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Purpose: This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of an ethnically-optimized corneal tomography and biomechanics index using artificial intelligence (AI) techniques for diagnosing early ectasia in Chinese populations and determine the diagnostic indices' sensitivity, specificity, and cutoff value for clinical practice., Methods: This multicenter case-control retrospective study included 1,012 eyes from three centers in China (Tianjin, Shaanxi, and Shandong). The groups included very asymmetric ectasia with normal topography (VAE-NT, n = 146), contralateral ectasia (VAE-E, n = 127), bilateral keratoconus (KC, n = 247), and normal eyes (NL, n = 492). The diagnostic efficiency of the Corvis Biomechanical Index (CBI), CBI for Chinese populations (cCBI), Tomographic and Biomechanical Index version 1 (TBIv1), TBI version 2 (TBIv2), and TBI for Chinese populations (cTBI) was assessed using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. The diagnostic efficiency was compared using DeLong's test., Results: cTBI had the highest diagnostic accuracy for distinguishing NL from early ectasia (VAE-NT), with an area under the ROC (AUROC) of 0.93 at the cutoff value of 0.41, a sensitivity of 84.39 % and specificity of 92.67 %. cTBI diagnostic efficacy in early ectasia was better than TBIv2, TBIv1, cCBI, and CBI (Delong test, P < 0.01). It also had the best efficacy in distinguishing NL from "disease" (VAE-NT + VAE-E + KC), with an AUROC of 0.98 at the cutoff value of 0.66, sensitivity of 91.05 %, and specificity of 99.39 %. cTBI achieved 100 % sensitivity and specificity for distinguishing NL from clinical ectasia (VAE-E + KC) at a cutoff of 0.81., Conclusions: The ethnicity optimized cTBI index had good diagnostic efficiency for early ectasia in the Chinese population, highlighting the benefit of ethnic-specific parameter optimization., 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 © 2025 British Contact Lens Association. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Objectives: The 3 most frequently utilized frailty assessment measures are the Fried criteria, FRAIL scale, and Frailty Index (FI). This study aimed to compare predictive capabilities of these 3 measures regarding all-cause mortality in the United States and to identify the key predictive variables., Design: Cross-sectional study., Setting and Participants: From the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2005-2018 cycles, a total of 39,631 participants aged 20 and older were included., Methods: Fried status, FRAIL status, and FI status were determined for each individual based on the cutoff values from the continuous scores of their respective scales. Univariate and multivariate models, incorporating 11 covariates-sex, age, body mass index, ethnicity, education, marital status, smoking status, alcohol intake, employment status, poverty-to-income ratio, and total energy intake-were fitted using Cox proportional hazards and 2 machine learning models. Model performance was assessed through Integrated Brier Score (IBS), concordance index (C-index), and area under the curve (AUC) values from 10-fold cross-validation. Key variable analysis was performed using permutation importance and C-index increment. Subgroup analysis was developed according to age., Results: In univariate analyses, FI consistently outperformed Fried and FRAIL, showing significantly lower IBS, and higher C-index and AUC values. In multivariate analyses, few significant differences were found. Permutation importance analysis identified age as the most important variable, followed by Fried status and FI status. Similarly, in C-index increment analysis, age was the top one variable. Subgroup analyses showed that FI status consistently performed best in all metrics across univariate analyses at least in 40-59 and 60-79 age groups. FI status consistently emerged as the most important variable in permutation analysis across all age groups., Conclusions and Implications: FI demonstrated the best performance as a single predictor in predicting all-cause mortality, with age being crucial for enhancing predictive performance. Future research should explore the applicability of FI in different populations and its relationship with cause-specific mortality., Competing Interests: Disclosure The authors declare no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medical Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Regenerated cellulose is extensively utilized as a natural polymer due to its actually natural piezoelectric properties as well as renewable properties, but suffers from processing difficulties and low piezoelectric constants (d 33 ). Consequently, this work focuses on controlling the molecular weight of regenerated cellulose through pretreatment methods that promote the growth of in situ ZnO to enhance its d 33 . Firstly, the acid-catalyzed pulp fibers (PF) and zinc nitrate hexahydrate were added in NaOH/urea solvent to effectively prepare RC/ZnO composite film via regeneration and in-situ growth. The effects of the acid-catalytic degradation on the solubility of PF, the structure of RC, and the RC/ZnO composite film were systematically discussed. It is found that the hydrogen bond network structure in the RC/ZnO composite film prepared by 1.5 % ~ 6 h treated PF is the most regular, where the ZnO is well combined with substrate and dispersed evenly, and the d 33 is up to 34.99 pm/V. Therefore, the maximum open-circuit voltage of the prepared piezoelectric generator (PEG) reaches 5 V. On this basis, a piezoelectric sensing system is developed, displaying portable and accurate detection performance to human movement. This work provides insights and ideas for the development and design of cellulose and ZnO composites., 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 © 2025. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Polyvinyl chloride microplastics (PVC-MPs) and Cadmium (Cd) are widely occurring water pollutants that interact with each other to exert toxic effects. As a waterfowl, Muscovy duck is more susceptible to PVC-MPs and Cd than land poultry. In this study, Muscovy duck was used as a research model, and 10 mg/L PVC-MPs and 50 mg/kg Cd were used alone and in combine to explore the effect on the kidney of Muscovy duck. We found that treatment of Cd or PVC-MPs alone changed the kidney weight, increased creatinine and urea nitrogen content, and disrupted oxidative balance and macro/trace element metabolism, while the combination of PVC-MPs+Cd reduced the accumulation of Cd in the kidney. In addition, treatment of Cd and PVC-MPs alone caused mitochondrial damage, increase or decrease of mitochondria-associated proteins (Fis1, Drp1, PGC-1α, Nrf1), and Nrf2 signaling pathway plays a key role in detoxification and alleviation of oxidative stress, and we found that PVC-MPs+Cd treatment recovered related proteins (Nrf2, Keap-1, HO-1, NQO1, AC-SOD 2 , SOD 2 ) compared with the Cd and PVC-MPs alone treatment. Finally, we detected changes in apoptosis-related proteins and genes (Caspase-3, Caspase-9, Bax, Bcl-2, Cytc) and TUNEL staining, and after PVC-MPs+Cd treatment, apoptosis-related proteins/genes recovered and the apoptosis rate decreased compared with the Cd and PVC-MPs alone treatment. These results indicate that renal function is impaired, oxidative stress and trace element metabolism disorder, nuclear factor-E2 related factor 2 (Nrf2) is activated into the nucleus to induce the expression of related antioxidant proteins (such as HO-1, NQO1). These injuries can induce mitochondrial damage and eventually lead to renal cell apoptosis. To sum up, these evidence show that Cd or PVC-MPs can induce kidney oxidative damage, trace element metabolism disorder, mitochondrial damage and apoptosis., 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. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

