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Constructing van der Waals (vdW) heterostructures is a prospective approach that is essential for developing a new generation of functional two-dimensional (2D) materials and designing new conceptual nanodevices. Using density-functional theory combined with a nonequilibrium Green's function approach allows for the theoretical and systematic exploration of the electronic structure, transport properties, and sensitivity of organic small molecules adsorbed on 2D C 3 B/graphene (Gra) and C 3 N/Gra vdW heterojunctions. Calculations show the metallic properties of C 3 B/Gra and C 3 N/Gra after the formation of heterojunctions. Interestingly, the heterojunctions C 3 B/Gra (C 3 N/Gra) for the adsorption of small organic molecules (C 2 H 2 , C 2 H 4 , CH 3 OH, CH 4 , and HCHO) at the C 3 B (C 3 N) side are sensitive to the chemisorption of C 2 H 2 and C 2 H 4 . Similarly, the Gra/C 3 B is chemisorbed for both C 2 H 2 and C 2 H 4 when adsorbed on Gra side, while it is only chemisorbed for C 2 H 2 in Gra/C 3 N. Interestingly, all heterojunctions on different sides are physisorbed for CH 3 OH, CH 4 , and HCHO. Furthermore, the calculated I-V curves demonstrate that the devices based on the adsorption of C 2 H 2 and C 2 H 4 at each side of the heterojunction have remarkable anisotropy, in with the current being considerably greater in the zigzag direction than in the armchair direction. More specifically, with C 2 H 2 adsorbed on the Gra side, the sensitivity along the armchair direction is up to 85.0% for Gra/C 3 B and close to 100% for Gra/C 3 N. This study reveals that C 3 B/Gra (C 3 N/Gra) heterojunctions with high selectivity, high anisotropy, and excellent sensitivity are highly prospective 2D materials for applications, which further contributes new insights into the development of future electronic nanodevices.

Studying the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem multifunctionality (the ability of ecosystems to provide multiple ecosystem functions) (BEMF) is a current hotspot in ecology research. Previous studies on BEMF emphasized the role of plant and microbial diversity but rarely mention stand spatial structure. To investigate the effect of stand spatial structure on BEMF, this study established 30 forest dynamic plots in three natural restoration stages (shrubbery, secondary growth forest, and old-growth forest) in Maolan National Nature Reserve, Guizhou province, China. A positive response in soil multifunctionality (SMF), plant species diversity, stand spatial structure, and fungal β diversity (p < 0.05) followed natural restoration. However, bacterial β diversity showed a negative response (p < 0.05), while microbial α diversity remained unchanged (p > 0.05). These results based on a structural equation model showed that plant species diversity had no direct or indirect effect on SMF, soil microbial diversity was the only direct driver of SMF, and stand spatial structure indirectly affected SMF through soil microbial diversity. The random forest model showed that soil microbial β diversity and the Shannon-Wiener index of the diameter at breast height for woody plant species were the optimal variables to characterize SMF and soil microbial diversity, respectively. These results suggested that natural restoration promoted SMF, and microbial diversity had a direct positive effect on SMF. In the meantime, stand spatial structure had a significant indirect effect on SMF, while plant species diversity did not. Future work on degraded karst forest restoration should direct more attention to the role of the stand spatial structure and emphasize the importance of biodiversity., 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.)

Bacterial volatile compounds (BVCs) facilitate interspecies communication in socio-microbiology across physical barriers, thereby influencing interactions between diverse species. The impact of BVCs emitted from Pseudomonas on the biofilm formation characteristics of Listeria monocytogenes within the same ecological niche has been scarcely investigated under practical conditions of food processing. The objective of this study was to explore the motility and biofilm formation characteristics of L. monocytogenes under the impact of Pseudomonas BVCs. It was revealed that BVCs of P. fluorescens, P. lundensis, and P. fragi significantly promoted swimming motility of L. monocytogenes (P < 0.05). As evidenced by crystal violet staining, the L. monocytogenes biofilms reached a maximum OD 570 value of approximately 3.78 at 4 d, which was 0.65 units markedly higher than that of the control group (P < 0.05). Despite a decrease in adherent cells of L. monocytogenes biofilms among the BVCs groups, there was a remarkable increase in the abundance of extracellular polysaccharides and proteins with 3.58 and 4.90 μg/cm 2 , respectively (P < 0.05), contributing to more compact matrix architectures, which suggested that the BVCs of P. fluorescens enhanced L. monocytogenes biofilm formation through promoting the secretion of extracellular polymers. Moreover, the prominent up-regulated expression of virulence genes further revealed the positive regulation of L. monocytogenes under the influence of BVCs. Additionally, the presence of BVCs significantly elevated the pH and TVB-N levels in both the swimming medium and biofilm broth, thereby exhibiting a strong positive correlation with increased motility and biofilm formation of L. monocytogenes. It highlighted the crucial signaling regulatory role of BVCs in bacterial interactions, while also emphasizing the potential food safety risk associated with the hitchhiking behavior of L. monocytogenes, thereby shedding light on advancements in control strategies for food processing., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest No conflict of interest exits in the submission of this manuscript, and this manuscript has been approved by all authors for publication., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has been a significant global health issue in recent years. Numerous studies indicate that COVID-19 during pregnancy is associated with an increased likelihood of pregnancy complications. Additionally, pregnancy itself is known to elevate the risk of severe SARS-CoV-2 infection. To explore the potential impact of SARS-CoV-2 infection on the probability of Down syndrome in fetuses, we conducted serological testing of Down syndrome markers in pregnant women who had contracted the virus., Methods: Serological experiments were conducted utilizing a particle chemiluminescence test. The cohort of pregnant women was categorized into three groups: a control group with no infection, a group infected with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron within the first six weeks of gestation, and a group infected beyond the sixth week of gestation., Results: In the group of individuals infected within 6 gestational weeks, the infection resulted in a decrease in alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) levels and a higher positive rate of Down syndrome screening tests (p ˂ 0.05). However, in this study, SARS-CoV-2 infection did not lead to an increase in the occurrence of Down syndrome in the fetus. The positive rate of women infected beyond 6 gestational weeks was slightly higher than the non-infected group (6.2% vs. 5.7%), but these differences were not statistically significant (p > 0.05). Within the group infected beyond 6 gestational weeks, there was, compared to the control group, a decrease in free beta human chorionic gonadotropin (β-hCG) levels (p < 0.05)., Conclusions: This study presents a novel investigation into the impact of SARS-CoV-2 infection on AFP and β-hCG levels. It has been observed that pregnant women who contract SARS-CoV-2 may exhibit an increased likelihood of positive results in serum tests conducted for Down syndrome screening. However, it is important to note that the occurrence of Down syndrome in the developing fetus does not appear to be elevated. To validate these findings, additional research involving larger and diverse cohorts is necessary.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between serum uric acid (SUA) concentrations and all-cause mortality in individuals with osteoarthritis (OA)., Methods: All participant data were retrieved from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey database. A total of 4671 participants (age range: 20 to 85 years old), including 2988 females and 1683 males, were included in this study. The determination of death outcome was based on the National Death Index (up to December 31, 2019). We explored the nonlinear relationship between SUA concentrations and all-cause mortality in OA patients by establishing a Cox proportional risk model and a two-segment Cox proportional risk model and ran an interaction test to identify the high-risk population for all-cause mortality., Results: During 30,645 person-years of follow-up, the number of all-cause deaths for females and males was 736 and 516, respectively. After multivariate adjustment, we found a nonlinear relationship between SUA concentrations and all-cause mortality in both females and males with OA. In addition, we found a J-shaped relationship between SUA concentrations and all-cause mortality. The SUA concentration thresholds for all-cause mortality of females and males were stable at 5.6mg/dl and 6.2mg/dl, respectively. Compared with SUA concentrations below the inflection point, the all-cause mortality risk at higher SUA concentrations in females and males with OA increased by 20% (hazard ratio [HR]: 1.2, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.1 to 1.2) and 25% (HR: 1.2, 95% CI: 1.12 to 1.39), respectively., Conclusions: There is a nonlinear relationship between SUA concentrations and all-cause mortality in the American OA population (J-shaped association). The all-cause mortality thresholds for SUA concentrations in females and males are 5.6mg/dl and 6.2mg/dl, respectively., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS.. All rights reserved.)

