Search

BackgroundAccumulating evidences suggested that immune checkpoints (ICPs) played an important role in malignancies including breast cancer (BRCA). We aimed to investigate whether inhibitory-to-stimulatory immune checkpoint ratio (ISICPR) could be used as a prognostic marker for BRCA.MethodsBRCA patients were enrolled from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). Survival analysis was performed with Kaplan-Meier (KM) methods. X-tile was used to calculate the optimal cut-off values of ISICPRs. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression analysis were carried out to identify prognostic factors for BRCA patients. Tissue microarray was used to validate our findings.ResultsIn total, 586 BRCA patients were collected, including 104 cases of stage I, 330 of stage II, 139 of stage III, and 13 of stage IV. Univariate analysis showed that four ISICPRs (PDCD1/CD27 ratio, PDCD1/TNFSF4 ratio, IDO1/TMIGD2 ratio, and IDO1/TNFSF4 ratio) were significantly associated with the survival of BRCA patients. After adjusting for confounders, multivariate analysis indicated that only the IDO1/TMIGD2 ratio was an independent prognostic factor. The optimal cut-off values for the IDO1/TMIGD2 ratio were set at 4.4 and 6.3. Survival analysis indicated that the high-ratio group (ratio > 6.3) had a worse prognosis than both the low-ratio (ratio < 4.4) and medium-ratio group (4.4 < ratio < 6.3) (P < 0.001), which was further validated by BRCA tissue microarray.ConclusionsWe found that IDO1/TMIGD2 ratio was an independent prognostic factor for BRCA. On one hand, dual targeting of IDO1 and TMIGD2 may be a more effective therapeutic strategy for patients with a high IDO1/TMIGD2 ratio. On the other hand, ISICPR was a promising indicator with high clinical values and worthy of further promotion in other cancers.

Investigating agricultural exposure to drought and enabling its long-term predictions are critical for climate adaptation and cropland management. This study integrates hydrological modeling, machine learning methods, and long-term agricultural economic data from 1991 to 2020 in the Jialing River Basin (JRB) to detect and forecast meteorological and agricultural droughts, as well as their impact on cropland. Initially, a soil moisture dataset with 0.083-degree resolution was generated using the Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) model. Subsequently, the standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index (SPEI) and standardized soil moisture index (SSMI) were applied to analyze the spatial-temporal patterns of droughts. Additionally, cropland exposure to drought was evaluated using gridded agricultural GDP data derived from pixel interpolation. Finally, four machine learning methods (Bayesian, BiGRU, CLA, and MLP) were employed to predict hydrometeorological variables from 2021 to 2030, and the agricultural economic exposures to drought under five shared socioeconomic pathways (SSPs) were also predicted. The results indicate that: (1) The JRB experienced a decline in drought severity and an increase in drought frequency from 1991 to 2020, with the drought centroid highly overlapping with cropland in the central and southern regions. (2) Over the past three decades, the proportion of high-exposure grids for agricultural GDP has increased, whereas the exposure of cropland area to high risks has decreased. Cropland has shifted from higher exposure to long-term drought to higher exposure to short-term, frequency drought. (3) Among the four machine learning models, the Bayesian model demonstrated superior performance in precipitation and temperature predictions, respectively, while the BiGRU model exhibited the best performance in long-term predictions of evaporation and soil moisture. (4) The central and southern regions will further increase in agricultural GDP exposure to both meteorological and agricultural droughts from 2021 to 2030, with exposures anticipated to increase by 20.2–34.8 % compared to the period from 2011 to 2020. Comprehensively, these findings underscore the necessity for precise drought monitoring and agricultural water management in the south-central JRB, providing vital scientific support for addressing drought management in the region.

Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae (M. hyopneumoniae) is one of the primary agents involved in porcine respiratory disease complex, and circulates in the swine industry worldwide. The prevention and control of M. hyopneumoniae is complicated. Thus, a recombinase-aided amplification (RAA) assay coupled with the clustered regularly-interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/Cas12a system was established for the detection of M. hyopneumoniae. The most suitable primer pairs and CRISPR RNA (crRNA) were screened and selected for the RAA-CRISPR/Cas12a detection system. We have achieved a detection limit of 1 copy/µL and 5 copies/µL per reaction for the RAA-CRISPR/Cas12a-fluorescence assay and RAA-CRISPR/Cas12a-lateral flow assay (LFA), respectively. Furthermore, the RAA-CRISPR/Cas12a system displayed no cross-reactivity with other respiratory pathogens. The performance of the RAA-CRISPR/Cas12a system was compared with PCR as recommended by the Chinese national standard (GB/T 35909-2018) and qPCR as recommended by the Chinese entry–exit inspection and quarantine industry standard (SN/T4104-2015) for clinical samples, and good consistency with these methods was observed. Above all, the methods shed a light on the convenient, portable, visual, highly sensitive and specific detection of M. hyopneumoniae, demonstrating a great application potential for on-site monitoring of M. hyopneumoniae in the field.

Magnetic nanomaterials, distinguished by their unique magnetic phenomena, particularly their magnetically actuated capabilities, have found widespread application in the field of nanomedicine. Compared with alternative driving mechanisms, magnetic actuation as a remote, highly permeable, and precisely controllable driving strategy endows nanomaterials with temporal and spatia mobility, making it possible to initiate and cease multiple forms of movement in vivo at will. When coupled with cutting‐edge diagnostic and treating techniques including but not limited to magnetic resonance imaging, magnetothermal therapy, and magnetoelectric stimulation, magnetically actuated nanomaterials offer the potential for visual analysis, provision of reliable molecular information, and effective disease or tissue damage intervention. This review comprehensively outlines the synthesis methodologies, functional strategies, and biomedical applications of magnetically actuated nanomaterials within nanomedicine. Additionally, the future developments and applications of biocompatible magnetically actuated nanomaterials, especially in response to time‐varying magnetic fields, are anticipated.

