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Currently, the flame retardancy of epoxy resin (EP) was achieved at the expenses of the transparency and/or toughness. In the present work, a phosphorus/nitrogen‐containing compound (FDNP) was synthesized by one‐pot method using 9,10‐dihydro‐9‐oxa‐10‐phospha‐phenanthrene‐10‐oxide, furfural and N‐phenyl‐p‐phenylenediamine as raw materials, and further adopted as a functional agent for epoxy resin. The results demonstrated that the FDNP remarkably improved the fire safety of EP. The incorporation of 4 wt% FDNP enabled EP to pass UL‐94 V‐0 rating test and achieve a limiting oxygen index value of 35.5%; meanwhile, the peak heat release rate, total heat release rate and total smoke release were significantly reduced by 41.3%, 41.6% and 72.5% as compared with the pure EP, respectively. What is more, the EP/4 wt% FDNP composite kept almost the same transparency of the pure EP, simultaneously its impact strength was more than doubled as that of the pure EP. Herein, the improved flame retardancy is contributed to a synergistic biphasic flame retardant effect including the formation of a compact protective carbon layer and the release of both non‐combustible gases and phosphorus‐containing radicals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mesenchymal stem cell‐derived extracellular vesicles (MSC‐EVs) have shown promising immunomodulatory capabilities for a variety of clinical conditions. However, the potential regulatory mechanisms of MSC‐EVs in allergic rhinitis (AR) remain unexplored. The present study was designed to investigate the immunomodulatory effect of MSC‐EVs in patients with AR. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were isolated from AR patients. The number of peripheral CD4+Foxp3+IL‐17+, CD4+Foxp3+IL‐17− and CD4+Foxp3−IL‐17+ T cells in healthy controls and AR patients were evaluated using flow cytometry. Therapeutic effect of MSC‐EVs was determined by detecting IFN‐γ, IL‐4, IL‐17 and IL‐10 cytokines in supernatant by ELISA and flow cytometry. The mean fluorescence intensity (MFI) was calculated in PBMCs for IL‐10, IL‐17 and TGF‐β on T cells after MSC‐EVs treatment. Bioinformatic analysis of microRNA was performed by Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analysis. CD4+Foxp3+IL‐17+ T cells expression in PBMCs was higher in the AR group and the balance of Treg/Th17 was tilted towards Th17 cells. Supernatant from AR patients revealed that MSC‐EVs treatment upregulated IL‐10 and IFN‐γ, and downregulated IL‐4 and IL‐17. EVs treatment effectively re‐established Th1(CD4+IFN‐γ+cells)/Th2(CD4+IL‐4+cells) balance, reduced CD4+IL‐17+ and increased CD4+IL‐10+ and CD4+TGF‐β+ cells. The MFI of IL‐10 and TGF‐β in CD4+CD25+CD127− T cells were higher, whereas lower levels of IL‐17 were observed. Bioinformatic analysis revealed that the TGF‐β, Wnt signalling pathways and STAT5 transcription factor might mechanistically support the immunomodulatory effect of MSC‐EVs. This study presents the immunomodulatory effect of MSC‐EVs in PBMCs from AR patients. The results provide a new therapeutic strategy for AR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taste perception is one of the important senses in mammals. Taste dysfunction causes significant inconvenience in daily life, leading to subhealth and even life‐threatening condition. Aging is a major cause to taste dysfunction, while the underlying feature related to gustatory aging is still not known. Using single‐cell RNA Sequencing, differentially expressed genes between aged and young taste papillae are identified, including upregulated mt‐Nd4l and Xist, as well as downregulated Hsp90ab1 and Tmem59. In the Tmem59−/− circumvallate papillae (CVP), taste mature cell generation is impaired by reduction in the numbers of PLCβ2+ and Car4+ cells, as well as decreases in expression levels of taste transduction genes. Tmem59−/− mice showed deficits in sensitivities to tastants. Through screening by GenAge and DisGeNET databases, aging‐dependent genes and oral disease‐associated genes are identified in taste papillae. In the CVP, aging promotes intercellular communication reciprocally between (cycling) basal cell and mature taste cell by upregulated Crlf1/Lifr and Adam15/Itga5 signaling. By transcriptional network analysis, ribosome proteins, Anxa1, Prdx5, and Hmgb1/2 are identified as transcriptional hubs in the aged taste papillae. Chronological aging‐associated transcriptional changes throughout taste cell maturation are revealed. Aged taste papillae contain more Muc5b+ cells that are not localized in gustatory gland. Collectively, this study shows molecular and cellular features associated with taste papilla aging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is a global age-related disease. It has been reported that over half of the Chinese male population aged 70 years or older are experiencing BPH. Solid fuel, which is the major source of household air pollution, has been reportedly associated with several adverse