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ABSTRACT Candida auris is an emerging, multidrug-resistant fungal pathogen that poses a significant public health threat in healthcare settings. Despite yearly clinical cases rapidly increasing from 77 to 8,131 in the last decade, surveillance data on its distribution and prevalence remain limited. We implemented a novel assay for C. auris detection on a nationwide scale prospectively from September 2023 to March 2024, analyzing a total of 13,842 samples from 190 wastewater treatment plants across 41 U.S. states. Assays were extensively validated through comparison to other known assays and internal controls. Of these 190 wastewater treatment plants, C. auris was detected in the wastewater solids of 65 of them (34.2%) with 1.45% of all samples having detectable levels of C. auris nucleic-acids. Detections varied seasonally, with 2.00% of samples positive in autumn vs 1.01% in winter (P < 0.0001). The frequency of detection in wastewater was significantly associated with states having older populations (P < 0.001), sewersheds containing more hospitals (P < 0.0001), and sewersheds containing more nursing homes (P < 0.001). These associations are in agreement with known C. auris epidemiology. This nationwide study demonstrates the viability of wastewater surveillance for C. auris surveillance and further highlights the value of wastewater surveillance when clinical testing is constrained.IMPORTANCEThis study highlights the viability of wastewater surveillance when dealing with emerging pathogens. By leveraging an existing framework of wastewater surveillance, we reveal the widespread presence of C. auris in the United States. We further demonstrate that these wastewater detections are consistent with demographic factors relevant to C. auris epidemiology like age and number of hospitals or nursing homes. As C. auris and other pathogens continue to emerge, the low-cost and rapid nature of wastewater surveillance will provide public health officials with the information necessary to enact targeted prevention and control strategies.

Gene-drives use CRISPR-Cas9 to be transmitted in a super-Mendelian fashion. Here the authors develop an allelic-drive for selective inheritance of a desired allele.

The phylum Acanthocephala is an important group of parasites with more than 1,300 species parasitizing intestine of all major vertebrate groups. However, our present knowledge of the mitochondrial genomes of Acanthocephala remains very limited. In the present study, we sequenced and annotated the complete mitochondrial genome of Acanthogyrus (Acanthosentis) bilaspurensis (Gyracanthocephala: Quadrigyridae) for the first time based on the specimens recovered from the intestine of common carp Cyprinus carpio Linnaeus (Cyprinidae) in Pakistan. The mitochondrial genome of A. bilaspurensis is 13,360 bp in size and contains 36 genes, representing the smallest mitogenome of acanthocephalans reported so far. The mitogenome of A. bilaspurensis also has the lowest level of overall A+T contents (59.3%) in the mitogenomes of Eoacanthocephala, and the non-coding region 3 (NCR3) lies between trn S2 and trn I, which is different from all of the other acanthocephalan species. Phylogenetic analyses based on concatenating the amino acid sequences of 12 protein-coding genes using maximum likelihood (ML) and Bayesian inference (BI) methods revealed that the family Pseudoacanthocephalidae is a sister to the Arhythmacanthidae rather than the Cavisomatidae, and the families Rhadinorhynchidae and Cavisomatidae showed sister relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The service life of mud pump pistons may be extended by imitating the body surface morphology of earthworms. To achieve this solution, bionic strip structures of various sizes are processed on the working surface of a BW-160 mud pump piston. The service lives of standard and bionic pistons are compared under experimental conditions. Results show that the bionic strip structure clearly improves the service life of mud pump pistons. The influence of the width of a bionic piston strip is greater than that of strip spacing. The bionic strip should not be too small or large because size could have negligible or deleterious effects on service life, respectively. The optimal structure parameters of a bionic strip piston when the optimal contact area between the piston and the cylinder liner is 73.5% are a strip width of 3 mm, strip spacing of 3 mm, and strip number of 3. These parameters improve piston service life by 81.5%. Finite element analysis simulations of wear demonstrate that the bionic strip can change the stress state on the working surface of the piston, increase lubricant storage space, improve the wear resistance of the piston, reduce extrusion injuries on the root, and prolong piston service life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been much characterization of the heart as a pump by means of models based on elastance and compliance. The present paper puts forward the new concept of time-varying passive and active elastance. The biomechanical basis of cyclic elastances of the left ventricle (LV) is presented. Elastance is defined in terms of the relationship between ventricular pressure and volume as dP = EdV+ VdE, where E includes passive elastance, Ep, and active elastance, Ea. By incorporating this concept in LV models to simulate diastolic (filling) and systolic phases, a time-varying expression has been obtained for Ea, and an LV volume dependent expression has been obtained for Ep. It is proposed to use these two elastances Ea and Ep to represent the intrinsic LV properties. The active elastance, Ea, can be used to characterize the LV contractile state and represents LV pressure variation due to LV volume variation (such as during the filling and ejection phases). The passive elastance, Ep, can serve as a measure of LV resistance to filling. Furthermore, it has been demonstrated how the LV pressure dynamics (and LV pressure response to LV volume) can be explained in terms of Ea and Ep. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been much characterization of the heart as a pump by means of models based on elastance and compliance. The present paper puts forward the new concept of time-varying passive and active elastance. The biomechanical basis of cyclic elastances of the left ventricle (LV) is presented. Elastance is defined in terms of the relationship between ventricular pressure and volume as d P = E d V + V d E , where E includes passive elastance, E p , and active elastance, E a . By incorporating this concept in LV models to simulate diastolic (filling) and systolic phases, a time-varying expression has been obtained for E a , and an LV volume dependent expression has been obtained for E p . It is proposed to use these two elastances E a and E p to represent the intrinsic LV properties. The active elastance, E a , can be used to characterize the LV contractile state and represents LV pressure variation due to LV volume variation (such as during the filling and ejection phases). The passive elastance, E p , can serve as a measure of LV resistance to filling. Furthermore, it has been demonstrated how the LV pressure dynamics (and LV pressure response to LV volume) can be explained in terms of E a and E p . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a replacement for bisphenol A (BPA), bisphenol AF (BPAF) showed stronger maternal transfer and higher fetal accumulation than BPA. Therefore, concerns should be raised about the health risks of maternal exposure to BPAF during gestation on the offspring. In this study, SD rats were exposed to BPAF (0, 50, and 100 mg/kg/day) during gestation to investigate the bioaccumulation and adverse effects in liver, spleen, and kidney tissues of the offspring at weaning period. Bioaccumulation of BPAF in these tissues with concentrations ranging from 1.56 ng/mg (in spleen of males) to 55.44 ng/mg (in liver of females) led to adverse effects at different biological levels, including increased relative weights of spleen and kidneys, histopathological damage in liver, spleen, and kidney, organ functional damage in liver, spleen, and kidney, upregulated expression of genes related to lipid metabolism (in liver), oxidative stress response (in kidney), immunity and inflammatory (in spleen). Furthermore, dysregulated metabolomics was identified in spleen, with 217 differential metabolites screened and 9 KEGG pathways significantly enriched. This study provides a comprehensive insight into the systemic toxicities of prenatal exposure to BPAF in SD rats. Given the broad applications and widespread occurrence of BPAF, its safety should be re-considered., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Triazine herbicides are widely used in agriculture and have become common pollutants in marine environments. However, the spatiotemporal distribution characteristics and water quality criteria (WQC) of triazine herbicides are still unclear. This study found that triazine herbicides had a high detection rate of 100 % in surface seawater of Laizhou Bay, China, with average concentrations of 217.61, 225.13, 21.97, and 1296.72 ng/L in March, May, August, and October, respectively. Moreover, estuaries were important sources, and especially the Yellow River estuary exhibited the highest concentrations of 16,115.86 ng/L in October. The 10 triazine herbicides were detected in the sediments of Laizhou Bay, with a concentration ranging from 0.14-1.68 μg/kg. Atrazine and prometryn accounted for 33.41 %-59.10 % and 28.93 %-50.06 % of the total triazine herbicides in the seawater, and prometryn had the highest proportion (63.50 %) in the sediments. Correlation analysis revealed that triazine herbicides led to the loss of plankton biodiversity, which further decreased the dissolved oxygen. In addition, this study collected 45 acute toxicity data and 22 chronic toxicity data of atrazine, 16 acute toxicity data of prometryn, and supplemented with toxicity experiments of prometryn on marine organisms. Based on the toxicity database, the WQCs of atrazine and prometryn were derived using species sensitivity distribution. The overall risk probability of atrazine and prometryn were both less than 1.75 % in the Laizhou Bay, indicating an acceptable risk. This study not only clarified the pollution status and ecological risk of triazine herbicides, but also provided scientific basis for their environmental management standards., 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.)

Many environmental pollutants have neurotoxic effects, but the initial molecular events involved in these effects are unclear. Here, zebrafish were exposed to the neurotoxicant bisphenol S (BPS, 1, 10, or 100 μg/L) from the embryonic stage to the larval stage to explore the ability of BPS to interfere with energy metabolism in the brain. BPS, which is similar to a glucose transporter 1 (GLUT1) inhibitor, inhibited GLUT1 function but increased mitochondrial activity in the brains of larval zebrafish. Interestingly, GLUT1 inhibitor treatment and BPS exposure did not reduce energy production in the brain; instead, they increased ATP production by inducing the preferential use of ketone bodies. Moreover, BPS promoted the protein expression of the purinergic 2X receptor but inhibited the purinergic 2Y-mediated phosphatidylinositol signaling pathway, indicating that excess ATP acts as a neurotransmitter to activate the purinergic 2X receptor under the BPS-induced restriction of GLUT1 function. BPS-induced inhibition of GLUT1 increased the number of neurons but promoted apoptosis by activating ATP-purinergic 2X receptors in the brain, causing ATP excitatory neurotoxicity. Our data reveal a potential neurotoxic mechanism induced by BPS that may represent a new adverse outcome pathway.

