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Bacterial infections present a formidable challenge in surgical procedures, and are a major threat to wound healing. Sonodynamic therapy (SDT) is a non-invasive approach for fighting pathogens; however, it is hindered by the efficiency of sonosensitizers and effective antibacterial time. In this study, we developed a biocompatible nanodressing to improve the antibacterial efficacy and accelerate wound healing via SDT. Silver nanoparticles (NPs) were synthesized on tetragonal barium titanate (BTO) NPs to create an Ag@BTO heterostructure of sonosensitizers to improve their piezocatalytic activities, which were then incorporated into gelatin/polycaprolactone (PCL) to form Ag@BTO-gelatin/PCL nanofiber (ABT-gP NFs) dressings. The loading of Ag@BTO NPs resulted in ABT-gP NFs with better mechanical properties and excellent piezocatalysis, which produced reactive oxygen species and Ag + to kill bacteria during ultrasound (US) irradiation. Additionally, nanodressing released moderate amounts of silver ions without US, prolonging the antibacterial time, while promoting fibroblast migration. This approach was effective in killing Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria (100 % and 90.8 %, respectively), promoting cell migration in vitro and accelerating wound healing without adverse effects in vivo. This study extends the potential applications of ultrasound-triggered nanodressing to the field of wound healing., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is the most common disease in elderly men. There is increasing evidence that periodontitis increases the risk of BPH, but the specific mechanism remains unclear. This study aimed to explore the role and mechanism of the key periodontal pathogen Porphyromonas gingivalis (P. gingivalis) in the development of BPH., Methods: The subgingival plaque (Sp) and prostatic fluid (Pf) of patients with BPH concurrent periodontitis were extracted and cultured for 16S rDNA sequencing. Ligature-induced periodontitis, testosterone-induced BPH and the composite models in rats were established. The P. gingivalis and its toxic factor P. gingivalis lipopolysaccharide (P.g-LPS) were injected into the ventral lobe of prostate in rats to simulate its colonization of prostate. P.g-LPS was used to construct the prostate cell infection model for mechanism exploration., Results: P. gingivalis, Streptococcus oralis, Capnocytophaga ochracea and other oral pathogens were simultaneously detected in the Pf and Sp of patients with BPH concurrent periodontitis, and the average relative abundance of P. gingivalis was found to be the highest. P. gingivalis was detected in both Pf and Sp in 62.5% of patients. Simultaneous periodontitis and BPH synergistically aggravated prostate histological changes. P. gingivalis and P.g-LPS infection could induce obvious hyperplasia of the prostate epithelium and stroma (epithelial thickness was 2.97- and 3.08-fold that of control group, respectively), and increase of collagen fibrosis (3.81- and 5.02-fold that of control group, respectively). P. gingivalis infection promoted prostate cell proliferation, inhibited apoptosis, and upregulated the expression of inflammatory cytokines interleukin-6 (IL-6; 4.47-fold), interleukin-6 receptor-α (IL-6Rα; 5.74-fold) and glycoprotein 130 (gp130; 4.47-fold) in prostatic tissue. P.g-LPS could significantly inhibit cell apoptosis, promote mitosis and proliferation of cells. P.g-LPS activates the Akt pathway through IL-6/IL-6Rα/gp130 complex, which destroys the imbalance between proliferation and apoptosis of prostate cells, induces BPH., Conclusion: P. gingivalis was abundant in the Pf of patients with BPH concurrent periodontitis. P. gingivalis infection can promote BPH, which may affect the progression of BPH via inflammation and the Akt signaling pathway., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Since the PT-symmetric nonlocal equations contain the physical information of the PT-symmetric, it is very appropriate to embed the physical information of the PT-symmetric into the loss function of PINN, named PTS-PINN. For general PT-symmetric nonlocal equations, especially those equations involving the derivation of nonlocal terms due to the existence of nonlocal terms, directly using the original PINN method to solve such nonlocal equations will face certain challenges. This problem can be solved by the PTS-PINN method, which can be illustrated in two aspects. First, we treat the nonlocal term of the equation as a new local component so that the equation is coupled at this time. In this way, we successfully avoid differentiating nonlocal terms in neural networks. On the other hand, in order to improve the accuracy, we make a second improvement, which is to embed the physical information of the PT-symmetric into the loss function. Through a series of independent numerical experiments, we evaluate the efficacy of PTS-PINN in tackling the forward and inverse problems for the nonlocal NLS equation, the nonlocal derivative NLS equation, the nonlocal (2+1)-dimensional NLS equation, and the nonlocal three-wave interaction systems. The numerical experiments demonstrate that PTS-PINN has good performance. In particular, PTS-PINN has also demonstrated an extraordinary ability to learn large space-time scale rogue waves for nonlocal equations., (© 2024 Author(s). Published under an exclusive license by AIP Publishing.)

