Search

Background: Traditional Chinese Medicine Astragalus was commonly used to assist chemo-drug treatment in clinical cancer patients. However, whether Astragalus injection (AGI) reverses drug resistance remains unclear. Therefore, a meta-analysis is necessary to assess the effect of AGI on resistance reversement in cancer patients. Method: The studies presenting tumor response rates in cancer patients receiving chemo-drugs treatment in combination with AGI were systematically searched from six common scientific databases until February 2024. The relative risks (RRs) indicating the tumor response rate, 1-year survival rate, and quality of life improvement in clinical patients among two groups were calculated in metan package. The pooled RRs with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were used to explore the effect of AGI on enhancing drug sensitivity in terms of tumor response, 1-year survival rate and quality of life improvement in cancer patients. Result: Fifty-one studies were included for meta-analysis following a thorough screening process that adhered to the inclusion and exclusion criteria. A total of 4613 patients were enrolled in all included trials. Results obtained indicated that AGI significantly enhanced the sensitivity of cancers to chemo-drugs with pooled RRs (95% CI) of 1.25 (1.18, 1.32), prolonged the 1-year survival rate of patients with pooled RRs (95% CI) of 1.34 (1.14, 1.57), improved the quality of life with pooled RRs (95% CI) of 1.61 (1.34, 1.93). Similarly, Astragalus's main component, astragaloside polysaccharides (APS), also enhances drug sensitivity in clinical cancer patients. Conclusion: Our findings demonstrated that AGI had the ability to resensitize cancers to chemo-drugs and improve the quality of life of cancer patients. Therefore, AGI could potentially be used as a drug resistance reversal for resistant cancer treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To clarify the association between levothyroxine (LT4) treatment and various adverse pregnancy outcomes in pregnant women with thyrotropin (TSH) levels ranging between 2.5 and 10.0 mIU/L in the first trimester, stratified according to thyroid peroxidase antibody (TPOAb) positivity and TSH level. Methods: This retrospective analysis of retrospectively and prospectively collected cohort data included Chinese pregnant women with TSH levels of 2.5–10 mIU/L and normal free thyroxine levels (11.8–18.4 pmol/L) in the first trimester. All participants were followed up until the completion of pregnancy, and information on LT4 treatment, pregnancy complications, and pregnancy outcomes was recorded. A 1:1 nearest-neighbor propensity score matching (PSM) between the LT4-treated and - untreated groups with a caliper distance of 0.02 was performed using a multivariable logistic regression model. Multivariable-adjusted modified Poisson regression was used to estimate the relative risk (RR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) of LT4 treatment for adverse pregnancy outcomes. Subgroup analyses were also performed in four subgroups simultaneously stratified by TPOAb status (negative or positive) and TSH levels (2.5–4.0 mIU/L as high-normal group and 4.0–10.0 mIU/L as SCH group). The study was registered in the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (ChiCTR2100047394). Results: Among the 4,370 pregnant women in the study, 1,342 received LT4 treatment and 3,028 did not. The 1:1 PSM yielded 668 pairs of individuals and revealed that LT4 treatment was significantly associated with a decreased risk of pregnancy loss (RR = 0.528, 95% CI: 0.344–0.812) and an increased risk of small-for-gestational-age infants (RR = 1.595, 95% CI: 1.023–2.485). Subgroup analyses suggested that the above effects of LT4 treatment were mainly from TPOAb-negative participants. LT4 treatment was associated with an increased risk of preterm birth (RR = 2.214, 95% CI: 1.016–4.825) in TPOAb-positive pregnant women with high-normal TSH levels. Conclusion: LT4 treatment was significantly associated with a lower risk of pregnancy loss and a higher risk of small-for-gestational-age infants in pregnant women with TSH levels of 2.5–10 mIU/L. An increased risk of preterm birth was observed in the LT4-treated group among TPOAb-positive participants with TSH levels of 2.5–4.0 mIU/L. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent developments in sequencing and bioinformatics have advanced our understanding of adenosine‐to‐inosine (A‐to‐I) RNA editing. Surprisingly, recent analyses have revealed the capability of adenosine deaminase acting on RNA (ADAR) to edit DNA:RNA hybrid strands. However, edited inosines in DNA remain largely unexplored. A precise biochemical method could help uncover these potentially rare DNA editing sites. We explore maleimide as a scaffold for inosine labeling. With fluorophore‐conjugated maleimide, we were able to label inosine in RNA or DNA. Moreover, with biotin‐conjugated maleimide, we purified RNA and DNA containing inosine. Our novel technique of inosine chemical labeling and affinity molecular purification offers substantial advantages and provides a versatile platform for further discovery of A‐to‐I editing sites in RNA and DNA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Macrophage proinflammatory activation contributes to the pathology of severe acute pancreatitis (SAP) and, simultaneously, macrophage functional changes, and increased pyroptosis/necrosis can further exacerbate the cellular immune suppression during the process of SAP, where cyclic GMP–AMP synthase (cGAS)–stimulator of interferon genes (STING) plays an important role. However, the function and mechanism of cGAS–STING in SAP-induced lung injury (LI) remains unknown. Methods: Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) was combined with caerulein-induced SAP in wild type, cGAS −/− and sting −/− mice. Primary macrophages were extracted via bronchoalveolar lavage and peritoneal lavage. Ana-1 cells were pretreated with LPS and stimulated with nigericin sodium salt to induce pyroptosis in vitro. Results: SAP triggered NOD-, LRR-, and pyrin domain-containing protein 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome activation-mediated pyroptosis of alveolar and peritoneal macrophages in mouse model. Knockout of cGAS/STING could ameliorate NLRP3 activation and macrophage pyroptosis. In addition, mitochondrial (mt)DNA released from damaged mitochondria further induced macrophage STING activation in a cGAS- and dose-dependent manner. Upregulated STING signal can promote NLRP3 inflammasome-mediated macrophage pyroptosis and increase serum interleukin (IL)-6, IL-1β, and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α levels and, thus, exacerbate SAP-associated LI (SAP-ALI). Downstream molecules of STING, IRF7, and IRF3 connect the mtDNA–cGAS–STING axis and the NLRP3–pyroptosis axis. Conclusions: Negative regulation of any molecule in the mtDNA–cGAS–STING–IRF7/IRF3 pathway can affect the activation of NLRP3 inflammasomes, thereby reducing macrophage pyroptosis and improving SAP-ALI in mouse model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Macrophage proinflammatory activation contributes to the pathology of severe acute pancreatitis (SAP) and, simultaneously, macrophage functional changes, and increased pyroptosis/necrosis can further exacerbate the cellular immune suppression during the process of SAP, where cyclic GMP–AMP synthase (cGAS)–stimulator of interferon genes (STING) plays an important role. However, the function and mechanism of cGAS–STING in SAP-induced lung injury (LI) remains unknown. Methods: Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) was combined with caerulein-induced SAP in wild type, cGAS −/− and sting −/− mice. Primary macrophages were extracted via bronchoalveolar lavage and peritoneal lavage. Ana-1 cells were pretreated with LPS and stimulated with nigericin sodium salt to induce pyroptosis in vitro. Results: SAP triggered NOD-, LRR-, and pyrin domain-containing protein 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome activation-mediated pyroptosis of alveolar and peritoneal macrophages in mouse model. Knockout of cGAS/STING could ameliorate NLRP3 activation and macrophage pyroptosis. In addition, mitochondrial (mt)DNA released from damaged mitochondria further induced macrophage STING activation in a cGAS- and dose-dependent manner. Upregulated STING signal can promote NLRP3 inflammasome-mediated macrophage pyroptosis and increase serum interleukin (IL)-6, IL-1β, and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α levels and, thus, exacerbate SAP-associated LI (SAP-ALI). Downstream molecules of STING, IRF7, and IRF3 connect the mtDNA–cGAS–STING axis and the NLRP3–pyroptosis axis. Conclusions: Negative regulation of any molecule in the mtDNA–cGAS–STING–IRF7/IRF3 pathway can affect the activation of NLRP3 inflammasomes, thereby reducing macrophage pyroptosis and improving SAP-ALI in mouse model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Timber granaries are found in numerous ethnic minority settlements in the southeast and south of Guizhou Province in China. A timber granary is a unique type of vernacular building in rice-farming villages. Most of these granaries adopted the stilting architectural form and column-and-tie framework to provide a safe and cool inner space for the storage of grains, prevent rats, and enhance natural ventilation. This is a case study on the repair project of a timber granary in Yaogu village. The granary was disassembled into timber components and reconstructed for conservation, which is called 'Repair by Disassembly' in the east Asian tradition of wooden architecture. Through in-situ surveying, participant observation of the construction process, and interviews with local craftsmen, this study analyses the repair methodology and Buyi ethnic construction techniques applied in the timber granary. This work suggest guidelines for the conservation and restoration of similar wooden architectural heritage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to its abundant reserves, tight oil has emerged as a significant substitute for conventional petroleum resources. It has become one of the focal points of exploration and research, and a new hot spot in global unconventional oil and gas exploration and development. This has led to a significant increase in the demand for forecasting the production capacity of tight oil horizontal wells. The deep neural network (DNN), as a mature model, has demonstrated significant advantages in many fields. However, due to the confidentiality and uniqueness of oilfield data, acquiring large datasets has become a challenge. Traditional methods using small datasets for training DNN models result in low accuracy and overfitting issues, which hinders the development of neural networks in the petroleum industry. This study aims to predict the initial production capacity of tight oil horizontal wells by using a small dataset of 650 data points through a DNN model. The research results indicate that pre-trained and fine-tuned DNNs outperform shallow neural networks, supporting vector machines, and DNN trained with traditional methods in terms of better generalization performance. Their accuracy reached 91.3%, demonstrating that it is reasonable to use a small dataset with pre-trained and fine-tuned DNN models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is an important cause of high mortality in breast cancer. Twist1 is one of the EMT transcription factors (EMT-TFs) with a noticeably short half-life, which is regulated by proteasome degradation pathways. Recent studies have found that USP13 stabilizes several specific oncogenic proteins. As yet, however, the relationship between Twist1 and USP13 has not been investigated. Methods: Co-Immunoprecipitation, GST-pulldown, Western blot, qRT-PCR and immunofluorescence assays were used to investigate the role of USP13 in de-ubiquitination of Twist1. Chromatin immunoprecipitation and Luciferase reporter assays were used to investigate the role of Twist1 in inhibiting USP13 reporter transcription. Scratch wound healing, cell migration