events, including sex hormone disorders. Due to the certain relationship between sex hormone levels and prostate disease, the relationship between solid fuel use and lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTSs) suggestive of BPH (LUTS/BPH) deserves further exploration., Objective: This study mainly aimed to investigate the association between solid fuel use and LUTS/BPH., Methods: The data used in this study were obtained from the West China Natural Population Cohort Study. Household energy sources were assessed using questionnaires. LUTS/BPH was evaluated based on participant self-reports. We performed propensity score matching (PSM) to reduce the influence of bias and unmeasured confounders. The odds ratio (OR) and 95% CI of LUTS/BPH for the solid fuel group compared with the clean fuel group were calculated. We also conducted stratified analyses based on BMI, metabolic syndrome, waist to hip ratio, drinking status, smoking status, and age., Results: A total of 5463 participants were included in this study, including 399 solid fuel users and 5064 clean fuel users. After PSM, the solid fuel group included 354 participants, while the clean fuel group included 701 participants. Solid fuel use was positively correlated with LUTS/BPH before and after PSM (OR 1.68, 95% CI 1.31-2.15 and OR 1.81, 95% CI 1.35-2.44, respectively). In stratified analyses, the OR of the nonsmoking group was higher than that of the smoking group (OR 2.56, 95% CI 1.56-4.20 and OR 1.47, 95% CI 0.99-2.18, respectively). Similarly, the OR of the nondrinking group was higher than that of the drinking group (OR 2.70, 95% CI 1.46-4.99 and OR 1.48, 95% CI 1.01-2.17, respectively)., Conclusions: A positive correlation between solid fuel use and LUTS/BPH was observed. The results suggest that improving fuel structure for household cooking and other household needs can possibly help reduce the risk of LUTS/BPH., (© Qiming Yuan, Xianghong Zhou, Li Ma, Boyu Cai, Zilong Zhang, Linghui Deng, Dan Hu, Zhongyuan Jiang, Mingda Wang, Qiang Wei, Shi Qiu. Originally published in JMIR Public Health and Surveillance (https://publichealth.jmir.org).)

The AlkB homolog 7 (ALKBH7) is a nonheme iron (II) α-ketoglutarate-dependent dioxygenase superfamily member, which may affect the progression of several types of human cancer. However, the biological effect, especially the immune-related effect, of ALKBH7 in HNSC remains unclear. Herein, several databases were employed at first to assess the different expression of ALKBH7 as well as their relationship to the prognosis, RNA modification, DNA methylation modulation, immune microenvironment and chemotherapeutic responses of various types of cancers. We found that ALKBH7 was expressed differentially in pan-cancer, and correlated with a satisfied prognosis especially in HNSC. The expression of ALKBH7 was also associated with the level of immune cell infiltration, TMB, MSI, HRD, MMR deficiency, and DNA methyltransferases in a wide variety of cancers, which might be potentially related to the responses against chemotherapeutic agents. Next, the role of ALKBH7 in HNSC was further investigated. Western blot and immunohistochemical analysis in HNSC patients from the NMU cohort showed the reduced ALKBH7 expression level in tumor tissues. In vitro experiments of cell migration, invasion, and proliferation showed a potential protective effect of ALKBH7 in HNSC. Collectively, ALKBH7 might play a protective role in the development and progression of multiple cancers by affecting the metabolism and immune cell infiltration, especially HNSC, which could be a potential biomarker to predict prognosis and chemotherapeutic response.

Some evidence have suggested that various nutrients and inflammatory factors might influence the lower urinary tract function. However, the correlation between diet and urinary flow rate (UFR) is not clear. Our study aimed to evaluate the association between the dietary inflammatory index (DII) and UFR. We performed a cross-sectional analysis using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) database from 2009-2016. The dependent and independent variables were UFR and DII score, respectively. Dietary information was collected by 24-hour dietary recall interviews method, and DII scores were computed based on it. Tertiles group was divided according to DII scores. The study included 17,114 participants for whom data on DII and UFR were available, with a mean age of 35.68 ± 20.96 years. Participants with higher DII score presented lower UFR levels (β= -0.05; 95% CI: [-0.06-0.04]). In addition, the risk of UFR decline elevated significantly gradual across DII score tertiles (p for trend <0.001). Our findings revealed that increased intake of pro-inflammatory diet, as a higher DII score, is correlated with decreased UFR. These results might be useful for the public health system to provide primary prevention recommendations for lower urinary tract voiding problem, but further high-quality prospective research is needed.