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Problem: China's declining birth rate presents significant challenges to obstetricians, impacting workload, career prospects, and the obstetric service system. Background: The reduction in birth rates alters the landscape for obstetricians, necessitating adaptation to new medical demands and technological environments. Aim: This paper aims to explore the future development and role transformations of Chinese obstetricians amidst declining birth rates. Key questions include: What is the impact of declining birth rates on China's obstetric services?What are the future development directions for obstetricians in this scenario?How will their roles evolve to meet new medical demands and technological environments?What international experiences can be drawn upon, and how applicable are they to China? Methods: A literature review method is employed, analyzing research papers, statistical data, and policy reports from domestic and international sources. Findings: The paper systematically summarizes and evaluates current and future trends in Chinese obstetrics in the context of declining birth rates. Discussion: It discusses practical implications for sustainable development, including optimizing medical resources, leveraging technological innovations, and enhancing talent development. Conclusion: This paper contributes a comprehensive analysis and practical recommendations for navigating the challenges posed by declining birth rates to Chinese obstetricians.

Ship tracking technology is crucial for emergency rescue in the event of a disaster. Quickly identifying the position and status of vessels is vital for rescue teams to be able to deploy efficiently in disaster areas. When responding to emergencies or natural disasters, ship tracking technology plays a critical role in supporting emergency rescue operations and resource allocation, improving the overall resilience of the maritime transportation system. However, the research on multi-object tracking (MOT) algorithms has primarily focused on optical image datasets. In contrast, image data from synthetic aperture radar (SAR) presents unique challenges, such as defocus interference, a high false alarm rate, and a lack of prior samples. To overcome these particular challenges, we propose a robust MOT algorithm developed for SAR images to achieve effective multi-vessel tracking under difficult imaging conditions. In particular, we optimize the YOLOv8 detection network by introducing a diffusion model-based training method for data augmentation. This method improves the robustness of the network to scaling, rotational and translational deformations. Moreover, an enhanced swin transformer is proposed as a feature extraction network, which strengthens the representation capability of the detection network. Furthermore, the state parameters within the KF technique are enhanced by directly capturing the details of the height and width of the tracking rectangle box. This refinement of the ByteTrack algorithm aims to achieve a more precise and accurate fit of the tracking rectangle to the ship, further improving the overall tracking performance. The experimental results from the ship detection and multiple objects tracking datasets show the impressive performance of the proposed model. With a precision of 97.60%, a recall of 96.36%, and an average precision of 96.72%, the model achieves exceptional detection accuracy with an 18% reduction in model parameters. Furthermore, significant improvements can be observed in key tracking metrics such as HOTA, MOTA and IDF1, with improvements of 4.8%, 8.5% and 6.8% respectively compared to the baseline algorithm, alongside a remarkable 37.5% reduction in IDS. It is noteworthy that the tracker works in real time, achieving an average analysis speed of 47 frames per second. The proposed MOT algorithm achieves state-of-art tracking performance on a SAR image dataset with short time sequences. Therefore, the proposed approach is a compelling solution for ship tracking in SAR imagery.

Bone malunion or nonunion leads to functional and esthetic problems and is a major healthcare burden. Activation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) and subsequent induction of osteogenic differentiation by local metabolites are crucial steps for bone healing, which has not yet been completely investigated. Here, we found that lactate levels are rapidly increased at the local injury site during the early phase of bone defect healing, which facilitates the healing process by enhancing BMSCs regenerative capacity. Mechanistically, lactate serves as a ligand for the Olfr1440 olfactory receptor, to trigger an intracellular calcium influx that in turn activates osteogenic phenotype transition of BMSCs. Conversely, ablation of Olfr1440 delays skeletal repair and remodelling, as evidenced by thinner cortical bone and less woven bone formation in vivo. Administration of lactate in the defect area enhanced bone regeneration. These findings thus revealed the key roles of lactate in the osteogenic differentiation of BMSCs, which deepened our understanding of the bone healing process, as well as provided cues for a potential therapeutic option that might greatly improve bone defect treatment., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no competing interests., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Because of the high similarity in structure and sequence, it is challenging to distinguish the S1 pocket among serine proteases, primarily due to the only variability at residue 190 (A190 and S190). Peptide or protein-based inhibitors typically target the negatively charged S1 pocket using lysine or arginine as the P1 residue, yet neither discriminates between the two S1 pocket variants. This study introduces two arginine analogues, L-4-guanidinophenylalanine (12) and L-3-(N-amidino-4-piperidyl)alanine (16), as novel P1 residues in peptide inhibitors. 