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During the process of daily training or competition, athletes may suffer the situation that the load exceeds the body's bearing capacity, which makes the body's physiological function temporarily decline. It is one of the characteristics of sports fatigue. Continuous sports fatigue may incur permanent damage to the athletes if they cannot timely get enough rest to recover. In order to solve this issue and improve the quality of athlete's daily training, this paper establish a fatigue monitoring system by using multi-source sensors. First, the sEMG signals of athlete are collected by multi-source sensors which are installed in a wearable device. Second, the collected sEMG signals are segmented by using fixed window to be converted as Mel-frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCCs). Third, the MFCC features are used learn a Gaussian processing model which is used to monitor future muscle fatigue status. The experiments show that the proposed system can recognize more than 90% muscle fatigue states.

Background: Natural human ferritin generally contains 24 subunits with different ratios of heavy chain to light chain, and the ratio of both subunits varies depending on tissue distribution and pathological conditions. However, the production of recombinant hybrid ferritin with both subunits is more challenging. Objective: This study aimed to prepare the recombinant hybrid ferritin for prokaryotic expression and characterize its structure and physicochemical properties. Methods: A prokaryotic expression vector of pACYCDuet-1 harboring the two individual genes of human ferritin heavy chain and light chain (FTH/FTL-pACYCDuet-1) was constructed and transfected into Escherichia coli bacteria. Then the genes were co-induced by IPTG to express. Results: The ferritin was purified by hydrophobic interaction chromatography combining size exclusion chromatography and verified by mass spectrometry and characterized by spectral and morphological analysis. Conclusion: FTH and FTL subunits were successfully co-assembled into a hybrid ferritin nanoparticle (rhFTH/L). The structure of rhFTH/L was demonstrated highly ordered and fairly compact. Besides, the hybrid rhFTH/L nanoparticle was shown more sensitive to thermal stress and reduced stability when compared with that of both individual rhFTH and rhFTL.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between the expression of autophagy-related genes and prognosis in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).We selected three autophagy-related genes (ATG3, ATG7, and ATG9A) from gene expression data of liver cancer patients in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database by Kaplan-Meier survival analysis, univariate and multivariate Cox regression analysis, and Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA). Human Protein Atlas (HPA) and Gene Expression Profiling Interactive Analysis (GEPIA) databases were applied to testify the credibility of our results. The expression levels of ATG3, ATG7, and ATG9A were verified by real-time quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) in normal liver cells (L02) and three HCC cell lines (HepG2, Hep3b, and Li-7). Data analysis results from TCGA showed high ATG3, ATG7, ATG9A expression in HCC tumor tissues. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed that the survival rate of the high expression group of ATG3, ATG7, and ATG9A was all significantly lower than the low expression group. GSEA analysis showed that many signaling pathways (such as the regulation of autophagy, glycine serine and threonine metabolism, pathways in cancer, mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathway, mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling pathway, as well as P53 signaling pathway) were differentially enriched in HCCs with ATG3, ATG7, and ATG9A expression. GEPIA and RT-qPCR also identified that the mRNA expression level of ATG3, ATG7, and ATG9A in normal liver cells were significantly lower than in HCC cells. High protein expression of ATG3, ATG7, and ATG9A was displayed in HCCs from the HPA database.The ATG3, ATG7, ATG9A might be utilized as prognostic biomarkers for liver cancer.

Urban trees, especially their leaves, have the potential to capture atmospheric particulate matter (PM) and improve air quality. However, the amount of PM deposited on leaf surfaces detected by different methods varies greatly, and quantitative understanding of the relationship between PM retention capacity and various microstructures of leaf surfaces is still limited. In this study, three measurement methods, including the leaf washing (LW) method, aerosol regeneration (AR) method, and scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDX) method, were used to determine the PM retention capacity of leaf surfaces of three coniferous species. Additionally, we analyzed the leaf traits and elemental composition of PM on leaves collected from different sites. The results showed that Pinus tabulaeformis and Abies holophylla were more efficient species in capturing PM than Juniperus chinensis, but different measurement methods could affect the detected results of PM accumulation on leaf surfaces. The concentrations of trace elements accumulated on leaf surfaces differed considerably between different sites. The greatest accumulation of elements that occurred on the leaf surface was at the Shenfu Highway site exposed to high PM pollution levels and the smallest accumulation at the Dongling park site. The stomatal density and contact angle were highly correlated with the PM retention capacity of leaf surfaces of the tested species (Pearson coefficient: r = 0.87, p 0.01 and r = - 0.70, p 0.05), while the roughness and groove width were not significantly correlated (Pearson coefficient: r = 0.16 and r = - 0.03). This study suggests that a methodological standardization for measuring PM is urgently required and this could contribute to selecting greening tree species with high air purification capacity.

