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Huangqi Guizhi Wuwu Decoction (HQGZWWD) has shown promising potential in treating various cardiovascular diseases. This study aimed to elucidate the molecular basis and therapeutic role of HQGZWWD in the treatment of doxorubicin (DOX)-induced myocardial injury. The HPLC fingerprint of HQGZWWD was used to analyze the active components. A DOX-induced myocardial damage rat model was developed, and the therapeutic effects of HQGZWWD were evaluated using echocardiography, myocardial enzyme levels, and hematoxylin and eosin staining. Network pharmacology was used to screen treatment targets, and western blotting and immunohistochemistry were performed to assess cellular pyroptosis levels. Oxidative stress levels were measured using assay kits, and mitochondrial damage was examined using transmission electron microscopy. An in vitro model of DOX-induced cell damage was established, and treatment was administered using serum containing HQGZWWD and N-acetylcysteine (NAC). Oxidative stress levels were detected using assay kits and DCFH-DA, whereas cellular pyroptosis levels were assessed through WB, immunofluorescence, and ELISA assays. HQGZWWD ameliorated DOX-induced myocardial injury. Network pharmacology identified IL-1β and IL-18 as crucial targets. HQGZWWD downregulated the protein levels of the inflammatory factors IL-1β and IL-18, inhibited the expression of GSDMD-NT, and simultaneously suppressed the synthesis of Caspase-1, ASC, NLRP3, and Caspase-11. Additionally, HQGZWWD inhibited oxidative stress, and the use of NAC as an oxidative stress inhibitor resulted in significant inhibition of the GSDMD-NT protein in H9C2 cells. These findings highlight the myocardial protective effects of HQGZWWD by inhibiting oxidative stress and suppressing both canonical and non-canonical pyroptotic pathways.

Abstract Background To develop a radiomics model based on chest computed tomography (CT) for the prediction of a pathological complete response (pCR) after neoadjuvant or conversion chemoimmunotherapy (CIT) in patients with non‐small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Methods Patients with stage IB–III NSCLC who received neoadjuvant or conversion CIT between September 2019 and July 2021 at Hunan Cancer Hospital, Xiangya Hospital, and Union Hospital were retrospectively collected. The least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) were used to screen features. Then, model 1 (five radiomics features before CIT), model 2 (four radiomics features after CIT and before surgery) and model 3 were constructed for the prediction of pCR. Model 3 included all nine features of model 1 and 2 and was later named the neoadjuvant chemoimmunotherapy‐related pathological response prediction model (NACIP). Results This study included 110 patients: 77 in the training set and 33 in the validation set. Thirty‐nine (35.5%) patients achieved a pCR. Model 1 showed area under the curve (AUC) = 0.65, 64% accuracy, 71% specificity, and 50% sensitivity, while model 2 displayed AUC = 0.81, 73% accuracy, 62% specificity, and 92% sensitivity. In comparison, NACIP yielded a good predictive value, with an AUC of 0.85, 81% accuracy, 81% specificity, and 83% sensitivity in the validation set. Conclusion NACIP may be a potential model for the early prediction of pCR in patients with NSCLC treated with neoadjuvant/conversion CIT.

Abstract X‐ray imaging technology is critical to numerous different walks of daily life, ranging from medical radiography and security screening all the way to high‐energy physics. Although several organic chromophores are fabricated and tested as X‐ray imaging scintillators, they generally show poor scintillation performance due to their weak X‐ray absorption cross‐section and inefficient exciton utilization efficiency. Here, a singlet fission‐based high‐performance organic X‐ray imaging scintillator with near unity exciton utilization efficiency is presented. Interestingly, it is found that the X‐ray sensitivity and imaging resolution of the singlet fission‐based scintillator are dramatically improved by an efficient energy transfer from a thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) sensitizer, in which both singlet and triplet excitons can be efficiently harnessed. The fabricated singlet fission‐based scintillator exhibits a high X‐ray imaging resolution of 27.5 line pairs per millimeter (lp mm−1), which exceeds that of most commercial scintillators, demonstrating its high potential use in medical radiography and security inspection.

