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Psoriasis, an immune-mediated inflammatory skin disorder characterized by a chronically relapsing-remitting course, continues to be primarily managed through topical therapy. While oral administration of tyrosine kinase 2 inhibitors (TYK2i) stands as an effective approach for psoriasis treatment, the potential efficacy of topical application of TYK2i remains unexplored. Herein, the carbomer/alginic acid hydrogel is embedded with borneol (BO) as a new topical carrier of TYK2i for achieving enhanced transdermal permeation and anti-psoriasis efficacy. The hydrogel system, i.e., TYK2i-BO-gel, exhibits significantly improved preventative and therapeutic effects in mice models of psoriasiform dermatitis, as evidenced by phenotypical images, psoriasis severity score index (PSI), histology, immunohistochemical staining, and PCR analysis. Remarkably, TYK2i-BO-gel outperforms conventional topical corticosteroid therapy by significantly preventing psoriatic lesion recurrence as measured by a nearly 50 % reduction in ear thickness changes (p

BackgroundNatural killer (NK) cells are key effector cells of antitumor immunity. However, tumors can acquire resistance programs to escape NK cell-mediated immunosurveillance. Identifying mechanisms that mediate this resistance enables us to define approaches to improve immune-mediate antitumor activity. In previous studies from our group, a genome-wide CRISPR-Cas9 screen identified Charged Multivesicular Body Protein 2A (CHMP2A) as a novel mechanism that mediates tumor intrinsic resistance to NK cell activity.MethodsHere, we use an immunocompetent mouse model to demonstrate that CHMP2A serves as a targetable regulator of not only NK cell-mediated immunity but also other immune cell populations. Using the recently characterized murine 4MOSC model system, a syngeneic, tobacco-signature murine head and neck squamous cell carcinoma model, we deleted mCHMP2A using CRISPR/Cas9-mediated knock-out (KO), following orthotopic transplantation into immunocompetent hosts.ResultsWe found that mCHMP2A KO in 4MOSC1 cells leads to more potent NK-mediated tumor cell killing in vitro in these tumor cells. Moreover, following orthotopic transplantation, KO of mCHMP2A in 4MOSC1 cells, but not the more immune-resistant 4MOSC2 cells enables both T cells and NK cells to better mediate antitumor activity compared with wild type (WT) tumors. However, there was no difference in tumor development between WT and mCHMP2A KO 4MOSC1 or 4MOSC2 tumors when implanted in immunodeficient mice. Mechanistically, we find that mCHMP2A KO 4MOSC1 tumors transplanted into the immunocompetent mice had significantly increased CD4+T cells, CD8+T cells. NK cell, as well as fewer myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSC).ConclusionsTogether, these studies demonstrate that CHMP2A is a targetable inhibitor of cellular antitumor immunity.

Previous studies have shown that paricalcitol (PA) has a protective effect on the kidneys. However, the exact molecular mechanism by which PA affects diabetic nephropathy (DN) progression remains uncertain. PBMCs of patients with DN were isolated, and CYP2J2 and VDR levels were detected by qPCR. Pearson correlation analysis was utilized to detect the relationship between uACR and CYP2J2 and VDR and between CYP2J2 and VDR. The protective effects of PA on DN have been examined by TUNEL, HE staining, ELISA, and Flow cytometry assays in STZ‐induced mice. Moreover, THP‐1 cells were stimulated with HG/LPS for in vitro studies. ELISA, qPCR, western blot, and Flow cytometry assays were utilized to assess the effects of PA on DN progression by regulating CYP2J2. The interaction between CYP2J2 and VDR was analyzed by CHIP‐qPCR and luciferase experiments. CYP2J2 and VDR levels were downregulated and uACR level was upregulated in DN patients. CYP2J2 and VDR were positively correlated in PBMCs. Both CYP2J2 and VDR are inversely correlated with uACR. Moreover, after PA treatment, 11, 12‐EET levels increased, inflammatory factor levels decreased, and M2 macrophage polarization was promoted in STZ‐induced mice and HG/LPS‐triggered THP‐1 cells. Depletion of CYP2J2 and VDR decreased 11, 12‐EET level, enhanced inflammatory factor levels, and inhibited M2 macrophage polarization, which were reversed by CYP2J2 overexpression in HG/LPS‐treated cells. Furthermore, VDR bound to the CYP2J2 promoter and promoted CYP2J2 transcriptional expression. The present work pointed out a new use for PA to inhibit DN progression by increasing EET level, inhibiting