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Background Traditional phenotype-based screening for β-globin variant and β-thalassemia using hematological parameters is time-consuming with low-resolution detection. Development of a MALDI–TOF–MS assay using alternative markers is needed. Methods We constructed a MALDI–TOF–MS-based approach for identifying various β-globin disorders and classifying thalassemia major (TM) and thalassemia intermedia (TI) patients using 901 training samples with known HBB/HBA genotypes. We then validated the accuracy of population screening and clinical classification in 2 separate cohorts consisting of 16 172 participants and 201 β-thalassemia patients. Traditional methods were used as controls. Genetic tests were considered the gold standard for testing positive specimens. Results We established a prediction model for identifying different forms of β-globin disorders in a single MALDI–TOF–MS test based on δ- to β-globin, γ- to α-globin, γ- to β-globin ratios, and/or the abnormal globin-chain patterns. Our validation study yielded comparable results of clinical specificity (99.89% vs 99.71%), and accuracy (99.78% vs 99.16%) between the new assay and traditional methods but higher clinical sensitivity for the new method (97.52% vs 88.01%). The new assay identified 22 additional abnormal hemoglobins in 69 individuals including 9 novel ones, and accurately screened for 9 carriers of deletional hereditary persistence of fetal hemoglobin or δβ-thalassemia. TM and TI were well classified in 178 samples out of 201 β-thalassemia patients. Conclusions MALDI–TOF–MS is a highly accurate, predictive tool that could be suitable for large-scale screening and clinical classification of β-globin disorders.

This study aimed to compare the designed and achieved mesiodistal angulation of maxillary canines and posterior teeth (MCPT) for first premolar extraction with clear aligner treatment and identify the main influencing factors for preventing MCPT tipping toward the extraction space.A total of 21 adults with first premolar extraction were recruited. The designed and achieved tooth movement of MCPT was measured by superimposing their respective pretreatment and posttreatment cone-beam computed tomography images and compared with the designed tooth movement in ClinCheck using the paired t test and scatter plot analysis. Influencing factors, including dental arch length change, canine distalization, and initial mesiodistal angulation, were analyzed using the linear mixed-effect model.Designed distal crown tipping (second premolar, 10.73 ± 3.22°; first molar, 9.83 ± 3.60°; second molar, 7.18 ± 2.36°) significantly increased the distal inclination of the second premolar (2.50° ± 5.15°; P ＜0.001), first molar (1.07° ± 4.14°; P ＜0.001), and second (0.70° ± 3.78°; P ＜0.001). Furthermore, mesial tipping (8.59° ± 6.03°; P ＜0.001) achieved appropriate distal crown tipping of canines (-6.43° ± 5.04°; P ＜0.001). The implemented preliminary formulas showed that shortening of the dental arch length, the distance of canine distalization, and initial mesiodistal angulation were closely related to the antitipping design.Designed distal crown tipping of posterior teeth and mesial crown tipping of canines might prevent unwanted crown tipping toward the extraction space during space closure. The proposed preliminary formula could guide antitipping designs in clear aligner treatment.

Background Leg weakness affects animal welfare and is one of the primary reasons for culling of boars. Low bone mineral density (BMD) is one of the primary factors contributing to leg weakness. Low BMD also appeared to be associated with severe bone pain and has the highest risk of skeletal fragility. Surprisingly, few studies have been performed on the factors influencing BMD in pigs. Therefore, the primary aim of this study was to identify the influencing factors on boar BMD. Herein, the BMD data were determined through the use of ultrasonography from 893 Duroc boars. Logistic regression model was utilized in the analysis of BMD, in which the explanatory variables in the model were lines, ages, body weights, backfat thicknesses and serum mineral element concentrations (Ca, P, Mg, Cu, Fe, Zn, Mn, Se, Pb and Cd). Results Results showed that factors significantly influencing BMD included serum Ca, P concentrations, ages and backfat thicknesses (P P P P P P Conclusion In conclusion, BMD characteristics of boars could be detected by ultrasonic method, and serum Ca, serum P, age, and backfat thickness contributed to the greatest effect on BMD.

The seasonality of viral diseases in ectotherms is a prevailing phenomenon in the aquatic environment, which causes huge economic losses every year worldwide and hinders sustainable development of the aquaculture industry. Nevertheless, our understanding of the molecular mechanism of how temperature determines the pathogenesis of aquatic viruses remains largely unexplored.

