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Safflower yellow is an extract of the famous Chinese medicine Carthamus tinctorious L, and safflower yellow injection (SYI) is widely used clinically to treat angina pectoris. However, there are few studies on the anti-myocardial ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury effect of SYI, and its mechanisms are unclear. In the present study, we aimed to investigate the protective effect of SYI on myocardial I/R injury and explore its underlying mechanisms. Male Sprague Dawley rats were randomly divided into a control group, sham group, model group, and SYI group (20 mg/kg, femoral vein injection 1 h before modeling). The left anterior descending coronary artery was ligated to establish a myocardial I/R model. H9c2 cells were exposed to oxygen–glucose deprivation/reoxygenation (OGD/R) after incubation with 80 μg/mL SYI for 24 h. In vivo, TsTC, HE, and TUNEL staining were performed to evaluate myocardial injury and apoptosis. A kit was used to detect superoxide dismutase (SOD) and malondialdehyde (MDA) to assess oxidative stress. In vitro, flow cytometry was used to detect the reactive oxygen species (ROS) content and apoptosis rate. Protein levels were determined via Western blotting. Pretreatment with SYI significantly reduced infarct size and pathological damage in rat hearts and suppressed cardiomyocyte apoptosis in vivo and in vitro. In addition, SYI inhibited oxidative stress by increasing SOD activity and decreasing MDA content and ROS production. Myocardial I/R and OGD/R activate endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, as evidenced by increased expression of activating transcription factor 6 (ATF6), glucose-regulated protein 78 (GRP78), cysteinyl aspartate-specific proteinase caspase-12, and C/EBP-homologous protein (CHOP), which were all inhibited by SYI. SYI ameliorated myocardial I/R injury by attenuating apoptosis, oxidative damage, and ER stress, which revealed new mechanistic insights into its application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The disorder and disaster evolution characteristics of ascensional airflow fires in mine ventilation systems has been the focus of mine fire research. In this work, through repeated experiments, the variation characteristics of the temperature and air volume in the main and side branches of an ascensional airflow fire were obtained under different ventilation capacities. Using the TF1M(3D) software to solve the problems of mine physical ventilation and combined with the analysis of an example, the variation in the ascensional airflow fire and the process of disordered airflow in the ventilation system in an entire area mine were described in detail. Fire combustion served as the power source for uncontrolled energy release, and its fire pressure interacted with the thermal resistance of the mine ventilation, directly causing airflow disorder. As the fire intensified, the ascensional airflow fire caused the airflow in the side branch to decrease, stagnate, or reverse. Improving the fan supply capacity can not only help reduce the increase in the ventilation thermal resistance of the side branch but also help avoid the airflow reversal of the side branch. From the regular variation characteristics, the theoretical results were found to be in good agreement with the experimental results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neuropathic pain (NP) is a common type of chronic pain caused by a lesion or disease of the somatosensory nervous system. This condition imposes a considerable economic burden on society and patients. Daphnetin (DAP) is a natural product isolated from a Chinese medicinal herb with various pharmacological activities, such as anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties. However, the underlying mechanisms of these effects are not fully understood. In the present study, we aimed to investigate DAP's anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects and explore the underlying mechanisms of action. The NP model was established as chronic constrictive injury (CCI) of the sciatic nerve, and pain sensitivity was evaluated by measuring the mechanical withdrawal threshold (MWT) and thermal withdrawal threshold (TWT). The activation of microglia in the spinal dorsal horn was measured via immunofluorescence staining. Protein levels were measured using a western blot assay. Using a mass-spectrometry proteomics platform and an LC-MS/MS-based metabolomics platform, proteins and metabolites in spinal cord tissues were extracted and analyzed. DAP treatment ameliorated the MWT and TWT in CCI rats. The expression of IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α was inhibited by DAP treatment in the spinal cords of CCI rats. Moreover, the activation of microglia was suppressed after DAP treatment. The elevation in the levels of P2X4, IRF8, IRF5, BDNF, and p-P38/P38 in the spinal cord caused by CCI was inhibited by DAP. Proteomics and metabolomics results indicated that DAP ameliorated the imbalance of glycerophospholipid metabolism in the spinal cords of CCI rats. DAP can potentially ameliorate NP by regulating microglial responses and glycerophospholipid metabolism in the CCI model. This study provides a pharmacological justification for using DAP in the management of NP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The erosion of igneous rocks affects the structural and spontaneous combustion characteristics of coal. A series of tests were conducted, including programmed heating, thermogravimetric analysis, FT-IR spectroscopy, low-temperature nitrogen adsorption, and pressed mercury experiments on samples from primary coal and coal eroded by igneous rocks from the Tashan Mine and Xiaonan Mine within the same coal seam. Based on these experiments, we analyzed various properties of coal, such as the oxidation characteristics, spontaneous combustion limit, active functional group content, chemical structure, and pore structure, from both macroscopic and microscopic perspectives. The