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Purpose: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a prevalent malignant tumor, often arising from hepatitis induced by the hepatitis B virus (HBV) in China. However, effective biomarkers for early diagnosis are lacking, leading to a 5-year overall survival rate of less than 20% among patients with advanced HCC. This study aims to identify serum biomarkers for early HCC diagnosis to enhance patient survival rates. Methods: We established an independent cohort comprising 27 healthy individuals, 13 patients with HBV-induced cirrhosis, 13 patients with hepatitis B-type HCC, and 8 patients who progressed from cirrhosis to hepatocellular carcinoma during follow-up. Serum metabolic abnormalities during the progression from cirrhosis to HCC were studied using untargeted metabolomics. Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry-based metabolomics methods characterized the subjects’ serum metabolic profiles. Partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) was employed to elucidate metabolic profile changes during the progression from cirrhosis to HCC. Differentially expressed metabolites (DEMs) between cirrhosis and HCC groups were identified using the LIMMA package in the R language. Two machine learning algorithms, Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator (LASSO), and Random Forest Classifier (RF), were used to identify key metabolic biomarkers involved in the progression from cirrhosis to HCC. Key metabolic biomarkers were further validated using targeted metabolomics in a new independent validation cohort comprising 25 healthy individuals and 25 patients with early-stage hepatocellular carcinoma. Results: A total of 155 serum metabolites were identified, of which 21/54 metabolites exhibited significant changes in HCC patients compared with cirrhosis patients and healthy individuals, respectively. PLS-DA clustering results demonstrated a significant change trend in the serum metabolic profile of patients with HBV-induced cirrhosis during the progression to HCC. Utilizing LASSO regression and RF algorithms, we confirmed 10 key metabolic biomarkers. Notably, 1-Methylnicotinamide (1-MNAM) exhibited a persistent and significant decrease in healthy individuals, cirrhosis, and HCC patients. Moreover, 1-MNAM levels in developing patients were significantly higher during the cirrhosis stage than in the HCC stage. Targeted metabolomic validation in an external cohort further confirmed the good diagnostic performance of 1-MNAM in early HCC detection. Conclusion: Our findings imply that 1-MNAM may be a specific biomarker for the progression of cirrhosis to HCC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Induction of cancer cell death is an established treatment strategy, but chemotherapy drug-mediated apoptosis can be evaded by many tumors. Pyroptosis is a type of inflammatory programmed cell death (PCD) that is important for organism immunity. Tubeimoside-I (TBMS1) is a plant-derived component that exhibits antitumor activity. However, it is unclear how TBMS1 induces pyroptosis to inhibit colorectal cancer (CRC). In this study, we demonstrated that TBMS1 is able to induce pyroptosis in murine CRC cells and releases pro-inflammatory cytokines. Mechanistically, we found that TBMS1 inhibits CRC cell proliferation and migration and induces pyroptosis by activating caspase-3 and cleaving gasdermin E (GSDME) through the inhibition of PKM2. In the animal experiments, TBMS1 attenuated the weight of solid tumors, increased the proportion of CD8+ cytotoxic T cells, and reduced the content of M2-type macrophages in the spleen of tumor-bearing mice. Furthermore, TBMS1 inhibited M2-type polarization by blocking STAT6 pathway activation in RAW 264.7 cells. To sum up, our findings suggest that TBMS1 triggers pyroptosis in CRC by acting on the PKM2/caspase-3/GSDME signaling pathway. Additionally, it modulates the antitumor immune response in CRC murine models. This study provides a promising basis for the potential use of TBMS1 in treating CRC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Groundwater plays a pivotal role in the water resources of Shicheng County; however, the issue of excessive fluoride content in groundwater and its associated health risks often goes unnoticed. Groundwater assumes a crucial role in the hydrological dynamics of Shicheng County; nevertheless, the matter concerning elevated levels of fluoride within groundwater and its accompanying health hazards frequently evades attention. The hydrogeochemical analysis, obscure comprehensive water quality assessment based on cloud model, and probabilistic human health risk assessment using Monte Carlo simulation were conducted on 34 collected water samples. The findings indicate that the predominant groundwater hydrochemical types are SO4·Cl-Na and HCO3-Na. The processes of rock weathering and cation exchange play crucial roles in influencing water chemistry. Groundwater samples generally exhibit elevated concentrations of F−, surpassing the drinking water standard, primarily attributed to mineral dissolution. The concentrations of F− in more than 52.94% and 23.53% of the groundwater samples exceeded the acceptable non-carcinogenic risk limits for children and adults, respectively. Considering the inherent uncertainty in model parameters, it is anticipated that both children and adults will have a probability exceeding 49.36% and 30.50%, respectively, of being exposed to elevated levels of F ions in groundwater. The utilization of stochastic simulations, in contrast to