Search

Objective: Rare disease Background: Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) is an important treatment for severe aplastic anemia (SAA). It is known that SAA can evolve into malignant clonal diseases, such as acute myeloblastic leukemia (AML) or myelodysplastic syndrome. However, the transformation of SAA into AML after allo-HSCT is a rare phenomenon. Here, we report a case of SAA transformed into AML after patient received human leucocyte antigen (HLA)-matched sibling peripheral blood stem cell transplantation. Case Report: A 51-year-old female patient presented with petechiae and fatigue and received a diagnosis of idiopathic SAA. The immunosuppressive therapy combined with umbilical cord blood transplantation failed for this patient. Then, she received HLA-matched sibling allogeneic peripheral blood stem cell transplantation (allo-PBSCT). However, 445 days after allo-PBSCT, the patient had a diagnosis of AML by bone marrow puncture. Donor-recipient chi-merism monitoring and cytogenetic analysis confirmed that the leukemia was donor cell origin. Notably, a new HOXA11 mutation was detected in the peripheral blood of the patient after transplantation by whole-exome sequencing, which was the same gene mutation detected in the donor. The patient received 1 cycle of induction chemotherapy with azacytidine and achieved complete remission. However, the leukemia relapsed after 2 cycles of consolidation chemotherapy. Unfortunately, the patient died of leukemia progression 575 days after allo-HSCT. Conclusions: The mechanism of how normal donor hematopoietic cells transform to leukemia in the host remains unclear. Donor cell leukemia provides a unique opportunity to examine genetic variations in donors and hosts with regards to the progression to malignancy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ferroptosis is a new form of regulated cell death caused by iron‐dependent accumulation of lethal polyunsaturated phospholipids peroxidation. It has received considerable attention owing to its putative involvement in a wide range of pathophysiological processes such as organ injury, cardiac ischemia/reperfusion, degenerative disease and its prevalence in plants, invertebrates, yeasts, bacteria, and archaea. To counter ferroptosis, living organisms have evolved a myriad of intrinsic efficient defense systems, such as cyst(e)ine‐glutathione‐glutathione peroxidase 4 system (cyst(e)ine‐GPX4 system), guanosine triphosphate cyclohydrolase 1/tetrahydrobiopterin (BH4) system (GCH1/BH4 system), ferroptosis suppressor protein 1/coenzyme Q10 system (FSP1/CoQ10 system), and so forth. Among these, GPX4 serves as the only enzymatic protection system through the reduction of lipid hydroperoxides, while other defense systems ultimately rely on small compounds to scavenge lipid radicals and prevent ferroptotic cell death. In this article, we systematically summarize the chemical biology of lipid radical trapping process by endogenous chemicals, such as coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10), BH4, hydropersulfides, vitamin K, vitamin E, 7‐dehydrocholesterol, with the aim of guiding the discovery of novel ferroptosis inhibitors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, a stochastic tropical cyclone (TC) intensity model based on a deterministic fast physics-based TC intensity model is developed for potential applications in the TC hazard assessment. To account for the effect of randomness, an error term is introduced to the ordinary differential equation for the TC intensity. The error term is assumed to be the summation of a mean part and a white noise. The geographically weighted summary statistics method is adopted to estimate the geographically varying mean and white noise intensity of the error term using the 1,010 historical tropical cyclone records from the western North Pacific. The effects of the mean and random parts of the error term on the model's performance are investigated in terms of the individual samples and the probabilistic characteristics of TC intensity evolution. The results show that, by introducing the error term, the difference of the 25-, 50-, and 100-year recurrence interval values between the model and observation can be largely reduced from the level of 10% to less than 4%, validating the adequacy of the proposed model in the TC hazard assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cu-Co/X-MMT (X = Na, SiO2) catalysts were prepared via impregnation method using Na-MMT and SiO2-MMT (montmorillonite pillared by SiO2) as the support and copper nitrate and cobalt nitrate as precursors. In addition, the citric acid was introduced during the preparation of Cu-Co/SiO2-MMT to obtain Cu-Co/SiO2-MMT-Ac catalyst. The catalysts were characterized by XRD, TEM, H2-TPR, XPS and N2 adsorption–desorption at low temperature. The results showed that the acidity and specific surface area of SiO2-MMT were larger than those of Na-MMT, thus resulting in dimethyl ether (DME) conversion and H2 yield of Cu-Co/SiO2-MMT higher than those of Cu-Co/Na-MMT during steam reforming of DME (SRD). However, for Cu-Co/SiO2-MMT, there was a large amount of methanol in the carbon-containing product due to the large particle size of Cu. The Cu particle size of Cu-Co/SiO2-MMT-Ac was decreased significantly due to the introduction of citric acid, thus accelerating the steam reforming of methanol reaction and enabling the timely conversion of the intermediate product methanol of SRD, resulting in the increasing DME conversion and H2 yield. Therefore, Cu-Co/SiO2-MMT-Ac was expected to be a potential catalyst for SRD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Recent studies have proved the diverse roles of miRs in different cancer-related processes. This study was undertaken to determine the therapeutic implications of miR-325-3p in breast cancer. Material and methods: Expression analysis was carried out by qRT-PCR. Transfections were performed by Lipofectamine 2000 reagent. MTT assay was used for cell viability. Transwell assays were used for cell migration and invasion. Western blot analysis was used for protein expression analysis. Results: Gene expression analysis revealed miR-325 to be significantly suppressed in breast cancer tissues and cell lines. Nonetheless, ectopic expression of miR-325 resulted in suppression of the growth and colony development potential of the SK-BR-3 and CAMA-1 cells. Transwell assays showed that miR-325 overexpression also resulted in the decline of the migration and invasion of the SK-BR-3 and CAMA-1 cells. Bioinformatic analysis showed that miR-325 targets lipocalin 15 (LNC15) in breast cancer cells. LNC15 was also overexpressed in the breast cancer tissues and cell lines. However, overexpression of miR-325 caused a significant decline in the LNC15 expression in SK-BR-3 cells. Additionally, silencing of LNC15 resulted in inhibition of the growth, migration and invasion of the SK-BR-3 cells. Rescue assay showed that overexpression of LNC15 could promote the growth, migration and invasion of the miR-325 overexpressing effects. Conclusions: Taken together, the evidence shows that miR-325 acts as a tumor suppressor in breast cancer and may be used in the treatment of breast cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Offshore structures, such as oil and gas platforms and offshore wind turbines, are subjected to wind and wave loads simultaneously during their service lifetime. Since the wind and wave states are of significant randomness and dependence, the probabilistic modeling of joint wind and wave conditions plays an essential role in the safety design of offshore structures. Currently, three different methods can be adopted to establish the joint probabilistic model, which, however, are somewhat inconvenient in applications. The recently emerged generative adversarial networks has been demonstrated to be effective in dealing with high-dimensional random variables in several fields. In this study, the implicit joint probabilistic model of joint wind and wave load conditions is developed based on the Wasserstein generative adversarial network with gradient penalty. Long-term metocean reanalysis data of the site in the South China Sea is used to train and validate the model. After one million training steps, high-quality samples that are quite similar to the original data can be generated by the developed model. In addition, statistical comparisons of the generated samples obtained by the C-vine copula approach and the developed generative adversarial network model are performed as well, which demonstrates the effectiveness and superiority of the developed model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aging could regulate many biological processes in malignancies by regulating cell senescence. Consensus cluster analysis was conducted to differentiate TCGA sarcoma cases. LASSO cox regression analysis was performed to construct an aging-related prognostic signature. We identified two categories of TCGA-sarcoma with significant difference in prognosis, immune infiltration and chemotherapy and targeted therapy. Moreover, an aging-related prognostic signature was constructed for