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Probe-based confocal laser endomicroscopy (pCLE) is a subcellular in vivo imaging technique that generates diagnostic images revealing malignant structural modifications in epithelial tissues. In the clinical diagnosis of probe confocal laser endomicroscopy (pCLE), the image background generally has the problems of dynamic blur or information loss, which is not conducive to achieving high-resolution and clear pCLE imaging. In recent years, deep learning technology has achieved remarkable results in image deblurring. For the task of recovering high-resolution pCLE images, the current methods still suffer from the following drawbacks: it is difficult to choose a strategy to make CNN converge at a deeper level and mainstream methods cannot handle the complex balance between spatial details and high-level feature information well when reconstructing clear images. In order to solve the problem, we propose a new cross-channel attention, multistage, high-resolution pCLE image deblurring structure. This methodology improves the supervised attention mechanism, enhances the ability of feature extraction and fusion capabilities, and improves the quality of image deblurring by adding cross-channel attention module (CAM) into the multistage neural networks’ architecture. The experimental results show that the average peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) of the proposed model on the dataset is as high as 29.643 dB, and the structural similarity (SSIM) reaches 0.855. This method is superior to the prior algorithms in the visualization of recovered images, and the edge and texture details of the restored pCLE images are clearer.

Aims: To evaluate whether melatonin (MT) supplementation during in vitro maturation (IVM) of human oocytes can reverse the age-related decline in oocyte quality. Main methods: We enrolled 172 patients aged ≥35 years (older reproductive-aged women) and 83 patients aged

HMGB1 that belongs to the High Mobility Group-box superfamily, is a nonhistone chromatin associated transcription factor. It is present in the nucleus of eukaryotes and can be actively secreted or passively released by kinds of cells. HMGB1 is important for maintaining DNA structure by binding to DNA and histones, protecting it from damage. It also regulates the interaction between histones and DNA, affecting chromatin packaging, and can influence gene expression by promoting nucleosome sliding. And as a DAMP, HMGB1 binding to RAGE and TLRs activates NF-κB, which triggers the expression of downstream genes like IL-18, IL-1β, and TNF-α. HMGB1 is known to be involved in numerous physiological and pathological processes. Recent studies have demonstrated the significance of HMGB1 as DAMPs in the female reproductive system. These findings have shed light on the potential role of HMGB1 in the pathogenesis of diseases in female reproductive system and the possibilities of HMGB1-targeted therapies for treating them. Such therapies can help reduce inflammation and metabolic dysfunction and alleviate the symptoms of reproductive system diseases. Overall, the identification of HMGB1 as a key player in disease of the female reproductive system represents a significant breakthrough in our understanding of these conditions and presents exciting opportunities for the development of novel therapies.

BackgroundTranssphenoidal secondary operations are a minority but not a rare occurrence. How to viably prevent cerebral fluid (CSF)-related complications and confine surgery-caused injury in secondary surgery as minimally as possible is a huge challenge. This article shares our solution of recycling a prior Hadad-Bassagasteguy flap (HBF) along with a using small piece of free autologous mucosa to reconstruct the skull base.MethodsOf 69 patients, fitted criteria were assigned into 2 different groups: a recycled HBF incorporated with an autologous free mucosa and a recycled HBF incorporated with an artificial dura to rebuild the skull base in secondary transsphenoidal surgery. The postoperative morbidities of pseudomeningocele, CSF leakage and meningitis were recorded and analyzed.ResultsA recycled HBF incorporated with an autologous mucosa is capable of reducing CSF complications compared to that of the matched group, particularly decreasing the morbidity of meningitis in secondary transsphenoidal surgery. Diabetes mellitus, craniopharyngioma, chordoma and the utilization of artificial dura were independent risk factors for CSF complications in secondary transsphenoidal surgery through univariate and multivariate logistic regression. In addition, diabetes mellitus and artificial dura are more likely to induce CSF leakage and meningitis. Patients suffering from craniopharyngioma are more susceptible to meningitis. Chordoma indiscriminately increased the risk of each CSF complication.ConclusionA recycled HBF incorporated with an autologous mucosa is reliable for reconstructing the skull base in secondary transsphenoidal surgery, especially for patients simultaneously suffering from diabetes mellitus and central skull base tumors.

Poplar waste is employed to prepare the high quality adsorbent (PWA) using one-pot method for methylene blue (MB) removal from wastewater. The H2 rich fuel gas is recycled during preparation process. The adsorption isotherms and adsorption kinetics are used to describe the MB adsorption process. The MB adsorption capacity of the PWA is 254.21 mg/g based on the Langmuir model calculation. Pseudo-second-order model describe well with the adsorption kinetic process. The MB column adsorption process of the PWA is analyzed by the Thomas and Yoon-Nelson, which indicates that the adsorption capacity is 54 mg/g and saturation time is 540 min. PWA has excellent reusability, which still maintains 75.59% MB adsorption amount after five cycles. The MB adsorption mechanism of PWA includes chemical functional groups, electrostatic interaction and pore filling. Density functional theory calculation indicates that hydroxyl groups play an important role in MB adsorption process. MB adsorption performance of PWA is investigated in the actual water with excellent MB removal. This result demonstrates that PWA could be acted as the recoverability and efficient adsorbent for MB removal from wastewater.

Abstract Nanhai I shipwreck was a large wooden merchant ship (22.15 m in length and 9.85 m in width) built in the Southern Song Dynasty (1127–1279 A.D.) of China, which was heavily loaded with a large number of porcelain and iron artifacts. In the South China Sea, it was found in 1987 and lifted as a whole in 2007. Its excavation provides a precious opportunity to reveal the preservation status of Nanhai I shipwreck. Iron compounds give rise to challenges in conservation procedures and the long-term stability of Nanhai I shipwreck. In this paper, the degradation of the wood and the iron deposits in the wood structure are investigated from the aspects of microscopic morphology, composition, and distribution to evaluate the preservation state of the waterlogged wood. Physical parameters, chemical composition, and the results of elemental analysis, and FTIR analysis suggest that the cellulose of wood is degraded, and the relative concentration of lignin increases. The ash content varies greatly among different samples, and the element of the highest content in ash is iron. The study on transverse and longitudinal sections from samples indicate that the deposits are unevenly concentrated in the cell lumen, middle lamella, rays, and pits of the cell wall. The cell lumen is filled with deposits in areas close to the surface of the samples. The XRD analysis demonstrates that the deposits in wood are mainly iron deposits, containing compounds pyrite (FeS2), siderite (FeCO3), iron oxyhydroxides (FeOOH), and magnetite (Fe3O4). The micro-X-ray Fluorescence mapping analysis suggests that the content of iron is relatively richer while containing less sulfur on the exterior of the sample. The presence of iron deposits accelerates wood degradation and increases the safety hazards of shipwrecks in the preservation process. We hope that our findings can make a modest contribution to iron removal from waterlogged archeological wood and shipwreck conservation.

Alkaline authigenic minerals such as chlorite, laumontite, albite, and illite formed by alkaline dissolution of volcanic materials and feldspar are the focus of sandstone reservoir research, but alkaline dissolution itself is often ignored. Through analysis of the alkaline dissolution mechanism, controlling factors and diagenetic characteristics, it is found that alkaline dissolution includes five types: alkaline dissolution of quartz grains, hydrolysis and dissolution of volcanic materials, K-feldspar dissolution caused by illitization of montmorillonite, K-feldspar dissolution caused by illitization of kaolinite, and albitization of plagioclase. As alkaline dissolution is often superimposed with acid dissolution, it is difficult to directly determine the type and scale of alkaline dissolution and is often ignored or misjudged as acid dissolution. Based on the genetic relationship between alkaline dissolution and its associated cements, the type and scale of alkaline dissolution of some sandstone reservoirs are analyzed. Alkaline dissolution is very common in the petroliferous basin of China, and the secondary pores formed by the first four kinds of alkaline dissolution can reach 2%-7%, 5%-10%, 1.32% and 1.63%, respectively.

