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Object: The treatment results of combination of arterial injection of tirofiban with endovascular therapy (EVT) for acute large vessel occlusion (LVO) stroke due to intracranial atherosclerotic disease (ICAD) were inconsistent. This meta-analysis aims to assess the safety and efficacy of ICAD-LVO treatment by intra-arterial injection of tirofiban combined with EVT., Methods: Relevant studies were identified through a systematic literature search in Pubmed, EMBASE, Web of Science and Cochrane Library databases, covering articles published from January 2010 to July 2024. The efficacy outcomes assessed in the meta-analysis included favorable functional outcome and recanalization rates. Safety outcomes included mortality and symptomatic intracranial haemorrhage (sICH)., Results: The meta-analysis consisted of data from 11 studies, which included 1 randomised controlled trial (RCT), 5 prospective cohort studies, and 5 retrospective cohort studies, encompassing a total of 2869 patients. The findings showed that tirofiban+EVT for ICAD-LVO was associated with significant improvements in favorable functional outcomes (RR, 1.12; 95 %CI, 1.04-1.21; P=0.005) and reductions in mortality rates (RR, 0.72; 95 %CI, 0.62-0.83; P<0.0001), despite no significant differences in the incidence of sICH (RR, 0.75; 95 % CI, 0.55-1.02; P=0.07) and recanalization rates (RR, 1.02; 95 % CI, 0.99-1.05; P=0.15). Subgroup analysis showed that the application of tirofiban significantly increased favorable functional outcomes in patients with anterior circulation stroke (RR, 1.23; 95 % CI, 1.06-1.42; P=0.005), but there was no significant difference in posterior circulation stroke (RR, 1.08; 95 % CI, 0.83-1.41; P=0.55). In addition, the use of tirofiban in patients with posterior circulation stroke might reduce the incidence of sICH (RR, 0.50; 95 % CI, 0.26-0.96; P=0.04)., Conclusion: Tirofiban combined with EVT may be an effective treatment strategy for the treatment of ICAD-LVO, but only for patients with anterior circulation and remains unclear for patients with posterior circulation., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

A novel analytical strategy was proposed to simultaneously quantify two advanced glycation end products (AGEs) including N ε -(Carboxymethyl)lysine (CML), N ε -(Carboxyethyl)lysine (CEL) and eight heterocyclic amines (HAs) including IQ, MeIQ, MeIQx, 4,8-DiMeIQx, 7,8-DiMeIQx, PhIP, Harman, and Norharman. The procedure was based on a two-step extraction, solid phase extraction (SPE) purification followed by ultra performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry. The established method showed a good linearity (R 2  ≥ 0.9950), rapid processing time (8 min per sample), satisfactory recoveries (matrix spiked recoveries range from 72.2% to 119.6%) and precision (intra-day and inter-day RSDs were <19.3%). The limit of quantification (LOQ) and limit of detection (LOD) resulted to be between 0.05-15 ng/g and 0.2-50 ng/g, respectively. The validated technique was further applied to determine HAs and AGEs in eight stewed meat product samples consumed in Shanghai, with the amount of HAs and AGEs ranging from 2.851 to 18.289 ng/g and 118.158-543.493 ng/g, respectively., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Objective. Magnetic particle imaging (MPI) is an emerging tracer-based in vivo imaging technology. The use of MPI at low superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticle concentrations has the potential to be a promising area of clinical application due to the inherent safety for humans. However, low tracer concentrations reduce the signal-to-noise ratio of the magnetization signal, leading to severe noise artifacts in the reconstructed MPI images. Hardware improvements have high complexity, while traditional methods lack robustness to different noise levels, making it difficult to improve the quality of low concentration MPI images. Approach. Here, we propose a novel deep learning method for MPI image denoising and quality enhancing based on a sparse lightweight transformer model. The proposed residual-local transformer structure reduces model complexity to avoid overfitting, in which an information retention block facilitates feature extraction capabilities for the image details. Besides, we design a noisy concentration dataset to train our model. Then, we evaluate our method with both simulated and real MPI image data. Main results. Simulation experiment results show that our method can achieve the best performance compared with the existing deep learning methods for MPI image denoising. More importantly, our method is effectively performed on the real MPI image of samples with an Fe concentration down to 67 μ g Fe ml -1 . Significance. Our method provides great potential for obtaining high quality MPI images at low concentrations., (© 2024 Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine. All rights, including for text and data mining, AI training, and similar technologies, are reserved.)

The rising global morbidity and mortality rates of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) underscore the urgent need for more effective treatments. Current therapeutic modalities-including surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and targeted therapy-face several limitations. Recently, Astragalus membranaceus , a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), has captured significant attention due to its broad pharmacological properties, such as immune regulation, anti-inflammatory effects, and the modulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and enzyme activities. This review delivers a comprehensive summary of the most recent advancements and ongoing applications of Astragalus membranaceus in NSCLC treatment, underlining its potential for integration into existing treatment protocols. It also highlights essential areas for future research, including the elucidation of its molecular mechanisms, optimization of dosage and administration, and evaluation of its efficacy and safety alongside standard therapies, all of which could potentially improve therapeutic outcomes for NSCLC patients., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests in this work., (© 2024 Li et al.)

The current study presents the creation of a straightforward and sensitive sensor based on ZnO/Co 3 O 4 nanocomposite modified screen-printed electrode (ZnO/Co 3 O 4 NC/SPE) for levodopa determination. At ZnO/Co 3 O 4 NC/SPE, an oxidative peak for levodopa solution in pH 6.0 phosphate buffer solution (PBS) were seen that were both more resolved and more enhanced. Levodopa was measured using differential pulse voltammetry (DPV), which showed an excellent linear range (0.001-800.0 μM) and detection limit (0.81 nM). The presence of interference did not affect the electrochemical response of levodopa at ZnO/Co 3 O 4 NC/SPE, demonstrating high selectivity. Levodopa in a real samples have been successfully detected using the manufactured sensor., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2024 Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

To improve detection efficiency and reduce cost consumption in fishery surveys, target detection methods based on computer vision have become a new method for fishery resource surveys. However, the specialty and complexity of underwater photography result in low detection accuracy, limiting its use in fishery resource surveys. To solve these problems, this study proposed an accurate method named BSSFISH-YOLOv8 for fish detection in natural underwater environments. First, replacing the original convolutional module with the SPD-Conv module allows the model to lose less fine-grained information. Next, the backbone network is supplemented with a dynamic sparse attention technique, BiFormer, which enhances the model's attention to crucial information in the input features while also optimizing detection efficiency. Finally, adding a 160 × 160 small target detection layer (STDL) improves sensitivity for smaller targets. The model scored 88.3% and 58.3% in the two indicators of mAP@50 and mAP@50:95, respectively, which is 2.0% and 3.3% higher than the YOLOv8n model. The results of this research can be applied to fishery resource surveys, reducing measurement costs, improving detection efficiency, and bringing environmental and economic benefits.

