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Contaminants are the critical targets of food safety supervision and risk assessment. In existing research, food safety knowledge graphs are used to improve the efficiency of supervision since they supply the relationship between contaminants and foods. Entity relationship extraction is one of the crucial technologies of knowledge graph construction. However, this technology still faces the issue of single entity overlap. This means that a head entity in a text description may have multiple corresponding tail entities with different relationships. To address this issue, this work proposes a pipeline model with neural networks for multiple relations enhanced entity pairs extraction. The proposed model can predict the correct entity pairs in terms of specific relations by introducing the semantic interaction between relation identification and entity extraction. We conducted various experiments on our own dataset FC and on the open public available data set DuIE2.0. The results of experiments show our model reaches the state-of-the-art, and the case study indicates our model can correctly extract entity-relationship triplets to release the problem of single entity overlap.

The lack of effective management of the planning and scheduling of funds by enterprises can lead to the emergence of short term loans and long term investments. Although short term loans and long term investments allow enterprises to arrange funds more flexibly and easily, they can seriously endanger the healthy and stable development of enterprises. Therefore, it is important to improve the current situation of the proliferation of short term loans and long term investments. In this paper, we study the economic effects of digital transformation on enterprises' short term loans and long term investments. Firstly, the collected sample data - 11-year financial data of Shanghai and Shenzhen A-share companies from 2011-2021 - are processed to make the data more realistic and representative, and then the data are empirically tested and regression analyzed using Stata and Spss software to study the effect of digital transformation on short loans and long investments of enterprises . The results of the study show that: digital transformation of enterprises can effectively inhibit enterprises' short loans and long investments; the larger the scale of enterprises and the larger the asset-liability ratio, the greater the possibility of enterprises' short loans and long investments. Finally, based on the research findings, recommendations are drawn: enterprises should allocate funds rationally; enterprises should expand the scale advantage of internal talents; the government should provide policy support for enterprises' digital transformation; and the internal and external market environment should be optimized.

In this paper, we first detect the uneven distribution of regional inequality in rural China with the per capita net income data at county level, and then diagnose the various factors that contribute to this as well as its driving mechanisms using the four-dimension transitional framework. The results suggest that rural inequalities are clustered at the province level, and those most unequal regions tend to be geographically gathered. Stemming from the framework, the study reveals that the spatio-temporal disparity in rural inequality is deeply embedded in the quadruple-transition process of marketization, globalization, decentralization and urbanization. Employing both the pooled OLS and spatial regime models, the study further unfolds that influences of the transition processes are diversified across regions and study periods. We finally argue that human investment rather than economic growth plays the key role in reducing the rural inequality in eastern provinces, and that the formulation of policies in line with regional characteristics would be helpful to address or alleviate rural inequality.

Interoverlapped superstructure of unilamellar N,O co-doped WS2 and C is constructed as anode materials for fast-charging sodium-ion batteries.

Proline/P5C cycle between mitochondria and cytosol, play important roles in energy supply and ROS generation in mammalian cell. Recently, in plant, proline-dependent ROS via proline/P5C cycle was proposed to be involved in hypersensitive reaction during plant response to avirulent pathogens. However, much remains to be elucidated about the regulation of proline/P5C cycle upon pathogen infection. Here, we reported the isolation and characterization of an Arabidopsis mutant proline resistance 2 (pre2), with a single dominant mutation in a single gene. Our results showed that the proline resistance phenotype of pre2 is not due to decreased intracellular proline content, when treated with exogenous proline. Upon proline treatment, pre2 showed reduced induction of PDH transcript level and enhanced induction of that of P5CDH, accompanied by lower level of mitochondrial ROS, suggesting an attenuated proline/P5C cycle activity. Proline-induced SA signaling was also less activated in pre2, as evidenced reduced free SA content and PR1 transcript level, compared to the WT. On the other hand, SA activation on the proline/P5C activity is to a lesser extent in pre2 than in WT. Significantly, pre2 demonstrated increased susceptibility to infection by avirulent pathogen Pst. DC3000 (avrRps4), accompanied also by lesser induced proline/P5C cycle activity by the pathogen. Our results indicated that there is a correlation between proline/P5C cycle and plant response to avirulent pathogen.

