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Poly(lactic acid) (PLA) ultrafiltration membranes modified by montmorillonite (MMT) nanoparticles were fabricated via phase inversion method. The influences of MMT nanoparticles on the structure and performances of the membranes were investigated by water contact angle measurement, porosity and mean pore size measurement, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis, atomic force microscopy (AFM) analysis, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), filtration and fouling experiments. The results revealed that the hydrophilicity of the composite membrane surface was improved significantly, and the porosity and mean pore size increased after MMT nanoparticles were added. When the mass fraction of MMT nanoparticle was 0.2%, the surface of the composite membrane surface was smoother than that of pure membrane, the size of finger-like cavities increased, the thermal stability increased, the pure water flux reached the maximum value with 450 L/(m² ⋅ h), the flux recovery ratio reached up to 95.1 % and the antifouling property was the best. While excessive dosage of MMT nanoparticles will significantly increase the viscosity of casting solution, and make the aggregation of nanoparticles, resulting in the poor performance of the PLA membrane. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sexine layer of pollen grain is mainly composed of sporopollenins. The sporophytic secretory tapetum is required for the biosynthesis of sporopollenin. Although several enzymes involved in sporopollenin biosynthesis have been reported, the regulatory mechanism of these enzymes in tapetal layer remains elusive. ABORTED MICROSPORES ( AMS) and MALE STERILE 188/ MYB103/ MYB80 ( MS188/ MYB103/ MYB80) are two tapetal cell-specific transcription factors required for pollen wall formation. AMS functions upstream of MS188. Here we report that AMS and MS188 target the CYP703A2 gene, which is involved in sporopollenin biosynthesis. We found that AMS and MS188 were localized in tapetum while CYP703A2 was localized in both tapetum and locule. Chromatin immunoprecipitation (Ch IP) showed that MS188 directly bound to the promoter of CYP703A2 and luciferase-inducible assay showed that MS188 activated the expression of CYP703A2. Yeast two-hybrid and electrophoretic mobility shift assays ( EMSAs) further demonstrated that MS188 complexed with AMS. The expression of CYP703A2 could be partially restored by the elevated levels of MS188 in the ams mutant. Therefore, our data reveal that MS188 coordinates with AMS to activate CYP703A2 in sporopollenin biosynthesis of plant tapetum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Myocardial fibrosis is a critical factor in the development of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). Linggui Qihua decoction (LGQHD) is an experienced formula, which has been proven to be effective on HFpEF in clinical and in experiments. Objective . This study aimed to observe the effect of LGQHD on HFpEF and its underlying mechanism. Methods . Spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) were induced with high-glucose and high-fat to establish HFpEF models and were treated with LGQHD for 8 weeks. The heart structure was detected by echocardiography, and the histopathological changes of the myocardium were observed by hematoxylin-eosin (HE) and Masson staining. Reverse transcription PCR (RT-PCR) and western blot were used to detect mRNA and protein expression of the target gene in rat myocardium. Results . In this study, LGQHD improved cardiac morphology and atrial fibrosis in HfpEF rats, decreased tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-1 (TIMP-1) mRNA expression, up-regulated matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) mRNA expression, and inhibited the expression of angiotensin II (Ang II), angiotensin II type 1 receptor (AT1), transforming growth factor β 1 (TGF- β 1), Smad2/3 mRNA, and protein in myocardial tissue of HFpEF rats. Conclusion . LGQHD can suppress atrial fibrosis in HFpEF by modulating the TGF- β 1/Smad2/3 pathway., Competing Interests: The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Shuang Xiong et al.)

Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) is a leading cause of death and disability worldwide. This study aimed to examine the involvement of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), a group of non-coding transcripts, in ICH as potential biomarkers. An expression profile of patients with ICH using four contralateral grey matter controls (GM) and four contralateral white matter controls (WM) was downloaded from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. Co-expressed lncRNAs and mRNAs were selected to create competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) networks. Key lncRNAs were identified in ceRNA networks, which were validated through Real-time qPCR (RT-qPCR) with peripheral blood samples from patients with ICH. A total of 49 differentially expressed lncRNAs were discovered in different brain regions. The ceRNA network in GM included 9 lncRNAs, 40 mRNAs, and 20 microRNAs (miRNAs), while the one in WM covered 6 lncRNAs, 25 mRNAs, and 14 miRNAs. Six hub lncRNAs were observed and RT-qPCR results showed that LY86-AS1 , DLX6-AS1 , RRN3P2 , and CRNDE were down-regulated, while HCP5 and MIAT were up-regulated in patients with ICH. Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) assessments demonstrated the diagnostic value of these lncRNAs. Our findings highlight the potential roles of lncRNA in ICH pathogenesis. Moreover, the hub lncRNAs discovered here might become novel biomarkers and promising targets for ICH drug development.

