Search

Abstract Tumor-associated macrophages play a crucial role in the tumor microenvironment. Tripartite motif 59 (TRIM59), a member of the tripartite motif (TRIM) family, is known to be associated with immunological diseases and macrophage activation. The functional and molecular mechanisms by which TRIM59 affects the occurrence and development of colorectal cancer (CRC) through macrophages are still not well understood. To address this, we generated macrophage-specific TRIM59 conditional knockout mice and utilized these mice to establish colitis-associated cancer and MC38 transplanted CRC models for further investigation. We found that the deficiency of TRIM59 in macrophages inhibited colorectal tumorigenesis in mice. This tumor-suppressive effect was achieved by promoting the activation of M1 macrophages via STAT1 signaling pathway. Further mechanistic studies revealed that TRIM59 could regulate macrophage polarization by ubiquitinating and degrading STAT1. These findings provide evidence that TRIM59 deficiency promotes M1 macrophage activation and inhibits CRC through the STAT1 signaling pathway, suggesting that the TRIM59/STAT1 signaling pathway may be a promising target for CRC.

Abstract The three-dimensional genome structure organized by CTCF is required for development. Clinically identified mutations in CTCF have been linked to adverse developmental outcomes. Nevertheless, the underlying mechanism remains elusive. In this investigation, we explore the regulatory roles of a clinically relevant R567W point mutation, located within the 11th zinc finger of CTCF, by introducing this mutation into both murine models and human embryonic stem cell-derived cortical organoid models. Mice with homozygous CTCFR567W mutation exhibit growth impediments, resulting in postnatal mortality, and deviations in brain, heart, and lung development at the pathological and single-cell transcriptome levels. This mutation induces premature stem-like cell exhaustion, accelerates the maturation of GABAergic neurons, and disrupts neurodevelopmental and synaptic pathways. Additionally, it specifically hinders CTCF binding to peripheral motifs upstream to the core consensus site, causing alterations in local chromatin structure and gene expression, particularly at the clustered protocadherin locus. Comparative analysis using human cortical organoids mirrors the consequences induced by this mutation. In summary, this study elucidates the influence of the CTCFR567W mutation on human neurodevelopmental disorders, paving the way for potential therapeutic interventions.

Abstract In recent years, the issue of energy consumption in farm buildings has received much attention. The roofs of farm buildings in Northwest China have a variety of roof forms. This paper presents the implementation of first fully confirmed the indoor thermal environment of different roof construction was significantly effected by periodic thermogenesis. In order to determine the indoor temperature distribution of the farmhouse in summer in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, we provided the heat transfer coefficient data of the farmhouse envelope, also detailed in the manuscript. Model of Thermal Mass Transport enables fast and accurately simulates the indoor temperature distribution of farmhouses with different roof forms on the same day, taking into account the climate zone of the region. This is despite the phase delay time of indoor temperatures for different roof forms caused by periodic initial temperature boundaries ranged from 1.55 to 2.78 $$\text{h}$$ h , and the phase delay angle ranged from 23.25 $$^{\circ }$$ ∘ to 41.7 $$^{\circ }$$ ∘ . Extensive simulated results revealed individual variability in the role of roof form, demonstrating indoor temperatures in farmhouses corresponding to different climatic zones. In addition, by analyzing and discussing the indoor temperature phase delay angle and delay time for each type of roof forms, statistical results identified the advantages of Non-equal-sloped roof as a local farmhouse roof.

Oleanolic acid (OA) is a pentacyclic triterpene with reported protective effects against various diseases, including diabetes, hepatitis, and different cancers. However, the effects of OA on obesity‐induced muscle atrophy remain largely unknown. This study investigated the effects of OA on skeletal muscle production and proliferation of C2C12 cells. We report that OA significantly increased skeletal muscle mass and improved glucose intolerance and insulin resistance. OA inhibited dexamethasone (Dex)‐induced muscle atrophy in C2C12 myoblasts by regulating the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway. In addition, it also inhibited expression of MuRF1 and Atrogin1 genes in skeletal muscle of obese mice suffering from muscle atrophy, and increased the activation of PI3K and Akt, thereby promoting protein synthesis, and eventually alleviating muscle atrophy. Taken together, these findings suggest OA may have potential for the prevention and treatment of muscle atrophy.