Background and Objective: Magnetic particle imaging (MPI) is an emerging imaging technology in medical tomography that utilizes the nonlinear magnetization response of superparamagnetic iron oxide (SPIO) particles to determine the in vivo spatial distribution of nanoparticle contrast agents. The reconstruction image quality of MPI is determined by the characteristics of magnetic particles, the setting of the MPI scanner parameters, and the hardware interference of MPI systems. We explore a feasible method to systematically and quickly analyze the impact of these factors on MPI reconstruction image quality., Methods: We propose a systematic 3-D MPI simulation model. The MPI simulation model has the capability of quickly producing the simulated reconstruction images of a scanned phantom, and quantitative analysis of MPI reconstruction image quality can be achieved by comparing the differences between the input image and output image. These factors are mainly classified as imaging parameters and interference parameters in our model. In order to reduce the computational time of the simulation model, we introduce GPU parallel programming to accelerate the processing of large complex matrix data. For ease of use, we also construct a reliable, high-performance, and open-source 3-D MPI simulation software tool based on our model. The efficiency of our model is evaluated by using OpenMPIData. To demonstrate the capabilities of our model, we conduct simulation experiments using parameters consistent with a real MPI scanner for improving MPI image quality., Results: The experimental results show that our simulation model can systematically and quickly evaluate the impact of imaging parameters and interference parameters on MPI reconstruction image quality., Conclusions: We developed an easy-to-use and open-source 3-D MPI simulation software tool based on our simulation model incorporating all the stages of MPI formation, from signal acquisition to image reconstruction. In the future, our simulation model has potential guiding significance to practical MPI images., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Artemisia argyi is a perennial herb native to East Asia. It is an important traditional Chinese medicinal plant known for its strong flavor and medicinal effects. It is rich in active ingredients and has a wide range of biological activities, including anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and immune regulation properties. From May to July in 2023, a serious leaf rot outbreak occurred on A. argyi in several farms (approximately 200 acres) in Tanghe county (32°46'44" N, 112°43'13" E), Henan Province, China. The incidence rate reached 65% (n=200). Pale yellow spots (1-2 cm in diameter) first appeared on the leaves, then expanded to form irregular yellowish-brown lesions, eventually causing the entire leaves to wither. Diseased leaves (30) were collected and cut into 5 x 5 mm2 pieces in the areas between infected and healthy tissues. The excised plant tissues were sterilized in 75% ethanol and 1% sodium hypochlorite solution for 30 seconds and one minute, respectively. The tissues were then rinsed with sterile water and placed on potato dextrose agar (PDA) followed by incubating at 25 °C for 3 days. The isolated strains belonged to the genera Fusarium and Alternaria. After pathogenicity verification, 25 purified Fusarium strains were obtained. Three representative strains (AC-Q, AC-X, AC-Y) from different regions were used for further studies. Each strain formed abundant aerial mycelium that was initially white and later developed into purple pigments. Aerial conidiophores were sparsely branched, terminating with verticillate phialides. Macroconidia were slender, straight, and measured 21.8 to 47.5 × 3.1 to 4.4 μm, with two to four septa. Microconidia were clavate and measured 8.31 to 11.6 × 2.1 to 3.5 μm. Morphological characteristics were consistent with the species description of Fusarium verticillioides (Sacc.) Nirenberg 1976 (Leslie and Summerell, 2006). The rDNA internal transcribed spacer (ITS), β-tubulin gene (tub2), translation elongation factor 1-alpha gene (tef1), calmodulin (cmdA), RNA polymerase II largest subunit (rpb1) and RNA polymerase II second largest subunit (rpb2) were amplified for molecular identification (O'Donnell et al., 2022). The sequences were deposited in GenBank with accession Nos. OR960548, OR960552, OR960555 (ITS), OR972413, OR972414, OR972415 (tub2), OR797685, OR797686, OR797687 (tef1), OR972410, OR972411, OR972412 (cmdA), PP035106, PP035107, PP035108 (rpb1), and PP035109, PP035110, PP035111 (rpb2). BLASTn analysis of AC-Q sequences exhibited 99 to 100% similarity with F. verticillioides sequences (strains CBS 576.78) MT010888 of cmdA, MT0109566 of rpb1, and MT010972 of rpb2. A phylogenetic tree was constructed with concatenated sequences (tub2, tef1, cmdA, rpb1, rpb2), alongside the sequences of the type strains using the neighbor-joining method. The three strains formed a clade with the type strain CBS 576.78 of F. verticillioides, and were separated from other Fusarium spp. These morphological and molecular identifications indicated that the pathogen was F. verticillioides. Pathogenicity was tested on 10 healthy 2-month-old potted seedlings by spraying them with a conidial suspension (106 conidia ml-1), and 5 seedlings were sprayed with sterilized water as a control. The plants were placed in a climate incubator at 28°C and a relative humidity of approximately 90%. Ten days after seedling inoculation, typical lesions were observed on the treated plants, except in the control group. The reisolated strains were identified as F. verticillioides by morphological and molecular characterization, fulfilling Koch's postulates. F. verticillioides is known to cause Fusarium ear rot on maize, as well as diseases on other plants in China such as Brassica rapa (Akram et al., 2020) and Schizonepeta tenuifolia (Li et al., 2024). This is the first report of F. verticillioides causing leaf rot on A. argyi worldwide. Identification of the pathogen is crucial for implementing management approaches to reduce yield losses.

Microbially induced carbonate precipitation (MICP) has been used to cure rare earth slags (RES) containing radionuclides (e.g. Th and U) and heavy metals with favorable results. However, the role of microbial extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) in MICP curing RES remains unclear. In this study, the EPS of Lysinibacillus sphaericus K-1 was extracted for the experiments of adsorption, inducing calcium carbonate (CaCO 3 ) precipitation and curing of RES. The role of EPS in in MICP curing RES and stabilizing radionuclides and heavy metals was analyzed by evaluating the concentration and morphological distribution of radionuclides and heavy metals, and the compressive strength of the cured body. The results indicate that the adsorption efficiencies of EPS for Th (IV), U (VI), Cu 2+ , Pb 2+ , Zn 2+ , and Cd 2+ were 44.83%, 45.83%, 53.7%, 61.3%, 42.1%, and 77.85%, respectively. The addition of EPS solution resulted in the formation of nanoscale spherical particles on the microorganism surface, which could act as an accumulating skeleton to facilitate the formation of CaCO 3 . After adding 20 mL of EPS solution during the curing process (Treat group), the maximum unconfined compressive strength (UCS) of the cured body reached 1.922 MPa, which was 12.13% higher than the CK group. The contents of exchangeable Th (IV) and U (VI) in the cured bodies of the Treat group decreased by 3.35% and 4.93%, respectively, compared with the CK group. Therefore, EPS enhances the effect of MICP curing RES and reduces the potential environmental problems that may be caused by radionuclides and heavy metals during the long-term sequestration of RES., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V.)

Background: Alterations in epigenetic factors are recognized as key contributors to the emergence of human cancer. The active and reversible alteration of N6-methyladenosine (m6A) RNA is crucial for controlling gene activity and determining cellular destiny. Even with these insights, the triggering of KIAA1429 (also called VIRMA) and its role in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) is mostly unclear. As a result, the objective of this study was to elucidate how KIAA1429 contributes to cancer development in LUAD., Methods: This study utilized multiple methods for investigation, encompassing the in vitro functional examination of KIAA1429 in lung adenocarcinoma cells, transcriptome sequencing, methylation RNA immunoprecipitation sequencing (MeRIP-seq), as well as RNA stability tests to ascertain the half-life and stability of the target genes., Results: The results indicated that modifying the expression of KIAA1429 regulated the proliferation and metastasis of LUAD. By employing transcriptome sequencing alongside MeRIP-seq analysis, the research pinpointed genes affected by m6A alterations triggered by KIAA1429. In a more detailed manner, it was discovered that KIAA1429 plays a regulatory role in the expression of ARHGAP30. Suppressing KIAA1429 results in reduced m6A levels in the mRNA of the target gene ARHGAP30, boosting its stability and expression, thus inhibiting tumor proliferation and metastasis., Conclusion: This study revealed the activation mechanism and pivotal function of KIAA1429 in LUAD tumor development, paving the way for molecular-based interventions for LUAD., (© 2024 The Authors. Thoracic Cancer published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.)

With the global incidence of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) on the rise, the development of innovative treatment strategies is increasingly vital. This review underscores the pivotal role of precision medicine in transforming NSCLC management, particularly through the integration of genomic and epigenomic insights to enhance treatment outcomes for patients. We focus on the identification of key gene mutations and examine the evolution and impact of targeted therapies. These therapies have shown encouraging results in improving survival rates and quality of life. Despite numerous gene mutations being identified in association with NSCLC, targeted treatments are available for only a select few. This paper offers an exhaustive analysis of the pathogenesis of NSCLC and reviews the latest advancements in targeted therapeutic approaches. It emphasizes the ongoing necessity for research and development in this domain. In addition, we discuss the current challenges faced in the clinical application of these therapies and the potential directions for future research, including the identification of novel targets and the development of new treatment modalities., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.)

The ecotoxic endocrine-disrupting chemical di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) is ubiquitous in agricultural soil, posing a serious threat to human health. Here, we report efficient soil-borne DEHP degradation and plant growth promotion by a microbial organic fertilizer GK-PPB prepared by combining a recycled garden waste-kitchen waste compost product with ternary compound microbial agent PPB-MA, composed of Penicillium oxalic MB08F, Pseudomonas simiae MB751, and Bacillus tequilensis MB05B. The combination of MB08F and MB751 provided synergistic phosphorus solubilization, and MB05B enhanced the DEHP degradation capacity of MB08F via bioemulsification. Under optimal conditions (25.70 °C and pH 7.62), PPB-MA achieved a 96.81 % degradation percentage for 1000 mg L -1 DEHP within 5 days. The degradation curve followed first-order kinetics with a half-life of 18.24 to 24.76 h. A complete mineralization pathway was constructed after identifying the degradation intermediates of 2 H-labeled DEHP. Evaluation in Caenorhabditis elegans N2 showed that PPB-MA eliminated the ecological toxicity of DEHP. A pakchoi (Brassica chinensis L.) pot experiment demonstrated that GK-PPB promoted phosphorus solubilization and plant growth, reduced soil DEHP residue, and decreased DEHP accumulation in pakchoi, suggesting its potential practical utility in environmentally responsible and safe cultivation of vegetables., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: To comprehend the complexities of pathophysiological mechanisms and molecular events that contribute to proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) and evaluate the diagnostic value of aqueous humor (AH) in monitoring the onset of PDR., Methods: A cohort containing 16 PDR and 10 cataract patients and another validation cohort containing 8 PDR and 4 cataract patients were studied. AH was collected and subjected to proteomics analyses. Bioinformatics analysis and a machine learning-based pipeline called inference of biomolecular combinations with minimal bias were used to explore the functional relevance, hub proteins, and biomarkers., Results: Deep profiling of AH proteomes revealed several insights. First, the combination of SIAE, SEMA7A, GNS, and IGKV3D-15 and the combination of ATP6AP1, SPARCL1, and SERPINA7 could serve as surrogate protein biomarkers for monitoring PDR progression. Second, ALB, FN1, ACTB, SERPINA1, C3, and VTN acted as hub proteins in the profiling of AH proteomes. SERPINA1 was the protein with the highest correlation coefficient not only for BCVA but also for the duration of diabetes. Third, "Complement and coagulation cascades" was an important pathway for PDR development., Conclusions: AH proteomics provides stable and accurate biomarkers for early warning and diagnosis of PDR. This study provides a deep understanding of the molecular mechanisms of PDR and a rich resource for optimizing PDR management., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

