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Diabetes is a common metabolic disease characterized by loss of blood sugar control and a high rate of complications. γ-Aminobutyric acid (GABA) functions as the primary inhibitory neurotransmitter in the adult mammalian brain. The normal function of the GABAergic system is affected in diabetes. Herein, we summarize the role of the GABAergic system in diabetic cognitive dysfunction, diabetic blood sugar control disorders, diabetes-induced peripheral neuropathy, diabetic central nervous system damage, maintaining diabetic brain energy homeostasis, helping central control of blood sugar and attenuating neuronal oxidative stress damage. We show the key regulatory role of the GABAergic system in multiple comorbidities in patients with diabetes and hope that further studies elucidating the role of the GABAergic system will yield benefits for the treatment and prevention of comorbidities in patients with diabetes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rapid development of Internet technology, the innovative value and importance of the open source product community (OSPC) is becoming increasingly significant. Ensuring high robustness is essential to the stable development of OSPC with open characteristics. In robustness analysis, degree and betweenness are traditionally used to evaluate the importance of nodes. However, these two indexes are disabled to comprehensively evaluate the influential nodes in the community network. Furthermore, influential users have many followers. The effect of irrational following behavior on network robustness is also worth investigating. To solve these problems, we built a typical OSPC network using a complex network modeling method, analyzed its structural characteristics and proposed an improved method to identify influential nodes by integrating the network topology characteristics indexes. We then proposed a model containing a variety of relevant node loss strategies to simulate the changes in robustness of the OSPC network. The results showed that the proposed method can better distinguish the influential nodes in the network. Furthermore, the network's robustness will be greatly damaged under the node loss strategies considering the influential node loss (i.e., structural hole node loss and opinion leader node loss), and the following effect can greatly change the network robustness. The results verified the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed robustness analysis model and indexes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Angiostrongylus cantonensis (AC) can cause severe eosinophilic meningitis or encephalitis in non-permissive hosts accompanied by apoptosis and necroptosis of brain cells. However, the explicit underlying molecular basis of apoptosis and necroptosis upon AC infection has not yet been elucidated. To determine the specific pathways of apoptosis and necroptosis upon AC infection, gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) and protein–protein interaction (PPI) analysis for gene expression microarray (accession number: GSE159486) of mouse brain infected by AC revealed that TNF-α likely played a central role in the apoptosis and necroptosis in the context of AC infection, which was further confirmed via an in vivo rescue assay after treating with TNF-α inhibitor. The signalling axes involved in apoptosis and necroptosis were investigated via immunoprecipitation and immunoblotting. Immunofluorescence was used to identify the specific cells that underwent apoptosis or necroptosis. The results showed that TNF-α induced apoptosis of astrocytes through the RIP1/FADD/Caspase-8 axis and induced necroptosis of neurons by the RIP3/MLKL signalling pathway. In addition, in vitro assay revealed that TNF-α secretion by microglia increased upon LSA stimulation and caused necroptosis of neurons. The present study provided the first evidence that TNF-α was secreted by microglia stimulated by AC infection, which caused cell death via parallel pathways of astrocyte apoptosis (mediated by the RIP1/FADD/caspase-8 axis) and neuron necroptosis (driven by the RIP3/MLKL complex). Our research comprehensively elucidated the mechanism of cell death after AC infection and provided new insight into targeting TNF-α signalling as a therapeutic strategy for CNS injury. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Angiostrongylus cantonensis (AC) is well-documented that parasitizes the host brain and causes eosinophilic meningitis. The migration route of AC in permissive hosts is well demonstrated, while in nonpermissive hosts, it remains to be fully defined. In the present study, we exploited live imaging technology, morphological and pathological configuration analysis, and molecular biological technologies to explore the migration route of AC and the accompanying tissue damage in nonpermissive and permissive hosts. Our data indicated that, in nonpermissive host mouse, AC larvae migrated from intestinal wall to liver at 2 hours post-infection (hpi), from liver to lung at 4 hpi and then from lung to brain at 8 hpi. AC larval migration caused fatal lung injury (pneumonia) during acute and early infection phases, along with significant activation of Stat3/IL-6 signaling. In addition, AC induce sustained interstitial pneumonia in mouse and rat and pulmonary fibrosis only in rat during late infection phase. Moreover, during the early and late infection phases, Th2 cytokine expression and Stat3 and IL-6 signaling were persistently enhanced and myeloid macrophage cells were notably enriched in host lung, and administration of Stat3 and IL-6 inhibitors (C188-9 and LMT-28) attenuated AC infection-induced acute pneumonia in mice. Overall, we are the first to provide direct and systemic laboratory evidence of AC migration route in a nonpermissive host and report that infection with a high dose of AC larvae could result in acute and fatal pneumonia through Stat3/IL-6 signaling in mice. These findings may present a feasible to rational strategy to minimize the pathogenesis induced by AC. Author summary: Angiostrongylus cantonensis is a well-known nematode parasitizing the host brain and is the leading cause of eosinophilic meningitis worldwide. Our study reports the migration route of Angiostrongylus cantonensis larvae in non-permissive host mouse and discovers that the larvae could induce fatal pneumonia in mouse lung during acute and early infection phase characterized by activation of Stat3/IL-6 signaling. Moreover, administration of inhibitors targeting Stat3/IL-6 signaling could significantly attenuate the AC-induced pneumonia of non-permissive host mouse, providing an effective candidate target for intervention of this severe parasitic pneumonia. These findings expand our understanding of Angiostrongyliasis cantonensis and indicate that more attention to AC-induced pneumonia is required when treatment for Angiostrongyliasis cantonensis in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last few decades, many new synthesis techniques have been developed in order to obtain an effective visible-light responsive photocatalyst for hydrogen production by water splitting. Among these new approaches, the biotemplated synthesis method has aroused much attention because of its unique advantages in preparing materials with special morphology and structure. In this work, Hydrilla verticillata (L. f.) Royle was used as a biotemplate to synthesize a CdS photocatalyst. The as-synthesized sample had the microstructure of nano-scaled aggregate networks and its activity for photocatalytic hydrogen production was six times higher than that of CdS synthesized without a template in an Na2S-Na2SO3 sacrificial system. The use of Pt and PdS as cocatalysts further improved the hydrogen production rate to 14.86 mmol/g·h under visible-light (λ ≥ 420 nm) irradiation, so the hydrogen production can be directly observed by the naked eye. The results of characterization showed that the as-synthesized CdS photocatalyst has a high specific surface area and narrow band gap, which is favorable for light absorption and photocatalytic reaction. This work provides a new way to search for efficient visible-light catalysts and confirms the uniqueness of a biotemplated synthesis method in obtaining specially structured materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Circular RNA (circRNA) has been recently identified as a critical regulator during carcinogenesis. However, the biological function and potential underlying mechanisms of circRNAs in lung cancer remain to be further elucidated. Methods: Here, we first evaluated the differentially expressed circRNAs between tumor and the matched adjacent nontumor tissues (3 pairs) of lung cancer patients via circRNA microarray. The expression of top five dysregulated circRNAs were tested in lung cancer cell lines and the circSCAP with concordant alteration in microarray data and cell lines was selected for further investigation. Then we validated the expression level of circSCAP in tumor and corresponding adjacent tissues (161 pairs) from a lung cancer cohort by RT-PCR analysis followed by correlation and prognosis analysis between circSCAP and clinical characteristics. Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) accounts for the majority of lung cancer diagnosis (about 80% in the cohort used in this study). Therefore, we focused the role of circSCAP in NSCLC in the present study. In vitro and in vivo assays were performed to study the biological function of circSCAP in NSCLC. Biotin-labeled RNA pulldown and RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP) assays were carried out to identify the proteins directly interacting with circSCAP. The molecular mechanism of circSCAP-driven tumor suppression was demonstrated by immunoblotting, immunoprecipitation and luciferase reporter assays. In vitro and in vivo rescue experiments were conducted to verify the role of the circSCAP/SF3A3/p53 signaling axis in NSCLC. Results: We screened the expression profiles of human circRNAs in lung cancer tissues and found that hsa_circ_0065214 (termed as circSCAP) was significantly decreased. Kaplan–Meier analysis showed that patients with low level of circSCAP had a significantly poor prognosis. Gain- and loss-of-function experiments suggested that circSCAP played an important role in NSCLC cell proliferation, cell migration and apoptosis. Mechanistically, circSCAP directly binds to the SF3A3 protein, facilitating the reduction of SF3A3 by promoting its ubiquitin–proteasome-mediated degradation, which enhances the expression of MDM4-S to finally activate its downstream p53 signaling. Conclusion: These findings illustrate a novel circSCAP/SF3A3/p53 signaling axis involved in suppressing the malignance of NSCLC and provide a promising target for NSCLC prognosis prediction and treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] Chlorogenic acid (CGA) may provide an effective and safe option for tumor treatment. However, its application is limited because of short residence time in vivo and repeated administration required. A phospholipid-based in situ gel containing chlorogenic acid (CGA PG) was prepared via a simple way. The CGA PG exhibited good fluidity, easy injectability, high-drug-loading capacity, and suitable sustained-release behavior whether in vitro or in vivo. Furthermore, CGA PG could suppress tumor growth with no significant side effects. Overall, CGA PG may be a promising sustained drug delivery system with excellent therapeutic effect on glioma and hepatocellular carcinoma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Radix Saposhnikoviae (R. Saposhnikoviae), commonly known as FangFeng, is a renowned medicinal herb in China extensively utilized in traditional Chinese medicine. It expels pathogenic wind from the body surface, alleviates pain by removing dampness, and relieves convulsion. Therefore, it is mainly used for treating exterior syndrome, itchy wind papules, rheumatic arthralgia, and splenic asthenia-induced dampness. R. saposhnikoviae has important medicinal value, and the polysaccharide component is one of its important active ingredients. This review summarizes the factors influencing the content of polysaccharides in R. Saposhnikoviae (PRSs), the techniques employed for their extraction, separation, and purification, their structural characterization, and their biological activities. Relevant research reports on PRSs were collected from the Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure, Web of Science, PubMed, Wanfang Data Knowledge Service Platform, China Master Theses Full-text Database, and China Doctoral Dissertations Full-text Database. The content of PRSs can vary depending on cultivation methods and harvesting time. PRSs were extracted using various extraction techniques such as hot water, ultrasonic-assisted, microwave-assisted, and enzymatic extractions, as well as water extraction and alcohol precipitation. Effective purification methods involve protein removal using trifluoro-trichloroethane and the decolorization of the polysaccharide using column chromatography with D280 anion exchange resins. Current research highlights the significant pharmacological activities of PRSs in R. Saposhnikoviae , including immunomodulatory, antioxidant, anti-allergic, anti-cancer, and anti-osteoporotic effects as well as prevention of calcium loss and maintenance of mucosal function. PRSs play a crucial role as bioactive constituents of R. Saposhnikoviae , exhibiting diverse biological activities and promising applications. A deeper understanding of PRSs will contribute to the improved utilization of R. Saposhnikoviae and the development of related derivatives of the active ingredients. [Display omitted] • Radix Saposhnikoviae is widely used in traditional Chinese medicine and has a high medicinal value. • PRSs are indispensable active substances in Radix Saposhnikoviae , which directly influence its medicinal effects. • PRSs have diverse biological activities and have great potential to be developed and applied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Omentin‐1 is an adipokine expressed by the adipose tissue and is reduced in obesity. This study was designed to calculate the protective efficiency and mechanism of omentin‐1 against inflammation of the adipose tissue in obese mice. A transgenic mouse model with omentin‐1 protein overexpression was established by crossing omentin‐1 transgenic mice with Fabp4‐Cre mice. Obesity was induced in the mice by feeding them a high‐fat diet for 10 weeks. Fabp4‐Cre‐mediated overexpression of omentin‐1 significantly increased serum omentin‐1 level, serum anti‐inflammatory factor levels, and expression of M2‐specific mRNAs; inhibited body weight and adipose tissue weight gain; improved glucose tolerance, insulin tolerance, and insulin sensitivity; decreased serum levels of insulin and proinflammatory factors, adipocyte size, and expression of M1‐specific mRNAs; suppressed macrophage infiltration; downregulated expression of proinflammatory factors; upregulated expression of anti‐inflammatory factors; and inhibited thioredoxin‐interacting protein (TXNIP)/NOD‐like receptor 3 (NLRP3) signaling in the adipose tissue of obese mice. An NLRP3 inhibitor (20 mg/kg MCC950) exhibited the same effects as overexpression of omentin‐1. Pretreatment with omentin‐1 inhibited lipopolysaccharide‐induced inflammation via TXNIP/NLRP3 signaling in RAW 264.7 macrophages. These findings suggest that omentin‐1 suppresses adipose tissue inflammation in obese mice, at least partly, via inhibiting the TXNIP/NLRP3 signaling pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microwave-assisted extraction of polysaccharides from Trichosanthes kirilowii Maxim seeds (TKMSP) was optimized using Response surface methodology (RSM) base on Central composite design (CCD). The optimum extraction conditions are detailed as follows: liquid-solid ratio 42 mL/g, extraction temperature 80 °C, microwave power 570 W, extraction time 26 min. Under this conditions, the mean value of TKMSP yield 2.43 ± 0.45% (n = 3), which was consistent closely with the predicted value (2.44%). The five polysaccharides (TKMSP-1, TKMSP-2, TKMSP-3, TKMSP-4 and TKMSP-5) were isolated from TKMSP by DEAE-52. TKMSP-1, TKMSP-2 and TKMSP-4 were common in containing Man, Rib, Rha, GluA, GalA, Glu, Gal, Xyl, Arab and Fuc. However, there was no Fuc in TKMSP-3, while TKMSP-5 lacked GluA, GalA and Fuc. UV–vis and FT-IR analysis combined with molecular weight determination further indicated that the five fractions were polydisperse polysaccharides. A significant difference was achieved in the structural characterization of these five fractions. TKMSP exhibited immunosuppressive activity on RAW264.7 cells. It can be applied as a potential immunosuppressant agent in medicine. • Microwave-assisted extraction of TKMSP optimized by RSM base on CCD. • The five polydisperse polysaccharides were isolated from TKMSP. • The structure characterizations of the five polysaccharides were analyzed. • TKMSP-3 exhibited significant inhibition of RAW264.7 proliferation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The analytical hierarchy process (AHP) combined with response surface methodology (RSM) was used to optimize the purification conditions of crude polysaccharides from Carex meyeriana Kunth (CMKP) by macroporous resin. The optimal purification conditions as follows: elution volume of 2.74 BV, flow rate of 1.88 BV/h, and sample concentration of 2.10 mg/mL. Under the optimal conditions, the purification comprehensive score was 63.59 ± 1.56% (n = 3), which was agreed closely to the predicted value (64.02%). Two fractions of polysaccharides (CMKP−1 and CMKP-2) were obtained using a DEAE-52 column. Fourier Transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy spectra revealed the general characteristic absorption peaks of CMKP−1 and CMKP-2. Congo-red test indicated that CMKP−1 and CMKP-2 have triple helix conformation. CMKP−1 and CMKP-2 were both composed of Man, Rib, Rha, GluA, GalA, Glu, Gal, Xyl, Ara and Fuc in a molar ratio of 8.93:1:4.62:1.41:1.78:10.7:24.69:4.51:15.92:1.27 and 7.85:1:5.05:1.99:3.15:12.47:15.41:1.54:6.91:3.15, respectively. The major molecular weight of CMKP−1 and CMKP-2 was 22.30 kDa and 48.10 kDa, respectively. Moreover, CMKP−1 and CMKP-2 had immunostimulatory effects on RAW264.7 cells in a certain concentration range. It could be used as potential immunomodulatory agents in medicine or functional food fields. • AHP with RSM was used to optimize the purification conditions of crude CMKP. • Two fractions of polysaccharides were isolated from CMKP. • The structure characterizations of CMKP-1 and CMKP-2 were analyzed. • CMKP-1 and CMKP-2 showed potent immunomodulatory activity in vitro. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soybean (Glycine max. (L.) Merr.) is a symbiotic nitrogen-fixing crop. In order to increase grain yield, it is important to know how soybean plants respond to nitrogen topdressing for the improvement of nitrogen utilisation. We used two soybean cultivars with different grain yield potentials and applied 13 nitrogen topdressing treatments to determine optimal topdressing time and nitrogen metabolism. Nitrogen treatments included a base fertiliser and single topdressings at different times, in 10-day intervals from 10 to 120 days after emergence (DAE). Among the nitrogen treatments, the optimal times for topdressing were at 40 DAE or 90 DAE to increase grain yield, and both soybean cultivars also had higher nitrate reductase (NR) and glutamine synthetase (GS) activities with topdressing at these times. Higher expression of the NR2 gene was associated with upregulated NR activity in leaves of both cultivars at the early-mature stage. With topdressing at 90 DAE, higher GS1 expression and GS activity were found in the leaves of the higher yielding cultivar at the full-seed stage and the early-mature stage. With topdressing at 90 DAE, the higher yielding cultivar had a higher nitrate metabolism capacity at the late reproductive stages than the lower (common) yielding cultivar. By up-regulated soybean nitrogen metabolism, topdressing at 40 DAE and 90 DAE increased soybean grain yield significantly. With topdressing at beginning seed stage (90 DAE), the higher yielding cultivar had a higher nitrate metabolism capacity at the late reproductive stages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Layout flexibility is critical for the performance of flexible manufacturing cells, especially in dynamic production environment. To improve layout flexibility, layout optimization should consider more flexible factors based on existed models. On the one hand, not only should the current production demands be covered, but also the future uncertain demands should be considered so that the cell can adapt to the dynamic changes in a long term. On the other hand, the flexibility of machines should be balanced in the layout in order to guarantee that the cell can deal with dynamic new product introduction. Starting from these two points, we formulate a layout optimization model based on fuzzy demand and machine flexibility and then develop a genetic algorithm with bilayer chromosome to solve the model. We apply this new model to a flexible cell of shell products and test its performance by comparing it with the classical two-stage model. The total logistics path of the new model is shown to be significantly shorter than the classical model. Then we carry out adaptability experiments to test the flexibility of the new model. For the dynamic situation of both the fluctuation of production demands and the introduction of new products, the new model shows obvious advantages to the classical model. The results indicate that this advantage becomes greater as the dynamics becomes greater, which implies that considering fuzzy demand and machine flexibility is necessary and reasonable in layout optimization, especially when the dynamics of the production environment is dramatic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Solvent-thermal assisted biotemplating method. • Vanadium doped TiO 2 derived from cattail leaf biotemplate. • Regulable surface ultrastructure of TiO 2 photocatalyst. • Enhanced photocatalytic selective oxidation of cyclohexane to KA oil. • Oxygen vacancies and the interconversion of V4+ and V5+ promote. Photocatalytic selective oxidation of cyclohexane is more energy saving and sustainable when compared with traditional thermal catalysis, but highly effective visible-light photocatalyst for this reaction remains challenging. Herein, vanadium-doped TiO 2 was prepared by using a solvent-thermal-assisted biotemplating method, while glycerol was used to regulate the surface ultrastructure of the catalyst. It is found that the use of the biotemplate, regulation of the surface ultrastructure of the catalyst by glycerol, as well as vanadium doping are all beneficial to improve the performance of the photocatalyst. Resultantly, the biotemplated TiO 2 doped with 2 % vanadium, which has a needle-like surface ultrastructure (2 %V-CTiO 2 (g)) achieves the best performance for cyclohexane conversion (0.98 %), which is 7.0, 8.9 and 49 times higher than TiO 2 sample without vanadium doping, surface ultrastructure adjustment and biotemplating, respectively. Characterizations and DFT calculations confirm that biotemplating and the use of glycerol endow the sample with unique morphology, oxygen vacancies and high surface area. Doping of vanadium not only changes the band structure of TiO 2 but also introduces the interconversion of V4+ and V5+ into the photocatalytic process. This work offers a new approach to the green conversion of cyclohexane. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two methods for particulate pigments (i.e., quantitative filter technique, QFT, and in vivo measurement, InVivo, respectively) and two methods for dissolved pigments (i.e., Acetone Extracts, AceEx, and high-performance liquid chromatography, HPLC, respectively) were used to obtain the optical absorption coefficient spectra for cultures of four typical algal species. Through normalization and analysis of the spectra, it is shown that (1) the four methods are able to measure optical absorption spectra of particulate and/or dissolved pigments; (2) that the optical absorption spectra of particulate and dissolved pigments were consistent in terms of the peak position in the blue wavelength, and the difference of the peak position in the near infrared wavelength was ~10 nm between each other; and (3) that the leveling effect of the absorption spectra of particulate pigments was significant. These four methods can all effectively measure the absorption coefficients of phytoplankton pigments, while each one has its unique advantages in different applications. Therefore, appropriate method should be carefully selected for various application due to their intrinsic difference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Dye molecules confined in MOFs for continuous and stable photosensitization in a photocatalytic reaction. • Photocatalytic reduction of Cr(VI) in water at neutral pH without any sacrificial reagent. • Adjustment on surface electrostatic properties of UiO-66 by dye confinement and loading of Pt nanoparticles. • A simple and feasible method to enhance the visible-light photocatalytic ability of a MOF. Dye sensitization is an important method to improve the visible-light response of a photocatalyst. In order to obtain stable dye-sensitized MOF photocatalysts, UiO-66 with confined rhodamine B (RhB) and eosin Y (EY) dye were prepared by simply adding dyes in the synthetic process in this work. In comparison with pristine UiO-66, the obtained RhB@UiO-66 and EY@UiO-66 can not only adsorb Cr(VI) from water more effectively, but also enhance the photocatalytic reduction of Cr(VI) to Cr(III) at a neutral pH under visible-light without adding any sacrificial agent. Thus, they both achieved an overall Cr(VI) removal rate of about 99%. The loading of Pt nanoparticles can further improve the photocatalytic abilities of RhB@UiO-66 and EY@UiO-66. The highest photocatalytic removal rate of Cr(VI) over Pt/RhB@UiO-66 is 66.4%. The confinement of the dyes and the loading of Pt nanoparticles largely changed the surface electrostatic properties of UiO-66. The adsorption process of Cr(VI) was therefore affected. Meanwhile, Pt nanoparticles greatly improved the utilization efficiency of photogenerated electrons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined how Internet gaming disorder (IGD) subjects modulating reward and risk at a neural level under a probability–discounting task with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Behavioral and imaging data were collected from 19 IGD subjects (22.2 ± 3.08 years) and 21 healthy controls (HC, 22.8 ± 3.5 years). Behavior results showed that IGD subjects prefer the probabilistic options to fixed ones and were associated with shorter reaction time, when comparing to HC. The fMRI results revealed that IGD subjects show decreased activation in the inferior frontal gyrus and the precentral gyrus when choosing the probabilistic options than HC. Correlations were also calculated between behavioral performances and brain activities in relevant brain regions. Both of the behavioral performance and fMRI results indicate that people with IGD show impaired risk evaluation, which might be the reason why IGD subjects continue playing online games despite the risks of widely known negative consequence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitory peptides made from hydrolysis of pumpkin seed meal with neutral protease is one of the important ways to utilization pumpkin seed meal. In order to find the optimum craft of ACE inhibitory peptides made from pumpkin seed meal by protease, taking ACE inhibitory rate as the response value, protease content, the effects of substrate content, and hydrolysis time on ACE inhibitory activity of the hydrolysates were analyzed with response surface methodology for optimization of the preparation technology, The results showed that the three factors affecting activity of ACE inhibitory peptides significantly (P<0.001). The optimized