With economic development, the health of river ecosystems is becoming severely threatened because of the increasing effects of human activities on river ecosystems. Here, 101 sites along regional river systems in Beijing rivers were investigated from autumn 2020 to summer 2021. A total of 34 metrics, including aquatic organisms, hydrology, water quality, and habitat, were calculated to be the candidate indicators. Principal component and correlation analyses were used to select the core metrics from the candidate indicators, and the weight of each core metric was estimated using the entropy method. The integrated index of stream ecological health was constructed to assess the health condition of the Beijing rivers. The results of the PCA and correlation analyses revealed that eleven metrics were selected as the core metrics to construct the integrated index of stream ecological health, including water temperature, flow velocity, BOD 5 , NH 4 + -N, Cu, the density of phytoplankton and zooplankton, the Shannon-Wiener diversity index of macroinvertebrates and fish, the BMWP index, and the qualitative habitat evaluation index. According to the health assessment results, 4.95% of the sampling sites were healthy, 23.76% were subhealthy, and 71.29% were in a fair or below healthy state. The river health status showed strong spatial heterogeneity, and the river health statuses in the northern and western regions were relatively good, whereas the river health status in the central and southeastern regions were relatively poor. The results of four aspects stream ecosystem assessment showed that the overall water quality of the rivers was "subhealthy" and the aquatic organisms and habitat were "general poor," but the hydrology was "poor." The evaluation results of five water systems demonstrated that the Chaobai River had the best health status, followed by that of the Yongding River, Daqing River, and Jiyun River, and the Beiyun River had the worst health status. Maintaining river ecological baseflow, ensuring river system connectivity, and improving and restoring the river habitat environment are the key aspects of river ecological restoration and protection in Beijing in the future.

Energy-dissipating adipocytes have the potential to improve metabolic health. Here, we identify hypoxia-induced gene domain protein-1a (HIGD1A), a mitochondrial inner membrane protein, as a positive regulator of adipose browning. HIGD1A is induced in thermogenic fats by cold exposure. Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ) transactivates HIGD1A expression synergistically with peroxisome proliferators-activated receptor γ coactivator α (PGC1α). HIGD1A knockdown inhibits adipocyte browning, whereas HIGD1A upregulation promotes the browning process. Mechanistically, HIGD1A deficiency impairs mitochondrial respiration to increase reactive oxygen species (ROS) level. This increases NAD + consumption for DNA damage repair and curtails the NAD + /NADH ratio, which inhibits sirtuin1 (SIRT1) activity, thereby compromising adipocyte browning. Conversely, overexpression of HIGD1A blunts the above process to promote adaptive thermogenesis. Furthermore, mice with HIGD1A knockdown in inguinal and brown fat have impaired thermogenesis and are prone to diet-induced obesity (DIO). Overexpression of HIGD1A favors adipose tissue browning, ultimately preventing DIO and metabolic disorders. Thus, the mitochondrial protein HIGD1A links SIRT1 activity to adipocyte browning by inhibiting ROS levels., Competing Interests: Declaration of interests The authors declare no competing interests., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Proteus mirabilis is an opportunistic pathogen frequently associated with nosocomial infection and food poisoning cases. Contamination of P. mirabilis in retail meat products may be important transmission routes for human infection with P. mirabilis . In this study a total of 89 P. mirabilis strains were isolated from 347 samples in 14 food markets in China and subjected to whole-genome sequencing. Phylogenetic analysis showed that all 89 strains were divided into 81 different clones (SNPs >5), indicating high genetic diversity of P. mirabilis in food markets. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing showed that 81 (91.01%) strains displayed multidrug resistance profiles. Seventy-three different resistance genes (or variants) were found, including various clinically important antimicrobial resistance genes aac(6')-Ib-cr (77.53%), bla CTX-M (39.33%), fosA3 (30.34%), as well as multiresistance gene cfr (4.50%), tigecycline resistance gene cluster tmexCD3-toprJ1 (4.50%) and carbapenemase gene bla NDM-1 (1.12%). Diverse genetic elements including Tn 7 transposon, plasmid, SXT/R391 integrative conjugative element were associated with the horizontal transfer of cfr . tmexCD3-toprJ1 and bla NDM-1 were located on ICE Pmi ChnJZ26 and Salmonella genomic island 1, respectively. Our study emphasized high contamination of P. mirabilis harbouring various clinically important antimicrobial resistance genes in retail meat and aquatic products, which might be an important issue in terms of food safety and human health., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Ma, Han, Zhou, Peng, Mao, Yang, Wang, Zhang, Wang and Lei.)

We investigated community structure of macroinvertebrate, water environment factors, hydrological factors at 23 sampling sites of the Yongding River basin from spring 2017 (April) to autumn 2017 (November). We analyzed the composition, spatial and temporal distribution of the macroinvertebrate functional feeding groups, as well as their responses to changes in riverine habitat. A total of 78 macroinvertebrate species were identified, with 52, 50 and 53 macroinvertebrate species in spring, summer and autumn respectively. The dominant functional feeding groups were gather-collectors, followed by predators, while the proportion of scrapers, filter-collectors and shredders were extremely low. Dominant species in the three seasons were all gather-collectors, including Orthocladius , Rheotanytarsus , Cricotopus in spring, Glyptotendipes in summer , and Polypedilum , Chironomus , Orthocladius in autumn. Results of redundancy analysis showed that the functional feeding groups of macroinvertebrate community structure were mainly influenced by water temperature, flow velocity, salinity, and total phosphorus in spring, by total phosphorus, dissolved oxygen, conductivity and flow capacity in summer, and by total phosphorus and dissolved oxygen in autumn. Total phosphorus had positive correlation with gather-collectors in all three seasons, indicating that the functional feeding groups of macroinvertebrates were affected by water pollution. The evaluation based on the metrics of functional feeding groups showed that: 1) in terms of material cycle, primary productivity of Guishui River were significantly higher than other regions, and that in autumn were significantly higher than other seasons. The secondary productivity and decomposition capacity of Yanghe River were significantly higher than other regions, and those in spring were significantly higher than other seasons. The autotrophy/heterotrophy of Yanghe River was significantly lower than other regions, and that in spring were significantly higher than other seasons. 2) The longitudinal transport capacity of Sanggan River was significantly higher than other regions, and that in autumn was significantly higher than other seasons. 3) The lateral input capacity of Guishui River was significantly higher than other regions, and that in summer was significantly higher than other seasons.