Protein engineering for increased thermostability through iterative mutagenesis and high throughput screening is labor-intensive, expensive and inefficient. Here, we developed a deep evolution (DeepEvo) strategy to engineer protein thermostability through global sequence generation and selection using deep learning models. We firstly constructed a thermostability selector based on a protein language model to extract thermostability-related features in high-dimensional latent spaces of protein sequences with high temperature tolerance. Subsequently, we constructed a variant generator based on a generative adversarial network to create protein sequences containing the desirable function with more than 50% accuracy. Finally, the generator and selector were utilized to iteratively improve the performance of DeepEvo on the model protein glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (G3PDH), whereby 8 highly thermostable variants were obtained from only 30 generated sequences, demonstrating the high efficiency of DeepEvo for the engineering of protein thermostability.

Mesenchymal stem/Stromal cells (MSCs) have great therapeutic potentials, and they have been isolated from various tissues and organs including definitive endoderm (DE) organs, such as the lung, liver and intestine. MSCs have been induced from human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) through multiple embryonic lineages, including the mesoderm, neural crest, and extraembryonic cells. However, it remains unclear whether hPSCs could give rise to MSCs in vitro through the endodermal lineage. Here, we report that hPSC-derived, SOX17+ definitive endoderm progenitors can further differentiate to cells expressing classic MSC markers, which we name definitive endoderm-derived MSCs (DE-MSCs). Single cell RNA sequencing demonstrates the stepwise emergence of DE-MSCs, while endoderm-specific gene expression can be elevated by signaling modulation. DE-MSCs display multipotency and immunomodulatory activity in vitro and possess therapeutic effects in a mouse ulcerative colitis model. This study reveals that, in addition to the other germ layers, the definitive endoderm can also contribute to MSCs and DE-MSCs could be a cell source for regenerative medicine.

S1. The relative expression of KLK3/PSA. S2. Kaplan-Meier analysis of prostate cancer outcome was obtained from GEPIA tool. S3. LNCaP cells with the indicated treatments were seeded in the upper chamber of the Boyden's transwell chamber. S4. LNCaP cells with the indicated treatments were seeded in the upper chamber of the Boyden's transwell chamber which were coated with 1:20 diluted Matrigel. S5. LNCaP cells with the indicated treatments were seeded in the upper chamber of the Boyden's transwell chamber. S6. Snapshots form the AR ChIP-seq showing AR binding to the ARBS. S7. Screenshot from the AR ChIP-seq shows marked reduction in AR binding to the ARBS located at ~ 30kb from the NDRG1 after LINC00844 knock-down in LNCaP cells. S8. LNCaP cells with the indicated treatments were seeded in the upper chamber of the Boyden's transwell chamber. S9. LNCaP cells we co-transfected with the with the indicated siRNA and plasmids and seeded in the upper chamber of the Boyden's transwell chamber. S10. LNCaP cells we co-transfected with the with the indicated siRNA and plasmids cells were harvested and the required amount of cells were used for the migration and invasion assay and rest were lysed for western blot analysis.

The human genome is mostly transcribed, yielding a rich repository of noncoding transcripts that are involved in a myriad of biological processes including cancer. However, how many noncoding transcripts such as long noncoding RNAs (lncRNA) function in cancer is still unclear. This study identified a novel set of clinically relevant androgen-regulated lncRNAs in prostate cancer. Among this group, LINC00844 was demonstrated to be a direct androgen-regulated target that is actively transcribed in androgen receptor (AR)–dependent prostate cancer cells. The expression of LINC00844 is higher in normal prostate compared with malignant and metastatic prostate cancer clinical specimens, and patients with low expression had a poor prognosis and significantly increased biochemical recurrence, suggesting LINC00844 functions in suppressing tumor progression and metastasis. Indeed, in vitro loss-of-function studies revealed that LINC00844 prevents prostate cancer cell migration and invasion. Moreover, findings from gene expression profiling analysis indicated that LINC00844 functions in trans, affecting global androgen-regulated gene transcription. Mechanistic evidence reveals that LINC00844 is important in facilitating AR binding to the chromatin. Finally, LINC00844 mediates its phenotypic effects in part by activating the expression of NDRG1, a crucial cancer metastasis suppressor. Collectively, LINC00844 is a novel coregulator of AR that plays a central role in the androgen transcriptional network and the development and progression of prostate cancer.Implications:This study highlights the function of the lncRNA, LINC00844, in regulating global AR-regulated genes in prostate cancer by modulating AR binding to chromatin.

