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Atherosclerotic plaques form in the inner layer of arteries triggering heart attacks and strokes. Although T cells have been detected in atherosclerosis, tolerance dysfunction as a disease driver remains unexplored. Here we examine tolerance checkpoints in atherosclerotic plaques, artery tertiary lymphoid organs and lymph nodes in mice burdened by advanced atherosclerosis, via single-cell RNA sequencing paired with T cell antigen receptor sequencing. Complex patterns of deteriorating peripheral T cell tolerance were observed being most pronounced in plaques followed by artery tertiary lymphoid organs, lymph nodes and blood. Affected checkpoints included clonal expansion of CD4+, CD8+ and regulatory T cells; aberrant tolerance-regulating transcripts of clonally expanded T cells; T cell exhaustion; Treg–TH17 T cell conversion; and dysfunctional antigen presentation. Moreover, single-cell RNA-sequencing profiles of human plaques revealed that the CD8+ T cell tolerance dysfunction observed in mouse plaques was shared in human coronary and carotid artery plaques. Thus, our data support the concept of atherosclerosis as a bona fide T cell autoimmune disease targeting the arterial wall.

Background: GPC5 rs2352028 is associated with the risk of lung cancer, but its relationship with lung cancer prognosis is unclear. Materials & methods: The authors collected blood samples from 888 patients with lung cancer and used a Cox proportional hazards model to analyze the association between prognosis and GPC5 polymorphism rs2352028. Results: GPC5 rs2352028 C > T was associated with a better prognosis. Patients with CT genotype had longer overall survival than those with CC genotype. Additionally, older and early-stage patients with CT + TT genotype had a lower risk of death than those with CC genotype. Conclusion: GPC5 rs2352028 C > T may play a protective role in patients with lung cancer and GPC5 rs2352028 may be a potential genetic marker for lung cancer prognosis.

A multitude of findings from the cell cultures and animal studies are available to support the anti-cancer properties of cannabinoids cannabidiol (CBD). Since CBD acts on multiple molecular targets, its clinical adaptation, especially in combination with cancer immunotherapy regimen remains a serious concern. Considering this, herein, we extensively studied the effect of CBD on the cytokine-induced killer (CIK) cells immunotherapy approach using multiple non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cells harboring diverse genotypes. Our analysis showed that, a) CB2 receptor surface and intracellular expression increased significantly in NSCLC cells following co-culture with CIK cells, b) CBD exerts a pronounced synergistic effect on CIK-mediated lysis, resulting in a substantial increase in IFN-γ production, c) CBD explicitly promotes the CD25+CD69+ population and CD62L−CD45RA+ terminal effector memory (EMRA) population in NKT-CIK cells, suggesting an activation and effector memory T-cell differentiation. Of interest, we observed that clinically relevant CBD concentrations enhanced the calcium influx (mediated by the TRPV2 channel) and p-ERK expression directly in CIK cells, while in cancer cells it induced DNA double-strand breaks via upregulation of histone H2AX phosphorylation. Notably, the migration and invasion ability of NSCLC cells suppressed by CBD (in the absence of CIK cells) was rescued using the TRPV2 antagonist (Tranilast). We further investigated the epigenetic effects of this synergy and found that combining CBD with CIK cells decreased the LINE-1 mRNA expression and the global DNA methylation level in NSCLC cells carrying KRAS mutation. Taken together, CBD holds a great potential for treating NSCLC with CIK cell immunotherapy and its complete success requires careful consideration of the patients' genetic background.

