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This study evaluated the protein identification capabilities of the Top14 high-abundance protein removal kit (Top14) and the DMB MagicOmics low-abundance enrichment kit (DMB) on serum samples from healthy individuals (HC) and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients. For HC samples, DMB treatment led to identifying 2.6 times proteins more than Top14 and 3.9 times more than untreated samples. For HCC samples, DMB achieved 3.7 times increase in protein identification over Top14 and 6.2 times increase over untreated samples. Although the Top14 kit was effective in removing high-abundance proteins, it was less proficient in detecting low-abundance proteins when compared to the DMB method. In terms of protein identification frequency, the DMB-treated samples had a significantly higher number of quantifiable proteins than both the Top14 and Blank groups. Over 50% of the proteins identified in the Top14 and Blank groups were also identified in the DMB group, ensuring a comprehensive proteome coverage as evidenced by KEGG analysis. The DMB method significantly outperformed the others in HCC serum samples, identifying 47 differentially expressed (DE) proteins, in contrast to 15 and 17 identified of the Top14 group and untreated samples, respectively, highlighting its superior ability to uncover critical biomarkers for disease analysis. KEGG pathway analysis showed that DE proteins identified by DMB were involved in 21 distinct pathways, significantly more than 5 and 1 pathways identified by Top14 group and untreated samples, demonstrating DMB’s advanced proteomic profiling capability. This study also underscored HSP90AB1, SPP1, ACTR3, SNCA, PECAM1, and SRC proteins increased in HCC serum samples based on DMB method, marking them as promising HCC biomarkers for disease screening.

In future regenerative medicine, far-infrared radiation (FIR) may be an essential component of optical therapy. Many studies have confirmed or validated the efficacy and safety of FIR in various diseases, benefiting from new insights into FIR mechanisms and the excellent performance of many applications. However, the lack of consensus on the biological effects and therapeutic parameters of FIR limits its practical applications in the clinic. In this review, the definition, characteristics, and underlying principles of the FIR are systematically illustrated. We outline the therapeutic parameters of FIR, including the wavelength range, power density, irradiation time, and distance. In addition, the biological effects, potential molecular mechanisms, and preclinical and clinical applications of FIR are discussed. Furthermore, the future development and applications of FIR are described in this review. By applying optimal therapeutic parameters, FIR can influence various cells, animal models, and patients, eliciting diverse underlying mechanisms and offering therapeutic potential for many diseases. FIR could represent a superior alternative with broad prospects for application in future regenerative medicine.

The eyes are highly susceptible to the oxidative stress induced by ultraviolet B (UVB, wavelength between 280 ∼ 320 nm), which could cause severe damage to the cornea. Fullerenols are effective antioxidants to alleviate UVB-induced injury, while their application for the eyes is still rare. In present study, we investigated the protective performance and mechanism of fullerenols on cornea under UVB radiation in vivo and in vitro. The synthesized fullerenols exhibited broad-spectrum free radical scavenging properties (applicable to both reactive oxygen species (ROS) and reactive nitrogen species (RNS)) and photo-stability. When compared with another widely used antioxidant glutathione (GSH), the administration of fullerenols markedly decreased the injured area, corneal edema, cell death, and increased the cell proliferation in UVB-induced rat cornea. The effects of fullerenols were confirmed in UVB-exposed human corneal epithelial cells (hCECs), where elevated cell viability and proliferation, decreased oxidative free radical production, repaired mitochondrial dysfunction and DNA lesions were observed. RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) analysis demonstrated that fullerenol alleviated UVB-induced corneal injury through down-regulation of oxidative stress-related genes and up-regulation of proliferation-associated genes. Our results demonstrate the suitability of fullerenols as a potential exogenous treatment in ameliorating UVB-induced cornea damage.