To investigate the static performance of precast segmental hollow piers, two precast segmental hollow pier specimens were designed for static loading tests on the top of piers. The finite element model of precast segmental hollow piers was established by the finite element software Abaqus and verified based on the test results. Based on the experimental and finite element models, three optimal design solutions were proposed, and the calculation results of each solution were analyzed. The results show that precast segmental hollow pier mechanical behavior is similar to that of cantilevered bending members. The specimens present brittle damage characteristics after the destruction of the structure at the bottom of the pier pressure edge as the axis of the rigid body rotation. Following the test loading process, the bonding between the segments is good, except for the pier bottom damage surface of the rest of the bonding surface, which has no relative displacement. The calculation results of the finite element model are in good agreement with the test results and can effectively predict the load-displacement response of precast piers. Three optimized design solutions are proposed. The finite element simulation proves all three optimized design solutions show better overall ductility than the original solution and can effectively improve the performance of segmental precast hollow piers.

Research on the mechanism of plant root-soil consolidation is a current focus in research into the ecological restoration of banks. The stability of ecological banks is central to this research, and bank stability is closely related to plant combinations and spacing. Recent research on reinforced anchorage of plant roots has mainly focused on root length and angle, and on other parts of the root system, and only a few studies have examined the combination of different types of roots. In this study, a coupled slope stability assessment system is created, composed of root morphological parameters and involving calculations using the finite element model ABACUS. This paper selects the two banks of the lower reaches of the Tiantang River in the flood zone of Yongding River as the research area, and examines slope surface plants. And then the reinforcement effect of different shrub roots combinations and plant spacing are evaluated for determining the optimal shrub layout, with the aim of solving the instability problem of collapsible silty clay bank slopes and associated risks. The results indicated that when the shrub plant spacing is 0.65 m, the optimal shrub combination is Tamarix chinensis + Philadelphus incanus, and when the shrub plant spacing is 0.75 m, the optimal shrub combination is Tamarix chinensis + Euonymus alatus. The study found that the root system morphology and the fibrous roots amount at the foot of the slope can have different degrees of influence on the shallow soil stability of the silty clay slope under different shrubs plant spacing conditions., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

l-Theanine is a nonprotein amino acid with much beneficial efficacy. We found that intraperitoneal treatment of the mice with l-theanine (100 mg/kg/day) enhanced adaptive thermogenesis and induced the browning of inguinal white adipose tissue (iWAT) with elevated expression of Prdm16, Ucp1, and other thermogenic genes. Meanwhile, administration of the mice with l-theanine increased energy expenditure. In vitro studies indicated that l-theanine induced the development of brown-like features in adipocytes. The shRNA-mediated depletion of Prdm16 blunted the role of l-theanine in promoting the brown-like phenotypes in adipocytes and in the iWAT of mice. l-theanine treatment enhanced AMPKα phosphorylation both in adipocytes and iWAT. Knockdown of AMPKα abolished l-theanine-induced upregulation of Prdm16 and adipocyte browning. l-Theanine increased the α-ketoglutarate (α-KG) level in adipocytes, which may increase the transcription of Prdm16 by inducing active DNA demethylation on its promoter. AMPK activation was required for l-theanine-induced increase of α-KG and DNA demethylation on the Prdm16 promoter. Moreover, intraperitoneal administration with l-theanine ameliorated obesity, improved glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity, and reduced plasma triglyceride, total cholesterol, and free fatty acids in the high-fat diet-fed mice. Our results suggest a potential role of l-theanine in combating diet-induced obesity in mice, which may involve l-theanine-induced browning of WAT., (© 2021 by the American Diabetes Association.)