Background and Aim: Dilated cardiomyopathy is a major cause of heart failure, and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is a common cause of sudden cardiac death in young adults. Epidemiological studies reporting the association between these cardiomyopathies and common cardiovascular risk factors, including smoking, alcohol, and obesity, are limited, and the published studies are mostly observational, making them vulnerable to bias., Methods and Results: We performed a two-sample Mendelian randomization analysis to assess whether cardiovascular risk factors were causally associated with dilated and hypertrophic cardiomyopathies. Independent genetic variants associated with body mass index, smoking, and alcohol were selected as instrumental variables, with two sets of instrumental variables utilized for alcohol. Dilated cardiomyopathy data on 355,318 samples and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy data on 489,727 samples were obtained from a European population-based genome-wide association study (GWAS) meta-analysis. The large GWAS data sample size improved the statistical power. Our results showed significant associations between a genetic predisposition for smoking and the risk of dilated cardiomyopathy (odds ratio (OR) = 1.33; 95 % confidence level (CI): 1.07-1.67; p = 0.012) and between a genetic predisposition for obesity and the risk of dilated cardiomyopathy (OR = 1.62; 95 % CI, 1.30-2.02; p = 1.51 × 10 -5 ). The results of the other associations were not significant., Conclusions: This study suggests that smoking and obesity are causally associated with an increased risk of dilated cardiomyopathy., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background/aims: The principal limitations of the term non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) are the reliance on exclusionary confounder terms and the use of potentially stigmatizing language. Within three years, NAFLD went through two name changes, from NAFLD to metabolic-dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) to metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD). However, there is no Asian consensus statement on the renaming of MASLD, and evidence on the epidemiology and characteristics in the Asia population under different diagnostic criteria remain limited. This study aimed to fill these gaps by analyzing the prevalence and characteristics of MASLD, NAFLD, and MAFLD in an Asian population., Methods: A retrospective, cross-sectional study was conducted in regional China with participants from the health management database in 2017-2022. Demographic and laboratory metabolic profile and body composition data were obtained. Hepatic steatosis were diagnosed by ultrasound. The likelihood of having fibrosis was assessed using the NAFLD fibrosis score (NFS). Recently proposed criteria for metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) were applied., Results: A total of 20,226 subjects were included for final analysis. 7465 (36.91%) participants were categorized as MASLD patients, 10,726 (53.03%) participants were MAFLD, and 7333 (36.26%) participants were NAFLD. Compared with MAFLD, body composition of MASLD and NAFLD patients were obviously different. MASLD patients were older, had a higher body mass index and percentage of male gender, and had a higher ALT, diastolic blood pressure, triglyceride, and waist circumference but lower High-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol (HDL-C) than non-MASLD patients. Using binary regression analysis, we found for the first time that putative bone mass (OR = 4.62, 95CI% 3.12-6.83) is associated with the risk of developing MASLD. The area under the receiver operating curve (AUC) for predicting cardiovascular outcomes (CV) was 0.644 for MAFLD and 0.701 for MASLD., Conclusion: MASLD (36.91%) prevalence was closed to NAFLD (36.26%) and lower than MAFLD (53.03%). Presumed bone mass might be the predictor of disease progression in MASLD patients. MASLD better identifies patients likely to have a higher risk of metabolic disorders or CV events., Competing Interests: The authors have no conflicts to disclose., (© 2024 Indian National Association for Study of the Liver. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights are reserved, including those for text and data mining, AI training, and similar technologies.)

Cadmium (Cd) is an environmental pollutant that has neurotoxic properties, which poses serious threats to human health and the development of poultry farming. Chlorogenic acid (CGA) is a dietary polyphenol exhibit various biological activities such as antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and autophagy regulation. In addition, CGA can penetrate the blood-brain barrier and exert neuroprotective effects. This study explored the mechanism of CGA in alleviating Cd-induced cerebral cortical neuron injury in chickens. The results showed that in vivo, CGA reduced the Cd level and alleviated Cd-induced histopathological and ultrastructural damages in the chicken cerebral cortex. Further research has found that CGA alleviated Cd-induced incomplete autophagy and activation of the AMPK-ULK1 pathway. In vitro, AMPK inhibitors (Compound C) could alleviate Cd-induced incomplete autophagy in chicken cerebral cortical neurons. In addition, CGA alleviated the decreased viability, incomplete autophagy, and activation of the AMPK-ULK1 pathway induced by Cd in chicken cerebral cortical neurons. In summary, CGA can alleviate Cd-induced cerebral cortical neuron injury in chickens, which is related to CGA alleviating Cd-induced incomplete autophagy by inhibiting the AMPK-ULK1 pathway., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

As a promising cancer biomarker, microRNA-21 (miRNA-21) has attracted great attention. However, the assay sensitivity of miRNA-21 is highly demanded due to its low abundance. In this work, a highly sensitive sensing platform for miRNA-21 detection was developed based on hybridization chain reaction (HCR) and magnetic beads (MBs)-assisted cascade signal amplification strategy with helical gold nanorods (HGNRs) as dark-field light scattering probes. The target miRNA-21 triggered triiodide (I 3 - )-mediated etching of HGNRs, leading to the decrease in scattering intensity of HGNRs. Compared with the common gold nanorods, the protuberant helical structure on the rough surface endowed HGNRs with larger specific surface area and higher reactivity, resulting in a higher sensitivity with a linear range of 0.1-3 pmol/L and a limit of detection as low as 61.33 fmol/L, which realized the detection of miRNA-21 in serum samples from cancer patients. Moreover, the proposed strategy offered the remarkable specificity and high accuracy, which was capable of distinguishing mismatch sequences and offering the similar result obtained from polymerase chain reaction, supplying a new idea for early diagnosis of cancers., 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 B.V. All rights reserved.)