With the advancement of industrial economies, incidents involving spills of petroleum products have become increasingly frequent. The resulting pollutants pose significant threats to air, water, soil, plant and animal survival, as well as human health. In this study, microcrystalline cellulose served as the matrix and benzoyl peroxide (BPO) as the initiator, while butyl acrylate (BA) and N,N′-methylene bisacrylamide (MBA) were employed as graft monomers. Through free radical graft polymerization, cellulose-graft-poly(butyl acrylate-N,N′-methylene bisacrylamide) [Cell-g-P(BA-MBA)], possessing oil-adsorbing properties, was synthesized. The chemical structure, elemental composition, surface morphology and wetting properties of the graft polymerization products have been characterized, using infrared spectroscopy, elemental analysis, scanning electron microscopy and contact angle testing. The adsorption properties of Cell-g-P(BA-MBA) for various organic solvents and oils were then assessed. The experimental results demonstrated that Cell-g-P(BA-MBA) exhibited a maximum adsorption capacity of 37.55 g/g for trichloromethane. Adsorption kinetics experiments indicated a spontaneous and exothermic process involving physical adsorption, conforming to the Freundlich isotherm model. Furthermore, adsorption kinetics experiments revealed that Cell-g-P(BA-MBA) displayed favorable reuse and regeneration performance, maintaining its adsorption capacity essentially unchanged over fifteen adsorption–desorption cycles.

To obtain a comprehensive understanding about that occurrence, sources, and effects on human health of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in road environmental samples from Harbin, concentrations of 32 PAHs in road dust, green belt soil, and parking lot dust samples were quantified. The total PAH concentrations ranged from 0.95 to 40.7 μg/g and 0.39 to 43.9 μg/g in road dust and green belt soil, respectively, and were dominated by high molecular weight PAHs (HMW-PAHs). Despite the content of PAHs in arterial roads being higher, the composition profile of PAHs was hardly influenced by road types. For parking lot dust, the range of total PAH concentrations was 0.81–190 μg/g, and three-ring to five-ring PAHs produced the maximum contribution. Compared with surface parking lots (mean: 6.12 μg/g), higher total PAH concentrations were detected in underground parking lots (mean: 33.1 μg/g). The diagnostic ratios of PAHs showed that petroleum, petroleum combustion, and biomass/coal combustion were major sources of PAHs in the samples. Furthermore, according to the Incremental Lifetime Cancer Risk model, the cancer risks of three kinds of samples for adults and children were above the threshold (10−6). Overall, this study demonstrated that PAHs in the road environment of Harbin have a certain health impact on local citizens.

Nowadays, diarrheic shellfish toxicity (DSP) toxin and microplastics (MPs) are commonly found in coastal waters worldwide. Due to their widespread use, their persistence and toxicity, they may induce adverse effects on Mytilus coruscus. However, the underlying toxic mechanisms of DSP and MPs on M. coruscus remain unclear. This study explored the physiological index and transcriptome change of the digestive gland of adult M. coruscus exposed for 3 days to polystyrene (PS) MPs (0.2 mg/L, 90-100 μm) and Prorocentrum lima alone or in combination. The results showed that the CAT activity and MDA content significantly increased, respiration rate and feeding rate significantly decreased. The combination of MPs and P. lima caused more structural damage to the rough surface endoplasmic reticulum and mitochondria in the digestive glands of M. coruscus. The transcriptome analysis showed that 485 and 220 genes were up- and down-regulated, respectively, after exposure to P. lima; 1,989 up-regulated DEGs and 1,098 down-regulated DEGs were identified after exposure to MP treatment, and 1,004 up-regulated DEGs and 664 down-regulated DEGs were identified after exposure to the combination of P. lima and MPs. The DEGs were mainly enriched in the lysosome, mRNA surveillance pathway, carbon metabolism, the mTOR signaling pathway, the complement and coagulation cascades, and the TNF signaling pathway. The MP, P. lima exposure mainly induced the expression of RNA-binding protein musashi, serine/arginine repetitive matrix protein 1, low affinity immunoglobulin epsilon Fc receptor, toll-like receptor 2, caspase 7, calmodulin, E3 ubiquitin-protein ligase, serine/threonine-protein kinase PRP4, glutathione S-transferase, and heat shock 70 kDa protein. MPs and P. lima poison mainly influence the expression of RNA transport, immune related gene, apoptosis, signal related gene, and antioxidant gene change. The combination of MPs and P. lima has a synergistic toxic effect. This study provides a new insights into its physiological and molecular responses of M. coruscus to MPs and P. lima toxic exposure.