Microplastics negatively impact soil health and productivity. Organic fertilizers constitute significant contributors of microplastics in agricultural soils. Nevertheless, comprehensive data on the diversity of microplastics in long-term fertilized soils remain unavailable. In this study, we assessed the presence of microplastics in soils subjected to application of three different organic fertilizers (pig manure, chicken manure, and sludge composts) over 12 years, and evaluated the potential ecological risks posed by microplastic accumulation. The average microplastic abundance in soil was 368.88 ± 207.97 (range: 90-910) items/kg. Microplastic abundance differed among fertilization treatments, with substantial increases of 16.67%, 71.67%, and 61.43% upon low to high application of the three treatments, respectively. Overall, the microplastics predominantly comprised fibers (70.94%) and fragments (25.25%), of which a substantial proportion constituted light-colored microplastics (transparent and white). The size of microplastics was mainly concentrated in the 1-2 mm range (39.96%), with rayon, polypropylene, polyester, and polyethylene being identified as the major types. The risk assessment indices of the three treatments were 229.38, 257.64, and 175.89, respectively, and were all classified as level 4 (high risk). The microplastic diversity integrated index and principal component analysis revealed that microplastics were uniformly distributed throughout the 0-20 cm soil depth consequent to tillage activity. Together, these findings provide a comprehensive assessment of microplastic pollution in long-term fertilized soils and serve as a scientific basis for reducing microplastic contamination in agricultural soils., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest We declare that we do not have any possible financial and personal relationships with other people or organizations that can inappropriately influence our work. We declare that we have no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Color vision, initiated from the cone photoreceptors, is essential for fish to obtain environmental information. Although the visual impairment of triazine herbicide prometryn has been reported, data on the effect of herbicide such as prometryn on natural color sensitivity of fish is scarce. Here, zebrafish were exposed to prometryn (0, 1, 10, and 100 μg/L) from 2 h post-fertilization to 160 days post-fertilization, to explore the effect and underlying mechanism of prometryn on color perception. The results indicated that 10 and 100 μg/L prometryn shortened the height of red-green cone cells, and down-regulated expression of genes involved in light transduction pathways (arr3a, pde6h) and visual cycle (lrata, rpe65a); meanwhile, 1 μg/L prometryn increased all-trans-retinoic acid levels in zebrafish eyes, and up-regulated the expression of genes involved in retinoid metabolism (rdh10b, aldh1a2, cyp26a1), finally leading to weakened red and green color perception of female zebrafish. This study first clarified how herbicide such as prometryn affected color vision of a freshwater fish after a long-term exposure from both morphological and functional disruption, and its hazard on color vision mediated-ecologically relevant tasks should not be ignored., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Bisphenol S (BPS) is a common pollutant in the environment and has posed a potential threat to aquatic animals and human health. To accurately assess the pollution level and ecological risk of BPS, there is an urgent need to establish simple and sensitive detection methods for BPS. In this study, BPS complete antigen was successfully prepared by introducing methyl 4-bromobutyrate and coupling bovine serum albumin (BSA). The monoclonal antibody against BPS (anti-BPS mAb) with high affinity (1: 256,000) was developed based on the BPS complete antigen, which showed low cross-reactivity with BPS structural analogues. Then, an electrochemical immunosensor was constructed to detect BPS using multi-walled carbon nanotubes and gold nanoflower composites as signal amplification elements and using anti-BPS mAb as the probe. The electrochemical immunosensor had a linear range from 1 to 250 ng⋅mL -1 and a limit of detection (LOD) down to 0.6 ng⋅mL -1 . Additionally, a more stable and sensitive lateral flow immunoassay (LFIA) for BPS was developed based on iridium oxide nanoparticles, with a visual detection limit of 1 ng⋅mL -1 , which was 10 times lower than that of classical Au-NPs LFIA. After evaluation of their stability and specificity, the reliability of these two methods were further validated by measuring BPS concentrations in the water and fish tissues. Thus, this study provides sensitive, robust and rapid methods for the detection of BPS in the environment and organisms, which can provide a methodological reference for monitoring environmental contaminants., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Objective: This study sought to characterize resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) patterns of the hypothalamic and extrahypothalamic nuclei in craniopharyngioma (CP) patients, and to investigate potential correlations between hypothalamic and extrahypothalamic rsFC maps and neurocognitive performance., Methods: Ninety-two CP patients and 40 demographically-matched healthy controls were included. Whole-brain seed-to-voxel analyses were used to test for between-group rsFC differences, and regression analyses were used to correlate neurocognitive performance with voxel-wise hypothalamic and extrahypothalamic rsFC maps for CP patients. Finally, spectral DCM analysis was used to explore the hypothalamus circuit associated with neurocognitive performance., Results: The seed-to-voxel analyses demonstrated that the hypothalamic nuclei showed mainly significant rsFC reduction in brain areas overlayed with the cortical regions of default mode network (DMN), notably in the bilateral anterior cingulate cortices and posterior cingulate cortices. The extrahypothalamic nuclei showed significant rsFC reduction in the limbic system of bilateral caudate nuclei, corpus callosum, fornix, and thalamus. Regression analyses revealed that worse cognitive performance was correlated with abnormal hypothalamic rsFC with brain areas in DMN, and DCM analysis revealed a hypothalamus-DMN circuit responsible for functional modulation of cognitive impairment in CP patients., Conclusions: Our study demonstrated that CPs invading into hypothalamus impacted hypothalamic and extrahypothalamic rsFC with brain areas of DMN and limbic system, the severity of which was parallel with the grading system of hypothalamus involvement. In addition to the CP-induced structural damage to the hypothalamus alone, abnormal functional connectivity within the hypothalamus-DMN circuit might be a functional mechanism leading to the cognitive impairment in CP patients., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare no financial or other conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Candida auris is an emerging, multidrug-resistant fungal pathogen that poses a significant public health threat in healthcare settings. Despite yearly clinical cases rapidly increasing from 77 to 8,131 in the last decade, surveillance data on its distribution and prevalence remain limited. We implemented a novel assay for C. auris detection on a nationwide scale prospectively from September 2023 to March 2024, analyzing a total of 13,842 samples from 190 wastewater treatment plants across 41 U.S. states. Assays were extensively validated through comparison to other known assays and internal controls. Of these 190 wastewater treatment plants, C. auris was detected in the wastewater solids of 65 of them (34.2%) with 1.45% of all samples having detectable levels of C. auris nucleic-acids. Detections varied seasonally, with 2.00% of samples positive in autumn vs 1.01% in winter ( P < 0.0001). The frequency of detection in wastewater was significantly associated with states having older populations ( P < 0.001), sewersheds containing more hospitals ( P < 0.0001), and sewersheds containing more nursing homes ( P < 0.001). These associations are in agreement with known C. auris epidemiology. This nationwide study demonstrates the viability of wastewater surveillance for C. auris surveillance and further highlights the value of wastewater surveillance when clinical testing is constrained., Importance: This study highlights the viability of wastewater surveillance when dealing with emerging pathogens. By leveraging an existing framework of wastewater surveillance, we reveal the widespread presence of C. auris in the United States. We further demonstrate that these wastewater detections are consistent with demographic factors relevant to C. auris epidemiology like age and number of hospitals or nursing homes. As C. auris and other pathogens continue to emerge, the low-cost and rapid nature of wastewater surveillance will provide public health officials with the information necessary to enact targeted prevention and control strategies., Competing Interests: D.D., X.-R.S.X., B.J.W., and B.S. are employees of Verily Life Sciences.

