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The severity of osteoarthritis (OA) and cartilage degeneration is highly associated with synovial inflammation. Although recent investigations have revealed a dysregulated crosstalk between fibroblast‐like synoviocytes (FLSs) and macrophages in the pathogenesis of synovitis, limited knowledge is available regarding the involvement of exosomes. Here, increased exosome secretion is observed in FLSs from OA patients. Notably, internalization of inflammatory FLS‐derived exosomes (inf‐exo) can enhance the M1 polarization of macrophages, which further induces an OA‐like phenotype in co‐cultured chondrocytes. Intra‐articular injection of inf‐exo induces synovitis and exacerbates OA progression in murine models. In addition, it is demonstrated that inf‐exo stimulation triggers the activation of glycolysis. Inhibition of glycolysis using 2‐DG successfully attenuates excessive M1 polarization triggered by inf‐exo. Mechanistically, HIF1A is identified as the determinant transcription factor, inhibition of which, both pharmacologically or genetically, relieves macrophage inflammation triggered by inf‐exo‐induced hyperglycolysis. Furthermore, in vivo administration of an HIF1A inhibitor alleviates experimental OA. The results provide novel insights into the involvement of FLS‐derived exosomes in OA pathogenesis, suggesting that inf‐exo‐induced macrophage dysfunction represents an attractive target for OA therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Resistive switching (RS) devices have evolved as one of the most promising candidates in the memory filed due to their excellent endurance and retention, fast switching speed, and extra‐high storage density capability. However, the coexistence of toxic lead cations and low RS performance have largely limited the application of halide perovskite in nonvolatile memory filed. Herein, the lead‐free all‐inorganic perovskite CsSnBr3 films are synthesized on flexible polyimide (PI) substrates through a one‐step chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method to construct environmentally friendly RS devices. The RS devices with Pt/CsSnBr3/Pt/PI structure exhibit reliable and reproducible bipolar RS characteristics with an ultralow set/reset voltage (≈0.2/−0.15 V) and a high on/off ratio (≈105). Additionally, the RS devices are further tested by robust current–voltage curves under consecutive flexing cycles, exhibiting high mechanical bendability and electrical reliability. This work demonstrates that lead‐free all‐inorganic perovskite CsSnBr3 film is a good candidate as switching media for applications in the next‐generation environmentally friendly RS devices and opens an avenue for future flexible electronics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Litchi downy blight caused by Peronophythora litchii is the most serious disease in litchi production, storage and transportation. Existing disease identification technology has difficulty identifying litchi downy blight sufficiently early, resulting in economic losses. Thus, the use of diffuse reflectance spectroscopy to identify litchi downy blight at different stages of disease, particularly to achieve the early identification of downy blight, is very important. The diffuse reflectance spectral data of litchi fruits inoculated with P. litchii were collected in the wavelength range of 350–1350 nm. According to the duration of inoculation and expert evaluation, they were divided into four categories: healthy, latent, mild and severe. First, the SG smoothing method and derivation method were used to denoise the spectral curves. Then, the wavelength screening methods competitive adaptive reweighted sampling (CARS) and successive projections algorithm (SPA) were compared to verify that the SPA method was more effective. Eleven characteristic wavelengths were selected, accounting for only 1.1% of the original data. Finally, the characteristic wavelengths were tested by six different classification models, and their accuracy was calculated. Among them, the ANN model performed best, with an accuracy of 90.7%. The results showed that diffuse reflectance spectroscopic technology has potential for identifying litchi downy blight at different stages, providing technical support for the subsequent development of related automatic detection devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The real-time detection of banana bunches and stalks in banana orchards is a key technology in the application of agricultural robots. The complex conditions of the orchard make accurate detection a difficult task, and the light weight of the deep learning network is an application trend. This study proposes and compares two improved YOLOv4 neural network detection models in a banana orchard. One is the YOLO-Banana detection model, which analyzes banana characteristics and network structure to prune the less important network layers; the other is the YOLO-Banana-l4 detection model, which, by adding a YOLO head layer to