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Palladium nanoparticles (Pd NPs) supported on a cerium-based metal–organic framework Ce-MOF-801 (Pd/Ce-MOF-801) was prepared using an incipient wetness impregnation strategy. Multiple analytical techniques were used to investigate the physicochemical properties of Pd/Ce-MOF-801. Afterwards, its catalytic efficiency in the Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling reaction between different haloarenes and phenylboronic acid was assessed. The developed Pd/Ce-MOF-801 displayed a high catalytic performance at 318 K and in the presence of K2CO3 as well as aqueous ethanol (as a solvent), much superior to Pd/Ce-BTC as well as the analogs reported in the literature by comprehensively comparing the catalytic activity and the relationship between reaction temperature and catalyst dosage. Moreover, the catalyst exhibited negligible Pd species leaching and was capable of being recycled in eight successive runs without any decay in reactivity. Such protocol has the advantages of ambient reaction conditions and tolerance to various substrates with various functional groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green synthesis offers an environmentally friendly and cost-effective alternative for the synthesis of copper oxide nanoparticles (CuO NPs). In this study, the synthesis of CuO NPs was optimized by using copper sulfate (CuSO4) and the aqueous extract of Alpinia officinarum and its antifungal activity were investigated. The synthesized CuO NPs were characterized by UV–visible spectroscopy (UV–vis), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier-transform infrared radiation spectroscopy (FT-IR), scanning electron microscope (SEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), dynamic light scattering (DLS), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The results showed that the optimized conditions for the synthesis of CuO NPs were 1:2 ratio of extract and CuSO4 solution, pH 7, and 30 °C. The characteristic UV–vis peak of A. officinarum synthesized CuO NPs was at 264 nm. The synthesized CuO NPs had high crystallinity and purity and were spherical in morphology with the mean size of 46.40 nm. The synthesized CuO NPs reduced the fungal growth of Colletotrichum gloeosporioides in a dose-dependent manner. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum fungicidal concentration (MFC) of the CuO NPs were 125 μg·mL−1 and 500 μg·mL−1, respectively. The antifungal activity of CuO NPs may be attributed to its ability to deform the structure of fungal hyphae, induce excessive reactive oxygen species accumulation and lipid peroxidation in fungi, disrupt the mycelium cell membrane, and result cellular leakage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Cryptorchidism is one of the most common congenital anomalies in newborn boys. There are various risk factors that have been verified to have relationship with cryptorchidism, including exogenous and genetic, but the pathogenesis of cryptorchidism remains unclear. PFKM gene is a critical gene encodes for a regulatory enzyme, which limits the rate in the pathway of glycolysis. We assumed that cryptorchidism risk may associated with PFKM gene single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Thus we selected three tag SNPs in the PFKM gene and aimed to investigate the possible association between PFKM gene polymorphisms and cryptorchidism risk.Methods: The SNPs were genotyped using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) analysis. 140 cases and 227 controls were enrolled in this study, including 105 unilateral cryptorchidism and 35 bilateral cases. The testis position was decided by the higher one in bilateral cases.Results: The frequency of allele G of SNP rs2228500 is increased in cryptorchidism patients compared to that in controls (p < 0.05). Genotypic frequencies of rs2228500 are associated with the susceptibility of cryptorchidism in the codominant model (p < 0.05). And compared with G/G genotype in the dominant model, notable decreased frequencies of A carriers (A/G-A/A genotypes) were observed in cryptorchidism patients (p = 0.0069, OR = 1.80, 95% CI  1.17-2.75).Conclusions: This research first revealed that PFKM gene polymorphisms were associated with cryptorchidism in a Chinese Han population. We have offered primary evidence that the G allele and the G/G genotype of rs2228500 SNP in the PFKM gene are more frequent in patients with cryptorchidism than healthy controls. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Designing and synthesizing high-efficiency non-precious metal-based catalysts having uniform active sites increases the reactivity and selectivity of materials and provides a platform for an in-depth understanding of their catalytic reaction mechanism. In this study, we provided an approach for fabricating isolated nickel single-atom sites (Ni SAs) with high loading (4.9 wt.