To identify the spatial differences in the water quality and eutrophication characteristics of Songhua Lake, the largest artificial lake in northeast China, analysis of variance (ANOVA) and factor analysis were used to analyze the water quality sampling and testing results in 2017 in three regions, namely the main reservoir area of the Fengman Reservoir (MRAFR), the experimental area of the Songhua River Three Lakes Protection Zone (EASRTLPZ), and the Jiaohe River backwater area (JRBA). The nutrient status of the lake was evaluated by the trophic state index method, and the spatial correlation and aggregation status of the eutrophication level in Songhua Lake were studied using spatial autocorrelation analysis. The main results were as follows: ① the ANOVA showed that, except for dissolved oxygen and chlorophyll-a (Chl-a), there were significant differences ( P <0.05) in the total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), water temperature (WT), and pH in the three areas of Songhua Lake, with the clearest difference between TN and TP. ② The factor analysis showed that the changes in the climatic condition factor (WT), nutrient salt factors (TN and TP), and algal biomass factor (Chl-a) dominated the water quality in the lake. ③ The results of the trophic state index showed that the nutrient status of Songhua Lake as a whole is mildly eutrophic, and the eutrophication levels of the three regions from strong to weak are JRBA > MRAFR > EASRTLPZ. ④ The global spatial autocorrelation showed that the eutrophication level of the lake as a whole has significant positive spatial autocorrelation owing to the influence of regional eutrophication levels. The spatial heterogeneity of the eutrophication level of Songhua Lake is low. ⑤ The results of the local spatial autocorrelation showed that the central and northern areas of JRBA are the hot spots (high/high concentration) of eutrophication in the lake ( P <0.01), and the central part of EASRTLPZ is the cold spot (low/low concentration) of eutrophication in the lake ( P <0.05). Therefore, when conducting water environmental management of Songhua Lake, the key areas for eutrophication control should be the JRBA and MRAFR.

Introduction: This study aimed to investigate the preventive effects of oral administration of probiotics on the incidence and severity of atopic dermatitis (AD) in infants., Material and Methods: A total of 396 full-term infants were enrolled in this study. Of these, 132 newborns without a family history of AD were assigned to group A, and the other 264 newborns were randomly divided into groups B and C. Infants in groups A and B were solely breastfed, while probiotics were administered to those in group C as well as breastfeeding. The information of all subjects was recorded, and the incidence of AD was followed up. The levels of serum IgE and IL-4 were measured at the age of 3 years., Results: The incidence of AD in infants in group B was higher than that in group A at 3 months, 4-6 months, and 7-36 months after birth, together with increased symptom scores. For infants in group C, the incidence of AD at 4-6 months and 7-36 months after birth and the SCORAD scores at 0-3 months and 4-6 months after birth were lower than those in group B. The levels of IgE and IL-4 in group B were higher than those in groups A and C at 36 months old., Conclusions: Adding probiotics could favor the establishment of the intestinal microecological balance in the neonatal period, thereby reducing the incidence of AD, decreasing the levels of serum immune indexes and alleviating the severity of the disease., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest., (Copyright: © 2020 Termedia & Banach.)

Human disturbances have altered global stream ecosystems in multiple ways. Understan-ding spatio-temporal dynamics of aquatic organism composition and their relationships with environmental factors play an important role in revealing changes in the structure and function of river ecosystems. The macroinvertebrates and environmental parameters were sampled in the Yongding River Basin at spring (March), summer (July), and autumn (November) in 2017. The results showed that chironomids were the dominant group in the Yongding River Basin, including Orthocladius , Chironomus , Glyptotendipes , and Polypedilum . Results of the cluster analysis showed significant spatial variations of macroinvertebrate community. Sampling sites were clustered into two groups based on the similarities of macroinvertebrate composition in the Yongding River. Sampling sites belonging to group 1 mainly located in the Sanggan River and Dongyang River, with Orthocladius sp.being the dominant species. Sampling sites belonging to group 2 mainly located in the Yang River, Guishui River and main section of the Yongding River, with Glyptotendipes sp. being the dominant species. The biomass, Shannon index, Margalef index, Pielou evenness index and taxa richness of group 2 were significantly higher than those of group 1. Higher values of biological indices indicated better ecological condition of the stream ecosystem. The density, biomass and diversity indices of summer were significantly lower than those of both spring and autumn. Results of Canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) showed that the spatio-temporal distribution of macroinvertebrate in the Yongding River was mainly influenced by water temperature, ammonium, pH, dissolved oxygen, and total phosphorus. From the perspective of hydrological characteristics, flow velocity and flow capacity were significantly correlated. The significant positive correlations between hydrological parameters of velocity and capacity and biological indices of density and EPT% in group 2 indicated the preference of fast flow to sensitive taxa of EPT (Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, and Trichoptera). The negative correlations between flow capacity and biodiversity indices implied the adverse effects of high flow on macroinvertebrate biodiversity. Our results confirmed that the composition and biodiversity of macroinvertebrate were affected by both water environment and hydrology, which reflected the multiple human activities in aquatic ecosystems of the Yongding River. It is important to control water contamination and sustain environmental flow at the specific reaches for the restoration of Yongding River.

