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Abstract We report a comprehensive evaluation of the toxin B (TcdB) vaccine adjuvanted with a dual Toll-like receptor ligand liposome adjuvant for Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI). The vaccine completely protected mice from a lethal infection. Compared to alum adjuvanted TcdB, it generated functionally superior systemic antibodies and supported strong memory B cell and gut IgA responses. This pharmaceutically acceptable adjuvant platform holds promise for developing a next-generation CDI vaccine.

Entamoeba histolytica, the causative agent of amebiasis, is one of the top three parasitic causes of mortality worldwide. However, no vaccine exists against amebiasis. Using a lead candidate vaccine containing the LecA fragment of Gal-lectin and GLA-3M-052 liposome adjuvant, we immunized rhesus macaques via intranasal or intramuscular routes. The vaccine elicited high-avidity functional humoral responses as seen by the inhibition of amebic attachment to mammalian target cells by plasma and stool antibodies. Importantly, antigen-specific IFN-γ-secreting peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and IgG/IgA memory B cells (BMEM) were detected in immunized animals. Furthermore, antigen-specific antibody and cellular responses were maintained for at least 8 months after the final immunization as observed by robust LecA-specific BMEM as well as IFN-γ+ PBMC responses. Overall, both intranasal and intramuscular immunizations elicited a durable and functional response in systemic and mucosal compartments, which supports advancing the LecA+GLA-3M-052 liposome vaccine candidate to clinical testing.

The forming, microstructure, mechanical properties and corrosion resistance of three kinds of vacuum electron beam welded joints with different shapes were studied. The results of X-ray inspection of the joints showed that the three shapes of welded joints could meet the requirements of the quality inspection. The results of microstructure characterization show that the worm or bone-like δ-ferrite appears in the upper and lower regions of the funnel-shaped and bell-shaped joints, while only a small amount of δ-ferrite appears in the local regions of the nail-shaped joints. The test results of mechanical properties show that the micro-hardness of the weld center in the three kinds of shaped joints is the lowest. All the specimens fracture in the weld, and the bell-shaped weld presents the highest impact energy and bending load. Funnel-shaped weld shows the worst corrosion resistance due to the element segregation of the weld. Thus, the bell-shaped joint exhibits the best comprehensive performance.

This paper presents a comprehensive review of the intelligent algorithms (IAs) based optimization of electric vehicle (EV) wireless charging. First, a general overview of EV wireless charging system is introduced in terms of the compensation circuit, coupling coils, and control strategies, followed by the potential application of IAs. Then, the optimization target, parameter optimization, and structure design of the compensation topologies based on IAs are elaborately expounded by citing current research findings. Subsequently, the IAs are deeply explored for optimizing the systematic parameters, structural geometries, and coupling coils. Then, the IA-based research on the control strategies in the wireless charging system is discussed in detail from three aspects, including power controlling, efficiency optimizing, and parameter tracking. Finally, the prospects for the application of IAs to the EV wireless charging system are summarized and delineated. This paper will be highly beneficial to research entities as a ready reference for the wireless charging system of EVs, with information on IA-based system design.

Thermal effects are ubiquitous in high-quality resonators and microcomb-based high precision measurements. We present a stability analysis of the thermodynamics in a driven Kerr microresonator theoretically and numerically, using the thermal Lugiato-Lefever model. We analyze the spatial bifurcation structure and existence range of stationary states depending on the thermal parameters. Our study shows that, the thermal effect causes the original bifurcation structure to change from Hamiltonian-Hopf bifurcation to Belyakov-Devaney bifurcation. In addition, a stability map of various stationary regions in the parameter space of cavity detuning and the pump power is achieved through numerical simulations of thermal Lugiato–Lefever equation, and we propose a deterministic route to obtain the stable cavity soliton state avoiding the chaotic and unstable regions under the influence of thermal effects. Our approach has potential value for obtaining stable solitary Kerr comb sources under practical conditions.