Objectives Although corrective osteotomy with volar or dorsal plate fixation can treat malunion of distal radius fractures, each has its own disadvantages. Little is currently known on whether dorsal fixation combined with volar fixation may further improve recovery. This study aimed to evaluate the clinical value of corrective osteotomy combined with volar and dorsal plate fixation in patients with malunion of intra‐articular fractures of the distal radius. Methods Seventeen patients with malunion of intra‐articular fractures of the distal radius treated with corrective osteotomy with volar and dorsal plate fixation from 1 January 2016 to 31 November 2018 were retrospectively analyzed. The enrolled patients included seven males and 10 females with an average age of 54.9 years (range: 36–70 years). The radiographic parameters, including the radial length, the radial inclination angle, the ulnar variance, and the volar tilt, as well as clinical outcomes, including wrist and forearm range of motion (ROM), grip strength, the Mayo Modified Wrist Score (MMWS), and the disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder, and Hand (DASH) score, were examined at 3 months and 18 months after operation and compared with the preoperative state. The paired t‐test was used for statistical analysis. Results After corrective osteotomy combined with volar and dorsal plate fixation, all included patients were followed up for 18 months, and there was no surgical site infection. Patients reported postoperative pain due to the irritation of extensor tendon (two cases) and wrist arthritis (two cases). The radial length increased from 1.34 ± 2.34 mm to 9.25 ± 2.65 mm and 9.03 ± 2.47 mm at 3 months and 18 months postoperatively (t = 8.257, 7.954, all p 0.05). Conclusions Corrective osteotomy with volar and dorsal fixation can improve recovery of volar tilt, relieve wrist pain, restore wrist and forearm function, and increase grip strength of patients with malunion of intra‐articular fractures of the distal radius.

Excessive expansion of cholangiocytes in the liver leads to ductular reaction and liver disease. Here, the authors show that genetic ablation, or pharmacological inhibition, of biliary NIK blocks ductular reaction, liver inflammation, and liver fibrosis in mice by modulating secretion of cholangiokines that mediate liver inflammation and fibrosis.

Abstract Background Ovarian tissue cryopreservation and transplantation are novel therapeutic approaches for fertility preservation. However, follicle loss caused by ischemic and hypoxic damage is one of the issues after frozen-thawed ovarian tissue transplantation. Promoting angiogenesis in grafts is the key to restore cryopreserved ovarian function. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been reported to facilitate angiogenesis in the cryopreserved ovarian tissue transplantation. However, the risk of embolization, immunogenic effect and tumorigenesis hinders the clinical application of MSCs to human organ transplantation. In this study, we established an in vitro ovarian culture system to restore frozen-thawed ovarian function before transplantation with the application of umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (UC-MSCs), and explored the effects of UC-MSCs on frozen-thawed ovaries in vitro ovarian culture system and the mechanisms of UC-MSCs on the angiogenesis of frozen-thawed ovaries. Methods A simple in vitro three dimensional (3D) ovarian culture system using Matrigel was established to support to an ideal niche, and ovary was alone cultured in the 24-well plate as a control. We also evaluated the effects of UC-MSCs treatment on ovarian function with or without Matrigel support. All thawed ovaries were randomly divided into control group (Matrigel−/UC-MSCs−), Matrigel group (Matrigel+/UC-MSCs−), UC-MSCs group (Matrigel−/UC-MSCs+) and UC-MSCs + Matrigel group (Matrigel+/UC-MSCs+). HE staining was used to detect the histological structure of follicles and TUNEL staining was used to detect cell apoptosis. The number of microvessels was counted to evaluate neovascularization. The mRNA expression of VEGFA, IGF1 and ANGPT2 were detected by RT-PCR. Western blotting was used to measure the expression of GSK-3β, β-catenin and p-β-catenin. Results In the absence of UC-MSCs, 3D culture system supported by Matrigel showed significantly improved follicular development and microvascular number. Additionally, UC-MSCs were also found to effectively improve follicular development and microvascular number regardless of the culture condition used. However, alleviated follicular apoptosis, increased mRNA expression of angiogenesis-related gene and activated Wnt/β-catenin pathway occurred only in the UC-MSCs + Matrigel group. Besides, with the application of IWP-2 in UC-MSCs + Matrigel group, Wnt//β-catenin pathway could be blocked by IWP-2 serving as one of Wnt/β-catenin pathway inhibitors. Conclusions This in vitro study showed the beneficial effects of UC-MSCs on thawed ovaries and explored a potential mechanism inducing angiogenesis. In particular, 3D ovarian culture system supported by Matrigel further improved UC-MSCs treatment. The in vitro culture system using Matrigel and UC-MSCs may provide a potential treatment strategy for improving the success rate of thawed ovaries transplantation.

BackgroundFailing to provide social support to cover healthcare costs for rare diseases would lead to great financial distress for the patients and their families. People from countries without a well-developed health safety-net are particularly vulnerable. Existing literature on rare diseases in China focuses on the unmet needs for care of the patients and the difficulties of caregivers and physicians. Very few studies examine the state of social safety-net, the unresolved issues and whether the current localized arrangements are sufficient. This study aimed to gain in-depth knowledge of the current policy system and make sense of the local varieties, which would be essential for developing strategies for future policy changes.MethodsThis systematic policy review focuses on the provincial level policies on subsidizing the healthcare costs for people with rare diseases in China. The cut-off point for the policies was March 19, 2022. The researchers coded the healthcare cost reimbursement policies and identified the different provincial level models based on the usage of reimbursement components in each provinces reimbursement arrangements.Results257 documents were collected. Five provincial level models (Process I, II, III, IV and V) have been identified with the five components across the country: Basic Medical Insurance for Outpatient Special Diseases (OSD), Catastrophic Medical Insurance for Rare Diseases (CMIRD), Medical Assistance for Rare Diseases (MARD), Special Fund for Rare Diseases (SFRD) and Mutual Medical Fund (MMF). The local health safety-net in each region is a combination of one or more of the five processes. Regions vary greatly in their rare diseases coverage and reimbursement policies.ConclusionIn China, the provincial health authorities have developed some level of social protection for rare disease patients. However, there are still gaps regarding coverage and regional inequality; and there is room for a more integrated healthcare safety-net for people suffering from rare diseases at the national level.

Helmholtz resonators are widely applied in industries to reduce the transmission of unwanted noise and passively attenuate tonal noise in pipes/ducts. For example, internal combustion engines take advantage of Helmholtz resonators by combining air box, subwoofers and perforated pipes/plates to reduce engine noise emission nowadays. However, the main drawback of the conventional Helmholtz resonators includes a very narrow bandwidth. To broaden the effective noise damping frequency range of Helmholtz resonators, a number of different improved designs are reported and tested recently in the literature such as applying an array of separated resonators or implementing mechanical-coupled Helmholtz resonators. In this work, we conduct a brief review on the aeroacoustics damping performance of coupled Helmholtz resonators over low frequency range. The noise damping performances could be characterized and quantified in terms of transmission loss and sound absorption coefficient. Both definitions are discussed. Comparison is then made between the separately working resonators and the mechanical-coupled ones. This is achieved by replacing the sharable flexible sidewall with a rigid sidewall. The effect of the mean grazing flow is also discussed and examined on the noise damping performances. An experimental case study of the present authors is included. Additionally, to improve the noise damping performance further, an overview of the resonators neck with different noise damping materials inserted is conducted. Finally, 3D numerical approaches in simulating the aeroacoustics damping performances of coupled Helmholtz resonators are reviewed. This case study and brief overview provides a guidance on improving the design of coupled Helmholtz resonators and an array of Helmholtz resonators.

