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As a common chronic disease of the elderly, diabetes endangers both physical and mental health of the elderly. Diarrhea is a common complication of diabetes and causes great inconvenience to patients' daily life. Professor Zhou Lingyun from Chief Physician, Department of Geriatrics, Second Affiliated Hospital of Guizhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine has been engaged in clinical practice for many years and is good at treating miscellaneous diseases in geriatric internal medicine. She has unique thinking and experience in the diagnosis and treatment of diabetic diarrhea. Professor Zhou Lingyun believed that the pathogenesis of diabetic diarrhea in the elderly is the deficiency of spleen and stomach qi and dampness. She is good at using Modified Sijunzi Decoction to nourish qi, invigorate the spleen and dispel dampness, so as to treat diabetic diarrhea. This paper introduced and analyzed a classic case of Professor Zhou Lingyun's treatment of diabetic diarrhea in the elderly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The imperviousness percentage, polder allowable water depth, and drainage modulus are the main features that determine the effectiveness and efficiency of flood control with polders. This study is aimed to examine the impact of impervious percentage, polder allowable water depth, and drainage modulus on peak flow and flood volume for simulating flood processes. A Hydrologic Engineering Center-Hydrologic Modelling System (HEC-HMS) model is developed to simulate flood control with polders in order to explore the impact of these impervious percentage, polder allowable water depth, and drainage modulus. The Qinhuai River Basin is employed as the research area as it is a typical watershed that uses polders for flood control. The results demonstrate that the flood volume and peak flow increase with the impervious percentage increases from 20% to 70%. When the polder allowable water depth increases, the flood volume decreases but the peak flow increases. With the decrease of drainage modulus, the peak flow and flood volume decrease. This study provides a reference and guidance to simulate flood control with polders and the impact of the three features in the Qinhuai River Basin. In addition, it could be easily adopted for other basins with polder. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the pore space of rock samples with respect to different petrophysical parameters using various methods, which provide data upon pore size distributions, including micro computed tomography (μ-CT), mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), and spectral induced polarization (SIP). The resulting cumulative distributions of pore volume as a function of pore size are compared. Considering that the methods differ with regard to their limits of resolution, a multiple length scale characterization of the pore space geometry is proposed, that is based on a combination of the results from all of these methods. The approach is demonstrated using samples of Bentheimer and Röttbacher sandstone. Additionally, we compare the potential of SIP to provide a pore size distribution with other commonly used methods (MIP, NMR). The limits of resolution of SIP depend on the usable frequency range (between 0.002Hz and 100Hz). The methods with similar resolution show a similar behavior of the cumulative pore volume distribution in the overlapping pore size range. We assume that μ-CT and NMR provide the pore body size while MIP and SIP characterize the pore throat size. Our study shows that a good agreement between the pore radii distributions can only be achieved if the curves are adjusted considering the resolution and pore volume in the relevant range of pore radii. The MIP curve with the widest range in resolution should be used as reference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neurosteroids, which are steroids synthesized by the nervous system, can exert neuromodulatory and neuroprotective effects via genomic and nongenomic pathways. The neurosteroid and major steroid precursor pregnenolone has therapeutical potential in various diseases, such as psychiatric and pain disorders, and may play important roles in myelination, neuroinflammation, neurotransmission, and neuroplasticity. Although pregnenolone is synthesized by CYP11A1 in peripheral steroidogenic organs, our recent study showed that pregnenolone must be synthesized by another mitochondrial cytochrome P450 (CYP450) enzyme other than CYP11A1 in human glial cells. Therefore, we sought to identify the CYP450 responsible for pregnenolone production in the human brain. Upon screening for CYP450s expressed in the human brain that have mitochondrial localization, we identified three enzyme candidates: CYP27A1, CYP1A1, and CYP1B1. We found that inhibition of CYP27A1 through inhibitors and siRNA knockdown did not negatively affect pregnenolone synthesis in human glial cells. Meanwhile, treatment of human glial cells with CYP1A1/CYP1B1 inhibitors significantly reduced pregnenolone production in the presence of 22(R)- hydroxycholesterol. We performed siRNA knockdown of CYP1A1 or CYP1B1 in human glial cells and found that only CYP1B1 knockdown significantly decreased pregnenolone production. Furthermore, overexpression of mitochondriatargeted CYP1B1 significantly increased pregnenolone production under basal conditions and in the presence of hydroxycholesterols and low-density lipoprotein. Inhibition of CYP1A1 and/or CYP1B1 via inhibitors or siRNA knockdown did not significantly reduce pregnenolone synthesis in human adrenal cortical cells, implying that CYP1B1 is not a major pregnenolone-producing enzyme in the periphery. These data suggest that mitochondrial CYP1B1 is involved in pregnenolone synthesis in human glial cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We previously demonstrated that iron overload induces liver damage by causing the formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Taurine is a potent free radical scavenger that attenuates the damage caused by excessive oxygen free radicals. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate whether taurine could reduce the hepatotoxicity of iron overload with regard to ROS production. Mice were intraperitoneally injected with iron 5 days/week for 13 weeks to achieve iron overload. It was found that iron overload resulted in liver dysfunction, increased apoptosis and elevated oxidative stress. Taurine supplementation increased liver taurine levels by 40% and led to improved liver function, as well as a reduction in apoptosis, ROS formation and mitochondrial swelling and an attenuation in the loss of the mitochondrial membrane potential. Treatment with taurine mediated a reduction in oxidative stress in iron-overloaded mice, attenuated liver lipid peroxidation, elevated antioxidant enzyme activities and maintained reduced glutathione levels. These results indicate that taurine reduces iron-induced hepatic oxidative stress, preserves liver function and inhibits hepatocyte apoptosis. Therefore, taurine may be a potential therapeutic drug to reduce liver damage caused by iron overload. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ultrafast carrier dynamics of the multiferroic BiFeO3 film in a broad temperature range is investigated using optical pump-probe spectroscopy. The photoexcited electrons release their energy with optical phonons emission through electron-phonon coupling in about 1 ps. The following intermediate process is identified as dynamical spin-lattice coupling in several picoseconds. Furthermore, the peak values of the optical reflectivity and the time constants of carrier relaxation channels show significant changes while the temperature varies from 137.5K to around 195 K, this aligns with the previously reported hidden phase transition. Our study demonstrates that ultrafast spectroscopy is a sensitive method to look into the dynamical interactions among the on-site high-energy electrons accumulated in the p conduction band of Bi, coherent optical phonon, as well as the spin degree of freedom. These features play crucial roles in the characterization of phase transitions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The industrial wireless network (IWN) is an important part of industrial CPS, which must address the key issue of reliable and real-time communication as well as the desired network lifetime. The nodes of IWN are usually fixed on the devices for better monitoring of the state information of the equipment and environment, while the relay node placement plays a significant role on network performance guarantee. This paper proposes an Integer Linear Program(ILP) placement strategy to meet the fault tolerance and survivability requirement. In addition, an edge coloring algorithm is proposed to solve the conflict of TDMA communication, which improves paralleled and real-time communication performance. Simulation results show that this placement strategy not only meets the requirements of robust communication and survivability, but also enhances real-time communication of IWN. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH) is a devastating disease, which mainly caused by the rupture of an intracranial aneurysm. Clinical trials have demonstrated that cerebral vasospasm (CVS) is not the sole contributor to delayed cerebral ischemia (DCI) and poor outcomes in patients with aSAH. Currently, accumulating evidence suggests that early brain injury (EBI), which occurs within 72 h after the onset of aSAH, lays the foundation for subsequent pathophysiological changes and poor outcomes of patients. The pathological mechanisms of EBI mainly include increased intracranial pressure, oxidative stress, neuroinflammation, blood-brain barrier (BBB) disruption, cerebral edema and cell death. Among them, the brain immune inflammatory responses involve a variety of immune cells and active substances, which play an important role in EBI after aSAH and may be related to DCI and long-term outcomes. Thus, attention should be paid to strategies targeting cerebral immune inflammatory responses. In this review, we discuss the role of immune inflammatory responses in the occurrence and development of aSAH, as well as some inflammatory biomarkers related to CVS, DCI, and aSAH outcomes. In addition, we also summarize the potential therapeutic drugs that target cerebral immune inflammatory responses for patients with aSAH in current research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cerenkov luminescence tomography (CLT) has been proved as an effective tool for various biomedical applications. Because of the severe scattering of Cerenkov luminescence, the performance of CLT remains