sarcoma, which had a good performance in predicting the 3-year and 5-year overall survival of sarcoma patients. We also identified a lncRNA MALAT1/miR-508-3p/CCNA2 regulatory axis for sarcoma. This stratification could provide more evidence for estimating prognosis and immunotherapy of sarcoma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To analyse if the health progression of geriatric Covid-19 survivors three months after an acute Covid-19 infection was worse than in other geriatric patients. Specifically, we wanted to see if we could see distinct health profiles in the flow of re-admitted Covid-19 patients compared to re-admitted non-Covid-19 controls. Design: Matched cohort study. Setting and participants: Electronic medical records of geriatric patients hospitalised in geriatric clinics in Stockholm, Sweden, between March 2020 and January 2022. Patients readmitted three months after initial admission were selected for the analysis and Covid-19 survivors (n = 895) were compared to age-sex-Charlson comorbidity index (CCI)-matched non-Covid-19 controls (n = 2685). Methods: We assessed using binary logistic and Cox regression if a previous Covid-19 infection could be a risk factor for worse health progression indicated by the CCI, hospital frailty risk score (HFRS), mortality and specific comorbidities. Results: The patients were mostly older than 75 years and, already at baseline, had typically multiple comorbidities. The Covid-19 patients with readmission had mostly had their acute-phase infection in the 1st or 2nd pandemic waves before the vaccinations. The Covid-19 patients did not have worse health after three months compared to the matched controls according to the CCI (odds ratio, OR[95% confidence interval, CI] = 1.12[0.94–1.34]), HFRS (OR[95%CI] = 1.05[0.87–1.26]), 6-months (hazard ratio, HR[95%CI] = 1.04[0.70–1.52]) and 1-year-mortality risk (HR[95%CI] = 0.89[0.71–1.10]), adjusted for age, sex and health at baseline (the CCI and HFRS). Conclusions and implications: The overall health progression of re-hospitalized geriatric Covid-19 survivors did not differ dramatically from other re-hospitalized geriatric patients with similar age, sex and health at baseline. Our results emphasize that Covid-19 was especially detrimental for geriatric patients in the acute-phase, but not in the later phase. Further studies including post-vaccination samples are needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Double-stranded RNA (dsRNA)-degrading enzyme (dsRNase) is one of the negative factors influencing the RNA interference (RNAi) effect in Colorado potato beetle (CPB). We have previously shown that plastid-mediated RNAi (PM-RNAi) can be utilized to control CPB. In this study, we aimed to test whether silencing dsRNase could increase the RNAi effect in CPB via PM-RNAi. We generated transplastomic potato (Solanum tuberosum) plants expressing dsRNA targeting shibire (dsSHI) of CPB. St-dsSHI plants (transplastomic plants expressing dsSHI) showed much less potent RNAi response than transplastomic potato plants expressing dsRNAs targeting CPB Shrub (St-dsSHR) or β-Actin (St-dsACT), two CPB-resistant transplastomic lines generated previously. The three types of transplastomic lines have weak (St-dsSHI), moderate (St-dsSHR) and strong (St-dsACT) resistant levels to CPB. Treatment with in vitro-synthesized dsdsRNase1/2 (a fusion dsRNA targeting dsRNase1 and dsRNase2 of CPB) led to enhanced suppression of dsRNase1 and dsRNase2 in CPB larvae fed with St-dsSHI plants and dsRNase2 in CPB larvae fed with St-dsSHR plants. St-dsSHR or St-dsSHI plants showed significantly reduced CPB larva weight or damaged area by CPB feeding. These results demonstrate that dsRNase-silencing approach could improve the effect of PM-RNAi when the silencing of target genes has weak or moderate strength of the insecticidal effects. The findings provide a new proof-of-concept to enhance crop resistance to insect herbivores to via an “RNAi-of-RNAi” approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Formic acid (FA) was used for reductive depolymerization of industrial corncob lignin via ethanol and Pt/C system. The highest yield of bio-oil obtained was 71.4% when the reaction was conducted at 260 °C with an FA/lignin ratio of 8 for 0.5 h. The bio-oil was composed of oligomers (Mw within 600 Da) and lignin depolymerized fragments (Mw beyond 600 Da). Reaction temperature was the most important factor affecting the properties of bio-oil. Although excessive temperature could increase the C/H ratio and higher heating value (HHV) of bio-oil, it would lead to repolymerization of lignin degraded fragments, thus resulting in a higher molecular weight of bio-oil. Additionally, alkylphenols were major products in bio-oil, and the amount of alkyl phenols could be increased by increasing the temperature and extending the retention time appropriately. This study reveals the effects of various reaction conditions on the yield and properties of bio-oil, providing a theoretical basis for subsequent upgrading of bio-oil to biofuels and aromatic chemicals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Satellite remote sensing has been widely utilized for petroleum detection offshore since oil spill is normally widespread. However, the onshore hydrocarbon detection is insufficient because the lower spectral resolution of previous satellites made it difficult to identify small scales of seepages. In this study, a dataset of the High-Resolution 5 satellite (GF-5) of China was chosen to directly detect hydrocarbon seeps in the Karamay area. First, an IDL program was used to remove the vertical tripe noise of the image to ensure the high quality of the image. Second, use principal component analysis (PCA) was combined with the classification and regression trees (CART) method RuleGen to process the image. The detected hydrocarbon information was enhanced by RGB color synthesis. The results show that the methods can detect hydrocarbon effectively. Field verification results show that the accuracy is 86.5%. This study provides an effective method for hydrocarbon detection using GF-5 data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a casting improvement process to enable the casting of Al-Cu alloy cylinder heads to achieve the required quality. The hot tearing defects generated in the fire face of the cylinder head during casting were simulated using MAGMA software. The simulation results show that the large wall thickness transition difference in the fire face of the cylinder head is the reason for the large temperature and stress gradient during solidification. Therefore, the first solution was optimised by forming the fire face as a whole into a flat plate, but the fire face centre area stress is still too high. The second optimisation option optimises the cold iron structure of the fire face, the probability of cracking in the fire face is reduced to 17%. These results have important reference significance for the optimisation of the Al-Cu alloy cylinder head hot tearing problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work proposes a microwave angular displacement sensor with wideband matching based on a wideband impedance transformer. According to the design requirement of the microstrip impedance transformer (load‐to‐source impedance of 250‐to‐50 Ω, centre frequency of 2.40 GHz) with Chebyshev frequency response, the proposed angular displacement sensor is explored for the high bandwidth sensitivity of 11.18 MHz/degree. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Driven by the rapid construction of China's transportation and the integration of urban and rural development, a large network of different transportation modes, such as roads, railways, waterways, and aviation, have formed in urban and rural areas. The multi-mode coordinated planning of transportation has therefore become a new trend in the integration of urban and rural transportation, promoting the common development of urban and rural areas. Based on this, this paper uses multi-source data information to explore the coordinated development and planning of different modes of urban and rural transportation and takes GIS software as a tool to coordinate the development between urban and rural transportation planning and production, life, ecology and cultural elements in urban and rural space for the purpose of evaluating the traffic needs of different modes in urban and rural space. Wuxue City is taken as an example to analyze the shortcomings of the current urban and rural transportation coordination, and accordingly proposes a four-pronged coordinated traffic planning strategy: road network structure, hub layout, information service, and public transport optimization. Spatially, this paper intends to find out a new approach of coordinated planning of urban and rural multi-mode transportation which can promote the integrated development of urban and rural transportation and set a good example for the development of urban and rural transportation in other similar areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Purpose: Interleukin‐36 is induced by proinflammatory cytokines and promotes inflammatory responses, creating