Herbicide-induced phytoplankton inhibition threatens coastal biodiversity and ecosystem function. Although studies employing single-frequence exposure aid in understanding the phytoplankton community's responses to herbicides, it's difficult to objectively assess their response to cyclic herbicide inputs (long-term low-dose and short-term high-dose) in marine ecosystems. Here, we analyzed the concentration and distribution of herbicides in global coastal waters and simulated this cyclic process through a two-phase atrazine exposure mesocosm experiment and laboratory tests. The results indicated that, the herbicide concentrations (0.82 nmol L -1 , 95 % CI 0.55, 1.74) from May to August were significantly higher than that (0.14 nmol L -1 , 95 % CI 0.02, 0.38) in the remainder months, and highest concentrations typically emerged in summer; the changes in phytoplankton community composition under environmental concentrations of triazine herbicides could recover in the short term, but sustained inhibition of biomass was produced; the dominant populations were more likely to develop tolerance through preexposure and recover from subsequent impulse of atrazine, but this process was accompanied by the loss of rare groups and a decrease in biodiversity, meanwhile, affected the bacterial community in phycosphere. Consequently, we considered that the cyclic herbicide inputs may cause more detrimental effects than single-frequence exposure, potentially leading to a large-scale decline in coastal primary productivity., 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.)

Microalgae-based biotechnology is one of the most promising alternatives to conventional methods for the removal of antibiotic contaminants from diverse water matrices. However, current knowledge regarding the biochemical mechanisms and catabolic enzymes involved in microalgal biodegradation of antibiotics is scant, which limits the development of enhancement strategies to increase their engineering feasibility. In this study, we investigated the removal dynamics of amphenicols (chloramphenicol, thiamphenicol, and florfenicol), which are widely used in aquaculture, by Chlamydomonas reinhardtii under different growth modes (autotrophy, heterotrophy, and mixotrophy). We found C. reinhardtii removed >92 % chloramphenicol (CLP) in mixotrophic conditions. Intriguingly, gamma-glutamyl hydrolase (GGH) in C. reinhardtii was most significantly upregulated according to the comparative proteomics, and we demonstrated that GGH can directly bind to CLP at the Pro77 site to induce acetylation of the hydroxyl group at C3 position, which generated CLP 3-acetate. This identified role of microalgal GGH is mechanistically distinct from that of animal counterparts. Our results provide a valuable enzyme toolbox for biocatalysis and reveal a new enzymatic function of microalgal GGH. As proof of concept, we also analyzed the occurrence of these three amphenicols and their degradation intermediate worldwide, which showed a frequent distribution of the investigated chemicals at a global scale. This study describes a novel catalytic enzyme to improve the engineering feasibility of microalgae-based biotechnologies. It also raises issues regarding the different microalgal enzymatic transformations of emerging contaminants because these enzymes might function differently from their counterparts in animals., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declared that they have no conflicts of interest in this work. We declare that we do not have any commercial or associative interest that represents a conflict of interest in connection with the work submitted., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Estrogen excess in females has been linked to a diverse array of chronic and acute diseases. Emerging research shows that exposure to estrogen-like compounds such as bisphenol S leads to increases in 17β-estradiol levels, but the mechanism of action is unclear. The aim of this study was to reveal the underlying signaling pathway-mediated mechanisms, target site and target molecule of action of bisphenol S causing excessive estrogen synthesis. Human ovarian granulosa cells SVOG were exposed to bisphenol S at environmentally relevant concentrations (1 μg/L, 10 μg/L, and 100 μg/L) for 48 h. The results confirms that bisphenol S accumulates mainly on the cell membrane, binds to follicle stimulating hormone receptor (FSHR) located on the cell membrane, and subsequently activates the downstream cyclic adenosine monophosphate/protein kinase A (cAMP/PKA) signaling pathway, leading to enhanced conversion of testosterone to 17β-estradiol. This study deepens our knowledge of the mechanisms of environmental factors in pathogenesis of hyperestrogenism., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Background: Craniopharyngioma (CP) is a rare malformational tumor characterized by high rates of recurrence and morbid obesity. However, the role of inflammatory mediators in obesity and the prognosis of patients with CP remains unknown. Therefore, the present study aimed to analyze associations of inflammatory mediators with weight-related outcomes and the prognosis of patients with CP., Methods: A total of 130 consecutive patients with CP were included in this study. The expression levels of seven inflammatory mediators and the plasma leptin concentration were investigated. Clinical parameters, weight changes, new-onset obesity, and progression-free survival (PFS) were recorded. The relationships between inflammatory mediators, clinicopathologic parameters, weight-related outcomes, and PFS were explored., Results: Compared with those in normal pituitary tissue, the expressions of inflammatory mediators in tumor tissue were higher. Higher expression levels of CXCL1 and CXCL8 were identified as independent risk factors for significant weight gain, and CXCL1 and TNF were identified as independent risk factors for new-onset postoperative obesity. Poor PFS was associated with higher expression levels of CXCL1, CXCL8, IL1A, IL6, and TNF., Conclusion: The present study revealed that inflammatory mediators are associated with morbid obesity in patients with CP. Inflammatory mediators may be the critical bridge between elevated leptin and weight-related outcomes. Additionally, PFS was associated with the expression of inflammatory mediators. Further research is needed to elucidate the underlying mechanisms of inflammatory mediators and their potential as targets for novel therapies for CP., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Nuclear spin polarization plays a crucial role in quantum information processing and quantum sensing. In this work, we demonstrate a robust and efficient method for nuclear spin polarization with boron vacancy (V&#95;{B}^{-}) defects in hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) using ground-state level anticrossing (GSLAC). We show that GSLAC-assisted nuclear polarization can be achieved with significantly lower laser power than excited-state level anticrossing, making the process experimentally more viable. Furthermore, we have demonstrated direct optical readout of nuclear spins for V&#95;{B}^{-} in h-BN. Our findings suggest that GSLAC is a promising technique for the precise control and manipulation of nuclear spins in V&#95;{B}^{-} defects in h-BN.