S1. Differentially regulated lncRNAs FDR

In this study, bismuth oxyiodide with coexistence of plasmonic Bi and oxygen vacancy (Bi/BiO1-xI) was successfully prepared and used towards photothermal and photocatalytic disinfection of pathogenic bacteria containing water. Plasmonic Bi and oxygen vacancies in Bi/BiO1-xI induced a surface plasmon effect under the irradiation of simulated solar light from 500-900 nm and promoted the generation of hot electrons and reactive species (1O2, h+ and •O2−). The catalyst showed promising performance for inactivation of E. coli K-12, with a 7.2 log inactivated achieved under the optimum conditions. A synergy between photothermal and photocatalytic inactivation was identified and discussed. The mechanisms of E. coli K-12 destruction were investigated. The destruction of extracellular antioxidant enzymes of E. coli K-12 was identified after inactivation. Moreover, the E. coli's membrane and its intracellular contents were attacked by the reactive species (1O2, h+ and •O2−) and the thermal effects. This work provides useful insights into the rational design of semimetal bismuth-mediated photocatalysts towards effective and sustainable water disinfection.

Vertebral bone is subject to a distinct set of disease processes from those of long bones, notably including a much higher rate of solid tumor metastases that cannot be explained by passive blood flow distribution alone. The basis for this distinct biology of vertebral bone has remained elusive. Here we identify a vertebral skeletal stem cell (vSSC), co-expressing the transcription factors ZIC1 and PAX1 together with additional cell surface markers, whose expression profile and function are markedly distinct from those of long bone skeletal stem cells (lbSSCs). vSSCs display formal evidence of stemness, including self-renewal, label retention and sitting at the apex of their differentiation hierarchy. Lineage tracing of vSSCs confirms that they make a persistent contribution to multiple mature cell lineages in the native vertebrae. vSSCs are physiologic mediators of spine mineralization, as genetic blockade of the ability of vSSCs to generate osteoblasts results in defects in the vertebral neural arch and body. Human counterparts of vSSCs can be identified in vertebral endplate specimens and display a conserved differentiation hierarchy and stemness. Multiple lines of evidence indicate that vSSCs contribute to the high rates of vertebral metastatic tropism observed clinically in breast cancer. Specifically, when an organoid system is used to place both vSSCs and lbSSCs in an identical anatomic context, vSSC-lineage cells are more efficient than lbSSC-lineage cells at recruiting metastases, a phenotype that is due in part to increased secretion of the novel metastatic trophic factor MFGE8. Similarly, genetically targeting loss-of-function to the vSSC lineage results in reduced metastasis rates in the native vertebral environment. Taken together, vSSCs are distinct from other skeletal stem cells and mediate the unique physiology and pathology of vertebrae, including contributing to the high rate of metastatic seeding of the vertebrae.

In this study, we examined whether and how miR-545 modulates ferroptosis in colorectal cancer (CRC). HT-29 and HCT-116 human CRC cell viability was examined using a CCK-8 assay and malondialdehyde (MDA) and Fe2+ levels were measured after treatment with the ferroptosis inducers Eradicator of Ras and ST (erastin) and Ras selective lethal 3 (RSL3) with or without miR-545 overexpression or knockdown vectors. Our results demonstrate that miR-545 overexpression inhibited, while miR-545 knockdown further increased, erastin and RSL3-induced upregulation of MDA, reactive oxygen species (ROS), and Fe2+ levels. Similarly, miR-545 overexpression partially reversed, while miR-545 knockdown enhanced, the erastin and RSL3-induced reduction in HT-29 and HCT-116 cell survival rates. Transferrin (TF) was identified as a target gene of miR-545. To determine whether miR-545 suppresses ferroptosis via TF, we overexpressed TF in HT-29 and HCT-116 cells. We found that TF overexpression blocked miR-545-induced changes in ROS, MDA, and Fe2+ levels in HT-29 and HCT-116 cells, thereby inducing CRC cell death. An in vivo assay showed that inhibition of miR-545 decreased tumor growth in nude mice treated with erastin. Together, these findings indicate that miR-545 promotes CRC cell survival by suppressing TF.