results indicated significant trends after the erosion of igneous rocks: (1) there were increases in the oxygen consumption rate, as well as the CO and CO2 release rates; (2) the upper limit of air leakage intensity increased, the minimum thickness of floating coal decreased, and the lower limit of oxygen volume fraction decreased; (3) there was a decrease in the activation energy required for coal ignition; (4) there was a decrease in the active functional group content while improving the structural stability; and (5) there were the alterations in the pore structure of coal. These promoted the oxidation reactions between oxygen and the active groups within the coal matrix, increasing the propensity for spontaneous combustion, particularly in the igneous rocks with low oxidation activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microbiome has emerged as a promising indicator or predictor of human diseases. However, previous studies have typically labeled each specimen as either healthy or with a specific disease, ignoring prevalence of complications or comorbidities in actual cohorts, which may confound the microbial–disease associations. For instance, a patient may suffer from multiple diseases, making it challenging to detect their health status accurately. Furthermore, host phenotypes like physiological characteristics and lifestyles can alter microbiome structure, but such information has not yet been fully utilized in data models. To address these issues, a highly explainable deep learning (DL) method called Meta‐Spec is proposed. Using a deep neural network (DNN)‐based approach, it encodes and embeds refined host variables with microbiome features, enabling the detection of multiple diseases simultaneously. Experiments show that Meta‐Spec outperforms regular machine learning (ML) strategies for multilabel disease screening in several cohorts. More importantly, Meta‐Spec successfully detects comorbidities that are often missed by other approaches. In addition, for its high interpretability, Meta‐Spec captures key factors that shape disease patterns from host variables and microbes. Hence, these efforts improve the feasibility and sensitivity of microbiome‐based disease screening in practical scenarios, representing a significant step toward personalized medicine and better health outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The crop leaf color is tightly connected with its meteorological environment. Color gradation skewness-distribution (CGSD) parameters can describe the information of leaf color more accurately, systematically, and comprehensively from five dimensions. We took photographs of pepper growing in the greenhouse at a fixed time every day and observed the meteorological factors. The results showed that the CGSD parameters were significantly correlated with meteorological factors, especially with the accumulated temperature, which showed the strongest correlation. Since the relationship between canopy leaf color and accumulated temperature is nonlinear, the piecewise inversion models were constructed by taking the stationary point of the high-order response model of Gskewness to accumulated temperature as the point of demarcation. The rate of outliers had decreased by 57.72%; moreover, the overall inversion accuracy had increased by 3.31% compared with the linear model directly constructed by the stepwise regression. It was observed that the pepper in the greenhouse had a different response to the same meteorological environmental stimulus before and after the stationary point. This study will provide a new method for constructing crop growth models in future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective To investigate the effect of Yangxin Shengmai (Heart-nourishing Pulse-engendering) Granule (YXSM Granule) on rats with coronary heart disease complicated with anxiety and depression through BDNF/TrKB pathway. Methods 124 SD rats were randomly divided into the blank group (n =14) and the model group (n =110). Except for the blank group, the depression model was established with Chronic Unpredictable Mild Stress (CUMS) for 28 days. On the 15th day, the myocardial infarction reperfusion model was established by ligating the left anterior descending coronary artery. Among the rat models, 14 rats were operated but not ligated, and they were set as the sham operation group; the others were randomly divided into model group and low-, medium- and high-dose (2.1,4.2,8.4 g/kg) YXSM Granule groups and 0.29 g/ kg Compound Danshen tablet + Fluoxetine (CDST+Flu) group. After intragastric administration for 2 weeks, the rats in each group undergone behavioral tests. The myocardial injury, left ventricle diameter (LVD) and left ventricular wall thickness (LVWT) were observed by HE staining, the protein expression levels of BDNF, TrKB and CD34 in myocardial tissue were detected by immunohistochemistry, and the protein expression levels of BDNF, TrKB and p-TrKB in hippocampus were detected by Western blotting. Results Compared with the sham group, the frequency of entering the central area of the open field and the total time spent and total distance travelled in the movement track in the model group were significantly reduced (P < 0.01), and the frequency and proportion of time spent in the open arm of the elevated cross maze were significantly reduced. Compared with the model group, the frequency of entering the central area of the open field and the total time spent and distance travelled in the movement track in all YXSM Granule groups and CDST+ Flu group were significantly increased (P<0.01), and the frequency and proportion of time spent in the open arm of the elevated cross maze were significantly increased, but with no significant difference. Compared with the sham operation group, in the model group, the degree of myocardial injury and LVD were significantly increased (P<0. 