an IL‐36‐based inflammation loop. Although hepatocytes, produce IL‐36 responses to drug‐induced liver injury, little is known about the mechanistic role of IL‐36 signalling during the progression of alcoholic steatohepatitis (ASH). Regarding IL‐36/IL‐36R and P2X7R coregulating the inflammatory response, we elucidated that modulation of IL‐36R‐P2X7R‐TLR axis affected hepatocyte steatosis as well as the IL‐36‐based inflammatory feedback loop that accompanies the onset of ASH. Experimental Approach: C57BL/6J mice were subjected to either chronic‐plus‐binge ethanol feeding or acute gavage with multiple doses of ethanol to establish ASH, followed by pharmacological inhibition or genetic silencing of IL‐36R and P2X7R. AML12 cells or mouse primary hepatocytes were stimulated with alcohol, LPS plus ATP or Poly(I:C) plus ATP, followed by silencing of IL‐36γ, IL‐36R or P2X7R. Key Results: P2X7R and IL‐36R deficiency blocked the inflammatory loop, specifically initiated by IL‐36 cytokines, in hepatocytes of mice suffering from ASH. Pharmacological inhibition to P2X7R or IL‐36R alleviated lipid accumulation and inflammatory response in ASH. IL‐36R was indispensable for P2X7R modulated NLRP3 inflammasome activation in ASH, and IL‐36 led to a vicious cycle of P2X7R‐driven inflammation in alcohol‐treated hepatocytes. TLR ligands promoted IL‐36γ production in hepatocytes, based on synergism with P2X7R. Conclusions and Implications: Blockade of IL‐36 based inflammatory feedback loop, via IL‐36R‐P2X7R‐TLRs‐modulated NLRP3 inflammasome activation, circumvented steatosis and inflammation that accompanies the onset of ASH, suggesting that targeting IL‐36 can serve as a novel therapeutic approach to combat ASH. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The digital twin is considered the central component of modern industry. It has been adopted in many industrial fields. However, its application in nuclear engineering is very rare, especially for the radioactive waste deposits winch is an urgent and tricky issue. Motivated by this demand and considering China's research & development guidelines for geological disposal of high-level radioactive waste (a three-step strategy by 2050 to construct the radioactive waste repository), a framework of the radioactive waste repository digital twin is proposed. The digital twin uses the framework edge + cloud with a multi-layer structure. It can be adopted in the construction of the radioactive waste repository. It can significantly strengthen the management capability, reduce the operating cost, improve the safety level and deal with accidents more efficiently. The first step for the achievement for the digital twin development of radioactive waste repository based on the framework is also introduced in the paper. The proposed digital twin framework of the radioactive waste repository in this work could be widely used as a reference and easily extended to support management in other industrial fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mega‐infrastructural development project provides easy access to remarkable tourism destinations and keeps attracting tourists. Tourist data from the tourism department of Gilgit‐Baltistan (GB), Pakistan, show that the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project's impact positively relates to tourism demand. GB is at the early stage of tourism development, and residents show a willingness to support tourism even though tourism costs outweigh benefits. Besides, the existing tourism policy of Gilgit‐Baltistan focuses explicitly on economic sustainability but overlooks the socio‐cultural and environmental concerns. Therefore, the present study based on the stakeholder theory provides policy implications to minimize adverse effects on socio‐cultural and ecological resources and achieve sustainable tourism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In nuclear radiation detection, some measured radiation counts are lost due to dead time. Estimation of dead time is necessary to restore the counting information in quantitative analysis. This study aims to propose a method for estimating dead time at high counting rate. First of all, a measurement system of pulse interval distribution was used to estimate the true input counting rate of the detection system and implemented in FPGA. Then, a digital pole-zero cancellation technique was introduced in the measurement system to decrease the decay time constant of pulse. This was aimed at mitigating the impact of pile-up on the pulse interval distribution spectrum, especially at high counting rate. The feasibility of this measurement system at high counting rate was verified by the experimental platform of EDXRF. The dead time was calculated using the measured counting rate and the estimated true input counting rate. The accuracy of the dead time relies on the precision of the estimated true count rate. When the counting rate reaches 600 kCPS, the relative error between the theoretical counting rate and the estimated true input counting rate is less than 5%. • An EDXRF was used to verify the validity of pulse interval distribution measurement system to estimate the dead time. • Estimation of the true input counting rate accurately in the high counting rate scenario. • The measured counting rate will enter the nonlinear region when the dead time exceeds 20%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) remains a major source of mortality in China. Convincing evidence has demonstrated that the reduction of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) is correlated with lowering ASCVD risk. The efficacy of lifestyle management in lipid levels reduction has been confirmed in numerous studies. However, considering that low compliance to lifestyle management has limited the benefits of lowering lipid levels, cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) is proposed as a solution to improve clinical outcomes. The objective of this trial is to compare the LDL-C outcome in ASCVD patients receiving mobile device-based CBT to a control group, with both groups under standard pharmacological treatments.Methods: This trial is designed as a multicenter, prospective randomized controlled trial with a 6-month follow-up. Mean LDL-C level and the percentage of different LDL-C levels, coefficient of variation of LDL, General Self-Efficacy Scale (GSEs), quality of life index (QL-index), etc., between the two groups at baseline, 1, 3, and 6 months will be measured.Discussion: This trial should demonstrate that the implementation of mobile-based CBT intervention will be potentially effective in lowering LDL-C levels in ASCVD patients.Trial Registration: Chinese Clinical Trial Registry ( ChiCTR2100046775 ) [registered: 2021/5/28]. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. In recent years, a growing body of research has revealed that long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) participate in regulating genomic instability. Materials and Methods. We obtained RNA expression profiles, somatic mutation profiles, clinical information, and pathological features of colorectal cancer (CRC) from The Cancer Genome Atlas project. We divided the cohort into two groups based on mutation frequency and identified genomic instability-related lncRNAs (GI-lncRNAs) using R software. We further analyzed the function of identified GI-lncRNAs and established a prognostic model through Cox regression. Using the established prognostic model, we divided the cohort into the high- and low-risk groups and further verified the prognostic differences between the two groups as well as the predictive power of prognosis-related lncRNAs in the genomic instability of CRC. Results. We identified a total of 143 GI-lncRNAs that were differentially expressed between the higher mutation frequency group and the lower mutation frequency group. According to Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway and Gene Ontology analyses, a series of cancer-associated terms were enriched. We further constructed a prognostic model that included five GI-lncRNAs (lncRNA PTPRD-AS1, lncRNA AC009237.14, lncRNA LINC00543, lncRNA AP003555.1, and lncRNA AL109615.3). We confirmed that the expression of the five GI-lncRNAs was associated with prognosis and the mutation of critical genes in the CRC patient cohort. Conclusions. The present research further confirmed the vital function of GI-lncRNAs in the genomic instability of CRC. The five GI-lncRNAs identified in our study are potential biomarkers and need to be studied in more depth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The subcellular localization and intracellular trafficking of Toll‐like receptors (TLRs) critically regulate TLRs‐mediated antimicrobial immunity and autoimmunity. Here, it is demonstrated that the E3 ubiquitin ligase RNF115 inhibits the post‐endoplasmic reticulum (ER) trafficking of TLRs and TLRs‐mediated immune responses by catalyzing ubiquitination of the small GTPases RAB1A and RAB13. It is shown that the 14‐3‐3 chaperones bind to AKT1‐phosphorylated RNF115 and facilitate RNF115 localizing on the ER and the Golgi apparatus. RNF115 interacts with RAB1A and RAB13 and