Search

Abstract Background Chronic kidney disease (CKD) involves a variety of pathological processes, and ferroptosis plays a vital role in CKD progression. Targeting ferroptosis is a promising strategy for the treatment of CKD. However, inhibitors of ferroptosis have not been used in the clinical treatment of CKD. Vitexin is a natural flavonoid with many biological activities and protective effects against various diseases. However, whether vitexin can prevent the progression of CKD is not known. Methods In vivo, the effect of vitexin on CKD was evaluated by using mouse models of unilateral ureteral obstruction (UUO) and unilateral ischemia–reperfusion (UIR). Western blotting, Sirius red staining and transmission electron microscopy were used to analyze renal tubular injury, interstitial fibrosis, and inflammation in the kidneys of UUO and UIR mice. In vitro, CCK8 assays and lipid peroxidation assays were performed to analyze cell viability and lipid peroxidation in human renal tubular epithelial cells (HK2 cells) induced by erastin. The activation of renal fibroblasts (NRK-49 F cells) was also analyzed. Additionally, an in-silico protein-drug docking model and coimmunoprecipitation were performed to determine the direct substrate of vitexin. Results In vivo, vitexin treatment significantly ameliorated renal tubular injury, interstitial fibrosis, and inflammation in the kidneys of UUO and UIR mice. Additionally, our results showed that vitexin significantly attenuated UUO- and UIR-induced ferroptosis in renal tubular epithelial cells by upregulating glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPX4) protein levels and inhibiting lipid peroxidation in mouse kidneys. In vitro, treatment with vitexin inhibited erastin-induced ferroptosis in HK2 cells. Moreover, vitexin inhibited the expression of collagen I and α-SMA (alpha-smooth muscle actin) in NRK-49 F cells induced by the supernatant of erastin-treated HK2 cells. Mechanistically, our results suggested that vitexin could activate the NRF2/heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) pathway by inhibiting the KEAP1- and ubiquitination-mediated degradation of NRF2, thereby increasing the expression of GPX4, and further inhibiting lipid peroxidation and ferroptosis. Additionally, knockout of NRF2 greatly inhibited the antiferroptotic effects of vitexin. Conclusions Taken together, our results indicate that vitexin can protect against renal tubular epithelial cell ferroptosis in CKD by activating the KEAP1/NRF2/HO-1 pathway and is a promising drug to treat CKD.

Abstract An electro-Fenton-like reaction process relying on peroxymonosulfate activation can stably degrade chloramphenicol (CAP) within 16 min, where the kinetic rate constant can be as high as 0.089 min−1 and the energy consumption value can be as low as 25.1 kWh•m^−3. Evidence indicated that the use of a Na2SO4 solution as the electrolyte can enhance CAP degradation due to rapid electron transfer properties. The generated electrons and active free radicals are responsible for CAP degradation, and the electrons can be transferred from the highest occupied molecular orbital of CAP to the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital of peroxymonosulfate via the PbO2 electrode. Density functional theory calculations based on Fukui index analysis elucidated the key attack sites in CAP; moreover, reaction-free energy calculations shed light on potential CAP degradation pathways. Not only does this study afford an insight into the activation of peroxymonosulfate for organic pollutant degradation but also provides an innovative technology with potential applications in wastewater purification.

Abstract A reasonable width of the coal pillar is very important to the surrounding rock control of the gob‐side roadway. An unreasonable width of the coal pillar will make the roadway to be located within the range of strong mining influence, leading to severe deformation of the roadway. Severe subsidence at the coal pillar side of the roof and serious coal pillar deformation are problems caused by strong dynamic pressure due to mining in the gob‐side coal roadway. This paper studies the surrounding rock instability mechanism and rational coal pillar width of the gob‐side coal roadway under the influence of intense dynamic pressure. The results show that: (1) Under the condition of large mining height, the roadway overburden is a hinged structure, and an unreasonable coal pillar width makes the gob‐side coal roadway to be located below the main roof fracture line. The rotary movement of the key block of the main roof is the main reason for the roadway deformation. (2) According to the evolution law of stress field, displacement field and plastic zone of surrounding rock of roadway under different coal pillar widths during roadway driving and mining were studied, and it is concluded that a 6‐m‐width coal pillar is the most reasonable. (3) Based on the stress distribution and plasticizing range of surrounding rock in a narrow pillar roadway, the combined support scheme of “anchor cable + grouting + single prop” is proposed and applied to engineering practice. The practice results show that the roadway deformation is well controlled, and the safe mining of the working face is realized.

Abstract Although Fenton-like reactions have been extensively used to treat various organic contaminants in wastewaters (oily wastewaters, landfill leachate, denitrification with Fenton oxidized non-degradable large molecular organic pollutants, and removal of phosphorus, etc.), the difficulty in catalyst recovery and the instability of catalytic activity limit their practical application. Herein, iron atoms were inserted in a metal-organic framework (FeNC) with dual reaction sites as highly reactive and stable electro-Fenton-like catalysts for the catalytic oxidation of organic pollutants via the electro-Fenton-like activation reaction of peroxymonosulfate (PMS) with fractional leaching of metal ions. Experiments and density functional theory (DFT) calculations indicate that FeNC with FeN4 and Fe–Fe active sites can rapidly deliver electrons for PMS dissociation. Further, an electrolysis reactor was constructed for the on-site generation of reactive oxygen species, which can stably and continuously purify various organic wastewaters. The combined use of an electrolysis reactor and magnetic catalyst in the current study provides a direction for the long-term remediation of organic pollutants on an industrial scale.