Nanopore reads have been advantageous for de novo genome assembly; however these reads have high error rates. Here, the authors develop an error correction and de novo assembly tool, NECAT, which produces efficient, high quality assemblies of nanopore reads.

Adriamycin (ADR) has been utilized to treat cancer for several decades. However, ADR-induced renal injury is one of the most common side effects accompanying ADR therapy. In the present study, we revealed that astragaloside IV (ASIV) was beneficial for renal injury caused by Adriamycin. We demonstrated that ASIV significantly ameliorated kidney injury, improved renal dysfunction, reduced oxidative stress, alleviated iron accumulation, and inhibited the induction of ferroptosis by ADR. ASIV also rescued the intracellular levels of nuclear factor-erythroid-2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) and promoted nuclear translocation of Nrf2. These protective effects of ASIV on renal injury might be attained through the ASIV-induced activation of the Pi3K/Akt signaling pathway. In vitro, the treatment of the HK-2 cells with fer-1 or deferoxamine mesylate obviously improved cell viability during Adriamycin administration. On the other hand, the protective role of ASIV can be abrogated by RSL3 to some extent. Moreover, ASIV lowered the expression of transferrin receptor 1 and divalent metal transporter 1 while enhancing the expression of ferropotin 1 and glutathione peroxidase 4 in ADR administrated cells, the effects of which were akin to those of deferoxamine mesylate. Furthermore, ASIV increased the phosphorylation of Pi3K, Akt, and the expression of Nrf2 and glutathione peroxidase 4 compared to HK-2 cells stimulated by ADR. However, Pi3K inhibitor LY294002 abrogated these activations. In conclusion, ferroptosis may involve in ADR-induced nephrotoxicity, and ASIV might protect nephrocytes against ADR-induced ferroptosis, perhaps via activations of the Pi3K/Akt and Nrf2 signaling pathways.

The tumor microenvironment of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is non-immunogenic, which consists of the stellate cells, fibroblasts, immune cells, extracellular matrix, and some other immune suppressive molecules. This low tumor perfusion microenvironment with physical dense fibrotic stroma shields PDAC from traditional antitumor therapies like chemotherapy and various strategies that have been proven successful in other types of cancer. Immunotherapy has the potential to treat minimal and residual diseases and prevent recurrence with minimal toxicity, and studies in patients with metastatic and nonresectable disease have shown some efficacy. In this review, we highlighted the main components of the pancreatic tumor microenvironment, and meanwhile, summarized the advances of some promising immunotherapies for PDAC, including checkpoint inhibitors, chimeric antigen receptors T cells, and cancer vaccines. Based on our previous researches, we specifically discussed how granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor based pancreatic cancer vaccine prime the pancreatic tumor microenvironment, and introduced some novel immunoadjuvants, like the stimulator of interferon genes. Keywords: Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, Tumor microenvironment, Immunotherapy, Cancer vaccine, Stimulator of interferon genes