Nanotechnology has been developed rapidly in recent decades and widely applied in ocular disease therapy. Nano-drug delivery systems overcome the bottlenecks of current ophthalmic drug delivery and are characterized with strong biocompatibility, stability, efficiency, sustainability, controllability, and few side effects. Nanoparticles have been identified as a promising and generally safe ophthalmic drug-delivery system based on the toxicity assessment in animals. Previous studies have found that common nanoparticles can be toxic to the cornea, conjunctiva, and retina under certain conditions. Because of the species differences between humans and animals, advanced in vitro cell culture techniques, such as human organoids, can mimic the human organism to a certain extent, bringing nanoparticle toxicity assessment to a new stage. This review summarizes the advanced application of nanoparticles in ocular drug delivery and the potential toxicity, as well as some of the current challenges and future opportunities in nanotoxicological evaluation.

Conventional repairing methods for asphalt pavement have some inconveniences, such as insufficient strength, and are typically time-consuming. To address these issues, this study proposes a new technological method to design and prepare a high-performance assembled asphalt concrete block for fast repair of the potholes. A series of composite modified asphalt binders with 10% crumb rubber (CR) and different dosages (0%, 1%, 3%, 5%) of polyurethane (PU) are examined to determine the optimized binder. Subsequently, the corresponding asphalt mixtures are prepared for further comparison and assessment of engineering properties, such as moistureinduced damage, high-temperature deformation, and low-temperature cracking characteristics. The test results show that PU can significantly improve the high-temperature performance and hardness of (crumb rubber modified asphalt) CRMA binder; 3% PU contributes allowing the resistance of CRMA mixture to moisture-induced damage at higher levels, particularly under water whole immersion; as 3% PU is added, the high-temperature rutting deformation resistance of the CRMA mixture increases significantly, and the low-temperature anti-cracking properties are also improved slightly. Therefore, the innovatively designed high-quality assembled fast-repairing asphalt concrete block is recommended as an appropriate option for highway maintenance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As one of the most important limiting factors of grassland productivity, drought is predicted to increase in intensity and frequency. Greenhouse studies suggest that arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) can improve plant drought resistance. However, whether AMF can improve plant drought resistance in field conditions and whether the effects of AMF on drought resistance differ among plants with different photosynthetic pathways remain unclear. To evaluate the effect of indigenous AMF on plant drought resistance, an in situ rainfall exclusion experiment was conducted in a temperate meadow in northeast China. The results showed that AMF significantly reduced the negative effects of drought on plant growth. On average, AMF enhanced plant biomass, photosynthetic rate (A), stomatal conductance (gs), intrinsic water use efficiency (iWUE), and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity of the C3 species Leymus chinensis by 58, 63, 38, 15, and 45%, respectively, and reduced levels of malondialdehyde (MDA) by 32% under light and moderate drought (rainfall exclusion of 30 and 50%, respectively). However, under extreme drought (rainfall exclusion of 70%), AMF elevated only aboveground biomass and catalase (CAT) activities. Averagely, AMF increased the aboveground biomass, A, and CAT activity of Hemarthria altissima (C4) by 37, 28, and 30%, respectively, under light and moderate droughts. The contribution of AMF to plant drought resistance was higher for the C3 species than that for the C4 species under both light and moderate drought conditions. The results highlight potential photosynthetic type differences in the magnitude of AMF-associated enhancement in plant drought resistance. Therefore, AMF may determine plant community structure under future climate change scenarios by affecting the drought resistance of different plant functional groups.

Cooling rate is a key factor that can drastically affect the phase transformation and thermal stress of duplex stainless steels. Therefore, in this research, different sand moulds were used to explore the influence of cooling rate on the solidification of the 2304 duplex stainless steel (DSS). The macro and micro structures of the 2304 DSS were investigated. Small equiaxed grains are obtained in chromite sand mould sample with a lower pouring temperature and a higher cooling rate, whereas coarse columnar and equiaxed grains are found in silica sand and refractory powder mould samples. The size of austenite phase is significantly increased with decreasing cooling rate, while the ferrite phase content ranging from 51.6% to 53.9% does not change obviously. In addition, the linear contraction of the 2304 DSS decreases from 2.34% to 1.09% when the mean cooling rate above 1,173 K increases from 0.99 K·s-1 to 3.66 K·s-1.