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In addressing the challenge of ships being prone to occlusion in multi‐target situations during ship target detection, leading to missed and false detections, this paper proposes an enhanced ship detection algorithm for YOLOv7‐tiny. The proposed method incorporates several key modifications. Firstly, it introduces the Convolutional Block Attention Module in the Backbone section of the original model, emphasizing position information while attending to channel features to enhance the network's ability to extract crucial information. Secondly, it replaces standard convolution with GSConv convolution in the Neck section, preserving detailed information and reducing computational load. Subsequently, the lightweight operator Content‐Aware ReAssembly of Features is employed to replace the original nearest‐neighbour interpolation, mitigating the loss of feature information during the up‐sampling process. Finally, the localization loss function, SIOU Loss, is utilized to calculate loss, expedite training convergence, and enhance detection accuracy. The research results indicate that the precision of the improved model is 91.2%, mAP@0.5 is 94.5%, and the F1‐score is 90.7%. These values are 3.7%, 5.5%, and 4.2% higher than those of the original YOLOv7‐tiny model, respectively. The improved model effectively enhances detection accuracy. Additionally, the improved model achieves an FPS of 145.4, meeting real‐time requirements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A pharmacokinetic (PK) bridging approach was successfully employed to support the dosing regimen and approval of brexpiprazole in pediatric patients aged 13‐17 years with schizophrenia. Brexpiprazole was approved in 2015 for the treatment of schizophrenia and the adjunctive treatment of major depressive disorder in adults based on efficacy and safety data from clinical trials. On January 13, 2020, the US Food and Drug Administration issued a general advice letter to sponsors highlighting the acceptance of efficacy extrapolation of certain atypical antipsychotics from adult patients to pediatric patients considering the similarity in disease and exposure–response relationships. Brexpiprazole is the first atypical antipsychotic approved in pediatrics using this approach. The PK data available from pediatric patients aged 13‐17 years have shown high variability due to the limited number of PK evaluable subjects, which limits a robust estimation of differences between adult and pediatric patients. The PK model‐based approach was thus utilized to evaluate the appropriateness of the dosing regimen by comparing PK exposures in pediatric patients aged 13‐17 years with exposures achieved in adults at the approved doses. In addition to exposure matching, safety data from a long‐term open‐label clinical study in pediatric patients informed the safety profile in pediatric patients. This report illustrates the potential of leveraging previously collected efficacy, safety, and PK data in adult patients to make a regulatory decision in pediatric patients for the indication of schizophrenia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To make unmanned surface vehicles that are better applied to the field of environmental monitoring in inland rivers, reservoirs, or coasts, we propose a global path-planning algorithm based on the improved A-star algorithm. The path search is carried out using the raster method for environment modeling and the 8-neighborhood search method: a bidirectional search strategy and an evaluation function improvement method are used to reduce the total number of traversing nodes; the planned path is smoothed to remove the inflection points and solve the path folding problem. The simulation results reveal that the improved A-star algorithm is more efficient in path planning, with fewer inflection points and traversing nodes, and the smoothed paths are more to meet the actual navigation demands of unmanned surface vehicles than the conventional A-star algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aconitum L. poisoning is a major type of poisoning caused by herbal medicines in many countries. However, despite its toxicity, Aconitum L. is still used because of its therapeutic value. Fuzi, the lateral root of Aconitum L., is one of the most important pharmacological parts. It is necessary for rational medication to figure out the types and contents of toxic Aconitum alkaloids (AAs) in Fuzi and its processed products. The present study aims to investigate the spatial distribution of toxic AAs in Fuzi and the quantification of AAs in various processing products through mass spectrometry methods. In this study, desorption electrospray ionization mass spectrometry imaging (DESI-MSI) was used to directly image the sections of raw Fuzi. The results showed a high content of diester alkaloids (DAs) and a relatively uniform distribution in the sections, while the content of monoester alkaloids (MAs) was low and uneven in the sections, distributed in the cortex, epidermis, vascular column, and other parts of the tissues. The content of non-ester alkaloids (NAs) was relatively minimum, and most of the NAs were distributed in the vascular column and the tightly connected cortex of the tissue. To further investigate the difference between raw and processed Fuzi, 60 known compounds were identified using UHPLC-QTOF-MS. The total contents of alkaloids in 7 processed Fuzi were lower than that in Shengfupian (SFP). Paofupian (PFP), Paotianxiong (PTX), Paofupian (PFP*), Danfupian (DFP), and Shufupian (SFP*) were the least similar. Zhengfupian (ZFP) and Chaofupian (CFP) had significantly reduced toxicity and increased efficacy compared with other processed products because the contents of active alkaloids in other processed products were also reduced. Understanding the distribution of metabolites and the composition changes after processing can guide users and herbal manufacturers to carefully choose the relatively safe and better therapeutic species of Fuzi. The information gathered from this study can contribute towards the improved and effective management of therapeutically important, nonetheless toxic, drugs such as Aconitum L. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Resistant ovarian syndrome(ROS) is a rare disease. It is difficult to diagnose and treat. Most of the literature reports on assisted pregnancy treatment for ROS patients are individual case reports. In this paper, the ovulation stimulation protocol and assisted pregnancy process of ROS infertile patients in our reproductive center were summarized and analyzed to provide information and support for the clinical treatment of ROS patients. Methods: From January 2017 to March 2022, assisted reproductive technology treatments and clinical characteristics parameters of six patients with ROS were retrospectively reviewed. Based on controlled ovarian stimulation protocols, these stimulation cycles were separated into four groups: Early-Follicular Phase Long-Acting Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone Agonist Long Protocol (EFLL) group (n = 6), Progestin Primed Ovarian Stimulation(PPOS) protocol group (n = 5), mild-stimulation protocol group (n = 2), and Natural cycle protocol group (n = 3). Results: A total of 16 cycles of ovulation stimulation were carried out in 6 patients with ROS. A total of 19 oocytes were retrieved, as well as 13 MII oocytes, 11 two pronuclear(2PN) fertilized embryos, and 8 excellent embryos. The oocytes acquisition rate was 50% and the fertilization rate of 2PN was 57.9%, and the excellent embryo rate was 72.7%. The EFLL protocol obtained 17 oocytes, 12 MII oocytes, 11 2PN fertilized embryos, and 8 excellent embryos; the mild-stimulation protocol obtained 1 oocyte; the Natural cycle protocol obtained 1 oocyte, and oocytes were not matured after in vitro maturation (IVM); the PPOS protocol obtained no oocytes. Compared with three other protocols, The fertilization rate of 2PN (64.7%) and excellent embryo rate (72.7%) in the EFLL protocol were higher than those of other protocols(0%). Two fresh cycle embryo transfers resulted in live births, while two frozen-thawed embryo transfer cycles resulted in one live birth and one clinical pregnancy using the EFLL protocol. Conclusion: Although the current study is based on a small sample of participants, the findings suggest that the EFLL protocol can be employed for ovarian stimulation and may result in a live birth in ROS patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The corrosion behavior and mechanism of the high‐strength low‐alloy steel‐welded joint fabricated by the multilayer and multipass welding method were investigated using a scanning Kelvin probe, electrochemical measurements, and so forth. The results revealed that the microstructure of the first layer welding zone was dominated by granular bainite and acicular ferrite and was fine and uniform, which exhibited the best corrosion resistance. Whereas, since the average cooling rate decreased with the increase of welding pass, the grain size of the second and third layer weldings gradually grew, and the voltaic potential gradually decreased. In addition, the microstructure of the heat‐affected zone (HAZ) changed from the tempered sorbite structure of the equilibrium phase to the granular bainite or bainite structure of the nonequilibrium phase under the action of heat transfer. The HAZ became the weakest link for corrosion of welded joint, on account of the nonequilibrium organization and galvanic coupling among base metal, weld metal and HAZ. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The stress corrosion cracking (SCC) behaviors of Ti-6Al-3Nb-2Zr-1Mo (Ti6321, in wt %) alloy samples with equiaxed microstructure (EM), bimodal microstructure (BM) and Widmanstätten microstructure (WM) in simulated 3000 m deep sea environment were investigated using electrochemical tests, electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD), and so on. WM exhibits the best SCC resistance, which is attributed to its best self-healing ability, and is beneficial for the re-passivation of fresh metal at the crack tip. Besides, there is no obvious micro-texture region in WM with higher β phase, and α phase colonies hinder the dislocation movement, resulting in the lowest crack growth rate. • Deep-sea environment stress corrosion behaviors of Ti6321 alloy with different microstructures were investigated. • Ti6321 alloy with Widmanstätten microstructure has best stress corrosion resistance. • α phase colonies in Widmanstätten microstructure hinder the dislocation movement. • The best self-healing ability of Widmanstätten microstructure sample is beneficial for the re-passivation of fresh metal at the crack tip. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The presence of food contaminants can cause foodborne illnesses, posing a severe threat to human health. Therefore, a rapid, sensitive, and convenient method for monitoring food contaminants is eagerly needed. The complex matrix interferences of food samples and poor performance of existing sensing probes bring significant challenges to improving detection performances. Nanocomposites with multifunctional features provide a solution to these problems. The combination of the superior characteristics of magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) and quantum dots (QDs) to fabricate magnetic fluorescent quantum dots (MNPs@QDs) nanocomposites are regarded as an ideal multifunctional probe for food contaminants analysis. The high-efficiency pretreatment and rapid fluorescence detection are concurrently integrated into one sensing platform using MNPs@QDs nanocomposites. In this review, the contemporary synthetic strategies to fabricate MNPs@QDs, including hetero-crystalline growth, template embedding, layer-by-layer assembly, microemulsion technique, and one-pot method, are described in detail, and their advantages and limitations are discussed. The recent advances of MNPs@QDs nanocomposites in detecting metal ions, foodborne pathogens, toxins, pesticides, antibiotics, and illegal additives are comprehensively introduced from the perspectives of modes and detection performances. The review ends with current challenges and opportunities in practical applications and prospects in food contaminants analysis, aiming to promote the enthusiasm for multifunctional sensing platform research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plants are the cradle of the traditional medicine system, assuaging human or animal diseases, and promoting health for thousands of years. However, many plant-derived medicines contain toxic alkaloids of varying degrees of toxicity that pose a direct or indirect threat to human and animal health through accidental ingestion, misuse of plant materials, or through the food chain. Thus, rapid, easy, and sensitive methods are needed to effectively screen these toxic alkaloids to guarantee the safety of plant-derived medicines. Antibodies, due to their inherent specificity and high affinity, have been used as a variety of analytical tools and techniques. This review describes the antigen synthesis and antibody preparation of the common toxic alkaloids in plant-derived medicines and discusses the advances of antibody-based immunoassays in the screening and detection of toxic alkaloids in plants or other related matrices. Finally, the limitations and prospects of immunoassays for toxic alkaloids are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The activation of YAP/TAZ, a pair of paralogs of transcriptional coactivators, initiates a dysregulated transcription program, which is a key feature of human cancer cells. However, it is not fully understood how YAP/TAZ promote dysregulated transcription for tumor progression. In this study, we employed the BioID method to identify the interactome of YAP/TAZ and discovered that YAP/TAZ interact with multiple components of SRCAP complex, a finding that was further validated through endogenous and exogenous co-immunoprecipitation, as well as immunofluorescence experiments. CUT&Tag analysis revealed that SRCAP complex facilitates the deposition of histone variant H2A.Z at target promoters. The depletion of SRCAP complex resulted in a decrease in H2A.Z occupancy and the oncogenic transcription of YAP/TAZ target genes. Additionally, the blockade of SRCAP complex suppressed YAP-driven tumor growth. In a genetically engineered lung adenocarcinoma mouse model and non-small cell lung cancer patients, SRCAP complex and H2A.Z deposition were found to be upregulated. This upregulation was statistically correlated with YAP expression, pathological stages, and poor survival in lung cancer patients. Together, our study uncovers that SRCAP complex plays a critical role in YAP/TAZ oncogenic transcription by coordinating H2A.Z deposition during cancer progression, providing potential targets for cancer diagnosis and prevention. [Display omitted] • YAP/TAZ interact with and recruit SRCAP complex. • SRCAP complex promotes H2A.Z deposition and oncogenic transcription of YAP/TAZ target genes in Hippo pathway. • SRCAP complex is required for YAP-driven tumor growth. • Upregulation of SRCAP complex and H2A.Z was correlated with YAP expression and poor survival in lung cancer patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A new method for realized µ s estimation before gross slip was proposed. • The relationship of the GTFRS and the µ s during sliding procedure was present. • A slip sensitive soft fingertip based on flexible optical lightguide was fabricated. • The proposed µs estimation method is effective both in simulation models and experiment. Slippage feedback is critical for prosthetic or bionic robotic hand to realize steady grasp. An important way to judge the slippage is to detect the maximum coefficient of static friction (µ s) which is commonly measured when or after gross slip happened. Here, we proposed a new method to estimate the µ s before the gross slip in order to realize slippage prediction, leaving more time for the control system to adjust grasp force. Based on a finite element model, a good linear relationship (R2 = 0.99) between the global tangential force at the time when relative slip occurs on the monitoring point (GTFRS) and the µ s was obtained. An optical experiment was conducted and verified the accuracy of the simulation result. Finally, a slip sensitive soft fingertip was fabricated and tested, results show µ s estimation in samples of seven different roughness is well realized with average error of 6.68 %. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ulcerative colitis is a chronic inflammatory bowel disorder, which is having higher mortality rate. The present report evaluates the protective effect of miR‐199a‐3p oligomer for the treatment of Ulcerative colitis (UC). Ulcerative colitis was induced by administration of dextran sulfate sodium [DSS (3%)] with drinking water for the duration of one week in mice and miR‐199a‐3p oligomer was treated for the same duration. Effect of miR‐199a‐3p oligomer was determined by estimating the body weight, blood stool and length of colon in UC mice. Inflammatory cytokines, oxidative stress parameters and Treg/Th17 ratio was determined in the serum, intestinal and spleen tissue of UC mice. mRNA expression of TGFβ, Foxp3, RORγt and STAT3 was estimated in the intestinal tissue of UC mice. Moreover, permeability of intestine was determined by estimating the expression of FITC‐dextran in the serum and expression of junction protein in the tissue of UC mice. The data of the study suggest that treatment with miR‐199a‐3p oligomer ameliorates the altered condition in ulcerative colitis mice. There was reduction in the level of cytokines and parameters of oxidative stress in the intestine of miR‐199a‐3p oligomer than UC group. Moreover, intestinal permeability was enhanced in miR‐199a‐3p oligomer treated UC mice. The level of Th17 in the serum and mRNA expression of TGFβ, Foxp3, RORγt and STAT3 was attenuated in miR‐199a‐3p oligomer treated UC mice. In conclusion, the data of the study suggest that treatment with miR‐199a‐3p oligomer ameliorates intestinal barrier in ulcerative colitis by down regulating the IL‐17A/IL‐23 axis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban transportation problems, primarily characterized by traffic congestion and exhaust emissions, continue to worsen, significantly impeding the economic and social development of cities. Road pricing strategies have emerged as an effective approach to tackle urban transportation problems, and their successful implementation in numerous cities have garnered significant attention. In this context, this study introduces a collaborative road pricing strategy tailored for mixed traffic flow comprising both conventional vehicles (CVs) and new energy vehicles (NEVs). CVs and NEVs are considered as two distinct types of cars with heterogeneous characteristics. The collaborative road pricing strategy consists of two components: congestion pricing and emission pricing. A bi-level programming model for the collaborative road pricing strategy is built. Exhaust emissions within the low-emission zone (LEZ) are used as constraints for the model, while the optimization objective of the model involves minimizing the sum of total travel time and total emissions of the road network. The viability of the proposed collaborative road pricing scheme is demonstrated through numerical tests within the second ring road in Beijing, China. The results imply that the service level of the road network can be improved by implementing the collaborative road pricing scheme. It also concludes that, increasing the penetration of new energy vehicles would help to decrease traffic congestion and emissions. [Display omitted] • A collaborative road pricing scheme for heterogenous vehicles is formulated. • Heterogenous vehicles include conventional vehicles and new energy vehicles (NEVs). • The low-emission zone (LEZ) is districted as the emission constraint in the scheme. • The influence of the NEV penetration and the LEZ emission constraint is examined. • The penetration of NEVs would help to decrease traffic congestion and emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to assess the clinicopathological significance of serum levels and endometrium tissue expression of visfatin in polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) patients. A total of 80 PCOS patients and 80 matching controls were included in this study. We analyzed the relationship between the expression of visfatin in endometrium and clinicopathological characteristics in PCOS patients. The correlation between the expression of visfatin and p-Akt, Akt, p-ERK1/2, and ERK1/2 in PCOS tissues was evaluated as well. Visfatin expression in PCOS endometrial tissues were significantly higher than those in controls (p =.001). The expression of phosphorylation of Akt and ERK1/2 were significantly higher in PCOS endometrium tissues compared to controls (p <.05). Moreover, a high expression of tissue visfatin in PCOS tissues was positively correlated with the expression of p-Akt (p =.015), and p-ERK1/2 (p =.013). Western blotting revealed that protein expression of visfatin in PCOS patients with endometrial hyperplasia and cancer was higher than that in patients with normal endometrium tissues, and the difference was statistically significant (p =.027). The expression of p-Akt (p =.018) and p-ERK1/2 (p =.035) in PCOS patients with endometrial hyperplasia and cancer was significantly higher than that in patients with normal endometrium tissues. Visfatin may be a potential biomarker for endometrial malignant transformation in PCOS patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the passive behavior of 304 stainless steel (SS) in NaCl solution is studied by electrochemical methods and surface analysis. The polarization measurement results show that the pitting potential (Ep) has a simple linear relationship with the temperature increase. Scanning Kelvin probe results show that the surface potential difference on the surface of 304 SS is well correlated with the temperature. Scanning electron microscope results show that the rupture of the passive film accelerates with the increase of temperature. The X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis shows that the high temperature causes more oxidation on the surface of 304 SS, leading more Cr3+ oxidized to Cr6+ at high temperature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/Aims: The role of miR-15 in ulcerative colitis (UC) is unclear. In this study, we found that miR-15 downregulated the expression of adenosine A2a receptor (A2aAR) in the colonic tissues of patients with UC and in HT-29 human colonic epithelial cells. Methods: The study population comprised patients with UC (n=23), irritable bowel syndrome (IBS, n=22), and healthy subjects (n = 20). The levels of miR-15, A2aAR, and protein in colon tissue biopsies were determined by real-time quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction, immunofluorescence staining, and Western blotting. The TargetScan prediction algorithm was used to identify the miR-15 binding site in the 3′-UTR of A2aAR. To assess the effects of miR-15 on A2aAR levels, HT-29 cells were transfected with miR-15 mimics. Results: Relative to expression in healthy subjects, A2aAR expression was decreased in UC patients and was similar in IBS patients. MiR-15 levels were higher in UC patients than in IBS patients or healthy subjects. A2aAR was the target of miR-15 in HT-29 cells, which downregulated A2aAR mRNA levels. MiR-15 mimics induced nuclear translocation of NF-κB p65 and upregulated the expression of IL-8 and IFN-γ in colonic epithelial cells; these effects were reversed by an miR-15 inhibitor. A2aAR knockdown confirmed that miR-15 activated the NF-κB cascade. Conclusion: Our data suggest that miR-15 modulates inflammatory and immune responses by suppressing the expression of A2aAR and regulating the NF-κB cascade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A safe, convenience, and effective vaccine for controlling avian influenza virus infection is crucial in scale poultry production. Yeasts are considered useful vaccine vehicles for the delivery of antigens, which has been used to protect human and animal health. We report here the development of H9N2 strain hemagglutinin (HA)-based recombinant protein vaccines (rH9HA) and DNA-RNA-combined vaccine (rH9-DNA-RNA) in Saccharomyces cerevisiae for the first time. The immunogenicity assay indicated that both rH9HA and rH9-DNA-RNA could induce robust production of serum IgG, mucosal sIgA, and cellular immune responses. The reshape and diversification of gut microbiota and an enriched Lactobacillus, Debaryomyces were observed after oral immunization with rH9HA or rH9-DNA-RNA yeast vaccine, which might contribute to modulate the intestinal mucosal immunity and antiviral process. Oral immunized birds with either rH9HA or rH9-DNA-RNA were effectively protected from H9N2 virus challenge. Our findings suggested that yeast-derived H9N2 HA-based recombinant protein vaccines and DNA-RNA-combined nucleic acid vaccines are feasible and efficacious, opening up a new avenue for rapid and cost-effective production of avian influenza vaccines to achieve good protection effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The volatile components in Houttuynia cordata Thunb. have a distinctive odor, which is the source of their unique flavor as food. Although volatile compounds are widely present in Houttuynia cordata Thunb., little is known about their accumulation in vertical distribution in different organs. In this study, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and chemometrics were used to determine volatile substance's types and relative contents, especially 2-undecanone in different