The removal rate of some antibiotics in urban sewage by conventional treatment is low, which leads to an increase in antibiotic resistant bacteria in natural water environments. To reduce the ecological harm of antibiotics to the water in towns, a risk control technique for degradation of microantibiotics by the co-metabolism of antibiotic resistant denitrifying bacteria was proposed. Using sodium acetate as an electron donor and maintaining the concentration of ofloxacin (OFLX) at 1 μg·g -1 , gradually increasing the dominant growth of antibiotic degradation bacteria, denitrifying bacteria (DnB 1 ), trace antibiotics and sodium acetate, and denitrifying bacteria (DnB 2 ) with the presence of sodium acetate and nitrogen elements were cultured. The degradation effect of antibiotics through denitrification and the effects of antibiotics on denitrification of resistant denitrifying bacteria and the changes to the microbial community were investigated. The results showed that DnB 2 had a significant degradation effect on OFLX compared to DnB 1 . The degradation to OFLX by DnB 1 and DnB 2 was 0.31 μg·g -1 and 16.14 μg·g -1 , respectively. Increased OFLX concentration inhibited DnB 1 denitrification activity in the short term. The denitrification process of DnB 2 was less affected by OFLX. At the same time, high-throughput sequencing using the Illumina MiSeq platform was used. Based on the operational taxonomic unit information formed by the clustering of sequencing results, the diversity of each sample was compared and analyzed. The research results show that the relative abundance and diversity of the microbial community of DnB 1 are higher than those of DnB 2 .

Taurine, a nonprotein amino acid, is widely distributed in almost all animal tissues. Ingestion of taurine helps to improve obesity and its related metabolic disorders. However, the molecular mechanism underlying the protective role of taurine against obesity is not completely understood. In this study, it was found that intraperitoneal treatment of mice with taurine alleviated high-fat diet (HFD)-induced obesity, improved insulin sensitivity, and increased energy expenditure and adaptive thermogenesis of the mice. Meanwhile, administration of the mice with taurine markedly induced the browning of inguinal white adipose tissue (iWAT) with significantly elevated expression of PGC1α, UCP1, and other thermogenic genes in iWAT. In vitro studies indicated that taurine also induced the development of brown-like adipocytes in C3H10T1/2 white adipocytes. Knockdown of PGC1α blunted the role of taurine in promoting the brown-like adipocyte phenotypes in C3H10T1/2 cells. Moreover, taurine treatment enhanced AMPK phosphorylation in vitro and in vivo , and knockdown of AMPKα1 prevented taurine-mediated induction of PGC1α in C3H10T1/2 cells. Consistently, specific knockdown of PGC1α in iWAT of the HFD-fed mice inhibited taurine-induced browning of iWAT, with the role of taurine in the enhancement of adaptive thermogenesis, the prevention of obesity, and the improvement of insulin sensitivity being partially impaired. These results reveal a functional role of taurine in facilitating the browning of white adipose tissue, which depends on the induction of PGC1α. Our studies also suggest a potential mechanism for the protective role of taurine against obesity, which involves taurine-mediated browning of white adipose tissue., (© 2019 Guo et al.)

The aim of this study is to investigate  the effect of mesenchymal stem cell (MSC)-derived exosomes on diabetes mellitus-induced myocardial injury, and the underlying mechanism. Thirty adult male Sprague Dawley rats were randomly assigned to three groups of ten rats each: normal control group, diabetic control group and MSC exosomes group. Exosomes were isolated from MSCs through gradient ultracentrifugation. With the exception of normal control, diabetes mellitus (DM) was induced in the rats with a single intraperitoneal injection of 30 mg/kg body weight streptozotocin (STZ) in 0.1 mol/L sodium citrate buffer. Rats in MSC exosomes group were intravenously injected with MSC-derived exosomes once a week for 12 weeks. Left ventricular collagen (LVC) level was measured using acid hydrolysis method. Fatty acid transporters (FATPs) and fatty acid beta oxidase (FA-β-oxidase) were determined using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Gene and protein expressions of TGF-β and Smad2 were determined using real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and Western blotting. Flow cytometric analysis and Western blotting revealed positive expression of exosomal specific marker, CD63. The level of LVC was significantly higher in diabetic control group than in normal control group, but was significantly reduced after treatment with MSC-derived exosomes (p &lt; 0.05). The levels of FATPs and FA-β-oxidase were significantly lower in diabetic control group than in normal control group (p &lt; 0.05). However, treatment with MSC-derived exosomes significantly increased the levels of these proteins (p &lt; 0.05). The levels of expression of TGF-β1 and Smad2 mRNAs were significantly higher in the diabetic control group than in normal control group, but were significantly reduced after treatment with MSC-derived exosomes (p &lt; 0.05). The expressions of TGF-β1 and Smad2 proteins were also significantly upregulated in diabetic control group, when compared with normal control group (p &lt; 0.05). However, treatment with MSC-derived exosomes significantly down-regulated the expression of these proteins (p &lt; 0.05). The results obtained in this study indicate that MSC-derived exosomes improve DM-induced myocardial injury and fibrosis via inhibition of TGF-β1/Smad2 signaling pathway.