We aim to screen and analyze the ferroptosis inflammation-related hub genes associated with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). The GSE52463 and GSE110147 datasets were obtained from the GEO database and merged. The DEGs were selected by differential analysis and intersected with inflammation-related genes and ferroptosis-related genes to acquire the ferroptosis-related differentially expressed genes (FRDEGs). GO, KEGG, GSEA, and GSVA were performed to investigate the features of FRDEGs. The key module genes were selected by WGCNA and employed to generate the PPI network using Cytoscape. Subsequently, the hub genes were identified using cytoHubba and validated by ROC curves generated by survivalROC. Finally, the correlations of hub genes were analyzed through Spearman and the subtypes of IPF were constructed using ConsensusClusterPlus. A total of 1814 DEGs were screened out and 18 FRDEGs were acquired from the intersection of DEGs, ferroptosis-related genes, and inflammation-related genes. GO and KEGG analysis revealed that FRDEGs were primarily involved in bacterial-origin molecular, response infectious disease, and iron ion transport. GSEA results suggested a predominant association with autoimmune diseases and GSVA identified ten different pathways between PF and control. Through WGCNA, three highly correlated modules were identified and ten key module genes were obtained by intersecting genes in the three modules with FRDEGs. Finally, employing three algorithms within the cytoHubba led to the identification of eight hub genes: CCND1, TP53, STAT3, CTNNB1 CDH1, ESR1, HSP90AA1, and EP300. Eventually, two distinct subtypes of IPF were identified. The present research successfully identified the hub genes associated with ferroptosis and inflammation and their biological effects on IPF. Furthermore, two disease subtypes of IPF were constructed., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

Age-related hearing loss (ARHL), is a pervasive health problem worldwide. ARHL seriously affects the quality of life and reportedly leads to social isolation and dementia in the elderly. ARHL is caused by the degeneration or disorders of cochlear hair cells and auditory neurons. Numerous studies have verified that genetic factors contributed to this impairment, however, the mechanism behind remains unclear. In this study, we analyzed an mRNA expression dataset (GSE49543) from the GEO database. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between young control mice and presbycusis mice were analyzed using limma in R and weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) methods. Functional enrichment analyses of the DEGs were conducted with the clusterProfiler R package and the results were visualized using ggplot2 R package. The STRING database was used for the construction of the protein-protein interaction (PPI) network of the screened DEGs. Two machine learning algorithms LASSO and SVM-RFE were used to screen the hub genes. We identified 54 DEGs in presbycusis using limma and WGCNA. DEGs were associated with the synaptic vesicle cycle, distal axon, neurotransmitter transmembrane transporter activity in GO analysis, and alcoholic liver disease, pertussis, lysosome pathway according to KEGG analyses. PPI network analysis identified three significant modules. Five hub genes (CLEC4D, MS4A7, CTSS, LAPTM5, ALOX5AP) were screened by LASSO and SVM-RFE. These hub genes were highly expressed in presbycusis mice compared with young control mice. We screened DEGs and identified hub genes involved in ARHL development, which might provide novel clues to understanding the molecular basis of ARHL.

Lithium sulfur battery (LSB) has great potential as a promising next-generation energy storage system owing to ultra-high theoretical specific capacity and energy density. However, the polysulfide shuttle effect and slow redox kinetics are recognized the most stumbling blocks on the way of commercializing LSB. On this account, for the first time, we use Ti x+ in-situ intercalation strategy via titanium foil/vanadium ion (V 5+ ) solution interface to modify the layer of vanadium oxide for long cycle LSB. The inserted Ti x+ strengthens interlayer interaction and enhances lithium-ion mobility rate. Meanwhile, based on density functional theory (DFT) calculation, the mixed valence of V 5+ /V 4+ in the vanadium oxide structure reduces the stress and strain of lithium-ion intercalation through the interlayer support of titanium ions (Ti x+ ). Also, Ti x+ refines the structural stability of the sulfur wrapped composite matrix so as to facilitate the LiPSs transformation, and improve the electrochemical performances. Consequently, the Ti-VO 2.375 /S cathode delivers a lower capacity decay of 0.037 % per cycle over 1500 cycles with a stable coulombic efficiency around 100 %., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Lipid storage myopathy (LSM) is a heterogeneous group of lipid metabolism disorders predominantly affecting skeletal muscle by triglyceride accumulation in muscle fibers. Riboflavin therapy has been shown to ameliorate symptoms in some LSM patients who are essentially concerned with multiple acyl-CoA dehydrogenation deficiency (MADD). It is proved that riboflavin responsive LSM caused by MADD is mainly due to ETFDH gene variant (ETFDH-RRMADD). We described here a case with riboflavin responsive LSM and MADD resulting from FLAD1 gene variants (c.1588 C > T p.Arg530Cys and c.1589 G > C p.Arg530Pro, FLAD1-RRMADD). And we compared our patient together with 9 FLAD1-RRMADD cases from literature to 106 ETFDH-RRMADD cases in our neuromuscular center on clinical history, laboratory investigations and pathological features. Furthermore, the transcriptomics study on FLAD1-RRMADD and ETFDH-RRMADD were carried out. On muscle pathology, both FLAD1-RRMADD and ETFDH-RRMADD were proved with lipid storage myopathy in which atypical ragged red fibers were more frequent in ETFDH-RRMADD, while fibers with faint COX staining were more common in FLAD1-RRMADD. Molecular study revealed that the expression of GDF15 gene in muscle and GDF15 protein in both serum and muscle was significantly increased in FLAD1-RRMADD and ETFDH-RRMADD groups. Our data revealed that FLAD1-RRMADD (p.Arg530) has similar clinical, biochemical, and fatty acid metabolism changes to ETFDH-RRMADD except for muscle pathological features., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to The Japan Society of Human Genetics.)

Background: Parkinson's disease (PD) is a common neurodegenerative disorder. Microglia-mediated neuroinflammation has emerged as an involving mechanism at the initiation and development of PD. Activation of adenosine triphosphate (ATP)-sensitive potassium (K ATP ) channels can protect dopaminergic neurons from damage. Sodium butyrate (NaB) shows anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective effects in some animal models of brain injury and regulates the K ATP channels in islet β cells. In this study, we aimed to verify the anti-inflammatory effect of NaB on PD and further explored potential molecular mechanisms., Methods: We established an in vitro PD model in BV2 cells using 1-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium (MPP + ). The effects of MPP + and NaB on BV2 cell viability were detected by cell counting kit-8 assays. The morphology of BV2 cells with or without MPP + treatment was imaged via an optical microscope. The expression of Iba-1 was examined by the immunofluorescence staining. The intracellular ATP content was estimated through the colorimetric method, and Griess assay was conducted to measure the nitric oxide production. The expression levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines and K ATP channel subunits were evaluated by reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction and western blot analysis., Results: NaB (5 mM) activated the K ATP channels through elevating Kir6.1 and Kir6.1 expression in MPP + -challenged BV2 cells. Both NaB and pinacidil (a K ATP opener) suppressed the MPP + -induced activation of BV2 cells and reduced the production of nitrite and pro-inflammatory cytokines in MPP + -challenged BV2 cells., Conclusion: NaB treatment alleviates the MPP + -induced inflammatory responses in microglia via activation of K ATP channels., (© 2024 The Authors. Immunity, Inflammation and Disease published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Background: Sharp esophageal foreign body (SEFB) impaction can cause varying degrees of damage to the esophagus. There are few studies analyzing the postoperative fasting time in SEFB patients., Methods: We retrospectively collected 835 SEFB patients. According to the fasting time after the endoscopic removal (ER) of SEFBs, the patients were divided into two groups: short fasting time (SFT, fasted ≤24 h) and long fasting time (LFT, fasted >24 h)., Results: There were 216 and 619 patients in the SFT and LFT group, respectively. The average age of the SFT group (52.97 years) was younger than that of the LFT group (55.96 years) (p = 0.025). The LFT group had lower proportion of duration of impaction (DOI) within 12 hours (14.2% vs 22.2%, p = 0.006) and erosion rates (89.0% vs 94.0%, p = 0.034) as well as higher proportion of esophageal perforation (19.5 vs 6.5%, p = 0.010) and patients who got intravenous anesthesia (63.78% vs 31.9%, p = 0.000) than the SFT group. The longest diameter of the foreign body (Lmax) in the LFT group (2.60 ± 1.01 cm) was greater than that in the SFT group (2.41 ± 0.83 cm; p = 0.01). Multivariate regression analysis found that age (OR = 1.726[1.208-2.465], p = 0.003), DOI (OR = 1.793[1.175-2.737], p = 0.007), Lmax (OR = 1.477[1.033-2.111], p = 0.032), perforation (OR = 3.698[2.038-6.710]; p < 0.01) and intravenous anesthesia (OR = 3.734[2.642-5.278]; p < 0.01) were the independent factors that prolonged fasting time in patients with SEFBs, while esophageal mucosal erosion (OR = 0.433[0.229-0.820]; p = 0.01) was the influencing factor leading to shortened fasting time., Conclusion: For the first time, we analyzed factors influencing the fasting time after ER in SEFB patients. Age, DOI, Lmax, perforation and intravenous anesthesia were risk factors for a prolonged postoperative fasting time., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest in this work., (© 2024 Wu et al.)