Ethnopharmacological Relevance: Curcumin, a polyphenolic compound extracted from turmeric (Curcuma longa L.), is widely used in traditional Chinese medicine to treat osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. Clinical and experimental studies show that curcuminoid formulations have considerable clinical application value in the treatment of knee osteoarthritis (KOA)., Aim of the Study: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of curcumin, both alone and in combination with other drugs, in KOA treatment through a Bayesian network meta-analysis (NMA)., Methods: We searched PubMed, Embase and Cochrane Library for randomized controlled trials of curcumin for KOA treatment. The time range of the search was from the establishment of each database to April 26, 2023. The NMAs of outcome indicators were all performed using a random-effects model. NMAs were calculated and graphed in R using MetaInsight and Stata 140 software. Measurement data were represented by the mean difference (MD), while count data were represented by the odds ratio (OR); the 95% confidence interval (CI) of each effect size was also calculated., Results: This study included 23 studies from 7 countries, including 2175 KOA patients and 6 interventions. The NMA results showed that compared with placebo, curcumin significantly reduced the visual analogue scale pain score (MD = -1.63, 95% CI: -2.91 to -0.45) and total WOMAC score (MD = -18.85, 95% CI: -29.53 to -8.76). Compared with placebo, curcumin (OR = 0.17, 95% CI: 0.08 to 0.36), curcumin + NSAIDs (OR = 0.01, 95% CI: 0.00 to 0.13) and NSAIDs (OR = 0.11, 95% CI: 0.02 to 0.47) reduced the use of rescue medication. Compared with NSAIDs, curcumin (OR = 0.51, 95% CI: 0.25 to 0.94) and curcumin + NSAIDs (OR = 0.23, 95% CI: 0.06 to 0.9) had a reduced incidence of adverse reactions. The surface under the cumulative ranking curve results indicated that curcumin monotherapy, curcumin + chondroprotective agents, and curcumin + NSAIDs have good clinical value in KOA treatment., Conclusions: Curcumin, either alone or in combination with other treatments, is considered to have good clinical efficacy and safety in KOA treatment. Drug combinations containing curcumin may have the dual effect of enhancing efficacy and reducing adverse reactions, but this possibility still needs to be confirmed by further clinical and basic research., 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 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Interactions across bacterial species boundaries are usually influenced by environmental stresses, yet little has been evaluated regarding multifactorial stresses on the fate of dual-species biofilm formation in food industry. In this study, the processing conditions of chilled beef were established as a combination of cold and acid stresses (4 °C and pH 5.4), with pH 7.0 or 25 °C serving as the controls, to investigate the interaction of dual-species biofilm between Pseudomonas fluorescens and Listeria monocytogenes. Dual-species biofilms significantly increased biofilm formation at 72 h under the condition of 25°C-pH7.0 and 25°C-pH5.4 (P < 0.05). Compared with mono-species biofilms, the cell numbers of L. monocytogenes in dual-species biofilms were lower at 25 °C (P < 0.05), however, the adherent cells of L. monocytogenes was higher in dual-species biofilms at 4 °C (P < 0.05). Furthermore, the amount of extracellular polysaccharides and proteins secreted by single P. fluorescens biofilms at 4 °C was more than three times than those at 25 °C. The surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy further profiled the variability of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) composition. Additionally, RT-qPCR results revealed an upregulation of biofilm-related and genes in co-culture species. It provides valuable insights into the strategies for removing mixed biofilms under diverse stressful conditions in practical food processing., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest No conflict of interest exits in the submission of this manuscript, and this manuscript has been approved by all authors for publication., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic systemic autoimmune disease. The clinical manifestations of various joint pain and bone destruction are common. RA has a high disability rate and is closely related to local and systemic osteoporosis (OP). RA can occur at any age, however, its incidence increases with age. Most patients are 40 to 50 years old with an incidence among women approximately 3 to 5 times more than among men. Osteoporosis is a kind of metabolic bone disease characterized by bone mass and bone microstructure damage and is one of the common complications of RA. Currently, in the clinic, more patients develop RA with OP symptoms. Therefore, both OP and RA-related factors should be considered in the OP treatment of RA. Currently, there is more and more research on RA combined with OP drugs, including basic drugs, bone resorption inhibitors, bone formation promoters, and anti-rheumatic drugs to improve the condition. The high cost or limited efficacy of certain Western drugs, coupled with their potential for adverse reactions during treatment highlight the pressing need for novel pharmaceuticals in clinical practice. In recent years, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) can improve the bone formation and bone resorption indexes of patients with RA, regulate the balance of osteoclasts and osteoblasts, and regulate the immune inflammatory response, so as to treat RA combined with OP. This article discusses the advancements in single Chinese medicine and Chinese medicine combination treatments for RA complicated with OP, focusing on the mechanism of action and syndrome differentiation and classification, to offer new ideas for future clinical prevention and treatment., 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 © 2024 Gu, Zhou, Zhang, Liang, Xiao and Dou.)

Background: Rotator cuff injury is a common orthopedic disease with high morbidity, which is one of the most important reasons for shoulder pain and limited movement. With the development of more research, the Traditional Chinese Medicine(TCM) therapy for rotator cuff injury is increasingly rich, and has achieved a good curative effect., Method: TCM has certain characteristics and advantages, which may become the main development trend of the treatment. By consulting the relevant literature on TCM therapy for rotator cuff injury in recent years, we found that commonly used TCM therapy include Chinese herbal therapy, Chinese herbal compounds., Result: External treatment of Chinese herbal therapy, Acupuncture therapy, Floating needle therapy, Massage therapy, and others, which make a great clinical effect., Conclusion: This paper summarizes and analyzes the common TCM therapy of the rotator cuff injury, to provide new ideas for the selection of clinical treatment options., (Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.net.)

Background: Osteoporosis (OP) is a systemic bone metabolism disorder in which the immune system and bone metabolism interact., Objective: The purpose of this study was to explore the research status, hot spots and trends regarding the influence of the immune system on OP and to provide a basis for research directions and applications in this field., Methods: We searched and collected literature about the immune system and OP published from 2012 to 2022 in the Web of Science Core Collection database. All the included studies were subjected to bibliometrics analysis using Hiplot Pro, VOSviewer and CiteSpace software to produce statistics and visual analyses of the literature output, countries, institutions, authors, keywords and journals., Results: A total of 1201 papers were included, and the number of citations of these articles reached 31,776. The number of publications and citations on the immune system and OP has increased year by year. The top three countries with the greatest number of papers published were China, the United States of America (USA) and Italy. The two institutions with the largest number of papers published were Sichuan University and Soochow University, both located in China. De Martinis Massimo (Italy) and Ginaldi Lia (Italy) are prolific authors in this field. The representative academic journals are Osteoporosis International, Frontiers in Immunology, Journal of Bone and Mineral Research, PloS One and Bone. The results of the keyword cooccurrence analysis showed that the research topics in this field mainly focused on T cells, cytokines, signaling pathways, vitamin D, postmenopausal OP and immune diseases. The keyword burst results showed that zoledronic acid, chain fatty acids and gut microbiota are the frontiers and trends of future research on this topic., Conclusion: The influence of the immune system on OP has been widely studied, and the current research in this field focuses on the effect or mechanism of immune-related cytokines, signaling pathways and vitamin D on OP. Future research trends in this field should focus on the immune regulation mechanism and clinical transformation of zoledronic acid, chain fatty acids and the gut microbiota in OP., (Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.net.)