Annexin A2 (Anxa2) is a calcium (Ca2+)-regulated phospholipid binding protein composed of a variable N-terminus and a conserved core domain. This protein has been widely found in many tissues and fluids, including tubule cells, glomerular epithelial cells, renal vessels, and urine. In acute kidney injury, the expression level of this protein is markedly elevated in response to acute stress. Moreover, Anxa2 is a novel biomarker and potential therapeutic target with prognostic value in chronic kidney disease. In addition, Anxa2 is associated not only with clear-cell renal cell carcinoma differentiation but also the formation of calcium-related nephrolithiasis. In this review, we discuss the characteristics and functions of Anxa2 and focus on recent reports on the role of Anxa2 in the kidney, which may be useful for future research.

AbstractThe traditional index to determine the width of the stopping coal pillar (WSCP) is generally only the front abutment pressure, but the direction of the principal stress will deflect due to the mining action, which brings significant challenges to controlling the surrounding rock. Based on theoretical calculation and numerical simulation, we studied the deflection law of principal stress under mining action, quantified the bearing capacity of roadway surrounding rock, and determined WSCP. The results show that: (1) With the deflection of the principal stress, the distribution of the surrounding rock plastic zone also rotates; (2) [Formula: see text] and repeated mining dominate and aggravate the deflection angle and range of the principal stress in front of the working face, respectively. When [Formula: see text] is close to 1, the deflection of principal stress should be paid attention to in determining WSCP; (3) The anchorage composite bearing structure (ACBS) provides a scientific basis for quantifying the bearing capacity of surrounding rock. WSCP of the lower coal seam is determined to be 60–75 m, and the corresponding principal stress deflection is about 135°. The control of the surrounding rock in the diagonal direction where the maximum principal stress is concentrated should be paid attention to.

Abstract Moisture removal and water recovery from the air are vital for regulating indoor humidity and mitigating water scarcity. Most atmospheric water harvesters (AWH) focus primarily on increasing the moisture capture rate, but for it to be economical and sustainable, it is essential to consider the energy required to recover and harvest the captured water. Here, a mechanically flexible, biphilic sorption‐based AWH made of green, environmentally friendly material is presented. It consists of a hygroscopic chitosan polymer embedded within a flexible, hydrophobic silica xerogel that can harvest 86.3 g water/g chitosan at 97% relative humidity and 25°C reaching saturation after 30 days (i.e. 2.88 g water/g chitosan/day). Roughly 88% of the sorbed moisture was recovered by mechanical squeezing (ca. 0.020 MPa) within 150 s. Repeated water harvesting experiments and uniaxial compression tests demonstrate that chitosan‐silica xerogel is durable for long‐term operations, providing a fast, reliable, and sustainable moisture removal and water harvesting tool.

Carbon nitride (C3N4) has gained considerable attention and has been regarded as an ideal candidate for photocatalytic hydrogen evolution. However, its photocatalytic efficiency is still unsatisfactory due to the rapid recombination rate of photo-generated carriers and restricted surface area with few active sites. Herein, we successfully synthesized a single-atom Pt cocatalyst-loaded photocatalyst by utilizing the anchoring effect of carbon dots (CDs) on C3N4. The introduction of CDs onto the porous C3N4 matrix can greatly enhance the specific surface area of C3N4 to provide more surface-active sites, increase light absorption capabilities, as well as improve the charge separation efficiency. Notably, the functional groups of CDs can efficiently anchor the single-atom Pt, thus improving the atomic utilization efficiency of Pt cocatalysts. A strong interaction is formed via the connection of Pt-N bonds, which enhances the efficiency of photogenerated electron separation. This unique structure remarkably improves its H2 evolution performance under visible light irradiation with a rate of 15.09 mmol h−1 g−1. This work provides a new approach to constructing efficient photocatalysts by using CDs for sustainable hydrogen generation, offering a practical approach to utilizing solar energy for clean fuel production.

Cross-modal retrieval plays a key role in the Natural Language Processing area, which aims to retrieve one modality to another efficiently. Despite the notable achievements of existing cross-modal retrieval methodologies, the complexity of the embedding space increases with more complex models, leading to less interpretable and potentially overfitting representations. Most existing methods realize outstanding results based on datasets without any error or noise, but that is extremely ideal and leads to trained models lacking robustness. To solve these problems, in this paper, we propose a novel approach, Soft Contrastive Cross-Modal Retrieval (SCCMR), which integrates the deep cross-modal model with soft contrastive learning and smooth label cross-entropy learning to boost common subspace embedding and improve the generalizability and robustness of the model. To confirm the performance and effectiveness of SCCMR, we conduct extensive experiments comparing 12 state-of-the-art methods on three multi-modal datasets by using image–text retrieval as a showcase. The experimental results show that our proposed method outperforms the baselines.

Severe floor heave in underground soft rock roadways heavily affects mine safety and production efficiency. In the present study, the context of the Shanghaimiao mining area is analyzed as the research object. In this regard, the floor heave mechanism and floor control in water-rich soft rock roadways are investigated through laboratory experiments, theoretical analysis, numerical simulation, and field tests. Moreover, a mechanical model of asymmetric floor heave is established. The obtained results reveal that: the main contributors to serious floor deformation in mining roadways are low rock stratum strength, hydrophysical behavior, and mining disturbance. It is found that the roadway floor stability is relevant to the stress concentration coefficient of the roadway side, the burial depth of the roadway, and the cohesion and internal friction angle of the floor rock. Meanwhile, the correlation between the upward resultant stress of the floor and the stress concentration coefficient of the roadway sides is established. Furthermore, the horizontal stress distribution of the roadway floor within 20 m of the advanced working face is simulated and analyzed. Based on the performed analyses and the obtained results, a novel double-seal deep and shallow inverted bottom arch (DS-IBA) floor support strategy is proposed. The proposed strategy is expected to provide a reference for dealing with similar water-rich soft rock roadways.