This paper proposes an improved algorithm based on the phase extraction of the Moiré fringe for wafer-mask alignment in nanoimprint lithography. The algorithm combines the strengths of the two-dimensional fast Fourier transform (2D-FFT) and two-dimensional window Fourier filtering (2D-WFF) to quickly and accurately extract the fundamental frequencies of interest, eliminate noise in the fundamental frequency band by using the threshold of the local spectrum, and effectively suppress spectral leakage by using a Gaussian window with outstanding sidelobe characteristics while overcoming their limitations, such as avoiding the time-consuming parameter adjustment. The phase extraction accuracy determines the misalignment measurement accuracy, and the alignment accuracy is enhanced to the nanometer level, which is 15.8% and 6.6% higher than 2D-FFT and 2D-WFF, respectively. The results of simulations and experiments confirm the feasibility and rationality of the algorithm.

Based on the mining of micro- and macro-relationships of genetic variation and brain imaging data, imaging genetics has been widely applied in the early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, effective integration of prior knowledge remains a barrier to determining the biological mechanism of AD. This paper proposes a new connectivity-based orthogonal sparse joint non-negative matrix factorization (OSJNMF-C) method based on integrating the structural magnetic resonance image, single nucleotide polymorphism and gene expression data of AD patients; the correlation information, sparseness, orthogonal constraint and brain connectivity information between the brain image data and genetic data are designed as constraints in the proposed algorithm, which efficiently improved the accuracy and convergence through multiple iterative experiments. Compared with the competitive algorithm, OSJNMF-C has significantly smaller related errors and objective function values than the competitive algorithm, showing its good anti-noise performance. From the biological point of view, we have identified some biomarkers and statistically significant relationship pairs of AD/mild cognitive impairment (MCI), such as rs75277622 and BCL7A, which may affect the function and structure of multiple brain regions. These findings will promote the prediction of AD/MCI.

Micro-light-emitting diodes (micro-LEDs) with high modulation rates and low power consumption could attract growing attention as visible light communication (VLC) technology advances. The designed and fabricated semi-polar micro-LEDs have achieved high bandwidth at low current injection due to the reduced quantum-confined Stark effect (QCSE), which was significantly greater than that of typical c-plane at the same current injection. Semi-polar green micro-LEDs got a −3 dB bandwidth that surpasses 500 MHz and 1 GHz at low current densities of 43.8 A/cm2 and 120.6 A/cm2, while blue micro-LEDs exceed 500 MHz at low current densities of 76.6 A/cm2, respectively. Additionally, the free space VLC system has shown semi-polar blue and green micro-LED transmission data rates of 3.495 Gbps (433 A/cm2) and 3.483 Gbps (402 A/cm2) respectively. Semi-polar micro-LEDs, which can achieve low power consumption and high bandwidth, are anticipated to play a significant role in the development of energy-efficient VLC in the future.

Precipitation nowcasting is very important for the sectors which critically depend on timely and accurate weather information. One of the challenges of precipitation nowcasting is radar echo extrapolation which predicts the radar echo images accurately. Nowadays, the methods of radar echo extrapolation are mostly based on ConvRNNs. Unfortunately, as lead time increases, these methods unavoidably suffer from the problem that high reflectivity values are underestimated. Therefore, we propose a forecast-refinement neural network based on DyConvGRU and U-Net to improve the predicting ability for high reflectivity during radar echo extrapolation. To improve the model’s ability to predict high reflectivities, dynamic convolution, and the forecast-refinement architecture are applied. And to obtain more realistic results, the WGAN’s training strategy is adopted to train the forecast module and the refinement module. Through experiments on a radar dataset from Shanghai, China, the results show that our proposed method obtains higher Probability of Detection (POD), Critical Success Index (CSI), Heidke Skill Score (HSS), and lower False Alarm Rate(FAR).

GaN-based micro light-emitting diode (LED) has gradually become one of the promising light sources for visible light communication (VLC), of which high modulation bandwidth has been demonstrated. In order to acquire high speed and high brightness for VLC application, the modulation bandwidth and optical performance of micro-LEDs were investigated in series and parallel in this work. The electrical characteristics, optical characteristics and communication characteristics of single-pixel, 2-pixel, 4-pixel series and parallel green micro-LEDs with different pixel sizes were systematically tested. High modulation bandwidth as much as 1.4 GHz was acquired by using 10 μm micro-LEDs with 4-pixel in parallel. It is found that parallel micro-LED array can achieve higher modulation bandwidth, higher brightness and higher stability as well, which can be used as the preferred mode for the development of micro-LED based VLC.