deterministic methods, enables a more precise depiction of health risks. The outcomes derived from this investigation possess the potential to assist policymakers in formulating strategies aimed at ensuring the provision of secure domestic water supplies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considering the application prospects of a cascade catalytic system in biomedical analysis, it remains significant to develop a cascade catalytic system for one-step rapid colorimetric detection. Herein, PVP/NH2-MIL-101(Fe) possessing enhanced peroxidase (POD)-like activity was successfully synthesized by microwave-assisted and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) modification strategies. Then, PVP/NH2-MIL-101(Fe) and glucose oxidase (GOx) were covalently coupled via the bifunctional cross-linker glutaraldehyde, the GOx@PVP/NH2-MIL-101(Fe) with dual enzymatic functional activities (POD-like and GOx activities) was subsequently synthesized. GOx@PVP/NH2-MIL-101(Fe) had strong affinities for the substrates glucose, 3,3',5,5'-tetramethylbenzidine, and hydrogen peroxide. Based on this specific nanozyme GOx@PVP/NH2-MIL-101(Fe), a one-step colorimetric assay for rapid glucose determination was built. This detection method not only took 20 min to analyze but also possessed a linear range of 10–250 µM with a detection limit of 1.05 µM. Furthermore, the cascade catalytic system was applied to determine glucose concentrations in human serum samples. Compared with commercial blood glucose meters, the proposed method was also accurate and effective, making it a candidate method for determining blood glucose. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Matrix complete dissolution combined with magnetic solid-phase extraction (MSPE) was applied to extract four benzotriazole ultraviolet stabilizers (BUVSs) from polyester curtains. Ultra-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry was coupled to perform the content of trace BUVSs. The procedure was being developed in two steps. The polymer matrix was initially thoroughly dissolved by 1,1,1,3,3,3-hexafluoro-2-propanol (HFIP) followed by the addition of precipitant to separate the target from the dissolved polymer matrix. Next, triiron tetraoxide/biochar magnetic material was prepared and utilized as the sorbent for purification of the extract. Ultrasonic extraction coupled with the MSPE method and the proposed method was compared. Better extraction recovery of four BUVSs was acquired by the novel developed extraction method. The purification effect of the new extraction method was established by comparing the matrix effect of the polymer complete dissolution method and the polymer complete dissolution combined with the MSPE method. The extraction parameters were investigated. Under the optimized conditions, correlation coefficient (r) ranging from 0.9969 to 0.9997, limit of detection of 0.2 to 0.8 ng·g−1, and the recovery varied from 81.5 to 102.7% with RSD smaller than 10.7% were obtained for four BUVSs, respectively. This study provides a potential strategy for the efficient extraction and sensitive determination of BUVSs in polyester fibers samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The primary objectives of this research were to investigate the protective effects of liriodendrin against IgG immune complex (IgG-IC)-induced acute lung injury (ALI) and to elucidate the underlying mechanisms. This study employed a mouse and cell model of IgG-IC-induced acute lung injury. Lung tissue was stained with hematoxylin–eosin to observe pathological alterations and arterial blood gas analysis was tested. Inflammatory cytokines, including interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-1β (IL-1β), and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), were measured using ELISA. The mRNA expression of inflammatory cytokines was assessed via RT-qPCR. Molecular docking and enrichment analysis were combined to identify the most potential signaling pathways modulated by liriodendrin, which were then verified using western blot analysis in IgG-IC-induced ALI models. We identified 253 shared targets between liriodendrin and IgG-IC-induced acute lung injury from the database. Through network pharmacology, enrichment analysis, and molecular docking, SRC was determined to be the most closely associated target of liriodendrin in IgG-IC-induced ALI. Pretreatment with liriodendrin notably reduced the increased cytokine secretion of IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α. Histopathological analysis of lung tissue demonstrated a protective effect of liriodendrin on IgG-IC-induced acute lung injury in mice. Arterial blood gas analysis showed liriodendrin ameliorated acidosis and hypoxemia efficiently. Further studies revealed that liriodendrin pretreatment substantially attenuated the elevated phosphorylation levels of SRC's downstream components (JNK, P38, and STAT3), suggesting that liriodendrin may protect against IgG-IC-induced ALI via the SRC/STAT3/MAPK pathway. Our findings indicate that liriodendrin protects against IgG-IC-induced acute lung injury by inhibiting the SRC/STAT3/MAPK signaling pathway, suggesting that liriodendrin may serve as a potential treatment for acute lung injury caused by IgG-IC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The TDP-43 proteinopathies, which include amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and frontotemporal dementia, are a devastating group of neurodegenerative disorders that are characterized by the mislocalization and aggregation of TDP-43. Here we demonstrate that