16 notably enhances affinities across all tested proteases, whereas 12 specifically improved affinities towards proteases possessing S190 in the S1 pocket. By crystallography and molecular dynamics simulations, we discovered a novel mechanism involving a water exchange channel at the bottom of the S1 pocket, modulated by the variation of residue 190. Additionally, the specificity of 12 towards the S190-presenting S1 pocket is dependent on this water channel. This study not only introduces novel P1 residues to engineer inhibitory potency and specificity of peptide inhibitors targeting serine proteases, but also unveils a water-mediated molecular mechanism of targeting serine proteases., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

This study aimed to compare the effects of various dietary selenium (Se) sources (0.5 mg/kg) on performance, meat quality, and antioxidant capacity in broilers as well as essential trace elements concentrations in their blood and tissues. A total of 360 one-day-old male yellow-feathered chickens (37.00 ± 0.17 g) were randomly allocated to 5 diet treatments: the basal diet (CON) and 4 diets supplemented with sodium selenite (SS), selenomethionine (SM), selenium-enriched yeast (SY), and nano-selenium (NS) for 56 d, respectively, with 6 replicates per treatment and 12 chickens per replicate. Dietary Se supplementation did not affect growth performance and carcass characteristics in broilers (P > 0.05). Supplemental SM enhanced the redness in the pectoral muscle compared to CON and NS (P < 0.05). Supplementation of SY and NS improved the concentrations of Se, copper, manganese, and zinc in the serum (P < 0.05). Supplemental SS also elevated the zinc content in the serum (P < 0.05). Broilers fed the SY diet showed increased Se content in the liver and pectoral muscle compared to those fed CON, SM, and NS diets (P < 0.05). Also, SY improved the pectoral muscle Se concentration compared to SS (P < 0.05). Besides, dietary Se supplementation increased the Se content in the thigh muscle (P < 0.05), with SY showing highest Se deposition. Dietary supplementation with SS, SM, and NS improved the activities of total superoxide dismutase and total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC) in the serum (P < 0.05). Supplemental SY also elevated the T-AOC in the serum (P < 0.05). Additionally, SS and SM enhanced the T-AOC in the liver (P < 0.05). In conclusion, supplemental SM affected meat color. Supplementing diets with various Se sources increased antioxidant capacity and Se content in the thigh muscle of broilers, with SY showing a more pronounced deposition efficiency. Besides, diets supplemented with different Se sources had variable effects on the concentrations of essential trace elements in the serum and tissues of broilers., Competing Interests: DISCLOSURES The authors declare that they have no competing interests., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Polystyrene microplastics (PS-MPs) are new types of environmental pollutant that have garnered significant attention in recent years since they were found to cause damage to the human respiratory system when they are inhaled. The pulmonary fibrosis is one of the serious consequences of PS-MPs inhalation. However, the impact and underlying mechanisms of PS-MPs on pulmonary fibrosis are not clear. In this study, we studied the potential lung toxicity and PS-MPs-developed pulmonary fibrosis by long-term intranasal inhalation of PS-MPs. The results showed that after exposing to the PS-MPs, the lungs of model mouse had different levels of damage and fibrosis. Meanwhile, exposing to the PS-MPs resulted in a markedly decrease in glutathione (GSH), an increase in malondialdehyde (MDA), and iron overload in the lung tissue of mice and alveolar epithelial cells (AECs). These findings suggested the occurrence of PS-MP-induced ferroptosis. Inhibitor of ferroptosis (Fer-1) had alleviated the PS-MPs-induced ferroptosis. Mechanically, PS-MPs triggered cell ferroptosis and promoted the development of pulmonary fibrosis via activating the cGAS/STING signaling pathway. Inhibition of cGAS/STING with G150/H151 attenuated pulmonary fibrosis after PS-MPs exposure. Together, these data provided novel mechanistic insights of PS-MPs-induced pulmonary fibrosis and a potential therapeutic paradigm., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have influenced the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Simultaneous quantification of multiple heavy metal ions (HMIs) is essential due to enhanced toxicity induced by synergistic effects. The currently available detection methods suffer from drawbacks such as costly devices, poor anti-interference, and specificity. In this work, a ratiometric electrochemical aptasensor for simultaneous detection of trace lead (Pb 2+ ) and mercury ions (Hg 2+ ) was developed. Here, a metal-organic framework, UiO-66-CNTs, with inherent and stable electrochemical signal was used for loading complementary strands (CSs) and internal reference. Guanine-rich