Background: There is no high-quality, evidence-based protocol for the treatment of postoperative fatigue syndrome (POFS) after total joint arthroplasty (TJA) or fracture surgery with Chinese herbal medicine (CHM)., Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore the efficacy of CHM in the treatment of POFS after TJA or hip fracture surgery (HFS)., Methods: We searched six databases to obtain randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of CHM for the treatment of POFS after TJA or HFS. The retrieval time limit was from the establishment of each database to August, 2022. According to the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews version 5.1, we used RevMan 5.3 to evaluate the quality of the studies. Stata 14.0 software was used to merge and analyze the data. The weighted mean difference (WMD) was the effect estimate for statistical analysis. We also performed subgroup analyses according to different types of surgeries., Results: A total of 11 RCTs were included in this study, comprising 430 cases in the CHM group and 432 cases in the control group (CG). The meta-analysis results showed that there was no significant difference in the Brief Profile of Mood States (BPOMS) score (WMD=0.08, 95% confidence interval (CI): -0.29 to 0.45, P=0.688), Christensen Fatigue scale (CHFS) score (WMD = 0.15, 95% CI: -0.09 to 0.39, P=0.214) or Identity-Consequence Fatigue Scale (ICFS) score (WMD=-0.40, 95% CI: -1.84 to 1.05, P=0.589) between the CHM group and the CG on the first postoperative day. The use of CHM significantly reduced the BPOMS score (WMD=-0.85 and WMD=-3.01, respectively), CHFS score (WMD=-1.01 and WMD= -1.45, respectively), and ICFS score (WMD=-3.51 and WMD=-5.26) on postoperative days 3 and 7. Compared with the CG, the CHM group had significantly increased serum transferrin and IgG levels on postoperative days 3 and 7. The subgroup analysis results suggested that the application of CHM in HFS patients improved fatigue symptoms on postoperative days 3 and 7, while the application of CHM to treat POFS in TJA patients had great inconsistency in the evaluation of different indicators., Conclusion: The application of CHM improved the fatigue status of POFS patients after TJA or HFS and increased the levels of transferrin and IgG in serum, which is conducive to promoting the postoperative rehabilitation process of patients. The subgroup analysis results showed that the application of CHM to intervene in POFS in HFS patients had obvious benefits., (Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.net.)

Due to an increase in the aging population, osteoarthritis (OA), especially knee osteoarthritis (KOA), has increasingly become one of the diseases affecting the quality of life of the elderly. As the pathogenesis of KOA is still unclear, Western medicine treatment lacks specificity, and surgical treatment is difficult to cover all patients. Therefore, in recent years, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) for the conservative treatment of KOA has received increasing attention. The advantages of TCM are clear, such as relief of symptoms, fewer adverse reactions, and wider applicability to patients. This paper mainly discusses the research progress in single-herb TCM and TCM compounds for KOA, aiming to demonstrate the effectiveness of TCM in the treatment of KOA. It also provides ideas for future research on the treatment of KOA by TCM and the pathogenesis of knee osteoarthritis., (Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.net.)

The association between the systemic immune-inflammation index (SII) and the risk of sarcopenia has not yet been revealed. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between the SII and sarcopenia in individuals aged 18-59 years. All data for this study are from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) database, including 7258 participants (age range: 18-59 years). We divided SII values by quartiles (quartiles 1-4: 0.3-3.1, 3.2-4.4, 4.4-6.2, and 6.2-58.5). We constructed a multivariate logistic regression model to assess the association between the SII and the risk of sarcopenia, and an interaction test was run to test the stability of the model and identify high-risk individuals with sarcopenia. Compared to nonsarcopenia participants, sarcopenia patients had a significantly higher SII value (weighted average: 6.65 vs. 5.16) (P = 0.002). Multivariate logistic regression results showed a positive linear relationship between the SII and sarcopenia (OR [odds ratio] = 1.12, 95% CI [confidence interval] 1.03-1.21). Compared to the quartile 1 group, the quartile 4 group was associated with a higher risk of sarcopenia (OR = 3.94, 95% CI 1.42-10.94). Compared with the quartile 1 group, the OR value of the quartile 2 to quartile 4 groups showed an upwards trend (P trend  < 0.001) as the level of SII increased. Subgroup analysis also indicate that the correlation between higher SII values and the risk of sarcopenia was stable. There was a significant positive linear relationship between SII and sarcopenia, indicating that higher SII values can increase the risk of sarcopenia in individuals aged 18-59 in the United States. The findings of this study will be beneficial in promoting the use of SII alone or in combination with other tools for the risk screening of sarcopenia in communities or large populations., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Background: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a serious public health problem worldwide. The role of citrus flavanone hesperidin consumption on cardiovascular disease risk factors (CVDRFs) has been examined in many clinical trials, but conflicting results have been found., Objectives: This study aimed to systematically evaluate the effects of hesperidin extracts or purified hesperidin on CVDRFs in humans with an updated meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials., Methods: According to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses 2020 guidelines, we systematically screened and searched electronic databases from their establishment to March 2023. Reference lists and previous reviews were also searched. Intervention trials assessing hesperidin consumption on CVD outcomes were included for pooling. To assess the quality of the included articles, the tool of Cochrane risk-of-bias tool was applied. We synthesized the effect sizes with 95% CIs and weighted mean difference (WMD). The I 2 index was used to evaluate the between-study heterogeneity. To explore the heterogeneity source, we used meta-regression and subgroup analysis. Publication bias and sensitivity analysis were also performed. We used the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation approach to evaluate the evidence quality., Results: We included 12 trials with 589 participants. We found evident effects of hesperidin on low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (WMD: -0.22 mmol/L; 95% CI: -0.33, -0.11 mmol/L), total cholesterol (WMD: -0.20 mmol/L; 95% CI: -0.31, -0.08 mmol/L), fasting blood glucose (WMD: -0.15 mg/dL; 95% CI: -0.29, -0.02 mg/dL), quantitative insulin-sensitivity check index (WMD 0.06, 95% CI 0.01 to 0.10), intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (WMD: -13.60 ng/mL; 95% CI: -23.72, -3.48 ng/mL), vascular cell adhesion molecule 1 (WMD: -15.60 ng/mL; 95% CI: -30.13, -1.06 ng/mL), and C-reactive protein (WMD: -0.56 mg/L; 95% CI: -1.11, -0.01 mg/L), whereas no effects were found for other CVDRFs., Conclusions: Our current findings demonstrate that hesperidin might be advantageous in improving numerous CVDRFs in humans, such as blood lipid concentrations, blood glucose control, and management of inflammatory indicators., (© 2023 Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of American Society for Nutrition.)

Background: The potential role of krill oil (KO) supplementation on cardiovascular health are inconsistent in several clinical trials. Therefore, our present meta-analysis aimed to systematically evaluate the impacts of supplementation of KO on cardiovascular disease risk factors (CVDRFs)., Methods: Intervention trials assessing KO supplementation on cardiovascular disease (CVD) outcomes were systematically retrieved for pooling. The primary outcome was lipid profile. Secondary outcomes were consisted by blood pressure, glycemic indices, body composition together with inflammatory markers. We synthesized the effect sizes with 95% confidence intervals and weighted mean difference. To explore the heterogeneity source, we employed meta-regression and subgroup analysis. Quality assessment, publication bias, sensitivity-analysis and the certainty of evidence were also carried out., Results: We included 14 trials (18 treatment arms) with 1458 participants. KO supplementation had beneficial effects on total cholesterol (P = 0.01), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (P = 0.006), and triglycerides (P = 0.0005). However, no effects were found for other CVDRFs, such as blood pressure, glycemic control, body composition as well as inflammatory markers. Subgroup analyses indicated that these notably favorable effects were observed in trials with a parallel design, treatment duration <8 weeks and subjects with baseline body mass index <28 kg/m 2 . The above findings remained consistent in the sensitivity analysis, without obvious publication bias detected., Conclusions: The current evidence demonstrated that daily KO supplementation may as a candidate for lipid management strategies. In future, studies should pay attention to the relationships of KO intake with the incidence of CVD events or all-cause mortality., 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 Research Trust of DiabetesIndia (DiabetesIndia) and National Diabetes Obesity and Cholesterol Foundation (N-DOC). Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

A new member of the 2D carbon family, grapheneplus (G+), has demonstrated excellent properties, such as Dirac cones and high surface area. In this study, the electronic transport properties of G+, NG+, and BG+ monolayers in which the NG+/BG+ can be obtained by replacing the center sp 3 hybrid carbon atoms of the G+ with N/B atoms, were studied and compared using density functional theory and the non-equilibrium Green's function method. The results revealed that G+ is a semi-metal with two Dirac cones, which becomes metallic upon doping with N or B atoms. Based on the electronic structures, the conductivities of the 2D G+, NG+ and BG+-based nanodevices were analyzed deeply. It was found that the currents of all the designed devices increased with increasing the applied bias voltage, showing obvious quasi-linear current-voltage characteristics. I G+ was significantly higher than I NG+ and I BG+ at the same bias voltage, and I G+ was almost twice I BG+ , indicating that the electron mobility of G+ can be controlled by B/N doping. Additionally, the gas sensitivities of G+, NG+, and BG+-based gas sensors in detecting C 2 H 4 , CH 2 O, CH 4 O, and CH 4 organic gases were studied. All the considered sensors can chemically adsorb C 2 H 4 and CH 2 O, but there were only weak van der Waals interactions with CH 4 O and CH 4 . For chemical adsorption, the gas sensitivities of these sensors were considerably high and steady, and the sensitivity of NG+ to adsorb C 2 H 4 and CH 2 O was greater as compared to G+ and BG+ at higher bias voltages. Interestingly, the maximum sensitivity difference for BG+ toward C 2 H 4 and CH 2 O was 17%, which is better as compared to G+ and NG+. The high sensitivity and different response signals of these sensors were analyzed by transmission spectra and scattering state separation at the Fermi level. Gas sensors based on G+ monolayers can effectively detect organic gases such as C 2 H 4 and CH 2 O, triggering their broad potential application prospects in the field of gas sensing.