Simultaneously reducing the availability of Cd and As is difficult owing to converse chemical behaviors of Cd and As in soil. In this study, amendments that can simultaneously immobilize Cd and As in soil were determined by an pure soil culture experiment in which flooding and wetting were performed for 30 d each. The effects of sepiolite (Sep), modified sepiolite (IMS and Sep-FM), steel slag (SS), and iron modified biochar (Fe-Bio) on soil pH, Eh, Cd, and As concentrations in pore water, and Cd and As fractions in soil were investigated. It showed that Sep (1%, 2.5%), IMS (1%, 2.5%), Sep-FM (1%, 2.5%), and SS (1%, 5%) treatments increased soil pH value and decreased Eh value and Cd concentrations in soil solution. In addition, As concentrations in soil solution treated with high doses of IMS (2.5%) and SS (5%) were lower than that of CK treatment during the whole incubation period. However, Fe-bio treatment decreased soil pH and increased Eh value and only decreased Cd and As concentrations in soil solution under wet conditions. Compared with the control, the application of the above amendments promoted the transformation of Cd fraction from exchangeable to reducible, oxidizable, and residual. High application rates of IMS (2.5%), Sep-FM (2.5%), and SS (5%) also reduced available As fraction (non-specifically sorbed and specifically-sorbed As fraction), and increased amorphous and poorly-crystalline hydrated Fe and Al oxide-bound As. On the contrary, Fe-bio treatment increased the fractions of non-specifically sorbed, specifically sorbed and residual As in soil. In short, IMS, Sep-FM, and SS are potential materials for remediation of Cd and As contaminated soil. They can effectively immobilize soil Cd and As and promote their transformation to the fractions that plants are difficult to uptake.

Background: Previous study suggests changes in circRNAs in tumor tissues from cervical squamous cell carcinoma (CSCC) patients. However, little is known about the diagnostic value of circRNAs in CSCC. To assess the potential application of circRNAs as diagnostic tools in CSCC, the circulating circRNAs in peripheral whole blood were carried out., Methods: Five up-regulated circRNAs in peripheral whole blood from 87 patients with CSCC and 55 healthy controls were first identified by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). The diagnostic value was evaluated using receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curves and the area under the ROC curves (AUC)., Results: Compared with healthy controls, hsa_circ_0101996, hsa_circ_0104649, hsa_circ_0104443 and hsa_circ_0101119 expression were significantly up-regulated in peripheral whole blood from CSCC patients. ROC analysis showed that hsa_circ_0101996 and hsa_circ_0101119 could distinguish CSCC patients from healthy controls with high AUC (0.906 and 0.887, respectively). Intriguingly, the combination of hsa_circ_0101996 and hsa_circ_0101119 markedly improved AUC (0.964)., Conclusion: All of the findings suggest that hsa_circ_0101996 combined with hsa_circ_0101119 can serve as potential biomarkers for CSCC detection., Competing Interests: None., (IJCEP Copyright © 2017.)

In terms of water quality monitoring based on the ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, different optical path lengths of spectrometer probe need to be set to maintain higher signal-to-noise ratio of the spectra when the water body measured is complex and changeable. However, large numbers of experiments always have to be undertaken to get the appropriate optical path length, which is difficult to meet the demand of real-time, accurate, sensitive and stable online monitoring system. In this paper, an optimized spectra fusion algorithm was developed to improve the signal-to-noise ratio of fused spectra from two independent spectra that were acquired using two different optical path lengths. In the fusion algorithm, the sliding-pane method was applied to obtain the distribution of noise variance of the spectra, so the region of strong noise in the spectra could be determined. Due to different signal intensity of spectra with long and short optical path length, genetic algorithm was used to calculate the optimal gain matching rate of fusion. Finally, according to the distribution of noise variance, piecewise weighted method is applied to achieve a fusion spectrum with higher signal-to-noise ratio. The experimental results showed that the fusion algorithm could effectively enhance the signal-to-noise ratio of the fused spectra for each sample without altering the optical path length; the noise within 200~250 nm was suppressed and the low-noise and high-sensitivity spectra in the visible band were preserved; Zero interference was moved to the left of 220 nm of the spectrum. This means the fusion algorithm not only shows improvements in both signal-to-noise ratio and the detailed characteristics of the spectrum, but also reduces the excessive number of experiments in order to optimize optical path length and minimize noise in spectra. It has important practical significance to broaden the application range of the ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy based water quality monitoring system.