Following the success of MetOp, EUMETSAT Polar System Second Generation (EPS-SG) will provide satellite observations from polar orbit to support Numerical Weather Prediction and climate monitoring in the 2024 to mid-2040's timeframe. Designed to fly on board the EPS-SG satellite-B series and cover 19-183 GHz frequency range, Microwave Imager (MWI) is expected to deliver high-quality measurements of radiometric properties relevant to precipitation, clouds, near-surface ocean winds and snow/ice cover. With a goal to build an enterprise MWI retrieval in support to NOAA operational Environmental Data Records (EDRs) production, a development of new and adaptation of the existing microwave imager algorithm procedures are underway at University of Maryland. As part of this effort and to ensure timely delivery of day-1 retrievals, we simulate MWI level-1 data over prolonged periods of time (up to 12 months) using radiative transfer techniques. Two datasets will be presented. The first, oriented towards precipitation retrieval development, relies on Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) observations to construct a state vector in radiative transfer calculations. The second dataset relies exclusively on ERA5 parameters. Two radiative transfer models have been considered in the production of simulated MWI brightness temperatures: a) Community Radiative Transfer Model (CRTM) and b) Edington model. Each model uses MWI observation geometry, following DPR and GCOM-W1 AMSR2 sampling, respectively. To deliver the product, CRTM has been updated by, for this purpose derived, MWI coefficients using an idealized Spectral Response Function at each of the 26 channels. When compared to the common channels of AMSR2 sensor, the simulations reflect exceptionally high accuracy. In addition to the methodology and proxy data sets, preliminary results for MWI precipitation EDR retrieval will be presented.

Castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) poses a major clinical challenge with the androgen receptor (AR) remaining to be a critical oncogenic player. Several lines of evidence indicate that AR induces a distinct transcriptional program after androgen deprivation in CRPCs. However, the mechanism triggering AR binding to a distinct set of genomic loci in CRPC and how it promotes CRPC development remain unclear. We demonstrate here that atypical ubiquitination of AR mediated by an E3 ubiquitin ligase TRAF4 plays an important role in this process. TRAF4 is highly expressed in CRPCs and promotes CRPC development. It mediates K27-linked ubiquitination at the C-terminal tail of AR and increases its association with the pioneer factor FOXA1. Consequently, AR binds to a distinct set of genomic loci enriched with FOXA1- and HOXB13-binding motifs to drive different transcriptional programs including an olfactory transduction pathway. Through the surprising upregulation of olfactory receptor gene transcription, TRAF4 increases intracellular cAMP levels and boosts E2F transcription factor activity to promote cell proliferation under androgen deprivation conditions. Altogether, these findings reveal a posttranslational mechanism driving AR-regulated transcriptional reprogramming to provide survival advantages for prostate cancer cells under castration conditions.

Satellite observations are indispensable for weather forecasting, climate change monitoring, and environmental studies. Understanding and quantifying errors and uncertainties associated with satellite observations are essential for hardware calibration, data assimilation, and developing environmental and climate data records. Satellite observation errors can be classified into four categories: measurement, observation operator, representativeness, and preprocessing errors. Current methods for diagnosing observation errors still yield large uncertainties due to these complex errors. When simulating satellite errors, empirical errors are usually used, which do not always accurately represent the truth. We address these challenges by developing an error inventory simulator, the Satellite Error Representation and Realization (SatERR). SatERR can simulate a wide range of observation errors, from instrument measurement errors to model assimilation errors. Most of these errors are based on physical models, including existing and newly-developed algorithms. SatERR takes a bottom-up approach: Errors are generated from root sources and forward propagate through radiance and science products. This is different from, but complementary to, the top-down approach of current diagnostics, which inversely solves unknown errors. The impact of different errors can be quantified and partitioned, and a ground-truth testbed can be produced to test and refine diagnostic methods. SatERR is a community error inventory, open-source on GitHub, which can be expanded and refined with input from engineers, scientists, and modelers. This debut version of SatERR is centered on microwave sensors, covering traditional large satellites and small satellites operated by NOAA, NASA, and EUMETSAT.

The Hammett equation is commonly used to theoretically depict the remote electronic effects of substituents on catalytic activities of metal nodes of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). However, the application of the theory to MOF catalysts usually encounters problems because it relies heavily on empirical parameters with unknown transferability. To develop an alternative prediction theory, the linker orbital energy model has been proposed by density functional theory calculations. The model provides a simple method to approximately depict the remote electronic substituent effects on catalytic activities of metal nodes of MOFs, and its general applicability to MOFs is supported by extensively revisiting the structure-activity relationships reported in the literatures. The model can be used to design catalytic activity of metal nodes of MOFs by engineering the electronic properties of linkers and substituents.

