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Numerous studies have found that probiotics benefit the intestinal barrier. However, the prophylactic effects of probiotics on the intestinal barrier, i.e., if probiotics exert protective effects in healthy individuals to defend them against harmful elements, have seldomly been reported. The present study aimed to investigate the possible mechanisms of potential strains with the function of preventing intestinal barrier damage.This study investigated nine potential probiotic strains using in vitro and in vivo models on their intestinal barrier-protecting properties. Transcriptomic was then employed to decipher the underlying mechanisms of action of the strains.The results showed that the strains, to varying degrees, regulated the ratio of interleukin (IL)-10 and IL-12 in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), increased the transepithelial electrical resistance (TEER) values, and decreased Caco-2 cell monolayers permeability. Correspondingly, the strains showed different prophylactic efficacies in protecting mice from dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced intestinal barrier damage. Remarkably, Bifidobacterium bifidum FL-228.1 (FL-228.1) showed the best prophylactic efficacies in protecting mice from DSS-induced intestinal barrier damage. Further research suggested that FL-228.1 exerted its prophylactic effects by enhancing mucin 2 (Muc2) production and Claudin (Cldn)-4 in the colon. Furthermore, the transcriptomic and protein-protein interactions (PPI) analyses indicated that the inhibition of NLRP3 and the activation of PPARγ and TLR2 could be involved in protecting the intestinal barrier by FL-228.1.Bifidobacterium bifidum FL-228.1 may be developed as a promising probiotic for the prevention of intestinal barrier damage via PPARγ/NLRP3/ TLR2 pathways by enhancing Muc2 and Cldn-4.

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is one of the most common causes of cardiometabolic diseases in overweight individuals. While liver biopsy is the current gold standard to diagnose NAFLD and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a non-invasive alternative still under clinical trials, the former is invasive and the latter costly. We demonstrate electrical impedance tomography (EIT) as a portable method for detecting fatty infiltrate. We enrolled 19 overweight subjects to undergo liver MRI scans, followed by EIT measurements. The MRI images provided the a priori knowledge of the liver boundary conditions for EIT reconstruction, and the multi-echo MRI data quantified liver proton-density fat fraction (PDFF%) to validate fat infiltrate. Using the EIT electrode belts, we circumferentially injected pairwise current to the upper abdomen, followed by acquiring the resulting surface-voltage to reconstruct the liver conductivity. Pearson’s correlation analyses compared EIT conductivity or MRI PDFF with body mass index, age, waist circumference, height, and weight variables. We reveal that the correlation between liver EIT conductivity or MRI PDFF with demographics is statistically insignificant, whereas liver EIT conductivity is inversely correlated with MRI PDFF (R = −0.69, p = 0.003, n = 16). As a pilot study, EIT conductivity provides a portable method for operator-independent and cost-effective detection of hepatic steatosis.

Food allergy is a serious public health problem because of its high incidence and risk. Probiotics can induce immune regulation in patients with allergic diseases, but its mechanism is not fully clear. In this paper, β-lactoglobulin (β-LG)-sensitized mice were used as models to explore the mechanism of Bifidobacterium animalis KV9 (KV9) and Lactobacillus vaginalis FN3 (FN3) on reducing allergic reactions and regulating immune cell function. The results showed that oral administration of KV9 and FN3 significantly reduced the scores of allergic symptoms, hypothermia symptoms, and serum levels of β-LG-specific immunoglobulins E (β-LG-sIgE), histamine, and mast cell protease in allergic mice. Flow cytometry analysis of intestinal dendritic cells (DCs) showed that the proportion of CD11c+major histocompatibility complex (MHC)-II+DCs, CD11c+CD80+DCs, and CD11c+ CD86+DCs increased after KV9 and FN3 intervention, indicating that the strains induced immature DCs and decreased the antigen-presenting capacity of DCs. Meanwhile, the toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4)-NF-κB signaling pathway was activated in DCs. The secretion of interleukin-12 (IL-12) was significantly increased, while interleukin-4 (IL-4) was decreased by DCs after KV9 and FN3 intervention, indicating that DCs have the potential to promote T-cell differentiation into T helper type 1 (Th1) cells. Furthermore, the proportion of CD3+CD8−IFN-γ+ T cells in the spleen increased, while CD3+CD8−IL-4+T cells decreased after oral administration of KV9 and FN3, correcting the T helper type 2 (Th2)-skewed immune responses. These results indicate that KV9 and FN3 reduce β-LG-induced allergic symptoms in mice, and suggest that the two potential probiotics might be used as an alternative therapeutic agent for mitigating food allergy.

Purpose: Intestinal microecology was closely related to malnutrition, but the related mechanism was still unclear. This study aimed to reveal how microorganisms alleviated malnutrition via ghrelin-GHSR/PKC-SCFAs pathway. Methods and results: Melanoma cells B16F10-induced malnourished mice of lung cancer. Strains Bif. animalis F1-7 and L. plantarum FWDG alleviated the malnutrition of mice to some extent by increasing the dietary intake level of mice, but the effect of Bif. animalis F1-7 was more prominent. This process was through increasing the expression level of GHSR and PKC, reducing the expression level of IP3, and finally regulating the secretion level of ghrelin and improving the anorexia of mice. Meanwhile, Bif. animalis F1-7 also reduced the expression levels of GLUT2, SGLT1 and PEPT1 genes and proteins, promoted the increase of acetic acid, butyric acid, isovaleric acid and total acid levels, regulated the nutritional transport process of intestinal energy, and finally improved the nutritional status of tumor mice via ghrelin-GHSR/PKC-SCFAs pathway. Conclusion: Our study provided a data support for the application of potentially beneficial microorganisms of Bif.animalis F1-7 could acts as an auxiliary component to alleviate malnutrition.

