review, we highlight the main feature of the microbiome of livestock excrement and elucidate the composition and structure of the repertoire of microbes, how these microbes transfer from different spots, and they then affect the microbiomes of related habitants as a whole. Overall, the environmental problems caused by the microbiome of livestock excrement and the potential risks it may cause are summarized from the microbial perspective and the strategies for prediction, prevention, and management are discussed so as to provide a reference for further studies regarding potential microbial risks of livestock excrement microbes.

Epidemiological studies suggest neurological disorders have been associated with the co-exposure to certain pesticides and transition metals. The present study aims to investigate whether co-exposure to the widely-used pesticide metam sodium and copper (Cu 2+ ) or zinc ion (Zn 2+ ) is able to cause synergistic neurotoxicity in neural PC12 cells and its possible mechanism(s). We found that both metam/Cu 2+ and metam/Zn 2+ synergistically induced apoptosis, intracellular Cu 2+ /Zn 2+ uptake, reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation, double-strand DNA breakage, mitochondrial membrane potential decrease, and nerve function disorder. In addition, metam/Cu 2+ was shown to release cytochrome c and apoptosis-inducing factor (AIF) from mitochondria to cytoplasm and nucleus, respectively, and activate the caspase 9, 8, 3, 7. However, metam/Zn 2+ induced caspase 7 activation and AIF translocation and mildly activated cytochrome c/caspase 9/caspase 3 pathway. Furthermore, metam/Cu 2+ activated caspase 3/7 by the p38 pathway, whereas metam/Zn 2+ did so via both the p38 and JNK pathways. These results demonstrated that metam/Cu 2+ or metam/Zn 2+ co-exposure cause synergistic neurotoxicity via different mechanisms, indicating a potential risk to human health when they environmentally co-exist., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Cruciferous plants are frequently used for ecologically benign weed control in agricultural production. Most effective Broccoli varieties were screened using the entropy method-based topsis model at first. Result showed that varieties of Lvwawa and Lvbaoshiwere most effective in allelopathic suppression on radishes. Column and thin-layer chromatography were used to extract the allelopathic compounds from broccoli residues, which contained various herbicidal active substances; among them, purified single-molecule indole-3-acetonitrile has a stronger inhibitory effect than pendimethalin (commercial herbicide). The weed inhibition rate increased with increasing broccoli residue dosage, with a 40 g/m 2 broccoli residue dose yielding the highest suppression rate. Its effect was similar to that of indole-3-acetic acid. Too much of this substance leads to the plant's death. Moreover, broccoli residues had effective control effect on weeds in natural soils in greenhouse and field trials. The results demonstrated that broccoli residue could be used for weed management in field for abundant allopathic suppression molecules to weeds, and that Indole-3-acetonitrile is one of the most important allopathic molecule., (© 2023 The Authors. Chemistry & Biodiversity published by Wiley-VHCA AG, Zurich, Switzerland.)

The great majority of microorganisms are as-yet-uncultivated, mostly found in extreme environments. High-throughput sequencing provides data-rich genomes from single-cell and metagenomic techniques, which has enabled researchers to obtain a glimpse of the unexpected genetic diversity of "microbial dark matter." However, cultivating microorganisms from extreme environments remains essential for dissecting and utilizing the functions of extremophiles. Here, we provide a straightforward protocol for efficiently isolating prokaryotic microorganisms from different extreme habitats (thermal, xeric, saline, alkaline, acidic, and cryogenic environments), which was established through previous successful work and our long-term experience in extremophile resource mining. We propose common processes for extremophile isolation at first and then summarize multiple cultivation strategies for recovering prokaryotic microorganisms from extreme environments and meanwhile provide specific isolation tips that are always overlooked but important. Furthermore, we propose the use of multi-omics-guided microbial cultivation approaches for culturing these as-yet-uncultivated microorganisms and two examples are provided to introduce how these approaches work. In summary, the protocol allows researchers to significantly improve the isolation efficiency of pure cultures and novel taxa, which therefore paves the way for the protection and utilization of microbial resources from extreme environments., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflicts of interest., (© 2023 The Authors. iMeta published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of iMeta Science.)

Competing Interests: None declared.