Detecting early-stage lung cancer is critical to reduce the lung cancer mortality rate; however, existing models based on germline variants perform poorly, and new models are needed. This study aimed to use extreme gradient boosting to develop a predictive model for the early diagnosis of lung cancer in a multicenter case-control study.A total of 974 cases and 1005 controls in Shanghai and Taizhou were recruited, and 61 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were genotyped. Multivariate logistic regression was used to calculate the association between signal SNPs and lung cancer risk. Logistic regression (LR) and extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost) algorithms, a large-scale machine learning algorithm, were adopted to build the lung cancer risk model. In both models, 10-fold cross-validation was performed, and model predictive performance was evaluated by the area under the curve (AUC).After FDR adjustment, TYMS rs3819102 and BAG6 rs1077393 were significantly associated with lung cancer risk (p 0.05). For lung cancer risk prediction, the model predicted only with epidemiology attained an AUC of 0.703 for LR and 0.744 for XGBoost. Compared with the LR model predicted only with epidemiology, further adding SNPs and applying XGBoost increased the AUC to 0.759 (p 0.001) in the XGBoost model. BAG6 rs1077393 was the most important predictor among all SNPs in the lung cancer prediction XGBoost model, followed by TERT rs2735845 and CAMKK1 rs7214723. Further stratification in lung adenocarcinoma (ADC) showed a significantly elevated performance from 0.639 to 0.699 (p = 0.009) when applying XGBoost and adding SNPs to the model, while the best model for lung squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) prediction was the LR model predicted with epidemiology and SNPs (AUC = 0.833), compared with the XGBoost model (AUC = 0.816).Our lung cancer risk prediction models in the Chinese population have a strong predictive ability, especially for SCC. Adding SNPs and applying the XGBoost algorithm to the epidemiologic-based logistic regression risk prediction model significantly improves model performance.

Objectives To compare the available evidence of the effectiveness of single blastocyst stage transfer against the effectiveness of single cleavage stage embryo transfer. Study design A systematic research based on Pubmed, Embase and the Cochrane Library was performed until May 2, 2020 to identify all relevant studies. The Cochrane Collaboration’s Review Manager (RevMan) 5.0.2 software was used for statistical analysis. Results Five randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were included in analysis, involving 1784 patients in total, who were divided into 2 groups, which were the single blastocyst stage transfer (SBT) group of 932, and the single cleavage stage transfer (SCT) group of 852. Our meta-analysis concluded that SBT group had a significantly higher clinical pregnancy rate (RR 1.26; 95%CI: 1.14–1.39), ongoing pregnancy rate (RR 1.19; 95%CI: 1.05–1.35) and delivery rate (RR 1.4; 95%CI: 1.13–1.75) than SCT group during the fresh transfer. While miscarriage rate (RR 0.93; 95% CI: 0.66–1.33), multiple pregnancy rate (RR, 1.12; 95% CI, 0.51–2.45) and ectopic pregnancy rate (RR, 0.5; 95% CI: 0.13–1.90) between two groups showed no significant difference. However, the SCT group contained notably more cryopreserved embryos than the SBT group. (RR −0.68, 95% CI: −0.95 to −0.41). Conclusions Our results indicate that single blastocyst stage transfer is associated with higher ongoing pregnancy rate and delivery rate comparing to single cleavage stage transfer in the clinical practice. Due to the low quality of the evidence of the primary outcomes, other higher-quality lager RCTs are necessary before a fully informed decision is made.

Thermally conductive polymeric materials with versatility are in high demand in electronic devices. Whereas, the limited thermal conductivity and versatility restrict the development of such materials. In this work, the hierarchical design and assembly technology was applied to prepare hierarchically multifunctional functionalized boron nitride/polyurethane multi-layer (m-FBN/PU) fibrous membranes with higher quality and higher quantity of oriented thermally conductive network. FBN/PU filler layers act as thermally conductively pathways and PU substrate layers provide mechanical support and the obtained hydrophobic and flexible m-FBN/PU fibrous membranes with 10 wt% FBN filling display high in-plane thermal conductivity (5.78 W·m− 1·K− 1) and electrical insulation (1014 Ω·cm). Meanwhile, in comparison with the FBN/PU single-layer (s-FBN/PU) fibrous membranes with the same filler content, the thermal conductive enhancement reaches 61.5%, which could be ascribed to the increased phonon transfer network built by the alternated aligned hierarchical structure. Our fabrication provides a promising strategy for developing multifunctional polymeric materials and has the potential in advanced electronics and emerging fields like wearable electronics.