RNA-targeting CRISPR effector proteins, a programmable class of gene silencing agents that includes the Cas13 family of enzymes and Cas7–11, can be used to mitigate TDP-43 pathology when programmed to target ataxin-2, a modifier of TDP-43-associated toxicity. In addition to inhibiting the aggregation and transit of TDP-43 to stress granules, we find that the in vivo delivery of an ataxin-2-targeting Cas13 system to a mouse model of TDP-43 proteinopathy improved functional deficits, extended survival, and reduced the severity of neuropathological hallmarks. Further, we benchmark RNA-targeting CRISPR platforms against ataxin-2 and find that high-fidelity forms of Cas13 possess improved transcriptome-wide specificity compared to Cas7–11 and a first-generation effector. Our results demonstrate the potential of CRISPR technology for TDP-43 proteinopathies. TDP43 proteinopathies are a devastating group of neurodegenerative disorders. Here the authors show that RNA-targeting CRISPR effector proteins can be used to mitigate TDP-43 pathology when targeting ataxin-2, a modifier of TDP-43-associated toxicity, and apply this to a mouse model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The binary polyhydrides of heavy rare earth lutetium that shares a similar valence electron configuration to lanthanum have been experimentally discovered to be superconductive. The lutetium polyhydrides were successfully synthesized at high pressure and high temperature conditions using a diamond anvil cell in combinations with the in-situ high pressure laser heating technique. The resistance measurements as a function of temperature were performed at the same pressure of synthesis in order to study the transitions of superconductivity (SC). The superconducting transition with a maximum onset temperature (Tc) 71 K was observed at pressure of 218 GPa in the experiments. The Tc decreased to 65 K when pressure was at 181 GPa. From the evolution of SC at applied magnetic fields, the upper critical field at zero temperature μ 0 H c 2 (0) was obtained to be ∼36 T. The in-situ high pressure X-ray diffraction experiments imply that the high Tc SC should arise from the Lu4H23 phase with P m 3 ¯ n symmetry that forms a new type of hydrogen cage framework different from those reported for previous light rare earth polyhydride superconductors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research on a brain-like model with bio-interpretability is conductive to promoting its information processing ability in the field of artificial intelligence. Biological results show that the synaptic time-delay can improve the information processing abilities of the nervous system, which are an important factor related to the formation of brain cognitive functions. However, the synaptic plasticity with time-delay of a brain-like model still lacks bio-interpretability. In this study, combining excitatory and inhibitory synapses, we construct the complex spiking neural networks (CSNNs) with synaptic time-delay that more conforms biological characteristics, in which the topology has scale-free property and small-world property, and the nodes are represented by an Izhikevich neuron model. Then, the information processing abilities of CSNNs with different types of synaptic time-delay are comparatively evaluated based on the anti-interference function, and the mechanism of this function is discussed. Using two indicators of the anti-interference function and three kinds of noise, our simulation results consistently verify that: (i) From the perspective of anti-interference function, an CSNN with synaptic random time-delay outperforms an CSNN with synaptic fixed time-delay, which in turn outperforms an CSNN with synaptic none time-delay. The results imply that brain-like networks with more bio-interpretable synaptic time-delay have stronger information processing abilities. (ii) The synaptic plasticity is the intrinsic factor of the anti-interference function of CSNNs with different types of synaptic time-delay. (iii) The synaptic random time-delay makes an CSNN present better topological characteristics, which can improve the information processing ability of a brain-like network. It implies that synaptic time-delay is a factor that affects the anti-interference function at the level of performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The technology of manufacturing hyaluronic acid (HA) fillers is evolving to increase their safety and durability. This study aimed to compare the volume maintenance effect of stromal vascular fraction (SVF) on different types of HA fillers. Methods: In this controlled experiment, HA fillers mixed with SVF were injected into the right upper back and HA fillers alone were injected into the left upper back of each mouse. A total of 35 mice were separated into five groups according to the type of commercially used HA filler: Juvederm Voluma XC, Restylane Lyft, Restylane Skinboosters Vital, Giselle Ligne Signature 2, and Giselle Ligne Universal. Nodule size inspection was performed on post-injection days 0, 3, and 56. Ultrasonography for maximal two-dimensional area of filler nodule measurement and histology were performed on the last day of the inspection. Results: While most of the groups showed a volume reduction of over 50% on day 56, regardless of SVF administration, significant volume maintenance was observed when Giselle Ligne Signature 2 was injected with SVF. Ultrasonographic measurement of two-dimensional filler nodule size showed no significant difference regarding filler types and SVF injection. When compared with the histological results of other fillers mixed with SVF, Giselle Ligne Signature 2 showed marked increase in cell survival and extracellular matrix components in HA particles. Conclusion: SVF showed different efficacies in terms of volume maintenance and cell survival for various HA filler types. The SVF mixture in selective HA filler injections may improve maintenance in clinical settings. No Level Assigned: This journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each submission to which Evidence-Based Medicine rankings are applicable. This excludes Review Articles, Book Reviews, and manuscripts that concern Basic Science, Animal Studies, Cadaver Studies, and Experimental Studies. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, please refer to the Table of Contents or the online Instructions to Authors www.springer.com/00266 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is challenging to search for high Tc superconductivity (SC) in transition metal elements wherein d electrons are usually not favored by conventional BCS theory. Here we report experimental discovery of surprising SC up to 310 GPa with Tc above 20 K in wide pressure range from 108 GPa to 240 GPa in titanium. The maximum Tconset above 26.2 K and zero resistance Tczero of 21 K are record high values hitherto achieved among element superconductors. The Hc2(0) is estimated to be ∼32 Tesla with coherence length 32 Å. The results show strong s-d transfer and d band dominance, indicating correlation driven contributions to high Tc SC in dense titanium. This finding is in sharp contrast to the theoretical predications based on pristine electron-phonon coupling scenario. The study opens a fresh promising avenue for rational design and discovery of high Tc superconductors among simple materials via pressure tuned unconventional mechanism. Superconductivity at megabar pressures has recently attracted interest in the context of hydrides. Here, the authors demonstrate superconductivity up to 26 K at high pressure in elemental titanium, and further suggest that electron correlations contribute to the high Tc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The culture medium plays an important role in embryonic development and subsequent pregnancy outcomes of in vitro fertilization (IVF) cycles. The sequential culture media of Vitrolife and Cook are the two most commonly used reagents in China. This study aimed to assess their effects on IVF success rates, obstetric outcomes and neonatal outcomes.Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study on 6352 patients undergoing first IVF attempts between January 2018 and December 2019, resulting in 3153 clinical pregnancies, 2646 live births, and 2668 babies. Patients were grouped according to the culture media they used. There were 4680 patients in the Vitrolife group and 1672 patients in the Cook group. The primary outcome measures were maternal and neonatal outcomes. ANOVA and Chi-square tests were used for statistical comparison, and multivariate logistic regression and multivariate general linear model were used to adjust for potential confounders.Results: The rates of live birth, clinical pregnancy, monozygotic twins, miscarriage, and ectopic pregnancy were all comparable between the groups of Vitrolife and Cook. The incidence of placenta previa was higher in the Vitrolife group [4.86 vs. 3.09%, adjusted odds ratio = 2.048 (1.146-3.657)]. The incidence of macrosomia was higher in the Cook group [7.51 vs. 5.39%, adjusted odds ratio = 1.445 (1.010-2.069)].Conclusion: The culture media of Vitrolife and Cook are comparably effective in IVF success. Vitrolife is associated with a higher risk of placenta previa, while Cook is associated with a higher risk of macrosomia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Searching for superconductivity with Tc near room temperature is of great interest both for fundamental science & many potential applications. Here we report the experimental discovery of superconductivity with maximum critical temperature (Tc) above 210 K in calcium superhydrides, the new alkali earth hydrides experimentally showing superconductivity above 200 K in addition to sulfur hydride & rare-earth hydride system. The materials are synthesized at the synergetic conditions of 160~190 GPa and ~2000 K using diamond anvil cell combined with in-situ laser heating technique. The superconductivity was studied through in-situ high pressure electric conductance measurements in an applied magnetic field for the sample quenched from high temperature while maintained at high pressures. The upper critical field Hc(0) was estimated to be ~268 T while the GL coherent length is ~11 Å. The in-situ synchrotron X-ray diffraction measurements suggest that the synthesized calcium hydrides are primarily composed of CaH6 while there may also exist other calcium hydrides with different hydrogen contents. The discovery of superconductivity in hydrides at critical temperature (Tc) near room temperature receives intensive attentions. Here the authors report experimental synthesis and discovery of superconductivity with Tc above 210 K in calcium superhydrides at 160–190 GPa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel hydrophilic porous biocomposite was fabricated by incorporating graphene oxide (GO) @chitosan (CS) foam substrate (GO@CS@ZIF-8 foam) with ZIF-8 crystals in situ via a facile stirring method for simultaneous enrichment of glycopeptides and phosphopeptides from complex biological samples. The experimental results demonstrated that GO@CS@ZIF-8 foam exhibited favorable specificity for