catalyzes K11‐linked ubiquitination on the Lys49 and Lys61 residues of RAB1A and on the Lys46 and Lys58 residues of RAB13, respectively. Such a modification impairs the recruitment of guanosine diphosphate (GDP) dissociation inhibitor 1 (GDI1) to RAB1A and RAB13, a prerequisite for the reactivation of RAB proteins. Consistently, knockdown of RAB1A and RAB13 in Rnf115+/+ and Rnf115−/− cells markedly inhibits the post‐ER and the post‐Golgi trafficking of TLRs, respectively. In addition, reconstitution of RAB1AK49/61R or RAB13K46/58R into Rnf115+/+ cells but not Rnf115−/− cells promotes the trafficking of TLRs from the ER to the Golgi apparatus and from the Golgi apparatus to the cell surface, respectively. These findings uncover a common and step‐wise regulatory mechanism for the post‐ER trafficking of TLRs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sodium oxalate (Na2C2O4) is an excellent phosphorus-free agent, but in sodium oxalate-containing detergents with sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate (SDBS) and sodium carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), significant ash deposition occurs on cotton fabrics. SDBS is the main anionic surfactant in modern detergents and cotton fiber is the most commonly used textile fiber. In this study, sodium lignosulfonate (LS) was investigated for its ability to prevent redeposition in SDBS-Na2C2O4-CMC-LS formulations. The effects of LS on ash content, whiteness, optimum washing temperature, calcium oxalate morphology, zeta potential and surface tension were carefully analyzed. The results showed that the addition of LS significantly improved the prevention of ash deposits on cotton fibers. The ash content was less than 0.46%and a small amount of particles were scattered on the cotton fibers. LS showed good dispersibility but had little effect on the washing power and zeta-potential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) provide an ideal platform for loading various guests owing to their available space, and can be developed as a class of multifunctional materials. Herein, we cover the design and synthesis of two kinds of exchanged frameworks with multifunctional applications based on H3ImDC and In(NO3)3·2H2O through guest exchange inside the framework. The guest ammonium ion (NH4+) and [Ru(2,2′-bipyridine)3]2+ (Rubpy) are selected to exchange the dimethylammonium cation (Me2NH2+) encapsulated within In-MOF, giving birth to two kinds of new MOFs, named NH4+@In-MOF and Rubpy@In-MOF respectively. The proton conduction of NH4+@In-MOF and the CO2 photoreduction of Rubpy@In-MOF are investigated. Under different test conditions, the proton conductive behaviors of NH4+@In-MOF are evaluated and the best proton conductive value can reach up to 9.81 × 10−3 S cm−1. Compared to the original In-MOF, Rubpy@In-MOF exhibits a significantly enhanced CO2 photoreduction performance under a pure CO2 atmosphere. Furthermore, its photocatalytic activity is retained even under a 10% CO2 gas atmosphere, displaying a synergistic effect between Rubpy and In-MOF24 within Rubpy@In-MOF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent studies have suggested ARSA , a gene responsible for metachromatic leukodystrophy, could be a genetic modifier of Parkinson's disease (PD) pathogenesis, acting as a molecular chaperone for α-synuclein. To elucidate the role of ARSA variants in PD, we did a comprehensive analysis of ARSA variants by performing next-generation sequencing on 477 PD families, 1440 sporadic early-onset PD patients and 1962 sporadic late-onset PD patients and 2636 controls from Chinese mainland, as well as the association between ARSA variants and cognitive function of PD patients. We identified 2 familial PD following autosomal dominant inherence carrying rare variants of ARSA , but they had limited clinical significance. We detected a total of 81 coding variants of ARSA in our subjects but none of the identified variants were associated with either susceptibility or cognitive performance of PD, while loss-of-function variants showed slightly increased burden in late-onset PD (0.25% vs. 0%, p = 0.08). Our results suggested ARSA may not play important roles in PD of Chinese population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Opportunistic spectrum access (OSA), a promising technology to resolve radio spectrum scarcity, is still faced with some challenges, of which one is potentially frequent channel handoff (CH) even handoff blocking (HB) for secondary user (SU) to avoid primary user (PU). Reaccess is a direct way to resolve HB. However, multiple handoff blocking‐then‐reaccess (H‐BTR) are time consuming. Whether it is worthwhile to make multiple H‐BTR, is an interesting but hardly mentioned issue. To this end, the multiple H‐BTR‐based OSA are focused on here. Three key indices, the average transmission probability, handoff delay, and average reaccess times of SU in the H‐BTR‐based OSA, are deduced as close form first. Then, the effects of H‐BTR frequency and service traffic rate of SU on OSA are discussed. Finally, the H‐BTR‐based OSA is compared to two other schemes, the handoff without BTR (HWBTR)‐based OSA and the stop‐and‐waiting (SW)‐based OSA. Theoretical and simulated results show that the H‐BTR‐based OSA performs best among three schemes. Making H‐BTR in moderate frequency according to service traffic rate can increase transmission opportunity while additional delay of SU is tolerable, thus the performance of OSA can be well improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Ligustilide improved lipid accumulation and inflammation in alcoholic steatosis based on RXFP1. • Ligustilide inhibited the RXFP1-NLRP3 axis to reduce the release of inflammatory factors. • Ligustilide reduced the infiltration of immune cells via inhibiting the formation of NETs. Ligustilide (Lig) is the main active ingredient of Umbelliferae Angelicae Sinensis Radix (Chinese Angelica) and Chuanxiong Rhizoma (Sichuan lovase rhizome). Lig possesses various pharmacological properties and could treat obesity by regulating energy metabolism. However, the impact and regulatory mechanism of Lig on alcoholic hepatic steatosis remains unclear. This study aimed to explore the therapeutic effect of Lig on alcoholic hepatic steatosis and its related pharmacological mechanism. With chronic and binge ethanol feeding, liver tissue damage and lipid accumulation in mice suffering alcoholic hepatic steatosis were significantly improved after Lig treatment. Lig effectively regulated the expression levels of lipid metabolism-related proteins in alcoholic hepatic steatosis. In addition, Lig reduced RXFP1 expression, inhibited the activation of NLRP3 inflammasome, and blocked NET formation. Lig reduced the infiltration of immune cells to the liver and the further prevented the occurrence of alcohol-stimulated inflammatory response in liver. Lig significantly regulated lipid accumulation in alcohol exposed AML12 cells via modulating PPARα and SREBP1. In MPMs, Lig decreased the expression of RXFP1, inhibited the activation of NLRP3 in macrophages stimulated by LPS/ATP, and slowed down the occurrence of inflammatory response. Lig sustained lipid metabolism homeostasis in alcoholic hepatic steatosis, through inhibiting the activation of NLRP3 inflammasomes and the formation of NETs, especially targeting RXFP1 in macrophages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deoxynivalenol (DON), namely vomitoxin, is one of the most prevalent fungal toxins in cereal crops worldwide. However, the underlying toxic mechanisms of DON remain largely unknown. DON exposure-caused changes in the murine plasma metabolome and gut microbiome were investigated by an LC-MS/MS-based nontargeted metabolomics approach and sequencing of 16S rRNA in fecal samples, respectively. Cellular models were then used to validate the findings from the metabolomics study. DON exposure increased intestinal barrier permeability evidenced by its-mediated decrease in colonic Claudin 5 and E-cadherin, as well as increases in colonic Ifn-γ , Cxcl9 , Cxcl10 , and Cxcr3. Furthermore, DON exposure resulted in a significant increase in murine plasma levels of deoxycholic acid (DCA). Also, DON exposure led to gut microbiota dysbiosis, which was associated with DON exposure-caused increase in plasma DCA. In addition, we found not only DON but also DCA dose-dependently caused a significant increase in the levels of IFN-γ , CXCL9 , CXCL10 , and/or CXCR3 , as well as a significant decrease in the expression levels of Claudin 5 and/or E-cadherin in the human colonic epithelial cells (NCM460). DON-mediated increase in DCA contributes to DON-caused intestinal injury. DCA may be a potential therapeutic target for DON enterotoxicity. [Display omitted] • This study first demonstrated increased Deoxycholic acid (DCA) from Deoxynivalenol (DON) exposure using metabolomics. • DCA stimulates the expression of IFN-γ, related chemokines, and increase intestinal epithelial barrier permeability. • DCA contributes to DON-mediated gut barrier dysfunction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • CoO was first used as C 2 H 4 degradation photocatalyst in this study. • A 