the pruned network structure, explores the impact of a four-scale prediction structure on the pruning network. The results show that YOLO-Banana and YOLO-Banana-l4 could reduce the network weight and shorten the detection time compared with YOLOv4. Furthermore, YOLO-Banana detection model has the best performance, with good detection accuracy for banana bunches and stalks in the natural environment. The average precision (AP) values of the YOLO-Banana detection model on banana bunches and stalks are 98.4% and 85.98%, and the mean average precision (mAP) of the detection model is 92.19%. The model weight is reduced from 244 to 137 MB, and the detection time is shortened from 44.96 to 35.33 ms. In short, the network is lightweight and has good real-time performance and application prospects in intelligent management and automatic harvesting in the banana orchard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The zinc treatment in spinal cord injury shows therapeutic effect on injured lesion. • The molecular mechanism of zinc in spinal cord injury focuses on autophagy and apoptosis of neurons. • The proper zinc treatment can promote function recovery after spinal cord injury Autophagy is a intracellular biological process that controls the homeostasis of nutrition deprivation and starvation and has been associated with the development of traumatic diseases. Zinc, an important chemical element involved in life activities, has improved nerve recovery effects through intraperitoneal injection. The purpose of this study was to probe the possible modulation of autophagy and apoptosis from the injured spinal cord and neurons by zinc administration. It was shown that zinc significantly induced the level of Beclin1 and LC3B by activating adenosine 5′-monophosphate (AMP)-activated protein kinase (AMPK) signaling pathway. In addition, zinc suppressed apoptosis in the injured spinal cord. Taken together, these findings suggested that zinc through promoting neurons autophagy and inhibiting apoptosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Silencing of MICAL1 could reduce the levels of Nrf2. • Silencing of MICAL1 could increase the expression of Bax and C-caspase 3, decrease the levels of Bcl-2 and Beclin1 and LC3B. • Therefore, MICAL1 is a potential target gene for SCI clinical therapy. Molecule's mechanism of action interacting with CasL 1 (MICAL1) in spinal cord injury (SCI) is unclear. This study aimed to detect the function of MICAL1 in SCI. Western blot was used to analyze the change of MICAL1 in vivo. Immunofluorescence staining was used to detect the location of MICAL1 expression. Oligodendrocyte cells were treated with H 2 O 2 to induce oxidative injury. Subsequently, siRNA transfection was performed to decrease MICAL1 expression in oligodendrocyte cells. Then, the effects of MICAL1 on oxidative stress, apoptosis, and autophagy were assessed. We found that silencing of MICAL1 could significantly reduce the levels of the nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2), increase the expression of pro-apoptotic factors (Bax and C-caspase 3), decrease the levels of anti-apoptotic factor (Bcl-2) and pro-autophagy factors (Beclin1 and LC3B). Therefore, MICAL1 is a potential target gene for SCI clinical therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To study the specific therapeutic effect of zinc on spinal cord injury (SCI) and its specific protective mechanism. The effects of zinc ions on neuronal cells were examined in a mouse SCI model and in vitro. In vivo, neurological function was assessed by Basso Mouse Scaleat (BMS) at 1, 3, 5, 7, 10, 14, 21, and 28 days after spinal cord injury. The number of neurons and histomorphology were observed by nissl staining and hematoxylin-eosin staining (HE). The chromatin and mitochondrial structure of neurons were detected by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The expression of nuclear factor erythroid 2 related factor 2 (Nrf2)-related antioxidant protein and NLRP3 inflammation-related protein were detected in vivo and in vitro by western blot (WB) and immunofluorescence (IF), respectively. Zinc treatment promoted motor function recovery on days 3, 5, 7, 14, 21 and 28 after SCI. In addition, zinc reduces the mitochondrial void rate in spinal neuronal cells and promotes neuronal recovery. At the same time, zinc reduced the levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and malondialdehyde in spinal cord tissue after SCI, while increasing superoxide dismutase activity and glutathione peroxidase production. Zinc treatment resulted in up-regulation of Nrf2/Ho-1 levels and down-regulation of nlrp3 inflammation-associated protein expression in vitro and in vivo. Zinc has a protective effect on spinal cord injury by inhibiting oxidative damage and nlrp3 inflammation. Potential mechanisms may include activation of the Nrf 2/Ho-1 pathway to inhibit nlrp3 inflammation following spinal cord injury. Zinc has the potential to treat SCI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]