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Mycobacterium gordonae was first described 50 years ago as a slow-growing scotochromogenic nontuberculous mycobacterium. Previous research revealed vague molecular typing results for M. gordonae-like strains. For example, the RNA polymerase-[beta] [...]

Calcium alginate fiber has become an ideal raw material for wound dressing preparation due to its excellent moisture absorption and biological compatibility. There are still some problems such as bacterial contamination of wounds and difficult observation of wound healing in the actual use process. To avoid bacterial contamination of the wound and visually observe the wound healing situation, a calcium alginate fiber with pH‐responsive and antibacterial properties has been developed by the facile and eco‐friendly one‐step method. In order to make the calcium alginate fiber can be used intelligently to continuously monitor wound changeable pH, the fiber is originally solution dyed by alizarin dye. And the antibacterial property of this calcium alginate fiber is mainly from silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) which are in situ reduced by alginate in the spinning solution. This one‐step wet spinning method can avoid the subsequent complicated process required for calcium alginate fiber functionalization while ensuring the material properties. Owing to the existence of AgNPs, the calcium alginate fiber prepared has a significant antibacterial effect on two kinds of gram bacteria. Therefore, this calcium alginate fiber exhibits good pH‐responsive and antibacterial properties performance and is an improvement upon the current flexible pH sensor to indicate wound healing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, interdisciplinary fields between Artificial Life, artificial intelligence, computational biology, and synthetic biology are increasingly emerging into public view. It is necessary to reconsider the relations between the material body, identity, the natural world, and the concept of life. Art is known to pave the way to exploring and conveying new possibilities. This survey provides a literature review on recent works of Artificial Life in visual art during the past 40 years, specifically in the computational and software domain. Having proposed a set of criteria and a taxonomy, we briefly analyze representative artworks of different categories. We aim to provide a systematic overview of how artists are understanding nature and creating new life with modern technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alternative polyadenylation (APA) generates different 3′‐untranslated regions (3′UTRs) to regulate gene expression and localization, and affects a variety of biological processes. Here, we characterized the 3′UTR dynamics during the oocyte‐to‐zygote transition by analysing our previously reported porcine single‐cell RNA‐seq (scRNA‐seq) datasets (in vitro matured metaphase II (MII) oocytes, in vitro fertilized zygotes (IVF1) and parthenogenetically activated 1‐cell embryos (PA1)). After IVF1 versus MII comparison, dynamic analyses of APA from RNA‐seq (DaPars) method identified 139 mRNAs with significantly different 3′UTRs (padj. ≤.05), mainly enriched in cell cycle, regulation of cyclin‐dependent protein kinase activity, histone modification, mRNA surveillance, and regulation of actin cytoskeleton. For PA1 versus MII comparison, 105 mRNAs with significantly different 3′UTRs (padj. ≤.05) were identified to be mainly enriched in intracellular transport, mitotic spindle organization, cell cycle, pyruvate metabolism and glycolysis/gluconeogenesis. Furthermore, there were 7 mRNAs with more significant 3′UTR differences (|△PDUI| ≥ 0.45 and |log2[PDUI ratio]| ≥ 0.59) respectively in IVF1 versus MII (Lrp2bp, Mtfr2, Nhlrc2, Psip1, Smu1, Ssr1 and Wtap) and PA1 versus MII (Asf1b, Dimt1, Nap1l1, Ncoa4, Nudt21, Pnn and Rpl15) comparisons. Integrative genomics viewer analysis further identified that 3′UTRs of Psip1, Smu1, Ssr1 and Wtap had more than 140 nt average length changes, whereas those of Dimt1, Nap1l1 and Rpl15 were shortened with more than 460 nt. Regulatory elements (PAS, CPE, microRNA binding sites and m6A sites) in 3′UTRs of different lengths were predicted. Our findings provide useful information to further investigate the molecular mechanism of 3′UTR in regulating the oocyte‐to‐zygote transition of pig embryos. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Maternal‐to‐zygotic transition (MZT) occurs when maternal transcripts decay and zygotic genome is activated gradually at the early stage of embryo development. Previously, single‐cell RNA‐seq (scRNA‐seq) has helped us to uncover the MZT‐associated mRNA dynamics of in vitro‐produced pig early embryos. Here, to further investigate functional modules and hub genes associated with MZT process, the weighted gene co‐expression network analysis (WGCNA) was performed on our previously generated 45 scRNA‐seq datasets. For the in vitro fertilized embryo (IVF) group, 5 significant modules were identified (midnight blue/black/red and blue/brown modules, positively correlated with 1‐cell (IVF1) and 8‐cell (IVF8), respectively), containing genes mainly enriched in signalling pathways such as Wnt, regulation of RNA transcription, fatty acid metabolic process, poly(A) RNA binding and lysosome. For the parthenogenetically activated embryo (PA) group, 9 significant modules were identified (black/purple/red, brown/turquoise/yellow, and magenta/blue/green modules, positively correlated with MII oocytes, 1‐cell (PA1) and 8‐cell (PA8), respectively), mainly enriched in extracellular exosome, poly(A) RNA binding, mitochondrion and transcription factor activity. Moreover, some of identified hub genes within 3 IVF and 9 PA significant modules, including ADCY2, DHX34, KDM4A, GDF10, ABCC10, PAFAH2, HEXIM2, COQ9, DCAF11, SGK1 and ESRRB, have been reported to play vital roles in different biological processes. Our findings provide information and resources for subsequent in‐depth study on the regulation and function of MZT in pig embryos. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Identification of stably expressed gene(s) as internal reference(s) for different experimental conditions is key to the accurate normalization and quantification of target transcripts. Previously, our RNA‐seq study showed that Hprt1, Actb, and 18S rRNA abundances were all significantly altered in porcine immature Sertoli cells (iSCs) during acute heat stress (HS). In the current study, we aimed to identify stable reference gene(s) to study the gene expression dynamics of quick and delayed responses after acute HS treatment of porcine iSCs. A total of six genes previously used in pig testis or Sertoli cells (Hprt1, Top2b, Actb, Rpl32, Gapdh, and 18S rRNA) were chosen to perform RT‐qPCR for the control (before acute HS), HS0.5 (acute HS at 43°C for 0.5 h), and HS0.5‐R36 (36 h recovery following acute HS) groups. The stability of candidate reference genes was examined by the GeNorm, NormFinder, BestKeeper and Comparative ΔCt methods, and RefFinder to obtain the final rank. Rpl32 and Actb were the two most stable internal reference genes as found by all methods, whereas Hprt1 and 18S rRNA were the two most unstable as ranked by RefFinder. Moreover, expression of six target mRNAs (Ccn1, Ccnb1, Eif4g1, Hdac6, Plk2, and Ptma) was normalized using Rpl32, Actb, or the combination of Rpl32 and Actb, respectively. Therefore, our findings that the most suitable internal references are Rpl32 and Actb provide useful information for further functional investigation on genes regulating the acute HS of porcine iSCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alpha-synuclein (SNCA) is a pathological hallmark of Parkinson's disease, known to be involved in cancer occurrence and development; however, its specific effects in breast cancer remain unknown. Data from 150 patients with breast cancer were retrieved from tissue microarray and analyzed for SNCA protein level using immunohistochemistry. Functional enrichment analysis was performed to investigate the potential role of SNCA in breast cancer. SNCA -mediated inhibition of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) was confirmed with western blotting. The effects of SNCA on invasion and migration were evaluated using transwell and wound-healing experiments. Furthermore, the potential influence of SNCA expression level on drug sensitivity and tumor infiltration by immune cells was analyzed using the public databases. SNCA is lowly expressed in breast cancer tissues. Besides, in vitro and in vivo experiments, SNCA overexpression blocked EMT and metastasis, and the knockdown of SNCA resulted in the opposite effect. A mouse model of metastasis verified the restriction of