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Biological invasions are among the most serious threats to ecosystems. The golden apple snail Pomacea canaliculata (Lamarck, 1822) is considered one of the top 100 worst invasive alien species in the world. These snails consume benthic primary producers, including submerged macrophytes, which may lead to an increase in nutrient concentration in the water, enhance growth of phytoplankton, and decrease growth of macrophytes, thereby shifting the primary production from benthic to pelagic habitats in shallow systems. To test this hypothesis, we conducted a short-term experiment with and without the invasive P. canaliculata in mesocosms with high abundance of the native submerged macrophyte Vallisneria natans (Lour.) Hara. Compared with snail-free control, the snail increased the concentrations of total nitrogen (TN), nitrate nitrogen (NO3−–N), total and organic suspended solids (TSS and OSS), decreased the concentrations of soluble reactive phosphorous (SRP), but had no effect on total phosphorus (TP) and the TN:TP ratio. In addition, the snails decreased the biomass, leaf length and tiller number of V. natans, and decreased light intensity. Although snail presence did not change the biomasses of nanophytoplankton and picophytoplankton, it did increase the biomass of microphytoplankton leading to an increase in total phytoplankton biomass. Our study shows that P. canaliculata shifted primary production from benthic to pelagic habitats, altered the phytoplankton community size structure, and decreased water quality. The results add further evidence of negative ecosystem impacts of this invasive apple snail and call for its control in invaded shallow lake ecosystems.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) stands as the prevailing chronic airway ailment, characterized by chronic bronchitis and emphysema. Current medications fall short in treatment of these diseases, underscoring the urgent need for effective therapy. Prior research indicated immunoproteasome inhibition alleviated various inflammatory diseases by modulating immune cell functions. However, its therapeutic potential in COPD remains largely unexplored. Here, an elevated expression of immunoproteasome subunits LMP2 and LMP7 in the macrophages isolated from mouse with LPS/Elastase‐induced emphysema and polarized macrophages in vitro is observed. Subsequently, intranasal administration of the immunoproteasome‐specific inhibitor ONX‐0914 significantly mitigated COPD‐associated airway inflammation and improved lung function in mice by suppressing macrophage polarization. Additionally, ONX‐0914 capsulated in PLGA nanoparticles exhibited more pronounced therapeutic effect on COPD than naked ONX‐0914 by targeting immunoproteasome in polarized macrophages. Mechanistically, ONX‐0914 activated autophagy and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress are not attribute to the ONX‐0914 mediated suppression of macrophage polarization. Intriguingly, ONX‐0914 inhibited M1 polarization through the nuclear factor erythroid 2‐related factor‐1 (NRF1) and NRF2‐P62 axis, while the suppression of M2 polarization is regulated by inhibiting the transcription of interferon regulatory factor 4 (IRF4). In summary, the findings suggest that targeting immunoproteasome in macrophages holds promise as a therapeutic strategy for COPD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives To elucidate the longitudinal reciprocal association between RA and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and the mediating role of systemic inflammation in the association. Methods A total of 403 045 participants from UK Biobank were enrolled in this study. A cross-lagged panel model was used to investigate the longitudinal reciprocal association between RA and COPD. Cox proportional hazards regression and logistic regression models were also conducted to examine the association between baseline RA and COPD during follow-up, and vice versa. Causal mediation analysis was then performed to explore the mediating roles of 160 systemic inflammatory biomarkers in the bidirectional association. Results At baseline, 4755 (1.2%) and 6989 (1.7%) individuals were diagnosed with RA and COPD, respectively. After adjusting for the covariates, the result of a cross-lagged panel model revealed a bidirectional association between RA and COPD (β = 0.018, P  < 0.001 for the RA→COPD path; β = 0.010, P  < 0.001 for the COPD→RA path). In the non-COPD population, the risk of future COPD was increased in RA patients [Cox model: hazard ratio (HR) 1.65 (95% CI 1.50, 1.83); logistic model: odds ratio (OR) 1.85 (95% CI 1.66, 2.07)]. In the non-RA population, baseline COPD was associated with a higher risk of RA during follow-up [Cox model: HR 1.67 (95% CI 1.44, 1.92); logistic model: OR 1.70 (95% CI 1.47, 1.97)]. Five inflammatory factors mediated the RA→COPD path and CRP mediated the COPD→RA path (false discovery rate < 0.05). Conclusions A significant bidirectional association exists between RA and COPD and it is partially mediated by systemic inflammation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metallic aerogels, as featured by high surface area, porosity, and self‐supported metal skeleton, are regarded as an ideal platform for developing next‐generation electrocatalysts. However, the precise adjustment of their skeleton nanostructure to enhance catalytic properties remains significantly underexplored. Herein, inspired by the impact of the metal atoms' coordination number on their reactivity, we devised and prepared dendritic Pt aerogels (DPAs) via a facile sol‐gel method. The synergy of aerogel structure and coordinatively distinct catalytic sites from dendritic morphology enables DPAs to exhibit markedly improved electrocatalytic activity and stability for methanol oxidation reaction. The mass activity and specific activity of DPAs are 1.28 A mgPt−1 and 1.5 mA cmPt−2, which are 4.1 and 3.2 times higher than those of commercial Pt/C, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Lamiaceae family is widely distributed worldwide. In this study, we investigated the insecticidal activity of five Lamiaceae essential oils against Thrips flavus Schrank and the phytotoxic activity against Glycine max (L.) Merr., Zea mays L., Portulaca oleracea L., and Echinochloa oryzoides (Ard.) Fritsch. Then, the chemical composition of the five essential oils was analyzed by using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The five Lamiaceae essential oils were melissa, basil, rosemary, negundo chastetree, and salvia. The main constituents of the five Lamiaceae essential oils were preliminarily determined to be as follows: α-pinene and 1,8-cineole in the rosemary essential oil; β-pinene, γ-terpinene, and d-limonene in the negundo chastetree essential oil; β-cadinene and isolongifolen-5-one in the melissa essential oil; 5-allylguaiacol in the basil essential oil; and isopropyl myristate, linalyl acetate, and linalool in the salvia essential oil. Using a bioassay, it was found that, among the five essential oils, the melissa essential oil exhibited the lowest LC50 value, which was 0.18 mg/mL, and the salvia essential oil exhibited the highest LC50 value, which was 0.42 mg/mL. The control efficacy of the five essential oils significantly increased with time and concentration in pot experiments. The negundo chastetree, basil, rosemary, and salvia essential oils at 900.00 g a.i.·hm−2 showed high control efficacy against T. flavus, with values higher than 90%. Female thrips were attracted to the negundo chastetree essential oil. The five essential oils were also tested for their effects on the germination rate, germination potential, germination index, and shoot length of G. max, Z. mays, P. oleracea, and E. oryzoides. The basil essential oil significantly inhibited the germination of P. oleracea, with germination at a concentration of 1.0 mg/mL being only 11.11 ± 5.09%. This study provides a reference for the development of botanical pesticides to control T. flavus, crops, and weeds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The massive amount of IoT data has great value, but the existing cloud-based data sharing mechanism faces problems such as single points of failure and internal leakage, which can not ensure the secure sharing of user data. In order to achieve efficient and reliable data sharing, the blockchain technology was used to propose a 5G IoT data sharing scheme based on blockchain. Firstly, the proposed scheme designed data sharing framework and data sharing process, based on the lightning network solution, an off-chain transaction mechanism for data sharing of the internet of things was proposed. Experimental analysis shows that the 5G IoT data sharing framework based on blockchain has strong anti-attack ability and the off-chain transaction mechanism based on lightning network can greatly increase transaction throughput and reduce transaction delay.