unsatisfied. This paper proposed a novel CLT reconstruction approach based on a multilayer fully connected neural network (MFCNN). Monte Carlo simulation data was employed to train the MFCNN, and the complex relationship between the surface signals and the true sources was effectively learned by the network. Both simulation and in vivo experiments were performed to validate the performance of MFCNN CLT, and it was further compared with the typical radiative transfer equation (RTE) based method. The experimental data showed the superiority of MFCNN CLT in terms of accuracy and stability. This promising approach for CLT is expected to improve the performance of optical tomography, and to promote the exploration of machine learning in biomedical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the close relationship between MGBA and PSC1, one PSCI related case is reported, and it is emphasized to improve clinicians' understanding of MGBA theory in the treatment of PSCI, thereby providing new ideas for exploring pathogenesis and treatment of PSCI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The main objective of this study was to determine available energy and nutritional digestibility of extruded cereals and the effect of extrusion on the nutritional value of feed ingredients, aiming to provide scientific basis for efficient application of extrusion in the diets of growing pigs. Methods: In Exp. 1, 48 crossbred growing pigs (Duroc×Landrace×Yorkshire) with an initial body weight (BW) of 34.6±2.2 kg were selected and fed with eight diets (non-extrusion or extrusion) to determine the digestible energy (DE), metabolizable energy (ME), and nutrients digestibility. Eight diets included extruded grains (barley, wheat, sorghum, or broken rice), while four had unprocessed grains. In Exp. 2, 9 diets were formulated including 4 cereals with extrusion or non-extrusion and a N-free diet. In addition, 9 growing pigs (BW = 22.3±2.8 kg) were fitted with T-cannula in the distal ileum and arranged in a 9×6 Youden square design. Results: Results show that apparent total tract digestibility of gross energy, dry matter, organic meal, ether extract, neutral and acid detergent fiber was not affected by the extrusion process and there was no interaction between cereal type and extrusion treatment on DE, ME. However, the apparent total tract digestibility for crude protein (CP) increased markedly (p<0.05). The standardized ileal digestibility (SID) of all amino acids (AA) except for leucine remarkably increased by extrusion (p<0.05). There was an interaction on the SID of arginine, leucine, isoleucine, methionine, phenylalanine, cystine, and tyrosine in growing pigs between type of grain and extrusion treatment (p<0.05). Conclusion: Extrusion increased the ileal digestibility of CP and most AA in cereals, however, the DE and ME of cereals were not affected in growing pigs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We utilized social exchange theory to examine the effects that supervisor developmental feedback has on employee loyalty toward the supervisor. The 337 participants for our study were recruited from a large manufacturing enterprise in Hunan, China. Using hierarchical linear regression analysis, we found that supervisor developmental feedback was positively related to both trust in, and employee loyalty toward, the supervisor. Trust was not only positively associated with employee loyalty toward the supervisor but also partially mediated the relationship between supervisor developmental feedback and employee loyalty toward the supervisor. Further, interactional justice moderated the positive relationship between supervisor developmental feedback and employee trust of the supervisor, such that the strength of this relationship was enhanced as interactional justice increased. Managerial implications and directions for further research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most phenylpropanoid pathway flux is directed toward the production of monolignols, but this pathway also generates multiple bioactive metabolites. The monolignols coniferyl and sinapyl alcohol polymerize to form guaiacyl (G) and syringyl (S) units in lignin, components that are characteristic of plant secondary cell walls. Lignin negatively impacts the saccharification potential of lignocellulosic biomass. Although manipulation of its content and composition through genetic engineering has reduced biomass recalcitrance, in some cases, these genetic manipulations lead to impaired growth. The reduced-growth phenotype is often attributed to poor water transport due to xylem collapse in low-lignin mutants, but alternative models suggest that it could be caused by the hyper-or hypoaccumulation of phenylpropanoid intermediates. In Arabidopsis thaliana, overexpression of FERULATE 5-HYDROXYLASE (F5H) shifts the normal G/S lignin ratio to nearly pure S lignin and does not result in substantial changes to plant growth. In contrast, when we overexpressed F5H in the low-lignin mutants cinnamyl dehydrogenase c and d (cadc cadd), cinnamoyl-CoA reductase 1, and reduced epidermal fluorescence 3, plant growth was severely compromised. In addition, cadc cadd plants overexpressing F5H exhibited defects in lateral root development. Exogenous coniferyl alcohol (CA) and its dimeric coupling product, pinoresinol, rescue these phenotypes. These data suggest