Several studies have reported the efficacy of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) for central serous chorioretinopathy (CSC), while some ophthalmologists are concerned that TCM may be a risk factor for CSC as some chinese herbs contain hormonal ingredients. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of TCM in treating patients with CSC. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and observational studies of TCM for CSC were searched up to July 10, 2023 on the following biological databases without language and publication time restrictions: PubMed, Ovid Medline, Embase, Cochrane Library, The Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure Database (CNKI), Technology Periodical Database (VIP), Wanfang, and Chinese Biomedical Literature Service System (SinoMed). Review Manager V.5.4.1 and Stata 14 software were used for data analysis. Finally, thirty-eight studies were finally included including 23 RCTs and 15 cohort studies. The meta-analysis showed that compared with the routine treatment alone, the combination of TCM can not only reduce the recurrence rate (OR = 0.29, 95% CI: 0.21,0.40; I2 = 0%) and central retinal thickness (CRT) (MD = - 35.63, 95% CI: - 45.96,-25.30; I2 = 89%) of CSC, but improve patients' best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) (SMD = 0.86, 95% CI: 0.62,1.11; I2 = 77%); additionally, it has no obvious side effects compared with routine treatment (OR = 0.72, 95% CI: 0.39,1.34; I2 = 10%). Overall, this study shows that the use of TCM does not increase the risk of CSC recurrence; on the contrary, the combination of TCM may reduce the recurrence of CSC and improve BCVA and CRT in patients with CSC compared with conventional treatment., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Ru et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Objective: Concomitant unruptured intracranial aneurysms (UIAs) in patients with craniopharyngioma (CP) pose a challenge for surgical management. This study presents the largest known single-institution case series to investigate the incidence of UIA in CP patients, with the aim of exploring the potential risk factors for the occurrence of UIA in CP patients and proposing treatment strategies., Methods: The authors retrospectively reviewed the records of 289 adult CP patients treated in their department between January 2020 and August 2022. Routine CT angiography (CTA) was performed preoperatively in all cases. Logistic regression analysis was used to identify the risk factors for the occurrence of aneurysms. Aneurysms with the following characteristics were considered to have a high risk of intraoperative rupture and required treatment before tumor resection: 1) preliminary assessment of a high inherent risk of rupture (risk of rupture in their natural progression); and 2) location close to the tumor, irregular shape, and/or growth toward the tumor, even if the preliminary assessment indicated a low inherent risk of rupture., Results: Twenty-three of 289 CP patients (7.96%, 95% CI 5.36-11.6) were diagnosed with both CP and UIA (CP-UIA). Hypertension (OR 4.148, 95% CI 1.654-10.398; p = 0.002), estrogen deficiency (OR 3.097, 95% CI 1.241-7.731; p = 0.015), and suprasellar tumor (OR 4.316, 95% CI 1.596-11.67; p = 0.004) were independent risk factors for intracranial aneurysms (IAs) in CP patients. Among the 23 CP-UIA patients, 6 (26.1%) with a high risk of aneurysm rupture underwent endovascular treatment (EVT) before tumor resection. Seventeen (73.9%) patients with a low risk of rupture underwent tumor resection only., Conclusions: The incidence rate of IA in patients with CP was higher than that in the general population. Routine preoperative CTA is advised for adult CP patients. Patients with papillary CP exhibited a higher proportion of CP-UIAs. Older age, hypertension, estrogen deficiency, and suprasellar tumor were independent risk factors for the occurrence of IAs in CP patients. IAs in CP patients are predominantly located in the C6 and C7 segments of the internal carotid artery and are often suitable for EVT. When treating CP-UIAs, tumor-related symptoms, risk of aneurysm rupture, the spatial relationship between the tumor and IA, and the approach for tumor resection should be considered.

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are a type of biomaterial used against multidrug resistant (MDR) bacteria. This study reports the design of a peptide family rich in tryptophan and lysine obtained by optimizing a natural AMP using single factor modification and pheromone hybridization to expedite the penetration and improve the antimicrobial activity of AMPs. S-4, L-4, and P-4 showed α-helical structures, exhibited extremely fast membrane penetration rates in vitro , and could kill MDR bacteria efficiently within 30 min. Intracellular fluorescence localization suggested rapid membrane-penetrating of AMPs within 1 min, making it more difficult for bacteria to develop resistance. Furthermore, they could effectively inhibit and destroy bacterial biofilms with dual antimicrobial and antibiofilm activity. In the treatment of skin infections caused by MDR- Acinetobacter baumannii in vivo , AMPs could effectively alleviate inflammation without toxic side effects. Additionally, the triple antimicrobial damage of AMPs was described in detail. AMPs rapidly penetrate the cell membrane, inducing cell membrane damage, triggering oxidative damage with a storm of reactive oxygen species and leading to bacterial death through leakage of cellular contents by complexing with DNA. The multiple damage is an important means by which AMPs can prevent bacterial resistance adequately., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing financial interest., (© 2024 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society.)

