Search

Abstract Background N6-Methyladenosine (m6A) methylation, a common form of RNA modification, play an important role in the pathogenesis of various diseases and in the ontogeny of organisms. Nevertheless, the precise function of m6A methylation in photoaging remains unknown. Objectives This study aims to investigate the biological role and underlying mechanism of m6A methylation in photoaging. Methods m6A dot blot, Real-time quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR), western blot and immunohistochemical (IHC) assays were employed to detect the m6A level and specific m6A methylase in ultraviolet ray (UVR)-induced photoaging tissue. The profile of m6A-tagged mRNA was identified by methylated RNA immunoprecipitation sequencing (MeRIP-seq) and RNA-seq analysis. Finally, we investigated the regulatory mechanism of KIAA1429 by MeRIP-qPCR, RNA knockdown and immunofluorescence assay. Results m6A levels were increased in photoaging and were closely associated with the upregulation of KIAA1429 expression. 1331 differentially m6A methylated genes were identified in the UVR group compared with the control group, of which 1192 (90%) were hypermethylated. Gene ontology analysis showed that genes with m6A hypermethylation and mRNA downregulation were mainly involved in extracellular matrix metabolism and collagen metabolism-related processes. Furthermore, KIAA1429 knockdown abolished the downregulation of TGF-bRII and upregulation of MMP1 in UVR-irradiated human dermal fibroblasts (HDFs). Mechanically, we identified MFAP4 as a target of KIAA1429-mediated m6A modification and KIAA1429 might suppress collagen synthesis through an m6A-MFAP4-mediated process. Conclusions The increased expression of KIAA1429 hinders collagen synthesis during UVR-induced photoaging, suggesting that KIAA1429 represents a potential candidate for targeted therapy to mitigate UVR-driven photoaging.

In this study, SiO2 containing PAO6 microcapsules were endowed with surface active groups by polydopamine (PSPMS). Then the modified microcapsules were in situ grafted into phenolic resin (PF@PSPMS) to control the dispersion and bonding in high viscosity resin. Further, the tribological properties of the PF coating and the prepared liner were analyzed. The results show that the life of PF@PSPMS-coating is 73 times longer than that of PF-coating, the friction coefficient (COF) is reduced by 78%. Meanwhiles the COF of the corresponding liner is reduced from 0.11 to 0.06, and the wear amount is reduced from 64.07 μm to 23.07 μm. The wear mechanism shows that the breakage of PSPMS release lubricating oil at the friction interface, forming a coordinated solid-liquid lubrication effect with PTFE. At the same time, the presence of lubricating oil can remove the debris on the surface of the friction pair and improve the quality of the transfer film. In addition, the dispersion of silica fragments at the friction interface is conducive to improving the hardness and wear resistance. This work provides a new method for the dispersion of microcapsules in the liner and further explains the anti-friction and wear mechanism of silica microcapsules in the liner system, confirming the effectiveness of microcapsules in the liner system.

Abstract Tennis elbow (lateral epicondylitis) typically responds well to conservative treatment, and few patients require surgical intervention. This study aimed to investigate the influence of lifestyle and clinical factors on the prognosis of tennis elbow. This prospective, multicenter, nested case–control study included patients diagnosed with lateral epicondylitis after excluding other conditions. Patients who required surgery because of inadequate improvement after 6 months of conservative treatment were defined as the case group; the remaining patients constituted the control group. Propensity score matching was performed to eliminate baseline differences. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed using logistic regression. This study included 265 patients (53 in the case group, 212 in the control group). Multivariate analysis revealed that smoking, alcohol consumption, and frequent physical exercise were independent risk factors for surgical intervention, whereas combined treatment with oral nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and local corticosteroid injections was a protective factor against surgery. Subgroup analysis showed that heavy drinkers had a 3.74-fold higher risk of requiring surgical treatment within 1 year than occasional drinkers. Smoking and alcohol consumption were associated with non-operative treatment failure in patients with lateral epicondylitis. Combining oral NSAIDs and corticosteroid injections is a favorable conservative treatment option.