simultaneous enrichment of N-glycopeptides and phosphopeptides under the same condition for HRP and β-casein tryptic digest mixtures. The novel material was further applied to enriching both glycopeptides and phosphopeptides simultaneously from 4 μL complex human serum, and 423 N-glycopeptides and 40 phosphopeptides corresponding to 133 glycoproteins and 29 phosphoproteins were identified, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most superabsorbent polymers (SAPs) are prepared based on synthetic polymers (from petroleum resources), making them costly, nondegradable, and not ecofriendly. To overcome these drawbacks, biodegradable and renewable natural materials are proposed as additions into SAPs. In this article, a new SAP composite was synthesized by using AA, AM, α-cellulose, and modified zeolite (MZE). The prepared SAP composites were analysed by FTIR spectroscopy, XRD, SEM and TGA. Then, their water absorbency and water retention capacity results were evaluated. AA and AM were successfully grafted to the α-cellulose chains, and MZE was uniformly dispersed in the SAP composite matrix as an inorganic filler, which endowed the SAP composites with a more undulant and coarser surface along with more abundant hydrophilic groups. In contrast with poly(AA-co-AM), the water absorbency of the prepared SAP composites increased by 93.88% in distilled water and 89.58% in 0.9 wt.% NaCl solution. Additionally, the water retention time of these SAP composites was 11.2 h when evaluated at 50 °C, which was a 71.79% increase. Moreover, both the Tonset and Tpeak of the prepared SAP composites slightly increased compared with those of α-cellulose-poly(AA-co-AM), showing that the introduction of MZE could slightly improve the thermal stability of the SAP composites. These novel SAP composites with their excellent water absorbency and retention capacity could be applied to the agricultural and horticultural fields as water-keeping materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aspect-based sentiment analysis has achieved many results in recent years, but most of the research focuses on goods, services, and topics. The research in the medical field is very limited. Considering the problem that the fish disease descriptions contain large numbers of emotional tendencies but the existing data are insufficient in this field, a dataset named Diseases of Fish Animals (DFA) is constructed. In this paper, we propose a feature interaction model based on an adversarial strategy to learn the relationship between aspects and texts by improving the attention mechanism. Aiming at the problem that the fusion effect is reduced due to the difference in feature distribution space during the interaction process, an adversarial strategy is designed to align text and aspect features. Experiments are carried out on the DFA dataset, which involves 7 aspects and 3 sentiment polarity and contains more than 4700 samples. The experimental results show that the accuracy and F1 of the model are 87.07% and 87.19% respectively. Although the model proposed in this paper achieves the best results on DFA, there is still a certain gap for precision medicine diagnosis and further efforts are needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract  : In response to the challenges of accurately identifying event triggers and elements in long texts related to aquaculture, existing models struggle to differentiate between elements and triggers, as well as effectively recognize complete entity texts. To tackle this issue, this study proposes an algorithm for extracting fish disease events based on pseudo triggers and augmented event element data. The method starts by constructing pseudo samples using the original dataset. Two types of noise datasets are then generated: a trigger noise dataset constructed based on fish disease triggers and an entity noise dataset with varying levels of entity noise constructed based on fish disease entities. Next, three parallel neural networks are deployed to extract sample features from these datasets. The fish disease event extraction for the source dataset employs multi-label classification. For the trigger noise dataset, the sample features are activated using the sigmoid function, and the MRSE loss is utilized for optimization of this branch. For the entity noise dataset, the sample features are activated using the Relu function, and the XOR loss is used for optimization. Finally, the losses from the three branches are combined with weighted summation to obtain the fusion loss. The experimental results on the fish disease dataset used in this paper show that the proposed algorithm achieves an average accuracy of 78.71%, 78.95%, and 79.43% on F1, recall, and precision, respectively, which is a maximum improvement of 11.201%, 11.849%, and 12.421% in accuracy with respect to the baseline model on F1, recall, and precision, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To explore a new preimplantation genetic testing (PGT) method for de novo mutations (DNMs) combined with chromosomal balanced translocations by whole-genome sequencing (WGS) using the MGISEQ-2000 sequencer. Methods: Two families, one with maternal Olmsted syndrome caused by DNM (c.1246C>T) in TRPV3 and a paternal Robertsonian translocation and one with paternal Marfan syndrome caused by DNM (c.4952_4955delAATG) in FBN1 and a maternal reciprocal translocation, underwent PGT for monogenetic disease (PGT-M), chromosomal aneuploidy, and structural rearrangement. WGS of embryos and family members were performed. Bioinformatics analysis based on gradient