Background Breast cancer is ranked as the most common cancer worldwide. The use of CDK4/6 inhibitors has improved the prognosis and has become a new strategy for hormone receptor -positive, human epidermal growth factor receptor-2-negative breast cancer; however, such drugs have been found to increase the risk of thrombosis in randomized controlled trials (RCTs), and this risk may be higher in the real-world setting. This study aimed to compare the thromboembolic risk of CDK4/6 inhibitors plus endocrine therapy (ET) and ET alone in RCTs and determine the incidence of thromboembolic events associated with the use of CDK4/6 inhibitors in RCTs and in the real world. Methods PubMed and EMBASE databases were searched up to December 31, 2022, for RCTs and cohort studies of CDK4/6 inhibitors in patients with breast cancer. The quality of the literature was assessed using the Cochrane Handbook and Newcastle–Ottawa Scale, and meta-analysis was performed using Review Manager 5.4 and R version 4.2.2. Results A total of 13 RCTs and 9 real-world studies were identified and included in this analysis. RCTs only reported venous thromboembolic events (VTEs); VTEs occurred in 192 patients (2.1%) in the CDK4/6 inhibitor group and 55 patients (0.7%) in the control group. Compared with ET alone, receiving CDK4/6 inhibitors plus ET increased the risk of VTEs in patients with breast cancer, with an odds ratio of 2.67 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.98, 3.59, p

BackgroundThe World Health Organization has proposed to eliminate hepatitis C by 2030, yet there is still a large gap to the goal. Screening for hepatitis C is cost-effective and efficient in medical institutions. The aim of this study was to identify the key populations for HCV antibody screening in hospital characterized by infectious diseases, and provide estimates of the proportion of HCV-infected persons in the Beijing Ditan hospital completing each step along a proposed HCV treatment cascade.MethodsA total of 105,112 patients who underwent HCV antibody testing in Beijing Ditan hospital between 2017 and 2020 were included in this study. HCV antibody and HCV RNA positivity rate were calculated and compared by chi-square test.ResultsThe positivity rate of HCV antibody was 6.78%. The HCV antibody positivity rate and the proportion of positive patients showed an upward trend along with age in the five groups between 10–59 years. In the contrary, a decreasing trend was observed in the three groups above 60 years. Patients with positive HCV antibody were mainly from the Liver Disease Center (36.53%), the Department of Integrative Medicine (16.10%), the Department of Infectious Diseases (15.93%) and the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology (9.44%). Among HCV antibody positive patients, 6,129 (85.95%) underwent further HCV RNA testing, of whom 2097 were HCV RNA positive, the positivity rate was 34.21%. Of the patients who were HCV RNA positive, 64.33% did not continue with HCV RNA testing. The cure rate for HCV antibody positive patients was 64.98%. Besides, there was a significant positive correlation between HCV RNA positivity rate and HCV antibody level (r = 0.992, P < 0.001). The detection rate of HCV antibody among inpatients showed an upward trend (Z = 5.567, P < 0.001), while the positivity rate showed a downward trend (Z = 2.2926, P = 0.0219).ConclusionsWe found that even in hospitals characterized by infectious diseases, a large proportion of patients did not complete each step along a proposed HCV treatment cascade. Besides, we identified key populations for HCV antibody screening, namely: (1) patients over 40 years of age, especially those aged 50–59 years; (2) the Department of Infectious Diseases and the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology patients. In addition, HCV RNA testing was highly recommended for patients with HCV antibody levels above 8 S/CO.

The purpose is to respond to the call of the government on the artificial intelligence (AI) policy of music online education. First, wireless network technology and AI technology are described in detail; the application principle of AI technology in traditional music teaching mode and online teaching mode is analyzed; then, the combination model of AI technology and music online education system in 5th-generation (5G) wireless network environment is proposed. These models include music online composition teaching model, music online teaching scoring model, and music online lyric writing teaching model. Finally, the models are verified in the application of AI technology. The results show that AI technology has good application performance in the models above. Moreover, the direction of music online teaching reform and innovation along the combination of 5G network environment and AI is correct under the background of the new era. This exploration expands the application scenario of AI technology and provides ideas for the reform and innovation of music online education in the context of the new era.

A direct reductive cross-dialkylation of alkynes is achieved to afford trans-dialkylated olefins using two distinct alkyl bromides. The reaction undergoes with exclusive chemo-, regio- and stereoselectivity without the use of organometallic reagents.

Organothianthrenium salts are a class of compounds containing a positively charged sulfur atom and a neutral sulfur atom. Over the past years, organothianthrenium salts have been emerging as attractive precursors for a myriad of transformations to forge new C-C and C-X bonds due to their unique structural characteristics and chemical behaviors. The use of the thianthrenation strategy selectively transforms C-H, C-O, and other chemical bonds into organothianthrenium salts in a predictable manner, providing a straightforward alternative for regioselective functionalizations for arenes, alkenes, alkanes, alcohols, amines and so on through diverse reaction mechanisms under mild conditions. In this review, the preparation of different organothianthrenium salts is summarized, including aryl, alkenyl and alkyl thianthrenium salts. Moreover, the utilization of organothianthrenium salts in different catalytic processes and their synthetic potentials are also discussed.