With the development of logistics enterprises and the adjustment of some relevant laws and regulations, the profit space of vehicle logistics enterprises has been further compressed. To reduce vehicle logistics transportation cost and increase the profit space of vehicle logistics, the vehicle logistics multimodal transport network is constructed and the graph traversal algorithm is used to screen the feasible paths in the vehicle logistics multimodal transport network. Then, the Tabu search algorithm can optimize vehicle logistics multimodal transport route model. Results showed that Tabu search performed better than other methods in solving route optimization problems. The cost of Tabu search algorithm after convergence was 1.2 yuan/km × per set. The performance of Tabu search algorithm on NGSIM data set was better than other methods. On this data set, the area under the curve of Tabu search algorithm was much higher than that of other methods. The optimization results of Tabu search for vehicle logistics intermodal routes were effective. Among the 15 routes, only four routes were not optimized, and other routes were optimized. After optimization, the profits have increased, and the profit of Route 9 had the largest increase, which was 18%. The research successfully constructs the optimization model of vehicle logistics intermodal route, and completes the solution to increase the profit space of vehicle logistics enterprises., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Whether bisphenols, as plasticizers, can influence bacterial uptake of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in natural environment, as well as the underlying mechanism remains largely unknown. Our results showed that four commonly used bisphenols (bisphenol A, S, F, and AF) at their environmental relative concentrations can significantly promote transmission of ARGs by 2.97-3.56 times in Acinetobacter baylyi ADP1. Intriguingly, we observed ADP1 acquired resistance by integrating plasmids uptake and cellular metabolic adaptations other than through reactive oxygen species mediated pathway. Metabolic adaptations including upregulation of capsules polysaccharide biosynthesis and intracellularly metabolic enzymes, which enabled formation of thicker capsules for capturing free plasmids, and degradation of accumulated compounds. Simultaneously, genes encoding DNA uptake and translocation machinery were incorporated to enhance natural transformation of antibiotic resistance carrying plasmids. We further exposed aquatic fish to bisphenols for 120 days to monitor their long-term effects in aquatic environment, which showed that intestinal bacteria communities were dominated by a drug resistant microbiome. Our study provides new insight into the mechanism of enhanced natural transformation of ARGs by bisphenols, and highlights the investigations for unexpectedly-elevated antibiotic-resistant risks by structurally related environmental chemicals., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Blueberry ( Vaccinium spp.) is an increasingly popular fruit around the world for their attractive taste, appearance, and most importantly their many health benefits. Global blueberry production was valued at $2.31 billion with the United States alone producing $1.02 billion of cultivated blueberries in 2021. The sustainability of blueberry production is increasingly threatened by more frequent and extreme drought events caused by climate change. Blueberry is especially prone to adverse effects from drought events due to their superficial root system and lack of root hairs, which limit blueberry's ability to intake water and nutrients from the soil especially under drought stress conditions. The goal of this paper is to review previous studies on blueberry drought tolerance focusing on physiological, biochemical, and molecular drought tolerance mechanisms, as well as genetic variability present in cultivated blueberries. We also discuss limitations of previous studies and potential directions for future efforts to develop drought-tolerant blueberry cultivars. Our review showed that the following areas are lacking in blueberry drought tolerance research: studies of root and fruit traits related to drought tolerance, large-scale cultivar screening, efforts to understand the genetic architecture of drought tolerance, tools for molecular-assisted drought tolerance improvement, and high-throughput phenotyping capability for efficient cultivar screening. Future research should be devoted to following areas: (1) drought tolerance evaluation to include a broader range of traits, such as root architecture and fruit-related performance under drought stress, to establish stronger association between physiological and molecular signals with drought tolerance mechanisms; (2) large-scale drought tolerance screening across diverse blueberry germplasm to uncover various drought tolerance mechanisms and valuable genetic resources; (3) high-throughput phenotyping tools for drought-related traits to enhance the efficiency and affordability of drought phenotyping; (4) identification of genetic architecture of drought tolerance using various mapping technologies and transcriptome analysis; (5) tools for molecular-assisted breeding for drought tolerance, such as marker-assisted selection and genomic selection, and (6) investigation of the interactions between drought and other stresses such as heat to develop stress resilient genotypes., 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. The author(s) declared that they were an editorial board member of Frontiers, at the time of submission. This had no impact on the peer review process and the final decision., (Copyright © 2024 Ru, Sanz-Saez, Leisner, Rehman and Busby.)