Determining and decoding emotional brain processes under ecologically valid conditions remains a key challenge in affective neuroscience. The current functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) based emotion decoding studies are mainly based on brief and isolated episodes of emotion induction, while sustained emotional experience in naturalistic environments that mirror daily life experiences are scarce. Here we used 12 different 10-minute movie clips as ecologically valid emotion-evoking procedures in n = 52 individuals to explore emotion-specific fMRI functional connectivity (FC) profiles on the whole-brain level at high spatial resolution (432 parcellations including cortical and subcortical structures). Employing machine-learning based decoding and cross validation procedures allowed to investigate FC profiles contributing to classification that can accurately distinguish sustained happiness and sadness and that generalize across subjects, movie clips, and parcellations. Both functional brain network-based and subnetwork-based emotion classification results suggested that emotion manifests as distributed representation of multiple networks, rather than a single functional network or subnetwork. Further, the results showed that the Visual Network (VN) and Default Mode Network (DMN) associated functional networks, especially VN-DMN, exhibited a strong contribution to emotion classification. To further estimate the temporal accumulative effect of naturalistic long-term movie-based video-evoking emotions, we divided the 10-min episode into three stages: early stimulation (1∼200 s), middle stimulation (201∼400 s), and late stimulation (401∼600 s) and examined the emotion classification performance at different stimulation stages. We found that the late stimulation contributes most to the classification (accuracy=85.32%, F1-score=85.62%) compared to early and middle stimulation stages, implying that continuous exposure to emotional stimulation can lead to more intense emotions and further enhance emotion-specific distinguishable representations. The present work demonstrated that sustained happiness and sadness under naturalistic conditions are presented in emotion-specific network profiles and these expressions may play different roles in the generation and modulation of emotions. These findings elucidated the importance of network level adaptations for sustained emotional experiences during naturalistic contexts and open new venues for imaging network level contributions under naturalistic conditions.

Rapid and cost-efficient antibiotic susceptibility testing (AST) is key to timely prescription-oriented diagnosis and precision treatment. However, current AST methods have limitations in throughput or cost effectiveness, and are impractical for microbial communities. Here, we developed a high-throughput micro-well array-based colorimetric AST (macAST) system equipped with a self-developed smartphone application that could efficiently test sixteen combinations of bacteria strains and antibiotics, achieving comparable AST results based on resazurin metabolism assay. For community samples, we integrated immunomagnetic separation into the macAST (imacAST) system to specifically enrich the target cells before testing, which shortened bacterial isolation time from days to only 45 min and achieved AST of the target bacteria with a low concentration (~103 CFU/mL). This proof-of-concept study developed a high-throughput AST system with an at least ten-fold reduction in cost compared with a system equipped with a microscope or Raman spectrum. Based on colorimetric readout, the antimicrobial susceptibility of the bacteria from microbial communities can be delivered within 6 h, compared to days being required based on standard procedures, bypassing the need for precise instrumentation in therapy to combat bacterial antibiotic resistance in resource-limited settings.

To investigate the role of gastrointestinal (GI) polysaccharide fermentation in alleviating constipation, two polysaccharide fractions were isolated from a soluble fiber extract with determined anti-constipation activity: a 2.04 kDa neutral fraction (SSP-1) contained 99.29% glucose, and a 41.66 kDa acidic fraction (SSP-2) contained 63.85% uronic acid. After mice were given loperamide for 14 d to induce constipation, the GI transit rate increased significantly in the SSP-1 group (p < 0.05) but not in the SSP-2 group. The stool weight in the SSP-2 group was significantly higher than that in SSP-1 (383.60 mg vs. 226.23 mg) (p < 0.05). Both SSP-1 and SSP-2 groups had significantly increased serum gastrin and motilin levels (p < 0.05) and changes in their fecal short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) profiles, while SSP-1 showed better fermentation properties than SSP-2 in terms of statistically higher fecal contents of acetic acid and total SCFAs (p < 0.05). Bioinformatic analysis indicated that SSP-1 upregulated bacteria such as Oscillibacter to improve SCFA metabolism and stimulate GI hormone secretion, while SSP-2 had less influence on the gut microbiota. These results suggest that the neutral polysaccharide with superior GI fermentation properties exerted beneficial effects on constipation, while the less fermentable pectic fraction might act as a stool-bulking agent.

Objective To study the yielding rate and distribution of unexpected antibodies in blood transfusion children with thalassemia in Yunnan province, and to explore the blood transfusion strategies. Methods From January 2016 to December 2021, 298 children with thalassemia, who received blood transfusion treatment in Kunming, Xishuangbanna, Wenshan, Dehong, Yuxi and Baoshan hospitals across Yunnan Province, were selected. The unexpected antibodies of blood plasma were screened by microcolumn gel card. The samples with positive antibodies were identified for alloantibody specificity. Results Unexpected antibodies were yielded in 67 out of 298(22.48%) transfused children with thalassemia. The positive rates of unexpected antibodies in boys and girls were 16.55%(24/145) and 28.10%(43/153), respectively. The positive rates of unexpected antibodies in Han, Dai, Zhuang, Yi, Bulang, Jinuo and Miao people were 14.06%(18/128), 30.80%(32/104), 35.71%(10/28), 36.36%(8/22), 50.00%(4/8), 60.00%(3/5)and 66.67%(2/3), respectively, with statistically significant differences between each other. The positive rate of unexpected antibodies in ethnic minorities was higher than that in Han. The positive rates of unexpected antibodies in children who received the first transfusion at birth-one year old, 1~3 years old, 3~6 years old and above 6 years old were 12.50%(3/24), 10.14%(7/69), 24.54%(40/163)and 40.48%(17/42), respectively. The positive rates of unexpected antibodies in children with first transfusion after 3 years old were significantly higher than those before 3 years old. The positive rates of unexpected antibodies in children with one transfusion, 1~3, 3~10, 10~20 and more than 20 transfusions were 4.76%(1/21), 12.07%(7/58), 23.71%(23/97), 28.16%(29/103)and 36.84%(7/19), respectively, with statistically significant differences between each other. The number of blood transfusions was positively correlated with the unexpected antibody yielding. The yielding rate of unexpected antibodies in children with α thalassemia, βthalassemia, δ+ βthalassemia and untyped thalassemia was 7.50%(3/40), 17.62%(34/193), 53.70%(29/54)and 9.09%(1/11), respectively(P

ObjectiveShip capsizing induced by pure loss of stability is an important issue for research on the second-generation intact stability criteria proposed by IMO. MethodsA CFD solver based on the viscous theory is developed in combination with the dynamic overset approach and feedback controller for ship maneuver behavior, thereby simulating the course-keeping of a free-running ship with rudders and propellers in stern quartering waves. 6-DOFs motions are predicted for the ship under pure loss of stability with stability failure mode and capsizing assessment. ResultsThe results indicate that large amplitude roll motion occurs with the continuous loss of stability, and the extreme roll eventually leads to the ship capsizing. The yaw angle increases significantly with the variation in roll angle, which indicates that the rudder deflection is unable to control the ship's course effectively, resulting in the broaching phenomenon. Conclusions The results of this study demonstrate that the CFD approach can accurately simulate the stability failure mode and capsizing of a ship, providing references for research on the second-generation intact stability criteria, and technical support for the development of direct stability assessment under pure loss of stability.