Establishing a fine quality image through regional typicality is significant to alcoholic beverages, but the concept of region has yet to be established for Jiangxiangxing (JX) baijiu. This study sought to compare chemical and sensory profiles of JX baijiu from different regions and to identify marker volatiles and aromas as regional typicality signatures of JX Baijiu. A total of 395 potential aroma compounds were identified in JX baijiu from different regions, and 121 showed significantly different (p < 0.05, VIP >1). Chemical profiles showed that JX baijiu from Moutai (MT) region with higher levels of pyrazines and furans, which from Northeast (NE) and Xiangchu (XC) regions with higher levels of esters and alcohols, respectively. Sensory profiles revealed that JX baijiu from MT and Chuanqian (CQ) regions were characterized by higher intensity of caramel, roasted, sauce-like, and burnt aromas, which from NE and XC regions were characterized by higher intensity of fruity and floral aromas. The potential relationships between 121 aroma compounds (p < 0.05, VIP >1) and 10 aromas were assessed, which highlighted the chemical basis underlying the unique aroma profile of JX baijiu. The results will contribute to unravel regional uniqueness of JX baijiu through regional flavor images.

Objective: Despite continuous progress in treatment, recurrence and metastasis limit further improvement in the prognosis of breast cancer (BC) patients. Our aim was to search for a crucial prognostic biomarker of BC. Materials and methods: Patient data were selected from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and GTEx databases. Several online public databases, including Gene Expression Profiling Interactive Analysis (GEPIA), miRWalk, miRDB, and LncBase Predicted v.2, were used to identify potential upstream miRNAs and lncRNAs. These findings were validated through in vitro experiments. Results: A total of 1, 097 invasive BC samples and 572 normal breast tissues (including 113 samples from TCGA and 459 samples from GTEx) were collected for the study. CCT4 was not only significantly overexpressed in BC compared with normal breast tissues but also had important prognostic significance (P

Store separation is one of the essential issues for weapons in warfare missions, and matters to the carrier safety. In this paper, based on the CFD methods including polyhedral hybrid mesh, overset mesh and 6-DOF equations of rigid body motion, the simulation of store separation of a calibration model was carried out. The effect of initial ejection forces on the separation safety was studied, and the separation characteristics in both the longitudinal and lateral motions were analyzed, which can be used as a reference for engineering applications.

Porcine respiratory disease is a significant economic problem for the global swine industry. Haemophilus parasuis (H. parasuis), Streptococcus suis (S. suis), and Pasteurella multocida (P. multocida) are three important pathogenic bacteria of the swine respiratory tract. Notably, the three pathogens not only frequently manifest as mixed infections, but their striking clinical similarities also present difficulties for pig populations in terms of disease prevention and treatment. Thus, we developed a triplex real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) assay based on a TaqMan probe for the detection of H. parasuis, S. suis serotype 2, and P. multocida. Primers and probes were designed to target the conserved regions of the H. parasuis OmpP2 gene, the S. suis serotype 2 gdh gene, and the P. multocida Kmt1 gene. By optimizing the reaction system and conditions, a triplex qPCR method for simultaneous detection of H. parasuis, S. suis serotype 2, and P. multocida was successfully established. The amplification efficiencies of the standard curves for all three pathogens were found to be highly similar, with values of 102.105% for H. parasuis, 105.297% for S. suis serotype 2, and 104.829% for P. multocida, and all R2 values achieving 0.999. The specificity analysis results showed that the triplex qPCR method had a strong specificity. The sensitivity test results indicated that the limit of detection can reach 50 copies/μL for all three pathogens. Both intra- and inter-assay coefficients of variation for repeatability were below 1%. This triplex qPCR method was shown to have good specificity, sensitivity, and reproducibility. Finally, the triplex qPCR method established in this study was compared with the nested PCR as recommended by the Chinese national standard (GB/T34750-2017) for H. parasuis, the PCR as recommended by the Chinese national standard (GB/T 19915.9-2005) for S. suis serotype 2, and the PCR as recommended by the Chinese agricultural industry standard (NY/T 564-2016) for P. multocida by detecting the same clinical samples. Both methods are reasonably consistent, while the triplex qPCR assay was more sensitive. In summary, triplex qPCR serves not only as a rapid and accurate detection and early prevention method for these pathogens but also constitutes a robust tool for microbial quality control in specific pathogen-free pigs.

Porcine viral diarrhea is caused by many pathogens and can result in watery diarrhea, dehydration and death. Various detection methods, such as polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR), have been widely used for molecular diagnosis. We developed a triplex real-time quantitative reverse transcription PCR (qRT-PCR) for the simultaneous detection of three RNA viruses potentially associated with porcine viral diarrhea: porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV), porcine transmissible gastroenteritis virus (TGEV), and porcine rotavirus A (PoRVA). The triplex qRT-PCR had R2 values of 0.999 for the standard curves of PEDV, TGEV and PoRVA. Importantly, the limits of detection for PEDV, TGEV and PoRVA were 10 copies/μL. The specificity test showed that the triplex qRT-PCR detected these three pathogens specifically, without cross-reaction with other pathogens. In addition, the approach had good repeatability and reproducibility, with intra-and inter-assay coefficients of variation