and thymine-rich oligonucleotides, labelled with carbon dots (CDs), acted as aptamers (Apts) and hybridized with CSs to form M-shaped DNA complexes. Pb 2+ and Hg 2+ could be recognized and captured by Apts to form Pb 2+ -G-quadruplex and T-Hg 2+ -T complexes, leading to the destruction of M-shaped DNA complexes and changes in CDs' signal. The current ratios, I CDs /I UiO-66-CNTs , were applied to quantify Pb 2+ and Hg 2+ . Benefiting from the anti-interference ability of the ratiometric strategy and the specificity of Apts, the proposed method enabled detection Pb 2+ and Hg 2+ through simple instrumentation, with detection limits of 2.0 ng mL -1 and 0.5 ng mL -1 . Moreover, it was applied to assess Pb 2+ and Hg 2+ contamination in series of aquatic edible vegetables. The experimental results were consistent with inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), demonstrating its potential in practical applications., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Thirteen previously undescribed (9β-H)-pimarane derivatives, icacinolides A-G (1-7) and oliviformislactones C-H (8-13), together with four known analogs (14-17), were isolated from the leaves of Icacina oliviformis. Their structures were constructed by extensive spectroscopic analysis, 13 C NMR-DP4+ analysis, ECD calculation, single-crystal X-ray diffraction, and chemical methods. These structurally diverse isolates were classified into six framework types: rearranged 3-epi-17-nor-(9β-H)-pimarane, rearranged 17-nor-(9β-H)-pimarane, 16-nor-(9β-H)-pimarane, 17-nor-(9β-H)-pimarane, 17,19-di-nor-(9β-H)-pimarane, and (9β-H)-pimarane. Among them, compounds 1, 5, and 7 were the first examples of three rearranged 3-epi-17-nor-(9β-H)-pimaranes featuring a unique (11S)-carboxyl-9-oxatricyclo[5.3.1.0 2,7 ]dodecane motif with contiguous stereogenic centers, whereas their C-3 epimers, compounds 2-4 and 6 were the second examples of four rearranged 17-nor-(9β-H)-pimaranes. Additionally, compounds 8 and 12/13 represented the second examples of a 16-nor-(9β-H)-pimarane and two 17,19-di-nor-(9β-H)-pimaranes, respectively. In cytotoxic bioassay, compound 2 exhibited significant cytotoxic against HT-29 with IC 50 values of 7.88 μM, even stronger than 5-fluorouracil, and 15 showed broad-spectrum cytotoxic activities against HepG2, HT-29, and MIA PaCa-2 with IC 50 values of 11.62, 9.77, and 4.91 μM, respectively. Meanwhile, a preliminary structure-activity relationship suggested that 3,20-epoxy, 6,19-lactone, 2-OH, 7-OH, and 8-OH in (9β-H)-pimarane derivatives might be active groups, whereas ring C aromatization may decrease the cytotoxic activities., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The Sargassum bloom has severely impacted the ecological environment of the East China Sea and the Yellow Sea, causing significant economic losses. In recent years, deep learning has seen extensive development due to its outstanding feature extraction capabilities. However, the deep learning process typically involves a large number of parameters and computations. To address this issue, this paper proposes a lightweight deep learning network based on the U-Net framework, called SLWE-NET, which uses lightweight modules to replace the feature extraction modules in U-Net. In this experiment, SLWE-Net performed the best in both extraction accuracy and model lightweight. Compared to the formal U-Net, the number of parameters decreased by 65.83 %, the model size reduced from 94.97 MB to 32.51 MB, and the mIoU increased to 93.81 %. Therefore, the method proposed in this paper is beneficial for Sargassum extraction and provides a basis for operational monitoring., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Objectives: This study developed and validated a deep learning-based method to automatically segment and number teeth in panoramic radiographs across primary, mixed, and permanent dentitions., Methods: A total of 6,046 panoramic radiographs were collected and annotated. The dataset encompassed primary, mixed and permanent dentitions and dental abnormalities such as tooth number anomalies, dental diseases, dental prostheses, and orthodontic appliances. A deep learning-based algorithm consisting of a U-Net-based region of interest extraction model, a Hybrid Task Cascade-based teeth segmentation and numbering model, and a post-processing procedure was trained on 4,232 images, validated on 605 images, and tested on 1,209 images. Precision, recall and Intersection-over-Union (IoU) were used to evaluate its performance., Results: The deep learning-based teeth identification algorithm achieved good performance on panoramic radiographs, with precision and recall for teeth segmentation and numbering exceeding 97%, and the IoU between predictions and ground truths reaching 92%. It generalized well across all three dentition stages and complex real-world cases., Conclusions: By utilizing a two-stage training framework with a large-scale heterogeneous dataset, the automatic teeth identification algorithm achieved a performance level comparable to that of dental experts., Clinical Significance: Deep learning can be leveraged to aid clinical interpretation of panoramic radiographs across primary, mixed, and permanent dentitions, even in the presence of real-world complexities. This robust teeth identification algorithm could contribute to the future development of more advanced, diagnosis- or treatment-oriented dental automation systems., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests ZX, HB, PD are associated with DeepCare, a company focuses on artificial intelligence applications in dentistry. This study and its findings were unrelated to their affiliation. The authors are solely responsible for the content of this paper., (Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