Purpose The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically disrupted everyday life, leading to a cascade of negative emotional responses such as death anxiety. Against this backdrop, the purpose of this paper is to focus on the buffering effect of brand attachment on death anxiety by exploring the roles of brand concepts and brand positioning on psychological compensation for security. Design/methodology/approach This multi-method paper features four studies and shows how brands can offer emotional support under high-risk circumstances. Findings Study 1 includes two surveys which offer preliminary evidence that death anxiety can enhance consumers’ brand attachment. Study 2 reveals a causal effect wherein consumers experiencing death anxiety are more likely to attach to brands with a self-transcendence (vs self-enhancement) concept. Study 3 examines the mediating role of need for security in the relationship between death anxiety and attachment to brands with a self-transcendence concept. Further, Study 4 indicates the moderating role of brand positioning: self-transcendence brands adopting local (vs global) positioning strategies are more likely to satisfy consumers’ need for security, thereby leading to strong brand attachment. Originality/value The findings of this paper contribute to the brand attachment literature and to the global branding literature regarding consumers’ emotional responses in the context of COVID-19. This paper innovatively frames brand concepts and brand positioning and provides actionable guidelines to help brands satisfy consumers’ needs amid a worldwide crisis.

NADH oxidase (NOX) is an oxidoreductase that catalyzes the oxidation of NADH to NAD+ with the participation of oxygen. NOX can artificially regulate metabolic processes as an important regulatory enzyme for NAD+ regeneration. In this study, cobalt-doped molybdenum sulfide (Co-MoS2) nanocomposite was prepared by hydrothermal synthesis, which exhibited NOX mimics. The catalytic mechanism of NOX mimics was studied. The NOX-like activity of Co-MoS2 is optimal at pH 4.5 and in the temperature range of 20–45℃. Further, its catalytic activity maintained almost the same after 5 cycles of repetitive addition of NADH, suggesting that Co-MoS2 nanozyme possessed significant catalytic persistence. The produced H2O2 catalyzed by Co-MoS2 can be detected by horseradish peroxidase (HRP) and 3,3′,5,5′-tetramethylbenzidine at pH4.5. Thus, interestingly, a colorimetric NADH sensor was proposed on the basis of the enzymatic cascade reaction of NADH oxidase-like conjugated with HRP. This as-established method had wide detection range (0.5–800 μM) with the detection limit of 0.25 μM NADH, capable of detecting NADH in real sample.

Lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) is originated from the mucus-producing glands of the lungs. The involvement of long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) has been discovered in multiple diseases. In the present research, we aimed to unmask the role of C2CD4D and THEM5 antisense RNA 1 (C2CD4D-AS1) in LUAD. RT-qPCR or western blot analysis was respectively applied in the detection of RNA or protein expressions. The function of C2CD4D-AS1 in LUAD was assessed by functional assays. Through ChIP, RNA pull down, DNA pull down, RIP and luciferase reporter assays, the in-depth regulatory mechanism of C2CD4D-AS1 in LUAD was explored. C2CD4D-AS1 was dramatically overexpressed in LUAD tissues and cell lines. As a result, depletion of C2CD4D-AS1 significantly repressed cell proliferation, migration, invasion and stimulated cell apoptosis in LUAD. Mechanistically, ETS variant transcription factor 4 (ETV4) activated the transcription of C2CD4D-AS1 and stimulated its up-regulation in LUAD cells, thus affecting LUAD cell biological functions. Furthermore, C2CD4D-AS1 sponged microRNA-3681-3p (miR-3681-3p) and regulated NIMA-related kinase 2 (NEK2), thus participating in modulating LUAD cell biological behaviors. To conclude, C2CD4D-AS1 up-regulation induced by ETV4 enhanced NEK2 expression by sequestering miR-3681-3p to contribute to the malignant behaviors of LUAD cells.