Intelligent Eucommia ulmoides rubber (EUR) and ionomer Surlyn resin (SR) composites were prepared and studied in this manuscript. This is the first paper to combine EUR with SR to prepare composites with both the shape memory effect and self-healing capability. The mechanical, curing, thermal, shape memory and self-healing properties were studied by a universal testing machine, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), respectively. Experimental results showed that the increase in ionomer content not only improved mechanical and shape memory properties but also endowed the compounds with excellent self-healing ability under appropriate environmental conditions. In particular, the self-healing efficiency of the composites reached 87.41%, which was significantly higher than that of the other composites. Therefore, these novel shape memory and self-healing composites can expand the use of natural Eucommia ulmoidesrubber, such as in special medical devices, sensors and actuators.

In order to study the compressive deformation and energy evolution characteristics of concrete under dynamic loading, impact compression tests with impact velocities of 5, 6, and 7 m/s were carried out on concrete samples with aggregate volume ratios of 0, 32%, 37%, and 42%, respectively, using a split Hopkinson pressure bar test apparatus. The broken concrete pieces after destruction were collected and arranged. The fractal characteristics of fragmentation distribution of concrete specimens with different aggregate rates under impact were discussed, and the roughness of the fragment surface was characterized by the fractal dimension of the broken fragment and the crack surface energy was calculated. In addition, the analytical equation of the fractal dimension of the broken fragment and the crack surface energy was established. The relationship between the specimen energy absorption and the crack surface energy was compared and analyzed. The results show that the concrete specimens are mainly tensile split failure modes under different impact speeds. The fractal dimension, absorption energy, and crack surface energy all increase with the increase in impact speed and decrease with the increase in the aggregate rate. When the aggregate rate is different, the effective utilization rate of the absorbed energy is the largest when the aggregate content is 37%. The surface energy of the crack can be used to estimate the concrete dynamic intensity.

Estimation of breeding values through Best Linear Unbiased Prediction (BLUP) using pedigree-based kinship and Marker-Assisted Selection (MAS) are the two fundamental breeding methods used before and after the introduction of genetic markers, respectively. The emergence of high-density genome-wide markers has led to the development of two parallel series of approaches inspired by BLUP and MAS, which are collectively referred to as Genomic Selection (GS). The first series of GS methods alters pedigree-based BLUP by replacing pedigree-based kinship with marker-based kinship in a variety of ways, including weighting markers by their effects in genome-wide association study (GWAS), joining both pedigree and marker-based kinship together in a single-step BLUP, and substituting individuals with groups in a compressed BLUP. The second series of GS methods estimates the effects for all genetic markers simultaneously. For the second series methods, the marker effects are summed together regardless of their individual significance. Instead of fitting individuals as random effects like in the BLUP series, the second series fits markers as random effects. Differing assumptions regarding the underlying distribution of these marker effects have resulted in the development of many Bayesian-based GS methods. This review highlights critical concept developments for both of these series and explores ongoing GS developments in machine learning, multiple trait selection, and adaptation for hybrid breeding. Furthermore, considering the increasing use and variety of GS methods in plant breeding programs, this review addresses important concerns for future GS development and application, such as the use of GWAS-assisted GS, the long-term effectiveness of GS methods, and the valid assessment of prediction accuracy.

As coal mining is extended from shallow to deep areas along the western coalfield, it is of great significance to study weakly cemented sandstone at different depths for underground mining engineering. Sandstones from depths of 101.5, 203.2, 317.3, 406.9, 509.9 and 589.8 m at the Buertai Coal Mine were collected. The characteristic strength, acoustic emission (AE), and energy evolution of sandstone during uniaxial compression tests were analyzed. The results show that the intermediate frequency (125–275 kHz) of shallow rock mainly occurs in the postpeak stage, while deep rock occurs in the prepeak stage. The initiation strength and damage strength of the sandstone at different depths range from 0.23 to 0.50 and 0.63 to 0.84 of peak strength (σc), respectively, decrease exponentially and are a power function with depth. The precursor strength ranges from 0.88σc to 0.99σc, increases with depth before reaching a depth of 300 m, and tends to stabilize after 300 m. The ratio of the initiation strength to the damage strength (k) ranges from 0.25 to 0.62 and decreases exponentially with depth. The failure modes of sandstone at different depths are tension-dominated mixed tensile-shear failure. Shear failure mainly occurs at the unstable crack propagation stage. The count of the shear failure bands before the peak strength increases gradually, and increases first and then decreases after the peak strength with burial depth. The cumulative input energy, released elastic energy and dissipated energy increase with depth. The elastic release rate ranges from 0.46 × 10–3 to 198.57 × 10–3 J/(cm3 s) and increases exponentially with depth.