In the oil industry, oil spills occur due to offshore rig explosions, ship collisions, and other reasons. It is crucial to accurately and rapidly identify oil spills to protect marine ecosystems. Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) can all-weather and all-time work and provide a wealth of polarization information for identification of oil spills based on semantic segmentation model. However, the performance of classifiers in the semantic segmentation model has become a significant challenge to improving recognition ability. To solve this problem, an improved semantic segmentation model named DRSNet was proposed, which uses ResNet-50 as the backbone in DeepLabv3+ and support vector machines (SVM) as the classifier. The experiment was conducted using ten polarimetric features from SAR images and results demonstrate that the DRSNet performs best compared to other semantic segmentation models. Current work provides a valuable tool to enhance maritime emergency management capabilities., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Human body fluids have become an indispensable resource for clinical research, diagnosis and prognosis. Urine is widely used to discover disease-specific glycoprotein biomarkers because of its recurrently non-invasive collection and disease-indicating properties. While urine is an unstable fluid in that its composition changes with ingested nutrients and further as it is excreted through micturition, urinary proteins are more stable and their abnormal glycosylation is associated with diseases. It is known that aberrant glycosylation can define tumor malignancy and indicate disease initiation and progression. However, a thorough and translational survey of urinary glycosylation in diseases has not been performed. In this article, we evaluate the clinical applications of urine, introduce methods for urine glycosylation analysis, and discuss urine glycoprotein biomarkers. We emphasize the importance of mining urinary glycoproteins and searching for disease-specific glycosylation in various diseases (including cancer, neurodegenerative diseases, diabetes, and viral infections). With advances in mass spectrometry-based glycomics/glycoproteomics/glycopeptidomics, characterization of disease-specific glycosylation will optimistically lead to the discovery of disease-related urinary biomarkers with better sensitivity and specificity in the near future., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Osteogenesis and angiogenesis are important for bone fracture healing. Irisin is a muscle-derived monokine that is associated with bone formation., Methods: To demonstrate the effect of irisin on bone fracture healing, closed mid-diaphyseal femur fractures were produced in 8-week-old C57BL/6 mice. Irisin was administrated intraperitoneally every other day after surgery, fracture healing was assessed by using X-rays. Bone morphometry of the fracture callus were assessed by using micro-computed tomography. Femurs of mice from each group were assessed by the three-point bending testing. Effect of irisin on osteogenic differentiation in mesenchymal stem cells in vitro was evaluated by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR), alkaline phosphatase staining and alizarin red staining. Angiogenesis of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) were evaluated by qRT-PCR, migration tests, and tube formation assays., Results: Increased callus formation, mineralization and tougher fracture healing were observed in the irisin-treated group than in the control group, indicating the better fracture callus healing due to Irisin treatment. The vessel surface and vessel volume fraction of the callus also increased in the irisin-treated group. The expression of BMP2, CD31, and VEGF in callus were enhanced in the irisin-treated group. In mouse bone mesenchymal stem cells, irisin promoted ALP expression and mineralization, and increased the expression of osteogenic genes, including OSX , Runx2 , OPG , ALP , OCN and BMP2 . Irisin also promoted HUVEC migration and tube formation. Expression of angiogenic genes, including ANGPT1 , ANGPT2 , VEGFb , CD31 , FGF2 , and PDGFRB in HUVECs were increased by irisin., Conclusion: All the results indicate irisin can promote fracture healing through osteogenesis and angiogenesis. These findings help in the understanding of muscle-bone interactions during fracture healing., The Translational Potential of This Article: Irisin was one of the most important monokine secreted by skeletal muscle. Studies have found that irisin have anabolic effect one bone remodeling through affecting osteocyte and osteoblast. Based on our study, irisin could promote bone fracture healing by increasing bone mass and vascularization, which provide a potential usage of irisin to promote fracture healing and improve clinical outcomes., Competing Interests: The content is solely the responsibility of the authors. The funding body was not involved in the design, collection, analysis, and interpretation of data, or the writing of the manuscript. The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest or financial ties to disclose., (© 2022 The Authors.)