To regulate nanostructure synthesis is of crucial importance for developing various applications, including catalysis, bioanalysis, and optical devices. Herein, the morphology and peroxidase (POD)-mimicking activity of peptide-templated copper nanoassemblies (Cu NAs) are regulable with peptide types. The Cu NAs templated with peptide containing single cysteine are uniform nanoclusters with strong POD-like activity. However, the Cu NAs templated with peptide containing two cysteines are fusiform-like with very weak POD-like activity. Unexpectedly, the POD-like activity of Cu NAs templated with peptide containing two cysteines with lysine between the cysteines is significantly enhanced when trypsin is incubated, which is unchanged for the Cu NAs templated with peptide containing two cysteines without lysine between the cysteines. The remarkably enhanced POD-mimicking activity originates from trypsin specifically shearing the peptide bond on the lysine, thereby allowing the aggregated Cu NAs to unravel into individual nanoclusters. Therefore, a robust colorimetric sensing platform was constructed for sensitive and selective detection of trypsin, which showed a linear concentration range of 3-1000 nM and a detection limit of 0.82 nM (S/N = 3). More interestingly, featured by trypsin inhibitor restraining trypsin activity, it enabled us to screen trypsin inhibitors as well. Subsequently, the developed assay was applied to detect trypsin in serum samples with good accuracy and reproducibility. Thus, this strategy shows great potential application in the clinic for diagnosis of trypsin-indicating diseases as well as the screening of trypsin inhibitor-based anti-cancer drugs.

Hypertrophic scar (HS), a fibroproliferative disorder of the skin with some tumor-like properties, is closely related to dysregulated inflammation. PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitor is a promising medication for cancer therapy as its potent functions on adaptive immune response; whether it could be a candidate for HS therapy has aroused our interest. This study aimed to explore the effect and the mechanism of BMS-202, a PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitor, in HS.Ten HS and adjacent normal skin tissues collected from HS patients were used to detect α-SMA, collagen I, and PD-L1 expression by Quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and western blot (WB) analysis. Fibroblasts derived from HS tissues (HFBs) were exposed to diverse concentrations of BMS-202, of which proliferation, migration, apoptosis, and collagen synthesis were evaluated by Cell Counting Kit-8, wound healing, terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase (TdT) dUTP Nick-End labeling, and [sup3/supH]-proline incorporation assays, respectively. The effect of BMS-202 on α-SMA and collagen I expression, and transforming growth factor beta 1 (TGFβ1)/Smad signaling in HFBs was also determined by WB and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.The expression level of PD-L1 was significantly elevated in both HS tissues and HFBs, which was positively correlated with α-SMA and collagen I expressions. BMS-202 exerted a significant suppression effect on the cell proliferation, migration, collagen synthesis, and α-SMA and collagen I expression of HFBs in a concentration-dependent way; but did not affect apoptosis. Finally, BMS-202 could reduce the phosphorylation of ERK1/2, Smad2, and Smad3, and the TGFβ1 expression once its concentration reached 2.5 nM.BMS-202 effectively suppressed proliferation, migration, and extracellular matrix deposition of HFBs, potentially through the regulation of the ERK and TGFβ1/Smad signaling pathways.

The rapid development of Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) is remarkable. However, IoMT faces many problems including privacy disclosure, long delay of service orders, low retrieval efficiency of medical data, and high energy cost of fog computing. For these, this paper proposes a data privacy protection and efficient retrieval scheme for IoMT based on low-cost fog computing. First, a fog computing system is located between a cloud server and medical workers, for processing data retrieval requests of medical workers and orders for controlling medical devices. Simultaneously, it preprocesses physiological data of patients uploaded by IoMT, collates them into various data sets, and transmits them to medical institutions in this way. It makes the entire execution process of low latency and efficient. Second, multidimensional physiological data are of great value, and we use ciphertext retrieval to protect privacy of patient data in this paper. In addition, this paper uses range tree to build an index for storing physiological data vectors, and meanwhile a range retrieval method is also proposed to improve data search efficiency. Finally, bat algorithm (BA) is designed to allocate cost on a fog server group for significant energy cost reduction. Extensive experiments are conducted to demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed scheme.