Graph Convolutional Network (GCN) excels at EEG recognition by capturing brain connections, but previous studies neglect the important EEG feature itself. In this study, we propose MSFR-GCN, a multi-scale feature reconstruction GCN for recognizing emotion and cognition tasks. Specifically, MSFR-GCN includes the MSFR and feature-pool characteristically, with the MSFR consisting of two sub-modules, multi-scale Squeeze-and-Excitation (MSSE) and multi-scale sample re-weighting (MSSR). MSSE assigns weights to channels and frequency bands based on their separate statistical information, while MSSR assigns sample weights based on combined channel and frequency information. The feature-pool, which pools across the feature dimension, is applied after GCN to retain EEG channel information. The MSFR-GCN achieves excellent results in emotion recognition when first tested on two public datasets, SEED and SEED-IV. Than the MSFR-GCN is tested on our self-collected Emotion and Cognition EEG dataset (ECED) for both emotion and cognition classification tasks. The results show MSFR-GCN’s good performance in emotion and cognition classification tasks and reveal the implicit relationship between the two, which may provide aid in the rehabilitation of people with cognitive impairments from an emotional perspective.

Abstract Introduction Sepsis is characterized by an endotoxin tolerance phenotype that occurs in the stage of infection. Persistent bacterial infection can lead to immune cell exhaustion. Triad3A, an E3 ubiquitin ligase, negatively regulates its activation by TLR4. However, the effect of Triad3A on endotoxin tolerance and bactericidal ability in the state of endotoxin tolerance remains unclear. Methods Using single dose LPS and repeated LPS stimulated macrophage cell lines at indicated times, we investigated miR‐191, Tirad3A, TRAF3, TLR4, p‐P65, TNF‐α, IL‐1β, and iNOS expression, the effect of miR‐191 on Triad3A and TRAF3, gene loss‐of‐function analyses, the effect of Triad3A on TLR4, p‐P65, cytokine, and mycobactericidal activity in endotoxin tolerant cells infected with Mycobacterium marinum. Results Here we found that Triad3A is involved in regulating endotoxin tolerance. Our result also displayed that miR‐191 expression is downregulated in macrophages in the state of endotoxin tolerance. miR‐191 can directly bind to Triad3A and TRAF3. Additionally, knockdown of Triad3A can reverse the effect of decreasing TNF‐α and IL‐1β in endotoxin tolerant macrophages. Furthermore, we demonstrated that the TLR4‐NF‐κB‐NO pathway was associated with Triad3A and responsible for the killing of intracellular mycobacteria in a tuberculosis sepsis model. Conclusions These results provide new insight into the mechanisms of Triad3A induced tolerogenic phenotype in macrophages, which can help the better comprehension of the pathogenesis involved in septic shock with infection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, and suggest that Triad3A may be a potential drug target for the treatment of severe septic tuberculosis.

Abstract Various investigations have expanded the views that tuberculosis is an important risk factor for lung cancer occurrence. Lung cancer originates from chronic inflammation and infection. It is becoming clearer that Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M.tb) in tuberculosis patients meticulously schemes multiple mechanisms to induce tumor formation and is indispensable to participate in the occurrence of lung cancer. In addition, some additional factors such as age, sex and smoking, accelerate the development of lung cancer after Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection. The clarification of these insights is fostering new diagnoses and therapeutic approaches to prevention of the patients developing from tuberculosis into lung cancer.

This paper proposes a novel coupling structure wireless power transfer (WPT) technology for improving the charging and recharging efficiency between electric vehicles (EVs) in the case that the transmitting and receiving coils are not exactly aligned. During the process of wireless power transmission, if the relative position of the coils located on each objective is randomly changed, a change in the mutual inductance occurs, which critically leads to fluctuation in the WPT system output. In order to improve the tolerance of the EV WPT system, considering coupling structure misalignment and the deflection caused by relative location changes, a double-layer coupling structure with solenoid pads and double-D pads (SP-DDP coupling structure) is designed for deployment on the side of EVs. Then, the coupling structure is developed through parametrized optimization. Finally, the established coupling structure is evaluated through simulations and an experiment using a prototype, the results of which demonstrate that the proposed coupling structure can achieve good anti-misalignment and anti-deflection performance, realizing a system efficiency of 92.65% and an output power of 192.02 W for the designed EV WPT system.