ObjectiveTo investigate ship power characteristics and the difference between the towing model and self-propulsion model for ship motion response in waves, numerical simulations of ship self-propulsion performance in waves are carried out. MethodsIn this paper, the KCS ship model and KP505 propeller model are selected, and the unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (URANS) method is used to carry out computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations of ship self-propulsion in waves. The in-house URANS solver HUST-Ship and in-house structured dynamic overset grid code HUST-Overset are combined to solve the motions of the self-propelled ship in waves, and the improved body-force model is selected as the propulsion model. Towing simulations for KCS with two-degrees-of-freedom (DOF) in waves and self-propulsion simulations with 3-DOFs under different wave conditions are carried out, and the differences between these methods are discussed in detail. Finally, the components and their specific proportions of added power during ship self-propulsion in waves are analyzed in detail using the logarithmic analysis method.ResultsRegarding the added power of a self-propelled KCS in waves, the added resistance is responsible for 74%-77% while propulsive efficiency accounts for 23%-26%, that is, the added resistance occupy a larger proportion.ConclusionReducing ship motion to decrease added resistance is the most effective approach to reducing added power.

Abstract Depth information plays an important role in the vision‐related activities of robots and autonomous vehicles. An effective method to obtain 3D scene information is self‐supervised monocular depth estimation, which utilizes large and diverse monocular video datasets during the training process without the need for ground‐truth data. A novel multi‐task learning strategy that uses semantic information to guide the monocular depth estimation method while maintaining self‐supervision is proposed. An improved differential direct visual odometer (DDVO) combined with Pose‐Net is applied for achieving better pose prediction. Minimum reprojection loss with auto‐masking and semantic masking is used to remove the effects of low‐texture areas and moving dynamic‐class objects within scenes. Concurrently, the semantic masking is introduced into the DDVO pose predictor to filter moving objects and reduce the matching error between monocular sequence frames. In addition, PackNet is employed as the backbone of multi‐task learning to further improve the accuracy of deep prediction. The proposed method produces state‐of‐the‐art results for monocular depth estimation on the KITTI Eigen split benchmark, even outperforming supervised methods that have been trained using ground‐truth depth.

The landslides have an important influence on the force and deformation of existing tunnels, which may adversely affect the liner structures and even endanger normal operation. Current scholars have made few efforts to investigate the reinforcement measures for existing tunnels in the landslide region, and even paid less attention to probe into the pile-anchor strengthening mechanics. A new kind of pile-anchor strengthening system for existing tunnels has been proposed in this paper considering the influences of deforming landslides, in which the anti-slide pile, the anchor cable and the tunnel lining were integrated as one force whole. In order to observe the pile-anchor strengthening mechanics, three physical model tests for comparative analyses were established in case of the tunnel axis parallel to the sliding direction of landslide, including the conditions without reinforcements, only with anti-slide pile and full with the pile-anchor strengthening system. Specially for the pile-anchor strengthening model tests, the extra experimental evaluation for the interaction mechanics between existing tunnel and landslide was added, such as, the tunnel diameter of 40 and 50 mm and the pile-anchor of three and six pairs. In addition, three-dimensional numerical models were implemented to analyze the landslide deformation and the internal force of tunnels after installing the pile-anchor strengthening system. Comparing with non-reinforcement, the bending moment of tunnel and contact stress at interface between tunnel and landslide at the position of 200 m away from tunnel entrance with six pairs pile-anchor reinforcement dropped by 97.2% and 50%. The results show that the deformation of landslide, the bending moment of existing tunnel and the contact stress at the interface between tunnel and landslide pronouncedly diminish after taking the pile-anchor strengthening measures. The new combined pile-anchor system has higher bearing capacity and stability, which can further improve the operation safety of existing tunnels in landslide region.

ObjectiveThis study aims to investigate the composition and function of the gut microbiome in long-term depression using an 8-week chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS) rat model.Materials and methodsAnimals were sacrificed after either 4 weeks or 8 weeks under CUMS to mimic long-term depression in humans. The gut microbiome was analyzed to identify potential depression-related gut microbes, and the fecal metabolome was analyzed to detect their functional metabolites. The correlations between altered gut microbes and metabolites in the long-term depression rats were explored. The crucial metabolic pathways related to long-term depression were uncovered through enrichment analysis based on these gut microbes and metabolites.ResultsThe microbial composition of long-term depression (8-week CUMS) showed decreased species richness indices and different profiles compared with the control group and the 4-week CUMS group, characterized by disturbance of Alistipes indistinctus, Bacteroides ovatus, and Alistipes senegalensis at the species level. Additionally, long-term depression was associated with disturbances in fecal metabolomics. D-pinitol was the only increased metabolite in the 8-week CUMS group among the top 10 differential metabolites, while the top 3 decreased metabolites in the long-term depression rats included indoxyl sulfate, trimethylaminen-oxide, and 3 alpha,7 alpha-dihydroxy-12-oxocholanoic acid. The disordered fecal metabolomics in the long-term depression rats mainly involved the biosynthesis of pantothenate, CoA, valine, leucine and isoleucine.ConclusionOur findings suggest that the gut microbiome may participate in the long-term development of depression, and the mechanism may be related to the regulation of gut metabolism.

Abstract Efficient separation of acetylene (C2H2)/ethylene (C2H4) and acetylene/carbon dioxide (CO2) by adsorption is an industrially promising process, but adsorbents capable of simultaneously capturing trace acetylene from ethylene and carbon dioxide are scarce. Herein, a gate‐opening effect on three isomorphous flexible metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) named Co(4‐DPDS)2MO4 (M = Cr, Mo, W; 4‐DPDS = 4,4‐dipyridyldisulfide) is modulated by anion pillars substitution. The shortest CrO42− strengthens intraframework hydrogen bonding and thus blocks structural transformation after activation, striking a good balance among working capacity, separation selectivity, and trace impurity removal of flexible MOFs out of nearly C2H2/C2H4 and C2H2/CO2 molecular sieving. The exceptional separation performance of Co(4‐DPDS)2CrO4 is confirmed by dynamic breakthrough experiments. It reveals the specific threshold pressures control in anion‐pillared flexible materials enabled elimination of the impurity leakage to realize high purity products through precise control of the intraframework interaction. The adsorption mechanism and multimode structural transformation property are revealed by both calculations and crystallography studies. This work demonstrates the feasibility of modulating flexibility for controlling gate‐opening effect, especially for some cases of significant aperture shrinkage after activation.