Swine leukocyte antigen (SLA) class I molecule-restricted T-cell epitopes, which induce cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) responses, play a critical role in the clearance of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) and the development of efficient protective vaccines. The SLA-1*04:01:01, SLA-2*04:01, and SLA-3*04:01 alleles, assigned the Hp-4.0 haplotype, are highly prevalent and usually present in all pig breeds. However, the SLA Hp-4.0 haplotype-restricted CTL epitopes in the structural membrane (M) protein of PRRSV are still unknown. In this study, we predicted 27 possible 9-mer epitope peptides in M protein with high binding scores for SLA-1*04:01:01 using CTL epitope prediction tools. In total, 45 SLA class I complexes, comprising the predicted peptide, extracellular region of the SLA-I molecules, and β2-microglobulin, were constructed in vitro to detect the specific binding of these peptides to SLA-1*04:01:01 (27 complexes), SLA-2*04:01 (9 complexes), and SLA-3*04:01 (9 complexes), respectively. Our results showed that the M27 (T91WKFITSRC), M39 (N130HAFVVRRP), and M49 (G158RKAVKQGV) peptides bind specifically to SLA-1*04:01:01, SLA-2*04:01, and SLA-3*04:01, respectively. Subsequently, using peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) isolated from the homozygous Hp-4.0 and Hp-26.0 haplotype piglets vaccinated with commercial PRRSV HuN4-F112 strain, we determined the capacities of these 27 potential peptides to stimulate their proliferation with a Cell Counting Kit-8 and their secretion and expression of interferon gamma (IFN-γ) with an ELISpot assay and real-time qPCR, respectively. The immunological activities of M27, M39, and M49 were therefore confirmed when they efficiently induced PBMC proliferation and IFN-γ secretion in PBMCs from piglets with the prevalent SLA Hp-4.0 haplotype. The amino acid sequence alignment revealed that M27, M39, and M49 are highly conserved among 248 genotype II PRRSV strains collected between 1998 and 2019. These findings contribute to the understanding of the mechanisms of cell-mediated immune responses to PRRSV. Our study also provides a novel strategy for identifying and confirming potential SLA haplotype-restricted CTL epitopes that could be used to develop novel peptide-based vaccines against swine diseases.

Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) belong to a significant group of probiotic bacteria that provide hosts with considerable health benefits. Our previous study showed that pigs with abundant LAB had more robust immune responses in a vaccination experiment. In this study, 52 isolate strains were isolated from the pigs with superior immune responses. Out of these, 14 strains with higher antibacterial efficacy were chosen. We then assessed the probiotic features of the 14 LAB strains, including such as autoaggregation, coaggregation, acid resistance, bile salt resistance, and adhesion capability, as well as safety aspects such as antibiotic resistance, hemolytic activity, and the presence or absence of virulence factors. We also compared these properties with those of an opportunistic pathogen EB1 and two commercial probiotics (cLA and cLP). The results showed that most LAB isolates exhibited higher abilities of aggregation, acid and bile salt resistance, adhesion, and antibacterial activity than the two commercial probiotics. Out of the 14 strains, only LS1 and LS9 carried virulence genes and none had hemolytic activity. We selected three LAB strains (LA6, LR6 and LJ1) with superior probiotic properties and LS9 with a virulence gene for testing their safety in vivo. Strains EB1, cLA and cLP were also included as control bacteria. The results demonstrated that mice treated LAB did not exhibit any adverse effects on weight gain, organ index, blood immune cells, and ileum morphology, except for those treated with LS9 and EB1. Moreover, the antimicrobial effect of LR6 and LA6 strains was examined in vivo. The results indicated that these strains could mitigate the inflammatory response, reduce bacterial translocation, and alleviate liver, spleen, and ileum injury caused by Salmonella typhimurium infection. In addition, the LR6 treatment group showed better outcomes than the LA6 treatment group; treatment with LR6 substantially reduced the mortality rate in mice. The study results provide evidence of the probiotic properties of the LAB isolates, in particular LR6, and suggest that oral administration of LR6 could have valuable health-promoting benefits.

This study aimed to establish an evaluation method for quality uniqueness and batch stability of Maotai-flavor Baijiu of specific brand. In this study, Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and similarity evaluation system for chromatographic fingerprints of TCM were used to establish a fingerprint of Maotai-flavor Baijiu of specific brand. As well as, comprehensive evaluation quality uniqueness and batch stability of Maotai-flavor Baijiu of specific brand was conducted based on similarity evaluation and chemical pattern recognition (hierarchical clustering and principal component analysis). The results showed that evaluation standard for quality uniqueness and batch stability of Maotai-flavor Baijiu of specific brand was fingerprint similarity greater than 0.99, which could effectively distinguish Maotai-flavor Baijiu of specific brand from other brands. The results of chemical pattern recognition showed that Maotai-flavor Baijiu of specific brand and other brands of Maotai-flavor Baijiu were obviously classified. Thus, the quality uniqueness and batch stability of Maotai-flavor Baijiu of specific brands could be effectively evaluated by the fingerprint similarity and chemical pattern recognition. 17 substances were found by principal component analysis, which caused the difference between Maotai-flavor Baijiu of specific brand and other brands. Hexanoic acid, hexanoic acid, ethyl ester, 1-hexanol, acetic acid, benzeneacetic acid, ethyl ester, propanoic acid, 2-hydroxy-, ethyl ester, hexadecanoic acid, ethyl ester, butanoic acid, 1-butanol, 3-methyl-, 1-propanol, 2-methyl-, n-propyl acetate, 1-propanol, 2-butanol , propanoic acid, 2-methyl-, ethyl ester, butanoic acid, 3-methyl-, ethyl ester, propanoic acid, ethyl ester, 1-butanol were included. These substances were the inherent embodiment of Maotai-flavor Baijiu of specific brand uniqueness. This study provides theoretical basis and technical support for the quality control of Maotai-flavor Baijiu of specific brand.

Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) affects the production and health of pigs and causes severe economic losses to the swine industry worldwide. Different pig breeds have been reported to have different levels of susceptibility to PRRSV, and different PRRSV strains may also influence the infectivity and pathogenicity of the virus. In this study, the susceptibility of Rongchang pigs (a prominent local pig breed in China) to PRRSV infection was thoroughly investigated. Rongchang piglets were exposed to two PRRSV strains: HuN4 (highly pathogenic PRRSV) and SD53-1603 (moderately virulent NADC30-like PRRSV). We observed that Rongchang pigs infected with HuN4 displayed significant clinical manifestations, including fever, reduced body weight, and interstitial pneumonia lesions. Routine blood tests revealed that HuN4-infected pigs exhibited slightly decreased levels of red blood cells, hemoglobin, reticulocytes, and a notable increase in monocytes than control pigs. Additionally, the Rongchang pigs exhibiting severe clinical signs presented a higher neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio and a lower lymphocyte-to-monocyte ratio. In contrast, SD53-1603 infection did not cause considerable harm to Rongchang pigs, only resulting in slightly elevated leukocytes and lymphocytes. Furthermore, these two PRRSV strains elicited divergent cytokine responses, such that SD53-1603 infection induced higher levels of TNF-α and IFN-γ, whereas HuN4 infection upregulated IL-1β. These dissimilarities in clinical symptoms, pathological changes, viremia, cytokine expression, and routine blood indices between HuN4 and SD53-1603 infections are critical in understanding the mechanisms of PRRSV infection and developing rational prevention and control strategies against PRRSV.

In order to improve the accuracy of gearbox fault diagnosis and accurately express the health status of the gearbox， combined with deep learning algorithms， a GAF-inceptionResNet model for gear fault diagnosis is proposed. The model can directly take the original one-dimensional vibration signal after GAF transformation to form photos as the input of the model. Through the stem-block， residual inception， residual module and classification layer， the residual inception network can broaden the network depth and improve the training time and accuracy， the residual block uses identity mapping to greatly reduce the training difficulty of the model. Therefore， the model can effectively mine the information between the signal features and enhance the feature learning ability of the model， thereby improving accuracy and accurately determine the faults. The test results show that the model can achieve a fault diagnosis accuracy of 99.59%. It can effectively achieve good gearbox fault identification and classification.

Abstract Dihydromyricetin (DHM), a flavonoid in vine tea, has many pharmacological activities, including anti-inflammatory and antibacterial effects. Lipopolysaccharide is the key inducer of inflammation in avian pathogenic Escherichia coli (E. coli) infection; however, the effect of DHM on E. coli lipopolysaccharide-induced hepatic injury remains unknown. The present study aimed to explore the role of the NLRP3 inflammasome in hepatic injury and the possible protective mechanisms of DHM against hepatic injury in chickens. The results showed that when chickens were administered lipopolysaccharide, liver damage was observed, accompanied by increased levels of serum transaminases and direct bilirubin. Additionally, hepatic expression levels of NLRP3 and caspase-1 p20, the subunit of caspase-1 that is cleaved after NLRP3 activation, significantly increased in liver injury. We found that treatment with MCC950, a specific NLRP3 inhibitor, significantly decreased serum transaminase activities, direct bilirubin content, and hepatic NLRP3 and caspase-1 p20 expression levels. DHM significantly reduced serum transaminase activities and direct bilirubin content and ameliorated histopathological and ultrastructural changes in the liver. DHM decreased hepatic levels of H2O2 and malondialdehyde and increased the activities of superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase. Furthermore, DHM significantly decreased the expression levels of NLRP3, pro-caspase-1 and caspase-1 p20. Moreover, DHM reduced serum lactate dehydrogenase, IL-1β and IL-18 levels and repressed hepatic IL-1β, IL-18 and gasdermin A expression. The results demonstrated that the NLRP3 inflammasome was involved in the mechanism of lipopolysaccharide-induced hepatic injury. Furthermore, DHM could inhibit NLRP3 inflammasome activation and subsequent pyroptosis, eventually ameliorating E. coli lipopolysaccharide-induced liver injury.

In order to increase and stabilize the content of tetramethylpyrazine in liquor, 13 strains of Bacillus were isolated from Maotai Daqu samples, and 5 strains with excellent protease production were selected through the preliminary screening of protease transparent circle test. After a liquid fermentation test, a functional bacterium with high yield of tetramethylpyrazine was screened out. The content of tetramethylpyrazine in the fermentation broth was 12.22 mg/L, which was identified as Bacillus licheniformis GTBL-168. The seed culture solution of this strain was inoculated into the sauce-flavor liquor accumulation culture at 0%, 3%, 5%, and 7% (v/w) to synergize the fermentation with traditional Daqu, and accumulate acetoin and tetramethyl in the glutinous rice grains. The content of pyrazine increased, and the increasing was the largest when the inoculation amount was 7%, and the yield of tetramethylpyrazine increased by 24.88% compared with the control group, the overall changes in physical and chemical indexes were obvious, and the amino nitrogen and total acid increased, the addition of Bacillus licheniformis GTBL-168 had little effect on the microbial structure of the accumulated fermented grains. With the increasing of the inoculation amount, the abundance of Bacillus and other dominant bacteria in the fermented grains also increased. It would lay a foundation for the application of functional bacteria in the process of stacking fermentation.