parts of Houttuynia cordata Thunb. The results showed that 933 species and 16 classes of volatile compounds were identified in the leaves, aerial stems, subterranean stems, and roots. Among them, the accumulation of 2-undecanone, d -limonene, and α-pinene were significantly higher in subterranean stems than in other organs. The related KEGG pathway-limonene and pinene degradation, was identified. The study's results can provide a reference for the industrial extraction and utilization of volatile compounds from different parts of Houttuynia cordata Thunb. • The first analyze to volatile compounds in four different organs of H. cordata. • 933 species volatile compounds were identified. • 2-undecanone was significantly accumulated in subterranean stems. • The KEGG pathway cluster analysis provided reference for regulation mechanism. • Reveal the reasons why people in different regions like to eat different parts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper concentrates on security estimation of Cyber-Physical Systems subject to Denial-of-Service attack. A game framework is established to describe the interactive decision making process between the sensor and the attacker under energy constraint. A novel payoff function is used and the optimal strategies for both sides constituting a Nash equilibrium (NE) are obtained by using matrix game. Furthermore, the security issue on state estimation for CPS with multiple-subsystem is investigated based on game theory. To deteriorate the whole system performance, the attacker should decide when to attack and which subsystem to be chosen on account of limited energy. The existence conditions of NE strategies are given. Two numerical examples are provided to demonstrate the feasibility of the results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two polytungstovandates [Ag(mbpy) 2 ][Ag 2 (mbpy) 3 ][VW 5 O 19 ]·H 2 O ( 1 ) and [Ag(mbpy)] 2 [Ag(mbpy) 2 ] 4 [VW 12 O 40 ] ( 2 ) (mbpy =4,4′-dimethyl-2,2′-bipyridyl), had been hydrothermally synthesized and characterized by IR, TG, and single-crystal X-ray diffraction techniques. Single-crystal structural analysis revealed that the polyanionic clusters in two compounds are different: Lindqvist-type in 1 and α-Keggin-type in 2 , respectively, while the cationic moieties in them are Ag-mbpy units. The experiments showed that this kind of hybrid crystal materials possesses more efficiently catalytic performance for the degradation of organic dye methylene blue (MB) in water solution under the UV irradiation. The significant degradation rate of MB can reach 89.9%, 94.9% by crystals 1 and 2 (40 mg) in the course of about 5 min. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Epigenetic change is a key factor for esophageal cancer progression. This study shows that upon exposure of primary cultures of human esophageal epithelial cells obtained from people of the Kazakh nationality in China toN-methyl-N′-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine at concentrations of 0.75, 1.50, and 3.00 mg/L, (1) cell proliferation was inhibited, the percentages of cells in the G0and G1phases declined, and those in the S and G2+ M phases increased at all concentrations, while apoptosis rates increased at medium and high concentrations; (2) the content of DNA-methyltransferases 3a and 3b and the activities of DNA-methyltransferase 1 and DNA-methyltransferase 3a increased at all concentrations while the content of DNA-methyltransferase 1 and the activity of DNA-methyltransferase 3b were increased only at the high concentration; (3) messenger RNA and protein levels of DNA-methyltransferases 1, 3a, and 3b were increased at all concentrations. Obviously,N-methyl-N′-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine in the low mg/L range can inhibit the proliferation of normal Kazakh esophageal epithelial cells, can cause cell cycle arrest in the S and G2+ M phases, promote apoptosis, and increase the activities of DNA-methyltransferases 1, 3a, and 3b. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A trialuminum-substituted β-isomer Keggin-type tungstoaluminate was synthesized and characterized, in which the pure metal–oxygen cluster [AlW8.5Al0.5{Al(OH2)}3(OH)3O34]6.5− consists of three kinds of aluminum sites: the central Al(1), the doped Al(5), and the substituted Al(2) and Al(3) centers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ester-type Aconitum alkaloids (AAs), the main medicinal ingredients of Aconitum L. herbs, could cause brain and heart damage in humans and animals and have raised concerns worldwide. In the present study, we aimed to produce a high-performance and broad-spectrum antibody and establish an immunoassay method of ester-type AAs, 3-succinyl aconitine (ACO-HS) was selected as an optimal hapten from five designed haptens comparing the similarity of stereo structure, electronic distribution, and physicochemical properties using the computer-aided molecular modeling technology. The monoclonal antibody (mAb) 1A9 exhibited broad-spectrum recognition specificity of 15 ester-type AAs was obtained and had a high sensitivity with the binding affinity (half-maximum inhibition concentration, IC 50) of 0.73–130.36 μg L−1. Through molecular docking, it was found that mAb 1A9 and ester-type AAs showed a semi-enveloped structure through hydrogen bonds and hydrophobicity interaction. The amino acid residues that responsible for recognition were ARG107, GLU55, PRO113, VAL36, and SER64, and the critical structures to be recognized of AAs were acetyl group, benzoyl group, and N-linked carbon chains. The developed indirect competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (icELISA) based on mAb 1A9 allowed a sensitive determination of 15 ester-type AAs with the limit of detection (LOD) of 0.21–43.72 μg L−1, and it was suitable for the analysis of ester-type AAs in various Aconitum L. samples. These results provided an effective strategy for the preparation of targeted broad-spectrum antibodies of small molecules and proposed an icELISA method available for rapid, sensitive, and high-throughput detection of toxic ester-type AAs in Aconitum L. herbs. [Display omitted] • Molecular modeling was applied to screen hapten for broad-spectrum antibody against ester-type Aconitum alkaloids (AAs). • The potential mechanism of interaction between antibody and ester-type AAs was firstly studied. • The key structure of ester-type AAs was revealed by computational chemistry. • A reliable and rapid immunoassay for simultaneous detection of 15 ester-type AAs in Aconitum L. samples was well developed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whether the two N-linked glycans are important in prion, PrP, biology is unresolved. In Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells, the two glycans are clearly not important in the cell surface expression of transfected human PrP. Compared to fully-glycosylated PrP, glycan-deficient PrP preferentially partitions to lipid raft. In CHO cells glycan-deficient PrP also interacts with glycosaminoglycan (GAG) and vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 (VEGFR2), resulting in VEGFR2 activation and enhanced Akt phosphorylation. Accordingly, CHO cells expressing glycan-deficient PrP lacking the GAG binding motif or cells treated with heparinase to remove GAG show diminished Akt signaling. Being in lipid raft is critical, chimeric glycan-deficient PrP with CD4 transmembrane and cytoplasmic domains is absent in lipid raft and does not activate Akt signaling. CHO cells bearing glycan-deficient PrP also exhibit enhanced cellular adhesion and migration. Based on these findings, we propose a model in which glycan-deficient PrP, GAG, and VEGFR2 interact, activating VEGFR2 and resulting in changes in cellular behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, the corrosion behavior of high‐strength low alloy (HSLA) steel welded joints in natural seawater solution was investigated by electrochemical and immersion tests. The experimental results prove that the corrosion resistance of the weld metal (WM) was higher than that of the base metal (BM). The scanning Kelvin probe results show that the potential distribution of the BM zone is lower than the heat‐affected zone (HAZ) and WM zone. The scanning vibrating electrode technique results demonstrate that the initial attack for the HSLA welded joint majorly took place in the BM zone after immersion in natural seawater. The corrosion morphology of the HSLA welded joint after immersion was observed by scanning electron microscope. The corrosion morphology of BM and HAZ regions tends to be uniform corrosion, whereas it