Due to its asymptotic optimality, the Rapidly-exploring Random Tree star (RRT*) algorithm is widely used for robotic operations in complex environments. However, the RRT* algorithm suffers from poor path quality, slow convergence, and unstable generation of high-quality paths in the path planning process. This paper proposes an Improved Bi-Tree Obstacle Edge Search Artificial Potential Field RRT* algorithm (IBPF-RRT*) to address these issues. First, based on the RRT* algorithm, this paper proposes a new obstacle edge search artificial potential field strategy (ESAPF), which speeds up the path search and improves the path quality simultaneously. Second, a bi-directional pruning strategy is designed to optimize the bi-directional search tree branch nodes and combine the bi-directional search strategy to reduce the number of iterations for convergence speed significantly. Third, a novel path optimization strategy is proposed, which enables high-quality paths to be generated stably by creating an entirely new node between two path nodes and then optimizing the paths using a pruning strategy based on triangular inequalities. Experimental results in three different scenarios show that the proposed IBPF-RRT* algorithm outperforms other methods in terms of optimal path quality, algorithm stability, and the number of iterations when compared to the RRT*, Q-RRT*, PQ-RRT*, F-RRT* and CCPF-RRT* algorithms, and proves the effectiveness of the proposed three strategies.

Heavy metal pollution of the soil affects the environment and human health. Masson pine is a good candidate for phytoremediation of heavy metal in mining areas. Microorganisms in the rhizosphere can help with the accumulation of heavy metal in host plants. However, studies on its rhizosphere bacterial communities under heavy metal pollution are still limited. Therefore, in this study, the chemical and bacterial characteristics of Masson pine rhizosphere under four different levels of heavy metal pollution were investigated using 16 S rRNA gene sequencing, soil chemistry and analysis of plant enzyme activities. The results showed that soil heavy metal content, plant oxidative stress and microbial diversity damage were lower the farther they were from the mine dump. The co-occurrence network relationship of slightly polluted soils (C1 and C2) was more complicated than that of highly polluted soils (C3 and C4). Relative abundance analysis indicated Sphingomonas and Pseudolabrys were more abundant in slightly polluted soils (C1 and C2), while Gaiella and Haliangium were more abundant in highly polluted soils (C3 and C4). LEfSe analysis indicated Burkholderiaceae, Xanthobacteraceae, Gemmatimonadaceae, Gaiellaceae were significantly enriched in C1 to C4 site, respectively. Mantel analysis showed that available cadmium (Cd) contents of soil was the most important factor influencing the bacterial community assembly. Correlation analysis showed that eight bacterial genus were significantly positively associated with soil available Cd content. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to investigate the rhizospheric bacterial community of Masson pine trees under different degrees of heavy metal contamination, which lays the foundation for beneficial bacteria-based phytoremediation using Masson pines in the future.

Abstract Background Enterocytozoon bieneusi is a zoonotic pathogen widely distributed in animals and humans. It can cause diarrhea and even death in immunocompromised hosts. Approximately 800 internal transcribed spacer (ITS) genotypes have been identified in E. bieneusi. Farmed foxes and raccoon dogs are closely associated to humans and might be the reservoir of E. bieneusi which is known to have zoonotic potential. However, there are only a few studies about E. bieneusi genotype identification and epidemiological survey in foxes and raccoon dogs in Henan and Hebei province. Thus, the present study investigated the infection rates and genotypes of E. bieneusi in farmed foxes and raccoon dogs in the Henan and Hebei provinces. Result A total of 704 and 884 fecal specimens were collected from foxes and raccoon dogs, respectively. Nested PCR was conducted based on ITS of ribosomal RNA (rRNA), and then multilocus sequence typing (MLST) was conducted to analyze the genotypes. The result showed that infection rates of E. bieneusi in foxes and raccoon dogs were 18.32% and 5.54%, respectively. Ten E. bieneusi genotypes with zoonotic potential (NCF2, NCF3, D, EbpC, CHN-DC1, SCF2, CHN-F1, Type IV, BEB4, and BEB6) were identified in foxes and raccoon dogs. Totally 178 ITS-positive DNA specimens were identified from foxes and raccoon dogs and these specimens were then subjected to MLST analysis. In the MLST analysis, 12, 2, 7 and 8 genotypes were identified in at the mini-/ micro-satellite loci MS1, MS3, MS4 and MS7, respectively. A total of 14 multilocus genotypes were generated using ClustalX 2.1 software. Overall, the present study evaluated the infection of E. bieneusi in foxes and raccoon dogs in the Henan and Hebei province, and investigated the zoonotic potential of the E. bieneusi in foxes and raccoon dogs. Conclusions These findings expand the geographic distribution information of E. bieneusi’ host in China and was helpful in preventing against the infection of E. bieneusi with zoonotic potential in foxes and raccoon dogs.