The outbreak of novel coronavirus pneumonia (COVID-19), defined as a worldwide pandemic, has been a public health emergency of international concern. Pudilanxiaoyan oral liquid (PDL), an effective drug of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), is considered to be an effective and alternative means for clinical prevention of COVID-19. The purpose of this study was to identify potential active constituents of PDL, and explore its underlying anti-COVID-19 mechanism using network pharmacology. Integration of target prediction (SwissTargetPrediction and STITCH database) was used to elucidate the active components of PDL. Protein–protein interaction network analyses, gene ontology, Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway enrichment analyses, network construction, and molecular docking were applied to analyze the prospective mechanisms of the predicted target genes. Our results showed that the key active ingredients in PDL were luteolin, apigenin, esculetin, chrysin, baicalein, oroxylin A, baicalin, wogonin, cymaroside, and gallic acid. A majority of the predicted targets were mainly involved in the pathways related to viral infection, lung injury, and inflammatory responses. An in vitro study further inferred that inhibiting the activity of nuclear factor (NF)-кB signaling pathway was a key mechanism by which PDL exerted anti-COVID-19 effects. This study not only provides chemical basis and pharmacology of PDL but also the rationale for strategies to exploring future TCM for COVID-19 therapy.

Astragaloside IV (ASIV) is the main active component of Astragalus, and can ameliorate cardiomyocyte hypertrophy, apoptosis and fibrosis. In this experiment, we studied how ASIV reduces the cardiotoxicity caused by adriamycin and protects the heart. To this end, rats were randomly divided into the control, ADR, ADR + ASIV and ASIV groups (n = 6). Echocardiography was used to observe cardiac function, HE staining was used to observe myocardial injury, TUNEL staining was used to observe myocardial cell apoptosis, and immunofluorescence and Western blotting was used to observe relevant proteins expression. Experiments have shown that adriamycin can damage heart function in rats, and increase the cell apoptosis index, autophagy level and oxidative stress level. Further results showed that ADR can inhibit the PI3K/Akt pathway. ASIV treatment can significantly improve the cardiac function of rats treated with ADR and regulate autophagy, oxidative stress and apoptosis. Our findings indicate that ASIV may reduce the heart damage caused by adriamycin by activating the PI3K/Akt pathway.

Background: Recent advances in extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) have led to increasing interest in its use during cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). However, decisions regarding extracorporeal CPR (ECPR) in children are difficult as a result of limited studies, especially in Asia Pacific. The objective of this study was to investigate trends in survival and demographic details for children with ECPR in Asia Pacific recorded in the Extracorporeal Life Support Organization (ELSO) registry from 1999 to 2016 and identify the risk factors associated with in-hospital mortality. Methods: The data of children younger than 18 years of age who received ECPR over the past 18 years in Asia Pacific were retrospectively analyzed. The data were extracted from the ELSO registry and divided into two 9-year groups (Group 1: 1999–2007 and Group 2: 2008–2016) to assess temporal changes using univariate analysis. Then, univariate and multiple logistic regression analyses were performed between survivors and nonsurvivors to identify factors independently associated with in-hospital mortality. Results: A total of 321 children were included in final analysis, with an overall survival rate of 50.8%. Although survival rates were similar between Group 1 and Group 2 (43.1% vs. 52.5%, χ2 = 1.67, P = 0.196), the median age (1.7 [0.3, 19.2] months for Group 1 vs. 5.6 [0.8, 64.9] months for Group 2, t = −2.93, P = 0.003) and weight (3.7 [3.0, 11.5] kg for Group 1 vs. 6.0 [3.4, 20.3] kg for Group 2, t = −3.14, P = 0.002) of children increased over time, while the proportion of congenital heart disease (75.9% for Group 1 vs. 57.8% for Group 2, χ2 = 6.52, P = 0.011) and cardiogenic shock (36.2% for Group 1 vs. 7.2% for Group 2, χ2 = 36.59, P < 0.001) decreased. Patient conditions before ECMO were worse, while ECMO complications decreased across time periods, especially renal complications. Multiple logistic regression analysis of ECMO complications showed that disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC), myocardial stunning, and neurological complications were independently associated with increased odds of hospital mortality. Conclusions: The broader indications and decreased complication rates make EPCR to be applicated more and more extensive in children in Asia Pacific region. ECMO complications such as myocardial stunning are independently associated with decreased survival.