is mainly pitting corrosion for the WM zone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The evolution of the contact surface on fingertip during incipient slip was present. • The latest slipping point position changes linearly with the applied normal force. • Changing rules of normal and tangential forces during incipient slip were present. • Slip prediction methods suitable for an unstructured environment was proposed. Slip perception based on localized displacement phenomenon (LDP) during incipient slip is a crucial factor in prosthetic/robotic stable manipulation of an object. However, in current LDP-based slip predicting methods, the center point on the contact surface of a fingertip is roughly considered as the latest slipping point which leads to excessive grasping force in some situations. Here, we present a finite element (FE) model of a sliding soft fingertip verified by experiments to investigate the localized displacement and force changing of nodes on the contact surface under different initial grasping forces. Results show that the distance between the latest slipping point and the center point changes linearly with the applied initial normal force, with an R-square of 0.94. Based on these results two slip prediction methods which can be conducted in an unstructured environment with random initial normal grasping force were proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing global warming and eutrophication have led to frequent outbreaks of cyanobacteria blooms in freshwater. Cyanobacteria blooms cause the death of aquatic and terrestrial organisms and have attracted considerable attention since the 19th century. Microcystin-LR (MC-LR) is one of the most typical cyanobacterial toxins. Therefore, the fast, sensitive, and accurate determination of MC-LR plays an important role in the health of humans and animals. Immunoassay refers to a method that uses the principle of immunology to determine the content of the tested substance in a sample using the tested substance as an antigen or antibody. In analytical applications, the immunoassay technology could use the specific recognition of antibodies for MC-LR detection. In this review, we firstly highlight the immunoassay detection of MC-LR over the past two decades, including classical enzyme-link immunosorbent assay (ELISA), modern immunoassay with optical signal, and modern immunoassay with electrical signal. Among these detection methods, the water environment was used as the main detection system. The advantages and disadvantages of the different detection methods were compared and analyzed, and the principles and applications of immunoassays in water samples were elaborated. Furthermore, the current challenges and developmental trends in immunoassay were systematically introduced to enhance MC-LR detection performance, and some critical points were given to deal with current challenges. This review provides novel insight into MC-LR detection based on immunoassay method. [Display omitted] • This review firstly highlights research progress in microcystin-LR detection. • The advantages and disadvantages of the different detection methods were analyzed. • The principles and applications of immunoassay in water samples were elaborated. • The current challenges and developmental trends in immunoassay were systematically introduced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to isolate and purify flavonoids from Jujube (Zizipus jujuba Mill.) fruit and further evaluate antibacterial activities. Semi-preparative high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was used to isolate and purify the flavonoids, while nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) was employed for structural identification. Five flavonoids, including epicatechin, quercetin, rutin, isoquercitrin, and hyperin were identified. Antibacterial activity assays showed quercetin had the greatest inhibitory effect on Escherichia coli, Shigella, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) against Escherichia coli or Pseudomonas aeruginosa was 250 μg/mL and against Shigella was 125 μg/mL. Rutin had the greatest inhibitory effect on Staphylococcus aureus, the MIC of which was 62.5 μg/mL. Hyperin had the greatest inhibitory effect on Bacillus subtilis, the MIC of which against Bacillus subtilis was 250 μg/mL, whereas that against Staphylococcus aureus was 62.5 μg/mL. We found that the antibacterial effects of the flavonoids were strong at a pH less than 6 and that they dropped sharply with increasing pH. Furthermore, the five metal ions Na+, Ca2+, K+, Fe2+, and Mg2+ generally increased the antibacterial activity of quercetin against Escherichia coli, Shigella, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and that of rutin against Staphylococcus aureus. For hyperin, Ca2+ and K+ had the strongest antibacterial effects. The present study suggests that the flavonoids extracted from Jujube (Zizipus jujuba Mill.) fruit were considered a promising candidate for natural and healthy antibacterial agents for the pharmaceutical and food industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Avian leukemia is a common malignant disease, and and its regulatory mechanism is complex. As the most extensive tumor suppressor gene in cancer research, p53 can control multiple functions such as that of DNA repair, induction of apoptosis, cell cycle arrest and so on. In view of the diversity associated with varied function of p53 , this study analyzed the possible effect of gene on ALV-J replication and its regulatory mechanism. We successfully constructed a p53 knockout DF-1 cell line (p53-KO-DF-1 cells) by using CRISPR-Cas9 system. When ALV-J was co-infected with DF-1 and p53-KO-DF-1 cells, it was found that compared with wild-type DF-1 cells, the viral copy number of p53-KO-DF-1 cells infected with ALV-J increased significantly 48 h after infection, whereas the expression of innate immune factors such as Il-2,TNF- α, IFN- γ and MX1 decreased significantly. Detection of p53 -related tumor genes indicated that after p53 deletion, the expression of c-myc, bcl-2 , and bak increased significantly, while the expression of p21 and p27 was noted to be decreased. The cell cycle distribution and apoptosis of the 2 cell lines was detected by flow cytometry analysis. The results showed that p53 knockout prevented G0/G1 and G2 M phase arrest induced by ALV-J, and substantially decreased the rate of apoptosis. Overall, the results indicated that p53 gene can effectively inhibits ALV-J replication by regulating important cellular processes, and p53 gene related proteins involved in cell cycle activity may function as the key targets for the prevention and treatment of ALV-J. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban functional area recognition refers to refining the main functions of building coverage areas. At present, multisource data analysis is prone to data imbalance, and types with large data volume are more likely to affect data analysis results. Therefore, this study took the main urban area of Taiyuan as the research object and used the Synthetic Minority Oversampling Technology (SMOTE) method to reduce the impact of data imbalance. In this study, the SOMTE method was used to incrementally process the microblog check-in data in the main urban area of Taiyuan, which reduced the phenomenon of data imbalance and further improved the recognition accuracy. The Point of Interest (POI) data were clustered through K-nearest neighbor, and microblog check-in data were semantically analyzed by Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA). Then, the eigenvalues of the two kinds of data results were obtained by frequency density analysis. Finally, feature fusion was carried out by means of weighted average. The fused data were divided into single and mixed functional areas according to the difference of frequency density, which was rendered and displayed on the ArcGIS platform, so as to realize the visual identification and division of urban functional areas, and the results were compared with Gaode Map. The experimental results showed that this method can effectively identify urban functional areas with a recognition accuracy of 85%, which provided reference value for the planning and research of urban functional areas in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Marek's disease (MD) is a chicken neoplastic disease, which brings huge economic losses to the global poultry industry. The wild type p53, a tumor suppressor gene, plays a key role in blocking cell cycle, promoting apoptosis, and maintaining the stability of the genome. However, the mutant