The development of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) faces impediments in terms of challenges associated with oxygen reduction activity and CO 2 durability. Therefore, a series of novel composite cathode materials, consisting of NdBa 0.5 Sr 0.5 Co 2 O 5+ δ (NBSC) and Gd 0.1 Ce 0.9 O 2- δ (GDC), were designed and synthesized using a one-pot strategy through a self-assembly process. The incorporation of GDC leads to a significant increase in the number of active sites. Furthermore, it alters the anisotropic transport properties of oxygen ions within layered double perovskite materials, consequently creating a three-dimensional conduit for O 2- transportation. Simultaneously, the in-situ formation of closely intertwined heterogeneous interfaces between NBSC and GDC particles can facilitate the charge transfer processes and oxygen ion transport, thereby improving the kinetics of the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). The NBSC-10GDC cathode, prepared through the one-pot method, exhibits reduced polarization resistances and enhanced CO 2 tolerance in comparison to the mechanically mixed cathode. At 750 °C, the one-pot NBSC-10GDC exhibits a low area-specific resistance (ASR) of 0.029 Ω cm 2 , which is 69.8% lower than the ASR of single-phase NBSC and 42.0% lower than mechanically mixed NBSC-10GDC. Additionally, the one-pot NBSC-10GDC demonstrates a remarkable maximum power density (MPD) of 1.36 W cm -2 at 750 °C. These findings highlight the considerable potential of the one-pot NBSC-10GDC as a promising material for SOFC cathode., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Innate immunity plays a crucial role in host defense against pathogen invasion and its strength and duration requires precise control. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have become important regulators of innate immunity, yet their roles in Drosophila immune responses remain largely unknown. In this study, we identified that the overexpression of lncRNA-CR11538 inhibits the expression of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) Dpt and AttA in Drosophila upon Escherichia coli (E. coli) infection, and influences the survival rate of flies after E. cloacae infection. Mechanically, lncRNA-CR11538 decoys Relish away from AMPs promoter region. We further revealed that Relish can promote the transcription of lncRNA-CR11538. After analyzing the dynamic expression profile of lncRNA-CR11538 during Imd immune response, we put forward a hypothesis that in the late stage of Imd immune response, lncRNA-CR11538 can be activated by Relish and further decoy Relish away from the AMPs promoter to suppress excessive immune signal and maintain immune homeostasis. This mechanism we proposed provides insights into the complex regulatory networks controlling immune responses in Drosophila and suggests potential targets for therapeutic intervention in diseases involving dysregulated immune responses., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Sodium iodate (NaIO 3 ) is a commonly used model for age-related macular degeneration (AMD), but its rapid and severe induction of retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) and photoreceptor degeneration can lead to the premature dismissal of potentially effective therapeutics. Additionally, little is known about how sex and age affect the retinal response to NaIO 3 . This study aims to establish a less severe yet reproducible regimen by testing low doses of NaIO 3 while considering age- and sex-related effects, enabling a broader range of therapeutic evaluations. In this study, young (3-5 months) and old (18-24 months) male and female C57Bl/6J mice were given an intraperitoneal (IP) injection of 15, 20, or 25 mg/kg NaIO 3 . Damage assessment one week post-injection included in vivo imaging, histological examination, and qRT-PCR analysis. The results revealed that young mice showed no damage at 15 mg/kg IP NaIO 3 , with varying degrees of damage observed at 20 mg/kg. At 25 mg/kg, most young mice displayed widespread retinal damage, with females exhibiting less retinal thinning than males. In contrast, older mice at 20 and 25 mg/kg displayed a more patchy degeneration pattern, outer retinal undulations, and greater variability in degeneration than the young mice. The most effective model for minimizing damage while maintaining consistency utilizes young female mice injected with 25 mg/kg NaIO 3 . The observed sex- and age-related differences underscore the importance of considering these variables in research, aligning with the National Institutes of Health's guidance. While the model does not fully replicate the complexity of AMD, these findings enhance its utility as a valuable tool for testing RPE/photoreceptor protective or replacement therapies., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest None., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: The role of adipokines in the development of lung diseases is significant, yet their specific relationship with different lung diseases remains unclear., Methods: In our research, we analyzed genetic variations associated with adipokines and various lung conditions such as interstitial lung disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma, lung cancer, sleep apnea, pneumonia, and tuberculosis, using data from public genome-wide studies. We employed Mendelian randomization techniques, including inverse variance weighting, weighted median, and MR-Egger regression methods, and conducted sensitivity checks to validate our findings., Results: A study using the FinnGen database, which included 198,955 participants, identified 13 SNPs associated with adiponectin. Notably, adiponectin was found to significantly reduce the risk of interstitial lung disease and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. However, little evidence was found to establish a direct cause-effect relationship between the six adipokines and several other lung conditions, including sarcoidosis, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer, tuberculosis, pneumonia, and sleep apnea syndrome., Conclusion: This study reveals a reverse link between adiponectin levels and the likelihood of interstitial lung disease, including idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Purpose: To investigate the changes in aqueous humor (AH) protein profiles before and after intravitreal aflibercept (IVA) treatment in patients with proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR)., Methods: 5 PDR patients provided 10 samples of AH before and after IVA treatment (pre-group vs. post-group). Proteins were identified using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Then, bioinformatics was employed to investigate the functional significance of differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) and hub proteins., Results: A total of 16 DEPs were identified, consisting of 8 downregulated proteins and 8 upregulated proteins. Bioinformatics analysis indicated that the most significantly enriched biological process was "blood coagulation, intrinsic pathway." The most significantly enriched signaling pathway was "complement and coagulation cascades." HBB, HPX, VEGFA, and CA1 were identified as hub proteins for IVA treatment., Conclusions: Together with the downregulation of the intravitreal vascular endothelial growth factor level, IVA may also change the AH protein composition in PDR patients, with DEPs involved in the blood coagulation, intrinsic pathway, complement, and coagulation cascades. IVA treatment may protect against PDR by regulating HBB, HPX, VEGFA, and CA1 expression., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Background: The purpose of this study is to analyze the influencing factors associated with Long-COVID in patients infected with Omicron variant of COVID-19 in Changchun City, Jilin Province, China three months after discharge in March 2022., Methods: In this study, we conducted a telephone follow-up based on the real-world data collected from the Affiliated Hospital to Changchun University of Chinese Medicine, Changchun Tongyuan Shelter Hospital and Changchun Infectious Disease Hospital during the COVID-19 epidemic in Changchun in March 2022. We used the Global COVID-19 Clinical Platform Case Report Form for Post COVID condition as a follow-up questionnaire to collect the general information, past medical history, clinical symptoms, COVID-19 vaccine inoculation doses, and other relevant information to analyze the symptom characteristics of COVID-19 patients three months after discharge from the hospital and related factors affecting Long COVID., Results: A total of 1,806 patients with COVID-19 were included in this study, 977 males and 829 females, with a mean age of 38.5 [30.0, 49.4] years, and the number of female patients suffering from Long COVID (50.87%) was greater than male patients (p = 0.023). The binary logistic regression analysis of factors influencing Long COVID showed that smoking history (OR (95%CI) = 0.551(0.425-0.714), p < 0.001, taking never smoking as a reference), allergy history (OR (95%CI) = 1.618 (1.086-2.413), p-value 0.018, taking no allergy as a reference), first symptoms (OR (95%CI) = 0.636 (0.501-0.807), p < 0.001, with no first symptoms as reference) and COVID-19 vaccine inoculation doses (OR (95%CI) = 1.517 (1.190-1.933), p-value 0.001, with ≤ 2 doses of COVID-19 vaccine inoculation doses as reference) constituted its influencing factors. The first symptoms of patients on admission mainly included fever (512 cases, 71.81%), cough (279 cases, 39.13%) and dry or itchy throat (211 cases, 29.59%). The most common symptoms of Long COVID were persistent fatigue (68 cases), amnesia (61 cases), insomnia (50 cases) and excessive sweating (50 cases)., Conclusion: The first symptoms on admission were predominantly fever, cough and dry or itchy throat. The most common symptoms of Long COVID were persistent fatigue, amnesia, insomnia and excessive sweating, and female patients were at a higher risk of Long COVID., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Flow cytometry-based measurement techniques have been widely used for single-cell characterizations, such as impedance, size, and dielectric properties. However, in the measurement process, the reliability of the output measurement signal directly affects the ability of the microsystem to judge the characteristics of single cells. Here, we designed a multiple nonparallel electrode structure for single-cell 3D localization. The performance of the structures was studied by analyzing the changes in electric field strength and the output differential current. The effects of microchannel height, sensing electrode distance, electrode inclination angle, and electrode width on output signals are investigated by analyzing the current change and electric field strength of single cells passing from the center of the microchannel. The numerical simulation results indicate that, when the microchannel height is 20 µm, the distance of the sensing electrodes is 100 µm, the inclination angle is 30°, the electrode width is 20 µm, and the optimal signal quality can be obtained. Reducing the height of the flow channel and shortening the sensing electrode spacing can significantly improve the signal amplitude. When the channel height is 20 µm, the signal intensity increases by 80% than that of 30 µm. The signal intensity of induced current with the sensing electrode spacing of 100 µm is 42% higher than that with the spacing of 120 µm. We analyzed the presence of multiple independent cells and adherent cells in the detection area and demonstrated through simulation that the signal changes caused by multi-cells can be superimposed by multiple single-cell signals. The induced current signal intensity of the same volume of cells with an ellipticity of 1 is 49% lower than that of cells with an ellipticity of 4. Based on the numerical investigation, we expect that the optimal geometry structure design will aid in the development of better performance signal cell impedance cytometry microsystems., (© 2024 Author(s). Published under an exclusive license by AIP Publishing.)