and invasion assays, and a mouse lung metastases assay were used to investigate the roles of USP13 and Twist1 in promoting breast cancer metastasis. Results: We found that Twist1 can be de-ubiquitinated by USP13. In addition, we found that the protein levels of Twist1 dose-dependently increased with USP13 overexpression, while USP13 knockdown resulted in a decreased expression of endogenous Twist1. We also found that USP13 can directly interact with Twist1 and specifically cleave the K48-linked polyubiquitin chains of Twist1 induced by FBXL14. We found that the effect of USP13 in promoting the migration and invasion capacities of breast cancer cells can at least partly be achieved through its regulation of Twist1, while Twist1 can inhibit the transcriptional activity of USP13. Conclusions: Our data indicate that an interplay between Twist1 and USP13 can form a negative physiological feedback loop. Our findings show that USP13 may play an essential role in breast cancer metastasis by regulating Twist1 and, as such, provide a potential target for the clinical treatment of breast cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid development of digital finance has changed all aspects of human life and has also had a deep impact on the social governance system. This paper constructs an unbalanced panel of data of the theft crime rates for 289 cities in China during 2014–2019 based on the theft criminal judgments published on China's Judicial Documents website and explores the impact of digital financial inclusion on urban theft crime. It shows that there is a significantly negative correlation between digital financial inclusion and the urban theft crime rate, indicating that the development of digital financial inclusion can effectively reduce urban theft crime, which is also confirmed by instrumental variable analysis based on the spherical distance between cities and Hangzhou, and that digital financial inclusion mainly reduces theft crime committed by more serious and highly educated individuals. In addition, mechanism analysis shows that digital financial inclusion can reduce the expected benefits of theft by enhancing payment convenience and raise the opportunity cost by promoting employment. Therefore, in the Internet era, it is essential for China to continuously improve social governance tools that adapt to the development of new technologies to achieve high-quality urban development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The ulcerative colitis (UC) associated immune cell network was revealed by analyzing the immune cell composition of inflamed and uninflamed mucosal biopsy samples from the same patients with UC. For differentially expressed macrophages, the differentially expressed genes (DEGs), functional enrichment analyses, and protein--protein interaction (PPI) network was analyzed to understand further the role of macrophages in the occurrence and development of disease. Methods: GSE 179285 dataset and GSE123141 dataset were downloaded from the GEO database. We used the CIBERSORT algorithm to map immune cell infiltration between paired inflamed and uninflamed intestinal mucosal biopsies. GO and KEGG functional enrichment analyses were used to analyze DEGs in intestinal macrophage populations. The PPI network was constructed by the Search Tool for the Retrieval of Interacting Genes (STRING) database. Immunohistochemistry and qPCR were used to verify hub genes in the mouse model of UC. Results: The inflamed tissues had a higher infiltration of M1 macrophages and M0 macrophages. M2 macrophages, naive B cells, gamma delta T cells (γδT cells), and resting mast cells were more abundant in uninflamed tissues. Functional enrichment analyses showed that the 141 DEGs are involved in multiple processes in the inflammatory response. The three genes (LCN2, CXCL1, SAA1) had the highest degrees of connectivity and may be hub genes. LCN2 was significantly overexpressed in colitis tissues compared with normal control tissues in the mouse model of UC. Conclusion: Changes in macrophages were notable in the inflamed mucosa ofUCpatients. 141 DEGs were entered into GO and KEGG functional enrichment analyses; three hub gene candidates were selected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Silanes are important in chemistry and material science. The self‐redistribution of HSiCl3 is an industrial process to prepare SiH4, which is widely used in electronics and automobile industries. However, selective silane cross‐redistribution to prepare advanced silanes is challenging. We now report an enthalpy‐driven silane cross‐redistribution to access bis‐silanes that contain two different types of Si−H bonds in the same molecule. Compared with entropy‐driven reactions, the enthalpy‐driven reaction shows high regioselectivity, broad substrate scope (62 examples) and high atom economy. Our combined experimental and computational study indicates that the reaction proceeds through a Ni0‐NiII‐NiIV catalytic cycle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Silanes are important in chemistry and material science. The self‐redistribution of HSiCl3 is an industrial process to prepare SiH4, which is widely used in electronics and automobile industries. However, selective silane cross‐redistribution to prepare advanced silanes is challenging. We now report an enthalpy‐driven silane cross‐redistribution to access bis‐silanes that contain two different types of Si−H bonds in the same molecule. Compared with entropy‐driven reactions, the enthalpy‐driven reaction shows high regioselectivity, broad substrate scope (62 examples) and high atom economy. Our combined experimental and computational study indicates that the reaction proceeds through a Ni0‐NiII‐NiIV catalytic cycle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Anti-thyroid peroxidase antibody (TPOAb) positivity can contribute to inhibit thyroxine synthesis. Gut microbiota can interact with metabolic or immune diseases. However, dynamics of gut microbiota from the second (T2) to the third trimester (T3) in women with TPOAb-positive/negative subclinical hypothyroidism (TPOAb+/TPOAb- SCH) have not been reported. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate whether gut microbiota can be potential therapeutic targets for managing TPOAb+ SCH.Methods: In this single-center prospective cohort study, we observed gut microbiota dynamics by sequencing 16S rRNA from fecal samples collected in T2 (20-23+ 6 weeks) and T3 (28-33+ 6 weeks). TPOAb+/TPOAb- SCH were stratified depending on whether or not they used levothyroxine (LT4) during the pregnancy (LT4+/LT4-). Microbiome bioinformatics analyses were performed using QIIME2. The linear discriminant analysis effect size (LEfSe) was used for the quantitative analysis of biomarkers. Functional profiling was performed with PICRUSt2.Results: Distinct gut microbiota dynamics from T2 to T3 were noted in the TPOAb- (n = 68) and TPOAb+ (n = 64) SCH groups. The TPOAb+ LT4- group was characterized by enriched bacterial amplicon sequence variants (ASVs) of Prevotella in T2 and Bacteria, Lachnospirales, Lachnospiraceae, Blautia, and Agathobacter in T3 and by depleted ASVs of Gammaproteobacteria, Enterobacterales, and Enterobacteriaceae in T2 and Actinobacteriota, Coriobacteriia, Actinobacteria, Coriobacteriales, Bifidobacteriales, Bifidobacteriaceae, Bifidobacterium, Dorea formicigenerans, and Bifidobacterium longum in T3. The TPOAb+ LT4+ group was characterized by enriched bacterial ASVs of Blautia, Streptococcus salivarius, and Bifidobacterium longum in T3 and by depleted ASVs of Bacteroidota, Bacteroidia, Bacteroidales, and Prevotella in T2 and Agathobacter in T3. Moreover, we identified 53 kinds of metabolic functions that were mainly involved in sugar, lipid, and amino acid metabolism.Conclusions: Our results indicated that low dynamics of gut microbiota composition and high dynamics of its metabolic function from T2 to T3 were associated with TPOAb+ SCH. We concluded that gut microbiota could be new targets for treatment of TPOAb+ SCH during pregnancy.Trial Registration: This study was retrospectively registered at the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (registration number ChiCTR2100047175 ) on June 10, 2021. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Orius sauteri (Poppius) is an important predator of many economically important insect pests. The mass rearing of O. sauteri is difficult, limiting its application in pest control. Here we assessed the nutritional quality of eggs of Sitotroga cerealella (Olivier), Agrotis ypsilon (Rottemberg), or Spodoptera litura (Fabricius), and their potential for rearing O. sauteri in the laboratory for two generations. Of species tested, S. cerealella eggs resulted in the highest survival and reproduction of O. sauteri compared to the other two lepidopteran species. Eggs of A. ypsilon were a suitable diet for the nymphal stage, which developed faster on A. ysilon eggs than those of S. cerealella eggs. Conversely, eggs of S. litura were not a suitable diet for O. sauteri, and they disrupted the development and reproduction of O. sauteri. Sitotroga cerealella eggs showed advantages in all the nutritional components evaluated. Orius sauteri fed S. litura eggs contained significantly lower protein levels than those fed on the other eggs tested. Spodoptera litura eggs significantly enhanced the CAT activity in O. sauteri, which suggests that some components from S. litura eggs harmed the development and reproduction of O. sauteri. Based on these results, we suggest using a combined diet for mass rearing of the pirate bug, feeding the nymphs and adults with A. ypsilon eggs and S. cerealella eggs, respectively. This study contributes to the discovery of artificial diets for mass rearing O. sauteri and other Orius species in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A series of electrochemical sensors based on metal-porous carbon nanozymes were developed for the detection of dopamine (DA), uric acid (UA) and furazolidone (FZ). The metal-porous carbon nanozymes were prepared by calcination of porous crystalline covalent-organic frameworks (COFs) loaded metal ions. By carbonizing, the COFs was transformed into carbon nanosheets (CN) and metal ions were reduced into 5–10 nm MNPs loaded on CN uniformly (CuNPs/CN, FeNPs/CN, NiNPs/CN and CoNPs/CN). These porous MNPs/CN nanozymes were used for electrochemical detection of DA, AA and FZ, showing good performance. The electrochemical sensor based on CuNPs/CN nanozymes was used to simultaneously measure DA and UA. The linear range of DA detection was 0.015 μ–140 μM, the linear range of UA detection was 0.03 μM–175 μM, and the sensitivity of DA and UA were 1.03 μA μM−1 cm−2 and 0.52 μA μM−1 cm−2. The sensitivity of sensors based on FeNPs/CN, CoNPs/CN and NiNPs/CN nanozymes to detect DA were 1.30 μA cm−2 μM−1, 1.07 μA cm−2 μM−1 and 0.88 μA cm−2 μM−1, the linear ranges were 35 nM–200 μM, 42 nM–250 μM and 52 nM–250 μM. The sensitivity of detecting UA were 0.310 μA cm−2 μM−1, 0.587 μA cm−2 μM−1 and 0.360 μA cm−2 μM−1, the linear ranges were 145 nM–900 μM, 77 nM–700 μM and 125 nM–800 μM. Finally, CuNPs/CN was also used to construct a FZ sensor with a linear range of 61.5 nM–200 μΜ and a detection limit of 20.1 nM. The sensors also have good reproducibility and repeatability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The doping or alloying effect is effective for tuning the carrier concentration and/or lowering the lattice thermal conductivity in thermoelectrics. Herein, taking Co0.94Ni0.06SbS1−xTex as a typical example, we observed an unusual phenomenon where Te alloying mediates grain growth. It was observed that the Te dopant tended to be segregated along grain boundaries as a precipitate, resulting in an increase in grain size from 0.36 μm to 0.57 μm. The grain growth optimizes the low-temperature carrier scattering mechanism, leading to a higher power factor that represents a superior value in advanced sulfur-based thermoelectric materials. The lattice thermal conductivity was, however, slightly suppressed, which was higher than the Debye-model prediction. As a compromise, the average