Background The efficacy of levofloxacin and ciprofloxacin in the treatment of urinary tract infection is not clear yet. This study perform a meta-analysis to explore the differences between the two against urinary tract infection (UTI). Methods A computerized literature search was conducted of the databases of PubMed, Medline, Embase, and the Cochrane Library. All the retrieved literatures were randomized comparative studies of levofloxacin and ciprofloxacin. The included studies were screened according to the standard of nanofiltration. The risk of bias was assessed with RevMan 5.3.5 software. The treatment effect index and incidence of adverse reactions index were established and compared via meta-analysis. Results A total of 5 studies were included, involving 2,877 patients overall. The results showed that levofloxacin was more effective than ciprofloxacin, but the difference between the 2 drugs was not statistically significant [odds ratio (OR) =1.18, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.94 to 1.46, P=0.15]. There was also no statistical significance in the rate of adverse reactions between the 2 drugs (OR =0.91, 95% CI: 0.78 to 1.07, P=0.27). Discussion In the treatment of UTI, the efficacy and safety of levofloxacin and ciprofloxacin are similar statistically. If bacterial resistance is discovered after the treatment of one of the drugs, the other drug might become an alternative.

Ammonia is a significant pollutant in the livestock houses and the atmospheric environment, and excessive ammonia would harm the health of livestock and breeders. Previous studies have shown that ammonia exposure could damage the tissue structure of the nervous system, but the molecular mechanism of ammonia-induced hypothalamus damage was still unclear. The purpose of this study was to determine the role of excessive ammonia in abnormal autophagy of pig hypothalamus and whether selenomethionine would have a mitigating effect on ammonia toxicity. Twenty-four 18-week pigs were randomly divided into four groups: the control group (C group), the selenium group (Se group), the ammonia + selenium group (A + Se group), and the ammonia group (A group). In our study, the expression levels of NF-κB, IL-1β, iNOS, TNF-α, IKK-α, p-IKK-α, Nrf2, ATG5, ATG 10, ATG 12, LC3 I/II, HSP60, HSP70, and HSP90 were increased after ammonia exposure; meanwhile, IFN-γ, IKB-α, p-IKB-α, Keap1, P62, mTOR, AKT, p-AKT, PI3K, SQSTM, and Beclin1 showed decreasing trends. The results indicated that excessive ammonia inhalation inhibited the AKT/mTOR pathway to acclerated autophagy through oxidative stress-mediated inflammation in the porcine hypothalamus. L-selenomethionine could alleviate hypothalamus injury induced by ammonia exposure.