parameters for preparation of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitory peptides were temperature at 45°C and pH value of 7.0, the protease content 4.8%, substrate content of 4.0 g/100mL, and hydrolysis time of 320 min. With the optimal parameters, the ACE inhibiting percentage theoretically could be up to 80%. The validation test showed that the actual ACE inhibiting percentage was 80.56%±0.23%, which was closer to 80%. It suggested that the established prediction model is reliable. The results here proposed the viable and reliable optimization parameters for preparation of ACE inhibitory peptides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Mode dispersion is used to study the necessary conditions for the existence of abnormal total reflection, for wave propagating from a rare isotropic medium to a dense anisotropic medium with optical axis oriented arbitrarily in three-dimension space. The conditions can be put down to three inequalities of the relations among relative permittivity parameters in two media and the direction of optical axis of a uniaxial crystal. Based on the different geometrical characteristics of mode dispersion in isotropic and anisotropic media as well as the numerical simulations of spatial field, the physical essence of this abnormal total reflection is revealed, which means that the ray index in incident medium is still larger than that in refracted medium, although the refractive index in incident medium is smaller than that in refracted medium. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Human mesangial cells (HMCs) have a finite lifespan and eventually enter irreversible growth arrest known as cellular senescence, which is thought to contribute to kidney ageing and age-related kidney disorders such as chronic kidney disease. The JAK2−STAT pathway plays a pivotal role in transmitting cytokine signals, including cell proliferation, apoptosis, and differentiation, but whether it could regulate HMC senescence still remains to be explored. In our study, tert-butyl hydroperoxide (tBHP)-induced cells accelerated HMC senescence, as judged by increased senescence-associated β-galactosidase stained positive cells, morphological changes, and G0−G1 cell cycle arrest. STAT1 and STAT3 activity were increased in tBHP-induced cells. After tBHP treatment, Bcl-2 protein expression decreased and Bax protein expression increased. Blocking the JAK2−STAT pathway with AG490 and using probucol significantly inhibited the progression of HMC senescence. Bax protein expression decreased, but Bcl-2 protein expression increased after AG490 and probucol treatment. Our results indicated that the JAK2−STAT pathway might mediate tBHP-induced HMC senescence through the Bcl-2−Bax pathway, and that probucol could attenuate HMC senescence by regulating STATs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neurodegenerative diseases are increasingly becoming a global problem. However, the pathological mechanisms underlying neurodegenerative diseases are not fully understood. NG2‐glia abnormalities and microglia activation are involved in the development and/or progression of neurodegenerative disorders, such as multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and cerebrovascular diseases. In this review, we summarize the present understanding of the interaction between NG2‐glia and microglia in physiological and pathological states and discuss unsolved questions concerning their fate and potential fate. First, we introduce the NG2‐glia and microglia in health and disease. Second, we formulate the interaction between NG2‐glia and microglia. NG2‐glia proliferation, migration, differentiation, and apoptosis are influenced by factors released from the microglia. On the other hand, NG2‐glia also regulate microglia actions. We conclude that NG2‐glia and microglia are important immunomodulatory cells in the brain. Understanding the interaction between NG2‐glia and microglia will help provide a novel method to modulate myelination and treat neurodegenerative disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Prime-boost vaccination using recombinant viral vectors and proteins has emerged as a highly effective strategy for protecting against viral pathogens. However, the ability of such regimens to provide immunity against norovirus (NV), an important cause of acute epidemic gastroenteritis worldwide, has never been assessed. In this study, we analyzed NV-specific humoral, mucosal, and cellular immune responses following intranasal immunization with the recombinant adenovirus expressing the NV GGII4 capsid protein (rAd) prime-NV virus-like particle (VLP) boost, VLP prime-rAd boost, or repeated NV VLP regimens. Our results show that mice primed with rAd and boosted with VLP had stronger humoral, mucosal, and interferon-γ responses than those immunized with VLP prime-rAd boost or VLP alone. These results demonstrate that adenovirus prime-VLP boost vaccination is an effective strategy for induction of immune responses against NV and is a promising strategy to improve current VLP-based NV vaccine development. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Our previous study showed that the plasma microRNA-221-3p level could serve as a biomarker for major depression or mood. This study aimed to further investigate the role of plasma microRNA-221-3p level in postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD). Patients undergoing non-cardiac surgery were randomly assigned according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria. POCD was diagnosed by the Z score method. The relative level of plasma microRNA-221-3p was decided by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. Multiple logistic regression analysis and receiver operating characteristic(ROC) curves were used for the analysis of plasma microRNA-221-3p prediction performance for POCD. At 7 days post-surgery, the rate of POCD was 34.04%. Patients in the POCD group had a higher preoperative depression score, older age, and longer operation duration than that in the NPOCD group. The relative level of plasma microRNA-221-3p in the POCD group was 1.78 and 2.73 times higher than that in the NPOCD group at 1 day before and 7 days after the surgery, respectively. The relative content of plasma microRNA-221-3p at 7 days after operation was an independent risk factor for POCD. The ROC curves showed that the area under the curve was 0.938 for plasma microRNA-221-3p at postoperative 7 days, and the threshold for POCD detection was 12.33 with a sensitivity and specificity of 81.3% and 96.3%, respectively. Our results indicate that the plasma postoperative microRNA-221-3p levels could be an effective predictor for POCD after non-cardiac surgery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Because spontaneous remission is common in IMN, and there are adverse effects of immunosuppressive therapy, it is important to assess the risk of progressive loss of renal function before deciding whether and when to initiate immunosuppressive therapy. Therefore, this study aimed to establish a risk prediction model to predict patient prognosis and treatment response to help clinicians evaluate patient prognosis and decide on the best treatment regimen. Methods: From September 2019 to December 2020, a total of 232 newly diagnosed IMN patients from three hospitals in Liaoning Province were enrolled. Logistic regression analysis selected the risk factors affecting the prognosis, and a dynamic online nomogram prognostic model was constructed based on extreme gradient boost, random forest, logistic regression machine learning algorithms. Receiver operating characteristic and calibration curves and decision curve analysis were utilized to assess the performance and clinical utility of the developed model. Results: A total of 130 patients were in the training cohort and 102 patients in the validation cohort. Logistic regression analysis identified four risk factors: course ≥ 6 months, UTP, D-dimer and sPLA2R-Ab. The random forest algorithm showed the best performance with the highest AUROC (0.869). The nomogram had excellent discrimination ability, calibration ability and clinical practicability in both the training cohort and the validation cohort. Conclusions: The dynamic online nomogram model can effectively assess the prognosis and treatment response of IMN patients. This will help clinicians assess the patient's prognosis more accurately, communicate with the patient in advance, and jointly select the most appropriate treatment plan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Due to economic development and an increase in the aging population, the demand for medical resources is increasing. A good doctor-patient relationship (DPR) can optimize patients' medical experience and improve treatment efficiency. The DPR, however, is currently in crisis in China. To explore ways to improve DPR, this study assessed the views on the status of the DPR, medical services, and the general situation of medical work among medical personnel (MP) and the general population (GP).Methods: This cross-sectional study, conducted between December 2019 and March 2020, targeted the MP and the GP in Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province, and Zhengzhou City, Henan Province. A total of 154 MP and 329 GP answered a self-administered questionnaire through Questionnaire Star and WeChat apps. Wilcoxon's Sign Rank