Combined with NMR, core experiment, slim-tube tests, nano-CT and oil composition analysis, the mechanism of CO2 enhanced oil recovery had been studied. CO2 flooding under supercritical state could achieve higher oil recovery. In the process of crude oil displaced by supercritical CO2, the average oil recovery was 46.98% at low displacement pressures and 73.35% at high displacement pressures. The permeability of cores after CO2 flooding was only 28%–64% of those before flooding. As to the expelled oil, the contents of asphaltenes and non-hydrocarbons decreased, and saturated hydrocarbons of above C25 were absent in some samples, indicating that they had been retained in cores as demonstrated by CT and NMR experiments. In slim-tube tests, the heavy components of oil were expelled when the pressure increased to 30 MPa. There was a reasonable bottom hole pressure (BHP) below which the heavy components driven out from the far-well zone would deposit in the near-well zone, and when the pressure was too high, the nonhydrocarbon detention may cause block. The smaller throat and worse physical properties the porous media had, the higher displacement pressure would be required to achieve a good oil displacement efficiency. The increase in displacement pressure or time of interaction between oil and CO2 could effectively enhance oil recovery.

The rate of reduction of Arctic Ocean sea ice cover and its change is an important key issue in the study of global climate change. Wave climate variability and the wave effects in the Arctic Ocean plays important roles in influencing the rate of sea ice melting. Aiming to improve the parameterization of wave numerical model that considers the presence of sea ice in polar region and to develop the associated satellite remote sensing technologies, in situ wave observations at the sea-ice edge and Marginal Ice Zones are essential. Currently the data and observations are scarce. This study developed a low-cost miniature wave drifting buoy, its shape is 50 cm diameter dish, built-in IMU, Iridium satellite modem and temperature and salinity sensor, etc., to monitor the wave height, period, direction and wave spectral shape, sea surface Mean Square Slope (MSS), surface ocean temperature (SST) and GPS positioning. The signal sampling frequency is 10Hz, the spectral analysis is carried out on-board using ARM single chip computer in the buoy. The data is then encoded to Iridium satellite in real-time. In this study, in August 2021 and 2022, 8 and 10 sets of miniature buoys were deployed in Fram Strait off the western Svalbard Islands, respectively. The buoys were deployed in cluster and placed 15 km apart from each other, forming a rectangular spatial array, and drifting with West Spitzbergen Current, transported northward into the ice edge area of Svalbard northwest sea. The observation took place every two hours for about three months. This report presents the time series of the observation data. First, we analyzed the drift trajectories of the buoy cluster, estimated the sea surface dispersion coefficient, Lyapunov index from the spatial array shape change rate of the buoy cluster. Secondly, sea surface temperature variation along the meridional trajectories was investigated. The results showed that the surface water mass was converged around Molloy Abyss, and the surrounding water body was accompanied by rapid temperature drop. On the other hand, in the wave analysis of the MIZ, the SAR images were used to identify the sea ice edge and ice concentration and to investigate the attenuation of wave spectral shape between the sea ice zone and the open ice-free waters in the vicinity.

The perplexing innate immune response induced by SARS-CoV-2 infection remains inadequate uncovered. Previous studies showed that coronavirus papain-like protease (PLP) could evade type I interferons mediated innate immune responses. In this study, we found the inflammasome genes (NLRP3, NLRP6, PYCARD, IL1B, IL18, TRIM31, FBXL2, MARCH7) were down-regulated in CD14+ monocytes from COVID-19 patients. Secondly, we found that SARS-CoV-2 PLP may act on the NLRP3 inflammasome pathway. PLP may interact with ASC and interrupt ASC oligomerization by reducing the K48-linked and K63-linked ubiquitination of ASC, so that the excessive activation of the NLRP3 inflammatory pathway might be inhibited and the release of IL-1β was blocked. Thirdly, SARS-CoV-2 PLP negatively regulated the pyroptosis of host cells, which was mediated by caspase-1, the key regulator of the NLRP3 inflammasome pathway. In general, SARS-CoV-2 PLP avoids the excessive immune defenses in the early stage of virus infection, which provides the maximum advantage for virus replication. These insights uncover the flex function of CoV encoding proteases. Furthermore, this research may provide a new vision of COVID-19 epidemic prevention and new possibilities for new therapies.

Functionalizing specific positions on a saturated alkyl molecule is a key challenge in synthetic chemistry. Herein, a ligand-controlled regiodivergent alkylations of alkyl bromides at different positions by Ni-catalyzed alkyl-alkyl cross-electrophile coupling with the second alkyl bromides has been developed. The reaction undergoes site-selective isomerization on one alkyl bromides in a controlled manner, providing switchable access to diverse alkylated structures at different sites of alkyl bromides. The reaction occurs at three similar positions with excellent chemo- and regioselectivity, representing a remarkable ligand tuned reactivity between alkyl-alkyl cross-coupling and nickel migration along the hydrocarbon side chain. This reaction offers a catalytic platform to diverse saturated architectures by alkyl-alkyl bond-formation from identical starting materials.