Context Genomic-based technologies are allowing commercial beef producers to predict the genetic merit of individual animals of unknown pedigree with increased ease and accuracy. Genomic selection tools that can accurately predict the feedlot and carcass performance of steers have the potential to improve profitability for the beef supply chain. Aims To validate the ability of the Angus SteerSELECT genomic product to predict differences in performance of Australian Angus steers, in terms of carcass weight, marbling score, ossification score and carcass value, using a short-fed (100 days) or long-fed (270 days) finishing protocol at a commercial feedlot. Methods A reference population of 2763 Australian Angus steers was used to generate genomic prediction equations for three carcass traits, namely, carcass weight, marbling score and ossification. The accuracy and bias of genomic predictions of breeding values were then evaluated using a validation population of 522 Angus steers, either short- or long-fed at a commercial feedlot, by comparing breeding values to measured phenotypes. The potential economic benefits for feedlot operators when using Angus SteerSELECT were estimated on the basis of the ability of the tool to predict the carcass value of steers in the validation population. Key results The accuracy of genomic predictions of breeding values for carcass weight, marbling score and ossification score were 0.752, 0.723 and 0.734 respectively. When steers were ranked in quartiles for predicted carcass value, calculated using genomic predictions of breeding values for carcass weight and marbling score, the least-square mean carcass value for steers in each quartile, from bottom 25% predicted performers to top 25% predicted performers, were estimated at A$1794, A$1977, A$2021 and A$2148 for short-fed steers and A$3546, A$3780, A$3864 and A$4258 for long-fed steers. Differences in the carcass value least-squares mean between the bottom and top quartile were highly significant (P < 0.001) for both short-fed and long-fed steers. Conclusions Genomic prediction equations used in Angus SteerSELECT can predict differences in carcass weight, marbling score, ossification score and carcass value in both short-fed and long-fed Australian Angus steers. Implications Genomic selection tools that can predict differences in performance, in terms of growth and carcass characteristics, of commercial feedlot cattle have the potential to significantly increase profitability for the beef supply chain by improving the quality and consistency of the beef products they produce.

Context Immune competence is a proxy trait for general disease resistance and is based on combined measures of an animal’s ability to mount both a cell-mediated immune response (Cell-IR) and an antibody-mediated immune response (Ab-IR). On the basis of previously described arithmetic, we combined these measures into a single proxy trait for immune competence, named ImmuneDEX (IDEX). Aims Using a population of 3715 Australian Angus steers (n = 2395) and heifers (n = 1320) with genotypes for 45 364 single-nucleotide polymorphisms, we provide the latest genomic estimates of heritability and genetic correlations for IDEX and the components Cell-IR and Ab-IR immune competence phenotypes. Accuracy and bias of genomic predictions of breeding values are also presented and discussed. Methods Measures of Cell-IR, Ab-IR and IDEX were analysed jointly in a tri-variate genomic restricted maximum-likelihood model that contained the fixed effects of contemporary group with 80 levels, the linear covariates of age at measurement and change in skin thickness at control site, and the random polygenic (genomic estimated breeding value, GEBV) and residual effects. Following Method LR procedures, we estimate accuracy, bias and dispersion of genomic predictions using a cross-validation scheme based on five year-of-birth cohorts. Key results We report genomic restricted maximum-likelihood model estimates of heritability of 0.247 ± 0.040 for Cell-IR, 0.326 ± 0.059 for Ab-IR, 0.275 ± 0.046 for IDEX. While a small positive genetic correlation (rg) was estimated between Cell-IR and Ab-IR (rg = 0.138 ± 0.095), strongly positive estimates were obtained between IDEX and Cell-IR (rg = 0.740 ± 0.044) and between IDEX and Ab-IR (rg = 0.741 ± 0.036). Averaged across the five validation sets, the accuracy of GEBV for Cell-IR, Ab-IR and IDEX was 0.405, 0.443 and 0.411 respectively. Also, some significant bias or dispersion can be expected depending on the cohort used as the validation population. Conclusions Consistent with previous findings, immune competence phenotypes are moderately heritable and accurate GEBV can be generated to allow the selection of cattle with an improved ability to mount a general immune response. Implications Our analyses suggest that ImmuneDEX will provide a tool to underpin long-term genetic strategies aimed at improving the immune competence of Australian Angus cattle in production systems, which, in turn, is expected to reduce the incidence of disease and our reliance on antibiotics to treat disease.