Volatile thiols give a unique flavor to foods and they have been extensively studied due to their effects on sensory properties. The analytical assay of volatile thiols in food is hindered by the complexity of the matrix, and by both their high reactivity and their typically low concentrations. A new ultraperformance liquid chromatography (UPLC) strategy has been developed for the identification and quantification of volatile thiols in Chinese liquor (Baijiu). 4,4’-Dithiodipyridine reacted rapidly with eight known thiols to form derivatives, which provided a diagnostic fragment ion (m/z 143.5) for tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS). To screen for new thiols, Baijiu samples were analyzed by means of UPLC–MS/MS screening for compounds exhibiting the diagnostic fragment ion (m/z X→143.5). New peaks with precursor ions of m/z 244, 200 and 214 were detected. Using UPLC with quadrupole-time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC–Q-TOF–MS) and authentic standards, ethyl 2-mercaptoacetate, 1-butanethiol, and 1-pentanethiol were identified in Baijiu for the first time. Commercial Baijiu samples were analyzed with the new method and the distribution of 11 thiols was revealed in different Baijiu aroma-types. The aroma contribution of these thiols was evaluated by their odoractivity values (OAVs), with the result that 7 of 11 volatile thiols had OAVs > 1. In particular, methanethiol, 2-furfurylthiol, and 2-methyl-3-furanthiol had relatively high OAVs, indicating that they contribute significantly to the aroma profile of Baijiu.

Abstract: The origins and logging responses of flushed zones in some blocks of Orinoco heavy oil belt, Venezuela are still unclear. To solve this issue, we examined the conventional logging, nuclear magnetic resonance logging, fluid viscosity, core analysis and oil field production data comprehensively to find out the logging responses and origins of the flushed zones. The results show that the main reason for the formation of flushed zone is surface water invasion, which leads to crude oil densification. The crude oil densification produces asphalt membrane (asphalt crust) which wraps up free water, causing special logging responses of the flushed zones. According to the different logging responses, we classified the flushed zones into two types and analyzed the formation processes of the two types of flushed zones. According to the characteristics of logging curves after water flush, we confirmed that the water flush began earlier than the reservoir accumulation.

Abstract Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) as a major component of Escherichia coli cell wall can cause inflammation and cell death. Dihydromyricetin (ampelopsin, DHM) is a natural flavonoid compound with anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant and anti-bacterial effects. The preventive effects of DHM against ileum injury remain unclear. Here, we explored the protective role of DHM against LPS-induced ileum injury in chickens. In this study, DHM significantly attenuated LPS-induced alteration in diamine oxidase, malondialdehyde, reduced glutathione, glutathione peroxidase and superoxide dismutase levels in chicken plasma and ileum. Histology evaluation showed that the structure of blood vessels in ileum was seriously fragmented and presence of necrotic tissue in the lumen in the LPS group. Scanning electron microscopic observation revealed that the surface of the villi was rough and uneven, the structure was chaotic, and the normal finger shape was lost in the LPS group. In contrast, 0.05% and 0.1% DHM treatment partially alleviated the abnormal morphology. Additionally, DHM maintained the barrier function by restoring the protein expression of occludin, claudin-1 and zonula occludens protein-1. DHM inhibited apoptosis through the reduction of the expression of bax and caspase-3 and restored the expression of bcl-2. Importantly, DHM could reduce ileum NLR family pyrin domain-containing 3 (NLRP3), caspase-1, interleukin (IL)-1β and IL-18 expression to protect tissues from pyroptosis and inhibited toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4)/nuclear factor kappa-B (NF-κB) signalling pathway. In summary, DHM attenuated the ileum mucosal damage, oxidative stress and apoptosis, maintained barrier function, inhibited NLRP3 inflammasome and TLR4/NF-κB signalling pathway activation triggered by Escherichia coli LPS.

In this paper we investigate the influence of some subgroups of Sylow subgroups with semi cover-avoiding property and $E$-supplementation on the structure of finite groups. Some recent results are generalized and unified.

This data article contains the chemical structure of cellobiose, which was chosen as the model molecule of cellulose. A brief diagram of the reaction system established by Packmol containing celluloses, hydroxyl radicals and water for ReaxFF kinetic simulation as well as the energy change curve obtained during the optimization process were provided. The total ion current (TIC) and product species of the reaction of cellobiose with Fenton's regent given by GC-MS were displayed, respectively. A brief diagram of the OH-abstraction of cellobiose triggered by hydrated hydrogen radical was shown. Additionally, chemical structures of all transition states in pathways 1–4 of the reaction of cellobiose with •OH carried out by means of quantum calculation using Gaussian 09 are shown. Some key frames in reaction pathway 1 obtained by ReaxFF simulation and the thermodynamic parameters for reaction pathways 1–4 were also listed successively. Interpretation of this data can be found in a research article titled “Study on Cellulose Degradation Induced by Hydroxyl Radical with Cellobiose as a Model Using GC-MS, ReaxFF Simulation and DFT Computation” (Shao et al., 2020) [1]. Keywords: ReaxFF, Reaction kinetics, Density functional Theory (DFT), Gas Chromatography Mass Spectra (GC-MS), Cellobiose

Porcine sapelovirus (PSV) is an important emerging pathogen associated with a wide variety of diseases in swine, including acute diarrhoea, respiratory distress, skin lesions, severe neurological disorders, and reproductive failure. Although PSV is widespread, serological assays for field-based epidemiological studies are not yet available. Here, four PSV strains were recovered from diarrheic piglets, and electron microscopy revealed virus particles with a diameter of ~32 nm. Analysis of the entire genome sequence revealed that the genomes of PSV isolates ranged 7569–7572 nucleotides in length. Phylogenetic analysis showed that the isolated viruses were classified together with strains from China. Additionally, monoclonal antibodies for the recombinant PSV-VP1 protein were developed to specifically detect PSV infection in cells, and we demonstrated that isolated PSVs could only replicate in cells of porcine origin. Using recombinant PSV-VP1 protein as the coating antigen, we developed an indirect ELISA for the first time for the detection of PSV antibodies in serum. A total of 516 swine serum samples were tested, and PSV positive rate was 79.3%. The virus isolates, monoclonal antibodies and indirect ELISA developed would be useful for further understanding the pathophysiology of PSV, developing new diagnostic assays, and investigating the epidemiology of the PSV.