Bacterioplankton play a key role in the global cycling of elements. To characterize the effects of hypoxia on bacterioplankton, bacterial community structure and function were investigated in the Changjiang Estuary. Water samples were collected from three layers (surface, middle, and bottom) at ten sampling sites in the Changjiang Estuary hypoxic and non-hypoxic zones. The community structure was analyzed using high-throughput sequencing of 16S rDNA genes, and the predictive metagenomic approach was used to investigate the functions of the bacterial community. Co-occurrence networks are constructed to investigate the relationship between different bacterioplankton. The results showed that community composition in hypoxic and non-hypoxic zones were markedly different. The diversity and richness of bacterial communities in the bottom layer (hypoxic zone) were remarkably higher than that of the surface layer (non-hypoxic). In the non-hypoxic zone, it was found that Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, and Flavobacteriia were the dominant groups while Alphaproteobacteria, SAR406 and Deltaproteobacteria were the dominant groups in the hypoxic zone. From the RDA analysis, it was shown that dissolved oxygen (DO) explained most of the bacterial community variation in the redundancy analysis targeting only hypoxia zones, whereas nutrients and salinity explained most of the variation across all samples in the Changjiang Estuary. To understand the genes involved in nitrogen metabolism, an analysis of the oxidation state of nitrogen was performed. The results showed that the bacterial community in the surface layer (non-hypoxic) had more genes involved in dissimilatory nitrate reduction, assimilatory nitrate reduction, denitrification, and anammox, while that in the middle and bottom layers (hypoxic zone) had more abundant genes associated with nitrogen fixation and nitrification. Co-occurrence networks revealed that microbial assemblages in the middle and bottom layers shared more niche spaces than in the surface layer (non-hypoxic zone). The environmental heterogeneity in the hypoxic and non-hypoxic zones might be important environmental factors that determine the bacterial composition in these two zones.

For understanding the structural characteristics and the proteome of Perna shell, the microstructure, polymorph, and protein composition of the adult Perna viridis shell were investigated. The P. viridis shell have two distinct mineral layers, myostracum and nacre, with the same calcium carbonate polymorph of aragonite, determined by scanning electron microscope, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and x-ray crystalline diffraction. Using Illumina sequencing, the mantle transcriptome of P. viridis was investigated and a total of 69,859 unigenes was generated. Using a combined proteomic/transcriptomic approach, a total of 378 shell proteins from P. viridis shell were identified, in which, 132 shell proteins identified with more than two matched unique peptides. Of the 132 shell proteins, 69 are exclusive to the nacre, 12 to the myostracum, and 51 are shared by both. The Myosin-tail domain containing proteins, Filament-like proteins, and Chitin-binding domain containing proteins represent the most abundant molecules. In addition, the shell matrix proteins (SMPs) containing biomineralization-related domains, such as Kunitz, A2M, WAP, EF-hand, PDZ, VWA, Collagen domain, and low complexity regions with abundant certain amino acids, were also identified from P. viridis shell. Collagenase and chitinase degradation can significantly change the morphology of the shell, indicating the important roles of collagen and chitin in the shell formation and the muscle-shell attachment. Our results present for the first time the proteome of P. viridis shell and increase the knowledge of SMPs in this genus.