Androgen receptor (AR) plays a central role in driving prostate cancer (PCa) progression. How AR promotes this process is still not completely clear. Herein, we used single-cell transcriptome analysis to reconstruct the transcriptional network of AR in PCa. Our work shows AR directly regulates a set of signature genes in the ER-to-Golgi protein vesicle-mediated transport pathway. The expression of these genes is required for maximum androgen-dependent ER-to-Golgi trafficking, cell growth, and survival. Our analyses also reveal the signature genes are associated with PCa progression and prognosis. Moreover, we find inhibition of the ER-to-Golgi transport process with a small molecule enhanced antiandrogen-mediated tumor suppression of hormone-sensitive and insensitive PCa. Finally, we demonstrate AR collaborates with CREB3L2 in mediating ER-to-Golgi trafficking in PCa. In summary, our findings uncover a critical role for dysregulation of ER-to-Golgi trafficking expression and function in PCa progression, provide detailed mechanistic insights for how AR tightly controls this process, and highlight the prospect of targeting the ER-to-Golgi pathway as a therapeutic strategy for advanced PCa.

Elevated Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) DNA load is common in lymphomas. However, it remains unclear whether the disparity in viral load and its prognostic value in lymphomas are correlated with Epstein-Barr encoding region (EBER) status. In this retrospective multicenter study, we collected the data of pretreatment whole blood EBV DNA (pre-EBV DNA) and EBER status and evaluated their disparity and prognostic values in lymphomas. A total of 454 lymphoma patients from December 2014 to August 2020 were retrospectively retrieved. Mann-Whitney U test, Kruskal-Wallis test and Bonferroni's adjustment were used to explore the disparity of EBV DNA and EBER status in lymphomas. Time-dependent receiver operating characteristic analysis and MaxStat analysis were used to determine optimal cutoff points of pre-EBV DNA load. Univariable and multivariable Cox proportional hazards models were established for the estimation of prognostic factors. The positive rate of EBV DNA in natural killer T-cell lymphoma (NKTL) patients was higher than that in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), follicular lymphoma (FL) and Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) patients, and the median positive pre-EBV copy number of NKTL was also higher than that of FL and DLBCL. EBV DNA could clearly distinguish the prognosis of DLBCL, NKTL, HL and peripheral T-cell lymphoma, and the integration of EBER status and EBV DNA could differentiate the prognosis of HL patients. Multivariable results revealed that pre-EBV DNA load had an effect on the prognosis of NKTL, FL and DLBCL. The status of pre-EBV DNA and EBER were disparate. Whole blood pre-EBV DNA predicted the prognosis of lymphomas, and the combination of EBV and EBER status could differentiate the prognosis of HL.

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ObjectiveTo analyze the related factors of the postpartum thyroid function in women with overt hypothyroidism (OH)/subclinical hypothyroidism (SCH) and explore the effects of vitamin D categories.MethodsThyroid hormones, thyroid autoantibody, and serum 25OHD levels were continuously recorded from the first trimester of pregnancy (T1) to the 12th postpartum month. Logistic regression analysis and Cox regression analysis were used to screen the related factors of postpartum thyroid function, and the Latent Class Growth Model was performed to analyze the trajectory characteristics of serum 25OHD levels.ResultsTotally, 252 pregnant women with OH/SCH were enrolled in the study. In the 12th month postpartum, 36.5% of the patients improved thyroid function, 37.3% continued hypothyroidism, and 26.2% developed thyroid dysfunction. Vitamin D sufficiency, positive TPOAb, and positive TgAb in T1 were independent prognostic factors of postpartum thyroid function. Vitamin D sufficiency in T1 was illustrated as an independent factor of the improved postpartum thyroid function, but the protective effect for the developed postpartum thyroid dysfunction was only confirmed in TPOAb-positive patients. Cox regression analysis further confirmed the effects of vitamin D categories. Notably, the high-level 25OHD trajectory during pregnancy and postpartum could predict improved postpartum thyroid function and decrease the risk of developed postpartum thyroid dysfunction.ConclusionAppropriate vitamin D nutrition during pregnancy and postpartum may be beneficial to postpartum thyroid function.

BackgroundDiffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is a heterogeneous disease and the existing prognosis systems based on clinical variables are difficult to stratify patients accurately. Nutritional indices play a meaningful role in prognosis of solid tumors, whereas the effect on DLBCL is still equivocal. This retrospective study aimed to develop a novel model based on nutritional indices and other clinical variables to accurately differentiate the prognosis of DLBCL.MethodsA total of 129 patients pathologically diagnosed with DLBCL in Affiliated Hospital of Xuzhou Medical University from 2014 to 2018 were retrospectively recruited. The total fat area (TFA), visceral fat area (VFA) and subcutaneous fat area (SFA) at the third lumbar vertebra level spine were obtained by computed tomography (CT) to assess the effect of nutritional status on the prognosis of DLBCL. Principal component analysis was used to reduce the dimension of nutritional indices, and continuous variables were evaluated according to X-Tile and Restricted cubic spline. Univariable and multivariable Cox proportional hazard analyses were performed on potential variables. Kaplan-Meier method was utilized to evaluate survival probabilities and the differences between groups were assessed by log-rank test.ResultsX-Tile analysis divided VFA and albumin into two and three groups when applying 114.7 cm2 of VFA, 38.3 and 42.4 g/L of albumin as the optimal cut-off points, respectively. The final scoring model of nutrition-related prognostic index (NPI) comprised four independent prognostic variables. The C-index of the final model was 0.823 [95% CI (0.749~0.897)] by bootstrap resampling. Finally, a maximum score of 6 points was obtained. Compared with IPI, NCCN-IPI and GELTAMO-IPI, NPI showed better accuracy in discerning the prognostic risk of patients.ConclusionVFA and albumin were associated with the prognosis of DLBCL, and the NPI model based on nutritional indices could better stratify the prognosis of DLBCL.