that mutations in the phenylpropanoid pathway limit the biosynthesis of pinoresinol, and this effect is exacerbated by overexpression of F5H, which further draws down cellular pools of its precursor, CA. Overall, these genetic manipulations appear to restrict the synthesis of pinoresinol or a downstream metabolite that is necessary for plant growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human adenovirus (HAdV) is ubiquitous in the human population, constituting a significant burden of global respiratory diseases. Children and individuals with low immunity are at risk of developing severe infections without approved antiviral treatment for HAdV. Our study demonstrated that TRIM35 inhibited HAdV-C5 early gene transcription, early protein expression, genome replication, and infectious virus progeny production. Furthermore, TRIM35 was found to inhibit HAdV replication by attenuating E1A expression. Mechanistically, TRIM35 interacts with and degrades E1A by promoting its K48-linked ubiquitination. Additionally, K253 and K285 are the key sites necessary for TRIM35 degradation. Moreover, an oncolytic adenovirus carrying shTRIM35 was constructed and observed to exhibit improved oncolysis in vivo, providing new ideas for clinical tumor treatment. Our results expand the broad antiviral activity of TRIM35 and mechanically support its application as a HAdV replication inhibitor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a kind of job characteristic, feedback often occurs in the organization in order to improve employee performance. Based on leadership identity theory, this study developed a conceptual model involving supervisor developmental feedback, job crafting and job performance. the authors then targeted a large manufacturing enterprise in Hunan, China, obtaining 337 valid data using an on-site questionnaire survey. The data was analyzed using a hierarchical linear regression method, showing that supervisor developmental feedback was positively related to job crafting and employee job performance, and this job crafting was positively associated with employee job performance and partially mediated the relationship between supervisor developmental feedback and employee job performance. Managerial implications and directions for further research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Getting a machine to understand the meaning of language is a largely important goal to a wide variety of fields, from advertising to entertainment. In this work, we focus on Youtube comments from the top twohundred trending videos as a source of user text data. Previous Sentiment Analysis Models focus on using hand-labelled data or predetermined lexicon-s. Our goal is to train a model to label comment sentiment with emoticons by training on other user-generated comments containing emoticons. Naive Bayes and Recurrent Neural Network models are both investigated and implemented in this study, and the validation accuracies for Naive Bayes model and Recurrent Neural Network model are found to be .548 and .812. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An interface is constructed based on a bismuth ferrite oxide (BFO) thin film and p-type silicon, and the temperature dependence of the interface properties has been studied systematically using terahertz time-domain spectroscopy. The BFO/Si interface exhibits quasi-two-dimension electron gas (2DEG) transport in the temperature range of 80 to 140 K: the electrons at the interface possess large electron mobility (~106 cm2/V s) and long scattering time (~100 ps). As the temperature is higher than 140 K, an abrupt decrease in THz interface conductivity is observed due to the breakdown of the 2DEG induced by the surface phase transition in the BFO thin film. Our result reveals that the interface formed between BFO and Si provides a special platform for designing and fabricating THz photonic devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a kind of job characteristic, feedback often occurs in the organization in order to improve employee performance. Based on leadership identity theory, this study developed a conceptual model involving supervisor developmental feedback, job crafting and job performance. the authors then targeted a large manufacturing enterprise in Hunan, China, obtaining 337 valid data using an on-site questionnaire survey. The data was analyzed using a hierarchical linear regression method, showing that supervisor developmental feedback was positively related to job crafting and employee job performance, and this job crafting was positively associated with employee job performance and partially mediated the relationship between supervisor developmental feedback and employee job performance. Managerial implications and directions for further research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A magnetically retrievable nanocomposite was prepared by in situ polycondensation and entrapment of iron oxide nanoparticles. This material was found to be efficient in trapping excess electrophilic reagents such as carbonyl compounds, acid chlorides and isothiocyanates. Advantages of the new scavenger include facile preparation, high loading capacity, low cost, satisfactory swelling properties in polar solvents, and convenient magnetic recovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fast growth of Moso bamboo (Phyllostachys