Abstract Electric double-layer capacitors (EDLCs) are advanced electrochemical devices for energy storage and have attracted strong interest due to their outstanding properties. Rational optimization of electrode–electrolyte interactions is of vital importance to enhance device performance for practical applications. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations could provide theoretical guidelines for the optimal design of electrodes and the improvement of capacitive performances, e.g., energy density and power density. Here we discuss recent MD simulation studies on energy storage performance of electrode materials containing porous to nanostructures. The energy storage properties are related to the electrode structures, including electrode geometry and electrode modifications. Altering electrode geometry, i.e., pore size and surface topography, can influence EDL capacitance. We critically examine different types of electrode modifications, such as altering the arrangement of carbon atoms, doping heteroatoms and defects, which can change the quantum capacitance. The enhancement of power density can be achieved by the intensified ion dynamics and shortened ion pathway. Rational control of the electrode morphology helps improve the ion dynamics by decreasing the ion diffusion pathway. Tuning the surface properties (e.g., the affinity between the electrode and the ions) can affect the ion-packing phenomena. Our critical analysis helps enhance the energy and power densities of EDLCs by modulating the corresponding electrode structures and surface properties.

The detection of trace aroma compounds in samples with complex matrices such as Chinese liquor (Baijiu) requires a combination of several methods, which makes the analysis process very complicated. Therefore, a headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME) method coupled with two-dimensional gas chromatography time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC×GC-TOFMS) was developed for the quantitation of a large number of trace compounds in Baijiu. Optimization of extraction conditions via a series of experiments revealed that dilution of the alcohol content of 8 mL of Baijiu to 5%, followed by the addition of 3.0 g of NaCl and subsequent SPME extraction with DVB/CAR/PDMS fiber coating over 45 min at 45 °C was the most suitable. To check the matrix effects, various model Baijiu matrices were investigated in detail. The quantitative method was established through an optimized model synthetic solution, which can identify 119 aroma compounds (esters, alcohols, fatty acids, aldehydes and ketones, furans, pyrazines, sulfur compounds, phenols, terpenes, and lactones) in the Baijiu sample. The developed procedure provided high recovery (86.79–117.94%), good repeatability (relative standard deviation < 9.93%), high linearity (R2 > 0.99), and lower detection limits than reported methods. The method was successfully applied to study the composition of volatile compounds in different types of Baijiu. This research indicated that the optimized HS-SPME–GC×GC-TOFMS method was a valid and accurate procedure for the simultaneous determination of different types of trace compounds in Baijiu. This developed method will allow an improved analysis of other samples with complex matrices.

Acetaminophen (APAP) is an analgesic–antipyretic drug and widely used in clinics. Its overdose may cause serious liver damage. Here, we examined the mechanistic role of c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) signaling pathway in liver injury induced by different doses of APAP. Male mice were treated with APAP (150 and 175 mg·kg−1), and meanwhile JNK inhibitor SP600125 was used to interfere APAP-induced liver damage. The results showed that JNK signaling pathway was activated by APAP in a dose-dependent manner. C-Jun N-terminal kinase inhibitor decreased JNK and c-Jun activation significantly (P < 0.01) at 175 mg·kg−1 APAP dose, and phosphorylation levels of upstream proteins of JNK were also decreased markedly (P < 0.05). In addition, serum aminotransferases activities and hepatic oxidative stress increased in a dose-dependent manner with APAP treatment, but the levels of aminotransferases and oxidative stress decreased in mice treated with JNK inhibitor, which implied that JNK inhibition ameliorated APAP-induced liver damage. It was observed that apoptosis was increased in APAP-induced liver injury, and SP600125 can attenuate apoptosis through the inhibition of JNK phosphorylation. Meanwhile, glutathione S-transferases A1 (GSTA1) content in serum was enhanced, while GSTA1 content and expression in liver reduced significantly with administration of APAP (150 and 175 mg·kg−1). After inhibiting JNK, GSTA1 content in serum decreased significantly (P < 0.01); meanwhile, GSTA1 content and expression in liver enhanced. These findings suggested that JNK signaling pathway mediated APAP-induced hepatic injury, which was accompanied by varying GSTA1 content and expression in liver and serum.

Reducing oxidative stress and hepatoprotective effect of Pu-erh tea water extracts on rats fed with high-fat diet were researched for explaining health care of Pu-erh tea. Fifty SD rats were divided into five groups. The body weight was measured once a day. The malondialdehyde (MDA) and glucose (Glu) levels and the activities of alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), nitric oxide synthase (NOS), and pyruvate kinase (PK) in serum were determined. Furthermore, the hepatic glycogen level (HGL) and the activities of hepatic total superoxide dismutase (T-SOD), catalase (CAT), and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) were also measured after continuous administration for 12 weeks. The result demonstrated that Pu-erh extract caused the decreases in body weight, fat index, MDA and NOS levels, and the increases in hepatic T-SOD, CAT and GSH-Px activities, indicating that the extract may be due to inhibiting the increases of body weight and fat index, reducing oxidant stress state and inhibiting lipid peroxidation, thus decreasing the activities of ALT and AST, and protecting the liver in rat. Meanwhile, the extracts could increase the production of hepatic glycogen and the activity of PK, and reduce glucose level, protecting the liver from the diseases associated with type II diabetes.