Background Previous studies have reported that C reactive protein (CRP), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), and interleukin-6 (IL-6) in Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients are significantly increased, and their progressive increases are clinical warning indicators of severe and critical severity. The purpose of this meta-analysis is to evaluate the efficacy of Tai Chi on CRP, TNF-alpha and IL-6, and provide a basis for complementary treatment of COVID-19. Methods Five English databases (PubMed, Web of Science, Physiotherapy Evidence Database, Cochrane Library and Embase) and four Chinese electronic databases (CNKI, Wanfang, China Science and Technology Journal Database and SinoMed) were searched from inception to April 1st, 2020. Combination MeSH and free text terms were used to make up search strategy. Interventions in RCTs were Tai Chi with or without comparison (usual care, health education, drug therapy, psychosocial therapy). Revman version 5.3 was used to analyze the extracted data. Continuous outcomes were described by SMD, and the I2 test was used to assess heterogeneity. Revised Physiotherapy Evidence Database scale was used to assess methodological quality. Results Nine RCTs involving 571 participants met the inclusion criteria, and the sample size ranged from 19 to 100 per study. Tai Chi can significantly reduce TNF-alpha (Tai Chi intervention: SMD =-0.92, 95% CI: -1.32 to -0.53; Tai Chi plus drug treatment intervention: SMD =-0.63, 95% CI: -1.15 to -0.11), moreover, it could reduce the amount of IL-6 (Tai Chi intervention: SMD =-0.62, 95% CI: -1.00 to -0.23; Tai Chi plus drug treatment intervention: SMD =-2.17, 95% CI: -3.69 to -0.64) and CRP (Tai Chi plus drug treatment intervention: SMD =-1.98, 95% CI: -2.47 to -1.50) while with a high exercise amount. A low exercise amount of Tai Chi showed poor efficacy on CRP (Tai Chi intervention: SMD =-0.18, 95% CI: -0.61 to 0.25; Tai Chi plus drug treatment intervention: SMD =-0.15, 95% CI: -0.47 to 0.16) and IL-6 (Tai Chi intervention: SMD =0.15, 95% CI: -0.24 to 0.55). Discussion The strength of evidence might be limited due to relatively low methodological quality, heterogeneity and indirectness. The overall results elucidate that Tai Chi could significantly reduce TNF-alpha while it did not show the same effects in IL-6 and CRP. After subgroup analysis, Tai Chi with a high exercise amount can reduce IL-6 and CRP. Tai Chi with a high exercise amount could be suggested as a complementary intervention for people with COVID-19. Trial registration PROSPERO CRD42020177655.

Introduction: Despite unparalleled advantages, clinical lead-associated complications of the conventional pacemakers remain to compromise patient safety and survival, accounting for nearly 10% of all implants. The leadless pacemakers from Medtronic or St. Jude Medical are revolutionary products, however, the integrated battery introduced new clinical constraints and health risks. Therefore, developing leadless pacemakers incorporating wireless powering owns special clinical significance to further the miniaturized integration and reduce the repetitive mechanical workload for the hearts. Methods and Results: Hereby, we achieved the leadless intravascular miniaturized pacemaker powered by electromagnetic inductive coupling. The miniaturized assembling was built up from flexible circuit boards, integrating with receiver coils and tiny electrical components for the RF-DC converting. The substrate circuit board will be bent into a cylinder with a diameter of 2.7 mm and filled with PDMS to achieve the electrical isolation and form a narrower tip for easy insertions (Figure 1a,b). The voltage of DC pulse converted at the wireless pacemaker depends on the DC voltage for the RF amplifier and the gap between the coils, ranging from 0.5V to 5V or higher (Figure 1c). After inserting the pacemaker into the anterior vein, the pacing demonstration showed the stimulation spikes and the following regular cardiac Q-R-S-T waves, indicating the pacemaker can stimulate the intrinsic cardiac rhythms (Figure 1d,e). Conclusions: The proposed medical device reveals the potentials of cardiac pacing from the anterior veins and paved the way to further device miniaturization for the intravascular deployment.

Metal patterning via additive manufacturing has been phasing-in to broad applications in many medical, electronics, aerospace, and automotive industries. While previous efforts have produced various promising metal-patterning strategies, their complexity and high cost have limited their practical application in rapid production and prototyping. Herein, a one-step gold printing technique based on anion-assisted photochemical deposition (APD), which can directly print highly conductive gold patterns (1.08 × 10(7) S m(−1)) under ambient conditions without post-annealing treatment, is introduced. Uniquely, the APD uses specific ion effects with projection lithography to pattern Au nanoparticles and simultaneously sinter them into tunable porous gold structures. The significant influence of kosmotropic or chaotropic anions in the precursor ink on tuning the morphologies and conductivities of the printed patterns by employing a series of different ions, including Cl(−) ions, in the printing process is presented. Additionally, the resistance stabilities and the electrochemical properties of the APD-printed gold patterns are carefully investigated. The high conductivity and excellent conformability of the printed Au electrodes are demonstrated with reliable performance in electrophysiological signal delivery and acquisition for biomedical applications. This work exploits the potential of photochemical-deposition-based metal patterning in flexible electronic manufacturing.