Tripartite motif (TRIM) family proteins as E3-ligases participate in various biological processes. TRIM21, as the first autoantibody protein, has been found to be associated with autophagy. However, the role of TRIM21 engaging in autophagy is still unclear. In this study, TRIM21 forms significate puncta in the cytoplasm and undergoes liquid-liquid phase separation in vitro. Furthermore, we identify phase separation of the coiled-coil (CC) domain is essential for autophagosome to mediate autophagy-related protein recruited. These findings show that phase separation of the CC domain of TRIM21 promotes autophagosome to impact cell fate., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Purpose: To establish and validate a radiomics nomogram for preoperative prediction of isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) mutation status of gliomas in a multicenter setting., Methods: 414 gliomas patients were collected (306 from local institution and 108 from TCGA). 851 radiomics features were extracted from contrast-enhanced T1-weighted (CE-T1W) and fluid attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) sequence, respectively. The features were refined using least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression combing 10-fold cross-validation. The optimal radiomics features with age and sex were processed by multivariate logistic regression analysis to construct a prediction model, which was developed in the training dataset and assessed in the test and validation dataset. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, calibration curve and decision curve analysis were applied in the test and external validation datasets to evaluate the performance of the prediction model., Results: Ten robust radiomics features were selected from the 1702 features (four CE-T1W features and six FLAIR features). A nomogram was plotted to represent the prediction model. The accuracy and AUC of the radiomics nomogram achieved 86.96% and 0.891(0.809-0.947) in the test dataset and 84.26% and 0.881(0.805-0.936) in the external validation dataset (all p < 0.05). The positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV) were 83.72% and 87.75% in the test dataset and 87.81% and 82.09% in the external validation dataset., Conclusion: IDH genotypes of gliomas can be identified by preoperative multiparametric MRI radiomics nomogram and might be clinically meaningful for treatment strategy and prognosis stratification of gliomas., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest None., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Long-term patient and graft survival has been achieved in organ transplantation but at the expense of toxic side effects that are associated with long-term use of nonspecific immunosuppressive drugs. Discovering new regulators of dendritic cells is the key for development of an ideal treatment to prevent immune rejection. We hypothesized that knockdown of circMAP2K2 induces immunosuppressive DCs and that treatment with circMAP2K2 silenced-DCs can prevent alloimmune rejection. DCs were cultured and transfected with siRNA for circMAP2K2. circMAP2K2 levels were measured by qRT-PCR. DC's maturation and immune function were assessed by flow cytometry and mixed lymphocyte reactions. The function of circMAP2K2 was illustrated by a series of RIP and IP. The therapeutics of engineered DCs was tested in a mouse heart transplantation model. We found that circMAP2K2 was highly expressed in mature DCs. Knockdown of circMAP2K2 reduced expression of MHCII, CD40 and CD80, attenuated the ability of DCs to activate allogeneic naïve T cells, and enhanced CD4 + CD25 + FOXP3 + regulatory T cells (Treg). circMAP2K2-induced immunosuppressive DCs by interacting with SENP3. Treatment with circMAP2K2-knockdown DCs attenuated alloimmune rejection and prolonged allograft survival in a murine heart transplantation model. The immune suppression induced in vivo was donor-antigen specific. In conclusion, knockdown of circMAP2K2 can induce immunosuppressive DCs which are able to inhibit overactive immune response, highlighting a new promising therapeutic approach for immune disorder diseases., Competing Interests: The authors of this manuscript have no conflicts of interest to disclose as described by Bioengineering & Translational Medicine., (© 2023 The Authors. Bioengineering & Translational Medicine published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Institute of Chemical Engineers.)

Electrochemical nitrate (NO 3 - ) reduction is a promising approach to relieve nitrate pollution and produce value-added ammonia (NH 3 ), but efficient and durable catalysts are required due to the large bond dissociation energy of nitrate and low selectivity. Herein, we propose chromium carbide (Cr 3 C 2 ) nanoparticles loaded carbon nanofibers (Cr 3 C 2 @CNFs) as electrocatalysts to convert nitrate to ammonia. In phosphate buffer saline containing 0.1 mol L -1 NaNO 3 , such catalyst achieves a large NH 3 yield of 25.64 mg h -1 mg -1 cat. and a high faradaic efficiency of 90.08% at -1.1 V vs the reversible hydrogen electrode, which also shows excellent electrochemical durability and structural stability. Theoretical calculations reveal the adsorption energy for nitrate at Cr 3 C 2 surfaces reaches -1.92 eV and the potential determining step (*NO→*N) for Cr 3 C 2 hits a low energy increase of 0.38 eV., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Xiao-ai-ping injection (XAPI) combined with chemotherapy has potential efficacy and less side effects in the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). At present, there are many clinical studies on XAPI combined with chemotherapy in the treatment of NSCLC, but the results are different. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of XAPI combined with chemotherapy in the treatment of NSCLC by meta-analysis system., Methods: The databases to be searched include PubMed, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure, Chinese Biomedical Literature Database, Wanfang database, Chinese Scientific Journal Database, and so on. In addition, relevant journals and magazines will manually search in various fields as supplements. The search date is set from the establishment of the database until July 8, 2023. The 2 researchers will use Endnote X9 software for literature screening and data extraction and independently evaluate the quality. We then assessed the quality and risk of inclusion in the study and observed outcome indicators., Results: A total of 28 trials were included in this study, 1947 patients with NSCLC (974 receiving XAPI combined chemotherapy and 973 receiving chemotherapy alone). The results of meta-analysis showed that: Objective tumor response rate of NSCLC (P < .00001). Improvement in Karnofsky performance score of NSCLC (P < .00001). Quality of life score of NSCLC (P < .00001). The result of CD3 + (P < .00001). The result of CD4 + (P < .00001). The result of CD8 + (P < .00001). The result of CD4+/CD8 + (P = .0001). Leukopenia (P < .00001). Thrombocytopenia (P < .00001). Hemoglobin decrease (P < .00001). Liver function (P = .04). Nausea and vomiting (P < .00001)., Conclusion: Our meta-analyses demonstrated that XAPI adjunct with chemotherapy can improve the patient quality of life, reduce adverse reactions, and enhanced immune function, the treatment is effective and high safety. Which suggests that it might be used for NSCLC. However, a large sample of randomized controlled trials are needed to further study the long-term efficacy of XAPI., Competing Interests: The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose., (Copyright © 2023 the Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.)

Talaromyces albobiverticillius , a prominent pathogen responsible for pomegranate pulp rot disease, inflicts significant damage on Punica granatum L. Besides its pathogenicity, this fungus possesses the potential to produce substantial amounts of red pigments, making it promising for industrial applications. This study presents the genome annotation of T. albobiverticillius field strain Tp-2, isolated from pomegranates. The genome assembly, generated through a combination of Oxford Nanopore and Illumina sequencing reads, yielded a high-quality assembly with 14 contigs, featuring an N50 length of 4,594,200 bp. The complete genome of strain Tp-2 spans 38,354,882 bp, with a GC content of 45.78%. Importantly, the assembly exhibits remarkable integrity, with 98.3% of complete Benchmarking Universal Single-Copy Orthologs validating genome completeness. Genome prediction analysis reveals the presence of 10,380 protein-coding genes. To our knowledge, this study is the first report on the genome sequence of T. albobiverticillius , offering valuable insights into its genetic variation and molecular mechanisms of pigment production.

Macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) is expressed in a variety of cells and participates in important biological mechanisms. However, few studies have reported whether MIF is expressed in human Embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and its effect on human ESCs. Two human ESCs cell lines, H1 and H9 were used. The expression of MIF and its receptors CD74, CD44, CXCR2, CXCR4 and CXCR7 were detected by an immunofluorescence assay, RT-qPCR and western blotting, respectively. The autocrine level of MIF was measured via enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The interaction between MIF and its main receptor was investigated by co-immunoprecipitation and confocal immunofluorescence microscopy. Finally, the effect of MIF on the proliferation and survival of human ESCs was preliminarily explored by incubating cells with exogenous MIF, MIF competitive ligand CXCL12 and MIF classic inhibitor ISO-1. We reported that MIF was highly expressed in H1 and H9 human ESCs. MIF was positively expressed in the cytoplasm, cell membrane and culture medium. Several surprising results emerge. The autosecreted concentration of MIF was 22 ng/mL, which was significantly higher than 2 ng/mL-6 ng/mL in normal human serum, and this was independent of cell culture time and cell number. Human ESCs mainly expressed the MIF receptors CXCR2 and CXCR7 rather than the classical receptor CD74. The protein receptor that interacts with MIF on human embryonic stem cells is CXCR7, and no evidence of interaction with CXCR2 was found. We found no evidence that MIF supports the proliferation and survival of human embryonic stem cells. In conclusion, we first found that MIF was highly expressed in human ESCs and at the same time highly expressed in associated receptors, suggesting that MIF mainly acts in an autocrine form in human ESCs., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2023 Wei et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Magnetic particle imaging (MPI) is a tomographic imaging method that quantitatively determines the distribution of magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs). However, the performance of MPI is primarily limited by the noise in the receive coil and electronic devices, which causes quantification errors for MPI images. Existing methods cannot efficiently eliminate noise while preserve structural details in MPI images. To address this problem, we propose a Content-Noise Feature Fusion Neural Network equipped with tailored modules of noise learning and content learning. It can simultaneously learn content and noise features of raw MPI images. Experimental results show that the proposed method outperforms the state-of-the-art methods on structural details preservation and image noise reduction of different levels.