inflammatory response, and inducing M2 macrophage polarization via regulating the VDR/CYP2J2 axis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The architecture of software‐defined network (SDN)enhances the openness of the network by separating the control and forwarding functions, but the centralized SDN control form is susceptible to distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks. In this paper, entropy value and back‐propagation neural network (BPNN) were applied to the DDoS attack detection of SDN, and then the two detection algorithms were simulated in MATLAB software and compared with the K‐means algorithm. The results showed that in the face of four DDoS attacks, SYN Flood, ACK Flood, UDP Flood and ICMP Flood, the BPNN‐based DDoS detection had higher accuracy and less detection time; the switch that adopted the BPNN‐based DDoS detection algorithm adjusted the traffic ratio back to normal level faster when facing DDoS attacks, reducing the impact on other switches and maintaining the traffic stability of the network. © 2024 Institute of Electrical Engineer of Japan and Wiley Periodicals LLC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to evaluate the safety of tebuconazole as a fungicide in bananas, after a simple and rapid pre-treatment, the residues of tebuconazole in different parts of banana were detected by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) within 35 days. The mean recoveries and relative standard deviations in banana samples were 87.17 ~ 96.68% and 2.85 ~ 8.49%, respectively. The half-lives of tebuconazole in whole banana, banana pulp, and banana peel were 7.31 ~ 8.68 days, 11.12 ~ 13.39 days, and 4.06 ~ 5.74 days, respectively. It can be seen that tebuconazole dissipated fastest in the peel and slowest in the pulp. And the contents of tebuconazole in banana pulp and banana peel were 3 ~ 35% and 65 ~ 97%, respectively, which can be seen that tebuconazole was mainly distributed in the peel, and only a small part was transmitted to the pulp. Results also showed that the residual amounts of tebuconazole in banana pulp were increased at the first three days and then gradually dissipated, and were below the maximum residue limit (MRL) in China. The results of dietary intake risk assessment showed that the HQ (hazard quotient) were 0.45 ~ 2.69%, which were within the acceptable range. Overall, our research results show that tebuconazole in the field control of banana freckle disease has high security and low risk with the application dose of 133 g/L and diluted 1000 times in water, and can provide an important reference for the rational use of tebuconazole as a systemic fungicide in the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: To validate cardiovascular risk prediction models for individuals with diabetes using the UK Biobank in order to assess their applicability. Methods: We externally validated 19 cardiovascular risk scores from seven risk prediction models (Chang et al., Framingham, University of Hong Kong‐Singapore [HKU‐SG], Li et al, RECODe [risk equations for complications of type 2 diabetes], SCORE [Systematic Coronary Risk Evaluation] and the UK Prospective Diabetes Study Outcomes Model 2 [UKPDS OM2]), identified from systematic reviews, using UK Biobank data from 2006 to 2021 (n = 23 685; participant age 40–71 years, 63.5% male). We evaluated performance by assessing the discrimination and calibration of the models for the endpoints of mortality, cardiovascular mortality, congestive heart failure, myocardial infarction, stroke, and ischaemic heart disease. Results: Over a total of 269 430 person‐years of follow‐up (median 11.89 years), the models showed low‐to‐moderate discrimination performance on external validation (concordance indices [c‐indices] 0.50–0.71). Most models had low calibration with overprediction of the observed risk. RECODe outperformed other models across four comparable endpoints for discrimination: all‐cause mortality (c‐index 0.67, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.65–0.69), congestive heart failure (c‐index 0.71, 95% CI 0.69–0.72), myocardial infarction (c‐index 0.67, 95% CI 0.65–0.68); and stroke (c‐index 0.65, 95% CI 0.62–0.68), and for calibration (except for all‐cause mortality). The UKPDS OM2 had comparable performance to RECODe for all‐cause mortality (c‐index 0.67, 95% CI 0.66–0.69) and cardiovascular mortality (c‐index 0.71, 95% CI 0.70–0.73), but worse performance for other outcomes. The models performed better for younger participants and somewhat better for non‐White