Objective: To investigate the bone health improvement effects and mechanism of vitamin K2 alone and in combination with calcium on osteoporotic zebrafish model. Methods: Healthy zebrafish with transgenic Tg line were used as experimental animals. The model of osteoporosis zebrafish was induced by prednisone. The fluorescence area and density of zebrafish osteoblasts were used as indicators to evaluate the bone development of zebrafish which were observed and photographed under microscope. Furthermore, the expression changes of related genes were detected by Real-time qPCR. Results: Vitamin K2 alone and in combination with D3 and calcium chloride could significantly improve the reduction of fluorescence area and fluorescence density of zebrafish osteoblasts induced by prednisolone in the experimental safe dose range of 5~20 μg/mL (P

ObjectiveTo detect antibiotic residues in surface water and urban water supply and assess health risk of the antibiotic residues in a suburban district of Hangzhou municipality, Zhejiang province. MethodsTotally 38 surface water samples were collected from 19 sampling points along the Fuchun River Basin and 58 tap water samples were collected at 29 sampling points of a urban water supply system in a suburban district of Hangzhou municipality during February – March 2023. The residues of 52 antibiotics of 6 categories in the samples of surface water and urban water supply were detected by ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrum (UPLC-MS/MS) after solid-phase extraction (SPE). Then we assessed ecological and human health risk correlated with the antibiotic residues detected using risk quotient (RQ ) method.ResultsThe residues of 25 kinds of antibiotics were detected in the surface water samples, and the concentrations of the residues ranged from not detected (ND) to 463.66 ng/L; for the samples of the urban water supply, residues of 6 kinds of antibiotics were detected, with the residue ranges and detection rates of ND – 0.72 ng/L and 93.10% for sulfapyridine, ND – 1.16 ng/L and 86.21% for sulfachloropyridazine, ND – 0.60 ng/L and 6.90% for erythromycin, ND – 0.75 ng/L and 27.59% for clarithromycin, ND – 0.68 ng/L and 34.48% for roxithromycin, and ND – 0.96 ng/L and 86.21% for anhydroerythromycin, respectively. The range of RQ in ecological risk assessment was 0 – 10.56 for the detected residues of 25 antibiotics in the surface water samples and the detected antibiotics with higher ecological risk were sulfadiazine, oxytetracycline, erythromycin, clarithromycin, and anhydroerythromycin. The range of RQ in health risk assessment was 4.45 × 10 – 7 – 1.68 × 10 – 4 for the detected residues of 6 antibiotics in the tap water samples and there was no significant health risk relevant to the detected antibiotics. ConclusionIn a suburban district of Hangzhou municipality, the residues of a number of antibiotics were detected and the residues of sulfadiazine, oxytetracycline, erythromycin, clarithromycin and anhydroerythromycin could result in ecological risks; only trace residues of some antibiotics were detected in tap water samples from urban water supply and the residues were at the levels won’t cause obvious human health risk.

By applying a high projection rate, the binary defocusing technique can dramatically increase 3D imaging speed. However, existing methods are sensitive to the varied defocusing degree, and have limited depth of field (DoF). To this end, a time–domain Gaussian fitting method is proposed in this paper. The concept of a time–domain Gaussian curve is firstly put forward, and the procedure of determining projector coordinates with a time–domain Gaussian curve is illustrated in detail. The neural network technique is applied to rapidly compute peak positions of time-domain Gaussian curves. Relying on the computing power of the neural network, the proposed method can reduce the computing time greatly. The binary defocusing technique can be combined with the neural network, and fast 3D profilometry with a large depth of field is achieved. Moreover, because the time–domain Gaussian curve is extracted from individual image pixel, it will not deform according to a complex surface, so the proposed method is also suitable for measuring a complex surface. It is demonstrated by the experiment results that our proposed method can extends the system DoF by five times, and both the data acquisition time and computing time can be reduced to less than 35 ms.

IntroductionSoluble solids content (SSC) is a pivotal parameter for assessing tomato quality. Traditional measurement methods are both destructive and time-consuming.MethodsTo enhance accuracy and efficiency in SSC assessment, this study employs full transmission visible and near-infrared (Vis-NIR) spectroscopy and multi-point spectral data collection techniques to quantitatively analyze SSC in two tomato varieties (‘Provence’ and ‘Jingcai No.8’ tomatoes). Preprocessing of the multi-point spectra is carried out using a weighted averaging approach, aimed at noise reduction, signal-to-noise ratio improvement, and overall data quality enhancement. Taking into account the potential influence of various detection orientations and preprocessing methods on model outcomes, we investigate the combination of partial least squares regression (PLSR) with two orientations (O1 and O2) and two preprocessing techniques (Savitzky-Golay smoothing (SG) and Standard Normal Variate transformation (SNV)) in the development of SSC prediction models.ResultsThe model achieved the best results in the O2 orientation and SNV pretreatment as follows: ‘Provence’ tomato (Rp = 0.81, RMSEP = 0.69°Brix) and ‘Jingcai No.8’ tomatoes (Rp = 0.84, RMSEP = 0.64°Brix). To further optimize the model, characteristic wavelength selection is introduced through Least Angle Regression (LARS) with L1 and L2 regularization. Notably, when λ=0.004, LARS-L1 produces superior results (‘Provence’ tomato: Rp = 0.95, RMSEP = 0.35°Brix; ‘Jingcai No.8’ tomato: Rp = 0.96, RMSEP = 0.33°Brix).DiscussionThis study underscores the effectiveness of full transmission Vis-NIR spectroscopy in predicting SSC in different tomato varieties, offering a viable method for accurate and swift SSC assessment in tomatoes.