In this study, acetaminophen (APAP)-induced acute liver injury mice model was used to investigate the effects of C2-ceramide and oltipraz on hepatocyte nuclear factor 1 (HNF-1) and glutathione S-transferase A1 (GSTA1). Notably, C2-ceramide caused alteration in mice serum transaminases and liver tissue indexes, and aggravated hepatic injury, while oltipraz alleviated hepatic injury. By screening, the optimal concentrations of C2-ceramide and oltipraz were confirmed to be 120 and 150 μmol/L, respectively. In histopathology, karyolysis and more necrotic cells and bleeding spots were appeared on administration of C2-ceramide, but only a small amount of inflammatory cells infiltration was seen after oltipraz treatment. In addition, RT-PCR and western blot results revealed that the mRNA and protein expression levels of HNF-1 and GSTA1 in liver were significantly decreased (p < 0.01) with the administration of 120 μmol/L C2-ceramide. Meanwhile, GSTA1 content in serum increased up to 1.27-fold. In contrast, 150 μmol/L oltipraz incorporation to APAP model mice resulted in obvious elevation (p < 0.01) in the mRNA and protein expression levels of HNF-1 and GSTA1 in liver, and serum GSTA1 content decreased up to 0.77-fold. In conclusion, C2-ceramide could down-regulate the expression of HNF-1 and GSTA1 which exacerbated hepatic injury, while oltipraz could up-regulate the expression of HNF-1 and GSTA1 which mitigated hepatic injury.

Purpose: We consider a discrete-time Geo/G/1 retrial queue where the retrial time follows a general distribution, the server subject to Bernoulli vacation policy and the customer has preemptive resume priority, Bernoulli feedback strategy. The main purpose of this paper is to derive the generating functions of the stationary distribution of the system state, the orbit size and some important performance measures. Design/methodology: Using probability generating function technique, some valuable and interesting performance measures of the system are obtained. We also investigate two stochastic decomposition laws and present some numerical results. Findings: We obtain the probability generating functions of the system state distribution as well as those of the orbit size and the system size distributions. We also obtain some analytical expressions for various performance measures such as idle and busy probabilities, mean orbit and system sizes. Originality/value: The analysis of discrete-time retrial queues with Bernoulli vacation, preemptive resume and feedback customers is interesting and to the best of our knowledge, no other scientific journal paper has dealt with this question. This fact gives the reason why efforts should be taken to plug this gap.

Product quality and pricing, as the important competitive tools, play a key role in attracting consumers. In a supply chain, the decisions on product quality and pricing are usually interlinked and would influence the cooperation relation between the members, especially when they are fairness-concerned and have different bargaining power. However, linking the quality and pricing decisions to the decision-makers’ behavioral factors such as fairness concern draws a little attention in the literature of supply chain management. This paper incorporates the members’ fairness preference and bargaining power into the product quality and pricing decisions in a two-echelon supply chain, where the supplier offers core components with a certain quality level to the downstream manufacturer, who subsequently sells the final products in the end market. Both the supplier and the manufacturer are assumed to be fairness-concerned by adopting Nash bargaining solutions as their fairness reference points. We use game-theoretic models to analyze the equilibrium product quality and pricing strategies under the setting of integrated and decentralized supply chain, respectively. Detailed comparisons and sensitivity analysis are further conducted to examine the impacts of members’ strengths of fairness concern, bargaining power, and decision structure on their equilibrium product quality and pricing strategies and corresponding payoffs.

Purpose: This paper considers a two-echelon supply chain composed of one risk-neutral supplier and two risk-averse retailers. The retailers obtain production from the supplier and sell them to the market. Based on the cooperative game theory, the paper studies the appropriate profit allocation of the supply chain when all the players cooperate with each other, where the two retailers face a price-sensitive stochastic demand. The two retailers can either determine their retail prices independently, or decide whether or not to cooperate with each other. Design/methodology/approach: To allocate the system-wide profit among upstream risk-neutral suppliers and two risk-averse downstream retailers, this paper constructed a cooperative game model, considered as the supermodularity of the characteristic function and the Shapley value of the game. Findings and Originality/value: By analyzing the construction’s cooperative game model, the results show that the profit of the whole supply chain is the highest in the grand coalition structure. This paper also shows that the core of our cooperative game is nonempty, and has the supermodularity property. Based on this, we have computed the Shapley value-based profit allocation for the whole supply chain in a fair manner. Originality/value: Although there are a lot of literature examined risk aversion in a supply chain, but they did not consider using cooperative game to study this problem. This the first study is in the context of a supply chain with risk aversion problem.