In recent years, the clinical impact of intestinal microbiota–kidney interaction has been emerging. Experimental evidence highlighted a bidirectional evolutionary correlation between intestinal microbiota and kidney diseases. Nonetheless, acute kidney injury (AKI) is still a global public health concern associated with high morbidity, mortality, healthcare costs, and limited efficient therapy. Several studies on the intestinal microbiome have improved the knowledge and treatment of AKI. Therefore, the present review outlines the concept of the gut–kidney axis and data about intestinal microbiota dysbiosis in AKI to improve the understanding of the mechanisms of the intestinal microbiome on the modification of kidney function and response to kidney injury. We also introduced the future directions and research areas, emphasizing the intervention approaches and recent research advances of intestinal microbiota dysbiosis during AKI, thereby providing a new perspective for future clinical trials.

In this study, a forecasting model was developed based on the COAWST and atmospheric 3D EnVar module to investigate the effects of assimilation of the sounding and COSMIC–2 data on the forecasting of the revised atmospheric refraction. Three groups of 72 h forecasting tests, with assimilation of different data obtained for a period of one month, were constructed over the Yellow Sea. The results revealed that the bias of the revised atmospheric refraction was the lowest if both the sounding and COSMIC–2 data were assimilated. As a result of the assimilation of the hybrid data, the mean bias reduced by 6.09–6.28% within an altitude of 10 km, and the greatest reduction occurred below the altitude of 3000 m. In contrast, the test that assimilated only the sounding data led to an increase in bias at several levels. This increased bias was corrected after the introduction of the COSMIC–2 data, with the mean correction of 1.6 M within the middle and lower troposphere. During the typhoon period, the improvements in the assimilation were more significant than usual. The improved forecasts of the revised atmospheric refraction were mainly due to the moisture changes within the middle and lower troposphere, while the changes in the upper troposphere were influenced by multiple factors.

Global warming poses a significant environmental challenge, which is primarily driven by the increase in greenhouse gas concentrations. In this study, we aimed to investigate the factors influencing CH4/N2O emissions from agricultural soils over Hainan Island, China, from 2009 to 2018. To achieve this, we selected air temperature, precipitation, and solar radiation as climate factors and categorized farmland as paddy or non-paddy, using revised EDGAR greenhouse gas datasets involving the bias correction method, and geographical detector analysis, multiple linear regression models, and bias sensitivity analysis were used to quantify the sensitivity of climate and land use. The maximum air temperature emerged as the primary factor influencing CH4 emissions, while the mean air temperature predominantly affected N2O emissions. The ratio of paddy field area to city area emerged as the second most influential factor impacting CH4/N2O emissions. The mean CH4/N2O emission intensity from paddy fields was significantly higher (0.42 t·hm−2/0.0068 t·hm−2) compared to that of non-paddy fields (0.04 t·hm−2/0.002 t·hm−2). Changes in maximum air temperature under global warming and crop irrigation practices profoundly affect greenhouse gas emissions on Hainan Island. Specifically, the emission intensities of CH4 and N2O increased by 14.2% and 11.14% for each Kelvin warmer, respectively.

Abstract Cervical adenocarcinoma is an important disease that affects young women and it has a high mortality and poor prognosis. Denticleless E3 ubiquitin protein ligase homolog (DTL) gene with oncogenic function has been evaluated in several cancers. Through this study, we aimed to clarify the clinical and molecular characteristics of cervical adenocarcinoma involving overexpression of DTL and elucidate its molecular mechanism. Bioinformatics analysis was performed through multiple databases. RNA sequencing was used to obtain differentially expressed genes after DTL was overexpressed in cells. The role of DTL in cervical adenocarcinoma was explored through in vitro and in vivo experiments. We found that DTL has an unfavorable prognostic implication for patients with cervical adenocarcinoma. Overexpression of DTL induced the migration and invasion of tumor cells in vitro and promoted intra-pulmonary metastasis in vivo. In addition, DTL activated JNK through RAC1 and upregulated FOXO1 to induce epithelial–mesenchymal transition, and the migration and invasion of tumor cells. Therefore, we conclude that overexpression of DTL enhanced cell motility and promoted tumor metastasis of cervical adenocarcinoma by regulating the RAC1-JNK-FOXO1 axis. These results suggest that DTL may become a potential therapeutic target for antitumor metastasis of cervical adenocarcinoma.

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common chronic liver disease in the world, and its incidence continues to increase each year. Yet, there is still no definitive drug that can stop its development. This review focuses mainly on lipotoxicity, oxidative stress, inflammation, and intestinal flora dysbiosis to understand NAFLD’s pathogenesis. In this review, we used NCBI’s PubMed database for retrieval, integrating in vivo and in vitro experiments to reveal the therapeutic effects of natural compounds on NAFLD. We also reviewed the mechanisms by which the results of these experiments suggest that these compounds can protect the liver from damage by modulating inflammation, reducing oxidative stress, decreasing insulin resistance and lipid accumulation in the liver, and interacting with the intestinal microflora. The natural compounds discussed in these papers target a variety of pathways, such as the AMPK pathway and the TGF-β pathway, and have significant therapeutic effects. This review aims to provide new possible therapeutic lead compounds and references for the development of novel medications and the clinical treatment of NAFLD. It offers fresh perspectives on the development of natural compounds in preventing and treating NAFLD.