BackgroundEsophageal squamous cell carcinoma is the predominant subtype of esophageal cancer in China and so differs from presentations in Western countries. Common metastatic locations of esophageal cancer include the liver, lung, bone, and brain. In contrast, metastases in subcutaneous soft tissue are exceedingly rare.Case presentationWe present the experience of a 57-year-old man with a complaint of hand and leg dysfunction on the right side. He had a past medical history of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. Further imaging workup revealed a solitary brain metastasis, thickening of the esophageal wall, swollen lymph nodes in the mediastinum, and right adrenal gland metastasis. Gamma knife radiosurgery of the brain metastasis and intensity-modulated radiotherapy of the esophagus and lymph nodes were administered. After 1.5 months, he was admitted to our hospital again, and nodules were identified in the anterior abdominal wall and left posterior chest wall. Ultrasound, CT, and radical excision of the abdominal wall mass were undertaken and revealed metastatic squamous cell carcinoma with neuroendocrine differentiation. We administered immunotherapy followed by targeted therapy. A PET/CT scan was performed to identify other organ metastases; the scan revealed multiple areas of fluorodeoxyglucose uptake and foci in the esophagus, lung, liver, bone, and right adrenal gland; and in various lymph nodes. In addition, an intensely hypermetabolic lesion was localized in the left posterior thorax.ConclusionThis case highlights the diagnosis and treatment of uncommon metastases of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. We hope that our clinical experience provides insights into these uncommon metastases.

It is generally accepted that logo characteristics have significant effects on consumer brand preferences. However, little is known about how logo stability and instability drive consumer attitudes. To address this gap in the logo literature, the authors draw on a new perspective of brand concepts based on human values and explore why and how this logo characteristic exerts influence. Across three studies, the authors show that consumers prefer a stable logo brand when it embodies conservation concepts, while they prefer an unstable logo brand when it embodies openness concepts. The underlying mechanism for this matching effect is processing fluency. Furthermore, the matching effect is attenuated for people who are low (vs. high) in visual information processing. Overall, these findings shed light on when and how marketers should adopt stability/instability in logo design.

In remote intelligent teaching, the facial expression features can be recorded in time through facial recognition, which is convenient for teachers to judge the learning status of students in time and helps teachers to change teaching strategies in a timely manner. Based on this, this study applies machine learning and virtual reality technology to distance classroom teaching. Moreover, this study uses different channels to automatically learn global and local features related to facial expression recognition tasks. In addition, this study integrates the soft attention mechanism into the proposed model so that the model automatically learns the feature maps that are more important for facial expression recognition and the salient regions within the feature maps. At the same time, this study performs weighted fusion on the features extracted from different branches, and uses the fused features to re-recognize student features. Finally, this study analyzes the results of this paper through control experiments. The research results show that the algorithm proposed in this paper has good performance and can be applied to the distance teaching system.

How to apply artificial intelligence technology to help education reform is a problem that teaching researchers need to solve urgently. Using artificial intelligence technology to improve the key competences of English subjects is the new direction of current English teaching development. This research combines machine learning technology to analyze the key competences assessment of English teaching disciplines and builds an evaluation model corresponding to the threshold. Moreover, on the basis of orderly mutual information, this study combines the maximum correlation and minimum redundancy theory to select the attribute algorithm to optimize the key competences assessment function of English subjects. In addition, in this study, the performance of the research model is analyzed through a comparative test, and the results are analyzed through actual numerical comparison and error comparison. The research results show that the recognition accuracy of this research model is closer than that of the real score, has higher accuracy, and has certain practical effects.