Background This study explored the relevance between rs1695 and susceptibility to the lung cancer in the Chinese Han population. Stratification analysis was conducted on the basis of age, gender, smoking status, tumor-related family history, and pathological type to observe relations between rs1695 and susceptibility to lung cancer in the subgroups. Methods A case-control study was performed with 974 lung cancer patients who were pathologically diagnosed and 1005 healthy cases based on physical examination to analyze the association between rs1695 and the risk of lung cancer. Results The frequencies of the AA, GA, and GG genotypes of rs1695 were 68.4%, 28.7%, and 2.9% in cases and 64.8%, 30.8%, and 4.2% in controls, respectively. After adjustment for age, gender, smoking status, and family history, it appears that the rs1695 G allele decreases the risk of lung cancer (OR = 0.811, 95% CI 0.684–0.961, P = 0.016). Moreover, compared with the AA genotype, the GA + GG genotype decreased lung cancer susceptibility (OR = 0.808, 95% CI 0.663–0.985, P = 0.035) and the GG genotype (OR = 0.591, 95% CI 0.347–0.988, P = 0.048). In a stratified analysis, the risk of lung cancer in the G allele carriers decreased among the males, patients without a tumor-related family history, and patients with lung adenocarcinoma, especially in smokers. Conclusion The polymorphism of locus rs1695 is related to the risk of lung cancer and is expected to be a target for the prediction of lung cancer.

Ternary composite ZnO/ZnS/ZnSe nanosheets (NSs) with diverse proportions of three modules successfully manufactured by a plain two-step solvothermal way with the comparison to ZnO/ZnS and ZnO/ZnSe NSs. ZnO/ZnS/ZnSe NSs have the alike geometrical morphology with the ZnO/ZnS and ZnO/ZnSe NSs. The UV–Vis diffuse reflectance spectra (DRS) result reveals that ternary composites can assimilate more quantum photons which are helpful to the photocatalytic reaction. The photocurrent density of ternary composite structures is higher in the photocurrent response of all samples under simulated solar light illumination. Compared with ZnO/ZnS or ZnO/ZnSe binary composite NSs, ZnO/ZnS/ZnSe ternary composite NSs prove a prominent photodegradation property for degradation of rhodamine B (RhB) aqueous solution under simulated sunlight illumination. The project mechanism was confirmed by radical trapping experiments and a superoxide radical anion formation assay. ZnO/ZnS/ZnSe NSs with a molar ratio of S/Se (0.97) display the most outstanding photocatalytic activity and well photocatalytic stability.

The relatively narrow electrochemical steady window and low ionic conductivity are two critical challenges for Li+ -conducting solid polymer electrolytes (SPE). Here, a family of poly-oxalate(POE) structures were prepared as SPE; among them, POEs composed from diols with an odd number of carbons show higher ionic conductivity than those composed from diols with an even number of carbons, and the POE composed from propanediol (C5-POE) has the highest Li+ conductivity. The HOMO (highest occupied molecular orbital) electrons of POE were found located on the terminal units. When using trifluoroacetate as the terminating unit (POE-F), not only does the HOMO become more negative, but also the HOMO electrons shift to the middle oxalate units, improving the antioxidative capability. Furthermore, the interfacial compatibility across the Li-metal/POE-F is also improved by the generation of a LiF-based solid-electrolyte-interlayer(SEI). With the trifluoroacetate-terminated C5-POE (C5-POE-F) as the electrolyte and Li+ -conducting binder in the cathode, the all-solid-state Li/LiNi0.8 Mn0.1 Co0.1 O2 (NMC811) cells showed significantly improved stability than the counterpart with poly-ether, providing a promising candidate for the forthcoming all-solid-state high-voltage Li-metal batteries.

The integration of Li2 S6 within a poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO)-based polymer electrolyte is demonstrated to improve the polymer electrolyte's ionic conductivity because the strong interplay between O2- (PEO) and Li+ from Li2 S6 reduces the crystalline volume within the PEO. The Li/electrolyte interface is stabilized by the in situ formation of an ultra-thin Li2 S/Li2 S2 layer via the reaction between Li2 S6 and lithium metal, which increases the ionic transport at the interface and suppresses lithium dendrite growth. A symmetric Li/Li cell with the Li2 S6 -integrated composite electrolyte has excellent cyclability and a high critical current density of 0.9 mA cm-2 at 40 °C. Impressive electrochemical performance is demonstrated with all-solid-state Li/LiFePO4 and high-voltage Li/LiNi0.8 Mn0.1 Co0.1 O2 cells at 40 °C.