ethnicities. Models developed from non‐Western datasets showed worse performance in our UK‐based validation set. Conclusions: The RECODe model led to better risk estimations in this predominantly White European population. Further validation is needed in non‐Western populations to assess generalizability to other populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Estimating the population of defects is a key reference for completion evaluation in crowdsourced testing. Current studies commonly use the biological capture–recapture model (CRC model) to estimate the population of defects in crowdsourced tests with good results. However, the lack of consideration of false negatives for defects in existing studies leads to imprecise estimation of completion in crowdsourced testing, which in turn influences decision support during crowdsourced testing. This study analyzes the basic assumptions of the CRC model in biology and maps them to the field of crowdsourced testing, improves the Lincoln–Peterson estimator and sample coverage estimator utilizing false negative assumptions, and compares them with original estimators in 29 real crowdsourced testing projects. The experimental results show that our improved estimators can effectively reduce the estimation relative error of the population of defects caused by false negatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Located in the southwest of Jiangxi Province, Dayu County has the most abundant tungsten resources in China. In this paper, 2969 agricultural soil samples were collected downstream of the tungsten mining area in Dayu, and all samples were tested for the contents of potentially toxic elements (PTEs) such as Cd, Pb, Zn, Cr, Cu, Ni, Hg, as well as the mining-related elements W, Sn, Mo and pH. In addition, 135 soil samples were measured for chemical morphology of Cd. The results show that the distribution patterns of Cd, Pb, Zn, Cu and W, Sn, Mo are relatively consistent, which are considered to be affected by upstream mining activities. Hg is possibly overlaying the effects of human production and living activities. Cr and Ni are considered as a natural source. From the perspective of total concentration, the ecological risk of PTEs in the study area was low, with over 80% of the samples being evaluated as safe. However, based on chemical fraction of Cd, more than 75% of the samples were assessed as moderately or severely contaminated. The serious acidification of soil in the study area is the main reason for the increase activity of Cd and its ecological risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: The Moringa seed protein (MOS) is a new protein resource, the development and utilisation of MOS is still in its early stages due to the late introduction of its varieties. To improve the range of available MOS protein, this study investigated the effects of different pH levels on the ultrasonic modification of MOS protein (UMOWP), exploring the feasibility of UMOWP emulsion systems in food. The zeta potential analysis revealed that the isoelectric point (pI) of UMOWP was 5.8. The secondary structures of UMOWP could be regulated by pH. Moreover, different secondary structures led to different tertiary structures and chemical bonds in UMOWP. Compared with pH values near pI, surface hydrophobicity significantly increased but the total S–S group and particle size decreased away from pI. Furthermore, UMOWP partially dissociated at pH 3, and the degree of dissociation was weaker at pH 9 and pH 11. These structural changes led to significant improvements in the emulsification properties of UMOWP at pH 11, resulting in better environmental stability of the emulsion. These findings provide a foundation for the potential application of MOS proteins in the food industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Fatigue is a common but often overlooked symptom in dialysis patients. Factors affecting fatigue in dialysis patients are currently unclear. There are few studies on the effects of mental factors and dialysis modality on fatigue. This study aims to explore the potential relationship between fatigue and insomnia, as well as psychiatric disorders such as anxiety and depression among patients who undergo peritoneal dialysis (PD) or hemodialysis (HD). Methods: There were 96 HD patients and 160 PD patients at our hospital who voluntarily participated in the survey. A questionnaire survey was conducted to gather general characteristics of the patients and to evaluate fatigue, sleep quality, anxiety, and depression levels among