Knee osteoarthritis (KOA) is a common geriatric disease in middle-aged and elderly people. Its main pathological characteristics are articular cartilage degeneration, changes in subchondral bone reactivity, osteophyte formation at joint edges, synovial disease, ligament relaxation or contracture, and joint capsular contracture. The prevalence rate of symptomatic KOA in middle-aged and elderly people in China is 8.1%, and this is increasing. The main clinical manifestations of this disease are pain and limited activity of the knee joint, which seriously affect the quality of life of patients and may cause disability, posing a huge burden on society and the economy. Although the pathogenesis of KOA is not clear, the treatment of KOA is diverse, and Chinese medicine, which mainly relies on plant-based natural products, has a relatively stable and reliable curative effect. This guideline aims to emphasize the evidence-based staging and stepped treatment of KOA and the therapeutic effect of integrative medicine based on traditional Chinese medicine on KOA. We make recommendations that include the adoption of manual therapy, acupuncture, external application of herbs, herbal plasters, exercise therapy, and other integrative medicine based on traditional Chinese medicine. Users of the above guidelines are most likely to include clinicians and health managers in healthcare settings., 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 Zeng, Zhou, Yang and Liu.)

Background and Objective: With the development of global population aging, comorbidity (≥2 diseases) is a common health problem among elderly people. Osteoarthritis (OA) and osteoporosis (OP) are common in elderly individuals. There is a lack of drug therapy for OA and OP comorbidities. The purpose of this study was to explore the efficacy and mechanism of Longbie capsule (LBJN), which contains various plant herbs, in treating OA and OP comorbidities (OA + OP) in rats using metabolomics techniques., Methods: We created an OA + OP rat model through bilateral oophorectomy combined with meniscus instability surgery. Thirty SD rats were randomly divided into five groups (six in each group), namely, the sham group, OA group, OA + OP group, LBJN low-dose group (0.625 g/kg, OA + OP+LB-L group) and LBJN high-dose group (1.25 g/kg, OA + OP+LB-H group). After 8 weeks of intervention, we used micro-CT to detect bone microstructure status, ELISA to measure bone metabolism indicators, and UPLC-MS technology for metabolomics analysis. Finally, the screened differentially expressed metabolites were subjected to Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway and functional enrichment analysis., Results: The micro-CT results showed that LBJN significantly improved the bone mineral density (BMD) and bone quality of subchondral bone in OA + OP rats, and LBJN regulated the expression of bone alkaline phosphatase (BALP), osteoprotegerin (OPG), and tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (TRACP) in serum to maintain bone metabolism balance. Metabolomics analysis showed that the metabolic trajectory of OA + OP rats after intervention in the OA + OP+LB-H group showed significant changes, and 107 potential biomarkers could be identified. Among them, 50 metabolites were upregulated (such as zeranol ) and 57 were downregulated (such as vanillactic acid ). The KEGG functional enrichment results indicated that the differentially expressed metabolites are mainly involved in amino acid metabolism, lipid metabolism, and carbohydrate metabolism. The KEGG pathway enrichment results indicated that LBJN may exert therapeutic effects on OA + OP rats by regulating the cAMP signaling pathway, and the FoxO signaling pathway., Conclusion: LBJN can maintain bone metabolism balance by regulating serum lipid metabolism, amino acid metabolism, carbohydrate metabolism, and estrogen, thereby reducing bone loss in subchondral bone, which may be a potential mechanism through which LBJN treats OA + OP., 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 Liang, Zhao, Zhao, Dou, Huang, Yang, Zhou, Gu, Pan and Liu.)

Knee osteoarthritis (KOA) is a degenerative disease with synovial inflammation, articular surface cartilage degeneration, meniscus degeneration, ligament and muscle changes, subchondral bone changes, and osteophyte formation around the joint as the main pathological changes. Osteoporosis (OP) is a disease characterized by low bone mass and deterioration of the microstructure of bone tissue. KOA and OP are both geriatric diseases, and the incidence of KOA combined with OP is high, but there is a lack of specific drugs, and the major treatments are limited to drug therapy. Most traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) treatments use plant-based natural products, and they help patients obtain good clinical benefits and at the same time provide researchers with ideas to study the mechanism of disease occurrence and the relationship between the two diseases. This article summarizes the research progress of TCM monomers and TCM compounds that are frequently used to treat KOA combined with OP to provide ideas for future clinical treatments and related basic research., 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 Zhou, Zhang, Gu, Zhao, Luo and Liu.)

Background: Rotavirus (RV) is the main cause of serious diarrhea in infants and young children worldwide. Numerous studies have demonstrated that RV use host cell mechanisms to motivate their own stabilization and multiplication by degrading, enhancing, or hijacking microRNAs (miRNAs). Therefore, exploring the molecular mechanisms by which miRNAs motivate or restrain RV replication by controlling different biological processes, including autophagy, will help to better understand the pathogenesis of RV development. This study mainly explored the effect of miR-194-3p on autophagy after RV infection and its underlying mechanism of the regulation of RV replication., Methods: Caco-2 cells were infected with RV and used to measure the expression levels of miR-194-3p and silent information regulator 1 (SIRT1). After transfection with plasmids and RV infection, viral structural proteins, RV titer, cell viability, and autophagy-linked proteins were tested. The degree of acetylation of p53 was further investigated. A RV-infected neonatal mouse model was constructed in vivo and was evaluated for diarrhea symptoms and lipid droplet formation., Results: The results showed that miR-194-3p was reduced but SIRT1 was elevated after RV infection. Elevation of miR-194-3p or repression of SIRT1 inhibited RV replication through the regulation of autophagy. The overexpression of SIRT1 reversed the effects of miR-194-3p on RV replication. The upregulation of miR-194-3p or the downregulation of SIRT1 repressed RV replication in vivo. MiR-194-3p targeted SIRT1 to decrease p53 acetylation., Conclusion: These results were used to determine the mechanism of miR-194-3p in RV replication, and identified a novel therapeutic small RNA molecule that can be used against RV., (© 2023. BioMed Central Ltd., part of Springer Nature.)