Introduction: Due to irregular antibiotic use, the rate of antibiotic resistance to Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is increasing and varies from region to region. Therefore, for the purpose of further clarifying the changes in antibiotic resistance rates nowadays, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to update and assess the 10-year trend of primary H. pylori antibiotic resistance rate to the commonly prescribed antibiotics worldwide., Materials and Methods: According to the PRISMA statement, we systematically searched electronic databases for studies that assessed rates of H. pylori resistance to clarithromycin, metronidazole, levofloxacin, amoxicillin, or tetracycline published from 2013 to 2023. AHRQ was adopted to estimate methodological quality and publication bias in the included studies, and statistical analysis was performed using Stata 17.0., Results: We identified 163 studies, comprising 47,002 isolates from 36 countries. The meta-analysis showed that the primary antibiotic resistance rate of H. pylori varied widely among antibiotics. Subgroup analysis showed higher rates of antibiotic resistance in the adult population than in children, and a general trend of increased resistance was observed from 2013 to 2023. There was considerable heterogeneity (I 2  > 75%) among all analyses, which may be due to high variability in resistance rates across the global regions., Conclusions: Resistance of H. pylori to antibiotics has reached alarming levels worldwide, which has a great effect on the efficacy of treatment. Local surveillance networks are required to select appropriate eradication regimens for each region., (© 2024 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Background: Emerging evidence suggests that the gut microbiota is associated with various intracranial neoplastic diseases. It has been observed that alterations in the gut microbiota are present in gliomas, meningiomas, and pituitary neuroendocrine tumors (Pit-NETs). However, the correlation between gut microbiota and craniopharyngioma (CP), a rare embryonic malformation tumor in the sellar region, has not been previously mentioned. Consequently, this study aimed to investigate the gut microbiota composition and metabolic patterns in CP patients, with the goal of identifying potential therapeutic approaches., Methods: We enrolled 15 medication-free and non-operated patients with CP and 15 healthy controls (HCs), conducting sequential metagenomic and metabolomic analyses on fecal samples to investigate changes in the gut microbiota of CP patients., Results: The composition of gut microbiota in patients with CP compared to HCs show significant discrepancies at both the genus and species levels. The CP group exhibits greater species diversity. And the metabolic patterns between the two groups vary markedly., Conclusions: The gut microbiota composition and metabolic patterns in patients with CP differ significantly from the healthy population, presenting potential new therapeutic opportunities., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Microplastics (MPs) and nanoplastics (NPs) are emerging pollutants in the ocean, but their transfer and toxicity along the food chains are unclear. In this study, a marine rotifer (Brachionus plicatilis)-marine medaka (Oryzias melastigma) food chain was constructed to evaluate the transfer of polystyrene MPs and NPs (70 nm, 500 nm, and 2 μm, 2000 μg/L) and toxicity of 70 nm PS-NPs (0, 20, 200, and 2000 μg/L) on marine medaka after long-term food chain exposure. The results showed that the amount of 70 nm NPs accumulated in marine medaka was 1.24 μg/mg, which was significantly higher than that of 500 nm NPs (0.87 μg/mg) and 2 μm MP (0.69 μg/mg). Long-term food chain exposure to NPs caused microflora dysbiosis, resulting in activation of toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) pathway, which induced liver inflammation. Moreover, NPs food chain exposure increased liver and muscle tissue triglyceride and lactate content, but decreased the protein, sugar, and glycogen content. NPs food chain exposure impaired reproductive function and inhibited offspring early development, which might pose a threat to the sustainability of marine medaka population. Overall, the study revealed the transfer of MPs and NPs and the effects of NPs on marine medaka along the food chain., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Despite the prevalence of discharge of large volumes of heavy-metal-bearing seawater from coal-fired power plants into adjacent seas, studies on the associated ecological risks remain limited. This study continuously monitored concentrations of seven heavy metals (i.e. As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg, Pb, and Zn) in surface seawater near the outfall of a coal-fired power plant in Qingdao, China over three years. The results showed average concentrations of As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg, Pb, and Zn of 2.63, 0.33, 2.97, 4.63, 0.008, 0.85, and 25.00 μg/L, respectively. Given the lack of data on metal toxicity to local species, this study investigated species composition and biomass near discharge outfalls and constructed species sensitivity distribution (SSD) curves with biological flora characteristics. Hazardous concentrations for 5% of species (HC 5 ) for As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg, Pb, and Zn derived from SSDs constructed from chronic toxicity data for native species were 3.23, 2.22, 0.06, 2.83, 0.66, 4.70, and 11.07 μg/L, respectively. This study further assessed ecological risk of heavy metals by applying the Hazard Quotient (HQ) and Joint Probability Curve (JPC) based on long-term heavy metal exposure data and chronic toxicity data for local species. The results revealed acceptable levels of ecological risk for As, Cd, Hg, and Pb, but unacceptable levels for Cr, Cu, and Zn. The order of studied heavy metals in terms of ecological risk was Cr > Cu ≈ Zn > As > Cd ≈ Pb > Hg. The results of this study can guide the assessment of ecological risk at heavy metal contaminated sites characterized by relatively low heavy metal concentrations and high discharge volumes, such as receiving waters of coal-fired power plant effluents., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

Predicting the magnitude of herbicide impacts on marine primary productivity remains challenging because the extent of worldwide herbicide pollution in coastal waters and the concentration-response relationships of phytoplankton communities to multiple herbicides are unclear. By analyzing the spatiotemporal distribution of herbicides at 661 bay and gulf stations worldwide from 1990 to 2022, we determined median, third quartile and maximum concentrations of 12 triazine herbicides of 0.18 nmol L -1 , 1.27 nmol L -1 and 29.50 nmol L -1 (95%Confidence Interval: CI 1.06, 1.47), respectively. Under current herbicide stress, phytoplankton primary productivity was inhibited by more than 5% at 25% of the sites and by more than 10% at 10% of the sites (95%CI 3.67, 4.34), due to the inhibition of highly abundant sensitive species, community structure/particle size succession (from Bacillariophyta to Dinophyceae and from nano-phytoplankton to micro-phytoplankton), and resulting growth rate reduction. Concurrently, due to food chain cascade effects, the dominant micro-zooplankton population shifted from larger copepod larvae to smaller unicellular ciliates, which might prolong the transmission process in marine food chain and reduce the primary productivity transmission efficiency. As herbicide application rates on farmlands worldwide are correlated with residues in their adjacent seas, a continued future increase in herbicide input may seriously affect the stability of coastal waters., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Introduction: Yinchenzhufu decoction (YCZFD) is a traditional Chinese medicine formula with hepatoprotective effects. In this study, the protective effects of YCZFD against cholestatic liver fibrosis (CLF) and its underlying mechanisms were evaluated. Methods: A 3, 5-diethoxycarbonyl-1, 4-dihydro-collidine (DDC)-induced cholestatic mouse model was used to investigate the amelioration of YCZFD on CLF. Data-independent acquisition-based mass spectrometry was performed to investigate proteomic changes in the livers of mice in three groups: control, model, and model treated with high-dose YCZFD. The effects of YCZFD on the expression of key proteins were confirmed in mice and cell models. Results: YCZFD significantly decreased the levels of serum biochemical, liver injury, and fibrosis indicators of cholestatic mice. The proteomics indicated that 460 differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) were identified among control, model, and model treated with high-dose YCZFD groups. Enrichment analyses of these DEPs revealed that YCZFD influenced multiple pathways, including PI3K-Akt, focal adhesion, ECM-receptor interaction, glutathione metabolism, and steroid biosynthesis pathways. The expression of platelet derived growth factor receptor beta (PDGFRβ), a receptor associated with the PI3K/AKT and focal adhesion pathways, was upregulated in the livers of cholestatic mice but downregulated by YCZFD. The effects of YCZFD on the expression of key proteins in the PDGFRβ/PI3K/AKT pathway were further confirmed in mice and transforming growth factor-β-induced hepatic stellate cells. We uncovered seven plant metabolites (chlorogenic acid, scoparone, isoliquiritigenin, glycyrrhetinic acid, formononetin, atractylenolide I, and benzoylaconitine) of YCZFD that may regulate PDGFRβ expression. Conclusion: YCZFD substantially protects against DDC-induced CLF mainly through regulating the PDGFRβ/PI3K/AKT signaling pathway., 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 Meng, Zhu, Li, Peng, Wang, Huang, Zhou, Liu, Ru, Wu and Ma.)