A simple colorimetric sensing strategy for Hg2+ ions was developed using silver/copper nanoclusters (Ag/Cu NCs) with excellent selectivity and sensitivity. Bimetallic Ag/Cu NCs were synthesized by using glutathione (GSH) as a template and sodium borohydride as a reducing agent. It was found that the peroxidase-like activity of Ag/Cu NCs was significantly enhanced in the presence of Hg2+. Therefore, a colorimetric method based on catalysis was developed to detect Hg2+ with a linear concentration range of 0.1–700 nM and a detection limit of 0.05 nM (S/N = 3). The common species have no effect on Hg2+ ion detection. Furthermore, this method is applicable to accurately detect Hg2+ in real aqueous samples and is reproducible. Therefore, owing to the merits of sensitivity, selectivity, rapid response and visual read-out, it can be promising in the development of a portable Hg2+ analyzer for on-site detection.

Background The aim of the study was to identify biomarkers that can facilitate early diagnosis and treatment of fulminant myocarditis (FM) in order to reduce mortality. Methods and Results First, the expression profiles of circulating cytokines were determined in the plasma samples from 4 patients with FM and 4 controls using human cytokine arrays. The results showed that 39 cytokines from patients with FM were changed at admission. Among them, 8 cytokines returned to normal levels at discharge, including soluble ST2 (sST2), which showed the most marked dynamic changes from disease onset to resolution. Then, in a cohort of 76 patients with FM, 57 patients with acute hemodynamic dysfunction attributable to other causes, and 56 patients with non‐FM, receiver operating characteristic curve analyses suggested that plasma sST2 level was able to differentiate FM from non‐FM or other FM‐unrelated acute heart failure more robustly N‐terminal pro‐B‐type natriuretic peptide or cardiac troponin I. Moreover, longitudinal analysis of plasma sST2 was performed in 10 patients with FM during hospitalization and 16 patients with FM during follow‐up. Finally, the diagnostic value was validated in an additional 26 patients with acute onset of unstable hemodynamics. The cutoff value of plasma sST2 for optimal diagnosis of FM was established at 58.39 ng/mL, where a sensitivity of 85.7% and specificity of 94.7% were achieved. Conclusions Elevated sST2 level was associated with mechanical stress or inflammation. Especially, sST2 might be used as a potential biomarker for the rapid diagnosis of FM, which was characterized by strong mechanical stretch stimulation and severe inflammatory response. Registration URL: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov ; Unique identifier: NCT03268642.

Based on the conjugated complex PVK: Ir(ppy)

The plant U-box (PUB) proteins function as E3 ligases to poly-ubiquitinate the target proteins for their degradation or post-translational modification. PUBs also play important roles in regulation of diverse biological processes, including plant response to environmental stresses. In this study, the functional characterization of a soybean PUB gene, GmPUB6, was performed. GmPUB6 was mainly localized to peroxisome, and showed E3 ubiquitin ligase activity. The transcript levels of GmPUB6 in soybean leaves and roots were induced by abscisic acid (ABA), high salinity and polyethylene glycol (PEG) treatment. Comparing with the wild-type (WT) plants, overexpression of GmPUB6 in Arabidopsis thaliana decreased plant survival rate after drought stress, reduced seed germination rate and root elongation under mannitol (osmotic) stress, and suppressed ABA- or mannitol-mediated stomatal closure. In addition, under dehydration stress, the relative expression levels of seven stress responsive genes, including ABI1, DREB2A, KIN2, RAB18, RD20, RD29A and RD29B, were lower in GmPUB6-overexpressed plants than WT. Taken together, these results suggest that GmPUB6 functions as a negative regulator in drought tolerance, and plays an important role in osmotic stress and ABA signaling pathways, which might be the possible mechanism of PUB6 participating in drought stress response.

Lead wastewater not only causes deterioration of water quality but also further enters the human body through the food chain and is harmful to human health. Therefore, there is an urgent need to find an economical, simple and efficient water treatment technology to treat lead-contaminated wastewater in waterbodies. In this paper, the modified biochar derived from corn straw by magnesium chloride is prepared. Adsorption experiments of Pb(II) in solution by the modified biochar are carried out. Experiment results show that the modified biochar mainly contains C and O elements, and a large number of functional groups. The adsorption amount of Pb(II) by modified biochar reaches 5.15 mg/g under 0.2 g of modified biochar, 25 mg/L initial concentration of Pb(II) ion, reaction time of 480 min, temperature 25°C and at a speed of 200 rpm. The adsorption process of Pb(II) ions in solution by the modified biochar fits on the Freundlich isotherm model. Pseudo-second order kinetic model can better describe the adsorption process of Pb(II) ion in solution by the modified biochar. The process of adsorbing Pb(II) ions in solution by modified biochar is dominated by multi-layer adsorption process and chemical adsorption process.