edulis) shoots is caused by the rapid elongation of each internode. However, the key underlying cellular processes and epigenetic mechanisms remain largely unexplored. We used microscopy and multiomics approaches to investigate two regions (bottom and middle) of the 18th internode from shoots of two different heights (2 and 4 m). We observed that internode cells become longer, and that lignin biosynthesis and glycosyltransferase family 43 (GT43) genes are substantially upregulated with shoot height. Nanopore direct RNA sequencing (DRS) revealed a higher N6-methyladenine (m6A) modification rate in 2-m shoots than in 4-m shoots. In addition, different specific m6A modification sites were enriched at different growth stages. Global DNA methylation profiling indicated that DNA methylation levels are higher in 4-m shoots than in 2-m shoots. We also detected shorter poly(A) tail lengths (PALs) in 4-m shoots compared with 2-m shoots. Genes showing differential PAL were mainly enriched in the functional terms of protein translation and vesicle fusion. An association analysis between PALs and DNA methylation strongly suggested that gene body CG methylation levels are positively associated with PAL. This study provides valuable information to better understand post-transcriptional regulations responsible for fast-growing shoots in Moso bamboo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ferulic acid is a polyphenolic compound contained in various types of fruits and wheat bran. As a salt of the active ingredient, sodium ferulate (SF) has potent free radical scavenging activity and can effectively scavenge ROS. In this study, we examined the effect of SF on iron-overloaded mice in comparison to a standard antioxidant, taurine (TAU).We determined the protective role of SF against liver injury by examining liver-to-body ratio (%), transaminase and hepatocyte apoptosis in rats supplied with 10% dextrose intraperitoneal injection. In addition, antioxidative enzymes activities, ROS formation, mitochondrial swelling, and mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) were all evaluated to clarify the mechanism of protective effect of SF associated with oxidative stress. After 15 weeks of SF treatment, we found a significant reduction in liver-to-body weight radio and elevation in both transaminase and hepatocyte apoptosis associated with iron-injected to levels comparable to those achieved with TAU. Both SF and TAU significantly attenuated the impaired liver function associated with iron-overloaded in mice, whereas neither showed any significant effect on the iron uptake. Furthermore, treatment with either SF or TAU in iron-overloaded mice attenuated oxidative stress, associated with elevated oxidant enzymes activities, decreased ROS production, prevented mitochondrial swelling and dissipation of MMP and then inhibited hepatic apoptosis. Taken together, the current study shows that, SF alleviated oxidative stress and liver damage associated with iron-overload conditions compared to the standard ROS scavenger (TAU), and potentially could encourage higher consumption and utilization as healthy and sustainable ingredients by the food and drink. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Suitable reference genes are one of the necessary conditions for obtaining reliable results by real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR (qPCR). In this study, the expression of the 10 common candidate reference genes (18s rRNA, rps27, cnbp, rpl7, ube2, hsp-at, gapdh, β-actin, rpl13a, 1-ef1a) at different developmental stages of gonad and embryo of Takifugu bimaculatus were analyzed by qPCR. And the expression stability of these reference genes is analyzed by GeNorm, NormFinder and Bestkeeper softwares. The results showed that the expression stability of 1-ef1a was the highest (p < 0.05) combined with the results of three analysis softwares, and the optimal number of reference genes was 3, which were 1-ef1a, hsp-at and rps27. Based on this result, we analyzed the expression of objective genes (foxl2 and dmrt1) at different developmental stages (early, medium-term and late) of gonads and embryos (eye vesicle stage, motility stage, heart anlage stage, retinal pigmentation stage, newly hatched larva) of T. bimaculatus by qPCR. Among which the highest expression level of foxl2 was in the middle stage of ovary (p < 0.05), and dmrt1 was expressed in the early stage of testis with the highest level (p < 0.05). The expression levels of foxl2 and dmrt1 in the early stages of embryonic development were low or even almost non-existent, and had a slight increase in the late embryonic development (newly hatched larva). The expression profile of objective genes are consistent with their roles in the development of gonads and embryos, which indicates that 1-ef1a, hspat and rps27 are the suitable reference gene combination for detecting the expression of objective genes by qPCR in gonads and embryos of T. bimaculatus. This research also provides the reliability data for screening the reference genes by qPCR in fish. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rapid development of coastal economy and marine development activities, marine environmental protection issues have become increasingly prominent, leading to the development of marine environmental protection enterprises which have gradually become a hot spot of concern. However, as China's marine environmental protection enterprises are mostly still at the stage of start-up and growth, it is urgent to maximize the value creation of marine environmental protection enterprises and optimize the value through the market value management. This paper selects 46 listed environmental protection companies as research samples, studies the management performance of them through factor analysis and multiple regression, and tests the relationship between various influencing factors and market value management performance. The study found that such factors as operational capacity, innovation capability, stockholder's rights drive, investor structure professionalism, and the number of disclosed mergers and acquisitions have a significant positive impact on market value management performance of marine environmental protection enterprises, while factors like capital structure, the number of litigations and arbitrations have a significant negative impact on market value management performance, and there is an inverted U-shaped relationship between ownership concentration and market value management performance. This research has certain enlightenment significance for marine environmental protection enterprises to improve the performance of market value management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on a study regarding enhancement of ferroelectric photovoltaic effect by polar order engineering. It mentions that ferroelectric materials for photovoltaics have sparked great interest because of their switchable photoelectric responses and above-bandgap photovoltages that violate conventional photovoltaic theory.

Understanding and controlling the transient optical anisotropy of strong correlation systems is of great interest in the quest for information processing and storage. Here, we report on ultrafast optical pump-probe measurements with linearly and circularly polarized laser pulses in the manganite La0.67Ca0.33MnO3 thin film. We show both the time-resolved reflectivity and the polarization state (Kerr rotation and ellipticity) of the probe-pulse at different temperatures, which are analyzed by the ultrafast intersite transition between Mn3+ and Mn4+ sites at photon energies around 1.55 eV. During the temperature-induced dynamical spectral weight transfer, a spin-flip photo-transition between spin up eg states of Mn3+ and spin down eg states of Mn4+ ions occurs and is imprinted on the optical anisotropy of the probe beam. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we mapped the co-seismic deformation of the 2015 Mw 8.3 Illapel, Chile earthquake with multiple Sentinel-1A TOPS data frames from both ascending and descending geometries. To meet the requirement of very high co-registration precision, an improved spectral diversity method was proposed to correct the co-registration slope error in the azimuth direction induced by multiple Sentinel-1A TOPS data frames. All phase jumps that appear in the conventional processing method have been corrected after applying the proposed method. The 2D deformation fields in the east-west and vertical directions are also resolved by combing D-InSAR and Offset Tracking measurements. The results reveal that the east-west component dominated the 2D displacement, where up to 2 m displacement towards the west was measured in the coastal area. Vertical deformations ranging between -0.25 and 0.25 m were found. The 2D displacements imply the collision of the Nazca plate squeezed the coast, which shows good accordance with the geological background of the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerous studies have reported the pathogenic roles of C-reactive protein (CRP) and complement activation in diabetic kidney disease (DKD) individually. However, considering the potent regulatory effect of CRP on complement activation, it remains unclear whether CRP participates in DKD pathogenesis by regulating complement activation. Moreover, this work focuses on complement activation in rats, which aims at settling the dispute that whether rat CRP can activate the complement system. To address this question, the complement effectors C3a, C5a, and C5b-9 were examined in human patients with diabetic nephropathy (DN) and wt, Crp-/-, and huCRPtg rats with STZ-diabetic DKD. The Crp-/- rats showed more C3a accumulation in blood and glomeruli than wt and huCRPtg rats. The balance between autophagy and apoptosis was evaluated in DKD rats, and Crp-/- rats showed increased podocyte autophagy compared with wt and huCRPtg rats. Meanwhile, stable CRP-overexpression and CRP-knockout cell lines were established and used to demonstrate that CRP suppresses C3a-induced podocyte autophagy under high-glucose conditions. We further verified that the inhibition of C3a-induced podocyte autophagy by CRP was dependent on C3aR expression and that this effect could be reversed with a C3aR antagonist and agonist. Therefore, our findings provide evidence that CRP suppresses podocyte autophagy to accelerate the development of DKD by inhibiting C3a/C3aR axis signaling, which may help in the development of a new therapeutic strategy for the management of podocyte autophagy and DKD. In addition, rat CRP has been shown to be identical to human CRP in the activation of autologous complement and interspecific complement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]