Fusarium fungi are the cause of an array of devastating diseases affecting yield losses and accumulating mycotoxins. Fungicides can be exploited against Fusarium and deoxynivalenol (DON) production. However, Fusarium resistance to common chemicals has become a therapeutic challenge worldwide, which indicates that new control agents carrying different mechanisms of action are desperately needed. Here, we found that a nonantibiotic drug, ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid disodium salt (EDTANa2), exhibited various antifungal activities against Fusarium species and DON biosynthesis. The infection of wheat seeding caused by F. graminearum was suppressed over 90% at 4 mM EDTANa2. A similar control effect was observed in field tests. Mycotoxin production assays showed DON production was significantly inhibited, 47% lower than the control, by 0.4 mM EDTANa2. In vitro experiments revealed a timely inhibition of H2O2 production as quickly as 4 h after amending cultures with EDTANa2 and the expression of several TRI genes significantly decreased. Chitin synthases of Fusarium were Mn2+-containing enzymes that were strongly inhibited by Mn2+ deficiency. EDTANa2 inhibited chitin synthesis and destroyed the cell wall and cytomembrane integrity of Fusarium, mainly via the chelation of Mn2+ by EDTANa2, and thus led to Mn deficiency in Fusarium cells. Taken together, these findings uncover the potential of EDTANa2 as a fungicide candidate to manage Fusarium head blight (FHB) and DON in agricultural production.

Systemic sarcoidosis that initially presents as a pancreatic mass has rarely been reported. A 47-year-old man presented with idiopathic epigastric abdominal pain. Abdominal CT showed multiple enlarged lymph nodes in the retroperitoneal area and a suspected tumor mass in the pancreatic head region. The preliminary diagnosis was celiac metastasis of a pancreatic malignancy. The definitive diagnosis was systemic sarcoidosis, which was supported by granulomas on histology, clinical radiographic findings, and clinical response to steroids. A review of published reports on sarcoidosis presenting initially as a pancreatic or celiac mass from the Chinese biomedical database (1978–2010) is included.

Botrytis cinerea is a devastating plant pathogen that causes grey mould disease. In this study, we developed a visual detection method of B. cinerea based on the Bcos5 sequence using loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) with hydroxynaphthol blue dye (HNB). The LAMP reaction was optimal at 63 °C for 45 min. When HNB was added prior to amplification, samples with B. cinerea DNA developed a characteristic sky blue color after the reaction but those without DNA or with DNA of other plant pathogenic fungi did not. Results of HNB staining method were reconfirmed when LAMP products were subjected to gel electrophoresis. The detection limit of this LAMP assay for B. cinerea was 10(-3) ng µL(-1) of genomic DNA per reaction, which was 10-fold more sensitive than conventional PCR (10(-2) ng µL(-1)). Detection of the LAMP assay for inoculum of B. cinerea was possible in the inoculated tomato and strawberry petals. In the 191 diseased samples, 180 (94.2%) were confirmed as positive by LAMP, 172 (90.1%) positive by the tissue separation, while 147 (77.0%) positive by PCR. Because the LAMP assay performed well in aspects of sensitivity, specificity, repeatability, reliability, and visibility, it is suitable for rapid detection of B. cinerea in infected plant materials prior to storage and during transportation, such as cut flowers, fruits and vegetables.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the etiological agent of TB, possesses a cholesterol catabolic pathway implicated in pathogenesis. This pathway includes an iron-dependent extradiol dioxygenase, HsaC, that cleaves catechols. Immuno-compromised mice infected with a DeltahsaC mutant of M. tuberculosis H37Rv survived 50% longer than mice infected with the wild-type strain. In guinea pigs, the mutant disseminated more slowly to the spleen, persisted less successfully in the lung, and caused little pathology. These data establish that, while cholesterol metabolism by M. tuberculosis appears to be most important during the chronic stage of infection, it begins much earlier and may contribute to the pathogen's dissemination within the host. Purified HsaC efficiently cleaved the catecholic cholesterol metabolite, DHSA (3,4-dihydroxy-9,10-seconandrost-1,3,5(10)-triene-9,17-dione; k(cat)/K(m) = 14.4+/-0.5 microM(-1) s(-1)), and was inactivated by a halogenated substrate analogue (partition coefficient