The electrocatalytic conversion of polysulfides is crucial to lithium-sulfur batteries and mainly occurs at triple-phase interfaces (TPIs). However, the poor electrical conductivity of conventional transition metal oxides results in limited TPIs and inferior electrocatalytic performance. Herein, a TPI engineering approach comprising superior electrically conductive layered double perovskite PrBaCo 2 O 5+δ (PBCO) is proposed as an electrocatalyst to boost the conversion of polysulfides. PBCO has superior electrical conductivity and enriched oxygen vacancies, effectively expanding the TPI to its entire surface. DFT calculation and in situ Raman spectroscopy manifest the electrocatalytic effect of PBCO, proving the critical role of enhanced electrical conductivity of this electrocatalyst. PBCO-based Li-S batteries exhibit an impressive reversible capacity of 612 mAh g -1 after 500 cycles at 1.0 C with a capacity fading rate of 0.067% per cycle. This work reveals the mechanism of the enriched TPI approach and provides novel insight into designing new catalysts for high-performance Li-S batteries.

To investigate the changes in aqueous humor (AH) protein profiles before and after intravitreal conbercept (IVC) treatment in proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) patients. Ten PDR patients provided 20 samples of AH before (pre group) and after (post group) IVC treatment. Liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry was performed to identify proteins. Bioinformatics analysis was used to explore the functional relevance of differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) and hub proteins. Parallel reaction monitoring (PRM) method was used to verify the hub proteins in another 8 samples of AH before and after IVC treatment in 4 PDR patients. A total of 30 DEPs were identified, consisting of 14 downregulated proteins and 16 upregulated proteins. Bioinformatics analysis indicated that DEPs mostly involved in neutrophil degranulation, antioxidant activity, secretory granule lumen, cytoplasmic vesicle lumen, vesicle lumen, and fluid shear stress. HP, VEGFA, CTSD, and LYZ were identified as hub proteins, among which HP and CTSD were verified by PRM. In addition to decreasing the intravitreal vascular endothelial growth factor level, IVC may alter the AH protein profile in PDR patients, especially HP and CTSD, with the DEPs involved in neutrophil degranulation, antioxidant activity, secretory granule lumen, cytoplasmic vesicle lumen, vesicle lumen, and fluid shear stress. SIGNIFICANCE: Patients with proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) regularly receive intravitreal conbercept treatment these days. The effect of this treatment has been determined by previous studies. However, the mechanism of IVC in PDR is not eventually determined. No studies have compared the aqueous humor (AH) protein profile before and after IVC treatment in the same patient. This is a topic deserving of further exploration. A proteomic method based on liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) was utilized in this study to analyze and assess the AH samples to explore the mechanism underlying the effects of IVC treatment on PDR., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no competing interests., (Copyright © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: To evaluate the outcomes of three-dimensional (3D) heads-up system assisted pars plana vitrectomy (PPV) and subretinal injection of recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rt-PA) for submacular hemorrhage (SMH)., Methods: Medical records of SMH patients who underwent 3D heads-up system assisted-PPV and subretinal injection of rt-PA from June 2021 to January 2022 were reviewed. The main outcomes included best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), SMH absorption, and perioperative complications., Results: We finally included 18 SMH eyes, most of which happened secondary to polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (PCV) (10, 55.56%), followed by retinal arterial microaneurysm (RAM) (5, 27.78%), traumatic retinopathy (2, 11.11%) and neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD) (1, 5.56%). The greatest linear dimension (GLD) and height of SMH were 6538.17 ± 2533.11 μm and 937.36 ± 420.21 μm, respectively. After an average postoperative follow-up period of 131.06 ± 38.96 days, patients' BCVA improved significantly from 1.85 ± 0.62 to 1.14 ± 0.82 logMAR (P < 0.05). SMH was completely and partially absorbed in 9 (50.00%) and 6 (33.33%) eyes, with no occurrence of iatrogenic retinal break. However, 4 additional PPVs were performed to manage the postoperative SMH and/or vitreous hemorrhage (VH) recurrence (2, 11.11%) and retinal detachment (RD) occurrence (2, 11.11%). Preoperative BCVA was significantly correlated with postoperative BCVA in multiple linear regression analysis (P < 0.05), and hemorrhagic pigment epithelial detachment (PED) was significantly correlated with SMH and VH recurrence in univariate binary logistic regression analysis (P < 0.05)., Conclusions: The 3D heads-up system assisted-PPV and subretinal injection of rt-PA were efficacious in eliminating SMH and improving visual prognosis with satisfactory safety profile, while caution should be taken for PCV patients with hemorrhagic PED and massive SMH., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Purpose: To report a novel surgical approach for the scleral fixation of the Rayner 620 H intraocular lens (IOL) with Gore-Tex suture and its outcomes at 6 months postoperatively., Methods: 19 consecutive patients who underwent novel surgical approach for the scleral fixation of Rayner 620 H IOL with Gore-Tex suture at Peking Union Medical College Hospital between June 2020 and June 2021 were included. Data on best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), spherical equivalent, total astigmatism/axis, short-term and long-term complications, and corresponding management with a follow-up of 6 months were collected., Results: Nineteen patients (11 men and 8 women) with a mean age of 62.7 ± 10.6 years were included. The median BCVA improved significantly from 0.90 ± 0.90 (Snellen 20/160) preoperatively to 0.20 ± 0.30 (Snellen 20/32) at postoperative 6 months follow-up (P < 0.001). The stratification of the accuracy of refractive outcomes was 53% of patients within ± 0.5 D and 84% of patients within ± 1.0 D of the refractive target. Corneal edema (n = 3, 16%) and increased intraocular pressure (IOP) (n = 4, 11%) were short-term complications. Long-term complications included increased IOP (n = 1, 5%), and macular edema (n = 1, 5%)., Conclusion: The novel surgical approach for scleral fixation of the Rayner 620 H IOL with Gore-Tex suture is a reasonable option for patients who need secondary IOL placement without adequate capsular support., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Introduction: Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a chronic progressive pulmonary fibrotic disease with unknown etiology and poor outcomes. It severely affects the quality of life. In this study, we comprehensively analyzed the expression of N6-methyladenosine (m6A) RNA methylation regulators using gene expression data from various tissue sources in IPF patients and healthy volunteers. Methods: The gene expression matrix and clinical characteristics of IPF patients were retrieved from the Gene Expression Omnibus database. A random forest model was used to construct diagnosis signature m6A regulators. Regression analysis and correlation analysis were used to identify prognosis m6A regulators. Consensus cluster analysis was used to construct different m6A prognosis risk groups, then functional enrichment, immune infiltration and drug sensitivity analysis were performed. Result: Five candidate m6A genes from lung tissue were used to predict the incidence, and the incidence was validated using datasets from bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) and peripheral blood mononuclear cells. Subsequently, the BALF dataset containing outcomes data was used for the prognosis analysis of m6A regulators. METTL14 , G3BP2 , and ZC3H13 were independent protective factors. Using correlation analysis with lung function in the lung tissue-derived dataset, METTL14 was a protective factor in IPF. Based on METTL14 and G3BP2 , a consensus cluster analysis was applied to distinguish the prognostic m6A regulation patterns. The low-risk group's prognosis was significantly better than the high-risk group. Biological processes regulated by various risk groups included fibrogenesis and cell adhesion. Analysis of immune cell infiltration showed upregulation of neutrophils in the m6A high-risk group. Subsequently, five m6A high-risk group sensitive drugs and one m6A low-risk group sensitive drug were identified. Discussion: These findings suggest that m6A regulators are involved in the diagnosis and prognosis of IPF, and m6A patterns are a method to identify IPF outcomes., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Zhang, Zhang, Wang, Zhao, Li, Wang, Tian, Yao, Wu, Wang and Wang.)

Precise pear detection and recognition is an essential step toward modernizing orchard management. However, due to the ubiquitous occlusion in orchards and various locations of image acquisition, the pears in the acquired images may be quite small and occluded, causing high false detection and object loss rate. In this paper, a multi-scale collaborative perception network YOLOv5s-FP (Fusion and Perception) was proposed for pear detection, which coupled local and global features. Specifically, a pear dataset with a high proportion of small and occluded pears was proposed, comprising 3680 images acquired with cameras mounted on a ground tripod and a UAV platform. The cross-stage partial (CSP) module was optimized to extract global features through a transformer encoder, which was then fused with local features by an attentional feature fusion mechanism. Subsequently, a modified path aggregation network oriented to collaboration perception of multi-scale features was proposed by incorporating a transformer encoder, the optimized CSP, and new skip connections. The quantitative results of utilizing the YOLOv5s-FP for pear detection were compared with other typical object detection networks of the YOLO series, recording the highest average precision of 96.12% with less detection time and computational cost. In qualitative experiments, the proposed network achieved superior visual performance with stronger robustness to the changes in occlusion and illumination conditions, particularly providing the ability to detect pears with different sizes in highly dense, overlapping environments and non-normal illumination areas. Therefore, the proposed YOLOv5s-FP network was practicable for detecting in-field pears in a real-time and accurate way, which could be an advantageous component of the technology for monitoring pear growth status and implementing automated harvesting in unmanned orchards.