BackgroundMalignant pericardial effusion (MPE) is a serious complication in patients with advanced malignant tumors, which indicates a poor prognosis. However, its clinical manifestations lack specificity, making it challenging to distinguish MPE from benign pericardial effusion (BPE). The aim of this study was to develop and validate a scoring system based on a nomogram to discriminate MPE from BPE through easy-to-obtain clinical parameters.MethodsIn this study, the patients with pericardial effusion who underwent diagnostic pericardiocentesis in Taizhou Hospital of Zhejiang Province from February 2013 to December 2021 were retrospectively analyzed. The eligible patients were divided into a training group (n = 161) and a validation group (n = 66) according to the admission time. The nomogram model was established using the meaningful indicators screened by the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) and multivariate logistic regression. Then, a new scoring system was constructed based on this nomogram model.ResultsThe new scoring system included loss of weight (3 points), no fever (4 points), mediastinal lymph node enlargement (2 points), pleural effusion (6 points), effusion adenosine deaminase (ADA≦18U/L) (5 points), effusion lactate dehydrogenase (LDH>1033U/L) (7 points), and effusion carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA>4.9g/mL) (10 points). With the optimal cut-off value was 16 points, the area under the curve (AUC), specificity, sensitivity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV), positive likelihood ratio (PLR), negative likelihood ratio (NLR) for identifying MPE were 0.974, 95.1%, 91.0%, 85.6%, 96.8%, 10.56 and 0.05, respectively, in the training set and 0.950, 83.3%, 95.2%, 90.9%, 90.9%, 17.50, and 0.18, respectively, in the validation set. The scoring system also showed good diagnostic accuracy in differentiating MPE caused by lung cancer from tuberculous pericardial effusion (TPE) and MPE including atypical cell from BPE.ConclusionThe new scoring system based on seven easily available variables has good diagnostic value in distinguishing MPE from BPE.

Blasting demolition has been widely used in the safe and efficient demolishing of construction buildings. Blasting demolition dust is the most visible and realistic harmful material during the blasting process. The characteristics and suppression of the blasting dust are scarcely addressed in the literature. This article investigated the micromorphology characteristic of blasting demolition dust from a typical building demolition project. The dust median size value D50 was 65.890 μm, and it showed a character of smooth edge, fluffy structure, and cracks. It consists of higher content of heavy metals than conventional cement powder particles, which include Mn, Ni, Zn, and As elements. The dust cannot be wet by municipal water for its hydrophobic character. A novelty method was proposed to set a methodology to form a stable, larger volume, and surface area water droplet on a rod stand, which provided more opportunities to find out and verify the microscopic agglomeration phenomenon and effectiveness between dust and different wetting droplets. The single dust-droplet collision results can be accurately recorded by the high-speed camera with a microscope, the collision and submergence time between blasting demolition dust particle and municipal water droplet on the stand was 2 ms, while the time was 1.125 ms with surfactant solution droplet, which was much shorter than the time of municipal water. The dust-droplet microscopic collision results were shown that the blasting demolition dust can be better wet and agglomerated by a surfactant solution. In blasting demolition projects, the BDD suppression methods with surfactant solution explosion mist have the highest efficiency, which can restrict the BDD’s concentration to 10 mg/m3.