Due to their tense mining succession relationship, gob-side roadways may undergo significant deformation under multi-mining pressure. In this article, many methods, such as on-site research, a theoretical analysis, a numerical simulation and an industrial experiment, are used to research the mechanism of asymmetric floor heave in a gob-side coal roadway affected by mining pressure during the mining of extra-thick coal seams. Our main research is as follows: (1) By monitoring the floor deformation in the roadway on site, it is concluded that the roadway floor shows asymmetry, indicating that the floor displacement near the coal pillar side is relatively large. (2) Based on a lateral overburden structure model of the roadway, the calculation formulas of the horizontal vertical stress caused by the roadway excavation and the excavation of the upper working face are derived separately, and the vertical stress coupling curves on both sides of the roadway during the mining of the upper working face are obtained through a numerical simulation. It is concluded that the cause of the asymmetric floor heave in the roadway is an uneven distribution of vertical stress. (3) The numerical simulation shows a symmetrical distribution of the floor displacement curve during the roadway excavation with a max. displacement of 49.5 mm. The floor displacement curve during the mining of the upper working face is asymmetric with a max. displacement of 873 mm at a distance of 1 m from the central axis near the coal pillar side. The range of the plastic zone in the roadway gradually expands with the mining of the upper working face, and the maximum depth of floor failure is 5.5 m. (4) According to the cooperative control principle of “roof + two sides + floor”, an asymmetric floor heave joint control scheme of “floor leveling + anchor cable support + concrete hardening” is proposed. The floor deformation monitoring results indicate that the max. floor heave at the measurement point near the coal pillar in the roadway is 167 mm, and the floor heave is effectively controlled.

During gob-side entry driving under complex conditions in inclined short-distance coal seams, the roadway loses stability and deforms seriously, which affects the safety and efficiency of mine production. In this study, a reasonable coal pillar width was explored by means of on-site investigation, theoretical analysis, numerical simulation, and engineering tests. The following research results were obtained: (1) In selecting a reasonable coal pillar width, the influences of the position of residual coal pillars, stratum spacing, main roof breakage, roadway section in the upper coal seam should be considered. From established mechanical models of inclined gob-side roadways, the maximum floor failure depth is 27 m and the concentrated influence range of the #1 coal pillars is 11 m. (2) The stress states of coal pillars with different widths were analyzed by numerical simulation. As the coal pillar width increases, the peak value of the stress increases first and then decreases. Based on the site geological conditions, the optimum coal pillar width was determined to be 8 m, which is consistent with the theoretical calculation results. (3) A new pressure-yield support technology was proposed, and its on-site application confirmed its notable roadway control effect. Our research can provide theoretical support for the control of roadways surrounding rock under similar engineering background conditions.

ObjectivePrimary hypomagnesemia with secondary hypocalcemia (HSH) is caused by loss-of-function mutations in the TRPM6 gene encoding the epithelial magnesium channel. It is characterized by hypomagnesemia and secondary hypocalcemia associated with neurological symptoms. Here, we aimed to investigate the genetic defects of the TRPM6 gene found in a girl from China.MethodsThe genomic DNA of the proband and the parents was extracted for whole-exome sequencing. Sanger sequencing was further performed to validate the candidate variants. Subsequently, the TRPM6 gene deletion was verified by quantitative PCR (qPCR) experiment. The effect of the variant on mRNA splicing was analyzed through a minigene splice assay and reverse transcription PCR (RT-PCR) in vitro.ResultsThe proband presented with the symptoms of generalized seizures, tetany, and muscle spasms, which were refractory to anticonvulsant treatment. Phenotypic data indicated that the patient had hypomagnesemia, poor parathyroid hormone response, and resultant hypocalcemia. The trio whole-exome sequencing identified that the proband carried compound heterozygous variants in the TRPM6 gene, a paternally derived exon 6 deletion, and a maternally derived splicing variant (c.1638+7T>C) in exon 14. The minigene splice assay confirmed that the c.1638+7T>C variant resulted in exon 14 skipping, which caused the alteration of TRPM6 mRNA splicing.ConclusionOur results support that the compound heterozygous variants in TRPM6 are responsible for HSH in this patient. A novel pathogenic splicing variant (c.1638+7T>C) in the intron 14 disturbs the normal TRPM6 mRNA splicing, suggesting that the non-classical splice variant plays a critical role in HSH. This variant is essential for future effective genetic diagnosis.

Fungi play significant roles in the geochemical processes of heavy metals in the environment. However, the interaction between heavy metals and fungi, especially at the cellular level, is quite complicated and remains unknown. This study explored the mutual interaction mechanism between Pb2+ and Trichoderma viride by combining batch experiments, spectroscopy, and in vitro approaches. Batch experiments revealed that Pb2+ had toxic effect on T. viride, originally causing the biomass of T. viride decreased from 1.3 g in the control group to 0 g in the presence of 200 mg/L Pb2+. The difference in biomass further led to varied pH, even decreasing from 5.7 at the outset to 3.4 due to the acid-production properties of T. viride. Moreover, structural deformation and damage of T. viride mycelium appeared when exposed to Pb2+, and were more evident at a higher dose of Pb2+ exposure. The growth curve exhibited that T. viride gradually adapted to Pb2+ exposure, which related to Pb2+ exposure concentration. Further, intracellular and extracellular secretions of T. viride changed with varying exposure concentrations of Pb2+, indicating that T. viride adapted differently to different concentrations of Pb2+, and MT participated in the detoxification of T. viride. SEM-EDX showed that T. viride could bio-adsorb and bioaccumulate more Pb2+ when exposed to more Pb2+, which was closely related to the content of P. And carbonyl, phosphate, and amino groups of T. viride participated in the Pb2+ biosorption onto T. viride, as evidenced by FT-IR and XPS. Meanwhile, the biomineralization and reduction of Pb2+ by T. viride were observed by XRD and XPS, which might be a possible factor for Pb2+ biosorption and bioaccumulation. CLSM showed that the bio-adsorbed and bioaccumulated Pb2+ were mainly distributed in the membrane of T. viride mycelium.