Sarcoma is a malignant tumor derived from interstitial tissues and requires comprehensive treatment including chemotherapy. Paclitaxel (PTX) is an active agent against sarcoma, but its effect is not sufficiently acceptable and needs to be improved. Low-frequency ultrasound (LFU) has been documented to improve the efficacy of drugs by inducing reversible changes in membrane permeability; however, the effects of the combined use of LFU and PTX for sarcoma tumors remain unclear and warrant further investigation. We investigated the effects of 30 kHz LFU treatment combined with PTX on sarcoma cells A-204 and HT-1080 by analyzing in vitro apoptosis and cell growth inhibition rates, and determined their antitumor effects by examining tumor weights with or without LFU in the S180 sarcoma xenograft model. Drug concentrations in the subcutaneous tumors were measured using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). LFU combined with PTX significantly induced cell apoptosis, and blocked the cell cycle of sarcoma cells in G2/M phase, and furthermore, inhibited the activation of JAK2/STAT3 signaling pathway. Meanwhile, LFU combined with PTX inhibited the expression of PD-L1 in vitro , suggesting the potential of enhanced antitumor immunity by this treatment. LFU combined with PTX significantly inhibited the growth of S180 tumors transplanted subcutaneously in Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) mice, and its enhanced effect may be associated with increased local concentrations of PTX in tumor tissues in vivo , with no significant adverse subsequences on body weight observed. We conclude that the combination of LFU and PTX has synergistic antitumor effects and is a candidate for subcutaneous treatment of sarcoma by further increasing the intracellular concentration of PTX., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Yang, Zhang, Wang, Li, Zhang, Zhao, Xu and Wang.)

Purpose: To identify key biomarkers in the metastasis of uveal melanoma (UM). Methods: The microarray datasets GSE27831 and GSE22138 were downloaded from the Gene Expression Omnibus database. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified, and functional enrichment analyses were performed. A protein−protein interaction network was constructed, and four algorithms were performed to increase the reliability of hub genes. Biomarker analysis and metastasis-free survival analysis were performed to screen and verify prognostic hub genes. Results: A total of 138 DEGs were identified, consisting of 71 downregulated genes and 67 upregulated genes. Four genes (ROBO1, FMN1, FYN and FXR1) were selected as hub genes. Biomarker analysis and metastasis-free survival analysis showed that ROBO1, FMN1, FYN and FXR1 were factors affecting the metastasis and metastasis-free survival of UM (all p < 0.05). High expression of ROBO1 and low expression of FMN1 were associated with longer metastasis-free survival. Multivariable logistic regression and Cox analyses in GSE 27831 indicated that ROBO1 was an independent factor affecting metastasis and metastasis-free survival of UM (p = 0.010 and p = 0.009), while ROBO1 and FMN1 were independent factors affecting metastasis and metastasis-free survival of UM in GSE22138 (all p < 0.05). Conclusions: ROBO1, FMN1, FYN and FXR1 should be regarded as diagnostic biomarkers for the metastasis of UM, especially ROBO1 and FMN1. High expression of ROBO1 and low expression of FMN1 were associated with longer metastasis-free survival. This study may facilitate the understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying the metastasis of UM.

Pomegranate (Punica granatum L.), which is native to central Asia, is considered as one of the most renowned commercial fruit trees in the world. The planting area in China is roughly 120 thousand hectares. In June 2020, symptoms of leaf spot on P. granatum appeared in Nanyang City (32º40´34˝N, 111º44´20˝E), Henan Province, with an incidence rate of 35% in several 3.3-hectare orchards. Initially, the lesions showed as round or subrounded brown spots on affected leaves. The spots then progressively developed into irregular lesions with distinct yellow halos surrounding them. Parts of the lesions were weakly zonate, which finally led to leaf withering and falling off. Diseased tissues were cut into 5×5 mm2 pieces, which were surface sterilized with 75% ethanol solution for 30 s, washed 3 times in sterilized water, and put on potato dextrose agar (PDA) plates supplemented with 50 μg ml-1 streptomycin. A total of 16 purified fungal isolates with similar phenotypic features were obtained. Three randomly chosen isolates SLY11, SLY24, and SLY25 were utilized for the investigation. Fungal colonies on PDA were first white to gray and later mycelium became olive green to blackish brown. To examine the morphological properties of conidia, we utilized potato carrot agar (PCA) culture medium and incubated it at 23°C under a 12-hour light/dark alternation. Conidia were obclavate or spheroidal, dark brown, with 3 to 5 transverse septa and 1 to 4 longitudinal septa. Conidiophores were septate, solitary, and measured 22.7 (±4.64) × 10.6 (±2.15) μm (n=50), with a conical beak length of 0 to 5.5 μm. The rDNA internal transcribed spacer (ITS), translation elongation factor 1-alpha gene (TEF1), β-tubulin gene (TUB), and glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase gene (GAPDH) were amplified using primer pairs ITS1/ITS4, EF1-728F/EF1-986R, Bt2a/Bt2b, and GDF1/GDF2 from genomic DNA. Sequences were submitted to GenBank with accession numbers OL840230, OL840231, OL840232 for ITS, OL982540, OL982541, OL982542 for TEF1, OL982543, OL982544, OL982545 for TUB, OL862608, OL862609, OL862610 for GAPDH sequences of isolates SLY11, SLY24, and SLY25, respectively. BLASTn analysis of ITS (OL840230), TEF1 (OL982540), TUB (OL982543), GAPDH (OL862608) sequences indicated 100, 99.59, 99.68, and 100% similarity to the sequences of Alternaria alternata strain HC-2 (MT644140), BJFA-1 (MK895958), CS36-5 (KY814630), and ag1 (KP057228) in GenBank. Isolates SLY11, SLY24, and SLY25 formed a clade with the type strains CBS 130265 and CBS 130258 of A. alternata in phylogenetic trees established, clearly seperating from other Alternaria spp. The morphological features and molecular analyses supported the isolates as members of A. alternata. To validate the pathogenicity of the isolates, ten healthy leaves of 3-year-old potted pomegranate trees were utilized for testing and inoculated with conidial suspension (106 conidia ml-1), 20 µl each leaf. Control plants were inoculated with sterilized water. An additional pathogenicity test was repeated on wounded leaves. The inoculated plants were placed at 28°C in a greenhouse (12 h light per day and 90% relative humidity) for 5 days. The pathogenicity testing was conducted three times. Distinct lesions were found on the nonwounded and wounded leaves of inoculated plants after 3 to 5 days. The morphology and ITS sequences of the fungi that were reisolated from each of the inoculated plants were similar to that of the inocula, fulfilling Koch's postulates. Fruit rot of pomegranate induced by A. alternata was not identified in our investigation. A. alternata is reported to induce leaf spot disease on P. granatum in India (Zakir et al. 2009), Israel (Ezra et al. 2010), Spain (Garcia-Jimenez et al. 2014). To our knowledge, this is the first report of A. alternata causing leaf spot disease on P. granatum in China. Severe leaf disease caused by A. alternata can lead to reduced pomegranate yields in the harvest stages. This note will aid in pathogen identification and disease control.

Ischemic stroke (CIS) is characterized by a high incidence, disability, and mortality. Numerous studies have demonstrated that intracranial arterial stenosis is an important pathological basis of CIS, and its main cause is atherosclerosis. Dyslipidemia is an important risk factor for atherosclerosis. Lysophosphatidic acid (Lpa), apolipoprotein -A(APO-A), and apolipoprotein -B(APO-B) proved to be significantly correlated with the severity of coronary artery disease. This study retrospectively collected the case data of 186 patients with CIS treated from May 2020 to May 2022 and explored the correlation between Lpa, APO-A, APO-B, and middle cerebral artery (MCA) stenosis in CIS patients., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest, financial or otherwise., (Copyright © 2022 Xinxu Chen et al.)

Cancer constitutes a severe threat to human health and quality of life and is one of the most significant causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Natural dietary products have drawn substantial attention in cancer treatment and prevention due to their availability and absence of toxicity. Rosmarinic acid (RA) is known for its excellent antioxidant properties and is safe and effective in preventing and inhibiting tumors. This review summarizes recent publications on culture techniques, extraction processes, and anti-tumor applications of RA-enriched dietary supplements. We discuss techniques to improve RA bioavailability and provide a mechanistic discussion of RA regarding tumor prevention, treatment, and adjuvant therapy. RA exhibits anticancer activity by regulating oxidative stress, chronic inflammation, cell cycle, apoptosis, and metastasis. These data suggest that daily use of RA-enriched dietary supplements can contribute to tumor prevention and treatment. RA has the potential for application in anti-tumor drug development.

In order to determine the possible aqueous humor (AH) proteins involved in diabetic nephropathy (DN) progression, we performed gel electrophoresis-liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry protein profiling of AH samples from 5 patients with proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) combined DN and 5 patients with PDR. Function enrichment analyses were carried out after the identification of differentially expressed proteins (DEPs). Protein-protein interaction networks were then built and the Search Tool for the Retrieval of Interacting Genes database and CytoNCA plugin in Cytoscape were utilized for module analysis. Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (IPA) was used to analyze disease and biological function, Tox function enrichment and upstream regulatory molecules/networks. Fifty-four DEPs were finally confirmed, whose enriched functions and pathways covered cell adhesion, extracellular exosome, complement activation, complement and coagulation cascades, etc. Nine hub genes were identified, including NCAM1, PLG, APOH, C3, PSAP, RBP4, CDH2, NUCB1, and GNS. IPA showed that C3 and PLG are involved in renal and urological system abnormalities. Conclusively, DEPs and hub proteins confirmed in this exploratory AH proteomic analysis may help us gain a deeper understanding of the molecular mechanisms involved in DN progression, providing novel candidate biomarkers for the early detection for diagnosis of DN., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests., (Copyright © 2022 Huan Chen et al.)