0D/2D CoO QDs/Bi 2 MoO 6 monolayer S-scheme heterojunction is built. • This photocatalyst shows outstanding visible light activities for C 2 H 4 degradation. • The S-scheme heterojunction enhances the stability of CoO in photocatalytic reaction. • The S-scheme heterojunction could apply in fruit and vegetable preservation. As a plant hormone, C 2 H 4 causes significant economic losses during the storage and transportation of fruits and vegetables. How to efficiently photocatalytic oxidation of atmospheric C 2 H 4 using sun-light remains a significant challenge at the frontiers of chemistry. Inspired by natural photosynthesis of plant, here, we design a novel S-scheme heterojunction for highly efficient photocatalytic C 2 H 4 degradation. We first conducted density functional theory (DFT) calculations to predict an S-scheme heterojunction can be formed between CoO and Bi 2 MoO 6 , and then fabricated a novel CoO Quantum dots (QDs)/Bi 2 MoO 6 monolayer S-scheme heterojunction by using a practical hydrothermal approach to in-situ deposit CoO QDs on a Bi 2 MoO 6 monolayer. Furthermore, the UV–Vis DRS, UPS, in-situ XPS and electron spin resonance (ESR) characterization of DMPO-•O 2 – signals and DMPO-•OH signals evidence that the transfer pathway of space charge in photocatalytic degradation of ethylene accords with the S-scheme. Moreover, due to the unique structural design, CoO QDs and Bi 2 MoO 6 monolayer form an S-scheme heterojunction, and the intimate contact that enables efficient charge transfer and sufficient redox ability simultaneously, the CoO QDs/Bi 2 MoO 6 monolayer catalyst achieves a remarkable ethylene photocatalytic-degradation rate of 3.27 × 10−2∙min−1, 19.2 times higher than CoO and 22.5 times higher than Bi 2 MoO 6. This work provides novel insights for designing efficient S-scheme photocatalysts for C 2 H 4 degradation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The internet of things accelerates the wireless connections of massive devices to provide all kinds of new services, and thus intensifies the spectrum scarcity and access delay. Cognitive radio (CR) technology brings a solution for the issue. As a typical CR scheme, opportunistic spectrum access (OSA) has been addressed widely in the past decade. However, the tradeoff between two key indexes, the throughput of cognitive radio network (CRN) and the delay of secondary user (SU), is rarely mentioned so far, which ignites the authors' work in this paper. Taking into account a channel handoff (CH) based multi‐channel OSA scenario, the authors first analyze the opportunistic transmission performance of SU, and model the throughput of CRN as well as the handoff delay of SU. Then, the authors build up a delay‐constraint throughput optimization problem, and thus formulate the throughput‐delay tradeoff for OSA. Finally, the optimal traffic rates of SU for a good throughput‐delay tradeoff are derived according to maximizing the throughput of CRN. Theoretical and simulated results show that to enhance the throughput and to reduce the delay do not conflict always. By well adjusting the traffic rates of SU according to the traffic rates of primary user, the throughput of CRN can be improved while the handoff delay can be kept under a given level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • J-1048, a pyrazole derivative, has significant inhibitory activity upon to ALK5 with high selectivity. • J-1048 inhibited TGF-β/Smad signal transduction pathway during liver fibrosis. • J-1048 blocked P2X7R-NLRP3 inflammasome activation in progression of liver fibrosis. • J-1048 has a particular inhibitory effect on the recruitment of inflammatory cells. Liver fibrosis is a worldwide challenge of health issue. Developing effective new drugs for treating liver fibrosis is of great importance. In recent years, chemically synthesized drugs have significant advantages in treating liver fibrosis. Small molecule pyrazole derivatives as activin receptor-like kinase 5 (ALK5) inhibitors have also shown anti-fibrotic and tumor growth inhibitory effects. To develop the candidate with anti-fibrotic effect, we synthesized a novel pyrazole derivative, J-1048. The inhibitory effect of J-1048 on ALK5 and p38α mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase activity was assessed by enzymatic assays. We established an in vivo liver fibrosis model by injecting thioacetamide (TAA) into mice and in vitro model of TGF-β stimulated hepatic stellated cells to explore the inhibition mechanisms and therapeutic potential of J-1048 as an ALK5 inhibitor in liver fibrosis. Our data showed that J-1048 inhibited TAA-induced liver fibrosis in mice by explicitly blocking the TGF-β/Smad signaling pathway. Additionally, J-1048 inhibited the production of inflammatory cytokine Interleukin-1β (IL-1β) by inhibiting the purinergic ligand-gated ion channel 7 receptor (P2X7r) -Nucleotide-binding domain-(NOD-)like receptor protein 3 (NLRP3) axis, thereby alleviating liver fibrosis. Our findings demonstrated that a novel small molecule ALK5 inhibitor, J-1048, exhibited strong potential as a clinical therapeutic candidate for liver fibrosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A framework of TC wind hazard assessment based on the probability density evolution method integrated with the change-of-measure technique is proposed. • The high efficiency of the proposed framework in assessing the TC wind hazard at multiple locations is validated. • The sensitivity of the TC wind hazard to controlling random variables is analyzed. • The TC wind hazard on the southeast coast of China is assessed. The tropical cyclone (TC) wind hazard assessment formulates a change-of-random-variable problem, which maps the probability space of controlling parameters to that of the TC-induced wind. This study presents a framework for analyzing the TC wind hazard based on the probability density evolution method (PDEM) integrated with the change of probability measure (COM). It is advantageous in the problem of assessing the TC wind hazards at multiple locations over the traditional approach because a common set of representative deterministic solutions of physical equations can be re-used for all locations rather than solving a separate set of solutions at each location. The proposed method is applied to estimate the wind hazard on the Chinese southeast coastline. The common representative deterministic points are selected by the generalized-F-discrepancy-based method with the probability distributions of controlling parameters at Shantou. Based on the COM, the geographical dependence of probabilistic characteristics is represented by changing the assigned probability. The PDEM is incorporated to evaluate the propagation of randomness from the input-controlling parameters to the TC-induced surface wind. The comparison to the Monte Carlo simulation demonstrates the high efficiency and accuracy of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study proposes a model for predicting tropical cyclone (TC) intensity evolution by utilizing the conditional Wasserstein generative adversarial network with gradient penalty (CWGAN-GP) for TC-related risk assessment. The TC intensity evolution is treated as a random variable, which is the output of a nonlinear system conditioned on a series of input random variables that characterize both the TC state (e.g., translation speed and potential intensity) and environment (e.g., vertical wind shear and ocean mixed layer depth). To represent the high-dimensional non-Gaussian probabilistic characteristics, the system is modeled by the CWGAN-GP and calibrated concerning the dataset of 1010 historical TCs from the western North Pacific basin. The over-ocean and overland branches of the model are calibrated separately and then merged. The suitability of the established model is validated by comparing the predicted TC intensity to the observations and the results of existing models such as those based on linear regression. Numerical results indicate that the proposed model successfully replicates the probabilistic properties such as the non-Gaussian marginal distribution of the intensity change and the input-output joint distribution and moments between the TC intensity and predictors, which the linear regression model cannot provide. Further application examples are also carried out by using the model to simulate the evolution of historical TC events and the extreme TC intensities in Southern China, demonstrating its potential role in the TC hazard assessment. • A deep-learning model for predicting tropical cyclone intensity evolution is proposed. • The CWGAN-GP is used to model TC intensity change every 6 h conditioned on environmental variables. • Numerical results demonstrate that the proposed model can replicate the probabilistic properties of TC intensity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dosing sulfide into the sulfur-packed-bed (S0PB) has great potential to enhance the denitrification efficiency by providing compensatory electron donors, however, the response of sulfur-metabolizing biofilm to various sulfide dosages has never been investigated. In this study, the S0PB reactor was carried out