High spatial-temporal resolution distribution of atmospheric gaseous pollutant is an important basis for tracing its emission, transport, and transformation. Typical methods for acquiring regional atmospheric gaseous pollutant distributions are satellite remote sensing and in situ observations. However, these approaches have limitations, such as sparse overpass times for satellites and restricted coverage for in situ monitoring. In this study, we propose a method for the long-term detection of the horizontal distribution of trace gases. This method based on effective optical paths (EOPs) as the instrument's detection range. It acquires the average trace gas concentration along the EOPs by utilizing different detection distances within the ultraviolet (UV) and visible (VIS) spectral bands. Subsequently, we use the onion-peeling method to obtain trace gas concentrations at two distinct distances. The obtained trace gas horizontal distribution was consistent with the in situ and mobile measurements. Compared with satellite remote sensing, this method achieved horizontal distribution results with higher spatial and temporal resolutions, and located several small high-value areas in Hefei, China. The tropospheric NO2 vertical column density (VCD) results of the satellite at transit time (13:30) were consistent with the hyperspectral NO2 horizontal distribution results at 13:00 to 14:00 on the same day but were not consistent with the daily average NO2 results. The hourly NO2 concentration in each area was 10% to 40% lower than the daytime average obtained by the hyperspectral remote sensing result. We evaluated the errors associated with the calculation of NO2 emissions based on the satellite results and found a bias of approximately 69.45% to 83.34%. The spatial distribution of NO2 concentration obtained from MAX-DOAS measurements may help in future bottom-up emission calculations.

The fluid mobility characteristics in the pores with various apertures for tight-sandstone would finally determine the fluid mobility and production of tight oil and gas reservoirs. In this study, the tight-sandstone core samples collected from Middle Jurassic Xishanyao Formation in Santanghu Basin were launched the fluid mobility measurements under various centrifugal speeds. With the NMR fractal theory pore classification method, the various types of pores in the tight-sandstone core samples were classified, and the fluid mobility in different types of pores were also investigated. The results show that the tights-sandstone core samples were significantly influenced by compaction, and the core samples are relatively dense, the mineral intergranular solution pores and colloidal intergranular pores are the main storage spaces. With a constant increase of the centrifugal speed, the fluid mobility increases continuously, and the fluid mobility for CTOS-19 features stronger than that of CTOS-7, which is related to the complexity of pore structure in tight-sandstone sample. Compared with the pore aperture in CTOS-19, the pore aperture in CTOS-7 is smaller, and the connectivity between the smaller and larger pores is poorer, leading to the poorer fluid mobility. Besides, the NMR fractal theory pore classification method also shows that the COTS-7 features more pore types than COTS-19, five and four types respectively. The type P2 and P3 pores are dominant in COTS-7 and CTOS-19 core samples, and the connectivity between type P2 and P3 pores contributes dominantly to the fluid mobility. With the NMR fractal theory pore classification method, the complexity of the distribution of fluid and fluid mobility in tight reservoirs could be studied quantitatively, and the results can efficiently guide the development of residual oil and gas in tight oil reservoirs.

Cadmium (Cd) is a ubiquitous toxic metal and environmental pollutant. Increasing studies have shown that Cd exposure increases the incidence of various endocrine system diseases, including thyrotoxicity reflected by thyroid structural damage and endocrine toxicity. However, the observed outcomes are complex and conflicting, leading to the mechanism of Cd-induced thyrotoxicity remaining obscure. In this study, 4-week-old male C57BL/6 mice were given 2 or 7 mg/kg Cadmium Chloride (CdCl2) intragastrically for 4 and 8 weeks, and the Cd-mediated thyrotoxicity was evaluated by determining alterations in thyroid structure and endocrine function, and alterations of oxidant stress, apoptosis, and pyroptosis. Our data showed that Cd exposure could reduce body weight and induce thyrotoxicity by impairing thyroid follicular morphology and endocrine function, accompanied by elevated oxidative stress and apoptosis, macrophage infiltration, and inflammatory cytokine secretion. Importantly, Cd significantly promoted thyroid follicular cell pyroptosis by increasing Nlrp3, Asc, Caspase-1, Gsdmd, IL-1β, and IL-18 expression. Mechanistical analysis suggested that Cd treatment could inhibit antioxidant pathway by downregulating antioxidant response protein, Nrf2, and upregulating its negative feedback regulator, Keap1. Collectively, our in vivo findings suggest that Cd exposure could facilitate thyroid follicular cell pyroptosis by inhibiting Nrf2/Keap1 signaling, thereby disrupting thyroid tissue structure and endocrine function, which offers novel insights into the Cd-mediated detrimental consequences on thyroid homeostasis.

Rosa rugosa Thunb. is recognized as both medicine and edible in China. The article investigated the antitumor activity of rose flavonoids. Water-extracted rose flavonoids (RFW) and ethanol-extracted rose flavonoids (RFE) were achieved by extracting with distilled water and 70% ethanol, respectively. The effects of the two extracts on proliferation inhibition, apoptosis inducement and metastasis prevention of human HepG2 hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines were tested, via optical/fluorescence microscopy, MTT detection, Transwell assay, flow cytometry and Western blot, etc. The results indicated that rose flavonoids at low concentration (10–40 μg/mL) had a better inhibitory effect on migration and invasion of HepG2 cells in a dose-dependent manner, while rose flavonoids at high concentration (80–160 μg/mL) could induce apoptosis of HepG2 cells by up-regulating the expression of pro-apoptotic proteins p53 and Bax, and down-regulating the expression of anti-apoptotic proteins Bcl-2, leading to the functioning of caspase-3 and caspase-9. The effect of RFE at the same concentration was significantly better than that of RFW. Conclusion, this study found that rose flavonoids had a certain inhibitory effect on proliferation and metastasis of human liver cancer cells HepG2, indicating the application of rose flavonoids in preventing and treating of liver cancer.

The changes of global gaseous pollutants during the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020 were retrieved from Chinese ultraviolet–visible hyperspectral satellite instrument through a series of remote sensing algorithm optimizations.

Abstract Exogenous humus can change the content and migration activity of cadmium (Cd) in soil. Humic acid (HA) is an important soluble humus component in soil. In order to explore the relationship between cadmium pollution mechanism and ecological environment of humic acid in reclaimed soil, the characteristics of humic acid adsorbing cadmium in alkaline conditions were studied. This study employed reclaimed soil from the Huainan mining area, China. The adsorption and desorption characteristics as well as influence mechanisms on the heavy metal cadmium (Cd) were explored under the influence of HA. The results show that: (1) When Cd concentration was low (0.2–10 mg/L), HA had little effect on Cd adsorption and desorption in reclaimed soil. When the Cd concentration was high (15–80 mg/L), HA had a great influence on the adsorption and desorption of Cd in reclaimed soil. The addition of HA can inhibit the adsorption of Cd by reclaimed soil and effectively improve the desorption capacity of Cd by reclaimed soil. (2) The kinetic curves of Cd adsorption and desorption of reclaimed soil with added HA show that both processes (adsorption and desorption) include two stages: rapid reaction and slow reaction. The adsorption of Cd by reclaimed soil under the influence of HA was 18.18% lower than that of normal reclaimed soil, and the increase of Cd desorption was 50.29%. (3) The factors affecting the adsorption and desorption of Cd in the soil were analyzed with gray theory, and their importance can be ordered as follows: Cd concentration > HA concentration > pH > temperature. Considering the influence of HA, a multi-factor coupling function model of adsorption and desorption of Cd in soil is established. This model provides theoretical guidance for the scientific prediction and evaluation of Cd environmental pollution risks in soil and will be useful for developing a new solution for engineering remediation of high concentration Cd contaminated soil.