Abstract Background Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) play significant roles in tumorigenesis and can contribute to identification of novel therapeutic targets for cancers. This paper was aimed at exploring the role of CTBP1 divergent transcript (CTBP1-AS2) in cervical cancer (CC) progression. Methods qRT-PCR and western blot assays were used to detect relevant RNA and protein expressions. In vitro functional assays, including CCK8, EdU, TUNEL and transwell assays were applied to explore the functions of CTBP1-AS2 in CC cell proliferation, apoptosis and migration. In vivo animal study was utilized to investigate the role of CTBP1-AS2 in tumor growth. Luciferase reporter, RNA pull down and RIP assays were performed to determine the specific mechanical relationship between CTBP1-AS2, miR-3163 and ZNF217. Results CTBP1-AS2 was significantly overexpressed in CC cell lines. Knockdown of CTBP1-AS2 curbed cell proliferation, migration and invasion, while stimulated cell apoptosis in vitro. CTBP1-AS2 facilitated xenograft tumor growth in vivo. Cytoplasmic CTBP1-AS2 was found to be a miR-3163 sponge in CC cells. MiR-3163 inhibition abolished the anti-tumor effects of CTBP1-AS2 knockdown. Additionally, Zinc finger protein 217 (ZNF217) was identified as a direct target of miR-3163. CTBP1-AS2 acted as a miR-3163 sponge to elevate ZNF217 expression. ZNF217 up-regulation abrogated the tumor suppressing effects of CTBP1-AS2 knockdown. Conclusion CTBP1-AS2 regulates CC progression via sponging miR-3163 to up-regulate ZNF217.

With the wide application of mobile Internet techniques an location-based services (LBS), massive multimedia data with geo-tags has been generated and collected. In this paper, we investigate a novel type of spatial query problem, named reverse spatial visual top-k query (RSVQk) that aims to retrieve a set of geo-images that have the query as one of the most relevant geo-images in both geographical proximity and visual similarity. Existing approaches for reverse top-k queries are not suitable to address this problem because they cannot effectively process unstructured data, such as image. To this end, firstly we propose the definition of RSVQk problem and introduce the similarity measurement. A novel hybrid index, named VR2-Tree is designed, which is a combination of visual representation of geo-image and R-Tree. Besides, an extension of VR2-Tree, called CVR2-Tree is introduced and then we discuss the calculation of lower/upper bound, and then propose the optimization technique via CVR2-Tree for further pruning. In addition, a search algorithm named RSVQk algorithm is developed to support the efficient RSVQk query. Comprehensive experiments are conducted on four geo-image datasets, and the results illustrate that our approach can address the RSVQk problem effectively and efficiently.

Considering the serious asymmetric deformation and failure of the floor of 1# main roadway in Wanglou Coal Mine, the mechanism of roadway asymmetric floor heave was studied through on-site investigation, theoretical analysis, numerical simulation, and on-site test. The following conclusions were drawn: (1) the floor heave of 1# main roadway is mainly caused by high original rock stress, surrounding rock stress, water physical effect, support strength, etc. (2) A mechanical model of asymmetric floor heave is built and analyzed. Roadway floor stability is relevant to the stress concentration coefficient of the roadway sides, the burial depth of the roadway, and the cohesion and internal angle of friction of the floor rock. The relationship between the upward resultant force of the floor and the stress concentration coefficient of the roadway sides is established. Affected by mining, the upward force of roadway floor reaches 17.0 MPa, and serious floor heave is easy to occur when the floor is opened. (3) The floor heave curve of the position of 1# main roadway corresponding to working face is obviously asymmetric, the maximum value of floor heave being 948 mm. The floor heave curve of other positions of 1# main roadway is basically symmetric, the maximum floor heave value being merely 497 mm. A new “differentiated” combined support is proposed and field tested. It has been 13 months since the completion of main roadway repair in this section, no obvious deformation occurred, and the long-term stability of soft rock roadway support in deep mines is realized.

Vegetation growth is affected by both climate changes and human activities. In this study, we investigated the vegetation growth response to climate change (precipitation and temperature) and human activities in nine subregions and for nine vegetation types in China from 1982 to 2015. The normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and the RESTREND method based on a multiple linear regression model were employed to this end. An overall increasing trend in the NDVI was observed in recent decades, and the fastest increases were identified in southern China (TrendNDVI = +0.0190) and evergreen broad-leaved forests (TrendNDVI = +0.0152). For >66% of China, vegetation is more sensitive to temperature and less sensitive to precipitation based on the regression coefficients. The water demand for vegetative growth increased significantly from 1999 to 2015 with global warming, especially in parts of the temperate zone. We defined a relative change in the residual trend to quantify the impact of human activities on vegetation. RESTRENDNDVI/NDVI in two periods (P1, 1982–1998 and P2, 1999–2015) markedly increased, indicating that human activities play a key role in the reversal of land degradation.

In order to mater the reasonable layout basis of the terminal mining line position in the repeated mining of close-distance thick coal seams, taking Yan mine as the engineering background, we conducted theoretical analyses, numerical simulations, and field measurements to study the action mechanism of the stress arch. The results show that (1) with repeated mining, the shape of the left and right half arches of the stress arch changes in the order of time and space until it is stable; (2) the shape of the stress arch is highly related to the distribution of abutment pressure in the working face. If the shape is unchanged, the distribution of abutment pressure is unchanged; (3) in the final mining stage of repeated mining, when the shape of the right half arch is stable, the difference stagger distance of the terminal mining line has little effect on the distribution of abutment pressure of the working face where the front arch foot is located; (4) when the internal stagger distance between 3216 working face and terminal mining line of 4216 working face is greater than 22 m or the external stagger distance is greater than 30 m, 3216 working face is located in a relatively safe position. This study clarifies the key factors for the layout of terminal mining lines in close-distance thick coal seams, which can provide a scientific basis for similar projects.