Euonymus japonicas is widely planted as an important landscape species throughout China. In June 2021, a serious gray blight disease was detected on E. japonicas in Henan Province (32°30'58" N, 112°19'44" E), causing severe defoliation of infected trees with a foliar disease incidence of 52 to 70% (n = 100). Gray spots initially appeared on leaves, gradually expanded into irregular white blotches with dark brown borders, eventually leading to wilting and death of the leaves. The junctions between the lesion and healthy tissue of infected leaves were cut into 3 × 3-mm pieces, surface sterilized with 1% NaClO solution for 1 min, rinsed in sterile water, and placed on PDA plates with 50 μg/ml of streptomycin. Three isolates (HY94, HY95, and HY98) were selected for subsequent experiments. The colonies reached 80-85 mm diam after 7 days at 25°C, with undulated margins, white to pale in color, with moderate aerial mycelium on the surface. Conidiomata were globose, solitary, and dark black. Conidia were ellipsoid, straight to slightly curved, 4-septate, 19 to 26.4 × 5 to 7.5 μm (n=100). The apical cell was cylindrical and hyaline, with 2 to 3 tubular apical appendages, unbranched, filiform, 2.5 to 3.5 μm in length. The basal appendage was single, unbranched, centric, 1.5 to 3 μm long. The characteristics were close to those of Pestalotiopsis spp. (Maharachchikumbura et al. 2013). The genomic DNA was extracted, and the rDNA internal transcribed spacer (ITS), the β-tubulin gene (TUB), and the translation elongation factor 1-alpha gene (TEF1) were amplified by primers ITS1/ITS4, Bt2a/Bt2b, and EF1-728F/EF1-986R, respectively (Carbone and Kohn, 1999). Sequences were submitted to GenBank with accession numbers OL840327-OL840329(ITS), OL961454-OL961456(TUB), and OL961448-OL961450 (TEF1). BLASTn analyses of ITS, TUB, and TEF1 sequences exhibited 99.46, 99.05, and 96.53% similarity to the sequences of Pestalotiopsis disseminata strain MEAN1166 (ITS, 548/551 bp; MT374688) (Silva et al. 2020), PSH2000I-066 (TUB, 418/422 bp; DQ333575), and TAP29O082 (TEF1, 250/259 bp; AB453850), respectively in GenBank. The three isolates formed a clade with the type strains, MEAN 1166 and MAFF238347 of P. disseminata in phylogenetic trees, being clearly seperated from other Pestalotiopsis spp. Based on morphological and molecular evidence, the pathogen was identified as P. disseminata (Maharachchikumbura et al. 2011). To fulfill Koch's postulates, pathogenicity was tested with three isolates. Ten healthy leaves of 5-year-old intact plants were used per isolate and inoculated with mycelial plugs on both nonwounded and wounded leaves. Control leaves were inoculated with agar plugs. The inoculated plants were placed at 28°C in a greenhouse (90% relative humidity). Distinct lesions were observed after 10 days. The pathogen reisolated was identical to that of the original cultures according to phenotype and ITS sequences. The control leaves showed no obvious symptoms. P. disseminata is known to cause disease on several important plants in China, such as Camellia japonica (Zhang et al. 2012), Pinus armandii (Hu et al. 2007), and Tripterygium wilfordii (Kumar et al. 2004). This is the first report of gray blight disease caused by P. disseminata on E. japonicas in China and worldwide. The fungal pathogen identification will provide valuable information for prevention and management of gray blight disease associated with E. japonicas.

Inflammation and oxidative stress lead to various acute or chronic diseases, including pneumonia, liver and kidney injury, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, metabolic diseases, and cancer. Ginseng is a well-known and widely used ethnic medicine in Asian countries, and ginsenoside Rg3 is a saponin isolated from Panax ginseng C. A. Meyer, Panax notoginseng, or Panax quinquefolius L. This compound has a wide range of pharmacological properties, including antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities, which have been evaluated in disease models of inflammation and oxidative stress. Rg3 can attenuate lung inflammation, prevent liver and kidney function damage, mitigate neuroinflammation, prevent cerebral and myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury, and improve hypertension and diabetes symptoms. The multitarget, multipathway mechanisms of action of Rg3 have been gradually deciphered. This review summarizes the existing knowledge on the anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects and underlying molecular mechanisms of ginsenoside Rg3, suggesting that ginsenoside Rg3 may be a promising candidate drug for the treatment of diseases with inflammatory and oxidative stress conditions., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Wang, Zeng, Zhang, Qi, Wang, Tian, Zhao, Wu, Li and Wang.)

Euonymus japonicas belong to the family Celastraceae and is native to Japan. This ornamental plant has been widely introduced for cultivation as a hedge plant in China. From August to October 2021, severe leaf lesions were observed on E. japonicas in Meicheng garden in Nanyang (32°59'42"N, 112°33'13"E), Henan Province, China. The disease had very wide coverage in the surveyed areas, with foliar diseases reaching 50%-69% (n=200). The early symptoms were yellow or brown specks on the leaves, mostly at the tip and margin of the leaves. Then the specks gradually expanded into round amorphous and became dark brown, eventually leading to large irregular or circular lesions and even branch necrosis. Twenty symptomatic samples were collected from several individual plants, and the junction areas between infected and healthy tissues were cut into 5×5 mm pieces. The tissues were sterilized in 75% ethanol for 30 seconds and 1% NaClO solution for 1 min, rinsed thrice in sterile water and placed on potato dextrose agar (PDA) plates supplemented with 50 µg/ml of streptomycin, incubated at 25°C for 3 days. The edges of the colony were cut and transferred to new PDA plates for purification. These strains showed similar phenotypes in morphological characters. Three representative purified strains (HY12, HY16, and HY17) were used for further study. Colonies were fast-growing, massive sparse aerial hyphae, initially white, later turning gray and black. Hyphae were branched, septa, and transparent. Conidia were single-celled, dark black, oblate, or nearly spherical, and measured 10.7 to 15.4 μm × 9.8 to 15.5 μm in diameter (n=100). For molecular identification, the rDNA internal transcribed spacer (ITS), the β -tubulin gene ( TUB ), and the translation elongation factor 1-alpha gene ( TEF1 ) were amplified from genomic DNA by primers ITS1/ITS4, Bt2a/Bt2b, and EF1-728F/EF1-986R, respectively (Carbone and Kohn, 1999). Sequences were submitted to GenBank with accession numbers OL840319, OL840320, OL840321 for the ITS sequences, OL961451, OL961452, OL961453 for the TUB sequences, and OL961445, OL961446, OL961447 for the TEF1 sequences of the strains HY12, HY16, and HY17, respectively. BLASTn analyses of these sequences exhibited 99 to 100% identity to Nigrospora oryzae strains 62L1, LC6923, and DP-J2 (MZ151384 of ITS, KY019581 of TUB , and MW562242 of TEF1 ). These morphological features and molecular identification indicated that the pathogen possessed identical characteristics as N. oryzae (Berk. &Broome) Petch. Pathogenicity was tested through in vivo experiments. Mycelial plugs of the pathogen strains were inoculated on the wounded leaflets, meanwhile, agar plugs served as blank controls. Five 2-year-old plants were grown in pots in a climate incubator maintained at a temperature of 28°C and relative humidity of approximately 90%. Symptoms consistent with those previously described were observed on the inoculated leaves of four plants after 3 to 7 days while the control plants remained healthy. The strains of N. oryzae were reisolated from the symptomatic inoculated leaves, fulfilling Koch's postulates. N. oryzae is known to cause disease on a variety of ornamental plants in China, such as purple blow maple (Sun et al. 2011), cleyera (Wang et al. 2017), cotton rose (Han et al. 2021), and Costus speciosus (Sun et al. 2021). To our knowledge, this is the first report of N. oryzae leaf spot on E. japonicas in China. This identification research will be helpful for subsequent disease control and field management of hedge plants.

The Gram-negative rod-shaped bacterium Serratia marcescens is an opportunistic pathogen of many organisms, including insects. We report the identification and optimal in vitro chitinase production conditions of a novel chitinolytic S. marcescens strain TC-1 isolated from a naturally infected white grub (Anomala corpulenta) collected from a peanut field at Nanyang city, Henan province, China. Strain identification was conducted by morphological, physiological, biochemical and molecular analyses. The amplified 16S rRNA gene of TC-1 showed a similarity greater than 99% with multiple strains of S. marcescens. Based on Neighbor-joining phylogenetic tree analysis of bacterial 16S rRNA gene sequences, TC-1 formed a clade with S. marcescens, clearly separated from other Serratia spp. The strain TC-1 showed larvicidal activities against five insect species (A. corpulenta, Plutella xylostella, Spodoptera exigua, Helicoverpa armigera, Bombyx mori) and the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, but not against S. litura. The operating parameters of chitinase production by TC-1 were optimized by response surface methodology using a three-factor, three-level Box-Behnken experimental design. The effects of three independent variables i.e. colloidal chitin concentration (7-13 g l -1 ), incubation time (24-72 h) and incubation temperature (24-32 °C) on chitinase production by TC-1 were investigated. A regression model was proposed to correlate the independent variables for an optimal chitinase activity predicted as 20.946 U ml -1 , using a combination of colloidal chitin concentration, incubation time and incubation temperature of 9.06 g l -1 , 63.83 h and 28.12 °C, respectively. The latter agreed well with a mean chitinase activity of 20.761 ± 0.102 U ml -1 measured in the culture supernatants of TC-1 grown under similar conditions with a colloidal chitin concentration, incubation time and incubation temperature of 9 g l -1 , 64 h and 28 °C, respectively. Our study revealed the S. marcescens strain TC-1 with potential as a biocontrol agent of insect pests and nematodes and demonstrated the proposed regression model's potential to guide chitinase production by this strain., (© 2022. The Author(s).)