PD and HD patients. Results: The overall fatigue score was 53.83 ± 14.22 for the PD group and 57.92 ± 16.35 for the HD group. Notably, the fatigue level was lower in the PD group compared to the HD group (p < 0.05). Univariate analysis indicated that fatigue was associated with occupational status and income in the PD group, as well as educational level and income in the HD group (p < 0.05). Correlation analysis revealed that patients in both groups who were older and had higher scores for insomnia, anxiety, and depression experienced more severe fatigue. Moreover, body mass index was positively correlated with fatigue status in the PD group, while duration of dialysis showed a positive association with fatigue in the HD group. Multivariate regression analysis identified income and depression as major factors influencing fatigue in the PD group, and duration of dialysis, income, and depression in the HD group. Conclusion: Patients who undergo dialysis exhibit high levels of fatigue, with the severity of fatigue being less pronounced in the PD group compared to the HD group. Fatigue in these patients is associated with the duration of dialysis, income level, and presence of depression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The environmental risk posed by heavy metals in agricultural soil is primarily influenced by their sources, bioavailability, and geochemical transfer behavior. This study focused on Weining County, a region in Guizhou province, Southwest China, with a high geological background and long-term impact from artisanal Zn smelting. Vertical soil profiles, crop, and rhizospheric soil samples were collected and analyzed for heavy metal concentration (As, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Hg, Ni, Pb, V, and Zn) including the total concentration and chemical fraction. The results revealed elevated concentrations of Cd (range: 0.7–6.9 mg·kg−1), Co (range: 19.3–120.0 mg·kg−1), Cu (range: 71.6–386.0 mg·kg−1), Ni (range: 51.0–121.0 mg·kg−1), and V (range: 310.0–721.0 mg·kg−1) in all soil samples compared to the background values of Guizhou Province. Chemical fractionation analysis indicated that Cr, Ni, As, Cu, and Zn were predominantly present in the residual fraction, while Hg and Pb were predominantly found in the potentially bioavailable fraction. Cd exhibited the highest bioavailability, accounting for 58.5% of its total concentration. Enrichment factor analysis suggested that artisanal Zn smelting activities were the main sources of Cd, Pb, and Zn contamination. Furthermore, Cd, Pb, and Zn were found to be highly accumulated in the surface soil layer (0–20 cm). Notably, 90.0% of potato and 9.4% of maize grain samples exceeded the food hygiene standards for Cd concentration, posing potential health risks to consumers. The bioconcentration factor (soil-to-root) and translocation factor (root-to-grain) analyses indicated that maize roots had a higher tendency to accumulate Cd from the soil, while Zn and Cu showed a significant transferability from roots to maize grains. These findings offer valuable insights for devising heavy metal remediation strategies in similar areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ER Ca2+ channel ryanodine receptor 2 (RyR2) is required for maintenance of insulin content and glucose-stimulated insulin secretion, in part, via regulation of the protein IRBIT in the insulinoma cell line INS-1. Here, we examined store-operated and depolarization-dependent Ca2+entry using INS-1 cells in which either RyR2 or IRBIT were deleted. Store-operated Ca2+ entry (SOCE) stimulated with thapsigargin was reduced in RyR2KO cells compared to controls, but was unchanged in IRBITKO cells. STIM1 protein levels were not different between the three cell lines. Basal and stimulated (500 μM carbachol) phospholipase C (PLC) activity was also reduced specifically in RyR2KO cells. Insulin secretion stimulated by tolbutamide was reduced in RyR2KO and IRBITKO cells compared to controls, but was potentiated by an EPAC-selective cAMP analog in all three cell lines. Cellular PIP2 levels were increased and cortical f-actin levels were reduced in RyR2KO cells compared to controls. Whole-cell Cav channel current density was increased in RyR2KO cells compared to controls, and barium current was reduced by acute activation of the lipid phosphatase pseudojanin preferentially in RyR2KO cells over control INS-1 cells. Action potentials stimulated by 18 mM glucose were more frequent in RyR2KO cells compared to controls, and insensitive to the SK channel inhibitor