%) stabilized on nitrogen-doped hollow carbon spheres (NHCS) using a core-shell structured Zn/Ni bimetallic zeolitic imidazolate framework (ZIF) composite as the sacrificial template. The as-fabricated Ni SAs/NHCS catalyst shows superior activity, selectivity, and recycling durability for the catalytic transfer hydrogenation of nitrobenzene to aniline, thus achieving 100% yield of aniline with a turn-over frequency (TOF) value as high as 29.9 h−1 under mild conditions. This TOF value is considerably superior to the supported Ni nanoparticle catalysts. The experiments designed show that the hollow structure feature of NHCS facilitates accessible active sites and mass transfer, which thus contributes to the enhancement of the catalytic performance of Ni SAs/NHCS. Density functional theory calculations show the high chemo-selectivity and activity of the Ni SAs catalyst, arising from the unique role of the single Ni-N3 site on simultaneously activating the H donor (N2H4) and substrate, as well as the hydrogenation of the–NOH group as the rate-determining step. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: A 'dual active templating' strategy is firstly reported, using cationic and anionic bactericidal agents as co-templates for the preparation of antibacterial silica nanocomposite with spiky nanotopography. The spiky nanocomposite exhibited enhanced antibacterial and biofilm inhibition performance, compared to pure antimicrobial cationic agent templated smooth silica nanocomposite. Silica-based materials are usually used as delivery systems for antibacterial applications. In rare cases, bactericidal cationic surfactant templated silica composites have been reported as antimicrobial agents. However, their antibacterial efficacy is limited due to limited control in content and structure. Herein, we report a "dual active templating" strategy in the design of nanostructured silica composites with intrinsic antibacterial performance. This strategy uses cationic and anionic structural directing agents as dual templates, both with active antibacterial property. The cationic-anionic dual active templating strategy further contributes to antibacterial nanocomposites with a spiky surface. With controllable release of dual active antibacterial agents, the spiky nanocomposite displays enhanced anti-microbial and anti-biofilm properties toward Staphylococcus epidermidis. These findings pave a new avenue toward the designed synthesis of novel antibacterial nanocomposites with improved performance for diverse antibacterial applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The early growth process of wheat is vulnerable to various factors, and poor growth leads to vacancies in the planting row. Therefore, the wheat images captured by unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) are essential for monitoring the growth of wheat and preventing diseases and insect pests. This paper uses wheat images captured by UAV as a dataset, and propose a novel residual-capsule network with threshold convolution (RCTC) for segmentation of wheat plantation rows. The network is achieved by replacing the AveragePooling of the improved ResNet34 with Capsule. Since the capsule network represents the features by vectors, it can explain the direction of features and the relative positions between features. Therefore, deeper feature information can be extracted. In addition, to reduce redundant features and enhance effective features, a new threshold convolution is also proposed. Experiments on the wheat field dataset show that our proposed algorithm can effectively segment the wheat plantation rows images collected by UAV, and is superior to some existing well-known algorithms, and can provide scientific support and reference for the decision-making process of smart agriculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interleukin-31 is a crucial cytokine triggering inflammation which could be one of the risk factors of tumors. However, data for correlation between IL-31 and tumors are limited. The purpose of our study was to discuss whether genetic polymorphisms of IL-31 were associated with the susceptibility and clinical outcomes of bladder cancer. Our study enrolled 478 controls, 156 non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) and 138 muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) patients. Polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) method was used for genotyping two single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of IL-31 gene including rs7977932 and rs4758680. Our results showed that A allele and CA/AA genotypes of rs4758680 