Daptomycin (DAP), a last-resort antibiotic for treating Gram-positive bacterial infection, has been widely used in the treatment of vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE). Resistance to both daptomycin and vancomycin leads to difficulties in controlling infections of enterococci. A clinical multidrug-resistant Enterococcus faecium EF332 strain that shows resistance to both daptomycin and vancomycin was identified, for which resistance mechanisms were investigated in this work. Whole-genome sequencing and comparative genomic analysis were performed by third-generation PacBio sequencing, showing that E. faecium EF332 contains four plasmids, including a new multidrug-resistant pEF332-2 plasmid. Two vancomycin resistance-conferring gene clusters vanA and vanM were found on this plasmid, making it the second reported vancomycin-resistant plasmid containing both clusters. New mutations in chromosomal genes cls and gdpD that, respectively, encode cardiolipin synthase and glycerophosphoryl diester phosphodiesterase were identified. Their potential roles in leading to daptomycin resistance were further investigated. Through molecular cloning and phenotypic screening, two-dimensional thin-layer chromatography, fluorescence surface charge test, and analysis of cardiolipin distribution patterns, we found that mutations in cls decrease surface negative charges of the cell membrane (CM) and led to redistribution of lipids of CM. Both events contribute to the DAP resistance of E. faecium EF332. Mutation in gdpD leads to changes in CM phospholipid compositions, but cannot confer DAP resistance. Neither mutation could result in changes in cellular septa. Therefore, we conclude that the daptomycin resistance of E. faecium EF332 is conferred by new cls mutations. This work reports the genetic basis for vancomycin and daptomycin resistance of a multidrug-resistant E. faecium strain, with the finding of new mutations of cls that leads to daptomycin resistance.

Millions of patients worldwide are implanted with permanent pacemakers for the treatment of cardiac arrhythmias and conduction disorders. The increased use of these devices has established a growing clinical need to mitigate associated complications. Pacemaker leads, in particular, present the primary risks in most implants. While wireless power transfer holds great promise in eliminating implantable device leads, anatomical constraints limit efficient wireless transmission over the necessary operational range. We thereby developed a transmitter-centered control system for wireless power transfer with sufficient power for continuous cardiac pacing. Device safety was validated using a computational model of the system within an MRI-based anatomical model. The pacer was then fabricated to meet the acute constraints of the anterior cardiac vein (ACV) to enable intravascular deployment while maintaining power efficiency. Our computational model revealed the wireless system to operate at > 50 times below the tissue energy absorption safety criteria. We further demonstrated the capacity for ex vivo pacing of pig hearts at 60 beats per minute (BPM) and in vivo pacing at 120 BPM following pacer deployment in the ACV. This work thus established the capacity for wireless intravascular pacing with the potential to eliminate complications associated with current lead-based deep tissue implants.

Chinese dwarf cherry is a native shrub in northwest China with a rich and unique fruit aroma. This study aims to determine the changes in volatile profiles during the maturation period, which provides a theoretical basis for the optimal harvest times and the breeding of aroma-rich varieties. The variation in the production of 164 volatile compounds from three Chinese dwarf cherry cultivars, namely, "Jing'ou 1", "Jing'ou 2", and "Jing'ou 3", were investigated by headspace-solid phase microextraction (HS-SPME)-GC-MS. These volatiles mainly constituted alcohols, carbonyls, esters, terpenoids, and hydrocarbons. Their maturation process could be divided into three stages, namely prophase, metaphase, and anaphase. Prophase contained an abundance of hydrocarbons and carbonyls, primarily benzaldehyde being dominant among all volatiles. During metaphase, volatiles remained at a low level of abundance and diversity. Anaphase coincided with full maturation and was associated with esters and terpenoids; in particular, "Jing'ou 3" presented more compound diversity and a high level of acetate esters. The periods including the week prior to veraison and the week during maturation were particularly critical in volatile formation in Chinese dwarf cherries. This study reveals that the low level or lack of hexanal might be one of the distinctive characteristics separating Chinese dwarf cherries from other Cerasus or Rosaceae fruits.

Daptomycin (DAP), a last-resort antibiotic for treating Gram-positive bacterial infection, has been widely used in the treatment of vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE). Resistance to both daptomycin and vancomycin leads to difficulties in controlling infections of enterococci. A clinical multidrug-resistant