metastatic ability in vivo. Further analysis revealed that SNCA enhances sensitivity to commonly used anti-breast tumor drugs and immune cell infiltration. SNCA blocks EMT and metastasis in breast cancer and its expression levels could be useful in predicting the chemosensitivity and evaluating the immune microenvironment in breast cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent researches reveal that during oocyte maturation, species‐specific molecular profile exists and has important functional roles. However, molecular differences between pig (a larger animal model for human reproduction) and human mature oocytes remain unknown. Here, by comparative transcriptome analyses of single‐cell RNA‐seq data, we aimed to identify the common and unique maternal factors and associated biological processes between in vivo and in vitro matured pig oocytes, and between in vitro matured human and pig oocytes. Annotated protein‐coding mRNAs were identified in pig in vivo (11,147) and in vitro (11,997), and human in vitro (14,491) MII oocytes, respectively. For in vivo and in vitro derived pig MII oocytes, 10,551 annotated maternal mRNAs were common, mainly enriched in signalling pathways such as cell cycle, oocyte meiosis, microtubule cytoskeleton, MAPK, RNA processing/binding. Besides, in vivo (596) and in vitro (1446) pig MII‐specific mRNAs and their involved signalling pathways (in vivo: Bmp, calcium‐mediated signalling, PI3K‐Akt; in vitro: growth factor activity, JAK‐STAT, cytokine‐cytokine receptor interaction, calcium signalling pathway) were also found. As for in vitro derived human and pig MII oocytes, 10,285 annotated mRNAs were common, enriched in a variety of signalling pathways (cell cycle, oocyte meiosis, microtubule, AMPK, RNA splicing, protein serine/threonine kinase activity, etc). In vitro MII‐specific mRNAs were found for humans (4206) and pigs (1712), which were also enriched in species‐specific signalling pathways (humans: golgi‐related terms, transcription repressor and hormone activity; pigs: ATP biosynthetic process, G protein‐coupled peptide receptor activity, animoacyl‐tRNA biosynthesis), respectively. These findings improve our understanding on oocyte maturation, and also the limitations of pig model for human oocyte maturation and fertilization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alternative polyadenylation affects the length and composition of 3′‐untranslated region (3′‐UTR) and regulates mRNA stability or translational activity to affect important biological processes. However, global 3′‐UTR landscape and its relationship with gamete maturation remain less studied. Here, we analysed our previously reported single‐cell RNA‐seq data of germinal vesicle and metaphase II stage oocytes in pigs to systematically catalogue the 3′‐UTR dynamics during oocyte maturation. Two softwares (DaPars and APAtrap) were employed and identified 110 and 228 mRNAs with significantly different 3′‐UTRs (adjusted p ≤.05), respectively. Gene enrichment analyses found signalling pathways related with biological processes of female gametophyte production, methyltransferase activity and mRNA surveillance (DaPars) and cell cycle process, regulation of ERK1 and ERK2 cascade, regulation of translation, spindle organization, kinetochore, condensed chromosome and progesterone‐mediated oocyte maturation (APAtrap), respectively. Moreover, 18 of 110 mRNAs (|△PDUI| ≥ 0.25 and |log2PDUI ratio| ≥ 0.59) and 15 of 228 mRNAs (Perc. diff. ≥ 0.5) were with greater difference of 3′‐UTR length or abundance, and integrative genomics viewer analysis further identified 4 (Alg10, Hadhb, Hsd17b4 and Sbds) of 18 mRNAs to be with 3′‐UTR length differed ≥150 bp and 6 (Gcc1, Hnrnpa2b1, Lsm6, Prpf18, Sfr1 and Ust) of 15 mRNAs to be with 3′‐UTR abundance extremely differed. Furthermore, the location, sequences and number of cis‐elements were predicted, which were shown to derange cytoplasmic polyadenylation element, poly(A) site and microRNA binding sites within 3′‐UTRs of Alg10, Hadhb, Hsd17b4 and Sbds mRNAs. Taken together, global 3′‐UTR landscape changes dynamically with oocyte meiotic maturation, potentially involved in regulating oocyte meiotic process in pigs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Long non‐coding RNAs (lncRNAs) function through multiple tiers of molecular circuits and are vital to gamete maturation and early embryo