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The experiment of 6.5–22.5 keV C − , O − and F − ions scattering on water covered Si(111) surface has been performed. It is found that the positive-ion fraction is very low and increases monotonically as a function of perpendicular exit velocity and exit angle. In particular, the negative-ion fraction increases monotonically with perpendicular exit velocity for specular scattering, and for a given incident energy the angle dependence of the fraction is nonmonotonic. We interpret the observed positive ions in terms of inelastic binary collision, and adopt a modified resonant charge transfer model to calculate the bell-shaped negative-ion fraction. We find that the neutral yield at short ion-surface distance is nonzero and obeys well an exponential dependence. It strongly indicates that a dynamical equilibrium for negative ion formation is never achieved at short distances, and the band gap effect on charge transfer can be neglected to a large extent in this relatively high energy region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 virus infection is still a potential threat to public health worldwide. While vaccines and antiviral drugs are currently under development, neutralizing antibodies could offer an alternative strategy to prevent and treat H5N1 virus infection. In the present study, we had developed a humanized antibody against H5N1 viruses from mouse-derived hybridoma in order to minimize its immunogenicity for potential clinical application. The humanized antibody hH5M9 was generated by transferring the mouse complementarity determining region (CDR) residues together with four key framework region (FR) residues onto the FR of the human antibody. This humanized antibody exhibited high affinity and specificity comparable to the parental mouse or chimeric counterpart with broad and strong neutralization activity against all H5N1 clades and subclades except for Egypt clades investigated. Furthermore, through epitope mapping we identified a linear epitope on the top region of hemagglutinin (HA) that was H5N1 specific and conserved. Our results for the first time reported a humanized antibody against H5N1 viruses by CDR grafting method. With the expected lower immunogenicity, this humanized antibody was expected to be more efficacious than murine or human-mouse chimeric antibodies for future application in humans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: In the present meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials, probiotic fermented milk supplementation appeared to be beneficial in lowering the levels of fasting plasma glucose, HbA1c, total cholesterol, and C-reactive protein. While these findings are encouraging, they should be interpreted cautiously, as considerable limitations of the included trials and analyses precluded solid conclusions. Modulating gut microbiota composition through probiotic administration has been proposed as a novel therapy for type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), and fermented milk is arguably the most common and ideal probiotic carrier. The present meta-analysis was performed to assess the effects of probiotic fermented milk supplementation on glucose and lipid metabolism parameters and inflammatory markers in patients with T2DM using published data from randomized controlled trials (RCTs). The PubMed, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library databases were searched for relevant RCTs. A random-effects model was used to generate the weighted mean difference (WMD) and 95% confidence interval (95% CI). Probiotic fermented milk supplementation reduced the levels of fasting plasma glucose (MD = −17.01, 95% CI −26.43, −7.58 mg/dL; n = 7), hemoglobin A1c (MD = −0.47, 95% CI −0.74, −0.21%; n = 7), total cholesterol (MD = −5.15, 95% CI −9.52, −0.78 mg/dL; n = 7), and C-reactive protein (MD = −0.25, 95% CI −0.43, −0.08; n = 3) but did not significantly affect the levels of HOMA-IR (MD = −0.89, 95% CI −2.55, 0.78; n = 3), triglyceride (MD = −4.69, 95% CI −14.67, 5.30 mg/dL; n = 6), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (MD = −4.25, 95% CI −8.63, 0.13 mg/dL; n = 7), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (MD = 1.20, 95% CI −0.96, 3.36 mg/dL; n = 7), and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (MD: −0.58, 95% CI −1.47, 0.32 pg/mL; n = 2). In summary, the present findings provide a crude indication of the potential benefits of probiotic fermented milk supplementation in improving glucose and lipid metabolism and inflammation in patients with T2DM. However, more robust evidence is needed to determine the clinical significance of probiotic fermented milk in the management of T2DM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Short peptides have gained widespread utilization as functional constituents in the development of functional foods due to their remarkable biological activity. Previous investigations have established the positive influence of oysters on testosterone biosynthesis, although the underlying mechanism remains elusive. This study aims to assess the impact of three dipeptides derived from oysters on the oxidative stress state of TM3 cells induced by AAPH while concurrently examining alterations in cellular testosterone biosynthesis capacity. The investigation encompasses an analysis