sequencing depth was performed, and parent-embryo haplotyping was conducted for DNM diagnosis. Sanger sequencing, karyotyping, and chromosomal microarray analysis were performed using an amniotic fluid sample to confirm the PGT results. Results: After 1 PGT cycle, WGS of 2 embryos from the Olmsted syndrome family revealed euploid embryos without DNMs; after 2 cycles, the 11 embryos from the Marfan syndrome family showed only 1 normal embryo without DNM, copy number variations (CNVs), or aneuploidy. Moreover, 1 blastocyst from the Marfan syndrome family was transferred back to the uterus; the amniocentesis test results were confirmed by PGT and a healthy infant was born. Conclusions: WGS based on parent-embryo haplotypes was an effective strategy for PGT of DNMs combined with a chromosomal balanced translocation. Our results indicate this is a reliable and effective diagnostic method that is useful for clinical application in PGT of patients with DNMs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The feasibility of preparing activated carbon by chemical activation from textile waste flax was studied. According to thermogravimetric analysis, H3PO4 and ZnCl2 changed the pyrolysis behavior of flax. Reactions between H3PO4 or ZnCl2 degradation intermediaries and flax resulted in flax carbonization and activation. The effects of activation temperature, time and impregnation ratio on yield, micropore, mesopore and elemental composition were discussed in detail. Results showed that the optimum activation temperature was 700 °C for H3PO4 and 800 °C for ZnCl2 while optimum activation time and impregnation ratio for both were 60 min and 1.0. H3PO4 activation was higher in yield while ZnCl2 activation obtained carbons that were higher both in surface area and mesopore volume. H3PO4 and ZnCl2 were able to carbonize the original flax components and produced activated flax that is highly carbonaceous, rich in surface functional groups and powdered in particle size. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As one of the hard-templating methods, MgO-templating was employed to recycle cotton to produce activated carbon with magnesium acetate as MgO precursor. Results showed that cotton carbonized while magnesium acetate decomposed to nanoscale MgO particles based on thermogravimetric and X-ray diffraction analysis. Carbonized residuals of cotton were able to replicate the MgO morphology thus creating pores. The size of MgO varied with impregnation ratio, treatment temperature, and time. Overall, the optimum conditions were MgO/cotton impregnation ratio 0.25, temperature 800 °C, and treatment time 60 min. Cotton-based activated carbon thus produced manifested surface area and total pore volume of 1139 m2/g and 0.85 cm3/g respectively. Both micropores and mesopores were detected based on iodine, methylene blue adsorption values, and N2 adsorption-desorption studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Textile waste jute was activated by H3PO4 and ZnCl2 for reuse as activated carbon. Thermal degradation behavior of jute, impregnated jute and activating agents via thermogravimetric analysis were conducted first. Yield and iodine adsorption number were employed to determine the optimal activation conditions. As a result, activation by H3PO4 was best conducted at 700 °C for 90 min with an impregnation ration of 1.0 while conditions for ZnCl2 were 500 °C, 60 min and impregnation ratio of 1.0. That is, the best activation conditions varied with activating agents. So were the properties of resultant jute-based activated carbons. H3PO4 activation produced an activated carbon that was mostly mesoporous while that by ZnCl2 was more even in micropore and mesopore volumes as proven by pore volume distribution analysis. In addition, both carbons were abundant in surface functional groups which could be beneficial for adsorption of pollutants. Overall, jute could be effectively recycled to produce activated carbon that boasted excellent surface chemistry and textual properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Volatiles with a pleasant smell are typical characteristics of both raw and cooked seafood. However, the effect of salinity on volatiles in marine bivalves remains unclear. In the current study, the volatiles in raw and cooked Sinonovacula constricta cultured under different salinities were investigated by head space-solid phase microextraction and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Overall 28 volatiles were identified in the raw samples and mainly comprised 1-pentanol (15.32-23.95%), 1,5-octadien-3-ol (14.20-16.73%) and 1-octen-3-ol (14.20-15.63%). A total of 41 volatiles, dominated by pentanal (32.33-46.80%), 1-pentanol (10.88-16.48%) and hexanal (5.64-13.70%), were determined in the cooked samples. Irrespective of whether they were raw or had been cooked, S. constricta cultured under high salinity possessed more abundant volatiles than those reared under low salinity. When the culture salinity of S. constricta was raised, changes in the volatile content occurred. For S. constricta cultured at low salinity, rearing at high salinity for several days prior to harvest could greatly improve the volatile content. This finding is of value for the improvement of volatiles important for odor and taste in other marine bivalves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Overwhelming evidence suggests that microglia play an important role in ischemic injury and they polarize into two different phenotypes with distinct functions after ischemic stroke. We performed the present study to investigate