were associated with susceptibility to bladder cancer (P = 0.04, OR 1.32, 95% CI 1.01-1.72, and P = 0.02, OR 1.43, 95% CI 1.05-1.96, respectively), and G allele of rs7977932 might be a protect factor for tobacco smoking patients compared with non-smoking patients (P = 0.005, OR 0.42, 95% CI 0.23-0.76). Furthermore, CA/AA genotypes of rs4758680 might be the independent risk factors for the decreased recurrence-free survival of the patients with MIBC (P = 0.03, OR 2.02, 95% CI 1.06-3.85. Our data indicated that polymorphisms of IL-31 are associated with bladder cancer, and rs4758680 could be an independent prediction for MIBC patients with a high risk of recurrence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nogo proteins play an important role in the apoptosis of cells, especially in tumor cells. The present study was conducted to evaluate whether the TATC (rs71682980) and CAA (rs34917480) insertion/deletion polymorphisms of RTN4 3′-UTR are associated with clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC). These two polymorphisms were genotyped in 308 ccRCC patients and 466 healthy controls by polymerase chain reaction polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PCR-PAGE). Significantly reduced ccRCC risk was observed to be associated with the TATC genotype carriers (Versus TATC: adjusted OR 0.53, 95% CI 0.32-0.87, P = 0.022; Versus TATC: adjusted OR 0.57, 95% CI 0.36-0.92, P = 0.017). After performing stratification analysis, the frequency of TATC genotype was observed to be significantly higher in patients with N0 compared the patients with N1 ( P = 0.003). The present study provide evidence for the first time that the TATC insertion/deletion polymorphism in RTN4 3′-UTR may contributes to ccRCC risk in Chinese Han population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

B Correction to: Environmental Science and Pollution Research b https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-24225-9 The last 8 references of the article are in Chinese and should be changed to English. The original article can be found online at https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-24225-9. [Extracted from the article]

Interleukin-32 (IL-32), a pro-inflammatory chemokine, has been reported to be involved in inflammatory, infectious diseases and even cancers. This study aimed to investigate whether two genetic variants (rs28372698 and rs12934561) of IL-32 were associated with susceptibility to endometrial cancer (EC) in Chinese Han women by a hospital-based study with 272 EC patients and 337 healthy controls. Our results showed that the frequencies of TT genotype ( P = 0.012, OR = 2.37, 95 % CI = 1.32-4.28) and T allele ( P = 0.026, OR = 1.320, 95 % CI = 1.036-1.681) of rs28372698 in EC patients were significantly higher than controls. Clinical analyses indicated the TT genotype frequency was relevant to high clinical stage and cervical invasion. Furthermore, the frequencies of CC genotype ( P = 0.0077, OR = 1.62, 95 % CI = 1.05-2.50) and C allele ( P = 0.043, OR = 1.269, 95 % CI = 1.011-1.592) of rs12934561 were also significantly higher in EC patients than controls. Stratification analyses revealed that CC genotype was more frequent in endometrioid adenocarcinoma or EC without parametrial invasion. This study demonstrates that IL-32 gene polymorphisms are significantly associated with increased EC susceptibility in Chinese Han women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The programmed cell death 6 (PDCD6), discovered as a proapoptotic calcium-binding protein, has recently been found dysregulated in tumors of various origin and contributed to cancer cell viability. The aim of this study was to determine whether SNPs in PDCD6 are associated with cervical squamous cell carcinoma (CSCC). Polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism method was used to genotype two tag SNPs (rs3756712 and rs4957014) of PDCD6 in 328 CSCC patients and 541 controls. Significantly increased CSCC risks were found to be associated with T allele of rs3756712 and G allele of rs4957014 ( P = 0.017, OR = 1.320, and P = 0.007, OR = 1.321, respectively). CSCC risks were associated with these two SNPs in different genetic model ( P = 0.04, OR = 1.78 for rs3756712 in a recessive model, and P = 0.006, OR = 2.01 for rs4957014 in a codominant model, respectively). Results of stratified analyses revealed that rs4957014 is associated with parametrial invasion of CSCC ( P = 0.044, OR = 1.414). Our results suggest that these two tag SNPs of PDCD6 are associated with CSCC, indicating that PDCD6 may play an important role in the pathogenesis of CSCC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We aimed to investigate the association between rs3783553 polymorphism and susceptibility