Shrubs play a major role in maintaining ecosystem stability in the arid deserts of Central Asia. During the long-term adaptation to extreme arid environments, shrubs have developed special assimilative branches that replace leaves for photosynthesis. In this study, four dominant shrubs with assimilative branches, namely Haloxylon ammodendron, Haloxylon persicum, Calligonum mongolicum, and Ephedra przewalskii, were selected as the research objects, and the dry mass, total length, node number, and basal diameter of their assimilative branches and the average length of the first three nodes were carefully measured, and the allometric relationships among five traits of four species were systematically compared. The results indicated that: (1) Four desert shrubs have different assimilative branches traits. Compared with H. persicum and H. ammodendron, C. mongolicum and E. przewalskii have longer internodes and fewer nodes. The dry mass of H. ammodendron and the basal diameter of H. persicum were the smallest; (2) Significant allometric scaling relationships were found between dry mass, total length, basal diameter, and each trait of assimilative branches, all of which were significantly less than 1; (3) The scaling exponents of the allometric relationship between four traits and the dry mass of assimilative branches of H. persicum were greater or significantly greater than those of H. ammodendron. The scaling exponents of the relationships between the basal diameter, dry mass, and total length of E. przewalskii were higher than those of the other three shrubs. Therefore, although different species have adapted to drought and high temperatures by convergence, there was great variability in morphological characteristics of assimilative branches, as well as in the scaling exponents of relationships among traits. The results of this study will provide valuable insights into the ecological functions of assimilative branches and survival strategies of these shrubs to cope with aridity and drought in desert environments.

Nanotechnology-based approaches have demonstrated encouraging results for sustainable agriculture production, particularly in the field of fertilizers and pesticide innovation. It is essential to evaluate the economic and environmental benefits of these nanoformulations. Here we estimate the potential revenue gain/loss associated with nanofertilizer and/or nanopesticide use, calculate the greenhouse gas emissions change from the use of nanofertilizer and identify feasible applications and critical issues. The cost-benefit analysis demonstrates that, while current nanoformulations show promise in increasing the net revenue from crops and lowering the environmental impact, further improving the efficiency of nanoformulations is necessary for their widescale adoption. Innovating nanoformulation for targeted delivery, lowering the greenhouse gas emissions associated with nanomaterials and minimizing the content of nanomaterials in the derived nanofertilizers or pesticides can substantially improve both economic and environmental benefits.

The gastrointestinal tract is an eight-meter-long pathway that includes various organs, which runs from the mouth to the anus. Under certain pathological circumstances, tumors can develop in one of these organs. Although these tumors could be surgically removed at an early stage of their development, the disease could be incurable and fatal if they progress. In this article, we review our recent progress in the development of a series of rationally designed mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNP), which includes the use of a supported lipid bilayer (a.k.a. silicasome), to provide more efficacious and well-tolerated chemotherapy and/or chemo-immunotherapy for the different types of gastrointestinal (GIT) cancer, such as pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) and colorectal cancer (CRC). Through the use of our silicasome platform, we were able to deliver single-drug or synergistic drug combinations to orthotopic PDAC tumors in murine Kras and human-derived PDAC models. We also developed a scalable silicasome formulation for the weak-base anticancer drug, irinotecan, leading to a highly potent treatment option for mice with reduced toxicity. To address the complex and heterogeneous tumor microenvironment (TME), we have discussed the impact of stroma nanoengineering by transcytosis activation or vascular access improvement, which could enhance the effectiveness of nanocarriers in vivo. Recently, we have upgraded our drug-delivering silicasome as a chemoimmunotherapy platform that implements immunogenic cell death (ICD) as an endogenous vaccination approach. When cointerference occurs in regionally overexpressed immune checkpoint pathways, it was possible to generate a “hot” tumor microenvironment and propagate anticancer immunity, leading to long-lasting anticancer effects. These advanced preclinical results are promising and expected to generate a positive impact by providing efficacious and safe nanocarriers that can be placed into the pipeline of novel nanomedicine for the management of GIT cancer.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is currently a severe threat to global public health, and the immune response to COVID-19 infection has been widely investigated. However, the immune status and microecological changes in the respiratory systems of patients with COVID-19 after recovery have rarely been considered. We selected 72 patients with severe COVID-19 infection, 57 recovered from COVID-19 infection, and 65 with non-COVID-19 pneumonia, for metatranscriptomic sequencing and bioinformatics analysis. Accordingly, the differentially expressed genes between the infected and other groups were enriched in the chemokine signaling pathway, NOD-like receptor signaling pathway, phagosome, TNF signaling pathway, NF-kappa B signaling pathway, Toll-like receptor signaling pathway, and C-type lectin receptor signaling pathway. We speculate that IL17RD, CD74, and TNFSF15 may serve as disease biomarkers in COVID-19. Additionally, principal coordinate analysis revealed significant differences between groups. In particular, frequent co-infections with the genera Streptococcus, Veillonella, Gemella, and Neisseria, among others, were found in COVID-19 patients. Moreover, the random forest prediction model with differential genes showed a mean area under the curve (AUC) of 0.77, and KCNK12, IL17RD, LOC100507412, PTPRT, MYO15A, MPDZ, FLRT2, SPEG, SERPINB3, and KNDC1 were identified as the most important genes distinguishing the infected group from the recovered group. Agrobacterium tumefaciens, Klebsiella michiganensis, Acinetobacter pittii, Bacillus sp. FJAT.14266, Brevundimonas naejangsanensis, Pseudopropionibacterium propionicum, Priestia megaterium, Dialister pneumosintes, Veillonella rodentium, and Pseudomonas protegens were selected as candidate microbial markers for monitoring the recovery of COVID patients. These results will facilitate the diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis of COVID patients recovering from severe illness.