whether L-3-n butylphthalide (NBP) has an effect on microglial polarization. Mice were subjected to transient middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) for 45 min, and then immediately after reperfusion were treated with NBP or vehicle via the caudal vein for 7 consecutive days. 2,3,5-Triphenyltetrazolium chloride (TTC) staining showed that NBP treatment resulted in a tendency to decrease cerebral infarct volume at 1 day after MCAO, and significant decreased infarct volume at 3 days after MCAO. Sensorimotor function was evaluated by the adhesive removal test and balance beam test, which were superior in NBP-treated mice compared with vehicle-treated mice at 1 and 3 days after MCAO. Immunofluorescent staining further indicated that NBP treatment significantly increased the number of CD206+/Iba1+ M2 microglia/macrophages and reduced the number of CD16+/Iba1+ M1 cells at 3 and 7 days after MCAO reperfusion. Western blot also showed an elevation of M2 marker (arginase-1) in NBP-treated brains at 7 days after MCAO. In conclusion, our results clearly show that NBP treatment significantly mitigates ischemic brain damage and promotes recovery of neurological function in early phase after ischemic stroke, probably by skewing M1 microglia/macrophages polarization towards M2 phenotype. Thus, our study provides new evidence that NBP might be a promising candidate for ameliorating injury caused by ischemic stroke. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using high-quality hourly observations from national-level ground-based stations, the satellite-based rainfall products from both the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Integrated MultisatellitE Retrievals for GPM (IMERG) and its predecessor, the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (TMPA), are statistically evaluated over the Tibetan Plateau (TP), with an emphasis on the diurnal variation. The results indicate that: (1) the half-hourly IMERG rainfall product can explicitly describe the diurnal variation over the TP, but with discrepancies in the timing of the greatest precipitation intensity and an overestimation of the maximum rainfall intensity over the whole TP. In addition, the performance of IMERG on the hourly timescale, in terms of the correlation coefficient and relative bias, is different for regions with sea level height below or above 3500 m; (2) the IMERG products, having higher correlation and lower root-mean-square error, perform better than the TMPA products on the daily and monthly timescales; and (3) the detection ability of IMERG is superior to that of TMPA, as corroborated by a higher Hanssen and Kuipers score, a higher probability of detection, a lower false alarm ratio, and a lower bias. Compared to TMPA, the IMERG products ameliorate the overestimation across the TP. In conclusion, GPM IMERG is superior to TRMM TMPA over the TP on multiple timescales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two-step physical activation was used to prepare activated carbon from textile waste jute. Raw material was first carbonized under nitrogen and then activated by CO2. Based on yield and pore structure, the optimal carbonization temperature and time were 500 °C and 60 min, respectively. Carbonized sample was next activated. The development of porosity and surface chemistry was highly dependent on activation temperature and time. Activated carbon produced at 800 °C was predominantly microporous while that produced at 900 °C was more mesoporous and macroporous. The shift from microporosity to mesoporosity could be used to produce either microporous or mesoporous carbon just by changing the activation temperature. Activation also changed the surface chemistry and created a more carbonaceous structure. The jute-based activated carbon was mostly powdered in form, slightly acidic and effective in adsorbing both heavy metals and organics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The facet capsular ligaments encapsulate the bilateral spinal facet joints and are common sources of painful injury due to afferent innervation. These ligaments exhibit architectural complexity, which is suspected to contribute to the experimentally observed lack of co-localization between macroscopic strain and microstructural tissue damage. The heterogeneous and multiscale nature of this ligament, combined with challenges in experimentally measuring its microscale mechanics, hinders the ability to understand sensory mechanisms under normal or injurious loading. Therefore, image-based, subject-specific, multiscale finite-element models were constructed to predict the mechanical responses of the human cervical facet capsular ligament under uniaxial tensile stretch. The models precisely simulated the force–displacement responses for all samples (R2=0.99±0.01) and showed promise in predicting the magnitude and location of peak regional strains at two different displacements. Yet, there was a loss of agreement between the model and experiment in terms of fiber organization at large tissue stretch, possibly due to a lack of accounting for tissue failure. The mean fiber stretch ratio predicted by the models was found to be significantly higher in regions that exhibited anomalous fiber realignment experimentally than in regions with normal realignment (p<0.002). The development of microstructural abnormalities was associated with the predicted fiber-level stretch (p<0.009), but not with the elemental maximum principal stress or maximum principal strain by logistic regression. The multiscale models elucidate a potential mechanical