Accumulating evidence suggests that long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) play a critical role in regulating cancer immunity and the tumor microenvironment. Tumor-infiltrating macrophages are one of the most abundant constituents of many tumors. However, the functions and clinical significance of lncRNAs in tumor-associated macrophages have not been systematically elucidated. In this study, we analyzed the tumor immune microenvironment and lncRNA expression level differences based on The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and immune cell transcriptome profiles using lung adenocarcinoma microarray datasets GSE3141, GSE51210, GSE37745, and the RNA sequencing data of GSE81089. We then identified a macrophage infiltration-related lncRNA signature (MILnc) including LINC00240, MCF2L-AS1, SFTA3, MIR497HG, FAM215A, UCA1, MIR155HG, and TLRB-AS1 from a list of 147 macrophage-specific lncRNAs. The MILnc was capable of predicting overall survival differences in TCGA and several external validation datasets with a favorable performance. Functional analysis revealed that MILnc was associated with tumor progression and negatively correlated with immune checkpoints. Additionally, MILnc was positively correlated with tumor mutational burden and could predict the immunotherapy response of patients receiving anti-PD-1 or anti-CTLA4 therapy. In summary, our study highlighted the value of MILnc, which revealed the immune environment status and immunotherapy response of lung adenocarcinoma. A robust and powerful MILnc risk model could aid exploration of treatment decisions and mechanisms of macrophage-infiltrating lncRNAs., (Copyright © 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

A series of novel hydroxyl-functional hypercrosslinked polymers (named as HCPs-Kae) were fabricated using natural and environmentally benign kaempferol as monomer via one-step Friedel-Crafts reaction. The prepared HCP-Kae1-24 h exhibited large surface area, good hydrophilicity and excellent adsorption performance to 5-nitroimidazoles (5-NDZs). Thus, by applying HCP-Kae1-24 h as a solid-phase extraction adsorbent, a sensitive method was developed for enrichment of 5-NDZs including metronidazole, ronidazole, secnidazole, dimetridazole and ornidazole prior to high performance liquid chromatography analysis. Under the optimum conditions, good linearities were achieved in the range of 0.10-100.0 ng mL -1 for water, 1.3-500.0 ng g -1 for honey, and 1.7-100.0 ng g -1 for fish meat. The detection limits of the method were 0.03-0.05 ng mL -1 , 0.4-1.0 ng g -1 , 0.5-1.0 ng g -1 for water, honey and fish meat, respectively. High method recovery was obtained in the range of 84-118% with relative standard deviations lower than 8.9%. The established method was successfully applied to the detection of 5-NDZs in environmental water, honey and fish samples. This work provides a new strategy for constructing hydroxyl-functional HCPs by using natural resource as robust adsorbent for adsorption/extraction applications., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

A double signal amplification method was developed for sensitive detection of Hg 2+ based on exonuclease III (Exo III) and Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR). In the presence of Hg 2+ , the ineffective primers could bind with helper DNA to form dsDNA by T-Hg(II)-T mismatch for the first signal amplification. Then, the ineffective primers were digested by Exo III to effective primers which initiate PCR reaction for the second signal amplification. This conversion from ineffective to effective primers for triggering PCR reaction has not been reported for the detection of Hg 2+ . Through the double signal amplification strategy, the sensitivity of this proposed method was significantly improved with the limit of detection 1.46 nM. With the specific T-Hg(II)-T recognition, the selectivity of this new method was satisfactory. And the recoveries were between 92.3 % and 109.0 %. These results suggested that the proposed method was reliable to detect Hg 2+ in water samples., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

In this work, a novel signal amplification biosensor was utilized to detect Cd 2+ based on asymmetric PCR. In the presence of Cd 2+ , it can bind with Cd 2+ -aptamer C1 which caused the complementary strand C2 to be released from double-stranded DNA C1-C2. Because the single-stranded C1 cannot be hydrolyzed by Exo III, it can be used as a template to take part in asymmetric PCR reaction. In the absence of Cd 2+ , the C1-C2 was digested by Exo III and no PCR template was left. During the experiment, an interesting phenomenon was found that the asymmetric PCR can obtain higher level of fluorescent signal than that of symmetric PCR. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of using asymmetric PCR to detect Cd 2+ . Through the asymmetric PCR amplification strategy, this biosensor had a low detection limit (19.93 nM) and a wide linear range (0-500 nM). Meanwhile, this biosensor showed a satisfactory selectivity and recovery rate., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Food safety is a great concern of the general public. Chlorophenols (CPs) as organic pollutant can be found in drinking water and foods, causing serious harm to human health. Herein, imine-linked covalent organic frameworks (COFs), named as TAPT-AN-COF, was synthesized by aniline modulation strategy through condensation of 1,3,5-triformylphoroglucinol and 4,4',4''-(1,3,5-Triazine-2,4,6-triyl)trianiline with aniline as modulator. The prepared TAPT-AN-COF possesses good crystallinity and regular morphology, displaying excellent adsorption capability towards CPs pollutants. Thus, the TAPT-AN-COF was used as novel adsorbent for off-line solid-phase extraction of four CPs (2-CP, 3-CP, 2,3-CPs, 2,4-CPs) from bottled water, tea drink and honey samples before high performance liquid chromatography-ultraviolet detection. Under optimal conditions, wide linear range, low detection limits and satisfactory extraction recovery were gained. The π-stacking and hydrophobic interactions between the TAPT-AN-COF and the analytes played an important role in the adsorption. The established method has a great potential in determining other hydrophobic aromatic compounds., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2021. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

The antibacterial and antioxidant packaging films were fabricated by incorporating licorice residue extracts (LREs) into oxidized starch (OS) films. The bioactive fraction (BF) was firstly obtained from LREs by using bioassay-guided isolation method. The BF showed potent anti-Gram (+) bacteria effects, especially against methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) with MIC of 32.5 μg/mL. The present results also indicated that the addition of BF could significantly decrease the moisture content, water vapor permeability, light transmittance of OS films. Notably, the antibacterial and antioxidant activities of OS films significantly enhanced with the concentration of BF increasing. Moreover, the films with the highest concentration of BF showed the lowest tensile strength (4.23 MPa) and the highest elongation at break (63.89%). Meanwhile, the bioactive films could release bioactive compounds such as licochalcone A and licochalcone B into the alcoholic and fatty food simulants. Taken together, the active OS films containing LREs have the potential for application in food packaging films, due to its potential against MRSA and antioxidant activity as well as good physicochemical properties., (Copyright © 2021. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Organic micropollutants have been extensively detected in environmental waters, posing severe hazards to organisms and humans. Effective detection of micropollutants in environmental water and food samples is of significant importance. Herein, a novel magnetic porous organic framework (labeled as M-Qu-POF) was synthesized using natural quercetin as building units via a facile azo-coupling reaction for the first time. Featuring with good magnetism, intrinsic porosity, high surface area and hydrophilic-lipophilic (amphiphilic) structure, the M-Qu-POF displayed high adsorption capacity for phenylurea herbicides (PUHs) pollutants. The adsorption mechanism was investigated by theory calculation, confirming that the hydrogen bonds interaction, π-π interactions and electrostatic interactions play an important role in the adsorption. With the M-Qu-POF as adsorbent, a magnetic solid phase extraction-high performance liquid chromatography method was first established for simultaneous enrichment and detection of six PUHs in environmental water, tea drink and cucumber samples. Under the optimized experimental conditions, good linear range, low detection limits and high enrichment factors were obtained. The method was successfully applied for determination of PUHs in environmental water, tea drink and cucumber samples with satisfactory recoveries (80.0-118%). The result demonstrates that the M-Qu-POF material has a good application prospect in the detection of other organic micropollutants., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background & Aims: Lactate has recently been reported to accumulate in the livers of patients progressing from simple steatosis to non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). However, the underlying mechanism(s) of lactate accumulation and the role of lactate in the progression of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) are essentially unknown., Methods: We compared the acetylome in liver samples taken from healthy individuals, patients with simple steatosis and patients with NASH to identify potential targets of acetylation with a role in lactate metabolism. Interactions between the acetylated target and acetyltransferases were measured in multiple cell lines. An