Primary cilia regulate and coordinate a variety of cell signaling pathways important in chondrocyte physiology and cartilage development, health, and disease. Despite this, the chondrocyte primary cilium and its associated role in cartilage biology remains poorly understood. Key to elucidating primary cilia structure and function in chondrocytes is the ability to visualize this unique structure. Here we describe materials and methods for immunofluorescence labeling, microscopy, and measurement of chondrocyte primary cilia.

Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a chronic inflammatory disease of the intestine that presents clinically with abdominal pain, mucopurulent stools, and posterior urgency. The lesions of UC are mainly concentrated in the rectal and colonic mucosa and submucosa. For patients with mild to moderate UC, the best pharmacological treatment includes glucocorticoids, immunosuppressants, antibiotics, and biologics, but the long-term application can have serious toxic side effects. Currently, nearly 40% of UC patients are treated with herbal natural products in combination with traditional medications to reduce the incidence of toxic side effects. Flavonoid herbal natural products are the most widely distributed polyphenols in plants and fruits, which have certain antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities. Flavonoid herbal natural products have achieved remarkable efficacy in the treatment of UC. The pharmacological mechanisms are related to anti-inflammation, promotion of mucosal healing, maintenance of intestinal immune homeostasis, and regulation of intestinal flora. In this paper, we summarize the flavonoid components of anti-ulcerative colitis and their mechanisms reported in the past 10 years, to provide a basis for rational clinical use and the development of new anti-ulcerative colitis drugs.

Compared to conventional hyperthermia that is limited by low selectivity and severe side effects, nano-enabled hyperthermia yields great potentials to tackle these limitations for cancer treatment. Another major advance is the observation of immunological responses associated with nano-enabled hyperthermia, which introduces a new avenue, allowing a potential paradigm shift from the acutely effective and cytotoxicity-centric response to the next-phase discovery, i.e., long-lasting and/or systemic anti-tumor immunity. This perspective first discusses the temperature-gradient and the spatially-structured immunological landscape in solid tumors receiving nano-enabled hyperthermia. This includes the discussion about underlying mechanism such as immunogenic cell death, which initiates a profound immunological chain reaction. In order to propagate the immune activation as a viable therapeutic principle, we further discussed the tumor type-specific complexity in the immunological tumor microenvironment, including the creative design of nano-enabled combination therapy to synergize with nano-enabled hyperthermia.

Access to 1,3-conjugated enynes with defined stereoselectivity is highly desirable and challenging. Herein, we report a facile synthesis of stereodefined 1,3-conjugated enynes via Ni-catalyzed intermolecular cross-alkylalkynylation of alkynes with unsaturated carbonyl compounds and alkynes or alkynyl silicates. The operational simple protocol proceeds at room temperature and tolerates a wide range of functional groups, providing an attractive alternative to carbonyl-tethered trisubstituted conjugated 1,3-enynes from easily accessible starting materials.

Recombinant human ferritin heavy chain (rhFTH) was highly expressed and self-assembled in E. coli bacteria. To establish a robust purification scheme, we developed a non-chromatographic precipitation procedure as a key step for extracting rhFTH from the disrupted supernatant. Three factors including heating temperature, pH value and sodium chloride concentration were systematically investigated and optimized for this precipitation procedure. Almost all of the unrelated proteins could be efficiently removed by the optimized precipitation procedure. Combining with hydrophobic interaction chromatography of Capto Butyl, the rhFTH was efficiently purified from the post-precipitated supernatant, the purity of the finally obtained rhFTH was above 98 % and the target protein recovery was around 66 % roughly estimated by optical density. ESI-MS analysis showed a molecular weight of 21086.0 Da that was almost identical with the theoretical value. Circular dichroism analysis revealed alpha-helix structure as major structure content and fluorescence analysis demonstrated that aromatic amino acids residues were highly buried inside. HP-SEC analysis showed a geometrically symmetrical peak, indicating rhFTH exists as homogeneous structure with a relatively large size, and further being validated by DLS and TEM. DSC analysis revealed that the extreme stability against temperature contributed mainly to the feasibility of the developed precipitation treatment.

Real-time, continuous, and long-term marine monitoring data benefits ocean research. This study developed a low-cost, multi-parameter, miniature wave buoy. High spatial and temporal resolution of sea surface parameters, including wind, waves, and current, can be obtained at low cost through the deployment of numerous buoys, thus forming an observation array. Tested in the laboratory water tank, the relative error of water surface slope measurement of the buoy was approximately 5.6% when the slope angle was less than 15°. For frequencies between 0.1 and 1.0 Hz, the measurement of slope spectrum was almost identical to that of the wave gauge. The buoy underestimated the slope spectrum between 1.0–1.56 Hz. A good relationship (r2 = 0.75) was obtained between wind speed at 10 m above sea surface (U10) and the low-pass-filtered mean square slope (LPMSS). After incorporating the wave age into the U10 inversion process, the root mean square error (RMSE) and BIAS were reduced to 1.15 m/s and 0.02 m/s, respectively. The 2D distribution of buoy-measured slope components was used to detect the wind direction, with an RMSE of 23.7°. The spectral tail slope steepened with increasing wind speed at low wind speeds (

