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Although human core body temperature is known to decrease with age, the age dependency of facial temperature and its potential to indicate aging rate or aging-related diseases remains uncertain. Here, we collected thermal facial images of 2,811 Han Chinese individuals 20–90 years old, developed the ThermoFace method to automatically process and analyze images, and then generated thermal age and disease prediction models. The ThermoFace deep learning model for thermal facial age has a mean absolute deviation of about 5 years in cross-validation and 5.18 years in an independent cohort. The difference between predicted and chronological age is highly associated with metabolic parameters, sleep time, and gene expression pathways like DNA repair, lipolysis, and ATPase in the blood transcriptome, and it is modifiable by exercise. Consistently, ThermoFace disease predictors forecast metabolic diseases like fatty liver with high accuracy (AUC > 0.80), with predicted disease probability correlated with metabolic parameters. [Display omitted] • Collected >2,800 thermal facial images and developed ThermoFace aging clock models • ThermoFace is related to metabolic indicators, DNA repair, ATPase, and lipolysis • ThermoFace aging rate increases with metabolic diseases and decreases with adequate sleep • ThermoFace can rapidly assess aging and metabolic diseases and intervention By collecting and analyzing thermal facial images, Yu et al. find that human facial temperature distribution contains information on aging and metabolic states and has potential for rapid screening of aging and metabolic disorders and for revealing intervention strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nitric oxide (NO), as a signal molecule, is involved in the mediation of heavy-metal-stress-induced physiological responses in plants. In this study, we investigated the effect of NO on Camellia sinensis pollen tubes exposed to aluminum (Al) stress. Exogenous application of the NO donor decreased the pollen germination rate and pollen tube length and increased the malondialdehyde (MDA) content and antioxidant enzyme activities under Al stress. Simultaneously, the NO donor effectively increased NO content in pollen tube of C. sinensis under Al stress and could aggravate the damage of Al3+ to C. sinensis pollen tubes by promoting the uptake of Al3+. In addition, application of the NO-specific scavenger significantly alleviated stress damage in C. sinensis pollen tube under Al stress. Moreover, 18 CsALMT members from a key Al-transporting gene family were identified, which could be divided into four subclasses. Pearson correlation analysis showed the expression level of CsALMT8 showed significant positive correlation with the Al3+ concentration gradient and NO levels, but a significant negative correlation with pollen germination rate and pollen tube length. The expression level of CsALMT5 was negatively correlated with the Al3+ concentration gradient and NO level, and positively correlated with pollen germination rate and pollen tube length. The expression level of CsALMT17 showed a significant negative correlation with Al3+ concentration and NO content in pollen tubes, but significant positive correlation with pollen germination rate and pollen tube length. In conclusion, a complex signal network regulated by NO-mediated CsALMTs revealed that CsALMT8 was regulated by environmental Al3+ and NO to assist Al3+ entry into pollen tubes; CsALMT5 might be influenced by the Al3+ signal, stimulate malate efflux in vacuoles and chelate with Al3+ to detoxify Al in C. sinensis pollen tube. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thermally chargeable supercapacitors (TCSCs) are emerging and promising devices that could convert thermal energy spontaneously existing in nature into electricity and then store energy for further utilization. Herein, this work reports on the freestanding 3D Ti3C2Tx MXene‐based TCSC, where lithium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide (LiTFSI), poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO), and polyvinylidene fluoride‐hexafluoropropylene (PVDF‐HFP) serve as gel electrolyte. Different from the semiconductor‐based thermoelectric materials, the fabricated Ti3C2Tx TCSC exhibits a high Seebeck coefficient of 78.4 mV K−1. Moreover, when applying a temperature difference (ΔT) of 5.8 K between the cold and hot sides, the Ti3C2Tx TCSC devices provide a stable high voltage of 400.6 mV. The charging/discharging cycles of the Ti3C2Tx TCSC devices upon periodic ΔT of 3.3 and 5.8 K demonstrate their excellent stability. To realize the practical application, the four Ti3C2Tx TCSCs devices connected in series are charged by supplying a ΔT of 5.8 K and used to power a digital timer, demonstrating the possibility and application of the TCSCs in self‐powered integrated electronics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND Water‐soluble fluoride (WS‐F) can be absorbed directly by tea plants from soil and comprises a major source of dietary F in tea consumers. To reveal the WS‐F accumulation in