The development of polymeric materials for the repair and reinforcement of damaged sites in water has many practical applications, especially in ocean engineering. However, it is difficult to construct an anticorrosion coating in water. In addition, curing kinetics, which are the key to enhance the performance of coatings, seem to hardly be observed and regulated in an underwater condition. Herein, a novel underwater in situ repairing coating was prepared. Meanwhile, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) was applied to observe its curing behavior underwater. Adhesion tests showed that the coatings cured underwater had good adhesion to different substrate surfaces and the ideal ratio of curing agent to epoxy resin was 0.6. Long-term anticorrosive tests demonstrated that the coatings had an excellent anti-corrosion performance. The viscosity changes in different curing stages were well reflected by frequency response characteristics from Bode and Nyquist curves by EIS. Two equivalent electrical circuits were selected to simulate the impedance date at the initial and final curing stage. A formula was put forward to evaluate the curing degree during the curing process. Finally, the effects of temperature and the ingredient ratio on the reaction rate and curing degree were also investigated here. This underwater in situ repairing coating may find applications in many offshore engineering structures in marine environments, and the EIS technique has attractive development and application prospects when observing the curing information of thermosetting resin systems under special circumstances.

The current design of member foundation only considers horizontal forces (H) and ignores the effect of torque (T), which may lead to torsional failure of the foundation. To analyze the bearing characteristics of rigid rectangular foundation subjected to horizontal force and torque (H-T), according to the stress characteristics of the foundation, the corresponding simplified calculation model is established, and the theoretical solutions of the stress and deformation analysis of the foundation under the two bearing modes of torque (T), horizontal force (H) - eccentric bending moment (M) are derived; numerical simulation analysis is carried out to obtain the failure envelope of rigid rectangular foundations under push torsion H-T load. And then the rationality of the theoretical calculation method is verified by the indoor model test. Finally, the influences of torsion ratio and foundation resistance ratio coefficient m on the stress and deformation of foundation are analyzed. The results show that the failure envelope of rigid rectangular foundation under push torsion H-T load is approximately parabolic. With the increase of torsion-thrust ratio, the horizontal bearing capacity of the foundation decreases, and its failure mode changes from horizontal deformation failure to torsional deformation failure. The increase of the proportional coefficient m can reduce the horizontal displacement and rotation angle at the foundation ground effectively. To ensure the safety and stability of the rigid rectangular foundation, the nature and compaction of the overlying backfill should satisfy the design requirements. This study can provide basic information for the design of multi-rod unified rod foundations.

Abstract Background This study investigates the relationship between triglyceride-glucose (TyG) index trajectories and the results of ablation in patients with stage 3D atrial fibrillation (AF). Methods A retrospective cohort study was carried out on patients who underwent AF Radiofrequency Catheter Ablation (RFCA) at the Cardiology Department of the Fourth Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University and Taizhou Hospital of Zhejiang Province from January 2016 to December 2022. The main clinical endpoint was determined as the occurrence of atrial arrhythmia for at least 30 s following a 3-month period after ablation. Using a latent class trajectory model, different trajectory groups were identified based on TyG levels. The relationship between TyG trajectory and the outcome of AF recurrence in patients was assessed through Kaplan-Meier survival curve analysis and multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression model. Results The study included 997 participants, with an average age of 63.21 ± 9.84 years, of whom 630 were males (63.19%). The mean follow-up period for the participants was 30.43 ± 17.75 months, during which 200 individuals experienced AF recurrence. Utilizing the minimum Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC) and the maximum Entropy principle, TyG levels post-AF RFCA were divided into three groups: Locus 1 low-low group (n = 791), Locus 2 low-high-low group (n = 14), and Locus 3 high-high group (n = 192). Significant differences in survival rates among the different trajectories were observed through the Kaplan-Meier curve (P