Overproduction of reactive oxygen species (ROS), a key characteristic of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), is responsible for dysregulation of signal transduction, inflammatory response, and DNA damage, which ultimately leads to disease progression and deterioration. Thus, ROS scavenging has become a promising strategy to navigate IBD. Inspired by the targeting capability of hyaluronic acid (HA) to CD44-overexpressed inflammatory cells together with the redox regulation capacity of diselenide compounds, we developed an oral nanoformulation

BackgroundThe mechanism of cuproptosis has recently been reported in lipoylated proteins of the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle. Besides, the role of copper was previously recognized in cancer progression. We evaluated the prognostic value of cuproptosis-related gene expression in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).MethodsRemarkable genes were selected both in differential expression analysis and Kaplan-Meier survival analysis from ninety-six cuproptosis-related genes using The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. The relationships between clinical characteristics and gene expression were performed with Wilcoxon signed-rank test, Kruskal-Wallis test, and logistic regression. Clinicopathologic factors correlated with overall survival in HCCs conducting univariate and multivariate Cox regression analysis. Gene Expression Profiling Interactive Analysis 2 (GEPIA2) and Human Protein Atlas (HPA) databases were utilized to verify the results. Furthermore, Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) identified the potential key pathways that dominate cuproptosis in HCC.ResultsElevated ATP7A, SLC25A3, SCO2, COA6, TMEM199, ATP6AP1, LIPT1, DLAT, PDHA1, MTF1, ACP1, FDX2, NUBP2, CIAPIN1, ISCA2 and NDOR1 expression, as well as declined AOC1, FDX1, MT-CO1, and ACO1 expression were significantly emerged in HCC tumor tissues and were significantly associated with HCCs poor survival. The expressions of screened cuproptosis-related genes were prominently related to clinical features. GSEA analysis reported many key signaling pathways (such as natural killer cell mediated cytotoxicity, TCA cycle, glutathione metabolism, ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters, Notch signaling pathway, ErbB signaling pathway, and metabolism of xenobiotics by cytochrome p450) were differentially enriched in HCCs with varying degrees of cuproptosis-related genes expression.ConclusionsThe twenty cuproptosis-related genes might be utilized as new candidate prognostic biomarkers for HCC.

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a rare, recurrent, and intractable inflammation obstruction of the stomach tract, usually accompanied by inflammation of cell proliferation and inflammation of the colon and carries a particular cause of inflammation. The clinical use of drugs in western countries affects IBD treatment, but various adverse effects and high prices limit their application. For these reasons, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is more advantageous in treating IBD. This paper reviews the mechanism and research status of TCM and natural products in IBD treatment by analyzing the relevant literature to provide a scientific and theoretical basis for IBD treatment.

Background: The hepatitis C virus infection is a high-risk factor for cirrhosis or hepatocellular carcinoma. However, since the majority of hepatitis C patients are asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic, they remain undetected with no timely treatment. In this study, we collected the data of patients positive for HCV antibodies and HCV-RNA from our hospital and analyzed the status and characteristics of hepatitis C virus infection in a hospital featuring infectious diseases.Methods: Data were obtained from patients admitted to Beijing Ditan Hospital between 2017 and 2020. The HCV antibodies and HCV-RNA positivity rates were compared among different age groups along with the age distribution of positive patients. In addition, HCV antibodies and HCV-RNA positivity rates, as well as inpatients HCV antibody detection rate, were analyzed between 2017 and 2020. Results: The average positivity rate (%) of HCV antibody was 6.78%, with the highest rate in the 50-59 age group. Whereas, the average positivity rate (%) of HCV-RNA testing was 24.08%, which showed a continuous increase with an increase in age. Patients aged 50–59 years comprised the highest number of patients with both HCV antibodies and HCV-RNA positivity. Women had a higher positivity rate of HCV antibodies than men (PPP = 0.0004). The detection rate of HCV antibodies in inpatients was 59.8%, while the positivity rate was 5.24%. While the detection rate showed an upward trend, the positivity rate showed a downward trend.Conclusions: Our hospital displayed a clustering effect on HCV-infected patients as well as on the high-risk group of people. Hence, there was a need to strengthen the awareness in patients for active screening of hepatitis C, especially in patients over 40 years of age. The population with age 50–59 was more susceptible to HCV infection and required more attention to hepatitis C screening. Furthermore, inpatient detection results should be completely used to ensure more visibility and on-time treatment of patients.