Cadmium (Cd), a toxic heavy metal pollutant, inflicts widespread damage on various organs and tissues, including cartilage, where it induces chondrocyte apoptosis. Angelica sinensis polysaccharides (ASP), a key active component of the traditional Chinese medicine Angelica sinensis, have been shown to possess anti-apoptotic effects on chondrocytes. This study investigates the in vitro effects of ASP on alleviating Cd-induced apoptosis in layer chicken chondrocytes, focusing on the mitochondrial apoptosis pathway mediated by the c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) signaling pathway. Chondrocytes were isolated from layer chicken embryos and confirmed to express collagen type II alpha 1 (Col2a1). We found that Cd triggered apoptosis in the chondrocytes; however, the use of the JNK inhibitor SP 600125 mitigated mitochondrial structural damage casused by Cd, indicating the involvement of JNK signaling in this process. Furthermore, ASP effectively alleviated Cd-induced apoptosis in layer chicken chondrocytes by inhibiting JNK signaling in vitro. Our findings provide a theoretical foundation for the clinical application of ASP in preventing Cd-induced cartilage diseases in poultry., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest No conflict of interest exists in the submission of this manuscript, and manuscript is approved by all authors for publication. The author would like to declare on behalf of his co-authors that the work described was original research that has not been published previously, and not under consideration for publication elsewhere, in whole or in part. All the authors listed have approved the manuscript that is enclosed., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: With application of artificial intelligence (AI) in the disease screening, process reengineering occurred simultaneously. Whether process reengineering deserves special emphasis in AI implementation in the community-based blinding fundus diseases screening is not clear., Method: Cost-effectiveness and cost-utility analyses were performed employing decision-analytic Markov models. A hypothetical cohort of community residents was followed in the model over a period of 30 1-year Markov cycles, starting from the age of 60. The simulated cohort was based on work data of the Shanghai Digital Eye Disease Screening program (SDEDS). Three scenarios were compared: centralized screening with manual grading-based telemedicine systems (Scenario 1), centralized screening with an AI-assisted screening system (Scenario 2), and process reengineered screening with an AI-assisted screening system (Scenario 3). The main outcomes were incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) and incremental cost-utility ratio (ICUR)., Results: Compared with Scenario 1, Scenario 2 results in incremental 187.03 years of blindness avoided and incremental 106.78 QALYs at an additional cost of $ 490010.62 per 10,000 people screened, with an ICER of $2619.98 per year of blindness avoided and an ICUR of $4589.13 per QALY. Compared with Scenario 1, Scenario 3 results in incremental 187.03 years of blindness avoided and incremental 106.78 QALYs at an additional cost of $242313.23 per 10,000 people screened, with an ICER of $1295.60 per year of blindness avoided and an ICUR of $2269.35 per QALY. Although Scenario 2 and 3 could be considered cost-effective, the screening cost of Scenario 3 was 27.6 % and the total cost was 1.1 % lower, with the same expected effectiveness and utility. The probabilistic sensitivity analyses show that Scenario 3 dominated 69.1 % and 70.3 % of simulations under one and three times the local GDP per capita thresholds., Conclusions: AI can improve the cost-effectiveness and cost-utility of screenings, especially when process reengineering is performed. Therefore, process reengineering is strongly recommended when AI is implemented., 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 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Accurate multi-lesion segmentation together with automated grading on fundus images played a vital role in diagnosing and treating diabetic retinopathy (DR). Nevertheless, the intrinsic patterns of fundus lesions aggravated challenges in DR detection process. Therefore, we proposed a novel multi-lesion segmentation guided deep attention network (MSGDA-Net) for accurate and automated DR detection, consisting of a DR lesion segmentation pathway as an auxiliary task to produce a lesion regional prior knowledge and a DR grading pathway to extract local fine-grained features and long-range dependency. In DR lesion segmentation pathway, we designed a Multi-Scale Attention Block (MSAB) and a Lesion-Aware Relation Block (LARB) to allow interactions among multi-lesion features for alleviating ambiguity in lesion segmentation, generating lesion regional prior knowledge. As for DR grading pathway, we presented a Spatial-Fusion Block (SFB) to enhance the lesion-related local fine-grained feature representations and eliminate irrelevant noise information under the guidance of the resulting lesion regional priors, while constructed an Enhanced Self-Attention Block (ESAB) to optimally fuse fine-grained features from SFB with long-range global-context information for grading DR. The experimental results showed that our MSGDA-Net not only achieved state-of-the-art performance in the tasks of multi-lesion segmentation and DR grading, reaching up to 49.21 % Dice, 38.05 % IoU and 51.15 % AUPR for DR lesion segmentation on the DDR dataset, as well as accuracy values of 75.00 % and 87.18 % for DR grading on local newly-built VisionDR and publicly available APTOS datasets, but also manifested good generalization and robustness on cross-data evaluation. It could serve as a promising tool for computer aided DR screening and diagnosis., 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 Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Liver fibrosis is a key process in the progression of chronic liver disease to cirrhosis. Currently, early diagnosis and precise staging of liver fibrosis remain great challenges. Extracellular matrix (ECM) molecules expressed specifically during liver fibrosis are ideal targets for bioimaging and detection of liver fibrosis. Here, we report that fluorescent probes based on a nucleic acid aptamer (ZY-1) targeting cellular fibronectin (cFN), a critical ECM molecule significantly accumulating during liver fibrosis, are promising bioimaging agents for the staging of liver fibrosis. In the work, the outstanding binding affinity of ZY-1 to cFN was validated through an in vitro model of human-derived hepatic stellate cells (HSCs). Subsequently, we constructed different ZY-1-based fluorescent probes and explored the real-time imaging performance of these fluorescent probes in CCl 4 -induced mouse models of different liver fibrosis stages. The ZY-1-based fluorescent probes, for the first time, effectively identified and distinguished early-stage liver fibrosis (stage 3 of Ishak 6) from advanced liver fibrosis (stage 5 of Ishak 6). The proof-of-concept study provides compelling evidences that ZY-1-based probes are a promising tool for the early diagnosis and staging of liver fibrosis and paves the way for further development of clinical-related diagnosis strategies for fibrotic diseases of the liver and other organs. STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE: Currently, early diagnosis and accurate staging of liver fibrosis continue to present significant challenges. This study demonstrates that fluorescent probes based on the nucleic acid aptamer ZY-1, which targets cellular fibronectin (cFN)-a crucial extracellular matrix (ECM) molecule that significantly accumulates during liver fibrosis-are promising bioimaging agents for staging liver fibrosis. The ZY-1-based fluorescent probes effectively identified and differentiated early-stage liver fibrosis from advanced liver fibrosis. This proof-of-concept study not only provides compelling evidence that ZY-1-based probes show promise for the early diagnosis and staging of liver fibrosis but also paves the way for further investigations into the use of ZY-1 in detecting other diseases associated with cFN., 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 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

A series of flavonol derivatives containing 1,2,4-triazole Schiff base was designed, synthesized and tested for their biological activities. The results of the biological activity test showed that compounds exhibited the obvious antifungal activities against Sclerotinia sclerotiorum (S.s), Rhizoctonia solani (R.s), Botrytis cinerea (B.c) and Phomopsis sp (P.s). Among them, K14 showed excellent antimicrobial activity against B.c with the half maximal effective concentration (EC 50 ) of 7.6 µg/mL as compared to azoxystrobin (18.0 µg/mL). Additionally, the in vivo protective and therapeutic activities of K14 on blueberry leaves were 94.1 and 88.7 % respectively, surpassing than that of the control drug azoxystrobin (91.6 and 74.4 %) at 200 µg/mL. The results of SEM showed that the mycelium appeared wrinkled, folded and changed in morphology after being treated with K14. In addition, fluorescence microscopy (FM) and cytoplasmic leakage assays showed that the cell membrane of B.c was disrupted. Further study of malondialdehyde (MDA) and relative conductivity measurements indicated that the normal function of cells is affected by K14 by increasing cell membrane permeability and promoting membrane lipid peroxidation. These results indicate that flavonol derivatives containing 1,2,4-triazole Schiff bases are expected to provide a new prospect for the development of novel fungicides., 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.)