Objective: Complement C1q tumor necrosis factor-related protein 3 (CTRP3) and 9 (CTRP9) are two of the most extensively studied adipokines, known for their diverse biological functions. However, it remains unclear whether serum levels of CTRP3 or CTRP9 are associated with connective tissue diseases (CTD). Methods: Serum CTRP3 and CTRP9 levels were measured by enzyme-linked immune sorbent assay (ELISA) and analyzed in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), primary Sjogren's syndrome (pSS), ankylosing spondylitis (AS), undifferentiated connective tissue disease (UCTD), as well as in healthy controls (HCs). Results: Serum CTRP3 levels were all significantly lower in patients with RA, SLE, pSS and AS compared with HCs. However, there were no significant differences in serum CTRP9 levels between patients with RA, SLE, pSS, or AS and HCs. In pSS patients, CTRP3 showed a weak correlation with blood glucose, creatinine, and urine acid in pSS patients, while no correlations were observed between serum CTRP3 levels and clinical or laboratory indices in RA, SLE or AS patients. Stable associations between CTRP3 and RA, SLE, pSS and AS were evaluated using multivariate logistics regression analysis. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were plotted to evaluated CTRP3 as a marker for RA, SLE, pSS and AS, yielding area under curve (AUC) values of 0.691, 0.727, 0.658 and 0.694, respectively. Conclusion: Decreased serum CTRP3 levels were associated with RA, SLE, pSS and AS.

Nowadays, effective prognostic models for esophageal cancer (ESCA) are still lacking. Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are commonly utilized as indicators for diagnosing cancer and forecasting patient outcomes. Cuproptosis is regulated by multiple genes and is crucial to the progression of ESCA. However, it is not yet clear what role the cuproptosis-associated lncRNAs (CuALs) play in ESCA. To tackle this problem, a prognostic signature incorporating three CuALs was created. This signature was constructed by the use of the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) and multivariate Cox regression. Subsequently, the signature effectively stratified ESCA samples into a high-risk group and a low-risk group. Those in the low-risk group demonstrated extended overall survival (OS), as well as increased infiltration of T cells, macrophages, and NK cells, suggesting a potentially enhanced response to immunotherapy. The ROC curve analysis demonstrated that this prognostic signature outperformed conventional clinical factors in predicting patient prognosis (AUC = 0.708). K-M survival analysis and correlation analysis identified UGDH-AS1 (a CuAL) as a protective factor positively associated with patient prognosis. The results of RT-qPCR and wound healing assays indicated that UGDH-AS1 is overexpressed in ESCA and could inhibit cancer cell migration. In general, the prognostic signature of CuALs demonstrated a robust capability in forecasting the immune environment and patient prognosis, highlighting its potential as a tool for enhancing personalized treatment strategies in ESCA.

Fusarium root rot is usually classified as an extremely destructive soilborne disease. From 2020 to 2021, Fusarium root rot was observed in production areas and seriously affected the yield and quality of Scutellaria baicalensis in Shanxi Province, China. Based on morphological characteristics and combined analysis of the internal transcribed spacer region of ribosomal DNA and translation elongation factor 1 -alpha sequences. 68 Fusarium isolates obtained in this work were identified as E oxysporum (52.94%), F. acuminatum (20.59%), F. solani (16.17%). F. proliferatum (5.88%), F. incarnation (2.94%), and F. brachygibbosum (1.47%). In the pathogenicity tests, all Fusarium isolates could infect S. baicalensis roots, presenting different pathogenic ability. Among these isolates, F. oxysporum was found to have the highest virulence on S. baicalensis roots, followed by F. acuminatum, F. solani, F. proliferatum. F. brachygibbosum, and F. incarnation. According to fungicide sensitivity tests, Fusarium isolates were more sensitive to fludioxonil and difenoconazole, followed by carbendazim, thiophanate-methyl, and hymexazol. In brief, this is the first report of Fusarium species (F. oxysporum, F. acuminatum, F. solani, F. proliferatum, F. incamarum, and F. brachygibbosum) as causal agents of root rot of S', baicalensis in Shanxi Province, China. The fungicide sensitivity results will be helpful for formulating management strategies of baicalensis root rot. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The early decay of citrus can cause economic and serious food safety issues. The early decayed area has no obvious visual characteristics, making effective detection of this damage very difficult for the citrus industry. This study constructed a new detection system based on visible-light emitting diode (LED) structured-illumination imaging and proposed an effective methodology combined with a spiral phase transform (SPT) algorithm for the early detection of decayed oranges. Each sample obtained three phase-shifting pattern images with phase shifts of -2n/3, 0, and 2n/3 at a spatial frequency of 0.25 cycles/mm. Three strategies (i.e., the conventional three-phase-shifting method, 2-phase SPT, and 1-phase SPT) were used to demodulate the original patterned images to recover the direct component (DC) and amplitude component (AC) images. The partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) and least squares support vector machine (LS-SVM) classification models were established based on the texture features of DC, AC, and RT (i.e. the ratio of AC to DC) images. Then, the random frog (RF) algorithm was used to simplify the optimal full-featured model. Finally, the LS-SVM model constructed using 7 texture features from the RT image obtained an average classification accuracy of 95.1% for all tested samples. This study indicates that the proposed structured-illumination imaging technique combined with 2-phase SPT and feature-based classification model can achieve the fast identification of early decayed oranges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]