Electrical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) has been recognized to characterize oxidized low-density lipoprotein (oxLDL) in the metabolically active plaque. However, intravascular deployment of 3-D EIS-derived electrical impedance tomography (EIT) for endoluminal mapping of oxLDL-laden arterial walls remains an unmet clinical challenge. To this end, we designed the 6-point microelectrode arrays that were circumferentially configurated onto the balloon catheter for 15 intravascular EIS permutations. In parallel, we created the metabolically active plaques by performing partial ligation of right carotid artery in Yorkshire mini-pigs (n = 6 males), followed by demonstrating the plaque progression at baseline, 8 weeks, and 16 weeks of high-fat diet via computed tomography (CT) angiogram. Next, we deployed the 3-D EIS sensors to the right and left carotid arteries, and we demonstrated 3-D EIS mapping of metabolically active endolumen in the right but not left carotid arteries as evidenced by the positive E06 immunostaining for oxLDL-laden regions. By considering electrical conductivity (σ) and permittivity (e) properties of collagen, lipid, and smooth muscle presence in the arterial wall, we further validated the 3-D EIS-derived EIT by reconstructing the histology of right and left carotid arteries for the finite element modeling of the oxLDL-laden endolumen, and we accurately predicted 3-D EIS mapping. Thus, we establish the capability of 3-D EIS-derived EIT to detect oxLDL-laden arterial walls with translational implication to predict metabolically active plaques prone to acute coronary syndromes or stroke.

The influences of preharvest calcium spray (PCS) and postharvest chitosan coating (PCC) treatments on the levels of sugar, organic acid, and phenolics were evaluated for Chinese dwarf cherry fruit ...

Background Recurrent aphthous stomatitis (RAS) is the most common form of oral ulcerative disease, whose cause is still unknown. Researchers have found the association of many factors with the occurrence of RAS, and proposed oral bacterial infection could be a cause for this disease. Methods To investigate whether the occurrence of RAS is associated with oral bacterial infection, we performed high throughput sequencing analysis of bacterial samples collected from the normal oral mucosa and aphthous ulcers of 24 patients. Results Firmicutes, Proteobacteria and Bacteriodetes were the most abundant phyla in the microbiomes analysed. The alpha diversities of the oral mucosa and aphthous ulcer microbiomes were similar, suggesting a similar richness and diversity. The NMDS analysis showed the oral mucosa and aphthous ulcer microbiomes are significantly different. This suggestion is further supported by Anosim, MRPP, and Adonis analyses. More detailed comparison of the two groups of microbiomes suggested that the occurrence of RAS is significantly associated with the increase of Escherichia coli and Alloprevotella, as well as the decrease of Streptococcus. Conclusions Considering E. coli is a very common intestinal bacterium, we propose that E. coli colonization could be a cause for RAS, and controlling E. coli colonization could help curing RAS.

The eye is one of the most complex organs in the human body, containing rich and critical physiological information (e.g., intraocular pressure, corneal temperature, and pH) as well as a library of metabolite biomarkers (e.g., glucose, proteins, and specific ions). Smart contact lenses (SCLs) can serve as a wearable intelligent ocular prosthetic device capable of noninvasive and continuous monitoring of various essential physical/biochemical parameters and drug loading/delivery for the treatment of ocular diseases. Advances in SCL technologies and the growing public interest in personalized health are accelerating SCL research more than ever before. Here, the current status and potential of SCL development through a comprehensive review from fabrication to applications to commercialization are discussed. First, the material, fabrication, and platform designs of the SCLs for the diagnostic and therapeutic applications are discussed. Then, the latest advances in diagnostic and therapeutic SCLs for clinical translation are reviewed. Later, the established techniques for wearable power transfer and wireless data transmission applied to current SCL devices are summarized. An outlook, future opportunities, and challenges for developing next-generation SCL devices are also provided. With the rise in interest of SCL development, this comprehensive and essential review can serve as a new paradigm for the SCL devices.

Phage, the most prevalent creature on the planet, serves a variety of critical roles. Phage’s primary role is to facilitate gene-to-gene communication. The phage proteins can be defined as the virion proteins and the nonvirion ones. Nowadays, experimental identification is a difficult process that necessitates a significant amount of laboratory time and expense. Considering such situation, it is critical to design practical calculating techniques and develop well-performance tools. In this work, the Phage_UniR_LGBM has been proposed to classify the virion proteins. In detailed, such model utilizes the UniRep as the feature and the LightGBM algorithm as the classification model. And then, the training data train the model, and the testing data test the model with the cross-validation. The Phage_UniR_LGBM was compared with the several state-of-the-art features and classification algorithms. The performances of the Phage_UniR_LGBM are 88.51% in Sp,89.89% in Sn, 89.18% in Acc, 0.7873 in MCC, and 0.8925 in F1 score.

Cellulases are glycosylated enzymes that have wide applications in fields like biofuels. It has been widely accepted that glycosylation of cellulases impact their performance. Trichoderma reesei is the most important cellulase-producer and cellobiohydrolase I (CBHI) is the most important cellulase from T. reesei. Therefore, the glycosylation of T. reesei CBHI has been a focus of research. However, investigations have been focused on N-glycosylation of three of the four potential glycosylation sites, as well as O-glycosylation on the linker region, while a full picture of glycosylation of T. reesei CBHI is still needed. In this work, with extensive mass spectrometric investigations on CBHI from two T. reesei strains grown under three conditions, several new discoveries were made: 1) N45 and N64 are N-glycosylated with high mannose type glycans; 2) the catalytic domain of CBHI is extensively O-glycosylated with hexoses and N-acetylhexosamines; 3) experimental evidence on the mannosylation of carbohydrate binding domain (other than the linker adjacent region) was found. With structural analysis, we found several glycosylation sites (such as T383, S8, and S46) are located at the openings of the substrate-binding tunnel, and potentially involve in the binding of cellulose. These investigations provide a full and comprehensive picture on the glycosylation of CBHI from T. reesei, which benefits the engineering of CBHI by raising potential sites for modification.