Context: Cervical cancer is the most common gynecological pernicious tumor with high morbidity and mortality worldwide, especially in developing countries. Arctigenin (ARG), a nature-derived component, has exhibited anti-tumor activity in various tumors., Objective: To explore the effect of ARG on cervical cancer., Materials and Methods: The effect and mechanism of ARG on cervical cancer cells were explored by cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8), flow cytometry, transwell and Western blot assays. Additionally, in vivo experiment was conducted in xenografted mice by immunohistochemistry (IHC), terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase deoxyuridine triphosphate (dUTP) nick end labeling (TUNEL) and Western blot assays., Results: ARG treatment induced both concentration-dependent and time-dependent reductions in the cell viability of SiHa and HeLa cells with a IC50 value of 9.34 μM and 14.45 μM, respectively. ARG increased the apoptosis rate and the protein levels of cleaved-caspase 3 and E-cadherin, but decreased the invaded cell numbers and the protein levels of Vimentin and N-cadherin in vitro . Mechanically, ARG inhibited the expression of focal adhesion kinase (FAK)/paxillin pathway, which was confirmed by the overexpression of FAK in SiHa cells. The inhibitory role of overexpression of FAK in proliferation and invasion, as well as its promoted role in apoptosis were reversed with ARG treatment. Meanwhile, ARG suppressed growth and metastasis, and enhanced apoptosis in vivo . Consistently, ARG administration reduced the relative protein level of p -FAK/FAK and p -paxillin/paxillin in tumor tissues of xenografted mice., Conclusion: ARG inhibited proliferation, invasion and metastasis, but enhanced apoptosis of cervical cancer via the FAK/paxillin axis., Competing Interests: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests., (© 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Background: Rotavirus (RV) is a double-stranded RNA virus. RV prevention and treatment remain a major public health problem due to the lack of clinically specific drugs. Deoxyshikonin is a natural compound isolated from the root of Lithospermum erythrorhizon and one of the shikonin derivatives which owns remarkable therapeutic effects on multiple diseases. The purpose of this research was to inquire Deoxyshikonin's role and mechanism in RV infection., Methods: Deoxyshikonin's function in RV was estimated using Cell Counting Kit-8 analysis, cytopathic effect inhibition assay, virus titer determination, quantitative real-time PCR, enzyme linked-immunosorbent assay, Western blot, immunofluorescence, and glutathione levels detection. Also, Deoxyshikonin's mechanism in RV was appraised with Western blot, virus titer determination, and glutathione levels detection. Moreover, Deoxyshikonin's function in RV in vivo was determined using animal models, and diarrhea score analysis., Results: Deoxyshikonin owned anti-RV activity and repressed RV replication in Caco-2 cells. Furthermore, Deoxyshikonin reduced autophagy and oxidative stress caused by RV. Mechanistically, Deoxyshikonin induced low protein levels of SIRT1, ac-Foxo1, Rab7, VP6, low levels of RV titers, low autophagy and oxidative stress. SIRT1 overexpression abolished the effects of Deoxyshikonin on RV-treated Caco-2 cells. Meanwhile, in vivo research affirmed that Deoxyshikonin also possessed anti-RV function, and this was reflected in increased survival rate, body weight, GSH levels, and decreased diarrhea score, RV virus antigen, LC-3II/LC3-I., Conclusion: Deoxyshikonin reduced RV replication through mediating autophagy and oxidative stress via SIRT1/FoxO1/Rab7 pathway., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest Authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Nonvolatile electrical control is the core of future magnetoelectric nanodevices. In this work, we systematically explore both the electronic structures and transport properties of multiferroic van der Waals (vdW) heterostructures consisting of a ferromagnetic FeI 2 monolayer and a ferroelectric In 2 S 3 monolayer using density functional theory and the nonequilibrium Green's function method. The results reveal that the FeI 2 monolayer can be reversibly switched between semiconducting and half-metallic properties by nonvolatile control of the In 2 S 3 ferroelectric polarization states. Correspondingly, the proof-of-concept two-probe nanodevice based on the FeI 2 /In 2 S 3 vdW heterostructure exhibits a significant valving effect by modulating the ferroelectric switching. Moreover, it is also found that the preference of nitrogen-containing gases such as NH 3 , NO, and NO 2 for adsorption on the surface of FeI 2 /In 2 S 3 vdW heterostructures strongly depends on the polarization direction of the ferroelectric layer. In particular, the FeI 2 /In 2 S 3 heterostructure shows reversible capture behavior for NH 3 . As a result, the FeI 2 /In 2 S 3 vdW heterostructure-based gas sensor demonstrates high selectivity and sensitivity. These findings may open up a new route for the application of multiferroic heterostructures to spintronics, nonvolatile memories, and gas sensors.

Myocardial fibrosis is the most serious complication of viral myocarditis (VMC). This study aimed to investigate the therapeutic benefits and underlying mechanisms of lentivirus-mediated human tissue kallikrein gene transfer in myocardial fibrosis in VMC mice. We established VMC mouse model via intraperitoneal injection with Coxsackie B3 virus. The effect was then assessed after treatment with vehicle, the empty lentiviral vectors (EZ.null), and the vectors expressing hKLK1 (EZ.hKLK1) via tail vein injection for 30 days, respectively. The results showed that administering EZ.hKLK1 successfully induced hKLK1 overexpression in mouse heart. Compared with EZ.null treatment, EZ.hKLK1 administration significantly reduced the heart/weight ratio, improved cardiac function, and ameliorated myocardial inflammation in VMC mice, suggesting that hKLK1 overexpression alleviates VMC in mice. EZ.hKLK1 administration also significantly abrogated the increased myocardial collagen content, type I/III collagen ratio, TGF-β1 mRNA and protein expression in VMC mice, suggesting that hKLK1 overexpression reduces collagen accumulation and blunts TGF-β1 signaling in the hearts of VMC mice. In conclusion, our results suggest that hKLK1 alleviates myocardial fibrosis in VMC mice, possibly by downregulating TGF-β1 expression., Competing Interests: The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.

Two-dimensional (2D) magnetic materials are the key to the development of the new generation in spintronics technology and engineering multifunctional devices. Herein, the electronic, spin-resolved transmission, and gas sensing properties of the 2D g-C 4 N 3 /MoS 2 van der Waals (vdW) heterostructure have been investigated by using density functional theory with non-equilibrium Green's function method. First, the g-C 4 N 3 /MoS 2 vdW heterostructure demonstrates ferromagnetic half-metallicity and superior adsorption capacity for gas molecules. The spin-dependent electronic transport of the g-C 4 N 3 /MoS 2 -based nanodevice is obviously regulated by parallel or anti-parallel spin configuration in electrodes, leading to perfect single-spin conduction behavior with a nearly 100% spin filtering efficiency, a negative differential resistance effect, and other interesting electrical transport phenomena. Moreover, g-C 4 N 3 /MoS 2 exhibits directional dependency and strong transport anisotropic behavior under bias windows, indicating that the electric current propagates more easily through the vertical direction than the horizontal direction. The physical mechanisms are revealed and analyzed by presenting the bias-dependent transmission spectra in combination with the projected local device density of states. Finally, the g-C 4 N 3 /MoS 2 -based gas sensor is more sensitive to CO, NO, NO 2 , and NH 3 molecules with the chemisorption type. The strong chemical adsorption leads to the formation of electrons on the local scattering center and ultimately affects the transport properties, resulting in the maximum gas sensitivity reaching 6.45 for NO at the bias of 0.8 V. This work not only reveals that the g-C 4 N 3 /MoS 2 vdW heterostructure with high anisotropy, perfect spin filtering, and outstanding gas sensitivity is a promising 2D material but also provides an insight into the further application in futuristic electronic nanodevices.

We study the properties of edge states for a selected (10,1)[(4,3)] twisted bilayer graphene (TBG) nanoribbon with minimal edges but a majority of zigzag edges. By using the tight-binding and Green's function methods, we find a remarkable rule of a local electronic transfer for the edge states. As the energy away from the Fermi level, the transfer is in the order of convex AB-, concave AB-, concave AA- and convex AA-stacked regions of the ribbon curve edges. We illustrate that this rule comes from the difference in interlayer couplings among the four types of local geometries at edges. Further, an in-plane transverse electric field can rearrange the edge bands and enlarge the energy regimes, leading to the lowest energy states modified from AB-stacked edge states to AA-stacked ones. The realignment of the edge bands results from the interplay between the interlayer coupling and the potential difference induced by the transverse electric field, which results in different bonding and antibonding edge states, i.e. the edge bands. In contrast, the total energy regime of the edge bands remain nearly unchanged under a relative strong off-plane perpendicular electric field, and the typical AA-stacked edge states are still maintained even the rotational symmetry of two layers is broken. Until a sufficiently strong value, the TBG nanoribbon tends to behave as two noninteracting monolayer ribbons except for a band distortion in low-energy regime. The conductance spectra reflects the edge bands well. We also discussed the influence of edge defects in the TBG nanoribbon on transport properties. It is found that the contributed conductance of each type of edge states shows different degrees of suppression for a monatomic vacancy in the corresponding region of edges., (© 2022 IOP Publishing Ltd.)

Objective: The aim is to evaluate the diagnostic value of Activin A levels in serum and pleural fluid on Parapneumonic Pleural Effusion (PPE)., Methods: The authors collected serum and pleural fluid from 86 PPE and 37 Non-PPE (NPPE) patients. Including Activin A, levels of biomarkers such as Lactate Dehydrogenase (LDH), Procalcitonin (PCT), and C-Reactive Protein (CRP) were measured. All factors were calculated for association with days after admission. The diagnostic potential of biomarkers on PPE was considered by Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve analysis., Results: Levels of Activin A in serum and pleural fluid of PPE patients were significantly higher than those of the NPPE patients. Moreover, concentrations of Activin A in pleural fluid showed a more obvious relevant days after admission. ROC curve analysis found that Activin A in pleural fluid had AUCs of 0.899 with 93% sensitivity and 84% specificity for PPE diagnosis., Conclusion: Activin A in pleural fluid correlated with disease severity could act to diagnose PPE., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2022 HCFMUSP. Published by Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.)