acetyltransferase inhibitor was injected into high-fat diet (HFD)-fed mice to determine the role of lactate on NAFLD progression in vivo., Results: Hyperacetylation of lactate dehydrogenase B (LDHB) was found to be associated with lactate accumulation in NAFL and NASH livers in humans and mice. P300/CBP-associated factor (PCAF)-mediated acetylation of LDHB K82 was found to significantly decrease LDHB activity and impair hepatic lactate clearance, resulting in lactate accumulation. Acetylated LDHB induced lactate accumulation which exacerbated lipid deposition and inflammatory responses by activating histone hyperacetylation in HFD-induced NASH. The administration of embelin, a PCAF inhibitor, and the generation of an acetylation-deficient mutant of LDHB ameliorated NASH., Conclusion: PCAF-dependent LDHB acetylation plays a key role in hepatic lipid accumulation and inflammatory responses by impairing lactate clearance; this process might be a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of NASH., Lay Summary: Lactate is known to accumulate in the livers of patients during the progression of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD); however, the underlying mechanism(s) of this accumulation and its importance in disease progression are unknown. Herein, we show that the acetylation of an enzyme involved in lactate metabolism leads to impaired lactate clearance and exacerbates NAFLD progression., Competing Interests: Conflicts of interest The authors declare no conflicts of interest that pertain to this work. Please refer to the accompanying ICMJE disclosure forms for further details., (Copyright © 2020 European Association for the Study of the Liver. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Lung cancer is the leading cause of mortality and morbidity in tumor-related deaths in the world. Early detection of tumors can greatly improve the survival rate of patients. However, the lack of reliable blood biomarkers remains a major challenge for early diagnosis. The blood proteins secreted by the lung bronchi and bronchial arteries may have characteristic glycosylation patterns associated with tumors, which are different from normal physiological and pathological conditions. In this review, we outline the oncogenic drivers, signaling pathways related to KRAS, gene and protein mutations, and oncogenic regulation of protein glycosylation. Based on to the TCGA transcriptomics and antibody-based proteomics data, we discussed oncogene and glycoproteins detected in the blood as tumor biomarkers. We hypothesize that glycoproteins whose glycosylation can be reversed by targeted drugs may serve as potential tumor biomarkers., (Copyright © 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Backgrounds: This study aimed to investigate whether ghrelin ameliorated vascular calcification (VC) through improving autophagy., Methods: VC model was induced by nicotine plus vitamin D 3 in rats and β-glycerophosphate in vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC). Calcium deposition was detected by von Kossa staining or alizarin red S staining. ALP activity was also detected. Western blot was used to assess the protein expression., Results: Ghrelin treatment attenuated the elevation of calcium deposition and ALP activity in VC model both in vivo and in vitro. Interesting, the protein levels of autophagy markers, LC3 and beclin1 were significantly upregulated by ghrelin in VC model. An autophagy inhibitor, 3-methyladenine blocks the ameliorative effect of ghrelin on VC. Furthermore, protein expressions of phosphate-AMPK were increased by ghrelin treatment both in calcified aorta and VSMC. The effect of ghrelin on autophagy induction and VC attenuation was prevented by AMPK inhibitor, compound C., Conclusions: Our results suggested that ghrelin improved autophagy through AMPK activation, which was resulted in VC amelioration. These data maybe throw light on prevention and therapy of VC., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Urokinase plasminogen activator receptor (uPAR) exists in a number of formats in human plasma, including soluble uPAR (suPAR) and uPAR fragments. We developed an ELISA method to detect specifically the active form suPAR, which binds to its natural ligand uPA. The intra CV and inter CV of this ELISA assay is 8.5% and 9.6% respectively, and the assay can recover 99.74% of added recombinant suPAR from 10% plasma. This assay is quite sensitive, capable of detecting down to 15pg/ml of suPAR, and can measure suPAR concentrations in the range of 0.031-8ng/ml with high linear relationship. Plasma samples from pregnant women were also measured for the active form of suPAR with this assay, giving an averaged level of 1.39ng/ml, slightly higher than the level of pooled plasma from healthy donors (0.96ng/ml). This study demonstrates the feasibility to measure the active form of suPAR, which will likely have value in clinical applications., (Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Platelet