of reactive oxygen species (ROS) content, antioxidant enzyme activity, apoptotic status, and expression levels of crucial enzymes involved in the testosterone synthesis pathway within TM3 cells, thus evaluating the physiological activity of the three dipeptides. Additionally, molecular docking was employed to investigate the inhibitory activity of the three dipeptides against ACE. The outcomes of this study imply that the oxidative stress state of cells impedes the synthesis of testosterone by inhibiting the expression of essential proteins in the testosterone synthesis pathway. These three dipeptides derived from oysters ameliorate cellular oxidative stress by directly scavenging excess ROS or reducing ROS production rather than enhancing cellular antioxidant capacity through modulation of antioxidant enzyme activity. These findings introduce a novel avenue for developing and utilizing antioxidant peptides derived from food sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Bifidobacterium pseudolongum is widely exists in mammal gut and its abundance is associated with human and animal health. The present study aimed to investigate the potential mechanisms of B. pseudolongum CCFM1253 on protecting against lipopolysaccharide (LPS)‐induced acute liver injury (ALI) by metagenomic analysis and liver metabolomic profiles. RESULTS: Bifidobacterium pseudolongum CCFM1253 preintervention remarkably attenuated the influence of LPS on serum alanine transaminase and aspartate amino transferase activities. B. pseudolongum CCFM1253 preintervention remarkably attenuated the inflammation responses (tumor necrosis factor‐α, interleukin‐1β, and interleukin‐6) and elevated antioxidative enzymes activities [total antioxidant capacity, superoxide dismutase, catalase, and glutathione peroxidase] in ALI mice by intervening in the Nf‐kβ and Nrf2 pathways, respectively. Bifidobacterium pseudolongum CCFM1253 treatment elevated the proportion of Alistipes and Bifidobacterium, and decreased the proportion of uncultured Bacteroidales bacterium, Muribaculum, Parasutterella and Ruminococcaceae UCG‐010 in ALI mice, which were strongly correlated with the inhibition of inflammation responses and oxidative stress. Untargeted liver metabolomics exhibited that the hepatoprotective efficacy of B. pseudolongum CCFM1253 might be achieved by altering liver metabolites‐related riboflavin metabolism, phenylalanine metabolism, alanine, citrate cycle (tricarboxylic acid cycle), and so on. Furthermore, riboflavin exposure could control the contents of malondialdehyde, superoxide dismutase, and catalase in hydrogen peroxide‐treated HepG2 cells. CONCLUSION: Bifidobacterium pseudolongum CCFM1253 can effectively alleviate inflammatory response and oxidative stress, and regulate the intestinal microbiota composition and liver metabolism, and elevate the liver riboflavin content in LPS‐treated mice. Therefore, B. pseudolongum CCFM1253 could serves as a potential probiotic to ameliorate the host health. © 2023 Society of Chemical Industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • EffNet and ResNet excel in microalgae biomass quantitative monitoring. • Rhodophyta RGB trends are more suited for quantitative forecasts than Spirulina. • ResNet demonstrates greater generalization and robustness than EffNet. The effective monitoring of microalgae cultivation is crucial for optimizing their energy utilization efficiency. In this paper, a quantitative analysis method, using microalgae images based on two convolutional neural networks, EfficientNet (EFF) and residual network (RES), is proposed. Suspension samples prepared from two types of dried microalgae powders, Rhodophyta (RH) and Spirulina (SP), were used to mimic real microalgae cultivation settings. The method's prediction accuracy of the algae concentration ranges from 0.94 to 0.99. RH, with a distinctively pronounced red-green-blue value shift, achieves a higher prediction accuracy than SP. The prediction results of the two algorithms were significantly superior to those of a linear regression. Additionally, RES outperforms EFF in terms of its generalization ability and robustness, which is attributable to its distinct residual block architecture. The RES provides a viable approach for the image-based quantitative analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developing an effective universal influenza vaccine against influenza virus with highly conserved antigenic epitopes could induce a broad-spectrum immune response to prevent infection. The soluble protein M1 that can induce the M1 specific immune response was first confirmed in our previous study. In this study, we characterized the immune response induced by DNA prime-subunit protein boost strategy based on the relatively conserved matrix protein 1 (M1) in the BALB/c mouse model, and evaluated its protection ability against a lethal challenge of homologous H9N2 avian influenza virus (A/Chicken/Jiangsu/11/2002). The results showed that 100 μg DNA prime + 100 μg M1 subunit protein boost-strategy significantly increased antibody levels more than vaccination with M1 DNA or M1 subunit protein alone, and induced a more balanced Th1 / Th2 immune response, which not only can provide protection against the homologous virus but also can provide part of the cross-protection against the heterosubtypic PR8 H1N1 strain. In