Abstract Scratches on cine-film significantly affect the quality of projected film images forming blackness or brightness. Only blackness can be restored by restoration dispersion. However, why the scratches can or can not be restored is unknown. Herein, unscratched and scratched films were selected, treated with restoration dispersion and investigated from composition and microstructure and its interaction with light. Both superficial and penetrating scratches make film rough and the applying of restoration dispersion decreases the roughness. The darkness in the projected film image resulted by superficial scratch can be restored by restoration dispersion through reducing light scattering, while the brightness induced by penetrating scratch can not be restored by restoration dispersion due to the removal of emulsion layer. This investigation is beneficial for developing new restoration dispersion to improve the quality of projected film images.

Abstract Background There is a global focus on illness diagnosis in smear-negative and latent tuberculosis infectious populations (SN-TB and LTBI). CD27 has been suggested to play a direct role in active TB. Little is known about smear-negative individuals. Here, we tried to investigate whether it has a role in smear-negative populations. The expression of CD27 and MTB-specific CD27 in CD4+ T cells (“CD27−CD4+” and “CD27−IFN-γ+CD4+”) was evaluated in MTB-unexposed controls (HC), TB contacts (TB-C) and SN-TB individuals by flow cytometry. The sensitivity, specificity and AUC (area under curve) of “CD27−IFN-γ+CD4+” cells to distinguish SN-TBs from HCs and TB-Cs were determined by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. The clinical index was selected from the clinical laboratory and evaluated for correlation with “CD27−IFN-γ+CD4+” cells by Spearman statistical analysis. Results We observed that the percentages of “CD27−IFN-γ+CD4+” cells were significantly increased in the SN-TB group compared with the HC and TB-C groups (AUC was 0.88, sensitivity was 82.14%, specificity was 80.00%, and P 50 years group, after clinical treatment. Conclusion The present results demonstrated that the percentage of “CD27−IFN-γ+CD4+” cells might be a conceivable molecular indicator in the diagnosis of SN-TB and was influenced by its outcome of therapy.

Abstract Background Tuberculosis (TB) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) are global health diseases with high morbidity and mortality. Few studies have focused on platelet indices in TB-DM coinfection patients. The objective of this work was to analyze the platelet indices in TB, DM and TB-DM patients to assess the predictive value of the platelet index for the risk of these diseases. Methods In total, 246 patients admitted to our hospital were distributed into three groups (113 TB, 59 DM and 74 TB + DM). A total of 133 individuals were also recruited as healthy controls (HC). Platelet indices, namely, platelet count (PC), mean platelet volume (MPV), plateletcrit (PCT) and platelet distribution width (PDW), were compared among the four groups, and the relationship with inflammatory markers was explored by using statistical software. Results Our study discovered that MPV and PCT were significantly downregulated in TB + DM patients (9.95 ± 1.25 fL, 0.20 ± 0.05%, P 0.05). The sensitivity and specificity of MPV in the differential diagnosis of DM patients vs TB + DM patients were 64.9 and 66.1% (P 0.05, respectively). Conclusions Our research shows that MPV and PCT might be good clinical laboratory markers to distinguish TB + DM patients from TB or DM individuals, thus providing support for earlier clinical diagnosis, prevention, and therapy.

Abstract Background Long non-coding RNA growth arrest specific 5 (GAS5) is a regulator in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) progression. Nonetheless, the mechanism by which GAS5 exerts its biological function in NSCLC cells remains unclear. Methods GAS5, miR-221-3p relative expression levels in NSCLC tissues and cells were examined by qPCR. After gain-of-function and loss-of-function models were established, the viability of H1299 and A549 cells were examined by CCK-8 and EdU assays. Cell migration and invasion were examined by the Transwell experiment. The binding sequence of GAS5 for miR-221-3p was confirmed by the dual-luciferase reporter gene experiment. The regulatory function of GAS5 and miR-221-3p on IRF2 was investigated by Western blot. Results GAS5 expression was down-modulated in NSCLC tissues and cell lines. GAS5 overexpression restrained the proliferation, migration and invasion of NSCLC cells, while miR-221-3p, which was targeted and negatively modulated by GAS5, worked oppositely. Restoration of miR-221-3p markedly reversed the effects of GAS5 on NSCLC cells. Additionally, GAS5 increased IRF2 expression in NSCLC cells by repressing miR-221-3p. Conclusions GAS5 blocks the progression of NSCLC partly via increasing IRF2 expression level via repressing miR-221-3p.