Rationale: Individuals afflicted with achalasia of the cardia (AC) are more susceptible to the development of esophageal cancer (EC). However, the presence of esophageal retention obscured observation, making it difficult to detect EC early, which leads to misdiagnosis and poor prognosis in AC patients with EC. Besides, the persistence of high-risk factors may have contributed to the rapid progression of EC shortly after per-oral endoscopic myotomy (POEM). Therefore, it is imperative to alert clinicians to this extremely rare and instructive early-onset cancer., Patient Concerns: The patient was a 67-year-old male who developed dysphagia 3 years ago without obvious causes, with intermittent onset and aggravating trend, accompanied by weight loss. He usually eats high-temperature foods and pickled foods, and has a family history of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma., Diagnosis and Interventions: The patient was initially diagnosed with AC 2 years ago and subsequently underwent POEM surgery. One year after surgery, he was found to have mid-upper EC during follow-up and underwent partial esophagectomy in time., Outcomes: The patient's symptoms have significantly improved with weight gain, and he is still adhering to regular follow-up and endoscopic examination., Lessons: In rare cases, EC develops early in patients with achalasia after POEM surgery. To avoid missed diagnosis, a comprehensive examination to improve the accuracy to diagnose achalasia and identify possible early-onset cancer is very important in clinical practice. Especially for patients with AC who have a family history of EC or other high-risk factors may develop EC early after POEM surgery. Therefore, regular endoscopic follow-up after POEM surgery is essential., Competing Interests: The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose., (Copyright © 2024 the Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.)

Bisphenol S (BPS) exhibited inhibitory effects on androgen synthesis, but its target of action remains unclear. We investigated the effects of BPS exposure at environmentally relevant concentrations (1 μg/L, 10 μg/L and 100 μg/L) for 48 h on androgen synthesis in rat ovarian theca cells and explored the underlying mechanisms, target site and target molecule. The results showed that BPS exposure inhibited the transcript levels of steroidogenic genes and reduced the contents of androgen precursors, testosterone and dihydrotestosterone. BPS exposure decreased the phosphorylation levels of extracellular signal-related kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2), and the inhibitory effects of BPS on testosterone content and steroidogenic gene expression were blocked by ERK1/2 agonist LY2828360, suggesting that ERK1/2 signaling pathway mediates the inhibitory effects of BPS on androgen synthesis. BPS mainly accumulated on the cell membrane, impermeable BPS-bovine serum albumin exposure still inhibited androgen synthesis, BPS interacted with rat luteinizing hormone receptor (LHR) via formation of hydrogen bonds in the transmembrane region, and the inhibitory effects of BPS on ERK1/2 phosphorylation were blocked by luteinizing hormone (the natural agonist of LHR), indicating that LHR located on the cell membrane is the target of action of BPS. This paper provides a new elucidation of the mechanism of anti-androgenicity of BPS, especially for the non-genomic pathways., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Virtual agglomeration of manufacturing has become a new driving force for improving the green total factor productivity of enterprises, which is of great significance in achieving the sustainable development of manufacturing enterprises and the construction of manufacturing power. This paper clarifies the connotation, model, and characteristics of manufacturing virtual agglomeration. Based on the five dimensions of virtual agglomeration platform, digitization of subjects, data center, virtual cooperation network, and logistics service, this paper constructs an index system for the manufacturing virtual agglomeration. Entropy weight method was used to measure the level of manufacturing virtual agglomeration from 2012 to 2021. Furthermore, this paper analyzes and tests the influence mechanism of manufacturing virtual agglomeration on the green total factor productivity of enterprises. This paper finds that manufacturing virtual agglomeration improves the green total factor productivity of enterprises, which shows a nonlinear relationship. The mechanism test results show that manufacturing virtual agglomeration improves the green total factor productivity of enterprises by accelerating green technology innovation, forming a scale economy, and reducing transaction costs. The heterogeneity analysis shows that the promotion effect of virtual agglomeration in manufacturing on the green total factor productivity of enterprises is affected by the property rights and scale of the enterprise., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)