to epithelial ovarian cancer in a Chinese population and discussed the risk factors associated with survival time. In a case-control study, 301 patients diagnosed with epithelial ovarian cancer and 240 healthy controls were genotyped for rs3783553 polymorphism. Survival time of ovarian cancer patients was explored by Kaplan-Meier analysis and Cox proportional hazards modeling. The distributions of genotype and allele frequencies were significantly different between cases and controls. The variant homozygote (ins/ins) was associated with a significantly reduced risk of ovarian cancer. The patients with del/ins polymorphism seemed to be diagnosed 'earlier' (FIGO stage I-II) and be more likely to achieve optimal cytoreductive surgery. Advanced FIGO stage (stages III-IV) and non-optimal cytoreductive surgery (residual tumor <1 cm) were poor prognostic factors in the univariate analysis. However, optimal cytoreductive surgery was found to be the only independent significant prognostic factor. This study suggests that rs3783553 polymorphism may be involved in the susceptibility to epithelial ovarian cancer. It may also be related with the tumor stage and the ability to achieve optimal tumor surgery, while the latter predicts the clinical outcomes for patients as the only independent prognostic factor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Programmed cell death 6 (PDCD6) has recently been found dysregulated in tumors of various origin. The aim of this study is to explore the association between PDCD6 genetic polymorphisms and susceptibility to bladder cancer and survival of patients with bladder cancer. Two tag SNPs of PDCD6, rs3756712 and rs4957014, were genotyped in 332 patients with bladder cancer and 509 controls by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) method and correlated with patients' survival. The frequencies of G allele and GG genotype of rs3756712 in patients were significantly lower than that of controls ( P = 0.001, odds ratio [OR] = 0.68 for G allele; P = 0.024, OR = 0.53 for GG genotype in the recessive genetic model, respectively). The GT genotype of rs4957014 was associated with decreased susceptibility to bladder cancer in the overdominant genetic model ( P = 0.023, OR = 0.72). Kaplan-Meier curves revealed a significant higher risk for death in superficial bladder cancer patients harboring GG homozygous of rs3756712 ( P < 0.001), and an increased risk for recurrence in invasive bladder cancer patients carrying GT heterozygous of rs4957014 ( P = 0.04). Multiple Cox regression analysis identified rs3756712 GG genotype as an independent prognostic factor for death in superficial bladder cancer patients (hazard ratio [HR] = 5.11, P = 0.01), and rs4957014 GT genotype as an independent prognostic factor for recurrence in invasive bladder cancer patients (HR = 1.93, P = 0.03). PDCD6 may represent a biomarker candidate gene that could help to identify a group of patients at high risk for recurrence and death. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nicotinamide phosphoribosyltransferase (Nampt) was served as a useful biomarker for tumorigenesis and for the prediction of cancer survival. In the present study, we analyzed the SNPs of the NAMPT gene and their impact on the susceptibility and prognosis for patients with bladder cancer (BC). The rs61330082, rs2505568 and rs9034 were selected and genotyped by polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) method in 407 patients with bladder cancer and 316 ethnicity-matched healthy control subjects. The genotyping method was confirmed by the DNA sequencing analysis. Statistically significant increased bladder cancer risk was found to be associated with the C allele and CC genotype of rs61330082; nevertheless, decreased bladder cancer risk was revealed to be associated with A allele and AT genotype of rs2505568. Stratified analyses revealed the rs61330082 to be statistically associated with increased bladder cancer risk in smokers and increased invasiveness of bladder cancer. The AT heterozygote of rs2505568 may prevent the recurrence of bladder cancer. Kaplan-Meier curves revealed a statistically significant association of rs2505568 with recurrence-free survival for total bladder cancer patients and non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer patients, and a statistically significant association of rs9034 with recurrence-free survival for muscle-invasive bladder cancer patients. Multiple Cox regression analysis identified the rs2505568 as a possible independent prognostic factor for recurrence-free survival in total bladder cancer patients. Our results suggested an important role for NAMPT in the pathogenesis of bladder cancer and SNPs of NAMPT gene might be a novel genetic biomarker for the prognosis