Test, Chi-square test, and frequency distributions and percentages were used to process the data.Results: Only 11.04% of the MP and 14.89% of the GP believed that the current DPR was harmonious. Moreover, 54.55% of the MP and 71.12% of the GP believed that the medical industry was a service industry. While 14.29% of the MP and 64.44% of the GP thought medical staff earned high salaries, 19.48% of the MP and 47.11% of the GP wanted their children to be in the medical industry. The recognition of the current status of the DPR did not affect the GP's preference for their children's practice (p < 0.05). Most MPs hoped to improve salaries (40.26%), followed by safety (17.53%) and social status (12.99%); only 8.44% of the MP wanted to improve the DPR.Conclusion: The MP's and GP's views on the current status of DPR, the importance of medical service attitudes, and the general sense of the medical industry were similar. However, there was a significant difference in the perception of the nature of medical services and the income of the people employed in the medical industry between the two groups. Balancing the expectations of patients in the medical industry and increasing public awareness of the actual situation in the medical industry may be a feasible way to improve the DPR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a complex system with open characteristics, the open source product innovation community is often subjected to failures and attacks, and the users in the community are often in a state of frequent change and mass loss. In this paper, we use complex network analysis techniques to describe the complex system as a knowledge collaboration network. We discuss how the network's structural robustness and functional robustness changes during the three stages of network development (i.e. the start-up, growth and maturation stages) for different user loss patterns (i.e. one random user loss pattern and two deliberate user loss patterns) under the dynamic environment. We find that the structural robustness is significantly higher when the network faces random user loss than when it faces deliberate user loss for all three network development stages. In contrast, the functional robustness is higher when the network faces random user loss than when it faces deliberate user loss only for the network's start-up stage, not its growth and maturation stages. Based on the robustness results, we provide intervention and incentive strategies to prevent user loss for all three stages of an open source product innovation community's network development. More importantly, we contribute a new approach for systematically analyzing the robustness of the open source product innovation community under the dynamic reality environment. • The knowledge collaboration network of the open source innovation community is constructed. • The users are divided into three types and their behaviors are analyzed. • Three kinds of node loss patterns are designed to simulate the attacks on the networks. • Using the indexes of structure and functional to evaluate the robustness of the networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nitrogen application at the beginning flowering stage (R1 stage) increased the soybean grain yield, however, the rapid effect of enriched nitrogen at R1 growth stage on soybean dry matter accumulation and sugar metabolism is still unclear. Continuous high nitrogen (CHN), Continuous low nitrogen (CLN), Enriched nitrogen supply at R1 stage (ENS) treatments were applied on two soybean cultivars (Liaodou11, Liaodou14), to investigate the effect of enriched nitrogen on plant biomass accumulation and sucrose metabolism. After 12 h of ENS treatment, the root/shoot rate of both cultivars were lower than that of CLN, but at 24 h it was no significant difference between ENS and CLN. Enriched N at R1 stage, soybean kept a balance of sucrose synthesis and decomposition in leaf by affecting sucrose synthetase (SS) and sucrose phosphate synthase (SPS) activities. Under N limitation condition the plant dry matter accumulation supported root growth priority. Enriched N at R1 stage resulted in the rapid shoot biomass accumulation. In high yield cultivar, the shoot growth was priority to root growth, the common yield cultivar was on the contrary. Our result suggest that enrich N at R1 stage resulted in the accumulation of biomass in shoot rapidly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• JFEE and JFEE-D inhibit type I allergic reactions in vivo and in vitro. • JFEE and JFEE-D reduced degranulation of RBL-2H3 cells induced by IgE. • The isolate D is an important part of the antiallergic effect of JFEE. • PI3K/Akt pathway play a critical role in JFEE and JFEE-D. Jing-Fang powder (Schizonepeta tenuifolia Briq. and Saposhnikovia divaricata (Turcz.) Schischk.) was used to treat chronic bronchitis, asthma and chronic urticaria. Based on the preliminary results of screening research on the antiallergic effective parts of Jing-Fang powder, its ethyl acetate extract fractions (JFEE) and isolate D (JFEE-D) showed the best anti-allergic effect. RBL-2H3 cell activation degranulation model and mice passive cutaneous anaphylaxis (PCA) reaction model were used to investigate the effects and mechanisms of JFEE and JFEE-D on IgE-mediated type I allergic reactions. LC–MS was utilized to determine the composition of JFEE and JFEE-D. We found that JFEE and JFEE-D significantly reduced β-HEX, histamine, IL-4, IL-6 levels in cell supernatants, and improved the degree and morphology of cell degranulation. JFEE and JFEE-D significantly inhibited the increase of ear vascular permeability and abnormal increase of serum IgE, TNF-α, IL-6 levels. JFEE and JFEE-D inhibited mRNA expression of PI3K and Akt and down-regulated protein expression of PI3K, Akt, p-Akt, and PLCγ1 in sensitized RBL-2H3 cells. The combined use of JFEE and JFEE-D with pathway inhibitor Wortmannin revealed synergistic down-regulation of PI3K, Akt, and p-Akt protein expression. The combined use of pathway agonist IGF-1, JFEE and JFEE-D down-regulated increase of p-Akt/Akt protein expression. Moreover, JFEE and JFEE-D significantly inhibited protein expression of PI3K, p-Akt and PLCγ1 in PCA model mice. These results show that JFEE and JFEE-D inhibit type I allergic reactions by inhibiting PI3K/Akt signaling pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to optimize the processing of Myristica fragrans Houtt. by talcum powder simmering using single-factor and orthogonal experimental methods, and the overall desirability values of dehydrodiisoeugenol and essential oils content were selected as indicators of the process. The new process reduced the total content of the three toxic components, namely myristicin, safrole and elemicin, from 1.91% to 1.16% before and after processing, indicating that the toxic components were reduced by 39%. The IC50 of the essential oils before and after processing were 1.002 ± 0.05 and 0.233 ± 0.05 mg/mL for DPPH scavenging activity and 0.132 ± 0.04 and 0.057 ± 0.05 mg/mL for ABTS scavenging activity, respectively. And the absorbance of the antioxidant activity against Ferric reducing power ranged from 0.213 to 0.709 and from 0.225 to 0.755, respectively. The minimum inhibitory concentration for Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus pumilus and Escherichia coli were all lower after processing than before. The antioxidant activity and antibacterial activity of the essential oils after processing were better than before. The results of the survival of zebrafish embryos at different concentrations of essential oils at 0–168 h post fertilisation were higher after processing than before. These findings suggest that processing plays the role of reducing toxicity and increasing beneficial effects. They provide a scientific basis not only for the processing of M. fragrans, but also for the processing of other foods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the fifth main cell population in the brain, NG2-glia are also known as oligodendrocyte precursor cells. NG2-glia express receptors and ion channels for fast modulation of neuronal activities and signaling with neuronal synapses, which are of functional significance in both physiological and pathological states. NG2-glia also participate in fast signaling with peripheral neurons via direct synaptic contacts in the brain. These distinctive glia have the unique capability of proliferating and differentiating into oligodendrocytes, which are critical for axonal myelination in the early developing brain. In neurodegenerative diseases, NG2-glia play an important role and undergo morphological modification, adapt the expression of their membrane receptors and ion channels, and display gene-modulated cell reprogramming and excitotoxicity-caused cell death. These modifications directly and indirectly influence populations of neurons and other glial cells. NG2-glia regulate their action and dynamics in response to neuronal behavior and disease, indicating a critical function to preserve and remodel myelin in physiological states and to repair it in pathological states. Here, we review in detail the differential modulators of NG2-glia into neurons and astrocytes, as well as interactions of NG2-glia with neurons, astrocytes, and microglia. We will also summarize a future potential exploitation of NG2-glia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Response