Di-n-butyl-di-(4-chlorobenzohydroxamato) tin(IV) (DBDCT), a new patent agent, exhibited strong antitumor activity. In some cases, its activity was close to or even higher than cisplatin, a first-line clinical metallic agent. Similar to platinum compounds, it also showed toxicity. However, the effective targets and mechanisms for specific toxicity and biological activity are still unclear. In this study, proteomic analysis revealed that 146 proteins (98 upregulated and 48 downregulated) were differentially identified by label-free LC-MS/MS after DBDCT treatment. Meanwhile, network analysis of these differential proteins suggested that protein Galectin-1 (Gal-1) could regulate the apoptosis process (15 related proteins), which played an essential role in the potential targets of DBDCT-induced hepatotoxicity. Furthermore, it was demonstrated that DBDCT might promote ROS production, activate NF-κB p65, inhibit Ras and p-ERK1/2 expressions, increase the level of Gal-1, subsequently upregulate the expressions of Bax, p53, Fas, and FasL, and downregulate the expression of Bcl-2. As a result of these modulations, caspase cascades were finally activated, which executed apoptosis in HL7702 liver cells. Correspondingly, NAC (inhibitor of ROS), PDTC (inhibitor of NF-κB), EGF (ERK1/2 activator), and OTX008 (inhibitor of Gal-1) were found to reverse and abolish the DBDCT-associated cytotoxicity partially. In conclusion, Gal-1 might be the potential target for toxicity and biological activity. Moreover, the present study will lay the groundwork for future research about di-n-butyl-di-(4-chlorobenzohydroxamato) tin structure optimization and developing it into a new potential anticancer agent.

In this study, the cytotoxicity and toxic mechanism of carbon quantum dots (CQDs) to E. coli were evaluated in vitro. The synthetic CQDs were extremely small in size (~2.08 nm) and displayed strong fluorescence. The results demonstrated that CQDs showed good biocompatibility with E. coli within a short culture time. However, when the exposure time exceeded 24 h, the toxicity of CQDs became apparent, and the contents of reactive oxygen species, lactate dehydrogenase, and the crystal violet absorption rate increased significantly. To further explore the cytotoxic mechanism, approaches including confocal laser scanning microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and biological transmission electron microscopy combined with zeta potential tests, osmotic pressure measurement, and comet assays were performed. On the one hand, the CQDs altered the surface charges of cells and induced lipid peroxidation by adhesion on the surface of E. coli, leading to an increase in the permeability of the cell wall. On the other hand, when the concentration of CQDs reached 200 µg/mL, the osmotic pressure of the extracellular environment was significantly reduced. These are the main factors that lead to cell edema and death. Finally, the comet assays confirmed that CQDs could induce DNA damage, which could inhibit the proliferation of E. coli.

Cervical cancer as a common gynecological malignancy threatens the health and lives of women. Resistance to radiotherapy is the primary cause of treatment failure and is mainly related to difference in the inherent vulnerability of tumors after radiotherapy. Here, we investigated signature genes associated with poor response to radiotherapy by analyzing an independent cervical cancer dataset from the Gene Expression Omnibus, including pre-irradiation and mid-irradiation information. A total of 316 differentially expressed genes were significantly identified. The correlations between these genes were investigated through the Pearson correlation analysis. Subsequently, random forest model was used in determining cancer-related genes, and all genes were ranked by random forest scoring. The top 30 candidate genes were selected for uncovering their biological functions. Functional enrichment analysis revealed that the biological functions chiefly enriched in tumor immune responses, such as cellular defense response, negative regulation of immune system process, T cell activation, neutrophil activation involved in immune response, regulation of antigen processing and presentation, and peptidyl-tyrosine autophosphorylation. Finally, the top 30 genes were screened and analyzed through literature verification. After validation, 10 genes (KLRK1, LCK, KIF20A, CD247, FASLG, CD163, ZAP70, CD8B, ZNF683, and F10) were to our objective. Overall, the present research confirmed that integrated bioinformatics methods can contribute to the understanding of the molecular mechanisms and potential therapeutic targets underlying radiotherapy resistance in cervical cancer.

Diabetic kidney disease (DKD) is one of the most common complications of diabetes, and its prevalence is still growing rapidly. However, the efficient therapies for this kidney disease are still limited. The pathogenesis of DKD involves glucotoxicity, lipotoxicity, inflammation, oxidative stress, and renal fibrosis. Glucotoxicity and lipotoxicity can cause oxidative stress, which can lead to inflammation and aggravate renal fibrosis. In this review, we have focused on in vitro and in vivo experiments to investigate the mechanistic pathways by which natural compounds exert their effects against the progression of DKD. The accumulated and collected data revealed that some natural compounds could regulate inflammation, oxidative stress, renal fibrosis, and activate autophagy, thereby protecting the kidney. The main pathways targeted by these reviewed compounds include the Nrf2 signaling pathway, NF-κB signaling pathway, TGF-β signaling pathway, NLRP3 inflammasome, autophagy, glycolipid metabolism and ER stress. This review presented an updated overview of the potential benefits of these natural compounds for the prevention and treatment of DKD progression, aimed to provide new potential therapeutic lead compounds and references for the innovative drug development and clinical treatment of DKD.

Background: Accumulating evidence suggests a connection between the gut microbiota and neonatal diseases. Hypoxia may play an important role in the intestinal lesions in neonates.Objective: This study aims to determine whether the gut microbiota differs between intrauterine hypoxic rats and healthy controls and to identify the factors that influence the changes in the gut microbiota.Methods: We constructed an intrauterine hypoxia model in rats and collected the intestinal contents of intrauterine hypoxic newborn rats and normal newborn rats within 4 h and on the seventh day after birth. They were divided them into the intrauterine hypoxia first-day group (INH1), intrauterine hypoxia seventh-day group (INH7), normal first-day group (NOR1), and normal seventh-day group (NOR7). The contents of the intestines were sequenced with 16S rRNA sequencing, the sequencing results were analyzed for biological information, and the differences in the diversity, richness, and individual taxa among the groups were analyzed.Results: The abundance of the gut microbiota of neonatal rats with intrauterine hypoxia was higher than that of the control group rats. Intrauterine hypoxia altered the structural composition of the gut microbiota in neonatal rats. The INH1 group showed increased species richness, phylogenetic diversity, and β-diversity, and altered relative abundance in several taxa compared to those in the control group. The differences in the microbiota among the four groups were significantly higher than those within the group, and the differences in the abundance and diversity of the INH7 and NOR7 groups decreased after 7 days of suckling. Functional analysis based on the Cluster of Orthologous Groups (COG) suggested that 23 functional COG categories. There was no significant difference in the functional categories between the hypoxia group and the normal group.Conclusion: Intrauterine hypoxia changed the initial colonization of the gut microbiota in neonatal rats. It could increase the species richness and β-diversity of the gut microbiota, and altered relative abundances of several taxa.