Objective: To study the incidence of congenital posterior arch defects of the atlas and in combination with other congenital variations in the Chinese population., Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 1405 images of cervical 3-dimensional computed tomography (3D CT) and 1284 images of head and cervical 3-dimensional computed tomography angiography (3D CTA), including images of 1539 male and 1150 female individuals. These images of cervical 3D CT and head and cervical 3D CTA were obtained in the Department of Radiology of 2 hospitals, Second and Third People's Hospital of Jingzhou, China, from January 2020 to October 2023. Congenital posterior arch defects of the atlas were classified according to the criteria of Currarino and colleagues. Congenital posterior arch defects of the atlas combined with other congenital variations including occipitalization of the atlas, the ponticulus posticus variation of the vertebral artery groove of the atlas, cervical fusion, and the transversal foramen of the atlas variant were also observed., Results: A total of 2689 patients were included in this study. The overall prevalence of congenital posterior arch defects of the atlas was 0.74% (20 of 2689). There was no statistically significant difference in incidence between male (0.78%, 12 of 1539) and female patients (0.70%, 8 of 1150) (P > 0.05). Among all posterior defects, type A and B defects were found in 0.6% (16 of 2689) and 0.15% (4 of 2689) cases, respectively. There were no type C, D, and E defects and no anterior arch defects. However, in 20 cases of congenital posterior arch defects of atlas, 40% (8 of 20) combined with other congenital variations including occipitalization of atlas in 4 type A cases, bilateral complete ponticulus posticus variation of atlas vertebral groove in 1 type A case, C2-C3 fusion in 1 type A case, coexistence of unilateral complete ponticulus posticus variation of the vertebral artery groove of the atlas and unilateral unclosed transverse foramen in 1 type B case, and coexistence of unilateral unclosed transverse foramen in 1 type A case., Conclusions: The incidence of congenital posterior arch defects of the atlas was low in a Chinese population. There was no difference between male and female individuals. Types A and B were the 2 major defects in this Chinese population, and the prevalence of type A and B combined with other congenital cervical variations were higher than those of types C, D, and E., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

Abstract: Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) is a syndrome characterized by aberrant immunological activity with a dismal prognosis. Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-associated HLH (EBV-HLH) is the most common type among adults. Patients with EBV infection to B cells could benefit from rituximab, whereas lethal outcomes may occur in patients with EBV infection to T cells, nature killer cells, or multilineages. The necessity of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) in adult patients with EBV-HLH remains controversial. A total of 356 adult patients with EBV-HLH entered this study. Eighty-eight received HSCT under medical recommendation. Four received salvage HSCT. The 5-year overall survival (OS) rate for patients who underwent HSCT was 48.7% (vs 16.2% in patients who did not undergo transplantation; P < .001). There was no difference in OS between patients who received transplantation at first complete response (CR1) and those at first partial response (PR1) nor between patients at CR1 and CR2. Patients who received transplantation at PR2 had inferior survival. The rate of reaching CR2 was significantly higher in patients with CR1 than PR1 (P = .014). Higher soluble CD25 levels, higher EBV-DNA loads in plasma after HSCT, poorer remission status, more advanced acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), and the absence of localized chronic GVHD were associated with inferior prognosis (P < .05). HSCT improved the survival of adult EBV-HLH significantly. For patients who achieved PR after initial treatment, HSCT was recommended. A wait-and-see strategy could be adopted for patients who achieved CR after initial treatment but with the risk of failing to achieve CR2., (© 2024 American Society of Hematology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights are reserved, including those for text and data mining, AI training, and similar technologies.)

Purpose: To assess the effectiveness and safety of repeated low-level red light (RLRL), which is a newly available treatment for myopia control in children and adolescents with high myopia., Design: Multicenter, randomized, parallel-group, single-blind clinical trial (randomized controlled trial; NCT05184621)., Participants: Between February 2021 and April 2022, 192 children aged 6 to 16 years were enrolled. Each child had at least 1 eye with myopia of cycloplegic spherical equivalent refraction (SER) at least -4.0 diopters (D), astigmatism of ≤2.0 D, anisometropia of ≤3.0 D, and best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) of 0.2 logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution or better. Follow-up was completed by April 2023., Methods: Participants were randomly assigned at a 1:1 ratio to intervention (RLRL treatment plus single-vision spectacles) or control (single-vision spectacles) groups. The RLRL treatment was administered for 3 minutes per session, twice daily with a minimum interval of 4 hours, 7 days per week., Mean Outcome Measures: The primary outcome and key secondary outcome were changes in axial length (AL) and cycloplegic SER measured at baseline and the 12-month follow-up visit. Participants who had at least 1 postrandomization follow-up visit were analyzed for treatment efficacy., Results: Among 192 randomized participants, 188 (97.91%) were included in the analyses (96 in the RLRL group and 92 in the control group). After 12 months, the adjusted mean change in AL was -0.06 mm (95% confidence interval [CI], -0.10 to -0.02 mm) and 0.34 mm (95% CI, 0.30 to 0.39 mm) in the intervention and control groups, respectively. A total of 48 participants (53.3%) in the intervention group were still experiencing axial shortening >0.05 mm at the 12-month follow-up. The mean SER change after 12 months was 0.11 D (95% CI, 0.02to 0.19 D) and -0.75 D (95% CI, -0.88 to -0.62 D) in the intervention and control groups, respectively., Conclusions: Repeated low-level red light demonstrates stronger treatment efficacy among those with high myopia, with 53.3% experiencing substantial axial shortening. Repeated low-level red light provides an excellent solution for the management of high myopia progression, a significant challenge in ophthalmology practice., Financial Disclosure(s): The author(s) have no proprietary or commercial interest in any materials discussed in this article., (Copyright © 2024 American Academy of Ophthalmology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Cadmium (Cd) has adverse effects on organisms. Serine is an essential nutritional factor and its nutritional value is extremely high for body. To explore the effects of serine on spleen toxicity induced by Cd in mice, cadmium chloride (CdCl 2 , 50 mg/L) and serine (50 g/L) were individually administered or co-administrated in drinking water of mice for 18 weeks. Results demonstrated that Cd exposure induced splenic toxicity and serine against the toxicity damage caused by Cd in mice. Under Cd stress, trace element homeostasis was disturbed, the mice's body weight and spleen index were increased, and splenic morphology and ultrastructure were altered. Furthermore, Cd exposure led to the cell populations disorder, which in turn triggers cell death. Notably, Cd treatment induced oxidative stress and inflammation, increased M1/M2 (iNOS, CD68) and Th1/Th2 (T-bet, CD4) levels, decreased M1/M2 (Arg1) and Th1/Th2 (GATA3) levels, while disrupted the macrophages and lymphocytes homeostasis, which trigged apoptosis and pyroptosis in spleen. In contrast, serine supplementation changed the levels of Cd and other elements, weakened Cd-induced tissue damage and inflammation, enhanced antioxidant capacity, significantly restored cell homeostasis, and effectively inhibited Cd-induced apoptosis and pyroptosis in the spleen. Shortly, the results verified that serine had an ameliorating toxicity effect and restored the M1/M2 and Th1/Th2 balance, restrained apoptosis and pyroptosis induced by Cd., 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 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