Hepatic steatosis is a hallmark of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and is promoted by dysregulated de novo lipogenesis. ATP-citrate lyase (ACLY) is a crucial lipogenic enzyme that is up-regulated in individuals with NAFLD. A previous study has shown that acetylation of ACLY at Lys-540, Lys-546, and Lys-554 (ACLY-3K) increases ACLY protein stability by antagonizing its ubiquitylation, thereby promoting lipid synthesis and cell proliferation in lung cancer cells. But the functional importance of this regulatory mechanism in other cellular or tissue contexts or under other pathophysiological conditions awaits further investigation. Here, we show that ACLY-3K acetylation also promotes ACLY protein stability in AML12 cells, a mouse hepatocyte cell line, and found that the deacetylase sirtuin 2 (SIRT2) deacetylates ACLY-3K and destabilizes ACLY in these cells. Of note, the livers of mice and humans with NAFLD had increased ACLY protein and ACLY-3K acetylation levels and decreased SIRT2 protein levels. Mimicking ACLY-3K acetylation by replacing the three lysines with three glutamines (ACLY-3KQ variant) promoted lipid accumulation both in high glucose-treated AML12 cells and in the livers of high-fat/high-sucrose (HF/HS) diet-fed mice. Moreover, overexpressing SIRT2 in AML12 cells inhibited lipid accumulation, which was more efficiently reversed by overexpressing the ACLY-3KQ variant than by overexpressing WT ACLY. Additionally, hepatic SIRT2 overexpression decreased ACLY-3K acetylation and its protein level and alleviated hepatic steatosis in HF/HS diet-fed mice. Our findings reveal a posttranscriptional mechanism underlying the up-regulation of hepatic ACLY in NAFLD and suggest that the SIRT2/ACLY axis is involved in NAFLD progression., (© 2019 Guo et al.)

β-Catenin signaling is triggered by WNT proteins and is an important pathway that negatively regulates adipogenesis. However, the mechanisms controlling the expression of WNT proteins during adipogenesis remain incompletely understood. Lysine demethylase 5A (KDM5A) is a histone demethylase that removes trimethyl (me3) marks from lysine 4 of histone 3 (H3K4) and serves as a general transcriptional corepressor. Here, using the murine 3T3-L1 preadipocyte differentiation model and an array of biochemical approaches, including ChIP, immunoprecipitation, RT-qPCR, and immunoblotting assays, we show that Kdm5a is a target gene of CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein β (C/EBPβ), an important early transcription factor required for adipogenesis. We found that C/EBPβ binds to the Kdm5a gene promoter and transactivates its expression. We also found that siRNA-mediated KDM5A down-regulation inhibits 3T3-L1 preadipocyte differentiation. The KDM5A knockdown significantly up-regulates the negative regulator of adipogenesis Wnt6 , having increased levels of the H3K4me3 mark on its promoter. We further observed that WNT6 knockdown significantly rescues adipogenesis inhibited by the KDM5A knockdown. Moreover, we noted that C/EBPβ negatively regulates Wnt6 expression by binding to the Wnt6 gene promoter and repressing Wnt6 transcription. Further experiments indicated that KDM5A interacts with C/EBPβ and that their interaction cooperatively inhibits Wnt6 transcription. Of note, C/EBPβ knockdown impaired the recruitment of KDM5A to the Wnt6 promoter, which had higher H3K4me3 levels. Our results suggest a mechanism involving C/EBPβ and KDM5A activities that down-regulates the Wnt/β-catenin pathway during 3T3-L1 preadipocyte differentiation., (© 2019 Guo et al.)

The need for operational models describing the friction factor f in streams remains undisputed given its utility across a plethora of hydrological and hydraulic applications concerned with shallow inertial flows. For small-scale roughness elements uniformly covering the wetted parameter of a wide channel, the Darcy-Weisbach f = 8(u * /U b ) 2 is widely used at very high Reynolds numbers, where u * is friction velocity related to the surface kinematic stress, U b  = Q/A is bulk velocity, Q is flow rate, and A is cross-sectional area orthogonal to the flow direction. In natural streams, the presence of vegetation introduces additional complications to quantifying f, the subject of the present work. Turbulent flow through vegetation are characterized by a number of coherent vortical structures: (i) von Karman vortex streets in the lower layers of vegetated canopies, (ii) Kelvin-Helmholtz as well as attached eddies near the vegetation top, and (iii) attached eddies well above the vegetated layer. These vortical structures govern the canonical mixing lengths for momentum transfer and their influence on f is to be derived. The main novelty is that the friction factor of vegetated flow can be expressed as f v  = 4C d (U v /U b ) 2 where U v is the spatially averaged velocity within the canopy volume, and C d is a local drag coefficient per unit frontal area derived to include the aforemontioned layer-wise effects of vortical structures within and above the canopy along with key vegetation properties. The proposed expression is compared with a number of empirical relations derived for vegetation under emergent and submerged conditions as well as numerous data sets covering a wide range of canopy morphology, densities, and rigidity. It is envisaged that the proposed formulation be imminently employed in eco-hydraulics where the interaction between flow and vegetation is being sought.

As the source of the "Luanhe-Tianjin Diversion Project", water environment status in the Panjiakou-Daheiting Reservoir directly affects drinking water safety in the water receiving area, and therefore plays important role in the development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. Field survey was carried out in July 2016 to examine the pollution status of the sediment nitrogen, phospho-rus and organic matter. The results showed that total nitrogen (TN) content of surface sediments in Panjiakou-Daheiting Reservoir ranged from 1175.41 to 2415.67 mg·kg -1 with a mean of 1648.71 mg·kg -1 . Total phosphorus (TP) ranged from 1773.25 to 3471.70 mg·kg -1 with a mean of 2790.89 mg·kg -1 . Organic matter (OM) ranged from 6.0% to 25.3% with a mean of 12.5%. Daheiting Reservoir which located downstream of Panjiakou Reservoir had higher value in TP content, while had similar TN content. Results from speciation analysis showed that sediment nitrogen was mainly composed of organic nitrogen and phosphorus mainly consisted of calcium-phosphorus which belonged to inorganic phosphorus. The value of C/N ratio indicated that OM mainly originated from exogenous substances. The pollution assessment results demonstrated that the sediment Panjiakou-Daheiting Reservoir was in a severe pollution status, and might have potential effect to the water environment improvement through the nutrient exchange at the sediment-water interface.