It is important to detect pathogens rapidly, sensitively, and selectively for clinical medicine, homeland security, food safety, and environmental control. We report here a specific and sensitive colorimetric assay that incorporated a bovine serum albumin-templated Co3O4 magnetic nanozyme (Co3O4 MNE) with a novel specific fusion phage protein and magnetophoretic chromatography to detect Staphylococcus aureus. The Co3O4 MNE was conjugated to S. aureus-specific fusion-pVIII (Co3O4 MNE@fusion-pVIII), screened from the S. aureus-specific phage AQTFLGEQD (the phage monoclone is denoted by the peptide sequence). The as-prepared triple-functional Co3O4 MNE@fusion-pVIII particles were capable of capturing S. aureus in sterile milk, which were then isolated from milk magnetically. Assisted by polyethylene glycol, the Co3O4 MNE@fusion-pVIII@S. aureus complex was separated from the free Co3O4 MNE@fusion-pVIII by magnetophoretic chromatography in an external magnetic field. After transferring the isolated Co3O4 MNE@fusion-pVIII@S. aureus complexes into a 96-well plate, diammonium salt of 2,2'-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzo-thiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) and H2O2 were added to develop color because of the peroxidase mimetics activity of the Co3O4 MNE. A S. aureus concentration within 10-10,000 cfu/mL in milk can be detected (detection limit: 8 cfu/mL). The as-developed method is simple, cost-efficient, and sensitive, which is useful for rapidly diagnosing pathogenic bacteria and helpful to prevent disease outbreaks induced by pathogens in developing countries.

General secret sharing schemes comprise a secret dealer and a number of participants. The dealer can randomly generate a secret and then distribute shares of the secret to the participants. Verifiable multi-secret sharing enables a dealer to share multiple secrets among a group of participants such that the deceptive behaviors of the dealer and the participants can be detected. However, in the absence of secure channels, few verifiable secret sharing schemes can simultaneously share multiple secrets at one time. In this paper, we present an information privacy protection and verifiable multi-secret sharing scheme with a simple structure and high security. Each participant can verify correctness of the share distribution process based on public information published by the dealer and guarantee validity of the received share to avoid offering fake information in the process of restoring the original secret. Our performance and security analysis indicate that the newly proposed scheme is more efficient and practical while maintaining the same level of security compared with similar protocols available.

Histidine can trigger bimetallic gold/copper nanoclusters to turn on strong red fluoresence, which is capable of sensing nanomolar levels of histidine selectively.

Enzymatic biofuel cells (EBFCs) provide a new strategy to enable direct biomass-to-electricity conversion, posing considerable demand on sequential enzymes. However, artificial blend of multi-enzyme systems often suffer biocatalytic inefficiency due to the rambling mixture of catalytic units. In an attempt to construct a high-performance starch/O

Bacterial infections caused by biofilms are severe clinical problems, resulting in high drug resistance by limiting the penetration of antibiotics. Herein, a near-infrared (NIR)-activated chem/photodynamic/photothermal combined therapeutic agent is proposed by loading fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC), ultrasmall copper sulfide nanoparticles (Cu