A recently discovered environmental contaminant, microplastics (MP) are capable of amassing within the body and pose a grave threat to the health of both humans and animals. It is widely acknowledged that the combination of cadmium (Cd), a hazardous heavy metal, and microplastics produces synergistic deleterious effects. Nevertheless, the mechanism by which co-exposure to polyvinyl chloride microplastics (PVC-MP) and Cd damages the liver of avian females is unknown. Globally prevalent and the subject of extensive research in mammals, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a chronic liver condition. However, the mechanisms underlying injury to the avian digestive system caused by NAFLD remain unknown. Two months of co-exposure to Cd and PVC-MPs, pure water, solitary Cd exposure, single microplastics exposure, and pure water were administered to female Muscovy ducks in this study. The objective of this research was to examine whether the co-exposure of duck liver to PVC-MPs and Cd-induced oxidative stress resulted in NAFLD and subsequent apoptosis of hepatic cells. The study's findings showed that hepatocyte shape and functional activity were negatively impacted by PVC-MP and Cd buildup in liver tissues. Reduced liver organ coefficients, increased alanine aminotransferase (ALT) content, and ultrastructural damage to hepatocyte nuclei and mitochondria are indicators of this. These results point to a possible impairment in liver function. phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase 1 (PCK1) deficiency activates the protein kinase B/phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K/AKT) pathway in the livers of female reproductive ducks that have been damaged by oxidative stress. This stimulation induces lipid deposition, fibrosis, and glycogen accumulation, which ultimately results in hepatocyte apoptosis. In summary, our research provides evidence that PVC-MPs cause oxidative harm to the liver, which subsequently results in fibrosis of liver tissue, hepatic glucolipid metabolism, and ultimately apoptosis., Competing Interests: DISCLOSURES 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 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Objectives: Mpox continues to spread in China, and stakeholders' experiences may help inform prevention and control strategies., Study Design: Qualitative study., Methods: A qualitative study across 14 Chinese cities recruited stakeholders from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCs), community-based organizations (CBOs), and hospitals involved in curbing mpox. Semi-structured interviews were conducted by telephone and analyzed using Colaizzi's phenomenological method., Results: 15 CBOs workers, 14 CDCs staff, and 13 healthcare workers were recruited. Three theme categories were identified: "Efforts to curb mpox epidemic", including CDCs' epidemic management and health education, hospitals' diagnosis, treatment, and care, CBOs' counseling, publicity, and referrals. "Challenges to curb mpox epidemic", including negative impacts of hospital-based quarantine, lack of specific antiviral drugs, gay identity disclosure concerns, psychological problems, contact tracing difficulties, and inadequate communication and collaboration. "Recommendations for curbing mpox epidemic", including prioritizing supervised home-based quarantine, incorporating HIV-related indicators into hospital quarantine criteria, reducing the cost of hospital quarantine, accelerating the development of vaccines and drugs, enhancing patient privacy protection, psychological training for stakeholders, establishing a task force that comprises personnel who are experienced in contact tracing and strengthening communication and collaboration., Conclusions: Effective control of mpox spread requires strengthening collaboration with CBOs and community healthcare centers (CHCs) and working out a flexible and contextualized mechanism. It also needs to reinforce patient privacy protection and integrate stigma reduction into strategies. Additionally, it is important to include HIV-related indicators in the quarantine evaluation and provide psychological training for stakeholders to help them manage their mental health and improve counseling skills., (Copyright © 2024 The Royal Society for Public Health. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Environmental pollution poses a significant challenge to the poultry industry, leading to substantial losses and adverse effects on the health, production, and performance of avian species. In recent years, there has been growing interest in exploring natural compounds with potential protective effects against cadmium (Cd)-induced toxicity. Luteolin (LUT), a flavonoid found in various plants, has been studied for its antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and cytoprotective properties. In this study, Su green shell grass chickens were divided into 4 groups: control, LUT (150 mg LUT), Cd (100 mg CdCl2), and Cd + LUT (100 mg CdCl2 + 150 mg LUT) groups for 1 month, respectively. The present study revealed that LUT maintained the morphology and functional activity of the liver and intestine. LUT alleviated Cd-induced impairment in the liver and intestinal biochemical indicators, suppressed Cd-induced liver fibrosis, mitigated liver and intestinal tissue damage. Additionally, LUT reduced oxidative stress and regulated the Cd-induced impairment in trace elements of the liver and intestine. Furthermore, LUT reduced Cd-induced liver inflammation, restored Cd-induced intestinal barrier function, and normalized Cd-induced serum proteins, including changes in the content of glutamyltranspeptidase. Moreover, LUT maintained Cd-induced disruption of gut microbiota and alleviated bacterial dysbiosis. Overall, these findings suggest that LUT holds promise as a potential therapeutic agent for mitigating the adverse effects of Cd-induced toxicity in poultry, by preserving liver and intestinal health, reducing oxidative stress, inflammation, and restoring gut microbiota balance., Competing Interests: DISCLOSURES 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 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Antiviral drugs have garnered considerable attention, particularly in the global battle against the COVID-19 pandemic, amid heightened concerns regarding environmentally acquired antiviral resistance. A comprehensive understanding of their transport in subsurface environments is imperative for accurately predicting their environmental fate and risks. This study investigated the mobility and retention characteristics of six COVID-19 antiviral drugs in saturated quartz sand columns. Results showed that the mobility of the drugs was primarily contingent on their hydrophobicity, with ribavirin and favipiravir exhibiting the highest transportability, while arbidol displaying the greatest retention. The transport characteristics of ribavirin and favipiravir remained largely unaffected by pH, whereas the retention of the other four antivirals remained consistently minimal under alkaline conditions. Elevating ionic strength marginally facilitated the transport of these antivirals, while the presence of Ca 2+ notably enhanced their retention in quartz sand compared to Na + . Ribavirin and remdesivir warrant particular attention due to their relatively high transportability and propensity for environmentally acquired antiviral resistance. These findings contribute to an enhanced understanding of the leachate potential and transport of COVID-19-related antivirals in sandy porous media, furnishing fundamental data for predicting their environmental fate and associated risks., 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 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Conventional methods for identifying soil heavy metal (HM) pollution sources are limited to area scale, failing to accurately pinpoint sources at specific sites due to the spatial heterogeneity of HMs in mining areas. Furthermore, these methods primarily focus on existing solid waste polluted dumps, defined as "direct pollution sources", while neglecting existing HM pollution hotspots generated by historical anthropogenic activities (e.g., mineral development, industrial discharges), defined as "potential pollution sources". Addressing this gap, a novel remote sensing analysis method is proposed to identify both direct and potential pollution sources at site scale, considering source-sink relationships. Direct pollution sources are extracted using a supervised classification algorithm on high-resolution multispectral imagery. Potential pollution sources depend on the spatial distribution of HM pollution, mapped using a machine learning model with hyperspectral imagery. Additionally, a source identification algorithm is developed for gridded pollution source analysis. Validated through a case study in a cadmium (Cd)-polluted mine area, the proposed method successfully extracted 21 solid waste polluted dumps with an overall accuracy approaching 90 % and a Kappa coefficient of 0.80. Simultaneously, 4167 HM pollution hotspots were identified, achieving optimal inversion accuracy for Cd (Rv 2  = 0.91, RMSEv = 4.27, and RPDv = 3.02). Notably, the spatial distribution patterns of these identified sources exhibited a high degree of similarity. Further analysis employing the identification algorithm indicated that 3 polluted dumps and 258 pollution hotspots were pollution sources for a selected high-value point of Cd content. This innovative method provides a valuable methodological reference for precise prevention and control of soil HM pollution., 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 B.V. All rights reserved.)