Golgi is an important eukaryotic organelle. Golgi plays a key role in protein synthesis in eukaryotic cells, and its dysfunction will lead to various genetic and neurodegenerative diseases. In order to better develop drugs to treat diseases, one of the key problems is to identify the protein category of Golgi apparatus. In the past, the physical and chemical properties of Golgi proteins have often been used as feature extraction methods, but more accurate sub-Golgi protein identification is still challenged by existing methods. In this article, we use the Tape-Bert model to extract the features of Golgi body. To create a balanced dataset from an unbalanced Golgi dataset, we used the SMOTE oversampling method. In addition, we screened out the important eigenvalues of 300 dimensions to identify the types of Golgi proteins. In 10-fold cross validation and independent test set test, the accuracy rate reached 90.6% and 95.31%.

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is endemic in developed countries and is one of the most common causes of cardiometabolic diseases in overweight/obese individuals. While liver biopsy or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is the current gold standard to diagnose NAFLD, the former is prone to bleeding and the latter is costly. We hereby demonstrated liver electrical impedance tomography (EIT) as a non-invasive and portable detection method for fatty infiltrate. We enrolled 19 subjects (15 females and 4 males; 27 to 74 years old) to undergo liver MRI scans, followed by EIT measurements via a multi-electrode array. The liver MRI scans provided subject-specific a priori knowledge of the liver boundary conditions for segmentation and EIT reconstruction, and the 3-D multi-echo MRI data quantified liver proton-density fat fraction (PDFF%) as a recognized reference standard for validating liver fat infiltrate. Using acquired voltage data and the reconstruction algorithm for the EIT imaging, we computed the absolute conductivity distribution of abdomen in 2-D. Correlation analyses were performed to compare the individual EIT conductivity vs. MRI PDFF with their demographics in terms of gender, BMI (kg·m−2), age (years), waist circumference (cm), height (cm), and weight (kg). Our results indicate that EIT conductivity (S·m−1) and liver MRI for PDFF were not correlated with the demographics, whereas the decrease in EIT conductivity was correlated with the increase in MRI PDFF (R = − 0.69, p= 0.003). Thus, EIT conductivity holds promise for developing a non-invasive, portable, and quantitative method to detect fatty liver disease.

International audience; Microchannels created in poly-2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (poly(HEMA)) hydrogels have the potential to prevent dry-eye disease by facilitating tear exchange. Biosensors are further demonstrated for wearable biosensing applications.Microchannels in hydrogels play an essential role in enabling a smart contact lens. However, microchannels have rarely been created in commercial hydrogel contact lenses due to their sensitivity to conventional microfabrication techniques. Here, we report the fabrication of microchannels in poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) (poly(HEMA)) hydrogels that are used in commercial contact lenses with a three-dimensional (3D) printed mold. We investigated the corresponding capillary flow behaviors in these microchannels. We observed different capillary flow regimes in these microchannels, depending on their hydration level. In particular, we found that a peristaltic pressure could reinstate flow in a dehydrated channel, indicating that the motion of eye-blinking may help tears flow in a microchannel-containing contact lens. Colorimetric pH and electrochemical Na+ sensing capabilities were demonstrated in these microchannels. This work paves the way for the development of microengineered poly(HEMA) hydrogels for various biomedical applications such as eye-care and wearable biosensing.

Millions of patients worldwide are implanted with permanent pacemakers for the treatment of cardiac arrhythmias and conduction disorders. The increased use of these devices has established a growing clinical need to mitigate associated complications. Pacemaker leads, in particular, present the primary risks in most implants. While wireless power transfer holds great promise in eliminating implantable device leads, anatomical constraints limit efficient wireless transmission over the necessary operational range. We thereby developed a transmitter-centered control system for wireless power transfer with sufficient power for continuous cardiac pacing. Device safety was validated using a computational model of the system within an MRI-based anatomical model. The pacer was then fabricated to meet the acute constraints of the anterior cardiac vein (ACV) to enable intravascular deployment while maintaining power efficiency. Our computational model revealed the wireless system to operate at 50 times below the tissue energy absorption safety criteria. We further demonstrated the capacity for ex vivo pacing of pig hearts at 60 beats per minute (BPM) and in vivo pacing at 120 BPM following pacer deployment in the ACV. This work thus established the capacity for wireless intravascular pacing with the potential to eliminate complications associated with current lead-based deep tissue implants.

The purpose of this study was to explore the effect of trimethylamine (TMA)-degrading probiotic agents on trimethylamine oxide (TMAO) and the related lipid metabolism in mice.Ten lipid-lowering strains were detected with TMA-degradation capacity in vitro. After probiotic intervention for the mice on a high-choline diet, TMA content in cecum and TMA and TMAO in serum was explored, as well as the expression of key gene flavin-containing monooxygenase 3 (FMO3) of the TMA-TMAO metabolism. The expression of genes related to the lipid metabolism was also investigated by real-time polymerase chain reaction and Western blot. Finally, the colonization of functional strains in the intestine were examined.Five of 10 lipid-lowering strains effectively degraded TMA in vitro, and the TMA level in the cecum of mice were reduced after probiotic intervention. TMA level and TMAO in serum were also significantly reduced by the strains (P0.05), but not due to the regulation of FMO3. Probiotic agents could improve the lipid metabolism by acting on the Farnesoid X receptor and cholesterol 7-alpha hydroxy-lase. Among the strains, Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis F1-3-2 showed the most prominent performance and colonized in the cecum of mice.Bif. animalis subsp. lactis F1-3-2 could be colonized in the cecum, and might directly degrade TMA or change the structure of intestinal flora. The strain had an effect on TMA and TMAO levels in vivo by decreasing cecum TMA. The strain was demonstrated to participate in the TMA-TMAO regulation, improve the lipid metabolism, and alleviate atherosclerosis caused by TMAO. However, FMO3 had not changed in this process, and needs further study.