endothelial cell adhesion molecule 1 (PECAM-1) is a cell surface receptor widely distributed on endothelium and hematopoietic-derived cells, and maintain the integrity of the blood vessels. PECAM-1 is widely recognized as an endothelial cell marker. The homophilic interaction through its extracellular domain of PECAM-1 (soluble PECAM-1, or sPECAM-1) is important to its functions. However, structural details for such dimerization are not fully understood. Here we report the production of recombinant sPECAM-1 in large quantity by Drosophila expression system and the small-angle X-ray diffraction (SAXS) study. The recombinant sPECAM-1 was found to form one population of dimer, but not oligomer, and was able to bind to heparin immobilized on a chip in surface plasmon resonance imaging (SPRi) binding experiments. The results of SAXS demonstrated that sPECAM-1 formed a symmetric homodimer of Ω-shape in solution, and each protomer adopted an extended conformation. The dimer is mediated through the intermolecular interactions through the first N-terminal domain (D1) of sPECAM-1. This model provides new structural information for its homophilic interaction mechanism., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The major objective of this study was to explore the effects of silicon dioxide (SiO2) nanofibers on the performance of 2, 2-bis-[4-(methacryloxypropoxy)-phenyl]-propane (Bis-GMA)/tri-(ethyleneglycol) dimethacrylate (TEGDMA) dental composites. At first, the mechanical properties of Bis-GMA/TEGDMA (50/50, w/w) resins containing different contents of SiO2 nanofibers were evaluated to identify the appropriate composition to achieve the significant reinforcing effect. Secondly, optimized contents (5 or 10wt.%) of SiO2 nanofibers were mixed into resins together with SiO2 microparticles, which was 60wt.% of the resin. Controls for comparison were Bis-GMA/TEGDMA resins containing only SiO2 microparticles (60wt.%) or with additional SiO2 nanoparticles (5 or 10wt.%). Properties including abrasion, polymerization shrinkage and mechanical properties were evaluated to determine the contribution of SiO2 nanofibers. In comparison with SiO2 nanoparticles, SiO2 nanofibers improved the overall performance of Bis-GMA/TEGDMA composite resins, especially in improving abrasion resistance and decreasing polymerization shrinkage. The explanations were that one-dimensional SiO2 nanofibers were able to shield particular fillers from being abraded off, and able to form a kind of overlapped fibrous network to resist polymerization shrinkage. With these approaches, SiO2 nanofiber-containing Bis-GMA composite resins were envisioned a promising choice to achieve long-term durable restorations in clinical therapies., (Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

The interaction between apigenin and calf thymus deoxyribonucleic acid (ctDNA) in a pH 7.4 Tris-HCl buffer solution was investigated by UV-Vis spectroscopy, fluorescence spectroscopy, DNA melting techniques, and viscosity measurements. It was found that apigenin molecules could intercalate into the base pairs of DNA, forming a apigenin-DNA complex with a binding constant of K310K=6.4×10(4)Lmol(-1). The thermodynamic parameters enthalpy change (ΔH), entropy change (ΔS) and Gibbs free energy (ΔG) were calculated to be 7.36×10(4)Jmol(-1), 329JK(-1)mol(-1) and -2.84×10(4)Jmol(-1) at 310K, respectively. Hydrophobic interaction was the predominant intermolecular force in stabilizing the apigenin-DNA complex. Thermal denaturation study suggested that the stabilization of the ctDNA helix was increased when the apigenin binding to ctDNA as indicated by the increase in thermal denaturation temperature of ctDNA at around 5.0°C in the presence of apigenin. Spectroscopic techniques together with melting techniques and viscosity determination provided evidences of intercalation mode of binding for the interaction between apigenin and ctDNA., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The mouse gene encoding the mu opioid receptor, Oprm, undergoes extensive alternatively splicing, with 14 variants having been identified. However, only one variant of human mu opioid receptor gene (Oprm), MOR-1A, has been described. We now report two novel splice variants of the human Oprm gene, hMOR-1O and hMOR-1X. The full-length cDNAs of hMOR-1O and hMO-1X contained the same exons 1, 2, and 3 as the original hMOR-1, but with exon O or exon X as the alternative fourth exon, respectively. Northern blots revealed several bands with the exon O probe in both human neuroblastoma BE(2)C cells and human brain and a single band (5.5kb) with the exon X probe in selected human brain regions. When transfected into CHO cells, both variants showed high selectivity for mu opioids in binding assays. These two new human mu opioid receptors are the first human MOR-1 variants containing new exons and suggest that the complex splicing present in mice may extend to humans.