The impact of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on microplastic (MP) occurrence in aquatic environments deserves an in-depth study. In this study, the occurrence of MPs and environmental flux of plastics before (2019) and during (2020 and 2021) the pandemic were comparatively investigated in various aquatic compartments in the Taihu Lake Basin in China. The field-based investigations from 2019 to 2021 for Taihu Lake have shown that, at the onset of the outbreak, the MP abundance declined at a rate of 62.3 %, but gradually recovered to the pre-pandemic level. However, the amount of plastics being released into aquatic environments showed a declining trend in 2020 and 2021 compared to those in 2019, with decrease rates of 13.7 % and 15.8 %, respectively. Characterization analysis of MP particles and source apportionment framework implied that while the contributions of tire abrasion and domestic waste to MP occurrence were depleted owing to the reduction in human activity during the pandemic, weathering and fragmentation of retained plastics contributed to the recovery of stored MPs. This study provides insights into the anthropogenic influences on MP occurrence, and supports policymakers in managing and controlling plastic contamination in large freshwater systems in the "new normal" phase., 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 B.V. All rights reserved.)

Cortisone can enter aquatic ecosystems and pose a risk to organisms therein. However, few studies have explored the effects of cortisone on the gut microbiota of aquatic organisms. Here, we exposed zebrafish (Danio rerio) to cortisone at environmentally relevant concentrations (5.0, 50.0, or 500.0 ng L -1 ) for 60 days to explore its toxicological effects and their association with gut microbiota changes. The terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP-biotin nick-end labeling assay revealed that exposure to 50 ng L -1 cortisone significantly increased the intestinal cell apoptosis rate, 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine contents, and caspase-3 and caspase-8 activities. Moreover, the transcriptome analysis results demonstrated a notable downregulation in the expression of most differentially expressed genes associated with apoptosis pathways, as well as changes in DNA replication, oxidative stress, and drug metabolism pathways; these results indicated the occurrence of cortisone-induced stress response in zebrafish. Molecular docking analysis revealed that cortisone can bind to caspase-3 through hydrogen bonds and hydrophobic interactions but that no such interactions occur between cortisone and caspase-8. Thus, cortisone may induce oxidative DNA damage and apoptosis by activating caspase-3. Finally, the 16S rRNA sequencing results demonstrated that cortisone significantly affected microbial community structures and functions in the intestinal ecosystem. These changes may indicate gut microbiota response to cortisone-induced intestinal damage and inflammation. In conclusion, the current results clarify the mechanisms underlying intestinal response to cortisone exposure and provide a basis for evaluating the health risks of cortisone in animals., 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 B.V. All rights reserved.)

Cadmium (Cd), a highly toxic heavy metal in the environment, poses a significant threat to livestock and poultry farming. Honokiol (HNK), a Chinese herbal extract with potent antioxidant activity, acts through oxidative damage and inflammation. Cd induces oxidative stress and causes liver damage in animals. However, whether HNK can alleviate Cd-induced liver injury in chickens and its mechanism remains unclear. In this study, the 48 chickens were randomly allocated into 4 groups, control group, Cd group (70 mg/kg Cd), HNK group (200 mg/kg HNK) and Cd + HNK group (70 mg/kg Cd+200 mg/kg HNK). Results showed that HNK improved the Cd induced reduction in chicken body weight, liver weight, and liver coefficient. HNK recovered the Cd induced liver damaged through increased serum liver biochemical indexes, impaired liver oxidase activity and the disordered the expression level of antioxidant genes. HNK alleviated Cd induced pathological and ultrastructure damage of liver tissue and liver cell that leads apoptosis. HNK decreased Cd contents in the liver, Cd induced disturbances in the levels of trace elements such as iron, copper, zinc, manganese, and selenium. HNK attenuated the damage to the gap junction structure of chicken liver cells caused by Cd and reduced the impairment of oxidase activity and the expression level of antioxidant genes induced by Cd. In conclusion, HNK presents essential preventive measures and a novel pharmacological potential therapy against Cd induced liver injury. Our experiments show that HNK can be used as a new green feed additive in the poultry industry, which provides a theoretical basis for HNK to deal with the pollution caused by Cd in the poultry industry., Competing Interests: DISCLOSURES 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 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Objective: The development of myopia is usually accompanied by changes in retinal vessels, optic disc, optic cup, fovea, and other retinal structures as well as the length of the ocular axis. And the accurate registration of retinal images is very important for the extraction and analysis of retinal structural changes. However, the registration of retinal images with myopia development faces a series of challenges, due to the unique curved surface of the retina, as well as the changes in fundus curvature caused by ocular axis elongation. Therefore, our goal is to improve the registration accuracy of the retinal images with myopia development., Method: In this study, we propose a 3D spatial model for the pair of retinal images with myopia development. In this model, we introduce a novel myopia development model that simulates the changes in the length of ocular axis and fundus curvature due to the development of myopia. We also consider the distortion model of the fundus camera during the imaging process. Based on the 3D spatial model, we further implement a registration framework, which utilizes corresponding points in the pair of retinal images to achieve registration in the way of 3D pose estimation., Results: The proposed method is quantitatively evaluated on the publicly available dataset without myopia development and our Fundus Image Myopia Development (FIMD) dataset. The proposed method is shown to perform more accurate and stable registration than state-of-the-art methods, especially for retinal images with myopia development., Significance: To the best of our knowledge, this is the first retinal image registration method for the study of myopia development. This method significantly improves the registration accuracy of retinal images which have myopia development. The FIMD dataset we constructed has been made publicly available to promote the study in related fields., 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 B.V. All rights reserved.)