Additional file 1: Table S1. Characteristics of patients in this study.

In the recent years, the subject of Golgi classification has been studied intensively. It has been scientifically proven that Golgi can synthesize many substances, such as polysaccharides, and it can also combine proteins with sugars or lipids with glycoproteins and lipoproteins. In some cells (such as liver cells), the Golgi apparatus is also involved in the synthesis and secretion of lipoproteins. Therefore, the loss of Golgi protein function may have severe effects on the human body. For example, Alzheimer’s disease and diabetes are related to the loss of Golgi protein function. Because the classification of Golgi proteins has a specific effect on the treatment of these diseases, many scholars have studied the classification of Golgi proteins, but the data sets they used were complete Golgi sequences. The focus of this article is whether there is redundancy in the Golgi protein classification or, in other words, whether a part of the entire Golgi protein sequence can be used to complete the Golgi protein classification. Besides, we have adopted a new method to deal with the problem of sample imbalance. After experiments, our model has certain observability.

A wide variety of charge carrier dynamics, such as transport, separation, and extraction, occur at the interfaces of planar heterojunction solar cells. Such factors can affect the overall device performance. Therefore, understanding the buried interfacial molecular structure in various devices and the correlation between interfacial structure and function has become increasingly important. Current characterization techniques for thin films such as X-ray diffraction, cross section scanning electronmicroscopy, and UV-visible absorption spectroscopy are unable to provide the needed molecular structural information at buried interfaces. In this study, by controlling the structure of the hole transport layer (HTL) in a perovskite solar cell and applying a surface/interface-sensitive nonlinear vibrational spectroscopic technique (sum frequency generation vibrational spectroscopy (SFG)), we successfully probed the molecular structure at the buried interface and correlated its structural characteristics to solar cell performance. Here, an edge-on (normal to the interface) polythiophene (PT) interfacial molecular orientation at the buried perovskite (photoactive layer)/PT (HTL) interface showed more than two times the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of a lying down (tangential) PT interfacial orientation. The difference in interfacial molecular structure was achieved by altering the alkyl side chain length of the PT derivatives, where PT with a shorter alkyl side chain showed an edge-on interfacial orientation with a higher PCE than that of PT with a longer alkyl side chain. With similar band gap alignment and bulk structure within the PT layer, it is believed that the interfacial molecular structural variation (i.e., the orientation difference) of the various PT derivatives is the underlying cause of the difference in perovskite solar cell PCE.

The need for the discovery of new antibiotics and solving the antibiotic resistance problem requires rapid detection of antibiotics, identification of known antibiotics, and prediction of antibiotic mechanisms. The bacterial lux genes encode proteins that convert chemical energy into photonic energy and lead to bioluminescence. Exploiting this phenomenon, we constructed a lux-based bioluminescence system in Staphylococcus aureus by expressing lux genes under the control of stress-inducible chaperon promoters. When experiencing antibiotic stress, these constructed reporter strains showed clear bioluminescence response. Therefore, this bioluminescence screening system can be used for the detection of antibiotics in unknown chemical mixtures. Further analysis of bioluminescence response patterns showed that: (1) these bioluminescence response patterns are highly antibiotic specific and therefore can be used for rapid and cheap identification of antibiotics; and that (2) antibiotics having the same mechanism of action have similar bioluminescence patterns and therefore these patterns can be used for the prediction of mechanism for an unknown antibiotic with good sensitivity and specificity. With this bioluminescence screening assay, the discovery and analysis of new antibiotics can be promoted, which benefits in solving the antibiotic resistance problem.

On-chip microlasers are desirable to meet the different control requirements and unique demands in different application scenarios. In this work, we obtained the on-chip microlaser by printing pixelated CdSe/ZnS colloidal quantum dots (CQDs), incorporating the quantum dot self-assembly mechanism and the external cavity-free configuration. The spectral purity of the microlaser can be significantly improved by slightly blending polymer into the CQD matrix. The quasitoroid profile was gradually changed to microdisks as the polystyrene (PS) concentration increased from 0 wt.% to 10 wt.%. Specially, when the PS solution varied from 0 wt.% to 1 wt.%, the lasing threshold of 1.4 μJ/mm2 was increased up to 14 μJ/mm2, meanwhile the emission wavelength range showed a 25 nm blue-shift approximately. The easy printing technologies and the low-cost polymer blending method employed in the obtained microlasers will further facilitate the development of printing photonics and electronics, especially in the high-performance microlaser displays and high-precision sensors.