of bladder cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the association between IL-27 gene polymorphisms and susceptibility to epithelial ovarian cancer in a Chinese population and discusses the risk factors associated with survival time. We collected data on 229 patients diagnosed with epithelial ovarian cancer, from 15 to 77 years of age with a long clinical follow-up period. Polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism was performed to determine the genotype of IL-27 gene polymorphisms. Ovarian cancer-specific survival (OCSS) according to genotype of IL-27 gene polymorphisms was explored by Kaplan-Meier analysis and Cox proportional hazards modeling. Significant differences for genotype frequencies of both SNP sites were found between cases and controls. Both allele G frequencies were significantly greater among the cases (rs153109: 0.404 vs. 0.303, P = 0.001, odds ratio [OR] = 1.333, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.133-1.567; rs17855750: 0.146 vs. 0.083, P = 0.001, OR = 1.766, 95% CI = 1.258-2.481). Haplotype analysis showed haplotypes AG, GT and GG were associated with increased ovarian cancer susceptibility while AT was a protective haplotype. Advanced FIGO stage (stages III + IV) and non-optimal cytoreductive surgery (residual tumor ≥1 cm) were poor prognostic factors in the univariate analysis ( P = 0.003, P = 0.049). However, FIGO stage was found to be the only independent significant prognostic factor by Cox proportional hazards analysis ( P = 0.042). IL-27p28 mRNA expression was significantly decreased in ovarian cancer patients ( P < 0.0001), while no significant relationship was found between IL-27p28 mRNA expression and polymorphism of rs153109 and rs17855750 ( P = 0.193 and P = 0.146, respectively). Our study suggests that IL-27 gene polymorphisms may be involved in the susceptibility to epithelial ovarian cancer, but not in survival in a clinic-based Chinese population. Haplotype analysis of these two SNPs seems to be an important mark to predict the disease susceptibility. Advanced FIGO stage, as the only significant, independent risk factor, predicts poor clinical outcomes for patients diagnosed with epithelial ovarian cancer. The decreased expression of IL-27p28 mRNA in ovarian cancer might indicate the antitumor activities of this novel cytokine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The signal transduction pathways mediating the progress of heart failure have been intensively studied. Altered signaling of the signal transducers and activators of transcription (STATs), which play important roles in regulating cell proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis, has been observed in the heart. We conducted a pilot study to test whether single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in STATs were associated with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). Genotypes of two SNPs of STATs (rs6503691 C/T in exon 1 of STAT5B and rs4796793 C/G in the 5′ region of STAT3) in 251 DCM patients and 484 control subjects were determined with the use of PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism assay and TaqMan assay, respectively. Significantly increased DCM risk was found to be associated with T allele of rs6503691 ( P = 0.012, OR = 1.37, 95% CI = 1.07-1.74). We found that increased DCM risk statistically significantly associated with rs6503691 in a dominant model ( P = 0.009, OR = 1.50, 95% CI = 1.11-2.04). No association between DCM risk and rs4796793 was observed ( P = 0.706, OR = 1.05, 95% CI = 0.83-1.32). The present pilot study provides evidence that both rs6503691 T allele and CT/TT genotypes, but not rs4796793 C/G in the 5′ region of STAT3, are associated with a significantly increased risk of DCM, indicating that common genetic polymorphism in STATs is associated with DCM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A first principle method, based on the density functional theory, was used to investigate the average voltage of lithiation/delithiation for Li-ion battery materials across 7 categories and 18 series, including Li MO, LiMnO, Li MPO, Li MSiO and graphite. The average voltage of lithiation/delithiation in the relevant electrode materials was obtained by comparing the total-energy difference, before and after an electrochemical reaction. The calculated values were in good agreement with experimental data. The systematic difference between the simulated and experimental values could be explained in terms of the binding energy on the surface of the lithium electrode. This type of calculation method could be applied as an easy and effective tool for predicting the potential performance of new lithiation/delithiation materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]