basis for predicting injury-prone tissue domains and for defining the relationships between macroscopic ligament stretch and microscale pathophysiology in the subfailure regime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Integrins modulate chemically-induced nociception in a variety of inflammatory and neuropathic pain models. Yet, the role of integrins in mechanically-induced pain remains undefined, despite its well-known involvement in cell adhesion and mechanotransduction. Excessive spinal facet capsular ligament stretch is a common injury that induces morphological and functional changes in its innervating afferent neurons and can lead to pain. However, the local mechanisms underlying the translation from tissue deformation to pain signaling are unclear, impeding effective treatment. Therefore, the involvement of the integrin subunit β1 in pain signaling from facet injury was investigated in complementary in vivo and in vitro studies. An anatomical study in the rat identified expression of the integrin subunit β1 in dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons innervating the facet, with greater expression in peptidergic than non-peptidergic DRG neurons. Painful facet capsule stretch in the rat upregulated the integrin subunit β1 in small- and medium-diameter DRG neurons at day 7. Inhibiting the α2β1 integrin in a DRG-collagen culture prior to its stretch injury prevented strain-induced increases in axonal substance P (SP) in a dose-dependent manner. Together, these findings suggest that integrin subunit β1-dependent pathways may contribute to SP-mediated pain from mechanical injury of the facet capsular ligament. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The superiority of the cumulative outcomes of day 5/6 embryo transfer to those of day 2/3 embryo transfer in infertile couples has been debated. This retrospective study included data collected from 1051 patients from July 2011 to June 2014. Multiple maternal baseline covariates were subjected to propensity score matching analysis, and each day 5/6 group woman was matched to one day 2/3 group woman. A systematic meta-analysis was conducted to validate the results. After matching was completed, 217 patients on the day 2/3 group were matched with those on the day 5/6 group, and no significant differences in the baseline characteristics were observed between the two groups. The cumulative pregnancy rate (57.14% vs. 53.46%, OR 1.16, 95% CI 0.79-1.70) and cumulative live birth rate (53.00% vs. 49.77%, OR 1.14, 95% CI 0.78-1.66) of day 5/6 embryo transfers were higher than those of day 2/3 embryo transfers, but this difference was not significant. The mean cycles per live birth and mean days per live birth in the day 5/6 group were significantly lower than those in the day 2/3 group. This study demonstrated that day 5/6 embryo transfer is a more cost-effective and time-efficient policy than day 2/3 embryo transfer to produce a live baby. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on the propagation of elastic waves in piezoelectric nanostructures is very limited. The frequency dispersion of Love waves in layered piezoelectric nanostructures has not yet been reported when surface effects are taken into account. Based on the surface elasticity theory, the propagation of Love waves with surface effects in a structure consisting of a nanosized piezoelectric film and a semi-infinite elastic substrate is investigated focusing on the frequency dispersion curves of different modes. The results show that under the electrically-open conditions, surface effects give rise to the dependence of Love wave dispersion on the film thickness when the thickness of the piezoelectric film reduces to nanometers. For a given wave frequency, phase velocity of Love waves in all dispersion modes exhibit obvious toward shift as the film thickness decreases or the surface parameters increase. Moreover, there may exist a cut-off frequency in the first mode dispersion below which Love waves will be evanescent in the structure due to surface effects. The cut-off frequency depends on the film thickness, the surface parameters and the bulk material properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) is the most common type of thyroid cancer, and its incidence rate is rapidly growing. It is necessary to understand the pathogenesis of PTC to develop effective diagnosis methods. Promoter methylation has been recognized to contribute to the alterations in gene expression observed in tumorigenesis. Our RNA-seq data identified 1191 differentially expressed mRNAs and 147 differentially expressed lncRNAs in PTC. Next, promoter methylation of these genes was detected by reduced representation bisulfite sequencing (RRBS) technology and comprehensively analyzed to identify differential methylation. In total, 14 genes (13 mRNAs and 1 lncRNA), in which methylation was intimately involved in regulating gene expression, were proposed as novel diagnostic biomarkers. To gain insights into the relationships among these 14 genes, a core co-function network was constructed based on co-expression, co-function and co-methylation data. Notably, CXCL12 was identified as an essential gene in the network that was closely connected with the other genes. These data suggested that CXCL12 down-regulation in PTC may be caused by promoter hypermethylation. Our study was the first to perform an RRBS analysis for PTC and suggested that CXCL12 may contribute to PTC development by methylation-mediated epigenetic regulation of gene expression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]