Polyphenols have long been used as functional compounds and are beneficial for host immunity and gut health. This three-phased study investigated the function of Ouli fermented juice (OF) in improving the immunity of cyclophosphamide (CTX)-immunosuppressed mice and regulating their intestinal microbiota and mucosal barrier. Lactobacillus plantarum fermentation increased the phenolic content in the OF. OF effectively improved host immunity and the intestinal mucosal barrier, including increasing serum immunoglobulin (Ig)A, IgG, and IgM levels and secreted IgA (sIgA) levels in the colon, and reduced CTX-induced pathological damage to the spleen and jejunum. Importantly, OF effectively increased the abundance of Lachnospiracea, Roseburia, Akkermansia, and butyric acid-producing microbes, subsequently increasing the levels of short chain fatty acids in the colon. OF with polyphenols exhibited better efficacy at altering the intestinal flora, which might affect the host immunity by changing the host-mucosal barrier-microbiota interaction.

Chemotherapy is an important comprehensive treatment for breast cancer, which targets micro-environment of tumors as well as their characterisitcs. A previous microarray analysis revealed that matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-1 was highly upregulated in carcinoma-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) prior to and following treatment with Taxotere under co-culture conditions. However, whether the chemotherapeutic effects of Taxotere were influenced by the changes in MMP-1 remained unclear. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the impact and mechanism of CAFs in regulating the efficacy of Taxotere on breast cancer cells. CAFs isolated from primary invasive ductal human breast tumors following surgical resection, were used in co-culture with MDA-MB-231 cells to simulate the tumor micro-environment. Following the addition of Taxotere, changes in MMP-1 gene and protein expression were assessed by reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction and western blot analysis, respectively. Proliferation, invasion and apoptosis assays revealed that when MMP-1 was upregulated in CAFs, the therapeutic efficacy of Taxotere was reduced in breast cancer cells. Chemosensitivity was significantly increased when MMP-1 expression was inhibited by GM6001. In addition, Collagen IV was upregulated in CAFs following chemotherapy and protected breast cancer cells against chemotherapeutic side effects. Collagen IV expression significantly decreased, as well as MMP-1 expression when GM6001 was added. Proliferation and invasion assays demonstrated that the exogenous addition of Collagen IV weakend the chemotherapeutic effect of Taxotere on breast tumor cells. Overall, the results revealed that in CAFs, MMP-1 synergized with Collagen IV as a key gene in regulating the chemotherapeutic effect of Taxotere on breast tumor cells and served an important role in reducing the efficacy of Taxotere on breast cancer, potentially via the transforming growth factor-β signaling pathway. These fidings provide a theoretical basis for the mechanism of CAFs in reducing the chemotherapeutic effect of Taxotere on breast cancer cells and a novel approach for enhancing the chemosensitivity of tumors.

Cassia fistula L. which is known as &ldquo, Golden Shower&rdquo, is used as an ornamental plant due to its flowers, and fruit parts of this plant have a high medicinal value. There are few reports providing a comprehensive overview of the chemical composition of its fruit or explaining the differences between samples from different sources because of the complexity of its chemical components. The purpose of the present study was to establish a fingerprint evaluation system based on Similarity Analysis (SA), Hierarchical Cluster Analysis (HCA) and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) for the composition identification and quality control of this herb. Twelve samples from Xinjiang and Sichuan provinces in China and India were analyzed by HPLC, and there were fifteen common peaks in the twelve batches. Molecular weight and formula information can be derived from thirty-one peaks by UHPLC/LTQ-Orbitrap MSn, molecular structure information of twenty components was obtained, of which ten compounds were identified by comparison with standard materials. Samples of twelve batches were divided according to their similarity into four groups, which were basically consistent with three different C.fistula fruit-producing areas. Five compounds were finally considered to be chemical markers to determine the quality of this herb. A fingerprints method combined with chemometrics was established to differentiate the origin of the fruit of C. fistula which has the advantages of effectivity and convenience, laying the foundation for the quality evaluation of this herb from different sources.

The achievement of perfect light absorption in ultrathin semiconductor materials is not only a long‐standing goal, but also a critical challenge for solar energy applications, and thus requires a redesigned strategy. Here, a general strategy is demonstrated both theoretically and experimentally to create a planar metasurface absorber comprising a 1D ultrathin planar semiconductor film (replacing the 2D array of subwavelength elements in classical metasurfaces), a transparent spacer, and a metallic back reflector. Guided by derived formulisms, a new type of macroscopic planar metasurface absorber is experimentally demonstrated with light near‐perfectly and exclusively absorbed by the ultrathin semiconductor film. To demonstrate the power and simplicity of this strategy, a prototype of a planar metasurface solar cell is experimentally demonstrated. Furthermore, the device model predicts that a colored planar metasurface perovskite solar cell can maintain 75% of the efficiency of its black counterpart despite the use of a perovskite film that is one order of magnitude thinner. The displayed cell colors have high purities comparable to those of state‐of‐the‐art color filters, and are insensitive to viewing angles up to 60°. The general theoretical framework in conjunction with experimental demonstrations lays the foundation for designing miniaturized, planar, and multifunctional solar cells and optoelectronic devices.