ABSTRACT Sputum smear microscopy for tuberculosis diagnosis has stood the test of time. However, due to its low sensitivity, the positive detection rate for tuberculosis in clinical specimens is not high. To improve the sensitivity of microscopic observation in Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) detection, we developed the MTB-specific aptamer MA1. To further improve the binding reactivity of MA1 with MTB, we constructed a new derivative aptamer with a pocket-stem-loop-structure, MA1-39, and identified it to have high binding reactivity with the MTB reference strain. We developed an aptamer fluorescence microscopy test for MTB based on MA1-39 and evaluated its feasibility for diagnosing pulmonary tuberculosis. Among 56 tested strains, MA1-39 was proven to effectively discriminate MTB from the control strains, including 12 non-tuberculosis mycobacterial (NTM) reference strains, 6 NTM isolates, and 7 other bacteria. Next, this approach was applied to 169 clinical sputum samples from suspected tuberculosis patients and non-tuberculosis controls. Molecular tests together with both clinical and bacteriological identification were used as a protocol to evaluate the efficacy of aptamer detection. Compared with the traditional acid-fast staining light microscope, the aptamer fluorescence microscope showed a higher detection rate for MTB in clinical specimens (48.8% versus 32.6%), and the specificities of the two techniques had almost no significant difference (90.4% versus 94%). In addition, aptamer fluorescence microscopy showed the same positive predictive value (PPV) as staining (84% versus 84.9%), but a higher negative predictive value (NPV; 63% versus 57.3%). In conclusion, the newly established aptamer fluorescence microscopy approach is likely to be a feasible method for microbiological diagnosis of tuberculosis. IMPORTANCE We established an aptamer fluorescence microscopy approach for rapid detection of MTB in clinical sputum samples. The use of aptamer probes was proven to significantly increase the sensitivity of sputum smear microscopy. In resource-limited countries, microscopy is currently a fast, simple, and very common test method in many laboratories, and it will remain the primary means of microbiological diagnosis of tuberculosis in the foreseeable future. Improving detection techniques can further enhance the clinical application value of this ancient diagnostic method. Since aptamer fluorescence microscopy can provide rapid and sensitive results, it may be a feasible and useful method in resource-limited settings.

Electroencephalogram (EEG)-based tools for brain functional connectivity (FC) analysis and visualization play an important role in evaluating brain cognitive function. However, existing similar FC analysis tools are not only visualized in 2 dimensions (2D) but also are highly prone to cause visual clutter and unable to dynamically reflect brain connectivity changes over time. Therefore, we design and implement an EEG-based FC visualization framework in this study, named EEG-FCV, for brain cognitive state evaluation. EEG-FCV is composed of three parts: the Data Processing module, Connectivity Analysis module, and Visualization module. Specially, FC is visualized in 3 dimensions (3D) by introducing three existing metrics: Pearson Correlation Coefficient (PCC), Coherence, and PLV. Furthermore, a novel metric named Comprehensive is proposed to solve the problem of visual clutter. EEG-FCV can also visualize dynamically brain FC changes over time. Experimental results on two available datasets show that EEG-FCV has not only results consistent with existing related studies on brain FC but also can reflect dynamically brain FC changes over time. We believe EEG-FCV could prompt further progress in brain cognitive function evaluation.

GaN-based Micro-LED has been widely regarded as the most promising candidate for next generation of revolutionary display technology due to its advantages of high efficiency, high brightness and high stability. However, the typical micro-fabrication process would leave a great number of damages on the sidewalls of LED pixels, especially for Micro-LEDs, thus reducing the light emitting efficiency. In this paper, sidewall passivation methods were optimized by using acid-base wet etching and SiO2 layer passivation. The optical and electrical characteristics of optimized Micro-LEDs were measured and analyzed. The internal quantum efficiency (IQE) of Micro-LED was increased to 85.4%, and the reverse leakage current was reduced down to 10−13 A at −5 V. Optimized sidewall passivation can significantly reduce the non-radiative recombination centers, improving the device performance and supporting the development of high-resolution Micro-LED display.