with increasing sulfide dosages by 3.6 kg/m3/d, presenting a decreasing effluent nitrate from 14.2 to 2.7 mg N/L with accelerated denitrification efficiency (k: 0.04 to 0.27). However, 6.5 mg N/L of nitrite accumulated when the sulfide dosage exceeded 0.9 kg/m3/d (optimum value). The increasing electron export contribution of sulfide a maximum of 85.5% illustrated its competition with the in-situ sulfur. Meanwhile, over-dosing sulfide caused serious biofilm expulsion with significant decreases in the total biomass, live cell population, and ATP by 90.2%, 86.7%, and 54.8%, respectively. This study verified the capacity of dosing sulfide to improve the denitrification efficiency in S0PB but alerted the negative effect of exceeded dosing. [Display omitted] • Effective enhancement on denitrification was achieved by dosing sulfide into S0PB. • Denitrifiers would utilize sulfide prior to sulfur as the electron donor. • Compatible sulfide dosage realized the cooperation between sulfur and sulfide. • Exceeded sulfide dosage would cause biofilm expulsion and nitrite accumulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, a novel polyoxometalates-based metal-organic frameworks (POMOFs) microsphere, that is [Ni(phen)H2O]·V2O6 (phen is o-phenanthroline), have been successfully fabricated by one-pot simple hydro(solvent)thermal reaction through regulating different solvent ratios (H2O/EtOH). The experimental results show that the solvent effect has a significant effect on the micro-morphology and the catalytic activity of the materials. The dual-function in electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution and catalytic reduction of Cr6+ of the as-prepared POMOFs microspheres have been also studied. The POMOF(V,Ni)_3 catalyst prepared in the medium of pure ethanol have the best catalytic activity, in which the overpotential of 159 mV for the electrode is comparable to that of MoS2-based electrode material, and the rate constant k reaches 0.14 in the process of catalytic reduction of Cr6+. In this study, a novel polyoxometalates-based metal-organic frameworks (POMOFs) microsphere [Ni(phen)H2O]·V2O6 have been successfully fabricated by one-pot simple hydro(solvent)thermal reaction through regulating different solvent ratios. The dual-function in electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution and catalytic reduction of Cr6+ of the as-prepared sample have been also studied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land cover change has been identified as an important cause or driving force of global climate change and is a significant research topic. Over the past few decades, global land-cover mapping has progressed, however, long time-series global land-cover change monitoring data are still sparse, especially at 30-m resolution. In this study, GLC_FCS30D is described as the first global 30-m land-cover dynamic monitoring dataset, containing 35 land-cover subcategories and covering the period of 1985-2022 with 26 time-steps (maps updated every five years before 2000 and annually after 2000). GLC_FCS30D has been developed using continuous change detection and all available Landsat imagery based on the Google Earth Engine platform. In specific, we first take advantage of the continuous change-detection model and full time-series Landsat observations to capture the time-points of changed pixels and identify the temporally stable areas. Then, we apply a spatiotemporal refinement method to derive the globally distributed and high-confidence training samples from these temporally stable areas. Next, locally adaptive classification models are used to update the land-cover information for the changed pixels, and a temporal-consistency optimization algorithm is adopted to improve their temporal stability and suppress some false changes. Further, the GLC_FCS30D product is validated using 84,526 globally distributed validation samples in 2020 and achieves an overall accuracy of 80.88 % (±0.27 %) for the basic classification system (10 major land-cover types) and 73.24 % (±0.30 %) for the LCCS level-1 validation system (17 LCCS land-cover types). Meanwhile, two third-party time-series validation datasets in the United States and Europe Union are also collected for analyzing accuracy variations, and the results show that the GLC_FCS30D offers significant stability for time-series accuracy variation and achieves the mean accuracies of 79.50 % (±0.50 %) and 81.91 % (±0.09 %) over the two regions. Last, we conclude the global land-cover change information from GLC_FCS30D dataset, namely, the forest and cropland variations dominate global land cover change over past 37 years, and net loss of forests reaches about 2.5 million km2 and net gain in cropland area is approximately 1.3 million km2. Therefore, the novel GLC_FCS30D is an accurate time-series land-cover dynamic monitoring product benefiting from its diverse classification system, high spatial resolution and the long time span of 1985-2022, thus, it will effectively support global climate change research and promote sustainable development analysis. The GLC_FCS30D datasets are available via https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8239305 (Liu et al, 2023). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The probability density evolution method (PDEM) synthesizing the change of probability measure (COM) provides a compatible framework for quantifying simultaneous aleatory and epistemic uncertainties. Nonetheless, when the effective support for the change of measure becomes narrow, the quantification error of the PDEM-COM may increase, and the PDEM-COM may even be invalid if the effective support is an empty set. To address this issue, in the present paper, the error analysis of the PDEM-COM is firstly explored, and the generalized F-discrepancy via the COM is utilized to measure the similarity of two different distributions. Then, an augmenting approach is proposed to improve the performance of the PDEM-COM by adding a number of computational simulations. The results indicate that, the PDEM-COM can still be relatively accurate as long as the effective support is sufficiently large, even when there is a significant shift in the probability measure. However, if the effective support turns to be extremely narrow, the error of hybrid uncertainty quantification via the PDEM-COM may be unsatisfied, but it can be significantly reduced by the suggested augmenting approach. Numerical examples are investigated to demonstrate the accuracy and efficiency of the proposed method. Some issues to be further studied are also outlined. • Error analysis of the PDEM-COM is studied. • Numerical illustration of the PDEM-COM for different changes of probability measure. • An augmenting approach is proposed to improve the PDEM-COM. • The accuracy and efficiency of the proposed method is validated by three engineering applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The wide/narrow band gap semiconductor heterojunction promotes the coupling of light with matter and the rapid electron transport, which opens up a new research way for the construction of heterojunctions, photodetectors and quantum phenomena due to their excellent optical properties. Hereon, petal-like ZnO@MoSe 2 and worm-like MoSe 2 films were prepared by two-step/single-step RF magnetron sputtering method. Combined with the experimental results and the finite difference time domain (FDTD) simulation, it is proven that the 1T and 2H mixed phase MoSe 2 can provide low energy growth sites for ZnO. ZnO@MoSe 2 longitudinal n-p heterojunctions can form super-fast carrier transfer channels, enhancing the luminescence properties of heterojunctions in near-Gaussian fields. Moreover, both MoSe 2 and ZnO@MoSe 2 films show saturation absorption phenomenon with the coefficients of 0.43 × 10−7 mW−1 and 0.18 × 10−7 mW−1, respectively. The saturation absorption coefficient of ZnO@MoSe 2 films is reduced due to Pauli blocking, which is caused by the electron transfer from the conduction band of MoSe 2 to the conduction band of ZnO. The synthesized ZnO@MoSe 2 films can be used in all optical switching, passive mode locking and other fields. Future two-dimensional semiconductor optoelectronic device technology will rely heavily on the interfacial charge transfers and carrier management of metal oxide and transition metal chalcogenides (TMDs). In this study, "two/single-step" RF magnetron sputtering was used to construct n-p type ZnO@MoSe 2 and p-type MoSe 2 non-monolayer nanofilms, respectively. The interfacial stress between the layers of MoSe 2 atoms causes the stress situation of MoSe 2 surface atoms to be different from that in the body, resulting in the surface relaxation and surface reconstruction of MoSe 2 atoms, is responsible for the multiphase MoSe 2. MoSe 2 can offer lower energy growth sites for ZnO benefit by the "petal" sheet-like selective growth. Due to the existence of electron transfer channels at the heterogeneous interface of ZnO@MoSe 2 materials, leading to electron of MoSe 2 transfer to the main energy level of ZnO and improves the luminous properties of ZnO films. The electric, magnetic, and polarization fields of ZnO@MoSe 