apamin. Taken together, these results suggest that RyR2 plays a critical role in regulating PLC activity and PIP2 levels via regulation of SOCE. RyR2 also regulates β-cell electrical activity by controlling Cav current density and SK channel activation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common cancer worldwide and the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the world. It is urgent to search for safe and effective therapies to address the CRC crisis. The siRNA-based RNA interference targeted silencing of PD-L1 has extensive potential in CRC treatment but is limited by the lack of efficient delivery vectors. In this work, the novel cytosine-phosphate-guanine oligodeoxynucleotides (CpG ODNs)/siPD-L1 co-delivery vectors AuNRs@MS/CpG ODN@PEG-bPEI (ASCP) were successfully prepared by two-step surface modification of CpG ODNs-loading and polyethylene glycol-branched polyethyleneimine-coating around mesoporous silica-coated gold nanorods. ASCP promoted dendritic cells (DCs) maturation by delivering CpG ODNs, exhibiting excellent biosafety. Next, mild photothermal therapy (MPTT) mediated by ASCP killed tumor cells and released tumor-associated antigens, further promoting DC maturation. Furthermore, ASCP exhibited mild photothermal heating-enhanced performance as gene vectors, resulting in an increased PD-L1 gene silencing effect. Enhanced DCs maturity and enhanced PD-L1 gene silencing significantly promoted the anti-tumor immune response. Finally, the combination of MPTT and mild photothermal heating-enhanced gene/immunotherapy effectively killed MC38 cells, leading to strong inhibition of CRC. Overall, this work provided new insights into the design of mild photothermal/gene/immune synergies for tumor therapy and may contribute to translational nanomedicine for CRC treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Different ultrasonic power treatment effects on in vitro digestibility and oxidation activity of Moringa oleifera seeds water soluble protein (MOWP) were explored by in vitro simulated digestion and antioxidant model. The results showed that during the continuous digestion of gastrointestinal tract, the digestibility and hydrolysis degree were increased obviously, and the digestion was decreased firstly with the increase of ultrasonic power. When the ultrasonic power was up to 650 W, the digestibility of gastric hydrolysate and gastrointestinal continuous digestive hydrolysate could reach up to (68.52±1.70)% and (91.48±0.64)%. After simulated stomach digestion and gastrointestinal continuous digestion, protein molecules were decomposed into proteins with smaller molecular mass, and the peak wave length of endogenous fluorescence changes in the two stages, the peak of stomach digestion was redshifted from 351 nm to 353 nm, and the continuous gastrointestinal digestion was redshifted from 353 nm to 355 nm. The ultrasonic power was 60%, the DPPH • clearance capacity of MOWP after stomach digestion and gastrointestinal continuous digestion was the best, which was (78.26±0.85)% and (44.23±0.98%)%. MOWP-100 had the highest scavenging rates of ABTS free radical in stomach digestion and gastrointestinal continuous digestion stage, which were (91.87±0.19)%. Conclusion: Ultrasonic modification can help improve the digestion performance of MOWP. The ultrasonically digested MOWP has excellent antioxidant activity, which provides theoretical significance for the introduction of MOWP into food and digestion in the human body. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ischemia–reperfusion injury (IRI) is one of the major causes of acute kidney injury (AKI). tRNA derived fragments (tRFs/tiRNAs) are groups of small noncoding RNAs derived from tRNAs. To date, the role of tRFs/tiRNAs in renal IRI has not been reported. Herein, we aimed to investigate the involvement of tRFs/tiRNAs in the occurrence and development of ischemia–reperfusion-induced AKI. Moderate/severe renal IRI mouse models were established by bilateral renal pedicle clamping. The tRF/tiRNA profiles of healthy controls and moderate/severe IRI-stressed kidney tissues were sequenced by Illumina NextSeq 500. Candidate differentially expressed tiRNAs were further verified by RT-qPCR. Biological analysis was also performed. Overall, 152 tRFs/tiRNAs were differentially expressed in the moderate ischemic injury group compared with the normal control group (FC > 2, p < 0.05), of which 47 were upregulated and 105 were downregulated; in the severe ischemic injury group, 285 tRFs/tiRNAs were differentially expressed (FC > 2, p < 0.05), of which 157 were upregulated, and 128 were downregulated. RT-qPCR determination of eight abundantly expressed tiRNAs was consistent with the sequencing results. Gene Ontology analysis for target genes of the tRFs/tiRNAs showed that the most enriched cell components, molecular functions and biological processes were Golgi apparatus, cytoplasmic vesicles, protein binding, cellular protein localization and multicellular organism development. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analysis showed that these target genes were mainly involved in the natural killer cell mediated cytotoxicity pathway, citrate cycle, and regulation of actin cytoskeleton signaling pathway. Our results indicated that tRFs/tiRNAs were involved in renal IRI. These tRFs/tiRNAs may be effective partly via regulation of renal immunity, inflammation and metabolism processes. Candidate genes, including tiRNA-Gly-GCC-003, tiRNA-Lys-CTT-003, and tiRNA-His-GTG-002, might be potential biomarkers and therapeutic targets of ischemia–reperfusion injury-induced acute kidney injury. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Software defect prediction (SDP) is an important technology which is widely applied to improve software quality and reduce development costs. It is difficult to train the SDP model when software to be test only has limited historical data. Cross-project defect prediction (CPDP) has been proposed to solve this problem by using source project data to train the defect prediction model. Most of CPDP methods build defect prediction models based on the similarity of feature space or data distance between different projects. However, when the target project has a small amount of label data, these methods usually do not consider this part of data information. Therefore, when the distribution between source project and target project is quite different, these methods are difficult to achieve good prediction performance. To solve this problem, this paper proposes a CPDP method based on a semisupervised clustering (namely, Tsbagging). Tsbagging has two stages; in the first stage, we cluster to the source project data based on the limited labeled data in the target project and assign different weights to these source project data according to the clustering results. In the second stage, we use bagging method to train the prediction model based on the weight assigned in the first stage. The experimental results show that the performance achieved by Tsbagging is better than other existing SDP methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: As a systematic fungicide, prochloraz is often used to control banana freckle disease, and it is significant to assess the safety and risk of prochloraz. Methods: The dissipation kinetics and distribution of prochloraz in bananas were measured by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Results: The results showed that the fortified recoveries in bananas were 83.01–99.12%, and the relative standard deviations (RSDs) were 2.45–7.84%. The half-life of prochloraz in banana peel (3.93–5.60 d) was significantly lower than it was in whole banana (8.25–10.80 d) and banana pulp (10.35–12.84 d). The terminal residue of prochloraz in banana fruits was below the maximum residue level (MRL, China) at pre-harvest intervals (PHI) of 21 d. Moreover, the residue of prochloraz in banana peel was always 1.06–7.71 times greater than it was in banana pulp. The dietary risk assessment results indicated that the prochloraz residue in bananas at PHI of 21 d was safe for representative populations. (4) Conclusions: We found that a 26.7% prochloraz emulsion oil in water (EW) diluted 1000-fold and sprayed three times under field conditions was safe and reliable, providing a reference for the safe application of prochloraz in bananas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The modified glycinin (S-11S) is complexed with d -galactose (DG). • Heat promotes the covalent interaction of S-11S and DG at Cys and Phe sites. • The structure of the S-11S/DG colloidal particles is altered by heating. • Temperature affects the aggregation behavior of the S-11S/DG colloidal particles. • The S-11S/DG colloidal particles formed network gel easily. The molecular structure and morphologies of complex colloidal particles with modified glycine (S-11S) and d -galactose were studied by multispectral, microscopic imaging and chromatographic techniques at different temperatures, and the self-assembly and aggregation mechanisms were determined. Overall, high-temperature-treated S-11S