At present, the state has introduced the policy of forest Chinese herbal medicine planting planning, strictly prohibiting the planting of Chinese herbal medicine in basic farmland, coupled with the fact that the continuous cropping obstacles of Panax notoginseng have not yet been solved, which makes the area of arable land suitable for planting become less and less. However, the effect of soil moisture regulation on the growth of Panax notoginseng cultivated on sloping arable land has not been reported. Thus, the aim of this study was to investigate the impact of various irrigation levels and slopes on Panax notoginseng agronomic traits, physiological characteristics, disease attributes, biomass, and quality characteristics. During 2018–2020, a field experiment was conducted in the Panax notoginseng growing seasons with three irrigation levels (I1: 70–75% θFC, I2: 75–80% θFC, I3: 80–85% θFC) and three slopes (S1: 2.43°, S2: 6.38°, S3: 16.38°). The results evidenced that the photosynthetic characteristics, root hydraulic conductivity characteristics, biomass and PNS of Panax notoginseng reached the maximum value in the I2S2 treatment, and at the same time, the incidence rate of Panax notoginseng root rot was the lowest. Therefore, based on the results of this study, irrigation volume I2S2 should be regarded as the optimal slope and irrigation management strategies for reducing Panax notoginseng diseases and realizing stable yield and quality improvement of Panax notoginseng. A multi-objective optimization model was established through binary quadratic regression analysis. The findings evidenced that when the irrigation interval was 187–203 mm and the slope interval was 5–10.7°, Panax notoginseng had the lowest incidengce rate, and the root biomass and saponin content reached > 95% of the maximum values at the same time.

Study DesignRetrospective radiological analysis.ObjectiveThe aim of this study is to evaluate the distribution of bone mineral density (BMD) in lumbar vertebrae using the Hounsfield unit (HU) measurement method and investigate the clinical implications of HU values for assessing lumbar vertebrae BMD.MethodTwo hundred and ninety-six patients were retrospectively reviewed and divided into six groups according to age: Group 1(20–29 years old), Group 2 (30–39 years old), Group 3 (40–49 years old), Group 4 (50–59 years old), Group 5 (60–69 years old), Group 6 (70–79 years old). Six different locations from each vertebra of L1-L5 were selected as regions of interest: the anterior, middle and posterior parts of the upper and lower slices of the vertebrae. HU values were measured for the six regions of interest, followed by statistical analysis.ResultsThe HU values of vertebrae showed a decreasing trend from young patients to elderly patients in Group 1 to Group 5. There was no significant difference in HU values among different vertebrae in the same age group. In all age groups, the HU values of the anterior and posterior part of the vertebral body were significantly different from L1 to L3, with the anterior part of the vertebral body having lower HU values than the posterior part. The HU values of the anterior and posterior part of the vertebral body of L4 and L5 were statistically significant only in Group 5 and Group 6, and the HU values of the anterior part of the vertebral body were lower than those of the posterior part. The HU values of posterior part of L4 and L5 in Group6 were higher than those in Group5.ConclusionBone mineral density in the lumbar vertebrae is not uniformly distributed, potentially attributed to varying stress stimuli. The assessment of local HU values in the lumbar spine is of significant importance for surgical treatment.

The whole-genome sequence of an African swine fever virus (ASFV) strain (HuB/HH/2019) isolated from Hubei, China, was highly similar to that of the Georgia 2007/1 strain ASFV. After infection with strong strains, domestic pigs show typical symptoms of infection, including fever, depression, reddening of the skin, hemorrhagic swelling of various tissues, and dysfunction. The earliest detoxification occurred in pharyngeal swabs at 4 days post-infection. The viral load in the blood was extremely high, and ASFV was detected in multiple tissues, with the highest viral loads in the spleen and lungs. An imbalance between pro- and anti-inflammatory factors in the serum leads to an excessive inflammatory response in the body. Immune factor expression is suppressed without effectively eliciting an immune defense. Antibodies against p30 were not detected in acutely dead domestic pigs. Sequencing of the peripheral blood mononuclear cell transcriptome revealed elevated transcription of genes associated with immunity, defense, and stress. The massive reduction in lymphocyte counts in the blood collapses the body’s immune system. An excessive inflammatory response with a massive reduction in the lymphocyte count may be an important cause of mortality in domestic pigs. These two reasons have inspired researchers to reduce excessive inflammatory responses and stimulate effective immune responses for future vaccine development.

