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Engineered extracellular vesicles (EVs) are considered excellent delivery vehicles for a variety of therapeutic agents, including nucleic acids, proteins, drugs, and nanomaterials. Recently, several studies have indicated that clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/CRISPR‐associated 9 (Cas9) delivered by EVs enable efficient DNA editing. However, an RNA editing tool delivered by EVs is still unavailable. Here, a signal peptide‐optimized and EVs‐delivered guide RNA (gRNA) and CRISPR/CasRx (Cas13d) system capable of rapidly inhibiting the expression of targeted genes with quick catabolism after performing their functions is developed. EVs with CRISPR/CasRx and tandem gRNAs targeting pivotal cytokines are further packed whose levels increase substantially over the course of acute inflammatory diseases and find that these engineered EVs inhibit macrophage activation in vitro. More importantly, this system attenuates lipopolysaccharide (LPS)‐triggered acute lung injury and sepsis in the acute phase, mitigating organ damage and improving the prognosis in vivo. In summary, a potent tool is provided for short‐acting RNA editing, which could be a powerful therapeutic platform for the treatment of acute diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the growing industry and industrialization of many urban communities, one of the dangers that threaten human life is long‐term exposure to heavy metals such as lead. Lead contamination can have a detrimental effect on fertility. On the other hand, the combination of ginger and zinc supplements can be a powerful sexual enhancer. Despite extensive studies on the effect of ginger and zinc on reproduction, the effects of the combination of ginger and zinc supplement on lead‐induced reproductive dysfunction are not fully understood. Sixty‐four adult male rats were allocated into control, lead acetate (10 mg/kg), ginger (250 mg/kg), ginger–lead group, zinc (120 mg/kg) group, zinc–lead group, ginger–zinc group and ginger–zinc–lead group. The drugs were administrated by gavage for 4 weeks. The concentration of LH, FSH, testosterone, TNF‐α, IL‐1β, antioxidant enzyme activity, MDA, spermatogenesis, and sperm parameters were measured. The expression of NF‐kB, Nrf2, Bcl2, BAX, and Cas‐3 was evaluated. The histopathological assessment was also detected. Lead significantly could induce inflammation, apoptosis, and oxidative damage in testis tissue, and decrease hormonal levels, spermatogenesis, and sperm parameters compared to the control group (p < 0.05). While in reverse manner ginger, zinc, and their combination significantly improved all of them compared to the lead group (p < 0.05). These results were also supported by histological findings. It can be concluded that ginger, zinc, and their combination could prevent lead‐induced reproductive dysfunction by inhibiting apoptosis mediated by oxidative damage and inflammation and improve reproductive performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A qualitative understanding of the long‐term variation in the population dynamics of Yellow Sea (YS) herring is particularly important for clarifying the evolutionary processes and driving mechanisms of the YS large marine ecosystem. Unfortunately, because of a lack of long‐term, continuous, and simultaneous monitoring data, the specific driving processes and mechanisms of climate effects on the population dynamics of YS herring remain largely unknown. In response to this scientific issue, we preliminarily propose the idea of reconstructing long‐term changes in YS herring abundance over the past 590 years (AD 1417–2004) based on historical documents and attempt to explore the impacts of climate on the population. Our results show that YS herring abundance maintained at a relatively high level from AD 1417 to 1870 (during the Little Ice Age); in contrast, the population declined significantly from AD 1870 to 2004 at different rates. In addition, we also found that there were strong relationships between the population abundance of YS herring and the Pacific decadal oscillation (PDO) and drought/flood cycles. We suggest that the fluctuations in YS herring abundance may be influenced by ocean–climatic circulation shifts throughout the North Pacific, especially the PDO. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Giant cell glioblastoma (gcGBM) is a rare histological variant of GBM, accounting for about 1% of all GBM. The prognosis is poor generally though gcGBM does slightly better than the other IDH‐wild‐type GBM. Because of the rarity of the cases, there has been no comprehensive molecular analysis of gcGBM. Previously, single‐gene study identified genetic changes in TP53, PTEN and TERT promoter mutation in gcGBM. In this report, we performed whole‐exome sequencing (WES) to identify somatically acquired mutations and copy number variations (CNVs) in 10 gcGBM genomes. We also examined TERT promoter mutation and MGMT methylation in our cohort. On top of the reported mutations, WES revealed ATRX, PIK3R1, RB1 and SETD2 as the recurrent mutations in gcGBM. Notably, one tumor harbored a mutation in MutS homolog 6 (MSH6) that is a key mismatch repair (MMR) gene. This tumor demonstrated hypermutation phenotype and showed an increased number of somatic mutations. TERT promoter mutation and MGMT methylation were observed in 20% and 40% of our samples, respectively. In conclusion, we described relevant mutation profiling for developing future targeted therapies in gcGBM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: China has dominated global aquaculture production for more than two decades. Aquaculture production in China increased from 24.6 million metric tons (mmt) in 2000 to 47.5 mmt in 2014, an increment of 93.1%. Along with the fast‐growing aquaculture industry, aquafeed production in China increased from 5.1 mmt in 2000 to 19.0 mmt in 2014, an increment of 272.5%. However, despite the rapid increase in aquafeed production, the fishmeal usage in aquafeeds in China has remained stable over the years. Fishmeal imports into China remained relatively steady at 1.0–1.5 mmt per annum from 2000 to 2014. An often unacknowledged fact is that China contributes more than 60% to the world aquaculture production at a cost of only 25–30% of the world fishmeal output. This review attempts to explain why the fishmeal usage has not increased proportionately with the increasing aquafeed production in China from several angles: (i) the current status of fishmeal usage in Chinese aquaculture; (ii) the relationship between the decreasing dietary inclusions of fishmeal and improved feed techniques, especially the use of alternative protein sources for fishmeal; (iii) the dominance of Chinese aquaculture by low trophic level species of plants, filter feeders, herbivores and omnivores and consequent low demands for fishmeal; and (iv) the increasing price of fishmeal and the management of exploitation of wild fisheries in the main fishmeal exporting countries to China. The trends and prospects of fishmeal usage in the future in Chinese aquaculture and the associated consequences are also addressed. Like other countries, China is now actively developing both resource conservation‐based capture fisheries and environment‐friendly freshwater and marine aquaculture systems. Aquaculture will be the main source of aquatic food in the future and will also indirectly contribute to save the world wild fisheries, and China will be main player that will continue to contribute towards this end. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]