and d -galactose associate at cysteine and phenylalanine sites and self-assemble into colloidal particles of greater stability than glycinin and S-11S via ionic and disulfide bonds. The structure and subunit content of composite colloidal particles were changed. Assessing the sub-microstructure reveals that temperature can regulate the directional aggregation of complex colloidal particles. The elasticity of the complex colloidal particles is maximum enhanced at 95 ℃ as confirmed by the rheological. Thus, the heat-treated aggregation of the soy protein and its complex was evaluated to provide a new theoretical basis for the application of soy protein in gels and other areas and contribute to the design of new soy protein products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To evaluate the effects of lipid microspheres coated with prostaglandin E1 (lipo‐PGE1) on peritoneal transport function and inflammation in patients with end‐stage renal disease undergoing continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD). Methods: In total, 89 patients were randomly allocated to the lipo‐PGE1 and control groups. All the patients received conventional treatment, and those in the lipo‐PGE1 group received lipo‐PGE1 intravenously for 2 weeks. The levels of β2‐microglobulin (β2‐MG), cystatin C, albumin, urea, creatinine, interleukin‐6 (IL‐6), matrix metalloproteinase‐2 (MMP‐2), and high‐sensitivity C‐reactive protein (hs‐CRP) were measured before and at 1 and 2 weeks after treatment. Results: In the lipo‐PGE1 group, the peritoneal clearance rates of β2‐MG, cystatin C, and albumin were significantly increased comparing with pre‐treatment values, and the IL‐6 appearance rate (AR) in the peritoneal dialysate and the serum levels of IL‐6 and hs‐CRP were markedly decreased (p < 0.05). The lipo‐PGE1 group had significantly higher peritoneal clearance rates of β2‐MG and cystatin C and lower IL‐6 AR in the peritoneal dialysate than the control group (p < 0.05). Conclusions: Lipid microspheres coated with prostaglandin E1 may increase the peritoneal clearance of moderately sized molecules and macromolecules with insignificant effect on the clearance of small molecules. The reduction in IL‐6 level following treatment with lipo‐PGE1 may alleviate inflammation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cadmium has become the foremost inorganic pollutant in farmland in China. It is widely accumulated in karst areas in southwest China, especially in Guangxi Province. In this study, vertical soil profiles, rice grains and corresponding root-soil samples were collected in Guangxi. The Cd contents of soil and rice grain samples and several soil properties, including organic matter, Fe2O3, Al2O3, CaO, MgO, SiO2 contents and pH were tested. Meanwhile, sequential extraction procedure were used to analysis the chemical fractions of Cd in root-soil samples. Based on the measured data, influencing factors on bioaccumulation of Cd and its contamination risk in study area were discussed. The results indicate that the bioaccumulation and mobility of Cd from soil to rice grain are restrained by high soil pH, high contents of organic matter, clay mineral and carbonate. Guangxi has strong development of karst landform, with the continuous process of soil formation, the activity of Cd in the soils in such areas will gradually become stable. In general, the environmental risk of soil cadmium contamination in karst areas of Guangxi is relatively low. But preventing soil acidification is the significant measure to prevent the environmental risk of it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Antibody responses of the first wave of survivors infected with SARS-CoV-2 1 year ago Keywords: coronavirus; epidemiology; immunity/immunization; infection; SARS coronavirus; virus classification EN coronavirus epidemiology immunity/immunization infection SARS coronavirus virus classification 1770 1772 3 03/22/22 20220501 NES 220501 As of 6:41 p.m. CEST, August 16, 2021, there have been 207 173 086 confirmed cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), inclu ding 4 361 996 deaths worldwide.1 Antibody response is presumed to associate with host resistance to viral diseases and can protect against reinfection.2,3 In view of the emergency and threat caused by the COVID-19 outbreak, it is urgent to understand the host antibody responses to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Coronavirus, epidemiology, infection, SARS coronavirus, virus classification, immunity/immunization. [Extracted from the article]