The optimization of power parameters is the key to the design of pure electric vehicles. Reasonable matching of the relationship between various parameters can effectively reduce energy consumption and achieve energy sustainability. In this paper, several vehicle performance indexes such as maximum vehicle speed, acceleration time and power consumption per 100 km were used as optimization target vectors, and transmission ratio was used as optimization variable to establish the optimization problem of parameter matching. Then, the feasible domain of the transmission ratio was obtained by taking the lowest performance index of the vehicle as the constraint condition. In the feasible domain, the multi-objective genetic algorithm is used to solve the optimization problem. The Pareto optimal solution set is obtained for fixed ratio transmission and two-gear transmission, which is used as an alternative solution set. The final parameter-matching scheme is determined by comparing the alternative scheme set of different motors comprehensively. The results show that the competition relationship between multiple optimizable indexes can be described effectively by solving the Pareto front. Specifically, the Pareto optimal solution set for the motor A + fixed transmission scheme is 1.33~1.85; the Pareto optimal solution set for the motor A + 2 transmission scheme is [1.72, 0.98]~[2.99, 1.57], and the Pareto optimal solution set for the motor B + 2 transmission scheme is [2.99, 1.40]~[2.99, 1.57]. The motor A + fixed transmission scheme does not require A clutch and does not require designing a shift algorithm. Therefore, after comprehensive consideration, the motor A + fixed transmission ratio transmission scheme is set as the final scheme.

During COVID-19, many renowned galleries and art fairs used Virtual Reality (VR) exhibitions for art information dissemination and online displays. To avoid the risks of offline viewing of exhibitions, users can access a web-based VR exhibition platform for remote appreciation of artworks, gaining a rich art experience and thus contributing to physical and mental health. The reasons affecting users’ continued usage intentions are not clear enough in the existing studies of VR exhibitions. Therefore, further studies are needed. This paper explores the relationship between users’ escapist experience, aesthetic experience, presence, emotional responses, and continued usage intention through a survey of VR exhibition users. The survey data were collected from 543 users who had experienced the VR exhibition through an online survey website. The study results show that users’ continued usage intentions are influenced by escapist experience and aesthetic experience. Presence plays a mediating role in the influence of escapist experiences and aesthetic experiences on continued usage intention. Emotional responses play a moderating role in the impact of user experience on continued usage intention. This paper provides a theoretical reference for the study of the impact mechanism of continued usage intention of VR exhibitions from the perspective of mental health. In addition, this study enables VR exhibition platforms to better understand the emotional state of users during art experiences to create and share healthy aesthetic information that can contribute to the management and enhancement of mental health. At the same time, it provides valuable and innovative guidance solutions for the future development of VR exhibitions.

As an important photoluminescence (PL) phenomenon, room temperature phosphorescence (RTP) has received widespread interest since it has the benefit of longer luminescence lifetime, larger Stokes shift, and higher environmental sensitivity. Traditional RTP materials include organometallic complexes and pure organic compounds, which possess complex fabrication, expensive cost, or high cytotoxicity. Carbon dots (CDs), as the new type of luminescent materials, have drawn sustained attention due to their fine biocompatibility, environmental friendliness, low cost, and convenient preparation method. In past few years, some important progresses have been made in RTP CDs and a summary is urgently needed in this field. This review outlines the recent development of RTP CDs, including their synthetic methods, luminescence mechanism, structure, and properties. Moreover, various applications in anti-fake, information security, sensing, bio-imaging, and others have been introduced systematically. Finally, challenges, opportunities, and the future trend of these emerging carbon-based phosphorescent materials are presented for further study.

This study demonstrates a new system for the degradation of emerging pharmaceutical contaminants (e.g., ibuprofen) in water by coupling the naturally occurring ilmenite with hydroxylamine (HA) and persulfate (PS). Ilmenite was able to activate persulfate to generate sulfate radicals (SO4−·) and hydroxyl radicals (HO·). The radical generation was greatly improved by adding small amount of hydroxylamine into the solution, due to the efficient Fe(III)/Fe(II) cycle on the ilmenite surface promoted by HA, which was confirmed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy analysis. SO4−· and HO· contributed comparably to ibuprofen degradation, which was verified by the radical scavenging tests. The degradation was enhanced with increasing ilmenite, PS and HA dosages, but the HA exhibited strong scavenging effect at its high concentrations. The ilmenite/PS/HA process worked well in the real treated wastewater, because the surface-controlled radical generation was less affected by the water matrix. However, the formation of bromate in the bromide-containing water by this process should be concerned. Ibuprofen was partially mineralized, and the degradation products were identified by ESI-tqMS. A radical-induced degradation pathway was proposed based on the product identification. This work provides the mechanistic insights on persulfate activation based on the surface-controlled catalytic processes. It also offers a new strategy to degrade emerging contaminants in water and sheds light on the environmental functions of natural minerals.