development. However, in pig early embryos, identification and expression dynamics of lncRNAs remain less studied. Here, we systematically analysed the expression dynamics of lncRNAs based on our previously published single‐cell RNA‐seq data from pig mature oocytes (GSE160334), and single blastomeres biopsied from pig in vitro fertilized (IVF) and early parthenogenetically activated (PA) embryos (1‐ to 8‐cell stages; GSE164812). With the progression of embryo development, the total number of expressed lncRNAs gradually decreased and showed great variation at each developmental stage for both IVF and PA groups. Consecutive stage pairwise comparison of MII oocytes, 1‐cell zygotes, 2‐cell, 4‐cell and 8‐cell IVF embryos identified 151, 245, 1119 and 188 differentially expressed (DE) lncRNAs, including 119, 80, 867, 77 up‐regulated and 32, 165, 252, 111 down‐regulated, while 289, 437, 895 and 495 DE lncRNAs (141, 89, 768, 97 up‐regulated and 148, 348, 127, 398 down‐regulated) were identified in PA embryos at the same stages. The DE lncRNAs identified within IVF embryos were much different from that identified within PA embryos, showing embryo type‐specific manner. Further cross‐comparison between PA and IVF embryos identified 184, 656, 2502 and 266 DE lncRNAs for the 1‐ to 8‐cell embryo stages, respectively. Further GO and KEGG enrichment analysis of DE mRNAs targeted by DELs indicated that different signalling pathways were involved in maternal‐only and bi‐parental embryo development. Collectively, comparative profiling of lncRNA expression dynamics between pig IVF and PA embryos provides a valuable resource, to investigate further regulatory mechanisms of lncRNAs associated with ZGA and maternal RNA decay during early embryo development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) have identified some immune-related single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) to be associated with leprosy. Methods: This study investigated the association of 17 SNPs based on previously published GWAS studies with susceptibility to leprosy, different polar forms and immune states of leprosy in a case–control study from southwestern China, including 1344 leprosy patients and 2732 household contacts (HHCs) (1908 relatives and 824 genetically unrelated contact individuals). The differences of allele distributions were analyzed using chi-squared analysis and logistic regression. Results: After adjusting covariate factors, rs780668 and rs3764147 polymorphisms influenced susceptibilities to genetically related or unrelated leprosy contact individuals. rs142179458 was associated with onset early cases, rs73058713 A allele and rs3764147 A allele increased the risk of reversal reaction, while rs3764147 G allele had higher risk to present lepromatous leprosy and erythema nodosum leprosum. Conclusion: Our results demonstrated that genetic variants in the LACC1, HIF1A, SLC29A3 and CDH18 genes were positively correlated with the occurrence of leprosy and leprosy clinical phenotypes, providing new insights into the immunogenetics of the disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The faithful execution of molecular programme underlying oocyte maturation and meiosis is vital to generate competent haploid gametes for efficient mammalian reproduction. However, the organization and principle of molecular circuits and modules for oocyte meiosis remain obscure. Here, we employed the recently developed single‐cell RNA‐seq technique to profile the transcriptomes of germinal vesicle (GV) and metaphase II (MII) oocytes, aiming to discover the dynamic changes of mRNAs and long non‐coding RNAs (lncRNAs) during oocyte in vitro meiotic maturation. During the transition from GV to MII, total number of detected RNAs (mRNAs and lncRNAs) in oocytes decreased. Moreover, 1,807 (602 up‐ and 1,205 down‐regulated) mRNAs and 313 (177 up‐ and 136 down‐regulated) lncRNAs were significantly differentially expressed (DE), i.e., more mRNAs down‐regulated, but more lncRNAs up‐regulated. During maturation of pig oocytes, mitochondrial mRNAs were actively transcribed, eight of which (ND6, ND5, CYTB, ND1, ND2, COX1, COX2 and COX3) were significantly up‐regulated. Both DE mRNAs and targets of DE lncRNAs were enriched in multiple biological and signal pathways potentially associated with oocyte meiosis. Highly abundantly expressed mRNAs (including DNMT1, UHRF2, PCNA, ARMC1, BTG4, ASNS