Metallic zinc (Zn) is one of the most attractive multivalent-metal anode materials in post-lithium batteries because of its high abundance, low cost and high theoretical capacity. However, it usually suffers from large voltage polarization, low Coulombic efficiency and high propensity for dendritic failure during Zn stripping/plating, hindering the practical application in aqueous rechargeable zinc-metal batteries (AR-ZMBs). Here we demonstrate that anionic surfactant-assisted in situ surface alloying of Cu and Zn remarkably improves Zn reversibility of 3D nanoporous Zn electrodes for potential use as high-performance AR-ZMB anode materials. As a result of the zincophilic ZnxCuy alloy shell guiding uniform Zn deposition with a zero nucleation overpotential and facilitating Zn stripping via the ZnxCuy/Zn galvanic couples, the self-supported nanoporous ZnxCuy/Zn electrodes exhibit superior dendrite-free Zn stripping/plating behaviors in ambient aqueous electrolyte, with ultralow polarizations under current densities up to 50 mA cm‒2, exceptional stability for 1900 h and high Zn utilization. This enables AR-ZMB full cells constructed with nanoporous ZnxCuy/Zn anode and KzMnO2 cathode to achieve specific energy of as high as ~ 430 Wh kg‒1 with ~ 99.8% Coulombic efficiency, and retain ~ 86% after long-term cycles for > 700 h.

"Pneumonia Prevention No.1" belongs to 'traditional Chinese medicine prescription for prevention of viral pneumonia and influenza' was urgently formulated by Notice on Printing the Novel Coronavirus Diagnosis and Treatment Scheme for COVID-19 (Trial Version 3) and Traditional Chinese Medicine Prevention and Treatment Scheme for COVID-19 in Hubei Province (Trial). Because the prescription drug has the bidirectional regulation function of human immune function, moderate improvement of immune function can effectively resist virus invasion, while excessive immune function will produce immune overresponse. Excessive immune response will aggravate the condition of patients with COVID-19, resulting in the death of severe patients.Twenty medical workers aged 20-60 years old, who had no immune disease, no current disease and healthy physical examination, were selected as participants. The participants took Hubei "Pneumonia Prevention No.1" decoction, one dosage each day, twice a day, for 7 consecutive days. With the before-after control method, blood samples were collected from the median cubital veins before and after medication. Immunoglobulin IgA, IgG and IgM were measured by immunoturbidimetry, and T lymphocyte subsets CD3, CD4, CD8 and CD4/CD8 were measured by flow cytometry. The changes of indexes before and after medication were compared with SPPS 13.0 statistical software. The data were expressed by (mean ± standard deviation).The results of this study show that in healthy participants, the immunoglobulin and T lymphocyte subsets did not differ significantly before and after drug administration (P0.05).Under normal drug administration circumstances, "Pneumonia Prevention No. 1" had no significant regulating effect on the immune system in a healthy population and did not increase the immune system capacity beyond a reasonable range. It is safe to be used as a prophylactic measure in healthy populations.

Summary Objective Cartilage health is maintained in response to a range of mechanical stimuli including compressive, shear and tensile strains and associated alterations in osmolality. The osmotic-sensitive ion channel Transient Receptor Potential Vanilloid 4 (TRPV4) is required for mechanotransduction. Mechanical stimuli inhibit interleukin-1β (IL-1β) mediated inflammatory signalling, however the mechanism is unclear. This study aims to clarify the role of TRPV4 in this response. Design TRPV4 activity was modulated glycogen synthase kinase (GSK205 antagonist or GSK1016790 A (GSK101) agonist) in articular chondrocytes and cartilage explants in the presence or absence of IL-1β, mechanical (10% cyclic tensile strain (CTS), 0.33 Hz, 24hrs) or osmotic loading (200mOsm, 24hrs). Nitric oxide (NO), prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) and sulphated glycosaminoglycan (sGAG) release and cartilage biomechanics were analysed. Alterations in post-translational tubulin modifications and primary cilia length regulation were examined. Results In isolated chondrocytes, mechanical loading inhibited IL-1β mediated NO and PGE2 release. This response was inhibited by GSK205. Similarly, osmotic loading was anti-inflammatory in cells and explants, this response was abrogated by TRPV4 inhibition. In explants, GSK101 inhibited IL-1β mediated NO release and prevented cartilage degradation and loss of mechanical properties. Upon activation, TRPV4 cilia localisation was increased resulting in histone deacetylase 6 (HDAC6)-dependent modulation of soluble tubulin and altered cilia length regulation. Conclusion Mechanical, osmotic or pharmaceutical activation of TRPV4 regulates HDAC6-dependent modulation of ciliary tubulin and is anti-inflammatory. This study reveals for the first time, the potential of TRPV4 manipulation as a novel therapeutic mechanism to supress pro-inflammatory signalling and cartilage degradation.

High-quality BFCO films with smooth morphology were deposited on (001)-oriented single crystal substrates by pulsed-laser deposition. The perfect ferroelectric nature of the BFCO films were probed by PFM and electrical P-E hysteresis measurements and the obtained saturated remeanent polarization value reaches up to 60 μC/cm2. Besides, BFCO films show relatively low bandgap of 2.5 eV, can absorb the sunlight and convert the solar energy to electrically energy effectively. A photocurrent of 1.2 mA/cm2 and an open-circuit voltage of about 0.53 V were obtained under AM1.5G illumination. The results mainfest the BFCO a potiential material for multifunctional devices, especially for photovoltaics.