01), the LVWT and the protein expression levels of BDNF, TrKB and CD34 in myocardial tissue and BDNF and p-trkb/TrKB in hippocampus decreased significantly (P<0.05, P<0.01). Compared with the model group, the degree of myocardial injury was significantly improved, the LVD was significantly reduced (P<0.01), the LVWT and the protein expression levels of BDNF, TrKB and CD34 in myocardial tissue and BDNF and p-TrKB/ TrKB in hippocampus were significantly increased (P<0.05, P<0.01) in all the other groups. Conclusion YXSM Granule seems to improve the cardiac function and alleviate depressive symptoms in rats with coronary heart disease with anxiety and depression, which may play a cardioprotective and antidepressant role by activating BDNF/TrKB signal pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dispersion stability and wettability of suspension concentrates are beneficial for improvement of the utilization rate of pesticides. Herein, four kinds of novel organosilane-modified polycarboxylate dispersants P(AA3-APEG1-Six) with different silicone contents ranging from 0 to 0.5 mol were successfully synthesized using acrylic acid (AA), allyl polyethoxyether (APEG-1000) and organosilicon modifier 3-(trimethoxysilyl)propylmethacrylate (MAPTMS) as monomers, and their surface properties were systematically investigated. Meanwhile, 25% tebuconazole (TEB) suspension concentrate (SC) was milled with the four P(AA3-APEG1-Six (SCP(AA3-APEG1-Six)), and the influences of P(AA3-APEG1-Six) on the zeta potential, particle size, suspension rate and rheological behaviors of the 25% TEB SC were also studied. The results showed that P(AA3-APEG1-Si0.5) had the lowest surface tension by maintaining an AA:APEG-1000 mole ratio of 3 : 1, and changing the MAPTMS additive amount from 0 to 0.5 mol. Additionally, the obtained TEB SCP(AA3-APEG1-Six) system exhibits shear thinning behavior under high shearing rate, showing typical features of a pseudo-plastic non-Newtonian fluid, which conforms to the Power-law model. More importantly, the SCP(AA3-APEG1-Six), especially for P(AA3-APEG1-Si0.5), exhibited relatively minimum change in particle size and zeta potential compared to that of the unmodified polymers, and displayed superior suspension rate. Significantly, TEB SCP(AA3-APEG1-Six) showed excellent wetting and spreading behavior on plant leaves, which contributes to obviously improving pesticide utilization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Epidemiological evidence suggests that long-term exposure to outdoor ultrafine particles (UFPs, <0.1 μm) may have important human health impacts. However, less is known about the acute health impacts of these pollutants as few models are available to estimate daily within-city spatiotemporal variations in outdoor UFPs., Methods: Several machine learning approaches (i.e., generalized additive models, random forest models, and extreme gradient boosting) were used to predict daily spatiotemporal variations in outdoor UFPs (number concentration and size) across Montreal and Toronto, Canada using a large database of mobile monitoring measurements. Separate models were developed for each city and all models were evaluated using a 10-fold cross-validation procedure., Results: In total, our models were based on measurements from 12,705 road segments in Montreal and 10,929 road segments in Toronto. Daily median outdoor UFP number concentrations varied substantially across both cities with 1st-99th percentiles ranging from 1389 to 181,672 in Montreal and 2472 to 118,544 in Toronto. Outdoor UFP size tended to be smaller in Montreal (mean [SD]: 34 nm [15]) than in Toronto (mean [SD]: 44 nm [25]). Extreme gradient boosting models performed best and explained the majority of spatiotemporal variations in outdoor UFP number concentrations (Montreal, R 2 : 0.727; Toronto, R 2 : 0.723) and UFP size (Montreal, R 2 : 0.823; Toronto, R 2 : 0.898) with slopes close to one and intercepts close to zero for relationships between measured and predicted values., Conclusion: These new models will be applied in future epidemiological studies examining the acute health impacts of outdoor UFPs in Canada's two largest cities., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest with regard to the content of this report., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. on behalf of The Environmental Epidemiology. All rights reserved.)

Rationale: Outdoor fine particulate air pollution (PM2.5) contributes to millions of deaths around the world each year, but much less is known about the long-term health impacts of other particulate air pollutants including ultrafine particles (a.k.a. nanoparticles) which are in the nanometer size range (<100 nm), widespread in urban environments, and not currently regulated., Objectives: Estimate the associations between long-term exposure to outdoor ultrafine particles and mortality., Methods: Outdoor air pollution levels were linked to the residential addresses of a large, population-based cohort from 2001 - 2016. Associations between long-term exposure to outdoor ultrafine particles and nonaccidental and cause-specific mortality were estimated using Cox proportional hazards models., Measurements: An increase in long-term exposure to outdoor ultrafine particles was associated with an increased risk of nonaccidental mortality (Hazard Ratio = 1. 073, 95% Confidence Interval = 1. 061, 1. 085) and cause-specific mortality, the strongest of which was respiratory mortality (Hazard Ratio = 1.174, 95% Confidence Interval = 1.130, 1.220)., Main Results: Long-term exposure to outdoor ultrafine particles was associated with increased risk of mortality. We estimated the mortality burden for outdoor ultrafine particles in Montreal and Toronto, Canada to be approximately 1100 additional nonaccidental deaths every year. Furthermore, we observed possible confounding by particle size which suggests that previous studies may have underestimated or missed important health risks associated with ultrafine particles., Conclusions: As outdoor ultrafine particles are not currently regulated, there is great potential for future regulatory interventions to improve population health by targeting these common outdoor air pollutants.