2 heterojunction were altered after the stressing was applied, according to finite difference time domain modeling results. The excitation and emission behaviors of the ZnO@MoSe 2 are outstanding due to the interfacial tension and efficient charge transfer. The relative numerical changes of significant physical parameters (n 2 , β, σ, Imχ(3) and Reχ(3)) of the samples, as well as the photoelectric transfer, stress and charge doping levels on the surface or interface, will provide a direction for optimizing the selection of various devices based on the dependence of physical parameters of samples. [Display omitted] • The self-consistency of ZnO in the surface of MoSe 2 films was discussed. • The electric, magnetic, and polarization fields of ZnO@MoSe 2 heterojunction was applied. • The excitation and emission behaviors of the ZnO@MoSe 2 were discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Case-control study confirms positive link between BPA & obesity with elevated IL-17A. • BPA aggravates adipose tissue inflammation and insulin resistance in obese human and mice. • High-fat-fed IL-17A-/- mice reversed adipose tissue inflammation and insulin resistance even with BPA exposure. • IL-17A mediates the association between BPA exposure and obesity risk. Bisphenol A (BPA), a ubiquitous environmental endocrine disruptor, has been extensively demonstrated to be associated with metabolic disorders, including obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus. However, the underlying mechanism underpinning the environmental etiology of chronic metabolic disorders has not been sufficiently elucidated. This study is designed to explore the toxicological pathogenesis of chronic inflammation in BPA exposure during obesity. We investigated the role of IL-17A in the association of BPA exposure and obesity from human cross-sectional study to animal models, including genetically modified IL-17A-/- mice. Here, our work started from case-control observation that BPA exposure was significantly associated with risk of obesity (odds ratio = 4.72, 95%CI: 3.18 – 11.18, P < 0.01), metabolic disorder and levels of interleukin-17A (IL-17A) in human adipose (estimated changes β = 0.46, 95%CI: 0.15 – 1.01, P < 0.01) with bariatric surgery. Animal model fed with high-fat diet (HFD) confirmed that BPA exposure aggravated body weight gain and insulin resistance, concurrent with much heightened inflammatory responses in the adipose tissue including increase in IL-17A and macrophage polarization towards M1 stage. Genetically modified IL-17A ablated mice (IL-17A-/-) showed reversed adipose tissue inflammation response, improved macrophage polarization homeostasis, along with insulin sensitivity in both HFD group alone or much more significantly the HFD + BPA group. Moreover, mediation analysis in human epidemiological investigation demonstrated that plasma IL-17A attributed up to 30.01% mediating role in the associations between BPA exposure and obesity risk. This research paradigm from human to animal provides strong evidence for the elucidation of IL-17A moderating inflammation and insulin resistance in obesity. Such findings reiterate the obesogenic role of environmental endocrine disruptor BPA in metabolic disorders and unveils the potential toxicological mechanisms underpinning such effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to reveal the association between single-nucleotide polymorphism of NTN1 and subtypes of non-syndromic cleft lip with or without cleft palate (NSCL/P) in Han Chinese Population. Initially, we selected three single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) (rs4791331, rs4791774 and rs9891446) in NTN1 from previous genetic studies. Then we recruited two Han Chinese cohorts (2004 cases and 1823 controls) and divided cases into subgroups: non-syndromic right-side cleft lip, non-syndromic left-side cleft lip, non-syndromic bilateral cleft lip and non-syndromic cleft lip with palate to further evaluate the associations between the subtypes of NSCL/P and SNPs in NTN1. PLINK and Haploview program were utilized to analyze the data. In the association analysis under additive model, we found that G allele at rs9891446 could specifically increase the risk of right-side cleft lip (P = 0.0073, OR = 1.44, 95%CI: 1.1-1.88), which was consistent with the results of association analysis under genotypic model. This study showed that rs9891446 of NTN1 was specifically associated with right-side cleft lip in Han Chinese, which indicates that different subtypes of non-syndromic cleft lip have distinct genetic background. • NTN1 was associated with non-syndromic cleft lip with or without cleft palate. • Rs4791331, rs9891446 and rs4791774 are associated with cleft lip. • Allele G at rs9891446 in NTN1 could increase the risk of right-side cleft lip. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Colorectal cancer is a prevalent malignancy, with advanced and metastatic forms exhibiting poor treatment outcomes and high relapse rates. To enhance patient outcomes, a comprehensive understanding of the pathophysiological processes and the development of targeted therapies are imperative. The high heterogeneity of colorectal cancer demands precise and personalized treatment strategies. Colorectal cancer organoids, a three-dimensional in vitro model, have emerged as a valuable tool for replicating tumor biology and exhibit promise in scientific research, disease modeling, drug screening, and personalized medicine. In this review, we present an overview of colorectal cancer organoids and explore their applications in research and personalized medicine, while also discussing potential future developments in this field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • VNS spectroscopy are used to investigate mineralogy and geochemistry of drill cores rapidly and non-destructively. • K-M values are negatively correlated with Fe 2 O 3 , Fe3+/Fe2+, TOC, and carbonates, and positively with clay and kaolinite. • Redox is found to be the key U enrichment factor, and kaolinite and organic matter may cause limited U enrichment. The Qianjiadian deposit is the first late Mesozoic–Cenozoic sandstone-type uranium deposit discovered in the Songliao Basin, northeast China. It remains uncertain whether high-temperature hydrothermal fluid or low-temperature groundwater dominated the mineralization process that led to uranium enrichment in this deposit. We investigated the gamma ray intensity and semi-quantitative mineralogical and geochemical characteristics of drill cores from the Qianjiadian deposit. A total of 60 gamma ray anomalies were identified; most of these anomalies are associated with negative Fe 2 O 3 and Fe3+/Fe2+ anomalies, four are associated with positive total organic carbon (TOC) anomalies, and none are associated with positive carbonate (calcite + dolomite) anomalies. The absence of positive carbonate anomalies, together with low kaolinite crystallinities, rules out the influence of high-temperature fluid on uranium enrichment. The dominant negative Fe 2 O 3 and Fe3+/Fe2+ anomalies and the occurrence of pyrite in thin section and gray-red sandstone and native sulfur in some U-rich drill cores indicate that redox reactions in low-temperature groundwater may have been the principal control on uranium enrichment. In addition, two gamma ray anomalies are associated with positive TOC, Fe 2 O 3 , and Fe3+/Fe2+ anomalies and another two are associated only with positive kaolinite anomalies, suggesting that carbonaceous debris and kaolinite could also cause limited uranium enrichment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research reported associations between bisphenol A (BPA) exposure and some malignant tumor incidences, yet the underlying mechanism remains largely uncertain. This investigation was aimed to explore the association of BPA exposure burden with colorectal cancer (CRC) and the role of tumor tissue lipid metabolism in the associations between BPA and CRC using lipidomic approach. Urinary BPA levels in CRC cases were significantly higher than those in controls (P value < 0.05). BPA was positively correlated with all three serum CRC biomarkers, with an estimated odds ratio (OR) of 4.45 (95% confidence interval (95% CI): [1.31, 15.14]) between the highest and lowest tertiles of exposure. Lipidomic screening of tumor samples suggested significant perturbation in the glycerophospholipid metabolism pathway, of which phosphatidylcholine (PC 34:0), phosphatidylcholine (PC 37:1), phosphatidylethanolamine (PE 34:2), triacylglycerol (TG 56:4) demonstrated mediation contribution of 21.9%, 18.7%, 18.4% and 27.39%, respectively, in the association between BPA exposure and CRC. Our work provides novel findings that cancer tissue metabolites may be playing vital mediating roles in the associations between BPA exposure burden and CRC risk. These findings contribute to better understanding of the etiology of CRC induced by environmental stressors. [Display omitted] • BPA exposure was associated with risk of CRC. • High BPA group exhibited significant lipid dysregulation in CRC tissues. • Lipid metabolites may mediate the association between BPA exposure and