surface methodology (RSM) combined with a Box–Behnken design (BBD) was used to optimize the hot-water extraction (HWE) conditions which were determined to be: liquid-solid ratio 29.25:1 mL/g, extraction time 1.66 h, extraction temperature 95 °C, the optimized yield of polysaccharides 0.47 ± 0.01% (n = 3). Hot-water extraction polysaccharides (HWEP) and Microwave-assisted extraction polysaccharides (MAEP) both consist of Rha:Xyl:Ara:Fru:Glu with the molar ratio of 1.05:1.21:3.86:1:3.61:4.5 and 1:1.95:1.72:1.78:4.36:6.18, respectively. Ultrasound-assisted extraction polysaccharides (UAEP) consists of Rha:Xyl:Ara:Fru:Man:Glu with the molar ratio of 1:2.31:5.23:1.05:3.17:4.17:7.89. The molecular weight distribution of HWEP, MAEP and UAEP ranged from 16 kDa to 1698 kDa, 15 kDa to 913 kDa, and 17 kDa to 1118 kDa, respectively. The absorption peaks in FT-IR confirmed the skeletal modes of the pyranose ring in polysaccharides. The second derivative of FT-IR proved difference of polysaccharides obtained from different extraction methods. The antioxidant activity investigations shown all three polysaccharides extracts possess high scavenging activity of DPPH radicals, hydroxyl radical and ABTS+ radical. Polysaccharides from Carex meyeriana Kunth (CMKP) might be potentially used for various practical applications such as medical and food industries, and this paper provides a theoretical basis and reference for further study of CMK. Highlights • Three polysaccharides from Carex meyeriana Kunth (CMKP) were studied. • Evaluation of polysaccharides by FT-IR second order derivative for the first time • Different extraction methods have affected for CMKP structure and activity. • Three polysaccharides exhibited good antioxidant activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Porous nanocomposite of hydroxyapatite/poly(lactide- co -glycolide) (HA/PLGA) is conventionally used in bone tissue engineering but seldom in load-bearing orthopedic applications due to poor mechanical property. This study aimed to fabricate an injectable ternary composite by incorporating different contents of poly(glycolide) (PGA) fibers (0, 30, 50 and 70 wt%) into the nanocomposite HA/PLGA matrix as reinforcing fillers for bone tissue repair. The fibers were obtained from melt-spinning and fiber diameter ranged from 70 nm to 191 μm. The injectability, mechanical strength, solidification rate and cytotoxicity of injectable composites were characterized. All composites achieved the acceptable injectability under an injection force of 100 N. The mechanical properties of composites were gradually enhanced by increasing PGA fiber contents. The compression strength of composite with 70 wt% content of PGA fibers was up to 31.1 MPa, which was four times stronger than that of composite without PGA fibers. In the solidification rate analysis, the compression strength of composites with 50 or 70 wt% PGA fibers in immersion time of only 45 min was similar to that of composite without fibers in immersion time of 4–5 h. The MTT test showed that exceeding 70% cells could survive in the fourfold dilution of extract, and its cytotoxicity focused on the first 4 h after immersing. This study have revealed that the PGA fiber-reinforced HA/PLGA composite is a promising candidate for orthopedic applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unconventional polysaccharides as representative active substances from stems of Trollius chinensis Bunge (TC) were studied. Crude polysaccharides from the stems of TC (TCSP) and the petals of TC (TCPP) were extracted, and the moisture retention and antioxidation activities of both TCSP and TCPP in vitro were studied. The weight-average molar masses (Mw) of TCSP (6.07 × 105 Da) were lower than those of TCPP (9.72 × 105 Da). Glucuronic acid and xylose only existed in TCSP, and the molar ratio of galacturonic acid and mannose in TCSP was significantly higher than that in TCPP. No significant differences in moisture retention ability were found between TCSP and TCPP. The reducing capacity and dphenyl picryl hydrazinyl (DPPH) radical scavenging capacity of TCSP were slightly weaker than those of TCPP. The 2,2-azino-bis (3-ethylbenzothiazoline–6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS) radical scavenging capacity of TCSP can be equivalent to that of TCPP. The moisture retention ability was not different between TCSP and TCPP, which are both highly homologous with traditional humectants. The antioxidation assays in vitro demonstrated that the antioxidant activity of TCSP is stronger compared to that of some plant-derived polysaccharides. The stems of TC can be a promising source of unconventional polysaccharides, which possess moisture retention and antioxidation capacities for the cosmetics industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study utilized independent component analysis to explore the abnormal functional connectivity (FC) in male participants with Internet gaming disorder (IGD). Functional magnetic resonance imaging and behavioral data were collected from 21 healthy controls (HC) and 18 IGD patients when they were performing a delay discounting task. Behavioral results revealed that the IGD patients showed higher delay discounting rates than HC. Two networks were found to be associated with IGD: (1) the executive control network containing the anterior cingulate cortex and the medial and superior frontal gyrus, and (2) the basal ganglia network containing the lentiform nucleus. Comparing to HC, IGD exhibited stronger FC when selecting small and now options. In addition, the delay discounting rates were positively correlated with the modulation of the two networks and the reaction time. The results suggested that the IGD patients have enhanced sensitivity to reward and decreased ability to control their impulsivity effectively, which leads to myopic decision making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, polysaccharides from the leaves of Rhododendron dauricum L. (RDPs) were decolorized using the static macroporous resin adsorption method. The RDPs were characterized and their antioxidant activities were investigated. An analytical hierarchy process (AHP) and a response surface method (RSM) were used to determine the optimum decolorization conditions as: a polysaccharide concentration of 8 mg/mL, decolorization time of 70 min, liquid–solid ratio of 6 mL/g, and decolorization temperature of 52 °C, with D101 as the best resin. Furthermore, two novel polysaccharides (RDP-1 and RDP-2) were isolated from R. dauricum leaves and characterized, which demonstrated that RDP-1 and RDP-2 were both composed of mannose, glucose, galactose, and arabinose in different molar ratios. These RDPs also exhibited a triple helix conformation, and primarily contained →6)-Glc p -(1→, →5)-Ara f -(1→, →2,4)-Man p -(1→, →6)-Gal p -(1→ and Glc p -(1→ residues with different connection sequences. Biological activity tests showed that the two polysaccharides possessed scavenging capacity against 1,1-Diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), hydroxyl, and 2,2-Azino-bis-(3-ethyl-benzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS) radicals. The results indicated that the antioxidant activities of the RDPs obtained by the static decolorization method improved, which lays a theoretical foundation for developing techniques for utilising R. dauricum. [Display omitted] • A multi index evaluation model of polysaccharides decolorization effect was established. • A simple static adsorption decolorization process of polysaccharides was optimized. • Two polysaccharides (RDP-1 and RDP-2) with antioxidant activity were characterized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study focuses on the acetylation modification of polysaccharides from Rhododendron dauricum leaves (RDPs) with a high degree of substitution (DS) and then discusses their characterization and biological activity. The optimum acetylation conditions of RDPs were optimized by response surface methodology, which were reaction time 3 h, reaction temperature 50 °C, and the liquid-solid ratio 16 mL/g. Under the optima schemes, two eco-friendly acetylated polysaccharides from R. dauricum leaves (AcRDP-1 with DS of 0.439 ± 0.025 and AcRDP-2 with DS of 0.445 ± 0.022) were prepared. The results of structural characterization showed that the AcRDP-1 (9.3525 × 103 kDa) and AcRDP-2 (4.7016 × 103 kDa) were composed of mannose, glucose, galactose, and arabinose with molar ratios of 1.00:5.01:1.17:0.15 and 1.00:4.47:2.39:0.88, respectively. Compared with unmodified polysaccharides, the arabinose content and molecular weight of the two acetylated polysaccharides decreased, and their triple helix conformation disappeared, and further improved their anticomplementary activity. The two acetylated polysaccharides showed stronger a complement inhibition effect than the positive drug by blocking C2, C3, C4, C5, C9, and factor B targets in the classical and alternative pathways. This research indicated that acetylation modification could effectively enhance the anticomplementary activity of RDPs, which is beneficial for the development and utilization of R. dauricum leaves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study was performed to evaluate the effects of total polysaccharides extracted from Pleurotus ostreatus on type 2 diabetes. Rats were administered with high-fat diet and streptozotocin (STZ) to induce diabetes. The