During the process of black shale weathering, multiple heavy metal elements are concentrated in the soil, causing pollution. This study selected soil and black shale bedrock samples from high geological background areas to investigate the control of heavy metal element pollution by bedrock using spatial analysis. The research results indicate that the heavy metal content in black shale bedrock is extremely high, ranging from 2.3 to 13.1 times the background values of rock heavy metal elements. The heavy metal content in the soil formed through weathering is positively correlated with the bedrock, ranging from 1.1 to 21.3 times the background values. The coefficient of variation of rock samples ranges from 1.09 to 7.18, indicating significant variability.The analysis reveals that the control ability of pure rock over heavy metal elements is mainly moderate and high, accounting for over 70 %, with d being the most affected metal element. Except for As, the other seven elements exhibit strong spatial autocorrelation, showing distinct regional distribution characteristics. The soil elements demonstrate high homogeneity, with heavy metal elements from black shale bedrock primarily released through weathering serving as the main source of these elements., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Bozhi Ren reports financial support was provided by National Natural Science Foundation of China. Bozhi Ren reports financial support was provided by Hunan Provincial Natural Science Foundation. Luyuan Chen reports financial support was provided by Postgraduate Scientific Research Innovation Project., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Emulsified vegetable oil (EVO), as a novel green slow-releasing substrate, has performed great potential in subsurface bioremediation due to its slow release and longevity. Nevertheless, the long time it takes to initiate this process still exposed some limitations. Herein, multiple enzyme-based EVOs (EN-EVOs) were developed to enhance the quick-acting effect in nitrate-contaminated bioremediation. This study demonstrated that EN-EVOs loaded with cellulose (c-EVO) and protein enzymes (p-EVO) performed best, not only did not change the advantages of traditional EVO, but also optimized the stability and particle size to the level of 0.8-0.9 and 247.95-252.25 nm, respectively. Nitrate (NO 3 -N) degradation further confirmed the superiority of c-EVO in rapidly initiating degradation and achieving stable denitrification. Compared with traditional EVO, the maximum start-up efficiency and the rapid achieving stable denitrification efficiency were improved by 37.6% and 1.71 times, respectively. In such situation, the corresponding NO 3 -N removal efficiency, kinetics rate constant (k 1 ), and half-life period (t 1/2 ) reached as high as 85.39%, as quick as 1.079 d -1 , and as short as 0.64 d after 30-day cultivation. Meanwhile, the rapid conversion efficiency of NO 2 -N was observed (k 2  = 0.083 d -1 ). High-throughput 16S rRNA gene sequencing indicated that the quick-acting process of NO 3 -N reduction coupled to c-EVO was mediated by microbial reducers (e.g., Ralstonia, Gulbenkiania, and Sphingobacterium) with regulations of narG, nirS and norB genes. Microorganisms with these genes could achieve quick-acting not only by enhancing microbial activity and the synthesis and metabolism of volatile fatty acids, but also by reducing the production and accumulation of loosely bound-extracellular polymeric substances (LB-EPS). These findings advance our understanding on fast-acting of NO 3 -N degradation supported by c-EVO and also offer a promising direction for groundwater remediation., 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.)

The utilization of photothermal agents (PTAs) in photothermal therapy (PTT) is faced with challenges such as immune clearance and inadequate concentration, which consequently result in residual tumors and an increased risk of recurrence and metastasis. Conversely, excessive treatment can lead to heightened inflammation and inevitable harm to adjacent healthy tissues. To address these issues, we developed a nanosystem (M@PB) consisting of Prussian blue coated with tumor cell membrane for precise photothermal therapy (PTT) and subsequent reduction of inflammation. This system not only evades immune attack due to the homologous biological characteristics of the encapsulating cell membrane but also exhibits active targeting capabilities towards homologous tumors. Furthermore, it effectively reduces excessive phototoxicity by leveraging the distinctive photothermal and anti-inflammatory characteristics of PB nanoparticles. The resulting M@PB nanosystem demonstrates effective photothermal ablation under 808 nm laser irradiation while mitigating the inflammatory response through inhibiting of local production of inflammatory mediators. Our study provides valuable insights into achieving targeted PTT with high efficiency while minimizing post-treatment inflammatory responses., 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.)

Lactobacillus helveticus exhibits a remarkable proteolytic system. However, the etiology of these protein hydrolysis characteristics, whether caused by extracellular proteinases (EP) or cell envelope proteinases (CEP), has been puzzling researchers. In this study, third-generation Nanopore whole genome sequencing and proteomics analysis were used to unravel the root cause of the aforementioned confusion. The genome of L. helveticus Lh191404 was 2,117,643 bp in length, with 67 secreted proteins were found. Combined with proteomic analysis, it was found that the protein composition of extraction from CEP and EP were indeed the same substance. Bioinformatics analysis indicated that the CEP belonged to the PrtH1 Variant (PrtH1&#95;V) genotype by phylogenetic analysis. The three-dimensional structures of various domains within the PrtH1&#95;V-191404 had been characterized, providing a comprehensive understanding of its structural features. Results of proteinase activity showed that the optimal reaction temperature was 40 °C, with a pH of 6.50. These findings suggested that the origin of EP in L. helveticus Lh191404 may be due to CEP being released into the substrate after detaching from the cell wall. This research is of guiding significance for further understanding the operational mechanism of the protein hydrolysis system in lactic acid bacteria., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors confirm that they have no conflicts of interest with respect to the work described in this manuscript., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Cadmium (Cd), is a highly toxic environmental pollutant, which seriously threatens the health of poultry and humans. The occurrence of osteoporosis is the main manifestation of cadmium toxicity. Pyroptosis plays an important role in the development of osteoporosis. Melatonin has been shown to affect preserving bone health. However, the underlying mechanism has not been elucidated. In the present study, these functions of melatonin have been investigated in duck bone tissue and osteoblast during cadmium exposure. In vivo, the studies suggest that melatonin protects against cadmium-induced duck osteoporosis by improving the osteogenesis function, inhibiting bone resorption, and suppressing the occurrence of pyroptosis. In vitro, the findings demonstrated that melatonin alleviated the inhibition effect of cadmium on duck bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BMSC) osteogenic differentiation, and suppressed the cadmium-induced osteoclast differentiation. In addition, we also found that melatonin prevents cytokines release of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), interleukin-18 (IL-18), and interleukin-1β (IL-1β) by cadmium-induced, and reduces the expression of n-terminal Gasdermin D (N-GSDMD), alleviates the osteoblast death rate. In short, melatonin as a potential therapeutic agent has bright prospects in cadmium-induced bone toxicity., Competing Interests: DISCLOSURES The authors declare no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Oviductus Ranae is the dried oviduct from Rana dybowskii, a forest frog species with medicinal, tonic, and cosmetic properties. Due to the high price and resource shortage, counterfeit varieties of Oviductus Ranae often appear in the market. However, traditional identification methods cannot accurately differentiate between Oviductus Ranae and its adulterants. In this study, a rapid molecular identification method has been established. The method involves extracting genomic DNA in just 30 s using filter paper purification, species-specific rapid polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification, and finally, fluorescence detection of the products. It can accurately identify Oviductus Ranae and its three common adulterants in about 30 min, making the process simple, fast, and highly specific., 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.)