Accumulating evidence has shown that lymph node metastasis (LNM) is not only an important prognostic factor but also an indicator of the need for postoperative chemoradiotherapy. Therefore, identifying risk factors or molecular markers related to LNM is critical for predicting the prognosis and guiding individualized treatment of patients with cervical cancer. In this study, we used the machine learning-based feature selection approach to identify eight optimal biomarkers from the list of 250 differentially expressed protein-coding genes and long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) in the TCGA cohort. Then a coding-non-coding signature (named CNC8SIG) was developed using the elastic-net logistic regression approach based on the expression levels of eight optimal biomarkers, which is useful in discriminating patients with LNM from those without LNM in the discovery cohort. The predictive performance of the CNC8SIG was further validated in two independent patient cohorts. Moreover, the CNC8SIG was significantly associated with patient’s survival in different patient cohorts. In silico functional analysis suggested that the CNC8SIG-associated mRNAs are enriched in known cancer-related biological pathways such as the Wnt signaling pathway, the Ras signaling pathway, Rap1 signaling pathway, and PI3K-Akt signaling pathway.

The environmental behaviors of uranium closely depend on its interaction with natural minerals. Ferrihydrite widely distributed in nature is considered as one main natural media that is able to change the geochemical behaviors of various elements. However, the semiconductor properties of ferrihydrite and its impacts on the environmental fate of elements are sometimes ignored. The present study systematically clarified the photocatalysis of U(VI) on ferrihydrite under anaerobic and aerobic conditions, respectively. Ferrihydrite showed excellent photoelectric response. Under anaerobic conditions, U(VI) was converted to U(IV) by light-irradiated ferrihydrite, in the form of UO2+x (x < 0.25), where •O2− was the dominant reactive reductive species. At pH 5.0, ~50% of U(VI) was removed after light irradiation for 2 h, while 100% U(VI) was eliminated at pH 6.0. The presence of methanol accelerated the reduction of U(VI). Under aerobic conditions, the light illumination on ferrihydrite also led to an obvious but slower removal of U(VI). The removal of U(VI) increased from ~25% to 70% as the pH increased from 5.0 to 6.0. The generation of H2O2 under aerobic conditions led to the formation of UO4•xH2O precipitates on ferrihydrite. Therefore, it is proved that light irradiation on ferrihydrite significantly changed the species of U(VI) and promoted the removal of uranium both under anaerobic and aerobic conditions.

The pericarp color of rice grains is an important agronomic trait affected by domestication, and the color pigment, anthocyanin, is one of the key determinants of rice nutritional quality. Weedy rice, also called red rice because its pericarp is often red, may be a novel gene resource for the development of new rice. However, the genetic basis and nutritional quality of anthocyanin are poorly known. In this study, we used a genome-wide association study (GWAS) to find novel and specific QTLs of red pericarp in weedy rice. The known key gene site of red pericarp Rc was detected as the common genetic basis of both weedy and cultivated rice, and another 13 associated signals of pericarp color that were identified may contribute specifically to weedy rice pericarp color. We then nominated three pericarp color genes that may contribute to weedy rice divergence from cultivated rice based on selection sweep analysis. After clarifying the distribution and growth dynamics of pigment in weedy rice caryopsis, we compared its nutritional quality with cultivated rice. We found that sampled weedy rice pericarps had much greater quantities of anthocyanin, beneficial trace elements, free amino acids, and unsaturated fatty acids than the cultivated rice. In conclusion, the gene resources and novel genetic systems of rice anthocyanin biosynthesis explored in this study are of great value for the development of nutritious, high anthocyanin content rice.

With the rapid development of Internet technology, how to mine and analyze massive amounts of network information to provide users with accurate and fast recommendation information has become a hot and difficult topic of joint research in industry and academia in recent years. One of the most widely used social network recommendation methods is collaborative filtering. However, traditional social network-based collaborative filtering algorithms will encounter problems such as low recommendation performance and cold start due to high data sparsity and uneven distribution. In addition, these collaborative filtering algorithms do not effectively consider the implicit trust relationship between users. To this end, this paper proposes a collaborative filtering recommendation algorithm based on graphsage (GraphSAGE-CF). The algorithm first uses graphsage to learn low-dimensional feature representations of the global and local structures of user nodes in social networks and then calculates the implicit trust relationship between users through the feature representations learned by graphsage. Finally, the comprehensive evaluation shows the scores of users and implicit users on related items and predicts the scores of users on target items. Experimental results on four open standard datasets show that our proposed graphsage-cf algorithm is superior to existing algorithms in RMSE and MAE.

Co-precipitation of mineral-based salts during scaling remains poorly understood and thermodynamically undefined within the water industry. This study focuses on investigating calcium carbonate and calcium sulfate mixed precipitation in scaling. Scaling is often observed in the produced water supply as a result of treatment processes. Co-precipitation results were compared with experimental results of a single salt crystallization. Several parameters were carefully monitored, including the electrical conductivity, pH value, crystal morphology and crystal form. The existence of the calcium carbonate scale in the mixed system encourages the loose calcium sulfate scale to become more tightly packed. The mixed scale was firmly adhered to the beaker, and the adhesion of the co-deposition product was located between the pure calcium sulfate scale and the pure calcium carbonate scale. The crystalline form of calcium sulfate was gypsum in both pure material deposition and mixed deposition, while the calcium carbonate scale was stable in calcite form in the pure material deposition. In the co-deposition, apart from calcite form, some calcium carbonate scale crystals had metastable vaterite form. This indicated that the presence of SO42− ions reduced the energy barrier of the calcium carbonate scale and hindered its transformation from a vaterite form to a calcite one, and the increase in HCO3− content inhibited the formation of calcium sulfate scale.