Cartilage regeneration is dependent on cellular-extracellular matrix (ECM) interactions. Natural ECM plays a role in mechanical and chemical cell signaling and promotes stem cell recruitment, differentiation and tissue regeneration in the absence of biological additives, including growth factors and peptides. To date, traditional tissue engineering methods by using natural and synthetic materials have not been able to replicate the physiological structure (biochemical composition and biomechanical properties) of natural cartilage. Techniques facilitating the repair and/or regeneration of articular cartilage pose a significant challenge for orthopedic surgeons. Whereas, little progress has been made in this field. In recent years, with advances in medicine, biochemistry and materials science, to meet the regenerative requirements of the heterogeneous and layered structure of native articular cartilage (AC) tissue, a series of tissue engineering scaffolds based on ECM materials have been developed. These scaffolds mimic the versatility of the native ECM in function, composition and dynamic properties and some of which are designed to improve cartilage regeneration. This review systematically investigates the following: the characteristics of cartilage ECM, repair mechanisms, decellularization method, source of ECM, and various ECM-based cartilage repair methods. In addition, the future development of ECM-based biomaterials is hypothesized.

Traditional batch configuration is not sustainable due to catalyst leaching and ineffective recovery. Herein, a novel membrane-based catalyst with oxygen vacancies is developed, which assembled metal-organic-framework cobalt ferrite nanocrystals (MOF-d Co

Bamboo is an environmentally friendly sustainable resource and is commonly used in furniture production in China. Limited research has been conducted in the field of ergonomics of bamboo furniture, which can greatly affect the seating experience. This study provides a qualitative and quantitative analysis of the main effects of seat surface curve, bending deflection of bamboo strips of seat, functions, and usability in a bamboo lounge chair provided in Zhejiang Province. The shape of the seat surface curve of the bamboo lounge chair included the seat-back angle of 134°, and the slope of the bamboo lounge chair seat was 16°. The deflection of bamboo strips of seat under vertical loading force of 336 N was 30.7 mm. In addition, the angles, deflection characteristic, and functions of the bamboo lounge chair were all human-centered design and suitable for human comfort, which can reduce maximum pressure and maintain normal lumbar spine curve in adult.

Factors affecting screw driving torques in plywood were investigated in this work. The factors were number of layers (7 and 9), pilot hole diameter (3.0 and 3.5 mm), pilot hole depth (60 and 80% of the thickness of specimen), and thickness of the metal plate (7.5 and 10 mm). Screw driving torques were studied in oriented strandboard, medium-density fiberboard, particleboard, and some wood-plastic composites. There is no such information about screw driving torques in plywood (PW). Therefore, this study focused on the plywood made of aspen (Populus tremula L.). The mean seating torque (SET) values ranged from 0.31 to 0.69 N∙m, whereas mean stripping torque (STT) values ranged from 0.50 to 4.7 N∙m. The ratios of STT/SET were between 2 and 5 in PW with seven layers, whereas the ratios were between 4 and 7 in PW with nine layers. The results indicated that the four main effects of SET and STT were statistically significant with p-values of ˂ 0.0001.

Sitting comfort is primarily determined by the cushioning capability of the seat foundation. Limited literature has been found related to the effects that different sized human buttocks had on the cushioning capability of the seat foundation. Moreover, there is no testing method specialized to measure the load-deformation behavior of foam cushions that imitates the sitting behavior between indenters with different sizes and seat support. This study investigated the effects of various indenter diameters (20 cm, 30 cm, 36 cm, 41 cm, 51 cm, and 58 cm), foam stiffness levels (high and low), and seat bases (spring versus solid flat panel) on the compressive load-deformation behavior of upholstered seat foundations. The load-deformation curves of all the tested foam-seat base combinations exhibited three typical regions, i.e., linear elasticity, plateau, and densification, when subjected to the loads applied through different indenter diameters. Statistical results indicated that the primary effects of the indenter diameter, foam stiffness level, and seat base had significant effects on the spring constants, which represented the slopes of lines in these three regions. In addition, a regression technique was proposed to derive power equations for the estimation of the spring constants of a seat foundation as a function of the indenter diameter, foam material stiffness, and seat base type.