Objectives: Rotavirus (RV) is one of the most significant pathogens associated with childhood diarrhoeal deaths worldwide. Elevated cytoplasmic calcium is required for RV replication, but the underlying mechanisms responsible for calcium influx remain poorly understood. The Calcium-sensing receptor (CaSR) is an important Ca 2+ sensor that regulates the transport of Ca 2+ into or out of the extracellular space by affecting the status of Ca 2+ ion channels on the membrane of cells. Currently, the function of CaSR in RV replication is unclear., Materials and Methods: We evaluated the mRNA and protein levels of CaSR in RV-infected cells using qRT-PCR and Western blotting, respectively. Furthermore, we silenced or overexpressed CaSR in Caco-2 cells using siRNA or a CaSR gene contained adenovirus (Adv-CaSR). qRT-PCR, plaque assay, and Western blotting were used to determine the synthesis of virus genomic RNA, production of progeny virion, and the levels of viral proteins. The content of Ca 2+ in cells was observed under confocal microscopy., Results: Compared with control cells, the RV-infected cells presented significantly decreased CaSR expression. Moreover, adenoviral-mediated over-expression or induction of CaSR by R568 greatly inhibited the RV RNA synthesis, protein expression, and formation of viroplasm plaques, thereby suppressing RV replication. In contrast, CaSR-silenced cells exhibited significantly enhanced RV replication. Compared with the Adv-Control group, the concentration of cytosolic Ca 2+ significantly decreased in the Adv-CaSR group., Conclusion: These findings demonstrated that CaSR is a potential target for inhibition of RV replication. Therefore, enhancing the expression of CaSR might protect hosts from RV infections., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Background: Recently, many diagnostic biomarkers were reported, but each had its own limitation. However, there is a need for an effective sensitivity and specificity of biomarker in diagnosis and prognosis of sepsis. In this context, progranulin (PGRN), at elevated levels, has been associated with poor prognosis in infectious diseases. Moreover, increased PGRN levels were seen in septic mice. As the prognostic value of PGRN in humans is unclear, we aimed to identify the predictive value of serum PGRN for the prognosis of sepsis., Methods: A total of 128 participants with sepsis and 58 healthy controls were recruited in this study. The levels of serum PGRN were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. According to the outcomes, patients were divided into survival and non-survival groups., Results: Serum PGRN levels had upregulated in patients with sepsis compared with those in healthy controls (P < 0.001) as well as in non‑survivors compared with those in survivors (P < 0.001). Furthermore, serum PGRN levels exhibited positive correlation with hypersensitive C-reactive protein, procalcitonin, sepsis‑related organ failure assessment (SOFA) scores, and acute physiology and chronic health evaluation II (APACHE II) scores. PGRN had a higher predictive effect, especially the 28-day in-hospital mortality (p < 0.001), when using it with SOFA or APACHE II scores. Cox proportional regression analysis showed that PGRN was an independent predictor for 28-day mortality risk in sepsis., Conclusions: PGRN, as a biomarker of sepsis, could improve the prognostic power of traditional parameters. This study is the first to report the clinical significance of PGRN levels in terms of the severity and prognosis of sepsis., (Copyright © 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Side effects of afatinib are a problem in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, little is known about the occurrence of afatinib-induced hypotension. An 81-year-old man with NSCLC had an epidermal growth factor receptor-positive genotype with the p.L861Q mutation in exon 21. He was administered afatinib (40 mg/day) as anticancer therapy. Hypotension occurred twice after afatinib initiation. He suffered from dizziness and nausea. Blood pressure gradually returned to normal after afatinib cessation. Clinicians should be aware of hypotension in patients with NSCLC after afatinib initiation., (Copyright © 2021 The Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.)

The present analysis was to summarize the evidence of the effects of sesame and its derivatives supplementation on cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors by performing a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Electronic databases were searched from their inception to July 2020. Two investigators independently assessed articles for inclusion, extracted data, and statistical analysis. The quality of included articles was assessed according to the Cochrane risk of bias tool. Major outcomes were synthesized using a random effect model and presented as weighted mean difference and 95% confidence interval. Heterogeneity, subgroup analyses, sensitivity analysis, meta-regression, and publication bias were also conducted. The GRADE approach was used to evaluate the quality of evidence. Overall, 16 trials involving 908 participants were included for statistical pooling. Compared with the control group, sesame intake significantly decreased the levels of total cholesterol, triglycerides, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, body weight, body mass index, hip circumference, and waist circumference ( P  < 0.05). These results were stable in sensitivity analysis, and no significant publication bias was detected. Our findings provided evidence that sesame consumption may reduce the risk of CVD by improving blood lipids, blood pressure, and body weight management. Further large-scale, well-designed RCTs are required to confirm these results.

Background: An increasing number of studies have indicated that uncomplicated acute appendicitis can be cured with antibiotics alone. Reducing the hazards of appendicitis in infants and young children is a priority problem. It is necessary to search for potential biomarkers for early diagnosis of appendicitis in infants and young children., Methods: A retrospective cohort study, including 366 infants and young children treated in the pediatric surgery department, was conducted. Complete blood count, C-reactive protein, and procalcitonin were measured at admission and 24 hours after operation., Results: The median of PCT, CRP, and WBC in the acute appendicitis group and other diseases group were 1.20, 0.11 - 4.06; 16.50, 0.81 - 76.21; 13.51, 7.53 - 26.30 and 0.03, 0.01 - 0.13; 3.35, 0.92 - 6.33; 14.34, 8.84 - 17.23 at the admission, respectively. PCT and CRP were found higher in the acute appendicitis group than that in other abdominal pain diseases group (p < 0.05). WBC is not a specific indicator for identifying acute appendicitis and other abdominal pain diseases (p > 0.05). In different acute appendicitis cases, PCT and CRP significantly increased in complicated appendicitis (p < 0.05). Data showed that WBC mildly increased in complicated appendicitis compared to acute simple appendicitis (p < 0.05). ROC curves showed that PCT was a specific indicator for identifying acute appendicitis and other abdominal pain diseases, AUCPCT = 1.000 (95% CI, 0.999 - 1.000). The median of antibiotic treatment is 4.0 d (95% CI 3.0 - 5.0) in acute appendicitis with PCT results versus 7.0 d (95% CI 5.0 - 9.0) in acute appendicitis without PCT result., Conclusions: PCT shows a high diagnostic ability for appendicitis in infants and young children at admission and assists pediatricians in management of pediatric appendicitis. The combination of these biomarkers is highly recommended. Further studies are needed to confirm our findings.

B-site Os-doped quadruple perovskite oxides LaCu 3 Fe 4- x Os x O 12 ( x = 1 and 2) were prepared under high-pressure and high-temperature conditions. Although parent compound LaCu 3 Fe 4 O 12 experiences Cu-Fe intermetallic charge transfer that changes the Cu 3+ /Fe 3+ charge combination to Cu 2+ /Fe 3.75+ at 393 K, in the Os-doped samples, the Cu and Fe charge states are found to be constant 2+ and 3+, respectively, indicating the complete suppression of charge transfer. Correspondingly, Os 6+ and mixed Os 4.5+ valence states are determined by X-ray absorption spectroscopy for x = 1 and x = 2 compositions, respectively. The x = 1 sample crystallizes in an Fe/Os disordered structure with the Im 3̅ space group. It experiences a spin-glass transition around 480 K. With further Os substitution up to x = 2, the crystal symmetry changes to Pn 3̅, where Fe and Os are orderly distributed in a rocksalt-type fashion at the B site. Moreover, this composition shows a long-range Cu 2+ (↑)Fe 3+ (↑)Os 4.5+ (↓) ferrimagnetic ordering near 520 K. This work provides a rare example for 5d substitution-suppressed intermetallic charge transfer as well as induced structural and magnetic phase transitions with high spin ordering temperature.