By using ultrahigh aspect ratio (>2000:1) silver nanowires (AgNWs) and ethanol-diluted poly (3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) as the overcoating layer, we achieved flexible AgNW-polymer composite transparent electrodes of high conductivity and optical transmittance using facile solution processes at room temperature without annealing. The electrodes were applied in fabricating flexible capacitive pressure sensors and organic photovoltaic (OPV) devices. The pressure sensor with the composite electrodes presents three times higher sensitivity than that using ITO electrodes. A flexible $4 \times 4$ sensor array was also fabricated, which well proved the capability of the electrodes for spatially electronic signal collection and transmission. The fabricated flexible OPV device has a power conversion efficiency of 1.83%, which proves the potential of the electrodes for multilayer integration in optoelectronic device applications.

This paper presents a new voltage driving scheme with current feedback for polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si) thin-film transistors (TFTs) to drive active matrix organic light-emitting diode (AMOLED) displays. The pixel circuit is relatively simple, which is composed of 3 TFTs and 1 capacitor. Circuit simulation results show that the proposed driving scheme can effectively suppress the influence of nonidealities of typical poly-Si TFTs including kink effects, spatial nonuniformity of the electrical characteristics. This method also presents a settling time less than 3 $\mu {\hbox{s}}$ with panel load of 100 pF/1.5 ${\hbox{k}}\Omega $ at all OLED current levels.

We demonstrate centimeter-size, color-stable flexible OLEDs using an ultra-thin Ag electrode. The device shows ∼35% enhanced current efficiencies compared to its ITO counterpart, stable emission color even at large observation angles, and bending stability over 1000 circles.

In thin-film transistor (TFT) logic circuit applications, propagation delay and power dissipation are two key constraints to be considered in optimal circuit design and synthesis. The unipolar zero-V-load logic design is widely used for implementation of TFT digital circuits, because of the simple structure, easy processing, and relatively high gain. In this paper, the analytical models for delay and power were developed for zero-V-load inverters, which clarify the relationships between device and design parameters and the two key design constraints. The proposed models were verified by circuit simulations, and could serve as a guideline for optimal design of unipolar zero-V-load logic circuits.

In this paper, all-solution-processed low-voltage organic thin-film transistor inverters on polyethylene naphthalate plastic substrate were achieved in the bottom-gate bottom-contact device configuration. In the devices, 6,13-bis(triisopropylsilylethynyl)-pentacene blended with polystyrene was used as the channel layer, and ultraviolet cross-linked polyvinyl alcohol was used as the gate dielectric layer. With optimized inkjet jetting process parameters and a proper polymer dielectric substrate surface, fine silver electrodes were formed as the source, drain, and gate electrodes. The maximum processing temperature was 150°C. The devices show promising performance with a mobility of 0.8 cm2/(V·s), a subthreshold swing of 100 mV/decade and an ON/OFF ratio of about 104. The fabricated diode-load inverter has a high dc voltage gain up to 67.3 at a supply voltage of 3 V.

This letter presents an analytical circuit yield model for zero- ${V}_{\mathrm {GS}}$ -load thin-film transistor (TFT) logic circuits, which describes the circuit yield as a function of the circuit complexity, threshold voltage dispersion of TFTs, and circuit design parameters. By comparing the calculation result through the model with that by Monte Carlo statistical circuit simulations, the model is proved to be capable of providing a simple and effective way to predict the yield of a given zero- ${V}_{\mathrm {GS}}$ -load TFT circuit design, and is thus applicable for TFT performance evaluation or device and process optimization.

One-dimensional (1-D) Dynamic supply Voltage Scaling (DVS) scheme with image distortion compensation is proposed for reducing the static power consumption in AMOLED displays. A hybrid simulation platform combining MATLAB and circuit simulator HSPICE was built for the study. By applying the DVS scheme to both static images and video streams, it is shown significant power saving can be achieved (>40% for the test video streams) without sacrifice of the image or video quality.

The noise margin (NM) of an inverter is an important feature for the operation stability of the digital circuits. Owing to their simple structure, easy processes, and relatively high gain, the unipolar zero-VGS-load logic design is widely used for implementation of digital circuits in various thin-film transistor (TFT) technologies. In this paper, a simple NM model clarifying the relationship between the NM and electrical/device parameters is developed for the zero-VGS-load inverter. The model is verified by circuit simulations, and is capable of providing a useful guideline for optimal design of unipolar TFT logic circuits. Finally, the application of the derived model in a static random access memory cell design is discussed.

The synthesis and characterization of four new organic semiconductors with thieno[3,2-b][1]benzothiophene cores and different π-bridge spacers are reported. Cyclic voltammetry measurement indicates that the materials have low energy levels of the highest occupied molecular orbitals and large band gaps. The single-crystal X-ray diffraction experiment reveals that 1,2-di(thieno[3,2-b][1]benzothiophenic-2-)ethylene (DTBTE) molecules have a nearly coplanar structure and crystallize into a herringbone arrangement with strongly intermolecular multiple S···S, S···C, and CH···π interactions. These interactions facilitate charge carrier transport. The DTBTE-based organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs) on an octyltrichlorosilane-modified SiO2/Si substrate exhibit good field-effect performance with the highest mobility of 0.50 cm2 V–1 s–1. Furthermore, the DTBTE-based OTFTs have been fabricated on a flexible polyethylene terephthalate substrate and showed a maximum mobility of up to 0.45 cm2 V–1 s–1, indicating its p...