Adipose tissue stores energy and plays an important role in energy homeostasis. CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein β (C/EBPβ) is an important early transcription factor for 3T3-L1 preadipocyte differentiation, facilitating mitotic clonal expansion (MCE) and transactivating C/EBPα and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ (PPARγ) to promote adipogenesis. C/EBPβ is induced early, but the expression of antimitotic C/EBPα and PPARγ is not induced until ∼48 h. The delayed expression of C/EBPα and PPARγ is thought to ensure MCE progression, but the molecular mechanism for this delay remains elusive. Here, we show that the zinc-finger transcription factor Krüppel-like factor 10 (KLF10) is induced after adipogenic induction and that its expression positively correlates with that of C/EBPβ but inversely correlates with expression of C/EBPα and PPARγ. C/EBPβ bound to the KLF10 promoter and transactivated its expression during MCE. KLF10 overexpression in 3T3-L1 preadipocyte repressed adipogenesis and decreased C/EBPα and PPARγ expression, whereas siRNA-mediated down-regulation of KLF10 enhanced adipogenesis and increased C/EBPα and PPARγ expression. Luciferase assays revealed an inhibitory effect of KLF10 on C/EBPα promoter activity. Using promoter deletion and mutation analysis, we identified a KLF10-binding site within the proximal promoter region of C/EBPα. Furthermore, KLF10 interacted with and recruited histone deacetylase 1 (HDAC1) to the C/EBPα promoter, decreasing acetylated histone H4 on the C/EBPα promoter and inactivating C/EBPα transcription. Because C/EBPα can transactivate PPARγ, our results suggest a mechanism by which expression of C/EBPα and PPARγ is delayed via KLF10 expression and shed light on the negative feedback loop for C/EBPβ-regulated adipogenesis in 3T3-L1 preadipocyte., (© 2018 Liu et al.)

The channelization has caused severe degradation of aquatic ecosystems during the past decades of rapid urbanization in metropolitan areas of China. The re-construction of the in-stream habitat of aquatic organisms and the restoration of aquatic ecosystems were more difficult in the urban stream than in the natural stream with the effluence of nutrient enrichment, water contamination, and in-stream habitat loss. Considering the ecological effects of the submerged macrophyte replantation on macroinvertebrate communities, one of the urban streams that used replantation restoration strategy was seasonally monitored from October 2012 to July 2013. There were four sampling sites, two located at the upper region and two in the middle region. Due to the relatively high levels of organic matter contamination, there are no sites in the downstream region of Qinghe River. Four types of submerged macrophyte were planted at each site to restore the in-stream habitat of two years ago, including Potamogeton pectinatus, Potamogeton crispus, Hydrilla verticillate , and Ceratophyllum demersum . Because of the unexpected development, Myriophyllum spicatum and Acorus calamus appeared at the upper reach of Qinghe River. Considering the average water depth of 30-40 cm, the revised Surber net with the enlarged net was used to collect macroinvertebrate samples. At each sampling site, three replicates of macroinvertebrates were carefully collected for each type of macrophyte. Three replicates were sampled for the comparison at the imperviously concrete sections of each site. The community composition of the macroinvertebrate was determined by cluster analysis and ordination analysis. The density, biodiversity, and community stability were higher in the sampling sections with the replantation of macrophyte than in impervious concrete sections. The occurrence of intermediate tolerant taxa such as Ephemera sp., Caenis sinensis Gui, Ecnomus sp., and Hydropsyche sp. indicated the recovery and restoration of macroinvertebrates in Qinghe River. However, the differences in the community structure, density, taxa richness, biodiversity index, and the composition of functional feeding groups of macroinvertebrates among different types of submerged macrophyte were not identified. Unlike providing extra habitats for macroinvertebrates in the vertical direction in natural streams and lakes, the submerged macrophyte provided more stable benthic habitats in urban streams. The stem and leaf of macrophytes could adjust the hydraulics and continually absorb, fix, and accumulate the suspended solids in the sediment and water interface. The root systems could stabilize the microhabitat of the sediment for macroinvertebrates, benthic algae, and microorganisms. Those aquatic organisms played an important role in the decomposition, transformation, and mineralization of nutrients and organic matter in urban streams. Following the recovery of stabilized microhabitats, community restoration and secondary succession of macroinvertebrates could continually and slowly happen. This study improved the understanding of the ecological effects of macrophytes on the restoration of aquatic organisms and ecosystems in urban streams.