The objective of this retrospective study was to determine whether lymph node metastasis has a prognostic impact on patients with stage IV breast cancer.Seven thousand three hundred and seventy-nine patients with de novo stage IV breast cancer diagnosed from 2004 to 2013 were identified. Kaplan-Meier estimate method was fitted to measure overall survival and breast cancer-specific survival (BCSS). Cox proportional hazard analysis was used to evaluate the association between N stage and BCSS after controlling variables such as other patient/tumor characteristics.The primary site of M1 tumors was mainly upper-outer quadrant and overlapping lesion of the breast. Patients with N1 disease had better overall survival and BCSS than did those without lymph node metastasis. The overall survival and BCSS of M1 patients with N3 disease were significantly lower than that of those with N0, N1 and N2 disease, whereas patients with N2 and N0/N1 involvement showed no significant difference with survival. Multivariate analysis showed that lymph node metastasis was an important prognostic factor for M1 patients (N1 versus N0, hazard ratio [HR] = 0.902, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.825-0.986, p = 0.023; N3 versus N0, HR = 1.161, 95% CI: 1.055-1.276, p = 0.002). For M1 patients, age, race, marital status, primary site, ER, PR and HER2 were the independent prognostic factors.The cohort study provides an insight into de novo stage IV breast cancer with lymph node metastasis. Our results indicated that accurate lymph node evaluation for stage IV patients is still necessary to obtain important prognostic information.

In this paper, we investigate the influence of some subgrops of Sylow subgroups with semi cover-avoiding property and F-supplementation on the structure of finite groups and generalize a series of known results.

The quality of tea is presently evaluated by the sensory assessment of professional tea tasters, however, this approach is both inconsistent and inaccurate. A more standardized and efficient method is urgently needed to objectively evaluate tea quality. In this study, the chemical fingerprint of 7 different Dayi Pu-erh tea brands and 3 different Ya'an tea brands on the market were analyzed using fully automatic headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME) combined with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). A total of 78 volatiles were separated, among 75 volatiles were identified by GC-MS in seven Dayi Pu-erh teas, and the major chemical components included methoxyphenolic compounds, hydrocarbons, and alcohol compounds, such as 1,2,3-trimethoxybenzene, 1,2,4-trimethoxybenzene, 2,6,10,14-tetramethyl-pentadecane, linalool and its oxides, α-terpineol, and phytol. The overlapping ratio of peaks (ORP) of the chromatogram in the seven Dayi Pu-erh tea samples was greater than 89.55%, whereas the ORP of Ya'an tea samples was less than 79.10%. The similarity and differences of the Dayi Pu-erh tea samples were also characterized using correlation coefficient similarity and principal component analysis (PCA). The results showed that the correlation coefficient of similarity of the seven Dayi Pu-erh tea samples was greater than 0.820 and was gathered in a specific area, which showed that samples from different brands were basically the same, despite have some slightly differences of chemical indexes was found. These results showed that the GC-MS fingerprint combined with the PCA approach can be used as an effective tool for the quality assessment and control of Pu-erh tea.

Oscillatory integral operators play a key role in harmonic analysis. In this paper, the authors investigate the boundedness of the oscillatory singular integrals with variable Calderón-Zygmund kernel on the weighted Morrey spaces Lp,k(ω). Meanwhile, the corresponding results for the oscillatory singular integrals with standard Calderón-Zygmund kernel are established.

Accurate preoperative and intra-operative localization of occult breast lesions is important. We aimed to compare the clinical efficacy of body surface mapping plus wire-guided localization (BWL) and body surface mapping plus methylene blue-guided localization (BML) in occult breast lesions. Patient samples were obtained from the Xuzhou Central Hospital from 01 January 2018 to 31 December 2020. A total of 315 patients with a single occult breast lesion were included, comprising 225 cases in the BWL group and 90 cases in the BML group, were eligible for this study. We found that the average localization time in the BWL group was significantly greater than in the BML group (2.9 min vs. 1.6 min), while no significant difference was observed in the degree of pain, which was mild, between the two groups (average score, 1.3 vs. 1.5, respectively). The localization success rate and surgical resection rate were 100% in both groups. In addition, no significant difference was observed between the BWL group and BML group in terms of the average time of surgery (8.5 min vs. 9.8 min), the subjective difficulty of surgery, which was easy in both groups (average score, 2.1 vs. 2.4), and the average volume of surgical specimens (1.8 mL vs. 2.4 mL). Further, in the follow-up 3 months after surgery, the resection rate of lesions was 100%, and both groups demonstrated similar cosmetic effect scores. These findings indicated that both BWL and BML have the advantages of accurate localization, high resection rate, few adverse reactions, and excellent cosmetic effects in patients with occult breast lesions. Although both localization methods might be suitable for hospitals in remote areas, our results indicated that BML might be relatively simpler and more economical. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The severe shuttle effect and the sluggish redox reaction kinetics are the two most urgent issues with lithium-sulfur batteries (LSBs). In this work, Se vacancy-rich molybdenum selenide-modified graphene aerogels are designed to serve as both cathode host ( MoSe2-x@GA/S) and freestanding interlayers ( MoSe2-x@GA) for LSBs. The graphene network-supported binder-free sulfur host maximizes electron conductivity/Li+ migration rate and alleviates bulk expansion. The defect-rich MoSe2-x with sulfiphilic-lithiophilic properties accelerates the nucleation and dissociation of Li2S, while the insertion of a bifunctional interlayer not only facilitates the adsorption and conversion of polysulfides but also regulates the uniform lithium deposition and inhibit the growth of lithium dendrites. As a result, the assembled MoSe2-x@GA/S+interlayer electrode obtains good feedback in terms of capacity enhancement and cycling stability, possessing a high initial discharge capacity of 1256.9 mA h g-1 at 0.2 C and a slow decay ratio of 0.024% per cycle at a high current density of 1 C after 1000 long-term cycling, and achieve high specific capacity (720.6 mA h g-1) at high sulfur loading (4.8 mg cm-2) and lean electrolyte (5.5 µL mg-1) conditions. This insightful work contributes new ideas for the design of binder-free sulfur host and the application of defective electrocatalytic engineering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]