Dry eye disease (DED) is a kind of multifactorial ocular surface disease that displays ocular discomfort, visual disturbance, and tear film instability. Oxidative stress is a fundamental pathogenesis in DED. An imbalance between the reactive oxygen species (ROS) level and protective enzyme action will lead to oxidative stress, cell dysfunction, tear hyperosmolarity, and inflammation. Herein, a multifunctional cerium oxide nanozyme with high ocular surface retention property was designed to neutralize over-accumulated ROS and restore redox balance. Cerium oxide nanozymes were fabricated via branched polyethylenimine-graft-poly (ethylene glycol) nucleation and dispersion, followed by phenylboronic acid (PBA) functionalization (defined as Ce@PB). Due to the dynamic chemical bonding formation between the PBA segment and the cis-diol groups in the mucin layer of the tear film, Ce@PB nanozymes possess good adhesive capability to the ocular surface, thus extending the drug's retention time. On the other hand, Ce@PB nanozymes could mimic the cascade processes of superoxide dismutase and catalase to maintain intracellular redox balance. In vitro and in vivo studies suggest that such multifunctional nanozymes possess good biocompatibility and hemocompatibility. More importantly, Ce@PB nanozymes treatment in the animal model could repair corneal epithelial defect, increase the number of goblet cells and promote tear secretion, thus achieving an effective treatment for DED. STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE., 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 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Accurate, reliable, and sensitive methods for the determination of eight metabolites of p-chloronitrobenzene (p-CNB) were developed based on ultra-performance liquid chromatography - quadrupole - orbitrap high resolution mass spectrometry (UPLC-Q-Orbitrap HRMS). The free and conjugated forms of metabolites were determined before and after urine samples were hydrolyzed with acid. Subsequently, three solid phase extraction steps were used for concentration and purification. The calibration curves of the eight metabolites exhibited good linearity with an R 2 of >0.999, and the precision was good as well, with the coefficient of variations of intra-day and inter-day being lower than 7.0 % and 8.5 %, respectively. Analytical accuracy for all metabolites varied within ranges of 76.0-102.9 %, and the limit of detection and limit of quantification of all the metabolites varied within ranges of 0.2-7.7 μg/L and 0.6-25.6 μg/L in human urine, respectively. In addition, the application potential of the proposed methods were evaluated by applying them to the determination of metabolites in the urine of workers exposed to p-CNB, and these results showed that these methods were accurate, reliable, and sensitive, which makes them an excellent choice for detecting the metabolites of p-CNB in the urine of exposed workers., 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 B.V. All rights reserved.)

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) poses a significant risk to children under two years old, necessitating rapid and accurate diagnostic methods. This study introduces an innovative approach using peptides and electrochemical potential scanning for RSV detection. By replacing enzymatic catalysis with electrochemical scanning, the method simplifies the process and reduces costs. Unbound peptides undergo potential-induced disulfide bridge opening, while target-bound peptides remain protected. After removing the target protein, copper ions and a reduced short peptide promote disulfide bridge formation, leading to crosslinking and passivation of the electrode surface. The degree of polymerization and passivation correlates with the target protein levels, generating a signal. This novel method offers enhanced sensitivity, specificity, and scalability, potentially revolutionizing RSV diagnostics in children under two years old. By addressing the limitations of traditional assays, it provides a cost-effective, rapid, and efficient approach for early RSV detection and improved clinical outcomes in this vulnerable population., 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 B.V. All rights reserved.)

Objective: Laparoscopic hepatectomy (LH) has become a common surgery for the treatment of liver tumor. To evaluate the surgical quality of laparoscopic hepatectomy under the context of precision surgery with Textbook outcome (TO), a comprehensive and holistic assessment approach., Methods: A total of 1056 patients who underwent laparoscopic hepatectomy from May 2016 and December 2022 were enrolled in the study. All the patients were performed hepatectomy. The rate of TO and factors associated with achieving TO were examined., Results: Among the 1056 patients, 75 % patients achieved TO. The main reason limited patients achieving textbook outcomes was prolonged length of hospital stay (LOS). The univariate analysis indicated that age>65, ASA classification ≥3, liver cirrhosis, tumor size > 3 cm, tumor number ≥2, type of primary cancer, and IWATE DSS were significantly associated with non-achievement of TO. The multivariate analysis indicated that the ASA classification ≥3 and advanced difficulty level in IWATE DSS independent factors associated with achieving TO. Reaching TO can significantly prolong the postoperative recurrence time and overall survival time of hepatocellular carcinoma patients., Conclusion: In the context of precision surgery, 75 % patients undergoing laparoscopic hepatectomy achieved a TO. Patients who achieved TO had significantly improved survival., Competing Interests: Conflict of interest The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

This study aimed to improve the eating quality of yellow-feathered broiler chicks by feeding them corn-soybean meal diets supplemented with 250, 500, and 1,000 mg/kg quercetin. we examined the impact of varying doses of dietary quercetin on the sensory quality of chicken breast meat as well as on the antioxidant enzymes, antioxidant-related signaling molecules, structure and thermal stability of myofibrillar protein (MPs), and microstructure of myogenic fibers in the meat during 24 h of postslaughter aging. Additionally, we investigated the potential correlations among antioxidant capacity, MP structure, and meat quality parameters. The results indicated that dietary supplementations with 500 and 1,000 mg/kg quercetin improved the physicochemical properties and eating quality of yellow-feathered broiler chicken breast meat during 12 to 24 h postslaughter. Additionally, quercetin improved the postslaughter oxidative stress status and reduced protein and lipid oxidation levels. It also increased hydrogen bonding interactions and α-helix content during 6 to 12 h postslaughter and decreased β-sheet content during 12 to 24 h postslaughter in chicken breast MP. This resulted in improved postslaughter MP structure and thermal stability. The correlation results indicated that the enhancement of antioxidant capacity and MP structure enhanced the physicochemical and edible qualities of yellow-feathered broiler chicken breast meat. In conclusion, the current findings suggest that dietary supplementation with quercetin is an ideal approach for improving the eating quality of chicken meat, thereby broadening our understanding of theoretical and technological applications for improving the quality of chicken., Competing Interests: DISCLOSURES The authors declare no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)