The current formula of critical hydraulic gradient is not adapted to solve critical hydraulic gradient of cohesive soil. Assume that the seepage failure mode of the cohesive soil foundation was cylindrical or inverted circular truncated cone, based on the calculation formula of the critical hydraulic gradient of Terzaghi, the analytical formula of the critical hydraulic gradient considering the influence of the shear strength of the soil was derived. Then, the seepage failure process of the clay layer was simulated numerically, and the effects of the clay layer thickness, failure radius, and shear strength indexes on the critical hydraulic slope were analyzed. The comparison results show that the numerical test results are in good agreement with the calculated results of the new formula. In addition, the critical hydraulic gradient of sandy loam and loess under different working conditions was studied severally by a self-made permeation failure instrument. The results show that the critical hydraulic gradient decreases with the increase of soil thickness and failure radius, and the maximum error between the test and the corresponding formula results is no more than 16%.

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is an economically important animal disease because of the speed of its transmission. Routine vaccination may not be effective; RAM can be considered as a potential facilitator for this. Present study was designed to evaluate the effects of feeding different treatment of the RAM in different days on the immune responses in mice immunised with FMDV type O vaccine.In experiment 1, 50 ICR mice were randomly divided into five groups with 10 animals in each group, and the basic diet containing 1% Crush of RAM for 1-week ad libitum feeding period, 1% Crush of RAM for 6-week ad libitum feeding period, 1% Decoction of RAM for a 1-week ad libitum feeding period, 1% Decoction of RAM for a 6-week ad libitum feeding period, respectively. Blood samples were collected 2 weeks after boosting for measurement of FMDV-specific IgG level and the IgG subclasses, lymphocyte proliferation as well as production IL-5 and IFN-γ. In experiment 2, four groups mice were fed basic diet and basic diet containing 5% Decoction of RAM for 2-, 4- and 6-day ad libitum feeding periods, respectively. Then we collected blood samples for detecting IgG and IgG subclasses, splenocytes for lymphocyte proliferation as well as production IL-5 and IFN-γ, and tissue samples of small intestine for sIgA.The results indicated that 1% Decoction of RAM for a 1-week ad libitum feeding period group and 5% Decoction of RAM for 2-, 4- and 6-day ad libitum feeding period group enhance the FMDV-specific immune responses significantly.Taken together, the results demonstrate that doses and feeding time of RAM are important to affect the immune responses.

Ammonia could be regarded as one detrimental pollutant with an acrid smell in livestock sheds. So far, the pig breeding industry became the main source of atmospheric ammonia. Previous literature demonstrated that excessive ammonia inhalation might cause a series of physiological damage to multiple organs. Unfortunately, the toxicity mechanisms of gaseous ammonia to the porcine nervous system need further research to elucidate. Selenium (Se) involves in many essential physiological processes and has a mitigative effect on the exogenous toxicant. There were scant references that corroborated whether organic Se could intervene in the underlying toxicity of ammonia to the hypothalamus. In the present study, multi-omics tools, ethology, and molecular biological techniques were performed to clarify the detailed mechanisms of relaxation effects of L-selenomethionine on ammonia poisoning. Our results showed that ammonia inhalation caused the clinical symptoms and the increment of positive apoptosis rate in the hypothalamus with the dysfunction of mitochondrial dynamics factors, while obvious mitochondria structure defects were observed. In parallel, the inflammation medium levels and gut microbes-driven metabolism function were altered to mediate the neurotoxicity in fattening pigs through the initiation of inflammation development. Interestingly, L-selenomethionine could attenuate ammonia toxicity by activating the PI3K/Akt/PPAR-γ pathway to inhibit the mitochondria-mediated apoptosis process, blocking the abnormal immune response and the accumulation of reactive oxygen species in the nucleus. Meanwhile, Se could enhance the production performance of fattening sows. Taken together, our study verified the novel hypothesis for the toxicity identification of aerial ammonia and provided a therapeutic strategy for the treatment of occupational poisoning.