The calculation of non-point source (NPS) pollutant loads of nitrogen and phosphorus is the key step in preparing a pollution control plan. This study modified the export coefficient model by taking into account the precipitation, slope, distance between pollution sources and water bodies, and other relevant factors. The NPS pollution load assessment method established in this study can be applied to data-scarce basins and is suitable for plateau lake regions affected by terrain and precipitation. In this study, Chenghai Lake, which belongs to one of the nine major plateau lakes in Yunnan Province, is selected for the case study. This study first verifies the rationality of the improved export coefficient model based on actual observed values, and then utilizes the improved export coefficient model to assess the loads of dissolved nitrogen (DN) and dissolved phosphorus (DP) pollution. As indicated by the results, in 2014, the loads of DN and DP into Chenghai Lake are 158.48 t·a -1 and 24.70 t·a -1 , respectively. The maximum contributions of DN and DP pollution load into Chenghai Lake are from agricultural cultivated land are 46.19% and 48.16%, respectively, in terms of land use. The results present a relatively consistent spatial distribution of DN and DP that indicates that the south bank is a key area for governance. Livestock and rural living are the main pollution sources influencing the load of DN and DP into Chenghai Lake and should be prioritized for control. If the pollution from rural living, livestock, fertilizer loss, and land use can be effectively controlled, the load of DN and DP into Chenghai Lake will be decreased by a maximum of 38.47% and 40.76%, respectively. The results of this study suggest that the improved export coefficient model can be applied for study of the NPS pollution assessment of plateau lake regions and can provide a theoretical basis for the NPS pollution control of the Chenghai Lake basin.

Dysregulation of insulin signaling leads to type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and other metabolic disorders. Obesity is an important contributor to insulin resistance, and although the understanding of this relationship has improved in recent years, the mechanism of obesity-induced insulin resistance is not completely understood. Disorders of copper metabolism tend to accompany the development of obesity, which increases the risk of insulin resistance. Synthesis of cytochrome c oxidase 1 (SCO1) functions in the assembly of cytochrome c oxidase (COX) and cellular copper homeostasis. However, the role of SCO1 in the regulation of metabolism remains unknown. Here, we found that obese mice had higher expression of SCO1 and lower levels of copper in white adipose tissue (WAT) than did the control mice. Overexpression of SCO1 in adipocytes was associated with copper deficiency. Copper increased insulin sensitivity by decreasing the level of phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) protein. Ectopic expression of SCO1 led to insulin resistance and was accompanied by a decrease in intracellular copper level, and addition of copper abolished the inhibitory effect of SCO1 on insulin sensitivity. Our results demonstrated a novel role of SCO1 in modulating insulin sensitivity via the regulation of copper concentration in WAT and suggested a potential therapeutic target for T2DM., (Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

White adipose tissue (WAT) serves as a reversible energy storage depot in the form of lipids in response to nutritional status. Cavin-1, an essential component in the biogenesis of caveolae, is a positive regulator of lipolysis in adipocytes. However, molecular mechanisms of cavin-1 in the modulation of lipolysis remain poorly understood. Here, we showed that cavin-1 was acetylated at lysines 291, 293, and 298 (3K), which were under nutritional regulation in WAT. We further identified GCN5 as the acetyltransferase and Sirt1 as the deacetylase of cavin-1. Acetylation-mimetic 3Q mutants of cavin-1 augmented fat mobilization in 3T3-L1 adipocytes and zebrafish. Mechanistically, acetylated cavin-1 preferentially interacted with hormone-sensitive lipase and recruited it to the caveolae, thereby promoting lipolysis. Our findings shed light on the essential role of cavin-1 in regulating lipolysis in an acetylation-dependent manner in WAT., (Copyright © 2017 American Society for Microbiology.)

Background & Objective: Transcriptional factor Sp1 is involved in many biological processes, such as cell proliferation, apoptosis, differentiation and transformation, and plays an important role in invasion and metastasis of tumors. However, the expression patterns of Sp1 in various tumors are different. This study was to investigate the correlations of Sp1 expression to metastasis, invasion, and prognosis of breast cancer., Methods: The expression of Sp1 in 60 specimens of breast cancer and 12 specimens of adjacent breast tissue was detected by EnVision immunohistochemistry. Its correlation to clinicopathologic features of breast cancer was analyzed by Cox regression analysis., Results: The positive rate of Sp1 was 71.67% in breast cancer tissues, and 33.33% in adjacent tissues. Sp1 staining in cancer tissue was positively correlated to TNM stage (r=0.349, P<0.05), tumor invasion (r=0.407, P<0.01), and lymph node metastasis (r=0.314, P<0.05). Univariate analysis indicated that the overall survival rate was significantly lower in Sp1-positive patients than in Sp1-negative patients (41.86% vs. 82.35%, P<0.05). Cox multivariate analysis showed that Sp1 expression, TNM stage, invasion and lymph node metastasis were independent prognostic factors of breast cancer., Conclusions: Sp1 maybe participate in the invasion and metastasis of breast cancer, and is one of the valuable markers indicating poor prognosis of breast cancer. Sp1 detection, with consideration of tumor invasion and clinical stage, may increase the accuracy of predicting prognosis of patients with breast cancer.

Based on the study of biological characteristics, growth determination, quality examination, harvest and processing features, it has been proved that the introduction and cultivation of Cinnamomum cassial are feasible in such southern subtropics as the valleys along the Yangtze River in the southern part of Sichuan province. Specific cultivating techniques to adapt to the local climate are reviewed in the paper.