In order to clarify the gas-phase carrying capacity after the atomization of water from the bottom of deep coalbed wells, considering characteristics of atomization-assisted production and the dynamic equilibrium principle of gas–liquid two-phase flow in the wellbore, the gas-phase liquid-carrying drop model was established, and the solution method of the upstream and downstream driving force of liquid drop flow was studied. We also verified the theoretical model through physical simulation. Then, the law for the influence of droplet size, wellbore inclination, wellbore diameter, and wellhead back pressure of the critical liquid-carrying velocity in the gas phase is analyzed using the model. The results show the following: ① the larger the diameter of atomized droplets, the greater the gravity force applied to it, the worse the ability to be carried by the gas phase, a onefold increase in droplet diameter corresponds to the increase in the minimum critical velocity of the gas phase by 1.45 times; ② with the increase in wellbore inclination, the liquid-carrying capacity of the gas phase decreases, and the minimum critical liquid-carrying velocity of equal diameter droplets increases by 0.01438 m/s or 1.27 times for the increase in wellbore inclination by 10°; ③ with the increase in wellbore diameter, both the driving force of a droplet of equal diameter and the flow resistance through the gas phase in the wellbore decrease within the range of a driving pressure difference of 0.2 Mpa; the decrease in liquid-carrying velocity caused by the decrease in received flow resistance can reach the maximum value of 0.0473 m/s; ④ with the increase in wellhead back pressure, the driving force of equal-diameter droplets decreases, the resistance against passing through the high-concentration gas phase increases, and the gas-phase-carrying droplets start the game; ⑤ the atomization-assisted production has the function of drainage gas recovery, and the adoption of atomization-assisted production technology can increase the production time of a coalbed gas flowing well, enabling the wells to have a good transition time interval for the conversion of flowing wells to pumping ones, which provides a precise production dynamic basis for the efficient design and implements the overall strategy of drainage gas recovery by deep-well pumping. In short, this technology has the high-efficiency liquid-carrying function of “water atomization to help liquid-phase flow and increase gas production”, as well as obvious technical advantages, which can provide a new idea for the development of deep coalbed methane wells and other types of gas wells with water.

The excessive rainfall and irrigation amount in the facility herbal medicine production system (FHmPS) in China leading to a severe root rot disease of Panax notoginseng, which endangers root yield and quality, compromise economic profit and waste resources. Therefore, the objective of our research was to seek optimal irrigation and cultivation management strategy for FHmPS to improve Panax notoginseng production and economic benefit. A three-year (2019, 2020 and 2021) field experiment was conducted on Panax notoginseng under two shelter-cultivation [rain-shelter cultivation (Sr) and unrain-shelter cultivation (NSr)] at three deficit irrigation levels [I1= 65%W, I2= 75%W, I3= 85% W, where W was the irrigation quota when the upper and lower limits of irrigation are (100% ∼ 40%)θFC under shelter-cultivation] to explore the combined practices effects on yield, quality, economic benefit, water productivity (WP) and nutrients uptake of Panax notoginseng, and to obtain the optimal irrigation and cultivation supply practice by the technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS). The results showed that SrI2 obtained relatively high plant nutrient uptake, net profit, WP, and quality. SrI2 significantly decreased the root rot incidence by 6–17.5% in comparison to other treatments. However, compared with rain-shelter cultivation, unrain-shelter cultivation weaken these effects in Panax notoginseng. Deficit irrigation promoted Sr to obtain higher WP than NSr. According to the result of TOPSIS, the comprehensive ranking of SrI2 and SrI3 were first and second among the practices, regardless of growing seasons and planting years. The SrI2 significantly decreased the yield of Panax notoginseng by 5.4%− 20.8% in comparison to other treatments. SrI2 and SrI3 were highly recommended for facility herbal medicine production system (FHmPS) in the semi-arid area of Southwest China.

Panax notoginseng cultivation planting conditions are harsh and require high soil moisture and slope of cultivated land, plus it takes 3–7 years from planting to harvesting. At present, the continuous crop barrier of Panax notoginseng has not been solved, which makes the arable land suitable for planting significantly reduced. And yet, there is almost no report on the impact of coupling water and slope on the growth of Panax notoginseng. Therefore, this study aims to explore the effects of different irrigation levels and slopes on soil water content (SWC) in the root zone, soil nutrient content, root characteristics, yield, water use efficiency (WUE), partial fertilizer productivity (PFP) and economic benefits of Panax notoginseng. During 2018–2020, a field experiment was conducted in the Panax notoginseng growing seasons with three irrigation levels (I1: 70–75% θFC, I2: 75–80% θFC, I3: 80–85% θFC) and three slopes (S1: 2.43°, S2: 6.38°, S3: 16.38°). The results evidenced that soil water and nutrient content increased with increasing irrigation and decreased with increasing slope. The yield of Panax notoginseng, root morphological characteristics, WUE, PFP, and economic benefits showed a trend of increasing first and then decreasing with the increase of irrigation amount and slope, which increased with the increase of planting years. These parameters reached their maximum at the irrigation I2 (75–80% θFC) and slope S2 (6.38°) treatments. Thus, based on the results of this study, medium irrigation I2 (75–80% θFC) and slope S2 (6.38°) should be considered as the best slope and water management strategy to obtain both high Panax notoginseng yield and economic benefits. Through establishing a multi-objective optimization model with binary quadratic regression analysis. It was indicated that Panax notoginseng yield, WUE, PFP, and economic benefits simultaneously reached ≥ 98% of their maximum values when irrigation interval was 152–193 mm and slope interval was 5.4–9°. In summary, the results obtained in this study have important practical significance for the water management of Panax notoginseng cultivation in slope farmland in Yunnan Province, China.