Panaxatriol saponins (PTS) have a long history in the treatment of stroke. In our previous experiments, PTS has been found to alleviate ischemic stroke and play a role through regulating the inflammatory response, but the specific mechanism of its regulation is still unclear. Cell viability was determined by MTT assay. Expressions of polarization-related proteins CD16, CD68, ARG1 and CD206; inflammatory factors interleukin-1β (IL-1β); inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS); monocyte chemotactic protein 1(MCP-1) and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2); apoptosis-related proteins pro-caspase3; bax; caspase3 and bcl-2; and STAT3 and p-STAT3 were detected by western blot. ELISA was used to detect the expression of inflammatory-related factors in cells. The apoptosis rate was detected by flow cytometry. We found that the survival rate of oxygen sugar deprivation/reoxygenation (OGD/R) cells increased obviously after PTS treatment in a dose-dependent manner. PTS can promote M2 polarization of microglial cells (BV2) and inhibit inflammatory response of OGD/R cells, accompanied by decreased expression of inflammatory factors IL-1β, iNOS, MCP-1, and COX-2. PTS inhibited apoptosis of OGD/R cells and was accompanied by decreased expression of apoptotic proteins Bax and caspase3 and increased expression of Bcl-2. We also found that PTS activated STAT3 levels in BV2 cells. After the addition of STAT3 inhibitor Stattic, it was found that PTS could promote M2 polarization of BV2 cells by activating the STAT3 pathway, thus inhibiting cell inflammation and apoptosis. PTS promoted M2 polarization in microglia cells by activating the STAT3 pathway, thereby reducing cell inflammation and apoptosis after glucose/oxygen deprivation.

Plants constitute a major element of constructed wetlands (CWs). In this study, a coupled system comprising an integrated vertical flow CW (IVCW) and a microbial fuel cell (MFC) for swine wastewater treatment was developed to research the effects of macrophytes commonly employed in CWs, Canna indica, Acorus calamus, and Ipomoea aquatica, on decontamination and electricity production in the system. Because of the different root types and amounts of oxygen released by the roots, the rates of chemical oxygen demand (COD) and ammonium nitrogen (NH4+-N) removal from the swine wastewater differed as well. In the unplanted, Canna indica, Acorus calamus, and Ipomoea aquatica systems, the COD removal rates were 80.20%, 88.07%, 84.70%, and 82.20%, respectively, and the NH4+-N removal rates were 49.96%, 75.02%, 70.25%, and 68.47%, respectively. The decontamination capability of the Canna indica system was better than those of the other systems. The average output voltages were 520±42, 715±20, 660±27, and 752±26mV for the unplanted, Canna indica, Acorus calamus, and Ipomoea aquatica systems, respectively, and the maximum power densities were 0.2230, 0.4136, 0.3614, and 0.4964W/m3, respectively. Ipomoea aquatica had the largest effect on bioelectricity generation promotion. In addition, electrochemically active bacteria, Geobacter and Desulfuromonas, were detected in the anodic biofilm by high-throughput sequencing analysis, and Comamonas (Proteobacteria), which is widely found in MFCs, was also detected in the anodic biofilm. These results confirmed the important role of plants in IVCW-MFCs.

Objective: To observe the clinical effect of mesotherapy with nanochip for facial rejuvenation.Methods: 24 volunteers with aging skin were treated with a polycomponent formulation – NCTF® BOOST 135...

The present study aimed to explore the effects and clinical importance of serum interleukin (IL) IL-1β, IL-6, C-reactive protein (CRP), intercellular adhesion molecule (ICAM)-1 and matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2 in patients with acute cerebral infarction undergoing intravenous thrombolysis during simultaneous hypothermia therapy. A total of 80 patients with acute cerebral infarction who were treated at our hospital were randomly selected. They were divided into groups A and B. The two groups were treated with intravenous thrombolysis, while group B received sub-hypothermia treatment. Prior to treatment and at 7 days after treatment, 5 ml of venous blood was collected and stored in a freezer at -80˚C. IL-1β, IL-6, CRP, ICAM-1 and MMP-2 levels were detected by ELISA and compared between the groups and time-points. The results were as follows: i) At 7 days after treatment, the levels of IL-1β, IL-6, CRP, ICAM-1 and MMP-2 in group B were significantly decreased compared with those in group A (P0.05). The incidence of adverse reactions in group A and group B was 35 and 20% respectively, and the mortality rate was 10 and 5%, respectively. There were no significant differences in adverse events and mortality between the two groups (P>0.05). In addition, a positive correlation of the level of IL-1β, IL-6, CRP, ICAM-1 and MMP-2 with the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score was determined in the patients prior to treatment. In conclusion, mild hypothermia treatment in addition to intravenous thrombolysis significantly reduced the levels of IL-1β, IL-6, CRP, ICAM-1 and MMP-2 in patients with acute cerebral infarction and reduced inflammation, and should therefore be incorporated in clinical practice.