thermoelectric figure of merit (zT) was enhanced after Te doping, higher than those of other CoSbS based materials. Overall, this work proves the significance of solute segregation in the optimization of thermoelectric performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: There is no consensus reference range for serum lipid levels during pregnancy. The benefit of levothyroxine (L-T4) on serum lipid levels are unclear among pregnant women with subclinical hypothyroidism (SCH).Objective: To determine the recommended reference ranges for serum lipid concentrations during pregnancy and effects of L-T4 treatment on serum lipids in pregnant women with SCH.Design: Cohort study.Methods: A analysis of 20,365 women in the first trimester was conducted at Beijing Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital, Capital Medical University during 2018-2020. After excluding women with adverse pregnancy outcomes, we determined the reference range of serum lipid in the first and third trimesters of pregnancy by using median and quartile to determine appropriate percentiles. Next, we divided into three groups as follows: SCH L-T4 treatment group (n = 319), SCH non-intervention group (n = 103) and the control group(n = 9598).Results: The recommended reference range for serum lipids in the first trimester of pregnancy should be: TC < 5.33 mmol/L, TG < 1.73 mmol/L, LDL-C < 3.12 mmol/L and HDL-C > 1.1 mmol/L, and in third trimester of pregnancy should be: TC < 8.47 mmol/L, TG < 4.86 mmol/L, LDL-C < 5.3 mmol/L and HDL-C > 1.34 mmol/L. There are significant differences in TC and LDL-C levels between SCH treatment group and SCH non-intervention Group (P = 0.043, P = 0.046; respectively).Conclusions: We determine the recommended reference ranges for serum lipid concentrations during pregnancy. TC and LDL-C levels in pregnant women with SCH could improve after L-T4 treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Anti-thyroid peroxidase antibody (TPOAb) positivity can contribute to inhibit thyroxine synthesis. Gut microbiota can interact with metabolic or immune diseases. However, dynamics of gut microbiota from the second (T2) to the third trimester (T3) in women with TPOAb-positive/negative subclinical hypothyroidism (TPOAb+/TPOAb− SCH) have not been reported. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate whether gut microbiota can be potential therapeutic targets for managing TPOAb+ SCH. Methods: In this single-center prospective cohort study, we observed gut microbiota dynamics by sequencing 16S rRNA from fecal samples collected in T2 (20–23+ 6 weeks) and T3 (28–33+ 6 weeks). TPOAb+/TPOAb− SCH were stratified depending on whether or not they used levothyroxine (LT4) during the pregnancy (LT4+/LT4−). Microbiome bioinformatics analyses were performed using QIIME2. The linear discriminant analysis effect size (LEfSe) was used for the quantitative analysis of biomarkers. Functional profiling was performed with PICRUSt2. Results: Distinct gut microbiota dynamics from T2 to T3 were noted in the TPOAb− (n = 68) and TPOAb+ (n = 64) SCH groups. The TPOAb+ LT4− group was characterized by enriched bacterial amplicon sequence variants (ASVs) of Prevotella in T2 and Bacteria, Lachnospirales, Lachnospiraceae, Blautia, and Agathobacter in T3 and by depleted ASVs of Gammaproteobacteria, Enterobacterales, and Enterobacteriaceae in T2 and Actinobacteriota, Coriobacteriia, Actinobacteria, Coriobacteriales, Bifidobacteriales, Bifidobacteriaceae, Bifidobacterium, Dorea formicigenerans, and Bifidobacterium longum in T3. The TPOAb+ LT4+ group was characterized by enriched bacterial ASVs of Blautia, Streptococcus salivarius, and Bifidobacterium longum in T3 and by depleted ASVs of Bacteroidota, Bacteroidia, Bacteroidales, and Prevotella in T2 and Agathobacter in T3. Moreover, we identified 53 kinds of metabolic functions that were mainly involved in sugar, lipid, and amino acid metabolism. Conclusions: Our results indicated that low dynamics of gut microbiota composition and high dynamics of its metabolic function from T2 to T3 were associated with TPOAb+ SCH. We concluded that gut microbiota could be new targets for treatment of TPOAb+ SCH during pregnancy. Trial registration: This study was retrospectively registered at the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (registration number ChiCTR2100047175) on June 10, 2021. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Anti-thyroid peroxidase antibody (TPOAb) positivity can contribute to inhibit thyroxine synthesis. Gut microbiota can interact with metabolic or immune diseases. However, dynamics of gut microbiota from the second (T2) to the third trimester (T3) in women with TPOAb-positive/negative subclinical hypothyroidism (TPOAb+/TPOAb− SCH) have not been reported. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate whether gut microbiota can be potential therapeutic targets for managing TPOAb+ SCH. Methods: In this single-center prospective cohort study, we observed gut microbiota dynamics by sequencing 16S rRNA from fecal samples collected in T2 (20–23+ 6 weeks) and T3 (28–33+ 6 weeks). TPOAb+/TPOAb− SCH were stratified depending on whether or not they used levothyroxine (LT4) during the pregnancy (LT4+/LT4−). Microbiome bioinformatics analyses were performed using QIIME2. The linear discriminant analysis effect size (LEfSe) was used for the quantitative analysis of biomarkers. Functional profiling was performed with PICRUSt2. Results: Distinct gut microbiota dynamics from T2 to T3 were noted in the TPOAb− (n = 68) and TPOAb+ (n = 64) SCH groups. The TPOAb+ LT4− group was characterized by enriched bacterial amplicon sequence variants (ASVs) of Prevotella in T2 and Bacteria, Lachnospirales, Lachnospiraceae, Blautia, and Agathobacter in T3 and by depleted ASVs of Gammaproteobacteria, Enterobacterales, and Enterobacteriaceae in T2 and Actinobacteriota, Coriobacteriia, Actinobacteria, Coriobacteriales, Bifidobacteriales, Bifidobacteriaceae, Bifidobacterium, Dorea formicigenerans, and Bifidobacterium longum in T3. The TPOAb+ LT4+ group was characterized by enriched bacterial ASVs of Blautia, Streptococcus salivarius, and Bifidobacterium longum in T3 and by depleted ASVs of Bacteroidota, Bacteroidia, Bacteroidales, and Prevotella in T2 and Agathobacter in T3. Moreover, we identified 53 kinds of metabolic functions that were mainly involved in sugar, lipid, and amino acid metabolism. Conclusions: Our results indicated that low dynamics of gut microbiota composition and high dynamics of its metabolic function from T2 to T3 were associated with TPOAb+ SCH. We concluded that gut microbiota could be new targets for treatment of TPOAb+ SCH during pregnancy. Trial registration: This study was retrospectively registered at the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (registration number ChiCTR2100047175) on June 10, 2021. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pregnant women are at high risk of developing subclinical hypothyroidism (SCH), and anti-thyroid peroxidase antibody (TPOAb) positivity can further inhibit thyroxine synthesis. Emerging evidence indicates that intestinal flora can modulate metabolic and immune homeostasis. The characteristics of intestinal flora of TPOAb-positive women with SCH in their second trimester of pregnancy have not been reported. This single-center prospective observational cohort study investigated gut microbial composition and metabolic function using sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene in fecal samples from 75 TPOAb-positive women with SCH and 90 TPOAb-negative women with SCH during their second trimester of pregnancy. Women were treated with no levothyroxine (LT4), low-dose LT4 (≤50ug/d), or high-dose LT4 (>50ug/d). Taxonomic analysis showed Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes were the dominant phyla, followed by Actinobacteria and Proteobacteria. Faecalibacterium , Bacteroides , Prevotella 9 , Bifidobacterium , Subdoligranulum , Lachnospira , and Megamonas were the predominant genera. The intestinal flora of TPOAb-positive women with SCH who received no LT4 was characterized by bacterial amplicon sequence variants (ASVs)/operational taxonomic units (OTUs) enriched in the genus Subdoligranulum. The intestinal flora of TPOAb-positive women with SCH who received low-dose or high-dose LT4 were characterized by bacterial ASVs/OTUs depleted of the species Ruminococcus sp. _ or Bacteroides massiliensis , respectively. A total of 19 metabolic functions of intestinal flora, mainly involving lipid and amino acid metabolism, discriminated TPOAb-positive and TPOAb-negative women with SCH. Our study suggests that there are differences in the composition and metabolic function of intestinal flora of TPOAb-positive and TPOAb-negative women with SCH treated with different doses of LT4 in the second trimester of pregnancy. The findings provide insight into intestinal flora as novel targets for the treatment of TPOAb-positive women with SCH during pregnancy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the water area is one of the six types of biologically productive land in the ecological footprint model, it is only described on its biological production not including its aquatic production function. An improved ecological footprint model was proposed to assess regional aquatic sensitivity. The water area account in the traditional ecological footprint model was expanded and modified to include the four accounting items: aquatic pollution footprint, aquatic pollutants' carrying capacity, aquatic ecological profit and loss and aquatic ecological pressure index. Totally the procedure introduced in the sensitivity assessment includes the five steps: (1) collecting information and calculating the amount of sewage discharged into the surface water of the region; (2) calculating the ecological footprint of different pollutants by the improved ecological footprint model, and identifying the maximum value of the footprints as the final pollution footprint; (3) evaluating the ecological carrying capacity of the region; (4) assessing the degree of aquatic pollution using the indicators of ecological deficit and ecological surplus; (5) determining the aquatic environmental sensitivity level using the aquatic pollution pressure value. The assessment model was applied to analyze the town-level aquatic environmental sensitivity in the coastal areas of Jiangsu province, China. The assessment showed that the aquatic pollution footprints in the 367 towns were in the downward trend and the aquatic pollution sensitivity decreased from 2014 to 2018. The model might improve the description of the functions on providing natural resources and consuming waste in natural systems in the footprint model. The evaluation model could objectively assess the pressure status of the regional aquatic pollution sensitivity and provide some effective suggestions for decision makers on the utilization and protection of regional water resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ecological footprint value (abbreviated as EF) is the quantitative indicator on evaluating the sustainable development status of a region. How to simulate the EF's trend with a long-time data series has been heatedly discussed. The economic development of Suzhou, one of the most developed cities in Yangtze Delta, China, has been accelerated in the past 20 years, and it is necessary to evaluate the influence of the socioeconomic growth on local natural resources. The EF values of Suzhou from 1999 to 2018 were calculated and simulated using both the ARIMA model and the GM(1,1) model. The ARIMA model has been used in the prediction of EF values in several cases. However, the EF data series of the city consisted of white noise and could not be fitted by the ARIMA model. The GM(1,1) model, an approach forecasting nonlinear data series, was not found in the studies of the EF simulation. Through the model precision test, the GM(1,1) model introduced fit the EF data series well and was considered to be appropriate to simulate the EF values for Suzhou. The fitting performance was accurate, and the EF values of the city could