and SEP11) and lncRNAs were also discovered. Weighted gene co‐expression network analysis (WGCNA) revealed 20 hub mRNAs in three modules to be important for oocyte meiosis and maturation. Taken together, our findings provide insights and resources for further functional investigation of mRNAs/lncRNAs in in vitro meiotic maturation of pig oocytes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to analysis whether the wool/polyester fabrics' aurora phenomenon relate to its surface microstructure and composition. This paper studied the wool/polyester surface microstructure by means of scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and also analyzed the surface material composition through the VERTEX 70 FT-IR spectrometer, CHNS/O Organic element analyzer and Gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS). We reached that the wool/polyester fabrics, wool scale severely damaged under the action of the tension, friction, compression and external mechanical forces in wearing process. The fabrics, surface really exists grease and lipid materials, which is also the important reasons that caused the fabrics aurora phenomenon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This study aimed to use artificial intelligence (AI) to integrate various radiological and clinical pathological data to identify effective predictors of contralateral cervical lymph node metastasis (CCLNM) in patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) and to establish a clinically applicable model to guide the extent of surgery., Methods: This prospective cohort study included 603 patients with PTC from three centers. Clinical, pathological, and ultrasonographic data were collected and utilized to develop a machine learning (ML) model for predicting CCLNM. Model development at the internal center utilized logistic regression along with other ML algorithms. Diagnostic efficacy was compared among these methods, leading to the adoption of the final model (random forest). This model was subject to AI interpretation and externally validated at other centers., Results: CCLNM was associated with multiple pathological factors. The Delphian lymph node metastasis ratio, ipsilateral cervical lymph node metastasis number, and presence of ipsilateral cervical lymph node metastasis were independent risk factors for CCLNM. Following feature selection, a Delphian lymph node-CCLNM (D-CCLNM) model was established using the Random forest algorithm based on five attributes. The D-CCLNM model demonstrated the highest area under the curve (AUC; 0.9273) in the training cohort and exhibited high predictive accuracy, with AUCs of 0.8907 and 0.9247 in the external and validation cohorts, respectively., Conclusions: We developed a new, effective method that uses ML to predict CCLNM in patients with PTC. This approach integrates data from Delphian lymph nodes and clinical characteristics, offering a foundation for guiding surgical decisions, and is conveniently applicable in clinical settings., (Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.)

Breast cancer is one of the most common female malignant tumors today and represents a serious health risk for women. Although the survival rate and quality of life of patients with breast cancer are improving with the continuous development of medical technology, metastasis, recurrence, and drug resistance of breast cancer remain a significant problem. Huaier, a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) fungus, is a type of Sophora embolism fungus growing on old Sophora stems. The polysaccharides of Trametes robiniophila Murr (PS-T) are the main active ingredient of Huaier. There is increasing evidence that Huaier has great potential in breast cancer treatment, and its anti-cancer mechanism may be related to a variety of biological activities, such as the inhibition of cell proliferation, metastasis, tumor angiogenesis, the promotion of cancer cell death, and regulation of tumor-specific immunity. There is growing evidence that Huaier may be effective in the clinical treatment of breast cancer. This review systematically summarizes the basic and clinical studies on the use of Huaier in the treatment of breast cancer, providing useful information to guide the clinical application of Huaier and future clinical studies., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Luo, Zhou, Wu, Tian, Jiang and Wang.)