Short-term folate deficiency has been linked to cognitive defects. Given folate's role in regulating nucleotide synthesis and DNA and histone methylation, these changes are often linked to altered gene expression and might be controlled by specific regulatory networks. In our study we examined the effects of folic acid (FA) deficient or replete diets in mice, containing either no source of folate or normal FA intake, beginning post-weaning and persisting through the end of adult life at 18 months. Our goal was to assess levels of cognition in these mice using the novel object test and then connect the cognitive results to genetic changes. FA deficient mice showed significant memory impairment compared to control counterparts beginning at 5 months and persisting through 17 months, as determined by the novel object test. These deficits were associated with 363 significantly downregulated and 101 significantly upregulated genes in the deficient condition compared to the control condition in microarray analysis of hippocampal tissue. Many of these gene expression changes were determined to be specific to the hippocampus. Significant ontological categories for differential genes included nucleotide regulation, ion channel activity, and MAPK signaling; while some of these categories contain genes previously mapped to cognitive decline, other genes have not previously been associated with cognition. To determine proteins possibly involved in regulation of these genes, we performed bioinformatics analysis and found enriched motifs of for MafB and Zfp410 binding sites. These genes and enriched motifs may represent targets for treatment or investigation of memory-related diseases.

Mass concentration is a commonly used but insufficient metric to evaluate the particulate matter (PM) exposure hazard. Recent studies have declared that small particles have more serious impacts on human health than big particles given the same mass concentration. However, state-of-the-art PM sensors cannot provide explicit information of the particle size for further analysis. In this work, we adopt Sauter mean diameter (SMD) as a key metric to reflect the particle size besides the mass concentration. To measure SMD, an effective optical sensing method and a proof-of-concept prototype sensor are proposed by using dual wavelengths technology. In the proposed method, a non-linear conversion model is developed to improve the SMD measurement accuracy for aerosol samples of different particle size distributions and reflective indices based on multiple scattering channels. In the experiment of Di-Ethyl-Hexyl-Sebacate (DEHS) aerosols, the outputs of our prototype sensor demonstrated a good agreement with existing laboratory reference instruments with maximum SMD measurement error down to 7.04%. Furthermore, the simplicity, feasibility and low-cost features of this new method present great potential for distributed PM monitoring, to support sophisticated human exposure hazard assessment.

Genetic risk loci for tuberculosis (TB) have so far been identified in African and Russian populations. Here, the authors perform a three-stage GWAS for TB in Han Chinese populations and find two risk loci near ESRRB and TGM6 and further demonstrate that tgm6 protects mice from Mtb infection.

Micro-light emitting diodes (Micro-LEDs) based on III-nitride semiconductors have become a research hotspot in the field of high-resolution display due to its unique advantages. However, the edge effect caused by inductively coupled plasma (ICP) dry etching in Micro-LEDs become significant with respect to the decreased chip size, resulting in a great reduction in device performance. In this article, sector-shaped GaN-based blue Micro-LEDs are designed and fabricated. Additionally, the device performance of different size Micro-LEDs with passivation are investigated with respect to those without passivation. Several methods have been applied to minimize the etching damage near the edge, including acid-base wet etching and SiO2 passivation layer growth. The room temperature photoluminescence (PL) results demonstrate that the light emission intensity of Micro-LEDs can be significantly enhanced by optimized passivation process. PL mapping images show that the overall luminescence of properly passivated Micro-LEDs is enhanced, the uniformity is improved, and the effective luminescence area is increased. The recombination lifetime of carriers in Micro-LEDs are increased by the usage of passivation process, which proves the reduction in non-radiative recombination centers in Micro-LEDs and improved luminescence efficiency. As a result, the internal quantum efficiency (IQE) is improved from 14.9% to 37.6% for 10 μm Micro-LEDs, and from 18.3% to 26.9% for 5 μm Micro-LEDs.