be forecasted by the model in short term. With the proposed model, the ecological sustainability status of the city was analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adenosine-to-inosine (A-to-I) editing is one of the most prevalent post-transcriptional RNA modifications in metazoan. This reaction is catalysed by enzymes called adenosine deaminases acting on RNA (ADARs). RNA editing is involved in the regulation of protein function and gene expression. The numerous A-to-I editing sites have been identified in both coding and non-coding RNA transcripts. These editing sites are also found in various genes expressed in the central nervous system (CNS) and play an important role in neurological development and brain function. Aberrant regulation of RNA editing has been associated with the pathogenesis of neurological and psychiatric disorders, suggesting the physiological significance of RNA editing in the CNS. In this review, we discuss the current knowledge of editing on neurological disease and development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Four behavior subjects, including governments, enterprises, and public and environmental non-government organizations (abbreviated as ENGOs), all play vital roles in environmental protection. As an important component, the ENGOs of all the world focus on environmental improvement and provide services for the whole society. In developed countries, the ENGOs have been formed earlier, and all kinds of regulation, supervision, and maintenance systems on the organizations are relatively mature. The development of the ENGOs in China started late, but the development speed was very fast. Some issues, including the exploring on their existing situation and how to promote their role in environmental protection, should be concerned. In total, 2510 ENGOs' information in China was collected and analyzed in the study. The ENGOs in the nation were not uniformly distributed, and there were great differences in the number of the ENGOs among the 34 provinces of China. With a few exceptions, the ENGOs in China were generally small in the scale and poor in the viability. They were mostly research-oriented and often less participating. The organizations' development and improvement still needed a long-term arduous course. Many negative factors might influence the sustainable and healthy development of the ENGOs in China, and the legislation might be one cause. Several aspects-related norms, including the registration system, the financial support mechanism, and the identification on their plaintiff qualification, needed to be improved to encourage the development of these organizations and then promote the improvement of environmental quality better in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

E74-like ETS transcription factor 5 (ELF5) is involved in a wide spectrum of biological processes, e.g., mammogenesis and tumor progression. We have identified a list of p300-interacting proteins in human breast cancer cells. Among these, ELF5 was found to interact with p300 via acetylation, and the potential acetylation sites were identified as K130, K134, K143, K197, K228, and K245. Furthermore, an ELF5-specific deacetylase, SIRT6, was also identified. Acetylation of ELF5 promoted its ubiquitination and degradation, but was also essential for its antiproliferative effect against breast cancer, as overexpression of wild-type ELF5 and sustained acetylation-mimicking ELF5 mutant could inhibit the expression of its target gene CCND1. Taken together, the results demonstrated a novel regulation of ELF5 as well as shedding light on its important role in modulation of breast cancer progression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Breast cancer is the first killer leading to female death, and tumor metastasis is one of the important factors leading to the death of patients, but the specific mechanism of breast cancer metastasis is not very clear at present. Our study showed that overexpression of TIMELESS could significantly inhibit the invasion and metastasis of breast cancer cells ZR-75-30 and the assembly of F-actin protein. On the contrary, knockdown of TIMELESS promoted the invasion and metastasis of breast cancer cells. Further study revealed that TIMELESS overexpression decreased the mRNA and protein levels of MMP9. Furthermore, TIMELESS could interact with p65, leading to repress the association of p65 and its acetyltransferase CBP and down-regulating the acetylation level of p65, which inhibited the activation of NF-κB signal pathway. In conclusion, our research showed that TIMELESS may repress the invasion and metastasis of breast cancer cells via inhibiting the acetylation of p65, inhibiting the activation of NF-κB, thus down-regulating the expression of MMP9, and then inhibiting the invasion and metastasis of breast cancer cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An electroactive covalent organic framework (COFThi–TFPB) was prepared by a dehydration condensation reaction between 1,3,5-tris-(p-formylphenyl)-benzene (TFPB) and thionine (Thi) and wound with carbon nanotubes (CNTs) to design COFThi–TFPB–CNT composites for electrochemical sensing of ascorbic acid (AA) and pH. COFThi–TFPB was a highly ordered two-dimensional (2D) crystalline nanosheet, and its thickness was 0.75 nm. The loading of CNTs onto COFThi–TFPB nanosheets could significantly improve the dispersibility, stability, and catalytic activity of the CNTs. Here CNTs could well catalyze the oxidation of AA, while COFThi–TFPB had a pair of redox peaks that were inert for AA. Accordingly, a ratiometric electrochemical AA sensor was constructed by using the peak of COFThi–TFPB as the reference signal. The ratiometric AA sensor showed a detection limit of 17.68 μM and linear ranges of 53.04 μM to 4.00 mM and 4.00–8.00 mM, revealing a good performance, together with satisfactory selectivity, reproducibility, and stability. The redox peak potential of COFThi–TFPB was linearly shifted with the pH, so a pH sensor was constructed. The linear range and sensitivity of the pH