rats were then treated with 100, 200, and 400 mg/kg/d POP or vehicle for 4 weeks. Our experiments indicated that POP reduces hyperglycemia and hyperlipidemia levels, improves insulin resistance, and increases glycogen storage by activating GSK3 phosphorylation and GLUT4 translocation. Moreover, POP reduces the risk of oxidative damage by increasing superoxide dismutase(SOD), catalase(CAT), and glutathione peroxidase(GSH-Px) activities and decreasing malonaldehyde(MDA) level. These results suggest that POP exerts antidiabetic effect on STZ-induced diabetic rats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The HE-Mind model can automatically predict HE after sICH within three seconds. • The HE-Mind model improves predictive accuracy diagnostic efficiency and work efficiency of physicians. • The AI-assisted diagnosis mode based on the HE-Mind model is applicable to sICH. To develop and validate an end-to-end model for automatically predicting hematoma expansion (HE) after spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage (sICH) using a novel deep learning framework. This multicenter retrospective study collected cranial noncontrast computed tomography (NCCT) images of 490 patients with sICH at admission for model training (n = 236), internal testing (n = 60), and external testing (n = 194). A HE-Mind model was designed to predict HE, which consists of a densely connected U-net for segmentation process, a multi-instance learning strategy for resolving label ambiguity and a Siamese network for classification process. Two radiomics models based on support vector machine or logistic regression and two deep learning models based on residual network or Swin transformer were developed for performance comparison. Reader experiments including physician diagnosis mode and artificial intelligence mode were conducted for efficiency comparison. The HE-Mind model showed better performance compared to the comparative models in predicting HE, with areas under the curve of 0.849 and 0.809 in the internal and external test sets respectively. With the assistance of the HE-Mind model, the predictive accuracy and work efficiency of the emergency physician, junior radiologist, and senior radiologist were significantly improved, with accuracies of 0.768, 0.789, and 0.809 respectively, and reporting times of 7.26 s, 5.08 s, and 3.99 s respectively. The HE-Mind model could rapidly and automatically process the NCCT data and predict HE after sICH within three seconds, indicating its potential to assist physicians in the clinical diagnosis workflow of HE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Internet addiction disorder (IAD) has raised widespread public health concerns. In this study, we explored the cognitive flexibility in IAD subjects using a color–word Stroop task. Behavioral and imaging data were collected from 15 IAD subjects (21.2±3.2years) and 15 healthy controls (HC, 22.1±3.6years). Group comparisons found that IAD subjects show higher superior temporal gyrus activations than healthy controls in switching (easy to difficult; difficult to easy) than in repeating trials. In addition, in difficult-to-easy situation, IAD subjects show higher brain activation in bilateral insula than healthy controls; in easy-to-difficult situation, IAD subjects show higher brain activation in bilateral precuneus than healthy controls. Correlations were also performed between behavioral performances and brain activities in relevant brain regions. Taken together, we concluded that IAD subjects engaged more endeavors in executive control and attention in the switching task. From another perspective, IAD subjects show impaired cognitive flexibilities. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• The samples was freeze-dried to avoid the effects of moisture. • DISA combined with SD-IR was used to methodological research of identification. • Pearson correlation coefficient was used to select the characteristic wavelength. • Temperatures from 30 to 150 °C were selected for 2D-IR-COS to analyze samples. Ginseng is widely used all over the world for its unique properties. To evaluate ginseng quality, identifying differences from its origin is necessary. In this experiment, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), second-order derivative spectroscopy (SD-IR) with dual-index sequence analysis (DISA) and two-dimensional infrared correlation spectroscopy (2D-IR-COS) were used to investigate the differences in ginseng from 10 origins. In the FTIR spectra, the absorption peaks of these 10 samples showed a certain amount of similarity. S3, S6, and S7 could be successfully distinguished from the other seven samples. In the SD-IR spectra, S3 and S6 had the highest proportion of common peaks at 86.7 %, showing that their compositions and contents were more similar; in contrast, the proportion of variant peaks of the S1 and S8 was 90.9 %, suggesting that they were more distantly related. Using auto peaks combined with Pearson correlation coefficient, the band 1800∼900 cm−1 with large differences among the 10 samples was selected for analysis. This study successfully identified ginseng of 10 samples using SD-IR spectra and 2D-IR-COS. These results are important references to the quality control and traceability of ginseng. They are also useful for the analysis of other herbs and natural products. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Corn silk is the stigma and style of corn and is rich in polysaccharides. Despite the extensive research on its polysaccharides, the hemostatic characteristics of effective parts and the related activities remain insufficiently explored. Corn silk polysaccharide (CSP) was extracted with hot water and purified using a diethylaminoethyl cellulose membrane. Then, it was separated with sephadex G-150 to obtain five fractions. These fractions were investigated for their potential in hemostasis, antioxidant, immune response, and anti-lung cancer activities. CSP-2, CSP-3, and CSP-4 significantly affected the coagulation indicators activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT) and thrombin time (TT) at 125–500 μg/mL. Corn silk flavonoids and saponins at 32.25 μg/mL significantly prolonged APTT, TT, and prothrombin time (PT). CSP-2, with potent antioxidant ability, approaches Vitamin C. At 25 μg/mL, CSPs nearly reached the phagocytosis of neutral red of lipopolysaccharides. The five fractions promoted the proliferation of RAW264.7 cells at 25–800 μg/mL and stimulated NO secretion at 25–100 μg/mL. CSP-2 also showed an 86 % inhibition rate effect on A549 at 200 μg/mL. These results indicate that CSP not only has hemostatic effects but also has immune and anti-lung cancer activities. Thus, it is a potential candidate compound with immune activity for managing bleeding in cancer. • CSPs have been identified as effective fraction for hemostasis. • CSP-2 contains more glucose, galactose, and arabinose. • CSP-2 has a high molecular weight and a high degree of branching. • CSPs have hemostatic, immune and anti-lung cancer activities, among which CSP-2 is the best. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Human adenoviruses (HAdVs) have been implicated as important agents in a wide range of human illnesses. To date, 58 distinct HAdV serotypes have been identified and can be grouped into six species. For the immunological diagnosis of adenoviruses, the hexon protein, a structural protein, has been used. The potential of other HAdV proteins has not been fully addressed. Methodology/Principal Findings: In this study, a nonstructural antigenic protein, the DNA binding protein (DBP) of human adenovirus 5 and 35 (Ad5, Ad35) - was identified using immunoproteomic technology. The expression of Ad5 and Ad35 DBP in insect cells could be detected by rhesus monkey serum antibodies and healthy adult human serum positive for Ad5 and Ad35. Recombinant DBPs elicited high titer antibodies in mice. Their conserved domain displayed immunological cross-reactions with heterologous DBP antibodies in Western blot assays. DBP-IgM ELISA showed higher sensitivity adenovirus IgM detection than the commercial Adenovirus IgM Human ELISA Kit. A Western blot method developed based on Ad5 DBP was highly consistent with (χ2 =  44.9, P<0.01) the Western blot assay for the hexon protein in the detection of IgG, but proved even more sensitive. Conclusions/Significance: The HAdV nonstructural protein DBP is an antigenic protein that could serve as an alternative common antigen for adenovirus diagnosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Influenza viruses are known for their ability to change their antigenic structure and create new viral strains. Hemagglutinin (HA), for which 16 subtypes have been identified, is a major antigenic determinant essential for the pathogenesis of influenza A viruses. To predict and monitor future epidemics, it is critical to produce various HA subtype antigens conveniently and rapidly. A simple, effective, and economic method to generate subunit HA1 of all 16 HA subtypes as recombinant proteins (rHA1) is reported. rHA1 proteins are expressed in insect cells as secretory proteins after integration into a baculovirus expression vector containing a 6×His tag element and the signal peptide of the GP67 protein, a membrane glycoprotein identified in Autographa californica nuclear polyhedrosis virus. The proteins can be purified to ≥90% purity using a single Ni2+-chelating affinity chromatography step, yielding a recovery rate of about 50%. The rHA1 proteins elicit high titer antibodies in mice and show high specificity in Western blots. This study paves the way for subtype specific detection methods and for future studies of the immune relationships among the subtypes of influenza A virus HA proteins. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Summary: Norovirus (NV) is a major cause of acute, epidemic nonbacterial gastroenteritis in individuals of all ages. The immunological mechanism of NV infection and the approaches used to prevent infection remain to be elucidated. In this study, the specific immune responses of BALB/c mice were assessed following intranasal immunization with a recombinant adenovirus vector expressing the genogroup II4 (GGII/4) norovirus capsid protein. Analysis of IgM, IgG, and IgA antibodies specific for the recombinant virus-like particles (VLPs) of NV demonstrated that a high level of humoral immunity developed following immunization. Mucosal immune responses were also detectable in stool, intestinal homogenates, lung homogenates, and lung lavage samples. Specific cellular immune responses were observed in NV VLPs-restimulated splenocytes by ELISPOT and Th1/Th2 cytokine cytometric array (CBA). Serum IgG subclass analysis showed that a balanced Th1- and Th2-like cellular immune response was induced in BALB/c mice following immunization with recombinant adenovirus. These findings demonstrate that the intranasal immunization of a recombinant adenovirus expressing the NV capsid protein is an efficient strategy to stimulate systemic, mucosal, and cellular Th1/Th2 immune responses in mice, and could serve as a novel approach for designing NV vaccines. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Summary: In this paper, apple crispness was evaluated by sensory evaluation and compared with non‐destructive measurements of portable acoustic signal to discuss the feasibility of non‐destructive evaluation for apple crispness based on portable acoustic signal. Acoustic eigenvalues from the acoustic signal were processed by time domain and Hilbert–Huang transform (HHT), followed by analysing the correlations with apple crispness that had been evaluated via sensory evaluation. Multiple linear regression (MLR) and artificial neural network (ANN) were applied to predict apple crispness. The results proved that crispness correlates significantly (P < 0.01) with four acoustic eigenvalues, including waveform index, sound intensity, energy of low frequency and energy of high frequency. The average relative error of apple crispness predicted by ANN was 1.42 ± 1.9%, remarkably lower (P < 0.01) that of MLR (6.79 ± 5.64%), implying that the model predicted by ANN is more accurate than that of MLR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Renal interstitial fibrosis (RIF) is the leading cause of end‐stage renal disease, partly because of the lack of effective treatments. Curcumin, the primary active ingredient in turmeric, reportedly exerts potent antifibrotic effects. This study investigated the effects of curcumin on RIF in unilateral ureteral obstruction (UUO) rats and characterized the underlying action mechanism. UUO rats were treated with curcumin for 7 and 14 d. Renal fibrosis was evaluated through haematoxylin‐eosin staining, Masson staining, and type I and III collagen expression. Autophagy and mitochondria were observed through scanning electron microscopy. NLRP3 inflammasomes, mitochondria, and autophagy‐related proteins were detected through Western blotting. Mitochondrial respiratory enzyme activity was assessed spectrophotometrically. Compared with UUO rats, renal fibrosis was attenuated and NLRP3 inflammasome activation was inhibited in curcumin‐treated rats. Furthermore, mitochondrial dysfunction was ameliorated and the LC3B/LC3A ratio and Beclin‐1 expression were increased in curcumin‐treated rats. Additionally, curcumin inhibited the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway. These results indicate that curcumin is a promising treatment agent for RIF, and its antifibrotic effects may be mediated by the inhibition of NLRP3 inflammasome activity through the regulation of autophagy and protection of mitochondrial function in UUO rats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A hybrid feature selection method combining with wavelet transform (WT) was proposed to analyze the heat value of coal using laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS). The hybrid feature selection method consisted of distance correlation (DC) method and recursive feature elimination with cross-validation (RFECV) method, which combined the advantages of DC-based filter method and RFECV-based wrapper method. First, WT method was used to filter noise signal from LIBS spectra of coal samples, and the de-noised wavelet coefficients were obtained. Second, the de-noised wavelet coefficients were further eliminated by the hybrid feature selection method. Finally, the retained wavelet coefficients were used directly as input variables to establish a prediction model for heat value determination of coal. 28 powdery coal samples were used in this experiment, of which 21 were calibration set and 7 were validation set. The effectiveness of the hybrid model was studied. Compared with several other models, the proposed hybrid model showed the greatest improvement in predictive accuracy and precision, and the computing time has been greatly reduced. The experimental results demonstrated that the hybrid model can effectively reduce the calculation time and improve the performance of the model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research of lactic acid bacteria and its metabolites on biological preservatives becomes a hot topic. Lactobacillus plantarum O 2 , with good inhibition on Phytophthora capsici (P. capsici), was isolated from the pickle. In this study, the effects of L. plantarum O 2 fermentation supernatant (FS) on pepper postharvest preservation and its induced resistance to P. capsici were studied. Results showed that weight loss rate, rot index, respiration rate, relative electrical conductivity, loss of chlorophyll content and V C of pepper in FS treatment group were decreased by 18 %, 64 %, 15 %, 26 %, 33 % and 20 % compared with blank control (BC) after 20 d storage. L* and b*-value of pepper in FS group were lower than those in the BC group. In addition, the damage-induced resistance test found that the infection rate in the FS group was reduced by 39 %, compared with CK2 after 12 d storage. Moreover, phenylalanine ammonia-lyase activity, peroxidase activity, polyphenol oxidase activity, proline content, total phenol content and flavonoid content increased by 14 %, 9 %, 30 %, 8 %, 8 % and 9 %, respectively, while malondialdehyde content decreased by 13 %. These results indicated that FS treatment showed good fresh-keeping effects on postharvest pepper. It could enhance the tolerance of pepper under stress by improving defensive enzyme activities, slowing down the damage caused by P. capsici, and inducing pepper resistance to P. capsici. Therefore, FS can be used as a microbial source bio-preservative for postharvest pepper. [Display omitted] • FS showed good fresh-keeping effects on postharvest pepper. • FS could induce pepper resistance to Phytophthora capsici. • FS could be used as a microbial source bio-preservative for postharvest pepper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Essential oil from the aerial part of Dictamnus dasycarpus is an industrial by-product surveyed for the first time. • Essential oil from the aerial part of Dictamnus dasycarpus is rich in sesquiterpenoids (37.3%) and monoterpenes (29.4%). • Essential oil from the aerial part of Dictamnus dasycarpus exerts pronounced inhibitory activity against Candida albicans. Dictamnus dasycarpus Turcz. is an economic plant widely cultivated in China and its dried root bark is commonly prescribed as Cortex Dictamni for the treatment of various inflammatory diseases. Thus, more attention was devoted to keep the high-quality of the root bark of D. dasycarpus , but leaving the aerial part on ground as waste. In this context, we focused on the chemical composition and antimicrobial activity of the essential oil from the aerial part of D. dasycarpus (EOAPDD) for the first time. The extraction yield of EOAPDD was 0.14% by hydrodistillation, and thirty-nine compounds were identified by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry with the highest proportion of sesquiterpenoids (37.3%), followed by monoterpenes (29.4%). The dominant active constituents in EOAPDD are germacrene D (18.0%), terpinolene (13.0%), (Z)- β -ocimene (10.4%), β -caryophyllene (7.74%), phytol (5.20%), and (+)-viridiflorol (3.16%). Essential oil from the aerial part of D. dasycarpus shows pronounced inhibitory activity against Candida albicans with minimum inhibitory concentration of 3.23 mg/mL (4-fold lower than that of chloramphenicol), which may be largely contributed by the terpene compounds (37.3% of sesquiterpenoids and 29.4% of monoterpenes) in EOAPDD. Results obtained from present investigation provided strong evidence that the aerial part of D. dasycarpus also deserves attention, cherishment and deep exploitation due to the promising potential as a nature-based antifungal agent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]