A nanocomposite nanozyme has been fabricated through mineralizing gold-silver bimetals into Hemin (Hem)-coupled melamine (MA) polymer matrix for visual colorimetric analysis of H2O2 and glucose. Catalytic Hem was cross-linked onto MA scaffold for the mineralization of Au–Ag bimetals yielding the rod-like nanocomposite of MA-Hem/Au–Ag. It was discovered that the resulting nanocomposite could present high aqueous stability and especially improved catalysis, which was more than four-fold higher than that of native Hem. Catalytic kinetics studies indicate that the prepared nanocomposite nanozyme could present much higher affinities to the substrates than those of native Hem or even horseradish peroxidase. Herein, the so mineralized Au–Ag bimetals with the “silver effect” would act as “nanowires” for promoting the electron transferring of nanocomposite nanozyme. Moreover, the Hem-coupled MA polymer matrix with high specific surface area could ensure the high adsorption capacity for the reactant substrates and targeting analytes. The application feasibility of the developed nanocomposite nanozyme was demonstrated subsequently by the colorimetric assays for H2O2 and glucose separately in milk and blood samples, with the linear ranges of 0.010–2.50 mM and 0.0050–2.0 mM, respectively. Such a bimetal mineralization-based fabrication route may open a new door toward the design of diverse nanocomposites nanozymes with improved catalysis and adsorption performances.

AimsLong non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are critical regulators of viral infection and inflammatory responses. However, the roles of lncRNAs in acute myocarditis (AM), especially fulminant myocarditis (FM), remain unclear.MethodsFM and non-fulminant myocarditis (NFM) were induced by coxsackie B3 virus (CVB3) in different mouse strains. Then, the expression profiles of the lncRNAs in the heart tissues were detected by sequencing. Finally, the patterns were analyzed by Pearson/Spearman rank correlation, Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes, and Cytoscape 3.7.ResultsFirst, 1,216, 983, 1,606, and 2,459 differentially expressed lncRNAs were identified in CVB3-treated A/J, C57BL/6, BALB/c, and C3H mice with myocarditis, respectively. Among them, 88 lncRNAs were commonly dysregulated in all four models. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction analyses further confirmed that four out of the top six commonly dysregulated lncRNAs were upregulated in all four models. Moreover, the levels of ENSMUST00000188819, ENSMUST00000199139, and ENSMUST00000222401 were significantly elevated in the heart and spleen and correlated with the severity of cardiac inflammatory infiltration. Meanwhile, 923 FM-specific dysregulated lncRNAs were detected, among which the levels of MSTRG.26098.49, MSTRG.31307.11, MSTRG.31357.2, and MSTRG.32881.28 were highly correlated with LVEF.ConclusionExpression of lncRNAs is significantly dysregulated in acute myocarditis, which may play different roles in the progression of AM.

A simple colorimetric sensing strategy for Hg

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine how incidental emotions interact with brand concepts that are represented as human values to influence consumers’ attitude toward brands. It also explores the effect of construal level on such interactional effect. Design/methodology/approach Three incidental emotion × brand concepts between-subject experiments were performed on consumers. The first two experiments used real brands as stimuli, while the third one featured a fictitious brand. Findings Results revealed that the motivational congruency between incidental emotions and brand concepts leads to favorable consumer responses toward the targeted brand by inducing an experience of fluency. However, such effect only emerges among consumers with a high construal level. Originality/value This paper provides a new insight about the effect of brand concept represented as human values by identifying the role of situational factors (incidental emotions) and personal factors (chronic construal level), which are also easily administered and applied in everyday marketing contexts.

A metal-free polymer nanozyme has been developed for the first time simply via the one-pot covalent reaction of hyperbranched polyethyleneimine (PEI) and redox dihydroxybenzaldehyde (DHB). The yielded PEI-DHB nanoparticles could display the peroxidase-like catalysis activity, so as to act as the metal-free nanozyme in catalyzing the chromogenic reactions of 3,3′,5,5′-tetramethylbenzidine and H2O2. More interestingly, the catalysis activity of the polymer nanozymes could be specifically inhibited by heparin oppositely charged. A facile visualized colorimetric method was thereby developed for sensing heparin through combining the specific catalysis and electrostatic attraction of PEI-DHB nanozyme. It was found that the developed colorimetric method can enable the detection of heparin in serum over the linear concentration range of 0.050–1.0 μM, promising the wide applications for the detection of heparin in the clinical laboratory for the disease diagnostics and pharmacological monitoring. More importantly, such a green synthesis method may be tailored for fabricating various metal-free polymer nanozymes for the wide catalysis applications.