sensor were 1–12 and 54 mV pH–1, respectively. The electroactive COFThi–TFPB–CNT might also be applied to construct other electrochemical sensors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ferroelectric polarization allows a depolarization electric field to separate electron-hole pairs excited by lights, and thus, the photovoltaic properties of ABO3-type films on a hard SrTiO3 or Si substrate have been extensively studied recently. However, there are a few reports on the photocapacitance and photoimpedance of these oxide films, especially on flexible substrates. In this work, the strong photovoltaic, giant photocapacitance, and photoimpedance effects were observed in the flexible (111) BiFeO3 films with natural downward polarization. The flexible mica/SrRuO3/BiFeO3/Au cells show a maximum photovoltaic efficiency at 150 °C, a 95.5% decrease in photoimpedance effects, and a 316% increase in photocapacitance effects under 405-nm-wavelength light illumination at 25 °C. Most importantly, these properties do not show obvious degradation when the device is bent to 3 mm radius for 104 times. This work is of vital importance for us to develop new flexible photoelectronic devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Poly(vinylidene fluoride) and poly(bisphenol A carbonate), are developed to fabricate advanced dielectric polymer microcomposites. After the cellulose–fiber frameworks are incorporated into the matrix, the room temperature permittivity at 1 kHz is increased as large as by almost 109% to reach ∼81, while the dielectric loss at 1 kHz is decreased by 31% at the magnitude of 10−2. The dielectric mechanism is discussed based on a combination mechanism of dipole polarization, interfacial polarization and surface effect. This study demonstrates the beneficial effect of the cellulose–fiber framework on dielectric properties, providing a promising route to achieve high‐performance dielectric materials. POLYM. COMPOS., 40:1526–1535, 2019. © 2018 Society of Plastics Engineers [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reference 1 Wu M, Chi C, Yang Y. Dynamics of gut microbiota during pregnancy in women with TPOAb-positive subclinical hypothyroidism: a prospective cohort study. B Correction: BMC Pregnancy Childbirth 22, 592 (2022) b B https://doi.org/10.1186/s12884-022-04923-5 b Following publication of the original article [[1]], the authors identified an error in the affiliation of Chenghong Yin. [Extracted from the article]

Background: Metastasis is an important factor in the poor prognosis of breast cancer. As an important core clock protein, brain and muscle arnt-like 1 (BMAL1) is closely related to tumorigenesis. However, the molecular mechanisms that mediate the role of BMAL1 in invasion and metastasis remain largely unknown. In this study, we investigated the BMAL1 may take a crucial effect in the progression of breast cancer cells. Methods: BMAL1 and MMP9 expression was measured in breast cell lines. Transwell and scratch wound-healing assays were used to detect the movement of cells and MTT assays and clonal formation assays were used to assess cells' proliferation. The effects of BMAL1 on the MMP9/NF-κB pathway were examined by western blotting, co-immunoprecipitation and mammalian two-hybrid. Results: In our study, it showed that cell migration and invasion were significantly enhanced when overexpressed BMAL1. Functionally, overexpression BMAL1 significantly increased the mRNA and protein level of matrix metalloproteinase9 (MMP9) and improved the activity of MMP9. Moreover, BMAL1 activated the NF-κB signaling pathway by increasing the phosphorylation of IκB and promoted human MMP9 promoter activity by interacting with NF-kB p65, leading to increased expression of MMP9. When overexpressed BMAL1, CBP (CREB binding protein) was recruited to enhance the activity of p65 and further activate the NF-κB signaling pathway to regulate the expression of its downstream target genes, including MMP9, TNFα, uPA and IL8, and then promote the invasion and metastasis of breast cancer cells. Conclusions: This study confirmed a new mechanism by which BMAL1 up-regulated MMP9 expression to increase breast cancer metastasis, to provide research support for the prevention and treatment of breast cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The expression of circular RNA (circRNA) may affect tumor progression. However, there have been no systemic meta-analysis for cancer diagnosis by using circRNAs in clinical till now. Herein, we aimed to collect and examined all the evidence on the potential role of circRNA as novel biomarker in human cancers.Methods: A comprehensive search strategy was used to search relevant literatures in the databases of PubMed, Embase, and the Web of Science from 2015 to August 2017. The correlation between circRNA expression and the diagnostic accuracy of tumor markers was analyzed. The methodological quality of each study was assessed by quality assessment for the diagnostic accuracies of the eligible studies (QUADAS-2). Statistical analysis was performed by applying the STATA (version 12.0) software.Results: The present meta-analysis included 1752 patients with circRNA expression data of tumor and paired adjacent non-tumorous tissues from 17 publications (19 studies). The pooled sensitivity, specificity, positive likelihood ratios (PLR), negative likelihood ratios (NLR), and diagnostic OR (DOR) with their 95% confidential intervals (95%CIs), and AUC values were 0.72 (0.67-0.76), 0.74 (0.69-0.78), 2.80 (2.40-3.10), 0.38 (0.33-0.44), 7.00 (6.00-9.00), and 0.79, respectively. Subgroup analyses showed that the expression of circRNA in tissues of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) group was more prone to be detected than other tumor types, with a high values of the specificity, DOR, and AUC.Conclusions: circRNAs might be suitable as diagnostic biomarkers for tumors, especially in HCC diagnosis. Further prospective studies on the diagnostic value of circRNAs from the different tumors are needed in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]