Relay assisted transmission can compensate atmospheric turbulence, improve transmission distance, and realize communication between non-linear targets in free space optical communication (FSO) system. Space division multiplexing (SDM) greatly improves the channel capacity of FSO system. This paper focuses on the relay assisted transmission oriented to SDM wireless optical communication system. We develop a dual-hop SDM FSO communication model with two spatial mode channels. At the relay, the received optical signals are amplified by the few mode EDFA and forwarded to the destination. Simulation results show that the bit error rate (BER) of the dual-hop SDM system with a few mode EDFA based relay outperforms the single-hop SDM system. Under BER = $1 \times {10}^{ - 5}$, the power budget is increased by 0.53 dB, 1.2 dB, and 4.88 dB, when ${\boldsymbol{C}}_{\boldsymbol{n}}^2 = \ 4 \times {10}^{ - 15}$, $7 \times {10}^{ - 15}$ and $1 \times {10}^{ - 14}$, respectively. Moreover, the BER performance is the best when the relay is (originally in the middle of the link) slightly closer to the source.

In this paper, a symmetric training sequence-based (STSB) carrier frequency offset estimation (FOE) scheme for coherent free-space optical (CFSO) communication is proposed. In the proposed technique, we exploit the training-sequence-based (TSB) carrier FOE algorithm to the CFSO communication system in the quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK) modulation format. A symmetric training sequence, tailored to the carrier FOE algorithm for atmospheric turbulence channel, is formulated to accurately identify the correct temporal position of a data frame from received signals. Unlike the 4th power algorithm, the proposed algorithm requires only the identified training sequence and the symmetric sequence of the original training sequence in the FOE stage, performing a single multiplication to accurately remove the signal modulation phase. In this way, the proposed technique significantly improves the estimation accuracy. Furthermore, by avoiding the time-consuming 4th power operation, the proposed method reduces the computational complexity while expanding the FOE range. Therefore, when compared with existing algorithms, our proposed technique can achieve more accurate timing, a wider estimation range, and lower complexity. A 10-Gbps QPSK CFSO communication transmission experiment with different turbulence channels was carried out to validate the proposed technique and the improvement in receiver sensitivity.

This study examines the interference problem between screw dislocation and elliptical inclusion in one-dimensional hexagonal piezoelectric quasicrystals. The general solutions are obtained using the complex variable function method and the conformal transformation technique. When the screw dislocation is located outside or inside the elliptical inclusion, the perturbation method and Laurent series expansion are employed to derive explicit analytical expressions for the complex potentials in the elliptical inclusion and the matrix, respectively. Considering four types of far-field force and electric loading conditions, analytical solutions for various specific cases are obtained by using matrix operations. Expressions for the phonon field stress, phason field stress, and electric displacement are given for special cases, including the absence of a dislocation, the presence of an elliptical hole, and the interference between a screw dislocation and circular inclusion, as well as the case of a circular hole. The design and analysis of quasicrystal inclusion structures can benefit from the results of this work.

Asthma is a common respiratory disease with symptoms such as repeated wheezing, shortness of breath, and coughing. However, currently, asthma cannot be cured but only controlled or relieved using medication. The metered-dose inhaler (MDI) is known to lead to high deposition fractions of drug particles in the mouth and throat, resulting in inadequate drug efficacy. Therefore, herein, the factors influencing the deposition fraction of asthma drugs in the mouth and throat regions were explored by computational fluid dynamics and a smart MDI for asthma was designed. The smart MDI was designed based on the obtained simulation results, which demonstrated that the deposition fraction gradually increased from 55.78% to 65.75% with an increase in the peak inspiratory flow rate at an angle of incidence of 0°. The deposition fraction first decreased and then increased as the angle of incidence increased at a constant peak inspiratory flow rate. The deposition fraction increased as the inspiration–press interval time increased at a constant angle of incidence and peak inspiratory flow rate. Meanwhile, performance analysis of the designed smart MDI indicated that the inhaler could effectively reduce the deposition fraction of drugs in the mouth and throat regions by 17% on average.

Chlorogenic acid (CGA) is a bioactive substance with anti-inflammatory activities. Clusters of CD36 have been suggested to be widely involved in inflammatory damage. However, the mechanism of CGA protecting against LPS-induced inflammation involving the CD36 regulation is unclear. Here, we demonstrated that CGA protected against LPS-induced cell death and decreased the production of ROS. Moreover, the SOD, CAT, and GSH-Px activities were also upregulated in CGA-treated cells during LPS stimulation. CGA reduced COX-2 and iNOS expression and IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α secretion in LPS-stimulated RAW264.7 macrophages. In addition, CGA treatment widely involved in immune-related signaling pathways, including NF-κB signaling, NOD-like receptor signaling, and IL-17 signaling using transcriptomic analysis and CD36 also markedly reduced during CGA pretreatment in LPS-induced RAW264.7 cells. Furthermore, the CD36 inhibitor SSO attenuated inflammation and oxidative stress by enabling activation of the AMPK/PGC-1α cascade. These results indicate that CGA might provide benefits for the regulation of inflammatory diseases by modulating CD36/AMPK/PGC-1α to alleviate oxidative stress.

Abstract The purpose is to explore the brain’s structural difference in local morphology and between-region networks between two types of peripheral neuropathic pain (PNP): postherpetic neuralgia (PHN) and lower back pain (LBP). A total of 54 participants including 38 LBP and 16 PHN patients were enrolled. The average pain scores were 7.6 and 7.5 for LBP and PHN. High-resolution structural T1 weighted images were obtained. Both grey matter volume (GMV) and morphological connectivity (MC) were extracted. An independent two-sample t-test with false discovery rate (FDR) correction was used to identify the brain regions where LBP and PHN patients showed significant GMV difference. Next, we explored the differences of MC network between LBP and PHN patients and detected the group differences in network properties by using the two-sample t-test and FDR correction. Compared with PHN, LBP patients had significantly larger GMV in temporal gyrus, insula and fusiform gyrus (p

Drug‐induced hepatotoxicity limits development of new effective medications. Drugs and numerous endogenous/exogenous agents are metabolized/detoxified by hepatocytes, during which reactive oxygen species (ROS) are generated as a by‐product. ROS has broad adverse effects on liver function and integrity, including damaging hepatocyte proteins, lipids, and DNA and promoting liver inflammation and fibrosis. ROS in concert with iron overload drives ferroptosis. Hepatic nuclear factor kappa B (NF‐κB)‐inducing kinase (NIK) is aberrantly activated in a broad spectrum of liver disease. NIK phosphorylates and activates inhibitor of NF‐κB kinase subunit alpha (IKKα), and the hepatic NIK/IKKα cascade suppresses liver regeneration. However, the NIK/IKKα pathway has not been explored in drug‐induced liver injury. Here, we identify hepatic NIK as a previously unrecognized mediator for acetaminophen (APAP)‐induced acute liver failure. APAP treatment increased both NIK transcription and NIK protein stability in primary hepatocytes as well as in liver in mice. Hepatocyte‐specific overexpression of NIK augmented APAP‐induced liver oxidative stress in mice and increased hepatocyte death and mortality in a ROS‐dependent manner. Conversely, hepatocyte‐specific ablation of NIK or IKKα mitigated APAP‐elicited hepatotoxicity and mortality. NIK increased lipid peroxidation and cell death in APAP‐stimulated primary hepatocytes. Pretreatment with antioxidants or ferroptosis inhibitors blocked NIK/APAP‐induced hepatocyte death. Conclusion: We unravel a previously unrecognized NIK/IKKα/ROS/ferroptosis axis engaged in liver disease progression.