Polymer prodrug micelles, combining the advantages of prodrugs and polymer micelles, can greatly improve the solubility, permeability and stability of drugs. In this work, amphiphilic block copolymers poly(α-azide caprolactone-co-caprolactone)-b-poly(2-methacryloyloxyethyl phosphorylcholine), P(ACL-co-CL)-b-PMPC, were synthesized, and an antineoplastic drug 7-ethyl-10-hydroxy camptothecin (SN38) was grafted to the amphiphilic copolymers to obtain a prodrug and their micelles. The preparation of P(ACL-co-CL)-b-PMPC was proceeded by ring-opening polymerization of e-caprolactone/α-bromide caprolactone, converting the bromide to an azide, and atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP). The camptothecin derivative SN38-alkyne was bonded to the polymer to obtain P(CL/CL-g-SN38)-b-PMPC by a “click reaction”. The obtained polymer–drug complex can easily self-assemble to form prodrug micelles with the shell composed of PMPC and the core composed of PCL and SN38. The micelles presented characteristics including improved drug loading efficiency and stabilization of the drug. In vivo, the retention time of the prodrug micelles in blood could be tripled, and the clearance was delayed compared with the SN38 solution. The in vivo anti-tumor experiments demonstrated that the prodrug micelles had a better treatment effect and low toxicity to 4T1-bearing BALB/C mice.

An electroanalysis strategy has been developed for probing glutathione (GSH) separately in hela and yeast cells based on the displacement reaction route using melamine-copper (MA-Cu) nanocomposites. Herein, MA-Cu nanocomposites were initially synthesized by the controlled supermolecular self-assembly process showing various morphological structures depending on the MA-to-Cu ratios used. It was discovered that the electrodes modified with rod-like MA-Cu nanocomposites could achieve the stable electrochemical output of solid-state CuCl at a low potential, which might circumvent the possible interference from co-existing electroactive substances in complicated backgrounds like cells. More importantly, the yielded CuCl signals would decrease selectively induced by GSH through the specific Cu-GSH interaction that would trigger the displacement of CuCl into non-electroactive complex. The MA-Cu nanorods-modified electrodes can allow for the detection of GSH with the concentrations linearly ranging from 0.010 to 300.0 μM. Subsequently, the feasibility of the developed electroanalysis strategy was demonstrated for the evaluation of GSH separately in the extractions of hela and yeast cells, promising the wide applications in the clinical and food analysis fields.

A highly selective and sensitive electroanalysis strategy has been developed for sensing histamine (HTA) and histidine (His) with “turn-on” signal outputs using copper nanocomposites (Cu NCs) of reduced copper metal–organic frameworks (Cu MOFs). It was discovered that the Cu NC-modified electrodes could display the sharp and stable oxidation peaks of solid-state CuCl electrochemistry at a low potential (about −0.10 V). More interestingly, once HTA or His was introduced, the peaking currents of the electrodes would increase due to the specific interaction between Cu2+ and imidazole groups of HTA or His. A highly selective electroanalysis method was thereby developed for the detection of both HTA and His in the concentration range of 0.010–100 μM. Besides, the application feasibility of the developed electroanalysis strategy was demonstrated for the evaluation of HTA and His separately in red wine and urine samples. Such an electroanalysis candidate for HTA and His holds great potential for wide applications in the fields of food analysis and clinical disease diagnosis.

Nanozymes featuring with favorable activity, good stability and easy scale-up production, are promising to replace natural enzymes for various applications. However, it remains a challenge to explore the cascade reactions of multi-enzyme mimics, aiming at synergistic catalysis for various applications. Herein, vanadium nitride nanoparticles deposited on carbon nanofibers (VN@CNFs) composite was facilely prepared by typical electrospinning route with subsequently ammonia reduction process. The nanocomposite showed excellent peroxidase (POD)-like and superoxide dismutase (SOD)-like activities. Additionally, their catalytic mechanisms were systematically researched. Coupling of SOD-like with POD-like as cascade enzyme, a selective and sensitive colorimetric detection of superoxide anion (O