Yanhe River is one of the important tributaries of the Yellow River, with a vital role in the maintenance of biodiversity and ecological conservation in the middle reaches of the Yellow River. In this study, we conducted a systematic aquatic ecological survey of the Yanhe River Basin in spring (April-May) and autumn (September-October) of 2021, with phytoplankton as indicator organism. A total of 33 sampling sections were selected in the mainstem, five first-class tributaries, and impounded water bodies (reservoir and check dam water bodies) of the Yanhe River Basin. The results showed that a total of 253 phytoplankton species, belonging to 7 phyla and 91 genera, were detected in the two surveys. Diatoms and green algae prevailed in spring (168 species), while diatoms and cyanobacteria dominated in autumn (179 species). The mean phytoplankton density and biomass were 316.07×10 4 cells·L -1 and 6.41 mg·L -1 in spring, and 69.56×10 4 cells·L -1 and 1.59 mg·L -1 in autumn, respectively. At the temporal scale, phytoplankton abundance in spring was higher than that in autumn. At the spatial scale, the phytoplankton abundance in the middle and lower reaches of the mainstream was higher than that in the upper reaches. Phytoplankton biomass in the impounded water bodies formed by dam interception was maintained at a high level, which was significantly higher than that in the mainstem and tributary water bodies in autumn. The phytoplankton diversity, as indicated by Shannon diversity index, Margalef richness index, and Pielou evenness index, in spring was greater than that in autumn. Phytoplankton diversity was greater in the trunk and tributary waters than that in impounded waters. The results of redundancy analysis showed that the key factors driving the phytoplankton community structure in spring were flow velocity, dissolved oxygen, nitrite nitrogen, and water depth. In contrast, the key driving factors in autumn were nitrate nitrogen, water depth, and dissolved oxygen.

Background: HCFC1 encodes transcriptional co-regulator HCF-1, which undergoes an unusual proteolytic maturation at a centrally located proteolysis domain. HCFC1 variants were associated with X-linked cobalamin metabolism disorders and mental retardation-3. This study aimed to explore the role of HCFC1 variants in common epilepsy and the mechanism underlying phenotype heterogeneity., Methods: Whole-exome sequencing was performed in a cohort of 313 patients with idiopathic partial (focal) epilepsy. Functional studies determined the effects of the variants on the proteolytic maturation of HCF-1, cell proliferation and MMACHC expression. The role of HCFC1 variants in partial epilepsy was validated in another cohort from multiple centers., Results: We identified seven hemizygous HCFC1 variants in 11 cases and confirmed the finding in the validation cohort with additional 13 cases and six more hemizygous variants. All patients showed partial epilepsies with favorable outcome. None of them had cobalamin disorders. Functional studies demonstrated that the variants in the proteolysis domain impaired the maturation by disrupting the cleavage process with loss of inhibition of cell growth but did not affect MMACHC expression that was associated with cobalamin disorder. The degree of functional impairment was correlated with the severity of phenotype. Further analysis demonstrated that variants within the proteolysis domain were associated with common and mild partial epilepsy, whereas those in the kelch domain were associated with cobalamin disorder featured by severe and even fatal epileptic encephalopathy, and those in the basic and acidic domains were associated with mainly intellectual disability., Conclusion: HCFC1 is potentially a candidate gene for common partial epilepsy with distinct underlying mechanism of proteolysis dysfunction. The HCF-1 domains played distinct functional roles and were associated with different clinical phenotypes, suggesting a sub-molecular effect. The distinct difference between cobalamin disorders and idiopathic partial epilepsy in phenotype and pathogenic mechanism, implied a clinical significance in early diagnosis and management., (© 2023 The Authors. Clinical and Translational Medicine published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of Shanghai Institute of Clinical Bioinformatics.)

Background: Acute type B aortic dissection (ABAD) is a life-threatening cardiovascular disease. A practicable and effective prediction model to predict and evaluate the risk of in-hospital death for ABAD is required. The present study aimed to construct a prediction model to predict the risk of in-hospital death in ABAD patients., Methods: A total of 715 patients with ABAD were recruited in the first affiliated hospital of Xinjiang medical university from April 2012 to May 2021. The information on the demographic and clinical characteristics of all subjects was collected. The logistic regression analysis, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis, and nomogram were applied to screen the appropriate predictors and to establish a prediction model for the risk of in-hospital mortality in ABAD. The receiver operator characteristic curve and calibration plot were applied to validate the performance of the prediction model., Results: Of 53 (7.41%) subjects occurred in-hospital death in 715 ABAD patients. The variables including diastolic blood pressure (DBP), platelets, heart rate, neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio, D-dimer, C-reactive protein (CRP), white blood cell (WBC), hemoglobin, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), procalcitonin, and left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) were shown a significant difference between the in-hospital death group and the in-hospital survival group (all P < 0.05). Furthermore, all these factors which existed differences, except CRP, were associated with in-hospital deaths in ABAD patients (all P < 0.05). Then, parameters containing LVEF, WBC, hemoglobin, LDH, and procalcitonin were identified as independent risk factors for in-hospital deaths in ABAD patients by adjusting compound variables (all P < 0.05). In addition, these independent factors were qualified as predictors to build a prediction model (AUC > 0.5, P < 0.05). The prediction model was shown a favorable discriminative ability (C index = 0.745) and demonstrated good consistency., Conclusions: The novel prediction model combined with WBC, hemoglobin, LDH, procalcitonin, and LVEF, was a practicable and valuable tool to predict in-hospital deaths in ABAD patients., (© 2023. The Author(s).)