addition, we used an Elispot assay to preliminary screen the T cell epitope in M1 protein, and identified that p22 (M111–25 VLSIIPSGPLKAEIA) epitope was the only immunodominant M1-specific CD4+ T cell epitopes, which could be helpful in understanding the function of influenza virus T cell epitopes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, we present negative-ion fractions as a function of exit velocity and angle after keV-energy negative oxygen and carbon ions scattering on a highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) surface, at a scattering angle of 38°. The negative-ion fractions increase monotonously with the increase of exit velocity for specular scattering, while negative-ion fractions present a bell-shaped dependence on exit angle. In order to gain further insight into the nature of charge transfer on HOPG, a modified charge transfer model involving the contribution of positive ions has been proposed and roughly reproduced the velocity and angle dependences of negative-ion fractions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Doping has significantly affected the characteristics and performance of semiconductor electronic devices. In this work, we study the charge transfer processes for 8.5–22.5 keV C − and F − ions scattering on H 2 O-terminated p-type Si(100) surfaces with two different doping concentrations. We find that doping has no influence on negative-ion formation for fast collisions in this relatively high energy range. Moreover, we build a model to calculate negative ion fractions including the contribution from positive ions. The calculations support the nonadiabatic feature of charge transfer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • The anti-OA effect of Salmonidae bone collagen peptide (CP) was assessed. • CP was confirmed to inhibit the matrix degradation both in vitro and in vivo. • CP suppressed the role of pro-inflammatory via inhibiting NF-κB signal. • CP impeded the serious destruction of subchondral bone. • CP effectively prevent osteoarthritis in pMMx models as a dietary supplement. Nowadays, the biological activity of collagen peptides has been revealed, but the effect of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) bone-derived collagen peptide (CPs) on osteoarthritis remains unclear. In this study, CPs was identified as a small molecular weight peptide rich in Gly-X-Y structure. Meanwhile, interleukin-1β (IL-1β)-induced hypertrophic chondrocytes and partial medial meniscectomy (pMMx) surgery model in rats were performed. In IL-1β stimulated chondrocytes, CPs significantly increased the type-II collagen content, reduced the type-X collagen abundance and chondrocytes apoptosis. Meanwhile, CPs reversed the increased expression of matrix metalloproteinase, metalloproteinase with thrombospondin motifs and RUNX family transcription factor 2 in chondrocytes induced by IL-1β. In vivo , CPs increased pain tolerance of rats and without organ toxicity at 1.6 g/ kg.bw. CPs significantly decreased the levels of COMP and Helix-II in serum. Furthermore, a significant decrease of IL-1β in synovial fluid and cartilage tissue were observed by CPs intervention. From Micro-CT, CPs (0.8 g/ kg.bw) significantly decreased Tb.sp and SMI value. Meanwhile, the expression of tumor necrosis factor and interleukin-6 were reduced by CPs administration both in vitro and in vivo. Together, CPs showed potential to be a novel and safe dietary supplement for helping anti-inflammatory and cartilage regeneration, ultimately hindering osteoarthritis development. However, the clear mechanism of CPs's positive effect on osteoarthritis needs to be further explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • The density of surface defects is precisely controlled and tuned by adjusting the radiation dose. • Surface defects are concentrated on the surface by 1-keV Ar+ irradiation, which is in agreement with the Monte Carlo simulation. • The surface defects exhibit a high thermal stability during the annealing procedure. • In the UV-Vis range, the light absorption for the irradiated HOPG is enhanced. Low-energy heavy ion irradiation is a promising surface modification technique due to its ability of precise controlling and tuning the density and location of defects in materials. In this work, 1-keV Ar+ ions with irradiation doses from 9.6 × 1012 ions/cm2 to 3.5 × 1015 ions/cm2 has been used to bombard the pristine highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) at elevated temperature. The irradiated HOPG surfaces have been analyzed by multi-methods. Huge and sub-nm hillock-like surface defects are mainly concentrated on the irradiated HOPG surface, and are well consistent with the results from the Monte Carlo simulation. In particular, the surface defects exhibit a high thermal stability during the annealing procedure. The number of the surface defects increases as the irradiation dose increases and reaches the saturation point at a high dose, which is explained by the formation of vacancy clusters in collision cascades. The enhancement of light absorption in the ultraviolet-visible range for the irradiated surface is observed and mainly ascribed to the synergistic effect of the huge and sub-nm hillocks-like surface defect and defect energy levels in the forbidden bandgaps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]