CRC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Development of new proton exchange membranes for fuel-cells draw considerable attentions. A family of proton conductive membranes based on poly(sodium 4-styrene sulfonate) (PSSNa) and polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) combining with various additives oxalic acid (OX), phosphate (PA) and phosphomolybdic acid H 3 PMo 12 O 40 ·XH 2 O (PMo 12) have been fabricated through a slurry casting approach, and are defined as PSSNa-PVDF-OX, PSSNa-PVDF-PMo 12 and PSSNa-PVDF-PA respectively, whose proton conductivities have been systematically investigated. Among them, PSSNa-PVDF-OX shows the superior proton conductivity, compared to PSSNa-PVDF-PA and PSSNa-PVDF-PMo 12 , and the best proton conductive value can reach up to 5.0 × 10−3 S cm−1 at 60 °C and 95% relative humidity, proving the good compatibility of OX with PSSNa and PVDF, giving birth to an effective proton transport channel. In order to demonstrate the role of Na+, poly(4-styrene sulfonic acid) (PSSA) is employed to replace PSSNa, generating another series of proton conductive membranes PSSA-PVDF-OX. The proton conductivity of PSSNa-PVDF-OX is greater than those of PSSA-PVDF-OX, which is attributed to the strong interactions between Na+ and water molecules, accelerating proton movement. Summarily, the enhanced conductivity is attributed to the generated efficient conduction pathways constructed from Na+ ions, water molecules, abundant -COOH from OX and -SO 3 - groups from PSSNa as well as rich F groups from PVDF. Several proton-conductive membranes are prepared with the best value of 5.0 × 10−3 S cm−1, demonstrating Na+ play an important role for high proton conduction. [Display omitted] • A series of composite membranes with various additives based on PSSNa and PVDF have been synthesized. • PSSNa-PVDF-OX60 shows superior performance and the best proton conductive value is 5.0 × 10−3 S cm−1 at 95% RH and 60 °C. • The introduction of Na+ builds the efficient transfer pathway for protons with OX, water as well as polymers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • A series of novel marine phidianidine-inspired indole-1,2,4-oxadiazoles was designed and synthesized. • These derivatives were evaluated for their effects against oxLDL-induced injury in VECs. • The most potent compound D-6 inhibit oxLDL-induced apoptosis and the expression of ICAM-1 and VCAM-1 in VECs. • Compound D-6 suppressed oxLDL-induced increase of ROS level and nuclear translocation of NF-κB. • Compound D-6 protected against oxLDL-induced endothelial injury by activating Nrf2/HO-1 pathway. Inhibition of oxidized low-density lipoprotein (oxLDL)-induced vascular endothelial cell (VEC) injury is one of the effective strategies for treating atherosclerosis. In the present study, a series of novel marine phidianidine-inspired indole-1,2,4-oxadiazoles was designed, synthesized, and evaluated for their effects against oxLDL-induced injury in VECs. Among them, compound D-6 , displaying the most effective protective activity, was found to inhibit oxLDL-induced apoptosis and the expression of ICAM-1 and VCAM-1 in VECs. Mechanistic studies showed that D-6 could trigger Nrf2 nuclear translocation, subsequently resulting in increased expression of Nrf2 target gene HO-1. Meanwhile, D-6 suppressed the increase of ROS level and nuclear translocation of NF-κB induced by oxLDL. Importantly, Nrf2 knockdown attenuated the inhibition effects of D-6 on oxLDL-induced apoptosis, ROS production and NF-κB nuclear translocation. Collectively, our studies demonstrated that compound D-6 protected against oxLDL-induced endothelial injury by activating Nrf2/HO-1 anti-oxidation pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study was carried out to determine the effect of influent nitrate loading on nitrite accumulation during elemental-sulfur based denitrification process, and proposed to enhance the nitrogen removal efficiency by mitigating nitrite accumulation with thiosulfate as external electron donor. Along with increasing the nitrate influent loading (from 0.09 kg N/m3/d to 1.73 kg N/m3/d) by shortening the empty bed contact time (EBCT) (from 5 h to 0.25 h), the nitrate removal loading increased from 0.08 to 0.83 kg N/m3/d. Meanwhile, the raise of the nitrate influent loading obviously aggravated the nitrite accumulation. Herein, nitrite began to accumulate since the nitrate influent loading was over 0.86 kg N/m3/d, and a maximum nitrite accumulation of 2.39 mg/L was observed under the 0.25 h of EBCT and 15 mg/L of nitrate influent concentration condition. Thiosulfate was used as the external electron donor to accelerate the nitrite reduction rate in order to mitigate the nitrite accumulation. As a result, the nitrite accumulation significantly decreased from 2.39 mg/L to 0.17 mg/L with the thiosulfate dosage of 13.36 mg/L. However, the nitrite accumulation bounced with the on-going increase of the thiosulfate dosage, indicating that the nitrate reduction rate and nitrite reduction rate were accelerated alternatively. After dosing thiosulfate, the relative abundances of sulfurimonas and ferritrophicum grew up significantly. • Nitrite accumulation occurs readily under high nitrate influent loading condition. • Thiosulfate dosing alternatively accelerates nitrate and nitrite reduction rates. • Appropriate dosing of thiosulfate can significantly mitigate nitrite accumulation. • A better TN removal efficiency can be achieved without nitrite accumulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Detrital ilmenite and its altered minerals are common in sandstone-hosted U deposits in the northern Ordos Basin, north China. Petrographic observation, SEM-EDS, EMPA, and LA-MC-ICP-MS were utilized to characterize the spatial relationship between altered ilmenite and the U minerals, and to investigate the U enrichment mechanism and alteration processes of ilmenite. Ilmenite was completely or partially altered to leucoxene and anatase along its rim and crack in ore-bearing sandstone. Framboidal and cement pyrite of BSR and TSR origin were identified around altered ilmenite. Two U phases closely related to altered ilmenite contain Ti-coffinite (I) and coffinite (II). These data indicate that ilmenite alteration and the associated processes of U enrichment can be divided into two stages. Stage one involves U pre-enrichment and adsorption, with stage two involving U enrichment via TiO2 (leucoxene and anatase) catalytic reduction. Ilmenite was altered into porous leucoxene that can adsorb U as uraniferous leucoxene and Ti-coffinite (I) and framboidal pyrite directly by reactions with H2S, produced by sulfate-reducing bacteria during synsedimentary and early diagenesis stages. Altered ilmenite can enrich U in the form of coffinite (II) through a catalytic reduction reaction which is triggered by β and γ radiation produced by previously adsorbed U during the uplift of ore-bearing bed in the Late Cretaceous period. In addition, cement pyrite can also reduce U6+ into U4+ which deposits on its surface in the form of coffinite (II). These results demonstrate a new mechanism, mediated by adsorption and catalytic reduction, to enrich U in sandstone-hosted U deposits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The proposed tropical cyclone model is completely driven by a set of environmental variables. • This model reproduces the spatial and temporal characteristics of observed tropical cyclones. • The model achieves remarkable balance between computational complexity and efficiency. • This model will provide decision-makers with valuable information regarding potential wind-induced hazards. • When future climate data are fed into this model, the impact of climate change on tropical cyclones can be evaluated. This paper presents an environment-driven tropical cyclone (TC) model for the Western North Pacific basin, which comprises a revised Poisson regression genesis model, a tailored beta-advection track model, and a fast intensity model. The TC model reproduces the temporal and spatial distributions of genesis events, the motion pattern of tracks, as well as the intensity evolutions along tracks. Risk analyses for Hong Kong and along the southeast coastline of mainland China demonstrate that this model can simulate extreme TC events with high fidelity. And the Gaussian mixture model outperforms the Frank Copula in approximating the joint distributions of the annual maximum wind speeds and the corresponding wind directions. This model is driven by a set of environmental variables including relative vorticity, relative humidity, sea surface temperature, vertical wind shear, potential intensity, sub mixed layer depth stratification, mixture layer depth and so on. This enables the model to not only reproduce historical records, but also make predictions for future TC behaviors under climate change with combination of global climate models. Besides, the computational efficiency of the TC model is comparable to traditional purely statistical models. The proposed model can also be coupled with other natural hazard models to conduct multi-hazard analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]