Abstract We report a facile synthesis of tetrahydroquinoline derivatives via heterogeneous cascade Povarov reaction catalyzed by sulfonic acid functionalized metal‐organic frameworks (MIL‒101(Cr)‒SO3H). The porous MIL‒101(Cr)‒SO3H demonstrates superior catalytic activities and stabilities for this reaction in comparison either to homogeneous sulfonic acids or heterogeneous sulfonic acid resins. Experimental investigations reveal that the high catalytic performance is attributed to the cooperative action of dual Lewis‐ and Brønsted acid sites within the pores of MIL‒101(Cr)‒SO3H. In addition, this reaction proceeds smoothly at room temperature with a broad substrate scope, which provides an alternative approach in the construction of tetrahydroquinoline skeletons.

Motility is one of the most critical features to evaluate sperm quality. As longitudinal rolling of human sperm has long been ignored until recently, its detailed dynamics and cellular biological mechanisms are still largely unknown. Here we report an optical-tweezers-based method to evaluate the chirality and frequency of sperm rotation. According to the intensity distribution patterns of off-focus micron-size particles, we established a method to judge the orientation of the sperm head along the optical axis in the optical trap. Together with the rotation direction of the projection of the sperm head, the chirality of longitudinal rolling of sperm can be measured without the application of three-dimensional tracking techniques or complex optical design. By video tracking optically trapped sperm cells from different patients, both rolling chirality and rolling frequency were analyzed. In this study, all the vertically trapped human sperm cells adopt a right-hand longitudinal rolling. The orientation and rolling frequency but not the rolling chirality of sperm in the optical trap are affected by the trap height. The rotation analysis method developed in this study may have clinical potential for sperm quality evaluation.

EEG signals exhibit commonality and variability across subjects, sessions, and tasks. But most existing EEG studies focus on mean group effects (commonality) by averaging signals over trials and subjects. The substantial intra- and inter-subject variability of EEG have often been overlooked. The recently significant technological advances in machine learning, especially deep learning, have brought technological innovations to EEG signal application in many aspects, but there are still great challenges in cross-session, cross-task, and cross-subject EEG decoding. In this work, an EEG-based biometric competition based on a large-scale M3CV (A Multi-subject, Multi-session, and Multi-task Database for investigation of EEG Commonality and Variability) database was launched to better characterize and harness the intra- and inter-subject variability and promote the development of machine learning algorithm in this field. In the M3CV database, EEG signals were recorded from 106 subjects, of which 95 subjects repeated two sessions of the experiments on different days. The whole experiment consisted of 6 paradigms, including resting-state, transient-state sensory, steady-state sensory, cognitive oddball, motor execution, and steady-state sensory with selective attention with 14 types of EEG signals, 120000 epochs. Two learning tasks (identification and verification), performance metrics, and baseline methods were introduced in the competition. In general, the proposed M3CV dataset and the EEG-based biometric competition aim to provide the opportunity to develop advanced machine learning algorithms for achieving an in-depth understanding of the commonality and variability of EEG signals across subjects, sessions, and tasks.

Mcm2, a subunit of the minichromosome maintenance proteins 2–7 (Mcm2-7) helicase best known for its role in DNA replication, contains a histone binding motif that facilitates the transfer of parental histones following DNA replication. Here, we show that Mcm2 is important for the differentiation of mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells. The Mcm2-2A mutation defective in histone binding shows defects in silencing of pluripotent genes and the induction of lineage-specific genes. The defects in the induction of lineage-specific genes in the mutant cells are likely, at least in part, due to reduced binding to Asf1a, a histone chaperone that binds Mcm2 and is important for nucleosome disassembly at bivalent chromatin domains containing repressive H3K27me3 and active H3K4me3 modifications during differentiation. Mcm2 localizes at transcription starting sites and the binding of Mcm2 at gene promoters is disrupted in both Mcm2-2A ES cells and neural precursor cells (NPCs). Reduced Mcm2 binding at bivalent chromatin domains in Mcm2-2A ES cells correlates with decreased chromatin accessibility at corresponding sites in NPCs. Together, our studies reveal a novel function of Mcm2 in ES cell differentiation, likely through manipulating chromatin landscapes at bivalent chromatin domains.

BackgroundHigh mobility group box protein 1 (HMGB1) is considered as a kind of sterile inflammatory mediators, which is an overexpression in patients with unexplained recurrent spontaneous abortion (URSA). Specific targeting effect of aspirin on HMGB1 has been revealed. Our previous studies have explored the application of HMGB1 as a therapeutic target of aspirin in URSA disease of mice model and human, but the dynamic process of aspirin downregulating HMGB1 concentration has not been demonstrated.MethodsFrom December 2018 to November 2020, women with URSA (n = 91) and control women (n = 90) with no history of recurrent abortion or adverse pregnancy were included in the Reproductive Medicine Center of the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University. ELISA was applied to detect the concentrations of HMGB1 and IFN-γ in the peripheral blood. Thirty-one URSA patients were monitored for low-dose aspirin treatment (2 and 4 weeks), the changes of HMGB1 and IFN-γ concentrations in peripheral blood of URSA patients before and after using aspirin were compared, and pregnancy outcomes after aspirin treatment were followed up.ResultsThe levels of HMGB1 in peripheral blood were significantly higher in URSA patients compared with controls, decreasing trends of HMGB1 and IFN-γ concentrations in plasma of URSA patients were observed after treatment with low-dose aspirin continuously, and the expression of HMGB1 was positively correlated with IFN-γ. There were no birth abnormalities in the babies of the URSA patients treated with aspirin.ConclusionsHigh levels of HMGB1 may be one of the pathogenesis of URSA. Low-dose aspirin may provide protective effect on the HMGB1-triggered URSA.

Intervertebral disc (IVD) degeneration (IVDD) which is highly prevalent within the elderly population, is a leading cause of chronic low back pain and disability. Nucleus pulposus (NP) cell senescence plays an indispensable role in the pathogenesis of IVDD. Morroniside is a major iridoid glycoside and one of the quality control metrics of Cornus officinalis Siebold & Zucc (CO). An increasing body of evidence suggests that morroniside and CO-containing formulae share many similar biological effects, including anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidative, and anti-apoptotic properties. In a previous study, we reported that Liuwei Dihuang Decoction, a CO-containing formula, is effective for treating IVDD by targeting p53 expression; however, the therapeutic role of morroniside on IVDD remains obscure. In this study, we assessed the pharmacological effects of morroniside on NP cell senescence and IVDD pathogenesis using a lumbar spine instability surgery-induced mouse IVDD model and an in vitro H2O2-induced NP cell senescence model. Our results demonstrated that morroniside administration could significantly ameliorate mouse IVDD progression, concomitant with substantial improvement in extracellular matrix metabolism and histological grading score. Importantly, in vivo and in vitro experiments revealed that morroniside could significantly reduce the increase in SA-β-gal activities and the expression of p53 and p21, which are the most widely used indicators of senescence. Mechanistically, morroniside suppressed ROS-induced aberrant activation of Hippo signaling by inhibiting Mst1/2 and Lats1/2 phosphorylation and reversing Yap/Taz reduction, whereas blockade of Hippo signaling by Yap/Taz inhibitor-1 or Yap/Taz siRNAs could antagonize the anti-senescence effect of morroniside on H2O2-induced NP cell senescence model by increasing p53 expression and activity. Moreover, the inhibition of Hippo signaling in the IVD tissues by morroniside was further verified in mouse IVDD model. Taken together, our findings suggest that morroniside protects against NP cell senescence to alleviate IVDD progression by inhibiting the ROS-Hippo-p53 pathway, providing a potential novel therapeutic approach for IVDD.