tea leaves and assess WS‐F health risks, 70 sets of samples including tea leaves at three maturity stages and corresponding topsoil were collected from Xinyang, China. The WS‐F contents in tea samples and pH values in soil samples were determined. RESULTS: The contents of WS‐F in tea leaves exhibited a positive correlation with leaf maturity. The contents of WS‐F in tea leaves showed a positive correlation with WS‐F contents in the soil as the soil pH value exceeds 5. All the bud with two leaves samples, 84.29% of the third to sixth leaves samples, and 78.57% mature leaves samples in 5‐min infusion tend to be no health threat. The leaching characteristics of WS‐F from tea leaves were influenced by the leaf maturity and soaking time. CONCLUSION: Taking measures to control pH and WS‐F concentration of plantations soil, as well as drinking tea infusion made from young leaves or reducing soaking time could decrease the WS‐F health risk. © 2021 Society of Chemical Industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) can infect pigs of all ages, especially piglets. PEDV has spread across Asia since the 1980s. The highly virulent variant PEDV broke out on a large scale and caused huge economic losses to the pig industry in late 2010 in China. Rapid detection methods with high specificity and sensitivity are urgently needed for the diagnosis and control of the disease. In this study, we divided the PEDV S1 gene into three segments and constructed the recombinant plasmids pFastBac1-S1T1 (aa 21–279), pFastBac1-S1T2 (aa 280–539) and pFastBac1-S1T3 (aa 540–788), which carry the different antigenic regions of the S1 gene. Truncated S1 proteins PEDV-S1T1/S1T2/S1T3 were obtained by a Bac-to-Bac expression system, with protein sizes of 36 kDa, 38 kDa and 38 kDa, respectively. Recombinant proteins presented high reactivity with the monoclonal antibody against PEDV and positive pig serum. Based on full-length S1 protein and these truncated proteins, we established indirect ELISA methods for the detection of PEDV IgA antibody. A total of 213 clinical serum samples were tested by the above indirect ELISA methods, and IFA was used as the gold standard. ROC curves revealed a significant correlation between S1-ELISA and S1T2-ELISA with a 0.9134 correlation coefficient and favourable sensitivity and specificity of S1-ELISA (93.24%, 95.68%) and S1T2-ELISA (89.33%, 94.16%). Our results also indicated that serum with higher neutralizing activity (SNT ≥ 40) had a higher IgA antibody level based on S1-ELISA, S1T1-ELISA and S1T2-ELISA. In conclusion, both S1-ELISA and S1T2-ELISA can be used as candidate systems for detecting anti-PEDV IgA antibody titers in serum, which can reflect the level of neutralizing activity in pigs after natural infection or vaccination. The above research results provide a basis for the prevention and control of PEDV and can be used in the detection of host anti-infective immunity and evaluation of vaccine immune effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fluoride (F) can be absorbed from the environment and hyperaccumulate in leaves of Camellia sinensis without exhibiting any toxic symptoms. Fluoride exporter in C. sinensis (CsFEX) could transport F to extracellular environment to alleviate F accumulation and F toxicity, but its functional mechanism remains unclear. Here, combining with pH condition of C. sinensis growth, the characteristics of CsFEX and mechanism of F detoxification were further explored. The results showed that F accumulation was influenced by various pH, and pH 4.5 and 6.5 had a greater impact on the F accumulation of C. sinensis. Through Non-invasive Micro-test Technology (NMT) detection, it was found that F uptake/accumulation of C. sinensis and Arabidopsis thaliana might be affected by pH through changing the transmembrane electrochemical proton gradient of roots. Furthermore, diverse expression patterns of CsFEX were induced by F treatment under different pH, which was basically up-regulated in response to high F accumulation, indicating that CsFEX was likely to participate in the process of F accumulation in C. sinensis and this process might be regulated by pH. Additionally, CsFEX functioned in the mitigation of F sensitivity and accumulation strengthened by lower pH in Escherichia coli and A. thaliana. Moreover, the changes of H+ flux and potential gradient caused by F were relieved as well in transgenic lines, also suggesting that CsFEX might play an important role in the process of F accumulation. Above all, F uptake/accumulation were alleviated in E. coli and A. thaliana by CsFEX through exporting F-, especially at lower pH, implying that CsFEX might regulate F accumulation in C. sinensis. [Display omitted] • pH affects F accumulation in Camellia sinensis. • CsFEX expression responds to F accumulation in tea plants at various pH. • F accumulation decreases with over-expression of CsFEX , especially at lower pH. • pH alters transmembrane electrochemical gradient of roots under F treatment. • CsFEX alleviates changes of H+ flux and potential gradient induced by F treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]