The α - T 3 lattice, a minimal model that presents flat bands, has sparked much interest in research but the finite-size effect and interaction has been rarely involved. Here we theoretically study the electronic structure and transport properties of zigzag-edge α - T 3 nanoribbons (Z αT 3 NRs) with and without uniaxial strain, where the exemplary widths N = 40 and 41 for two series are considered. By adopting the mean-field Hubbard model combined with the nonequilibrium Green's function method, we show that the spin-degenerate dispersionless flat band at the Fermi energy for the pristine ribbons is split into spin-up and -down flat bands under electron-electron Coulomb interaction. Specifically, the two bands are shifted toward in an opposite direction and away from the Fermi energy, which leads to an energy gap opening in the case of α ≠ 1. All three series of Z αT 3 NRs with width N = 3 n , 3 n + 1, 3 n + 2 (where n is a positive integer) exhibit an energy gap. This differs from the simple tight-binding calculations without considering electron-electron Coulomb interaction, for which the gap is always zero in the case of N = 3 n + 1. Here, the origin of the energy gap for N = 3 n + 1 arises from Coulomb repulsion between electrons. Importantly, the energy gap can be effectively manipulated by an uniaxial strain and Coulomb interaction if α ≠ 1. The gap linearly increases (decreases) when a tensile (compressive) strain increases, and it also monotonously increases as enhancing Coulomb interaction. Interestingly, a ground state of antiferromagnetic to ferromagnetic transition occurs when α increases from 0.8 to 1, leading to a semiconductor to metallic transition. Besides, the α -, strain- and interaction-dependent conductance is also explored. The findings here may be of importance in the band gap engineering and electromechanical applications of α - T 3 nanoribbon-based devices., (© 2021 IOP Publishing Ltd.)

A carbon phosphide (CP) monolayer, a 2D structure derived from the same 3-fold coordination found both in graphene and phosphorene, has been successfully synthesized in an experiment recently. In this paper, we investigated the modulation of electronic structures and transport characteristics of 2D nanosheets and quasi-1D nanoribbons of CP nanomaterials in the α-phase by using first-principles density functional theory simulation. The calculated band structures show that the band gap of 2D CP nanosheets progressively increases as the uniform biaxial strain changes from compression to stretching. However, the biaxial strain cannot change the indirect band gap behavior of the original 2D CP nanosheet. In addition, the band structures of quasi-1D nanoribbons with different styles of H-passivated zigzag edges have also been studied. The results show that the H-passivated zigzag PC ribbons with two P edges are semiconductors with indirect band gaps, and the gaps decrease with increasing width of ribbons. However, the H-passivated CP nanoribbons with one P-atom terminated edge in combination with one P-atom edge, and H-passivated CC nanoribbons with two C-atom terminated edges display metallic behaviors. The semi-conductive or metallic behaviors of zigzag CP nanoribbons can be explained by presenting the wave function of their energy band around the Fermi level. Finally, the electronic transport properties of different CP nanoribbon based nanojunctions are studied in which arise the interesting negative differential resistance or rectification effects in their current-voltage characteristic curves.

Background: Rotavirus (RV) is the primary causative agent for viral gastroenteritis among infants and young children worldwide. Currently, no clinically approved and effective antiviral drug for the treatment of RV infection is available., Purpose: We investigated the potential anti-RV activity of resveratrol and underlying mechanisms by which resveratrol acted against RV., Methods: The anti-RV activity of resveratrol in vitro was evaluated using plaque reduction assays. The effects of resveratrol on yield of virion progeny, viral polyprotein expression and genomic RNA synthesis were respectively investigated using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays, western blotting and qRT-PCR assays. Further, we also measured the antiviral effect of resveratrol by evaluation of antigen clearance and assessment of changes in proinflammatory cytokines/chemokines in RV-infected neonatal mouse model., Results: Our results indicated that 20 μM of resveratrol significantly inhibited RV replication in Caco-2 cell line by suppressing RV RNA synthesis, protein expression, viroplasm plaque formation, progeny virion production, and RV-induced cytopathy independent of the different strains and cell lines of RV that we used. Analysis of the effect of time post-addition of resveratrol indicated that its application inhibited early processes in the RV replication cycle. Further study of the underlying mechanism of anti-RV activity indicated that resveratrol inhibited RV replication by suppressing expression of heat-shock protein 90 (HSP90) mRNA and protein, and that the effect occurred in a dose-dependent manner. Overexpression of HSP90 was found to have attenuated the inhibitory effect of resveratrol on RV replication. Interestingly, the application of resveratrol were found to down-regulate the level of inhibition of RV-mediated MEK1/2 and ERK phosphorylation. Using a RV-infected suckling mice model, we found that application of resveratrol significantly lessened the severity of diarrhea, decreased viral titers, and relieved associated symptoms. Levels of mRNA expression of interleukin-2, interleukin-10, tumor necrosis factor-α, interferon-γ, macrophage inflammatory protein 1, and monocyte chemotactic protein-1 were all found to have been sharply reduced in intestinal tissue from mice which had been treated with resveratrol (10 or 20 mg/kg) after RV infection (p < 0.05)., Conclusion: These findings implied that resveratrol exhibits antiviral activity and could be a promising treatment for rotavirus infection., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest We wish to confirm that there are no known conflicts of interest associated with this publication and there has been no significant financial support for this work that could have influenced its outcome., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.)

We propose a planar model heterojunction based on α-borophene nanoribbons and study its electronic transport properties. We respectively consider three types of heterojunctions. Each type consists of two zigzag-edge α-borophene nanoribbons (Z αBNR), one is metallic with unpassivated or passivated edges by a hydrogen atom (1H-Z αBNR) and the other is semiconducting with the edge passivated by two hydrogen atoms (2H-Z αBNR) or a single nitrogen atom (N-Z αBNR). Using the first-principles calculations combined with the nonequilibrium Green's function, we observe that the rectifying performance depends strongly on the atomic structural details of a junction. Specifically, the rectification ratio of the junction is almost unchanged when its left metallic ribbon changes from ZBNR to 1H-Z αBNR. However, its ratio increases from 120 to 240 when the right semiconducting one varies from 2H-Z αBNR to N-Z αBNR. This rectification effect can be explained microscopically by the matching degree the electronic bands between two parts of a junction. Our findings imply that the borophene-based heterojunctions may have potential applications in rectification nano-devices.

Kurarinone is a major component found in the dried roots of Sophora flavescens Ait. that participates in vital pharmacological activities. Recombinant CYP450 supersomes and liver microsomes were used to study the metabolic profiles of kurarinone and its inhibitory actions against cytochrome P450 (CYP) and UDP-glucuronosyltransferase (UGT) enzymes. 100  μ M of kurarinone strongly inhibited more than 90% of UGT1A1, UGT1A6, CYP1A2, and CYP2C9. CYP1A2 and CYP2D6 played important roles in catalyzing the biotransformation of kurarinone. Moreover, metabolism of kurarinone considerably differs among species, and metabolic characteristics were similar between monkey and human. Kurarinone demonstrated moderate permeability at values of pH 4.0 and 7.4. Our findings offer a clearer idea to understand the pharmacological and toxicological mechanisms of kurarinone., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2020 Youfa Qin et al.)

We theoretically investigate the Landau levels (LLs) and magneto-capacitance (MC) of monolayer black phosphorus under a perpendicular magnetic field, on which a parabolic potential is applied along with the armchair and zigzag directions, respectively. By both analytically perturbative calculation and numerical diagonalization based on an effective k ⋅ p Hamiltonian, we find that the LLs parabolically depend on the wave vectors and show strong anisotropy as the parabolic potential is applied along with different crystal directions. Specifically, the analytical LLs obtained by perturbative calculation from a decoupled single-band Hamiltonian are in good agreement with the numerical results. Importantly, the LLs are no longer linearly dependent on the magnetic field and level index even in the low energy regime due to the confinement of parabolic potential which repaints the cyclotron orbits. Moreover, the MC spectrum clearly reflects the structure of the LLs and exhibits strong anisotropic oscillating patterns. It can be used to determine the band parameters of phosphorene, i.e., the effective masses and inter-band coupling in the absence of magnetic and electric fields., (© 2020 IOP Publishing Ltd.)

We theoretically investigate the electronic structure and optical absorption spectrum of armchair-edged black phosphorene nanoribbons (APNRs) with and without uniaxial strain based on the tight-binding Hamiltonian and Kubo formula. We analytically obtain the energy spectrum and wavefunction, and reveal the band gap scaling law as 1/(N + 1) 2 for APNRs in the presence and absence of uniaxial strain, where N is the number of armchair dimer across the ribbon. We find the band gap of APNRs linearly increases (decreases) with increasing in-plane uniaxial tensile (compressive) strain ɛ x/y , but shows contrary dependence on the out-of-plane uniaxial strain ɛ z . The effective mass versus strain exhibits the same behavior to that of band gap but with nonlinear dependence. Under an incident light linearly-polarized along the ribbon, we demonstrate that the inter-band optical transitions obey the selection rule Δn = n - n' = 0, but the intra-band transitions are forbidden for both pristine and strained APNRs originating from the orthogonality between the transverse wavefunctions of the sublattices belonging to different subbands. Importantly, the transverse electric field or impurities can release the optical selection rules by breaking the wavefunction orthogonality, which results in that the optical transitions between any subbands are all possible. Our findings provide further understanding on the electronic and optical properties of APNRs, which may pave the way for designing optoelectronic devices based on phosphorene.