The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of sweet potato peels dietary fiber obtained by different extraction methods on intestinal health. Specifically, four different dietary fibers were extracted by hot water, microwave, ultrasonic and subcritical water methods. And the prebiotics effects of sweet potato peels dietary fibers were explored in an in vitro fermentation model, by determining intestinal gas content, short-chain fatty acid content, pH, ammonia content and the gut microbiota composition. The results showed that dietary fiber obtained by four different extraction methods could be utilized by GM and improve human health by increasing the abundance of beneficial bacteria (e.g., Bifidobacterium, Faecalibacterium, and Prevotella) and reducing the abundance of harmful bacteria (e.g., Proteobacteria, Romboutsia and Dorea), enhancing the relative abundance of SCFA-producing bacteria, promoting the production of short-chain fatty acids, reducing intestinal pH from 6.89 to 4.63 and ammonia. Among them, dietary fiber extracted by ultrasound is better than the other three extraction methods. This study suggests that all the four different extraction methods are available for sweet potato peels dietary fiber, and the extracted dietary fiber could be served as potential functional foods with great development value. In addition, it is beneficial to reduce the environmental pollution of sweet potato peels and improve the high-value processing and utilization of sweet potato by-products.

In order to promote and broaden the utilization of fly ash as a resource, the fly ash from a 2,660-MW coal-fired power plant in Huainan (China) was investigated. The physical and chemical properties of fly ash were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, energy spectrum analysis, and XRD. The content and different forms of the heavy metals Cd, Cr, Cu, Co, and Ni were determined by acid digestion, oscillation leaching, and Tessier five-step extraction. The effect of pH, temperature, and particle size on the leached amount of heavy metals was studied. Finally, the ecological risk index was calculated for each heavy metal via the risk assessment coding (RAC) method and Hakanson ecological risk assessment method, allowing the ecological risk of fly ash to be determined under different environmental conditions. Results showed that the average concentrations of Cd, Cr, Co, and Ni were all below the risk screening values reported for environmental pollutants (pH > 7.5). Under varying pH, temperature, and particle size conditions, the leached amounts (oscillation leaching) were below the soil risk screening values for agricultural land in China. An RAC-Cd value of >50% indicates a high ecological risk, while the RAC values of Co and Ni were between 10 and 30%, indicating a medium ecological risk, and the RAC values of Cr and Cu were

The effect of low-molecular-weight organic acids (citric acid and malic acid) on the migration characteristics of Pb in contaminated soils was explored in this study. Reclaimed soil was collected from the coal gangue hill area of the Panyi mine in Huainan City (China). The effect of citric acid and malic acid on the form of Pb present in the reclaimed soil was analyzed by spiking soil samples and simulating Pb-contaminated soil. The results indicate the following. 1) With increased concentration of exogenous Pb, the activity of Pb in the reclaimed soil was effectively improved. 2) The addition of citric acid and malic acid both resulted in an increased fraction of exchangeable Pb in the soil, which effectively promoted the active Pb fraction. As the concentrations of citric acid and malic acid increased, the active Pb fraction of the reclaimed soil increased accordingly. The Pb activation effect of citric acid was observed to be greater than that of malic acid. 3) With extended soil aging time, the activation effect of organic acids on Pb weakened, with the loosely bound Pb gradually transforming into strongly bound Pb. Chelating agents can activate heavy metals in soil, mainly through the combination of chelating agents and heavy metal ions in the soil solution to form soluble metal chelates, so as to increase the bioavailability of heavy metals in soil to plant roots. Therefore, adding citric acid can be considered as a strategy to enhance the efficiency of reclaimed soil remediation because of the ability of Pb activation.

Osteoclasts (OCs) are multinucleated cells that play a major role in osteolytic diseases such as osteoporosis. Monascin (Ms) is one of the active substances in the traditional Chinese medicine red yeast rice. Studies have found that red yeast rice can maintain bone health. In this study, the anti-osteoclastogenesis effects of Ms on RANKL-induced RAW264.7 cells were assessed, and the underlying mechanism was investigated. Ms exhibited inhibitory effects on OC differentiation and formation in a dose-dependent manner and suppressed the bone-resorbing activity of mature OCs. Ms blocked OCs-typical genes (c-Fos, NFATc1, CSTK, MMP-9, TRAP, ITG-β3, OSCAR and DC-STAMP). Furthermore, Ms treatment considerably inhibited the activation of MAPKs, JNK and p38. Taken together, Ms suppresses RANKL-induced osteoclastogenesis of RAW264.7 cells by restraining MAPKs signaling pathways and is a potential therapeutic option as a novel OC inhibitor to mitigate bone erosion.

3-Azabicyclo[3.1.0]hexanes are common structural components in natural products and bioactive compounds. Traditionally, the metal-mediated cyclopropanation domino reaction of chain enzymes is the most commonly used strategy for the construction of this type of aza[3.1.0]bicycle derivative. In this study, a base-promoted intramolecular addition of alkenes used to deliver conformationally restricted highly substituted aza[3.1.0]bicycles is reported. This reaction was tailor-made for saturated aza[3.1.0] bicycle-containing fused bicyclic compounds that may be applied in the development of concise and divergent total syntheses of bioactive compounds.

The influence of steaming treatment on the soluble dietary fiber (SDF) of sweet potato was investigated. The SDF content increased from 2.21 to 4.04 g/100 g (in dry basis) during 20 min of steaming. The microcosmic morphology of the fractured cell wall indicated the release of SDF components during steaming. The SDF from fresh (SDF-F) and 20 min steamed (SDF-S) sweet potato was characterized. The neutral carbohydrates and uronic acid levels in SDF-S were significantly higher than SDF-F (59.31% versus 46.83%, and 25.36% versus 9.60%, respectively) (p < 0.05). The molecular weight of SDF-S was smaller than SDF-F (5.32 kDa versus 28.79 kDa). The probiotic property was evaluated by four Lactobacillus spp. fermentation in vitro with these SDF as carbon source, using inulin as the references. SDF-F showed the best proliferation effects on the four Lactobacillus spp. in terms of the OD600 and pH in cultures, and the highest production of propanoic acid and butyric acid after 24 h fermentation. SDF-S presented higher Lactobacillus proliferation effects, but slight lower propanoic acid and butyric acid production than inulin. It was concluded that 20 min of steaming released SDF with inferior probiotic properties, which might derive from the degraded pectin, cell wall components, and resistant dextrin.

In this paper, a low-complexity joint compensation scheme of carrier recovery (JCSCR) for coherent free-space optical (CFSO) communication is proposed. We applied the carrier recovery joint compensation approach to a CFSO communication system in the quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) modulation format. A signal-preprocessing stage, which effectively avoided the repetitive operations found in traditional carrier recovery schemes, was proposed. Unlike in existing carrier recovery algorithms, the modulated phase of the received signal could be accurately removed using only the sum and subtraction of real absolute values in the signal-preprocessing stage, greatly reducing the complexity of the operation. Since this algorithm avoids the traditional fourth operation, the system’s complexity is reduced while additional noise generated by fourth cross-terms would be prevented and system noise immunity would be greatly enhanced. In addition, this algorithm uses joint compensation of phase errors in the final compensation stage, further reducing the complexity of the computation of the whole algorithmic scheme. A 10 Gbps QPSK CFSO communication transmission experiment was conducted in an atmospheric turbulence channel to verify the proposed technique and improvement in receiver sensitivity.