Image data augmentation plays a crucial role in data augmentation (DA) by increasing the quantity and diversity of labeled training data. However, existing methods have limitations. Notably, techniques like image manipulation, erasing, and mixing can distort images, compromising data quality. Accurate representation of objects without confusion is a challenge in methods like auto augment and feature augmentation. Preserving fine details and spatial relationships also proves difficult in certain techniques, as seen in deep generative models. To address these limitations, we propose OFIDA, an object-focused image data augmentation algorithm. OFIDA implements one-to-many enhancements that not only preserve essential target regions but also elevate the authenticity of simulating real-world settings and data distributions. Specifically, OFIDA utilizes a graph-based structure and object detection to streamline augmentation. Specifically, by leveraging graph properties like connectivity and hierarchy, it captures object essence and context for improved comprehension in real-world scenarios. Then, we introduce DynamicFocusNet, a novel object detection algorithm built on the graph framework. DynamicFocusNet merges dynamic graph convolutions and attention mechanisms to flexibly adjust receptive fields. Finally, the detected target images are extracted to facilitate one-to-many data augmentation. Experimental results validate the superiority of our OFIDA method over state-of-the-art methods across six benchmark datasets.

In this study, we investigated the effect of monobutyrin (MB) on the gut microbiota and intestinal health of weaned mice. MB was administered via gavage to 21-day-old weaned mice. Samples of small intestinal and ileal contents were collected on day 1, day 7, and day 21 post-administration. Seven days of MB administration enhanced the mucin layer and morphological structure of the intestine and the integrity of the intestinal brush border. Both MB and sodium butyrate (SB) accelerated tight junction development. Compared to SB, MB modulated intestinal T cells in a distinct manner. MB increased the ratio of Treg cells in the small intestine upon the cessation of weaning. After 21 days of MB administration, enhancement of the villus structure of the ileum was observed. MB increased the proportion of Th17 cells in the ileum. MB facilitated the transition of the small intestinal microbiota toward an adult microbial community structure and enhanced the complexity of the microbial community structure. An increase in Th17 cells enhanced intestinal barrier function. The regulatory effect of MB on Th17 cells may occur through the intestinal microbiota. Therefore, MB can potentially be used to promote intestinal barrier function, especially for weaning animals, with promising application prospects.

Obesity and its complications constitute a main threat to global human health. The purpose of this investigation was to explore the influences of Clostridium tyrobutyricum (Ct) on lipid metabolism, intestinal barrier function, and intestinal microbiome in obese mice induced by a high-fat diet (HFD). After establishing the obesity model, 107 CFU/mL and 108 CFU/mL C. tyrobutyricum were used to intervene in HFD-fed mice by gavage for six weeks, and indexes related to obesity were measured. In the liver of HFD-fed mice, the results revealed that C. tyrobutyricum reduced liver weight and the levels of triglyceride (TG), total cholesterol (TC), and nonesterified fatty acid (NEFA), along with decreasing red lipid droplets and fat vacuoles. After C. tyrobutyricum intervention, the mRNA expression of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ (PPARγ) was downregulated, and AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK), peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-α (PPARα), adipose triglyceride lipase (ATGL), and hormone-sensitive lipase (HSL) were upregulated in the liver. Additionally, C. tyrobutyricum alleviated intestinal morphology injury caused by HFD, decreased the expression of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin 6 (IL-6), and IL-1β in the colon, and upregulated tight junction protein expression. In addition, 16S rRNA sequencing revealed that C. tyrobutyricum increases the diversity of intestinal microbiota. Overall, C. tyrobutyricum improved HFD-induced lipid metabolism disorders, preserved the intestinal barrier’s integrity, and modulated the structure of the intestinal microbiome. These findings provide a novel insight into the role of C. tyrobutyricum as a probiotic in regulating lipid metabolism.