The chemical constituents in Urtica dioica fruits were investigated by silica gel chromatography, preparative HPLC, NMR, and HR-MS for the first time. As a result, 21 compounds were isolated from the fruits of U. dioica and identified 7R,8S,8'R-olivil(1), oleic acid(2), α-linoleic acid(3), palmic acid(4), methyl palmitate(5), α-linolenic acid(6), α-linolenic acid methyl ester(7), 5-O-caffeoyl-shikimic acid(8), vanillic acid(9), p-coumaric acid(10), 5-O-p-coumaroylshikimic acid(11), cinnamic acid(12), quinic acid(13), shikimic acid(14), ethyl caffeate(15), coniferyl ferulate(16), ferulic acid(17), caffeic acid(18), chlorogenic acid(19), pinoresinol(20), and quercetin(21). Compound 1 was a new compound and compounds 2-16 were isolated from U. dioica for the first time.

In complex field of view (FOV) environments, a single camera's FOV measurement range is limited and cannot cover the entire object under test for global calibration. Multiple cameras are used mostly for large FOV environment measurements, but the traditional one- and two-dimensional targets used for global calibration in large FOV environments are prone to overlapping FOV. Furthermore, other large-sized targets are difficult to produce and process, and the laser projection method and plane mirror calibration methods are easily affected by the outdoor environment. To solve this problem, a non-common FOV binocular calibration method based on rigidly connected stereo targets is proposed. The calibration process is as follows: First, the rigidly connected target, which is composed of two plane targets with a checkerboard, is placed in front of the two cameras, and the vision sensor captures the corresponding sub-target image; then, the target is moved multiple times, and the transformation relationship between multiple vision sensors is obtained according to the spatial constraint characteristics of the rigidly connected target. Hence, the method overcomes the limitation of the non-overlapping FOV calibration method that relies on large measuring instruments. The experimental results show that the RMS error of the 13 mm distance is 0.16 mm. The proposed method is effective, simpler to operate than other methods, and does not rely on the constraint of complex targets. More importantly, this measurement method solves the difficult problem of measurement in non-public FOV, meeting the requirements of large FOV measurement ranges.

Background: There is a high incidence of leprosy among house-contacts compared with the general population. We aimed to establish a predictive model using these genetic factors along with epidemiological factors to predict leprosy risk of leprosy household contacts (HHCs)., Methods: Weighted genetic risk score (wGRS) encompassing genome wide association studies (GWAS) variants and five non-genetic factors were examined in a case-control design associated with leprosy risk including 589 cases and 647 controls from leprosy HHCs. We constructed a risk prediction nomogram and evaluated its performance by concordance index (C-index) and calibration curve. The results were validated using bootstrap resampling with 1000 resamples and a prospective design including 1100 HHCs of leprosy patients., Finding: The C-index for the risk model was 0·792 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0·768-0·817), and was confirmed to be 0·780 through bootstrapping validation. The calibration curve for the probability of leprosy showed good agreement between the prediction of the nomogram and actual observation. HHCs were then divided into the low-risk group (nomogram score ≤ 81) and the high-risk group (nomogram score > 81). In prospective analysis, 12 of 1100 participants had leprosy during 63 months' follow-up. We generated the nomogram for leprosy in the validation cohort (C-index 0·773 [95%CI 0·658-0·888], sensitivity75·0%, specificity 66·8%). Interpretation The nomogram achieved an effective prediction of leprosy in HHCs. Using the model, the risk of an individual contact developing leprosy can be determined, which can lead to a rational preventive choice for tracing higher-risk leprosy contacts., Funding: The ministry of health of China, ministry of science and technology of China, Chinese academy of medical sciences, Jiangsu provincial department of science and technology, Nanjing municipal science and technology bureau., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest All authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2021. Published by Elsevier B.V.)