Mass multimedia data with geographical information (geo-multimedia) are collected and stored on the Internet due to the wide application of location-based services (LBS). How to find the high-level semantic relationship between geo-multimedia data and construct efficient index is crucial for large-scale geo-multimedia retrieval. To combat this challenge, the paper proposes a deep cross-modal hashing framework for geo-multimedia retrieval, termed as Triplet-based Deep Cross-Modal Retrieval (TDCMR), which utilizes deep neural network and an enhanced triplet constraint to capture high-level semantics. Besides, a novel hybrid index, called TH-Quadtree, is developed by combining cross-modal binary hash codes and quadtree to support high-performance search. Extensive experiments are conducted on three common used benchmarks, and the results show the superior performance of the proposed method.

Trivalent Aluminum (Al3+) in acidic soils is harmful to root growth and significantly reduce crop yields. Therefore, mining beneficial genes for Al tolerance is valuable for rice production. The objective of this research is to identify some beneficial genes for Al tolerance from rice landraces with high density SNP set from SLAF-seq (Specific-Locus Amplified Fragment sequencing). A total of 67,511 SNPs were obtained from SLAF-seq and used for genome-wide association study (GWAS) for Al tolerance with the 150 accessions of rice landraces in the Ting's rice core collection. The results showed that rice landraces in the Ting's rice core collection possessed a wide-range of variation for Al tolerance, measured by relative root elongation (RRE). With the mixed linear models, GWAS identified a total of 25 associations between SNPs and Al tolerant trait with p < 0.001 and false discovery rate (FDR)

Renal fibrosis is an unavoidable consequence that occurs in nearly all of the nephropathies. It is characterized by a superabundant deposition and accumulation of extracellular matrix (ECM). All compartments in the kidney can be affected, including interstitium, glomeruli, vasculature, and other connective tissue, during the pathogenesis of renal fibrosis. The development of this process eventually causes destruction of renal parenchyma and end-stage renal failure, which is a devastating disease that requires renal replacement therapies. Recently, long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been emerging as key regulators governing gene expression and affecting various biological processes. These versatile roles include transcriptional regulation, organization of nuclear domains, and the regulation of RNA molecules or proteins. Current evidence proposes the involvement of lncRNAs in the pathologic process of kidney fibrosis. In this review, the biological relevance of lncRNAs in renal fibrosis will be clarified as important novel regulators and potential therapeutic targets. The biology, and subsequently the current understanding, of lncRNAs in renal fibrosis are demonstrated—highlighting the involvement of lncRNAs in kidney cell function, phenotype transition, and vascular damage and rarefaction. Finally, we discuss challenges and future prospects of lncRNAs in diagnostic markers and potential therapeutic targets, hoping to further inspire the management of renal fibrosis.

Understanding the genetic mechanism of cold tolerance in rice is important to mine elite genes from rice landraces and breed excellent cultivars for this trait. In this study, a genome-wide association study (GWAS) was performed using high-density single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) obtained using specific-locus amplified fragment sequencing (SLAF-seq) technology from a core collection of landraces of rice. A total of 67,511 SNPs obtained from 116,643 SLAF tags were used for genotyping the 150 accessions of rice landraces in the Ting’s rice core collection. A compressed mixed liner model was used to perform GWAS by using the high-density SNPs for cold tolerance in rice landraces at the seedling stage. A total of 26 SNPs were found to be significantly (P < 1.48 × 10-7) associated with cold tolerance, which could explained phenotypic variations ranging from 26 to 33%. Among them, two quantitative trait loci (QTLs) were mapped closely to the previously cloned/mapped genes or QTLs for cold tolerance. A newly identified QTL for cold tolerance in rice was further characterized by sequencing, real time-polymerase chain reaction, and bioinformatics analyses. One candidate gene, i.e., Os01g0620100, showed different gene expression levels between the cold tolerant and sensitive landraces under cold stress. We found the difference of coding amino acid in Os01g0620100 between cold tolerant and sensitive landraces caused by polymorphism within the coding domain sequence. In addition, the prediction of Os01g0620100 protein revealed a WD40 domain that was frequently found in cold tolerant landraces. Therefore, we speculated that Os01g0620100 was highly important for the response to cold stress in rice. These results indicated that rice landraces are important sources for investigating rice cold tolerance, and the mapping results might provide important information to breed cold-tolerant rice cultivars by using marker-assisted selection.

Non-Cartesian sampling is widely used for fast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Accurate and fast image reconstruction from non-Cartesian k-space data becomes a challenge and gains a lot of attention. Images provided by conventional direct reconstruction methods usually bear ringing, streaking, and other leakage artifacts caused by discontinuous structures. In this paper, we tackle these problems by analyzing the principal point spread function (PSF) of non-Cartesian reconstruction and propose a leakage reduction reconstruction scheme based on discontinuity subtraction. Data fidelity in k-space is enforced during each iteration. Multidimensional nonuniform fast Fourier transform (NUFFT) algorithms are utilized to simulate the k-space samples as well as to reconstruct images. The proposed method is compared to the direct reconstruction method on computer-simulated phantoms and physical scans. Non-Cartesian sampling trajectories including 2D spiral, 2D and 3D radial trajectories are studied. The proposed method is found useful on reducing artifacts due to high image discontinuities. It also improves the quality of images reconstructed from undersampled data.