Leukocytes patrol our bodies in search of pathogens and migrate to sites of injury in response to various stimuli. Rapid and directed leukocyte motility is therefore crucial to our immunity. The nucleus is the largest and stiffest cellular organelle and a mechanical obstacle for migration through constrictions. However, the nucleus is also essential for 3D cell migration. Here, we review the roles of the nucleus in leukocyte migration, focusing on how cells deform their nuclei to aid cell motility and the contributions of the nucleus to cell migration. We discuss the regulation of the nuclear biomechanics by the nuclear lamina and how it, together with the cytoskeleton, modulates the shapes of leukocyte nuclei. We then summarize the functions of nesprins and SUN proteins in leukocytes and discuss how forces are exerted on the nucleus. Finally, we examine the mechanical roles of the nucleus in cell migration, including its roles in regulating the direction of migration and path selection.

In this work, the Na-K liquid alloy with a charge selective interfacial layer is developed to achieve an impressively long cycling life with small overpotential on a sodium super-ionic conductor solid-state electrolyte (NASICON SSE). With this unique multi-cation system as the platform, we further propose a unique model that contains a chemical decomposition domain and a kinetic decomposition domain for the interfacial stability model. Based on this model, two charge selection mechanisms are proposed with dynamic chemical kinetic equilibrium and electrochemical kinetics as the manners of control, respectively, and both are validated by the electrochemical measurements with microscopic and spectroscopic characterizations. This study provides an effective design for high-energy-density solid-state battery with alkali Na-K anode, but also presents a novel approach to understand the interfacial chemical processes that could inspire and guide future designs.

Anti-perovskite type Li2 OHCl was previously studied as a solid-state Li+ conductor. Here, we report that the Li2 OHCl can be electrolyzed at 3.3 V or 4.0 V, with the creation of O2 /HCl gases and the release of 2 equiv. Li+ via two different decomposition routes, depending on the acidity of electrolyte. In the electrolyte with trace acid, the Li2 OHCl is oxidized at a constant voltage of 3.3 V. In neutral electrolyte, the oxidization of Li2 OHCl starts at 4.0 V, but the produced HCl will increase the acidity of electrolyte and lead to a voltage drop to 3.3 V for the electrolysis of Li2 OHCl. The electrolysis of Li2 OHCl delivers a lithium releasing capacity as high as 810 mAh g-1 , with an equivalent Li-deposition or Li-intercalation on anode, making it a promising candidate as a Li reservoir for prelithiation of anode. Using Li2 OHCl as the lithium source, silicon-carbon (Si@C) composite anode can be effectively prelithiated. The full cells composed of LiNi0.8 Mn0.1 Co0.1 O2 (NMC811) cathode and prelithiated Si@C anode exhibited increased capacities with the increment of prelithiation dosages.

The application of flexible, robust, and low-cost solid polymer electrolytes in next-generation all-solid-state lithium metal batteries has been hindered by the low room-temperature ionic conductivity of these electrolytes and the small critical current density of the batteries. Both issues stem from the low mobility of Li+ ions in the polymer and the fast lithium dendrite growth at the Li metal/electrolyte interface. Herein, Mg(ClO4)2 is demonstrated to be an effective additive in the poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO)-based composite electrolyte to regulate Li+ ion transport and manipulate the Li metal/electrolyte interfacial performance. By combining experimental and computational studies, we show that Mg2+ ions are immobile in a PEO host due to coordination with ether oxygen and anions of lithium salts, which enhances the mobility of Li+ ions; more importantly, an in-situ formed Li+-conducting Li2MgCl4/LiF interfacial layer homogenizes the Li+ flux during plating and increases the critical current density up to a record 2 mA cm-2. Each of these factors contributes to the assembly of competitive all-solid-state Li/Li, LiFePO4/Li, and LiNi0.8Mn0.1Co0.1O2/Li cells, demonstrating the importance of surface chemistry and interfacial engineering in the design of all-solid-state Li metal batteries for high-current-density applications.