The efficient capture and storage radioactive iodine (129I or 131I) formed during the extensive use of nuclear energy is of paramount importance. Therefore, it is a great deal to design and empolder new adsorbents for effectively disposing of iodine from nuclear waste. In this work, we presented a novel covalent organic polymer (JLUE-COP-3) constructed through heterostructural mixed linkers with perforated porousness, plenty of π-conjugated phenyl rings and functional –CO–NH– and –SO3H groups to iodine adsorption process. After fully characterizing the morphology and structure, the adsorption behavior of iodine by the resultant polymers were explored in detail. The external adsorption behavior was determined to obey the pseudo-second order kinetic model according to the kinetic analysis. The maximum liquid adsorption capacity was obtained to reach 153.85 mg/g at 298 K, which was evaluated by the Langmuir isotherm model. In addition, the negative attributes of ΔG° as well as the positive attributes of ΔH° and ΔS° at three temperatures indicated the nature of the iodine adsorption over JLUE-COP-3 was spontaneous and endothermic. The current study could look forward to making great contributions to the facile fabrication of late-model three-component POP materials and their applications in treatment of nuclear waste.

Abstract Background In the process of hepatic fibrosis, hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) can be activated by many inflammatory cytokines. The transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) is one of the main profibrogenic mediators. Recently, some studies have also shown that microRNAs (miRNAs) play essential roles in the progress of liver fibrosis by being involved in the differentiation, fat metabolism and ECM production of HSCs. Methods The expression of miR-454 in LX-2 cells treated with TGF-β1 and in the fibrotic livers with Schistosoma japonicum infection was detected by qRT-PCR. The role of miR-454 on LX-2 cells was then analyzed by Western blot, flow cytometry and luciferase assay. Results The results showed that the expression of miR-454 was down-regulated in the TGF-β1-treated LX-2 cells and miR-454 could inhibit the activation of HSCs by directly targeting Smad4. However, we found that miR-454 had no effect on cell cycle and cell proliferation in TGF-β1-treated LX-2. Besides these, miR-454 was found to be regulated in the process of Schistosoma japonicum infection. Conclusions All the results suggested that miR-454 could provide a novel therapeutic approach for treating liver fibrosis, especially the liver fibrosis induced by Schistosoma japonicum.

Apoptosis-related protein in the TGF-β signaling pathway (ARTS) is an unusual mitochondrial Septin-like protein which functions as a tumor suppressor. There are various splice variants derived from the human Septin4 gene, one of which is ARTS, also known as Septin4_i2. Unlike other Septin4 members, ARTS can induce apoptosis in many cells, however, the underlying molecular mechanism for the transcriptional regulation of ARTS has yet to be deciphered. In this study, we attempted to analyze the promoter region of ARTS in cultured HEK-293T and LX-2 cells with the purpose of elucidating the underlying transcriptional mechanisms driving ARTS expression. We effectively demonstrated that the -824 to -5 bp region of the ARTS promoter was essential for ARTS transcription and identified four putative specificity protein 1 (Sp1) binding sites within this core promoter region. ChIP analysis showed that Sp1 protein could bind to two of these sites (-735/-718 and -173/-157) and mutation of each Sp1 binding site led to a significant decrease in ARTS promoter activity. In conclusion, all the results indicated that the Sp1 transcription factor could contribute to ARTS gene transcription. The underlying molecular events of the specific promoter of ARTS could also be used to explain why ARTS is selectively silenced during some human diseases. This would provide basis for further study on the function of ARTS on cell apoptosis.

The induction of hepatic stellate cell (HSC) apoptosis has potential as a potent strategy to diminish the progression of liver fibrosis. Previous studies have demonstrated the ability of soluble egg antigens (SEA) from schistosomes to inhibit HSC activation and to induce apoptosis in vitro. In this study, we aimed to explore the mechanism of SEA-induced apoptosis in HSCs.In this study, we found that SEA could upregulate p53 and DR5 and downregulate the p-Akt. The apoptosis of HSCs induced by SEA could be reduced in HSCs that were treated with p53-specific siRNA and in HSCs that were treated with DR5-specific shRNA. In addition, GW501516, which enhances the expression of Akt, could also decrease the SEA-induced HSC apoptosis. We also found that the increased expression of p53 and DR5 induced by SEA through Mdm2 were reduced by GW501516.Our data suggest that SEA can induce HSC apoptosis by downregulating Akt expression and upregulating p53-dependent DR5 expression.