p53 losses its tumor inhibitory role and become an oncogene when a mutation has happened. Results: The mutation rate of p53 was 60% in the experimentally and naturally infected chickens. The mutations included point-mutations and deletions, and mostly located in the DNA-binding domain. The mutated p53 was expressed in various tumor tissues in an infected chicken. The mutant P53 proteins were notably accumulated in the cytoplasm due to the loss in the function of nuclear localization. Unlike the study on human cancer, the concentrations of P53 in the serums of MD infected chicken were significantly lower than the control group. Conclusions: The p53 mutations were apparent in the development of MD. P53 and P53 antibody level in serum could be a useful marker in the diagnosis and surveillance of MD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microcystin-LR (MC-LR) is widely distributed in natural lakes and could strongly inhibit protein phosphatase activity; it is also a potent liver tumor promoter. Over the last two decades, tremendous efforts have been devoted to enhance the detection of MC-LR in water samples. However, the traditional method is complex and costly, and achieving the fast, sensitive, and accurate determination of MC-LR in the cells and natural lakes by using fluorescence signal changes is fairly difficult. Our work explores novel fluorescent probes that are capable of concurrently analyzing and detecting MC-LR in the cells and water. In this study, we introduce, for the first time, 5-AF and 6-AF as small-molecule fluorescent probes suitable for MC-LR detection in the cells and water samples based on fluorescence signal changes. We titrated 5-AF and 6-AF with MC-LR in pure water, scanned the fluorescence of the sample, and then obtained the equation the fluorescence intensity versus MC-LR concentration curve. MC-LR in lake water samples was crudely purified, and then 5-AF was added to measure its fluorescence peak. The fluorescence intensity of 5-AF is significantly enhanced with increasing MC-LR concentration. This enhancement trend is stable and could be mathematically modeled. We also comprehensively analyzed the mechanism and recognition principle of the probe response to MC-LR in natural lake water. Moreover, we believe that 5-AF may be capable of detecting exogenous MC-LR in cells. The results of this study reveal that these unique fluorescent probes may be applied to construct near-infrared fluorescent probes that could detect MC-LR levels in vivo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

More recently, short peptides in scorpion venom have received much attention because of their potential for drug discovery. Although various biological effects of these short peptides have been found, their studies have been hindered by the lack of structural information especially in modifications. In this study, small peptides from scorpion venom were investigated using high-performance liquid chromatography high-resolution mass spectrometry followed by de novo sequencing. A total of 156 sequences consisting of 2~12 amino acids were temporarily identified from Buthus martensii scorpion venom. The identified peptides exhibited various post-translational modifications including N-terminal and C-terminal modifications, in which the N-benzoyl modification was first found in scorpion venom. Moreover, a short peptide Bz-ARF-NH2 demonstrated both N-terminal and C-terminal modifications simultaneously, which is extremely rare in natural peptides. In conclusion, this study provides a comprehensive insight into the diversity, modifications, and potential bioactivities of short peptides in scorpion venom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel glucose-Zn-based porous coordination polymer (PCP) was selected as a carrier of cell membranes (CMs) to fabricate CM-coated PCP (CMPCP) for rapid screening of potentially active compounds from natural products. The cell disruption and the amount of maximum CMs adsorbed on PCP were optimized according to the amount of immobilized protein. This new kind of matrix exhibited good reproducibility and stability, and was applied for fishing potentially active compounds from the extracts of Vaccinium corymbosum L. leaves (VCL). Using LC-MS/MS, chlorogenic acid and quercetin were identified as the potentially active compounds through comparison of normal and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD)–modeled CMPCP. Our results suggested that the proposed approach based on CMPCP was environmentally friendly, cost-effective, and convenient in terms of green porous material, stable protein loading capacity, and accessible operation process. The developed method could provide a promising platform for efficient drug discovery from natural product resources. Graphical abstract [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spatial patterns in heterogeneity are generally deemed a central causal factor influencing the physiology and behavior of animals in ecological systems. However, knowledge remains limited about how such patterns influence food discovery by animals. We inferred that spatial heterogeneity plays a key role in animal food discovery and location. To prove this inference, we tested food locating parameters by 2 rodent species, Apodemus agrarius and Lasiopodomys brandtii, in different heterogeneous environments. Our results showed that spatial heterogeneity significantly influenced the food locating time of rodents, with food locating time increasing with increasing spatial heterogeneity. Furthermore, spatial heterogeneity significantly influenced invalid excavations (digging in the wrong place). Finally, spatial heterogeneity significantly influenced the frequency that heterogeneous objects were explored. Supporting our inference, our results indicate that spatial heterogeneity significantly influences the foraging behavior of animals. Consequently, increased spatial heterogeneity will impair the food locating success of rodents. We believe that this work will broaden our understanding of plant–animal interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Cu 3 SnS 4 (CTS) was introduced in adsorption applications for the first time. • CTS has a certain adsorption effect on anionic dyes in aqueous solution. • Surprisingly, CTS@C possess excellent pH-sensitive adsorbability on ramoval of MO. Abstract A new type of strong adsorbent nanostructure Cu 3 SnS 4 @C has been first designed and fabricated by two-step hydrothermal synthesis. For removal of anionic dye methyl orange (MO), in striking contrast to the weak adsorption of bare C nanospheres (0.7 mg/g), the Cu 3 SnS 4 @C nanostructures exhibit a very strong pH-sensitive adsorption performance with a maximum adsorbability of 65.99 mg/g at pH 5.0 and a minimum value of 8.11 mg/g at pH 11.0, in initial concentration of 70 mg/L MO. The samples' adsorption mechanism could be well explained by pseudo-second-order kinetic model. Such significantly enhanced adsorbability of Cu 3 SnS 4 @C could be ascribed to the synergistic adsorption effect of Cu 3 SnS 4 nanoparticles at C nanospheres, which can induce holes transfer and thus lead to massive positive active sites generation on Cu 3 SnS 4 @C available for synergistic adsorption anion dye. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ag-modified polyoxometalate [Na(H2O)]2[Ag(bpf)]3[PW12O40] (1) (bpf = 2,4-di(4-pyridyl)furan) was synthesized through a hydrothermal reaction. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis revealed that1consists of a hybrid 3D MOF constructed from Keggin-type polyanionic [PW12O40]3-and cationic Ag-bpf units. Ligand bpf in1wasin situtransferred from 1,3-bis(4-pyridyl)propane under the higher temperature and pressure of hydrothermal conditions. Catalytic performance of1as a heterogeneous catalyst for degradation of organic dye Rhodamine B (RhB) was investigated. Experimental results showed that hybrid1was especially active to catalytically degrade RhB under room temperature and natural light. RhB-containing solution (5.0 mg·L−1) could be quickly bleached in a short time, and the high removal efficiency (97%) could be reached in a mere 30 min. The degradation mechanism of RhB was discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study investigated the corrosion behavior in the core and at the edge of the cross-section of an extruded GW103K (Mg–10Gd–3Y–0.4Zr) alloy. Equivalent stress and strain were modeled using finite element simulations. The stress and strain in the core were lower than those at the edge. The microstructure, corrosion morphology, and grain orientation of the alloy were examined using optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and electron backscatter diffraction, respectively. The results showed that most grains in the core exhibited a basal plane orientation and lower surface energy, whereas those at the edge exhibited cylindrical orientations. Hydrogen evolution experiments and electrochemical tests showed that the corrosion resistance in the core was higher than that at the edge. Scanning Kelvin probe force microscopy measurements of the surface potential distribution in the cross-section revealed a large potential difference between the second-phase particles at the edge and the matrix, with obvious galvanic corrosion. The alloy core exhibited low stress and a higher content of grains with basal plane orientation, along with a small potential difference between the second-phase particles and the matrix. Thus, the corrosion resistance in the core was higher than that at the edge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Maintaining the balance of mitochondrial fission and mitochondrial autophagy on seizures is helpful to find a solution to control seizures and reduce brain injuries. The present study is to investigate the protective effect of inhibiting mitochondrial fission on brain injury in juvenile rat epilepsy induced by pentatetrazol (PTZ) by inhibiting the BCL2L13/LC3-mediated mitophagy pathway. PTZ was injected (40 mg/kg) to induce kindling once every other day, for a total of 15 times. In the PTZ + DMSO (DMSO), PTZ + Mdivi-1 (Mdivi-1), and PTZ + WY14643 (WY14643) groups, rats were pretreated with DMSO, Mdivi-1 and WY14643 for half an hour prior to PTZ injection. The seizure attacks of young rats were observed for 30 min after model establishment. The Morris water maze (MWM) was used to test the cognition of experimental rats. After the test, the numbers of NeuN(+) neurons and GFAP(+) astrocytes were observed and counted by immunofluorescence (IF). The protein expression levels of Drp1, BCL2L13, LC3 and caspase 3 in the hippocampus of young rats were detected by immunohistochemistry (IHC) and Western blotting (WB). Compared with the PTZ and DMSO groups, the seizure latency in the Mdivi-1 group was longer (P < 0.01), and the severity degree and frequency of seizures were lower (P < 0.01). The MWM test showed that the incubation periods of crossing the platform in the Mdivi-1 group was significantly shorter. The number of platform crossings, the platform stay time, and the ratio of residence time/total stay time were significantly increased in the Mdivi-1 group (P < 0.01). The IF results showed that the number of NeuN(+) neurons in the Mdivi-1 group was greater, while the number of GFAP(+) astrocytes was lower. IHC and WB showed that the average optical density (AOD) and relative protein expression levels of Drp1, BCL2L13, LC3 and caspase 3 in the hippocampi of rats in the Mdivi-1 group were higher (P < 0.05). The above results in the WY14643 group were opposite to those in the Mdivi-1 group. Inhibition of mitochondrial fission could reduce seizure attacks, protect injured neurons, and improve cognition following PTZ-induced epilepsy by inhibiting mitochondrial autophagy mediated by the BCL2L13/LC3 mitophagy pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new strategy is developed to prepare porous microspheres with narrow size distribution for peptides controlled release, involving a fabrication of porous microspheres without any porogens followed by a pore closing process. Amphiphilic polymers with different hydrophobic segments (poly(monomethoxypolyethylene glycol-co- d , l -lactide) (mPEG-PLA), poly(monomethoxypolyethylene glycol-co- d , l -lactic-co-glycolic acid) (mPEG-PLGA)) are employed as microspheres matrix to prepare porous microspheres based on a double emulsion-premix membrane emulsification technique combined with a solvent evaporation method. Both microspheres possess narrow size distribution and porous surface, which are mainly caused by (a) hydrophilic polyethylene glycol (PEG) segments absorbing water molecules followed by a water evaporation process and (b) local explosion of microspheres due to fast evaporation of dichloromethane (MC). Importantly, mPEG-PLGA microspheres have a honeycomb like structure while mPEG-PLA microspheres have a solid structure internally, illustrating that the different hydrophobic segments could modulate the affinity between solvent and matrix polymer and influence the phase separation rate of microspheres matrix. Long term release patterns are demonstrated with pore-closed microspheres, which are prepared from mPEG-PLGA microspheres loading salmon calcitonin (SCT). These results suggest that it is potential to construct porous microspheres for drug sustained release using permanent geometric templates as new porogens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • A multiplex fluorescent LFIA for screening of β 2 agonists was well established. • SiO 2 @QDs nanocomposites with merits of high stability, and excellent luminescence were fabricated. • The LOD could reach 0.007 ng/mL for RAC and 0.032 ng/mL for SAL in one strip within 13 min. • The detection performances of SiO 2 @QDs-LFIA were comparable with advantageous TRFMs-LFIA. The abuse of illegal additives poses a severe threat to human health. As such, it is of great significance to develop a simple, rapid and high-throughput analysis method for ensuring food safety from source to terminal. Herein, we proposed a multiplex fluorescent lateral flow immunoassay (LFIA) using the nanoassembly of silicon dioxide (SiO 2) and quantum dots (QDs) as the advanced signal probe that can simultaneously detect ractopamine (RAC) and salbutamol (SAL) in swine urine and pork samples, and compared with other four conventional labels. The core–shell SiO 2 @QDs nanocomposites with strong luminescence, high stability, and abundant surface carboxyl groups were conjugated with antibodies to form high-performance SiO 2 @QDs immunoprobes, which improve the sensitivity and reliability of the LFIA. The developed SiO 2 @QDs-based LFIA achieved simultaneous detection of RAC and SAL in one strip within 13 min, with the limit of detection at 0.007 ng/mL and 0.032 ng/mL, respectively. The sensitivity of SiO 2 @QDs was superior to gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) and fluorescent microspheres (FMs), and exhibited comparative sensitivity with time-resolved microspheres (TRFMs), while overcoming the shortcomings of QDs that tend to aggregate. The recoveries in spiked swine urine and pork samples ranged from 73.7 to 111.0% with relative standard deviations between 4.7% and 15.5%. Good correlations were observed between the SiO 2 @QDs-based LFIA and commercial enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for RAC (R2 = 0.936) and SAL (R2 = 0.979) detection. Briefly, the proposed method could be a promising screening on-site tool for convenient, rapid and sensitive detection of multiple illegal additives residues from the source to the terminal in food safety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Serine/arginine-rich (SR) proteins are well known as splicing factors in humans, model animals and plants. However, they are largely unknown in regulating pre-mRNA splicing of filamentous fungi. Here we report that the SR protein MoSrp1 enhances and suppresses alternative splicing in a model fungal plant pathogen Magnaporthe oryzae. Deletion of MoSRP1 caused multiple defects, including reduced virulence and thousands of aberrant alternative splicing events in mycelia, most of which were suppressed or enhanced intron splicing. A GUAG consensus bound by MoSrp1 was identified in more than 94% of the intron or/and proximate exons having the aberrant splicing. The dual functions of regulating alternative splicing of MoSrp1 were exemplified in enhancing and suppressing the consensus-mediated efficient splicing of the introns in MoATF1 and MoMTP1, respectively, which both were important for mycelial growth, conidiation, and virulence. Interestingly, MoSrp1 had a conserved sumoylation site that was essential to nuclear localization and enhancing GUAG binding. Further, we showed that MoSrp1 interacted with a splicing factor and two components of the exon-joining complex via its N-terminal RNA recognition domain, which was required to regulate mycelial growth, development and virulence. In contrast, the C-terminus was important only for virulence and stress responses but not for mycelial growth and development. In addition, only orthologues from Pezizomycotina species could completely rescue defects of the deletion mutants. This study reveals that the fungal conserved SR protein Srp1 regulates alternative splicing in a unique manner. Author summary: The primary roles of serine/arginine-rich (SR) proteins in pre-mRNA splicing have been well established in humans, model animals and plants. Some studies have suggested that fungal SR proteins are also involved in pre-mRNA splicing, but direct evidence is lacking to illustrate how they regulate pre-mRNA splicing in fungi. Here we describe that a fungal conserved SR protein MoSrp1 in the model plant fungal pathogen Magnaporthe oryzae regulates alternative pre-mRNA splicing with unique mechanisms. MoSrp1 enhances and suppresses alternative splicing by binding to the GUAG consensus in target pre-mRNAs. The GUAG consensus per se enhances and suppresses the intron splicing efficiency of MoATF1 and MoMTP1, both of which are important for mycelial growth, conidiation, and virulence. We also show that MoSrp1 is SUMOylatied for its nuclear localization and enhancing the GUAG binding capacity. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the N-terminal RNA recognition domain of MoSrp1 interacts with a splicing factor and two components of the exon-joining complex and is required for mycelial growth, development and virulence, and that the C-terminus was important only for virulence and stress responses but not for mycelial growth and development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cytoplasmic thiouridylase Ctu1-Ctu2 protein complex is responsible for thiolation on the wobble base U34 of tRNAs and plays an important role in cell development in model organisms. However, the biological function of this protein complex in plant pathogenic fungi remains unknown. In this study, we identified a cytosolic thiouridylase gene MoCTU2 in the rice blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae. The Δ Moctu2 mutant showed reduced vegetative hyphal growth and conidiation, and increased responses to rapamycin and high temperature. However, MoCTU2 had a minor impact on the ability of the mutant causing blast disease on rice. MoCTU2 was constitutively expressed at various developmental stages, with a peak during appressorium formation; the MoCtu2-GFP fusion was evenly distributed in the cytoplasm. Altogether, our findings indicate that the cytosolic thiouridylase gene MoCTU2 is required for fungal development, conidiation, and responses to rapamycin and high temperature in the blast fungus. • MoCTU2 is important to vegetative hyphal growth and conidiation. • MoCTU2 is required for the sensitivity to rapamycin and high temperature. • MoCtu2 is localized into the cytoplasm and highly expressed in the appressorium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soybean cyst nematode (SCN, Heterodera glycines) is widely considered as the model plant-parasitic nematode, which secretes effector proteins to manipulate host responses. In this study, we cloned a dorsal gland-expressed effector protein SCN-27D09 that belongs to the same family as Hg10A07 in SCN. We used the model plant pathogen rice blast fungus (Magnaporthe oryzae) to quickly predict and characterize the functions of SCN-27D09. By using M. oryzae secretion system in barley, we confirmed that the signal peptide of SCN-27D09 has secretory activity and can guide the protein into the host cells. Heterologous expression of SCN-27D09 in M. oryzae significantly enhanced the susceptibility of barley to M. oryzae. SCN-27D09 can inhibit Bax-triggered cell death when expressed in Nicotiana benthamiana. Overexpression of SCN-27D09 in soybean hairy root also increased the susceptibility of soybean plants to SCN. Moreover, yeast two-hybrid and firefly luciferase complementation imaging assays showed that SCN-27D09 interacts with a soybean plant kinase GmIPK-2. Functional characterization of GmIPK-2 revealed its positive role in soybean resistance, indicating that SCN-27D09 might compromise the function of GmIPK-2 to facilitate nematode infection. Our results not only uncover the biological role of SCN-27D09 in suppressing plant defense responses and therefore promoting nematode parasitism, but also reaffirm the potential application of the model plant pathogenic fungus M. oryzae in investigating the pathogenic roles of candidate effectors of phytonematodes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon nanomaterials have huge application prospects in the fields of materials science and biomedicine. Graphene oxide (GO) can be served as an excellent carrier with good loading capacity and biocompatibility. However, lamelayers of GO are prone to aggregation and difficult to stably disperse in solution. Only relying on the mesh graphene sheets as a carrier still cannot achieve a good loading efficiency. Therefore, oriented layered graphene oxide pad (OGO) is synthesized and used as a carrier for ligand fishing. The structure of OGO exhibits good reproducibility and recyclability, and its regular open channels and low pore curvature can effectively ensure a high density of fishing sites and flow speed, improving the loading capacity and storage stability. According to the amount of immobilized cell membranes protein (CMP), OGO can reach 1.5 to 2 times loading capacity of GO. The established CMP@OGO is stable within 48 h at 4 °C, and the reuse rate of OGO is 93.04 ± 0.67%. Finally, salvianolic acid B, deoxyshikonin, and shikonin were identified as potentially active compounds in comfrey combined with a high‐performance liquid chromatography‐hybrid linear ion trap/orbitrap mass spectrometer. It can provide a promising platform for OGO to screen active compounds in high throughput. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Previous study has shown that chemokine-like factor (CKLF)-like MARVEL transmembrane domain-containing family member 4 (CMTM4) can bind and maintain programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression to promote tumor progression by alleviating the suppression of tumor-specific T cell activity, suggesting its potential role in tumor immunotherapy. However, the role of CMTM4 in tumor immunity has not been well clarified, especially in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).Methods: The protein expression of CMTM4/PD-L1/CD4/CD8 was detected by immunohistochemistry (IHC) detection in 90 cases of HCC tissues. The mRNA expression profiles and related prognosis data were obtained from The Cancer Genome Atlas-Liver Hepatocellular Carcinoma (TCGA-LIHC). Two immune therapy cohorts were from Imvigor210 and GSE176307.Results: Though the single protein expression of CMTM4, PD-L1, CD4 or CD8 in HCC tissues by IHC detection didn't show a significant relationship with the prognosis of HCC patients, we found that high co-expression of CMTM4/PD-L1/CD4 showed a good prognosis of HCC patients. Further Timer 2.0 analysis identified that HCC patients with high expression of CMTM4/PD-L1 and high infiltration of CD4+ T cells had a better overall survival than those with low infiltration of CD4+ T cells. Moreover, a series of bioinformatics analyses revealed that CMTM4-related genes posed important effects on prognosis and immunity in HCC patients, and CMTM4 had a positive correlation with infiltration of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells in HCC. At last, we used two immunotherapy cohorts to verify that the combination of CMTM4 with PD-L1 could improve the prognosis of tumor patients underwent immunotherapy.Conclusions: CMTM4 and PD-L1 co-expression with T cell infiltration shows prognostic significance in HCC, suggesting combined effect from multiple proteins should be considered in HCC treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To clone and express the γ-polyglutamic acid (γ-PGA) synthetase gene pgsBCA in Bacillus subtilis, a pWB980 plasmid was used to construct and transfect the recombinant expression vector pWB980-pgsBCA into Bacillus subtilis WB600. PgsBCA was expressed under the action of a P43 promoter in the pWB980 plasmid. Our results showed that the recombinant bacteria had the capacity to synthesize γ-PGA. The expression product was secreted extracellularly into the fermentation broth, with a product yield of 1.74 g/L or higher. γ-PGA samples from the fermentation broth were purified and characterized. Hydrolysates of γ-PGA presented in single form, constituting simple glutamic acid only, which matched the characteristics of the infrared spectra of the γ-PGA standard, and presented as multimolecular aggregates with a molecular weight within the range of 500–600 kDa. Expressing the γ-PGA synthetase gene pgsBCA in B. subtilis system has potential industrial applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]