To find the optimal one from all feasible module configuration schemes of high-end computer numerical control machine tools according to performance, cost, and delivery, this article studies the method of module configuration optimization. An ideal outranking cardinal point based on the module configuration optimization approach of vertical computer numerical control honing machine is proposed in this article. First, it establishes the multi-objective decision model of the module configuration optimization according to performance indicator function, cost indicator function, and delivery indicator function. Second, the feasible configuration schemes, which are obtained based on customer requirements, are transformed into the data matrix of decision attributes. Third, ideal outranking cardinal point is used to calculate the multi-objective decision model of the module configuration optimization. According to the comprehensive distance between the feasible configuration schemes and the ideal outranking cardinal point, and the inverse ideal outranking cardinal point, the optimal configuration scheme is selected. The feasibility and universality of the proposed approach is verified by a module configuration optimization case of vertical computer numerical control honing machine.

Piperine (Pip) has been widely studied for its multiple activities such as antidepressant, anti-epileptic, and so forth. However, the poor water solubility coupled with low bioavailability may inevitably hinder the application of Pip in the clinical setting. In this study, a formulation strategy was proposed to spontaneously resolve the low bioavailability and dose dividing issue of Pip. The matrix pellets (Pip-SR-pellets) consisting of Pip solid dispersion (Pip-SD) and hydroxypropylmethyl cellulose-K100 were developed to achieve an increased and sustained release profile in vitro . The Pip-SR-pellets were compacted into fast disintegrating tablets (FDTs) with a blend of excipients comprising lactose, MCC, LS-HPC, and CMS-Na. The Pip-SD was characterized by solubility study and XRD. The evaluation of the cross-sectional morphology of the Pip-FDTs via scanning electron microscope proved that Pip-SR-pellets maintained its structural integrity during compression and were uniformly distributed in the Pip-FDTs. The release profile of Pip-SR-pellets was highly consistent with the Pip-FDTs. In vivo pharmacokinetics study demonstrated that the relative bioavailability of Pip-SR-pellets was approximately 2.70-fold higher than that of the pure drug, and 1.62-fold compared with that of Pip-SD. This work therefore showed a potential industrialized method could be applied to formulate poorly water-soluble drug that has dose-dividing requirement.

An ilmenite-like monoclinic phase of HgMnO 3 with space group P 2 1 / c was prepared using high-pressure and high-temperature methods at 18 GPa and 1473 K. The MnO 6 octahedra form a two-dimensional (2D) network in the bc plane, leading to a long-range antiferromagnetic ordering with a low Néel temperature of T N ∼ 32 K. As the synthesis pressure increases to 20 GPa, a new perovskite-like rhombohedral phase with space group R 3̅ c was found to occur. The rhombohedral phase exhibits a three-dimensional (3D) network for the MnO 6 octahedra, giving rise to an antiferromagnetic ordering at T N ∼ 60 K. X-ray absorption spectroscopy confirms the invariable Mn 4+ charge state in these two polymorphic phases, in agreement with the Curie-Weiss and bond valence sum analysis. HgMnO 3 provides an interesting example to study the magnetic properties from 2D to 3D by varying synthesis pressure.

Since the rapid development of theoretical progress on the two-dimensional graphyne nanoribbons and nanojunctions, here we investigate the electronic band structures and transport properties for the junctions based on armchair-edged γ-graphyne nanoribbons (AγGYNRs) with asymmetrically nitrogen (N)-substituting in the central carbon hexagon. By employing first-principles calculation, our computational results imply that the number and the location of single or double N-doping can efficiently modulate the electronic energy band, and the N-doping hexagonal rings in the middle of the junction play a vital role in the charge transport. In specific, the effect of negative difference resistance (NDR) is observed, in which possesses the biggest peak to valley ratio reaching up to 36.8. Interestingly, the N-doped junction with longer molecular chain in the central scattering region can induce a more obvious NDR behavior. The explanation of the mechanism in the microscopic level has suggested that the asymmetrically N-doped junction by introducing a longer molecular chain can produce a more notable pulse-like current-voltage dependence due to the presence of a transporting channel within the bias window under a higher bias voltage. In addition, when the spin injection is considered, an intriguing rectifying effect in combination with NDR is available, which is expected to be applied in future spintronic devices.

Objective: Muscle wasting contributes to the reduced quality of life and increased mortality in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Muscle atrophy in mice with cachexia was caused by Activin A binding to ActRIIB. The role of circulating Activin A leading to muscle atrophy in COPD remains elusive., Methods: In the present study, we evaluated the relationship between serum levels of Activin A and skeletal muscle wasting in COPD patients. The expression levels of serum Activin A were measured in 78 stable COPD patients and in 60 healthy controls via ELISA, which was also used to determine the expression of circulating TNF-α levels. Total skeletal muscle mass (SMM) was calculated according to a validated formula by age and anthropometric measurements. The fat-free mass index (FFMI) was determined as the fat-free mass (FFM) corrected for body surface area., Results: Compared to the healthy controls, COPD patients had upregulated Activin A expression. The elevated levels of Activin A were correlated with TNF-α expression, while total SMM and FFMI were significantly decreased in COPD patients. Furthermore, serum Activin A expression in COPD patients was negatively associated with both FFMI and BMI., Conclusion: The above results showed an association between increased circulating Activin A in COPD patients and the presence of muscle atrophy. Given our previous knowledge, we speculate that Activin A contributes to skeletal muscle wasting in COPD.

Motivated by the recent successful growth of quasi-free-standing single layer blue phosphorus (BlueP) on tellurium functionalized Au(1 1 1) by using black phosphorus as the precursor (Zhang et al 2016 Nano Lett. 16 4903; Gu et al 2017 ACS Nano 11 4943), here we study the strain performance for zigzag BlueP nanoribbons (zBluePNRs) with different edge chemical modifications. Based on the first-principles calculations, interestingly, we find that a narrow zBluePNR of width up to  ∼2 nm with edge sulfur (S) passivation under an uniaxial strain exhibits an important effect of negative Poisson's ratio because of the particularity of the P-S bonds at edges, and as the ribbon width further increases the Poisson's ratio varies from negative to positive. Meanwhile, the S-passivation also induces magnetism, and applying a strong enough strain can transfer this zBluePNR from magnetic metal state to half-metal one. All these physical properties are discussed in connection with the variation of microstructure of the ribbons. Our findings may paving the way for both a fundamental understanding of nanoscale physics and applied device engineering.

We study the electron transport properties through the junction of a benzene molecule in conjunction with two monolayer zigzag-edged phosphorene nanoribbon (ZPNR) electrodes by applying the nonequilibrium Green's functions in combination with the density functional theory. We find that the molecular junction with two phosphorus-carbon bonds exhibits an interesting low-bias negative differential resistance effect with a peak-to-valley ratio of 29, which originates from the edge states in ZPNR due to the anisotropic band structure of phosphorene. Importantly, the performance of the junction can be tuned via the molecule-ZPNR interface bonding. The findings may be useful in sensitive-device applications. Furthermore, the physical mechanisms are revealed and discussed in terms of the electronic transmission spectrum, the evolution of the frontier molecular orbitals, the local device density of states around the Fermi level, and the projected density of states.

Exploring half-metallic nanostructures is a crucial solution for developing high-performance spintronic devices. Black phosphorene is an emerging two-dimensional material possessing strong anisotropic band structure and high mobility. Based on the first principles calculations, we investigated the electronic and magnetic properties of zigzag phosphorene nanoribbons (ZPNRs) with three different functionalization groups (OH/CN, OH/NO 2 , NH 2 /NO 2 ) at the edges. We find that the interplay between edge functionalization and edge oxidation can induce the half metal phase in the ZPNRs, and the half metal phase can be controlled by the external transverse in-plane electric field and the proportion of the functional groups and edge oxidation. The results may pave a new way to construst nanoscale spintronic devices based on black phosphorene nanoribbons.